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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fanshawe, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Fanshawe
+
+Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
+
+Posting Date: September 13, 2014 [EBook #7085]
+Release Date: December, 2004
+First Posted: March 8, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FANSHAWE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FANSHAWE
+
+BY
+
+NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
+
+FANSHAWE.
+
+In 1828, three years after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hawthorne
+published his first romance, "Fanshawe." It was issued at Boston by Marsh
+& Capen, but made little or no impression on the public. The motto on the
+title-page of the original was from Southey: "Wilt thou go on with me?"
+
+Afterwards, when he had struck into the vein of fiction that came to be
+known as distinctively his own, he attempted to suppress this youthful
+work, and was so successful that he obtained and destroyed all but a few
+of the copies then extant.
+
+Some twelve years after his death it was resolved, in view of the interest
+manifested in tracing the growth of his genius from the beginning of his
+activity as an author, to revive this youthful romance; and the reissue of
+"Fanshawe" was then made.
+
+Little biographical interest attaches to it, beyond the fact that Mr.
+Longfellow found in the descriptions and general atmosphere of the book a
+decided suggestion of the situation of Bowdoin College, at Brunswick,
+Maine, and the life there at the time when he and Hawthorne were both
+undergraduates of that institution.
+
+Professor Packard, of Bowdoin College, who was then in charge of the study
+of English literature, and has survived both of his illustrious pupils,
+recalls Hawthorne's exceptional excellence in the composition of English,
+even at that date (1821-1825); and it is not impossible that Hawthorne
+intended, through the character of Fanshawe, to present some faint
+projection of what he then thought might be his own obscure history. Even
+while he was in college, however, and meditating perhaps the slender
+elements of this first romance, his fellow-student Horatio Bridge, whose
+"Journal of an African Cruiser" he afterwards edited, recognized in him
+the possibilities of a writer of fiction--a fact to which Hawthorne
+alludes in the dedicatory Preface to "The Snow-Image."
+
+G. P. L.
+
+
+
+FANSHAWE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+  "Our court shall be a little Academe."--SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+In an ancient though not very populous settlement, in a retired corner of
+one of the New England States, arise the walls of a seminary of learning,
+which, for the convenience of a name, shall be entitled "Harley College."
+This institution, though the number of its years is inconsiderable
+compared with the hoar antiquity of its European sisters, is not without
+some claims to reverence on the score of age; for an almost countless
+multitude of rivals, by many of which its reputation has been eclipsed,
+have sprung up since its foundation. At no time, indeed, during an
+existence of nearly a century, has it acquired a very extensive fame; and
+circumstances, which need not be particularized, have, of late years,
+involved it in a deeper obscurity. There are now few candidates for the
+degrees that the college is authorized to bestow. On two of its annual
+"Commencement Days," there has been a total deficiency of baccalaureates;
+and the lawyers and divines, on whom doctorates in their respective
+professions are gratuitously inflicted, are not accustomed to consider the
+distinction as an honor. Yet the sons of this seminary have always
+maintained their full share of reputation, in whatever paths of life they
+trod. Few of them, perhaps, have been deep and finished scholars; but the
+college has supplied--what the emergencies of the country demanded--a set
+of men more useful in its present state, and whose deficiency in
+theoretical knowledge has not been found to imply a want of practical
+ability.
+
+The local situation of the college, so far secluded from the sight and
+sound of the busy world, is peculiarly favorable to the moral, if not to
+the literary, habits of its students; and this advantage probably caused
+the founders to overlook the inconveniences that were inseparably
+connected with it. The humble edifices rear themselves almost at the
+farthest extremity of a narrow vale, which, winding through a long extent
+of hill-country, is wellnigh as inaccessible, except at one point, as the
+Happy Valley of Abyssinia. A stream, that farther on becomes a
+considerable river, takes its rise at, a short distance above the college,
+and affords, along its wood-fringed banks, many shady retreats, where
+even study is pleasant, and idleness delicious. The neighborhood of the
+institution is not quite a solitude, though the few habitations scarcely
+constitute a village. These consist principally of farm-houses, of rather
+an ancient date (for the settlement is much older than the college), and
+of a little inn, which even in that secluded spot does not fail of a
+moderate support. Other dwellings are scattered up and down the valley;
+but the difficulties of the soil will long avert the evils of a too dense
+population. The character of the inhabitants does not seem--as there was,
+perhaps, room to anticipate--to be in any degree influenced by the
+atmosphere of Harley College. They are a set of rough and hardy yeomen,
+much inferior, as respects refinement, to the corresponding classes in
+most other parts of our country. This is the more remarkable, as there is
+scarcely a family in the vicinity that has not provided, for at least one
+of its sons, the advantages of a "liberal education."
+
+Having thus described the present state of Harley College, we must proceed
+to speak of it as it existed about eighty years since, when its foundation
+was recent, and its prospects flattering. At the head of the institution,
+at this period, was a learned and Orthodox divine, whose fame was in all
+the churches. He was the author of several works which evinced much
+erudition and depth of research; and the public, perhaps, thought the more
+highly of his abilities from a singularity in the purposes to which he
+applied them, that added much to the curiosity of his labors, though
+little to their usefulness. But, however fanciful might be his private
+pursuits, Dr. Melmoth, it was universally allowed, was diligent and
+successful in the arts of instruction. The young men of his charge
+prospered beneath his eye, and regarded him with an affection that was
+strengthened by the little foibles which occasionally excited their
+ridicule. The president was assisted in the discharge of his duties by two
+inferior officers, chosen from the alumni of the college, who, while they
+imparted to others the knowledge they had already imbibed, pursued the
+study of divinity under the direction of their principal. Under such
+auspices the institution grew and flourished. Having at that time but two
+rivals in the country (neither of them within a considerable distance), it
+became the general resort of the youth of the Province in which it was
+situated. For several years in succession, its students amounted to nearly
+fifty,--a number which, relatively to the circumstances of the country,
+was very considerable.
+
+From the exterior of the collegians, an accurate observer might pretty
+safely judge how long they had been inmates of those classic walls. The
+brown cheeks and the rustic dress of some would inform him that they had
+but recently left the plough to labor in a not less toilsome field; the
+grave look, and the intermingling of garments of a more classic cut, would
+distinguish those who had begun to acquire the polish of their new
+residence; and the air of superiority, the paler cheek, the less robust
+form, the spectacles of green, and the dress, in general of threadbare
+black, would designate the highest class, who were understood to have
+acquired nearly all the science their Alma Mater could bestow, and to be
+on the point of assuming their stations in the world. There were, it is
+true, exceptions to this general description. A few young men had found
+their way hither from the distant seaports; and these were the models of
+fashion to their rustic companions, over whom they asserted a superiority
+in exterior accomplishments, which the fresh though unpolished intellect
+of the sons of the forest denied them in their literary competitions. A
+third class, differing widely from both the former, consisted of a few
+young descendants of the aborigines, to whom an impracticable philanthropy
+was endeavoring to impart the benefits of civilization.
+
+If this institution did not offer all the advantages of elder and prouder
+seminaries, its deficiencies were compensated to its students by the
+inculcation of regular habits, and of a deep and awful sense of religion,
+which seldom deserted them in their course through life. The mild and
+gentle rule of Dr. Melmoth, like that of a father over his children, was
+more destructive to vice than a sterner sway; and though youth is never
+without its follies, they have seldom been more harmless than they were
+here. The students, indeed, ignorant of their own bliss, sometimes wished
+to hasten the time of their entrance on the business of life; but they
+found, in after-years, that many of their happiest remembrances, many of
+the scenes which they would with least reluctance live over again,
+referred to the seat of their early studies. The exceptions to this remark
+were chiefly those whose vices had drawn down, even from that paternal
+government, a weighty retribution.
+
+Dr. Melmoth, at the time when he is to be introduced to the reader, had
+borne the matrimonial yoke (and in his case it was no light burden) nearly
+twenty years. The blessing of children, however, had been denied him,--a
+circumstance which he was accustomed to consider as one of the sorest
+trials that checkered his pathway; for he was a man of a kind and
+affectionate heart, that was continually seeking objects to rest itself
+upon. He was inclined to believe, also, that a common offspring would have
+exerted a meliorating influence on the temper of Mrs. Melmoth, the
+character of whose domestic government often compelled him to call to mind
+such portions of the wisdom of antiquity as relate to the proper endurance
+of the shrewishness of woman. But domestic comforts, as well as comforts
+of every other kind, have their drawbacks; and, so long as the balance is
+on the side of happiness, a wise man will not murmur. Such was the opinion
+of Dr. Melmoth; and with a little aid from philosophy, and more from
+religion, he journeyed on contentedly through life. When the storm was
+loud by the parlor hearth, he had always a sure and quiet retreat in his
+study; and there, in his deep though not always useful labors, he soon
+forgot whatever of disagreeable nature pertained to his situation. This
+small and dark apartment was the only portion of the house to which, since
+one firmly repelled invasion, Mrs. Melmoth's omnipotence did not extend.
+Here (to reverse the words of Queen Elizabeth) there was "but one master
+and no mistress"; and that man has little right to complain who possesses
+so much as one corner in the world where he may be happy or miserable, as
+best suits him. In his study, then, the doctor was accustomed to spend
+most of the hours that were unoccupied by the duties of his station. The
+flight of time was here as swift as the wind, and noiseless as the
+snow-flake; and it was a sure proof of real happiness that night often
+came upon the student before he knew it was midday.
+
+Dr. Melmoth was wearing towards age (having lived nearly sixty years),
+when he was called upon to assume a character to which he had as yet been
+a stranger. He had possessed in his youth a very dear friend, with whom
+his education had associated him, and who in his early manhood had been
+his chief intimate. Circumstances, however, had separated them for nearly
+thirty years, half of which had been spent by his friend, who was engaged
+in mercantile pursuits, in a foreign country. The doctor had,
+nevertheless, retained a warm interest in the welfare of his old
+associate, though the different nature of their thoughts and occupations
+had prevented them from corresponding. After a silence of so long
+continuance, therefore, he was surprised by the receipt of a letter from
+his friend, containing a request of a most unexpected nature.
+
+Mr. Langton had married rather late in life; and his wedded bliss had been
+but of short continuance. Certain misfortunes in trade, when he was a
+Benedict of three years' standing, had deprived him of a large portion of
+his property, and compelled him, in order to save the remainder, to leave
+his own country for what he hoped would be but a brief residence in
+another. But, though he was successful in the immediate objects of his
+voyage, circumstances occurred to lengthen his stay far beyond the period
+which he had assigned to it. It was difficult so to arrange his extensive
+concerns that they could be safely trusted to the management of others;
+and, when this was effected, there was another not less powerful obstacle
+to his return. His affairs, under his own inspection, were so prosperous,
+and his gains so considerable, that, in the words of the old ballad, "He
+set his heart to gather gold"; and to this absorbing passion he sacrificed
+his domestic happiness. The death of his wife, about four years after his
+departure, undoubtedly contributed to give him a sort of dread of
+returning, which it required a strong effort to overcome. The welfare of
+his only child he knew would be little affected by this event; for she was
+under the protection of his sister, of whose tenderness he was well
+assured. But, after a few more years, this sister, also, was taken away by
+death; and then the father felt that duty imperatively called upon him to
+return. He realized, on a sudden, how much of life he had thrown away in
+the acquisition of what is only valuable as it contributes to the
+happiness of life, and how short a tune was left him for life's true
+enjoyments. Still, however, his mercantile habits were too deeply seated
+to allow him to hazard his present prosperity by any hasty measures; nor
+was Mr. Langton, though capable of strong affections, naturally liable to
+manifest them violently. It was probable, therefore, that many months
+might yet elapse before he would again tread the shores of his native
+country.
+
+But the distant relative, in whose family, since the death of her aunt,
+Ellen Langton had remained, had been long at variance with her father, and
+had unwillingly assumed the office of her protector. Mr. Langton's
+request, therefore, to Dr. Melmoth, was, that his ancient friend (one of
+the few friends that time had left him) would be as a father to his
+daughter till he could himself relieve him of the charge.
+
+The doctor, after perusing the epistle of his friend, lost no time in
+laying it before Mrs. Melmoth, though this was, in truth, one of the very
+few occasions on which he had determined that his will should be absolute
+law. The lady was quick to perceive the firmness of his purpose, and would
+not (even had she been particularly averse to the proposed measure) hazard
+her usual authority by a fruitless opposition. But, by long disuse, she
+had lost the power of consenting graciously to any wish of her husband's.
+
+"I see your heart is set upon this matter," she observed; "and, in truth,
+I fear we cannot decently refuse Mr. Langton's request. I see little good
+of such a friend, doctor, who never lets one know he is alive till he has
+a favor to ask."
+
+"Nay; but I have received much good at his hand," replied Dr. Melmoth;
+"and, if he asked more of me, it should be done with a willing heart. I
+remember in my youth, when my worldly goods were few and ill managed (I
+was a bachelor, then, dearest Sarah, with none to look after my
+household), how many times I have been beholden to him. And see--in his
+letter he speaks of presents, of the produce of the country, which he has
+sent both to you and me."
+
+"If the girl were country-bred," continued the lady, "we might give her
+house-room, and no harm done. Nay, she might even be a help to me; for
+Esther, our maid-servant, leaves us at the mouth's end. But I warrant she
+knows as little of household matters as you do yourself, doctor."
+
+"My friend's sister was well grounded in the _re familiari_" answered
+her husband; "and doubtless she hath imparted somewhat of her skill to
+this damsel. Besides, the child is of tender years, and will profit much
+by your instruction and mine."
+
+"The child is eighteen years of age, doctor," observed Mrs. Melmoth, "and
+she has cause to be thankful that she will have better instruction than
+yours."
+
+This was a proposition that Dr. Melmoth did not choose to dispute; though
+he perhaps thought that his long and successful experience in the
+education of the other sex might make him an able coadjutor to his wife in
+the care of Ellen Langton. He determined to journey in person to the
+seaport where his young charge resided, leaving the concerns of Harley
+College to the direction of the two tutors. Mrs. Melmoth, who, indeed,
+anticipated with pleasure the arrival of a new subject to her authority,
+threw no difficulties in the way of his intention. To do her justice, her
+preparations for his journey, and the minute instructions with which she
+favored him, were such as only a woman's true affection could have
+suggested. The traveller met with no incidents important to this tale;
+and, after an absence of about a fortnight, he and Ellen alighted from
+their steeds (for on horseback had the journey been performed) in safety
+at his own door.
+
+If pen could give an adequate idea of Ellen Langton's loveliness, it would
+achieve what pencil (the pencils, at least, of the colonial artists who
+attempted it) never could; for, though the dark eyes might be painted, the
+pure and pleasant thoughts that peeped through them could only be seen and
+felt. But descriptions of beauty are never satisfactory. It must,
+therefore, be left to the imagination of the reader to conceive of
+something not more than mortal, nor, indeed, quite the perfection of
+mortality, but charming men the more, because they felt, that, lovely as
+she was, she was of like nature to themselves.
+
+From the time that Ellen entered Dr. Melmoth's habitation, the sunny days
+seemed brighter and the cloudy ones less gloomy, than he had ever before
+known them. He naturally delighted in children; and Ellen, though her
+years approached to womanhood, had yet much of the gayety and simple
+happiness, because the innocence, of a child. She consequently became the
+very blessing of his life,--the rich recreation that he promised himself
+for hours of literary toil. On one occasion, indeed, he even made her his
+companion in the sacred retreat of his study, with the purpose of entering
+upon a course of instruction in the learned languages. This measure,
+however, he found inexpedient to repeat; for Ellen, having discovered an
+old romance among his heavy folios, contrived, by the charm of her sweet
+voice, to engage his attention therein till all more important concerns
+were forgotten.
+
+With Mrs. Melmoth, Ellen was not, of course, so great a favorite as with
+her husband; for women cannot so readily as men, bestow upon the offspring
+of others those affections that nature intended for their own; and the
+doctor's extraordinary partiality was anything rather than a pledge of his
+wife's. But Ellen differed so far from the idea she had previously formed
+of her, as a daughter of one of the principal merchants, who were then, as
+now, like nobles in the land, that the stock of dislike which Mrs. Melmoth
+had provided was found to be totally inapplicable. The young stranger
+strove so hard, too (and undoubtedly it was a pleasant labor), to win her
+love, that she was successful to a degree of which the lady herself was
+not, perhaps, aware. It was soon seen that her education had not been
+neglected in those points which Mrs. Melmoth deemed most important. The
+nicer departments of cookery, after sufficient proof of her skill, were
+committed to her care; and the doctor's table was now covered with
+delicacies, simple indeed, but as tempting on account of their intrinsic
+excellence as of the small white hands that made them. By such arts as
+these,--which in her were no arts, but the dictates of an affectionate
+disposition,--by making herself useful where it was possible, and
+agreeable on all occasions, Ellen gained the love of everyone within the
+sphere of her influence.
+
+But the maiden's conquests were not confined to the members of Dr.
+Melmoth's family. She had numerous admirers among those whose situation
+compelled them to stand afar off, and gaze upon her loveliness, as if she
+were a star, whose brightness they saw, but whose warmth they could not
+feel. These were the young men of Harley College, whose chief
+opportunities of beholding Ellen were upon the Sabbaths, when she
+worshipped with them in the little chapel, which served the purposes of a
+church to all the families of the vicinity. There was, about this period
+(and the fact was undoubtedly attributable to Ellen's influence,) a
+general and very evident decline in the scholarship of the college,
+especially in regard to the severer studies. The intellectual powers of
+the young men seemed to be directed chiefly to the construction of Latin
+and Greek verse, many copies of which, with a characteristic and classic
+gallantry, were strewn in the path where Ellen Langton was accustomed to
+walk. They, however, produced no perceptible effect; nor were the
+aspirations of another ambitious youth, who celebrated her perfections in
+Hebrew, attended with their merited success.
+
+But there was one young man, to whom circumstances, independent of his
+personal advantages, afforded a superior opportunity of gaining Ellen's
+favor. He was nearly related to Dr. Melmoth, on which account he received
+his education at Harley College, rather than at one of the English
+universities, to the expenses of which his fortune would have been
+adequate. This connection entitled him to a frequent and familiar access
+to the domestic hearth of the dignitary,--an advantage of which, since
+Ellen Langton became a member of the family, he very constantly availed
+himself.
+
+Edward Walcott was certainly much superior, in most of the particulars of
+which a lady takes cognizance, to those of his fellow-students who had
+come under Ellen's notice. He was tall; and the natural grace of his
+manners had been improved (an advantage which few of his associates could
+boast) by early intercourse with polished society. His features, also,
+were handsome, and promised to be manly and dignified when they should
+cease to be youthful. His character as a scholar was more than
+respectable, though many youthful follies, sometimes, perhaps, approaching
+near to vices, were laid to his charge. But his occasional derelictions
+from discipline were not such as to create any very serious apprehensions
+respecting his future welfare; nor were they greater than, perhaps, might
+be expected from a young man who possessed a considerable command of
+money, and who was, besides, the fine gentleman of the little community of
+which he was a member,--a character which generally leads its possessor
+into follies that he would otherwise have avoided.
+
+With this youth Ellen Langton became familiar, and even intimate; for he
+was her only companion, of an age suited to her own, and the difference of
+sex did not occur to her as an objection. He was her constant companion on
+all necessary and allowable occasions, and drew upon himself, in
+consequence, the envy of the college.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+  "Why, all delights are vain, but that most vain,
+  Which, with pain purchased, doth inherit pain:
+    As painfully to pore upon a book
+      To seek the light of truth, while truth, the while,
+    Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look."
+       SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+On one of the afternoons which afforded to the students a relaxation from
+their usual labors, Ellen was attended by her cavalier in a little
+excursion over the rough bridle-roads that led from her new residence. She
+was an experienced equestrian,--a necessary accomplishment at that period,
+when vehicles of every kind were rare. It was now the latter end of
+spring; but the season had hitherto been backward, with only a few warm
+and pleasant days. The present afternoon, however, was a delicious
+mingling of spring and summer, forming in their union an atmosphere so
+mild and pure, that to breathe was almost a positive happiness. There was
+a little alternation of cloud across the brow of heaven, but only so much
+as to render the sunshine more delightful.
+
+The path of the young travellers lay sometimes among tall and thick
+standing trees, and sometimes over naked and desolate hills, whence man
+had taken the natural vegetation, and then left the soil to its
+barrenness. Indeed, there is little inducement to a cultivator to labor
+among the huge stones which there peep forth from the earth, seeming to
+form a continued ledge for several miles. A singular contrast to this
+unfavored tract of country is seen in the narrow but luxuriant, though
+sometimes swampy, strip of interval, on both sides of the stream, that, as
+has been noticed, flows down the valley. The light and buoyant spirits of
+Edward Walcott and Ellen rose higher as they rode on; and their way was
+enlivened, wherever its roughness did not forbid, by their conversation
+and pleasant laughter. But at length Ellen drew her bridle, as they
+emerged from a thick portion of the forest, just at the foot of a steep
+hill.
+
+"We must have ridden far," she observed,--"farther than I thought. It will
+be near sunset before we can reach home."
+
+"There are still several hours of daylight," replied Edward Walcott; "and
+we will not turn back without ascending this hill. The prospect from the
+summit is beautiful, and will be particularly so now, in this rich
+sunlight. Come, Ellen,--one light touch of the whip,--your pony is as
+fresh as when we started."
+
+On reaching the summit of the hill, and looking back in the direction in
+which they had come, they could see the little stream, peeping forth many
+times to the daylight, and then shrinking back into the shade. Farther on,
+it became broad and deep, though rendered incapable of navigation, in this
+part of its course, by the occasional interruption of rapids.
+
+"There are hidden wonders of rock and precipice and cave, in that dark
+forest," said Edward, pointing to the space between them and the river.
+"If it were earlier in the day, I should love to lead you there. Shall we
+try the adventure now, Ellen?"
+
+"Oh no!" she replied. "Let us delay no longer. I fear I must even now
+abide a rebuke from Mrs. Melmoth, which I have surely deserved. But who is
+this, who rides on so slowly before us?"
+
+She pointed to a horseman, whom they had not before observed. He was
+descending the hill; but, as his steed seemed to have chosen his own pace,
+he made a very inconsiderable progress.
+
+"Oh, do you not know him? But it is scarcely possible you should,"
+exclaimed her companion. "We must do him the good office, Ellen, of
+stopping his progress, or he will find himself at the village, a dozen
+miles farther on, before he resumes his consciousness."
+
+"Has he then lost his senses?" inquired Miss Langton.
+
+"Not so, Ellen,--if much learning has not made him mad," replied Edward
+Walcott. "He is a deep scholar and a noble fellow; but I fear we shall
+follow him to his grave erelong. Dr. Melmoth has sent him to ride in
+pursuit of his health. He will never overtake it, however, at this pace."
+
+As he spoke, they had approached close to the subject of their
+conversation; and Ellen had a moment's space for observation before he
+started from the abstraction in which he was plunged. The result of her
+scrutiny was favorable, yet very painful.
+
+The stranger could scarcely have attained his twentieth year, and was
+possessed of a face and form such as Nature bestows on none but her
+favorites. There was a nobleness on his high forehead, which time would
+have deepened into majesty; and all his features were formed with a
+strength and boldness, of which the paleness, produced by study and
+confinement, could not deprive them. The expression of his countenance was
+not a melancholy one: on the contrary, it was proud and high, perhaps
+triumphant, like one who was a ruler in a world of his own, and
+independent of the beings that surrounded him. But a blight, of which his
+thin pale cheek, and the brightness of his eye, were alike proofs, seemed
+to have come over him ere his maturity.
+
+The scholar's attention was now aroused by the hoof-tramps at his side;
+and, starting, he fixed his eyes on Ellen, whose young and lovely
+countenance was full of the interest he had excited. A deep blush
+immediately suffused his cheek, proving how well the glow of health would
+have become it. There was nothing awkward, however, in his manner; and,
+soon recovering his self-possession, he bowed to her, and would have rode
+on.
+
+"Your ride is unusually long to-day, Fanshawe," observed Edward Walcott.
+"When may we look for your return?"
+
+The young man again blushed, but answered, with a smile that had a
+beautiful effect upon his countenance, "I was not, at the moment, aware in
+which direction my horse's head was turned. I have to thank you for
+arresting me in a journey which was likely to prove much longer than I
+intended."
+
+The party had now turned their horses, and were about to resume their ride
+in a homeward direction; but Edward perceived that Fanshawe, having lost
+the excitement of intense thought, now looked weary and dispirited.
+
+"Here is a cottage close at hand," he observed. "We have ridden far, and
+stand in need of refreshment. Ellen, shall we alight?"
+
+She saw the benevolent motive of his proposal, and did not hesitate to
+comply with it. But, as they paused at the cottage door, she could not but
+observe that its exterior promised few of the comforts which they
+required. Time and neglect seemed to have conspired for its ruin; and, but
+for a thin curl of smoke from its clay chimney, they could not have
+believed it to be inhabited. A considerable tract of land in the vicinity
+of the cottage had evidently been, at some former period, under
+cultivation, but was now overrun by bushes and dwarf pines, among which
+many huge gray rocks, ineradicable by human art, endeavored to conceal
+themselves. About half an acre of ground was occupied by the young blades
+of Indian-corn, at which a half-starved cow gazed wistfully over the
+mouldering log-fence. These were the only agricultural tokens. Edward
+Walcott, nevertheless, drew the latch of the cottage door, after knocking
+loudly but in vain.
+
+The apartment which was thus opened to their view was quite as wretched as
+its exterior had given them reason to anticipate. Poverty was there, with
+all its necessary and unnecessary concomitants. The intruders would have
+retired had not the hope of affording relief detained them.
+
+The occupants of the small and squalid apartment were two women, both of
+them elderly, and, from the resemblance of their features, appearing to be
+sisters. The expression of their countenances, however, was very
+different. One, evidently the younger, was seated on the farther side of
+the large hearth, opposite to the door at which the party stood. She had
+the sallow look of long and wasting illness; and there was an unsteadiness
+of expression about her eyes, that immediately struck the observer. Yet
+her face was mild and gentle, therein contrasting widely with that of her
+companion.
+
+The other woman was bending over a small fire of decayed branches, the
+flame of which was very disproportionate to the smoke, scarcely producing
+heat sufficient for the preparation of a scanty portion of food. Her
+profile only was visible to the strangers, though, from a slight motion of
+her eye, they perceived that she was aware of their presence. Her features
+were pinched and spare, and wore a look of sullen discontent, for which
+the evident wretchedness of her situation afforded a sufficient reason.
+This female, notwithstanding her years, and the habitual fretfulness (that
+is more wearing than time), was apparently healthy and robust, with a dry,
+leathery complexion. A short space elapsed before she thought proper to
+turn her face towards her visitors; and she then regarded them with a
+lowering eye, without speaking, or rising from her chair.
+
+"We entered," Edward Walcott began to say, "in the hope"--But he paused,
+on perceiving that the sick woman had risen from her seat, and with slow
+and tottering footsteps was drawing near to him. She took his hand in both
+her own; and, though he shuddered at the touch of age and disease, he did
+not attempt to withdraw it. She then perused all his features, with an
+expression, at first of eager and hopeful anxiety, which faded by degrees
+into disappointment. Then, turning from him, she gazed into Fanshawe's
+countenance with the like eagerness, but with the same result. Lastly,
+tottering back to her chair, she hid her face and wept bitterly. The
+strangers, though they knew not the cause of her grief, were deeply
+affected; and Ellen approached the mourner with words of comfort, which,
+more from their tone than their meaning, produced a transient effect.
+
+"Do you bring news of him?" she inquired, raising her head. "Will he
+return to me? Shall I see him before I die?" Ellen knew not what to
+answer; and, ere she could attempt it, the other female prevented her.
+
+"Sister Butler is wandering in her mind," she said, "and speaks of one she
+will never behold again. The sight of strangers disturbs her, and you see
+we have nothing here to offer you."
+
+The manner of the woman was ungracious; but her words were true. They saw
+that their presence could do nothing towards the alleviation of the misery
+they witnessed; and they felt that mere curiosity would not authorize a
+longer intrusion. So soon, therefore, as they had relieved, according to
+their power, the poverty that seemed to be the least evil of this cottage,
+they emerged into the open air.
+
+The breath of heaven felt sweet to them, and removed a part of the weight
+from their young hearts, which were saddened by the sight of so much
+wretchedness. Perceiving a pure and bright little fountain at a short
+distance from the cottage, they approached it, and, using the bark of a
+birch-tree as a cup, partook of its cool waters. They then pursued their
+homeward ride with such diligence, that, just as the sun was setting, they
+came in sight of the humble wooden edifice which was dignified with the
+name of Harley College. A golden ray rested upon the spire of the little
+chapel, the bell of which sent its tinkling murmur down the valley to
+summon the wanderers to evening prayers.
+
+Fanshawe returned to his chamber that night, and lighted his lamp as he
+had been wont to do. The books were around him which had hitherto been to
+him like those fabled volumes of Magic, from which the reader could not
+turn away his eye till death were the consequence of his studies. But
+there were unaccustomed thoughts in his bosom now; and to these, leaning
+his head on one of the unopened volumes, he resigned himself.
+
+He called up in review the years, that, even at his early age, he had
+spent in solitary study, in conversation with the dead, while he had
+scorned to mingle with the living world, or to be actuated by any of its
+motives. He asked himself to what purpose was all this destructive labor,
+and where was the happiness of superior knowledge. He had climbed but a
+few steps of a ladder that reached to infinity: he had thrown away his
+life in discovering, that, after a thousand such lives, he should still
+know comparatively nothing. He even looked forward with dread--though once
+the thought had been dear to him--to the eternity of improvement that lay
+before him. It seemed now a weary way, without a resting-place and without
+a termination; and at that moment he would have preferred the dreamless
+sleep of the brutes that perish to man's proudest attribute,--of
+immortality.
+
+Fanshawe had hitherto deemed himself unconnected with the world,
+Unconcerned in its feelings, and uninfluenced by it in any of his
+pursuits. In this respect he probably deceived himself. If his inmost
+heart could have been laid open, there would have been discovered that
+dream of undying fame, which, dream as it is, is more powerful than a
+thousand realities. But, at any rate, he had seemed, to others and to
+himself, a solitary being, upon whom the hopes and fears of ordinary men
+were ineffectual.
+
+But now he felt the first thrilling of one of the many ties, that, so long
+as we breathe the common air, (and who shall say how much longer?) unite
+us to our kind. The sound of a soft, sweet voice, the glance of a gentle
+eye, had wrought a change upon him; and in his ardent mind a few hours had
+done the work of many. Almost in spite of himself, the new sensation was
+inexpressibly delightful. The recollection of his ruined health, of his
+habits (so much at variance with those of the world),--all the
+difficulties that reason suggested, were inadequate to check the exulting
+tide of hope and joy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+  "And let the aspiring youth beware of love,--
+  Of the smooth glance beware; for 'tis too late
+  When on his heart the torrent softness pours;
+  Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame
+  Dissolves in air away."
+     THOMSON.
+
+
+A few months passed over the heads of Ellen Langton and her admirers,
+unproductive of events, that, separately, were of sufficient importance to
+be related. The summer was now drawing to a close; and Dr. Melmoth had
+received information that his friend's arrangements were nearly completed,
+and that by the next home-bound ship he hoped to return to his native
+country. The arrival of that ship was daily expected.
+
+During the time that had elapsed since his first meeting with Ellen, there
+had been a change, yet not a very remarkable one, in Fanshawe's habits. He
+was still the same solitary being, so far as regarded his own sex; and he
+still confined himself as sedulously to his chamber, except for one
+hour--the sunset hour--of every day. At that period, unless prevented by
+the inclemency of the weather, he was accustomed to tread a path that
+wound along the banks of the stream. He had discovered that this was the
+most frequent scene of Ellen's walks; and this it was that drew him
+thither.
+
+Their intercourse was at first extremely slight,--a bow on the one side, a
+smile on the other, and a passing word from both; and then the student
+hurried back to his solitude. But, in course of time, opportunities
+occurred for more extended conversation; so that, at the period with which
+this chapter is concerned, Fanshawe was, almost as constantly as Edward
+Walcott himself, the companion of Ellen's walks.
+
+His passion had strengthened more than proportionably to the time that had
+elapsed since it was conceived; but the first glow and excitement which
+attended it had now vanished. He had reasoned calmly with himself, and
+rendered evident to his own mind the almost utter hopelessness of success.
+He had also made his resolution strong, that he would not even endeavor to
+win Ellen's love, the result of which, for a thousand reasons, could not
+be happiness. Firm in this determination, and confident of his power to
+adhere to it; feeling, also, that time and absence could not cure his own
+passion, and having no desire for such a cure,--he saw no reason for
+breaking off the intercourse that was established between Ellen and
+himself. It was remarkable, that, notwithstanding the desperate nature of
+his love, that, or something connected with it, seemed to have a
+beneficial effect upon his health. There was now a slight tinge of color
+in his cheek, and a less consuming brightness in his eye. Could it be that
+hope, unknown to himself, was yet alive in his breast; that a sense of the
+possibility of earthly happiness was redeeming him from the grave?
+
+Had the character of Ellen Langton's mind been different, there might,
+perhaps, have been danger to her from an intercourse of this nature with
+such a being as Fanshawe; for he was distinguished by many of those
+asperities around which a woman's affection will often cling. But she was
+formed to walk in the calm and quiet paths of life, and to pluck the
+flowers of happiness from the wayside where they grow. Singularity of
+character, therefore, was not calculated to win her love. She undoubtedly
+felt an interest in the solitary student, and perceiving, with no great
+exercise of vanity, that her society drew him from the destructive
+intensity of his studies, she perhaps felt it a duty to exert her
+influence. But it did not occur to her that her influence had been
+sufficiently strong to change the whole current of his thoughts and
+feelings.
+
+Ellen and her two lovers (for both, though perhaps not equally, deserved
+that epithet) had met, as usual, at the close of a sweet summer day, and
+were standing by the side of the stream, just where it swept into a deep
+pool. The current, undermining the bank, had formed a recess, which,
+according to Edward Walcott, afforded at that moment a hiding-place to a
+trout of noble size.
+
+"Now would I give the world," he exclaimed with great interest, "for a
+hook and line, a fish-spear, or any piscatorial instrument of death! Look,
+Ellen, you can see the waving of his tail from beneath the bank!"
+
+"If you had the means of taking him, I should save him from your cruelty,
+thus," said Ellen, dropping a pebble into the water, just over the fish.
+"There! he has darted down the stream. How many pleasant caves and
+recesses there must be under these banks, where he may be happy! May there
+not be happiness in the life of a fish?" she added, turning with a smile
+to Fanshawe.
+
+"There may," he replied, "so long as he lives quietly in the caves and
+recesses of which you speak, Yes, there may be happiness, though such as
+few would envy; but, then, the hook and line"--
+
+"Which, there is reason to apprehend, will shortly destroy the happiness
+of our friend the trout," interrupted Edward, pointing down the stream.
+"There is an angler on his way toward us, who will intercept him."
+
+"He seems to care little for the sport, to judge by the pace at which he
+walks," said Ellen.
+
+"But he sees, now, that we are observing him, and is willing to prove that
+he knows something of the art," replied Edward Walcott. "I should think
+him well acquainted with the stream; for, hastily as he walks, he has
+tried every pool and ripple where a fish usually hides. But that point
+will be decided when he reaches yonder old bare oak-tree."
+
+"And how is the old tree to decide the question?" inquired Fanshawe. "It
+is a species of evidence of which I have never before heard."
+
+"The stream has worn a hollow under its roots," answered Edward,--"a most
+delicate retreat for a trout. Now, a stranger would not discover the spot;
+or, if he did, the probable result of a cast would be the loss of hook and
+line,--an accident that has occurred to me more than once. If, therefore,
+this angler takes a fish from thence, it follows that he knows the
+stream."
+
+They observed the fisher, accordingly, as he kept his way up the bank. He
+did not pause when he reached the old leafless oak, that formed with its
+roots an obstruction very common in American streams; but, throwing his
+line with involuntary skill as he passed, he not only escaped the various
+entanglements, but drew forth a fine large fish.
+
+"There, Ellen, he has captivated your _protege_, the trout, or, at
+least, one very like him in size," observed Edward. "It is singular," he
+added, gazing earnestly at the man.
+
+"Why is it singular?" inquired Ellen Langton. "This person, perhaps,
+resides in the neighborhood, and may have fished often in the stream."
+
+"Do but look at him, Ellen, and judge whether his life can have been spent
+in this lonely valley," he replied. "The glow of many a hotter sun than
+ours has darkened his brow; and his step and air have something foreign in
+them, like what we see in sailors who have lived more in other countries
+than in their own. Is it not so, Ellen? for your education in a seaport
+must have given you skill in these matters. But come, let us approach
+nearer."
+
+They walked towards the angler, accordingly, who still remained under the
+oak, apparently engaged in arranging his fishing-tackle. As the party drew
+nigh, he raised his head, and threw one quick, scrutinizing glance towards
+them, disclosing, on his part, a set of bold and rather coarse features,
+weather-beaten, but indicating the age of the owner to be not above
+thirty. In person he surpassed the middle size, was well set, and
+evidently strong and active.
+
+"Do you meet with much success, sir?" inquired Edward Walcott, when within
+a convenient distance for conversation.
+
+"I have taken but one fish," replied the angler, in an accent which his
+hearers could scarcely determine to be foreign, or the contrary. "I am a
+stranger to the stream, and have doubtless passed over many a likely place
+for sport."
+
+"You have an angler's eye, sir," rejoined Edward.
+
+"I observed that you made your casts as if you had often trod these banks,
+and I could scarcely have guided you better myself."
+
+"Yes, I have learned the art, and I love to practise it," replied the man.
+"But will not the young lady try her skill?" he continued, casting a bold
+eye on Ellen. "The fish will love to be drawn out by such white hands as
+those."
+
+Ellen shrank back, though almost imperceptibly, from the free bearing of
+the man. It seemed meant for courtesy; but its effect was excessively
+disagreeable. Edward Walcott, who perceived and coincided in Ellen's
+feelings, replied to the stranger's proposal.
+
+"The young lady will not put the gallantry of the fish to the proof, sir,"
+he said, "and she will therefore have no occasion for your own."
+
+"I shall take leave to hear my answer from the young lady's own mouth,"
+answered the stranger, haughtily. "If you will step this way, Miss
+Langton" (here he interrupted himself),--"if you will cast the line by
+yonder sunken log, I think you will meet with success."
+
+Thus saying, the angler offered his rod and line to Ellen. She at first
+drew back, then hesitated, but finally held out her hand to receive them.
+In thus complying with the stranger's request, she was actuated by a
+desire to keep the peace, which, as her notice of Edward Walcott's
+crimsoned cheek and flashing eye assured her, was considerably endangered.
+The angler led the way to the spot which he had pointed out, which, though
+not at such a distance from Ellen's companions but that words in a common
+tone could be distinguished, was out of the range of a lowered voice.
+
+Edward Walcott and the student remained by the oak: the former biting his
+lip with vexation; the latter, whose abstraction always vanished where
+Ellen was concerned, regarding her and the stranger with fixed and silent
+attention. The young men could at first hear the words that the angler
+addressed to Ellen. They related to the mode of managing the rod; and she
+made one or two casts under his direction. At length, however, as if to
+offer his assistance, the man advanced close to her side, and seemed to
+speak, but in so low a tone, that the sense of what he uttered was lost
+before it reached the oak. But its effect upon Ellen was immediate and
+very obvious. Her eyes flashed; and an indignant blush rose high on her
+cheek, giving to her beauty a haughty brightness, of which the gentleness
+of her disposition in general deprived it. The next moment, however, she
+seemed to recollect herself, and, restoring the angling-rod to its owner,
+she turned away calmly, and approached her companions.
+
+"The evening breeze grows chill; and mine is a dress for a summer day,"
+she observed. "Let us walk homeward."
+
+"Miss Langton, is it the evening breeze alone that sends you homeward?"
+inquired Edward.
+
+At this moment the angler, who had resumed, and seemed to be intent upon
+his occupation, drew a fish from the pool, which he had pointed out to
+Ellen.
+
+"I told the young lady," he exclaimed, "that, if she would listen to me a
+moment longer, she would be repaid for her trouble; and here is the proof
+of my words."
+
+"Come, let us hasten towards home," cried Ellen, eagerly; and she took
+Edward Walcott's arm, with a freedom that, at another time, would have
+enchanted him. He at first seemed inclined to resist her wishes, but
+complied, after exchanging, unperceived by Ellen, a glance with the
+stranger, the meaning of which the latter appeared perfectly to
+understand. Fanshawe also attended her. Their walk towards Dr. Melmoth's
+dwelling was almost a silent one; and the few words that passed between
+them did not relate to the adventure which occupied the thoughts of each.
+On arriving at the house, Ellen's attendants took leave of her, and
+retired.
+
+Edward Walcott, eluding Fanshawe's observation with little difficulty,
+hastened back to the old oak-tree. From the intelligence with which the
+stranger had received his meaning glance, the young man had supposed that
+he would here await his return. But the banks of the stream, upward and
+downward, so far as his eye could reach, were solitary. He could see only
+his own image in the water, where it swept into a silent depth; and could
+hear only its ripple, where stones and sunken trees impeded its course.
+The object of his search might, indeed, have found concealment among the
+tufts of alders, or in the forest that was near at hand; but thither it
+was in vain to pursue him. The angler had apparently set little store by
+the fruits of his assumed occupation; for the last fish that he had taken
+lay, yet alive, on the bank, gasping for the element to which Edward was
+sufficiently compassionate to restore him. After watching him as he glided
+down the stream, making feeble efforts to resist its current, the youth
+turned away, and sauntered slowly towards the college.
+
+Ellen Langton, on her return from her walk, found Dr. Melmoth's little
+parlor unoccupied; that gentleman being deeply engaged in his study, and
+his lady busied in her domestic affairs. The evening, notwithstanding
+Ellen's remark concerning the chillness of the breeze, was almost sultry;
+and the windows of the apartment were thrown open. At one of these, which
+looked into the garden, she seated herself, listening, almost
+unconsciously, to the monotonous music of a thousand insects, varied
+occasionally by the voice of a whippoorwill, who, as the day departed, was
+just commencing his song. A dusky tint, as yet almost imperceptible, was
+beginning to settle on the surrounding objects, except where they were
+opposed to the purple and golden clouds, which the vanished sun had made
+the brief inheritors of a portion of his brightness. In these gorgeous
+vapors, Ellen's fancy, in the interval of other thoughts, pictured a
+fairy-land, and longed for wings to visit it.
+
+But as the clouds lost their brilliancy, and assumed first a dull purple,
+and then a sullen gray tint, Ellen's thoughts recurred to the adventure of
+the angler, which her imagination was inclined to invest with an undue
+singularity. It was, however, sufficiently unaccountable that an entire
+stranger should venture to demand of her a private audience; and she
+assigned, in turn, a thousand motives for such a request, none of which
+were in any degree satisfactory. Her most prevailing thought, though she
+could not justify it to her reason, inclined her to believe that the
+angler was a messenger from her father. But wherefore he should deem it
+necessary to communicate any intelligence that he might possess only by
+means of a private interview, and without the knowledge of her friends,
+was a mystery she could not solve. In this view of the matter, however,
+she half regretted that her instinctive delicacy had impelled her so
+suddenly to break off their conference, admitting, in the secrecy of her
+own mind, that, if an opportunity were again to occur, it might not again
+be shunned. As if that unuttered thought had power to conjure up its
+object, she now became aware of a form standing in the garden, at a short
+distance from the window where she sat. The dusk had deepened, during
+Ellen's abstraction, to such a degree, that the man's features were not
+perfectly distinguishable; but the maiden was not long in doubt of his
+identity, for he approached, and spoke in the same low tone in which he
+had addressed her when they stood by the stream.
+
+"Do you still refuse my request, when its object is but your own good, and
+that of one who should be most dear to you?" he asked.
+
+Ellen's first impulse had been to cry out for assistance; her second was
+to fly: but, rejecting both these measures, she determined to remain,
+endeavoring to persuade herself that she was safe. The quivering of her
+voice, however, when she attempted to reply, betrayed her apprehensions.
+
+"I cannot listen to such a request from a stranger," she said. "If you
+bring news from--from my father, why is it not told to Dr. Melmoth?"
+
+"Because what I have to say is for your ear alone," was the reply; "and if
+you would avoid misfortune now, and sorrow hereafter, you will not refuse
+to hear me."
+
+"And does it concern my father?" asked Ellen, eagerly.
+
+"It does--most deeply," answered the stranger.
+
+She meditated a moment, and then replied, "I will not refuse, I will
+hear--but speak quickly."
+
+"We are in danger of interruption in this place, and that would be fatal
+to my errand," said the stranger. "I will await you in the garden."
+
+With these words, and giving her no opportunity for reply, he drew back;
+and his form faded from her eyes. This precipitate retreat from argument
+was the most probable method that he could have adopted of gaining his
+end. He had awakened the strongest interest in Ellen's mind; and he
+calculated justly in supposing that she would consent to an interview upon
+his own terms.
+
+Dr. Melmoth had followed his own fancies in the mode of laying out his
+garden; and, in consequence, the plan that had undoubtedly existed in his
+mind was utterly incomprehensible to every one but himself. It was an
+intermixture of kitchen and flower garden, a labyrinth of winding paths,
+bordered by hedges, and impeded by shrubbery. Many of the original trees
+of the forest were still flourishing among the exotics which the doctor
+had transplanted thither. It was not without a sensation of fear, stronger
+than she had ever before experienced, that Ellen Langton found herself in
+this artificial wilderness, and in the presence of the mysterious
+stranger. The dusky light deepened the lines of his dark, strong features;
+and Ellen fancied that his countenance wore a wilder and a fiercer look
+than when she had met him by the stream. He perceived her agitation, and
+addressed her in the softest tones of which his voice was capable.
+
+"Compose yourself," he said; "you have nothing to fear from me. But we are
+in open view from the house, where we now stand; and discovery would not
+be without danger to both of us."
+
+"No eye can see us here," said Ellen, trembling at the truth of her own
+observation, when they stood beneath a gnarled, low-branched pine, which
+Dr. Melmoth's ideas of beauty had caused him to retain in his garden.
+"Speak quickly; for I dare follow you no farther."
+
+The spot was indeed sufficiently solitary; and the stranger delayed no
+longer to explain his errand.
+
+"Your father," he began,--"do you not love him? Would you do aught for his
+welfare?"
+
+"Everything that a father could ask I would do," exclaimed Ellen, eagerly.
+"Where is my father? and when shall I meet him?"
+
+"It must depend upon yourself, whether you shall meet him in a few days or
+never."
+
+"Never!" repeated Ellen. "Is he ill? Is he in danger?"
+
+"He is in danger," replied the man, "but not from illness. Your father is
+a ruined man. Of all his friends, but one remains to him. That friend has
+travelled far to prove if his daughter has a daughter's affection."
+
+"And what is to be the proof?" asked Ellen, with more calmness than the
+stranger had anticipated; for she possessed a large fund of plain sense,
+which revolted against the mystery of these proceedings. Such a course,
+too, seemed discordant with her father's character, whose strong mind and
+almost cold heart were little likely to demand, or even to pardon, the
+romance of affection.
+
+"This letter will explain," was the reply to Ellen's question. "You will
+see that it is in your father's hand; and that may gain your confidence,
+though I am doubted."
+
+She received the letter; and many of her suspicions of the stranger's
+truth were vanquished by the apparent openness of his manner. He was
+preparing to speak further, but paused, for a footstep was now heard,
+approaching from the lower part of the garden. From their situation,--at
+some distance from the path, and in the shade of the tree,--they had a
+fair chance of eluding discovery from any unsuspecting passenger; and,
+when Ellen saw that the intruder was Fanshawe, she hoped that his usual
+abstraction would assist their concealment.
+
+But, as the student advanced along the path, his air was not that of one
+whose deep inward thoughts withdrew his attention from all outward
+objects. He rather resembled the hunter, on the watch for his game; and,
+while he was yet at a distance from Ellen, a wandering gust of wind waved
+her white garment, and betrayed her.
+
+"It is as I feared," said Fanshawe to himself. He then drew nigh, and
+addressed Ellen with a calm authority that became him well,
+notwithstanding that his years scarcely exceeded her own. "Miss Langton,"
+he inquired, "what do you here at such an hour, and with such a
+companion?"
+
+Ellen was sufficiently displeased at what she deemed the unauthorized
+intrusion of Fanshawe in her affairs; but his imposing manner and her own
+confusion prevented her from replying.
+
+"Permit me to lead you to the house," he continued, in the words of a
+request, but in the tone of a command. "The dew hangs dank and heavy on
+these branches; and a longer stay would be more dangerous than you are
+aware."
+
+Ellen would fain have resisted; but though the tears hung as heavy on her
+eyelashes, between shame and anger, as the dew upon the leaves, she felt
+compelled to accept the arm that he offered her. But the stranger, who,
+since Fanshawe's approach, had remained a little apart, now advanced.
+
+"You speak as one in authority, young man," he said. "Have you the means
+of compelling obedience? Does your power extend to men? Or do you rule
+only over simple girls? Miss Langton is under my protection, and, till you
+can bend me to your will, she shall remain so."
+
+Fanshawe turned calmly, and fixed his eyes on the stranger. "Retire, sir,"
+was all he said.
+
+Ellen almost shuddered, as if there were a mysterious and unearthly power
+in Fanshawe's voice; for she saw that the stranger endeavored in vain,
+borne down by the influence of a superior mind, to maintain the boldness
+of look and bearing that seemed natural to him. He at first made a step
+forward, then muttered a few half-audible words; but, quailing at length
+beneath the young man's bright and steady eye, he turned and slowly
+withdrew.
+
+Fanshawe remained silent a moment after his opponent had departed, and,
+when he next spoke, it was in a tone of depression. Ellen observed, also,
+that his countenance had lost its look of pride and authority; and he
+seemed faint and exhausted. The occasion that called forth his energies
+had passed; and they had left him.
+
+"Forgive me, Miss Langton," he said almost humbly, "if my eagerness to
+serve you has led me too far. There is evil in this stranger, more than
+your pure mind can conceive. I know not what has been his errand; but let
+me entreat you to put confidence in those to whose care your father has
+intrusted you. Or if I--or--or Edward Walcott--But I have no right to
+advise you; and your own calm thoughts will guide you best."
+
+He said no more; and, as Ellen did not reply, they reached the house, and
+parted in silence.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+  "The seeds by nature planted
+  Take a deep root in the soil, and though for a time
+  The trenchant share and tearing harrow may
+  Sweep all appearance of them from the surface,
+  Yet with the first warm rains of spring they'll shoot,
+  And with their rankness smother the good grain.
+  Heaven grant, it mayn't be so with him."
+    RICHES.
+
+
+The scene of this tale must now be changed to the little inn, which at
+that period, as at the present, was situated in the vicinity of Harley
+College. The site of the modern establishment is the same with that of the
+ancient; but everything of the latter that had been built by hands has
+gone to decay and been removed, and only the earth beneath and around it
+remains the same. The modern building, a house of two stories, after a
+lapse of twenty years, is yet unfinished. On this account, it has retained
+the appellation of the "New Inn," though, like many who have frequented
+it, it has grown old ere its maturity. Its dingy whiteness, and its
+apparent superfluity of windows (many of them being closed with rough
+boards), give it somewhat of a dreary look, especially in a wet day.
+
+The ancient inn was a house, of which the eaves approached within about
+seven feet of the ground; while the roof, sloping gradually upward, formed
+an angle at several times that height. It was a comfortable and pleasant
+abode to the weary traveller, both in summer and winter; for the frost
+never ventured within the sphere of its huge hearths; and it was protected
+from the heat of the sultry season by three large elms that swept the roof
+with their long branches, and seemed to create a breeze where there was
+not one. The device upon the sign, suspended from one of these trees, was
+a hand holding a long-necked bottle, and was much more appropriate than
+the present unmeaning representation of a black eagle. But it is necessary
+to speak rather more at length of the landlord than of the house over
+which he presided.
+
+Hugh Crombie was one for whom most of the wise men, who considered the
+course of his early years, had predicted the gallows as an end before he
+should arrive at middle age. That these prophets of ill had been deceived
+was evident from the fact that the doomed man had now passed the fortieth
+year, and was in more prosperous circumstances than most of those who had
+wagged their tongues against him. Yet the failure of their forebodings was
+more remarkable than their fulfilment would have been.
+
+He had been distinguished, almost from his earliest infancy, by those
+precocious accomplishments, which, because they consist in an imitation of
+the vices and follies of maturity, render a boy the favorite plaything of
+men. He seemed to have received from nature the convivial talents, which,
+whether natural or acquired, are a most dangerous possession; and, before
+his twelfth year, he was the welcome associate of all the idle and
+dissipated of his neighborhood, and especially of those who haunted the
+tavern of which he had now become the landlord. Under this course of
+education, Hugh Crombie grew to youth and manhood; and the lovers of good
+words could only say in his favor, that he was a greater enemy to himself
+than to any one else, and that, if he should reform, few would have a
+better chance of prosperity than he.
+
+The former clause of this modicum of praise (if praise it may be termed)
+was indisputable; but it may be doubted, whether, under any circumstances
+where his success depended on his own exertions, Hugh would have made his
+way well through the world. He was one of those unfortunate persons, who,
+instead of being perfect in any single art or occupation, are superficial
+in many, and who are supposed to possess a larger share of talent than
+other men, because it consists of numerous scraps, instead of a single
+mass. He was partially acquainted with most of the manual arts that gave
+bread to others; but not one of them, nor all of them, would give bread to
+him. By some fatality, the only two of his multifarious accomplishments in
+which his excellence was generally conceded were both calculated to keep
+him poor rather than to make him rich. He was a musician and a poet.
+There are yet remaining in that portion of the country many ballads and
+songs,--set to their own peculiar tunes,--the authorship of which is
+attributed to him. In general, his productions were upon subjects of local
+and temporary interest, and would consequently require a bulk of
+explanatory notes to render them interesting or intelligible to the world
+at large. A considerable proportion of the remainder are Anacreontics;
+though, in their construction, Hugh Crombie imitated neither the Teian nor
+any other bard. These latter have generally a coarseness and sensuality
+intolerable to minds even of no very fastidious delicacy. But there are
+two or three simple little songs, into which a feeling and a natural
+pathos have found their way, that still retain their influence over the
+heart. These, after two or three centuries, may perhaps be precious to the
+collectors of our early poetry. At any rate, Hugh Crombie's effusions,
+tavern-haunter and vagrant though he was, have gained a continuance of
+fame (confined, indeed, to a narrow section of the country), which many
+who called themselves poets then, and would have scorned such a brother,
+have failed to equal.
+
+During the long winter evenings, when the farmers were idle round their
+hearths, Hugh was a courted guest; for none could while away the hours
+more skilfully than he. The winter, therefore, was his season of
+prosperity; in which respect he differed from the butterflies and useless
+insects, to which he otherwise bore a resemblance. During the cold months,
+a very desirable alteration for the better appeared in his outward man.
+His cheeks were plump and sanguine; his eyes bright and cheerful; and the
+tip of his nose glowed with a Bardolphian fire,--a flame, indeed, which
+Hugh was so far a vestal as to supply with its necessary fuel at all
+seasons of the year. But, as the spring advanced, he assumed a lean and
+sallow look, wilting and fading in the sunshine that brought life and joy
+to every animal and vegetable except himself. His winter patrons eyed him
+with an austere regard; and some even practised upon him the modern and
+fashionable courtesy of the "cut direct."
+
+Yet, after all, there was good, or something that Nature intended to be
+so, in the poor outcast,--some lovely flowers, the sweeter even for the
+weeds that choked them. An instance of this was his affection for an aged
+father, whose whole support was the broken reed,--his son. Notwithstanding
+his own necessities, Hugh contrived to provide food and raiment for the
+old man: how, it would be difficult to say, and perhaps as well not to
+inquire. He also exhibited traits of sensitiveness to neglect and insult,
+and of gratitude for favors; both of which feelings a course of life like
+his is usually quick to eradicate.
+
+At length the restraint--for such his father had ever been--upon Hugh
+Crombie's conduct was removed by death; and then the wise men and the old
+began to shake their heads; and they who took pleasure in the follies,
+vices, and misfortunes of their fellow-creatures, looked for a speedy
+gratification. They were disappointed, however; for Hugh had apparently
+determined, that, whatever might be his catastrophe, he would meet it
+among strangers, rather than at home. Shortly after his father's death, he
+disappeared altogether from the vicinity; and his name became, in the
+course of years, an unusual sound, where once the lack of other topics of
+interest had given it a considerable degree of notoriety. Sometimes,
+however, when the winter blast was loud round the lonely farm-house, its
+inmates remembered him who had so often chased away the gloom of such an
+hour, and, though with little expectation of its fulfilment, expressed a
+wish to behold him again.
+
+Yet that wish, formed, perhaps, because it appeared so desperate, was
+finally destined to be gratified. One summer evening, about two years
+previous to the period of this tale, a man of sober and staid deportment,
+mounted upon a white horse, arrived at the Hand and Bottle, to which some
+civil or military meeting had chanced, that day, to draw most of the
+inhabitants of the vicinity. The stranger was well though plainly dressed,
+and anywhere but in a retired country town would have attracted no
+particular attention; but here, where a traveller was not of every-day
+occurrence, he was soon surrounded by a little crowd, who, when his eye
+was averted, seized the opportunity diligently to peruse his person. He
+was rather a thickset man, but with no superfluous flesh; his hair was of
+iron-gray; he had a few wrinkles; his face was so deeply sunburnt, that,
+excepting a half-smothered glow on the tip of his nose, a dusky yellow was
+the only apparent hue. As the people gazed, it was observed that the
+elderly men, and the men of substance, gat themselves silently to their
+steeds, and hied homeward with an unusual degree of haste; till at length
+the inn was deserted, except by a few wretched objects to whom it was a
+constant resort. These, instead of retreating, drew closer to the
+traveller, peeping anxiously into his face, and asking, ever and anon, a
+question, in order to discover the tone of his voice. At length, with one
+consent, and as if the recognition had at once burst upon them, they
+hailed their old boon-companion, Hugh Crombie, and, leading him into the
+inn, did him the honor to partake of a cup of welcome at his expense.
+
+But, though Hugh readily acknowledged the not very reputable acquaintances
+who alone acknowledged him, they speedily discovered that he was an
+altered man. He partook with great moderation of the liquor for which he
+was to pay; he declined all their flattering entreaties for one of his old
+songs; and finally, being urged to engage in a game at all-fours, he
+calmly observed, almost in the words of an old clergyman on a like
+occasion, that his principles forbade a profane appeal to the decision by
+lot.
+
+On the next Sabbath Hugh Crombie made his appearance at public worship in
+the chapel of Harley College; and here his outward demeanor was
+unexceptionably serious and devout,--a praise which, on that particular
+occasion, could be bestowed on few besides. From these favorable symptoms,
+the old established prejudices against him began to waver; and as he
+seemed not to need, and to have no intention to ask, the assistance of any
+one, he was soon generally acknowledged by the rich as well as by the
+poor. His account of his past life, and of his intentions for the future,
+was brief, but not unsatisfactory. He said that, since his departure, he
+had been a seafaring man, and that, having acquired sufficient property to
+render him easy in the decline of his days, he had returned to live and
+die in the town of his nativity.
+
+There was one person, and the one whom Hugh was most interested to please,
+who seemed perfectly satisfied of the verity of his reformation. This was
+the landlady of the inn, whom, at his departure, he had left a gay, and,
+even at thirty-five, a rather pretty wife, and whom, on his return, he
+found a widow of fifty, fat, yellow, wrinkled, and a zealous member of the
+church. She, like others, had, at first, cast a cold eye on the wanderer;
+but it shortly became evident to close observers, that a change was at
+work in the pious matron's sentiments respecting her old acquaintance. She
+was now careful to give him his morning dram from her own peculiar bottle,
+to fill his pipe from her private box of Virginia, and to mix for him the
+sleeping-cup in which her late husband had delighted. Of all these
+courtesies Hugh Crombie did partake with a wise and cautious moderation,
+that, while it proved them to be welcome, expressed his fear of
+trespassing on her kindness. For the sake of brevity, it shall suffice to
+say, that, about six weeks after Hugh's return, a writing appeared on one
+of the elm-trees in front of the tavern (where, as the place of greatest
+resort, such notices were usually displayed) setting forth that marriage
+was intended between Hugh Crombie and the Widow Sarah Hutchins. And the
+ceremony, which made Hugh a landholder, a householder, and a substantial
+man, in due time took place.
+
+As a landlord, his general conduct was very praiseworthy. He was moderate
+in his charges, and attentive to his guests; he allowed no gross and
+evident disorders in his house, and practised none himself; he was kind
+and charitable to such as needed food and lodging, and had not wherewithal
+to pay,--for with these his experience had doubtless given him a
+fellow-feeling. He was also sufficiently attentive to his wife; though
+it must be acknowledged that the religious zeal which had had a
+considerable influence in gaining her affections grew, by no moderate
+degrees, less fervent. It was whispered, too, that the new landlord could,
+when time, place, and company were to his mind, upraise a song as merrily,
+and drink a glass as jollily, as in the days of yore. These were the
+weightiest charges that could now be brought against him; and wise men
+thought, that, whatever might have been the evil of his past life, he
+had returned with a desire (which years of vice, if they do not sometimes
+produce, do not always destroy) of being honest, if opportunity should
+offer; and Hugh had certainly a fair one.
+
+On the afternoon previous to the events related in the last chapter, the
+personage whose introduction to the reader has occupied so large a space
+was seated under one of the elms in front of his dwelling. The bench which
+now sustained him, and on which were carved the names of many former
+occupants, was Hugh Crombie's favorite lounging-place, unless when his
+attentions were required by his guests. No demand had that day been made
+upon the hospitality of the Hand and Bottle; and the landlord was just
+then murmuring at the unfrequency of employment. The slenderness of his
+profits, indeed, were no part of his concern; for the Widow Hutchins's
+chief income was drawn from her farm, nor was Hugh ever miserly inclined.
+But his education and habits had made him delight in the atmosphere of the
+inn, and in the society of those who frequented it; and of this species of
+enjoyment his present situation certainly did not afford an overplus.
+
+Yet had Hugh Crombie an enviable appearance of indolence and ease, as he
+sat under the old tree, polluting the sweet air with his pipe, and taking
+occasional draughts from a brown jug that stood near at hand. The basis of
+the potation contained in this vessel was harsh old cider, from the
+widow's own orchard; but its coldness and acidity were rendered innocuous
+by a due proportion of yet older brandy. The result of this mixture was
+extremely felicitous, pleasant to the taste, and producing a tingling
+sensation on the coats of the stomach, uncommonly delectable to so old a
+toper as Hugh.
+
+The landlord cast his eye, ever and anon, along the road that led down the
+valley in the direction of the village: and at last, when the sun was
+wearing west-ward, he discovered the approach of a horseman. He
+immediately replenished his pipe, took a long draught from the brown jug,
+summoned the ragged youth who officiated in most of the subordinate
+departments of the inn, and who was now to act as hostler, and then
+prepared himself for confabulation with his guest.
+
+"He comes from the sea-coast," said Hugh to himself, as the traveller
+emerged into open view on the level road. "He is two days in advance of
+the post, with its news of a fortnight old. Pray Heaven he prove
+communicative!" Then, as the stranger drew nigher, "One would judge that
+his dark face had seen as hot a sun as mine. He has felt the burning
+breeze of the Indies, East and West, I warrant him. Ah, I see we shall
+send away the evening merrily! Not a penny shall come out of his
+purse,--that is, if his tongue runs glibly. Just the man I was praying
+for--Now may the Devil take me if he is!" interrupted Hugh, in accents
+of alarm, and starting from his seat. He composed his countenance,
+however, with the power that long habit and necessity had given him
+over his emotions, and again settled himself quietly on the bench.
+
+The traveller, coming on at a moderate pace, alighted, and gave his horse
+to the ragged hostler. He then advanced towards the door near which Hugh
+was seated, whose agitation was manifested by no perceptible sign, except
+by the shorter and more frequent puffs with which he plied his pipe. Their
+eyes did not meet till just as the stranger was about to enter, when he
+started apparently with a surprise and alarm similar to those of Hugh
+Crombie. He recovered himself, however, sufficiently to return the nod of
+recognition with which he was favored, and immediately entered the house,
+the landlord following.
+
+"This way, if you please, sir," said Hugh. "You will find this apartment
+cool and retired."
+
+He ushered his guest into a small room the windows of which were darkened
+by the creeping plants that clustered round them. Entering, and closing
+the door, the two gazed at each other a little space without speaking. The
+traveller first broke silence.
+
+"Then this is your living self, Hugh Crombie?" he said. The landlord
+extended his hand as a practical reply to the question. The stranger took
+it, though with no especial appearance of cordiality.
+
+"Ay, this seems to be flesh and blood," he said, in the tone of one who
+would willingly have found it otherwise. "And how happens this, friend
+Hugh? I little thought to meet you again in this life. When I last heard
+from you, your prayers were said, and you were bound for a better world."
+
+"There would have been small danger of your meeting me there," observed
+the landlord, dryly.
+
+"It is an unquestionable truth, Hugh," replied the traveller. "For which
+reason I regret that your voyage was delayed."
+
+"Nay, that is a hard word to bestow on your old comrade," said Hugh
+Crombie. "The world is wide enough for both of us; and why should you wish
+me out of it?"
+
+"Wide as it is," rejoined the stranger, "we have stumbled against each
+other,--to the pleasure of neither of us, if I may judge from your
+countenance. Methinks I am not a welcome guest at Hugh Crombie's inn."
+
+"Your welcome must depend on the cause of your coming, and the length of
+your stay," replied the landlord.
+
+"And what if I come to settle down among these quiet hills where I was
+born?" inquired the other. "What if I, too, am weary of the life we have
+led,--or afraid, perhaps, that it will come to too speedy an end? Shall I
+have your good word, Hugh, to set me up in an honest way of life? Or will
+you make me a partner in your trade, since you know my qualifications? A
+pretty pair of publicans should we be; and the quart pot would have little
+rest between us."
+
+"It may be as well to replenish it now," observed Hugh, stepping to the
+door of the room, and giving orders accordingly. "A meeting between old
+friends should never be dry. But for the partnership, it is a matter in
+which you must excuse me. Heaven knows I find it hard enough to be honest,
+with no tempter but the Devil and my own thoughts; and, if I have you also
+to contend with, there is little hope of me."
+
+"Nay, that is true. Your good resolutions were always like cobwebs, and
+your evil habits like five-inch cables," replied the traveller. "I am to
+understand, then, that you refuse my offer?"
+
+"Not only that; but, if you have chosen this valley as your place of rest,
+Dame Crombie and I must look through the world for another. But hush! here
+comes the wine."
+
+The hostler, in the performance of another part of his duty, now appeared,
+bearing a measure of the liquor that Hugh had ordered. The wine of that
+period, owing to the comparative lowness of the duties, was of more
+moderate price than in the mother-country, and of purer and better quality
+than at the present day.
+
+"The stuff is well chosen, Hugh," observed the guest, after a draught
+large enough to authorize an opinion. "You have most of the requisites for
+your present station; and I should be sorry to draw you from it. I trust
+there will be no need."
+
+"Yet you have a purpose in your journey hither," observed his comrade.
+
+"Yes; and you would fain be informed of it," replied the traveller. He
+arose, and walked once or twice across the room; then, seeming to have
+taken his resolution, he paused, and fixed his eye steadfastly on Hugh
+Crombie. "I could wish, my old acquaintance," he said, "that your lot had
+been cast anywhere rather than here. Yet, if you choose it, you may do me
+a good office, and one that shall meet with a good reward. Can I trust
+you?"
+
+"My secrecy, you can," answered the host, "but nothing further. I know the
+nature of your plans, and whither they would lead me, too well to engage
+in them. To say the truth, since it concerns not me, I have little desire
+to hear your secret."
+
+"And I as little to tell it, I do assure you," rejoined the guest. "I have
+always loved to manage my affairs myself, and to keep them to myself. It
+is a good rule; but it must sometimes be broken. And now, Hugh, how is it
+that you have become possessed of this comfortable dwelling and of these
+pleasant fields?"
+
+"By my marriage with the Widow Sarah Hutchins," replied Hugh Crombie,
+staring at a question which seemed to have little reference to the present
+topic of conversation.
+
+"It is a most excellent method of becoming a man of substance," continued
+the traveller; "attended with little trouble, and honest withal."
+
+"Why, as to the trouble," said the landlord, "it follows such a bargain,
+instead of going before it. And for honesty,--I do not recollect that I
+have gained a penny more honestly these twenty years."
+
+"I can swear to that," observed his comrade. "Well, mine host, I entirely
+approve of your doings, and, moreover, have resolved to prosper after the
+same fashion myself."
+
+"If that be the commodity you seek," replied Hugh Crombie, "you will find
+none here to your mind. We have widows in plenty, it is true; but most of
+them have children, and few have houses and lands. But now to be
+serious,--and there has been something serious in your eye all this
+while,--what is your purpose in coming hither? You are not safe here.
+Your name has had a wider spread than mine, and, if discovered, it will
+go hard with you."
+
+"But who would know me now?" asked the guest.
+
+"Few, few indeed!" replied the landlord, gazing at the dark features of
+his companion, where hardship, peril, and dissipation had each left their
+traces. "No, you are not like the slender boy of fifteen, who stood on the
+hill by moonlight to take a last look at his father's cottage. There were
+tears in your eyes then; and, as often as I remember them, I repent that I
+did not turn you back, instead of leading you on."
+
+"Tears, were there? Well, there have been few enough since," said his
+comrade, pressing his eyelids firmly together, as if even then tempted to
+give way to the weakness that he scorned. "And, for turning me back, Hugh,
+it was beyond your power. I had taken my resolution, and you did but show
+me the way to execute it."
+
+"You have not inquired after those you left behind," observed Hugh
+Crombie.
+
+"No--no; nor will I have aught of them," exclaimed the traveller, starting
+from his seat, and pacing rapidly across the room. "My father, I know, is
+dead, and I have forgiven him. My mother--what could I hear of her but
+misery? I will hear nothing."
+
+"You must have passed the cottage as you rode hitherward," said Hugh. "How
+could you forbear to enter?"
+
+"I did not see it," he replied. "I closed my eyes, and turned away my
+head."
+
+"Oh, if I had had a mother, a loving mother! if there had been one being
+in the world that loved me, or cared for me, I should not have become an
+utter castaway," exclaimed Hugh Crombie.
+
+The landlord's pathos, like all pathos that flows from the winecup, was
+sufficiently ridiculous; and his companion, who had already overcome his
+own brief feelings of sorrow and remorse, now laughed aloud.
+
+"Come, come, mine host of the Hand and Bottle," he cried in his usual
+hard, sarcastic tone; "be a man as much as in you lies. You had always a
+foolish trick of repentance; but, as I remember, it was commonly of a
+morning, before you had swallowed your first dram. And now, Hugh, fill the
+quart pot again, and we will to business."
+
+When the landlord had complied with the wishes of his guest, the latter
+resumed in a lower tone than that of his ordinary conversation,--"There is
+a young lady lately become a resident hereabouts. Perhaps you can guess
+her name; for you have a quick apprehension in these matters."
+
+"A young lady?" repeated Hugh Crombie. "And what is your concern with her?
+Do you mean Ellen Langton, daughter of the old merchant Langton, whom you
+have some cause to remember?"
+
+"I do remember him; but he is where he will speedily be forgotten,"
+answered the traveller. "And this girl,--I know your eye has been upon
+her, Hugh,--describe her to me."
+
+"Describe her!" exclaimed Hugh with much animation. "It is impossible in
+prose; but you shall have her very picture in a verse of one of my own
+songs."
+
+"Nay, mine host, I beseech you to spare me. This is no time for
+quavering," said the guest. "However, I am proud of your approbation, my
+old friend; for this young lady do I intend to take to wife. What think
+you of the plan?"
+
+Hugh Crombie gazed into his companion's face for the space of a moment, in
+silence. There was nothing in its expression that looked like a jest. It
+still retained the same hard, cold look, that, except when Hugh had
+alluded to his home and family, it had worn through their whole
+conversation.
+
+"On my word, comrade!" he at length replied, "my advice is, that you give
+over your application to the quart pot, and refresh your brain by a short
+nap. And yet your eye is cool and steady. What is the meaning of this?"
+
+"Listen, and you shall know," said the guest. "The old man, her father, is
+in his grave."
+
+"Not a bloody grave, I trust," interrupted the landlord, starting, and
+looking fearfully into his comrade's face.
+
+"No, a watery one," he replied calmly. "You see, Hugh, I am a better man
+than you took me for. The old man's blood is not on my head, though my
+wrongs are on his. Now listen: he had no heir but this only daughter; and
+to her, and to the man she marries, all his wealth will belong. She shall
+marry me. Think you her father will rest easy in the ocean, Hugh Crombie,
+when I am his son-in-law?"
+
+"No, he will rise up to prevent it, if need be," answered the landlord.
+"But the dead need not interpose to frustrate so wild a scheme."
+
+"I understand you," said his comrade. "You are of opinion that the young
+lady's consent may not be so soon won as asked. Fear not for that, mine
+host. I have a winning way with me, when opportunity serves; and it shall
+serve with Ellen Langton. I will have no rivals in my wooing."
+
+"Your intention, if I take it rightly, is to get this poor girl into your
+power, and then to force her into a marriage," said Hugh Crombie.
+
+"It is; and I think I possess the means of doing it," replied his comrade.
+"But methinks, friend Hugh, my enterprise has not your good wishes."
+
+"No; and I pray you to give it over," said Hugh Crombie, very earnestly.
+"The girl is young, lovely, and as good as she is fair. I cannot aid in
+her ruin. Nay, more: I must prevent it."
+
+"Prevent it!" exclaimed the traveller, with a darkening countenance.
+"Think twice before you stir in this matter, I advise you. Ruin, do you
+say? Does a girl call it ruin to be made an honest wedded wife? No, no,
+mine host! nor does a widow either, else have you much to answer for."
+
+"I gave the Widow Hutchins fair play, at least, which is more than poor
+Ellen is like to get," observed the landlord. "My old comrade, will you
+not give up this scheme?"
+
+"My old comrade, I will not give up this scheme," returned the other,
+composedly. "Why, Hugh, what has come over you since we last met? Have we
+not done twenty worse deeds of a morning, and laughed over them at night?"
+
+"He is right there," said Hugh Crombie, in a meditative tone. "Of a
+certainty, my conscience has grown unreasonably tender within the last two
+years. This one small sin, if I were to aid in it, would add but a trifle
+to the sum of mine. But then the poor girl!"
+
+His companion overheard him thus communing with himself, and having had
+much former experience of his infirmity of purpose, doubted not that he
+should bend him to his will. In fact, his arguments were so effectual,
+that Hugh at length, though reluctantly, promised his cooperation. It was
+necessary that their motions should be speedy; for on the second day
+thereafter, the arrival of the post would bring intelligence of the
+shipwreck by which Mr. Langton had perished.
+
+"And after the deed is done," said the landlord, "I beseech you never to
+cross my path again. There have been more wicked thoughts in my head
+within the last hour than for the whole two years that I have been an
+honest man."
+
+"What a saint art thou become, Hugh!" said his comrade. "But fear not that
+we shall meet again. When I leave this valley, it will be to enter it no
+more."
+
+"And there is little danger that any other who has known me will chance
+upon me here," observed Hugh Crombie. "Our trade was unfavorable to
+length of days, and I suppose most of our old comrades have arrived at the
+end of theirs."
+
+"One whom you knew well is nearer to you than you think," answered the
+traveller; "for I did not travel hitherward entirely alone."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+  "A naughty night to swim in."--SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+The evening of the day succeeding the adventure of the angler was dark
+and tempestuous. The rain descended almost in a continuous sheet; and
+occasional powerful gusts of wind drove it hard against the northeastern
+windows of Hugh Crombie's inn. But at least one apartment of the interior
+presented a scene of comfort and of apparent enjoyment, the more
+delightful from its contrast with the elemental fury that raged without. A
+fire, which the dullness of the evening, though a summer one, made
+necessary, was burning brightly on the hearth; and in front was placed a
+small round table, sustaining wine and glasses. One of the guests for whom
+these preparations had been made was Edward Walcott; the other was a shy,
+awkward young man, distinguished, by the union of classic and rural dress,
+as having but lately become a student of Harley College. He seemed little
+at his ease, probably from a consciousness that he was on forbidden
+ground, and that the wine, of which he nevertheless swallowed a larger
+share than his companion, was an unlawful draught.
+
+In the catalogue of crimes provided against by the laws of Harley College,
+that of tavern-haunting was one of the principal. The secluded situation
+of the seminary, indeed, gave its scholars but a very limited choice of
+vices; and this was, therefore, the usual channel by which the wildness of
+youth discharged itself. Edward Walcott, though naturally temperate, had
+been not an unfrequent offender in this respect, for which a superfluity
+both of time and money might plead some excuse. But, since his
+acquaintance with Ellen Langton, he had rarely entered Hugh Crombie's
+doors; and an interruption in that acquaintance was the cause of his
+present appearance there.
+
+Edward's jealous pride had been considerably touched on Ellen's compliance
+with the request of the angler. He had, by degrees, imperceptible perhaps
+to himself, assumed the right of feeling displeased with her conduct; and
+she had, as imperceptibly, accustomed herself to consider what would be
+his wishes, and to act accordingly. He would, indeed, in no contingency
+have ventured an open remonstrance; and such a proceeding would have been
+attended by a result the reverse of what he desired. But there existed
+between them a silent compact (acknowledged perhaps by neither, but felt
+by both), according to which they had regulated the latter part of their
+intercourse. Their lips had yet spoken no word of love; but some of love's
+rights and privileges had been assumed on the one side, and at least not
+disallowed on the other.
+
+Edward's penetration had been sufficiently quick to discover that there
+was a mystery about the angler, that there must have been a cause for the
+blush that rose so proudly on Ellen's cheek; and his Quixotism had been
+not a little mortified, because she did not immediately appeal to his
+protection. He had, however, paid his usual visit the next day at Dr.
+Melmoth's, expecting that, by a smile of more than common brightness, she
+would make amends to his wounded feelings; such having been her usual mode
+of reparation in the few instances of disagreement that had occurred
+between them. But he was disappointed. He found her cold, silent, and
+abstracted, inattentive when he spoke, and indisposed to speak herself.
+Her eye was sedulously averted from his; and the casual meeting of their
+glances only proved that there were feelings in her bosom which he did not
+share. He was unable to account for this change in her deportment; and,
+added to his previous conceptions of his wrongs, it produced an effect
+upon his rather hasty temper, that might have manifested itself violently,
+but for the presence of Mrs. Melmoth. He took his leave in very evident
+displeasure; but, just as he closed the door, he noticed an expression in
+Ellen's countenance, that, had they been alone, and had not he been quite
+so proud, would have drawn him down to her feet. Their eyes met, when,
+suddenly, there was a gush of tears into those of Ellen; and a deep
+sadness, almost despair, spread itself over her features. He paused a
+moment, and then went his way, equally unable to account for her coldness,
+or for her grief. He was well aware, however, that his situation in
+respect to her was unaccountably changed,--a conviction so disagreeable,
+that, but for a hope that is latent even in the despair of youthful
+hearts, he would have been sorely tempted to shoot himself.
+
+The gloom of his thoughts--a mood of mind the more intolerable to him,
+because so unusual--had driven him to Hugh Crombie's inn in search of
+artificial excitement. But even the wine had no attractions; and his first
+glass stood now almost untouched before him, while he gazed in heavy
+thought into the glowing embers of the fire. His companion perceived his
+melancholy, and essayed to dispel it by a choice of such topics of
+conversation as he conceived would be most agreeable.
+
+"There is a lady in the house," he observed. "I caught a glimpse of her in
+the passage as we came in. Did you see her, Edward?"
+
+"A lady!" repeated Edward, carelessly. "What know you of ladies? No, I did
+not see her; but I will venture to say that it was Dame Crombie's self,
+and no other."
+
+"Well, perhaps it might," said the other, doubtingly. "Her head was turned
+from me, and she was gone like a shadow."
+
+"Dame Crombie is no shadow, and never vanishes like one," resumed Edward.
+"You have mistaken the slipshod servant-girl for a lady."
+
+"Ay; but she had a white hand, a small white hand," said the student,
+piqued at Edward's contemptuous opinion of his powers of observation; "as
+white as Ellen Langton's." He paused; for the lover was offended by the
+profanity of the comparison, as was made evident by the blood that rushed
+to his brow.
+
+"We will appeal to the landlord," said Edward, recovering his equanimity,
+and turning to Hugh, who just then entered the room. "Who is this angel,
+mine host, that has taken up her abode in the Hand and Bottle?"
+
+Hugh cast a quick glance from one to another before he answered, "I keep
+no angels here, gentlemen. Dame Crombie would make the house anything but
+heaven for them and me."
+
+"And yet Glover has seen a vision in the passage-way,--a lady with a small
+white hand."
+
+"Ah, I understand! A slight mistake of the young gentleman's," said Hugh,
+with the air of one who could perfectly account for the mystery. "Our
+passageway is dark; or perhaps the light had dazzled his eyes. It was the
+Widow Fowler's daughter, that came to borrow a pipe of tobacco for her
+mother. By the same token, she put it into her own sweet mouth, and puffed
+as she went along."
+
+"But the white hand," said Glover, only half convinced.
+
+"Nay, I know not," answered Hugh. "But her hand was at least as white as
+her face: that I can swear. Well, gentlemen, I trust you find everything
+in my house to your satisfaction. When the fire needs renewing, or the
+wine runs low, be pleased to tap on the table. I shall appear with the
+speed of a sunbeam."
+
+After the departure of the landlord, the conversation of the young men
+amounted to little more than monosyllables. Edward Walcott was wrapped in
+his own contemplations; and his companion was in a half-slumberous state,
+from which he started every quarter of an hour, at the chiming of the
+clock that stood in a corner. The fire died gradually away; the lamps
+began to burn dim; and Glover, rousing himself from one of his periodical
+slumbers, was about to propose a return to their chambers. He was
+prevented, however, by the approach of footsteps along the passageway; and
+Hugh Crombie, opening the door, ushered a person into the room, and
+retired.
+
+The new-comer was Fanshawe. The water that poured plentifully from his
+cloak evinced that he had but just arrived at the inn; but, whatever was
+his object, he seemed not to have attained it in meeting with the young
+men. He paused near the door, as if meditating whether to retire.
+
+"My intrusion is altogether owing to a mistake, either of the landlord's
+or mine," he said. "I came hither to seek another person; but, as I could
+not mention his name, my inquiries were rather vague."
+
+"I thank Heaven for the chance that sent you to us," replied Edward,
+rousing himself. "Glover is wretched company; and a duller evening have I
+never spent. We will renew our fire and our wine, and you must sit down
+with us. And for the man you seek," he continued in a whisper, "he left
+the inn within a half-hour after we encountered him. I inquired of Hugh
+Crombie last night."
+
+Fanshawe did not express his doubts of the correctness of the information
+on which Edward seemed to rely. Laying aside his cloak, he accepted his
+invitation to make one of the party, and sat down by the fireside.
+
+The aspect of the evening now gradually changed. A strange wild glee
+spread from one to another of the party, which, much to the surprise of
+his companions, began with and was communicated from, Fanshawe. He seemed
+to overflow with conceptions inimitably ludicrous, but so singular, that,
+till his hearers had imbibed a portion of his own spirit, they could only
+wonder at, instead of enjoying them. His applications to the wine were
+very unfrequent; yet his conversation was such as one might expect from a
+bottle of champagne endowed by a fairy with the gift of speech. The secret
+of this strange mirth lay in the troubled state of his spirits, which,
+like the vexed ocean at midnight (if the simile be not too magnificent),
+tossed forth a mysterious brightness. The undefined apprehensions that had
+drawn him to the inn still distracted his mind; but, mixed with them,
+there was a sort of joy not easily to be described. By degrees, and by the
+assistance of the wine, the inspiration spread, each one contributing such
+a quantity, and such quality of wit and whim, as was proportioned to his
+genius; but each one, and all, displaying a greater share of both than
+they had ever been suspected of possessing.
+
+At length, however, there was a pause,--the deep pause of flagging
+spirits, that always follows mirth and wine. No one would have believed,
+on beholding the pensive faces, and hearing the involuntary sighs of the
+party, that from these, but a moment before, had arisen so loud and wild a
+laugh. During this interval Edward Walcott (who was the poet of his class)
+volunteered the following song, which, from its want of polish, and from
+its application to his present feelings, might charitably be taken for an
+extemporaneous production:--
+
+  The wine is bright, the wine is bright;
+    And gay the drinkers be:
+  Of all that drain the bowl to-night,
+    Most jollily drain we.
+  Oh, could one search the weary earth,--
+    The earth from sea to sea,--
+  He'd turn and mingle in our mirth;
+    For we're the merriest three.
+
+  Yet there are cares, oh, heavy cares!
+    We know that they are nigh:
+  When forth each lonely drinker fares,
+    Mark then his altered eye.
+  Care comes upon us when the jest
+    And frantic laughter die;
+  And care will watch the parting guest--
+    Oh late, then let us fly!
+
+Hugh Crombie, whose early love of song and minstrelsy was still alive, had
+entered the room at the sound of Edward's voice, in sufficient time to
+accompany the second stanza on the violin. He now, with the air of one who
+was entitled to judge in these matters, expressed his opinion of the
+performance.
+
+"Really, Master Walcott, I was not prepared for this," he said in the tone
+of condescending praise that a great man uses to his inferior when he
+chooses to overwhelm him with excess of joy. "Very well, indeed, young
+gentleman! Some of the lines, it is true, seem to have been dragged in by
+the head and shoulders; but I could scarcely have done much better myself
+at your age. With practice, and with such instruction as I might afford
+you, I should have little doubt of your becoming a distinguished poet. A
+great defect in your seminary, gentlemen,--the want of due cultivation in
+this heavenly art."
+
+"Perhaps, sir," said Edward, with much gravity, "you might yourself be
+prevailed upon to accept the professorship of poetry?"
+
+"Why, such an offer would require consideration," replied the landlord.
+"Professor Hugh Crombie of Harley College: it has a good sound, assuredly.
+But I am a public man, Master Walcott; and the public would be loath to
+spare me from my present office."
+
+"Will Professor Crombie favor us with a specimen of his productions?"
+inquired Edward.
+
+"Ahem, I shall be happy to gratify you, young gentleman," answered Hugh.
+"It is seldom, in this rude country, Master Walcott, that we meet with
+kindred genius; and the opportunity should never be thrown away."
+
+Thus saying, he took a heavy draught of the liquor by which he was usually
+inspired, and the praises of which were the prevailing subject of his
+song; then, after much hemming, thrumming, and prelusion, and with many
+queer gestures and gesticulations, he began to effuse a lyric in the
+following fashion:--
+
+  I've been a jolly drinker this five-and-twenty year,
+  And still a jolly drinker, my friends, you see me here:
+  I sing the joys of drinking; bear a chorus, every man,
+  With pint pot and quart pot and clattering of can.
+
+The sense of the professor's first stanza was not in exact proportion to
+the sound; but, being executed with great spirit, it attracted universal
+applause. This Hugh appropriated with a condescending bow and smile; and,
+making a signal for silence, he went on,--
+
+  King Solomon of old, boys (a jolly king was he),--
+
+But here he was interrupted by a clapping of hands, that seemed a
+continuance of the applause bestowed on his former stanza. Hugh Crombie,
+who, as is the custom of many great performers, usually sang with his eyes
+shut, now opened them, intending gently to rebuke his auditors for their
+unseasonable expression of delight. He immediately perceived, however,
+that the fault was to be attributed to neither of the three young men;
+and, following the direction of their eyes, he saw near the door, in the
+dim background of the apartment, a figure in a cloak. The hat was flapped
+forward, the cloak muffled round the lower part of the face; and only the
+eyes were visible.
+
+The party gazed a moment in silence, and then rushed _en masse_ upon
+the intruder, the landlord bringing up the rear, and sounding a charge
+upon his fiddle. But, as they drew nigh, the black cloak began to assume a
+familiar look; the hat, also, was an old acquaintance; and, these being
+removed, from beneath them shone forth the reverend face and form of Dr.
+Melmoth.
+
+The president, in his quality of clergyman, had, late in the preceding
+afternoon, been called to visit an aged female who was supposed to be at
+the point of death. Her habitation was at the distance of several miles
+from Harley College; so that it was nightfall before Dr. Melmoth stood at
+her bedside. His stay had been lengthened beyond his anticipation, on
+account of the frame of mind in which he found the dying woman; and, after
+essaying to impart the comforts of religion to her disturbed intellect, he
+had waited for the abatement of the storm that had arisen while he was
+thus engaged. As the evening advanced, however, the rain poured down in
+undiminished cataracts; and the doctor, trusting to the prudence and
+sure-footedness of his steed, had at length set forth on his return. The
+darkness of the night, and the roughness of the road, might have appalled
+him, even had his horsemanship and his courage been more considerable than
+they were; but by the special protection of Providence, as he reasonably
+supposed (for he was a good man, and on a good errand), he arrived safely
+as far as Hugh Crombie's inn. Dr. Melmoth had no intention of making a
+stay there; but, as the road passed within a very short distance, he saw
+lights in the windows, and heard the sound of song and revelry. It
+immediately occurred to him, that these midnight rioters were, probably,
+some of the young men of his charge; and he was impelled, by a sense of
+duty, to enter and disperse them. Directed by the voices, he found his
+way, with some difficulty, to the apartment, just as Hugh concluded his
+first stanza; and, amidst the subsequent applause, his entrance had been
+un-perceived.
+
+There was a silence of a moment's continuance after the discovery of Dr.
+Melmoth, during which he attempted to clothe his round, good-natured face
+in a look of awful dignity. But, in spite of himself, there was a little
+twisting of the corners of his mouth, and a smothered gleam in his eye.
+
+"This has, apparently, been a very merry meeting, young gentlemen," he at
+length said; "but I fear my presence has cast a damp upon it."
+
+"Oh yes! your reverence's cloak is wet enough to cast a damp upon
+anything," exclaimed Hugh Crombie, assuming a look of tender anxiety. "The
+young gentlemen are affrighted for your valuable life. Fear deprives them
+of utterance: permit me to relieve you of these dangerous garments."
+
+"Trouble not yourself, honest man," replied the doctor, who was one of the
+most gullible of mortals. "I trust I am in no danger; my dwelling being
+near at hand. But for these young men"--
+
+"Would your reverence but honor my Sunday suit,--the gray broadcloth coat,
+and the black velvet smallclothes, that have covered my unworthy legs but
+once? Dame Crombie shall have them ready in a moment," continued Hugh,
+beginning to divest the doctor of his garments.
+
+"I pray you to appease your anxiety," cried Dr. Melmoth, retaining a firm
+hold on such parts of his dress as yet remained to him. "Fear not for my
+health. I will but speak a word to those misguided youth, and be gone."
+
+"Misguided youth, did your reverence say?" echoed Hugh, in a tone of utter
+astonishment. "Never were they better guided than when they entered my
+poor house. Oh, had your reverence but seen them, when I heard their
+cries, and rushed forth to their assistance. Dripping with wet were they,
+like three drowned men at the resurrec--Ahem!" interrupted Hugh,
+recollecting that the comparison he meditated might not suit the doctor's
+ideas of propriety.
+
+"But why were they abroad on such a night?" inquired the president.
+
+"Ah! doctor, you little know the love these good young gentlemen bear for
+you," replied the landlord. "Your absence, your long absence, had alarmed
+them; and they rushed forth through the rain and darkness to seek you."
+
+"And was this indeed so?" asked the doctor, in a softened tone, and
+casting a tender and grateful look upon the three students. They, it is
+but justice to mention, had simultaneously made a step forward in order to
+contradict the egregious falsehoods of which Hugh's fancy was so fertile;
+but he assumed an expression of such ludicrous entreaty, that it was
+irresistible.
+
+"But methinks their anxiety was not of long continuance," observed Dr.
+Melmoth, looking at the wine, and remembering the song that his entrance
+had interrupted.
+
+"Ah! your reverence disapproves of the wine, I see," answered Hugh
+Crombie. "I did but offer them a drop to keep the life in their poor young
+hearts. My dame advised strong waters; 'But, Dame Crombie,' says I, 'would
+ye corrupt their youth?' And in my zeal for their good, doctor, I was
+delighting them, just at your entrance, with a pious little melody of my
+own against the sin of drunkenness."
+
+"Truly, I remember something of the kind," observed Dr. Melmoth. "And, as
+I think, it seemed to meet with good acceptance."
+
+"Ay, that it did!" said the landlord. "Will it please your reverence to
+hear it?--
+
+  King Solomon of old, boys (a wise man I'm thinking),
+  Has warned you to beware of the horrid vice of drinking--
+
+"But why talk I of drinking, foolish man that I am! And all this time,
+doctor, you have not sipped a drop of my wine. Now I entreat your
+reverence, as you value your health and the peace and quiet of these
+youth."
+
+Dr. Melmoth drank a glass of wine, with the benevolent intention of
+allaying the anxiety of Hugh Crombie and the students. He then prepared to
+depart; for a strong wind had partially dispersed the clouds, and
+occasioned an interval in the cataract of rain. There was, perhaps, a
+little suspicion yet remaining in the good man's mind respecting the truth
+of the landlord's story: at least, it was his evident intention to see the
+students fairly out of the inn before he quitted it himself. They
+therefore proceeded along the passageway in a body. The lamp that Hugh
+Crombie held but dimly enlightened them; and the number and contiguity of
+the doors caused Dr. Melmoth to lay his hand upon the wrong one.
+
+"Not there, not there, doctor! It is Dame Crombie's bedchamber," shouted
+Hugh, most energetically. "Now Beelzebub defend me!" he muttered to
+himself, perceiving that his exclamation had been a moment too late.
+
+"Heavens! what do I see?" ejaculated Dr. Melmoth, lifting his hands, and
+starting back from the entrance of the room. The three students pressed
+forward; Mrs. Crombie and the servant-girl had been drawn to the spot by
+the sound of Hugh's voice; and all their wondering eyes were fixed on poor
+Ellen Langton.
+
+The apartment in the midst of which she stood was dimly lighted by a
+solitary candle at the farther extremity; but Ellen was exposed to the
+glare of the three lamps, held by Hugh, his wife, and the servant-girl.
+Their combined rays seemed to form a focus exactly at the point where they
+reached her; and the beholders, had any been sufficiently calm, might have
+watched her features in their agitated workings and frequent change of
+expression, as perfectly as by the broad light of day. Terror had at first
+blanched her as white as a lily, or as a marble statue, which for a moment
+she resembled, as she stood motionless in the centre of the room. Shame
+next bore sway; and her blushing countenance, covered by her slender white
+fingers, might fantastically be compared to a variegated rose with its
+alternate stripes of white and red. The next instant, a sense of her pure
+and innocent intentions gave her strength and courage; and her attitude
+and look had now something of pride and dignity. These, however, in their
+turn, gave way; for Edward Walcott pressed forward, and attempted to
+address her.
+
+"Ellen, Ellen!" he said, in an agitated and quivering whisper; but what
+was to follow cannot be known; for his emotion checked his utterance. His
+tone and look, however, again overcame Ellen Langton, and she burst into
+tears. Fanshawe advanced, and took Edward's arm. "She has been deceived,"
+he whispered. "She is innocent: you are unworthy of her if you doubt it."
+
+"Why do you interfere, sir?" demanded Edward, whose passions, thoroughly
+excited, would willingly have wreaked themselves on any one. "What right
+have you to speak of her innocence? Perhaps," he continued, an undefined
+and ridiculous suspicion arising in his mind,--"perhaps you are acquainted
+with her intentions. Perhaps you are the deceiver."
+
+Fanshawe's temper was not naturally of the meekest character; and having
+had a thousand bitter feelings of his own to overcome, before he could
+attempt to console Edward, this rude repulse had almost aroused him to
+fierceness. But his pride, of which a more moderate degree would have had
+a less peaceable effect, came to his assistance; and he turned calmly and
+contemptuously away.
+
+Ellen, in the mean time, had been restored to some degree of composure. To
+this effect, a feeling of pique against Edward Walcott had contributed.
+She had distinguished his voice in the neighboring apartment, had heard
+his mirth and wild laughter, without being aware of the state of feeling
+that produced them. She had supposed that the terms on which they parted
+in the morning (which had been very grievous to herself) would have
+produced a corresponding sadness in him. But while she sat in loneliness
+and in tears, her bosom distracted by a thousand anxieties and sorrows, of
+many of which Edward was the object, his reckless gayety had seemed to
+prove the slight regard in which he held her. After the first outbreak of
+emotion, therefore, she called up her pride (of which, on proper
+occasions, she had a reasonable share), and sustained his upbraiding
+glance with a passive composure, which women have more readily at command
+than men.
+
+Dr. Melmoth's surprise had during this time kept him silent and inactive.
+He gazed alternately from one to another of those who stood around him, as
+if to seek some explanation of so strange an event. But the faces of all
+were as perplexed as his own; even Hugh Crombie had assumed a look of
+speechless wonder,--speechless, because his imagination, prolific as it
+was, could not supply a plausible falsehood.
+
+"Ellen, dearest child," at length said the doctor, "what is the meaning of
+this?"
+
+Ellen endeavored to reply; but, as her composure was merely external, she
+was unable to render her words audible. Fanshawe spoke in a low voice to
+Dr. Melmoth, who appeared grateful for his advice.
+
+"True, it will be the better way," he replied. "My wits are utterly
+confounded, or I should not have remained thus long. Come, my dear child,"
+he continued, advancing to Ellen, and taking her hand, "let us return
+home, and defer the explanation till the morrow. There, there: only dry
+your eyes, and we will say no more about it."
+
+"And that will be your wisest way, old gentleman," muttered Hugh Crombie.
+
+Ellen at first exhibited but little desire, or, rather, an evident
+reluctance, to accompany her guardian. She hung back, while her glance
+passed almost imperceptibly over the faces that gazed so eagerly at her;
+but the one she sought was not visible among them. She had no alternative,
+and suffered herself to be led from the inn.
+
+Edward Walcott alone remained behind, the most wretched being (at least
+such was his own opinion) that breathed the vital air. He felt a sinking
+and sickness of the heart, and alternately a feverish frenzy, neither of
+which his short and cloudless existence had heretofore occasioned him to
+experience. He was jealous of, he knew not whom, and he knew not what. He
+was ungenerous enough to believe that Ellen--his pure and lovely
+Ellen--had degraded herself; though from what motive, or by whose agency,
+he could not conjecture. When Dr. Melmoth had taken her in charge, Edward
+returned to the apartment where he had spent the evening. The wine was
+still upon the table; and, in the desperate hope of stupefying his
+faculties, he unwisely swallowed huge successive draughts. The effect of
+his imprudence was not long in manifesting itself; though insensibility,
+which at another time would have been the result, did not now follow.
+Acting upon his previous agitation, the wine seemed to set his blood in a
+flame; and, for the time being, he was a perfect madman.
+
+A phrenologist would probably have found the organ of destructiveness in
+strong development, just then, upon Edward's cranium; for he certainly
+manifested an impulse to break and destroy whatever chanced to be within
+his reach. He commenced his operations by upsetting the table, and
+breaking the bottles and glasses. Then, seizing a tall heavy chair in each
+hand, he hurled them with prodigious force,--one through the window, and
+the other against a large looking-glass, the most valuable article of
+furniture in Hugh Crombie's inn. The crash and clatter of these outrageous
+proceedings soon brought the master, mistress, and maid-servant to the
+scene of action; but the two latter, at the first sight of Edward's wild
+demeanor and gleaming eyes, retreated with all imaginable expedition. Hugh
+chose a position behind the door, from whence, protruding his head, he
+endeavored to mollify his inebriated guest. His interference, however, had
+nearly been productive of most unfortunate consequences; for a massive
+andiron, with round brazen head, whizzed past him, within a hair's-breadth
+of his ear.
+
+"I might as safely take my chance in a battle," exclaimed Hugh,
+withdrawing his head, and speaking to a man who stood in the passageway.
+"A little twist of his hand to the left would have served my turn as well
+as if I stood in the path of a forty-two pound ball. And here comes
+another broadside," he added, as some other article of furniture rattled
+against the door.
+
+"Let us return his fire, Hugh," said the person whom he addressed,
+composedly lifting the andiron. "He is in want of ammunition: let us send
+him back his own."
+
+The sound of this man's voice produced a most singular effect upon Edward.
+The moment before, his actions had been those of a raving maniac; but,
+when the words struck his ear, he paused, put his hand to his forehead,
+seemed to recollect himself, and finally advanced with a firm and steady
+step. His countenance was dark and angry, but no longer wild.
+
+"I have found you, villain!" he said to the angler. "It is you who have
+done this."
+
+"And, having done it, the wrath of a boy--his drunken wrath--will not
+induce me to deny it," replied the other, scornfully.
+
+"The boy will require a man's satisfaction," returned Edward, "and that
+speedily."
+
+"Will you take it now?" inquired the angler, with a cool, derisive smile,
+and almost in a whisper. At the same time he produced a brace of pistols,
+and held them towards the young man.
+
+"Willingly," answered Edward, taking one of the weapons. "Choose your
+distance."
+
+The angler stepped back a pace; but before their deadly intentions, so
+suddenly conceived, could be executed, Hugh Crombie interposed himself
+between them.
+
+"Do you take my best parlor for the cabin of the Black Andrew, where a
+pistol-shot was a nightly pastime?" he inquired of his comrade. "And you,
+Master Edward, with what sort of a face will you walk into the chapel to
+morning prayers, after putting a ball through this man's head, or
+receiving one through your own? Though, in this last case, you will be
+past praying for, or praying either."
+
+"Stand aside: I will take the risk. Make way, or I will put the ball
+through your own head," exclaimed Edward, fiercely: for the interval of
+rationality that circumstances had produced was again giving way to
+intoxication.
+
+"You see how it is," said Hugh to his companion, unheard by Edward. "You
+shall take a shot at me, sooner than at the poor lad in his present state.
+You have done him harm enough already, and intend him more. I propose," he
+continued aloud, and with a peculiar glance towards the angler, "that this
+affair be decided to-morrow, at nine o'clock, under the old oak, on the
+bank of the stream. In the mean time, I will take charge of these popguns,
+for fear of accidents."
+
+"Well, mine host, be it as you wish," said his comrade. "A shot more or
+less is of little consequence to me." He accordingly delivered his weapon
+to Hugh Crombie and walked carelessly away.
+
+"Come, Master Walcott, the enemy has retreated. Victoria! And now, I see,
+the sooner I get you to your chamber, the better," added he aside; for the
+wine was at last beginning to produce its legitimate effect, in stupefying
+the young man's mental and bodily faculties.
+
+Hugh Crombie's assistance, though not, perhaps, quite indispensable, was
+certainly very convenient to our unfortunate hero, in the course of the
+short walk that brought him to his chamber. When arrived there, and in
+bed, he was soon locked in a sleep scarcely less deep than that of death.
+
+The weather, during the last hour, had appeared to be on the point of
+changing: indeed, there were, every few minutes, most rapid changes. A
+strong breeze sometimes drove the clouds from the brow of heaven, so as to
+disclose a few of the stars; but, immediately after, the darkness would
+again become Egyptian, and the rain rush like a torrent from the sky.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+  "About her neck a packet-mail
+   Fraught with advice, some fresh, some stale,
+   Of men that walked when they were dead."
+      HUDIBRAS.
+
+Scarcely a word had passed between Dr. Melmoth and Ellen Langton, on
+their way home; for, though the former was aware that his duty towards his
+ward would compel him to inquire into the motives of her conduct, the
+tenderness of his heart prompted him to defer the scrutiny to the latest
+moment. The same tenderness induced him to connive at Ellen's stealing
+secretly up to her chamber, unseen by Mrs. Melmoth; to render which
+measure practicable, he opened the house-door very softly, and stood
+before his half-sleeping spouse (who waited his arrival in the parlor)
+without any previous notice. This act of the doctor's benevolence was not
+destitute of heroism; for he was well assured that, should the affair come
+to the lady's knowledge through any other channel, her vengeance would
+descend not less heavily on him for concealing, than on Ellen for
+perpetrating, the elopement. That she had, thus far, no suspicion of the
+fact, was evident from her composure, as well as from the reply to a
+question, which, with more than his usual art, her husband put to her
+respecting the non-appearance of his ward. Mrs. Melmoth answered, that
+Ellen had complained of indisposition, and after drinking, by her
+prescription, a large cup of herb-tea, had retired to her chamber early in
+the evening. Thankful that all was yet safe, the doctor laid his head upon
+his pillow; but, late as was the hour, his many anxious thoughts long
+drove sleep from his eyelids.
+
+The diminution in the quantity of his natural rest did not, however,
+prevent Dr. Melmoth from rising at his usual hour, which at all seasons of
+the year was an early one. He found, on descending to the parlor, that
+breakfast was nearly in readiness; for the lady of the house (and, as a
+corollary, her servant-girl) was not accustomed to await the rising of the
+sun in order to commence her domestic labors. Ellen Langton, however, who
+had heretofore assimilated her habits to those of the family, was this
+morning invisible,--a circumstance imputed by Mrs. Melmoth to her
+indisposition of the preceding evening, and by the doctor, to
+mortification on account of her elopement and its discovery.
+
+"I think I will step into Ellen's bedchamber," said Mrs. Melmoth, "and
+inquire how she feels herself. The morning is delightful after the storm,
+and the air will do her good."
+
+"Had we not better proceed with our breakfast? If the poor child is
+sleeping, it were a pity to disturb her," observed the doctor; for,
+besides his sympathy with Ellen's feelings, he was reluctant, as if he
+were the guilty one, to meet her face.
+
+"Well, be it so. And now sit down, doctor; for the hot cakes are cooling
+fast. I suppose you will say they are not so good as those Ellen made
+yesterday morning. I know not how you will bear to part with her, though
+the thing must soon be."
+
+"It will be a sore trial, doubtless," replied Dr. Melmoth,--"like tearing
+away a branch that is grafted on an old tree. And yet there will be a
+satisfaction in delivering her safe into her father's hands."
+
+"A satisfaction for which you may thank me, doctor," observed the lady.
+"If there had been none but you to look after the poor thing's doings, she
+would have been enticed away long ere this, for the sake of her money."
+
+Dr. Melmoth's prudence could scarcely restrain a smile at the thought that
+an elopement, as he had reason to believe, had been plotted, and partly
+carried into execution, while Ellen was under the sole care of his lady,
+and had been frustrated only by his own despised agency. He was not
+accustomed, however,--nor was this an eligible occasion,--to dispute any
+of Mrs. Melmoth's claims to superior wisdom.
+
+The breakfast proceeded in silence, or, at least, without any conversation
+material to the tale. At its conclusion, Mrs. Melmoth was again meditating
+on the propriety of entering Ellen's chamber; but she was now prevented by
+an incident that always excited much interest both in herself and her
+husband.
+
+This was the entrance of the servant, bearing the letters and newspaper,
+with which, once a fortnight, the mail-carrier journeyed up the valley.
+Dr. Melmoth's situation at the head of a respectable seminary, and his
+character as a scholar, had procured him an extensive correspondence among
+the learned men of his own country; and he had even exchanged epistles
+with one or two of the most distinguished dissenting clergymen of Great
+Britain. But, unless when some fond mother enclosed a one-pound note to
+defray the private expenses of her son at college, it was frequently the
+case that the packets addressed to the doctor were the sole contents of
+the mail-bag. In the present instance, his letters were very numerous,
+and, to judge from the one he chanced first to open, of an unconscionable
+length. While he was engaged in their perusal, Mrs. Melmoth amused herself
+with the newspaper,--a little sheet of about twelve inches square, which
+had but one rival in the country. Commencing with the title, she labored
+on through advertisements old and new, through poetry lamentably deficient
+in rhythm and rhymes, through essays, the ideas of which had been trite
+since the first week of the creation, till she finally arrived at the
+department that, a fortnight before, had contained the latest news from
+all quarters. Making such remarks upon these items as to her seemed good,
+the dame's notice was at length attracted by an article which her sudden
+exclamation proved to possess uncommon interest. Casting her eye hastily
+over it, she immediately began to read aloud to her husband; but he,
+deeply engaged in a long and learned letter, instead of listening to what
+she wished to communicate, exerted his own lungs in opposition to hers, as
+is the custom of abstracted men when disturbed. The result was as
+follows:--
+
+"A brig just arrived in the outer harbor," began Mrs. Melmoth, "reports,
+that on the morning of the 25th ult."--Here the doctor broke in,
+"Wherefore I am compelled to differ from your exposition of the said
+passage, for those reasons, of the which I have given you a taste;
+provided"--The lady's voice was now almost audible, "ship bottom upward,
+discovered by the name on her stern to be the Ellen of"--"and in the same
+opinion are Hooker, Cotton, and divers learned divines of a later date."
+
+The doctor's lungs were deep and strong, and victory seemed to incline
+toward him; but Mrs. Melmoth now made use of a tone whose peculiar
+shrillness, as long experience had taught her husband, augured a mood of
+mind not to be trifled with.
+
+"On my word, doctor," she exclaimed, "this is most unfeeling and
+unchristian conduct! Here am I endeavoring to inform you of the death of
+an old friend, and you continue as deaf as a post."
+
+Dr. Melmoth, who had heard the sound, without receiving the sense, of
+these words, now laid aside the letter in despair, and submissively
+requested to be informed of her pleasure.
+
+"There, read for yourself," she replied, handing him the paper, and
+pointing to the passage containing the important intelligence,--"read, and
+then finish your letter, if you have a mind."
+
+He took the paper, unable to conjecture how the dame could be so much
+interested in any part of its contents; but, before he had read many
+words, he grew pale as death. "Good Heavens! what is this?" he exclaimed.
+He then read on, "being the vessel wherein that eminent son of New
+England, John Langton, Esq., had taken passage for his native country,
+after an absence of many years."
+
+"Our poor Ellen, his orphan child!" said Dr. Melmoth, dropping the paper.
+"How shall we break the intelligence to her? Alas! her share of the
+affliction causes me to forget my own."
+
+"It is a heavy misfortune, doubtless; and Ellen will grieve as a daughter
+should," replied Mrs. Melmoth, speaking with the good sense of which she
+had a competent share. "But she has never known her father; and her sorrow
+must arise from a sense of duty, more than from strong affection. I will
+go and inform her of her loss. It is late, and I wonder if she be still
+asleep."
+
+"Be cautious, dearest wife," said the doctor. "Ellen has strong feelings,
+and a sudden shock might be dangerous."
+
+"I think I may be trusted, Dr. Melmoth," replied the lady, who had a high
+opinion of her own abilities as a comforter, and was not averse to
+exercise them.
+
+Her husband, after her departure, sat listlessly turning over the letters
+that yet remained unopened, feeling little curiosity, after such
+melancholy intelligence, respecting their contents. But, by the
+handwriting of the direction on one of them, his attention was gradually
+arrested, till he found himself gazing earnestly on those strong, firm,
+regular characters. They were perfectly familiar to his eye; but from what
+hand they came, he could not conjecture. Suddenly, however, the truth
+burst upon him; and after noticing the date, and reading a few lines, he
+rushed hastily in pursuit of his wife.
+
+He had arrived at the top of his speed and at the middle of the staircase,
+when his course was arrested by the lady whom he sought, who came, with a
+velocity equal to his own, in an opposite direction. The consequence was a
+concussion between the two meeting masses, by which Mrs. Melmoth was
+seated securely on the stairs; while the doctor was only preserved from
+precipitation to the bottom by clinging desperately to the balustrade. As
+soon as the pair discovered that they had sustained no material injury by
+their contact, they began eagerly to explain the cause of their mutual
+haste, without those reproaches, which, on the lady's part, would at
+another time have followed such an accident.
+
+"You have not told her the bad news, I trust?" cried Dr. Melmoth, after
+each had communicated his and her intelligence, without obtaining audience
+of the other.
+
+"Would you have me tell it to the bare walls?" inquired the lady in her
+shrillest tone. "Have I not just informed you that she has gone, fled,
+eloped? Her chamber is empty; and her bed has not been occupied."
+
+"Gone!" repeated the doctor. "And, when her father comes to demand his
+daughter of me, what answer shall I make?"
+
+"Now, Heaven defend us from the visits of the dead and drowned!" cried
+Mrs. Melmoth. "This is a serious affair, doctor, but not, I trust,
+sufficient to raise a ghost."
+
+"Mr. Langton is yet no ghost," answered he; "though this event will go
+near to make him one. He was fortunately prevented, after he had made
+every preparation, from taking passage in the vessel that was lost."
+
+"And where is he now?" she inquired.
+
+"He is in New England. Perhaps he is at this moment on his way to us,"
+replied her husband. "His letter is dated nearly a fortnight back; and he
+expresses an intention of being with us in a few days."
+
+"Well, I thank Heaven for his safety," said Mrs. Melmoth. "But truly the
+poor gentleman could not have chosen a better time to be drowned, nor a
+worse one to come to life, than this. What we shall do, doctor, I know
+not; but had you locked the doors, and fastened the windows, as I advised,
+the misfortune could not have happened."
+
+"Why, the whole country would have flouted us!" answered the doctor. "Is
+there a door in all the Province that is barred or bolted, night or day?
+Nevertheless it might have been advisable last night, had it occurred to
+me."
+
+"And why at that time more than at all times?" she inquired. "We had
+surely no reason to fear this event."
+
+Dr. Melmoth was silent; for his worldly wisdom was sufficient to deter him
+from giving his lady the opportunity, which she would not fail to use to
+the utmost, of laying the blame of the elopement at his door. He now
+proceeded, with a heavy heart, to Ellen's chamber, to satisfy himself with
+his own eyes of the state of affairs. It was deserted too truly; and the
+wild-flowers with which it was the maiden's custom daily to decorate her
+premises were drooping, as if in sorrow for her who had placed them there.
+Mrs. Melmoth, on this second visit, discovered on the table a note
+addressed to her husband, and containing a few words of gratitude from
+Ellen, but no explanation of her mysterious flight. The doctor gazed long
+on the tiny letters, which had evidently been traced with a trembling
+hand, and blotted with many tears.
+
+"There is a mystery in this,--a mystery that I cannot fathom," he said.
+"And now I would I knew what measures it would be proper to take."
+
+"Get you on horseback, Dr. Melmoth, and proceed as speedily as may be down
+the valley to the town," said the dame, the influence of whose firmer mind
+was sometimes, as in the present case, most beneficially exerted over his
+own. "You must not spare for trouble, no, nor for danger. Now--Oh, if I
+were a man!"--
+
+"Oh, that you were!" murmured the doctor, in a perfectly inaudible voice,
+"Well--and when I reach the town, what then?"
+
+"As I am a Christian woman, my patience cannot endure you!" exclaimed Mrs.
+Melmoth. "Oh, I love to see a man with the spirit of a man! but you"--And
+she turned away in utter scorn.
+
+"But, dearest wife," remonstrated the husband, who was really at a loss
+how to proceed, and anxious for her advice, "your worldly experience is
+greater than mine, and I desire to profit by it. What should be my next
+measure after arriving at the town?"
+
+Mrs. Melmoth was appeased by the submission with which the doctor asked
+her counsel; though, if the truth must be told, she heartily despised him
+for needing it. She condescended, however, to instruct him in the proper
+method of pursuing the runaway maiden, and directed him, before his
+departure, to put strict inquiries to Hugh Crombie respecting any stranger
+who might lately have visited his inn. That there would be wisdom in this,
+Dr. Melmoth had his own reasons for believing; and still, without
+imparting them to his lady, he proceeded to do as he had been bid.
+
+The veracious landlord acknowledged that a stranger had spent a night and
+day at his inn, and was missing that morning; but he utterly denied all
+acquaintance with his character, or privity to his purposes. Had Mrs.
+Melmoth, instead of her husband, conducted the examination, the result
+might have been different. As the case was, the doctor returned to his
+dwelling but little wiser than he went forth; and, ordering his steed to
+be saddled, he began a journey of which he knew not what would be the end.
+
+In the mean time, the intelligence of Ellen's disappearance circulated
+rapidly, and soon sent forth hunters more fit to follow the chase than Dr.
+Melmoth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+  "There was racing and chasing o'er Cannobie Lee."
+    WALTER SCOTT.
+
+
+When Edward Walcott awoke the next morning from his deep slumber, his
+first consciousness was of a heavy weight upon his mind, the cause of
+which he was unable immediately to recollect. One by one, however, by
+means of the association of ideas, the events of the preceding night came
+back to his memory; though those of latest occurrence were dim as dreams.
+But one circumstance was only too well remembered,--the discovery of Ellen
+Langton. By a strong effort he next attained to an uncertain recollection
+of a scene of madness and violence, followed, as he at first thought, by a
+duel. A little further reflection, however, informed him that this event
+was yet among the things of futurity; but he could by no means recall the
+appointed time or place. As he had not the slightest intention
+(praiseworthy and prudent as it would unquestionably have been) to give up
+the chance of avenging Ellen's wrongs and his own, he immediately arose,
+and began to dress, meaning to learn from Hugh Crombie those particulars
+which his own memory had not retained. His chief apprehension was, that
+the appointed time had already elapsed; for the early Sunbeams of a
+glorious morning were now peeping into his chamber.
+
+More than once, during the progress of dressing, he was inclined to
+believe that the duel had actually taken place, and been fatal to him, and
+that he was now in those regions to which, his conscience told him, such
+an event would be likely to send him. This idea resulted from his bodily
+sensations, which were in the highest degree uncomfortable. He was
+tormented by a raging thirst, that seemed to have absorbed all the
+moisture of his throat and stomach; and, in his present agitation, a cup
+of icy water would have been his first wish, had all the treasures of
+earth and sea been at his command. His head, too, throbbed almost to
+bursting; and the whirl of his brain at every movement promised little
+accuracy in the aim of his pistol, when he should meet the angler. These
+feelings, together with the deep degradation of his mind, made him resolve
+that no circumstances should again draw him into an excess of wine. In the
+mean time, his head was, perhaps, still too much confused to allow him
+fully to realize his unpleasant situation.
+
+Before Edward was prepared to leave his chamber, the door was opened by
+one of the college bed-makers, who, perceiving that he was nearly dressed,
+entered, and began to set the apartment in order. There were two of these
+officials pertaining to Harley College; each of them being (and, for
+obvious reasons, this was an indispensable qualification) a model of
+perfect ugliness in her own way. One was a tall, raw-boned, huge-jointed,
+double-fisted giantess, admirably fitted to sustain the part of
+Glumdalia, in the tragedy of "Tom Thumb." Her features were as excellent
+as her form, appearing to have been rough-hewn with a broadaxe, and left
+unpolished. The other was a short, squat figure, about two thirds the
+height, and three times the circumference, of ordinary females. Her hair
+was gray, her complexion of a deep yellow; and her most remarkable feature
+was a short snub nose, just discernible amid the broad immensity of her
+face. This latter lady was she who now entered Edward's chamber.
+Notwithstanding her deficiency in personal attractions, she was rather a
+favorite of the students, being good-natured, anxious for their comfort,
+and, when duly encouraged, very communicative. Edward perceived, as soon
+as she appeared, that she only waited his assistance in order to disburden
+herself of some extraordinary information; and, more from compassion than
+curiosity, he began to question her.
+
+"Well, Dolly, what news this morning?"
+
+"Why, let me see,--oh, yes! It had almost slipped my memory," replied the
+bed-maker. "Poor Widow Butler died last night, after her long sickness.
+Poor woman! I remember her forty years ago, or so,--as rosy a lass as you
+could set eyes on."
+
+"Ah! has she gone?" said Edward, recollecting the sick woman of the
+cottage which he had entered with Ellen and Fanshawe. "Was she not out of
+her right mind, Dolly?"
+
+"Yes, this seven years," she answered. "They say she came to her senses a
+bit, when Dr. Melmoth visited her yesterday, but was raving mad when she
+died. Ah, that son of hers!--if he is yet alive. Well, well!"
+
+"She had a son, then?" inquired Edward.
+
+"Yes, such as he was. The Lord preserve me from such a one!" said Dolly.
+"It was thought he went off with Hugh Crombie, that keeps the tavern now.
+That was fifteen years ago."
+
+"And have they heard nothing of him since?" asked Edward.
+
+"Nothing good,--nothing good," said the bed-maker.
+
+"Stories did travel up the valley now and then; but for five years there
+has been no word of him. They say Merchant Langton, Ellen's father, met
+him in foreign parts, and would have made a man of him; but there was too
+much of the wicked one in him for that. Well, poor woman! I wonder who'll
+preach her funeral sermon."
+
+"Dr. Melmoth, probably," observed the student.
+
+"No, no! The doctor will never finish his journey in time. And who knows
+but his own funeral will be the end of it," said Dolly, with a sagacious
+shake of her head.
+
+"Dr. Melmoth gone a journey!" repeated Edward. "What do you mean? For what
+purpose?"
+
+"For a good purpose enough, I may say," replied she. "To search out Miss
+Ellen, that was run away with last night."
+
+"In the Devil's name, woman, of what are you speaking?" shouted Edward,
+seizing the affrighted bed-maker forcibly by the arm.
+
+Poor Dolly had chosen this circuitous method of communicating her
+intelligence, because she was well aware that, if she first told of
+Ellen's flight, she should find no ear for her account of the Widow
+Butler's death. She had not calculated, however, that the news would
+produce so violent an effect upon her auditor; and her voice faltered as
+she recounted what she knew of the affair. She had hardly concluded,
+before Edward--who, as she proceeded, had been making hasty
+preparations--rushed from his chamber, and took the way towards Hugh
+Crombie's inn. He had no difficulty in finding the landlord, who had
+already occupied his accustomed seat, and was smoking his accustomed
+pipe, under the elm-tree.
+
+"Well, Master Walcott, you have come to take a stomach-reliever this
+morning, I suppose," said Hugh, taking the pipe from his mouth. "What
+shall it be?--a bumper of wine with an egg? or a glass of smooth, old,
+oily brandy, such as Dame Crombie and I keep for our own drinking? Come,
+that will do it, I know."
+
+"No, no! neither," replied Edward, shuddering involuntarily at the bare
+mention of wine and strong drink. "You know well, Hugh Crombie, the errand
+on which I come."
+
+"Well, perhaps I do," said the landlord. "You come to order me to saddle
+my best horse. You are for a ride, this fine morning."
+
+"True; and I must learn of you in what direction to turn my horse's head,"
+replied Edward Walcott.
+
+"I understand you," said Hugh, nodding and smiling. "And now, Master
+Edward, I really have taken a strong liking to you; and, if you please to
+hearken to it, you shall have some of my best advice."
+
+"Speak," said the young man, expecting to be told in what direction to
+pursue the chase.
+
+"I advise you, then," continued Hugh Crombie, in a tone in which some real
+feeling mingled with assumed carelessness,--"I advise you to forget that
+you have ever known this girl, that she has ever existed; for she is as
+much lost to you as if she never had been born, or as if the grave had
+covered her. Come, come, man, toss off a quart of my old wine, and kept up
+a merry heart. This has been my way in many a heavier sorrow than ever you
+have felt; and you see I am alive and merry yet." But Hugh's merriment had
+failed him just as he was making his boast of it; for Edward saw a tear in
+the corner of his eye.
+
+"Forget her? Never, never!" said the student, while his heart sank within
+him at the hopelessness of pursuit which Hugh's words implied. "I will
+follow her to the ends of the earth."
+
+"Then so much the worse for you and for my poor nag, on whose back you
+shall be in three minutes," rejoined the landlord. "I have spoken to you
+as I would to my own son, if I had such an incumbrance.--Here, you
+ragamuffin; saddle the gray, and lead him round to the door."
+
+"The gray? I will ride the black," said Edward. "I know your best horse as
+well as you do yourself, Hugh."
+
+"There is no black horse in my stable. I have parted with him to an old
+comrade of mine," answered the landlord, with a wink of acknowledgment to
+what he saw were Edward's suspicions. "The gray is a stout nag, and will
+carry you a round pace, though not so fast as to bring you up with them
+you seek. I reserved him for you, and put Mr. Fanshawe off with the old
+white, on which I travelled hitherward a year or two since."
+
+"Fanshawe! Has he, then, the start of me?" asked Edward.
+
+"He rode off about twenty minutes ago," replied Hugh; "but you will
+overtake him within ten miles, at farthest. But, if mortal man could
+recover the girl, that fellow would do it, even if he had no better nag
+than a broomstick, like the witches of old times."
+
+"Did he obtain any information from you as to the course?" inquired the
+student.
+
+"I could give him only this much," said Hugh, pointing down the road in
+the direction of the town. "My old comrade trusts no man further than is
+needful, and I ask no unnecessary questions."
+
+The hostler now led up to the door the horse which Edward was to ride. The
+young man mounted with all expedition; but, as he was about to apply the
+spurs, his thirst, which the bed-maker's intelligence had caused him to
+forget, returned most powerfully upon him.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, Hugh, a mug of your sharpest cider; and let it be a
+large one!" he exclaimed. "My tongue rattles in my mouth like"--
+
+"Like the bones in a dice-box," said the landlord, finishing the
+comparison, and hastening to obey Edward's directions. Indeed, he rather
+exceeded them, by mingling with the juice of the apple a gill of his old
+brandy, which his own experience told him would at that time have a most
+desirable effect upon the young man's internal system.
+
+"It is powerful stuff, mine host; and I feel like a new man already,"
+observed Edward, after draining the mug to the bottom.
+
+"He is a fine lad, and sits his horse most gallantly," said Hugh Crombie
+to himself as the student rode off. "I heartily wish him success. I wish
+to Heaven my conscience had suffered me to betray the plot before it was
+too late. Well, well, a man must keep his mite of honesty."
+
+The morning was now one of the most bright and glorious that ever shone
+for mortals; and, under other circumstances, Edward's bosom would have
+been as light, and his spirit would have sung as cheerfully, as one of the
+many birds that warbled around him. The raindrops of the preceding night
+hung like glittering diamonds on every leaf of every tree, shaken, and
+rendered more brilliant, by occasional sighs of wind, that removed from
+the traveller the superfluous heat of an unclouded sun. In spite of the
+adventure, so mysterious and vexatious, in which he was engaged, Edward's
+elastic spirit (assisted, perhaps, by the brandy he had unwittingly
+swallowed) rose higher as he rode on; and he soon found himself
+endeavoring to accommodate the tune of one of Hugh Crombie's ballads to
+the motion of the horse. Nor did this reviving cheerfulness argue anything
+against his unwavering faith, and pure and fervent love for Ellen Langton.
+A sorrowful and repining disposition is not the necessary accompaniment of
+a "leal and loving heart"; and Edward's spirits were cheered, not by
+forgetfulness, but by hope, which would not permit him to doubt of the
+ultimate success of his pursuit. The uncertainty itself, and the probable
+danger of the expedition, were not without their charm to a youthful and
+adventurous spirit. In fact, Edward would not have been altogether
+satisfied to recover the errant damsel, without first doing battle in her
+behalf.
+
+He had proceeded but a few miles before he came in sight of Fanshawe, who
+had been accommodated by the landlord with a horse much inferior to his
+own. The speed to which he had been put had almost exhausted the poor
+animal, whose best pace was now but little beyond a walk. Edward drew his
+bridle as he came up with Fanshawe.
+
+"I have been anxious to apologize," he said to him, "for the hasty and
+unjust expressions of which I made use last evening. May I hope that, in
+consideration of my mental distraction and the causes of it, you will
+forget what has passed?"
+
+"I had already forgotten it," replied Fanshawe, freely offering his hand.
+"I saw your disturbed state of feeling, and it would have been unjust both
+to you and to myself to remember the errors it occasioned."
+
+"A wild expedition this," observed Edward, after shaking warmly the
+offered hand. "Unless we obtain some further information at the town, we
+shall hardly know which way to continue the pursuit."
+
+"We can scarcely fail, I think, of lighting upon some trace of them," said
+Fanshawe. "Their flight must have commenced after the storm subsided,
+which would give them but a few hours the start of us. May I beg," he
+continued, nothing the superior condition of his rival's horse, "that you
+will not attempt to accommodate your pace to mine?"
+
+Edward bowed, and rode on, wondering at the change which a few months had
+wrought in Fanshawe's character. On this occasion, especially, the energy
+of his mind had communicated itself to his frame. The color was strong and
+high in his cheek; and his whole appearance was that of a gallant and
+manly youth, whom a lady might love, or a foe might fear. Edward had not
+been so slow as his mistress in discovering the student's affection; and
+he could not but acknowledge in his heart that he was a rival not to be
+despised, and might yet be a successful one, if, by his means, Ellen
+Langton were restored to her friends. This consideration caused him to
+spur forward with increased ardor; but all his speed could not divest him
+of the idea that Fanshawe would finally overtake him, and attain the
+object of their mutual pursuit. There was certainly no apparent ground for
+this imagination: for every step of his horse increased the advantage
+which Edward had gained, and he soon lost sight of his rival.
+
+Shortly after overtaking Fanshawe, the young man passed the lonely cottage
+formerly the residence of the Widow Butler, who now lay dead within. He
+was at first inclined to alight, and make inquiries respecting the
+fugitives; for he observed through the windows the faces of several
+persons, whom curiosity, or some better feeling, had led to the house of
+mourning. Recollecting, however, that this portion of the road must have
+been passed by the angler and Ellen at too early an hour to attract
+notice, he forbore to waste time by a fruitless delay.
+
+Edward proceeded on his journey, meeting with no other noticeable event,
+till, arriving at the summit of a hill, he beheld, a few hundred yards
+before him, the Rev. Dr. Melmoth. The worthy president was toiling onward
+at a rate unexampled in the history either of himself or his steed; the
+excellence of the latter consisting in sure-footedness rather than
+rapidity. The rider looked round, seemingly in some apprehension at the
+sound of hoof-tramps behind him, but was unable to conceal his
+satisfaction on recognizing Edward Walcott.
+
+In the whole course of his life, Dr. Melmoth had never been placed in
+circumstances so embarrassing as the present. He was altogether a child in
+the ways of the world, having spent his youth and early manhood in
+abstracted study, and his maturity in the solitude of these hills. The
+expedition, therefore, on which fate had now thrust him, was an entire
+deviation from the quiet pathway of all his former years; and he felt like
+one who sets forth over the broad ocean without chart or compass. The
+affair would undoubtedly have been perplexing to a man of far more
+experience than he; but the doctor pictured to himself a thousand
+difficulties and dangers, which, except in his imagination, had no
+existence. The perturbation of his spirit had compelled him, more than
+once since his departure, to regret that he had not invited Mrs. Melmoth
+to a share in the adventure; this being an occasion where her firmness,
+decision, and confident sagacity--which made her a sort of domestic
+hedgehog--would have been peculiarly appropriate. In the absence of such a
+counsellor, even Edward Walcott--young as he was, and indiscreet as the
+doctor thought him--was a substitute not to be despised; and it was
+singular and rather ludicrous to observe how the gray-haired man
+unconsciously became as a child to the beardless youth. He addressed
+Edward with an assumption of dignity, through which his pleasure at the
+meeting was very obvious.
+
+"Young gentleman, this is not well," he said. "By what authority have you
+absented yourself from the walls of Alma Mater during term-time?"
+
+"I conceived that it was unnecessary to ask leave at such a conjuncture,
+and when the head of the institution was himself in the saddle," replied
+Edward.
+
+"It was a fault, it was a fault," said Dr. Melmoth, shaking his head;
+"but, in consideration of the motive, I may pass it over. And now, my dear
+Edward, I advise that we continue our journey together, as your youth and
+inexperience will stand in need of the wisdom of my gray head. Nay, I pray
+you lay not the lash to your steed. You have ridden fast and far; and a
+slower pace is requisite for a season."
+
+And, in order to keep up with his young companion, the doctor smote his
+own gray nag; which unhappy beast, wondering what strange concatenation of
+events had procured him such treatment, endeavored to obey his master's
+wishes. Edward had sufficient compassion for Dr. Melmoth (especially as
+his own horse now exhibited signs of weariness) to moderate his pace to
+one attainable by the former.
+
+"Alas, youth! these are strange times," observed the president, "when a
+doctor of divinity and an under-graduate set forth, like a knight-errant
+and his squire, in search of a stray damsel. Methinks I am an epitome of
+the church militant, or a new species of polemical divinity. Pray Heaven,
+however, there be no encounter in store for us; for I utterly forgot to
+provide myself with weapons."
+
+"I took some thought for that matter, reverend knight," replied Edward,
+whose imagination was highly tickled by Dr. Melmoth's chivalrous
+comparison.
+
+"Ay, I see that you have girded on a sword," said the divine. "But
+wherewith shall I defend myself, my hand being empty, except of this
+golden headed staff, the gift of Mr. Langton?"
+
+"One of these, if you will accept it," answered Edward, exhibiting a brace
+of pistols, "will serve to begin the conflict, before you join the battle
+hand to hand."
+
+"Nay, I shall find little safety in meddling with that deadly instrument,
+since I know not accurately from which end proceeds the bullet," said Dr.
+Melmoth. "But were it not better, seeing we are so well provided with
+artillery, to betake ourselves, in the event of an encounter, to some
+stone-wall or other place of strength?"
+
+"If I may presume to advise," said the squire, "you, as being most valiant
+and experienced, should ride forward, lance in hand (your long staff
+serving for a lance), while I annoy the enemy from afar."
+
+"Like Teucer behind the shield of Ajax," interrupted Dr. Melmoth, "or
+David with his stone and sling. No, no, young man! I have left unfinished
+in my study a learned treatise, important not only to the present age, but
+to posterity, for whose sakes I must take heed to my safety.--But, lo! who
+ride yonder?" he exclaimed, in manifest alarm, pointing to some horsemen
+upon the brow of a hill at a short distance before them.
+
+"Fear not, gallant leader," said Edward Walcott, who had already
+discovered the objects of the doctor's terror. "They are men of peace, as
+we shall shortly see. The foremost is somewhere near your own years, and
+rides like a grave, substantial citizen,--though what he does here, I know
+not. Behind come two servants, men likewise of sober age and pacific
+appearance."
+
+"Truly your eyes are better than mine own. Of a verity, you are in the
+right," acquiesced Dr. Melmoth, recovering his usual quantum of
+intrepidity. "We will ride forward courageously, as those who, in a just
+cause, fear neither death nor bonds."
+
+The reverend knight-errant and his squire, at the time of discovering the
+three horsemen, were within a very short distance of the town, which was,
+however, concealed from their view by the hill that the strangers were
+descending. The road from Harley College, through almost its whole extent,
+had been rough and wild, and the country thin of population; but now,
+standing frequent, amid fertile fields on each side of the way, were neat
+little cottages, from which groups of white-headed children rushed forth
+to gaze upon the travellers. The three strangers, as well as the doctor
+and Edward, were surrounded, as they approached each other, by a crowd of
+this kind, plying their little bare legs most pertinaciously in order to
+keep pace with the horses.
+
+As Edward gained a nearer view of the foremost rider, his grave aspect and
+stately demeanor struck him with involuntary respect. There were deep
+lines of thought across his brow; and his calm yet bright gray eye
+betokened a steadfast soul. There was also an air of conscious importance,
+even in the manner in which the stranger sat his horse, which a man's good
+opinion of himself, unassisted by the concurrence of the world in general,
+seldom bestows. The two servants rode at a respectable distance in the
+rear; and the heavy portmanteaus at their backs intimated that the party
+had journeyed from afar. Dr. Melmoth endeavored to assume the dignity that
+became him as the head of Harley College; and with a gentle stroke of his
+staff upon his wearied steed and a grave nod to the principal stranger,
+was about to commence the ascent of the hill at the foot of which they
+were. The gentleman, however, made a halt.
+
+"Dr. Melmoth, am I so fortunate as to meet you?" he exclaimed in accents
+expressive of as much surprise and pleasure as were consistent with his
+staid demeanor. "Have you, then, forgotten your old friend?"
+
+"Mr. Langton! Can it be?" said the doctor, after looking him in the face a
+moment. "Yes, it is my old friend indeed: welcome, welcome! though you
+come at an unfortunate time."
+
+"What say you? How is my child? Ellen, I trust, is well?" cried Mr.
+Langton, a father's anxiety overcoming the coldness and reserve that were
+natural to him, or that long habit had made a second nature.
+
+"She is well in health. She was so, at least, last night," replied Dr.
+Melmoth unable to meet the eye of his friend. "But--but I have been a
+careless shepherd; and the lamb has strayed from the fold while I slept."
+
+Edward Walcott, who was a deeply interested observer of this scene, had
+anticipated that a burst of passionate grief would follow the disclosure.
+He was, however, altogether mistaken. There was a momentary convulsion of
+Mr. Langton's strong features, as quick to come and go as a flash of
+lightning; and then his countenance was as composed--though, perhaps, a
+little sterner--as before. He seemed about to inquire into the
+particulars of what so nearly concerned him, but changed his purpose on
+observing the crowd of children, who, with one or two of their parents,
+were endeavoring to catch the words, that passed between the doctor and
+himself.
+
+"I will turn back with you to the village," he said in a steady voice;
+"and at your leisure I shall desire to hear the particulars of this
+unfortunate affair."
+
+He wheeled his horse accordingly, and, side by side with Dr. Melmoth,
+began to ascend the hill. On reaching the summit, the little country town
+lay before them, presenting a cheerful and busy spectacle. It consisted of
+one long, regular street, extending parallel to, and at a short distance
+from, the river; which here, enlarged by a junction with another stream,
+became navigable, not indeed for vessels of burden, but for rafts of
+lumber and boats of considerable size. The houses, with peaked roofs and
+jutting stories, stood at wide intervals along the street; and the
+commercial character of the place was manifested by the shop door and
+windows that occupied the front of almost every dwelling. One or two
+mansions, however, surrounded by trees, and standing back at a haughty
+distance from the road, were evidently the abodes of the aristocracy of
+the village. It was not difficult to distinguish the owners of
+these--self-important personages, with canes and well-powdered
+periwigs--among the crowd of meaner men who bestowed their attention upon
+Dr. Melmoth and his friend as they rode by. The town being the nearest
+mart of a large extent of back country, there are many rough farmers and
+woodsmen, to whom the cavalcade was an object of curiosity and admiration.
+The former feeling, indeed, was general throughout the village. The
+shop-keepers left their customers, and looked forth from the doors; the
+female portion of the community thrust their heads from the windows; and
+the people in the street formed a lane through which, with all eyes
+concentrated upon them, the party rode onward to the tavern. The general
+aptitude that pervades the populace of a small country town to meddle
+with affairs not legitimately concerning them was increased, on this
+occasion, by the sudden return of Mr. Langton after passing through the
+village. Many conjectures were afloat respecting the cause of this
+retrograde movement; and, by degrees, something like the truth, though
+much distorted, spread generally among the crowd, communicated, probably,
+from Mr. Langton's servants. Edward Walcott, incensed at the uncourteous
+curiosity of which he, as well as his companions, was the object, felt
+a frequent impulse (though, fortunately for himself, resisted) to make
+use of his riding-switch in clearing a passage.
+
+On arriving at the tavern, Dr. Melmoth recounted to his friend the little
+he knew beyond the bare fact of Ellen's disappearance. Had Edward Walcott
+been called to their conference, he might, by disclosing the adventure of
+the angler, have thrown a portion of light upon the affair; but, since his
+first introduction, the cold and stately merchant had honored him with no
+sort of notice.
+
+Edward, on his part, was not well pleased at the sudden appearance of
+Ellen's father, and was little inclined to cooperate in any measures that
+he might adopt for her recovery. It was his wish to pursue the chase on
+his own responsibility, and as his own wisdom dictated: he chose to be an
+independent ally, rather than a subordinate assistant. But, as a step
+preliminary to his proceedings of every other kind, he found it absolutely
+necessary, having journeyed far, and fasting, to call upon the landlord
+for a supply of food. The viands that were set before him were homely but
+abundant; nor were Edward's griefs and perplexities so absorbing as to
+overcome the appetite of youth and health.
+
+Dr. Melmoth and Mr. Langton, after a short private conversation, had
+summoned the landlord, in the hope of obtaining some clew to the
+development of the mystery. But no young lady, nor any stranger answering
+to the description the doctor had received from Hugh Crombie (which was
+indeed a false one), had been seen to pass through the village since
+daybreak. Here, therefore, the friends were entirely at a loss in what
+direction to continue the pursuit. The village was the focus of several
+roads, diverging to widely distant portions of the country; and which of
+these the fugitives had taken, it was impossible to determine. One point,
+however, might be considered certain,--that the village was the first
+stage of their flight; for it commanded the only outlet from the valley,
+except a rugged path among the hills, utterly impassable by horse. In this
+dilemma, expresses were sent by each of the different roads; and poor
+Ellen's imprudence--the tale nowise decreasing as it rolled along--became
+known to a wide extent of country. Having thus done everything in his
+power to recover his daughter, the merchant exhibited a composure which
+Dr. Melmoth admired, but could not equal. His own mind, however, was in a
+far more comfortable state than when the responsibility of the pursuit had
+rested upon himself.
+
+Edward Walcott, in the mean time, had employed but a very few moments in
+satisfying his hunger; after which his active intellect alternately formed
+and relinquished a thousand plans for the recovery of Ellen. Fanshawe's
+observation, that her flight must have commenced after the subsiding of
+the storm, recurred to him. On inquiry, he was informed that the violence
+of the rain had continued, with a few momentary intermissions, till near
+daylight. The fugitives must, therefore, have passed through the village
+long after its inhabitants were abroad; and how, without the gift of
+invisibility, they had contrived to elude notice, Edward could not
+conceive.
+
+"Fifty years ago," thought Edward, "my sweet Ellen would have been deemed
+a witch for this trackless journey. Truly, I could wish I were a wizard,
+that I might bestride a broomstick, and follow her."
+
+While the young man, involved in these perplexing thoughts, looked forth
+from the open window of the apartment, his attention was drawn to an
+individual, evidently of a different, though not of a higher, class than
+the countrymen among whom he stood. Edward now recollected that he had
+noticed his rough dark face among the most earnest of those who had
+watched the arrival of the party. He had then taken him for one of the
+boatmen, of whom there were many in the village, and who had much of a
+sailor-like dress and appearance. A second and more attentive observation,
+however, convinced Edward that this man's life had not been spent upon
+fresh water; and, had any stronger evidence than the nameless marks which
+the ocean impresses upon its sons been necessary, it would have been found
+in his mode of locomotion. While Edward was observing him, he beat slowly
+up to one of Mr. Langton's servants who was standing near the door of the
+inn. He seemed to question the man with affected carelessness; but his
+countenance was dark and perplexed when he turned to mingle again with the
+crowd. Edward lost no time in ascertaining from the servant the nature of
+his inquiries. They had related to the elopement of Mr. Langton's
+daughter, which was, indeed, the prevailing, if not the sole, subject of
+conversation in the village.
+
+The grounds for supposing that this man was in any way connected with the
+angler were, perhaps, very slight; yet, in the perplexity of the whole
+affair, they induced Edward to resolve to get at the heart of his mystery.
+To attain this end, he took the most direct method,--by applying to the
+man himself.
+
+He had now retired apart from the throng and bustle of the village, and
+was seated upon a condemned boat, that was drawn up to rot upon the banks
+of the river. His arms were folded, and his hat drawn over his brows. The
+lower part of his face, which alone was visible, evinced gloom and
+depression, as did also the deep sighs, which, because he thought no one
+was near him, he did not attempt to restrain.
+
+"Friend, I must speak with you," said Edward Walcott, laying his hand upon
+his shoulder, after contemplating the man a moment, himself unseen.
+
+He started at once from his abstraction and his seat, apparently expecting
+violence, and prepared to resist it; but, perceiving the youthful and
+solitary intruder upon his privacy, he composed his features with much
+quickness.
+
+"What would you with me?" he asked.
+
+"They tarry long,--or you have kept a careless watch," said Edward,
+speaking at a venture.
+
+For a moment, there seemed a probability of obtaining such a reply to this
+observation as the youth had intended to elicit. If any trust could be put
+in the language of the stranger's countenance, a set of words different
+from those to which he subsequently gave utterance had risen to his lips.
+But he seemed naturally slow of speech; and this defect was now, as is
+frequently the case, advantageous in giving him space for reflection.
+
+"Look you, youngster: crack no jokes on me," he at length said,
+contemptuously. "Away! back whence you came, or"--And he slightly waved a
+small rattan that he held in his right hand.
+
+Edward's eyes sparkled, and his color rose. "You must change this tone,
+fellow, and that speedily," he observed. "I order you to lower your hand,
+and answer the questions that I shall put to you."
+
+The man gazed dubiously at him, but finally adopted a more conciliatory
+mode of speech.
+
+"Well, master; and what is your business with me?" he inquired. "I am a
+boatman out of employ. Any commands in my line?"
+
+"Pshaw! I know you, my good friend, and you cannot deceive me," replied
+Edward Walcott. "We are private here," he continued, looking around. "I
+have no desire or intention to do you harm; and, if you act according to
+my directions, you shall have no cause to repent it."
+
+"And what if I refuse to put myself under your orders?" inquired the man.
+"You are but a young captain for such an old hulk as mine."
+
+"The ill consequences of a refusal would all be on your own side," replied
+Edward. "I shall, in that case, deliver you up to justice: if I have not
+the means of capturing you myself," he continued, observing the seaman's
+eye to wander rather scornfully over his youthful and slender figure,
+"there are hundreds within call whom it will be in vain to resist.
+Besides, it requires little strength to use this," he added, laying his
+hand on a pistol.
+
+"If that were all, I could suit you there, my lad," muttered the stranger.
+He continued aloud, "Well, what is your will with me? D----d ungenteel
+treatment this! But put your questions; and, to oblige you, I may answer
+them,--if so be that I know anything of the matter."
+
+"You will do wisely," observed the young man. "And now to business. What
+reason have you to suppose that the persons for whom you watch are not
+already beyond the village?" The seaman paused long before he answered,
+and gazed earnestly at Edward, apparently endeavoring to ascertain from
+his countenance the amount of his knowledge. This he probably overrated,
+but, nevertheless, hazarded a falsehood.
+
+"I doubt not they passed before midnight," he said. "I warrant you they
+are many a league towards the sea-coast, ere this."
+
+"You have kept watch, then, since midnight?" asked Edward.
+
+"Ay, that have I! And a dark and rough one it was," answered the stranger.
+
+"And you are certain that, if they passed at all, it must have been before
+that hour?"
+
+"I kept my walk across the road till the village was all astir," said the
+seaman. "They could not have missed me. So, you see, your best way is to
+give chase; for they have a long start of you, and you have no time to
+lose."
+
+"Your information is sufficient, my good friend," said Edward, with a
+smile. "I have reason to know that they did not commence their flight
+before midnight. You have made it evident that they have not passed since:
+ergo, they have not passed at all,--an indisputable syllogism. And now
+will I retrace my footsteps."
+
+"Stay, young man," said the stranger, placing himself full in Edward's way
+as he was about to hasten to the inn. "You have drawn me in to betray my
+comrade; but, before you leave this place, you must answer a question or
+two of mine. Do you mean to take the law with you? or will you right your
+wrongs, if you have any, with your own right hand?"
+
+"It is my intention to take the latter method. But, if I choose the
+former, what then?" demanded Edward. "Nay, nothing: only you or I might
+not have gone hence alive," replied the stranger. "But as you say he shall
+have fair play"--
+
+"On my word, friend," interrupted the young man, "I fear your intelligence
+has come too late to do either good or harm. Look towards the inn: my
+companions are getting to horse, and, my life on it, they know whither to
+ride."
+
+So saying, he hastened away, followed by the stranger. It was indeed
+evident that news of some kind or other had reached the village. The
+people were gathered in groups, conversing eagerly; and the pale cheeks,
+uplifted eyebrows, and outspread hands of some of the female sex filled
+Edward's mind with undefined but intolerable apprehensions. He forced his
+way to Dr. Melmoth, who had just mounted, and, seizing his bridle,
+peremptorily demanded if he knew aught of Ellen Langton.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  "Full many a miserable year hath passed:
+  She knows him as one dead, or worse than dead:
+  And many a change her varied life hath known;
+  But her heart none."
+    MATURIN.
+
+
+Since her interview with the angler, which was interrupted by the
+appearance of Fanshawe, Ellen Langton's hitherto calm and peaceful mind
+had been in a state of insufferable doubt and dismay. She was imperatively
+called upon--at least, she so conceived--to break through the rules which
+nature and education impose upon her sex, to quit the protection of those
+whose desire for her welfare was true and strong, and to trust herself,
+for what purpose she scarcely knew, to a stranger, from whom the
+instinctive purity of her mind would involuntarily have shrunk, under
+whatever circumstances she had met him. The letter which she had received
+from the hands of the angler had seemed to her inexperience to prove
+beyond a doubt that the bearer was the friend of her father, and
+authorized by him, if her duty and affection were stronger than her fears,
+to guide her to his retreat. The letter spoke vaguely of losses and
+misfortunes, and of a necessity for concealment on her father's part, and
+secrecy on hers; and, to the credit of Ellen's not very romantic
+understanding, it must be acknowledged that the mystery of the plot had
+nearly prevented its success. She did not, indeed, doubt that the letter
+was from her father's hand; for every line and stroke, and even many of
+its phrases, were familiar to her. Her apprehension was, that his
+misfortunes, of what nature soever they were, had affected his intellect,
+and that, under such an influence, he had commanded her to take a step
+which nothing less than such a command could justify. Ellen did not,
+however, remain long in this opinion; for when she reperused the letter,
+and considered the firm, regular characters, and the style,--calm and
+cold, even in requesting such a sacrifice,--she felt that there was
+nothing like insanity here. In fine, she came gradually to the belief that
+there were strong reasons, though incomprehensible by her, for the secrecy
+that her father had enjoined.
+
+Having arrived at this conviction, her decision lay plain before her. Her
+affection for Mr. Langton was not, indeed,--nor was it possible,--so
+strong as that she would have felt for a parent who had watched over her
+from her infancy. Neither was the conception she had unavoidably formed of
+his character such as to promise that in him she would find an equivalent
+for all she must sacrifice. On the contrary, her gentle nature and loving
+heart, which otherwise would have rejoiced in a new object of affection,
+now shrank with something like dread from the idea of meeting her
+father,--stately, cold, and stern as she could not but imagine him. A
+sense of duty was therefore Ellen's only support in resolving to tread
+the dark path that lay before her.
+
+Had there been any person of her own sex in whom Ellen felt confidence,
+there is little doubt that she would so far have disobeyed her father's
+letter as to communicate its contents, and take counsel as to her
+proceedings. But Mrs. Melmoth was the only female--excepting, indeed, the
+maid-servant--to whom it was possible to make the communication; and,
+though Ellen at first thought of such a step, her timidity, and her
+knowledge of the lady's character, did not permit her to venture upon it.
+She next reviewed her acquaintances of the other sex; and Dr. Melmoth
+first presented himself, as in every respect but one, an unexceptionable
+confidant. But the single exception was equivalent to many. The maiden,
+with the highest opinion of the doctor's learning and talents, had
+sufficient penetration to know, that, in the ways of the world, she was
+herself the better skilled of the two. For a moment she thought of Edward
+Walcott; but he was light and wild, and, which her delicacy made an
+insurmountable objection, there was an untold love between them. Her
+thoughts finally centred on Fanshawe. In his judgment, young and
+inexperienced though he was, she would have placed a firm trust; and his
+zeal, from whatever cause it arose, she could not doubt.
+
+If, in the short time allowed her for reflection, an opportunity had
+occurred for consulting him, she would, in all probability, have taken
+advantage of it. But the terms on which they had parted the preceding
+evening had afforded him no reason to hope for her confidence; and he felt
+that there were others who had a better right to it than himself. He did
+not, therefore, throw himself in her way; and poor Ellen was consequently
+left without an adviser.
+
+The determination that resulted from her own unassisted wisdom has been
+seen. When discovered by Dr. Melmoth at Hugh Crombie's inn, she was wholly
+prepared for flight, and, but for the intervention of the storm, would,
+ere then, have been far away.
+
+The firmness of resolve that had impelled a timid maiden upon such a step
+was not likely to be broken by one defeat; and Ellen, accordingly,
+confident that the stranger would make a second attempt, determined that
+no effort on her part should be wanting to its success. On reaching her
+chamber, therefore, instead of retiring to rest (of which, from her
+sleepless thoughts of the preceding night, she stood greatly in need), she
+sat watching for the abatement of the storm. Her meditations were now
+calmer than at any time since her first meeting with the angler. She felt
+as if her fate was decided. The stain had fallen upon her reputation: she
+was no longer the same pure being in the opinion of those whose
+approbation she most valued.
+
+One obstacle to her flight--and, to a woman's mind, a most powerful
+one--had thus been removed. Dark and intricate as was the way, it was
+easier now to proceed than to pause; and her desperate and forlorn
+situation gave her a strength which hitherto she had not felt.
+
+At every cessation in the torrent of rain that beat against the house,
+Ellen flew to the window, expecting to see the stranger form beneath it.
+But the clouds would again thicken, and the storm recommence with its
+former violence; and she began to fear that the approach of morning would
+compel her to meet the now dreaded face of Dr. Melmoth. At length,
+however, a strong and steady wind, supplying the place of the fitful gusts
+of the preceding part of the night, broke and scattered the clouds from
+the broad expanse of the sky. The moon, commencing her late voyage not
+long before the sun, was now visible, setting forth like a lonely ship
+from the dark line of the horizon, and touching at many a little silver
+cloud the islands of that aerial deep. Ellen felt that now the time was
+come; and, with a calmness wonderful to herself, she prepared for her
+final departure.
+
+She had not long to wait ere she saw, between the vacancies of the trees,
+the angler advancing along the shady avenue that led to the principal
+entrance of Dr. Melmoth's dwelling. He had no need to summon her either by
+word or signal; for she had descended, emerged from the door, and stood
+before him, while he was yet at some distance from the house.
+
+"You have watched well," he observed in a low, strange tone. "As saith the
+Scripture, 'Many daughters have done virtuously; but thou excellest them
+all.'"
+
+He took her arm; and they hastened down the avenue. Then, leaving Hugh
+Crombie's inn on their right, they found its master in a spot so shaded
+that the moonbeams could not enlighten it. He held by the bridle two
+horses, one of which the angler assisted Ellen to mount. Then, turning to
+the landlord he pressed a purse into his hand; but Hugh drew back, and it
+fell to the ground.
+
+"No! this would not have tempted me; nor will it reward me," he said. "If
+you have gold to spare, there are some that need it more than I."
+
+"I understand you, mine host. I shall take thought for them; and enough
+will remain for you and me," replied his comrade. "I have seen the day
+when such a purse would not have slipped between your fingers. Well, be it
+so. And now, Hugh, my old friend, a shake of your hand; for we are seeing
+our last of each other."
+
+"Pray Heaven it be so! though I wish you no ill," said the landlord,
+giving his hand.
+
+He then seemed about to approach Ellen, who had been unable to distinguish
+the words of this brief conversation; but his comrade prevented him.
+"There is no time to lose," he observed. "The moon is growing pale
+already, and we should have been many a mile beyond the valley ere this."
+He mounted as he spoke; and, guiding Ellen's rein till they reached the
+road, they dashed away.
+
+It was now that she felt herself completely in his power; and with that
+consciousness there came a sudden change of feeling, and an altered view
+of her conduct. A thousand reasons forced themselves upon her mind,
+seeming to prove that she had been deceived; while the motives, so
+powerful with her but a moment before, had either vanished from her memory
+or lost all their efficacy. Her companion, who gazed searchingly into her
+face, where the moonlight, coming down between the pines, allowed him to
+read its expression, probably discerned somewhat of the state of her
+thoughts.
+
+"Do you repent so soon?" he inquired. "We have a weary way before us.
+Faint not ere we have well entered upon it."
+
+"I have left dear friends behind me, and am going I know not whither,"
+replied Ellen, tremblingly.
+
+"You have a faithful guide," he observed, turning away his head, and
+speaking in the tone of one who endeavors to smother a laugh.
+
+Ellen had no heart to continue the conversation; and they rode on in
+silence, and through a wild and gloomy scene. The wind roared heavily
+through the forest, and the trees shed their raindrops upon the
+travellers. The road, at all times rough, was now broken into deep
+gullies, through which streams went murmuring down to mingle with the
+river. The pale moonlight combined with the gray of the morning to give a
+ghastly and unsubstantial appearance to every object.
+
+The difficulties of the road had been so much increased by the storm, that
+the purple eastern clouds gave notice of the near approach of the sun just
+as the travellers reached the little lonesome cottage which Ellen
+remembered to have visited several months before. On arriving opposite to
+it, her companion checked his horse, and gazed with a wild earnestness at
+the wretched habitation. Then, stifling a groan that would not altogether
+be repressed, he was about to pass on; but at that moment the cottage-door
+opened, and a woman, whose sour, unpleasant countenance Ellen recognized,
+came hastily forth. She seemed not to heed the travellers; but the angler,
+his voice thrilling and quivering with indescribable emotion, addressed
+her.
+
+"Woman, whither do you go?" he inquired.
+
+She started, but, after a momentary pause, replied, "There is one within
+at the point of death. She struggles fearfully; and I cannot endure to
+watch alone by her bedside. If you are Christians, come in with me."
+
+Ellen's companion leaped hastily from his horse, assisted her also to
+dismount, and followed the woman into the cottage, having first thrown the
+bridles of the horses carelessly over the branch of a tree. Ellen trembled
+at the awful scene she would be compelled to witness; but, when death was
+so near at hand, it was more terrible to stand alone in the dim morning
+light than even to watch the parting of soul and body. She therefore
+entered the cottage.
+
+Her guide, his face muffled in his cloak, had taken his stand at a
+Distance from the death-bed, in a part of the room which neither the
+increasing daylight nor the dim rays of a solitary lamp had yet
+enlightened. At Ellen's entrance, the dying woman lay still, and
+apparently calm, except that a plaintive, half-articulate sound
+occasionally wandered through her lips.
+
+"Hush! For mercy's sake, silence!" whispered the other woman to the
+strangers. "There is good hope now that she will die a peaceable death;
+but, if she is disturbed, the boldest of us will not dare to stand by her
+bedside."
+
+The whisper by which her sister endeavored to preserve quiet perhaps
+reached the ears of the dying female; for she now raised herself in bed,
+slowly, but with a strength superior to what her situation promised. Her
+face was ghastly and wild, from long illness, approaching death, and
+disturbed intellect; and a disembodied spirit could scarcely be a more
+fearful object than one whose soul was just struggling forth. Her sister,
+approaching with the soft and stealing step appropriate to the chamber of
+sickness and death, attempted to replace the covering around her, and to
+compose her again upon the pillow. "Lie down and sleep, sister," she said;
+"and, when the day breaks, I will waken you. Methinks your breath comes
+freer already. A little more slumber, and to-morrow you will be well."
+
+"My illness is gone: I am well," said the dying-woman, gasping for breath.
+"I wander where the fresh breeze comes sweetly over my face; but a close
+and stifled air has choked my lungs."
+
+"Yet a little while, and you will no longer draw your breath in pain,"
+observed her sister, again replacing the bedclothes, which she continued
+to throw off.
+
+"My husband is with me," murmured the widow. "He walks by my side, and
+speaks to me as in old times; but his words come faintly on my ear. Cheer
+me and comfort me, my husband; for there is a terror in those dim,
+motionless eyes, and in that shadowy voice."
+
+As she spoke thus, she seemed to gaze upon some object that stood by her
+bedside; and the eyes of those who witnessed this scene could not but
+follow the direction of hers. They observed that the dying woman's own
+shadow was marked upon the wall, receiving a tremulous motion from the
+fitful rays of the lamp, and from her own convulsive efforts. "My husband
+stands gazing on me," she said again; "but my son,--where is he? And, as I
+ask, the father turns away his face. Where is our son? For his sake, I
+have longed to come to this land of rest. For him I have sorrowed many
+years. Will he not comfort me now?"
+
+At these words the stranger made a few hasty steps towards the bed; but,
+ere he reached it, he conquered the impulse that drew him thither, and,
+shrouding his face more deeply in his cloak, returned to his former
+position. The dying woman, in the mean time, had thrown herself back upon
+the bed; and her sobbing and wailing, imaginary as was their cause, were
+inexpressibly affecting.
+
+"Take me back to earth," she said; "for its griefs have followed me
+hither."
+
+The stranger advanced, and, seizing the lamp, knelt down by the bedside,
+throwing the light full upon his pale and convulsed features.
+
+"Mother, here is your son!" he exclaimed.
+
+At that unforgotten voice, the darkness burst away at once from her soul.
+She arose in bed, her eyes and her whole countenance beaming with joy, and
+threw her arms about his neck. A multitude of words seemed struggling for
+utterance; but they gave place to a low moaning sound, and then to the
+silence of death. The one moment of happiness, that recompensed years of
+sorrow, had been her last. Her son laid the lifeless form upon the pillow,
+and gazed with fixed eyes on his mother's face.
+
+As he looked, the expression of enthusiastic joy that parting life had
+left upon the features faded gradually away; and the countenance, though
+no longer wild, assumed the sadness which it had worn through a long
+course of grief and pain. On beholding this natural consequence of death,
+the thought, perhaps, occurred to him, that her soul, no longer dependent
+on the imperfect means of intercourse possessed by mortals, had communed
+with his own, and become acquainted with all its guilt and misery. He
+started from the bedside, and covered his face with his hands, as if to
+hide it from those dead eyes.
+
+Such a scene as has been described could not but have a powerful effect
+upon any one who retained aught of humanity; and the grief of the son,
+whose natural feelings had been blunted, but not destroyed, by an evil
+life, was much more violent than his outward demeanor would have
+expressed. But his deep repentance for the misery he had brought upon his
+parent did not produce in him a resolution to do wrong no more. The sudden
+consciousness of accumulated guilt made him desperate. He felt as if no
+one had thenceforth a claim to justice or compassion at his hands, when
+his neglect and cruelty had poisoned his mother's life, and hastened her
+death.
+
+Thus it was that the Devil wrought with him to his own destruction,
+reversing the salutary effect which his mother would have died exultingly
+to produce upon his mind. He now turned to Ellen Langton with a demeanor
+singularly calm and composed.
+
+"We must resume our journey," he said, in his usual tone of voice. "The
+sun is on the point of rising, though but little light finds its way into
+this hovel."
+
+Ellen's previous suspicions as to the character of her companion had now
+become certainty so far as to convince her that she was in the power of a
+lawless and guilty man; though what fate he intended for her she was
+unable to conjecture. An open opposition to his will, however, could not
+be ventured upon; especially as she discovered, on looking round the
+apartment, that, with the exception of the corpse, they were alone.
+
+"Will you not attend your mother's funeral?" she asked, trembling, and
+conscious that he would discover her fears.
+
+"The dead must bury their dead," he replied. "I have brought my mother to
+her grave,--and what can a son do more? This purse, however, will serve to
+lay her in the earth, and leave something for the old hag. Whither is she
+gone?" interrupted he, casting a glance round the room in search of the
+old woman. "Nay, then, we must speedily to horse. I know her of old."
+
+Thus saying, he threw the purse upon the table, and, without trusting
+himself to look again towards the dead, conducted Ellen out of the
+cottage. The first rays of the sun at that moment gilded the tallest trees
+of the forest.
+
+On looking towards the spot were the horses had stood, Ellen thought that
+Providence, in answer to her prayers, had taken care for her deliverance.
+They were no longer there,--a circumstance easily accounted for by the
+haste with which the bridles had been thrown over the branch of the tree.
+Her companion, however, imputed it to another cause.
+
+"The hag! She would sell her own flesh and blood by weight and measure,"
+he muttered to himself. "This is some plot of hers, I know well."
+
+He put his hand to his forehead for a moment's space, seeming to reflect
+on the course most advisable to be pursued. Ellen, perhaps unwisely,
+interposed.
+
+"Would it not be well to return?" she asked, timidly. "There is now no
+hope of escaping; but I might yet reach home undiscovered."
+
+"Return!" repeated her guide, with a look and smile from which she turned
+away her face. "Have you forgotten your father and his misfortunes? No,
+no, sweet Ellen: it is too late for such thoughts as these."
+
+He took her hand, and led her towards the forest, in the rear of the
+cottage. She would fain have resisted; but they were all alone, and the
+attempt must have been both fruitless and dangerous. She therefore trod
+with him a path so devious, so faintly traced, and so overgrown with
+bushes and young trees, that only a most accurate acquaintance in his
+early days could have enabled her guide to retain it. To him, however, it
+seemed so perfectly familiar, that he was not once compelled to pause,
+though the numerous windings soon deprived Ellen of all knowledge of the
+situation of the cottage. They descended a steep hill, and, proceeding
+parallel to the river,--as Ellen judged by its rushing sound,--at length
+found themselves at what proved to be the termination of their walk.
+
+Ellen now recollected a remark of Edward Walcott's respecting the wild and
+rude scenery through which the river here kept its way; and, in less
+agitating circumstances, her pleasure and admiration would have been
+great. They stood beneath a precipice, so high that the loftiest pine-tops
+(and many of them seemed to soar to heaven) scarcely surmounted it. This
+line of rock has a considerable extent, at unequal heights, and with many
+interruptions, along the course of the river; and it seems probable that,
+at some former period, it was the boundary of the waters, though they are
+now confined within far less ambitious limits. The inferior portion of the
+crag, beneath which Ellen and her guide were standing, varies so far from
+the perpendicular as not to be inaccessible by a careful footstep. But
+only one person has been known to attempt the ascent of the superior half,
+and only one the descent; yet, steep as is the height, trees and bushes of
+various kinds have clung to the rock, wherever their roots could gain the
+slightest hold; thus seeming to prefer the scanty and difficult
+nourishment of the cliff to a more luxurious life in the rich interval
+that extends from its base to the river. But, whether or no these hardy
+vegetables have voluntarily chosen their rude resting-place, the cliff is
+indebted to them for much of the beauty that tempers its sublimity. When
+the eye is pained and wearied by the bold nakedness of the rock, it rests
+with pleasure on the cheerful foliage of the birch, or upon the darker
+green of the funereal pine. Just at the termination of the accessible
+portion of the crag, these trees are so numerous, and their foliage so
+dense, that they completely shroud from view a considerable excavation,
+formed, probably, hundreds of years since, by the fall of a portion of the
+rock. The detached fragment still lies at a little distance from the base,
+gray and moss-grown, but corresponding, in its general outline, to the
+cavity from which it was rent.
+
+But the most singular and beautiful object in all this scene is a tiny
+fount of crystal water, that gushes forth from the high, smooth forehead
+of the cliff. Its perpendicular descent is of many feet; after which it
+finds its way, with a sweet diminutive murmur, to the level ground.
+
+It is not easy to conceive whence the barren rock procures even the small
+supply of water that is necessary to the existence of this stream; it is
+as unaccountable as the gush of gentle feeling which sometimes proceeds
+from the hardest heart: but there it continues to flow and fall,
+undiminished and unincreased. The stream is so slender, that the gentlest
+breeze suffices to disturb its descent, and to scatter its pure sweet
+waters over the face of the cliff. But in that deep forest there is seldom
+a breath of wind; so that, plashing continually upon one spot, the fount
+has worn its own little channel of white sand, by which it finds its way
+to the river. Alas that the Naiades have lost their old authority! for
+what a deity of tiny loveliness must once have presided here!
+
+Ellen's companion paused not to gaze either upon the loveliness or the
+sublimity of this scene, but, assisting her where it was requisite, began
+the steep and difficult ascent of the lower part of the cliff. The
+maiden's ingenuity in vain endeavored to assign reasons for this movement;
+but when they reached the tuft of trees, which, as has been noticed, grew
+at the ultimate point where mortal footstep might safely tread, she
+perceived through their thick branches the recess in the rock. Here they
+entered; and her guide pointed to a mossy seat, in the formation of which,
+to judge from its regularity, art had probably a share.
+
+"Here you may remain in safety," he observed, "till I obtain the means of
+proceeding. In this spot you need fear no intruder; but it will be
+dangerous to venture beyond its bounds."
+
+The meaning glance that accompanied these words intimated to poor Ellen,
+that, in warning her against danger, he alluded to the vengeance with
+which he would visit any attempt to escape. To leave her thus alone,
+trusting to the influence of such a threat, was a bold, yet a necessary
+and by no means a hopeless measure. On Ellen it produced the desired
+effect; and she sat in the cave as motionless, for a time, as if she had
+herself been a part of the rock. In other circumstances this shady recess
+would have been a delightful retreat during the sultry warmth of a
+summer's day. The dewy coolness of the rock kept the air always fresh and
+the sunbeams never thrust themselves so as to dissipate the mellow
+twilight through the green trees with which the chamber was curtained.
+Ellen's sleeplessness and agitation for many preceding hours had perhaps
+deadened her feelings; for she now felt a sort of indifference creeping
+upon her, an inability to realize the evils of her situation, at the same
+time that she was perfectly aware of them all. This torpor of mind
+increased, till her eyelids began to grow heavy and the cave and trees to
+swim before her sight. In a few moments more she would probably have been
+in dreamless slumber; but, rousing herself by a strong effort, she looked
+round the narrow limits of the cave in search of objects to excite her
+worn-out mind.
+
+She now perceived, wherever the smooth rock afforded place for them, the
+initials, or the full-length names of former visitants of the cave. What
+wanderer on mountain-tops or in deep solitudes has not felt the influence
+of these records of humanity, telling him, when such a conviction is
+soothing to his heart, that he is not alone in the world? It was singular,
+that, when her own mysterious situation had almost lost its power to
+engage her thoughts, Ellen perused these barren memorials with a certain
+degree of interest. She went on repeating them aloud, and starting at the
+sound of her own voice, till at length, as one name passed through her
+lips, she paused, and then, leaning her forehead against the letters,
+burst into tears. It was the name of Edward Walcott; and it struck upon
+her heart, arousing her to a full sense of her present misfortunes and
+dangers, and, more painful still, of her past happiness. Her tears had,
+however, a soothing, and at the same time a strengthening effect upon her
+mind; for, when their gush was over, she raised her head, and began to
+meditate on the means of escape. She wondered at the species of
+fascination that had kept her, as if chained to the rock, so long, when
+there was, in reality, nothing to bar her pathway. She determined, late as
+it was, to attempt her own deliverance, and for that purpose began slowly
+and cautiously to emerge from the cave.
+
+Peeping out from among the trees, she looked and listened with most
+painful anxiety to discover if any living thing were in that seeming
+solitude, or if any sound disturbed the heavy stillness. But she saw only
+Nature in her wildest forms, and heard only the plash and murmur (almost
+inaudible, because continual) of the little waterfall, and the quick,
+short throbbing of her own heart, against which she pressed her hand as if
+to hush it. Gathering courage, therefore, she began to descend; and,
+starting often at the loose stones that even her light footstep displaced
+and sent rattling down, she at length reached the base of the crag in
+safety. She then made a few steps in the direction, as nearly as she could
+judge, by which she arrived at the spot, but paused, with a sudden
+revulsion of the blood to her heart, as her guide emerged from behind a
+projecting part of the rock. He approached her deliberately, an ironical
+smile writhing his features into a most disagreeable expression; while in
+his eyes there was something that seemed a wild, fierce joy. By a species
+of sophistry, of which oppressors often make use, he had brought himself
+to believe that he was now the injured one, and that Ellen, by her
+distrust of him, had fairly subjected herself to whatever evil it
+consisted with his will and power to inflict upon her. Her only
+restraining influence over him, the consciousness, in his own mind, that
+he possessed her confidence, was now done away. Ellen, as well as her
+enemy, felt that this was the case. She knew not what to dread; but she
+was well aware that danger was at hand, and that, in the deep wilderness,
+there was none to help her, except that Being with whose inscrutable
+purposes it might consist to allow the wicked to triumph for a season, and
+the innocent to be brought low.
+
+"Are you so soon weary of this quiet retreat?" demanded her guide,
+continuing to wear the same sneering smile. "Or has your anxiety for your
+father induced you to set forth alone in quest of the afflicted old man?"
+
+"Oh, if I were but with him!" exclaimed Ellen. "But this place is lonely
+and fearful; and I cannot endure to remain here."
+
+"Lonely, is it, sweet Ellen?" he rejoined; "am I not with you? Yes, it is
+lonely,--lonely as guilt could wish. Cry aloud, Ellen, and spare not.
+Shriek, and see if there be any among these rocks and woods to hearken to
+you!"
+
+"There is, there is One," exclaimed Ellen, shuddering, and affrighted at
+the fearful meaning of his countenance. "He is here! He is there!" And she
+pointed to heaven.
+
+"It may be so, dearest," he replied. "But if there be an Ear that hears,
+and an Eye that sees all the evil of the earth, yet the Arm is slow to
+avenge. Else why do I stand before you a living man?"
+
+"His vengeance may be delayed for a time, but not forever," she answered,
+gathering a desperate courage from the extremity of her fear.
+
+"You say true, lovely Ellen; and I have done enough, erenow, to insure its
+heaviest weight. There is a pass, when evil deeds can add nothing to
+guilt, nor good ones take anything from it."
+
+"Think of your mother,--of her sorrow through life, and perhaps even after
+death," Ellen began to say. But, as she spoke these words, the expression
+of his face was changed, becoming suddenly so dark and fiend-like, that
+she clasped her hands, and fell on her knees before him.
+
+"I have thought of my mother," he replied, speaking very low, and putting
+his face close to hers. "I remember the neglect, the wrong, the lingering
+and miserable death, that she received at my hands. By what claim can
+either man or woman henceforth expect mercy from me? If God will help you,
+be it so; but by those words you have turned my heart to stone."
+
+At this period of their conversation, when Ellen's peril seemed most
+imminent, the attention of both was attracted by a fragment of rock,
+which, falling from the summit of the crag, struck very near them. Ellen
+started from her knees, and, with her false guide, gazed eagerly
+upward,--he in the fear of interruption, she in the hope of deliverance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+  "At length, he cries, behold the fated spring!
+  Yon rugged cliff conceals the fountain blest,
+  Dark rocks its crystal source o'ershadowing."
+    PSYCHE.
+
+
+The tale now returns to Fanshawe, who, as will be recollected, after
+being overtaken by Edward Walcott, was left with little apparent prospect
+of aiding in the deliverance of Ellen Langton.
+
+It would be difficult to analyze the feelings with which the student
+pursued the chase, or to decide whether he was influenced and animated by
+the same hopes of successful love that cheered his rival. That he was
+conscious of such hopes, there is little reason to suppose; for the most
+powerful minds are not always the best acquainted with their own feelings.
+Had Fanshawe, moreover, acknowledged to himself the possibility of gaining
+Ellen's affections, his generosity would have induced him to refrain from
+her society before it was too late. He had read her character with
+accuracy, and had seen how fit she was to love, and to be loved, by a man
+who could find his happiness in the common occupations of the world; and
+Fanshawe never deceived himself so far as to suppose that this would be
+the case with him. Indeed, he often wondered at the passion with which
+Ellen's simple loveliness of mind and person had inspired him, and which
+seemed to be founded on the principle of contrariety, rather than of
+sympathy. It was the yearning of a soul, formed by Nature in a peculiar
+mould, for communion with those to whom it bore a resemblance, yet of whom
+it was not. But there was no reason to suppose that Ellen, who differed
+from the multitude only as being purer and better, would cast away her
+affections on the one, of all who surrounded her, least fitted to make her
+happy. Thus Fanshawe reasoned with himself, and of this he believed that
+he was convinced. Yet ever and anon he found himself involved in a dream
+of bliss, of which Ellen was to be the giver and the sharer. Then would he
+rouse himself, and press upon his mind the chilling consciousness that it
+was and could be but a dream. There was also another feeling, apparently
+discordant with those which have been enumerated. It was a longing for
+rest, for his old retirement, that came at intervals so powerfully upon
+him, as he rode on, that his heart sickened of the active exertion on
+which fate had thrust him.
+
+After being overtaken by Edward Walcott, Fanshawe continued his journey
+with as much speed as was attainable by his wearied horse, but at a pace
+infinitely too slow for his earnest thoughts. These had carried him far
+away, leaving him only such a consciousness of his present situation as to
+make diligent use of the spur, when a horse's tread at no great distance
+struck upon his ear. He looked forward and behind; but, though a
+considerable extent of the narrow, rocky, and grass-grown road was
+visible, he was the only traveller there. Yet again he heard the sound,
+which, he now discovered, proceeded from among the trees that lined the
+roadside. Alighting, he entered the forest, with the intention, if the
+steed proved to be disengaged, and superior to his own, of appropriating
+him to his own use. He soon gained a view of the object he sought; but the
+animal rendered a closer acquaintance unattainable, by immediately taking
+to his heels. Fanshawe had, however, made a most interesting discovery;
+for the horse was accoutred with a side-saddle; and who but Ellen Langton
+could have been his rider? At this conclusion, though his perplexity was
+thereby in no degree diminished, the student immediately arrived.
+Returning to the road, and perceiving on the summit of the hill a cottage,
+which he recognized as the one he had entered with Ellen and Edward
+Walcott, he determined there to make inquiry respecting the objects of his
+pursuit.
+
+On reaching the door of the poverty-stricken dwelling, he saw that it was
+not now so desolate of inmates as on his previous visit. In the single
+inhabitable apartment were several elderly women, clad evidently in their
+well-worn and well-saved Sunday clothes, and all wearing a deep grievous
+expression of countenance. Fanshawe was not long in deciding that death
+was within the cottage, and that these aged females were of the class who
+love the house of mourning, because to them it is a house of feasting. It
+is a fact, disgusting and lamentable, that the disposition which Heaven,
+for the best of purposes, has implanted in the female breast--to watch by
+the sick and comfort the afflicted--frequently becomes depraved into an
+odious love of scenes of pain and death and sorrow. Such women are like
+the Ghouls of the Arabian Tales, whose feasting was among tombstones and
+upon dead carcasses.
+
+(It is sometimes, though less frequently, the case, that this disposition
+to make a "joy of grief" extends to individuals of the other sex. But in
+us it is even less excusable and more disgusting, because it is our nature
+to shun the sick and afflicted; and, unless restrained by principles other
+than we bring into the world with us, men might follow the example of many
+animals in destroying the infirm of their own species. Indeed, instances
+of this nature might be adduced among savage nations.) Sometimes, however,
+from an original _lusus naturae_, or from the influence of
+circumstances, a man becomes a haunter of death-beds, a tormentor of
+afflicted hearts, and a follower of funerals. Such an abomination now
+appeared before Fanshawe, and beckoned him into the cottage. He was
+considerably beyond the middle age, rather corpulent, with a broad, fat,
+tallow-complexioned countenance. The student obeyed his silent call, and
+entered the room, through the open door of which he had been gazing.
+
+He now beheld, stretched out upon the bed where she had so lately lain in
+life, though dying, the yet uncoffined corpse of the aged woman, whose
+death has been described. How frightful it seemed!--that fixed countenance
+of ashy paleness, amid its decorations of muslin and fine linen, as if a
+bride were decked for the marriage-chamber, as if death were a bridegroom,
+and the coffin a bridal bed. Alas that the vanity of dress should extend
+even to the grave!
+
+The female who, as being the near and only relative of the deceased, was
+supposed to stand in need of comfort, was surrounded by five or six of her
+own sex. These continually poured into her ear the stale, trite maxims
+which, where consolation is actually required, add torture insupportable
+to the wounded heart. Their present object, however, conducted herself
+with all due decorum, holding her handkerchief to her tearless eyes, and
+answering with very grievous groans to the words of her comforters. Who
+could have imagined that there was joy in her heart, because, since her
+sister's death, there was but one remaining obstacle between herself and
+the sole property of that wretched cottage?
+
+While Fanshawe stood silently observing this scene, a low, monotonous
+voice was uttering some words in his ear, of the meaning of which his mind
+did not immediately take note. He turned, and saw that the speaker was the
+person who had invited him to enter.
+
+"What is your pleasure with me, sir?" demanded the student.
+
+"I make bold to ask," replied the man, "whether you would choose to
+partake of some creature comfort, before joining in prayer with the family
+and friends of our deceased sister?" As he spoke, he pointed to a table,
+on which was a moderate-sized stone jug and two or three broken glasses;
+for then, as now, there were few occasions of joy or grief on which ardent
+spirits were not considered indispensable, to heighten the one or to
+alleviate the other.
+
+"I stand in no need of refreshment," answered Fanshawe; "and it is not my
+intention to pray at present."
+
+"I pray your pardon, reverend sir," rejoined the other; "but your face is
+pale, and you look wearied. A drop from yonder vessel is needful to
+recruit the outward man. And for the prayer, the sisters will expect it;
+and their souls are longing for the outpouring of the Spirit. I was
+intending to open my own mouth with such words as are given to my poor
+ignorance, but"--
+
+Fanshawe was here about to interrupt this address, which proceeded on the
+supposition, arising from his black dress and thoughtful countenance, that
+he was a clergyman. But one of the females now approached him, and
+intimated that the sister of the deceased was desirous of the benefit of
+his conversation. He would have returned a negative to this request, but,
+looking towards the afflicted woman, he saw her withdraw her handkerchief
+from her eyes, and cast a brief but penetrating and most intelligent
+glance upon him. He immediately expressed his readiness to offer such
+consolation as might be in his power.
+
+"And in the mean time," observed the lay-preacher, "I will give the
+sisters to expect a word of prayer and exhortation, either from you or
+from myself."
+
+These words were lost upon the supposed clergyman, who was already at the
+side of the mourner. The females withdrew out of ear-shot to give place to
+a more legitimate comforter than themselves.
+
+"What know you respecting my purpose?" inquired Fanshawe, bending towards
+her.
+
+The woman gave a groan--the usual result of all efforts at consolation--for
+the edification of the company, and then replied in a whisper, which
+reached only the ear for which it was intended. "I know whom you come to
+seek: I can direct you to them. Speak low, for God's sake!" she continued,
+observing that Fanshawe was about to utter an exclamation. She then
+resumed her groans with greater zeal than before.
+
+"Where--where are they?" asked the student, in a whisper which all his
+efforts could scarcely keep below his breath. "I adjure you to tell me."
+
+"And, if I should, how am I like to be bettered by it?" inquired the old
+woman, her speech still preceded and followed by a groan.
+
+"O God! The _auri sacra fames!_" thought Fanshawe with, a sickening
+heart, looking at the motionless corpse upon the bed, and then at the
+wretched being, whom the course of nature, in comparatively a moment of
+time, would reduce to the same condition.
+
+He whispered again, however, putting his purse into the hag's hand. "Take
+this. Make your own terms when they are discovered. Only tell me where I
+must seek them--and speedily, or it may be too late."
+
+"I am a poor woman, and am afflicted," said she, taking the purse, unseen
+by any who were in the room. "It is little that worldly goods can do for
+me, and not long can I enjoy them." And here she was delivered of a louder
+and a more heartfelt groan than ever. She then continued: "Follow the path
+behind the cottage, that leads to the river-side. Walk along the foot of
+the rock, and search for them near the water-spout. Keep a slow pace till
+you are out of sight," she added, as the student started to his feet. The
+guests of the cottage did not attempt to oppose Fanshawe's progress, when
+they saw him take the path towards the forest, imagining, probably, that
+he was retiring for the purpose of secret prayer. But the old woman
+laughed behind the handkerchief with which she veiled her face.
+
+"Take heed to your steps, boy," she muttered; "for they are leading you
+whence you will not return. Death, too, for the slayer. Be it so."
+
+Fanshawe, in the mean while, contrived to discover, and for a while to
+retain, the narrow and winding path that led to the river-side. But it was
+originally no more than a track, by which the cattle belonging to the
+cottage went down to their watering-place, and by these four-footed
+passengers it had long been deserted.
+
+The fern-bushes, therefore, had grown over it; and in several places trees
+of considerable size had shot up in the midst. These difficulties could
+scarcely have been surmounted by the utmost caution; and as Fanshawe's
+thoughts were too deeply fixed upon the end to pay a due regard to the
+means, he soon became desperately bewildered both as to the locality of
+the river and of the cottage. Had he known, however, in which direction to
+seek the latter, he would not, probably, have turned back; not that he was
+infected by any chivalrous desire to finish the adventure alone, but
+because he would expect little assistance from those he had left there.
+Yet he could not but wonder--though he had not in his first eagerness
+taken notice of it--at the anxiety of the old woman that he should
+proceed singly, and without the knowledge of her guests, on the search. He
+nevertheless continued to wander on,--pausing often to listen for the rush
+of the river, and then starting forward with fresh rapidity, to rid
+himself of the sting of his own thoughts, which became painfully intense
+when undisturbed by bodily motion. His way was now frequently interrupted
+by rocks, that thrust their huge gray heads from the ground, compelling
+him to turn aside, and thus depriving him, fortunately, perhaps, of all
+remaining idea of the direction he had intended to pursue.
+
+Thus he went on, his head turned back, and taking little heed to his
+footsteps, when, perceiving that he trod upon a smooth, level rock, he
+looked forward, and found himself almost on the utmost verge of a
+precipice.
+
+After the throbbing of the heart that followed this narrow escape had
+subsided, he stood gazing down where the sunbeams slept so pleasantly at
+the roots of the tall old trees, with whose highest tops he was upon a
+level. Suddenly he seemed to hear voices--one well-remembered
+voice--ascending from beneath; and, approaching to the edge of the cliff,
+he saw at its base the two whom he sought.
+
+He saw and interpreted Ellen's look and attitude of entreaty, though the
+words with which she sought to soften the ruthless heart of her guide
+became inaudible ere they reached the height where Fanshawe stood. He felt
+that Heaven had sent him thither, at the moment of her utmost need, to be
+the preserver of all that was dear to him; and he paused only to consider
+the mode in which her deliverance was to be effected. Life he would have
+laid down willingly, exultingly: his only care was, that the sacrifice
+should not be in vain.
+
+At length, when Ellen fell upon her knees, he lifted a small fragment of
+rock, and threw it down the cliff. It struck so near the pair, that it
+immediately drew the attention of both.
+
+When the betrayer, at the instant in which he had almost defied the power
+of the Omnipotent to bring help to Ellen, became aware of Fanshawe's
+presence, his hardihood failed him for a time, and his knees actually
+tottered beneath him. There was something awful, to his apprehension, in
+the slight form that stood so far above him, like a being from another
+sphere, looking down upon his wickedness. But his half-superstitious dread
+endured only a moment's space; and then, mustering the courage that in a
+thousand dangers had not deserted him, he prepared to revenge the
+intrusion by which Fanshawe had a second time interrupted his designs.
+
+"By Heaven, I will cast him down at her feet!" he muttered through his
+closed teeth. "There shall be no form nor likeness of man left in him.
+Then let him rise up, if he is able, and defend her."
+
+Thus resolving, and overlooking all hazard in his eager hatred and desire
+for vengeance, he began a desperate attempt to ascend the cliff. The space
+which only had hitherto been deemed accessible was quickly passed; and in
+a moment more he was half-way up the precipice, clinging to trees, shrubs,
+and projecting portions of the rock, and escaping through hazards which
+seemed to menace inevitable destruction.
+
+Fanshawe, as he watched his upward progress, deemed that every step would
+be his last; but when he perceived that more than half, and apparently the
+most difficult part, of the ascent was surmounted, his opinion changed.
+His courage, however, did not fail him as the moment of need drew nigh.
+His spirits rose buoyantly; his limbs seemed to grow firm and strong; and
+he stood on the edge of the precipice, prepared for the death-struggle
+which would follow the success of his enemy's attempt.
+
+But that attempt was not successful. When within a few feet of the summit,
+the adventurer grasped at a twig too slenderly rooted to sustain his
+weight. It gave way in his hand, and he fell backward down the precipice.
+His head struck against the less perpendicular part of the rock, whence
+the body rolled heavily down to the detached fragment, of which mention
+has heretofore been made. There was no life left in him. With all the
+passions of hell alive in his heart, he had met the fate that he intended
+for Fanshawe.
+
+The student paused not then to shudder at the sudden and awful overthrow
+of his enemy; for he saw that Ellen lay motionless at the foot of the
+cliff. She had indeed fainted at the moment she became aware of her
+deliverer's presence; and no stronger proof could she have given of her
+firm reliance upon his protection.
+
+Fanshawe was not deterred by the danger, of which he had just received so
+fearful an evidence, from attempting to descend to her assistance; and,
+whether owing to his advantage in lightness of frame, or to superior
+caution, he arrived safely at the base of the precipice.
+
+He lifted the motionless form of Ellen in his arms, and, resting her head
+against his shoulder, gazed on her cheek of lily paleness with a joy, a
+triumph, that rose almost to madness. It contained no mixture of hope; it
+had no reference to the future: it was the perfect bliss of a moment,--an
+insulated point of happiness. He bent over her, and pressed a kiss--the
+first, and he knew it would be the last--on her pale lips; then, bearing
+her to the fountain, he sprinkled its waters profusely over her face,
+neck, and bosom. She at length opened her eyes, slowly and heavily; but
+her mind was evidently wandering, till Fanshawe spoke.
+
+"Fear not, Ellen. You are safe," he said.
+
+At the sound of his voice, her arm, which was thrown over his shoulder,
+involuntarily tightened its embrace, telling him, by that mute motion,
+with how firm a trust she confided in him. But, as a fuller sense of her
+situation returned, she raised herself to her feet, though still retaining
+the support of his arm. It was singular, that, although her insensibility
+had commenced before the fall of her guide, she turned away her eyes, as
+if instinctively, from the spot where the mangled body lay; nor did she
+inquire of Fanshawe the manner of her deliverance.
+
+"Let us begone from this place," she said in faint, low accents, and with
+an inward shudder.
+
+They walked along the precipice, seeking some passage by which they might
+gain its summit, and at length arrived at that by which Ellen and her
+guide had descended. Chance--for neither Ellen nor Fanshawe could have
+discovered the path--led them, after but little wandering, to the cottage.
+A messenger was sent forward to the town to inform Dr. Melmoth of the
+recovery of his ward; and the intelligence thus received had interrupted
+Edward Walcott's conversation with the seaman.
+
+It would have been impossible, in the mangled remains of Ellen's guide, to
+discover the son of the Widow Butler, except from the evidence of her
+sister, who became, by his death, the sole inheritrix of the cottage. The
+history of this evil and unfortunate man must be comprised within very
+narrow limits. A harsh father, and his own untamable disposition, had
+driven him from home in his boyhood; and chance had made him the temporary
+companion of Hugh Crombie. After two years of wandering, when in a foreign
+country and in circumstances of utmost need, he attracted the notice of
+Mr. Langton. The merchant took his young countryman under his protection,
+afforded him advantages of education, and, as his capacity was above
+mediocrity, gradually trusted him in many affairs of importance. During
+this period, there was no evidence of dishonesty on his part. On the
+contrary, he manifested a zeal for Mr. Langton's interest, and a respect
+for his person, that proved his strong sense of the benefits he had
+received. But he unfortunately fell into certain youthful indiscretions,
+which, if not entirely pardonable, might have been palliated by many
+considerations that would have occurred to a merciful man. Mr. Langton's
+justice, however, was seldom tempered by mercy; and, on this occasion, he
+shut the door of repentance against his erring _protege_, and left
+him in a situation not less desperate than that from which he had relieved
+him. The goodness and the nobleness, of which his heart was not destitute,
+turned, from that time, wholly to evil; and he became irrecoverably ruined
+and irreclaimably depraved. His wandering life had led him, shortly before
+the period of this tale, to his native country. Here the erroneous
+intelligence of Mr. Langton's death had reached him, and suggested the
+scheme, which circumstances seemed to render practicable, but the fatal
+termination of which has been related.
+
+The body was buried where it had fallen, close by the huge, gray,
+moss-grown fragment of rock,--a monument on which centuries can work little
+change. The eighty years that have elapsed since the death of the widow's
+son have, however, been sufficient to obliterate an inscription, which
+some one was at the pains to cut in the smooth surface of the stone.
+Traces of letters are still discernible; but the writer's many efforts
+could never discover a connected meaning. The grave, also, is overgrown
+with fern-bushes, and sunk to a level with the surrounding soil. But the
+legend, though my version of it may be forgotten, will long be
+traditionary in that lonely spot, and give to the rock and the precipice
+and the fountain an interest thrilling to the bosom of the romantic
+wanderer.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+  "Sitting then in shelter shady,
+  To observe and mark his mone.
+  Suddenly I saw a lady
+  Hasting to him all alone,
+  Clad in maiden-white and green,
+  Whom I judged the Forest Queen."
+    THE WOODMAN'S BEAR.
+
+
+During several weeks succeeding her danger and deliverance, Ellen Langton
+was confined to her chamber by illness, resulting from the agitation she
+had endured. Her father embraced the earliest opportunity to express his
+deep gratitude to Fanshawe for the inestimable service he had rendered,
+and to intimate a desire to requite it to the utmost of his power. He had
+understood that the student's circumstances were not prosperous, and, with
+the feeling of one who was habituated to give and receive a _quid pro
+quo_ he would have rejoiced to share his abundance with the deliverer
+of his daughter. But Fanshawe's flushed brow and haughty eye, when he
+perceived the thought that was stirring in Mr. Langton's mind,
+sufficiently proved to the discerning merchant that money was not, in the
+present instance, a circulating medium. His penetration, in fact, very
+soon informed him of the motives by which the young man had been actuated
+in risking his life for Ellen Langton; but he made no allusion to the
+subject, concealing his intentions, if any he had, in his own bosom.
+
+During Ellen's illness, Edward Walcott had manifested the deepest anxiety
+respecting her: he had wandered around and within the house, like a
+restless ghost, informing himself of the slightest fluctuation in her
+health, and thereby graduating his happiness or misery. He was at length
+informed that her convalescence had so far progressed, that, on the
+succeeding day, she would venture below. From that time Edward's visits to
+Dr. Melmoth's mansion were relinquished. His cheek grew pale and his eye
+lost its merry light; but he resolutely kept himself a banished man.
+Multifarious were the conjectures to which this course of conduct gave
+rise; but Ellen understood and approved his motives. The maiden must have
+been far more blind than ever woman was in such a matter, if the late
+events had not convinced her of Fanshawe's devoted attachment; and she saw
+that Edward Walcott, feeling the superior, the irresistible strength of
+his rival's claim, had retired from the field. Fanshawe, however,
+discovered no intention to pursue his advantage. He paid her no voluntary
+visit, and even declined an invitation to tea, with which Mrs. Melmoth,
+after extensive preparations, had favored him. He seemed to have resumed
+all the habits of seclusion by which he was distinguished previous to his
+acquaintance with Ellen, except that he still took his sunset walk on the
+banks of the stream.
+
+On one of these occasions, he stayed his footsteps by the old leafless oak
+which had witnessed Ellen's first meeting with the angler. Here he mused
+upon the circumstances that had resulted from that event, and upon the
+rights and privileges (for he was well aware of them all) which those
+circumstances had given him. Perhaps the loveliness of the scene and the
+recollections connected with it, perhaps the warm and mellow sunset,
+perhaps a temporary weakness in himself, had softened his feelings, and
+shaken the firmness of his resolution, to leave Ellen to be happy with his
+rival. His strong affections rose up against his reason, whispering that
+bliss--on earth and in heaven, through time and eternity--might yet be his
+lot with her. It is impossible to conceive of the flood of momentary joy
+which the bare admission of such a possibility sent through his frame;
+and, just when the tide was highest in his heart, a soft little hand was
+laid upon his own, and, starting, he beheld Ellen at his side.
+
+Her illness, since the commencement of which Fanshawe had not seen her,
+had wrought a considerable, but not a disadvantageous, change in her
+appearance. She was paler and thinner; her countenance was more
+intellectual, more spiritual; and a spirit did the student almost deem
+her, appearing so suddenly in that solitude. There was a quick vibration
+of the delicate blood in her cheek, yet never brightening to the glow of
+perfect health; a tear was glittering on each of her long, dark eyelashes;
+and there was a gentle tremor through all her frame, which compelled her,
+for a little space, to support herself against the oak. Fanshawe's first
+impulse was to address her in words of rapturous delight; but he checked
+himself, and attempted--vainly indeed--to clothe his voice in tones of
+calm courtesy. His remark merely expressed pleasure at her restoration to
+health; and Ellen's low and indistinct reply had as little relation to the
+feelings that agitated her.
+
+"Yet I fear," continued Fanshawe, recovering a degree of composure, and
+desirous of assigning a motive (which he felt was not the true one) for
+Ellen's agitation,--"I fear that your walk has extended too far for your
+strength."
+
+"It would have borne me farther with such a motive," she replied, still
+trembling,--"to express my gratitude to my preserver."
+
+"It was needless, Ellen, it was needless; for the deed brought with it its
+own reward," exclaimed Fanshawe, with a vehemence that he could not
+repress. "It was dangerous, for"--
+
+Here he interrupted himself, and turned his face away.
+
+"And wherefore was it dangerous?" inquired Ellen, laying her hand gently
+on his arm; for he seemed about to leave her.
+
+"Because you have a tender and generous heart, and I a weak one," he
+replied.
+
+"Not so," answered she, with animation. "Yours is a heart full of strength
+and nobleness; and if it have a weakness"--
+
+"You know well that it has, Ellen,--one that has swallowed up all its
+strength," said Fanshawe. "Was it wise, then, to tempt it thus, when, if
+it yield, the result must be your own misery?"
+
+Ellen did not affect to misunderstand his meaning. On the contrary, with a
+noble frankness, she answered to what was implied rather than expressed.
+
+"Do me not this wrong," she said, blushing, yet earnestly. "Can it be
+misery? Will it not be happiness to form the tie that shall connect you to
+the world? to be your guide--a humble one, it is true, but the one of your
+choice--to the quiet paths from which your proud and lonely thoughts have
+estranged you? Oh, I know that there will be happiness in such a lot, from
+these and a thousand other sources!"
+
+The animation with which Ellen spoke, and, at the same time, a sense of
+the singular course to which her gratitude had impelled her, caused her
+beauty to grow brighter and more enchanting with every word. And when, as
+she concluded, she extended her hand to Fanshawe, to refuse it was like
+turning from an angel, who would have guided him to heaven. But, had he
+been capable of making the woman he loved a sacrifice to her own
+generosity, that act would have rendered him unworthy of her. Yet the
+struggle was a severe one ere he could reply.
+
+"Yon have spoken generously and nobly, Ellen," he said. "I have no way to
+prove that I deserve your generosity, but by refusing to take advantage of
+it. Even if your heart were yet untouched, if no being more happily
+constituted than myself had made an impression there, even then, I trust,
+a selfish passion would not be stronger than my integrity. But now"--He
+would have proceeded; but the firmness which had hitherto sustained him
+gave way. He turned aside to hide the tears which all the pride of his
+nature could not restrain, and which, instead of relieving, added to his
+anguish. At length he resumed, "No, Ellen, we must part now and forever.
+Your life will be long and happy. Mine will be short, but not altogether
+wretched, nor shorter than if we had never met. When you hear that I am in
+my grave, do not imagine that you have hastened me thither. Think that you
+scattered bright dreams around my pathway,--an ideal happiness, that you
+would have sacrificed your own to realize."
+
+He ceased; and Ellen felt that his determination was unalterable. She
+could not speak; but, taking his hand, she pressed it to her lips, and
+they saw each other no more. Mr. Langton and his daughter shortly after
+returned to the seaport, which, for several succeeding years, was their
+residence. After Ellen's departure, Fanshawe returned to his studies with
+the same absorbing ardor that had formerly characterized him. His face was
+as seldom seen among the young and gay; the pure breeze and the blessed
+sunshine as seldom refreshed his pale and weary brow; and his lamp burned
+as constantly from the first shade of evening till the gray morning light
+began to dim its beams. Nor did he, as weak men will, treasure up his love
+in a hidden chamber of his breast. He was in reality the thoughtful and
+earnest student that he seemed. He had exerted the whole might of his
+spirit over itself, and he was a conqueror. Perhaps, indeed, a summer
+breeze of sad and gentle thoughts would sometimes visit him; but, in these
+brief memories of his love, he did not wish that it should be revived, or
+mourn over its event.
+
+There were many who felt an interest in Fanshawe; but the influence of
+none could prevail upon him to lay aside the habits, mental and physical,
+by which he was bringing himself to the grave. His passage thither was
+consequently rapid, terminating just as he reached his twentieth year. His
+fellow-students erected to his memory a monument of rough-hewn granite,
+with a white marble slab for the inscription. This was borrowed from the
+grave of Nathanael Mather, whom, in his almost insane eagerness for
+knowledge, and in his early death, Fanshawe resembled.
+
+  THE ASHES OF A HARD STUDENT
+  AND A GOOD SCHOLAR.
+
+Many tears were shed over his grave; but the thoughtful and the wise,
+though turf never covered a nobler heart, could not lament that it was so
+soon at rest. He left a world for which he was unfit; and we trust, that,
+among the innumerable stars of heaven, there is one where he has found
+happiness.
+
+Of the other personages of this tale,--Hugh Crombie, being exposed to no
+strong temptations, lived and died an honest man. Concerning Dr. Melmoth,
+it is unnecessary here to speak. The reader, if he have any curiosity upon
+the subject, is referred to his Life, which, together with several sermons
+and other productions of the doctor, was published by his successor in the
+presidency of Harley College, about the year 1768.
+
+It was not till four years after Fanshawe's death, that Edward Walcott was
+united to Ellen Langton. Their future lives were uncommonly happy. Ellen's
+gentle, almost imperceptible, but powerful influence drew her husband away
+from the passions and pursuits that would have interfered with domestic
+felicity; and he never regretted the worldly distinction of which she thus
+deprived him. Theirs was a long life of calm and quiet bliss; and what
+matters it, that, except in these pages, they have left no name behind
+them?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fanshawe, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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