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diff --git a/7085.txt b/7085.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..545aaca --- /dev/null +++ b/7085.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4602 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FANSHAWE *** + +***** This file should be named 7085.txt or 7085.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/8/7085/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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