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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1338e22 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69828 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69828) diff --git a/old/69828-0.txt b/old/69828-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 667498c..0000000 --- a/old/69828-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,19304 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The bride's fate, by Emma Dorothy -Eliza Nevitte Southworth - -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 bride's fate - The sequel to "The changed brides" - -Author: Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth - -Release Date: January 18, 2023 [eBook #69828] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading - Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from - images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRIDE'S FATE *** - - - - - - _THE BRIDE’S FATE_ - The Sequel to “The Changed Brides” - - - _By_ - MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH - - AUTHOR OF - - “A Leap in the Dark,” “The Lost Lady of Lone,” “Nearest and Dearest,” - “Her Mother’s Secret,” “A Beautiful Fiend,” “Victor’s Triumph,” Etc. - -[Illustration] - - _I have set my life upon a cast, - And I will abide the hazard of the die._ - —SHAKESPEARE. - - A. L. BURT COMPANY - PUBLISHERS NEW YORK - - - - - POPULAR BOOKS - - By MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH - - In Handsome Cloth Binding - - Price per volume, 60 Cents - - - Beautiful Fiend, A - Brandon Coyle’s Wife - Sequel to A Skeleton in the Closet - Bride’s Fate, The - Sequel to The Changed Brides - Bride’s Ordeal, The - Capitola’s Peril - Sequel to the Hidden Hand - Changed Brides, The - Cruel as the Grave - David Lindsay - Sequel to Gloria - Deed Without a Name, A - Dorothy Harcourt’s Secret - Sequel to A Deed Without a Name - “Em” - Em’s Husband - Sequel to “Em” - Fair Play - For Whose Sake - Sequel to Why Did He Wed Her? - For Woman’s Love - Fulfilling Her Destiny - Sequel to When Love Commands - Gloria - Her Love or Her Life - Sequel to The Bride’s Ordeal - Her Mother’s Secret - Hidden Hand, The - How He Won Her - Sequel to Fair Play - Ishmael - Leap in the Dark, A - Lilith - Sequel to the Unloved Wife - Little Nea’s Engagement - Sequel to Nearest and Dearest - Lost Heir, The - Lost Lady of Lone, The - Love’s Bitterest Cup - Sequel to Her Mother’s Secret - Mysterious Marriage, The - Sequel to A Leap in the Dark - Nearest and Dearest - Noble Lord, A - Sequel to The Lost Heir - Self-Raised - Sequel to Ishmael - Skeleton in the Closet, A - Struggle of a Soul, The - Sequel to The Lost Lady of Lone - Sweet Love’s Atonement - Test of Love, The - Sequel to A Tortured Heart - To His Fate - Sequel to Dorothy Harcourt’s Secret - Tortured Heart, A - Sequel to The Trail of the Serpent - Trail of the Serpent, The - Tried for Her Life - Sequel to Cruel as the Grave - Unloved Wife, The - Unrequited Love, An - Sequel to For Woman’s Love - Victor’s Triumph - Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend - When Love Commands - When Shadows Die - Sequel to Love’s Bitterest Cup - Why Did He Wed Her? - Zenobia’s Suitors - Sequel to Sweet Love’s Atonement - - For Sale by all Booksellers or will be sent postpaid on receipt of - price, - A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS - 52 Duane Street New York - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I.— Unchanging Love 5 - II.— Calm Delights 11 - III.— Surprises 17 - IV.— A Messenger 25 - V.— Fortune 34 - VI.— Entertaining Angels 40 - VII.— Halcyon Days 51 - VIII.— The End of Probation 59 - IX.— A May-day Marriage 66 - X.— General Lyon’s Consolation 79 - XI.— A Joyous Meeting in June 88 - XII.— The Mail-Bag 97 - XIII.— Old and New 102 - XIV.— Arrival 112 - XV.— The Derby 133 - XVI.— The Gipsies 147 - XVII.— How the Parted Met 159 - XVIII.— Waiting and Hoping 173 - XIX.— Meeting Every Day 184 - XX.— The Ambassadress’ Ball 191 - XXI.— Alexander’s Experience 207 - XXII.— The Missing Boy 227 - XXIII.— Alexander’s Jealousy 248 - XXIV.— The Duel 256 - XXV.— The Grand Satisfaction 268 - XXVI.— The Pursuit 273 - XXVII.— The Shock 288 - XXVIII.— Alexander Strikes a Light 307 - XXIX.— Alexander’s Discoveries 315 - XXX.— Little Lenny’s Enemy 324 - XXXI.— The Abduction 339 - XXXII.— Little Lenny’s Adventures 354 - XXXIII.— Lenny’s Experiences 369 - XXXIV.— The Peace-offering 374 - XXXV.— The Peace-offering.—_Continued_ 386 - - - - - THE BRIDE’S FATE. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - UNCHANGING LOVE. - - “Kind friends may be to thee, - But love like hers thou’lt see, - Never again.” - - -Rest, peace, love, comfort were now Drusilla’s portions. - -It was a new experience to the poor, discarded, and deposed young wife -to find herself the central object of interest in a family like General -Lyon’s, her health and happiness watched over and provided for with the -most affectionate solicitude. - -She had not a care in the world. She scarcely had a regret. She knew the -worst. She knew that her last act had banished Alexander from her side. -But when she looked upon her boy’s face, and reflected that no stigma -now rested upon his baby brow, she could not regret her act. With the -childlike simplicity of her character, she “accepted the situation.” - -In the sunshine of this sweet old home, her heart expanded to all kindly -sympathies. - -She—the orphan girl, who had never been blessed by a father’s tender -care, deeply responded to the affection bestowed on her by old General -Lyon, and really doted on the fine veteran. At his desire she called him -uncle; but she loved him as a father. She would watch and listen for his -footsteps, in his daily visit to her sick room; and she would kiss and -fondle his aged hands and then lift up her boy to receive his blessing. - -And often on these occasions the veteran’s eyes filled with tears, as he -glanced from the childish mother to the child, and murmured: - -“Poor children! poor children! while I live you shall be my children.” - -Anna was not less kind than her grandfather to Drusilla. - -And she, the only daughter, who had never before known a sister’s -companionship, loved Miss Lyon with a sister’s love, and delighted in -her cheerful society. - -She felt friendly towards Dick, and was very fond of the attentive old -servants. Indeed, her loving, sunny spirit went out on all around her. - -But her greatest joy was in her child. She would soothe him to sleep -with the softest, sweetest notes, and after laying him in his cradle, -she would kneel and gaze on his sleeping face for hours. - -Mammy protested against this idolatry; but Drusilla answered her: - -“It is not idolatry, nurse; because I do not place the gift before the -Giver. There is not an instant in my life that I am not conscious of -fervent gratitude to the Lord for giving me this child, a gift forever -and ever; a gift for time and eternity; oh, nurse, a gift, of which -nothing on earth or in Heaven can deprive me!” - -“Don’t say that, ma’am; the Lord might take the child,” said mammy, -solemnly. - -“I know that, nurse. The Lord might take him to Heaven, to save him from -the evil in this world; but he would be safe there, for the Lord would -take care of him for me, and give him back to me when I myself should -reach the Blessed Land,” she answered, reverently. - -And mammy had nothing more to say. - -How closely the young mother watched the tiny growth of her child, and -the faint development of his intelligence. She could see progress where -no one else could perceive the slightest sign of it. She discovered that -“he” “took notice,” long before any one could be brought to acknowledge -that such a prodigy was possible. Her delight when her boy first smiled -in his sleep, or when she fancied he did, was something almost -ludicrous. She was kneeling by his cradle, watching his slumbers as -usual, when she suddenly cried out, though in a hushed voice: - -“Oh, Anna! Cousin Anna! look! look! he is laughing, he is indeed! _See_ -how he is laughing!” - -Miss Lyon came and bent over the cradle. So did mammy, who drew back -again, saying: - -“Lor! why that ain’t no laugh, ma’am; that’s wind—leastways, it is a -grimace caused by wind on the stomach, and I must give him some catnip -when he wakes.” - -Now, if Drusilla’s sweet face had been capable of expressing withering -contempt mammy would have been shrivelled up to a mummy: but as it was -she could only appeal from the nurse to Miss Lyon. - -“Anna, look at him—he _is_ laughing, or, at the very least, smiling—is -he not?” - -“Yes, my darling, he is certainly smiling; and you know the old folks -say when an infant smiles in its sleep it dreams of Heaven and sees -angels.” - -“And I do believe that is true—it must be true! And my little cherub -sees his guardian angels!” exclaimed Drusilla, delightedly. - -“I tell you, ma’am,” began mammy, “it is nothing but jest win—Owtch!” -she exclaimed, suddenly breaking off as Anna trod heavily upon her -corns. - -And presently mammy limped off to make the threatened catnip tea, -leaving the two young women to the enjoyment of their faith in the -sleeping baby’s Heavenly visions. - -For the first weeks infants’ eyes are of no particular form, color or -expression, but merely little liquid orbs folded up in fat. But very -soon Drusilla made very great discoveries in her infant’s eyes. Sitting -alone one morning, and gazing down upon the babe that lay smiling on her -lap, she murmured: - -“Oh, Alick, Alick, dear, you have torn yourself away from me, and have -gone. But you could not deprive me of your _eyes_, my Alick! They look -up at me from my baby’s face, and while they do so I can never cease to -love you and pray for you, Alick, my Alick!” - -Since his desertion this was the only occasion upon which she had ever -breathed his name, and even now it was only in half audible murmurs as -she talked to herself, or to her babe. - -By the other members of the family, Alexander’s name was never -mentioned. General Lyon had given no orders to this effect, but the -subject was tacitly dropped by all as one unspeakably painful and -humiliating. - -General Lyon, who loved the delicate, dove-eyed little woman with a -fatherly fondness, would not let her confine herself to her own -apartments a day longer than was necessary. He first of all wiled her -down to the afternoon tea, and then after a few days coaxed her down to -dinner; and on the Sunday following sent for her to join the family -circle at breakfast. - -The “family circle” at this time comprised only General Lyon, Anna, -Dick, and Drusilla. - -Dick had remained at Old Lyon Hall ever since Alexander’s exodus, with -the exception of one day when he rode over to Hammondville, where he had -left the parson and the lawyer to tell them that their services would -not be required, and to remunerate and dismiss them. - -Since that day Dick had made a clean breast of it to his uncle and had -won a conditional consent to his marriage with Anna; the engagement -being encumbered with a probation of one year. - -“I shall be an old maid yet if I live long enough,” said Anna, laughing -when she heard from Dick of this decision. “My marriage day has been -fixed and my marriage interrupted three times! and at every interruption -it has been deferred for one year, only to be interrupted again at the -end of it.” - -“I don’t complain of all other interruptions, but Anna, let us make sure -of a marriage this time by going off by ourselves and getting it done,” -said Anna’s lover. - -“For shame, Dick,” was all the answer she vouchsafed him. - -“We are of age,” urged her suitor. - -“So much the worse, sir, for we should know better,” said Anna. - -And Dick ceased to push the question. - -It drew near the Christmas holidays, and the weather was very fine for -the season. - -General Lyon invited and pressed his adopted niece to take drives in the -picturesque vicinity of the hall. - -But Drusilla answered that she wished her first going out should be to -the house of God, in acknowledgment of His great mercy in preserving her -and her child amid so many dangers, and raising up to them such dear -friends. - -And the conscientious old soldier could urge the matter no farther. - -One Friday morning Anna and Drusilla were seated together as usual—the -baby sleeping in the cradle between them—when Anna said: - -“Drusilla, my dear, you are going to church next Sunday?” - -“Yes, I am; Providence permitting, Anna.” - -“Do you know it will be Christening Sunday?” - -“No, I didn’t, Anna.” - -“Well, it will be. Now wouldn’t you like to have your boy christened?” - -“Oh, yes; indeed I should, bless him!” - -“And I will be his godmother, and grandpa and Dick shall be his -godfathers. You know, being a boy, he will require two godfathers and -one godmother. If he were a girl, the matter would be reversed. Now what -do you say, my dear?” - -“I thank you very much, dear Anna, for your kindness in thinking of all -this. And I shall be very grateful to you and dear uncle and cousin Dick -for becoming sponsors for my darling boy,” said Drusilla, earnestly. - -“And the christening is to go on?” - -“Certainly, dear Anna, if you please.” - -“What name will you give your child?” - -“If dear uncle consents I should like to name my boy for him—‘Leonard.’” - -“And not Alick?” inquired Anna. - -It was the first time for weeks past that she had uttered his name; and -she did it now in a sort of triumph in the thought that his discarded -wife had ceased to care for him. - -“And not Alick?” she repeated, seeing that Drusilla hesitated to answer. - -“No, not Alick,” the young mother now replied, calmly and gravely. - -“That is right; I am glad of it! Very glad of it!” exclaimed Anna, with -such righteous indignation and exultation combined that the young wife -looked at her in surprise and sorrow. - -“I think you mistake me, dear cousin,” she said. “The only reason why I -do not call my child after his father is this:—I have already _one_ -Alick, _but_ one Alick and I can never have another. I cannot even bear -that my child should have his name. I want but one Alick in the whole -world. - -“Goodness knows, I think one of that sort would be quite enough!” -exclaimed Anna. - -Drusilla looked at her in gentle reproach. - -“Is it _possible_, child, that you still love that scamp?” scornfully -demanded Miss Lyon. - -“Oh, Anna dear, yes! He _used_ to love me too; he was very kind to me, -from the days when I was a poor little sickly, ignorant girl, till -within a short time ago. Oh, Anna, shall the madness of a few months -make me forget all the loving kindness of many long years? Never, Alick, -dear, never,” she murmured, dropping her voice as in soliloquy; “I will -still love you and pray for you and trust in you—for I know, Alick, -dear—_when you come to yourself you will come to me_. I can wait for -that time.” - -Anna gazed on the inspired young face in amazement that gradually gave -way to reverence, and even to awe. - -“Drusilla,” she said, solemnly, “I retract all I ever said against -Alexander, and I promise never to open my lips to his prejudice again.” - -Drusilla looked up gratefully but—inquiringly. - -“Your eyes thank me, but you wish to know why I say this. I will tell -you: It is because you make me begin to believe in that man. Your faith -in him affects me. There _must_ be some great reserve of good somewhere -latent and undeveloped in his nature, to have drawn forth such a faith -as yours. But were he the greatest sinner that ever darkened the earth, -such love as yours would make him sacred.” - - - - - CHAPTER II. - CALM DELIGHTS. - - Now has descended a serener hour, - And with reviving fortunes.—SHELLEY. - - -The next morning Anna entered Drusilla’s room, followed by Matty, -bearing a large work-basket filled with cambric white as snow, and lace -as fine as cobweb. - -“Set it down here at my feet, Matty, and go,” said Miss Lyon, sinking -into one of the arm-chairs. - -Opposite to her sat Drusilla, and between them, of course, lay the -sleeping babe in the cradle. - -“Here, my dear,” said Anna, calling the young mother’s attention to the -contents of the basket, “I have overhauled all my bureaus and boxes in -search of these materials; for you know if our baby is to be christened -on Sunday next he must have a fine robe, and you and I must set to work -immediately to make it.” - -“Oh, thanks, dear Anna, for your constant thoughtfulness of me and my -babe. I have some very beautifully embroidered robes at Cedarwood, but -nurse did not think it necessary to bring them, and I have none here but -very plain white slips,” said Drusilla, gratefully. - -“Well, now get your scissors ready, for I know nothing about cutting out -a baby’s robe, so you will have to do that part of the work, but I will -seam and tuck and gather and trim with anybody,” said Anna, beginning to -unroll the snowy cambric. - -And Drusilla’s nimble fingers soon shaped out the little dress, and the -two young women set to work on it with as much delight as ever two -little girls took in dressing a doll. - -When they had settled the style of the trimming to their mutual -satisfaction, and had then worked in silence for some time, Drusilla -looked up and said: - -“I wonder if dear General Lyon will like to have me name my poor -discarded little baby after him?” - -“Of course he will. It will be a compliment paid to him—though a -well-merited one to him,” replied Anna. - -“No, dear, it will not be a compliment paid to him, but a favor asked by -me, and my heart misgives me that possibly he may not like it.” - -“Foolish little heart, to have such misgivings! Why don’t you set the -doubt at rest by asking him and finding out what he will answer?” - -“No, no, Anna, I cannot do that, because he is so kind that he would be -sure to give me a prompt and cheerful consent, no matter how much secret -reluctance he might have to the measure.” - -“Then if you never propose the matter to him, I don’t see how you will -accomplish your purpose.” - -“By _your_ means, dear Anna, I hope to do so.” - -“How by my means, you absurd little thing?” - -“I want you to find out in some other delicate way than by direct -questioning whether my wish would be agreeable to General Lyon.” - -“I will try; but I warn you, I am a very bad diplomat.” - -Whether Miss Lyon was really a bad diplomat or not, she did not seem to -think it at all necessary to sound the General on the subject in the -manner Drusilla desired; but as she sat with her grandfather in the -drawing-room that night, she suddenly said: - -“We are going to have our baby christened next Sunday, grandpa, and his -mother wants to name him after you.” - -“Does she, indeed, the dear child? I had not expected such a thing,” -exclaimed the old man. - -“That is, if you have no objection, sir.” - -“Objection! why I am delighted!” - -“I am glad you like the plan.” - -“Like it? why I have never in my life been more pleased or more -surprised! I shall make Master Leonard Lyon a very handsome christening -present!” - -“That’s a darling grandpa! But listen. Don’t say a word to Drusilla -about the present, beforehand. She is no more mercenary for her child -than she is for herself, and she is the most sensitive person I ever met -with in my life.” - -“All right, Anna! I shall say nothing of the present. But you, my little -housekeeper, you must see that a proper christening feast is prepared to -do honor to our boy.” - -“You may safely leave that to me, sir.” - -The next morning was cold, dark and stormy. - -Drusilla was forbidden by her nurse to go down-stairs, and so she had -her breakfast up in her own room. - -When the service was cleared away, and she was seated before the fire, -with the babe in her arms, General Lyon entered the room. - -She arose with a countenance beaming with welcome, and was about to lay -her babe down, that she might set a chair for her visitor, when he -pleasantly signed to her to resume her seat, and he brought one to the -fire for himself. - -“Anna tells me, my dear, that you design me the honor of naming your -fine boy after me,” he said, seating himself. - -“If you will please to permit me to do so, sir, the honor will be mine, -and will make me happy,” said Drusilla, blushing deeply. - -“My child, I cannot express how much I thank you! how gratified and -pleased I feel.” - -Drusilla looked down, quite overpowered by the fervency of these -acknowledgments, on the part of the old hero. - -“You must know, my dear,” he continued, “I have always secretly longed -for another Leonard Lyon to represent me, when I shall be gone; but -scarcely had a hope to see one during my life. Leonard Lyon is a very -ancient family name with us, and has been kept up in every generation, -except the last. It failed there, because I had never been blessed with -a son; and my brother had but one, and he was named after the family of -his mother, who was a Miss Alexander. Thus, you see, the ancient name, -Leonard Lyon, would have become extinct in me, had you not determined to -revive and perpetuate it in your son. Heaven bless you for the kind -thought, my dear, for it has made me very happy,” said the old -gentleman, earnestly. - -“I fervently thank Heaven, sir, for giving me the power of pleasing you -in this matter,” murmured the blushing young mother, in a low and -tremulous voice. - -“And this I will say, my child, that the name your boy will bear, has -never, in the thousand years of its existence, been sullied by a shadow -of dishonor.” - -“I know it has been borne by heroes and sages, and by none others. I -hope and pray that my boy will prove worthy of his noble ancestry,” -fervently breathed Drusilla. - -“That I feel sure, he will! If Heaven should grant me a few more years -of life, I shall take great delight in watching the growth of little -Leonard Lyon,” replied the old gentleman, as he arose, and kissed the -mother and the babe, and left the room. - -The following Sunday proved to be a very fine day. At an early hour, the -capacious family carriage of General Lyon was at the door, well warmed -and aired for the reception of the delicate mother and the tender -infant. - -Not even on her first bridal day, had Drusilla looked so lovely as she -did now, when she came down-stairs, dressed for church, her delicate, -pale beauty, still more tenderly softened by her simple bonnet of white -velvet, and wrappings of white furs. - -She was attended by mammy, dressed in her Sunday’s best, and carrying -the baby, richly arrayed in his christening robes. - -General Lyon, Anna, Drusilla, the nurse and the baby rode in the -carriage. - -Dick Hammond, on horseback, escorted them. - -The parish church was at Saulsburg, six, eight, or ten miles off, -according to conflicting statements. So, early as they set out, they -were not likely to be much too early to join in the commencement of the -service. - -When they reached the turnpike gate, they found old Andy on duty. - -Seeing Dick cantering on in advance of the approaching carriage, he -placed himself behind the gate, and lifted up both his arms, while he -called aloud to his wife: - -“Jenny, woman! come out wi’ ye, and tak the toll, whiles I stand here to -keep yon daft laddie frae louping o’er the bar again!” - -In answer to the summons, Jenny appeared just in time to receive Mr. -Hammond, who quietly drew rein before the door, paid for himself, and -the carriage behind him, and then with a bow, rode on his way. - -The carriage followed; but as it passed, Mrs. Birney got a glimpse of -the passengers inside and after doing so, she dropped her chin, and -lifted her eyebrows, and remained transfixed and staring, like one -demented. - -“Eh, woman! what’s come o’er ye? Are ye bewitched?” questioned Mr. -Birney, as he passed her, in going into the house. - -“Na, gudeman, I’m no bewitched; but just amazed like! Didna ye see yon -bonny leddy lying back among the cushions? She that was all happed about -wi’ braw white velvets and furs?” - -“Aweel, and what of her?” - -“Hech, gudeman, she’s na ither than the puir bit lassie that came ben to -us that night o’ the grand storm.” - -“Hout, woman! hauld your tongue! no’ to ken the differ between a born -leddy like this are, and a young gilpey like yon!” - -“I ken weel the differ between a leddy and a gilpey. And I dinna need -_dress_ to instruct me in it, either, gudeman. I kenned the lass was na -gilpey when I saw her in her auld gray cloak; and I kenned her again in -the bit glint I had of her bonny face as she lay back in her braw -velvets and furs, wi’ her wee bairn by her side. Eh! but I’d like to -hear the rights iv that!” - -“The rights o’ what, woman?” - -“The grand wedding pit aff again; the fine bridegroom ganging aff in a -jiffey; this young, bonny leddy and her bairn made so muckle iv by the -whole family. But it’s na gude to speer questions. The minister will na -speak; the doctor will na speak; the vera serving lads and lasses will -na speak, although on ordinary occasions they’re a’ unco fond o’ clackin -their clavers. But we shall hear, gude man! we shall hear! Secrets like -yon canna be kept, e’en gif they be stappit up in a bottle.” - -“Gudewife, ye’ll do weel to gie your attention to your ain proper -business and no meddle wi’ that whilk dinna concern you. The auld -general pit us here to keep the gate, and no to speer questions into his -preevate affairs. And though the situation is na sick a gude ane, it -might be waur. Sae we’ll behoove to gie na offence wi’ meddling,” said -Andy, as he sat down and opened his big Bible to read. - -Meanwhile the Lyon family went on to church, which they entered just as -the organ had ceased playing and the minister was opening his book. - -It was not until after the last lesson of the morning service was over -that the announcement was made: - -“All persons having children present for baptism will now bring them -forward.” - -Our whole party left their pew and proceeded to the front. - -General Lyon, as senior sponsor, took the babe in his arms and presented -him to the minister. Dick as junior sponsor stood by. - -Anna was sole godmother. - -And amid the customary prayers, promises, and benedictions, the child -received the time-honored name of Leonard Lyon. - -On their way home, the whole party congratulated each other with much -affection and cheerfulness. - -But withal, Dick, riding along slowly by the side of the carriage, was -visited with some very serious reflections. He felt the great moral and -religious responsibility of the office he had undertaken. And thus he -communed with himself: - -“General Lyon is aged and cannot be expected to live very much longer. -Anna is a woman. On me must devolve the duty of looking after that boy. -Good Heavens. However did they come to think of making such a good for -nothing dog as I am godfather to that innocent baby? It is enough to -make my hair stand on end to think of it. The fact is, I must strike a -light and look about myself. I must, I positively must and will, -thoroughly mend my ways and reform my life! not only for Anna’s sake—who -knows me already, and takes me for better for worse with her eyes wide -open—but for this innocent babe’s sake, upon whom, without his knowledge -or consent, they have thrust me for a godfather! No more gambling, no -more drinking, no more carousing with scamps, and squandering of money, -Dick, my boy! Remember that you are godfather to Master Leonard Lyon, -and responsible for his moral and religious education. And you must be -equal to the occasion and true to the trust.” - -So profound were Dick’s cogitations that he found himself at Old Lyon -Hall before he was conscious of the fact. - -He sprang from his horse in time to assist the old gentleman and the -young ladies to alight. - -And they all entered the house, where Drusilla was greeted by a pleasant -surprise. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - SURPRISES. - - Were her eyes open? Yes, and her mouth, too; - Surprise has this effect to make one dumb, - Yet leave the gate which eloquence slips through - As wide as if a long speech were to come.—BYRON. - - -The family party first separated to go to their several chambers to lay -aside their outside wrappings and to prepare for their early Sunday -dinner. - -Then they met in the drawing-room. - -Drusilla, who had more to do than the others, was the latest to join -them. - -Her baby, that had slept soundly during the long ride from church, was -now awake and required attention. - -While she was engaged in her sweet maternal duties, she received a -message from General Lyon requesting that his godson might be brought -down into the drawing-room before dinner. - -So as soon as the young mother had made herself and her child -presentable, she went down-stairs, followed by the nurse carrying the -babe. - -On the threshold of the room she paused in pleased surprise, and not so -much at the value of the presents displayed before her, as at the new -instance of kindness on the part of her friends. - -On a round table covered with a fine crimson cloth were laid the -christening offerings, of great splendor for their kind. - -There was a richly chased silver casket filled with gold coins from -General Lyon. There was a baby’s silver gilt service—consisting of -waiter, pap bowl, water jug, and drinking mug, cream pot, sugar basin, -sugar tongs and spoons—from Dick. And there was a coral and bells of the -finest coral, purest gold, and most superb workmanship, from Anna. - -“Dear uncle! dear Anna and Dick, how kind, oh how kind, you all are to -me and my boy! I cannot tell you how much I feel your kindness. I am -very grateful; and I hope, oh, I hope, my dear little Leonard will live -to thank you!” fervently exclaimed Drusilla, pressing the hand of her -aged benefactor to her heart, and lifting her eyes full of loving -gratitude to her young friends, who stood side by side enjoying her -delight. - -“My dear, it gives us as much pleasure to offer you these little tokens -of our affection as it can possibly give you to receive them,” answered -General Lyon, drawing her towards him and touching her forehead with his -lips. - -“It does indeed, sweet cousin,” added Dick. - -And Anna, for her answer, silently kissed the young mother. - -“And now to dinner, which has been announced for twenty minutes,” smiled -the old gentleman, drawing Drusilla’s arm within his own and leading the -way to the dining-room, where a feast of unusual elegance was laid in -honor of the occasion. - -The day closed in serene enjoyment. - -When Drusilla retired to her room that evening, she found that the -christening presents had been transferred from the round table in the -drawing-room to an elegant little cabinet that had been purchased to -receive them, and placed in the nursery. - -Before she went to bed she knelt down and thanked Heaven for the mercies -that now blessed her life. - -As her head rested on her pillow, with the face of the sleeping babe -near her, softly seen by the subdued light of the shaded lamp, she -wondered at the peace that had descended upon her troubled spirit and -made her calmly happy. - -Had she then ceased to love her faithless husband? - -Ah, no! for pure love like hers is of immortal life and cannot die. But -she had ceased to sorrow for him, for sorrow is of mortal birth and -cannot live forever. - -She felt safe under the fatherly care of the fine old head of the -family, cheerful in the company of her affectionate young friends Dick -and Anna, and happy—oh, deeply, unutterably happy!—in the possession of -her beautiful boy. She felt no trouble. - - “Baby fingers, waxen touches pressed it from the mother’s breast.” - -She never heard from Alick; but then, as she did not expect to hear from -him, she was not disappointed. - -She never heard from Cedarwood either; but then as she had left -directions with the servants only to have letters written to her in case -of necessity, she felt that, in this instance, “no news is good news.” - -Mammy was growing rather restive and desirous of returning to her home, -but Drusilla besought her to remain a little longer at Old Lyon Hall. - -“Wait,” she said, “until the next spell of fine weather, when baby will -be able to travel, and I too will return to Cedarwood. I must not stay -away from the home provided for me by my husband, nor yet tax the -hospitality of my dear friends longer.” - -Mammy looked puzzled, for though the faithful old household servants had -carefully forborne to speak of unpleasant family affairs in the presence -of the nurse, whom they looked upon as a stranger and an alien, still -she _had_ heard enough to give her the impression that young Mr. Lyon -had abandoned his wife. Therefore Mammy was rather bewildered by this -talk of returning to Cedarwood. - -“I do not think as the General and the young people will consent to part -with you, ma’am; and indeed I think it will a’most break all their -hearts to lose little Master Leonard,” said the nurse. - -“I know they will not like it, because they are so kind to us—so very -kind, and therefore I have shrunk from mentioning it to them; but my -duty is clear—I must go to my own home and I must advise them of my -purpose without delay.” - -“Well, ma’am, certingly, if they wants your company ever so, they ain’t -got no power to keep you ag’in’ your will; and so, ma’am, if you is set -to go home first fine spell arter Christmas, I reckon as I can wait and -see you safe through,” said the nurse, graciously. - -“Thank you; it will be a great favor,” replied Drusilla. - -The time was drawing near to the Christmas holidays—a season always -hitherto observed by the Lyons with great festivity—when they had been -unbounded in their hospitality and munificent in their presents. - -On this occasion, some five or six days before Christmas, General Lyon -sent Dick to Richmond, armed with a handful of blank checks signed and -left to be filled up at pleasure, and commissioned to purchase the most -elegant and appropriate holiday gifts that he could find for every -member of the family and every household servant; but above all, to get -a handsome perambulator, a crib bedstead, and—a hobby horse for Master -Leonard. - -“Good gracious me, grandpa!” had been Anna’s exclamation on hearing of -this last item, “what on earth do you think a baby of a few weeks old -can do with a hobby horse?” - -“I don’t know, my dear, but I wish to give it to him.” - -“He won’t be able to sit on it for three years to come.” - -“And I may not live to see that time, my dear, and as I wish to give it -to him I must do so now. It can be kept for him, you know. And now, -while we are on the subject, I wish to ask you to have one of the many -rooms in this house fitted up as a play-room for him. Let it be as near -the nursery as possible; and whatever childish treasures I may purchase -may be put there and kept until he is old enough to enjoy them.” - -This conversation had taken place in the presence of Drusilla; but as no -part of it had been addressed to her, she only expressed her gratitude -for the intended kindness by glancing thankfully from one speaker to the -other. - -But she felt more strongly than ever that, however reluctant she might -be to announce her intended departure from such kind friends, it was -incumbent upon her to do so before they should make any material change -in their household arrangements for her sake. - -So after a little hesitation she commenced: - -“Dear friends, while ever I live in this world I shall remember your -goodness to me, and with my last breath I shall pray Heaven to bless you -for it. But——” - -“We have pleased _ourselves_ in this, my dear; so say nothing more about -it,” smiled the old gentleman, laying his hand kindly on her head. - -“Thanks—a thousand thanks, dear sir; but I feel that I must soon leave -you——” - -“Leave us!” echoed General Lyon, Anna and Dick all in a breath. - -“It is time for me to return to my home,” she said, gently. - -“Your home, Drusilla!” said General Lyon, in a grave and tender voice. -“Poor child, where will you find so proper a home as this, where your -relations with us give you the right to stay, and where our affection -for you makes you more than welcome?” - -“Nowhere, indeed, sir, but in the house provided for me, by—_my -husband_,” answered Drusilla, breathing the last two words in a scarcely -audible tone. - -“Ah! he has come to his senses; he has written and entreated you to join -him. For the sake of my faith in human nature I am glad that he has done -so,” said the General. - -“Oh, no, he has not yet written to me,” smiled Drusilla. - -“But you have heard from him?” - -“No, not since that night.” - -“Then what do you mean, my dear, by talking of the home he has provided -for you?” - -“I mean the cottage to which he took me when we were first -married—Cedarwood, near Washington.” - -“Where you suffered such cruel mental anguish as I should think would -render the very thought of the place hateful to you, my poor child,” -said General Lyon, compassionately. - -Drusilla gave him a pleading look that seemed to pray him to say nothing -that might even by implication reproach her absent husband; and then she -added: - -“There were other memories and associations connected with Cedarwood, -dear sir. The first few weeks of my married life were very happy; and my -housekeeping and gardening very cheerful and pleasant.” - -“But all that is changed. Why go back there now?” - -“Because it is my proper home.” - -“Yet—he—that man has not invited you to return?” - -“No, but then I left of my own accord, and now that I am able to travel, -it is my duty to go back, though uninvited. I must not wait to be asked -to return to my post,” said the young wife. - -The General was silent and thoughtful for a moment and then he said, -firmly: - -“My child, you must think no more of this.” - -She looked at him; but hesitated to oppose him, and when she did answer -she spoke gravely and gently: - -“Dear sir, it is _right_ for me to go.” - -“Drusilla, think no more of this, I say,” he repeated, and this time -with an air of assured authority. - -“Dear uncle, why do you say so?” - -“I might answer, it would be too painful to me to part with you and your -boy.” - -“Thanks for saying that, sir. I too, feel that to leave this safe, sweet -old home, and these loving friends, will be very painful; duty often is -so; but not for that must we fail in it.” - -“Drusilla! I repeat that you must not think of taking this step! Not -only has your unworthy——” - -She looked at him so deprecatingly, that he broke off his speech and -began anew. - -“Well, well, I will not wound you if I can help it, my dear!—I say, not -only has your husband not _invited_ you to return to your home, but he -has positively _forbidden_ you to do so. Do you remember, poor child, -the terms he used in discarding you?” - -“Words spoken in the ‘short madness’ of anger. I do not wish to remember -them, dear General Lyon,” she sweetly answered. - -“My child! do you know where to write to him?” - -“Oh no, sir.” - -“Do you think that he will write to you? or do you hope that he will -join you at Cedarwood?” - -“Oh, no, dear uncle! at least, not for a long time. But I hope that he -will feel some interest in his child, and he will inquire about it, and -when he finds out what a beautiful boy it is, he will come to see it; -and then, then—for the boy’s sake he will forgive the mother.” - -“Forgive! Heaven of Heavens, girl! what has he to forgive in you?” -indignantly demanded Anna. - -“That which a man seldom pardons—although it was done from love to him -and his child,” answered Drusilla, in a low voice. - -“Then you really have a hope that he will rejoin you at Cedarwood?” -inquired General Lyon. - -“At some future day, sir, yes.” - -“And in the meanwhile you live alone there?” - -“No, sir, not quite; but with my boy and servants.” - -“And how do you propose to support the little establishment, my dear? -Come, I wish to know your ideas; though I dare say, poor child, you have -never thought of the subject.” - -“Oh yes, dear sir, I have. In the first place, I have nearly fifteen -hundred dollars in money, left at home; that will keep us in moderate -comfort for two years, especially as I have abundance of everything else -on the premises—furniture, clothing and provisions, in the house; and a -kitchen garden, an orchard, poultry yard and dairy, on the place. So, at -the very worst, I could keep a market farm,” smiled Drusilla. - -“But in the meanwhile live alone, or with only your infant babe and your -servants?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Then I tell you, Drusilla, that you must not, shall not do so,” -repeated the General, with emphasis. - -“Oh, sir, why would you hinder me?” she pleaded, lifting her imploring -eyes to his face. - -“For your salvation, dear child,” he answered, very gently. - -“But how for my salvation, dear uncle?” - -“Drusilla, you cannot know, only heaven can know, how difficult, how -_impossible_ it is for a young forsaken wife to live alone and escape -scandal.” - -“But, dear sir, if I do right, and trust in the Lord, I have nothing to -fear.” - -“Poor child! I must answer you in the words of another old bore, as -meddlesome as perhaps you think me. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as -snow, thou shall not escape calumny.” - -“But, sir, in addition to all that, I mean to be very discreet, to live -very quietly with my little household, and to see no company whatever, -except you and Anna, if you should honor me with a visit, and to make no -visits except here.” - -“But you must go to church sometimes; and when your babe is ailing, you -must see a doctor; also it will be necessary occasionally to have your -chimneys swept; and the tax-gatherer will make you an annual visit.” - -“Of course, dear sir,” she smiled. - -“And yet you hope to preserve your good name?—Ah, my dear child, no -forsaken wife, living alone can do so, much less one so very young and -inexperienced as yourself. If the venomous ‘fangs of malice’ can find no -other hold upon you, they will assail you through—the Christian minister -who brings you religious consolation for your sorrows; the family -physician who attends you in your illness, to save your life; to the -legal adviser who manages your business; the tax-gatherer, the -chimney-sweep, or anybody or everybody whom church, state, or need -should call into your house.” - -“Ah, sir! that is very severe! I hope it is not as you think. I believe -better of the world than that,” said Drusilla. - -“When the world has stung you nearly to death or to madness, my dear, -you may judge more truly and less tenderly of it. And now, Drusilla, -hear me. You do not go to Cedarwood; you do not leave our protection -until your husband claims you of us. Let the subject drop here at once, -and forever.” - -Drusilla bowed her head in silence; but she was not the less resolved at -heart to return to Cedarwood, and risk all dangers, in the hope that her -husband might some day join her there. - -But Destiny had decided Drusilla’s course in another direction. - -The event that prevented her return to Cedarwood shall be related in the -next chapter. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - A MESSENGER. - - The boy alighted at the gate, - But scarce upheld his fainting weight; - His swarthy visage spake distress, - But this might be from weariness.—BYRON. - - -In the sunshine of affection and happiness Drusilla grew beautiful and -blooming. She loved her truant Alexander as faithfully as ever, but she -loved him in hope and trust, and not in fear and sorrow. She felt that -he was old enough, big enough and strong enough to take care of himself, -even when out of her sight, while here upon her lap lay a lovely babe, a -gift of the Heavenly Father to her, a soft little creature whose -helplessness solicited her tenderness, whose innocence deserved it, and -whose love will certainly return it. - -Her baby gave her love for love, and the very faintness and feebleness -of its little signs of love, made these sweet infant efforts all the -more touching and pathetic. How could she trouble herself about -Alexander and his doings while her little boy lay smiling in her eyes? - -“Baby lips will laugh him down.” - -“Yes, my darling boy,” she murmured, gazing fondly on his face, “you -will always love me, and when you grow up to be a man you will love me -all the more, because I shall be old and feeble.” And her thoughts -involuntarily reverted to the bearded man who had rejoiced in her health -and beauty, but turned coldly away from her when she was sick and pale, -and most needed his love and care. - -Anna, who was sitting with her, laughed merrily. - -Drusilla looked up, with just a shadow of annoyance on her fair face. -And Anna answered the look: - -“My dear, I laughed at what you said.” - -“Well, but I spoke truth. I know my darling _will_ always love me, and -when he grows up a tall, strong man, and I shall be an old and infirm -woman, he will love me more tenderly than before, because I _am_ old and -infirm,” persisted the fond mother, stooping her lips to her boy’s brow. - -Anna laughed louder than ever. - -“Why, Drusilla,” she said, “you are but sixteen years old. When your son -is grown up, say at twenty, you will be but thirty-six, in the very -maturity of a healthy woman’s strength and beauty. Your son will be your -dearest friend and companion; if you have lost somewhat of the wife’s -happiness, you will have an unusual share of the mother’s joy. You are -still so young, such a mere child yourself, that you may take your -little son by the hand with the prospect of going nearly the whole -journey of life together. You will be his playfellow in his childish -sports; his fellow student in his boyish studies, and his comrade in his -youthful travels. You will go on in life and grow old together—or almost -together.” - -“Oh, so we will. I did not think of it before. I was thinking that the -mother of a grown son must be quite an aged lady. Alick’s mother was -quite aged and infirm.” - -“Yes, because she was forty-four years old when Alick was born, which -makes some difference, you know,’ laughed Anna.” - -There was silence a little while and then Anna said, - -“You will have much joy in your son, if the Lord should spare him to -you, Drusilla.” - -“The Lord _will_ spare him to me. I feel convinced of it,” answered the -young mother reverently. - -“And every year—nay, every month—your joy will increase; for as his -affections and intelligence develop, he will grow more and more -interesting and attractive to you.” - -“It seems to me that he could scarcely ever be more interesting and -attractive than he is now. Look at him, Anna. See how beautiful are his -mute, faint efforts to express the love he feels, but does not -understand. ‘Touch is the love sense.’ He knows that, at least; and see -how his little hands tremble up towards mine and then drop; and see the -smile dawning in his eyes, and fluttering around his lips, as if -uncertain of itself? Will you tell me, at what time of a child’s -existence it is sweeter and lovelier than now in its first budding into -life?” - -Before Anna could answer the question, the door was opened by mammy, who -chirpingly announced: - -“Here is Leo, from Cedarwood, ma’am, bringing letters for you.” - -And she closed the door, leaving Leo standing before his astonished -mistress. - -“It is my footman from my old home, dear Anna,” explained Drusilla. - -Then, turning to the messenger, she held out her hand and said: - -“How do you do, Leo? You have letters for me?” - -Leo slowly took a packet from his pocket, handed them over to his -mistress, and then, lifting both his hands to his eyes, burst out crying -and ROARED as only a negro boy with his feelings hurt can do. - -“Why, what is the matter?” anxiously inquired Drusilla, pausing in the -examination of her letters, in her pity for the distress of the -boy—“What is the matter, my poor Leo?” - -“Oh, mum, it is to see-hee,” sobbed Leo “to see-hee you so well-hell, -and hap-pappy, and to know as I am bring—hing bad news again! Seems like -I was born—horn to be the death of you, ma’am,” said the boy, scarcely -able to articulate through his sobs. - -“I hope not, Leo. Sit down and compose yourself. I trust your master is -well.” - -“Oh yes, mum, he is well enough (_wish to Goodness Gracious he wasn’t!_) -but he’s done, tored up everything and—Boo! hoo! ooo!” cried Leo, -gushing out into such a cataract of tears and sobs that he was forced to -bury his face in his big bandana and sink into a seat. - -“Compose yourself, Leo, and I will read my letters. They will explain, I -suppose,” said Drusilla, opening the packet. - -There were three letters from her lawyers, which she laid aside; and -there was one from her husband, which she opened and read. It ran thus: - - “CEDARWOOD, Dec. 22, 18—. - - “MADAM:—Had you chosen to remain quietly in the home I provided for - you it should have been yours for life, with a sufficient income to - keep it up. But as you voluntarily left it, you have forfeited your - right to return to it, as well as your claims upon me for support. The - place is now dismantled and sold. The messenger who takes this letter - has charge of all your personal effects, and will deliver them over to - you. - - “ALEXANDER LYON.” - -We know the time, not so long since, when the young wife would have -screamed, cried or swooned at the reception of such a letter from her -husband. - -Now, she simply bent forward and laid it on the fire, and when it blazed -up and sank to ashes, she said: - -“It is gone; and now it shall be forgotten.” - -And then she stooped and kissed her babe. - -Leo, stealing an anxious glance at her, misunderstood the movement and -started forward, exclaiming: - -“Oh, mum! don’t go for to faint; please don’t.” - -Drusilla looked at him and smiled kindly, saying - -“I am not likely to do so, my boy. I am strong and healthy now, thank -Heaven! and besides, there is nothing to faint about. I am only a little -sorry that the cottage is sold.” - -“Oh, mum! don’t! I shall cry again if you do! Oh, mum, you used to say -as how you would make that wilderness to bloom and blossom as the rose; -and so you did, mum, lovely! But oh, mum! he have turned the beautiful -place into a howling wilderness again!” bawled the boy. - -“Never mind, Leo, I will get it back again some day and restore all its -beauty,” said Drusilla, smiling. “And now, my boy, where is your -sister?” - -“She have gone back to Alexandria, mum; but sends her love and service -to you, mum.” - -“And the poor pets—the little birds, and the cat and kittens, Leo?” - -“Pina has got them all to take care on for you, ma’am, till you sends -for ’em and for her, cause she considers of herself into your service, -ma’am, which likewise so do I.” - -“And the cow and calf, and the horses, Leo?” - -“They was sold to the people as bought the place, ma’am.” - -“I hope they will be kindly treated.” - -“I hope they will, ma’am; for they did miss you as well as me and Pina -did; and they showed it in every way as dumb creeturs could.” - -“And where did you leave my effects, Leo?” - -“I brought as many trunks as I could on the stage with me, ma’am; and -the rest of the boxes is coming down by wagons. Pina was very careful in -packing everything, ma’am; and here is the money you gave me to keep,” -said Leo, taking a sealed packet from his breast pocket, and handing it -to his mistress. - -“Thanks, my boy; you and your sister have been very faithful, and I -shall certainly retain you both in my service, and at an increase of -wages.” - -“Oh, ma’am, neither me, nor yet Pina is mussenary. We’ll be glad to come -back to you on any terms.” - -“And now, Leo, look here! Here is my baby boy; when the spring comes he -will be big enough for you to take him on your shoulder and ride him -about! Won’t you and he have a good time?” - -“Oh, ma’am, what a purty little creetur! But he’s _very_ little, ain’t -he, ma’am?” said Leo, looking shyly at the baby, which indeed he had -been furtively contemplating ever since he had been in the room. - -“Why, no, Leo; for his age, he is very large, _very_! Who is he like, -Leo! Look and tell me!” - -Leo dutifully looked, and saw well enough who the boy really was like: -but he answered stoutly: - -“He is like you, ma’am, and nobody else.” - -“Oh, look again, Leo! His eyes are open now. _Now_ who is he like?” - -“He is the image of _you_, ma’am, and not another mortial in the wide -world,” repeated Leo, defiantly. - -“How _can_ you say that, you stupid boy? Is he not like his father?” - -“No, mum! not the leastest little bit in life! He is like nobody but -you,” persisted the lad, doggedly. - -“Leo, you are a mole! You have no eyes! Now go down to your mother, and -tell her to make you comfortable.” - -“Thank you, ma’am. I am so glad to see you so well, ma’am, with such a -fine-looking baby. I am so thankful as you don’t take on about thinks -like you used to do,” replied the lad. - -“I am so much better and stronger now, Leo. But go and give my message -to your mother.” - -Leo bowed and left the room. - -“So Alick has sold Cedarwood,” said Anna. - -“Yes.” - -“What a wretch!” - -“_Please_, Anna—-” - -“I can’t comprehend your tenderness for that man, Drusilla! but, there! -I will not wound it if I can help it. I am glad he has sold Cedarwood, -however. It settles the question of your future residence. You must stay -with us now.” - -As Anna spoke, General Lyon entered the room, and came with his pleasant -smile and sat down beside his protégée. - -She turned to him, and, laying her hand in his, said: - -“My fate is decided for me, dear sir. I have no home but this, and no -protector but you.” - -“My darling, I am very glad.” - -Yet, in saying this, the General looked from his adopted niece to his -granddaughter, as if for an explanation. - -Seeing Drusilla hesitate, Anna answered for her. - -“Yes, sir, that vill—I mean Mr. Alexander Lyon—has sold Cedarwood.” - -The General now looked from his granddaughter back to his niece as if -demanding confirmation of the news. - -“Yes,” admitted Drusilla, casting down her eyes—in regret for him, not -in sorrow for herself; “he has sold Cedarwood, but then, you know, dear -sir, that I had left the house.” - -A flush of shame crimsoned the cheek, a frown of anger darkened the brow -of the veteran soldier. - -“And that man calls himself a Lyon and my nephew! I am glad now that -they never called him Leonard! There never was a rascally Leonard Lyon -yet! And I am very glad, my dear, that you did not name our noble boy -here Alexander! The infern——” - -Drusilla raised her hand with an imploring and deprecating gesture. - -“Well, well, my dear, I will try not to offend again. It is true that an -old soldier has a right to swear at his degenerate nephew; but not in -the presence of ladies, I confess. So let the scound—I mean Alick—go. -Yes, let him go, and joy go with him, especially as, setting the -baseness of the act aside, I am really very glad he _has_ sold Cedarwood -for it settles the question of your residence with us, my dear.” - -“And I am glad to stay here,” answered Drusilla, with a smile. “It is -true that I thought it my duty to go back to Cedarwood, and await there -the pleasure of my husband; and I should have risked everything and gone -there, if he had not sold the place. And I know I should have had to -wait long months or years for his return; and I should have been very -lonely and dreary, and should have missed you and dear Anna and Dick -very much. No, upon the whole, I cannot say that I am sorry to be -relieved of the duty of going back to Cedarwood to live alone,” said -Drusilla, frankly. - -“That’s my girl! Sorry? no, I should think you would not be. What should -you want with Cedarwood, trumpery toy cottage, with its little belt of -copsewood, when you have Old Lyon Hall and its magnificent surroundings -of forests and mountains?—to say nothing of having ME and Anna and -Dick!” exclaimed the old man, holding out his hand to his favorite. - -She took it and pressed it to her lips, and then answered: - -“Yet I love the pretty little wildwood home; and some day I will buy it -back again, even if I have to pay twice or thrice its value.” - -General Lyon looked up, surprised to hear the discarded wife and -dependent woman talk so bravely of buying estates at fancy prices, even -as Anna had looked at having heard her speak so freely of retaining her -old servants at double wages. Yet both were pleased, for they said to -themselves—“This proves that she has the fullest confidence in us, and -knows that we will never let her feel a want, even a fantastic or -extravagant want, unsupplied.” And the General answered: - -“That is right, my dear girl. So you shall buy it back—to-morrow, if you -like! or as soon after as we can bring the present proprietor to terms. -Mr. Alexander shall learn that some things can be done as well as -others. But Drusilla, my darling, although we may purchase the place and -restore it, I do not mean to consent that you shall ever return there to -live alone; remember that.” - -“I do not mean to do so, sir. I will never leave you until my husband -calls me back to him,” said Drusilla, giving him her hand. - -“That is right! that is sensible! Now, since you are fond of that little -bird-cage, I will set about buying it for you directly. You shall have -it for a New Year’s gift; and then if you _must_ see the place -sometimes, why we can all go and live there instead of at a hotel, when -we go to Washington for the season.” - -“Oh, how kind, how good you are to me,” breathed Drusilla, in a soft and -low tone, with deep emotion; “but dear sir, do not think that I thank, -or love, or bless you any the less, when I say that I do not wish this -as a gift from your munificent hands. Dear uncle, I am well able to -afford myself the pleasure of possessing my ‘toy cottage.’” - -“Ah! he _has_ provided handsomely for you, after all! Come! his villainy -is a shade less black—I beg your pardon, my child! I won’t again! indeed -I won’t—I mean his—transaction is a shade lighter than I supposed it. -Well, I am glad, for his sake, that he has provided for you. But, -Drusilla, my child, I would not take his money! having denied you his -love and protection I would take nothing else from him.” - -“Dear uncle, although I do not need anything from my Alick except his -love, yet, should he offer anything, I would gratefully accept it, -hoping that his love would follow. But you are mistaken—he has made no -provision for me.” - -“What did you mean then, my dear, by refusing Cedarwood as my gift and -saying that you were able to purchase it yourself?” - -“I have a large fortune in my own right, dear sir.” - -“A fortune in your own right!” echoed Anna, in astonishment. - -“You never mentioned this circumstance before, my dear,” said the -General, in surprise and incredulity. - -“Indeed, I had utterly forgotten it until my servant arrived with these -letters from my solicitors. It was very stupid of me to forget it; but, -dear sir, only think how many more important matters there were to drive -it out of my head,” replied Drusilla, deprecatingly. - -“For my part, I do not think that anything can be more important to you, -in present circumstances than the inheritance of a large fortune. It -_is_ an inheritance, I suppose?” - -“Oh yes, sir,—from my grand-uncle, a merchant of San Francisco.” - -“And how large is the fortune?” - -“I do not know, sir—some millions, I think. Here are the lawyer’s -letters. I have not looked at them yet,” said Drusilla, putting the -“documents” in the hands of her old friend. - -“Astounding indifference!” he murmured to himself as he put on his -spectacles and opened the letters. - -Drusilla and Anna watched him attentively. - -“Why, my dear child, you are a billionaire! You are probably the -wealthiest woman in America!” exclaimed the General, in astonishment. -“That is, if there is no mistake!” he added. “Are you sure you are the -right heiress?” taking off his spectacles and gazing at Drusilla. - -“I am quite sure, sir. There are too few of us to afford room for -confusion. In my grand-uncle’s generation, there were but two of the -family left—himself and his only brother, my grandfather. My -grand-uncle, being a woman hater, lived and died a bachelor. My -grandfather married, and had one only child—my father: who, in his turn, -also married, and had one only child—myself. You see how plain and -simple is the line of descent?” - -“I see,” said the General, reflectively; “but, my dear, it is not -sufficient for a set of facts to be true in themselves, they must be -capable of being proved to the satisfaction of a court of law. Can all -these births, marriages, and deaths be proved, Drusilla?” - -“Oh, yes sir; there are so few of them—they have occurred within so -short a time, comparatively speaking.” - -“In what manner, my dear? Remember, Drusilla, that what might convince -you or me of a fact might not have the same effect upon a court.” - -“All that I have said, dear sir, can be established to the satisfaction -of the most scrupulous court that ever existed by church registers and -court records, family Bibles, tombstones, papers, letters, and personal -friends.” - -“I am glad to hear it. And you know where all these proofs can be -found?” - -“Yes, sir. Many of them, Bibles, letters, documents, and so forth, are -in my possession. All the others are to be found in Baltimore.” - -“Where a large portion of your inheritance lies, and where your lawyers -live?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Yes; well, my dear, if all this is as you suppose it to be—and I have -no doubt that it is so—your way to fortune is clear enough! Let me -congratulate you, my dear, on being, perhaps, the richest woman in -America!” said the General, shaking her hands warmly. - -Anna also heartily added her own congratulations. - -“And now, my child,” said the General, kindly, “let us attend to this -business at once. Your lawyers are naturally displeased and suspicious -at your long delay. As you are not very much of a business woman, you -will let me take these letters to my study and answer them for you.” - -“Oh, if you would be so kind, dear sir, I should be so happy.” - - - - - CHAPTER V. - FORTUNE. - - Fortune is merry, - And in this mood will give us anything—SHAKESPEARE. - - -So General Lyon answered the lawyers’ letters, and in a more -satisfactory manner, it is to be presumed, than Drusilla had ever done. -His illustrious name and exalted position were in themselves enough to -dispel any doubts that the mysterious reticence of the heiress might -have raised in the minds of her solicitors. - -Having sent his letter off to the post-office, and knowing that several -days must elapse before he could hear from the solicitors again, the old -gentleman dismissed the matter from his mind, and addressed himself to -the enjoyment of the Christmas festival now at hand. - -Dick arrived from Richmond on Christmas Eve, having in charge several -large boxes containing the Christmas presents. - -Among them were the crib, the perambulator and the hobby horse, which -were all deposited for the present in the room selected and fitted up by -Anna, as the future play-room of little Master Leonard Lyon. - -Anna’s and Drusilla’s presents consisted of rich and costly furs and -shawls, from the General; and splendid jewels and delicate laces from -Dick. - -The veteran’s gifts were a pair of soft, embroidered velvet slippers and -smoking-cap, from Anna; a warm quilted dressing-gown from Drusilla; and -a new patent reading-chair of unequalled ingenuity, comfort and -convenience, from Dick. - -Dick’s presents were a fowling-piece of the most superior workmanship, -from his uncle; an embroidered cigar case from his betrothed; and a -smoking-cap from Drusilla. - -Besides these, each male and female servant in the house was made happy -in the possession of a new and complete Sunday suit. - -After the distribution of the presents on Christmas morning the family -went to church. - -At the end of the service they returned to an early dinner, and spent -the afternoon and evening in social enjoyment. - -As usual in the Christmas holidays, General Lyon gave one large party, -to which he invited all his friends and acquaintances for thirty miles -around. - -And at this party he formally introduced Drusilla as: - -“My niece, Mrs. Alexander Lyon.” - -And this he did with so much quiet dignity, as in most cases to repress -all expression of surprise from those who could not fail to wonder at -such an introduction. And if any had the temerity to utter their -astonishment, they were courteously silenced by the answer of the -stately old gentleman. - -“Old people cannot and ought not to choose for their sons in affairs of -the heart. I had hoped that my nephew and my granddaughter would have -married each other, for my sake; but I was wrong. They have each chosen -partners for their own sakes; and they were right. Come here, Dick: Sir -and madam, let me present to you Mr. Richard Hammond as my future and -well-beloved grandson-in-law.” - -After that what could the gossips say or do? Of course nothing but bow, -courtesy and congratulate; though some among them, being maliciously -inclined, and envying the young heiress of Old Lyon Hall her beauty and -her wealth, did shrug their shoulders and raise their eyebrows as they -whispered together: That it was very strange Miss Lyon’s marriage being -put off so frequently and she herself at last passed so carelessly from -one bridegroom to another; and that it looked but too likely she would -be an old maid after all; for she was getting on well in years now! - -A very false and spiteful conclusion this, as the beautiful Anna was not -yet twenty-three years old. - -Some even had the ill-luck to inquire of the General, or of Anna, or -Dick: - -“Where is Mr. Alexander Lyon now?” - -But the quiet answer was always the same: - -“In Washington, attending to the sale of some real estate there.” - -And the conversation would be quickly turned. - -With the exception of these annoying questions, implied or directly -asked, and which General Lyon knew must be sooner or later met and -answered, and which he felt had best be settled at once, the party -passed off as pleasantly as any of its predecessors had done. - -On this occasion at least there was no failure upon account of the -weather. There never was a finer starlight winter night to invite people -_out_. - -Nor was there any tampering with the lamps of the long drawing-room; -there never was seen a more brilliantly lighted and warmed saloon to -entice people _in_. - -The music was inspiring; the dancing was animated, the supper excellent. -The festivities were kept up all night. - -And did Drusilla enjoy the party? - -Of course she did. Why not? She could _love_ forever, but she could not -_grieve_ forever. She was experiencing a delightful reaction from her -long depression of spirits. She was young and beautiful, and formed to -give and receive pleasure amid these Christmas festivities. In a rich -white moire antique dress, delicately trimmed with black lace and black -jet, she looked exquisitely pretty. To please her friends and also a -little to please herself she danced—first with General Lyon, who led her -to the head of a set to open the ball; then with Dick, and afterwards -with any others whom her uncle introduced to her. And all who made her -acquaintance were charmed with the beauty and sweetness of the lovely, -childlike creature. - -A refreshing breakfast was served at seven o’clock; after which, the -guests, well pleased, took leave and departed by the light of the rising -sun. - -Early in the new year, “mammy,” well paid for her faithful services and -loaded with tokens of her patient’s good-will, took leave of the family -and of her fellow servants and left Old Lyon Hall to return to her own -home in Alexandria. - -She was attended by Leo, who was commissioned to bring down Pina and the -birds, the dog, the cat, and the kittens; for to mammy’s perfect -content, the brother and sister were again to enter together the service -of Mrs. Lyon. - -“I have brought up my chillum respectable which it is allus my pride and -ambition so to do, and likewise to have them engaged in service long o’ -the old respectable, rustycratic families, which none can be more so -than the Lyonses of Old Lyon Hall, and that to _my_ sartain knowledge, -which has heard of them ever since I was born,” said mammy, on parting -with her gossip, Marcy. “And I hopes, ma’am,” she added, “if you sees my -young people agoing wrong, you’ll make so free for my sake as to correct -them; which their missus, the young madam, is much too gentle-hearted -for to do; but gives them their own head far too much.” - -Marcy gave a promise to have an eye upon the boy and girl—a promise she -was but too likely to keep. - -And so mammy departed, well pleased. - -The very day she left, the wagons from Washington City, containing -Drusilla’s personal effects from Cedarwood, which had been delayed by -the bad condition of the roads, arrived at Saulsburg. - -General Lyon, being duly apprised of the circumstance by a messenger -from the “Foaming Tankard,” sent carts to meet them. - -But more than one day was occupied with the removal. - -For Alexander Lyon, either from pride, compunction, or a faint revival -of the old love, or from all these motives combined, had sent down not -only Drusilla’s wardrobe and books, but every article of furniture that -particularly appertained to her use. And all these were very carefully -packed, so as to sustain no injury from the roughness of the roads over -which they were brought. - -There was first a whole wagon load of boxes filled with the rich and -costly wearing apparel with which he had overwhelmed her in the days of -his devotion. - -Then there was another load composed of her mosaic work-table, sewing -chair, and footstool; her enameled writing-desk, work-box and -dressing-case; her favorite sleepy hollow of a resting-chair; and other -items too numerous to mention. - -The third load comprised her sweet-toned cottage piano, her harp, and -her guitar. - -It took two days to transport these things from Saulsburg to Old Lyon -Hall, and it took two more days to unpack and arrange them all in -Drusilla’s apartments. - -The fond and faithful young wife contemplated these dear familiar -objects with a strange blending of tenderness, regret and hope. Each -item was associated with some sweet memory of her lost home and lost -love. But even now she did not weep; she smiled as she whispered to her -heart: - -“He does not know it, but he loves me still; and some day he will come -and tell me so. I can wait for that bright day, Alick, my Alick, when I -shall place my boy in your arms and tell you how in the darkest hours I -never ceased to love you and never doubted your love!” - -She was absorbed for a little while, and then once more she murmured to -herself in her beautiful reverie: - -“For what would love be if darkness could obscure its light, or wrong -destroy its life?” - -Ah! if this devoted young wife ever does succeed in WINNING HER WAY to -the heart and conscience of her husband, she will do it through the -power of her love and faith alone. - -Before the week was out Drusilla had another pleasure, in the arrival of -Leo and Pina with her pets. - -She received them all with gladness. - -“Oh, ma’am,” exclaimed Pina, “but it does my very heart good to see you -looking so rosy and bright-eyed! And I’m just dying to see young Master -Leonard! And I am to be his nurse, ain’t I, ma’am? And how is the dear -little darling pet? And, oh, I am so glad to see you looking so well and -so happy!” - -“I am very happy to see you also, Pina,” said Drusilla, when the girl -had stopped for want of breath. “I hope you left your mammy well.” - -“Oh, as well as possible, ma’am; but with _baby on the brain_ as sure as -she lives, in regard to talking about little Master Leonard, which she -stands to it is the finest baby as ever she saw among the hundreds and -hundreds as she has had the honor of—of—of——” - -Pina paused for want of words or breath. - -“Of first introducing to their friends and relations,” added Drusilla, -laughingly coming to the girl’s relief. - -“Yes, ma’am, that is the way to put it,” said Pina, approvingly. “But -please, ma’am, may I see little Master Leonard?” she pleaded, eagerly. - -“Go with Matty first, Pina. She will show you the room where you are to -sleep, and which joins the nursery. Wash your face and hands, and change -your traveling dress for a clean one, and then come to my chamber, which -is on the other side of the nursery, and I will show you our baby.” - -“Thank you, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. I am a perfect show for dust and dirt, I -know, and in no state to go nigh a dainty little baby,” said Pina, -courtesying, and then following Matty from the sitting parlor where this -interview had taken place. - -And thus Drusilla’s surroundings at Old Lyon Hall were soon arranged to -her perfect satisfaction. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - ENTERTAINING ANGELS. - - Little can we tell, who share - Our household hearth of love and care; - Therefore with grave tenderness, - Should we strive to love and bless - All who live this little life, - Soothing sorrows, calming strife, - Lest we wrong some seraph here, - Who has left the starry sphere, - Exiled from the heavens above, - To fulfil some mortal love.—T. POWELL. - - -In the course of the next week, one or more from every family who had -been invited to the Christmas party, called, and all who did so, left -cards also for Mrs. Alexander Lyon. - -Besides this, Mrs. Colonel Seymour, the nearest neighbor and most -intimate friend of the Lyons, issued invitations for a large party to -come off on Twelfth Night. And the General, Anna, Drusilla and Dick, -each received one. - -“What shall you wear, Drusilla?” inquired Anna, as the two young women -sat together looking at their cards. - -“Dear Anna, I do not know that I shall go,” answered Drusilla, gravely. - -“Why not?” - -“I have an instinctive feeling that I should live very quietly while -separated from my husband—live, in fact, as I should have lived, if I -had gone back to Cedarwood alone.” - -“If you had gone back to Cedarwood alone, it would have been eminently -necessary for you to have lived the life of a hermit, to save your -reputation from utter ruin; and even then you could not have saved your -character from misconstruction and misrepresentation. But now you are -living with us, which makes all the difference. Here you may freely -enjoy all the social pleasures natural to your youth. The most malignant -stabber of fair fame that ever lived would never dare to assail a lady -who is a member of General Lyon’s family,” said Anna, proudly. “And it -was to secure this freedom of action and these social enjoyments to you, -no less than to shield you from danger that my dear grandfather so -firmly insisted on your remaining with us,” she added. - -“Oh, how can I be grateful enough to him for all his loving kindness to -me? Oh, Anna, under Divine Providence, he has been my salvation!” -exclaimed Drusilla her face beaming with gratitude and affection. - -“I am very glad you came here as you did, my dear and gave him the -opportunity of doing what he has done. He has a great large heart, and -not objects enough to fill it. He is very fond of you and your boy, and -your presence here makes him happier. But ‘to return to our -muttons’—about this party at the Seymours. Now, as to your scruples -about going into company, instead of living secluded on account of -Alexander’s desertion,—dismiss them at once. Leaning on my grandfather’s -arm,—for he is to be your escort, and Dick mine,—you can go anywhere -with safety. But, if there is any other reason why you do not wish to go -to the Seymours, of course you can stay at home. We wish you to use the -most perfect freedom of action, my dear Drusilla, and we will only -interfere when we see you inclined to immolate yourself upon the pagan -altar of your idol. So, in the matter of the party, pray do as you -please.” - -“Then, if you and uncle think it right, I would like very much to go -with you. I enjoy parties. I enjoyed ours very much.” - -“I should think you did. You are not seventeen years old yet, and all -your social pleasures are to come. You were the beauty of the evening, -my little cousin.” - -“Oh no, Anna, oh, no, no, _no_, Anna! that I never could be where _you_ -are!” exclaimed Drusilla, blushing intensely with the earnestness of her -denial. - -“Nonsense! I am an old maid. I am quite _passée_. I am nearly -twenty-three years old, and have been out five seasons!” laughed Anna, -with the imperious disdain of her own words with which a conscious -beauty sometimes says just such things. - -“Oh, Anna, Anna, how can you say such things of yourself? I would not -let any one else say them of you, Anna! Why, Anna, you know you moved -through your grandfather’s halls that night a perfect queen of beauty. -There was no one who could at all equal or approach you!” - -“Nonsense, I say! I overheard several people say that I was not looking -so well as usual—that I had seen my best days, and so forth.” - -“They were envious and spiteful people whom you had eclipsed, Anna, and, -if _I_ had heard them, I should have given them to know it!” - -“_You_, you little pigeon, can you peck?” laughed Anna. - -“Pigeons can peck, and sharply too, I assure you. And I should have -pecked any one whom I heard saying impertinent things of you; but I -heard nothing of the sort—I heard only praises and admiration. But -there! I declare you ought not to disparage yourself so as to oblige me -to tell the truth about you to your face, for, in this case, truth is -high praise, and it is perfectly odious to have to praise a friend to -her face,” said Drusilla. - -“I agree with you. So, if you will let me have the last word and say -that you really _were_ the beauty of our ball, I will consent to drop -the subject. And now for the other one! So you would like to go to the -Seymours?” - -“Yes, very much, for I enjoy parties. I do not think I should like to go -to one every day or even every week; but once or twice a month I really -should enjoy them.” - -“What a moderate little belle! Well, and now comes the next important -question. What are we to wear? Unluckily we cannot order the carriage -and drive down the street to the most fashionable modistes and inspect -the newest styles of dress goods and head-dresses and all that, as if we -were in the city. We are in the country, and must make our toilet from -what we have got in the house. Heigh ho! it is a great bore, being so -far away from shops.” - -“But, oh, Anna, we have got so much in the house. Think of your -magnificent trousseau, with scarcely one of your many dresses touched -yet.” - -“That is all very well. But you know they were made and trimmed between -two and six months ago; and every week something new in the way of -trimmings and head-dresses comes up in town. However, we must do the -best we can. It is a country ball and all the guests will be in the same -case, that is one comfort.” - -“Not one of them will be so well off as you are with your trousseau.” - -“That is true, and that is another comfort, a very selfish one however. -Well, let me see, I think I will wear my light blue taffeta, with a -white illusion over it, looped up with bluebells and lilies of the -valley, with a wreath of the same. How will that do?” - -“It will be very pretty and tasteful.” - -“And you, my darling? What have you to wear? You know my dresses fit -you, and my wardrobe is quite at your service.” - -“Thanks, dear Anna; but I have a great plenty of dresses that have never -been worn, and of dress goods that have never been made up. In the first -weeks of our married life my dear Alick bought every rich and pretty -thing he could lay his hands on for me.” - -“Very well, then. What shall you wear?” - -“You know that being in the second year of my mourning, I am restricted -to black and white. I think a black illusion over black silk, with the -sleeves and bosom edged with ruches of white illusion; pearl necklace -and bracelets, and half open white moss roses in my hair and on my -bosom; white kid gloves and a white fan. There, Anna dear, I have given -you a complete description of my intended toilet.” - -“And nothing could be prettier. Here comes grandpapa!” - -And at that moment the old gentleman entered the room. - -“Well, my dears, if we _are_ immured in the country at this festive -season of the year, we are not likely to be very dull, are we?” smiled -the old gentleman, holding out his card. - -“No indeed, sir; that we are not! But what do you think of Drusilla -here? She was really meditating upon the propriety of giving up all -society, and living the life of a recluse,” said Anna, mischievously. - -“Well, if such a life is so much to her taste, we have no sort of right -to object,” the old man replied, in the same spirit of raillery. - -“But it is not to her taste. Drusilla is formed by nature and -disposition to enjoy all innocent social pleasures. But she imagined -that in her peculiar circumstances it became her duty to retire from the -world altogether.” - -The veteran turned his clear eyes kindly on his protégée, and taking her -hand, said: - -“My dear child, when I gave you a daughter’s place in my heart and home, -and took a father’s position towards you, I became responsible for the -safety of your fair fame as well as for your person. Both are perfectly -secure under my protection. No one will venture to assail the one more -than the other. Go wherever Anna goes, enjoy all that she enjoys. It is -even well that you should have the harmless recreations natural to your -youth, and that she should have a companion of her own sex. And I shall -always be your escort.” - -Drusilla pressed the old man’s hand to her heart and lips; it was her -usual way of thanking him. - -And this quite settled the question, if it had not been settled before. - -When Twelfth Day came, Anna and Drusilla, beautifully attired in the -dresses they had decided upon, and escorted by General Lyon, and Dick, -went to the Seymours’ party. - -As at the Christmas ball, Drusilla’s beauty created a great sensation; -not, indeed, that she was more beautiful than Miss Lyon, but her beauty -was of a fresher type. As before, General Lyon was her first partner, -and Richard Hammond her second. And after that, there was great rivalry -among the candidates for the honor of her hand. But she danced only -quadrilles; and only with those presented to her by her uncle. This -ball, like all country balls was kept up all night. But General Lyon’s -age and Drusilla’s maternal solicitude, both rendered it expedient that -they should retire early. So a few minutes after twelve, the old -gentleman and his protégée took leave, promising that the coachman -should have orders to return at daylight and fetch Anna and Dick home. - -After this followed other parties given by the country gentry. And to -all of them the Lyons were invited, and in all the invitations Drusilla -was included. And the lovely young wife was admired by all who saw her, -and beloved by those who came to know her well. - -Occasionally, embarrassing questions were asked by those who had more -curiosity than tact, but they were always skilfully parried by the party -to whom they were put. - -For instant, when some old crony would venture to ask the General how it -was that Mr. Alick had married this clergyman’s orphan daughter when all -the world supposed him to be about to marry his cousin Anna, the General -would answer as before: - -“That projected marriage was a plan of mine and of my brother’s; and as -it was based upon our own wishes rather than on the affections of our -young people, it did not succeed, and did not deserve to do so. The aged -cannot choose for the young in affairs of the heart. My nephew married -this charming girl privately one year ago, and the ceremony was repeated -publicly in my house two months since. I gave the bride away. And I am -very much charmed with my niece. My granddaughter Anna, and my -grandnephew, Richard Hammond, will be united in a few months.” - -“But where is the happy bridegroom now?” might be the next question. - -“Alexander is in Washington negotiating the sale of real estate,” would -be the answer. - -Sometimes a troublesome questioner, in the form of some young friend or -companion would assail Anna, in some such way as this: - -“Well, we were never more surprised in our lives than when we found out -that Alick Lyon had married a parson’s daughter without a penny. We -thought you were going to take him, Anna?” - -“But I preferred Dick,” would be Anna’s frank reply. - -“Then I suppose he married the clergyman’s daughter in a fit of pique.” - -“Not at all; it was in a fit of love.” - -“And she quite penniless.” - -“I beg your pardon, she is a very wealthy woman.” - -“What! the clergyman’s daughter?” - -“Yes, for she is a billionaire’s niece, and a sole heiress.” - -“Oh! then it was a mercenary match?” - -“Not at all, for he knew nothing of her fortune when he married her. And -now, also, please remember you are speaking of my cousins.” - -“Beg your pardon, Anna! I mean no harm; and you know you and I are such -old, old friends!” - -Very often it would be Richard Hammond who would be called to the -witness stand with a— - -“Hillo, Dick! so you are a lucky dog after all! How was it now? Come, -tell us all about it! Did you cut Alick out with Anna, or did the pretty -little parson’s daughter cut Anna out with Alick?” - -“Each one of us cut all the others out,” Dick would reply, with owl-like -gravity. - -“Eh? what? stop, don’t go away! How can that be? We don’t understand!” - -“Well, if you don’t that’s your look out. _I_ can’t make you -understand.” - -And so Dick would turn off impertinent inquiry. - -Fortunately, also, everywhere Drusilla’s face and manners inspired -perfect confidence and warm esteem. No one could look on her, or hear -her speak, and doubt her goodness. - -“It is very queer. There’s a screw loose somewhere; but whoever may be -wrong, _she_ is all right,” was the verdict of the neighborhood in the -young wife’s favor. - -Meanwhile a very brisk correspondence went on between General Lyon on -one part, and Messrs. Heneage and Kent (Drusilla’s lawyers) on the -other. The General soon convinced the legal gentlemen that Anna Drusilla -Lyon, born Stirling, was the heiress of whom they were in search. - -Still, where so much was at stake, they were bound to be very cautious -and to receive nothing, not the very smallest fact, upon trust. - -So, though General Lyon very seldom troubled Drusilla with this -correspondence, he did sometimes feel obliged to come to her for -information as to where a certain important witness was to be found; in -what cemetery a particular tombstone was to be looked for; or in what -parish church such a marriage had been solemnized, or such a baptism -administered. - -And Drusilla’s prompt and pointed answers very much cleared and -expedited the business. - -In a more advanced stage of affairs it seemed that she would have to go -up to Baltimore; but General Lyon would not hear of her taking any -trouble that he could save her; so he wrote to the legal gentlemen, -requesting one of the firm to come down to Old Lyon Hall in person, or -to send a confidential clerk, and promising to pay all expenses of -traveling, loss of time, and so forth. - -In answer to this letter, Mr. Kent, the junior partner, arrived at the -old hall early in February. - -He was armed with a formidable bag of documents and he was closeted all -day long with General Lyon in the study. - -One can have no secrets from one’s lawyer any more than from one’s -physician or confessor; and so General Lyon felt constrained to tell Mr. -Kent of the existing estrangement between the heiress and her husband. - -“And what I particularly wish,” said the General, confidentially and -earnestly, “is that the whole of this large inheritance, coming as it -does from _her_ family, may be secured to her separate use, -independently of her husband.” - -“And that, you are aware, cannot be done, except though a process of -law. She must sue for a separate maintenance. Even in such a case I -doubt whether the court would adjudge her the _whole_ of this enormous -fortune, or even the half of it. Still it is her only resource,” -answered Lawyer Kent. - -“A resource she will never resort to. It would be vain and worse than -vain to suggest it to her. She worships her husband; and it is through -no fault of hers that they are estranged. Indeed it was through -consideration for him that she was so reticent last year, as to raise -suspicions in your mind that her claim to the estate was an unjustly -assumed one.... No, Mr. Kent, we must take some other course to secure -the inheritance to her, and without saying a word to her on the subject -either.” - -“There is no other way, sir, but by such a suit as I have suggested.” - -“Pardon me I think there is. Mr. Alexander Lyon has deserted his wife -and child and failed to provide for them. Such is not the course of an -honorable man. Still, as some of the same sort of blood that warms my -own old heart runs also in his veins, there must be some little sense of -honor sleeping somewhere in his system. We must awaken it and appeal to -it. He must of his own free will make over all his right, title and -interest in this inheritance to his injured young wife.” - -“Does he know of this inheritance, sir?” - -“Not one word, I think.” - -“Do you believe that he will act as you wish?” - -“I have not the least doubt of it. Without this fortune of his wife, he -is as rich as Crœsus; and he is also as proud as Lucifer. Having -discarded her, he would not touch a penny of her money, if it was to -save his own life or hers. So it is not because I think he would waste, -or even use her means, that I wish her fortune settled upon herself, but -because I wish her to be totally independent of him and to be able to do -her own will with her own money.” - -“I see,” said Mr. Kent. “Where is Mr. Alexander Lyon now?” - -“In Washington City, where I would like you to call upon and apprise him -of this large inheritance and of our wishes in regard to it.” - -“I will do so with pleasure. Pray give me your instructions at large, -and also a letter of introduction to Mr. Lyon.” - -“I had almost sworn never to hold any communication with that man again. -But for his wife’s dear sake I will write the letter. And now Mr. Kent, -there is our first dinner-bell. Allow me to ring for a servant, who will -show you to a chamber prepared for you. I will await you here and take -you to the dining-room.” - -The dust-covered lawyer bowed his thanks and followed the servant who -was called to attend him. - -At dinner that day, the lawyer, for the first time met his beautiful -client, Mrs. Alexander Lyon. And with all his experience of mankind, -great was his wonder that any man in his sober senses could have -abandoned such a lovely young creature. - -Mr. Kent stayed two days at Old Lyon Hall, and then, primed with -instructions and with a letter to Alexander, he left for Washington and -Baltimore. - -It happened just as General Lyon had predicted. - -Alexander, sulking at his apartments in one of the most fashionable -hotels in the Capital, received the lawyer’s visit and his uncle’s -letter. - -He was immeasurably astonished at the announcement of his wife’s -inheritance of an enormous fortune. At first, indeed, he listened to the -intelligence with scornful incredulity; but when convinced beyond all -doubt of the truth, his amazement was unbounded. He had never before -heard of the California billionaire, and could not now realize the fact -that poor Drusilla was a great heiress. He scarcely succeeded in -concealing from the lawyer the excess of his amazement. He was, -literally, almost “stunned” by the news. - -The lawyer’s time was precious; so, barely giving Mr. Alexander a minute -to recover his lost breath, and acting upon General Lyon’s instructions -he proposed to the husband to resign the whole of her newly-inherited -wealth to his discarded wife. - -Alexander arose, a proud disdain curling his lips and flashing from his -eyes, and answered haughtily: - -“Unquestionably, sir! Prepare the proper papers with your utmost -despatch. I had intended to sail for Europe in Saturday’s steamer, but I -will forfeit my passage and wait here until these deeds shall be -executed; for I could no more bear to hold an hour’s interest in her -inheritance than I could bear any other sort of ignominy. How soon can -the documents be ready?” - -Mr. Kent could not tell within a day or two—lawyers never can, you -know. But he engaged to prepare them very early in the next week, in -time for Mr. Lyon to embark upon his voyage on the following Saturday. - -And so Lawyer Kent went on his way to Baltimore musing: - -“He is a splendid fellow, and she is a sweet young creature; they are an -admirable pair! What the mischief can have come between them?—ah, the -devil, of course!” - -Mr. Kent was as good as his word. On Tuesday morning, he placed the -requisite deeds in the hands of Mr. Lyon, who, in the presence of -several witnesses and before a notary-public, formally signed, sealed, -and delivered them again into the custody of the lawyer. - -And, on Thursday evening, Mr. Kent arrived at Old Lyon Hall, to announce -the successful termination of the whole business, and to congratulate -his client on her accession to one of the largest fortunes in America. - -“And I think, my dear,” whispered General Lyon to his protégée, “that -you cannot better show your sense of these gentlemen’s zeal in your -cause than by making them your agents in the management of your -financial affairs.” - -“I perfectly agree with you, my dear uncle. Tell them so, please,” -replied Drusilla. - -And so it was arranged; and Mr. Kent went on his way rejoicing, “having -made a good thing of it.” - -“And Alick has signed over to me all his material interest in my -fortune! Well, I know he did not need any part of it; but he would have -been welcome, oh, so heartily welcome, to the whole. At most, I only -should have wanted enough to buy back dear Cedarwood,” said Drusilla to -her gossip, Anna, as they sat together in the nursery. - -“He did right. How _could_ he have done otherwise under the -circumstances? Even _you_, with all your loving faith, must have -despised him if, after forsaking you, he had taken any part of your -fortune,” said Anna. - -Drusilla blushed intensely, at the bare supposition that her Alick could -do anything to make her loyal heart despise him, and she answered -warmly: - -“But he did not do it! He would never do such a thing. If my Alick has -ever erred it has been under the influence of some great passion -amounting almost to madness! He would not do wrong in cold blood.” - -Anna did not gainsay her. Miss Lyon had quite given up arguing with the -young wife on the subject of her husband’s merits. If Drusilla had -chosen to assert that Alexander was the wisest of sages, the bravest of -heroes and the best of saints, Anna would not openly have differed with -her. But now she turned the conversation from his merits to his -movements. - -“Alick sails for Europe to-morrow,” she said. - -“Yes, so Mr. Kent says. But do you know what steamer he goes in, Anna? -Mr. Kent did not happen to name it, and I shrank from asking him.” - -“There is but one—the Erie. I suppose, of course, he goes on that. -However, on Monday we shall get the New York papers, and then we can -examine the list of passengers, and see if his name is among them,” said -Anna. - -And with that answer the young wife had to rest satisfied. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - HALCYON DAYS. - - A course of days, composing happy weeks, - And they as happy months; the day is still - So like the last, as all so firm a pledge - Of a congenial future, that the wheels - Of pleasure move without the aid of hope.—WORDSWORTH. - - -Very early on Monday morning Jacob Junior was dispatched to Saulsburg to -meet the mail and fetch the papers. The messenger was so diligent that -he brought in the bag and delivered it to his master while the family -sat at breakfast. - -There were no letters for anybody, but all the last Saturday’s papers -had come. - -General Lyon distributed them. A New York evening journal fell to Anna’s -share. She turned immediately to look for the news of the outward bound -steamers. She soon found what she was in search of. And as Alick’s name -was still a tacitly dropped word in the presence of her grandfather, she -silently passed the paper to Drusilla, and pointed to the list of -passengers for Liverpool who sailed by the Erie, from New York, on the -Saturday previous. - -Drusilla looked and read among them: - -“_Mr. Alexander Lyon and two servants._” - -Drusilla nodded and smiled, saying in a low voice: - -“It is better so, for the present. I hope that he will enjoy himself and -come home in a happier frame of mind.” - -“Of whom are you speaking, my child?” inquired the General, raising his -eyes from a report of the last great debate in the Senate. - -“Of Alick. He sailed in the Erie for Liverpool on last Saturday,” -answered Drusilla, quite calmly. - -“Ah! he did? Well, I think it about the best thing he could have done. I -hope he will stay there until he comes to his senses. Joy go with him!” -heartily exclaimed the old gentleman. - -“Dear uncle!” pleaded Drusilla. - -“Well, my dear, what now?” I said, “Joy go with him. That was a -benediction, was it not?” - -“I thought it was a sarcasm,” said Drusilla, archly. - -The General coughed slightly and returned to the perusal of the debate. - -So Mr. Alexander had betaken himself to parts unknown, and Drusilla was -by no means broken-hearted on that account. - -All the tears she was ever destined to shed for him seemed already to -have fallen; all the heart-aches she was ever to feel for him seemed -already to have been suffered and forgotten. - -Understand once for all that, though she loved him as faithfully and -hoped in him as trustfully as ever, she no longer mourned his absence. - -I repeat it—she could love forever and hope forever, but she could not -grieve forever—not with her beautiful bright boy before her eyes. - -It was delightful to see the young mother at this time of her life. She -was the sunshine of that sweet old home. All the joyousness, hopefulness -and truthfulness of childhood seemed to have returned to her; or, -rather, as her own childhood had not been a particularly happy one, to -have come to her for the first time with her child. - -She sang in her nursing chair, or at her needle-work, all the morning; -she sang at the piano, or the harp, or sang duets with Anna or Dick in -the evening. She had a clear, sweet, elastic voice, a pure soprano, -perfectly adapted to the bird-like carols that she most favored. - -General Lyon, whose passion for music had survived all other -enthusiasms, and had even increased with his declining years, seemed -never to grow weary of her delicious notes. - -This pleased Anna. - -“Dear grandpa,” she would often repeat, “I am so glad you have her here; -and will have her with you when Dick takes me away. It will be such a -comfort to me to feel you are not lonesome.” - -“I don’t know how that may be, my dear. The more I see of our darling, -the more inclined I am to think that fellow will come to his senses and -claim her from us before we are willing to resign her. And _then_ what -shall I do?” the old man once inquired, with a sigh. - -And then Drusilla put her hand in his, and looked up in his eyes with -all a daughter’s devotion, and answered: - -“Dear uncle, you sheltered me when I had not a friend in the world. You -saved my life and my boy’s life. You gave him your name, and gave us -both a home. And I will never leave you alone, never—not even for _him_ -will I leave you, until Anna and Dick come home from their bridal tour -to leave you no more.” - -“I know it, my child, I know it; I need no assurance from you to teach -me how unselfish you are. But, my dear girl, do you think I would permit -you to sacrifice your happiness for my sake? No, dear Drusilla, when our -prodigal comes to himself and seeks your love again, you will be ready -and eager to be reunited to him and you must go with him, although I -should be left alone. And this for _your_ happiness, which must not be -sacrificed for me.” - -“Happiness? sacrificed? Oh, uncle! father, dear, dear friend! you do not -know my heart. The happiness would be in staying with you to solace your -solitude; the sacrifice would be in leaving you alone. I _could_ not and -_would_ not do it, no, not even for my dear Alick. Nor would he wish it; -for when he ‘comes to himself,’ as you say, he will come to his better, -nobler self,—his just and true self.” - -“Ah! my darling, you have great faith in that man.” - -“Because I judge him by the whole tenor of his past life, and not by the -last few months of moral insanity!” - -“May Heaven justify your faith, my dear,” replied the veteran. - -Soon after the Christmas and New Year’s festivities were over, Richard -Hammond made a move towards terminating his visit. But poor Dick’s -nature was so perfectly transparent that every one knew it was a most -reluctant move. General Lyon, Anna and Drusilla all knew that Dick was -very desirous of staying at Old Lyon Hall, and they all felt that the -“unlucky dog,” would be much safer with his relations in the country -than among his “friends” in the city. So when Dick at length named an -early day in February for his departure, the General said: - -“Nonsense, boy, stay where you are.” - -“I should be glad enough to stay,” Dick frankly answered, “but you see I -feel I am trespassing. Bless my soul and life, sir, I have been here -nearly three months.” - -“What of that? Stay three years. Stay three centuries if you live so -long. My boy, all counted, we are but four; not enough to crowd this big -old house; not enough to fill it, or half fill it. So, if you find -yourself at ease among us, remain with us.” - -“But you see, dear grandpa,” said Anna, wickedly, “he is _not_ at ease -among us. He is very restless with us. He is longing to get back to the -city. He is pining for the society of his esteemed friends—the gallant -Captain Reding and the brave Lieutenant Harpe.” - -“Oh, Anna, Anna! that was bloodthirsty!” said Dick in a grieved and -outraged manner. - -“Then if that is not so, what is the attraction to the city, Dick?” -laughed Anna. - -“Nothing at all. You know that as well as I do.” Anna did know it, but -for all that she answered maliciously: - -“Then I can’t think why you wish to leave us.” - -“I _don’t_ wish to leave you. I would much rather stay. I have been here -so long, I might well suppose that I had worn out my welcome. But as you -and uncle are kind enough to tell me that I have not, I _will_ stay, and -‘thank you too,’ as the girl said to the boy that asked her to have -him.” - -“And don’t take it into your head again, Dick, that you are wearing out -your welcome. When we get tired of you, Dick, I will take it upon myself -to send you about your business.” - -“Very well, Anna. I hope you will do so.” - -In truth, Dick had enough to keep him in the neighborhood. Hammond House -and Hammondville, forming the greater portion of the landed estate he -had recently inherited, lay within a few miles of Old Lyon Hall. - -The whole place was now in charge of a resident bailiff who was -instructed to put it in thorough repair for the reception of its new -master. And these repairs were going on as fast as circumstances would -permit. - -The outdoor work was of course frequently suspended during the -inclemency of the weather. But the house was filled with carpenters, -plasterers, painters and paperhangers. - -And it was well that Dick should occasionally ride there to overlook -these workmen. The most careful instructions are not often carried out, -under these circumstances, without the frequent presence of the master. - -It was thought expedient also that Anna, whose home it would sometime -be, should be taken into the counsels and accompany Dick in his visits -of inspection to Hammond House. And whenever the weather permitted she -went there with him. - -Hammond House was not to be their permanent home, however. During the -life of General Lyon, they were to live at Old Lyon Hall. - -Three times a week, when the mail came into Saulsburg and the letters -and papers were brought to Old Lyon Hall, Drusilla turned to the -ship-news. At length she saw announced the safe arrival of the Erie at -Liverpool. And then she knew that was the last of even indirect news she -might hope to hear of Alexander. - -But she was not depressed on that account. Her faith, hope and love were -strong. Everybody was very good to her. Her baby boy was growing in -strength, beauty and intelligence. - -The spring was to be early this year. The latter days of February were -bright and lovely harbingers of its quick approach. - -In the finest hours of the finest days Drusilla took her baby out for -short drives around the park—the nurse dragging the little carriage and -the mother walking by its side, and Leo often following to open gates or -remove obstacles. - -There was not unfrequently a high dispute between the brother and sister -as to who should take care of the baby. - -Leo insisted that as the baby was a boy, it was _his_ right to have -charge of him, and declared that he could see no fitness at all in a -girl setting herself up to nurse a boy. - -Pina retorted that such a thing as a male nurse never was heard of -either for male or female child. - -Leo would then bring forward his mistress’s promise that he himself -should have a good time with little Master Leonard, riding him about on -his shoulder. - -Pina would request him to give that piece of information to the -“horse-marines,” who might be credulous enough to believe his story. As -for herself, she rejected it totally and held fast by her own rights as -sole nurse by appointment of her mistress. - -Through all these quarrels one fact was evident—the devotion of the -brother and sister to the young child and his mother, of whom it might -almost be said that their servants were ready to lay down their lives in -their service. - -Drusilla had not given up her favorite project of purchasing Cedarwood. -She had written and instructed her attorneys to make overtures to the -present proprietors of the place, for that purchase. She told them that -she knew of course the people who had so recently purchased the property -would want a very handsome bonus before they would consent to part with -it again so soon; and that she was prepared to satisfy their demands, as -she preferred to pay an exorbitant price for the place rather than miss -its possession. - -Her attorneys, who were long-headed men of business, in no way given to -sentiment or extravagance, wrote in reply that they hoped with a little -patience and good management to buy the estate at something like a fair -valuation. - -So Drusilla agreed to wait. - -Meanwhile General Lyon had not forgotten that he had promised to -purchase Cedarwood, and bestow it upon Drusilla as a New Year’s present. -And he also set about negotiating for his purpose. - -This reached the ears of Drusilla’s lawyers, who immediately wrote to -ask her if she was aware that her uncle, also, was after the place. - -Drusilla was not aware of the fact; but now that she heard of it, she of -course understood that the General could only be seeking it for her -sake. - -So she went to the old gentleman and assured him that as much as she -loved him, she could not possibly receive so magnificent a present from -his hands, but very much desired to purchase the estate with her own -funds. - -General Lyon laughed, and assured her that his only motive in trying to -buy Cedarwood was to keep his word to her; but that, if she released him -from it, he was ready to give up the project. “For he was well aware,” -he said, “that to bestow property on a lady who owned warehouses piled -with merchandise in Baltimore and San Francisco, and merchant ships at -sea trading to all parts of the world, besides bank stock and railway -shares in almost every State, and gold mines in California, to bestow a -little bit of property on such a billionaire would simply be to send -coals to Newcastle.” - -So the General wrote and stopped the proceedings of _his_ lawyers. - -And Drusilla wrote and told _hers_ to go ahead as fast as they saw fit. - -But it was April before any measure of importance was taken. Then -Messrs. Heneage & Kent, who had been as active and as artful as -detectives in the business, wrote to inform their client that they had -discovered that the present proprietor of Cedarwood, who was a person of -very restless disposition and unsettled habits, had become dissatisfied -with the place and was anxious to dispose of it, and would do so -immediately if he could sell it for as much as he gave for it. Now, as -Alexander Lyon had sold the estate at some sacrifice during his fit of -fury, it was therefore supposed to be a good bargain. The lawyers wrote -to ask further instructions from their client. - -Drusilla by return mail directed them to buy Cedarwood immediately, as -her great desire was to possess it as soon as possible, on any terms. -She also requested them to buy as much of the wooded land around -Cedarwood as they could get at a reasonable, or even at a slightly -unreasonable price, as she intended to improve the place as much as it -would admit of, and wished, among other things, to have a little home -park. - -It was well for this young Fortunata that her attorneys had much more -prudence than herself. They were not disposed to pay fancy prices for -fancy places, even when they were spending their client’s money instead -of their own, and getting a good percentage on it. So they managed -matters so well that, by the first of May, the whole business was -successfully completed. - -Cedarwood, with its original twenty-five acres of partially cleared -land, was purchased for twenty thousand dollars, and one hundred acres -of wild forest land lying all around it was purchased for thirty -thousand—the whole property costing fifty thousand. - -“A very excellent investment,” wrote Heneage & Kent, “even as a mere -country seat; but the land so near the city is rapidly rising in value; -and when you may wish to do so in future years, you may divide it into -half a hundred villa sites, and sell each part for as much money as you -now pay for the whole.” - -But Drusilla was not thinking of land speculations, so she ran to her -friends and, after telling them of the completion of the purchase of -Cedarwood, she exclaimed: - -“And now we shall have such a beautiful home near the city to receive us -all when we go to Washington to spend the winter. It will be so much -better than a hotel or boarding-house in the city. It is only half an -hour’s drive from the Capitol. We can live there so comfortable, and as -quiet as we please when we wish to be so, and enter into all the -amusements of the city we like when we wish to do so. It will only be to -start half an hour earlier when we go to a party or a play, half an hour -earlier from Cedarwood than we should from a hotel in the city, I mean. -And then when we leave a brilliant ball-room or opera-house, it will be -so pleasant to come to a sweet, quiet home in the woods, instead of a -noisy, unwholesome hotel—don’t you think so, dear uncle?” she said, -appealing to the General. - -“Yes, my darling, I do,” answered the old gentleman. - -“And shall you like the plan?” - -“Very much, my dear child. I never could sleep well at any of the hotels -in Washington or in any other city, for that matter. The noise of the -carriages in the streets always kept me awake nearly all night.” - -“And you, Anna—shall you like it?” - -“Of course I shall. I detest hotels. The clean face towels always smell -sour or fetid, for one thing. And boarding houses and furnished lodgings -are almost as bad.” - -“I am delighted! So in future I and my baby shall be _your_ guests at -Old Lyon Hall or at Hammond House during the summer, and you all shall -be my guests at Cedarwood all the winter. And I shall write to “mammy,” -and offer her and her husband the situations of housekeeper and head -gardener there, at liberal wages. And they would keep the house and -grounds always in good order, and ready to receive us. Will not that be -pleasant, Dick?” - -“Pleasant!” exclaimed Mr. Hammond enthusiastically; “it will be -perfectly delightful.” - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - THE END OF PROBATION. - - From that day forth, in peace and joyous bliss, - They lived together long, without debate; - No private jars, nor spite of enemies, - Could shake the safe assurance of their state.—SPENSER. - - -Besides the natural geniality and sociability of his disposition, which -always moved General Lyon to bring his friends and relations about him, -there were other and even stronger motives that urged him to invite -Richard Hammond to remain at Old Lyon Hall. The old gentleman wanted to -save “the unlucky dog from his friends,” and also he wanted to study -him. - -And as weeks and months of close companionship in the seclusion of the -country house passed away, he _did_ study him. And apparently the study -was satisfactory. - -All poor Dick’s impulses were altogether good. Indeed, it was through -the very goodness of his nature that he so often came to grief. - -Dick could not bear to say No; and not only ever to his friends, but not -even to his enemies, for his salvation, Dick could not endure to inflict -pain, not only ever upon good people but not even upon sinners. And -these amiable traits in his character were used by evil-disposed people -to his injury. - -There was indeed so much of the woman in Dick’s gentle and lively nature -that very few women could have loved him as Anna did. But then there was -enough of the man in Anna’s nature to produce an equilibrium of the -sexes in their union. - -General Lyon noticed all this, and he noticed something else—namely, -that though Dick and Anna certainly loved each other devotedly, they -bore their probation with exemplary patience. - -This touched the heart of the veteran, but still he would not shorten -the time. - -Moreover, he felt the infirmities of age creeping upon him, he knew that -at his years life was extremely precarious, and he certainly wanted to -see another generation of Lyons in lineal descent from himself before he -should go home and be no more on earth. - -Yet for all this he would not hasten the marriage of Dick and Anna. - -Drusilla, with her quick perceptions and warm sympathies, read the -hearts of all around, and wished to make them happy. - -Like an artful little angel as she was, she chose her opportunity well. - -It was a lovely day in the latter part of April, and General Lyon and -herself were sitting alone together in a front parlor where windows -opened upon a conservatory in full bloom. - -Dick and Anna were gone on a visit of inspection of the works at Hammond -House. - -The General had little Leonard in his arms. - -Drusilla was sewing beside them. - -“Ah, my dear, you do not know how much this little fellow adds to my -happiness!” he said. - -“I am always so glad and grateful to hear you say that, dear uncle, and -I hope little Leonard as he grows in intelligence will be more and more -of a comfort to you,” she replied; and then, after a little pause, she -said: - -“But if little Leonard, who is only my son, gives you so much content, -how much joy Anna’s children will give you!” - -“I don’t know, my dear: and, besides, I may not live to see them.” - -“Dear uncle, you will live many years yet.” - -“I cannot hope to do that, my dear. I am past seventy. I have already -lived out the threescore and ten years allotted as the natural term of a -man’s life.” - -“But, dear uncle, I think all nature teaches us that a CENTURY is the -natural term of a man’s life.” - -“A pleasant theory, my child. I wish it were a true one.” - -“But I think it is a true one.” - -“Why do you think so?” - -“From analogy. All natural philosophers and historians who have made the -nature and habits of the animal creation their study have agreed upon -this fact; that all healthy animals, unless their lives are terminated -by violence, live five times as long as it takes them to grow up. Now it -takes the human animal twenty years at least to grow to maturity; -therefore the human animal really should live five times twenty years, -which makes a round hundred or a CENTURY; and I firmly believe it is -intended for him to live that long, if he only acted in accordance with -the laws of life and health. And, dear uncle, you seem always to have -acted so, and therefore I think you may safely calculate upon living out -your century and then dying the gentle death of mere old age.” - -“There is a certain reasonableness in your theory, my little -philosopher.” - -“And there is a roundness and completeness in this full century of life -which is so satisfactory,” said Drusilla, heartily. - -“Yes, my dear, especially to those who love this planet Earth, with all -her failings, as I confess I do,” smiled the old gentleman. “And -besides, I would like to see Anna and Dick happily married, with a -thriving family of boys and girls about their knees.” - -“Then, dear uncle, why not let them marry at once?” pleaded Drusilla. - -“‘Marry at once!’ Drusilla, you astound me, child!” exclaimed the old -gentleman, in unaffected astonishment. - -“Yes, marry at once, dear uncle, and then, if you live to be as old as -Methusaleh, you will still have only the longer time to witness their -happiness,” persisted Drusilla, who, now that she had “broken the ice,” -was determined to go through. - -“But, my dear, I put Richard Hammond upon a probation of twelve months, -and the time has not expired yet.” - -“It is very nearly half gone, though. Five months of the allotted term -has passed away. There are seven months of penance remaining. Dear -uncle, be kind to them and commute that to one month. Let them marry in -May.” - -“Have they commissioned you to plead their cause, my dear?” gravely -inquired General Lyon. - -“Oh no, sir, they have not. And perhaps also you may think me very -presumptuous and impertinent to meddle in the matter. If you do, I will -beg your pardon and be silent.” - -“Nonsense, my dear child! I think nothing of the sort. Speak all your -thoughts freely to me. They are good and true thoughts, I know, though -they may not be very worldly wise. Come now, why should I shorten the -probation of Dick?” - -“Oh, because he has behaved so well. Indeed, dear uncle, if you really -mean that Dick should marry Anna, I think that you had just as well let -him marry her now as half a year hence. I believe Dick is as good now as -he will ever be, or as any young man can be. Why do you insist on a -probation? If Dick were playing a part in this good behavior, he could -play it six months longer as well as he has played it six months past, -for so great a stake as Anna’s hand. But he is not playing a part. You -know as well as I do that Dick is as frank, sincere and open-hearted as -his best friend or worst enemy could desire him to be. He is not playing -a part. His present steadiness is but an earnest of what his whole -future life will be, with Anna by his side. Dear uncle, I really do -think that all Dick’s irregularities grew out of his banishment from -Anna’s society. He sought gay companions—or rather _no_; we are sure -that he _never_ sought them; but he allowed himself to fall into their -company to find oblivion for his regrets. With the mere promise of -Anna’s hand, you see he has dropped his disreputable friends altogether. -With Anna for his wife, he will never be in danger of taking them up -again.” - -“There is much reason in what you say, my dear,” admitted General Lyon. - -“And, besides,” said Drusilla, dropping reason and resorting to -sentiment, “it is such a _pity_ not to make them happy when you have the -power to do it.” - -“I will think of what you have advanced, my dear Drusilla,” said the -veteran, gravely. “But Lord bless my soul alive!” he added, elevating -his eyebrows, “now I do think of it, the young man himself has not -petitioned for a curtailment of his probation!” - -“_Oh, uncle, has he not?_ Not, not in set terms, perhaps, because you -absolutely forbade him to resume the subject until the specified year -should have terminated; and of course he felt, and still feels, bound to -obey you. But has not his whole conduct for the last five months been a -plea for the commutation of his sentence? Has not every word, look and -act of his life here been a declaration of devotion to Anna, a prayer -for mercy from you, and a promise of fidelity to both?” - -“I cannot deny that.” - -“Then, dear uncle, let them marry at once. Oh, forgive my plain speech! -for you know you told me to speak my thoughts freely.” - -“Certainly.” - -“Then let them marry at once.” - -“Is there no other reason you would like to urge why they should be made -happy, as you express it, just now?” - -“Oh, yes, dear sir; if you make them wait until the time of probation is -out, it will bring the wedding to the middle of November—sad November, -which is always gloomy enough in itself and is now doubly gloomy to us -from its associations. Three times Anna’s marriage has been appointed to -take place in November, and three times it has been defeated—twice by -death, and once—but we will say no more of that. Let us change the month -and even the season, dear sir. Let the marriage come off in May—this -next May it is now beautiful spring—the best season in the year for a -wedding and a wedding tour. Let them marry and go; and you and I and -little Leonard will stay here and have a good time this summer. In -autumn they will return and join us again. And early in the winter we -will all go up to Washington and live at Cedarwood during the season. -Dear uncle, I do think you had better let them get their wedding tour -over this summer. You will miss Anna very much less in summer than in -winter.” - -“That is very true,” said the General, reflectively. - -“And you will let them marry in May?” eagerly inquired Drusilla. - -“Ah! I don’t know. I cannot move in the matter unless the young -gentleman does. I cannot fling my granddaughter at Mr. Dick Hammond’s -head!” - -“Oh, uncle! how can you say such things? You know poor Dick is -tongue-tied on that subject for the present, by your probation, as well -as by his sense of honor. He _cannot_ speak of this without your leave. -But only give him leave by a glance, a nod, a hint, and he will be on -his knees to you to grant his suit and shorten his probation,” said -Drusilla. - -“Hem! Suppose you give the glance, nod, or hint, that may be required -for the encouragement of this despairing lover?” proposed the General, -archly. - -“That I will, with all my heart and soul,” replied Drusilla, warmly. - -The next day at noon, while Drusilla was walking beside her baby’s -carriage out on the lawn, Dick, with his fishing rod over his back, -sauntered up to her. - -Drusilla dropped behind so as to let the carriage and the nurse get far -enough ahead to be out of hearing, and then she said: - -“Dick, I think if you will ask our uncle to release you from your -promise of silence on a certain subject, that he will do so.” - -“Drusilla, do you really think he will? If I thought so, if I was sure -he would not banish me at once from Anna’s side, I would ask him this -moment!” exclaimed Dick, his eyes dancing with eagerness. - -“He will not banish you. Why should he? You will _break_ no promise to -him; you will only ask him if he sees fit to _release_ you from your -promise of silence on a certain subject. I think he will give you leave -to speak on that subject. And, furthermore, when you do speak, I think -he will listen to you favorably.” - -“Oh, Drusilla! do you? Do you think so, indeed? If I thought so, I -should be the luckiest dog and the happiest man in existence.” - -“Go try for yourself at once, Dick. He is in his study. He has just got -through his morning papers, and is enjoying his pipe. The opportunity is -highly auspicious. Go at once, Dick. You will never find him in a more -favorable mood.” - -“I’m off this instant. Heaven bless you, Drusilla, and make you as happy -as I hope to be,” exclaimed Richard Hammond, dropping his fishing -tackle, and dashing away to put his destiny to the test. - -Drusilla hastened after her baby’s carriage, overtook it, and continued -to walk beside it, and guard it for more than an hour longer. - -She had just turned with it towards the house when she was met by Dick, -who was hastening to greet her. - -“Oh, Drusa, Drusa, dear Drusa, it is all right now. And all through you! -And I came to tell you so, and to thank you, even before I go to tell -Anna!” exclaimed Dick, with his face all beaming with happiness. - -And he seized and kissed Drusilla’s hand, and then darted off again, in -search of Anna. - -And thus through Drusilla’s intervention, was Richard Hammond’s -probation commuted, and the marriage of the lovers appointed to be -celebrated about the middle of May. - -Meanwhile Drusilla had written to “mammy,” offering to her the situation -of housekeeper, and to her husband that of head gardener at Cedarwood. -She had directed her letter to the care of the Reverend Mr. Hopper, at -Alexandria, feeling sure that it would by this means safely reach the -hands of the nurse. - -In due time Drusilla received an answer, badly written and worse spelt, -yet sufficiently expressive of “mammy’s,” sentiments on the subject. - -She thanked Mrs. Lyon from the bottom of her heart, and would gladly -take the place and try to do her duty by the mistress. And likewise her -old man. She never expected to have such a piece of good fortune come to -her and her old man in the old ages of their lives. Which it had just -come in good time too, seeing as her last darter was agoing to marry and -leave her and her old man alone. And besides, she herself was aged -before her time, all along of spending all the days of her life in -close, sick rooms. And she was mortially glad to leave the profession of -sick nursin’ to younger and stronger wimmin. Which she was fairly pining -for the country, where her childhood and youth had been passed. She had -never been able to get reconciled to the town, although she had lived -into it for thirty-five years, and she loved to feed chickens and take -care of cows, and make butter and cheese. And as for her old man, it was -the delight of his life to hoe and rake, and plant and sow, and weed and -trim gardens and vineyards, and sich like. And she was sure they would -both be happier than they had ever been in all their lives before. And -she prayed Heaven to bless the young madam who had taken such kind -thoughts of them in their age, to insure them so much prosperity and -pleasure. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - A MAY-DAY MARRIAGE. - - Be not amazed at life. ’Tis still - The mode of God with His elect: - Their hopes exactly to fulfil, - In times and ways they least expect. - - Who marry as they choose, and choose - Not as they ought, they mock the priest, - And leaving out obedience, lose - The finest flavor of the feast.—ALFORD. - - -The wedding-day of Dick and Anna was fixed for the fifteenth of May. - -Then came consultations about the details of the festival. - -Should it _be_ a festival? - -Anna thought not. Her marriage had been so often appointed and so often -arrested that she said it would be best taste now to get it over as -quietly as possible. She and her betrothed, attended only by General -Lyon and Drusilla, would go to church and be married in their -traveling-dresses, and start immediately on the wedding tour. Such was -Anna’s plan. - -But General Lyon would not hear of such a thing. What! marry off his -granddaughter and heiress to his nephew in such a semi-clandestine -manner, as if he were half-ashamed of the proceeding? What, disappoint -all the young people in the neighborhood, who had every right to expect -a festival on the marriage of Miss Lyon, of Old Lyon Hall? Not while -_he_ was head of the family! Anna should be married at home. And there -should be such a celebration of the nuptials as the lads and lasses -around the hall should remember to the latest day of their lives. - -Anna urged that in the middle of May the weather would be too warm for a -ball. - -General Lyon agreed that it would; but added that the weather would be -delightful for a festival in the open air on the beautiful grounds of -the manor; it would be neither too warm nor too cold, but exactly right -for dancing on the lawn. The marriage ceremony he said should be -performed in the great drawing-room, the wedding breakfast should be -laid in the long dining-room; but the music and dancing should be -enjoyed in the open air. - -Anna laughingly appealed to Dick and to Drusilla to take her part -against this decision of the General. - -But Drusilla and Dick declined to interfere and remained conscientiously -neutral. - -So the will of the General carried the day. - -This obstinacy of the old gentleman made it necessary that a great deal -of business should be done, and done at once, as the time was so short -to the wedding-day. Wedding cards must be printed and circulated. A new -trousseau must be prepared. A sumptuous breakfast must be devised. -Certain deeds must be executed. - -In furtherance of these works, Dick first went up to Richmond to deal -with lawyers and engravers. - -And soon after his departure General Lyon and Anna went to Washington to -negotiate with milliners and pastry cooks. - -And Drusilla and her attendants remained in charge of Old Lyon Hall. She -had been affectionately invited to accompany Anna and the General, but, -though her baby was now nearly six months old, she declined either to -leave him at home or to take him on so long and rough a journey. She -thought that her boy and herself were both better in the country. The -General agreed with her, and so she was left in charge of the premises. - -But though she sadly missed her friendly Anna, and fatherly old General, -and gay Dick, yet her life when left at Old Lyon Hall was very different -from what it had been when she was alone at Cedarwood. - -Here in the old hall she was no longer lonesome and dreary. She had a -plenty of company and of interesting employment. She had her darling boy -and her attentive servants; and she had visitors from the neighborhood -almost every day; for young Mrs. Alexander Lyon was growing in favor -with the whole neighborhood. - -Here she was not obliged to live a secret life. She would drive out in -her carriage, with her baby and nurse, whenever she pleased. She could -ride out on horseback attended by her young groom Leo, whenever she -liked. She could return the calls of her country neighbors; she could -accept their invitations to dinner or to tea, and she could receive and -entertain them at home. - -Here she enjoyed the largest liberty. General Lyon and Anna had both -assured her that she would only make them happier by behaving in all -respects as a daughter of the house, and using it as if it were her own. -And Drusilla, convinced of their perfect sincerity, took them at their -word. - -Her sweet heart and social spirit took pleasure in this frequent -intercourse with the country ladies and their little children. She liked -to have a whole family, mother, children and nurses, to spend a long day -with her at home; and almost as well she liked to take her boy and nurse -and go and pass a whole day at the country house of some friend. - -It was gratifying to her also, when her nearest neighbors, the Seymours, -came over and spent an evening with her. There were but three persons in -this family—old Colonel and Mrs. Seymour, and their youngest daughter -Annie, or Nanny, as they called her. - -Old Colonel Seymour was a passionate lover of music, and it was the one -grievance of his life that his daughter Nanny had no voice, and no ear, -and never could learn to sing or play on the piano. He could never -understand it, he said, how a girl born with the usual allowance of -senses, with a quick pair of ears, and a nimble tongue, and who could -hear as fast and talk much faster than anybody he ever saw, should -pretend that she did not know one tune from another! She that was -neither deaf, nor dumb, nor an idiot! It was an incomprehensible fact, -but it was no less a great personal injury to himself. - -But his one great delight was to come over to Old Lyon Hall in the -evening, and hear Drusilla sing and play. Now, we know that her greatest -gift was music. She sang with a passion and power equalled by no one in -private circles, and excelled by but few in professional life. Honest -Colonel Seymour had never in all his earthly experience had the -privilege of hearing a great public singer. Therefore the performances -of Drusilla affected, I might even say, overwhelmed him or transported -him, with equal wonder and delight. - -And Drusilla exerted herself hour after hour, and evening after evening, -to please him, and took as much pleasure herself in the intense -appreciation of her one single old adorer, as ever a great prima donna -did in the applause of a whole world. - -And the honest old gentleman’s head was fairly turned with admiration -and gratitude. - -“To think,” he said, as he walked home with his wife and daughter, one -moonlight night, after spending an evening at Old Lyon Hall, “to think -of having such a voice as that in the neighborhood! to think of being -able to hear it several times a week, for the asking! Oh! it ought, -indeed it ought, to raise the price of real estate in this locality! And -it would do it, too, if people really could feel what good music is!” - -“Papa,” laughed the old wife, “you are an old gander. And if you were -not gray and bald, and very good, I should be jealous.” - -“Oh, but mother, such strains! Oh, my Heavens, such divine strains!” he -exclaimed, catching his breath in ecstasy. - -“What will you do when your St. Cecilia leaves the neighborhood?” -inquired his daughter. - -“Leave the neighborhood! is she going to do that?” gasped the -music-maniac. - -“They are all going to Washington, next winter, she says.” - -“Then we’ll—go too. I say, mother, _one_ season in town, would not be -amiss for Nanny; and so we can take her there next winter; and then I -may swim and soar in celestial sounds every evening!” - -“Papa, now you are too provoking, and _I_ am jealous,” said Nanny. “For -my part, I don’t like music any more than I do any other sort of racket. -And I do think if there is one nuisance worse than another, it is a -singing and playing lunatic, filling the whole room full of shrieks and -crashes, just as if a thousand housemaids were smashing a million of -dishes, and squalling together over the catastrophe!” - -“Oh, child, child, what a misfortune for you to have been born deaf, as -to your divine ears!” answered the old gentleman in tones of deep and -sincere pity and regret. - -“I’m sure, papa, I often wish I had been born deaf as to my bodily ears! -I mean, when your divinity is shrieking and thrashing, and raising such -a hullabaloo that I can’t hear myself speak!” said Nanny. - -“Ah! ‘_that_ accounts for the milk in the cocoanut!’ You can’t hear -yourself speak, and you prefer the sound of your own sweet voice to the -music of the spheres!” - -“If the music of the spheres is _that_ sort of noise, I certainly do, -papa.” - -“Thank Goodness, here we are at our own gate! And now we will drop the -subject of music for the rest of the evening—Kitty, was the missing -turkey-gobbler found?” inquired Mrs. Seymour of the girl who came to -open the door. - -“Yes’m.” - -“And did the maids finish their task of carding?” - -“Yes’m.” - -“And did you keep the fire up in my room?” - -“Yes’m.” - -“That is right. The evenings are real chilly and damp for the time of -year. Come in.” - -And the careful wife and mother led the way into the house. - -Richard Hammond was the first of the absentees to return to Old Lyon -Hall. He came one afternoon, bringing with him a large packet of -handsomely engraved wedding cards and a bundle of documents, all of -which he placed in Drusilla’s charge to be delivered to General Lyon on -the General’s arrival. Then he took leave of Drusilla, and went over to -Hammond House to wait there until the return of his uncle and his -betrothed. - -Two days afterwards, General Lyon and Anna came home. - -Anna was attended by a pair of dressmakers, and enriched with no end of -finery. - -General Lyon was followed by a French cook and his apprentices. - -Richard Hammond came over to meet them, and consult over the latest -improvements of the bridal programme. - -And now the business of preparation was accelerated. - -First, the wedding cards were sent out far and near. And the -neighborhood, which was not prepared for the surprise, was electrified. - -Next the dressmakers, with every skilful needle-woman among the -housemaids to help them, were set to work on the trousseau. Of the many -dresses that had been made up for Anna’s marriage, the last November, -most had never been worn and were now in their newest gloss; but they -were not trimmed in the newest fashion, nor were they all suitable for -summer wear; so those first dresses, had to be altered and newly -trimmed, and many new dresses suitable for the season had to be made up. -This kept all the feminine hands in the house very busy for a week. - -Drusilla’s skill, and taste, and willingness to help made her an -invaluable assistant. - -Only a few days before the one set for the wedding was the new trousseau -finished and packed up, and the new wedding dress and traveling dress -completed and laid out. - -And now carpenters and upholsterers were brought down from town, and the -house and grounds were fitted up and decorated for the happy occasion. - -The French cook and his assistants had the kitchen, the pantry, the -cellar, the plate-closet, and the long dining-room, to themselves, and -were up to their linen caps in business. - -“Well, it is a notable blessing that one cannot be bothered with this -sort of thing very often, as one is not likely to be married more than -half a dozen times in one’s life,” said Anna, who was, or affected to -be, very much bored by all this bustle. - -“Oh, I hope to Heaven, Anna, we may neither of us ever be married but -once! I trust in the Lord, Anna, that we may live together to keep our -golden wedding-day half a century hence,” answered Dick, very devoutly. - -For honest Dick was what the Widow Bedot would have called very much -“solemnized” by the impending crisis in his fate. - -“Blessed is the bride that the sun shines on.” The day of days came at -last—the auspicious fifteenth of May—clear, bright, warm, genial, with a -light breeze playing a lively tune, to which all the green leaves danced -in glee. All the flowers bloomed to decorate the scene—all the birds -turned out to sing their congratulations! Never was seen such a rosery -on the lawn; never was heard such a concert in the groves. - -The brass band that arrived upon the scene as early as ten o’clock in -the morning, was quite a superfluity. Anna sent out and ordered the men -not to play until the birds should be silent. So they sat under the -shade of the great oak trees, and had ale served out to them, in which -they drank the health of the bridegroom and the bride, while they -watched the train of carriages that were constantly coming up, bringing -guests to the wedding feast. Such was the scene on the shaded, flowery -lawn. - -Even more festive was the scene within the house. - -All the windows of the great drawing-room were thrown open, letting in -all the sunshine and the cool breeze of this bright May day. The walls -were hung with festoons of fragrant flowers, and the large table in the -centre was loaded with the splendid wedding presents to the bride. - -It would take up too much time to tell of all these presents. You will -find them fully described in the “_Valley Courier_” of that date. They -consisted of the usual sort of offerings for these occasions—“sets” of -diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls and other gems; “sets” of silver -plate; “sets” of fine lace, et cetera. - -But we must not omit to mention Drusilla’s munificent offering to the -bride. It was also a “set,” a tea set of pure gold, whose exquisite -workmanship was even of more value than its costly material. - -The appearance of the long dining-room, with the table laid for the -wedding breakfast, should have immortalized the French cook if he had -not been immortalized before. Here, also, all the windows were thrown -open to the light and air. It would never do, said “Monsieur le Chef,” -for people to be too warm while eating and drinking. Here, however, were -no natural flowers. Their powerful odors, said “Monsieur,” affected too -much the delicious aromas of the viands. But the walls were decorated -with artificial flowers, with paintings and gildings, and with mirrors -that multiplied the splendors of the scene a thousandfold, and opened -imaginary vistas into unending suites of splendid saloons on every side. - -The breakfast table reached nearly the whole length of the long -dining-room, and was multiplied by the mirrored walls into innumerable -other tables on every hand. It was beautifully decorated and sumptuously -loaded; every variety of flesh, fish, and fowl that was in season, -dressed in the most delicate manner; every sort of rare and rich fruit -and vegetable; wonderful pastries, creams, and ices; crystallized -sweetmeats, cordials, wines, liquors, black and green teas, and coffee, -such as only a Frenchman can make, were among the good things displayed -to delight the palates of the guests. - -On the second floor, the bed-chambers and dressing-rooms wore a gay and -festive aspect. There also the windows were thrown open to the light and -air, and shaded only by the beautiful green trees and flowering vines -without. The beds and dressing-tables were freshly covered with -snow-white drapery; and on each toilet-table were laid new ivory-handled -brushes and combs, silver flagons of rare perfumery, porcelain pots of -pomade; and about each room were every convenience, comfort and luxury -that a guest could possibly require,—all provided by a thoughtful -hospitality that was careful and considerate in its minutest details. - -Early in the day these light, fragrant, and delightful chambers were -filled with bevies of fair girls, who were giving the last effective -touches to their own and to each other’s gay festal dresses, and whose -soft talk and silvery laughter made music all around. - -They had need to hurry, too; for the hour fixed for the ceremony was -high noon, and they must all be ready and in their places to see it. - -The bride’s chamber was the scene of the most interesting passages. -There sat the bride, surrounded by her bride’s-maids, and lovingly -attended by Drusilla. - -Anna’s dress was a rich white honiton lace robe over a white silk skirt, -made with a low bodice and short sleeves, both edged with narrow lace. -On her neck and arms she wore a necklace and bracelets of diamonds; on -her hair the wreath of orange blossoms; over her head and shoulders the -deep bridal veil of lace to match her robe; on her delicate hands kid -gloves as white as snow and soft as down. Her six bride’s-maids were all -dressed in white tulle, with wreaths of white moss-rose buds on their -hair, and veils of white tulle. - -On this auspicious day Drusilla, for the first time, entirely laid aside -her mourning. She looked beautiful and blooming, in a dress of -rose-colored moire-antique, made with a low bodice and short sleeves, -trimmed with point lace. On her neck and arms she wore a necklace and -bracelets of pearls; on her young matronly brow a wreath of half-open -blush roses; on her bosom a bouquet of the same flowers. - -For this day also her little Leonard was dressed in gala robes, and sent -out upon the lawn in the arms of his nurse where he remained for the -present, gazing with eyes wide open with astonishment and delight on the -wonderful pageantry around him. - -The marriage hour struck at length. - -The last loitering guests heard it, and hurried down-stairs to the -drawing-room which was already crowded. - -The bride and her maidens heard it, and began to smooth out the folds of -their dresses, or touch the edges of their hair, and steal furtive -glances at the mirrors to see that all was right before leaving the -chamber and facing the hundreds of eyes in the drawing-room below. - -Punctually as the last stroke of twelve sounded, the bridegroom and his -attendants came to the door. - -The procession was formed in the usual manner and passed down-stairs. - -Two gentlemen friends who took upon themselves the office of marshals, -opened a way through the crowd for the bridal cortège to enter. - -On the rug stood the Rev. Dr. Barber, in his surplice, just as he had -stood some six months before; but all the rest was changed now. That was -a dark and stormy November night. This was a bright and beautiful May -day. - -The bridal party, with due decorum, took their places before the -officiating minister. There was no let or hindrance now. The face of the -blooming bride was as clearly seen as that of the happy bridegroom. Both -parties responded clearly and distinctly to the questions of the -clergyman. General Lyon, with smiling lips, but moist eyes, gave the -bride away. And the ceremony proceeded and ended amid the prayers and -blessings of the whole company. - -Kisses and congratulations, tears and smiles followed and took up twice -as much time as the preceding solemnity had. - -Then, at length the company, headed by the two marshals, marched off to -the breakfast room. The ladies were handed to the table, and the -gentlemen waited in duteous attendance behind them. - -And the feast began. - -These ladies did not care so much about the fish, flesh, or fowl, -delicately dressed as these edibles might be. So they were left almost -untouched, for the benefit of the gentlemen who might come after. But -the beautiful pyramids of pound cake, the snowy alps of frosted cream, -the glittering glaciers of quivering jelly, the icebergs of frozen -custard, the temples of crystallized sweetmeats and groves of sugared -fruits were quickly demolished. - -The bride’s cake was cut up and distributed; the piece containing the -prophetic ring falling to the lot of Nanny Seymour. - -At the right moment the first groomsman arose and made a speech, which -was heartily cheered, and proposed the health of— - -“The bride and bridegroom,” which was honored with bumpers of “CLIQUOT.” - -Then the bridegroom arose and returned thanks in another speech, which -was also cheered; and he proposed the health of— - -“Our honored host and relative, the venerable General Lyon,” which was -drank by all standing. - -Then the veteran got up and in a few earnest words expressed his -appreciation of the compliment and his esteem for his guests, and then -he gave somebody else’s health. - -Colonel Seymour arose and proposed the health of— - -“Our beautiful young friend, Mrs. Alexander Lyon.” And it was honored -with enthusiasm. - -Then, some unlucky idiot had the mishap to rise and name— - -“_Mr._ Alexander Lyon,” tearfully adding—“‘Though lost to sight, to -memory dear.’” - -And a panic fell upon all that part of the company who knew or suspected -the state of the case with that interesting absentee. - -But old General Lyon quickly dispelled the panic. Would that true -gentleman suffer Drusilla’s feelings to be wounded? No, indeed. He was -the very first to fill his glass and rise to his feet. His example was -followed by all present. And unworthy Alick’s health was drank with the -rest. And while the brave old man honored the toast with his lips, he -prayed in his heart for the prodigal’s reformation and return. - -And oh! how Drusilla understood and loved and thanked him! - -Other speeches were made and other toasts drank. - -Then tea and coffee were handed around. - -And one set of feasters gave way to another, like the flies in the fable -of old. - -The rising set immediately went out upon the lawn, where the brass band -was in full play on their stand, and where quadrilles were performed -upon the greensward. - -The feasting in the house and the music and dancing on the lawn was kept -up the whole of that bright May day, even to the going down of the sun. - -Never before had the youth of the neighborhood had such a surfeit of -frolicking. They voted that a marriage in May weather, and by daylight, -with unlimited dance music, greensward, sunshine and sweetmeats, was the -most delightful thing in the world. - -In the very height of the festivities, at about four o’clock in the -afternoon, the bride, attended by Drusilla, slipped quietly away to her -own chamber and changed her bridal robes and veil, for a traveling habit -of silver gray Irish poplin, and a bonnet of gray drawn silk. - -The traveling carriage had been quietly drawn up to the door where -Richard Hammond waited to take away his bride, and General Lyon stood to -bid farewell to his child. - -When Anna was ready to go down, she turned and threw her arms around -Drusilla’s neck and burst into tears. - -“Oh, Drusa!” she sobbed, “be good to my dear grandfather. Oh! love him, -Drusa, for my sake! I was all he had left, and it must be so hard to -give me up! Oh, Drusa, love him and pet him. He is old and almost -childless. When I am gone, put little Leonard in his arms; it will -comfort him; and stay with him as much as you can. It is so sad to be -left alone in old age. But I know, my dear, you will do all you can to -console him without my asking you.” - -“Indeed I will, dear Anna,” said Drusilla, through her falling tears. - -“I will not be gone long. I shall be back in three weeks at farthest. I -do not like to leave him at his age. He is past seventy. His time may be -short on earth. How can I tell? That was the reason why I would not go -to Europe for my wedding tour. But oh, Drusilla, I did not know how much -I loved my dear grandfather until this day. And to think that in the -course of nature I _must_ lose him some day, and may lose him soon,” -said Anna, weeping afresh. - -“My darling Anna, your grandfather is a very strong and hale old man; -his habits are regular and temperate, and his life quiet and wholesome. -He is likely to live twenty or thirty years longer,” answered Drusilla, -cheerily. - -“Heaven grant it,” fervently breathed Anna. - -And then she turned and went down-stairs, followed by Drusilla. - -“Good-by, my darling. I will kiss you here. I must save the last one for -my dear grandfather,” said Anna, embracing her friend at the foot of the -stairs. - -“Good-by, and Heaven bless you!” responded Drusilla, heartily. - -Anna went forward to General Lyon, who took her in his arms, and -smiling, kissed and blessed her. And his last words, as he gave her into -the charge of her husband, were cheerful: - -“You will have a delightful run by moonlight up the bay, my dear,” he -said. - -Anna, striving to keep back her tears, let Dick lead her to the -carriage, and place her in it. He immediately followed, and seated -himself by her side. Old Jacob cracked his whip, and the horses started. - -So quickly and quietly had this little scene passed, that the carriage -was bowling along the avenue before the company on the lawn suspected -what was being done. - -Then, eager whispers of: - -“The bride is going! the bride is going!” ran through the crowd. - -And quadrilles were suddenly broken up, and dancers came flocking to the -door, knowing that they were too late to bid her good-by, yet still -exclaiming to each other: - -“The bride is going! the bride is going!” - -“The bride is _gone_, my dear young friends,” said General Lyon, kindly, -“but she leaves me to make her adieus, and to pray you not to let her -departure interrupt your enjoyment. The bride and bridegroom have to -meet the Washington steamer that passes the Stormy Petrel landing at -about nine o’clock. Now, ‘on with the dance!’” - -And the young folks immediately took the old gentleman at his word, and -the music struck up, and the dancing recommenced. - -And so Anna and Dick departed for Washington city on their way to New -York. - -Much discussion had been held on the subject of that marriage tour. Many -suggestions had been made. Europe had been mentioned. But Anna had -scouted _that_ idea. - -“None but a lunatic,” she had said, “would ever think of taking a sea -voyage, and risking sea-sickness in the honeymoon.” - -And for her part she positively declined putting Dick’s love to so -severe a test in the earliest days of their married life. - -Such had been Anna’s outspoken objection to the trip to Europe. But her -secret objection was that it would take her too far and keep her too -long from her beloved and venerable grandfather. So at last it had been -settled to the satisfaction of all parties that they should make a tour -of the Northern cities. And now they had gone. - -But the wedding guests remained. The music and the dancing were kept up -without flagging until the sun set, and the darkness and dampness of the -night had come on. - -Then the two self-appointed “marshals of the day” took upon themselves -to pay and discharge the brass band. - -The company soon followed the musicians, and old Lyon Hall was once more -left to peace and quietness. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - GENERAL LYON’S CONSOLATION. - - In this dim world of clouding cares - We rarely know till wildered eyes - See white wings lessening up the skies - The angels with us unawares!—MASSETT. - - -After the last guests were gone, the house was very quiet. - -General Lyon went up to his study. - -Drusilla lingered a little while below to give orders to the servants. - -“Close up all the rooms on this floor now. Disturb nothing until -morning. I wish everything to be kept very still so that the General may -rest and recover from the fatigue of this exciting day. Marcy, have the -tea served in my sitting room. Leo, do you be up early in the morning -and see that the breakfast parlor—the little one—is made very tidy -before we come down. The other rooms had best be left closed until the -General goes for his daily ride. Then they can be restored to order.” - -Having thus given her directions to ensure the comfort of the old -gentleman, Drusilla went up into the nursery where her little Leonard -was laughing, crowing and screaming in his nurse’s arms. - -“I do think as he’s beside himself, ma’am,” said Pina. “He’ll never get -over this wedding as long as he lives. When I had him out on the lawn -there, and the band was playing and the ladies and gentlemen were -dancing, he jumped so as I could hardly keep him from leaping out of my -arms.” - -“He did enjoy it as much as any of us, didn’t he, Pina?” said the young -mother, standing and smiling over the nurse and child. - -“Oh, didn’t he though, ma’am? Look at him now; it’s in him yet! And such -a time I had bringing him in the house. He did not want to come in at -all, even after the music went away. He didn’t cry, ma’am, but he made -such signs, and then he fought. Yes, indeed he did, ma’am, he fought me -in the face because I brought him in.” - -“Why, Pina, I can hardly believe it!” - -“But, you may, ma’am! Oh, he’s got a will of his own, I do tell you! I -couldn’t make my peace with him until I had lighted all the wax candles -in the place! See what an illumination there is, ma’am! Enough to blind -any body but a boy baby. And such work to get him undressed. He wouldn’t -have his finery off forever so long. He wanted to dance in it. And then, -after I had loosened it and got it off little by little with sheer -conjuration, would you believe it, ma’am? he wanted to dance in his -sacred skin, like a North-American Indian! I have got his night-gown on -at last; though _how_ I ever got it on with his prancing and dancing, -goodness knows. But, as for his little red shoes, I’ll defy mortial man -or woman to get _them_ off his feet except by main force! When I try to -do it he kicks so fast you would think there were nineteen pair of feet -in nineteen pair of boots instead of one!” - -“Lenny will let his mammy take off his boots,” said Drusilla, kneeling -by the baby’s feet and making an essay. - -Lenny would let his mamma do a great many things to him, but he would by -no means let her remove his red shoes. His little legs flew so fast in -resistance that you could not have told one from the other. - -“He means never to part with them, ma’am,” laughed Pina. - -“We can take them off when he goes to sleep,” smiled Drusilla. - -“But there’s no sleep in his eyes, ma’am, nor won’t be for hours! He’ll -keep awake to watch his boots and to dance! Goodness gracious me! My -arms are almost pulled out of their sockets holding him while he -dances.” - -“I will take him presently, Pina, as soon as I change my dress,” said -Drusilla. - -And she went and took off her wreath of roses, her necklace and -bracelets of pearl, and her rich moire antique dress; and put on a neat -white muslin wrapper, whose pure color and perfect fit became her well. - -Then she took her dancing babe; but not to put him to sleep just yet. -Little Master Leonard had a duty to do before he could be put to bed. -She carried him into the next room, which was her own pretty private -parlor. - -The room was very inviting. A small, cheerful wood fire, very acceptable -this chilly May evening, was blazing on the hearth. - -The tea-table with its snowy, damask cloth, its silver service and clear -China, was standing before the fireplace. - -A large easy chair, with a foot cushion was drawn up on the right side; -and Drusilla’s own little sewing chair was on the left. - -Marcy was in attendance. - -“This is all quite right. Now do you wait here until I bring the General -in, and then you can serve tea,” said Drusilla, as with her baby in her -arms she passed out into the hall and on towards General Lyon’s study. - -She opened the door. - -The little room was dark and chill, but the lights from the hall shone -in, and revealed to her the form of the old man, seated at the writing -table, with his arms folded on it, and his head bowed down upon them. It -was an attitude of depression, of sleep or of death. - -Of death! a dread pang seized her heart, and held her spell-bound in the -doorway as she gazed on him. He had not heard her approach. He was not -disturbed by the inflow of light. He remained, indeed, as still as -death! - -She was afraid to stir, almost to breathe! She had heard of old men -dying just so! Oh, had not his own brother, his _youngest_ brother, died -that way not three years since?—died sitting in his chair by his -Christmas fire, surrounded by his whole family and friends? died with -nothing on earth to provoke death? died from no excitement, no grief, no -disease apparently? - -And here was the elder brother, a man of like constitution, who had been -severely tried this day by the parting from his beloved and only -surviving child, and now had come away to this chill, dark room, and had -sat in solitude for an hour or more! - -Drusilla’s conscience smote her terribly for what she called the false -and fatal delicacy that had prevented her from following him immediately -to his retreat. - -Oh! if he should be dead, dead alone in this bleak room, she would never -forgive herself, though she had done all for the best. - -All these thoughts and feelings flashed like lightning through her brain -and heart in the moment that she stood panic-stricken in the door. - -Then full of awe, scarcely breathing, she crept near him, laid her hand -upon his shoulder, and murmured softly: - -“Uncle.” - -“My darling,” responded the old man, looking up with a smile. - -“Thank Heaven!” fervently aspirated Drusilla. - -“What is the matter, my darling? What troubles you?” gently questioned -the old gentleman, perceiving her alarm. - -“I—I found you sitting here in the cold and dark, and I feared that -something ailed you. Nothing does?” - -“Nothing, my child, except a little natural but unwise regret. -Certainly, she had to marry. It is a woman’s destiny. And it is so well -that in marrying she will not have to leave me. Still, still I feel it, -darling. She was all I had left in the world.” - -“She will be back in three weeks, dear uncle; back so soon that we shall -scarcely have time to get the house set in order again for her -reception. And now will you look at little Lenny? He has come to bid you -good-night, and to ask you to come and take tea with his mamma,” said -Drusilla, seating the boy on the old man’s knee. - -By no manner of baby-babble could little Leonard possibly bid his -godfather good-night, or invite him to tea; but he _would_ put his -little arms around the veteran’s neck, and press his lips to the -veteran’s mouth, and laugh, and own his love and joy. - -“Ah! may heaven forgive me for being so forgetful, so ungrateful as to -say that I had no one but my Anna left me in the world, when I have -little Lenny and his dear mother,” said the old man, pressing the child -to his bosom, and drawing Drusilla to his side. “But oh! my dear, you -know how it is—how it always has been, and always will be with poor -human nature in all such cases. The shepherd of the Scripture parable. -He thought not of his ninety and nine sheep, safe in the fold, but he -mourned for the one lost.” - -“But Anna is not lost to you, dear uncle. She is only lost to sight, and -that only for a little while. Think, dear uncle, in the marriage of Anna -and Dick you have not lost a daughter, but gained a son.” - -“That is true, my dear.” - -“Think how devoted they are to you. They are as loyal to you as subjects -to a sovereign.” - -“I know—I know.” - -“They will never leave you unless you send them away.” - -“I know; I see what a morbid old fellow I have been.” - -“No, no, not so, I think. Surely it is very natural that you should have -such feelings; but it is also very desirable that you should rally from -them.” - -“And I will, my dear, I will.” - -Little Leonard, fatigued by his former exertions, and perhaps also a -little awed by the solemnity of the discourse, had remained still for at -least three minutes. But now he recommenced to prance and dance and -express his impatience in every possible way that a baby of six months -old could. - -“You are almost too much for my stiff old arms, little fellow!” smiled -the General, as he supported the leaping baby. - -“Come, let us go to my room and have some tea,” said Drusilla, rising -and leading the way, followed by the old man with the child over his -shoulder. - -“This is snug, this is cozy, this is really very comfortable indeed,” -said the General, as he followed Drusilla into the pretty, cheerful -sitting-room and saw the bright fire and the neat tea-table. - -“Yes, this is pleasant after our day of excitement. Now kiss little -Leonard good-night and let him go to sleep,” said Drusilla, as she rang -her little silver hand-bell. - -Pina came in to take little Leonard, who leaped to meet her arms, for he -was very fond of her. - -General Lyon pressed the babe to his bosom and kissed him fondly, and -then handed him over to his nurse, who bore him off to the nursery. - -Then Marcy came in with the tea urn. - -Drusilla made tea for the old gentleman. - -The sound of Pina’s rocking-chair and cradle-song came soothingly to -their ears, as to the child’s for which they were intended. - -“This is very sweet and peaceful, dear, and I thank you for it all,” -said the General, softly smiling. - -“No, but, dear uncle, it is all your own; and it is I who should thank -you for the happiness of sharing it,” quietly replied Drusilla. - -“No, no, no,” said the General, shaking his head. - -“Yes, yes, yes,” laughed the little lady. - -They lingered long over that quiet, pleasant tea; and then, after she -had rang for a servant, and had the table cleared, she went to the piano -and sang and played to the old gentleman for an hour or more. - -She sang all her favorite comic songs, but carefully eschewed the -sentimental ones; for she wished to raise his spirits and not to melt -his heart. Towards the last of her singing he came and stood behind her; -and although he did not know enough of the notes to turn the pages for -her at the proper moment, he stood and beat time to the music and -sometimes joined in the chorus. - -At last, when she thought he had had enough of it, she arose and closed -the piano. - -Then, after an interval of a few minutes, she took her Bible and laid it -on the table before him. - -He bowed his head, opened it and read a chapter aloud. And then they two -joined in offering up their evening worship. - -“Well, my darling,” said General Lyon, as he arose to bid her -good-night, “I have to thank you for much comfort. This first evening -that I dreaded so much has passed off very pleasantly. God bless you, my -child.” And so he withdrew from the room. - -Drusilla sat on for a little while gazing dreamily into the fire, and -then she also retired to rest, drawing her sleeping infant to her bosom. - -Very early the next morning Drusilla arose, dressed and went down-stairs -to make sure that one room at least of all that had been thrown into -confusion by the wedding should now be in order for the General’s -breakfast. - -She found that Leo had followed her directions, and the small breakfast -parlor, that occupied an angle of the house and had windows opening to -the east and south, was prepared for the morning meal. - -And the doors of all the disordered rooms were closed. - -She went out and gathered a bouquet of early spring flowers and put them -in a vase and placed them on the breakfast table. - -And then she plucked a few young buds of mint and made an exquisite -julep, and sent it up by Leo to her uncle’s room. - -Jacob, who had been sent at sunrise to the post-office, now returned. -And Drusilla opened the mail-bag, which was found to contain nothing but -newspapers, which she folded and laid by the side of her uncle’s plate. - -And then she sat down to await his coming. - -He came at last, smiling on her as he entered, and took his seat at the -table. - -“You are the angel of the house, my child,” he said—“the angel of the -house! What should I do now but for you!” - -“Dear uncle, what should _I_ do without _you_? What should I have done -that dreadful night but for your sustaining arm? All my puny efforts to -serve you can never cancel that debt. I shall never forget that night,” -earnestly answered Drusilla. - -“I shall never forget that night, Drusilla, for it was then I -received—‘an angel unawares.’” - -She could not reply to these words, but blushed so intensely that the -old man forbore farther praise, and merely saying: - -“But it does not become you and me to compliment one another, my -darling,” he took up his newspaper. - -Upon the whole, this was a very cheerful breakfast. When it was over, -the old gentleman ordered his horse, and went for his daily ride. - -Drusilla took advantage of his absence to set all the servants briskly -to work to open the closed rooms, and clear away the debris of -yesterday’s great festival, so that by the time he should return the -whole house should be restored to order. - -The abundant remains of the feast were distributed to the poor around. - -Moreover, she sent a note to the Seymours, asking them to come and spend -the evening. And the messenger that carried it brought back their -acceptance of the invitation. - -Drusilla and her uncle dined tête-à-tête. - -In the evening the Seymours came according to agreement; and Drusilla -gave them music. They stayed till ten o’clock, and then took leave. - -“No wonder that old comrade of mine should go mad over your music, my -darling. I am not a music-maniac myself, generally, but I am always -profoundly affected by yours,” said the General, when they were gone. - -Again Drusilla blushed deeply under the praise, but then recovering -herself with a light laugh, she answered: - -“Why, you see, uncle, I think this is the way of it. You and the Colonel -inspire me. Such appreciating hearers as yourself and your friend must -necessarily inspire even the very poorest performer to do her very -best.” - -“Tut, tut, tut, my child; you know better! But, there, I will say no -more on that subject! Good night, my darling,” he said. - -And so closed the first dreaded day of Anna’s absence. And all the -succeeding days were quite as pleasant. - -Drusilla would not let her old friend be lonesome. She planned visits -for him and herself to his favorite houses; and she invited his favorite -friends to dinner or to tea. She often accompanied the old man on his -morning rides, her gentle white mare ambling by the side of his steady -old horse. She often invited him to take a seat in the open carriage -when she went out in the afternoon to give her little boy an airing. - -And she played and sang indefatigably to please Colonel Seymour, so that -he might come over every evening, “rain or shine,” to keep her uncle -company. - -Anna’s and Dick’s letters came two or three in a week. They were not -very long, for they were written _en route_; but they were interesting -and affectionate. They were filled with graphic sketches of their -journey, and with warm expressions of tenderness for the “dear ones at -home,” and messages of kind regard to good friends around. The bride and -groom were moving rapidly from point to point along the Canadian -frontier, so that in answering them the General and his niece had to -direct their letters a few stages in advance of the travelers. As, for -instance, the answer of a letter post-marked Lewisburg, would be -directed to Montreal. - -Thus, through one happy divertisement or another, but chiefly through -Drusilla’s affectionate solicitude the “days of absence” slipped -imperceptibly away; they had now brought the close of the last week of -the honeymoon. The travelers were expected home on Saturday evening, and -the house was in perfect order and beauty to receive the wedded pair. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - A JOYOUS MEETING IN JUNE. - - June with its roses, June - The gladdest month in the capricious year, - With its thick foliage and its sunlight clear, - And with a drowsy tune, - Of the bright, leaping waters as they pass - Laughingly on amid the springing grass. - - -Anna and Dick returned rather sooner than they were expected; but not -sooner than Old Lyon Hall was ready, and its inmates anxious to receive -them. - -On Saturday morning, while General Lyon, Drusilla and little Leonard -with his nurse, were all out on the lawn enjoying the splendor of the -early June day, before breakfast, the wagon from the Foaming Tankard was -seen approaching the house. - -“What can that mean?” inquired the old gentleman, looking at it, as it -rumbled on towards the house. - -“Perhaps Anna and Dick to disencumber themselves, have sent the luggage -on in advance,” suggested Drusilla. - -“But, as they are to come down by to-day’s boat that would scarcely be -worth while,” reflected the old gentleman. - -While they were discussing the question, the wagon, instead of going -round to the servants’ entrance as it would have done had it contained -only luggage, rattled up to the front of the house. - -And the instant it stopped, Anna jumped out, and ran to her grandfather, -who caught her in his arms. - -“My darling daughter,—my darling, darling daughter, I am so delighted to -see you,” he exclaimed over and over again, as he pressed her to his -heart, while she answered him only with smiles and kisses, and both -forgot that anybody else was waiting to be noticed. - -Meanwhile, Dick was shaking hands with Drusilla, and chirping to little -Leonard, and pulling rattles and whistles and dancing jacks out of his -pocket, and in his eagerness doing everything at the same time. - -“Let me look in your face, dear child,” said the old man, taking the -bride’s head between his hands, and gazing wistfully into her tearful -but laughing eyes; “are you happy, my Anna?” - -“Yes, dear grandpa,” said Anna, earnestly, as her eyes overflowed. - -“Quite happy?” anxiously persisted the veteran. - -“Well—no,” answered Anna, laughing, and making a face, “perfect bliss is -not the boon of mortals, I believe. And, to tell the truth, I have a -_corn_ that troubles me, to say nothing of the slightest possible twing -of neuralgia caught on the boat last night—moon-gazing.” - -“Oh, you came on the night boat?” - -“Yes; our first plan was to stop in the city last night, but we -remembered our pleasant trip on the water by moonlight when we left here -four weeks ago, and as the moon was full, we thought we would come down -again by moonlight, and then, too, we thought it would be so much -pleasanter to reach home this morning, in time to breakfast with you, -and have the whole day before us for reunion, than to get here late -to-night, too tired to walk or do anything else but get supper and go to -bed. Don’t you agree with me that it was best to come home now,—just -now?” - -“Yes, my darling, that I do,” answered the General, heartily; “but I am -sorry you have got neuralgia.” - -Anna looked at him, quizzically. - -“I am not quite sure that I have got it, or ever had it; but I am quite -certain about the corn. Now, ain’t you going to speak to Dick?” - -“Dick! Certainly; how do you do, my dear boy? A hundred welcomes home!” -exclaimed the General, releasing Anna from his embrace, and turning to -greet the “unlucky dog.” - -Dick was then in the act of tossing his godson high in his arms, until -he made him laugh and crow aloud, and then looking him solemnly in the -face, and saying: - -“I am your godfather, sir. Treat me with more respect, and don’t be -taking me for your equals!” - -Now he turned his bright face, and held out his eager hand to receive -his uncle’s clasp, saying: - -“I am very glad to get home, sir, and gladder still to see you.” - -Anna had gone to embrace Drusilla. - -“How happy I am to see you again!” she said. - -“And I you,” answered Drusa, smiling. - -“How well you are looking, dear!” exclaimed each to the other, speaking -simultaneously. - -“And now, Dick, give me little Leonard; I want to look at him! Remember, -sir, if you _are_ his godfather, I am his godmother, and have my rights. -Don’t be trying to exercise man’s usurped prerogative by ‘claiming the -child,’” said Anna, holding out her hands for the boy. - -“I shall never attempt to assert man’s prerogative against woman’s -rights,” laughed Dick placing the child in her arms, and then going to -pay and dismiss the wagon which was now unloaded of all the luggage it -had brought, and was ready to go. - -“Bless my soul! Anna, my dear, how came you to return by such a very -rude and primitive conveyance as that?” inquired the General, as the -great old wagon rattled and rumbled past on its way back. - -“Couldn’t get any other, dear grandpa! The ‘Foaming Tankard’ don’t boast -a carriage of any description except this.” - -“If I had only known, I could have sent the coach to meet you. I should -have sent it anyway this afternoon.” - -“But you wouldn’t have had me to wait till the afternoon for it, dear -grandpa?” laughed Anna. - -“Oh, no, no, no! by no means! Only, if I had but known, I could have so -easily sent it. Such a conveyance for a lady to come in!” exclaimed the -old gentleman, as he gazed after the retreating wagon that rather jumped -and bounced along than rolled. - -“It was delightful! It was better than a hard trotting-horse! I liked to -be tossed as much as Master Leonard himself does! It has given me such a -shaking up and such an appetite for breakfast as I never had before! I -am famished, grandpa!” - -“Oh, exactly! exactly! so you must be! Drusa! Drusa, my dear!” exclaimed -the old gentleman, looking around for his young volunteer housekeeper. - -But Drusilla had already vanished within to give her orders. - -“And now, dear grandpa, I will go to my room to change my dress. I -presume it is ready for me, and I know where to find it. Dick, see that -the luggage is sent up,” said Anna, turning to go into the house. - -But she was met at the door by all the household servants, who had -learned her arrival from Drusilla and had come out to welcome her. - -Hands were shaken and good-wishes heartily offered and warmly received, -and then Anna passed on to her apartment. - -In less than half an hour she hurried down-stairs, looking fresh and -blooming in her white muslin dress with blue ribbons. - -The family were waiting for her in the breakfast room, and as soon as -she entered she was greeted again and seated in the pleasantest seat at -the table. - -All the windows were open, and all the brightness, beauty, fragrance, -and music of June filled the place. The morning sunshine played upon -every polished point; the fresh breeze danced with every fold of -drapery; the aroma of the clove pink, the cape jessamine, the tea rose, -the clematis, and the heliotrope perfumed the air. Humming-birds flitted -about like winged flowers. And the song of the thrush in the sweet-briar -bush was echoed by the mocking-bird from the acacia tree! - -“What a beautiful morning! And what a beautiful scene! In all our -travels, grandpa, we did not see so sweet an old home as this!” said -Anna enthusiastically. - -“I am glad you think so, my dear; but great allowance must be made for -your natural attachment to your birthplace,” smiled the General, as he -sipped his coffee. - -“Now, Drusilla, what do you say?” inquired Anna, appealing to her -friend. - -“I have not seen very much of the world to compare this with other -places; but still, I think you are right, Anna. It is a ‘sweet old -home.’ It is perfectly beautiful, and besides it seems to me that every -one who was ever born here, or ever lived and died here, must have been -very good and loving, that their spirits still pervade the place, and -make it holy,” said Drusilla, warmly. - -“My dear, you will make me so much in love with my home that I shall not -like to grow old and die and leave it,” said the General, smiling. - -“Dear uncle, please to believe that there is not the slightest necessity -for you to grow old, much less to die before your century is completed. -And if you do so I shall think that you will be treating your loving -children very badly,” said Drusilla. - -“My dear!” - -“Yes, I _do_. I think the deaths of most people who die, come of their -indifference to the power that the Lord has given them of living on. -Now, I think that you have the power to live on in the full possession -of all your faculties to the age of one hundred years at the very least, -and how much longer I don’t know. And I shall take it very hard of you, -if you don’t do it, uncle.” - -“Hem; I shall try to oblige you my dear,” said the General, dryly. - -“I hope you will! for you know I expect you to live to see your -namesake, Leonard Lyon, junior, a bishop, a judge or a general, -(whichever he shall please to be, for it will depend upon his choice of -a profession,) or even President of the United States. The highest -position is open to competition and you cannot tell what he may be yet; -you must live to see.” - -“Do you intend to live your century out, Drusilla?” - -“If it please Providence, yes; for I shall try to preserve the gift of -life he has given me. And when I shall be a hundred years old, my little -Leonard will be eighty-four, and a wigged chief-justice, or a mitred -archbishop or something equally exalted. And I should not wonder if you -should be alive and merry then.” - -“Oh, tut, tut, tut! you are laughing at me, little Drusa!” - -“Heaven forbid! People enough have lived to be a hundred and forty. -Henry Jenkins lived to be a hundred and sixty-nine, and even then he did -not die from old age, or from disease, but from sheer imprudence, I -might say accident, such as would have killed any man at any age.” - -“My dear niece, that case was a highly exceptional one.” - -“Well, and why shouldn’t you make your own case a highly exceptional -one?” - -“My dear, you are extravagant.” - -“Well, maybe I am, in talking about a hundred and sixty-nine years; but -I do positively insist upon your living a full century. That is only -fair.” - -“My darling, our prayers should be not so much for a _long_ life as for -a _good_ life.” - -“I stand corrected,” said Drusilla, reverently; “but for all that I -insist upon the century; for I think it was the Lord’s design that man -should live so long.” - -“Let me live so long as my life can be of use to others and no longer,” -said the veteran. - -“Your life is of use to others as long as it gives happiness to others, -and therefore I insist upon the century,” persisted Drusilla. - -“Well, my dear, I have no particular objection,” laughed the General, as -they all arose from the table. - -Then came the healthful walk around the grounds, the General with his -darling granddaughter hanging on his arm, and Dick and Drusilla, and the -nurse with the baby, sauntering along promiscuously. - -During this walk Anna gave her grandfather a very sprightly and -entertaining description of her journey; and in return he told her how -he and Drusilla had passed their time at home. - -Dick amused Drusilla with spirited sketches of travel. - -When the windings of their walk brought them around home again, Dick -proposed a drive through the forest to Hammond House to see the progress -of the works there that must, he thought, be now near their completion. - -And as all assented to the proposition, the General ordered the large -six-seated family carriage; and the whole party, including little -Leonard and his nurse, started for a long drive through the summer woods -to Hammond House. - -It was but twelve o’clock noon when they reached the house—an old -mansion standing upon a high headland at the junction of Wild River with -the Upper Potomac. - -The woods grew up to the very garden wall and clustered thick about it. - -There were mountain brooks in the neighborhood, running down to the Wild -River and swelling its stream before it fell into the Potomac. - -The trout fisheries there were considered very fine in their season. And -it was a part of the family programme for coming years to spend the -fishing season at Hammond. - -It was now the beginning of the trout fishing season, and so the General -and Dick, having seen Drusilla and Anna safely in the house, procured -fishing tackle from Byles, the overseer, and went down to one of the -bright, gravelly-bedded streams to fish. - -Anna and Drusilla, with the babe and nurse, were taken by Mrs. Byles to -a clean and airy bedroom, where they laid off their bonnets and sat down -to rest. - -The house was not yet in order; nor could it be said to be in -disorder—the papering, painting, glazing and gilding were all completed; -but the handsome new furniture remained in its packing cases, and -encumbered halls and passages. - -Overseer Byles and his wife occupied rooms in a wing of the building -during the progress of the repairs; but they were to move to a -neighboring cottage as soon as the house should be ready to receive the -family. - -Our party spent a very pleasant day at Hammond House. - -Drusilla and Anna, with the baby and the nurse, wandered about the -grounds and along the banks of the river until they were tired, and then -they sat down under the trees to rest and to talk. - -About two o’clock General Lyon and Dick returned from the trout stream -well laden with spoil. - -They gave the fish to Mrs. Byles, with a request that she would have -them dressed for their dinner, and have the table set out in the open -air between three broad oak trees where the shade was thickest. - -At four o’clock they were called to dinner—a sylvan repast served _al -fresco_. - -There were trout, roast lamb with mint sauce, and green peas, potatoes -and lettuce, and for dessert cherries, strawberries and ice-cream. That -was all. - -“But if I had known in time that you were coming, ladies and gentlemen, -I would have got up something more acceptable,” said the housekeeper, -apologetically. - -“I defy you to have done that, Mrs. Byles. Your dinner is excellent,” -replied the General. And all the other members of the party agreed with -him, and proved their sincerity upon the edibles set before them. - -Immediately after dinner they were served with excellent coffee and tea. - -Then the General ordered the carriage for their return home. - -After another pleasant ride through the forest, they reached Old Lyon -Hall at sunset. - -“We have had a delightful day at your other house, Dick,” said the -General, heartily. - -“_Our_ other home, sir, if you please; for if Anna and myself are to be -at home at Old Lyon Hall during one period of the year, you and Drusilla -must be at home at Hammond House during another part,” said Dick. - -“And when you wish to spend a winter in Washington you must all be at -home with me at Cedarwood,” added Drusilla. - -“Agreed! agreed!” said General Lyon, Anna and Dick in a breath. - -After tea that evening they were pleasantly surprised by a visit from -the Seymours. - -It seems the old gentleman had got news of Anna’s arrival and had come -over with his wife and daughter, ostensibly to welcome home the bride -and bridegroom; but really too glad of a good excuse to hear Drusilla -sing and play. - -They spent a long evening; and Drusilla gratified her old admirer with -some very choice music, in which she was ably assisted by Anna and -Dick—Anna singing second and Dick bass. - -Early in the next week Mr. and Mrs. Hammond issued cards for a reception -on the following Monday. And when the appointed day came they received -their “dear five hundred friends” and had a crowded house with the -coming and going of visitors from ten in the morning until four in the -afternoon. - -And this reception was the signal for a round of entertainments given to -the newly married pair. - -The first of a series was a ball at Colonel Seymour’s, which was duly -honored by all the family from Old Lyon Hall, including Drusilla, of -course. - -Then there was an evening party with music, but not dancing, at the -Reverend Dr. Barber’s. - -Even the struggling medical practitioner at Saulsburg gave a -tea-drinking. - -And these neighborhood festivities in honor of the bride were kept up in -good old-fashioned country style for a month or six weeks. - -On the first of July, Hammond House being quite ready for occupation, -the whole family from Old Lyon Hall went there to spend a few weeks, -that the General might indulge in his favorite pastime of trout-fishing. - -Here they remained until the first of September, when the near -neighborhood of fresh water streams being considered unwholesome, they -returned to Old Lyon Hall. - -“And now,” said Drusilla, when they were once more settled, “now it is -my turn. Our next migration must be to Cedarwood.” - -“Are you so anxious to leave the sweet old home?” inquired General Lyon, -a little reproachfully. - -“Oh, no indeed. Only when we do go, we must go to Cedarwood.” - -“Agreed,” said the General, “we will go there next winter.” - -And so the matter was settled; for though all his young people were -grown up and married, yet the word of the veteran soldier was law in the -family circle. - -During all this time Drusilla had not heard from Alexander or even -expected to hear from him. She did not grieve after him. In the “sweet -old home,” in the love of her dear friends and in the caresses of her -darling boy, she was almost as happy as it is given a mortal to be. But -though she did not mourn over his absence, neither did she lose her -interest in his welfare. She took the principal London and Paris papers -upon the bare possibility of gaining intelligence of his movements. - -Once she found his name in the list of visitors presented to the Queen -at one of her Majesty’s drawing-rooms published in the “Court Journal.” - -On another occasion she saw him announced as one of the speakers at a -public meeting at Exeter Hall, noticed in the “Morning Chronicle.” - -Again he was named as the owner of the winning horse at certain -world-renowned races, reported in “Bell’s Life.” - -That was all she knew about him. - -Every week Drusilla received mis-spelled letters from her steward or -housekeeper at Cedarwood. - -“Mammy,” chiefly discoursed of cows and calves, hens and chickens, and -ducks and geese. - -Mammy’s “old man” treated of the condition of the “craps,” the health of -the “hosses,” oxen, sheep, pigs, and so forth. - -And Drusilla having been a pupil of that famous agriculturist, the late -Mrs. Judge Lyon, was well able to give instructions to her -farm-managers. - -Thus, busily and happily passed the days of the little lady, until -events occurred again to change the current of her life. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - THE MAIL-BAG. - - - Newspaper! who has never felt the pleasure that it brings? - It always tells us of so many strange and wondrous things. - It makes us weep at tales of woe, it fills our hearts with mirth, - It tells us of the price of stock, and what produce is worth; - And when and where, and why, and how strange things occur on earth. - Has war’s loud clarion called to arms? Has lightning struck a tree? - Has Jenkins broke his leg? Or has there been a storm at sea? - Has the sea-serpent shown his head? A comet’s tail been seen? - Or has some heiress with her groom gone off to Gretna Green? - All this and many marvels more you from this sheet may glean. - —J. T. WATSON. - -The autumn passed away as pleasantly as the summer. - -The time drew near when the family from Old Lyon Hall were to go to -Washington for the season. - -Drusilla wrote to her housekeeper and steward at Cedarwood, giving them -full instructions to prepare the cottage for the reception of herself -and friends, and she enclosed an order on her banker for the necessary -funds. - -In due time she received a communication from mammy informing her that -all things were now ready for the party. - -Then she consulted her relatives, and together they fixed upon a early -day in January for the migration of the family. The General did not wish -to move before that time, as he always preferred to spend his Christmas -and New Year’s holidays at Old Lyon Hall. - -Drusilla wrote again, and told her servants on what day to expect -herself and her party. - -But a very severe fall of snow, coming about the first of January, -blocked up the country roads, impeded travel and delayed their journey, -and also kept back the mails, so that for many days after the one -appointed for their removal, the family remained at Old Lyon Hall, cut -off from communication with the rest of the world. - -When at last there came a change of weather, and the snow melted and -sunk into the earth, or was exhaled into the air, and the roads though -muddy were passable, a messenger was sent to the post-office at -Saulsburg to fetch the letters and papers. - -He returned in the afternoon with a mail-bag well stuffed. He brought it -into the small parlor, where the domestic circle was gathered. - -Only those who have been under like circumstances long debarred from -news, can realize the avidity with which that bag was seized and -unlocked, and its contents turned out upon the center table around which -the whole family party immediately clustered. - -There were several unimportant letters for everybody, which were, -however, read with the greatest interest by these weather-bound -recluses. - -And there was one which immediately fixed Drusilla’s attention. It was -from Cedarwood, and dated a few days back. Mammy was the writer, and -after dilating upon the complete readiness of the cottage to receive the -expected company, she wrote. - - -“And so we shall be a looking out for you on the fifth, ma’am. And now, -I don’t no as there’s enny dainger, but before you brings yung Marster -Lennud inter this enfected nayberhood, I deems it my duty to tell you as -how the millignant skarlet fever is a ragin’ here, and a karryin’ off -duzzins. All the childun at the Drovur’s Rest have got it; and likewise -them that lives right across the road, opperside the gate as goes inter -our place. But tho’ I deems it my duty for to tell you of this, I doo -not no as there is enny danger, as in coorse yung Marster Lennud woudent -be going amung them.” - - -Danger? Drusilla grew sick and turned pale at the very thought. - -“What is the matter, my dear?” inquired General Lyon, looking up from -his paper, and noticing her disturbance. - -She silently handed him the letter. He read it attentively, and then -looking over his spectacles, said: - -“Of course, then, we must not think of going. Scarlet fever! bless my -life and soul! Let us stay where we are.” - -“What is it, dear grandpa?” inquired Anna, looking up from her letter, -while Dick laid down his paper to listen. - -“Scarlet fever, my love, raging around Cedarwood, and slaying as many as -King Herod himself. Of course, we can’t think of such a thing as going -there. What, expose little Leonard to such an infection? Suppose he was -to catch the fever? and—the very idea makes me shudder! We’ll stay home; -we’ll stay home, my children!” said the old man, emphatically, settling -himself once more to his newspaper. - -And, indeed, he was not sorry to have a good excuse for relinquishing -the journey to Washington, which at this inclement season of the year -could have no attraction for him. - -“But if the ladies wish to go to the city, we can take apartments at one -of the hotels,” suggested Dick. - -General Lyon looked uneasy. He did not wish to go to Washington on any -terms in such bad weather. He would have gone to Cedarwood, only to keep -his word with Drusilla; but missing that, he did not want to go to a -hotel. And now he was afraid of being outvoted. - -Anna, however, came to his relief. - -“Take apartments? No, I thank you, Dick! We would all like to go to -Cedarwood and see Drusilla’s ‘pretty little wildwood home’ so near the -city but, if we cannot go there, we will not pen ourselves up in a -crowded hotel or boarding-house.” - -“No; _that_ we won’t!” put in the General. - -“And I’m sure Drusilla thinks with us,” added Anna. - -“Indeed I do,” acknowledged Drusa. - -“So you see you are outvoted, my dear boy,” chuckled the General. - -“Oh, as to myself,” said Dick, “I know when I’m well off, and I had a -great deal rather stay here. It was for the ladies’ sake I spoke.” - -“Then here we stay for the present, my children.” - -“And so I must write and tell my housekeeper that she must cover up the -furniture and close the rooms for the winter, as we are not going to -Washington this season. But, my dear uncle, I hope we shall go early in -the spring.” - -“We shall go on the very first favorable opportunity, my dear, you may -rely on that,” answered the veteran. - -And then the sight of Drusilla’s unopened packet of foreign letters -suggested a plan that he immediately proposed. - -“And I’ll tell you what, my dears,” he said, “we have none of us seen -Europe yet. Anna and Dick were to have gone there for a wedding tour, -but they would not go so far away from the old man.” - -“We should not have enjoyed the trip, dear grandpa, if you had not been -with us. Neither I nor Dick cared to go to Europe until we could all go -together.” - -“Then, please Providence, we will go all together next spring,” said the -General, looking around upon his young people. “What do you say, Anna?” - -“We shall both be delighted,” answered Anna for herself and her husband, -who immediately endorsed her reply. - -“And you, Drusilla, shall you like to go to Europe?” inquired the -General. - -“Of all things! I have so long wished to see the old historical world!” -she answered, pausing in her work of opening her foreign packet. - -And then, for a little while, sitting around the table, they were all -engaged in looking over the newspapers, each occasionally reading aloud -to the others, who suspended their own employment to hear any little -item of news supposed to be interesting. - -“I declare there is nothing in our papers. Anything in yours, dear?” -inquired Anna of Drusilla, who had been the only silent reader of the -party. - -“Not much of interest to us, over here. We do not care about the doings -in Parliament, or the trials at the Old Bailey, or the meetings at -Exeter Hall, or the murders in Bermondsey, or even about the movements -of royalty and nobility.” - -“Oh, yes, we do care about that last item. We are intensely democratic -and republican here, and so of course we are breathlessly anxious to -know where ‘Majesty,’ took an airing, what ‘Royal Highness’ wore to the -opera, and whom ‘Grace’ entertained at dinner!” laughed Anna. - -“Then read for yourself, my dear,” answered Drusilla, passing the -“Times.” - -“And _to_ yourself also, my child. We are not interested in those high -themes,” added the General, who was deep in a senatorial debate. - -And Anna did read to herself for some time, but at length she exclaimed: - -“Well, here is an item in which I think you will be interested, all of -you.” - -Drusilla started and looked up anxiously. She thought that Anna had come -upon some news of Alexander, and she wondered how she herself could have -overlooked such a matter. - -Even the General laid down his paper to listen. - -“Well, what is it, dear?” inquired Dick. - -Anna read: - - “‘The Barony of Killcrichtoun, so long in abeyance, has been claimed - by a young American gentleman in right of his mother. The barony, it - will be remembered, is not a male feoff only; but, failing male heirs, - descends in the female line. The right of the new claimant is said to - be indisputable. He is the great great grandson and only living - descendant of George-Duncan-Bertie-Bruce, the tenth and last Baron of - Killcrichtoun.’” - -“Oh, I saw _that_,” said Drusilla, with a look of disappointment. - -“Who is he?” inquired General Lyon, indifferently. - -“Does not say,” answered the reader. - -“Some poor devil of an adventurer making a donkey of himself, I -suppose,” said Dick. - -“Come, I won’t read you any more sensational news if that is the way you -treat it,” said Anna. - -And the subject was dropped and forgotten. - -The family circle then separated, each retiring to his or her own room, -to fill up the time till the dinner hour with answering letters. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - OLD AND NEW. - - One in stories of the past, - One in glories still to last, - One in speech and one in face, - One in honest pride of race, - One in faith and hope and grace.—M. F. TURNER. - - -“Let us go very early in the spring. If we stop here until the season -begins to put forth all its beauty, I shall never be able to leave this -‘sweet old home,’ as Drusa calls it.” - -Thus spoke General Lyon one morning in March, when the family were -assembled at breakfast, discussing the subject of their trip to Europe. - -“Then as this is the fifteenth, and the spring is held to commence about -the twenty-first, we had better begin to see about our voyage at once. -Do you wish to start as early as the first of April?” inquired Dick. - -“No; that plan would give us but two weeks to get ready in, and it is -necessary to secure berths at least one month in advance. We shall not -go before the middle of April. Then, also, we shall be sure that the -equinoctial storms are quite over, to their very latest reverberation.” - -“Well, in any case, we had better fix upon our line of steamers, and -write to the agent at once to take state-rooms,” suggested Anna. - -“Certainly,” agreed the General. - -And after a little more discussion of the merits of rival lines and -individual steamers, their ship was selected, and Dick was authorized to -write and secure state-rooms, and to be sure to get them amid-ships. - -Dick wrote, and in due course of mail he received the agent’s answer, -saying that his party could have one state-room amid-ships and two near -the bows. - -Dick showed this letter to the General, and the two in consultation -decided that the choice state-room should be assigned to Drusilla and -her child, while the other members of the party should take the less -desirable berths. - -“But we must say nothing to her about it, or she may refuse to make -herself and boy comfortable at our expense, and insist upon a different -arrangement,” said the General. - -So Dick wrote again to the agent, enclosing a draft upon a New York -banker to pay for the state-rooms. - -And lively preparations were commenced for the voyage. - -Drusilla, who never in her life had been a hundred miles from home, was -delighted with the prospect of crossing the ocean and traveling in -distant countries. - -Not only was her mind all alert with the anticipations of intellectual -pleasures, but her heart was cheered with the hope of being nearer to -Alexander. - -It was even possible that she might see him, or that he might see her -little Leonard. And so Drusilla went enthusiastically to work with her -preparations. - -But the whole party made the usual mistake of inexperienced -voyagers—they encumbered themselves with an unnecessary amount of -luggage. - -As if they were going beyond the bounds of civilization to live forever -away from the possibility of purchasing the comforts or even the -necessaries of life, they packed clothing by the twelve dozens, and -filled many great trunks. - -As if the steamer had no store-room or pantry, they took hampers of -canned meats and fruits and jars of jellies and preserves. - -And as if there were no surgeon in the staff of officers, they took a -“doctor’s book” and a “physic box,” to say nothing of boxes of lemons, -bottles of peppermint cordial and cases of soda powders as preventives -of sea-sickness, or of books, magazines, checkers, chessmen, and musical -instruments as preventives of ennui. - -Thus the party of seven had twenty-one large trunks. - -They took but two servants—Pina to nurse little Leonard and to wait on -Drusilla and Anna; and young Jacob to attend upon the General and Dick. - -Old Jacob, Marcy and Matty were to be left in charge of Old Lyon Hall. -Leo was to go for a visit to his parents at Cedarwood. - -All things being ready, the party of voyagers left Old Lyon Hall on the -seventh of April, so as to have a day in Washington and a few days in -New York before the sailing of the steamer on the fifteenth. - -General Lyon had many friends and acquaintances either permanently or -temporarily residing in Europe. To add to the number of these he had -procured letters of introduction from distinguished people in America to -their peers in the old world. - -It was a very pleasant day of sunshine and showers in the capricious -month, when they finally commenced their journey. - -They traveled from Old Lyon Hall to the Stormy Petrel Landing in the -capacious old family carriage. - -They were followed by two wagons taking their heavy baggage. - -At this steamboat landing they took the Sea Gull for Washington, where -they all arrived in good health in the afternoon of the next day. - -According to previous arrangement, they had a hack, and leaving their -luggage at the railway station, went out to Cedarwood, where mammy and -her old man were expecting to receive them, and where they found -everything prepared for their comfort. - -Rooms were aired, beds made and bright little wood-fires kindled. And an -exquisite early supper was in progress. - -Mammy received her mistress and mistress’s friends with a mixture of -deference and dignity in her manners that was quite impressive. - -And her joy over the fine growth and beauty of her nurseling, little -Leonard, was natural and delightful. - -The meeting also between Pina and Leo and their parents was very -pleasant to see. - -Our party had reached Cedarwood at the most beautiful hour of sunset. - -General Lyon and Anna, who saw the place now for the first time and -under its fairest aspect, were delighted with the cottage and its -surroundings. - -It was not an imposing and venerable mansion, overshadowed by mountains -and forests, like Old Lyon Hall, but it was a pretty, wildwood home, -fresh, bright, fair, and youthful. And Anna was in ecstasies over it. - -But the sparkling shower-gems that glittered in the rays of the setting -sun, from every leaf and flower and blade of grass, while they added so -much to the beauty of the scene, made it a little too damp for health. - -So Drusilla pressed her friends to go into the house, and General Lyon -seconded her motion, and drove them in before him. - -“This is all very pretty, my dears,” he said, “but we don’t want to -begin our voyage with bad colds.” - -So they went into the little drawing-room, with which you are so well -acquainted, the lovely little drawing-room, where Drusilla had watched -out so many weary nights. - -A cheerful fire was burning in the grate; and early spring flowers were -blooming in the vases; and the curtains that separated it from the -little dining-room were drawn aside, showing the snowy damask, shining -silver, and Sevres china, of a well-set supper-table. - -When they had stood before the fire a few moments to evaporate the -slight dampness from their clothes and to look around upon the pretty -place, the servants were summoned to show them to their several rooms. - -Drusilla, attended by mammy, carrying little Leonard, went up to her own -chamber. - -It was looking very fresh and bright, pretty and attractive, with its -crimson carpet and snowy curtains and its cheerful wood fire. - -But with what feelings did the young wife and mother enter again this -chamber, so filled with sweet and bitter memories? - -Certainly with some sadness at the thoughts of all the happiness and the -misery she had felt in this place. But also with much thankfulness, that -she and her child had passed through the fiery trials unscathed—had come -forth from them sound in body and mind; and were now blessed with health -and happiness and many friends. - -She sank on her knees for a moment and returned sincere thanks to Divine -Providence. And then she arose and made a few necessary changes in her -dress, and went below, to await her friends in the drawing-room. - -They soon joined her there. - -And then the supper, prepared with mammy’s best skill, was placed upon -the table and the party sat down with good appetites to enjoy it. - -Afterwards Drusilla tried the tone of her new piano, the one that had -been ordered and sent to the cottage by her agent when she was expecting -to take her friends there to spend the winter. - -She found it out of tune from disuse, and so gave up the attempt to -bring harmony out of it, for that evening. - -She rang and brought “mammy” up into the drawing-room and said: - -“Mammy, I shall write to my agent to send a man out here to put this -instrument in tune. And after that you must make a fire in this room -every wet day and you must play on it.” - -“Play on the fire, ma’am!” - -“No, on the piano.” - -“On the pianner!” - -“Yes, I tell you.” - -“Why la, ma’am, I couldn’t do it! It ain’t likely as I could! I don’t -know nothing about it! I couldn’t play a tune, not no, if the salvation -of my mortial soul depended on to it! I could play on the jewsharp, if -that would do.” - -Drusilla smiled and said: - -“I don’t suppose you could play any pieces on this instrument. But I -tell you what I want you to do. Look here—” - -And Drusilla opened the piano and sat down before it. And mammy followed -her and stood watching her motions. - -“See, now; begin here at this left hand end and strike every one of -these little ivory keys in turn, just as I do now, one after the other -till you get up here to the right hand end, and then backwards one after -the other till you get back to the left hand end again. And then do the -same thing with the black keys. You can do that, can’t you?” asked -Drusilla, giving a practical illustration to her words. - -“Oh yes, ma’am, I can do that well enough, and I think I shall like it. -Let’s see, now. I’m to begin at the end where they groans and roars like -sinners in the pit, and I’m to end at the end where they whistles and -chippers like birds in the bush.” - -“Yes; that is what you are to do for five or ten minutes every day, or -every few days, as you please. And you are to light a fire here whenever -it is very damp. All this is to keep the instrument in tune, you know.” - -“Yes, ma’am, I think I shall like it. I _know_ I shall like it. And it’s -easy enough!” said mammy, standing by her mistress and touching the -keys. “La! what will my old man say, when he finds out I am larnin’ -music on the pianner, in my ole ages of life, and practysin’ every day -like any boarding-school young lady! Won’t he be took right offen his -feet along with ’stonishment?” - -“Very likely. And now that will do, mammy. I know you will like to spend -as much time as possible with Pina, as she is so soon to leave you, so -good night.” - -“Good night, ma’am. Good night, ladies and gentlemen.” - -When mammy had left the room, Anna broke out into a peal of silvery -laughter. - -“Well, upon my word, Drusa,” she said, “I never should have thought of -_your_ device for keeping a piano in tune.” - -“Why not? It is an obvious one, under the circumstances.” - -“Yes; but think of the absurdity of having mammy seated at the piano, -thumping upon the keys every day.” - -“She will not thump. And there is no absurdity. She will in this way -keep the instrument in tune, and I should not at all wonder if in the -process she should teach herself to play by ear. She will, if she had -the ordinary musical talent of her race,” said Drusilla. - -And then seeing General Lyon was actually nodding, and that Dick was -trying to smother a yawn, she lighted the bedroom candles. - -Anna put one in Dick’s hand, and waked up the General. - -And the party bade each other good-night, and went to their several -rooms. - -The earliest hours next day were spent in the business that brought -Drusilla to Cedarwood—the inspection of her little estate. - -General Lyon, who had spent the best part of his long life in -agricultural pursuits, was well fitted to judge correctly of such -matters. And he pronounced everything connected with the farm to be very -well ordered, and he complimented “mammy” and her “old man” on the skill -and fidelity with which they had administered affairs. - -By ten o’clock, the travelers having settled the business that brought -them to Cedarwood, left for Washington to meet the mid-day train for New -York, where they arrived at eleven o’clock at night. - -They went to one of the up-town hotels, where they succeeded in -procuring good rooms on the second floor. After a late but light supper, -they retired to rest, and, fatigued by their long ride, slept soundly. - -The next morning, Drusilla looked for the first time upon the great -American seaport, as seen from the windows of her room at the hotel. - -From her point of view, she expected to see a thronged thoroughfare. She -was agreeably disappointed, for she looked down upon a broad, clean, -shady street, with a park on the opposite side, for the house was a -quiet up-town one. - -While she stood at the window, General Lyon came to the door to take her -down to breakfast, in the public room, where at one of the little tables -she found Anna and Dick already seated, and waiting for her. - -After the usual greetings: - -“This is the tenth,” said Anna; “we have six days to see all that we -wish to see in New York, and so we must be busy, Drusa.” - -“Yes,” answered Drusilla. - -“But first of all, we must go and take a look at our steamer. I see by -this morning’s paper that she got into port late last night,” said the -General. - -“You and I can go and do that, sir. The ladies need not accompany us -unless they wish,” said Dick. - -“Oh, but we _do_ wish,” put in Anna. “I was never inside of an -ocean-steamer in my life. Were you, Drusilla?” - -“Of course not.” - -“And wouldn’t you like to go and take a look at the floating home in -which we are to live for about two weeks?” - -“Certainly I should, unless——” - -“Unless what?” - -“Our company should inconvenience uncle or Dick.” - -“It will not inconvenience _me_ in the slightest degree. On the contrary -it will give _me_ pleasure. And—it don’t matter about Dick,” said the -General. - -“Then we’ll go,” concluded Anna, rising from the table. - -“And you had better get ready at once, young ladies, as we have a great -deal-do-to-day after seeing the ship,” advised the General. - -“And Drusilla, if I were in your place, I would let Pina take little -Lenny across the street into the park. Jacob can go along to look after -them both. So they will be quite safe,” counseled Anna. - -Drusilla nodded and smiled assent. - -And they went up stairs to put on their bonnets, and soon came down -prepared for the drive. - -The General and Dick were waiting in the hall, and the hired carriage -was at the door. - -“Only let me see little Lenny and his attendants safe in the park first, -and then I will join you,” said Drusilla, who was leading in her hand -her little boy; who now, being seventeen months old, could walk and talk -quite prettily. - -“It is only across the street. It will not take us two minutes,” added -Anna. - -“And I am so much afraid of his being run over by carriages,” pleaded -the young mother. - -“Oh, go, go!” laughed the General. - -And Drusilla and Anna saw their little charge safely across the street -and within the enclosure of the green and shaded park; where, with many -warnings and instructions to his attendants, they left him with Pina for -his bearer and Jacob for his body-guard. - -Then they returned and joined their own protectors. - -“See how patiently he is waiting for us! Had ever any one such a dear, -indulgent old uncle as I have?” said Drusilla, fondly regarding the old -man as she approached. - -In two more minutes they were all in the carriage, and rolling down the -avenue towards Broadway. - -They were nearly an hour in reaching their ship, which, with her -passengers and freight all discharged, was lying quietly at her pier. - -Led on by Dick, pressing through crowds of people and climbing over -piles of merchandise, and passing over decks of other boats, our party -at last boarded their steamer, the “Hurona.” - -Picking his way among coils of ropes and chains, and folds of canvas and -heaps of coal, Dick went up to an officer on duty on the deck, and -showing his tickets requested to see the rooms engaged by his party. - -The officer politely acquiesced, called a steward, and directed him to -show the gentleman and his friends to the first cabin. - -The man obeyed, and led our party down to the elegantly furnished -floating drawing-room of the steamer. - -“This is much finer than anything we ever saw on our rivers and bays,” -said Anna, as she glanced around upon the velvet carpets, satin damask -curtains, heavily gilded cornices, cheval mirrors, and all the showy -appointments of the place. - -“This is number three, if you please, sir,” said the steward, opening -the ground glass gilded door of a state-room on their right. - -“Ah! yes; this is the place in which you will have to go to housekeeping -for two weeks,” said the General, turning with a smile to Drusilla. - -It was a clean, cozy den, with an upper and a lower berth, and a sofa, -wash-stand, shelves and drawers, and all that was required for -convenience. - -“Do you think you will be comfortable here?” inquired the General. - -“I shall be _very_ comfortable. This is the largest state-room I ever -saw,” said Drusilla, glancing around approvingly, although she was too -inexperienced to know that this was indeed one of the very best -positions in the ship. - -“And now we will see ours,” said Dick. - -And the steward led the party far away up to the bows of the steamer, -where he showed them two large, three-cornered state-rooms, directly -opposite each other. - -Though their position was execrable, they were even much larger and much -better furnished than was Drusilla’s. - -She noticed their ample size and many conveniences, and exclaimed; - -“I am so glad that you have so much space and so many little drawers and -cupboards to put away your things, and that you are so near each other, -too.” - -And in her heart she wished that she could be near them also; for she -could not know that they had the worst situation while she had the best, -or that they would be harrassed by every motion of the ship, while she -would scarcely feel it at all. - -Dick and Anna smiled and enjoyed her “bliss of ignorance.” - -Having thus inspected their future quarters, they left the steamer and -returned to the hotel. - -Drusilla had been feeling a little secret anxiety on the subject of her -boy. - -But Master Lenny had neither been stolen, run over, choked, bumped, or -injured in any other of the ways she had feared for him. He was quite -safe, and full of a subject which he called “moodick” and “yed toat;” -and which Drusa interpreted to mean a brass band attached to a marine -corps that had been playing in the park to Lenny’s great delight. - -That evening our party went to the opera. The next day they visited the -public institutions on the islands in East River. - -And thus with sight-seeing or shopping all day long, and going to some -place of amusement in the evening, they passed the time until Saturday. - -On that morning, at about ten o’clock, they embarked on board the -Hurona, and took up their quarters in the state-rooms already described. - -The Hurona sailed at twelve noon. - -And after a voyage of ten days, which was so calm, pleasant and -uneventful as to leave no incident worth recording, the Hurona reached -the shores of the Old World. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - ARRIVAL. - - Britain! America! Mother and child, - Be heartily, happily, reconciled. - Look to the world around; - Stricken by frenzy, with guilt defiled, - A storm-tossed ship in the surges wild, - Soon to be wrecked and drowned! - - Mother and daughter against the world. - Under your peaceful flags unfurled, - Rights may rally at length; - While Earth’s hurricane, inwardly curled - Spent with ruin of wrongs down-hurled - Weakens and wastes its strength.—M. P. T. - - -To see for the first time the shores of the old world! It is indeed like -coming to another world! like entering into another life! - -Have we died? Was the vast sheet of water we passed the River of Death? -And is the land we see before us the abode of departed spirits? If so, -is it Hades, or Elysium? It looks more like Elysium! - -So mused Drusilla as she stood dreamily leaning over the bulwarks of the -Hurona, and gazing on the lovely shores of the Emerald Isle, all -glittering in the beams of the rising sun, as the ship approached the -beautiful Cove of Cork. - -She had risen very early and come up on deck alone to get a quiet first -view of the land. All was bustle around her, for the ship was preparing -to lay to for the purpose of landing the passengers for Ireland. The -tiny steamboat from the shore was already puffing and blowing its way -out to the ocean leviathan to take them off. - -Men, women and children, servants, porters and baggage began to throng -up from below. - -But Drusilla, plunged in a dream of the past, was almost unconscious of -the confusion around her. - -“Elysium! for certainly it is peopled with the spirits of departed -heroes and sages!” she murmured to herself as the rivers of history and -tradition rolled through her memory. - -A caressing hand was laid upon her shoulder and a kind voice said in her -ear: - -“Good-morning, my child! Well, you see before you ‘Hibernia,’ ‘Erin,’ -‘Ireland,’ the ‘ould counthry!’ Now, what do you think of it?” - -“Oh, uncle, it is a lovely land! Who can look upon it and not love it? -And, oh! what an experience to look upon it for the first time! It is as -if some beautiful creation of imagination was actually realized to the -senses! To look upon her shores and think of her history, her legends -and her poetry! to almost see the shades of her dead heroes, sages and -minstrels!” said Drusilla, enthusiastically. - -“Well, my dear, I dare say ardent young strangers like you feel all -these things and see all these ghosts. But I don’t suppose the people -who live in the land, or the mariners that frequent the cove, ever do. -Such is the effect of novelty in your case, and of habit in theirs.” - -“But can _any_ length of habit blind one to such beauty as this? Oh, -look! was ever such brilliant green herbage spread over the earth, or -such heavenly blue sky above it, or such soft white clouds sailing over -it? See those lovely, billowy hills! as the cloud-shadows pass over them -they seem to rise and fall, like the waves of the ocean, only more -gently! It reminds of something Tennyson said, What was it? Oh—— - - ‘The hills are shadows and they flow - From form to form and nothing stands; - They melt like mists, the solid lands, - Like clouds they shape themselves and go.’ - -He was speaking geologically of the changes wrought by centuries; but -here the beautiful green sunlit or cloud-shaded hills do seem every -moment to ‘flow from form to form,’ ‘to melt like mists,’ ‘like clouds -to shape themselves and go.’” - -“You are a dreamer, little Drusa!” - -“It _does_ seem like a dream. I should not be the least surprised to -wake up and find myself—where?—anywhere at all in my past life! In my -little corner of the housekeeper’s room in the Chief-Justice’s dwelling; -in the lolling chair of the little drawing-room at Cedarwood waiting for -Alick to come back; or at dear old Lyon Hall with little Lenny trying to -pull my eyes open. Life seems often very like a dream.” - -“And always in any great change of scene or circumstances.” - -“And most of all in coming to an old, historical country like this, that -we have always known in imagination, and never in reality. But look, -uncle! do not let us lose the features of this sweet scene! It will be a -picture in our mind’s eye for many coming years. See, away there on the -horizon, crowning the most distant of the visible hills, a cluster of -old, gray ruins—the remains of some medieval castle or monastery! And -look a little further down. See the mossy huts, dotted about at long -intervals, half hidden in dells and thickets, and under great trees; and -nearer still, the town with its glittering spires and its forest of -shipping!” - -“Yes, my dear, the ninth century and the nineteenth are brought together -in this view!” - -Here the old man felt a pair of tenacious little claws fasten themselves -upon his leg, and a shrill, tiny voice sing out: - -“Untle Danpa! Untle Danpa Dennel!” - -And, turning, he saw and lifted up little Lenny. - -Little Lenny’s language needs translating. He called or tried to call -every one around him by the names he heard them call each other. Thus, -with him, Drusilla was called “Doosil;” Anna, “Nannan;” Dick, “Dit;” -while General Lyon, who was variously called uncle, grandpa, or General, -was “Untle Danpa” or even Untle “Danpa Deneral.” - -“Well, my little man, what do you want?” inquired the General, smiling -on the child. - -“Hee, hee!” cried Lenny, pointing to the shore. “Mate Doosil tate Lenny -home.” - -“Make Drusil ‘take Lenny home?’ Why where is home?” - -“Dere, dere! Mate Doosil tate Lenny home!” - -“That’s not home!” - -“Yet tid too! Mate Doosil tate Lenny home, _dit minute_!” - -“You peremptory little despot! what do you mean?” - -“Oh, uncle, you know ever since Lenny lost sight of land, he has been -abroad; now he sees it again, he thinks it is home!” said Drusilla, -smiling on the child. Little Leonard, with his father’s features -inherited much of his father’s self-will; and so he soon became both -obstreperous and vociferous in his demands to be taken home. - -“Mamma will take Lenny over there presently,” said Drusilla soothingly, -as she took the child in her arms. - -“You know, uncle, our steamer will lie here until this afternoon, and we -shall have time to go on shore for an hour or so,” she added turning to -the veteran. - -“Yes, I suppose Anna and Dick would like it. I know I should. And—ah; -here they come now!” said the General, as his niece and nephew appeared -upon the deck. - -“What a charming view!” exclaimed Anna. - -“It is like Fairyland!” cried Dick. - -“Come, come! none of that now you know! We’ve had enough of it! Here’s -Drusa been singing its praises ever since I came to her side. And there, -thank goodness, there’s the breakfast bell! Come down now, and praise -the company’s cook! Two weeks’ trial has proved him to be incomparable,” -said the General, leading the way to the saloon. - -After breakfast, the party got ready to go on shore. - -The little steamer made several trips between the ship and the shore, -and they availed themselves of its accommodation to land. - -Terrace after terrace they ascended the picturesque heights of the town -until they reached the highest point—“Spy Hill,”—from which they enjoyed -a magnificent bird’s-eye view of the sea and land—the broad expanse of -the channel; the harbor, with its abrupt headlands and its countless -shipping; its shores, with their beautiful trees and elegant villas; and -the rolling countries beyond. - -They spent the morning in walking about amid the charming scenery, until -little Lenny, having tired his own legs and everybody else’s arms, got -hungry and sleepy, and ordered his biggers to give him something to eat -and to put him to bed. - -Then they went down to the village, entered a pastry-cook’s shop, and -got a light luncheon; and, next, they hired a boat to take them back to -their ship. - -They found that they had no time to lose, for she was getting up her -steam to start again; and, if they had not hastened, they might have -been left behind. - -The steamer sailed at four o’clock that afternoon; but she encountered -rough weather in the channel, so that it was nearly dark the next day -when she reached Liverpool. - -And now our party felt the inconvenience of having so much baggage. They -were anxious to hasten on to London. They could see Liverpool at any -future time before their return home; but they wished to reach London -soon enough to enjoy the last few remaining weeks of the season, and, -above all, to be in time to see the “Derby,” which was to come off in -two days. There was a train to start at six that evening, and if they -could have caught it, they might have reached London by twelve midnight, -in time for a good night’s rest. And if it had not been for their great -quantity of baggage, they could have done so; but they had twenty-one -trunks to be inspected by the custom-house officers, and had also to -wait their turn to be attended to. - -There is much grumbling at these functionaries; but for my part, I have -found them always courteous—doing their ungracious duty with as much -forbearance as they could conscientiously exercise. - -“You have made us lose the train. We wished to go up to London by the -six o’clock express,” growled General Lyon, as the officer on duty came -up at length to examine the luggage. - -“Very sorry, sir; but it could not be helped. There is a parliamentary -goes at ten.” - -“‘A parliamentary?’ What the deuce is a ‘parliamentary?’” - -The man looked up in surprise at this traveler’s ignorance, yet scarcely -knew how to enlighten him on so simple a subject; for the most obvious -things are often the most difficult of explanation to those that do not -understand them. - -“What the mischief is the parliamentary?” again inquired the General. - -The officer looked up from the open trunk before which he was kneeling, -and answered, slowly: - -“Well, sir, the parliamentary is——the parliamentary, you know.” - -“Humph!” - -“It is not the express.” - -“So I should judge from its name.” - -“It is the slow, heavy train.” - -“Everything ‘parliamentary’ is, I should imagine. When does this -‘parliamentary’ start?” - -“At ten to-night, and gets in at five in the morning.” - -“A most uncomfortable hour!—too late to go to bed, and too early to be -up! What the deuce makes your ‘parliamentary’ so slow and heavy?” - -“It is the people’s train—the accommodation—carries the three classes of -carriages and stops at all the stations.” - -“Humph-humph!” - -“The first-class carriages are very comfortable, and you can sleep in -them as comfortably as in your own arm-chair.” - -“Humph! that might do very well for an after-dinner nap; hardly for a -night’s rest!” - -While they were thus conversing, the custom-house officer was passing -from one trunk to another, lifting their lids and looking in. He -finished, and marked the lot, and went away. - -“I think, grandpa, if you had had ten thousand dollars worth of smuggled -goods in these trunks, and designed to cheat the revenue of the duties, -you could not have gone to work more cunningly than by talking as you -did to the officer. The man couldn’t attend to what he was doing for -listening to you,” laughed Anna. - -“Now what are we to do with all these ‘impediments?’ I wish for my part, -the custom-house fellow had seized the lot; or that we had encountered a -storm at sea, and it had been found necessary to throw them all -overboard to lighten the ship! It would have saved us a deal of time, -and trouble, and expense. And we have all we really want in our -carpet-bags,” growled the General. - -“Uncle, I hope you are not turning into a regular grumbler? That -wouldn’t be like yourself! But you have done nothing _but_ grumble, ever -since you landed, and without the slightest provocation, you naughty old -uncle!” said Drusilla, saucily. - -“My dear, give me some credit that I do not SWEAR as well as grumble!” - -“Oh, uncle, think what the Dutchman said when he whipped his sulky -son,—Hans, you might as coot say ‘tamn’ as tink ‘tamn!’” - -“Drusil, I am thinking ‘tamn’ very intently, ever since I came on shore. -Now, where the deuce are the porters? Now, if this were New York, one -would be deafened by them,” growled the General, showing himself in -front. - -His grievance was removed, and he was “deafened by them” and others -immediately. - -“Porter, sir?” - -“Cab, sir?” - -“Fly, sir?” - -“Queen’s hotel?” - -“Adelphi?” - -“Star-and-Garter?” - -“Times, sir?” - -Were some of the sounds shouted into his ears—not once, but a score of -times. - -“Queen’s hotel, sir?” - -“Lord Admiral, sir?” - -“Carriage, sir? How many, sir? Where to, sir?” - -“How can I tell when I can’t hear myself think, for your noise? Dick, -answer all these men, and see to the baggage being taken to the station. -Jacob hasn’t knowledge enough—he would be sure to get it lost; though -for that matter, I wish he would lose it—it would be an immense relief -to me! I shall take Anna and Drusilla over to that restaurant, to get -them out of this din, and to give them a cup of tea.” - -“All right, uncle. Pray go and make yourself and the ladies -comfortable,” said Dick, good-humoredly. - -“And let me see,” said the General, examining his watch. “It is now nine -o’clock. The—hem—‘parliamentary’ starts at ten. We have but an hour to -wait. It will not be worth while to go to a hotel. I think it will be -best for us to stop over there until it is time for us to go to the -station. See to getting our tickets, Dick, will you? And have a carriage -at the door there in time.” - -“All right, uncle. Make yourself easy.” - -“Come along, young women! Pina! give me that child. You look as if you -were ready to drop under his weight.” - -“A sleeping baby is twice as heavy as a waking one, sir,” said the girl, -as she placed the child in the old man’s arms. - -And regardless of the staring street boys who grinned at seeing the “old -gent” playing nursemaid, he crossed the street to a cheerful gas-lighted -pastry-cook’s shop, where he and his party were accommodated with a -small private parlor and a neatly-spread tea-table. - -Before they got half through with tea, Dick joined them and reported -that he had procured the tickets for a whole compartment in the -first-class carriages, which he declared to be quite as comfortable as -the civil custom-house officer had represented them to be. - -Dick was served with a cup of tea, a plate of sallyluns, toast, -periwinkles, shrimps, and the finest strawberries he had ever seen. - -Dick quaffed his tea with avidity, for he was both heated and thirsty; -and he also enjoyed the toast and the sallyluns; but he glanced -suspiciously at the periwinkles and the shrimps. - -“What manner of fish, fruit or vegetable may these be?” he inquired, -taking up a plate of periwinkles and squinting at them. - -“Taste and see,” answered Anna, as with the point of a pin she -delicately drew one from its snail-like shell. - -Drusilla was at the same time peeling a shrimp for little Lenny. - -Dick glanced from one to the other and shuddered. These tea-table -delicacies looked—the one so like an insect, the other so like a -reptile. - -“Try this, Dick,” coaxed Anna, as she offered him a morsel from the -point of a new pin. - -Dick shrank. - -“Now don’t be prejudiced! Consider what an uninviting edible is the -oyster, in the shell or out of it! Who that did not know how good it is -would ever dare to eat it? Now try this?” - -“Oh, thou modern Eve! I take it, since thou tellst me it is ‘good for -food,’” sighed Dick, as he gingerly accepted the dainty. - -“Now, how do you like it?” inquired Anna. - -“My temptress, it is delicious! I thank thee for introducing me to the -acquaintance of the periwink.” - -“I knew you would like it,” said Anna. - -“More s’imp? more s’imp!” called out little Lenny, for whom his mamma -could not peel fast enough. - -“Are they good also, Master Lenny?” smiled Dick, helping himself to one. - -“Day dood. Mate Nannan peel for woo, Dit,” answered the little Turk, who -evidently thought that women were made to wait on men and—boys. - -“They have an exquisite flavor! They are as fine, with a difference, as -the periwinkle itself. Master Lenny, your humble servant. I’m bound to -you for making me acquainted with the shrimp. I don’t know which of -these two dainties I like the best. After this I can believe in a man -being in love with two——” - -“Dishes at the same time,” interjected Anna. - -“Ladies at the same time,” concluded Dick. - -“More s’imps! More s’imps! Mate Pina peel!” vociferated the little -despot, for whom his mamma could not keep up the supply. - -And Pina was called to help; but new hands are awkward at the shrimp -peeling business; and as Pina took a minute to peel a delicate morsel -that Master Lenny swallowed in a second, he soon called out again: - -“More s’imps! more s’imps! Mate Nannan peel too!” - -Anna good-naturedly complied. But even with her help the demand -continued to be greater than the supply. And the tiny autocrat, looking -around and seeing no more female slaves at hand, called out: - -“More s’imps! more s’imps! And make _Dit_ peel.” - -And Dick obediently sacrificed his periwinkles, and cheerfully betook -himself to the service of the liliputian tyrant. - -But still the demand exceeded the supply, for these vassals were awkward -at the work; so, after glancing dubiously at his venerable relative, -Master Leonard sang out lustily: - -“More s’imps! more s’imps! And mate Untle Granpa peel!” - -And the veteran soldier of hard-won fields, the leader of tens of -thousands, smiled submissively and obeyed the baby boy. - -But there is an end to all things, even to infant despotism, and so when -the three-quarters past nine struck, the party rose from the table, for -they had but fifteen minutes to catch the train in. - -They hurried on their outer garments and hastened into the hired fly and -were driven rapidly to the station. - -Lively and well-lighted, but by no means noisy or confused was the -scene. There was a very long and heavy train of carriages, for it -carried the “three estates,” but so orderly were all the arrangements, -so exact were the regulations, so well trained the guards and porters, -so vigilant the police, that all went smoothly and surely as clock-work. - -As if by magic, our travelers soon found themselves in a first-class -carriage, with all their luggage piled on the roof, flying along with -great rapidity, while hedges, fields and farm-houses, seen dimly in the -half light, reeled past on either side. Though it was ten o’clock post -meridian, yet in these northern latitudes, and at this season, it was -still twilight. The carriage in which our travelers found themselves was -in many respects like the inside of a large family coach, only it was -much more capacious than any such vehicle. It had eight well-cushioned -spring seats—four front and four back; and glass doors and windows on -the right and left. In recesses under the seats and racks over them -there was ample space for the storage of all their light luggage. - -Anna and Drusilla occupied the back seats, General Lyon and Dick the -front ones. Down on the floor between them, on a bed made of rugs and -shawls, with a carpet-bag for a pillow, little Lenny, satisfied with -shrimps, was laid asleep. Pina and Leo had seats in a second-class -carriage. - -Once shut up in their own carriage with the train in motion, our -travelers were as isolated from all other people as if they had been -making the journey in their own family coach. They neither saw nor heard -anything of their fellow-passengers. - -For the first hour they conversed a little with each other, making -comments upon the ride, as: - -“How long the twilight lasts in these parts;” or: - -“Will this light mist turn to rain before morning?” or: - -“What a carefully cultivated country! There is no waste land hereabouts. -The whole scene seems to be a perpetual landscape garden.” - -But in the second hour they gradually succumbed to fatigue and -drowsiness and dropped off to sleep—each reposing in a corner as he or -she best could, and waking only when the train would stop at a wayside -station, which, by-the-by, was every few minutes. - -Whenever it stopped there were passengers to get in or out, but the -train was so very long that the chances were that these passengers would -be a quarter of a mile before or behind them; and so, though our friends -always on these occasions roused themselves and looked forth, they saw -little beyond the lighted station, the vanishing platform, and running -guards and porters. - -Drusilla always looked from the windows with something more than -curiosity—with eager interest; for since she landed in England, her -uppermost thought had been that she was in the same country with her -Alick; and who knew but she might meet him anywhere at any moment—even -at one of these wayside stations? - -But whenever the train started again, the swift motion, and the late -hour, and the comfortable, not to say luxurious resting-place lulled her -in a light slumber, in which she was still conscious of the strange, new -scene—the wondrous old country through which she was passing; feeling -that she loved the old motherland of her race, and loved it well; -dreaming that she was returning there after ages of expatriation; seeing -shades of knights in armor, “old ancestral spirits;” seeing visions of -mediæval halls, with all the barbaric pageantry of long ago, dimly -shadowed forth. Then waking up to note with delight the fresh, bright -rural scenes of to-day—the thickly-sown, but luxuriantly-growing fields; -the green hedges; the crowded but flourishing gardens; the shrub-shaded, -vinecovered cottages—the humblest laborer’s hut all mantled with -flowering green creepers that made it look like a garden bower, the -slenderest strip of land among the line of rails thickly planted with -vegetables,—nothing wasted, nothing ugly. - -It was only a little past midnight, yet it was already morning, and -every moment day broadened. - -Drusilla continued to gaze with surprise and delight upon the beautiful -land; for, whatever the sky of England may be, the face of the country, -especially in this region, is very charming. - -Sometimes Drusilla’s contemplations would be interrupted by a restless -movement of little Lenny. She would then stoop and turn him over, and he -would fall asleep again. - -General Lyon and Anna slept so soundly at length that they were not -awakened by the stopping of the train, nor even by the loud snoring of -Dick, who, when in a state of somnolency, was a fine performer on the -proboscis—the only musical instrument he understood. - -Long before they reached London, its distant, huge cloud of smoke and -fog hanging upon the horizon greeted the eye—its distant thunder of -blended sounds came softened to the ear. - -Soon they were at Euston Square station, in all the great crowd and -bustle of the parliamentary train’s arrival. - -It was surprising to them, amid the hundreds of travelers and the hills -of luggage to be cared for, how soon our party, without much effort on -their own part, was attended to. - -Before they had time to become impatient, they found themselves in one -cab, followed by their servants in another, bowling along through the -streets of London. - -It was but little past four o’clock, and all the shops were still -closed, and the sidewalks nearly deserted. Only the earliest bakers’, -butchers’, and costermongers’ carts were abroad, or cabs and vans taking -passengers to and from early trains, or cook-maids at the heads of area -stairs, receiving from the milkman the daily supply. - -Even at this early hour, there were many novelties of the London streets -that struck pleasantly upon our travelers’ eyes, among them the -abundance of flowers shown in almost every open window of every house. -But what pleased Master Lenny most was the costermongers’ little carts, -piled with green vegetables and ripe fruit, and drawn by little donkeys. -Master Lenny took them to be toy-carts for little boys to play with, and -insisted upon being accommodated with one immediately; nor was he to be -quieted until his mamma promised him a mysterious pleasure in a -donkey-ride at Greenwich. - -It is a long drive from Euston Square station to the Morley House, -Trafalgar Square, which had been selected as their hotel by General -Lyon, at the recommendation of a fellow passenger on board the Hurona. - -It was nearly five o’clock when they reached the house, yet few servants -seemed to be stirring about it. - -They could be accommodated with apartments immediately, said the polite -functionary who happened to be on duty; but he regretted to add that -they would have to wait for breakfast, as the head waiter did not rise -until seven. - -“Two hours to wait. It is too bad, after such a tiresome night-ride,” -groaned General Lyon. - -He had endured nights of toils and days of fasting, in the battle times -of long ago; but he was young then and the cause was great, so he had -rather liked that sort of life; but it was different with him now that -he was old and fated to abide the pleasure of the head waiter. - -They were shown to large, airy, clean bedrooms, all near each other, and -opening upon the corridors, and having one private parlor in the suite. - -In this parlor our party gathered for a moment to consult. The delay of -breakfast is sometimes felt as a calamity. - -“Can we not procure even a cup of coffee for love or money?” inquired -Dick. - -The official was very sorry, but the head waiter would not rise till -seven. - -“Will you be so good as to send a chambermaid, then?” requested Anna. - -He was very sorry, but he was afraid the chamber-maids were not yet -stirring. The hour was early. - -“So it is; and we must be reasonable. Servants must have their rest, you -know,” said Drusilla, soothingly. - -And the really obliging attendant smiled and bowed. - -“Let us go to our rooms and make ourselves comfortable and lie down. -Perhaps we shall sleep; at any rate, we shall rest. The two hours will -soon pass,” continued Drusilla. - -“No, no, no, no! No do ’leep!” objected the head of the family, who had -had his own sleep out and had waked up hungry. “No do ’leep! More -s’imp—more s’imp!” - -“Poor little fellow, _he_ is hungry,” sighed Drusilla. - -“I think I can get some warm milk and bread for the child, ma’am,” said -the man. - -“Oh, I shall be very much obliged to you if you will. We can wait better -than he can,” said Drusilla, gratefully. - -And the man went out and fetched the milk and bread, which, at first, -Lenny refused to touch, peremptorily exclaiming: - -“No, no, no! No b’ed milt!—more s’imp!” - -But being assured that his slaves could not procure shrimps for him, he -seemed to divine that even despots cannot compel people to perform -impossibilities, and also being very hungry, he ate his bread and milk. - -When Lenny had finished his meal, the party separated and went to their -bedrooms to lie down for an hour or two. They did not expect to sleep, -but they slept—so soundly that they did not awake until some time after -seven o’clock, when a waiter rapped at General Lyon’s door to take his -orders about the breakfast. - -The General referred him for instructions to Mrs. Hammond. - -And soon the whole party, much refreshed by their sleep, assembled in -the private parlor for breakfast. - -It was after eight, however, before it was finally set upon the table. - -There were fine Mocha coffee, English breakfast tea, rich cream, sweet -butter, fresh eggs, broiled ham and broiled pigeons, light bread, toast -and muffins. - -For a few minutes our famished travelers were so closely engaged in -discussing these delicacies, that not a word was wasted upon any other -subject than their meal. But after they had all eaten and were -satisfied, they began to talk of their immediate plans of enjoyment. The -great city held out a thousand attractions to strangers. It was an -“embarrassment of riches” in the sight-seeing line that troubled them. - -“Where shall we go first?” was the great question. - -Various answers were returned. - -“To the Royal Academy.” - -“To Westminster Abbey.” - -“To the Tower.” - -“The British Museum.” - -“St. Paul’s Cathedral.” - -“The Zoological Gardens.” - -These were a few of the suggestions offered; but as the three young -people spoke at once, it was impossible for their elder and arbitrator -to know who favor what. - -“I think, upon reflection,” he said, at length, “that we had better not -attempt any of those great sights just now. To see either one of them -well would be an exhausting day’s work; and we wish to be fresh for the -Derby to-morrow. The Derby, my children! Come! we shall have time enough -to see everything else afterwards. But we can only see the Derby -to-morrow; so to-day, I think, we will just take a fly and drive around -and leave some of our letters of introduction, with our present address. -What do you say to that plan?” - -As the plan was of the General’s devising, all agreed to it. - -A fly was ordered, and the ladies retired to change their dresses for -the drive. - -Drusilla was the most expeditious with her toilet. She soon returned to -the parlor fully equipped for her drive. - -Little Lenny, in charge of his nurse, was standing within the recess of -the front window, dancing with delight at something he saw outside. -Drusilla heard a pair of shrill, cracked voices in apparent conflict -below. - -“Hee! hee! Doosil—hee!” shouted the child. - -Drusilla approached, and witnessed for the first time the renowned Punch -and Judy show. - -While standing there and enjoying her child’s enjoyment, she saw a -gentleman come forth apparently from a coffee-room below and start to -cross Trafalgar Square; and with a half-suppressed cry she recognized— - -Alexander Lyon. - -She had been always looking for him—always expecting to see him since -she first set foot in England, yet she had known that her looking was -like the search for a needle in a hay-rick, and her expectations as -extravagant in the first instance as they would be in the last. - -And now that she actually saw him walk out from the same house in which -she herself was sojourning, the astonishment and the shock were so -great, that she reeled and held by the window-sill for support. - -Without stopping to consider whether the action might be proper or -otherwise, she turned to the waiter who was engaged in taking away the -breakfast service, and beckoned him to her side. He came, his mouth a -little open with wonder. - -“Does that gentleman stop here?” she inquired, pointing to Mr. Lyon. - -“Lord Killcrichtoun? Yes, ma’am, he stops here,” replied the waiter. - -“No, you mistake. You think I mean somebody else; but I mean _that_ -gentleman. Look! he is just half across the square now.” - -“Just so, ma’am, Lord Killcrichtoun of Killcrichtoun, County of -Sutherland, North Britain. Yes, ma’am, he is here.” - -“I am sure you mistake. I allude to the gentleman in gray. Look! now he -lifts his hat and replaces it. There he is passing the corner?” - -“Precisely, ma’am. He is up for the Derby, ma’am, begging your pardon. -My lord goes down to Epsom this evening, ma’am. Any more commands, -ma’am?” - -“Thanks, no; you may go.” - -Drusilla sank down upon the nearest seat, unmindful of the prattling of -her little Lenny, who was still laughing with delight at the broad -absurdities of the puppetshow; for the whole truth flashed on her now. -The young American gentleman who had claimed the barony of -Killcrichtoun, in the right of his mother, was no other than her own -Alick! And he was living under the same roof with her! Did he know that -she was here, or would he find it out? Were the names of all new-comers -registered in open books in English hotels as in American ones? If so, -was it his habit to look at them? What would he think if he saw her name -on the books of the hotel— - - “_Mrs. Alexander Lyon, child, and servant._” - -Would he happen to see her? Would he wish to see little Lenny? Suppose -he were to meet her—what would he say or do? He might pass her; but -could he pass little Lenny—charming little Lenny—fair-haired, blue-eyed -little Lenny, with his father’s own features and complexion? - -It was scarcely possible that he could. - -And if he should stop to caress his son, to take him in his arms, to -press him to his heart, what next? Would he stop there, and put the -child away again? - -Not likely! for, setting natural affection aside, now that he had a -title, he would want an heir; and what a fine, promising one was this? - -Or would he perhaps claim the child and take him from his mother? He -_could_ do so. The law would give him Lenny, though it should break the -mother’s heart. Would he avail himself of this law to tear her child -from her arms? - -No, never! she thought; badly as he had treated her while he had been -maddened by the passions of pride and ambition, he would never while in -his sober senses—never in cold blood deal her such a cruel blow. - -True he had once, in bitterly cruel terms, denounced and renounced her -forever; but she thought of his words whenever they forced themselves -upon her memory, only as the ravings of frenzied anger; she knew that -they would never have been carried out to extremity. Alexander had told -her that she might starve, but she felt in her heart that he would never -even have let her want! - -And now she felt sure that, however he might learn to love his little -Lenny,—however he might desire to possess him, he would never attempt to -take him away from her. - -No, she was sure that he would rather let little Lenny lead him back to -her. - -Her hopes arose, her heart beat quickly at the thought. - -Did she then feel no jealous pain at the idea of being reunited to her -husband only through his natural affection for his child? - -Not the least. She loved both too purely for such jealousy. - -On the contrary, she felt that it would be sweet to be indebted to -little Lenny for a reconciliation with his father. And she knew, -besides, that once reconciled to Alick by _any_ means, and especially by -this means, she could WIN HER WAY to his heart, and gain a firmer hold -there than she had ever possessed before. - -Then her thoughts reverted to his new title: - -“Lord Killcrichtoun—Baron Killcrichtoun of Killcrichtoun.” - -From what she had read she knew that it was an almost barren title, no -wealth coming with it,—only an old ruin, and a few wretched huts in the -wildest part of the Highlands appertaining to it. - -But in his pride of race he had claimed the title, and no doubt had gone -to great expense to prove his right to it, and he would probably remain -in England to enjoy it, since in America it would only make him -ridiculous. - -She herself was strongly attached to her native country with its bright -sunshine, its vast forests and its high mountains. All her friends and -all her fortunes were there, yet she would gladly expatriate herself to -live “anywhere, anywhere” under the sun, with her Alick. - -While she mused, General Lyon, Anna, and Dick came in, ready for their -drive. - -Dick said that the fly was waiting. - -So, after charging Pina to be very careful of little Lenny, Drusilla -followed her party down-stairs and into the carriage, and they -started—to go first as in duty bound to leave their cards at the -American Embassy, and then to leave their letters of introduction with -the people for whom they were intended. - -They did but stop and send in their cards and letters, they made no -visit anywhere; but preferred to leave it to the option of their friends -and correspondents to make their acquaintance or not. - -They returned to the Morley House at four in the afternoon. - -Anna went into her bedroom to take off her bonnet; but Drusilla hurried -at once into the parlor to look after her child. - -She found little Lenny quite safe; but boiling over with excitement, not -to say indignation. - -“Why, what is the matter with my little man?” inquired the mother, -sitting down and lifting the child to her lap. - -“Man! man! tut off Lenny turl!” exclaimed the child, pointing to his -head, while his blue eyes flashed and his rosy cheeks flushed. - -“Cut off Lenny’s curl? Who did it? Pina! who did this?” inquired -Drusilla, looking at the short lock from which the curl had been -severed. - -“Indeed, ma’am, I don’t know! I left Master Leonard in charge of the -chambermaid only one minute, while I ran to get his milk and bread, and -when I came back it was done.” - -“And what did the chambermaid say?” - -“She said as how——” - -“Never mind! I had rather hear the account from herself. Go and try and -find that chambermaid, and fetch her here.” - -Pina went on the errand and soon returned with a blooming English girl, -who curtsied and stood waiting orders. - -“What is your name?” inquired Drusilla. - -“Susan, ma’am.” - -“Well, Susan, did you have charge of this little child for a few -minutes?” - -“Yes, ma’am,” answered the girl, blushing. - -“Then how came you to let any one cut off his curl?” - -“Indeed, ma’am, I couldn’t help it! It was done so sudden. And I didn’t -dare oppose my lord.” - -“My lord?” - -“My Lord Killcrichtoun it was, ma’am, who did it.” - -“Killcrichtoun!” repeated Drusilla, as a light broke on her mind. - -“_Killchristian!_” exclaimed Pina, in dismay. “_Killchristian!!_ It’s a -wonder he had not cut off the child’s head as well as his hair! Good -gracious! was ever such a heathenish, savage, barbarious name!” - -“So it was one of the gentlemen of the house who did it?” inquired -Drusilla, striving to control the excess of her emotions. - -“Yes, ma’am; but indeed I thought by the way he behaved that he had a -right to do it, and that the child was some kin to him. He don’t act so -like a mad gentleman in general, ma’am.” - -“Tell me all about it.” - -“Well, ma’am, now I think upon it, I almost believe he must have watched -his opportunity; for as soon as ever the nursemaid was gone, he came to -the door, looked all around, and seeing no one but me and my charge, -took the boy up in his arms and hugged him and kissed him and fondled -him, and almost cried over him; and then before I could suspect, much -less prevent his doing it, he out with his pen-knife and whipped off -that pretty golden curl. And then he hurried away. I think he heard the -nursemaid coming, for she was in the room the next minute. And you came -in almost immediately after, ma’am.” - -“Then this has just occurred?” - -“Not ten minutes ago, ma’am. Anything else, ma’am?” - -“No,” answered the lady. And the girl withdrew. - -Drusilla called Pina to follow her and went slowly into her bedroom. - -While taking off her bonnet and mantle and changing her dress for -dinner, she was scarcely conscious of what she was doing. Her thoughts -were absorbed by what had just occurred. - -“Poor Alick,” she said; “to love his child, his only son and only child, -and not feel free to caress him! Oh, Alick, Alick, dear, do you think -_I_ would keep him from you? Much as I love him, you might have him half -the time; you might have him all day, so that you would be kind to him, -and I know you would be, and would let me have him back at night. Yes, -Alick, dear, though you might never see or speak to _me_ again, I would -not keep the child out of your way. Love your boy, Alick, dear, and take -all the comfort from him you can. He has been a great comfort to me, -Alick, the little son you gave me, has.” - -So ran her thoughts as she mechanically put on a mauve taffeta dress and -fastened her point lace collar with a diamond brooch, scarcely knowing -what she wore. - -Pina was also holding discourse, but not with herself or in silence. - -“My precious little pet,” she said, as she dressed Master Lenny in his -embroidered white frock. “My pretty little darling, did its Pea-nut -leave it all alone with a stranger in a strange land, where -Killchristians go about scalping little babies, my sugar? I will never -leave it alone again as long as I live, or leastways as long as we stay -in this land, where Killchristians cut and hew at babies! Suppose he had -cut off its precious little finger or toe? What would its Pea-nut have -done?” Then turning impatiently to her mistress, she said: - -“Ma’am, you don’t seem to care at all now about that wild beast of a -Killchristian rushing in upon little Lenny like a North American Indian -with a drawn knife and scalping off his hair. Suppose it had been his -precious nose or his ears that the savage took a fancy to? But it’s my -belief after all he was a thief and wanted to sell Lenny’s pretty golden -curls to a lady’s hair-dresser; and he would have cut all the curls off -his head if he hadn’t heard me coming. Wish I had caught him at his -tricks! Never mind, let me ever catch him near little Lenny again, -that’s all! Lenny will be certain to know him again, if I do not!” - -“You will know him, Pina; but you do not know of whom you are speaking. -The gentleman who cut off Lenny’s curl had a perfect right to do so. -Lord Killcrichtoun is Mr. Alexander Lyon, or was so until he got his -ancestor’s title. Why should you be so astonished? Didn’t you know that -he was in London?” - -“Yes, ma’am,” said Pina, unable to recover from her astonishment; “but -London is a biggish willage, and I didn’t expect to see him, much less -hear him called Killchristian. Howsever, I think, begging of your -pardon, ma’am, as the name suits him very well. ’Deed it’s much of a -muchness with the other name, for I reckon as lions kills Christians, -and eats ’em too, whenever they get a chance!” - -“Pina, you hurt me when you speak in that way of Lenny’s father.” (A -less gentle spirit would have said to her servant “you _offend_ me.” But -Drusilla had much more tenderness than dignity in her nature and -manners.) - -“I am sorry, ma’am. Indeed, ma’am, I would rather bite off the end of my -tongue than let it say anything to hurt you,” replied Pina. - -“Now notice then, my good girl. It may happen that you may see Mr. Lyon -some time when you are out with little Lenny. If you should, you must -not avoid him. On the contrary, take the child to him. It will be good -to promote affection between the child and his father.” - -“I will do as you say, ma’am.” - -Drusilla then went into the parlor to join her friends at dinner. But -she said nothing of Lenny’s adventure. - -“This evening,” said General Lyon, “we go to old classic Drury Lane. And -to-morrow for the Derby.” - -Drusilla’s heart beat—but her only, or at least her chief object in -going to the Derby was not to see the great race, but to see perhaps—her -beloved husband. - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - THE DERBY. - - I have set my life upon a cast, - And I will abide the hazard of the die—SHAKESPEARE. - - -“Oh, it is drizzling! I wonder if it is not always drizzling in this -whimpering climate,” grumbled Anna, as she met Drusilla in their private -parlor very early on the morning of the Derby Day. - -“It is but a light drizzle; it will not hurt us and it may clear off,” -suggested Drusilla, hopefully. - -“All ready, my darlings? That is right, for we must make an early start -if we wish to get a good position on the hill. I don’t know that -reserved places are ever taken in advance for the Derby; but I do know -that _we_ have not secured any. Ring for breakfast, Anna, my child, and -let us have it over. But where is Dick?” inquired the General, as he -joined his young people. - -“He has stepped around to the livery stable to make sure of the barouche -we engaged. He will be back in a few minutes,” replied Anna. - -“He might have left that to the servants; but Dick can’t keep out of a -stable, if only he has the faintest shadow of an excuse to go into one. -Well—he might go into worse places,” said the General, just as the -absentee returned. - -“A strong, well sprung, capacious barouche and a fine pair of horses! -Altogether as good a turn-out as is to be had for love or money,” said -Dick, as he threw himself into a chair. - -“But what is that you have there?” inquired the General, pointing to a -well-sized parcel rolled up in tissue paper which Mr. Hammond carried in -his hands. - -“This! Oh, this contains our veils,” answered Dick, unrolling the parcel -and displaying yards of blue, green, mauve, brown and gray barège. - -“Our—_what_?” - -“Veils for the Derby. I saw other fellows buying veils and they told me -it was the usual thing to keep off the dust, you know. There, Anna, -there’s a blue one for you. Needn’t take the trouble to hem it; nobody -does; it is only to be used for one occasion, and is never fit for -anything else afterwards. Here, Drusa, you may have the green one; and -little Lenny the mauve; and now, uncle, here are two—a gray and a brown, -for you and me. I thought you would like a subdued color best, as I do. -We are to tie them around our hats,” said Dick, offering the choice of -the remaining veils to the General. - -The veteran soldier laughed and shook his head. - -“But, uncle, every gentleman wears a veil.” - -“Nonsense, Dick! somebody has been selling you.” - -“Indeed, no, they were all buying veils and fastening them on to their -hats.” - -“Then I’ll be hanged if I make myself ridiculous by wearing a veil like -a girl.” - -“Well, then, you’ll get yourself blinded, deafened, stupefied and -suffocated by the dust—eyes, ears, nostrils and bronchial tubes will all -be filled.” - -“I should like to know where the dust is to come from on such a day as -this? Do you see how it is raining?” - -“Don’t know, sir! only know what the fellows here tell me.” - -“They are quizzing you, as I said before, that’s my opinion.” - -While he spoke the door was opened and Mr. Spencer and Mr. Tredegar were -announced. - -These were two young Americans, who had been fellow-students with Dick -Hammond, and whom the General had met on the day before and invited to -breakfast and to go to the Derby with his party. - -After bowing to the ladies and shaking hands with the gentlemen, the -new-comers took the seats offered them, and commenced upon the -all-engrossing subject of the hour. - -“Fine day for the Derby, sir!” said Mr. Spencer, who had been three -years in London attached to the American Minister’s _suite_, and might -be supposed to be posted on the subject. “Very fine day for the Derby.” - -“Fine day! Why, do you see how it is raining?” demanded the General, in -surprise. - -“Drizzling, sir, drizzling; just enough to lay the dust.” - -“Dust! ah! by the way that reminds me! Here is a lunatic has brought an -assortment of veils, and he says we must each wear one—men and women -both.” - -“Oh, yes, sir—the regular thing, you know, like the train at court. It -is to protect the wearer from the smothering dust.” - -“But,” said the General, frowning, “as I was just asking my nephew when -you came in, where is the dust to come from on such a day as this?” - -“Oh, sir, it may clear up by the time we shall be coming home. And it is -in the home-coming we raise the sirocco. We must be prepared for the -worst.” - -“Worst? Do you call clear weather the worst?” - -“The worst possible for the Derby, sir. But this is a truth that you -will never be able to believe until you see it demonstrated. And you -will probably see it done to-day.” - -As they talked, the waiter came in to lay the cloth for breakfast. - -Watching his opportunity, he presently came to General Lyon, and said, -in a low, respectful voice: - -“Beg pardon, sir, but would you like to have a luncheon put up to take -with you?” - -“Eh? Yes, certainly,” replied the General, at the same time turning -towards his young visitors a comically appealing look, as much as to -say: - -“You see even this waiter knows me to be a greenhorn.” - -“What would you please order, sir?” inquired John. - -“Eh?—oh, anything at all! something nice and tidy.” - -“Pigeon-pie, sir, if you please?” - -“Spencer, is pigeon-pie the regular thing?” said the General, winking at -his friend. - -“I believe it is _one_ of the regular things. Derby Day without -pigeon-pie would be—an incomplete arrangement.” - -“Well, Spencer, my dear boy, as you are posted, please receive my carte -blanche to order all the ‘regular things,’ and everything else that is -comfortable.” - -Young Spencer nodded and laughed; took from the General’s hand a card -and a pencil, and made out a liberal list which he handed to the waiter, -saying: - -“See that all these articles are put into clean hampers, and stowed away -in the boxes of the General’s barouche.” - -The man left the room with the list, and returned with the breakfast -tray. - -And the family party and their visitors sat down to the table. - -Anna presided. - -“Where is my godson?” inquired the General, discontented at the absence -of his favorite. - -“He had his breakfast in my room, an hour ago, so that he might be got -ready to go with us,” said Drusilla. - -“Ah! yes, well, I suppose under the circumstances it was as well,” -admitted the General. - -Before they had done breakfast, however, Master Lenny was led in by his -nurse. - -He was resplendent in holiday attire and in the anticipation of some -unknown glory that had been promised him, and for which he saw great -preparations going forward, and which he called in his baby babble -“doin’ Dubby.” - -“Doin’ Dubby, untle dranpa! Lenny doin’ Dubby, hee hos wun,” he said, -running up to his godfather. - -“Lenny is going to the Derby to see the horses run, is he? But Lenny -will be the winning horse, I’ll bet,” said the General, taking the little -fellow up on his knee. “Gentlemen,” he added, turning to his young -visitors, “let me introduce you to Master Leonard Lyon, the latest -representative of old Leonard Lyon, who——” - -“‘Came over with the Conqueror,’” suggested Mr. Tredegar. - -“Who lived here long before the Conqueror was born,” concluded the -General, quietly. “Leonard, my boy, bow to the gentlemen, and ask them -how they do, and say that you hope they are well.” - -“Hope.—_Do Dubby_,” said Lenny, who could not connect his sentences very -well as yet, holding out his chubby hand to Mr. Spencer, who was -nearest. - -“Grandpa, we will leave Lenny to help you entertain your friends while -we put on our bonnets and mantles,” said Anna, rising from the table, -followed by Drusilla. - -“And so Master Leonard is going to the Derby? He is beginning life -early,—he is a very fast young gentleman,” said Mr. Tredegar, taking the -child upon his knee. - -“Lenny doin’ Dubby—hee hos wun,” was the stereotyped answer of the boy. - -But he was taken from one by the other, and prattled sociably to all -until the return of the ladies dressed for their drive. - -“Now, Mr. Spencer, you are not in earnest about these veils? I am not to -decorate Dick’s and grandpa’s hats with them, am I?” laughed Anna, -lifting the light cloud-like pile of barège. - -“Oh, no; not just yet! not until they shall be required. It has ceased -drizzling, but the ground is still too damp for dust. They can be rolled -up and put into their pockets until wanted.” - -“Here, grandpa, here is yours,” said Anna, rolling up the gray veil -lightly, and handing it. - -“No, thank you, my dear. Dust or no dust, I am not going to wear a veil. -I would just as soon wear a crinoline!” - -“Put it in your own pocket, my dear Mrs. Hammond, and have it ready for -him when he will want it. He will be glad enough to get it by-and-by,” -said Francis Tredegar. - -Anna took his advice. - -“And now are we all quite ready?” inquired the General. - -“Quite,” answered everybody else. - -“Then, come!” - -And he took Drusilla’s hand, and drew it within his arm and led the way -down-stairs. - -A large, open barouche, with a fine pair of horses, stood waiting the -General’s family. A jaunty gig with a spirited horse awaited the two -young gentlemen. - -Drusilla and Anna were handed into the back seat. The General sat in -front, and by his side sat Pina with little Lenny. Dick perched himself -up beside the driver. Jacob rode behind. The two young men were in their -gig. - -The party started—the General’s barouche taking the lead. - -The drizzling rain had ceased and the clouds were dispersing before a -light wind. - -The streets of London, always crowded, were now thronged; but with this -difference also,—that nine-tenths of the people’s faces and the horses’ -heads were turned in one direction, and everybody,—man, woman, and -child, saint and sinner,—was becoming more and more intoxicated; and not -with spirituous or fermented liquors, but with the Derby Day. Crowded -carriages of all descriptions, saddle-horses, donkeys, and -foot-passengers of all ranks and sexes, thronged the streets; and talk -and laughter, calls and shouts resounded through the air. It looked as -if London were suddenly being evacuated by its whole population, and the -people were making a merry joke of the matter. And all were pouring -towards the south-western suburb. - -In such a throng the progress of our party was necessarily very slow, -yet with none of the _tedium_ of a slow progress. The great crowd of -people and of vehicles going all one way; the variety of individuals and -characters; the total abandonment of all reserve; the hailings and the -chaffings; the jests and the snatches of song; the grotesque decorations -of some of the horses and carriages, and even of some of the people; the -perfect novelty of the scene; and the exhilaration of all animated -creatures that composed it, made every step of the progress charming to -the unaccustomed minds and eyes of our new-comers. - -Drusilla and Anna were delighted. Little Lenny shouted. Pina was not a -whit behind them in her ecstasies. Old General Lyon’s eyes twinkled and -lips smiled, and sometimes he broke into a good hearty laugh. As for -Dick, the oldest Derby goer on the road could not have got ahead of him -in bandying back the jokes that were bandied at him on the way. Only -that Jacob, hanging on behind, stared with “all his eyes,” and looked as -if he thought he was enjoying a pleasant sort of nightmare. - -“I say, you jolly old howl (owl),” called a cockney from a neighboring -carriage to General Lyon, “where did you get that gorilla you’ve got -perched up behind there, heh?” - -“From a country where they muzzle monkeys sometimes,” retorted Dick, -answering for the General. - -So it went on. - -“But this is nothing at all to what it will be when we are out of London -and fairly on to the Epsom road,” shouted Henry Spencer from his gig -behind. - -“I never saw the Carnival at Rome; but I should think it was not very -unlike this,” said the General. - -“This is the Carnival of London! Old Rome has its Saturnalia; modern -Rome has its Carnival; America has her Independence Day; but England has -her Derby, equal to all these others rolled into one,” said Francis -Tredegar. - -“If this is only the beginning it is worth crossing the Atlantic to -see—not the Derby race only, but the Derby Day!” said the General. - -“Only wait till you get to Epsom!” exclaimed Henry Spencer. - -Once fairly upon the Epsom road, our friends found it as their guests -had predicted. The crowd, great as it had been before, was even greater -now. And it thickened with every mile; the numbers of passengers -increasing twofold, tenfold, a hundred-fold, as they approached the -bourne of their journey. - -The road was as one vast river of human beings and brute creatures, -pouring its multitudes towards Epsom. And every cross country road was -as a tributary stream helping to swell the flood. - -Every description of wheeled vehicles known to the civilized -world—broughams, barouches, landaus, chaises, buggies, sulkies, gigs, -rockaways, carryalls, omnibuses, stages, brakes, carts, drags, wagons, -jaunting cars, in an endless number and variety, and drawn by every -available species of quadrupeds—horses, mules, donkeys, goats, dogs, -oxen—thronged and crushed and pressed together for miles and miles -behind and before on the main road and up and down every branch -road—crowding toward Epsom. - -In this vast, moving mixed multitude the only saving feature was this, -that they were all moving the same way, and all, or nearly all, in high, -good humor. - -Pressed on all sides as they were—behind, before, on the right and on -the left, our friends in the barouche and their young guests in the gig, -managed to keep together;—sometimes brought to a standstill, sometimes -moving on at the rate of an inch a minute. - -“Now you understand why it was necessary to start so early, though Epsom -is but fourteen miles from London, and though the great race does not -come off before two o’clock,” called out young Spencer. - -“Yes; and I begin to see the wisdom of those who went down to Epsom last -night to avoid all this,” answered the general. - -“Ah, but they were either old stagers who had experienced this sort of -thing many times before, or else individuals who had some deep stake in -the races to come off to-day. For my own part, I enjoy the going and -returning—the ‘road,’ in short, quite as much as anything else -appertaining to the great Derby Day.” - -“It is a novel and interesting sight, in its contrasts if in nothing -else,” replied the General, glancing from the handsome barouche -decorated with a duke’s coronet painted on its panels, and occupied by -an aristocratic party of stately men and elegant women, in splendid -apparel, that crowded him on the right—to the old dilapidated omnibus, -filled within and without with the ragged refuse of the London streets -and alleys, which pressed him on the left. - -But truth to tell, the ragamuffins seemed the merrier, if not the richer -party of the two. - -And many jests flew over General Lyon’s head between the Bohemians in -the old omnibus and a young member of the ducal family who occupied a -seat on the box beside the coachman. For that one day “free-born -Britons” of every rank enjoyed something like liberty and equality—not -to say unbridled license. - -“Hey day! What’s the matter now?” exclaimed the General, as the whole -immense march, with much rearing and plunging of quadrupeds, came to a -dead halt. - -“There’s a lock at the turnpike gate, sir,” called out a vagrant from -the old ‘bus. - -“A lock on the toll-gate! It’s a shame,” replied the innocent old -gentleman; “the gate should never be locked in the daytime, and most -especially on such a day as this, when they must keep such a vast -multitude of people waiting while they unlock it.” - -This speech was greeted by a burst of ironical applause from all the -occupants of the old omnibus, as well as from all others who heard it. -They laughed at the speaker and chaffed him. - -“You change all that when you get into parliament,” sang out one. - -“I say! what’s your name, you jolly old soul? Is it old King Cole?” -inquired another. - -Then all in the old omnibus sang out together: - - “Old King Cole was a jolly old soul, - And a jolly old soul was he— - He called for his bottle, and he called for his bowl, - And he called for his comrades three!” - -“Dick, what the deuce have I said wrong? What do they mean?” inquired -the General, much annoyed at finding himself the center of observation. - -“You have said nothing wrong, and they mean nothing offensive. It is the -Derby Day! That accounts for all, don’t you see?” answered Dick, -laughing. - -“But about the lock. They were chaffing me about _that_.” - -“Oh, you know that there is _now_ more than one lock at every turnpike -gate. There is the legitimate lock under the charge of the keeper; and -there is a lock of interlocked carriage wheels, reaching, perhaps, for -ten miles along the road.” - -“I knew once a lock of fourteen miles long, all caused by an ill -conditioned fellow in a brougham, who stopped the way at the toll-gate -for twenty minutes, disputing about his change,” said the young -gentleman who was seated beside the coachman on the right-hand carriage; -for on this latitudinarian day English reserve was laid aside, and -strangers spoke together as familiar friends. - -But the General’s fine barouche was the center of observation just now, -and all on account of the General’s “gorilla footman,” as the Bohemians -called young Jacob. - -Unluckily for his peace to-day, Jacob, with one of the best hearts in -the world, and a tolerably good brain, possessed all the peculiar -features of his race. He had the low, receding forehead, broad, flat -nose, wide, full lips, and small, retiring chin, jet black skin, and -crisp, woolly hair of the pure Guinea negro—all of which was likely to -render him an object of great amusement to the malicious crowd, and -annoyance to his master and friends. - -“I say, old cove, you show it free now, like the circus men do the -clowns when they go in procession; but how much are you going to charge -a head to see it when you get it in a booth on Epsom Heath?” called out -one. - -“Marster!” cried Jacob, half crying and ready to swear—“Marster! only -let me, and I’ll jump down and lick the lot of ’em!” - -“Oh, I say, fellows, it can talk!” cried another. - -“Let me at ’em!” begged Jacob. - -“Nonsense, my boy! You’d get trampled to death under the horses’ feet -before you could grapple with any of them. They mean no harm. It is the -Derby Day. Give them back as good as they send.” - -“But I haven’t got it in me,” sobbed Jake. - -“Oh! yes you have. Let ’em have it!” - -But Jake’s idea of “letting ’em have it” was of a more substantial sort -than mere words. Stooping down, he armed himself with a couple of ale -bottles, and flourishing one in each hand, he threatened one and all of -his aggressors. - -“Eh! eh! is it growing vicious?” called out some one with a shout of -laughter. - -The ale bottle flew from Jake’s right hand and knocked off the hat of -the speaker. - -“Oh, I say! look here! none of that now, you know! that’s carrying -things a little too far even for the Derby Day!” exclaimed the -bare-headed individual, groping in vain for his hat, but keeping his -good humor. - -“Oh! see here, governor! Here’s your ape getting dangerous! chain it hup -before it ’urts some un!” sang out another. - -Away flew the other ale bottle and struck this counsellor in the chest -and knocked him heels over head. - -“Hi! ho! here! where’s the police!” called out a half score of voices. - -But the police were not forthcoming, and the floored man picked himself -up, laughing merrily and saying good-humoredly: - -“Boys, we’re getting the worst of it! Better let the gorilla alone!” - -But the General turned to his coachman, frowning. - -“Jacob. I am ashamed of you! Here’s a set of poor fellows out for their -rare holiday chaffing you a little with harmless words, and you answer -them with hard blows!” - -“You told me to ‘let ’em have it,’” muttered Jake. - -“But not in _blows_; in _words_, you stupid fellow!” - -“I couldn’t answer ’em so.” - -“But suppose they retorted in kind? They can throw missiles as well as -you can.” - -“They are welkim!” grumbled Jake. - -“What, and hurt and maybe kill the ladies? Jake I’m more ashamed of you -than ever.” - -A commotion in the crowd ahead, a gradual unloosening of the lock of -wheels, warned our travelers that the way was clear, and carriages of -all sorts moved on, at first slowly, and then as the throng thinned more -rapidly, until it began to look like the multitudinous race of fast -trotting horses in harness on the Bloomingdale Road. - -And the quiet “chaffing” became hilarious shouting as one after another -of fast drivers distanced all competitors. And now indeed the Derby dust -arose in clouds like the sirocco of the desert until every man and -mother’s son had to put on a veil. - -Old General Lyon resisted the fate as long as he could, until, as Harry -Spencer had predicted, his eyes, ears nostrils and bronchial tubes were -all so much obstructed that he was nearly blinded, deafened, suffocated -and overwhelmed. Then he let Anna dust off his face and head with an -extra pocket-handkerchief, and tie a gray veil about his hat, as they -drove on. - -“I wish some sort of a veil could be contrived to protect these hedges,” -said Anna, pointing to the boundaries of the road on the right and left. -“It is a sin to cover these lovely green hedges with a thick coat of -dust. But, oh, grandpa! look, there’s poetry for you! look at that -sign!” - -The old gentleman turned and smiled to see a rural looking wayside inn, -embowered in creeping vines and running roses, and overshadowed by -trees, and bearing the inscription in two lines of rhyme: - - “Good Beer - Sold Here.” - -A little group of foot passengers to the Derby were sitting on a bench -under a spreading tree, testing the qualities of the said “good beer.” - -This and many other simple little way sidescenes, illustrative of -English rural roadside life, which the occasional opening of the crowd -allowed them to catch a glimpse of, remained as pleasant pictures in the -gallery of memory to contemplate in after-days. - -They were now ascending a graduated hill; when they reached its summit -they were comparatively free from the crowd. The carriages before them -had gone rapidly on downward; the carriages behind them were coming -slowly up. - -“Order your coachman to draw up here, General. We are near Epsom, and -from this rising ground, by standing up in your carriage and using your -field-glass, you may take a bird’s-eye view of Epsom Hill and Heath, -with its surroundings,” said Mr. Tredegar, adding example to precept by -stopping his own horse. - -The General gave orders in accordance with this advice, and then mounted -on his seat, and levelled his field-glass. - -“Good Heavens!” he exclaimed, in his unbounded amazement. - -Under his eyes lay a scene of its kind not to be equalled in this world. - -There were from four to five hundred thousand people of all ranks, -sexes, ages, and conditions,—some with their horses, carriages, and -liveried servants; others with their donkey-carts, and tents, and wares -for sale; others again with only their own weary limbs and haggard -faces, and fluttering rags,—all gathered together on the hill and heath -of Epsom, or pressing thither by every highway leading from every point -of the compass. - -“I never expected to see such a crowd this side of the Judgment-day!” -said General Lyon, as he resigned the glass to Anna and assisted her to -rise on the seat. - -Anna gazed long and thoughtfully at the wonderful scene, and then she -said: - -“But it reminds one of the Judgment-day in something else beside its -great crowd—here, as on that coming day, saint and sinner, prince and -beggar stand together as they will stand there! It is an exciting and a -depressing scene, grandpa,” she said, as she restored the glass and -resumed her seat. - -Drusilla next arose to take a view. And she was no doubt as deeply -impressed by the vastness of the multitude assembled before her as her -uncle and cousin had been, but her chief thought was still, - -“How shall I ever be able to catch a glimpse of my Alick in such a -boundless crowd as this?” - -Dick was standing by her side, using his own field-glass. - -“Worth crossing the ocean to see, is it not, Drusa?” he asked. - -“Yes; even though we know little of horses, and less of races, and least -of all which is likely to win the Derby.” - -“‘Fairy Queen,’ is the favorite, I believe.” - -“What did you say, Dick?” - -“I say Mr. Chisholm Cheke’s ‘Fairy Queen’ is the favorite!” - -“What favorite? Whose favorite?” - -“Tut, Drusa! Why the favorite of the turf, of the stables, and of the -betting men! The horse upon whose success the most money is staked, the -one that is expected to win the Derby!” - -“But if everybody knows which horse is likely to win the Derby, why does -any one ever bet on any other?” - -“Ah! that I can’t tell,” said Dick, shrugging his shoulders. “Only -this,—the favorite does not _always_ win, in fact _seldom_ does, I -think; it is generally some dark horse that wins the race.” - -“Dark horse? Do the dark ones run better than the light ones?” - -“Oh, Drusa, what a novice you are, my child! I don’t mean a dark-colored -horse; I mean a horse kept dark, _perdu_, in retirement, that nobody -talks about or hears about, except certain knowing ones.” - -“And does the dark horse always win?” - -“No, not always, but often; sometimes some intermediate, honest horse, -that is neither bragged about on the one hand, nor ‘kept dark’ on the -other, surprises everybody by winning the race, and also occasionally -the favorite wins.” - -“Well, we will not bet; we are all conscientiously opposed to betting; -but if we were not, we should stake our money upon the dark horse. But -how would we know him?” - -“We shouldn’t know him at all; none but the few in the secret would know -him.” - -“Come, come, my children, we are being left behind,” said the General, -impatiently. - -“And I do not care much for the winning horse, and that is the truth. -But I care a great deal for the human interest in this vast scene! Will -the Derby ever go down and pass away, like the other glories of this -world? And will we say to our great grandchildren in the Derby of their -days: ‘Ah, you should have seen the Derby as it was when we were young!’ -Shall we talk so to our descendants, Dick?” - -“Goodness knows! The Derby may continue to increase in importance; it -ought to do so; I hope it may,” replied Dick, as he resumed his seat. - -Jacob started his horses and they drove down the hill at a very rapid -rate. - -On each side of the road were now to be seen the dustbrown tents of the -gypsy wanderers; the decorated booths of the showmen; the tempting -fruit-stalls of the costermongers; and among them all, groups of country -people and knots of cockneys, and all the heterogeneous assembly of -bipeds and quadrupeds that on the Derby Day infest the neighborhood of -Epsom. - -Slowly making their way through all these, our party reached and passed -the first barrier (for Epsom Heath is divided off into circles, the -entrance to each succeeding one towards the hill or the Grand Stand, -commanding a higher and higher price). - -Our friends found themselves upon the heath, that was occupied by very -much the same sort of crowd which had obstructed the roads leading -hither. It was dotted all over by gipsies’ tents, fruit-stalls, -refreshment-stands, costermongers’ carts, and so forth, and so forth, -and animated by idlers, loafers, peddlers, ballad-singers, image-boys, -fortune-tellers, “confidence” men, and women, thieves, gamblers, and, in -short, every variety of the lower order of human nature. - -Passing through all these—passing barrier after barrier, and circle -after circle, our party at last found themselves upon the fine breezy -and commanding hill, which was comparatively free from the crowd, and -occupied only by the carriages of the nobility and gentry, filled with -fair women and well-behaved men. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - THE GIPSIES. - - “Theirs is the deep lore of the olden time, - And in it are fine mysteries of the stars - Solved with a cunning wisdom, and strange thoughts, - Half prophecy, half poetry, and dreams - Clearer than truth, and speculations wild - That touched the secrets of your very soul.” - - -The General and his friends selected the best front sites that were left -vacant, and had their carriages turned around and the horses taken from -them and led away to distant stalls and fodder. - -Then all reseated themselves and looked around them. - -What a sight! what a crowd! what a turmoil! Far as the eye could reach -on every side a turbulent sea of humanity! - -Where could the people all have sprung from? Had London emptied itself -of its population upon Epsom Heath? Had Paris, St. Petersburg and all -the great continental cities contributed their thousands? Had earth -given up her dead and ocean her prey to swell this crowd? - -At first, as I said, all seemed but a turbulent sea of human beings; but -gradually individual images came out of the confusion. - -Most prominent among these was the Grand Stand, an elevated and railed -platform or gallery where the gamblers in horseflesh congregated to make -up their betting-books and watch the race. - -And most interesting, especially to ladies, was the Royal Box, with its -cushioned seats, surmounted by its crown and canopy of state all in -burning scarlet and gold. Neither the queen nor any of the princesses -occupied the Royal Box; only three or four of the princes, with their -lords in waiting, were present. - -Yet toward that box many field-glasses were leveled—Anna’s among the -rest, for— - - “A substitute shines brightly as a king, - Until a king be by.” - -And failing the queen’s presence, the queen’s sons were objects of -absorbing interest. - -“Neither Victoria nor any of the princesses are here,” said Anna, -lowering her glass with a look of disappointment. - -“The queen nor the princesses ever come to the Derby. You may see them -at the Ascot Races, however, which are considered more aristocratic, -though very much less famous and popular than these,” replied Mr. -Spencer, who had left his seat in the gig to come and stand beside -General Lyon’s barouche and talk to the young people. - -Anna next criticized the splendid dresses of the ladies who filled the -open carriages on this hill; and for no occasion do ladies dress more -splendidly than for the Derby Day. - -“Good gracious! Half the milliners and jewelers’ establishments in -London and Paris must be emptied of their contents,” she exclaimed, as -her eyes roved over the various and dazzling display. - -Out from the seething mass of humanity on the heath below came other -individual pictures. Here and there a poor little pale, hollow-cheeked -boy creeping feebly along and peering hungrily about for stray crusts -and bones, or apple parings, and orange peel, dropped from the luncheon -hamper of some prosperous feeder; now and then some grandly beautiful -woman whose flaunting dress and insolent air proclaimed her a very far -fallen angel; here and there some sunny-eyed child of Italy picking up a -few pennies by singing the “wild songs of his dear native land,” and -everywhere a leather-visaged gipsy crone trying to improve her own -fortunes by telling other people’s; everywhere professors of all sorts -of irregular arts and sciences; everywhere traders in all kinds of -contraband goods and chattels; and everywhere were the “efficient police -force” trying very successfully not to keep order; trying very hard not -to interfere with the lawful or unlawful practices of the poor, on this -one gracious day of their license and their happiness. A pickpocket, if -detected, would be arrested, of course; but as for the rest, gipsies -might tell fortunes, and beggars beg, and starving little children -pilfer, with none to punish them less merciful than the All-Father. - -There was so much to see! such an infinite variety of life! The Derby -race, though the greatest feature of the day, was not a thousandth part -of the sights. If no race had come off, the assembly itself was well -worth coming to see, and sitting through a whole day to study. - -Anna, Drusilla and General Lyon, were well content to occupy their seats -and spend their time in calmly contemplating the scene before them. - -But the three young men, Dick, Spencer and Tredegar, wished to mingle -with the active life below, and so, making an excuse to go and get cards -of the race they bowed and left the hill and soon disappeared in the -crowd on the heath. - -Many other gentlemen who were in attendance upon the ladies on the hill, -also left their carriages and went down; others who had been down were -now coming up;—so that there was a continual moving about of -foot-passengers. - -“Look, look, Drusilla! there is a gipsy telling fortunes at that -carriage next but one to us, on the left. Grandpa, when she has finished -there, do beckon her to come here!” eagerly exclaimed Anna. - -“Nonsense, my child! you never want the crone to tell your fortune.” - -“Oh, yes, but I do indeed!” exclaimed Anna, excitedly. - -“Tut, tut! you don’t believe in such tomfoolery!” - -“No, I don’t believe in it of course; but I want to hear what the gipsy -will have to say to me for all that. Do watch her, grandpa; and, as soon -as she has done with those ladies call her here. Consider, I never saw a -gipsy except upon the stage—never saw a real gipsy in my life before, -and may never have a chance of seeing one again. Oh, do call her here, -grandpa, as soon as she is at liberty!” - -“Well, well, my dear, you have the right to make a goose of yourself if -you please, and I will help you to do so. I will beckon her presently.” - -“Ah, there’s Dick come back! Dick, come here, I want you!” called Anna. - -And Dick, who had left his companions among their betting friends and -returned to the hill alone, now came up to the carriage. - -“Dick, I’m so glad you’ve come back! There’s a gipsy telling fortunes at -that carriage—I want you to bring her here to tell ours.” - -“Absurdity, Anna dear! you cannot mean to countenance such impostors?” - -“Oh, Dick, that is so uncharitable! How do you know they are impostors? -How do you know but that they believe in their own art?” - -“Do _you_ believe in it?” - -“No; but I want to have some fun out of the gipsy.” - -“Very well; I consent provided it is meant in jest and not in earnest.” - -“And here, Dick, let us put the gipsy’s powers to a test. You come in -and sit down by me—then take little Lenny in your arms and play papa. -Little Lenny being fair and flaxen-haired and blue-eyed, with all the -Lyon features, is much more like me than like his own mother whom in -truth he does not at all resemble, and he will easily be taken for ours. -And the more easily because you and I look as if we had reached years of -discretion, while Drusilla seems but a child. Let us play a trick on the -gipsy, and ask her to foretell _our_ boy’s future.” - -“Ha! ha! ha! that will be good!” - -Not one word of the conversation since Dick’s return did Drusilla -hear—with her field-glass raised to her eyes, she was gazing at a -particular point on the Grand Stand; for, even in that boundless crowd, -her love had discovered her Alick—but, ah, discovered him among the -desperate gamblers of the betting ring! - -She was blind and deaf to everything else. - -Meanwhile the gipsy had drawn something nearer to the General’s -barouche. She was in fact standing beside the very next carriage, trying -to wheedle the occupants to have their fortunes told; but they all—a -circle of demure women—sternly warned the sibyl off and threatened her -with the police, at which she laughed and shook her crisp, black curls. - -“The police would not trouble a poor gipsy wife like herself,” she said. - -Then General Lyon bent over the side of his barouche, and showing her a -broad, silver crown, said: - -“Come here, good woman, and tell these young ladies’ fortunes.” - -“Ah, Heaven bless your handsome face, kind gentleman but I would like to -tell _yours_, too, for a fine fortune it has been, and is, and is to -be!” said the gipsy coming up to the carriage. - -She was a small, slight woman, lithe and graceful like all her race, -with a swarthy and somewhat wrinkled face; with deep-set, brilliant -black eyes; crisply curling, tendril-like black hair; and well-marked -black eyebrows. She did not wear the traditional red cloak and plaid -head kerchief—those have long passed away even from among her tribe but -she wore rather tawdry and shabby finery—a striped skirt, a black shawl, -a straw bonnet trimmed with ribbons and flowers of many colors, red -predominating. And, upon the whole, her appearance was picturesque and -pleasing. Neither did she address her dupes in the poetic language of -the ideal gipsy—her words and manner were as real as herself. - -“God save you, fair gentlemen! God save you, sweet ladies! Shall the -poor gipsy tell your fortunes? I see good luck in _your_ face, pretty -lady! I see great good luck! Give the poor gipsy a little, little bit of -silver to cross your hand with, and she will look and see what the great -good fortune is that is in store for you. Do, pretty lady,” she pleaded -in a very sweet, soft, wheedling tone as she held out her hand to Anna. - -Mrs. Hammond dropped a shilling in her palm and, smiling, said: - -“My fortune is already told, good woman, but I want you to foretell the -future of my dear little son here.” And she lifted Lenny from Dick’s -arms to her own lap. - -Drusilla with a half-suppressed exclamation, now looked around. - -But Anna gave her a comically beseeching took, and she yielded the point -and turned away. - -The gipsy seemed not to notice this little by-play. She stood with her -hands folded upon her breast and her eyes fixed upon the ground. - -“Come, gipsy! look upon my little son here and read his future,” said -Anna. - -The gipsy woman raised her glittering black eyes, and, smiling, shook -her tendril-like black curls and said: - -“Ah, pretty, fair lady! You think the poor gipsy can tell what is _to -come_, yet is so blind she cannot see what is _now_!—no!” - -“What do you mean, good woman?” - -“The boy is not your son, sweet lady.” - -“Not my son! Why, look at him! He is the very image of me!” - -“He is very like you, pretty lady; and that shows him to be of your -race; but he is not your son.” - -“How do you know that?” questioned Anna, beginning to wonder at the -woman’s knowledge. - -“By my art. You have no son, sweet lady. You will never have a son; -but——” - -“Oh, don’t tell me that, gipsy! I didn’t give you a shilling to purchase -bad news.” - -“A sovereign will not buy good news unless it is true, pretty lady; and -the gipsy’s words are true. I was going to tell you, though you have no -son, you will have many fair daughters, who will live and grow up and -marry and bear many fine sons, who will grow up and be great men in the -land.” - -“This is foretelling the long future with a notable blessing!” laughed -Anna. “But I wish you had promised these fine sons to me instead of to -my future daughters. I don’t care anything about those very shadowy -young ladies. I don’t know them.” - -The gipsy turned to Dick, and with her musical whine pleaded: - -“Kind, handsome gentleman, do cross the poor gipsy wife’s hand with a -little, little bit of silver, for telling all about your wife’s -daughters and daughters’ sons, who will be rulers in the land beyond the -sea.” - -“How do you know that lady is my wife?” inquired Dick, much astonished. - -“Ah! good gentleman, can the gipsy know the future and not know the -present? Now, kind, handsome gentleman, give the poor gipsy a bit of -silver for good luck—the poor gipsy, sweet gentleman! who sees such -great, good fortune for you, and none at all for herself!” - -“Then she is no true seeress, or she would see this piece of good -fortune coming to her,” said Dick, as in the largeness of his heart and -the extravagance of his habits he put into the gipsy’s hands the great -American gold coin, the double eagle, worth nearly five sovereigns. - -The gipsy had never seen such a coin in her life. It inspired her, and -for once she broke into something like poetry. - -“Ah, noble gentleman! you have made the poor gipsy rich and happy. Ah! -kind gentleman, may the stars rain down blessings on your head as bright -as their own beams! May flowers spring up under your footsteps wherever -you tread! May——” - -“Dick!” laughed Anna, breaking into the discourse and cutting short the -rhapsody, “I shall lend you out to some of our old neighbors to walk -their barren gardens into bloom!” - -“Come,” said Dick, to change the subject—“come, gipsy, tell my little -cousin’s fortune here. Will she live to grow up and get married?” - -The gipsy turned at his bidding and looked at Drusilla whose childlike -face might have deceived eyes less keenly penetrating than those of the -gipsy seeress. - -“Cross the poor gipsy’s hand with a little, little bit of silver, sweet -lady, and let her tell your fortune, my lady? The gipsy sees rare good -luck in your pretty face, my lady!” said the woman, in a wheedling tone. - -What young creature, unsatisfied and with a deep heart stake in life, is -not in some degree a prey to superstition and credulity?—is not in -secret a would-be diviner of dreams, interpreter of omens, consulter of -the stars, reader of the future? The restless, longing, impatient heart -cannot wait the slow revelations of time; it would, with rash hand, rend -aside the veil and know the worst or best at once. - -So it was with Drusilla now. She dropped a silver crown in the gipsy’s -hand, and then, half in faith and half in scorn of that misplaced faith, -she held out her palm. - -The gipsy glanced slightly at the palm, but gazed earnestly in the face -of the young matron. - -“My lady, you have been a wife and you are a mother, you have had -trouble—long trouble for so short a life, and a great trouble for so -gentle a lady; but it is gone now, and it will never come back any -more.” - -“Thank Heaven for that,” murmured Drusilla. - -“But you are not satisfied yet. There is something wanted, my lady. You -have a hungry, hungry heart, and a begging eye. You are longing and -famishing for something, my lady, and you will get it; for the hungry -heart is a mighty heart, and must prevail; and the begging eye is a -conquering eye that will overcome. Sweet, my lady, grief has gone away, -never to come back to you; and joy will soon come, never to leave you.” - -“Oh, if I were sure that were true. If I could only believe that!” -exclaimed Drusilla, earnestly. - -“You may believe it, my lady. You will soon see it.” - -“How do you know it?” - -“By my art,” answered the gipsy. - -And then she turned to General Lyon and said, coaxingly: - -“Ah! kind, handsome gentleman, you will cross the poor gipsy’s hand with -a little silver to help her, poor thing, and she will tell you such a -good fortune!” - -“My fortune is all told these many years past, good woman,” said the -General, with a sigh that did not escape the gipsy’s keen eyes. - -“Ah! don’t say so, good, dear gentleman. You have many long and happy -years of life to live yet.” - -“I am an old man, gipsy; I have lived out my life.” - -“Ah no, noble gentleman, not so. You are in your prime. Ah me! with your -grand form and handsome face, you could make many a sweet, pretty lady’s -heart ache yet if you chose; yes, that you could.” - -“Come, come, my good woman, that is going a little too far,” laughed the -General, not displeased. What old gentleman ever is with a little -flattery? - -“It is going a _great deal_ too far, grandpa. Come now, don’t let her be -putting courtship and matrimony into your head. I won’t have any young -grandmamma set up at Old Lyon Hall to lord it over me,” laughed Anna. - -“Nonsense, my girl! The only way in which I may ever make any lady’s -heart ache, will be by getting the gout, and growing cross over it, and -growling at you and Drusilla from morning until night,” said the -General. - -At that moment a policeman stepped up and put his hand on the gipsy’s -shoulder, saying: - -“Come, Gentilly, I have had my eye on you this half hour. Move on.” - -“Ah, bless the dear blue eyes of him,” coaxed the fortune-teller, -turning around and patting the man’s cheeks, “he’ll never make the poor -old gipsy wife move on, now that she has come up to her luck—such luck, -my darling. Only see what the grand, noble young gentleman has given the -poor gipsy. When the race is over, come up to my tent, pet, and have a -pot of porter and a plate of biled beef and carrots with his old -mother,” she added, patting him on the cheek again and turning from him. - -“That’s the way, you see, sir—that’s always the way with Gentilly,” said -the policeman, apologetically, to the old gentleman. - -“You know her?” inquired Dick. - -“Know Gentilly? Bless you, sir, everybody on the race-course knows -Gentilly and her sister, Patience.” - -“And you know no harm of her, I dare say, although you are a police -officer.” - -“Well, sir, beyond——” - -“Now, he is not going to tell lies on the old gipsy!—It will be three -o’clock. Come up at my tent for the biled beef and carrots and the pot -of porter,” said the fortune-teller, laying her hands upon the lips of -the police officer. - -At that moment the two young men stepped up. - -Gentilly turned to them immediately. - -“Tell your fortune, sweet young gentlemen? Cross the poor gipsy’s hand -with silver to tell your fortune.” - -“No, thank you,” laughed Spencer. “I have had my fortune told by members -of your tribe at least ten times to-day.” - -“But here’s half a crown for you if you’ll only go away and not bother,” -added Tredegar, dropping the coin into the gipsy’s hand. - -“Blessings on your handsome face, kind gentleman! Ah! I could tell you -of a fair lady who is thinking of you,” coaxed Gentilly. - -“And thinking what a long-legged, lantern-jawed, lankhaired fright the -Yankee boy is, no doubt. All right; you can tell me that another time; -but go now and don’t bother.” - -“Yes, Gentilly, you really must move on,” added the policeman. - -And the fortune-teller, having gleaned all that she could from the -company, did move on. - -And now an agitation like the movement of the wind upon the waves of the -sea or the leaves of the forest swayed the vast multitude. - -“What’s the matter now?” inquired the General. - -“The horses—they are coming,” answered Spencer. - -“Is it the great race? Are they going to start?” - -“Not just yet. They are being brought out and walked around the course -to be shown. Here they are!” exclaimed Tredegar. - -All in the barouche stood up, adjusted their field-glasses and levelled -them at the race-course that encircled the field. - -About thirty of the very finest horses in the world, decorated, and -ridden by small, light jockeys in parti-colored suits and fancy caps, -came on in procession and trotted around the course. Some three years -ago these horses “the cream of the cream” of the horse nobility, had -been bred and born to order, and from that time trained for this Derby—a -most careful and costly preparation of three years for a trial that -would be decided in half an hour. No wonder at the breathless interest -they excited even among those who had no stake in the race. - -Involuntary exclamations of admiration and delight burst from the ladies -of our party. - -“What beautiful creatures!” cried Anna. - -“Pity they can’t _all_ win,” added Drusilla. - -The train of horses trotted out of their range of vision, and -disappeared from view on another section of the circle. - -“Is there time to lunch before the great race?” inquired Dick, with a -hungry glance at the hampers. - -“No, sir; they start in fifteen minutes,” answered Tredegar. - -Those fifteen minutes passed in silent waiting. Fortune-telling, -small-trading, ballad-singing, eating and drinking—all were suspended -until the trial upon which such immense stakes were laid should be over. -It was a holiday,—a festival; yet the hush that preceded the great event -of the day, was like the awful pause before an execution. - -“At length the spell was broken. The word went forth: - -“They’re starting!” - -Three hundred thousand people were on their feet in an instant. - -“They’re coming!” - -Field-glasses were raised and necks were stretched, and eyes were -strained. - -“Here they are! Here they are!” - -Yes, here they are. The flying train of meteors flashing past! They are -gone while we look! Unaccustomed eyes cannot trace their flight, or -distinguish one horse from another in the lightning-like passage. A -moment more and the goal is won! - -By whom? - -It is not certainly known to the crowd just yet. They say: - -“Lightfoot!” - -“Wing!” - -“Wonder!” - -No, none of these. The number flies up on the winning post: - -Number Seven! - -And a thousand voices cry out: - -“Fairy Queen!” - -Yes, the favorite has won the race; and Mr. Chisholm Cheke has made his -fortune. Some few others have won much money, and many have lost, and -some are ruined. - -Do not look towards the Grand Stand. The haggard faces of those ruined -gamesters will haunt your dreams to your life’s end. - -It was wonderful how soon after the great act of this drama has been -performed that the uncompromised crowd subsided into comparative -calmness, and betook themselves again to their outside amusements—their -small trading, fortune-telling, ballad-singing, et cetera, while waiting -for the next race. - -General Lyon ordered up his hampers, and his party had luncheon. After -they had finished, the fragments of their feast were distributed to the -little beggars that thronged around their carriage-wheels. - -At four o’clock our party left the ground to return to London. - -The evening drive back to London was attended with all the incidents of -the morning drive to Epsom—a hundred-fold increased—the crowd was -thicker, the crush closer, the noise louder, the dust higher, the danger -greater. - -Through all these, however, our party passed safely, and reached their -apartments at the Morley House in time for an early tea. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - HOW THE PARTED MET. - - They seemed to those who saw them most, - The careless friends of every day, - Her smile was still serene and sweet, - His courtesy was free and gay; - Yet if by one the others name - In some unguarded hour was heard, - The heart they deemed so cold and tame - Would flutter like a captured bird.—MONCTON MILNES. - - -A few days after the Derby, Anna and Drusilla sat in their private -parlor at the hotel, waiting for the return of the General and Dick, who -had gone out to keep an engagement with Francis Tredegar, but had -promised to be back in time to take the ladies to the Tower. - -Little Lenny was out with his nurse in the square. - -The conversation between the two young women turned upon the gipsies. - -“It is wonderful, their seeming powers of prophecy or second sight,” -said Anna. - -“I wash I could know their skill to be second sight, since they -prophesied to me such smooth things; but, in truth, I think it was only -INSIGHT,” replied Drusilla. - -“‘Insight?’” - -“Nothing more.” - -“But how did she know that Lenny was not my son when I told her he was?” - -“By that same gift of insight, which I think they cultivate to a great -perfection. She read you, Anna—she saw through you. She knew by your -manner that you were Dick’s wife; but also that your bright face had -never been clouded by a mother’s cares.” - -“And by the same power she divined that you were both wife and mother.” - -“Yes; she looked in my face, not in my hand. They say that ‘every face -is a history, or a prophecy,’—certainly every face seems to be both to -these skilful physiognomists, the gipsies.” - -“It is their insight, then, that gives them such knowledge of human -nature?” - -“Of course. They may be very ignorant of books, but they are very -learned in men and women.” - -“You must have studied the gipsy while she was studying you.” - -“I did, Anna. I watched her and others of her tribe while they were -telling fortunes. I saw their _in_sight gave them a _fore_sight that the -ignorant and superficial might mistake for supernatural powers of second -sight and prophecy. I saw how they worked. For instance, they know as a -general fact that the wishes of the young run upon love; those of the -middle-aged upon money and worldly success; those of the old upon long -life. Therefore, to the young they always promise success in love; to -the mature, success in money matters; to the aged, length of days. If -they see a look of sorrow upon a young face, and no apparent cause, like -a suit of deep mourning, for it, they will tell the dupe that he or she -has been crossed in love, but that all will end well. If a look of care -upon a middle-aged face, they will speak of monetary anxieties; but they -will also promise a fortunate issue to the difficulty. If of weariness -upon an old face, they will still talk of long and happy years to come. -Moreover, they think since opposites usually attract each other, that it -is safe to tell a blonde young lady that a dark young gentleman is -thinking of her, and a brunette that her thoughts favor the attachment -of a certain fair ‘complected’ gentleman; and generally they hit the -truth.” - -“Yes, the rule most generally holds good. Witness Alick, Dick, you and -me. Alick, a blonde, jilted me, another blonde, for you, a brunette. And -I was very willing to be left free to marry my dark-haired Dick.” - -While Anna spoke the door opened and little Lenny entered, dragging in -his nurse, and full of excitement. - -“Man! man! div Lenny dit!” he exclaimed, holding out a silver whistle to -view, and then putting it to his lips and blowing a shrill blast. - -“Oh! oh! oh! goodness sake what lunatic gave the boy that? We shall be -deafened!” exclaimed Anna, clapping her hands to her ears. - -Drusilla trembled with pleasure, for she instinctively knew the donor of -the whistle; but she smiled and lifted the boy in her arms, called Pina -to follow, and went to her own room. - -“Who gave it to him, Pina?” she asked, as soon as she had shut the door. - -“His father, ma’am.” - -“Tell me all about it.” - -“We were walking around the square, when all of a sudden who should come -up but Mr. Alick—I mean Lord Killpeople, as they call him here.” - -“Killcrichtoun, Pina.” - -“Well, Killchristians, ma’am; it’s all the same, only worse, because of -course it is much more devilisher, begging your pardon, ma’am, to kill -Christians than it is to do to common people. Any ways, up he comes.” - -“And——What then? Go on.” - -“I didn’t go in, ma’am, though I was minded to. I did as you directed me -to do on such occasions. I stopped and made a curtsy, and handed little -Lenny forward so as to place him in front of me facing of his father. -And says he: - -“‘How do you do, Pina? When did you arrive? Whom did you come with?’ - -“And then, without waiting for me to answer them questions, he lifted up -little Lenny in his arms, and says he: - -“‘Whose child is this?’ And says I, ‘He is General Lyon’s grandnephew, -sir, if you please;’ for I was sure all the time he knowed well enough -it was his own. - -“‘I didn’t ask you whose nephew he is; I asked you whose child he is.’ - -“‘The same child whose hair you cut, sir, please,’ I answered. - -“‘Bosh, girl, you trifle with me! Whose son is he?’ - -“‘Please, sir, I thought you knew. He is Mrs. Alexander Lyon’s _own_ -son, and Mr. and Mrs. Hammond’s and General Lyon’s godson.’ - -“‘Humph! what’s his name?’ says he. - -“‘Master Leonard Lyon, sir,’ says I. - -“‘Then as I am Lord Killcrichtoun, he is the Master of Killcrichtoun!’” - -“‘LORDS AND MASTERS, sir! you don’t say so?’ says I. - -“And he frowned at me, black as thunder; but little Lenny began to -prattle to him, and he smiled and told me to follow him. And he took us -to a fine silversmith’s shop in the Strand, and bought him this whistle. -And then he told me to take the boy home to his mother, as it was -growing too warm to keep him out in the sun.” - -While Pina spoke, Drusilla’s tears fell fast; but she wiped them away -and inquired: - -“You know, Pina, when we first came here, he was lodging in this house. -But I have not seen him lately. Do you know whether he is still here?” - -“No, ma’am, he isn’t. I asked that very question of the waiter; and he -told me ‘my lord’ had gone and taken apartments at ‘Mivart’s.’” - -“We drove him away, I suppose,” muttered Drusilla to herself. - -“Ma’am, I don’t think Mrs. Hammond or Mr. Dick, or the General knows of -Mr. Alick being about. If they ask me who gave Master Lenny the whistle, -am I to tell?” - -“Certainly, Pina.” - -Drusilla was interrupted by a rap at the door. The voice of Anna without -called: - -“Grandpa and Dick have returned, and the carriage is waiting, Drusa. Are -you ready?” - -“Quite ready, dear,” answered Drusilla, hastily tying on her bonnet, and -then going out and joining Anna. - -They went to the drawing-room, Drusilla leading Lenny who was shrilly -blowing upon his whistle. - -“_Miserabile!_ Young gentleman, that will not do. The other guests will -lay complaints and the proprietor will give us warning,” exclaimed -General Lyon. - -“Who gave Lenny that?” inquired Dick. - -“Man, man in tware give Lenny dat,” said the imp, taking the instrument -of torture from his lips to reply, and then putting back and puffing out -his cheeks to blow an ear-piercing blast. - -“Christopher Columbus! that will never do. ‘Man in the square.’ What man -gave the child such a nuisance as that? Was it Spencer, or any of our -people?” demanded the General. - -“It was his father,” calmly replied Drusilla. - -A sort of panic fell upon the party. The short spell of silence was -broken by General Lyon. - -“Humph! humph! humph! humph! so _he’s_ turned up again, has he? Where -did he see the boy, my dear?” - -“Uncle,” said Drusilla, “he was lodging at this house, when we first -came. He left, I think, the same evening. But he knew that we also were -lodging here; for while we were driving out to leave our cards he came -in and cut off a lock of little Lenny’s hair, and took it away with -him.” - -“When was this?” - -“The first day we went driving, uncle; the day before the Derby.” - -“Humph! humph! humph! And he left the same evening? and he has not been -here since?” - -“I believe so, uncle.” - -“Humph, humph; it is clear that the sight of us sent him away. I don’t -wonder at that. I only wonder it did not blast him.” - -“Oh, uncle, uncle!” pleaded Drusilla. - -“My dear, your love may in time—or in eternity—redeem the fellow, for -ought I know. But it has not yet changed him into an angel of light or -even into a decently behaved devil, for a very devil with any decency -left in him would have come round long before this. Well, well, there, I -see how much I distress you. I will say no more, my dear; I will say no -more.” - -Drusilla bowed in silence and turned away. Her heart was too full for -utterance. Her voice was choked with emotion. She felt all the more -deeply hurt by her uncle’s severe strictures upon her Alick, because she -knew them to be the expression of his real and but too well-founded -opinion. And neither could she resent them, coming from him. She owed -him too vast a debt of gratitude. He had saved her life and her child’s -life in their utmost extremity. And besides, he was Alick’s uncle, and -the head of his family; he had himself, in the person of his beloved -granddaughter, been deeply wronged by his nephew and so had the right to -sit in judgment on him. - -Thus because she heard this blame cast upon her still beloved Alick -without the moral power of resenting it, she suffered in silence. - -Not long, however. The cloud soon lifted itself and rolled away. Little -Lenny came to her with his whistle. - -“Put dit ’way. Lenny tired. Lenny daw ate,” he said, pushing the toy up -into her lap. - -“Put it away, mamma. Lenny is tired, and Lenny’s jaws ache and no -wonder,” said Anna, smiling. “We are all glad that Master Lenny’s jaws -can ache with all his tooting, as well as our ears.” - -“’Top naddin’,” answered Lenny. - -“‘Stop nagging’? Where did he pick up that phrase, eh, Master Lenny? You -don’t hear it from any of us.” - -“Come, my dears, if we are to see the Tower before dinner, we had better -start at once. Is Lenny to go with us, Drusa?” - -“Yes, sir, if you please.” - -“You know that I always like to have the little fellow.” - -“But I shall stipulate that the whistle be left behind. We shall find -instruments of torture enough in the Tower; though I don’t believe the -utmost ingenuity of cruelty ever thought of a child’s whistle wherewith -to torment a victim. That was left for Mr. Alick.” - -“Come, come, Anna, I will not have another word said against Alick, -since it grieves our darling here. But I would like to know what keeps -him hanging about here so long. He has been here now nearly two years.” - -“Uncle,” said Drusilla, who now thought that she might as well tell all -her news at once—news which indeed she had intended to tell, when the -subject of Alick’s presence was first introduced, but which was then -arrested on her lips by the indignant animadversions of General -Lyon—“Uncle do you remember reading last winter in the London Times of a -young American gentleman who claimed, through his mother, the Barony of -Killcrichtoun?” - -“I—think I do remember some such asinine proceeding on the part of a -young countryman of ours.” - -“He was your nephew, uncle, and he has made good the claim. He is now -Lord Killcrichtoun. That is the reason why he stays in England, I -suppose.” - -“Whe—ew!” whistled the old gentleman, slowly, adding _sotto voce_, so as -not to be heard by Drusilla: - -“I knew he was a scamp; but never suspected him of being an ass.” - -But Dick had handed Drusilla, Lenny and Anna into the carriage, and was -waiting to perform the same service for his uncle, who now entered and -took his seat. The drive from Charing Cross to the Tower was -comparatively short, but very interesting, taking our travelers through -the most ancient and historical portions of Old London. - -Drawing near the grim, old fortress of the kings of England, they saw -rising above the thickly-crowded buildings of the city and the turbid -waters of the Thames, the central keep, or citadel, known as the White -Tower, and surrounded by its double line of fortified walls and by its -dry moat. - -Our party alighted from their carriage at the great gate, flanked by -embattled turrets at the south-western angle of the walls. - -Having paid their sixpence each as entrance fee, they passed over the -stone bridge across the moat and found themselves within the outer ward, -between the two lines of wall. - -Here, overpowered by the spirit of the past, they looked around them, -feeling something of the awe that children feel in a churchyard in the -dusk of evening. The spirit of the past was indeed before them—and not -only in the hoary walls of the middle ages, but in the living creatures -of the day; for the warders of the Tower, the Extraordinary Yeomen of -the Royal Guard, commonly called the “Beef Eaters,” were dressed in the -costume of the time of Henry the Eighth. - -One of these stepped up to General Lyon, and saluting respectfully, -tendered his service as guide. - -“And there are the buildings and there the costumes, this the ground and -that the sky that met the eyes of beautiful Anne Boleyn as she first -came to this place a bride and a queen, and last as a victim and a -convict,” murmured Drusilla, dreamily and half unconsciously. - -“Queen Anne entered by that postern at the water side, when she came -here in state before her coronation; but the last time she was here she -was brought in by the Traitors’ Gate, a few days before her execution,” -said the literal warder, speaking just as if he had been an eyewitness -to both proceedings. - -Drusilla stared at him, and thought he really might have been an actor -in those long past tragedies; in his costume of that day he looked like -a ghost of the past. - -“Where was Lady Jane Grey brought in when she was brought here a -prisoner!” - -“Through the Traitors’ Gate.” - -“Ah, it seems that all who offended majesty in those palmy days, however -innocent they might have been, were traitors. Where is that Traitors’ -Gate?” - -“Some distance down the southern side, my lady. We will come around to -it presently, when I will show it to you.” - -They were now making the circuit of the Outer Ward, passing up the west -side. - -“There, sir, are the old buildings once appropriated to the Mint, which -is now removed to a handsome edifice on Tower Hill, which I will show -you,” said the guide, turning to General Lyon. - -And the General and Dick gave him their attention. - -But Anna and Drusilla were not interested in the mint, and remembered -Tower Hill only as the scene of the execution of Lord Guilford Dudley. - -Passing on, the guide pointed out many objects of interest; the two -strong bastions—the Legge Mount and the Brass Mount—defending the -north-western and north-eastern angles of the outer wall; the Iron Gate -and Tower at the south-eastern angle; the site of the ancient Well -Tower, and the remains of the Cradle Tower. Thus they came at last to -St. Thomas’s Tower, which guards the Traitors’ Gate. - -“There it is, ladies and gentlemen,” said the guide. - -“Oh, how many fair and stately heads have passed under that awful arch!” -murmured Anna. - -As for Drusilla, the time for talking of these things was passed with -her. She was too deeply impressed for speech. - -General Lyon and Mr Hammond instinctively uncovered their heads in the -presence of this dread monument of human suffering. - -“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, here passed to their deaths the beautiful -Queen Anne Boleyn, the fair Queen Katharine Howard, the lovely Lady Jane -Gray, the courtly Norfolk, the accomplished Burleigh, the venerable -Thomas More——” - -“And hundreds and hundreds more—the victims of tyranny and bigotry,” -said General Lyon cutting short the list. - -“That’s so, sir,” admitted the guide. “Ah, if you had lived in those -days!” - -“Did _you_?” inquired Anna, turning upon him. - -The guide smiled. - -“I almost think I did, ma’am, sometimes—what with living here, and what -with going over the history so many times a day. This way, ladies and -gentlemen.” - -And he led the way from the Traitors’ Gate straight across the ward to -an imposing gateway defended by the Bloody Tower, leading through the -embattled wall that encloses the inner ward. - -“This tower,” said the guide, “is the scene of the murder of the two -young princes, sons of Edward the Fourth, assassinated by order of their -uncle, Richard the Third.” - -“Can we enter and examine it?” - -“The interior is not shown. It is occupied by some of the officers of -the guard as private lodgings.” - -“Oh, think of such an ancient and tragical place being occupied as a -dwelling, where people eat, drink, sleep and live! I wonder what my -spiritual condition would be if I lived in such a place?” said Anna, -gazing on the gray walls as she passed them. - -“This inner wall is fortified by twelve strong minor towers, all of them -formerly used as prison-lodgings. I will show the most interesting of -them as we go on,” said the guide. “But first I will take you to the -White Tower,” he added, pointing to the imposing citadel that occupied -the center. - -“I should take that to be _the_ Tower—the Tower _par-excellence_. Pray, -is that the place where the old monarchs of England used to hold their -court before Elizabeth’s time?” inquired Anna. - -“No, ma’am. The old Palace of the Tower was pulled down in the reign of -James II. It occupied the south-east angle of the inner ward—there, you -see, on the site of the present Ordnance office.” - -“What a pity a building so replete with interesting associations should -have been destroyed,” said Anna. - -“There, ladies and gentlemen, that modern building which you see against -the south wall of the White Tower, is the Horse Armory, where the -equestrian statues of our kings, in their ancient armors, are arranged -in state!” - -“Oh, yes, we have tickets for the Horse Armory—we will see that at once, -if you please!” said General Lyon. - -They crossed towards the White Tower and the Horse Armory. - -“You now see before you, sir, the oldest and the newest of these -structures joined together. The White Tower is the most ancient as well -as the most imposing of the buildings,” said the guide. - -“So I should judge from its great size and central position,” remarked -the General. - -“It was erected, sir, in 1080 by William the Conqueror as a stronghold -against enemies, the rebellious Saxons, who opposed his reign. It is a -magnificent specimen of Norman architecture. The walls are of immense -thickness and strength. I will take you through it presently; but here -we are at the Horse Armory, which is the most modern of all the tower -buildings, quite modern indeed, a work of to-day, comparatively -speaking, having been built in 1826. Your tickets, sir, if you please.” - -Dick, who held the tickets, passed them over to the warder, who at once -led his party to an ante-room of the Armory, where they were to wait for -a new guide to take them through. - -“When you return here, sir,” said the guide, “I shall be happy to show -you through the White Tower, and all the other towers of the inner -ward.” - -“Thanks,” said the General. - -And the man touched his hat and fell back. - -There were several other groups of sight-seers waiting in the ante-room -for guides to conduct them. - -And presently these guides appeared, bringing out parties they had been -attending. - -One of them beckoning our friends to follow him, led them straightways -into a vast hall, some hundred feet in length by thirty in breadth, -dimly lighted on each side by stained glass windows and decorated on the -walls and ceiling with the most curious and valuable military trophies -and emblems. - -In glass cases under these windows were exhibited such wonders of -warlike workmanship as are nowhere else gathered together—helmets, -gauntlets, shields, swords, spears, lances and other specimens of armor, -won from many a battle-field, stormed fortress, or sacked city, of all -ages of history and all countries of the world. And each curious -specimen had its equally curious history or legend. - -Yet our party scarcely glanced at any of these or heard a word of the -explanation uttered by their guide. - -For down the centre of the vast hall, drawn up as in line of battle, was -a grim array of equestrian figures, clothed in complete steel, being a -line of the old kings of England from the time of Edward the First to -the time of James the Second, each man and horse in the armor of his -day. - -“This,” said the guide, pausing before the first figure, that stood upon -an elevated platform at the head of the line, “is Edward the First, in -the same armor he is said to have worn on his invasion of Scotland. You -perceive he is represented as in the act of drawing his sword. Observe, -if you please, sir, this beautiful specimen of chain armor.” - -Thus the guide went on with his explanation of these equestrian effigies -of the old kings, calling the attention of his hearers to the most -remarkable features of the exhibition and gaining their interest. - -Each member of this party was deeply absorbed in the subject, but none -so deeply as was Drusilla. Her susceptible nature received all the -influence, imbibed all the inspiration of the scene. Her vivid -imagination carried her centuries back to the storied age in which all -these dead and gone heroes lived and acted. - -“Henry the Sixth,” said the guide, pausing before the effigy of that -unhappy king. “Notice, if you please, sir, this splendid specimen of -scale-armor, sometimes called flexible armor.” - -Drusilla gazed on, drinking in every word that fell from this oracle’s -lips and deep in the romance of mediæval history when, suddenly looking -up, she uttered a half-suppressed cry. - -Gone were the middle ages with their tales of chivalry and minstrelsy! -Vanished king and page, and knight and squire! With her was only the -present—the intensely real present! For there, not ten feet from her, -stood her husband, Alexander Lyon, Lord Killcrichtoun! His back was -turned towards her. He stood over one of the glass cases before the -stained-glass window, examining a curious Etruscan helmet. - -At her half-uttered cry he turned around—and their eyes met—met for the -first time since that cruel parting on the wedding-night! - -But he recognized her with a cold, uncompromising stare. And then, -seeing that the regards of her whole party were drawn upon him, he -seemed resolved to face the situation. Walking deliberately towards -them, he raised his hat slowly, bowed deeply, passed them, and went down -to the opposite end of the armory. - -“Humph, humph, humph, humph!” muttered the General to himself, “that is -what I call cool impudence!” - -Drusilla could not speak or move. She stood transfixed and motionless as -any one of those grim effigies before them. She stood thus until General -Lyon kindly broke the spell that bound her, by lightly laying his hand -upon her shoulder and whispering: - -“My dear, recollect yourself!” - -She started, and recovered her self-possession at once, and in time to -see little Lenny, whom Dick led by the hand, pulling at his protector, -and pointing down the hall, and shouting: - -“Man, man! div Lenny that _hoo_!” putting up his lips and describing in -pantomime the whistle whose name he had forgotten. - -“Little Lenny knew him again!” murmured Drusilla to herself. - -All this did not quite escape the notice of the guide. He saw what -passed, but apparently without understanding it; for, turning to General -Lyon, he said: - -“Lord Killcrichtoun, sir! His face is as well known here as any of these -images. He is in almost every day.” - -Then, reverting to his own especial business, and pointing out another -effigy, he said: - -“Henry the Eighth, ladies and gentlemen. Pray observe this magnificent -suit of armor, damaskeened or inlaid with pure gold. It is said to be -the same he wore on that famous occasion of his meeting with Francis I. -on the field of the Cloth of Gold.” - -“Oh, the horrid monster! I would rather look upon Lucifer’s self than -Henry the Eighth’s effigy! Let us pass on,” said Anna impatiently. - -And they passed on, pausing now and then to gaze upon the armed and -mounted effigy of some knight or king, famous or, perhaps, infamous in -history or tradition, until they reached the last one in the line—James -II.—after whose day fire-arms came in and armor went out. - -And so they passed from the Horse Armory to Queen Elizabeth’s Armory, -occupying an apartment in the lower floor of the White Tower. - -At the upper end was an equestrian effigy of the Royal Fury of Tudor, -who cut off her lovers’ heads as her father before her had cut off his -wives’. She was dressed in the preposterous costume of her court, -mounted on a carved charger, and attended by her page. She was most -appropriately surrounded by curious chains and manacles, ingenious -instruments of torture, and judicial implements of death. - -Conspicuous among these was the thumb-screw, the rack, the headsman’s -axe, and the heading block upon which the old Lord Lovat and his -companions had been decapitated. - -Here, on the north side, was also a small, heavy door leading into a -deep and narrow dungeon cut in the thickness of the wall, and having -neither air nor light except that which entered by the doorway. - -“In this dismal hole the accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh passed the long -years of his imprisonment, and here he wrote his History of the World.” - -“He had leisure enough for such a stupendous work; but I don’t see where -he got space or light from, or how he could possibly have lived in such -a dark, damp den,” said Dick. - -“Oh, you see, sir, it is to be supposed that he was only locked in there -at night, and had the freedom of the hall during the day.” - -They next ascended the stairs to the second floor, and visited the -ancient Council Chamber, where the old Kings held their Court at the -Tower. This was the place of Anne Boleyn’s trial. Then on the same floor -was St. John’s Chapel, the most perfect specimen of Norman architecture -in the country. - -All these things Drusilla saw as in a dream. She was thinking only of -her husband and the cold stare with which he had met her eyes. - -The guide led them from the White Tower to the green before the prison -chapel—St. Peter’s. - -“Stop here a moment, if you please, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. - -They all paused, thinking from that point he was going to indicate some -view or effect. But it was not so. - -“Do you know where you stand, ladies? No? Well, you stand upon the exact -spot where the head of Anne Boleyn fell under the executioner’s stroke.” - -Anna impulsively sprang away. Dick and the General looked interested. -But Drusilla heard him with something like indifference. Queen Anne’s -sufferings were so long past and now so vague; Drusilla’s own were so -present and so real. She was scarcely conscious of the remainder of her -tour through the Tower buildings. - -The guide led the party into St. Peter’s chapel; told them it had been -built in the reign of Edward I., 1282, and showed them the flag stones -in front of the altar beneath which repose the remains of the sainted -Lady Jane Grey, the venerable Thomas Cromwell, the good and great -Somerset, the accomplished Surrey, the brilliant Essex, and many other -less exalted but no less honorable martyrs to truth and patriotism, -victims to bigotry and tyranny. - -Leaving St. Peter’s Chapel, our friends made the circuit of the twelve -minor towers of the inner ward. These in the “good old times” were all -used as prisons, lodgings for those who had had the misfortune to become -obnoxious to despotism or fanaticism. - -Among these the richest in historic associations is the Beauchamp Tower, -popularly called the Beechum Tower, whose walls are cut all over with -the autographs or other inscriptions of the illustrious dead, who in its -gloomy dungeons pined away the last days of their violently ended lives. - -The Brick Tower was pointed out as having been the prison of Lady Jane -Gray; the Devereux Tower as that of the Earl of Essex; the Bell Tower as -once the prison of the Princess Elizabeth when she was confined by the -jealousy of her sister, Queen Mary; the Bowyer Tower as the place in -which the Duke of Clarence was drowned in the butt of malmsey wine. - -But that which filled the beholders with a deeper gloom than all the -others was the Flint Tower, called for the superlative horror of its -dungeons the Little Hell. - -That was the last abyss of the inferno that our sight-seers looked into. -The women, at least, could bear no more. - -“Come,” said Anna, shuddering. “It is not evening, so we have not -‘supped,’ but we have dined ‘full of horrors.’ Let us leave the Tower -with its gloomy dungeons and ghastly memories, and the Yeomen of the -Guard in their devil’s mourning of black and red, for Bloody Henry -Tudor, I suppose; let us get out into the pure open air, and back to the -wholesome nineteenth century.” - -General Lyon and Dick liberally remunerated the civil and attentive -warders, and the whole party passed out of the Tower walls, entered -their carriage, and returned to their hotel, where awaited them—a very -great surprise. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - WAITING AND HOPING. - - Silence, silence, still, unstirred— - Long, unbroken, unexplained; - Not one word, one little word - Even to show him touched or pained. - Silence, silence, all unbroken— - Not a sound, a word, or token—OWEN MEREDITH. - - -Still overshadowed with the gloom of their visit to the Tower, our party -entered their private parlor at their hotel. - -They found their favorite sofa occupied by a group of visitors. - -But before General Lyon had time to recognize or welcome them, a hearty -hand was clapped upon his shoulder, and a cheery voice shouted in his -ear: - -“So here you are at last! We have been waiting for you these two hours.” - -“Colonel Seymour!” exclaimed General Lyon, in unfeigned surprise and -delight. - -“Yes, and Mrs. Seymour and Miss Seymour.” - -“Old friends, I am glad to see you.” - -“So am I to see you.” - -And there was a general and hearty shaking of hands. - -“Now be seated again all of you. When did you arrive?” inquired the -General. - -“Bless you! Just now, I may say. Landed at Liverpool last night, slept -at the Adelphi, took the train this morning and reached London this -noon.” - -“And where are you stopping?” - -“At Mivart’s for the present. And before we got settled there, I took a -Hansom cab and drove off to the American Embassy to inquire where you -hung out. I saw a young fellow of the name of Troubador——” - -“Tredegar,” amended Dick. - -“Ah yes, thank you—so it was Tredegar. Well, I saw a young fellow of the -name of Tredegar, who told me where to find you; and so I drove back to -Mivart’s as fast as ever I could—and how those Hansom cabs can fly over -the ground!—and I changed my Hansom for a four wheeler, and just giving -Nan time to put on her finery, I took her and her mother in and drove -here!” exclaimed the visitor, eagerly talking himself out of breath, and -briskly wiping his face with his pocket-handkerchief. - -“And we are all so charmed to see you. We never had a more complete -surprise, or a more delightful one,” said Anna. - -And all her party cordially assented to her words. - -“I hope you did not have to wait for us long,” said Dick, anxiously. - -“Two mortal hours, I tell you, at the risk of being turned out every -minute, too.” - -“How was that?” quickly inquired the General. - -“Why, you see, first of all, that fellow in the white neckcloth and -napkin told me somewhat shortly that neither General Lyon nor any of his -party were at home.” - -“‘I know that, because they are here,’ I answered. - -“‘But they are not in, sir,’ he replied. - -“‘Then we will wait till they are,’ I rejoined. - -“‘They’ll not be here, till five o’clock,’ he added. - -“‘All right. We will sit down and make ourselves comfortable until that -hour,’ I remarked. - -“‘That’s the General’s dinner hour,’ growled the fellow. - -“‘Which is extremely lucky, as we can dine with him,’ concluded I. - -“The fellow looked as if he suspected me of being the confidence man, -and meditated calling in the police. However he contented himself with -beckoning to an under waiter, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in my -direction, and muttering something very like an order to the other one -not to lose sight of me. And so he or the other fellow kept an eye on me -all the while.” - -“The insolent scoundrel!” exclaimed General Lyon, indignantly. - -“Not at all. He was an honest fellow—had your interest at heart and -looked after it. How did he know but I might have walked off with the -piano?” answered the visitor, patting his host on the shoulder to soothe -down his anger, and adding, “I know I, for one, looked like a suspicious -party, in my weather-beaten sea-suit. And just see what an old-fashioned -bonnet my wife wears; and as for Nanny, I have a painful impression that -she is overdressed,” he sighed, glancing from the rich, light-blue -taffeta gown, and white silk mantle and bonnet of Miss Seymour’s costume -to the plain grays that formed the street dress of the other ladies. - -“Miss Nanny is charming in any style,” said the General, gallantly, -bowing to the mortified girl. - -“However,” continued Colonel Seymour, “I was anxious to see you all, so -I waited. I suppose if we had been fashionable folks we should have left -our cards and gone away; but being plain people, we preferred to wait -for your return. So here we are, and here you are! We expected to see -you, but you didn’t expect to see us, did you now?” - -“No; but we are not the less overjoyed on that account. And of course -you must stay and dine with us.” - -“Of course. I told the waiter so,” laughed the colonel. - -“Now, dear Mrs. Seymour and darling Nanny, you must both come up with -Drusilla and myself to our rooms to take off your bonnets,” said Anna, -rising and conducting her visitors from the room. - -At a sign from the General, Dick went down-stairs to order some -necessary additions to their dinner, in honor of their guests. - -“Now, old friend, tell me what put it into your head to cross the ocean -and give me this great pleasure?” inquired General Lyon, when he found -himself alone with his neighbor. - -“Example,” answered Colonel Seymour;—“nothing but example. You and your -family left the neighborhood to go to Europe. And I and mine were very -lonesome, I can tell you, after you were all gone. So one day I up and -said to my wife: - -“‘Polly, if we are ever to see the Old World, we had as well see it now -as at another time. We are not growing younger, Polly. Indeed I -sometimes fancy we are growing older.’ - -“‘Why, la, Benny,’ she said, ‘can’t you live and die like your fathers -without leaving your own country?’ - -“So I answered right up and down: - -“‘No, Polly, I cannot. And as we _must_ go to Europe some time, to show -it to our girl, if for no other reason, we can’t choose a better time -than this when our old neighbors are over there. We’ll go and join them -and have a good time.’ - -“Well, upon the whole, Polly didn’t dislike the idea of the trip; and as -for Nancy, she was all for it. So we up and came.” - -“You must have decided and acted with great promptitude to be over here -so soon after us.” - -“Didn’t we, though! We set the house in order the next day, which was -Tuesday; packed up Wednesday, went to New York Thursday, and sailed for -Liverpool on Saturday.” - -“What! and had not previously engaged berths in your steamer?” - -“No; didn’t know that was necessary until I went into the agent’s -office. And then it was by a stroke of luck we got the rooms. A family -who were going out by that steamer that day were unavoidably delayed, -and had to give up their berths. And I engaged them.” - -“Well, certainly, you were more lucky than you knew.” - -“Yes, ‘a fool for luck,’ it is said.” - -“Well, now, neighbor, shall we follow the example of the ladies and go -to my dressing-room to refresh our toilets? As for myself, I have been -poking into the vaults and dungeons of the Tower, and I feel as if I -were covered with the dust of ages!” - -“Yes, and I am just as unbearable with railway smoke and cinders.” - -“Come, then,” said the General, rising and conducting his visitor to his -own apartment. - -Half an hour afterwards, all the friends assembled in the parlor, where -the table was laid for dinner. - -At half-past five it was served. It consisted of a boiled turbot with -shrimp sauce; green-turtle soup; roasted young ducks and green peas; -pigeon-pasty; cauliflowers, asparagus, sea-kail and, in short, the -choice vegetables of the month; and, for dessert, delicate whipped -creams, jellies, and ices, and candied fruits, and nuts; and port, and -sherry, and champagne, and moselle wines. - -The “fellow in the neckcloth and napkin,” as the colonel described the -waiter, seeing how well these visitors were received by General Lyon and -family, tried to make up for his mistakes of the morning by the most -obsequious attentions, all of which the good-natured Seymour received in -excellent part. - -Old Seymour was blessed with a keen appetite and a strong digestion. He -had always enjoyed his homely farm dinners of boiled beef, or bacon and -greens, washed down with native whiskey-toddy, and now he much more -keenly enjoyed the rare delicacies set before him. - -After coffee was served they arose from the table, and the service was -removed. - -“I suppose, my dear, there is no such thing as a treat in the form of -your sweet music to be hoped for this evening?” sighed the colonel, as -he took his seat in a resting chair. - -“Why not, Colonel Seymour?” smiled Drusilla. - -“Oh, to be sure, I see a piano in the room; but of course it is a hotel -piano, which you would no more care to touch than I would to hear!” - -“Suppose you let me try this ‘hotel piano.’ Let us not yield to a -prejudice, but give the abused thing a fair trial,” said Drusilla, -smiling as she sat down to one of the finest instruments of the most -celebrated manufacturer in London. - -She executed in her best style some of Colonel Seymour’s favorite -pieces. And the old colonel, as usual, listened, entranced, - -“Why, that is one of the best toned pianos I ever heard in my life—quite -as good as your own fine instrument at home!” exclaimed the old man in -surprise. “But what amazes me is that it should be in such good tone. I -never could abide either school pianos or hotel pianos in my life -before.” - -“This is neither,” answered Drusilla, laughing. “We hired this from a -celebrated music-bazar.” - -“Ah, that accounts for it!” said the colonel. “Now, my dear, begin -again! Consider, I haven’t heard the sound of your sweet voice in song -for a month before to-night!” - -“And that is just the reason why he crossed the ocean, Drusilla, my -dear, and nothing else in life!” said Mrs. Seymour. “He may talk about -showing Nanny the old world and improving her mind and all that, but -it’s no such thing! It was the love of your music that lured him all the -way from America, like the lute of What’s-his-name did the spirits out -of What-do-you-call it!” - -Drusilla smiled on the old lady and recommenced her pleasant task, and -played and sang for the old gentleman during the remainder of the -evening. - -At eleven o’clock the visitors arose to take their leave, but of course -did not do it immediately,—they stood and talked for half an hour -longer. And, in that standing conference, it was arranged that General -Lyon should see about getting suitable apartments at the Morley House -for the Seymours; and, if none should now be vacant, that he should -bespeak in advance the first that should be disengaged. - -It was farther agreed that the two parties of friends should join -company in all sight-seeing excursions, and that they should always -lunch together. - -And here a friendly quarrel, each old gentleman insisting upon being the -permanent host of the lunch table. Finally the dispute ended in an -amicable arrangement that General Lyon and Colonel Seymour should each -be the host on alternate days. - -Then indeed the Seymours took leave and departed. - -And the Lyons went to rest. - -Drusilla entered her own bed-chamber. Little Lenny was asleep in his -crib. Pina was nodding in her seat. - -Drusilla had neither the will nor the power to sleep. She threw herself -in her resting-chair and gave her mind up to thought. She was glad to be -alone. The day had been a very harassing one—at once exciting and -depressing in its events and experiences. Yet all that had occurred to -her sank into utter insignificance compared with the single incident of -one instant—the cold stare with which her husband had met her eyes. More -than all his double dealing with her; more than his long neglect of her -at Cedarwood; more than his cruel repudiation of her on her wedding -night; more than his two years of scornful abandonment—did this cold, -hard, strange stare chill her love and darken her faith and depress her -hopes. Drusilla’s sad reverie was interrupted by a gentle rap at her -door. It had been probably repeated more than once before it broke into -her abstraction. Now thinking it was the chambermaid coming on some -errand connected with fresh water or clean towels, she was about to bid -the rapper come in; but quickly reflecting that the hour was too late to -expect a visit from the damsel in question, and feeling startled at the -thought of an unknown visitor at midnight, she cautiously inquired: - -“Who is there?” - -“It is I, Drusa, dear. I know you are still up, for I see the light -shining through your key-hole, and you never sleep with a light -burning,” said the voice of Mrs. Hammond. - -“Come in, dear Anna,” said Drusilla, rising and opening the door. - -“Now, if you really prefer to be alone, tell me so, my dear, and I will -not take it amiss, but leave you at once,” said Anna, hesitating, before -she took the easy-chair offered her by Drusilla. - -“No; how could you think so? How could you think I could prefer my own -company to yours? I know you came to cheer me up, and I feel how kind -you are. Sit down, dear Anna.” - -“Well, Drusa, you have seen we have not had one moment to ourselves -to-day; and we may not have to-morrow. I knew—I felt instinctively that -you would be too much excited to sleep to-night, so I came to you, my -dear—partly, as you say, to cheer you up, but partly, also, to talk of -something that happened to-day.” - -“Yes—thank you, dear Anna.” - -“You have confidence enough in me, I hope, Drusilla, to feel that you -and I can talk upon some ticklish subjects without offence, since I -speak only in your interest.” - -“Yes, Anna.” - -“Well, then, we met Alick in the Tower. That seems certain. But _did_ I -hear and see right, and _did_ the guide point out our Alick and called -him Lord Kilcrackam?” - -“Lord Killcrichtoun. Yes, Anna.” - -“And furthermore, _did_ I dream it, or did I hear something said between -you and grandpa—something that did not reach my ears quite distinctly, -because I was not very near you at the time, and you spoke quite low, as -you always do—something in short, to the effect that our Alick is the -same young American gentleman who claimed a certain Scotch barony in -right of his mother?” - -“Yes, it was Alick who claimed, and made good his claim to the barony of -Killcrichtoun. I should have thought Dick, as much as he is about town, -would have found it out before this.” - -“Oh dear, no, he has not. It would have been the merest chance if he -had, in a town where there is so much more—so very much more—to be -talked about than a young man’s succession to a petty lordship. By the -way, how did _you_ know it, Drusilla?” - -“The first day of our being here I was standing at the front window and -saw him leave the house and walk across the square. I was very much -startled, and called the waiter, and, pointing to Alick, inquired if -that gentleman were stopping here. The man told me that he was here for -the present, but would leave in the evening, and that he was Lord -Killcrichtoun. And then there flashed upon me all at once the idea that -he was the very same young American gentleman who had claimed the -title.” - -“And you never told us about it,” said Anna, in surprise. - -“I—shrank from the subject; and, besides, I did not think you would care -to hear. You remember little Lenny’s losing a lock of hair?” - -“Certainly; and it was cut off by his father, I suppose.” - -“Yes, in the absence of Pina, and while Lenny was in the temporary -charge of the chambermaid.” - -“And you never mentioned it to us.” - -“Dear Anna, you know I never bring up Alick’s name unnecessarily.” - -“Well, but I must tell Dick all about it if you have no objection.” - -“None in the world. I wish him to know it.” - -“But I am astonished at Alexander, merging the honest manliness of an -American citizen in the empty title of a Scotch barony! However, it is -all of a piece with his late mad proceedings. Now, there, I see from -your reproving countenance that I must utter no more blasphemies against -your idol; but now if the divine Alexander is Lord Killcrichtoun, what -are _you_, my dear?” - -Drusilla looked up with a startled expression, then reflected a few -moments, and finally answered: - -“I am his wife: beyond that I have never thought.” - -“You are Lady Killcrichtoun; and now here is the difficulty: Your cards -bear the name Mrs. Alexander Lyon. Everywhere my grandfather has -introduced you as such; all the invitations sent you are addressed to -you by that name: and more, our lady ambassadress expects to present you -at her Majesty’s next drawing-room as Mrs. Alexander Lyon. Now what’s to -be done about that?” - -Drusilla did not answer, but she reflected—so long that Anna broke in -upon her meditation with the question: “You have a right to share your -husband’s title—a right of which he cannot deprive you, for it is -legally your own. Shall we not then introduce you as Lady -Killcrichtoun?” - -“No,” answered Drusilla, gravely. “The name I now bear is also legally -my own, having been given me by my husband in our marriage. I will -retain it. I will never attempt to share his new rank until he himself -shall give me leave to do so. If, without his sanction, I were to take -my part in his title, I should seem to be pursuing him, which I will -never consent to do, dear Anna.” - -“But then, my dear, do you consider that if you refuse to do this, you -will enter society in some degree under false colors.” - -“Dear Anna, there is no necessity for my entering society _at all_. I -would rather live in seclusion as Drusilla Lyon than go into the world -as Lady Killcrichtoun, and of course I _can_ live so.” - -“And if you _do_ live so, you will never see Alick; but if you go out, -you will meet him every day; for of course he is the gayest man about -town here, as he used to be at home. And you may depend he will be -received everywhere; for in this country a title is a title, and though -the barony of Killcrichtoun may not be worth five hundred a year, Alick -has an enormous outside fortune, which fact cannot be hid under a -bushel. And going about as he does, _alone_, he will be thought a single -man, and, under all the supposed circumstances, a very eligible match. -Now, Drusa, if I were you, I would put a stop to all that by going -constantly into society, and going too as Lady Killcrichtoun.” - -“No,” repeated Drusilla, “I will never share his title until he -authorizes me to do so. And as to going out under my present name, I -will be guided by General Lyon. As he is responsible for me, he must be -the final judge in this matter.” - -“So this is your decision?” - -“Yes, dear Anna.” - -They might have talked longer, but Pina, who had been fast asleep in her -chair all this time, now tumbled off it and fell upon the floor with a -noise that terrified both the friends and started them upon their feet. - -“It is only that girl—how she frightened me! I thought it was some one -breaking into the room!” exclaimed Anna, trembling as Pina picked -herself up and stood staring in dismay. - -“Poor girl! how thoughtless of me to have forgotten her! Go to bed, -Pina, it is half-past twelve,” said Drusilla, kindly. - -And the maid, still more than half asleep, tumbled off to her cot in a -closet adjoining her mistress’s chamber. - -Anna also arose, and, bidding Drusilla good-night, passed to her own -room. - -Drusilla went to bed, but not to sleep. She lay revolving the problem -that Anna had left her to solve. Should she enter London society _at -all_ under her present circumstances? - -As yet, neither her party nor herself had gone to any sort of private -entertainment. They had left cards on the people to whom the General had -letters of introduction. And they had received calls from many of them. -Also they had many notes of invitation to dinners, balls, concerts, and -fêtes of every description; but, as yet, none of these notes had fallen -due. So Drusilla stood uncommitted to the world by either name or title. - -Now the question with her was this,—Should she go to parties at all? - -If she should, she was resolved it should be only under her simple name. -But then, if being the wife of Lord Killcrichtoun, she should go only as -Mrs. Lyon, would she not be, as Anna said, appearing under false colors? - -Would it not be better, all things considered, that she should live -secluded? - -Ah, but then Alexander was in the world, and the temptation to go where -she might enjoy the happiness of seeing him daily, even though he should -never speak to her, was irresistible! She could not deny herself that -delight. - -Then, finally, she determined to speak to her old friend, General Lyon, -on the subject; and with her mind more at ease, she fell asleep. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - MEETING EVERY DAY. - - We that were friends, yet are not now, - We that must daily meet, - With ready words and courteous bow, - Acquaintance of the street, - We must not scorn the holy past, - We must remember still - To honor feelings that outlast - The reason and the will.—MILNES. - - -Next morning, over an early breakfast, our party discussed, with their -tea, toast, muffins, and fried soles, the programme of the week. - -How crowded their life in London was getting to be. Every day, every -hour, nay, every moment, we might say, pre-engaged! - -“We go to Westminster Abbey first. The Seymours are to go with us, and -are to join us here at ten o’clock. It is After nine now,” said the -General, as he chipped his egg. - -“They will not be behind time, you may depend on it,” laughed Dick. “We -shall be able to get off by ten o’clock, and get into the Abbey by a -quarter past. It will take us at least three hours to do Westminster, -which will bring one o’clock or a little later, when we can get lunch at -Simmon’s, in Threadneedle Street,—an old-established house, celebrated -for its green turtle and its punch this century past. After which we -will still have time to see St. Paul’s, and to get home in season for -our five o’clock dinner.” - -“And remember, Dick, that we must not be later, for we have a box this -evening at Drury Lane, to see the Keans.” - -“All right, Anna! we are not likely to forget that.” - -“And let us see! what is the programme for to-morrow?” inquired the -General. - -“I do not think that has been arranged yet,” said Drusilla. - -“Then let it be the British Museum and the Royal Academy.” - -“Oh, no, grandpa! We must go to Windsor to-morrow; and I’ll tell you -why. It will take a whole day and night to go to Windsor, see it all, -and return. And to-morrow is the only whole day we have at our disposal. -For on Thursday we are engaged to dinner at Lord Esteppe’s, and to a -concert at Mrs. Marcourt’s. On Friday we are to breakfast with the -Warrens and to go to a ball at our Minister’s; and on Saturday we are -promised to the Whartons for their fête at Richmond. Now out of either -of these days we might take a few hours to see any London sights; but -for Windsor we must have an unbroken day, and to-morrow is the only one -of this week, or of next week either for that matter, left at our -disposal.” - -“That is very true, my dear. Bless my soul, how we are crowded with -engagements! It is very flattering, of course, and very pleasant, I -suppose; but—it is just a little harassing also. Dick, have you ordered -a barouche?” - -“No, sir; but I have finished breakfast, and if you will excuse me I -will go and do so now; or, rather, I mean I will walk around to the -livery stable and choose a good one myself,” answered Mr. Hammond, -rising from the table and leaving the room. - -With an excuse for her absence, Anna followed him. - -As the General was still toying with his breakfast, Drusilla lingered to -keep him company. - -The waiter had retired and the two were alone, a circumstance so -unusual, and so unlikely to happen again, that Drusilla thought this to -be her best opportunity for consulting him upon the difficulty that now -perplexed her mind. - -So while the old gentleman sat trifling with a delicate section of his -fried sole, Drusilla abruptly entered upon the subject: - -“Uncle, we are all invited to a great many places; and we have accepted -all the invitations. But before I go to any party I would like to have a -talk with you.” - -“Well, my dear, talk away! what is it about?” inquired the old man, -somewhat surprised by the gravity of her manner. - -“Uncle, is it quite right that I, a forsaken wife, should go so much -into the world?” - -“My child, I thought that question had been asked and answered two years -ago at Old Lyon Hall.” - -“So it was, you dear uncle, answered in a way to give me pleasure as -well as peace. But the circumstances are different now from what they -were then. Then we were in your own familiar neighborhood, among your -own old country friends and neighbors, who loved and honored you so much -that they would have received with gladness and courtesy any one whom -you might choose to present as a member of your family. But here, dear -uncle, it is different; we are in a foreign city and among strangers.” - -“Yes, my child, but among strangers who are hospitable and courteous; -and to whom I have brought such letters of introduction as must secure a -hearty welcome both to myself and every member of my family. Have no -fears or doubts, little Drusa. You who are blameless must not be ‘sent -to Coventry’ as if you were faulty.” - -Drusilla sighed and continued: - -“Uncle, there is another circumstance that complicates the case very -much.” - -“Well, my dear, and what is it?” - -“At home I was known as Mrs. Lyon, which was my true name; but here, -since Alick has made good his claim to the Scotch barony, I have another -name and title,” said Drusilla, so solemnly that the General laid down -his fork and laughed heartily as he answered: - -“And so, my dear, you want us to introduce you as Lady Killcrichtoun!” - -“Oh, no, _no_, NO!” exclaimed Drusilla, earnestly, “not so! I do not -want that! I would not consent to it! Indeed I would not! Anna can tell -you that I said so last night!” - -“And you are right, my child, entirely right; and I commend your good -sense in making such a resolution. But where then is your difficulty, my -dear?” - -“Why, just in this—my husband being now Lord Killcrichtoun, would I not, -by entering society as Mrs. Lyon, be appearing under false colors; and -rather than do that had I not better eschew society altogether?” - -“No, my dear; a thousand noes to both your questions! You are known to -yourself and to your nearest relations and best friends, and to myself -who introduce and endorse you, as Mrs. Lyon. And by that name I shall -continue to call you and to present you. Who knows you to be Lady -Killcrichtoun? or even Alick to be Lord Killcrichtoun? Do you know it? -Do I? _Does he himself?_ He calls himself so; but that don’t prove it -_is_ so. The newspapers affirm it; but that don’t prove it. The world -accepts him as such; but that don’t prove either—at least to us who have -always known him only as Mr. Lyon, and haven’t examined the evidences -that he is anybody else. Similarly we have known you only as Mrs. Lyon, -and shall take you with us everywhere and introduce you as such; at -least until Alick himself assures to you your other title.” - -“Thank you, dear uncle. Again your decision has given me pleasure as -well as peace. I _did_ wish to go everywhere with you and Anna; but I -was resolved to go only as Mrs. Lyon, though I was afraid that by doing -so I should appear under false colors. But your clear and wise -exposition has set all my anxieties at rest. I am glad you still wish me -to go into company,” said Drusilla, earnestly. - -“My dear, I have a motive for wishing you to go. Drusilla, my child, you -and I may surely confide in each other?” - -“As the dearest father and child, dear uncle, yes.” - -“Then, Drusa, my darling, in these two years that you have been with us, -I have studied you to some purpose. I see you very cheerful, my child, -but I know that you are not quite happy. Something is wanting, and of -course I see what it is;—it is Alexander, since you still love him with -unchanging constancy.” - -“Oh, yes, yes, yes,” breathed Drusilla, in a very low tone. - -“I know you do. Well, as you love Alick, so he needs you, whether he -knows it or not. You are the angel of his life, and the only power under -Heaven that can save him. I know Alexander well. I have known him from -his infancy, and of course I know all the strong and all the weak points -in his character.” - -Drusilla raised her eyes to the old man’s face with a deprecating and -pleading expression. - -“Fear nothing, my child; I am not going to abuse him, at least not to -you; in saying that he has his weak points, I say no more of him than I -might say of myself or any other man. But it is through their weakness -men are often saved as well as through their strength. Listen to me, my -dear Drusilla.” - -“I am listening, sir.” - -“Well, then, Alick’s chief weakness is that he can only admire through -the eyes of the world, for which he has always had the greatest -veneration.” - -“Do you think so, sir? Ah, surely he was not considering the world’s -opinion when he married me, his housekeeper’s daughter,” pleaded -Drusilla. - -“No; passion, if he is capable of feeling at all, makes even a worldly -man forget the world sometimes. And, pardon me, my dear Drusilla, if I -say that he married you for your personal attractions, for your perfect -beauty and brilliant genius—of that in your nature which is fairer than -beauty and brighter than genius, and better and lovelier than both, he -knew nothing at all; he has yet to learn of them.” - -Drusilla, blushing deeply under this praise, which was but just tribute, -kept her eyes fixed upon the floor. General Lyon continued: - -“Yes, my dear, he is worldly—he worships the world and sees through the -eyes of the world. What was it that blinded him to your sweet domestic -virtues and tempted him from your side? It was the brilliant social -success of Anna—of Anna, for whom he cared not a cent, and whom he had -really jilted for your sake; but with whom he actually fancied himself -in love as soon as he found her out to be belle of the season, the queen -of fashion, and all that ephemeral rubbish.” - -Drusilla sighed, but made no answer. - -“He has got over all that nonsense, believe me. He regards Anna now, -probably, very much as he did when he jilted her for you and before her -splendid season in Washington had so dazzled and maddened him. He has -gotten over _that_ nonsense; but not over the worldliness that led him -into it; for that is a part of his nature. And now, Drusa, I will tell -you why I wish to introduce you into the most fashionable society here.” - -Drusilla looked up with eager attention. - -“_Because_ in society here you are sure to eclipse Anna and every other -beauty of her type.” - -“Oh, uncle!” - -“My dear, I am speaking fact, not flattery. Anna is beautiful; we will -grant that; but she is of that large, fair style, so rare in our country -that it made her a belle there, but which is too common here to make her -more than one of the pretty women of the season. On the contrary, _your_ -style, Drusilla, more common in America, is extremely rare here. You -will be new. You will make what women call a ‘sensation.’ Alick will see -it, and he will discover his folly, if he never finds out his sin in -having left you. There, Drusilla! there is the old man’s policy, worthy -of a manœuvering chaperon, is it not?” - -Drusilla knew not what to reply. For her own part she didn’t like -anything that savored of “policy.” She longed—oh, how intensely!—for a -reconciliation with her husband; it was her one thought by day, her one -dream by night, her one aspiration in life! but she did not want it -brought about by any sort of manœuvering. Perhaps the General read her -thoughts, for he said earnestly: - -“I see you do not quite approve my plan, dear child. You would rather -Alick’s own better nature should bring him back to his wife and babe; -but ah, my dear, who can appeal to that better nature so successfully as -yourself? and how can you ever appeal to it unless you have him to -yourself? And how can you have him, unless you attract him in the way I -suggest. Let him see you appreciated by others, that he may learn to -appreciate you himself. Let him seek you because others admire you; and -then when you have him again, you may trust your own love to win his -heart forever!—But here is Dick, and, bless me, yes; here are all the -Seymours, at his heels!” - -Colonel Seymour and his family entered, marshalled in by Dick. And there -were cordial morning salutations and hand-shakings. - -The carriages were waiting. Drusilla ran off to call Anna and to put on -her own bonnet. - -And in a few minutes the whole party started on their sight-seeing -excursion. - -The programme of the day was carried out. They went just to Westminster -Abbey and saw there the wonders and beauties of several successive -orders of architecture. They saw the most ancient chapel of Edward the -Confessor, containing the tomb of that Royal Saint, and the old -coronation chair and other memorials of the Saxon kings, and the remains -of many of their Norman successors. - -They saw the splendid chapel of Henry the Seventh, with the beautiful -tomb of that fierce paladin, conqueror of Richard Third, and founder of -the sanguinary Tudor dynasty; and of his meek consort, Elizabeth of -York, surnamed the Good. And there also they saw, oh strange -juxtaposition! the tombs of that beautiful Mary Stuart, and of her rival -and destroyer, the ruthless Elizabeth Tudor; and the tombs of many other -royal and noble celebrities besides. - -And they examined many other chapels, filled with the monuments and -memorials of kings and queens, knights and ladies, heroes and martyrs, -poets and philosophers, who had adorned the history of the country and -of the world, from the foundation of the Abbey to the present time. - -At one o’clock, before they had inspected one-tenth part of the -interesting features of this venerable edifice, they took leave of -Westminster Abbey, promising themselves another and a longer visit, and -they went to “Simmons’” to lunch. - -At two o’clock they visited St. Paul’s Cathedral. - -Time and space would fail us here to give the slightest outline of the -wonders of that most wonderful cathedral. The mere ascent of St. Paul’s -from the crypt to the cupola might be, in some degree, compared to the -ascent of Mont Blanc—at least in toil and fatigue, if not in danger and -distance. To give the most cursory description of its marvels of -architecture, sculpture, paintings and decorations, would fill volumes -and be out of place here. After three or four hours spent there, our -party returned to their hotel, utterly wearied, dazzled and distracted; -and with only two images standing out distinctly from the magnificent -chaos in their minds—the mausoleums of Lord Nelson and the Duke of -Wellington, the great sailor and the great soldier of England standing -side by side in the crypt of the Cathedral. - -“My dear,” said the General, that evening over his cup of tea, “when we -laid out our plans for this week we had no idea what was before us! No -wise man crowds so much sight-seeing into so little time. It is as wrong -to surfeit the brain as it is to overload the stomach. As for me I am -suffering from a mental indigestion, and I would rather not attempt -Windsor Castle, or any other stupendous place or thing, until I have got -over Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral. So what do you say to -postponing all sight-seeing for the remainder of this week?” - -Drusilla and Anna eagerly assented; for, in truth, they wanted some -leisure for shopping and for arranging toilets in which to appear at the -minister’s ball. And Dick was too polite to offer any opposition. - -So the next day, while the General and Dick stayed at home to lounge, -read, or smoke, Anna and Drusilla drove to the West End, and ransacked -all the most fashionable stores in Oxford, Regent, and Bond streets in -search of new styles of flowers, laces, gloves, and so forth. - -And never did the vainest young girl, in her first season, evince more -anxiety about her appearance than did poor Drusilla, who was not vain at -all. But then the young wife knew that she would be sure to meet her -husband at the minister’s ball, and that her future happiness might -depend upon so small a circumstance as the impression she might make -there. For once in her innocent life, but for his sake only, she longed -for a social triumph. - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - THE AMBASSADRESS’ BALL. - - I do not question what thou art, - Nor what thy life in great or small; - Thou art, I know, what all my heart, - Must beat or break for. That is all. - —OWEN MEREDITH. - - -The front of that handsome house in Cavendish Square, known then as the -American Embassy, blazed with light. Not only the street before it, but -the cross-streets around the corners were thronged with carriages. - -Our Ambassadress was giving her first ball of the season and the élite -of London were to honor it with their presence. - -Many another house would have been crowded to suffocation with the -company that assembled in this; but here, so spacious were the corridors -and staircases, so _very_ spacious the halls and saloons, that the seven -hundred fair and noble guests wandered through the decorated and -illumined rooms, refreshed by pleasant breezes and inspired by -delightful music, and all without the usual accidents of crushed toilets -and crossed tempers. - -In the first reception room, near the entrance door, stood the -distinguished ambassador and his accomplished wife receiving their -friends with their usual cordiality. The ambassador wore the dress of a -plain American citizen; the ambassadress was resplendent in mazarine -blue velvet and diamonds. - -At about half-past ten o’clock General Lyon and his party were announced -and entered the first reception room. The General and his nephew wore -the stereotyped evening costume of gentlemen—the black dress-coat and -black pantaloons and the white vest and white kid gloves. - -Anna wore a mauve _crêpe_, looped up with white roses; and white roses -in her hair and in her bosom, and pearls and amethysts on her neck and -arms. - -Drusilla’s toilette was perfect. It was a full dress of priceless point -lace over a pale maize colored silk. In her hair, on her bosom, and -looping up her dress, were clusters of snowdrops and crocuses, sprinkled -with the dewdrops of fine diamonds. The effect of this simple and -elegant toilette was rich, delicate and beautiful beyond comparison. - -General Lyon and his young friends had to stand a few moments, while a -group who had passed in before them paused to pay their respects to the -host and hostess. - -At length, when their own turn came, the General took precedence of his -nephew and led Drusilla up to the ambassadress. First he shook hands -heartily with his old friend the ambassador and bowed to the -ambassadress, and then presented Drusilla as: - -“My niece, Mrs. Lyon.” - -Drusilla curtsied deeply, and the minister and his wife received her -kindly. And after a few commonplace courtesies the General passed on to -make room for Dick and Anna, and also to look out for some of his own -friends in the crowd. - -But ah! what a suppressed buzz went through the room as the veteran -passed, with the newest beauty of the season hanging on his arm. - -“What an exquisite young creature!” lisped young Leslie of the Guards. - -“Who is she then?” inquired Beresford of the Hussars. - -“Don’t know, I am sure. Does anybody here? Do _you_, Kill.? You look as -if you did,” said Leslie, turning to Lord Killcrichtoun, who was -standing like a statue staring after the retreating form of General Lyon -and Drusilla, who were speedily lost in the crowd. - -The question recalled him to himself. - -“Do I—what?” he inquired, with assumed carelessness. - -“Do you know that lovely girl who passed just now, hanging on the arm of -that tall, gray-haired old gentleman?” - -“What girl? I noticed no _girl_ particularly.” - -“Chut! are you subject to catalepsy, Kill.?” laughed Leslie. - -“But who _can_ she be? Some girl that is just out, I suppose. Somebody -must know. Let’s go and ask Harry. He knows everything,” said Beresford, -moving off. - -“Stop—find out who the old gentleman is first. He looks like a -foreigner, and she must be his daughter,” suggested the Guardsman. - -“Oh! by the way! that is it!” suddenly exclaimed the Hussar. - -“What is it? Have you made a discovery?” - -“Yes! you said he looked like a foreigner; and so the whole thing -flashed upon me at once. He is the Prince Waldemar Pullmynoseoff. Her -Majesty received him yesterday. He has a daughter. The Princess Shirra.” - -“Why, certainly! of course! undoubtedly! how could we have missed seeing -it at once.” - -And so these young men, upon their own sole responsibility, settled the -rank of the simple republican gentleman and lady. - -And Alexander Lyon, or Lord Killcrichtoun, smiled as he heard this. - -While they spoke several of their acquaintances came lounging up. One of -them, a fair young man with straw-colored hair and mustache, spoke: - -“We have just seen the loveliest little creature. Can any of you tell -who she is?” - -“Now, in the first place,” said Leslie, maliciously, “where there are so -many lovely creatures present, how are we to know which you mean?” - -“Oh, you cannot mistake if you have seen her! the most perfect beauty of -the season. She wore—there now I cannot tell you what she wore: but her -dress was the most elegant as she was the most beautiful in the room,” -persisted the young man, pulling at his fair mustache. - -“Now look here, Duke—taste in beauty and taste in dress differ so much, -you know. How can I tell what individual girl you mean when you talk of -the most beautiful creature in the most elegant toilet in the room? Why, -there are hundreds of beautiful women in elegant toilets present, and -each one of them may be the _most_ beautiful and the _most_ elegant to -some one else’s particular fancy.” - -“Ah! bah, Leslie, that may be all very true of commonplace beauties; but -I tell you, and you know it is true, that there are _some_ beauties whom -_every_ body acknowledges to be pre-eminent; and of such is the sweet -creature who passed here like a beam of sunshine—an exquisite creature! -Stop chaffing now and tell me, if you know, who she is.” - -“Was she leaning on the arm of a tall, gray-haired gentleman?” asked -Leslie, laughing. - -“Yes! yes!” - -“Oh, then, yes, I know her. She is the Princess Shirra, daughter of -Prince Waldemar Pullmynoseoff. He is here on a visit; some say on a -private mission. Her Majesty received him yesterday.” - -“Daughter of old Pullmynoseoff. I’ll go and get introduced,” said the -young duke, hurrying away. - -Again Alexander laughed within himself. He was somewhat amused by the -mistake those discerning gentlemen had made in supposing Drusilla to be -the little Russian princess; but he was also bitterly jealous of the -admiration so generally expressed for his beautiful, young, forsaken -wife; and he was deeply indignant that men should take her for a girl to -be wooed and won. - -He followed the duke. He could not help it. He wanted to see the end of -this adventure, in which the young duke went in search of Drusilla and -the Princess Shirra, both in one. He followed him through the mazes of -the whole suite of rooms; and everywhere he heard the same suppressed -murmur of admiration, curiosity and conjecture of which the new beauty -was the subject. Others beside the group of officers took her for the -newly-arrived Russian Princess. - -“Look at her diamonds—a shower of dewdrops over her flowers,” murmured -one lady. - -“They cannot _all_ be real. Some must be paste among so many,” objected -another. - -“Paste! Look at her point-lace dress, then, more costly still than her -diamonds. _None_ but a princess of the highest rank could wear such a -priceless robe.” - -Alexander passed on, leaving these people to their dispute, and followed -the young duke until he stopped before a group of ladies and gentlemen. -The ladies were seated on the sofa, and the gentlemen were standing -before them. - -The duke bowed and exchanged the courtesies of the evening, and then, -turning to one of the gentlemen, said: - -“Lord John, you presented the Prince Waldemar Pullmynoseoff to Her -Majesty yesterday. Will you be good enough to present me to the prince -this evening?” - -“With pleasure, Lillespont. Come!” said the Lord John, at once turning -to lead the way. - -“I think his daughter decidedly the most beautiful woman in the house,” -said the Duke of Lillespont as they threaded their way through the -crowd, closely followed by Alexander. “Unquestionably the most beautiful -woman here,” repeated His Grace, as if challenging contradiction. - -“Do you? I am rather surprised to hear you say so,” observed Lord John. - -“The most beautiful woman I have ever seen—that is, if one may call so -young a creature a woman at all,” he added. - -“Young?” repeated Lord John, raising his eyebrows. “Ah, but then you are -at a time of life when all women’s ages are alike, I suppose.” - -And, saying this in rather a low tone, Lord John paused before a -gentleman and lady seated on a sofa, around which quite a court of -worshippers were gathered. - -Waiting for a few minutes for a fair opportunity, and then gently making -his way through the circle, Lord John took his protégé, and said: - -“Prince, permit me to present to your Highness the Duke of Lillespont; -Duke,—Prince Waldemar Pullmynoseoff!” - -And, before the young duke could recover from his surprise and -disappointment, he found himself bowing deeply before a little dry, -rusty, scrubby, hairy old gentleman, who looked more like a very aged -and very cunning monkey than a man, not to say a prince. However, he was -certainly a European celebrity, filled full of diplomacy, covered over -with orders, and possessed a string of titles—all told—a yard and a -quarter long. So the duke bolted his disappointment and bowed his body -low before the royal and venerable mummy. - -And then he was presented to a little, withered woman, very like the -prince, and looking very little younger, but so covered with jewels of -all sizes and colors that she presented the idea of an elderly fire-fly. - -Again the duke bowed low, and exerted himself to be agreeable, but he -was very glad when the coming up of another party gave him an excuse to -make his final bow and withdraw. - -Alexander, grinning like Mephistophiles, still followed. - -“I was quite mistaken in the princess. It was another whom I took to be -Prince Waldemar’s daughter,” said Lillespont, deeply annoyed that he -should have led any one to believe so ill of his tastes as that he -should have fallen in love with the elderly fire-fly. - -“Hem! I thought you had made some mistake of the sort,” said Lord John -kindly. - -“Oh, yes, quite another sort of person! a lovely young creature, just -out of the schoolroom, I should say. Ah, there—there she is now, sitting -within that window!” suddenly exclaimed the young man as an opening in -the crowd, like a rift in the clouds, showed a vista at the farther end -of which a bay window lined with lilies and roses and occupied by -General Lyon and his party, and by a select circle of their particular -friends. - -“There! that lovely, dark-eyed houri, looking the very spirit of spring -and youth, clothed with sunshine, adorned with flowers, and spangled -with diamond-dew! Do you know her?” - -“Know her? Stop,—let me see. I know that party she is with. I met them -here at this house a few mornings ago. Let me see,—there is General -Lyon, and Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, and—yes, the young creature you admire -so justly is Mrs. Lyon.” - -“‘_Mrs._’—did you mean to say ‘Mrs.?’” - -“Yes, ‘Mrs.’ I remember perfectly well being as much surprised as you -are at seeing so childlike a creature introduced by a matronly title.” - -“But she is never the wife of that old man? It would not—that sort of -union—be May and December, it would be April and January!” - -“Oh, no, she is not his wife—she is his niece, I think. Yes, I am sure -he introduced her as his niece, Mrs. Lyon.” - -“_Mrs._ Lyon? that child.” - -“Well, I tell you, I was as much surprised as you are to hear her called -so; but then I reflected that in America, as in all young nations, -people marry at a very early age.” - -“Ah! but where is _Mr._ Lyon?” very pertinently inquired Lillespont. - -“Oh, Mr. Lyon? I don’t know that there is any Mr. Lyon. I have somehow -or other received the impression that this childish beauty is a young -widow, and a very wealthy one also.” - -“A youthful, beautiful, and wealthy widow,” said Lillespont, musingly. -“Lord John, you say you know her,—will you introduce me?” - -“With pleasure,—come,” said the elder man, leading the way to the -bay-window. - -Alexander followed them no further, but muttering to himself: - -“Ass, puppy, coxcomb!” and other injurious epithets—probably applied to -Lillespont—withdrew to a convenient spot from which, unseen, he could -see all that might be going on in the bay-window. - -He saw the old gentleman called Lord John take Lillespont up and present -him to General Lyon, who forthwith presented him to the ladies of his -party. And next he saw the young duke bow deeply to Drusilla, and make -some request, to which she graciously responded. And then he saw her -rise and give her hand to Lillespont, who, with the air of a conqueror, -led her off. - -Alexander ground his teeth together with rage and jealousy. - -They passed down the room and onward towards the dancing saloon, where -new quadrilles were being formed. And the duke led his beautiful partner -to the head of one set. And there as everywhere else a low, -half-suppressed but sincere murmur of admiration followed her. - -Alexander foamed with fury, and hurried away from the scene because he -could not trust himself to remain. - -Of course he had not the least right to be jealous or indignant, but -just _because_ he had no such right—and he knew it—he was all the more -furious. It enraged him to see her looking so beautiful, blooming, -happy, and independent of him, enjoying herself and exciting universal -admiration in society, when he thought, by rights, she ought to be pale, -and sad, and moping in some obscure place. It infuriated him to see her -the object of another man’s homage. - -“And that puppy, perdition seize him! takes her to be a young widow; is -thinking now perhaps of asking her to be his wife! His wife!” And here -Alexander ground down unuttered curses between his set teeth. - -Ah, could he have looked into his young wife’s heart, his anger must -have been appeased. Could he have seen how little she cared for all the -homage she received, except in so much as it might make her more worthy -in his eyes. Truly she smiled on the young duke at her side—not because -he was young and handsome and a duke, but because it was her sunny, -genial, grateful nature to smile on all who tried to please her. Yes! to -smile on all who tried to please _her_, while from the depth of her -heart she sighed to please but one on earth. - -Alexander found food enough for his insane jealousy. Drusilla was the -acknowledged beauty of the season. Everywhere he heard her murmured -praises. Every one supposed her to be a young widow. Some genius, -indebted to his imagination for his facts, had fancied that because Mrs. -Lyon the supposed young widow, was niece-in-law to old General Lyon, -therefore the husband of Mrs. Lyon had been a military officer who had -been killed in the war between the United States and Mexico; and had so -effectually started the report that before the evening was over every -one had heard that Captain Lyon had been shot while gallantly leading -his company at the storming of Chepultepec. Of course this report never -once reached the ears of the General or Mrs. Lyon, or of Mr. or Mrs. -Hammond. Reports seldom do reach the ears of those most concerned in -them; and false reports never. - -But Alexander was doomed to hear it all. - -“Kill have you seen the newest beauty out?” inquired young Hepsworth of -the Dragoons. “There she is dancing with Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden. -She is engaged ten sets deep; but I come in for the eleventh for the -Lancers. That is after supper. Look at her now, as she turns. Isn’t she -perfect? Just perfect?” - -“Who is she?” growled Alexander, feeling himself called upon to say -something. - -“Who is she? Not Satan in the form of an angel of light, as one might -judge from the tone of your question. She is Mrs. Lyon, a young widow, -though you would hardly suppose her ever to have been a wife. But you -know how early girls marry in America, stepping from the cradle to the -altar, one might say. However, that young creature has been married and -widowed. Husband, gallant fellow, lost his life in leading a forlorn -hope in the storming of Chehuaple—Chehuapaw—Chehua-peltemback, or some -such barbarously named place.” - -“Oh! he did, did he?” - -“Oh, yes, bless you! And I am very much obliged to him for doing so; but -she was perfectly inconsolable for three years. But she has at last left -off her weeds, as you see. And we may suppose she is in the market.” - -“Ah! she is, is she?” - -“Oh, yes! Lovely creature? And _stu_-PEN-_dously_ rich too,” exclaimed -the dragoon. - -“Oh, she is rich?” sneered Alexander. - -“Rich? She’s a California Crœsus. A great catch for some fortunate -fellow!” - -It would not do to take a gentleman by the throat and shake him there in -the ambassadress’ drawing-room; yet Alexander could scarcely refrain -from laying hands on the dragoon who continued very innocently piling up -wrath. - -“Do you know, I think Lillespont is taken? Lillespont who has escaped -all the man-traps set for him for the last four years, since he first -appeared in the world? But then this young creature is such a perfect -novelty! It would be of no use for a captain of dragoons to enter the -lists against a duke, else hang me if I did not go in for the little -beauty myself,” said the young officer, complacently drawing himself up, -sticking out a neat leg, and caressing his moustache. - -“You are an ass!” exclaimed Alexander, turning on his heel and walking -away. - -The astonished dragoon gazed after him in a sort of stupor, and then, -still pawing at his moustache, muttered: - -“Per Bacco! what a rude savage! Very great bore, but I shall have to -challenge him. And hang me if I have the least idea what the row is -about. However, I must stay here until I keep my engagement with the -little beauty for the Lancers, and then—to teach that uncivilized brute -that he is not to indulge his savage propensities in ladies’ -drawing-rooms.” - -And so saying, the young fellow, who with all his effeminacy, was brave -enough, sauntered away to look up a brother officer to act as his -second, and afterwards to wait for his partner in the Lancers, his mind -being equally occupied by the thoughts of dancing and dueling. - -Meanwhile, Alexander had moved to another standpoint, from which, unseen -by her, he could follow every movement of his beautiful and admired -young wife. - -“I suppose,” he muttered to himself, “I shall have to meet that young -coxcomb. For after what I said to him unless he is a poltroon as well as -a puppy, he will challenge me. Well! I don’t care a rush for my own -life, and it is not likely that I should care for his——Yes! and by all -that is maddening, there is another fellow I shall have to fight!” he -exclaimed, as he watched Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden, who was bestowing -on the beauty of the evening much more devotion than it was at all -necessary to show to a mere partner in the dance. - -Just then the dance came to an end, and his Highness led Drusilla back -to her seat beside Mrs. Hammond in the bay window. - -Alexander followed, keeping out of her sight. - -“I fear you are very much fatigued,” said Prince Ernest, still retaining -her hand, and gazing with respectful tenderness upon her flushed cheeks -and brilliant eyes. “Let me bring you an ice,” he continued, with -affectionate solicitude. - -“No, thanks,” said Drusilla, courteously, but withdrawing her hand. - -“A glass of water then?” - -“Nothing, thanks.” - -“The rooms are very warm. Will you permit me to take you into the -conservatory. It is open and airy there.” - -“Much obliged; but I am very well here,” said Drusilla, sweetly. - -“Permit me this privilege at least,” pleaded the prince, gently -possessing himself of her fan and beginning to fan her. - -Alexander set his teeth and ground his heel into the floor, growling -within himself: - -“Confound him, what does he mean? I know I shall have to fight him!” - -But if Alexander meant to call out all Drusilla’s admirers, who, -believing her to be a widow, were ready to become her lovers, he would -have his hands as full of fights as the most furious fire-eater might -desire. - -While Prince Ernest was still standing before Drusilla fanning her, and -in every admissible manner exhibiting his devotion to her, a very -handsome, martial looking man, of about thirty years of age, wearing the -uniform of an Austrian field-marshal, and having his breast covered with -orders, came up and, bowing low before the beauty, claimed her hand for -the quadrille then forming. - -Alexander knew him for General Count Molaski, an officer high in the -Austrian service, and one of the most distinguished foreigners then in -London. He led his lovely partner to the floor, where she was soon -moving gracefully through the mazes of the dance. - -“Her head will be turned!—her head will be completely turned! Who would -ever have dreamed of her coming _here_ to play the _rôle_ of a beauty—of -a queen of beauties—in society! Aye, and with a fortune of her own, and -the countenance of General Lyon’s family to sustain her in it. -Perdition! I wish to Heaven she had never left Cedarwood—never inherited -that fortune—never been taken up by that old Don Quixote, my uncle! -_Then_ I might have had some chance of a reconciliation with her; but -now—I have no hope at all. If she has not already forgotten me, these -flatterers will soon make her do so. Ah! great Heaven, I was certainly -blind and mad ever to have left her! I always loved her—when did I love -her not? And to have left her whom I did love for Anna whom I only -admired! Why, look at Anna now. Only what is commonly called a fine -woman here. There are a hundred in this room as pretty as Anna, but look -at Drusilla, my wife—she _is_ my wife, after all! She is the most -beautiful woman present, and the best dressed. _My_ choice has been -endorsed by the verdict of the best judges of beauty the world -possesses. She _was_ my choice. _I_ thought her all that these judges -have decided her to be. Yes, yes, I thought her so when she was without -the adventitious aids of wealth, rank, dress, and general admiration to -enhance her charms! How could I have left her? I was mad—just mad! No -lunatic in Bedlam ever madder!” - -By this it will be seen that Alexander Lyon, Lord Killcrichtoun, had in -his heart—for no one knows how long—returned to his first love—perhaps -his only love—and was now consuming with a hopeless passion for his own -discarded wife. - -“When I first saw our boy, what a shock of mingled joy and pain the -sight gave me! I scarcely needed the chambermaid’s information that he -was Mrs. Lyon’s little son. I knew him at once from his likeness to his -mother. True, he has the hair and eyes of our family, but he has his -mother’s beautiful brows and sweet lips. Ah! what a dolt! what an ass! -what a pig I have been!” inwardly groaned Alexander, still grinding his -teeth together. - -But soon his rage was diverted from himself to Drusilla’s partner. - -“There she goes,” he muttered—“swimming through the dance as happily as -if I were not in existence, and were not so wretched. And, set fire to -that fellow! how his eyes follow her and seem to feast—— Ugh! yes, I -will be shot if I don’t call him out!” - -“Hallo, Kill.! how do you do? Good evening. Fine company assembled here -this evening. Good many distinguished foreigners present—nearly the -whole diplomatic corps also. But all that is nothing to the debut of the -celebrated beauty. You know her, of course,” said young Frederic -Dorimas, coming up to Alexander’s side. “You know her?” - -“Know whom?” said Drusilla’s husband, evasively. - -“Why, the beautiful young widow who is turning all heads this evening.” - -“No, I know no young widow here.” - -“Then you are a very lucky fellow in having such a pleasure still to -come; and I shall be happy to present you. Now, no thanks, my dear -fellow, because I don’t deserve them. My own heart and hand being -already engaged to another young lady, I am not free to become a -candidate for the beautiful widow’s favor, and so I will not play the -part of the dog in the manger. Come as soon as this dance is over, and I -will take you up and introduce you.” - -“Much obliged; but I prefer to decline the honor,” said Alexander, -coldly bowing and turning away from his new tormentor. - -“Eh, Kill., not dancing this evening? and looking as glum as if you had -lost a sweetheart or a fortune. What’s the matter? Did you bet on a -losing horse, or fail to get an introduction to the lovely Mrs. Lyon?” - -“Go to the demon with your lovely Mrs. Lyon!” burst out the sorely tried -Alick. - -“With great pleasure, or anywhere else in the universe with _her_. But, -hark you, my lord! I am not accustomed to receive such answers from -gentlemen; and by my life, sir——” - -But Alexander had turned on his heel and walked off again, leaving the -last speaker in the middle of his speech. - -Alick, in his utter wretchedness, was behaving very much like a brute. -He had already insulted one gentleman and affronted another. He was sure -of being called out by young Hepsworth of the dragoons, and he was -strongly inclined to call out some half dozen other gentlemen who had -been guilty of dancing with Drusilla and delighting in the honor. - -He passed on, growling inward curses, and so for some moments lost sight -of his young wife. - -When he saw her next, she was seated in the bay window, with her court -of worshipers around her. She alone occupied the sofa. - -General Lyon was standing at some distance with a group of old friends -that he had been so fortunate as to collect together. - -Anna was waltzing with Henry Spencer. - -Dick was waltzing with Nanny Seymour. - -Drusilla never waltzed, and therefore for the time she was sitting alone -on the sofa with her court standing around her. - -There were Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden, General Count Molaski, the Duke -of Lillespont, and one or two others of the same class. - -Drusilla exhibited none of the awkwardness of a novice under such trying -circumstances. The only lady in the circle, she was nevertheless not -only self-possessed and graceful, but she was animated and witty. She -kept the ball of conversation quickly flying back and forth, so that -those about her forgot the passage of time until the cessation of the -waltz music and the commencement of a march, followed by a general -movement of the company in one direction proclaimed the opening of the -supper rooms. - -With a bow, Prince Ernest asked the honor of taking Mrs Lyon into -supper. - -With a smile of thanks, she accepted the courtesy, and arose. - -And he drew her arm within his own, and proudly led her off. - -They passed so near Alexander that he might have stepped upon her dress. -But she never turned her eyes in his direction. - -“She has forgotten me—clearly and finally forgotten me! But I will be -hanged if I don’t make somebody sensible of my existence before the -night is over!” said Alexander to himself as he followed them. - -At supper the prince waited on the beauty with as much devotion as ever -courtier offered to his queen. - -Near them stood Anna, served by Henry Spencer and Nanny Seymour waited -on by Dick. - -There was really nothing at which Alexander had the least right to take -exception. Yet his blood was boiling with jealousy so that he was -actually almost frenzied. - -After supper Prince Ernest led Drusilla back to her seat, and stood -devoting himself to her service until the next dance was called and -Captain Hepsworth came up to claim her as his partner in the Lancers. - -Very sweetly Drusilla smiled on the young dragoon, as she gave him her -hand and let him lead her forth to the dance. - -But not Drusilla’s smile of courtesy nor the young officer’s simper of -gratified vanity enraged Alick half so much as the air and manner -assumed by Prince Ernest. - -He, the prince, gazed after the retreating form of the beauty until she -was lost in the crowd, and then with a profound sigh he took possession -of her vacated seat, picked up a flower that might or might not have -fallen from her bouquet, pressed it to his lips and put it in his bosom. - -“I’ll kill him for that, or he shall kill me! I hardly care which!” -growled the maniac in the depth of his heart. He would have liked to -throttle his Highness on the spot; and in refraining from doing so he -only postponed his vengeance. - -When the Lancers came to an end Drusilla returned, obsequiously attended -by the young dragoon, and followed by General Lyon and all the members -of her party. - -Prince Ernest started up from the sofa and with respectful tenderness -took Drusilla’s hand and placed her in her seat, and remained standing -beside her. - -“My dear, it is four o’clock, and you look very tired-had we not better -go?” inquired General Lyon, speaking in a low tone to Drusilla. - -“Just as you and Anna please, dear uncle. As for myself, I am quite -ready,” she replied. - -“So am I,” said Mrs Hammond. - -“Come then,” said the General, offering his arm to Drusilla. - -“Pardon me, sir, if you please. I will have the honor to attend Madam!” -exclaimed Prince Ernest. - -With a bow and a queer smile the General gave way. - -And the prince bending before the beauty, took her hand and drew her arm -within his own and led her on. - -And Alexander from his covert saw all this; and breathing maledictions, -followed them, first to the presence of the ambassador and ambassadress, -before whom they paused to make their adieux, then to the cloak room, -where he saw Prince Ernest take Drusilla’s bouquet and hold it with one -hand, while with the other hand he carefully wrapped her in her mantle; -then he followed them down-stairs to the hall, where they all had to -stop and wait some time before their carriage could come up—and finally -to the sidewalk, where he saw Prince Ernest carefully place Drusilla in -her carriage, and tenderly lift her hand to his lips as he bade her -good-night. Saw him then gaze upon the faded bouquet that he had taken -from the beauty, who had probably forgotten to reclaim it—gaze upon it, -press it to his lips, and place it, as some priceless treasure, in the -breast of his coat. - -That last act of folly filled up the measure of the prince’s offences. -It maddened Alexander. Henceforth he was no more responsible for his -actions than a lunatic. - -Going up to Prince Ernest, he clapped him smartly upon the shoulder. - -The prince whirled around with an involuntary expression of surprise and -anger. - -“You, sir, I want a word with you!” exclaimed Alexander, breathing hard -between his set teeth. - -“At your pleasure, sare, perhaps! But, first, who may you be?” replied -his highness, with cool hauteur. - -“There is my card, sir! I would be glad to have yours?” - -“‘Baron Killcrichtoun?’ I do not know the name or title. Well, Baron, -what is your will with me?” - -“First, sir, that bouquet, which you have had the insolence to keep! -Secondly, sir, satisfaction for the insults you have offered to a lady -who is near and dear to me?” - -“INSULTS!” exclaimed the excitable Austrian, jumping off his feet. -“Insults! sare, I never offer insults to a lady in my life! Sare, you -speak von untruth! Sare, you speak von large lie! Sare, it is I, myself, -I, who will have von grand satisfaction!” - -“So you shall! but first give me that bouquet!” - -“Sare, I will give you no bouquet! Sare, I defend my bouquet with the -best blood of my heart! Sare, by what right you demand my bouquet?” - -“By a right too sacred to be talked of here! Give me the bouquet that -you have stolen!” - -“‘Stolen!’” cried his highness, vaulting into the air, “Sare, I will put -back that word down your t’roat with the point of my rapier, sare! I -will have von grand, von very grand satisfaction, sare!” - -“All right! I will send a friend to you this morning, to arrange the -terms of a meeting,” said Alexander, turning away. - -“Make your testament, sare! I advise you, set your house in order, -sare!” exclaimed the Austrian, shaking his hand aloft. “Make your -testament, sare! for, for me, myself, I will have von grand -satisfaction! von very grand satisfaction!” - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - ALEXANDER’S EXPERIENCE. - - Words of fire and words of scorn - I have written—let them go! - Words of hate—heart-broken, torn - With this strong and sudden woe. - All my scorn, she could not doubt, - Was but love, turned inside out—OWEN MEREDITH. - - -“Alick, are you mad? Think what you do!” - -Alick turned quickly and faced Dick Hammond, whose hand had touched his -shoulder. - -“Mr. Hammond, you here? By what right, sir, do you dare——” - -“By the right of kinship. Come, come, Alick, your father and my mother -were brother and sister. We are first-cousins and old playmates, Alick. -We have been rivals, but are so no longer. We need not be enemies. Let -us be friends, Alick,” said Dick, frankly holding out his hand. - -“And do you begin your overtures of friendship by dogging my footsteps -and spying my actions?” demanded Alexander, putting his hands behind -him. - -“Nonsense—no!” - -“Why are you here then, sir? your party have gone home.” - -“Our carriage was full. I lingered behind to call a hansom for myself, -and so became an accidental witness to your challenge of Prince Ernest,” -said Dick, good-humoredly. - -The name of his imaginary rival sent Alexander off into another fit of -frenzy. - -“Yes, I have challenged the diabolical villain, and, by my life, I will -meet him!” he exclaimed, grinding out the words between his set teeth -and livid lips. - -Mr. Hammond knew that to argue with him then and there upon the subject -of the intended duel would be as useless as to reason with a lunatic. -Yet, in a few hours, he hoped he might be able to bring him to his -senses. - -So, laying his hand kindly upon the demoniac’s arm, he said: - -“Alick, go home with me, or permit me to go home with you, while we talk -this matter over.” - -“No!” exclaimed the madman violently, throwing off the friendly grasp. -“Leave me to myself—I advise you to do so!” - -“Alick, I dare not leave you, in your present state of mind. Even if we -were not cousins, we are still countrymen! Consider me your sincere -friend, and take me with you in this crisis of your affairs,” pleaded -Dick again, gently essaying to restrain the infuriated man. - -“No! leave me alone, I say, Hammond! for your own good, take care of -yourself and don’t interfere with a desperate man!” cried Alexander, -breaking loose. - -A hansom-cab was passing at the moment. - -“Cab!” cried Alexander, seeing that it was empty. - -The hansom pulled up, and Alexander threw himself into it, and was gone -before Dick could prevent him. - -“I must get another, and follow him if possible,” said Mr. Hammond, -making the best of his way to the nearest cab-stand. - -Meanwhile, General Lyon, Anna, and Drusilla returned to their lodgings. - -General Lyon, after a few moments of gay bantering of Drusilla upon her -social triumphs of the evening, went to rest. - -Drusilla, as soon as she was free, hurried to her own room, to look -after her little son. - -Lenny was sleeping very quietly in his crib, beside his mother’s bed; -although, indeed, as the first beams of the morning sun were now -glinting through the crevices of the window-blinds, it was almost time -for Master Lenny to wake up for his morning bath and airing. - -And now what did the queen of the ball do? - -Tearing off her jeweled wreath of spring flowers, and throwing aside her -gems, she cast herself down upon her child’s bed and burst into a -passion of tears, and wept and sobbed as if her heart would break. - -It was not her sobs or tears that awakened little Lenny. They were too -silent even in their vehemence to disturb the child’s serene rest. It -was probably his hour to wake. He opened his eyes, and, seeing his -mother in so much grief and believing from his brief experience that -nothing but his own naughtiness ever grieved “Doosa,” he put his arms -around her neck, and said; - -“Don’t ky, Doosa—don’t ky! ’deed Lenny be dood boy!” - -“Oh, Lenny, Lenny! love me, or my heart will break!” she cried, -gathering the child to her bosom and pressing him there. - -“Lenny do love—don’t ky! ’deed Lenny be dood boy—’deed Lenny will!” said -the child, kissing and hugging her fondly. - -“My darling child, you are the only comfort I have in this world,” she -sobbed, as she squeezed him to her bosom and covered him with kisses. - -“Hey-day! There, I knew it! and that is the reason I came in,” said a -voice in the open doorway. - -Drusilla looked up and saw Anna standing there. - -“I was on my way to my own room, but found your door ajar, so I took the -liberty to look in,” said Mrs. Hammond. - -“Come in, dear Anna. But I should think you would be tired enough to -hurry off to bed.” - -“No, not yet; I haven’t get over the excitement of witnessing your -success, Drusa. And I have so much to say about it before I can sleep. -And besides Dick hasn’t got in yet.” - -“Are you uneasy about him, Anna?” sympathetically inquired Drusilla. - -“Not at all. I suppose he hasn’t been able to pick up a cab and has -perhaps started to walk home. Uneasy? No indeed! what is to hurt him in -broad daylight? But, Drusilla, you have been crying! You have been -crying hard! Now was it ever heard that the belle of the evening came -home from her triumphs and cried?” said Mrs. Hammond, sitting down -beside her friend. - -“Oh, Anna! Anna! Oh, Anna! Anna! if you knew how little my heart was in -it all! What _could_ I care for all those strange people—I who only -longed to be reconciled with my Alick!” she answered, bursting into a -torrent of tears. - -“He was there,” said Anna, quietly. - -“Do I not know it? He was there all the evening. He was near me many -times. I felt that he was, though I did not see him; for oh, Anna, I was -afraid to look towards him and meet again that cold and cutting gaze -that almost slew me in the Tower!” - -“Don’t ky, Doosa! Please don’t ky. ’Deed Lenny be dood boy. Let Lenny -wipe eye,” said the child, taking up the edge of his night-gown and -trying to dry his mother’s tears. - -“My darling, you _are_ good, and I won’t cry to distress you, poor -little soul. I should have died long ago if it hadn’t been for you, my -little angel. There, Doosa has done crying now,” she said, wiping her -eyes and smiling on the child. - -“Drusa, my dear, you were very brilliant last evening, not only -beautiful, but brilliant. I really thought you enjoyed queening it in -society. You laughed and talked and danced the whole evening. I should -never have suspected you of playing a part.” - -“Oh Anna! I was not exactly playing a part either. Oh, Anna, you have -heard how the timid Chinese sound a gong and make a terrible noise to -drown their own fears and to dismay their foes when they go into battle? -Anna, it was much the same with me. I had to laugh and talk and dance -and jest to deafen me to the cry in my heart, which was almost breaking -all the while. Oh, Anna, he has ceased to love me now! I know it, he has -entirely ceased to love me!” - -“I don’t feel so sure of that myself, Drusilla. If you, were afraid to -look at him, I was not. I saw him several times in the course of the -evening; and whenever I saw him he was standing near you and following -you with his eyes.” - -“He was? He was, Anna?” eagerly, breathlessly inquired the young wife. - -“Indeed he was.” - -“You are sure?” - -“Quite sure. I watched him.” - -“Ah, but—perhaps he did so in hate or in anger,” said Drusilla, with a -sigh. - -Anna was silent. - -“Say! was it not in anger or in hate, Anna?” - -“I thought it was in jealousy, and that you know is a sign of love.” - -“Oh, if I thought so! if I thought so! how quickly I would set all that -jealousy at rest. How soon I would convince my Alick that I care for but -him in this whole world!” she exclaimed, fervently clasping her hands. - -“Indeed, Drusilla, I hope you would do nothing of the sort. He richly -deserves to suffer.” - -“Oh, Anna! you don’t like Alick,” said Drusilla, reproachfully. - -“Like him? No, _that_ I don’t! That’s the gospel truth. But there is -Dick, so good-night, or rather good-morning, my dear,” said Mrs. -Hammond, kissing her cousin on the brow and then leaving the room. - -“Oh, if I could believe as Anna suggests, how quickly, how gladly I -would set all my Alick’s doubts at rest. But ah! it is not so. He has -ceased to love me. I am sure of it now—sure of it!” - -She struggled to keep back her tears, so as not to distress her child, -who was still sitting on her lap and watching her countenance with eyes -full of anxious sympathy. - -As soon as Anna had left her, Drusilla rang for Pina, and with her -maid’s assistance changed her splendid evening dress for a cool white -wrapper. Then, before lying down, she superintended little Lenny’s -morning bath and toilet, and saw him eat his simple breakfast and sent -him out with his nurse for a walk. - -Then at last she lay down to take an hour’s rest, if not sleep, before -joining the family at the late breakfast. - -Meanwhile Anna hurried off to her own room. Anna was weary and drowsy, -and with no heavy cares on her mind, was only anxious to find her pillow -and go to sleep. But to rest was not to be Anna’s good fortune that -morning. She found Dick just come home, looking so haggard and harassed -that his aspect terrified her into the suspicion that her “unlucky dog” -had been so unfortunate as to meet with some of his friends. - -“Dick! in the name of Heaven, what is the matter?” she exclaimed. - -“Matter? Nothing,” answered Mr. Hammond, telling unscrupulously, and -almost unconsciously, the regulation lie in such cases made and -provided. - -“Dick! when a man says there is nothing the matter, with such a look as -that on his face, it is a sign there is so much the matter that he dares -not confess it. Now, Dick, I will know,” she said, going to him, laying -her hands upon his shoulders and gazing steadfastly into his face. - -“Well, Anna, what do you see?” he inquired, a little sadly, as he met -her eyes. - -“I see that you are quite sober, at least, poor soul; but oh, Dick! you -unfortunate fellow, where have you been since we left you!” - -“About town, Anna.” - -“About town! Oh, yes, exactly! About town! I know too well what that -means. Oh, Dick! Dick! we ought never to bring you within sight of a -town! We ought to keep you in the woods all the time. Now make a clean -breast of it, Dick. Whom have you been with?” - -“I happened to meet with an old friend down town,” answered Dick, -solemnly and a little maliciously. - -“An old friend down town! Oh, precisely! I know what _that_ means also! -Dick! Dick! that proverb, ‘Save me from my friends,’ must have been -written for you. Now out with it at once! How much has your friend, or -set of friends, robbed you of this time?” - -“Robbed me of, Anna?” - -“Yes! robbed you of! You know what I mean. How much have you lost? A -thousand pounds—ten thousand?” - -“Anna, you think I have been gambling?” - -“What else can I think, Dick? It breaks my heart to think it, though.” - -“Anna, dearest,” said Dick, taking her hands from his shoulder and -holding them in his own, while he sought her eyes, “Anna, did I not -promise you before we were married, that after I should become your -husband I would never touch cards or dice again? Answer me, Anna.” - -“Yes, Dick, you did, dear.” - -“And—bad as I was, at my very worst, did you ever know me to break my -pledged word?” - -“No indeed, I never did, dear.” - -“And do you think I would begin by breaking it to my wife?” he asked, -gazing sadly into her eyes. - -“Oh, Dick, Dick, my darling, I beg your pardon! I do indeed!” she said, -throwing her arms around him and kissing him with such an effusion of -affection that it must have consoled him for her momentary injustice. -“Oh, Dick, forgive me, love!” - -“All right, Anna,” he said, smiling and returning her caresses with -interest. “I cannot blame you for doubting and fearing for me, until -time shall prove how steadfastly I shall keep my pledge to you. I only -wish it could be otherwise with you, and that for your own peace you -could have full faith in me; but I know that this cannot be so, for it -must be a part of my punishment for past follies still to inspire doubt -of my future conduct.” He spoke gravely and sadly, and the tears rushed -to Anna’s eyes as she answered him: - -“Oh, Dick, darling, not so! I never doubted you before, and, after this, -I _cannot_ do so again. It was I who was a sinner, Dick, to doubt you at -all, you dear, good, honest——” - -—“Dog,” added Dick, laughing; “for even an unlucky dog may still be an -honest one. Yes, Anna,” he added, after a pause, “I do think you may -begin to trust me. We have been married about two years, and in all that -time not only have I never touched cards or dice, but I have not even -wished to do so. For your own peace of mind, try to trust me, my wife.” - -“I _do_, Dick! I do! It was only your look that alarmed me; and, as we -were all safe at home here, I could not think of anything but your -‘friends’ that could happen to you. And, more than all, when I asked you -what was the matter, you answered, ‘nothing,’ which, as I hinted before -always means, ‘Nothing could be worse.’” - -“Well, Anna, it really was ‘nothing,’ in one sense of the word, -‘nothing,’ or not much to us that is.” - -“What was it, then?” - -“Well, I suppose I may tell you without the risk of giving you any great -pain. Alexander Lyon has gone mad with jealousy.” - -Anna at first looked startled, and then she burst into a hearty peal of -laughter. - -“I never saw a man out of Bedlam so frantic,” continued Dick. - -“I said so!” laughed Anna. “Who is he jealous of? You?” - -“Of the whole world, I think!” - -“I am very glad to hear it. I hope it will do him good.” - -“Yes, but he has challenged Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden,” said Dick, -solemnly. - -Anna became very grave. - -“And if he should not be prevented he will fight him.” - -“Fight a duel! Dick, do you know what you are saying? Are you in your -senses?” - -“I am. It is Alick who is mad.” - -“Fight a duel! What! in this age and in this country?” - -“Yes, in this age and in this country, my dear! And I do not see, for my -part, how it can be helped—I mean prevented—except by the police. I saw -the whole thing, Anna. Just as your carriage drove off, Alick claps his -hand upon the prince and charges him then and there with insulting a -lady and stealing a bouquet. You should have seen Prince Ernest then. -Talk about the Germans being phlegmatic! Though Prince Ernest is an -Austrian, by the way. Why, Anna, he jumped two feet from the ground at -the first charge, and vaulted four feet into the air at the second. If -they are permitted to meet, he will eat Alick’s head.” - -“A duel in England! and at this time of the world!” - -“But you must remember that it is not to be between Englishmen, but -between an Austrian and an American and not, probably, in England; but -upon some of the little islands of the channel.” - -“I thought duels had gone out about the time that railroads came in,” -said Anna. - -“So did I.” - -“Didn’t you speak to Alick? Didn’t you try to prevent the challenge?” - -“Of course I did, but with what hope of success? I might as well have -preached to the winds as to Alexander; and as to Prince Ernest, after -the first words had passed, it would have been quite hopeless as well as -very presumptuous to have tried to expostulate with him. I did not even -attempt it. He had been outraged, grossly outraged, and was in a -towering passion that even overtopped Alexander’s fury. And if Alick had -not challenged the prince, the prince would have challenged him.” - -“But the duel must be stopped!” - -“Of course, if possible.” - -“What can be done?” - -“Our only hope is in the police. It was in this view of the case, and -not in any prospect of a successful interview with Alick, that I jumped -into a cab and tried to follow him and find out his address; but he had -a minute’s start of me, and so of course I lost him. I drove to -Mivart’s; but he does not stop there, I was told. I went on speculation -to several places where I hoped to hear of him; but without success. -Lastly, I did what I should have done at first—went to Scotland Yard and -lodged information of the projected breach of the peace with the police. -Then I came home. So you see, my dear, it was my anxious night race -through the London streets that gave me the haggard look of a ruined -gamester.” - -“It was nice of you, Dick, to take so much trouble to save that good for -nothing fellow. Shall you tell Drusa?” - -“Of course not. You would not advise me to do so?” - -“No; for it would be useless as well as painful for her to know anything -about it.” - -“You will tell grandpa?” - -“Yes; as soon as he is up and has had his breakfast, I must consult with -him as to what further can be done. Now, Anna, dear, you had better try -to get a little sleep before breakfast; as for me, I shall go and take a -bath and get a cup of coffee, and be off to Scotland Yard again, and be -back time enough to meet my uncle when he appears.” - -So saying, Dick rang for his valet and disappeared. - -But sleep was driven far from Anna for that day. She, too, found her -best restorative in a bath, a change of dress, and a cup of strong -coffee. Having drank this last, she went down into the drawing-room to -wait for the other members of the family. - -But even there she could not be at rest, the news of this intended duel -had excited her so much; and not that she cared for her cousin -Alexander, either, but that she cared for Drusilla: and she was anxious -for the return of Dick, to know whether the detective policemen had -succeeded in tracing Alexander in time to stop his murderous and -suicidal purpose. She walked from window to door, and from door to -window, unable to sit still; she took up a book, and laid it down; tried -her embroidery frame, and cast it aside, unable to read or work; she -opened her piano, but could not play. So she maundered about until the -family circle began to gather. - -The first that appeared was little Lenny, in the arms of his nurse. He -looked fresh, bright and gay from his morning walk, and was full of -chatter about a monkey and an organ grinder. - -Next came Drusilla, looking rather pale, but very pretty in her plainly -banded dark hair and her cool white morning dress. She greeted Anna, and -then sat down and called her child to her knee, and began to ask him -about his morning walks. And Lenny, having found his most interested -hearer, chattered away faster than ever. - -The third comer was General Lyon, looking quite refreshed after several -hours of undisturbed repose. - -“Good-morning, my dears. I hope I have not kept you waiting,” he said, -as he saluted the two ladies. - -“Oh no, sir; we are almost just assembled,” said Drusilla. - -“Then, my dear Anna, ring and order breakfast at once. But where is -Dick? At the nearest mews, giving his opinion of the proprietor’s latest -purchase, I dare say.” - -“Oh, no, sir. He is not there; but he did not feel like sleeping, so he -took a bath and dressed and went out to take a walk. He told me he would -be back in time for breakfast,” said Anna. - -“And you would have thought Anna was some young girl waiting a visit -from her betrothed, to have seen her go from one window to another, and -gaze out up and down the street,” said Drusilla. - -“Anna, you do look a little nervous and excited; what is the matter?” -anxiously inquired the General, for he, too, feared that the ‘unlucky -dog’ might again have broken bounds and given her trouble. “What is it, -Anna?” - -“It is loss of rest, grandpa. I could not sleep, so I did not even lie -down. These late hours are a terrible tax on a country-bred woman like -myself,” replied Anna, evasively. - -“To everybody, Anna. I must really put my veto upon parties for _every -night_. For once a week now I would consent to them——But here is Dick at -last!—Why the deuce don’t that fellow serve breakfast! Did you ring, -Anna?” - -“Yes, sir; and I hear the jingling of cups on a tray and so I suppose he -is coming,” said Anna, answering her grandpa, but looking anxiously at -her husband as he entered the room. - -Dick saw that troubled gaze, and smiled to reassure her. Then, after -greeting the General and Drusilla, he turned to Anna and said, -metaphorically, but in a way that she understood: - -“I think I can get that horse I went after, Anna.” - -“There! I knew he had been to a stable, and Anna said he hadn’t,” -laughed the General. - -“I did not know that he had gone to one, grandpa.” - -“Of course you did not, my child, or you wouldn’t have spoken so. But -you see, I knew him better even than you did. And now let us have -breakfast.” - -As soon as the morning meal was over, Drusilla took little Lenny and -retired to her own room. This was not her custom in the forenoon; but on -this occasion she acted with a purpose. She had not failed to see that -both Anna and Dick were seriously disturbed, and that they wished to be -alone with the head of the family; but she had not in her thoughts -connected their disturbance in any manner with her own husband. On the -contrary, she, too, unjustly suspected poor Dick of having in some -manner fallen from grace—of having, perhaps, been tempted to a gambling -table and lost more money than he could just then conveniently pay, and -of being forced to apply to the General. So hard, you see, it is for a -young man who has once lost the confidence of his friends, to recover -it, even from those who love him best. So never suspecting that -Alexander was on the verge of crime and death, but sighing over the -supposed danger of poor Dick, Drusilla sat down with little Lenny in her -own chamber. - -As soon as the party in the breakfast parlor was left alone, General -Lyon rang for the waiter to take away the breakfast service, and when -that was done, he turned to his young people and said, somewhat sternly, -for he still suspected Dick: - -“Now, then, what is it? Speak out. Let us hear the worst, and hear it at -once, for Heaven’s sake.” - -“You should have heard it at once, but we could not say anything about -it before Drusilla,” said Dick. - -“I suppose not. But she is gone now, so why do you hesitate? What is the -matter?” - -“Sir, it is this: Alexander Lyon has challenged Prince Ernest of -Hohenlinden.” - -“Good Lord! is the man mad?” exclaimed the General. - -“Of course he is. Every man is mad who challenges another to mortal -combat.” - -“Great Heaven! what is to be done? How did you know this, Dick?” -demanded the General, starting up and beginning to walk the floor with -rapid strides, as was his custom when greatly excited. “How do you know -this, Dick, I ask?” - -Mr. Hammond related the discovery he had made on the morning after the -ball. - -“But, good Heaven! this purpose cannot be carried out in a Christian and -civilized country. I do not think that at this day of the world any two -Englishmen would ever think of such a barbarism as fighting a duel, and -you may depend that no two foreigners are going to be allowed to do it. -Duel indeed! Chivalry is dead, and law reigns in its stead. Dick, you -and I must go before some magistrate and give the information. We must -go at once. I’ll put on my boots; you call a cab,” said the General, -excitedly. - -“Sir, I went immediately and laid the information before the Chief of -Police at Scotland Yard. He promised to take prompt steps to arrest the -challenger and prevent the hostile meeting. An hour ago I went again to -the office, and learned that two detectives had been sent in pursuit of -the parties. They had not yet returned to report at the office.” - -“And that is all you know?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Then we must go all the same. I cannot rest quietly here while my dead -brother’s son is in peril, even if he is a fool and a madman!—Jake!” he -called to his passing servant, “bring my boots to my room, and then run -and call a cab. And, my dear Anna,” he said, turning to his -granddaughter, “put a guard upon your face as well as upon your lips, in -Drusilla’s presence. She must not know what has occurred.” - -“I fear she already suspects something wrong,” answered Anna. - -“Oh, she probably thinks as you did, Anna—that I have got into a scrape. -I saw how pitifully she regarded me as she left the room. She thinks I -have fallen among thieves again. Well, let her continue to think so; -better that than she should suspect the truth,” suggested Dick. - -“Indeed she shall not harbor a doubt of you, Dick, darling, even to save -her from the pain of knowing the truth. But never fear; trust to me to -spare her feelings without compromising your character.” - -In a very few minutes the General came in booted and gloved for his -drive. Dick was quite ready and the cab was announced to be waiting. And -so with a few last words of warning and encouragement to Anna, they left -her to go upon their anxious errand. - -When they arrived at the office of the chief they received information -that the two detectives who had been sent in pursuit of the would-be -duellists had returned and reported. - -And this was the substance of their report: - -That Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden, with two gentlemen of his -_suite_—being his physician in ordinary and his second; and that Lord -Killcrichtoun, with two attendants, his second, and his servant, had -left London by the eight o’clock train for Southampton. - -“And what the mischief have they done that for?” inquired General Lyon, -in perplexity. - -“Their intention seems clear enough, I think. They mean to cross over to -some one of the Channel Islands, where they think they may blow each -other’s brains out comfortably without interruption,” answered the -chief. - -“And now what the deuce is to be done? They left at eight, you say? It -is twelve now, and there is a train just starting, if I remember -rightly; and it is too late to pursue them by this train; and there will -not be another start until three o’clock, I think? At least such is my -impression of the hours of the trains to Southampton, from looking over -the time-table with young Spencer yesterday, before he went down to meet -a friend who had come by the American steamer,” said the General. - -“Yes, you are quite right about the trains; and right also about the -uselessness of attempting to pursue these madmen by rail. But I have -telegraphed the police there to be on the lookout for them.” - -“And we can do nothing in the meantime?” - -“Nothing but wait patiently.” - -“Can we wait here?” inquired the General. - -“Certainly, if you can make yourselves comfortable, though it is not a -pleasant place to ask you to sit down in.” - -“Thank you. We shall gladly avail ourselves of your kind permission. You -see we are so very anxious on this subject, that we should like to be at -hand when you receive an answer to your telegram. How long do you think -it will be before you get it?” - -“Can’t say. If they received mine before the eight o’clock train from -London reaches Southampton, they might have met the parties at the -station and could have answered me immediately. If, however, the train -reached there first, of course the parties might have got out and got -off, and the officers would in that case have some trouble to look them -up.” - -“So then you may get a telegram any moment now, or you may have to wait -several hours,” said Dick. - -“Exactly,” replied the chief. - -“Then, uncle,” said Dick, perceiving that their presence in the office -really annoyed or, at least, incommoded the civil officer, “I think we -will adjourn to the White Swan, which is only a few steps from this, and -wait there until Mr. Harding receives his telegram, when perhaps he will -be kind enough to send us word of the news.” - -“Yes, certainly, if you prefer that arrangement, though you are quite -welcome to remain here, if you can make yourselves comfortable where -there are so many coming and going.” - -“I thank you, but we will go to the White Swan,” said the General, -rising. - -But just then the clicking of the telegraph-wire in the adjoining office -was heard, and the chief raised his hands, saying: - -“Be kind enough to stop. That may be the answer we expect now.” - -The General and Dick sat down and waited. A few minutes passed, and then -a man entered from the telegraph office, and handed the chief a folded -paper. - -“Yes; here it is!” said Mr. Harding, opening and reading: - -“_The parties reached here at ten o’clock and took the steamer for -Guernsey at a quarter after. We wait orders._” - -“There you see, sir, it is as I feared! They got off before my telegram -could have reached Southampton—before, in point of fact, it had been -dispatched from London. And it is as I suspected—they are going to one -of the Channel Islands to kill each other at their leisure,” said the -chief. - -“And now what the deuce is to be done? Can’t they still be followed and -stopped?” - -“I fear not until they have accomplished their purpose. There is no -other boat leaves for Guernsey until to-morrow.” - -“No other packet? But, good Heavens, can we not hire a yacht and go in -pursuit of them? We can run down to Southampton by the next train, and, -in so large a port as that, we could be sure of being able to charter a -vessel for the trip.” - -“I fear, sir, I should not be justified in taking the responsibility of -incurring so great an expense,” said the chief, slowly. - -“Oh, never mind the expense, man—I will take that upon myself! I would -not grudge a thousand pounds to save my mad nephew from this meditated -crime and folly. I will make you quite safe in regard to the expense, -only I should wish you to send a sufficient police-force with me to stop -the duel by force if it cannot be done by persuasion. Come! it is only -half-past twelve o’clock now, and the train for Southampton don’t start -until three. You have two hours and a half to make up your mind and make -all the necessary arrangements. Come, what do you say?” - -“Oh, of course the thing can be done, sir, if you choose to incur the -heavy expense of hiring the vessel. You can take two of our men with -you, and procure two more at Southampton.” - -“All right! Now we must go back to our hotel to prepare for our journey. -There is the address. Now how soon will you send the men up to us?” - -“In an hour, sir, or at least in good time for you to reach the train; -or they can join you at the station.” - -“I would rather they would come up within an hour at furthest to our -hotel, for then I should feel surer of them, and if they do not report -at the time specified, of course I should wait for them until we get to -the station, and then miss them there, we should have to go down to -Southampton without them. Send them to our hotel, if possible, and as -soon as may be, if you please, Mr. Harding.” - -“I will do so, General,” answered the chief. - -And the General and Mr. Hammond left the police office and returned to -the Morley House. - -Here a difficulty met them—how to account to Drusilla for their sudden -journey without alarming her. Neither the General nor Dick had ingenuity -enough to invent a means of satisfying her mind without telling her an -untruth. - -“We must leave it to Anna’s wit,” said Dick, as they entered the house. -And the General assented. - -On entering the drawing-room, they found no one there, except Master -Lenny, attended by his nurse. - -“Where are the ladies?” inquired the General. - -“They are both in their rooms fast asleep, sir,” answered Pina. - -“Then go and wake up Mrs. Hammond, and ask her to come to us quickly -here. And don’t, upon any account, disturb Mrs. Lyon,” said the General. - -Pina left the room, with little Lenny lagging after her. - -“It is very fortunate the two ladies are asleep, for now we can get Anna -here, and talk to her alone; tell her all that we have learned, and warn -her how to deal with Drusilla,” said the General. - -Pina soon returned, with Mrs. Hammond, who in her great anxiety to hear -the news came into the drawing-room just as she had risen from her bed, -with her white dressing-gown wrapped around her, and her fair hair -flowing over her shoulders. - -“And now?—And now?—What?” she eagerly, breathlessly demanded. - -“Pina, my good girl, take little Lenny down to the walk,” said the -General. And when the nurse had taken the child from the room, he turned -to Anna, and said: - -“We know all that can be known now, my love.” - -“Good Heavens! they have not met with any fatal result?” she gasped. - -“No, don’t be alarmed! They have not met! but they have gone off to one -of the Channel islands, to carry out their intentions. And Dick and -myself are going to follow them with police sufficient to stop the duel -by force, if we cannot do it by persuasion.” - -“When do you leave?” - -“By the three o’clock train. It is one now, and we should leave the -house a little after two; we have not much more than an hour to prepare; -so, my dear, I wish you would just order us up a lunch, and then go and -see to having a change of underclothing and a few pocket-handkerchiefs -put up for Dick and myself.” - -“Yes;—but now—Drusilla? She is asleep. Of course, you would not wish her -disturbed?” said Anna, pausing at the door. - -“By no means! For every reason, let her sleep until we are off. We must -go without bidding her good-by. And we must trust to you, Anna, to make -our apologies to her, and also to explain our absence, without telling -the cause of our journey.” - -“A most difficult task, my dear grandpa; but I will undertake it,” said -Anna, as she left the room. - -The General and his nephew also went to their chambers to put themselves -in what Dick called traveling rig. When they returned to the -drawing-room they found their lunch on the table, and their two -portmanteaus on the floor, and Anna presiding over these preparations. - -“Half past one o’clock! We have scarcely an hour now to get our lunch -and reach the train in time. Sit down at once, Dick,” said the General, -placing himself at the table. - -Dick and Anna followed his example. - -“Where is little Lenny? I would like him to take lunch with us this last -time before we go. Where is he, Anna, my dear?” inquired the General. - -“Dear grandpa, don’t you know you sent him out to walk with Pina?” - -“Oh! yes! so I did! That was to get rid of the girl while I talked with -you,” said the General, in a low tone, then raising his voice, he called -to Jacob, who stood waiting at some little distance, and said: - -“Here, you, Jake! Go out upon the sidewalk, or around the square, and -see if you can find Master Lenny and his nurse; and if you can, then -tell Pina to bring him home immediately, I wish to see him before I -leave.” - -“Yes, sir, I’ll find them. I saw them on the corner watching of a Punch -and Judy, not half an hour ago,” said the boy, bowing and leaving the -room. - -“I _do_ want to see the little fellow, and kiss him good-by before we -go,” said the General, apologetically, as he poured for himself a glass -of sherry. - -“La, grandpa, you talk as if you were going to the antipodes,” laughed -Mrs. Hammond. - -“I dare say I talk like an old fool, Anna, but I am very foolishly fond -of that little fellow.” - -“Oh, grandpa, I did not mean to say anything of the kind, and I beg your -pardon.” - -“Tut, tut, I knew you didn’t. Come, Dick, have you got through?” - -“Very nearly. There is time enough, sir.” - -“I wouldn’t miss the train for a thousand pounds. And bless my soul, -those men from Scotland Yard have not reported yet. I do hope they will -be punctual,” said the General, impatiently. - -At that moment the waiter appeared, and announced two persons below -inquiring for General Lyon or Mr. Hammond. - -“Our men at last,” said Dick, “tell them to wait for us in the hall.” - -The waiter went out to take the message. - -And the General and Dick completed their last preparations. - -“And that child hasn’t come yet!” exclaimed the General, very -impatiently. - -“Time enough, uncle—the cab hasn’t come yet,” said Dick. - -But at that instant the waiter once more appeared and announced the cab. - -“Let us go,” said Dick. - -“Not yet; we can wait five minutes for little Lenny. Waiter, will you -oblige me by going out upon the sidewalk and looking for my servants, -and if you find them tell them to come in immediately with Master -Leonard. I want to see him before I leave town.” - -“Certainly, sir,” said the man, hurrying from the room. - -And General Lyon sat down to wait impatiently, while Dick and Anna stood -withdrawn into the bay window, making their adieux. - -“Indeed, dear Anna,” said Dick, “I would rather you should let Drusilla -think it is some scrape of mine that has carried us off from London than -that you should permit her to suspect the truth. It will not matter to -let her deceive herself for a few hours or days, until the suspense and -danger shall be over.” - -“I will do the best I can; but, oh, Dick! do you think that you can -possibly be in time? in time to prevent a fatal meeting?” she anxiously -inquired. - -“We must try to do so; we must do our utmost and trust the event to -Providence.” - -“Dick,” said the General, impatiently interrupting them, “our five -minutes are up, and neither little Lenny, our servants, or the waiter -has returned. Pray, Dick, oblige me by going out for a few minutes to -see if they are coming. I hate to trouble you, my boy, but I must kiss -little Lenny before we go.” - -“Oh, I will look for him with pleasure, sir. I dare say he and his whole -suite of attendants are gathered around some organ grinder, monkey, or -dancing dog, and can’t tear themselves away from the attraction,” -laughed Dick, as he hurriedly left the room. - -Again the General sat down to wait, but being very restless and -impatient, again started up and walked the floor with rapid strides for -three or four minutes. - -“Another five minutes gone!” he presently exclaimed—“another five -minutes gone, and none of them returned yet; and now I have not a second -more of time left. I will go down and look after them myself.” - -And so saying, he picked up his hat and rushed down-stairs and out of -the street door. - -He met Dick, the waiter and Jacob, hurrying towards the house. - -“Well! well! Where is little Lenny?” he quickly demanded. - -“We cannot find him or his nurse anywhere,” said the waiter. - -“I saw them with the Punch and Judy half an hour ago. I reckon as they -followed of ’em to some distant street,” said Jacob. - -“I do not think there is the slightest reason to be alarmed. Pina is -quite capable of taking care of the child,” remarked Dick. - -“Oh, I am not in the least alarmed about little Lenny; I was only -anxious to bid the little fellow good-by before leaving town; but, if I -cannot do so, I must be content. Well, Dick, my boy, we must really now -be off. We will run up and bid Anna good-by and go,” said the General. - -But Anna saved them the trouble. She came down-stairs, followed by a -porter bringing the travelers’ portmanteaus, which were placed in the -cab. The policemen were in waiting. - -General Lyon and Dick kissed and blessed Anna, and commended Drusilla -and little Lenny to her care; and then entered their cab, followed by -their attendants, and their whole party set out for the railroad -station. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - THE MISSING BOY. - - Go, when the hunter’s hand hath wrung - From forest caves her shrieking young, - And calm the lonely lioness; - But soothe not, mock not, my distress.—BYRON. - - -Anna returned to the drawing-room to face the difficulty of her duty to -keep Drusilla ignorant of the real cause of General Lyon’s and Richard -Hammond’s journey to Southampton, and to do this without either telling -or acting a falsehood. She wished to put off the evil hour as long as -possible, so as to have time to perfect her plan of action, and -therefore she kept away from Drusilla’s chamber and remained in the -drawing-room. - -Drusilla’s sleep was long and unbroken. It was four o’clock in the -afternoon before she joined Anna. She—Drusilla—looked refreshed and -blooming. - -“You have had a good nap,” said Anna. - -“Yes,” said Drusilla, smiling, as she sat down, but looking all round as -if in search of some one. - -“You are looking for grandpa and Dick?” said Anna. - -“Yes, and for little Lenny and Pina,” answered Drusilla. - -“Oh, little Lenny is out with his nurse,” said Anna, willingly answering -the easiest part of the observation first. - -“And uncle and Dick are sleeping off their last night’s fatigue, I -suppose.” - -“No, poor souls! they are incurring more fatigue,” said Anna, smiling, -and trying to give a light and playful turn to the conversation. - -“Why, where are they gone?” exclaimed Drusilla, raising her brows in -surprise. - -“On a nice little jaunt to Southampton.” - -“To Southampton? What is the occasion?” - -“Well, you see, one of Dick’s good-for-nothing ‘friends,’ or rather, to -speak the exact truth, one of his former good-for-nothing ‘friends’ has -been getting himself into trouble. Of course poor Dick must needs take -pity on him, and so my poor fellow and my grandfather have both gone -down to Southampton to get _him_—Dick’s old friend—out of it.” - -“Ah! and that was the matter with Dick and uncle this morning at -breakfast?” - -“Yes. Dick had the subject on his mind, and wished to break it to -grandpa, and grandpa saw that he had something to say to him, and was -both longing and dreading to hear it; for, to tell the truth, I suppose -he was fearing that Dick himself had got into a mess of some sort, and I -dare say you were thinking the same thing, Drusilla.” - -“Well, perhaps I was; for our affections make us fearful for those we -love, Anna; and you and Dick are just as dear to me as the dearest -brother and sister could possibly be.” - -“Well, darling, I know that, and your love is not lost on us, you may be -sure. Be at ease on our behalf, as it was not Dick but one of his old -friends that got into a scrape.” - -“I am both glad and sorry. I am glad it was not Dick, and sorry that I -did him the wrong to think it could have been. But—who was it, then, -Anna, if I may ask?” - -“Ah! now, my dear, that would be telling. I assure you Dick would not -have told grandpa if he could have got along without his assistance; and -he would not even have told me, his wife, if he could have helped it. I -am sure he would not like to tell any one else. Now you are not -offended?” - -“Offended? Oh dear, no—certainly not, Anna. Of course I see such -delicate difficulties as I suppose this of Dick’s friend to be, should -be kept secret from all except those immediately concerned in settling -them——I wonder why that girl doesn’t bring little Lenny in?” said -Drusilla, suddenly changing the subject, and going to the window to look -out. - -“Yes, it is time she did, indeed. I dare say she will be here with him -in a few minutes,” answered Anna, very glad to have weathered the storm -she had so much dreaded. - -“Anna, dear, what time did Pina take little Lenny out?” inquired -Drusilla, rather uneasily. - -“Immediately before luncheon.” - -“What time was that to-day?” - -“About two o’clock.” - -“And now it is after four; and she has had him out more than two hours, -in the hottest part of the day, too. What _could_ have tempted her to -take the child out at this time of the day?” - -“Drusa, dear, this was the way of it: Grandpa and Dick wished to explain -to me the necessity of their immediate departure for Southampton. Little -Lenny and his nurse were in the room. Grandpa and Dick did not want any -other listener than myself, so they told Pina to take the child down to -the sidewalk, thinking, of course, that so careful a nurse would keep -him in the shade. So you see the girl was not to blame for taking the -child out; though certainly I think she _is_ for keeping him out so -long. But still I don’t think you need be uneasy, Drusa. Pina is no -strange nurse. You have known her well for three years, and she has had -the care of your child for two, and has always proved herself worthy of -the trust. I hope you are not uneasy about him?” - -“Oh, no! That is, I know I have no reason to be so, for Pina takes as -great care of him as I could myself, only I think mothers are always -uneasy when their infants are out of sight. I _wish_ she would return.” - -“Oh, she will be back in a few minutes,” said Anna, cheerfully. - -“Listen! there is some one coming up,” said Drusilla. - -Steps and voices were indeed heard near the room, and almost immediately -there was a knock at the door. - -“Come in,” said Anna. - -The door was opened by a waiter, who put in his head and said: - -“If you please, my ladies, here is a policeman brought home your -nursemaid almost in fits.” - -“Lenny! where is Lenny? Has anything happened to him? Have you brought -home my child?” cried Drusilla, starting up and rushing to the door -before Anna could even answer. - -“My child! my child! where is my child?” she cried, clasping her hands -in an agony of terror. - -“My lady, from the girl’s ravings I’m afeard she has—well, not to make -it any worse than what it is—mislaid the child some’rs or other,” said -the policeman, coming forward half helping and half dragging Pina, who, -as soon as she saw her mistress, sank with a gasp of mute anguish at her -feet. - -“Lenny! Lenny lost! Oh, Father! Oh, Heavenly Father, have mercy!” cried -Drusilla, reeling back into the arms of Anna, who sprang forward to -support her. - -“The child missing! What do you mean? It cannot be! Pina, where is -little Lenny?” demanded Anna, scarcely able to control her own terror -and distress, even while she sustained the agonized mother. “Answer me, -Pina, I say! Where is little Lenny?” - -But Pina was past answering, past everything but grovelling at their -feet and howling and tearing her hair. - -“Has the girl gone suddenly mad and so lost the child? Policeman, where -and under what circumstances did you find her? Waiter, bring forward -that easy-chair.” - -The chair was rolled forward and Drusilla was eased into it, where she -sat pale, and mute, every sense on the _qui vive_ to hear the -policeman’s story. Terrified, agonized, yet with a mighty effort holding -herself still and calm, the bereaved young mother sat and listened to -the policeman’s account of his meeting with the nurse, after the loss of -the child. - -“If you please, my ladies, I first saw her in the Strand, tearing up and -down the street, running after babies and nurses and bursting into shops -and houses, and going on generally like one raving, distracted, with a -rabble of boys at her heels hooting and jeering. So she being complained -of by certain parties as she annoyed and I, suspecting of her to be a -mad woman broke loose from Bedlam, or leastways making a great -disturbance in the streets, I takes her into custody, and should have -took her off to the station-house and locked her up, only she began to -howl about the child she had lost, and I began to see what had happened -to her and how it was; and I asked her where she lived, and she told me -and I brought her here; and that is all about it, my ladies; but if you -can get more out of her nor I could, I think it would be well you -should, and then maybe we could help you to get the child, my lady,” -said officer E, 48. - -“Oh, missus! missus! kill me! kill me! it would be a mercy!” cried Pina, -wringing her hands. - -“I think it would be justice, at least,” answered Anna, sternly. - -“Where did you lose sight of him, Pina?” inquired the young mother, in a -strangely quiet manner. - -“Oh, missus! oh, missus! knock me in the head and put me out of my -misery! do! do! do!” cried Pina, gnashing her teeth and tearing her -hair, rolling on the floor and giving way to all her excess of grief and -despair, with all the utter abandonment of her race. - -“Pina!” sternly exclaimed Anna Hammond, “unless you are coherent and -tell us where you lost Lenny, we shall not know where to look for him. -Speak at once! where was it that you first missed him?” - -“Oh, ma’am! Oh, Miss Anna! Strike me dead for pity! Oh, do! oh, do!” -cried the girl, growing wilder every moment. - -“Yes, ma’am, that was about all I could get out of her either. Begging -and a praying of me to take her up and hang her because she had lost the -boy. To hang her, to hang her, to hang her up by the neck until she was -dead, dead, dead, was all her prayer.” - -“Waiter,” said Drusilla, who, though agonized with grief and fear for -her lost child, was now the most self-controlled and thoughtful of the -party—“waiter, go quickly and fetch a glass of wine to this girl. It may -restore her faculties.” - -The man sprang to do the lady’s bidding, and soon returned with a bottle -of sherry and a glass. - -Drusilla herself filled the glass, and kneeling down beside her, put it -to the lips of the prostrate girl. - -“No, no, no!” cried Pina, pushing away the glass, and spilling its -contents—“no, no, no, I won’t take it, I won’t get better, I won’t live! -Somebody ought to smash me for losing little Lenny, and if they don’t -I’ll die myself! I will! I will!” - -“Pina! nobody blames you, at least I do not. Nobody wants you to die, or -to be punished. Drink this, Pina, so you may be better able to tell me -about my child,” said Drusilla, gently, as she again offered wine to the -girl. - -“Oh, missus! Oh, missus! if it was poison I would take it cheerful, I -would! for it do break my heart to look in your face and to think what I -done!” - -“You did nothing wicked, I’m sure. If you feel so much for me, drink -this, for my sake, so that you may be better able to tell me about my -child.” - -“I’ll do anything for your sake, missus! goodness knows I will!” said -Pina, as she swallowed the wine. - -“Give her another glass, mum. She’ll hardly feel that in her condition,” -advised the experienced policeman. - -Drusilla hesitated. But Anna, less scrupulous, took the bottle and glass -from her hand, filled the glass again and put it to Pina’s lips with a -peremptory: - -“Drink this at once.” - -“Must I, missus?” asked Pina, turning to her mistress. - -“Yes,” answered Drusilla. - -And Pina swallowed the second portion of wine. - -“Now,” said the policeman, after a few moments, extending his hand to -Pina, lifting her up and placing her upon a chair—“now, my good girl, -open your mouth and tell us all, how and about the loss of the child.” - -“Oh,” cried Pina, bursting into tears afresh, “it was _him_ at the -bottom of it all, I know it was!” - -“Who?” inquired E. 48. - -“Him, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Lyon, Lord Killchristians, as they call him -over here. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, me! Oh, little Lenny!” - -“His father!” exclaimed Drusilla, in a half suppressed tone. And she -breathed somewhat more freely; for she felt that if Lenny were with his -father, the child was in no immediate personal danger—nay more, that his -detention was but temporary; that he would soon be restored to her -again. She thought that her husband might have ceased to love her, but -she knew that he never would deliberately do the deadly wrong of tearing -her child from her. Still she was intensely anxious to hear the details -of the abduction; but she was also extremely unwilling to admit -strangers to a participation of the intelligence that involved so much -of her private history and domestic sorrows. - -All these thoughts and feelings passed rapidly through her mind, while -Pina was giving her answer, so when the policeman would have continued -the examination by asking: - -“_Who_ was at the bottom of it, did you say, young woman? did you say a -gentleman and—a lord? How was that? And what lord was it?” - -“Lord Killchristians! Mr. Alexander Lyon as used to was, and a notorious -willyun too! and the child’s own——” - -Here Drusilla broke into the conversation: - -“Officer, these are private matters. I thank you very much for having -brought this poor girl safely home, and I hope you will accept this -trifle in payment,” she added, placing a sovereign in his hand. “You may -leave us now. We will examine this girl, and if we find that your -services should be required in the search, we will send for you; or you -can call here in the course of an hour.” - -“Thank you, my lady. I will call and see if I am wanted at the time you -say,” answered the policeman, lifting his hand to his head by way of -salute, and then leaving the room, followed by the waiter. - -“Now then, Pina, you say that little Lenny’s father has got him?” said -Drusilla, trembling with excess of emotion, yet still striving to keep -calm. - -“Yes, ma’am, I suppose he has by this time,” sobbed the girl. - -“You suppose he has by this time? Pina, Pina! that is not what you said -before. Pina, what do you mean? You surely said his father had him!” - -“I said Mr. Lyon was at the bottom of it, ma’am—at the bottom of little -Lenny’s being carried off, I mean—and I stand to it, as he was!” - -“Oh, Heaven! did not his father carry him off, then?” - -“No, ma’am; not with his own hands, but he was at the bottom of it—I say -it, and I stand to it!” - -“Merciful Heaven! if his father did not carry him off who then did? -Girl, girl! do you know how you torture me? I thought at first my Lenny -had been lost by straying away from you; then you said his father was -concerned in his disappearance: now you say his father did not take him? -In the name of Mercy, who did? Speak—for the Lord’s sake, speak -quickly?” - -“Oh, ma’am, I will—I will tell you all I know, but don’t, don’t look -so—don’t, ma’am, or you’ll kill me!” sobbed Pina. - -“TELL WHO TOOK THE CHILD THEN!” said Anna, speaking sternly and stamping -her foot. - -“I DON’T KNOW WHO DID!” burst, amid sobs, from Pina’s lips. - -Drusilla stifled the shrieks that were ready to burst from her lips. - -“You don’t know who did! Why, then, did you accuse Lord Killcrichtoun?” -demanded Anna. - -“I didn’t accuse him, ma’am—I said as he was at the bottom of it,” said -Pina, who seemed to be unable to change her phraseology. “I said he was -at the bottom of it, and I stand to it as he was!” - -“Oh, Anna, Anna, time flies! If Lenny is not with Alick, where is he? -Oh, where is he? He must be found at once—at once! I cannot live or -breathe till he is found! She must be made to tell how she lost him!” -cried Drusilla, losing all her self-command and starting up in great -excitement,—“He must be sought for, Anna! he must be sought for at -once!” - -“Of course he must; but the search must be commenced with this girl who -was the last person with him. Pina, you say you don’t know who took the -child from you?” - -“No, ma’am, I don’t—but know his father was at the bottom of it—I know -it, and I’ll stand to it!” - -“Why do you think so?” - -“Oh, Anna, Anna, you lose time with all this talk!” - -“No, I don’t; we must find out from her where and how we are to begin to -search. Now, Pina, why do you think Lord Killcrichtoun was concerned in -this matter?” - -“Lor’, ma’am, because it stands to reason as he was. Lenny is his own -son, which also they are very fond of each other—Lenny of he, and him of -Lenny! And so it was nateral he should want to have him. I’m not saying -as it was right or anything like right, but it was so!” - -“Oh, Anna, Anna, time flying, and no facts learned yet—only conjectures! -Let me talk to her myself. Pina, where were you when you missed little -Lenny?” inquired Drusilla, distractedly. - -“Oh, ma’am! oh, missus, don’t take on so—don’t, and I will tell you! He -was down on the Strand, a-looking in at a toy-shop—oh, dear! oh, me! oh, -poor little Lenny!” - -“Oh, for the Lord’s sake, stop crying and tell me more! You were before -a toy-shop you say?” said Drusilla, in extreme anxiety. - -“Yes, ma’am, a-looking in at the windows, at the wooden soldiers, and -horses, and ships; and there comes along a man with an organ and a -dancing-monkey. And little Lenny turned away from the window to look at -the monkey. And a crowd collected. They were mostly children. And little -Lenny is fond of children—and so—oh! oh, dear! oh, my heart will break!” - -“Compose yourself, and go on, Pina!” said Anna. - -“Yes, ma’am. Oh! oh, dear! Yes—well, little Lenny wanted to mix up with -them; but they were mostly ragged and dirty street children, and I was -afeard of fevers, and fleas, and sich, and so I kept him to myself, so I -did. Oh, oh, me! I wish I had always kept him to myself, so I do,” -sobbed Pina. - -“Go on,” said Anna. - -“And I saw two ill-looking men in the crowd. And indeed I didn’t think -nothing of it at the time, because ill-looking men ain’t no rarity in no -city, and that I knew of my own self. And these men, most of their -ill-looks was in their dirty and ragged clothes, and bruised and firey -faces. And while I was a-takin’ notice of them on the sly, one of ’em -says to the other; - -“‘There—that’s the young ’un.’ - -“And the other says: - -“‘Which?’ - -“And the first one stoops and whispers to the other, so I couldn’t hear. -And then they fell back out of the crowd a little ways, and began to -look into the shop windows unconcerned-like. And indeed, indeed, I had -no notion then as they had been talking about little Lenny, such wilyuns -as they were, though I have thought so since! Oh, Lenny! oh, dear little -Lenny! I wish somebody would knock my brains out, so I do! Oh, dear! oh, -dear! oh——!” - -“Pina, stop howling and go on with this statement!” said Anna, -authoritatively, while Drusilla clasped her hands, and listened in an -agony of anxiety. - -“Well, ma’am, after the men turned away, little Lenny began to tease me -for pennies to give to the dancing-monkey—and I gave him all I had, and -he ran into the crowd to put them into the hat the monkey was holding -out.” - -“You should not have let him do that,” said Anna. - -“Ma’am, you know how sudden and self-willed he is! he sprang away from -me before I could stop him. And I ran after him to bring him out. But, -just at that very moment, there came rushing down the sidewalk, and -right through the crowd, a man with his head bare and bloody, followed -by a running crowd, all yelling at the top of their voices: - -“‘Stop thief! stop thief!’ - -“And they overturned the organ man and his dancing-monkey, and carried -off his crowd with them. I ran after them calling for little Lenny, who -was swept out of my sight by the rushing stream of people. I ran with -all my speed and I called with all my voice, but I got knocked from one -side of the walk to the other, and thrown down and run over, and -trampled on, and swore at, and—and that was the way I lost little Lenny. -I was hunting up and down for him when the policeman found me and -fetched me home. Oh, dear! oh, me, that ever I should live to see the -day! Oh, missus! oh, Miss Anna! oh——” - -“Now stop. Let us talk calmly for a moment,” said Anna, reflectively. -“Let me see. Lenny could not have been hurried off by those -thief-hunters; because, if he had been, a tender little creature like -himself would have been thrown down, run over, and left behind, and you -would have found him on the ground more or less injured.” - -“That was what I was a dreading of every minute, Miss Anna. Oh, little -Lenny! dear little Lenny!” - -“Therefore,” continued Anna, “as he was not so run over and left, he -must have been snatched up by some one and carried off under cover of -the confusion. The kidnapper probably darted up one of the side streets -or alleys, and disappeared with his prey in that way.” - -“That was what I thought, too, Miss Anna, when I remembered seeing them -bad-looking men and hearing what they said. They was a watching of their -opportunity to seize little Lenny and run away with him; and in course -they must have been set on by his father, who wanted him; else what call -would they have to take the child?—they who don’t look as if they had -overmuch love for children, or for any other creatures, to tell the holy -truth; no, nor likewise did they look as if they was able to keep -themselves from starving, much less a child; so it stands to reason as -they was hired to seize little Lenny by some un who _did_ love him, and -_was_ able to keep him; and who could that have been but his own -father?” - -“Pina, I think you are probably right in your conjecture, for I cannot -even imagine what motive two such men as you describe could possibly -have for stealing a child like Lenny. They must have been employed by -his father, and if so, they must have been engaged some days ago, and -have been on the lookout for the boy ever since.” - -“Oh, Anna, Anna, do you really think he is with his father? If I thought -so, one-half this terrible anxiety would be quieted. Oh, Anna, do you -truly think Lenny is with Alick?” cried Drusilla, clasping her hands. - -“I have little doubt that Alexander employed these men to get little -Lenny. I have little doubt but that, for the sake of gain, they will -faithfully perform their part of the compact. My only wonder is that -Alick should have employed such very disreputable instruments.” - -“Pina, is that all? Do you know no more?” anxiously inquired Drusilla. - -“It is all, missus—every bit. I have told you not only all that -happened, but all I seed and heard and even thought.” - -“Now then for action,” said the young mother, rising with a new-born -resolution and ringing the bell. - -The waiter answered it. - -“Order a cab for me immediately, and come and let me know when it is at -the door,” she said. - -And when the man went away to do her bidding she turned to Pina and -said: - -“Stop crying and do as I direct you. Go to my room and bring me here my -bonnet, gloves and mantle.” - -Pina, still sobbing, went to obey. - -“And now, Anna, if you wish to accompany me, go and get ready quickly. I -have something to do in the meanwhile.” - -“Where are you going, Drusilla?” inquired Mrs. Hammond, wondering to see -the agonized young mother take the direction of affairs with so much -firmness. - -“I am going to institute a search for little Lenny. I must find him -before I sleep. Use your pleasure, Anna dear, in going with me, or -staying at home.” - -“I shall go with you most certainly,” said Mrs. Hammond, leaving the -room to prepare for her ride. - -Meanwhile Drusilla sat down to her writing desk, and wrote off rapidly -disjointed paragraphs on several sheets of paper. - -Anna returned ready for her drive, and found Drusilla thus occupied. - -“What in the world are you doing, my dear?” inquired Mrs. Hammond. - -“Preparing slips of paper that may, or may not, be wanted; for no time -must be lost. See, here is a telegram to be sent to uncle at -Southampton, if necessary. Here are a dozen copies of an advertisement, -descriptive of little Lenny’s person and dress, and of the circumstances -of his disappearance, and the reward offered for his restoration, to be -put, if required, into to-morrow’s papers. Still I hope that none of -these things need be done. We must drive first to Mivart’s where -Alexander stops, or did stop, and see if he is still there, and if he -has the child in his possession. If we find that Lenny is safe with his -father, then it will be all right, for I feel sure that my boy will be -amused and happy for a little while, and then he will want to come home -to me, and Alick will never be so cruel as to keep him from his mother. -But if we do not find him with Alick, then we must send this telegram -immediately to Southampton to summon uncle back to town; and we must -have this advertisement inserted in all the papers, and posted all over -London; and we must employ the whole detective police force, or as many -of it as we can procure, to prosecute the search——It is time the cab -were here. I wish it would come,” said Drusilla, touching the bell. - -“Good Heaven, Drusilla! how you do astonish me! Who would have believed -that you—a young and delicate woman, a doting and anxious mother—could -have displayed so much coolness and resolution in such an hour of trial -and suffering,” exclaimed Anna, in genuine admiration. - -“Ah, Anna! if experience has disciplined me in anything, it has -disciplined me in self-control.” - -At this moment the door opened, and the waiter appeared and announced: - -“Your cab waits, madam.” - -“Come then,” said Drusilla. - -And followed by Anna and attended by Pina, she hurried down-stairs. - -They entered the cab, gave the order, and were driven rapidly towards -Mivart’s hotel. - -The drive was accomplished in almost perfect silence. Drusilla sat pale -and still, suffering inexpressible anguish, yet controlling herself by a -mighty effort. - -Anna was occupied by her own anxious thoughts. Of course _she_ knew the -mission to Mivart’s in search of Alick to be quite vain, and worse than -vain since it involved loss of time where time was of vital importance; -yet she dared not enlighten Drusilla by explaining the absence of -Alexander, for she feared by doing so to add to the terrible anxiety -that was already oppressing the young wife and mother. And, also, Anna -suspected that Alexander really was concerned in the abduction of little -Lenny; that he had hired these men to carry him off; and had most -probably instructed them to bring him to Mivart’s. Therefore, although -she knew there was no chance of finding Alexander, she cherished some -hope of hearing of little Lenny. The men who abducted him might have -carried him there, not knowing of their employer’s absence. If so, -little Lenny might be recovered before the day was over. - -Amid all her grave anxieties, Anna felt some little curiosity upon one -point: Drusilla had grown so sensitive and timid in regard to her -beloved but truant husband that she had shrunk even from the casual -glance of his eye in public; and now she was going to Mivart’s in quest -of him; after all that had passed, she was voluntarily seeking him; -true, it was to find the child; true, also, she could not see her -husband; but—would she ask to see Alexander? Could she endure to see -him? What were her thoughts and feelings on that subject? Anna would -ask. - -“Drusilla,” she said, “when we reach Mivart’s shall you send in your -card to Alexander?” - -The young mother started. She had been in a deep reverie about the -present condition of her child, and had not heard her distinctly. - -Anna repeated her question. - -“Yes; I shall send in my card,” she said. - -“And shall you see him?” - -“That shall be as he pleases. Here is the card that I have prepared to -send in to him,” she continued, taking from her gold case a small -envelope directed to Lord Killcrichtoun, and drawing from it her card, -bearing the name, “MRS. ALEXANDER LYON,” and the pencilled lines, “_Only -tell me little Lenny is with you and is safe and I will thank and bless -you_.” “I shall send that up. He can reply to it by a pencilled line, or -a verbal message, or he can come down and see me, as he wills,” said -Drusilla. - -“Drusa, you have thought of everything; you have prepared for every -emergency. But maternal love is a great sharpener of the wits, I -suppose,” said Anna. - -“It confers a sixth sense I sometimes think, Anna,” she replied. - -When they reached the splendid palace in the West End known as Mivart’s -Hotel, the ladies alighted, and were shown into an elegant reception -room, where they sat down. - -Drusilla then called a hall waiter, gave him her enveloped card, and -directed him to take it at once to Lord Killcrichtoun. - -“Lord Killcrichtoun is not in town, madam,” replied the man. - -“Not in town!” exclaimed Drusilla, disappointment and terror seizing her -heart and blanching her face. “I thought he was in town! I saw him last -night at the American Embassy. Does he not stop here?” - -“Yes, madam; my lord has apartments here, but he left suddenly this -morning by the early train for Southampton.” - -“For Southampton!” echoed Drusilla, in surprise and dismay, and with the -vague fear that his journey thither was in some fatal way the occasion -of General Lyon’s and Dick’s sudden departure for that port. - -“Yes, madam,” answered the imperturbable waiter, “my lord left by the -eight o’clock train, taking his servants with him.” - -“When will he return?” - -“Can’t possibly say, madam. My lord set no day for his return. But if -you will excuse me, I will make so bold as to say I do not think he will -be gone long. He took nothing but a small portmanteau with him.” - -Drusilla reflected a moment and then sealing her envelope, and handing -it to the waiter with a crown piece she said: - -“Will you be so kind as to send this to his address at Southampton?” - -“Why, madam, if you would not mind risking the note, I might send it at -a venture to the Dolphin Tavern at Southampton, where it might chance to -meet my lord, as that is the house he usually has his letters and papers -sent to when down there. But I am not quite certain now about his -address, seeing that he never left any orders this time where to send -his letters. But if this is not very valuable you might run the risk of -sending it to the Dolphin.” - -“I thank you, send it immediately to the Dolphin. It is not of itself of -any worth, except as a message to Lord Killcrichtoun. If it does not -find him it might as well be lost,” said Drusilla, rising to go. - -But Anna had also something to say to the waiter. Laying her hand upon -Drusilla’s arm, she pressed her back into her seat, and then turning to -the man, she inquired: - -“Has any one beside ourselves been here to inquire for Lord -Killcrichtoun?” - -“Yes, madam, many persons.” - -“Gentlemen or ladies?” - -“No ladies, madam. Three gentlemen were in to see him very early this -morning, before he went away.” - -“Ah, but I mean since he went away.” - -“Oh, yes, madam, quite a number.” - -“Again, gentlemen or ladies?” - -“Neither one nor the other, madam; _men_.” - -“Men! Ah! what sort of men?” - -“Common roughs, madam.” - -“Yes! yes! did any of these men have a child with them?” - -“Beg pardon, madam?” - -“I ask you if either of these rough-looking men had a child with him, a -fair-haired, blue-eyed little boy, of about two years old.” - -“No, madam, certainly not.” - -“You are sure?” - -“Perfectly sure, madam.” - -“Well, waiter, attend to me. We have lost a child—and have some reason -to suppose that the child was brought to this house this afternoon.” - -“It has not, madam, I can assure you.” - -“We have cause to believe, then, that he will be brought here—Drusilla, -dear, give me one of your cards and one of these advertisements—Now -here, waiter, is a description of the child; and here is our address. If -such a child should be brought here, I desire that you will detain him, -and those who bring him, and send for us. Do this and you shall be -richly rewarded.” - -“I will do it, ma’am, if the little boy should be brought here,” said -the man. - -And then, as time was precious, Drusilla and Anna arose and re-entered -their cab. - -“Where now, Drusilla?” inquired Anna, as they seated themselves. - -Instead of answering her cousin immediately, Drusilla beckoned the -cabman to approach, and said: - -“Drive to the nearest Telegraph Office, and drive fast.” - -The man touched his hat, shut the door, mounted his box and started his -horses. - -Then Drusilla turned to her cousin and explained: - -“My dear Alick may, or may not have employed those men to carry off -little Lenny. If he has done so, he could not have expected them to do -his errand to-day, else certainly he would not have left town with the -chance of leaving the child in such hands. In that view of the case I -left my card with the penciled lines for the waiter to send to him, to -let him know that Lenny is in the hands of his agents, supposing that -they _are_ his, and in any case to let him know the child is missing.” - -“Oh, Drusilla! how clearly you speak, and yet how wretchedly you look! -Heaven help you, poor, young mother!” said Mrs. Hammond, as the tears -rushed to her eyes. - -“Oh, Anna! don’t, don’t, dear! don’t pity me! don’t say anything to -weaken me! I have need of all my strength!” cried Drusilla, through her -white and quivering lips. - -Anna, with heaving bosom and overflowing eyes, turned her head away from -her and looked out of the window. - -“You asked me just now where we were going next. You heard me tell the -cabman to drive to the Telegraph Office. I must send off two telegrams -to Southampton. I cannot wait the slow motions of the mails. One I shall -send to Alick, directed at a venture to the ‘Dolphin.’ The other I must -send to uncle; but you must tell me where to direct that, as I do not -know his address,” said Drusilla. - -“Dick told me, in any sudden emergency that might require his or -grandpa’s presence, to direct to them at the ‘International,’” replied -Anna. - -“Very well; we will telegraph there.” - -At this moment the cab stopped before the Telegraph Office. - -The office of course was full of people, and Anna and Drusilla had to -wait their turn. - -While standing at the counter, Drusilla borrowed pen, ink and paper from -one of the clerks, and wrote her two messages. The first, addressed to -her husband, ran thus: - - “_Little Lenny was stolen from his nurse, by two men, this afternoon, - in the Strand, and has not yet been recovered._ - - DRUSILLA.” - -She submitted this to the examination of Anna, saying: - -“That is quite enough and not too much to send. If he is concerned in -the abduction, he will hasten at once to London to take the child from -the dangerous hands he is in. If he is not so, still I think he will -hurry hither to help in the search.” - -“You reason rightly, dear,” said Anna. - -Drusilla then wrote a second message, to be sent to General Lyon. It was -couched in these terms: - - “_Little Lenny is missing since this afternoon. Come to London by the - first train. If in the interim you have time to do so, seek Alexander - at the Dolphin and tell him._” - -This also she showed to Anna, saying: - -“You see I had to modify my message since learning that Alexander was -also in Southampton; and so also I had to destroy the slip I wrote at -the Morley House and prepare this. Now I see it is my turn to be -served,” she said, taking her two messages and carrying them to the -operator. She paid for them and then inquired: - -“How soon will these go?” - -“This instant, mum,” answered the bothered operator, so brusquely that -Drusilla did not venture to ask another question, but merely left her -address and a request that if an answer came to either of her telegrams -it might be forwarded immediately. - -“Now, my dear, what next?” inquired Anna, as they re-entered their -carriage. - -“To the ‘Times’ office, and from there to all the newspaper offices in -turn. It may not be really necessary to advertise; and I hope that it is -not; but still I must lose no time and miss no chance,” said Drusilla. - -And having given her order to the cabman, she was driven rapidly to the -head-quarters of the great thunderer. - -She got out and left her advertisement. And then returning to her -carriage, ordered it to the office of the “Post.” - -And so in succession she visited the offices of the “Chronicle,” -“Express,” “Dispatch,” “Leader,” “News,” “Bulletin,” and, in short, of -every daily paper in London. - -In each of the offices she also, in addition to giving in her -advertisement for the paper, ordered posters of the lost child to be -printed, and engaged bill-stickers to paste them up. - -Next she drove to the lodgings of the Seymour family, to tell the -colonel of the loss of little Lenny, and to ask him to assist her in the -search for the child. - -But here she was informed that Colonel Seymour and the ladies were gone -to the theater; but that the servants did not know what particular -theater. - -So Drusilla wrote a note and left it for the colonel. - -It was now nine o’clock, and quite dark; and having done all she could -possibly do towards the recovery of her child, she ordered the cabman to -drive back to the hotel, to meet the horrors of her lonely night and -forced inaction. - -And, oh! the awful sense of bereavement, of loneliness, of vacancy, in -entering again her apartments, in which little Lenny was no longer to be -found! The heart-rending pang of terror in conjecturing where he might -be! - -While she had been busily, actively engaged in taking measures for his -recovery, her thoughts had been somewhat distracted from concentrating -themselves upon his present condition. - -But now, when she had done all that she could possibly do towards -finding him, now that she had come home to the old familiar rooms, made -desolate by his loss, and was obliged to abide in inactivity within -them,—now that she missed him everywhere and every moment,—the reaction -from courage to despair was so sudden and overwhelming that her very -brain reeled, her reason for the moment seemed imperiled. With a -half-stifled cry, she sank upon her chair, muttering with gasping -breath: - -“It is not possible! it cannot be! Lenny gone, and not know where he is! -WAKE ME! WAKE ME! I have the nightmare!” - -Anna sprang to her side, and put her arms around her saying: - -“Drusilla, Drusilla! my darling, courageous girl! collect your -powers—control yourself!” - -“Is it TRUE, Anna? Oh, say it is not—not true! Lenny is NOT LOST!” she -exclaimed, wildly gazing into Anna’s eyes. - -“We hope that he is safe wherever he is,” said Anna wishingly. - -“Wherever he is! Oh, my Heaven, yes, it is so! He is lost, and we do not -know where to find him!” she exclaimed, distractedly starting up and -walking the floor, and wringing and twisting her hands. “Where is he? -where is he to-night? Oh, in all this great crowded city, where is my -little child—my poor, little two-year old child, who cannot help -himself? He is frightened to death wherever he is—I know it! He is -calling for me, he is crying for me, at this very moment! Oh, my Lenny, -my Lenny! I would go to you through fire if I knew where to find you in -this great Babylon! I would, my little one, I would! But I do not know -where in this wilderness to look for you to-night, and you must cry for -me in vain, my little child, you must! Oh, what a horrible night! I -cannot, I cannot live through it! I cannot breathe in this house! I must -go out and look for him again! I must! I must!” - -Her head was thrown back, her arms raised, and her hands clasped upon -her throbbing temples, and she reeled as she walked to and fro in the -room. - -Anna, who bad kept near her, seeing her about to fall, caught her and -made her sit down, while she said: - -“Drusa, dearest, be reasonable! be yourself!” - -“I must go out and look for my little child! I must, Anna! I must! I -cannot live through this horrible night if I stay in this house!” she -cried. - -“Drusa, consider! you can do no good by going out to-night, but much -harm. You could not find little Lenny, but you would lose yourself. You -have already done all that you possibly could do for his recovery. -Having done so, leave the result to Heaven.” - -“Oh, if we could only know where he is!” - -“We shall find out to-morrow, no doubt. The advertisements will be read; -the posters will be seen; the large reward offered will stimulate -inquiry; the detective police will be on the alert; and, in, all human -probability, before this time to-morrow little Lenny will be in your -arms! and grandpa, and Dick, and who knows but Alick, too, will all be -here rejoicing with you in your child’s restoration! Drusilla, this -cloud may have a silver lining; this transient trial may bring about a -great happiness,” said Anna, speaking with perhaps more cheerful -confidence than she really felt. - -“Heaven grant it! Oh, Heaven in its mercy grant it! But till then! But -to-night! Oh, how shall I live through this horrible night! How will my -little child endure it? my tender little child, who was never away from -me before! And, oh, in what wretchedness he may be! in what terror! in -what danger! crying for his mother to come and take him, and she knows -not where to find him!” - -“Drusilla! Drusilla! use your own excellent judgment. Is it likely at -all that the child should be in danger to-night, or even in terror? -Children live and thrive in the lowest haunts of London. The men who -stole him for his father will of course take the best possible care of -him in order to deliver him in the best condition and to get their -money; so he will be in no danger; and as for his being in terror, -little Lenny is a ‘game boy,’ afraid of nothing on earth, neither of -‘thunder nor horses,’ as he once told me, much less of men; and as to -crying for you, he is probably by this time fast asleep, and well -watched, for his abductors know that he is a treasure that will bring -money to their ragged pockets.” - -“Oh, if I could think so!—oh, if I could think so. Oh, if I could only -know where he is—know where I might lay my hand on him to-night, or -to-morrow, I might be at something like peace; but oh, Anna, it is -distracting, it is maddening to feel that in all this huge, crowded city -I do not know where he is!” - -“Drusilla,” said Anna, laying her hand upon the young mother’s shoulder, -looking in her eyes, speaking sweetly and solemnly, and appealing to the -deepest feelings of the young Christian’s soul. “Drusilla, if _we_ do -not know where little Lenny is to-night, _his Heavenly Father does_. He -sees him, watches over him, protects him. What would _your_ knowledge of -his whereabouts, or _your_ power to protect him, be to that of his -Heavenly Father, whose eyes are over all his works, who is as -all-merciful as he is all-mighty. Take this faith home to your heart and -let it comfort you.” - -“Oh, Anna, that does comfort me. To think that the Lord knows where he -is, though I do not; the _Lord_ can take care of him, though I cannot. -Oh, I thought no one but the thieves could know where little Lenny is -to-night; but behold the Lord knows! And I feared that I could do -nothing more for him to-night; but behold I can pray to the Lord for -him. I will spend the night in praying for him!” said the bereaved -mother, growing somewhat more composed. - -But there was no going to bed in the ladies’ apartments that night. - -As they had not broken their fast since morning, Anna ordered tea to be -served in the drawing-room. Consumed by the feverish thirst brought on -by mental distress, they drank some tea, but would eat nothing. - -When the service was removed, both went to Anna’s room, for Drusilla did -not dare to trust herself within her own desolated chamber, and they -changed their carriage dresses for loose wrappers, and they spent the -night in vigil and in prayer. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - ALEXANDER’S JEALOUSY. - - Ten thousand fears - Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views - Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms, - For which he melts in fondness, eat him up - With fervent anguish and consuming rage.—THOMPSON. - - -We must return to the hour when Alexander threw himself into his cab and -dashed back to his hotel. He did not go to bed, you may be sure. He had -a countryman and an acquaintance in the same house, who was no other -than our young friend, Francis Tredegar. - -Francis occupied the singular position of being on friendly terms with -both Alick and Drusilla, without knowing or even suspecting the relation -that these two bore to each other; and, moreover, as he never happened -to mention the name of Lord Killcrichtoun to Mrs. Lyon, or that of Mrs. -Lyon to Lord Killcrichtoun, neither one of these was aware of his -acquaintance with the other. - -Mr. Tredegar had been at the Ambassadress’ ball, and had returned to his -hotel about the same hour that Alexander got back there. - -So Alexander, instead of going directly to his own apartments, went -first to Mr. Tredegar’s room and rapped - -“Who’s there?” cried a voice from within. - -“It is I. Have you retired yet?” - -“No. Come in.” - -Alick entered and found his friend, divested of his coat and vest and -preparing for bed. - -“Put on your clothes again, Francis, you must do something for me before -you sleep,” said Alexander, walking towards the dressing-table at which -Mr. Tredegar stood, with his back to his visitor. - -“Good gracious, Alick, my dear fellow, what on earth can you want me to -do for you at four o’clock in the morning, after having made a night of -it at the ball?” laughed Francis Tredegar, turning around in much -surprise; but his surprise became consternation as he gazed on the -haggard features and ghastly complexion of his visitor. “Merciful -Heaven, Alick!” he exclaimed, “what is the matter? What on earth has -happened to you?” - -“I have been insulted, outraged, beyond all endurance. And I want you to -be the bearer of a challenge from me!” grimly replied Alexander. - -“A challenge, Alick! In the name of reason, are you mad?” - -“I wish I were! Perhaps I am! But in a few words, Tredegar, if I -convince you that I have been wronged to a degree unendurable by an -honorable man, will you then become the bearer of my challenge to the -base caitiff who has so foully abused me?” - -“Why certainly I will, Alick. In any just cause I will stand by you to -the very death! But is it really as bad as you think?” - -“‘As bad as I think?’ Listen.” - -“Sit down, Alick, and tell me all about it,” said Tredegar, rolling -towards his visitor a comfortable arm-chair. - -Alick dropped into the offered seat. - -Tredegar perched himself on the corner of the dressing-table. - -“I will put a case and let you judge for yourself. Suppose that you were -devoted to a beautiful, amiable and accomplished woman, who was at least -equally devoted to yourself——” - -“Heavens! If I could suppose that I should be in paradise!” - -“No levity, if you please, Francis.” - -“Beg pardon. I will be as grave as a rejected lover, or—as an _accepted_ -one!” - -“Suppose this mutual devotion had grown up with you from infancy to -maturity; and that it was consecrated by the most sacred bonds and -pledges.” - -“Meaning, poetically speaking, ‘bonds of matrimony’ and ‘pledges of -affection’—otherwise, practically prosing, wife and children.” - -“No, not exactly; but, to continue: Suppose this mutual devotion to have -lived on in love, and trust, and joy, and peace until certain untoward -circumstances—your own madness, to wit:—disturbed the harmony of your -relations; yet still in all the discord this mutual love lived on; lived -on, only deepened and strengthened by separation and suffering,—lived on -until just at the time you were beginning to dream of reconciliation and -reunion with your first love—your only love, your life’s love—a base -villain steps in between you, and, favored by fortune and by position, -dazzles the mind and steals the heart of your beloved!” - -“And is that suppository case your own, Alick?” - -“Yes, it is. What would you do if it were yours?” - -“I’d let him have her! I’d give ’em my blessing, and let ’em go! But -then I’m not you, Alick; if you feel inclined to call the fellow out and -giving him a chance to settle your prior claims by blowing out your -heated brains, why that’s _your_ affair!” - -“And _you_ will have nothing to do with it?” - -“I did not say that, Alick; quite the contrary! You have been wronged, -and I will see you righted if I can—and righted in your own way too!” - -“Then you will take my challenge?” - -“With all my heart. To whom am I to take it?” - -“To Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden. May the demon fly away with him!” - -“To Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden, _Whew!_” - -“What’s the matter?” - -“He’s a dead shot—the deadliest shot on this side the ocean!” - -“That is not saying much for him! I’m a second or third rate marksman on -the other side of the ocean. So that makes us about equal. Will you come -to my room now, Tredegar? I wish to write my despatch and send it off at -once. No time should be lost in these affairs.” - -“What! are you in such hot haste to meet your foe? Are your feet so -‘swift to shed blood?’ Will you then rush, as our grand Halleck has it— - - ‘To death as to a festival?’ - -Alick, Alick! I am sorry for you!” - -“Spare your compassion and come to my room,” said Alexander, rising and -leading the way through the halls and corridors that led to his own -sumptuous suite of apartments. - -Arrived there, Alexander made Francis Tredegar sit down, while he placed -himself at his writing-desk and penned his challenge to the prince. - -“I shall not have far to seek, at any rate,” said Mr. Tredegar, as he -received the note, “for Prince Ernest has apartments on this very -floor.” - -“I knew of course that he was stopping here,” said Alexander. - -“And now then, if it is a discreet question, who is the fair lady for -whose sake two such gallant knights are to do battle?” inquired -Tredegar, poising the paper on his finger. - -“But it is _not_ a fair question, Tredegar. The name of the lady should -never be mentioned in such matters. I cannot utter it even to you, dear -Francis,” said Alick gravely. - -“All right. But see here! It is never that beautiful young widow, Mrs. -Lyon, who made such a sensation as the belle of the ball last night?” - -“Bosh!” exclaimed Alexander, growing deadly white, and jerking himself -around in apparent impatience, but with a real desire to conceal his -emotion—“Bosh, I say! It is no widow for whose sake I wish to meet him. -There is not a widow alive in whom I feel the slightest interest!” - -“Well, then, I think you are all at sea about the prince. He thinks of -no other woman in the world but the beautiful widow. His devotion to her -was the general topic of conversation last night.” - -“And I tell you that you are all ‘at sea,’ as you call it, my dear -Francis. Come! you have taken my word for the justice of my cause, now -take my challenge to my foe.” - -“Well, that is soon done, unless he has gone to bed.” - -“That he has not I will venture to predict. He is waiting my challenge.” - -“As eager for the fray as yourself, eh?” - -“Quite.” - -“But see here, Alick! I promised to stand by you in this cause, and I -will do it; but though I bear your challenge, I shall try to settle this -affair amicably.” - -“‘Amicably?’ It can never——” - -“Oh, I know it would be quite useless to argue with you, but Prince -Ernest may be more amenable to reason, more open to conviction.” - -“Will you go?” - -“Well, yes, I am going,” said Tredegar, leaving the room. - -As soon as he was alone Alexander looked at the clock. It wanted a -quarter to five. - -In passing before his dressing-table, his eye caught the reflection of -his ghastly face in the glass. - -“Good heavens!” he said, “I look like a ghost already. I shall not look -more pallid after that fellow has killed me—if he does kill me—than I do -now; and that chance of death reminds me that I must settle up my -worldly affairs as quickly as I can.” - -So saying, he sat down to his writing table, took a sheet of foolscap -and a coarse pen, and began to write. He wrote a few lines in an -“engrossing” hand, and then stopped, with a troubled brow, to reflect. -Thus writing and reflecting, he completed the work he was on in about -half an hour. - -Then he took note paper and another pen and wrote a letter, which he -placed in an envelope, sealed and directed. - -Finally he sat back in his chair, and fell into deep thought. - -When Mr. Tredegar had been gone an hour, he returned and re-entered the -room. - -“Well?” exclaimed Alick, looking up. - -“Well, it is settled,” said Tredegar, dropping into a chair near his -friend. “I found Prince Ernest even more resolutely bent upon the -meeting than you are. He considers himself the insulted party. When I -requested to see him, I was admitted at once to his chamber, where I -found him tearing up and down the floor in his sacred shirt. If my -errand had not been so grave, I could have laughed. He made no sort of -apology for his extreme déshabille, but seemed to know my errand. I -handed him your challenge. He then began to rave about the insult that -had been offered him, and the ‘grawnd satees-fac-shee-on,’ as he called -it, that he would take. He introduced me to his friend, Major Ernest -Zollenhoffar, or some such barbaric name, and he told me to settle the -preliminaries of the meeting with him. Then he dismissed us to an -adjoining room.” - -“And you settled them?” - -“Yes; subject, of course, to the approval of the principals. Prince -Ernest approves. It is now for you to pass judgment.” - -“It is not likely that I shall object. Let me hear them.” - -Francis Tredegar took from his breast pocket a folded paper, opened it, -and partly read from it and partly said: - -“As it is not possible that this meeting should take place on English -soil, it is arranged that the parties go by the next train to -Southampton, take the steamer to Jersey and proceed to the open country -between St. Aubins and St. Héléir. The exact spot of the duel to be -settled afterward. The weapons are to be pistols. The distance ten -paces. The signals—One—Two—Three. At the last word—FIRE!” - -“That will do. We must go by the eight o’clock train, which is the next. -Let me see;—it is now a quarter past five. We must leave this house by -seven, in order to make sure of our train. Thus we have but an hour and -three-quarters for preparation,” said Alexander. - -“But I have not read you all the articles yet. There is something about -surgeons and attendants——” - -“Let all that go. It is of minor importance,” said Alexander, laying his -hand upon the cord of the bell that communicated with his valet’s room. - -He rang loudly and repeatedly. And presently the man made his -appearance, half asleep and half dressed. - -“Simms,” said his master, “pack my portmanteau with a change of clothes -and small dressing-case. We go to Southampton by the eight o’clock -train.” - -The man stared a little at this unexpected order, but, being a well -trained servant, suppressed his surprise and hastened to obey his -orders. - -Alexander examined his pistol-case, and, seeing that all was right, -proceeded to prepare himself for his sudden journey. - -Francis Tredegar repaired to his own chamber for the same purpose. - -Half an hour passed in this manner, and then Mr. Tredegar returned, -traveling-bag in hand. - -He found Alexander again at his writing desk. - -“Come here, Francis, my dear boy; I want you to witness the signing of -my will,” said Alexander, looking around. - -“You will require two witnesses,” observed Francis Tredegar, gravely, as -he approached the table. - -“Yes, I know! Here, Simms.” - -The valet came up. - -In the presence of his friend and his servant, Alexander signed his -will. And then Francis Tredegar and John Simms signed as witnesses. - -“Now, Tredegar, I have named you and another one, executors of this -will. But I wish you to take charge of it in case anything should happen -to me.” - -“Oh, bosh!” said Tredegar, gaily, yet with a tremulous tone,—“these -affairs seldom end fatally.” - -But he took the will and put it carefully in his breast pocket. - -“It is nearly seven o’clock now. I wonder if we could get some coffee. -Go down, Simms, and see, and have it brought to this room,” said -Alexander. - -The servant went on this errand. - -The master turned again to his friend. - -“Here, Francis,” he said, gravely, as he handed the letter he had -written; “I wish you, in case of my death, to deliver this letter to its -address.” - -“Oh, nonsense. There is going to be nothing so solemn. You may be -wounded slightly, and as you are a good marksman you may wound Prince -Ernest seriously. That will be all,” said Mr. Tredegar. But his voice -trembled as he spoke, and his hand shook as he took charge of the -letter. - -“Why, good Heaven, Alick! this is directed to Mrs. Alexander Lyon, -Morley House, Trafalgar Square,” said Tredegar, in unbounded -astonishment, as he read the address. - -“Yes, that is what she _calls_ herself,” said Alexander, grimly. - -“And so it is the lovely widow, after all, who is the cause of this -hostile meeting?” - -“I told you that no widow had anything to do with it. She is not a -widow, Tredegar.” - -“Not a widow! and just now you hinted that she was not Mrs. Lyon. Who is -she, then, Alick?” - -“She is Lady Killcrichtoun—she is my wife, Tredegar.” - -“Good Heavens, Alick!—Here!—Here is my hand! I go with you now heart and -soul! I am not bloodthirsty, and I want no man’s life; but I do hope you -will cripple that fellow for the rest of his days!” fervently exclaimed -Francis Tredegar, clasping his hand into Alexander’s palm. - -“I did not wish—I did not mean to mention her dear name in this -connection; circumstances and necessity have forced it from me. Treat it -as a sacred confidence, Tredegar.” - -“By my soul I will!” - -“And listen to this: the fault, the folly, the madness belong to _me_ -and to that man. _She_ is blameless!—yes, blameless as any holy angel. I -swear it by all my hopes of Heaven!” - -The entrance of the waiter with a tray put an end to the conversation -for the time being. - -The friends took each a cup of coffee, a muffin, and a chop, and then -went down-stairs and entered the cab that was already packed for their -journey. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - THE DUEL. - - Blood! he will have blood!—SHAKESPEARE. - - -As Alexander and his party entered the fly that was to take them to the -station, they observed the crested coach and liveried servants of Prince -Ernest coming around the next corner. - -“Ah!” said Alexander. “We shall be at the station before them. I am glad -of it. Our advance will enable us to take a whole carriage and avoid the -possibility of going down in their company.” - -“But it is not to be presumed but that Prince Ernest will do the same -thing—will engage a whole carriage for himself and _suite_,” answered -Tredegar. - -“_If he can._ But whole carriages are not always to be had, at the last -moment before starting. There may chance to be one, and that I will -secure.” - -They were bowling rapidly along the streets as Alexander spoke. - -In due time they reached the crowded station. - -“It is a notable blessing that we are not encumbered with baggage,” said -Mr. Tredegar, as they pressed their way to the first-class ticket -window. - -“Yes; what little we have can be taken in the carriage with us,” replied -Alexander. - -High over the heads of the crowd that was before them, Francis Tredegar -held his ten-pound note, and high also over their voices he spoke: - -“We want a whole first-class carriage, if you please.” - -The note was taken. - -“How far?” inquired the agent. - -“Through,” answered Francis. - -The tickets were handed him. - -Francis clutched them and said: - -“Come! we must hurry all the same in order to secure ourselves.” - -As they pressed outward through the crowd, they saw a servant in the -livery of Prince Ernest pressing inward towards the ticket office. And -before they had quite worked their way through they heard the man call -for a whole first-class carriage. - -“You see he is after the same thing. Let us hurry to the train. First -come first served, you know. And there may be but one,” remarked Alick. - -They pressed forward to the railway platform; found a guard and showed -him their tickets and—a crown piece to hurry his movements. - -Guard touched his hat, opened a door and popped our party into a roomy -carriage with eight comfortable seats. - -“The only wholly vacant one on the train, sir, I can assure you,” said -the guard, pocketing his crown piece, touching his hat and closing the -door. - -“Ah!” whispered Alexander, rubbing his hands, “I told you so.” It was -such a satisfaction for him to think he had been beforehand with the -unlucky Austrian, who would therefore be compelled to distribute himself -and his suite promiscuously through the carriages. - -He had no idea that another carriage would be attached to the train -especially to accommodate Prince Ernest and his suite. Yet such was the -case. - -The train started. It was the express, and it went on at a tremendous -rate. Houses, streets, suburbs, fields, woods, towns flew behind it. - -How did our travelers pass the two or three hours of their journey? They -were going down by the express, for the avowed purpose of engaging in a -mortal combat. It might be supposed that their time would be spent in -sorely troubled thought. Will it be believed that it was passed -in—sleep? - -Yet so it was. Human nature must sleep. The condemned criminal sleeps -the night before his execution; the victim on the rack has been known to -sleep in the intervals between each turn of the screw; the agonized -mother drops asleep in the interims of her travail. - -Alexander was going to kill or to be killed; Francis Tredegar was going -down to help him meet either fate. Yet these by no means hardened -sinners, really slept. - -Worn out by want of rest, and affected by the swift motion of the train, -they slept soundly—waking up only once in a while, when the train would -stop at some unusually noisy way station. - -Doubtless on these wakings both would realize with a pang of -recollection the horror of the business upon which they were traveling. -But if so neither gave a sign. If either spoke it would be to make some -commonplace remark, as: - -“_Ah-yah!_ I do believe I have been asleep! This dancing until four -o’clock in the morning does use a fellow up confoundedly,” from Francis -Tredegar; or: - -“Quite a pretty little village this where we are stopping now,” from -Alexander. - -But not one word of the grave matter that occupied both minds. - -And as soon as the train started they would cease talking, and soon -after, fall asleep again, and sleep until the next stoppage at the next -noisy station. - -Thus the hours passed swiftly. - -At length they were waked up by a very unusual bustle, and found -themselves at a very unusually large station. - -“This is a considerable town. I wonder what it is,” said Francis -Tredegar, yawning and looking out of the window. - -“It is Southampton and we are at our journey’s end,” answered Alexander. - -“Indeed! We have run down very soon.” - -“Not so very soon either. We slept all the way and know little of the -flight of time. It wants but twenty minutes to eleven o’clock, and we -have but just time to catch the boat. Where is the guard? I wish he -would come and open the door and let us out. It is a confounded -nuisance, this locking the carriage-doors on the outside, keeping one in -a sort of flying prison,” grumbled Alexander, looking from the window up -and down the platform for the guard. - -“It is for one’s safety,” said Francis Tredegar. - -“Oh, bosh! as if I hadn’t any right to risk my own life! It is not so -precious to any one, I take it.” - -“Well, but granting that, _other_ lives may be precious to _other_ -people, and this rule is made for the safety of all.” - -As Francis Tredegar spoke the guard came up and unlocked the door, and -released the prisoners. - -“A quarter to eleven! Come, Francis, hurry—we have not a moment to lose -if we would catch the boat,” exclaimed Alexander, flying down the -platform and beckoning a cab from the stand. - -Francis Tredegar and Alick’s valet hurried after him. - -“To the St. Aubins steamboat, as fast as you can go,” was the order -Alexander gave to the cabman, who stood hat in hand holding the door -open. - -The man closed the door upon the impatient party, mounted his seat, and -started his horses. - -They were driven rapidly down to the wharf, where the St. Aubins steamer -lay getting up her steam. They got out, paid the cab, and passed on into -the boat. - -“Five minutes to eleven—we have just saved ourselves. But that dastard -has not made his appearance yet! Is it possible that he will back out at -the last moment? If he does, I will post him for a coward all over -Europe!” muttered Alexander, frowning. - -“There he comes now!” exclaimed Francis, as a carriage rattled rapidly -down towards the boat. - -And there he was, sure enough. It was not likely that the excitable -Austrian was going to lag behind on such an adventure as this. - -Prince Ernest and his suite stepped upon deck just one minute and a half -before the gang-plank was withdrawn, the signal-gun fired, and the -steamer started. - -In passing on the deck, the adversaries met face to face. Each raised -his hat with a stiff bow and passed on—Prince Ernest and his suite to -the forward end of the boat, Alexander and his party to the aft. And -they took good care not to meet again during the voyage. - -They had a fair day for their foul deed. The sky was unusually clear, -the air calm, and the sea smooth. The steamer ran at the rate of ten -knots an hour. - -Alexander and his party sat at the stern looking out at sea, and reading -or pretending to read the morning papers served around by a newsboy who -had the run of the boat. - -The boat was certainly not crowded. In fact there were very few -passengers on board. And among them Alexander and his party saw not a -face they knew except those of Prince Ernest and his second. - -At two o’clock lunch was served in the saloon. - -“Will you come down? we have had but a slight breakfast,” pleaded -Tredegar. - -“I cannot sit at the same table with a man I am about to fight and -perhaps to kill,” muttered Alexander. - -“Nor would he sit at the same table with you, it is to be presumed. But -there are probably several tables in the saloon. There goes Prince -Ernest! his fire-eating propensities do not take away his appetite for -milder food it seems. Let him select his table and then let us go down -and take some other,” suggested Tredegar. - -Alexander assented. And in a few minutes they descended to the saloon -and took seats at a table as far as possible from that occupied by -Prince Ernest. - -The luncheon was a liberal one, as good as a dinner—with soup, fish, -fowl, roast and boiled joints, pastry, cheese, and fruits. The wines -were good and cheap, various and abundant. - -Again, will it be credited, Alexander, firmly believing that within a -few hours he must kill or be killed, still ate and drank freely at this -lunch. And Tredegar followed his example. Perhaps they did it that the -sated stomach might soothe the brain. At any rate when they rose from -the table, they went down to the lower deck to a spot set apart and -sacred to smoking, and there they smoked out several cigars. After that -they went to the cabin, turned into their respective berths, and went to -sleep and slept until the ringing of the dinner-bell aroused them. - -They arranged their toilettes and went into the saloon. And again, they -sought seats as far as possible from the table occupied by Prince -Ernest. - -It might have been the invigorating effects of the sea-air upon our -party; but they certainly sat down and made as good a dinner at seven -o’clock as if they had had no luncheon at two. After sitting an hour -over their wine, they finished with each a cup of coffee, and then went -up on deck. - -The sun had set, but the western horizon and the sea were still suffused -with his lingering crimson lights. A few stars were coming out. - -Alexander and Francis Tredegar sat down in the after part of the boat, -and entered into conversation, talking of anything rather than of the -approaching duel. - -“What time shall we reach St. Aubins do you think?” inquired Alick. - -“I have never been on this route before, so I cannot tell you of my own -knowledge. From what I have been able to pick up from observations -dropped by those that are more familiar with the voyage, I judge we -shall be in port somewhere about midnight.” - -“So late in the night? that will be very inconvenient.” - -“Yes; but unless we could have arrived before sunset, which was clearly -impossible, we could have done nothing more to-day. We must stay at the -best hotel to-night, and get our little affair quietly over in the -morning.” - -“The sooner the better,” muttered Alexander. - -The night was beautiful. The waters of the Channel, often so troubled, -were calm as those of a placid lake. The heavens were of that deep -transparent purple-black that only summer skies over summer seas ever -show. Brighter than diamonds the stars shone down, creating the -darkly-brilliant light so much more beautiful than moonbeams. The night -was holy. How could thoughts of sin, feelings of revenge, purposes of -destruction live in the soul of any man gazing out upon the divine -beauty of the sky and sea? - -Ah, but Alexander was morally and spiritually ill and insane. He could -scarcely be said to belong to the natural world. His spirit seemed -already steeped to the lips in that sea of blood seen by the -poet-prophet of Italy in his vision of Hell. - -How shall he be cured and saved? - -And yet he was not unconscious, although he was unimpressed by the -beauty of the night. - -The deck was almost solitary; the passengers had gone below and turned -in, many of them suffering more or less from the effects of -sea-sickness; for the boat rolled a little, as small steamboats will -roll even on the smoothest seas. No one was left on deck except the man -at the wheel, the officers of the watch, and Alexander Lyon and Francis -Tredegar. - -Francis sauntered up and down the starboard gangway, smoking his cigar, -which, at this hour and under these circumstances, was admissible, and -meditating most probably on the “coming events” that now “cast their -shadows before.” - -Francis had no such deep stake in the event as had Alexander, for his -life was not to be risked, yet not the less was his spirit darkened -within him. He, too, saw the star-spangled firmament above and the -smooth sea below, reflecting it as a mirror; but he could not enjoy the -vision as once he might have. The crime, the folly of which he had been -tempted to become a participant was not yet consummated, but yet he felt -that some portion of his own soul was already dead, or paralyzed so that -he could not feel the heavenly influence of the scene around him. How -should he? - -Alexander stood leaning over the bulwarks of the boat, gazing moodily -out to sea. I said he was not unconscious of the divine beauty of the -night, although he was untouched by it. He saw the glory of the -firmament, but as something afar off, which could not reach him, and -which he could not reach; but he remembered also that in happier times -his spirit was touched, drawn out, elevated, by this heavenly influence. -Why could it not affect him now? Why was the divine loveliness beaming -down upon this natural world, so silent, cold and still, for him? Why -was the living spirit of the night but a dead body for him? - -Alas! he knew and felt why. He was a man who had ruined his natural -life, and all but ruined his immortal spirit. He had sped too fast and -too far on the downward road to perdition to stop himself now. He was -like one who, running rapidly down hill, has gained such an impetus that -he cannot stop, though he knows that he rushes to death and hell. -Alexander knew and felt that dueling was unjustifiable under any -circumstances—that it was a tremendous crime—a doubly damnable crime, -since it involved at once murder and suicide of body and of soul—perhaps -the very worst of crimes; and yet he was bent upon committing it, even -though, in doing so, he should lose both body and soul. - -The night seemed endless, and the sea boundless, to this sick spirit; -yet, just as the watch sounded eight bells and midnight, the boat -entered the picturesque harbor of St. Aubins, and soon after landed at -the wharf. - -There was something more than picturesque, there was something -mysterious and even spiritual in the aspect of this singular little -maritime town, as seen for the first time in the starlight midnight, -overshadowed by its background of Noirmont Heights, and reflected with -its few gleaming lights in the still waters of its quiet little -harbor—St. Aubins! it is a place for a tired spirit to stop and rest in. - -The hour was not yet so late but that some of the hotels were open, -especially as they were expecting the arrival of the boat. - -Our passengers landed. Some few carriages were waiting, probably by -appointment. Prince Ernest and his suite entered one of these and drove -off. - -Alexander, accompanied by Francis Tredegar, and followed by his servant -bearing the carpet bags, walked dreamily up into the town, and took the -direction pointed out to him towards the St. Aubins’ hotel. - -In fact, all his life now seemed something unreal, visionary, delirious -as a fevered dream. - -Arrived at the hotel, they first saw the empty carriage of Prince Ernest -turning away from the door, and they knew as a certainty what they had -before taken for granted—that their adversaries were stopping at the -same house, which was far the best in the place. - -They took a suite of rooms, including a private parlor and two -bed-chambers. - -“We will have a bit of supper up here and then to work,” said Francis -Tredegar, touching the bell. Francis was now the only active agent in -the enterprise. - -The waiter answered his summons. - -“Supper immediately. Anything in the world that you have handiest, with -a bottle of good sherry,” was Mr. Tredegar’s orders. - -The waiter disappeared and reappeared several times with great rapidity, -in course of which evolution he spread the table with a white cloth, and -with crockery ware, cutlery and glass, and loaded it with cold ham, -roast fowl, and a salad, together with the bottle of wine that had been -bespoken. - -Alexander and Francis sat down and ate and drank as other travelers -might who had no murder on their mind. They spoke no word of the -impending duel. - -When supper was over and the cloth removed, Francis Tredegar turned to -his principal and said: - -“Now you will wish to feel well and strong to-morrow morning. You have -lost a great deal of rest lately, and will require all the sleep that -you can get to restore you. So you had better go to bed at once, and lie -there till I call you. I will be sure to call you two hours before the -time that shall be fixed for the meeting.” - -“And you, Francis? Will you not take some rest?” - -“No, it is not so necessary for me. I must meet Zollenhoffar by -appointment to settle the last—the final arrangements—such as could not -possibly be settled before our arrival here.” - -“Well, you will call me in time?” - -“Certainly.” - -Alexander retired to his chamber, and Francis Tredegar went out to keep -his appointment on what might be called neutral ground—in a room, -namely, far removed from the quarters of the principal belligerents, and -which the seconds had engaged for the purpose of settling the final -preliminaries to the hostile meeting. - -The night watch of the hotel could have told, and afterwards did tell, -how these two men had shut themselves up together in a private room, -where they remained from one o’clock, till half past two, when they came -out together, locked the door, took the key with them, left the house, -and bent their steps towards the gloomy heights of Noirmont that lay -behind the town; and how about four o’clock they returned, and -separated, each going to his own apartment. - -Certainly at about a quarter past four Mr. Tredegar entered Alexander’s -chamber, where he found his principal tossing about on the bed in a -feverish and impatient manner. - -“Have you slept?” inquired Francis. - -“Slept? How could I? Is it time to rise?” - -“Yes.” - -“I am very glad of it,” exclaimed Alexander, jumping out of bed. - -“You have rather more than two hours before you, if you have any last -preparations to make,” said Francis, gravely. - -“I have nothing to do but shave, wash and dress.” - -“But—” said Francis, sadly. - -“I tell you I have no other preparations to make. Having settled my -worldly affairs, I have no other preparations to make. What should I -have?” emphatically exclaimed Alexander. - -What, indeed? How could the duelist prepare for probable death? The -Christian soldier going into battle, or upon a forlorn hope, in a -righteous cause can invoke the blessing of God on his arms, and can -commit his soul, for life or death, into His holy keeping. Yes, even the -condemned criminal, however deeply steeped in guilt, can kneel and pray -for mercy and forgiveness, for acceptance and admission into Heaven. -These can prepare to meet their God. - -But how can the determined duelist prepare for death? Can he pray for -pardon for past sins when he is about to commit the last, the greatest, -the deadliest sin of his life? No, he goes to his fatal work grimly -defying man and God, death and hell. - -“You have fixed upon the ground?” inquired Alexander, as he brushed his -hair, calmly and carefully, as for an evening party, for he had suddenly -recovered all his self-possession. - -“Yes; it is a small secluded spot at the foot of Noirmont Heights, to -which I shall conduct you.” - -“And the time?” - -“Six. The carriage is ordered at half-past five.” - -“Very well. There are but a few moments left; so much the better,” said -Alexander, as he finished his toilet. - -When they went into their private parlor, they found hot coffee waiting -them, thanks to the careful forethought of Francis Tredegar. - -When they had finished their coffee the carriage was announced, and they -arose. - -“I have laid the train so that the coachman, and even the servants, -think we are a party of geologists going to the mountain to search for -geological specimens. They will take our pistol-case for a box of tools -and think all right,” explained Francis Tredegar, as they descended the -stairs. - -“Then, to complete the ruse, we must leave the cab at some short -distance from the dueling ground.” - -“Of course. And still more to guard against suspicion and interruption, -Prince Ernest and his attendants start as if for a journey, make a -slight detour, and approach the place of meeting from another -direction,” answered Francis. - -The morning was fresh and bright. The sun was, perhaps, an hour high -when Alexander Lyon and Francis Tredegar entered their carriage. Simms, -the valet, mounted the box and seated himself beside the coachman. And -in this manner they were driven out towards Noirmont Heights. - -When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Francis Tredegar ordered -the carriage to draw up. - -“Give me that box of tools, Simms. We shall find some valuable specimens -of sienites on the other side of the mountain,” said Francis Tredegar, -in a rather loud voice intended to be heard by the coachman, as the -party alighted from the carriage. - -“Wait for us here. We may be gone some hours, but don’t leave the spot,” -he added, as he led the way, followed by Alexander and his servant, -around a projecting rock, to a retired spot, shut off from observation -by surrounding precipices. - -As they entered the place at one end, Prince Ernest and his party were -seen to come in at the other. - -Each adversary, with his attendants, paused. - -The prince was attended by his second, his surgeon and his servant. - -Alexander had only his friend and his valet. - -Major Zollenhoffar and Mr. Tredegar drew out from their respective -groups, and met in the center of the ground. There, for the last time, -they conferred upon the possibility of an amicable settlement of the -difficulty. But the impracticability of reconciling the adversaries -consisted in this—that each of the adversaries deemed _himself_ the -injured, insulted, outraged party, who was entitled to an humble apology -from the other, or in want of that the “satisfaction of a -gentleman”—which usually means an ounce of lead in his body or -fellow-creature’s blood upon his soul. Each was willing to receive an -apology, instead of a bullet; but neither would hear of making the -slightest concession. - -When the proposition was made to Alexander, he simply turned away his -pallid face in cold and silent scorn. - -When it was made to Prince Ernest, the excitable Austrian jumped three -feet from the ground and swore that he would have “one grawnd -sat-ees-fac-shee-on.” - -The quarrel having proved irreconcilable, the last preparations were -made for the duel. - -The ground was stepped off, and the foes were placed by their respective -seconds at ten paces from each other—standing due north and south, with -the advantage of the light equally divided between them; the insulted -sun being just above the mountains due east, and shining down full upon -the dueling ground. Major Zollenhoffar had the choice of the four pair -of pistols provided. Francis Tredegar was to give the signals. - -Having placed and armed their principals, and taken position on opposite -sides of the line of fire, and about midway between them, and all being -ready, Francis Tredegar looked from one to the other. He saw that -Alexander Lyon was pale as death, but still as marble, steady as a -statue; and that Prince Ernest was fiery red, but in other respects -appeared as calm as his adversary. - -But Francis Tredegar himself grew very pale as the fatal moment -approached. His voice sounded hollow and unnatural, as he began: - -“Gentlemen, are you ready!” - -A dread pause and a silent assent, or an assent taken for granted. - -“ONE!” - -And at the signal the foes raised their pistols. - -“TWO!” - -They took deliberate aim. - -“THREE.” - -They kept them so. - -“FIRE!” - -They discharged their pistols and Alexander Lyon fell. - -The impulsive Austrian threw down his weapon and, regardless of -etiquette, ran over to raise his fallen foe. - -Alexander was still alive when they raised him. There was a convulsive -shuddering of the form—a nervous quivering of the face—a -gasp—“Drusilla!” and all was still as death. - -Prince Ernest had his grand satisfaction. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV. - THE GRAND SATISFACTION. - - Naught’s had, all’s spent - When our desires are gained without content—SHAKESPEARE. - - -The grand satisfaction was received; but it did not prove so highly -satisfactory after all. Grand satisfactions seldom do. - -Prince Ernest raised his fallen foe in his arms, supported him upon his -bosom and gazed on his upturned, pallid face in pity and distress. - -“Quick! you come hither, monsieur! Quick! you come hither, Doctor -Dietz!” he called hastily to his own surgeon, who with the two seconds -and the valet were hurrying to the spot. - -“Good Heaven! he is killed!” cried Francis Tredegar, throwing himself -down in a kneeling posture beside his friend and relieving Prince Ernest -of the weight of the body. - -Doctor Dietz dropped on his knee on the other side and began hastily to -unloosen the clothes and examine the condition of the wounded man. - -Major Zollenhoffar bent sadly over the group. - -Simms, the valet, stood gaping and staring in speechless consternation. - -The impulsive Austrian skipped around the circle, acting in his distress -more like an excitable dancing master than an accomplished Prince. - -Each face was as pale as the bloodless face below them; for these were -not the times of war, and the men were not inured to sudden and violent -death. - -At length the surgeon looked up from his examination. - -“Is he quite dead? Is there not the slightest hope?” anxiously inquired -Francis Tredegar. - -“He is not dead,” said Doctor Dietz. Then turning to Major Zollenhoffar, -he requested—“Monsieur, oblige me; send someone to the carriage for my -case of instruments.” - -“I will go myself,” answered the major, hurrying off. - -“Monsieur, you do the favor; send your servant for the water,” said -Doctor Dietz, turning again to Francis. - -“Hasten, Simms. There is a hut around the projection of that rock. Go -there and procure some vessel and fill it at the nearest spring and -hurry back with it as fast as possible,” ordered Francis, speaking -eagerly while he still supported the almost lifeless form of his friend. - -Simms ran off at the height of his speed to get the water. And all this -while Prince Ernest skipped about giving vent to his lamentations and -declaiming in his excitement, without his usually careful regard to the -construction of the English language. - -“My Heaven! I shall wish to kill him not! I know not what he quarrel -with me because! what he insult me! what he defy me! what he shoot me -because—I know not—I—! A fair woman shall give me her bouquet to hold, -to keep, to cherish! Why not? I am the slave of the fair woman! I take -her bouquet! It is sweet, it is fresh, it is precious like herself! I -press it to my lips! I put it to my heart! Why not? What wrong I do that -he shall charge me? shall accuse me? shall shoot me!” he exclaimed, -jumping about, gesticulating, and making such havoc of English auxiliary -verbs as even the best-read foreigners may sometimes do when speaking -rapidly and excitedly. - -“Lay your friend down flat upon his back—I wish to probe his wound,” -said Doctor Dietz to Francis Tredegar, as he saw Major Zollenhoffar -running towards them, with his case of instruments. - -Francis Tredegar slowly eased the body down upon the level ground, and -then gently drew his hand from under the head. - -As he did so, he uttered a cry of horror. - -“What is it?” demanded the doctor. - -Francis held up the palm of his hand, which was crimson with clotted -blood. - -“Where did that come from?” asked the doctor. - -“From the back of his head. Oh, he is quite dead, or must be soon! He is -shot through the brain!” exclaimed Francis in great distress. - -“Impossible!” cried the doctor. - -“No, no, no!” exclaimed Prince Ernest, vehemently. - -“I shall not shoot him through the brain! I shall not aim at his head at -all! I shall aim at his right arm. I shall not wish to kill him, only to -punish him! I shall aim at his right arm, but I shall shoot him through -the right side! It shall be a chance, an accident, a misfortune. I meant -it not—not I!” - -While the Austrian was skipping and exclaiming, the surgeon was -examining the back of Alexander’s head. The hair was matted with blood -from a deep wound there. - -“You see it is as I say—the ball has passed quite through his head, and -come out here,” said Francis Tredegar. - -“Impossible! The ball entered the right side of the chest, passed -through the right lobe of the lungs, and is lodged here below the right -shoulder-blade. See for yourself!” said the surgeon, laying back -Alexander’s shirt-bosom, so as to show the small, dark, inverted hole at -which the bullet had entered. - -“But this wound in the back of his head—?” - -“Was made by his falling and striking some hard, sharp substance—a -fragment of rock, probably.” - -While the surgeon spoke he was not idle. He took his case of instruments -from one assistant and the water from the other. - -He carefully cut away the blood-clotted hair, and washed and plastered -the wound in the head; and then he cut out the bullet, which lay little -more than skindeep under the shoulder blade. He dressed the wounds as -well as circumstances would permit, and then he said; - -“We had better take your friend back to his apartments at the hotel. I -will continue to give him my best care there.” - -Francis Tredegar assented. - -Simms was once more despatched to the hut to borrow its only door and -when he returned he not only brought the door, but was followed by the -kind-hearted master of the hut, bringing a load of blankets. With these -materials a rude litter was constructed, and upon it Alexander’s form -was laid. And thus he was borne upon the shoulders of Simms the valet, -Knox the hutter, and two laboring men who came and offered their -services. - -Prince Ernest returned to the hotel in his carriage. Major Zollenhoffar -and Francis Tredegar walked behind the bearers of the wounded man. - -Alexander’s cab went back empty. - -“I say,” said the hotel servants to the cabman as soon as they saw him, -“you took a party of gents out to the mountains to look for minerals, -didn’t you?” - -“Yes,” growled the Jehu. - -“Well, and they found ’em—at least one of ’em did,—a beautiful round -specimen of lead mineral; and he liked it so well he put it into his -bosom. But I’m told it didn’t agree with him!” - -Alexander was carefully carried to his chamber and laid upon his bed. - -Around him stood Doctor Dietz, Mr. Tredegar, John Simms, and one or two -of the servants of the hotel. - -In this more favorable position, his wounds were more carefully examined -and skilfully dressed. Both wounds were found to be very serious. - -He was relieved of his blood-stained garments and put into a clean suit -of under clothes, and again laid back upon his pillow. - -During this process he had given but few signs of consciousness—only -groaning slightly when being moved, as if motion distressed his -lacerated chest. - -And then the room was darkened. - -“Now let him rest quietly,” said Doctor Dietz. - -“But will you not give him something?” inquired Francis Tredegar. - -“No.” - -“No opiate?” - -“Certainly not.” - -“No anodyne?” - -“Nothing. Let him rest for the present, only renew as they become -heated, the cold water compresses on his wounds.” - -Francis Tredegar constituted himself head nurse, and seated himself -beside his patient. - -Major Zollenhoffar entered the room. - -“Prince Ernest leaves by the ten o’clock boat for Southampton; but -wishes to know the state of the gentleman before he goes,” whispered the -Major to Mr. Tredegar. - -“I was about to go and report to the Prince,” said Doctor Dietz. - -“His Highness requests that you will not leave your charge so long, as -he may require your assistance. His Highness will dispense with your -services about his own person for the present. But he requests that you -will keep him informed of the progress of your patient,” said Major -Zollenhoffar. - -The surgeon bowed low in acquiescence with the prince’s behests. - -“I hope this arrangement may meet your approbation, sir,” said the -Major, courteously turning towards Mr. Tredegar. - -“It excites my gratitude, sir,” replied Francis Tredegar. “It excites my -warmest gratitude. We could not probably find such surgical skill for -ourselves.” - -With another bow and an earnestly expressed hope that the wounded man -might yet do well, the Major took leave, and returned to his master, -leaving the patient in charge of Doctor Dietz, Francis Tredegar and -Simms. - -Within an hour Prince Ernest and all his suite, except his surgeon, -embarked for England. - -And _we_ must return to General Lyon and Dick Hammond. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI. - THE PURSUIT. - - The distant danger greater still appears; - Less fears he, who is near the thing he fears. - - -With many imprecations on the rashness and folly of young men in general -and of his own nephew in particular, the veteran accompanied by Dick, -took his seat in the three o’clock train for Southampton. - -He did not consider it necessary to take a whole first-class carriage -for himself and his companion, so the presence of several other -travelers in the same compartment with him, restrained his growling. - -And soon after the train started, the motion of the carriages rocked him -to sleep, and he slept soundly until they reached their journey’s end. - -Dick, who had alternately read the morning’s papers, and dozed through -the journey, woke his uncle up as the train entered the Southampton -station, where the duelists had passed about ten hours before. - -It was nearly seven o’clock. - -“Here we are,” said Dick, gathering up his light luggage, while his -uncle slowly rubbed his eyes and looked about him. - -“Eh? well! yes! I suppose we had better call a cab and drive to a hotel -and engage rooms first of all,” said the General, still rubbing his -eyes, and being only half awake. - -“I suppose we had better call a cab and drive immediately down to the -docks and see if we can hire a yacht or steamboat to take us to -Guernsey,” suggested Dick. - -“Oh! aye! yes! certainly! to be sure! I had forgotten,” exclaimed the -General. - -The guard unlocked the door to let them out. - -As they appeared upon the platform, the two detectives who had come down -with them joined company. - -“Call a cab, Willet, if you please. We will go at once to the docks and -try to engage a vessel of some kind to take us to Guernsey.” - -“Yes, sir; but if you please, I think we had better call first at police -head-quarters to make inquiries. They may have some later and better -intelligence,” suggested the detective. - -“Exactly! yes! to be sure! You are quite right. We will go there first,” -agreed the General. - -The detective beckoned the cab and gave the order, and they all got into -it and drove to police head-quarters. - -Willet, who had ridden beside the cabman, got down and went in to seek -farther information. - -He was gone but a few moments, and then he returned and opened the door -of the cab and spoke to the General. - -“It is very lucky we called here first, sir; else we might have been -fatally misled.” - -“Why? what’s the matter?” inquired the General. - -“There was a mistake in the telegram, sir. It was not to Guernsey they -went, but to Jersey.” - -“Tut, tut, that was a very unlucky mistake, and might have proved to be -a fatal one, as you said. Are you certain _now_ of your information?” - -“Quite certain, sir. The duelists took the St. Aubins steamer and sailed -for that port at eleven this morning. As soon as the office here -discovered their mistake, they telegraphed the correction to London. But -of course we had left before that second telegram arrived.” - -“Have you any farther information?” inquired Dick. - -“None whatever.” - -“Then we must drive to the docks immediately,” ordered the General. - -The detective mounted the box beside the cabman and transmitted the -order. - -And they were driven rapidly down to the docks. - -They alighted and went about making diligent inquiries for a vessel. - -Fortune favored them, or rather Money did. Money is a great magician. No -wonder it is sometimes fatally mistaken for a god, and more fatally -worshiped as one. - -In answer to their inquiries, they were told of a swift-sailing, -schooner-rigged yacht, owned by a company that were in the habit of -letting it out to parties of pleasure for excursions to the Channel -Isles or along the coast. And they were directed to the spot where the -“Flying Foam” lay idly at anchor, and were told that the master of the -crew was also the agent of the company. - -Encouraged by this information, our party engaged a row-boat, and went -out into the harbor, and boarded the “Flying Foam.” - -The master happened to be on deck. He came forward to meet the -boarding-party. - -“Is this yacht disengaged?” inquired the General. - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Can we engage it for immediate service?” - -“For immediate service—that is very sudden, sir?” remarked the master, -looking suspiciously at the speaker. - -“I know it is, but so is our business sudden, being a matter of life and -death. We cannot wait for the sailing of the steamer. But we are willing -to pay extra price for extra haste,” replied the General. - -And there was that about his stately form and fine face, and martial -manner which rebuked the suspicion, while the words, and particularly -the promise of extra pay appealed to the interest of the agent. - -“You want the yacht immediately, you say, sir?” he inquired. - -“Immediately, or as soon as the tide will serve.” - -“The tide will serve in half an hour, sir.” - -“Can she be got ready?” - -“For what port, sir?” - -“St. Aubins.” - -The master rubbed his forehead and looked down at his shoes, as if in -deep cogitation. - -“My friend, while you are deliberating, time is flying,” said the -General impatiently. - -“She can be got ready fast enough, sir. It isn’t that. Why, sir, you are -strangers to us, and we don’t know anything of what you are in such a -hurry for.” - -“We go to arrest a party, and prevent a duel, if you must know!” -exclaimed the General, impatiently disregarding the signals of the -detective, who would have cautioned him. - -“Oh! beg pardon, sir; but this is—is going to cost a pretty penny—and——” - -“And you don’t feel safe as to the payment, eh? If that is all, you may -weigh anchor and hoist sail at once, for I have not come unprovided,” -said General Lyon, taking out his pocket-book and displaying a large -roll of hundred pound Bank of England notes. - -“You do not suspect them to be counterfeits, I hope?” laughed the -General. - -“Oh, no! beg pardon, sir. It is all right now, I am only an agent, sir, -and held responsible by my employers.” - -“To be sure. And now I hope you can set your crew to work.” - -“Are you going just as you are, sir? Would you like to go on shore -first?” - -“We have no time to lose in going on shore. We shall go to St. Aubins -just as we are. I suppose there are shops in that town where one may -procure the necessaries of life?” - -“Oh, certainly, sir.” - -And the captain of the yacht went aft and called all hands on deck, and -gave his orders, and, by dint of loud hallooing and hard swearing, got -them so promptly executed that when the tide turned the yacht sailed. - -They had a very fine run under the starlit sky over the calm sea; but -for the painful errand they would have been a party of pleasure. Even as -it was, they enjoyed the trip. There was nothing on General Lyon’s -conscience, or on Dick’s mind, to deaden either of them to the heavenly -beauty of the night. They had slept on the train, and so now they were -wide awake on the yacht. - -They walked up and down the deck talking sociably with each other, -admiring the elegant form and the swift-sailing of the yacht, delighting -in the fresh breezes of the ocean, and almost worshiping the glory of -the star-spangled heavens. - -They walked up and down fore and aft, while the yacht sped over the -waters, until they became hungry, and then they remembered for the first -time that they had had neither dinner nor tea, nor had brought any -provisions for a meal on board. - -“It is usual for parties who hire a yacht to find their own grub, I -believe, and we never thought of doing it,” said Dick. - -“We had no time for doing it,” said the General. - -“Well, I fancy the master does not keep a black fast He must have a -secret store somewhere, so I will just step and see.” - -And Dick went in search of the master, who undertook to be their host -for the voyage. - -In twenty minutes after the voyagers were called to supper in the -captain’s cabin—and to such a supper for hungry men! There were pickled -salmon, cold ham, cold chicken, an excellent salad, light bread Stilton -cheese, pastry, fruits native and tropical, and such fine wines as can -only be procured—or could _then_ only be procured, duty free, at the -Channel Isles. - -They made an excellent meal and then returned to the deck and sat down -to enjoy the lovely night and the pure sea-breezes, until twelve -midnight, when feeling a little tired, they went down into the cabin and -turned in. - -Rocked by the motion of the vessel they fell asleep, and slept soundly -until the “Flying Foam” entered the harbor of St. Aubins. - -Then they were awakened by the captain’s steward, who came down to tell -them the yacht was in port. The sun was just rising. - -The pretty little maritime town lay gleaming in the earliest beams of -the morning. Behind it arose the dark background of Noirmont Heights. On -the right and left, rolled a richly-wooded landscape of hill and dell. - -Even the gravity of the errand upon which they had come could not quite -make our friends insensible to the novelty and beauty of the scene. - -“Will you choose to have breakfast before you go on shore?” inquired the -master, coming to the side of the two gentlemen, as they stood on deck -looking out upon the harbor, with its little shipping, and the town, -with its quaint Anglo-French streets and houses, while they waited for -the boat to be got ready. - -“Breakfast? No, thank you, not even if it was on the table; for there, I -think our boat is ready now,” answered the General. - -And he went to the side of the yacht, and followed by Dick and the two -detectives, descended into the boat. - -They were rapidly rowed to the shore. - -There were no cabs in sight. - -“What is to be done now?” inquired the General. - -“There is nothing for it, but to walk up into the town, and over it, if -necessary,” answered Dick. - -“Luckily for us all, that may be done without much bodily fatigue. It is -not a very large place,” remarked the General. - -“If you please, gentlemen, I think we had better look for our men at the -hotels. It is still so early that they can scarcely have started on -their dueling adventure,” suggested one of the detectives. - -“Lead the way, then. You know the town, I think you told me,” said the -General. - -“Oh, yes, sir,” answered the detective, bending his steps towards the -principal hotel. - -While they were yet at some distance from the house, they saw a carriage -drive off from before it. Slight as the circumstance was in itself, when -considered in relation to the hour and other circumstances, it seemed -very significant. So they hurried on. - -Before they reached the house however, they saw another carriage draw up -before the entrance, and a party come out and enter it; and then they -saw the carriage drive off, but not in the same direction taken by the -first. - -“There are our duelists!” exclaimed the detective in triumph, “one party -is in the first carriage, and the other in the second.” - -“But they took opposite directions,” gasped the General, out of breath -with his rapid walk. - -“That was to mislead people. They have taken opposite, but each will -make a half circle and meet on the appointed ground unless we stop -them,” said Willet, striding onwards at a rate that made it difficult -for his companions to keep up with him. - -“I do not see how we are to stop it now,” groaned the General. - -“We must take a cab from the hotel, and make what inquiries as to the -route taken by the others that we have time for.” - -While talking they had hurried on with all their might, and now they -were at the hotel. - -“Is Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden stopping here?” inquired the General, -stepping at once up to the office. - -“There is a foreigner of rank who arrived here late last night by the -Southampton steamer.” - -“Where is he now?” - -“Gone out for a morning ride by the sea, I think.” - -“Ah! you have other travelers here who arrived by the Southampton boat?” - -“Yes; an American gentleman, I think, a scientific man, who has gone out -with his servant to hunt for minerals in the Noirmont Heights.” - -“Ah! a scientific man in search of minerals!” grunted the General. - -“By the way, there were two of them, they——” - -“Oh, two of them, were they! Master and pupil, very likely; or principal -and second.” - -“They took with them a servant carrying a box of tools.” - -“Ah! hum! yes! a box of tools! Bless my life, I wonder when that cab -will be ready! Ah, here he comes,” impatiently exclaimed General Lyon, -as Willet, who had gone after the cab, entered and reported it was -ready. - -The whole party entered the cab except one of the detectives, who, as -usual, rode on the box beside the driver. This officer gave, as a -general direction, the nearest route to Noirmont Heights. And the cabman -took it. - -As they left town the detective farther ordered: - -“When we reach the foot of the heights, inquire for a cab that passed -some twenty minutes before us; and then follow the road taken by that -cab until you come up with it.” - -The cabman touched his hat in acquiescence as they went on. - -Just at that instant the report of fire-arms startled their ears, -reverberating through the heights and echoed and re-echoed back from -rock to rock. - -“My——! we are too late!” exclaimed the General, in despair. - -“Indeed I fear we are too late to prevent the duel, but we may be in -time to succor the wounded,” added Dick. - -“Can you see the smoke from that discharge of pistols?” inquired the -detective on the box of the cabman beside him. - -“No, sir, and if I could it would be hard to tell it now from the smoke -of the hutters’ chimneys, or even from the mist of the morning.” - -“Drive then in the direction from which the report came.” - -“But, sir, it echoes so through the crags, it’s a’most impossible to -tell which way it did come from. All we can know now is, as how it came -from among the rocks.” - -Willet knew that the cabman was right, since he was sure that he himself -could get no correct clue to the route from either the sound or the -smoke of the firing. - -“Look out for the cab then and do the best you can. We wish to come up -with that firing party.” - -“All right, sir,” said the cabman. - -But in fact it seemed all wrong. They kept a bright lookout for the cab, -hoping, though it was now probably empty, to be directed by its driver -to the dueling ground. But many roads traversed these mountain -solitudes, and their number and intricacies were confusing. Our party -drove on to some distance farther, but saw no cab and heard no more -firing. - -Then they turned back and struck into a cross-road and pursued it for -some distance with no better success. Again they turned from their -course, came back upon the main road and took the opposite branch of the -cross-road and followed it some distance, but in vain. Finally in -despair they turned their horses’ heads towards the town, the General -saying: - -“It is all over by this time; and dead or alive, they have left the -ground, and we shall have a better chance of hearing of them at the -hotel than elsewhere.” - -As they drove rapidly towards the town they came upon a group of -laborers eagerly talking together by the roadside. - -“What is the matter? What has happened? Where was that firing?” inquired -General Lyon, putting his head out of the window, as the cab drew up. - -“Why, your honor, there have been a row on the heights back there, among -some gents, and one of um have been shot and carried to the hotel down -yonder in the town; and t’other one is took and locked up,” answered one -of the laborers, with the usual mixture of truth and falsehood. - -“Which was shot?” inquired the detective. - -“Why, that I can’t say; but any ways it was _one_ of um as was shot and -brought home on a door, and t’other one was took and locked up.” - -“Was the man who was shot killed?” anxiously inquired General Lyon. - -“Well, your honor, ‘when the brains is out the man is dead,’” replied -the peasant, unconsciously quoting Shakespeare. - -General Lyon sank back in his chair with a deep groan. One of the -duelists was killed. Whether it was Prince Ernest or Alexander Lyon, -whether his nephew was the murderer or the murdered man, the event was -fatal. - -“Drive as rapidly as possible back to the hotel,” said the detective on -the box to the driver by his side. - -And they were whirled swiftly as horses could go, to the St. Aubins -hotel. - -There all was bustle. A duel was not such a common event as to be passed -over lightly. - -General Lyon sprang out of his cab with almost the agility of youth, and -hurried into the office to make inquiries of the clerk. - -“What man was that who was shot?” he shortly asked. - -“The American, sir; but it is hoped he will do well yet.” - -“He is not dead?” - -“No, sir, surely not.” - -“Thank Heaven for that! And the other one?” - -“The prince? He was not hurt, sir.” - -“Thank Heaven for that also!” - -“They were the parties you were looking for this morning, were they -not?” - -“Certainly. I had ascertained their object in coming here, and hoped to -be in time to stop them. Where have they put my nephew?” - -“Beg pardon, sir?” - -“The wounded man; where have they put him?” - -“In his own room, sir.” - -“Send a waiter to show me to his bedside. I am his uncle.” - -“Indeed, sir? Certainly, sir. Come here, John. Show this gentleman to -Number 10.” - -A waiter stepped forward at the order, bowed and led the way followed by -the General, up one flight of stairs, along a corridor, and to a chamber -door. - -“This is Number 10, sir,” John said, opening the door. - -The veteran entered the room, and found himself face to face with -Francis Tredegar, who had risen to see who the intruder might be. - -“General Lyon!” - -“Mr. Tredegar!” - -Such were the simultaneous exclamations of the friends on so -unexpectedly meeting. - -“You here?” - -“I came with Lord Killcrichtoun.” - -“How is he?” - -“The surgeon reports favorably of his wounds, but he must be kept very -quiet. Will you pass with me into the sitting-room?—Simms, do not leave -your master’s side until I return.—This way, General,” said Francis -Tredegar, rising and opening a door leading into their private parlor. - -There the friends sat down together,—the General heated and anxious, -Francis Tredegar surprised and curious. - -“I followed as quickly as I could after hearing of my nephew’s mad -purpose. I hired a yacht and pursued him, hoping to be in time to save -him. I wish now that I had hired a special train from London. It would -have given me three hours in advance, and I should then have been in -time,” groaned the General, wiping his face. - -“Take comfort, sir. It might have had a fatal termination. As it is, we -have reason to thank Heaven for an unmerited mercy. Prince Ernest has -escaped unhurt, and has returned to England. Lord Killcrichtoun is -wounded, but not fatally. ‘All’s well that ends well.’” - -“‘That ends well!’ Yes, but who can say that this will end well? Oh, -Heaven, how much trouble that young man has caused me and all who are -dear to me! But he is my only brother’s only son! my dead brother’s only -child! and in spite of all I have said and sworn I must try to save -him.” - -“Is he so near of kin to you, sir? I had not suspected it.” - -“No; his new ridiculous title, together with the estrangement that has -been between us, would naturally mislead any one who had not known us -previously as to the facts of our kinship. You came with him on this -Quixotic adventure?” - -“Yes, sir,” replied Francis Tredegar, blushing and beginning to defend -himself before the Christian soldier, “Yes, sir; after having tried in -vain to dissuade my friend from the duel, I resolved to see him through -it.” - -“I am not intending to blame you, my young friend. To me, certainly, you -meant no wrong; and to my unhappy nephew only kindness. For the rest, it -is a matter between yourself and your own conscience. As for me, in the -way of a soldier’s duty, I have been in some battles; but I would not, -nor do I remember any period of my youth in which I would have engaged, -either as principal or second, in any duel for any cause whatever,” said -the brave old veteran. - -“Oh, sir—but that is a rebuke; and coming from you, a very severe one,” -said the young culprit, sorrowfully. - -“It is not intended as such, Francis. Men, I know, have different ideas -upon these subjects. For instance, I do not believe it lawful in a man, -for the gratification of his selfish passions or the ‘satisfaction’ of -his imaginary ‘honor,’ to risk his life or seek the life of another. I -believe it to be a high offence against the Author of all life. Nor -could I engage in any adventure upon which I could not invoke the -blessing of Heaven.” - -“Which we could not do on our adventure, certainly. But I do most humbly -and thankfully acknowledge Heaven’s undeserved great mercy on its -issue.” - -“I am glad to hear you say so, Francis. And now will you kindly touch -the bell—it is at your elbow, I see—and tell the waiter when he comes to -show Mr. Hammond up into this room.” - -“Dick is with you?” inquired Francis, as he complied with the General’s -request. - -“Certainly. Did I not tell you so? But I left him to settle with the -cabman while I ran in to make inquiries of the clerk.” - -As the General spoke the waiter entered the room. - -“Go down and find out Mr. Hammond and show him up into this room,” said -Mr. Tredegar. - -The waiter bowed and disappeared; but soon came back and ushered in -Dick. - -There was a start of surprise from Dick at seeing Mr. Tredegar, and then -a grave hand-shaking between them. - -“Well, my boy, I suppose you have heard matters are not so bad as we -feared?” said the General, turning to Dick. - -“Yes, sir; thank Heaven. Can I see Alexander?” - -“Why, I have not seen him myself yet, except at a distance and covered -up in swaddling bands. Tredegar here turned me out of the room before I -could get near the bedside.” - -“Invited you out; brought you here, General,” said Francis, -deprecatingly. - -“It amounts to the same thing, my dear fellow,” said the General, -good-humoredly. “Tredegar was Alexander’s second in this mad affair,” he -added, turning to Dick. - -“So I supposed on seeing him here,” answered Mr. Hammond. - -“Gentlemen,” said Francis Tredegar, “if you will excuse me for a moment, -I will go in and see my patient, and then come back and let you know -whether you also can see him with safety.” - -“Go, Francis,” said the General, waving his hand. - -Tredegar went out, and after a few moments returned and said: - -“He seems to be sleeping soundly, or else to be sunk into a deep stupor; -indeed I am not physician enough to say which. But in either case, I -think, if you come in quietly, you can do him no harm.” - -Then they all went into the wounded man’s chamber and stood at his -bedside, and looked at him. - -There he lay, less like a sick or wounded patient than the laid-out -corpse of a dead man. His hair was cut short and his head bandaged with -wet linen cloths. His face was deadly pallid, with a greenish white hue; -his eyes were closed and sunken; his lips compressed; and his features -still and stiff. His chest was also bandaged with wet linen cloths, and -his shoulders and chest wrapped in a sheet instead of a shirt, for the -convenience of frequently changing the dressings of his wound. His form -was still and stiff as his features. - -On seeing this ghastly sight, Dick uttered an irrepressible exclamation -of horror. Even the veteran-soldier groaned. - -“It is not half as bad as it looks,” said Francis encouragingly. “There -is nothing in the world makes a man look so death-like as these white -swaddling-clothes, that put us in mind of winding-sheets. The surgeon -says he will do well.” - -“Ah? who is attending him?” inquired the General. - -“Prince Ernest left his own physician here to look after him. He is -Doctor Dietz, a graduate of one of the medical colleges of Vienna—which, -I am told, are now really the best, and are destined soon to be -acknowledged as the best medical schools in the world.” - -“And this eminent surgeon says that the wounded man will do well?” - -“These were his very words.” - -“That is satisfactory.” - -“And now, General, that you have seen your nephew, I think we had better -all adjourn to the parlor. Our patient wants all the air in this room -for himself,” advised Mr. Tredegar. - -When they went back to the parlor, Dick turned to Francis Tredegar, and -said: - -“You will let us have the use of this room for an hour or two, until we -settle what we are to do next.” - -“Why, certainly. The room is your own. At least it is Alick’s, which is -_now_ exactly the same thing, since he is lying helpless and you are his -next of kin. Shall I retire? Do you wish to be alone?” - -“By no means. I only want to order breakfast up here. We have been up, -walking or driving over the country in pursuit of the duelists, since -six o’clock this morning, and it is now eleven, and we have had nothing -to eat and are famished.” - -“Oh, by the way, I ought to have thought of that! allow me!” exclaimed -Francis Tredegar, starting up and ringing the bell. - -“Breakfast for three, immediately. Serve it in this room, and bring the -best you have that is ready,” he ordered, as soon as the waiter showed -himself. - -The cloth was soon laid and the table spread. And our friends sat down -to an excellent meal of rich coffee and fragrant tea; milk, cream and -butter of such excellence as can be found nowhere else in the world; -fish just out of the sea, beefsteak, chickens, French rolls and English -muffins. - -“Dick, my dear fellow,” said the General, as they lingered over the -delicious repast, “one of us must remain here to look after Alick, and -the other must go back to London to take care of little Lenny and the -young women.” - -“Yes, sir; and I will be the one to go or to stay, whichever you shall -decide. And pray think of your own ease and health, my dear sir, before -you do decide,” answered Hammond. - -“You are a very good fellow, Dick, a very good fellow. But I believe -reason and judgment must settle the matter. I will remain here to look -after my nephew. He will not be likely to quarrel with me when he sees -me, as he might with you if he should find you by his side when he comes -to himself. And, besides, I think this quiet, pretty seaside town will -agree with me after the hurly-burly of London. And lastly and mostly—it -is _you_ who ought to go back to town for your wife’s sake.” - -“All right, my dear sir; it shall be as you please. I confess I like -this arrangement best; but if you had said, ‘Dick, go and I will stay,’ -or ‘Dick, stay and I will go,’ I should have obeyed you without a -moment’s hesitation, as a soldier obeys his commanding officer.” - -“I know you would, my boy, therefore it behooves me to consider your -interests before I make a decision.” - -“And now let us see about the time of starting, I must return in the -yacht, of course.” - -“Of course.” - -“Then it will depend upon the tide. I had better go down, and see the -master.” - -“Yes, I think you had.” - -Dick Hammond took his hat and went down to the yacht. - -Captain Wallace was not on board when Mr. Hammond reached the deck. The -captain was taking a holiday by walking through the town, and probably -solacing himself with a pipe and a bottle of brandy at some favorite -resort where the old mariner was well known. - -So Dick had to wait an hour or two for his return. - -When Wallace came back Dick soon discovered that he was well posted up -in regard to the event, which was then the one topic of conversation at -every coffee room in the town. - -“And so you were too late to stop the duel, sir?” were almost the first -words the master of the yacht spoke to Dick. - -“Yes; but the affair did not terminate so fatally as might have been -apprehended.” - -“No, so I hear—so I hear! And the wounded gentleman was your kinsman, -sir?” - -“Yes.” - -“Shall you take him over to England?” - -“Oh, no. He cannot be moved at present. My uncle will remain here to -look after him; but I return at once, or as soon as the tide will -serve.” - -“That will be about nine o’clock.” - -“Can you be ready to make sail by that time?” - -“Yes, sir; the yacht is yours for the time it is hired.” - -“Then we will sail at nine. I will be here punctually at that hour.” - -“All right, sir.” - -Dick Hammond returned to the hotel, where he arrived about one o’clock. -He spent the day and dined with his uncle and his friend. - -At half-past eight o’clock he paid his last visit to the bedside of his -cousin, in whom, as yet, there appeared but little change. - -And then he took leave of all and went down to the yacht; and at a few -minutes after nine the “Flying Foam” made sail for England. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII. - A SHOCK. - - What is life? ’Tis like the ocean, - In its placid hours of rest,— - Sleeping calmly, no emotion - Rising on its tranquil breast. - - But, too soon, the heavenly sky - Is obscured by Nature’s hand; - And the whirlwind, passing by, - Leaves a wreck upon the strand.—ANONYMOUS. - - -“A black cloud, that! rising over yonder—we shall have dirty weather -to-night,” said the master of the “Flying Foam,” coming to the side of -Dick Hammond, as the latter stood leaning over the bulwarks of the yacht -and looking out upon the receding town and shores of St. Aubins. - -Dick raised his eyes to a long black line just visible above the heights -of Noirmont, and then said: - -“Yes; I think it looks threatening; but the ‘Flying Foam’ is a -sea-worthy little craft, I suppose?” - -“Bless you, yes, sir! I’ve seen her ride safely over seas that would -have swamped a ship of the line,” answered the master, as he went -forward to make ready for the expected “dirty weather.” - -And dirty weather it was, though not so “dirty” as to endanger the -safety of the yacht. - -The cloud arose, and spread, and covered the whole face of the heavens -as with a black pall, in strange and terrible contrast to the surface of -the sea, now lashed into a white foam. A driving storm of wind and rain -came on. - -Dick, who much preferred the comfortable to the sublime, left the deck -and went below to smoke and read by the light of the cabin lamp. But, -after one or two attempts, he found the reading process quite -impracticable by the motion of the vessel, and so he gave it up. - -After a while, he was joined by the master, who had left the deck in -charge of his mate. - -“It has turned into a settled rain that will last all night,” said -Captain Wallace, as he took the chair Dick pushed towards him; for Dick, -as one of the parties hiring the yacht, was king of the cabin. - -“Disagreeable, but not dangerous,” was Dick’s cool comment as he pushed -his case of cigars toward his guest. - -“Thank you, sir; but, if you don’t mind, I’ll take my pipe,” said -Captain Wallace, who soon comprehended that he might take liberties with -this good-humored young man who was but too ready to fraternize with the -first companion fortune favored him with. - -And there the two men sat and smoked through the first hours of the -dismal night. - -At midnight, they turned in. - -Dick slept long and well. It was late in the morning when he awoke. -Judging from his previous day’s experience, he thought the yacht must be -in port or near it. He dressed himself quickly, and went on deck. He -found himself still at sea. A slow, steady rain was falling, and dark -clouds closed in the horizon. The dismal night had been followed by a -dismal day; and the worst of it was, that he could not sleep through the -day as he had slept through the night. - -“Good morning to you, sir! a dark sky!” said the master, coming up to -his side. - -“Yes. Are we near port?” - -“Within twenty miles.” - -“How fast are we going?” - -“How slow, you mean? The wind is against us—we are not making more than -four knots an hour.” - -“At that rate, we shall not make Southampton in less than five hours. -Let me see,” said Dick, consulting his watch,—“it is now ten o’clock. We -shall not, at this rate, get in before three.” - -“No, sir; but you’ll have some breakfast now?” - -“Thanks, yes! it will help to pass the time, at least.” - -The master beckoned a boy, and sent a message to the steward. - -And, in half an hour afterwards the appetizing breakfast of the yacht -was served; and Dick did his usual justice to the meal. - -Afterwards he killed the time as well as he could by reading a little, -talking a little, and smoking a little. - -Affairs also turned out rather better than he had expected. At noon the -wind changed, the sky cleared, the sun shone out, and the “Flying Foam,” -with all her sails set, skimmed over the seas towards England at the -rate of eleven knots an hour. - -At one o’clock she dropped anchor at Southampton. - -Dick settled his last scores with the master,—who was master afloat, and -agent ashore,—and then he inquired: - -“Do you know anything about the up train, captain?” - -“There is an express train starts at a quarter before two, and there is -not another train until five,” answered the master. - -“I’ll take that train,” exclaimed Dick. - -And he made all his own little preparations, and he hurried the men that -were getting out the boat to take him ashore. - -As soon as he stepped on shore, he ran and called a cab, jumped into it, -and, having given his hasty order, was driven rapidly to the station. He -was just in time to secure his ticket, spring into a half-empty -carriage—and not a moment to spare before the express started. - -It was not until the train was in motion and his own hurry was over, -that he recollected one or two things that might have been attended to -had he chosen to wait a few minutes. First and nearest, he might have -taken his change from the cabman, whose fare was half a crown, and to -whom he had thrown half a sovereign. - -But Dick did not the least regret that neglect. - -And then he might have called at the International to see if any letters -had been left for him. But neither, upon reflection, did Dick regret -this neglect. He considered it was not probable any letters were -awaiting there; or, if there were, that they should be of much -importance; or, even if so, whether he were not doing the very thing -that should be done under such supposatory circumstances, namely, -hurrying back to London by the express train. So, upon the whole, Dick -was glad he forgot to lose time and miss the express by calling at the -International to inquire for letters. - -The train flew on with its usual lightning rate of speed and at five -o’clock reached its station in London. - -He got out upon the platform, carpet-bag in hand, and began to look for -a cab, when he heard a little voice calling: - -“Dit! Dit! oh, Dit! tome here, Dit!” - -In great surprise he looked about him, confidently expecting to see -little Lenny and Pina, and perhaps Anna and Drusilla, come to the -station on the chance of meeting him. - -But he saw no one that he knew. And though he plunged into the crowd -seeking the owner of the little voice in the direction from which he had -heard it, he saw nothing of either little Lenny or his nurse. - -At length, thinking that he had been mistaken, he gave up the quest, and -took a cab for Trafalgar Square. - -Afterwards he recollected, as a dream or a vision, the momentary -flitting through the crowd of a ragged woman with a child in her arms. - -But at the instant of seeing these, he had not dreamed of connecting -them in any way with the voice he had heard. With something of that -vague anxiety we all feel in returning home, even after a short absence, -Richard Hammond hurried to Trafalgar Square. - -As soon as he reached the Morley House, he sprang from the cab, tossed a -crown piece to the cabman, and without waiting for the change, ran into -the house and up to his apartments. - -He went straight to the drawing-room, where he found Anna sitting in the -window seat. - -She turned, and with an exclamation of pleasure started up to meet him. - -“Oh, Dick I am so glad you have come back! What news? How did it all -end?” she breathlessly inquired as she threw herself into his arms. - -“In two words—not fatally,” he answered as he embraced her. - -“Thank Heaven for that! You were in time, then?” - -“No, not in time to prevent the meeting. It had taken place a few -minutes before our arrival at St. Aubins. By the way, it was not to -Guernsey, but to Jersey, that the duelists went. We found out the -mistake in the telegram as soon as we reached Southampton. We were -fortunate in being able to hire a yacht and pursue them to St. Aubins.” - -“But you did not reach there in time to prevent the duel?” - -“No, it had already taken place, as I told you.” - -“But with what result—with what result? Oh, Dick, why can’t you speak -and tell me?” - -“My dear, I did tell you,—with no fatal result.” - -“But with a serious one. Oh, Dick, what was it? Has poor Alick got -himself into trouble by——shooting that Austrian acrobat?” - -“No, nonsense! Have more respect for a prince than to call him an -acrobat, if he does jump about when he is angered. He was not hurt—he -was not touched. Alick was too much excited to aim steadily, I suppose, -so his ball went—Heaven knows where. But——” - -“But Alick himself,—was he wounded?” - -“Alick was wounded in the chest by a ball and in the back of the head by -a sharp stone upon which his head struck in falling. Neither of the -wounds is considered dangerous. I left him in good hands in the St. -Aubins hotel.” - -“But my grandfather—where is he? Why doesn’t he come up? Of course he -returned with you?” - -“No, he remained in St. Aubins to look after Alick.” - -“Oh, Dick he remained there! Then he never received our telegram!” said -Anna, turning pale. - -“Your telegram! No! What telegram? We received none. What has happened, -Anna?” demanded Richard Hammond, becoming alarmed. - -“Oh, Dick, I thought you knew,” cried Anna dropping into a chair and -bursting into tears. - -“In the name of Heaven what has happened? You are well. But where is -Drusilla? Where is little Lenny? I don’t see either of them!” - -“Oh Dick! Dick! little Lenny is—LOST,” replied Anna, uttering the last -word with a gasp, and sobbing hysterically. - -“Lost! Good Heaven, Anna, little Lenny lost?” repeated Dick, changing -color. - -“Yes, yes, yes! lost since day before yesterday afternoon—lost since the -very day you left. We telegraphed to you the same day. We hoped you -would receive the telegram immediately on your arrival at Southampton; -and I who knew that you were going further, hoped that at least you -would get it on your return. Oh, Dick!” - -“Lost since the day before yesterday, and not found yet,” repeated -Richard Hammond, in amazement and sorrow. - -“Oh, yes, oh, Dick. We have not seen him since—since _you_ yourself saw -him last. Oh, Dick, he never returned from that walk you and grandpa -sent him to take, to get him and Pina out of the way, you know,” sobbed -Anna. - -“It would kill my uncle!” exclaimed Richard. “It would kill him! But, -good Heaven! how did it all happen? I don’t understand it at all. I can -hardly believe it yet. Compose yourself, Anna, if you can, and tell me -all about it.” - -With many sobs Anna told the story of little Lenny’s abduction, as far -as it was known to herself, and also described the measures that had -been taken for his recovery, but taken, so far, without effect. - -“But his poor young mother,—how does she bear it? and where is she now?” -inquired Dick. - -“Oh, Dick, poor Drusilla! I do fear for her life, or her reason, in this -horrible suspense, worse than death! Nothing but her unwavering faith in -Providence has saved her from insanity or death,” wept Anna. - -“But where is she now?” repeated Dick. “Can I see her?” - -“You cannot see her until her return. She is out looking for her child. -She is always out looking for him. She takes a cab at daylight in the -morning, and drives out through the narrow streets and lanes of the -city, keeping watch all the time from the cab windows, entering into all -the houses she is permitted to visit, inquiring of the people about her -lost child, offering them heavy rewards for his recovery, pointing them -to the posters in which his person is described and the great reward -offered and setting as many people as she can at work to search for him. -Twenty hours out of the twenty-four she spends in this way.” - -“But this will kill her.” - -“I think it will. She scarcely eats, drinks or sleeps. She does nothing -but look for her child and weep and pray. When she has worn out a -cab-horse, she comes back here to get a fresh one; and then I make her -drink a little tea or coffee. At twelve or one o’clock in the night, -when the houses are all shut up, she comes back here and throws herself -down upon the bed to watch and pray, and perhaps to swoon into a sleep -of prostration that lasts till morning. Then at four or five o’clock she -is up and away upon the search.” - -“Poor child! poor child! such a life will certainly soon kill her.” - -“I sometimes think the sooner it does so the better for her. Her misery -makes my heart bleed. I wonder how any woman can suffer the intense -anguish of suspense she endures and live and keep her senses.” - -“Anna, why do you not accompany her when she goes out?” inquired Dick, -with some surprise. - -“Why, don’t you suppose that I do? What do you take me for, Dick? I have -always gone with her until this last trip. When we returned home at four -o’clock, to get a fresh horse, she took it into her poor head that you -and uncle would certainly arrive by the five o’clock train from -Southampton, and so she made me stay to receive you.” - -“And, you say, Anna, that Alick is suspected of being concerned in this -abduction?” - -“Yes, but I do not know that Drusilla suspects him very strongly now. -Pina first suggested it, and we seized on the idea with eagerness. It -was so much more comforting to think that he was safe with his father -than in danger anywhere else.” - -“But, you see, that is impossible. His father is lying seriously -wounded, several hundred miles away.” - -“Yes, that is the worst of it; for, if Alick should have employed these -men to steal little Lenny from his mother, it is almost fatal to the -child’s safety that the father should not have been here to have -received him from his abductors.” - -“And yet that may be the very case! Alick, in his madness, since he was -mad enough for anything, may have engaged these men to abduct the boy -for him. If so, he must have forgotten the danger to which the child -would be exposed in the event of this abduction being completed during -his own absence or after his death. And so he must have gone down to -Jersey to fight his duel, leaving little Lenny exposed to all the -dangers he had invoked around him. It is dreadful to think of! If -Alexander Lyon were not morally insane, he would be a demon!” - -“To do such a thing as this? But we are not by any means sure he _did_ -do it, Dick!” - -“No, there is a ‘reasonable doubt,’ as the lawyers have it.” - -“And Alick should be communicated with immediately, so as to be posted -in regard to his son’s danger, whether he has had any hand in it or not. -If he _has_ had anything to do with it, he will certainly, under the -circumstances, give us the clue to recover him, for he cannot wish the -boy to remain in the hands of such people. If he knows nothing about the -abduction, and learns it first from us, still he will render what aid he -can in recovering the boy. We _did_ telegraph him to this effect at -Southampton, but of course he missed _his_ telegram as you did yours. -But now he must be consulted by letter immediately—write at once, Dick, -so as to save this mail,” said Anna, breathlessly. - -“My darling, you talk so fast I can’t keep pace with you or even get in -a word edgeways,—Alick is not in a condition to receive or understand -any sort of communication, and will not probably be so for some days to -come. I left him in a state of complete insensibility, resulting from -the wound in the back of his head.” - -“Good gracious, Dick! and you said he was not fatally, or even -dangerously wounded!” cried Anna, aghast. - -“And I gave the opinion of the eminent surgeon who is in attendance upon -him. A man may be so ill as to be incapable of attending to anything, -and yet may not be in any danger at all. But tell me, Anna, have you -taken the detectives into your confidence entirely upon this subject, -and put them into possession of all the facts of the case and all your -suspicions as well? You know you ought to have done it.” - -“And we _have_ done it! For a short time, Drusilla shrank terribly from -breathing a suspicion that her husband was probably concerned in the -taking off of her child; but, when it became evident that little Lenny’s -recovery depended upon the detectives having the full knowledge of all -the circumstances attending it, she commissioned me to tell them as much -as was really necessary, but entreated me to spare Alick even if I did -it at her expense. So I told the detectives everything—everything! They -know as much about it as you do; for, in Drusilla’s and little Lenny’s -cause, I would not have spared Alick, to have saved his soul, much less -his character.” - -“And did these skilful and experienced officers share in your suspicions -of the father’s complicity in the abduction?” - -“No, strangely enough, they did not. These people have a noble respect -for a lord—Heaven save the mark! They think Lord Killcrichtoun would -never have stooped to such an under-handed act, when he might have taken -the boy with the high hand of the law.” - -“Humph! Did they suggest anything themselves? Having told you what -_didn’t_ become of the boy, did they suggest what _did_?” - -“Yes, they really did! they suspected—just imagine it,—that the child -had been stolen for the sake of his clothes, just as a dog is sometimes -stolen for the sake of his collar!” - -“Ah, Anna, I pin my faith on the experienced officers. I am inclined now -fully to exonerate Alick and be guided by the detectives. Now I begin to -see light—now I understand what occurred to me at the railway station!” -said Dick, significantly. - -“‘What occurred to you at the railroad station,’ Dick? Oh, Dick! what -was that? Anything that concerned little Lenny?” eagerly inquired Anna. - -“I should think it did concern little Lenny. As truly as I live, Anna, -when I reached town this afternoon and stepped out upon the platform, -and while I was looking around for a cab, I heard little Lenny’s voice -calling me!” - -“Oh, Dick! You didn’t!” - -“As I live I did! He called me as he was accustomed to call me—‘Dit! -Dit! Oh, Dit, tome here!’” - -“Oh! why _didn’t_ you answer him? Why _didn’t_ you go after him and -rescue him and bring him home?—Perhaps you did! Perhaps you have only -been playing ignorance to tease me! Oh, Dick, don’t do it! If you have -got little Lenny, tell me so!” said Anna, earnestly, clasping her hands. - -“My poor wife, I wish for your sake and his unhappy mother’s, that I had -the boy here; but I have not. Listen to me——” - -“But _why_ haven’t you got him here! If you heard his dear little tongue -calling you, Dick, why in the world didn’t you fly to him and seize him -and bring him home to his almost distracted mother! _Why didn’t_ you, -Dick?” demanded Anna, ready to cry with an accession of vexation. - -“My darling Anna, listen to me, will you? In the first place not having -received your telegram, I had no suspicion whatever that Lenny was lost, -else of course I should have been on the _qui vive_ to find him, and -should have followed the voice until I should have got possession of -him. But when I first heard him calling me in his strong, cheerful, -peremptory little tones, I looked around, fully expecting to see you, -Drusilla, the boy and his nurse all come out in force to meet me at the -station. But when I failed to see little Lenny or any of you, I -considered myself the victim of an auricular illusion.” - -“But you do not now?” - -“No, indeed. I feel sure it was Lenny whom I heard calling me. And since -you have told me of the abduction and of the detective policeman’s -theory of it, I recall to mind the figure of a disreputable looking -woman with a child in her arms hurrying out of sight in among the crowd. -I remember that the woman’s back was towards me and that a shawl was -thrown over the child’s head. I had but a glimpse of them as they -slipped into the crowd.” - -“Oh, Dick! Dick! if you had but known! What a fatality!” - -“It was indeed. But now I must go and give this information into -Scotland Yard, that the detectives may institute a thorough search in -the neighborhood of the railway station where I saw him.” - -“Shall I tell Drusilla?” - -“Well, let me see:—No, not just yet. I must think about it first. It -might increase her anxiety.” - -“But it would assure her that her child is alive and well and in the -city.” - -“Yes; that is true. Yet you better not tell her until my return. She -would be consumed with anxiety to see the one who had really seen and -heard little Lenny, and to hear from him all about it. Don’t you -understand?” - -“Of course; but don’t be gone long, Dick. Hurry back as fast as you can, -and perhaps you may get here as soon as she does.” - -“I will lose no time.” - -“But you are just off a journey. Won’t you take something before you -go?” - -“No, Anna; I will wait until I get back,” answered Richard Hammond, as -he arose and left the room. - -Leaving Anna pacing the floor in great excitement and impatience, he -went down to the street, threw himself into a hansom and drove -immediately to Scotland Yard. - -There he made his report, and offered from his own means an additional -reward to accelerate the motions of the officers. - -He hurried back to the Morley House and up to the drawing-room, where he -found Anna still pacing the floor. - -She turned suddenly around to meet him. - -“I have started them on the new scent, dear,” he said, throwing himself -wearily into a chair. - -“And you are here, as I hoped, before Drusilla has returned; so she will -not have to wait for her news.” - -As Anna spoke there was the sound of a cab drawing up before the house. -A few minutes after Drusilla entered the room. Her face was deadly white -and her eyes had that wild, wide open, sleepless look seldom seen except -in the insane. And yet Drusilla, in all her agony of mind was far as -possible from insanity. All her anxieties were marked by forecast, -reason, judgment. - -Dick arose, and his countenance and gestures were full of sympathy as he -held out his hands and went to meet her. - -“Oh, Dick! Dick! you have heard of my great loss,” she said, putting her -hands in his. - -“Yes, my dear Drusilla,” he answered, in a voice shaking with the pity -that nearly broke his heart, as he looked upon her great misery. - -“Oh, my Lenny! my Lenny! Oh, my poor little two-year old baby!” she -cried, breaking into sobs and tottering on her feet. - -Dick caught her and tenderly placed her in a chair and stooped before -and took her hands again, saying: - -“Dear Drusa, your little Lenny will be found, he will indeed, my dear.” - -“Oh, I hope so! I believe so!—but this suspense is the most awful -anguish in life! Oh, where is he _now_? _Now_ at this moment, where is -my poor little helpless babe? In whose hands? Suffering what?” - -Her look as she said this was so full of unutterable sorrow that Dick -could restrain himself no longer. - -“Dear Drusa, dear Drusa,” he said holding her hands, “your child, -wherever he is, is not suffering; he is well and cheerful. I know it.” - -She looked up suddenly as a wild joy flashed over her face, for she had -sprung to a too natural conclusion. - -“Oh, Dick, you have found him! You have found my boy! Oh, tell me so at -once! Oh, don’t try to _break_ such news to me as that is! Joyful news -may be told at once! it never kills! And now you see I know you have -found my baby! Oh, bring him to me at once! Where is he? In my room?” - -She had spoken rapidly and breathlessly, and now she started up to hurry -to her chamber, expecting to find her child there. - -Dick gently stopped her. - -“Dear Drusilla, I have not got your child. I wish I had,” he began, with -his hand on her arm. - -The look of joy vanished from her face. It had been but a lightning -flash across the night of her sorrow, and now it had passed and left the -darkness still there. - -“_Oh, Dick!_” she groaned, covering her face with her hands and sinking -again into her seat. - -“But, Drusilla, dear, I have a _clue_ to him! I have indeed! And I know -that he is alive and well and cheerful.” - -“Oh, Dick, is this so? Oh, Dick, I know you wouldn’t deceive me, even -for my own comfort, would you now, Dick?” she pleaded. - -“Heaven knows I would not, Drusilla. Your child was alive and well at -five o’clock this afternoon—only two hours ago, for it is now only -seven. And though you cannot now find him in your chamber, you need not -be surprised at any future hour to find him there.” - -“Alive and well two hours ago! You are sure, Dick?” - -“Sure as I am of my own life.” - -“_Where_ was he, then? _Who_ saw him? Who told you?” - -“He was at the railway station in the arms of a poor woman. _I_ saw him, -and _I_ heard him.” - -“Oh, Dick, why did you not bring him to me at once?” - -“Dear Drusilla, I did not then know that he was lost. I had just stepped -from the carriage to the platform, when I heard little Lenny’s voice -calling me in a strong, chirping, authoritative little tone, ‘Dit! Dit! -tome here!’ And I looked around, expecting to see him and all of you -come to meet me. But I saw nothing of any of you. I only saw a poor -woman with a child about Lenny’s age and size covered with a shawl and -in her arms. Her back was towards me, and she was hurrying away through -the crowd. That child was little Lenny, though I did not know it or even -suspect it at the time; for I only glanced at him and turned to look for -little Lenny elsewhere, expecting to find him with his nurse. When I -failed to do so, I thought I had been the subject of an ocular illusion. -But when I came home here, and learned that little Lenny was lost, I -understood the whole thing. And I went immediately to Scotland Yard and -gave the information and set the detectives on the fresh scent. They are -as keen as bloodhounds, you know, and they will be sure to find your -child. So you need not be surprised to see him brought in and laid upon -your lap at any moment.” - -Another lightning flash of joy passed over her face at this -announcement. - -“Oh, Dick! Dick! you give me new life! You saw my child two hours ago! -Did you see his face?” she eagerly inquired. - -“Of course not, else I should have claimed him and brought him home. He -was covered with a shawl, I tell you, and hurried through the crowd. I -did not know he was Lenny till afterwards.” - -“But you heard his voice, and you knew that?” - -“Oh, yes, I knew his voice; but I did not at the moment know where the -voice came from.” - -“Oh, Dick, what was it he said? dear little Lenny! tell me again.” - -Dick repeated the words. - -“And oh, Dick, did he speak sadly, piteously, imploringly as if he was -suffering, and wanted you to relieve him?” - -“No, indeed! quite the contrary! he hailed me in his usual hearty -manner; and commanded me to come to him, just as he is accustomed to -speak to all of us, his slaves, when he is lording it over us and -ordering us around,” said Dick, so cheerfully that he called up a wan -smile upon the poor young mother’s face. - -“Now, I’ll tell you all about it, Drusilla,” pursued Dick confidently. -“The fact is, the child must have been stolen first, for the sake of the -fine lace and gold and coral on his dress; and now he is kept for his -beauty to beg with. No doubt, now that the clue is found, he will be -recovered in a few hours. And I want you to bear this fact in mind—that -you need not be surprised at any moment to see your child brought in and -laid upon your lap. Keep that hope before you, and let it support your -soul through this suspense, and let it prepare you for the event, so -that you may not die of joy when it comes,” said Richard Hammond. - -And certainly he believed himself justified in giving this advice. - -“Dick! dear Dick, you have brought the first crumb of earthly comfort -that has come to me since I lost my little Lenny,” said Drusilla, -gratefully. “But where is uncle?” she asked, suddenly recollecting the -General. - -“He is detained by some business.” - -“He is quite well?” - -“Very well,” answered Dick, cheerfully. - -“And now I hope you will be willing to stay at home and rest just one -evening, dear Drusilla,” added Anna. - -“Oh, don’t ask me to do that, dear Anna! How could I stay home in -inactivity, especially now that I know where to look for him? No, I will -drive down to that neighborhood in which he was seen, and I will search -for him there,” answered Drusilla, firmly and very cheerfully, for hope -had come into her heart again. - -“And Anna and myself will go with you, my dear Drusa, for we have -nothing to do but to devote ourselves to your service until your child -shall be found,” said Dick, affectionately. - -“Then I shall order tea at once, and something substantial along with -it,” said Anna, rising. - -Inspired by the new hope brought to her by Dick, Drusilla’s spirits -rose. - -When tea was placed upon the table, with the “something substantial” -promised by Anna, Drusilla was able to join the party and even to -partake of the refreshment. - -Afterwards, accompanied by her two friends, she got into a cab and drove -to the railway station where Dick had seen little Lenny in the arms of -the strange woman. - -There they drove up and down the streets and roads and in and out among -the lanes, and alleys and inquired at many shops and houses for such a -woman and child, but they neither found nor heard of one or the other. - -To be sure, there were many poor beggar women, and many little -two-year-old children; but they did not answer to the description of -little Lenny and his strange bearer. - -They also found their coadjutors, the detective policemen, in the same -neighborhood, upon the same search. The detectives had had as yet no -better success than their employers; but their hopes were high and their -words encouraging. - -They had great sympathy for the bereaved and anxious young mother, and -they came to her carriage door with expressions full of confidence. - -“We shall be sure to find the little gentleman now, my lady. Now when we -know where to look for him. It is a downright certainty, you know. Why, -Lord love you, sir, there ain’t a woman is this neighborhood as has -heard about the child that ain’t as interested in the search as we are, -and out of downright human motherly feeling too, to say nothing of the -hope of getting the reward. Bless you, my lady, take heart, and don’t -you be taken by surprise any time to see me walk in and put your little -boy in your arms. And if I might be so bold, ma’am, I would recommend -you to persuade her to go home and go to her rest and leave us to follow -up the clue, and just have faith till I bring the young gentleman home,” -said the detective, with his head in the door, and addressing in turn -the three occupants of the carriage. - -“That is what I am telling her,” said Dick, “to wait patiently; or, if -she can’t do that, to wait hopefully until her child is brought home and -laid on her lap.” - -“And now, it is so late, and you have lost so much rest, Drusilla, dear, -that I do think you had better go back, and lie down even if you cannot -sleep,” said Anna, earnestly. - -“Friends, you are so kind to me and so interested in my child’s -recovery, that I owe it to you to follow your advice. So I will put -myself in your hands at least for this evening,” answered Drusilla. - -“That is right, that is right, my dear,” said Dick. - -“And, my lady, take this truth with you to comfort you—that we will -never give up the search until we find the child. We will never give it -up by night or by day till we find him. While some of us gets our -needful bit of food or nap of sleep, the others will be pursuing of the -search till we find him. And when we do find him, my lady, be it -midnight, or noonday, or any other hour of the twenty-four I will bring -him to you,” said the officer, earnestly. - -“Oh, do, do, do! and you shall have half my fortune for your pains—the -whole of it, if you will, and my eternal gratitude besides!” exclaimed -Drusilla fervently clasping her hands. - -“My lady, the reward offered in the hand-bills would set me up for life; -and, though that is a great object, and was my only object at first, it -is not now—it is not indeed! I am most anxious to find the young -gentleman, to give you peace—I am indeed.” - -“I believe you, and I thank and bless you,” said Drusilla. - -And then the policeman touched his hat, and closed the door, and -transmitted Mr. Hammond’s order to the cabman. - -“Home.” - -They drove back to the Morley House. - -And there Dick and Anna made Drusilla take a glass of port wine and a -biscuit, and go to bed. - -All arose very early the next morning. Anna ordered the breakfast, that -it might be ready when Drusilla should come down. - -Dick soon joined her. - -“You will write to grandpa, to-day?” inquired Anna. - -“Not unless little Lenny is found. I dread the effect the news of the -child’s loss would have upon him at his age, and I wish to spare him if -possible,” answered Dick. - -“But if Lenny is not found to-day, and grandpa gets no letter to-morrow, -he will feel very anxious at not hearing from us.” - -“I know it. I must think of some plan by which I can write to him -without alarming him, and bring him home here, before telling him of our -loss. Here we might break the news to him gently; and, if it should -overcome him, here, we can look after him. I will think of some such -plan and act upon it, to-day,” said Dick, anxiously and reflectively. - -While the husband and wife took counsel together, the door opened, and -Drusilla, dressed as for a drive, came in. - -“Good morning, my dear! Did you sleep last night?” anxiously inquired -Anna. - -“A little.” - -“But you are not going out until you have breakfasted, my dear -Drusilla?” said Dick. - -“I have been out for the last three hours, and have just returned,” she -answered. - -“Good Heaven, Drusilla, you will destroy your life, and all to no -purpose! The detectives are all sufficient for this business. You cannot -help them,” urged Anna. - -“I know it; but I cannot rest,” replied Drusilla. - -“You have been to the same neighborhood? You have seen the officers this -morning?” inquired Dick. - -“Yes.” - -“Any news?” - -“None; but the men give me great hopes, and I must trust in God.” - -“Now, Drusilla, don’t go up-stairs,” said Anna. “Take off your bonnet -and shawl here, for here is the waiter, with our breakfast.” - -Drusilla complied with this advice. And they were about to sit down to -the table, when there was heard a hurried step upon the stairs, and the -door was thrown open, and old General Lyon, dusty, travel-stained, pale -and excited, burst into the room. - -“IS THE CHILD FOUND?” he cried to the astonished circle. - -“No; but we have a clue to him,” answered Dick, as soon as he could -recover his self-possession and his breath. - -The old man sank into a chair, covered his face with his hands, and -shook as with an ague fit. - -Anna hastily poured out a cup of coffee and brought it to him. - -“Drink this, dear grandpa, and you will feel better,” she said. - -The old man raised his head and looked at her. - -“How do you do, my dear? I really forgot to speak to you,” he said. - -“Never mind that, dear sir. I am very well. Drink this. It will do you -good,” she urged. - -“You say you have a clue to him?” he inquired, as he mechanically took -the cup from her hand. - -“Yes, grandpa.” - -“Why is not the clue followed up? Why has it not led you to him?” - -“Indeed, it is being very diligently followed up. We are in hourly -expectation of recovering our little Lenny. But, dear sir, please to -drink your coffee. You are very faint, and need it very much.” - -“Where is the poor young mother? Where is Drusa?” he continued. - -Drusilla came and knelt down by his side, and took his disengaged hand, -and looked up in his troubled face and said: - -“She is here, dear uncle; and she trusts in the Lord to restore her -child. But you are sinking with fatigue, and with fasting too, I fear. -Drink your coffee, and we will tell you all we know about our missing -boy.” - -And Drusilla put a great constraint upon herself that she might comfort -him. - -At her request he took the refreshment offered to him, and was certainly -benefited by it. - -And they told him all the particulars of little Lenny’s abduction, and -of the measures that had been taken for his recovery. - -But when he heard of Dick’s adventure at the railroad station, he came -down most unmercifully on that “unlucky dog.” - -“You heard his voice calling you and didn’t go after him!” he -indignantly exclaimed. - -It was in vain that poor Dick explained and expounded; the old man would -hear of no excuses. - -“Sir! do you think if _I_ had heard that helpless infant’s voice calling -_me_, I would not have obeyed it with more promptitude than I ever -obeyed the commands of my superior officer when I was in the army? What -_can_ you say for yourself?” - -Dick had no word to say why sentence of death should not be immediately -pronounced on him. - -But Drusilla came to his relief by turning the conversation and -inquiring: - -“Dear uncle, how was it that you heard of little Lenny’s being lost?” - -“By the newspapers, of course. I was sitting by the bedside of——” - -Here Dick trod slyly upon his uncle’s toe. - -The General stopped short. - -Drusilla perceived that there was a secret between them that must be -kept; so, without suspecting that it concerned herself or her Alick, she -respected it, and turned away her head until the General recovered -himself sufficiently to pursue the subject in another manner. - -“You asked me how I learned little Lenny’s loss, my dear. Well, -yesterday morning I was sitting by the bedside of a friend whom I had -undertaken to look after, when the morning papers were brought to me, -and I saw the advertisement. That was at nine o’clock. There was a boat -left at ten for Southampton, and I took it and reached port at midnight, -I took the first train for London and got here this morning.” - -Such was the General’s explanation, given in the presence of Drusilla. - -It was not until after they had all breakfasted, and he found himself in -his own bedroom alone with Dick, that he was able to make a report upon -Alick’s condition—a report that Dick subsequently transmitted to Anna. - -“Well, his condition is even more precarious than when you left him; -irritative fever has set in, and he is delirious—or was so when I left -him. He had not once recognized me. I know the surgeon thinks him in a -very dangerous condition; although, of course, he will not admit so much -to me. But oh, Dick! the child! the child!” - -“Be comforted, sir. The child was safe and well in this city yesterday. -We have the most skilful and experienced detectives in the world -searching for him, and they will be sure to succeed.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - ALEXANDER STRIKES A LIGHT. - - “A death-bed’s a detector of the heart.” - - -So is a sick bed. A man may have passed through the greatest college in -the world and carried off its highest honors; may have traveled over -every foot of land and sea; may have learned all else that this earth -has to teach him—_yet_ if he has never had a good, dangerous, rallying -spell of illness, his education has been neglected. - -Alexander Lyon had been a strong, arrogant, despotic man, and not from -any _in_ternal force of the spirit, but by the _ex_ternal support of -great physical strength, sound health and large wealth. Of the reverses -of these he had no experience in his own person, and not enough of -sympathy with others to realize them to his own imagination. Poverty, -sickness, death, were to him abstract ideas. He had no personal -knowledge of them. - -True, he had lost both his parents by death; but they were very aged; -and his father had died in an instant, like a man called away on a hasty -journey; and his mother had followed, after a short illness; and their -decease had left upon his mind the impression of absence rather than of -death. - -Certainly, within a few hours before his duel he had been forced to -think of his own possible death, but it was as of a sudden and violent -catastrophe, which in his great excitement he was desperate enough to -brave and meet. - -But he never imagined being wounded and mutilated, and laid helpless and -languishing on a bed of weakness and pain. - -Yet here he was. - -On the third day after that upon which he had been wounded, an -irritative fever set in, and from having been stupid and quiet he became -delirious and violent. - -General Lyon had left him, as we have seen. - -And Francis Tredegar had also, soon after, gone to London on imperative -business. - -And Alexander was now in the hands of the skilful surgeon whom the -magnanimity of Prince Ernest had placed in attendance upon him. And the -surgeon was assisted by the valet Simms and by the servants of the -hotel. - -For eight terrible days the wounded man burned with fever and raved with -frenzy. For eight days, within his broken and agonized frame, an almost -equal struggle between the forces of life and death went on. But, by the -aid of his strong constitution and of his skilful surgeon, life at -length prevailed over death. - -It was about the dawn of the critical ninth day, that the fever finally -left him. - -The surgeon, who, on that particular night, had watched by his bed, was -the first to perceive the signs of reviving life, in the moisture of the -sleeper’s hands and the moderated pulsations at his wrists. - -“The imminent danger is over now. He will live and recover,—unless he -should have a relapse, which we must try to prevent,” said Doctor Dietz -to Simms, the valet, who had shared his watch. - -Simms, who, for the last nine days, had never once been in bed, but had -snatched his sleep when, where, and how he could,—sitting, standing, and -even walking—yawned frightfully, and said he was glad to hear it, and -asked if he might now lie down. - -The surgeon told him that he might not; that yet, for a few hours, he -must watch beside his master; afterwards, when his master should awake, -he (the man) should be relieved. - -And, so saying, the surgeon went away, to get some sleep for himself. - -And Simms lay back in the best easy-chair, just vacated by Doctor Dietz, -and stretched his feet out on the best footstool, and closed his eyes in -slumber. - -And the only watcher beside the wounded man was the All-seeing Eye. - -But all the danger was over,—the fever was cooled, the frenzy calmed, -and the patient slept on,—all the more quietly, perhaps, because his -attendant slept also and the room was so still. - -It was, I said, just at the dawn of day and about four o’clock, when -Doctor Dietz pronounced the crisis favorably passed, and then left him. - -At eight o’clock the surgeon returned to the sick-room, where he found -both master and man still asleep. - -Without waking Simms, he went around to the other side of the bed, and -examined the state of Alexander. His former opinion was now confirmed. -The patient was sleeping calmly and breathing softly. His pulse was -regular and quiet, and his skin cool and moist. - -“It is a decided convalescence,” said the surgeon to himself. - -And then, fearing to wake up the attendant lest he should disturb the -patient, the doctor himself went about on tiptoes, putting out the night -taper, opening the windows, and setting the room somewhat in order. - -Then he went down-stairs to get his own breakfast and to order some -proper nourishment to be prepared for the wounded man to take as soon as -he should awake. - -When he again returned to the room he found Simme awake and sitting -upright in the chair. - -The doctor raised his finger to warn the valet not to speak or make a -noise, lest he should disturb the sleeper and then signed him to leave -the room. - -And the valet gladly took himself away. - -Doctor Dietz seated himself beside his patient to watch for his -awakening. As it is neither useful nor entertaining to sit and stare a -sleeper in the face, the surgeon took out a newspaper from his pocket -and began to read, lifting his eyes occasionally to look at his charge. -But at length he got upon several columns of highly interesting -editorial treating upon the politics of Prussia, and he became so -absorbed in the subject that he read on, forgetting to glance at his -patient for fifteen or twenty minutes. He might have gone on for thirty -or forty minutes more without lifting his eyes from the paper had he not -heard his name whispered. - -With a slight start he turned and looked at his charge. - -Alexander Lyon was lying awake and calmly contemplating his physician. - -Doctor Dietz dropped his paper and bent over his charge. - -“You are better?” he said, quietly. - -Alexander nodded. - -“How do you feel?” - -“Weak.” - -“How long have you been awake?” - -“Two—or three—hours—I think. I don’t know,” whispered Alick, feebly and -with pain and difficulty. - -“Oh no!” said the surgeon, taking out his watch and consulting it—“not -near so long as that, though it may seem so to you; not more than -fifteen or twenty minutes at the most.” - -And Doctor Dietz put up his watch and took hold of the wrist of his -charge. - -“I’ve—been ill—long—long,” whispered Alick, looking up from his dark, -hollow, cavernous eyes. - -“No; there again you are mistaken. You have been down little more than a -week. But it is always so when there has been a period of -semi-consciousness. The patient loses all calculation of time, and on -recovery either fancies that no time at all, or else a very long period, -has elapsed during his illness. But now listen to me. You are very much -better, and you are on the high road to a speedy recovery. But you must -not, as yet, exert yourself at all. You must not even speak, except when -to do so is absolutely necessary, and then you must only whisper. -Whenever you can answer by a nod, or a shake of the head, or whenever -you can make your wishes known by signs, do so, instead of speaking. You -must spare your lungs as much as possible. If you follow my direction in -this it will be the best for you. Will you do it? Mind, _nod_, if you -mean yes.” - -Alexander nodded. - -“That’s right. And now—do you feel hungry or thirsty?—Stop! don’t answer -that question, because I didn’t ask it right, and you can’t answer it -without speaking. I will put it in another form. Do you feel hungry?” - -Alexander nodded. - -“And thirsty?” - -Alick hesitated a moment and then nodded. - -“Ah! I understand. You are quite sure you are hungry; but you are not so -very sure that you are thirsty. And upon the whole you feel as if you -would like something to eat and to drink as well. Just as we all feel -about breakfast time, eh?” - -Alexander nodded and smiled. - -“Quite right,” said the surgeon. - -And then he rang the bell. - -“Would you like black tea, cream toast, and poached eggs?” inquired the -surgeon. - -He was answered by the regulation nod. - -The waiter came, and received the surgeon’s orders to prepare the -required refreshments and to send the valet to the room. - -And when Simms entered, and while waiting for the breakfast to be -prepared, the surgeon, assisted by the valet, changed the dressings of -the patient’s wounds, and made him clean and fresh and comfortable, so -that he might be able to enjoy the delicate repast that had been ordered -for him. - -After his change of clothes, and his nourishing breakfast, he was laid -down again upon fresh pillows, and his bed was tidied and his room -darkened, and he himself was enjoined to rest. - -And rest was of vital importance to him; for though his wounds were now -doing well, yet the effort to speak, or to move, was still not only -difficult and painful, but very injurious and even dangerous to his -lacerated chest. So he was enjoined to rest. - -Rest? - -His bed was fresh and fragrant, and on it there might be rest for the -pain-racked, wearied body. But what rest could there be for the newly -awakened mind and startled conscience? - -Lying there in forced inactivity, in his half-darkened chamber, unable -to read, forbidden to talk, with nothing to engage his attention -without, his thoughts were driven inward to self-examination. He struck -a light and explored the gloomy caverns of his own soul. What he found -there, appalled him. There were devilish furies, ferocious beasts, -poisonous reptiles, gibbering maniacs—these were the forms of the -passions that had possessed him, that still possessed him; but they were -lethargic or sleeping now. Should he—could he cast them entirely out -while they were so quiescent? - -And there were their victims and his own—the bleeding forms of wounded -love; the fallen image of dethroned honor; the ghastly skeletons of -murdered happiness. - -What a city of desolation, what a valley of Gehenna, was this -sin-darkened soul! - -He groaned so deeply that the surgeon came to his side. - -“Where is your pain?” - -Alexander shook his head; he could not tell. - -The surgeon examined the wounds, but found them doing very well; and he -changed their dressings, but this did not seem to do much good. - -The doctor wondered that his patient still suffered so much. He could -not understand any better than Macbeth’s physician, how to minister to -“a mind diseased.” - -The convalescence of the wounded man was not nearly so rapid or assured -as his surgeon had hoped and expected. How could it be, when he was so -haunted by memory and tortured conscience? In these long still days and -nights on the sick-bed in the dark chambers, he was forced to look back -upon his own life, to judge his own deeds. What had they been? What were -they now? False and cruel he pronounced the one and the others—false and -cruel his deeds, darkened and ruined his life. - -But out of all the gloom and horror shone brightly one form—holy as a -saint, lovely as an angel—the form of his injured wife. Oh, with what an -intense and vehement longing he longed for her presence!—longed for it, -yet feared it—feared it, though in the image that he saw in “his mind’s -eye” the whole face and form glowed and vibrated with compassion and -benediction. Blessing brightened the clear brow; pity softened the dark -eyes; love, love unutterable curved the lines of the crimson lips. - -Was it strange that he should have seen her only in this light? - -Remember, he who had loved her and made her happy, and had wronged her -and made her wretched—he had seen her beautiful face beaming with -heavenly happiness, or quivering with anxiety, or darkened by despair; -but he had never—never once seen it distorted by passion. - -Oh, how he longed for the beautiful vision to be realized to him—longed -and feared! - -What would he not have given to have had her then by his bedside? He -felt how soft and cool her fingers would fall upon his fevered forehead; -he saw how lovingly her eyes would look on him; he heard how sweetly her -tones would soothe him. - -Yet it was not for all this he wanted her at his side. - -It was that he might make what atonement was yet in his power for the -wrongs he had done her; that he might lay his proud manhood low at the -feet of this meek girl, and ask her pardon; that he might take her to -his heart again, and devote his life to make hers happy. - -Oh, that he might do her some great service, and so win her back! - -He wished now that she had been poor, so that he might have enriched -her; or sick, so that he might have taken her all over the world for her -health; or that she had had an enemy, so that he might have killed or -crippled that enemy and dragged him to her feet. And here one of those -crouching furies stirred again in his heart, and a feverish excitement -made him irrational. - -Oh, that she were poor, or ill, or abused, that he might enrich her, or -serve her, or defend her, and so win the right to ask her forgiveness! - -But she was none of these. She was as independent of him as any queen -could be. She was immensely wealthy, perfectly healthy, and highly -esteemed; and, finally, no one had ever abused her but himself; and on -himself only could he take vengeance. He was an utter bankrupt, without -the power of bringing any offering to her feet in exchange for her -mercy. - -When tortured by these thoughts, he would so toss and groan as to raise -his fever and inflame his wounds. And all this very much protracted his -recovery. - -And through all this gloom and horror still he saw the heavenly vision, -like Dante’s angel at the gates of Hell, and still he longed to have it -realized; longed, yet feared; and ever he prayed: - -“Oh! that I could do her some great service! Oh, that the Lord would -take pity on me and give me the power!” - -Alexander, among his other thoughts, of course thought of the duel that -had laid him upon this bed of penance. - -In the natural reaction—the calmness that succeeded to the excitement of -his passions, when reason had opportunity to act—he saw that he had no -just cause for the jealousy that had driven him to one of the maddest -acts of his life. - -That Prince Ernest should have admired Drusilla was not only natural but -inevitable, since every one who was brought into her company did the -same; that he should have testified this admiration with continental -enthusiasm seemed almost excusable; but that his sentiments went -further, or that Drusilla would have tolerated any attentions unworthy -to be received by her, Alexander in his sober senses could not believe. - -Now that like the prodigal of Holy Writ he had come to himself, he -perceived that his jealousy, like every other passion of his soul, had -been insane in its excess and frantic in its exhibition. - -Now how fervently he thanked Heaven that the duel into which his -temporary madness had driven him had not resulted in death to his -adversary and blood-guiltiness to himself. - -But—and this was a very serious question—how had the mad duel affected -Drusilla. - -It was always, he knew, most injurious, even to the most innocent women, -to have her name mixed up in any such matter. - -He himself had been very cautious in this respect; but had others -concerned been equally so? And, above all, had the duel got into the -newspapers, and, if so, with how much exposure of the circumstances? - -Of course he could not tell. He longed to know; yet he shrank from -asking questions. He would have examined the papers, but they were kept -out of his way, and he was forbidden to read. - -Thus in bitter self-communings, in remorse, in suspense and anxiety, the -first days of his convalescence slowly wore away. - -Francis Tredegar had not returned and he had remained in the hands of -the surgeon and the valet. - -And although he was debarred from reading the newspapers, and forbidden -to converse, and so was left in ignorance of the most important matters -that concerned him, yet he had learned something of what had transpired -near him since the mad duel. - -He had partly surmised and partly overheard enough to inform him that -Prince Ernest, a frequent invalid himself, had at some self-sacrifice -dispensed with the invaluable services of his own medical attendant, -that he, Alexander, might have the advantage of that surgeon’s constant -presence at his bedside. And this circumstance led Alexander to a true -appreciation and respect for the Austrian, who was as noble by nature as -he was by descent. - -And there was something else he had to learn. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX. - ALEXANDER’S DISCOVERIES. - - Thou turnest mine eyes into my very soul, - And there I see such black and grained spots, - As will not leave their tinct.—SHAKESPEARE. - - -One morning when he, Alick, seemed better and stronger that usual, the -surgeon seated himself by his bedside and said: - -“I should tell you that you were not forgotten or abandoned by your -family while you were in danger, sir.” - -“By my family——! I have——” Alexander was about to say, “no family,” but -he caught himself in time. - -Come what might, he would not deny Drusilla and her child. - -—“You have an uncle and a cousin, sir,” said the surgeon, finishing -Alexander’s sentence, but not in the manner Alexander had first -intended—“an uncle and a cousin, sir, who were warmly interested in your -welfare. General Lyon and Mr. Hammond, sir! They in some manner received -information of the intended duel; they hired a yacht and followed you -here; but they arrived too late, they found you badly wounded and lying -insensible on this bed. The cousin returned the same day to London; but -the uncle remained here until you showed signs of consciousness and gave -us hopes of recovery, when—being suddenly called away by important -business, of I know not what nature, he too left the island. But before -going he made an arrangement with Mr. Tredegar, by which the last-named -gentleman was to write every day and keep the General advised of the -state of his nephew. Mr. Tredegar kept his part of the compact, I know, -until he also had to leave.” - -Alexander did not reply for some moments; and when he did it was merely -to say: - -“I thank you for telling me this.” - -Alexander fell into deep thought. Here was another enlightenment. Here -was another subject for self-reproach if not for deep remorse. - -The high-toned, tender-hearted old gentleman! The frank and kindly young -man! How noble, pure and loving all their course had been during these -family troubles, in comparison with his own! How they had always stepped -in and saved himself and his victims from the worst consequences of his -violent passions. - -But for General Lyon and Richard Hammond where would Drusilla now have -been? Would she, could she have had the strength, when discarded by him -to have struggled on, through her desolation, unsupported by their -strong and tender manhood? - -Alick groaned and tossed, as he thought of these things. - -In fact he was beginning to see himself and others in a new light. It -seemed to him now that he had wronged everybody who had been brought -into close companionship and intimate relations with himself. - -First, he had wronged his cousin, Anna, his earliest betrothed, in -leaving her for Drusilla; but that was the least of his offenses, since -the betrothal had been neither his work nor Anna’s, nor yet agreeable to -the one or the other. Next, he had wronged—most bitterly wronged—his -young, fond, true wife, whose love and faith had never known the shadow -of turning; and this he now felt to be his greatest sin. And he had -wronged his uncle, the gallant old veteran, who had always cherished him -with a father’s affection. He had wronged his other cousin, that frank, -affectionate, “unlucky dog,” who was always ready to forgive and forget, -and to be as fast friends as ever. He had wronged the noble Prince -Ernest, by assaulting him like a bully, upon no provocation, and driving -him into an unseemly duel. - -Good Heavens! when he came to reckon with himself, whom had he not -wronged whenever he had had the power? - -No wonder he tossed and tumbled on his bed, and raised his fever, and -inflamed his wounds, and protracted his recovery, and in other ways gave -his surgeon a world of trouble. - -But with all, as he had a magnificent constitution,—if that is not too -big a word to apply to a little human organism,—he continued to -convalesce. - -One day he was permitted to sit up in bed for a few moments, and he felt -himself much refreshed by the change of posture. The next day he sat up -a little longer, with increased advantage. - -At length there came a day when the patient was so much better that the -surgeon ventured to leave him in the care of the valet and of the people -of the hotel, and to go for a holiday to the neighboring town of St. -Helier’s. - -That day Alexander sat up in bed, well propped up with pillows, and -waited on by Simms. - -The valet had trimmed him up nicely, and, at his request, had placed a -small glass in his hands that he might look at his face. - -And a very pale, thin, haggard, cadaverous countenance it was to -contemplate. And the clean-shaved chin and the short-cropped hair added -nothing to its attractions. - -“By my life! I look more like a newly-discharged convict than a decent -citizen or anything else,” muttered Alexander to himself as he handed -back the glass. - -“Any more orders, sir?” inquired the valet. - -“No—yes; now that Dietz is off for a holiday, I will take some -recreation too, in my own way—Simms!” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Do you know whether they keep the files of the London papers here in -the house?” - -“I can inquire, sir.” - -“Do so.” - -The valet left the room, and, after an absence of a few minutes, -returned with a pile of newspapers in his hands. - -“Here is a file of the Times for the last month, sir,” he said. - -“Lay them on the foot of the bed where I can reach them, and slip off -the first one and give it to me.” - -“Here it is, sir. It is the twenty-seventh.” - -“That is day before yesterday’s. Is there not a later one?” - -“No, sir; perhaps——” - -“Well?” - -“Perhaps it is in the reading-room, sir. It must have come by the last -boat—yesterday’s Times must, I mean, sir. They tell me they always get -it the day after publication. Shall I go and see if I can find it, sir?” - -“Yes—no,” said Alexander, quickly changing his mind from one purpose to -another, as is often the case with convalescents, and less from caprice -or irresolution than from a momentary forgetfulness of what they really -do want. “No,” he repeated, suddenly remembering that he wished to -ascertain whether any unpleasant notice had been taken of his foolish -duel by the press. “No—I—you needn’t go after the late paper just yet. I -have been laid down here nearly a month, and have fallen so far behind -the world’s news that I must go back and post myself up. I will begin -with the paper following the one I left off with; and I will glance over -them all in turns to see what the world has been doing while I have been -lying here. Give me the paper of the date of the second of June.” - -The valet looked through the file, and handed the required copy. - -“Now leave the others there where I can reach them.” - -“Yes, sir. Any more orders?” - -“No; you may leave the room. I will ring if I should want you.” - -Left to himself, Alexander opened the paper and glanced over its -contents. Column after column, page after page, of that voluminous -journal passed in rapid review before him. But no notice of the duel was -to be found in that number. He threw it aside and took up and as -carefully examined another; but with no better success. Then he took a -third, of the date June fourth, and in it almost the first thing that -met his eye was the paragraph of which he was in search. - -It was under the head “JERSEY,” and it read as follows: - - “An ‘affair of honor’ so called came off yesterday morning, in the - neighborhood of St. Aubins, between His Highness Prince E——t of H——n - and his Lordship Baron K——n of K——n, in which the noble lord was the - challenger. The occasion of the hostile meeting is said to have been a - beautiful young widow, whose debut at the American Ambassadress’ ball - a few days since created such a sensation. Fortunately for the madmen - concerned, the duel did not end fatally for either party. The princely - H——n escaped scatheless and has returned to his own country. The noble - K——n is lying somewhat seriously wounded at St. Aubins, where it is - hoped he will have leisure to repent his folly. Such ‘affairs’ are - relics of barbarism, unworthy of an enlightened community and of the - nineteenth century. Where were the police?” - -You may imagine with what feelings our chivalric Alexander read these -comments. So this was the light in which sensible and law-abiding people -viewed his heroism. - -“As for me,” said he, as he laid the paper down, “it serve me right; but -I am truly sorry that _she_ has been even alluded to in the affair. She -has not been mentioned by name or even by initial, however, and I am -consoled by that circumstance.” - -Then he turned to other parts of the paper, where he found something to -absorb his attention and to drive the memory of the affair from his -mind. - -“Eh! what is this?” - - “‘ONE THOUSAND POUNDS REWARD?’ - -“What state-prisoner has run away now, of such importance that a -thousand pounds is offered for his recovery?” said Alexander, as he -looked more closely at the advertisement. - -“Ah! what’s this? ‘A child lost!’—a—Heaven have mercy on my soul, it is -Drusilla’s child!” he exclaimed, turning even paler that he had been -before, as he read the description of the missing boy. - -“Lost? Lost on the afternoon of the second of June? Let me look at the -date of this paper. It is the fourth. Has he been found yet, I wonder? -He must have been found before this. Let me see—to-day, is the -twenty-ninth. He was lost twenty-six or seven days ago. How long was he -lost? When was he found? I must look over the next papers and judge by -them. Of course the advertisement was discontinued when the child was -found.” - -And saying this to himself, Alexander took up the next paper in -succession, and the next after that, and another and another still, -until he had examined some twenty-three or four more papers. But ah! in -every one of them appeared the advertisement for the lost child. And the -amount of the reward offered was constantly increased. - -In the first half-dozen papers it was one thousand pounds; in the next -it was increased to fifteen hundred; after that it was raised to three -thousand pounds. The last paper he examined was one of the date of June -twenty-seventh, in which the advertisement was still standing. - -“Good Heavens! not found up to the day before yesterday! Missing for -twenty-five days!” exclaimed Alexander, as he turned over and grasped -the bell pull and rang a peal that speedily brought Simms in alarm to -his bedside. - -“It is your wound broke out again, sir?” exclaimed the valet, seeing his -master’s disturbed and excited look. - -“No, it is nothing of the sort. Simms, go down-stairs and see if you can -get me the last number of the Times that has arrived on the island. If -it is not in the reading-room, or in the coffee room, or if anybody else -has it, or in short, if you can’t procure it for me in the house, go out -into the town and try to find it at some bookseller’s or news agent’s. -Be quick, Simms.” - -“Yes, sir, I will,” answered the man, hurrying from the room. - -Alexander sank back upon his pillow to wait for his servant’s return. He -had not to wait very long. - -In less than ten minutes Simms re-entered the chamber, bringing two -papers in his hand. - -“Here is the Times of yesterday morning and the Express of yesterday -evening, sir. I got them both of the news agent close by.” - -“Give them to me!” exclaimed Alexander, eagerly grasping the papers. - -He hastily examined the Times. Yes, there was the advertisement still -standing. He turned to the Evening Express, and there also it stared him -in the face, with a new date, the date of the day of publication, and -with a still higher raised reward. - -Five thousand pounds were now offered to any person or persons who -should restore the child, or give such information as should lead to -restoring him to his distracted mother. - -“Not found up to yesterday evening! Poor Drusilla! poor, poor Drusilla! -and poor little Lenny!” groaned Alick, as his eyes were rivetted upon -the advertisement. - -Then a bright thought struck him; a Heavenly inspiration filled him. His -countenance became eager and irradiated. - -“I will go in search of her child! I will devote all my days and nights, -all my mind and all my means to the search; and I will find him, if he -is not dead. If he is above ground I will find him! And when I find him -I will go and lay him in his mother’s lap and ask her forgiveness, and -she will grant it me for the child’s sake! Oh! I prayed Providence to -give me the power of doing her a service, and now I have got it. It -cannot be but I shall find her child, and so regain her love!” he -murmured. - -Then looking up from his paper he called out: - -“Simms!” - -The valet, who was at the other end of the room engaged in closing the -window blinds to exclude the hot rays of the mid-day sun, turned and -hurried toward the bedside. - -“What o’clock is it, Simms?” - -“A quarter-past twelve, sir,” answered the man, after consulting his -silver timepiece. - -“At what hour did Dr. Dietz say that he would return here?” - -“At ten to-night, sir, unless something unexpected should turn up to -cause you to require his services before that time. In which case, sir, -I was to sent a mounted messenger after him.” - -“Not return until ten o’clock; that is well; for I must get away from -this place to-day; and if he were here he would be sure to oppose my -doing so, and I want no controversy with my kind physician,—Simms!” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Go fetch me a time-table of the boats that leave the Island to-day.” - -Simms vanished, and after an absence of a few minutes returned and said: - -“If you please sir, there are no time-tables. But the head waiter says -as how the only boat that leaves St. Aubins for England is the steamer -that sails for Southampton at ten o’clock every morning.” - -“Is that the only boat?” - -“The only one that leaves St. Aubins, sir; but there is another steamer -leaves St. Helier’s every afternoon at three o’clock for Portsmouth, -sir!” - -“Let me see! How far do they call St. Helier’s from here?” - -“About three miles, sir.” - -“That will do. Go down-stairs and tell them to send me my bill, -including Dr. Dietz’s. And then order a fly to be at the door by two -o’clock. And then pack up my traps and yours as quickly as possible. We -start for England in an hour.” - -The valet stared at his master in speechless astonishment for a moment, -and then gasped: - -“For England, sir!—In an hour, sir!” - -“Yes! Don’t I speak plainly enough? Be quick and do as I tell you.” - -“But, sir, what would the doctor say? You have never left your room yet -since you have been wounded!—scarcely left your bed, sir! Consider your -health, sir? Consider your life!” - -“Consider a fig’s end! There are matters of more moment than my poor -life that demand my presence in England,” said Alexander. - -“But, sir, the doctor said—” - -“Simms! are you my servant, or the doctor’s?” demanded Alexander, -sternly. - -“Yours, sir, of course.” - -“Then obey me at once, or I shall send you about your business.” - -Simms knew that he had a profitable place, and a good master, though a -self-willed one. He had really no desire to oppose him in this or any -other measure. He was heartily tired of this “beastly hole,” as he chose -to call one of the prettiest little maritime towns in the world. So, -after having done his duty and relieved his conscience, by offering a -respectful remonstrance to the proposed exertions on the part of the -invalid, he yielded to circumstances and set himself promptly to work to -obey his master’s orders. - -Alexander wrote a note of thanks and of partial explanation to Doctor -Dietz, enclosed within it a munificent fee, and sent it down to the -office to be handed to the surgeon on his return. - -Alexander was a free man and a sane one. And though the people of the -hotel were greatly astonished at his sudden resolution to travel in his -present invalid condition, and strongly suspected him of running away -from his physician; and though they had every will to stop him, they had -not the power to do so. - -And at two o’clock, all his arrangements having been completed, Alick, -attended by his servant, entered the cab that was to take him to St. -Helier’s. - -He reached there in time to catch the steamer; and at three o’clock he -sailed for Portsmouth. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX. - LITTLE LENNY’S ENEMY. - - Where the haters meet - In the crowded city’s horrible street.—BROWNING. - - -Pina was right in her surmises as to the manner of little Lenny’s -abduction. And he really had been carried off by one of the two men whom -she had detected in watching him. - -And this necessitates the explanation of some circumstances, which, -however, did not become known until some time afterward. - -It not unfrequently happens that the heirs of an estate, or a title long -held in abeyance and supposed to be extinct, are poor and obscure -people, quite ignorant of their connection with, or right in such an -inheritance. - -The claim recently confirmed by the House of Lords is a case in point. -The claim to the barony of Killcrichtoun is another. - -Alexander Lyon was totally uninformed as to his right to the title and -estate of Killcrichtoun until his visit to England and Scotland, when, -in searching the records of his mother’s family, he discovered the facts -that led to his subsequent action in claiming the barony. - -But the investigations that ensued developed other facts, and brought -forward other heirs, or rather one other, who would surely have been the -heir had Alexander been out of existence. - -This was a descendant of a younger sister of that ancestress through -whom Alexander Lyon claimed the title. - -The name of this man was Clarence Everage. He was that most to be pitied -of all human creatures—a poor gentleman, with more children than means -to support them; more mouths to feed than money to find food; more -intellect than integrity; more refinement than firmness. A man now about -thirty-five years of age, with a long, hopeless life before him; a man -with some beauty of person, dignity of presence, and graciousness of -manner; with sensitive feelings, and delicate tastes, and soft white -hands; a man who loved fragrant baths and fresh linen every day; and -cool, clean, quiet rooms to live in; and well-dressed, soft-speaking -light-stepping people about him; and respect and attention and -observance from all who came in contact with him; one who loving to be -happy and comfortable himself, loved still more to make others happy and -comfortable; one naturally more prone to confer favors than to ask them; -more willing to give than to take; naturally rather vain than proud, -sensitive than irritable, and weak than wicked. - -And yet a man who had to live in mean lodgings in a small, dark house, -in a narrow dirty street in the Strand, where in two musty stuffy rooms -he crowded his wife, who was as refined and delicate as himself, and six -little girls, who would have been beautiful had they not suffered so -much from confined air, bad food and scant clothing. - -His position really was not at fault. England, and especially London, is -so fearfully overcrowded; the competition in all trades, professions and -occupations is so hopelessly great. - -He was an usher in a third-rate London school, and he had an income -barely sufficient to support himself in comfort; and of course it will -be said that he ought not to have married. - -Ah! but Nature had fooled him in his youth as she fools so many. And yet -I take that back. I will utter no such blasphemy against Holy Nature. No -doubt Nature is always right, and it is always well that children should -be born, even though they should suffer cruelly and die early, since -they are born for the eternal life, through to which this earthly life -is but a short, rough gateway, soon passed. - -But without excusing themselves with any such hypothesis as this, the -young man and young girl had followed Nature, taken the leap in the -dark, and plunged head—no, _heart_ foremost, into their imprudent -marriage. And the natural consequences ensued. The beautiful children -came as unhesitatingly as if they were entering upon a heritage of -wealth, health and happiness, instead of want, illness, and misery; and -every year added to their number. - -The wretched father groaned for himself and his wife. - -But the gentle mother reminded him that Heaven, in afflicting them with -lighter trials, had always spared them the one great trial that they -never could be able to bear—namely, the loss of their children. Not one -of the little ones had been taken from them. Each and all had fought -valiantly and successfully through measles, whooping-cough, scarlet -fever, and the rest; but whether _because_ of, or in _spite_ of the -cheap quack medicines the impoverished parents poured down their -throats, I cannot say. - -It was when they were expecting their seventh child that Clarence -Everage, who had been hunted out by Alexander Lyon and the lawyers, was -suddenly called from his obscurity to bear witness in the investigation -of Mr. Lyon’s claim to the Barony of Killcrichtoun. - -It was but a link in the chain of evidence that he was to furnish. But -any information he was expected to be able to give was as nothing -compared to the tremendous revelation that was about to be made to -himself. - -He, the poor usher, starving in a miserable third-floor back in -Wellington street, Strand—heir presumptive to a barony!—the ancient -Barony of Killcrichtoun! And but for this intrusive foreigner actually -Baron of Killcrichtoun himself. For be it remembered that Clarence -Everage knew nothing whatever of Alexander Lyon’s wife and child. - -The investigation, as you know, terminated in Alexander’s favor. - -And this witness and self-styled heir presumptive was liberally -remunerated and sent home to his poor lodgings, pale wife and pining -children, to brood over the vicissitudes of this life—to brood until he, -whose temper had through all his trials been sweet, kind and cheerful, -became soured and embittered and sorely tempted. - -What right, he asked himself, had this man—whose branch of the -Killcrichtoun family had been self-expatriated for generations—to come -over here and claim the ancient barony? - -He was not a Scotchman, nor even an Englishman, that should he hold it. - -And what good did it do him, after all? - -Beyond the mere title, the new baron cared little for the inheritance. -He had not even visited Killcrichtoun. While to him the poor usher, what -a god-send, what a treasure, what a paradise it might have been. This -estate which was nothing to the wealthy Virginian, would have been -everything to himself. - -_He_, had he possessed it, would have sold one-half the land to get -funds to cultivate the other half. He would have pulled down the most -ruinous parts of the castle to get materials to build up the better part -of it. And he would have employed the starving tenants of the little -hamlet in repairing his dwelling and tilling his ground, and a part of -the wages he paid them would have come back to himself in the form of -rents. - -He, the despised usher, oppressed by master and chafed by pupils, would -then be lord of the manor, with servants, and tenantry dependent upon -him. - -His poor wife, who was looked down upon by small shopkeepers and snubbed -by her laundress, would be a baroness and “my lady.” - -His pale little girls, bleached by the fogs of London, would grow strong -and rosy on the bracing air of the Highlands. - -All this would happen, if only he, and not this interloping American, -were Baron of Killcrichtoun. - -He brooded too constantly and profoundly over the advantages that must -have accrued to him had he been the fortunate inheritor of -Killcrichtoun, as might have happened had it not been for this -interloping stranger who had no business in the country. - -He felt a morbid interest in the foreigner who was so fortunate as to -succeed to the title, and be able to disregard the small estate that -came with it. - -He took pains to learn as much as possible of Lord Killcrichtoun’s -history. He was often in his lordship’s company, in streets and shops -and other common ground where they could meet on equal terms. He talked -much _to_ him and of him, and so learned more of his antecedents than -was known to any one else out of the family in London. - -He often met Alexander in his well-known haunts, walked with him, sat -with him, and smoked with him. Occasionally, at Alick’s invitation, he -ate and drank with him. - -Why not? If Lord Killcrichtoun was unmarried, as he was generally -supposed to be, then Clarence Everage was heir presumptive to the title -and estate. - -True, he knew that the present baron was some five or six years younger -than himself, and in that view of the case there was little hope of the -inheritance. - -But, on the other hand, Alexander, like the generality of American men, -was tall and lank, thin and sallow, with that appearance of ill-health -which was not real, but which was greatly enhanced by the careworn and -haggard expression of countenance which had characterized his face ever -since his abandonment of Drusilla. - -So, upon the whole, Clarence Everage, gazing gloomily upon Lord -Killcrichtoun, thought the chances of his lordship’s death by -consumption, and of his own accession to the title and estate, within a -year or two, were very good. - -“If only,” he said to himself, “the fool should not in the meantime -marry and have an heir. That would make the case hopeless indeed.” - -This anxiety lest Lord Killcrichtoun should marry and have an heir -before death should claim him, so preyed upon the poor gentleman’s -spirits that he watched over his lordship more carefully, and inquired -about him more anxiously than ever. - -In the places where they chanced to meet, he could neither see nor hear -any sign of the misfortunes he dreaded. No one knew whether his lordship -was meditating matrimony or not; no rumor of his contemplating conjugal -life was afloat. - -Of course the impoverished gentleman in his threadbare coat, limp linen -and broken gloves, could not go into those circles from which Lord -Killcrichtoun would be likely to select a bride; and so, though Everage -in their mutual resorts learned nothing to alarm him, he was tormented -with uneasiness as to what might be going on out of his sight in places -from which his poverty excluded him. - -He went into coffee-rooms, not to partake of the refreshments for which -he could not pay, but to look at the fashionable news, longing to see at -what dinners, dances, or conversaziones, he, who was keeping him out of -his estate, had been seen, and fearing to find, under the head of -“APPROACHING MARRIAGES IN HIGH LIFE,” some announcement of the calamity -he so much dreaded—the impending marriage of the baron. But of course he -never found anything of the sort. - -“I hope the fellow has too much sense—yes, and too much conscience, to -think of taking a wife. Men in his wretched state of health should never -marry; for when they do, they always entail their infirmities upon any -children they may happen to have,” said Everage, with virtuous emphasis; -for his wish being father to his thought, he had fully persuaded himself -that Alexander was in a very bad way—a doomed man, rushing with railroad -rapidity to the grave. - -“If he will only refrain from marriage for a year or two all will be -well,” said Everage to himself, as visions, not of wealth, rank and -grandeur, but simply of independence, respectability and comfort floated -before his eyes. - -Sitting in his small, stifling room, surrounded by his little pale girls -and his invalid wife, breathing the heavy city air, he thought of -Killcrichtoun that might yet soon be his own. He saw the forests of -fragrant pine and feathery firs; the fields of oats and barley; the -streams full of trout and salmon; the mountains with their game; the old -tower with its cool rooms. He saw his wife and daughters blooming with -health and smiling with happiness; he felt the bracing breezes of the -Highlands fan his brow. Sitting in his stuffy little room, he saw and -felt all this in a vision, and he longed and prayed, oh how earnestly, -that this vision might yet be realized. - -But a very great shock was at hand for him. - -One day, while Lord Killcrichtoun and himself were walking on Trafalgar -square, they met a nurse and child, with whom his lordship immediately -stopped to speak. - -At the very first sight of the child, Everage was struck with its -unmistakable likeness to Lord Killcrichtoun. And when the baron took the -boy in his arms, and hugged and kissed him with effusion, Everage looked -on in surprise and disapprobation, for he thought that he knew his -lordship was unmarried, even while he detected the relationship between -the two. - -But Alexander took his son, and, desiring his friend and the child’s -nurse to wait for him there, he crossed over to the Strand, and went -into a toy shop. - -Left alone with the girl, Everage was sorely tempted to question her, -but a sense of honor and delicacy prevented his doing so. - -After a few minutes, Alexander returned to the spot, leading the little -boy, who had his hands full of toys. - -“Take him home to his mother now, nurse. The air is too sultry to keep -him out longer,” he said, kissing his child and delivering him over to -Pina. - -When the girl had carried off her charge, the two gentlemen walked on a -little while in silence. - -Everage, in his anxiety, was the first to speak. - -“That is a very handsome little boy,” he said. - -“Yes, he is a fine little fellow,” answered Alick. - -“He is very like you,” continued Everage. - -“I suppose he must be since even I can see the likeness.” - -“And he is very fond of you,” persevered Everage. - -“Yes,” answered Alick in a very low tone. - -“Your nephew, of course?” inquired Everage, after a little hesitation, -hoping that, after all, such might be the relationship of the baby to -the man. - -“No, he is not my nephew. I have not, nor ever had, sister or brother to -give me niece or nephew. I am a lonely man, Everage.” - -“Ah!” sighed the other, with a look of sympathy—but he thought in his -heart, “So much the better!” - -“But—he is my son, Everage!” said Alick, with emotion. - -“Your son?” exclaimed the would-be heir of the barony. - -It was what he had at first suspected, even when he thought Lord -Killcrichtoun was unmarried; but yet he was ill-at-ease, and, out of his -anxiety, burst this exclamation: - -“I did not know that you had a wife.” - -“Nor _have_ I! nor can I _ever_ have—that is the curse of my life! But I -had one once. The subject is a painful one, Everage!” - -“I _beg_ your pardon,” said the poor gentleman, with real regret that he -had torn open an unsuspected wound, and real sympathy for the evident -sufferings of the victim, felt amid all the disappointment and dismay -with which he heard of the existence of Lord Killcrichtoun’s son and -heir, and the consequent blasting of all his own hopes of the -inheritance. - -The tone and look of sympathy touched Alexander’s lonely heart. He -longed to speak to some one of his sorrows; to some one with whom it -might be discreet and safe to deposit the secret troubles of his life. -To whom could he so well confide them as to this poor gentleman, who -seemed to possess some fine feelings of delicacy and honor, and who was -certainly by circumstances far removed from those circles in which -Alexander would abhor to have his domestic miseries made known. - -“There is no offense,” said Alexander, answering the last words of -Everage, “you could not have known the tenderness of the chord you -touched. And I thank you now for the kindness your tones and looks -expressed. Come! shall we hail a hansom, and go to Véry’s to lunch?” - -“Thanks,—with pleasure!” said Everage, who always keenly appreciated and -enjoyed the game, the salads, and the wines at Véry’s; but—then he -glanced at his rusty, threadbare coat, his dusty old boots, and his -day-before-yesterday’s clean shirt-bosom. - -“Oh, never mind your dress, man! Who the mischief ever dresses to go to -lunch in the morning?—Cab!” - -The empty hansom that was passing drew up. The two gentlemen got in to -it, and Alexander gave the order: - -“Véry’s, corner of Regent and Oxford streets.” - -Arrived at the famous restaurant, Alexander told the cabman to wait, and -led his friend into the saloon. - -There curtained off in a snug recess, and seated at a neat table, upon -which was arranged a relishing repast, Alexander, while making a slight -pretense of eating and drinking, told his story, or part of it to -Clarence Everage, who listened attentively, even while doing full -justice to the good things set before him. - -“You will understand now,” said Lord Killcrichtoun, in conclusion, “how -it is, that though I am a husband and a father, I have neither wife nor -child.” - -“That is very deplorable, if it is really so,” said the poor man, with a -real compassion for sorrows that he was inclined to consider much -heavier than he had been called upon to endure. For what, he asked -himself, were the worst pangs of toil, care and want compared to the -grief that would be his portion should he, in any way, lose his own fond -wife and dear children?—“Very, very lamentable, if it is indeed true! -but let us hope it is not so; that your imagination exaggerates the -circumstance. Let us trust that the quarrel is not irreconcilable; that -the husband has still a wife, the father still a child.” - -“No, I have no wife nor ever shall have one; for though Drusilla is -neither dead nor divorced, she is hopelessly estranged from me. I have -no wife, nor ever shall have one.” - -“But you have a child. He at least is not estranged from you.” - -“No, but he belongs to his mother who bore him in peril of her own life, -and has nurtured him tenderly and loves him fondly, I know. He belongs -to her.” - -“But the _law_ gives him to you. You can claim him when you will.” - -“But I would cut off my right hand, I would lay down my life, before I -would take him from his mother, or do anything else to give her pain.” - -“But, man, he is your heir!” - -“Yes, he is my heir, and only child. If he should live, of course he -will inherit Killcrichtoun. If he should not, why the barony will go to -some distant branch of the family, unearthed in the investigation set on -foot by my lawyers, when I laid claim to the title and estates. And—why, -bless my soul, old fellow, it may go to you! May it not?” - -“Failing yourself and heirs of your body, it may,” replied the poor -gentleman, gravely. And then he pushed back his chair and showed signs -of impatience to be off. - -The usher was allowed but half an hour to take his lunch, and even now -he was due at his schoolroom and in danger of a reprimand from his -principal. - -Alexander perceived his uneasiness and rang the hand bell that stood -upon the table. - -Everage took out his purse. - -“Put that up, if you please, Everage. I invited you here; and you are my -guest,” said Alexander, taking out _his_ purse. - -“See here, Killcrichtoun! upon one pretense or another _you always_ -contrive to do this thing. Now I am not going to stand it any longer. -Unless you let me foot the bill sometimes, and unless you let me foot it -now, I can never lunch with you again,” said the poor gentleman, with -much dignity; then turning to the waiter who at that instant made his -appearance, he added—“Let me have our bill immediately.” - -The mercury vanished to execute the order. - -“But, really, Everage——” began Alexander. - -“But, really, Killcrichtoun,” interrupted the poor gentleman, “though -this is too small a matter to dispute about, you must let me have my -will.” - -Alexander gave way. - -The waiter came and put the bill in Everage’s hands and the usher, who -had that day received his second quarter’s salary, amounting to barely -fifteen pounds, paid thirty shillings for their lunch, and bestowed half -a crown on the waiter who served them. - -Alexander sighed and groaned in the spirit as he saw this; but he could -do nothing on earth to prevent it, or to remedy it. What in the world is -one to do in such a case with a sensitive, poor gentleman? He would be -alive to all your ruses, and feel hurt by them and defeat them. -Alexander would rather have paid ten times the amount from his own ample -means than seen the usher discharge the bill from his slender stock. - -Then they arose from the table and went back to their cab. - -And Alick ordered the cabman to drive to the street where the -school-house in which Everage served was situated, and he dropped the -usher. - -I declare that up to this day Clarence Everage had entertained no idea -of gaining his ends by evil means. - -But the story that he had heard from Alexander was a startling and -curious and interesting one; and he could not help brooding over it and -speculating upon it. Lord Killcrichtoun had a wife and child! The fact -at first view seemed very fatal to Everage’s hopes of ever succeeding to -the title; but upon closer consideration it was not so. Lord -Killcrichtoun was hopelessly estranged from his wife; but he was not -divorced from her, nor free to marry again. He had but one child, his -son and heir; and if anything should happen to this child, Lord -Killcrichtoun, in his peculiar circumstances, could not hope for other -legal offspring, and Everage would be quite secure in his position as -heir presumptive of the barony. - -And Alexander really looked paler, thinner, and more cadaverous than -ever! Truly in much worse health than before! Clearly not long for this -world! And if anything should happen to the child before his father’s -death, Everage would not long be kept out of his inheritance! - -_If anything should happen to the child!_ Dangerous, speculation! In -monarchies it is treason even to _imagine_ the death of the sovereign. -And it is so with much good reason, since such imaginings often realize -themselves. - -It could not be treason; but it was treachery in Clarence Everage even -to imagine the removal of the little child that stood between him and -the inheritance of Killcrichtoun. It was not only wrong but perilous for -him to do so. But it seemed as if he could not help it. Day and night he -brooded over the idea, with a morbid intensity akin to monomania. And -there was his poverty, and the pale faces of his poor wife and little -girls, to goad him on. And there was that painful computation of pounds, -shillings and pence, that agonized straining of his soul to make his -meagre wages meet their merest wants. And now the cruel extravagance -into which his pride and sensitiveness had betrayed him in paying for -that lunch at Véry’s had almost ruined him for this quarter. There was -now no possible way in which he could make the two ends meet for the -time. - -And he knew, as only the experienced in such matters can know, and he -dreaded as only the proud and sensitive can dread, the troubles that -must follow—the degrading squabbles with his landlady, the humiliating -apologies to the butcher and the baker—nay, the sight of his wife’s -shabby dress and his little daughters’ all but bare feet. - -And he thought how different all this would be were he the heir of -Killcrichtoun, as he should be but for Alexander Lyon’s son. - -He thus “imagined” the death of the child and the advantages that must -accrue to himself in that event. But would he have “compassed” the death -of the child for any such advantage? - -Oh, no! not for Killcrichtoun, or a hundred Killcrichtouns, would he -have committed such a crime. But—he was too prone to consider certain -facts in the statistics of population, life and death; how it was set -down that more than one half the children born, died before they had -attained the age of three years. He supposed little Lenny to be about -two years and a half old. He wondered whether the child had passed -safely through measles, whooping-cough, scarlet fever, and all the other -perilous “ills” to which children’s “flesh is heir,” or whether he had -yet to encounter all or any of them. - -He had gathered from Lord Killcrichtoun’s narrative that the child lived -with his mother and her friends at the Morley House, and that he was -often taken by his nurse to walk in Trafalgar square and its vicinity. - -And so, morning, noon, and evening, when not engaged in his school -duties or with his family, he prowled about the neighborhood, to waylay -little Lenny and his nurse, and watch over his health. - -One day, when no one else was very near, he saw Pina and her charge -together, and accosted them. - -“How do you do, my little man?” he inquired, patting Lenny on the head -or rather, the hat. - -“Me not man—me itty boy,” answered Lenny, staring. - -“Oh, little boy, are you? Well, how do you do, little boy?” smiled -Everage. - -“Me very well,—how you?” politely responded Lenny. - -“I’m very well too.” - -“Me dad you very well too.” - -“Thank you.” - -“You dot itty boy home?” - -“No, I’ve got no little boy at home; but I have got six little girls.” - -“Sit itty dirl? Me habben dot itty dirl home.” - -“Haven’t you? what a pity!” - -“You bin you itty dirl hee me?” - -“Yes, I’ll bring my little girls to see you,” said the poor gentleman, -turning away from the child with some emotion, and beginning to talk -with Pina,—who was looking on and smiling with proud delight at the -bright intelligence and gracious manners of her little charge. - -“He is a very fine little fellow, nurse,” said Everage. - -“Yes, sir, lots of ladies and gentlemen, who stop to speak to him, say -the same,” answered Pina, gazing with satisfaction upon her little -Lenny. - -“And he is very like his father,” pursued Everage. - -“Well, sir, I never could see the likeness myself, I’m sure,” answered -the girl resentfully, and wondering how this stranger came to know who -was little Lenny’s father. - -“He seems to be perfectly healthy?” went on the would-be heir -presumptive. - -“Why, he never had any real illness for an hour, sir. Even when he was -teething, he only ailed a little—nothing to speak of at all, sir.” - -“Ah, well, he’s like a young bear—all his troubles are before him.” - -“Indeed, sir; then I think you are more of a bear, yourself to be -a-saying of such things! Come, master Leonard, let us go home—mamma will -be wanting us.” - -“Dood-by! come hee me soon,” said Lenny, holding out his hand to the -stranger. - -“Good-by, my little lad!” said Everage, pressing the child’s offered -hand as he turned away. - -Little Lenny and his nurse went back to the Morley House, and Everage -bent his steps to the Newton Institute for Young Gentlemen. - -“More than one-half the children that are born alive die before they -reach the age of three years, do they? Well—clearly this youngster -belongs to the half that live! Never has had any of those infantile -disorders that slay Infants of ‘two years old and under,’ with a -massacre more terrible than that of Herod of Galilee. Ah! but the little -fellow has them all to meet, for they are sure to come, sooner or later; -yes, but he has a fine constitution with which to fight disease; well, -but still this is certain, that children of robust frames, full-fleshed -and full-blooded, never get over these inflammatory fevers as easily as -do those of thinner and feebler organization. These very healthy -children are exceedingly apt to go off in these acute attacks of -disease. Master Lyon, Master of Killcrichtoun, you will have to take the -risk with the rest.” - -Such were the reflections of Everage as he bent his steps that afternoon -to the Newton Institute, and while he sat at his desk examining boys in -their Latin and Greek exercises and algebraic and geometrical problems; -and while he sauntered sorrowfully and wearily home to his gloomy -lodgings. - -But he hated himself with a righteous hatred for these evil haunting -thoughts, that he had no moral power to exorcise. - -From what he had heard from Lord Killcrichtoun, and from what he had -observed with his own eyes, some things seemed very certain. - -As that Lord Killcrichtoun would never be legally divorced from his -first wife, and therefore would never be free to take a second; that he -would never be reconciled to her, and therefore never have another -child; that his lordship was in a very bad way and could not long hold -the barony of Killcrichtoun; and, finally, that little Lenny would be -the future Baron of Killcrichtoun, unless he should very soon die, -or—_disappear_; and, finally, that little Lenny was not inclined to die -to please anybody! - -But there was that other alternative:—he might _disappear_—he might -disappear as children had often done before now, he might disappear -forever. - -I know not at what precise time this last alternative presented itself -to the poor gentleman’s mind. But it would not be banished, it clung to -him, it tempted him, it nearly crazed him. - -He prowled about Trafalgar square, and waylaid little Lenny and his -nurse, and informed himself as to the child’s haunts and habits. - -If Pina never spoke of this “poor white herring,” as she disrespectfully -called him, it was because he was only one of several persons who, -passing daily at the hours the nurse would be out with the child, would -stop to notice him, to smile on him, or—when time permitted—to talk to -him, being charmed by his infantile beauty, intelligence, and -graciousness. And, even if the nurse had told the mother of this -stranger’s seeming partiality for the child, the information would not -have surprised her, for to Drusilla it seemed inevitable that every one -who saw her peerless boy must be charmed and delighted with his beauty -and brightness. - -So unsuspected and unrestricted, Everage contrived to see a great deal -of little Lenny—a great deal more than even his father saw of him. - -But Alexander was entirely ignorant of these interviews, for Pina did -not love little Lenny’s father well enough to gossip with him on that or -any other subject, or indeed to open her mouth to him with one -unnecessary word. - -And the poor gentleman, for his part, took good care never to approach -the child while his father happened to be near him. - -In fact, of late days, Clarence Everage had seen but little of Lord -Killcrichtoun. From some latent sense of honor or sting of conscience, -the poor gentleman had kept out of the way of the wealthy baron. Since -Everage had been speculating on the chances of the child’s death or the -practicability of his “disappearance,” he could not bring himself to -look that child’s father in the face, much less to eat or drink with -him, as had for a time been his frequent custom. - -But Everage brooded over the possibility of little Lenny’s -“disappearance,” as he called it, until, as I said, it tempted, blinded, -crazed him. - -The vague dream “_disappearance_” began to shape itself into the very -distinct idea, “ABDUCTION.” - -Children had been abducted before now, for less reason and with more -difficulty than could be the case with this child; for how great a -reason, almost how just a cause, he said to himself, had he for -abducting Leonard Lyon; and how easily, in the child’s unguarded walks, -might he be snatched up and carried off; and how completely in crowded -London might he be concealed. - -The idea grew and formed itself into a purpose. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX. - THE ABDUCTION. - - In a jumbled heap of murky building.—KEATS. - - -There was at this time a wretched old hag who, summer and winter, rain -and shine, sat under the shadow of St. Mary’s le Strand begging—but not -audibly, for to have done so would have broken the municipal laws, and -to have drawn the police upon her and consigned her to the work-house. - -On the contrary, she was ostensively peddling in a small way. In her -talon-like hands she held a bundle of matches, which she silently -tendered to every passer-by. The matches were worthless and were not -really intended for sale, but only for a blind to the police and a cloak -for her begging; and everybody understood this as well as she did; for -though she never opened her lips to ask for alms, every fluttering rag -about her was a tongue, and every look a voice. - -So occasionally a passer-by would drop a half-penny in the hand that -offered the matches and then go on his way. - -But the great stream of people pouring through that crowded thoroughfare -usually passed without noticing her, for the frequency of such sights, -and of much worse sights of misery, in the London streets, and the utter -impossibility of relieving them all, hardens the hearts of the people. - -But the poor pity the poor. And our poor gentleman, passing the poor -beggar twice every day, pitied her—pitied her, even though she had once -picked his pocket of his coarse white linen handkerchief, and he knew -the fact beyond a doubt. And almost every day, in passing, he gave her a -half-penny; and once a quarter, when he got paid off, he gave her a -sixpence. - -But in all the years in which she had sat there, and in which he had -passed twice a day in going and returning to and from his employment, he -had never happened to see any one else give her anything. - -Of course he knew that she must make something by sitting there or she -would not stay; but it was so very little and so very seldom, that he -never knew it from personal observation. And from all this he concluded -that she was deadly poor. - -He often wondered where she lived, how she slept, what she ate, with -whom she kept company, and who were her kinsfolks, if she had any. - -That she consorted with the lowest thieves and vagrants, with the most -desperate men and women ready for any crime, he felt morally certain. -Had she not picked the pocket of her benefactor? - -But, still he pitied her and almost justified her; for he knew what -poverty and its bitter temptations were, and besides, while his charity -was large his moral sense was not very clear; and, poor as he was, he -would have lost every pocket-handkerchief he possessed before he would -have prosecuted this miserable old woman, or even withheld from her the -tri-weekly half-penny or the quarterly sixpence. - -Now, when the vague idea of “_disappearance_” shaped itself into the -distinct thought of ABDUCTION, and the thought grew into a purpose, and -the purpose strengthened into resolution, he remembered the old woman -under St. Mary’s le Strand, and believed that he could make her -subservient to his use. - -One rainy day he went out at noon for the usual recess. It was a day and -an hour when there were comparatively few passengers in the street. He -went in search of the old woman whom he found in her accustomed place, -but backed up close against the wall to secure some partial shelter from -the pelting rain. - -“Have you no umbrella—not even an old wreck of one?” were the first -words addressed to her by Everage. - -“Umberrelly? Bless the dear gentleman, I never had a umberrelly in my -life! How should the likes of me have a umberrelly? They bees for the -rich people, honey.” - -“But your knees are getting quite wet,” said Everage. - -“And so they is, dear gentleman, and I shall get the rheumatiz as sure -as sure!” said the woman, taking the cue and beginning to whine. - -“I shouldn’t be surprised if you did. Why do you sit out here in this -weather?” - -“Good gentleman, hadn’t I better sit here and sell my matches than stay -at home and starve?” - -“Sell your matches? Why, that’s the identical box of matches you have -had to sell for Heaven knows how long, and you haven’t sold it yet.” - -“That is true; but, dear gentleman, I might sell them to-day—I might -sell them any time! There is no telling when a stroke of luck might -fall.” - -Everage knew she was speaking deceitfully; but he not only found excuses -for her, but he found in her words an opening for his proposition. - -“Yes,” said he, “you are quite right. There is no telling when a streak -of luck may fall—even this very day.” - -“It has come this very day, good gentleman. Sure the sight of your -handsome face is always lucky; and it is worth while to come out and sit -in the rain for the chance of seeing it, if one should get no other -good.” - -“The sight of my face may be lucky to others; but the luck is only skin -deep; it never strikes in to do the owner any good,” laughed Everage, as -he dropped a sixpence in the hag’s hand. - -“Oh! thanky, sir! Sure you’re the great binifactor of the poor! May the -Lord——” and here she began a great string of blessings to which a -bishop’s benediction would seem a trifle. - -“That will do. Now tell me your name. You see as long as I have known -you I have never heard it.” - -“Rooter, sir; Margaret Rooter, at your honor’s service; born in lawful -wedlock of honest parients, your worship, and christened in this very -same church as you see before you, Sim-Merrily-Strand,[1] sir, as ever -was.” - -Footnote 1: - - St. Mary’s le Strand. - -“Well, Mother Rooter,” said the poor gentleman, dropping his voice to a -low tone, “would you do a service for me, if it should be to your own -advantage?” - -“Is it would I do a service for your honor’s worship?” said the woman, -gazing on the coin in her hand and chuckling, for she readily divined -that the required service was an unlawful one, which must be paid for -handsomely “on the nail,” and ever afterwards in the shape of of -blackmail. “And is it Margaret Rooter as you ask will she do that -service for her binnyfactor, as he has kept her from starving this many -a day? Aye, will I, even if it is to the setting on fire of -Northumberland House, or Sim-Merrily-Strand itself. Marry come up -indeed! What has Northumberland House, or Sim-Merrily-Strand either, -ever done for the likes of me, that I should prefer them before your -honor’s worship, whose bounty have given me many a half ounce of tea and -handful of coal? Sim-Merrily-Strand indeed!” - -“But I have no grudge against the church, or the palace either, and wish -them no harm, but all good. The service I require of you is of another -sort, but almost equally dangerous and needing——” - -“I don’t care a pen’orth of gin what it needs, nor what it don’t, no, -nor yet for the danger, so as it ain’t killing and hanging matter. I -never could pluck up courage to take a life or to risk the gallows. But -as for the rest—look here, your honor! what has the likes of a poor -creature like me to be afraid of in this world? Is it the police? Is it -the judge? Is it the jail? Lord love your honor, the police treat me -better nor my own brothers, for they never punch my head, nor give me -black eyes! and the judge is a gentleman compared to my landlord, for he -never turned me out into the street, as every one of them is sure to do -sooner or later. And as for the prison, it is a perfect queen’s palace, -compared to the leaky, crowded, filthy garret where I stop. Your honor -must know I have been in both and know the differ! So as I was taking -the liberty to tell your honor, if the service is anything less than a -hanging matter, I’m your woman.” - -“Speak lower when you do speak; but do not speak at all when people are -passing by,” said Everage, in a very low tone, as some street passengers -hurried along. - -“There, your honor, they have gone now. Now about this service, your -honor?” said the old woman, impatiently. - -“Well, it is no hanging matter, nor anything of the sort But it is a -secret service for all that,” replied Everage. - -“A secret service, your honor’s worship! Ah, that is what my heart -delights in! Ah, then, I have done more than one secret service for -gentlemen of the highest rank! aye, and for ladies too, bless them! and -got well paid for them besides! enough money to have kept me in clover -all my life, only it always got stole from me by the wretches in the -house.” - -“Well, you must take better care of the money which I shall pay you. But -what was the nature of these secret services of which you speak.” - -“Ah, your honor’s worship, if I were to tell you that they wouldn’t be a -secret any longer, and neither would you trust such an old blabber as me -with _your_ secrets,” said the old woman, leering wickedly. - -“That is so,” said Everage; “and, besides, this is no place for carrying -on a private conversation. Here comes another group of people quite -close.” - -The group came and passed. - -“Now, then, Mother Rooter, tell me where you live, if you have no -objection, and whether I can find you at home if I come to you this -evening, so that we may arrange this affair,” said Everage, as soon as -the coast was again clear. - -“Is it where I live your honor asks me? That’s a good ’un! Do you call -it living? this life I lead. No, your honor, it is not living, it is -lingering.” - -“Where, then, do you linger?” - -“Well, then, sir, I draws my breath and stretches my bones in the back -attic of No. 9 Blood Alley, Burke Lane, Black Street, Blackfriars Road. -All B’s, your honor. You can remember it by that. The house is Number -Nine. They keep a bone and grease shop in the cellar, and rags and -bottles on the first floor, and all the rest of the house is let to -lodgers, all poor, but I the poorest, your worship.” - -“And shall I come to you there?” - -“If your worship will do me the honor.” - -“But the house, which seems from your description to be a tenement house -of the worst order——” - -“Aye, you may say that, your worship,” interrupted the old woman; “but -what is a poor body to do?” - -“I was about to observe that the house would be full, crowded, so much -so that perhaps even your own back attic has other tenants.” - -“And so it has, your honor’s worship.” - -“In which case I do not see how I am to have an opportunity of speaking -to you in private there more than here.” - -“Oh, dear gentleman, if you come at nine o’clock, you’ll catch me alone. -Sure they’ll all be out then on their tramps, and they won’t be in much -before morning. And sure your honor’s worship might even trust them, -seeing as they’re all my own family, and would be fast as fast and safe -as safe in any secret service as I might undertake. And your honor knows -best whether you mightn’t want their aid too, in sommut where they might -be of use. I don’t know yet what your service is, your honor. You -haven’t told me yet. But I know I am an ole ’oman, your honor’s worship, -and might want help, in case the service might require strength, like -the breaking into a house and the bringing off of a dockerment or a -young lady.” - -“It is none of these things, as you might have judged, else I should not -have come. Yet it is akin to one supposition that you have advanced; and -you really may want help. Who are the people that share your attic room -and your confidence? But, hush! here come some of the other passengers; -wait till they have gone.” - -The two conspirators were silent for a moment, and then, when they had -their corner to themselves again, Everage repeated his question, and the -old woman answered: - -“Who are they? you ask me, sir. Well, there is, first of all, my two -brothers, as honest, trusty lads——” - -“‘As ever scuttled ship, or cut a throat,’” suggested Everage. - -“Yes, that they are, sir; and so you’ll find them,” said the old woman, -who did not understand, or, perhaps, did not distinctly hear the -quotation,—“honest and trusty, and true and good.” - -“Although they knock your head about?” observed Everage, who had not -forgotten that piece of news. - -“Oh, your worship, that was drink; it wasn’t to say _them_.” - -“Ay! ‘when the wine’s in the wit’s out,’ I suppose.” - -“Just so, your honor; though it’s precious little wine they gets, poor -souls. It’s most in general beer, or, if they’re in luck, gin.” - -“Aye, to be sure! Well, if they serve me faithfully, they and you shall -be kept in gin the rest of your lives.” - -“Oh, your honor’s worship’s reverence, that would be heavenly,” -exclaimed Mrs. Rooter, with enthusiasm. “They’ll be true to you, -sir—they’ll be true to you till death do you part, and arterwards, sir! -_and arterwards_; for I never could see the good of being true till -death and then turning false to you arter you’re dead, or arter they -are.” - -“No, to be sure. But about these brothers of yours,—are they the only -persons, or are there any others who share your attic?” - -“Well, yes, sir; there’s my grand-darter Meg, as honest and truthful a -gal as ever——” - -“Picked a pocket, or told a falsehood.” - -“No, sir, she don’t, nor she wouldn’t do nyther the one nor yet the -other—not even in the way of business, as many an honest tradesman do.” - -“But that’s rather hard on the honest tradesman, is it not?” smiled -Everage. - -“Gurr-r-r!” exclaimed the old woman, grinning and showing her snags of -teeth. “Gurr-r-r! They hunt us poor creatures away from their shops and -stalls, accusing of us of prowling about to see what we can pick up, -when all they theirselves is a doing of the gentlefolks to no end! Don’t -tell me!” - -“But about this girl? Is she—your granddaughter—and her uncles, the only -inmates of your attic chamber?” - -“Yes, your honor, the onliest ones, and quite to be depended on.” - -“Very well, then, I will look in at your place at nine o’clock this -evening.” - -“And much good may it do your honor and us, too. The Lord bless you, -sir. But mind and don’t forget, your honor’s reverence, the four B’s and -Number Nine.” - -“I will not forget. I have it down in my note-book.” - -And then, as another bevy of foot-passengers came hurrying along the -sidewalk, Everage left the crone and went on his way. - -At a few minutes past eight, Clarence Everage found himself prowling -down Blackfriars’ Road in search of a street that I have called Black -street; but which, in fact, is very unfavorably known to the police -under another name. - -He found it at length; and looking down its cavernous mouth, he thought -of Doré’s picture of the entrance to the infernal regions. - -He shuddered as he turned into Black street, and followed its windings -down into a labyrinth of dark and lurid lanes and alleys, from which -sunlight and fresh air must have been almost totally excluded, even at -noonday. - -Here every sense and sentiment was shocked and revolted. The streets -were narrow and murky, muddy and filthy. The houses were old and -shattered, and bent forward towards each other till the eaves of the -roofs almost met overhead, shutting out much of the light and the air -that might have visited the accursed place. The sides of the houses were -disfigured by broken and stained window sashes filled up with old rags -and hats, and by foul and dilapidated doorways, occupied, for the most -part, by rum-stupefied men and women, and by neglected and drowsy -children. Those groups were generally in semi-obscurity but here and -there a street lamp from without, or a dim candle from within, lighted -up their misery. - -“Heavens and earth!” thought Everage, holding his handkerchief to his -mouth and nose as he threaded his way through the mazes of this Gehenna -in search of Blood Alley and Burke Lane, “these must be the waste pipes -of all London’s crime, disease and miseries; and yes, by my life, this -is the sink!” he added, stopping in the very center of the labyrinth -before Number Nine. - -The house was taller, older, dirtier, and more dilapidated than any he -had yet seen. It leaned forward as if ambitious of meeting and saluting -its leaning opposite neighbor, and it looked as if it were in danger of -toppling down in the attempt. - -Here also the doorway was foul and broken, and crowded with drunken and -dirty men and women. - -Everage inquired of this group if this was Number Nine, and if Mother -Rooter lived here. - -They stared at him for a minute without replying, and then all burst out -laughing, while one woman called to some one within the passage: - -“Hallo, Meg, come here! Here’s a gentleman a-wanting of Mistress Rooter. -He have come with the queen’s compliments to her.” - -A brown-skinned, black-haired, bare-legged gipsy of about fourteen years -old came out of the obscurity, and accosted Everage. - -“Be thou the gentleman as grannam was a-looking for?” - -“If your grandam is Mrs. Rooter,—yes,” answered Everage scrutinizing the -girl, and recognizing her from the description given by the crone. - -“Come along then,” said Meg, leading the way through passages and up -staircases more foul and nauseating to sight and smell than even the -middle of the streets had been—for the streets do sometimes get washed -off by rain, whereas these tenement-house passages seem never to have -that advantage. - -Everage followed his guide up four flights of stairs, noticing, as he -passed along the halls of each floor, through the open or half-open -doors, heart-sickening and revolting sights of vice and misery within -the room. - -At the top of the last flight of stairs himself and his young guide -reached the attic landing. - -She beckoned and led him to a door, which she opened. - -He followed her into a back room, with a low, sloping ceiling. It was -wretchedly furnished, or rather bare of furniture,—a bed which was a -mere heap of foul rags, a shaky little wooden table, a rickety chair, a -rusty iron kettle, and a cracked tea-cup and saucer were the only means -and appliances of comfort or necessity there. - -The only person in the room was old Mother Rooter, who was squatted on -the only chair, with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. - -She got up to meet her visitor, and gave him her chair, saying: - -“You are very welcome to my poor place, kind gentleman. Sit down, sir.” - -And she seated herself on the side of the bed, that he might not -hesitate to take the chair. - -He looked at the proffered seat, and took from his pocket a newspaper, -and spread over the bottom of the chair before sitting down on it. - -“Ah, sir, I see—you gentlefolks blame us a deal for being dirty, but how -can we help it? We can’t get bread enough to eat; and where are we to -get the extra penny to buy a bit of soap to wash ourselves and our -houses, or the horn-comb to red up our hair, not to say the sixpence to -buy a broom. Ah, sir, you gentlefolks should know what you are a-talking -on before you blame us, poor creatures, for dirt.” - -“I am not blaming you,” said Everage. - -And then, to change the subject, he remarked: - -“You are very high up here; you are high up in the world in one sense, -if you are not in another.” - -“Ah, yes, sir! but what am I to do? The garret or the cellar is the -choice us poor creatures has to make. All the house between them is too -dear for the likes of us. And be the same token, there’s little to -choose atween them. It’s hard on an ole ’oman like me to live up here; -and when, of an evening, I’m a-panting up all these stairs,—sir, there’s -ninety on ’em,—steps, I mean—I know it to my sorrow, for I have counted -on ’em often, as I panted up ’em, and stopped on every landing to catch -my breath,—well, sir, I often think it would be better to live in a -cellar. But then, I thinks, as once I _did_ live in a cellar and catch -the rheumatism by it. So on the whole, I says to myself, it is better to -climb and to pant nor to lie flat on my back and groan.” - -“And your choice was a very wise one. But listen: if you are faithful to -me in the service you have undertaken to perform, you shall live in a -first-floor front of any such a house as this, until I shall be better -able to provide for you—which I certainly shall be, if you should be -successful and faithful.” - -“Bless your honor! I will be faithful as faithful. But you haven’t told -me yet what the service is agoing to be.” - -“I came here to-night to tell you, and I will tell you now—but, is the -coast clear?” anxiously inquired Everage, looking around and seeing that -the girl, Meg, at least had disappeared, and that himself and the crone -were alone or seemed to be so. - -“Yes,” answered Mrs. Rooter, “the coast is clear. My brothers have not -left the house though, because I hinted to ’em as they might light upon -a job.” - -“Where are they, then?” - -“Up on the leads. I sent them there to wait your honor’s pleasure. And -there they shall stay till your honor bids me call them down. If so be -you would rather trust the business to me alone, I will, if I can, do it -alone and they shall never know anything of it; but if your honor -chooses to trust ’em, which I make bold to say—they are just trusty as -trusty—why I’ll go call them.” - -“Go and call them—I will take a look at them, at all events,” said -Everage. - -The beldam went out into the passage, and climbed a ladder leading to -the open trap-door of the roof, and summoned her brothers; and presently -their heavy steps came lumbering down the ladder; and she brought them -into the presence of Everage. - -They were two ill-looking fellows enough, somewhere between forty and -fifty years of age. - -The elder was tall, sallow, black-haired and black-eyed. - -The younger was short and thick-set, with broad shoulders, bull neck and -bullet head covered with a thick shock of red hair. - -Both men were in rags. - -They came and stood before Everage and pulled their forelocks by way of -salutation. - -“Well, my men, are you to be trusted in a service the faithful -performance of which will accrue to your own profit?” inquired Everage, -as he scanned his “tools.” - -Now the only ideas the ruffians gained from this speech was that there -were secret services required, for which money was to be paid. So one of -them, the dark one, replied: - -“What we undertakes to do, your honor, that we does faithful. But it -depends on what the service is, and how it pays, whether we undertakes -it.” - -“But if we undertakes it, we performs it faithful,” added the other, the -red one. - -“Then, Mother Rooter, secure the door; and now all gather around me. You -two men, and you, mother, sit upon the bedside, and bend close to me as -I sit upon the chair before you.” - -The three arranged themselves as their employer directed. - -Then he, stooping towards them, and they towards him, so that all their -mischief-brewing heads were together, began in a low whisper to unfold -his plans. He came immediately to the point. - -“It is a child to be carried off,” he said, and then waited for the -effect of his words. He saw that they were rather stunning even to these -reckless villains. - -“A child to be carried off, your honor! that’s not over easy nor yet -over safe,” said the dark ruffian. - -“Nor are you ever paid handsomely for jobs that are over easy and over -safe! But I can tell you one thing—it is not over difficult nor over -dangerous.” - -“Is it from a house, your honor?” inquired the dark ruffian. - -“No, from the streets.” - -“Carry off a child from the crowded streets of London, your honor? That -seems to be impossible,” put in the red ruffian. - -“Hold your tongue, Roger,” said his black brother. - -“Now, don’t go quarrel before the gentleman! Manners is manners. If so -be, you’re decent men, behave as sich!” put in the crone. - -“I only said it was impossible to carry off a child from the streets of -London; and I’ll not deceive the gentleman. I’ll stick to it, as it is,” -persisted Red Roger, who was called thus by his “pals.” - -“You will find that it is very easy. I have studied it out and matured a -plan that must be perfectly successful.” - -“Let us hear it, your honor,” said the black one. - -“Well, listen,” whispered Everage, in a very low voice. “This child is -about two years and a half old. He is the child of foreign parents who -know not much of English life. He is sent out with his nurse, a black -girl who wears a plaid turban instead of a bonnet; you may know her by -that. He is sent out with this girl morning and evening of every fair -day. She is a fool, and she takes him about Trafalgar square and up and -down the street, and to St. Mary le Strand and along Fleet Street. And -they stop and gaze in the shop windows, and stand with the crowd around -every organ-grinder and monkey, and especially around every Punch and -Judy. This is my plan. I will take an opportunity to point out the nurse -and child to Mother Rooter. She can afterwards point them out to you. -Once having seen them, you cannot possibly mistake them. Are you -attending to me?” - -“With all our ears, sir,” answered the black villain, while the red one -nodded emphatically. - -“Then listen! when you have once seen this nurse and child, you must -watch for them, and arrange something like this manœuvre between you: -One must be the abductor, the other must be the assistant. The one who -is to carry off the child must have in his pocket a bottle of -chloroform. Do you know what that is?” - -“Don’t we, sir? It has saved the slitting of many a windpipe!” chuckled -the red wretch. - -“Very well. Let the one who is to carry off the child take a bottle of -chloroform, which I will provide; also a dark shawl. Then watch until -you see the child and nurse standing in some crowd around a street show. -Then, the abductor must keep very near the child, having the shawl and -the chloroform at hand. The assistant may then go farther up or down the -street and at the right moment raise the hue and cry of ‘Stop thief!’ -and lead the chase up or down the street towards the crowd in which the -child stands. Then let him who is to carry off the child uncork his -chloroform and have it ready, snatch up the child, throw the shawl -quickly over his head, and run with the rest, shouting ‘Stop thief!’ at -the top of his voice; but all the time letting the fumes of the -chloroform escape within the folds of the shawl, so as to overpower the -child and render him incapable of struggling or calling out.” - -“But it might kill the baby, and that would be murder and we don’t want -nothink to do with sich at no price,” objected the black scamp. - -“Do you think, Bill, as the gentleman would ax us to do murder? I don’t. -True, there might be a accident from chloroform, as there often bees to -the ’ospitals, but that wouldn’t be murder,” said Red Roger. - -“You’d find as the jury would bring it in murder,” answered Black Bill. - -“There is no sort of danger. I will only put enough of the stuff in the -bottle to quiet the child, and not enough even to make him insensible. -Besides am I not as responsible for the thing as you are?” - -“Well, your honor knows best!” said the black scamp. - -“And now let me go on. As soon as the child is quiet, leave the rushing -crowd that your brother is still leading with his cry of ‘stop thief;’ -leave it leisurely, and take the nearest cut for Blackfriars’ Road and -your mother’s, no, sister’s room, here. Here you may conceal him until I -can take him off your hands. Do you understand this?” - -“Yes, your honor. But now, how about the pay?” - -“You shall have five pounds each down, as soon as I see the child in -your hands. You shall have all the jewelry that you find on his person, -which, as I have seen pearls and turquoise among them, may amount to as -much more, or twice as much more. And finally, when I shall reap the -advantage that I expect from this child’s disappearance, you shall have -a comfortable income from me for the rest of your lives.” - -The men wrangled and haggled with their employer for a higher price for -their crime, and after much dispute obtained their own terms—ten pounds -each down and a crown a week for keeping the child. - -After this, Everage left the house, promising to see Mother Rooter at -her stall the next day and every day, until he should have a chance of -pointing out the boy and nurse to her, that she might afterwards show -them to her brothers. - -Everage kept his word, and the next morning stopped on his way to his -school, to leave a bottle of chloroform on Mother Rooter’s stand, and to -watch for the possible appearance of little Lenny and his nurse, on -their morning walk. - -The demon helped Everage to wonderful luck, for presently came Pina -leading little Lenny, by the hand. - -They passed quite close to where the crone squatted and Everage stood. -They seemed to be going up Fleet street, upon some little shopping -errand. - -Everage turned his back upon them until they had passed and had their -backs to him. Then he touched the beldam and pointed them out to her. - -“There they are. Shall you know them again?” - -“Why, I’d know ’em among a hundred! That black gal, with the plaid -turban on her head, isn’t easy forgot, nor yet the beautiful boy, with -all that finery about him! which it’s a world’s wonder I never noticed -of ’em before!” said the beldam. - -“You would not have noticed them now, perhaps, if I hadn’t pointed them -out.” - -“Well, maybe not, to be sure. I don’t commonly look after children and -nursemaids.” - -“But you will remember them now, and take the first opportunity of -pointing them out to your brothers.” - -“I’ll bet you! Beg your honor’s pardon. One or t’other on ’em will be -here morning and evening until I gets a chance to show ’em. And be the -same token, here comes Bill now.” - -“So he does; well, keep him here till the nurse and child return; they -will have to come back this way; and then you can point them out to him. -And now my time is up,” said the poor gentleman, looking at his gold -repeater, a family heirloom, the sole relic of better days that had not -yet been dedicated to the necessities of his wife and children; but was -destined soon to be sacrificed to raise money to pay the instruments of -his meditated crime. - -Everage then hurried away to his school duties, leaving the beldam and -her accomplice to carry out his instructions. - -As you, of course, already know, the plot was accomplished. - -Little Lenny was carried off in the manner planned by Everage; and -afterwards described by Pina. - -He was a brave little fellow, and when he saw a great crowd of people -rushing on and crying, “Stop thief;” and when he felt himself caught up -in the arms of a strange man, and hurried along with the rest, he only -supposed some frolic was afoot, and he laughed and shouted, “Top Teef!” -with all the strength of his baby lungs. - -But soon the fumes of the chloroform overpowered him, and his head -dropped on the shoulder of his captor. - -Black Bill, keeping the old shawl over the child, taking his way through -the darkened streets and lanes, at length bore his prize safely to -Number Nine, Blood Alley. - -He hurried up-stairs to the attic room and placed the still unconscious -child in the arms of the beldam, who was there seated in her only chair. - -“There, Peg! uncover him quick and do some’at to bring the life back to -him,” said Black Bill, a little nervously, as he himself with eager -hands helped to relieve the boy of the shawl. - -“Meg!” called the crone to her granddaughter, “fetch a cup of water -here. Bill, run and fetch a little rum.” - -Meg, who was idling about the place, ran and fetched a cup of water from -the nearest room-neighbor. - -Mother Rooter dipped her fingers in the cup and sprinkled it in the -boy’s face. The air had already half revived him, and the water -completed the work. With a gasp and a sneeze the little fellow awoke. - -They gathered around him, those wretches, like a pack of wolves around a -lamb. - -One tore off his pearl and turquoise necklace; another seized his hat -and feather; another his sash; another his jeweled armlets. What a -prize! - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII. - LITTLE LENNY’S ADVENTURES. - - Oh! ’tis a peerless boy, - Fearless, ingenuous, courteous, capable: - He’s all the mother’s, from the top to toe.—SHAKESPEARE. - - -Was little Lenny frightened when he woke up and found himself in that -strange and wretched garret, closely surrounded by new and terrible -faces? - -Not at all. Neither by nature nor by training was the baby-boy a coward. -The child of many generations of heroes had inherited no craven fears; -the cherished darling of the household had been taught none. - -In a word, he was a plucky little fellow, afraid of neither man, beast -or devil. - -And there was still another reason why on this occasion he was not -afraid. For if, as it has been written by the prince of poets, “_music_ -hath charms to soothe the savage breast,” how much more hath beautiful -and gracious childhood? - -The wretched men and women, gathered around this pretty boy, looked on -him, not with ferocious faces, but with smiles; and not with the -deceitful smiles whose insincerity a child will detect more quickly than -an adult can, but real, heartfelt smiles, called up by seeing among them -“something better than they had known.” - -Yes, even while they were wresting from him his little treasures of -finery and jewelry, they did it with an expression of eagerness rather -than of ferocity. - -And little Lenny gazed on them, turning his blue eyes from one to -another, not in fear, but in wonder and curiosity. Sometimes he was so -much amused by their excitement that he laughed aloud. - -But he was as a little prince, king, or god among these poor creatures, -and he knew it. For when Red Roger unclasped and snatched his elegant -pearl and turquoise necklace from his neck, he suddenly put out his -chubby hand and snatched it back—so suddenly and unexpectedly that he -actually gained possession of it again before the slow and lumbering -brute could prevent him. And after he did so he fixed his eyes -indignantly upon the thief, and said: - -“Man! how dare you tate ’hings ’out leave?” - -And it was delicious to see the air of authority and confidence with -which the baby-boy put this question. - -And why not? Had he not been permitted to rule over his mother and -cousins, and even over his godfather, the veteran General, who was the -greatest man _he_ knew in the world? and should he not rule over these -poor creatures? And besides, I think that Master Leonard Lyon, while -inheriting all the graces and virtues of his ancient house, inherited -some of its faults as well, and among the latter that inordinate pride -of caste which is so very objectionable in this republican age, and that -he looked upon this order of human creatures as rather lower in the -scale of being than well-bred cattle. So, captive and helpless as he -was, he looked around upon them with queerly mixed feelings of wonder, -mirth, pity and disapprobation, but without a particle of fear. - -As for the red-haired ruffian, he was so astonished by the words and -actions of the baby-boy, that he could but open his mouth and eyes and -stare. He did not attempt to recover the necklace; but of course he knew -that the child and his jewels were both in his power all the same. - -Lenny, after staring at him for a moment and receiving no answer to his -unanswerable question, turned to the gipsy-looking girl and asked: - -“What you name, dirl?” - -“Meg,” answered the girl, smiling kindly on the child. - -“Met, you tate dis and teep it for Lenny. Me name Lenny,” he said, -handing her the necklace. - -Meg looked up in doubt and fear to the face of her red-haired relative, -and meeting his eye, and seeing him nod and wink at her, she slipped the -necklace into her bosom, and answered the child, calling herself by the -name he had given her: - -“Yes, pretty! Met will keep it for Lenny. (Yes, and I will, too, if I -can,”) she added, in a lower tone. But she probably knew also that the -jewels must pass back into the custody of the red-haired ruffian before -the night should be over. - -But Lenny’s attention was instantly called away to another quarter. In -fact, he needed to be constantly on the alert to prevent himself from -being stripped and skinned by the thieves. - -“You ’top, _man_!” he indignantly exclaimed to Black Bill, who was -stealing the pearl and turquoise armlets from his sleeve. “Div Lenny -back, minute!” he cried, making a snatch at the jewels. - -Black Bill probably felt safe in relinquishing his prizes, for the time -being; for as soon as he restored them to Lenny, the child passed them -over to the appointed keeper of the jewels, saying: - -“Met, teep dem too for Lenny.” - -And the girl, with a smile, put them also in her bosom. - -But presently this chosen servant seemed turning traitor to her little -lord, for while his attention was for a moment called off elsewhere, he -felt hands at work upon his pretty little blue kid gaiters, with their -gold buttons. - -“’Top dat, _Met_! ’Top it! _Met_! What you pull off my hoos for? Me not -do bed. ’Top it, _Met_!” he cried, this time less in anger than in -anguish to see such treachery in a trusted servant. - -“Oh! I want ’em so bad! so bad! Won’t you give ’em to me? Won’t Lenny -give ’em to Met?” pleaded the girl, in a wheedling tone. - -“You want my hoos?” inquired Lenny, pitifully. - -“Yes, so bad! I have got no shoes.” - -“You dot no hoos?” - -“No.” - -“Well, den, me div you mine. Tate off! tate off! Me dot more hoos home.” - -The girl took them off. And this must be said in excuse for her, that -she was acting under the orders and under the eyes of her tyrannical and -unscrupulous uncles. - -“Now put on _you_ feet! Put on! put on!” insisted Lenny, stooping over -and looking at Meg’s sturdy naked limbs. “But my hoos too ittle for you -feet. You feet so bid,” he added, in astonishment, at the size of Meg’s -“understanding.” - -“Never mind, I can change ’em for a bigger pair,” answered the girl. - -Before Lenny could reply again, he was accosted by the beldam, who held -him on her lap and who had got possession of his elegant little white -satin hat, with its plume of white marabout feathers fastened with a -cluster of diamonds. - -“And may I have this, my pretty, pretty bird?” she asked, holding it up -to view. - -“You dot no bonnet?” he inquired compassionately. - -“No, my pretty little angel, I’ve got no bonnet.” - -“Den you have Lenny hat—Doosa div Lenny more hat. Put on, put on!” he -exclaimed, impatiently seizing his beautiful and costly cap, and trying -to decorate with it the horrible head of the old hag. - -He was permitted to complete his purpose, to the unbounded mirth of the -group who all burst into loud laughter at the ludicrous effect produced. - -When this ebullition had somewhat subsided, Lenny bestowed his sash upon -Meg, his tiny pocket-handkerchief on one man, and his little gloves on -another; and then he said, with an air of relief: - -“Now, dat all—Lenny dot no more div! Now Lenny want do home see Doosa.” - -He said this with so much confidence, yet with so much uneasiness and -longing that they all pitied him. The old woman asked: - -“Who is Doosa, my little angel?” - -“Doosa id Doosa—Lenny Doosa—Lenny pretty Mamma Doosa.” - -“His mother,” said one of the men, in a low voice. - -And then, for a few moments, nobody knew what to say. - -Lenny was the first to speak: - -“Tate me home now see Doosa. Met, I do ’id you—you tate me.” - -Meg was confounded for a few moments, and then her mother-wit came to -her aid, and she answered: - -“But Doosa is coming here herself to take Lenny home.” - -“Doosa tome here, tate Lenny home?” - -“Yes, and Lenny must be a good boy till Doosa comes.” - -“Doosa say so?” - -“Yes, Doosa say so.” - -“Den Lenny will—” he said, gaping, and adding: - -“Lenny so sleepy! me so sleepy!” - -“Well, then, lay on its old grannam breast, and go to sleep, my little -angel,” said the old woman, gathering him up to her bosom. - -“No, no, no, no! lay on Met lap. Met dit Lenny seep,” he said, wriggling -himself away from the crone, and going up to Meg. - -What girl does not doat on little children? What girl, under these -circumstances, would not have met the baby’s advances with delight? - -The poor young daughter of thieves and beggars took the child up in her -arms and looked around for a seat. - -“Well, then, if you have got to nurse him, I will give you my chair,” -said the old woman, rising and throwing herself down upon the bed. - -Meg took the seat and arranged the drowsy child comfortably on her lap. - -“Wock me! wock me, Met,” said little Lenny. - -There were no rockers on the rickety chair, but Meg moved her body -backwards and forwards, and so gave the baby the best rocking she could. - -“Now sin’ to me, Met.” - -Meg looked perplexed at this request, for a moment, but soon recovered -herself. Fortunately, Mother Goose’s melodies are the common property of -infant humanity, from the royal palace to the rag-picker’s hut, and Meg -struck up the nursery-classic— - - “By, Baby-Bunting!” - -She had a very sweet voice, which certainly soothed the child, for he -listened in drowsy delight. He well understood that he himself was the -Baby-Bunting in question. But when she sang the next line: - - “Popper’s gone a-hunting.” - -He opened his sleepy eyes and said: - -“No, no; me dot no popper!” - -“Never mind; some Baby-Buntings have—” - - “Mommer’s gone a-milking.” - -“No, no; Lenny mammer don’t go miltin’! _Dane_ do miltin’, and _Mawy_, -and _Suzy_—down home in tountry. And Lenny do wid ’em too—see milt tow,” -he exclaimed, quite waking up, as the memory of the rural pleasures of -Old Lyon Hall flashed over his mind. - -“Well, never mind; some mommers do, you know—” - - “Sister’s gone a silking.” - -“Lenny ain’t dot no sister—not one,” he said. - - “Brother’s gone to get a skin - To wrap my Baby-Bunting in— - A pretty little rabbit skin, - To wrap my Baby-Bunting in.” - -“No, no, no; Lenny ain’t dot no brudder. _Dit_ do after yabbits,” said -Lenny, very drowsily. - -He was almost asleep, and the girl continued her chanting: but presently -as his eyes were about closing, he suddenly started up: - -“Met?” - -“What does my pretty want?” - -“When Doosa tomes, wate me up.” - -“Yes, that I will.” - -“Dood night, Met!” - -“Good night, little angel!” - -“Tiss me first, Met; tiss Lenny dood-night, Met!” - -The girl stooped and kissed the child almost passionately, and murmured: - -“Who could hurt him, the darling?” - -But Lenny’s eyelids were weighed down with sleep, and he was almost gone -again, when, once more he called: - -“Met, I fordot to say my p’ayers. Hear me say my p’ayers, Met!” - -And heavy with sleep as he was, he slipped off her lap, knelt down at -her knee, and folded his little hands, and bowed his little head, and -opened his baby-mouth, in “the simplest form of words that infant-lips -can try:” - - “Now I ’ay me down to s’eep, - P’ay de Lord my soul to teep; - If I die before I wate, - P’ay de Lord my soul to tate.” - -This was the little evening prayer that had been taught him, with much -trouble, by his mother. - -It was uttered now in a place and among people who had probably never -heard a prayer before. - -Yet, perhaps, no purer orisons from priest or prelate arose to the -throne of the Most High that night. - -“Now me done. Now me do s’eep,” said Lenny, drowsily, climbing up to -Meg’s lap and putting his arms around her neck and nestling his head -upon her bosom. - -“Bless the darling!” said the girl, as she gathered him closer and -supported him comfortably. - -And again he was almost asleep, when again he started up and called out -again: - -“Met!” - -“What is it now, my pretty?” - -“Don’t you fordet to wate me up when mamma Doosa tomes.” - -“No, I won’t, my pretty.” - -“Now I do s’e p, sure ’nough. Dood night, Met.” - -“Good night, little angel.” - -“More tiss.” - -She stooped and pressed her lips to his baby lips again. - -He opened his drowsy eyes to look at her and say: - -“Lenny love Met.” And with the words in his mouth he fell fast asleep. - -And Meg continued to rock him with a gentle motion and sing to him in a -soothing tone. - -“Meanwhile the old woman lay resting on her bed, and the two men sat -drinking at the rickety table. - -“You’d better take them things to Old Israel and get ’em out’n the way -in case of accident; and mind what he gives you for ’em. Them’s rale -jewels, if _I_ know anythink about rale jewels,” said the old woman from -her bed. - -“Which you don’t. Not the least. But them’s rale, sure enough; because -it ain’t possible as a rich lady, rolling in gold, would go for to put -her onliest child into imitation trash,” said Black Bill. - -“Well then you had better go and make sure on ’em. There’ll be a hue and -cry next.” - -“There is a hue and a cry now, I shouldn’t wonder; only it won’t come -down our way.” - -“Well, anyhow, why don’t you go and take the things to the Jew?” - -“Because we must wait here for the gentleman. I saw him on the Strand -arter Bill carried off the child. He said he was coming to settle -to-night,” said Roger. - -“One of you can stay here to see him and the other can go and sell the -jewels.” - -“Not if we know it,” laughed both the brothers, speaking at once. - -“We want to stay here together to see the gentleman and get the money,” -said Red Roger. - -“So we can have fair play and diwide it, equal, share and share alike,” -added Black Bill. - -“And then we wants to go together to Israel’s to sell the jewels and get -the price,” pursued Red Roger. - -“So we can diwide the same fair and equal,” added Black Bill. - -By this it will seem that there was no “honor among thieves” in this -case. Neither would trust the other. - -“Here he is now,” said Roger as a step was heard upon the stairs. - -A few moments after, there was a rap at the door. - -Black Bill opened it and admitted Everage. - -“You have got the child?” he eagerly demanded. - -But before any one could reply, his eyes fell upon little Lenny sleeping -on the girl Meg’s lap. - -“Yes, as your honor sees, we’ve got him fast enough,” answered Roger. - -Everage approached the sleeping child and gazed in his tranquil face. - -“Did he cry much?” he inquired, in a subdued tone. - -“Cry?” laughed Black Bill. “‘Cry?’—Lord love you, sir, no! He thought it -was a frolic, and he whooped ‘stop thief’ with the lustiest on ’em till -the clooryfum quieted of him.” - -“But when he was brought here?” - -“Oh, he was asleep then.” - -“Good Heaven!” exclaimed Everage, fairly jumping off his feet with -fright, “has he been in that state ever since?” - -“Lord bless your honor, no, sir! He woke up bright as a skylark the -minute we flung water in his face.” - -“And _then_ was he frightened? Did he cry for his mother?” - -“Lord love you, no, sir! Never see such a plucky little cove. He scolded -us men, and he petted Meg, and he put his precious little cap on the old -woman’s head. Such a figure it made of her—ha! ha! ha!—ho! ho! ho!” -laughed both brothers. - -“Then he was not terrified or distressed?” - -“_He_ terrified or distressed! You ought to have heard how he ordered us -all around until he got sleepy, and then he insisted on Meg’s rocking -him to sleep. And she did it.” - -“Has he had his supper?” - -“No, your honor. He didn’t ask for no supper. Why, sir, his hands were -full of buns when I snatched him up and run off with him,” said Black -Bill. - -“But if he wakes up hungry, what have you got to give him?” - -“Well, unless the poor woman has a bit of bread and a lump of cheese, I -don’t know as there’s anything else.” - -“I thought so. I must go out and buy him some milk. Where can I find any -hereabouts?” - -“Well, sir, there’s a shop at the corner of the next street where they -sells it. But, master, how about the pay?” - -“Oh, you shall have it,” said Everage, taking out his old portmonnaie -and drawing from its interior three ten pound notes, the price of his -valuable jeweled gold watch and chain, his own seal ring, a costly -microscope that had once been his delight, and other sacred treasures -spared from sacrifice till now. - -“I promised you ten pounds each, I think. Here they are.” And he handed -a note to each of his confederates. - -“And now,” he said, “I must go and get some milk for the child.” - -“I will go, your worship,” said Roger. - -“Very well. I shall thank you. Here is a sixpence,” said Everage. - -“If your honor pleases, I must buy a mug or summit to fetch it in.” - -“Here is another sixpence. And now make haste. I want to see the child -comfortable before I leave him to-night.” - -“All right, your honor; I’ll be back in no time,” said Roger, starting -out of the room. - -“But—where are you going to lay him?” inquired Everage, glancing at the -old woman’s foul bed with a visible shudder. - -“Oh, your honor, it’s all right. He shall sleep with me,” said the -crone. - -“No, I would rather he should not. Can’t he sleep with the girl?” - -“But she shares my bed, your honor.” - -“Have you no other bedding?” he inquired, glancing around the room. - -“Lord love you, sir, where would the likes of us get it? No, your honor, -you see all we have.” - -“Where do the men sleep?” - -“La, sir, anywheres or nowheres! most in general nowheres! If so be they -happen to be at home a night they just fling themselves down onto the -floor.” - -“Well,” sighed the poor gentleman, “I suppose there in no help for it -to-night, and he must sleep as he can, but to-morrow I must get some -clean bedding for his use. I wish you to take good care of the little -fellow for the few hours or days he will be with you; but I must get him -out of the country as soon as possible.” - -With Everage “as soon as possible” meant as soon as by any means he -could raise the money to do so. - -“If you please, sir——” began Meg, in a timid voice. - -“Well, my girl, what is it?” inquired Everage, turning and looking at -her, and thinking what a fine frank face was hers, notwithstanding that -she was the child and companion of thieves and outcasts. - -“If you please, sir, I would not lay him on that bed. He ain’t hardened -to it, and he could not sleep, sir. It is full of bugs,” said Meg. - -“But what’s to be done? You can’t hold him in your arms all night.” - -“’Deed I’d sooner do it, sir, than see him eat up alive. But please, -sir, if so be I might make so bold——” - -“Yes, yes, to be sure. Go on.” - -—“The shops is all open yet, sir, and if so be as you could send out and -buy him a little clean blanket—a coarse one would do—I could make him a -pallet in the corner of the room and cover him over with his own little -mantle,” said Meg. - -“Well thought of, my girl. How much will it take to buy?” required -Everage, for his funds were very, very low. - -“A crown would do it—maybe less.” - -“Can you do this errand for me, my man?” inquired Everage, turning to -Black Bill. - -“If your honor wills; but it will take seven shillings at the least,” -said the ruffian. - -Everage produced the required amount and handed it ever to the man, who -arose and lounged out of the room. - -“And now I must not forget this,” said Everage, picking up a bundle he -had brought in with him, unrolling it, and displaying a full suit of -baby’s clothing, including the night gown, all of the cheapest and -plainest material, faded and patched, but perfectly clean: for it -belonged to his own little two-year-old Clara, and had been privately -taken from his wife’s bureau drawer. “He must not remain in his fine -clothes lest he should be accidentally seen. Put this night-gown on him -to-night, and to-morrow dress him in this suit; and be sure to hide away -or destroy the others. Do you understand?” he inquired, as he passed the -bundle over to Meg. - -“Yes, please, sir.” - -The door opened and the two brothers came in together—Black Bill, with a -small, coarse, cradle-blanket on his arm; and Red Roger, with a mug in -his hand. - -Everage himself took the purchases from them, and gave them into the -keeping of the girl, whom he trusted more than all the rest of the gang. - -Then he waited until he saw Meg undress the child and put it in his -clean, patched night-gown, while little Lenny slept heavily the sleep of -fatigue through the whole process. - -“Now, if you will hold him on your knees half a minute, I’ll spread his -pallet,” said the girl, laying the child on the lap of Everage. - -As soon as his pallet was prepared, she took him, still sleeping, and -laid him on it, covering him over with his own little mantle. - -“And you’d better keep the milk handy so as to give it to him to drink -if he should wake hungry or thirsty,” said Everage. - -“Yes, sir, I will. I will just fling myself down on the floor by his -pallet, and take care of him, sir,” replied Meg. - -“And you shall not go unrewarded for your care of him,” said the poor -gentleman loftily. - -And then, having given his confederates an extra caution in regard to -the child, and promised, or rather threatened, to look in the next -night, Everage left the house and bent his steps homeward. - -Surely little Lenny’s guardian angel inspired poor Meg that night. She -laid herself down on the bare boards beside his pallet, and resting her -head upon her bent arm, with her face towards the child, watched him -until she became too drowsy to keep her eyes open; and even then she -slept like a watch dog, on the alert, and at the slightest motion of her -charge she would wake up to see if he wanted water, or milk, or to -spread the mantle over him. - -But Lenny slept soundly until morning. - -At his usual time of waking, a little after sunrise, he opened his eyes. -At first he stared around himself in utter bewilderment. Then he saw Meg -bending over him, and he recognized her face, and he remembered the -incidents of the preceding night. - -“Why didn’t you, Met?” he inquired, looking reproachfully in her face. - -“Why didn’t I do what, my pretty?” smiled the girl. - -“Wate me up when Doosa tomed.” - -“But Doosa didn’t come, my pretty bird.” - -“Doosa didn’t tome?” - -“No, pretty.” - -“But Doosa say she tome.” - -“So she did; but then she said she couldn’t, and now she says she will -come to-day.” - -“Tome to-day?” - -“Yes.” - -“Tome soon?” - -“Yes.” - -Lenny smiled, and then all out of season, he remembered a certain -matutinal formula that he had forgotten under his unusual circumstances, -and he suddenly said: - -“Dood mornin’, Met!” - -Meg, taken all aback by this unexpected salutation, did not respond. - -“Dood mornin’, Met. Why don’t you say dood mornin’ to me?” - -“Good morning, pretty bird.” - -“Me not pretty bird—me ’ittle boy.” - -“Good morning, little boy.” - -“Tiss dood mornin’, Met.” - -The girl caught him up in her arms and kissed him enthusiastically. - -To her dark and gloomy life he had come like some beautiful, brilliant -bird of Heaven, and she prized him and delighted in him. It was -something of the same sort of natural passion that a child feels for its -first wonderful wax doll, or its first beautiful live pet, only it was -much more intense, inasmuch as this was a living, loving talking doll—a -beautiful, intelligent human pet. - -And so she kissed him, and hugged him, and shook him, and danced him, -and prattled to him, and called him all the sweet names that, on such -cases, spring spontaneously to the lips of girls and women. - -And Lenny, in his gracious, genial nature, gave kiss for kiss, and -caress for caress. - -I think if poor Drusilla, waking in her agony of bereavement, that same -morning, could have seen, as in a magic glass, these two friends—the -girl and the baby,—she would have been contented,—no, not that, but she -would have felt comforted. - -“Lenny love Met,” said the child, patting her cheeks. - -“And ‘Met’ loves Lenny dearly, dearly, dearly! and nobody shall hurt -him—they shall kill ‘Met’ first!” - -Now, as “hurt” and “kill” were words that had never been introduced into -this cherished baby’s vocabulary, he did not understand and did not know -how to reply; but he felt that _love_ was meant throughout, and he knew -how to answer _that_. So he patted Meg’s cheeks and kissed her lips. - -And now as the long-lingering light of day stole into that wretched -attic-chamber, it brought out strange pictures. The yellow rays of the -sun, striking obliquely through the window in the roof, fell upon the -corner occupied by Meg and Lenny, and lighted up a picturesque -group,—the beautiful, golden-haired, blue-eyed baby-boy, fair as one of -Rafael’s pictured angels, with his rosy arms clasped around the neck of -the wild, dark, gipsyish girl, who held him on her lap; and their -surroundings,—the poor pallet, the little stone-jug of milk, the bare -boards, and the broken walls. This was the only sunny scene in the room. - -In the shadows were other scenes, best left in darkness,—the beldam in -her foul bed, and the two men sprawling on the naked floor. All these -were dead to all surrounding life, for they were heavily sleeping off -the effects of the last night’s gin-drinking. - -To return to the “sunny” spot occupied by the girl and the baby. She was -still caressing him. - -“Would Lenny like his breakfast now?” she asked. - -“Yes, Lenny like breakfas’. But go in baf-tub first.” - -“Go—where?” inquired the girl, quite bewildered. - -“In baf-tub! baf-tub! baf-tub! wash!” - -“Oh, bath-tub! My bonny bird, we have got no bath-tub here, but ‘Met’ -will wash you clean—will she?” - -“Yes, Met wash.” - -“Will Lenny be afraid to stay here while ‘Met’ goes to fetch water?” - -“’Faid? what ’faid?” - -“You don’t know? Well, I hope you never will.” - -“What ’faid? what ’faid? what ’faid?” peremptorily demanded this -despotic little inquisitor. - -“’Faid is—bad, naughty,” said Meg, after some little perplexity. - -“No, Lenny not ’faid.” - -“And will Lenny let ‘Met’ go get some water?” - -“Yes.” - -“And sit here and don’t move until I come?” - -“Yes.” - -Away ran the girl, and as quickly as she could borrow a bucket and fetch -the water she returned to the room. - -She washed the child very thoroughly and then dressed him in the clean -suit that had been provided by Everage. - -“But dese ain’t Lenny tose,” observed the child. - -“No, Lenny has got no clean clothes here, so Lenny must wear these,” -said the girl. - -And the child trusted her and was content with the answer. - -“And now Lenny will have his breakfast?” she asked. - -“Yes; and Met have _hers_ too,” answered the child. - -The girl then went to the sleeping men and felt in their pockets. She -knew very well that both had cheated their employer in the matter of the -price of the milk and the blanket that they had been sent to buy on the -previous night, and so she judged they must have the odd change they had -swindled Everage out of still in their possession. - -She was right. She found a sixpence in Roger’s pocket and two shillings -in Bill’s. She replaced all the money except one of the shillings, which -she confiscated to the use of the right owner, as she called little -Lenny. - -Having possessed herself of this fund, she turned to the child and took -him by the hand, saying: - -“Will Lenny take a walk with ‘Met’?” - -“Lenny want bekfas first.” - -“Well, we are going out to buy milk for breakfast—nice new milk. Will -Lenny go?” - -“Pose Doosa tome?” objected the child. - -“But Doosa won’t come before we get back.” - -“Well, den Lenny go wid Met.” - -And they walked out together down to the corner of the alley to the -cellar where the milk was sold. - -And Meg bought new milk and fresh rolls, and a little cheap white mug -and plate, all for nine pence. - -And then she took Lenny back to the attic and gave him his breakfast -clean. - -And through all this the beasts in the attic slept on. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII. - LENNY’S EXPERIENCES. - - Oh! strange new world - That has such people in it!—SHAKESPEARE. - - -The beldam was the first to awake. She looked at the child and asked if -he had slept well, and if he had had anything to eat, and having -received satisfactory answers, she set about preparing her own -breakfast. - -It was her daily custom, in returning home at evening to pick up and put -into her wallet almost any sort of trash she might find about the -streets; not only rags, but paper, straw, dry leaves, chips, sticks, and -so forth. - -Of these she now made just fire enough in the rusty grate to boil her -kettle and make her tea. - -And then she took from a small bundle a store of crusts and bones and -broken victuals, all of which she arranged on the end of the rickety -table; and so she made her morning meal. - -“You may have what’s left. And mind you take care of that child while -I’m gone.” - -And with these orders, given of course to Meg, she put on her smashed -bonnet and took her bundle of matches and went off to her usual haunts. -And she did this, notwithstanding that she had received ten pounds the -night before. Such with her was the force of habit, or of rapacity. - -After she had gone Meg made a meal of the fragments she had left, and -washed it down with milk, now turned sour, that had been provided for -Lenny on the preceding evening. - -Then she cleared the table, and straightened the bed, and tidied the -miserable room as well as she could. - -All this time little Lenny was watching her gravely, and occasionally -turning his eyes with solemn curiosity upon the sleeping men on the -floor. - -When Meg had got through her housework, even to the rolling up of little -Lenny’s pallet, she came back to the child and sought to amuse him with -the ancient histories entitled “Red Riding Hood,” “Goody Two Shoes,” -“Cinderella,” “Jack the Giant Killer,” and so forth. - -And although of course Lenny had heard these venerable chronicles a -hundred times before—as what child has not?—he was ready to listen to -them a hundred times more—as what child is not? - -But at the end of every story he would ask: - -“Met, why not Doosa tome?” - -“Doosa will be sure to come, my pretty. Now let me tell you another -story.” - -—“Tome soon?” - -“Yes, she will come soon. Now let me tell you about Hop-O’-My-Thumb.” - -Lenny sighed. - -Did you ever hear a baby sigh? It is the most pathetic sound in nature. -Fortunately they don’t often sigh; they generally prefer to scream. - -Another story was told; and then a song was sung; and so with telling -stories and singing songs, Meg tried to comfort and amuse the child. - -But at last he said again: - -“_Oh_, Met! _why_ not Doosa tome? I want see Doosa, so bad.” And his -little lips began to tremble and his bosom to heave. But he had been -taught that it was naughty to cry so he struggled valiantly to keep from -doing so. But how could he bear hope deferred any better than his -biggers? - -His courage at last gave way and he burst out sobbing: - -“I want to see Doosa! I want to see Doosa! I want to see Doosa so bad!” - -Meg took him up in her arms and began to walk him up and down the room -and sing to him; but his heart-breaking sobs arose above her song; and -at last in despair she herself burst into tears and dropped down into -her chair and hugged him to her heart, sobbing: - -“Oh, my pretty, pretty boy, what can Meg do to comfort you? It was such -a sin to take you from your mother!” - -What a germ of a perfect gentleman little Lenny was! - -As soon as he saw that his crying grieved his friend, he stopped short -with a gasp or two, and put his arms around her neck, and laid his face -to hers, and began to kiss and coax her. - -“Don’t ky, Met; Lenny so sorry mate Met ky! Don’t ky, Met! Lenny be dood -boy—’deed Lenny will. Let Lenny wipe eye.” - -And he took up the hem of his little frock, and tried to stretch it up -to her eyes to dry her tears. - -And she clasped him to her heart in almost hysterical passion, and -kissed him, and shook him, and danced him until he laughed. And then a -sort of tacit, but well understood, compromise took place between -them—that one would not cry if the other did not, that is if either -could help it. - -It was long past noon when the men woke from their drunken sleep. - -First Red Roger tumbled up from the floor, rubbed his eyes, stared about -him, yawned, and sat down on the side of the bed to steady himself. - -Then he got up, and walked across the room to where Meg sat with the -child. He stared at him for a few moments, while little Lenny met the -stare with unquailing eyes, and Meg trembled lest the ruffian should -miss the shilling from his pocket; and then, saying: - -“Keep that little fellow close, mind you!” he took himself off, greatly -to Meg’s relief. - -Then Black Bill reared his lofty height from the boards, tottered on his -feet, reeled towards the table, sat down upon it, for a few moments, to -yawn and stretch his limbs, and then he went away. - -These worthy gentlemen seldom breakfasted at home. - -All that day, Meg had a hard time with little Lenny. The poor girl told -all the stories and sung all the songs she knew, and did her best to -comfort and amuse him. And the baby-boy tried his best to be a little -gentleman, and to keep his promise not to cry; yet every little while, -he would burst into heart-breaking sobs and tears, and cries, the burden -of which was: - -“I want to see Doosa! I want to see Doosa so much!” - -At length, late in the afternoon, he succumbed to the influence of -excitement, and fell asleep. And then Meg made his pallet with one hand, -while she held him with the other, and laid him down. - -Leaving him asleep, she went out and spent her last three-pence left of -the shilling, and bought him a mug of milk and a penny-roll for his -supper. These she brought home, and put away. And then she sat down to -watch by the sleeping boy. - -That evening Everage came in before the return of the others. - -“I am glad I have found you alone, my girl,” he said. “I have brought a -little money to buy some clean bedding for the boy, and I think I would -rather trust you to spend it than another. Can you do it?” - -“Oh, yes, sir.” - -“It doesn’t take much to buy cheap bedding for a baby and the cheaper -you can get this the better, so it is clean. Here are ten shillings; -will that do?” - -“Yes, sir; and if there’s any over I will keep it to buy milk for him.” - -“Quite right. And now let me look at him,” said Everage, going up and -gazing on the sleeping child. - -There was a tear resting on little Lenny’s rosy cheeks, which Everage in -his awakening remorse could not endure to see; so he quickly turned away -his head, and he asked Meg: - -“Has the child cried much to-day?” - -“Oh yes, sir; he has cried a great deal indeed for his mother.” - -“Poor child! But he will soon forget her, and—he shall be taken care of. -We will get him to the Highlands after a while, and then he will grow -into a sturdy mountaineer,” said Everage to himself. - -And soon after this he got up and went away. - -Later, the two men and the woman came in and drank themselves drunk, and -then flung themselves down to sleep themselves sober. Little Lenny slept -on in his pallet watched by Meg. - -So passed the first day of the child’s captivity. - -On the second and third days the old crone abandoned her post at St. -Mary’s le Strand, and, hoping to make more by the beautiful boy, dressed -him in rags, and telling him it was all for fun, and promising to take -him to Drusilla, went out to beg with him. - -But she carefully avoided the haunts where he or she had been seen, and -took to other quarters of the city. On one of these begging excursions -at the Railway Station, Lenny had recognized Dick and called to him, as -has been related. But the beldam hastily covered the boy’s head with a -ragged shawl, plunged into the crowd and disappeared, leaving Dick -bewildered. - -On that night, when she took the child home to the miserable garret, she -found Everage waiting there. - -Everage was in a great panic. He told her that posters were out all over -London advertising the loss of the child, describing his person and -dress, and offering a large reward for his recovery. He assured her -that, if the child were found in their possession, the whole lot of them -would be sent to prison and to penal servitude, and enjoined them to -keep him very closely in the attic until a favorable opportunity should -occur of taking him out of the country. - -He promised them further and greater rewards if they would faithfully -follow his instructions; and having received their pledge to obey him, -he left the house. - -From this day Lenny was confined to the miserable attic and taken care -of by Meg. She watched him by night, and tended him by day; she washed, -dressed and fed him; she tried to amuse and console him; she sung all -the songs she knew and told all the tales; and she wept when he cried, -and she smiled when he laughed; and, though her nature was truthful, she -told lots of lies to little Lenny to account for the non-appearance of -Doosa, promising every morning that Doosa would certainly come that day. - -Little Lenny at first believed this; but daily disappointment at length -disturbed his faith. And day by day he pined and pined, wailing in a -tone of despair that nearly broke Meg’s heart: - -“No, no, no, Doosa not tome. _Doosa done away! Doosa done away!_” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV. - THE PEACE-OFFERING. - - I give thee all - I can, no more. - - -Alexander Lyon arrived in London on the morning train, and in a pouring -rain. He was pale and faint from his long illness and his fatiguing -journey, but he was sustained by intense mental excitement. - -His first thought, on leaving the train, was this: - -How should he find his lost child in this boundless Babylon? - -For the advertisement in the Times, of that morning, had already -informed him that the baby-boy was still missing. - -Sending on his valet with his luggage to Mivart’s, he himself got into a -cab and drove to the Morley House. Arrived there, he went into the -reading-room to make inquiries, for the child might have been found, -even after that last advertisement had been sent to the paper. - -“Has the lost boy been found up to this morning?” he inquired of the -bookkeeper or clerk of the house. - -“No, sir,—nor ever will be, I fear; but here is Mr. Hammond—perhaps he -can tell you more,” answered that official. - -Alexander turned, and found himself face to face with Dick. - -They had parted in anger the last time they had spoken together; but -now, for different reasons, both forgot that anger,—Alexander, in his -recovered sanity and in his gratitude for Dick’s services; and Dick -himself in the frankness of his heart and the compassion he felt for the -sick and suffering man. Their hands met, and—— - -“Dick!” - -“Alick!” - -Were the first words they spoke. - -“Has the child been heard of?” - -“No,” sighed Hammond. - -“Come out, and walk with me; I wish to ask you about it.” - -“But it is pouring rain, and you have been ill. You are so still. Let us -go into some unoccupied private parlor and have coffee ordered there. -You will need it.” - -“Just as you please, Dick.” - -Hammond beckoned a waiter to show them to a private room: and, when they -had reached it, he ordered breakfast for two to be brought there. - -“Now tell me of _her_. How is she? How does she bear this heavy sorrow?” -inquired Alexander, as soon as the waiter had left the room. - -“Badly enough. She scarcely ever eats or sleeps. She is wasted to a -shadow. She is dying—she will die, unless the child is restored,” -answered Dick. - -“The child shall be restored, if he is above ground!” said Alick, -bringing his fist down heavily upon the table. - -Dick shook his head, and sighed. - -“I tell you he shall. I arose from my death-bed to seek for him, and -find him, and bring him to his mother—and I will do it!” - -“Will you go to her and tell her that?” said Dick, solemnly. - -“No, I will not. There is too much—too much to be forgiven me. I will -not go near until I can place her child in her arms. And, Hammond, mind, -this is a confidential interview—do not speak to her of it, or of me.” - -“Certainly not, if such is your wish.” - -“Does she pray now as she used to pray in all her troubles?” - -“She does little else than pray; she does nothing else but pray and -search for her child.” - -“_She_ search?” - -“Yes, she lives in a cab; has lived so ever since the child was lost.” - -“And does she believe that she will find him?” - -“Yes. She believes that he is alive, and therefore to be found. It is -her belief in that theory which keeps her alive through all the agony of -suspense. If she thought he was dead she would die. I am sure of it.” - -“Keep up that faith in her heart, Dick. Lead her to believe also in the -restitution of her child as an event that may occur any day, any hour, -as you know it may.” - -Dick sighed heavily. - -“But it may! And it shall! I, too, sinner that I am, have learned to -pray. I pray daily, hourly, that I may be permitted to find the child -and bring it as a peace offering to my dear, injured wife. And I shall -do it. I feel sure that I shall.” - -“Heaven grant that you may,” sighed Dick; “but recollect that already -everything has been done that experience, interest, energy, money, -skill, can do.” - -“But not all that _despair_ can do! Oh, Dick! I have so set my heart on -finding this child and bringing him to his mother that I shall surely do -it.” - -“The Lord send it.” - -“And therefore, Dick, I want you to prepare her to expect the child; or, -rather, to believe it probable that he will soon be found; so that when -I do bring him to her she may not die from a shock of joy.” - -“I will do as you request, Alick; but I shall have to act with great -discretion in the matter.” - -“Certainly you will, and you can. Does she know anything about——” Alick -hesitated to name the _affair of honor_ of which he was now so heartily -ashamed. “Does she know anything about——” - -“Your illness in Jersey, or its cause?” said Dick, delicately coming to -his help. “Of course not. We were not going to tell her anything to add -to her troubles.” - -“You were right!—But what a heartless wretch she must think me, to be in -town and to show no interest in the loss of my child!” exclaimed -Alexander. - -Dick could not help remembering that Drusilla had had quite cause enough -to believe him a “heartless wretch” without this. But Dick was very -good-natured, so he said: - -“She knows that you were not in town. She went to your hotel at once to -apprize you of the loss of your child——” - -“She did! Drusilla did that!” exclaimed Alexander, interrupting him. - -“Yes, she did—within an hour after the discovery was made, and——-” - -“Bless her! bless her!” fervently ejaculated Alexander. - -—“She was told that you had left town for Southampton. I think she -received the impression that you had sailed for America.” - -“I am very glad of that. But is it not strange that she did not see that -ill-natured paragraph in the papers referring to the——” - -“Not at all. The paragraph in question was in but one day’s issue, and -that was the day she was in her greatest agony about her child; and -besides, she never has looked at paper or book since her heavy loss. She -has done nothing but pray and search, as I said before.” - -“Poor child! poor child! Dick, tell her nothing of me. I do not wish -that she shall see me, or hear from me, until I bring her the child. But -give my love and thanks to my uncle, and tell him what I am about. But -here comes the waiter.” - -Breakfast was brought in and arranged upon the table, and the friends -drew up to it. - -Alexander ate nothing, but he drank down in quick succession about six -cups of coffee; for “sorrow is dry,” just as surely as if the drunkards -had never said it was, and made it an excuse for more drinking. - -Then Alexander got up from the table and said: - -“I would like to meet you here every morning about this hour for a few -minutes to compare notes. Would it be convenient or agreeable?” - -“Certainly—both, Alick. I am entirely at your service. And God grant you -success!” - -Then Alexander took up his hat and gloves, saying: - -“I am going to Police Head-Quarters first.” - -Dick laughed lugubriously. - -“Alick,” he said, “the detective police have been using their utmost -skill to find the lost child. They have been hard at work for a month.” - -“I know it, but they work in a routine; they also have come to move in a -groove. The thieves know the detectives’ ways by this time and elude -them. I shall go about the business in an original manner. Good-by, -Dick. I thank you earnestly for all your patient forbearance and -goodness to me. Help them to take care of my poor girl.” - -“Certainly I will. But, Alick! do you take care of _yourself_. It is -very damp.” - -“Never fear. No one takes cold who has so much else to think about and -do. Well, once more—good-by till to-morrow, Dick.” - -And the friends shook hands and parted. - -Alexander threw himself into his cab, and drove off to Scotland Yard. - -There he saw the chief of police, and had a long talk with him. Under -the seal of confidence, he explained something of the circumstances of -his marriage, his temporary estrangement from his wife, who bore his -family name; and of his subsequent accession to the title and estate of -Killcrichtoun—a title which, it appeared, his wife shrank from sharing -until they should be reconciled. This, he said, he divulged that the -chief might understand why it was that he took so deep an interest, and -was willing to pay so high a reward, and give besides all his own time -and attention for the recovery of the lost child. - -These circumstances and all others he deemed necessary he explained to -the chief, who, by the way, had heard it all before from Dick, although -he did not deem it discreet to interrupt Lord Killcrichtoun’s narrative -by telling him so. - -Alexander also made some suggestions as to the best manner of conducting -the further search, that the chief declared to have been inspired. - -After leaving Scotland Yard, Alexander went to his apartments at -Mivart’s, where he found that his valet had unpacked and arranged his -clothes and toilet apparatus, and had brought up the letters and papers -that had accumulated for him during him absence. - -He looked over his letters, but found nothing of great importance. - -Then he sent for the clerk of the house and made inquiries as to who had -called on him, or what had happened concerning him during the last -month. - -He heard in reply several things in which we are not interested, and one -thing in which we are, rather—namely, the visit of two ladies, who -inquired for him in connection with the missing child. - -Of course he knew at once that the ladies referred to must have been -Anna and Drusilla, and the child little Lenny. - -He made very particular inquiries concerning these visitors merely -because he liked to hear of Drusilla; and having learned all that the -clerk had to tell, he thanked and dismissed him. - -For the next eight days Alexander occupied himself by carrying into -execution all the ingenious plans he had originated for finding the -child; but as none of these plans succeeded, it is not necessary to -detail them. - -It was fated that the father should find the child when he was not -looking for him, but when he was in the act of performing a piece of -disinterested benevolence. - -And this is how it came about: - -Among other better thoughts that had visited Alexander on his bed of -illness were certain reflections in connection with his distant -relative—our poor gentleman. His mind dwelt much upon the poor usher and -his half-famished family, and he reproved himself for his late strange, -incomprehensible blindness, thoughtlessness and selfishness in regard to -them. - -“A wife and six children to be fed and clothed on sixty pounds a year! -Good Heaven! how could I have been so preoccupied as not to think of -this when I had the power to help them—I who fling away every day of my -idle and worthless life as much as he gets for his hard work and -usefulness a whole year. I ought to do something for him. I ought to -have done it long ago. But the question is—what to do? He is as proud as -Satan, and he would not take money.” - -After much reflection, Alexander hit upon a plan of helping the poor -gentleman without hurting his pride. It was a plan that required some -considerable sacrifice on Alexander’s part; and when you hear of it I -think you will say that it was generous, if not magnanimous. - -On Alexander’s arrival in London, and for the first eight days after -that, he had been so occupied with the search for his child that he had -almost forgotten his plans for the relief of poor Everage; but on this -ninth day he opened his eyes in the morning with these thoughts: - -“I have been here more than a week, and spent all my time, energy and -ingenuity in the search, and I have not found my child yet.” - -And then he fell into profound reverie, in the midst of which some good -angel whispered to his spirit: - -“You have been here eight days, intent only upon finding your child and -taking him to his mother as a peace offering, and all for your own -happiness; and you have not once thought of the poor gentleman and his -famishing family.” - -“No, I have not,” said Alexander to himself, “when it would have -required no more than fifteen minutes to have done it either. I will -find time to see poor Everage to-day, and put him out of his misery.” - -And he kept his word. - -He knew exactly where the Newton Institute was situated, and he knew the -hour of the afternoon at which the boys were dismissed, and at that hour -he walked towards the Institute to meet Everage as the latter should -come out after his pupils. He met first a troop of boys, and afterwards -saw _him_ come creeping along. But oh! how changed since Alexander had -last seen him! He was now pale, thin, haggard, and somewhat gray. His -eyes were cast down, and his shoulders were bowed, and he crept along -like an old man of eighty. - -The truth is that the poor gentleman had mistaken his vocation—it was -not that of a deep-dyed villain; he had no genius for crime, and -moreover, he had no stomach for it; it did not agree with him; he could -not digest it; it made him ill, and was like to kill him unless he could -get it off his stomach, or—his conscience. - -His passions, his poverty, and his temptations had drawn him on to a -deed which, just as soon as it was done, filled his soul with a -corroding remorse. - -Of all who suffered from the abduction of little Lenny, Clarence -Everage, the abductor, suffered the most. Every night he was drawn by -some irresistible influence to look upon his little victim. - -He was himself a very loving father, and he had a little girl of Lenny’s -age, who was his favorite child, named Clara, after himself; and when he -saw poor Lenny fading in the close confinement of that dark, damp attic, -and for the want of sunshine, and weeping and wailing for his mother, -the sinner’s remorse was intensified to agony. He let his own family -suffer that he might bring a few dainties to little Lenny. - -The other lodgers in the house, who had never had a glimpse of the -baby-boy, but who knew that a child had been put to “mind” with Mother -Rooter, and who saw this poor, shabby gentleman come every night to -bring it “goodies,” jumped to the natural conclusion that he was the -father of the boy, whom for some reason or other he was keeping in -concealment; and this supposition shut out the suspicion that little -Lenny was the missing child whose loss was posted all over London. We -who know the facts easily see the connection between the two sets of -circumstances; but they who did not even suspect them, could see no such -relations. - -So deep was the remorse of poor Everage, that it not only dried up his -blood, and wasted his flesh, and bowed his frame, and blanched his hair, -but it drove him to the desperate determination to take the child and go -to police head-quarters and give himself up as its abductor. And so -fixed was his resolution that he was only waiting for his wife to get -safely over her confinement, which was daily expected, before he should -do this. - -In this very frame of mind, and thinking of this very purpose, he came -down the street to where Alexander was waiting for him. - -“Poor soul!” thought Alick, as he gazed upon him, “he is ageing very -fast. His cares are too much for him. Or, perhaps, he has been ill, or -in some distress even greater than usual. I ought to have looked after -him long ago. I will do it at once.” - -And Alick quickened his steps to overtake the poor gentleman, who, in -his deep preoccupation of mind, had passed without even lifting his eyes -from the ground. - -Alexander quickly overtook him, and, lightly touching his arm, said: - -“Everage?” - -The poor gentleman started, turned around, and, seeing Alexander, looked -aghast, as a criminal might at a constable. - -“How do you do, Everage? I fear you have been ill,” said Alick. - -Everage shook in every limb, and said nothing. - -“You _have_ been ill, that is plain enough! Come—shall we hail a cab, -and go to Véry’s? It is _my_ turn now, you remember,” said Alick -cheerfully. - -But Everage continued to gaze at him aghast, until at length he got -breath enough to gasp: - -“Good Heaven, my lord, is it you?” - -“Come, Everage; your nerves are all unstrung, and you’re shocked to see -me looking so like a ghost. Indeed, I had liked to have been one. But -here I am, alive at least, and likely to get well. Come—shall it be -Véry’s?” - -“No, no, no—not that!” groaned the poor gentleman. - -“The green-turtle soup is prime; now shall we go to that place in the -Exchange?” - -“No, no, no, Lord Killcrichtoun! I can go nowhere to eat or to drink -with you! I cannot! I cannot! Heaven have mercy on me! I am a lost -soul.” - -“Why, what is the matter with you, Everage?” - -“I am ill, ill, ill!” - -“Your nervous system is broken down; life has been too hard with you, my -friend! But come—I have news for you that will cheer you up! Let us drop -into the nearest tavern, and get a private room, where we may converse -confidentially,—here is the ‘King’s Head’ near, shall we go there and -have something comfortable?” - -“No, no, no; I told you I would go nowhere to eat or drink with you, my -lord!” - -“Is your digestive apparatus so much out of order as all that? Well, -then, if you don’t go to eat and drink, we will go to talk. I tell you I -have news for you—‘you will hear of something to your advantage,’ as the -mysterious newspaper paragraphs say.” - -“Well, well, I will go with you, my lord; and perhaps I will tell you -‘something to _your_ advantage,’” he muttered, in a low tone. - -So they went to the King’s Head, and Alick called for a private parlor, -where they sat down to talk. - -“Everage,” said Alick, gravely, “I have had a long and dangerous fit of -illness, from which I have scarcely yet recovered.” - -“Indeed, my lord! I had not heard of it: but, really now I observe that -you do not look well. I am sorry, my lord.” - -“Everage, you heard of the affair in which I was engaged? the——” - -The word stuck in his throat; he would not utter it. - -Everage looked puzzled for a moment. - -“You know—the affair in which I was engaged in Jersey! the——” - -“Oh, yes, certainly, my lord; I heard of the——” - -And, in courtesy, the poor gentleman paused exactly where his friend had -done. - -“Well, Everage, I was severely wounded, and, in the illness that -followed, I came nearer facing my Judge than I ever expected to do, -without hearing my sentence. In the convalescence that followed, you may -believe that I was brought to very serious reflection. Among other -subjects, I thought of you, Everage, and took myself to task for not -having done so before—nay, now, do not shrink and turn from me; I mean -no such an impertinence as patronage to you, Everage. I would just as -soon venture to patronize one of the royal princes. But I thought of a -plan for improving the circumstances of your family, which even you -might meet without detriment to your honest pride.” - -“Oh, Heaven! oh, Heaven, have mercy on me!” groaned the poor gentleman. - -“Everage, you are exhausted; you really _must_ have something,” said -Alick. - -And he rang for a waiter, and ordered brandy; which was quickly brought. - -Everage gulped a small glassful and then said: - -“You thought of me—you thought of me on your sick-bed! You think of me -still in your days of deep affliction! for you _cannot_ have come to -London without learning the loss of——” - -Everage’s voice broke down in sobs. - -“My child? yes; I learned the loss from the newspapers—from the very -first newspapers that fell into my hands after I was convalescent. I -have thought of little else since my arrival. For the last eight days, I -have done nothing but devise and carry out plans for his recovery. But, -this morning, I remembered you and your affairs, and reproached myself -for forgetting them. So, now——” - -“But, about your child,—how _can_ you think of any one or of anything -while he is missing?” - -“Because I cherish a great faith that I shall soon find him. But about -your affairs. I wish to speak of _them_,” said Alick. - -The poor gentleman waved his hand with a gesture of resignation and -became silent. - -“Everage, on that bed of illness and self-examination, I made many a -retrospection of my past life, and many a resolution for my future one. -Among my retrospections was a review of my motives in going to so much -trouble and expense in establishing my claim to the Barony of -Killcrichtoun, which I really did not want. I believe now that my only -incentives to that action were idleness and _ennui_. I had nothing to -do; and I was weary of my life. But having made the discovery of my -descent from the old baron, I took some little interest in tracing back -the lineage; and found some little excitement in following up the -investigation and proving my claim. But as soon as all that was over and -I found myself addressed on all sides as ‘Lord Killcrichtoun,’ ‘your -lordship,’ and ‘my lord,’—on my soul, Everage, I felt heartily ashamed -of myself and title——” - -“Yet it is an ancient and an honorable title,” sighed the poor -gentleman, and he thought—“He values it so lightly, this proud -Virginian, while I—I have staked my soul upon the bare chance of some -day gaining it!” - -“Yes, it is an ancient and honorable title; and it would well become an -English heir—it would well become yourself, Everage! And but for me you -would have been the bearer of it.” - -“But for you, my lord, I should never have heard of my remote connection -with it.” - -“Everage, my friend, will you do me the favor to leave out all reference -to that title in speaking to me? To hear it so applied makes me feel -like a fool and that is a fact. I am a plain Republican gentleman, a -little proud or perhaps I should say, conceited, on account of my old -State, and still more so in respect of my native country; but I am not -such an ass as to want to be a ‘Lord.’ Enough of that. What I have said, -what I may yet say of myself will only be to explain my plan for you. -Listen. Everage; I shall not claim your attention very long.” - -“I am listening, sir.” - -“I am going to try to be reconciled to my poor wife. (My illness brought -me to my senses on that subject also.) I am going to try to be -reconciled to my wife; and then we are going to return to our native -land. But before I do either—before I do anything—I shall make over the -Killcrichtoun estate to _you_.” - -At this announcement the poor gentleman sprang to his feet, as if he had -been shot from his chair; then, sinking back again, he covered his face -with his hands and uttered such deep, heart-rending groans as could only -be wrenched from a bosom wrung by remorse. - -“Everage! Everage! my friend, what is the matter? Good Heavens! how -nervous you are! How shattered your health must be! But you will recover -your strength again when you leave this stifling atmosphere composed of -smoke and fog, and get away to the bracing breezes of the Highlands!” -said Alick, kindly. - -“Too late! too late! too late!” moaned Everage. - -“Too late? No, it isn’t. You have no fatal malady. You are only broken -down by hard work! You will recover in the Highlands. Think how your -children will enjoy the freedom and fine air of the mountains. And you -can take them to Killcrichtoun and enter on possession as soon as you -like. The necessary deeds of conveyance of the land shall be made out as -soon as I can get the slow lawyers to do it.” - -“It is too much! it is too much! Great Heaven! this is too much to bear! -You overwhelm me, my lord!” groaned Everage. - -“But why do you say so? Everage! look here! I really do think that you -have more right—a great deal more right to the estate than I have. You -and all your ancestors were British born. I and my immediate progenitors -were American born. What right had I to come over here and claim this -title and estate? None whatever in _right_, whatever I might have had in -law. And I cannot continue to hold it and to transmit it to my son, -unless I expatriate myself and become a British subject. And I will not -do that. Therefore I do not _want_ Killcrichtoun. A man is not even to -be thanked for giving away what he don’t want. As I said before, I shall -make over the whole of the landed estate to _you_. I wish to Heaven I -could also give you the title; but that cannot be so transferred, I -believe; so the title must be dropped; for, of course, I cannot continue -to bear it in my own country—it would make me simply ridiculous. When, -however, you become the owner of Killcrichtoun, although you cannot be -the baron, yet you will have the territorial title, according to the -custom of Scotland. You will be called ‘Killcrichtoun’ or ‘Everage of -Killcrichtoun.’ Come, come! cheer up, man!” - -“Too much! it is too much! too much and too late!” groaned the poor -gentleman, as he sat with his hands clasped tightly around his head, his -bosom heaving and his eyes streaming with tears. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV. - THE PEACE-OFFERING.—_Continued._ - - -To Alick there seemed something awful in Everage’s tremendous emotion. -He had been a very handsome, fine-looking man, with that natural air of -majesty and grace which not even the bitterness of poverty and servitude -could take from him; but now he was all broken down. - -Deep compassion moved the heart of Alick as he gazed on him. - -“What is the matter, Everage?” he softly inquired. - -“Coals of fire! Coals of fire!” answered the conscience-stricken man. -And covering his bowed face with his hands, ‘he wept bitterly,’ as -repentant Peter wept. - -Alexander looked on with awe for an instant, and then turned away his -head; he could not bear to see such abject grief. - -At length, with an effort, Everage gained a mastery over his passion and -raised his head, and with a look of anguish still upon his face, and in -a voice still vibrating with intense emotion, he said: - -“You ask me what is the matter? Remorse is killing me! Remorse! and now -your kindness!” - -“‘Remorse,’ Everage?” exclaimed Alexander, in consternation. - -“Yes, remorse! I am a criminal of the darkest dye! I am not worthy to -live!” - -“A criminal!—You!” - -“Yes, I!—a God forsaken criminal.” - -“God never forsakes the greatest criminal, being penitent. But you, -Everage! I cannot understand! I cannot believe you to be a criminal,” -answered Alexander, unable to recover from his consternation, and -mentally running over the sins most likely to be committed by a poor -gentleman under the influence of overpowering temptation. Was it -embezzlement? swindling? No, he could have had no opportunity of -dabbling in either of these. Was it forgery? Yes, it was most likely -forgery. The poor usher had probably, under the pressure of terrible -want, forged his employer’s name to a check, or a note, or something of -the sort, and was now dying of remorse and shame, and perhaps also of -terror. And Alick resolved to help him, if help were possible. - -“Everage,” he asked kindly, “do you wish to confide in me?” - -“I wish to CONFESS to you, since the offense was committed against you,” -groaned the heart-broken man. - -“Against _me_?” exclaimed Alexander, in a tone of surprise that was not -without pleasure; for he instantly thought—“Oh, if he has only forged -_my_ name to a cheque or a note, or anything of the sort, it will be -perfectly easy to save him. It will only be for me to take up the paper -without saying anything about it; or, at worst, to acknowledge the -signature.” Then, speaking softly, he said: - -“Tell me everything, Everage, freely as one sinner speaking to another; -for I, too, have sinned too deeply to have any sort of right to judge -harshly. Speak freely, Everage.” - -Still for a moment the poor gentleman remained silent, he knew that, -after having told all, his bosom would feel somewhat relieved, yet he -could scarcely bring himself to utter his own shame. - -“I will tell you everything. And the more willingly because reparation -is still in my power.” - -“But, Everage, if such reparation should in any way distress you, it -need not be made. Nay, if the confession itself will distress you, -withhold it, my friend. If, as you say, the offense is against me, you -need not tell it; and believe me, neither you nor any one else shall -ever hear of it,” said Alick, kindly. - -“Every gentle, generous word you speak stabs my heart like a reproach. I -must tell you all. It will shame me, but it will relieve me to do so. -Reparation must be made; and it will not distress but comfort me to make -it; nay, it will almost do away my guilt. It is a measure that I had -already resolved upon. I was only waiting for my poor wife to get over -her impending _accouchement_ before carrying it into effect; for in my -poor Belle’s present critical condition, the excitement of a criminal -trial would surely kill her. And thus my little girls would be bereft of -both parents.” - -“Everage, you talk wildly! If the offense is against me, it is already -condoned. You may reveal it or not as you please. For myself, I do not -see the need of your doing so.” - -“That is because you do not know the nature of my crime! Lord -Killcrichtoun, it was I who caused your child to be abducted!—There! -kill me where I stand if you like! No one will think of blaming you,” -said Everage, in a broken voice, as he tottered to his feet and stood -before little Lenny’s father. - -But Alexander gazed at him in amazement and incredulity for a full -minute before he found ideas or words to reply. Then he exclaimed: - -“Everage, you are mad to think so! What motive could you possibly have -had for getting possession of my child? You who have so many of your -own? I say you are mad to think it.” - -“No,” said Everage, dropping back in his chair and covering his face. -“No, not mad _now_: but I was mad then, when I caused the child to be -carried off! I was mad blind, and Heaven-forsaken!” - -“Not Heaven-forsaken, Everage, or you would not have been brought to -this confession. But is this really true? You caused the child to be -carried off? You said the reparation was still in your power!—_that_ -means the child still lives! Where is he? Is he in London? Is he in our -reach? Is he well?” inquired Alexander scarcely able to control the -violence of his emotions—his strangely mingled and warring emotions—of -astonishment, indignation, ecstasy and impatience. - -“Yes, to all your questions,” answered Everage, dropping his face into -his hands. - -“But, good Heaven, what _possible_ motive _could_ you have had for -carrying off my child? You _must_ have been mad!” - -“I was! I was, my lord! mad and blind and God-forsaken! I was tempted -beyond——” - -“Stop, Everage! don’t tell me just now. I must see my boy immediately. -Can you take me to him now?” - -“Yes,” answered the poor gentleman, in an almost inaudible voice. - -“How far is it?” asked Alexander, with his hand upon the bell. - -“About two miles from here,” breathed Everage. - -“Then we must have a carriage,” observed Alexander, ringing the bell. - -“A cab, immediately!” he said, as the waiter appeared. - -“And now, Everage,” he continued, when they were left alone together -again, “now tell me what could possibly have caused you to have my child -carried off. Do you know his loss has nearly broken his mother’s heart?” - -“Do I _not_ know it? Have I not felt it? felt it day and night since the -devil deluded me into doing this deed? Lord Killcrichtoun, look at me! -See the wreck remorse has made of me! No sooner had I done this deed -than remorse, like a consuming fire, than which the fires of Hell cannot -be fiercer, entered my heart and burned my life away to this.” - -“Burned your guilt away, Everage, but not your life.” - -“This agony of remorse I would not have borne for a week, but for my -wife’s critical condition.” - -“But she must have been very much distressed by the change in you.” - -“She was; but she ascribed it all to overwork in the school. And I -soothed her by saying that after her confinement I should leave the -school. I did not tell her, _for the Old Bailey_.” - -“Hush, Everage, there will be nothing of that sort. But you have not yet -told me what it was that tempted you to load thus your conscience.” - -“I will tell you all—I will keep nothing back, and then you can do as -you please.” - -But, before he could say another word, the waiter opened the door, and -announced the cab that had been ordered. - -Alexander and Everage left the house, Everage tottering with weakness -and scarcely able to walk without the support of Alexander’s arm, which -was readily given him. - -Everage gave the order. - -“Black street, Blackfriars’ Road.” - -And then, with the help of Alexander, entered the cab. - -When they were both seated and the vehicle was in motion, Everage -commenced the story of little Lenny’s abduction, and the causes that led -to the act. - -With a shame-bowed head, in a broken and almost inaudible voice, he -spoke of the bitterness of his poverty and his servitude; of the love, -which was agony, for his beautiful, pale-faced wife, and lovely, fading -little girls; of the jealousy with which he saw the Killcrichtoun -estate, that might have been his own, and the salvation of his famishing -family, pass away to a foreigner, so wealthy that he cared nothing for -the half-sterile Highland acres; of his belief that the present baron’s -life was so precarious that in a very short time no one but little Lenny -would stand between himself and the inheritance of Killcrichtoun; and of -the intensity of the temptation that finally maddened and conquered him, -and drew him on to crime; and finally, again he spoke of the fierce -remorse that like the fires of Tophet devoured his life. - -“And now,” he concluded, “do with me what you will! I have nothing to -say in my defense, nothing whatever! You can prosecute me for the -abduction. You can send me to penal servitude for Heaven knows how many -years! It will be just! I only entreat you, in any case, not to let my -innocent family starve!” - -“My poor Everage! I could not look in your face and see the wreck -remorse has made of you, and raise my hand or voice against you! ‘Penal -servitude!’ Your whole life has been penal servitude! Besides, besides, -in my more favored position, without any of the temptations that beset -you, I myself have been too great a sinner to dare to be a harsh judge! -In your position, Everage, heaven knows, I might have been tempted to do -the same things!” said Alexander, gravely. - -“But I never meant to harm the child. I would have taken the best care -of him I could.” - -“I believe you, Everage. And let me find the child alive and well, and -let me have the happiness of laying him upon his mother’s lap; and then -let the whole matter pass into forgetfulness. It shall not in any way -interfere with my plans for your welfare.” - -“God bless you, sir!” wept the poor gentleman; “God, in his great mercy, -bless you!” - -“Black street, sir,” said the cabman, pulling up his horses and waiting -further orders. - -“Turn into it and drive on until you reach Bushe Lane. It is on the left -hand,” answered Everage. - -The cabman turned his horses’ heads and drove down the street for some -distance and then pulled up again. - -“Bushe’s Lane, sir.” - -“Turn into it and go on until you reach Blood Alley. It is also on the -left side,” said Everage. - -The cabman turned into the dark, unwholesome lane and drove on for a -short distance and then reined up his horses again. - -“Blood Alley, sir,” he said. - -“We must get out here, the alley is too narrow to admit the passage of -the carriage,” said Everage opening the door. - -And both men stepped down at the entrance of the foul alley, dark, -loathsome and offensive to every material sense and moral sentiment. - -“Wait here until we return,” said Everage to the cabman. - -The man touched his hat in assent as he thought to himself: - -“Them two coves be two detectives on the scent of thieves.” - -Everage led the way and Alexander followed him, picking his steps as -well as he could through the fermenting filth of the alley, and -shuddering to think his child was exposed to such deadly air. - -About midway down the alley Everage paused before a tall, tottering -tenement house, occupied by the lowest caste of thieves and beggars. - -“Here is the place,” he said, opening the door and entering the -passage-way without either obstruction or even observation; for at this -hour the tenants were out upon their tramps. - -Everage led the way up several flights of quaking stairs to the attic -floor, which certainly, from its height, had the advantage of a purer -air. - -Everage opened a door immediately in front of the landing and signed -Alexander to enter. - -Alick passed the threshold and found himself in a room with a sloping -roof and a skylight. - -The room was clearer than when he saw it last, for Meg had been supplied -with soap, and had kept it so for little Lenny’s sake; but it was almost -as bare of furniture as before. - -There were but two persons present—a wild-looking, dark-haired, -bare-footed girl walking the floor: and a child in her arms—a pale, wan -baby-boy, with his fair-haired head dropped heavily upon her shoulder, -his violet eyes closed, and his long fringed eyelids lying down upon his -dead white cheeks. His little clothes were old and faded and patched, -but as clean as hands could make them. - -As the two men entered the room the girl looked up, pointed to the -sleeping child and signed them to be quiet. - -It was too late. Poor little Lenny had become a nervous and irritable -sleeper. The slightest noise would awaken him. And now the sound of -approaching footsteps startled him from his sleep, and he awoke with a -shiver. His first words were: - -“Doosa tome, Met?” - -Then looking up and seeing only two men, he dropped his head upon Meg’s -shoulder and wailed forth his disappointment: - -“Doosa not tome! Doosa not tome! Lenny want see Doosa! Lenny want to see -Doosa so bad!” - -“And you shall see Doosa, my darling boy! You shall see Doosa before the -sun goes down. You shall sleep on your mother’s bosom to-night, little -Lenny!” exclaimed Alexander, in great agitation, as he went to the child -and held out his arms. - -But Lenny turned away and clasped his own arms around Meg’s neck and -renewed his plaintive cry: - -“I want to see Doosa! I want to see Doosa so bad! I don’t want anybody -esse!” - -“And so you shall see Doosa, my beloved boy. Look at me, little Lenny! -don’t you know me?” coaxed Alexander. - -“Ess, I do! But I want see Doosa!” - -“Look at me, my darling! Come to me! I will take you to Doosa directly!” -pleaded Alexander, holding out his arms and gazing earnestly in the face -of his son. - -Now little Lenny had been deceived by fair but false promises, and his -faith was failing. But there was an earnest truthfulness in the looks -and words of the man that now carried conviction to the heart of the -child. His face lightened, beamed, became transfigured with ecstasy: - -“You tate me see Doosa? You tate me now?” he joyously exclaimed. - -“Yes, my darling, now this moment! Come to me,” said Alexander, still -holding out his arms. - -Lenny bounded into them. - -“Oh, sir! you will not take him from me! It would break my heart! he is -all I have to love in the world, all that loves me! I would work my -fingers to the bones, I would for him! Please, sir, don’t take him -away!” cried Meg, lifting the corner of her apron to her eyes. - -“I must take him to his mother, my girl. She too is pining for him,” -said Alexander, kindly. - -“Oh, Lenny, you won’t leave me! You won’t leave poor Met?” she wept, -appealing to the child. - -“No! no! no!” said Master Leonard, peremptorily. “_Not_ leave Met! Met -go too! Met go too! Met go too!” - -“But, my darling, Met can’t go!” - -“I will, I will, I will! Lenny love Met! Lenny not leave Met. Met go -too!” - -“But, Met cannot go,” remonstrated the father. - -“Oh, yes, sir, I can,” sobbed Meg. “If you will take him, I can go, if -you will let me; and I will be a faithful servant to him all my life, -and never want any wages.” - -“Met go too! Met go too!” sang out little Lenny. It was the chorus of -the song. - -“But, my girl, how can you go? I would willingly reward you for the care -you must have bestowed upon my child, who, but for you, might have -perished in this horrible place, but how can I take you away? you have -parents or guardians who must be consulted.” - -Meg left off crying, and laughed aloud; - -“No, sir; little ladies and gentlemen have them things, not the likes of -us! The people I live with ain’t no kin to me, though I do call the men -uncle, and the woman grannam; I am only their drudge, sir; I am free to -go with the child; if you will let me.” - -“Met go too! Met go too!” cried the little despot, beginning now to -scream and kick with impatience. - -He had not been used to have his will crossed. He had been accustomed to -prompt obedience from his white slaves. - -“I see that you are ‘a chip of the old block,’” smiled Alexander. - -“Met go too! Met go too!” screamed the young tyrant, making his feet fly -with such velocity that they looked like a drove of feet. - -Meanwhile, Meg, with her apron to her eyes, was sobbing violently. A -scene was certainly impending. - -“I think, sir, if I were you I would take the girl along. I think well -of her. I believe her account of herself to be true. And I believe it -would be a good work to take her from this haunt of sin and misery—alas! -I beg your pardon, I had forgotten myself, I have no right to preach,” -said the poor penitent, bowing his head. - -“I will take her at your word, Everage; but, good Heaven, look down at -her feet!” - -“Well, they are not cloven!” said the poor gentleman, with a sad attempt -at a pleasantry. “Give her a sovereign sir, and let her run out and fit -herself with a bonnet, and shawl, and a pair of shoes and stockings. -I’ll warrant she’ll do it all in twenty minutes.” - -“I’ll do it in less time, sir; indeed I will, if you’ll only let me go -with little Lenny!” - -“Very well; be quick,” said Alexander, handing over a sovereign. - -“Oh, please, sir, give it to me in smaller change. If the shopkeeper was -to see the likes of me with a whole suvring at a time, they would stop -it, and send for the police,” said Meg. - -“That is quite likely,” thought Alick, as he replaced the offered coin -in his purse, and then gave her a half sovereign in gold, and a half in -silver change. - -Meg was as quick as her word. She hurried out, and, in fifteen minutes -hurried in, equipped for her ride. It was in less time than they -supposed she could have effected her purchases. - -Then she took Lenny in her arms, and prepared to follow the two -gentlemen. - -The whole party went down Blood Alley towards its outlet upon Bushe -Lane. - -Little Lenny laughed and patted Meg’s cheeks, and prattled all the way. - -“Going to see Doosa, Met! Met going to see Doosa too! Lenny love Met! -Lenny not leave Met! Met going to see Doosa!” - -When they reached Bushe Lane, where the cab was waiting, the astute -cabman, looking around upon the party, said to himself: - -“There—I knew it! They’ve caught one on ’em; and what a young sinner to -be the mother of a child that big!” - -Everage put Meg and Lenny into the cab, and then followed with -Alexander. - -Lenny was still full of joyous babble. - -“Wide in cawidge, Met! Met wide in cawidge too!” he kept saying, as he -patted her cheeks and kissed her. - -“They should never be separated,” murmured the poor gentleman, timidly, -as if speaking to himself. - -“They shall not be, if I can help it,” replied Alexander who had read -with approval the letter of recommendation contained in Meg’s face. - -They drove rapidly up Bushe Lane, through Black street, and up -Blackfriars’ road. But little conversation was carried on until they -reached the Strand. - -When drawing near to Wellington street, where Everage lived, he said. - -“But you will not take the child to his mother this afternoon?” - -“Certainly,” replied Alexander. - -“What—now, immediately?” - -“Yes.” - -“Will not the shock be too great?” - -“No; I have heard that she is almost morbid on the subject, and is -constantly looking for the child, and expecting to find him, or to have -him brought home to her. I also had a sort of conviction that I should -have the happiness of finding him and carrying him as a peace-offering -to his mother. It was a very remarkable presentiment, I think.” - -“Presentiments when believed in, often fulfil themselves,” said Everage. - -“However that may be, I so firmly believed that I should find the child, -that I instructed his mother’s friends to encourage her hopes and keep -up her expectations of seeing him, so that when I should bring him to -her, she should not sustain a fatal shock of joy.” - -By this time they had reached Wellington street, and at the request of -Everage the cab was drawn up. - -The poor gentleman got out. - -“Give me your hand, Everage,” said Alexander; and holding it, he added, -“I shall see you very soon, and remember, you are to have that Highland -property.” - -Everage pressed the hand of his magnanimous friend with a look more -eloquent than words, and then turned and walked rapidly up Wellington -street. - -“Drive on,” said Alexander. - -“Where now, sir?” inquired the cabman, touching his hat. - -“Morley House, Trafalgar square.” - -In a very few minutes the cab drove up to the hotel and stopped. - -One of the servants of the house, seeing Lord Killcrichtoun’s face at -the window, came out to him. - -“Do you know if Mr. Hammond is in the house just now?” inquired -Alexander. - -“Yes, sir; he is in the reading-room.” - -“Take in my card and ask him if he will do me the favor to come out.” - -The waiter vanished, and Dick soon made his appearance at the cab door. - -“Oh, Dick! I have found him!” exclaimed Alick, pointing to the child. - -“Little Lenny! Thank God!” cried Dick, jerking open the door, jumping -into the cab, and seizing little Lenny and seating himself. - -“Oh, Dit! Dit! Lenny tome home see Doosa! Met tome too! Lenny wide in -tab! Met wide too! Lenny not leave Met! Lenny love Met!” - -And so the child prattled on, patting Dick’s cheeks, and pulling his -whiskers, and kissing him. - -“Oh, I am so glad! Where did you find him, Alick? How was it? Tell me -all about it!” - -“Too long a story, Dick. I must take him to his mother. Can I do so with -safety?” - -“I think so. I have constantly encouraged her hopes of finding the -child; and yet perhaps it would be well to be cautious. I will just step -up and prepare her a little. I will tell her that we have better hopes -than ever of finding her child; and that we have heard from him, and -know where he is; and that he is now on his way to her, and so forth. -But I will not tell her that _you_ are bringing him. I will leave that -delight to yourself.” - -“Thank you, Dick. Make haste, and don’t be gone a moment longer than -necessary.” - -“I will come back as soon as possible,” said Dick as he disappeared. - -“See Doosa! see Doosa!” exclaimed little Lenny impatiently. - -“Yes, my boy, you shall see Doosa, Dick has gone to look for Doosa and -tell her,” said Alexander. - -“Dit done look for Doosa?” - -“Yes, my darling.” - -So Lenny prattled on. - -Dick was gone rather longer than was expected, but at length he -returned. - -“You can go to her now. I have led her to expect that a gentleman from -Jersey has found the child, and is on his way home with him, and that he -may arrive by any train now. The news has made her very happy, as you -may judge. And now you may go up to her. She is alone in her chamber.” - -“Thanks, Dick! many thanks for your kindness. Come, Meg,” said Alick, -stepping out upon the sidewalk. - -Meg followed with little Lenny in her arms. - -“You must come and show me her room, Dick,” said Alick. - -“Certainly,” replied Hammond. - -The whole party entered the house and passed up-stairs. - -When they arrived at the door of Drusilla’s chamber, Alick took little -Lenny in his arms and said: - -“I must enter alone. Dick, be so good as to take this girl to your wife -and tell her that she is to be an under nursemaid or something of the -sort. After I have seen Drusilla we will attend to the girl’s case.” - -“Very well, Alick. Heaven speed you,” said Dick, beckoning to Meg, who -followed him meekly, and moving towards Anna’s room. - -“Where Met gone? where Met gone?” impatiently demanded Lenny. - -“Met has gone to see Anna,” answered Alexander. - -“Met tome back soon?” - -“Yes, she will come back soon.” - -“Met go see Doosa too?” - -“Yes, Met go see Doosa too. Now, Lenny, be a good, _quiet_ boy. We are -going to see Doosa.” - -“Lenny be good boy den.” - -“And mind, you must be very, very still. You must not jump and kick and -scream; if you do you will hurt Doosa,” said Alexander, looking very -gravely into the child’s face. - -“Lenny be good boy! Lenny not hurt Doosa,” answered the child with -owlet-like solemnity. - -Still Alick paused at the door. How many minutes he paused before he -could sufficiently compose himself for the joyous trial before him. But -then he had not yet recovered from the effects of his wound. - -At length, with a prayer in his heart, he opened the door so softly as -not to disturb the inmate of the room. - -She was sitting at the window, with her elbow resting on its sill, and -her head bowed upon her hand. How worn and wan she looked! Her face was -scarcely less white than the snowy robe she wore. Her face was turned -partly towards the window, and had an anxious, listening look, as if -constantly watching for the coming of some beloved and long-expected -one. - -As soon as little Lenny saw his mother, he forgot all his promises, and -sang out with all the strength of his baby lungs: - -“Doosa! Doosa! See Lenny tome home!” - -She turned her head quickly, screamed, and started up to meet him; but -overwhelmed with emotion, sank back again into her chair and gasped for -breath. - -“Hush, hush, my boy; see you have hurt Doosa; be very good now!” -whispered Alexander in a tone that awed the child into silence. - -Then he crossed the room, knelt at her feet, and said: - -“My wife, I have no word to say for myself. Let our child plead for me.” - -And he laid little Lenny on her lap. - -No, there was no scene that could he fully reported here. - -Husband and child, both restored to her in an instant! It is a wonder -she had not died then and there! But she did not even faint. Heaven, -that had sustained her through such long-drawn-out, unutterable sorrows, -gave her strength now to meet the sudden shock of joy. - -She gently put little Lenny aside for a moment, where the child, still -awed into silence, stood quietly. - -She stooped and fell upon her Alick’s neck and clasped him to her; she -wept over him in ecstasy; she kissed him again and again, sobbing words -of the fondest endearment—sacred words not to be written here. - -Lenny looked on in wonder and awe for some time; but at last his -impatience overcame every other emotion, and he sang out: - -“Me, too! Me, too! Me, too! ’Top it, Doosa! Tate Lenny up!” - -Alick, with a face radiant with joy, once more snatched up the child, -and kissed him rapturously, and put him in his mother’s arms, saying: - -“Tell him who I am, darling wife! Tell him who I am!” - -“Does he not know?” inquired Drusilla, who was covering her child with -caresses. - -“No. I never felt that I had any right to tell him.” - -“Lenny, love, do you know who that gentleman is?” she asked, looking -fondly at the child and then at the father. - -“Ess I do! he bring Lenny home to Doosa,” answered the boy. - -“Look at him, Lenny. He is your papa.” - -“Lenny’s popper?” inquired the baby looking with great eyes at the -stranger, who had now taken on a new interest for him. - -“Yes,” softly answered his mother. - -“Lenny dot popper _too_?” - -At this innocent question, in which so much was expressed, Alexander, -again conscience-stricken, turned away his head to hide the tears that -rushed to his eyes. - -But for all reply, Drusilla stooped and kissed her child and handed him -back to his father. - -The reconciliation was perfect. - -Later, they went into the drawing-room, to which Dick brought Anna and -General Lyon all of whom, amid tears and caresses, offered their earnest -congratulations to the reunited pair; and rejoiced with an exceeding -great joy over the restoration of little Lenny. - -But all this was nothing to the frantic delight of Pina when she heard -little Lenny had been found. She ran to him, she snatched him up, kissed -him and hugged him, and laughed and cried over him to such a degree that -even Master Leonard, who could bear a great deal of that sort of thing, -was obliged to order her to— - -“’Top it.” - -And then she ceased, and bore him off to dress him in all his finery for -dinner. - -Yes, the reconciliation was perfect. And as it very seldom happens that -any human being suffers as Drusilla had suffered, so, also, it falls to -the lot of very few to be so happy as she was that evening and ever -thereafter. - -She never learned the true history of little Lenny’s abduction. She was -left to believe in the policeman’s theory that the child had been stolen -by thieves for the sake of the jewelry on his person. She was told, -however, of Meg’s cherishing care of her baby, and she saw for herself -the strong attachment existing between them; and so she appointed Meg -under nursemaid, and fitted her out with a decent wardrobe. As to Meg’s -“parents and guardians,” the thieves of Blood Alley, they were left to -their own conjectures on the subject of her absence, and they probably -came to just conclusions, and being in possession of their ill-got -money, were also probably satisfied. - -What else? - -Clarence Everage, the sincerely repentant sinner whom misery had tempted -to crime for which nature had never intended him, and whom conscience -had afterwards constrained to confession and restitution—Clarence -Everage, the poor, proud gentleman, the oppressed public school -drudge—was put in possession of the Highland estate, and he became -Everage of Killcrichtoun. - -Alexander advanced the funds to make the house habitable and the land -arable. - -In the bracing air of the mountains his fading wife, and pale little -daughters grew rosy and happy, well and strong. Everage also recovered -his health and good looks, but never regained the raven hues of his -hair. And when his wife or any friend would suggest that it was -perfectly proper so young a man—so prematurely gray—should dye his hair, -he would shake his head with a melancholy smile and say: - -“No, no! I wear my gray locks in memory of a great temptation and a -great fault, that might have been a fatal one but for the Lord’s -goodness.” - -No one, not even his wife, knew what he meant. And no one ventured to -ask him. They saw that the matter was a sacred confidence between -himself and his Creator, with which none might intermeddle. - -In truth, nobody ever knew all the circumstances of little Lenny’s -abduction except those immediately concerned in it. Alexander had been -generous in his recovered happiness, and had spared the name and fame of -the poor gentleman. - -The Lyon family, of which little Lenny was the greatest lion of all, did -not immediately return to their own country. They made the tour of -Europe, and worked hard at it, and so they saw about one trillionth part -of what was worth seeing. - -They were accompanied by the Seymours and by Francis Tredegar. - -At the end of a year they went back to America, and down into Virginia. - -Soon after their arrival several important family events occurred. - -First, Drusilla presented little Lenny with a little sister, who was -named Annette, and who became his especial delight. - -Next, Anna became the mother of a fine boy, to the direct controverting -of the gipsy fortune-teller’s prediction, which had promised her only -girls. - -And finally, Nanny Seymour and Francis Tredegar were married; and the -young couple, after a prolonged bridal tour, took up their abode with -Colonel and Mrs. Seymour. - -Pina made Jacob inexpressibly happy by accepting the dusky hand and -honest heart of that “gorilla.” Her place being made vacant by her -marriage was well filled by Meg, now grown to be a pretty -civilized-looking young woman, and promoted to be head of the nursery at -Crew Wood. - -When I last heard of these friends of ours, General Lyon was still -living, in the enjoyment of a hale and happy age, at Old Lyon Hall, -surrounded by Anna and Dick and their children, who made their home with -him. And Hammond Hall was kept in good order by a steward and a -housekeeper. And in the fishing season, the family, with a party of -friends, usually occupy it for a few weeks. And there, as well as at Old -Lyon Hall, they are often joined by Alexander and Drusilla. - -Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Lyon live chiefly at Crew Wood, where they spend -their days in doing good, and in rearing their beautiful young family. - -Their other country seat, Cedarwood Cottage, is still in the care of -“Mammy” and her “old man.” And every winter Alick and Drusilla, with -their children, go there to be near Washington in the season. And Mr. -and Mrs. Hammond and General Lyon come to them. The old General never -loses his interest in what is going on at the capital. - - - THE END. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Good Fiction Worth Reading. - - -A series of romances containing several of the old favorites in the -field of historical fiction, replete with powerful romances of love and -diplomacy that excel in thrilling and absorbing interest. - -A COLONIAL FREE-LANCE. A story of American Colonial Times. By Chauncey -C. Hotchkiss. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. -Price, $1.00. - - A book that appeals to Americans as a vivid picture of Revolutionary - scenes. The story is a strong one, a thrilling one. It causes the true - American to flush with excitement, to devour chapter after chapter, - until the eyes smart, and it fairly smokes with patriotism. The love - story is a singularly charming idyl. - -THE TOWER OF LONDON. A Historical Romance of the Times of Lady Jane Grey -and Mary Tudor. By Wm. Harrison Ainsworth. Cloth, 12mo. with four -illustrations by George Cruikshank. Price, $1.00. - - This romance of the “Tower of London” depicts the Tower as palace, - prison and fortress, with many historical associations. The era is the - middle of the sixteenth century. - - The story is divided into two parts, one dealing with Lady Jane Grey, - and the other with Mary Tudor as Queen, introducing other notable - characters of the era. Throughout the story holds the interest of the - reader in the midst of intrigue and conspiracy, extending considerably - over a half a century. - -IN DEFIANCE OF THE KING. A Romance of the American Revolution. By -Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis. Price, $1.00. - - Mr. Hotchkiss has etched in burning words a story of Yankee bravery, - and true love that thrills from beginning to end, with the spirit of - the Revolution. The heart beats quickly, and we feel ourselves taking - a part in the exciting scenes described. His whole story is so - absorbing that you will sit up far into the night to finish it. As a - love romance it is charming. - -GARTHOWEN. A story of a Welsh Homestead. By Allen Raine. Cloth, 12mo. -with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. Price, $1.00. - - “This is a little idyl of humble life and enduring love, laid bare - before us, very real and pure, which in its telling shows us some - strong points of Welsh character—the pride, the hasty temper, the - quick dying out of wrath.... We call this a well-written story, - interesting alike through its romance and its glimpses into another - life than ours. A delightful and clever picture of Welsh village life. - The result is excellent.”—Detroit Free Press. - -MIFANWY. The story of a Welsh Singer. By Allan Raine. Cloth, 12mo. with -four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. Price, $1.00. - - “This is a love story, simple, tender and pretty as one would care to - read. The action throughout is brisk and pleasing; the characters, it - is apparent at once, are as true to life as though the author had - known them all personally. Simple in all its situations, the story is - worked up in that touching and quaint strain which never grows - wearisome, no matter how often the lights and shadows of love are - introduced. It rings true, and does not tax the imagination.”—Boston - Herald. - -DARNLEY. A Romance of the times of Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey. By -G. P. R. James. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. -Price, $1.00. - - In point of publication, “Darnley” is that work by Mr. James which - follows “Richelieu,” and, if rumor can be credited, it was owing to - the advice and insistence of our own Washington Irving that we are - indebted primarily for the story, the young author questioning whether - he could properly paint the difference in the characters of the two - great cardinals. And it is not surprising that James should have - hesitated; he had been eminently successful in giving to the world the - portrait of Richelieu as a man, and by attempting a similar task with - Wolsey as the theme, was much like tempting fortune. Irving insisted - that “Darnley” came naturally in sequence, and this opinion being - supported by Sir Walter Scott, the author set about the work. - - As a historical romance “Darnley” is a book that can he taken up - pleasurably again and again, for there is about it that subtle charm - which those who are strangers to the works of G. P. R. James have - claimed was only to be imparted by Dumas. - - If there was nothing more about the work to attract especial - attention, the account of the meeting of the kings on the historic - “field of the cloth of gold” would entitle the story to the most - favorable consideration of every reader. - - There is really but little pure romance in this story, for the author - has taken care to imagine love passages only between those whom - history has credited with having entertained the tender passion one - for another, and he succeeds in making such lovers as all the world - must love. - -CAPTAIN BRAND, OF THE SCHOONER CENTIPEDE. By Lieut. Henry A. Wise, U. S. -N. (Harry Gringo). Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis, Price, $1.00. - - The re-publication of this story will please those lovers of sea yarns - who delight in so much of the salty flavor of the ocean as can come - through the medium of a printed page, for never has a story of the sea - and those “who go down in ships” been written by one more familiar - with the scenes depicted. - - The one book of this gifted author which is best remembered, and which - will be read with pleasure for many years to come, is “Captain Brand,” - who, as the author states on his title page, was a “pirate of eminence - in the West Indies.” As a sea story pure and simple, “Captain Brand” - has never been excelled, and as a story of piratical life, told - without the usual embellishments of blood and thunder, it has no - equal. - -NICK OF THE WOODS. A story of the Early Settlers of Kentucky. By Robert -Montgomery Bird. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis, Price, $1.00. - - This most popular novel and thrilling story of early frontier life in - Kentucky was originally published in the year 1837. The novel, long - out of print, had in its day a phenomenal sale, for its realistic - presentation of Indian and frontier life in the early days of - settlement in the South, narrated in the tale with all the art of a - practiced writer. A very charming love romance runs through the story. - This new and tasteful edition of “Nick of the Woods” will be certain - to make many new admirers for this enchanting story from Dr. Bird’s - clever and versatile pen. - -GUY FAWKES. A Romance of the Gunpowder Treason. By Wm. Harrison -Ainsworth. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by George Cruikshank. -Price, $1.00. - - The “Gunpowder Plot” was a modest attempt to blow up Parliament, the - King and his Counsellors. James of Scotland, then King of England, was - weak-minded and extravagant. He hit upon the efficient scheme of - extorting money from the people by imposing taxes on the Catholics. In - their natural resentment to this extortion, a handful of bold spirits - concluded to overthrow the government. Finally the plotters were - arrested, and the King put to torture Guy Fawkes and the other - prisoners with royal vigor. A very intense love story runs through the - entire romance. - -THE SPIRIT OF THE BORDER. A Romance of the Early Settlers in the Ohio -Valley. By Zane Grey. Cloth, 12mo, with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis. Price, $1.00. - - A book rather out of the ordinary is this “Spirit of the Border.” The - main thread of the story has to do with the work of the Moravian - missionaries in the Ohio Valley. Incidentally the reader is given - details of the frontier life of those hardy pioneers who broke the - wilderness for the planting of this great nation. Chief among these, - as a matter of course, is Lewis Wetzel, one of the most peculiar, and - at the same time the most admirable of all the brave men who spent - their lives battling with the savage foe, that others might dwell in - comparative security. - - Details of the establishment and destruction of the Moravian “Village - of Peace” are given at some length, and with minute description. The - efforts to Christianize the Indians are described as they never have - been before, and the author has depicted the characters of the leaders - of the several Indian tribes with great care, which of itself will be - of interest to the student. - - By no means least among the charms of the story are the vivid - word-pictures of the thrilling adventures, and the intense paintings - of the beauties of nature, as seen in the almost unbroken forests. - - It is the spirit of the frontier which is described, and one can by it - perhaps, the better understand why men, and women, too, willingly - braved every privation and danger that the westward progress of the - star of empire might be the more certain and rapid. A love story, - simple and tender, guns through the book. - -RICHELIEU. A tale of France in the reign of King Louis XIII. By G. P. R. -James. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. Price, -$1.00. - - In 1830 Mr. James published his first romance, “Richelieu.” and was - recognized at once as one of the masters of the craft. - - In this book he laid the story during those later days of the great - cardinal’s life, when his power was beginning to wane, but while it - was yet sufficiently strong to permit now and then of volcanic - outbursts which overwhelmed foes and carried friends to the topmost - wave of prosperity. One of the most striking portions of the story is - that of Cinq Mar’s conspiracy; the method of conducting criminal - cases, and the political trickery resorted to by royal favorites, - affording a better insight into the statecraft of that day than can be - had even by an exhaustive study of history. It is a powerful romance - of love and diplomacy, and in point of thrilling and absorbing - interest has never been excelled. - -WINDSOR CASTLE. A Historical Romance of the Reign of Henry VIII., -Catharine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. By Wm. Harrison Ainsworth. Cloth, -12mo. with four illustrations by George Cruikshank. Price, $1.00. - - “Windsor Castle” is the story of Henry VIII., Catharine, and Anne - Boleyn. “Bluff King Hal,” although a well-loved monarch, was none too - good a one in many ways. Of all his selfishness and unwarrantable - acts, none was more discreditable than his divorce from Catharine, and - his marriage to the beautiful Anne Boleyn. The King’s love was as - brief as it was vehement. Jane Seymour, waiting maid on the Queen, - attracted him, and Anne Boleyn was forced to the block to make room - for her successor. This romance is one of extreme interest to all - readers. - -HORSESHOE ROBINSON. A tale of the Tory Ascendency in South Carolina in -1780. By John P. Kennedy. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. -Watson Davis, Price, $1.00. - - Among the old favorites in the field of what is known as historical - fiction, there are none which appeal to a larger number of Americans - than Horseshoe Robinson, and this because it is the only story which - depicts with fidelity to the facts the heroic efforts of the colonists - in South Carolina to defend their homes against the brutal oppression - of the British under such leaders as Cornwallis and Tarleton. - - The reader is charmed with the story of love which forms the thread of - the tale, and then impressed with the wealth of detail concerning - those times. The picture of the manifold sufferings of the people, is - never overdrawn, but painted faithfully and honestly by one who spared - neither time nor labor in his efforts to present in this charming love - story all that price in blood and tears which the Carolinians paid as - their share in the winning of the republic. - - Take it all in all, “Horseshoe Robinson” is a work which should be - found on every book-shelf, not only because it is a most entertaining - story, but because of the wealth of valuable information concerning - the colonists which it contains. That it has been brought out once - more, well illustrated, is something which will give pleasure to - thousands who have long desired an opportunity to read the story - again, and to the many who have tried vainly in these latter days to - procure a copy that they might read it for the first time. - -THE PEARL OF ORR’S ISLAND. A story of the Coast of Maine. By Harriet -Beecher Stowe. Cloth, 12mo. Illustrated. Price, $1.00. - - Written prior to 1862, the “Pearl of Orr’s Island” is ever new; a book - filled with delicate fancies, such as seemingly array themselves anew - each time one reads them. One sees the “sea like an unbroken mirror - all around the pine-girt, lonely shores of Orr’s Island,” and - straightway comes “the heavy, hollow moan of the surf on the beach, - like the wild angry howl of some savage animal.” - - Who can read of the beginning of that sweet life, named Mara, which - came into this world under the very shadow of the Death angel’s wings, - without having an intense desire to know how the premature bud - blossomed? Again and again one lingers over the descriptions of the - character of that baby boy Moses, who came through the tempest, amid - the angry billows, pillowed on his dead mother’s breast. - - There is no more faithful portrayal of New England life than that - which Mrs. Stowe gives in “The Pearl of Orr’s Island.” - - For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the - publishers, A. L. BURT COMPANY, 53–58 Duane St., New York. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. P. 260, changed “In fact there very few passengers on board” to “In - fact there were very few passengers on board”. - 2. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in - spelling. - 3. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. - 4. 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} -</style> - </head> - <body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The bride's fate, by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The bride's fate</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>The sequel to "The changed brides"</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 18, 2023 [eBook #69828]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRIDE'S FATE ***</div> - -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='titlepage'> - -<div> - <h1 class='c001'><em>THE BRIDE’S FATE</em><br> <span class='xlarge'>The Sequel to “The Changed Brides”</span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><em>By</em></div> - <div><span class='xlarge'>MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'>“A Leap in the Dark,” “The Lost Lady of Lone,” “Nearest and Dearest,” “Her Mother’s Secret,” “A Beautiful Fiend,” “Victor’s Triumph,” Etc.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>I have set my life upon a cast,</em></div> - <div class='line'><em>And I will abide the hazard of the die.</em></div> - <div class='line in32'>—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>A. L. BURT COMPANY</div> - <div><span class='sc'>Publishers</span> <span class='sc'>New York</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='border'> - -<div class='chapter ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div>POPULAR BOOKS</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>By MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'>In Handsome Cloth Binding</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>Price per volume, 60 Cents</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Beautiful Fiend, A</div> - <div class='line'>Brandon Coyle’s Wife</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to A Skeleton in the Closet</span></div> - <div class='line'>Bride’s Fate, The</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to The Changed Brides</span></div> - <div class='line'>Bride’s Ordeal, The</div> - <div class='line'>Capitola’s Peril</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to the Hidden Hand</span></div> - <div class='line'>Changed Brides, The</div> - <div class='line'>Cruel as the Grave</div> - <div class='line'>David Lindsay</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Gloria</span></div> - <div class='line'>Deed Without a Name, A</div> - <div class='line'>Dorothy Harcourt’s Secret</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to A Deed Without a Name</span></div> - <div class='line'>“Em”</div> - <div class='line'>Em’s Husband</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to “Em”</span></div> - <div class='line'>Fair Play</div> - <div class='line'>For Whose Sake</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Why Did He Wed Her?</span></div> - <div class='line'>For Woman’s Love</div> - <div class='line'>Fulfilling Her Destiny</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to When Love Commands</span></div> - <div class='line'>Gloria</div> - <div class='line'>Her Love or Her Life</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to The Bride’s Ordeal</span></div> - <div class='line'>Her Mother’s Secret</div> - <div class='line'>Hidden Hand, The</div> - <div class='line'>How He Won Her</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Fair Play</span></div> - <div class='line'>Ishmael</div> - <div class='line'>Leap in the Dark, A</div> - <div class='line'>Lilith</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to the Unloved Wife</span></div> - <div class='line'>Little Nea’s Engagement</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Nearest and Dearest</span></div> - <div class='line'>Lost Heir, The</div> - <div class='line'>Lost Lady of Lone, The</div> - <div class='line'>Love’s Bitterest Cup</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Her Mother’s Secret</span></div> - <div class='line'>Mysterious Marriage, The</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to A Leap in the Dark</span></div> - <div class='line'>Nearest and Dearest</div> - <div class='line'>Noble Lord, A</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to The Lost Heir</span></div> - <div class='line'>Self-Raised</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Ishmael</span></div> - <div class='line'>Skeleton in the Closet, A</div> - <div class='line'>Struggle of a Soul, The</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to The Lost Lady of Lone</span></div> - <div class='line'>Sweet Love’s Atonement</div> - <div class='line'>Test of Love, The</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to A Tortured Heart</span></div> - <div class='line'>To His Fate</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Dorothy Harcourt’s Secret</span></div> - <div class='line'>Tortured Heart, A</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to The Trail of the Serpent</span></div> - <div class='line'>Trail of the Serpent, The</div> - <div class='line'>Tried for Her Life</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Cruel as the Grave</span></div> - <div class='line'>Unloved Wife, The</div> - <div class='line'>Unrequited Love, An</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to For Woman’s Love</span></div> - <div class='line'>Victor’s Triumph</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend</span></div> - <div class='line'>When Love Commands</div> - <div class='line'>When Shadows Die</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Love’s Bitterest Cup</span></div> - <div class='line'>Why Did He Wed Her?</div> - <div class='line'>Zenobia’s Suitors</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>Sequel to Sweet Love’s Atonement</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>For Sale by all Booksellers or will be sent postpaid on receipt of price,</div> - <div>A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS</div> - <div>52 Duane Street New York</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0'> - <tr> - <th class='c008'><span class='small'>CHAPTER</span></th> - <th class='c009'> </th> - <th class='c010'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>I.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Unchanging Love</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_5'>5</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>II.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Calm Delights</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>III.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Surprises</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_17'>17</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>IV.—</td> - <td class='c009'>A Messenger</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_25'>25</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>V.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Fortune</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VI.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Entertaining Angels</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Halcyon Days</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_51'>51</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>VIII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The End of Probation</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_59'>59</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>IX.—</td> - <td class='c009'>A May-day Marriage</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_66'>66</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>X.—</td> - <td class='c009'>General Lyon’s Consolation</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_79'>79</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XI.—</td> - <td class='c009'>A Joyous Meeting in June</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_88'>88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Mail-Bag</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XIII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Old and New</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_102'>102</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XIV.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Arrival</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_112'>112</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XV.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Derby</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_133'>133</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XVI.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Gipsies</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XVII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>How the Parted Met</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XVIII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Waiting and Hoping</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_173'>173</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XIX.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Meeting Every Day</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_184'>184</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XX.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Ambassadress’ Ball</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXI.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Alexander’s Experience</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_207'>207</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Missing Boy</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_227'>227</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXIII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Alexander’s Jealousy</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_248'>248</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXIV.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Duel</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_256'>256</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXV.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Grand Satisfaction</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_268'>268</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXVI.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Pursuit</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_273'>273</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXVII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Shock</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_288'>288</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXVIII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Alexander Strikes a Light</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_307'>307</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXIX.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Alexander’s Discoveries</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_315'>315</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXX.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Little Lenny’s Enemy</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_324'>324</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXXI.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Abduction</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_339'>339</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXXII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Little Lenny’s Adventures</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_354'>354</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXXIII.—</td> - <td class='c009'>Lenny’s Experiences</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_369'>369</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXXIV.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Peace-offering</td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_374'>374</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>XXXV.—</td> - <td class='c009'>The Peace-offering.—<em>Continued</em></td> - <td class='c010'><a href='#Page_386'>386</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span></div> -<div class='chapter ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div>THE BRIDE’S FATE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER I.<br> <span class='large'>UNCHANGING LOVE.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Kind friends may be to thee,</div> - <div class='line'>But love like hers thou’lt see,</div> - <div class='line in14'>Never again.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Rest, peace, love, comfort were now Drusilla’s portions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was a new experience to the poor, discarded, and -deposed young wife to find herself the central object of -interest in a family like General Lyon’s, her health and -happiness watched over and provided for with the most -affectionate solicitude.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She had not a care in the world. She scarcely had a -regret. She knew the worst. She knew that her last -act had banished Alexander from her side. But when -she looked upon her boy’s face, and reflected that no stigma -now rested upon his baby brow, she could not regret -her act. With the childlike simplicity of her character, -she “accepted the situation.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the sunshine of this sweet old home, her heart expanded -to all kindly sympathies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She—the orphan girl, who had never been blessed by a -father’s tender care, deeply responded to the affection bestowed -on her by old General Lyon, and really doted on the -fine veteran. At his desire she called him uncle; but -she loved him as a father. She would watch and listen -for his footsteps, in his daily visit to her sick room; and -she would kiss and fondle his aged hands and then lift up -her boy to receive his blessing.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>And often on these occasions the veteran’s eyes filled -with tears, as he glanced from the childish mother to the -child, and murmured:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor children! poor children! while I live you shall -be my children.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna was not less kind than her grandfather to Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And she, the only daughter, who had never before -known a sister’s companionship, loved Miss Lyon with a -sister’s love, and delighted in her cheerful society.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She felt friendly towards Dick, and was very fond of -the attentive old servants. Indeed, her loving, sunny -spirit went out on all around her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But her greatest joy was in her child. She would -soothe him to sleep with the softest, sweetest notes, and -after laying him in his cradle, she would kneel and gaze -on his sleeping face for hours.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mammy protested against this idolatry; but Drusilla -answered her:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is not idolatry, nurse; because I do not place the -gift before the Giver. There is not an instant in my life -that I am not conscious of fervent gratitude to the Lord -for giving me this child, a gift forever and ever; a gift -for time and eternity; oh, nurse, a gift, of which nothing -on earth or in Heaven can deprive me!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t say that, ma’am; the Lord might take the -child,” said mammy, solemnly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know that, nurse. The Lord might take him to -Heaven, to save him from the evil in this world; but he -would be safe there, for the Lord would take care of him -for me, and give him back to me when I myself should -reach the Blessed Land,” she answered, reverently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And mammy had nothing more to say.</p> - -<p class='c012'>How closely the young mother watched the tiny growth -of her child, and the faint development of his intelligence. -She could see progress where no one else could perceive -the slightest sign of it. She discovered that “he” “took -notice,” long before any one could be brought to acknowledge -that such a prodigy was possible. Her delight when -her boy first smiled in his sleep, or when she fancied he -did, was something almost ludicrous. She was kneeling -by his cradle, watching his slumbers as usual, when she -suddenly cried out, though in a hushed voice:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>“Oh, Anna! Cousin Anna! look! look! he is laughing, -he is indeed! <em>See</em> how he is laughing!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Miss Lyon came and bent over the cradle. So did -mammy, who drew back again, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lor! why that ain’t no laugh, ma’am; that’s wind—leastways, -it is a grimace caused by wind on the stomach, -and I must give him some catnip when he wakes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, if Drusilla’s sweet face had been capable of expressing -withering contempt mammy would have been -shrivelled up to a mummy: but as it was she could only -appeal from the nurse to Miss Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Anna, look at him—he <em>is</em> laughing, or, at the very -least, smiling—is he not?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my darling, he is certainly smiling; and you -know the old folks say when an infant smiles in its sleep -it dreams of Heaven and sees angels.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I do believe that is true—it must be true! And -my little cherub sees his guardian angels!” exclaimed -Drusilla, delightedly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I tell you, ma’am,” began mammy, “it is nothing but -jest win—Owtch!” she exclaimed, suddenly breaking off -as Anna trod heavily upon her corns.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And presently mammy limped off to make the threatened -catnip tea, leaving the two young women to the enjoyment -of their faith in the sleeping baby’s Heavenly -visions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For the first weeks infants’ eyes are of no particular -form, color or expression, but merely little liquid orbs -folded up in fat. But very soon Drusilla made very great -discoveries in her infant’s eyes. Sitting alone one morning, -and gazing down upon the babe that lay smiling on -her lap, she murmured:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Alick, Alick, dear, you have torn yourself away -from me, and have gone. But you could not deprive me -of your <em>eyes</em>, my Alick! They look up at me from my -baby’s face, and while they do so I can never cease to -love you and pray for you, Alick, my Alick!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Since his desertion this was the only occasion upon -which she had ever breathed his name, and even now it -was only in half audible murmurs as she talked to herself, -or to her babe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>By the other members of the family, Alexander’s name -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>was never mentioned. General Lyon had given no orders -to this effect, but the subject was tacitly dropped by all -as one unspeakably painful and humiliating.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon, who loved the delicate, dove-eyed little -woman with a fatherly fondness, would not let her confine -herself to her own apartments a day longer than was -necessary. He first of all wiled her down to the afternoon -tea, and then after a few days coaxed her down to dinner; -and on the Sunday following sent for her to join the -family circle at breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The “family circle” at this time comprised only General -Lyon, Anna, Dick, and Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick had remained at Old Lyon Hall ever since Alexander’s -exodus, with the exception of one day when he rode -over to Hammondville, where he had left the parson and -the lawyer to tell them that their services would not be -required, and to remunerate and dismiss them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Since that day Dick had made a clean breast of it to his -uncle and had won a conditional consent to his marriage -with Anna; the engagement being encumbered with a -probation of one year.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shall be an old maid yet if I live long enough,” said -Anna, laughing when she heard from Dick of this decision. -“My marriage day has been fixed and my marriage interrupted -three times! and at every interruption it has been -deferred for one year, only to be interrupted again at the -end of it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t complain of all other interruptions, but -Anna, let us make sure of a marriage this time by going -off by ourselves and getting it done,” said Anna’s -lover.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For shame, Dick,” was all the answer she vouchsafed -him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We are of age,” urged her suitor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So much the worse, sir, for we should know better,” -said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Dick ceased to push the question.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It drew near the Christmas holidays, and the weather -was very fine for the season.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon invited and pressed his adopted niece to -take drives in the picturesque vicinity of the hall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Drusilla answered that she wished her first going -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>out should be to the house of God, in acknowledgment -of His great mercy in preserving her and her child amid -so many dangers, and raising up to them such dear -friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the conscientious old soldier could urge the matter -no farther.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One Friday morning Anna and Drusilla were seated -together as usual—the baby sleeping in the cradle between -them—when Anna said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla, my dear, you are going to church next Sunday?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I am; Providence permitting, Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you know it will be Christening Sunday?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I didn’t, Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, it will be. Now wouldn’t you like to have -your boy christened?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes; indeed I should, bless him!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I will be his godmother, and grandpa and Dick -shall be his godfathers. You know, being a boy, he will -require two godfathers and one godmother. If he were a -girl, the matter would be reversed. Now what do you -say, my dear?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I thank you very much, dear Anna, for your kindness -in thinking of all this. And I shall be very grateful to -you and dear uncle and cousin Dick for becoming sponsors -for my darling boy,” said Drusilla, earnestly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And the christening is to go on?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly, dear Anna, if you please.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What name will you give your child?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If dear uncle consents I should like to name my -boy for him—‘Leonard.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And not Alick?” inquired Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was the first time for weeks past that she had uttered -his name; and she did it now in a sort of triumph -in the thought that his discarded wife had ceased to care -for him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And not Alick?” she repeated, seeing that Drusilla -hesitated to answer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, not Alick,” the young mother now replied, calmly -and gravely.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is right; I am glad of it! Very glad of it!” -exclaimed Anna, with such righteous indignation and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>exultation combined that the young wife looked at her -in surprise and sorrow.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think you mistake me, dear cousin,” she said. -“The only reason why I do not call my child after his -father is this:—I have already <em>one</em> Alick, <em>but</em> one Alick -and I can never have another. I cannot even bear that -my child should have his name. I want but one Alick -in the whole world.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Goodness knows, I think one of that sort would be -quite enough!” exclaimed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked at her in gentle reproach.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is it <em>possible</em>, child, that you still love that scamp?” -scornfully demanded Miss Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna dear, yes! He <em>used</em> to love me too; he was -very kind to me, from the days when I was a poor little -sickly, ignorant girl, till within a short time ago. Oh, -Anna, shall the madness of a few months make me forget -all the loving kindness of many long years? Never, -Alick, dear, never,” she murmured, dropping her voice as -in soliloquy; “I will still love you and pray for you and -trust in you—for I know, Alick, dear—<em>when you come to -yourself you will come to me</em>. I can wait for that time.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna gazed on the inspired young face in amazement -that gradually gave way to reverence, and even to awe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla,” she said, solemnly, “I retract all I ever said -against Alexander, and I promise never to open my lips -to his prejudice again.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked up gratefully but—inquiringly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your eyes thank me, but you wish to know why I say -this. I will tell you: It is because you make me begin -to believe in that man. Your faith in him affects me. -There <em>must</em> be some great reserve of good somewhere latent -and undeveloped in his nature, to have drawn forth such -a faith as yours. But were he the greatest sinner that -ever darkened the earth, such love as yours would make -him sacred.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER II.<br> <span class='large'>CALM DELIGHTS.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now has descended a serener hour,</div> - <div class='line'>And with reviving fortunes.—<span class='sc'>Shelley.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The next morning Anna entered Drusilla’s room, followed -by Matty, bearing a large work-basket filled with -cambric white as snow, and lace as fine as cobweb.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Set it down here at my feet, Matty, and go,” said Miss -Lyon, sinking into one of the arm-chairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Opposite to her sat Drusilla, and between them, of -course, lay the sleeping babe in the cradle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here, my dear,” said Anna, calling the young mother’s -attention to the contents of the basket, “I have overhauled -all my bureaus and boxes in search of these materials; -for you know if our baby is to be christened on -Sunday next he must have a fine robe, and you and I must -set to work immediately to make it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, thanks, dear Anna, for your constant thoughtfulness -of me and my babe. I have some very beautifully -embroidered robes at Cedarwood, but nurse did not think -it necessary to bring them, and I have none here but very -plain white slips,” said Drusilla, gratefully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, now get your scissors ready, for I know nothing -about cutting out a baby’s robe, so you will have to do -that part of the work, but I will seam and tuck and gather -and trim with anybody,” said Anna, beginning to unroll -the snowy cambric.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla’s nimble fingers soon shaped out the little -dress, and the two young women set to work on it -with as much delight as ever two little girls took in dressing -a doll.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they had settled the style of the trimming to -their mutual satisfaction, and had then worked in silence -for some time, Drusilla looked up and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>“I wonder if dear General Lyon will like to have me -name my poor discarded little baby after him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course he will. It will be a compliment paid -to him—though a well-merited one to him,” replied -Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, dear, it will not be a compliment paid to him, but -a favor asked by me, and my heart misgives me that possibly -he may not like it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Foolish little heart, to have such misgivings! Why -don’t you set the doubt at rest by asking him and finding -out what he will answer?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, Anna, I cannot do that, because he is so kind -that he would be sure to give me a prompt and cheerful -consent, no matter how much secret reluctance he might -have to the measure.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then if you never propose the matter to him, I don’t -see how you will accomplish your purpose.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By <em>your</em> means, dear Anna, I hope to do so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How by my means, you absurd little thing?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I want you to find out in some other delicate way than -by direct questioning whether my wish would be agreeable -to General Lyon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will try; but I warn you, I am a very bad diplomat.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Whether Miss Lyon was really a bad diplomat or not, -she did not seem to think it at all necessary to sound the -General on the subject in the manner Drusilla desired; -but as she sat with her grandfather in the drawing-room -that night, she suddenly said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We are going to have our baby christened next Sunday, -grandpa, and his mother wants to name him after -you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Does she, indeed, the dear child? I had not expected -such a thing,” exclaimed the old man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is, if you have no objection, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Objection! why I am delighted!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am glad you like the plan.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Like it? why I have never in my life been more -pleased or more surprised! I shall make Master Leonard -Lyon a very handsome christening present!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s a darling grandpa! But listen. Don’t say a -word to Drusilla about the present, beforehand. She is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>no more mercenary for her child than she is for herself, -and she is the most sensitive person I ever met with in -my life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, Anna! I shall say nothing of the present. -But you, my little housekeeper, you must see that a -proper christening feast is prepared to do honor to our -boy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You may safely leave that to me, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The next morning was cold, dark and stormy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla was forbidden by her nurse to go down-stairs, -and so she had her breakfast up in her own room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When the service was cleared away, and she was seated -before the fire, with the babe in her arms, General Lyon -entered the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She arose with a countenance beaming with welcome, -and was about to lay her babe down, that she might set -a chair for her visitor, when he pleasantly signed to her -to resume her seat, and he brought one to the fire for -himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Anna tells me, my dear, that you design me the honor -of naming your fine boy after me,” he said, seating himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you will please to permit me to do so, sir, the honor -will be mine, and will make me happy,” said Drusilla, -blushing deeply.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My child, I cannot express how much I thank you! -how gratified and pleased I feel.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked down, quite overpowered by the fervency -of these acknowledgments, on the part of the old -hero.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You must know, my dear,” he continued, “I have -always secretly longed for another Leonard Lyon to represent -me, when I shall be gone; but scarcely had a hope -to see one during my life. Leonard Lyon is a very ancient -family name with us, and has been kept up in every -generation, except the last. It failed there, because I had -never been blessed with a son; and my brother had but -one, and he was named after the family of his mother, who -was a Miss Alexander. Thus, you see, the ancient name, -Leonard Lyon, would have become extinct in me, had you -not determined to revive and perpetuate it in your son. -Heaven bless you for the kind thought, my dear, for it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>has made me very happy,” said the old gentleman, earnestly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I fervently thank Heaven, sir, for giving me the power -of pleasing you in this matter,” murmured the blushing -young mother, in a low and tremulous voice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And this I will say, my child, that the name your boy -will bear, has never, in the thousand years of its existence, -been sullied by a shadow of dishonor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know it has been borne by heroes and sages, and by -none others. I hope and pray that my boy will prove -worthy of his noble ancestry,” fervently breathed Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That I feel sure, he will! If Heaven should grant me -a few more years of life, I shall take great delight in -watching the growth of little Leonard Lyon,” replied the -old gentleman, as he arose, and kissed the mother and the -babe, and left the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The following Sunday proved to be a very fine day. -At an early hour, the capacious family carriage of General -Lyon was at the door, well warmed and aired for the reception -of the delicate mother and the tender infant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not even on her first bridal day, had Drusilla looked so -lovely as she did now, when she came down-stairs, dressed -for church, her delicate, pale beauty, still more tenderly -softened by her simple bonnet of white velvet, and wrappings -of white furs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was attended by mammy, dressed in her Sunday’s -best, and carrying the baby, richly arrayed in his christening -robes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon, Anna, Drusilla, the nurse and the baby -rode in the carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick Hammond, on horseback, escorted them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The parish church was at Saulsburg, six, eight, or ten -miles off, according to conflicting statements. So, early as -they set out, they were not likely to be much too early to -join in the commencement of the service.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they reached the turnpike gate, they found old -Andy on duty.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Seeing Dick cantering on in advance of the approaching -carriage, he placed himself behind the gate, and lifted up -both his arms, while he called aloud to his wife:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Jenny, woman! come out wi’ ye, and tak the toll, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>whiles I stand here to keep yon daft laddie frae louping -o’er the bar again!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>In answer to the summons, Jenny appeared just in time -to receive Mr. Hammond, who quietly drew rein before -the door, paid for himself, and the carriage behind him, -and then with a bow, rode on his way.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The carriage followed; but as it passed, Mrs. Birney got -a glimpse of the passengers inside and after doing so, she -dropped her chin, and lifted her eyebrows, and remained -transfixed and staring, like one demented.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh, woman! what’s come o’er ye? Are ye bewitched?” -questioned Mr. Birney, as he passed her, in -going into the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Na, gudeman, I’m no bewitched; but just amazed -like! Didna ye see yon bonny leddy lying back among -the cushions? She that was all happed about wi’ braw -white velvets and furs?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Aweel, and what of her?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hech, gudeman, she’s na ither than the puir bit lassie -that came ben to us that night o’ the grand storm.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hout, woman! hauld your tongue! no’ to ken the -differ between a born leddy like this are, and a young -gilpey like yon!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I ken weel the differ between a leddy and a gilpey. -And I dinna need <em>dress</em> to instruct me in it, either, gudeman. -I kenned the lass was na gilpey when I saw her in -her auld gray cloak; and I kenned her again in the bit -glint I had of her bonny face as she lay back in her braw -velvets and furs, wi’ her wee bairn by her side. Eh! -but I’d like to hear the rights iv that!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The rights o’ what, woman?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The grand wedding pit aff again; the fine bridegroom -ganging aff in a jiffey; this young, bonny leddy and her -bairn made so muckle iv by the whole family. But it’s na -gude to speer questions. The minister will na speak; -the doctor will na speak; the vera serving lads and -lasses will na speak, although on ordinary occasions -they’re a’ unco fond o’ clackin their clavers. But we -shall hear, gude man! we shall hear! Secrets like yon -canna be kept, e’en gif they be stappit up in a bottle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Gudewife, ye’ll do weel to gie your attention to your -ain proper business and no meddle wi’ that whilk dinna -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>concern you. The auld general pit us here to keep the -gate, and no to speer questions into his preevate affairs. -And though the situation is na sick a gude ane, it might -be waur. Sae we’ll behoove to gie na offence wi’ meddling,” -said Andy, as he sat down and opened his big Bible -to read.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile the Lyon family went on to church, which -they entered just as the organ had ceased playing and the -minister was opening his book.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was not until after the last lesson of the morning -service was over that the announcement was made:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All persons having children present for baptism will -now bring them forward.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our whole party left their pew and proceeded to the -front.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon, as senior sponsor, took the babe in his -arms and presented him to the minister. Dick as junior -sponsor stood by.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna was sole godmother.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And amid the customary prayers, promises, and benedictions, -the child received the time-honored name of -Leonard Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On their way home, the whole party congratulated each -other with much affection and cheerfulness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But withal, Dick, riding along slowly by the side of the -carriage, was visited with some very serious reflections. -He felt the great moral and religious responsibility of the -office he had undertaken. And thus he communed with -himself:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“General Lyon is aged and cannot be expected to live -very much longer. Anna is a woman. On me must devolve -the duty of looking after that boy. Good Heavens. -However did they come to think of making such a good -for nothing dog as I am godfather to that innocent baby? -It is enough to make my hair stand on end to think of it. -The fact is, I must strike a light and look about myself. -I must, I positively must and will, thoroughly mend my -ways and reform my life! not only for Anna’s sake—who -knows me already, and takes me for better for worse with -her eyes wide open—but for this innocent babe’s sake, -upon whom, without his knowledge or consent, they have -thrust me for a godfather! No more gambling, no more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>drinking, no more carousing with scamps, and squandering -of money, Dick, my boy! Remember that you are -godfather to Master Leonard Lyon, and responsible for -his moral and religious education. And you must be -equal to the occasion and true to the trust.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So profound were Dick’s cogitations that he found himself -at Old Lyon Hall before he was conscious of the fact.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He sprang from his horse in time to assist the old gentleman -and the young ladies to alight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And they all entered the house, where Drusilla was -greeted by a pleasant surprise.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER III.<br> <span class='large'>SURPRISES.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Were her eyes open? Yes, and her mouth, too;</div> - <div class='line'>Surprise has this effect to make one dumb,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet leave the gate which eloquence slips through</div> - <div class='line'>As wide as if a long speech were to come.—<span class='sc'>Byron.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The family party first separated to go to their several -chambers to lay aside their outside wrappings and to prepare -for their early Sunday dinner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then they met in the drawing-room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla, who had more to do than the others, was the -latest to join them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her baby, that had slept soundly during the long ride -from church, was now awake and required attention.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While she was engaged in her sweet maternal duties, -she received a message from General Lyon requesting that -his godson might be brought down into the drawing-room -before dinner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So as soon as the young mother had made herself and -her child presentable, she went down-stairs, followed by -the nurse carrying the babe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the threshold of the room she paused in pleased surprise, -and not so much at the value of the presents displayed -before her, as at the new instance of kindness on -the part of her friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On a round table covered with a fine crimson cloth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>were laid the christening offerings, of great splendor for -their kind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was a richly chased silver casket filled with gold -coins from General Lyon. There was a baby’s silver gilt -service—consisting of waiter, pap bowl, water jug, and -drinking mug, cream pot, sugar basin, sugar tongs and -spoons—from Dick. And there was a coral and bells of -the finest coral, purest gold, and most superb workmanship, -from Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear uncle! dear Anna and Dick, how kind, oh how -kind, you all are to me and my boy! I cannot tell you -how much I feel your kindness. I am very grateful; and -I hope, oh, I hope, my dear little Leonard will live to -thank you!” fervently exclaimed Drusilla, pressing the -hand of her aged benefactor to her heart, and lifting her -eyes full of loving gratitude to her young friends, who -stood side by side enjoying her delight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, it gives us as much pleasure to offer you -these little tokens of our affection as it can possibly give -you to receive them,” answered General Lyon, drawing -her towards him and touching her forehead with his lips.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It does indeed, sweet cousin,” added Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Anna, for her answer, silently kissed the young -mother.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now to dinner, which has been announced for -twenty minutes,” smiled the old gentleman, drawing -Drusilla’s arm within his own and leading the way to the -dining-room, where a feast of unusual elegance was laid -in honor of the occasion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The day closed in serene enjoyment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When Drusilla retired to her room that evening, she -found that the christening presents had been transferred -from the round table in the drawing-room to an elegant -little cabinet that had been purchased to receive them, -and placed in the nursery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Before she went to bed she knelt down and thanked -Heaven for the mercies that now blessed her life.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As her head rested on her pillow, with the face of the -sleeping babe near her, softly seen by the subdued light -of the shaded lamp, she wondered at the peace that had -descended upon her troubled spirit and made her calmly -happy.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>Had she then ceased to love her faithless husband?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ah, no! for pure love like hers is of immortal life and -cannot die. But she had ceased to sorrow for him, for -sorrow is of mortal birth and cannot live forever.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She felt safe under the fatherly care of the fine old -head of the family, cheerful in the company of her affectionate -young friends Dick and Anna, and happy—oh, -deeply, unutterably happy!—in the possession of her -beautiful boy. She felt no trouble.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Baby fingers, waxen touches pressed it from the mother’s breast.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>She never heard from Alick; but then, as she did not -expect to hear from him, she was not disappointed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She never heard from Cedarwood either; but then as -she had left directions with the servants only to have -letters written to her in case of necessity, she felt that, in -this instance, “no news is good news.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mammy was growing rather restive and desirous of returning -to her home, but Drusilla besought her to remain -a little longer at Old Lyon Hall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Wait,” she said, “until the next spell of fine weather, -when baby will be able to travel, and I too will return to -Cedarwood. I must not stay away from the home provided -for me by my husband, nor yet tax the hospitality -of my dear friends longer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mammy looked puzzled, for though the faithful old -household servants had carefully forborne to speak of unpleasant -family affairs in the presence of the nurse, whom -they looked upon as a stranger and an alien, still she <em>had</em> -heard enough to give her the impression that young Mr. -Lyon had abandoned his wife. Therefore Mammy was -rather bewildered by this talk of returning to Cedarwood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I do not think as the General and the young people -will consent to part with you, ma’am; and indeed I think -it will a’most break all their hearts to lose little Master -Leonard,” said the nurse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know they will not like it, because they are so kind -to us—so very kind, and therefore I have shrunk from -mentioning it to them; but my duty is clear—I must go -to my own home and I must advise them of my purpose -without delay.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>“Well, ma’am, certingly, if they wants your company -ever so, they ain’t got no power to keep you ag’in’ your -will; and so, ma’am, if you is set to go home first fine -spell arter Christmas, I reckon as I can wait and see you -safe through,” said the nurse, graciously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you; it will be a great favor,” replied Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The time was drawing near to the Christmas holidays—a -season always hitherto observed by the Lyons with -great festivity—when they had been unbounded in their -hospitality and munificent in their presents.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On this occasion, some five or six days before Christmas, -General Lyon sent Dick to Richmond, armed with a -handful of blank checks signed and left to be filled up at -pleasure, and commissioned to purchase the most elegant -and appropriate holiday gifts that he could find for every -member of the family and every household servant; but -above all, to get a handsome perambulator, a crib bedstead, -and—a hobby horse for Master Leonard.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good gracious me, grandpa!” had been Anna’s exclamation -on hearing of this last item, “what on earth do -you think a baby of a few weeks old can do with a hobby -horse?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t know, my dear, but I wish to give it to him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He won’t be able to sit on it for three years to come.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I may not live to see that time, my dear, and as -I wish to give it to him I must do so now. It can be -kept for him, you know. And now, while we are on the -subject, I wish to ask you to have one of the many rooms -in this house fitted up as a play-room for him. Let it be -as near the nursery as possible; and whatever childish -treasures I may purchase may be put there and kept until -he is old enough to enjoy them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>This conversation had taken place in the presence of -Drusilla; but as no part of it had been addressed to her, -she only expressed her gratitude for the intended kindness -by glancing thankfully from one speaker to the -other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But she felt more strongly than ever that, however reluctant -she might be to announce her intended departure -from such kind friends, it was incumbent upon her to do -so before they should make any material change in their -household arrangements for her sake.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>So after a little hesitation she commenced:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear friends, while ever I live in this world I shall -remember your goodness to me, and with my last breath -I shall pray Heaven to bless you for it. But——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We have pleased <em>ourselves</em> in this, my dear; so say -nothing more about it,” smiled the old gentleman, laying -his hand kindly on her head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks—a thousand thanks, dear sir; but I feel that -I must soon leave you——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Leave us!” echoed General Lyon, Anna and Dick all -in a breath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is time for me to return to my home,” she said, -gently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your home, Drusilla!” said General Lyon, in a grave -and tender voice. “Poor child, where will you find so -proper a home as this, where your relations with us give -you the right to stay, and where our affection for you -makes you more than welcome?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nowhere, indeed, sir, but in the house provided for -me, by—<em>my husband</em>,” answered Drusilla, breathing the -last two words in a scarcely audible tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! he has come to his senses; he has written and -entreated you to join him. For the sake of my faith in -human nature I am glad that he has done so,” said the -General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no, he has not yet written to me,” smiled Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you have heard from him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, not since that night.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then what do you mean, my dear, by talking of the -home he has provided for you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I mean the cottage to which he took me when we -were first married—Cedarwood, near Washington.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where you suffered such cruel mental anguish as I -should think would render the very thought of the place -hateful to you, my poor child,” said General Lyon, compassionately.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla gave him a pleading look that seemed to -pray him to say nothing that might even by implication -reproach her absent husband; and then she -added:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There were other memories and associations connected -with Cedarwood, dear sir. The first few weeks of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>my married life were very happy; and my housekeeping -and gardening very cheerful and pleasant.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But all that is changed. Why go back there now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Because it is my proper home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yet—he—that man has not invited you to return?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, but then I left of my own accord, and now that I -am able to travel, it is my duty to go back, though uninvited. -I must not wait to be asked to return to my post,” -said the young wife.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General was silent and thoughtful for a moment -and then he said, firmly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My child, you must think no more of this.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She looked at him; but hesitated to oppose him, and -when she did answer she spoke gravely and gently:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear sir, it is <em>right</em> for me to go.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla, think no more of this, I say,” he repeated, -and this time with an air of assured authority.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear uncle, why do you say so?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I might answer, it would be too painful to me to part -with you and your boy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks for saying that, sir. I too, feel that to leave -this safe, sweet old home, and these loving friends, will -be very painful; duty often is so; but not for that must -we fail in it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla! I repeat that you must not think of taking -this step! Not only has your unworthy——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She looked at him so deprecatingly, that he broke off -his speech and began anew.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, well, I will not wound you if I can help it, my -dear!—I say, not only has your husband not <em>invited</em> you -to return to your home, but he has positively <em>forbidden</em> -you to do so. Do you remember, poor child, the terms -he used in discarding you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Words spoken in the ‘short madness’ of anger. I do -not wish to remember them, dear General Lyon,” she -sweetly answered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My child! do you know where to write to him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh no, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you think that he will write to you? or do you -hope that he will join you at Cedarwood?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no, dear uncle! at least, not for a long time. But -I hope that he will feel some interest in his child, and he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>will inquire about it, and when he finds out what a beautiful -boy it is, he will come to see it; and then, then—for -the boy’s sake he will forgive the mother.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Forgive! Heaven of Heavens, girl! what has he to -forgive in you?” indignantly demanded Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That which a man seldom pardons—although it was -done from love to him and his child,” answered Drusilla, -in a low voice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then you really have a hope that he will rejoin you -at Cedarwood?” inquired General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At some future day, sir, yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And in the meanwhile you live alone there?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir, not quite; but with my boy and servants.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And how do you propose to support the little establishment, -my dear? Come, I wish to know your ideas; -though I dare say, poor child, you have never thought of -the subject.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh yes, dear sir, I have. In the first place, I have -nearly fifteen hundred dollars in money, left at home; -that will keep us in moderate comfort for two years, especially -as I have abundance of everything else on the -premises—furniture, clothing and provisions, in the house; -and a kitchen garden, an orchard, poultry yard and dairy, -on the place. So, at the very worst, I could keep a market -farm,” smiled Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But in the meanwhile live alone, or with only your -infant babe and your servants?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then I tell you, Drusilla, that you must not, shall not -do so,” repeated the General, with emphasis.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, sir, why would you hinder me?” she pleaded, lifting -her imploring eyes to his face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For your salvation, dear child,” he answered, very -gently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But how for my salvation, dear uncle?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla, you cannot know, only heaven can know, how -difficult, how <em>impossible</em> it is for a young forsaken wife to -live alone and escape scandal.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, dear sir, if I do right, and trust in the Lord, I -have nothing to fear.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor child! I must answer you in the words of -another old bore, as meddlesome as perhaps you think me. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shall not -escape calumny.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, sir, in addition to all that, I mean to be very discreet, -to live very quietly with my little household, and -to see no company whatever, except you and Anna, if you -should honor me with a visit, and to make no visits except -here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you must go to church sometimes; and when -your babe is ailing, you must see a doctor; also it will be -necessary occasionally to have your chimneys swept; and -the tax-gatherer will make you an annual visit.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course, dear sir,” she smiled.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And yet you hope to preserve your good name?—Ah, -my dear child, no forsaken wife, living alone can do so, -much less one so very young and inexperienced as yourself. -If the venomous ‘fangs of malice’ can find no other -hold upon you, they will assail you through—the Christian -minister who brings you religious consolation for your -sorrows; the family physician who attends you in your -illness, to save your life; to the legal adviser who manages -your business; the tax-gatherer, the chimney-sweep, -or anybody or everybody whom church, state, or need -should call into your house.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, sir! that is very severe! I hope it is not as you -think. I believe better of the world than that,” said -Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When the world has stung you nearly to death or to -madness, my dear, you may judge more truly and less -tenderly of it. And now, Drusilla, hear me. You do not -go to Cedarwood; you do not leave our protection until -your husband claims you of us. Let the subject drop -here at once, and forever.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla bowed her head in silence; but she was not -the less resolved at heart to return to Cedarwood, and -risk all dangers, in the hope that her husband might some -day join her there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Destiny had decided Drusilla’s course in another -direction.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The event that prevented her return to Cedarwood -shall be related in the next chapter.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER IV.<br> <span class='large'>A MESSENGER.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The boy alighted at the gate,</div> - <div class='line'>But scarce upheld his fainting weight;</div> - <div class='line'>His swarthy visage spake distress,</div> - <div class='line in2'>But this might be from weariness.—<span class='sc'>Byron.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>In the sunshine of affection and happiness Drusilla grew -beautiful and blooming. She loved her truant Alexander -as faithfully as ever, but she loved him in hope and trust, -and not in fear and sorrow. She felt that he was old -enough, big enough and strong enough to take care of -himself, even when out of her sight, while here upon her -lap lay a lovely babe, a gift of the Heavenly Father to her, -a soft little creature whose helplessness solicited her -tenderness, whose innocence deserved it, and whose love -will certainly return it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her baby gave her love for love, and the very faintness -and feebleness of its little signs of love, made these sweet -infant efforts all the more touching and pathetic. How -could she trouble herself about Alexander and his doings -while her little boy lay smiling in her eyes?</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Baby lips will laugh him down.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my darling boy,” she murmured, gazing fondly -on his face, “you will always love me, and when you grow -up to be a man you will love me all the more, because I -shall be old and feeble.” And her thoughts involuntarily -reverted to the bearded man who had rejoiced in her -health and beauty, but turned coldly away from her when -she was sick and pale, and most needed his love and care.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna, who was sitting with her, laughed merrily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked up, with just a shadow of annoyance on -her fair face. And Anna answered the look:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, I laughed at what you said.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, but I spoke truth. I know my darling <em>will</em> -always love me, and when he grows up a tall, strong -man, and I shall be an old and infirm woman, he will love -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>me more tenderly than before, because I <em>am</em> old and infirm,” -persisted the fond mother, stooping her lips to her -boy’s brow.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna laughed louder than ever.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, Drusilla,” she said, “you are but sixteen years -old. When your son is grown up, say at twenty, you -will be but thirty-six, in the very maturity of a healthy -woman’s strength and beauty. Your son will be your -dearest friend and companion; if you have lost somewhat -of the wife’s happiness, you will have an unusual share of -the mother’s joy. You are still so young, such a mere -child yourself, that you may take your little son by the -hand with the prospect of going nearly the whole journey -of life together. You will be his playfellow in his childish -sports; his fellow student in his boyish studies, and his -comrade in his youthful travels. You will go on in life -and grow old together—or almost together.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, so we will. I did not think of it before. I was -thinking that the mother of a grown son must be quite an -aged lady. Alick’s mother was quite aged and infirm.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, because she was forty-four years old when Alick -was born, which makes some difference, you know,’ -laughed Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was silence a little while and then Anna said,</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will have much joy in your son, if the Lord -should spare him to you, Drusilla.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The Lord <em>will</em> spare him to me. I feel convinced of -it,” answered the young mother reverently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And every year—nay, every month—your joy will -increase; for as his affections and intelligence develop, he -will grow more and more interesting and attractive to -you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It seems to me that he could scarcely ever be more interesting -and attractive than he is now. Look at him, -Anna. See how beautiful are his mute, faint efforts to -express the love he feels, but does not understand. ‘Touch -is the love sense.’ He knows that, at least; and see how -his little hands tremble up towards mine and then drop; -and see the smile dawning in his eyes, and fluttering -around his lips, as if uncertain of itself? Will you tell -me, at what time of a child’s existence it is sweeter and -lovelier than now in its first budding into life?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>Before Anna could answer the question, the door was -opened by mammy, who chirpingly announced:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here is Leo, from Cedarwood, ma’am, bringing letters -for you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And she closed the door, leaving Leo standing before -his astonished mistress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is my footman from my old home, dear Anna,” explained -Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, turning to the messenger, she held out her hand -and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you do, Leo? You have letters for me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leo slowly took a packet from his pocket, handed them -over to his mistress, and then, lifting both his hands to his -eyes, burst out crying and <span class='fss'>ROARED</span> as only a negro boy -with his feelings hurt can do.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, what is the matter?” anxiously inquired Drusilla, -pausing in the examination of her letters, in her pity -for the distress of the boy—“What is the matter, my -poor Leo?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, mum, it is to see-hee,” sobbed Leo “to see-hee you -so well-hell, and hap-pappy, and to know as I am bring—hing -bad news again! Seems like I was born—horn to -be the death of you, ma’am,” said the boy, scarcely able to -articulate through his sobs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope not, Leo. Sit down and compose yourself. I -trust your master is well.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh yes, mum, he is well enough (<em>wish to Goodness -Gracious he wasn’t!</em>) but he’s done, tored up everything -and—Boo! hoo! ooo!” cried Leo, gushing out into such a -cataract of tears and sobs that he was forced to bury his -face in his big bandana and sink into a seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Compose yourself, Leo, and I will read my letters. -They will explain, I suppose,” said Drusilla, opening the -packet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were three letters from her lawyers, which she -laid aside; and there was one from her husband, which -she opened and read. It ran thus:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Cedarwood</span>, Dec. 22, 18—.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>“<span class='sc'>Madam</span>:—Had you chosen to remain quietly in the -home I provided for you it should have been yours for -life, with a sufficient income to keep it up. But as you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>voluntarily left it, you have forfeited your right to return -to it, as well as your claims upon me for support. The -place is now dismantled and sold. The messenger who -takes this letter has charge of all your personal effects, and -will deliver them over to you.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Alexander Lyon.</span>”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>We know the time, not so long since, when the young -wife would have screamed, cried or swooned at the reception -of such a letter from her husband.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, she simply bent forward and laid it on the fire, and -when it blazed up and sank to ashes, she said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is gone; and now it shall be forgotten.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then she stooped and kissed her babe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leo, stealing an anxious glance at her, misunderstood -the movement and started forward, exclaiming:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, mum! don’t go for to faint; please don’t.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked at him and smiled kindly, saying</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am not likely to do so, my boy. I am strong and -healthy now, thank Heaven! and besides, there is nothing -to faint about. I am only a little sorry that the cottage -is sold.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, mum! don’t! I shall cry again if you do! Oh, -mum, you used to say as how you would make that wilderness -to bloom and blossom as the rose; and so you did, -mum, lovely! But oh, mum! he have turned the beautiful -place into a howling wilderness again!” bawled the -boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Never mind, Leo, I will get it back again some day -and restore all its beauty,” said Drusilla, smiling. “And -now, my boy, where is your sister?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She have gone back to Alexandria, mum; but sends -her love and service to you, mum.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And the poor pets—the little birds, and the cat and -kittens, Leo?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina has got them all to take care on for you, ma’am, -till you sends for ’em and for her, cause she considers of -herself into your service, ma’am, which likewise so do I.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And the cow and calf, and the horses, Leo?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They was sold to the people as bought the place, -ma’am.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope they will be kindly treated.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope they will, ma’am; for they did miss you as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>well as me and Pina did; and they showed it in every -way as dumb creeturs could.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And where did you leave my effects, Leo?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I brought as many trunks as I could on the stage with -me, ma’am; and the rest of the boxes is coming down by -wagons. Pina was very careful in packing everything, -ma’am; and here is the money you gave me to keep,” said -Leo, taking a sealed packet from his breast pocket, and -handing it to his mistress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks, my boy; you and your sister have been very -faithful, and I shall certainly retain you both in my service, -and at an increase of wages.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, ma’am, neither me, nor yet Pina is mussenary. -We’ll be glad to come back to you on any terms.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, Leo, look here! Here is my baby boy; -when the spring comes he will be big enough for you to -take him on your shoulder and ride him about! Won’t -you and he have a good time?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, ma’am, what a purty little creetur! But he’s -<em>very</em> little, ain’t he, ma’am?” said Leo, looking shyly at -the baby, which indeed he had been furtively contemplating -ever since he had been in the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, no, Leo; for his age, he is very large, <em>very</em>! -Who is he like, Leo! Look and tell me!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leo dutifully looked, and saw well enough who the boy -really was like: but he answered stoutly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is like you, ma’am, and nobody else.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, look again, Leo! His eyes are open now. <em>Now</em> -who is he like?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is the image of <em>you</em>, ma’am, and not another -mortial in the wide world,” repeated Leo, defiantly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How <em>can</em> you say that, you stupid boy? Is he not -like his father?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, mum! not the leastest little bit in life! He is -like nobody but you,” persisted the lad, doggedly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Leo, you are a mole! You have no eyes! Now go -down to your mother, and tell her to make you comfortable.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you, ma’am. I am so glad to see you so well, -ma’am, with such a fine-looking baby. I am so thankful -as you don’t take on about thinks like you used to do,” -replied the lad.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>“I am so much better and stronger now, Leo. But go -and give my message to your mother.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leo bowed and left the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So Alick has sold Cedarwood,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What a wretch!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Please</em>, Anna—-”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I can’t comprehend your tenderness for that man, -Drusilla! but, there! I will not wound it if I can help it. -I am glad he has sold Cedarwood, however. It settles -the question of your future residence. You must stay -with us now.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As Anna spoke, General Lyon entered the room, and -came with his pleasant smile and sat down beside his -protégée.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She turned to him, and, laying her hand in his, said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My fate is decided for me, dear sir. I have no home -but this, and no protector but you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling, I am very glad.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet, in saying this, the General looked from his adopted -niece to his granddaughter, as if for an explanation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Seeing Drusilla hesitate, Anna answered for her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir, that vill—I mean Mr. Alexander Lyon—has -sold Cedarwood.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General now looked from his granddaughter back -to his niece as if demanding confirmation of the news.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” admitted Drusilla, casting down her eyes—in -regret for him, not in sorrow for herself; “he has sold -Cedarwood, but then, you know, dear sir, that I had left -the house.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>A flush of shame crimsoned the cheek, a frown of anger -darkened the brow of the veteran soldier.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And that man calls himself a Lyon and my nephew! -I am glad now that they never called him Leonard! -There never was a rascally Leonard Lyon yet! And I -am very glad, my dear, that you did not name our noble -boy here Alexander! The infern——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla raised her hand with an imploring and deprecating -gesture.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, well, my dear, I will try not to offend again. -It is true that an old soldier has a right to swear at his -degenerate nephew; but not in the presence of ladies, I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>confess. So let the scound—I mean Alick—go. Yes, let -him go, and joy go with him, especially as, setting the -baseness of the act aside, I am really very glad he <em>has</em> -sold Cedarwood for it settles the question of your residence -with us, my dear.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I am glad to stay here,” answered Drusilla, with -a smile. “It is true that I thought it my duty to go back -to Cedarwood, and await there the pleasure of my husband; -and I should have risked everything and gone -there, if he had not sold the place. And I know I should -have had to wait long months or years for his return; -and I should have been very lonely and dreary, and -should have missed you and dear Anna and Dick very -much. No, upon the whole, I cannot say that I am sorry -to be relieved of the duty of going back to Cedarwood to -live alone,” said Drusilla, frankly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s my girl! Sorry? no, I should think you -would not be. What should you want with Cedarwood, -trumpery toy cottage, with its little belt of copsewood, -when you have Old Lyon Hall and its magnificent surroundings -of forests and mountains?—to say nothing of -having <span class='fss'>ME</span> and Anna and Dick!” exclaimed the old man, -holding out his hand to his favorite.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She took it and pressed it to her lips, and then answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yet I love the pretty little wildwood home; and -some day I will buy it back again, even if I have to pay -twice or thrice its value.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon looked up, surprised to hear the discarded -wife and dependent woman talk so bravely of buying -estates at fancy prices, even as Anna had looked at -having heard her speak so freely of retaining her old -servants at double wages. Yet both were pleased, for -they said to themselves—“This proves that she has the -fullest confidence in us, and knows that we will never -let her feel a want, even a fantastic or extravagant want, -unsupplied.” And the General answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is right, my dear girl. So you shall buy it back—to-morrow, -if you like! or as soon after as we can -bring the present proprietor to terms. Mr. Alexander -shall learn that some things can be done as well as others. -But Drusilla, my darling, although we may purchase the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>place and restore it, I do not mean to consent that you -shall ever return there to live alone; remember that.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I do not mean to do so, sir. I will never leave you -until my husband calls me back to him,” said Drusilla, -giving him her hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is right! that is sensible! Now, since you are -fond of that little bird-cage, I will set about buying it for -you directly. You shall have it for a New Year’s gift; -and then if you <em>must</em> see the place sometimes, why we -can all go and live there instead of at a hotel, when we -go to Washington for the season.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, how kind, how good you are to me,” breathed -Drusilla, in a soft and low tone, with deep emotion; “but -dear sir, do not think that I thank, or love, or bless you -any the less, when I say that I do not wish this as a gift -from your munificent hands. Dear uncle, I am well -able to afford myself the pleasure of possessing my ‘toy -cottage.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! he <em>has</em> provided handsomely for you, after all! -Come! his villainy is a shade less black—I beg your pardon, -my child! I won’t again! indeed I won’t—I mean -his—transaction is a shade lighter than I supposed it. -Well, I am glad, for his sake, that he has provided for -you. But, Drusilla, my child, I would not take his -money! having denied you his love and protection I -would take nothing else from him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear uncle, although I do not need anything from my -Alick except his love, yet, should he offer anything, I -would gratefully accept it, hoping that his love would -follow. But you are mistaken—he has made no provision -for me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What did you mean then, my dear, by refusing Cedarwood -as my gift and saying that you were able to purchase -it yourself?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have a large fortune in my own right, dear sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A fortune in your own right!” echoed Anna, in astonishment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You never mentioned this circumstance before, my -dear,” said the General, in surprise and incredulity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, I had utterly forgotten it until my servant -arrived with these letters from my solicitors. It was very -stupid of me to forget it; but, dear sir, only think how -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>many more important matters there were to drive it out -of my head,” replied Drusilla, deprecatingly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For my part, I do not think that anything can be -more important to you, in present circumstances than the -inheritance of a large fortune. It <em>is</em> an inheritance, I -suppose?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh yes, sir,—from my grand-uncle, a merchant of -San Francisco.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And how large is the fortune?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I do not know, sir—some millions, I think. Here are -the lawyer’s letters. I have not looked at them yet,” -said Drusilla, putting the “documents” in the hands of -her old friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Astounding indifference!” he murmured to himself -as he put on his spectacles and opened the letters.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla and Anna watched him attentively.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, my dear child, you are a billionaire! You are -probably the wealthiest woman in America!” exclaimed -the General, in astonishment. “That is, if there is no -mistake!” he added. “Are you sure you are the right -heiress?” taking off his spectacles and gazing at Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am quite sure, sir. There are too few of us to afford -room for confusion. In my grand-uncle’s generation, -there were but two of the family left—himself and his -only brother, my grandfather. My grand-uncle, being a -woman hater, lived and died a bachelor. My grandfather -married, and had one only child—my father: who, in his -turn, also married, and had one only child—myself. You -see how plain and simple is the line of descent?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I see,” said the General, reflectively; “but, my dear, -it is not sufficient for a set of facts to be true in themselves, -they must be capable of being proved to the satisfaction -of a court of law. Can all these births, marriages, -and deaths be proved, Drusilla?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes sir; there are so few of them—they have -occurred within so short a time, comparatively speaking.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In what manner, my dear? Remember, Drusilla, that -what might convince you or me of a fact might not have -the same effect upon a court.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All that I have said, dear sir, can be established to the -satisfaction of the most scrupulous court that ever existed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>by church registers and court records, family Bibles, tombstones, -papers, letters, and personal friends.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am glad to hear it. And you know where all these -proofs can be found?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir. Many of them, Bibles, letters, documents, -and so forth, are in my possession. All the others are to -be found in Baltimore.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where a large portion of your inheritance lies, and -where your lawyers live?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; well, my dear, if all this is as you suppose it to -be—and I have no doubt that it is so—your way to fortune -is clear enough! Let me congratulate you, my dear, -on being, perhaps, the richest woman in America!” said -the General, shaking her hands warmly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna also heartily added her own congratulations.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, my child,” said the General, kindly, “let us -attend to this business at once. Your lawyers are -naturally displeased and suspicious at your long delay. -As you are not very much of a business woman, you will -let me take these letters to my study and answer them -for you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, if you would be so kind, dear sir, I should be so -happy.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER V.<br> <span class='large'>FORTUNE.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in28'>Fortune is merry,</div> - <div class='line'>And in this mood will give us anything—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>So General Lyon answered the lawyers’ letters, and in -a more satisfactory manner, it is to be presumed, than -Drusilla had ever done. His illustrious name and exalted -position were in themselves enough to dispel any doubts -that the mysterious reticence of the heiress might have -raised in the minds of her solicitors.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Having sent his letter off to the post-office, and knowing -that several days must elapse before he could hear -from the solicitors again, the old gentleman dismissed the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>matter from his mind, and addressed himself to the enjoyment -of the Christmas festival now at hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick arrived from Richmond on Christmas Eve, having -in charge several large boxes containing the Christmas -presents.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Among them were the crib, the perambulator and the -hobby horse, which were all deposited for the present in -the room selected and fitted up by Anna, as the future -play-room of little Master Leonard Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna’s and Drusilla’s presents consisted of rich and -costly furs and shawls, from the General; and splendid -jewels and delicate laces from Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The veteran’s gifts were a pair of soft, embroidered -velvet slippers and smoking-cap, from Anna; a warm -quilted dressing-gown from Drusilla; and a new patent -reading-chair of unequalled ingenuity, comfort and convenience, -from Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick’s presents were a fowling-piece of the most superior -workmanship, from his uncle; an embroidered cigar case -from his betrothed; and a smoking-cap from Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Besides these, each male and female servant in the -house was made happy in the possession of a new and -complete Sunday suit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After the distribution of the presents on Christmas -morning the family went to church.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At the end of the service they returned to an early -dinner, and spent the afternoon and evening in social -enjoyment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As usual in the Christmas holidays, General Lyon gave -one large party, to which he invited all his friends and -acquaintances for thirty miles around.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And at this party he formally introduced Drusilla as:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My niece, Mrs. Alexander Lyon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this he did with so much quiet dignity, as in most -cases to repress all expression of surprise from those who -could not fail to wonder at such an introduction. And if -any had the temerity to utter their astonishment, they -were courteously silenced by the answer of the stately -old gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Old people cannot and ought not to choose for their -sons in affairs of the heart. I had hoped that my nephew -and my granddaughter would have married each other, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>for my sake; but I was wrong. They have each chosen -partners for their own sakes; and they were right. -Come here, Dick: Sir and madam, let me present to you -Mr. Richard Hammond as my future and well-beloved -grandson-in-law.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>After that what could the gossips say or do? Of -course nothing but bow, courtesy and congratulate; -though some among them, being maliciously inclined, -and envying the young heiress of Old Lyon Hall her -beauty and her wealth, did shrug their shoulders and -raise their eyebrows as they whispered together: That -it was very strange Miss Lyon’s marriage being put off -so frequently and she herself at last passed so carelessly -from one bridegroom to another; and that it looked but -too likely she would be an old maid after all; for she -was getting on well in years now!</p> - -<p class='c012'>A very false and spiteful conclusion this, as the beautiful -Anna was not yet twenty-three years old.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Some even had the ill-luck to inquire of the General, -or of Anna, or Dick:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where is Mr. Alexander Lyon now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the quiet answer was always the same:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In Washington, attending to the sale of some real -estate there.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the conversation would be quickly turned.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With the exception of these annoying questions, implied -or directly asked, and which General Lyon knew -must be sooner or later met and answered, and which he -felt had best be settled at once, the party passed off as -pleasantly as any of its predecessors had done.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On this occasion at least there was no failure upon -account of the weather. There never was a finer starlight -winter night to invite people <em>out</em>.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Nor was there any tampering with the lamps of the -long drawing-room; there never was seen a more brilliantly -lighted and warmed saloon to entice people <em>in</em>.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The music was inspiring; the dancing was animated, -the supper excellent. The festivities were kept up all -night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And did Drusilla enjoy the party?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course she did. Why not? She could <em>love</em> forever, -but she could not <em>grieve</em> forever. She was experiencing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>a delightful reaction from her long depression of spirits. -She was young and beautiful, and formed to give and receive -pleasure amid these Christmas festivities. In a -rich white moire antique dress, delicately trimmed with -black lace and black jet, she looked exquisitely pretty. -To please her friends and also a little to please herself -she danced—first with General Lyon, who led her to the -head of a set to open the ball; then with Dick, and -afterwards with any others whom her uncle introduced -to her. And all who made her acquaintance were -charmed with the beauty and sweetness of the lovely, -childlike creature.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A refreshing breakfast was served at seven o’clock; -after which, the guests, well pleased, took leave and departed -by the light of the rising sun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Early in the new year, “mammy,” well paid for her -faithful services and loaded with tokens of her patient’s -good-will, took leave of the family and of her fellow -servants and left Old Lyon Hall to return to her own -home in Alexandria.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was attended by Leo, who was commissioned to -bring down Pina and the birds, the dog, the cat, and the -kittens; for to mammy’s perfect content, the brother and -sister were again to enter together the service of Mrs. -Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have brought up my chillum respectable which it -is allus my pride and ambition so to do, and likewise to -have them engaged in service long o’ the old respectable, -rustycratic families, which none can be more so than the -Lyonses of Old Lyon Hall, and that to <em>my</em> sartain knowledge, -which has heard of them ever since I was born,” -said mammy, on parting with her gossip, Marcy. “And -I hopes, ma’am,” she added, “if you sees my young people -agoing wrong, you’ll make so free for my sake as to correct -them; which their missus, the young madam, is -much too gentle-hearted for to do; but gives them their -own head far too much.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Marcy gave a promise to have an eye upon the boy and -girl—a promise she was but too likely to keep.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so mammy departed, well pleased.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The very day she left, the wagons from Washington -City, containing Drusilla’s personal effects from Cedarwood, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>which had been delayed by the bad condition of -the roads, arrived at Saulsburg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon, being duly apprised of the circumstance -by a messenger from the “Foaming Tankard,” sent carts -to meet them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But more than one day was occupied with the removal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For Alexander Lyon, either from pride, compunction, -or a faint revival of the old love, or from all these motives -combined, had sent down not only Drusilla’s wardrobe -and books, but every article of furniture that particularly -appertained to her use. And all these were very carefully -packed, so as to sustain no injury from the roughness of -the roads over which they were brought.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was first a whole wagon load of boxes filled with -the rich and costly wearing apparel with which he had -overwhelmed her in the days of his devotion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then there was another load composed of her mosaic -work-table, sewing chair, and footstool; her enameled -writing-desk, work-box and dressing-case; her favorite -sleepy hollow of a resting-chair; and other items too -numerous to mention.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The third load comprised her sweet-toned cottage -piano, her harp, and her guitar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It took two days to transport these things from Saulsburg -to Old Lyon Hall, and it took two more days to unpack -and arrange them all in Drusilla’s apartments.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The fond and faithful young wife contemplated these -dear familiar objects with a strange blending of tenderness, -regret and hope. Each item was associated with -some sweet memory of her lost home and lost love. But -even now she did not weep; she smiled as she whispered -to her heart:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He does not know it, but he loves me still; and some -day he will come and tell me so. I can wait for that -bright day, Alick, my Alick, when I shall place my boy -in your arms and tell you how in the darkest hours I -never ceased to love you and never doubted your love!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was absorbed for a little while, and then once more -she murmured to herself in her beautiful reverie:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For what would love be if darkness could obscure its -light, or wrong destroy its life?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ah! if this devoted young wife ever does succeed in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span><span class='fss'>WINNING HER WAY</span> to the heart and conscience of her -husband, she will do it through the power of her love -and faith alone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Before the week was out Drusilla had another pleasure, -in the arrival of Leo and Pina with her pets.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She received them all with gladness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, ma’am,” exclaimed Pina, “but it does my very -heart good to see you looking so rosy and bright-eyed! -And I’m just dying to see young Master Leonard! And -I am to be his nurse, ain’t I, ma’am? And how is the -dear little darling pet? And, oh, I am so glad to see you -looking so well and so happy!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am very happy to see you also, Pina,” said Drusilla, -when the girl had stopped for want of breath. “I hope -you left your mammy well.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, as well as possible, ma’am; but with <em>baby on the -brain</em> as sure as she lives, in regard to talking about little -Master Leonard, which she stands to it is the finest baby -as ever she saw among the hundreds and hundreds as -she has had the honor of—of—of——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina paused for want of words or breath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of first introducing to their friends and relations,” -added Drusilla, laughingly coming to the girl’s relief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am, that is the way to put it,” said Pina, approvingly. -“But please, ma’am, may I see little Master -Leonard?” she pleaded, eagerly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go with Matty first, Pina. She will show you the -room where you are to sleep, and which joins the nursery. -Wash your face and hands, and change your traveling -dress for a clean one, and then come to my chamber, -which is on the other side of the nursery, and I will show -you our baby.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. I am a perfect -show for dust and dirt, I know, and in no state to go nigh -a dainty little baby,” said Pina, courtesying, and then following -Matty from the sitting parlor where this interview -had taken place.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And thus Drusilla’s surroundings at Old Lyon Hall -were soon arranged to her perfect satisfaction.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER VI.<br> <span class='large'>ENTERTAINING ANGELS.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Little can we tell, who share</div> - <div class='line'>Our household hearth of love and care;</div> - <div class='line'>Therefore with grave tenderness,</div> - <div class='line'>Should we strive to love and bless</div> - <div class='line'>All who live this little life,</div> - <div class='line'>Soothing sorrows, calming strife,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest we wrong some seraph here,</div> - <div class='line'>Who has left the starry sphere,</div> - <div class='line'>Exiled from the heavens above,</div> - <div class='line'>To fulfil some mortal love.—<span class='sc'>T. Powell.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>In the course of the next week, one or more from every -family who had been invited to the Christmas party, -called, and all who did so, left cards also for Mrs. Alexander -Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Besides this, Mrs. Colonel Seymour, the nearest neighbor -and most intimate friend of the Lyons, issued invitations -for a large party to come off on Twelfth Night. -And the General, Anna, Drusilla and Dick, each received -one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What shall you wear, Drusilla?” inquired Anna, as -the two young women sat together looking at their cards.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear Anna, I do not know that I shall go,” answered -Drusilla, gravely.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why not?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have an instinctive feeling that I should live very -quietly while separated from my husband—live, in fact, -as I should have lived, if I had gone back to Cedarwood -alone.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you had gone back to Cedarwood alone, it would -have been eminently necessary for you to have lived the -life of a hermit, to save your reputation from utter ruin; -and even then you could not have saved your character -from misconstruction and misrepresentation. But now -you are living with us, which makes all the difference. -Here you may freely enjoy all the social pleasures natural -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>to your youth. The most malignant stabber of fair fame -that ever lived would never dare to assail a lady who is -a member of General Lyon’s family,” said Anna, proudly. -“And it was to secure this freedom of action and these -social enjoyments to you, no less than to shield you from -danger that my dear grandfather so firmly insisted on -your remaining with us,” she added.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, how can I be grateful enough to him for all his -loving kindness to me? Oh, Anna, under Divine Providence, -he has been my salvation!” exclaimed Drusilla -her face beaming with gratitude and affection.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am very glad you came here as you did, my dear -and gave him the opportunity of doing what he has done. -He has a great large heart, and not objects enough to fill -it. He is very fond of you and your boy, and your presence -here makes him happier. But ‘to return to our muttons’—about -this party at the Seymours. Now, as to -your scruples about going into company, instead of living -secluded on account of Alexander’s desertion,—dismiss -them at once. Leaning on my grandfather’s arm,—for -he is to be your escort, and Dick mine,—you can go anywhere -with safety. But, if there is any other reason why -you do not wish to go to the Seymours, of course you can -stay at home. We wish you to use the most perfect freedom -of action, my dear Drusilla, and we will only interfere -when we see you inclined to immolate yourself upon the -pagan altar of your idol. So, in the matter of the party, -pray do as you please.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, if you and uncle think it right, I would like -very much to go with you. I enjoy parties. I enjoyed -ours very much.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I should think you did. You are not seventeen years -old yet, and all your social pleasures are to come. You -were the beauty of the evening, my little cousin.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh no, Anna, oh, no, no, <em>no</em>, Anna! that I never could -be where <em>you</em> are!” exclaimed Drusilla, blushing intensely -with the earnestness of her denial.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense! I am an old maid. I am quite <i><span lang="fr">passée</span></i>. I -am nearly twenty-three years old, and have been out five -seasons!” laughed Anna, with the imperious disdain of -her own words with which a conscious beauty sometimes -says just such things.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>“Oh, Anna, Anna, how can you say such things of yourself? -I would not let any one else say them of you, -Anna! Why, Anna, you know you moved through your -grandfather’s halls that night a perfect queen of beauty. -There was no one who could at all equal or approach -you!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense, I say! I overheard several people say -that I was not looking so well as usual—that I had seen -my best days, and so forth.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They were envious and spiteful people whom you had -eclipsed, Anna, and, if <em>I</em> had heard them, I should have -given them to know it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>You</em>, you little pigeon, can you peck?” laughed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pigeons can peck, and sharply too, I assure you. And -I should have pecked any one whom I heard saying impertinent -things of you; but I heard nothing of the sort—I -heard only praises and admiration. But there! I declare -you ought not to disparage yourself so as to oblige me to -tell the truth about you to your face, for, in this case, -truth is high praise, and it is perfectly odious to have to -praise a friend to her face,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I agree with you. So, if you will let me have the last -word and say that you really <em>were</em> the beauty of our ball, -I will consent to drop the subject. And now for the other -one! So you would like to go to the Seymours?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, very much, for I enjoy parties. I do not think -I should like to go to one every day or even every week; -but once or twice a month I really should enjoy them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What a moderate little belle! Well, and now comes -the next important question. What are we to wear? -Unluckily we cannot order the carriage and drive down -the street to the most fashionable modistes and inspect -the newest styles of dress goods and head-dresses and all -that, as if we were in the city. We are in the country, -and must make our toilet from what we have got in the -house. Heigh ho! it is a great bore, being so far away -from shops.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, oh, Anna, we have got so much in the house. -Think of your magnificent trousseau, with scarcely one of -your many dresses touched yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is all very well. But you know they were made -and trimmed between two and six months ago; and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>every week something new in the way of trimmings and -head-dresses comes up in town. However, we must do -the best we can. It is a country ball and all the guests -will be in the same case, that is one comfort.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not one of them will be so well off as you are with -your trousseau.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is true, and that is another comfort, a very selfish -one however. Well, let me see, I think I will wear -my light blue taffeta, with a white illusion over it, looped -up with bluebells and lilies of the valley, with a wreath -of the same. How will that do?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It will be very pretty and tasteful.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you, my darling? What have you to wear? -You know my dresses fit you, and my wardrobe is quite -at your service.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks, dear Anna; but I have a great plenty of -dresses that have never been worn, and of dress goods -that have never been made up. In the first weeks of -our married life my dear Alick bought every rich and -pretty thing he could lay his hands on for me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well, then. What shall you wear?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You know that being in the second year of my mourning, -I am restricted to black and white. I think a black -illusion over black silk, with the sleeves and bosom edged -with ruches of white illusion; pearl necklace and bracelets, -and half open white moss roses in my hair and on -my bosom; white kid gloves and a white fan. There, -Anna dear, I have given you a complete description of -my intended toilet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And nothing could be prettier. Here comes grandpapa!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And at that moment the old gentleman entered the -room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my dears, if we <em>are</em> immured in the country at -this festive season of the year, we are not likely to be -very dull, are we?” smiled the old gentleman, holding -out his card.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No indeed, sir; that we are not! But what do you -think of Drusilla here? She was really meditating upon -the propriety of giving up all society, and living the life -of a recluse,” said Anna, mischievously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, if such a life is so much to her taste, we have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>no sort of right to object,” the old man replied, in the -same spirit of raillery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it is not to her taste. Drusilla is formed by nature -and disposition to enjoy all innocent social pleasures. -But she imagined that in her peculiar circumstances it -became her duty to retire from the world altogether.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The veteran turned his clear eyes kindly on his protégée, -and taking her hand, said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear child, when I gave you a daughter’s place in -my heart and home, and took a father’s position towards -you, I became responsible for the safety of your fair fame -as well as for your person. Both are perfectly secure -under my protection. No one will venture to assail the -one more than the other. Go wherever Anna goes, enjoy -all that she enjoys. It is even well that you should have -the harmless recreations natural to your youth, and that -she should have a companion of her own sex. And I -shall always be your escort.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla pressed the old man’s hand to her heart and -lips; it was her usual way of thanking him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this quite settled the question, if it had not been -settled before.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When Twelfth Day came, Anna and Drusilla, beautifully -attired in the dresses they had decided upon, -and escorted by General Lyon, and Dick, went to the -Seymours’ party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As at the Christmas ball, Drusilla’s beauty created a -great sensation; not, indeed, that she was more beautiful -than Miss Lyon, but her beauty was of a fresher type. -As before, General Lyon was her first partner, and Richard -Hammond her second. And after that, there was -great rivalry among the candidates for the honor of her -hand. But she danced only quadrilles; and only with -those presented to her by her uncle. This ball, like all -country balls was kept up all night. But General Lyon’s -age and Drusilla’s maternal solicitude, both rendered it -expedient that they should retire early. So a few minutes -after twelve, the old gentleman and his protégée took -leave, promising that the coachman should have orders -to return at daylight and fetch Anna and Dick home.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After this followed other parties given by the country -gentry. And to all of them the Lyons were invited, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>in all the invitations Drusilla was included. And the -lovely young wife was admired by all who saw her, and -beloved by those who came to know her well.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Occasionally, embarrassing questions were asked by -those who had more curiosity than tact, but they were always -skilfully parried by the party to whom they were put.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For instant, when some old crony would venture to ask -the General how it was that Mr. Alick had married this -clergyman’s orphan daughter when all the world supposed -him to be about to marry his cousin Anna, the -General would answer as before:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That projected marriage was a plan of mine and of -my brother’s; and as it was based upon our own wishes -rather than on the affections of our young people, it did -not succeed, and did not deserve to do so. The aged -cannot choose for the young in affairs of the heart. My -nephew married this charming girl privately one year -ago, and the ceremony was repeated publicly in my house -two months since. I gave the bride away. And I am -very much charmed with my niece. My granddaughter -Anna, and my grandnephew, Richard Hammond, will be -united in a few months.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But where is the happy bridegroom now?” might be -the next question.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alexander is in Washington negotiating the sale of -real estate,” would be the answer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sometimes a troublesome questioner, in the form of -some young friend or companion would assail Anna, in -some such way as this:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, we were never more surprised in our lives than -when we found out that Alick Lyon had married a parson’s -daughter without a penny. We thought you were -going to take him, Anna?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I preferred Dick,” would be Anna’s frank reply.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then I suppose he married the clergyman’s daughter -in a fit of pique.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not at all; it was in a fit of love.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And she quite penniless.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I beg your pardon, she is a very wealthy woman.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What! the clergyman’s daughter?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, for she is a billionaire’s niece, and a sole heiress.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! then it was a mercenary match?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>“Not at all, for he knew nothing of her fortune when -he married her. And now, also, please remember you are -speaking of my cousins.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Beg your pardon, Anna! I mean no harm; and you -know you and I are such old, old friends!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Very often it would be Richard Hammond who would -be called to the witness stand with a—</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hillo, Dick! so you are a lucky dog after all! How -was it now? Come, tell us all about it! Did you cut -Alick out with Anna, or did the pretty little parson’s -daughter cut Anna out with Alick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Each one of us cut all the others out,” Dick would -reply, with owl-like gravity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh? what? stop, don’t go away! How can that be? -We don’t understand!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, if you don’t that’s your look out. <em>I</em> can’t make -you understand.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so Dick would turn off impertinent inquiry.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Fortunately, also, everywhere Drusilla’s face and -manners inspired perfect confidence and warm esteem. -No one could look on her, or hear her speak, and doubt -her goodness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is very queer. There’s a screw loose somewhere; -but whoever may be wrong, <em>she</em> is all right,” was the -verdict of the neighborhood in the young wife’s favor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile a very brisk correspondence went on between -General Lyon on one part, and Messrs. Heneage and Kent -(Drusilla’s lawyers) on the other. The General soon convinced -the legal gentlemen that Anna Drusilla Lyon, born -Stirling, was the heiress of whom they were in search.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Still, where so much was at stake, they were bound to -be very cautious and to receive nothing, not the very -smallest fact, upon trust.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So, though General Lyon very seldom troubled Drusilla -with this correspondence, he did sometimes feel -obliged to come to her for information as to where a -certain important witness was to be found; in what cemetery -a particular tombstone was to be looked for; or in -what parish church such a marriage had been solemnized, -or such a baptism administered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla’s prompt and pointed answers very much -cleared and expedited the business.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>In a more advanced stage of affairs it seemed that she -would have to go up to Baltimore; but General Lyon would -not hear of her taking any trouble that he could save her; -so he wrote to the legal gentlemen, requesting one of the -firm to come down to Old Lyon Hall in person, or to send -a confidential clerk, and promising to pay all expenses of -traveling, loss of time, and so forth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In answer to this letter, Mr. Kent, the junior partner, -arrived at the old hall early in February.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was armed with a formidable bag of documents and -he was closeted all day long with General Lyon in the -study.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One can have no secrets from one’s lawyer any more -than from one’s physician or confessor; and so General -Lyon felt constrained to tell Mr. Kent of the existing -estrangement between the heiress and her husband.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And what I particularly wish,” said the General, confidentially -and earnestly, “is that the whole of this large -inheritance, coming as it does from <em>her</em> family, may be -secured to her separate use, independently of her husband.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And that, you are aware, cannot be done, except -though a process of law. She must sue for a separate -maintenance. Even in such a case I doubt whether the -court would adjudge her the <em>whole</em> of this enormous -fortune, or even the half of it. Still it is her only resource,” -answered Lawyer Kent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A resource she will never resort to. It would be vain -and worse than vain to suggest it to her. She worships -her husband; and it is through no fault of hers that they -are estranged. Indeed it was through consideration for -him that she was so reticent last year, as to raise suspicions -in your mind that her claim to the estate was an unjustly -assumed one.... No, Mr. Kent, we must take some other -course to secure the inheritance to her, and without saying -a word to her on the subject either.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is no other way, sir, but by such a suit as I -have suggested.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pardon me I think there is. Mr. Alexander Lyon -has deserted his wife and child and failed to provide for -them. Such is not the course of an honorable man. -Still, as some of the same sort of blood that warms my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>own old heart runs also in his veins, there must be some -little sense of honor sleeping somewhere in his system. -We must awaken it and appeal to it. He must of his -own free will make over all his right, title and interest -in this inheritance to his injured young wife.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Does he know of this inheritance, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not one word, I think.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you believe that he will act as you wish?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have not the least doubt of it. Without this fortune -of his wife, he is as rich as Crœsus; and he is also as -proud as Lucifer. Having discarded her, he would not -touch a penny of her money, if it was to save his own -life or hers. So it is not because I think he would waste, -or even use her means, that I wish her fortune settled -upon herself, but because I wish her to be totally independent -of him and to be able to do her own will with -her own money.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I see,” said Mr. Kent. “Where is Mr. Alexander -Lyon now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In Washington City, where I would like you to call -upon and apprise him of this large inheritance and of our -wishes in regard to it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will do so with pleasure. Pray give me your instructions -at large, and also a letter of introduction to -Mr. Lyon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I had almost sworn never to hold any communication -with that man again. But for his wife’s dear sake I -will write the letter. And now Mr. Kent, there is our -first dinner-bell. Allow me to ring for a servant, who -will show you to a chamber prepared for you. I will -await you here and take you to the dining-room.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The dust-covered lawyer bowed his thanks and followed -the servant who was called to attend him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At dinner that day, the lawyer, for the first time met -his beautiful client, Mrs. Alexander Lyon. And with all -his experience of mankind, great was his wonder that any -man in his sober senses could have abandoned such a -lovely young creature.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mr. Kent stayed two days at Old Lyon Hall, and then, -primed with instructions and with a letter to Alexander, -he left for Washington and Baltimore.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It happened just as General Lyon had predicted.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>Alexander, sulking at his apartments in one of the -most fashionable hotels in the Capital, received the lawyer’s -visit and his uncle’s letter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was immeasurably astonished at the announcement -of his wife’s inheritance of an enormous fortune. At -first, indeed, he listened to the intelligence with scornful -incredulity; but when convinced beyond all doubt of the -truth, his amazement was unbounded. He had never before -heard of the California billionaire, and could not now -realize the fact that poor Drusilla was a great heiress. -He scarcely succeeded in concealing from the lawyer the -excess of his amazement. He was, literally, almost -“stunned” by the news.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The lawyer’s time was precious; so, barely giving Mr. -Alexander a minute to recover his lost breath, and acting -upon General Lyon’s instructions he proposed to the husband -to resign the whole of her newly-inherited wealth -to his discarded wife.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander arose, a proud disdain curling his lips and -flashing from his eyes, and answered haughtily:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Unquestionably, sir! Prepare the proper papers with -your utmost despatch. I had intended to sail for Europe -in Saturday’s steamer, but I will forfeit my passage and -wait here until these deeds shall be executed; for I could -no more bear to hold an hour’s interest in her inheritance -than I could bear any other sort of ignominy. How soon -can the documents be ready?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mr. Kent could not tell within a day or two—lawyers -never can, you know. But he engaged to prepare them -very early in the next week, in time for Mr. Lyon to embark -upon his voyage on the following Saturday.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so Lawyer Kent went on his way to Baltimore -musing:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is a splendid fellow, and she is a sweet young -creature; they are an admirable pair! What the mischief -can have come between them?—ah, the devil, of -course!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mr. Kent was as good as his word. On Tuesday morning, -he placed the requisite deeds in the hands of Mr. -Lyon, who, in the presence of several witnesses and before -a notary-public, formally signed, sealed, and delivered -them again into the custody of the lawyer.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>And, on Thursday evening, Mr. Kent arrived at Old -Lyon Hall, to announce the successful termination of the -whole business, and to congratulate his client on her accession -to one of the largest fortunes in America.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I think, my dear,” whispered General Lyon to -his protégée, “that you cannot better show your sense of -these gentlemen’s zeal in your cause than by making -them your agents in the management of your financial -affairs.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I perfectly agree with you, my dear uncle. Tell them -so, please,” replied Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so it was arranged; and Mr. Kent went on his -way rejoicing, “having made a good thing of it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And Alick has signed over to me all his material interest -in my fortune! Well, I know he did not need -any part of it; but he would have been welcome, oh, so -heartily welcome, to the whole. At most, I only should -have wanted enough to buy back dear Cedarwood,” said -Drusilla to her gossip, Anna, as they sat together in the -nursery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He did right. How <em>could</em> he have done otherwise -under the circumstances? Even <em>you</em>, with all your loving -faith, must have despised him if, after forsaking you, -he had taken any part of your fortune,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla blushed intensely, at the bare supposition that -her Alick could do anything to make her loyal heart -despise him, and she answered warmly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But he did not do it! He would never do such a -thing. If my Alick has ever erred it has been under the -influence of some great passion amounting almost to madness! -He would not do wrong in cold blood.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna did not gainsay her. Miss Lyon had quite given -up arguing with the young wife on the subject of her -husband’s merits. If Drusilla had chosen to assert that -Alexander was the wisest of sages, the bravest of heroes -and the best of saints, Anna would not openly have differed -with her. But now she turned the conversation -from his merits to his movements.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alick sails for Europe to-morrow,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, so Mr. Kent says. But do you know what -steamer he goes in, Anna? Mr. Kent did not happen to -name it, and I shrank from asking him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>“There is but one—the Erie. I suppose, of course, he -goes on that. However, on Monday we shall get the New -York papers, and then we can examine the list of passengers, -and see if his name is among them,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And with that answer the young wife had to rest -satisfied.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER VII.<br> <span class='large'>HALCYON DAYS.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A course of days, composing happy weeks,</div> - <div class='line'>And they as happy months; the day is still</div> - <div class='line'>So like the last, as all so firm a pledge</div> - <div class='line'>Of a congenial future, that the wheels</div> - <div class='line'>Of pleasure move without the aid of hope.—<span class='sc'>Wordsworth.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Very early on Monday morning Jacob Junior was dispatched -to Saulsburg to meet the mail and fetch the -papers. The messenger was so diligent that he brought -in the bag and delivered it to his master while the family -sat at breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were no letters for anybody, but all the last Saturday’s -papers had come.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon distributed them. A New York evening -journal fell to Anna’s share. She turned immediately to -look for the news of the outward bound steamers. She -soon found what she was in search of. And as Alick’s -name was still a tacitly dropped word in the presence of -her grandfather, she silently passed the paper to Drusilla, -and pointed to the list of passengers for Liverpool who -sailed by the Erie, from New York, on the Saturday -previous.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked and read among them:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Mr. Alexander Lyon and two servants.</em>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla nodded and smiled, saying in a low voice:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is better so, for the present. I hope that he will -enjoy himself and come home in a happier frame of -mind.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of whom are you speaking, my child?” inquired the -General, raising his eyes from a report of the last great -debate in the Senate.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>“Of Alick. He sailed in the Erie for Liverpool on last -Saturday,” answered Drusilla, quite calmly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! he did? Well, I think it about the best thing -he could have done. I hope he will stay there until he -comes to his senses. Joy go with him!” heartily exclaimed -the old gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear uncle!” pleaded Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my dear, what now?” I said, “Joy go with -him. That was a benediction, was it not?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I thought it was a sarcasm,” said Drusilla, archly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General coughed slightly and returned to the -perusal of the debate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Mr. Alexander had betaken himself to parts unknown, -and Drusilla was by no means broken-hearted on -that account.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All the tears she was ever destined to shed for him -seemed already to have fallen; all the heart-aches she -was ever to feel for him seemed already to have been -suffered and forgotten.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Understand once for all that, though she loved him as -faithfully and hoped in him as trustfully as ever, she no -longer mourned his absence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I repeat it—she could love forever and hope forever, -but she could not grieve forever—not with her beautiful -bright boy before her eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was delightful to see the young mother at this time -of her life. She was the sunshine of that sweet old home. -All the joyousness, hopefulness and truthfulness of childhood -seemed to have returned to her; or, rather, as her -own childhood had not been a particularly happy one, to -have come to her for the first time with her child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She sang in her nursing chair, or at her needle-work, -all the morning; she sang at the piano, or the harp, or -sang duets with Anna or Dick in the evening. She had -a clear, sweet, elastic voice, a pure soprano, perfectly -adapted to the bird-like carols that she most favored.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon, whose passion for music had survived -all other enthusiasms, and had even increased with his -declining years, seemed never to grow weary of her delicious -notes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This pleased Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear grandpa,” she would often repeat, “I am so glad -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>you have her here; and will have her with you when -Dick takes me away. It will be such a comfort to me to -feel you are not lonesome.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t know how that may be, my dear. The more -I see of our darling, the more inclined I am to think that -fellow will come to his senses and claim her from us before -we are willing to resign her. And <em>then</em> what shall -I do?” the old man once inquired, with a sigh.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then Drusilla put her hand in his, and looked up -in his eyes with all a daughter’s devotion, and answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear uncle, you sheltered me when I had not a friend -in the world. You saved my life and my boy’s life. You -gave him your name, and gave us both a home. And I -will never leave you alone, never—not even for <em>him</em> will -I leave you, until Anna and Dick come home from their -bridal tour to leave you no more.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know it, my child, I know it; I need no assurance -from you to teach me how unselfish you are. But, my -dear girl, do you think I would permit you to sacrifice -your happiness for my sake? No, dear Drusilla, when -our prodigal comes to himself and seeks your love again, -you will be ready and eager to be reunited to him and -you must go with him, although I should be left alone. -And this for <em>your</em> happiness, which must not be sacrificed -for me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Happiness? sacrificed? Oh, uncle! father, dear, -dear friend! you do not know my heart. The happiness -would be in staying with you to solace your solitude; the -sacrifice would be in leaving you alone. I <em>could</em> not and -<em>would</em> not do it, no, not even for my dear Alick. Nor -would he wish it; for when he ‘comes to himself,’ as -you say, he will come to his better, nobler self,—his just -and true self.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! my darling, you have great faith in that man.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Because I judge him by the whole tenor of his past -life, and not by the last few months of moral insanity!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“May Heaven justify your faith, my dear,” replied the -veteran.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Soon after the Christmas and New Year’s festivities -were over, Richard Hammond made a move towards terminating -his visit. But poor Dick’s nature was so perfectly -transparent that every one knew it was a most reluctant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>move. General Lyon, Anna and Drusilla all knew -that Dick was very desirous of staying at Old Lyon Hall, -and they all felt that the “unlucky dog,” would be much -safer with his relations in the country than among his -“friends” in the city. So when Dick at length named -an early day in February for his departure, the General -said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense, boy, stay where you are.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I should be glad enough to stay,” Dick frankly answered, -“but you see I feel I am trespassing. Bless my -soul and life, sir, I have been here nearly three months.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What of that? Stay three years. Stay three centuries -if you live so long. My boy, all counted, we are -but four; not enough to crowd this big old house; not -enough to fill it, or half fill it. So, if you find yourself at -ease among us, remain with us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you see, dear grandpa,” said Anna, wickedly, “he -is <em>not</em> at ease among us. He is very restless with us. He -is longing to get back to the city. He is pining for the -society of his esteemed friends—the gallant Captain Reding -and the brave Lieutenant Harpe.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna, Anna! that was bloodthirsty!” said Dick -in a grieved and outraged manner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then if that is not so, what is the attraction to the -city, Dick?” laughed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nothing at all. You know that as well as I do.” -Anna did know it, but for all that she answered maliciously:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then I can’t think why you wish to leave us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I <em>don’t</em> wish to leave you. I would much rather stay. -I have been here so long, I might well suppose that I had -worn out my welcome. But as you and uncle are kind -enough to tell me that I have not, I <em>will</em> stay, and ‘thank -you too,’ as the girl said to the boy that asked her to have -him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And don’t take it into your head again, Dick, that you -are wearing out your welcome. When we get tired of you, -Dick, I will take it upon myself to send you about your -business.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well, Anna. I hope you will do so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>In truth, Dick had enough to keep him in the neighborhood. -Hammond House and Hammondville, forming the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>greater portion of the landed estate he had recently inherited, -lay within a few miles of Old Lyon Hall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The whole place was now in charge of a resident bailiff -who was instructed to put it in thorough repair for the reception -of its new master. And these repairs were going -on as fast as circumstances would permit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The outdoor work was of course frequently suspended -during the inclemency of the weather. But the house was -filled with carpenters, plasterers, painters and paperhangers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And it was well that Dick should occasionally ride there -to overlook these workmen. The most careful instructions -are not often carried out, under these circumstances, without -the frequent presence of the master.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was thought expedient also that Anna, whose home -it would sometime be, should be taken into the counsels -and accompany Dick in his visits of inspection to Hammond -House. And whenever the weather permitted she -went there with him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Hammond House was not to be their permanent home, -however. During the life of General Lyon, they were to -live at Old Lyon Hall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Three times a week, when the mail came into Saulsburg -and the letters and papers were brought to Old Lyon -Hall, Drusilla turned to the ship-news. At length she -saw announced the safe arrival of the Erie at Liverpool. -And then she knew that was the last of even indirect -news she might hope to hear of Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But she was not depressed on that account. Her faith, -hope and love were strong. Everybody was very good to -her. Her baby boy was growing in strength, beauty and -intelligence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The spring was to be early this year. The latter days -of February were bright and lovely harbingers of its quick -approach.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the finest hours of the finest days Drusilla took her -baby out for short drives around the park—the nurse -dragging the little carriage and the mother walking by -its side, and Leo often following to open gates or remove -obstacles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was not unfrequently a high dispute between the -brother and sister as to who should take care of the baby.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>Leo insisted that as the baby was a boy, it was <em>his</em> -right to have charge of him, and declared that he could -see no fitness at all in a girl setting herself up to nurse a -boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina retorted that such a thing as a male nurse never -was heard of either for male or female child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leo would then bring forward his mistress’s promise -that he himself should have a good time with little Master -Leonard, riding him about on his shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina would request him to give that piece of information -to the “horse-marines,” who might be credulous -enough to believe his story. As for herself, she rejected -it totally and held fast by her own rights as sole nurse by -appointment of her mistress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Through all these quarrels one fact was evident—the -devotion of the brother and sister to the young child and -his mother, of whom it might almost be said that their -servants were ready to lay down their lives in their service.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla had not given up her favorite project of purchasing -Cedarwood. She had written and instructed her -attorneys to make overtures to the present proprietors of -the place, for that purchase. She told them that she knew -of course the people who had so recently purchased the -property would want a very handsome bonus before they -would consent to part with it again so soon; and that she -was prepared to satisfy their demands, as she preferred -to pay an exorbitant price for the place rather than miss -its possession.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her attorneys, who were long-headed men of business, -in no way given to sentiment or extravagance, wrote in -reply that they hoped with a little patience and good -management to buy the estate at something like a fair -valuation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Drusilla agreed to wait.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile General Lyon had not forgotten that he had -promised to purchase Cedarwood, and bestow it upon Drusilla -as a New Year’s present. And he also set about negotiating -for his purpose.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This reached the ears of Drusilla’s lawyers, who immediately -wrote to ask her if she was aware that her uncle, -also, was after the place.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>Drusilla was not aware of the fact; but now that she -heard of it, she of course understood that the General -could only be seeking it for her sake.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So she went to the old gentleman and assured him that -as much as she loved him, she could not possibly receive -so magnificent a present from his hands, but very much -desired to purchase the estate with her own funds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon laughed, and assured her that his only -motive in trying to buy Cedarwood was to keep his word -to her; but that, if she released him from it, he was ready -to give up the project. “For he was well aware,” he said, -“that to bestow property on a lady who owned warehouses -piled with merchandise in Baltimore and San Francisco, -and merchant ships at sea trading to all parts of the world, -besides bank stock and railway shares in almost every -State, and gold mines in California, to bestow a little bit -of property on such a billionaire would simply be to send -coals to Newcastle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So the General wrote and stopped the proceedings of -<em>his</em> lawyers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla wrote and told <em>hers</em> to go ahead as fast as -they saw fit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But it was April before any measure of importance was -taken. Then Messrs. Heneage & Kent, who had been as -active and as artful as detectives in the business, wrote to -inform their client that they had discovered that the present -proprietor of Cedarwood, who was a person of very -restless disposition and unsettled habits, had become dissatisfied -with the place and was anxious to dispose of it, -and would do so immediately if he could sell it for as -much as he gave for it. Now, as Alexander Lyon had -sold the estate at some sacrifice during his fit of fury, it -was therefore supposed to be a good bargain. The lawyers -wrote to ask further instructions from their client.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla by return mail directed them to buy Cedarwood -immediately, as her great desire was to possess it as -soon as possible, on any terms. She also requested them -to buy as much of the wooded land around Cedarwood as -they could get at a reasonable, or even at a slightly unreasonable -price, as she intended to improve the place as -much as it would admit of, and wished, among other -things, to have a little home park.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>It was well for this young Fortunata that her attorneys -had much more prudence than herself. They were not -disposed to pay fancy prices for fancy places, even when -they were spending their client’s money instead of their -own, and getting a good percentage on it. So they managed -matters so well that, by the first of May, the whole -business was successfully completed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Cedarwood, with its original twenty-five acres of partially -cleared land, was purchased for twenty thousand -dollars, and one hundred acres of wild forest land lying -all around it was purchased for thirty thousand—the -whole property costing fifty thousand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A very excellent investment,” wrote Heneage & Kent, -“even as a mere country seat; but the land so near the -city is rapidly rising in value; and when you may wish -to do so in future years, you may divide it into half a hundred -villa sites, and sell each part for as much money as -you now pay for the whole.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Drusilla was not thinking of land speculations, so -she ran to her friends and, after telling them of the completion -of the purchase of Cedarwood, she exclaimed:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now we shall have such a beautiful home near -the city to receive us all when we go to Washington to -spend the winter. It will be so much better than a hotel -or boarding-house in the city. It is only half an hour’s -drive from the Capitol. We can live there so comfortable, -and as quiet as we please when we wish to be so, and -enter into all the amusements of the city we like when we -wish to do so. It will only be to start half an hour earlier -when we go to a party or a play, half an hour earlier from -Cedarwood than we should from a hotel in the city, I -mean. And then when we leave a brilliant ball-room or -opera-house, it will be so pleasant to come to a sweet, -quiet home in the woods, instead of a noisy, unwholesome -hotel—don’t you think so, dear uncle?” she said, appealing -to the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my darling, I do,” answered the old gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And shall you like the plan?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very much, my dear child. I never could sleep well -at any of the hotels in Washington or in any other city, -for that matter. The noise of the carriages in the streets -always kept me awake nearly all night.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>“And you, Anna—shall you like it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course I shall. I detest hotels. The clean face -towels always smell sour or fetid, for one thing. And -boarding houses and furnished lodgings are almost as -bad.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am delighted! So in future I and my baby shall be -<em>your</em> guests at Old Lyon Hall or at Hammond House during -the summer, and you all shall be my guests at Cedarwood -all the winter. And I shall write to “mammy,” -and offer her and her husband the situations of housekeeper -and head gardener there, at liberal wages. And -they would keep the house and grounds always in good -order, and ready to receive us. Will not that be pleasant, -Dick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pleasant!” exclaimed Mr. Hammond enthusiastically; -“it will be perfectly delightful.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER VIII.<br> <span class='large'>THE END OF PROBATION.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>From that day forth, in peace and joyous bliss,</div> - <div class='line in2'>They lived together long, without debate;</div> - <div class='line'>No private jars, nor spite of enemies,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Could shake the safe assurance of their state.—<span class='sc'>Spenser.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Besides the natural geniality and sociability of his disposition, -which always moved General Lyon to bring his -friends and relations about him, there were other and even -stronger motives that urged him to invite Richard Hammond -to remain at Old Lyon Hall. The old gentleman -wanted to save “the unlucky dog from his friends,” and -also he wanted to study him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And as weeks and months of close companionship in -the seclusion of the country house passed away, he <em>did</em> -study him. And apparently the study was satisfactory.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All poor Dick’s impulses were altogether good. Indeed, -it was through the very goodness of his nature that he -so often came to grief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick could not bear to say No; and not only ever to -his friends, but not even to his enemies, for his salvation, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>Dick could not endure to inflict pain, not only ever upon -good people but not even upon sinners. And these -amiable traits in his character were used by evil-disposed -people to his injury.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was indeed so much of the woman in Dick’s -gentle and lively nature that very few women could have -loved him as Anna did. But then there was enough of -the man in Anna’s nature to produce an equilibrium of -the sexes in their union.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon noticed all this, and he noticed something -else—namely, that though Dick and Anna certainly loved -each other devotedly, they bore their probation with exemplary -patience.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This touched the heart of the veteran, but still he would -not shorten the time.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Moreover, he felt the infirmities of age creeping upon -him, he knew that at his years life was extremely precarious, -and he certainly wanted to see another generation of -Lyons in lineal descent from himself before he should go -home and be no more on earth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet for all this he would not hasten the marriage of -Dick and Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla, with her quick perceptions and warm sympathies, -read the hearts of all around, and wished to make -them happy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Like an artful little angel as she was, she chose her opportunity -well.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was a lovely day in the latter part of April, and General -Lyon and herself were sitting alone together in a -front parlor where windows opened upon a conservatory -in full bloom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick and Anna were gone on a visit of inspection of -the works at Hammond House.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General had little Leonard in his arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla was sewing beside them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, my dear, you do not know how much this little -fellow adds to my happiness!” he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am always so glad and grateful to hear you say that, -dear uncle, and I hope little Leonard as he grows in intelligence -will be more and more of a comfort to you,” she -replied; and then, after a little pause, she said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But if little Leonard, who is only my son, gives you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>so much content, how much joy Anna’s children will give -you!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t know, my dear: and, besides, I may not live -to see them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear uncle, you will live many years yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I cannot hope to do that, my dear. I am past seventy. -I have already lived out the threescore and ten years -allotted as the natural term of a man’s life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, dear uncle, I think all nature teaches us that a -<span class='fss'>CENTURY</span> is the natural term of a man’s life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A pleasant theory, my child. I wish it were a true -one.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I think it is a true one.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why do you think so?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“From analogy. All natural philosophers and historians -who have made the nature and habits of the -animal creation their study have agreed upon this fact; -that all healthy animals, unless their lives are terminated -by violence, live five times as long as it takes them to -grow up. Now it takes the human animal twenty years -at least to grow to maturity; therefore the human animal -really should live five times twenty years, which makes a -round hundred or a <span class='fss'>CENTURY</span>; and I firmly believe it is -intended for him to live that long, if he only acted in accordance -with the laws of life and health. And, dear -uncle, you seem always to have acted so, and therefore I -think you may safely calculate upon living out your century -and then dying the gentle death of mere old age.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is a certain reasonableness in your theory, my -little philosopher.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And there is a roundness and completeness in this -full century of life which is so satisfactory,” said Drusilla, -heartily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my dear, especially to those who love this planet -Earth, with all her failings, as I confess I do,” smiled the -old gentleman. “And besides, I would like to see Anna -and Dick happily married, with a thriving family of boys -and girls about their knees.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, dear uncle, why not let them marry at once?” -pleaded Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Marry at once!’ Drusilla, you astound me, child!” -exclaimed the old gentleman, in unaffected astonishment.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>“Yes, marry at once, dear uncle, and then, if you live -to be as old as Methusaleh, you will still have only the -longer time to witness their happiness,” persisted Drusilla, -who, now that she had “broken the ice,” was determined -to go through.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, my dear, I put Richard Hammond upon a probation -of twelve months, and the time has not expired yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is very nearly half gone, though. Five months of -the allotted term has passed away. There are seven -months of penance remaining. Dear uncle, be kind to -them and commute that to one month. Let them marry -in May.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Have they commissioned you to plead their cause, my -dear?” gravely inquired General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh no, sir, they have not. And perhaps also you may -think me very presumptuous and impertinent to meddle -in the matter. If you do, I will beg your pardon and be -silent.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense, my dear child! I think nothing of the sort. -Speak all your thoughts freely to me. They are good and -true thoughts, I know, though they may not be very -worldly wise. Come now, why should I shorten the probation -of Dick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, because he has behaved so well. Indeed, dear -uncle, if you really mean that Dick should marry Anna, -I think that you had just as well let him marry her now -as half a year hence. I believe Dick is as good now as he -will ever be, or as any young man can be. Why do you insist -on a probation? If Dick were playing a part in this -good behavior, he could play it six months longer as well -as he has played it six months past, for so great a stake as -Anna’s hand. But he is not playing a part. You know -as well as I do that Dick is as frank, sincere and open-hearted -as his best friend or worst enemy could desire him -to be. He is not playing a part. His present steadiness -is but an earnest of what his whole future life will be, -with Anna by his side. Dear uncle, I really do think -that all Dick’s irregularities grew out of his banishment -from Anna’s society. He sought gay companions—or -rather <em>no</em>; we are sure that he <em>never</em> sought them; but he -allowed himself to fall into their company to find oblivion -for his regrets. With the mere promise of Anna’s hand, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>you see he has dropped his disreputable friends altogether. -With Anna for his wife, he will never be in danger of -taking them up again.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is much reason in what you say, my dear,” -admitted General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And, besides,” said Drusilla, dropping reason and resorting -to sentiment, “it is such a <em>pity</em> not to make them -happy when you have the power to do it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will think of what you have advanced, my dear Drusilla,” -said the veteran, gravely. “But Lord bless my -soul alive!” he added, elevating his eyebrows, “now I do -think of it, the young man himself has not petitioned for -a curtailment of his probation!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Oh, uncle, has he not?</em> Not, not in set terms, perhaps, -because you absolutely forbade him to resume the subject -until the specified year should have terminated; and of -course he felt, and still feels, bound to obey you. But has -not his whole conduct for the last five months been a plea -for the commutation of his sentence? Has not every word, -look and act of his life here been a declaration of devotion -to Anna, a prayer for mercy from you, and a promise of -fidelity to both?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I cannot deny that.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, dear uncle, let them marry at once. Oh, forgive -my plain speech! for you know you told me to speak my -thoughts freely.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then let them marry at once.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is there no other reason you would like to urge why -they should be made happy, as you express it, just now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, dear sir; if you make them wait until the -time of probation is out, it will bring the wedding to the -middle of November—sad November, which is always -gloomy enough in itself and is now doubly gloomy to us -from its associations. Three times Anna’s marriage has -been appointed to take place in November, and three -times it has been defeated—twice by death, and once—but -we will say no more of that. Let us change the -month and even the season, dear sir. Let the marriage -come off in May—this next May it is now beautiful -spring—the best season in the year for a wedding and a -wedding tour. Let them marry and go; and you and I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>and little Leonard will stay here and have a good time -this summer. In autumn they will return and join us -again. And early in the winter we will all go up to -Washington and live at Cedarwood during the season. -Dear uncle, I do think you had better let them get their -wedding tour over this summer. You will miss Anna -very much less in summer than in winter.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is very true,” said the General, reflectively.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you will let them marry in May?” eagerly inquired -Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! I don’t know. I cannot move in the matter -unless the young gentleman does. I cannot fling my -granddaughter at Mr. Dick Hammond’s head!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, uncle! how can you say such things? You -know poor Dick is tongue-tied on that subject for the -present, by your probation, as well as by his sense of -honor. He <em>cannot</em> speak of this without your leave. But -only give him leave by a glance, a nod, a hint, and he will -be on his knees to you to grant his suit and shorten his -probation,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hem! Suppose you give the glance, nod, or hint, -that may be required for the encouragement of this despairing -lover?” proposed the General, archly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That I will, with all my heart and soul,” replied Drusilla, -warmly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The next day at noon, while Drusilla was walking beside -her baby’s carriage out on the lawn, Dick, with his -fishing rod over his back, sauntered up to her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla dropped behind so as to let the carriage and -the nurse get far enough ahead to be out of hearing, and -then she said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick, I think if you will ask our uncle to release you -from your promise of silence on a certain subject, that he -will do so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla, do you really think he will? If I thought -so, if I was sure he would not banish me at once from -Anna’s side, I would ask him this moment!” exclaimed -Dick, his eyes dancing with eagerness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He will not banish you. Why should he? You will -<em>break</em> no promise to him; you will only ask him if he sees -fit to <em>release</em> you from your promise of silence on a certain -subject. I think he will give you leave to speak on that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>subject. And, furthermore, when you do speak, I think -he will listen to you favorably.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Drusilla! do you? Do you think so, indeed? If -I thought so, I should be the luckiest dog and the happiest -man in existence.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go try for yourself at once, Dick. He is in his study. -He has just got through his morning papers, and is enjoying -his pipe. The opportunity is highly auspicious. Go -at once, Dick. You will never find him in a more favorable -mood.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’m off this instant. Heaven bless you, Drusilla, and -make you as happy as I hope to be,” exclaimed Richard -Hammond, dropping his fishing tackle, and dashing away -to put his destiny to the test.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla hastened after her baby’s carriage, overtook it, -and continued to walk beside it, and guard it for more -than an hour longer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She had just turned with it towards the house when -she was met by Dick, who was hastening to greet her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Drusa, Drusa, dear Drusa, it is all right now. -And all through you! And I came to tell you so, and to -thank you, even before I go to tell Anna!” exclaimed -Dick, with his face all beaming with happiness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he seized and kissed Drusilla’s hand, and then -darted off again, in search of Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And thus through Drusilla’s intervention, was Richard -Hammond’s probation commuted, and the marriage of the -lovers appointed to be celebrated about the middle of May.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile Drusilla had written to “mammy,” offering -to her the situation of housekeeper, and to her husband -that of head gardener at Cedarwood. She had directed -her letter to the care of the Reverend Mr. Hopper, at -Alexandria, feeling sure that it would by this means -safely reach the hands of the nurse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In due time Drusilla received an answer, badly written -and worse spelt, yet sufficiently expressive of “mammy’s,” -sentiments on the subject.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She thanked Mrs. Lyon from the bottom of her heart, -and would gladly take the place and try to do her duty -by the mistress. And likewise her old man. She never -expected to have such a piece of good fortune come to her -and her old man in the old ages of their lives. Which it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>had just come in good time too, seeing as her last darter -was agoing to marry and leave her and her old man alone. -And besides, she herself was aged before her time, all -along of spending all the days of her life in close, sick -rooms. And she was mortially glad to leave the profession -of sick nursin’ to younger and stronger wimmin. -Which she was fairly pining for the country, where her -childhood and youth had been passed. She had never -been able to get reconciled to the town, although she had -lived into it for thirty-five years, and she loved to feed -chickens and take care of cows, and make butter and -cheese. And as for her old man, it was the delight of his -life to hoe and rake, and plant and sow, and weed and -trim gardens and vineyards, and sich like. And she was -sure they would both be happier than they had ever -been in all their lives before. And she prayed Heaven to -bless the young madam who had taken such kind thoughts -of them in their age, to insure them so much prosperity -and pleasure.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER IX.<br> <span class='large'>A MAY-DAY MARRIAGE.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Be not amazed at life. ’Tis still</div> - <div class='line in2'>The mode of God with His elect:</div> - <div class='line'>Their hopes exactly to fulfil,</div> - <div class='line in2'>In times and ways they least expect.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Who marry as they choose, and choose</div> - <div class='line in2'>Not as they ought, they mock the priest,</div> - <div class='line'>And leaving out obedience, lose</div> - <div class='line in2'>The finest flavor of the feast.—<span class='sc'>Alford.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The wedding-day of Dick and Anna was fixed for the -fifteenth of May.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then came consultations about the details of the festival.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Should it <em>be</em> a festival?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna thought not. Her marriage had been so often -appointed and so often arrested that she said it would be -best taste now to get it over as quietly as possible. She -and her betrothed, attended only by General Lyon and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>Drusilla, would go to church and be married in their -traveling-dresses, and start immediately on the wedding -tour. Such was Anna’s plan.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But General Lyon would not hear of such a thing. -What! marry off his granddaughter and heiress to his -nephew in such a semi-clandestine manner, as if he were -half-ashamed of the proceeding? What, disappoint all the -young people in the neighborhood, who had every right -to expect a festival on the marriage of Miss Lyon, of Old -Lyon Hall? Not while <em>he</em> was head of the family! Anna -should be married at home. And there should be such a -celebration of the nuptials as the lads and lasses around -the hall should remember to the latest day of their lives.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna urged that in the middle of May the weather -would be too warm for a ball.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon agreed that it would; but added that the -weather would be delightful for a festival in the open air -on the beautiful grounds of the manor; it would be -neither too warm nor too cold, but exactly right for dancing -on the lawn. The marriage ceremony he said should -be performed in the great drawing-room, the wedding -breakfast should be laid in the long dining-room; but -the music and dancing should be enjoyed in the open air.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna laughingly appealed to Dick and to Drusilla to -take her part against this decision of the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Drusilla and Dick declined to interfere and remained -conscientiously neutral.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So the will of the General carried the day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This obstinacy of the old gentleman made it necessary -that a great deal of business should be done, and done at -once, as the time was so short to the wedding-day. Wedding -cards must be printed and circulated. A new trousseau -must be prepared. A sumptuous breakfast must be -devised. Certain deeds must be executed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In furtherance of these works, Dick first went up to -Richmond to deal with lawyers and engravers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And soon after his departure General Lyon and Anna -went to Washington to negotiate with milliners and pastry -cooks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla and her attendants remained in charge of -Old Lyon Hall. She had been affectionately invited to -accompany Anna and the General, but, though her baby -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>was now nearly six months old, she declined either to leave -him at home or to take him on so long and rough a journey. -She thought that her boy and herself were both better in -the country. The General agreed with her, and so she -was left in charge of the premises.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But though she sadly missed her friendly Anna, and -fatherly old General, and gay Dick, yet her life when left -at Old Lyon Hall was very different from what it had -been when she was alone at Cedarwood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here in the old hall she was no longer lonesome and -dreary. She had a plenty of company and of interesting -employment. She had her darling boy and her attentive -servants; and she had visitors from the neighborhood -almost every day; for young Mrs. Alexander Lyon was -growing in favor with the whole neighborhood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here she was not obliged to live a secret life. She would -drive out in her carriage, with her baby and nurse, whenever -she pleased. She could ride out on horseback attended -by her young groom Leo, whenever she liked. She -could return the calls of her country neighbors; she could -accept their invitations to dinner or to tea, and she could -receive and entertain them at home.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here she enjoyed the largest liberty. General Lyon and -Anna had both assured her that she would only make -them happier by behaving in all respects as a daughter -of the house, and using it as if it were her own. And -Drusilla, convinced of their perfect sincerity, took them -at their word.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her sweet heart and social spirit took pleasure in this -frequent intercourse with the country ladies and their -little children. She liked to have a whole family, mother, -children and nurses, to spend a long day with her at -home; and almost as well she liked to take her boy and -nurse and go and pass a whole day at the country house -of some friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was gratifying to her also, when her nearest neighbors, -the Seymours, came over and spent an evening with -her. There were but three persons in this family—old -Colonel and Mrs. Seymour, and their youngest daughter -Annie, or Nanny, as they called her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Old Colonel Seymour was a passionate lover of music, -and it was the one grievance of his life that his daughter -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>Nanny had no voice, and no ear, and never could learn to -sing or play on the piano. He could never understand it, -he said, how a girl born with the usual allowance of -senses, with a quick pair of ears, and a nimble tongue, -and who could hear as fast and talk much faster than -anybody he ever saw, should pretend that she did not -know one tune from another! She that was neither deaf, -nor dumb, nor an idiot! It was an incomprehensible fact, -but it was no less a great personal injury to himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But his one great delight was to come over to Old Lyon -Hall in the evening, and hear Drusilla sing and play. -Now, we know that her greatest gift was music. She -sang with a passion and power equalled by no one in -private circles, and excelled by but few in professional -life. Honest Colonel Seymour had never in all his earthly -experience had the privilege of hearing a great public -singer. Therefore the performances of Drusilla affected, -I might even say, overwhelmed him or transported him, -with equal wonder and delight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla exerted herself hour after hour, and evening -after evening, to please him, and took as much -pleasure herself in the intense appreciation of her one -single old adorer, as ever a great prima donna did in the applause -of a whole world.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the honest old gentleman’s head was fairly turned -with admiration and gratitude.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To think,” he said, as he walked home with his wife -and daughter, one moonlight night, after spending an -evening at Old Lyon Hall, “to think of having such a -voice as that in the neighborhood! to think of being able -to hear it several times a week, for the asking! Oh! it -ought, indeed it ought, to raise the price of real estate in -this locality! And it would do it, too, if people really -could feel what good music is!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Papa,” laughed the old wife, “you are an old gander. -And if you were not gray and bald, and very good, I -should be jealous.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, but mother, such strains! Oh, my Heavens, -such divine strains!” he exclaimed, catching his breath -in ecstasy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What will you do when your St. Cecilia leaves the -neighborhood?” inquired his daughter.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>“Leave the neighborhood! is she going to do that?” -gasped the music-maniac.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They are all going to Washington, next winter, she -says.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then we’ll—go too. I say, mother, <em>one</em> season in -town, would not be amiss for Nanny; and so we can take -her there next winter; and then I may swim and soar in -celestial sounds every evening!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Papa, now you are too provoking, and <em>I</em> am jealous,” -said Nanny. “For my part, I don’t like music any more -than I do any other sort of racket. And I do think if -there is one nuisance worse than another, it is a singing -and playing lunatic, filling the whole room full of shrieks -and crashes, just as if a thousand housemaids were -smashing a million of dishes, and squalling together over -the catastrophe!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, child, child, what a misfortune for you to have -been born deaf, as to your divine ears!” answered the old -gentleman in tones of deep and sincere pity and regret.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’m sure, papa, I often wish I had been born deaf as -to my bodily ears! I mean, when your divinity is shrieking -and thrashing, and raising such a hullabaloo that I -can’t hear myself speak!” said Nanny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! ‘<em>that</em> accounts for the milk in the cocoanut!’ -You can’t hear yourself speak, and you prefer the sound -of your own sweet voice to the music of the spheres!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If the music of the spheres is <em>that</em> sort of noise, I -certainly do, papa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank Goodness, here we are at our own gate! And -now we will drop the subject of music for the rest of the -evening—Kitty, was the missing turkey-gobbler found?” -inquired Mrs. Seymour of the girl who came to open the -door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes’m.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And did the maids finish their task of carding?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes’m.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And did you keep the fire up in my room?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes’m.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is right. The evenings are real chilly and damp -for the time of year. Come in.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the careful wife and mother led the way into the -house.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>Richard Hammond was the first of the absentees to return -to Old Lyon Hall. He came one afternoon, bringing -with him a large packet of handsomely engraved wedding -cards and a bundle of documents, all of which he placed -in Drusilla’s charge to be delivered to General Lyon on -the General’s arrival. Then he took leave of Drusilla, -and went over to Hammond House to wait there until -the return of his uncle and his betrothed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Two days afterwards, General Lyon and Anna came -home.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna was attended by a pair of dressmakers, and enriched -with no end of finery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon was followed by a French cook and his -apprentices.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Richard Hammond came over to meet them, and consult -over the latest improvements of the bridal programme.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now the business of preparation was accelerated.</p> - -<p class='c012'>First, the wedding cards were sent out far and near. -And the neighborhood, which was not prepared for the -surprise, was electrified.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Next the dressmakers, with every skilful needle-woman -among the housemaids to help them, were set to work on -the trousseau. Of the many dresses that had been made -up for Anna’s marriage, the last November, most had -never been worn and were now in their newest gloss; but -they were not trimmed in the newest fashion, nor were -they all suitable for summer wear; so those first dresses, -had to be altered and newly trimmed, and many new -dresses suitable for the season had to be made up. This -kept all the feminine hands in the house very busy for a -week.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla’s skill, and taste, and willingness to help made -her an invaluable assistant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Only a few days before the one set for the wedding was -the new trousseau finished and packed up, and the new -wedding dress and traveling dress completed and laid -out.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now carpenters and upholsterers were brought -down from town, and the house and grounds were fitted -up and decorated for the happy occasion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The French cook and his assistants had the kitchen, -the pantry, the cellar, the plate-closet, and the long dining-room, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>to themselves, and were up to their linen caps in -business.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, it is a notable blessing that one cannot be -bothered with this sort of thing very often, as one is not -likely to be married more than half a dozen times in one’s -life,” said Anna, who was, or affected to be, very much -bored by all this bustle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I hope to Heaven, Anna, we may neither of us -ever be married but once! I trust in the Lord, Anna, -that we may live together to keep our golden wedding-day -half a century hence,” answered Dick, very devoutly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For honest Dick was what the Widow Bedot would -have called very much “solemnized” by the impending -crisis in his fate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Blessed is the bride that the sun shines on.” The -day of days came at last—the auspicious fifteenth of May—clear, -bright, warm, genial, with a light breeze playing -a lively tune, to which all the green leaves danced in glee. -All the flowers bloomed to decorate the scene—all the -birds turned out to sing their congratulations! Never -was seen such a rosery on the lawn; never was heard -such a concert in the groves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The brass band that arrived upon the scene as early as -ten o’clock in the morning, was quite a superfluity. Anna -sent out and ordered the men not to play until the birds -should be silent. So they sat under the shade of the -great oak trees, and had ale served out to them, in which -they drank the health of the bridegroom and the bride, -while they watched the train of carriages that were constantly -coming up, bringing guests to the wedding feast. -Such was the scene on the shaded, flowery lawn.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Even more festive was the scene within the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All the windows of the great drawing-room were thrown -open, letting in all the sunshine and the cool breeze of -this bright May day. The walls were hung with festoons -of fragrant flowers, and the large table in the centre was -loaded with the splendid wedding presents to the bride.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It would take up too much time to tell of all these -presents. You will find them fully described in the -“<cite>Valley Courier</cite>” of that date. They consisted of the -usual sort of offerings for these occasions—“sets” of diamonds, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>emeralds, rubies, pearls and other gems; “sets” -of silver plate; “sets” of fine lace, et cetera.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But we must not omit to mention Drusilla’s munificent -offering to the bride. It was also a “set,” a tea set of -pure gold, whose exquisite workmanship was even of -more value than its costly material.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The appearance of the long dining-room, with the table -laid for the wedding breakfast, should have immortalized -the French cook if he had not been immortalized before. Here, -also, all the windows were thrown open to the light -and air. It would never do, said “Monsieur le Chef,” for -people to be too warm while eating and drinking. Here, -however, were no natural flowers. Their powerful odors, -said “Monsieur,” affected too much the delicious aromas -of the viands. But the walls were decorated with artificial -flowers, with paintings and gildings, and with mirrors -that multiplied the splendors of the scene a thousandfold, -and opened imaginary vistas into unending suites of -splendid saloons on every side.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The breakfast table reached nearly the whole length of -the long dining-room, and was multiplied by the mirrored -walls into innumerable other tables on every hand. It -was beautifully decorated and sumptuously loaded; every -variety of flesh, fish, and fowl that was in season, dressed -in the most delicate manner; every sort of rare and rich -fruit and vegetable; wonderful pastries, creams, and ices; -crystallized sweetmeats, cordials, wines, liquors, black -and green teas, and coffee, such as only a Frenchman can -make, were among the good things displayed to delight -the palates of the guests.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the second floor, the bed-chambers and dressing-rooms -wore a gay and festive aspect. There also the windows -were thrown open to the light and air, and shaded -only by the beautiful green trees and flowering vines -without. The beds and dressing-tables were freshly -covered with snow-white drapery; and on each toilet-table -were laid new ivory-handled brushes and combs, -silver flagons of rare perfumery, porcelain pots of pomade; -and about each room were every convenience, -comfort and luxury that a guest could possibly require,—all -provided by a thoughtful hospitality that was careful -and considerate in its minutest details.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>Early in the day these light, fragrant, and delightful -chambers were filled with bevies of fair girls, who were -giving the last effective touches to their own and to each -other’s gay festal dresses, and whose soft talk and silvery -laughter made music all around.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They had need to hurry, too; for the hour fixed for -the ceremony was high noon, and they must all be ready -and in their places to see it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The bride’s chamber was the scene of the most interesting -passages. There sat the bride, surrounded by her -bride’s-maids, and lovingly attended by Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna’s dress was a rich white honiton lace robe over a -white silk skirt, made with a low bodice and short sleeves, -both edged with narrow lace. On her neck and arms she -wore a necklace and bracelets of diamonds; on her hair -the wreath of orange blossoms; over her head and shoulders -the deep bridal veil of lace to match her robe; on -her delicate hands kid gloves as white as snow and soft -as down. Her six bride’s-maids were all dressed in white -tulle, with wreaths of white moss-rose buds on their -hair, and veils of white tulle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On this auspicious day Drusilla, for the first time, entirely -laid aside her mourning. She looked beautiful and -blooming, in a dress of rose-colored moire-antique, made -with a low bodice and short sleeves, trimmed with point -lace. On her neck and arms she wore a necklace and -bracelets of pearls; on her young matronly brow a wreath -of half-open blush roses; on her bosom a bouquet of the -same flowers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For this day also her little Leonard was dressed in gala -robes, and sent out upon the lawn in the arms of his nurse -where he remained for the present, gazing with eyes -wide open with astonishment and delight on the wonderful -pageantry around him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The marriage hour struck at length.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The last loitering guests heard it, and hurried down-stairs -to the drawing-room which was already crowded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The bride and her maidens heard it, and began to -smooth out the folds of their dresses, or touch the edges -of their hair, and steal furtive glances at the mirrors to -see that all was right before leaving the chamber and -facing the hundreds of eyes in the drawing-room below.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>Punctually as the last stroke of twelve sounded, the -bridegroom and his attendants came to the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The procession was formed in the usual manner and -passed down-stairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Two gentlemen friends who took upon themselves the -office of marshals, opened a way through the crowd for -the bridal cortège to enter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the rug stood the Rev. Dr. Barber, in his surplice, -just as he had stood some six months before; but all the -rest was changed now. That was a dark and stormy -November night. This was a bright and beautiful May day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The bridal party, with due decorum, took their places -before the officiating minister. There was no let or hindrance -now. The face of the blooming bride was as -clearly seen as that of the happy bridegroom. Both parties -responded clearly and distinctly to the questions of -the clergyman. General Lyon, with smiling lips, but -moist eyes, gave the bride away. And the ceremony -proceeded and ended amid the prayers and blessings of -the whole company.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Kisses and congratulations, tears and smiles followed -and took up twice as much time as the preceding solemnity -had.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, at length the company, headed by the two marshals, -marched off to the breakfast room. The ladies -were handed to the table, and the gentlemen waited in -duteous attendance behind them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the feast began.</p> - -<p class='c012'>These ladies did not care so much about the fish, flesh, -or fowl, delicately dressed as these edibles might be. So -they were left almost untouched, for the benefit of the -gentlemen who might come after. But the beautiful -pyramids of pound cake, the snowy alps of frosted cream, -the glittering glaciers of quivering jelly, the icebergs of -frozen custard, the temples of crystallized sweetmeats -and groves of sugared fruits were quickly demolished.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The bride’s cake was cut up and distributed; the piece -containing the prophetic ring falling to the lot of Nanny -Seymour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At the right moment the first groomsman arose and -made a speech, which was heartily cheered, and proposed -the health of—</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>“The bride and bridegroom,” which was honored with -bumpers of “<span class='sc'>Cliquot</span>.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then the bridegroom arose and returned thanks in -another speech, which was also cheered; and he proposed -the health of—</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Our honored host and relative, the venerable General -Lyon,” which was drank by all standing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then the veteran got up and in a few earnest words -expressed his appreciation of the compliment and his -esteem for his guests, and then he gave somebody else’s -health.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Colonel Seymour arose and proposed the health of—</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Our beautiful young friend, Mrs. Alexander Lyon.” -And it was honored with enthusiasm.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, some unlucky idiot had the mishap to rise and -name—</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Mr.</em> Alexander Lyon,” tearfully adding—“‘Though -lost to sight, to memory dear.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And a panic fell upon all that part of the company who -knew or suspected the state of the case with that interesting -absentee.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But old General Lyon quickly dispelled the panic. -Would that true gentleman suffer Drusilla’s feelings to -be wounded? No, indeed. He was the very first to fill -his glass and rise to his feet. His example was followed -by all present. And unworthy Alick’s health was drank -with the rest. And while the brave old man honored the -toast with his lips, he prayed in his heart for the prodigal’s -reformation and return.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And oh! how Drusilla understood and loved and -thanked him!</p> - -<p class='c012'>Other speeches were made and other toasts drank.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then tea and coffee were handed around.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And one set of feasters gave way to another, like the -flies in the fable of old.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The rising set immediately went out upon the lawn, -where the brass band was in full play on their stand, and -where quadrilles were performed upon the greensward.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The feasting in the house and the music and dancing -on the lawn was kept up the whole of that bright May -day, even to the going down of the sun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Never before had the youth of the neighborhood had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>such a surfeit of frolicking. They voted that a marriage -in May weather, and by daylight, with unlimited dance -music, greensward, sunshine and sweetmeats, was the -most delightful thing in the world.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the very height of the festivities, at about four o’clock -in the afternoon, the bride, attended by Drusilla, slipped -quietly away to her own chamber and changed her bridal -robes and veil, for a traveling habit of silver gray Irish -poplin, and a bonnet of gray drawn silk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The traveling carriage had been quietly drawn up to -the door where Richard Hammond waited to take away -his bride, and General Lyon stood to bid farewell to his -child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When Anna was ready to go down, she turned and -threw her arms around Drusilla’s neck and burst into -tears.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Drusa!” she sobbed, “be good to my dear grandfather. -Oh! love him, Drusa, for my sake! I was all he -had left, and it must be so hard to give me up! Oh, -Drusa, love him and pet him. He is old and almost childless. -When I am gone, put little Leonard in his arms; -it will comfort him; and stay with him as much as you -can. It is so sad to be left alone in old age. But I know, -my dear, you will do all you can to console him without -my asking you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed I will, dear Anna,” said Drusilla, through her -falling tears.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will not be gone long. I shall be back in three -weeks at farthest. I do not like to leave him at his age. -He is past seventy. His time may be short on earth. -How can I tell? That was the reason why I would not -go to Europe for my wedding tour. But oh, Drusilla, I -did not know how much I loved my dear grandfather -until this day. And to think that in the course of nature -I <em>must</em> lose him some day, and may lose him soon,” said -Anna, weeping afresh.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling Anna, your grandfather is a very strong -and hale old man; his habits are regular and temperate, -and his life quiet and wholesome. He is likely to live -twenty or thirty years longer,” answered Drusilla, -cheerily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Heaven grant it,” fervently breathed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>And then she turned and went down-stairs, followed -by Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good-by, my darling. I will kiss you here. I must save -the last one for my dear grandfather,” said Anna, embracing -her friend at the foot of the stairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good-by, and Heaven bless you!” responded Drusilla, -heartily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna went forward to General Lyon, who took her in -his arms, and smiling, kissed and blessed her. And his -last words, as he gave her into the charge of her husband, -were cheerful:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will have a delightful run by moonlight up the -bay, my dear,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna, striving to keep back her tears, let Dick lead -her to the carriage, and place her in it. He immediately -followed, and seated himself by her side. Old Jacob -cracked his whip, and the horses started.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So quickly and quietly had this little scene passed, that -the carriage was bowling along the avenue before the -company on the lawn suspected what was being done.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, eager whispers of:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The bride is going! the bride is going!” ran through -the crowd.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And quadrilles were suddenly broken up, and dancers -came flocking to the door, knowing that they were too -late to bid her good-by, yet still exclaiming to each other:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The bride is going! the bride is going!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The bride is <em>gone</em>, my dear young friends,” said General -Lyon, kindly, “but she leaves me to make her adieus, -and to pray you not to let her departure interrupt your -enjoyment. The bride and bridegroom have to meet the -Washington steamer that passes the Stormy Petrel landing -at about nine o’clock. Now, ‘on with the dance!’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the young folks immediately took the old gentleman -at his word, and the music struck up, and the dancing -recommenced.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so Anna and Dick departed for Washington city -on their way to New York.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Much discussion had been held on the subject of that -marriage tour. Many suggestions had been made. Europe -had been mentioned. But Anna had scouted <em>that</em> -idea.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>“None but a lunatic,” she had said, “would ever -think of taking a sea voyage, and risking sea-sickness in -the honeymoon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And for her part she positively declined putting Dick’s -love to so severe a test in the earliest days of their married -life.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Such had been Anna’s outspoken objection to the trip -to Europe. But her secret objection was that it would -take her too far and keep her too long from her beloved -and venerable grandfather. So at last it had been settled -to the satisfaction of all parties that they should make a -tour of the Northern cities. And now they had gone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the wedding guests remained. The music and the -dancing were kept up without flagging until the sun set, -and the darkness and dampness of the night had come on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then the two self-appointed “marshals of the day” took -upon themselves to pay and discharge the brass band.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The company soon followed the musicians, and old Lyon -Hall was once more left to peace and quietness.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER X.<br> <span class='large'>GENERAL LYON’S CONSOLATION.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>In this dim world of clouding cares</div> - <div class='line in2'>We rarely know till wildered eyes</div> - <div class='line in2'>See white wings lessening up the skies</div> - <div class='line'>The angels with us unawares!—<span class='sc'>Massett.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>After the last guests were gone, the house was very -quiet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon went up to his study.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla lingered a little while below to give orders to -the servants.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Close up all the rooms on this floor now. Disturb -nothing until morning. I wish everything to be kept -very still so that the General may rest and recover from -the fatigue of this exciting day. Marcy, have the tea -served in my sitting room. Leo, do you be up early in -the morning and see that the breakfast parlor—the little -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>one—is made very tidy before we come down. The other -rooms had best be left closed until the General goes for -his daily ride. Then they can be restored to order.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Having thus given her directions to ensure the comfort -of the old gentleman, Drusilla went up into the nursery -where her little Leonard was laughing, crowing and -screaming in his nurse’s arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I do think as he’s beside himself, ma’am,” said Pina. -“He’ll never get over this wedding as long as he lives. -When I had him out on the lawn there, and the band was -playing and the ladies and gentlemen were dancing, he -jumped so as I could hardly keep him from leaping out -of my arms.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He did enjoy it as much as any of us, didn’t he, Pina?” -said the young mother, standing and smiling over the -nurse and child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, didn’t he though, ma’am? Look at him now; -it’s in him yet! And such a time I had bringing him in -the house. He did not want to come in at all, even after -the music went away. He didn’t cry, ma’am, but he -made such signs, and then he fought. Yes, indeed he -did, ma’am, he fought me in the face because I brought -him in.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, Pina, I can hardly believe it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, you may, ma’am! Oh, he’s got a will of his own, -I do tell you! I couldn’t make my peace with him until -I had lighted all the wax candles in the place! See what -an illumination there is, ma’am! Enough to blind any -body but a boy baby. And such work to get him undressed. -He wouldn’t have his finery off forever so -long. He wanted to dance in it. And then, after I had -loosened it and got it off little by little with sheer conjuration, -would you believe it, ma’am? he wanted to -dance in his sacred skin, like a North-American Indian! -I have got his night-gown on at last; though <em>how</em> I ever -got it on with his prancing and dancing, goodness knows. -But, as for his little red shoes, I’ll defy mortial man or -woman to get <em>them</em> off his feet except by main force! -When I try to do it he kicks so fast you would think -there were nineteen pair of feet in nineteen pair of boots -instead of one!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny will let his mammy take off his boots,” said -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>Drusilla, kneeling by the baby’s feet and making an -essay.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny would let his mamma do a great many things -to him, but he would by no means let her remove his red -shoes. His little legs flew so fast in resistance that you -could not have told one from the other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He means never to part with them, ma’am,” laughed -Pina.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We can take them off when he goes to sleep,” smiled -Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But there’s no sleep in his eyes, ma’am, nor won’t be -for hours! He’ll keep awake to watch his boots and to -dance! Goodness gracious me! My arms are almost -pulled out of their sockets holding him while he dances.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will take him presently, Pina, as soon as I change -my dress,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And she went and took off her wreath of roses, her -necklace and bracelets of pearl, and her rich moire antique -dress; and put on a neat white muslin wrapper, -whose pure color and perfect fit became her well.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then she took her dancing babe; but not to put him -to sleep just yet. Little Master Leonard had a duty to -do before he could be put to bed. She carried him into -the next room, which was her own pretty private parlor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The room was very inviting. A small, cheerful wood -fire, very acceptable this chilly May evening, was blazing -on the hearth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tea-table with its snowy, damask cloth, its silver -service and clear China, was standing before the fireplace.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A large easy chair, with a foot cushion was drawn up -on the right side; and Drusilla’s own little sewing chair -was on the left.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Marcy was in attendance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is all quite right. Now do you wait here until -I bring the General in, and then you can serve tea,” said -Drusilla, as with her baby in her arms she passed out -into the hall and on towards General Lyon’s study.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She opened the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The little room was dark and chill, but the lights from -the hall shone in, and revealed to her the form of the old -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>man, seated at the writing table, with his arms folded on -it, and his head bowed down upon them. It was an attitude -of depression, of sleep or of death.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of death! a dread pang seized her heart, and held her -spell-bound in the doorway as she gazed on him. He -had not heard her approach. He was not disturbed by -the inflow of light. He remained, indeed, as still as death!</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was afraid to stir, almost to breathe! She had -heard of old men dying just so! Oh, had not his own -brother, his <em>youngest</em> brother, died that way not three -years since?—died sitting in his chair by his Christmas -fire, surrounded by his whole family and friends? died -with nothing on earth to provoke death? died from no -excitement, no grief, no disease apparently?</p> - -<p class='c012'>And here was the elder brother, a man of like constitution, -who had been severely tried this day by the parting -from his beloved and only surviving child, and now had -come away to this chill, dark room, and had sat in solitude -for an hour or more!</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla’s conscience smote her terribly for what she -called the false and fatal delicacy that had prevented her -from following him immediately to his retreat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Oh! if he should be dead, dead alone in this bleak -room, she would never forgive herself, though she had -done all for the best.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All these thoughts and feelings flashed like lightning -through her brain and heart in the moment that she -stood panic-stricken in the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then full of awe, scarcely breathing, she crept near -him, laid her hand upon his shoulder, and murmured -softly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Uncle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling,” responded the old man, looking up with -a smile.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank Heaven!” fervently aspirated Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is the matter, my darling? What troubles -you?” gently questioned the old gentleman, perceiving -her alarm.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I—I found you sitting here in the cold and dark, and -I feared that something ailed you. Nothing does?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nothing, my child, except a little natural but unwise -regret. Certainly, she had to marry. It is a woman’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>destiny. And it is so well that in marrying she will not -have to leave me. Still, still I feel it, darling. She was -all I had left in the world.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She will be back in three weeks, dear uncle; back so -soon that we shall scarcely have time to get the house set -in order again for her reception. And now will you look -at little Lenny? He has come to bid you good-night, and -to ask you to come and take tea with his mamma,” said -Drusilla, seating the boy on the old man’s knee.</p> - -<p class='c012'>By no manner of baby-babble could little Leonard possibly -bid his godfather good-night, or invite him to tea; -but he <em>would</em> put his little arms around the veteran’s -neck, and press his lips to the veteran’s mouth, and -laugh, and own his love and joy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! may heaven forgive me for being so forgetful, so -ungrateful as to say that I had no one but my Anna left -me in the world, when I have little Lenny and his dear -mother,” said the old man, pressing the child to his -bosom, and drawing Drusilla to his side. “But oh! my -dear, you know how it is—how it always has been, and -always will be with poor human nature in all such cases. -The shepherd of the Scripture parable. He thought not -of his ninety and nine sheep, safe in the fold, but he -mourned for the one lost.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But Anna is not lost to you, dear uncle. She is only -lost to sight, and that only for a little while. Think, -dear uncle, in the marriage of Anna and Dick you have -not lost a daughter, but gained a son.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is true, my dear.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Think how devoted they are to you. They are as -loyal to you as subjects to a sovereign.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know—I know.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They will never leave you unless you send them -away.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know; I see what a morbid old fellow I have been.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, not so, I think. Surely it is very natural -that you should have such feelings; but it is also very -desirable that you should rally from them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I will, my dear, I will.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Leonard, fatigued by his former exertions, and -perhaps also a little awed by the solemnity of the discourse, -had remained still for at least three minutes. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>But now he recommenced to prance and dance and express -his impatience in every possible way that a baby of -six months old could.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are almost too much for my stiff old arms, little -fellow!” smiled the General, as he supported the leaping -baby.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, let us go to my room and have some tea,” said -Drusilla, rising and leading the way, followed by the old -man with the child over his shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is snug, this is cozy, this is really very comfortable -indeed,” said the General, as he followed Drusilla into -the pretty, cheerful sitting-room and saw the bright fire -and the neat tea-table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, this is pleasant after our day of excitement. -Now kiss little Leonard good-night and let him go to -sleep,” said Drusilla, as she rang her little silver hand-bell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina came in to take little Leonard, who leaped to meet -her arms, for he was very fond of her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon pressed the babe to his bosom and kissed -him fondly, and then handed him over to his nurse, who -bore him off to the nursery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then Marcy came in with the tea urn.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla made tea for the old gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The sound of Pina’s rocking-chair and cradle-song came -soothingly to their ears, as to the child’s for which they -were intended.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is very sweet and peaceful, dear, and I thank -you for it all,” said the General, softly smiling.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, but, dear uncle, it is all your own; and it is I -who should thank you for the happiness of sharing it,” -quietly replied Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no,” said the General, shaking his head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, yes, yes,” laughed the little lady.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They lingered long over that quiet, pleasant tea; and -then, after she had rang for a servant, and had the table -cleared, she went to the piano and sang and played to the -old gentleman for an hour or more.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She sang all her favorite comic songs, but carefully -eschewed the sentimental ones; for she wished to raise his -spirits and not to melt his heart. Towards the last of her -singing he came and stood behind her; and although he -did not know enough of the notes to turn the pages for her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>at the proper moment, he stood and beat time to the music -and sometimes joined in the chorus.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At last, when she thought he had had enough of it, she -arose and closed the piano.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, after an interval of a few minutes, she took her -Bible and laid it on the table before him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He bowed his head, opened it and read a chapter aloud. -And then they two joined in offering up their evening -worship.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my darling,” said General Lyon, as he arose to -bid her good-night, “I have to thank you for much comfort. -This first evening that I dreaded so much has -passed off very pleasantly. God bless you, my child.” And -so he withdrew from the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla sat on for a little while gazing dreamily into -the fire, and then she also retired to rest, drawing her sleeping -infant to her bosom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Very early the next morning Drusilla arose, dressed and -went down-stairs to make sure that one room at least of -all that had been thrown into confusion by the wedding -should now be in order for the General’s breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She found that Leo had followed her directions, and -the small breakfast parlor, that occupied an angle of the -house and had windows opening to the east and south, -was prepared for the morning meal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the doors of all the disordered rooms were closed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She went out and gathered a bouquet of early spring -flowers and put them in a vase and placed them on the -breakfast table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then she plucked a few young buds of mint and -made an exquisite julep, and sent it up by Leo to her -uncle’s room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Jacob, who had been sent at sunrise to the post-office, -now returned. And Drusilla opened the mail-bag, which -was found to contain nothing but newspapers, which she -folded and laid by the side of her uncle’s plate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then she sat down to await his coming.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He came at last, smiling on her as he entered, and took -his seat at the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are the angel of the house, my child,” he said—“the -angel of the house! What should I do now but -for you!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>“Dear uncle, what should <em>I</em> do without <em>you</em>? What -should I have done that dreadful night but for your sustaining -arm? All my puny efforts to serve you can never -cancel that debt. I shall never forget that night,” earnestly -answered Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shall never forget that night, Drusilla, for it was -then I received—‘an angel unawares.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She could not reply to these words, but blushed so intensely -that the old man forbore farther praise, and merely -saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it does not become you and me to compliment one -another, my darling,” he took up his newspaper.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Upon the whole, this was a very cheerful breakfast. -When it was over, the old gentleman ordered his horse, -and went for his daily ride.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla took advantage of his absence to set all the servants -briskly to work to open the closed rooms, and clear -away the debris of yesterday’s great festival, so that by -the time he should return the whole house should be restored -to order.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The abundant remains of the feast were distributed to -the poor around.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Moreover, she sent a note to the Seymours, asking them -to come and spend the evening. And the messenger that -carried it brought back their acceptance of the invitation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla and her uncle dined tête-à-tête.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the evening the Seymours came according to agreement; -and Drusilla gave them music. They stayed till -ten o’clock, and then took leave.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No wonder that old comrade of mine should go mad -over your music, my darling. I am not a music-maniac -myself, generally, but I am always profoundly affected by -yours,” said the General, when they were gone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Again Drusilla blushed deeply under the praise, but -then recovering herself with a light laugh, she answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, you see, uncle, I think this is the way of it. -You and the Colonel inspire me. Such appreciating -hearers as yourself and your friend must necessarily inspire -even the very poorest performer to do her very best.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tut, tut, tut, my child; you know better! But, there, -I will say no more on that subject! Good night, my darling,” -he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>And so closed the first dreaded day of Anna’s absence. -And all the succeeding days were quite as pleasant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla would not let her old friend be lonesome. -She planned visits for him and herself to his favorite -houses; and she invited his favorite friends to dinner or -to tea. She often accompanied the old man on his morning -rides, her gentle white mare ambling by the side of -his steady old horse. She often invited him to take a -seat in the open carriage when she went out in the afternoon -to give her little boy an airing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And she played and sang indefatigably to please Colonel -Seymour, so that he might come over every evening, -“rain or shine,” to keep her uncle company.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna’s and Dick’s letters came two or three in a week. -They were not very long, for they were written <i><span lang="fr">en route</span></i>; -but they were interesting and affectionate. They were -filled with graphic sketches of their journey, and with -warm expressions of tenderness for the “dear ones at -home,” and messages of kind regard to good friends around. -The bride and groom were moving rapidly from point to -point along the Canadian frontier, so that in answering -them the General and his niece had to direct their letters -a few stages in advance of the travelers. As, for instance, -the answer of a letter post-marked Lewisburg, would be -directed to Montreal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Thus, through one happy divertisement or another, but -chiefly through Drusilla’s affectionate solicitude the “days -of absence” slipped imperceptibly away; they had now -brought the close of the last week of the honeymoon. The -travelers were expected home on Saturday evening, and -the house was in perfect order and beauty to receive the -wedded pair.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XI.<br> <span class='large'>A JOYOUS MEETING IN JUNE.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'>June with its roses, June</div> - <div class='line'>The gladdest month in the capricious year,</div> - <div class='line'>With its thick foliage and its sunlight clear,</div> - <div class='line in10'>And with a drowsy tune,</div> - <div class='line'>Of the bright, leaping waters as they pass</div> - <div class='line'>Laughingly on amid the springing grass.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Anna and Dick returned rather sooner than they were -expected; but not sooner than Old Lyon Hall was ready, -and its inmates anxious to receive them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On Saturday morning, while General Lyon, Drusilla and -little Leonard with his nurse, were all out on the lawn enjoying -the splendor of the early June day, before breakfast, -the wagon from the Foaming Tankard was seen approaching -the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What can that mean?” inquired the old gentleman, -looking at it, as it rumbled on towards the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Perhaps Anna and Dick to disencumber themselves, -have sent the luggage on in advance,” suggested Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, as they are to come down by to-day’s boat that -would scarcely be worth while,” reflected the old gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While they were discussing the question, the wagon, -instead of going round to the servants’ entrance as it -would have done had it contained only luggage, rattled -up to the front of the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the instant it stopped, Anna jumped out, and ran -to her grandfather, who caught her in his arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling daughter,—my darling, darling daughter, -I am so delighted to see you,” he exclaimed over and over -again, as he pressed her to his heart, while she answered -him only with smiles and kisses, and both forgot that -anybody else was waiting to be noticed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile, Dick was shaking hands with Drusilla, and -chirping to little Leonard, and pulling rattles and whistles -and dancing jacks out of his pocket, and in his eagerness -doing everything at the same time.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let me look in your face, dear child,” said the old man, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>taking the bride’s head between his hands, and gazing -wistfully into her tearful but laughing eyes; “are you -happy, my Anna?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, dear grandpa,” said Anna, earnestly, as her eyes -overflowed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite happy?” anxiously persisted the veteran.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well—no,” answered Anna, laughing, and making a -face, “perfect bliss is not the boon of mortals, I believe. -And, to tell the truth, I have a <em>corn</em> that troubles me, to -say nothing of the slightest possible twing of neuralgia -caught on the boat last night—moon-gazing.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, you came on the night boat?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; our first plan was to stop in the city last night, -but we remembered our pleasant trip on the water by -moonlight when we left here four weeks ago, and as the -moon was full, we thought we would come down again -by moonlight, and then, too, we thought it would be so -much pleasanter to reach home this morning, in time to -breakfast with you, and have the whole day before us for -reunion, than to get here late to-night, too tired to walk -or do anything else but get supper and go to bed. Don’t -you agree with me that it was best to come home now,—just -now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my darling, that I do,” answered the General, -heartily; “but I am sorry you have got neuralgia.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna looked at him, quizzically.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am not quite sure that I have got it, or ever had it; -but I am quite certain about the corn. Now, ain’t you -going to speak to Dick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick! Certainly; how do you do, my dear boy? A -hundred welcomes home!” exclaimed the General, releasing -Anna from his embrace, and turning to greet the “unlucky -dog.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick was then in the act of tossing his godson high in -his arms, until he made him laugh and crow aloud, and -then looking him solemnly in the face, and saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am your godfather, sir. Treat me with more respect, -and don’t be taking me for your equals!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now he turned his bright face, and held out his eager -hand to receive his uncle’s clasp, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am very glad to get home, sir, and gladder still to -see you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>Anna had gone to embrace Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How happy I am to see you again!” she said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I you,” answered Drusa, smiling.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How well you are looking, dear!” exclaimed each to -the other, speaking simultaneously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, Dick, give me little Leonard; I want to look -at him! Remember, sir, if you <em>are</em> his godfather, I am -his godmother, and have my rights. Don’t be trying to -exercise man’s usurped prerogative by ‘claiming the -child,’” said Anna, holding out her hands for the boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shall never attempt to assert man’s prerogative -against woman’s rights,” laughed Dick placing the child -in her arms, and then going to pay and dismiss the wagon -which was now unloaded of all the luggage it had brought, -and was ready to go.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bless my soul! Anna, my dear, how came you to -return by such a very rude and primitive conveyance as -that?” inquired the General, as the great old wagon rattled -and rumbled past on its way back.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Couldn’t get any other, dear grandpa! The ‘Foaming -Tankard’ don’t boast a carriage of any description -except this.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If I had only known, I could have sent the coach to -meet you. I should have sent it anyway this afternoon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you wouldn’t have had me to wait till the afternoon -for it, dear grandpa?” laughed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no, no, no! by no means! Only, if I had but -known, I could have so easily sent it. Such a conveyance -for a lady to come in!” exclaimed the old gentleman, as -he gazed after the retreating wagon that rather jumped -and bounced along than rolled.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It was delightful! It was better than a hard trotting-horse! -I liked to be tossed as much as Master Leonard -himself does! It has given me such a shaking up and -such an appetite for breakfast as I never had before! I -am famished, grandpa!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, exactly! exactly! so you must be! Drusa! Drusa, -my dear!” exclaimed the old gentleman, looking around -for his young volunteer housekeeper.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Drusilla had already vanished within to give her -orders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, dear grandpa, I will go to my room to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>change my dress. I presume it is ready for me, and I -know where to find it. Dick, see that the luggage is sent -up,” said Anna, turning to go into the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But she was met at the door by all the household servants, -who had learned her arrival from Drusilla and had -come out to welcome her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Hands were shaken and good-wishes heartily offered -and warmly received, and then Anna passed on to her -apartment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In less than half an hour she hurried down-stairs, looking -fresh and blooming in her white muslin dress with -blue ribbons.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The family were waiting for her in the breakfast room, -and as soon as she entered she was greeted again and -seated in the pleasantest seat at the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All the windows were open, and all the brightness, -beauty, fragrance, and music of June filled the place. -The morning sunshine played upon every polished point; -the fresh breeze danced with every fold of drapery; the -aroma of the clove pink, the cape jessamine, the tea rose, -the clematis, and the heliotrope perfumed the air. Humming-birds -flitted about like winged flowers. And the -song of the thrush in the sweet-briar bush was echoed by -the mocking-bird from the acacia tree!</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What a beautiful morning! And what a beautiful -scene! In all our travels, grandpa, we did not see so -sweet an old home as this!” said Anna enthusiastically.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am glad you think so, my dear; but great allowance -must be made for your natural attachment to your birthplace,” -smiled the General, as he sipped his coffee.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, Drusilla, what do you say?” inquired Anna, -appealing to her friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have not seen very much of the world to compare -this with other places; but still, I think you are right, -Anna. It is a ‘sweet old home.’ It is perfectly beautiful, -and besides it seems to me that every one who was -ever born here, or ever lived and died here, must have -been very good and loving, that their spirits still pervade -the place, and make it holy,” said Drusilla, warmly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, you will make me so much in love with my -home that I shall not like to grow old and die and leave -it,” said the General, smiling.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>“Dear uncle, please to believe that there is not the -slightest necessity for you to grow old, much less to die -before your century is completed. And if you do so I -shall think that you will be treating your loving children -very badly,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I <em>do</em>. I think the deaths of most people who die, -come of their indifference to the power that the Lord has -given them of living on. Now, I think that you have the -power to live on in the full possession of all your faculties -to the age of one hundred years at the very least, and -how much longer I don’t know. And I shall take it very -hard of you, if you don’t do it, uncle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hem; I shall try to oblige you my dear,” said the -General, dryly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope you will! for you know I expect you to live to -see your namesake, Leonard Lyon, junior, a bishop, a -judge or a general, (whichever he shall please to be, for -it will depend upon his choice of a profession,) or even -President of the United States. The highest position is -open to competition and you cannot tell what he may be -yet; you must live to see.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you intend to live your century out, Drusilla?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If it please Providence, yes; for I shall try to preserve -the gift of life he has given me. And when I shall be a -hundred years old, my little Leonard will be eighty-four, -and a wigged chief-justice, or a mitred archbishop or -something equally exalted. And I should not wonder if -you should be alive and merry then.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, tut, tut, tut! you are laughing at me, little -Drusa!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Heaven forbid! People enough have lived to be a -hundred and forty. Henry Jenkins lived to be a hundred -and sixty-nine, and even then he did not die from old -age, or from disease, but from sheer imprudence, I might -say accident, such as would have killed any man at any -age.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear niece, that case was a highly exceptional -one.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, and why shouldn’t you make your own case a -highly exceptional one?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, you are extravagant.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>“Well, maybe I am, in talking about a hundred and -sixty-nine years; but I do positively insist upon your -living a full century. That is only fair.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling, our prayers should be not so much for a -<em>long</em> life as for a <em>good</em> life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I stand corrected,” said Drusilla, reverently; “but for -all that I insist upon the century; for I think it was the -Lord’s design that man should live so long.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let me live so long as my life can be of use to others -and no longer,” said the veteran.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your life is of use to others as long as it gives happiness -to others, and therefore I insist upon the century,” -persisted Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my dear, I have no particular objection,” laughed -the General, as they all arose from the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then came the healthful walk around the grounds, the -General with his darling granddaughter hanging on his -arm, and Dick and Drusilla, and the nurse with the baby, -sauntering along promiscuously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>During this walk Anna gave her grandfather a very -sprightly and entertaining description of her journey; and -in return he told her how he and Drusilla had passed their -time at home.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick amused Drusilla with spirited sketches of travel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When the windings of their walk brought them around -home again, Dick proposed a drive through the forest to -Hammond House to see the progress of the works there -that must, he thought, be now near their completion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And as all assented to the proposition, the General -ordered the large six-seated family carriage; and the -whole party, including little Leonard and his nurse, -started for a long drive through the summer woods to -Hammond House.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was but twelve o’clock noon when they reached the -house—an old mansion standing upon a high headland at -the junction of Wild River with the Upper Potomac.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The woods grew up to the very garden wall and clustered -thick about it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were mountain brooks in the neighborhood, running -down to the Wild River and swelling its stream -before it fell into the Potomac.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The trout fisheries there were considered very fine in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>their season. And it was a part of the family programme -for coming years to spend the fishing season at Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was now the beginning of the trout fishing season, -and so the General and Dick, having seen Drusilla and -Anna safely in the house, procured fishing tackle from -Byles, the overseer, and went down to one of the bright, -gravelly-bedded streams to fish.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna and Drusilla, with the babe and nurse, were -taken by Mrs. Byles to a clean and airy bedroom, where -they laid off their bonnets and sat down to rest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The house was not yet in order; nor could it be said to -be in disorder—the papering, painting, glazing and gilding -were all completed; but the handsome new furniture -remained in its packing cases, and encumbered halls and -passages.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Overseer Byles and his wife occupied rooms in a wing -of the building during the progress of the repairs; but -they were to move to a neighboring cottage as soon as -the house should be ready to receive the family.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our party spent a very pleasant day at Hammond -House.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla and Anna, with the baby and the nurse, wandered -about the grounds and along the banks of the -river until they were tired, and then they sat down under -the trees to rest and to talk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>About two o’clock General Lyon and Dick returned -from the trout stream well laden with spoil.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They gave the fish to Mrs. Byles, with a request that -she would have them dressed for their dinner, and have -the table set out in the open air between three broad -oak trees where the shade was thickest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At four o’clock they were called to dinner—a sylvan -repast served <i><span lang="es">al fresco</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were trout, roast lamb with mint sauce, and -green peas, potatoes and lettuce, and for dessert cherries, -strawberries and ice-cream. That was all.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But if I had known in time that you were coming, -ladies and gentlemen, I would have got up something -more acceptable,” said the housekeeper, apologetically.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I defy you to have done that, Mrs. Byles. Your -dinner is excellent,” replied the General. And all the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>other members of the party agreed with him, and proved -their sincerity upon the edibles set before them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Immediately after dinner they were served with excellent -coffee and tea.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then the General ordered the carriage for their return -home.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After another pleasant ride through the forest, they -reached Old Lyon Hall at sunset.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We have had a delightful day at your other house, -Dick,” said the General, heartily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Our</em> other home, sir, if you please; for if Anna and -myself are to be at home at Old Lyon Hall during one -period of the year, you and Drusilla must be at home at -Hammond House during another part,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And when you wish to spend a winter in Washington -you must all be at home with me at Cedarwood,” -added Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Agreed! agreed!” said General Lyon, Anna and Dick -in a breath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After tea that evening they were pleasantly surprised -by a visit from the Seymours.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It seems the old gentleman had got news of Anna’s -arrival and had come over with his wife and daughter, -ostensibly to welcome home the bride and bridegroom; -but really too glad of a good excuse to hear Drusilla sing -and play.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They spent a long evening; and Drusilla gratified her -old admirer with some very choice music, in which she -was ably assisted by Anna and Dick—Anna singing -second and Dick bass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Early in the next week Mr. and Mrs. Hammond issued -cards for a reception on the following Monday. And -when the appointed day came they received their “dear -five hundred friends” and had a crowded house with the -coming and going of visitors from ten in the morning -until four in the afternoon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this reception was the signal for a round of entertainments -given to the newly married pair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The first of a series was a ball at Colonel Seymour’s, -which was duly honored by all the family from Old Lyon -Hall, including Drusilla, of course.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>Then there was an evening party with music, but not -dancing, at the Reverend Dr. Barber’s.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Even the struggling medical practitioner at Saulsburg -gave a tea-drinking.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And these neighborhood festivities in honor of the bride -were kept up in good old-fashioned country style for a -month or six weeks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the first of July, Hammond House being quite -ready for occupation, the whole family from Old Lyon -Hall went there to spend a few weeks, that the General -might indulge in his favorite pastime of trout-fishing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here they remained until the first of September, when -the near neighborhood of fresh water streams being considered -unwholesome, they returned to Old Lyon Hall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now,” said Drusilla, when they were once more -settled, “now it is my turn. Our next migration must be -to Cedarwood.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Are you so anxious to leave the sweet old home?” -inquired General Lyon, a little reproachfully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no indeed. Only when we do go, we must go to -Cedarwood.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Agreed,” said the General, “we will go there next -winter.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so the matter was settled; for though all his -young people were grown up and married, yet the word -of the veteran soldier was law in the family circle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>During all this time Drusilla had not heard from Alexander -or even expected to hear from him. She did not -grieve after him. In the “sweet old home,” in the love -of her dear friends and in the caresses of her darling boy, -she was almost as happy as it is given a mortal to be. -But though she did not mourn over his absence, neither -did she lose her interest in his welfare. She took the -principal London and Paris papers upon the bare possibility -of gaining intelligence of his movements.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Once she found his name in the list of visitors presented -to the Queen at one of her Majesty’s drawing-rooms published -in the “Court Journal.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>On another occasion she saw him announced as one of -the speakers at a public meeting at Exeter Hall, noticed -in the “Morning Chronicle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Again he was named as the owner of the winning horse -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>at certain world-renowned races, reported in “Bell’s -Life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>That was all she knew about him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Every week Drusilla received mis-spelled letters from -her steward or housekeeper at Cedarwood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mammy,” chiefly discoursed of cows and calves, hens -and chickens, and ducks and geese.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mammy’s “old man” treated of the condition of the -“craps,” the health of the “hosses,” oxen, sheep, pigs, -and so forth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla having been a pupil of that famous agriculturist, -the late Mrs. Judge Lyon, was well able to give -instructions to her farm-managers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Thus, busily and happily passed the days of the little -lady, until events occurred again to change the current -of her life.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XII.<br> <span class='large'>THE MAIL-BAG.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Newspaper! who has never felt the pleasure that it brings?</div> - <div class='line'>It always tells us of so many strange and wondrous things.</div> - <div class='line'>It makes us weep at tales of woe, it fills our hearts with mirth,</div> - <div class='line'>It tells us of the price of stock, and what produce is worth;</div> - <div class='line'>And when and where, and why, and how strange things occur on earth.</div> - <div class='line'>Has war’s loud clarion called to arms? Has lightning struck a tree?</div> - <div class='line'>Has Jenkins broke his leg? Or has there been a storm at sea?</div> - <div class='line'>Has the sea-serpent shown his head? A comet’s tail been seen?</div> - <div class='line'>Or has some heiress with her groom gone off to Gretna Green?</div> - <div class='line'>All this and many marvels more you from this sheet may glean.</div> - <div class='line in6'>—<span class='sc'>J. T. Watson.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>The autumn passed away as pleasantly as the summer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The time drew near when the family from Old Lyon -Hall were to go to Washington for the season.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla wrote to her housekeeper and steward at Cedarwood, -giving them full instructions to prepare the cottage -for the reception of herself and friends, and she enclosed -an order on her banker for the necessary funds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In due time she received a communication from mammy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>informing her that all things were now ready for the -party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then she consulted her relatives, and together they -fixed upon a early day in January for the migration of -the family. The General did not wish to move before -that time, as he always preferred to spend his Christmas -and New Year’s holidays at Old Lyon Hall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla wrote again, and told her servants on what -day to expect herself and her party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But a very severe fall of snow, coming about the first -of January, blocked up the country roads, impeded travel -and delayed their journey, and also kept back the mails, -so that for many days after the one appointed for their -removal, the family remained at Old Lyon Hall, cut off -from communication with the rest of the world.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When at last there came a change of weather, and the -snow melted and sunk into the earth, or was exhaled into -the air, and the roads though muddy were passable, a -messenger was sent to the post-office at Saulsburg to fetch -the letters and papers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He returned in the afternoon with a mail-bag well stuffed. -He brought it into the small parlor, where the domestic -circle was gathered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Only those who have been under like circumstances -long debarred from news, can realize the avidity with -which that bag was seized and unlocked, and its contents -turned out upon the center table around which the whole -family party immediately clustered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were several unimportant letters for everybody, -which were, however, read with the greatest interest by -these weather-bound recluses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there was one which immediately fixed Drusilla’s -attention. It was from Cedarwood, and dated a few days -back. Mammy was the writer, and after dilating upon -the complete readiness of the cottage to receive the expected -company, she wrote.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And so we shall be a looking out for you on the fifth, -ma’am. And now, I don’t no as there’s enny dainger, -but before you brings yung Marster Lennud inter this -enfected nayberhood, I deems it my duty to tell you as -how the millignant skarlet fever is a ragin’ here, and a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>karryin’ off duzzins. All the childun at the Drovur’s -Rest have got it; and likewise them that lives right across -the road, opperside the gate as goes inter our place. But -tho’ I deems it my duty for to tell you of this, I doo not no -as there is enny danger, as in coorse yung Marster Lennud -woudent be going amung them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Danger? Drusilla grew sick and turned pale at the -very thought.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is the matter, my dear?” inquired General Lyon, -looking up from his paper, and noticing her disturbance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She silently handed him the letter. He read it attentively, -and then looking over his spectacles, said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course, then, we must not think of going. Scarlet -fever! bless my life and soul! Let us stay where we are.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is it, dear grandpa?” inquired Anna, looking -up from her letter, while Dick laid down his paper to listen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Scarlet fever, my love, raging around Cedarwood, -and slaying as many as King Herod himself. Of course, -we can’t think of such a thing as going there. What, expose -little Leonard to such an infection? Suppose he was -to catch the fever? and—the very idea makes me shudder! -We’ll stay home; we’ll stay home, my children!” -said the old man, emphatically, settling himself once -more to his newspaper.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, indeed, he was not sorry to have a good excuse -for relinquishing the journey to Washington, which at -this inclement season of the year could have no attraction -for him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But if the ladies wish to go to the city, we can take -apartments at one of the hotels,” suggested Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon looked uneasy. He did not wish to go to -Washington on any terms in such bad weather. He would -have gone to Cedarwood, only to keep his word with Drusilla; -but missing that, he did not want to go to a hotel. -And now he was afraid of being outvoted.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna, however, came to his relief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Take apartments? No, I thank you, Dick! We -would all like to go to Cedarwood and see Drusilla’s -‘pretty little wildwood home’ so near the city but, if -we cannot go there, we will not pen ourselves up in a -crowded hotel or boarding-house.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>“No; <em>that</em> we won’t!” put in the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I’m sure Drusilla thinks with us,” added Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed I do,” acknowledged Drusa.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So you see you are outvoted, my dear boy,” chuckled -the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, as to myself,” said Dick, “I know when I’m well -off, and I had a great deal rather stay here. It was for -the ladies’ sake I spoke.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then here we stay for the present, my children.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so I must write and tell my housekeeper that she -must cover up the furniture and close the rooms for the -winter, as we are not going to Washington this season. -But, my dear uncle, I hope we shall go early in the -spring.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We shall go on the very first favorable opportunity, -my dear, you may rely on that,” answered the veteran.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then the sight of Drusilla’s unopened packet of -foreign letters suggested a plan that he immediately proposed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I’ll tell you what, my dears,” he said, “we have -none of us seen Europe yet. Anna and Dick were to have -gone there for a wedding tour, but they would not go so -far away from the old man.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We should not have enjoyed the trip, dear grandpa, -if you had not been with us. Neither I nor Dick cared -to go to Europe until we could all go together.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, please Providence, we will go all together next -spring,” said the General, looking around upon his young -people. “What do you say, Anna?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We shall both be delighted,” answered Anna for herself -and her husband, who immediately endorsed her reply.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you, Drusilla, shall you like to go to Europe?” -inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of all things! I have so long wished to see the old -historical world!” she answered, pausing in her work of -opening her foreign packet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then, for a little while, sitting around the table, -they were all engaged in looking over the newspapers, each -occasionally reading aloud to the others, who suspended -their own employment to hear any little item of news -supposed to be interesting.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>“I declare there is nothing in our papers. Anything -in yours, dear?” inquired Anna of Drusilla, who had -been the only silent reader of the party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not much of interest to us, over here. We do not -care about the doings in Parliament, or the trials at the -Old Bailey, or the meetings at Exeter Hall, or the murders -in Bermondsey, or even about the movements of royalty -and nobility.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, we do care about that last item. We are -intensely democratic and republican here, and so of course -we are breathlessly anxious to know where ‘Majesty,’ -took an airing, what ‘Royal Highness’ wore to the opera, -and whom ‘Grace’ entertained at dinner!” laughed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then read for yourself, my dear,” answered Drusilla, -passing the “Times.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And <em>to</em> yourself also, my child. We are not interested -in those high themes,” added the General, who was deep -in a senatorial debate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Anna did read to herself for some time, but at -length she exclaimed:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, here is an item in which I think you will be -interested, all of you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla started and looked up anxiously. She thought -that Anna had come upon some news of Alexander, and -she wondered how she herself could have overlooked such -a matter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Even the General laid down his paper to listen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, what is it, dear?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna read:</p> - -<p class='c014'>“‘The Barony of Killcrichtoun, so long in abeyance, has been -claimed by a young American gentleman in right of his mother. -The barony, it will be remembered, is not a male feoff only; but, -failing male heirs, descends in the female line. The right of the -new claimant is said to be indisputable. He is the great great -grandson and only living descendant of George-Duncan-Bertie-Bruce, -the tenth and last Baron of Killcrichtoun.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I saw <em>that</em>,” said Drusilla, with a look of disappointment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who is he?” inquired General Lyon, indifferently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Does not say,” answered the reader.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Some poor devil of an adventurer making a donkey -of himself, I suppose,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>“Come, I won’t read you any more sensational news if -that is the way you treat it,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the subject was dropped and forgotten.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The family circle then separated, each retiring to his -or her own room, to fill up the time till the dinner hour -with answering letters.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XIII.<br> <span class='large'>OLD AND NEW.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>One in stories of the past,</div> - <div class='line'>One in glories still to last,</div> - <div class='line'>One in speech and one in face,</div> - <div class='line'>One in honest pride of race,</div> - <div class='line'>One in faith and hope and grace.—<span class='sc'>M. F. Turner.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Let us go very early in the spring. If we stop here -until the season begins to put forth all its beauty, I shall -never be able to leave this ‘sweet old home,’ as Drusa -calls it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Thus spoke General Lyon one morning in March, when -the family were assembled at breakfast, discussing the -subject of their trip to Europe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then as this is the fifteenth, and the spring is held to -commence about the twenty-first, we had better begin to -see about our voyage at once. Do you wish to start as -early as the first of April?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; that plan would give us but two weeks to get -ready in, and it is necessary to secure berths at least one -month in advance. We shall not go before the middle of -April. Then, also, we shall be sure that the equinoctial -storms are quite over, to their very latest reverberation.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, in any case, we had better fix upon our line of -steamers, and write to the agent at once to take state-rooms,” -suggested Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly,” agreed the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And after a little more discussion of the merits of rival -lines and individual steamers, their ship was selected, and -Dick was authorized to write and secure state-rooms, and -to be sure to get them amid-ships.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>Dick wrote, and in due course of mail he received the -agent’s answer, saying that his party could have one state-room -amid-ships and two near the bows.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick showed this letter to the General, and the two in -consultation decided that the choice state-room should be -assigned to Drusilla and her child, while the other -members of the party should take the less desirable -berths.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But we must say nothing to her about it, or she may -refuse to make herself and boy comfortable at our expense, -and insist upon a different arrangement,” said the -General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Dick wrote again to the agent, enclosing a draft upon -a New York banker to pay for the state-rooms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And lively preparations were commenced for the voyage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla, who never in her life had been a hundred -miles from home, was delighted with the prospect of -crossing the ocean and traveling in distant countries.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not only was her mind all alert with the anticipations -of intellectual pleasures, but her heart was cheered with -the hope of being nearer to Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was even possible that she might see him, or that -he might see her little Leonard. And so Drusilla went -enthusiastically to work with her preparations.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the whole party made the usual mistake of inexperienced -voyagers—they encumbered themselves with -an unnecessary amount of luggage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As if they were going beyond the bounds of civilization -to live forever away from the possibility of purchasing -the comforts or even the necessaries of life, they packed -clothing by the twelve dozens, and filled many great -trunks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As if the steamer had no store-room or pantry, they -took hampers of canned meats and fruits and jars of -jellies and preserves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And as if there were no surgeon in the staff of officers, -they took a “doctor’s book” and a “physic box,” to say -nothing of boxes of lemons, bottles of peppermint cordial -and cases of soda powders as preventives of sea-sickness, -or of books, magazines, checkers, chessmen, and musical -instruments as preventives of ennui.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>Thus the party of seven had twenty-one large trunks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They took but two servants—Pina to nurse little -Leonard and to wait on Drusilla and Anna; and young -Jacob to attend upon the General and Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Old Jacob, Marcy and Matty were to be left in charge -of Old Lyon Hall. Leo was to go for a visit to his parents -at Cedarwood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All things being ready, the party of voyagers left Old -Lyon Hall on the seventh of April, so as to have a day in -Washington and a few days in New York before the sailing -of the steamer on the fifteenth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon had many friends and acquaintances -either permanently or temporarily residing in Europe. -To add to the number of these he had procured letters -of introduction from distinguished people in America to -their peers in the old world.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was a very pleasant day of sunshine and showers in -the capricious month, when they finally commenced their -journey.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They traveled from Old Lyon Hall to the Stormy Petrel -Landing in the capacious old family carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were followed by two wagons taking their heavy -baggage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At this steamboat landing they took the Sea Gull for -Washington, where they all arrived in good health in the -afternoon of the next day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>According to previous arrangement, they had a hack, -and leaving their luggage at the railway station, went out -to Cedarwood, where mammy and her old man were expecting -to receive them, and where they found everything -prepared for their comfort.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Rooms were aired, beds made and bright little wood-fires -kindled. And an exquisite early supper was in -progress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mammy received her mistress and mistress’s friends -with a mixture of deference and dignity in her manners -that was quite impressive.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And her joy over the fine growth and beauty of her -nurseling, little Leonard, was natural and delightful.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The meeting also between Pina and Leo and their parents -was very pleasant to see.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>Our party had reached Cedarwood at the most beautiful -hour of sunset.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon and Anna, who saw the place now for -the first time and under its fairest aspect, were delighted -with the cottage and its surroundings.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was not an imposing and venerable mansion, overshadowed -by mountains and forests, like Old Lyon Hall, -but it was a pretty, wildwood home, fresh, bright, fair, -and youthful. And Anna was in ecstasies over it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the sparkling shower-gems that glittered in the -rays of the setting sun, from every leaf and flower and -blade of grass, while they added so much to the beauty -of the scene, made it a little too damp for health.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Drusilla pressed her friends to go into the house, -and General Lyon seconded her motion, and drove them -in before him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is all very pretty, my dears,” he said, “but we -don’t want to begin our voyage with bad colds.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So they went into the little drawing-room, with which -you are so well acquainted, the lovely little drawing-room, -where Drusilla had watched out so many weary nights.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A cheerful fire was burning in the grate; and early spring -flowers were blooming in the vases; and the curtains -that separated it from the little dining-room were drawn -aside, showing the snowy damask, shining silver, and -Sevres china, of a well-set supper-table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they had stood before the fire a few moments to -evaporate the slight dampness from their clothes and to -look around upon the pretty place, the servants were -summoned to show them to their several rooms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla, attended by mammy, carrying little Leonard, -went up to her own chamber.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was looking very fresh and bright, pretty and attractive, -with its crimson carpet and snowy curtains and its -cheerful wood fire.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But with what feelings did the young wife and mother -enter again this chamber, so filled with sweet and bitter -memories?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Certainly with some sadness at the thoughts of all the -happiness and the misery she had felt in this place. But -also with much thankfulness, that she and her child had -passed through the fiery trials unscathed—had come -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>forth from them sound in body and mind; and were now -blessed with health and happiness and many friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She sank on her knees for a moment and returned sincere -thanks to Divine Providence. And then she arose -and made a few necessary changes in her dress, and went -below, to await her friends in the drawing-room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They soon joined her there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then the supper, prepared with mammy’s best -skill, was placed upon the table and the party sat down -with good appetites to enjoy it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Afterwards Drusilla tried the tone of her new piano, -the one that had been ordered and sent to the cottage by -her agent when she was expecting to take her friends -there to spend the winter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She found it out of tune from disuse, and so gave up -the attempt to bring harmony out of it, for that evening.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She rang and brought “mammy” up into the drawing-room -and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mammy, I shall write to my agent to send a man out -here to put this instrument in tune. And after that you -must make a fire in this room every wet day and you -must play on it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Play on the fire, ma’am!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, on the piano.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“On the pianner!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I tell you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why la, ma’am, I couldn’t do it! It ain’t likely as I -could! I don’t know nothing about it! I couldn’t play a -tune, not no, if the salvation of my mortial soul depended -on to it! I could play on the jewsharp, if that would do.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla smiled and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t suppose you could play any pieces on this instrument. -But I tell you what I want you to do. Look -here—”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla opened the piano and sat down before it. -And mammy followed her and stood watching her motions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“See, now; begin here at this left hand end and strike -every one of these little ivory keys in turn, just as I do -now, one after the other till you get up here to the right -hand end, and then backwards one after the other till you -get back to the left hand end again. And then do the -same thing with the black keys. You can do that, can’t -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>you?” asked Drusilla, giving a practical illustration to her -words.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh yes, ma’am, I can do that well enough, and I think -I shall like it. Let’s see, now. I’m to begin at the end -where they groans and roars like sinners in the pit, and -I’m to end at the end where they whistles and chippers -like birds in the bush.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; that is what you are to do for five or ten minutes -every day, or every few days, as you please. And you are -to light a fire here whenever it is very damp. All this is -to keep the instrument in tune, you know.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am, I think I shall like it. I <em>know</em> I shall like -it. And it’s easy enough!” said mammy, standing by her -mistress and touching the keys. “La! what will my old -man say, when he finds out I am larnin’ music on the -pianner, in my ole ages of life, and practysin’ every day -like any boarding-school young lady! Won’t he be took -right offen his feet along with ’stonishment?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very likely. And now that will do, mammy. I know -you will like to spend as much time as possible with Pina, -as she is so soon to leave you, so good night.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good night, ma’am. Good night, ladies and gentlemen.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>When mammy had left the room, Anna broke out into a -peal of silvery laughter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, upon my word, Drusa,” she said, “I never should -have thought of <em>your</em> device for keeping a piano in tune.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why not? It is an obvious one, under the circumstances.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; but think of the absurdity of having mammy -seated at the piano, thumping upon the keys every day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She will not thump. And there is no absurdity. -She will in this way keep the instrument in tune, and -I should not at all wonder if in the process she should -teach herself to play by ear. She will, if she had the -ordinary musical talent of her race,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then seeing General Lyon was actually nodding, -and that Dick was trying to smother a yawn, she lighted -the bedroom candles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna put one in Dick’s hand, and waked up the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the party bade each other good-night, and went to -their several rooms.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>The earliest hours next day were spent in the business -that brought Drusilla to Cedarwood—the inspection of her -little estate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon, who had spent the best part of his long -life in agricultural pursuits, was well fitted to judge correctly -of such matters. And he pronounced everything -connected with the farm to be very well ordered, and he -complimented “mammy” and her “old man” on the skill -and fidelity with which they had administered affairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>By ten o’clock, the travelers having settled the business -that brought them to Cedarwood, left for Washington -to meet the mid-day train for New York, where they arrived -at eleven o’clock at night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They went to one of the up-town hotels, where they succeeded -in procuring good rooms on the second floor. After -a late but light supper, they retired to rest, and, fatigued -by their long ride, slept soundly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The next morning, Drusilla looked for the first time -upon the great American seaport, as seen from the windows -of her room at the hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>From her point of view, she expected to see a thronged -thoroughfare. She was agreeably disappointed, for she -looked down upon a broad, clean, shady street, with a park -on the opposite side, for the house was a quiet up-town -one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While she stood at the window, General Lyon came to -the door to take her down to breakfast, in the public room, -where at one of the little tables she found Anna and Dick -already seated, and waiting for her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After the usual greetings:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is the tenth,” said Anna; “we have six days to -see all that we wish to see in New York, and so we must -be busy, Drusa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” answered Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But first of all, we must go and take a look at our -steamer. I see by this morning’s paper that she got into -port late last night,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You and I can go and do that, sir. The ladies need -not accompany us unless they wish,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, but we <em>do</em> wish,” put in Anna. “I was never inside -of an ocean-steamer in my life. Were you, Drusilla?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course not.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>“And wouldn’t you like to go and take a look at the -floating home in which we are to live for about two weeks?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly I should, unless——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Unless what?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Our company should inconvenience uncle or Dick.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It will not inconvenience <em>me</em> in the slightest degree. -On the contrary it will give <em>me</em> pleasure. And—it don’t -matter about Dick,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then we’ll go,” concluded Anna, rising from the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you had better get ready at once, young ladies, -as we have a great deal-do-to-day after seeing the ship,” -advised the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And Drusilla, if I were in your place, I would let -Pina take little Lenny across the street into the park. -Jacob can go along to look after them both. So they will -be quite safe,” counseled Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla nodded and smiled assent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And they went up stairs to put on their bonnets, and -soon came down prepared for the drive.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General and Dick were waiting in the hall, and -the hired carriage was at the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Only let me see little Lenny and his attendants safe -in the park first, and then I will join you,” said Drusilla, -who was leading in her hand her little boy; who now, being -seventeen months old, could walk and talk quite prettily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is only across the street. It will not take us two -minutes,” added Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I am so much afraid of his being run over by carriages,” -pleaded the young mother.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, go, go!” laughed the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla and Anna saw their little charge safely -across the street and within the enclosure of the green -and shaded park; where, with many warnings and instructions -to his attendants, they left him with Pina for his -bearer and Jacob for his body-guard.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then they returned and joined their own protectors.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“See how patiently he is waiting for us! Had ever any -one such a dear, indulgent old uncle as I have?” said -Drusilla, fondly regarding the old man as she approached.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In two more minutes they were all in the carriage, and -rolling down the avenue towards Broadway.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>They were nearly an hour in reaching their ship, which, -with her passengers and freight all discharged, was lying -quietly at her pier.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Led on by Dick, pressing through crowds of people -and climbing over piles of merchandise, and passing over -decks of other boats, our party at last boarded their steamer, -the “Hurona.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Picking his way among coils of ropes and chains, and -folds of canvas and heaps of coal, Dick went up to an -officer on duty on the deck, and showing his tickets requested -to see the rooms engaged by his party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The officer politely acquiesced, called a steward, and -directed him to show the gentleman and his friends to -the first cabin.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man obeyed, and led our party down to the elegantly -furnished floating drawing-room of the steamer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is much finer than anything we ever saw on our -rivers and bays,” said Anna, as she glanced around upon -the velvet carpets, satin damask curtains, heavily gilded -cornices, cheval mirrors, and all the showy appointments -of the place.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is number three, if you please, sir,” said the -steward, opening the ground glass gilded door of a state-room -on their right.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! yes; this is the place in which you will have to -go to housekeeping for two weeks,” said the General, -turning with a smile to Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was a clean, cozy den, with an upper and a lower -berth, and a sofa, wash-stand, shelves and drawers, and -all that was required for convenience.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you think you will be comfortable here?” inquired -the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shall be <em>very</em> comfortable. This is the largest state-room -I ever saw,” said Drusilla, glancing around approvingly, -although she was too inexperienced to know that -this was indeed one of the very best positions in the ship.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now we will see ours,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the steward led the party far away up to the bows -of the steamer, where he showed them two large, three-cornered -state-rooms, directly opposite each other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Though their position was execrable, they were even -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>much larger and much better furnished than was Drusilla’s.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She noticed their ample size and many conveniences, -and exclaimed;</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am so glad that you have so much space and so -many little drawers and cupboards to put away your -things, and that you are so near each other, too.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And in her heart she wished that she could be near -them also; for she could not know that they had the -worst situation while she had the best, or that they -would be harrassed by every motion of the ship, while -she would scarcely feel it at all.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick and Anna smiled and enjoyed her “bliss of ignorance.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Having thus inspected their future quarters, they left -the steamer and returned to the hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla had been feeling a little secret anxiety on the -subject of her boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Master Lenny had neither been stolen, run over, -choked, bumped, or injured in any other of the ways she -had feared for him. He was quite safe, and full of a subject -which he called “moodick” and “yed toat;” and -which Drusa interpreted to mean a brass band attached to -a marine corps that had been playing in the park to Lenny’s -great delight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That evening our party went to the opera. The next -day they visited the public institutions on the islands in -East River.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And thus with sight-seeing or shopping all day long, -and going to some place of amusement in the evening, -they passed the time until Saturday.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On that morning, at about ten o’clock, they embarked -on board the Hurona, and took up their quarters in the -state-rooms already described.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Hurona sailed at twelve noon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And after a voyage of ten days, which was so calm, -pleasant and uneventful as to leave no incident worth -recording, the Hurona reached the shores of the Old -World.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XIV.<br> <span class='large'>ARRIVAL.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Britain! America! Mother and child,</div> - <div class='line'>Be heartily, happily, reconciled.</div> - <div class='line in4'>Look to the world around;</div> - <div class='line'>Stricken by frenzy, with guilt defiled,</div> - <div class='line'>A storm-tossed ship in the surges wild,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Soon to be wrecked and drowned!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Mother and daughter against the world.</div> - <div class='line'>Under your peaceful flags unfurled,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Rights may rally at length;</div> - <div class='line'>While Earth’s hurricane, inwardly curled</div> - <div class='line'>Spent with ruin of wrongs down-hurled</div> - <div class='line in4'>Weakens and wastes its strength.—M. P. T.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>To see for the first time the shores of the old world! -It is indeed like coming to another world! like entering -into another life!</p> - -<p class='c012'>Have we died? Was the vast sheet of water we passed -the River of Death? And is the land we see before us -the abode of departed spirits? If so, is it Hades, or -Elysium? It looks more like Elysium!</p> - -<p class='c012'>So mused Drusilla as she stood dreamily leaning over -the bulwarks of the Hurona, and gazing on the lovely -shores of the Emerald Isle, all glittering in the beams of -the rising sun, as the ship approached the beautiful Cove -of Cork.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She had risen very early and come up on deck alone -to get a quiet first view of the land. All was bustle -around her, for the ship was preparing to lay to for the -purpose of landing the passengers for Ireland. The tiny -steamboat from the shore was already puffing and blowing -its way out to the ocean leviathan to take them off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Men, women and children, servants, porters and baggage -began to throng up from below.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Drusilla, plunged in a dream of the past, was -almost unconscious of the confusion around her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Elysium! for certainly it is peopled with the spirits -of departed heroes and sages!” she murmured to herself -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>as the rivers of history and tradition rolled through -her memory.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A caressing hand was laid upon her shoulder and a -kind voice said in her ear:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good-morning, my child! Well, you see before you -‘Hibernia,’ ‘Erin,’ ‘Ireland,’ the ‘ould counthry!’ Now, -what do you think of it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, uncle, it is a lovely land! Who can look upon -it and not love it? And, oh! what an experience to -look upon it for the first time! It is as if some beautiful -creation of imagination was actually realized to the -senses! To look upon her shores and think of her history, -her legends and her poetry! to almost see the -shades of her dead heroes, sages and minstrels!” said -Drusilla, enthusiastically.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my dear, I dare say ardent young strangers -like you feel all these things and see all these ghosts. -But I don’t suppose the people who live in the land, or -the mariners that frequent the cove, ever do. Such is -the effect of novelty in your case, and of habit in theirs.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But can <em>any</em> length of habit blind one to such beauty -as this? Oh, look! was ever such brilliant green herbage -spread over the earth, or such heavenly blue sky above it, -or such soft white clouds sailing over it? See those lovely, -billowy hills! as the cloud-shadows pass over them they -seem to rise and fall, like the waves of the ocean, only -more gently! It reminds of something Tennyson said, -What was it? Oh——</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘The hills are shadows and they flow</div> - <div class='line in2'>From form to form and nothing stands;</div> - <div class='line in2'>They melt like mists, the solid lands,</div> - <div class='line'>Like clouds they shape themselves and go.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>He was speaking geologically of the changes wrought by -centuries; but here the beautiful green sunlit or cloud-shaded -hills do seem every moment to ‘flow from form to -form,’ ‘to melt like mists,’ ‘like clouds to shape themselves -and go.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are a dreamer, little Drusa!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It <em>does</em> seem like a dream. I should not be the least -surprised to wake up and find myself—where?—anywhere -at all in my past life! In my little corner of the housekeeper’s -room in the Chief-Justice’s dwelling; in the lolling -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>chair of the little drawing-room at Cedarwood waiting -for Alick to come back; or at dear old Lyon Hall with little -Lenny trying to pull my eyes open. Life seems often very -like a dream.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And always in any great change of scene or circumstances.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And most of all in coming to an old, historical country -like this, that we have always known in imagination, and -never in reality. But look, uncle! do not let us lose the -features of this sweet scene! It will be a picture in our -mind’s eye for many coming years. See, away there on -the horizon, crowning the most distant of the visible hills, -a cluster of old, gray ruins—the remains of some medieval -castle or monastery! And look a little further down. See -the mossy huts, dotted about at long intervals, half hidden -in dells and thickets, and under great trees; and nearer -still, the town with its glittering spires and its forest of -shipping!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my dear, the ninth century and the nineteenth are -brought together in this view!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here the old man felt a pair of tenacious little claws -fasten themselves upon his leg, and a shrill, tiny voice -sing out:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Untle Danpa! Untle Danpa Dennel!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, turning, he saw and lifted up little Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Lenny’s language needs translating. He called -or tried to call every one around him by the names he -heard them call each other. Thus, with him, Drusilla was -called “Doosil;” Anna, “Nannan;” Dick, “Dit;” while -General Lyon, who was variously called uncle, grandpa, -or General, was “Untle Danpa” or even Untle “Danpa -Deneral.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my little man, what do you want?” inquired -the General, smiling on the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hee, hee!” cried Lenny, pointing to the shore. -“Mate Doosil tate Lenny home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Make Drusil ‘take Lenny home?’ Why where is -home?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dere, dere! Mate Doosil tate Lenny home!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s not home!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yet tid too! Mate Doosil tate Lenny home, <em>dit minute</em>!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>“You peremptory little despot! what do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, uncle, you know ever since Lenny lost sight of -land, he has been abroad; now he sees it again, he thinks -it is home!” said Drusilla, smiling on the child. Little -Leonard, with his father’s features inherited much of -his father’s self-will; and so he soon became both obstreperous -and vociferous in his demands to be taken home.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mamma will take Lenny over there presently,” said -Drusilla soothingly, as she took the child in her arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You know, uncle, our steamer will lie here until this -afternoon, and we shall have time to go on shore for an -hour or so,” she added turning to the veteran.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I suppose Anna and Dick would like it. I know -I should. And—ah; here they come now!” said the -General, as his niece and nephew appeared upon the deck.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What a charming view!” exclaimed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is like Fairyland!” cried Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, come! none of that now you know! We’ve -had enough of it! Here’s Drusa been singing its praises -ever since I came to her side. And there, thank goodness, -there’s the breakfast bell! Come down now, and -praise the company’s cook! Two weeks’ trial has proved -him to be incomparable,” said the General, leading the -way to the saloon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After breakfast, the party got ready to go on shore.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The little steamer made several trips between the ship -and the shore, and they availed themselves of its accommodation -to land.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Terrace after terrace they ascended the picturesque -heights of the town until they reached the highest point—“Spy -Hill,”—from which they enjoyed a magnificent -bird’s-eye view of the sea and land—the broad expanse of -the channel; the harbor, with its abrupt headlands and -its countless shipping; its shores, with their beautiful -trees and elegant villas; and the rolling countries beyond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They spent the morning in walking about amid the -charming scenery, until little Lenny, having tired his own -legs and everybody else’s arms, got hungry and sleepy, -and ordered his biggers to give him something to eat and -to put him to bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then they went down to the village, entered a pastry-cook’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>shop, and got a light luncheon; and, next, they -hired a boat to take them back to their ship.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They found that they had no time to lose, for she was -getting up her steam to start again; and, if they had not -hastened, they might have been left behind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The steamer sailed at four o’clock that afternoon; but -she encountered rough weather in the channel, so that it -was nearly dark the next day when she reached Liverpool.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now our party felt the inconvenience of having so -much baggage. They were anxious to hasten on to London. -They could see Liverpool at any future time before -their return home; but they wished to reach London -soon enough to enjoy the last few remaining weeks of the -season, and, above all, to be in time to see the “Derby,” -which was to come off in two days. There was a train -to start at six that evening, and if they could have caught -it, they might have reached London by twelve midnight, -in time for a good night’s rest. And if it had not been -for their great quantity of baggage, they could have done -so; but they had twenty-one trunks to be inspected by -the custom-house officers, and had also to wait their turn -to be attended to.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There is much grumbling at these functionaries; but -for my part, I have found them always courteous—doing -their ungracious duty with as much forbearance as they -could conscientiously exercise.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have made us lose the train. We wished to go -up to London by the six o’clock express,” growled General -Lyon, as the officer on duty came up at length to examine -the luggage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very sorry, sir; but it could not be helped. There -is a parliamentary goes at ten.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘A parliamentary?’ What the deuce is a ‘parliamentary?’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man looked up in surprise at this traveler’s ignorance, -yet scarcely knew how to enlighten him on so -simple a subject; for the most obvious things are often the -most difficult of explanation to those that do not understand -them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What the mischief is the parliamentary?” again inquired -the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>The officer looked up from the open trunk before which -he was kneeling, and answered, slowly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, sir, the parliamentary is——the parliamentary, -you know.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is not the express.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So I should judge from its name.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is the slow, heavy train.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everything ‘parliamentary’ is, I should imagine. -When does this ‘parliamentary’ start?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At ten to-night, and gets in at five in the morning.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A most uncomfortable hour!—too late to go to bed, -and too early to be up! What the deuce makes your -‘parliamentary’ so slow and heavy?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is the people’s train—the accommodation—carries -the three classes of carriages and stops at all the stations.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph-humph!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The first-class carriages are very comfortable, and you -can sleep in them as comfortably as in your own arm-chair.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph! that might do very well for an after-dinner -nap; hardly for a night’s rest!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>While they were thus conversing, the custom-house -officer was passing from one trunk to another, lifting -their lids and looking in. He finished, and marked the -lot, and went away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think, grandpa, if you had had ten thousand dollars -worth of smuggled goods in these trunks, and designed to -cheat the revenue of the duties, you could not have gone -to work more cunningly than by talking as you did to -the officer. The man couldn’t attend to what he was -doing for listening to you,” laughed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now what are we to do with all these ‘impediments?’ -I wish for my part, the custom-house fellow had seized the -lot; or that we had encountered a storm at sea, and it -had been found necessary to throw them all overboard to -lighten the ship! It would have saved us a deal of time, -and trouble, and expense. And we have all we really -want in our carpet-bags,” growled the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Uncle, I hope you are not turning into a regular -grumbler? That wouldn’t be like yourself! But you -have done nothing <em>but</em> grumble, ever since you landed, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>and without the slightest provocation, you naughty old -uncle!” said Drusilla, saucily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, give me some credit that I do not <span class='fss'>SWEAR</span> as -well as grumble!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, uncle, think what the Dutchman said when he -whipped his sulky son,—Hans, you might as coot say -‘tamn’ as tink ‘tamn!’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusil, I am thinking ‘tamn’ very intently, ever since -I came on shore. Now, where the deuce are the porters? -Now, if this were New York, one would be deafened by -them,” growled the General, showing himself in front.</p> - -<p class='c012'>His grievance was removed, and he was “deafened by -them” and others immediately.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Porter, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Cab, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Fly, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Queen’s hotel?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Adelphi?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Star-and-Garter?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Times, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Were some of the sounds shouted into his ears—not -once, but a score of times.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Queen’s hotel, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord Admiral, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Carriage, sir? How many, sir? Where to, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How can I tell when I can’t hear myself think, for -your noise? Dick, answer all these men, and see to the -baggage being taken to the station. Jacob hasn’t knowledge -enough—he would be sure to get it lost; though for -that matter, I wish he would lose it—it would be an immense -relief to me! I shall take Anna and Drusilla over -to that restaurant, to get them out of this din, and to give -them a cup of tea.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, uncle. Pray go and make yourself and the -ladies comfortable,” said Dick, good-humoredly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And let me see,” said the General, examining his watch. -“It is now nine o’clock. The—hem—‘parliamentary’ -starts at ten. We have but an hour to wait. It will not -be worth while to go to a hotel. I think it will be best -for us to stop over there until it is time for us to go to -the station. See to getting our tickets, Dick, will you? -And have a carriage at the door there in time.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>“All right, uncle. Make yourself easy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come along, young women! Pina! give me that -child. You look as if you were ready to drop under his -weight.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A sleeping baby is twice as heavy as a waking one, -sir,” said the girl, as she placed the child in the old man’s -arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And regardless of the staring street boys who grinned -at seeing the “old gent” playing nursemaid, he crossed -the street to a cheerful gas-lighted pastry-cook’s shop, -where he and his party were accommodated with a small -private parlor and a neatly-spread tea-table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Before they got half through with tea, Dick joined them -and reported that he had procured the tickets for a whole -compartment in the first-class carriages, which he declared -to be quite as comfortable as the civil custom-house -officer had represented them to be.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick was served with a cup of tea, a plate of sallyluns, -toast, periwinkles, shrimps, and the finest strawberries -he had ever seen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick quaffed his tea with avidity, for he was both heated -and thirsty; and he also enjoyed the toast and the sallyluns; -but he glanced suspiciously at the periwinkles and -the shrimps.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What manner of fish, fruit or vegetable may these -be?” he inquired, taking up a plate of periwinkles and -squinting at them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Taste and see,” answered Anna, as with the point of -a pin she delicately drew one from its snail-like shell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla was at the same time peeling a shrimp for little -Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick glanced from one to the other and shuddered. -These tea-table delicacies looked—the one so like an insect, -the other so like a reptile.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Try this, Dick,” coaxed Anna, as she offered him a -morsel from the point of a new pin.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick shrank.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now don’t be prejudiced! Consider what an uninviting -edible is the oyster, in the shell or out of it! Who -that did not know how good it is would ever dare to eat -it? Now try this?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, thou modern Eve! I take it, since thou tellst me -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>it is ‘good for food,’” sighed Dick, as he gingerly accepted -the dainty.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, how do you like it?” inquired Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My temptress, it is delicious! I thank thee for introducing -me to the acquaintance of the periwink.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I knew you would like it,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“More s’imp? more s’imp!” called out little Lenny, -for whom his mamma could not peel fast enough.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Are they good also, Master Lenny?” smiled Dick, -helping himself to one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Day dood. Mate Nannan peel for woo, Dit,” answered -the little Turk, who evidently thought that women were -made to wait on men and—boys.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They have an exquisite flavor! They are as fine, with -a difference, as the periwinkle itself. Master Lenny, your -humble servant. I’m bound to you for making me -acquainted with the shrimp. I don’t know which of these -two dainties I like the best. After this I can believe in a -man being in love with two——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dishes at the same time,” interjected Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ladies at the same time,” concluded Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“More s’imps! More s’imps! Mate Pina peel!” vociferated -the little despot, for whom his mamma could not keep -up the supply.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Pina was called to help; but new hands are awkward -at the shrimp peeling business; and as Pina took a -minute to peel a delicate morsel that Master Lenny swallowed -in a second, he soon called out again:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“More s’imps! more s’imps! Mate Nannan peel too!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna good-naturedly complied. But even with her -help the demand continued to be greater than the supply. -And the tiny autocrat, looking around and seeing no -more female slaves at hand, called out:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“More s’imps! more s’imps! And make <em>Dit</em> peel.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Dick obediently sacrificed his periwinkles, and -cheerfully betook himself to the service of the liliputian -tyrant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But still the demand exceeded the supply, for these vassals -were awkward at the work; so, after glancing dubiously -at his venerable relative, Master Leonard sang out -lustily:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>“More s’imps! more s’imps! And mate Untle Granpa -peel!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the veteran soldier of hard-won fields, the leader -of tens of thousands, smiled submissively and obeyed the -baby boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But there is an end to all things, even to infant despotism, -and so when the three-quarters past nine struck, the -party rose from the table, for they had but fifteen -minutes to catch the train in.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They hurried on their outer garments and hastened -into the hired fly and were driven rapidly to the station.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lively and well-lighted, but by no means noisy or confused -was the scene. There was a very long and heavy -train of carriages, for it carried the “three estates,” but -so orderly were all the arrangements, so exact were the -regulations, so well trained the guards and porters, so -vigilant the police, that all went smoothly and surely as -clock-work.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As if by magic, our travelers soon found themselves in -a first-class carriage, with all their luggage piled on the -roof, flying along with great rapidity, while hedges, fields -and farm-houses, seen dimly in the half light, reeled past -on either side. Though it was ten o’clock post meridian, -yet in these northern latitudes, and at this season, it was -still twilight. The carriage in which our travelers found -themselves was in many respects like the inside of a large -family coach, only it was much more capacious than any -such vehicle. It had eight well-cushioned spring seats—four -front and four back; and glass doors and windows -on the right and left. In recesses under the seats and -racks over them there was ample space for the storage of -all their light luggage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna and Drusilla occupied the back seats, General -Lyon and Dick the front ones. Down on the floor between -them, on a bed made of rugs and shawls, with a -carpet-bag for a pillow, little Lenny, satisfied with shrimps, -was laid asleep. Pina and Leo had seats in a second-class -carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Once shut up in their own carriage with the train in -motion, our travelers were as isolated from all other -people as if they had been making the journey in their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>own family coach. They neither saw nor heard anything -of their fellow-passengers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For the first hour they conversed a little with each -other, making comments upon the ride, as:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How long the twilight lasts in these parts;” or:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will this light mist turn to rain before morning?” -or:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What a carefully cultivated country! There is no -waste land hereabouts. The whole scene seems to be a -perpetual landscape garden.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But in the second hour they gradually succumbed to -fatigue and drowsiness and dropped off to sleep—each reposing -in a corner as he or she best could, and waking -only when the train would stop at a wayside station, -which, by-the-by, was every few minutes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Whenever it stopped there were passengers to get in or -out, but the train was so very long that the chances were -that these passengers would be a quarter of a mile before -or behind them; and so, though our friends always on -these occasions roused themselves and looked forth, they -saw little beyond the lighted station, the vanishing platform, -and running guards and porters.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla always looked from the windows with something -more than curiosity—with eager interest; for since -she landed in England, her uppermost thought had been -that she was in the same country with her Alick; and who -knew but she might meet him anywhere at any moment—even -at one of these wayside stations?</p> - -<p class='c012'>But whenever the train started again, the swift motion, -and the late hour, and the comfortable, not to say luxurious -resting-place lulled her in a light slumber, in which -she was still conscious of the strange, new scene—the -wondrous old country through which she was passing; -feeling that she loved the old motherland of her race, and -loved it well; dreaming that she was returning there after -ages of expatriation; seeing shades of knights in armor, -“old ancestral spirits;” seeing visions of mediæval halls, -with all the barbaric pageantry of long ago, dimly shadowed -forth. Then waking up to note with delight the -fresh, bright rural scenes of to-day—the thickly-sown, -but luxuriantly-growing fields; the green hedges; the -crowded but flourishing gardens; the shrub-shaded, vinecovered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>cottages—the humblest laborer’s hut all mantled -with flowering green creepers that made it look like a -garden bower, the slenderest strip of land among the line -of rails thickly planted with vegetables,—nothing wasted, -nothing ugly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was only a little past midnight, yet it was already -morning, and every moment day broadened.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla continued to gaze with surprise and delight -upon the beautiful land; for, whatever the sky of England -may be, the face of the country, especially in this -region, is very charming.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sometimes Drusilla’s contemplations would be interrupted -by a restless movement of little Lenny. She would -then stoop and turn him over, and he would fall asleep -again.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon and Anna slept so soundly at length that -they were not awakened by the stopping of the train, nor -even by the loud snoring of Dick, who, when in a state of -somnolency, was a fine performer on the proboscis—the -only musical instrument he understood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Long before they reached London, its distant, huge -cloud of smoke and fog hanging upon the horizon greeted -the eye—its distant thunder of blended sounds came softened -to the ear.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Soon they were at Euston Square station, in all the -great crowd and bustle of the parliamentary train’s arrival.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was surprising to them, amid the hundreds of travelers -and the hills of luggage to be cared for, how soon our -party, without much effort on their own part, was attended -to.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Before they had time to become impatient, they found -themselves in one cab, followed by their servants in another, -bowling along through the streets of London.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was but little past four o’clock, and all the shops -were still closed, and the sidewalks nearly deserted. Only -the earliest bakers’, butchers’, and costermongers’ carts -were abroad, or cabs and vans taking passengers to and -from early trains, or cook-maids at the heads of area stairs, -receiving from the milkman the daily supply.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Even at this early hour, there were many novelties of -the London streets that struck pleasantly upon our travelers’ -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>eyes, among them the abundance of flowers shown -in almost every open window of every house. But what -pleased Master Lenny most was the costermongers’ little -carts, piled with green vegetables and ripe fruit, and drawn -by little donkeys. Master Lenny took them to be toy-carts -for little boys to play with, and insisted upon being -accommodated with one immediately; nor was he to be -quieted until his mamma promised him a mysterious -pleasure in a donkey-ride at Greenwich.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is a long drive from Euston Square station to the -Morley House, Trafalgar Square, which had been selected -as their hotel by General Lyon, at the recommendation of -a fellow passenger on board the Hurona.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was nearly five o’clock when they reached the house, -yet few servants seemed to be stirring about it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They could be accommodated with apartments immediately, -said the polite functionary who happened to be on -duty; but he regretted to add that they would have to -wait for breakfast, as the head waiter did not rise until -seven.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Two hours to wait. It is too bad, after such a tiresome -night-ride,” groaned General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He had endured nights of toils and days of fasting, in -the battle times of long ago; but he was young then and -the cause was great, so he had rather liked that sort of -life; but it was different with him now that he was old -and fated to abide the pleasure of the head waiter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were shown to large, airy, clean bedrooms, all -near each other, and opening upon the corridors, and having -one private parlor in the suite.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In this parlor our party gathered for a moment to consult. -The delay of breakfast is sometimes felt as a calamity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can we not procure even a cup of coffee for love or -money?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The official was very sorry, but the head waiter would -not rise till seven.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will you be so good as to send a chambermaid, then?” -requested Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was very sorry, but he was afraid the chamber-maids -were not yet stirring. The hour was early.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So it is; and we must be reasonable. Servants must -have their rest, you know,” said Drusilla, soothingly.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>And the really obliging attendant smiled and bowed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let us go to our rooms and make ourselves comfortable -and lie down. Perhaps we shall sleep; at any rate, we -shall rest. The two hours will soon pass,” continued Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no, no! No do ’leep!” objected the head of -the family, who had had his own sleep out and had waked -up hungry. “No do ’leep! More s’imp—more s’imp!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor little fellow, <em>he</em> is hungry,” sighed Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think I can get some warm milk and bread for the -child, ma’am,” said the man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I shall be very much obliged to you if you will. -We can wait better than he can,” said Drusilla, gratefully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the man went out and fetched the milk and bread, -which, at first, Lenny refused to touch, peremptorily exclaiming:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no! No b’ed milt!—more s’imp!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But being assured that his slaves could not procure -shrimps for him, he seemed to divine that even despots -cannot compel people to perform impossibilities, and also -being very hungry, he ate his bread and milk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When Lenny had finished his meal, the party separated -and went to their bedrooms to lie down for an hour or -two. They did not expect to sleep, but they slept—so -soundly that they did not awake until some time after -seven o’clock, when a waiter rapped at General Lyon’s -door to take his orders about the breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General referred him for instructions to Mrs. -Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And soon the whole party, much refreshed by their -sleep, assembled in the private parlor for breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was after eight, however, before it was finally set -upon the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were fine Mocha coffee, English breakfast tea, -rich cream, sweet butter, fresh eggs, broiled ham and -broiled pigeons, light bread, toast and muffins.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For a few minutes our famished travelers were so -closely engaged in discussing these delicacies, that not a -word was wasted upon any other subject than their meal. -But after they had all eaten and were satisfied, they -began to talk of their immediate plans of enjoyment. -The great city held out a thousand attractions to strangers. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>It was an “embarrassment of riches” in the sight-seeing -line that troubled them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where shall we go first?” was the great question.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Various answers were returned.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To the Royal Academy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To Westminster Abbey.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To the Tower.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The British Museum.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“St. Paul’s Cathedral.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The Zoological Gardens.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>These were a few of the suggestions offered; but as the -three young people spoke at once, it was impossible for -their elder and arbitrator to know who favor what.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think, upon reflection,” he said, at length, “that we -had better not attempt any of those great sights just now. -To see either one of them well would be an exhausting -day’s work; and we wish to be fresh for the Derby to-morrow. -The Derby, my children! Come! we shall -have time enough to see everything else afterwards. But -we can only see the Derby to-morrow; so to-day, I think, -we will just take a fly and drive around and leave some -of our letters of introduction, with our present address. -What do you say to that plan?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As the plan was of the General’s devising, all agreed -to it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A fly was ordered, and the ladies retired to change -their dresses for the drive.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla was the most expeditious with her toilet. She -soon returned to the parlor fully equipped for her drive.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Lenny, in charge of his nurse, was standing -within the recess of the front window, dancing with delight -at something he saw outside. Drusilla heard a pair -of shrill, cracked voices in apparent conflict below.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hee! hee! Doosil—hee!” shouted the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla approached, and witnessed for the first time -the renowned Punch and Judy show.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While standing there and enjoying her child’s enjoyment, -she saw a gentleman come forth apparently from -a coffee-room below and start to cross Trafalgar Square; -and with a half-suppressed cry she recognized—</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She had been always looking for him—always expecting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>to see him since she first set foot in England, yet she -had known that her looking was like the search for a -needle in a hay-rick, and her expectations as extravagant -in the first instance as they would be in the last.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now that she actually saw him walk out from the -same house in which she herself was sojourning, the -astonishment and the shock were so great, that she reeled -and held by the window-sill for support.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Without stopping to consider whether the action might -be proper or otherwise, she turned to the waiter who -was engaged in taking away the breakfast service, and -beckoned him to her side. He came, his mouth a little -open with wonder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Does that gentleman stop here?” she inquired, pointing -to Mr. Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord Killcrichtoun? Yes, ma’am, he stops here,” replied -the waiter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, you mistake. You think I mean somebody else; -but I mean <em>that</em> gentleman. Look! he is just half across -the square now.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Just so, ma’am, Lord Killcrichtoun of Killcrichtoun, -County of Sutherland, North Britain. Yes, ma’am, he -is here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am sure you mistake. I allude to the gentleman -in gray. Look! now he lifts his hat and replaces it. -There he is passing the corner?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Precisely, ma’am. He is up for the Derby, ma’am, -begging your pardon. My lord goes down to Epsom this -evening, ma’am. Any more commands, ma’am?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks, no; you may go.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla sank down upon the nearest seat, unmindful -of the prattling of her little Lenny, who was still laughing -with delight at the broad absurdities of the puppetshow; -for the whole truth flashed on her now. The -young American gentleman who had claimed the barony -of Killcrichtoun, in the right of his mother, was no other -than her own Alick! And he was living under the same -roof with her! Did he know that she was here, or would -he find it out? Were the names of all new-comers registered -in open books in English hotels as in American -ones? If so, was it his habit to look at them? What -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>would he think if he saw her name on the books of the -hotel—</p> - -<p class='c014'>“<em>Mrs. Alexander Lyon, child, and servant.</em>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Would he happen to see her? Would he wish to see -little Lenny? Suppose he were to meet her—what would -he say or do? He might pass her; but could he pass -little Lenny—charming little Lenny—fair-haired, blue-eyed -little Lenny, with his father’s own features and -complexion?</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was scarcely possible that he could.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And if he should stop to caress his son, to take him -in his arms, to press him to his heart, what next? -Would he stop there, and put the child away again?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not likely! for, setting natural affection aside, now -that he had a title, he would want an heir; and what a -fine, promising one was this?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Or would he perhaps claim the child and take him -from his mother? He <em>could</em> do so. The law would give -him Lenny, though it should break the mother’s heart. -Would he avail himself of this law to tear her child from -her arms?</p> - -<p class='c012'>No, never! she thought; badly as he had treated her -while he had been maddened by the passions of pride -and ambition, he would never while in his sober senses—never -in cold blood deal her such a cruel blow.</p> - -<p class='c012'>True he had once, in bitterly cruel terms, denounced -and renounced her forever; but she thought of his words -whenever they forced themselves upon her memory, only -as the ravings of frenzied anger; she knew that they -would never have been carried out to extremity. Alexander -had told her that she might starve, but she felt in -her heart that he would never even have let her want!</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now she felt sure that, however he might learn to -love his little Lenny,—however he might desire to possess -him, he would never attempt to take him away from -her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>No, she was sure that he would rather let little Lenny -lead him back to her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her hopes arose, her heart beat quickly at the thought.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Did she then feel no jealous pain at the idea of being reunited -to her husband only through his natural affection -for his child?</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>Not the least. She loved both too purely for such -jealousy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the contrary, she felt that it would be sweet to be -indebted to little Lenny for a reconciliation with his -father. And she knew, besides, that once reconciled to -Alick by <em>any</em> means, and especially by this means, she -could <span class='fss'>WIN HER WAY</span> to his heart, and gain a firmer hold -there than she had ever possessed before.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then her thoughts reverted to his new title:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord Killcrichtoun—Baron Killcrichtoun of Killcrichtoun.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>From what she had read she knew that it was an almost -barren title, no wealth coming with it,—only an old ruin, -and a few wretched huts in the wildest part of the Highlands -appertaining to it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But in his pride of race he had claimed the title, and no -doubt had gone to great expense to prove his right to it, -and he would probably remain in England to enjoy it, -since in America it would only make him ridiculous.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She herself was strongly attached to her native country -with its bright sunshine, its vast forests and its high -mountains. All her friends and all her fortunes were -there, yet she would gladly expatriate herself to live “anywhere, -anywhere” under the sun, with her Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While she mused, General Lyon, Anna, and Dick came -in, ready for their drive.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick said that the fly was waiting.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So, after charging Pina to be very careful of little -Lenny, Drusilla followed her party down-stairs and into -the carriage, and they started—to go first as in duty bound -to leave their cards at the American Embassy, and then -to leave their letters of introduction with the people for -whom they were intended.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They did but stop and send in their cards and letters, -they made no visit anywhere; but preferred to leave it to -the option of their friends and correspondents to make -their acquaintance or not.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They returned to the Morley House at four in the -afternoon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna went into her bedroom to take off her bonnet; -but Drusilla hurried at once into the parlor to look after -her child.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>She found little Lenny quite safe; but boiling over with -excitement, not to say indignation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, what is the matter with my little man?” inquired -the mother, sitting down and lifting the child to -her lap.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Man! man! tut off Lenny turl!” exclaimed the child, -pointing to his head, while his blue eyes flashed and his -rosy cheeks flushed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Cut off Lenny’s curl? Who did it? Pina! who did -this?” inquired Drusilla, looking at the short lock from -which the curl had been severed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, ma’am, I don’t know! I left Master Leonard -in charge of the chambermaid only one minute, while I -ran to get his milk and bread, and when I came back it -was done.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And what did the chambermaid say?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She said as how——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Never mind! I had rather hear the account from herself. -Go and try and find that chambermaid, and fetch -her here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina went on the errand and soon returned with a blooming -English girl, who curtsied and stood waiting orders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is your name?” inquired Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Susan, ma’am.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Susan, did you have charge of this little child -for a few minutes?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am,” answered the girl, blushing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then how came you to let any one cut off his curl?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, ma’am, I couldn’t help it! It was done so -sudden. And I didn’t dare oppose my lord.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My lord?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My Lord Killcrichtoun it was, ma’am, who did it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Killcrichtoun!” repeated Drusilla, as a light broke -on her mind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Killchristian!</em>” exclaimed Pina, in dismay. “<em>Killchristian!!</em> -It’s a wonder he had not cut off the child’s head -as well as his hair! Good gracious! was ever such a -heathenish, savage, barbarious name!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So it was one of the gentlemen of the house who did -it?” inquired Drusilla, striving to control the excess of -her emotions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am; but indeed I thought by the way he behaved -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>that he had a right to do it, and that the child was -some kin to him. He don’t act so like a mad gentleman -in general, ma’am.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tell me all about it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, ma’am, now I think upon it, I almost believe he -must have watched his opportunity; for as soon as ever -the nursemaid was gone, he came to the door, looked all -around, and seeing no one but me and my charge, took -the boy up in his arms and hugged him and kissed him -and fondled him, and almost cried over him; and then -before I could suspect, much less prevent his doing it, he -out with his pen-knife and whipped off that pretty golden -curl. And then he hurried away. I think he heard the -nursemaid coming, for she was in the room the next minute. -And you came in almost immediately after, ma’am.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then this has just occurred?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not ten minutes ago, ma’am. Anything else, ma’am?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No,” answered the lady. And the girl withdrew.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla called Pina to follow her and went slowly into -her bedroom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While taking off her bonnet and mantle and changing -her dress for dinner, she was scarcely conscious of what -she was doing. Her thoughts were absorbed by what -had just occurred.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor Alick,” she said; “to love his child, his only son -and only child, and not feel free to caress him! Oh, -Alick, Alick, dear, do you think <em>I</em> would keep him from -you? Much as I love him, you might have him half the -time; you might have him all day, so that you would be -kind to him, and I know you would be, and would let me -have him back at night. Yes, Alick, dear, though you -might never see or speak to <em>me</em> again, I would not keep -the child out of your way. Love your boy, Alick, dear, -and take all the comfort from him you can. He has been -a great comfort to me, Alick, the little son you gave me, -has.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So ran her thoughts as she mechanically put on a mauve -taffeta dress and fastened her point lace collar with a diamond -brooch, scarcely knowing what she wore.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina was also holding discourse, but not with herself -or in silence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My precious little pet,” she said, as she dressed Master -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>Lenny in his embroidered white frock. “My pretty little -darling, did its Pea-nut leave it all alone with a stranger -in a strange land, where Killchristians go about scalping -little babies, my sugar? I will never leave it alone again -as long as I live, or leastways as long as we stay in this -land, where Killchristians cut and hew at babies! Suppose -he had cut off its precious little finger or toe? What -would its Pea-nut have done?” Then turning impatiently -to her mistress, she said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ma’am, you don’t seem to care at all now about that -wild beast of a Killchristian rushing in upon little Lenny -like a North American Indian with a drawn knife and -scalping off his hair. Suppose it had been his precious -nose or his ears that the savage took a fancy to? But it’s -my belief after all he was a thief and wanted to sell Lenny’s -pretty golden curls to a lady’s hair-dresser; and he -would have cut all the curls off his head if he hadn’t -heard me coming. Wish I had caught him at his tricks! -Never mind, let me ever catch him near little Lenny -again, that’s all! Lenny will be certain to know him -again, if I do not!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will know him, Pina; but you do not know of -whom you are speaking. The gentleman who cut off -Lenny’s curl had a perfect right to do so. Lord Killcrichtoun -is Mr. Alexander Lyon, or was so until he got his -ancestor’s title. Why should you be so astonished? -Didn’t you know that he was in London?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am,” said Pina, unable to recover from her -astonishment; “but London is a biggish willage, and I -didn’t expect to see him, much less hear him called Killchristian. -Howsever, I think, begging of your pardon, -ma’am, as the name suits him very well. ’Deed it’s much -of a muchness with the other name, for I reckon as lions -kills Christians, and eats ’em too, whenever they get a -chance!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina, you hurt me when you speak in that way of -Lenny’s father.” (A less gentle spirit would have said -to her servant “you <em>offend</em> me.” But Drusilla had much -more tenderness than dignity in her nature and manners.)</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am sorry, ma’am. Indeed, ma’am, I would rather -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>bite off the end of my tongue than let it say anything to -hurt you,” replied Pina.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now notice then, my good girl. It may happen that -you may see Mr. Lyon some time when you are out with -little Lenny. If you should, you must not avoid him. -On the contrary, take the child to him. It will be good -to promote affection between the child and his father.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will do as you say, ma’am.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla then went into the parlor to join her friends -at dinner. But she said nothing of Lenny’s adventure.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This evening,” said General Lyon, “we go to old -classic Drury Lane. And to-morrow for the Derby.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla’s heart beat—but her only, or at least her -chief object in going to the Derby was not to see the -great race, but to see perhaps—her beloved husband.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XV.<br> <span class='large'>THE DERBY.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>I have set my life upon a cast,</div> - <div class='line'>And I will abide the hazard of the die—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, it is drizzling! I wonder if it is not always drizzling -in this whimpering climate,” grumbled Anna, as she -met Drusilla in their private parlor very early on the -morning of the Derby Day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is but a light drizzle; it will not hurt us and it -may clear off,” suggested Drusilla, hopefully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All ready, my darlings? That is right, for we must -make an early start if we wish to get a good position on -the hill. I don’t know that reserved places are ever taken -in advance for the Derby; but I do know that <em>we</em> have -not secured any. Ring for breakfast, Anna, my child, and -let us have it over. But where is Dick?” inquired the -General, as he joined his young people.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He has stepped around to the livery stable to make -sure of the barouche we engaged. He will be back in a -few minutes,” replied Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He might have left that to the servants; but Dick -can’t keep out of a stable, if only he has the faintest -shadow of an excuse to go into one. Well—he might go -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>into worse places,” said the General, just as the absentee -returned.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A strong, well sprung, capacious barouche and a fine -pair of horses! Altogether as good a turn-out as is to be -had for love or money,” said Dick, as he threw himself -into a chair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But what is that you have there?” inquired the General, -pointing to a well-sized parcel rolled up in tissue -paper which Mr. Hammond carried in his hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This! Oh, this contains our veils,” answered Dick, -unrolling the parcel and displaying yards of blue, green, -mauve, brown and gray barège.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Our—<em>what</em>?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Veils for the Derby. I saw other fellows buying veils -and they told me it was the usual thing to keep off the -dust, you know. There, Anna, there’s a blue one for you. -Needn’t take the trouble to hem it; nobody does; it is -only to be used for one occasion, and is never fit for anything -else afterwards. Here, Drusa, you may have the -green one; and little Lenny the mauve; and now, uncle, -here are two—a gray and a brown, for you and me. I -thought you would like a subdued color best, as I do. -We are to tie them around our hats,” said Dick, offering -the choice of the remaining veils to the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The veteran soldier laughed and shook his head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, uncle, every gentleman wears a veil.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense, Dick! somebody has been selling you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, no, they were all buying veils and fastening -them on to their hats.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then I’ll be hanged if I make myself ridiculous by -wearing a veil like a girl.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, then, you’ll get yourself blinded, deafened, stupefied -and suffocated by the dust—eyes, ears, nostrils and -bronchial tubes will all be filled.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I should like to know where the dust is to come from -on such a day as this? Do you see how it is raining?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t know, sir! only know what the fellows here -tell me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They are quizzing you, as I said before, that’s my -opinion.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>While he spoke the door was opened and Mr. Spencer -and Mr. Tredegar were announced.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>These were two young Americans, who had been fellow-students -with Dick Hammond, and whom the General had -met on the day before and invited to breakfast and to go -to the Derby with his party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After bowing to the ladies and shaking hands with the -gentlemen, the new-comers took the seats offered them, -and commenced upon the all-engrossing subject of the -hour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Fine day for the Derby, sir!” said Mr. Spencer, who -had been three years in London attached to the American -Minister’s <em>suite</em>, and might be supposed to be posted -on the subject. “Very fine day for the Derby.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Fine day! Why, do you see how it is raining?” demanded -the General, in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drizzling, sir, drizzling; just enough to lay the dust.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dust! ah! by the way that reminds me! Here is a -lunatic has brought an assortment of veils, and he says -we must each wear one—men and women both.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, sir—the regular thing, you know, like the -train at court. It is to protect the wearer from the -smothering dust.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But,” said the General, frowning, “as I was just asking -my nephew when you came in, where is the dust to -come from on such a day as this?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, sir, it may clear up by the time we shall be coming -home. And it is in the home-coming we raise the -sirocco. We must be prepared for the worst.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Worst? Do you call clear weather the worst?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The worst possible for the Derby, sir. But this is a -truth that you will never be able to believe until you see -it demonstrated. And you will probably see it done -to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As they talked, the waiter came in to lay the cloth for -breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Watching his opportunity, he presently came to General -Lyon, and said, in a low, respectful voice:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Beg pardon, sir, but would you like to have a luncheon -put up to take with you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh? Yes, certainly,” replied the General, at the same -time turning towards his young visitors a comically -appealing look, as much as to say:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>“You see even this waiter knows me to be a greenhorn.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What would you please order, sir?” inquired John.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh?—oh, anything at all! something nice and tidy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pigeon-pie, sir, if you please?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Spencer, is pigeon-pie the regular thing?” said the -General, winking at his friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I believe it is <em>one</em> of the regular things. Derby Day -without pigeon-pie would be—an incomplete arrangement.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Spencer, my dear boy, as you are posted, please -receive my carte blanche to order all the ‘regular things,’ -and everything else that is comfortable.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Young Spencer nodded and laughed; took from the -General’s hand a card and a pencil, and made out a liberal -list which he handed to the waiter, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“See that all these articles are put into clean hampers, -and stowed away in the boxes of the General’s barouche.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man left the room with the list, and returned with -the breakfast tray.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the family party and their visitors sat down to -the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna presided.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where is my godson?” inquired the General, discontented -at the absence of his favorite.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He had his breakfast in my room, an hour ago, so that -he might be got ready to go with us,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! yes, well, I suppose under the circumstances it -was as well,” admitted the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Before they had done breakfast, however, Master -Lenny was led in by his nurse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was resplendent in holiday attire and in the anticipation -of some unknown glory that had been promised -him, and for which he saw great preparations going forward, -and which he called in his baby babble “doin’ -Dubby.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doin’ Dubby, untle dranpa! Lenny doin’ Dubby, hee -hos wun,” he said, running up to his godfather.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny is going to the Derby to see the horses run, is -he? But Lenny will be the winning horse, I’ll bet,” said -the General, taking the little fellow up on his knee. “Gentlemen,” -he added, turning to his young visitors, “let me -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>introduce you to Master Leonard Lyon, the latest representative -of old Leonard Lyon, who——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Came over with the Conqueror,’” suggested Mr. -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who lived here long before the Conqueror was born,” -concluded the General, quietly. “Leonard, my boy, bow -to the gentlemen, and ask them how they do, and say -that you hope they are well.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hope.—<em>Do Dubby</em>,” said Lenny, who could not connect -his sentences very well as yet, holding out his -chubby hand to Mr. Spencer, who was nearest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Grandpa, we will leave Lenny to help you entertain -your friends while we put on our bonnets and mantles,” -said Anna, rising from the table, followed by Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so Master Leonard is going to the Derby? He -is beginning life early,—he is a very fast young gentleman,” -said Mr. Tredegar, taking the child upon his knee.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny doin’ Dubby—hee hos wun,” was the stereotyped -answer of the boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But he was taken from one by the other, and prattled -sociably to all until the return of the ladies dressed for -their drive.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, Mr. Spencer, you are not in earnest about these -veils? I am not to decorate Dick’s and grandpa’s hats -with them, am I?” laughed Anna, lifting the light cloud-like -pile of barège.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no; not just yet! not until they shall be required. -It has ceased drizzling, but the ground is still too damp -for dust. They can be rolled up and put into their -pockets until wanted.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here, grandpa, here is yours,” said Anna, rolling up -the gray veil lightly, and handing it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, thank you, my dear. Dust or no dust, I am not -going to wear a veil. I would just as soon wear a crinoline!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Put it in your own pocket, my dear Mrs. Hammond, -and have it ready for him when he will want it. He will -be glad enough to get it by-and-by,” said Francis Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna took his advice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now are we all quite ready?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>“Quite,” answered everybody else.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, come!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he took Drusilla’s hand, and drew it within his -arm and led the way down-stairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A large, open barouche, with a fine pair of horses, stood -waiting the General’s family. A jaunty gig with a spirited -horse awaited the two young gentlemen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla and Anna were handed into the back seat. -The General sat in front, and by his side sat Pina with little -Lenny. Dick perched himself up beside the driver. -Jacob rode behind. The two young men were in their gig.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The party started—the General’s barouche taking the -lead.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The drizzling rain had ceased and the clouds were dispersing -before a light wind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The streets of London, always crowded, were now -thronged; but with this difference also,—that nine-tenths -of the people’s faces and the horses’ heads were turned in -one direction, and everybody,—man, woman, and child, -saint and sinner,—was becoming more and more intoxicated; -and not with spirituous or fermented liquors, but with -the Derby Day. Crowded carriages of all descriptions, -saddle-horses, donkeys, and foot-passengers of all ranks -and sexes, thronged the streets; and talk and laughter, -calls and shouts resounded through the air. It looked as -if London were suddenly being evacuated by its whole -population, and the people were making a merry joke of -the matter. And all were pouring towards the south-western -suburb.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In such a throng the progress of our party was necessarily -very slow, yet with none of the <em>tedium</em> of a slow progress. -The great crowd of people and of vehicles going all -one way; the variety of individuals and characters; the -total abandonment of all reserve; the hailings and the -chaffings; the jests and the snatches of song; the grotesque -decorations of some of the horses and carriages, -and even of some of the people; the perfect novelty of the -scene; and the exhilaration of all animated creatures that -composed it, made every step of the progress charming to -the unaccustomed minds and eyes of our new-comers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla and Anna were delighted. Little Lenny -shouted. Pina was not a whit behind them in her ecstasies. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>Old General Lyon’s eyes twinkled and lips -smiled, and sometimes he broke into a good hearty laugh. -As for Dick, the oldest Derby goer on the road could not -have got ahead of him in bandying back the jokes that -were bandied at him on the way. Only that Jacob, hanging -on behind, stared with “all his eyes,” and looked as -if he thought he was enjoying a pleasant sort of nightmare.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I say, you jolly old howl (owl),” called a cockney -from a neighboring carriage to General Lyon, “where did -you get that gorilla you’ve got perched up behind there, -heh?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“From a country where they muzzle monkeys sometimes,” -retorted Dick, answering for the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So it went on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But this is nothing at all to what it will be when we -are out of London and fairly on to the Epsom road,” -shouted Henry Spencer from his gig behind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I never saw the Carnival at Rome; but I should -think it was not very unlike this,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is the Carnival of London! Old Rome has its -Saturnalia; modern Rome has its Carnival; America has -her Independence Day; but England has her Derby, -equal to all these others rolled into one,” said Francis -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If this is only the beginning it is worth crossing the -Atlantic to see—not the Derby race only, but the Derby -Day!” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Only wait till you get to Epsom!” exclaimed Henry -Spencer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Once fairly upon the Epsom road, our friends found it -as their guests had predicted. The crowd, great as it had -been before, was even greater now. And it thickened -with every mile; the numbers of passengers increasing -twofold, tenfold, a hundred-fold, as they approached the -bourne of their journey.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The road was as one vast river of human beings and -brute creatures, pouring its multitudes towards Epsom. -And every cross country road was as a tributary stream -helping to swell the flood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Every description of wheeled vehicles known to the -civilized world—broughams, barouches, landaus, chaises, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>buggies, sulkies, gigs, rockaways, carryalls, omnibuses, -stages, brakes, carts, drags, wagons, jaunting cars, in an -endless number and variety, and drawn by every available -species of quadrupeds—horses, mules, donkeys, goats, -dogs, oxen—thronged and crushed and pressed together -for miles and miles behind and before on the main road and -up and down every branch road—crowding toward Epsom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In this vast, moving mixed multitude the only saving -feature was this, that they were all moving the same way, -and all, or nearly all, in high, good humor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pressed on all sides as they were—behind, before, on -the right and on the left, our friends in the barouche and -their young guests in the gig, managed to keep together;—sometimes -brought to a standstill, sometimes moving -on at the rate of an inch a minute.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now you understand why it was necessary to start so -early, though Epsom is but fourteen miles from London, -and though the great race does not come off before two -o’clock,” called out young Spencer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; and I begin to see the wisdom of those who -went down to Epsom last night to avoid all this,” answered -the general.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, but they were either old stagers who had experienced -this sort of thing many times before, or else individuals -who had some deep stake in the races to come -off to-day. For my own part, I enjoy the going and returning—the -‘road,’ in short, quite as much as anything -else appertaining to the great Derby Day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is a novel and interesting sight, in its contrasts if -in nothing else,” replied the General, glancing from the -handsome barouche decorated with a duke’s coronet -painted on its panels, and occupied by an aristocratic -party of stately men and elegant women, in splendid apparel, -that crowded him on the right—to the old dilapidated -omnibus, filled within and without with the ragged -refuse of the London streets and alleys, which pressed -him on the left.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But truth to tell, the ragamuffins seemed the merrier, -if not the richer party of the two.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And many jests flew over General Lyon’s head between -the Bohemians in the old omnibus and a young member -of the ducal family who occupied a seat on the box beside -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>the coachman. For that one day “free-born Britons” -of every rank enjoyed something like liberty and -equality—not to say unbridled license.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hey day! What’s the matter now?” exclaimed the -General, as the whole immense march, with much rearing -and plunging of quadrupeds, came to a dead halt.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There’s a lock at the turnpike gate, sir,” called out a -vagrant from the old ‘bus.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A lock on the toll-gate! It’s a shame,” replied the -innocent old gentleman; “the gate should never be -locked in the daytime, and most especially on such a day -as this, when they must keep such a vast multitude of -people waiting while they unlock it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>This speech was greeted by a burst of ironical applause -from all the occupants of the old omnibus, as well as from -all others who heard it. They laughed at the speaker and -chaffed him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You change all that when you get into parliament,” -sang out one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I say! what’s your name, you jolly old soul? Is it -old King Cole?” inquired another.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then all in the old omnibus sang out together:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Old King Cole was a jolly old soul,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And a jolly old soul was he—</div> - <div class='line'>He called for his bottle, and he called for his bowl,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And he called for his comrades three!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick, what the deuce have I said wrong? What do -they mean?” inquired the General, much annoyed at finding -himself the center of observation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have said nothing wrong, and they mean nothing -offensive. It is the Derby Day! That accounts for all, -don’t you see?” answered Dick, laughing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But about the lock. They were chaffing me about -<em>that</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, you know that there is <em>now</em> more than one lock at -every turnpike gate. There is the legitimate lock under -the charge of the keeper; and there is a lock of interlocked -carriage wheels, reaching, perhaps, for ten miles -along the road.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I knew once a lock of fourteen miles long, all caused -by an ill conditioned fellow in a brougham, who stopped -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>the way at the toll-gate for twenty minutes, disputing -about his change,” said the young gentleman who was -seated beside the coachman on the right-hand carriage; -for on this latitudinarian day English reserve was laid -aside, and strangers spoke together as familiar friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the General’s fine barouche was the center of observation -just now, and all on account of the General’s -“gorilla footman,” as the Bohemians called young Jacob.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Unluckily for his peace to-day, Jacob, with one of the -best hearts in the world, and a tolerably good brain, possessed -all the peculiar features of his race. He had the -low, receding forehead, broad, flat nose, wide, full lips, and -small, retiring chin, jet black skin, and crisp, woolly hair -of the pure Guinea negro—all of which was likely to -render him an object of great amusement to the malicious -crowd, and annoyance to his master and friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I say, old cove, you show it free now, like the circus -men do the clowns when they go in procession; but how -much are you going to charge a head to see it when you -get it in a booth on Epsom Heath?” called out one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Marster!” cried Jacob, half crying and ready to swear—“Marster! -only let me, and I’ll jump down and lick the -lot of ’em!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I say, fellows, it can talk!” cried another.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let me at ’em!” begged Jacob.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense, my boy! You’d get trampled to death -under the horses’ feet before you could grapple with any -of them. They mean no harm. It is the Derby Day. -Give them back as good as they send.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I haven’t got it in me,” sobbed Jake.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! yes you have. Let ’em have it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Jake’s idea of “letting ’em have it” was of a more -substantial sort than mere words. Stooping down, he -armed himself with a couple of ale bottles, and flourishing -one in each hand, he threatened one and all of his -aggressors.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh! eh! is it growing vicious?” called out some one -with a shout of laughter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The ale bottle flew from Jake’s right hand and knocked -off the hat of the speaker.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I say! look here! none of that now, you know! -that’s carrying things a little too far even for the Derby -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>Day!” exclaimed the bare-headed individual, groping in -vain for his hat, but keeping his good humor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! see here, governor! Here’s your ape getting -dangerous! chain it hup before it ’urts some un!” sang -out another.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Away flew the other ale bottle and struck this counsellor -in the chest and knocked him heels over head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hi! ho! here! where’s the police!” called out a half -score of voices.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the police were not forthcoming, and the floored -man picked himself up, laughing merrily and saying -good-humoredly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Boys, we’re getting the worst of it! Better let the -gorilla alone!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the General turned to his coachman, frowning.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Jacob. I am ashamed of you! Here’s a set of poor -fellows out for their rare holiday chaffing you a little -with harmless words, and you answer them with hard -blows!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You told me to ‘let ’em have it,’” muttered Jake.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But not in <em>blows</em>; in <em>words</em>, you stupid fellow!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I couldn’t answer ’em so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But suppose they retorted in kind? They can throw -missiles as well as you can.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They are welkim!” grumbled Jake.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What, and hurt and maybe kill the ladies? Jake -I’m more ashamed of you than ever.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>A commotion in the crowd ahead, a gradual unloosening -of the lock of wheels, warned our travelers that the -way was clear, and carriages of all sorts moved on, at -first slowly, and then as the throng thinned more rapidly, -until it began to look like the multitudinous race of fast -trotting horses in harness on the Bloomingdale Road.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the quiet “chaffing” became hilarious shouting as -one after another of fast drivers distanced all competitors. -And now indeed the Derby dust arose in clouds like the -sirocco of the desert until every man and mother’s son -had to put on a veil.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Old General Lyon resisted the fate as long as he could, -until, as Harry Spencer had predicted, his eyes, ears -nostrils and bronchial tubes were all so much obstructed -that he was nearly blinded, deafened, suffocated and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>overwhelmed. Then he let Anna dust off his face and -head with an extra pocket-handkerchief, and tie a gray -veil about his hat, as they drove on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I wish some sort of a veil could be contrived to protect -these hedges,” said Anna, pointing to the boundaries -of the road on the right and left. “It is a sin to cover -these lovely green hedges with a thick coat of dust. But, -oh, grandpa! look, there’s poetry for you! look at that -sign!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The old gentleman turned and smiled to see a rural -looking wayside inn, embowered in creeping vines and -running roses, and overshadowed by trees, and bearing -the inscription in two lines of rhyme:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Good Beer</div> - <div class='line'>Sold Here.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>A little group of foot passengers to the Derby were sitting -on a bench under a spreading tree, testing the qualities -of the said “good beer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>This and many other simple little way sidescenes, illustrative -of English rural roadside life, which the occasional -opening of the crowd allowed them to catch a glimpse of, -remained as pleasant pictures in the gallery of memory to -contemplate in after-days.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were now ascending a graduated hill; when they -reached its summit they were comparatively free from -the crowd. The carriages before them had gone rapidly -on downward; the carriages behind them were coming -slowly up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Order your coachman to draw up here, General. We -are near Epsom, and from this rising ground, by standing -up in your carriage and using your field-glass, you may -take a bird’s-eye view of Epsom Hill and Heath, with its -surroundings,” said Mr. Tredegar, adding example to precept -by stopping his own horse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General gave orders in accordance with this advice, -and then mounted on his seat, and levelled his field-glass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heavens!” he exclaimed, in his unbounded -amazement.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Under his eyes lay a scene of its kind not to be equalled -in this world.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>There were from four to five hundred thousand people -of all ranks, sexes, ages, and conditions,—some with their -horses, carriages, and liveried servants; others with their -donkey-carts, and tents, and wares for sale; others again -with only their own weary limbs and haggard faces, and -fluttering rags,—all gathered together on the hill and -heath of Epsom, or pressing thither by every highway leading -from every point of the compass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I never expected to see such a crowd this side of the -Judgment-day!” said General Lyon, as he resigned the -glass to Anna and assisted her to rise on the seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna gazed long and thoughtfully at the wonderful -scene, and then she said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it reminds one of the Judgment-day in something -else beside its great crowd—here, as on that coming day, -saint and sinner, prince and beggar stand together as they -will stand there! It is an exciting and a depressing scene, -grandpa,” she said, as she restored the glass and resumed -her seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla next arose to take a view. And she was no -doubt as deeply impressed by the vastness of the multitude -assembled before her as her uncle and cousin had been, -but her chief thought was still,</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How shall I ever be able to catch a glimpse of my -Alick in such a boundless crowd as this?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick was standing by her side, using his own field-glass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Worth crossing the ocean to see, is it not, Drusa?” -he asked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; even though we know little of horses, and less -of races, and least of all which is likely to win the Derby.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Fairy Queen,’ is the favorite, I believe.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What did you say, Dick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I say Mr. Chisholm Cheke’s ‘Fairy Queen’ is the -favorite!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What favorite? Whose favorite?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tut, Drusa! Why the favorite of the turf, of the -stables, and of the betting men! The horse upon whose -success the most money is staked, the one that is expected -to win the Derby!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But if everybody knows which horse is likely to win -the Derby, why does any one ever bet on any other?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>“Ah! that I can’t tell,” said Dick, shrugging his shoulders. -“Only this,—the favorite does not <em>always</em> win, in -fact <em>seldom</em> does, I think; it is generally some dark horse -that wins the race.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dark horse? Do the dark ones run better than the -light ones?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Drusa, what a novice you are, my child! I don’t -mean a dark-colored horse; I mean a horse kept dark, -<i><span lang="fr">perdu</span></i>, in retirement, that nobody talks about or hears -about, except certain knowing ones.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And does the dark horse always win?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, not always, but often; sometimes some intermediate, -honest horse, that is neither bragged about on -the one hand, nor ‘kept dark’ on the other, surprises -everybody by winning the race, and also occasionally the -favorite wins.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, we will not bet; we are all conscientiously opposed -to betting; but if we were not, we should stake -our money upon the dark horse. But how would we -know him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We shouldn’t know him at all; none but the few in -the secret would know him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, come, my children, we are being left behind,” -said the General, impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I do not care much for the winning horse, and -that is the truth. But I care a great deal for the human -interest in this vast scene! Will the Derby ever go -down and pass away, like the other glories of this world? -And will we say to our great grandchildren in the Derby -of their days: ‘Ah, you should have seen the Derby as -it was when we were young!’ Shall we talk so to our -descendants, Dick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Goodness knows! The Derby may continue to increase -in importance; it ought to do so; I hope it may,” -replied Dick, as he resumed his seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Jacob started his horses and they drove down the hill -at a very rapid rate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On each side of the road were now to be seen the -dustbrown tents of the gypsy wanderers; the decorated -booths of the showmen; the tempting fruit-stalls of the -costermongers; and among them all, groups of country -people and knots of cockneys, and all the heterogeneous -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>assembly of bipeds and quadrupeds that on the Derby -Day infest the neighborhood of Epsom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Slowly making their way through all these, our party -reached and passed the first barrier (for Epsom Heath is -divided off into circles, the entrance to each succeeding one -towards the hill or the Grand Stand, commanding a -higher and higher price).</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our friends found themselves upon the heath, that -was occupied by very much the same sort of crowd which -had obstructed the roads leading hither. It was dotted -all over by gipsies’ tents, fruit-stalls, refreshment-stands, -costermongers’ carts, and so forth, and so forth, and animated -by idlers, loafers, peddlers, ballad-singers, image-boys, -fortune-tellers, “confidence” men, and women, -thieves, gamblers, and, in short, every variety of the -lower order of human nature.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Passing through all these—passing barrier after barrier, -and circle after circle, our party at last found themselves -upon the fine breezy and commanding hill, which -was comparatively free from the crowd, and occupied -only by the carriages of the nobility and gentry, filled -with fair women and well-behaved men.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XVI.<br> <span class='large'>THE GIPSIES.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Theirs is the deep lore of the olden time,</div> - <div class='line'>And in it are fine mysteries of the stars</div> - <div class='line'>Solved with a cunning wisdom, and strange thoughts,</div> - <div class='line'>Half prophecy, half poetry, and dreams</div> - <div class='line'>Clearer than truth, and speculations wild</div> - <div class='line'>That touched the secrets of your very soul.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The General and his friends selected the best front -sites that were left vacant, and had their carriages turned -around and the horses taken from them and led away to -distant stalls and fodder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then all reseated themselves and looked around them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What a sight! what a crowd! what a turmoil! Far -as the eye could reach on every side a turbulent sea of -humanity!</p> - -<p class='c012'>Where could the people all have sprung from? Had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>London emptied itself of its population upon Epsom -Heath? Had Paris, St. Petersburg and all the great continental -cities contributed their thousands? Had earth -given up her dead and ocean her prey to swell this crowd?</p> - -<p class='c012'>At first, as I said, all seemed but a turbulent sea of -human beings; but gradually individual images came -out of the confusion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Most prominent among these was the Grand Stand, an -elevated and railed platform or gallery where the gamblers -in horseflesh congregated to make up their betting-books -and watch the race.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And most interesting, especially to ladies, was the -Royal Box, with its cushioned seats, surmounted by its -crown and canopy of state all in burning scarlet and gold. -Neither the queen nor any of the princesses occupied the -Royal Box; only three or four of the princes, with their -lords in waiting, were present.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet toward that box many field-glasses were leveled—Anna’s -among the rest, for—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“A substitute shines brightly as a king,</div> - <div class='line'>Until a king be by.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>And failing the queen’s presence, the queen’s sons were -objects of absorbing interest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Neither Victoria nor any of the princesses are here,” -said Anna, lowering her glass with a look of disappointment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The queen nor the princesses ever come to the Derby. -You may see them at the Ascot Races, however, which -are considered more aristocratic, though very much less -famous and popular than these,” replied Mr. Spencer, who -had left his seat in the gig to come and stand beside General -Lyon’s barouche and talk to the young people.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna next criticized the splendid dresses of the ladies -who filled the open carriages on this hill; and for no -occasion do ladies dress more splendidly than for the -Derby Day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good gracious! Half the milliners and jewelers’ -establishments in London and Paris must be emptied of -their contents,” she exclaimed, as her eyes roved over -the various and dazzling display.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Out from the seething mass of humanity on the heath -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>below came other individual pictures. Here and there a -poor little pale, hollow-cheeked boy creeping feebly along -and peering hungrily about for stray crusts and bones, -or apple parings, and orange peel, dropped from the -luncheon hamper of some prosperous feeder; now and -then some grandly beautiful woman whose flaunting dress -and insolent air proclaimed her a very far fallen angel; -here and there some sunny-eyed child of Italy picking up -a few pennies by singing the “wild songs of his dear -native land,” and everywhere a leather-visaged gipsy -crone trying to improve her own fortunes by telling other -people’s; everywhere professors of all sorts of irregular -arts and sciences; everywhere traders in all kinds of contraband -goods and chattels; and everywhere were the -“efficient police force” trying very successfully not to -keep order; trying very hard not to interfere with the -lawful or unlawful practices of the poor, on this one -gracious day of their license and their happiness. A pickpocket, -if detected, would be arrested, of course; but as -for the rest, gipsies might tell fortunes, and beggars beg, -and starving little children pilfer, with none to punish -them less merciful than the All-Father.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was so much to see! such an infinite variety of -life! The Derby race, though the greatest feature of the -day, was not a thousandth part of the sights. If no race -had come off, the assembly itself was well worth coming -to see, and sitting through a whole day to study.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna, Drusilla and General Lyon, were well content -to occupy their seats and spend their time in calmly contemplating -the scene before them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the three young men, Dick, Spencer and Tredegar, -wished to mingle with the active life below, and so, making -an excuse to go and get cards of the race they bowed -and left the hill and soon disappeared in the crowd on -the heath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Many other gentlemen who were in attendance upon -the ladies on the hill, also left their carriages and went -down; others who had been down were now coming up;—so -that there was a continual moving about of foot-passengers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Look, look, Drusilla! there is a gipsy telling fortunes -at that carriage next but one to us, on the left. Grandpa, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>when she has finished there, do beckon her to come here!” -eagerly exclaimed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense, my child! you never want the crone to -tell your fortune.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, but I do indeed!” exclaimed Anna, excitedly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tut, tut! you don’t believe in such tomfoolery!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I don’t believe in it of course; but I want to hear -what the gipsy will have to say to me for all that. Do -watch her, grandpa; and, as soon as she has done with -those ladies call her here. Consider, I never saw a gipsy -except upon the stage—never saw a real gipsy in my life -before, and may never have a chance of seeing one again. -Oh, do call her here, grandpa, as soon as she is at liberty!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, well, my dear, you have the right to make a -goose of yourself if you please, and I will help you to do -so. I will beckon her presently.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, there’s Dick come back! Dick, come here, I want -you!” called Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Dick, who had left his companions among their betting -friends and returned to the hill alone, now came up -to the carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick, I’m so glad you’ve come back! There’s a gipsy -telling fortunes at that carriage—I want you to bring her -here to tell ours.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Absurdity, Anna dear! you cannot mean to countenance -such impostors?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, that is so uncharitable! How do you know -they are impostors? How do you know but that they -believe in their own art?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do <em>you</em> believe in it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; but I want to have some fun out of the gipsy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well; I consent provided it is meant in jest and -not in earnest.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And here, Dick, let us put the gipsy’s powers to a test. -You come in and sit down by me—then take little Lenny -in your arms and play papa. Little Lenny being fair and -flaxen-haired and blue-eyed, with all the Lyon features, -is much more like me than like his own mother whom in -truth he does not at all resemble, and he will easily be -taken for ours. And the more easily because you and I -look as if we had reached years of discretion, while Drusilla -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>seems but a child. Let us play a trick on the gipsy, -and ask her to foretell <em>our</em> boy’s future.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ha! ha! ha! that will be good!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not one word of the conversation since Dick’s return -did Drusilla hear—with her field-glass raised to her eyes, -she was gazing at a particular point on the Grand Stand; -for, even in that boundless crowd, her love had discovered -her Alick—but, ah, discovered him among the desperate -gamblers of the betting ring!</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was blind and deaf to everything else.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile the gipsy had drawn something nearer to -the General’s barouche. She was in fact standing beside -the very next carriage, trying to wheedle the occupants -to have their fortunes told; but they all—a circle of demure -women—sternly warned the sibyl off and threatened -her with the police, at which she laughed and shook -her crisp, black curls.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The police would not trouble a poor gipsy wife like -herself,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then General Lyon bent over the side of his barouche, -and showing her a broad, silver crown, said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come here, good woman, and tell these young ladies’ -fortunes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, Heaven bless your handsome face, kind gentleman -but I would like to tell <em>yours</em>, too, for a fine fortune it has -been, and is, and is to be!” said the gipsy coming up to -the carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was a small, slight woman, lithe and graceful like -all her race, with a swarthy and somewhat wrinkled face; -with deep-set, brilliant black eyes; crisply curling, tendril-like -black hair; and well-marked black eyebrows. She -did not wear the traditional red cloak and plaid head -kerchief—those have long passed away even from among -her tribe but she wore rather tawdry and shabby finery—a -striped skirt, a black shawl, a straw bonnet trimmed -with ribbons and flowers of many colors, red predominating. -And, upon the whole, her appearance was picturesque -and pleasing. Neither did she address her dupes in the -poetic language of the ideal gipsy—her words and manner -were as real as herself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“God save you, fair gentlemen! God save you, sweet -ladies! Shall the poor gipsy tell your fortunes? I see -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>good luck in <em>your</em> face, pretty lady! I see great good -luck! Give the poor gipsy a little, little bit of silver to -cross your hand with, and she will look and see what the -great good fortune is that is in store for you. Do, pretty -lady,” she pleaded in a very sweet, soft, wheedling tone -as she held out her hand to Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mrs. Hammond dropped a shilling in her palm and, -smiling, said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My fortune is already told, good woman, but I want -you to foretell the future of my dear little son here.” -And she lifted Lenny from Dick’s arms to her own lap.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla with a half-suppressed exclamation, now -looked around.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Anna gave her a comically beseeching took, and -she yielded the point and turned away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gipsy seemed not to notice this little by-play. She -stood with her hands folded upon her breast and her eyes -fixed upon the ground.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, gipsy! look upon my little son here and read -his future,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gipsy woman raised her glittering black eyes, and, -smiling, shook her tendril-like black curls and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, pretty, fair lady! You think the poor gipsy can -tell what is <em>to come</em>, yet is so blind she cannot see what -is <em>now</em>!—no!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What do you mean, good woman?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The boy is not your son, sweet lady.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not my son! Why, look at him! He is the very -image of me!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is very like you, pretty lady; and that shows him -to be of your race; but he is not your son.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you know that?” questioned Anna, beginning -to wonder at the woman’s knowledge.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By my art. You have no son, sweet lady. You will -never have a son; but——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, don’t tell me that, gipsy! I didn’t give you a -shilling to purchase bad news.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A sovereign will not buy good news unless it is true, -pretty lady; and the gipsy’s words are true. I was going -to tell you, though you have no son, you will have many -fair daughters, who will live and grow up and marry and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>bear many fine sons, who will grow up and be great men -in the land.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is foretelling the long future with a notable blessing!” -laughed Anna. “But I wish you had promised -these fine sons to me instead of to my future daughters. I -don’t care anything about those very shadowy young -ladies. I don’t know them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gipsy turned to Dick, and with her musical whine -pleaded:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Kind, handsome gentleman, do cross the poor gipsy -wife’s hand with a little, little bit of silver, for telling all -about your wife’s daughters and daughters’ sons, who -will be rulers in the land beyond the sea.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you know that lady is my wife?” inquired -Dick, much astonished.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! good gentleman, can the gipsy know the future -and not know the present? Now, kind, handsome gentleman, -give the poor gipsy a bit of silver for good luck—the -poor gipsy, sweet gentleman! who sees such great, good -fortune for you, and none at all for herself!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then she is no true seeress, or she would see this piece -of good fortune coming to her,” said Dick, as in the largeness -of his heart and the extravagance of his habits he -put into the gipsy’s hands the great American gold coin, -the double eagle, worth nearly five sovereigns.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gipsy had never seen such a coin in her life. It -inspired her, and for once she broke into something like -poetry.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, noble gentleman! you have made the poor gipsy -rich and happy. Ah! kind gentleman, may the stars -rain down blessings on your head as bright as their own -beams! May flowers spring up under your footsteps -wherever you tread! May——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick!” laughed Anna, breaking into the discourse -and cutting short the rhapsody, “I shall lend you out to -some of our old neighbors to walk their barren gardens -into bloom!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come,” said Dick, to change the subject—“come, -gipsy, tell my little cousin’s fortune here. Will she live -to grow up and get married?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gipsy turned at his bidding and looked at Drusilla -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>whose childlike face might have deceived eyes less keenly -penetrating than those of the gipsy seeress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Cross the poor gipsy’s hand with a little, little bit of -silver, sweet lady, and let her tell your fortune, my lady? -The gipsy sees rare good luck in your pretty face, my -lady!” said the woman, in a wheedling tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What young creature, unsatisfied and with a deep heart -stake in life, is not in some degree a prey to superstition -and credulity?—is not in secret a would-be diviner of -dreams, interpreter of omens, consulter of the stars, reader -of the future? The restless, longing, impatient heart cannot -wait the slow revelations of time; it would, with rash -hand, rend aside the veil and know the worst or best at -once.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So it was with Drusilla now. She dropped a silver -crown in the gipsy’s hand, and then, half in faith and half -in scorn of that misplaced faith, she held out her palm.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The gipsy glanced slightly at the palm, but gazed earnestly -in the face of the young matron.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My lady, you have been a wife and you are a mother, -you have had trouble—long trouble for so short a life, and -a great trouble for so gentle a lady; but it is gone now, -and it will never come back any more.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank Heaven for that,” murmured Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you are not satisfied yet. There is something -wanted, my lady. You have a hungry, hungry heart, and -a begging eye. You are longing and famishing for something, -my lady, and you will get it; for the hungry heart -is a mighty heart, and must prevail; and the begging eye -is a conquering eye that will overcome. Sweet, my lady, -grief has gone away, never to come back to you; and joy -will soon come, never to leave you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, if I were sure that were true. If I could only -believe that!” exclaimed Drusilla, earnestly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You may believe it, my lady. You will soon see it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you know it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By my art,” answered the gipsy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then she turned to General Lyon and said, coaxingly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! kind, handsome gentleman, you will cross the poor -gipsy’s hand with a little silver to help her, poor thing, -and she will tell you such a good fortune!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>“My fortune is all told these many years past, good -woman,” said the General, with a sigh that did not escape -the gipsy’s keen eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! don’t say so, good, dear gentleman. You have -many long and happy years of life to live yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am an old man, gipsy; I have lived out my life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah no, noble gentleman, not so. You are in your -prime. Ah me! with your grand form and handsome -face, you could make many a sweet, pretty lady’s heart -ache yet if you chose; yes, that you could.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, come, my good woman, that is going a little too -far,” laughed the General, not displeased. What old gentleman -ever is with a little flattery?</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is going a <em>great deal</em> too far, grandpa. Come now, -don’t let her be putting courtship and matrimony into -your head. I won’t have any young grandmamma set up -at Old Lyon Hall to lord it over me,” laughed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense, my girl! The only way in which I may ever -make any lady’s heart ache, will be by getting the gout, -and growing cross over it, and growling at you and Drusilla -from morning until night,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At that moment a policeman stepped up and put his -hand on the gipsy’s shoulder, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, Gentilly, I have had my eye on you this half -hour. Move on.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, bless the dear blue eyes of him,” coaxed the fortune-teller, -turning around and patting the man’s cheeks, -“he’ll never make the poor old gipsy wife move on, now -that she has come up to her luck—such luck, my darling. -Only see what the grand, noble young gentleman has -given the poor gipsy. When the race is over, come up to -my tent, pet, and have a pot of porter and a plate of biled -beef and carrots with his old mother,” she added, patting -him on the cheek again and turning from him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s the way, you see, sir—that’s always the way -with Gentilly,” said the policeman, apologetically, to the -old gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You know her?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Know Gentilly? Bless you, sir, everybody on the race-course -knows Gentilly and her sister, Patience.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you know no harm of her, I dare say, although -you are a police officer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>“Well, sir, beyond——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, he is not going to tell lies on the old gipsy!—It -will be three o’clock. Come up at my tent for the biled -beef and carrots and the pot of porter,” said the fortune-teller, -laying her hands upon the lips of the police officer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At that moment the two young men stepped up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gentilly turned to them immediately.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tell your fortune, sweet young gentlemen? Cross -the poor gipsy’s hand with silver to tell your fortune.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, thank you,” laughed Spencer. “I have had my -fortune told by members of your tribe at least ten times -to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But here’s half a crown for you if you’ll only go away -and not bother,” added Tredegar, dropping the coin into -the gipsy’s hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Blessings on your handsome face, kind gentleman! -Ah! I could tell you of a fair lady who is thinking of -you,” coaxed Gentilly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And thinking what a long-legged, lantern-jawed, lankhaired -fright the Yankee boy is, no doubt. All right; -you can tell me that another time; but go now and don’t -bother.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, Gentilly, you really must move on,” added the -policeman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the fortune-teller, having gleaned all that she -could from the company, did move on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now an agitation like the movement of the wind -upon the waves of the sea or the leaves of the forest -swayed the vast multitude.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What’s the matter now?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The horses—they are coming,” answered Spencer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is it the great race? Are they going to start?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not just yet. They are being brought out and walked -around the course to be shown. Here they are!” exclaimed -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All in the barouche stood up, adjusted their field-glasses -and levelled them at the race-course that encircled the -field.</p> - -<p class='c012'>About thirty of the very finest horses in the world, decorated, -and ridden by small, light jockeys in parti-colored -suits and fancy caps, came on in procession and trotted -around the course. Some three years ago these horses -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>“the cream of the cream” of the horse nobility, had been -bred and born to order, and from that time trained for this -Derby—a most careful and costly preparation of three -years for a trial that would be decided in half an hour. -No wonder at the breathless interest they excited even -among those who had no stake in the race.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Involuntary exclamations of admiration and delight -burst from the ladies of our party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What beautiful creatures!” cried Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pity they can’t <em>all</em> win,” added Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The train of horses trotted out of their range of vision, -and disappeared from view on another section of the -circle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is there time to lunch before the great race?” inquired -Dick, with a hungry glance at the hampers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir; they start in fifteen minutes,” answered -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Those fifteen minutes passed in silent waiting. Fortune-telling, -small-trading, ballad-singing, eating and -drinking—all were suspended until the trial upon which -such immense stakes were laid should be over. It was a -holiday,—a festival; yet the hush that preceded the -great event of the day, was like the awful pause before -an execution.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At length the spell was broken. The word went -forth:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They’re starting!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Three hundred thousand people were on their feet in -an instant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They’re coming!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Field-glasses were raised and necks were stretched, and -eyes were strained.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here they are! Here they are!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yes, here they are. The flying train of meteors flashing -past! They are gone while we look! Unaccustomed -eyes cannot trace their flight, or distinguish one horse -from another in the lightning-like passage. A moment -more and the goal is won!</p> - -<p class='c012'>By whom?</p> - -<p class='c012'>It is not certainly known to the crowd just yet. They -say:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lightfoot!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>“Wing!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Wonder!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>No, none of these. The number flies up on the winning -post:</p> - -<p class='c012'>Number Seven!</p> - -<p class='c012'>And a thousand voices cry out:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Fairy Queen!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yes, the favorite has won the race; and Mr. Chisholm -Cheke has made his fortune. Some few others have won -much money, and many have lost, and some are ruined.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Do not look towards the Grand Stand. The haggard -faces of those ruined gamesters will haunt your dreams -to your life’s end.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was wonderful how soon after the great act of this -drama has been performed that the uncompromised crowd -subsided into comparative calmness, and betook themselves -again to their outside amusements—their small -trading, fortune-telling, ballad-singing, et cetera, while -waiting for the next race.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon ordered up his hampers, and his party -had luncheon. After they had finished, the fragments of -their feast were distributed to the little beggars that -thronged around their carriage-wheels.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At four o’clock our party left the ground to return to -London.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The evening drive back to London was attended with -all the incidents of the morning drive to Epsom—a hundred-fold -increased—the crowd was thicker, the crush -closer, the noise louder, the dust higher, the danger -greater.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Through all these, however, our party passed safely, and -reached their apartments at the Morley House in time for -an early tea.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XVII.<br> <span class='large'>HOW THE PARTED MET.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>They seemed to those who saw them most,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The careless friends of every day,</div> - <div class='line'>Her smile was still serene and sweet,</div> - <div class='line in2'>His courtesy was free and gay;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet if by one the others name</div> - <div class='line in2'>In some unguarded hour was heard,</div> - <div class='line'>The heart they deemed so cold and tame</div> - <div class='line'>Would flutter like a captured bird.—<span class='sc'>Moncton Milnes</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>A few days after the Derby, Anna and Drusilla sat in -their private parlor at the hotel, waiting for the return of -the General and Dick, who had gone out to keep an engagement -with Francis Tredegar, but had promised to be -back in time to take the ladies to the Tower.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Lenny was out with his nurse in the square.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The conversation between the two young women turned -upon the gipsies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is wonderful, their seeming powers of prophecy or -second sight,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I wash I could know their skill to be second sight, -since they prophesied to me such smooth things; but, in -truth, I think it was only <span class='fss'>INSIGHT</span>,” replied Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Insight?’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nothing more.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But how did she know that Lenny was not my son -when I told her he was?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By that same gift of insight, which I think they cultivate -to a great perfection. She read you, Anna—she -saw through you. She knew by your manner that you -were Dick’s wife; but also that your bright face had -never been clouded by a mother’s cares.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And by the same power she divined that you were -both wife and mother.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; she looked in my face, not in my hand. They -say that ‘every face is a history, or a prophecy,’—certainly -every face seems to be both to these skilful physiognomists, -the gipsies.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>“It is their insight, then, that gives them such knowledge -of human nature?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course. They may be very ignorant of books, but -they are very learned in men and women.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You must have studied the gipsy while she was studying -you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I did, Anna. I watched her and others of her tribe -while they were telling fortunes. I saw their <em>in</em>sight -gave them a <em>fore</em>sight that the ignorant and superficial -might mistake for supernatural powers of second sight -and prophecy. I saw how they worked. For instance, -they know as a general fact that the wishes of the young -run upon love; those of the middle-aged upon money and -worldly success; those of the old upon long life. Therefore, -to the young they always promise success in love; -to the mature, success in money matters; to the aged, -length of days. If they see a look of sorrow upon a young -face, and no apparent cause, like a suit of deep mourning, -for it, they will tell the dupe that he or she has been -crossed in love, but that all will end well. If a look of -care upon a middle-aged face, they will speak of monetary -anxieties; but they will also promise a fortunate issue -to the difficulty. If of weariness upon an old face, -they will still talk of long and happy years to come. -Moreover, they think since opposites usually attract each -other, that it is safe to tell a blonde young lady that a -dark young gentleman is thinking of her, and a brunette -that her thoughts favor the attachment of a certain fair -‘complected’ gentleman; and generally they hit the -truth.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, the rule most generally holds good. Witness -Alick, Dick, you and me. Alick, a blonde, jilted me, another -blonde, for you, a brunette. And I was very willing -to be left free to marry my dark-haired Dick.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>While Anna spoke the door opened and little Lenny -entered, dragging in his nurse, and full of excitement.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Man! man! div Lenny dit!” he exclaimed, holding -out a silver whistle to view, and then putting it to his lips -and blowing a shrill blast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! oh! oh! goodness sake what lunatic gave the -boy that? We shall be deafened!” exclaimed Anna, -clapping her hands to her ears.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>Drusilla trembled with pleasure, for she instinctively -knew the donor of the whistle; but she smiled and lifted -the boy in her arms, called Pina to follow, and went to -her own room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who gave it to him, Pina?” she asked, as soon as -she had shut the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“His father, ma’am.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tell me all about it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We were walking around the square, when all of a -sudden who should come up but Mr. Alick—I mean Lord -Killpeople, as they call him here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Killcrichtoun, Pina.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Killchristians, ma’am; it’s all the same, only -worse, because of course it is much more devilisher, begging -your pardon, ma’am, to kill Christians than it is to -do to common people. Any ways, up he comes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And——What then? Go on.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I didn’t go in, ma’am, though I was minded to. I did -as you directed me to do on such occasions. I stopped -and made a curtsy, and handed little Lenny forward so as -to place him in front of me facing of his father. And -says he:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘How do you do, Pina? When did you arrive? Whom -did you come with?’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And then, without waiting for me to answer them -questions, he lifted up little Lenny in his arms, and says -he:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Whose child is this?’ And says I, ‘He is General -Lyon’s grandnephew, sir, if you please;’ for I was sure -all the time he knowed well enough it was his own.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘I didn’t ask you whose nephew he is; I asked you -whose child he is.’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘The same child whose hair you cut, sir, please,’ I answered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Bosh, girl, you trifle with me! Whose son is he?’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Please, sir, I thought you knew. He is Mrs. Alexander -Lyon’s <em>own</em> son, and Mr. and Mrs. Hammond’s and -General Lyon’s godson.’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Humph! what’s his name?’ says he.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Master Leonard Lyon, sir,’ says I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Then as I am Lord Killcrichtoun, he is the Master of -Killcrichtoun!’”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>“‘<span class='sc'>Lords and Masters</span>, sir! you don’t say so?’ says I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And he frowned at me, black as thunder; but little -Lenny began to prattle to him, and he smiled and told me -to follow him. And he took us to a fine silversmith’s -shop in the Strand, and bought him this whistle. And -then he told me to take the boy home to his mother, as -it was growing too warm to keep him out in the sun.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>While Pina spoke, Drusilla’s tears fell fast; but she -wiped them away and inquired:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You know, Pina, when we first came here, he was -lodging in this house. But I have not seen him lately. -Do you know whether he is still here?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, ma’am, he isn’t. I asked that very question of -the waiter; and he told me ‘my lord’ had gone and taken -apartments at ‘Mivart’s.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We drove him away, I suppose,” muttered Drusilla -to herself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ma’am, I don’t think Mrs. Hammond or Mr. Dick, or -the General knows of Mr. Alick being about. If they ask -me who gave Master Lenny the whistle, am I to tell?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly, Pina.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla was interrupted by a rap at the door. The -voice of Anna without called:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Grandpa and Dick have returned, and the carriage is -waiting, Drusa. Are you ready?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite ready, dear,” answered Drusilla, hastily tying -on her bonnet, and then going out and joining Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They went to the drawing-room, Drusilla leading Lenny -who was shrilly blowing upon his whistle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<i><span lang="it">Miserabile!</span></i> Young gentleman, that will not do. The -other guests will lay complaints and the proprietor will -give us warning,” exclaimed General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who gave Lenny that?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Man, man in tware give Lenny dat,” said the imp, -taking the instrument of torture from his lips to reply, -and then putting back and puffing out his cheeks to -blow an ear-piercing blast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Christopher Columbus! that will never do. ‘Man in -the square.’ What man gave the child such a nuisance -as that? Was it Spencer, or any of our people?” demanded -the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It was his father,” calmly replied Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>A sort of panic fell upon the party. The short spell of -silence was broken by General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph! humph! humph! humph! so <em>he’s</em> turned up -again, has he? Where did he see the boy, my dear?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Uncle,” said Drusilla, “he was lodging at this house, -when we first came. He left, I think, the same evening. -But he knew that we also were lodging here; for while -we were driving out to leave our cards he came in and -cut off a lock of little Lenny’s hair, and took it away with -him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When was this?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The first day we went driving, uncle; the day before -the Derby.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph! humph! humph! And he left the same -evening? and he has not been here since?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I believe so, uncle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph, humph; it is clear that the sight of us sent -him away. I don’t wonder at that. I only wonder it did -not blast him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, uncle, uncle!” pleaded Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, your love may in time—or in eternity—redeem -the fellow, for ought I know. But it has not yet -changed him into an angel of light or even into a decently -behaved devil, for a very devil with any decency left in -him would have come round long before this. Well, well, -there, I see how much I distress you. I will say no -more, my dear; I will say no more.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla bowed in silence and turned away. Her heart -was too full for utterance. Her voice was choked with -emotion. She felt all the more deeply hurt by her uncle’s -severe strictures upon her Alick, because she knew them -to be the expression of his real and but too well-founded -opinion. And neither could she resent them, coming -from him. She owed him too vast a debt of gratitude. -He had saved her life and her child’s life in their utmost -extremity. And besides, he was Alick’s uncle, and the head -of his family; he had himself, in the person of his beloved -granddaughter, been deeply wronged by his nephew and -so had the right to sit in judgment on him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Thus because she heard this blame cast upon her still -beloved Alick without the moral power of resenting it, -she suffered in silence.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>Not long, however. The cloud soon lifted itself and -rolled away. Little Lenny came to her with his whistle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Put dit ’way. Lenny tired. Lenny daw ate,” he said, -pushing the toy up into her lap.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Put it away, mamma. Lenny is tired, and Lenny’s -jaws ache and no wonder,” said Anna, smiling. “We -are all glad that Master Lenny’s jaws can ache with all -his tooting, as well as our ears.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“’Top naddin’,” answered Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Stop nagging’? Where did he pick up that phrase, -eh, Master Lenny? You don’t hear it from any of us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, my dears, if we are to see the Tower before dinner, -we had better start at once. Is Lenny to go with us, -Drusa?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir, if you please.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You know that I always like to have the little fellow.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I shall stipulate that the whistle be left behind. -We shall find instruments of torture enough in the Tower; -though I don’t believe the utmost ingenuity of cruelty -ever thought of a child’s whistle wherewith to torment a -victim. That was left for Mr. Alick.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, come, Anna, I will not have another word said -against Alick, since it grieves our darling here. But I -would like to know what keeps him hanging about here -so long. He has been here now nearly two years.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Uncle,” said Drusilla, who now thought that she might -as well tell all her news at once—news which indeed she -had intended to tell, when the subject of Alick’s presence -was first introduced, but which was then arrested on her -lips by the indignant animadversions of General Lyon—“Uncle -do you remember reading last winter in the London -Times of a young American gentleman who claimed, -through his mother, the Barony of Killcrichtoun?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I—think I do remember some such asinine proceeding -on the part of a young countryman of ours.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He was your nephew, uncle, and he has made good the -claim. He is now Lord Killcrichtoun. That is the reason -why he stays in England, I suppose.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Whe—ew!” whistled the old gentleman, slowly, adding -<i><span lang="it">sotto voce</span></i>, so as not to be heard by Drusilla:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I knew he was a scamp; but never suspected him of -being an ass.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>But Dick had handed Drusilla, Lenny and Anna into the -carriage, and was waiting to perform the same service for -his uncle, who now entered and took his seat. The drive -from Charing Cross to the Tower was comparatively short, -but very interesting, taking our travelers through the -most ancient and historical portions of Old London.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drawing near the grim, old fortress of the kings of England, -they saw rising above the thickly-crowded buildings -of the city and the turbid waters of the Thames, the central -keep, or citadel, known as the White Tower, and surrounded -by its double line of fortified walls and by its dry -moat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our party alighted from their carriage at the great gate, -flanked by embattled turrets at the south-western angle of -the walls.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Having paid their sixpence each as entrance fee, they -passed over the stone bridge across the moat and found -themselves within the outer ward, between the two lines of -wall.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here, overpowered by the spirit of the past, they looked -around them, feeling something of the awe that children -feel in a churchyard in the dusk of evening. The spirit of -the past was indeed before them—and not only in the -hoary walls of the middle ages, but in the living creatures -of the day; for the warders of the Tower, the Extraordinary -Yeomen of the Royal Guard, commonly called the -“Beef Eaters,” were dressed in the costume of the time of -Henry the Eighth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One of these stepped up to General Lyon, and saluting -respectfully, tendered his service as guide.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And there are the buildings and there the costumes, -this the ground and that the sky that met the eyes of beautiful -Anne Boleyn as she first came to this place a bride -and a queen, and last as a victim and a convict,” murmured -Drusilla, dreamily and half unconsciously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Queen Anne entered by that postern at the water side, -when she came here in state before her coronation; but -the last time she was here she was brought in by the -Traitors’ Gate, a few days before her execution,” said the -literal warder, speaking just as if he had been an eyewitness -to both proceedings.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla stared at him, and thought he really might -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>have been an actor in those long past tragedies; in his -costume of that day he looked like a ghost of the past.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where was Lady Jane Grey brought in when she was -brought here a prisoner!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Through the Traitors’ Gate.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, it seems that all who offended majesty in those -palmy days, however innocent they might have been, were -traitors. Where is that Traitors’ Gate?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Some distance down the southern side, my lady. We -will come around to it presently, when I will show it to -you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were now making the circuit of the Outer Ward, -passing up the west side.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There, sir, are the old buildings once appropriated to -the Mint, which is now removed to a handsome edifice on -Tower Hill, which I will show you,” said the guide, turning -to General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the General and Dick gave him their attention.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Anna and Drusilla were not interested in the mint, -and remembered Tower Hill only as the scene of the execution -of Lord Guilford Dudley.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Passing on, the guide pointed out many objects of interest; -the two strong bastions—the Legge Mount and the -Brass Mount—defending the north-western and north-eastern -angles of the outer wall; the Iron Gate and Tower -at the south-eastern angle; the site of the ancient Well -Tower, and the remains of the Cradle Tower. Thus they -came at last to St. Thomas’s Tower, which guards the -Traitors’ Gate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There it is, ladies and gentlemen,” said the guide.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, how many fair and stately heads have passed under -that awful arch!” murmured Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As for Drusilla, the time for talking of these things -was passed with her. She was too deeply impressed for -speech.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon and Mr Hammond instinctively uncovered -their heads in the presence of this dread monument of -human suffering.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, here passed to their deaths -the beautiful Queen Anne Boleyn, the fair Queen Katharine -Howard, the lovely Lady Jane Gray, the courtly Norfolk, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>the accomplished Burleigh, the venerable Thomas -More——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And hundreds and hundreds more—the victims of -tyranny and bigotry,” said General Lyon cutting short -the list.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s so, sir,” admitted the guide. “Ah, if you had -lived in those days!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Did <em>you</em>?” inquired Anna, turning upon him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The guide smiled.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I almost think I did, ma’am, sometimes—what with -living here, and what with going over the history so many -times a day. This way, ladies and gentlemen.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he led the way from the Traitors’ Gate straight -across the ward to an imposing gateway defended by the -Bloody Tower, leading through the embattled wall that -encloses the inner ward.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This tower,” said the guide, “is the scene of the murder -of the two young princes, sons of Edward the Fourth, -assassinated by order of their uncle, Richard the Third.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can we enter and examine it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The interior is not shown. It is occupied by some of -the officers of the guard as private lodgings.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, think of such an ancient and tragical place being -occupied as a dwelling, where people eat, drink, sleep and -live! I wonder what my spiritual condition would be if I -lived in such a place?” said Anna, gazing on the gray -walls as she passed them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This inner wall is fortified by twelve strong minor -towers, all of them formerly used as prison-lodgings. I -will show the most interesting of them as we go on,” said -the guide. “But first I will take you to the White Tower,” -he added, pointing to the imposing citadel that occupied -the center.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I should take that to be <em>the</em> Tower—the Tower <em>par-excellence</em>. -Pray, is that the place where the old monarchs -of England used to hold their court before Elizabeth’s -time?” inquired Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, ma’am. The old Palace of the Tower was pulled -down in the reign of James II. It occupied the south-east -angle of the inner ward—there, you see, on the site -of the present Ordnance office.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>“What a pity a building so replete with interesting -associations should have been destroyed,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There, ladies and gentlemen, that modern building -which you see against the south wall of the White Tower, -is the Horse Armory, where the equestrian statues of our -kings, in their ancient armors, are arranged in state!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, we have tickets for the Horse Armory—we -will see that at once, if you please!” said General -Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They crossed towards the White Tower and the Horse -Armory.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You now see before you, sir, the oldest and the newest -of these structures joined together. The White -Tower is the most ancient as well as the most imposing -of the buildings,” said the guide.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So I should judge from its great size and central position,” -remarked the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It was erected, sir, in 1080 by William the Conqueror -as a stronghold against enemies, the rebellious Saxons, -who opposed his reign. It is a magnificent specimen of -Norman architecture. The walls are of immense thickness -and strength. I will take you through it presently; -but here we are at the Horse Armory, which is the most -modern of all the tower buildings, quite modern indeed, -a work of to-day, comparatively speaking, having been -built in 1826. Your tickets, sir, if you please.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick, who held the tickets, passed them over to the -warder, who at once led his party to an ante-room of the -Armory, where they were to wait for a new guide to take -them through.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When you return here, sir,” said the guide, “I shall -be happy to show you through the White Tower, and all -the other towers of the inner ward.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the man touched his hat and fell back.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were several other groups of sight-seers waiting -in the ante-room for guides to conduct them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And presently these guides appeared, bringing out parties -they had been attending.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One of them beckoning our friends to follow him, led -them straightways into a vast hall, some hundred feet in -length by thirty in breadth, dimly lighted on each side -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>by stained glass windows and decorated on the walls and -ceiling with the most curious and valuable military -trophies and emblems.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In glass cases under these windows were exhibited such -wonders of warlike workmanship as are nowhere else -gathered together—helmets, gauntlets, shields, swords, -spears, lances and other specimens of armor, won from -many a battle-field, stormed fortress, or sacked city, of -all ages of history and all countries of the world. And -each curious specimen had its equally curious history or -legend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet our party scarcely glanced at any of these or heard -a word of the explanation uttered by their guide.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For down the centre of the vast hall, drawn up as in -line of battle, was a grim array of equestrian figures, -clothed in complete steel, being a line of the old kings of -England from the time of Edward the First to the time -of James the Second, each man and horse in the armor -of his day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This,” said the guide, pausing before the first figure, -that stood upon an elevated platform at the head of the -line, “is Edward the First, in the same armor he is said -to have worn on his invasion of Scotland. You perceive -he is represented as in the act of drawing his sword. -Observe, if you please, sir, this beautiful specimen of chain -armor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Thus the guide went on with his explanation of these -equestrian effigies of the old kings, calling the attention -of his hearers to the most remarkable features of the exhibition -and gaining their interest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Each member of this party was deeply absorbed in the -subject, but none so deeply as was Drusilla. Her susceptible -nature received all the influence, imbibed all the -inspiration of the scene. Her vivid imagination carried -her centuries back to the storied age in which all these -dead and gone heroes lived and acted.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Henry the Sixth,” said the guide, pausing before the -effigy of that unhappy king. “Notice, if you please, sir, -this splendid specimen of scale-armor, sometimes called -flexible armor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla gazed on, drinking in every word that fell -from this oracle’s lips and deep in the romance of mediæval -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>history when, suddenly looking up, she uttered a -half-suppressed cry.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Gone were the middle ages with their tales of chivalry -and minstrelsy! Vanished king and page, and knight -and squire! With her was only the present—the intensely -real present! For there, not ten feet from her, -stood her husband, Alexander Lyon, Lord Killcrichtoun! -His back was turned towards her. He stood over one of -the glass cases before the stained-glass window, examining -a curious Etruscan helmet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At her half-uttered cry he turned around—and their -eyes met—met for the first time since that cruel parting -on the wedding-night!</p> - -<p class='c012'>But he recognized her with a cold, uncompromising -stare. And then, seeing that the regards of her whole -party were drawn upon him, he seemed resolved to face -the situation. Walking deliberately towards them, he -raised his hat slowly, bowed deeply, passed them, and -went down to the opposite end of the armory.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph, humph, humph, humph!” muttered the General -to himself, “that is what I call cool impudence!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla could not speak or move. She stood transfixed -and motionless as any one of those grim effigies before -them. She stood thus until General Lyon kindly -broke the spell that bound her, by lightly laying his hand -upon her shoulder and whispering:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, recollect yourself!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She started, and recovered her self-possession at once, -and in time to see little Lenny, whom Dick led by the -hand, pulling at his protector, and pointing down the -hall, and shouting:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Man, man! div Lenny that <em>hoo</em>!” putting up his lips -and describing in pantomime the whistle whose name he -had forgotten.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Little Lenny knew him again!” murmured Drusilla -to herself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All this did not quite escape the notice of the guide. -He saw what passed, but apparently without understanding -it; for, turning to General Lyon, he said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord Killcrichtoun, sir! His face is as well known -here as any of these images. He is in almost every -day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>Then, reverting to his own especial business, and pointing -out another effigy, he said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Henry the Eighth, ladies and gentlemen. Pray -observe this magnificent suit of armor, damaskeened or -inlaid with pure gold. It is said to be the same he wore -on that famous occasion of his meeting with Francis I. on -the field of the Cloth of Gold.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, the horrid monster! I would rather look upon -Lucifer’s self than Henry the Eighth’s effigy! Let us -pass on,” said Anna impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And they passed on, pausing now and then to gaze upon -the armed and mounted effigy of some knight or king, -famous or, perhaps, infamous in history or tradition, until -they reached the last one in the line—James II.—after -whose day fire-arms came in and armor went out.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so they passed from the Horse Armory to Queen -Elizabeth’s Armory, occupying an apartment in the lower -floor of the White Tower.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At the upper end was an equestrian effigy of the Royal -Fury of Tudor, who cut off her lovers’ heads as her -father before her had cut off his wives’. She was dressed -in the preposterous costume of her court, mounted on a -carved charger, and attended by her page. She was most -appropriately surrounded by curious chains and manacles, -ingenious instruments of torture, and judicial implements -of death.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Conspicuous among these was the thumb-screw, the -rack, the headsman’s axe, and the heading block upon -which the old Lord Lovat and his companions had been -decapitated.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here, on the north side, was also a small, heavy door -leading into a deep and narrow dungeon cut in the thickness -of the wall, and having neither air nor light except -that which entered by the doorway.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In this dismal hole the accomplished Sir Walter -Raleigh passed the long years of his imprisonment, and -here he wrote his History of the World.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He had leisure enough for such a stupendous work; -but I don’t see where he got space or light from, or how -he could possibly have lived in such a dark, damp den,” -said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, you see, sir, it is to be supposed that he was only -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>locked in there at night, and had the freedom of the hall -during the day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They next ascended the stairs to the second floor, and -visited the ancient Council Chamber, where the old -Kings held their Court at the Tower. This was the place -of Anne Boleyn’s trial. Then on the same floor was St. -John’s Chapel, the most perfect specimen of Norman -architecture in the country.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All these things Drusilla saw as in a dream. She was -thinking only of her husband and the cold stare with -which he had met her eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The guide led them from the White Tower to the green -before the prison chapel—St. Peter’s.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Stop here a moment, if you please, ladies and gentlemen,” -he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They all paused, thinking from that point he was going -to indicate some view or effect. But it was not so.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you know where you stand, ladies? No? Well, -you stand upon the exact spot where the head of Anne -Boleyn fell under the executioner’s stroke.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna impulsively sprang away. Dick and the General -looked interested. But Drusilla heard him with something -like indifference. Queen Anne’s sufferings were so -long past and now so vague; Drusilla’s own were so present -and so real. She was scarcely conscious of the remainder -of her tour through the Tower buildings.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The guide led the party into St. Peter’s chapel; told -them it had been built in the reign of Edward I., 1282, -and showed them the flag stones in front of the altar -beneath which repose the remains of the sainted Lady -Jane Grey, the venerable Thomas Cromwell, the good -and great Somerset, the accomplished Surrey, the brilliant -Essex, and many other less exalted but no less honorable -martyrs to truth and patriotism, victims to bigotry -and tyranny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leaving St. Peter’s Chapel, our friends made the circuit -of the twelve minor towers of the inner ward. These -in the “good old times” were all used as prisons, lodgings -for those who had had the misfortune to become -obnoxious to despotism or fanaticism.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Among these the richest in historic associations is the -Beauchamp Tower, popularly called the Beechum Tower, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>whose walls are cut all over with the autographs or other -inscriptions of the illustrious dead, who in its gloomy -dungeons pined away the last days of their violently -ended lives.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Brick Tower was pointed out as having been the -prison of Lady Jane Gray; the Devereux Tower as that -of the Earl of Essex; the Bell Tower as once the prison -of the Princess Elizabeth when she was confined by the -jealousy of her sister, Queen Mary; the Bowyer Tower -as the place in which the Duke of Clarence was drowned -in the butt of malmsey wine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But that which filled the beholders with a deeper gloom -than all the others was the Flint Tower, called for the -superlative horror of its dungeons the Little Hell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That was the last abyss of the inferno that our sight-seers -looked into. The women, at least, could bear no -more.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come,” said Anna, shuddering. “It is not evening, -so we have not ‘supped,’ but we have dined ‘full of horrors.’ -Let us leave the Tower with its gloomy dungeons -and ghastly memories, and the Yeomen of the Guard in -their devil’s mourning of black and red, for Bloody Henry -Tudor, I suppose; let us get out into the pure open air, -and back to the wholesome nineteenth century.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon and Dick liberally remunerated the civil -and attentive warders, and the whole party passed out of -the Tower walls, entered their carriage, and returned to -their hotel, where awaited them—a very great surprise.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XVIII.<br> <span class='large'>WAITING AND HOPING.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Silence, silence, still, unstirred—</div> - <div class='line in2'>Long, unbroken, unexplained;</div> - <div class='line'>Not one word, one little word</div> - <div class='line in2'>Even to show him touched or pained.</div> - <div class='line'>Silence, silence, all unbroken—</div> - <div class='line'>Not a sound, a word, or token—<span class='sc'>Owen Meredith.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Still overshadowed with the gloom of their visit to -the Tower, our party entered their private parlor at their -hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>They found their favorite sofa occupied by a group of -visitors.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But before General Lyon had time to recognize or welcome -them, a hearty hand was clapped upon his shoulder, -and a cheery voice shouted in his ear:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So here you are at last! We have been waiting for -you these two hours.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Colonel Seymour!” exclaimed General Lyon, in unfeigned -surprise and delight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, and Mrs. Seymour and Miss Seymour.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Old friends, I am glad to see you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So am I to see you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there was a general and hearty shaking of hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now be seated again all of you. When did you -arrive?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bless you! Just now, I may say. Landed at Liverpool -last night, slept at the Adelphi, took the train this -morning and reached London this noon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And where are you stopping?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At Mivart’s for the present. And before we got settled -there, I took a Hansom cab and drove off to the -American Embassy to inquire where you hung out. I -saw a young fellow of the name of Troubador——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tredegar,” amended Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah yes, thank you—so it was Tredegar. Well, I saw -a young fellow of the name of Tredegar, who told me -where to find you; and so I drove back to Mivart’s as -fast as ever I could—and how those Hansom cabs can fly -over the ground!—and I changed my Hansom for a four -wheeler, and just giving Nan time to put on her finery, I -took her and her mother in and drove here!” exclaimed -the visitor, eagerly talking himself out of breath, and -briskly wiping his face with his pocket-handkerchief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And we are all so charmed to see you. We never had -a more complete surprise, or a more delightful one,” said -Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And all her party cordially assented to her words.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope you did not have to wait for us long,” said -Dick, anxiously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Two mortal hours, I tell you, at the risk of being -turned out every minute, too.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How was that?” quickly inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>“Why, you see, first of all, that fellow in the white -neckcloth and napkin told me somewhat shortly that neither -General Lyon nor any of his party were at home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘I know that, because they are here,’ I answered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘But they are not in, sir,’ he replied.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Then we will wait till they are,’ I rejoined.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘They’ll not be here, till five o’clock,’ he added.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘All right. We will sit down and make ourselves -comfortable until that hour,’ I remarked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘That’s the General’s dinner hour,’ growled the fellow.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Which is extremely lucky, as we can dine with him,’ -concluded I.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The fellow looked as if he suspected me of being the -confidence man, and meditated calling in the police. However -he contented himself with beckoning to an under -waiter, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in my direction, -and muttering something very like an order to the -other one not to lose sight of me. And so he or the -other fellow kept an eye on me all the while.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The insolent scoundrel!” exclaimed General Lyon, -indignantly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not at all. He was an honest fellow—had your interest -at heart and looked after it. How did he know but I -might have walked off with the piano?” answered the -visitor, patting his host on the shoulder to soothe down -his anger, and adding, “I know I, for one, looked like a -suspicious party, in my weather-beaten sea-suit. And -just see what an old-fashioned bonnet my wife wears; and -as for Nanny, I have a painful impression that she is overdressed,” -he sighed, glancing from the rich, light-blue -taffeta gown, and white silk mantle and bonnet of Miss -Seymour’s costume to the plain grays that formed the -street dress of the other ladies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Miss Nanny is charming in any style,” said the General, -gallantly, bowing to the mortified girl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“However,” continued Colonel Seymour, “I was anxious -to see you all, so I waited. I suppose if we had been -fashionable folks we should have left our cards and gone -away; but being plain people, we preferred to wait for your -return. So here we are, and here you are! We expected -to see you, but you didn’t expect to see us, did you -now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>“No; but we are not the less overjoyed on that account. -And of course you must stay and dine with us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course. I told the waiter so,” laughed the colonel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, dear Mrs. Seymour and darling Nanny, you -must both come up with Drusilla and myself to our rooms -to take off your bonnets,” said Anna, rising and conducting -her visitors from the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At a sign from the General, Dick went down-stairs to -order some necessary additions to their dinner, in honor -of their guests.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, old friend, tell me what put it into your head to -cross the ocean and give me this great pleasure?” inquired -General Lyon, when he found himself alone with -his neighbor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Example,” answered Colonel Seymour;—“nothing -but example. You and your family left the neighborhood -to go to Europe. And I and mine were very lonesome, I -can tell you, after you were all gone. So one day I up -and said to my wife:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Polly, if we are ever to see the Old World, we had -as well see it now as at another time. We are not growing -younger, Polly. Indeed I sometimes fancy we are growing -older.’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Why, la, Benny,’ she said, ‘can’t you live and die -like your fathers without leaving your own country?’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So I answered right up and down:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘No, Polly, I cannot. And as we <em>must</em> go to Europe -some time, to show it to our girl, if for no other reason, -we can’t choose a better time than this when our old -neighbors are over there. We’ll go and join them and -have a good time.’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, upon the whole, Polly didn’t dislike the idea of -the trip; and as for Nancy, she was all for it. So we up -and came.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You must have decided and acted with great promptitude -to be over here so soon after us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Didn’t we, though! We set the house in order the -next day, which was Tuesday; packed up Wednesday, -went to New York Thursday, and sailed for Liverpool -on Saturday.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What! and had not previously engaged berths in your -steamer?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>“No; didn’t know that was necessary until I went into -the agent’s office. And then it was by a stroke of luck we -got the rooms. A family who were going out by that -steamer that day were unavoidably delayed, and had to -give up their berths. And I engaged them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, certainly, you were more lucky than you knew.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ‘a fool for luck,’ it is said.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, now, neighbor, shall we follow the example of -the ladies and go to my dressing-room to refresh our -toilets? As for myself, I have been poking into the vaults -and dungeons of the Tower, and I feel as if I were covered -with the dust of ages!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, and I am just as unbearable with railway smoke -and cinders.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, then,” said the General, rising and conducting -his visitor to his own apartment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Half an hour afterwards, all the friends assembled in -the parlor, where the table was laid for dinner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At half-past five it was served. It consisted of a boiled -turbot with shrimp sauce; green-turtle soup; roasted -young ducks and green peas; pigeon-pasty; cauliflowers, -asparagus, sea-kail and, in short, the choice vegetables of -the month; and, for dessert, delicate whipped creams, -jellies, and ices, and candied fruits, and nuts; and port, -and sherry, and champagne, and moselle wines.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The “fellow in the neckcloth and napkin,” as the colonel -described the waiter, seeing how well these visitors -were received by General Lyon and family, tried to make -up for his mistakes of the morning by the most obsequious -attentions, all of which the good-natured Seymour received -in excellent part.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Old Seymour was blessed with a keen appetite and -a strong digestion. He had always enjoyed his homely -farm dinners of boiled beef, or bacon and greens, washed -down with native whiskey-toddy, and now he much more -keenly enjoyed the rare delicacies set before him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After coffee was served they arose from the table, and -the service was removed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I suppose, my dear, there is no such thing as a treat in -the form of your sweet music to be hoped for this evening?” -sighed the colonel, as he took his seat in a resting -chair.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>“Why not, Colonel Seymour?” smiled Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, to be sure, I see a piano in the room; but of course -it is a hotel piano, which you would no more care to touch -than I would to hear!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Suppose you let me try this ‘hotel piano.’ Let us not -yield to a prejudice, but give the abused thing a fair trial,” -said Drusilla, smiling as she sat down to one of the finest -instruments of the most celebrated manufacturer in London.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She executed in her best style some of Colonel Seymour’s -favorite pieces. And the old colonel, as usual, listened, -entranced,</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, that is one of the best toned pianos I ever heard -in my life—quite as good as your own fine instrument at -home!” exclaimed the old man in surprise. “But what -amazes me is that it should be in such good tone. I never -could abide either school pianos or hotel pianos in my life -before.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is neither,” answered Drusilla, laughing. “We -hired this from a celebrated music-bazar.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, that accounts for it!” said the colonel. “Now, -my dear, begin again! Consider, I haven’t heard the -sound of your sweet voice in song for a month before to-night!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And that is just the reason why he crossed the ocean, -Drusilla, my dear, and nothing else in life!” said Mrs. -Seymour. “He may talk about showing Nanny the old -world and improving her mind and all that, but it’s no -such thing! It was the love of your music that lured -him all the way from America, like the lute of What’s-his-name -did the spirits out of What-do-you-call it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla smiled on the old lady and recommenced her -pleasant task, and played and sang for the old gentleman -during the remainder of the evening.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At eleven o’clock the visitors arose to take their leave, -but of course did not do it immediately,—they stood and -talked for half an hour longer. And, in that standing -conference, it was arranged that General Lyon should see -about getting suitable apartments at the Morley House -for the Seymours; and, if none should now be vacant, -that he should bespeak in advance the first that should -be disengaged.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>It was farther agreed that the two parties of friends -should join company in all sight-seeing excursions, and -that they should always lunch together.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And here a friendly quarrel, each old gentleman insisting -upon being the permanent host of the lunch table. -Finally the dispute ended in an amicable arrangement -that General Lyon and Colonel Seymour should each be -the host on alternate days.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then indeed the Seymours took leave and departed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the Lyons went to rest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla entered her own bed-chamber. Little Lenny -was asleep in his crib. Pina was nodding in her seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla had neither the will nor the power to sleep. -She threw herself in her resting-chair and gave her mind -up to thought. She was glad to be alone. The day had -been a very harassing one—at once exciting and depressing -in its events and experiences. Yet all that had occurred -to her sank into utter insignificance compared with -the single incident of one instant—the cold stare with -which her husband had met her eyes. More than all his -double dealing with her; more than his long neglect of -her at Cedarwood; more than his cruel repudiation of -her on her wedding night; more than his two years of -scornful abandonment—did this cold, hard, strange stare -chill her love and darken her faith and depress her hopes. -Drusilla’s sad reverie was interrupted by a gentle rap at -her door. It had been probably repeated more than once -before it broke into her abstraction. Now thinking it -was the chambermaid coming on some errand connected -with fresh water or clean towels, she was about to bid the -rapper come in; but quickly reflecting that the hour was -too late to expect a visit from the damsel in question, and -feeling startled at the thought of an unknown visitor at -midnight, she cautiously inquired:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who is there?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is I, Drusa, dear. I know you are still up, for I see -the light shining through your key-hole, and you never -sleep with a light burning,” said the voice of Mrs. Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come in, dear Anna,” said Drusilla, rising and opening -the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, if you really prefer to be alone, tell me so, my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>dear, and I will not take it amiss, but leave you at once,” -said Anna, hesitating, before she took the easy-chair offered -her by Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; how could you think so? How could you think -I could prefer my own company to yours? I know you -came to cheer me up, and I feel how kind you are. Sit -down, dear Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Drusa, you have seen we have not had one moment -to ourselves to-day; and we may not have to-morrow. -I knew—I felt instinctively that you would be -too much excited to sleep to-night, so I came to you, my -dear—partly, as you say, to cheer you up, but partly, also, -to talk of something that happened to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes—thank you, dear Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have confidence enough in me, I hope, Drusilla, -to feel that you and I can talk upon some ticklish subjects -without offence, since I speak only in your interest.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, then, we met Alick in the Tower. That seems -certain. But <em>did</em> I hear and see right, and <em>did</em> the guide -point out our Alick and called him Lord Kilcrackam?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord Killcrichtoun. Yes, Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And furthermore, <em>did</em> I dream it, or did I hear something -said between you and grandpa—something that did -not reach my ears quite distinctly, because I was not very -near you at the time, and you spoke quite low, as you -always do—something in short, to the effect that our -Alick is the same young American gentleman who claimed -a certain Scotch barony in right of his mother?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, it was Alick who claimed, and made good his -claim to the barony of Killcrichtoun. I should have -thought Dick, as much as he is about town, would have -found it out before this.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh dear, no, he has not. It would have been the -merest chance if he had, in a town where there is so -much more—so very much more—to be talked about -than a young man’s succession to a petty lordship. By -the way, how did <em>you</em> know it, Drusilla?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The first day of our being here I was standing at the -front window and saw him leave the house and walk -across the square. I was very much startled, and called -the waiter, and, pointing to Alick, inquired if that gentleman -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>were stopping here. The man told me that he was -here for the present, but would leave in the evening, and -that he was Lord Killcrichtoun. And then there flashed -upon me all at once the idea that he was the very same -young American gentleman who had claimed the title.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you never told us about it,” said Anna, in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I—shrank from the subject; and, besides, I did not -think you would care to hear. You remember little -Lenny’s losing a lock of hair?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly; and it was cut off by his father, I suppose.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, in the absence of Pina, and while Lenny was in -the temporary charge of the chambermaid.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you never mentioned it to us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear Anna, you know I never bring up Alick’s name -unnecessarily.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, but I must tell Dick all about it if you have no -objection.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“None in the world. I wish him to know it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I am astonished at Alexander, merging the -honest manliness of an American citizen in the empty -title of a Scotch barony! However, it is all of a piece -with his late mad proceedings. Now, there, I see from -your reproving countenance that I must utter no more -blasphemies against your idol; but now if the divine -Alexander is Lord Killcrichtoun, what are <em>you</em>, my -dear?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked up with a startled expression, then reflected -a few moments, and finally answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am his wife: beyond that I have never thought.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are Lady Killcrichtoun; and now here is the -difficulty: Your cards bear the name Mrs. Alexander -Lyon. Everywhere my grandfather has introduced you -as such; all the invitations sent you are addressed to you -by that name: and more, our lady ambassadress expects -to present you at her Majesty’s next drawing-room as -Mrs. Alexander Lyon. Now what’s to be done about -that?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla did not answer, but she reflected—so long that -Anna broke in upon her meditation with the question: -“You have a right to share your husband’s title—a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>right of which he cannot deprive you, for it is legally -your own. Shall we not then introduce you as Lady -Killcrichtoun?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No,” answered Drusilla, gravely. “The name I now -bear is also legally my own, having been given me by my -husband in our marriage. I will retain it. I will never -attempt to share his new rank until he himself shall give -me leave to do so. If, without his sanction, I were to take -my part in his title, I should seem to be pursuing him, -which I will never consent to do, dear Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But then, my dear, do you consider that if you refuse -to do this, you will enter society in some degree under -false colors.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear Anna, there is no necessity for my entering society -<em>at all</em>. I would rather live in seclusion as Drusilla -Lyon than go into the world as Lady Killcrichtoun, and -of course I <em>can</em> live so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And if you <em>do</em> live so, you will never see Alick; but if -you go out, you will meet him every day; for of course -he is the gayest man about town here, as he used to be at -home. And you may depend he will be received everywhere; -for in this country a title is a title, and though -the barony of Killcrichtoun may not be worth five hundred -a year, Alick has an enormous outside fortune, which -fact cannot be hid under a bushel. And going about as -he does, <em>alone</em>, he will be thought a single man, and, under -all the supposed circumstances, a very eligible match. -Now, Drusa, if I were you, I would put a stop to all that -by going constantly into society, and going too as Lady -Killcrichtoun.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No,” repeated Drusilla, “I will never share his title -until he authorizes me to do so. And as to going out -under my present name, I will be guided by General -Lyon. As he is responsible for me, he must be the final -judge in this matter.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So this is your decision?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, dear Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They might have talked longer, but Pina, who had been -fast asleep in her chair all this time, now tumbled off it -and fell upon the floor with a noise that terrified both -the friends and started them upon their feet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is only that girl—how she frightened me! I thought -<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>it was some one breaking into the room!” exclaimed -Anna, trembling as Pina picked herself up and stood -staring in dismay.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor girl! how thoughtless of me to have forgotten -her! Go to bed, Pina, it is half-past twelve,” said Drusilla, -kindly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the maid, still more than half asleep, tumbled off -to her cot in a closet adjoining her mistress’s chamber.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna also arose, and, bidding Drusilla good-night, -passed to her own room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla went to bed, but not to sleep. She lay revolving -the problem that Anna had left her to solve. Should -she enter London society <em>at all</em> under her present circumstances?</p> - -<p class='c012'>As yet, neither her party nor herself had gone to any -sort of private entertainment. They had left cards on -the people to whom the General had letters of introduction. -And they had received calls from many of -them. Also they had many notes of invitation to dinners, -balls, concerts, and fêtes of every description; but, as yet, -none of these notes had fallen due. So Drusilla stood -uncommitted to the world by either name or title.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now the question with her was this,—Should she go to -parties at all?</p> - -<p class='c012'>If she should, she was resolved it should be only under -her simple name. But then, if being the wife of Lord -Killcrichtoun, she should go only as Mrs. Lyon, would -she not be, as Anna said, appearing under false colors?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Would it not be better, all things considered, that she -should live secluded?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ah, but then Alexander was in the world, and the -temptation to go where she might enjoy the happiness -of seeing him daily, even though he should never speak to -her, was irresistible! She could not deny herself that -delight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then, finally, she determined to speak to her old friend, -General Lyon, on the subject; and with her mind more at -ease, she fell asleep.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XIX.<br> <span class='large'>MEETING EVERY DAY.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>We that were friends, yet are not now,</div> - <div class='line in2'>We that must daily meet,</div> - <div class='line'>With ready words and courteous bow,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Acquaintance of the street,</div> - <div class='line'>We must not scorn the holy past,</div> - <div class='line in2'>We must remember still</div> - <div class='line'>To honor feelings that outlast</div> - <div class='line in2'>The reason and the will.—<span class='sc'>Milnes.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Next morning, over an early breakfast, our party discussed, -with their tea, toast, muffins, and fried soles, the -programme of the week.</p> - -<p class='c012'>How crowded their life in London was getting to be. -Every day, every hour, nay, every moment, we might -say, pre-engaged!</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We go to Westminster Abbey first. The Seymours are -to go with us, and are to join us here at ten o’clock. It is -After nine now,” said the General, as he chipped his egg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They will not be behind time, you may depend on it,” -laughed Dick. “We shall be able to get off by ten -o’clock, and get into the Abbey by a quarter past. It -will take us at least three hours to do Westminster, which -will bring one o’clock or a little later, when we can get -lunch at Simmon’s, in Threadneedle Street,—an old-established -house, celebrated for its green turtle and its -punch this century past. After which we will still have -time to see St. Paul’s, and to get home in season for our -five o’clock dinner.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And remember, Dick, that we must not be later, for -we have a box this evening at Drury Lane, to see the -Keans.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, Anna! we are not likely to forget that.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And let us see! what is the programme for to-morrow?” -inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I do not think that has been arranged yet,” said -Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>“Then let it be the British Museum and the Royal -Academy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no, grandpa! We must go to Windsor to-morrow; -and I’ll tell you why. It will take a whole day and night -to go to Windsor, see it all, and return. And to-morrow -is the only whole day we have at our disposal. For on -Thursday we are engaged to dinner at Lord Esteppe’s, -and to a concert at Mrs. Marcourt’s. On Friday we are -to breakfast with the Warrens and to go to a ball at our -Minister’s; and on Saturday we are promised to the -Whartons for their fête at Richmond. Now out of either -of these days we might take a few hours to see any -London sights; but for Windsor we must have an unbroken -day, and to-morrow is the only one of this week, -or of next week either for that matter, left at our disposal.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is very true, my dear. Bless my soul, how we -are crowded with engagements! It is very flattering, of -course, and very pleasant, I suppose; but—it is just a little -harassing also. Dick, have you ordered a barouche?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir; but I have finished breakfast, and if you will -excuse me I will go and do so now; or, rather, I mean I -will walk around to the livery stable and choose a good -one myself,” answered Mr. Hammond, rising from the -table and leaving the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With an excuse for her absence, Anna followed him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As the General was still toying with his breakfast, -Drusilla lingered to keep him company.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The waiter had retired and the two were alone, a circumstance -so unusual, and so unlikely to happen again, -that Drusilla thought this to be her best opportunity for -consulting him upon the difficulty that now perplexed -her mind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So while the old gentleman sat trifling with a delicate -section of his fried sole, Drusilla abruptly entered upon -the subject:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Uncle, we are all invited to a great many places; and -we have accepted all the invitations. But before I go to -any party I would like to have a talk with you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my dear, talk away! what is it about?” inquired -the old man, somewhat surprised by the gravity -of her manner.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>“Uncle, is it quite right that I, a forsaken wife, should -go so much into the world?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My child, I thought that question had been asked and -answered two years ago at Old Lyon Hall.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So it was, you dear uncle, answered in a way to give -me pleasure as well as peace. But the circumstances are -different now from what they were then. Then we were -in your own familiar neighborhood, among your own old -country friends and neighbors, who loved and honored -you so much that they would have received with gladness -and courtesy any one whom you might choose to present -as a member of your family. But here, dear uncle, it -is different; we are in a foreign city and among strangers.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my child, but among strangers who are hospitable -and courteous; and to whom I have brought such -letters of introduction as must secure a hearty welcome -both to myself and every member of my family. Have -no fears or doubts, little Drusa. You who are blameless -must not be ‘sent to Coventry’ as if you were faulty.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla sighed and continued:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Uncle, there is another circumstance that complicates -the case very much.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my dear, and what is it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At home I was known as Mrs. Lyon, which was my -true name; but here, since Alick has made good his claim -to the Scotch barony, I have another name and title,” -said Drusilla, so solemnly that the General laid down his -fork and laughed heartily as he answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so, my dear, you want us to introduce you as -Lady Killcrichtoun!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no, <em>no</em>, <span class='fss'>NO</span>!” exclaimed Drusilla, earnestly, “not -so! I do not want that! I would not consent to it! -Indeed I would not! Anna can tell you that I said so -last night!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you are right, my child, entirely right; and I -commend your good sense in making such a resolution. -But where then is your difficulty, my dear?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, just in this—my husband being now Lord Killcrichtoun, -would I not, by entering society as Mrs. Lyon, -be appearing under false colors; and rather than do that -had I not better eschew society altogether?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>“No, my dear; a thousand noes to both your questions! -You are known to yourself and to your nearest relations -and best friends, and to myself who introduce and endorse -you, as Mrs. Lyon. And by that name I shall -continue to call you and to present you. Who knows -you to be Lady Killcrichtoun? or even Alick to be Lord -Killcrichtoun? Do you know it? Do I? <em>Does he himself?</em> -He calls himself so; but that don’t prove it <em>is</em> so. -The newspapers affirm it; but that don’t prove it. The -world accepts him as such; but that don’t prove either—at -least to us who have always known him only as Mr. -Lyon, and haven’t examined the evidences that he is anybody -else. Similarly we have known you only as Mrs. -Lyon, and shall take you with us everywhere and introduce -you as such; at least until Alick himself assures -to you your other title.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you, dear uncle. Again your decision has -given me pleasure as well as peace. I <em>did</em> wish to go -everywhere with you and Anna; but I was resolved to -go only as Mrs. Lyon, though I was afraid that by doing -so I should appear under false colors. But your clear -and wise exposition has set all my anxieties at rest. I am -glad you still wish me to go into company,” said Drusilla, -earnestly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, I have a motive for wishing you to go. -Drusilla, my child, you and I may surely confide in each -other?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“As the dearest father and child, dear uncle, yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, Drusa, my darling, in these two years that you -have been with us, I have studied you to some purpose. -I see you very cheerful, my child, but I know that you -are not quite happy. Something is wanting, and of course -I see what it is;—it is Alexander, since you still love him -with unchanging constancy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, yes, yes,” breathed Drusilla, in a very low -tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know you do. Well, as you love Alick, so he needs -you, whether he knows it or not. You are the angel of -his life, and the only power under Heaven that can save -him. I know Alexander well. I have known him from -his infancy, and of course I know all the strong and all -the weak points in his character.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>Drusilla raised her eyes to the old man’s face with a -deprecating and pleading expression.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Fear nothing, my child; I am not going to abuse him, -at least not to you; in saying that he has his weak points, -I say no more of him than I might say of myself or any -other man. But it is through their weakness men are -often saved as well as through their strength. Listen to -me, my dear Drusilla.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am listening, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, then, Alick’s chief weakness is that he can only -admire through the eyes of the world, for which he has -always had the greatest veneration.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you think so, sir? Ah, surely he was not considering -the world’s opinion when he married me, his housekeeper’s -daughter,” pleaded Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; passion, if he is capable of feeling at all, makes -even a worldly man forget the world sometimes. And, -pardon me, my dear Drusilla, if I say that he married you -for your personal attractions, for your perfect beauty and -brilliant genius—of that in your nature which is fairer -than beauty and brighter than genius, and better and -lovelier than both, he knew nothing at all; he has yet to -learn of them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla, blushing deeply under this praise, which was -but just tribute, kept her eyes fixed upon the floor. General -Lyon continued:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my dear, he is worldly—he worships the world -and sees through the eyes of the world. What was it -that blinded him to your sweet domestic virtues and -tempted him from your side? It was the brilliant social -success of Anna—of Anna, for whom he cared not a cent, -and whom he had really jilted for your sake; but with -whom he actually fancied himself in love as soon as he -found her out to be belle of the season, the queen of -fashion, and all that ephemeral rubbish.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla sighed, but made no answer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He has got over all that nonsense, believe me. He -regards Anna now, probably, very much as he did when he -jilted her for you and before her splendid season in -Washington had so dazzled and maddened him. He has -gotten over <em>that</em> nonsense; but not over the worldliness -that led him into it; for that is a part of his nature. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>And now, Drusa, I will tell you why I wish to introduce -you into the most fashionable society here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked up with eager attention.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Because</em> in society here you are sure to eclipse Anna -and every other beauty of her type.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, uncle!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, I am speaking fact, not flattery. Anna is -beautiful; we will grant that; but she is of that large, -fair style, so rare in our country that it made her a belle -there, but which is too common here to make her more -than one of the pretty women of the season. On the contrary, -<em>your</em> style, Drusilla, more common in America, is -extremely rare here. You will be new. You will make -what women call a ‘sensation.’ Alick will see it, and he -will discover his folly, if he never finds out his sin in -having left you. There, Drusilla! there is the old man’s -policy, worthy of a manœuvering chaperon, is it not?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla knew not what to reply. For her own part -she didn’t like anything that savored of “policy.” She -longed—oh, how intensely!—for a reconciliation with her -husband; it was her one thought by day, her one dream -by night, her one aspiration in life! but she did not want -it brought about by any sort of manœuvering. Perhaps -the General read her thoughts, for he said earnestly:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I see you do not quite approve my plan, dear child. -You would rather Alick’s own better nature should bring -him back to his wife and babe; but ah, my dear, who can -appeal to that better nature so successfully as yourself? -and how can you ever appeal to it unless you have him -to yourself? And how can you have him, unless you -attract him in the way I suggest. Let him see you appreciated -by others, that he may learn to appreciate you -himself. Let him seek you because others admire you; -and then when you have him again, you may trust your -own love to win his heart forever!—But here is Dick, -and, bless me, yes; here are all the Seymours, at his -heels!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Colonel Seymour and his family entered, marshalled -in by Dick. And there were cordial morning salutations -and hand-shakings.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The carriages were waiting. Drusilla ran off to call -Anna and to put on her own bonnet.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>And in a few minutes the whole party started on their -sight-seeing excursion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The programme of the day was carried out. They -went just to Westminster Abbey and saw there the -wonders and beauties of several successive orders of -architecture. They saw the most ancient chapel of -Edward the Confessor, containing the tomb of that Royal -Saint, and the old coronation chair and other memorials -of the Saxon kings, and the remains of many of their -Norman successors.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They saw the splendid chapel of Henry the Seventh, -with the beautiful tomb of that fierce paladin, conqueror -of Richard Third, and founder of the sanguinary Tudor -dynasty; and of his meek consort, Elizabeth of York, surnamed -the Good. And there also they saw, oh strange -juxtaposition! the tombs of that beautiful Mary Stuart, -and of her rival and destroyer, the ruthless Elizabeth -Tudor; and the tombs of many other royal and noble -celebrities besides.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And they examined many other chapels, filled with -the monuments and memorials of kings and queens, -knights and ladies, heroes and martyrs, poets and philosophers, -who had adorned the history of the country and -of the world, from the foundation of the Abbey to the -present time.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At one o’clock, before they had inspected one-tenth -part of the interesting features of this venerable edifice, -they took leave of Westminster Abbey, promising themselves -another and a longer visit, and they went to “Simmons’” -to lunch.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At two o’clock they visited St. Paul’s Cathedral.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Time and space would fail us here to give the slightest -outline of the wonders of that most wonderful cathedral. -The mere ascent of St. Paul’s from the crypt to the cupola -might be, in some degree, compared to the ascent of Mont -Blanc—at least in toil and fatigue, if not in danger and -distance. To give the most cursory description of its marvels -of architecture, sculpture, paintings and decorations, -would fill volumes and be out of place here. After three -or four hours spent there, our party returned to their -hotel, utterly wearied, dazzled and distracted; and with -only two images standing out distinctly from the magnificent -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>chaos in their minds—the mausoleums of Lord Nelson -and the Duke of Wellington, the great sailor -and the great soldier of England standing side by side in -the crypt of the Cathedral.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear,” said the General, that evening over his cup -of tea, “when we laid out our plans for this week we had -no idea what was before us! No wise man crowds so much -sight-seeing into so little time. It is as wrong to surfeit -the brain as it is to overload the stomach. As for me I -am suffering from a mental indigestion, and I would rather -not attempt Windsor Castle, or any other stupendous -place or thing, until I have got over Westminster Abbey -and St. Paul’s Cathedral. So what do you say to postponing -all sight-seeing for the remainder of this week?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla and Anna eagerly assented; for, in truth, they -wanted some leisure for shopping and for arranging toilets -in which to appear at the minister’s ball. And Dick was -too polite to offer any opposition.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So the next day, while the General and Dick stayed at -home to lounge, read, or smoke, Anna and Drusilla drove -to the West End, and ransacked all the most fashionable -stores in Oxford, Regent, and Bond streets in search of -new styles of flowers, laces, gloves, and so forth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And never did the vainest young girl, in her first season, -evince more anxiety about her appearance than did poor -Drusilla, who was not vain at all. But then the young -wife knew that she would be sure to meet her husband at -the minister’s ball, and that her future happiness might -depend upon so small a circumstance as the impression -she might make there. For once in her innocent life, but -for his sake only, she longed for a social triumph.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XX.<br> <span class='large'>THE AMBASSADRESS’ BALL.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I do not question what thou art,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Nor what thy life in great or small;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou art, I know, what all my heart,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Must beat or break for. That is all.</div> - <div class='line in6'>—<span class='sc'>Owen Meredith.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The front of that handsome house in Cavendish Square, -known then as the American Embassy, blazed with light. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>Not only the street before it, but the cross-streets around -the corners were thronged with carriages.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our Ambassadress was giving her first ball of the season -and the élite of London were to honor it with their presence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Many another house would have been crowded to suffocation -with the company that assembled in this; but here, -so spacious were the corridors and staircases, so <em>very</em> spacious -the halls and saloons, that the seven hundred fair and -noble guests wandered through the decorated and illumined -rooms, refreshed by pleasant breezes and inspired by delightful -music, and all without the usual accidents of -crushed toilets and crossed tempers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the first reception room, near the entrance door, -stood the distinguished ambassador and his accomplished -wife receiving their friends with their usual cordiality. -The ambassador wore the dress of a plain American citizen; -the ambassadress was resplendent in mazarine blue -velvet and diamonds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At about half-past ten o’clock General Lyon and his -party were announced and entered the first reception -room. The General and his nephew wore the stereotyped -evening costume of gentlemen—the black dress-coat and -black pantaloons and the white vest and white kid gloves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna wore a mauve <i><span lang="fr">crêpe</span></i>, looped up with white roses; -and white roses in her hair and in her bosom, and pearls -and amethysts on her neck and arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla’s toilette was perfect. It was a full dress -of priceless point lace over a pale maize colored silk. -In her hair, on her bosom, and looping up her dress, -were clusters of snowdrops and crocuses, sprinkled with -the dewdrops of fine diamonds. The effect of this simple -and elegant toilette was rich, delicate and beautiful beyond -comparison.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon and his young friends had to stand a few -moments, while a group who had passed in before them -paused to pay their respects to the host and hostess.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length, when their own turn came, the General took -precedence of his nephew and led Drusilla up to the -ambassadress. First he shook hands heartily with his -old friend the ambassador and bowed to the ambassadress, -and then presented Drusilla as:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>“My niece, Mrs. Lyon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla curtsied deeply, and the minister and his wife -received her kindly. And after a few commonplace courtesies -the General passed on to make room for Dick and -Anna, and also to look out for some of his own friends in -the crowd.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But ah! what a suppressed buzz went through the -room as the veteran passed, with the newest beauty of the -season hanging on his arm.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What an exquisite young creature!” lisped young -Leslie of the Guards.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who is she then?” inquired Beresford of the Hussars.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t know, I am sure. Does anybody here? Do -<em>you</em>, Kill.? You look as if you did,” said Leslie, turning -to Lord Killcrichtoun, who was standing like a statue -staring after the retreating form of General Lyon and -Drusilla, who were speedily lost in the crowd.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The question recalled him to himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do I—what?” he inquired, with assumed carelessness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you know that lovely girl who passed just now, -hanging on the arm of that tall, gray-haired old gentleman?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What girl? I noticed no <em>girl</em> particularly.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Chut! are you subject to catalepsy, Kill.?” laughed -Leslie.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But who <em>can</em> she be? Some girl that is just out, I -suppose. Somebody must know. Let’s go and ask Harry. -He knows everything,” said Beresford, moving off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Stop—find out who the old gentleman is first. He -looks like a foreigner, and she must be his daughter,” suggested -the Guardsman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! by the way! that is it!” suddenly exclaimed -the Hussar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is it? Have you made a discovery?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes! you said he looked like a foreigner; and so the -whole thing flashed upon me at once. He is the Prince -Waldemar Pullmynoseoff. Her Majesty received him -yesterday. He has a daughter. The Princess Shirra.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, certainly! of course! undoubtedly! how could -we have missed seeing it at once.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so these young men, upon their own sole responsibility, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>settled the rank of the simple republican gentleman -and lady.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Alexander Lyon, or Lord Killcrichtoun, smiled -as he heard this.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While they spoke several of their acquaintances came -lounging up. One of them, a fair young man with straw-colored -hair and mustache, spoke:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We have just seen the loveliest little creature. Can -any of you tell who she is?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, in the first place,” said Leslie, maliciously, -“where there are so many lovely creatures present, how -are we to know which you mean?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, you cannot mistake if you have seen her! the most -perfect beauty of the season. She wore—there now I -cannot tell you what she wore: but her dress was the -most elegant as she was the most beautiful in the room,” -persisted the young man, pulling at his fair mustache.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now look here, Duke—taste in beauty and taste in -dress differ so much, you know. How can I tell what individual -girl you mean when you talk of the most beautiful -creature in the most elegant toilet in the room? -Why, there are hundreds of beautiful women in elegant -toilets present, and each one of them may be the <em>most</em> -beautiful and the <em>most</em> elegant to some one else’s particular -fancy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! bah, Leslie, that may be all very true of commonplace -beauties; but I tell you, and you know it is true, that -there are <em>some</em> beauties whom <em>every</em> body acknowledges to -be pre-eminent; and of such is the sweet creature who -passed here like a beam of sunshine—an exquisite creature! -Stop chaffing now and tell me, if you know, who -she is.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Was she leaning on the arm of a tall, gray-haired -gentleman?” asked Leslie, laughing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes! yes!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, then, yes, I know her. She is the Princess Shirra, -daughter of Prince Waldemar Pullmynoseoff. He is -here on a visit; some say on a private mission. Her -Majesty received him yesterday.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Daughter of old Pullmynoseoff. I’ll go and get introduced,” -said the young duke, hurrying away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Again Alexander laughed within himself. He was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>somewhat amused by the mistake those discerning gentlemen -had made in supposing Drusilla to be the little -Russian princess; but he was also bitterly jealous of the -admiration so generally expressed for his beautiful, young, -forsaken wife; and he was deeply indignant that men -should take her for a girl to be wooed and won.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He followed the duke. He could not help it. He -wanted to see the end of this adventure, in which the -young duke went in search of Drusilla and the Princess -Shirra, both in one. He followed him through the mazes -of the whole suite of rooms; and everywhere he heard the -same suppressed murmur of admiration, curiosity and conjecture -of which the new beauty was the subject. Others -beside the group of officers took her for the newly-arrived -Russian Princess.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Look at her diamonds—a shower of dewdrops over -her flowers,” murmured one lady.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They cannot <em>all</em> be real. Some must be paste among -so many,” objected another.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Paste! Look at her point-lace dress, then, more costly -still than her diamonds. <em>None</em> but a princess of the -highest rank could wear such a priceless robe.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander passed on, leaving these people to their -dispute, and followed the young duke until he stopped -before a group of ladies and gentlemen. The ladies were -seated on the sofa, and the gentlemen were standing -before them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The duke bowed and exchanged the courtesies of the -evening, and then, turning to one of the gentlemen, said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord John, you presented the Prince Waldemar Pullmynoseoff -to Her Majesty yesterday. Will you be good -enough to present me to the prince this evening?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“With pleasure, Lillespont. Come!” said the Lord -John, at once turning to lead the way.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think his daughter decidedly the most beautiful woman -in the house,” said the Duke of Lillespont as they -threaded their way through the crowd, closely followed by -Alexander. “Unquestionably the most beautiful woman -here,” repeated His Grace, as if challenging contradiction.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you? I am rather surprised to hear you say so,” -observed Lord John.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The most beautiful woman I have ever seen—that is, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>if one may call so young a creature a woman at all,” he -added.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Young?” repeated Lord John, raising his eyebrows. -“Ah, but then you are at a time of life when all women’s -ages are alike, I suppose.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, saying this in rather a low tone, Lord John paused -before a gentleman and lady seated on a sofa, around which -quite a court of worshippers were gathered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Waiting for a few minutes for a fair opportunity, and -then gently making his way through the circle, Lord John -took his protégé, and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Prince, permit me to present to your Highness the -Duke of Lillespont; Duke,—Prince Waldemar Pullmynoseoff!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, before the young duke could recover from his -surprise and disappointment, he found himself bowing -deeply before a little dry, rusty, scrubby, hairy old gentleman, -who looked more like a very aged and very cunning -monkey than a man, not to say a prince. However, he -was certainly a European celebrity, filled full of diplomacy, -covered over with orders, and possessed a string of -titles—all told—a yard and a quarter long. So the duke -bolted his disappointment and bowed his body low before -the royal and venerable mummy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then he was presented to a little, withered woman, -very like the prince, and looking very little younger, but -so covered with jewels of all sizes and colors that she -presented the idea of an elderly fire-fly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Again the duke bowed low, and exerted himself to be -agreeable, but he was very glad when the coming up of -another party gave him an excuse to make his final bow -and withdraw.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander, grinning like Mephistophiles, still followed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I was quite mistaken in the princess. It was another -whom I took to be Prince Waldemar’s daughter,” said -Lillespont, deeply annoyed that he should have led any -one to believe so ill of his tastes as that he should have -fallen in love with the elderly fire-fly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hem! I thought you had made some mistake of the -sort,” said Lord John kindly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, quite another sort of person! a lovely young -creature, just out of the schoolroom, I should say. Ah, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>there—there she is now, sitting within that window!” -suddenly exclaimed the young man as an opening in the -crowd, like a rift in the clouds, showed a vista at the farther -end of which a bay window lined with lilies and -roses and occupied by General Lyon and his party, and -by a select circle of their particular friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There! that lovely, dark-eyed houri, looking the very -spirit of spring and youth, clothed with sunshine, adorned -with flowers, and spangled with diamond-dew! Do you -know her?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Know her? Stop,—let me see. I know that party -she is with. I met them here at this house a few mornings -ago. Let me see,—there is General Lyon, and Mr. -and Mrs. Hammond, and—yes, the young creature you -admire so justly is Mrs. Lyon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘<em>Mrs.</em>’—did you mean to say ‘Mrs.?’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ‘Mrs.’ I remember perfectly well being as much -surprised as you are at seeing so childlike a creature introduced -by a matronly title.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But she is never the wife of that old man? It would -not—that sort of union—be May and December, it would -be April and January!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no, she is not his wife—she is his niece, I think. -Yes, I am sure he introduced her as his niece, Mrs. Lyon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Mrs.</em> Lyon? that child.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, I tell you, I was as much surprised as you are -to hear her called so; but then I reflected that in America, -as in all young nations, people marry at a very early age.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! but where is <em>Mr.</em> Lyon?” very pertinently -inquired Lillespont.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Mr. Lyon? I don’t know that there is any Mr. -Lyon. I have somehow or other received the impression -that this childish beauty is a young widow, and a very -wealthy one also.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A youthful, beautiful, and wealthy widow,” said -Lillespont, musingly. “Lord John, you say you know -her,—will you introduce me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“With pleasure,—come,” said the elder man, leading -the way to the bay-window.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander followed them no further, but muttering to -himself:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ass, puppy, coxcomb!” and other injurious epithets—probably -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>applied to Lillespont—withdrew to a convenient -spot from which, unseen, he could see all that might -be going on in the bay-window.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He saw the old gentleman called Lord John take Lillespont -up and present him to General Lyon, who forthwith -presented him to the ladies of his party. And next -he saw the young duke bow deeply to Drusilla, and make -some request, to which she graciously responded. And -then he saw her rise and give her hand to Lillespont, -who, with the air of a conqueror, led her off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander ground his teeth together with rage and -jealousy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They passed down the room and onward towards the -dancing saloon, where new quadrilles were being formed. -And the duke led his beautiful partner to the head of one -set. And there as everywhere else a low, half-suppressed -but sincere murmur of admiration followed her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander foamed with fury, and hurried away from -the scene because he could not trust himself to remain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course he had not the least right to be jealous or -indignant, but just <em>because</em> he had no such right—and he -knew it—he was all the more furious. It enraged him -to see her looking so beautiful, blooming, happy, and independent -of him, enjoying herself and exciting universal -admiration in society, when he thought, by rights, -she ought to be pale, and sad, and moping in some obscure -place. It infuriated him to see her the object of -another man’s homage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And that puppy, perdition seize him! takes her to be -a young widow; is thinking now perhaps of asking her -to be his wife! His wife!” And here Alexander -ground down unuttered curses between his set teeth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ah, could he have looked into his young wife’s heart, -his anger must have been appeased. Could he have seen -how little she cared for all the homage she received, except -in so much as it might make her more worthy in his -eyes. Truly she smiled on the young duke at her side—not -because he was young and handsome and a duke, but -because it was her sunny, genial, grateful nature to smile -on all who tried to please her. Yes! to smile on all who -tried to please <em>her</em>, while from the depth of her heart she -sighed to please but one on earth.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>Alexander found food enough for his insane jealousy. -Drusilla was the acknowledged beauty of the season. -Everywhere he heard her murmured praises. Every one -supposed her to be a young widow. Some genius, indebted -to his imagination for his facts, had fancied that because -Mrs. Lyon the supposed young widow, was niece-in-law to -old General Lyon, therefore the husband of Mrs. Lyon had -been a military officer who had been killed in the war -between the United States and Mexico; and had so effectually -started the report that before the evening was over -every one had heard that Captain Lyon had been shot -while gallantly leading his company at the storming of -Chepultepec. Of course this report never once reached -the ears of the General or Mrs. Lyon, or of Mr. or Mrs. -Hammond. Reports seldom do reach the ears of those -most concerned in them; and false reports never.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Alexander was doomed to hear it all.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Kill have you seen the newest beauty out?” inquired -young Hepsworth of the Dragoons. “There she is dancing -with Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden. She is engaged -ten sets deep; but I come in for the eleventh for the Lancers. -That is after supper. Look at her now, as she turns. -Isn’t she perfect? Just perfect?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who is she?” growled Alexander, feeling himself -called upon to say something.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who is she? Not Satan in the form of an angel of -light, as one might judge from the tone of your question. -She is Mrs. Lyon, a young widow, though you would hardly -suppose her ever to have been a wife. But you know how -early girls marry in America, stepping from the cradle to -the altar, one might say. However, that young creature -has been married and widowed. Husband, gallant fellow, -lost his life in leading a forlorn hope in the storming of -Chehuaple—Chehuapaw—Chehua-peltemback, or some -such barbarously named place.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! he did, did he?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, bless you! And I am very much obliged -to him for doing so; but she was perfectly inconsolable -for three years. But she has at last left off her -weeds, as you see. And we may suppose she is in the -market.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! she is, is she?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>“Oh, yes! Lovely creature? And <em>stu</em>-<span class='fss'>PEN</span>-<em>dously</em> rich -too,” exclaimed the dragoon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, she is rich?” sneered Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Rich? She’s a California Crœsus. A great catch for -some fortunate fellow!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>It would not do to take a gentleman by the throat and -shake him there in the ambassadress’ drawing-room; yet -Alexander could scarcely refrain from laying hands on the -dragoon who continued very innocently piling up wrath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you know, I think Lillespont is taken? Lillespont -who has escaped all the man-traps set for him for the -last four years, since he first appeared in the world? But -then this young creature is such a perfect novelty! It -would be of no use for a captain of dragoons to enter the -lists against a duke, else hang me if I did not go in for the -little beauty myself,” said the young officer, complacently -drawing himself up, sticking out a neat leg, and caressing -his moustache.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are an ass!” exclaimed Alexander, turning on -his heel and walking away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The astonished dragoon gazed after him in a sort of -stupor, and then, still pawing at his moustache, muttered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Per Bacco! what a rude savage! Very great bore, -but I shall have to challenge him. And hang me if I -have the least idea what the row is about. However, I -must stay here until I keep my engagement with the little -beauty for the Lancers, and then—to teach that uncivilized -brute that he is not to indulge his savage propensities -in ladies’ drawing-rooms.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so saying, the young fellow, who with all his effeminacy, -was brave enough, sauntered away to look up -a brother officer to act as his second, and afterwards to -wait for his partner in the Lancers, his mind being equally -occupied by the thoughts of dancing and dueling.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile, Alexander had moved to another standpoint, -from which, unseen by her, he could follow every -movement of his beautiful and admired young wife.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I suppose,” he muttered to himself, “I shall have to -meet that young coxcomb. For after what I said to him -unless he is a poltroon as well as a puppy, he will challenge -me. Well! I don’t care a rush for my own life, and -it is not likely that I should care for his——Yes! and by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>all that is maddening, there is another fellow I shall have -to fight!” he exclaimed, as he watched Prince Ernest of -Hohenlinden, who was bestowing on the beauty of the -evening much more devotion than it was at all necessary -to show to a mere partner in the dance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Just then the dance came to an end, and his Highness -led Drusilla back to her seat beside Mrs. Hammond in the -bay window.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander followed, keeping out of her sight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I fear you are very much fatigued,” said Prince Ernest, -still retaining her hand, and gazing with respectful tenderness -upon her flushed cheeks and brilliant eyes. “Let -me bring you an ice,” he continued, with affectionate solicitude.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, thanks,” said Drusilla, courteously, but withdrawing -her hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A glass of water then?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nothing, thanks.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The rooms are very warm. Will you permit me to -take you into the conservatory. It is open and airy there.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Much obliged; but I am very well here,” said Drusilla, -sweetly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Permit me this privilege at least,” pleaded the prince, -gently possessing himself of her fan and beginning to fan -her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander set his teeth and ground his heel into the -floor, growling within himself:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Confound him, what does he mean? I know I shall -have to fight him!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But if Alexander meant to call out all Drusilla’s admirers, -who, believing her to be a widow, were ready to -become her lovers, he would have his hands as full of -fights as the most furious fire-eater might desire.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While Prince Ernest was still standing before Drusilla -fanning her, and in every admissible manner exhibiting -his devotion to her, a very handsome, martial looking -man, of about thirty years of age, wearing the uniform of -an Austrian field-marshal, and having his breast covered -with orders, came up and, bowing low before the beauty, -claimed her hand for the quadrille then forming.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander knew him for General Count Molaski, an -officer high in the Austrian service, and one of the most -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>distinguished foreigners then in London. He led his -lovely partner to the floor, where she was soon moving -gracefully through the mazes of the dance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Her head will be turned!—her head will be completely -turned! Who would ever have dreamed of her coming -<em>here</em> to play the <i><span lang="fr">rôle</span></i> of a beauty—of a queen of beauties—in -society! Aye, and with a fortune of her own, and the -countenance of General Lyon’s family to sustain her in it. -Perdition! I wish to Heaven she had never left Cedarwood—never -inherited that fortune—never been taken up -by that old Don Quixote, my uncle! <em>Then</em> I might have -had some chance of a reconciliation with her; but now—I -have no hope at all. If she has not already forgotten -me, these flatterers will soon make her do so. Ah! great -Heaven, I was certainly blind and mad ever to have left -her! I always loved her—when did I love her not? And -to have left her whom I did love for Anna whom I only -admired! Why, look at Anna now. Only what is commonly -called a fine woman here. There are a hundred -in this room as pretty as Anna, but look at Drusilla, my -wife—she <em>is</em> my wife, after all! She is the most beautiful -woman present, and the best dressed. <em>My</em> choice has -been endorsed by the verdict of the best judges of beauty -the world possesses. She <em>was</em> my choice. <em>I</em> thought her -all that these judges have decided her to be. Yes, yes, I -thought her so when she was without the adventitious -aids of wealth, rank, dress, and general admiration to enhance -her charms! How could I have left her? I was -mad—just mad! No lunatic in Bedlam ever madder!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>By this it will be seen that Alexander Lyon, Lord Killcrichtoun, -had in his heart—for no one knows how long—returned -to his first love—perhaps his only love—and -was now consuming with a hopeless passion for his own -discarded wife.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When I first saw our boy, what a shock of mingled -joy and pain the sight gave me! I scarcely needed the -chambermaid’s information that he was Mrs. Lyon’s little -son. I knew him at once from his likeness to his mother. -True, he has the hair and eyes of our family, but he has -his mother’s beautiful brows and sweet lips. Ah! what -a dolt! what an ass! what a pig I have been!” inwardly -groaned Alexander, still grinding his teeth together.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>But soon his rage was diverted from himself to Drusilla’s -partner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There she goes,” he muttered—“swimming through -the dance as happily as if I were not in existence, and -were not so wretched. And, set fire to that fellow! how -his eyes follow her and seem to feast—— Ugh! yes, I -will be shot if I don’t call him out!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hallo, Kill.! how do you do? Good evening. Fine -company assembled here this evening. Good many distinguished -foreigners present—nearly the whole diplomatic -corps also. But all that is nothing to the debut of -the celebrated beauty. You know her, of course,” said -young Frederic Dorimas, coming up to Alexander’s side. -“You know her?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Know whom?” said Drusilla’s husband, evasively.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, the beautiful young widow who is turning all -heads this evening.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I know no young widow here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then you are a very lucky fellow in having such a -pleasure still to come; and I shall be happy to present -you. Now, no thanks, my dear fellow, because I don’t -deserve them. My own heart and hand being already -engaged to another young lady, I am not free to become -a candidate for the beautiful widow’s favor, and so I will -not play the part of the dog in the manger. Come as -soon as this dance is over, and I will take you up and introduce -you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Much obliged; but I prefer to decline the honor,” -said Alexander, coldly bowing and turning away from his -new tormentor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh, Kill., not dancing this evening? and looking as -glum as if you had lost a sweetheart or a fortune. -What’s the matter? Did you bet on a losing horse, or -fail to get an introduction to the lovely Mrs. Lyon?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go to the demon with your lovely Mrs. Lyon!” burst -out the sorely tried Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“With great pleasure, or anywhere else in the universe -with <em>her</em>. But, hark you, my lord! I am not accustomed -to receive such answers from gentlemen; and by my -life, sir——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Alexander had turned on his heel and walked off -<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>again, leaving the last speaker in the middle of his -speech.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick, in his utter wretchedness, was behaving very -much like a brute. He had already insulted one gentleman -and affronted another. He was sure of being called -out by young Hepsworth of the dragoons, and he was -strongly inclined to call out some half dozen other gentlemen -who had been guilty of dancing with Drusilla and -delighting in the honor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He passed on, growling inward curses, and so for some -moments lost sight of his young wife.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When he saw her next, she was seated in the bay window, -with her court of worshipers around her. She -alone occupied the sofa.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon was standing at some distance with a -group of old friends that he had been so fortunate as to -collect together.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna was waltzing with Henry Spencer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick was waltzing with Nanny Seymour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla never waltzed, and therefore for the time she -was sitting alone on the sofa with her court standing -around her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden, General -Count Molaski, the Duke of Lillespont, and one or two -others of the same class.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla exhibited none of the awkwardness of a novice -under such trying circumstances. The only lady in the -circle, she was nevertheless not only self-possessed and -graceful, but she was animated and witty. She kept the -ball of conversation quickly flying back and forth, so that -those about her forgot the passage of time until the -cessation of the waltz music and the commencement of a -march, followed by a general movement of the company -in one direction proclaimed the opening of the supper -rooms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With a bow, Prince Ernest asked the honor of taking -Mrs Lyon into supper.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With a smile of thanks, she accepted the courtesy, and -arose.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he drew her arm within his own, and proudly led -her off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They passed so near Alexander that he might have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>stepped upon her dress. But she never turned her eyes -in his direction.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She has forgotten me—clearly and finally forgotten -me! But I will be hanged if I don’t make somebody -sensible of my existence before the night is over!” said -Alexander to himself as he followed them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At supper the prince waited on the beauty with as -much devotion as ever courtier offered to his queen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Near them stood Anna, served by Henry Spencer and -Nanny Seymour waited on by Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was really nothing at which Alexander had the -least right to take exception. Yet his blood was boiling -with jealousy so that he was actually almost frenzied.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After supper Prince Ernest led Drusilla back to her -seat, and stood devoting himself to her service until the -next dance was called and Captain Hepsworth came up -to claim her as his partner in the Lancers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Very sweetly Drusilla smiled on the young dragoon, as -she gave him her hand and let him lead her forth to the -dance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But not Drusilla’s smile of courtesy nor the young -officer’s simper of gratified vanity enraged Alick half so -much as the air and manner assumed by Prince Ernest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He, the prince, gazed after the retreating form of the -beauty until she was lost in the crowd, and then with a -profound sigh he took possession of her vacated seat, -picked up a flower that might or might not have fallen -from her bouquet, pressed it to his lips and put it in his -bosom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ll kill him for that, or he shall kill me! I hardly -care which!” growled the maniac in the depth of his -heart. He would have liked to throttle his Highness on -the spot; and in refraining from doing so he only postponed -his vengeance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When the Lancers came to an end Drusilla returned, -obsequiously attended by the young dragoon, and -followed by General Lyon and all the members of her -party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Prince Ernest started up from the sofa and with respectful -tenderness took Drusilla’s hand and placed her in her -seat, and remained standing beside her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, it is four o’clock, and you look very tired-had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>we not better go?” inquired General Lyon, speaking -in a low tone to Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Just as you and Anna please, dear uncle. As for myself, -I am quite ready,” she replied.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So am I,” said Mrs Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come then,” said the General, offering his arm to Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pardon me, sir, if you please. I will have the honor -to attend Madam!” exclaimed Prince Ernest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With a bow and a queer smile the General gave way.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the prince bending before the beauty, took her -hand and drew her arm within his own and led her on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Alexander from his covert saw all this; and breathing -maledictions, followed them, first to the presence of -the ambassador and ambassadress, before whom they -paused to make their adieux, then to the cloak room, -where he saw Prince Ernest take Drusilla’s bouquet and -hold it with one hand, while with the other hand he carefully -wrapped her in her mantle; then he followed them -down-stairs to the hall, where they all had to stop and -wait some time before their carriage could come up—and -finally to the sidewalk, where he saw Prince Ernest carefully -place Drusilla in her carriage, and tenderly lift her -hand to his lips as he bade her good-night. Saw him -then gaze upon the faded bouquet that he had taken from -the beauty, who had probably forgotten to reclaim it—gaze -upon it, press it to his lips, and place it, as some -priceless treasure, in the breast of his coat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That last act of folly filled up the measure of the prince’s -offences. It maddened Alexander. Henceforth he was -no more responsible for his actions than a lunatic.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Going up to Prince Ernest, he clapped him smartly -upon the shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The prince whirled around with an involuntary expression -of surprise and anger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You, sir, I want a word with you!” exclaimed Alexander, -breathing hard between his set teeth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At your pleasure, sare, perhaps! But, first, who may -you be?” replied his highness, with cool hauteur.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is my card, sir! I would be glad to have -yours?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>“‘Baron Killcrichtoun?’ I do not know the name or -title. Well, Baron, what is your will with me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“First, sir, that bouquet, which you have had the insolence -to keep! Secondly, sir, satisfaction for the insults -you have offered to a lady who is near and dear to me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<span class='sc'>Insults!</span>” exclaimed the excitable Austrian, jumping -off his feet. “Insults! sare, I never offer insults to a -lady in my life! Sare, you speak von untruth! Sare, -you speak von large lie! Sare, it is I, myself, I, who will -have von grand satisfaction!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So you shall! but first give me that bouquet!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Sare, I will give you no bouquet! Sare, I defend my -bouquet with the best blood of my heart! Sare, by what -right you demand my bouquet?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By a right too sacred to be talked of here! Give me -the bouquet that you have stolen!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Stolen!’” cried his highness, vaulting into the air, -“Sare, I will put back that word down your t’roat with -the point of my rapier, sare! I will have von grand, von -very grand satisfaction, sare!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right! I will send a friend to you this morning, -to arrange the terms of a meeting,” said Alexander, turning -away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Make your testament, sare! I advise you, set your -house in order, sare!” exclaimed the Austrian, shaking -his hand aloft. “Make your testament, sare! for, for me, -myself, I will have von grand satisfaction! von very -grand satisfaction!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXI.<br> <span class='large'>ALEXANDER’S EXPERIENCE.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Words of fire and words of scorn</div> - <div class='line in4'>I have written—let them go!</div> - <div class='line'>Words of hate—heart-broken, torn</div> - <div class='line in4'>With this strong and sudden woe.</div> - <div class='line'>All my scorn, she could not doubt,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Was but love, turned inside out—<span class='sc'>Owen Meredith.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Alick, are you mad? Think what you do!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick turned quickly and faced Dick Hammond, whose -hand had touched his shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>“Mr. Hammond, you here? By what right, sir, do you -dare——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By the right of kinship. Come, come, Alick, your -father and my mother were brother and sister. We are -first-cousins and old playmates, Alick. We have been -rivals, but are so no longer. We need not be enemies. -Let us be friends, Alick,” said Dick, frankly holding -out his hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And do you begin your overtures of friendship by -dogging my footsteps and spying my actions?” demanded -Alexander, putting his hands behind him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nonsense—no!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why are you here then, sir? your party have gone -home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Our carriage was full. I lingered behind to call a -hansom for myself, and so became an accidental witness -to your challenge of Prince Ernest,” said Dick, good-humoredly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The name of his imaginary rival sent Alexander off -into another fit of frenzy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I have challenged the diabolical villain, and, by -my life, I will meet him!” he exclaimed, grinding out -the words between his set teeth and livid lips.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mr. Hammond knew that to argue with him then and -there upon the subject of the intended duel would be as -useless as to reason with a lunatic. Yet, in a few hours, -he hoped he might be able to bring him to his senses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So, laying his hand kindly upon the demoniac’s arm, -he said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alick, go home with me, or permit me to go home -with you, while we talk this matter over.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No!” exclaimed the madman violently, throwing off -the friendly grasp. “Leave me to myself—I advise you -to do so!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alick, I dare not leave you, in your present state of -mind. Even if we were not cousins, we are still countrymen! -Consider me your sincere friend, and take me with -you in this crisis of your affairs,” pleaded Dick again, -gently essaying to restrain the infuriated man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No! leave me alone, I say, Hammond! for your own -good, take care of yourself and don’t interfere with a desperate -man!” cried Alexander, breaking loose.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>A hansom-cab was passing at the moment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Cab!” cried Alexander, seeing that it was empty.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The hansom pulled up, and Alexander threw himself -into it, and was gone before Dick could prevent him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I must get another, and follow him if possible,” said -Mr. Hammond, making the best of his way to the nearest -cab-stand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile, General Lyon, Anna, and Drusilla returned -to their lodgings.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon, after a few moments of gay bantering of -Drusilla upon her social triumphs of the evening, went to -rest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla, as soon as she was free, hurried to her own -room, to look after her little son.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny was sleeping very quietly in his crib, beside his -mother’s bed; although, indeed, as the first beams of the -morning sun were now glinting through the crevices of the -window-blinds, it was almost time for Master Lenny to -wake up for his morning bath and airing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now what did the queen of the ball do?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Tearing off her jeweled wreath of spring flowers, and -throwing aside her gems, she cast herself down upon her -child’s bed and burst into a passion of tears, and wept -and sobbed as if her heart would break.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was not her sobs or tears that awakened little Lenny. -They were too silent even in their vehemence to disturb -the child’s serene rest. It was probably his hour to wake. -He opened his eyes, and, seeing his mother in so much -grief and believing from his brief experience that nothing -but his own naughtiness ever grieved “Doosa,” he put his -arms around her neck, and said;</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t ky, Doosa—don’t ky! ’deed Lenny be dood -boy!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Lenny, Lenny! love me, or my heart will break!” -she cried, gathering the child to her bosom and pressing -him there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny do love—don’t ky! ’deed Lenny be dood boy—’deed -Lenny will!” said the child, kissing and hugging -her fondly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling child, you are the only comfort I have in -this world,” she sobbed, as she squeezed him to her -bosom and covered him with kisses.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>“Hey-day! There, I knew it! and that is the reason -I came in,” said a voice in the open doorway.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla looked up and saw Anna standing there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I was on my way to my own room, but found your -door ajar, so I took the liberty to look in,” said Mrs. -Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come in, dear Anna. But I should think you would -be tired enough to hurry off to bed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, not yet; I haven’t get over the excitement of witnessing -your success, Drusa. And I have so much to -say about it before I can sleep. And besides Dick hasn’t -got in yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Are you uneasy about him, Anna?” sympathetically -inquired Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not at all. I suppose he hasn’t been able to pick up -a cab and has perhaps started to walk home. Uneasy? -No indeed! what is to hurt him in broad daylight? But, -Drusilla, you have been crying! You have been crying -hard! Now was it ever heard that the belle of the evening -came home from her triumphs and cried?” said Mrs. -Hammond, sitting down beside her friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna! Anna! Oh, Anna! Anna! if you knew -how little my heart was in it all! What <em>could</em> I care for -all those strange people—I who only longed to be reconciled -with my Alick!” she answered, bursting into a torrent -of tears.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He was there,” said Anna, quietly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do I not know it? He was there all the evening. -He was near me many times. I felt that he was, though -I did not see him; for oh, Anna, I was afraid to look towards -him and meet again that cold and cutting gaze -that almost slew me in the Tower!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t ky, Doosa! Please don’t ky. ’Deed Lenny be -dood boy. Let Lenny wipe eye,” said the child, taking -up the edge of his night-gown and trying to dry his -mother’s tears.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling, you <em>are</em> good, and I won’t cry to distress -you, poor little soul. I should have died long ago if it -hadn’t been for you, my little angel. There, Doosa has -done crying now,” she said, wiping her eyes and smiling -on the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusa, my dear, you were very brilliant last evening, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>not only beautiful, but brilliant. I really thought you enjoyed -queening it in society. You laughed and talked -and danced the whole evening. I should never have suspected -you of playing a part.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh Anna! I was not exactly playing a part either. -Oh, Anna, you have heard how the timid Chinese -sound a gong and make a terrible noise to drown their -own fears and to dismay their foes when they go into -battle? Anna, it was much the same with me. I had -to laugh and talk and dance and jest to deafen me to the -cry in my heart, which was almost breaking all the while. -Oh, Anna, he has ceased to love me now! I know it, he -has entirely ceased to love me!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t feel so sure of that myself, Drusilla. If you, -were afraid to look at him, I was not. I saw him several -times in the course of the evening; and whenever I saw -him he was standing near you and following you with his -eyes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He was? He was, Anna?” eagerly, breathlessly inquired -the young wife.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed he was.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are sure?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite sure. I watched him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, but—perhaps he did so in hate or in anger,” said -Drusilla, with a sigh.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna was silent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Say! was it not in anger or in hate, Anna?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I thought it was in jealousy, and that you know is a -sign of love.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, if I thought so! if I thought so! how quickly I -would set all that jealousy at rest. How soon I would -convince my Alick that I care for but him in this whole -world!” she exclaimed, fervently clasping her hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, Drusilla, I hope you would do nothing of the -sort. He richly deserves to suffer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna! you don’t like Alick,” said Drusilla, reproachfully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Like him? No, <em>that</em> I don’t! That’s the gospel truth. -But there is Dick, so good-night, or rather good-morning, -my dear,” said Mrs. Hammond, kissing her cousin on the -brow and then leaving the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, if I could believe as Anna suggests, how quickly, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>how gladly I would set all my Alick’s doubts at rest. -But ah! it is not so. He has ceased to love me. I am -sure of it now—sure of it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She struggled to keep back her tears, so as not to distress -her child, who was still sitting on her lap and -watching her countenance with eyes full of anxious -sympathy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as Anna had left her, Drusilla rang for Pina, -and with her maid’s assistance changed her splendid -evening dress for a cool white wrapper. Then, before -lying down, she superintended little Lenny’s morning -bath and toilet, and saw him eat his simple breakfast and -sent him out with his nurse for a walk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then at last she lay down to take an hour’s rest, if not -sleep, before joining the family at the late breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile Anna hurried off to her own room. Anna -was weary and drowsy, and with no heavy cares on her -mind, was only anxious to find her pillow and go to sleep. -But to rest was not to be Anna’s good fortune that morning. -She found Dick just come home, looking so haggard -and harassed that his aspect terrified her into the -suspicion that her “unlucky dog” had been so unfortunate -as to meet with some of his friends.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick! in the name of Heaven, what is the matter?” -she exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Matter? Nothing,” answered Mr. Hammond, telling -unscrupulously, and almost unconsciously, the regulation -lie in such cases made and provided.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick! when a man says there is nothing the matter, -with such a look as that on his face, it is a sign there is -so much the matter that he dares not confess it. Now, -Dick, I will know,” she said, going to him, laying her -hands upon his shoulders and gazing steadfastly into his -face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Anna, what do you see?” he inquired, a little -sadly, as he met her eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I see that you are quite sober, at least, poor soul; -but oh, Dick! you unfortunate fellow, where have you -been since we left you!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“About town, Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“About town! Oh, yes, exactly! About town! I -know too well what that means. Oh, Dick! Dick! we -<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>ought never to bring you within sight of a town! We -ought to keep you in the woods all the time. Now make -a clean breast of it, Dick. Whom have you been with?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I happened to meet with an old friend down town,” -answered Dick, solemnly and a little maliciously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“An old friend down town! Oh, precisely! I know -what <em>that</em> means also! Dick! Dick! that proverb, ‘Save -me from my friends,’ must have been written for you. -Now out with it at once! How much has your friend, -or set of friends, robbed you of this time?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Robbed me of, Anna?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes! robbed you of! You know what I mean. How -much have you lost? A thousand pounds—ten thousand?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Anna, you think I have been gambling?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What else can I think, Dick? It breaks my heart to -think it, though.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Anna, dearest,” said Dick, taking her hands from his -shoulder and holding them in his own, while he sought -her eyes, “Anna, did I not promise you before we were -married, that after I should become your husband I -would never touch cards or dice again? Answer me, -Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, Dick, you did, dear.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And—bad as I was, at my very worst, did you ever -know me to break my pledged word?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No indeed, I never did, dear.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And do you think I would begin by breaking it to -my wife?” he asked, gazing sadly into her eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, Dick, my darling, I beg your pardon! I do -indeed!” she said, throwing her arms around him and -kissing him with such an effusion of affection that it must -have consoled him for her momentary injustice. “Oh, -Dick, forgive me, love!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, Anna,” he said, smiling and returning her -caresses with interest. “I cannot blame you for doubting -and fearing for me, until time shall prove how steadfastly -I shall keep my pledge to you. I only wish it -could be otherwise with you, and that for your own peace -you could have full faith in me; but I know that this -cannot be so, for it must be a part of my punishment for -past follies still to inspire doubt of my future conduct.” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>He spoke gravely and sadly, and the tears rushed to -Anna’s eyes as she answered him:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, darling, not so! I never doubted you before, -and, after this, I <em>cannot</em> do so again. It was I who -was a sinner, Dick, to doubt you at all, you dear, good, -honest——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>—“Dog,” added Dick, laughing; “for even an unlucky -dog may still be an honest one. Yes, Anna,” he added, -after a pause, “I do think you may begin to trust me. -We have been married about two years, and in all that -time not only have I never touched cards or dice, but I -have not even wished to do so. For your own peace of -mind, try to trust me, my wife.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I <em>do</em>, Dick! I do! It was only your look that alarmed -me; and, as we were all safe at home here, I could not -think of anything but your ‘friends’ that could happen -to you. And, more than all, when I asked you what was -the matter, you answered, ‘nothing,’ which, as I hinted -before always means, ‘Nothing could be worse.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Anna, it really was ‘nothing,’ in one sense of -the word, ‘nothing,’ or not much to us that is.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What was it, then?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, I suppose I may tell you without the risk of -giving you any great pain. Alexander Lyon has gone -mad with jealousy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna at first looked startled, and then she burst into a -hearty peal of laughter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I never saw a man out of Bedlam so frantic,” continued -Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I said so!” laughed Anna. “Who is he jealous of? -You?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of the whole world, I think!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am very glad to hear it. I hope it will do him -good.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, but he has challenged Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden,” -said Dick, solemnly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna became very grave.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And if he should not be prevented he will fight him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Fight a duel! Dick, do you know what you are saying? -Are you in your senses?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am. It is Alick who is mad.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>“Fight a duel! What! in this age and in this country?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, in this age and in this country, my dear! And -I do not see, for my part, how it can be helped—I mean -prevented—except by the police. I saw the whole thing, -Anna. Just as your carriage drove off, Alick claps his -hand upon the prince and charges him then and there with -insulting a lady and stealing a bouquet. You should -have seen Prince Ernest then. Talk about the Germans -being phlegmatic! Though Prince Ernest is an Austrian, -by the way. Why, Anna, he jumped two feet from the -ground at the first charge, and vaulted four feet into the -air at the second. If they are permitted to meet, he will -eat Alick’s head.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A duel in England! and at this time of the world!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you must remember that it is not to be between -Englishmen, but between an Austrian and an American -and not, probably, in England; but upon some of the little -islands of the channel.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I thought duels had gone out about the time that railroads -came in,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So did I.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Didn’t you speak to Alick? Didn’t you try to prevent -the challenge?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course I did, but with what hope of success? I -might as well have preached to the winds as to Alexander; -and as to Prince Ernest, after the first words had passed, -it would have been quite hopeless as well as very presumptuous -to have tried to expostulate with him. I did -not even attempt it. He had been outraged, grossly outraged, -and was in a towering passion that even overtopped -Alexander’s fury. And if Alick had not challenged the -prince, the prince would have challenged him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But the duel must be stopped!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course, if possible.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What can be done?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Our only hope is in the police. It was in this view of -the case, and not in any prospect of a successful interview -with Alick, that I jumped into a cab and tried to follow -him and find out his address; but he had a minute’s start -of me, and so of course I lost him. I drove to Mivart’s; -but he does not stop there, I was told. I went on speculation -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>to several places where I hoped to hear of him; but -without success. Lastly, I did what I should have done -at first—went to Scotland Yard and lodged information -of the projected breach of the peace with the police. Then -I came home. So you see, my dear, it was my anxious -night race through the London streets that gave me the -haggard look of a ruined gamester.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It was nice of you, Dick, to take so much trouble to -save that good for nothing fellow. Shall you tell Drusa?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course not. You would not advise me to do so?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; for it would be useless as well as painful for her -to know anything about it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will tell grandpa?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; as soon as he is up and has had his breakfast, I -must consult with him as to what further can be done. -Now, Anna, dear, you had better try to get a little sleep -before breakfast; as for me, I shall go and take a bath and -get a cup of coffee, and be off to Scotland Yard again, and -be back time enough to meet my uncle when he appears.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So saying, Dick rang for his valet and disappeared.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But sleep was driven far from Anna for that day. She, -too, found her best restorative in a bath, a change of dress, -and a cup of strong coffee. Having drank this last, she -went down into the drawing-room to wait for the other -members of the family.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But even there she could not be at rest, the news of this -intended duel had excited her so much; and not that she -cared for her cousin Alexander, either, but that she cared -for Drusilla: and she was anxious for the return of Dick, -to know whether the detective policemen had succeeded in -tracing Alexander in time to stop his murderous and suicidal -purpose. She walked from window to door, and -from door to window, unable to sit still; she took up a -book, and laid it down; tried her embroidery frame, and -cast it aside, unable to read or work; she opened her piano, -but could not play. So she maundered about until the -family circle began to gather.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The first that appeared was little Lenny, in the arms of -his nurse. He looked fresh, bright and gay from his morning -walk, and was full of chatter about a monkey and an -organ grinder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Next came Drusilla, looking rather pale, but very pretty -<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>in her plainly banded dark hair and her cool white morning -dress. She greeted Anna, and then sat down and -called her child to her knee, and began to ask him about -his morning walks. And Lenny, having found his most -interested hearer, chattered away faster than ever.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The third comer was General Lyon, looking quite refreshed -after several hours of undisturbed repose.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good-morning, my dears. I hope I have not kept you -waiting,” he said, as he saluted the two ladies.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh no, sir; we are almost just assembled,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, my dear Anna, ring and order breakfast at once. -But where is Dick? At the nearest mews, giving his -opinion of the proprietor’s latest purchase, I dare say.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no, sir. He is not there; but he did not feel like -sleeping, so he took a bath and dressed and went out to -take a walk. He told me he would be back in time for -breakfast,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you would have thought Anna was some young -girl waiting a visit from her betrothed, to have seen her -go from one window to another, and gaze out up and down -the street,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Anna, you do look a little nervous and excited; what -is the matter?” anxiously inquired the General, for he, too, -feared that the ‘unlucky dog’ might again have broken -bounds and given her trouble. “What is it, Anna?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is loss of rest, grandpa. I could not sleep, so I did -not even lie down. These late hours are a terrible tax on a -country-bred woman like myself,” replied Anna, evasively.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To everybody, Anna. I must really put my veto upon -parties for <em>every night</em>. For once a week now I would -consent to them——But here is Dick at last!—Why the -deuce don’t that fellow serve breakfast! Did you ring, -Anna?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir; and I hear the jingling of cups on a tray and -so I suppose he is coming,” said Anna, answering her -grandpa, but looking anxiously at her husband as he entered -the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick saw that troubled gaze, and smiled to reassure her. -Then, after greeting the General and Drusilla, he turned -to Anna and said, metaphorically, but in a way that she -understood:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>“I think I can get that horse I went after, Anna.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There! I knew he had been to a stable, and Anna -said he hadn’t,” laughed the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I did not know that he had gone to one, grandpa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course you did not, my child, or you wouldn’t have -spoken so. But you see, I knew him better even than -you did. And now let us have breakfast.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as the morning meal was over, Drusilla took -little Lenny and retired to her own room. This was not -her custom in the forenoon; but on this occasion she acted -with a purpose. She had not failed to see that both Anna -and Dick were seriously disturbed, and that they wished -to be alone with the head of the family; but she had not -in her thoughts connected their disturbance in any manner -with her own husband. On the contrary, she, too, -unjustly suspected poor Dick of having in some manner -fallen from grace—of having, perhaps, been tempted to a -gambling table and lost more money than he could just -then conveniently pay, and of being forced to apply to -the General. So hard, you see, it is for a young man who -has once lost the confidence of his friends, to recover it, -even from those who love him best. So never suspecting -that Alexander was on the verge of crime and death, but -sighing over the supposed danger of poor Dick, Drusilla -sat down with little Lenny in her own chamber.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as the party in the breakfast parlor was left -alone, General Lyon rang for the waiter to take away the -breakfast service, and when that was done, he turned to -his young people and said, somewhat sternly, for he still -suspected Dick:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, then, what is it? Speak out. Let us hear the -worst, and hear it at once, for Heaven’s sake.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You should have heard it at once, but we could not -say anything about it before Drusilla,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I suppose not. But she is gone now, so why do you -hesitate? What is the matter?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Sir, it is this: Alexander Lyon has challenged Prince -Ernest of Hohenlinden.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Lord! is the man mad?” exclaimed the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course he is. Every man is mad who challenges -another to mortal combat.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Great Heaven! what is to be done? How did you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>know this, Dick?” demanded the General, starting up -and beginning to walk the floor with rapid strides, as was -his custom when greatly excited. “How do you know -this, Dick, I ask?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mr. Hammond related the discovery he had made on -the morning after the ball.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, good Heaven! this purpose cannot be carried out -in a Christian and civilized country. I do not think that -at this day of the world any two Englishmen would ever -think of such a barbarism as fighting a duel, and you may -depend that no two foreigners are going to be allowed to -do it. Duel indeed! Chivalry is dead, and law reigns in -its stead. Dick, you and I must go before some magistrate -and give the information. We must go at once. -I’ll put on my boots; you call a cab,” said the General, -excitedly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Sir, I went immediately and laid the information before -the Chief of Police at Scotland Yard. He promised -to take prompt steps to arrest the challenger and prevent -the hostile meeting. An hour ago I went again to the -office, and learned that two detectives had been sent in -pursuit of the parties. They had not yet returned to report -at the office.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And that is all you know?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then we must go all the same. I cannot rest quietly -here while my dead brother’s son is in peril, even if he is -a fool and a madman!—Jake!” he called to his passing -servant, “bring my boots to my room, and then run and -call a cab. And, my dear Anna,” he said, turning to his -granddaughter, “put a guard upon your face as well as -upon your lips, in Drusilla’s presence. She must not -know what has occurred.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I fear she already suspects something wrong,” answered -Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, she probably thinks as you did, Anna—that I have -got into a scrape. I saw how pitifully she regarded me -as she left the room. She thinks I have fallen among -thieves again. Well, let her continue to think so; better -that than she should suspect the truth,” suggested Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed she shall not harbor a doubt of you, Dick, darling, -even to save her from the pain of knowing the truth. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>But never fear; trust to me to spare her feelings without -compromising your character.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>In a very few minutes the General came in booted and -gloved for his drive. Dick was quite ready and the cab -was announced to be waiting. And so with a few last -words of warning and encouragement to Anna, they left -her to go upon their anxious errand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they arrived at the office of the chief they received -information that the two detectives who had been -sent in pursuit of the would-be duellists had returned -and reported.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this was the substance of their report:</p> - -<p class='c012'>That Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden, with two gentlemen -of his <em>suite</em>—being his physician in ordinary and his -second; and that Lord Killcrichtoun, with two attendants, -his second, and his servant, had left London by the -eight o’clock train for Southampton.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And what the mischief have they done that for?” -inquired General Lyon, in perplexity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Their intention seems clear enough, I think. They -mean to cross over to some one of the Channel Islands, -where they think they may blow each other’s brains out -comfortably without interruption,” answered the chief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now what the deuce is to be done? They left at -eight, you say? It is twelve now, and there is a train -just starting, if I remember rightly; and it is too late to -pursue them by this train; and there will not be another -start until three o’clock, I think? At least such is my -impression of the hours of the trains to Southampton, -from looking over the time-table with young Spencer -yesterday, before he went down to meet a friend who had -come by the American steamer,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, you are quite right about the trains; and right -also about the uselessness of attempting to pursue these -madmen by rail. But I have telegraphed the police there -to be on the lookout for them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And we can do nothing in the meantime?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nothing but wait patiently.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can we wait here?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly, if you can make yourselves comfortable, -though it is not a pleasant place to ask you to sit down -in.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>“Thank you. We shall gladly avail ourselves of your -kind permission. You see we are so very anxious on this -subject, that we should like to be at hand when you receive -an answer to your telegram. How long do you -think it will be before you get it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can’t say. If they received mine before the eight -o’clock train from London reaches Southampton, they -might have met the parties at the station and could have -answered me immediately. If, however, the train reached -there first, of course the parties might have got out and -got off, and the officers would in that case have some -trouble to look them up.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So then you may get a telegram any moment now, or -you may have to wait several hours,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Exactly,” replied the chief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, uncle,” said Dick, perceiving that their presence -in the office really annoyed or, at least, incommoded the -civil officer, “I think we will adjourn to the White Swan, -which is only a few steps from this, and wait there until -Mr. Harding receives his telegram, when perhaps he will -be kind enough to send us word of the news.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, certainly, if you prefer that arrangement, though -you are quite welcome to remain here, if you can make -yourselves comfortable where there are so many coming -and going.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I thank you, but we will go to the White Swan,” said -the General, rising.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But just then the clicking of the telegraph-wire in the -adjoining office was heard, and the chief raised his hands, -saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Be kind enough to stop. That may be the answer we -expect now.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General and Dick sat down and waited. A few -minutes passed, and then a man entered from the telegraph -office, and handed the chief a folded paper.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; here it is!” said Mr. Harding, opening and reading:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>The parties reached here at ten o’clock and took the -steamer for Guernsey at a quarter after. We wait orders.</em>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There you see, sir, it is as I feared! They got off -before my telegram could have reached Southampton—before, -in point of fact, it had been dispatched from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>London. And it is as I suspected—they are going to one -of the Channel Islands to kill each other at their leisure,” -said the chief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now what the deuce is to be done? Can’t they -still be followed and stopped?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I fear not until they have accomplished their purpose. -There is no other boat leaves for Guernsey until -to-morrow.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No other packet? But, good Heavens, can we not -hire a yacht and go in pursuit of them? We can run -down to Southampton by the next train, and, in so large -a port as that, we could be sure of being able to charter a -vessel for the trip.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I fear, sir, I should not be justified in taking the -responsibility of incurring so great an expense,” said the -chief, slowly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, never mind the expense, man—I will take that -upon myself! I would not grudge a thousand pounds to -save my mad nephew from this meditated crime and folly. -I will make you quite safe in regard to the expense, only -I should wish you to send a sufficient police-force with me -to stop the duel by force if it cannot be done by persuasion. -Come! it is only half-past twelve o’clock now, -and the train for Southampton don’t start until three. You -have two hours and a half to make up your mind and -make all the necessary arrangements. Come, what do you -say?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, of course the thing can be done, sir, if you choose -to incur the heavy expense of hiring the vessel. You can -take two of our men with you, and procure two more at -Southampton.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right! Now we must go back to our hotel to prepare -for our journey. There is the address. Now how -soon will you send the men up to us?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In an hour, sir, or at least in good time for you to reach -the train; or they can join you at the station.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I would rather they would come up within an hour at -furthest to our hotel, for then I should feel surer of them, -and if they do not report at the time specified, of course I -should wait for them until we get to the station, and -then miss them there, we should have to go down to -Southampton without them. Send them to our hotel, if -<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>possible, and as soon as may be, if you please, Mr. Harding.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will do so, General,” answered the chief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the General and Mr. Hammond left the police -office and returned to the Morley House.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here a difficulty met them—how to account to Drusilla -for their sudden journey without alarming her. Neither -the General nor Dick had ingenuity enough to invent a -means of satisfying her mind without telling her an untruth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We must leave it to Anna’s wit,” said Dick, as they -entered the house. And the General assented.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On entering the drawing-room, they found no one there, -except Master Lenny, attended by his nurse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where are the ladies?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They are both in their rooms fast asleep, sir,” answered -Pina.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then go and wake up Mrs. Hammond, and ask her to -come to us quickly here. And don’t, upon any account, -disturb Mrs. Lyon,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina left the room, with little Lenny lagging after -her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is very fortunate the two ladies are asleep, for now -we can get Anna here, and talk to her alone; tell her all -that we have learned, and warn her how to deal with -Drusilla,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina soon returned, with Mrs. Hammond, who in her -great anxiety to hear the news came into the drawing-room -just as she had risen from her bed, with her white -dressing-gown wrapped around her, and her fair hair -flowing over her shoulders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now?—And now?—What?” she eagerly, breathlessly -demanded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina, my good girl, take little Lenny down to the -walk,” said the General. And when the nurse had taken -the child from the room, he turned to Anna, and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We know all that can be known now, my love.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heavens! they have not met with any fatal result?” -she gasped.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, don’t be alarmed! They have not met! but -they have gone off to one of the Channel islands, to carry -out their intentions. And Dick and myself are going to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>follow them with police sufficient to stop the duel by -force, if we cannot do it by persuasion.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When do you leave?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By the three o’clock train. It is one now, and we -should leave the house a little after two; we have not -much more than an hour to prepare; so, my dear, I wish -you would just order us up a lunch, and then go and see -to having a change of underclothing and a few pocket-handkerchiefs -put up for Dick and myself.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes;—but now—Drusilla? She is asleep. Of course, -you would not wish her disturbed?” said Anna, pausing -at the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By no means! For every reason, let her sleep until -we are off. We must go without bidding her good-by. -And we must trust to you, Anna, to make our apologies -to her, and also to explain our absence, without telling -the cause of our journey.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A most difficult task, my dear grandpa; but I will -undertake it,” said Anna, as she left the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General and his nephew also went to their chambers -to put themselves in what Dick called traveling rig. -When they returned to the drawing-room they found -their lunch on the table, and their two portmanteaus on -the floor, and Anna presiding over these preparations.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Half past one o’clock! We have scarcely an hour now -to get our lunch and reach the train in time. Sit down -at once, Dick,” said the General, placing himself at the -table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick and Anna followed his example.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where is little Lenny? I would like him to take lunch -with us this last time before we go. Where is he, Anna, -my dear?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear grandpa, don’t you know you sent him out to -walk with Pina?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! yes! so I did! That was to get rid of the girl -while I talked with you,” said the General, in a low tone, -then raising his voice, he called to Jacob, who stood waiting -at some little distance, and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here, you, Jake! Go out upon the sidewalk, or around -the square, and see if you can find Master Lenny and his -nurse; and if you can, then tell Pina to bring him home -immediately, I wish to see him before I leave.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>“Yes, sir, I’ll find them. I saw them on the corner -watching of a Punch and Judy, not half an hour ago,” said -the boy, bowing and leaving the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I <em>do</em> want to see the little fellow, and kiss him good-by -before we go,” said the General, apologetically, as he -poured for himself a glass of sherry.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“La, grandpa, you talk as if you were going to the antipodes,” -laughed Mrs. Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I dare say I talk like an old fool, Anna, but I am very -foolishly fond of that little fellow.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, grandpa, I did not mean to say anything of the -kind, and I beg your pardon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tut, tut, I knew you didn’t. Come, Dick, have you -got through?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very nearly. There is time enough, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I wouldn’t miss the train for a thousand pounds. -And bless my soul, those men from Scotland Yard have -not reported yet. I do hope they will be punctual,” said -the General, impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At that moment the waiter appeared, and announced -two persons below inquiring for General Lyon or Mr. -Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Our men at last,” said Dick, “tell them to wait for us -in the hall.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The waiter went out to take the message.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the General and Dick completed their last preparations.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And that child hasn’t come yet!” exclaimed the General, -very impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Time enough, uncle—the cab hasn’t come yet,” said -Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But at that instant the waiter once more appeared and -announced the cab.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let us go,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not yet; we can wait five minutes for little Lenny. -Waiter, will you oblige me by going out upon the sidewalk -and looking for my servants, and if you find them -tell them to come in immediately with Master Leonard. I -want to see him before I leave town.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly, sir,” said the man, hurrying from the -room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And General Lyon sat down to wait impatiently, while -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>Dick and Anna stood withdrawn into the bay window, -making their adieux.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, dear Anna,” said Dick, “I would rather you -should let Drusilla think it is some scrape of mine that -has carried us off from London than that you should permit -her to suspect the truth. It will not matter to let -her deceive herself for a few hours or days, until the suspense -and danger shall be over.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will do the best I can; but, oh, Dick! do you think -that you can possibly be in time? in time to prevent a -fatal meeting?” she anxiously inquired.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We must try to do so; we must do our utmost and -trust the event to Providence.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick,” said the General, impatiently interrupting them, -“our five minutes are up, and neither little Lenny, our -servants, or the waiter has returned. Pray, Dick, oblige -me by going out for a few minutes to see if they are coming. -I hate to trouble you, my boy, but I must kiss little -Lenny before we go.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I will look for him with pleasure, sir. I dare say -he and his whole suite of attendants are gathered around -some organ grinder, monkey, or dancing dog, and can’t -tear themselves away from the attraction,” laughed Dick, -as he hurriedly left the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Again the General sat down to wait, but being very -restless and impatient, again started up and walked the -floor with rapid strides for three or four minutes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Another five minutes gone!” he presently exclaimed—“another -five minutes gone, and none of them returned -yet; and now I have not a second more of time left. I -will go down and look after them myself.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so saying, he picked up his hat and rushed down-stairs -and out of the street door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He met Dick, the waiter and Jacob, hurrying towards -the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well! well! Where is little Lenny?” he quickly -demanded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We cannot find him or his nurse anywhere,” said the -waiter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I saw them with the Punch and Judy half an hour -ago. I reckon as they followed of ’em to some distant -street,” said Jacob.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>“I do not think there is the slightest reason to be -alarmed. Pina is quite capable of taking care of the -child,” remarked Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I am not in the least alarmed about little Lenny; -I was only anxious to bid the little fellow good-by before -leaving town; but, if I cannot do so, I must be content. -Well, Dick, my boy, we must really now be off. We will -run up and bid Anna good-by and go,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Anna saved them the trouble. She came down-stairs, -followed by a porter bringing the travelers’ portmanteaus, -which were placed in the cab. The policemen -were in waiting.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon and Dick kissed and blessed Anna, and -commended Drusilla and little Lenny to her care; and -then entered their cab, followed by their attendants, and -their whole party set out for the railroad station.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXII.<br> <span class='large'>THE MISSING BOY.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Go, when the hunter’s hand hath wrung</div> - <div class='line'>From forest caves her shrieking young,</div> - <div class='line'>And calm the lonely lioness;</div> - <div class='line'>But soothe not, mock not, my distress.—<span class='sc'>Byron.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Anna returned to the drawing-room to face the difficulty -of her duty to keep Drusilla ignorant of the real -cause of General Lyon’s and Richard Hammond’s journey -to Southampton, and to do this without either telling or -acting a falsehood. She wished to put off the evil hour as -long as possible, so as to have time to perfect her plan of -action, and therefore she kept away from Drusilla’s chamber -and remained in the drawing-room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla’s sleep was long and unbroken. It was four -o’clock in the afternoon before she joined Anna. She—Drusilla—looked -refreshed and blooming.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have had a good nap,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” said Drusilla, smiling, as she sat down, but -looking all round as if in search of some one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are looking for grandpa and Dick?” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>“Yes, and for little Lenny and Pina,” answered Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, little Lenny is out with his nurse,” said Anna, -willingly answering the easiest part of the observation -first.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And uncle and Dick are sleeping off their last night’s -fatigue, I suppose.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, poor souls! they are incurring more fatigue,” said -Anna, smiling, and trying to give a light and playful turn -to the conversation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, where are they gone?” exclaimed Drusilla, raising -her brows in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“On a nice little jaunt to Southampton.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To Southampton? What is the occasion?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, you see, one of Dick’s good-for-nothing ‘friends,’ -or rather, to speak the exact truth, one of his former good-for-nothing -‘friends’ has been getting himself into trouble. -Of course poor Dick must needs take pity on him, and so -my poor fellow and my grandfather have both gone down -to Southampton to get <em>him</em>—Dick’s old friend—out of it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! and that was the matter with Dick and uncle -this morning at breakfast?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes. Dick had the subject on his mind, and wished -to break it to grandpa, and grandpa saw that he had something -to say to him, and was both longing and dreading -to hear it; for, to tell the truth, I suppose he was fearing -that Dick himself had got into a mess of some sort, and I -dare say you were thinking the same thing, Drusilla.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, perhaps I was; for our affections make us fearful -for those we love, Anna; and you and Dick are just as -dear to me as the dearest brother and sister could possibly -be.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, darling, I know that, and your love is not lost -on us, you may be sure. Be at ease on our behalf, as it -was not Dick but one of his old friends that got into a -scrape.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am both glad and sorry. I am glad it was not Dick, -and sorry that I did him the wrong to think it could have -been. But—who was it, then, Anna, if I may ask?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! now, my dear, that would be telling. I assure -you Dick would not have told grandpa if he could have got -along without his assistance; and he would not even have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>told me, his wife, if he could have helped it. I am sure -he would not like to tell any one else. Now you are not -offended?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Offended? Oh dear, no—certainly not, Anna. Of -course I see such delicate difficulties as I suppose this of -Dick’s friend to be, should be kept secret from all except -those immediately concerned in settling them——I wonder -why that girl doesn’t bring little Lenny in?” said -Drusilla, suddenly changing the subject, and going to the -window to look out.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, it is time she did, indeed. I dare say she will be -here with him in a few minutes,” answered Anna, very -glad to have weathered the storm she had so much dreaded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Anna, dear, what time did Pina take little Lenny out?” -inquired Drusilla, rather uneasily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Immediately before luncheon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What time was that to-day?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“About two o’clock.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now it is after four; and she has had him out -more than two hours, in the hottest part of the day, too. -What <em>could</em> have tempted her to take the child out at this -time of the day?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusa, dear, this was the way of it: Grandpa and -Dick wished to explain to me the necessity of their immediate -departure for Southampton. Little Lenny and his -nurse were in the room. Grandpa and Dick did not want -any other listener than myself, so they told Pina to take -the child down to the sidewalk, thinking, of course, that -so careful a nurse would keep him in the shade. So you -see the girl was not to blame for taking the child out; -though certainly I think she <em>is</em> for keeping him out so -long. But still I don’t think you need be uneasy, Drusa. -Pina is no strange nurse. You have known her well for -three years, and she has had the care of your child for -two, and has always proved herself worthy of the trust. -I hope you are not uneasy about him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no! That is, I know I have no reason to be so, -for Pina takes as great care of him as I could myself, only -I think mothers are always uneasy when their infants are -out of sight. I <em>wish</em> she would return.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, she will be back in a few minutes,” said Anna, -cheerfully.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>“Listen! there is some one coming up,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Steps and voices were indeed heard near the room, and -almost immediately there was a knock at the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come in,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The door was opened by a waiter, who put in his head -and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you please, my ladies, here is a policeman brought -home your nursemaid almost in fits.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny! where is Lenny? Has anything happened to -him? Have you brought home my child?” cried Drusilla, -starting up and rushing to the door before Anna -could even answer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My child! my child! where is my child?” she cried, -clasping her hands in an agony of terror.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My lady, from the girl’s ravings I’m afeard she has—well, -not to make it any worse than what it is—mislaid -the child some’rs or other,” said the policeman, coming -forward half helping and half dragging Pina, who, as soon -as she saw her mistress, sank with a gasp of mute anguish -at her feet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny! Lenny lost! Oh, Father! Oh, Heavenly -Father, have mercy!” cried Drusilla, reeling back into -the arms of Anna, who sprang forward to support her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The child missing! What do you mean? It cannot -be! Pina, where is little Lenny?” demanded Anna, -scarcely able to control her own terror and distress, even -while she sustained the agonized mother. “Answer me, -Pina, I say! Where is little Lenny?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Pina was past answering, past everything but -grovelling at their feet and howling and tearing her -hair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Has the girl gone suddenly mad and so lost the child? -Policeman, where and under what circumstances did you -find her? Waiter, bring forward that easy-chair.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The chair was rolled forward and Drusilla was eased -into it, where she sat pale, and mute, every sense on the -<i><span lang="la">qui vive</span></i> to hear the policeman’s story. Terrified, agonized, -yet with a mighty effort holding herself still and -calm, the bereaved young mother sat and listened to the -policeman’s account of his meeting with the nurse, after -the loss of the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you please, my ladies, I first saw her in the Strand, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>tearing up and down the street, running after babies and -nurses and bursting into shops and houses, and going on -generally like one raving, distracted, with a rabble of boys -at her heels hooting and jeering. So she being complained -of by certain parties as she annoyed and I, suspecting of -her to be a mad woman broke loose from Bedlam, or -leastways making a great disturbance in the streets, I -takes her into custody, and should have took her off to -the station-house and locked her up, only she began to -howl about the child she had lost, and I began to see -what had happened to her and how it was; and I asked -her where she lived, and she told me and I brought her -here; and that is all about it, my ladies; but if you can -get more out of her nor I could, I think it would be well -you should, and then maybe we could help you to get -the child, my lady,” said officer E, 48.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, missus! missus! kill me! kill me! it would be a -mercy!” cried Pina, wringing her hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think it would be justice, at least,” answered Anna, -sternly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where did you lose sight of him, Pina?” inquired -the young mother, in a strangely quiet manner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, missus! oh, missus! knock me in the head and -put me out of my misery! do! do! do!” cried Pina, -gnashing her teeth and tearing her hair, rolling on the -floor and giving way to all her excess of grief and despair, -with all the utter abandonment of her race.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina!” sternly exclaimed Anna Hammond, “unless -you are coherent and tell us where you lost Lenny, we -shall not know where to look for him. Speak at once! -where was it that you first missed him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, ma’am! Oh, Miss Anna! Strike me dead for -pity! Oh, do! oh, do!” cried the girl, growing wilder -every moment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am, that was about all I could get out of her -either. Begging and a praying of me to take her up and -hang her because she had lost the boy. To hang her, to -hang her, to hang her up by the neck until she was dead, -dead, dead, was all her prayer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Waiter,” said Drusilla, who, though agonized with -grief and fear for her lost child, was now the most self-controlled -and thoughtful of the party—“waiter, go -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>quickly and fetch a glass of wine to this girl. It may -restore her faculties.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man sprang to do the lady’s bidding, and soon returned -with a bottle of sherry and a glass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla herself filled the glass, and kneeling down -beside her, put it to the lips of the prostrate girl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no!” cried Pina, pushing away the glass, and -spilling its contents—“no, no, no, I won’t take it, I won’t -get better, I won’t live! Somebody ought to smash me -for losing little Lenny, and if they don’t I’ll die myself! I -will! I will!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina! nobody blames you, at least I do not. Nobody -wants you to die, or to be punished. Drink this, Pina, so -you may be better able to tell me about my child,” said -Drusilla, gently, as she again offered wine to the girl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, missus! Oh, missus! if it was poison I would -take it cheerful, I would! for it do break my heart to -look in your face and to think what I done!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You did nothing wicked, I’m sure. If you feel so -much for me, drink this, for my sake, so that you may be -better able to tell me about my child.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ll do anything for your sake, missus! goodness -knows I will!” said Pina, as she swallowed the -wine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Give her another glass, mum. She’ll hardly feel that -in her condition,” advised the experienced policeman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla hesitated. But Anna, less scrupulous, took the -bottle and glass from her hand, filled the glass again and -put it to Pina’s lips with a peremptory:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drink this at once.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Must I, missus?” asked Pina, turning to her mistress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” answered Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Pina swallowed the second portion of wine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now,” said the policeman, after a few moments, extending -his hand to Pina, lifting her up and placing her -upon a chair—“now, my good girl, open your mouth and -tell us all, how and about the loss of the child.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh,” cried Pina, bursting into tears afresh, “it was -<em>him</em> at the bottom of it all, I know it was!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who?” inquired E. 48.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Him, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Lyon, Lord Killchristians, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>as they call him over here. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, -me! Oh, little Lenny!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“His father!” exclaimed Drusilla, in a half suppressed -tone. And she breathed somewhat more freely; for she -felt that if Lenny were with his father, the child was in -no immediate personal danger—nay more, that his detention -was but temporary; that he would soon be restored -to her again. She thought that her husband might have -ceased to love her, but she knew that he never would -deliberately do the deadly wrong of tearing her child -from her. Still she was intensely anxious to hear the -details of the abduction; but she was also extremely unwilling -to admit strangers to a participation of the intelligence -that involved so much of her private history and -domestic sorrows.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All these thoughts and feelings passed rapidly through -her mind, while Pina was giving her answer, so when the -policeman would have continued the examination by asking:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Who</em> was at the bottom of it, did you say, young -woman? did you say a gentleman and—a lord? How -was that? And what lord was it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord Killchristians! Mr. Alexander Lyon as used -to was, and a notorious willyun too! and the child’s -own——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here Drusilla broke into the conversation:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Officer, these are private matters. I thank you very -much for having brought this poor girl safely home, and -I hope you will accept this trifle in payment,” she added, -placing a sovereign in his hand. “You may leave us now. -We will examine this girl, and if we find that your services -should be required in the search, we will send for you; or -you can call here in the course of an hour.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you, my lady. I will call and see if I am -wanted at the time you say,” answered the policeman, -lifting his hand to his head by way of salute, and then -leaving the room, followed by the waiter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now then, Pina, you say that little Lenny’s father -has got him?” said Drusilla, trembling with excess of -emotion, yet still striving to keep calm.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am, I suppose he has by this time,” sobbed -the girl.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>“You suppose he has by this time? Pina, Pina! that -is not what you said before. Pina, what do you mean? -You surely said his father had him!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I said Mr. Lyon was at the bottom of it, ma’am—at -the bottom of little Lenny’s being carried off, I mean—and -I stand to it, as he was!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Heaven! did not his father carry him off, then?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, ma’am; not with his own hands, but he was at -the bottom of it—I say it, and I stand to it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Merciful Heaven! if his father did not carry him off -who then did? Girl, girl! do you know how you torture -me? I thought at first my Lenny had been lost by straying -away from you; then you said his father was concerned -in his disappearance: now you say his father did -not take him? In the name of Mercy, who did? Speak—for -the Lord’s sake, speak quickly?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, ma’am, I will—I will tell you all I know, but -don’t, don’t look so—don’t, ma’am, or you’ll kill me!” -sobbed Pina.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<span class='sc'>Tell who took the child then!</span>” said Anna, speaking -sternly and stamping her foot.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<span class='sc'>I don’t know who did!</span>” burst, amid sobs, from -Pina’s lips.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla stifled the shrieks that were ready to burst -from her lips.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You don’t know who did! Why, then, did you -accuse Lord Killcrichtoun?” demanded Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I didn’t accuse him, ma’am—I said as he was at the -bottom of it,” said Pina, who seemed to be unable to -change her phraseology. “I said he was at the bottom of -it, and I stand to it as he was!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna, Anna, time flies! If Lenny is not with -Alick, where is he? Oh, where is he? He must be -found at once—at once! I cannot live or breathe till he -is found! She must be made to tell how she lost him!” -cried Drusilla, losing all her self-command and starting -up in great excitement,—“He must be sought for, Anna! -he must be sought for at once!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course he must; but the search must be commenced -with this girl who was the last person with him. -Pina, you say you don’t know who took the child from -you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>“No, ma’am, I don’t—but know his father was at the -bottom of it—I know it, and I’ll stand to it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why do you think so?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna, Anna, you lose time with all this talk!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I don’t; we must find out from her where and -how we are to begin to search. Now, Pina, why do you -think Lord Killcrichtoun was concerned in this matter?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lor’, ma’am, because it stands to reason as he was. -Lenny is his own son, which also they are very fond of -each other—Lenny of he, and him of Lenny! And so it -was nateral he should want to have him. I’m not saying -as it was right or anything like right, but it was so!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna, Anna, time flying, and no facts learned yet—only -conjectures! Let me talk to her myself. Pina, -where were you when you missed little Lenny?” inquired -Drusilla, distractedly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, ma’am! oh, missus, don’t take on so—don’t, and -I will tell you! He was down on the Strand, a-looking -in at a toy-shop—oh, dear! oh, me! oh, poor little -Lenny!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, for the Lord’s sake, stop crying and tell me more! -You were before a toy-shop you say?” said Drusilla, in -extreme anxiety.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am, a-looking in at the windows, at the wooden -soldiers, and horses, and ships; and there comes along a -man with an organ and a dancing-monkey. And little -Lenny turned away from the window to look at the monkey. -And a crowd collected. They were mostly children. -And little Lenny is fond of children—and so—oh! -oh, dear! oh, my heart will break!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Compose yourself, and go on, Pina!” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, ma’am. Oh! oh, dear! Yes—well, little Lenny -wanted to mix up with them; but they were mostly -ragged and dirty street children, and I was afeard of -fevers, and fleas, and sich, and so I kept him to myself, so -I did. Oh, oh, me! I wish I had always kept him to -myself, so I do,” sobbed Pina.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go on,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I saw two ill-looking men in the crowd. And -indeed I didn’t think nothing of it at the time, because -ill-looking men ain’t no rarity in no city, and that I knew -of my own self. And these men, most of their ill-looks -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>was in their dirty and ragged clothes, and bruised and -firey faces. And while I was a-takin’ notice of them on -the sly, one of ’em says to the other;</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘There—that’s the young ’un.’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And the other says:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Which?’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And the first one stoops and whispers to the other, so -I couldn’t hear. And then they fell back out of the -crowd a little ways, and began to look into the shop windows -unconcerned-like. And indeed, indeed, I had no -notion then as they had been talking about little Lenny, -such wilyuns as they were, though I have thought so -since! Oh, Lenny! oh, dear little Lenny! I wish somebody -would knock my brains out, so I do! Oh, dear! -oh, dear! oh——!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina, stop howling and go on with this statement!” -said Anna, authoritatively, while Drusilla clasped her -hands, and listened in an agony of anxiety.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, ma’am, after the men turned away, little Lenny -began to tease me for pennies to give to the dancing-monkey—and -I gave him all I had, and he ran into the -crowd to put them into the hat the monkey was holding -out.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You should not have let him do that,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ma’am, you know how sudden and self-willed he is! -he sprang away from me before I could stop him. And I -ran after him to bring him out. But, just at that very -moment, there came rushing down the sidewalk, and right -through the crowd, a man with his head bare and bloody, -followed by a running crowd, all yelling at the top of -their voices:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Stop thief! stop thief!’</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And they overturned the organ man and his dancing-monkey, -and carried off his crowd with them. I ran -after them calling for little Lenny, who was swept out of -my sight by the rushing stream of people. I ran with all -my speed and I called with all my voice, but I got knocked -from one side of the walk to the other, and thrown -down and run over, and trampled on, and swore at, and—and -that was the way I lost little Lenny. I was hunting -up and down for him when the policeman found me -and fetched me home. Oh, dear! oh, me, that ever I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>should live to see the day! Oh, missus! oh, Miss Anna! -oh——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now stop. Let us talk calmly for a moment,” said -Anna, reflectively. “Let me see. Lenny could not have -been hurried off by those thief-hunters; because, if he had -been, a tender little creature like himself would have been -thrown down, run over, and left behind, and you would -have found him on the ground more or less injured.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That was what I was a dreading of every minute, Miss -Anna. Oh, little Lenny! dear little Lenny!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Therefore,” continued Anna, “as he was not so run -over and left, he must have been snatched up by some -one and carried off under cover of the confusion. The -kidnapper probably darted up one of the side streets or -alleys, and disappeared with his prey in that way.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That was what I thought, too, Miss Anna, when I remembered -seeing them bad-looking men and hearing what -they said. They was a watching of their opportunity to -seize little Lenny and run away with him; and in course -they must have been set on by his father, who wanted -him; else what call would they have to take the child?—they -who don’t look as if they had overmuch love for -children, or for any other creatures, to tell the holy truth; -no, nor likewise did they look as if they was able to keep -themselves from starving, much less a child; so it stands -to reason as they was hired to seize little Lenny by some -un who <em>did</em> love him, and <em>was</em> able to keep him; and who -could that have been but his own father?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina, I think you are probably right in your conjecture, -for I cannot even imagine what motive two such -men as you describe could possibly have for stealing a -child like Lenny. They must have been employed by his -father, and if so, they must have been engaged some days -ago, and have been on the lookout for the boy ever -since.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna, Anna, do you really think he is with his -father? If I thought so, one-half this terrible anxiety -would be quieted. Oh, Anna, do you truly think Lenny -is with Alick?” cried Drusilla, clasping her hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have little doubt that Alexander employed these -men to get little Lenny. I have little doubt but that, for -the sake of gain, they will faithfully perform their part -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>of the compact. My only wonder is that Alick should -have employed such very disreputable instruments.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pina, is that all? Do you know no more?” anxiously -inquired Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is all, missus—every bit. I have told you not only -all that happened, but all I seed and heard and even -thought.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now then for action,” said the young mother, rising -with a new-born resolution and ringing the bell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The waiter answered it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Order a cab for me immediately, and come and let me -know when it is at the door,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And when the man went away to do her bidding she -turned to Pina and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Stop crying and do as I direct you. Go to my room -and bring me here my bonnet, gloves and mantle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina, still sobbing, went to obey.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, Anna, if you wish to accompany me, go and -get ready quickly. I have something to do in the meanwhile.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where are you going, Drusilla?” inquired Mrs. Hammond, -wondering to see the agonized young mother take -the direction of affairs with so much firmness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am going to institute a search for little Lenny. I -must find him before I sleep. Use your pleasure, Anna -dear, in going with me, or staying at home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shall go with you most certainly,” said Mrs. Hammond, -leaving the room to prepare for her ride.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile Drusilla sat down to her writing desk, and -wrote off rapidly disjointed paragraphs on several sheets -of paper.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna returned ready for her drive, and found Drusilla -thus occupied.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What in the world are you doing, my dear?” inquired -Mrs. Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Preparing slips of paper that may, or may not, be -wanted; for no time must be lost. See, here is a telegram -to be sent to uncle at Southampton, if necessary. Here -are a dozen copies of an advertisement, descriptive of little -Lenny’s person and dress, and of the circumstances of his -disappearance, and the reward offered for his restoration, -to be put, if required, into to-morrow’s papers. Still I hope -<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>that none of these things need be done. We must drive -first to Mivart’s where Alexander stops, or did stop, and -see if he is still there, and if he has the child in his possession. -If we find that Lenny is safe with his father, then -it will be all right, for I feel sure that my boy will be -amused and happy for a little while, and then he will want -to come home to me, and Alick will never be so cruel as -to keep him from his mother. But if we do not find him -with Alick, then we must send this telegram immediately -to Southampton to summon uncle back to town; and we -must have this advertisement inserted in all the papers, and -posted all over London; and we must employ the whole -detective police force, or as many of it as we can procure, -to prosecute the search——It is time the cab were here. -I wish it would come,” said Drusilla, touching the bell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heaven, Drusilla! how you do astonish me! -Who would have believed that you—a young and delicate -woman, a doting and anxious mother—could have displayed -so much coolness and resolution in such an hour of -trial and suffering,” exclaimed Anna, in genuine admiration.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, Anna! if experience has disciplined me in anything, -it has disciplined me in self-control.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>At this moment the door opened, and the waiter appeared -and announced:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your cab waits, madam.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come then,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And followed by Anna and attended by Pina, she hurried -down-stairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They entered the cab, gave the order, and were driven -rapidly towards Mivart’s hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The drive was accomplished in almost perfect silence. -Drusilla sat pale and still, suffering inexpressible anguish, -yet controlling herself by a mighty effort.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna was occupied by her own anxious thoughts. Of -course <em>she</em> knew the mission to Mivart’s in search of Alick -to be quite vain, and worse than vain since it involved loss -of time where time was of vital importance; yet she dared -not enlighten Drusilla by explaining the absence of Alexander, -for she feared by doing so to add to the terrible -anxiety that was already oppressing the young wife and -mother. And, also, Anna suspected that Alexander really -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>was concerned in the abduction of little Lenny; that he -had hired these men to carry him off; and had most probably -instructed them to bring him to Mivart’s. Therefore, -although she knew there was no chance of finding Alexander, -she cherished some hope of hearing of little Lenny. -The men who abducted him might have carried him there, -not knowing of their employer’s absence. If so, little -Lenny might be recovered before the day was over.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Amid all her grave anxieties, Anna felt some little curiosity -upon one point: Drusilla had grown so sensitive -and timid in regard to her beloved but truant husband -that she had shrunk even from the casual glance of his -eye in public; and now she was going to Mivart’s in -quest of him; after all that had passed, she was voluntarily -seeking him; true, it was to find the child; true, -also, she could not see her husband; but—would she ask -to see Alexander? Could she endure to see him? What -were her thoughts and feelings on that subject? Anna -would ask.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla,” she said, “when we reach Mivart’s shall -you send in your card to Alexander?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The young mother started. She had been in a deep -reverie about the present condition of her child, and had -not heard her distinctly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna repeated her question.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; I shall send in my card,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And shall you see him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That shall be as he pleases. Here is the card that I -have prepared to send in to him,” she continued, taking -from her gold case a small envelope directed to Lord Killcrichtoun, -and drawing from it her card, bearing the -name, “<span class='sc'>Mrs. Alexander Lyon</span>,” and the pencilled -lines, “<em>Only tell me little Lenny is with you and is safe -and I will thank and bless you</em>.” “I shall send that up. -He can reply to it by a pencilled line, or a verbal message, -or he can come down and see me, as he wills,” said -Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusa, you have thought of everything; you have -prepared for every emergency. But maternal love is a -great sharpener of the wits, I suppose,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It confers a sixth sense I sometimes think, Anna,” -she replied.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>When they reached the splendid palace in the West -End known as Mivart’s Hotel, the ladies alighted, and -were shown into an elegant reception room, where they -sat down.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla then called a hall waiter, gave him her enveloped -card, and directed him to take it at once to Lord -Killcrichtoun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord Killcrichtoun is not in town, madam,” replied -the man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not in town!” exclaimed Drusilla, disappointment -and terror seizing her heart and blanching her face. “I -thought he was in town! I saw him last night at the -American Embassy. Does he not stop here?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, madam; my lord has apartments here, but he -left suddenly this morning by the early train for Southampton.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For Southampton!” echoed Drusilla, in surprise and -dismay, and with the vague fear that his journey thither -was in some fatal way the occasion of General Lyon’s and -Dick’s sudden departure for that port.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, madam,” answered the imperturbable waiter, -“my lord left by the eight o’clock train, taking his servants -with him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When will he return?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can’t possibly say, madam. My lord set no day for -his return. But if you will excuse me, I will make so bold -as to say I do not think he will be gone long. He took -nothing but a small portmanteau with him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla reflected a moment and then sealing her envelope, -and handing it to the waiter with a crown piece -she said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will you be so kind as to send this to his address at -Southampton?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, madam, if you would not mind risking the note, -I might send it at a venture to the Dolphin Tavern at -Southampton, where it might chance to meet my lord, as -that is the house he usually has his letters and papers -sent to when down there. But I am not quite certain -now about his address, seeing that he never left any -orders this time where to send his letters. But if this is -not very valuable you might run the risk of sending it to -the Dolphin.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>“I thank you, send it immediately to the Dolphin. It -is not of itself of any worth, except as a message to Lord -Killcrichtoun. If it does not find him it might as well be -lost,” said Drusilla, rising to go.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Anna had also something to say to the waiter. -Laying her hand upon Drusilla’s arm, she pressed her -back into her seat, and then turning to the man, she -inquired:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Has any one beside ourselves been here to inquire for -Lord Killcrichtoun?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, madam, many persons.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Gentlemen or ladies?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No ladies, madam. Three gentlemen were in to see -him very early this morning, before he went away.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, but I mean since he went away.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, madam, quite a number.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Again, gentlemen or ladies?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Neither one nor the other, madam; <em>men</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Men! Ah! what sort of men?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Common roughs, madam.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes! yes! did any of these men have a child with -them?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Beg pardon, madam?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I ask you if either of these rough-looking men had a -child with him, a fair-haired, blue-eyed little boy, of -about two years old.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, madam, certainly not.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are sure?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Perfectly sure, madam.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, waiter, attend to me. We have lost a child—and -have some reason to suppose that the child was -brought to this house this afternoon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It has not, madam, I can assure you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We have cause to believe, then, that he will be -brought here—Drusilla, dear, give me one of your cards -and one of these advertisements—Now here, waiter, is a -description of the child; and here is our address. If -such a child should be brought here, I desire that you -will detain him, and those who bring him, and send for -us. Do this and you shall be richly rewarded.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will do it, ma’am, if the little boy should be brought -here,” said the man.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>And then, as time was precious, Drusilla and Anna -arose and re-entered their cab.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where now, Drusilla?” inquired Anna, as they -seated themselves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Instead of answering her cousin immediately, Drusilla -beckoned the cabman to approach, and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drive to the nearest Telegraph Office, and drive fast.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man touched his hat, shut the door, mounted his -box and started his horses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then Drusilla turned to her cousin and explained:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear Alick may, or may not have employed those -men to carry off little Lenny. If he has done so, he could -not have expected them to do his errand to-day, else certainly -he would not have left town with the chance of -leaving the child in such hands. In that view of the case -I left my card with the penciled lines for the waiter to -send to him, to let him know that Lenny is in the hands -of his agents, supposing that they <em>are</em> his, and in any case -to let him know the child is missing.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Drusilla! how clearly you speak, and yet how -wretchedly you look! Heaven help you, poor, young -mother!” said Mrs. Hammond, as the tears rushed to her -eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna! don’t, don’t, dear! don’t pity me! don’t -say anything to weaken me! I have need of all my -strength!” cried Drusilla, through her white and quivering -lips.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna, with heaving bosom and overflowing eyes, turned -her head away from her and looked out of the window.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You asked me just now where we were going next. -You heard me tell the cabman to drive to the Telegraph -Office. I must send off two telegrams to Southampton. -I cannot wait the slow motions of the mails. One I shall -send to Alick, directed at a venture to the ‘Dolphin.’ The -other I must send to uncle; but you must tell me where -to direct that, as I do not know his address,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick told me, in any sudden emergency that might -require his or grandpa’s presence, to direct to them at the -‘International,’” replied Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well; we will telegraph there.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>At this moment the cab stopped before the Telegraph -Office.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>The office of course was full of people, and Anna and -Drusilla had to wait their turn.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While standing at the counter, Drusilla borrowed pen, -ink and paper from one of the clerks, and wrote her two -messages. The first, addressed to her husband, ran thus:</p> - -<p class='c014'>“<em>Little Lenny was stolen from his nurse, by two men, -this afternoon, in the Strand, and has not yet been recovered.</em></p> - -<div class='c016'><span class='sc'>Drusilla.</span>”</div> - -<p class='c012'>She submitted this to the examination of Anna, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is quite enough and not too much to send. If he -is concerned in the abduction, he will hasten at once to -London to take the child from the dangerous hands he is -in. If he is not so, still I think he will hurry hither to -help in the search.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You reason rightly, dear,” said Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla then wrote a second message, to be sent to -General Lyon. It was couched in these terms:</p> - -<p class='c014'>“<em>Little Lenny is missing since this afternoon. Come -to London by the first train. If in the interim you have -time to do so, seek Alexander at the Dolphin and tell him.</em>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>This also she showed to Anna, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You see I had to modify my message since learning -that Alexander was also in Southampton; and so also I -had to destroy the slip I wrote at the Morley House and -prepare this. Now I see it is my turn to be served,” she -said, taking her two messages and carrying them to the -operator. She paid for them and then inquired:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How soon will these go?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This instant, mum,” answered the bothered operator, -so brusquely that Drusilla did not venture to ask another -question, but merely left her address and a request that -if an answer came to either of her telegrams it might be -forwarded immediately.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, my dear, what next?” inquired Anna, as they -re-entered their carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To the ‘Times’ office, and from there to all the newspaper -offices in turn. It may not be really necessary to -advertise; and I hope that it is not; but still I must lose -no time and miss no chance,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>And having given her order to the cabman, she was -driven rapidly to the head-quarters of the great thunderer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She got out and left her advertisement. And then returning -to her carriage, ordered it to the office of the -“Post.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so in succession she visited the offices of the -“Chronicle,” “Express,” “Dispatch,” “Leader,” “News,” -“Bulletin,” and, in short, of every daily paper in London.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In each of the offices she also, in addition to giving in -her advertisement for the paper, ordered posters of the -lost child to be printed, and engaged bill-stickers to paste -them up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Next she drove to the lodgings of the Seymour family, -to tell the colonel of the loss of little Lenny, and to ask -him to assist her in the search for the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But here she was informed that Colonel Seymour and -the ladies were gone to the theater; but that the servants -did not know what particular theater.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Drusilla wrote a note and left it for the colonel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was now nine o’clock, and quite dark; and having -done all she could possibly do towards the recovery of -her child, she ordered the cabman to drive back to the -hotel, to meet the horrors of her lonely night and forced -inaction.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, oh! the awful sense of bereavement, of loneliness, -of vacancy, in entering again her apartments, in which -little Lenny was no longer to be found! The heart-rending -pang of terror in conjecturing where he might be!</p> - -<p class='c012'>While she had been busily, actively engaged in taking -measures for his recovery, her thoughts had been somewhat -distracted from concentrating themselves upon his -present condition.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But now, when she had done all that she could possibly -do towards finding him, now that she had come home to -the old familiar rooms, made desolate by his loss, and -was obliged to abide in inactivity within them,—now that -she missed him everywhere and every moment,—the reaction -from courage to despair was so sudden and overwhelming -that her very brain reeled, her reason for the -moment seemed imperiled. With a half-stifled cry, she -sank upon her chair, muttering with gasping breath:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is not possible! it cannot be! Lenny gone, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>not know where he is! <span class='sc'>Wake me!</span> <span class='sc'>Wake me!</span> I have -the nightmare!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna sprang to her side, and put her arms around her -saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla, Drusilla! my darling, courageous girl! collect -your powers—control yourself!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is it <span class='fss'>TRUE</span>, Anna? Oh, say it is not—not true! -Lenny is <span class='fss'>NOT LOST</span>!” she exclaimed, wildly gazing into -Anna’s eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We hope that he is safe wherever he is,” said Anna -wishingly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Wherever he is! Oh, my Heaven, yes, it is so! He -is lost, and we do not know where to find him!” she exclaimed, -distractedly starting up and walking the floor, -and wringing and twisting her hands. “Where is he? -where is he to-night? Oh, in all this great crowded city, -where is my little child—my poor, little two-year old -child, who cannot help himself? He is frightened to -death wherever he is—I know it! He is calling for me, -he is crying for me, at this very moment! Oh, my Lenny, -my Lenny! I would go to you through fire if I knew where -to find you in this great Babylon! I would, my little one, -I would! But I do not know where in this wilderness to -look for you to-night, and you must cry for me in vain, -my little child, you must! Oh, what a horrible night! I -cannot, I cannot live through it! I cannot breathe in this -house! I must go out and look for him again! I must! -I must!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her head was thrown back, her arms raised, and her -hands clasped upon her throbbing temples, and she reeled -as she walked to and fro in the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna, who bad kept near her, seeing her about to fall, -caught her and made her sit down, while she said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusa, dearest, be reasonable! be yourself!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I must go out and look for my little child! I must, -Anna! I must! I cannot live through this horrible night -if I stay in this house!” she cried.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusa, consider! you can do no good by going out to-night, -but much harm. You could not find little Lenny, -but you would lose yourself. You have already done all -that you possibly could do for his recovery. Having done -so, leave the result to Heaven.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>“Oh, if we could only know where he is!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We shall find out to-morrow, no doubt. The advertisements -will be read; the posters will be seen; the -large reward offered will stimulate inquiry; the detective -police will be on the alert; and, in, all human probability, -before this time to-morrow little Lenny will be in your -arms! and grandpa, and Dick, and who knows but Alick, -too, will all be here rejoicing with you in your child’s -restoration! Drusilla, this cloud may have a silver lining; -this transient trial may bring about a great happiness,” -said Anna, speaking with perhaps more cheerful confidence -than she really felt.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Heaven grant it! Oh, Heaven in its mercy grant it! -But till then! But to-night! Oh, how shall I live -through this horrible night! How will my little child -endure it? my tender little child, who was never away -from me before! And, oh, in what wretchedness he may -be! in what terror! in what danger! crying for his -mother to come and take him, and she knows not where -to find him!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla! Drusilla! use your own excellent judgment. -Is it likely at all that the child should be in danger to-night, -or even in terror? Children live and thrive in the -lowest haunts of London. The men who stole him for -his father will of course take the best possible care of him -in order to deliver him in the best condition and to get -their money; so he will be in no danger; and as for his -being in terror, little Lenny is a ‘game boy,’ afraid of -nothing on earth, neither of ‘thunder nor horses,’ as he -once told me, much less of men; and as to crying for you, -he is probably by this time fast asleep, and well watched, -for his abductors know that he is a treasure that will -bring money to their ragged pockets.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, if I could think so!—oh, if I could think so. Oh, -if I could only know where he is—know where I might -lay my hand on him to-night, or to-morrow, I might be -at something like peace; but oh, Anna, it is distracting, -it is maddening to feel that in all this huge, crowded city -I do not know where he is!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drusilla,” said Anna, laying her hand upon the young -mother’s shoulder, looking in her eyes, speaking sweetly -and solemnly, and appealing to the deepest feelings of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>young Christian’s soul. “Drusilla, if <em>we</em> do not know -where little Lenny is to-night, <em>his Heavenly Father does</em>. -He sees him, watches over him, protects him. What -would <em>your</em> knowledge of his whereabouts, or <em>your</em> power -to protect him, be to that of his Heavenly Father, whose -eyes are over all his works, who is as all-merciful as he is -all-mighty. Take this faith home to your heart and let -it comfort you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Anna, that does comfort me. To think that the -Lord knows where he is, though I do not; the <em>Lord</em> can -take care of him, though I cannot. Oh, I thought no one -but the thieves could know where little Lenny is to-night; -but behold the Lord knows! And I feared that -I could do nothing more for him to-night; but behold I -can pray to the Lord for him. I will spend the night in -praying for him!” said the bereaved mother, growing -somewhat more composed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But there was no going to bed in the ladies’ apartments -that night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As they had not broken their fast since morning, Anna -ordered tea to be served in the drawing-room. Consumed -by the feverish thirst brought on by mental distress, they -drank some tea, but would eat nothing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When the service was removed, both went to Anna’s -room, for Drusilla did not dare to trust herself within -her own desolated chamber, and they changed their carriage -dresses for loose wrappers, and they spent the night -in vigil and in prayer.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXIII.<br> <span class='large'>ALEXANDER’S JEALOUSY.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in12'>Ten thousand fears</div> - <div class='line'>Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views</div> - <div class='line'>Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms,</div> - <div class='line'>For which he melts in fondness, eat him up</div> - <div class='line'>With fervent anguish and consuming rage.—<span class='sc'>Thompson.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>We must return to the hour when Alexander threw -himself into his cab and dashed back to his hotel. He -did not go to bed, you may be sure. He had a countryman -and an acquaintance in the same house, who was no -other than our young friend, Francis Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>Francis occupied the singular position of being on -friendly terms with both Alick and Drusilla, without -knowing or even suspecting the relation that these two -bore to each other; and, moreover, as he never happened -to mention the name of Lord Killcrichtoun to Mrs. Lyon, -or that of Mrs. Lyon to Lord Killcrichtoun, neither one -of these was aware of his acquaintance with the other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mr. Tredegar had been at the Ambassadress’ ball, and -had returned to his hotel about the same hour that Alexander -got back there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Alexander, instead of going directly to his own -apartments, went first to Mr. Tredegar’s room and rapped</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who’s there?” cried a voice from within.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is I. Have you retired yet?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No. Come in.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick entered and found his friend, divested of his coat -and vest and preparing for bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Put on your clothes again, Francis, you must do -something for me before you sleep,” said Alexander, walking -towards the dressing-table at which Mr. Tredegar -stood, with his back to his visitor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good gracious, Alick, my dear fellow, what on earth -can you want me to do for you at four o’clock in the -morning, after having made a night of it at the ball?” -laughed Francis Tredegar, turning around in much surprise; -but his surprise became consternation as he gazed -on the haggard features and ghastly complexion of his -visitor. “Merciful Heaven, Alick!” he exclaimed, “what -is the matter? What on earth has happened to you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have been insulted, outraged, beyond all endurance. -And I want you to be the bearer of a challenge from -me!” grimly replied Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A challenge, Alick! In the name of reason, are you -mad?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I wish I were! Perhaps I am! But in a few words, -Tredegar, if I convince you that I have been wronged to -a degree unendurable by an honorable man, will you then -become the bearer of my challenge to the base caitiff who -has so foully abused me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why certainly I will, Alick. In any just cause I will -stand by you to the very death! But is it really as bad -as you think?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>“‘As bad as I think?’ Listen.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Sit down, Alick, and tell me all about it,” said Tredegar, -rolling towards his visitor a comfortable arm-chair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick dropped into the offered seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Tredegar perched himself on the corner of the dressing-table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will put a case and let you judge for yourself. -Suppose that you were devoted to a beautiful, amiable and -accomplished woman, who was at least equally devoted to -yourself——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Heavens! If I could suppose that I should be in paradise!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No levity, if you please, Francis.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Beg pardon. I will be as grave as a rejected lover, or—as -an <em>accepted</em> one!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Suppose this mutual devotion had grown up with you -from infancy to maturity; and that it was consecrated by -the most sacred bonds and pledges.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Meaning, poetically speaking, ‘bonds of matrimony’ -and ‘pledges of affection’—otherwise, practically prosing, -wife and children.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, not exactly; but, to continue: Suppose this mutual -devotion to have lived on in love, and trust, and joy, -and peace until certain untoward circumstances—your -own madness, to wit:—disturbed the harmony of your relations; -yet still in all the discord this mutual love lived -on; lived on, only deepened and strengthened by separation -and suffering,—lived on until just at the time you were -beginning to dream of reconciliation and reunion with your -first love—your only love, your life’s love—a base villain -steps in between you, and, favored by fortune and by -position, dazzles the mind and steals the heart of your beloved!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And is that suppository case your own, Alick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, it is. What would you do if it were yours?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’d let him have her! I’d give ’em my blessing, and -let ’em go! But then I’m not you, Alick; if you feel inclined -to call the fellow out and giving him a chance to -settle your prior claims by blowing out your heated -brains, why that’s <em>your</em> affair!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And <em>you</em> will have nothing to do with it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I did not say that, Alick; quite the contrary! You -<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>have been wronged, and I will see you righted if I can—and -righted in your own way too!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then you will take my challenge?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“With all my heart. To whom am I to take it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden. May the demon -fly away with him!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden, <em>Whew!</em>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What’s the matter?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He’s a dead shot—the deadliest shot on this side the -ocean!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is not saying much for him! I’m a second or -third rate marksman on the other side of the ocean. So -that makes us about equal. Will you come to my room -now, Tredegar? I wish to write my despatch and send -it off at once. No time should be lost in these affairs.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What! are you in such hot haste to meet your foe? -Are your feet so ‘swift to shed blood?’ Will you then -rush, as our grand Halleck has it—</p> - -<p class='c014'>‘To death as to a festival?’</p> - -<p class='c015'>Alick, Alick! I am sorry for you!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Spare your compassion and come to my room,” said -Alexander, rising and leading the way through the halls -and corridors that led to his own sumptuous suite of -apartments.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Arrived there, Alexander made Francis Tredegar sit -down, while he placed himself at his writing-desk and -penned his challenge to the prince.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shall not have far to seek, at any rate,” said Mr. -Tredegar, as he received the note, “for Prince Ernest -has apartments on this very floor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I knew of course that he was stopping here,” said -Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now then, if it is a discreet question, who is the -fair lady for whose sake two such gallant knights are to -do battle?” inquired Tredegar, poising the paper on his -finger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it is <em>not</em> a fair question, Tredegar. The name of -the lady should never be mentioned in such matters. I -cannot utter it even to you, dear Francis,” said Alick -gravely.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>“All right. But see here! It is never that beautiful -young widow, Mrs. Lyon, who made such a sensation as -the belle of the ball last night?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bosh!” exclaimed Alexander, growing deadly white, -and jerking himself around in apparent impatience, but -with a real desire to conceal his emotion—“Bosh, I say! -It is no widow for whose sake I wish to meet him. There -is not a widow alive in whom I feel the slightest interest!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, then, I think you are all at sea about the prince. -He thinks of no other woman in the world but the beautiful -widow. His devotion to her was the general topic of -conversation last night.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I tell you that you are all ‘at sea,’ as you call it, -my dear Francis. Come! you have taken my word for the -justice of my cause, now take my challenge to my foe.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, that is soon done, unless he has gone to bed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That he has not I will venture to predict. He is -waiting my challenge.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“As eager for the fray as yourself, eh?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But see here, Alick! I promised to stand by you in -this cause, and I will do it; but though I bear your -challenge, I shall try to settle this affair amicably.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Amicably?’ It can never——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I know it would be quite useless to argue with you, -but Prince Ernest may be more amenable to reason, more -open to conviction.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will you go?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, yes, I am going,” said Tredegar, leaving the -room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as he was alone Alexander looked at the clock. -It wanted a quarter to five.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In passing before his dressing-table, his eye caught the -reflection of his ghastly face in the glass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good heavens!” he said, “I look like a ghost already. -I shall not look more pallid after that fellow has killed me—if -he does kill me—than I do now; and that chance of -death reminds me that I must settle up my worldly affairs -as quickly as I can.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So saying, he sat down to his writing table, took a sheet -of foolscap and a coarse pen, and began to write. He -wrote a few lines in an “engrossing” hand, and then -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>stopped, with a troubled brow, to reflect. Thus writing -and reflecting, he completed the work he was on in about -half an hour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he took note paper and another pen and wrote a -letter, which he placed in an envelope, sealed and directed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Finally he sat back in his chair, and fell into deep -thought.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When Mr. Tredegar had been gone an hour, he returned -and re-entered the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well?” exclaimed Alick, looking up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, it is settled,” said Tredegar, dropping into a -chair near his friend. “I found Prince Ernest even more -resolutely bent upon the meeting than you are. He considers -himself the insulted party. When I requested to -see him, I was admitted at once to his chamber, where I -found him tearing up and down the floor in his sacred shirt. -If my errand had not been so grave, I could have laughed. -He made no sort of apology for his extreme déshabille, but -seemed to know my errand. I handed him your challenge. -He then began to rave about the insult that had been -offered him, and the ‘grawnd satees-fac-shee-on,’ as he -called it, that he would take. He introduced me to his -friend, Major Ernest Zollenhoffar, or some such barbaric -name, and he told me to settle the preliminaries of the -meeting with him. Then he dismissed us to an adjoining -room.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you settled them?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; subject, of course, to the approval of the principals. -Prince Ernest approves. It is now for you to pass -judgment.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is not likely that I shall object. Let me hear -them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis Tredegar took from his breast pocket a folded -paper, opened it, and partly read from it and partly said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“As it is not possible that this meeting should take -place on English soil, it is arranged that the parties go by -the next train to Southampton, take the steamer to Jersey -and proceed to the open country between St. Aubins and -St. Héléir. The exact spot of the duel to be settled afterward. -The weapons are to be pistols. The distance ten -paces. The signals—One—Two—Three. At the last -word—<span class='sc'>Fire</span>!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>“That will do. We must go by the eight o’clock train, -which is the next. Let me see;—it is now a quarter past -five. We must leave this house by seven, in order to -make sure of our train. Thus we have but an hour and -three-quarters for preparation,” said Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I have not read you all the articles yet. There -is something about surgeons and attendants——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let all that go. It is of minor importance,” said -Alexander, laying his hand upon the cord of the bell that -communicated with his valet’s room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He rang loudly and repeatedly. And presently the man -made his appearance, half asleep and half dressed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Simms,” said his master, “pack my portmanteau with -a change of clothes and small dressing-case. We go to -Southampton by the eight o’clock train.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man stared a little at this unexpected order, but, -being a well trained servant, suppressed his surprise and -hastened to obey his orders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander examined his pistol-case, and, seeing that all -was right, proceeded to prepare himself for his sudden -journey.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis Tredegar repaired to his own chamber for the -same purpose.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Half an hour passed in this manner, and then Mr. Tredegar -returned, traveling-bag in hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He found Alexander again at his writing desk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come here, Francis, my dear boy; I want you to witness -the signing of my will,” said Alexander, looking -around.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will require two witnesses,” observed Francis -Tredegar, gravely, as he approached the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I know! Here, Simms.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The valet came up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the presence of his friend and his servant, Alexander -signed his will. And then Francis Tredegar and John -Simms signed as witnesses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, Tredegar, I have named you and another one, -executors of this will. But I wish you to take charge of -it in case anything should happen to me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, bosh!” said Tredegar, gaily, yet with a tremulous -tone,—“these affairs seldom end fatally.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>But he took the will and put it carefully in his breast -pocket.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is nearly seven o’clock now. I wonder if we could -get some coffee. Go down, Simms, and see, and have it -brought to this room,” said Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The servant went on this errand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The master turned again to his friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here, Francis,” he said, gravely, as he handed the -letter he had written; “I wish you, in case of my death, -to deliver this letter to its address.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, nonsense. There is going to be nothing so solemn. -You may be wounded slightly, and as you are a -good marksman you may wound Prince Ernest seriously. -That will be all,” said Mr. Tredegar. But his voice -trembled as he spoke, and his hand shook as he took -charge of the letter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, good Heaven, Alick! this is directed to Mrs. -Alexander Lyon, Morley House, Trafalgar Square,” said -Tredegar, in unbounded astonishment, as he read the -address.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, that is what she <em>calls</em> herself,” said Alexander, -grimly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so it is the lovely widow, after all, who is the -cause of this hostile meeting?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I told you that no widow had anything to do with -it. She is not a widow, Tredegar.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not a widow! and just now you hinted that she was -not Mrs. Lyon. Who is she, then, Alick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She is Lady Killcrichtoun—she is my wife, Tredegar.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heavens, Alick!—Here!—Here is my hand! I -go with you now heart and soul! I am not bloodthirsty, -and I want no man’s life; but I do hope you will cripple -that fellow for the rest of his days!” fervently exclaimed -Francis Tredegar, clasping his hand into Alexander’s -palm.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I did not wish—I did not mean to mention her dear -name in this connection; circumstances and necessity -have forced it from me. Treat it as a sacred confidence, -Tredegar.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By my soul I will!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And listen to this: the fault, the folly, the madness -belong to <em>me</em> and to that man. <em>She</em> is blameless!—yes, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>blameless as any holy angel. I swear it by all my hopes -of Heaven!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The entrance of the waiter with a tray put an end to -the conversation for the time being.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The friends took each a cup of coffee, a muffin, and a -chop, and then went down-stairs and entered the cab that -was already packed for their journey.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXIV.<br> <span class='large'>THE DUEL.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Blood! he will have blood!—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>As Alexander and his party entered the fly that was -to take them to the station, they observed the crested -coach and liveried servants of Prince Ernest coming -around the next corner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah!” said Alexander. “We shall be at the station -before them. I am glad of it. Our advance will enable -us to take a whole carriage and avoid the possibility of -going down in their company.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it is not to be presumed but that Prince Ernest -will do the same thing—will engage a whole carriage for -himself and <em>suite</em>,” answered Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>If he can.</em> But whole carriages are not always to be -had, at the last moment before starting. There may -chance to be one, and that I will secure.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were bowling rapidly along the streets as Alexander -spoke.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In due time they reached the crowded station.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is a notable blessing that we are not encumbered -with baggage,” said Mr. Tredegar, as they pressed their -way to the first-class ticket window.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; what little we have can be taken in the carriage -with us,” replied Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>High over the heads of the crowd that was before them, -Francis Tredegar held his ten-pound note, and high also -over their voices he spoke:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We want a whole first-class carriage, if you please.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The note was taken.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>“How far?” inquired the agent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Through,” answered Francis.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tickets were handed him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis clutched them and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come! we must hurry all the same in order to secure -ourselves.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As they pressed outward through the crowd, they saw a -servant in the livery of Prince Ernest pressing inward -towards the ticket office. And before they had quite -worked their way through they heard the man call for a -whole first-class carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You see he is after the same thing. Let us hurry to -the train. First come first served, you know. And there -may be but one,” remarked Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They pressed forward to the railway platform; found a -guard and showed him their tickets and—a crown piece to -hurry his movements.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Guard touched his hat, opened a door and popped our -party into a roomy carriage with eight comfortable seats.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The only wholly vacant one on the train, sir, I can -assure you,” said the guard, pocketing his crown piece, -touching his hat and closing the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah!” whispered Alexander, rubbing his hands, “I -told you so.” It was such a satisfaction for him to think -he had been beforehand with the unlucky Austrian, who -would therefore be compelled to distribute himself and his -suite promiscuously through the carriages.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He had no idea that another carriage would be attached -to the train especially to accommodate Prince Ernest and -his suite. Yet such was the case.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The train started. It was the express, and it went on -at a tremendous rate. Houses, streets, suburbs, fields, -woods, towns flew behind it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>How did our travelers pass the two or three hours of -their journey? They were going down by the express, for -the avowed purpose of engaging in a mortal combat. It -might be supposed that their time would be spent in sorely -troubled thought. Will it be believed that it was passed -in—sleep?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet so it was. Human nature must sleep. The condemned -criminal sleeps the night before his execution; the -victim on the rack has been known to sleep in the intervals -<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>between each turn of the screw; the agonized mother drops -asleep in the interims of her travail.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander was going to kill or to be killed; Francis -Tredegar was going down to help him meet either -fate. Yet these by no means hardened sinners, really -slept.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Worn out by want of rest, and affected by the swift -motion of the train, they slept soundly—waking up only -once in a while, when the train would stop at some unusually -noisy way station.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Doubtless on these wakings both would realize with a -pang of recollection the horror of the business upon which -they were traveling. But if so neither gave a sign. If -either spoke it would be to make some commonplace -remark, as:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Ah-yah!</em> I do believe I have been asleep! This -dancing until four o’clock in the morning does use a fellow -up confoundedly,” from Francis Tredegar; or:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite a pretty little village this where we are stopping -now,” from Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But not one word of the grave matter that occupied both -minds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And as soon as the train started they would cease talking, -and soon after, fall asleep again, and sleep until the -next stoppage at the next noisy station.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Thus the hours passed swiftly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length they were waked up by a very unusual -bustle, and found themselves at a very unusually large -station.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is a considerable town. I wonder what it is,” -said Francis Tredegar, yawning and looking out of the -window.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is Southampton and we are at our journey’s end,” -answered Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed! We have run down very soon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not so very soon either. We slept all the way and -know little of the flight of time. It wants but twenty -minutes to eleven o’clock, and we have but just time to -catch the boat. Where is the guard? I wish he would -come and open the door and let us out. It is a confounded -nuisance, this locking the carriage-doors on the outside, -keeping one in a sort of flying prison,” grumbled Alexander, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>looking from the window up and down the platform -for the guard.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is for one’s safety,” said Francis Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, bosh! as if I hadn’t any right to risk my own -life! It is not so precious to any one, I take it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, but granting that, <em>other</em> lives may be precious -to <em>other</em> people, and this rule is made for the safety of -all.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As Francis Tredegar spoke the guard came up and -unlocked the door, and released the prisoners.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A quarter to eleven! Come, Francis, hurry—we have -not a moment to lose if we would catch the boat,” exclaimed -Alexander, flying down the platform and beckoning -a cab from the stand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis Tredegar and Alick’s valet hurried after him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To the St. Aubins steamboat, as fast as you can go,” -was the order Alexander gave to the cabman, who stood -hat in hand holding the door open.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man closed the door upon the impatient party, -mounted his seat, and started his horses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were driven rapidly down to the wharf, where -the St. Aubins steamer lay getting up her steam. They -got out, paid the cab, and passed on into the boat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Five minutes to eleven—we have just saved ourselves. -But that dastard has not made his appearance yet! Is it -possible that he will back out at the last moment? If he -does, I will post him for a coward all over Europe!” -muttered Alexander, frowning.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There he comes now!” exclaimed Francis, as a carriage -rattled rapidly down towards the boat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there he was, sure enough. It was not likely that -the excitable Austrian was going to lag behind on such -an adventure as this.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Prince Ernest and his suite stepped upon deck just one -minute and a half before the gang-plank was withdrawn, -the signal-gun fired, and the steamer started.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In passing on the deck, the adversaries met face to face. -Each raised his hat with a stiff bow and passed on—Prince -Ernest and his suite to the forward end of the boat, Alexander -and his party to the aft. And they took good care -not to meet again during the voyage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They had a fair day for their foul deed. The sky was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>unusually clear, the air calm, and the sea smooth. The -steamer ran at the rate of ten knots an hour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander and his party sat at the stern looking out at -sea, and reading or pretending to read the morning papers -served around by a newsboy who had the run of the -boat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The boat was certainly not crowded. In fact there were<a id='t260'></a> -very few passengers on board. And among them Alexander -and his party saw not a face they knew except those -of Prince Ernest and his second.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At two o’clock lunch was served in the saloon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will you come down? we have had but a slight -breakfast,” pleaded Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I cannot sit at the same table with a man I am about -to fight and perhaps to kill,” muttered Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nor would he sit at the same table with you, it is to -be presumed. But there are probably several tables in -the saloon. There goes Prince Ernest! his fire-eating -propensities do not take away his appetite for milder food -it seems. Let him select his table and then let us go -down and take some other,” suggested Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander assented. And in a few minutes they -descended to the saloon and took seats at a table as far -as possible from that occupied by Prince Ernest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The luncheon was a liberal one, as good as a dinner—with -soup, fish, fowl, roast and boiled joints, pastry, -cheese, and fruits. The wines were good and cheap, -various and abundant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Again, will it be credited, Alexander, firmly believing -that within a few hours he must kill or be killed, still ate -and drank freely at this lunch. And Tredegar followed -his example. Perhaps they did it that the sated stomach -might soothe the brain. At any rate when they rose -from the table, they went down to the lower deck to a -spot set apart and sacred to smoking, and there they -smoked out several cigars. After that they went to the -cabin, turned into their respective berths, and went to -sleep and slept until the ringing of the dinner-bell -aroused them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They arranged their toilettes and went into the saloon. -And again, they sought seats as far as possible from the -table occupied by Prince Ernest.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>It might have been the invigorating effects of the sea-air -upon our party; but they certainly sat down and -made as good a dinner at seven o’clock as if they had -had no luncheon at two. After sitting an hour over -their wine, they finished with each a cup of coffee, and -then went up on deck.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The sun had set, but the western horizon and the sea -were still suffused with his lingering crimson lights. A -few stars were coming out.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander and Francis Tredegar sat down in the after -part of the boat, and entered into conversation, talking of -anything rather than of the approaching duel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What time shall we reach St. Aubins do you -think?” inquired Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have never been on this route before, so I cannot -tell you of my own knowledge. From what I have been -able to pick up from observations dropped by those that -are more familiar with the voyage, I judge we shall be in -port somewhere about midnight.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So late in the night? that will be very inconvenient.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; but unless we could have arrived before sunset, -which was clearly impossible, we could have done nothing -more to-day. We must stay at the best hotel to-night, -and get our little affair quietly over in the morning.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The sooner the better,” muttered Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The night was beautiful. The waters of the Channel, -often so troubled, were calm as those of a placid lake. -The heavens were of that deep transparent purple-black -that only summer skies over summer seas ever show. -Brighter than diamonds the stars shone down, creating -the darkly-brilliant light so much more beautiful than -moonbeams. The night was holy. How could thoughts -of sin, feelings of revenge, purposes of destruction live in -the soul of any man gazing out upon the divine beauty of -the sky and sea?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ah, but Alexander was morally and spiritually ill and -insane. He could scarcely be said to belong to the natural -world. His spirit seemed already steeped to the lips in -that sea of blood seen by the poet-prophet of Italy in his -vision of Hell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>How shall he be cured and saved?</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>And yet he was not unconscious, although he was unimpressed -by the beauty of the night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The deck was almost solitary; the passengers had gone -below and turned in, many of them suffering more or less -from the effects of sea-sickness; for the boat rolled a -little, as small steamboats will roll even on the smoothest -seas. No one was left on deck except the man at the -wheel, the officers of the watch, and Alexander Lyon and -Francis Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis sauntered up and down the starboard gangway, -smoking his cigar, which, at this hour and under these -circumstances, was admissible, and meditating most probably -on the “coming events” that now “cast their -shadows before.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis had no such deep stake in the event as had -Alexander, for his life was not to be risked, yet not the -less was his spirit darkened within him. He, too, saw -the star-spangled firmament above and the smooth sea -below, reflecting it as a mirror; but he could not enjoy -the vision as once he might have. The crime, the folly -of which he had been tempted to become a participant -was not yet consummated, but yet he felt that some -portion of his own soul was already dead, or paralyzed -so that he could not feel the heavenly influence of the -scene around him. How should he?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander stood leaning over the bulwarks of the boat, -gazing moodily out to sea. I said he was not unconscious -of the divine beauty of the night, although he was untouched -by it. He saw the glory of the firmament, but -as something afar off, which could not reach him, and -which he could not reach; but he remembered also that -in happier times his spirit was touched, drawn out, -elevated, by this heavenly influence. Why could it not -affect him now? Why was the divine loveliness beaming -down upon this natural world, so silent, cold and still, -for him? Why was the living spirit of the night but a -dead body for him?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alas! he knew and felt why. He was a man who had -ruined his natural life, and all but ruined his immortal -spirit. He had sped too fast and too far on the downward -road to perdition to stop himself now. He was -like one who, running rapidly down hill, has gained such -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>an impetus that he cannot stop, though he knows that -he rushes to death and hell. Alexander knew and felt -that dueling was unjustifiable under any circumstances—that -it was a tremendous crime—a doubly damnable -crime, since it involved at once murder and suicide of -body and of soul—perhaps the very worst of crimes; and -yet he was bent upon committing it, even though, in doing -so, he should lose both body and soul.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The night seemed endless, and the sea boundless, to -this sick spirit; yet, just as the watch sounded eight -bells and midnight, the boat entered the picturesque -harbor of St. Aubins, and soon after landed at the wharf.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was something more than picturesque, there was -something mysterious and even spiritual in the aspect of -this singular little maritime town, as seen for the first -time in the starlight midnight, overshadowed by its background -of Noirmont Heights, and reflected with its few -gleaming lights in the still waters of its quiet little harbor—St. -Aubins! it is a place for a tired spirit to stop -and rest in.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The hour was not yet so late but that some of the -hotels were open, especially as they were expecting the -arrival of the boat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Our passengers landed. Some few carriages were -waiting, probably by appointment. Prince Ernest and -his suite entered one of these and drove off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander, accompanied by Francis Tredegar, and -followed by his servant bearing the carpet bags, walked -dreamily up into the town, and took the direction pointed -out to him towards the St. Aubins’ hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In fact, all his life now seemed something unreal, -visionary, delirious as a fevered dream.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Arrived at the hotel, they first saw the empty carriage -of Prince Ernest turning away from the door, and they -knew as a certainty what they had before taken for -granted—that their adversaries were stopping at the -same house, which was far the best in the place.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They took a suite of rooms, including a private parlor -and two bed-chambers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We will have a bit of supper up here and then to work,” -said Francis Tredegar, touching the bell. Francis was now -the only active agent in the enterprise.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>The waiter answered his summons.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Supper immediately. Anything in the world that you -have handiest, with a bottle of good sherry,” was Mr. -Tredegar’s orders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The waiter disappeared and reappeared several times -with great rapidity, in course of which evolution he -spread the table with a white cloth, and with crockery -ware, cutlery and glass, and loaded it with cold ham, roast -fowl, and a salad, together with the bottle of wine that -had been bespoken.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander and Francis sat down and ate and drank as -other travelers might who had no murder on their mind. -They spoke no word of the impending duel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When supper was over and the cloth removed, Francis -Tredegar turned to his principal and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now you will wish to feel well and strong to-morrow -morning. You have lost a great deal of rest lately, and -will require all the sleep that you can get to restore you. -So you had better go to bed at once, and lie there till I -call you. I will be sure to call you two hours before the -time that shall be fixed for the meeting.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you, Francis? Will you not take some rest?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, it is not so necessary for me. I must meet Zollenhoffar -by appointment to settle the last—the final arrangements—such -as could not possibly be settled before our -arrival here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, you will call me in time?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander retired to his chamber, and Francis Tredegar -went out to keep his appointment on what might be -called neutral ground—in a room, namely, far removed -from the quarters of the principal belligerents, and which -the seconds had engaged for the purpose of settling the -final preliminaries to the hostile meeting.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The night watch of the hotel could have told, and afterwards -did tell, how these two men had shut themselves -up together in a private room, where they remained from -one o’clock, till half past two, when they came out together, -locked the door, took the key with them, left the house, -and bent their steps towards the gloomy heights of Noirmont -that lay behind the town; and how about four -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>o’clock they returned, and separated, each going to his own -apartment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Certainly at about a quarter past four Mr. Tredegar entered -Alexander’s chamber, where he found his principal -tossing about on the bed in a feverish and impatient -manner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Have you slept?” inquired Francis.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Slept? How could I? Is it time to rise?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am very glad of it,” exclaimed Alexander, jumping -out of bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have rather more than two hours before you, if you -have any last preparations to make,” said Francis, gravely.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have nothing to do but shave, wash and dress.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But—” said Francis, sadly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I tell you I have no other preparations to make. Having -settled my worldly affairs, I have no other preparations -to make. What should I have?” emphatically exclaimed -Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What, indeed? How could the duelist prepare for probable -death? The Christian soldier going into battle, or -upon a forlorn hope, in a righteous cause can invoke the -blessing of God on his arms, and can commit his soul, for -life or death, into His holy keeping. Yes, even the condemned -criminal, however deeply steeped in guilt, can -kneel and pray for mercy and forgiveness, for acceptance -and admission into Heaven. These can prepare to meet -their God.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But how can the determined duelist prepare for death? -Can he pray for pardon for past sins when he is about to -commit the last, the greatest, the deadliest sin of his life? -No, he goes to his fatal work grimly defying man and -God, death and hell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have fixed upon the ground?” inquired Alexander, -as he brushed his hair, calmly and carefully, as for -an evening party, for he had suddenly recovered all his -self-possession.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; it is a small secluded spot at the foot of Noirmont -Heights, to which I shall conduct you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And the time?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Six. The carriage is ordered at half-past five.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well. There are but a few moments left; so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>much the better,” said Alexander, as he finished his toilet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they went into their private parlor, they found -hot coffee waiting them, thanks to the careful forethought -of Francis Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they had finished their coffee the carriage was -announced, and they arose.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have laid the train so that the coachman, and even -the servants, think we are a party of geologists going to -the mountain to search for geological specimens. They -will take our pistol-case for a box of tools and think all -right,” explained Francis Tredegar, as they descended the -stairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, to complete the ruse, we must leave the cab at -some short distance from the dueling ground.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course. And still more to guard against suspicion -and interruption, Prince Ernest and his attendants start -as if for a journey, make a slight detour, and approach the -place of meeting from another direction,” answered -Francis.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The morning was fresh and bright. The sun was, perhaps, -an hour high when Alexander Lyon and Francis -Tredegar entered their carriage. Simms, the valet, -mounted the box and seated himself beside the coachman. -And in this manner they were driven out towards Noirmont -Heights.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Francis -Tredegar ordered the carriage to draw up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Give me that box of tools, Simms. We shall find -some valuable specimens of sienites on the other side of -the mountain,” said Francis Tredegar, in a rather loud -voice intended to be heard by the coachman, as the party -alighted from the carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Wait for us here. We may be gone some hours, but -don’t leave the spot,” he added, as he led the way, followed -by Alexander and his servant, around a projecting rock, -to a retired spot, shut off from observation by surrounding -precipices.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As they entered the place at one end, Prince Ernest -and his party were seen to come in at the other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Each adversary, with his attendants, paused.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The prince was attended by his second, his surgeon -and his servant.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>Alexander had only his friend and his valet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Major Zollenhoffar and Mr. Tredegar drew out from -their respective groups, and met in the center of the -ground. There, for the last time, they conferred upon -the possibility of an amicable settlement of the difficulty. -But the impracticability of reconciling the adversaries -consisted in this—that each of the adversaries deemed -<em>himself</em> the injured, insulted, outraged party, who was -entitled to an humble apology from the other, or in want -of that the “satisfaction of a gentleman”—which usually -means an ounce of lead in his body or fellow-creature’s -blood upon his soul. Each was willing to receive an -apology, instead of a bullet; but neither would hear of -making the slightest concession.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When the proposition was made to Alexander, he simply -turned away his pallid face in cold and silent scorn.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When it was made to Prince Ernest, the excitable Austrian -jumped three feet from the ground and swore that -he would have “one grawnd sat-ees-fac-shee-on.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The quarrel having proved irreconcilable, the last preparations -were made for the duel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The ground was stepped off, and the foes were placed -by their respective seconds at ten paces from each other—standing -due north and south, with the advantage of the -light equally divided between them; the insulted sun -being just above the mountains due east, and shining -down full upon the dueling ground. Major Zollenhoffar -had the choice of the four pair of pistols provided. Francis -Tredegar was to give the signals.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Having placed and armed their principals, and taken -position on opposite sides of the line of fire, and about -midway between them, and all being ready, Francis Tredegar -looked from one to the other. He saw that Alexander -Lyon was pale as death, but still as marble, steady -as a statue; and that Prince Ernest was fiery red, but in -other respects appeared as calm as his adversary.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Francis Tredegar himself grew very pale as the -fatal moment approached. His voice sounded hollow and -unnatural, as he began:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Gentlemen, are you ready!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>A dread pause and a silent assent, or an assent taken -for granted.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>“<span class='sc'>One!</span>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And at the signal the foes raised their pistols.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<span class='sc'>Two!</span>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They took deliberate aim.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<span class='sc'>Three.</span>”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They kept them so.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“FIRE!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They discharged their pistols and Alexander Lyon fell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The impulsive Austrian threw down his weapon and, -regardless of etiquette, ran over to raise his fallen foe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander was still alive when they raised him. There -was a convulsive shuddering of the form—a nervous quivering -of the face—a gasp—“Drusilla!” and all was still -as death.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Prince Ernest had his grand satisfaction.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXV.<br> <span class='large'>THE GRAND SATISFACTION.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in18'>Naught’s had, all’s spent</div> - <div class='line'>When our desires are gained without content—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The grand satisfaction was received; but it did not -prove so highly satisfactory after all. Grand satisfactions -seldom do.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Prince Ernest raised his fallen foe in his arms, supported -him upon his bosom and gazed on his upturned, -pallid face in pity and distress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quick! you come hither, monsieur! Quick! you -come hither, Doctor Dietz!” he called hastily to his own -surgeon, who with the two seconds and the valet were -hurrying to the spot.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heaven! he is killed!” cried Francis Tredegar, -throwing himself down in a kneeling posture beside his -friend and relieving Prince Ernest of the weight of the -body.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Doctor Dietz dropped on his knee on the other side and -began hastily to unloosen the clothes and examine the -condition of the wounded man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Major Zollenhoffar bent sadly over the group.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>Simms, the valet, stood gaping and staring in speechless -consternation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The impulsive Austrian skipped around the circle, acting -in his distress more like an excitable dancing master -than an accomplished Prince.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Each face was as pale as the bloodless face below them; -for these were not the times of war, and the men were not -inured to sudden and violent death.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length the surgeon looked up from his examination.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is he quite dead? Is there not the slightest hope?” -anxiously inquired Francis Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is not dead,” said Doctor Dietz. Then turning to -Major Zollenhoffar, he requested—“Monsieur, oblige me; -send someone to the carriage for my case of instruments.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will go myself,” answered the major, hurrying off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Monsieur, you do the favor; send your servant for -the water,” said Doctor Dietz, turning again to Francis.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hasten, Simms. There is a hut around the projection -of that rock. Go there and procure some vessel and fill -it at the nearest spring and hurry back with it as fast as -possible,” ordered Francis, speaking eagerly while he -still supported the almost lifeless form of his friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Simms ran off at the height of his speed to get the -water. And all this while Prince Ernest skipped about -giving vent to his lamentations and declaiming in his excitement, -without his usually careful regard to the construction -of the English language.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My Heaven! I shall wish to kill him not! I know -not what he quarrel with me because! what he insult -me! what he defy me! what he shoot me because—I -know not—I—! A fair woman shall give me her bouquet -to hold, to keep, to cherish! Why not? I am the slave -of the fair woman! I take her bouquet! It is sweet, it -is fresh, it is precious like herself! I press it to my lips! -I put it to my heart! Why not? What wrong I do that -he shall charge me? shall accuse me? shall shoot me!” -he exclaimed, jumping about, gesticulating, and making -such havoc of English auxiliary verbs as even the best-read -foreigners may sometimes do when speaking rapidly -and excitedly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lay your friend down flat upon his back—I wish to -probe his wound,” said Doctor Dietz to Francis Tredegar, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>as he saw Major Zollenhoffar running towards them, with -his case of instruments.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis Tredegar slowly eased the body down upon the -level ground, and then gently drew his hand from under -the head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As he did so, he uttered a cry of horror.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is it?” demanded the doctor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis held up the palm of his hand, which was crimson -with clotted blood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where did that come from?” asked the doctor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“From the back of his head. Oh, he is quite dead, or -must be soon! He is shot through the brain!” exclaimed -Francis in great distress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Impossible!” cried the doctor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no!” exclaimed Prince Ernest, vehemently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shall not shoot him through the brain! I shall not -aim at his head at all! I shall aim at his right arm. -I shall not wish to kill him, only to punish him! I shall -aim at his right arm, but I shall shoot him through the -right side! It shall be a chance, an accident, a misfortune. -I meant it not—not I!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>While the Austrian was skipping and exclaiming, the -surgeon was examining the back of Alexander’s head. -The hair was matted with blood from a deep wound there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You see it is as I say—the ball has passed quite -through his head, and come out here,” said Francis -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Impossible! The ball entered the right side of the -chest, passed through the right lobe of the lungs, and is -lodged here below the right shoulder-blade. See for -yourself!” said the surgeon, laying back Alexander’s -shirt-bosom, so as to show the small, dark, inverted hole -at which the bullet had entered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But this wound in the back of his head—?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Was made by his falling and striking some hard, -sharp substance—a fragment of rock, probably.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>While the surgeon spoke he was not idle. He took -his case of instruments from one assistant and the water -from the other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He carefully cut away the blood-clotted hair, and -washed and plastered the wound in the head; and then -he cut out the bullet, which lay little more than skindeep -<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>under the shoulder blade. He dressed the wounds -as well as circumstances would permit, and then he said;</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We had better take your friend back to his apartments -at the hotel. I will continue to give him my best -care there.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis Tredegar assented.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Simms was once more despatched to the hut to borrow -its only door and when he returned he not only brought -the door, but was followed by the kind-hearted master -of the hut, bringing a load of blankets. With these -materials a rude litter was constructed, and upon it -Alexander’s form was laid. And thus he was borne upon -the shoulders of Simms the valet, Knox the hutter, and -two laboring men who came and offered their services.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Prince Ernest returned to the hotel in his carriage. -Major Zollenhoffar and Francis Tredegar walked behind -the bearers of the wounded man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander’s cab went back empty.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I say,” said the hotel servants to the cabman as soon -as they saw him, “you took a party of gents out to the -mountains to look for minerals, didn’t you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” growled the Jehu.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, and they found ’em—at least one of ’em did,—a -beautiful round specimen of lead mineral; and he liked -it so well he put it into his bosom. But I’m told it didn’t -agree with him!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander was carefully carried to his chamber and -laid upon his bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Around him stood Doctor Dietz, Mr. Tredegar, John -Simms, and one or two of the servants of the hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In this more favorable position, his wounds were more -carefully examined and skilfully dressed. Both wounds -were found to be very serious.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was relieved of his blood-stained garments and put -into a clean suit of under clothes, and again laid back -upon his pillow.</p> - -<p class='c012'>During this process he had given but few signs of consciousness—only -groaning slightly when being moved, -as if motion distressed his lacerated chest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then the room was darkened.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now let him rest quietly,” said Doctor Dietz.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>“But will you not give him something?” inquired -Francis Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No opiate?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly not.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No anodyne?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nothing. Let him rest for the present, only renew -as they become heated, the cold water compresses on his -wounds.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis Tredegar constituted himself head nurse, and -seated himself beside his patient.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Major Zollenhoffar entered the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Prince Ernest leaves by the ten o’clock boat for Southampton; -but wishes to know the state of the gentleman -before he goes,” whispered the Major to Mr. Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I was about to go and report to the Prince,” said -Doctor Dietz.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“His Highness requests that you will not leave your -charge so long, as he may require your assistance. His -Highness will dispense with your services about his own -person for the present. But he requests that you will -keep him informed of the progress of your patient,” said -Major Zollenhoffar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The surgeon bowed low in acquiescence with the -prince’s behests.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope this arrangement may meet your approbation, -sir,” said the Major, courteously turning towards Mr. -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It excites my gratitude, sir,” replied Francis Tredegar. -“It excites my warmest gratitude. We could not probably -find such surgical skill for ourselves.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>With another bow and an earnestly expressed hope -that the wounded man might yet do well, the Major took -leave, and returned to his master, leaving the patient in -charge of Doctor Dietz, Francis Tredegar and Simms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Within an hour Prince Ernest and all his suite, except -his surgeon, embarked for England.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And <em>we</em> must return to General Lyon and Dick Hammond.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXVI.<br> <span class='large'>THE PURSUIT.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The distant danger greater still appears;</div> - <div class='line'>Less fears he, who is near the thing he fears.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>With many imprecations on the rashness and folly of -young men in general and of his own nephew in particular, -the veteran accompanied by Dick, took his seat in -the three o’clock train for Southampton.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He did not consider it necessary to take a whole first-class -carriage for himself and his companion, so the presence -of several other travelers in the same compartment -with him, restrained his growling.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And soon after the train started, the motion of the carriages -rocked him to sleep, and he slept soundly until -they reached their journey’s end.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick, who had alternately read the morning’s papers, -and dozed through the journey, woke his uncle up as the -train entered the Southampton station, where the duelists -had passed about ten hours before.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was nearly seven o’clock.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here we are,” said Dick, gathering up his light luggage, -while his uncle slowly rubbed his eyes and looked -about him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh? well! yes! I suppose we had better call a cab -and drive to a hotel and engage rooms first of all,” said -the General, still rubbing his eyes, and being only half -awake.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I suppose we had better call a cab and drive immediately -down to the docks and see if we can hire a yacht -or steamboat to take us to Guernsey,” suggested Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! aye! yes! certainly! to be sure! I had forgotten,” -exclaimed the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The guard unlocked the door to let them out.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As they appeared upon the platform, the two detectives -who had come down with them joined company.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Call a cab, Willet, if you please. We will go at once -to the docks and try to engage a vessel of some kind to -take us to Guernsey.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>“Yes, sir; but if you please, I think we had better call -first at police head-quarters to make inquiries. They may -have some later and better intelligence,” suggested the -detective.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Exactly! yes! to be sure! You are quite right. We -will go there first,” agreed the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The detective beckoned the cab and gave the order, and -they all got into it and drove to police head-quarters.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Willet, who had ridden beside the cabman, got down -and went in to seek farther information.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was gone but a few moments, and then he returned -and opened the door of the cab and spoke to the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is very lucky we called here first, sir; else we -might have been fatally misled.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why? what’s the matter?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There was a mistake in the telegram, sir. It was not -to Guernsey they went, but to Jersey.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tut, tut, that was a very unlucky mistake, and might -have proved to be a fatal one, as you said. Are you certain -<em>now</em> of your information?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite certain, sir. The duelists took the St. Aubins -steamer and sailed for that port at eleven this morning. -As soon as the office here discovered their mistake, they -telegraphed the correction to London. But of course we -had left before that second telegram arrived.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Have you any farther information?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“None whatever.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then we must drive to the docks immediately,” -ordered the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The detective mounted the box beside the cabman and -transmitted the order.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And they were driven rapidly down to the docks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They alighted and went about making diligent inquiries -for a vessel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Fortune favored them, or rather Money did. Money is -a great magician. No wonder it is sometimes fatally mistaken -for a god, and more fatally worshiped as one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In answer to their inquiries, they were told of a swift-sailing, -schooner-rigged yacht, owned by a company that -were in the habit of letting it out to parties of pleasure for -excursions to the Channel Isles or along the coast. And -they were directed to the spot where the “Flying Foam” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>lay idly at anchor, and were told that the master of the -crew was also the agent of the company.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Encouraged by this information, our party engaged a -row-boat, and went out into the harbor, and boarded the -“Flying Foam.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The master happened to be on deck. He came forward -to meet the boarding-party.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is this yacht disengaged?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can we engage it for immediate service?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For immediate service—that is very sudden, sir?” -remarked the master, looking suspiciously at the speaker.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know it is, but so is our business sudden, being a -matter of life and death. We cannot wait for the sailing -of the steamer. But we are willing to pay extra price -for extra haste,” replied the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there was that about his stately form and fine -face, and martial manner which rebuked the suspicion, -while the words, and particularly the promise of extra pay -appealed to the interest of the agent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You want the yacht immediately, you say, sir?” he -inquired.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Immediately, or as soon as the tide will serve.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The tide will serve in half an hour, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can she be got ready?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For what port, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“St. Aubins.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The master rubbed his forehead and looked down at his -shoes, as if in deep cogitation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My friend, while you are deliberating, time is flying,” -said the General impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She can be got ready fast enough, sir. It isn’t that. -Why, sir, you are strangers to us, and we don’t know anything -of what you are in such a hurry for.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We go to arrest a party, and prevent a duel, if you -must know!” exclaimed the General, impatiently disregarding -the signals of the detective, who would have cautioned -him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! beg pardon, sir; but this is—is going to cost a -pretty penny—and——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you don’t feel safe as to the payment, eh? If -that is all, you may weigh anchor and hoist sail at once, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>for I have not come unprovided,” said General Lyon, taking -out his pocket-book and displaying a large roll of hundred -pound Bank of England notes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You do not suspect them to be counterfeits, I hope?” -laughed the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no! beg pardon, sir. It is all right now, I am -only an agent, sir, and held responsible by my employers.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To be sure. And now I hope you can set your crew -to work.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Are you going just as you are, sir? Would you like -to go on shore first?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We have no time to lose in going on shore. We shall -go to St. Aubins just as we are. I suppose there are -shops in that town where one may procure the necessaries -of life?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, certainly, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the captain of the yacht went aft and called all -hands on deck, and gave his orders, and, by dint of loud -hallooing and hard swearing, got them so promptly executed -that when the tide turned the yacht sailed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They had a very fine run under the starlit sky over the -calm sea; but for the painful errand they would have been a -party of pleasure. Even as it was, they enjoyed the trip. -There was nothing on General Lyon’s conscience, or on -Dick’s mind, to deaden either of them to the heavenly -beauty of the night. They had slept on the train, and so -now they were wide awake on the yacht.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They walked up and down the deck talking sociably -with each other, admiring the elegant form and the swift-sailing of the yacht, delighting in the fresh breezes of the -ocean, and almost worshiping the glory of the star-spangled -heavens.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They walked up and down fore and aft, while the yacht -sped over the waters, until they became hungry, and then -they remembered for the first time that they had had -neither dinner nor tea, nor had brought any provisions -for a meal on board.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is usual for parties who hire a yacht to find their -own grub, I believe, and we never thought of doing it,” -said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We had no time for doing it,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, I fancy the master does not keep a black fast -<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>He must have a secret store somewhere, so I will just -step and see.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Dick went in search of the master, who undertook -to be their host for the voyage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In twenty minutes after the voyagers were called to -supper in the captain’s cabin—and to such a supper for -hungry men! There were pickled salmon, cold ham, cold -chicken, an excellent salad, light bread Stilton cheese, -pastry, fruits native and tropical, and such fine wines as -can only be procured—or could <em>then</em> only be procured, -duty free, at the Channel Isles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They made an excellent meal and then returned to -the deck and sat down to enjoy the lovely night and -the pure sea-breezes, until twelve midnight, when feeling -a little tired, they went down into the cabin and -turned in.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Rocked by the motion of the vessel they fell asleep, -and slept soundly until the “Flying Foam” entered the -harbor of St. Aubins.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then they were awakened by the captain’s steward, -who came down to tell them the yacht was in port. The -sun was just rising.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The pretty little maritime town lay gleaming in the -earliest beams of the morning. Behind it arose the dark -background of Noirmont Heights. On the right and left, -rolled a richly-wooded landscape of hill and dell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Even the gravity of the errand upon which they had -come could not quite make our friends insensible to the -novelty and beauty of the scene.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will you choose to have breakfast before you go on -shore?” inquired the master, coming to the side of the -two gentlemen, as they stood on deck looking out upon -the harbor, with its little shipping, and the town, with its -quaint Anglo-French streets and houses, while they waited -for the boat to be got ready.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Breakfast? No, thank you, not even if it was on the -table; for there, I think our boat is ready now,” answered -the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he went to the side of the yacht, and followed by -Dick and the two detectives, descended into the boat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were rapidly rowed to the shore.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were no cabs in sight.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>“What is to be done now?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is nothing for it, but to walk up into the town, -and over it, if necessary,” answered Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Luckily for us all, that may be done without much -bodily fatigue. It is not a very large place,” remarked -the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you please, gentlemen, I think we had better look -for our men at the hotels. It is still so early that they -can scarcely have started on their dueling adventure,” -suggested one of the detectives.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lead the way, then. You know the town, I think -you told me,” said the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, sir,” answered the detective, bending his -steps towards the principal hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While they were yet at some distance from the house, -they saw a carriage drive off from before it. Slight as -the circumstance was in itself, when considered in relation -to the hour and other circumstances, it seemed very -significant. So they hurried on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Before they reached the house however, they saw another -carriage draw up before the entrance, and a party come -out and enter it; and then they saw the carriage drive off, -but not in the same direction taken by the first.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There are our duelists!” exclaimed the detective in -triumph, “one party is in the first carriage, and the other -in the second.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But they took opposite directions,” gasped the General, -out of breath with his rapid walk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That was to mislead people. They have taken opposite, -but each will make a half circle and meet on the -appointed ground unless we stop them,” said Willet, -striding onwards at a rate that made it difficult for his -companions to keep up with him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I do not see how we are to stop it now,” groaned the -General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We must take a cab from the hotel, and make what -inquiries as to the route taken by the others that we -have time for.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>While talking they had hurried on with all their might, -and now they were at the hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is Prince Ernest of Hohenlinden stopping here?” -inquired the General, stepping at once up to the office.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>“There is a foreigner of rank who arrived here late -last night by the Southampton steamer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where is he now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Gone out for a morning ride by the sea, I think.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! you have other travelers here who arrived by -the Southampton boat?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; an American gentleman, I think, a scientific -man, who has gone out with his servant to hunt for minerals -in the Noirmont Heights.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! a scientific man in search of minerals!” grunted -the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By the way, there were two of them, they——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, two of them, were they! Master and pupil, very -likely; or principal and second.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They took with them a servant carrying a box of -tools.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! hum! yes! a box of tools! Bless my life, I wonder -when that cab will be ready! Ah, here he comes,” -impatiently exclaimed General Lyon, as Willet, who had -gone after the cab, entered and reported it was ready.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The whole party entered the cab except one of the detectives, -who, as usual, rode on the box beside the driver. -This officer gave, as a general direction, the nearest route -to Noirmont Heights. And the cabman took it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As they left town the detective farther ordered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When we reach the foot of the heights, inquire for a -cab that passed some twenty minutes before us; and -then follow the road taken by that cab until you come up -with it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The cabman touched his hat in acquiescence as they -went on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Just at that instant the report of fire-arms startled -their ears, reverberating through the heights and echoed -and re-echoed back from rock to rock.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My——! we are too late!” exclaimed the General, in -despair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed I fear we are too late to prevent the duel, but -we may be in time to succor the wounded,” added Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can you see the smoke from that discharge of pistols?” -inquired the detective on the box of the cabman beside -him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir, and if I could it would be hard to tell it now -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>from the smoke of the hutters’ chimneys, or even from -the mist of the morning.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drive then in the direction from which the report -came.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, sir, it echoes so through the crags, it’s a’most impossible -to tell which way it did come from. All we can -know now is, as how it came from among the rocks.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Willet knew that the cabman was right, since he was -sure that he himself could get no correct clue to the -route from either the sound or the smoke of the firing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Look out for the cab then and do the best you can. -We wish to come up with that firing party.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, sir,” said the cabman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But in fact it seemed all wrong. They kept a bright -lookout for the cab, hoping, though it was now probably -empty, to be directed by its driver to the dueling ground. -But many roads traversed these mountain solitudes, and -their number and intricacies were confusing. Our party -drove on to some distance farther, but saw no cab and -heard no more firing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then they turned back and struck into a cross-road -and pursued it for some distance with no better success. -Again they turned from their course, came back upon the -main road and took the opposite branch of the cross-road -and followed it some distance, but in vain. Finally in -despair they turned their horses’ heads towards the town, -the General saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is all over by this time; and dead or alive, they -have left the ground, and we shall have a better chance of -hearing of them at the hotel than elsewhere.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As they drove rapidly towards the town they came upon -a group of laborers eagerly talking together by the roadside.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is the matter? What has happened? Where -was that firing?” inquired General Lyon, putting his -head out of the window, as the cab drew up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, your honor, there have been a row on the heights -back there, among some gents, and one of um have been -shot and carried to the hotel down yonder in the town; -and t’other one is took and locked up,” answered one of -the laborers, with the usual mixture of truth and falsehood.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>“Which was shot?” inquired the detective.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, that I can’t say; but any ways it was <em>one</em> of um -as was shot and brought home on a door, and t’other one -was took and locked up.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Was the man who was shot killed?” anxiously inquired -General Lyon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, your honor, ‘when the brains is out the man is -dead,’” replied the peasant, unconsciously quoting Shakespeare.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon sank back in his chair with a deep groan. -One of the duelists was killed. Whether it was Prince -Ernest or Alexander Lyon, whether his nephew was the -murderer or the murdered man, the event was fatal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drive as rapidly as possible back to the hotel,” said the -detective on the box to the driver by his side.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And they were whirled swiftly as horses could go, to the -St. Aubins hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There all was bustle. A duel was not such a common -event as to be passed over lightly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon sprang out of his cab with almost the -agility of youth, and hurried into the office to make inquiries -of the clerk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What man was that who was shot?” he shortly asked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The American, sir; but it is hoped he will do well -yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is not dead?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir, surely not.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank Heaven for that! And the other one?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The prince? He was not hurt, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank Heaven for that also!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They were the parties you were looking for this morning, -were they not?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly. I had ascertained their object in coming -here, and hoped to be in time to stop them. Where have -they put my nephew?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Beg pardon, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The wounded man; where have they put him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In his own room, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Send a waiter to show me to his bedside. I am his -uncle.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, sir? Certainly, sir. Come here, John. Show -this gentleman to Number 10.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>A waiter stepped forward at the order, bowed and led -the way followed by the General, up one flight of stairs, -along a corridor, and to a chamber door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This is Number 10, sir,” John said, opening the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The veteran entered the room, and found himself face to -face with Francis Tredegar, who had risen to see who the -intruder might be.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“General Lyon!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Mr. Tredegar!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Such were the simultaneous exclamations of the friends -on so unexpectedly meeting.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You here?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I came with Lord Killcrichtoun.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How is he?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The surgeon reports favorably of his wounds, but he -must be kept very quiet. Will you pass with me into the -sitting-room?—Simms, do not leave your master’s side until -I return.—This way, General,” said Francis Tredegar, -rising and opening a door leading into their private parlor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There the friends sat down together,—the General -heated and anxious, Francis Tredegar surprised and -curious.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I followed as quickly as I could after hearing of my -nephew’s mad purpose. I hired a yacht and pursued -him, hoping to be in time to save him. I wish now that -I had hired a special train from London. It would have -given me three hours in advance, and I should then have -been in time,” groaned the General, wiping his face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Take comfort, sir. It might have had a fatal termination. -As it is, we have reason to thank Heaven for an unmerited -mercy. Prince Ernest has escaped unhurt, and -has returned to England. Lord Killcrichtoun is wounded, -but not fatally. ‘All’s well that ends well.’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘That ends well!’ Yes, but who can say that this -will end well? Oh, Heaven, how much trouble that -young man has caused me and all who are dear to me! -But he is my only brother’s only son! my dead brother’s -only child! and in spite of all I have said and sworn -I must try to save him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is he so near of kin to you, sir? I had not suspected -it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; his new ridiculous title, together with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>estrangement that has been between us, would naturally -mislead any one who had not known us previously as -to the facts of our kinship. You came with him on this -Quixotic adventure?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir,” replied Francis Tredegar, blushing and -beginning to defend himself before the Christian soldier, -“Yes, sir; after having tried in vain to dissuade my -friend from the duel, I resolved to see him through it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am not intending to blame you, my young friend. -To me, certainly, you meant no wrong; and to my unhappy -nephew only kindness. For the rest, it is a matter between -yourself and your own conscience. As for me, in -the way of a soldier’s duty, I have been in some battles; -but I would not, nor do I remember any period of my -youth in which I would have engaged, either as principal -or second, in any duel for any cause whatever,” said the -brave old veteran.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, sir—but that is a rebuke; and coming from you, -a very severe one,” said the young culprit, sorrowfully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is not intended as such, Francis. Men, I know, -have different ideas upon these subjects. For instance, I -do not believe it lawful in a man, for the gratification of -his selfish passions or the ‘satisfaction’ of his imaginary -‘honor,’ to risk his life or seek the life of another. I believe -it to be a high offence against the Author of all life. -Nor could I engage in any adventure upon which I could -not invoke the blessing of Heaven.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Which we could not do on our adventure, certainly. -But I do most humbly and thankfully acknowledge -Heaven’s undeserved great mercy on its issue.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am glad to hear you say so, Francis. And now will -you kindly touch the bell—it is at your elbow, I see—and -tell the waiter when he comes to show Mr. Hammond up -into this room.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick is with you?” inquired Francis, as he complied -with the General’s request.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly. Did I not tell you so? But I left him to -settle with the cabman while I ran in to make inquiries -of the clerk.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As the General spoke the waiter entered the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go down and find out Mr. Hammond and show him -up into this room,” said Mr. Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>The waiter bowed and disappeared; but soon came -back and ushered in Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was a start of surprise from Dick at seeing Mr. -Tredegar, and then a grave hand-shaking between them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my boy, I suppose you have heard matters are -not so bad as we feared?” said the General, turning to -Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir; thank Heaven. Can I see Alexander?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, I have not seen him myself yet, except at a distance -and covered up in swaddling bands. Tredegar here -turned me out of the room before I could get near the -bedside.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Invited you out; brought you here, General,” said -Francis, deprecatingly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It amounts to the same thing, my dear fellow,” said -the General, good-humoredly. “Tredegar was Alexander’s -second in this mad affair,” he added, turning to -Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So I supposed on seeing him here,” answered Mr. -Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Gentlemen,” said Francis Tredegar, “if you will -excuse me for a moment, I will go in and see my patient, -and then come back and let you know whether you also -can see him with safety.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go, Francis,” said the General, waving his hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Tredegar went out, and after a few moments returned -and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He seems to be sleeping soundly, or else to be sunk -into a deep stupor; indeed I am not physician enough to -say which. But in either case, I think, if you come in -quietly, you can do him no harm.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then they all went into the wounded man’s chamber -and stood at his bedside, and looked at him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There he lay, less like a sick or wounded patient than -the laid-out corpse of a dead man. His hair was cut short -and his head bandaged with wet linen cloths. His face -was deadly pallid, with a greenish white hue; his eyes -were closed and sunken; his lips compressed; and his -features still and stiff. His chest was also bandaged -with wet linen cloths, and his shoulders and chest wrapped -in a sheet instead of a shirt, for the convenience of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>frequently changing the dressings of his wound. His -form was still and stiff as his features.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On seeing this ghastly sight, Dick uttered an irrepressible -exclamation of horror. Even the veteran-soldier -groaned.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is not half as bad as it looks,” said Francis encouragingly. -“There is nothing in the world makes a man -look so death-like as these white swaddling-clothes, that -put us in mind of winding-sheets. The surgeon says he -will do well.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah? who is attending him?” inquired the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Prince Ernest left his own physician here to look after -him. He is Doctor Dietz, a graduate of one of the medical -colleges of Vienna—which, I am told, are now really -the best, and are destined soon to be acknowledged as the -best medical schools in the world.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And this eminent surgeon says that the wounded -man will do well?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“These were his very words.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is satisfactory.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, General, that you have seen your nephew, I -think we had better all adjourn to the parlor. Our patient -wants all the air in this room for himself,” advised Mr. -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they went back to the parlor, Dick turned to -Francis Tredegar, and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will let us have the use of this room for an hour -or two, until we settle what we are to do next.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, certainly. The room is your own. At least it -is Alick’s, which is <em>now</em> exactly the same thing, since he -is lying helpless and you are his next of kin. Shall I retire? -Do you wish to be alone?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By no means. I only want to order breakfast up -here. We have been up, walking or driving over the -country in pursuit of the duelists, since six o’clock this -morning, and it is now eleven, and we have had nothing -to eat and are famished.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, by the way, I ought to have thought of that! -allow me!” exclaimed Francis Tredegar, starting up and -ringing the bell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Breakfast for three, immediately. Serve it in this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>room, and bring the best you have that is ready,” he -ordered, as soon as the waiter showed himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The cloth was soon laid and the table spread. And our -friends sat down to an excellent meal of rich coffee and -fragrant tea; milk, cream and butter of such excellence -as can be found nowhere else in the world; fish just out -of the sea, beefsteak, chickens, French rolls and English -muffins.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick, my dear fellow,” said the General, as they lingered -over the delicious repast, “one of us must remain -here to look after Alick, and the other must go back to -London to take care of little Lenny and the young -women.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir; and I will be the one to go or to stay, whichever -you shall decide. And pray think of your own ease -and health, my dear sir, before you do decide,” answered -Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are a very good fellow, Dick, a very good fellow. -But I believe reason and judgment must settle the matter. -I will remain here to look after my nephew. He will not -be likely to quarrel with me when he sees me, as he might -with you if he should find you by his side when he comes -to himself. And, besides, I think this quiet, pretty seaside -town will agree with me after the hurly-burly of -London. And lastly and mostly—it is <em>you</em> who ought to -go back to town for your wife’s sake.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, my dear sir; it shall be as you please. I -confess I like this arrangement best; but if you had said, -‘Dick, go and I will stay,’ or ‘Dick, stay and I will go,’ I -should have obeyed you without a moment’s hesitation, -as a soldier obeys his commanding officer.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know you would, my boy, therefore it behooves me -to consider your interests before I make a decision.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now let us see about the time of starting, I -must return in the yacht, of course.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then it will depend upon the tide. I had better go -down, and see the master.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I think you had.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick Hammond took his hat and went down to the -yacht.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Captain Wallace was not on board when Mr. Hammond -<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>reached the deck. The captain was taking a holiday by -walking through the town, and probably solacing himself -with a pipe and a bottle of brandy at some favorite resort -where the old mariner was well known.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Dick had to wait an hour or two for his return.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When Wallace came back Dick soon discovered that he -was well posted up in regard to the event, which was -then the one topic of conversation at every coffee room in -the town.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so you were too late to stop the duel, sir?” were -almost the first words the master of the yacht spoke to -Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; but the affair did not terminate so fatally as -might have been apprehended.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, so I hear—so I hear! And the wounded gentleman -was your kinsman, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Shall you take him over to England?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, no. He cannot be moved at present. My uncle -will remain here to look after him; but I return at once, -or as soon as the tide will serve.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That will be about nine o’clock.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can you be ready to make sail by that time?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir; the yacht is yours for the time it is hired.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then we will sail at nine. I will be here punctually -at that hour.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick Hammond returned to the hotel, where he arrived -about one o’clock. He spent the day and dined with his -uncle and his friend.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At half-past eight o’clock he paid his last visit to the -bedside of his cousin, in whom, as yet, there appeared but -little change.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then he took leave of all and went down to the -yacht; and at a few minutes after nine the “Flying -Foam” made sail for England.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXVII.<br> <span class='large'>A SHOCK.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What is life? ’Tis like the ocean,</div> - <div class='line in2'>In its placid hours of rest,—</div> - <div class='line'>Sleeping calmly, no emotion</div> - <div class='line in2'>Rising on its tranquil breast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But, too soon, the heavenly sky</div> - <div class='line in2'>Is obscured by Nature’s hand;</div> - <div class='line'>And the whirlwind, passing by,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Leaves a wreck upon the strand.—<span class='sc'>Anonymous.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“A black cloud, that! rising over yonder—we shall -have dirty weather to-night,” said the master of the “Flying -Foam,” coming to the side of Dick Hammond, as the -latter stood leaning over the bulwarks of the yacht and -looking out upon the receding town and shores of St. -Aubins.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick raised his eyes to a long black line just visible -above the heights of Noirmont, and then said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; I think it looks threatening; but the ‘Flying -Foam’ is a sea-worthy little craft, I suppose?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bless you, yes, sir! I’ve seen her ride safely over -seas that would have swamped a ship of the line,” answered -the master, as he went forward to make ready for -the expected “dirty weather.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And dirty weather it was, though not so “dirty” as to -endanger the safety of the yacht.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The cloud arose, and spread, and covered the whole face -of the heavens as with a black pall, in strange and terrible -contrast to the surface of the sea, now lashed into a white -foam. A driving storm of wind and rain came on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick, who much preferred the comfortable to the sublime, -left the deck and went below to smoke and read by -the light of the cabin lamp. But, after one or two attempts, -he found the reading process quite impracticable -by the motion of the vessel, and so he gave it up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After a while, he was joined by the master, who had -left the deck in charge of his mate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It has turned into a settled rain that will last all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>night,” said Captain Wallace, as he took the chair Dick -pushed towards him; for Dick, as one of the parties hiring -the yacht, was king of the cabin.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Disagreeable, but not dangerous,” was Dick’s cool -comment as he pushed his case of cigars toward his guest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you, sir; but, if you don’t mind, I’ll take my -pipe,” said Captain Wallace, who soon comprehended that -he might take liberties with this good-humored young -man who was but too ready to fraternize with the first -companion fortune favored him with.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there the two men sat and smoked through the -first hours of the dismal night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At midnight, they turned in.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick slept long and well. It was late in the morning -when he awoke. Judging from his previous day’s experience, -he thought the yacht must be in port or near it. -He dressed himself quickly, and went on deck. He -found himself still at sea. A slow, steady rain was falling, -and dark clouds closed in the horizon. The dismal -night had been followed by a dismal day; and the worst -of it was, that he could not sleep through the day as he -had slept through the night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good morning to you, sir! a dark sky!” said the master, -coming up to his side.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes. Are we near port?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Within twenty miles.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How fast are we going?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How slow, you mean? The wind is against us—we -are not making more than four knots an hour.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At that rate, we shall not make Southampton in less -than five hours. Let me see,” said Dick, consulting his -watch,—“it is now ten o’clock. We shall not, at this rate, -get in before three.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir; but you’ll have some breakfast now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks, yes! it will help to pass the time, at least.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The master beckoned a boy, and sent a message to the -steward.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, in half an hour afterwards the appetizing breakfast -of the yacht was served; and Dick did his usual -justice to the meal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Afterwards he killed the time as well as he could by -reading a little, talking a little, and smoking a little.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>Affairs also turned out rather better than he had expected. -At noon the wind changed, the sky cleared, the -sun shone out, and the “Flying Foam,” with all her sails -set, skimmed over the seas towards England at the rate -of eleven knots an hour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At one o’clock she dropped anchor at Southampton.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick settled his last scores with the master,—who was -master afloat, and agent ashore,—and then he inquired:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you know anything about the up train, captain?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is an express train starts at a quarter before -two, and there is not another train until five,” answered -the master.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ll take that train,” exclaimed Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he made all his own little preparations, and he -hurried the men that were getting out the boat to take -him ashore.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as he stepped on shore, he ran and called a cab, -jumped into it, and, having given his hasty order, was -driven rapidly to the station. He was just in time to -secure his ticket, spring into a half-empty carriage—and -not a moment to spare before the express started.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was not until the train was in motion and his own -hurry was over, that he recollected one or two things -that might have been attended to had he chosen to wait -a few minutes. First and nearest, he might have taken -his change from the cabman, whose fare was half a crown, -and to whom he had thrown half a sovereign.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Dick did not the least regret that neglect.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then he might have called at the International to -see if any letters had been left for him. But neither, -upon reflection, did Dick regret this neglect. He considered -it was not probable any letters were awaiting -there; or, if there were, that they should be of much importance; -or, even if so, whether he were not doing the -very thing that should be done under such supposatory -circumstances, namely, hurrying back to London by the -express train. So, upon the whole, Dick was glad he -forgot to lose time and miss the express by calling at the -International to inquire for letters.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The train flew on with its usual lightning rate of speed -and at five o’clock reached its station in London.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He got out upon the platform, carpet-bag in hand, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>began to look for a cab, when he heard a little voice calling:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dit! Dit! oh, Dit! tome here, Dit!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>In great surprise he looked about him, confidently expecting -to see little Lenny and Pina, and perhaps Anna -and Drusilla, come to the station on the chance of meeting -him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But he saw no one that he knew. And though he -plunged into the crowd seeking the owner of the little -voice in the direction from which he had heard it, he saw -nothing of either little Lenny or his nurse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length, thinking that he had been mistaken, he gave -up the quest, and took a cab for Trafalgar Square.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Afterwards he recollected, as a dream or a vision, the -momentary flitting through the crowd of a ragged woman -with a child in her arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But at the instant of seeing these, he had not dreamed -of connecting them in any way with the voice he had -heard. With something of that vague anxiety we all feel -in returning home, even after a short absence, Richard -Hammond hurried to Trafalgar Square.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as he reached the Morley House, he sprang from -the cab, tossed a crown piece to the cabman, and without -waiting for the change, ran into the house and up to his -apartments.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He went straight to the drawing-room, where he found -Anna sitting in the window seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She turned, and with an exclamation of pleasure started -up to meet him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick I am so glad you have come back! What -news? How did it all end?” she breathlessly inquired -as she threw herself into his arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In two words—not fatally,” he answered as he embraced -her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank Heaven for that! You were in time, then?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, not in time to prevent the meeting. It had taken -place a few minutes before our arrival at St. Aubins. By -the way, it was not to Guernsey, but to Jersey, that the -duelists went. We found out the mistake in the telegram -as soon as we reached Southampton. We were fortunate -in being able to hire a yacht and pursue them to St. Aubins.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>“But you did not reach there in time to prevent the -duel?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, it had already taken place, as I told you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But with what result—with what result? Oh, Dick, -why can’t you speak and tell me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My dear, I did tell you,—with no fatal result.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But with a serious one. Oh, Dick, what was it? -Has poor Alick got himself into trouble by——shooting -that Austrian acrobat?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, nonsense! Have more respect for a prince than -to call him an acrobat, if he does jump about when he is -angered. He was not hurt—he was not touched. Alick -was too much excited to aim steadily, I suppose, so his -ball went—Heaven knows where. But——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But Alick himself,—was he wounded?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alick was wounded in the chest by a ball and in the -back of the head by a sharp stone upon which his head -struck in falling. Neither of the wounds is considered -dangerous. I left him in good hands in the St. Aubins -hotel.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But my grandfather—where is he? Why doesn’t he -come up? Of course he returned with you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, he remained in St. Aubins to look after Alick.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick he remained there! Then he never received -our telegram!” said Anna, turning pale.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your telegram! No! What telegram? We received -none. What has happened, Anna?” demanded Richard -Hammond, becoming alarmed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, I thought you knew,” cried Anna dropping -into a chair and bursting into tears.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In the name of Heaven what has happened? You -are well. But where is Drusilla? Where is little Lenny? -I don’t see either of them!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh Dick! Dick! little Lenny is—<span class='fss'>LOST</span>,” replied Anna, -uttering the last word with a gasp, and sobbing hysterically.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lost! Good Heaven, Anna, little Lenny lost?” repeated -Dick, changing color.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, yes, yes! lost since day before yesterday afternoon—lost -since the very day you left. We telegraphed -to you the same day. We hoped you would receive the -telegram immediately on your arrival at Southampton; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>and I who knew that you were going further, hoped that -at least you would get it on your return. Oh, Dick!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lost since the day before yesterday, and not found -yet,” repeated Richard Hammond, in amazement and sorrow.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, oh, Dick. We have not seen him since—since -<em>you</em> yourself saw him last. Oh, Dick, he never returned -from that walk you and grandpa sent him to -take, to get him and Pina out of the way, you know,” -sobbed Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It would kill my uncle!” exclaimed Richard. “It -would kill him! But, good Heaven! how did it all happen? -I don’t understand it at all. I can hardly believe -it yet. Compose yourself, Anna, if you can, and tell me -all about it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>With many sobs Anna told the story of little Lenny’s -abduction, as far as it was known to herself, and also described -the measures that had been taken for his recovery, -but taken, so far, without effect.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But his poor young mother,—how does she bear it? -and where is she now?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, poor Drusilla! I do fear for her life, or -her reason, in this horrible suspense, worse than death! -Nothing but her unwavering faith in Providence has -saved her from insanity or death,” wept Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But where is she now?” repeated Dick. “Can I see -her?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You cannot see her until her return. She is out -looking for her child. She is always out looking for him. -She takes a cab at daylight in the morning, and drives -out through the narrow streets and lanes of the city, -keeping watch all the time from the cab windows, entering -into all the houses she is permitted to visit, inquiring -of the people about her lost child, offering them heavy -rewards for his recovery, pointing them to the posters in -which his person is described and the great reward offered -and setting as many people as she can at work to search -for him. Twenty hours out of the twenty-four she -spends in this way.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But this will kill her.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think it will. She scarcely eats, drinks or sleeps. -She does nothing but look for her child and weep and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>pray. When she has worn out a cab-horse, she comes -back here to get a fresh one; and then I make her drink -a little tea or coffee. At twelve or one o’clock in the -night, when the houses are all shut up, she comes back -here and throws herself down upon the bed to watch -and pray, and perhaps to swoon into a sleep of prostration -that lasts till morning. Then at four or five -o’clock she is up and away upon the search.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor child! poor child! such a life will certainly soon -kill her.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I sometimes think the sooner it does so the better -for her. Her misery makes my heart bleed. I wonder -how any woman can suffer the intense anguish of suspense -she endures and live and keep her senses.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Anna, why do you not accompany her when she goes -out?” inquired Dick, with some surprise.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, don’t you suppose that I do? What do you -take me for, Dick? I have always gone with her until -this last trip. When we returned home at four o’clock, -to get a fresh horse, she took it into her poor head that -you and uncle would certainly arrive by the five o’clock -train from Southampton, and so she made me stay to -receive you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And, you say, Anna, that Alick is suspected of being -concerned in this abduction?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, but I do not know that Drusilla suspects him -very strongly now. Pina first suggested it, and we seized -on the idea with eagerness. It was so much more comforting -to think that he was safe with his father than in -danger anywhere else.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, you see, that is impossible. His father is lying -seriously wounded, several hundred miles away.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, that is the worst of it; for, if Alick should have -employed these men to steal little Lenny from his -mother, it is almost fatal to the child’s safety that the -father should not have been here to have received him -from his abductors.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And yet that may be the very case! Alick, in his -madness, since he was mad enough for anything, may -have engaged these men to abduct the boy for him. If -so, he must have forgotten the danger to which the child -would be exposed in the event of this abduction being -<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>completed during his own absence or after his death. -And so he must have gone down to Jersey to fight his -duel, leaving little Lenny exposed to all the dangers he -had invoked around him. It is dreadful to think of! If -Alexander Lyon were not morally insane, he would be a -demon!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“To do such a thing as this? But we are not by any -means sure he <em>did</em> do it, Dick!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, there is a ‘reasonable doubt,’ as the lawyers have -it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And Alick should be communicated with immediately, -so as to be posted in regard to his son’s danger, whether -he has had any hand in it or not. If he <em>has</em> had anything -to do with it, he will certainly, under the circumstances, -give us the clue to recover him, for he cannot wish the -boy to remain in the hands of such people. If he knows -nothing about the abduction, and learns it first from us, -still he will render what aid he can in recovering the -boy. We <em>did</em> telegraph him to this effect at Southampton, -but of course he missed <em>his</em> telegram as you did yours. -But now he must be consulted by letter immediately—write -at once, Dick, so as to save this mail,” said Anna, -breathlessly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling, you talk so fast I can’t keep pace with -you or even get in a word edgeways,—Alick is not in a -condition to receive or understand any sort of communication, -and will not probably be so for some days to come. -I left him in a state of complete insensibility, resulting -from the wound in the back of his head.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good gracious, Dick! and you said he was not fatally, -or even dangerously wounded!” cried Anna, aghast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And I gave the opinion of the eminent surgeon who -is in attendance upon him. A man may be so ill as to be -incapable of attending to anything, and yet may not be in -any danger at all. But tell me, Anna, have you taken -the detectives into your confidence entirely upon this -subject, and put them into possession of all the facts of -the case and all your suspicions as well? You know you -ought to have done it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And we <em>have</em> done it! For a short time, Drusilla -shrank terribly from breathing a suspicion that her husband -was probably concerned in the taking off of her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>child; but, when it became evident that little Lenny’s -recovery depended upon the detectives having the full -knowledge of all the circumstances attending it, she commissioned -me to tell them as much as was really necessary, -but entreated me to spare Alick even if I did it at -her expense. So I told the detectives everything—everything! -They know as much about it as you do; for, in -Drusilla’s and little Lenny’s cause, I would not have spared -Alick, to have saved his soul, much less his character.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And did these skilful and experienced officers share -in your suspicions of the father’s complicity in the abduction?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, strangely enough, they did not. These people -have a noble respect for a lord—Heaven save the mark! -They think Lord Killcrichtoun would never have stooped -to such an under-handed act, when he might have taken -the boy with the high hand of the law.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Humph! Did they suggest anything themselves? -Having told you what <em>didn’t</em> become of the boy, did they -suggest what <em>did</em>?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, they really did! they suspected—just imagine -it,—that the child had been stolen for the sake of his -clothes, just as a dog is sometimes stolen for the sake of -his collar!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, Anna, I pin my faith on the experienced officers. -I am inclined now fully to exonerate Alick and be guided -by the detectives. Now I begin to see light—now I understand -what occurred to me at the railway station!” -said Dick, significantly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘What occurred to you at the railroad station,’ Dick? -Oh, Dick! what was that? Anything that concerned -little Lenny?” eagerly inquired Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I should think it did concern little Lenny. As truly -as I live, Anna, when I reached town this afternoon and -stepped out upon the platform, and while I was looking -around for a cab, I heard little Lenny’s voice calling me!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick! You didn’t!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“As I live I did! He called me as he was accustomed -to call me—‘Dit! Dit! Oh, Dit, tome here!’”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! why <em>didn’t</em> you answer him? Why <em>didn’t</em> you -go after him and rescue him and bring him home?—Perhaps -you did! Perhaps you have only been playing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>ignorance to tease me! Oh, Dick, don’t do it! If you -have got little Lenny, tell me so!” said Anna, earnestly, -clasping her hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My poor wife, I wish for your sake and his unhappy -mother’s, that I had the boy here; but I have not. Listen -to me——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But <em>why</em> haven’t you got him here! If you heard his -dear little tongue calling you, Dick, why in the world -didn’t you fly to him and seize him and bring him home -to his almost distracted mother! <em>Why didn’t</em> you, -Dick?” demanded Anna, ready to cry with an accession -of vexation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My darling Anna, listen to me, will you? In the first -place not having received your telegram, I had no suspicion -whatever that Lenny was lost, else of course I -should have been on the <i><span lang="la">qui vive</span></i> to find him, and should -have followed the voice until I should have got possession -of him. But when I first heard him calling me in his -strong, cheerful, peremptory little tones, I looked around, -fully expecting to see you, Drusilla, the boy and his nurse -all come out in force to meet me at the station. But -when I failed to see little Lenny or any of you, I considered -myself the victim of an auricular illusion.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you do not now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, indeed. I feel sure it was Lenny whom I heard -calling me. And since you have told me of the abduction -and of the detective policeman’s theory of it, I recall to -mind the figure of a disreputable looking woman with a -child in her arms hurrying out of sight in among the -crowd. I remember that the woman’s back was towards -me and that a shawl was thrown over the child’s head. -I had but a glimpse of them as they slipped into the -crowd.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick! Dick! if you had but known! What a -fatality!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It was indeed. But now I must go and give this -information into Scotland Yard, that the detectives may -institute a thorough search in the neighborhood of the -railway station where I saw him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Shall I tell Drusilla?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, let me see:—No, not just yet. I must think -about it first. It might increase her anxiety.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>“But it would assure her that her child is alive and -well and in the city.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; that is true. Yet you better not tell her until -my return. She would be consumed with anxiety to see -the one who had really seen and heard little Lenny, and to -hear from him all about it. Don’t you understand?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course; but don’t be gone long, Dick. Hurry back -as fast as you can, and perhaps you may get here as soon -as she does.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will lose no time.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you are just off a journey. Won’t you take something -before you go?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, Anna; I will wait until I get back,” answered -Richard Hammond, as he arose and left the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leaving Anna pacing the floor in great excitement and -impatience, he went down to the street, threw himself -into a hansom and drove immediately to Scotland Yard.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There he made his report, and offered from his own -means an additional reward to accelerate the motions of -the officers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He hurried back to the Morley House and up to the -drawing-room, where he found Anna still pacing the floor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She turned suddenly around to meet him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have started them on the new scent, dear,” he said, -throwing himself wearily into a chair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you are here, as I hoped, before Drusilla has -returned; so she will not have to wait for her news.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>As Anna spoke there was the sound of a cab drawing -up before the house. A few minutes after Drusilla entered -the room. Her face was deadly white and her eyes had -that wild, wide open, sleepless look seldom seen except in -the insane. And yet Drusilla, in all her agony of mind -was far as possible from insanity. All her anxieties were -marked by forecast, reason, judgment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick arose, and his countenance and gestures were full -of sympathy as he held out his hands and went to meet -her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick! Dick! you have heard of my great loss,” -she said, putting her hands in his.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my dear Drusilla,” he answered, in a voice shaking -with the pity that nearly broke his heart, as he looked -upon her great misery.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>“Oh, my Lenny! my Lenny! Oh, my poor little two-year -old baby!” she cried, breaking into sobs and tottering -on her feet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick caught her and tenderly placed her in a chair and -stooped before and took her hands again, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear Drusa, your little Lenny will be found, he will -indeed, my dear.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I hope so! I believe so!—but this suspense is -the most awful anguish in life! Oh, where is he <em>now</em>? -<em>Now</em> at this moment, where is my poor little helpless -babe? In whose hands? Suffering what?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Her look as she said this was so full of unutterable sorrow -that Dick could restrain himself no longer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear Drusa, dear Drusa,” he said holding her hands, -“your child, wherever he is, is not suffering; he is well -and cheerful. I know it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She looked up suddenly as a wild joy flashed over her -face, for she had sprung to a too natural conclusion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, you have found him! You have found my -boy! Oh, tell me so at once! Oh, don’t try to <em>break</em> such -news to me as that is! Joyful news may be told at once! -it never kills! And now you see I know you have found -my baby! Oh, bring him to me at once! Where is he? -In my room?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She had spoken rapidly and breathlessly, and now she -started up to hurry to her chamber, expecting to find her -child there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick gently stopped her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear Drusilla, I have not got your child. I wish I -had,” he began, with his hand on her arm.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The look of joy vanished from her face. It had been -but a lightning flash across the night of her sorrow, and -now it had passed and left the darkness still there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Oh, Dick!</em>” she groaned, covering her face with her -hands and sinking again into her seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, Drusilla, dear, I have a <em>clue</em> to him! I have indeed! -And I know that he is alive and well and cheerful.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, is this so? Oh, Dick, I know you wouldn’t -deceive me, even for my own comfort, would you now, -Dick?” she pleaded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Heaven knows I would not, Drusilla. Your child was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>alive and well at five o’clock this afternoon—only two -hours ago, for it is now only seven. And though you cannot -now find him in your chamber, you need not be surprised -at any future hour to find him there.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alive and well two hours ago! You are sure, Dick?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Sure as I am of my own life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Where</em> was he, then? <em>Who</em> saw him? Who told -you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He was at the railway station in the arms of a poor -woman. <em>I</em> saw him, and <em>I</em> heard him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, why did you not bring him to me at once?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear Drusilla, I did not then know that he was lost. -I had just stepped from the carriage to the platform, when -I heard little Lenny’s voice calling me in a strong, chirping, -authoritative little tone, ‘Dit! Dit! tome here!’ And I -looked around, expecting to see him and all of you come -to meet me. But I saw nothing of any of you. I only saw -a poor woman with a child about Lenny’s age and size -covered with a shawl and in her arms. Her back was -towards me, and she was hurrying away through the -crowd. That child was little Lenny, though I did not -know it or even suspect it at the time; for I only glanced -at him and turned to look for little Lenny elsewhere, expecting -to find him with his nurse. When I failed to do -so, I thought I had been the subject of an ocular illusion. -But when I came home here, and learned that little Lenny -was lost, I understood the whole thing. And I went -immediately to Scotland Yard and gave the information -and set the detectives on the fresh scent. They are as -keen as bloodhounds, you know, and they will be sure to -find your child. So you need not be surprised to see him -brought in and laid upon your lap at any moment.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Another lightning flash of joy passed over her face at -this announcement.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick! Dick! you give me new life! You saw my -child two hours ago! Did you see his face?” she eagerly -inquired.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Of course not, else I should have claimed him and -brought him home. He was covered with a shawl, I tell -you, and hurried through the crowd. I did not know he -was Lenny till afterwards.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you heard his voice, and you knew that?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>“Oh, yes, I knew his voice; but I did not at the moment -know where the voice came from.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick, what was it he said? dear little Lenny! tell -me again.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick repeated the words.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And oh, Dick, did he speak sadly, piteously, imploringly -as if he was suffering, and wanted you to relieve him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, indeed! quite the contrary! he hailed me in -his usual hearty manner; and commanded me to come to -him, just as he is accustomed to speak to all of us, his -slaves, when he is lording it over us and ordering -us around,” said Dick, so cheerfully that he called up a -wan smile upon the poor young mother’s face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, I’ll tell you all about it, Drusilla,” pursued -Dick confidently. “The fact is, the child must have -been stolen first, for the sake of the fine lace and gold -and coral on his dress; and now he is kept for his beauty -to beg with. No doubt, now that the clue is found, he -will be recovered in a few hours. And I want you to -bear this fact in mind—that you need not be surprised at -any moment to see your child brought in and laid upon -your lap. Keep that hope before you, and let it support -your soul through this suspense, and let it prepare you -for the event, so that you may not die of joy when it -comes,” said Richard Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And certainly he believed himself justified in giving -this advice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick! dear Dick, you have brought the first crumb of -earthly comfort that has come to me since I lost my little -Lenny,” said Drusilla, gratefully. “But where is uncle?” -she asked, suddenly recollecting the General.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is detained by some business.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is quite well?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well,” answered Dick, cheerfully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now I hope you will be willing to stay at home -and rest just one evening, dear Drusilla,” added Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, don’t ask me to do that, dear Anna! How could I -stay home in inactivity, especially now that I know where -to look for him? No, I will drive down to that neighborhood -in which he was seen, and I will search for him -there,” answered Drusilla, firmly and very cheerfully, for -hope had come into her heart again.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>“And Anna and myself will go with you, my dear -Drusa, for we have nothing to do but to devote ourselves -to your service until your child shall be found,” said Dick, -affectionately.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then I shall order tea at once, and something substantial -along with it,” said Anna, rising.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Inspired by the new hope brought to her by Dick, Drusilla’s -spirits rose.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When tea was placed upon the table, with the “something -substantial” promised by Anna, Drusilla was able to -join the party and even to partake of the refreshment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Afterwards, accompanied by her two friends, she got -into a cab and drove to the railway station where Dick -had seen little Lenny in the arms of the strange woman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There they drove up and down the streets and roads -and in and out among the lanes, and alleys and inquired at -many shops and houses for such a woman and child, but -they neither found nor heard of one or the other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To be sure, there were many poor beggar women, and -many little two-year-old children; but they did not -answer to the description of little Lenny and his strange -bearer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They also found their coadjutors, the detective policemen, -in the same neighborhood, upon the same search. -The detectives had had as yet no better success than -their employers; but their hopes were high and their -words encouraging.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They had great sympathy for the bereaved and anxious -young mother, and they came to her carriage door with -expressions full of confidence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We shall be sure to find the little gentleman now, my -lady. Now when we know where to look for him. It is -a downright certainty, you know. Why, Lord love you, -sir, there ain’t a woman is this neighborhood as has heard -about the child that ain’t as interested in the search as we -are, and out of downright human motherly feeling too, to -say nothing of the hope of getting the reward. Bless -you, my lady, take heart, and don’t you be taken by -surprise any time to see me walk in and put your little -boy in your arms. And if I might be so bold, ma’am, I -would recommend you to persuade her to go home and -go to her rest and leave us to follow up the clue, and just -<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>have faith till I bring the young gentleman home,” said -the detective, with his head in the door, and addressing -in turn the three occupants of the carriage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is what I am telling her,” said Dick, “to wait -patiently; or, if she can’t do that, to wait hopefully until -her child is brought home and laid on her lap.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, it is so late, and you have lost so much rest, -Drusilla, dear, that I do think you had better go back, and -lie down even if you cannot sleep,” said Anna, earnestly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Friends, you are so kind to me and so interested in -my child’s recovery, that I owe it to you to follow your -advice. So I will put myself in your hands at least for -this evening,” answered Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is right, that is right, my dear,” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And, my lady, take this truth with you to comfort you—that -we will never give up the search until we find the -child. We will never give it up by night or by day till -we find him. While some of us gets our needful bit of -food or nap of sleep, the others will be pursuing of the -search till we find him. And when we do find him, my -lady, be it midnight, or noonday, or any other hour of the -twenty-four I will bring him to you,” said the officer, -earnestly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, do, do, do! and you shall have half my fortune for -your pains—the whole of it, if you will, and my eternal -gratitude besides!” exclaimed Drusilla fervently clasping -her hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My lady, the reward offered in the hand-bills would -set me up for life; and, though that is a great object, and -was my only object at first, it is not now—it is not indeed! -I am most anxious to find the young gentleman, to give -you peace—I am indeed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I believe you, and I thank and bless you,” said Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then the policeman touched his hat, and closed the -door, and transmitted Mr. Hammond’s order to the cabman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>They drove back to the Morley House.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there Dick and Anna made Drusilla take a glass -of port wine and a biscuit, and go to bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All arose very early the next morning. Anna ordered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>the breakfast, that it might be ready when Drusilla -should come down.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick soon joined her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will write to grandpa, to-day?” inquired Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not unless little Lenny is found. I dread the effect -the news of the child’s loss would have upon him at -his age, and I wish to spare him if possible,” answered -Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But if Lenny is not found to-day, and grandpa gets -no letter to-morrow, he will feel very anxious at not hearing -from us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know it. I must think of some plan by which I can -write to him without alarming him, and bring him home -here, before telling him of our loss. Here we might break -the news to him gently; and, if it should overcome him, -here, we can look after him. I will think of some such -plan and act upon it, to-day,” said Dick, anxiously and -reflectively.</p> - -<p class='c012'>While the husband and wife took counsel together, -the door opened, and Drusilla, dressed as for a drive, -came in.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good morning, my dear! Did you sleep last night?” -anxiously inquired Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A little.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you are not going out until you have breakfasted, -my dear Drusilla?” said Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have been out for the last three hours, and have -just returned,” she answered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heaven, Drusilla, you will destroy your life, and -all to no purpose! The detectives are all sufficient for -this business. You cannot help them,” urged Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I know it; but I cannot rest,” replied Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have been to the same neighborhood? You have -seen the officers this morning?” inquired Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Any news?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“None; but the men give me great hopes, and I must -trust in God.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, Drusilla, don’t go up-stairs,” said Anna. “Take -off your bonnet and shawl here, for here is the waiter, -with our breakfast.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla complied with this advice. And they were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>about to sit down to the table, when there was heard a -hurried step upon the stairs, and the door was thrown -open, and old General Lyon, dusty, travel-stained, pale -and excited, burst into the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<span class='sc'>Is the child found?</span>” he cried to the astonished -circle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; but we have a clue to him,” answered Dick, as -soon as he could recover his self-possession and his -breath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The old man sank into a chair, covered his face with -his hands, and shook as with an ague fit.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Anna hastily poured out a cup of coffee and brought it -to him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drink this, dear grandpa, and you will feel better,” -she said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The old man raised his head and looked at her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you do, my dear? I really forgot to speak to -you,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Never mind that, dear sir. I am very well. Drink -this. It will do you good,” she urged.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You say you have a clue to him?” he inquired, as he -mechanically took the cup from her hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, grandpa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why is not the clue followed up? Why has it not -led you to him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, it is being very diligently followed up. We -are in hourly expectation of recovering our little Lenny. -But, dear sir, please to drink your coffee. You are very -faint, and need it very much.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where is the poor young mother? Where is Drusa?” -he continued.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla came and knelt down by his side, and took his -disengaged hand, and looked up in his troubled face and -said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She is here, dear uncle; and she trusts in the Lord to -restore her child. But you are sinking with fatigue, and -with fasting too, I fear. Drink your coffee, and we will -tell you all we know about our missing boy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Drusilla put a great constraint upon herself that -she might comfort him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At her request he took the refreshment offered to him, -and was certainly benefited by it.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>And they told him all the particulars of little Lenny’s -abduction, and of the measures that had been taken for -his recovery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But when he heard of Dick’s adventure at the railroad -station, he came down most unmercifully on that “unlucky -dog.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You heard his voice calling you and didn’t go after -him!” he indignantly exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was in vain that poor Dick explained and expounded; -the old man would hear of no excuses.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Sir! do you think if <em>I</em> had heard that helpless infant’s -voice calling <em>me</em>, I would not have obeyed it with more -promptitude than I ever obeyed the commands of my -superior officer when I was in the army? What <em>can</em> you -say for yourself?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick had no word to say why sentence of death should -not be immediately pronounced on him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Drusilla came to his relief by turning the conversation -and inquiring:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dear uncle, how was it that you heard of little -Lenny’s being lost?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By the newspapers, of course. I was sitting by the -bedside of——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here Dick trod slyly upon his uncle’s toe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The General stopped short.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Drusilla perceived that there was a secret between -them that must be kept; so, without suspecting that it -concerned herself or her Alick, she respected it, and -turned away her head until the General recovered himself -sufficiently to pursue the subject in another manner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You asked me how I learned little Lenny’s loss, my -dear. Well, yesterday morning I was sitting by the bedside -of a friend whom I had undertaken to look after, -when the morning papers were brought to me, and I saw -the advertisement. That was at nine o’clock. There -was a boat left at ten for Southampton, and I took it and -reached port at midnight, I took the first train for London -and got here this morning.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Such was the General’s explanation, given in the presence -of Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was not until after they had all breakfasted, and he -found himself in his own bedroom alone with Dick, that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>he was able to make a report upon Alick’s condition—a -report that Dick subsequently transmitted to Anna.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, his condition is even more precarious than when -you left him; irritative fever has set in, and he is delirious—or -was so when I left him. He had not once recognized -me. I know the surgeon thinks him in a very dangerous -condition; although, of course, he will not admit so -much to me. But oh, Dick! the child! the child!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Be comforted, sir. The child was safe and well in -this city yesterday. We have the most skilful and experienced -detectives in the world searching for him, and -they will be sure to succeed.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXVIII.<br> <span class='large'>ALEXANDER STRIKES A LIGHT.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“A death-bed’s a detector of the heart.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>So is a sick bed. A man may have passed through the -greatest college in the world and carried off its highest -honors; may have traveled over every foot of land -and sea; may have learned all else that this earth has to -teach him—<em>yet</em> if he has never had a good, dangerous, -rallying spell of illness, his education has been neglected.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander Lyon had been a strong, arrogant, despotic -man, and not from any <em>in</em>ternal force of the spirit, but -by the <em>ex</em>ternal support of great physical strength, sound -health and large wealth. Of the reverses of these he had -no experience in his own person, and not enough of sympathy -with others to realize them to his own imagination. -Poverty, sickness, death, were to him abstract ideas. He -had no personal knowledge of them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>True, he had lost both his parents by death; but they -were very aged; and his father had died in an instant, -like a man called away on a hasty journey; and his mother -had followed, after a short illness; and their decease -had left upon his mind the impression of absence rather -than of death.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Certainly, within a few hours before his duel he had -been forced to think of his own possible death, but it was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>as of a sudden and violent catastrophe, which in his -great excitement he was desperate enough to brave and -meet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But he never imagined being wounded and mutilated, -and laid helpless and languishing on a bed of weakness -and pain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet here he was.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the third day after that upon which he had been -wounded, an irritative fever set in, and from having been -stupid and quiet he became delirious and violent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>General Lyon had left him, as we have seen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Francis Tredegar had also, soon after, gone to London -on imperative business.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Alexander was now in the hands of the skilful surgeon -whom the magnanimity of Prince Ernest had placed -in attendance upon him. And the surgeon was assisted -by the valet Simms and by the servants of the hotel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For eight terrible days the wounded man burned with -fever and raved with frenzy. For eight days, within his -broken and agonized frame, an almost equal struggle between -the forces of life and death went on. But, by the -aid of his strong constitution and of his skilful surgeon, -life at length prevailed over death.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was about the dawn of the critical ninth day, that -the fever finally left him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The surgeon, who, on that particular night, had watched -by his bed, was the first to perceive the signs of reviving -life, in the moisture of the sleeper’s hands and the moderated -pulsations at his wrists.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The imminent danger is over now. He will live and -recover,—unless he should have a relapse, which we must -try to prevent,” said Doctor Dietz to Simms, the valet, -who had shared his watch.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Simms, who, for the last nine days, had never once been -in bed, but had snatched his sleep when, where, and how -he could,—sitting, standing, and even walking—yawned -frightfully, and said he was glad to hear it, and asked if -he might now lie down.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The surgeon told him that he might not; that yet, for -a few hours, he must watch beside his master; afterwards, -when his master should awake, he (the man) should be -relieved.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>And, so saying, the surgeon went away, to get some -sleep for himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Simms lay back in the best easy-chair, just vacated -by Doctor Dietz, and stretched his feet out on the best -footstool, and closed his eyes in slumber.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the only watcher beside the wounded man was -the All-seeing Eye.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But all the danger was over,—the fever was cooled, the -frenzy calmed, and the patient slept on,—all the more -quietly, perhaps, because his attendant slept also and the -room was so still.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was, I said, just at the dawn of day and about four -o’clock, when Doctor Dietz pronounced the crisis favorably -passed, and then left him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At eight o’clock the surgeon returned to the sick-room, -where he found both master and man still asleep.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Without waking Simms, he went around to the other -side of the bed, and examined the state of Alexander. -His former opinion was now confirmed. The patient was -sleeping calmly and breathing softly. His pulse was regular -and quiet, and his skin cool and moist.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is a decided convalescence,” said the surgeon to -himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then, fearing to wake up the attendant lest he -should disturb the patient, the doctor himself went about -on tiptoes, putting out the night taper, opening the windows, -and setting the room somewhat in order.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he went down-stairs to get his own breakfast -and to order some proper nourishment to be prepared for -the wounded man to take as soon as he should awake.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When he again returned to the room he found Simme -awake and sitting upright in the chair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The doctor raised his finger to warn the valet not to speak -or make a noise, lest he should disturb the sleeper and -then signed him to leave the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the valet gladly took himself away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Doctor Dietz seated himself beside his patient to watch -for his awakening. As it is neither useful nor entertaining -to sit and stare a sleeper in the face, the surgeon took -out a newspaper from his pocket and began to read, lifting -his eyes occasionally to look at his charge. But at -length he got upon several columns of highly interesting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>editorial treating upon the politics of Prussia, and he became -so absorbed in the subject that he read on, forgetting -to glance at his patient for fifteen or twenty minutes. -He might have gone on for thirty or forty minutes more -without lifting his eyes from the paper had he not heard -his name whispered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With a slight start he turned and looked at his charge.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander Lyon was lying awake and calmly contemplating -his physician.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Doctor Dietz dropped his paper and bent over his -charge.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are better?” he said, quietly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander nodded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you feel?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Weak.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How long have you been awake?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Two—or three—hours—I think. I don’t know,” -whispered Alick, feebly and with pain and difficulty.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh no!” said the surgeon, taking out his watch and -consulting it—“not near so long as that, though it may -seem so to you; not more than fifteen or twenty minutes -at the most.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Doctor Dietz put up his watch and took hold of -the wrist of his charge.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ve—been ill—long—long,” whispered Alick, looking -up from his dark, hollow, cavernous eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; there again you are mistaken. You have been -down little more than a week. But it is always so when -there has been a period of semi-consciousness. The patient -loses all calculation of time, and on recovery either fancies -that no time at all, or else a very long period, has elapsed -during his illness. But now listen to me. You are very -much better, and you are on the high road to a speedy recovery. -But you must not, as yet, exert yourself at all. -You must not even speak, except when to do so is absolutely -necessary, and then you must only whisper. -Whenever you can answer by a nod, or a shake of the -head, or whenever you can make your wishes known by -signs, do so, instead of speaking. You must spare your -lungs as much as possible. If you follow my direction in -this it will be the best for you. Will you do it? Mind, -<em>nod</em>, if you mean yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>Alexander nodded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That’s right. And now—do you feel hungry or -thirsty?—Stop! don’t answer that question, because I -didn’t ask it right, and you can’t answer it without speaking. -I will put it in another form. Do you feel hungry?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander nodded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And thirsty?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick hesitated a moment and then nodded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah! I understand. You are quite sure you are -hungry; but you are not so very sure that you are thirsty. -And upon the whole you feel as if you would like something -to eat and to drink as well. Just as we all feel -about breakfast time, eh?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander nodded and smiled.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite right,” said the surgeon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then he rang the bell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Would you like black tea, cream toast, and poached -eggs?” inquired the surgeon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was answered by the regulation nod.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The waiter came, and received the surgeon’s orders to -prepare the required refreshments and to send the valet -to the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And when Simms entered, and while waiting for the -breakfast to be prepared, the surgeon, assisted by the -valet, changed the dressings of the patient’s wounds, and -made him clean and fresh and comfortable, so that he -might be able to enjoy the delicate repast that had been -ordered for him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After his change of clothes, and his nourishing breakfast, -he was laid down again upon fresh pillows, and his -bed was tidied and his room darkened, and he himself -was enjoined to rest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And rest was of vital importance to him; for though -his wounds were now doing well, yet the effort to speak, -or to move, was still not only difficult and painful, but -very injurious and even dangerous to his lacerated chest. -So he was enjoined to rest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Rest?</p> - -<p class='c012'>His bed was fresh and fragrant, and on it there might -be rest for the pain-racked, wearied body. But what rest -could there be for the newly awakened mind and startled -conscience?</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>Lying there in forced inactivity, in his half-darkened -chamber, unable to read, forbidden to talk, with nothing -to engage his attention without, his thoughts were driven -inward to self-examination. He struck a light and explored -the gloomy caverns of his own soul. What he -found there, appalled him. There were devilish furies, -ferocious beasts, poisonous reptiles, gibbering maniacs—these -were the forms of the passions that had possessed -him, that still possessed him; but they were lethargic or -sleeping now. Should he—could he cast them entirely -out while they were so quiescent?</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there were their victims and his own—the bleeding -forms of wounded love; the fallen image of dethroned -honor; the ghastly skeletons of murdered happiness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What a city of desolation, what a valley of Gehenna, -was this sin-darkened soul!</p> - -<p class='c012'>He groaned so deeply that the surgeon came to his side.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where is your pain?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander shook his head; he could not tell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The surgeon examined the wounds, but found them -doing very well; and he changed their dressings, but this -did not seem to do much good.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The doctor wondered that his patient still suffered so -much. He could not understand any better than Macbeth’s -physician, how to minister to “a mind diseased.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The convalescence of the wounded man was not nearly -so rapid or assured as his surgeon had hoped and expected. -How could it be, when he was so haunted by -memory and tortured conscience? In these long still days -and nights on the sick-bed in the dark chambers, he was -forced to look back upon his own life, to judge his own -deeds. What had they been? What were they now? -False and cruel he pronounced the one and the others—false -and cruel his deeds, darkened and ruined his life.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But out of all the gloom and horror shone brightly -one form—holy as a saint, lovely as an angel—the form -of his injured wife. Oh, with what an intense and vehement -longing he longed for her presence!—longed for -it, yet feared it—feared it, though in the image that he -saw in “his mind’s eye” the whole face and form glowed -and vibrated with compassion and benediction. Blessing -brightened the clear brow; pity softened the dark -<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>eyes; love, love unutterable curved the lines of the crimson -lips.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Was it strange that he should have seen her only in this -light?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Remember, he who had loved her and made her happy, -and had wronged her and made her wretched—he had seen -her beautiful face beaming with heavenly happiness, or -quivering with anxiety, or darkened by despair; but he -had never—never once seen it distorted by passion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Oh, how he longed for the beautiful vision to be realized -to him—longed and feared!</p> - -<p class='c012'>What would he not have given to have had her then by -his bedside? He felt how soft and cool her fingers would -fall upon his fevered forehead; he saw how lovingly her -eyes would look on him; he heard how sweetly her tones -would soothe him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet it was not for all this he wanted her at his side.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was that he might make what atonement was yet in -his power for the wrongs he had done her; that he might -lay his proud manhood low at the feet of this meek girl, -and ask her pardon; that he might take her to his heart -again, and devote his life to make hers happy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Oh, that he might do her some great service, and so win -her back!</p> - -<p class='c012'>He wished now that she had been poor, so that he might -have enriched her; or sick, so that he might have taken -her all over the world for her health; or that she had had -an enemy, so that he might have killed or crippled that -enemy and dragged him to her feet. And here one of -those crouching furies stirred again in his heart, and a -feverish excitement made him irrational.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Oh, that she were poor, or ill, or abused, that he might -enrich her, or serve her, or defend her, and so win the -right to ask her forgiveness!</p> - -<p class='c012'>But she was none of these. She was as independent of -him as any queen could be. She was immensely wealthy, -perfectly healthy, and highly esteemed; and, finally, no -one had ever abused her but himself; and on himself only -could he take vengeance. He was an utter bankrupt, -without the power of bringing any offering to her feet in -exchange for her mercy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When tortured by these thoughts, he would so toss and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>groan as to raise his fever and inflame his wounds. And -all this very much protracted his recovery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And through all this gloom and horror still he saw the -heavenly vision, like Dante’s angel at the gates of Hell, -and still he longed to have it realized; longed, yet feared; -and ever he prayed:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! that I could do her some great service! Oh, that -the Lord would take pity on me and give me the power!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander, among his other thoughts, of course thought -of the duel that had laid him upon this bed of penance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the natural reaction—the calmness that succeeded to -the excitement of his passions, when reason had opportunity -to act—he saw that he had no just cause for the jealousy -that had driven him to one of the maddest acts of his -life.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That Prince Ernest should have admired Drusilla was -not only natural but inevitable, since every one who was -brought into her company did the same; that he should -have testified this admiration with continental enthusiasm -seemed almost excusable; but that his sentiments went -further, or that Drusilla would have tolerated any attentions -unworthy to be received by her, Alexander in his -sober senses could not believe.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now that like the prodigal of Holy Writ he had come to -himself, he perceived that his jealousy, like every other -passion of his soul, had been insane in its excess and frantic -in its exhibition.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now how fervently he thanked Heaven that the duel -into which his temporary madness had driven him had not -resulted in death to his adversary and blood-guiltiness to -himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But—and this was a very serious question—how had -the mad duel affected Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was always, he knew, most injurious, even to the -most innocent women, to have her name mixed up in any -such matter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He himself had been very cautious in this respect; but -had others concerned been equally so? And, above all, -had the duel got into the newspapers, and, if so, with how -much exposure of the circumstances?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course he could not tell. He longed to know; yet -he shrank from asking questions. He would have examined -<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>the papers, but they were kept out of his way, and -he was forbidden to read.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Thus in bitter self-communings, in remorse, in suspense -and anxiety, the first days of his convalescence slowly -wore away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Francis Tredegar had not returned and he had remained -in the hands of the surgeon and the valet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And although he was debarred from reading the newspapers, -and forbidden to converse, and so was left in -ignorance of the most important matters that concerned -him, yet he had learned something of what had transpired -near him since the mad duel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He had partly surmised and partly overheard enough -to inform him that Prince Ernest, a frequent invalid himself, -had at some self-sacrifice dispensed with the invaluable -services of his own medical attendant, that he, -Alexander, might have the advantage of that surgeon’s -constant presence at his bedside. And this circumstance -led Alexander to a true appreciation and respect for the -Austrian, who was as noble by nature as he was by -descent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And there was something else he had to learn.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXIX.<br> <span class='large'>ALEXANDER’S DISCOVERIES.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thou turnest mine eyes into my very soul,</div> - <div class='line'>And there I see such black and grained spots,</div> - <div class='line'>As will not leave their tinct.—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>One morning when he, Alick, seemed better and -stronger that usual, the surgeon seated himself by his -bedside and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I should tell you that you were not forgotten or abandoned -by your family while you were in danger, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By my family——! I have——” Alexander was -about to say, “no family,” but he caught himself in time.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Come what might, he would not deny Drusilla and her -child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>—“You have an uncle and a cousin, sir,” said the surgeon, -finishing Alexander’s sentence, but not in the manner -<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>Alexander had first intended—“an uncle and a cousin, -sir, who were warmly interested in your welfare. General -Lyon and Mr. Hammond, sir! They in some manner -received information of the intended duel; they hired a -yacht and followed you here; but they arrived too late, -they found you badly wounded and lying insensible on -this bed. The cousin returned the same day to London; -but the uncle remained here until you showed signs of -consciousness and gave us hopes of recovery, when—being -suddenly called away by important business, of I -know not what nature, he too left the island. But before -going he made an arrangement with Mr. Tredegar, by -which the last-named gentleman was to write every day -and keep the General advised of the state of his nephew. -Mr. Tredegar kept his part of the compact, I know, until -he also had to leave.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander did not reply for some moments; and when -he did it was merely to say:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I thank you for telling me this.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander fell into deep thought. Here was another -enlightenment. Here was another subject for self-reproach -if not for deep remorse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The high-toned, tender-hearted old gentleman! The -frank and kindly young man! How noble, pure and loving -all their course had been during these family troubles, -in comparison with his own! How they had always -stepped in and saved himself and his victims from the -worst consequences of his violent passions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But for General Lyon and Richard Hammond where -would Drusilla now have been? Would she, could she -have had the strength, when discarded by him to have -struggled on, through her desolation, unsupported by -their strong and tender manhood?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick groaned and tossed, as he thought of these things.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In fact he was beginning to see himself and others in -a new light. It seemed to him now that he had wronged -everybody who had been brought into close companionship -and intimate relations with himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>First, he had wronged his cousin, Anna, his earliest -betrothed, in leaving her for Drusilla; but that was the -least of his offenses, since the betrothal had been neither -his work nor Anna’s, nor yet agreeable to the one or the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>other. Next, he had wronged—most bitterly wronged—his -young, fond, true wife, whose love and faith had never -known the shadow of turning; and this he now felt to be -his greatest sin. And he had wronged his uncle, the gallant -old veteran, who had always cherished him with a -father’s affection. He had wronged his other cousin, -that frank, affectionate, “unlucky dog,” who was always -ready to forgive and forget, and to be as fast friends as -ever. He had wronged the noble Prince Ernest, by assaulting -him like a bully, upon no provocation, and driving -him into an unseemly duel.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Good Heavens! when he came to reckon with himself, -whom had he not wronged whenever he had had the -power?</p> - -<p class='c012'>No wonder he tossed and tumbled on his bed, and -raised his fever, and inflamed his wounds, and protracted -his recovery, and in other ways gave his surgeon a world -of trouble.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But with all, as he had a magnificent constitution,—if -that is not too big a word to apply to a little human -organism,—he continued to convalesce.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One day he was permitted to sit up in bed for a few -moments, and he felt himself much refreshed by the -change of posture. The next day he sat up a little longer, -with increased advantage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length there came a day when the patient was so -much better that the surgeon ventured to leave him in -the care of the valet and of the people of the hotel, and to -go for a holiday to the neighboring town of St. Helier’s.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That day Alexander sat up in bed, well propped up -with pillows, and waited on by Simms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The valet had trimmed him up nicely, and, at his request, -had placed a small glass in his hands that he might -look at his face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And a very pale, thin, haggard, cadaverous countenance -it was to contemplate. And the clean-shaved chin and -the short-cropped hair added nothing to its attractions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“By my life! I look more like a newly-discharged -convict than a decent citizen or anything else,” muttered -Alexander to himself as he handed back the glass.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Any more orders, sir?” inquired the valet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No—yes; now that Dietz is off for a holiday, I will -<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>take some recreation too, in my own way—Simms!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you know whether they keep the files of the London -papers here in the house?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I can inquire, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The valet left the room, and, after an absence of a few -minutes, returned with a pile of newspapers in his hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here is a file of the Times for the last month, sir,” he -said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lay them on the foot of the bed where I can reach -them, and slip off the first one and give it to me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here it is, sir. It is the twenty-seventh.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is day before yesterday’s. Is there not a later -one?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir; perhaps——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Perhaps it is in the reading-room, sir. It must have -come by the last boat—yesterday’s Times must, I mean, -sir. They tell me they always get it the day after publication. -Shall I go and see if I can find it, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes—no,” said Alexander, quickly changing his mind -from one purpose to another, as is often the case with convalescents, -and less from caprice or irresolution than from a -momentary forgetfulness of what they really do want. -“No,” he repeated, suddenly remembering that he wished -to ascertain whether any unpleasant notice had been taken -of his foolish duel by the press. “No—I—you needn’t go -after the late paper just yet. I have been laid down here -nearly a month, and have fallen so far behind the world’s -news that I must go back and post myself up. I will -begin with the paper following the one I left off with; and -I will glance over them all in turns to see what the world -has been doing while I have been lying here. Give me -the paper of the date of the second of June.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The valet looked through the file, and handed the -required copy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now leave the others there where I can reach them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir. Any more orders?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; you may leave the room. I will ring if I should -want you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Left to himself, Alexander opened the paper and glanced -<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>over its contents. Column after column, page after page, -of that voluminous journal passed in rapid review before -him. But no notice of the duel was to be found in that -number. He threw it aside and took up and as carefully -examined another; but with no better success. Then he -took a third, of the date June fourth, and in it almost the -first thing that met his eye was the paragraph of which he -was in search.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was under the head “<span class='sc'>Jersey</span>,” and it read as follows:</p> - -<p class='c014'>“An ‘affair of honor’ so called came off yesterday morning, -in the neighborhood of St. Aubins, between His Highness Prince -E——t of H——n and his Lordship Baron K——n of K——n, -in which the noble lord was the challenger. The occasion of -the hostile meeting is said to have been a beautiful young widow, -whose debut at the American Ambassadress’ ball a few days -since created such a sensation. Fortunately for the madmen -concerned, the duel did not end fatally for either party. The -princely H——n escaped scatheless and has returned to his own -country. The noble K——n is lying somewhat seriously -wounded at St. Aubins, where it is hoped he will have leisure to -repent his folly. Such ‘affairs’ are relics of barbarism, unworthy -of an enlightened community and of the nineteenth -century. Where were the police?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>You may imagine with what feelings our chivalric Alexander -read these comments. So this was the light in which -sensible and law-abiding people viewed his heroism.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“As for me,” said he, as he laid the paper down, “it -serve me right; but I am truly sorry that <em>she</em> has been -even alluded to in the affair. She has not been mentioned -by name or even by initial, however, and I am consoled by -that circumstance.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he turned to other parts of the paper, where he -found something to absorb his attention and to drive the -memory of the affair from his mind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Eh! what is this?”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘<span class='sc'>One Thousand Pounds Reward?</span>’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“What state-prisoner has run away now, of such importance -that a thousand pounds is offered for his recovery?” -said Alexander, as he looked more closely at -the advertisement.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>“Ah! what’s this? ‘A child lost!’—a—Heaven have -mercy on my soul, it is Drusilla’s child!” he exclaimed, -turning even paler that he had been before, as he read the -description of the missing boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lost? Lost on the afternoon of the second of June? -Let me look at the date of this paper. It is the fourth. -Has he been found yet, I wonder? He must have been -found before this. Let me see—to-day, is the twenty-ninth. -He was lost twenty-six or seven days ago. How -long was he lost? When was he found? I must look -over the next papers and judge by them. Of course the -advertisement was discontinued when the child was -found.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And saying this to himself, Alexander took up the -next paper in succession, and the next after that, and -another and another still, until he had examined some -twenty-three or four more papers. But ah! in every one -of them appeared the advertisement for the lost child. -And the amount of the reward offered was constantly increased.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the first half-dozen papers it was one thousand -pounds; in the next it was increased to fifteen hundred; -after that it was raised to three thousand pounds. The -last paper he examined was one of the date of June -twenty-seventh, in which the advertisement was still -standing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heavens! not found up to the day before yesterday! -Missing for twenty-five days!” exclaimed Alexander, -as he turned over and grasped the bell pull and -rang a peal that speedily brought Simms in alarm to his -bedside.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is your wound broke out again, sir?” exclaimed -the valet, seeing his master’s disturbed and excited look.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, it is nothing of the sort. Simms, go down-stairs -and see if you can get me the last number of the Times -that has arrived on the island. If it is not in the reading-room, -or in the coffee room, or if anybody else has it, -or in short, if you can’t procure it for me in the house, -go out into the town and try to find it at some bookseller’s -or news agent’s. Be quick, Simms.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir, I will,” answered the man, hurrying from the -room.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>Alexander sank back upon his pillow to wait for his -servant’s return. He had not to wait very long.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In less than ten minutes Simms re-entered the chamber, -bringing two papers in his hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here is the Times of yesterday morning and the Express -of yesterday evening, sir. I got them both of the -news agent close by.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Give them to me!” exclaimed Alexander, eagerly -grasping the papers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He hastily examined the Times. Yes, there was the -advertisement still standing. He turned to the Evening -Express, and there also it stared him in the face, with a -new date, the date of the day of publication, and with a -still higher raised reward.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Five thousand pounds were now offered to any person -or persons who should restore the child, or give such information -as should lead to restoring him to his distracted -mother.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not found up to yesterday evening! Poor Drusilla! -poor, poor Drusilla! and poor little Lenny!” groaned -Alick, as his eyes were rivetted upon the advertisement.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then a bright thought struck him; a Heavenly inspiration -filled him. His countenance became eager and irradiated.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will go in search of her child! I will devote all my -days and nights, all my mind and all my means to the -search; and I will find him, if he is not dead. If he is -above ground I will find him! And when I find him I -will go and lay him in his mother’s lap and ask her forgiveness, -and she will grant it me for the child’s sake! Oh! -I prayed Providence to give me the power of doing her a -service, and now I have got it. It cannot be but I shall -find her child, and so regain her love!” he murmured.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then looking up from his paper he called out:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Simms!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The valet, who was at the other end of the room engaged -in closing the window blinds to exclude the hot -rays of the mid-day sun, turned and hurried toward the -bedside.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What o’clock is it, Simms?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A quarter-past twelve, sir,” answered the man, after -consulting his silver timepiece.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>“At what hour did Dr. Dietz say that he would return -here?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“At ten to-night, sir, unless something unexpected -should turn up to cause you to require his services before -that time. In which case, sir, I was to sent a mounted -messenger after him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not return until ten o’clock; that is well; for I must -get away from this place to-day; and if he were here he -would be sure to oppose my doing so, and I want no controversy -with my kind physician,—Simms!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go fetch me a time-table of the boats that leave the -Island to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Simms vanished, and after an absence of a few minutes -returned and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you please sir, there are no time-tables. But the -head waiter says as how the only boat that leaves St. -Aubins for England is the steamer that sails for Southampton -at ten o’clock every morning.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is that the only boat?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The only one that leaves St. Aubins, sir; but there is -another steamer leaves St. Helier’s every afternoon at -three o’clock for Portsmouth, sir!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let me see! How far do they call St. Helier’s from -here?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“About three miles, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That will do. Go down-stairs and tell them to send -me my bill, including Dr. Dietz’s. And then order a fly to -be at the door by two o’clock. And then pack up my -traps and yours as quickly as possible. We start for -England in an hour.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The valet stared at his master in speechless astonishment -for a moment, and then gasped:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“For England, sir!—In an hour, sir!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes! Don’t I speak plainly enough? Be quick and -do as I tell you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, sir, what would the doctor say? You have never -left your room yet since you have been wounded!—scarcely -left your bed, sir! Consider your health, sir? Consider -your life!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Consider a fig’s end! There are matters of more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>moment than my poor life that demand my presence in -England,” said Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, sir, the doctor said—”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Simms! are you my servant, or the doctor’s?” demanded -Alexander, sternly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yours, sir, of course.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then obey me at once, or I shall send you about your -business.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Simms knew that he had a profitable place, and a good -master, though a self-willed one. He had really no desire -to oppose him in this or any other measure. He was -heartily tired of this “beastly hole,” as he chose to call -one of the prettiest little maritime towns in the world. -So, after having done his duty and relieved his conscience, -by offering a respectful remonstrance to the -proposed exertions on the part of the invalid, he yielded to -circumstances and set himself promptly to work to obey -his master’s orders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander wrote a note of thanks and of partial explanation -to Doctor Dietz, enclosed within it a munificent -fee, and sent it down to the office to be handed to the -surgeon on his return.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander was a free man and a sane one. And though -the people of the hotel were greatly astonished at his -sudden resolution to travel in his present invalid condition, -and strongly suspected him of running away from -his physician; and though they had every will to stop -him, they had not the power to do so.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And at two o’clock, all his arrangements having been -completed, Alick, attended by his servant, entered the -cab that was to take him to St. Helier’s.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He reached there in time to catch the steamer; and at -three o’clock he sailed for Portsmouth.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXX.<br> <span class='large'>LITTLE LENNY’S ENEMY.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in22'>Where the haters meet</div> - <div class='line'>In the crowded city’s horrible street.—<span class='sc'>Browning.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Pina was right in her surmises as to the manner of -little Lenny’s abduction. And he really had been carried -off by one of the two men whom she had detected in -watching him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this necessitates the explanation of some circumstances, -which, however, did not become known until -some time afterward.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It not unfrequently happens that the heirs of an estate, -or a title long held in abeyance and supposed to be -extinct, are poor and obscure people, quite ignorant of -their connection with, or right in such an inheritance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The claim recently confirmed by the House of Lords is -a case in point. The claim to the barony of Killcrichtoun -is another.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander Lyon was totally uninformed as to his right -to the title and estate of Killcrichtoun until his visit to -England and Scotland, when, in searching the records of -his mother’s family, he discovered the facts that led to -his subsequent action in claiming the barony.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the investigations that ensued developed other -facts, and brought forward other heirs, or rather one -other, who would surely have been the heir had Alexander -been out of existence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>This was a descendant of a younger sister of that ancestress -through whom Alexander Lyon claimed the -title.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The name of this man was Clarence Everage. He was -that most to be pitied of all human creatures—a poor -gentleman, with more children than means to support -them; more mouths to feed than money to find food; -more intellect than integrity; more refinement than firmness. -A man now about thirty-five years of age, with -a long, hopeless life before him; a man with some beauty -<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>of person, dignity of presence, and graciousness of manner; -with sensitive feelings, and delicate tastes, and soft -white hands; a man who loved fragrant baths and fresh -linen every day; and cool, clean, quiet rooms to live in; -and well-dressed, soft-speaking light-stepping people -about him; and respect and attention and observance -from all who came in contact with him; one who loving -to be happy and comfortable himself, loved still more to -make others happy and comfortable; one naturally more -prone to confer favors than to ask them; more willing to -give than to take; naturally rather vain than proud, -sensitive than irritable, and weak than wicked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And yet a man who had to live in mean lodgings in a -small, dark house, in a narrow dirty street in the Strand, -where in two musty stuffy rooms he crowded his wife, -who was as refined and delicate as himself, and six little -girls, who would have been beautiful had they not -suffered so much from confined air, bad food and scant -clothing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>His position really was not at fault. England, and especially -London, is so fearfully overcrowded; the competition -in all trades, professions and occupations is so -hopelessly great.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was an usher in a third-rate London school, and he -had an income barely sufficient to support himself in comfort; -and of course it will be said that he ought not to -have married.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Ah! but Nature had fooled him in his youth as she -fools so many. And yet I take that back. I will utter -no such blasphemy against Holy Nature. No doubt -Nature is always right, and it is always well that children -should be born, even though they should suffer -cruelly and die early, since they are born for the eternal -life, through to which this earthly life is but a short, -rough gateway, soon passed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But without excusing themselves with any such hypothesis -as this, the young man and young girl had -followed Nature, taken the leap in the dark, and plunged -head—no, <em>heart</em> foremost, into their imprudent marriage. -And the natural consequences ensued. The beautiful -children came as unhesitatingly as if they were entering -upon a heritage of wealth, health and happiness, instead -<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>of want, illness, and misery; and every year added to -their number.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The wretched father groaned for himself and his wife.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the gentle mother reminded him that Heaven, in -afflicting them with lighter trials, had always spared -them the one great trial that they never could be able to -bear—namely, the loss of their children. Not one of the -little ones had been taken from them. Each and all had -fought valiantly and successfully through measles, whooping-cough, -scarlet fever, and the rest; but whether <em>because</em> -of, or in <em>spite</em> of the cheap quack medicines the impoverished -parents poured down their throats, I cannot say.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was when they were expecting their seventh child -that Clarence Everage, who had been hunted out by -Alexander Lyon and the lawyers, was suddenly called -from his obscurity to bear witness in the investigation of -Mr. Lyon’s claim to the Barony of Killcrichtoun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was but a link in the chain of evidence that he was -to furnish. But any information he was expected to be -able to give was as nothing compared to the tremendous -revelation that was about to be made to himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He, the poor usher, starving in a miserable third-floor -back in Wellington street, Strand—heir presumptive to -a barony!—the ancient Barony of Killcrichtoun! And -but for this intrusive foreigner actually Baron of Killcrichtoun -himself. For be it remembered that Clarence -Everage knew nothing whatever of Alexander Lyon’s -wife and child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The investigation, as you know, terminated in Alexander’s -favor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this witness and self-styled heir presumptive was -liberally remunerated and sent home to his poor lodgings, -pale wife and pining children, to brood over the vicissitudes -of this life—to brood until he, whose temper had -through all his trials been sweet, kind and cheerful, became -soured and embittered and sorely tempted.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What right, he asked himself, had this man—whose -branch of the Killcrichtoun family had been self-expatriated -for generations—to come over here and claim the -ancient barony?</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was not a Scotchman, nor even an Englishman, that -should he hold it.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>And what good did it do him, after all?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Beyond the mere title, the new baron cared little for the -inheritance. He had not even visited Killcrichtoun. -While to him the poor usher, what a god-send, what a -treasure, what a paradise it might have been. This estate -which was nothing to the wealthy Virginian, would -have been everything to himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'><em>He</em>, had he possessed it, would have sold one-half the -land to get funds to cultivate the other half. He would -have pulled down the most ruinous parts of the castle to -get materials to build up the better part of it. And he -would have employed the starving tenants of the little -hamlet in repairing his dwelling and tilling his ground, -and a part of the wages he paid them would have come -back to himself in the form of rents.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He, the despised usher, oppressed by master and chafed -by pupils, would then be lord of the manor, with servants, -and tenantry dependent upon him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>His poor wife, who was looked down upon by small -shopkeepers and snubbed by her laundress, would be a -baroness and “my lady.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>His pale little girls, bleached by the fogs of London, -would grow strong and rosy on the bracing air of the -Highlands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All this would happen, if only he, and not this interloping -American, were Baron of Killcrichtoun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He brooded too constantly and profoundly over the advantages -that must have accrued to him had he been the -fortunate inheritor of Killcrichtoun, as might have happened -had it not been for this interloping stranger who -had no business in the country.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He felt a morbid interest in the foreigner who was so -fortunate as to succeed to the title, and be able to disregard -the small estate that came with it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He took pains to learn as much as possible of Lord Killcrichtoun’s -history. He was often in his lordship’s company, -in streets and shops and other common ground -where they could meet on equal terms. He talked much -<em>to</em> him and of him, and so learned more of his antecedents -than was known to any one else out of the family in London.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He often met Alexander in his well-known haunts, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>walked with him, sat with him, and smoked with him. -Occasionally, at Alick’s invitation, he ate and drank with -him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Why not? If Lord Killcrichtoun was unmarried, as he -was generally supposed to be, then Clarence Everage -was heir presumptive to the title and estate.</p> - -<p class='c012'>True, he knew that the present baron was some five or -six years younger than himself, and in that view of the -case there was little hope of the inheritance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But, on the other hand, Alexander, like the generality -of American men, was tall and lank, thin and sallow, with -that appearance of ill-health which was not real, but -which was greatly enhanced by the careworn and haggard -expression of countenance which had characterized his -face ever since his abandonment of Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So, upon the whole, Clarence Everage, gazing gloomily -upon Lord Killcrichtoun, thought the chances of his lordship’s -death by consumption, and of his own accession to -the title and estate, within a year or two, were very good.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If only,” he said to himself, “the fool should not in -the meantime marry and have an heir. That would make -the case hopeless indeed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>This anxiety lest Lord Killcrichtoun should marry and -have an heir before death should claim him, so preyed upon -the poor gentleman’s spirits that he watched over his -lordship more carefully, and inquired about him more anxiously -than ever.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the places where they chanced to meet, he could -neither see nor hear any sign of the misfortunes he -dreaded. No one knew whether his lordship was meditating -matrimony or not; no rumor of his contemplating -conjugal life was afloat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course the impoverished gentleman in his threadbare -coat, limp linen and broken gloves, could not go into -those circles from which Lord Killcrichtoun would be -likely to select a bride; and so, though Everage in their -mutual resorts learned nothing to alarm him, he was tormented -with uneasiness as to what might be going on out -of his sight in places from which his poverty excluded -him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He went into coffee-rooms, not to partake of the refreshments -<span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>for which he could not pay, but to look at the -fashionable news, longing to see at what dinners, dances, -or conversaziones, he, who was keeping him out of his -estate, had been seen, and fearing to find, under the head -of “<span class='sc'>Approaching Marriages in High Life</span>,” some announcement -of the calamity he so much dreaded—the impending -marriage of the baron. But of course he never -found anything of the sort.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I hope the fellow has too much sense—yes, and too -much conscience, to think of taking a wife. Men in his -wretched state of health should never marry; for when -they do, they always entail their infirmities upon any -children they may happen to have,” said Everage, with -virtuous emphasis; for his wish being father to his -thought, he had fully persuaded himself that Alexander -was in a very bad way—a doomed man, rushing with -railroad rapidity to the grave.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If he will only refrain from marriage for a year or -two all will be well,” said Everage to himself, as visions, -not of wealth, rank and grandeur, but simply of independence, -respectability and comfort floated before his eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sitting in his small, stifling room, surrounded by his -little pale girls and his invalid wife, breathing the heavy -city air, he thought of Killcrichtoun that might yet soon -be his own. He saw the forests of fragrant pine and -feathery firs; the fields of oats and barley; the streams -full of trout and salmon; the mountains with their game; -the old tower with its cool rooms. He saw his wife and -daughters blooming with health and smiling with happiness; -he felt the bracing breezes of the Highlands fan his -brow. Sitting in his stuffy little room, he saw and felt -all this in a vision, and he longed and prayed, oh how -earnestly, that this vision might yet be realized.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But a very great shock was at hand for him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One day, while Lord Killcrichtoun and himself were -walking on Trafalgar square, they met a nurse and child, -with whom his lordship immediately stopped to speak.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At the very first sight of the child, Everage was struck -with its unmistakable likeness to Lord Killcrichtoun. -And when the baron took the boy in his arms, and hugged -and kissed him with effusion, Everage looked on in surprise -<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>and disapprobation, for he thought that he knew his -lordship was unmarried, even while he detected the relationship -between the two.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Alexander took his son, and, desiring his friend -and the child’s nurse to wait for him there, he crossed -over to the Strand, and went into a toy shop.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Left alone with the girl, Everage was sorely tempted -to question her, but a sense of honor and delicacy prevented -his doing so.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After a few minutes, Alexander returned to the spot, -leading the little boy, who had his hands full of toys.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Take him home to his mother now, nurse. The air -is too sultry to keep him out longer,” he said, kissing his -child and delivering him over to Pina.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When the girl had carried off her charge, the two gentlemen -walked on a little while in silence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage, in his anxiety, was the first to speak.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is a very handsome little boy,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, he is a fine little fellow,” answered Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is very like you,” continued Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I suppose he must be since even I can see the likeness.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And he is very fond of you,” persevered Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” answered Alick in a very low tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your nephew, of course?” inquired Everage, after a -little hesitation, hoping that, after all, such might be the -relationship of the baby to the man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, he is not my nephew. I have not, nor ever had, -sister or brother to give me niece or nephew. I am a lonely -man, Everage.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah!” sighed the other, with a look of sympathy—but -he thought in his heart, “So much the better!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But—he is my son, Everage!” said Alick, with emotion.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your son?” exclaimed the would-be heir of the -barony.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was what he had at first suspected, even when he -thought Lord Killcrichtoun was unmarried; but yet he -was ill-at-ease, and, out of his anxiety, burst this exclamation:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I did not know that you had a wife.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nor <em>have</em> I! nor can I <em>ever</em> have—that is the curse of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>my life! But I had one once. The subject is a painful -one, Everage!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I <em>beg</em> your pardon,” said the poor gentleman, with real -regret that he had torn open an unsuspected wound, and -real sympathy for the evident sufferings of the victim, felt -amid all the disappointment and dismay with which he -heard of the existence of Lord Killcrichtoun’s son and -heir, and the consequent blasting of all his own hopes of -the inheritance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The tone and look of sympathy touched Alexander’s -lonely heart. He longed to speak to some one of his sorrows; -to some one with whom it might be discreet and -safe to deposit the secret troubles of his life. To whom -could he so well confide them as to this poor gentleman, -who seemed to possess some fine feelings of delicacy and -honor, and who was certainly by circumstances far removed -from those circles in which Alexander would abhor -to have his domestic miseries made known.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is no offense,” said Alexander, answering the -last words of Everage, “you could not have known the -tenderness of the chord you touched. And I thank you -now for the kindness your tones and looks expressed. -Come! shall we hail a hansom, and go to Véry’s to lunch?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thanks,—with pleasure!” said Everage, who always -keenly appreciated and enjoyed the game, the salads, and -the wines at Véry’s; but—then he glanced at his rusty, -threadbare coat, his dusty old boots, and his day-before-yesterday’s -clean shirt-bosom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, never mind your dress, man! Who the mischief -ever dresses to go to lunch in the morning?—Cab!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The empty hansom that was passing drew up. The -two gentlemen got in to it, and Alexander gave the order:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Véry’s, corner of Regent and Oxford streets.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Arrived at the famous restaurant, Alexander told the -cabman to wait, and led his friend into the saloon.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There curtained off in a snug recess, and seated at a -neat table, upon which was arranged a relishing repast, -Alexander, while making a slight pretense of eating and -drinking, told his story, or part of it to Clarence Everage, -who listened attentively, even while doing full justice to -the good things set before him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will understand now,” said Lord Killcrichtoun, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>in conclusion, “how it is, that though I am a husband -and a father, I have neither wife nor child.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is very deplorable, if it is really so,” said the -poor man, with a real compassion for sorrows that he was -inclined to consider much heavier than he had been called -upon to endure. For what, he asked himself, were the -worst pangs of toil, care and want compared to the grief -that would be his portion should he, in any way, lose his -own fond wife and dear children?—“Very, very lamentable, -if it is indeed true! but let us hope it is not so; that -your imagination exaggerates the circumstance. Let us -trust that the quarrel is not irreconcilable; that the husband -has still a wife, the father still a child.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I have no wife nor ever shall have one; for though -Drusilla is neither dead nor divorced, she is hopelessly -estranged from me. I have no wife, nor ever shall have -one.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you have a child. He at least is not estranged -from you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, but he belongs to his mother who bore him in -peril of her own life, and has nurtured him tenderly and -loves him fondly, I know. He belongs to her.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But the <em>law</em> gives him to you. You can claim him -when you will.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I would cut off my right hand, I would lay down -my life, before I would take him from his mother, or do -anything else to give her pain.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, man, he is your heir!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, he is my heir, and only child. If he should -live, of course he will inherit Killcrichtoun. If he should -not, why the barony will go to some distant branch of -the family, unearthed in the investigation set on foot -by my lawyers, when I laid claim to the title and estates. -And—why, bless my soul, old fellow, it may go to you! -May it not?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Failing yourself and heirs of your body, it may,” replied -the poor gentleman, gravely. And then he pushed -back his chair and showed signs of impatience to be -off.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The usher was allowed but half an hour to take his -lunch, and even now he was due at his schoolroom and in -danger of a reprimand from his principal.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>Alexander perceived his uneasiness and rang the hand -bell that stood upon the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage took out his purse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Put that up, if you please, Everage. I invited you -here; and you are my guest,” said Alexander, taking -out <em>his</em> purse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“See here, Killcrichtoun! upon one pretense or another -<em>you always</em> contrive to do this thing. Now I am not going -to stand it any longer. Unless you let me foot the -bill sometimes, and unless you let me foot it now, I can -never lunch with you again,” said the poor gentleman, -with much dignity; then turning to the waiter who at -that instant made his appearance, he added—“Let me -have our bill immediately.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The mercury vanished to execute the order.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, really, Everage——” began Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, really, Killcrichtoun,” interrupted the poor gentleman, -“though this is too small a matter to dispute -about, you must let me have my will.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander gave way.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The waiter came and put the bill in Everage’s hands -and the usher, who had that day received his second -quarter’s salary, amounting to barely fifteen pounds, paid -thirty shillings for their lunch, and bestowed half a crown -on the waiter who served them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander sighed and groaned in the spirit as he saw -this; but he could do nothing on earth to prevent it, or -to remedy it. What in the world is one to do in such a -case with a sensitive, poor gentleman? He would be -alive to all your ruses, and feel hurt by them and defeat -them. Alexander would rather have paid ten times the -amount from his own ample means than seen the usher -discharge the bill from his slender stock.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then they arose from the table and went back to their -cab.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Alick ordered the cabman to drive to the -street where the school-house in which Everage served -was situated, and he dropped the usher.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I declare that up to this day Clarence Everage had entertained -no idea of gaining his ends by evil means.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the story that he had heard from Alexander was a -startling and curious and interesting one; and he could -<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>not help brooding over it and speculating upon it. Lord -Killcrichtoun had a wife and child! The fact at first -view seemed very fatal to Everage’s hopes of ever succeeding -to the title; but upon closer consideration it was -not so. Lord Killcrichtoun was hopelessly estranged -from his wife; but he was not divorced from her, nor -free to marry again. He had but one child, his son and -heir; and if anything should happen to this child, Lord -Killcrichtoun, in his peculiar circumstances, could not -hope for other legal offspring, and Everage would be -quite secure in his position as heir presumptive of the -barony.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Alexander really looked paler, thinner, and more -cadaverous than ever! Truly in much worse health than -before! Clearly not long for this world! And if anything -should happen to the child before his father’s death, -Everage would not long be kept out of his inheritance!</p> - -<p class='c012'><em>If anything should happen to the child!</em> Dangerous, -speculation! In monarchies it is treason even to <em>imagine</em> -the death of the sovereign. And it is so with much -good reason, since such imaginings often realize themselves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It could not be treason; but it was treachery in Clarence -Everage even to imagine the removal of the little child -that stood between him and the inheritance of Killcrichtoun. -It was not only wrong but perilous for him to do so. -But it seemed as if he could not help it. Day and night -he brooded over the idea, with a morbid intensity akin to -monomania. And there was his poverty, and the pale faces -of his poor wife and little girls, to goad him on. And -there was that painful computation of pounds, shillings -and pence, that agonized straining of his soul to make his -meagre wages meet their merest wants. And now the -cruel extravagance into which his pride and sensitiveness -had betrayed him in paying for that lunch at -Véry’s had almost ruined him for this quarter. There was -now no possible way in which he could make the two ends -meet for the time.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he knew, as only the experienced in such matters -can know, and he dreaded as only the proud and sensitive -can dread, the troubles that must follow—the degrading -squabbles with his landlady, the humiliating apologies to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>the butcher and the baker—nay, the sight of his wife’s -shabby dress and his little daughters’ all but bare feet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he thought how different all this would be were he -the heir of Killcrichtoun, as he should be but for Alexander -Lyon’s son.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He thus “imagined” the death of the child and the -advantages that must accrue to himself in that event. -But would he have “compassed” the death of the child for -any such advantage?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Oh, no! not for Killcrichtoun, or a hundred Killcrichtouns, -would he have committed such a crime. But—he -was too prone to consider certain facts in the statistics of -population, life and death; how it was set down that more -than one half the children born, died before they had attained -the age of three years. He supposed little Lenny -to be about two years and a half old. He wondered -whether the child had passed safely through measles, -whooping-cough, scarlet fever, and all the other perilous -“ills” to which children’s “flesh is heir,” or whether he -had yet to encounter all or any of them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He had gathered from Lord Killcrichtoun’s narrative -that the child lived with his mother and her friends at -the Morley House, and that he was often taken by his -nurse to walk in Trafalgar square and its vicinity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so, morning, noon, and evening, when not engaged -in his school duties or with his family, he prowled about -the neighborhood, to waylay little Lenny and his nurse, -and watch over his health.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One day, when no one else was very near, he saw Pina -and her charge together, and accosted them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you do, my little man?” he inquired, patting -Lenny on the head or rather, the hat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Me not man—me itty boy,” answered Lenny, staring.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, little boy, are you? Well, how do you do, little -boy?” smiled Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Me very well,—how you?” politely responded Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’m very well too.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Me dad you very well too.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You dot itty boy home?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I’ve got no little boy at home; but I have got six -little girls.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>“Sit itty dirl? Me habben dot itty dirl home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Haven’t you? what a pity!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You bin you itty dirl hee me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I’ll bring my little girls to see you,” said the -poor gentleman, turning away from the child with some -emotion, and beginning to talk with Pina,—who was looking -on and smiling with proud delight at the bright intelligence -and gracious manners of her little charge.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He is a very fine little fellow, nurse,” said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir, lots of ladies and gentlemen, who stop to -speak to him, say the same,” answered Pina, gazing with -satisfaction upon her little Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And he is very like his father,” pursued Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, sir, I never could see the likeness myself, I’m -sure,” answered the girl resentfully, and wondering how -this stranger came to know who was little Lenny’s father.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“He seems to be perfectly healthy?” went on the -would-be heir presumptive.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, he never had any real illness for an hour, sir. -Even when he was teething, he only ailed a little—nothing -to speak of at all, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, well, he’s like a young bear—all his troubles are -before him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, sir; then I think you are more of a bear, -yourself to be a-saying of such things! Come, master -Leonard, let us go home—mamma will be wanting us.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dood-by! come hee me soon,” said Lenny, holding -out his hand to the stranger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good-by, my little lad!” said Everage, pressing the -child’s offered hand as he turned away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Lenny and his nurse went back to the Morley -House, and Everage bent his steps to the Newton Institute -for Young Gentlemen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“More than one-half the children that are born alive die -before they reach the age of three years, do they? Well—clearly -this youngster belongs to the half that live! -Never has had any of those infantile disorders that slay -Infants of ‘two years old and under,’ with a massacre more -terrible than that of Herod of Galilee. Ah! but the little -fellow has them all to meet, for they are sure to come, -sooner or later; yes, but he has a fine constitution with -which to fight disease; well, but still this is certain, that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>children of robust frames, full-fleshed and full-blooded, -never get over these inflammatory fevers as easily as do -those of thinner and feebler organization. These very -healthy children are exceedingly apt to go off in these -acute attacks of disease. Master Lyon, Master of Killcrichtoun, -you will have to take the risk with the rest.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Such were the reflections of Everage as he bent his steps -that afternoon to the Newton Institute, and while he sat -at his desk examining boys in their Latin and Greek exercises -and algebraic and geometrical problems; and while -he sauntered sorrowfully and wearily home to his gloomy -lodgings.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But he hated himself with a righteous hatred for these -evil haunting thoughts, that he had no moral power to -exorcise.</p> - -<p class='c012'>From what he had heard from Lord Killcrichtoun, and -from what he had observed with his own eyes, some -things seemed very certain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As that Lord Killcrichtoun would never be legally -divorced from his first wife, and therefore would never -be free to take a second; that he would never be reconciled -to her, and therefore never have another child; -that his lordship was in a very bad way and could not -long hold the barony of Killcrichtoun; and, finally, that -little Lenny would be the future Baron of Killcrichtoun, -unless he should very soon die, or—<em>disappear</em>; and, -finally, that little Lenny was not inclined to die to please -anybody!</p> - -<p class='c012'>But there was that other alternative:—he might <em>disappear</em>—he -might disappear as children had often done before -now, he might disappear forever.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I know not at what precise time this last alternative -presented itself to the poor gentleman’s mind. But it -would not be banished, it clung to him, it tempted him, -it nearly crazed him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He prowled about Trafalgar square, and waylaid little -Lenny and his nurse, and informed himself as to the -child’s haunts and habits.</p> - -<p class='c012'>If Pina never spoke of this “poor white herring,” as -she disrespectfully called him, it was because he was only -one of several persons who, passing daily at the hours -the nurse would be out with the child, would stop to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>notice him, to smile on him, or—when time permitted—to -talk to him, being charmed by his infantile beauty, -intelligence, and graciousness. And, even if the nurse -had told the mother of this stranger’s seeming partiality -for the child, the information would not have surprised -her, for to Drusilla it seemed inevitable that every one -who saw her peerless boy must be charmed and delighted -with his beauty and brightness.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So unsuspected and unrestricted, Everage contrived to -see a great deal of little Lenny—a great deal more than -even his father saw of him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Alexander was entirely ignorant of these interviews, -for Pina did not love little Lenny’s father well -enough to gossip with him on that or any other subject, -or indeed to open her mouth to him with one unnecessary -word.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the poor gentleman, for his part, took good care -never to approach the child while his father happened to -be near him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In fact, of late days, Clarence Everage had seen but -little of Lord Killcrichtoun. From some latent sense of -honor or sting of conscience, the poor gentleman had -kept out of the way of the wealthy baron. Since Everage -had been speculating on the chances of the child’s death -or the practicability of his “disappearance,” he could not -bring himself to look that child’s father in the face, much -less to eat or drink with him, as had for a time been his -frequent custom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Everage brooded over the possibility of little Lenny’s -“disappearance,” as he called it, until, as I said, it -tempted, blinded, crazed him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The vague dream “<em>disappearance</em>” began to shape itself -into the very distinct idea, “<span class='fss'>ABDUCTION</span>.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Children had been abducted before now, for less reason -and with more difficulty than could be the case with this -child; for how great a reason, almost how just a cause, -he said to himself, had he for abducting Leonard Lyon; -and how easily, in the child’s unguarded walks, might he -be snatched up and carried off; and how completely in -crowded London might he be concealed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The idea grew and formed itself into a purpose.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXX.<br> <span class='large'>THE ABDUCTION.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>In a jumbled heap of murky building.—<span class='sc'>Keats.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>There was at this time a wretched old hag who, summer -and winter, rain and shine, sat under the shadow of -St. Mary’s le Strand begging—but not audibly, for to -have done so would have broken the municipal laws, and -to have drawn the police upon her and consigned her to -the work-house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the contrary, she was ostensively peddling in a -small way. In her talon-like hands she held a bundle of -matches, which she silently tendered to every passer-by. -The matches were worthless and were not really intended -for sale, but only for a blind to the police and a cloak for -her begging; and everybody understood this as well as -she did; for though she never opened her lips to ask for -alms, every fluttering rag about her was a tongue, and -every look a voice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So occasionally a passer-by would drop a half-penny in -the hand that offered the matches and then go on his -way.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the great stream of people pouring through that -crowded thoroughfare usually passed without noticing -her, for the frequency of such sights, and of much worse -sights of misery, in the London streets, and the utter impossibility -of relieving them all, hardens the hearts of the -people.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But the poor pity the poor. And our poor gentleman, -passing the poor beggar twice every day, pitied her—pitied -her, even though she had once picked his pocket of -his coarse white linen handkerchief, and he knew the fact -beyond a doubt. And almost every day, in passing, he -gave her a half-penny; and once a quarter, when he got -paid off, he gave her a sixpence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But in all the years in which she had sat there, and in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>which he had passed twice a day in going and returning -to and from his employment, he had never happened to -see any one else give her anything.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course he knew that she must make something by -sitting there or she would not stay; but it was so very -little and so very seldom, that he never knew it from -personal observation. And from all this he concluded -that she was deadly poor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He often wondered where she lived, how she slept, -what she ate, with whom she kept company, and who -were her kinsfolks, if she had any.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That she consorted with the lowest thieves and vagrants, -with the most desperate men and women ready -for any crime, he felt morally certain. Had she not -picked the pocket of her benefactor?</p> - -<p class='c012'>But, still he pitied her and almost justified her; for he -knew what poverty and its bitter temptations were, and -besides, while his charity was large his moral sense was -not very clear; and, poor as he was, he would have lost -every pocket-handkerchief he possessed before he would -have prosecuted this miserable old woman, or even withheld -from her the tri-weekly half-penny or the quarterly -sixpence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, when the vague idea of “<em>disappearance</em>” shaped -itself into the distinct thought of <span class='fss'>ABDUCTION</span>, and the -thought grew into a purpose, and the purpose strengthened -into resolution, he remembered the old woman -under St. Mary’s le Strand, and believed that he could -make her subservient to his use.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One rainy day he went out at noon for the usual recess. -It was a day and an hour when there were comparatively -few passengers in the street. He went in search of the -old woman whom he found in her accustomed place, but -backed up close against the wall to secure some partial -shelter from the pelting rain.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Have you no umbrella—not even an old wreck of -one?” were the first words addressed to her by Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Umberrelly? Bless the dear gentleman, I never had -a umberrelly in my life! How should the likes of me -have a umberrelly? They bees for the rich people, honey.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But your knees are getting quite wet,” said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so they is, dear gentleman, and I shall get the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>rheumatiz as sure as sure!” said the woman, taking the -cue and beginning to whine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I shouldn’t be surprised if you did. Why do you sit -out here in this weather?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good gentleman, hadn’t I better sit here and sell my -matches than stay at home and starve?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Sell your matches? Why, that’s the identical box of -matches you have had to sell for Heaven knows how -long, and you haven’t sold it yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is true; but, dear gentleman, I might sell them -to-day—I might sell them any time! There is no telling -when a stroke of luck might fall.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage knew she was speaking deceitfully; but he not -only found excuses for her, but he found in her words an -opening for his proposition.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” said he, “you are quite right. There is no telling -when a streak of luck may fall—even this very day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It has come this very day, good gentleman. Sure the -sight of your handsome face is always lucky; and it is -worth while to come out and sit in the rain for the chance -of seeing it, if one should get no other good.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The sight of my face may be lucky to others; but the -luck is only skin deep; it never strikes in to do the owner -any good,” laughed Everage, as he dropped a sixpence in -the hag’s hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! thanky, sir! Sure you’re the great binifactor of -the poor! May the Lord——” and here she began a -great string of blessings to which a bishop’s benediction -would seem a trifle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That will do. Now tell me your name. You see as -long as I have known you I have never heard it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Rooter, sir; Margaret Rooter, at your honor’s service; -born in lawful wedlock of honest parients, your worship, -and christened in this very same church as you see before -you, Sim-Merrily-Strand,<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c017'><sup>[1]</sup></a> sir, as ever was.”</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c012'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. St. Mary’s le Strand.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Mother Rooter,” said the poor gentleman, dropping -his voice to a low tone, “would you do a service for -me, if it should be to your own advantage?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is it would I do a service for your honor’s worship?” -said the woman, gazing on the coin in her hand and -chuckling, for she readily divined that the required service -<span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>was an unlawful one, which must be paid for handsomely -“on the nail,” and ever afterwards in the shape of -of blackmail. “And is it Margaret Rooter as you ask -will she do that service for her binnyfactor, as he has -kept her from starving this many a day? Aye, will I, -even if it is to the setting on fire of Northumberland -House, or Sim-Merrily-Strand itself. Marry come up indeed! -What has Northumberland House, or Sim-Merrily-Strand -either, ever done for the likes of me, that I should -prefer them before your honor’s worship, whose bounty -have given me many a half ounce of tea and handful of -coal? Sim-Merrily-Strand indeed!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I have no grudge against the church, or the -palace either, and wish them no harm, but all good. The -service I require of you is of another sort, but almost -equally dangerous and needing——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I don’t care a pen’orth of gin what it needs, nor what -it don’t, no, nor yet for the danger, so as it ain’t killing -and hanging matter. I never could pluck up courage to -take a life or to risk the gallows. But as for the rest—look -here, your honor! what has the likes of a poor creature -like me to be afraid of in this world? Is it the -police? Is it the judge? Is it the jail? Lord love -your honor, the police treat me better nor my own -brothers, for they never punch my head, nor give me -black eyes! and the judge is a gentleman compared to -my landlord, for he never turned me out into the street, -as every one of them is sure to do sooner or later. And -as for the prison, it is a perfect queen’s palace, compared -to the leaky, crowded, filthy garret where I stop. Your -honor must know I have been in both and know the -differ! So as I was taking the liberty to tell your honor, -if the service is anything less than a hanging matter, I’m -your woman.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Speak lower when you do speak; but do not speak at -all when people are passing by,” said Everage, in a very -low tone, as some street passengers hurried along.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There, your honor, they have gone now. Now about -this service, your honor?” said the old woman, impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, it is no hanging matter, nor anything of the sort -But it is a secret service for all that,” replied Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>“A secret service, your honor’s worship! Ah, that is -what my heart delights in! Ah, then, I have done more -than one secret service for gentlemen of the highest rank! -aye, and for ladies too, bless them! and got well paid for -them besides! enough money to have kept me in clover -all my life, only it always got stole from me by the -wretches in the house.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, you must take better care of the money which -I shall pay you. But what was the nature of these secret -services of which you speak.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, your honor’s worship, if I were to tell you that -they wouldn’t be a secret any longer, and neither would -you trust such an old blabber as me with <em>your</em> secrets,” -said the old woman, leering wickedly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is so,” said Everage; “and, besides, this is no -place for carrying on a private conversation. Here comes -another group of people quite close.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The group came and passed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, then, Mother Rooter, tell me where you live, if -you have no objection, and whether I can find you at home -if I come to you this evening, so that we may arrange -this affair,” said Everage, as soon as the coast was again -clear.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is it where I live your honor asks me? That’s a -good ’un! Do you call it living? this life I lead. No, -your honor, it is not living, it is lingering.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where, then, do you linger?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, then, sir, I draws my breath and stretches my -bones in the back attic of No. 9 Blood Alley, Burke -Lane, Black Street, Blackfriars Road. All B’s, your -honor. You can remember it by that. The house is -Number Nine. They keep a bone and grease shop in the -cellar, and rags and bottles on the first floor, and all the -rest of the house is let to lodgers, all poor, but I -the poorest, your worship.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And shall I come to you there?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If your worship will do me the honor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But the house, which seems from your description to -be a tenement house of the worst order——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Aye, you may say that, your worship,” interrupted -the old woman; “but what is a poor body to do?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I was about to observe that the house would be full, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>crowded, so much so that perhaps even your own back -attic has other tenants.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so it has, your honor’s worship.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In which case I do not see how I am to have an opportunity -of speaking to you in private there more than -here.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, dear gentleman, if you come at nine o’clock, you’ll -catch me alone. Sure they’ll all be out then on their -tramps, and they won’t be in much before morning. And -sure your honor’s worship might even trust them, seeing -as they’re all my own family, and would be fast as -fast and safe as safe in any secret service as I might undertake. -And your honor knows best whether you -mightn’t want their aid too, in sommut where they might -be of use. I don’t know yet what your service is, your -honor. You haven’t told me yet. But I know I am an ole -’oman, your honor’s worship, and might want help, in -case the service might require strength, like the breaking -into a house and the bringing off of a dockerment or a -young lady.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is none of these things, as you might have judged, -else I should not have come. Yet it is akin to one supposition -that you have advanced; and you really may -want help. Who are the people that share your attic -room and your confidence? But, hush! here come some -of the other passengers; wait till they have gone.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The two conspirators were silent for a moment, and then, -when they had their corner to themselves again, Everage -repeated his question, and the old woman answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who are they? you ask me, sir. Well, there is, first -of all, my two brothers, as honest, trusty lads——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘As ever scuttled ship, or cut a throat,’” suggested -Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, that they are, sir; and so you’ll find them,” said -the old woman, who did not understand, or, perhaps, did -not distinctly hear the quotation,—“honest and trusty, -and true and good.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Although they knock your head about?” observed -Everage, who had not forgotten that piece of news.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, your worship, that was drink; it wasn’t to say -<em>them</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ay! ‘when the wine’s in the wit’s out,’ I suppose.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>“Just so, your honor; though it’s precious little wine -they gets, poor souls. It’s most in general beer, or, if -they’re in luck, gin.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Aye, to be sure! Well, if they serve me faithfully, -they and you shall be kept in gin the rest of your lives.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, your honor’s worship’s reverence, that would be -heavenly,” exclaimed Mrs. Rooter, with enthusiasm. -“They’ll be true to you, sir—they’ll be true to you till -death do you part, and arterwards, sir! <em>and arterwards</em>; -for I never could see the good of being true till death and -then turning false to you arter you’re dead, or arter they -are.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, to be sure. But about these brothers of yours,—are -they the only persons, or are there any others who -share your attic?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, yes, sir; there’s my grand-darter Meg, as honest -and truthful a gal as ever——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Picked a pocket, or told a falsehood.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir, she don’t, nor she wouldn’t do nyther the one -nor yet the other—not even in the way of business, as -many an honest tradesman do.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But that’s rather hard on the honest tradesman, is it -not?” smiled Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Gurr-r-r!” exclaimed the old woman, grinning and -showing her snags of teeth. “Gurr-r-r! They hunt us -poor creatures away from their shops and stalls, accusing -of us of prowling about to see what we can pick up, when -all they theirselves is a doing of the gentlefolks to no -end! Don’t tell me!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But about this girl? Is she—your granddaughter—and -her uncles, the only inmates of your attic chamber?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, your honor, the onliest ones, and quite to be -depended on.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well, then, I will look in at your place at nine -o’clock this evening.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And much good may it do your honor and us, too. -The Lord bless you, sir. But mind and don’t forget, your -honor’s reverence, the four B’s and Number Nine.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will not forget. I have it down in my note-book.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then, as another bevy of foot-passengers came hurrying -along the sidewalk, Everage left the crone and -went on his way.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>At a few minutes past eight, Clarence Everage found -himself prowling down Blackfriars’ Road in search of a -street that I have called Black street; but which, in fact, -is very unfavorably known to the police under another -name.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He found it at length; and looking down its cavernous -mouth, he thought of Doré’s picture of the entrance to the -infernal regions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He shuddered as he turned into Black street, and followed -its windings down into a labyrinth of dark and -lurid lanes and alleys, from which sunlight and fresh air -must have been almost totally excluded, even at noonday.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here every sense and sentiment was shocked and revolted. -The streets were narrow and murky, muddy and -filthy. The houses were old and shattered, and bent forward -towards each other till the eaves of the roofs almost -met overhead, shutting out much of the light and the air -that might have visited the accursed place. The sides of -the houses were disfigured by broken and stained window -sashes filled up with old rags and hats, and by foul and -dilapidated doorways, occupied, for the most part, by rum-stupefied -men and women, and by neglected and drowsy -children. Those groups were generally in semi-obscurity -but here and there a street lamp from without, or a dim -candle from within, lighted up their misery.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Heavens and earth!” thought Everage, holding his -handkerchief to his mouth and nose as he threaded his way -through the mazes of this Gehenna in search of Blood -Alley and Burke Lane, “these must be the waste pipes of -all London’s crime, disease and miseries; and yes, by my -life, this is the sink!” he added, stopping in the very -center of the labyrinth before Number Nine.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The house was taller, older, dirtier, and more dilapidated -than any he had yet seen. It leaned forward as if ambitious -of meeting and saluting its leaning opposite neighbor, -and it looked as if it were in danger of toppling down in -the attempt.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Here also the doorway was foul and broken, and crowded -with drunken and dirty men and women.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage inquired of this group if this was Number -Nine, and if Mother Rooter lived here.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They stared at him for a minute without replying, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>then all burst out laughing, while one woman called to -some one within the passage:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hallo, Meg, come here! Here’s a gentleman a-wanting -of Mistress Rooter. He have come with the queen’s -compliments to her.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>A brown-skinned, black-haired, bare-legged gipsy of -about fourteen years old came out of the obscurity, and -accosted Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Be thou the gentleman as grannam was a-looking -for?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If your grandam is Mrs. Rooter,—yes,” answered -Everage scrutinizing the girl, and recognizing her from -the description given by the crone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come along then,” said Meg, leading the way through -passages and up staircases more foul and nauseating to -sight and smell than even the middle of the streets had -been—for the streets do sometimes get washed off by -rain, whereas these tenement-house passages seem never -to have that advantage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage followed his guide up four flights of stairs, noticing, -as he passed along the halls of each floor, through -the open or half-open doors, heart-sickening and revolting -sights of vice and misery within the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At the top of the last flight of stairs himself and his -young guide reached the attic landing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She beckoned and led him to a door, which she opened.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He followed her into a back room, with a low, sloping -ceiling. It was wretchedly furnished, or rather bare of -furniture,—a bed which was a mere heap of foul rags, a -shaky little wooden table, a rickety chair, a rusty iron -kettle, and a cracked tea-cup and saucer were the only -means and appliances of comfort or necessity there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The only person in the room was old Mother Rooter, -who was squatted on the only chair, with her elbows on -her knees and her head in her hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She got up to meet her visitor, and gave him her chair, -saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are very welcome to my poor place, kind gentleman. -Sit down, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And she seated herself on the side of the bed, that he -might not hesitate to take the chair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He looked at the proffered seat, and took from his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>pocket a newspaper, and spread over the bottom of the -chair before sitting down on it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, sir, I see—you gentlefolks blame us a deal for being -dirty, but how can we help it? We can’t get bread -enough to eat; and where are we to get the extra penny -to buy a bit of soap to wash ourselves and our houses, or -the horn-comb to red up our hair, not to say the sixpence -to buy a broom. Ah, sir, you gentlefolks should know -what you are a-talking on before you blame us, poor -creatures, for dirt.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am not blaming you,” said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then, to change the subject, he remarked:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You are very high up here; you are high up in the -world in one sense, if you are not in another.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ah, yes, sir! but what am I to do? The garret or -the cellar is the choice us poor creatures has to make. -All the house between them is too dear for the likes of -us. And be the same token, there’s little to choose atween -them. It’s hard on an ole ’oman like me to live -up here; and when, of an evening, I’m a-panting up all -these stairs,—sir, there’s ninety on ’em,—steps, I mean—I -know it to my sorrow, for I have counted on ’em often, -as I panted up ’em, and stopped on every landing to catch -my breath,—well, sir, I often think it would be better to -live in a cellar. But then, I thinks, as once I <em>did</em> live in -a cellar and catch the rheumatism by it. So on the -whole, I says to myself, it is better to climb and to pant -nor to lie flat on my back and groan.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And your choice was a very wise one. But listen: -if you are faithful to me in the service you have undertaken -to perform, you shall live in a first-floor front of -any such a house as this, until I shall be better able to -provide for you—which I certainly shall be, if you should -be successful and faithful.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bless your honor! I will be faithful as faithful. But -you haven’t told me yet what the service is agoing to be.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I came here to-night to tell you, and I will tell you -now—but, is the coast clear?” anxiously inquired Everage, -looking around and seeing that the girl, Meg, at least -had disappeared, and that himself and the crone were -alone or seemed to be so.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” answered Mrs. Rooter, “the coast is clear. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>My brothers have not left the house though, because I -hinted to ’em as they might light upon a job.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where are they, then?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Up on the leads. I sent them there to wait your -honor’s pleasure. And there they shall stay till your -honor bids me call them down. If so be you would -rather trust the business to me alone, I will, if I can, do -it alone and they shall never know anything of it; but -if your honor chooses to trust ’em, which I make bold -to say—they are just trusty as trusty—why I’ll go call -them.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go and call them—I will take a look at them, at all -events,” said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The beldam went out into the passage, and climbed a -ladder leading to the open trap-door of the roof, and summoned -her brothers; and presently their heavy steps -came lumbering down the ladder; and she brought them -into the presence of Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They were two ill-looking fellows enough, somewhere -between forty and fifty years of age.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The elder was tall, sallow, black-haired and black-eyed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The younger was short and thick-set, with broad -shoulders, bull neck and bullet head covered with a thick -shock of red hair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Both men were in rags.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They came and stood before Everage and pulled their -forelocks by way of salutation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my men, are you to be trusted in a service the -faithful performance of which will accrue to your own -profit?” inquired Everage, as he scanned his “tools.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now the only ideas the ruffians gained from this speech -was that there were secret services required, for which -money was to be paid. So one of them, the dark one, replied:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What we undertakes to do, your honor, that we does -faithful. But it depends on what the service is, and how -it pays, whether we undertakes it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But if we undertakes it, we performs it faithful,” -added the other, the red one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then, Mother Rooter, secure the door; and now all -gather around me. You two men, and you, mother, sit -<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>upon the bedside, and bend close to me as I sit upon the -chair before you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The three arranged themselves as their employer -directed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he, stooping towards them, and they towards him, -so that all their mischief-brewing heads were together, -began in a low whisper to unfold his plans. He came immediately -to the point.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is a child to be carried off,” he said, and then -waited for the effect of his words. He saw that they were -rather stunning even to these reckless villains.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A child to be carried off, your honor! that’s not over -easy nor yet over safe,” said the dark ruffian.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Nor are you ever paid handsomely for jobs that are -over easy and over safe! But I can tell you one thing—it -is not over difficult nor over dangerous.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is it from a house, your honor?” inquired the dark -ruffian.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, from the streets.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Carry off a child from the crowded streets of London, -your honor? That seems to be impossible,” put in the -red ruffian.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hold your tongue, Roger,” said his black brother.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, don’t go quarrel before the gentleman! Manners -is manners. If so be, you’re decent men, behave as -sich!” put in the crone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I only said it was impossible to carry off a child from -the streets of London; and I’ll not deceive the gentleman. -I’ll stick to it, as it is,” persisted Red Roger, who was -called thus by his “pals.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You will find that it is very easy. I have studied it -out and matured a plan that must be perfectly successful.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Let us hear it, your honor,” said the black one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, listen,” whispered Everage, in a very low voice. -“This child is about two years and a half old. He is the -child of foreign parents who know not much of English -life. He is sent out with his nurse, a black girl who -wears a plaid turban instead of a bonnet; you may know -her by that. He is sent out with this girl morning and -evening of every fair day. She is a fool, and she takes him -about Trafalgar square and up and down the street, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>to St. Mary le Strand and along Fleet Street. And they -stop and gaze in the shop windows, and stand with the -crowd around every organ-grinder and monkey, and especially -around every Punch and Judy. This is my plan. -I will take an opportunity to point out the nurse and -child to Mother Rooter. She can afterwards point them -out to you. Once having seen them, you cannot possibly -mistake them. Are you attending to me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“With all our ears, sir,” answered the black villain, -while the red one nodded emphatically.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then listen! when you have once seen this nurse and -child, you must watch for them, and arrange something -like this manœuvre between you: One must be the abductor, -the other must be the assistant. The one who is -to carry off the child must have in his pocket a bottle of -chloroform. Do you know what that is?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t we, sir? It has saved the slitting of many a -windpipe!” chuckled the red wretch.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well. Let the one who is to carry off the child -take a bottle of chloroform, which I will provide; also a -dark shawl. Then watch until you see the child and nurse -standing in some crowd around a street show. Then, the -abductor must keep very near the child, having the shawl -and the chloroform at hand. The assistant may then go -farther up or down the street and at the right moment -raise the hue and cry of ‘Stop thief!’ and lead the chase -up or down the street towards the crowd in which the -child stands. Then let him who is to carry off the child -uncork his chloroform and have it ready, snatch up the -child, throw the shawl quickly over his head, and run -with the rest, shouting ‘Stop thief!’ at the top of his -voice; but all the time letting the fumes of the chloroform -escape within the folds of the shawl, so as to overpower -the child and render him incapable of struggling or calling -out.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it might kill the baby, and that would be murder -and we don’t want nothink to do with sich at no price,” -objected the black scamp.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you think, Bill, as the gentleman would ax us to -do murder? I don’t. True, there might be a accident -from chloroform, as there often bees to the ’ospitals, but -that wouldn’t be murder,” said Red Roger.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>“You’d find as the jury would bring it in murder,” -answered Black Bill.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is no sort of danger. I will only put enough of -the stuff in the bottle to quiet the child, and not enough -even to make him insensible. Besides am I not as responsible -for the thing as you are?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, your honor knows best!” said the black scamp.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now let me go on. As soon as the child is quiet, -leave the rushing crowd that your brother is still leading -with his cry of ‘stop thief;’ leave it leisurely, and take -the nearest cut for Blackfriars’ Road and your mother’s, -no, sister’s room, here. Here you may conceal him until -I can take him off your hands. Do you understand this?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, your honor. But now, how about the pay?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You shall have five pounds each down, as soon as I see -the child in your hands. You shall have all the jewelry -that you find on his person, which, as I have seen pearls -and turquoise among them, may amount to as much more, -or twice as much more. And finally, when I shall reap -the advantage that I expect from this child’s disappearance, -you shall have a comfortable income from me for -the rest of your lives.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The men wrangled and haggled with their employer -for a higher price for their crime, and after much dispute -obtained their own terms—ten pounds each down and a -crown a week for keeping the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After this, Everage left the house, promising to see -Mother Rooter at her stall the next day and every day, -until he should have a chance of pointing out the boy and -nurse to her, that she might afterwards show them to her -brothers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage kept his word, and the next morning stopped -on his way to his school, to leave a bottle of chloroform -on Mother Rooter’s stand, and to watch for the possible -appearance of little Lenny and his nurse, on their morning -walk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The demon helped Everage to wonderful luck, for presently -came Pina leading little Lenny, by the hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They passed quite close to where the crone squatted -and Everage stood. They seemed to be going up Fleet -street, upon some little shopping errand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage turned his back upon them until they had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>passed and had their backs to him. Then he touched the -beldam and pointed them out to her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There they are. Shall you know them again?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, I’d know ’em among a hundred! That black -gal, with the plaid turban on her head, isn’t easy forgot, -nor yet the beautiful boy, with all that finery about him! -which it’s a world’s wonder I never noticed of ’em before!” -said the beldam.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You would not have noticed them now, perhaps, if I -hadn’t pointed them out.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, maybe not, to be sure. I don’t commonly look -after children and nursemaids.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But you will remember them now, and take the first -opportunity of pointing them out to your brothers.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ll bet you! Beg your honor’s pardon. One or -t’other on ’em will be here morning and evening until I -gets a chance to show ’em. And be the same token, here -comes Bill now.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So he does; well, keep him here till the nurse and -child return; they will have to come back this way; and -then you can point them out to him. And now my time -is up,” said the poor gentleman, looking at his gold repeater, -a family heirloom, the sole relic of better days that -had not yet been dedicated to the necessities of his wife -and children; but was destined soon to be sacrificed to -raise money to pay the instruments of his meditated crime.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage then hurried away to his school duties, leaving -the beldam and her accomplice to carry out his instructions.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As you, of course, already know, the plot was accomplished.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Lenny was carried off in the manner planned by -Everage; and afterwards described by Pina.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was a brave little fellow, and when he saw a great -crowd of people rushing on and crying, “Stop thief;” -and when he felt himself caught up in the arms of a -strange man, and hurried along with the rest, he only -supposed some frolic was afoot, and he laughed and -shouted, “Top Teef!” with all the strength of his baby -lungs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But soon the fumes of the chloroform overpowered him, -and his head dropped on the shoulder of his captor.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>Black Bill, keeping the old shawl over the child, taking -his way through the darkened streets and lanes, at length -bore his prize safely to Number Nine, Blood Alley.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He hurried up-stairs to the attic room and placed the -still unconscious child in the arms of the beldam, who -was there seated in her only chair.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There, Peg! uncover him quick and do some’at to -bring the life back to him,” said Black Bill, a little nervously, -as he himself with eager hands helped to relieve -the boy of the shawl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Meg!” called the crone to her granddaughter, “fetch -a cup of water here. Bill, run and fetch a little rum.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg, who was idling about the place, ran and fetched -a cup of water from the nearest room-neighbor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mother Rooter dipped her fingers in the cup and sprinkled -it in the boy’s face. The air had already half revived -him, and the water completed the work. With a gasp -and a sneeze the little fellow awoke.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They gathered around him, those wretches, like a pack -of wolves around a lamb.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One tore off his pearl and turquoise necklace; another -seized his hat and feather; another his sash; another his -jeweled armlets. What a prize!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXXII.<br> <span class='large'>LITTLE LENNY’S ADVENTURES.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in20'>Oh! ’tis a peerless boy,</div> - <div class='line'>Fearless, ingenuous, courteous, capable:</div> - <div class='line'>He’s all the mother’s, from the top to toe.—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Was little Lenny frightened when he woke up and -found himself in that strange and wretched garret, closely -surrounded by new and terrible faces?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Not at all. Neither by nature nor by training was the -baby-boy a coward. The child of many generations of -heroes had inherited no craven fears; the cherished darling -of the household had been taught none.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In a word, he was a plucky little fellow, afraid of neither -man, beast or devil.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>And there was still another reason why on this occasion -he was not afraid. For if, as it has been written by -the prince of poets, “<em>music</em> hath charms to soothe the -savage breast,” how much more hath beautiful and gracious -childhood?</p> - -<p class='c012'>The wretched men and women, gathered around this -pretty boy, looked on him, not with ferocious faces, but -with smiles; and not with the deceitful smiles whose insincerity -a child will detect more quickly than an adult -can, but real, heartfelt smiles, called up by seeing among -them “something better than they had known.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yes, even while they were wresting from him his little -treasures of finery and jewelry, they did it with an expression -of eagerness rather than of ferocity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And little Lenny gazed on them, turning his blue eyes -from one to another, not in fear, but in wonder and curiosity. -Sometimes he was so much amused by their excitement -that he laughed aloud.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But he was as a little prince, king, or god among these -poor creatures, and he knew it. For when Red Roger -unclasped and snatched his elegant pearl and turquoise -necklace from his neck, he suddenly put out his chubby -hand and snatched it back—so suddenly and unexpectedly -that he actually gained possession of it again before the -slow and lumbering brute could prevent him. And after -he did so he fixed his eyes indignantly upon the thief, -and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Man! how dare you tate ’hings ’out leave?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And it was delicious to see the air of authority and -confidence with which the baby-boy put this question.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And why not? Had he not been permitted to rule -over his mother and cousins, and even over his godfather, -the veteran General, who was the greatest man <em>he</em> knew -in the world? and should he not rule over these poor -creatures? And besides, I think that Master Leonard -Lyon, while inheriting all the graces and virtues of his -ancient house, inherited some of its faults as well, and -among the latter that inordinate pride of caste which is -so very objectionable in this republican age, and that he -looked upon this order of human creatures as rather lower -in the scale of being than well-bred cattle. So, captive -and helpless as he was, he looked around upon them -<span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>with queerly mixed feelings of wonder, mirth, pity and -disapprobation, but without a particle of fear.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As for the red-haired ruffian, he was so astonished by -the words and actions of the baby-boy, that he could but -open his mouth and eyes and stare. He did not attempt -to recover the necklace; but of course he knew that the -child and his jewels were both in his power all the same.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny, after staring at him for a moment and receiving -no answer to his unanswerable question, turned to the -gipsy-looking girl and asked:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What you name, dirl?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Meg,” answered the girl, smiling kindly on the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met, you tate dis and teep it for Lenny. Me name -Lenny,” he said, handing her the necklace.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg looked up in doubt and fear to the face of her red-haired -relative, and meeting his eye, and seeing him nod -and wink at her, she slipped the necklace into her bosom, -and answered the child, calling herself by the name he -had given her:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, pretty! Met will keep it for Lenny. (Yes, and I -will, too, if I can,”) she added, in a lower tone. But she -probably knew also that the jewels must pass back into -the custody of the red-haired ruffian before the night -should be over.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Lenny’s attention was instantly called away to -another quarter. In fact, he needed to be constantly on -the alert to prevent himself from being stripped and -skinned by the thieves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You ’top, <em>man</em>!” he indignantly exclaimed to Black -Bill, who was stealing the pearl and turquoise armlets -from his sleeve. “Div Lenny back, minute!” he cried, -making a snatch at the jewels.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Black Bill probably felt safe in relinquishing his prizes, -for the time being; for as soon as he restored them to -Lenny, the child passed them over to the appointed keeper -of the jewels, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met, teep dem too for Lenny.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the girl, with a smile, put them also in her bosom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But presently this chosen servant seemed turning traitor -to her little lord, for while his attention was for a moment -called off elsewhere, he felt hands at work upon his -pretty little blue kid gaiters, with their gold buttons.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>“’Top dat, <em>Met</em>! ’Top it! <em>Met</em>! What you pull off my -hoos for? Me not do bed. ’Top it, <em>Met</em>!” he cried, this -time less in anger than in anguish to see such treachery -in a trusted servant.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh! I want ’em so bad! so bad! Won’t you give -’em to me? Won’t Lenny give ’em to Met?” pleaded -the girl, in a wheedling tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You want my hoos?” inquired Lenny, pitifully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, so bad! I have got no shoes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You dot no hoos?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, den, me div you mine. Tate off! tate off! Me -dot more hoos home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The girl took them off. And this must be said in excuse -for her, that she was acting under the orders and -under the eyes of her tyrannical and unscrupulous -uncles.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now put on <em>you</em> feet! Put on! put on!” insisted -Lenny, stooping over and looking at Meg’s sturdy naked -limbs. “But my hoos too ittle for you feet. You feet -so bid,” he added, in astonishment, at the size of Meg’s -“understanding.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Never mind, I can change ’em for a bigger pair,” answered -the girl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Before Lenny could reply again, he was accosted by the -beldam, who held him on her lap and who had got possession -of his elegant little white satin hat, with its plume -of white marabout feathers fastened with a cluster of diamonds.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And may I have this, my pretty, pretty bird?” she -asked, holding it up to view.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You dot no bonnet?” he inquired compassionately.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, my pretty little angel, I’ve got no bonnet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Den you have Lenny hat—Doosa div Lenny more hat. -Put on, put on!” he exclaimed, impatiently seizing his -beautiful and costly cap, and trying to decorate with it -the horrible head of the old hag.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was permitted to complete his purpose, to the -unbounded mirth of the group who all burst into loud -laughter at the ludicrous effect produced.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When this ebullition had somewhat subsided, Lenny -bestowed his sash upon Meg, his tiny pocket-handkerchief -<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>on one man, and his little gloves on another; and -then he said, with an air of relief:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, dat all—Lenny dot no more div! Now Lenny -want do home see Doosa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>He said this with so much confidence, yet with so -much uneasiness and longing that they all pitied him. -The old woman asked:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who is Doosa, my little angel?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa id Doosa—Lenny Doosa—Lenny pretty Mamma -Doosa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“His mother,” said one of the men, in a low voice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then, for a few moments, nobody knew what to -say.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny was the first to speak:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tate me home now see Doosa. Met, I do ’id you—you -tate me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg was confounded for a few moments, and then her -mother-wit came to her aid, and she answered:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But Doosa is coming here herself to take Lenny -home.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa tome here, tate Lenny home?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, and Lenny must be a good boy till Doosa comes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa say so?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, Doosa say so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Den Lenny will—” he said, gaping, and adding:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny so sleepy! me so sleepy!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, then, lay on its old grannam breast, and go to -sleep, my little angel,” said the old woman, gathering him -up to her bosom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no, no! lay on Met lap. Met dit Lenny seep,” -he said, wriggling himself away from the crone, and going -up to Meg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What girl does not doat on little children? What -girl, under these circumstances, would not have met the -baby’s advances with delight?</p> - -<p class='c012'>The poor young daughter of thieves and beggars took -the child up in her arms and looked around for a seat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, then, if you have got to nurse him, I will give -you my chair,” said the old woman, rising and throwing -herself down upon the bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg took the seat and arranged the drowsy child comfortably -on her lap.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>“Wock me! wock me, Met,” said little Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were no rockers on the rickety chair, but Meg -moved her body backwards and forwards, and so gave -the baby the best rocking she could.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now sin’ to me, Met.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg looked perplexed at this request, for a moment, -but soon recovered herself. Fortunately, Mother Goose’s -melodies are the common property of infant humanity, -from the royal palace to the rag-picker’s hut, and Meg -struck up the nursery-classic—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“By, Baby-Bunting!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>She had a very sweet voice, which certainly soothed -the child, for he listened in drowsy delight. He well -understood that he himself was the Baby-Bunting in -question. But when she sang the next line:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Popper’s gone a-hunting.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>He opened his sleepy eyes and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no; me dot no popper!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Never mind; some Baby-Buntings have—”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Mommer’s gone a-milking.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no; Lenny mammer don’t go miltin’! <em>Dane</em> do -miltin’, and <em>Mawy</em>, and <em>Suzy</em>—down home in tountry. -And Lenny do wid ’em too—see milt tow,” he exclaimed, -quite waking up, as the memory of the rural pleasures of -Old Lyon Hall flashed over his mind.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, never mind; some mommers do, you know—”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Sister’s gone a silking.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny ain’t dot no sister—not one,” he said.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Brother’s gone to get a skin</div> - <div class='line'>To wrap my Baby-Bunting in—</div> - <div class='line'>A pretty little rabbit skin,</div> - <div class='line'>To wrap my Baby-Bunting in.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no; Lenny ain’t dot no brudder. <em>Dit</em> do after -yabbits,” said Lenny, very drowsily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He was almost asleep, and the girl continued her chanting: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>but presently as his eyes were about closing, he suddenly -started up:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What does my pretty want?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“When Doosa tomes, wate me up.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, that I will.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dood night, Met!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good night, little angel!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tiss me first, Met; tiss Lenny dood-night, Met!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The girl stooped and kissed the child almost passionately, -and murmured:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Who could hurt him, the darling?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Lenny’s eyelids were weighed down with sleep, -and he was almost gone again, when, once more he called:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met, I fordot to say my p’ayers. Hear me say my -p’ayers, Met!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And heavy with sleep as he was, he slipped off her lap, -knelt down at her knee, and folded his little hands, and -bowed his little head, and opened his baby-mouth, in “the -simplest form of words that infant-lips can try:”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c004'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Now I ’ay me down to s’eep,</div> - <div class='line'>P’ay de Lord my soul to teep;</div> - <div class='line'>If I die before I wate,</div> - <div class='line'>P’ay de Lord my soul to tate.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>This was the little evening prayer that had been taught -him, with much trouble, by his mother.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was uttered now in a place and among people who -had probably never heard a prayer before.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yet, perhaps, no purer orisons from priest or prelate -arose to the throne of the Most High that night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now me done. Now me do s’eep,” said Lenny, drowsily, -climbing up to Meg’s lap and putting his arms around -her neck and nestling his head upon her bosom.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bless the darling!” said the girl, as she gathered him -closer and supported him comfortably.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And again he was almost asleep, when again he started -up and called out again:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is it now, my pretty?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t you fordet to wate me up when mamma Doosa -tomes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>“No, I won’t, my pretty.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now I do s’e p, sure ’nough. Dood night, Met.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good night, little angel.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“More tiss.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She stooped and pressed her lips to his baby lips again.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He opened his drowsy eyes to look at her and say:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny love Met.” And with the words in his mouth -he fell fast asleep.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Meg continued to rock him with a gentle motion -and sing to him in a soothing tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Meanwhile the old woman lay resting on her bed, and -the two men sat drinking at the rickety table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You’d better take them things to Old Israel and get -’em out’n the way in case of accident; and mind what he -gives you for ’em. Them’s rale jewels, if <em>I</em> know anythink -about rale jewels,” said the old woman from her -bed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Which you don’t. Not the least. But them’s rale, -sure enough; because it ain’t possible as a rich lady, rolling -in gold, would go for to put her onliest child into imitation -trash,” said Black Bill.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well then you had better go and make sure on ’em. -There’ll be a hue and cry next.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There is a hue and a cry now, I shouldn’t wonder; -only it won’t come down our way.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, anyhow, why don’t you go and take the things -to the Jew?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Because we must wait here for the gentleman. I -saw him on the Strand arter Bill carried off the child. -He said he was coming to settle to-night,” said Roger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“One of you can stay here to see him and the other -can go and sell the jewels.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not if we know it,” laughed both the brothers, speaking -at once.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We want to stay here together to see the gentleman -and get the money,” said Red Roger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So we can have fair play and diwide it, equal, share -and share alike,” added Black Bill.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And then we wants to go together to Israel’s to sell -the jewels and get the price,” pursued Red Roger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So we can diwide the same fair and equal,” added -Black Bill.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>By this it will seem that there was no “honor among -thieves” in this case. Neither would trust the other.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here he is now,” said Roger as a step was heard upon -the stairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A few moments after, there was a rap at the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Black Bill opened it and admitted Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have got the child?” he eagerly demanded.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But before any one could reply, his eyes fell upon little -Lenny sleeping on the girl Meg’s lap.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, as your honor sees, we’ve got him fast enough,” -answered Roger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage approached the sleeping child and gazed in -his tranquil face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Did he cry much?” he inquired, in a subdued tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Cry?” laughed Black Bill. “‘Cry?’—Lord love -you, sir, no! He thought it was a frolic, and he whooped -‘stop thief’ with the lustiest on ’em till the clooryfum -quieted of him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But when he was brought here?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, he was asleep then.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heaven!” exclaimed Everage, fairly jumping -off his feet with fright, “has he been in that state ever -since?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord bless your honor, no, sir! He woke up bright -as a skylark the minute we flung water in his face.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And <em>then</em> was he frightened? Did he cry for his -mother?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord love you, no, sir! Never see such a plucky little -cove. He scolded us men, and he petted Meg, and he -put his precious little cap on the old woman’s head. -Such a figure it made of her—ha! ha! ha!—ho! ho! ho!” -laughed both brothers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then he was not terrified or distressed?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>He</em> terrified or distressed! You ought to have heard -how he ordered us all around until he got sleepy, and -then he insisted on Meg’s rocking him to sleep. And -she did it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Has he had his supper?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, your honor. He didn’t ask for no supper. Why, -sir, his hands were full of buns when I snatched him up -and run off with him,” said Black Bill.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>“But if he wakes up hungry, what have you got to -give him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, unless the poor woman has a bit of bread and -a lump of cheese, I don’t know as there’s anything else.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I thought so. I must go out and buy him some milk. -Where can I find any hereabouts?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, sir, there’s a shop at the corner of the next -street where they sells it. But, master, how about the -pay?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, you shall have it,” said Everage, taking out his -old portmonnaie and drawing from its interior three ten -pound notes, the price of his valuable jeweled gold watch -and chain, his own seal ring, a costly microscope that had -once been his delight, and other sacred treasures spared -from sacrifice till now.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I promised you ten pounds each, I think. Here they -are.” And he handed a note to each of his confederates.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now,” he said, “I must go and get some milk -for the child.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will go, your worship,” said Roger.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well. I shall thank you. Here is a sixpence,” -said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If your honor pleases, I must buy a mug or summit -to fetch it in.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here is another sixpence. And now make haste. I -want to see the child comfortable before I leave him to-night.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“All right, your honor; I’ll be back in no time,” said -Roger, starting out of the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But—where are you going to lay him?” inquired Everage, -glancing at the old woman’s foul bed with a visible -shudder.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, your honor, it’s all right. He shall sleep with -me,” said the crone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I would rather he should not. Can’t he sleep -with the girl?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But she shares my bed, your honor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Have you no other bedding?” he inquired, glancing -around the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lord love you, sir, where would the likes of us get it? -No, your honor, you see all we have.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where do the men sleep?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>“La, sir, anywheres or nowheres! most in general nowheres! -If so be they happen to be at home a night -they just fling themselves down onto the floor.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well,” sighed the poor gentleman, “I suppose there -in no help for it to-night, and he must sleep as he can, -but to-morrow I must get some clean bedding for his -use. I wish you to take good care of the little fellow -for the few hours or days he will be with you; but I -must get him out of the country as soon as possible.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>With Everage “as soon as possible” meant as soon as -by any means he could raise the money to do so.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you please, sir——” began Meg, in a timid voice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, my girl, what is it?” inquired Everage, turning -and looking at her, and thinking what a fine frank face -was hers, notwithstanding that she was the child and companion -of thieves and outcasts.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If you please, sir, I would not lay him on that bed. -He ain’t hardened to it, and he could not sleep, sir. It is -full of bugs,” said Meg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But what’s to be done? You can’t hold him in your -arms all night.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“’Deed I’d sooner do it, sir, than see him eat up alive. -But please, sir, if so be I might make so bold——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, yes, to be sure. Go on.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>—“The shops is all open yet, sir, and if so be as you -could send out and buy him a little clean blanket—a -coarse one would do—I could make him a pallet in the -corner of the room and cover him over with his own little -mantle,” said Meg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well thought of, my girl. How much will it take to -buy?” required Everage, for his funds were very, -very low.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A crown would do it—maybe less.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Can you do this errand for me, my man?” inquired -Everage, turning to Black Bill.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“If your honor wills; but it will take seven shillings at -the least,” said the ruffian.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage produced the required amount and handed it -ever to the man, who arose and lounged out of the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now I must not forget this,” said Everage, picking -up a bundle he had brought in with him, unrolling it, and -displaying a full suit of baby’s clothing, including the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>night gown, all of the cheapest and plainest material, faded -and patched, but perfectly clean: for it belonged to his own -little two-year-old Clara, and had been privately taken -from his wife’s bureau drawer. “He must not remain in -his fine clothes lest he should be accidentally seen. Put -this night-gown on him to-night, and to-morrow dress him -in this suit; and be sure to hide away or destroy the others. -Do you understand?” he inquired, as he passed the bundle -over to Meg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, please, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The door opened and the two brothers came in together—Black -Bill, with a small, coarse, cradle-blanket on his -arm; and Red Roger, with a mug in his hand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage himself took the purchases from them, and gave -them into the keeping of the girl, whom he trusted more -than all the rest of the gang.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he waited until he saw Meg undress the child and -put it in his clean, patched night-gown, while little Lenny -slept heavily the sleep of fatigue through the whole process.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now, if you will hold him on your knees half a minute, -I’ll spread his pallet,” said the girl, laying the child on the -lap of Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as his pallet was prepared, she took him, still -sleeping, and laid him on it, covering him over with his -own little mantle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you’d better keep the milk handy so as to give it -to him to drink if he should wake hungry or thirsty,” -said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir, I will. I will just fling myself down on the -floor by his pallet, and take care of him, sir,” replied Meg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And you shall not go unrewarded for your care of him,” -said the poor gentleman loftily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then, having given his confederates an extra caution -in regard to the child, and promised, or rather threatened, -to look in the next night, Everage left the house and -bent his steps homeward.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Surely little Lenny’s guardian angel inspired poor Meg -that night. She laid herself down on the bare boards -beside his pallet, and resting her head upon her bent arm, -with her face towards the child, watched him until she -became too drowsy to keep her eyes open; and even then -<span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>she slept like a watch dog, on the alert, and at the slightest -motion of her charge she would wake up to see if he -wanted water, or milk, or to spread the mantle over him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Lenny slept soundly until morning.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At his usual time of waking, a little after sunrise, he -opened his eyes. At first he stared around himself in -utter bewilderment. Then he saw Meg bending over him, -and he recognized her face, and he remembered the incidents -of the preceding night.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why didn’t you, Met?” he inquired, looking reproachfully -in her face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why didn’t I do what, my pretty?” smiled the girl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Wate me up when Doosa tomed.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But Doosa didn’t come, my pretty bird.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa didn’t tome?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, pretty.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But Doosa say she tome.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“So she did; but then she said she couldn’t, and now -she says she will come to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tome to-day?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tome soon?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny smiled, and then all out of season, he remembered -a certain matutinal formula that he had forgotten under -his unusual circumstances, and he suddenly said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dood mornin’, Met!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg, taken all aback by this unexpected salutation, -did not respond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dood mornin’, Met. Why don’t you say dood mornin’ -to me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good morning, pretty bird.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Me not pretty bird—me ’ittle boy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good morning, little boy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tiss dood mornin’, Met.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The girl caught him up in her arms and kissed him -enthusiastically.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To her dark and gloomy life he had come like some -beautiful, brilliant bird of Heaven, and she prized him -and delighted in him. It was something of the same sort -of natural passion that a child feels for its first wonderful -wax doll, or its first beautiful live pet, only it was much -<span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>more intense, inasmuch as this was a living, loving talking -doll—a beautiful, intelligent human pet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so she kissed him, and hugged him, and shook -him, and danced him, and prattled to him, and called him -all the sweet names that, on such cases, spring spontaneously -to the lips of girls and women.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Lenny, in his gracious, genial nature, gave kiss for -kiss, and caress for caress.</p> - -<p class='c012'>I think if poor Drusilla, waking in her agony of -bereavement, that same morning, could have seen, as in a -magic glass, these two friends—the girl and the baby,—she -would have been contented,—no, not that, but she -would have felt comforted.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny love Met,” said the child, patting her cheeks.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And ‘Met’ loves Lenny dearly, dearly, dearly! and -nobody shall hurt him—they shall kill ‘Met’ first!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now, as “hurt” and “kill” were words that had never -been introduced into this cherished baby’s vocabulary, he -did not understand and did not know how to reply; but -he felt that <em>love</em> was meant throughout, and he knew -how to answer <em>that</em>. So he patted Meg’s cheeks and -kissed her lips.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And now as the long-lingering light of day stole into -that wretched attic-chamber, it brought out strange -pictures. The yellow rays of the sun, striking obliquely -through the window in the roof, fell upon the corner -occupied by Meg and Lenny, and lighted up a picturesque -group,—the beautiful, golden-haired, blue-eyed baby-boy, -fair as one of Rafael’s pictured angels, with his rosy -arms clasped around the neck of the wild, dark, gipsyish -girl, who held him on her lap; and their surroundings,—the -poor pallet, the little stone-jug of milk, the bare -boards, and the broken walls. This was the only sunny -scene in the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the shadows were other scenes, best left in darkness,—the -beldam in her foul bed, and the two men sprawling -on the naked floor. All these were dead to all surrounding -life, for they were heavily sleeping off the effects of -the last night’s gin-drinking.</p> - -<p class='c012'>To return to the “sunny” spot occupied by the girl and -the baby. She was still caressing him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Would Lenny like his breakfast now?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>“Yes, Lenny like breakfas’. But go in baf-tub first.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Go—where?” inquired the girl, quite bewildered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“In baf-tub! baf-tub! baf-tub! wash!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, bath-tub! My bonny bird, we have got no bath-tub -here, but ‘Met’ will wash you clean—will she?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, Met wash.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will Lenny be afraid to stay here while ‘Met’ goes to -fetch water?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“’Faid? what ’faid?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You don’t know? Well, I hope you never will.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What ’faid? what ’faid? what ’faid?” peremptorily -demanded this despotic little inquisitor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“’Faid is—bad, naughty,” said Meg, after some little -perplexity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, Lenny not ’faid.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And will Lenny let ‘Met’ go get some water?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And sit here and don’t move until I come?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Away ran the girl, and as quickly as she could borrow -a bucket and fetch the water she returned to the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She washed the child very thoroughly and then dressed -him in the clean suit that had been provided by Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But dese ain’t Lenny tose,” observed the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, Lenny has got no clean clothes here, so Lenny -must wear these,” said the girl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the child trusted her and was content with the -answer.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now Lenny will have his breakfast?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes; and Met have <em>hers</em> too,” answered the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The girl then went to the sleeping men and felt in their -pockets. She knew very well that both had cheated their -employer in the matter of the price of the milk and the -blanket that they had been sent to buy on the previous -night, and so she judged they must have the odd change -they had swindled Everage out of still in their possession.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was right. She found a sixpence in Roger’s pocket -and two shillings in Bill’s. She replaced all the money -except one of the shillings, which she confiscated to the -use of the right owner, as she called little Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Having possessed herself of this fund, she turned to -the child and took him by the hand, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>“Will Lenny take a walk with ‘Met’?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny want bekfas first.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, we are going out to buy milk for breakfast—nice -new milk. Will Lenny go?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Pose Doosa tome?” objected the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But Doosa won’t come before we get back.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, den Lenny go wid Met.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And they walked out together down to the corner of -the alley to the cellar where the milk was sold.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Meg bought new milk and fresh rolls, and a little -cheap white mug and plate, all for nine pence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then she took Lenny back to the attic and gave -him his breakfast clean.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And through all this the beasts in the attic slept on.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXXIII.<br> <span class='large'>LENNY’S EXPERIENCES.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in14'>Oh! strange new world</div> - <div class='line'>That has such people in it!—<span class='sc'>Shakespeare.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The beldam was the first to awake. She looked at the -child and asked if he had slept well, and if he had had -anything to eat, and having received satisfactory answers, -she set about preparing her own breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was her daily custom, in returning home at evening -to pick up and put into her wallet almost any sort of trash -she might find about the streets; not only rags, but -paper, straw, dry leaves, chips, sticks, and so forth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of these she now made just fire enough in the rusty -grate to boil her kettle and make her tea.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then she took from a small bundle a store of crusts -and bones and broken victuals, all of which she arranged -on the end of the rickety table; and so she made her -morning meal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You may have what’s left. And mind you take care -of that child while I’m gone.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And with these orders, given of course to Meg, she put -on her smashed bonnet and took her bundle of matches -and went off to her usual haunts. And she did this, notwithstanding -that she had received ten pounds the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>night before. Such with her was the force of habit, or of -rapacity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After she had gone Meg made a meal of the fragments -she had left, and washed it down with milk, now turned -sour, that had been provided for Lenny on the preceding -evening.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then she cleared the table, and straightened the bed, -and tidied the miserable room as well as she could.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All this time little Lenny was watching her gravely, -and occasionally turning his eyes with solemn curiosity -upon the sleeping men on the floor.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When Meg had got through her housework, even to -the rolling up of little Lenny’s pallet, she came back to -the child and sought to amuse him with the ancient histories -entitled “Red Riding Hood,” “Goody Two Shoes,” -“Cinderella,” “Jack the Giant Killer,” and so forth.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And although of course Lenny had heard these venerable -chronicles a hundred times before—as what child -has not?—he was ready to listen to them a hundred times -more—as what child is not?</p> - -<p class='c012'>But at the end of every story he would ask:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met, why not Doosa tome?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa will be sure to come, my pretty. Now let me -tell you another story.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>—“Tome soon?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, she will come soon. Now let me tell you about -Hop-O’-My-Thumb.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny sighed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Did you ever hear a baby sigh? It is the most pathetic -sound in nature. Fortunately they don’t often sigh; -they generally prefer to scream.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Another story was told; and then a song was sung; -and so with telling stories and singing songs, Meg tried -to comfort and amuse the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But at last he said again:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>Oh</em>, Met! <em>why</em> not Doosa tome? I want see Doosa, -so bad.” And his little lips began to tremble and his -bosom to heave. But he had been taught that it was -naughty to cry so he struggled valiantly to keep from -doing so. But how could he bear hope deferred any better -than his biggers?</p> - -<p class='c012'>His courage at last gave way and he burst out sobbing:</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>“I want to see Doosa! I want to see Doosa! I want -to see Doosa so bad!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg took him up in her arms and began to walk him -up and down the room and sing to him; but his heart-breaking -sobs arose above her song; and at last in despair -she herself burst into tears and dropped down into -her chair and hugged him to her heart, sobbing:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, my pretty, pretty boy, what can Meg do to comfort -you? It was such a sin to take you from your -mother!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>What a germ of a perfect gentleman little Lenny was!</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as he saw that his crying grieved his friend, -he stopped short with a gasp or two, and put his arms -around her neck, and laid his face to hers, and began to -kiss and coax her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Don’t ky, Met; Lenny so sorry mate Met ky! Don’t -ky, Met! Lenny be dood boy—’deed Lenny will. Let -Lenny wipe eye.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he took up the hem of his little frock, and tried to -stretch it up to her eyes to dry her tears.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And she clasped him to her heart in almost hysterical -passion, and kissed him, and shook him, and danced him -until he laughed. And then a sort of tacit, but well understood, -compromise took place between them—that one -would not cry if the other did not, that is if either could -help it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was long past noon when the men woke from their -drunken sleep.</p> - -<p class='c012'>First Red Roger tumbled up from the floor, rubbed his -eyes, stared about him, yawned, and sat down on the side -of the bed to steady himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he got up, and walked across the room to where -Meg sat with the child. He stared at him for a few moments, -while little Lenny met the stare with unquailing -eyes, and Meg trembled lest the ruffian should miss the -shilling from his pocket; and then, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Keep that little fellow close, mind you!” he took -himself off, greatly to Meg’s relief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then Black Bill reared his lofty height from the boards, -tottered on his feet, reeled towards the table, sat down -upon it, for a few moments, to yawn and stretch his limbs, -and then he went away.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>These worthy gentlemen seldom breakfasted at home.</p> - -<p class='c012'>All that day, Meg had a hard time with little Lenny. -The poor girl told all the stories and sung all the songs -she knew, and did her best to comfort and amuse him. -And the baby-boy tried his best to be a little gentleman, -and to keep his promise not to cry; yet every little while, -he would burst into heart-breaking sobs and tears, and -cries, the burden of which was:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I want to see Doosa! I want to see Doosa so much!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length, late in the afternoon, he succumbed to the -influence of excitement, and fell asleep. And then Meg -made his pallet with one hand, while she held him with -the other, and laid him down.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Leaving him asleep, she went out and spent her last -three-pence left of the shilling, and bought him a mug of -milk and a penny-roll for his supper. These she brought -home, and put away. And then she sat down to watch -by the sleeping boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>That evening Everage came in before the return of the -others.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am glad I have found you alone, my girl,” he said. -“I have brought a little money to buy some clean bedding -for the boy, and I think I would rather trust you to -spend it than another. Can you do it?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It doesn’t take much to buy cheap bedding for a baby -and the cheaper you can get this the better, so it is clean. -Here are ten shillings; will that do?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir; and if there’s any over I will keep it to buy -milk for him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Quite right. And now let me look at him,” said Everage, -going up and gazing on the sleeping child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There was a tear resting on little Lenny’s rosy cheeks, -which Everage in his awakening remorse could not endure -to see; so he quickly turned away his head, and he asked -Meg:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Has the child cried much to-day?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh yes, sir; he has cried a great deal indeed for his -mother.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor child! But he will soon forget her, and—he -shall be taken care of. We will get him to the Highlands -<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>after a while, and then he will grow into a sturdy mountaineer,” -said Everage to himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And soon after this he got up and went away.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Later, the two men and the woman came in and drank -themselves drunk, and then flung themselves down to sleep -themselves sober. Little Lenny slept on in his pallet -watched by Meg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So passed the first day of the child’s captivity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On the second and third days the old crone abandoned -her post at St. Mary’s le Strand, and, hoping to make -more by the beautiful boy, dressed him in rags, and telling -him it was all for fun, and promising to take him to -Drusilla, went out to beg with him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But she carefully avoided the haunts where he or she -had been seen, and took to other quarters of the city. On -one of these begging excursions at the Railway Station, -Lenny had recognized Dick and called to him, as has been -related. But the beldam hastily covered the boy’s head -with a ragged shawl, plunged into the crowd and disappeared, -leaving Dick bewildered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>On that night, when she took the child home to the -miserable garret, she found Everage waiting there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage was in a great panic. He told her that posters -were out all over London advertising the loss of the child, -describing his person and dress, and offering a large reward -for his recovery. He assured her that, if the child -were found in their possession, the whole lot of them -would be sent to prison and to penal servitude, and enjoined -them to keep him very closely in the attic until a -favorable opportunity should occur of taking him out of -the country.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He promised them further and greater rewards if they -would faithfully follow his instructions; and having received -their pledge to obey him, he left the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>From this day Lenny was confined to the miserable -attic and taken care of by Meg. She watched him by -night, and tended him by day; she washed, dressed and -fed him; she tried to amuse and console him; she sung -all the songs she knew and told all the tales; and she -wept when he cried, and she smiled when he laughed; -and, though her nature was truthful, she told lots of lies -to little Lenny to account for the non-appearance of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>Doosa, promising every morning that Doosa would certainly -come that day.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Lenny at first believed this; but daily disappointment -at length disturbed his faith. And day by day he -pined and pined, wailing in a tone of despair that nearly -broke Meg’s heart:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no, Doosa not tome. <em>Doosa done away! -Doosa done away!</em>”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXXIV.<br> <span class='large'>THE PEACE-OFFERING.</span></h2> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-b c006'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I give thee all</div> - <div class='line'>I can, no more.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Alexander Lyon arrived in London on the morning -train, and in a pouring rain. He was pale and faint from -his long illness and his fatiguing journey, but he was -sustained by intense mental excitement.</p> - -<p class='c012'>His first thought, on leaving the train, was this:</p> - -<p class='c012'>How should he find his lost child in this boundless -Babylon?</p> - -<p class='c012'>For the advertisement in the Times, of that morning, -had already informed him that the baby-boy was still -missing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Sending on his valet with his luggage to Mivart’s, he -himself got into a cab and drove to the Morley House. -Arrived there, he went into the reading-room to make -inquiries, for the child might have been found, even after -that last advertisement had been sent to the paper.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Has the lost boy been found up to this morning?” he -inquired of the bookkeeper or clerk of the house.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir,—nor ever will be, I fear; but here is Mr. -Hammond—perhaps he can tell you more,” answered that -official.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander turned, and found himself face to face with -Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They had parted in anger the last time they had spoken -together; but now, for different reasons, both forgot that -anger,—Alexander, in his recovered sanity and in his -gratitude for Dick’s services; and Dick himself in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>frankness of his heart and the compassion he felt for the -sick and suffering man. Their hands met, and——</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dick!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alick!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Were the first words they spoke.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Has the child been heard of?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No,” sighed Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come out, and walk with me; I wish to ask you -about it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it is pouring rain, and you have been ill. You -are so still. Let us go into some unoccupied private -parlor and have coffee ordered there. You will need it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Just as you please, Dick.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Hammond beckoned a waiter to show them to a private -room: and, when they had reached it, he ordered breakfast -for two to be brought there.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Now tell me of <em>her</em>. How is she? How does she bear -this heavy sorrow?” inquired Alexander, as soon as the -waiter had left the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Badly enough. She scarcely ever eats or sleeps. She -is wasted to a shadow. She is dying—she will die, unless -the child is restored,” answered Dick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The child shall be restored, if he is above ground!” -said Alick, bringing his fist down heavily upon the table.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick shook his head, and sighed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I tell you he shall. I arose from my death-bed to -seek for him, and find him, and bring him to his mother—and -I will do it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will you go to her and tell her that?” said Dick, -solemnly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I will not. There is too much—too much to be -forgiven me. I will not go near until I can place her -child in her arms. And, Hammond, mind, this is a confidential -interview—do not speak to her of it, or of me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly not, if such is your wish.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Does she pray now as she used to pray in all her -troubles?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She does little else than pray; she does nothing else -but pray and search for her child.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“<em>She</em> search?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, she lives in a cab; has lived so ever since the -child was lost.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>“And does she believe that she will find him?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes. She believes that he is alive, and therefore to be -found. It is her belief in that theory which keeps her -alive through all the agony of suspense. If she thought -he was dead she would die. I am sure of it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Keep up that faith in her heart, Dick. Lead her to -believe also in the restitution of her child as an event that -may occur any day, any hour, as you know it may.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick sighed heavily.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But it may! And it shall! I, too, sinner that I am, -have learned to pray. I pray daily, hourly, that I may -be permitted to find the child and bring it as a peace -offering to my dear, injured wife. And I shall do it. I -feel sure that I shall.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Heaven grant that you may,” sighed Dick; “but -recollect that already everything has been done that experience, -interest, energy, money, skill, can do.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But not all that <em>despair</em> can do! Oh, Dick! I have so -set my heart on finding this child and bringing him to -his mother that I shall surely do it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The Lord send it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And therefore, Dick, I want you to prepare her to -expect the child; or, rather, to believe it probable that he -will soon be found; so that when I do bring him to her -she may not die from a shock of joy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will do as you request, Alick; but I shall have to -act with great discretion in the matter.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly you will, and you can. Does she know -anything about——” Alick hesitated to name the <em>affair of -honor</em> of which he was now so heartily ashamed. “Does -she know anything about——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your illness in Jersey, or its cause?” said Dick, delicately -coming to his help. “Of course not. We were -not going to tell her anything to add to her troubles.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You were right!—But what a heartless wretch she -must think me, to be in town and to show no interest in -the loss of my child!” exclaimed Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick could not help remembering that Drusilla had had -quite cause enough to believe him a “heartless wretch” -without this. But Dick was very good-natured, so he -said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She knows that you were not in town. She went to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>your hotel at once to apprize you of the loss of your -child——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“She did! Drusilla did that!” exclaimed Alexander, -interrupting him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, she did—within an hour after the discovery was -made, and——-”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bless her! bless her!” fervently ejaculated Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>—“She was told that you had left town for Southampton. -I think she received the impression that you had -sailed for America.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am very glad of that. But is it not strange that she -did not see that ill-natured paragraph in the papers referring -to the——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Not at all. The paragraph in question was in but one -day’s issue, and that was the day she was in her greatest -agony about her child; and besides, she never has looked -at paper or book since her heavy loss. She has done -nothing but pray and search, as I said before.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor child! poor child! Dick, tell her nothing of me. -I do not wish that she shall see me, or hear from me, -until I bring her the child. But give my love and thanks -to my uncle, and tell him what I am about. But here -comes the waiter.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Breakfast was brought in and arranged upon the table, -and the friends drew up to it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander ate nothing, but he drank down in quick -succession about six cups of coffee; for “sorrow is dry,” -just as surely as if the drunkards had never said it was, -and made it an excuse for more drinking.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then Alexander got up from the table and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I would like to meet you here every morning about -this hour for a few minutes to compare notes. Would it -be convenient or agreeable?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly—both, Alick. I am entirely at your service. -And God grant you success!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then Alexander took up his hat and gloves, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am going to Police Head-Quarters first.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick laughed lugubriously.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Alick,” he said, “the detective police have been using -their utmost skill to find the lost child. They have been -hard at work for a month.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>“I know it, but they work in a routine; they also have -come to move in a groove. The thieves know the detectives’ -ways by this time and elude them. I shall go about -the business in an original manner. Good-by, Dick. I -thank you earnestly for all your patient forbearance and -goodness to me. Help them to take care of my poor -girl.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly I will. But, Alick! do you take care of -<em>yourself</em>. It is very damp.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Never fear. No one takes cold who has so much else -to think about and do. Well, once more—good-by till -to-morrow, Dick.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And the friends shook hands and parted.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander threw himself into his cab, and drove off to -Scotland Yard.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There he saw the chief of police, and had a long talk -with him. Under the seal of confidence, he explained -something of the circumstances of his marriage, his temporary -estrangement from his wife, who bore his family -name; and of his subsequent accession to the title and -estate of Killcrichtoun—a title which, it appeared, his -wife shrank from sharing until they should be reconciled. -This, he said, he divulged that the chief might understand -why it was that he took so deep an interest, and was willing -to pay so high a reward, and give besides all his own -time and attention for the recovery of the lost child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>These circumstances and all others he deemed necessary -he explained to the chief, who, by the way, had heard it all -before from Dick, although he did not deem it discreet to -interrupt Lord Killcrichtoun’s narrative by telling him -so.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander also made some suggestions as to the best -manner of conducting the further search, that the chief -declared to have been inspired.</p> - -<p class='c012'>After leaving Scotland Yard, Alexander went to his -apartments at Mivart’s, where he found that his valet had -unpacked and arranged his clothes and toilet apparatus, -and had brought up the letters and papers that had accumulated -for him during him absence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He looked over his letters, but found nothing of great -importance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he sent for the clerk of the house and made inquiries -<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>as to who had called on him, or what had happened -concerning him during the last month.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He heard in reply several things in which we are not -interested, and one thing in which we are, rather—namely, -the visit of two ladies, who inquired for him in -connection with the missing child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of course he knew at once that the ladies referred to -must have been Anna and Drusilla, and the child little -Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He made very particular inquiries concerning these -visitors merely because he liked to hear of Drusilla; and -having learned all that the clerk had to tell, he thanked -and dismissed him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>For the next eight days Alexander occupied himself by -carrying into execution all the ingenious plans he had -originated for finding the child; but as none of these -plans succeeded, it is not necessary to detail them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was fated that the father should find the child when -he was not looking for him, but when he was in the act -of performing a piece of disinterested benevolence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And this is how it came about:</p> - -<p class='c012'>Among other better thoughts that had visited Alexander -on his bed of illness were certain reflections in connection -with his distant relative—our poor gentleman. -His mind dwelt much upon the poor usher and his half-famished -family, and he reproved himself for his late -strange, incomprehensible blindness, thoughtlessness and -selfishness in regard to them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A wife and six children to be fed and clothed on sixty -pounds a year! Good Heaven! how could I have been -so preoccupied as not to think of this when I had the -power to help them—I who fling away every day of my -idle and worthless life as much as he gets for his hard -work and usefulness a whole year. I ought to do something -for him. I ought to have done it long ago. But -the question is—what to do? He is as proud as Satan, -and he would not take money.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>After much reflection, Alexander hit upon a plan of -helping the poor gentleman without hurting his pride. -It was a plan that required some considerable sacrifice on -Alexander’s part; and when you hear of it I think you -will say that it was generous, if not magnanimous.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>On Alexander’s arrival in London, and for the first -eight days after that, he had been so occupied with the -search for his child that he had almost forgotten his plans -for the relief of poor Everage; but on this ninth day he -opened his eyes in the morning with these thoughts:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I have been here more than a week, and spent all my -time, energy and ingenuity in the search, and I have not -found my child yet.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then he fell into profound reverie, in the midst of -which some good angel whispered to his spirit:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You have been here eight days, intent only upon finding -your child and taking him to his mother as a peace offering, -and all for your own happiness; and you have not once -thought of the poor gentleman and his famishing family.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, I have not,” said Alexander to himself, “when it -would have required no more than fifteen minutes to have -done it either. I will find time to see poor Everage to-day, -and put him out of his misery.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he kept his word.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He knew exactly where the Newton Institute was situated, -and he knew the hour of the afternoon at which the -boys were dismissed, and at that hour he walked towards -the Institute to meet Everage as the latter should come out -after his pupils. He met first a troop of boys, and afterwards -saw <em>him</em> come creeping along. But oh! how -changed since Alexander had last seen him! He was now -pale, thin, haggard, and somewhat gray. His eyes were -cast down, and his shoulders were bowed, and he crept -along like an old man of eighty.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The truth is that the poor gentleman had mistaken his -vocation—it was not that of a deep-dyed villain; he had no -genius for crime, and moreover, he had no stomach for it; -it did not agree with him; he could not digest it; it made -him ill, and was like to kill him unless he could get it off -his stomach, or—his conscience.</p> - -<p class='c012'>His passions, his poverty, and his temptations had drawn -him on to a deed which, just as soon as it was done, filled -his soul with a corroding remorse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Of all who suffered from the abduction of little Lenny, -Clarence Everage, the abductor, suffered the most. Every -night he was drawn by some irresistible influence to look -upon his little victim.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>He was himself a very loving father, and he had a little -girl of Lenny’s age, who was his favorite child, named -Clara, after himself; and when he saw poor Lenny fading -in the close confinement of that dark, damp attic, and for -the want of sunshine, and weeping and wailing for his -mother, the sinner’s remorse was intensified to agony. He -let his own family suffer that he might bring a few dainties -to little Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The other lodgers in the house, who had never had a -glimpse of the baby-boy, but who knew that a child had -been put to “mind” with Mother Rooter, and who saw -this poor, shabby gentleman come every night to bring it -“goodies,” jumped to the natural conclusion that he was -the father of the boy, whom for some reason or other he -was keeping in concealment; and this supposition shut -out the suspicion that little Lenny was the missing child -whose loss was posted all over London. We who know the -facts easily see the connection between the two sets of -circumstances; but they who did not even suspect them, -could see no such relations.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So deep was the remorse of poor Everage, that it not -only dried up his blood, and wasted his flesh, and bowed -his frame, and blanched his hair, but it drove him to the -desperate determination to take the child and go to police -head-quarters and give himself up as its abductor. And -so fixed was his resolution that he was only waiting for -his wife to get safely over her confinement, which was -daily expected, before he should do this.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In this very frame of mind, and thinking of this very -purpose, he came down the street to where Alexander -was waiting for him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Poor soul!” thought Alick, as he gazed upon him, -“he is ageing very fast. His cares are too much for him. -Or, perhaps, he has been ill, or in some distress even -greater than usual. I ought to have looked after him -long ago. I will do it at once.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And Alick quickened his steps to overtake the poor -gentleman, who, in his deep preoccupation of mind, had -passed without even lifting his eyes from the ground.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander quickly overtook him, and, lightly touching -his arm, said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage?”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>The poor gentleman started, turned around, and, seeing -Alexander, looked aghast, as a criminal might at a constable.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How do you do, Everage? I fear you have been ill,” -said Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage shook in every limb, and said nothing.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You <em>have</em> been ill, that is plain enough! Come—shall -we hail a cab, and go to Véry’s? It is <em>my</em> turn now, you -remember,” said Alick cheerfully.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Everage continued to gaze at him aghast, until at -length he got breath enough to gasp:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Good Heaven, my lord, is it you?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Come, Everage; your nerves are all unstrung, and -you’re shocked to see me looking so like a ghost. Indeed, I -had liked to have been one. But here I am, alive at -least, and likely to get well. Come—shall it be Véry’s?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no—not that!” groaned the poor gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“The green-turtle soup is prime; now shall we go to -that place in the Exchange?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no, Lord Killcrichtoun! I can go nowhere to -eat or to drink with you! I cannot! I cannot! Heaven -have mercy on me! I am a lost soul.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Why, what is the matter with you, Everage?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am ill, ill, ill!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Your nervous system is broken down; life has been -too hard with you, my friend! But come—I have news for -you that will cheer you up! Let us drop into the nearest -tavern, and get a private room, where we may converse -confidentially,—here is the ‘King’s Head’ near, shall we -go there and have something comfortable?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no, no; I told you I would go nowhere to eat or -drink with you, my lord!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Is your digestive apparatus so much out of order as -all that? Well, then, if you don’t go to eat and drink, we -will go to talk. I tell you I have news for you—‘you -will hear of something to your advantage,’ as the mysterious -newspaper paragraphs say.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, well, I will go with you, my lord; and perhaps -I will tell you ‘something to <em>your</em> advantage,’” he muttered, -in a low tone.</p> - -<p class='c012'>So they went to the King’s Head, and Alick called -for a private parlor, where they sat down to talk.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>“Everage,” said Alick, gravely, “I have had a long and -dangerous fit of illness, from which I have scarcely yet -recovered.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Indeed, my lord! I had not heard of it: but, really -now I observe that you do not look well. I am sorry, my -lord.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage, you heard of the affair in which I was engaged? -the——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>The word stuck in his throat; he would not utter it.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage looked puzzled for a moment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You know—the affair in which I was engaged in -Jersey! the——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, certainly, my lord; I heard of the——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And, in courtesy, the poor gentleman paused exactly -where his friend had done.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, Everage, I was severely wounded, and, in the illness -that followed, I came nearer facing my Judge than I -ever expected to do, without hearing my sentence. In the -convalescence that followed, you may believe that I was -brought to very serious reflection. Among other subjects, -I thought of you, Everage, and took myself to task -for not having done so before—nay, now, do not shrink -and turn from me; I mean no such an impertinence as -patronage to you, Everage. I would just as soon venture -to patronize one of the royal princes. But I thought of -a plan for improving the circumstances of your family, -which even you might meet without detriment to your -honest pride.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Heaven! oh, Heaven, have mercy on me!” groaned -the poor gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage, you are exhausted; you really <em>must</em> have -something,” said Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he rang for a waiter, and ordered brandy; which -was quickly brought.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage gulped a small glassful and then said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You thought of me—you thought of me on your sick-bed! -You think of me still in your days of deep affliction! -for you <em>cannot</em> have come to London without learning the -loss of——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage’s voice broke down in sobs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My child? yes; I learned the loss from the newspapers—from -the very first newspapers that fell into my hands -<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>after I was convalescent. I have thought of little else -since my arrival. For the last eight days, I have done -nothing but devise and carry out plans for his recovery. -But, this morning, I remembered you and your affairs, and -reproached myself for forgetting them. So, now——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, about your child,—how <em>can</em> you think of any one -or of anything while he is missing?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Because I cherish a great faith that I shall soon find -him. But about your affairs. I wish to speak of <em>them</em>,” -said Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The poor gentleman waved his hand with a gesture of -resignation and became silent.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage, on that bed of illness and self-examination, -I made many a retrospection of my past life, and many -a resolution for my future one. Among my retrospections -was a review of my motives in going to so much trouble -and expense in establishing my claim to the Barony of -Killcrichtoun, which I really did not want. I believe now -that my only incentives to that action were idleness and -<i><span lang="fr">ennui</span></i>. I had nothing to do; and I was weary of my life. -But having made the discovery of my descent from the -old baron, I took some little interest in tracing back the -lineage; and found some little excitement in following up -the investigation and proving my claim. But as soon as -all that was over and I found myself addressed on all -sides as ‘Lord Killcrichtoun,’ ‘your lordship,’ and ‘my -lord,’—on my soul, Everage, I felt heartily ashamed of -myself and title——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yet it is an ancient and an honorable title,” sighed -the poor gentleman, and he thought—“He values it so -lightly, this proud Virginian, while I—I have staked my -soul upon the bare chance of some day gaining it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, it is an ancient and honorable title; and it would -well become an English heir—it would well become yourself, -Everage! And but for me you would have been the -bearer of it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But for you, my lord, I should never have heard of -my remote connection with it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage, my friend, will you do me the favor to leave -out all reference to that title in speaking to me? To -hear it so applied makes me feel like a fool and that is -a fact. I am a plain Republican gentleman, a little proud -<span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>or perhaps I should say, conceited, on account of my old -State, and still more so in respect of my native country; -but I am not such an ass as to want to be a ‘Lord.’ -Enough of that. What I have said, what I may yet say -of myself will only be to explain my plan for you. Listen. -Everage; I shall not claim your attention very long.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am listening, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I am going to try to be reconciled to my poor wife. -(My illness brought me to my senses on that subject also.) -I am going to try to be reconciled to my wife; and then -we are going to return to our native land. But before I -do either—before I do anything—I shall make over the -Killcrichtoun estate to <em>you</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>At this announcement the poor gentleman sprang to -his feet, as if he had been shot from his chair; then, -sinking back again, he covered his face with his hands -and uttered such deep, heart-rending groans as could only -be wrenched from a bosom wrung by remorse.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage! Everage! my friend, what is the matter? -Good Heavens! how nervous you are! How shattered -your health must be! But you will recover your strength -again when you leave this stifling atmosphere composed -of smoke and fog, and get away to the bracing breezes of -the Highlands!” said Alick, kindly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Too late! too late! too late!” moaned Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Too late? No, it isn’t. You have no fatal malady. -You are only broken down by hard work! You will recover -in the Highlands. Think how your children will -enjoy the freedom and fine air of the mountains. And -you can take them to Killcrichtoun and enter on possession -as soon as you like. The necessary deeds of conveyance -of the land shall be made out as soon as I can get -the slow lawyers to do it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“It is too much! it is too much! Great Heaven! this -is too much to bear! You overwhelm me, my lord!” -groaned Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But why do you say so? Everage! look here! I -really do think that you have more right—a great deal -more right to the estate than I have. You and all your -ancestors were British born. I and my immediate progenitors -were American born. What right had I to come -over here and claim this title and estate? None whatever -<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>in <em>right</em>, whatever I might have had in law. And I -cannot continue to hold it and to transmit it to my son, -unless I expatriate myself and become a British subject. -And I will not do that. Therefore I do not <em>want</em> Killcrichtoun. -A man is not even to be thanked for giving away -what he don’t want. As I said before, I shall make over -the whole of the landed estate to <em>you</em>. I wish to Heaven -I could also give you the title; but that cannot be so -transferred, I believe; so the title must be dropped; for, -of course, I cannot continue to bear it in my own country—it -would make me simply ridiculous. When, however, -you become the owner of Killcrichtoun, although you cannot -be the baron, yet you will have the territorial title, -according to the custom of Scotland. You will be called -‘Killcrichtoun’ or ‘Everage of Killcrichtoun.’ Come, -come! cheer up, man!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Too much! it is too much! too much and too late!” -groaned the poor gentleman, as he sat with his hands -clasped tightly around his head, his bosom heaving and -his eyes streaming with tears.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c007'>CHAPTER XXXV.<br> <span class='large'><span class='fss'>THE PEACE-OFFERING.</span>—<em>Continued.</em></span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>To Alick there seemed something awful in Everage’s -tremendous emotion. He had been a very handsome, fine-looking -man, with that natural air of majesty and grace -which not even the bitterness of poverty and servitude -could take from him; but now he was all broken down.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Deep compassion moved the heart of Alick as he gazed -on him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What is the matter, Everage?” he softly inquired.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Coals of fire! Coals of fire!” answered the conscience-stricken -man. And covering his bowed face with his -hands, ‘he wept bitterly,’ as repentant Peter wept.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander looked on with awe for an instant, and then -turned away his head; he could not bear to see such -abject grief.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length, with an effort, Everage gained a mastery -over his passion and raised his head, and with a look of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>anguish still upon his face, and in a voice still vibrating -with intense emotion, he said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You ask me what is the matter? Remorse is killing -me! Remorse! and now your kindness!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“‘Remorse,’ Everage?” exclaimed Alexander, in consternation.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, remorse! I am a criminal of the darkest dye! I -am not worthy to live!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A criminal!—You!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, I!—a God forsaken criminal.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“God never forsakes the greatest criminal, being penitent. -But you, Everage! I cannot understand! I cannot -believe you to be a criminal,” answered Alexander, unable -to recover from his consternation, and mentally running -over the sins most likely to be committed by a poor -gentleman under the influence of overpowering temptation. -Was it embezzlement? swindling? No, he could -have had no opportunity of dabbling in either of these. -Was it forgery? Yes, it was most likely forgery. The -poor usher had probably, under the pressure of terrible -want, forged his employer’s name to a check, or a note, -or something of the sort, and was now dying of remorse -and shame, and perhaps also of terror. And Alick resolved -to help him, if help were possible.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage,” he asked kindly, “do you wish to confide -in me?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I wish to <span class='fss'>CONFESS</span> to you, since the offense was committed -against you,” groaned the heart-broken man.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Against <em>me</em>?” exclaimed Alexander, in a tone of surprise -that was not without pleasure; for he instantly -thought—“Oh, if he has only forged <em>my</em> name to a cheque -or a note, or anything of the sort, it will be perfectly -easy to save him. It will only be for me to take up the -paper without saying anything about it; or, at worst, to -acknowledge the signature.” Then, speaking softly, he -said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tell me everything, Everage, freely as one sinner -speaking to another; for I, too, have sinned too deeply -to have any sort of right to judge harshly. Speak freely, -Everage.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Still for a moment the poor gentleman remained silent, -he knew that, after having told all, his bosom would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>feel somewhat relieved, yet he could scarcely bring himself -to utter his own shame.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will tell you everything. And the more willingly -because reparation is still in my power.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, Everage, if such reparation should in any way -distress you, it need not be made. Nay, if the confession -itself will distress you, withhold it, my friend. If, as you -say, the offense is against me, you need not tell it; and -believe me, neither you nor any one else shall ever hear -of it,” said Alick, kindly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Every gentle, generous word you speak stabs my -heart like a reproach. I must tell you all. It will shame -me, but it will relieve me to do so. Reparation must -be made; and it will not distress but comfort me to make -it; nay, it will almost do away my guilt. It is a measure -that I had already resolved upon. I was only waiting -for my poor wife to get over her impending <i><span lang="fr">accouchement</span></i> -before carrying it into effect; for in my poor Belle’s -present critical condition, the excitement of a criminal -trial would surely kill her. And thus my little girls -would be bereft of both parents.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage, you talk wildly! If the offense is against -me, it is already condoned. You may reveal it or not as -you please. For myself, I do not see the need of your -doing so.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is because you do not know the nature of my -crime! Lord Killcrichtoun, it was I who caused your child -to be abducted!—There! kill me where I stand if you -like! No one will think of blaming you,” said Everage, -in a broken voice, as he tottered to his feet and stood before -little Lenny’s father.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Alexander gazed at him in amazement and incredulity -for a full minute before he found ideas or words to -reply. Then he exclaimed:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Everage, you are mad to think so! What motive -could you possibly have had for getting possession of my -child? You who have so many of your own? I say you -are mad to think it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No,” said Everage, dropping back in his chair and -covering his face. “No, not mad <em>now</em>: but I was mad -then, when I caused the child to be carried off! I was -mad blind, and Heaven-forsaken!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>“Not Heaven-forsaken, Everage, or you would not -have been brought to this confession. But is this really -true? You caused the child to be carried off? You said -the reparation was still in your power!—<em>that</em> means the -child still lives! Where is he? Is he in London? Is -he in our reach? Is he well?” inquired Alexander -scarcely able to control the violence of his emotions—his -strangely mingled and warring emotions—of astonishment, -indignation, ecstasy and impatience.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, to all your questions,” answered Everage, dropping -his face into his hands.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, good Heaven, what <em>possible</em> motive <em>could</em> you -have had for carrying off my child? You <em>must</em> have -been mad!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I was! I was, my lord! mad and blind and God-forsaken! -I was tempted beyond——”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Stop, Everage! don’t tell me just now. I must see -my boy immediately. Can you take me to him now?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” answered the poor gentleman, in an almost inaudible -voice.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“How far is it?” asked Alexander, with his hand upon -the bell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“About two miles from here,” breathed Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Then we must have a carriage,” observed Alexander, -ringing the bell.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“A cab, immediately!” he said, as the waiter appeared.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now, Everage,” he continued, when they were -left alone together again, “now tell me what could possibly -have caused you to have my child carried off. Do -you know his loss has nearly broken his mother’s heart?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do I <em>not</em> know it? Have I not felt it? felt it day -and night since the devil deluded me into doing this -deed? Lord Killcrichtoun, look at me! See the wreck -remorse has made of me! No sooner had I done this deed -than remorse, like a consuming fire, than which the fires -of Hell cannot be fiercer, entered my heart and burned -my life away to this.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Burned your guilt away, Everage, but not your life.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“This agony of remorse I would not have borne for a -week, but for my wife’s critical condition.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But she must have been very much distressed by the -change in you.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>“She was; but she ascribed it all to overwork in the -school. And I soothed her by saying that after her confinement -I should leave the school. I did not tell her, -<em>for the Old Bailey</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hush, Everage, there will be nothing of that sort. -But you have not yet told me what it was that tempted -you to load thus your conscience.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will tell you all—I will keep nothing back, and then -you can do as you please.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>But, before he could say another word, the waiter -opened the door, and announced the cab that had been -ordered.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander and Everage left the house, Everage tottering -with weakness and scarcely able to walk without the support -of Alexander’s arm, which was readily given him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage gave the order.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Black street, Blackfriars’ Road.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then, with the help of Alexander, entered the cab.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they were both seated and the vehicle was in -motion, Everage commenced the story of little Lenny’s -abduction, and the causes that led to the act.</p> - -<p class='c012'>With a shame-bowed head, in a broken and almost inaudible -voice, he spoke of the bitterness of his poverty and -his servitude; of the love, which was agony, for his beautiful, -pale-faced wife, and lovely, fading little girls; of the -jealousy with which he saw the Killcrichtoun estate, that -might have been his own, and the salvation of his famishing -family, pass away to a foreigner, so wealthy that he -cared nothing for the half-sterile Highland acres; of his -belief that the present baron’s life was so precarious that -in a very short time no one but little Lenny would stand -between himself and the inheritance of Killcrichtoun; and -of the intensity of the temptation that finally maddened -and conquered him, and drew him on to crime; and finally, -again he spoke of the fierce remorse that like the fires of -Tophet devoured his life.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And now,” he concluded, “do with me what you will! -I have nothing to say in my defense, nothing whatever! -You can prosecute me for the abduction. You can send -me to penal servitude for Heaven knows how many -years! It will be just! I only entreat you, in any case, -not to let my innocent family starve!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span>“My poor Everage! I could not look in your face and -see the wreck remorse has made of you, and raise my hand -or voice against you! ‘Penal servitude!’ Your whole -life has been penal servitude! Besides, besides, in my -more favored position, without any of the temptations that -beset you, I myself have been too great a sinner to dare to -be a harsh judge! In your position, Everage, heaven -knows, I might have been tempted to do the same -things!” said Alexander, gravely.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But I never meant to harm the child. I would have -taken the best care of him I could.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I believe you, Everage. And let me find the child -alive and well, and let me have the happiness of laying -him upon his mother’s lap; and then let the whole matter -pass into forgetfulness. It shall not in any way interfere -with my plans for your welfare.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“God bless you, sir!” wept the poor gentleman; “God, -in his great mercy, bless you!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Black street, sir,” said the cabman, pulling up his -horses and waiting further orders.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Turn into it and drive on until you reach Bushe -Lane. It is on the left hand,” answered Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The cabman turned his horses’ heads and drove down -the street for some distance and then pulled up again.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Bushe’s Lane, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Turn into it and go on until you reach Blood Alley. -It is also on the left side,” said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The cabman turned into the dark, unwholesome lane -and drove on for a short distance and then reined up his -horses again.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Blood Alley, sir,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“We must get out here, the alley is too narrow to admit -the passage of the carriage,” said Everage opening the door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And both men stepped down at the entrance of the -foul alley, dark, loathsome and offensive to every material -sense and moral sentiment.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Wait here until we return,” said Everage to the -cabman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The man touched his hat in assent as he thought to himself:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Them two coves be two detectives on the scent of -thieves.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>Everage led the way and Alexander followed him, picking -his steps as well as he could through the fermenting -filth of the alley, and shuddering to think his child was exposed -to such deadly air.</p> - -<p class='c012'>About midway down the alley Everage paused before a -tall, tottering tenement house, occupied by the lowest -caste of thieves and beggars.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Here is the place,” he said, opening the door and entering -the passage-way without either obstruction or even -observation; for at this hour the tenants were out upon -their tramps.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage led the way up several flights of quaking stairs -to the attic floor, which certainly, from its height, had -the advantage of a purer air.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage opened a door immediately in front of the -landing and signed Alexander to enter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick passed the threshold and found himself in a room -with a sloping roof and a skylight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The room was clearer than when he saw it last, for -Meg had been supplied with soap, and had kept it so for -little Lenny’s sake; but it was almost as bare of furniture -as before.</p> - -<p class='c012'>There were but two persons present—a wild-looking, -dark-haired, bare-footed girl walking the floor: and a -child in her arms—a pale, wan baby-boy, with his fair-haired -head dropped heavily upon her shoulder, his violet -eyes closed, and his long fringed eyelids lying down upon -his dead white cheeks. His little clothes were old and -faded and patched, but as clean as hands could make them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As the two men entered the room the girl looked up, -pointed to the sleeping child and signed them to be quiet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>It was too late. Poor little Lenny had become a -nervous and irritable sleeper. The slightest noise would -awaken him. And now the sound of approaching footsteps -startled him from his sleep, and he awoke with a -shiver. His first words were:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa tome, Met?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then looking up and seeing only two men, he dropped -his head upon Meg’s shoulder and wailed forth his disappointment:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa not tome! Doosa not tome! Lenny want see -Doosa! Lenny want to see Doosa so bad!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>“And you shall see Doosa, my darling boy! You shall -see Doosa before the sun goes down. You shall sleep on -your mother’s bosom to-night, little Lenny!” exclaimed -Alexander, in great agitation, as he went to the child and -held out his arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But Lenny turned away and clasped his own arms -around Meg’s neck and renewed his plaintive cry:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I want to see Doosa! I want to see Doosa so bad! I -don’t want anybody esse!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And so you shall see Doosa, my beloved boy. Look -at me, little Lenny! don’t you know me?” coaxed -Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ess, I do! But I want see Doosa!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Look at me, my darling! Come to me! I will take -you to Doosa directly!” pleaded Alexander, holding out -his arms and gazing earnestly in the face of his son.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Now little Lenny had been deceived by fair but false -promises, and his faith was failing. But there was an -earnest truthfulness in the looks and words of the man -that now carried conviction to the heart of the child. His -face lightened, beamed, became transfigured with ecstasy:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You tate me see Doosa? You tate me now?” he joyously -exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my darling, now this moment! Come to me,” -said Alexander, still holding out his arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny bounded into them.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, sir! you will not take him from me! It would -break my heart! he is all I have to love in the world, all -that loves me! I would work my fingers to the bones, I -would for him! Please, sir, don’t take him away!” cried -Meg, lifting the corner of her apron to her eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I must take him to his mother, my girl. She too is -pining for him,” said Alexander, kindly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Lenny, you won’t leave me! You won’t leave -poor Met?” she wept, appealing to the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No! no! no!” said Master Leonard, peremptorily. -“<em>Not</em> leave Met! Met go too! Met go too! Met go too!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, my darling, Met can’t go!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will, I will, I will! Lenny love Met! Lenny not -leave Met. Met go too!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, Met cannot go,” remonstrated the father.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, yes, sir, I can,” sobbed Meg. “If you will take -<span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>him, I can go, if you will let me; and I will be a faithful -servant to him all my life, and never want any wages.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met go too! Met go too!” sang out little Lenny. It -was the chorus of the song.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“But, my girl, how can you go? I would willingly reward -you for the care you must have bestowed upon my -child, who, but for you, might have perished in this horrible -place, but how can I take you away? you have parents -or guardians who must be consulted.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg left off crying, and laughed aloud;</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, sir; little ladies and gentlemen have them things, -not the likes of us! The people I live with ain’t no kin -to me, though I do call the men uncle, and the woman -grannam; I am only their drudge, sir; I am free to go -with the child; if you will let me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met go too! Met go too!” cried the little despot, beginning -now to scream and kick with impatience.</p> - -<p class='c012'>He had not been used to have his will crossed. He had -been accustomed to prompt obedience from his white -slaves.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I see that you are ‘a chip of the old block,’” smiled -Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met go too! Met go too!” screamed the young tyrant, -making his feet fly with such velocity that they looked -like a drove of feet.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meanwhile, Meg, with her apron to her eyes, was sobbing -violently. A scene was certainly impending.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think, sir, if I were you I would take the girl along. -I think well of her. I believe her account of herself to be -true. And I believe it would be a good work to take her -from this haunt of sin and misery—alas! I beg your pardon, -I had forgotten myself, I have no right to preach,” -said the poor penitent, bowing his head.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will take her at your word, Everage; but, good -Heaven, look down at her feet!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Well, they are not cloven!” said the poor gentleman, -with a sad attempt at a pleasantry. “Give her a sovereign -sir, and let her run out and fit herself with a bonnet, and -shawl, and a pair of shoes and stockings. I’ll warrant -she’ll do it all in twenty minutes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I’ll do it in less time, sir; indeed I will, if you’ll only -let me go with little Lenny!”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>“Very well; be quick,” said Alexander, handing over -a sovereign.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, please, sir, give it to me in smaller change. If -the shopkeeper was to see the likes of me with a whole -suvring at a time, they would stop it, and send for the -police,” said Meg.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“That is quite likely,” thought Alick, as he replaced the -offered coin in his purse, and then gave her a half sovereign -in gold, and a half in silver change.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg was as quick as her word. She hurried out, and, -in fifteen minutes hurried in, equipped for her ride. It -was in less time than they supposed she could have effected -her purchases.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then she took Lenny in her arms, and prepared to follow -the two gentlemen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The whole party went down Blood Alley towards its outlet -upon Bushe Lane.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Little Lenny laughed and patted Meg’s cheeks, and prattled -all the way.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Going to see Doosa, Met! Met going to see Doosa -too! Lenny love Met! Lenny not leave Met! Met going -to see Doosa!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they reached Bushe Lane, where the cab was -waiting, the astute cabman, looking around upon the party, -said to himself:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“There—I knew it! They’ve caught one on ’em; and -what a young sinner to be the mother of a child that big!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage put Meg and Lenny into the cab, and then followed -with Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny was still full of joyous babble.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Wide in cawidge, Met! Met wide in cawidge too!” he -kept saying, as he patted her cheeks and kissed her.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They should never be separated,” murmured the poor -gentleman, timidly, as if speaking to himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“They shall not be, if I can help it,” replied Alexander -who had read with approval the letter of recommendation -contained in Meg’s face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>They drove rapidly up Bushe Lane, through Black -street, and up Blackfriars’ road. But little conversation -was carried on until they reached the Strand.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When drawing near to Wellington street, where Everage -lived, he said.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>“But you will not take the child to his mother this -afternoon?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly,” replied Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“What—now, immediately?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Will not the shock be too great?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No; I have heard that she is almost morbid on the -subject, and is constantly looking for the child, and expecting -to find him, or to have him brought home to her. I -also had a sort of conviction that I should have the happiness -of finding him and carrying him as a peace-offering to -his mother. It was a very remarkable presentiment, I -think.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Presentiments when believed in, often fulfil themselves,” -said Everage.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“However that may be, I so firmly believed that I -should find the child, that I instructed his mother’s friends -to encourage her hopes and keep up her expectations of -seeing him, so that when I should bring him to her, she -should not sustain a fatal shock of joy.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>By this time they had reached Wellington street, and -at the request of Everage the cab was drawn up.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The poor gentleman got out.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Give me your hand, Everage,” said Alexander; and -holding it, he added, “I shall see you very soon, and -remember, you are to have that Highland property.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Everage pressed the hand of his magnanimous friend -with a look more eloquent than words, and then turned -and walked rapidly up Wellington street.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Drive on,” said Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where now, sir?” inquired the cabman, touching his -hat.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Morley House, Trafalgar square.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>In a very few minutes the cab drove up to the hotel -and stopped.</p> - -<p class='c012'>One of the servants of the house, seeing Lord Killcrichtoun’s -face at the window, came out to him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Do you know if Mr. Hammond is in the house just -now?” inquired Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, sir; he is in the reading-room.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Take in my card and ask him if he will do me the -favor to come out.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>The waiter vanished, and Dick soon made his appearance -at the cab door.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dick! I have found him!” exclaimed Alick, -pointing to the child.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Little Lenny! Thank God!” cried Dick, jerking open -the door, jumping into the cab, and seizing little Lenny -and seating himself.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, Dit! Dit! Lenny tome home see Doosa! Met -tome too! Lenny wide in tab! Met wide too! Lenny -not leave Met! Lenny love Met!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And so the child prattled on, patting Dick’s cheeks, -and pulling his whiskers, and kissing him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Oh, I am so glad! Where did you find him, Alick? -How was it? Tell me all about it!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Too long a story, Dick. I must take him to his -mother. Can I do so with safety?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I think so. I have constantly encouraged her hopes -of finding the child; and yet perhaps it would be well to -be cautious. I will just step up and prepare her a little. -I will tell her that we have better hopes than ever of -finding her child; and that we have heard from him, and -know where he is; and that he is now on his way to her, -and so forth. But I will not tell her that <em>you</em> are bringing -him. I will leave that delight to yourself.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Thank you, Dick. Make haste, and don’t be gone a -moment longer than necessary.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I will come back as soon as possible,” said Dick as he -disappeared.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“See Doosa! see Doosa!” exclaimed little Lenny impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my boy, you shall see Doosa, Dick has gone to -look for Doosa and tell her,” said Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Dit done look for Doosa?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, my darling.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>So Lenny prattled on.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Dick was gone rather longer than was expected, but at -length he returned.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You can go to her now. I have led her to expect -that a gentleman from Jersey has found the child, and -is on his way home with him, and that he may arrive by -any train now. The news has made her very happy, as -you may judge. And now you may go up to her. She -is alone in her chamber.”</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>“Thanks, Dick! many thanks for your kindness. -Come, Meg,” said Alick, stepping out upon the sidewalk.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Meg followed with little Lenny in her arms.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“You must come and show me her room, Dick,” said -Alick.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Certainly,” replied Hammond.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The whole party entered the house and passed up-stairs.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When they arrived at the door of Drusilla’s chamber, -Alick took little Lenny in his arms and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“I must enter alone. Dick, be so good as to take this -girl to your wife and tell her that she is to be an under -nursemaid or something of the sort. After I have seen -Drusilla we will attend to the girl’s case.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Very well, Alick. Heaven speed you,” said Dick, -beckoning to Meg, who followed him meekly, and moving -towards Anna’s room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Where Met gone? where Met gone?” impatiently -demanded Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met has gone to see Anna,” answered Alexander.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met tome back soon?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, she will come back soon.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Met go see Doosa too?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes, Met go see Doosa too. Now, Lenny, be a good, -<em>quiet</em> boy. We are going to see Doosa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny be good boy den.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“And mind, you must be very, very still. You must -not jump and kick and scream; if you do you will hurt -Doosa,” said Alexander, looking very gravely into the -child’s face.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny be good boy! Lenny not hurt Doosa,” answered -the child with owlet-like solemnity.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Still Alick paused at the door. How many minutes he -paused before he could sufficiently compose himself for -the joyous trial before him. But then he had not yet recovered -from the effects of his wound.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At length, with a prayer in his heart, he opened the -door so softly as not to disturb the inmate of the room.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She was sitting at the window, with her elbow resting -on its sill, and her head bowed upon her hand. How -worn and wan she looked! Her face was scarcely less -white than the snowy robe she wore. Her face was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>turned partly towards the window, and had an anxious, -listening look, as if constantly watching for the coming -of some beloved and long-expected one.</p> - -<p class='c012'>As soon as little Lenny saw his mother, he forgot all -his promises, and sang out with all the strength of his -baby lungs:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Doosa! Doosa! See Lenny tome home!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>She turned her head quickly, screamed, and started up -to meet him; but overwhelmed with emotion, sank back -again into her chair and gasped for breath.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Hush, hush, my boy; see you have hurt Doosa; be -very good now!” whispered Alexander in a tone that -awed the child into silence.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Then he crossed the room, knelt at her feet, and said:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“My wife, I have no word to say for myself. Let our -child plead for me.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And he laid little Lenny on her lap.</p> - -<p class='c012'>No, there was no scene that could he fully reported -here.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Husband and child, both restored to her in an instant! -It is a wonder she had not died then and there! But she -did not even faint. Heaven, that had sustained her -through such long-drawn-out, unutterable sorrows, gave -her strength now to meet the sudden shock of joy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She gently put little Lenny aside for a moment, where -the child, still awed into silence, stood quietly.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She stooped and fell upon her Alick’s neck and clasped -him to her; she wept over him in ecstasy; she kissed -him again and again, sobbing words of the fondest endearment—sacred -words not to be written here.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Lenny looked on in wonder and awe for some time; but -at last his impatience overcame every other emotion, and -he sang out:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Me, too! Me, too! Me, too! ’Top it, Doosa! Tate -Lenny up!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alick, with a face radiant with joy, once more snatched -up the child, and kissed him rapturously, and put him in -his mother’s arms, saying:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Tell him who I am, darling wife! Tell him who I -am!”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Does he not know?” inquired Drusilla, who was -covering her child with caresses.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>“No. I never felt that I had any right to tell him.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny, love, do you know who that gentleman is?” -she asked, looking fondly at the child and then at the -father.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Ess I do! he bring Lenny home to Doosa,” answered -the boy.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Look at him, Lenny. He is your papa.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny’s popper?” inquired the baby looking with -great eyes at the stranger, who had now taken on a new -interest for him.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Yes,” softly answered his mother.</p> - -<p class='c012'>“Lenny dot popper <em>too</em>?”</p> - -<p class='c012'>At this innocent question, in which so much was expressed, -Alexander, again conscience-stricken, turned -away his head to hide the tears that rushed to his eyes.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But for all reply, Drusilla stooped and kissed her child -and handed him back to his father.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The reconciliation was perfect.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Later, they went into the drawing-room, to which Dick -brought Anna and General Lyon all of whom, amid tears -and caresses, offered their earnest congratulations to the -reunited pair; and rejoiced with an exceeding great joy -over the restoration of little Lenny.</p> - -<p class='c012'>But all this was nothing to the frantic delight of -Pina when she heard little Lenny had been found. She -ran to him, she snatched him up, kissed him and hugged -him, and laughed and cried over him to such a degree -that even Master Leonard, who could bear a great deal of -that sort of thing, was obliged to order her to—</p> - -<p class='c012'>“’Top it.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>And then she ceased, and bore him off to dress him in -all his finery for dinner.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Yes, the reconciliation was perfect. And as it very -seldom happens that any human being suffers as Drusilla -had suffered, so, also, it falls to the lot of very few to be -so happy as she was that evening and ever thereafter.</p> - -<p class='c012'>She never learned the true history of little Lenny’s abduction. -She was left to believe in the policeman’s -theory that the child had been stolen by thieves for the -sake of the jewelry on his person. She was told, however, -of Meg’s cherishing care of her baby, and she saw -for herself the strong attachment existing between them; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>and so she appointed Meg under nursemaid, and fitted -her out with a decent wardrobe. As to Meg’s “parents -and guardians,” the thieves of Blood Alley, they were left -to their own conjectures on the subject of her absence, -and they probably came to just conclusions, and being in -possession of their ill-got money, were also probably satisfied.</p> - -<p class='c012'>What else?</p> - -<p class='c012'>Clarence Everage, the sincerely repentant sinner whom -misery had tempted to crime for which nature had never -intended him, and whom conscience had afterwards constrained -to confession and restitution—Clarence Everage, -the poor, proud gentleman, the oppressed public school -drudge—was put in possession of the Highland estate, -and he became Everage of Killcrichtoun.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Alexander advanced the funds to make the house habitable -and the land arable.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In the bracing air of the mountains his fading wife, and -pale little daughters grew rosy and happy, well and -strong. Everage also recovered his health and good -looks, but never regained the raven hues of his hair. -And when his wife or any friend would suggest that it -was perfectly proper so young a man—so prematurely -gray—should dye his hair, he would shake his head with -a melancholy smile and say:</p> - -<p class='c012'>“No, no! I wear my gray locks in memory of a great -temptation and a great fault, that might have been a fatal -one but for the Lord’s goodness.”</p> - -<p class='c012'>No one, not even his wife, knew what he meant. And -no one ventured to ask him. They saw that the matter -was a sacred confidence between himself and his Creator, -with which none might intermeddle.</p> - -<p class='c012'>In truth, nobody ever knew all the circumstances of -little Lenny’s abduction except those immediately concerned -in it. Alexander had been generous in his recovered -happiness, and had spared the name and fame of -the poor gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c012'>The Lyon family, of which little Lenny was the greatest -lion of all, did not immediately return to their own -country. They made the tour of Europe, and worked -hard at it, and so they saw about one trillionth part of -what was worth seeing.</p> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>They were accompanied by the Seymours and by Francis -Tredegar.</p> - -<p class='c012'>At the end of a year they went back to America, and -down into Virginia.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Soon after their arrival several important family events -occurred.</p> - -<p class='c012'>First, Drusilla presented little Lenny with a little sister, -who was named Annette, and who became his especial -delight.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Next, Anna became the mother of a fine boy, to the -direct controverting of the gipsy fortune-teller’s prediction, -which had promised her only girls.</p> - -<p class='c012'>And finally, Nanny Seymour and Francis Tredegar were -married; and the young couple, after a prolonged bridal -tour, took up their abode with Colonel and Mrs. Seymour.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Pina made Jacob inexpressibly happy by accepting the -dusky hand and honest heart of that “gorilla.” Her -place being made vacant by her marriage was well filled -by Meg, now grown to be a pretty civilized-looking young -woman, and promoted to be head of the nursery at Crew -Wood.</p> - -<p class='c012'>When I last heard of these friends of ours, General -Lyon was still living, in the enjoyment of a hale and -happy age, at Old Lyon Hall, surrounded by Anna and -Dick and their children, who made their home with him. -And Hammond Hall was kept in good order by a steward -and a housekeeper. And in the fishing season, the family, -with a party of friends, usually occupy it for a few weeks. -And there, as well as at Old Lyon Hall, they are often -joined by Alexander and Drusilla.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Lyon live chiefly at Crew -Wood, where they spend their days in doing good, and -in rearing their beautiful young family.</p> - -<p class='c012'>Their other country seat, Cedarwood Cottage, is still -in the care of “Mammy” and her “old man.” And every -winter Alick and Drusilla, with their children, go there -to be near Washington in the season. And Mr. and Mrs. -Hammond and General Lyon come to them. The old -General never loses his interest in what is going on at -the capital.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>THE END.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003'> -</div> -<div class='chapter ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div>Good Fiction Worth Reading.</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<p class='c011'>A series of romances containing several of the old favorites in the field -of historical fiction, replete with powerful romances of love and diplomacy -that excel in thrilling and absorbing interest.</p> - -<p class='c012'>A COLONIAL FREE-LANCE. A story of American Colonial Times. By -Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>A book that appeals to Americans as a vivid picture of Revolutionary -scenes. The story is a strong one, a thrilling one. It causes the true -American to flush with excitement, to devour chapter after chapter, until -the eyes smart, and it fairly smokes with patriotism. The love story is a -singularly charming idyl.</p> - -<p class='c012'>THE TOWER OF LONDON. A Historical Romance of the Times of Lady -Jane Grey and Mary Tudor. By Wm. Harrison Ainsworth. Cloth, 12mo. with -four illustrations by George Cruikshank. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>This romance of the “Tower of London” depicts the Tower as palace, -prison and fortress, with many historical associations. The era is the -middle of the sixteenth century.</p> - -<p class='c014'>The story is divided into two parts, one dealing with Lady Jane Grey, -and the other with Mary Tudor as Queen, introducing other notable characters -of the era. Throughout the story holds the interest of the reader -in the midst of intrigue and conspiracy, extending considerably over a -half a century.</p> - -<p class='c012'>IN DEFIANCE OF THE KING. A Romance of the American Revolution. -By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>Mr. Hotchkiss has etched in burning words a story of Yankee bravery, -and true love that thrills from beginning to end, with the spirit of the -Revolution. The heart beats quickly, and we feel ourselves taking a -part in the exciting scenes described. His whole story is so absorbing -that you will sit up far into the night to finish it. As a love romance -it is charming.</p> - -<p class='c012'>GARTHOWEN. A story of a Welsh Homestead. By Allen Raine. Cloth, -12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>“This is a little idyl of humble life and enduring love, laid bare before -us, very real and pure, which in its telling shows us some strong points of -Welsh character—the pride, the hasty temper, the quick dying out of wrath.... We call this a well-written story, interesting alike through its -romance and its glimpses into another life than ours. A delightful and -clever picture of Welsh village life. The result is excellent.”—Detroit Free -Press.</p> - -<p class='c012'>MIFANWY. The story of a Welsh Singer. By Allan Raine. Cloth, -12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>“This is a love story, simple, tender and pretty as one would care to -read. The action throughout is brisk and pleasing; the characters, it is apparent -at once, are as true to life as though the author had known them -all personally. Simple in all its situations, the story is worked up in that -touching and quaint strain which never grows wearisome, no matter how -often the lights and shadows of love are introduced. It rings true, and -does not tax the imagination.”—Boston Herald.</p> - -<p class='c012'>DARNLEY. A Romance of the times of Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey. -By G. P. R. James. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. -Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>In point of publication, “Darnley” is that work by Mr. James which -follows “Richelieu,” and, if rumor can be credited, it was owing to the advice -and insistence of our own Washington Irving that we are indebted -primarily for the story, the young author questioning whether he could -properly paint the difference in the characters of the two great cardinals. -And it is not surprising that James should have hesitated; he had been -eminently successful in giving to the world the portrait of Richelieu as a -man, and by attempting a similar task with Wolsey as the theme, was -much like tempting fortune. Irving insisted that “Darnley” came naturally -in sequence, and this opinion being supported by Sir Walter Scott, -the author set about the work.</p> - -<p class='c014'>As a historical romance “Darnley” is a book that can he taken up -pleasurably again and again, for there is about it that subtle charm which -those who are strangers to the works of G. P. R. James have claimed was -only to be imparted by Dumas.</p> - -<p class='c014'>If there was nothing more about the work to attract especial attention, -the account of the meeting of the kings on the historic “field of the cloth of -gold” would entitle the story to the most favorable consideration of every -reader.</p> - -<p class='c014'>There is really but little pure romance in this story, for the author has -taken care to imagine love passages only between those whom history has -credited with having entertained the tender passion one for another, and -he succeeds in making such lovers as all the world must love.</p> - -<p class='c012'>CAPTAIN BRAND, OF THE SCHOONER CENTIPEDE. By Lieut. -Henry A. Wise, U. S. N. (Harry Gringo). Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations -by J. Watson Davis, Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>The re-publication of this story will please those lovers of sea yarns -who delight in so much of the salty flavor of the ocean as can come through -the medium of a printed page, for never has a story of the sea and those -“who go down in ships” been written by one more familiar with the scenes -depicted.</p> - -<p class='c014'>The one book of this gifted author which is best remembered, and which -will be read with pleasure for many years to come, is “Captain Brand,” -who, as the author states on his title page, was a “pirate of eminence in -the West Indies.” As a sea story pure and simple, “Captain Brand” has -never been excelled, and as a story of piratical life, told without the usual -embellishments of blood and thunder, it has no equal.</p> - -<p class='c012'>NICK OF THE WOODS. A story of the Early Settlers of Kentucky. By -Robert Montgomery Bird. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis, Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>This most popular novel and thrilling story of early frontier life in -Kentucky was originally published in the year 1837. The novel, long out of -print, had in its day a phenomenal sale, for its realistic presentation of -Indian and frontier life in the early days of settlement in the South, narrated -in the tale with all the art of a practiced writer. A very charming -love romance runs through the story. This new and tasteful edition of -“Nick of the Woods” will be certain to make many new admirers for -this enchanting story from Dr. Bird’s clever and versatile pen.</p> - -<p class='c012'>GUY FAWKES. A Romance of the Gunpowder Treason. By Wm. Harrison -Ainsworth. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by George Cruikshank. -Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>The “Gunpowder Plot” was a modest attempt to blow up Parliament, -the King and his Counsellors. James of Scotland, then King of England, -was weak-minded and extravagant. He hit upon the efficient scheme of -extorting money from the people by imposing taxes on the Catholics. In -their natural resentment to this extortion, a handful of bold spirits concluded -to overthrow the government. Finally the plotters were arrested, -and the King put to torture Guy Fawkes and the other prisoners with -royal vigor. A very intense love story runs through the entire romance.</p> - -<p class='c012'>THE SPIRIT OF THE BORDER. A Romance of the Early Settlers in the -Ohio Valley. By Zane Grey. Cloth, 12mo, with four illustrations by J. Watson -Davis. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>A book rather out of the ordinary is this “Spirit of the Border.” The -main thread of the story has to do with the work of the Moravian missionaries -in the Ohio Valley. Incidentally the reader is given details of the -frontier life of those hardy pioneers who broke the wilderness for the planting -of this great nation. Chief among these, as a matter of course, is -Lewis Wetzel, one of the most peculiar, and at the same time the most -admirable of all the brave men who spent their lives battling with the -savage foe, that others might dwell in comparative security.</p> - -<p class='c014'>Details of the establishment and destruction of the Moravian “Village -of Peace” are given at some length, and with minute description. The -efforts to Christianize the Indians are described as they never have been -before, and the author has depicted the characters of the leaders of the -several Indian tribes with great care, which of itself will be of interest to -the student.</p> - -<p class='c014'>By no means least among the charms of the story are the vivid word-pictures -of the thrilling adventures, and the intense paintings of the beauties -of nature, as seen in the almost unbroken forests.</p> - -<p class='c014'>It is the spirit of the frontier which is described, and one can by it -perhaps, the better understand why men, and women, too, willingly braved -every privation and danger that the westward progress of the star of empire -might be the more certain and rapid. A love story, simple and tender, -guns through the book.</p> - -<p class='c012'>RICHELIEU. A tale of France in the reign of King Louis XIII. By G. P. -R. James. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>In 1830 Mr. James published his first romance, “Richelieu.” and was -recognized at once as one of the masters of the craft.</p> - -<p class='c014'>In this book he laid the story during those later days of the great cardinal’s -life, when his power was beginning to wane, but while it was -yet sufficiently strong to permit now and then of volcanic outbursts which -overwhelmed foes and carried friends to the topmost wave of prosperity. -One of the most striking portions of the story is that of Cinq Mar’s conspiracy; -the method of conducting criminal cases, and the political trickery -resorted to by royal favorites, affording a better insight into the statecraft -of that day than can be had even by an exhaustive study of history. -It is a powerful romance of love and diplomacy, and in point of thrilling -and absorbing interest has never been excelled.</p> - -<p class='c012'>WINDSOR CASTLE. A Historical Romance of the Reign of Henry VIII., -Catharine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. By Wm. Harrison Ainsworth. Cloth, -12mo. with four illustrations by George Cruikshank. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>“Windsor Castle” is the story of Henry VIII., Catharine, and Anne -Boleyn. “Bluff King Hal,” although a well-loved monarch, was none too -good a one in many ways. Of all his selfishness and unwarrantable acts, -none was more discreditable than his divorce from Catharine, and his marriage -to the beautiful Anne Boleyn. The King’s love was as brief as it -was vehement. Jane Seymour, waiting maid on the Queen, attracted him, -and Anne Boleyn was forced to the block to make room for her successor. -This romance is one of extreme interest to all readers.</p> - -<p class='c012'>HORSESHOE ROBINSON. A tale of the Tory Ascendency in South Carolina -in 1780. By John P. Kennedy. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. -Watson Davis, Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>Among the old favorites in the field of what is known as historical fiction, -there are none which appeal to a larger number of Americans than -Horseshoe Robinson, and this because it is the only story which depicts -with fidelity to the facts the heroic efforts of the colonists in South Carolina -to defend their homes against the brutal oppression of the British -under such leaders as Cornwallis and Tarleton.</p> - -<p class='c014'>The reader is charmed with the story of love which forms the thread -of the tale, and then impressed with the wealth of detail concerning those -times. The picture of the manifold sufferings of the people, is never overdrawn, -but painted faithfully and honestly by one who spared neither -time nor labor in his efforts to present in this charming love story all that -price in blood and tears which the Carolinians paid as their share in the -winning of the republic.</p> - -<p class='c014'>Take it all in all, “Horseshoe Robinson” is a work which should be -found on every book-shelf, not only because it is a most entertaining -story, but because of the wealth of valuable information concerning the -colonists which it contains. That it has been brought out once more, well -illustrated, is something which will give pleasure to thousands who have -long desired an opportunity to read the story again, and to the many who -have tried vainly in these latter days to procure a copy that they might -read it for the first time.</p> - -<p class='c012'>THE PEARL OF ORR’S ISLAND. A story of the Coast of Maine. By -Harriet Beecher Stowe. Cloth, 12mo. Illustrated. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p class='c014'>Written prior to 1862, the “Pearl of Orr’s Island” is ever new; a book -filled with delicate fancies, such as seemingly array themselves anew each -time one reads them. One sees the “sea like an unbroken mirror all -around the pine-girt, lonely shores of Orr’s Island,” and straightway -comes “the heavy, hollow moan of the surf on the beach, like the wild -angry howl of some savage animal.”</p> - -<p class='c014'>Who can read of the beginning of that sweet life, named Mara, which -came into this world under the very shadow of the Death angel’s wings, -without having an intense desire to know how the premature bud blossomed? -Again and again one lingers over the descriptions of the character -of that baby boy Moses, who came through the tempest, amid the -angry billows, pillowed on his dead mother’s breast.</p> - -<p class='c014'>There is no more faithful portrayal of New England life than that -which Mrs. Stowe gives in “The Pearl of Orr’s Island.”</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publishers, A. L. BURT COMPANY, 53–58 Duane St., New York.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003'> -</div> -<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> - -<div class='chapter ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - - <ol class='ol_1 c002'> - <li>P. <a href='#t260'>260</a>, changed “In fact there very few passengers on board” to “In fact there - were very few passengers on board”. - - </li> - <li>Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling. - - </li> - <li>Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRIDE'S FATE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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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