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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Erema, by R. D. Blackmore
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Erema
+       My Father's Sin
+
+Author: R. D. Blackmore
+
+Release Date: June 6, 2006 [EBook #7112]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EREMA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Don Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+EREMA; OR, MY FATHER'S SIN
+
+
+By R. D. Blackmore
+
+
+
+1877
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A LOST LANDMARK
+
+
+"The sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth
+generation of them that hate me."
+
+
+These are the words that have followed me always. This is the curse
+which has fallen on my life.
+
+If I had not known my father, if I had not loved him, if I had not
+closed his eyes in desert silence deeper than the silence of the grave,
+even if I could have buried and bewailed him duly, the common business
+of this world and the universal carelessness might have led me down the
+general track that leads to nothing.
+
+Until my father fell and died I never dreamed that he could die. I knew
+that his mind was quite made up to see me safe in my new home, and then
+himself to start again for still remoter solitudes. And when his mind
+was thus made up, who had ever known him fail of it?
+
+If ever a resolute man there was, that very man was my father. And
+he showed it now, in this the last and fatal act of his fatal life.
+"Captain, here I leave you all," he shouted to the leader of our wagon
+train, at a place where a dark, narrow gorge departed from the moilsome
+mountain track. "My reasons are my own; let no man trouble himself
+about them. All my baggage I leave with you. I have paid my share of
+the venture, and shall claim it at Sacramento. My little girl and I will
+take this short-cut through the mountains."
+
+"General!" answered the leader of our train, standing up on his board in
+amazement. "Forgive and forget, Sir; forgive and forget. What is a hot
+word spoken hotly? If not for your own sake, at least come back for the
+sake of your young daughter."
+
+"A fair haven to you!" replied my father. He offered me his hand, and
+we were out of sight of all that wearisome, drearisome, uncompanionable
+company with whom, for eight long weeks at least, we had been dragging
+our rough way. I had known in a moment that it must be so, for my father
+never argued. Argument, to his mind, was a very nice amusement for the
+weak. My spirits rose as he swung his bear-skin bag upon his shoulder,
+and the last sound of the laboring caravan groaned in the distance, and
+the fresh air and the freedom of the mountains moved around us. It was
+the 29th of May--Oak-apple Day in England--and to my silly youth this
+vast extent of snowy mountains was a nice place for a cool excursion.
+
+Moreover, from day to day I had been in most wretched anxiety, so long
+as we remained with people who could not allow for us. My father, by
+his calm reserve and dignity and largeness, had always, among European
+people, kept himself secluded; but now in this rough life, so pent in
+trackless tracts, and pressed together by perpetual peril, every body's
+manners had been growing free and easy. Every man had been compelled to
+tell, as truly as he could, the story of his life thus far, to amuse
+his fellow-creatures--every man, I mean, of course, except my own poor
+father. Some told their stories every evening, until we were quite
+tired--although they were never the same twice over; but my father could
+never be coaxed to say a syllable more than, "I was born, and I shall
+die."
+
+This made him very unpopular with the men, though all the women admired
+it; and if any rough fellow could have seen a sign of fear, the speaker
+would have been insulted. But his manner and the power of his look were
+such that, even after ardent spirits, no man saw fit to be rude to him.
+Nevertheless, there had always been the risk of some sad outrage.
+
+"Erema," my father said to me, when the dust from the rear of the
+caravan was lost behind a cloud of rocks, and we two stood in the
+wilderness alone--"do you know, my own Erema, why I bring you from
+them?"
+
+"Father dear, how should I know? You have done it, and it must be
+right."
+
+"It is not for their paltry insults. Child, you know what I think all
+that. It is for you, my only child, that I am doing what now I do."
+
+I looked up into his large, sad eyes without a word, in such a way that
+he lifted me up in his arms and kissed me, as if I were a little child
+instead of a maiden just fifteen. This he had never done before, and
+it made me a little frightened. He saw it, and spoke on the spur of the
+thought, though still with one arm round me.
+
+"Perhaps you will live to be thankful, my dear, that you had a stern,
+cold father. So will you meet the world all the better; and, little one,
+you have a rough world to meet."
+
+For a moment I was quite at a loss to account for my father's manner;
+but now, in looking back, it is so easy to see into things. At the time
+I must have been surprised, and full of puzzled eagerness.
+
+Not half so well can I recall the weakness, anguish, and exhaustion of
+body and spirit afterward. It may have been three days of wandering, or
+it may have been a week, or even more than that, for all that I can say
+for certain. Whether the time were long or short, it seemed as if it
+would never end. My father believed that he knew the way to the house
+of an old settler, at the western foot of the mountains, who had treated
+him kindly some years before, and with whom he meant to leave me until
+he had made arrangements elsewhere. If we had only gone straightway
+thither, night-fall would have found us safe beneath that hospitable
+roof.
+
+My father was vexed, as I well remember, at coming, as he thought, in
+sight of some great landmark, and finding not a trace of it. Although
+his will was so very strong, his temper was good about little things,
+and he never began to abuse all the world because he had made a mistake
+himself.
+
+"Erema," he said, "at this corner where we stand there ought to be a
+very large pine-tree in sight, or rather a great redwood-tree, at least
+twice as high as any tree that grows in Europe, or Africa even. From the
+plains it can be seen for a hundred miles or more. It stands higher up
+the mountainside than any other tree of even half its size, and that
+makes it so conspicuous. My eyes must be failing me, from all this
+glare; but it must be in sight. Can you see it now?"
+
+"I see no tree of any kind whatever, but scrubby bushes and yellow
+tufts; and oh, father, I am so thirsty!"
+
+"Naturally. But now look again. It stands on a ridge, the last ridge
+that bars the view of all the lowland. It is a very straight tree, and
+regular, like a mighty column, except that on the northern side the wind
+from the mountains has torn a gap in it. Are you sure that you can not
+see it--a long way off, but conspicuous?"
+
+"Father, I am sure that I can not see any tree half as large as a
+broomstick. Far or near, I see no tree."
+
+"Then my eyes are better than my memory. We must cast back for a mile or
+two; but it can not make much difference."
+
+"Through the dust and the sand?" I began to say; but a glance from him
+stopped my murmuring. And the next thing I can call to mind must have
+happened a long time afterward.
+
+Beyond all doubt, in this desolation, my father gave his life for mine.
+I did not know it at the time, nor had the faintest dream of it, being
+so young and weary-worn, and obeying him by instinct. It is a fearful
+thing to think of--now that I can think of it--but to save my own little
+worthless life I must have drained every drop of water from his flat
+half-gallon jar. The water was hot and the cork-hole sandy, and I
+grumbled even while drinking it; and what must my father (who was dying
+all the while for a drop, but never took one)--what must he have thought
+of me?
+
+But he never said a word, so far as I remember; and that makes it all
+the worse for me. We had strayed away into a dry, volcanic district of
+the mountains, where all the snow-rivers run out quite early; and of
+natural springs there was none forth-coming. All we had to guide us was
+a little traveler's compass (whose needle stuck fast on the pivot with
+sand) and the glaring sun, when he came to sight behind the hot, dry,
+driving clouds. The clouds were very low, and flying almost in our
+faces, like vultures sweeping down on us. To me they seemed to shriek
+over our heads at the others rushing after them. But my father said that
+they could make no sound, and I never contradicted him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A PACIFIC SUNSET
+
+
+At last we came to a place from which the great spread of the earth
+was visible. For a time--I can not tell how long--we had wholly lost
+ourselves, going up and down, and turning corners, without getting
+further. But my father said that we must come right, if we made up our
+minds to go long enough. We had been in among all shapes, and want of
+shapes, of dreariness, through and in and out of every thrup and thrum
+of weariness, scarcely hoping ever more to find our way out and discover
+memory of men for us, when all of a sudden we saw a grand sight. The
+day had been dreadfully hot and baffling, with sudden swirls of red dust
+arising, and driving the great drought into us. To walk had been worse
+than to drag one's way through a stubbly bed of sting-nettles. But now
+the quick sting of the sun was gone, and his power descending in the
+balance toward the flat places of the land and sea. And suddenly we
+looked forth upon an immeasurable spread of these.
+
+We stood at the gate of the sandy range, which here, like a vast brown
+patch, disfigures the beauty of the sierra. On either side, in purple
+distance, sprang sky-piercing obelisks and vapor-mantled glaciers,
+spangled with bright snow, and shodden with eternal forest. Before us
+lay the broad, luxuriant plains of California, checkered with more tints
+than any other piece of earth can show, sleeping in alluvial ease,
+and veined with soft blue waters. And through a gap in the brown coast
+range, at twenty leagues of distance, a light (so faint as to seem a
+shadow) hovered above the Pacific.
+
+But none of all this grandeur touched our hearts except the water gleam.
+Parched with thirst, I caught my father's arm and tried to urge him
+on toward the blue enchantment of ecstatic living water. But, to my
+surprise, he staggered back, and his face grew as white as the distant
+snow. I managed to get him to a sandy ledge, with the help of his own
+endeavors, and there let him rest and try to speak, while my frightened
+heart throbbed over his.
+
+"My little child," he said at last, as if we were fallen back ten years,
+"put your hand where I can feel it."
+
+My hand all the while had been in his, and to let him know where it was,
+it moved. But cold fear stopped my talking.
+
+"My child, I have not been kind to you," my father slowly spoke again,
+"but it has not been from want of love. Some day you will see all this,
+and some day you will pardon me."
+
+He laid one heavy arm around me, and forgetting thirst and pain, with
+the last intensity of eyesight watched the sun departing. To me, I know
+not how, great awe was every where, and sadness. The conical point of
+the furious sun, which like a barb had pierced us, was broadening into
+a hazy disk, inefficient, but benevolent. Underneath him depth of night
+was waiting to come upward (after letting him fall through) and stain
+his track with redness. Already the arms of darkness grew in readiness
+to receive him: his upper arc was pure and keen, but the lower was
+flaked with atmosphere; a glow of hazy light soon would follow, and one
+bright glimmer (addressed more to the sky than to the earth), and after
+that a broad, soft gleam; and after that how many a man should never see
+the sun again, and among them would be my father.
+
+He, for the moment, resting there, with heavy light upon him, and the
+dark jaws of the mountain desert yawning wide behind him, and all the
+beautiful expanse of liberal earth before him--even so he seemed to me,
+of all the things in sight, the one that first would draw attention.
+His face was full of quiet grandeur and impressive calm, and the sad
+tranquillity which comes to those who know what human life is through
+continual human death. Although, in the matter of bodily strength, he
+was little past the prime of life, his long and abundant hair was white,
+and his broad and upright forehead marked with the meshes of the net
+of care. But drought and famine and long fatigue had failed even now to
+change or weaken the fine expression of his large, sad eyes. Those eyes
+alone would have made the face remarkable among ten thousand, so deep
+with settled gloom they were, and dark with fatal sorrow. Such eyes
+might fitly have told the grief of Adrastus, son of Gordias, who, having
+slain his own brother unwitting, unwitting slew the only son of his
+generous host and savior.
+
+The pale globe of the sun hung trembling in the haze himself had made.
+My father rose to see the last, and reared his tall form upright
+against the deepening background. He gazed as if the course of life lay
+vanishing below him, while level land and waters drew the breadth of
+shadow over them. Then the last gleam flowed and fled upon the face of
+ocean, and my father put his dry lips to my forehead, saying nothing.
+
+His lips might well be dry, for he had not swallowed water for three
+days; but it frightened me to feel how cold they were, and even
+tremulous. "Let us run, let us run, my dear father!" I cried. "Delicious
+water! The dark falls quickly; but we can get there before dark. It is
+all down hill. Oh, do let us run at once!"
+
+"Erema," he answered, with a quiet smile, "there is no cause now for
+hurrying, except that I must hurry to show you what you have to do, my
+child. For once, at the end of my life, I am lucky. We have escaped from
+that starving desert at a spot--at a spot where we can see--"
+
+For a little while he could say no more, but sank upon the stony seat,
+and the hand with which he tried to point some distant landmark fell
+away. His face, which had been so pale before, became of a deadly
+whiteness, and he breathed with gasps of agony. I knelt before him and
+took his hands, and tried to rub the palms, and did whatever I could
+think of.
+
+"Oh, father, father, you have starved yourself, and given every thing
+to me! What a brute I was to let you do it! But I did not know; I never
+knew! Please God to take me also!"
+
+He could not manage to answer this, even if he understood it; but he
+firmly lifted his arm again, and tried to make me follow it.
+
+"What does it matter? Oh, never mind, never mind such, a wretch as I am!
+Father, only try to tell me what I ought to do for you."
+
+"My child! my child!" were his only words; and he kept on saying, "My
+child! my child!" as if he liked the sound of it.
+
+At what time of the night my father died I knew not then or afterward.
+It may have been before the moon came over the snowy mountains, or it
+may not have been till the worn-out stars in vain repelled the daybreak.
+All I know is that I ever strove to keep more near to him through the
+night, to cherish his failing warmth, and quicken the slow, laborious,
+harassed breath. From time to time he tried to pray to God for me and
+for himself; but every time his mind began to wander and to slip away,
+as if through want of practice. For the chills of many wretched years
+had deadened and benumbed his faith. He knew me, now and then, betwixt
+the conflict and the stupor; for more than once he muttered feebly, and
+as if from out a dream,
+
+"Time for Erema to go on her way. Go on your way, and save your life;
+save your life, Erema."
+
+There was no way for me to go, except on my knees before him. I took
+his hands, and made them lissome with a soft, light rubbing. I whispered
+into his ear my name, that he might speak once more to me; and when he
+could not speak, I tried to say what he would say to me.
+
+At last, with a blow that stunned all words, it smote my stupid,
+wandering mind that all I had to speak and smile to, all I cared to
+please and serve, the only one left to admire and love, lay here in my
+weak arms quite dead. And in the anguish of my sobbing, little things
+came home to me, a thousand little things that showed how quietly he
+had prepared for this, and provided for me only. Cold despair and
+self-reproach and strong rebellion dazed me, until I lay at my father's
+side, and slept with his dead hand in mine. There in the desert of
+desolation pious awe embraced me, and small phantasms of individual fear
+could not come nigh me.
+
+By-and-by long shadows of morning crept toward me dismally, and the
+pallid light of the hills was stretched in weary streaks away from me.
+How I arose, or what I did, or what I thought, is nothing now. Such
+times are not for talking of. How many hearts of anguish lie forlorn,
+with none to comfort them, with all the joy of life died out, and all
+the fear of having yet to live, in front arising!
+
+Young and weak, and wrong of sex for doing any valiance, long I lay by
+my father's body, wringing out my wretchedness. Thirst and famine now
+had flown into the opposite extreme; I seemed to loathe the thought
+of water, and the smell of food would have made me sick. I opened my
+father's knapsack, and a pang of new misery seized me. There lay nearly
+all his rations, which he had made pretense to eat as he gave me mine
+from time to time. He had starved himself; since he failed of his mark,
+and learned our risk of famishing, all his own food he had kept for me,
+as well as his store of water. And I had done nothing but grumble and
+groan, even while consuming every thing. Compared with me, the hovering
+vultures might be considered angels.
+
+When I found all this, I was a great deal too worn out to cry or sob.
+Simply to break down may be the purest mercy that can fall on truly
+hopeless misery. Screams of ravenous maws and flaps of fetid wings came
+close to me, and, fainting into the arms of death, I tried to save my
+father's body by throwing my own over it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A STURDY COLONIST
+
+
+For the contrast betwixt that dreadful scene and the one on which my
+dim eyes slowly opened, three days afterward, first I thank the Lord in
+heaven, whose gracious care was over me, and after Him some very simple
+members of humanity.
+
+A bronze-colored woman, with soft, sad eyes, was looking at me
+steadfastly. She had seen that, under tender care, I was just beginning
+to revive, and being acquainted with many troubles, she had learned to
+succor all of them. This I knew not then, but felt that kindness was
+around me.
+
+"Arauna, arauna, my shild," she said, in a strange but sweet and
+soothing voice, "you are with the good man in the safe, good house. Let
+old Suan give you the good food, my shild."
+
+"Where is my father? Oh, show me my father?" I whispered faintly, as she
+raised me in the bed and held a large spoon to my lips.
+
+"You shall--you shall; it is too very much Inglese; me tell you when
+have long Sunday time to think. My shild, take the good food from poor
+old Suan."
+
+She looked at me with such beseeching eyes that, even if food had been
+loathsome to me, I could not have resisted her; whereas I was now in
+the quick-reviving agony of starvation. The Indian woman fed me with
+far greater care than I was worth, and hushed me, with some soothing
+process, into another abyss of sleep.
+
+More than a week passed by me thus, in the struggle between life and
+death, before I was able to get clear knowledge of any body or any
+thing. No one, in my wakeful hours, came into my little bedroom except
+this careful Indian nurse, who hushed me off to sleep whenever I wanted
+to ask questions. Suan Isco, as she was called, possessed a more than
+mesmeric power of soothing a weary frame to rest; and this was seconded,
+where I lay, by the soft, incessant cadence and abundant roar of water.
+Thus every day I recovered strength and natural impatience.
+
+"The master is coming to see you, shild," Suan said to me one day, when
+I had sat up and done my hair, and longed to be down by the water-fall;
+"if, if--too much Inglese--old Suan say no more can now."
+
+"If I am ready and able and willing! Oh, Suan, run and tell him not to
+lose one moment."
+
+"No sure; Suan no sure at all," she answered, looking at me calmly, as
+if there were centuries yet to spare. "Suan no hurry; shild no hurry;
+master no hurry: come last of all."
+
+"I tell you, Suan, I want to see him. And I am not accustomed to be
+kept waiting. My dear father insisted always--But oh, Suan, Suan, he is
+dead--I am almost sure of it."
+
+"Him old man quite dead enough, and big hole dug in the land for him.
+Very good; more good than could be. Suan no more Inglese."
+
+Well as I had known it long, a catching of the breath and hollow,
+helpless pain came through me, to meet in dry words thus the dread which
+might have been but a hovering dream. I turned my face to the wall, and
+begged her not to send the master in.
+
+But presently a large, firm hand was laid on my shoulder softly, and
+turning sharply round, I beheld an elderly man looking down at me. His
+face was plain and square and solid, with short white curls on a
+rugged forehead, and fresh red cheeks, and a triple chin--fit base for
+remarkably massive jaws. His frame was in keeping with his face, being
+very large and powerful, though not of my father's commanding height.
+His dress and appearance were those of a working--and a really
+hard-working--man, sober, steadfast, and self-respecting; but what
+engaged my attention most was the frank yet shrewd gaze of deep-set
+eyes. I speak of things as I observed them later, for I could not pay
+much heed just then.
+
+"'Tis a poor little missy," he said, with a gentle tone. "What things
+she hath been through! Will you take an old man's hand, my dear? Your
+father hath often taken it, though different from his rank of life.
+Sampson Gundry is my name, missy. Have you ever heard your father tell
+of it?"
+
+"Many and many a time," I said, as I placed my hot little hand in his.
+"He never found more than one man true on earth, and it was you, Sir."
+
+"Come, now," he replied, with his eyes for a moment sparkling at my
+warmth of words; "you must not have that in your young head, missy. It
+leads to a miserable life. Your father hath always been unlucky--the
+most unlucky that ever I did know. And luck cometh out in nothing
+clearer than in the kind of folk we meet. But the Lord in heaven
+ordereth all. I speak like a poor heathen."
+
+"Oh, never mind that!" I cried: "only tell me, were you in time to
+save--to save--" I could not bear to say what I wanted.
+
+"In plenty of time, my dear; thanks to you. You must have fought when
+you could not fight: the real stuff, I call it. Your poor father lies
+where none can harm him. Come, missy, missy, you must not take on so. It
+is the best thing that could befall a man so bound up with calamity. It
+is what he hath prayed for for many a year--if only it were not for you.
+And now you are safe, and for sure he knows it, if the angels heed their
+business."
+
+With these words he withdrew, and kindly sent Suan back to me, knowing
+that her soothing ways would help me more than argument. To my mind
+all things lay in deep confusion and abasement. Overcome with bodily
+weakness and with bitter self-reproach, I even feared that to ask any
+questions might show want of gratitude. But a thing of that sort could
+not always last, and before very long I was quite at home with the
+history of Mr. Gundry.
+
+Solomon Gundry, of Mevagissey, in the county of Cornwall, in England,
+betook himself to the United States in the last year of the last
+century. He had always been a most upright man, as well as a first-rate
+fisherman; and his family had made a rule--as most respectable families
+at that time did--to run a nice cargo of contraband goods not more than
+twice in one season. A highly querulous old lieutenant of the British
+navy (who had served under Nelson and lost both, arms, yet kept "the
+rheumatics" in either stump) was appointed, in an evil hour, to the
+Cornish coast-guard; and he never rested until he had caught all the
+best county families smuggling. Through this he lost his situation, and
+had to go to the workhouse; nevertheless, such a stir had been roused
+that (to satisfy public opinion) they made a large sacrifice of inferior
+people, and among them this Solomon Gundry. Now the Gundries had long
+been a thickset race, and had furnished some champion wrestlers; and
+Solomon kept to the family stamp in the matter of obstinacy. He made a
+bold mark at the foot of a bond for 150 pounds; and with no other sign
+than that, his partner in their stanch herring-smack (the Good Hope,
+of Mevagissey) allowed him to make sail across the Atlantic with all he
+cared for.
+
+This Cornish partner deserved to get all his money back; and so he did,
+together with good interest. Solomon Gundry throve among a thrifty race
+at Boston; he married a sweet New England lass, and his eldest son was
+Sampson. Sampson, in the prime of life, and at its headstrong period,
+sought the far West, overland, through not much less of distance, and
+through even more of danger, than his English father had gone through.
+His name was known on the western side of the mighty chain of mountains
+before Colonel Fremont was heard of there, and before there was any
+gleam of gold on the lonely sunset frontage.
+
+Here Sampson Gundry lived by tillage of the nobly fertile soil ere
+Sacramento or San Francisco had any name to speak of. And though he did
+not show regard for any kind of society, he managed to have a wife and
+son, and keep them free from danger. But (as it appears to me the more,
+the more I think of every thing) no one must assume to be aside the
+reach of Fortune because he has gathered himself so small that she
+should not care to strike at him. At any rate, good or evil powers smote
+Sampson Gundry heavily.
+
+First he lost his wife, which was a "great denial" to him. She fell from
+a cliff while she was pegging out the linen, and the substance of her
+frame prevented her from ever getting over it. And after that he lost
+his son, his only son--for all the Gundries were particular as to
+quality; and the way in which he lost his son made it still more sad for
+him.
+
+A reputable and valued woman had disappeared in a hasty way from a
+cattle-place down the same side of the hills. The desire of the Indians
+was to enlarge her value and get it. There were very few white men as
+yet within any distance to do good; but Sampson Gundry vowed that, if
+the will of the Lord went with him, that woman should come back to her
+family without robbing them of sixpence. To this intent he started
+with a company of some twenty men--white or black or middle-colored
+(according to circumstances). He was their captain, and his son Elijah
+their lieutenant. Elijah had only been married for a fortnight, but was
+full of spirit, and eager to fight with enemies; and he seems to have
+carried this too far; for all that came back to his poor bride was a
+lock of his hair and his blessing. He was buried in a bed of lava on the
+western slope of Shasta, and his wife died in her confinement, and was
+buried by the Blue River.
+
+It was said at the time and long afterward that Elijah Gundry--thus
+cut short--was the finest and noblest young man to be found from the
+mountains to the ocean. His father, in whose arms he died, led a sad and
+lonely life for years, and scarcely even cared (although of Cornish and
+New England race) to seize the glorious chance of wealth which lay at
+his feet beseeching him. By settlement he had possessed himself of a
+large and fertile district, sloping from the mountain-foot along the
+banks of the swift Blue River, a tributary of the San Joaquin. And this
+was not all; for he also claimed the ownership of the upper valley, the
+whole of the mountain gorge and spring head, whence that sparkling water
+flows. And when that fury of gold-digging in 1849 arose, very few men
+could have done what he did without even thinking twice of it.
+
+For Sampson Gundry stood, like a bull, on the banks of his own river,
+and defied the worst and most desperate men of all nations to pollute
+it. He had scarcely any followers or steadfast friends to back him; but
+his fame for stern courage was clear and strong, and his bodily presence
+most manifest. Not a shovel was thrust nor a cradle rocked in the bed of
+the Blue River.
+
+But when a year or two had passed, and all the towns and villages, and
+even hovels and way-side huts, began to clink with money, Mr. Gundry
+gradually recovered a wholesome desire to have some. For now his
+grandson Ephraim was growing into biped shape, and having lost his
+mother when he first came into the world, was sure to need the more
+natural and maternal nutriment of money.
+
+Therefore Sampson Gundry, though he would not dig for gold, wrought
+out a plan which he had long thought of. Nature helped him with all her
+powers of mountain, forest, and headlong stream. He set up a saw-mill,
+and built it himself; and there was no other to be found for twelve
+degrees of latitude and perhaps a score of longitude.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE "KING OF THE MOUNTAINS."
+
+
+If I think, and try to write forever with the strongest words, I can not
+express to any other mind a thousandth part of the gratitude which was
+and is, and ought to be forever, in my own poor mind toward those who
+were so good to me. From time to time it is said (whenever any man with
+power of speech or fancy gets some little grievances) that all mankind
+are simply selfish, miserly, and miserable. To contradict that saying
+needs experience even larger, perhaps, than that which has suggested it;
+and this I can not have, and therefore only know that I have not found
+men or women behave at all according to that view of them.
+
+Whether Sampson Gundry owed any debt, either of gratitude or of loyalty,
+to my father, I did not ask; and he seemed to be (like every one else)
+reserved and silent as to my father's history. But he always treated me
+as if I belonged to a rank of life quite different from and much above
+his own. For instance, it was long before he would allow me to have my
+meals at the table of the household.
+
+But as soon as I began in earnest to recover from starvation, loss, and
+loneliness, my heart was drawn to this grand old man, who had seen so
+many troubles. He had been here and there in the world so much, and
+dealt with so many people, that the natural frankness of his mind was
+sharpened into caution. But any weak and helpless person still could get
+the best of him; and his shrewdness certainly did not spring from any
+form of bitterness. He was rough in his ways sometimes, and could
+not bear to be contradicted when he was sure that he was right, which
+generally happened to him. But above all things he had one very
+great peculiarity, to my mind highly vexatious, because it seemed
+so unaccountable. Sampson Gundry had a very low opinion of feminine
+intellect. He never showed this contempt in any unpleasant way, and
+indeed he never, perhaps, displayed it in any positive sayings. But as
+I grew older and began to argue, sure I was that it was there; and it
+always provoked me tenfold as much by seeming to need no assertion, but
+to stand as some great axiom.
+
+The other members of the household were his grandson Ephraim (or "Firm"
+Gundry), the Indian woman Suan Isco, and a couple of helps, of race or
+nation almost unknown to themselves. Suan Isco belonged to a tribe of
+respectable Black Rock Indians, and had been the wife of a chief among
+them, and the mother of several children. But Klamath Indians, enemies
+of theirs (who carried off the lady of the cattle ranch, and afterward
+shot Elijah), had Suan Isco in their possession, having murdered her
+husband and children, and were using her as a mere beast of burden, when
+Sampson Gundry fell on them. He, with his followers, being enraged
+at the cold-blooded death of Elijah, fell on those miscreants to such
+purpose that women and children alone were left to hand down their bad
+propensities.
+
+But the white men rescued and brought away the stolen wife of the
+stockman, and also the widow of the Black Rock chief. She was in such
+poor condition and so broken-hearted that none but the finest humanity
+would have considered her worth a quarter of the trouble of her
+carriage. But she proved to be worth it a thousandfold; and Sawyer
+Gundry (as now he was called) knew by this time all the value of
+uncultivated gratitude. And her virtues were so many that it took a
+long time to find them out, for she never put them forward, not knowing
+whether they were good or bad.
+
+Until I knew these people, and the pure depth of their kindness, it was
+a continual grief to me to be a burden upon them. But when I came to
+understand them and their simple greatness, the only thing I was ashamed
+of was my own mistrust of them. Not that I expected ever that any harm
+would be done to me, only that I knew myself to have no claim on any
+one.
+
+One day, when I was fit for nothing but to dwell on trouble, Sampson
+Gundry's grandson "Firm"--as he was called for Ephraim--ran up the
+stairs to the little room where I was sitting by myself.
+
+"Miss Rema, will you come with us?" he said, in his deep, slow style of
+speech. "We are going up the mountain, to haul down the great tree to
+the mill."
+
+"To be sure I will come," I answered, gladly. "What great tree is it,
+Mr. Ephraim?"
+
+"The largest tree any where near here--the one we cut down last winter.
+Ten days it took to cut it down. If I could have saved it, it should
+have stood. But grandfather did it to prove his rights. We shall have a
+rare job to lead it home, and I doubt if we can tackle it. I thought you
+might like to see us try."
+
+In less than a minute I was ready, for the warmth and softness of the
+air made cloak or shawl unbearable. But when I ran down to the yard
+of the mill, Mr. Gundry, who was giving orders, came up and gave me an
+order too.
+
+"You must not go like this, my dear. We have three thousand feet to go
+upward. The air will be sharp up there, and I doubt if we shall be home
+by night-fall. Run, Suan, and fetch the young lady's cloak, and a pair
+of thicker boots for change."
+
+Suan Isco never ran. That manner of motion was foreign to her, at
+least as we accomplish it. When speed was required, she attained it
+by increased length of stride and great vigor of heel. In this way she
+conquered distance steadily, and with very little noise.
+
+The air, and the light, and the beauty of the mountains were a sudden
+joy to me. In front of us all strode Sampson Gundry, clearing all
+tangles with a short, sharp axe, and mounting steep places as if
+twoscore were struck off his threescore years and five. From time to
+time he turned round to laugh, or see that his men and trained bullocks
+were right; and then, as his bright eyes met my dark ones, he seemed
+to be sorry for the noise he made. On the other hand, I was ashamed of
+damping any one's pleasure by being there.
+
+But I need not have felt any fear about this. Like all other children,
+I wrapped myself up too much in my own importance, and behaved as if
+my state of mind was a thing to be considered. But the longer we rose
+through the freedom and the height, the lighter grew the heart of every
+one, until the thick forest of pines closed round us, and we walked in a
+silence that might be felt.
+
+Hence we issued forth upon the rough bare rock, and after much trouble
+with the cattle, and some bruises, stood panting on a rugged cone, or
+crest, which had once been crowned with a Titan of a tree. The tree
+was still there, but not its glory; for, alas! the mighty trunk lay
+prostrate--a grander column than ever was or will be built by human
+hands. The tapering shaft stretched out of sight for something like a
+furlong, and the bulk of the butt rose over us so that we could not see
+the mountains. Having never seen any such tree before, I must have been
+amazed if I had been old enough to comprehend it.
+
+Sampson Gundry, large as he was, and accustomed to almost every thing,
+collected his men and the whole of his team on the ground-floor or area
+of the stump before he would say any thing. Here we all looked so
+sadly small that several of the men began to laugh; the bullocks seemed
+nothing but raccoons or beavers to run on the branches or the fibres of
+the tree; and the chains and the shackles, and the blocks and cranes,
+and all the rest of the things they meant to use, seemed nothing
+whatever, or at all to be considered, except as a spider's web upon this
+tree.
+
+The sagacious bullocks, who knew quite well what they were expected to
+do, looked blank. Some rubbed their horns into one another's sadly, and
+some cocked their tails because they felt that they could not be called
+upon to work. The light of the afternoon sun came glancing along the
+vast pillar, and lit its dying hues--cinnamon, purple, and glabrous red,
+and soft gray where the lichens grew.
+
+Every body looked at Mr. Gundry, and he began to cough a little, having
+had lately some trouble with his throat. Then in his sturdy manner
+he spoke the truth, according to his nature. He set his great square
+shoulders against the butt of the tree, and delivered himself:
+
+"Friends and neighbors, and hands of my own, I am taken in here, and I
+own to it. It serves me right for disbelieving what my grandson, Firm
+Gundry, said. I knew that the tree was a big one, of course, as every
+body else does; but till you see a tree laid upon earth you get no grip
+of his girth, no more than you do of a man till he lieth a corpse.
+At the time of felling I could not come anigh him, by reason of an
+accident; and I had some words with this boy about it, which kept me
+away ever since that time. Firm, you were right, and I was wrong. It was
+a real shame, now I see it, to throw down the 'King of the Mountains.'
+But, for all that, being down, we must use him. He shall be sawn into
+fifty-foot lengths. And I invite you all to come again, for six or seven
+good turns at him."
+
+At the hearing of this, a cheer arose, not only for the Sawyer's manly
+truth, but also for his hospitality; because on each of these visits to
+the mountain he was the host, and his supplies were good. But before the
+descent with the empty teams began, young Ephraim did what appeared to
+me to be a gallant and straightforward thing. He stood on the chine
+of the fallen monster, forty feet above us, having gained the post of
+vantage by activity and strength, and he asked if he might say a word or
+two.
+
+"Say away, lad," cried his grandfather, supposing, perhaps, in his
+obstinate way (for truly he was very obstinate), that his grandson
+was going now to clear himself from art or part in the murder of that
+tree--an act which had roused indignation over a hundred leagues of
+lowland.
+
+"Neighbors," said Firm, in a clear young voice, which shook at first
+with diffidence, "we all have to thank you, more than I can tell, for
+coming to help us with this job. It was a job which required to be done
+for legal reasons which I do not understand, but no doubt they were good
+ones. For that we have my grandfather's word; and no one, I think, will
+gainsay it. Now, having gone so far, we will not be beaten by it, or
+else we shall not be Americans."
+
+These simple words were received with great applause; and an orator,
+standing on the largest stump to be found even in America, delivered a
+speech which was very good to hear, but need not now be repeated. And
+Mr. Gundry's eyes were moist with pleasure at his grandson's conduct.
+
+"Firm knoweth the right thing to do," he said; "and like a man he doeth
+it. But whatever aileth you, Miss Rema, and what can 'e see in the
+distance yonner? Never mind, my dear, then. Tell me by-and-by, when none
+of these folk is 'longside of us."
+
+But I could not bear to tell him, till he forced it from me under pain
+of his displeasure. I had spied on the sky-line far above us, in the
+desert track of mountain, the very gap in which my father stood and bade
+me seek this landmark. His memory was true, and his eyesight also; but
+the great tree had been felled. The death of the "King of the Mountains"
+had led to the death of the king of mankind, so far as my little world
+contained one.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+UNCLE SAM
+
+
+The influence of the place in which I lived began to grow on me. The
+warmth of the climate and the clouds of soft and fertile dust were
+broken by the refreshing rush of water and the clear soft green of
+leaves. We had fruit trees of almost every kind, from the peach to the
+amber cherry, and countless oaks by the side of the river--not large,
+but most fantastic. Here I used to sit and wonder, in a foolish,
+childish way, whether on earth there was any other child so strangely
+placed as I was. Of course there were thousands far worse off, more
+desolate and destitute, but was there any more thickly wrapped in
+mystery and loneliness?
+
+A wanderer as I had been for years, together with my father, change of
+place had not supplied the knowledge which flows from lapse of time.
+Faith, and warmth, and trust in others had not been dashed out of me by
+any rude blows of the world, as happens with unlucky children
+huddled together in large cities. My father had never allowed me much
+acquaintance with other children; for six years he had left me with a
+community of lay sisters, in a little town of Languedoc, where I was the
+only pupil, and where I was to remain as I was born, a simple heretic.
+Those sisters were very good to me, and taught me as much as I could
+take of secular accomplishment. And it was a bitter day for me when I
+left them for America.
+
+For during those six years I had seen my father at long intervals, and
+had almost forgotten the earlier days when I was always with him. I used
+to be the one little comfort of his perpetual wanderings, when I was a
+careless child, and said things to amuse him. Not that he ever played
+with me any more than he played with any thing; but I was the last of
+his seven children, and he liked to watch me grow. I never knew it,
+I never guessed it, until he gave his life for mine; but, poor little
+common thing as I was, I became his only tie to earth. Even to me he
+was never loving, in the way some fathers are. He never called me by pet
+names, nor dandled me on his knee, nor kissed me, nor stroked down my
+hair and smiled. Such things I never expected of him, and therefore
+never missed them; I did not even know that happy children always have
+them.
+
+But one thing I knew, which is not always known to happier children:
+I had the pleasure of knowing my own name. My name was an English
+one--Castlewood--and by birth I was an English girl, though of England
+I knew nothing, and at one time spoke and thought most easily in French.
+But my longing had always been for England, and for the sound of English
+voices and the quietude of English ways. In the chatter and heat and
+drought of South France some faint remembrance of a greener, cooler,
+and more silent country seemed to touch me now and then. But where in
+England I had lived, or when I had left that country, or whether I had
+relations there, and why I was doomed to be a foreign girl--all these
+questions were but as curling wisps of cloud on memory's sky.
+
+Of such things (much as I longed to know a good deal more about them) I
+never had dared to ask my father; nor even could I, in a roundabout way,
+such as clever children have, get second-hand information. In the
+first place, I was not a clever child; for the next point, I never had
+underhand skill; and finally, there was no one near me who knew any
+thing about me. Like all other girls--and perhaps the very same tendency
+is to be found in boys--I had strong though hazy ideas of caste. The
+noble sense of equality, fraternity, and so on, seems to come later in
+life than childhood, which is an age of ambition. I did not know who in
+the world I was, but felt quite sure of being somebody.
+
+One day, when the great tree had been sawn into lengths, and with the
+aid of many teams brought home, and the pits and the hoisting tackle
+were being prepared and strengthened to deal with it, Mr. Gundry, being
+full of the subject, declared that he would have his dinner in the mill
+yard. He was anxious to watch, without loss of time, the settlement of
+some heavy timbers newly sunk in the river's bed, to defend the outworks
+of the mill. Having his good leave to bring him his pipe, I found him
+sitting upon a bench with a level fixed before him, and his empty
+plate and cup laid by, among a great litter of tools and things. He was
+looking along the level with one eye shut, and the other most sternly
+intent; but when I came near he rose and raised his broad pith hat, and
+made me think that I was not interrupting him.
+
+"Here is your pipe, Uncle Sam," I said; for, in spite of all his formal
+ways, I would not be afraid of him. I had known him now quite long
+enough to be sure he was good and kind. And I knew that the world around
+these parts was divided into two hemispheres, the better half being
+of those who loved, and the baser half made of those who hated, Sawyer
+Sampson Gundry.
+
+"What a queer world it is!" said Mr. Gundry, accepting his pipe to
+consider that point. "Who ever would have dreamed, fifty years agone,
+that your father's daughter would ever have come with a pipe to light
+for my father's son?"
+
+"Uncle Sam," I replied, as he slowly began to make those puffs which
+seem to be of the highest essence of pleasure, and wisps of blue
+smoke flitted through his white eyebrows and among the snowy curls of
+hair--"dear Uncle Sam, I am sure that it would be an honor to a princess
+to light a pipe for a man like you."
+
+"Miss Rema, I should rather you would talk no nonsense," he answered,
+very shortly, and he set his eye along his level, as if I had offended
+him. Not knowing how to assert myself and declare that I had spoken my
+honest thoughts, I merely sat down on the bench and waited for him to
+speak again to me. But he made believe to be very busy, and scarcely to
+know that I was there. I had a great mind to cry, but resolved not to do
+it.
+
+"Why, how is this? What's the matter?" he exclaimed at last, when I had
+been watching the water so long that I sighed to know where it was going
+to. "Why, missy, you look as if you had never a friend in all the wide
+world left."
+
+"Then I must look very ungrateful," I said; "for at any rate I have one,
+and a good one."
+
+"And don't you know of any one but me, my dear?"
+
+"You and Suan Isco and Firm--those are all I have any knowledge of."
+
+"'Tis a plenty--to my mind, almost too many. My plan is to be a good
+friend to all, but not let too many be friends with me. Rest you quite
+satisfied with three, Miss Rema. I have lived a good many years, and I
+never had more than three friends worth a puff of my pipe."
+
+"But one's own relations, Uncle Sam--people quite nearly related to us:
+it is impossible for them to be unkind, you know."
+
+"Do I, my dear? Then I wish that I did. Except one's own father and
+mother, there is not much to be hoped for out of them. My own brother
+took a twist against me because I tried to save him from ruin; and if
+any man ever wished me ill, he did. And I think that your father had the
+same tale to tell. But there! I know nothing whatever about that."
+
+"Now you do, Mr. Gundry; I am certain that you do, and beg you to tell
+me, or rather I demand it. I am old enough now, and I am certain my dear
+father would have wished me to know every thing. Whatever it was, I am
+sure that he was right; and until I know that, I shall always be the
+most miserable of the miserable."
+
+The Sawyer looked at me as if he could not enter into my meaning,
+and his broad, short nose and quiet eyes were beset with wrinkles of
+inquiry. He quite forgot his level and his great post in the river, and
+tilted back his ancient hat, and let his pipe rest on his big brown arm.
+"Lord bless me!" he said, "what a young gal you are! Or, at least, what
+a young Miss Rema. What good can you do, miss, by making of a rout? Here
+you be in as quiet a place as you could find, and all of us likes
+and pities you. Your father was a wise man to settle you here in this
+enlightened continent. Let the doggoned old folk t'other side of the
+world think out their own flustrations. A female young American you are
+now, and a very fine specimen you will grow. 'Tis the finest thing to be
+on all God's earth."
+
+"No, Mr. Gundry, I am an English girl, and I mean to be an Englishwoman.
+The Americans may be more kind and generous, and perhaps my father
+thought so, and brought me here for that reason. And I may be glad to
+come back to you again when I have done what I am bound to do. Remember
+that I am the last of seven children, and do not even know where the
+rest are buried."
+
+"Now look straight afore you, missy. What do you see yonner?" The Sawyer
+was getting a little tired, perhaps, of this long interruption.
+
+"I see enormous logs, and a quantity of saws, and tools I don't even
+know the names of. Also I see a bright, swift river."
+
+"But over here, missy, between them two oaks. What do you please to see
+there, Miss Rema?"
+
+"What I see there, of course, is a great saw-mill."
+
+"But it wouldn't have been 'of course,' and it wouldn't have been at
+all, if I had spent all my days a-dwelling on the injuries of my family.
+Could I have put that there unekaled sample of water-power and human
+ingenuity together without laboring hard for whole months of a stretch,
+except upon the Sabbath, and laying awake night after night, and bending
+all my intellect over it? And could I have done that, think you now,
+if my heart was a-mooning upon family wrongs, and this, that, and the
+other?"
+
+Here Sampson Gundry turned full upon me, and folded his arms, and spread
+his great chin upon his deer-skin apron, and nodded briskly with his
+deep gray eyes, surveying me in triumph. To his mind, that mill was the
+wonder of the world, and any argument based upon it, with or without
+coherence, was, like its circular saws, irresistible. And yet he thought
+that women can not reason! However, I did not say another word just
+then, but gave way to him, as behooved a child. And not only that, but I
+always found him too good to be argued with--too kind, I mean, and large
+of heart, and wedded to his own peculiar turns. There was nothing about
+him that one could dislike, or strike fire at, and be captious; and he
+always proceeded with such pity for those who were opposed to him that
+they always knew they must be wrong, though he was too polite to tell
+them so. And he had such a pleasant, paternal way of looking down into
+one's little thoughts when he put on his spectacles, that to say any
+more was to hazard the risk of ungrateful inexperience.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A BRITISHER
+
+
+The beautiful Blue River came from the jagged depths of the mountains,
+full of light and liveliness. It had scarcely run six miles from its
+source before it touched our mill-wheel; but in that space and time it
+had gathered strong and copious volume. The lovely blue of the water
+(like the inner tint of a glacier) was partly due to its origin,
+perhaps, and partly to the rich, soft tone of the granite sand spread
+under it. Whatever the cause may have been, the river well deserved its
+title.
+
+It was so bright and pure a blue, so limpid and pellucid, that it even
+seemed to out-vie the tint of the sky which it reflected, and the myriad
+sparks of sunshine on it twinkled like a crystal rain. Plodding through
+the parched and scorching dust of the mountain-foot, through the
+stifling vapor and the blinding, ochreous glare, the traveler suddenly
+came upon this cool and calm delight. It was not to be descried afar,
+for it lay below the level, and the oaks and other trees of shelter
+scarcely topped the narrow comb. There was no canyon, such as are--and
+some of them known over all the world--both to the north and south of
+it. The Blue River did not owe its birth to any fierce convulsion, but
+sparkled on its cheerful way without impending horrors. Standing here
+as a child, and thinking, from the manner of my father, that strong men
+never wept nor owned the conquest of emotion, I felt sometimes a fool's
+contempt for the gushing transport of brave men. For instance, I have
+seen a miner, or a tamer of horses, or a rough fur-hunter, or (perhaps
+the bravest of all) a man of science and topography, jaded, worn, and
+nearly dead with drought and dearth and choking, suddenly, and beyond
+all hope, strike on this buried Eden. And then he dropped on his knees
+and spread his starved hands upward, if he could, and thanked the God
+who made him, till his head went round, and who knows what remembrance
+of loved ones came to him? And then, if he had any moisture left, he
+fell to a passion of weeping.
+
+In childish ignorance I thought that this man weakly degraded himself,
+and should have been born a woman. But since that time I have truly
+learned that the bravest of men are those who feel their Maker's Land
+most softly, and are not ashamed to pay the tribute of their weakness to
+Him.
+
+Living, as we did, in a lonely place, and yet not far from a track along
+the crest of the great Californian plain from Sacramento southward,
+there was scarcely a week which did not bring us some traveler needing
+comfort. Mr. Gundry used to be told that if he would set up a rough
+hotel, or house of call for cattle-drovers, miners, loafers, and so
+on, he might turn twice the money he could ever make by his thriving
+saw-mill. But he only used to laugh, and say that nature had made him
+too honest for that; and he never thought of charging any thing for his
+hospitality, though if a rich man left a gold piece, or even a nugget,
+upon a shelf, as happened very often, Sawyer Gundry did not disdain
+to set it aside for a rainy day. And one of his richest or most lavish
+guests arrived on my account, perhaps.
+
+It happened when daylight was growing shorter, and the red heat of the
+earth was gone, and the snow-line of distant granite peaks had crept
+already lower, and the chattering birds that spent their summer in our
+band of oak-trees were beginning to find their food get short, and to
+prime swift wings for the lowland; and I, having never felt bitter cold,
+was trembling at what I heard of it. For now it was clear that I had no
+choice but to stay where I was for the present, and be truly thankful to
+God and man for having the chance of doing so. For the little relics
+of my affairs--so far as I had any--had taken much time in arrangement,
+perhaps because it was so hard to find them. I knew nothing, except
+about my own little common wardrobe, and could give no information about
+the contents of my father's packages. But these, by dint of perseverance
+on the part of Ephraim (who was very keen about all rights), had mainly
+been recovered, and Mr. Gundry had done the best that could be done
+concerning them. Whatever seemed of a private nature, or likely to prove
+important, had been brought home to Blue River Mills; the rest had been
+sold, and had fetched large prices, unless Mr. Gundry enlarged them.
+
+He more than enlarged, he multiplied them, as I found out long
+afterward, to make me think myself rich and grand, while a beggar upon
+his bounty. I had never been accustomed to think of money, and felt
+some little contempt for it--not, indeed, a lofty hatred, but a careless
+wonder why it seemed to be always thought of. It was one of the last
+things I ever thought of; and those who were waiting for it were--until
+I got used to them--obliged in self-duty to remind me.
+
+This, however, was not my fault. I never dreamed of wronging them. But
+I had earned no practical knowledge of the great world any where, much
+though I had wandered about, according to vague recollections. The duty
+of paying had never been mine; that important part had been done for me.
+And my father had such a horror always of any growth of avarice that he
+never gave me sixpence.
+
+And now, when I heard upon every side continual talk of money, from Suan
+Isco upward, I thought at first that the New World must be different
+from the Old one, and that the gold mines in the neighborhood must have
+made them full of it; and once or twice I asked Uncle Sam; but he only
+nodded his head, and said that it was the practice every where. And
+before very long I began to perceive that he did not exaggerate.
+
+Nothing could prove this point more clearly than the circumstance above
+referred to--the arrival of a stranger, for the purpose of bribing even
+Uncle Sam himself. This happened in the month of November, when the
+passes were beginning to be blocked with snow, and those of the higher
+mountain tracts had long been overwhelmed with it. On this particular
+day the air was laden with gray, oppressive clouds, threatening a heavy
+downfall, and instead of faring forth, as usual, to my beloved river, I
+was kept in-doors, and even up stairs, by a violent snow-headache. This
+is a crushing weight of pain, which all new-comers, or almost all, are
+obliged to endure, sometimes for as much as eight-and-forty hours, when
+the first great snow of the winter is breeding, as they express it,
+overhead. But I was more lucky than most people are; for after about
+twelve hours of almost intolerable throbbing, during which the sweetest
+sound was odious, and the idea of food quite loathsome, the agony left
+me, and a great desire for something to eat succeeded. Suan Isco, the
+kindest of the kind, was gone down stairs at last, for which I felt
+ungrateful gratitude--because she had been doing her best to charm
+away my pain by low, monotonous Indian ditties, which made it ten times
+worse; and yet I could not find heart to tell her so.
+
+Now it must have been past six o'clock in the evening of the November
+day when the avalanche slid off my head, and I was able to lift it. The
+light of the west had been faint, and was dead; though often it used
+to prolong our day by the backward glance of the ocean. With pangs of
+youthful hunger, but a head still weak and dazy, I groped my way in the
+dark through the passage and down the stairs of redwood.
+
+At the bottom, where a railed landing was, and the door opened into the
+house-room, I was surprised to find that, instead of the usual cheerful
+company enjoying themselves by the fire-light, there were only two
+people present. The Sawyer sat stiffly in his chair of state, delaying
+even the indulgence of his pipe, and having his face set sternly, as I
+had never before beheld it. In the visitor's corner, as we called it,
+where people sat to dry themselves, there was a man, and only one.
+
+Something told me that I had better keep back and not disturb them. The
+room was not in its usual state of comfort and hospitality. Some kind of
+meal had been made at the table, as always must be in these parts;
+but not of the genial, reckless sort which random travelers carried
+on without any check from the Sawyer. For he of all men ever born in
+a civilized age was the finest host, and a guest beneath his roof
+was sacred as a lady to a knight. Hence it happened that I was much
+surprised. Proper conduct almost compelled me to withdraw; but curiosity
+made me take just one more little peep, perhaps. Looking back at these
+things now, I can not be sure of every thing; and indeed if I could, I
+must have an almost supernatural memory. But I remember many things; and
+the headache may have cleared my mind.
+
+The stranger who had brought Mr. Gundry's humor into such stiff
+condition was sitting in the corner, a nook where light and shadow made
+an eddy. He seemed to be perfectly unconcerned about all the tricks of
+the hearth flame, presenting as he did a most solid face for any light
+to play upon. To me it seemed to be a weather-beaten face of a bluff and
+resolute man, the like of which we attribute to John Bull. At any rate,
+he was like John Bull in one respect: he was sturdy and square, and fit
+to hold his own with any man.
+
+Strangers of this sort had come (as Englishmen rove every where), and
+been kindly welcomed by Uncle Sam, who, being of recent English blood,
+had a kind of hankering after it, and would almost rather have such at
+his board than even a true-born American; and infinitely more welcome
+were they than Frenchman, Spaniard, or German, or any man not to be
+distinguished, as was the case with some of them. Even now it was clear
+that the Sawyer had not grudged any tokens of honor, for the tall,
+square, brazen candlesticks, of Boston make, were on the table, and
+very little light they gave. The fire, however, was grandly roaring of
+stub-oak and pine antlers, and the black grill of the chimney bricks
+was fringed with lifting filaments. It was a rich, ripe light, affording
+breadth and play for shadow; and the faces of the two men glistened, and
+darkened in their creases.
+
+I was dressed in black, and could not be seen, though I could see them
+so clearly; and I doubted whether to pass through, upon my way to the
+larder, or return to my room and starve a little longer; for I did not
+wish to interrupt, and had no idea of listening. But suddenly I was
+compelled to stop; and to listen became an honest thing, when I knew
+what was spoken of--or, at any rate, I did it.
+
+"Castlewood, Master Colonist; Castlewood is the name of the man that I
+have come to ask about. And you will find it worth your while to tell me
+all you know of him." Thus spoke the Englishman sitting in the corner;
+and he seemed to be certain of producing his effect.
+
+"Wal," said Uncle Sam, assuming what all true Britons believe to be the
+universal Yankee tone, while I knew that he was laughing in his sleeve,
+"Squire, I guess that you may be right. Considerations of that 'ere kind
+desarves to be considered of."
+
+"Just so. I knew that you must see it," the stranger continued, bravely.
+"A stiff upper lip, as you call it here, is all very well to begin with.
+But all you enlightened members of the great republic know what is what.
+It will bring you more than ten years' income of your saw-mill, and
+farm, and so on, to deal honestly with me for ten minutes. No more
+beating about the bush and fencing with me, as you have done. Now can
+you see your own interest?"
+
+"I never were reckoned a fool at that. Squire, make tracks, and be done
+with it."
+
+"Then, Master Colonist, or Colonel--for I believe you are all colonels
+here--your task is very simple. We want clear proof, sworn properly and
+attested duly, of the death of a villain--George Castlewood, otherwise
+the Honorable George Castlewood, otherwise Lord Castlewood: a man who
+murdered his own father ten years ago this November: a man committed
+for trial for the crime, but who bribed his jailers and escaped, and
+wandered all over the Continent. What is that noise? Have you got rats?"
+
+"Plenty of foreign rats, and native 'coons, and skunks, and other
+varmint. Wal, Squire, go on with it."
+
+The voice of Uncle Sam was stern, and his face full of rising fury, as
+I, who had made that noise in my horror, tried to hush my heart with
+patience.
+
+"The story is well known," continued the stranger: "we need make no
+bones of it. George Castlewood went about under a curse--"
+
+"Not quite so loud, Squire, if you please. My household is not
+altogether seasoned."
+
+"And perhaps you have got the young lady somewhere. I heard a report to
+that effect. But here you think nothing of a dozen murders. Now, Gundry,
+let us have no squeamishness. We only want justice, and we can pay for
+it. Ten thousand dollars I am authorized to offer for a mere act of duty
+on your part. We have an extradition treaty. If the man had been alive,
+we must have had him. But as he has cheated the hangman by dying, we can
+only see his grave and have evidence. And all well-disposed people must
+rejoice to have such a quiet end of it. For the family is so well known,
+you see."
+
+"I see," Mr. Gundry answered, quietly, laying a finger on his lips.
+"Guess you want something more than that, though, Squire. Is there
+nothing more than the grave to oblige a noble Britisher with?"
+
+"Yes, Colonel; we want the girl as well. We know that she was with him
+in that caravan, or wagon train, or whatever you please to call it.
+We know that you have made oath of his death, produced his child, and
+obtained his trunks, and drawn his share in the insurance job. Your laws
+must be queer to let you do such things. In England it would have taken
+at least three years, and cost a deal more than the things were worth,
+even without a Chancery suit. However, of his papers I shall take
+possession; they can be of no earthly use to you."
+
+"To be sure. And possession of his darter too, without so much as a
+Chancery suit. But what is to satisfy me, Squire, agin goin' wrong in
+this little transaction?"
+
+"I can very soon satisfy you," said the stranger, "as to their identity.
+Here is their full, particular, and correct description--names, weights,
+and colors of the parties."
+
+With a broad grin at his own exquisite wit, the bluff man drew forth his
+pocket-book, and took out a paper, which he began to smooth on his knee
+quite leisurely. Meanwhile, in my hiding-place, I was trembling with
+terror and indignation. The sense of eavesdropping was wholly lost, in
+that of my own jeopardy. I must know what was arranged about me; for
+I felt such a hatred and fear of that stranger that sooner than be
+surrendered to him I would rush back to my room and jump out of the
+window, and trust myself to the trackless forest and the snowy night.
+I was very nearly doing so, but just had sense enough to wait and hear
+what would be said of me. So I lurked in the darkness, behind the rails,
+while the stranger read slowly and pompously.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+DISCOMFITURE
+
+
+The Englishman drew forth a double eyeglass from a red velvet waistcoat,
+and mounting it on his broad nose, came nearer to get the full light of
+the candles. I saw him as clearly as I could wish, and, indeed, a great
+deal too clearly; for the more I saw of the man, the more I shrank from
+the thought of being in his power. Not that he seemed to be brutal or
+fierce, but selfish, and resolute, and hard-hearted, and scornful of
+lofty feelings. Short dust-colored hair and frizzly whiskers framed
+his large, thick-featured face, and wearing no mustache, he showed the
+clumsy sneer of a wide, coarse mouth. I watched him with all my eyes,
+because of his tone of authority about myself. He might even be my
+guardian or my father's nearest relation--though he seemed to be too
+ill-bred for that.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, Colonel," he went on, in a patronizing tone,
+such as he had assumed throughout. "Here it is. Now prick your ears up,
+and see if these candid remarks apply. I am reading from a printed form,
+you see:
+
+"'George Castlewood is forty-eight years old, but looks perhaps ten
+years older. His height is over six feet two, and he does not stoop or
+slouch at all. His hair is long and abundant, but white; his eyes are
+dark, piercing, and gloomy. His features are fine, and of Italian cast,
+but stern, morose, and forbidding, and he never uses razor. On the back
+of his left hand, near the wrist, there is a broad scar. He dresses in
+half-mourning always, and never wears any jewelry, but strictly shuns
+all society, and prefers uncivilized regions. He never stays long in
+any town, and follows no occupation, though his aspect and carriage are
+military, as he has been a cavalry officer. From time to time he has
+been heard of in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and is now believed to be in
+America.
+
+"'His only surviving child, a girl of about fifteen, has been seen with
+him. She is tall and slight and very straight, and speaks French better
+than English. Her hair is very nearly black, and her eyes of unusual
+size and lustre. She is shy, and appears to have been kept under, and
+she has a timid smile. Whether she knows of her father's crime or not is
+quite uncertain; but she follows him like a dog almost.'
+
+"There now, Colonel," cried the Englishman, as he folded the paper
+triumphantly; "most of that came from my information, though I never set
+eyes upon the child. Does the cap fit or not, Brother Jonathan?"
+
+Mr. Gundry was leaning back in his own corner, with a favorite pipe,
+carved by himself, reposing on his waistcoat. And being thus appealed
+to, he looked up and rubbed his eyes as if he had been dozing, though
+he never had been more wide awake, as I, who knew his attitudes, could
+tell. And my eyes filled with tears of love and shame, for I knew by the
+mere turn of his chin that he never would surrender me.
+
+"Stranger," he said, in a most provoking drawl, "a hard day's work
+tells its tale on me, you bet. You do read so bootiful, you read me hard
+asleep. And the gutturals of that furrin English is always a little hard
+to catch. Mought I trouble you just to go through it again? You likes
+the sound of your own voice; and no blame to you, being such a swate
+un."
+
+The Englishman looked at him keenly, as if he had some suspicion of
+being chaffed; but the face of the Sawyer was so grave and the bend of
+his head so courteous that he could not refuse to do as he was asked.
+But he glanced first at the whiskey bottle standing between the
+candlesticks; and I knew it boded ill for his errand when Uncle Sam, the
+most hospitable of men, feigned pure incomprehension of that glance. The
+man should have no more under that roof.
+
+With a sullen air and a muttered curse, at which Mr. Gundry blew a
+wreath of smoke, the stranger unfolded his paper again, and saying, "Now
+I beg you to attend this time," read the whole of his description, with
+much emphasis, again, while the Sawyer turned away and beat time
+upon the hearth, with his white hair, broad shoulders, and red ears
+prominent. The Englishman looked very seriously vexed, but went through
+his business doggedly. "Are you satisfied now?" he asked when he had
+finished.
+
+"Wal, now, Squire," replied Uncle Sam, still keeping up his provoking
+drawl, but turning round and looking at the stranger very steadfastly,
+"some thin's is so pooty and so ilegantly done, they seems a'most as
+good as well-slung flapjacks. A natteral honest stomick can't nohow have
+enough of them. Mought I be so bold, in a silly, mountaneous sort of a
+way, as to ax for another heerin' of it?"
+
+"Do you mean to insult me, Sir?" shouted the visitor, leaping up with a
+flaming face, and throwing himself into an attitude of attack.
+
+"Stranger, I mought," answered Mr. Gundry, standing squarely before him,
+and keeping his hands contemptuously behind his back--"I mought so do,
+barrin' one little point. The cutest commissioner in all the West would
+have to report 'Non compos' if his orders was to diskiver somethin'
+capable of bein' insulted in a fellow of your natur'."
+
+With these words Uncle Sam sat down, and powerfully closed his mouth,
+signifying that now the matter was taken through every phase of
+discussion, and had been thoroughly exhausted. His visitor stared at him
+for a moment, as if at some strange phenomenon, and then fell back into
+self-command, without attempting bluster.
+
+"Colonel, you are a 'cure,' as we call it on our side of the herring
+pond. What have I done to 'riz your dander,' as you elegantly express it
+here?"
+
+"Britisher, nothing. You know no better. It takes more than that to put
+my back up. But forty years agone I do believe I must 'a heaved you out
+o' window."
+
+"Why, Colonel, why? Now be reasonable. Not a word have I said reflecting
+either upon you or your country; and a finer offer than I have made can
+not come to many of you, even in this land of gold. Ten thousand dollars
+I offer, and I will exceed my instructions and say fifteen, all paid on
+the nail by an order on Frisco, about which you may assure yourself. And
+what do I ask in return? Legal proof of the death of a man whom we know
+to be dead, and the custody of his child, for her own good."
+
+"Squire, I have no other answer to make. If you offered me all the gold
+dug in these mountains since they were discovered, I could only say what
+I have said before. You came from Sylvester's ranch--there is time for
+you to get back ere the snow begins."
+
+"What a hospitable man you are! Upon my word, Gundry, you deserve to
+have a medal from our Humane Society. You propose to turn me out of
+doors to-night, with a great fall of snow impending?"
+
+"Sir, the fault is entirely your own. What hospitality can you expect
+after coming to buy my guest? If you are afraid of the ten-mile ride,
+my man at the mill will bed you. But here you must not sleep, because
+I might harm you in the morning. I am apt to lose my temper sometimes,
+when I go on to think of things."
+
+"Colonel, I think I had better ride back. I fear no man, nor his temper,
+nor crotchets. But if I were snowed up at your mill, I never might
+cross the hill-foot for months; but from Sylvester's I can always get to
+Minto. You refuse, then, to help me in any way?"
+
+"More than that. I will do every thing in my power to confound you. If
+any one comes prowling after that young lady, he shall be shot."
+
+"That is most discouraging. However, you may think better of it. Write
+to this address if you do. You have the girl here, of course?"
+
+"That is her concern and mine. Does your guide know the way right well!
+The snow is beginning. You do not know our snows, any more than you know
+us."
+
+"Never mind, Mr. Gundry. I shall do very well. You are rough in your
+ways, but you mean to do the right; and your indignation is virtuous.
+But mark my words upon one little point. If George Castlewood had been
+living, I have such credentials that I would have dragged him back with
+me in spite of all your bluster. But over his corpse I have no control,
+in the present condition of treaties. Neither can I meddle with his
+daughter, if it were worth while to do so. Keep her and make the best of
+her, my man. You have taken a snake in the grass to your bosom, if that
+is what you are up for. A very handsome girl she may be, but a bad
+lot, as her father was. If you wish the name of Gundry to have its due
+respect hereafter, let the heir of the sawmills have nothing to do with
+the Honorable Miss Castlewood."
+
+"Let alone, let alone," Uncle Sam said, angrily. "It is well for you
+that the 'heir of the saw-mills' hath not heard your insolence. Firm is
+a steady lad; but he knoweth well which foot to kick with. No fear
+of losing the way to Sylvester's ranch with Firm behind you. But,
+meddlesome as you be, and a bitter weed to my experience, it shall not
+be said that Sampson Gundry sent forth a fellow to be frozen. Drink a
+glass of hot whiskey before you get to saddle. Not in friendship, mind
+you, Sir, but in common human nature."
+
+That execrable man complied, for he began to be doubtful of the driving
+snow, now huddling against the window-frames. And so he went out; and
+when he was gone, I came forth into the fire-light, and threw my arms
+round the Sawyer's neck and kissed him till he was ashamed of me.
+
+"Miss Rema, my dear, my poor little soul, what makes you carry on so?"
+
+"Because I have heard every word, Uncle Sam, and I was base enough to
+doubt you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A DOUBTFUL LOSS
+
+
+When I tried to look out of my window in the morning, I was quite
+astonished at the state of things. To look out fairly was impossible;
+for not only was all the lower part of the frame hillocked up like a
+sandglass, and the sides filled in with dusky plaits, but even in the
+middle, where some outlook was, it led to very little. All the air
+seemed choked with snow, and the ground coming up in piles to meet it;
+all sounds were deadened in the thick gray hush, and nothing had its own
+proportion. Never having seen such a thing before, I was frightened, and
+longed to know more of it.
+
+Mr. Gundry had a good laugh at me, in which even Suan Isco joined, when
+I proposed to sweep a path to the mill, and keep it open through the
+winter.
+
+"It can be done--I am sure it can," I exclaimed, with vigorous
+ignorance. "May I do it if I can? It only requires perseverance. If you
+keep on sweeping as fast as it falls, you must overcome it. Don't you
+see, Uncle Sam?"
+
+"To be sure I do, Miss Rema, as plain as any pikestaff. Suan, fetch a
+double bundle of new brooms from top loft, and don't forget while you
+be up there to give special orders--no snow is to fall at night or when
+missy is at dinner."
+
+"You may laugh as much as you please, Uncle Sam, but I intend to try it.
+I must try to keep my path to--somewhere."
+
+"What a fool I am, to be sure!" said Mr. Gundry, softly. "There, now, I
+beg your pardon, my dear, for never giving a thought to it. Firm and I
+will do it for you, as long as the Lord allows of it. Why, the snow is
+two foot deep a'ready, and twenty foot in places. I wonder whether that
+rogue of a Goad got home to Sylvester's ranch last night? No fault of
+mine if he never did, for go he would in spite of me."
+
+I had not been thinking of Mr. Goad, and indeed I did not know his
+name until it was told in this way. My mind was dwelling on my father's
+grave, where I used to love to sit and think; and I could not bear the
+idea of the cold snow lying over it, with nobody coming to care for him.
+Kind hands had borne him down the mountains (while I lay between life
+and death) and buried him in the soft peach orchard, in the soothing
+sound of the mill-wheel. Here had been planted above his head a cross
+of white un-painted wood, bearing only his initials, and a small "Amen"
+below them.
+
+With this I was quite content, believing that he would have wished no
+better, being a very independent man, and desirous of no kind of pomp.
+There was no "consecrated ground" within miles and miles of traveling;
+but I hoped that he might rest as well with simple tears to hallow it.
+For often and often, even now, I could not help giving way and sobbing,
+when I thought how sad it was that a strong, commanding, mighty man, of
+great will and large experience, should drop in a corner of the world
+and die, and finally be thought lucky--when he could think for himself
+no longer--to obtain a tranquil, unknown grave, and end with his
+initials, and have a water-wheel to sing to him. Many a time it set
+me crying, and made me long to lie down with him, until I thought of
+earth-worms.
+
+All that could be done was done by Sampson and Firm Gundry, to let me
+have my clear path, and a clear bourne at the end of it. But even with a
+steam snow-shovel they could not have kept the way unstopped, such solid
+masses of the mountain clouds now descended over us. And never had I
+been so humored in my foolish wishes: I was quite ashamed to see the
+trouble great men took to please me.
+
+"Well, I am sorry to hear it, Firm," said the Sawyer, coming in one day,
+with clouts of snow in his snowy curls. "Not that I care a cent for the
+fellow--and an impudenter fellow never sucked a pipe. Still, he might
+have had time to mend, if his time had been as good as the room for it.
+However, no blame rests on us. I told him to bed down to saw-mill. They
+Englishmen never know when they are well off. But the horse got home,
+they tell me?"
+
+"The horse got home all right, grandfather, and so did the other horse
+and man. But Sylvester thinks that a pile of dollars must have died out
+in the snow-drift. It is a queer story. We shall never know the rights."
+
+"How many times did I tell him," the Sawyer replied, without much
+discontent, "that it were a risky thing to try the gulches, such a night
+as that? His own way he would have, however; and finer liars than he
+could ever stick up to be for a score of years have gone, time upon
+time, to the land of truth by means of that same view of things. They
+take every body else for a liar."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Sam, who is it?" I cried. "Is it that dreadful--that poor man
+who wanted to carry me away from you?"
+
+"Now you go in, missy; you go to the fire-hearth," Mr. Gundry answered,
+more roughly than usual. "Leave you all such points to the Lord. They
+are not for young ladies to talk about."
+
+"Grandfather, don't you be too hard," said Firm, as he saw me hurrying
+away. "Miss Rema has asked nothing unbecoming, but only concerning her
+own affairs. If we refuse to tell her, others will."
+
+"Very well, then, so be it," the Sawyer replied; for he yielded more to
+his grandson than to the rest of the world put together. "Turn the log
+up, Firm, and put the pan on. You boys can go on without victuals all
+day, but an old man must feed regular. And, bad as he was, I thank God
+for sending him on his way home with his belly full. If ever he turneth
+up in the snow, that much can be proved to my account."
+
+Young as I was, and little practiced in the ways of settlers, I could
+not help perceiving that Uncle Sam was very much put out--not at the
+death of the man so sadly, as at the worry of his dying so in going
+from a hospitable house. Mr. Gundry cared little what any body said
+concerning his honor, or courage, or such like; but the thought of a
+whisper against his hospitality would rouse him.
+
+"Find him, Firm, find him," he said, in his deep sad voice, as he sat
+down on the antlered stump and gazed at the fire gloomily. "And when
+he is found, call a public postmortem, and prove that we gave him his
+bellyful."
+
+Ephraim, knowing the old man's ways, and the manners, perhaps, of the
+neighborhood, beckoned to Suan to be quick with something hot, that he
+might hurry out again. Then he took his dinner standing, and without a
+word went forth to seek.
+
+"Take the snow-harrow, and take Jowler," the old man shouted after him,
+and the youth turned round at the gate and waved his cap to show that
+he heard him. The snow was again falling heavily, and the afternoon was
+waning; and the last thing we saw was the brush of the mighty tail of
+the great dog Jowler.
+
+"Oh, uncle, Firm will be lost himself!" I cried, in dismay at the great
+white waste. "And the poor man, whoever he is, must be dead. Do call him
+back, or let me run."
+
+Mr. Gundry's only answer was to lead me back to the fireside, where
+he made me sit down, and examined me, while Suan was frying the
+butter-beans.
+
+"Who was it spied you on the mountains, missy, the whole of the way from
+the redwood-tree, although you lay senseless on the ground, and he was
+hard at work with the loppings?"
+
+"Why, Ephraim, of course, Uncle Sam; every body says that nobody else
+could have noticed such a thing at such a distance."
+
+"Very well, my dear; and who was it carried you all the way to this
+house, without stopping, or even letting your head droop down, although
+it was a burning hot May morn?"
+
+"Mr. Gundry, as if you did not know a great deal better than I do! It
+was weeks before I could thank him, even. But you must have seen him do
+it all."
+
+The Sawyer rubbed his chin, which was large enough for a great deal of
+rubbing; and when he did that, I was always sure that an argument went
+to his liking. He said nothing more for the present, but had his dinner,
+and enjoyed it.
+
+"Supposing now that he did all that," he resumed, about an hour
+afterward, "is Firm the sort of boy you would look to to lose his own
+self in a snow-drift? He has three men with him, and he is worth all
+three, let alone the big dog Jowler, who has dug out forty feet of snow
+ere now. If that rogue of an Englishman, Goad, has had the luck to cheat
+the hangman, and the honor to die in a Californy snow-drift, you may
+take my experience for it, missy, Firm and Jowler will find him, and
+clear Uncle Sam's reputation."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WATER-SPOUT
+
+
+If Mr. Gundry was in one way right, he was equally wrong in the other.
+Firm came home quite safe and sound, though smothered with snow and
+most hungry; but he thought that he should have staid out all the night,
+because he had failed of his errand. Jowler also was full of discontent
+and trouble of conscience. He knew, when he kicked up his heels in the
+snow, that his duty was to find somebody, and being of Alpine pedigree,
+and trained to act up to his ancestry, he now dropped his tail with
+failure.
+
+"It comes to the same thing," said Sawyer Gundry; "it is foolish to
+be so particular. A thousand better men have sunk through being so
+pig-headed. We shall find the rogue toward the end of March, or in
+April, if the season suits. Firm, eat your supper and shake yourself."
+
+This was exactly the Sawyer's way--to take things quietly when convinced
+that there was no chance to better them. He would always do his best
+about the smallest trifle; but after that, be the matter small or great,
+he had a smiling face for the end of it.
+
+The winter, with all its weight of sameness and of dreariness, went at
+last, and the lovely spring from the soft Pacific found its gradual way
+to us. Accustomed as I was to gentler climates and more easy changes,
+I lost myself in admiration of this my first Californian spring. The
+flowers, the leagues and leagues of flowers, that burst into color and
+harmony--purple, yellow, and delicate lilac, woven with bright crimson
+threads, and fringed with emerald-green by the banks, and blue by the
+course of rivers, while deepened here and there by wooded shelter and
+cool places, with the silver-gray of the soft Pacific waning in far
+distance, and silken vapor drawing toward the carding forks of the
+mountain range; and over all the never-wearying azure of the limpid sky:
+child as I was, and full of little worldly troubles on my own account,
+these grand and noble sights enlarged me without any thinking.
+
+The wheat and the maize were grown apace, and beans come into full
+blossom, and the peaches swinging in the western breeze were almost as
+large as walnuts, and all things in their prime of freshness, ere the
+yellow dust arrived, when a sudden melting of snow in some gully sent
+a strong flood down our Blue River. The saw-mill happened to be hard at
+work; and before the gear could be lifted, some damage was done to the
+floats by the heavy, impetuous rush of the torrent. Uncle Sam was away,
+and so was Firm; from which, perhaps, the mischief grew. However, the
+blame was all put on the river, and little more was said of it.
+
+The following morning I went down before even Firm was out-of-doors,
+under some touch, perhaps, of natural desire to know things. The stream
+was as pure and bright as ever, hastening down its gravel-path of fine
+granite just as usual, except that it had more volume and a stronger
+sense of freshness. Only the bent of the grasses and the swath of the
+pendulous twigs down stream remained to show that there must have been
+some violence quite lately.
+
+All Mr. Gundry's strengthening piles and shores were as firm as need
+be, and the clear blue water played around them as if they were no
+constraint to it. And none but a practiced eye could see that the great
+wheel had been wounded, being undershot, and lifted now above the power
+of the current, according to the fine old plan of locking the door when
+the horse is gone.
+
+When I was looking up and wondering where to find the mischief, Martin,
+the foreman, came out and crossed the plank, with his mouth full of
+breakfast.
+
+"Show me," I said, with an air, perhaps, of very young importance,
+"where and what the damage is. Is there any strain to the iron-work?"
+
+"Lor' a mercy, young missus!" he answered, gruffly, being by no means a
+polished man, "where did you ever hear of ironwork? Needles and pins is
+enough for you. Now don't you go and make no mischief."
+
+"I have no idea what you mean," I answered. "If you have been careless,
+that is no concern of mine."
+
+"Careless, indeed! And the way I works, when others is a-snorin' in
+their beds! I might just as well do nort, every bit, and get more thanks
+and better wages. That's the way of the world all over. Come Saturday
+week, I shall better myself."
+
+"But if it's the way of the world all over, how will you better
+yourself, unless you go out of the world altogether!" I put this
+question to Martin with the earnest simplicity of the young, meaning no
+kind of sarcasm, but knowing that scarcely a week went by without his
+threatening to "better himself." And they said that he had done so for
+seven years or more.
+
+"Don't you be too sharp," he replied, with a grim smile, partly at
+himself, perhaps. "If half as I heard about you is true, you'll want
+all your sharpness for yourself, Miss Remy. And the Britishers are worse
+than we be."
+
+"Well, Martin, I am sure you would help me," I said, "if you saw any
+person injuring me. But what is it I am not to tell your master?"
+
+"My master, indeed! Well, you need not tell old Gundry any thing about
+what you have seen. It might lead to hard words; and hard words are not
+the style of thing I put up with. If any man tries hard words with me, I
+knocks him down, up sticks, and makes tracks."
+
+I could not help smiling at the poor man's talk. Sawyer Gundry could
+have taken him with one hand and tossed him over the undershot wheel.
+
+"You forget that I have not seen any thing," I said, "and understand
+nothing but 'needles and pins.' But, for fear of doing any harm, I will
+not even say that I have been down here, unless I am asked about it."
+
+"Miss Remy, you are a good girl, and you shall have the mill some day.
+Lord, don't your little great eyes see the job they are a-doin' of?
+The finest stroke in all Californy, when the stubborn old chap takes to
+quartz-crushing."
+
+All this was beyond me, and I told him so, and we parted good friends,
+while he shook his long head and went home to feed many pappooses.
+For the strangest thing of all things was, though I never at that time
+thought of it, that there was not any one about this place whom any one
+could help liking. Martin took as long as any body to be liked, until
+one understood him; but after that he was one of the best, in many ways
+that can not be described. Also there was a pair of negroes, simply and
+sweetly delightful. They worked all day and they sang all night, though
+I had not the pleasure of hearing them; and the more Suan Isco despised
+them--because they were black, and she was only brown--the more they
+made up to her, not at all because she governed the supply of victuals.
+It was childish to have such ideas, though Suan herself could never get
+rid of them. The truth, as I came to know afterward, was that a large,
+free-hearted, and determined man was at the head of every thing. Martin
+was the only one who ever grumbled, and he had established a long right
+to do so by never himself being grumbled at.
+
+"I'll be bound that poor fellow is in a sad way," Mr. Gundry said at
+breakfast-time. "He knows how much he is to blame, and I fear that he
+won't eat a bit for the day. Martin is a most conscientious man. He will
+offer to give up his berth, although it would be his simple ruin."
+
+I was wise enough not to say a word, though Firm looked at me keenly. He
+knew that I had been down at the mill, and expected me to say something.
+
+"We all must have our little mistakes," continued Sawyer Gundry; "but I
+never like to push a man when he feels it. I shall not say a syllable to
+Martin; and, Ephraim, you will do the like. When a fellow sticks well to
+his work like Martin, never blame him for a mere accident."
+
+Firm, according to his habit, made no answer when he did not quite
+agree. In talking with his own age he might have argued, but he did not
+argue with his grandfather.
+
+"I shall just go down and put it right myself. Martin is a poor hand at
+repairing. Firm, you go up the gulch, and see if the fresh has hurt the
+hurdles. Missy, you may come with me, if you please, and sketch me at
+work in the mill-wheel. You have drawn that wheel such a sight of times,
+you must know every feather of it better than the man who made it."
+
+"Uncle Sam, you are too bad," I said. "I have never got it right, and I
+never shall."
+
+I did not dare as yet to think what really proved to be true in the
+end--that I could not draw the wheel correctly because itself was
+incorrect. In spite of all Mr. Gundry's skill and labor and ingenuity,
+the wheel was no true circle. The error began in the hub itself, and
+increased, of course, with the distance; but still it worked very well,
+like many other things that are not perfect.
+
+Having no idea of this as yet, and doubting nothing except my own
+perception of "perspective," I sat down once more in my favorite spot,
+and waited for the master to appear as an active figure in the midst
+of it. The air was particularly bright and clear, even for that pure
+climate, and I could even see the blue-winged flies darting in and out
+of the oozy floats. But half-way up the mountains a white cloud was
+hanging, a cloud that kept on changing shape. I only observed it as a
+thing to put in for my background, because I was fond of trying to tone
+and touch up my sketches with French chalks.
+
+Presently I heard a harsh metallic sound and creaking of machinery. The
+bites, or clamps, or whatever they are called, were being put on, to
+keep the wheel from revolving with the Sawyer's weight. Martin, the
+foreman, was grumbling and growling, according to his habit, and peering
+through the slot, or channel of stone, in which the axle worked, and the
+cheery voice of Mr. Gundry was putting down his objections. Being much
+too large to pass through the slot, Mr. Gundry came round the corner
+of the building, with a heavy leathern bag of tools strapped round his
+neck, and his canvas breeches girt above his knees. But the foreman
+staid inside to hand him the needful material into the wheel.
+
+The Sawyer waded merrily down the shallow blue water, for he was always
+like a boy when he was at work, and he waved his little skull-cap to me,
+and swung himself up into the wheel, as if he were nearer seventeen than
+seventy. And presently I could only see his legs and arms as he fell to
+work. Therefore I also fell to work, with my best attempts at penciling,
+having been carefully taught enough of drawing to know that I could not
+draw. And perhaps I caught from the old man's presence and the sound of
+his activity that strong desire to do my best which he seemed to impart
+to every one.
+
+At any rate, I was so engrossed that I scarcely observed the changing
+light, except as a hindrance to my work and a trouble to my distance,
+till suddenly some great drops fell upon my paper and upon my hat, and
+a rush of dark wind almost swept me from the log upon which I sat. Then
+again all was a perfect calm, and the young leaves over the stream hung
+heavily on their tender foot-stalks, and the points of the breeze-swept
+grass turned back, and the ruffle of all things smoothed itself. But
+there seemed to be a sense of fear in the waiting silence of earth and
+air.
+
+This deep, unnatural stillness scared me, and I made up my mind to
+run away. But the hammer of the Sawyer sounded as I had never heard it
+sound. He was much too hard at work to pay any heed to sky or stream,
+and the fall of his strokes was dead and hollow, as if the place
+resented them.
+
+"Come away, come away," I cried, as I ran and stood on the opposite bank
+to him; "there is something quite wrong in the weather, I am sure. I
+entreat you to come away at once, Uncle Sam. Every thing is so strange
+and odd."
+
+"Why, what's to do now?" asked the Sawyer, coming to my side of the
+wheel and looking at me, with his spectacles tilted up, and his apron
+wedged in a piece of timber, and his solid figure resting in the
+impossibility of hurry. "Missy, don't you make a noise out there. You
+can't have your own way always."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Sam, don't talk like that. I am in such a fright about you.
+Do come out and look at the mountains."
+
+"I have seen the mountains often enough, and I am up to every trick of
+them. There may be a corn or two of rain; no more. My sea-weed was like
+tinder. There can't be no heavy storm when it is like that. Don't you
+make pretense, missy, to know what is beyond you."
+
+Uncle Sam was so seldom cross that I always felt that he had a right
+to be so. And he gave me one of his noble smiles to make up for the
+sharpness of his words, and then back he went to his work again. So I
+hoped that I was altogether wrong, till a bolt of lightning, like a blue
+dagger, fell at my very feet, and a crash of thunder shook the earth and
+stunned me. These opened the sluice of the heavens, and before I could
+call out I was drenched with rain. Clinging to a bush, I saw the valley
+lashed with cloudy blasts, and a whirling mass of spiral darkness
+rushing like a giant toward me. And the hissing and tossing and roaring
+mixed whatever was in sight together.
+
+Such terror fell upon me at first that I could not look, and could
+scarcely think, but cowered beneath the blaze of lightning as a singed
+moth drops and shivers. And a storm of wind struck me from my hold, so
+that I fell upon the wet earth. Every moment I expected to be killed,
+for I never could be brave in a thunder-storm, and had not been told
+much in France of God's protection around me. And the darts of lightning
+hissed and crossed like a blue and red web over me. So I laid hold of a
+little bent of weed, and twisted it round my dabbled wrist, and tried to
+pray to the Virgin, although I had often been told it was vanity.
+
+Then suddenly wiping my eyes, I beheld a thing which entirely changed
+me. A vast, broad wall of brown water, nearly as high as the mill
+itself, rushed down with a crest of foam from the mountains. It seemed
+to fill up all the valley and to swallow up all the trees; a whole host
+of animals fled before it, and birds, like a volley of bullets, flew by.
+I lost not a moment in running away, and climbing a rock and hiding.
+It was base, ungrateful, and a nasty thing to do; but I did it almost
+without thinking. And if I had staid to cry out, what good could I have
+done--only to be swept away?
+
+Now, as far as I can remember any thing out of so much horror, I must
+have peeped over the summit of my rock when the head of the deluge
+struck the mill. But whether I saw it, or whether I knew it by any more
+summary process, such as outruns the eyes sometimes, is more than I dare
+presume to say. Whichever way I learned it, it was thus:
+
+A solid mass of water, much bigger than the mill itself, burst on it,
+dashed it to atoms, leaped off with it, and spun away the great wheel
+anyhow, like the hoop of a child sent trundling. I heard no scream or
+shriek; and, indeed, the bellow of a lion would have been a mere whisper
+in the wild roar of the elements. Only, where the mill had been, there
+was nothing except a black streak and a boil in the deluge. Then scores
+of torn-up trees swept over, as a bush-harrow jumps on the clods of the
+field; and the unrelenting flood cast its wrath, and shone quietly in
+the lightning.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Sam! Uncle Sam!" I cried. But there was not a sign to be seen
+of him; and I thought of his gentle, good, obstinate ways, and my heart
+was almost broken. "What a brute--what a wretch I am!" I kept saying, as
+if I could have helped it; and my fear of the lightning was gone, and I
+stood and raved with scorn and amazement.
+
+In this misery of confusion it was impossible to think, and instinct
+alone could have driven my despair to a desperate venture. With my
+soaked clothes sticking between my legs, I ran as hard as they would go,
+by a short-cut over a field of corn, to a spot where the very last bluff
+or headland jutted into the river. This was a good mile below the mill
+according to the bends of channel, but only a furlong or so from the
+rock upon which I had taken refuge. However, the flood was there before
+me, and the wall of water dashed on to the plains, with a brindled comb
+behind it.
+
+Behind it also came all the ruin of the mill that had any floatage, and
+bodies of bears and great hogs and cattle, some of them alive, but the
+most part dead. A grand black bull tossed back his horns, and looked at
+me beseechingly: he had frightened me often in quiet days, but now I was
+truly grieved for him. And then on a wattle of brush-wood I saw the form
+of a man--the Sawyer.
+
+His white hair draggled in the wild brown flood, and the hollow of
+his arms was heaped with froth, and his knotted legs hung helpless.
+Senseless he lay on his back, and sometimes the wash of the waves went
+over him. His face was livid, but his brave eyes open, and a heavy
+weight hung round his neck. I had no time to think, and deserve no
+praise, for I knew not what I did. But just as an eddy swept him near
+me, I made a desperate leap at him, and clutched at something that tore
+my hands, and then I went under the water. My senses, however, were
+not yet gone, and my weight on the wattle stopped it, and I came up
+gurgling, and flung one arm round a fat, woolly sheep going by me. The
+sheep was water-logged, and could scarcely keep his own poor head from
+drowning, and he turned his mild eyes and looked at me, but I could not
+spare him. He struck for the shore in forlorn hope, and he towed us in
+some little.
+
+It is no good for me to pretend to say how things were managed for us,
+for of course I could do nothing. But the sheep must have piloted us to
+a tree, whose branches swept the torrent. Here I let him go, and caught
+fast hold; and Uncle Sam's raft must have stuck there also, for what
+could my weak arm have done? I remember only to have felt the ground at
+last, as the flood was exhausted; and good people came and found him and
+me, stretched side by side, upon rubbish and mud.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A NUGGET
+
+
+In a sacred corner (as soon as ever we could attend to any thing) we
+hung up the leathern bag of tools, which had done much more toward
+saving the life of Uncle Sam than I did; for this had served as a kind
+of kedge, or drag, upon his little craft, retarding it from the great
+roll of billows, in which he must have been drowned outright. And even
+as it was, he took some days before he was like himself again.
+
+Firm, who had been at the head of the valley, repairing some broken
+hurdles, declared that a water-spout had burst in the bosom of the
+mountain gorge where the Blue River has its origin, and the whole of its
+power got ponded back by a dam, which the Sawyer himself had made, at
+about five furlongs above the mill. Ephraim, being further up the gulch,
+and high above the roaring flood, did his utmost with the keen edge of
+his eyes to pierce into the mischief; but it rained so hard, and at the
+same time blew so violently around him, that he could see nothing of
+what went on, but hoped for the best, with uneasiness.
+
+Now when the Sawyer came round so well as to have a clear mind of
+things, and learn that his mill was gone and his business lost, and
+himself, at this ripe time of life, almost driven to begin the world
+again, it was natural to expect that he ought to indulge in a good deal
+of grumbling. Many people came to comfort him, and to offer him deep
+condolence and the truest of true sympathy, and every thing that could
+be thought of, unless it were a loan of money. Of that they never
+thought, because it was such a trifling matter; and they all had
+confidence in his power to do any thing but pay them. They told him that
+he was a young man still, and Providence watched over him; in a year or
+two he would be all the better for this sad visitation. And he said yes
+to their excellent advice, and was very much obliged to them. At the
+same time it was clear to me, who watched him like a daughter, that he
+became heavy in his mind, and sighed, as these kind friends, one after
+the other, enjoyed what he still could do for them, but rode away out of
+his gate with too much delicacy to draw purse-strings. Not that he would
+have accepted a loan from the heartiest heart of all of them, only that
+he would have liked the offer, to understand their meaning. And several
+of them were men--as Firm, in his young indignation, told me--who had
+been altogether set up in life by the kindness of Sampson Gundry.
+
+Perhaps the Sawyer, after all his years, had no right to be vexed by
+this. But whether he was right or wrong, I am sure that it preyed upon
+his mind, though he was too proud to speak of it. He knew that he was
+not ruined, although these friends assumed that he must be; and some of
+them were quite angry with him because they had vainly warned him. He
+could not remember these warnings, yet he contradicted none of them; and
+fully believing in the goodness of the world, he became convinced that
+he must have been hard in the days of his prosperity.
+
+No sooner was he able to get about again than he went to San Francisco
+to raise money on his house and property for the rebuilding of the mill.
+Firm rode with him to escort him back, and so did Martin, the foreman;
+for although the times were not so bad as they used to be some ten years
+back, in the height of the gold fever, it still was a highly undesirable
+thing for a man who was known to have money about him to ride forth
+alone from San Francisco, or even Sacramento town. And having mentioned
+the foreman Martin, in justice to him I ought to say that although his
+entire loss from the disaster amounted only to a worn-out waistcoat of
+the value of about twenty cents, his vehemence in grumbling could only
+be equaled by his lofty persistence. By his great activity in running
+away and leaving his employer to meet the brunt, he had saved not only
+himself, but his wife and children and goods and chattels. This failed,
+however, to remove or even assuage his regret for the waistcoat; and he
+moaned and threatened to such good purpose that a speedy subscription
+was raised, which must have found him in clothes for the rest of his
+life, as well as a silver tea-pot with an inscription about his bravery.
+
+When the three were gone, after strict injunctions from Mr. Gundry, and
+his grandson too, that I was on no account to venture beyond calling
+distance from the house, for fear of being run away with, I found the
+place so sad and lonesome that I scarcely knew what to do. I had no fear
+of robbers, though there were plenty in the neighborhood; for we still
+had three or four men about, who could be thoroughly trusted, and
+who staid with us on half wages rather than abandon the Sawyer in his
+trouble. Suan Isco, also, was as brave as any man, and could shoot well
+with a rifle. Moreover, the great dog Jowler was known and dreaded by
+all his enemies. He could pull down an Indian, or two half-castes, or
+three Mexicans, in about a second; and now he always went about with me,
+having formed a sacred friendship.
+
+Uncle Sam had kissed me very warmly when he said "good-by," and Firm had
+shown some disposition to follow his example; but much as I liked and
+admired Firm, I had my own ideas as to what was unbecoming, and now
+in my lonely little walks I began to think about it. My father's
+resting-place had not been invaded by the imperious flood, although a
+line of driftage, in a zigzag swath, lay near the mound. This was my
+favorite spot for thinking, when I felt perplexed and downcast in my
+young unaided mind. For although I have not spoken of my musings very
+copiously, any one would do me wrong who fancied that I was indifferent.
+Through the great kindness of Mr. Gundry and other good friends around
+me, I had no bitter sense as yet of my own dependence and poverty. But
+the vile thing I had heard about my father, the horrible slander
+and wicked falsehood--for such I was certain it must be--this was
+continually in my thoughts, and quite destroyed my cheerfulness. And
+the worst of it was that I never could get my host to enter into it.
+Whenever I began, his face would change and his manner grow constrained,
+and his chief desire always seemed to lead me to some other subject.
+
+One day, when the heat of the summer came forth, and the peaches began
+to blush toward it, and bronze-ribbed figs grew damask-gray with a
+globule of sirup in their eyes, and melons and pumpkins already had
+curved their fluted stalks with heaviness, and the dust of the plains
+was beginning to fly, and the bright spring flowers were dead more
+swiftly even than they first were born, I sat with Suan Isco at my
+father's cross, and told her to make me cry with some of all the many
+sad things she knew. She knew a wondrous number of things insatiably sad
+and wild; and the quiet way in which she told them (not only without any
+horror, but as if they were rightly to be expected), also the deep and
+rather guttural tone of voice, and the stillness of the form, made it
+impossible to help believing verily every word she said.
+
+That there should be in the world such things, so dark, unjust, and
+full of woe, was enough to puzzle a child brought up among the noblest
+philosophers; whereas I had simply been educated by good unpretentious
+women, who had partly retired from the world, but not to such a depth as
+to drown all thought of what was left behind them. These were ready at
+any time to return upon good opportunity; and some of them had done so,
+with many tears, when they came into property.
+
+"Please to tell me no more now," I said at last to Suan; "my eyes are
+so sore they will be quite red, and perhaps Uncle Sam will come home
+to-night. I am afraid he has found some trouble with the money, or he
+ought to have been at home before. Don't you think so, Suan?"
+
+"Yes, yes; trouble with the money. Always with the white mans that."
+
+"Very well. I shall go and look for some money. I had a most wonderful
+dream last night. Only I must go quite alone. You had better go and look
+to the larder, Suan. If they come, they are sure to be hungry."
+
+"Yes, yes; the white mans always hungry, sep when thirsty."
+
+The Indian woman, who had in her heart a general contempt for the white
+race, save those of our own household, drew her bright-colored shawl
+around her, and set off with her peculiar walk. Her walk was not
+ungraceful, because it was so purely natural; but it differed almost as
+much as the step of a quadruped from what we are taught. I, with heavy
+thoughts but careless steps, set off on my wanderings. I wanted to try
+to have no set purpose, course, or consideration, but to go wherever
+chance should lead me, without choice, as in my dream. And after many
+vague turns, and even closings of rebellious eyes, I found myself,
+perhaps by the force of habit, at the ruins of the mill.
+
+I seemed to recognize some resemblance (which is as much as one can
+expect) to the scene which had been in my sleep before me. But sleeping
+I had seen roaring torrents; waking, I beheld a quiet stream. The little
+river, as blue as ever, and shrinking from all thoughts of wrath, showed
+nothing in its pure gaze now but a gladness to refresh and cool. In many
+nicely sheltered corners it was full of soft reflection as to the good
+it had to do; and then, in silver and golden runnels, on it went to do
+it. And the happy voice and many sweetly flashing little glances told
+that it knew of the lovely lives beside it, created and comforted by
+itself.
+
+But I looked at the dark ruin it had wrought, and like a child I was
+angry with it for the sake of Uncle Sam. Only the foundations and the
+big heavy stones of the mill were left, and the clear bright water
+purled around, or made little eddies among them. All were touched
+with silvery sound, and soft caressing dimples. But I looked at the
+passionate mountains first, to be sure of no more violence; for if a
+burned child dreads the fire, one half drowned may be excused for little
+faith in water. The mountains in the sunshine looked as if nothing could
+move their grandeur, and so I stepped from stone to stone, in the bed of
+the placid brightness.
+
+Presently I came to a place where one of the great black piles, driven
+in by order of the Sawyer, to serve as a back-stay for his walls, had
+been swept by the flood from its vertical sinking, but had not been
+swept away. The square tarred post of mountain pine reclined down
+stream, and gently nodded to the current's impact. But overthrown as it
+was, it could not make its exit and float away, as all its brethren
+had done. At this I had wondered before, and now I went to see what the
+reason was. By throwing a short piece of plank from one of the shattered
+foundations into a nick in the shoulder of the reclining pile, I managed
+to get there and sit upon it, and search for its obstruction.
+
+The water was flowing smoothly toward me, and as clear as crystal, being
+scarcely more than a foot in depth. And there, on the upper verge of the
+hole, raised by the leverage of the butt from the granite sand of the
+river-bed, I saw a great bowlder of rich yellow light. I was so much
+amazed that I cried out at once, "Oh! what a beautiful great yellow
+fish!" And I shouted to Jowler, who had found where I was, and followed
+me, as usual. The great dog was famous for his love of fishing, and had
+often brought a fine salmon forth.
+
+Jowler was always a zealous fellow, and he answered eagerly to my call
+by dashing at once into the water, and following the guidance of my
+hand. But when he saw what I pointed at, he was bitterly disappointed,
+and gave me to understand as much by looking at me foolishly. "Now don't
+be a stupid dog," I said; "do what I tell you immediately. Whatever it
+is, bring it out, Sir."
+
+Jowler knew that I would be obeyed whenever I called him "Sir;" so he
+ducked his great head under the water, and tugged with his teeth at the
+object. His back corded up, and his tail grew rigid with the intensity
+of his labor, but the task was quite beyond him. He could not even
+stir the mighty mass at which he struggled, but he bit off a little
+projecting corner, and came to me with it in his mouth. Then he laid his
+dripping jaws on my lap, and his ears fell back, and his tail hung down
+with utter sense of failure.
+
+I patted his broad intelligent forehead, and wiped his black eyes with
+his ears, and took from his lips what he offered to me. Then I saw
+that his grinders were framed with gold, as if he had been to a dentist
+regardless of expense, and into my hand he dropped a lump of solid
+glittering virgin ore. He had not the smallest idea of having done any
+thing worthy of human applause; and he put out his long red tongue and
+licked his teeth to get rid of uneatable dross, and gave me a quiet
+nudge to ask what more I wanted of him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ROVERS
+
+
+From Jowler I wanted nothing more. Such matters were too grand for
+him. He had beaten the dog of Hercules, who had only brought the purple
+dye--a thing requiring skill and art and taste to give it value. But
+gold does well without all these, and better in their absence. From
+handling many little nuggets, and hearkening to Suan Isco's tales of
+treachery, theft, and murder done by white men for the sake of this, I
+knew that here I had found enough to cost the lives of fifty men.
+
+At present, however, I was not possessed with dread so much as I was
+with joy, and even a secret exultation, at the power placed in my hands.
+For I was too young to moralize or attempt philosophy. Here I had a
+knowledge which the wisest of mankind might envy, much as they despise
+it when they have no chance of getting it. I looked at my father's
+grave, in the shadow of the quiet peach-trees, and I could not help
+crying as I thought that this was come too late for him. Then I called
+off Jowler, who wished (like a man) to have another tug at it; and home
+I ran to tell my news, but failing of breath, had time to think.
+
+It was lucky enough that this was so, for there might have been the
+greatest mischief; and sadly excited as I was, the trouble I had seen
+so much of came back to my beating heart and told me to be careful. But
+surely there could be no harm in trusting Suan Isco. However, I looked
+at her several times, and was not quite so sure about it. She was
+wonderfully true and faithful, and scarcely seemed to concede to gold
+its paramount rank and influence. But that might only have been because
+she had never known the want of it, or had never seen a lump worth
+stealing, which I was sure that this must be; and the unregenerate
+state of all who have never been baptized had been impressed on me
+continually. How could I mistrust a Christian, and place confidence in
+an Indian? Therefore I tried to sleep without telling any one, but was
+unable.
+
+But, as it happened, my good discovery did not keep me so very long
+awake, for on the following day our troop of horsemen returned from
+San Francisco. Of course I have done very foolish things once and again
+throughout my life, but perhaps I never did any thing more absurd than
+during the whole of that day. To begin with, I was up before the
+sun, and down at the mill, and along the plank, which I had removed
+overnight, but now replaced as my bridge to the pine-wood pile. Then
+I gazed with eager desire and fear--which was the stronger I scarcely
+knew--for the yellow under-gleam, to show the safety of my treasure.
+There it lay, as safe as could be, massive, grand, and beautiful, with
+tones of varying richness as the ripples varied over it. The pale light
+of the morning breathed a dewy lustre down the banks; the sun (although
+unrisen yet) drew furrows through the mountain gaps; the birds from
+every hanging tree addressed the day with melody; the crystal water,
+purer than religion's brightest dream, went by; and here among them lay,
+unmoved, unthought of, and inanimate, the thing which to a human being
+is worth all the rest put together.
+
+This contemplation had upon me an effect so noble that here I resolved
+to spend my time, for fear of any robbery. I was afraid to gaze more
+than could be helped at this grand sight, lest other eyes should spy
+what was going on, and long to share it. And after hurrying home to
+breakfast and returning in like haste, I got a scare, such as I well
+deserved, for being so extremely foolish.
+
+The carpentry of the mill-wheel had proved so very stanch and steadfast
+that even in that raging deluge the whole had held together. It had been
+bodily torn from its hold and swept away down the valley; but somewhere
+it grounded, as the flood ebbed out, and a strong team had tugged it
+back again. And the Sawyer had vowed that, come what would, his mill
+should work with the self-same wheel which he with younger hands had
+wrought. Now this wheel (to prevent any warp, and save the dry timber
+from the sun) was laid in a little shady cut, where water trickled under
+it. And here I had taken up my abode to watch my monster nugget.
+
+I had pulled my shoes and stockings off, and was paddling in the runnel,
+sheltered by the deep rim of the wheel, and enjoying the water. Little
+fish darted by me, and lovely spotted lizards played about, and I was
+almost beginning even to forget my rock of gold. In self-defense it is
+right to say that for the gold, on my own account, I cared as much as I
+might have done for a fig worm-eaten. It was for Uncle Sam, and all
+his dear love, that I watched the gold, hoping in his sad disaster to
+restore his fortunes. But suddenly over the rim of the wheel (laid
+flat in the tributary brook) I descried across the main river a moving
+company of horsemen.
+
+These men could have nothing to do with Uncle Sam and his party, for
+they were coming from the mountain-side, while he would return by the
+track across the plains. And they were already so near that I could see
+their dress quite plainly, and knew them to be Mexican rovers, mixed
+with loose Americans. There are few worse men on the face of the earth
+than these, when in the humor, and unluckily they seem almost always
+to be in that humor. Therefore, when I saw their battered sun-hats and
+baggy slouching boots, I feared that little ruth, or truth, or mercy
+dwelt between them.
+
+On this account I shrank behind the shelter of the mill-wheel, and held
+my head in one trembling hand, and with the other drew my wind-tossed
+hair into small compass. For my blood ran cold at the many dreadful
+things that came into my mind. I was sure that they had not spied me
+yet, and my overwhelming desire was to decline all introduction.
+
+I counted fourteen gentlemen, for so they always styled themselves, and
+would pistol any man who expressed a contrary opinion. Fourteen of them
+rode to the brink of the quiet blue river on the other side; and there
+they let their horses drink, and some dismounted and filled canteens,
+and some of longer reach stooped from the saddle and did likewise. But
+one, who seemed to be the captain, wanted no water for his rum.
+
+"Cut it short, boys," I heard him say, with a fine South Californian
+twang (which, as well as his free swearing, I will freely omit). "If we
+mean to have fair play with the gal, now or never's the time for it: old
+Sam may come home almost any time."
+
+What miserable cowards! Though there were so many of them, they really
+had no heart to face an old man known for courage. Frightened as I was,
+perhaps good indignation helped me to flutter no more, and not faint
+away, but watch those miscreants steadily.
+
+The horses put down their sandy lips over and over again to drink,
+scarcely knowing when they ought to stop, and seemed to get thicker
+before my eyes. The dribbling of the water from their mouths prepared
+them to begin again, till the riders struck the savage unroweled spur
+into their refreshment. At this they jerked their noses up, and looked
+at one another to say that they expected it, and then they lifted their
+weary legs and began to plash through the river.
+
+It is a pretty thing to see a skillful horse plod through a stream,
+probing with his eyes the depth, and stretching his head before his
+feet, and at every step he whisks his tail to tell himself that he is
+right. In my agony of observation all these things I heeded, but only
+knew that I had done so when I thought long afterward. At the moment I
+was in such a fright that my eyes worked better than my mind. However,
+even so, I thought of my golden millstone, and was aware that they
+crossed below, and could not see it.
+
+They gained the bank upon our side within fifty yards of where I
+crouched; and it was not presence of mind, but abject fear, which kept
+me crouching. I counted them again as they leaped the bank and seemed to
+look at me. I could see the dark array of eyes, and could scarcely
+keep from shrieking. But my throat was dry and made no sound, and a
+frightened bird set up a scream, which drew off their attention.
+
+In perils of later days I often thought of this fear, and almost felt
+that the hand of Heaven had been stretched forth on purpose to help my
+helplessness.
+
+For the moment, however, I lay as close as if under the hand of the evil
+one; and the snorting of the horses passed me, and wicked laughter of
+the men. One was telling a horrible tale, and the rest rejoicing in it;
+and the bright sun, glowing on their withered skin, discovered perhaps
+no viler thing in all the world to shine upon. One of them even pointed
+at my mill-wheel with a witty gibe--at least, perhaps, it was wit to
+him--about the Sawyer's misfortune; but the sun was then in his eyes,
+and my dress was just of the color of the timber. So on they rode, and
+the pleasant turf (having lately received some rain) softly answered to
+the kneading of their hoofs as they galloped away to surround the house.
+
+I was just at the very point of rising and running up into the dark of
+the valley, when a stroke of arithmetic stopped me. Fourteen men and
+fourteen horses I had counted on the other side; on this side I could
+not make any more than thirteen of them. I might have made a mistake;
+but still I thought I would stop just a minute to see. And in that
+minute I saw the other man walking slowly on the opposite bank. He had
+tethered his horse, and was left as outpost to watch and give warning of
+poor Uncle Sam's return.
+
+At the thought of this, my frightened courage, in some extraordinary
+way, came back. I had played an ignoble part thus far, as almost any
+girl might have done. But now I resolved that, whatever might happen,
+my dear friend and guardian should not be entrapped and lose his life
+through my cowardice. We had been expecting him all the day; and if he
+should come and fall into an ambush, I only might survive to tell
+the tale. I ought to have hurried and warned the house, as my bitter
+conscience told me; but now it was much too late for that. The only
+amends that I could make was to try and warn our travelers.
+
+Stooping as low as I could, and watching my time to cross the more open
+places when the sentry was looking away from me, I passed up the winding
+of the little watercourse, and sheltered in the swampy thicket which
+concealed its origin. Hence I could see for miles over the plain--broad
+reaches of corn land already turning pale, mazy river fringed with reed,
+hamlets scattered among clustering trees, and that which I chiefly cared
+to see, the dusty track from Sacramento.
+
+Whether from ignorance of the country or of Mr. Gundry's plans, the
+sentinel had been posted badly. His beat commanded well enough the
+course from San Francisco; but that from Sacramento was not equally
+clear before him. For a jut of pine forest ran down from the mountains
+and cut off a part of his view of it. I had not the sense or the
+presence of mind to perceive this great advantage, but having a plain,
+quick path before me, forth I set upon it. Of course if the watchman had
+seen me, he would have leaped on his horse and soon caught me; but of
+that I scarcely even thought, I was in such confusion.
+
+When I had run perhaps a mile (being at that time very slight, and
+of active figure), I saw a cloud of dust, about two miles off, rising
+through the bright blue haze. It was rich yellow dust of the fertile
+soil, which never seems to cake or clot. Sometimes you may walk for
+miles without the smallest fear of sinking, the earth is so elastic. And
+yet with a slight exertion you may push a walking-stick down through it
+until the handle stops it. My heart gave a jump: that cloud of dust was
+a sign of men on horseback. And who could it be but Uncle Sam and Firm
+and the foreman Martin?
+
+As soon as it began to show itself, it proved to be these very three,
+carelessly lounging on their horses' backs, overcome with heat and dust
+and thirst. But when they saw me there all alone under the fury of the
+sun, they knew that something must have gone amiss, and were all wide
+awake in a moment.
+
+"Well, now," said the Sawyer, when I had told my tale as well as short
+breath allowed, "put this thing over your head, my dear, or you may gain
+a sun-stroke. I call it too bad of them skunks to drive you in Californy
+noon, like this."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Sam, never think of me; think of your house and your goods
+and Suan, and all at those bad men's mercy!"
+
+"The old house ain't afire yet," he answered, looking calmly under his
+hand in that direction. "And as for Suan, no fear at all. She knows
+how to deal with such gallowses; and they will keep her to cook their
+dinner. Firm, my lad, let us go and embrace them. They wouldn't 'a made
+much bones of shooting us down if we hadn't known of it, and if they had
+got miss afore the saddle. But if they don't give bail, as soon as they
+see me ride up to my door, my name's not Sampson Gundry. Only you keep
+out of the way, Miss Remy. You go to sleep a bit, that's a dear, in the
+graywitch spinny yonder, and wait till you hear Firm sound the horn. And
+then come you in to dinner-time; for the Lord is always over you."
+
+I hastened to the place which he pointed out--a beautiful covert of
+birch-trees--but to sleep was out of the question, worn out though I
+was with haste and heat, and (worst of all) with horror. In a soft mossy
+nest, where a breeze from the mountains played with the in and out ways
+of the wood, and the murmurous dream of genial insects now was beginning
+to drowse upon the air, and the heat of the sun could almost be seen
+thrilling through the alleys like a cicale's drum--here, in the middle
+of the languid peace, I waited for the terror of the rifle-crack.
+
+For though Uncle Sam had spoken softly, and made so little of the peril
+he would meet, I had seen in his eyes some token of the deep wrath and
+strong indignation which had kept all his household and premises safe.
+And it seemed a most ominous sign that Firm had never said a word, but
+grasped his gun, and slowly got in front of his grandfather.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+GOLD AND GRIEF
+
+
+It may have been an hour, but it seemed an age, ere the sound of the
+horn, in Firm's strong blast, released me from my hiding-place. I had
+heard no report of fire-arms, nor perceived any sign of conflict; and
+certainly the house was not on fire, or else I must have seen the smoke.
+For being still in great alarm, I had kept a very sharp lookout.
+
+Ephraim Gundry came to meet me, which was very kind of him. He carried
+his bugle in his belt, that he might sound again for me, if needful.
+But I was already running toward the house, having made up my mind to
+be resolute. Nevertheless, I was highly pleased to have his company, and
+hear what had been done.
+
+"Please to let me help you," he said, with a smile. "Why, miss, you are
+trembling dreadfully. I assure you there is no cause for that."
+
+"But you might have been killed, and Uncle Sam, and Martin, and every
+body. Oh, those men did look so horrible!"
+
+"Yes, they always do till you come to know them. But bigger cowards were
+never born. If they can take people by surprise, and shoot them
+without any danger, it is a splendid treat to them. But if any one like
+grandfather meets them face to face in the daylight, their respect
+for law and life returns. It is not the first visit they have paid us.
+Grandfather kept his temper well. It was lucky for them that he did."
+
+Remembering that the Rovers must have numbered nearly three to one, even
+if all our men were stanch, I thought it lucky for ourselves that
+there had been no outbreak. But Firm seemed rather sorry that they had
+departed so easily. And knowing that he never bragged, I began to share
+his confidence.
+
+"They must be shot, sooner or later," he said, "unless, indeed, they
+should be hanged. Their manner of going on is out of date in these days
+of settlement. It was all very well ten years ago. But now we are a
+civilized State, and the hand of law is over us. I think we were wrong
+to let them go. But of course I yield to the governor. And I think he
+was afraid for your sake. And to tell the truth, I may have been the
+same."
+
+Here he gave my arm a little squeeze, which appeared to me quite out of
+place; therefore I withdrew and hurried on. Before he could catch me I
+entered the door, and found the Sawyer sitting calmly with his own long
+pipe once more, and watching Suan cooking.
+
+"They rogues have had all the best of our victuals," he said, as soon
+as he had kissed me. "Respectable visitors is my delight, and welcome
+to all of the larder; but at my time of life it goes agin the grain
+to lease out my dinner to galley-rakers. Suan, you are burning the fat
+again."
+
+Suan Isco, being an excellent cook (although of quiet temper), never
+paid heed to criticism, but lifted her elbow and went on. Mr. Gundry
+knew that it was wise to offer no further meddling, although it is well
+to keep them up to their work by a little grumbling. But when I came to
+see what broken bits were left for Suan to deal with, I only wondered
+that he was not cross.
+
+"Thank God for a better meal than I deserve," he said, when they all had
+finished. "Suan, you are a treasure, as I tell you every day a'most. Now
+if they have left us a bottle of wine, let us have it up. We be all in
+the dumps. But that will never do, my lad."
+
+He patted Firm on the shoulder, as if he were the younger man of the
+two, and his grandson went down to the wreck of the cellar; while I,
+who had tried to wait upon them in an eager, clumsy way, perceived that
+something was gone amiss, something more serious and lasting than the
+mischief made by the robber troop. Was it that his long ride had failed,
+and not a friend could be found to help him?
+
+When Martin and the rest were gone, after a single glass of wine, and
+Ephraim had made excuse of something to be seen to, the Sawyer leaned
+back in his chair, and his cheerful face was troubled. I filled his pipe
+and lit it for him, and waited for him to speak, well knowing his simple
+and outspoken heart. But he looked at me and thanked me kindly, and
+seemed to be turning some grief in his mind.
+
+"It ain't for the money," he said at last, talking more to himself than
+to me; "the money might 'a been all very well and useful in a sort of
+way. But the feelin'--the feelin' is the thing I look at, and it ought
+to have been more hearty. Security! Charge on my land, indeed! And I can
+run away, but my land must stop behind! What security did I ask of them?
+'Tis enough a'most to make a rogue of me."
+
+"Nothing could ever do that, Uncle Sam," I exclaimed, as I came and sat
+close to him, while he looked at me bravely, and began to smile.
+
+"Why, what was little missy thinking of?" he asked. "How solid she
+looks! Why, I never see the like!"
+
+"Then you ought to have seen it, Uncle Sam. You ought to have seen it
+fifty times, with every body who loves you. And who can help loving you,
+Uncle Sam?"
+
+"Well, they say that I charged too much for lumber, a-cuttin' on the
+cross, and the backstroke work. And it may 'a been so, when I took
+agin a man. But to bring up all that, with the mill strown down, is a
+cowardly thing, to my thinking. And to make no count of the beadin' I
+threw in, whenever it were a straightforrard job, and the turpsy knots,
+and the clogging of the teeth--'tis a bad bit to swallow, when the mill
+is strown."
+
+"But the mill shall not be strown, Uncle Sam. The mill shall be built
+again. And I will find the money."
+
+Mr. Gundry stared at me and shook his head. He could not bear to tell
+me how poor I was, while I thought myself almost made of money. "Five
+thousand dollars you have got put by for me," I continued, with great
+importance. "Five thousand dollars from the sale and the insurance fund.
+And five thousand dollars must be five-and-twenty thousand francs. Uncle
+Sam, you shall have every farthing of it. And if that won't build the
+mill again, I have got my mother's diamonds."
+
+"Five thousand dollars!" cried the Sawyer, in amazement, opening his
+great gray eyes at me. And then he remembered the tale which he had
+told, to make me seem independent. "Oh yes, to be sure, my dear; now I
+recollect. To be sure--to be sure--your own five thousand dollars. But
+never will I touch one cent of your nice little fortune; no, not to save
+my life. After all, I am not so gone in years but what I can build the
+mill again myself. The Lord hath spared my hands and eyes, and gifted me
+still with machinery. And Firm is a very handy lad, and can carry out a
+job pretty fairly, with better brains to stand over him, although it has
+not pleased the Lord to gift him with sense of machinery, like me. But
+that is all for the best, no doubt. If Ephraim had too much of brains,
+he might have contradicted me. And that I could never abide, God knows,
+from any green young jackanapes."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Sam, let me tell you something--something very important!"
+
+"No, my dear, nothing more just now. It has done me good to have a
+little talk, and scared the blue somethings out of me. But just go and
+ask whatever is become of Firm. He was riled with them greasers. It was
+all I could do to keep the boy out of a difficulty with them. And if
+they camp any where nigh, it is like enough he may go hankerin' after
+them. The grand march of intellect hathn't managed yet to march old
+heads upon young shoulders. And Firm might happen to go outside the
+law."
+
+The thought of this frightened me not a little; for Firm, though mild
+of speech, was very hot of spirit at any wrong, as I knew from tales of
+Suan Isco, who had brought him up and made a glorious idol of him. And
+now, when she could not say where he was, but only was sure that he must
+be quite safe (in virtue of a charm from a great medicine man which she
+had hung about him), it seemed to me, according to what I was used to,
+that in these regions human life was held a great deal too lightly.
+
+It was not for one moment that I cared about Firm, any more than is the
+duty of a fellow-creature. He was a very good young man, and in his way
+good-looking, educated also quite enough, and polite, and a very good
+carver of a joint; and when I spoke, he nearly always listened. But of
+course he was not to be compared as yet to his grandfather, the true
+Sawyer.
+
+When I ran back from Suan Isco, who was going on about her charm, and
+the impossibility of any one being scalped who wore it, I found Mr.
+Gundry in a genial mood. He never made himself uneasy about any trifles.
+He always had a very pure and lofty faith in the ways of Providence, and
+having lost his only son Elijah, he was sure that he never could lose
+Firm. He had taken his glass of hot whiskey and water, which always made
+him temperate; and if he felt any of his troubles deeply, he dwelt on
+them now from a high point of view.
+
+"I may 'a said a little too much, my dear, about the badness of
+mankind," he observed, with his pipe lying comfortably on his breast;
+"all sayings of that sort is apt to go too far. I ought to have made
+more allowance for the times, which gets into a ticklish state, when a
+old man is put about with them. Never you pay no heed whatever to any
+harsh words I may have used. All that is a very bad thing for young
+folk."
+
+"But if they treated you badly, Uncle Sam, how can you think that they
+treated you well?"
+
+He took some time to consider this, because he was true in all his
+thoughts; and then he turned off to something else.
+
+"Why, the smashing of the mill may have been a mercy, although in
+disguise to the present time of sight. It will send up the price of
+scantlings, and we was getting on too fast with them. By the time we
+have built up the mill again we shall have more orders than we know
+how to do with. When I come to reckon of it, to me it appears to be the
+reasonable thing to feel a lump of grief for the old mill, and then to
+set to and build a stronger one. Yes, that must be about the right thing
+to do. And we'll have all the neighbors in when we lay foundations."
+
+"But what will be the good of it, Uncle Sam, when the new mill may at
+any time be washed away again?"
+
+"Never, at any time," he answered, very firmly, gazing through the door
+as if he saw the vain endeavor. "That little game can easily be stopped,
+for about fifty dollars, by opening down the bank toward the old track
+of the river. The biggest waterspout that ever came down from the
+mountains could never come anigh the mill, but go right down the valley.
+It hath been in my mind to do it often, and now that I see the need, I
+will. Firm and I will begin tomorrow."
+
+"But where is all the money to come from, Uncle Sam? You said that all
+your friends had refused to help you."
+
+"Never mind, my dear. I will help myself. It won't be the first time,
+perhaps, in my life."
+
+"But supposing that I could help you, just some little? Supposing that I
+had found the biggest lump of gold ever found in all California?"
+
+Mr. Gundry ought to have looked surprised, and I was amazed that he
+did not; but he took it as quietly as if I had told him that I had
+just picked up a brass button of his; and I thought that he doubted my
+knowledge, very likely, even as to what gold was.
+
+"It is gold, Uncle Sam, every bit of it gold--here is a piece of it;
+just look--and as large, I am sure, as this table. And it may be as
+deep as this room, for all that one can judge to the contrary. Why, it
+stopped the big pile from coming to the top, when even you went down the
+river."
+
+"Well, now, that explains a thing or two," said the Sawyer, smiling
+peacefully, and beginning to think of another pipe, if preparation meant
+any thing. "Two things have puzzled me about that stump, and, indeed,
+I might say three things. Why did he take such a time to drive? and why
+would he never stand up like a man? and why wouldn't he go away when he
+ought to?"
+
+"Because he had the best of all reasons, Uncle Sam. He was anchored
+on his gold, as I have read in French, and he had a good right to be
+crooked about it, and no power could get him away from it."
+
+"Hush, my dear, hush! It is not at all good for young people to let
+their minds run on so. But this gold looks very good indeed. Are you
+sure that it is a fair sample, and that there is any more of it?"
+
+"How can you be so dreadfully provoking, Uncle Sam, when I tell you that
+I saw it with my own eyes? And there must be at least half a ton of it."
+
+"Well, half a hundred-weight will be enough for me. And you shall have
+all the rest, my dear--that is, if you will spare me a bit, Miss Remy.
+It all belongs to you by discovery, according to the diggers' law. And
+your eyes are so bright about it, miss, that the whole of your heart
+must be running upon it."
+
+"Then you think me as bad as the rest of the world! How I wish that I
+had never seen it! It was only for you that I cared about it--for you,
+for you; and I will never touch a scrap of it."
+
+Mr. Gundry had only been trying me, perhaps. But I did not see it in
+that light, and burst into a flood of childish tears, that he should
+misunderstand me so. Gold had its usual end, in grief. Uncle Sam rose up
+to soothe me and to beg my pardon, and to say that perhaps he was harsh
+because of the treatment he had received from his friends. He took me in
+his arms and kissed me; but before I could leave off sobbing, the crack
+of a rifle rang through the house, and Suan Isco, with a wail, rushed
+out.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE SAWYER'S PRAYER
+
+
+The darkness of young summer night was falling on earth and tree and
+stream. Every thing looked of a different form and color from those of
+an hour ago, and the rich bloom of shadow mixed with color, and cast
+by snowy mountains, which have stored the purple adieu of the sun, was
+filling the air with delicious calm. The Sawyer ran out with his shirt
+sleeves shining, so that any sneaking foe might shoot him; but, with
+the instinct of a settler, he had caught up his rifle. I stood beneath
+a carob-tree, which had been planted near the porch, and flung fantastic
+tassels down, like the ear-rings of a negress. And not having sense
+enough to do good, I was only able to be frightened.
+
+Listening intently, I heard the sound of skirring steps on the other
+side of and some way down the river; and the peculiar tread, even thus
+far off, was plainly Suan Isco's. And then in the stillness a weary and
+heavy foot went toiling after it. Before I could follow, which I longed
+to do, to learn at once the worst of it, I saw the figure of a man much
+nearer, and even within twenty yards of me, gliding along without any
+sound. Faint as the light was, I felt sure that it was not one of our
+own men, and the barrel of a long gun upon his shoulder made a black
+line among silver leaves. I longed to run forth and stop him, but my
+courage was not prompt enough, and I shamefully shrank away behind
+the trunk of the carob-tree. Like a sleuth, compact, and calm-hearted
+villain, he went along without any breath of sound, stealing his escape
+with skill, till a white bower-tent made a background for him, and he
+leaped up and fell flat without a groan. The crack of a rifle came later
+than his leap, and a curl of white smoke shone against a black rock,
+and the Sawyer, in the distance, cried, "Well, now!" as he generally did
+when satisfied.
+
+So scared was I that I caught hold of a cluster of pods to steady me;
+and then, without any more fear for myself, I ran to see whether it was
+possible to help. But the poor man lay beyond earthly help; he was too
+dead to palpitate. His life must have left him in the air, and he could
+not even have felt his fall.
+
+In violent terror, I burst into tears, and lifted his heavy head, and
+strove to force his hot hands open, and did I know not what, without
+thinking, laboring only to recall his life.
+
+"Are you grieving for the skulk who has shot my Firm?" said a stern
+voice quite unknown to me; and rising, I looked at the face of Mr.
+Gundry, unlike the countenance of Uncle Sam. I tried to speak to him,
+but was too frightened. The wrath of blood was in his face, and all his
+kind desires were gone.
+
+"Yes, like a girl, you are sorry for a man who has stained this earth,
+till his only atonement is to stain it with his blood. Captain Pedro,
+there you lie, shot, like a coward, through the back. I wish you were
+alive to taste my boots. Murderer of men and filthy ravisher of women,
+miscreant of God, how can I keep from trampling on you?"
+
+It never had been in my dream that a good man could so entirely forget
+himself. I wanted to think that it must be somebody else, and not our
+Uncle Sam. But he looked toward the west, as all men do when their
+spirits are full of death, and the wan light showed that his chin was
+triple.
+
+Whether it may have been right or wrong, I made all haste to get away.
+The face of the dead man was quite a pleasant thing, compared with the
+face of the old man living. He may not have meant it, and I hope he
+never did, but beyond all controversy he looked barbarous for the
+moment.
+
+As I slipped away, to know the worst, there I saw him standing still,
+longing to kick the vile man's corpse, but quieted by the great awe of
+death. If the man had stirred, or breathed, or even moaned, the living
+man would have lost all reverence in his fury. But the power of the
+other world was greater than even revenge could trample on. He let it
+lie there, and he stooped his head, and went away quite softly.
+
+My little foolish heart was bitterly visited by a thing like this. The
+Sawyer, though not of great human rank, was gifted with the largest
+human nature that I had ever met with. And though it was impossible as
+yet to think, a hollow depression, as at the loss of some great ideal,
+came over me.
+
+Returning wretchedly to the house, I met Suan Isco and two men bringing
+the body of poor Firm. His head and both his arms hung down, and they
+wanted somebody to lift them; and this I ran to do, although they called
+out to me not to meddle. The body was carried in, and laid upon three
+chairs, with a pillow at the head; and then a light was struck, and a
+candle brought by somebody or other. And Suan Isco sat upon the floor,
+and set up a miserable Indian dirge.
+
+"Stow away that," cried Martin of the mill, for he was one of those two
+men; "wait till the lad is dead, and then pipe up to your liking. I felt
+him try to kick while we carried him along. He come forth on a arrand of
+that sort, and he seem to 'a been disappointed. A very fine young chap
+I call him, for to try to do it still, howsomever his mind might be
+wandering. Missy, keep his head up."
+
+I did as I was told, and watched poor Firm as if my own life hung upon
+any sign of life in him. When I look back at these things, I think that
+fright and grief and pity must have turned an excitable girl almost into
+a real woman. But I had no sense of such things then.
+
+"I tell you he ain't dead," cried Martin; "no more dead than I be. He
+feels the young gal's hand below him, and I see him try to turn up his
+eyes. He has taken a very bad knock, no doubt, and trouble about his
+breathing. I seed a fellow scalped once, and shot through the heart;
+but he came all round in about six months, and protected his head with a
+document. Firm, now, don't you be a fool. I have had worse things in my
+family."
+
+Ephraim Gundry seemed to know that some one was upbraiding him. At
+any rate, his white lips trembled with a weak desire to breathe, and a
+little shadow of life appeared to flicker in his open eyes. And on my
+sleeve, beneath his back, some hot bright blood came trickling.
+
+"Keep him to that," said Martin, with some carpenter sort of surgery;
+"less fear of the life when the blood begins to run. Don't move him,
+missy; never mind your arm. It will be the saving of him."
+
+I was not strong enough to hold him up, but Suan ran to help me; and
+they told me afterward that I fell faint, and no doubt it must have been
+so. But when the rest were gone, and had taken poor Firm to his straw
+mattress, the cold night air must have flowed into the room, and that,
+perhaps, revived me. I went to the bottom of the stairs and listened,
+and then stole up to the landing, and heard Suan Isco, who had taken the
+command, speaking cheerfully in her worst English. Then I hoped for the
+best, and, without any knowledge, wandered forth into the open air.
+
+Walking quite as in a dream this time (which I had vainly striven to do
+when seeking for my nugget), I came to the bank of the gleaming river,
+and saw the water just in time to stop from stepping into it. Careless
+about this and every other thing for the moment, I threw myself on
+the sod, and listened to the mournful melody of night. Sundry unknown
+creatures, which by day keep timid silence, were sending timid sounds
+into the darkness, holding quiet converse with themselves, or it, or one
+another. And the silvery murmur of the wavelets soothed the twinkling
+sleep of leaves.
+
+I also, being worn and weary, and having a frock which improved with
+washing, and was spoiled already by nursing Firm, was well content to
+throw myself into a niche of river-bank and let all things flow past me.
+But before any thing had found time to flow far, or the lullaby of night
+had lulled me, there came to me a sadder sound than plaintive Nature can
+produce without her Master's aid, the saddest sound in all creation--a
+strong man's wail.
+
+Child as I was--and, perhaps, all the more for that reason as knowing
+so little of mankind--I might have been more frightened, but I could not
+have been a bit more shocked, by the roaring of a lion. For I knew in
+a moment whose voice it was, and that made it pierce me tenfold. It was
+Uncle Sam, lamenting to himself, and to his God alone, the loss of his
+last hope on earth. He could not dream that any other than his Maker
+(and his Maker's works, if ever they have any sympathy) listened to
+the wild outpourings of an aged but still very natural heart, which had
+always been proud of controlling itself. I could see his great frame
+through a willow-tree, with the sere grass and withered reeds around,
+and the faint gleam of fugitive water beyond. He was kneeling toward his
+shattered mill, having rolled his shirt sleeves back to pray, and his
+white locks shone in the starlight; then, after trying several times, he
+managed to pray a little. First (perhaps partly from habit), he said the
+prayer of Our Lord pretty firmly, and then he went on to his own special
+case, with a doubting whether he should mention it. But as he went on he
+gathered courage, or received it from above, and was able to say what he
+wanted.
+
+"Almighty Father of the living and the dead, I have lived long, and
+shall soon be dead, and my days have been full of trouble. But I never
+had such trouble as this here before, and I don't think I ever shall get
+over it. I have sinned every day of my life, and not thought of Thee,
+but of victuals, and money, and stuff; and nobody knows, but myself and
+Thou, all the little bad things inside of me. I cared a deal more to be
+respectable and get on with my business than to be prepared for kingdom
+come. And I have just been proud about the shooting of a villain, who
+might 'a gone free and repented. There is nobody left to me in my old
+age. Thou hast taken all of them. Wife, and son, and mill, and grandson,
+and my brother who robbed me--the whole of it may have been for my good,
+but I have got no good out of it. Show me the way for a little time, O
+Lord, to make the best of it; and teach me to bear it like a man, and
+not break down at this time of life. Thou knowest what is right. Please
+to do it. Amen."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+NOT FAR TO SEEK
+
+
+In the present state of controversies most profoundly religious, the
+Lord alone can decide (though thousands of men would hurry to pronounce)
+for or against the orthodoxy of the ancient Sawyer's prayer. But if
+sound doctrine can be established by success (as it always is), Uncle
+Sam's theology must have been unusually sound; for it pleased a gracious
+Power to know what he wanted, and to grant it.
+
+Brave as Mr. Gundry was, and much-enduring and resigned, the latter
+years of his life on earth must have dragged on very heavily, with
+abstract resignation only, and none of his blood to care for him.
+Being so obstinate a man, he might have never admitted this, but proved
+against every one's voice, except his own, his special blessedness. But
+this must have been a trial to him, and happily he was spared from it.
+
+For although Firm had been very badly shot, and kept us for weeks in
+anxiety about him, his strong young constitution and well-nourished
+frame got over it. A truly good and learned doctor came from Sacramento,
+and we hung upon his words, and found that there he left us hanging. And
+this was the wisest thing perhaps that he could do, because in America
+medical men are not absurdly expected, as they are in England, to do any
+good, but are valued chiefly upon their power of predicting what they
+can not help. And this man of science perceived that he might do harm to
+himself and his family by predicting amiss, whereas he could do no good
+to his patient by predicting rightly. And so he foretold both good and
+evil, to meet the intentions of Providence.
+
+He had not been sent for in vain, however; and to give him his due, he
+saved Ephraim's life, for he drew from the wound a large bullet, which,
+if left, must have poisoned all his circulation, although it was made
+of pure silver. The Sawyer wished to keep this silver bullet as a token,
+but the doctor said that it belonged to him according to miners' law;
+and so it came to a moderate argument. Each was a thoroughly stubborn
+man, according to the bent of all good men, and reasoning increased
+their unreason. But the doctor won--as indeed he deserved, for the
+extraction had been delicate--because, when reason had been exhausted,
+he just said this:
+
+"Colonel Gundry, let us have no more words. The true owner is your
+grandson. I will put it back where I took it from."
+
+Upon this, the Sawyer being tickled, as men very often are in sad
+moments, took the doctor by the hand, and gave him the bullet heartily.
+And the medical man had a loop made to it, and wore it upon his watch
+chain. And he told the story so often (saying that another man perhaps
+might have got it out, but no other man could have kept it), that among
+a great race who judge by facts it doubled his practice immediately.
+
+The leader of the robbers, known far and wide as "Captain Pedro," was
+buried where he fell; and the whole so raised Uncle Sam's reputation
+that his house was never attacked again; and if any bad characters were
+forced by circumstances to come near him, they never asked for any thing
+stronger than ginger-beer or lemonade, and departed very promptly. For
+as soon as Ephraim Gundry could give account of his disaster, it was
+clear that Don Pedro owed his fate to a bottle of the Sawyer's whiskey.
+Firm had only intended to give him a lesson for misbehavior, being fired
+by his grandfather's words about swinging me on the saddle. This idea
+had justly appeared to him to demand a protest; to deliver which he at
+once set forth with a valuable cowhide whip. Coming thus to the Rovers'
+camp, and finding their captain sitting in the shade to digest his
+dinner, Firm laid hold of him by the neck, and gave way to feelings of
+severity. Don Pedro regretted his misconduct, and being lifted up for
+the moment above his ordinary view, perceived that he might have done
+better, and shaped the pattern of his tongue to it. Firm, hearing this,
+had good hopes of him; yet knowing how volatile repentance is, he strove
+to form a well-marked track for it. And when the captain ceased to
+receive cowhide, he must have had it long enough to miss it.
+
+Now this might have ended honorably and amicably for all concerned, if
+the captain had known when he was well off. Unluckily he had purloined
+a bottle of Mr. Gundry's whiskey, and he drew the cork now to rub his
+stripes, and the smell of it moved him to try it inside. And before very
+long his ideas of honor, which he had sense enough to drop when sober,
+began to come into his eyes again, and to stir him up to mischief. Hence
+it was that he followed Firm, who was riding home well satisfied, and
+appeased his honor by shooting in cold blood, and justice by being shot
+anyhow.
+
+It was beautiful, through all this trying time, to watch Uncle Sam's
+proceedings: he appeared so delightfully calm and almost careless
+whenever he was looked at. And then he was ashamed of himself
+perpetually, if any one went on with it. Nobody tried to observe him, of
+course, or remark upon any of his doings, and for this he would become
+so grateful that he would long to tell all his thoughts, and then stop.
+This must have been a great worry to him, seeing how open his manner
+was; and whenever he wanted to hide any thing, he informed us of that
+intention. So that we exhorted Firm every day to come round and restore
+us to our usual state. This was the poor fellow's special desire;
+and often he was angry with himself, and made himself worse again by
+declaring that he must be a milksop to lie there so long. Whereas, it
+was much more near the truth that few other men, even in the Western
+States, would ever have got over such a wound. I am not learned enough
+to say exactly where the damage was, but the doctor called it, I think,
+the sternum, and pronounced that "a building-up process" was required,
+and must take a long time, if it ever could be done.
+
+It was done at last, thanks to Suan Isco, who scarcely ever left him
+by day or night, and treated him skillfully with healing herbs. But he,
+without meaning it, vexed her often by calling for me--a mere ignorant
+child. Suan was dreadfully jealous of this, and perhaps I was proud of
+that sentiment of hers, and tried to justify it, instead of laboring
+to remove it, as would have been the more proper course. And Firm most
+ungratefully said that my hand was lighter than poor Suan's, and every
+thing I did was better done, according to him, which was shameful on his
+part, and as untrue as any thing could be. However, we yielded to him
+in all things while he was so delicate; and it often made us poor weak
+things cry to be the masters of a tall strong man.
+
+Firm Gundry received that shot in May, about ten days before the
+twelvemonth was completed from my father's death. The brightness of
+summer and beauty of autumn went by without his feeling them, and while
+his system was working hard to fortify itself by walling up, as the
+learned man had called it. There had been some difficulties in this
+process, caused partly, perhaps, by our too lavish supply of the raw
+material; and before Firm's gap in his "sternum" was stopped, the
+mountains were coming down upon us, as we always used to say when the
+snow-line stooped. In some seasons this is a sharp time of hurry, broken
+with storms, and capricious, while men have to slur in the driving
+weather tasks that should have been matured long since. But in other
+years the long descent into the depth of winter is taken not with a
+jump like that, but gently and softly and windingly, with a great many
+glimpses back at the summer, and a good deal of leaning on the arm of
+the sun.
+
+And so it was this time. The autumn and the winter for a fortnight stood
+looking quietly at each other. They had quite agreed to share the hours,
+to suit the arrangements of the sun. The nights were starry and fresh
+and brisk, without any touch of tartness; and the days were sunny
+and soft and gentle, without any sense of languor. It was a lovely
+scene--blue shadows gliding among golden light.
+
+The Sawyer came forth, and cried, "What a shame! This makes me feel
+quite young again. And yet I have done not a stroke of work. No excuse;
+make no excuse. I can do that pretty well for myself. Praise God for all
+His mercies. I might do worse, perhaps, than have a pipe."
+
+Then Firm came out to surprise him, and to please us all with the sight
+of himself. He steadied his steps with one great white hand upon his
+grandfather's Sunday staff, and his clear blue eyes were trembling with
+a sense of gratitude and a fear of tears. And I stepped behind a red
+strawberry-tree, for my sense of respect for him almost made me sob.
+
+Then Jowler thought it high time to appear upon the scene, and convince
+us that he was not a dead dog yet. He had known tribulation, as his
+master had, and had found it a difficult thing to keep from the shadowy
+hunting ground of dogs who have lived a conscientious life. I had
+wondered at first what his reason could have been for not coming
+forward, according to his custom, to meet that troop of robbers. But
+his reason, alas! was too cogent to himself, though nobody else in that
+dreadful time could pay any attention to him. The Rovers, well knowing
+poor Jowler's repute, and declining the fair mode of testing it, had
+sent in advance a very crafty scout, a half-bred Indian, who knew as
+much about dogs as they could ever hope to know about themselves. This
+rogue approached faithful Jowler--so we were told long afterward--not in
+an upright way, but as if he had been a brother quadruped. And he took
+advantage of the dog's unfeigned surprise and interest to accost him
+with a piece of kidney containing a powerful poison. According to
+all sound analogy, this should have stopped the dear fellow's earthly
+tracks; but his spirit was such that he simply went away to nurse
+himself up in retirement. Neither man nor dog can tell what agonies he
+suffered; and doubtless his tortures of mind about duty unperformed were
+the worst of all. These things are out of human knowledge in its present
+unsympathetic state. Enough that poor Jowler came home at last, with his
+ribs all up and his tail very low.
+
+Like friends who have come together again, almost from the jaws of
+death, we sat in the sunny noon, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The
+trees above us looked proud and cheerful, laying aside the mere frippery
+of leaves with a good grace and contented arms, and a surety of having
+quite enough next spring. Much of the fruity wealth of autumn still
+was clustering in our sight, heavily fetching the arched bough down to
+lessen the fall, when fall they must. And against the golden leaves of
+maple behind the unpretending roof a special wreath of blue shone like a
+climbing Ipomaea. But coming to examine this, one found it to be nothing
+more nor less than the smoke of the kitchen chimney, busy with a quiet
+roasting job.
+
+This shows how clear the air was; but a thousand times as much could
+never tell how clear our spirits were. Nobody made any "demonstration,"
+or cut any frolicsome capers, or even said any thing exuberant. The
+steadfast brooding breed of England, which despises antics, was present
+in us all, and strengthened by a soil whose native growth is peril,
+chance, and marvel. And so we nodded at one another, and I ran over and
+courtesied to Uncle Sam, and he took me to him.
+
+"You have been a dear good child," he said, as he rose, and looked over
+my head at Firm. "My own granddarter, if such there had been, could not
+have done more to comfort me, nor half so much, for aught I know. There
+is no picking and choosing among the females, as God gives them. But he
+has given you for a blessing and saving to my old age, my dearie."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Sam, now the nugget!" I cried, desiring like a child to
+escape deep feeling, and fearing any strong words from Firm. "You have
+promised me ever so long that I should be the first to show Firm the
+nugget."
+
+"And so you shall, my dear, and Firm shall see it before he is an hour
+older, and Jowler shall come down to show us where it is."
+
+Firm, who had little faith in the nugget, but took it for a dream of
+mine, and had proved conclusively from his pillow that it could not
+exist in earnest, now with a gentle, satirical smile declared his
+anxiety to see it; and I led him along by his better arm, faster,
+perhaps, than he ought to have walked.
+
+In a very few minutes we were at the place, and I ran eagerly to point
+it; but behold, where the nugget had been, there was nothing except the
+white bed of the river! The blue water flowed very softly on its way,
+without a gleam of gold to corrupt it.
+
+"Oh, nobody will ever believe me again!" I exclaimed, in the saddest
+of sad dismay. "I dreamed about it first, but it never can have been
+a dream throughout. You know that I told you about it, Uncle Sam, even
+when you were very busy, and that shows that it never could have been a
+dream."
+
+"You told me about it, I remember now," Mr. Gundry answered, dryly; "but
+it does not follow that there was such a thing. My dear, you may have
+imagined it; because it was the proper time for it to come, when my good
+friends had no money to lend. Your heart was so good that it got into
+your brain, and you must not be vexed, my dear child; it has done you
+good to dream of it."
+
+"I said so all along," Firm observed. "Miss Rema felt that it ought to
+be, and so she believed that it must be, there. She is always so warm
+and trustful."
+
+"Is that all you are good for?" I cried, with no gratitude for his
+compliment. "As sure as I stand here, I saw a great bowlder of gold, and
+so did Jowler, and I gave you the piece that he brought up. Did you take
+them all in a dream, Uncle Sam? Come, can you get over that?"
+
+I assure you that for the moment I knew not whether I stood upon my feet
+or head, until I perceived an extraordinary grin on the Sawyer's ample
+countenance; but Firm was not in the secret yet, for he gazed at me with
+compassion, and Uncle Sam looked at us both as if he were balancing our
+abilities.
+
+"Send your dog in, missy," at last he said. "He is more your dog than
+mine, I believe, and he obeys you like a Christian. Let him go and find
+it if he can."
+
+At a sign from me, the great dog dashed in, and scratched with all four
+feet at once, and made the valley echo with the ring of mighty barkings;
+and in less than two minutes there shone the nugget, as yellow and as
+big as ever.
+
+"Ha! ha! I never saw a finer thing," shouted Uncle Sam, like a
+school-boy. "I were too many for you, missy dear; but the old dog
+wollops the whole of us. I just shot a barrow-load of gravel on your
+nugget, to keep it all snug till Firm should come round; and if the boy
+had never come round, there the gold might have waited the will of the
+Almighty. It is a big spot, anyhow."
+
+It certainly was not a little spot, though they all seemed to make so
+light of it--which vexed me, because I had found it, and was as proud as
+if I had made it. Not by any means that the Sawyer was half as careless
+as he seemed to be; he put on much of this for my sake, having very
+lofty principles, especially concerning the duty of the young. Young
+people were never to have small ideas, so far as he could help it,
+particularly upon such matters as Mammon, or the world, or fashion; and
+not so very seldom he was obliged to catch himself up in his talking,
+when he chanced to be going on and forgetting that I, who required a
+higher vein of thought for my youth, was taking his words downright; and
+I think that all this had a great deal to do with his treating all that
+gold in such an exemplary manner; for if it had really mattered nothing,
+what made him go in the dark and shoot a great barrow-load of gravel
+over it?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+BROUGHT TO BANK
+
+
+The sanity of a man is mainly tested among his neighbors and kindred by
+the amount of consideration which he has consistently given to cash.
+If money has been the chief object of his life, and he for its sake has
+spared nobody, no sooner is he known to be successful than admiration
+overpowers all the ill-will he has caused. He is shrewd, sagacious,
+long-headed, and great; he has earned his success, and few men grudge,
+while many seek to get a slice of it; but he, as a general rule,
+declines any premature distribution, and for this custody of his wealth
+he is admired all the more by those who have no hope of sharing it.
+
+As soon as ever it was known that Uncle Sam had lodged at his banker's
+a tremendous lump of gold, which rumor declared to be worth at least a
+hundred thousand dollars, friends from every side poured in, all in
+hot haste, to lend him their last farthing. The Sawyer was pleased with
+their kindness, but thought that his second-best whiskey met the merits
+of the case. And he was more particular than usual with his words;
+for, according to an old saying of the diggers, a big nugget always has
+children, and, being too heavy to go very far, it is likely to keep all
+its little ones at home. Many people, therefore, were longing to seek
+for the frogs of this great toad; for so in their slang the miners
+called them, with a love of preternatural history. But Mr. Gundry
+allowed no search for the frogs, or even the tadpoles, of his
+patriarchal nugget. And much as he hated the idea of sowing the seeds
+of avarice in any one, he showed himself most consistent now in avoiding
+that imputation; for not only did he refuse to show the bed of his great
+treasure, after he had secured it, but he fenced the whole of it in,
+and tarred the fence, and put loopholes in it; and then he established
+Jowler where he could neither be shot nor poisoned, and kept a man with
+a double-barreled rifle in the ruin of the mill, handy to shoot, but not
+easy to be shot; and this was a resolute man, being Martin himself, who
+had now no business. Of course Martin grumbled; but the worse his temper
+was, the better for his duty, as seems to be the case with a great many
+men; and if any one had come to console him in his grumbling, never
+would he have gone away again.
+
+It would have been reckless of me to pretend to say what any body ought
+to do; from the first to the last I left every thing to those who knew
+so much better; at the same time I felt that it might have done no
+harm if I had been more consulted, though I never dreamed of saying so,
+because the great gold had been found by me, and although I cared for it
+scarcely more than for the tag of a boot-lace, nobody seemed to me able
+to enter into it quite as I did; and as soon as Firm's danger and pain
+grew less, I began to get rather impatient, but Uncle Sam was not to be
+hurried.
+
+Before ever he hoisted that rock of gold, he had made up his mind for me
+to be there, and he even put the business off, because I would not come
+one night, for I had a superstitious fear on account of its being my
+father's birthday. Uncle Sam had forgotten the date, and begged my
+pardon for proposing it; but he said that we must not put it off later
+than the following night, because the moonlight would be failing, and
+we durst not have any kind of lamp, and before the next moon the hard
+weather might begin. All this was before the liberal offers of his
+friends, of which I have spoken first, although they happened to come
+after it.
+
+While the Sawyer had been keeping the treasure perdu, to abide the issue
+of his grandson's illness, he had taken good care both to watch it and
+to form some opinion of its shape and size; for, knowing the pile which
+I had described, he could not help finding it easily enough; and indeed
+the great fear was that others might find it, and come in great force to
+rob him; but nothing of that sort had happened, partly because he
+held his tongue rigidly, and partly, perhaps, because of the simple
+precaution which he had taken.
+
+Now, however, it was needful to impart the secret to one man at least;
+for Firm, though recovering, was still so weak that it might have killed
+him to go into the water, or even to exert himself at all; and strong
+as Uncle Sam was, he knew that even with hoisting-tackle, he alone could
+never bring that piece of bullion to bank; so, after much consideration,
+he resolved to tell Martin of the mill, as being the most trusty man
+about the place, as well as the most surly; but he did not tell him
+until every thing was ready, and then he took him straightway to the
+place.
+
+Here, in the moonlight, we stood waiting, Firm and myself and Suan Isco,
+who had more dread than love of gold, and might be useful to keep watch,
+or even to lend a hand, for she was as strong as an ordinary man. The
+night was sultry, and the fire-flies (though dull in the radiance of the
+moon) darted, like soft little shooting-stars, across the still face
+of shadow, and the flood of the light of the moon was at its height,
+submerging every thing.
+
+While we were whispering and keeping in the shade for fear of attracting
+any wanderer's notice, we saw the broad figure of the Sawyer rising from
+a hollow of the bank, and behind him came Martin the foreman, and we
+soon saw that due preparation had been made, for they took from under
+some drift-wood (which had prevented us from observing it) a small
+movable crane, and fixed it on a platform of planks which they set up in
+the river-bed.
+
+"Palefaces eat gold," Suan Isco said, reflectively, and as if to satisfy
+herself. "Dem eat, drink, die gold; dem pull gold out of one other's
+ears. Welly hope Mellican mans get enough gold now."
+
+"Don't be sarcastic, now, Suan," I answered; "as if it were possible to
+have enough!"
+
+"For my part," said Firm, who had been unusually silent all the evening,
+"I wish it had never been found at all. As sure as I stand here,
+mischief will come of it. It will break up our household. I hope it will
+turn out a lump of quartz, gilt on the face, as those big nuggets do,
+ninety-nine out of a hundred. I have had no faith in it all along."
+
+"Because I found it, Mr. Firm, I suppose," I answered, rather pettishly,
+for I never had liked Firm's incessant bitterness about my nugget.
+"Perhaps if you had found it, Mr. Firm, you would have had great faith
+in it."
+
+"Can't say, can't say," was all Firm's reply; and he fell into the
+silent vein again.
+
+"Heave-ho! heave-ho! there, you sons of cooks!" cried the Sawyer, who
+was splashing for his life in the water. "I've tackled 'un now. Just
+tighten up the belt, to see if he biteth centre-like. You can't lift
+'un! Lord bless 'ee, not you. It 'll take all I know to do that, I
+guess; and Firm ain't to lay no hand to it. Don't you be in such a
+doggoned hurry. Hold hard, can't you?"
+
+For Suan and Martin were hauling for their lives, and even I caught hold
+of a rope-end, but had no idea what to do with it, when the Sawyer swung
+himself up to bank, and in half a minute all was orderly. He showed
+us exactly where to throw our weight, and he used his own to such good
+effect that, after some creaking and groaning, the long horn of the
+crane rose steadily, and a mass of dripping sparkles shone in the
+moonlight over the water.
+
+"Hurrah! what a whale! How the tough ash bends!" cried Uncle Sam,
+panting like a boy, and doing nearly all the work himself. "Martin, lay
+your chest to it. We'll grass him in two seconds. Californy never saw a
+sight like this, I reckon."
+
+There was plenty of room for us all to stand round the monster and
+admire it. In shape it was just like a fat toad, squatting with his
+shoulders up and panting. Even a rough resemblance to the head and the
+haunches might be discovered, and a few spots of quartz shone here and
+there on the glistening and bossy surface. Some of us began to feel and
+handle it with vast admiration; but Firm, with his heavy boots, made a
+vicious kick at it, and a few bright scales, like sparks, flew off.
+
+"Why, what ails the lad?" cried the Sawyer, in some wrath; "what harm
+hath the stone ever done to him? To my mind, this here lump is a proof
+of the whole creation of the world, and who hath lived long enough
+to gainsay? Here this lump hath lain, without changing color, since
+creation's day; here it is, as big and heavy as when the Lord laid hand
+to it. What good to argue agin such facts? Supposin' the world come out
+o' nothing, with nobody to fetch it, or to say a word of orders, how
+ever could it 'a managed to get a lump of gold like this in it? They
+clever fellers is too clever. Let 'em put all their heads together, and
+turn out a nugget, and I'll believe them."
+
+Uncle Sam's reasoning was too deep for any but himself to follow. He was
+not long in perceiving this, though we were content to admire his words
+without asking him to explain them; so he only said, "Well, well," and
+began to try with both hands if he could heft this lump. He stirred it,
+and moved it, and raised it a little, as the glisten of the light upon
+its roundings showed; but lift it fairly from the ground he could not,
+however he might bow his sturdy legs and bend his mighty back to it;
+and, strange to say, he was pleased for once to acknowledge his own
+discomfiture.
+
+"Five hundred and a half I used to lift to the height of my knee-cap
+easily; I may 'a fallen off now a hundred-weight with years, and
+strings in my back, and rheumatics; but this here little toad is a
+clear hundredweight out and beyond my heftage. If there's a pound here,
+there's not an ounce under six hundred-weight, I'll lay a thousand
+dollars. Miss Rema, give a name to him. All the thundering nuggets has
+thundering names."
+
+"Then this shall be called 'Uncle Sam,'" I answered, "because he is the
+largest and the best of all."
+
+"It shall stand, miss," cried Martin, who was in great spirits, and
+seemed to have bettered himself forever. "You could not have given it a
+finer name, miss, if you had considered for a century. Uncle Sam is the
+name of our glorious race, from the kindness of our natur'. Every body's
+uncle we are now, in vartue of superior knowledge, and freedom, and
+giving of general advice, and stickin' to all the world, or all the good
+of it. Darned if old Sam aren't the front of creation!"
+
+"Well, well," said the Sawyer, "let us call it 'Uncle Sam,' if the dear
+young lady likes it; it would be bad luck to change the name; but, for
+all that, we must look uncommon sharp, or some of our glorious race will
+come and steal it afore we unbutton our eyes."
+
+"Pooh!" cried Martin; but he knew very well that his master's words were
+common-sense; and we left him on guard with a double-barreled gun, and
+Jowler to keep watch with him. And the next day he told us that he had
+spent the night in such a frame of mind from continual thought that when
+our pet cow came to drink at daybreak, it was but the blowing of her
+breath that saved her from taking a bullet between her soft tame eyes.
+
+Now it could not in any kind of way hold good that such things should
+continue; and the Sawyer, though loath to lose sight of the nugget,
+perceived that he must not sacrifice all the morals of the neighborhood
+to it, and he barely had time to dispatch it on its road at the bottom
+of a load of lumber, with Martin to drive, and Jowler to sit up, and
+Firm to ride behind, when a troop of mixed robbers came riding across,
+with a four-wheel cart and two sturdy mules--enough to drag off every
+thing. They had clearly heard of the golden toad, and desired to know
+more of him; but Uncle Sam, with his usual blandness, met these men at
+the gate of his yard, and upon the top rail, to ease his arm, he rested
+a rifle of heavy metal, with seven revolving chambers. The robbers found
+out that they had lost their way, and Mr. Gundry answered that so they
+had, and the sooner they found it in another direction, the better it
+would be for them. They thought that he had all his men inside, and they
+were mighty civil, though we had only two negroes to help us, and Suan
+Isco, with a great gun cocked. But their curiosity was such that they
+could not help asking about the gold; and, sooner than shoot them, Uncle
+Sam replied that, upon his honor, the nugget was gone. And the fame of
+his word was so well known that these fellows (none of whom could tell
+the truth, even at confession) believed him on the spot, and begged his
+pardon for trespassing on his premises. They hoped that he would not say
+a word to the Vigilance Committee, who hanged a poor fellow for losing
+his road; and he told them that if they made off at once, nobody should
+pursue them; and so they rode off very happily.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+FIRM AND INFIRM
+
+
+Strange as it may appear, our quiet little home was not yet disturbed by
+that great discovery of gold. The Sawyer went up to the summit of esteem
+in public opinion; but to himself and to us he was the same as ever. He
+worked with his own hard hands and busy head just as he used to do; for
+although the mill was still in ruins, there was plenty of the finer work
+to do, which always required hand-labor. And at night he would sit at
+the end of the table furthest from the fire-place, with his spectacles
+on, and his red cheeks glowing, while he designed the future mill, which
+was to be built in the spring, and transcend every mill ever heard,
+thought, or dreamed of.
+
+We all looked forward to a quiet winter, snug with warmth and cheer
+in-doors, and bright outside with sparkling trees, brisk air, and frosty
+appetite, when a foolish idea arose which spoiled the comfort at least
+of two of us. Ephraim Gundry found out, or fancied, that he was entirely
+filled with love of a very young maid, who never dreamed of such things,
+and hated even to hear of them; and the maid, unluckily, was myself.
+
+During the time of his ailment I had been with him continually, being
+only too glad to assuage his pain, or turn his thoughts away from it.
+I partly suspected that he had incurred his bitter wound for my sake;
+though I never imputed his zeal to more than a young man's natural wrath
+at an outrage. But now he left me no longer in doubt, and made me
+most uncomfortable. Perhaps I was hard upon him, and afterward I often
+thought so, for he was very kind and gentle; but I was an orphan child,
+and had no one to advise me in such matters. I believe that he should
+have considered this, and allowed me to grow a little older; but perhaps
+he himself was too young as yet and too bashful to know how to manage
+things. It was the very evening after his return from Sacramento, and
+the beauty of the weather still abode in the soft warm depth around
+us. In every tint of rock and tree and playful glass of river a quiet
+clearness seemed to lie, and a rich content of color. The grandeur of
+the world was such that one could only rest among it, seeking neither
+voice nor thought.
+
+Therefore I was more surprised than pleased to hear my name ring loudly
+through the echoing hollows, and then to see the bushes shaken, and an
+eager form leap out. I did not answer a word, but sat with a wreath of
+white bouvardia and small adiantum round my head, which I had plaited
+anyhow.
+
+"What a lovely dear you are!" cried Firm, and then he seemed frightened
+at his own words.
+
+"I had no idea that you would have finished your dinner so soon as this,
+Mr. Firm."
+
+"And you did not want me. You are vexed to see me. Tell the truth, Miss
+Rema."
+
+"I always tell the truth," I answered; "and I did not want to be
+disturbed just now. I have so many things to think of."
+
+"And not me among them. Oh no, of course you never think of me, Erema."
+
+"It is very unkind of you to say that," I answered, looking clearly at
+him, as a child looks at a man. "And it is not true, I assure you, Firm.
+Whenever I have thought of dear Uncle Sam, I very often go on to think
+of you, because he is so fond of you."
+
+"But not for my own sake, Erema; you never think of me for my own sake."
+
+"But yes, I do, I assure you, Mr. Firm; I do greatly. There is scarcely
+a day that I do not remember how hungry you are, and I think of you."
+
+"Tush!" replied Firm, with a lofty gaze. "Even for a moment that does
+not in any way express my meaning. My mind is very much above all eating
+when it dwells upon you, Erema. I have always been fond of you, Erema."
+
+"You have always been good to me, Firm," I said, as I managed to get
+a great branch between us. "After your grandfather, and Suan Isco, and
+Jowler, I think that I like you best of almost any body left to me. And
+you know that I never forget your slippers."
+
+"Erema, you drive me almost wild by never understanding me. Now will you
+just listen to a little common-sense? You know that I am not romantic."
+
+"Yes, Firm; yes, I know that you never did any thing wrong in any way."
+
+"You would like me better if I did. What an extraordinary thing it is!
+Oh, Erema, I beg your pardon."
+
+He had seen in a moment, as men seem to do, when they study the much
+quicker face of a girl, that his words had keenly wounded me--that I
+had applied them to my father, of whom I was always thinking, though I
+scarcely ever spoke of him. But I knew that Firm had meant no harm, and
+I gave him my hand, though I could not speak.
+
+"My darling," he said, "you are very dear to me--dearer than all the
+world besides. I will not worry you any more. Only say that you do not
+hate me."
+
+"How could I? How could any body? Now let us go in and attend to Uncle
+Sam. He thinks of every body before himself."
+
+"And I think of every body after myself. Is that what you mean, Erema?"
+
+"To be sure! if you like. You may put any meaning on my words that
+you think proper. I am accustomed to things of that sort, and I pay no
+attention whatever, when I am perfectly certain that I am right."
+
+"I see," replied Firm, applying one finger to the side of his nose in
+deep contemplation, which, of all his manners, annoyed me most. "I see
+how it is; Miss Rema is always perfectly certain that she is right, and
+the whole of the rest of the world quite wrong. Well, after all, there
+is nothing like holding a first-rate opinion of one's self."
+
+"You are not what I thought of you," I cried, being vexed beyond
+bearance by such words, and feeling their gross injustice. "If you wish
+to say any thing more, please to leave it until you recover your temper.
+I am not quite accustomed to rudeness."
+
+With these words, I drew away and walked off, partly in earnest and
+partly in joke, not wishing to hear another word; and when I looked
+back, being well out of sight, there he sat still, with his head on his
+hands, and my heart had a little ache for him.
+
+However, I determined to say no more, and to be extremely careful. I
+could not in justice blame Ephraim Gundry for looking at me very often.
+But I took good care not to look at him again unless he said something
+that made me laugh, and then I could scarcely help it. He was sharp
+enough very soon to find out this; and then he did a thing which was
+most unfair, as I found out long afterward. He bought an American
+jest-book, full of ideas wholly new to me, and these he committed to
+heart, and brought them out as his own productions. If I had only known
+it, I must have been exceedingly sorry for him. But Uncle Sam used to
+laugh and rub his hands, perhaps for old acquaintance' sake; and when
+Uncle Sam laughed, there was nobody near who could help laughing with
+him. And so I began to think Firm the most witty and pleasant of men,
+though I tried to look away.
+
+But perhaps the most careful and delicate of things was to see how Uncle
+Sam went on. I could not understand him at all just then, and thought
+him quite changed from my old Uncle Sam; but afterward, when I came
+to know, his behavior was as clear and shallow as the water of his own
+river. He had very strange ideas about what he generally called "the
+female kind." According to his ideas (and perhaps they were not so
+unusual among mankind, especially settlers), all "females" were of a
+good but weak and consistently inconsistent sort. The surest way to make
+them do whatever their betters wanted, was to make them think that it
+was not wanted, but was hedged with obstacles beyond their power to
+overcome, and so to provoke and tantalize them to set their hearts upon
+doing it. In accordance with this idea (than which there can be none
+more mistaken), he took the greatest pains to keep me from having a word
+to say to Firm; and even went so far as to hint, with winks and nods
+of pleasantry, that his grandson's heart was set upon the pretty Miss
+Sylvester, the daughter of a man who owned a herd of pigs, much too near
+our saw-mills, and herself a young woman of outrageous dress, and in
+a larger light contemptible. But when Mr. Gundry, without any words,
+conveyed this piece of news to me, I immediately felt quite a liking for
+gaudy but harmless Pennsylvania--for so her parents had named her when
+she was too young to help it; and I heartily hoped that she might suit
+Firm, which she seemed all the more likely to do as his conduct could
+not be called noble. Upon that point, however, I said not a word,
+leaving him purely to judge for himself, and feeling it a great relief
+that now he could not say any thing more to me. I was glad that his
+taste was so easily pleased, and I told Suan Isco how glad I was.
+
+This I had better have left unsaid, for it led to a great explosion,
+and drove me away from the place altogether before the new mill was
+finished, and before I should otherwise have gone from friends who were
+so good to me; not that I could have staid there much longer, even if
+this had never come to pass; for week by week and month by month I was
+growing more uneasy: uneasy not at my obligations or dependence upon
+mere friends (for they managed that so kindly that I seemed to confer
+the favor), but from my own sense of lagging far behind my duty.
+
+For now the bright air, and the wholesome food, and the pleasure of
+goodness around me, were making me grow, without knowledge or notice,
+into a tall and not altogether to be overlooked young woman. I was
+exceedingly shy about this, and blushed if any one spoke of it; but yet
+in my heart I felt it was so; and how could I help it? And when people
+said, as rough people will, and even Uncle Sam sometimes, "Handsome is
+as handsome does," or "Beauty is only skin-deep," and so on, I made it
+my duty not to be put out, but to bear it in mind and be thankful. And
+though I had no idea of any such influence at the moment, I hope that
+the grandeur of nature around and the lofty style of every thing
+may have saved me from dwelling too much on myself, as Pennsylvania
+Sylvester did.
+
+Now the more I felt my grown-up age and health and buoyant vigor, the
+surer I knew that the time was come for me to do some good with them;
+not to benefit the world in general, in a large and scattery way (as
+many young people set out to do, and never get any further), but to
+right the wrong of my own house, and bring home justice to my own heart.
+This may be thought a partial and paltry object to set out with; and
+it is not for me to say otherwise. At the time, it occurred to me in no
+other light except as my due business, and I never took any large view
+at all. But even now I do believe (though not yet in pickle of wisdom)
+that if every body, in its own little space and among its own little
+movements, will only do and take nothing without pure taste of the salt
+of justice, no reeking atrocity of national crimes could ever taint the
+heaven.
+
+Such questions, however, become me not. I have only to deal with very
+little things, sometimes too slim to handle well, and too hazy to be
+woven; and if they seem below my sense and dignity to treat of, I can
+only say that they seemed very big at the time when I had to encounter
+them.
+
+For instance, what could be more important, in a little world of life,
+than for Uncle Sam to be put out, and dare even to think ill of me?
+Yet this he did; and it shows how shallow are all those theories of the
+other sex which men are so pleased to indulge in. Scarcely any thing
+could be more ridiculous from first to last, when calmly and truly
+considered, than the firm belief which no power of reason could for the
+time root out of him.
+
+Uncle Sam, the dearest of all mankind to me, and the very kindest, was
+positively low-enough to believe, in his sad opinion of the female race,
+that my young head was turned because of the wealth to which I had no
+claim, except through his own justice. He had insisted at first that the
+whole of that great nugget belonged to me by right of sole discovery.
+I asked him whether, if any stranger had found it, it would have been
+considered his, and whether he would have allowed a "greaser," upon
+finding, to make off with it. At the thought of this, Mr. Gundry gave
+a little grunt, and could not go so far as to maintain that view of it.
+But he said that my reasoning did not fit; that I was not a greaser,
+but a settled inhabitant of the place, and entitled to all a settler's
+rights; that the bed of the river would have been his grave but for the
+risk of my life, and therefore whatever I found in the bed of the river
+belonged to me, and me only.
+
+In argument he was so much stronger than I could ever attempt to be
+that I gave it up, and could only say that if he argued forever it
+could never make any difference. He did not argue forever, but only
+grew obstinate and unpleasant, so that I yielded at last to own the half
+share of the bullion.
+
+Very well. Every body would have thought, who has not studied the nature
+of men or been dragged through it heavily, that now there could be no
+more trouble between two people entirely trusting each other, and only
+anxious that the other should have the best of it. Yet, instead of that
+being the case, the mischief, the myriad mischief, of money set in,
+until I heartily wished sometimes that my miserable self was down in the
+hole which the pelf had left behind it.
+
+For what did Uncle Sam take into his head (which was full of generosity
+and large ideas, so loosely packed that little ones grew between them,
+especially about womankind)--what else did he really seem to think, with
+the downright stubbornness of all his thoughts, but that I, his poor
+debtor and pensioner and penniless dependent, was so set up and elated
+by this sudden access of fortune that henceforth none of the sawing race
+was high enough for me to think of? It took me a long time to believe
+that so fair and just a man ever could set such interpretation upon me.
+And when it became too plain that he did so, truly I know not whether
+grief or anger was uppermost in my troubled heart.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+HARD AND SOFT
+
+
+Before very long it was manifest enough that Mr. Gundry looked down upon
+Miss Sylvester with a large contempt. But while this raised my opinion
+of his judgment, it almost deprived me of a great relief--the relief of
+supposing that he wished his grandson to marry this Pennsylvania.
+For although her father, with his pigs and cattle, and a low sort of
+hostelry which he kept, could settle "a good pile of dollars" upon
+her, and had kept her at the "learnedest ladies' college" even in
+San Francisco till he himself trembled at her erudition, still it was
+scarcely to be believed that a man of the Sawyer's strong common-sense
+and disregard of finery would ever accept for his grandchild a girl made
+of affectation, vulgarity, and conceit. And one day, quite in the early
+spring, he was so much vexed with the fine lady's airs that he left no
+doubt about his meaning.
+
+Miss Sylvester was very proud of the figure she made on horseback; and
+having been brought up, perhaps as a child, to ride after pigs and so
+on, she must have had fine opportunities of acquiring a graceful style
+of horsemanship. And now she dashed through thick and thin in a most
+commanding manner, caring no more for a snow-drift than ladies do for a
+scraping of the road. No one with the least observation could doubt that
+this young woman was extremely anxious to attract Firm Gundry's notice;
+and therefore, on the day above spoken of, once more she rode over, with
+her poor father in waiting upon her as usual.
+
+Now I know very well how many faults I have, and to deny them has never
+been my practice; but this is the honest and earnest truth, that no
+smallness of mind, or narrowness of feeling, or want of large or fine
+sentiments made me bolt my door when that girl was in the house. I
+simply refused, after seeing her once, to have any thing more to say to
+her; by no means because of my birth and breeding (which are things that
+can be most easily waived when the difference is acknowledged), nor yet
+on account of my being brought up in the company of ladies, nor even by
+reason of any dislike which her bold brown eyes put into me. My cause
+was sufficient and just and wise. I felt myself here as a very
+young girl, in safe and pure and honest hands, yet thrown on my own
+discretion, without any feminine guidance whatever. And I had learned
+enough from the wise French sisters to know at a glance that Miss
+Sylvester was not a young woman who would do me good.
+
+Even Uncle Sam, who was full of thought and delicate care about me, so
+far as a man can understand, and so far as his simple shrewdness went,
+in spite of all his hospitable ways and open universal welcome,
+though he said not a word (as on such a point he was quite right in
+doing)--even he, as I knew by his manner, was quite content with my
+decision. But Firm, being young and in many ways stupid, made a little
+grievance of it. And, of course, Miss Sylvester made a great one.
+
+"Oh, I do declare, I am going away," through my open window I heard her
+exclaim in her sweetly affected tone, at the end of that long visit,
+"without even having the honor of saying a kind word to your young
+visitor. Do not wait for me, papa; I must pay my devoirs. Such a
+distinguished and travelled person can hardly be afflicted with mauvaise
+honte. Why does she not rush to embrace me? All the French people do;
+and she is so French! Let me see her, for the sake of my accent."
+
+"We don't want no French here, ma'am," replied Uncle Sam, as Sylvester
+rode off, "and the young lady wants no Doctor Hunt. Her health is as
+good as your own, and you never catch no French actions from her. If she
+wanted to see you, she would 'a come down."
+
+"Oh, now, this is too barbarous! Colonel Gundry, you are the most
+tyrannous man; in your own dominions an autocrat. Every body says
+so, but I never would believe it. Oh, don't let me go away with that
+impression. And you do look so good-natured!"
+
+"And so I mean to look, Miss Penny, until you are out of sight."
+
+The voice of the Sawyer was more dry than that of his oldest and
+rustiest saw. The fashionable and highly finished girl had no idea what
+to make of him; but gave her young horse a sharp cut, to show her figure
+as she reined him; and then galloping off, she kissed her tan gauntlet
+with crimson net-work down it, and left Uncle Sam to revolve his
+rudeness, with the dash of the wet road scattered in the air.
+
+"I wouldn't 'a spoke to her so course," he said to Firm, who now
+returned from opening the gate and delivering his farewell, "if she
+wasn't herself so extra particular, gild me, and sky-blue my mouldings
+fine. How my mother would 'a stared at the sight of such a gal! Keep
+free of her, my lad, keep free of her. But no harm to put her on, to
+keep our missy alive and awake, my boy."
+
+Immediately I withdrew from ear-shot, more deeply mortified than I can
+tell, and perhaps doing Firm an injustice by not waiting for his answer.
+I knew not then how lightly men will speak of such delicate subjects;
+and it set me more against all thoughts of Firm than a month's
+reflection could have done. When I came to know more of the world, I saw
+that I had been very foolish. At the time, however, I was firmly set
+in a strong resolve to do that which alone seemed right, or even
+possible--to quit with all speed a place which could no longer be suited
+for me.
+
+For several days I feared to say a single word about it, while equally
+I condemned myself for having so little courage. But it was not as if
+there were any body to help me, or tell me what to do; sometimes I was
+bold with a surety of right, and then again I shook with the fear of
+being wrong. Because, through the whole of it, I felt how wonderfully
+well I had been treated, and what a great debt I owed of kindness; and
+it seemed to be only a nasty little pride which made me so particular.
+And being so unable to settle for myself, I waited for something to
+settle it.
+
+Something came, in a way which I had not by any means expected. I had
+told Suan Isco how glad I was that Firm had fixed his liking steadily
+upon Miss Sylvester. If any woman on earth could be trusted not to say
+a thing again, that one was this good Indian. Not only because of her
+provident habits, but also in right of the difficulty which encompassed
+her in our language. But she managed to get over both of these, and to
+let Mr. Ephraim know, as cleverly as if she had lived in drawing-rooms,
+whatever I had said about him. She did it for the best; but it put him
+in a rage, which he came at once to have out with me.
+
+"And so, Miss Erema," he said, throwing down his hat upon the table of
+the little parlor, where I sat with an old book of Norman ballads, "I
+have your best wishes, then, have I, for a happy marriage with Miss
+Sylvester?"
+
+I was greatly surprised at the tone of his voice, while the flush on his
+cheeks and the flash of his eyes, and even his quick heavy tread, showed
+plainly that his mind was a little out of balance. He deserved it,
+however, and I could not grieve.
+
+"You have my best wishes," I replied, demurely, "for any state of life
+to which you may be called. You could scarcely expect any less of me
+than that."
+
+"How kind you are! But do you really wish that I should marry old
+Sylvester's girl?"
+
+Firm, as he asked this question, looked so bitterly reproachful (as if
+he were saying, "Do you wish to see me hanged?"), while his eyes took a
+form which reminded me so of the Sawyer in a furious puzzle, that it was
+impossible for me to answer as lightly as I meant to do.
+
+"No, I can not say, Firm, that I wish it at all; unless your heart is
+set on it--"
+
+"Don't you know, then, where my heart is set?" he asked me, in a deep
+voice, coming nearer, and taking the ballad-book from my hands. "Why
+will you feign not to know, Erema, who is the only one I can ever think
+of twice? Above me, I know, in every possible way--birth and education
+and mind and appearance, and now far above me in money as well. But what
+are all these things? Try to think if only you could like me. Liking
+gets over every thing, and without it nothing is any thing. Why do
+I like you so, Erema? Is it because of your birth, and teaching,
+and manners, and sweet looks, and all that, or even because of your
+troubles?"
+
+"How can I tell, Firm--how can I tell? Perhaps it is just because of
+myself. And why do you do it at all, Firm?"
+
+"Ah, why do I do it? How I wish I knew! Perhaps then I might cure it. To
+begin with, what is there, after all, so very wonderful about you?"
+
+"Oh, nothing, I should hope. Most surely nothing. It would grieve me to
+be at all wonderful. That I leave for American ladies."
+
+"Now you don't understand me. I mean, of course, that you are
+wonderfully good and kind and clever; and your eyes, I am sure, and your
+lips and smile, and all your other features--there is nothing about them
+that can be called any thing else but wonderful."
+
+"Now, Firm, how exceedingly foolish you are! I did hope that you knew
+better."
+
+"Erema, I never shall know better. I never can swerve or change, if I
+live to be a hundred and fifty. You think me presumptuous, no doubt,
+from what you are brought up to. And you are so young that to seek to
+bind you, even if you loved me, would be an unmanly thing. But now you
+are old enough, and you know your own mind surely well enough, just to
+say whether you feel as if you could ever love me as I love you."
+
+He turned away, as if he felt that he had no right to press me so, and
+blamed himself for selfishness; and I liked him better for doing that
+than for any thing he had done before. Yet I knew that I ought to speak
+clearly, and though my voice was full of tears, I tried.
+
+"Dear Firm," I said, as I took his hand and strove to look at him
+steadily, "I like and admire you very much; and by-and-by--by-and-by, I
+might, that is, if you did not hurry me. Of all the obstacles you have
+mentioned, none is worth considering. I am nothing but a poor castaway,
+owing my life to Uncle Sam and you. But one thing there is which could
+never be got over, even if I felt as you feel toward me. Never can
+I think of little matters, or of turning my thoughts to--to any such
+things as you speak of, as long as a vile reproach and wicked imputation
+lies on me. And before even that, I have to think of my father, who gave
+his life for me. Firm, I have been here too long delaying, and wasting
+my time in trifles. I ought to have been in Europe long ago. If I am old
+enough for what you talk of, I am old enough to do my duty. If I am old
+enough for love, as it is called, I am old enough for hate. I have more
+to do with hate than love, I think."
+
+"Erema," cried Firm, "what a puzzle you are! I never even dreamed that
+you could be so fierce. You are enough to frighten Uncle Sam himself."
+
+"If I frighten you, Firm, that is quite enough. You see now how vain it
+is to say another word."
+
+"I do not see any thing of the sort. Come back, and look at me quite
+calmly."
+
+Being frightened at the way in which I had spoken, and having passed the
+prime of it, I obeyed him in a moment, and came up gently and let him
+look at me to his liking. For little as I thought of such things
+till now, I seemed already to know more about them, or at least to
+wonder--which is the stir of the curtain of knowledge. I did not say
+any thing, but labored to think nothing and to look up with unconscious
+eyes. But Firm put me out altogether by his warmth, and made me flutter
+like a stupid little bird.
+
+"My darling," he said, smoothing back my hair with a kindness such as I
+could not resent, and quieting me with his clear blue eyes, "you are not
+fit for the stormy life to which your high spirit is devoting you. You
+have not the hardness and bitterness of mind, the cold self-possession
+and contempt of others, the power of dissembling and the iron will--in
+a word, the fundamental nastiness, without which you never could get
+through such a job. Why, you can not be contemptuous even to me!"
+
+"I should hope not. I should earn your contempt, if I could."
+
+"There, you are ready to cry at the thought. Erema, do not mistake
+yourself. Remember that your father would never have wished it--would
+have given his life ten thousand times over to prevent it. Why did he
+bring you to this remote, inaccessible part of the world except to save
+you from further thought of evil? He knew that we listen to no rumors
+here, no social scandals, or malignant lies; but we value people as we
+find them. He meant this to be a haven for you; and so it shall be
+if you will only rest; and you shall be the queen of it. Instead of
+redressing his memory now, you would only distress his spirit. What does
+he care for the world's gossip now? But he does care for your happiness.
+I am not old enough to tell you things as I should like to tell them.
+I wish I could--how I wish I could! It would make all the difference to
+me."
+
+"It would make no difference, Firm, to me; because I should know it was
+selfishness. Not selfishness of yours, I mean, for you never could be
+selfish; but the vilest selfishness of mine, the same as starved my
+father. You can not see things as I see them, or else you would not
+talk so. When you know that a thing is right, you do it. Can you tell me
+otherwise? If you did, I should despise you."
+
+"If you put it so, I can say no more. You will leave us forever, Erema?"
+
+"No, not forever. If the good God wills it, I will come back when my
+work is done. Forgive me, dear Firm, and forget me."
+
+"There is nothing to forgive, Erema; but a great deal I never can hope
+to forgot."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+OUT OF THE GOLDEN GATE
+
+
+Little things, or what we call little, always will come in among great
+ones, or at least among those which we call great. Before I passed the
+Golden Gate in the clipper ship Bridal Veil (so called from one of the
+Yosemite cascades) I found out what I had long wished to know--why Firm
+had a crooked nose. At least, it could hardly be called crooked if any
+body looked aright at it; but still it departed from the bold straight
+line which nature must have meant for it, every thing else about him
+being as straight as could be required. This subject had troubled me
+more than once, though of course it had nothing whatever to do with the
+point of view whence I regarded him.
+
+Suan Isco could not tell me, neither could Martin of the mill; I
+certainly could not ask Firm himself, as the Sawyer told me to do when
+once I put the question, in despair, to him. But now, as we stood on the
+wharf exchanging farewells, perhaps forever, and tears of anguish were
+in my eyes, and my heart was both full and empty, ample and unexpected
+light was thrown on the curvature of Firm's nose.
+
+For a beautiful girl, of about my own age, and very nicely dressed,
+came up and spoke to the Sawyer (who stood at my side), and then, with
+a blush, took his grandson's hand. Firm took off his hat to her very
+politely, but allowed her to see perhaps by his manner that he was
+particularly engaged just now; and the young lady, with a quick glance
+at me, walked off to rejoin her party. But a garrulous old negro
+servant, who seemed to be in attendance upon her, ran up and caught Firm
+by his coat, and peered up curiously at his face.
+
+"How young massa's poor nose dis long time? How him feel, spose now
+again?" he inquired, with a deferential grin. "Young massa ebber able
+take a pinch of good snuff? He! he! missy berry heavy den? Missy no
+learn to dance de nose polka den?"
+
+"What on earth does he mean?" I could not help asking, in spite of our
+sorrowful farewell, as the negro went on with sundry other jokes and
+cackles at his own facetiousness. And then Uncle Sam, to divert my
+thoughts, while I waited for signal to say good-by, told me how Firm got
+a slight twist to his nose.
+
+Ephraim Gundry had been well taught, in all the common things a man
+should learn, at a good quiet school at Frisco, which distinguished
+itself from all other schools by not calling itself a college. And when
+he was leaving to begin home life, with as much put into him as he could
+manage--for his nature was not bookish--when he was just seventeen years
+old, and tall and straight and upright, but not set into great bodily
+strength, which could not yet be expected, a terrible fire broke out in
+a great block of houses newly occupied, over against the school-house
+front. Without waiting for master's leave or matron's, the boys, in the
+Californian style, jumped over the fencing and went to help. And they
+found a great crowd collected, and flames flaring out of the top of
+the house. At the top of the house, according to a stupid and therefore
+general practice, was the nursery, made of more nurses than children, as
+often happens with rich people. The nurses had run away for their lives,
+taking two of the children with them; but the third, a fine little girl
+of ten, had been left behind, and now ran to the window with red
+hot flames behind her. The window was open, and barbs of fire, like
+serpents' tongues, played over it.
+
+"Jump, child, jump! for God's sake, jump!" cried half a hundred people,
+while the poor scared creature quivered on the ledge, and shrank from
+the frightful depth below. At last, stung by a scorching volley, she
+gathered her night-gown tight, and leaped, trusting to the many faces
+and many arms raised toward her. But though many gallant men were there,
+only one stood fast just where she fell, and that one was the youth,
+Firm Gundry. Upon him she fell, like a stone from heaven, and though
+he held up his arms in the smoky glare, she came down badly: badly, at
+least, for him, but, as her father said, providentially; for one of
+her soles, or heels, alighted on the bridge of Ephraim's young nose. He
+caught her on his chest, and forgetful of himself, he bore her to her
+friends triumphantly, unharmed, and almost smiling. But the symmetry of
+an important part of his face was spoiled forever.
+
+When I heard of this noble affair, and thought of my own pusillanimous
+rendering--for verily I had been low enough, from rumors of Firm's
+pugnacity, to attribute these little defects of line to some fisticuffs
+with some miner--I looked at Firm's nose through the tears in my eyes,
+and had a great mind not to go away at all. For what is the noblest of
+all things in man--as I bitterly learned thereafter, and already had
+some guesses? Not the power of moving multitudes with eloquence or by
+orders; not the elevation of one tribe through the lowering of others,
+nor even the imaginary lift of all by sentiments as yet above them:
+there may be glory in all of these, but the greatness is not with them.
+It remains with those who behave like Firm, and get their noses broken.
+
+However, I did not know those things at that time of life, though I
+thought it right for every man to be brave and good; and I could not
+help asking who the young lady was, as if that were part of the heroism.
+The Sawyer, who never was unready for a joke, of however ancient
+quality, gave a great wink at Firm (which I failed to understand), and
+asked him how much the young lady was worth. He expected that Firm
+would say, "Five hundred thousand dollars"--which was about her value, I
+believe--and Uncle Sam wanted me to hear it; not that he cared a single
+cent himself, but to let me know what Firm could do.
+
+Firm, however, was not to be led into any trap of that sort. He knew me
+better than the old man did, and that nothing would stir me to jealousy,
+and he quite disappointed the Sawyer.
+
+"I have never asked what she is worth," he said, with a glance
+of contempt at money; "but she scarcely seems worth looking at,
+compared--compared with certain others."
+
+In the distance I saw the young lady again, attempting no attraction,
+but walking along quite harmlessly, with the talkative negro after her.
+It would have been below me to pursue the subject, and I waited for
+others to re-open it; but I heard no more about her until I had been
+for more than a week at sea, and was able again to feel interest. Then I
+heard that her name was Annie Banks, of the firm of Heniker, Banks, and
+Co., who owned the ship I sailed in.
+
+But now it was nothing to me who she was, or how beautiful, or how
+wealthy, when I clung for the last time to Uncle Sam, and implored him
+not to forget me. Over and over again he promised to be full of thoughts
+of me, even when the new mill was started, which would be a most trying
+time. He bowed his tall white head into my sheveled hair, and blessed
+and kissed me, although I never deserved it, and a number of people were
+looking on. Then I laid my hand in Firm's, and he did not lift it to his
+lips, or sigh, but pressed it long and softly, and looked into my eyes
+without a word. And I knew that there would be none to love like them,
+wherever I might go.
+
+But the last of all to say "good-by" was my beloved Jowler. He jumped
+into the boat after me (for we were obliged to have a boat, the ship
+having laden further down), and he put his fore-paws on my shoulders,
+and whined and drooped his under-jaw. And when he looked at me as he
+used, to know whether I was in fun or earnest, with more expression in
+his bright brown eyes than any human being has, I fell back under his
+weight and sobbed, and could not look at any one.
+
+We had beautiful weather, and the view was glorious, as we passed the
+Golden Gate, the entrance to what will one day be the capital of the
+world, perhaps. For, as our captain said, all power and human energy and
+strength are always going westward, and when they come here they must
+stop, or else they would be going eastward again, which they never yet
+have done. His argument may have been right or wrong--and, indeed, it
+must have been one or the other--but who could think of such things now,
+with a grander thing than human power--human love fading away behind? I
+could not even bear to see the glorious mountains sinking, but ran below
+and cried for hours, until all was dark and calm.
+
+The reason for my sailing by this particular ship, and, indeed, rather
+suddenly, was that an old friend and Cornish cousin of Mr. Gundry, who
+had spent some years in California, was now returning to England by the
+Bridal Veil. This was Major Hockin, an officer of the British army, now
+on half-pay, and getting on in years. His wife was going home with him;
+for their children were married and settled in England, all but one, now
+in San Francisco. And that one being well placed in the firm of Heniker,
+Banks, and Co., had obtained for his father and mother passage upon
+favorable terms, which was, as we say, "an object to them."
+
+For the Major, though admirably connected (as his kinship to Colonel
+Gundry showed), and having a baronet not far off (if the twists of the
+world were set aside), also having served his country, and received
+a furrow on the top of his head, which made him brush his hair up,
+nevertheless, or all the more for that, was as poor as a British officer
+must be without official sesame. How he managed to feed and teach a
+large and not clever family, and train them all to fight their way in a
+battle worse than any of his own, and make gentlemen and ladies of them,
+whatever they did or wherever they went, he only knew, and his faithful
+wife, and the Lord who helps brave poverty. Of such things he never
+spoke, unless his temper was aroused by luxury and self-indulgence and
+laziness.
+
+But now he was a little better off, through having his children off his
+hands, and by means of a little property left him by a distant relative.
+He was on his way home to see to this; and a better man never returned
+to England, after always standing up for her.
+
+Being a child in the ways of the world, and accustomed to large people,
+I could not make out Major Hockin at first, and thought him no more than
+a little man with many peculiarities. For he was not so tall as myself,
+until he put his high-heeled boots on, and he made such a stir about
+trifles at which Uncle Sam would have only grunted, that I took him to
+be nothing more than a fidgety old campaigner. He wore a black-rimmed
+double eyeglass with blue side-lights at his temples, and his hat, from
+the shape of his forehead, hung back; he had narrow white wiry whiskers,
+and a Roman nose, and most prominent chin, and keen gray eyes with
+gingery brows, which contracted, like sharp little gables over
+them, whenever any thing displeased him. Rosy cheeks, tight-drawn,
+close-shaven, and gleaming with friction of yellow soap, added vigor
+to the general expression of his face, which was firm and quick and
+straightforward. The weather being warm, and the tropics close at hand,
+Major Hockin was dressed in a fine suit of Nankin, spruce and trim, and
+beautifully made, setting off his spare and active figure, which, though
+he was sixty-two years of age, seemed always to be ready for a game of
+leap-frog.
+
+We were three days out of the Golden Gate, and the hills of the coast
+ridge were faint and small, and the spires of the lower Nevada could
+only be caught when the hot haze lifted; and every body lay about in our
+ship where it seemed to afford the least smell and heat, and nobody
+for a moment dreamed--for we really all were dreaming--of any body with
+energy enough to be disturbed about any thing, when Major Hockin burst
+in upon us all (who were trying not to be red-hot in the feeble shade
+of poop awnings), leading by the hand an ancient woman, scarcely dressed
+with decency, and howling in a tone very sad to hear.
+
+"This lady has been robbed!" cried the Major; "robbed, not fifteen feet
+below us. Robbed, ladies and gentlemen, of the most cherished treasures
+of her life, the portrait of her only son, the savings of a life of
+honest toil, her poor dead husband's tobacco-box, and a fine cut of
+Colorado cheese."
+
+"Ten pounds and a quarter, gospel true!" cried the poor woman, wringing
+her hands, and searching for any kind face among us.
+
+"Go to the captain," muttered one sleepy gentleman. "Go to the devil,"
+said another sleepy man: "what have we to do with it?"
+
+"I will neither go to the captain," replied the Major, very distinctly,
+"nor yet to the devil, as a fellow who is not a man has dared to suggest
+to me--"
+
+"All tied in my own pocket-handkerchief!" the poor old woman began to
+scream; "the one with the three-cornered spots upon 'un. Only two have
+I ever owned in all my life, and this was the very best of 'em. Oh dear!
+oh dear! that ever I should come to this exposing of my things!"
+
+"Madam, you shall have justice done, as sure as my name is Hockin.
+Gentlemen and ladies, if you are not all asleep, how would you like to
+be treated so? Because the weather is a trifle warm, there you lie like
+a parcel of Mexicans. If any body picked your pockets, would you have
+life enough to roll over?"
+
+"I don't think I should," said a fat young Briton, with a very
+good-natured face; "but for a poor woman I can stand upright. Major
+Hockin, here is a guinea for her. Perhaps more of us will give a
+trifle."
+
+"Well done!" cried the Major; "but not so much as that. Let us first
+ascertain all the rights of the case. Perhaps half a crown apiece would
+reach it."
+
+Half a crown apiece would have gone beyond it, as we discovered
+afterward, for the old lady's handkerchief was in her box, lost under
+some more of her property; and the tide of sleepy charity taking this
+direction under such vehement impulse, several other steerage passengers
+lost their goods, but found themselves too late in doing so. But the
+Major was satisfied, and the rude man who had told him to go amiss,
+begged his pardon, and thus we sailed on slowly and peaceably.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+INSIDE THE CHANNEL
+
+
+That little incident threw some light upon Major Hockin's character. It
+was not for himself alone that he was so particular, or, as many would
+call it, fidgety, to have every thing done properly; for if any thing
+came to his knowledge which he thought unfair to any one, it concerned
+him almost as much as if the wrong had been done to his own home self.
+Through this he had fallen into many troubles, for his impressions were
+not always accurate; but they taught him nothing, or rather, as his wife
+said, "the Major could not help it." The leading journals of the various
+places in which Major Hockin sojourned had published his letters of
+grievances sometimes, in the absence of the chief editor, and had
+suffered in purse by doing so. But the Major always said, "Ventilate it,
+ventilate the subject, my dear Sir; bring public opinion to bear on it."
+And Mrs. Hockin always said that it was her husband to whom belonged
+the whole credit of this new and spirited use of the fine word
+"ventilation."
+
+As betwixt this faithful pair, it is scarcely needful perhaps to say
+that the Major was the master. His sense of justice dictated that, as
+well as his general briskness. Though he was not at all like Mr. Gundry
+in undervaluing female mind, his larger experience and more frequent
+intercourse with our sex had taught him to do justice to us; and it was
+pleasant to hear him often defer to the judgment of ladies. But this
+he did more, perhaps, in theory than in practice; yet it made all the
+ladies declare to one another that he was a perfect gentleman. And so
+he was, though he had his faults; but his faults were such as we approve
+of.
+
+But Mrs. Hockin had no fault in any way worth speaking of. And whatever
+she had was her husband's doing, through her desire to keep up with him.
+She was pretty, even now in her sixtieth year, and a great deal prettier
+because she never tried to look younger. Silver hair, and gentle eyes,
+and a forehead in which all the cares of eight children had scarcely
+imprinted a wrinkle, also a kind expression of interest in whatever was
+spoken of, with a quiet voice and smile, and a power of not saying too
+much at a time, combined to make this lady pleasant.
+
+Without any fuss or declaration, she took me immediately under her care;
+and I doubt not that, after two years passed in the society of Suan Isco
+and the gentle Sawyer, she found many things in me to amend, which
+she did by example and without reproof. She shielded me also in the
+cleverest way from the curiosity of the saloon, which at first was
+very trying. For the Bridal Veil being a well-known ship both for swift
+passages and for equipment, almost every berth was taken, and when
+the weather was calm, quite a large assembly sat down to dinner. Among
+these, of course, were some ill-bred people, and my youth and reserve
+and self-consciousness, and so on, made my reluctant face the mark for
+many a long and searching gaze. My own wish had been not to dine thus in
+public; but hearing that my absence would only afford fresh grounds for
+curiosity, I took my seat between the Major and his wife, the former
+having pledged himself to the latter to leave every thing to her
+management. His temper was tried more than once to its utmost--which was
+not a very great distance--but he kept his word, and did not interfere;
+and I having had some experience with Firm, eschewed all perception
+of glances. And as for all words, Mrs. Hockin met them with an obtuse
+obliqueness; so that after a day or two it was settled that nothing
+could be done about "Miss Wood."
+
+It had been a very sore point to come to, and cost an unparalleled shed
+of pride, that I should be shorn of two-thirds of my name, and called
+"Miss Wood," like almost anybody else. I refused to entertain such a
+very poor idea, and clung to the name which had always been mine--for
+my father would never depart from it--and I even burst into tears, which
+would, I suppose, be called "sentimental;" but still the stern fact
+stared me in the face--I must go as "Miss Wood," or not go at all. Upon
+this Major Hockin had insisted; and even Colonel Gundry could not move
+him from his resolution.
+
+Uncle Sam had done his utmost, as was said before, to stop me from
+wishing to go at all; but when he found my whole heart bent upon it, and
+even my soul imperiled by the sense of neglecting life's chief duty, his
+own stern sense of right came in and sided with my prayers to him.
+And so it was that he let me go, with pity for my youth and sex, but a
+knowledge that I was in good hands, and an inborn, perhaps "Puritanical"
+faith, that the Lord of all right would see to me.
+
+The Major, on the other hand, had none of this. He differed from Uncle
+Sam as much as a trim-cut and highly cultured garden tree differs from a
+great spreading king of the woods. He was not without a strict sense of
+religion, especially when he had to march men to church; and he never
+even used a bad word, except when wicked facts compelled him. When
+properly let alone, and allowed to nurse his own opinions, he had a
+respectable idea that all things were certain to be ordered for the
+best; but nothing enraged him so much as to tell him that when things
+went against him, or even against his predictions.
+
+It was lucky for me, then, that Major Hockin had taken a most adverse
+view of my case. He formed his opinions with the greatest haste, and
+with the greatest perseverance stuck to them; for he was the most
+generous of mankind, if generous means one quite full of his genus. And
+in my little case he had made up his mind that the whole of the facts
+were against me. "Fact" was his favorite word, and one which he always
+used with great effect, for nobody knows very well what it means, as it
+does not belong to our language. And so when he said that the facts were
+against me, who was there to answer that facts are not truth?
+
+This fast-set conclusion of his was known to me not through himself,
+but through his wife. For I could not yet bring myself to speak of the
+things that lay close at my heart to him, though I knew that he must be
+aware of them. And he, like a gentleman, left me to begin. I could often
+see that he was ready and quite eager to give me the benefit of his
+opinion, which would only have turned me against him, and irritated him,
+perhaps, with me. And having no home in England, or, indeed, I might
+say, any where, I was to live with the Major and his wife, supposing
+that they could arrange it so, until I should discover relatives.
+
+We had a long and stormy voyage, although we set sail so fairly; and I
+thought that we never should round Cape Horn in the teeth of the furious
+northeast winds; and after that we lay becalmed, I have no idea in what
+latitude, though the passengers now talked quite like seamen, at least
+till the sea got up again. However, at last we made the English Channel,
+in the dreary days of November, and after more peril there than any
+where else, we were safely docked at Southampton. Here the Major was met
+by two dutiful daughters, bringing their husbands and children, and I
+saw more of family life (at a distance) than had fallen to my lot to
+observe before; and although there were many little jars and brawls and
+cuts at one another, I was sadly inclined to wish sometimes for some
+brothers and sisters to quarrel with.
+
+But having none to quarrel with, and none to love, except good Mrs.
+Hockin, who went away by train immediately, I spent such a wretched time
+in that town that I longed to be back in the Bridal Veil in the very
+worst of weather. The ooze of the shore and the reek of the water, and
+the dreary flatness of the land around (after the glorious heaven-clad
+heights, which made me ashamed of littleness), also the rough, stupid
+stare of the men, when I went about as an American lady may freely do in
+America, and the sharpness of every body's voice (instead of the genial
+tones which those who can not produce them call "nasal," but which from
+a higher view are cordial)--taken one after other, or all together,
+these things made me think, in the first flush of thought, that England
+was not a nice country. After a little while I found that I had been a
+great deal too quick, as foreigners are with things which require quiet
+comprehension. For instance, I was annoyed at having a stupid woman
+put over me, as if I could not mind myself--a cook, or a nurse, or
+housekeeper, or something very useful in the Hockin family, but to me a
+mere incumbrance, and (as I thought in my wrath sometimes) a spy.
+What was I likely to do, or what was any one likely to do to me, in
+a thoroughly civilized country, that I could not even stay in private
+lodgings, where I had a great deal to think of, without this dull
+creature being forced upon me? But the Major so ordered it, and I gave
+in.
+
+There I must have staid for the slowest three mouths ever passed without
+slow starvation finishing my growth, but not knowing how to "form my
+mind," as I was told to do. Major Hockin came down once or twice to see
+me, and though I did not like him, yet it was almost enough to make me
+do so to see a little liveliness. But I could not and would not put
+up with a frightful German baron of music, with a polished card like a
+toast-rack, whom the Major tried to impress on me. As if I could stop to
+take music lessons!
+
+"Miss Wood," said Major Hockin, in his strongest manner, the last time
+he came to see me, "I stand to you in loco parentis. That means, with
+the duties, relationships, responsibilities, and what not, of the
+unfortunate--I should say rather of the beloved--parent deceased. I wish
+to be more careful of you than of a daughter of my own--a great deal
+more careful, ten times, Miss Wood; I may say a thousand times more
+careful, because you have not had the discipline which a daughter of
+mine would have enjoyed. And you are so impulsive when you take an
+idea! You judge every body by your likings. That leads to error, error,
+error."
+
+"My name is not Miss Wood," I answered; "my name is 'Erema Castlewood.'
+Whatever need may have been on board ship for nobody knowing who I am,
+surely I may have my own name now."
+
+When any body says "surely," at once up springs a question; nothing
+being sure, and the word itself at heart quite interrogative. The Major
+knew all those little things which manage women so manfully. So he took
+me by the hand and led me to the light and looked at me.
+
+I had not one atom of Russian twist or dyed China grass in my hair, nor
+even the ubiquitous aid of horse and cow; neither in my face or figure
+was I conscious of false presentment. The Major was welcome to lead me
+to the light and to throw up all his spectacles and gaze with all his
+eyes. My only vexation was with myself, because I could not keep the
+weakness--which a stranger should not see--out of my eyes, upon sudden
+remembrance who it was that used to have the right to do such things to
+me. This it was, and nothing else, that made me drop my eyes, perhaps.
+
+"There, there, my dear!" said Major Hockin, in a softer voice than
+usual. "Pretty fit you are to combat with the world, and defy the world,
+and brave the world, and abolish the world--or at least the world's
+opinion! 'Bo to a goose,' you can say, my dear; but no 'bo' to a gander.
+No, no; do quietly what I advise--by-the-bye, you have never asked my
+advice."
+
+I can not have been hypocritical, for of all things I detest that most;
+but in good faith I said, being conquered by the Major's relaxation of
+his eyes,
+
+"Oh, why have you never offered it to me? You knew that I never could
+ask for it."
+
+For the moment he looked surprised, as if our ideas had gone crosswise;
+and then he remembered many little symptoms of my faith in his opinions;
+which was now growing inevitable, with his wife and daughters, and many
+grandchildren--all certain that he was a Solomon.
+
+"Erema," he said, "you are a dear good girl, though sadly, sadly
+romantic. I had no idea that you had so much sense. I will talk with
+you, Erema, when we both have leisure."
+
+"I am quite at leisure, Major Hockin," I replied, "and only too happy to
+listen to you."
+
+"Yes, yes, I dare say. You are in lodgings. You can do exactly as you
+please. But I have a basin of ox-tail soup, a cutlet, and a woodcock
+waiting for me at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Bless me! I am five minutes
+late already. I will come and have a talk with you afterward."
+
+"Thank you," I said; "we had better leave it. It seems of no importance,
+compared--compared with--"
+
+"My dinner!" said the Major; but he was offended, and so was I a little,
+though neither of us meant to vex the other.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+BRUNTSEA
+
+
+It would be unfair to Major Hockin to take him for an extravagant man or
+a self-indulgent one because of the good dinner he had ordered, and his
+eagerness to sit down to it. Through all the best years of his life he
+had been most frugal, abstemious, and self-denying, grudging every penny
+of his own expense, but sparing none for his family. And now, when he
+found himself so much better off, with more income and less outlay, he
+could not be blamed for enjoying good things with the wholesome zest of
+abstinence.
+
+For, coming to the point, and going well into the matter, the Major had
+discovered that the "little property" left to him, and which he was come
+to see to, really was quite a fine estate for any one who knew how to
+manage it, and would not spare courage and diligence. And of these two
+qualities he had such abundance that, without any outlet, they might
+have turned him sour.
+
+The property lately devised to him by his cousin, Sir Rufus Hockin, had
+long been far more plague than profit to that idle baronet. Sir Rufus
+hated all exertion, yet could not comfortably put up with the only
+alternative--extortion. Having no knowledge of his cousin Nick (except
+that he was indefatigable), and knowing his own son to be lazier even
+than himself had been, longing also to inflict even posthumous justice
+upon the land agent, with the glad consent of his heir he left this
+distant, fretful, and naked spur of land to his beloved cousin Major
+Nicholas Hockin.
+
+The Major first heard of this unexpected increase of his belongings
+while he was hovering, in the land of gold, between his desire to
+speculate and his dread of speculation. At once he consulted our Colonel
+Gundry, who met him by appointment at Sacramento; and Uncle Sam having
+a vast idea of the value of land in England, which the Major naturally
+made the most of, now being an English land-owner, they spent a most
+pleasant evening, and agreed upon the line marked out by Providence.
+
+Thus it was that he came home, bringing (by kind arrangement) me, who
+was much more trouble than comfort to him, and at first disposed to be
+cold and curt. And thus it was that I was left so long in that wretched
+Southampton, under the care of a very kind person who never could
+understand me. And all this while (as I ought to have known, without
+any one to tell me) Major Hockin was testing the value and beating the
+bounds of his new estate, and prolonging his dinner from one to two
+courses, or three if he had been travelling. His property was large
+enough to afford him many dinners, and rich enough (when rightly
+treated) to insure their quality.
+
+Bruntsea is a quiet little village on the southeast coast of England, in
+Kent or in Sussex, I am not sure which, for it has a constitution of its
+own, and says that it belongs to neither. It used to be a place of size
+and valor, furnishing ships, and finding money for patriotic purposes.
+And great people both embarked and landed, one doing this and the other
+that, though nobody seems to have ever done both, if history is to be
+relied upon. The glory of the place is still preserved in a seal and
+an immemorial stick, each of which is blessed with marks as
+incomprehensible as could be wished, though both are to be seen for
+sixpence. The name of the place is written in more than forty different
+ways, they say; and the oldest inhabitant is less positive than the
+youngest how to spell it.
+
+This village lies in the mouth, or rather at the eastern end of the
+mouth, of a long and wide depression among the hills, through which a
+sluggish river wins its muddy consummation. This river once went far
+along the sea-brink, without entering (like a child who is afraid to
+bathe), as the Adur does at Shoreham, and as many other rivers do. And
+in those days the mouth and harbor were under the cliff at Bruntsea,
+whence its seal and corporation, stick, and other blessings. But three
+or four centuries ago the river was drawn by a violent storm, like a
+badger from his barrel, and forced to come straight out and face the
+sea, without any three miles of dalliance. The time-serving water
+made the best of this, forsook its ancient bed (as classic nymphs and
+fountains used to do), and left poor Bruntsea with a dry bank, and
+no haven for a cockle-shell. A new port, such as it is, incrusted the
+fickle jaw of the river; piles were driven and earth-works formed, lest
+the water should return to its old love; and Bruntsea, as concerned
+her traffic, became but a mark of memory. Her noble corporation never
+demanded their old channel, but regarded the whole as the will of
+the Lord, and had the good sense to insist upon nothing except their
+time-honored ceremonies.
+
+In spite of all these and their importance, land became of no value
+there. The owner of the Eastern Manor and of many ancient rights, having
+no means of getting at them, sold them for an "old song," which they
+were; and the buyer was one of the Hockin race, a shipwrecked mariner
+from Cornwall, who had been kindly treated there, and took a fancy
+accordingly. He sold his share in some mine to pay for it, settled here,
+and died here; and his son, getting on in the world, built a house, and
+took to serious smuggling. In the chalk cliff's eastward he found holes
+of honest value to him, capable of cheap enlargement (which the Cornish
+holes were not), and much more accessible from France. Becoming a
+magistrate and deputy-lieutenant, he had the duty and privilege of
+inquiring into his own deeds, which enabled him to check those few who
+otherwise might have competed with him. He flourished, and bought more
+secure estates; and his son, for activity against smugglers, was made a
+gentle baronet.
+
+These things now had passed away, and the first fee-simple of the Hockin
+family became a mere load and incumbrance. Sir George and Sir Robert and
+Sir Rufus, one after another, did not like the hints about contraband
+dealings which met them whenever they deigned to come down there, till
+at last the estate (being left to an agent) cost a great deal more than
+he ever paid in. And thus--as should have been more briefly told--the
+owner was our Major Hockin.
+
+No wonder that this gentleman, with so many cares to attend to, had no
+time at first to send for me. And no wonder that when he came down to
+see me, he was obliged to have good dinners. For the work done by him in
+those three months surprised every body except himself, and made in old
+Bruntsea a stir unknown since the time of the Spanish Armada. For
+he owned the house under the eastern cliff, and the warren, and the
+dairy-farm inland, and the slope of the ground where the sea used to
+come, and fields where the people grew potatoes gratis, and all the
+eastern village, where the tenants paid their rents whenever they found
+it rational.
+
+A hot young man, in a place like this, would have done a great deal of
+mischief. Either he would have accepted large views, and applauded this
+fine communism (if he could afford it, and had no wife), or else he
+would have rushed at every body headlong, and batted them back to their
+abutments. Neither course would have created half the excitement which
+the Major's did. At least, there might have been more talk at first, but
+not a quarter so much in sum total. Of those things, however, there is
+time enough to speak, if I dare to say any thing about them.
+
+The things more to my mind (and therefore more likely to be made plain
+to another mind) are not the petty flickering phantoms of the shadow we
+call human, and which alone we realize, and dwell inside it and upon
+it, as if it were all creation; but the infinitely nobler things of
+ever-changing but perpetual beauty, and no selfishness. These, without
+deigning to us even sense to be aware of them, shape our little minds
+and bodies and our large self-importance, and fail to know when the lord
+or king who owns is buried under them. To have perception of such mighty
+truths is good for all of us: and I never had keener perception of them
+than when I sat down on the Major's camp-stool, and saw all his land
+around me, and even the sea--where all the fish were his, as soon as he
+could catch them--and largely reflected that not a square foot of the
+whole world would ever belong to me.
+
+"Bruntlands," as the house was called, perhaps from standing well above
+the sea, was sheltered by the curve of the eastern cliff, which looked
+down over Bruntsea. The cliff was of chalk, very steep toward the sea,
+and showing a prominent headland toward the south, but prettily rising
+in grassy curves from the inland and from the westward. And then, where
+it suddenly chined away from land-slope into sea-front, a long bar of
+shingle began at right angles to it, and, as level as a railroad, went
+to the river's mouth, a league or so now to the westward. And beyond
+that another line of white cliffs rose, and looked well till they came
+to their headland. Inside this bank of shingle, from end to end, might
+be traced the old course of the river, and to landward of that trough at
+the hither end stood, or lay, the calm old village.
+
+Forsaken as it was by the river, this village stuck to its ancient site
+and home, and instead of migrating, contracted itself, and cast off
+needless members. Shrunken Bruntsea clung about the oldest of its
+churches, while the four others fell to rack and ruin, and settled into
+cow-yards and barns, and places where old men might sit and sigh. But
+Bruntsea distinctly and trenchantly kept the old town's division into
+east and west.
+
+East Bruntsea was wholly in the Major's manor, which had a special
+charter; and most of the houses belonged to him. This ownership hitherto
+had meant only that the landlord should do all the tumble-down repairs
+(when the agent reported that they must be done), but never must enter
+the door for his rent. The borough had been disfranchised, though the
+snuggest of the snug for generations; and the freemen, thus being
+robbed of their rights, had no power to discharge their duties. And to
+complicate matters yet further, for the few who wished to simplify them,
+the custom of "borough-English" prevailed, and governed the descent of
+dilapidations, making nice niceties for clever men of law.
+
+"You see a fine property here, Miss Wood," Major Hockin said to me,
+as we sat, on the day after I was allowed to come, enjoying the fresh
+breeze from the sea and the newness of the February air, and looking
+abroad very generally: "a very fine property, but neglected--shamefully,
+horribly, atrociously neglected--but capable of noble things, of grand
+things, of magnificent, with a trifle of judicious outlay."
+
+"Oh, please not to talk of outlay, my dear," said good Mrs. Hockin,
+gently; "it is such an odious word; and where in the world is it to come
+from?"
+
+"Leave that to me. When I was a boy my favorite copy in my copy-book
+was, 'Where there's a will there's a way.' Miss Wood, what is your
+opinion? But wait, you must have time to understand the subject. First
+we bring a railway--always the first step; why, the line is already made
+for it by the course of the old river, and the distance from Newport
+three miles and a half. It ought not to cost quite 200 pounds a
+mile--the mere outlay for rails and sleepers. The land is all mine,
+and--and of course other landed proprietors'. Very well: these would all
+unite, of course; so that not a farthing need be paid for land, which is
+the best half of the battle. We have the station here--not too near my
+house; that would never do; I could not bear the noise--but in a fine
+central place where nobody on earth could object to it--lively, and
+close at hand for all of them. Unluckily I was just too late. We have
+lost a Parliamentary year through that execrable calm--you remember all
+about it. Otherwise we would have had Billy Puff stabled at Bruntsea
+by the first of May. But never mind; we shall do it all the better and
+cheaper by taking our time about it. Very well: we have the railway
+opened and the trade of the place developed. We build a fine terrace of
+elegant villas, a crescent also, and a large hotel replete with every
+luxury; and we form the finest sea-parade in England by simply assisting
+nature. Half London comes down here to bathe, to catch shrimps, to
+flirt, and to do the rest of it. We become a select, salubrious,
+influential, and yet economical place; and then what do we do, Mrs.
+Hockin?"
+
+"My dear, how can I tell? But I hope that we should rest and be
+thankful."
+
+"Not a bit of it. I should hope not, indeed. Erema, what do we do then?"
+
+"It is useless to ask me. Well, then, perhaps you set up a handsome
+saw-mill!"
+
+"A saw-mill! What a notion of Paradise! No; this is what we do--but
+remember that I speak in the strictest confidence; dishonest antagonism
+might arise, if we ventilated our ideas too soon--Mrs. Hockin and Miss
+Wood, we demand the restoration of our river!--the return of our river
+to its ancient course."
+
+"I see," said his wife; "oh, how grand that would be! and how beautiful
+from our windows! That really, now, is a noble thought!"
+
+"A just one--simply a just one. Justice ought not to be noble, my
+dear, however rare it may be. Generosity, magnanimity, heroism, and so
+on--those are the things we call noble, my dear."
+
+"And the founding of cities. Oh, my dear, I remember, when I was at
+school, it was always said, in what we called our histories, that
+the founders of cities had honors paid them, and altars built, and
+divinities done, and holidays held in their honor."
+
+"To that I object," cried the Major, sternly. "If I founded fifty
+cities, I would never allow one holiday. The Sabbath is enough; one day
+in seven--fifteen per cent, of one's whole time; and twenty per cent, of
+your Sunday goes in church. Very right, of course, and loyal, and truly
+edifying--Mrs. Hockin's father was a clergyman, Miss Wood; and the last
+thing I would ever allow on my manor would be a Dissenting chapel; but
+still I will have no new churches here, and a man who might go against
+me. They all want to pick their own religious views, instead of
+reflecting who supports them! It never used to be so; and such things
+shall never occur on my manor. A good hotel, attendance included, and a
+sound and moderate table d'hote; but no church, with a popish bag sent
+round, and money to pay, 'without anything to eat.'"
+
+"My dear! my dear!" cried Mrs. Hockin, "I never like you to talk like
+that. You quite forget who my father was, and your own second son such a
+very sound priest!"
+
+"A priest! Don't let him come here," cried the Major, "or I'll let him
+know what tonsure is, and read him the order of Melchisedec. A priest!
+After going round the world three times, to come home and be hailed as
+the father of a priest! Don't let him come near me, or I'll sacrifice
+him."
+
+"Now, Major, you are very proud of him," his good wife answered, as
+he shook his stick. "How could he help taking orders when he was under
+orders to do so? And his views are sound to the last degree, most
+strictly correct and practical--at least except as to celibacy."
+
+"He holds that his own mother ought never to have been born! Miss Wood,
+do you call that practical?"
+
+"I have no acquaintance with such things," I replied; "we had none of
+them in California. But is it practical, Major Hockin--of course you
+know best in your engineering--I mean, would it not require something
+like a tunnel for the river and the railway to run on the same ground?"
+
+"Why, bless me! That seems to have escaped my notice. You have not been
+with old Uncle Sam for nothing. We shall have to appoint you our chief
+engineer."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+LISTLESS
+
+
+It seemed an unfortunate thing for me, and unfavorable to my purpose,
+that my host, and even my hostess too, should be so engrossed with their
+new estate, its beauties and capabilities. Mrs. Hockin devoted herself
+at once to fowls and pigs and the like extravagant economies, having
+bought, at some ill-starred moment, a book which proved that hens ought
+to lay eggs in a manner to support themselves, their families, and the
+family they belonged to, at the price of one penny a dozen. Eggs being
+two shillings a dozen in Bruntsea, here was a margin for profit--no less
+than two thousand per cent, to be made, allowing for all accidents.
+The lady also found another book, divulging for a shilling the author's
+purely invaluable secret--how to work an acre of ground, pay house rent,
+supply the house grandly, and give away a barrow-load of vegetables
+every day to the poor of the parish, by keeping a pig--if that pig were
+kept properly. And after that, pork and ham and bacon came of him, while
+another golden pig went on.
+
+Mrs. Hockin was very soft-hearted, and said that she never could make
+bacon of a pig like that; and I answered that if she ever got him it
+would be unwise to do so. However, the law was laid down in both books
+that golden fowls and diamondic pigs must die the death before they
+begin to overeat production; and the Major said, "To be sure. Yes, yes.
+Let them come to good meat, and then off with their heads." And his wife
+said that she was sure she could do it. When it comes to a question of
+tare and tret, false sentiment must be excluded.
+
+At the moment, these things went by me as trifles, yet made me more
+impatient. Being older now, and beholding what happens with tolerance
+and complacence, I am only surprised that my good friends were so
+tolerant of me and so complacent. For I must have been a great annoyance
+to them, with my hurry and my one idea. Happily they made allowance for
+me, which I was not old enough to make for them.
+
+"Go to London, indeed! Go to London by yourself!" cried the Major, with
+a red face, and his glasses up, when I told him one morning that I could
+stop no longer without doing something. "Mary, my dear, when you have
+done out there, will you come in and reason--if you can--with Miss Wood.
+She vows that she is going to London, all alone."
+
+"Oh, Major Hockin--oh, Nicholas dear, such a thing has happened!" Mrs.
+Hockin had scarcely any breath to tell us, as she came in through the
+window. "You know that they have only had three bushels, or, at any
+rate, not more than five, almost ever since they came. Erema, you know
+as well as I do."
+
+"Seven and three-quarter bushels of barley, at five and ninepence a
+bushel, Mary," said the Major, pulling out a pocket-book; "besides
+Indian corn, chopped meat, and potatoes."
+
+"And fourteen pounds of paddy," I said--which was a paltry thing of me;
+"not to mention a cake of graves, three sacks of brewers' grains, and
+then--I forget what next."
+
+"You are too bad, all of you. Erema, I never thought you would turn
+against me so. And you made me get nearly all of it. But please to look
+here. What do you call this? Is this no reward? Is this not enough?
+Major, if you please, what do you call this? What a pity you have had
+your breakfast!"
+
+"A blessing--if this was to be my breakfast. I call that, my dear, the
+very smallest egg I have seen since I took sparrows' nests. No wonder
+they sell them at twelve a penny. I congratulate you upon your first
+egg, my dear Mary."
+
+"Well, I don't care," replied Mrs. Hockin, who had the sweetest temper
+in the world. "Small beginnings make large endings; and an egg must be
+always small at one end. You scorn my first egg, and Erema should have
+had it if she had been good. But she was very wicked, and I know not
+what to do with it."
+
+"Blow it!" cried the Major. "I mean no harm, ladies. I never use low
+language. What I mean is, make a pinhole at each end, give a puff, and
+away goes two pennyworth, and you have a cabinet specimen, which your
+egg is quite fitted by its cost to be. But now, Mary, talk to Miss Wood,
+if you please. It is useless for me to say any thing, and I have three
+appointments in the town"--he always called it "the town" now--"three
+appointments, if not four; yes, I may certainly say four. Talk to Miss
+Wood, my dear, if you please. She wants to go to London, which would be
+absurd. Ladies seem to enter into ladies' logic. They seem to be able to
+appreciate it better, to see all the turns, and the ins and outs, which
+no man has intellect enough to see, or at least to make head or tail of.
+Good-by for the present; I had better be off."
+
+"I should think you had," exclaimed Mrs. Hockin, as her husband
+marched off, with his side-lights on, and his short, quick step, and
+well-satisfied glance at the hill which belonged to him, and the beach,
+over which he had rights of plunder--or, at least, Uncle Sam would have
+called them so, strictly as he stood up for his own.
+
+"Now come and talk quietly to me, my dear," Mrs. Hockin began, most
+kindly, forgetting all the marvel of her first-born egg. "I have noticed
+how restless you are, and devoid of all healthy interest in any thing.
+'Listless' is the word. 'Listless' is exactly what I mean, Erema. When
+I was at your time of life, I could never have gone about caring for
+nothing. I wonder that you knew that I even had a fowl; much more how
+much they had eaten!"
+
+"I really do try to do all I can, and that is a proof of it," I said.
+"I am not quite so listless as you think. But those things do seem so
+little to me."
+
+"My dear, if you were happy, they would seem quite large, as, after all
+the anxieties of my life, I am able now to think them. It is a power to
+be thankful for, or, at least, I often think so. Look at my husband! He
+has outlived and outlasted more trouble than any one but myself could
+reckon up to him; and yet he is as brisk, as full of life, as ready
+to begin a new thing to-morrow--when, at our age, there may be no
+to-morrow, except in that better world, my dear, of which it is high
+time for him and me to think, as I truly hope we may spare the time to
+do."
+
+"Oh, don't talk like that," I cried. "Please, Mrs. Hockin, to talk of
+your hens and chicks--at least there will be chicks by-and-by. I am
+almost sure there will, if you only persevere. It seems unfair to set
+our minds on any other world till justice has been done in this."
+
+"You are very young, my child, or you would know that in that case
+we never should think of it at all. But I don't want to preach you a
+sermon, Erema, even if I could do so. I only just want you to tell me
+what you think, what good you imagine that you can do."
+
+"It is no imagination. I am sure that I can right my father's wrongs.
+And I never shall rest till I do so."
+
+"Are you sure that there is any wrong to right?" she asked, in the
+warmth of the moment; and then, seeing perhaps how my color changed, she
+looked at me sadly, and kissed my forehead.
+
+"Oh, if you had only once seen him," I said; "without any exaggeration,
+you would have been satisfied at once. That he could ever have done any
+harm was impossible--utterly impossible. I am not as I was. I can listen
+to almost any thing now quite calmly. But never let me hear such a
+wicked thing again."
+
+"You must not go on like that, Erema, unless you wish to lose all your
+friends. No one can help being sorry for you. Very few girls have been
+placed as you are. I am sure when I think of my own daughters I can
+never be too thankful. But the very first thing you have to learn, above
+all things, is to control yourself."
+
+"I know it--I know it, of course," I said; "and I keep on trying my very
+best. I am thoroughly ashamed of what I said, and I hope you will try to
+forgive me."
+
+"A very slight exertion is enough for that. But now, my dear, what I
+want to know is this--and you will excuse me if I ask too much--what
+good do you expect to get by going thus to London? Have you any friend
+there, any body to trust, any thing settled as to what you are to do?"
+
+"Yes, every thing is settled in my own mind," I answered, very bravely:
+"I have the address of a very good woman, found among my father's
+papers, who nursed his children and understood his nature, and always
+kept her faith in him. There must be a great many more who do the same,
+and she will be sure to know them and introduce me to them; and I shall
+be guided by their advice."
+
+"But suppose that this excellent woman is dead, or not to be found, or
+has changed her opinion?"
+
+"Her opinion she never could change. But if she is not to be found, I
+shall find her husband, or her children, or somebody; and besides that,
+I have a hundred things to do. I have the address of the agent through
+whom my father drew his income, though Uncle Sam let me know as little
+as he could. And I know who his bankers were (when he had a bank), and
+he may have left important papers there."
+
+"Come, that looks a little more sensible, my dear; bankers may always
+be relied upon. And there may be some valuable plate, Erema. But why not
+let the Major go with you? His advice is so invaluable."
+
+"I know that it is, in all ordinary things. But I can not have him
+now, for a very simple reason. He has made up his mind about my dear
+father--horribly, horribly; I can't speak of it. And he never changes
+his mind; and sometimes when I look at him I hate him."
+
+"Erema, you are quite a violent girl, although you so seldom show it.
+Is the whole world divided, then, into two camps--those who think as you
+wish and those who are led by their judgment to think otherwise? And are
+you to hate all who do not think as you wish?"
+
+"No, because I do not hate you," I said; "I love you, though you do not
+think as I wish. But that is only because you think your husband must be
+right of course. But I can not like those who have made up their minds
+according to their own coldness."
+
+"Major Hockin is not cold at all. On the contrary, he is a warm-hearted
+man--I might almost say hot-hearted."
+
+"Yes, I know he is. And that makes it ten times worse. He takes up every
+body's case--but mine."
+
+"Sad as it is, you almost make me smile," my hostess answered, gravely;
+"and yet it must be very bitter for you, knowing how just and kind
+my husband is. I am sure that you will give him credit for at least
+desiring to take your part. And doing so, at least you might let him go
+with you, if only as a good protection."
+
+"I have no fear of any one; and I might take him into society that he
+would not like. In a good cause he would go any where, I know. But in my
+cause, of course he would be scrupulous. Your kindness I always can rely
+upon, and I hope in the end to earn his as well."
+
+"My dear, he has never been unkind to you. I am certain that you never
+can say that of him. Major Hockin unkind to a poor girl like you!"
+
+"The last thing I wish to claim is any body's pity," I answered, less
+humbly than I should have spoken, though the pride was only in my tone,
+perhaps. "If people choose to pity me, they are very good, and I am not
+at all offended, because--because they can not help it, perhaps, from
+not knowing any thing about me. I have nothing whatever to be pitied
+for, except that I have lost my father, and have nobody left to care for
+me, except Uncle Sam in America."
+
+"Your Uncle Sam, as you call him, seems to be a very wonderful man,
+Erema," said Mrs. Hockin, craftily, so far as there could be any craft
+in her; "I never saw him--a great loss on my part. But the Major went
+up to meet him somewhere, and came home with the stock of his best tie
+broken, and two buttons gone from his waistcoat. Does Uncle Sam make
+people laugh so much? or is it that he has some extraordinary gift of
+inducing people to taste whiskey? My husband is a very--most abstemious
+man, as you must be well aware, Miss Wood, or we never should have been
+as we are, I am sure. But, for the first time in all my life, I
+doubted his discretion on the following day, when he had--what shall I
+say?--when he had been exchanging sentiments with Uncle Sam."
+
+"Uncle Sam never takes too much in any way," I replied to this new
+attack; "he knows what he ought to take, and then he stops. Do you think
+that it may have been his 'sentiments,' perhaps, that were too strong
+and large for the Major?"
+
+"Erema!" cried Mrs. Hockin, with amazement, as if I had no right to
+think or express my thoughts on life so early; "if you can talk politics
+at eighteen, you are quite fit to go any where. I have heard a great
+deal of American ladies, and seen not a little of them, as you know.
+But I thought that you called yourself an English girl, and insisted
+particularly upon it."
+
+"Yes, that I do; and I have good reason. I am born of an old English
+family, and I hope to be no disgrace to it. But being brought up in a
+number of ways, as I have been without thinking of it, and being quite
+different from the fashionable girls Major Hockin likes to walk with--"
+
+"My dear, he never walks with any body but myself!"
+
+"Oh yes, I remember! I was thinking of the deck. There are no
+fashionable girls here yet. Till the terrace is built, and the
+esplanade--"
+
+"There shall be neither terrace nor esplanade if the Major is to do such
+things upon them."
+
+"I am sure that he never would," I replied; "it was only their dresses
+that he liked at all, and that very, to my mind, extraordinary style,
+as well as unbecoming. You know what I mean, Mrs. Hockin, that
+wonderful--what shall I call it?--way of looping up."
+
+"Call me 'Aunt Mary,' my dear, as you did when the waves were so
+dreadful. You mean that hideous Mexican poncho, as they called it, stuck
+up here, and going down there. Erema, what observation you have! Nothing
+ever seems to escape you. Did you ever see any thing so indecorous?"
+
+"It made me feel just as if I ought not to look at them," I answered,
+with perfect truth, for so it did; "I have never been accustomed to
+such things. But seeing how the Major approved of them, and liked to
+be walking up and down between them, I knew that they must be not only
+decorous, but attractive. There is no appeal from his judgment, is
+there?"
+
+"I agree with him upon every point, my dear child; but I have always
+longed to say a few words about that. For I can not help thinking that
+he went too far."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+BETSY BOWEN
+
+
+So far, then, there was nobody found to go into my case, and to think
+with me, and to give me friendly countenance, with the exception of
+Firm Gundry. And I feared that he tried to think with me because of his
+faithful and manly love, more than from balance of evidence. The Sawyer,
+of course, held my father guiltless, through his own fidelity and simple
+ways; but he could not enter into my set thought of a stern duty laid
+upon me, because to his mind the opinion of the world mattered nothing
+so long as a man did aright. For wisdom like this, if wisdom it is, I
+was a great deal too young and ardent; and to me fair fame was of almost
+equal value with clear conscience. And therefore, wise or foolish, rich
+or poor, beloved or unloved, I must be listless about other things, and
+restless in all, until I should establish truth and justice.
+
+However, I did my best to be neither ungrateful nor stupidly obstinate,
+and, beginning more and more to allow for honest though hateful
+opinions, I yielded to dear Mrs. Hockin's wish that I should not do
+any thing out of keeping with English ideas and habits. In a word, I
+accepted the Major's kind offer to see me quite safe in good hands in
+London, or else bring me straightway back again. And I took only just
+things enough for a day or two, meaning to come back by the end of the
+week. And I kissed Mrs. Hockin just enough for that.
+
+It would not be a new thing for me to say that "we never know what is
+going to happen;" but, new or stale, it was true enough, as old
+common sayings of common-sense (though spurned when not wanted) show
+themselves. At first, indeed, it seemed as if I were come for nothing,
+at least as concerned what I thought the chief business of my journey.
+The Major had wished to go first to the bank, and appeared to think
+nothing of any thing else; but I, on the other hand, did not want him
+there, preferring to keep him out of my money matters, and so he was
+obliged to let me have my way.
+
+I always am sorry when I have been perverse, and it seemed to serve me
+right for willfulness when no Betsy Bowen could be discovered either at
+the place which we tried first, or that to which we were sent thence.
+Major Hockin looked at me till I could have cried, as much as to hint
+that the whole of my story was all of a piece, all a wild-goose chase.
+And being more curious than ever now to go to the bank and ransack,
+he actually called out to the cabman to drive without delay to Messrs.
+Shovelin, Wayte, and Shovelin. But I begged him to allow me just one
+minute while I spoke to the servant-maid alone. Then I showed her a
+sovereign, at which she opened her mouth in more ways than one, for she
+told me that "though she had faithfully promised to say nothing about
+it, because of a dreadful quarrel between her mistress and Mrs. Strouss
+that was now, and a jealousy between them that was quite beyond
+belief, she could not refuse such a nice young lady, if I would
+promise faithfully not to tell." This promise I gave with fidelity, and
+returning to the cabman, directed him to drive not to Messrs. Shovelin,
+Wayte, and Shovelin just yet, but to No. 17 European Square, St.
+Katharine's.
+
+From a maze of streets and rugged corners, and ins and outs nearly
+as crooked as those of a narrow human nature, we turned at last into
+European Square, which was no square at all, but an oblong opening
+pitched with rough granite, and distinguished with a pump. There were
+great thoroughfares within a hundred yards, but the place itself seemed
+unnaturally quiet upon turning suddenly into it, only murmurous with
+distant London din, as the spires of a shell hold the heavings of the
+sea. After driving three or four times round the pump, for the houses
+were numbered anyhow, we found No. 17, and I jumped out.
+
+"Now don't be in such a fierce hurry, Miss Wood," cried the Major, who
+was now a little crusty; "English ladies allow themselves to be handed
+out, without hurrying the gentlemen who have the honor."
+
+"But I wanted to save you the honor," I said. "I will come back
+immediately, if you will kindly wait." And with this I ran up the old
+steps, and rang and knocked, while several bearded faces came and gazed
+through dingy windows.
+
+"Can I see Mrs. Strouss?" I asked, when a queer old man in faded brown
+livery came to the door with a candle in his hand, though the sun was
+shining.
+
+"I am the Meesther Strouss; when you see me, you behold the good Meeses
+Strouss also."
+
+"Thank you, but that will not do," I replied; "my business is with Mrs.
+Strouss alone."
+
+He did not seem to like this at first sight, but politely put the
+chain-bolt on the door while he retired to take advice; and the Major
+looked out of the cab and laughed.
+
+"You had better come back while you can," he said, "though they seem in
+no hurry to swallow you."
+
+This was intended to vex me, and I did not even turn my head to him. The
+house looked very respectable, and there were railings to the area.
+
+"The house is very respectable," continued Major Hockin, who always
+seemed to know what I was thinking of, and now in his quick manner ran
+up the steps; "just look, the scraper is clean. You never see that, or
+at least not often, except with respectable people, Erema."
+
+"Pray what would my scraper be? and who is Erema?" cried a strong, clear
+voice, as the chain of the door was set free, and a stout, tall woman
+with a flush in her cheeks confronted us. "I never knew more than one
+Erema--Good mercy!"
+
+My eyes met hers, and she turned as pale as death, and fell back into
+a lobby chair. She knew me by my likeness to my father, falling on
+the memories started by my name; and strong as she was, the surprise
+overcame her, at the sound of which up rushed the small Herr Strouss.
+
+"Vhat are you doing dere, all of you? vhat have you enterprised with my
+frau? Explain, Vilhelmina, or I call de policemans, vhat I should say de
+peelers."
+
+"Stop!" cried the Major, and he stopped at once, not for the word, which
+would have had no power, although I knew nothing about it then, but
+because he had received a sign which assured him that here was a brother
+Mason. In a moment the infuriated husband vanished into the rational and
+docile brother.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemans, valk in, if you please," he said, to my great
+astonishment; "Vilhelmina and my good self make you velcome to our poor
+house. Vilhelmina, arise and say so."
+
+"Go to the back kitchen, Hans," replied Wilhelmina, whose name was
+"Betsy," "and don't come out until I tell you. You will find work to do
+there, and remember to pump up. I wish to hear things that you are not
+to hear, mind you. Shut yourself in, and if you soap the door to deceive
+me, I shall know it."
+
+"Vere goot, vere goot," said the philosophical German; "I never meddle
+with nothing, Vilhelmina, no more than vhat I do for de money and de
+house."
+
+Betsy, however, was not quite so sure of that. With no more ceremony she
+locked him in, and then came back to us, who could not make things out.
+
+"My husband is the bravest of the brave," she told us, while she put
+down his key on the table; "and a nobler man never lived; I am sure
+of that. But every one of them foreigners--excuse me, Sir, you are an
+Englishman?"
+
+"I am," replied the Major, pulling up his little whiskers; "I am so,
+madam, and nothing you can say will in any way hurt my feelings. I am
+above nationalities."
+
+"Just so, Sir. Then you will feel with me when I say that they
+foreigners is dreadful. Oh, the day that I ever married one of 'em--but
+there, I ought to be ashamed of myself, and my lord's daughter facing
+me."
+
+"Do you know me?" I asked, with hot color in my face, and my eyes, I
+dare say, glistening. "Are you sure that you know me? And then please to
+tell me how."
+
+As I spoke I was taking off the close silk bonnet which I had worn for
+travelling, and my hair, having caught in a pin, fell round me, and
+before I could put it up, or even think of it, I lay in the great arms
+of Betsy Bowen, as I used to lie when I was a little baby, and when my
+father was in his own land, with a home and wife and seven little ones.
+And to think of this made me keep her company in crying, and it was some
+time before we did any thing else.
+
+"Well, well," replied the Major, who detested scenes, except when he had
+made them; "I shall be off. You are in good hands; and the cabman pulled
+out his watch when we stopped. So did I. But he is sure to beat me. They
+draw the minute hand on with a magnet, I am told, while the watch hangs
+on their badge, and they can swear they never opened it. Wonderful age,
+very wonderful age, since the time when you and I were young, ma'am."
+
+"Yes, Sir; to be sure, Sir!" Mrs. Strouss replied, as she wiped her eyes
+to speak of things; "but the most wonderfulest of all things, don't you
+think, is the going of the time, Sir? No cabby can make it go faster
+while he waits, or slower while he is a-driving, than the minds inside
+of us manage it. Why, Sir, it wore only like yesterday that this here
+tall, elegant, royal young lady was a-lying on my breast, and what a
+hand she was to kick! And I said that her hair was sure to grow like
+this. If I was to tell you only half what comes across me--"
+
+"If you did, ma'am, the cabman would make his fortune, and I should lose
+mine, which is more than I can afford. Erema, after dinner I shall look
+you up. I know a good woman when I see her, Mrs. Strouss, which does not
+happen every day. I can trust Miss Castlewood with you. Good-by, good-by
+for the present."
+
+It was the first time he had ever called me by my proper name, and that
+made me all the more pleased with it.
+
+"You see, Sir, why I were obliged to lock him in," cried the "good
+woman," following to the door, to clear every blur from her virtues;
+"for his own sake I done it, for I felt my cry a-coming, and to see
+me cry--Lord bless you, the effect upon him is to call out for a
+walking-stick and a pint of beer."
+
+"All right, ma'am, all right!" the Major answered, in a tone which
+appeared to me unfeeling. "Cabman, are you asleep there? Bring the
+lady's bag this moment."
+
+As the cab disappeared without my even knowing where to find that good
+protector again in this vast maze of millions, I could not help letting
+a little cold fear encroach on the warmth of my outburst. I had heard
+so much in America of the dark, subtle places of London, and the wicked
+things that happen all along the Thames, discovered or invented by great
+writers of their own, that the neighborhood of the docks and the thought
+of rats (to which I could never grow accustomed) made me look with a
+flash perhaps of doubt at my new old friend.
+
+"You are not sure of me, Miss Erema," said Mrs. Strouss, without taking
+offense. "After all that has happened, who can blame it on you? But your
+father was not so suspicious, miss. It might have been better for him if
+he had--according, leastways, to my belief, which a team of wild horses
+will never drag out."
+
+"Oh, only let me hear you talk of that!" I exclaimed, forgetting all
+other things. "You know more about it than any body I have ever met
+with, except my own father, who would never tell a word."
+
+"And quite right he was, miss, according to his views. But come to my
+little room, unless you are afraid. I can tell you some things that your
+father never knew."
+
+"Afraid! do you think I am a baby still? But I can not bear that Mr.
+Strouss should be locked up on my account."
+
+"Then he shall come out," said Mrs. Strouss, looking at me very
+pleasantly. "That was just like your father, Miss Erema. But I fall
+into the foreign ways, being so much with the foreigners." Whether
+she thought it the custom among "foreigners" for wives to lock their
+husbands in back kitchens was more than she ever took the trouble to
+explain. But she walked away, in her stout, firm manner, and presently
+returned with Mr. Strouss, who seemed to be quite contented, and made me
+a bow with a very placid smile.
+
+"He is harmless; his ideas are most grand and good," his wife explained
+to me, with a nod at him. "But I could not have you in with the
+gentleman, Hans. He always makes mistakes with the gentlemen, miss, but
+with the ladies he behaves quite well."
+
+"Yes, yes, with the ladies I am nearly always goot," Herr Strouss
+replied, with diffidence. "The ladies comprehend me right, all right,
+because I am so habitual with my wife. But the gentlemans in London have
+no comprehension of me."
+
+"Then the loss is on their side," I answered, with a smile; and he said,
+"Yes, yes, they lose vere much by me."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+BETSY'S TALE
+
+
+Now I scarcely know whether it would be more clear to put into narrative
+what I heard from Betsy Bowen, now Wilhelmina Strouss, or to let her
+tell the whole in her own words, exactly as she herself told it then
+to me. The story was so dark and sad--or at least to myself it so
+appeared--that even the little breaks and turns of lighter thought or
+livelier manner, which could scarcely fail to vary now and then
+the speaker's voice, seemed almost to grate and jar upon its sombre
+monotone. On the other hand, by omitting these, and departing from
+her homely style, I might do more of harm than good through failing to
+convey impressions, or even facts, so accurately. Whereas the gist and
+core and pivot of my father's life and fate are so involved (though
+not evolved) that I would not miss a single point for want of time or
+diligence. Therefore let me not deny Mrs. Strouss, my nurse, the right
+to put her words in her own way. And before she began to do this she
+took the trouble to have every thing cleared away and the trays brought
+down, that her boarders (chiefly German) might leave their plates and be
+driven to their pipes.
+
+"If you please, Miss Castlewood," Mrs. Strouss said, grandly, "do you or
+do you not approve of the presence of 'my man,' as he calls himself?--an
+improper expression, in my opinion; such, however, is their nature. He
+can hold his tongue as well as any man, though none of them are very
+sure at that. And he knows pretty nigh as much as I do, so far as his
+English can put things together, being better accustomed in German. For
+when we were courting I was fain to tell him all, not to join him under
+any false pretenses, miss, which might give him grounds against me."
+
+"Yes, yes, it is all vere goot and true--so goot and true as can be."
+
+"And you might find him come very handy, my dear, to run of any kind of
+messages. He can do that very well, I assure you, miss--better than any
+Englishman."
+
+Seeing that he wished to stay, and that she desired it, I begged him
+to stop, though it would have been more to my liking to hear the tale
+alone.
+
+"Then sit by the door, Hans, and keep off the draught," said his
+Wilhelmina, kindly. "He is not very tall, miss, but he has good
+shoulders; I scarcely know what I should do without him. Well, now, to
+begin at the very beginning: I am a Welshwoman, as you may have heard.
+My father was a farmer near Abergavenny, holding land under Sir Watkin
+Williams, an old friend of your family. My father had too many girls,
+and my mother scarcely knew what to do with the lot of us. So some of us
+went out to service, while the boys staid at home to work the land. One
+of my sisters was lady's-maid to Lady Williams, Sir Watkin's wife, at
+the time when your father came visiting there for the shooting of the
+moor-fowl, soon after his marriage with your mother. What a sweet good
+lady your mother was! I never saw the like before or since. No sooner
+did I set eyes upon her but she so took my fancy that I would have gone
+round the world with her. We Welsh are a very hot people, they say--not
+cold-blooded, as the English are. So, wise or foolish, right, wrong, or
+what might be, nothing would do for me but to take service, if I
+could, under Mrs. Castlewood. Your father was called Captain Castlewood
+then--as fine a young man as ever clinked a spur, but without any boast
+or conceit about him; and they said that your grandfather, the old lord,
+kept him very close and spare, although he was the only son. Now this
+must have been--let me see, how long ago?--about five-and-twenty years,
+I think. How old are you now, Miss Erema? I can keep the weeks better
+than the years, miss."
+
+"I was eighteen on my last birthday. But never mind about the time--go
+on."
+
+"But the time makes all the difference, miss, although at the time
+we may never think so. Well, then, it must have been better than
+six-and-twenty year agone; for though you came pretty fast, in the
+Lord's will, there was eight years between you and the first-born babe,
+who was only just a-thinking of when I begin to tell. But to come back
+to myself, as was--mother had got too many of us still, and she was glad
+enough to let me go, however much she might cry over it, as soon as Lady
+Williams got me the place. My place was to wait upon the lady first,
+and make myself generally useful, as they say. But it was not very
+long before I was wanted in other more important ways, and having been
+brought up among so many children, they found me very handy with the
+little ones; and being in a poor way, as they were then--for people, I
+mean, of their birth and place--they were glad enough soon to make head
+nurse of me, although I was under-two-and-twenty.
+
+"We did not live at the old lord's place, which is under the hills
+looking on the river Thames, but we had a quiet little house in
+Hampshire; for the Captain was still with his regiment, and only came to
+and fro to us. But a happier little place there could not be, with the
+flowers, and the cow, and the birds all day, and the children running
+gradually according to their age, and the pretty brook shining in the
+valley. And as to the paying of their way, it is true that neither of
+them was a great manager. The Captain could not bear to keep his pretty
+wife close; and she, poor thing, was trying always to surprise him with
+other presents besides all the beautiful babies. But they never were in
+debt all round, as the liars said when the trouble burst; and if they
+owed two or three hundred pounds, who could justly blame them?
+
+"For the old lord, instead of going on as he should, and widening his
+purse to the number of the mouths, was niggling at them always for
+offense or excuse, to take away what little he allowed them. The Captain
+had his pay, which would go in one hand, and the lady had a little money
+of her own; but still it was cruel for brought-up people to have nothing
+better to go on with. Not that the old lord was a miser neither; but it
+was said, and how far true I know not, that he never would forgive your
+father for marrying the daughter of a man he hated. And some went so far
+as to say that if he could have done it, he would have cut your father
+out of all the old family estates. But such a thing never could I
+believe of a nobleman having his own flesh and blood.
+
+"But, money or no money, rich or poor, your father and mother, I assure
+you, my dear, were as happy as the day was long. For they loved one
+another and their children dearly, and they did not care for any
+mixing with the world. The Captain had enough of that when put away in
+quarters; likewise his wife could do without it better and better at
+every birth, though once she had been the very gayest of the gay, which
+you never will be, Miss Erema.
+
+"Now, my dear, you look so sad and so 'solid,' as we used to say, that
+if I can go on at all, I must have something ready. I am quite an old
+nurse now, remember. Hans, go across the square, and turn on the left
+hand round the corner, and then three more streets toward the right, and
+you see one going toward the left, and you go about seven doors down it,
+and then you see a corner with a lamp-post."
+
+"Vilhelmina, I do see de lamp-post at de every corner."
+
+"That will teach you to look more bright, Hans. Then you find a shop
+window with three blue bottles, and a green one in the middle."
+
+"How can be any middle to three, without it is one of them?"
+
+"Then let it be two of them. How you contradict me! Take this little
+bottle, and the man with a gold braid round a cap, and a tassel with a
+tail to it, will fill it for four-pence when you tell him who you are."
+
+"Yes, yes; I do now comprehend. You send me vhere I never find de vay,
+because I am in de vay, Vilhelmina!"
+
+I was most thankful to Mrs. Strouss for sending her husband (however
+good and kind-hearted he might be) to wander among many shops of
+chemists, rather than to keep his eyes on me, while I listened to things
+that were almost sure to make me want my eyes my own. My nurse had seen,
+as any good nurse must, that, grown and formed as I might be, the nature
+of the little child that cries for its mother was in me still.
+
+"It is very sad now," Mrs. Strouss began again, without replying to my
+grateful glance; "Miss Erema, it is so sad that I wish I had never begun
+with it. But I see by your eyes--so like your father's, but softer, my
+dear, and less troublesome--that you will have the whole of it out, as
+he would with me once when I told him a story for the sake of another
+servant. It was just about a month before you were born, when the
+trouble began to break on us. And when once it began, it never stopped
+until all that were left ran away from it. I have read in the newspapers
+many and many sad things coming over whole families, such as they
+call 'shocking tragedies;' but none of them, to my mind, could be more
+galling than what I had to see with my very own eyes.
+
+"It must have been close upon the middle of September when old Lord
+Castlewood came himself to see his son's house and family at Shoxford.
+We heard that he came down a little on the sudden to see to the truth of
+some rumors which had reached him about our style of living. It was the
+first time he had ever been there; for although he had very often been
+invited, he could not bear to be under the roof of the daughter, as he
+said, of his enemy. The Captain, just happening to come home on leave
+for his autumn holiday, met his father quite at his own door--the very
+last place to expect him. He afterward acknowledged that he was not
+pleased for his father to come 'like a thief in the night.' However,
+they took him in and made him welcome, and covered up their feelings
+nicely, as high-bred people do.
+
+"What passed among them was unknown to any but themselves, except so
+far as now I tell you. A better dinner than usual for two was ready, to
+celebrate the master's return and the beginning of his holiday; and the
+old lord, having travelled far that day, was persuaded to sit down with
+them. The five eldest children (making all except the baby, for you was
+not born, miss, if you please) they were to have sat up at table, as
+pretty as could be--three with their high cushioned stools, and two in
+their arm-chairs screwed on mahogany, stuffed with horsehair, and with
+rods in front, that the little dears might not tumble out in feeding,
+which they did--it was a sight to see them! And how they would give to
+one another, with their fingers wet and shining, and saying, 'Oo, dat
+for oo.' Oh dear, Miss Erema, you were never born to see it! What a
+blessing for you! All those six dear darlings laid in their little
+graves within six weeks, with their mother planted under them; and the
+only wonder is that you yourself was not upon her breast.
+
+"Pay you no heed to me, Miss Erema, when you see me a-whimpering in and
+out while I am about it. It makes my chest go easy, miss, I do assure
+you, though not at the time of life to understand it. All they children
+was to have sat up for the sake of their dear father, as I said just
+now; but because of their grandfather all was ordered back. And back
+they come, as good as gold, with Master George at the head of them, and
+asked me what milk-teeth was. Grandpa had said that 'a dinner was no
+dinner if milk-teeth were allowed at it.' The hard old man, with his own
+teeth false! He deserved to sit down to no other dinner--and he never
+did, miss.
+
+"You may be sure that I had enough to do to manage all the little
+ones and answer all their questions; but never having seen a live lord
+before, and wanting to know if the children would be like him before
+so very long, I went quietly down stairs, and the biggest of my dears
+peeped after me. And then, by favor of the parlor-maid--for they kept
+neither butler nor footman now--I saw the Lord Castlewood, sitting at
+his ease, with a glass of port-wine before him, and my sweet mistress
+(the Captain's wife, and your mother, if you understand, miss) doing her
+very best, thinking of her children, to please him and make the polite
+to him. To me he seemed very much to be thawing to her--if you can
+understand, miss, what my meaning is--and the Captain was looking at
+them with a smile, as if it were just what he had hoped for. From my own
+eyesight I can contradict the lies put about by nobody knows who, that
+the father and the son were at hot words even then.
+
+"And I even heard my master, when they went out at the door, vainly
+persuading his father to take such a bed as they could offer him.
+And good enough it would have been for ten lords; for I saw nothing
+wonderful in him, nor fit to compare any way with the Captain. But he
+would not have it, for no other reason of ill-will or temper, but only
+because he had ordered his bed at the Moonstock Inn, where his coach and
+four were resting.
+
+"'I expect you to call me in the morning, George,' I heard him say, as
+clear as could be, while his son was helping his coat on. 'I am glad I
+have seen you. There are worse than you. And when the times get better,
+I will see what I can do.'
+
+"With him this meant more than it might have done; for he was not a man
+of much promises, as you might tell by his face almost, with his nose
+so stern, and his mouth screwed down, and the wrinkles the wrong way for
+smiling. I could not tell what the Captain answered, for the door banged
+on them, and it woke the baby, who was dreaming, perhaps, about his
+lordship's face, and his little teeth gave him the wind on his chest,
+and his lungs was like bellows--bless him!
+
+"Well, that stopped me, Miss Erema, from being truly accurate in my
+testimony. What with walking the floor, and thumping his back, and
+rattling of the rings to please him--when they put me on the Testament,
+cruel as they did, with the lawyers' eyes eating into me, and both my
+ears buzzing with sorrow and fright, I may have gone too far, with my
+heart in my mouth, for my mind to keep out of contradiction, wishful as
+I was to tell the whole truth in a manner to hurt nobody. And without
+any single lie or glaze of mine, I do assure you, miss, that I did more
+harm than good; every body in the room--a court they called it, and no
+bigger than my best parlor--one and all they were convinced that I would
+swear black was white to save my master and mistress! And certainly I
+would have done so, and the Lord in heaven thought the better of me, for
+the sake of all they children, if I could have made it stick together,
+as they do with practice."
+
+At thought of the little good she had done, and perhaps the great
+mischief, through excess of zeal, Mrs. Strouss was obliged to stop, and
+put her hand to her side, and sigh. And eager as I was for every word
+of this miserable tale, no selfish eagerness could deny her need of
+refreshment, and even of rest; for her round cheeks were white, and her
+full breast trembled. And now she was beginning to make snatches at my
+hand, as if she saw things she could only tell thus.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+BETSY'S TALE--(Continued.)
+
+
+"I am only astonished, my dear," said my nurse, as soon as she had had
+some tea and toast, and scarcely the soft roe of a red herring, "that
+you can put up so well, and abide with my instincts in the way you
+do. None of your family could have done it, to my knowledge of their
+dispositions, much less the baby that was next above you. But it often
+comes about to go in turns like that; 'one, three, five, and seven is
+sweet, while two, four, and six is a-squalling with their feet.' But
+the Lord forgive me for an ill word of them, with their precious little
+bodies washed, and laying in their patterns till the judgment-day.
+
+"But putting by the words I said in the dirty little room they pleased
+to call a 'court,' and the Testament so filthy that no lips could have
+a hold of it, my meaning is to tell you, miss, the very things that
+happened, so that you may fairly judge of them. The Captain came back
+from going with his father, I am sure, in less than twenty minutes, and
+smoking a cigar in his elegant way, quite happy and contented, for I saw
+him down the staircase. As for sign of any haste about him, or wiping of
+his forehead, or fumbling with his handkerchief, or being in a stew in
+any sort of way--as the stupid cook who let him in declared, by reason
+of her own having been at the beer-barrel--solemnly, miss, as I hope to
+go to heaven, there was nothing of the sort about him.
+
+"He went into the dining-room, and mistress, who had been up stairs to
+see about the baby, went down to him; and there I heard them talking as
+pleasant and as natural as they always were together. Not one of them
+had the smallest sense of trouble hanging over them; and they put away
+both the decanters and cruets, and came up to bed in their proper order,
+the master stopping down just to finish his cigar and see to the doors
+and the bringing up the silver, because there was no man-servant now.
+And I heard him laughing at some little joke he made as he went into
+the bedroom. A happier household never went to bed, nor one with better
+hopes of a happy time to come. And the baby slept beside his parents in
+his little cot, as his mother liked to have him, with his blessed mouth
+wide open.
+
+"Now we three (cook and Susan and myself) were accustomed to have a
+good time of it whenever the master first came home and the mistress was
+taken up with him. We used to count half an hour more in bed, without
+any of that wicked bell-clack, and then go on to things according to
+their order, without any body to say any thing. Accordingly we were all
+snug in bed, and turning over for another tuck of sleep, when there came
+a most vicious ringing of the outer bell. 'You get up, Susan,' I heard
+the cook say, for there only was a door between us; and Susan said,
+'Blest if I will! Only Tuesday you put me down about it when the baker
+came.' Not a peg would either of them stir, no more than to call names
+on one another; so I slipped on my things, with the bell going clatter
+all the while, like the day of judgment. I felt it to be hard upon me,
+and I went down cross a little--just enough to give it well to a body I
+were not afraid of.
+
+"But the Lord in His mercy remember me, miss! When I opened the door,
+I had no blood left. There stood two men, with a hurdle on their
+shoulders, and on the hurdle a body, with the head hanging down, and the
+front of it slouching, like a sack that has been stolen from; and behind
+it there was an authority with two buttons on his back, and he waited
+for me to say something; but to do so was beyond me. Not a bit of
+caution or of fear about my sham dress-up, as the bad folk put it
+afterward; the whole of such thoughts was beyond me outright, and no
+thought of any thing came inside me, only to wait and wonder.
+
+"'This corpse belongeth here, as I am informed,' said the man, who
+seemed to be the master of it, and was proud to be so. 'Young woman,
+don't you please to stand like that, or every duffer in the parish will
+be here, and the boys that come hankering after it. You be off!' he
+cried out to a boy who was calling some more round the corner. 'Now,
+young woman, we must come in if you please, and the least said the
+soonest mended.'
+
+"'Oh, but my mistress, my mistress!' I cried; 'and her time up, as nigh
+as may be, any day or night before new moon. 'Oh, Mr. Constable, Mr.
+Rural Polishman, take it to the tool shed, if you ever had a wife, Sir.'
+Now even this was turned against us as if I had expected it. They said
+that I must have known who it was, and to a certain length so I did,
+miss, but only by the dress and the manner of the corpse, and lying with
+an attitude there was no contradicting.
+
+"I can not tell you now, my dear, exactly how things followed. My
+mind was gone all hollow with the sudden shock upon it. However, I had
+thought enough to make no noise immediate, nor tell the other foolish
+girls, who would have set up bellowing. Having years to deal with little
+ones brings knowledge of the rest to us. I think that I must have gone
+to master's door, where Susan's orders were to put his shaving water
+in a tin, and fetched him out, with no disturbance, only in his
+dressing-gown. And when I told him what it was, his rosy color turned
+like sheets, and he just said, 'Hush!' and nothing more. And guessing
+what he meant, I ran and put my things on properly.
+
+"But having time to think, the shock began to work upon me, and I was
+fit for nothing when I saw the children smiling up with their tongues
+out for their bread and milk, as they used to begin the day with. And
+I do assure you, Miss Erema, my bitterest thought was of your coming,
+though unknown whether male or female, but both most inconvenient then,
+with things in such a state of things. You have much to answer for,
+miss, about it; but how was you to help it, though?
+
+"The tool-shed door was too narrow to let the hurdle and the body in,
+and finding some large sea-kale pots standing out of use against the
+door, the two men (who were tired with the weight and fright, I dare
+say) set down their burden upon these, under a row of hollyhocks, at the
+end of the row of bee-hives. And here they wiped their foreheads with
+some rags they had for handkerchiefs, or one of them with his own
+sleeve, I should say, and, gaining their breath, they began to talk with
+the boldness of the sunrise over them. But Mr. Rural Polishman, as
+he was called in those parts, was walking up and down on guard, and
+despising of their foolish words.
+
+"My master, the Captain, your father, miss, came out of a window and
+down the cross-walk, while I was at the green door peeping, for I
+thought that I might be wanted, if only to take orders what was to be
+done inside. The constable stiffly touched his hat, and marched to the
+head of the hurdle, and said,
+
+"'Do you know this gentleman?'
+
+"Your father took no more notice of him than if he had been a stiff
+hollyhock, which he might have resembled if he had been good-looking.
+The Captain thought highly of discipline always, and no kinder gentleman
+could there be to those who gave his dues to him. But that man's voice
+had a low and dirty impertinent sort of a twang with it. Nothing could
+have been more unlucky. Every thing depended on that fellow in an
+ignorant neighborhood like that; and his lordship, for such he was now,
+of course, would not even deign to answer him. He stood over his head in
+his upright way by a good foot, and ordered him here and there, as the
+fellow had been expecting, I do believe, to order his lordship. And that
+made the bitterest enemy of him, being newly sent into these parts,
+and puffed up with authority. And the two miller's men could not help
+grinning, for he had waved them about like a pair of dogs.
+
+"But to suppose that my master 'was unmoved, and took it brutally' (as
+that wretch of a fellow swore afterward), only shows what a stuck-up
+dolt he was. For when my master had examined his father, and made his
+poor body be brought in and spread on the couch in the dining-room, and
+sent me hot-foot for old Dr. Diggory down at the bottom of Shoxford,
+Susan peeped in through the crack of the door, with the cook to hold her
+hand behind, and there she saw the Captain on his knees at the side of
+his father's corpse, not saying a word, only with his head down. And
+when the doctor came back with me, with his night-gown positive
+under his coat, the first thing he said was, 'My dear Sir--my lord, I
+mean--don't take on so; such things will always happen in this world;'
+which shows that my master was no brute.
+
+"Then the Captain stood up in his strength and height, without any pride
+and without any shame, only in the power of a simple heart, and he said
+words fit to hang him:
+
+"'This is my doing! There is no one else to blame. If my father is dead,
+I have killed him!'
+
+"Several of us now were looking in, and the news going out like a
+winnowing woman with no one to shut the door after her; our passage was
+crowding with people that should have had a tar-brush in their faces.
+And of course a good score of them ran away to tell that the Captain had
+murdered his father. The milk-man stood there with his yoke and cans,
+and his naily boots on our new oil-cloth, and, not being able to hide
+himself plainly, he pulled out his slate and began to make his bill.
+
+"'Away with you all!' your father said, coming suddenly out of the
+dining-room, while the doctor was unbuttoning my lord, who was dead with
+all his day clothes on; and every body brushed away like flies at the
+depth of his voice and his stature. Then he bolted the door, with only
+our own people and the doctor and the constable inside. Your mother was
+sleeping like a lamb, as I could swear, having had a very tiring day the
+day before, and being well away from the noise of the passage, as well
+as at a time when they must sleep whenever sleep will come, miss. Bless
+her gentle heart, what a blessing to be out of all that scare of it!
+
+"All this time, you must understand, there was no sign yet what had
+happened to his lordship, over and above his being dead. All of us
+thought, if our minds made bold to think, that it must have pleased
+the Lord to take his lordship either with an appleplexy or a sudden
+heart-stroke, or, at any rate, some other gracious way not having any
+flow of blood in it. But now, while your father was gone up stairs--for
+he knew that his father was dead enough--to be sure that your mother was
+quiet, and perhaps to smooth her down for trouble, and while I was run
+away to stop the ranting of the children, old Dr. Diggory and that
+rural officer were handling poor Lord Castlewood. They set him to their
+liking, and they cut his clothes off--so Susan told me afterward--and
+then they found why they were forced to do so, which I need not try
+to tell you, miss. Only they found that he was not dead from any wise
+visitation, but because he had been shot with a bullet through his
+heart.
+
+"Old Dr. Diggory came out shaking, and without any wholesome sense
+to meet what had arisen, after all his practice with dead men, and
+he called out 'Murder!' with a long thing in his hand, till my master
+leaped down the stairs, twelve at a time, and laid his strong hand on
+the old fool's mouth.
+
+"'Would you kill my wife?' he said; 'you shall not kill my wife.'
+
+"'Captain Castlewood,' the constable answered, pulling out his staff
+importantly, 'consider yourself my prisoner.'
+
+"The Captain could have throttled him with one hand, and Susan thought
+he would have done it. But, instead of that, he said, 'Very well; do
+your duty. But let me see what you mean by it.' Then he walked back
+again to the body of his father, and saw that he had been murdered.
+
+"But, oh, Miss Erema, you are so pale! Not a bit of food have you had
+for hours. I ought not to have told you such a deal of it to once. Let
+me undo all your things, my dear, and give you something cordial; and
+then lie down and sleep a bit."
+
+"No, thank you, nurse," I answered, calling all my little courage back.
+"No sleep for me until I know every word. And to think of all my father
+had to see and bear! I am not fit to be his daughter."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+BETSY'S TALE--(Concluded.)
+
+
+"Well, now," continued Mrs. Strouss, as soon as I could persuade her
+to go on, "if I were to tell you every little thing that went on among
+them, miss, I should go on from this to this day week, or I might say
+this day fortnight, and then not half be done with it. And the worst of
+it is that those little things make all the odds in a case of that sort,
+showing what the great things were. But only a counselor at the Old
+Bailey could make head or tail of the goings on that followed.
+
+"For some reason of his own, unknown to any living being but himself,
+whether it were pride (as I always said) or something deeper (as other
+people thought), he refused to have any one on earth to help him, when
+he ought to have had the deepest lawyer to be found. The constable
+cautioned him to say nothing, as it seems is laid down in their orders,
+for fear of crimination. And he smiled at this, with a high contempt,
+very fine to see, but not bodily wise. But even that jack-in-office
+could perceive that the poor Captain thought of his sick wife up stairs,
+and his little children, ten times for one thought he ever gave to his
+own position. And yet I must tell you that he would have no denial, but
+to know what it was that had killed his parent. When old Dr. Diggory's
+hands were shaking so that his instrument would not bite on the thing
+lodged in his lordship's back, after passing through and through him,
+and he was calling for somebody to run for his assistant, who do you
+think did it for him, Miss Erema? As sure as I sit here, the Captain!
+His face was like a rock, and his hands no less; and he said, 'Allow
+me, doctor. I have been in action.' And he fetched out the bullet--which
+showed awful nerve, according to my way of thinking--as if he had been a
+man with three rows of teeth.
+
+"'This bullet is just like those of my own pistol!' he cried, and he
+sat down hard with amazement. You may suppose how this went against him,
+when all he desired was to know and tell the truth; and people said that
+of course he got it out, after a bottleful of doctors failed, because he
+knew best how it was put in.'
+
+"'I shall now go and see the place, if you please, or whether you please
+or not,' my master said. 'Constable, you may come and point it out,
+unless you prefer going to your breakfast. My word is enough that I
+shall not run away. Otherwise, as you have acted on your own authority,
+I shall act on mine, and tie you until you have obtained a warrant. Take
+your choice, my man; and make it quickly, while I offer it.'
+
+"The rural polishman stared at this, being used on the other hand to be
+made much of. But seeing how capable the Captain was of acting up to
+any thing, he made a sulky scrape, and said, 'Sir, as you please for the
+present,' weighting his voice on those last three words, as much as to
+say, 'Pretty soon you will be handcuffed.' 'Then,' said my master, 'I
+shall also insist on the presence of two persons, simply to use their
+eyes without any fear or favor. One is my gardener, a very honest man,
+but apt to be late in the morning. The other is a faithful servant, who
+has been with us for several years. Their names are Jacob Rigg and Betsy
+Bowen. You may also bring two witnesses, if you choose. And the miller's
+men, of course, will come. But order back all others.'
+
+"'That is perfectly fair and straightforward, my lord,' the constable
+answered, falling naturally into abeyance to orders. 'I am sure that all
+of us wishes your lordship kindly out of this rum scrape. But my duty is
+my duty.'
+
+"With a few more words we all set forth, six in number, and no more; for
+the constable said that the miller's men, who had first found the late
+Lord Castlewood, were witnesses enough for him. And Jacob Rigg, whose
+legs were far apart (as he said) from trenching celery, took us through
+the kitchen-garden, and out at a gap, which saved every body knowing.
+
+"Then we passed through a copse or two, and across a meadow, and then
+along the turnpike-road, as far as now I can remember. And along that we
+went to a stile on the right, without any house for a long way off. And
+from that stile a foot-path led down a slope of grass land to the little
+river, and over a hand-bridge, and up another meadow full of trees and
+bushes, to a gate which came out into the road again a little to this
+side of the Moonstock Inn, saving a quarter of a mile of road, which ran
+straight up the valley and turned square at the stone bridge to get to
+the same inn.
+
+"I can not expect to be clear to you, miss, though I see it all now as
+I saw it then, every tree, and hump, and hedge of it; only about the
+distances from this to that, and that to the other, they would be
+beyond me. You must be on the place itself; and I never could carry
+distances--no, nor even clever men, I have heard my master say. But when
+he came to that stile he stopped and turned upon all of us clearly, and
+as straight as any man of men could be. 'Here I saw my father last, at
+a quarter past ten o'clock last night, or within a few minutes of that
+time.' I wished to see him to his inn, but he would not let me do so, and
+he never bore contradiction. He said that he knew the way well, having
+fished more than thirty years ago up and down this stream. He crossed
+this stile, and we shook hands over it, and the moon being bright, I
+looked into his face, and he said, 'My boy, God bless you!' Knowing his
+short ways, I did not even look after him, but turned away, and went
+straight home along this road. Upon my word as an Englishman, and as an
+officer of her Majesty, that is all I know of it. Now let us go on to
+the--to the other place.
+
+"We all of us knew in our hearts, I am sure, that the Captain spoke
+the simple truth, and his face was grand as he looked at us. But the
+constable thought it his duty to ask,
+
+"'Did you hear no sound of a shot, my lord? For he fell within a hundred
+yards of this.'
+
+"'I heard no sound of any shot whatever. I heard an owl hooting as
+I went home, and then the rattle of a heavy wagon, and the bells of
+horses. I have said enough. Let us go forward.'
+
+"We obeyed him at once; and even the constable looked right and left, as
+if he had been wrong. He signed to the miller's man to lead the way,
+and my lord walked proudly after him. The path was only a little narrow
+track, with the grass, like a front of hair, falling over it on the
+upper side and on the under, dropping away like side curls; such a
+little path that I was wondering how a great lord could walk over it.
+Then we came down a steep place to a narrow bridge across a shallow
+river--abridge made of only two planks and a rail, with a prop or two to
+carry them. And one end of the handrail was fastened into a hollow and
+stubby old hawthorn-tree, overhanging the bridge and the water a good
+way. And just above this tree, and under its shadow, there came a dry
+cut into the little river, not more than a yard or two above the wooden
+bridge, a water-trough such as we have in Wales, miss, for the water to
+run in, when the farmer pleases; but now there was no water in it, only
+gravel.
+
+"The cleverest of the miller's men, though, neither of them had much
+intellect, stepped down at a beck from the constable, right beneath the
+old ancient tree, and showed us the marks on the grass and the gravel
+made by his lordship where he fell and lay. And it seemed that he must
+have fallen off the bridge, yet not into the water, but so as to have
+room for his body, if you see, miss, partly on the bank, and partly in
+the hollow of the meadow trough.
+
+"'Have you searched the place well?' the Captain asked. 'Have you found
+any weapon or implement?'
+
+"'We have found nothing but the corpse, so far,' the constable answered,
+in a surly voice, not liking to be taught his business. 'My first duty
+was to save life, if I could. These men, upon finding the body, ran for
+me, and knowing who it was, I came with it to your house.'
+
+"'You acted for the best, my man. Now search the place carefully, while
+I stand here. I am on my parole, I shall not run away. Jacob, go down
+and help them.'
+
+"Whether from being in the army, or what, your father always spoke in
+such a way that the most stiff-neckedest people began without thinking
+to obey him. So the constable and the rest went down, while the Captain
+and I stood upon the plank, looking at the four of them.
+
+"For a long time they looked about, according to their attitudes,
+without finding any thing more than the signs of the manner in which the
+poor lord fell, and of these the constable pulled out a book and made
+a pencil memorial. But presently Jacob, a spry sort of man, cried,
+'Hulloa! whatever have I got hold of here? Many a good craw-fish have I
+pulled out from this bank when the water comes down the gully, but never
+one exactly like this here afore.'
+
+"'Name of the Lord!' cried the constable, jumping behind the hawthorn
+stump; 'don't point it at me, you looby! It's loaded, loaded one barrel,
+don't you see? Put it down, with the muzzle away from me.'
+
+"'Hand it to me, Jacob,' the Captain said. 'You understand a gun, and
+this goes off just the same.' Constable Jobbins have no fear. 'Yes, it
+is exactly as I thought. This pistol is one of the double-barreled pair
+which I bought to take to India. The barrels are rifled; it shoots
+as true as any rifle, and almost as hard up to fifty yards. The right
+barrel has been fired, the other is still loaded. The bullet I took from
+my father's body most certainly came from this pistol.'
+
+"'Can 'e say, can 'e say then, who done it, master?' asked Jacob, a man
+very sparing of speech, but ready at a beck to jump at constable and
+miller's men, if only law was with him. 'Can 'e give a clear account,
+and let me chuck 'un in the river?'
+
+"'No, Jacob, I can do nothing of the kind,' your father answered; while
+the rural man came up and faced things, not being afraid of a fight half
+so much as he was of an accident; by reason of his own mother having
+been blown up by a gunpowder start at Dartford, yet came down all
+right, miss, and had him three months afterward, according to his
+own confession; nevertheless, he came up now as if he had always been
+upright, in the world, and he said, 'My lord, can you explain all this?'
+
+"Your father looked at him with one of his strange gazes, as if he were
+measuring the man while trying his own inward doing of his own mind.
+Proud as your father was, as proud as ever can be without cruelty, it
+is my firm belief, Miss Erema, going on a woman's judgment, that if the
+man's eyes had come up to my master's sense of what was virtuous, my
+master would have up and told him the depth and contents of his mind and
+heart, although totally gone beyond him.
+
+"But Jobbins looked back at my lord with a grin, and his little eyes,
+hard to put up with. 'Have you nothing to say, my lord? Then I am
+afeared I must ask you just to come along of me.' And my master went
+with him, miss, as quiet as a lamb; which Jobbins said, and even Jacob
+fancied, was a conscience sign of guilt.
+
+"Now after I have told you all this, Miss Erema, you know very nearly as
+much as I do. To tell how the grief was broken to your mother, and what
+her state of mind was, and how she sat up on the pillows and cried,
+while things went on from bad to worse, and a verdict of 'willful
+murder' was brought against your father by the crowner's men, and you
+come headlong, without so much as the birds in the ivy to chirp about
+you, right into the thick of the worst of it. I do assure you, Miss
+Erema, when I look at your bright eyes and clear figure, the Lord in
+heaven, who has made many cripples, must have looked down special to
+have brought you as you are. For trouble upon trouble fell in heaps,
+faster than I can wipe my eyes to think. To begin with, all the servants
+but myself and gardener Jacob ran away. They said that the old lord
+haunted the house, and walked with his hand in the middle of his heart,
+pulling out a bullet if he met any body, and sighing 'murder' three
+times, till every hair was crawling. I took it on myself to fetch the
+Vicar of the parish to lay the evil spirit, as they do in Wales. A nice
+kind gentleman he was as you could see, and wore a velvet skull-cap, and
+waited with his legs up. But whether he felt that the power was not
+in him, or whether his old lordship was frightened of the Church, they
+never made any opportunity between them to meet and have it out, miss.
+
+"Then it seemed as if Heaven, to avenge his lordship, rained down
+pestilence upon that house. A horrible disease, the worst I ever met,
+broke out upon the little harmless dears, the pride of my heart and of
+every body's eyes, for lovelier or better ones never came from heaven.
+They was all gone to heaven in a fortnight and three days, and laid in
+the church-yard at one another's side, with little beds of mould to the
+measure of their stature, and their little carts and drums, as they made
+me promise, ready for the judgment-day. Oh, my heart was broken, miss,
+my heart was broken! I cried so, I thought I could never cry more.
+
+"But when your dear mother, who knew nothing of all this (for we put all
+their illness, by the doctor's orders, away at the further end of the
+house), when she was a little better of grievous pain and misery (for
+being so upset her time was hard), when she sat up on the pillow,
+looking like a bride almost, except that she had what brides hasn't--a
+little red thing in white flannel at her side--then she says to me, 'I
+am ready, Betsy; it is high time for all of them to see their little
+sister. They always love the baby so, whenever there is a new one. And
+they are such men and women to it. They have been so good this time
+that I have never heard them once. And I am sure that I can trust them,
+Betsy, not to make the baby cry. I do so long to see the darlings. Now
+do not even whisper to them not to make a noise. They are too good to
+require it; and it would hurt their little feelings.'
+
+"I had better have been shot, my dear, according as the old lord was,
+than have the pain that went through all my heart, to see the mother so.
+She sat up, leaning on one arm, with the hand of the other round your
+little head, and her beautiful hair was come out of its loops, and the
+color in her cheeks was like a shell. Past the fringe of the curtain,
+and behind it too, her soft bright eyes were a-looking here and there
+for the first to come in of her children. The Lord only knows what lies
+I told her, so as to be satisfied without them. First I said they were
+all gone for a walk; and then that the doctor had ordered them away; and
+then that they had got the measles. That last she believed, because it
+was worse than what I had said before of them; and she begged to see Dr.
+Diggory about it, and I promised that she should as soon as he had done
+his dinner. And then, with a little sigh, being very weak, she went down
+into her nest again, with only you to keep her company.
+
+"Well, that was bad enough, as any mortal sufferer might have said;
+enough for one day at any rate. But there was almost worse to come. For
+when I was having a little sit down stairs, with my supper and half pint
+of ale (that comes like drawing a long breath to us when spared out of
+sickrooms, miss), and having no nursery now on my mind, was thinking of
+all the sad business, with only a little girl in the back kitchen come
+in to muck up the dishes, there appeared a good knock at the garden
+door, and I knew it for the thumb of the Captain. I locked the young
+girl up, by knowing what their tongues are, and then I let your father
+in, and the candle-sight of him made my heart go low.
+
+"He had come out of prison; and although not being tried, his clothes
+were still in decency, they had great holes in them, and the gloss all
+gone to a smell of mere hedges and ditches. The hat on his head was
+quite out of the fashion, even if it could be called a hat at all, and
+his beautiful beard had no sign of a comb, and he looked as old again as
+he had looked a month ago.
+
+"'I know all about it. You need not be afraid,' he said, as I took him
+to the breakfast-room, where no one up stairs could hear us. 'I know
+that my children are all dead and buried, except the one that was not
+born yet. Ill news flies quick. I know all about it. George, Henrietta,
+Jack, Alf, little Vi, and Tiny. I have seen their graves and counted
+them, while the fool of a policeman beat his gloves through the hedge
+within a rod of me. Oh yes, I have much to be thankful for. My life is
+in my own hand now.'
+
+"'Oh, master; oh, Captain; oh, my lord!' I cried; 'for the sake of God
+in heaven, don't talk like that. Think of your sweet wife, your dear
+lady.'
+
+"'Betsy,' he answered, with his eyes full upon me, noble, yet frightful
+to look at, 'I am come to see my wife. Go and let her know it, according
+to your own discretion.'
+
+"My discretion would have been not to let him see her, but go on and
+write to her from foreign countries, with the salt sea between them; but
+I give you my word that I had no discretion, but from pity and majesty
+obeyed him. I knew that he must have broken prison, and by good rights
+ought to be starving. But I could no more offer him the cold ham and
+pullet than take him by his beard and shake him.
+
+"'Is he come, at last, at last?' my poor mistress said, whose wits were
+wandering after her children. 'At last, at last! Then he will find them
+all.'
+
+"'Yes, ma'am, at last, at the last he will,' I answered, while I thought
+of the burial service, which I had heard three times in a week--for the
+little ones went to their graves in pairs to save ceremony; likewise of
+the Epistle of Saint Paul, which is not like our Lord's way of talking
+at all, but arguing instead of comforting. And not to catch her up in
+that weak state, I said, 'He will find every one of them, ma'am.'
+
+"'Oh, but I want him for himself, for himself, as much as all the rest
+put together,' my dear lady said, without listening to me, but putting
+her hand to her ear to hearken for even so much as a mouse on the
+stairs. 'Do bring him, Betsy; only bring him, Betsy, and then let me go
+where my children are.'
+
+"I was surprised at her manner of speaking, which I would not have
+allowed to her, but more than all about her children, which she could
+only have been dreaming yet, for nobody else came nigh her except only
+me, miss, and you, miss, and for you to breathe words was impossible.
+All you did was to lie very quiet, tucked up into your mother's side;
+and as regular as the time-piece went, wide came your eyes and your
+mouth to be fed. If your nature had been cross or squally, 'baby's
+coffin No. 7' would have come after all the other six, which the thief
+of a carpenter put down on his bill as if it was so many shavings.
+
+"Well, now, to tell you the downright truth, I have a lot of work to do
+to-morrow, miss, with three basketfuls of washing coming home, and a
+man about a tap that leaks and floods the inside of the fender; and if
+I were to try to put before you the way that those two for the last time
+of their lives went on to one another--the one like a man and the other
+like a woman, full of sobs and choking--my eyes would be in such a state
+to-morrow that the whole of them would pity and cheat me. And I ought to
+think of you as well, miss, who has been sadly harrowed listening when
+you was not born yet. And to hear what went on, full of weeping, when
+yourself was in the world, and able to cry for yourself, and all done
+over your own little self, would leave you red eyes and no spirit for
+the night, and no appetite in the morning; and so I will pass it all
+over, if you please, and let him go out of the backdoor again.
+
+"This he was obliged to do quick, and no mistake, glad as he might
+have been to say more words, because the fellows who call themselves
+officers, without any commission, were after him. False it was to say,
+as was said, that he got out of Winchester jail through money. That
+story was quite of a piece with the rest. His own strength and skill it
+was that brought him out triumphantly, as the scratches on his hands and
+cheeks might show. He did it for the sake of his wife, no doubt. When
+he heard that the children were all in their graves, and their mother
+in the way to follow them, madness was better than his state of mind, as
+the officers told me when they could not catch him--and sorry they would
+have been to do it, I believe.
+
+"To overhear my betters is the thing of all things most against my
+nature; and my poor lady being unfit to get up, there was nothing said
+on the landing, which is the weakest part of gentlefolks. They must have
+said 'Good-by' to one another quite in silence, and the Captain, as firm
+a man as ever lived, had lines on his face that were waiting for tears,
+if nature should overcome bringing up. Then I heard the words, 'for my
+sake,' and the other said, 'for your sake,' a pledge that passed between
+them, making breath more long than life is. But when your poor father
+was by the back-door, going out toward the woods and coppices, he turned
+sharp round, and he said, 'Betsy Bowen!' and I answered, 'Yes, at
+your service, Sir.' 'You have been the best woman in the world,' he
+said--'the bravest, best, and kindest. I leave my wife and my last child
+to you. The Lord has been hard on me, but He will spare me those two. I
+do hope and believe He will.'
+
+"We heard a noise of horses in the valley, and the clank of swords--no
+doubt the mounted police from Winchester a-crossing of the Moonstock
+Bridge to search our house for the runaway. And the Captain took my
+hand, and said, 'I trust them to you. Hide the clothes I took off, that
+they may not know I have been here. I trust my wife and little babe to
+you, and may God bless you, Betsy!'
+
+"He had changed all his clothes, and he looked very nice, but a sadder
+face was never seen. As he slipped through the hollyhocks I said to
+myself, 'There goes a broken-hearted man, and he leaves a broken heart
+behind.' And your dear mother died on the Saturday night. Oh my! oh my!
+how sad it was!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+AT THE BANK
+
+
+In telling that sad tale my faithful and soft-hearted nurse had often
+proved her own mistake in saying, as she did, that tears can ever be
+exhausted. And I, for my part, though I could scarcely cry for eager
+listening, was worse off perhaps than if I had wetted each sad fact as
+it went by. At any rate, be it this way or that, a heavy and sore
+heart was left me, too distracted for asking questions, and almost too
+depressed to grieve.
+
+In the morning Mrs. Strouss was bustling here and there and every where,
+and to look at her nice Welsh cheeks and aprons, and to hear how she
+scolded the butcher's boy, nobody would for a moment believe that her
+heart was deeper than her skin, as the saying of the west country
+is. Major Hockin had been to see me last night, for he never forgot a
+promise, and had left me in good hands, and now he came again in the
+morning. According to his usual way of taking up an opinion, he would
+not see how distracted I was, and full of what I had heard overnight,
+but insisted on dragging me off to the bank, that being in his opinion
+of more importance than old stories. I longed to ask Betsy some
+questions which had been crowding into my mind as she spoke, and while
+I lay awake at night; however, I was obliged to yield to the business of
+the morning, and the good Major's zeal and keen knowledge of the world;
+and he really gave me no time to think.
+
+"Yes, I understand all that as well as if I had heard every word of it,"
+he said, when he had led me helpless into the Hansom cab he came in, and
+had slammed down the flood-gates in front of us. "You must never think
+twice of what old women say" (Mrs. Strouss was some twenty years younger
+than himself); "they always go prating and finding mares'-nests, and
+then they always cry. Now did she cry, Erema?"
+
+I would have given a hundred dollars to be able to say, "No, not one
+drop;" but the truth was against me, and I said, "How could she help
+it?"
+
+"Exactly!" the Major exclaimed, so loudly that the cabman thought he was
+ordered to stop. "No, go on, cabby, if your horse can do it. My dear, I
+beg your pardon, but you are so very simple! You have not been among the
+eye-openers of the west. This comes of the obsolete Uncle Sam."
+
+"I would rather be simple than 'cute!'" I replied; "and my own Uncle Sam
+will be never obsolete."
+
+Silly as I was, I could never speak of the true Uncle Sam in this far
+country without the bright shame of a glimmer in my eyes; and with this,
+which I cared not to hide, I took my companion's hand and stood upon the
+footway of a narrow and crowded lane.
+
+"Move on! move on!" cried a man with a high-crowned hat japanned at
+intervals, and, wondering at his rudeness to a lady, I looked at him.
+But he only said, "Now move on, will you?" without any wrath, and as if
+he were vexed at our littleness of mind in standing still. Nobody heeded
+him any more than if he had said, "I am starving," but it seemed a rude
+thing among ladies. Before I had time to think more about this--for
+I always like to think of things--I was led through a pair of narrow
+swinging doors, and down a close alley between two counters full of
+people paying and receiving money. The Major, who always knew how to get
+on, found a white-haired gentleman in a very dingy corner, and whispered
+to him in a confidential way, though neither had ever seen the other
+before, and the white-haired gentleman gazed at me as sternly as if I
+were a bank-note for at least a thousand pounds; and then he said, "Step
+this way, young lady. Major Hockin, step this way, Sir."
+
+The young lady "stepped that way" in wonder as to what English English
+is, and then we were shown into a sacred little room, where the daylight
+had glass reflectors for it, if it ever came to use them. But as it
+cared very little to do this, from angular disabilities, three bright
+gas-lights were burning in soft covers, and fed the little room with a
+rich, sweet glow. And here shone one of the partners of the bank, a very
+pleasant-looking gentleman, and very nicely dressed.
+
+"Major Hockin," he said, after looking at the card, "will you kindly sit
+down, while I make one memorandum? I had the pleasure of knowing your
+uncle well--at least I believe that the late Sir Rufus was your uncle."
+
+"Not so," replied the Major, well pleased, however. "I fear that I am
+too old to have had any uncle lately. Sir Rufus Hockin was my first
+cousin."
+
+"Oh, indeed! To be sure, I should have known it, but Sir Rufus being
+much your senior, the mistake was only natural. Now what can I do to
+serve you, or perhaps this young lady--Miss Hockin, I presume?"
+
+"No," said his visitor, "not Miss Hockin. I ought to have introduced
+her, but for having to make my own introduction. Mr. Shovelin, this lady
+is Miss Erema Castlewood, the only surviving child of the late Captain
+George Castlewood, properly speaking, Lord Castlewood."
+
+Mr. Shovelin had been looking at me with as much curiosity as good
+manners and his own particular courtesy allowed. And I fancied that he
+felt that I could not be a Hockin.
+
+"Oh, dear, dear me!" was all he said, though he wanted to say, "God
+bless me!" or something more sudden and stronger. "Lord Castlewood's
+daughter--poor George Castlewood! My dear young lady, is it possible?"
+
+"Yes, I am my father's child," I said; "and I am proud to hear that I am
+like him."
+
+"That you well may be," he answered, putting on his spectacles. "You are
+astonished at my freedom, perhaps; you will allow for it, or at least,
+you will not be angry with me, when you know that your father was my
+dearest friend at Harrow; and that when his great trouble fell upon
+him--"
+
+Here Mr. Shovelin stopped, as behooves a man who begins to outrun
+himself. He could not tell me that it was himself who had found all the
+money for my father's escape, which cost much cash as well as much good
+feeling. Neither did I, at the time, suspect it, being all in the dark
+upon such points. Not knowing what to say, I looked from the banker to
+the Major, and back again.
+
+"Can you tell me the exact time?" the latter asked. "I am due in the
+Temple at 12.30, and I never am a minute late, whatever happens."
+
+"You will want a swift horse," Mr. Shovelin answered, "or else this will
+be an exception to your rule. It is twenty-one minutes past twelve now."
+
+"May I leave my charge to you, then, for a while? She will be very
+quiet; she is always so. Erema, will you wait for me?"
+
+I was not quick enough then to see that this was arranged between them.
+Major Hockin perceived that Mr. Shovelin wished to have a talk with me
+about dearer matters than money, having children of his own, and being
+(as his eyes and forehead showed) a man of peculiar views, perhaps, but
+clearly of general good-will.
+
+"In an hour, in an hour, in less than an hour"--the Major intensified
+his intentions always--"in three-quarters of an hour I shall be back.
+Meanwhile, my dear, you will sit upon a stool, and not say a word, nor
+make any attempt to do any thing every body is not used to."
+
+This vexed me, as if I were a savage here; and I only replied with a
+very gentle bow, being glad to see his departure; for Major Hockin was
+one of those people, so often to be met with, whom any one likes or
+dislikes according to the changes of their behavior. But Mr. Shovelin
+was different from that.
+
+"Miss Castlewood, take this chair," he said; "a hard one, but better
+than a stool, perhaps. Now how am I to talk to you--as an inquirer upon
+business matters, or as the daughter of my old friend? Your smile is
+enough. Well, and you must talk to me in the same unreasonable manner.
+That being clearly established between us, let us proceed to the
+next point. Your father, my old friend, wandered from the track, and
+unfortunately lost his life in a desolate part of America."
+
+"No; oh no. It was nothing like that. He might have been alive, and here
+at this moment, if I had not drunk and eaten every bit and drop of his."
+
+"Now don't, my dear child, don't be so romantic--I mean, look at things
+more soberly. You did as you were ordered, I have no doubt; George
+Castlewood always would have that. He was a most commanding man. You do
+not quite resemble him in that respect, I think."
+
+"Oh, but did he do it, did he do it?" I cried out. "You were at school
+with him, and knew his nature. Was it possible for him to do it, Sir?"
+
+"As possible as it is for me to go down to Sevenoaks and shoot my dear
+old father, who is spending a green and agreeable old age there. Not
+that your grandfather, if I may say it without causing pain to you, was
+either green or agreeable. He was an uncommonly sharp old man; I might
+even say a hard one. As you never saw him, you will not think me rude in
+saying that much. Your love, of course, is for your father; and if your
+father had had a father of larger spirit about money, he might have
+been talking to me pleasantly now, instead of--instead of all these sad
+things."
+
+"Please not to slip away from me," I said, bluntly, having so often met
+with that. "You believe, as every good person does, that my father was
+wholly innocent. But do tell me who could have done it instead. Somebody
+must have done it; that seems clear."
+
+"Yes," replied Mr. Shovelin, with a look of calm consideration;
+"somebody did it, undoubtedly; and that makes the difficulty of the
+whole affair. 'Cui bono,' as the lawyers say. Two persons only could
+have had any motive, so far as wealth and fortune go. The first and
+most prominent, your father, who, of course, would come into every thing
+(which made the suspicion so hot and strong); and the other, a very nice
+gentleman, whom it is wholly impossible to suspect."
+
+"Are you sure of that? People have more than suspected--they have
+condemned--my father. After that, I can suspect any body. Who is it?
+Please to tell me."
+
+"It is the present Lord Castlewood, as he is beginning to be called.
+He would not claim the title, or even put forward his right in any way,
+until he had proof of your dear father's death; and even then he behaved
+so well--"
+
+"He did it! he did it!" I cried, in hot triumph. "My father's name shall
+be clear of it. Can there be any doubt that he did it? How very simple
+the whole of it becomes! Nothing astonishes me, except the stupidity of
+people. He had every thing to gain, and nothing to lose--a bad man, no
+doubt--though I never heard of him. And putting it all on my father, of
+course, to come in himself, and abide his time, till the misery killed
+my father. How simple, how horribly simple, it becomes!"
+
+"You are much too quick, too hot, too sudden. Excuse me a minute"--as a
+silver bell struck--"I am wanted in the next room. But before I go, let
+me give you a glass of cold water, and beg you to dismiss that new idea
+from your mind."
+
+I could see, as I took with a trembling hand the water he poured out for
+me, that Mr. Shovelin was displeased. His kind and handsome face grew
+hard. He had taken me for a nice young lady, never much above the
+freezing-point, and he had found me boil over in a moment. I was sorry
+to have grieved him; but if he had heard Betsy Bowen's story, and seen
+her tell it, perhaps he would have allowed for me. I sat down again,
+having risen in my warmth, and tried to quiet and command myself by
+thinking of the sad points only. Of these there were plenty to make
+pictures of, the like of which had kept me awake all night; and I knew
+by this time, from finding so much more of pity than real sympathy, that
+men think a woman may well be all tears, but has no right to even the
+shadow of a frown. That is their own prerogative.
+
+And so, when Mr. Shovelin returned, with a bundle of papers which had
+also vexed him--to judge by the way in which he threw them down--I spoke
+very mildly, and said that I was very sorry for my display of violence,
+but that if he knew all, he would pardon me; and he pardoned me in a
+moment.
+
+"I was going to tell you, my dear Miss Castlewood," he continued,
+gently, "that your sudden idea must be dismissed, for reasons which I
+think will content you. In the first place, the present Lord Castlewood
+is, and always has been, an exemplary man, of great piety and true
+gentleness; in the next place, he is an invalid, who can not walk a mile
+with a crutch to help him, and so he has been for a great many years;
+and lastly, if you have no faith in the rest, he was in Italy at the
+time, and remained there for some years afterward. There he received and
+sheltered your poor father after his sad calamity, and was better than a
+brother to him, as your father, in a letter to me, declared. So you see
+that you must acquit him."
+
+"That is not enough. I would beg his pardon on my knees, since he helped
+my father, for he must have thought him innocent. Now, Mr. Shovelin, you
+were my father's friend, and you are such a clever man--"
+
+"How do you know that, young lady? What a hurry you are always in!"
+
+"Oh, there can be no doubt about it. But you must not ask reasons, if
+I am so quick. Now please to tell me what your own conclusion is. I can
+talk of it calmly now; yes, quite calmly, because I never think of any
+thing else. Only tell me what you really believe, and I will keep it
+most strictly to myself."
+
+"I am sure you will do that," he answered, smiling, "not only from the
+power of your will, my dear, but also because I have nothing to say. At
+first I was strongly inclined to believe (knowing, from my certainty of
+your father, that the universal opinion must be wrong) that the old lord
+had done it himself; for he always had been of a headstrong and violent
+nature, which I am sure will never re-appear in you. But the whole
+of the evidence went against this, and little as I think of evidence,
+especially at an inquest, your father's behavior confirmed what was
+sworn to. Your father knew that his father had not made away with
+himself in a moment of passion, otherwise he was not the man to break
+prison and fly trial. He would have said, boldly, 'I am guiltless; there
+are many things that I can not explain; I can not help that; I will
+face it out. Condemn me, if you like, and I will suffer.' From your own
+remembrance of your father's nature, is not that certainly the course he
+would have taken?"
+
+"I have not an atom of doubt about it. His flight and persistent dread
+of trial puzzle me beyond imagination. Of his life he was perfectly
+reckless, except, at least, for my sake."
+
+"I know that he was," Mr. Shovelin replied; "as a boy he was wonderfully
+fearless. As a man, with a sweet wife and a lot of children, he might
+have begun to be otherwise. But when all those were gone, and only a
+poor little baby left--"
+
+"Yes, I suppose I was all that."
+
+"Forgive me. I am looking back at you. Who could dream that you would
+ever even live, without kith or kin to care for you? Your life was saved
+by some good woman who took you away to Wales. But when you were such a
+poor little relic, and your father could scarcely have seen you, to
+have such a mite left must have been almost a mockery of happiness. That
+motive could not have been strong enough to prevent a man of proud honor
+from doing what honor at once demanded. Your father would have returned
+and surrendered as soon as he heard of his dear wife's death, if in the
+balance there had been only you."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Shovelin, perhaps he would. I was never very much as a
+counter-balance. Yet my father loved me." I could have told him of the
+pledge exchanged--"For my sake," and, "Yes, for your sake," with love
+and wedded honor set to fight cold desolate repute--but I did not say a
+word about it.
+
+"He loved you afterward, of course. But a man who has had seven children
+is not enthusiastic about a baby. There must have been a larger motive."
+
+"But when I was the only one left alive. Surely I became valuable then.
+I can not have been such a cipher."
+
+"Yes, for a long time you would have been," replied the Saturnian
+banker. "I do not wish to disparage your attractions when you were a
+fortnight old. They may have begun already to be irresistible. Excuse
+me; you have led me into the light vein, when speaking of a most sad
+matter. You must blame your self-assertion for it. All I wish to convey
+to you is my belief that something wholly unknown to us, some dark
+mystery of which we have no inkling, lies at the bottom of this terrible
+affair. Some strange motive there must have been, strong enough even
+to overcome all ordinary sense of honor, and an Englishman's pride in
+submitting to the law, whatever may be the consequence. Consider that
+his 'flight from justice,' as it was called, of course, by every one,
+condemned his case and ruined his repute. Even for that he would not
+have cared so much as for his own sense of right. And though he was a
+very lively fellow, as I first remember him, full of tricks and jokes,
+and so on, which in this busy age are out of date, I am certain that he
+always had a stern sense of right. One never knows how love affairs and
+weakness about children may alter almost any man; but my firm conviction
+is that my dear old school-fellow, George Castlewood, even with a wife
+and lovely children hanging altogether upon his life, not only would
+not have broken jail, but would calmly have given up his body to be
+hanged--pardon me, my dear, for putting it so coarsely--if there had not
+been something paramount to override even apparent honor. What it can
+have been I have no idea, and I presume you have none."
+
+"None whatever," I said at once, in answer to his inquiring gaze. "I am
+quite taken by surprise; I never even thought of such a thing. It has
+always seemed to me so natural that my dear father, being shamefully
+condemned, because appearances were against him, and nobody could enter
+into him, should, for the sake of his wife and children, or even of one
+child like me, depart or banish himself, or emigrate, or, as they might
+call it, run away. Knowing that he never could have a fair trial, it was
+the only straightforward and good and affectionate thing for him to do."
+
+"You can not see things as men see them. We must not expect it of you,"
+Mr. Shovelin answered, with a kind but rather too superior smile, which
+reminded me a little of dear Uncle Sam when he listened to what, in his
+opinion, was only female reason; "but, dear me, here is Major Hockin
+come! Punctuality is the soul of business."
+
+"So I always declare," cried the Major, who was more than three-quarters
+of an hour late, for which in my heart I thanked him. "My watch keeps
+time to a minute, Sir, and its master to a second. Well, I hope you
+have settled all questions of finance, and endowed my young maid with a
+fortune."
+
+"So far from that," Mr. Shovelin replied, in a tone very different from
+that he used to me, "we have not even said one word of business; all
+that has been left for your return. Am I to understand that you are by
+appointment or relationship the guardian of this young lady?"
+
+"God forbid!" cried Major Hockin, shortly. I thought it very rude of
+him, yet I could not help smiling to see how he threw his glasses up and
+lifted his wiry crest of hair. "Not that she is bad, I mean, but good,
+very good; indeed, I may say the very best girl ever known outside of my
+own family. My cousin, Colonel Gundry, who owns an immense estate in
+the most auriferous district of all California, but will not spoil his
+splendid property by mining, he will--he will tell you the very same
+thing, Sir."
+
+"I am very glad to hear it," said the banker, smiling at me, while I
+wondered what it was, but hoped that it meant my praises. "Now I really
+fear that I must be very brief, though the daughter of my oldest friend
+may well be preferred to business. But now we will turn at once to
+business, if you please."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+COUSIN MONTAGUE
+
+
+Mr. Shovelin went to a corner of the room, which might be called his
+signal-box, having a little row of port-holes like a toy frigate or
+accordion, and there he made sounds which brought steps very promptly,
+one clerk carrying a mighty ledger, and the other a small strong-box.
+
+"No plate," Major Hockin whispered to me, shaking his gray crest with
+sorrow; "but there may be diamonds, you know, Erema. One ounce of
+diamonds is worth a ton of plate."
+
+"No," said Mr. Shovelin, whose ears were very keen, "I fear that
+you will find nothing of mercantile value. Thank you, Mr. Robinson;
+by-and-by perhaps we shall trouble you. Strictly speaking, perhaps I
+should require the presence of your father's lawyer, or of some one
+producing probate, ere I open this box, Miss Castlewood. But having you
+here, and Major Hockin, and knowing what I do about the matter (which is
+one of personal confidence), I will dispense with formalities. We have
+given your father's solicitor notice of this deposit, and requested
+his attention, but he never has deigned to attend to it; so now we will
+dispense with him. You see that the seal is unbroken; you know your
+father's favorite seal, no doubt. The key is nothing; it was left to my
+charge. You wish that I should open this?"
+
+Certainly I did, and the banker split the seal with an ebony-handled
+paper-knife, and very soon unlocked the steel-ribbed box, whose weight
+was chiefly of itself. Some cotton-wool lay on the top to keep the
+all-penetrative dust away, and then a sheet of blue foolscap paper,
+partly covered with clear but crooked writing, and under that some
+little twists of silver paper, screwed as if there had been no time
+to tie them, and a packet of letters held together by a glittering
+bracelet.
+
+"Poor fellow!" Mr. Shovelin said, softly, while I held my breath, and
+the Major had the courtesy to be silent. "This is his will; of no
+value, I fear, in a pecuniary point of view, but of interest to you his
+daughter. Shall I open it, Miss Castlewood, or send it to his lawyers?"
+
+"Open it, and never think of them," said I. "Like the rest, they have
+forsaken him. Please to read it to yourself, and then tell us."
+
+"Oh, I wish I had known this before!" cried the banker, after a rapid
+glance or two. "Very kind, very flattering, I am sure! Yes, I will do my
+duty by him; I wish there was more to be done in the case. He has left
+me sole executor, and trustee of all his property, for the benefit of
+his surviving child. Yet he never gave me the smallest idea of expecting
+me to do this for him. Otherwise, of course, I should have had this old
+box opened years ago."
+
+"We must look at things as they are," said Major Hockin, for I could say
+nothing. "The question is, what do you mean to do now?"
+
+"Nothing whatever," said the banker, crisply, being displeased at the
+other's tone; and then, seeing my surprise, he addressed himself to
+me: "Nothing at present, but congratulate myself upon my old friend's
+confidence, and, as Abernethy said, 'take advice.' A banker must never
+encroach upon the province of the lawyer. But so far as a layman may
+judge, Major Hockin, I think you will have to transfer to me the care of
+this young lady."
+
+"I shall be only too happy, I assure you," the Major answered,
+truthfully. "My wife has a great regard for her, and so have I--the very
+greatest, the strongest regard, and warm parental feelings; as you know,
+Erema. But--but, I am not so young as I was; and I have to develop my
+property."
+
+"Of which she no longer forms a part," Mr. Shovelin answered, with a
+smile at me, which turned into pleasure my momentary pain at the other's
+calm abandonment. "You will find me prompt and proud to claim her, as
+soon as I am advised that this will is valid; and that I shall learn
+to-morrow."
+
+In spite of pride, or by its aid, my foolish eyes were full of tears,
+and I gave him a look of gratitude which reminded him of my father, as
+he said in so many words.
+
+"Oh, I hope it is valid! How I hope it is!" I exclaimed, turning round
+to the Major, who smiled rather grimly, and said he hoped so too.
+
+"But surely," he continued, "as we are all here, we should not neglect
+the opportunity of inspecting the other contents of this box. To me
+it appears that we are bound to do so; that it is our plain duty to
+ascertain--Why, there might even be a later will. Erema, my dear, you
+must be most anxious to get to the bottom of it."
+
+So I was, but desired even more that his curiosity should be foiled. "We
+must leave that to Mr. Shovelin," I said.
+
+"Then for the present we will seal it down again," the banker answered,
+quietly; "we can see that there is no other will, and a later one would
+scarcely be put under this. The other little packets, whatever they may
+be, are objects of curiosity, perhaps, rather than of importance. They
+will keep till we have more leisure."
+
+"We have taken up a great deal of your time, Sir, I am sure," said the
+Major, finding that he could take no more. "We ought to be, and we are,
+most grateful."
+
+"Well," the banker answered, as we began to move, "such things do not
+happen every day. But there is no friend like an old friend, Erema, as I
+mean to call you now. I was to have been your godfather; but I fear that
+you never have been baptized."
+
+"What!" cried the Major, staring at us both. "Is such a thing possible
+in a Christian land? Oh, how I have neglected my duty to the Church!
+Come back with me to Bruntsea, and my son shall do it. The church there
+is under my orders, I should hope; and we will have a dinner party
+afterward. What a horrible neglect of duty!"
+
+"But how could I help it?" I exclaimed, with some terror at Major
+Hockin's bristling hair. "I can not remember--I am sure I can not say.
+It may have been done in France, or somewhere, if there was no time in
+England. At any rate, my father is not to be blamed."
+
+"Papistical baptism is worse than none," the Major said, impressively.
+"Never mind, my dear, we will make that all right. You shall not be a
+savage always. We will take the opportunity to change your name. Erema
+is popish and outlandish; one scarcely knows how to pronounce it. You
+shall have a good English Christian name--Jemima, Jane, or Sophy. Trust
+me to know a good name. Trust me."
+
+"Jemima!" I cried. "Oh, Mr. Shovelin, save me from ever being called
+Jemima! Rather would I never be baptized at all."
+
+"I am no judge of names," he answered, smiling, as he shook hands with
+us; "but, unless I am a very bad judge of faces, you will be called just
+what you please."
+
+"And I please to be called what my father called me. It may be unlucky,
+as a gentleman told me, who did not know how to pronounce it. However,
+it will do very well for me. You wish to see me, then, to-morrow, Mr.
+Shovelin?"
+
+"If you please; but later in the day, when I am more at leisure. I do
+not run away very early. Come at half past four to this door, and
+knock. I hear every sound at this door in my room; and the place will be
+growing quiet then."
+
+He showed us out into a narrow alley through a heavy door sheathed with
+iron, and soon we recovered the fair light of day, and the brawl and
+roar of a London street.
+
+"Now where shall we go?" the Major asked, as soon as he had found a cab
+again; for he was very polite in that way. "You kept early hours with
+your 'uncle Sam,' as you call Colonel Gundry, a slow-witted man, but
+most amusing when he likes, as slow-witted men very often are. Now will
+you come and dine with me? I can generally dine, as you, with virtuous
+indignation, found out at Southampton. But we are better friends now,
+Miss Heathen."
+
+"Yes, I have more than I can ever thank you for," I answered, very
+gravely, for I never could become jocose to order, and sadness still was
+uppermost. "I will go where you like. I am quite at your orders, because
+Betsy Bowen is busy now. She will not have done her work till six
+o'clock."
+
+"Well done!" he cried. "Bravo, Young America! Frankness is the finest of
+all good manners. And what a lot of clumsy deception it saves! Then let
+us go and dine. I will imitate your truthfulness. It was two words for
+myself, and one for you. The air of London always makes me hungry after
+too much country air. It is wrong altogether, but I can not help it. And
+going along, I smell hungry smells coming out of deep holes with a
+plate at the top. Hungry I mean to a man who has known what absolute
+starvation is--when a man would thank God for a blue-bottle fly who had
+taken his own nip any where. When I see the young fellows at the clubs
+pick this, and poke that, and push away the other, may I be d----d--my
+dear, I beg your pardon. Cabby, to the 'Grilled Bone and Scolloped
+Cockle,' at the bottom of St. Ventricle Lane, you know."
+
+This place seemed, from what the Major said, to have earned repute for
+something special, something esteemed by the very clever people, and
+only to be found in true virtue here. And he told me that luxury and
+self-indulgence were the greatest sins of the present age, and how he
+admired a man who came here to protest against Epicureans, by dining
+(liquors not included) for the sum of three and sixpence.
+
+All this, no doubt, was wise and right; but I could not attend to it
+properly now, and he might take me where he would, and have all the
+talking to himself, according to his practice. And I might not even have
+been able to say what this temple of bones and cockles was like, except
+for a little thing which happened there. The room, at the head of
+a twisting staircase, was low and dark, and furnished almost like a
+farmhouse kitchen. It had no carpet, nor even a mat, but a floor of
+black timber, and a ceiling colored blue, with stars and comets, and a
+full moon near the fire-place. On either side of the room stood narrow
+tables endwise to the walls, inclosed with high-backed seats like
+settles, forming thus a double set of little stalls or boxes, with
+scarcely space enough between for waiters, more urgent than New York
+firemen, to push their steaming and breathless way.
+
+"Square or round, miss?" said one of them to me as soon as the Major had
+set me on a bench, and before my mind had time to rally toward criticism
+of the knives and forks, which deprecated any such ordeal; and he
+cleverly whipped a stand for something dirty, over something still
+dirtier, on the cloth.
+
+"I don't understand what you mean," I replied to his highly zealous
+aspect, while the Major sat smiling dryly at my ignorance, which vexed
+me. "I have never received such a question before. Major Hockin, will
+you kindly answer him?"
+
+"Square," said the Major; "square for both." And the waiter, with a
+glance of pity at me, hurried off to carry out his order.
+
+"Erema, your mind is all up in the sky," my companion began to
+remonstrate. "You ought to know better after all your travels."
+
+"Then the sky should not fall and confuse me so," I said, pointing to
+the Milky Way, not more than a yard above me; "but do tell me what he
+meant, if you can. Is it about the formation of the soup?"
+
+"Hush, my dear. Soup is high treason here until night, when they make it
+of the leavings. His honest desire was to know whether you would have a
+grilled bone of mutton, which is naturally round, you know, or of beef,
+which, by the same law of nature, seems always to be square, you know."
+
+"Oh, I see," I replied, with some confusion, not at his osteology, but
+at the gaze of a pair of living and lively eyes fastened upon me. A
+gentleman, waiting for his bill, had risen in the next low box, and
+stood calmly (as if he had done all his duty to himself) gazing over the
+wooden back at me, who thus sat facing him. And Major Hockin, following
+my glance, stood up and turned round to see to it.
+
+"What! Cousin Montague! Bless my heart, who could have dreamed of
+lighting on you here? Come in, my dear follow; there is plenty of
+room. Let me introduce you to my new ward, Miss Erema Castlewood. Miss
+Castlewood, this is Sir Montague Hockin, the son of my lamented first
+cousin Sir Rufus, of whom you have heard so much. Well, to be sure! I
+have not seen you for an age. My dear fellow, now how are you?"
+
+"Miss Castlewood, please not to move; I sit any where. Major, I am most
+delighted to see you. Over and over again I have been at the point of
+starting for Bruntsea Island--it is an island now, isn't it? My father
+would never believe that it was till I proved it from the number of
+rabbits that came up. However, not a desolate island now, if it contains
+you and all your energies, and Miss Castlewood, as well as Mrs. Hockin."
+
+"It is not an island, and it never shall be," the Major cried, knocking
+a blue plate over, and spilling the salt inauspiciously. "It never
+was an island, and it never shall be. My intention is to reclaim it
+altogether. Oh, here come the squares. Well done! well done! I quite
+forget the proper thing to have to drink. Are the cockles in the pan,
+Mr. Waiter? Quite right, then; ten minutes is the proper time; but they
+know that better than I do. I am very sorry, Montague, that you have
+dined."
+
+"Surely you would not call this a dinner; I take my true luncheon
+afterward. But lately my appetite has been so bad that it must be fed up
+at short intervals. You can understand that, perhaps, Miss Castlewood.
+It makes the confectioners' fortunes, you know. The ladies once came
+only twice to feed, but now they come three times, I am assured by a
+young man who knows all about it. And cherry brandy is the mildest form
+of tipple."
+
+"Shocking scandal! abominable talk!" cried the Major, who took every
+thing at its word. "I have heard all that sort of stuff ever since I was
+as high as this table. Waiter, show me this gentleman's bill. Oh well,
+oh well! you have not done so very badly. Two squares and a round, with
+a jug of Steinberg, and a pint of British stout with your Stilton. If
+this is your ante-lunch, what will you do when you come to your real
+luncheon? But I must not talk now; you may have it as you please."
+
+"The truth of it is, Miss Castlewood," said the young man, while I
+looked with some curiosity at my frizzling bone, with the cover just
+whisked off, and drops of its juice (like the rays of a lustre) shaking
+with soft inner wealth--"the truth of it is just this, and no more:
+we fix our minds and our thoughts, and all the rest of our higher
+intelligence, a great deal too much upon our mere food."
+
+"No doubt we do," I was obliged to answer. "It is very sad to think of,
+as soon as one has dined. But does that reflection occur, as it should,
+at the proper time to be useful--I mean when we are hungry?"
+
+"I fear not; I fear that it is rather praeterite than practical."
+
+"No big words now, my dear fellow," cried the Major. "You have had your
+turn; let us have ours. But, Erema, you are eating nothing. Take a knife
+and fork, Montague, and help her. The beauty of these things consists
+entirely, absolutely, essentially, I may say, in their having the smoke
+rushing out of them. A gush of steam like this should follow every turn
+of the knife. But there! I am spoiling every bit by talking so."
+
+"Is that any fault of mine?" asked Sir Montague, in a tone which made me
+look at him. The voice was not harsh, nor rough, nor unpleasant, yet it
+gave me the idea that it could be all three, and worse than all three,
+upon occasion. So I looked at him, which I had refrained from doing, to
+see whether his face confirmed that idea. To the best of my perception,
+it did not. Sir Montague Hockin was rather good-looking, so far as
+form and color go, having regular features, and clear blue eyes, very
+beautiful teeth, and a golden beard. His appearance was grave, but
+not morose, as if he were always examining things and people without
+condemning them. It was evident that he expected to take the upper hand
+in general, to play the first fiddle, to hold the top saw, to "be helped
+to all the stuffing of the pumpkin," as dear Uncle Sam was fond of
+saying. Of moderate stature, almost of middle age, and dressed nicely,
+without any gewgaws, which look so common upon a gentleman's front, he
+was likely to please more people than he displeased at first on-sight.
+
+The Major was now in the flush of goodwill, having found his dinner
+genial; and being a good man, he yielded to a little sympathetic anger
+with those who had done less justice to themselves. And in this state
+of mind he begged us to take note of one thing--that his ward should
+be christened in Bruntsea Church, as sure as all the bells were his,
+according to their inscriptions, no later than next Thursday week, that
+being the day for a good sirloin; and if Sir Montague failed to come to
+see how they could manage things under proper administration, he might
+be sure of one thing, if no more--that Major Hockin would never speak to
+him again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+A CHECK
+
+
+So many things now began to open upon me, to do and to think of, that I
+scarcely knew which to begin with. I used to be told how much wiser it
+was not to interfere with any thing--to let by-gones be by-gones, and
+consider my own self only. But this advice never came home to my case,
+and it always seemed an unworthy thing even to be listening to it. And
+now I saw reason to be glad for thanking people who advised me, and
+letting them go on to advise themselves. For if I had listened to Major
+Hockin, or even Uncle Sam for that part, where must I have been
+now? Why, simply knowing no more than as a child I knew, and feeling
+miserable about it. Whereas I had now at least something to go upon,
+and enough for a long time to occupy my mind. The difficulty was to know
+what to do first, and what to resolve to leave undone, or at least to
+put off for the present. One of my special desires had been to discover
+that man, that Mr. Goad, who had frightened me so about two years back,
+and was said to be lost in the snow-drifts. But nobody like him had ever
+been found, to the sorrow of the neighborhood; and Sylvester himself had
+been disappointed, not even to know what to do with his clothes.
+
+His card, however, before he went off, had been left to the care of
+Uncle Sam for security of the 15,000 dollars; and on it was printed,
+with a glazing and much flourish, "Vypan, Goad, and Terryer: Private
+Inquiry Office, Little England Polygon, W.C." Uncle Sam, with a grunt
+and a rise of his foot, had sent this low card flying to the fire, after
+I had kissed him so for all his truth and loveliness; but I had caught
+it and made him give it to me, as was only natural. And having this now,
+I had been quite prepared to go and present it at its mean address, and
+ask what they wanted me for in America, and what they would like to do
+with me now, taking care to have either the Major close at hand, or else
+a policeman well recommended.
+
+But now I determined to wait a little while (if Betsy Bowen's opinion
+should be at all the same as mine was), and to ask Mr. Shovelin what
+he thought about it, before doing any thing that might arouse a set of
+ideas quite opposite to mine, and so cause trouble afterward. And being
+unable to think any better for the time than to wait and be talked to,
+I got Major Hockin to take me back again to the right number in European
+Square.
+
+Here I found Mrs. Strouss (born Betsy Bowen) ready and eager to hear a
+great deal more than I myself had heard that day. On the other hand, I
+had many questions, arising from things said to me, to which I required
+clear answers; and it never would do for her to suppose that because
+she had known me come into this world, she must govern the whole of my
+course therein. But it cost many words and a great deal of demeanor
+to teach her that, good and faithful as she was, I could not be always
+under her. Yet I promised to take her advice whenever it agreed with my
+own opinions.
+
+This pleased her, and she promised to offer it always, knowing how well
+it would be received, and she told all her lodgers that they might ring
+and ring, for she did not mean to answer any of their bells; but if they
+wanted any thing, they must go and fetch it. Being Germans, who are the
+most docile of men in England, whatever they may be at home, they made
+no complaint, but retired to their pipes in a pleasant condition of
+surprise at London habits.
+
+Mrs. Strouss, being from her earliest years of a thrifty and reputable
+turn of mind, had managed, in a large yet honest way, to put by many
+things which must prove useful in the long-run, if kept long enough.
+And I did hear--most careful as I am to pay no attention to petty
+rumors--that the first thing that moved the heart of Herr Strouss, and
+called forth his finest feelings, was a winding-up chair, which came out
+to make legs, with a pocket for tobacco, and a flat place for a glass.
+
+This was certainly a paltry thought; and to think of such low things
+grieved me. And now, when I looked at Mr. Strouss himself, having heard
+of none of these things yet, I felt that my nurse might not have done
+her best, yet might have done worse, when she married him. For he seemed
+to have taken a liking toward me, and an interest in my affairs, which
+redounded to his credit, if he would not be too inquisitive. And now
+I gladly allowed him to be present, and to rest in the chair which had
+captivated him, although last night I could scarcely have borne to have
+heard in his presence what I had to hear. To-night there was nothing
+distressful to be said, compared, at least, with last night's tale;
+whereas there were several questions to be put, in some of which (while
+scouting altogether Uncle Sam's low estimate) two females might, with
+advantage perhaps, obtain an opinion from the stronger sex.
+
+And now, as soon as I had told my two friends as well as I could what
+had happened at the bank (with which they were pleased, as I had been),
+those questions arose, and were, I believe, chiefly to the following
+purport--setting aside the main puzzle of all.
+
+Why did my father say, on that dreadful morning, that if his father was
+dead, he himself had killed or murdered him? Betsy believed, when she
+came to think, that he had even used the worse word of these two.
+
+How could the fatal shot have been discharged from his pistol--as
+clearly it had been--a pistol, moreover, which, by his own account, as
+Betsy now remembered, he had left in his quarters near Chichester?
+
+What was that horrible disease which had carried off all my poor little
+brothers and sisters, and frightened kind neighbors and servants away?
+Betsy said it was called "Differeria," as differing so much from all
+other complaints. I had never yet heard of this, but discovered, without
+asking further than of Mr. Strouss, that she meant that urgent mandate
+for a levy of small angels which is called on earth "diphtheria."
+
+Who had directed those private inquirers, Vypan, Goad, and Terryer, to
+send to the far West a member of their firm to get legal proof of my
+dear father's death, and to bring me back, if possible? The present
+Lord Castlewood never would have done so, according to what Mr. Shovelin
+said; it was far more likely that (but for weak health) he would have
+come forth himself to seek me, upon any probable tidings. At once a
+religious and chivalrous man, he would never employ mean agency. And
+while thinking of that, another thought occurred--What had induced that
+low man Goad to give Uncle Sam a date wrong altogether for the crime
+which began all our misery? He had put it at ten, now twelve, years
+back, and dated it in November, whereas it had happened in September
+month, six years and two months before the date he gave. This question
+was out of all answer to me, and also to Mrs. Strouss herself; but Herr
+Strouss, being of a legal turn, believed that the law was to blame
+for it. He thought that proceedings might be bound to begin, under the
+Extradition Act, within ten years of the date of the crime; or there
+might be some other stipulation compelling Mr. Goad to add one to all
+his falsehoods; and not knowing any thing about it, both of us thought
+it very likely.
+
+Again, what could have been that last pledge which passed between my
+father and mother, when they said "good-by" to one another, and perhaps
+knew that it was forever, so far as this bodily world is concerned? Was
+it any thing about a poor little sleeping and whimpering creature like
+myself, who could not yet make any difference to any living being except
+the mother? Or was it concerning far more important things, justice,
+clear honor, good-will, and duty, such as in the crush of time come
+upward with high natures? And if so, was it not a promise from my
+mother, knowing every thing, to say nothing, even at the quivering
+moment of lying beneath the point of death?
+
+This was a new idea for Betsy, who had concluded from the very first
+that the pledge must be on my father's part--to wit, that he had vowed
+not to surrender, or hurt himself in any way, for the sake of his dear
+wife. And to my suggestion she could only say that she never had seen
+it in that light; but the landings were so narrow and the walls so soft
+that, with all her duty staring in her face, neither she, nor the best
+servant ever in an apron, could be held responsible to repeat their very
+words. And her husband said that this was good--very good--so good as
+ever could be; and what was to show now from the mouth of any one, after
+fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, the years?
+
+After this I had no other word to say, being still too young to
+contradict people duly married and of one accord. No other word, I mean,
+upon that point; though still I had to ask, upon matters more immediate,
+what was the next thing for me, perhaps, to do. And first of all it was
+settled among us that for me to present myself at the head-quarters of
+Vypau, Goad, and Terryer would be a very clumsy and stupid proceeding,
+and perhaps even dangerous. Of course they would not reveal to me the
+author of those kind inquiries about myself, which perhaps had cost the
+firm a very valuable life, the life of Mr. Goad himself. And while I
+should learn less than nothing from them, they would most easily extract
+from me, or at any rate find out afterward, where I was living, and
+what I was doing, and how I could most quietly be met and baffled, and
+perhaps even made away with, so as to save all further trouble.
+
+Neither was that the only point upon which I resolved to do nothing.
+Herr Strouss was a very simple-minded man, yet full of true sagacity,
+and he warmly advised, in his very worst English, that none but my few
+trusty friends should be told of my visit to this country.
+
+"Why for make to know your enemies?" he asked, with one finger on his
+forehead, which was his mode of indicating caution. "Enemies find out
+vere soon, too soon, soon enough. Begin to plot--no, no, young lady
+begin first. Vilhelmina, your man say the right. Is it good, or is it
+bad?"
+
+It appeared to us both to be good, so far as might be judged for the
+present; and therefore I made up my mind to abstain from calling even on
+my father's agent, unless Mr. Shovelin should think it needful. In that
+and other matters I would act by his advice; and so with better spirits
+than I long had owned, at finding so much kindness, and with good hopes
+of the morrow, I went to the snug little bedroom which my good nurse had
+provided.
+
+Alas! What was my little grief on the morrow, compared to the deep and
+abiding loss of many by a good man's death? When I went to the door at
+which I had been told to knock, it was long before I got an answer. And
+even when somebody came at last, so far from being my guardian, it was
+only a poor old clerk, who said, "Hush, miss!" and then prayed that the
+will of the Lord might be done. "Couldn't you see the half-shutters
+up?" he continued, rather roughly. "'Tis a bad job for many a poor man
+to-day. And it seems no more than yesterday I was carrying him about!"
+
+"Do you mean Mr. Shovelin?" I asked. "Is he poorly? Has any thing
+happened? I can wait, or come again."
+
+"The Lord has taken him to the mansions of the just, from his private
+address at Sydenham Hill. A burning and a shining light! May we like
+him be found watching in that day, with our lamps trimmed and our loins
+girded!"
+
+For the moment I was too surprised to speak, and the kind old man led me
+into the passage, seeing how pale and faint I was. He belonged, like
+his master, and a great part of their business, to a simple religious
+persuasion, or faith, which now is very seldom heard of.
+
+"It was just in this way," he said, as soon as tears had enabled me to
+speak--for even at the first sight I had felt affection toward my new
+guardian. "Our master is a very punctual man, for five-and-thirty years
+never late--never late once till this morning. Excuse me, miss, I ought
+to be ashamed. The Lord knoweth what is best for us. Well, you threw him
+out a good bit yesterday, and there was other troubles. And he had to
+work late last night, I hear; for through his work he would go, be it
+anyhow--diligent in business, husbanding the time--and when he came down
+to breakfast this morning, he prayed with his household as usual, but
+they noticed his voice rather weak and queer; and the mistress looked
+at him when he got up from his knees; but he drank his cup of tea and
+he ate his bit of toast, which was all he ever took for breakfast. But
+presently when his cob came up to the door--for he always rode in to
+business, miss, no matter what the weather was--he went to kiss his wife
+and his daughters all round, according to their ages; and he got through
+them all, when away he fell down, with the riding-whip in one hand, and
+expired on a piece of Indian matting."
+
+"How terrible!" I exclaimed, with a sob. And the poor old man, in spite
+of all his piety, was sobbing.
+
+"No, miss; not a bit of terror about it, to a man prepared as he was.
+He had had some warning just a year ago; and the doctors all told him he
+must leave off work. He could no more do without his proper work than he
+could without air or victuals. What this old established concern will
+do without him, our Divine Master only knows. And a pinch coming on in
+Threadneedle Street, I hear--but I scarcely know what I am saying, miss;
+I was thinking of the camel and the needle."
+
+"I will not repeat what you have not meant to tell," I answered, seeing
+his confusion, and the clumsy turn he had made of it. "Only tell me what
+dear Mr. Shovelin died of."
+
+"Heart-disease, miss. You might know in a moment. Nothing kills like
+that. His poor father died of it, thirty years agone. And the better
+people are, the more they get it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+AT THE PUMP
+
+
+This blow was so sharp and heavy that I lost for the moment all power to
+go on. The sense of ill fortune fell upon me, as it falls upon stronger
+people, when a sudden gleam of hope, breaking through long troubles,
+mysteriously fades away.
+
+Even the pleasure of indulging in the gloom of evil luck was a thing
+to be ashamed of now, when I thought of that good man's family thus,
+without a moment's warning, robbed of love and hope and happiness. But
+Mrs. Strouss, who often brooded on predestination, imbittered all my
+thoughts by saying, or rather conveying without words, that my poor
+fathers taint of some Divine ill-will had re-appeared, and even killed
+his banker.
+
+Betsy held most Low-Church views, by nature being a Dissenter. She
+called herself a Baptist, and in some strange way had stopped me thus
+from ever having been baptized. I do not understand these things, and
+the battles fought about them; but knowing that my father was a member
+of the English Church, I resolved to be the same, and told Betsy that
+she ought not to set up against her master's doctrine. Then she herself
+became ashamed of trying to convert me, not only because of my ignorance
+(which made argument like shooting into the sea), but chiefly because
+she could mention no one of title with such theology.
+
+This settled the question at once; and remembering (to my shame) what
+opinions I had held even of Suan Isco, while being in the very same
+predicament myself, reflecting also what Uncle Sam and Firm would have
+thought of me, had they known it, I anticipated the Major and his dinner
+party by going to a quiet ancient clergyman, who examined me, and being
+satisfied with little, took me to an old City church of deep and damp
+retirement. And here, with a great din of traffic outside, and a mildewy
+depth of repose within, I was presented by certain sponsors (the clerk
+and his wife and his wife's sister), and heard good words, and hope to
+keep the impression, both outward and inward, gently made upon me.
+
+I need not say that I kept, and now received with authority, my old
+name; though the clerk prefixed an aspirate to it, and indulged in two
+syllables only. But the ancient parson knew its meaning, and looked at
+me with curiosity; yet, being a gentleman of the old school, put never a
+question about it.
+
+Now this being done, and full tidings thereof sent off to Mrs. Hockin,
+to save trouble to the butcher, or other disappointment, I scarcely knew
+how to be moving next, though move I must before very long. For it cost
+me a great deal of money to stay in European Square like this, albeit
+Herr Strouss was of all men the most generous, by his own avowal, and
+his wife (by the same test) noble-hearted among women. Yet each of them
+spoke of the other's pecuniary views in such a desponding tone (when the
+other was out of the way), and so lamented to have any thing at all
+to say about cash--by compulsion of the other--also both, when met
+together, were so large and reckless, and not to be insulted by a
+thought of payment, that it came to pass that my money did nothing but
+run away between them.
+
+This was not their fault at all, but all my own, for being unable to
+keep my secret about the great nugget. The Major had told me not to
+speak of this, according to wise experience; and I had not the smallest
+intention of doing an atom of mischief in that way; but somehow or other
+it came out one night when I was being pitied for my desolation. And all
+the charges against me began to be doubled from that moment.
+
+If this had been all, I should not have cared so much, being quite
+content that my money should go as fast as it came in to me. But there
+was another thing here which cost me as much as my board and lodgings
+and all the rest of my expenses. And that was the iron pump in European
+Square. For this pump stood in the very centre of a huddled district
+of famine, filth, and fever. When once I had seen from the leads of
+our house the quag of reeking life around, the stubs and snags of
+chimney-pots, the gashes among them entitled streets, and the broken
+blains called houses, I was quite ashamed of paying any thing to become
+a Christian.
+
+Betsy, who stood by me, said that it was better than it used to be,
+and that all these people lived in comfort of their own ideas, fiercely
+resented all interference, and were good to one another in their own
+rough way. It was more than three years since there had been a single
+murder among them, and even then the man who was killed confessed that
+he deserved it. She told me, also, that in some mining district of
+Wales, well known to her, things were a great deal worse than here,
+although the people were not half so poor. And finally, looking at a
+ruby ring which I had begged her to wear always, for the sake of her
+truth to me, she begged me to be wiser than to fret about things that I
+could not change. "All these people, whose hovels I saw, had the means
+of grace before them, and if they would not stretch forth their hands,
+it was only because they were vessels of wrath. Her pity was rather
+for our poor black brethren who had never enjoyed no opportunities, and
+therefore must be castaways."
+
+Being a stranger, and so young, and accustomed to receive my doctrine
+(since first I went to America), I dropped all intention of attempting
+any good in places where I might be murdered. But I could not help
+looking at the pump which was in front, and the poor things who came
+there for water, and, most of all, the children. With these it was
+almost the joy of the day, and perhaps the only joy, to come into this
+little open space and stand, and put their backs up stiffly, and stare
+about, ready for some good luck to turn up--such as a horse to hold, or
+a man coming out of the docks with a half-penny to spare--and then,
+in failure of such golden hope, to dash about, in and out, after one
+another, splashing, and kicking over their own cans, kettles, jars, or
+buckets, and stretching their dirty little naked legs, and showing very
+often fine white chests, and bright teeth wet with laughter. And then,
+when this chivy was done, and their quick little hearts beat aloud with
+glory, it was pretty to see them all rally round the pump, as crafty
+as their betters, and watching with sly humor each other's readiness to
+begin again.
+
+Then suddenly a sense of neglected duty would seize some little body
+with a hand to its side, nine times out of ten a girl, whose mother,
+perhaps, lay sick at home, and a stern idea of responsibility began
+to make the buckets clank. Then might you see, if you cared to do so,
+orderly management have its turn--a demand for pins and a tucking up
+of skirts (which scarcely seemed worthy of the great young fuss), large
+children scolding little ones not a bit more muddy than themselves, the
+while the very least child of all, too young as yet for chivying, and
+only come for company, would smooth her comparatively clean frock down,
+and look up at her sisters with condemnatory eyes.
+
+Trivial as they were, these things amused me much, and made a little
+checker of reflected light upon the cloud of selfish gloom, especially
+when the real work began, and the children, vying with one another,
+set to at the iron handle. This was too large for their little hands to
+grasp, and by means of some grievance inside, or perhaps through a cruel
+trick of the plumber, up went the long handle every time small fingers
+were too confiding, and there it stood up like the tail of a rampant
+cow, or a branch inaccessible, until an old shawl or the cord of a
+peg-top could be cast up on high to reduce it. But some engineering boy,
+"highly gifted," like Uncle Sam's self, "with machinery," had discovered
+an ingenious cure for this. With the help of the girls he used to fasten
+a fat little thing, about twelve months old, in the bend at the middle
+of the handle, and there (like a ham on the steelyard) hung this baby
+and enjoyed seesaw, and laughed at its own utility.
+
+I never saw this, and the splashing and dribbling and play and bright
+revelry of water, without forgetting all sad counsel and discretion,
+and rushing out as if the dingy pump were my own delicious Blue River.
+People used to look at me from the windows with pity and astonishment,
+supposing me to be crazed or frantic, especially the Germans. For to run
+out like this, without a pocket full of money, would have been insanity;
+and to run out with it, to their minds, was even clearer proof of that
+condition. For the money went as quickly as the water of the pump; on
+this side and on that it flew, each child in succession making deeper
+drain upon it, in virtue of still deeper woes. They were dreadful little
+story-tellers, I am very much afraid; and the long faces pulled, as
+soon as I came out, in contrast with all the recent glee and frolic,
+suggested to even the youngest charity suspicions of some inconsistency.
+However, they were so ingenious and clever that they worked my pockets
+like the pump itself, only with this unhappy difference, that the former
+had no inexhaustible spring of silver, or even of copper.
+
+And thus, by a reason (as cogent as any of more exalted nature), was
+I driven back to my head-quarters, there to abide till a fresh supply
+should come. For Uncle Sam, generous and noble as he was, did not mean
+to let me melt all away at once my share of the great Blue River nugget,
+any more than to make ducks and drakes of his own. Indeed, that rock of
+gold was still untouched, and healthily reposing in a banker's cellar
+in the good town of Sacramento. People were allowed to go in and see
+it upon payment of a dollar, and they came out so thirsty from feasting
+upon it that a bar was set up, and a pile of money made--all the
+gentlemen, and ladies even worse than they, taking a reckless turn about
+small money after seeing that. But dear Uncle Sam refused every cent of
+the profit of all this excitable work. It was wholly against his wish
+that any thing so artificial should be done at all, and his sense of
+religion condemned it. He said, in his very first letter to me, that
+even a heathen must acknowledge this champion nugget as the grandest
+work of the Lord yet discovered in America--a country more full of all
+works of the Lord than the rest of the world put together. And to keep
+it in a cellar, without any air or sun, grated harshly upon his ideas of
+right.
+
+However, he did not expect every body to think exactly as he did, and
+if they could turn a few dollars upon it, they were welcome, as having
+large families. And the balance might go to his credit against the
+interest on any cash advanced to him. Not that he meant to be very fast
+with this, never having run into debt in all his life.
+
+This, put shortly, was the reason why I could not run to the pump any
+longer. I had come into England with money enough to last me (according
+to the Sawyer's calculations) for a year and a half of every needful
+work; whereas, in less than half that time, I was arriving at my last
+penny. This reminded me of my dear father, who was nearly always in
+trouble about money (although so strictly upright); and at first I was
+proud to be like him about this, till I came to find the disadvantages.
+
+It must not even for a moment be imagined that this made any difference
+in the behavior of any one toward me. Mrs. Strouss, Herr Strouss, the
+lady on the stairs, and a very clever woman who had got no rooms, but
+was kindly accommodated every where, as well as the baron on the first
+floor front, and the gentleman from a hotel at Hanover, who looked
+out the other way, and even the children at the pump--not one made any
+difference toward me (as an enemy might, perhaps, suppose) because my
+last half crown was gone. It was admitted upon every side that I ought
+to be forgiven for my random cast of money, because I knew no better,
+and was sure to have more in a very little time. And the children of
+the pump came to see me go away, through streets of a mile and a half, I
+should think; and they carried my things, looking after one another, so
+that none could run away. And being forbidden at the platform gate, for
+want of respectability, they set up a cheer, and I waved my hat, and
+promised, amidst great applause, to come back with it full of sixpences.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+COCKS AND COXCOMBS
+
+
+Major Hockin brought the only fly as yet to be found in Bruntsea, to
+meet me at Newport, where the railway ended at present, for want of
+further encouragement.
+
+"Very soon you go," he cried out to the bulkheads, or buffers, or
+whatever are the things that close the career of a land-engine.
+"Station-master, you are very wise in putting in your very best cabbage
+plants there. You understand your own company. Well done! If I were to
+offer you a shilling apiece for those young early Yorks, what would you
+say, now?"
+
+"Weel, a think I should say nah, Sir," the Scotch station-master made
+answer, with a grin, while he pulled off his cap of office and put on a
+dissolute Glengary. "They are a veery fine young kail, that always pays
+for planting."
+
+"The villain!" said the Major, as I jumped into the fly. "However, I
+suppose he does quite right. Set a thief to watch a thief. The company
+are big rogues, and he tries to be a bigger. We shall cut through his
+garden in about three months, just when his cabbages are getting firm,
+and their value will exceed that of pine-apples. The surveyor will
+come down and certify, and the 'damage to crops' will be at least five
+pounds, when they have no right to sow even mustard and cress, and a
+saucepan would hold all the victuals on the land."
+
+From this I perceived that my host was as full of his speculative
+schemes as ever; and soon he made the driver of the one-horse fly turn
+aside from the unfenced road and take the turf. "Coachman," he cried,
+"just drive along the railway; you won't have the chance much longer."
+
+There was no sod turned yet and no rod set up; but the driver seemed to
+know what was meant, and took us over the springy turf where once had
+run the river. And the salt breath of the sea came over the pebble
+ridge, full of appetite and briskness, after so much London.
+
+"It is one of the saddest things I ever heard of," Major Hockin began
+to say to me. "Poor Shovelin! poor Shovelin! A man of large capital--the
+very thing we want. It might have been the making of this place. I have
+very little doubt that I must have brought him to see our great natural
+advantages--the beauty of the situation, the salubrity of the air, the
+absence of all clay, or marsh, or noxious deposit, the bright crisp
+turf, and the noble underlay of chalk, which (if you perceive my
+meaning) can not retain any damp, but transmits it into sweet natural
+wells. Why, driver, where the devil are you driving us?"
+
+"No fear, your honor. I know every trick of it. It won't come over
+the wheels, I do believe, and it does all the good in the world to his
+sand-cracks. Whoa-ho, my boy, then! And the young lady's feet might
+go up upon the cushion, if her boots is thin, Sir; and Mr. Rasper will
+excuse of it."
+
+"What the"--something hot--"do you mean, Sir?" the Major roared over
+the water, which seemed to be deepening as we went on. "Pull out this
+instant; pull out, I tell you, or you shall have three months' hard
+labor. May I be d----d now--my dear, I beg your pardon for speaking with
+such sincerity--I simply mean, may I go straightway to the devil, if I
+don't put this fellow on the tread-mill. Oh, you can pull out now, then,
+can you?"
+
+"If your honor pleases, I never did pull in," the poor driver answered,
+being frightened at the excitement of the lord of the manor. "My orders
+was, miss, to drive along the line coming on now just to Bruntsea, and
+keep in the middle of that same I did, and this here little wet is a
+haxident--a haxident of the full moon, I do assure you, and the wind
+coming over the sea, as you might say. These pebbles is too round, miss,
+to stick to one another; you couldn't expect it of them; and sometimes
+the water here and there comes a-leaking like through the bottom. I have
+seed it so, ever since I can remember."
+
+"I don't believe a word of it," the Major said, as we waited a little
+for the vehicle to drain, and I made a nosegay of the bright sea
+flowers. "Tell me no lies, Sir; you belong to the West Bruntseyans, and
+you have driven us into a vile bog to scare me. They have bribed you.
+I see the whole of it. Tell me the truth, and you shall have five
+shillings."
+
+The driver looked over the marshes as if he had never received such
+an offer before. Five shillings for a falsehood would have seemed the
+proper thing, and have called for a balance of considerations, and made
+a demand upon his energies. But to earn five shillings by the truth had
+never fallen to his luck before; and he turned to me, because I smiled,
+and he said, "Will you taste the water, miss?"
+
+"Bless me!" cried the Major, "now I never thought of that. Common people
+have such ways about things they are used to! I might have stood
+here for a month, and never have thought of that way to settle it.
+Ridiculously simple. Give me a taste, Erema. Ah, that is the real beauty
+of our coast, my dear! The strongest proportion of the saline element--I
+should know the taste of it any where. No sea-weed, no fishy particles,
+no sludge, no beards of oysters. The pure, uncontaminated, perfect
+brine, that sets every male and female on his legs, varicose,
+orthopedic--I forget their scientifics, but I know the smack of it."
+
+"Certainly," I said, "it is beautifully salt. It will give you an
+appetite for dinner, Major Hockin. I could drink a pint of it, after all
+that smoke. But don't you think it is a serious thing for the sea itself
+to come pouring through the bottom of this pebble bank in this way?"
+
+"Not at all. No, I rather like it. It opens up many strictly practical
+ideas. It adds very much to the value of the land. For instance, a
+'salt-lick,' as your sweet Yankees call it--and set up an infirmary for
+foot and mouth disease. And better still, the baths, the baths, my dear.
+No expense for piping, or pumping, or any thing. Only place your marble
+at the proper level, and twice a day you have the grand salubrious
+sparkling influx of ocean's self, self-filtered, and by its own
+operation permeated with a fine siliceous element. What foreign mud
+could compete with such a bath?"
+
+"But supposing there should come too much of it," I said, "and wash both
+the baths and the bathers away?"
+
+"Such an idea is ridiculous. It can be adjusted to a nicety. I am very
+glad I happened to observe this thing, this--this noble phenomenon.
+I shall speak to Montague about it at once, before I am half an hour
+older. My dear, you have made a conquest; I quite forgot to tell you;
+but never mind that for the present. Driver, here is half a crown for
+you. Your master will put down the fly to my account. He owes me a
+heriot. I shall claim his best beast, the moment he gets one without a
+broken wind."
+
+As the Major spoke, he got out at his own door with all his wonted
+alacrity; but instead of offering me his hand, as he always had done
+in London, he skipped up his nine steps, on purpose (as I saw) that
+somebody else might come down for me. And this was Sir Montague Hockin,
+as I feared was only too likely from what had been said. If I had even
+suspected that this gentleman was at Bruntlands, I would have done my
+utmost to stay where I was, in spite of all absence of money. Betsy
+would gladly have allowed me to remain, without paying even a farthing,
+until it should become convenient. Pride had forbidden me to speak of
+this; but I would have got over that pride much rather than meet this
+Sir Montague Hockin thus. Some instinct told me to avoid him altogether;
+and having so little now of any other guidance, I attached, perhaps,
+foolish importance to that.
+
+However, it was not the part of a lady to be rude to any one through
+instinct; and I knew already that in England young women are not quite
+such masters of their own behavior as in the far West they are allowed
+to be. And so I did my best that, even in my eyes, he should not see
+how vexed I was at meeting him. And soon it appeared that this behavior,
+however painful to me, was no less wise than good, because both with my
+host and hostess this new visitor was already at the summit of all good
+graces. He had conquered the Major by admiration of all his schemes
+and upshots, and even offering glimmers of the needful money in the
+distance; and Mrs. Hockin lay quite at his feet ever since he had
+opened a hamper and produced a pair of frizzled fowls, creatures of
+an extraordinary aspect, toothed all over like a dandelion plant, with
+every feather sticking inside out. When I saw them, I tried for my life
+not to laugh, and biting my lips very hard, quite succeeded, until the
+cock opened up a pair of sleepy eyes, covered with comb and very sad
+inversions, and glancing with complacency at his wife (who stood beneath
+him, even more turned inside out), capered with his twiggy legs, and
+gave a long, sad crow. Mrs. Hockin looked at him with intense delight.
+
+"Erema, is it possible that you laugh? I thought that you never laughed,
+Erema. At any rate, if you ever do indulge, you might choose a
+fitter opportunity, I think. You have spoiled his demonstration
+altogether--see, he does not understand such unkindness--and it is the
+very first he has uttered since he came. Oh, poor Fluffsky!"
+
+"I am very, very sorry. But how was I to help it? I would not, on any
+account, have stopped him if I had known he was so sensitive. Fluffsky,
+do please to begin again."
+
+"These beggars are nothing at all, I can assure you," said Sir Montague,
+coming to my aid, when Fluffsky spurned all our prayers for one more
+crow. "Mrs. Hockin, if you really would like to have a fowl that even
+Lady Clara Crowcombe has not got, you shall have it in a week, or a
+fortnight, or, at any rate, a month, if I can manage it. They are not
+to be had except through certain channels, and the fellows who write the
+poultry books have never even heard of them."
+
+"Oh, how delighted I shall be! Lady Clara despises all her neighbors so.
+But do they lay eggs? Half the use of keeping poultry, when you never
+kill them, is to get an egg for breakfast; and Major Hockin looks round
+and says, 'Now is this our own?' and I can not say that it is; and I am
+vexed with the books, and he begins to laugh at me. People said it was
+for want of chalk, but they walk upon nothing but chalk, as you can
+see."
+
+"And their food, Mrs. Hockin. They are walking upon that. Starve
+them for a week, and forty eggs at least will reward you for stern
+discipline."
+
+But all this little talk I only tell to show how good and soft Mrs.
+Hockin was; and her husband, in spite of all his self-opinion, and
+resolute talk about money and manorial dues, in his way, perhaps, was
+even less to be trusted to get his cash out of any poor and honest man.
+
+On the very day after my return from London I received a letter from
+"Colonel Gundry" (as we always called the Sawyer now, through his
+kinship to the Major), and, as it can not easily be put into less
+compass, I may as well give his very words:
+
+
+"DEAR MISS REMA,--Your last favor to hand, with thanks. Every thing is
+going on all right with us. The mill is built up, and goes better than
+ever; more orders on hand than we can get through. We have not cracked
+the big nugget yet. Expect the government to take him at a trifle below
+value, for Washington Museum. Must have your consent; but, for my part,
+would rather let him go there than break him. Am ready to lose a few
+dollars upon him, particularly as he might crack up all quartzy in the
+middle. They offer to take him by weight at three dollars and a half per
+pound below standard. Please say if agreeable.
+
+"I fear, my dear, that there are bad times coming for all of us here
+in this part. Not about money, but a long sight worse; bad will, and
+contention, and rebellion, perhaps. What we hear concerning it is not
+much here; but even here thoughts are very much divided. Ephraim takes
+a different view from mine; which is not a right thing for a grandson
+to do; and neighbor Sylvester goes with him. The Lord send agreement and
+concord among us; but, if He doeth so, He must change his mind first,
+for every man is borrowing his neighbor's gun.
+
+"If there is any thing that you can do to turn Ephraim back to his duty,
+my dear, I am sure that, for love of us, you will do it. If Firm was
+to run away from me now, and go fighting on behalf of slavery, I never
+should care more for naught upon this side of Jordan; and the new mill
+might go to Jericho; though it does look uncommon handsome now, I can
+assure you, and tears through its work like a tiger.
+
+"Noting symptoms in your last of the price of things in England, and
+having carried over some to your account, inclosed please to find a bill
+for five hundred dollars, though not likely to be wanted yet. Save a
+care of your money, my dear; but pay your way handsome, as a Castlewood
+should do. Jowler goes his rounds twice a day looking for you; and
+somebody else never hangs his hat up without casting one eye at the
+corner you know. Sylvester's girl was over here last week, dashing about
+as usual. If Firm goes South, he may have her, for aught I care, and
+never see saw-mill again. But I hope that the Lord will spare my old
+days such disgrace and tribulation.
+
+"About you know what, my dear, be not overanxious. I have been young,
+and now am old, as the holy Psalmist says; and the more I see of the
+ways of men, the less I verily think of them. Their good esteem, their
+cap in hand, their fair fame, as they call it, goes by accident, and
+fortune, the whim of the moment, and the way the clever ones have of
+tickling them. A great man laughs at the flimsy of it, and a good one
+goes to his conscience. Your father saw these things at their value.
+I have often grieved that you can not see them so; but perhaps I have
+liked you none the worse, my dear.
+
+"Don't forget about going South. A word from you may stop him. It is
+almost the only hope I have, and even that may be too late. Suan Isco
+and Martin send messages. The flowers are on your father's grave. I have
+got a large order for pine cradles in great haste, but have time to be,
+
+"Truly yours,
+
+"SAMPSON GUNDRY."
+
+
+That letter, while it relieved me in one way, from the want of money,
+cost me more than ten times five hundred dollars' worth of anxiety. The
+Sawyer had written to me twice ere this--kind, simple letters, but of
+no importance, except for their goodness and affection. But now it was
+clear that when he wrote this letter he must have been sadly put out and
+upset. His advice to me was beyond all value; but he seemed to have kept
+none at home for himself. He was carried quite out of his large, staid
+ways when he wrote those bitter words about poor Firm--the very apple of
+his eye, as the holy Psalmist says. And, knowing the obstinacy of them
+both, I dreaded clash between them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+ADRIFT
+
+
+Having got money enough to last long with one brought up to simplicity,
+and resolved to have nothing to do for a while with charity or furnished
+lodgings (what though kept by one's own nurse), I cast about now for
+good reason to be off from all the busy works at Bruntsea. So soon after
+such a tremendous blow, it was impossible for me to push my own little
+troubles and concerns upon good Mr. Shovelin's family, much as I longed
+to know what was to become of my father's will, if any thing. But my
+desire to be doing something, or, at least, to get away for a time
+from Bruntsea, was largely increased by Sir Montague Hockin's strange
+behavior toward me.
+
+That young man, if still he could be called young--which, at my age,
+scarcely seemed to be his right, for he must have been ten years older
+than poor Firm--began more and more every day to come after me, just
+when I wanted to be quite alone. There was nothing more soothing to my
+thoughts and mind (the latter getting quiet from the former, I suppose)
+than for the whole of me to rest a while in such a little scollop of
+the shingle as a new-moon tide, in little crescents, leaves just below
+high-water mark. And now it was new-moon tide again, a fortnight after
+the flooding of our fly by the activity of the full moon; and, feeling
+how I longed to understand these things--which seem to be denied to all
+who are of the same sex as the moon herself--I sat in a very nice nick,
+where no wind could make me look worse than nature willed. But of my own
+looks I never did think twice, unless there was any one to speak of such
+a subject.
+
+Here I was sitting in the afternoon of a gentle July day, wondering by
+what energy of nature all these countless pebbles were produced, and not
+even a couple to be found among them fit to lie side by side and purely
+tally with each other. Right and left, for miles and miles, millions
+multiplied into millions; yet I might hold any one in my palm and be
+sure that it never had been there before. And of the quiet wavelets
+even, taking their own time and manner, in default of will of wind,
+all to come and call attention to their doom by arching over, and
+endeavoring to make froth, were any two in sound and size, much more
+in shape and shade, alike? Every one had its own little business, of
+floating pop-weed or foam bubbles or of blistered light, to do; and
+every one, having done it, died and subsided into its successor.
+
+"A trifle sentimental, are we?" cried a lively voice behind me, and
+the waves of my soft reflections fell, and instead of them stood Sir
+Montague Hockin, with a hideous parasol.
+
+I never received him with worse grace, often as I had repulsed him; but
+he was one of those people who think that women are all whims and ways.
+
+"I grieve to intrude upon large ideas," he said, as I rose and looked at
+him, "but I act under positive orders now. A lady knows what is best
+for a lady. Mrs. Hockin has been looking from the window, and she thinks
+that you ought not to be sitting in the sun like this. There has been
+a case of sun-stroke at Southbourne--a young lady meditating under the
+cliff--and she begs you to accept this palm leaf."
+
+I thought of the many miles I had wandered under the fierce Californian
+sun; but I would not speak to him of that. "Thank you," I said; "it was
+very kind of her to think of it, and of you to do it. But will it be
+safe for you to go back without it?"
+
+"Oh, why should I do so?" he answered, with a tone of mock pathos which
+provoked me always, though I never could believe it to be meant in
+ridicule of me, for that would have been too low a thing; and, besides,
+I never spoke so. "Could you bear to see me slain by the shafts of the
+sun? Miss Castlewood, this parasol is amply large for both of us."
+
+I would not answer him in his own vein, because I never liked his vein
+at all; though I was not so entirely possessed as to want every body to
+be like myself.
+
+"Thank you; I mean to stay here," I said; "you may either leave the
+parasol or take it, whichever will be less troublesome. At any rate, I
+shall not use it."
+
+A gentleman, according to my ideas, would have bowed and gone upon his
+way; but Sir Montague Hockin would have no rebuff. He seemed to look
+upon me as a child, such as average English girls, fresh from little
+schools, would be. Nothing more annoyed me, after all my thoughts and
+dream of some power in myself, than this.
+
+"Perhaps I might tell you a thing or two," he said, while I kept gazing
+at some fishing-boats, and sat down again, as a sign for him to go--"a
+little thing or two of which you have no idea, even in your most lonely
+musings, which might have a very deep interest for you. Do you think
+that I came to this hole to see the sea? Or that fussy old muff of a
+Major's doings?"
+
+"Perhaps you would like me to tell him your opinion of his intellect and
+great plans," I answered. "And after all his kindness to you!"
+
+"You never will do that," he said; "because you are a lady, and will not
+repeat what is said in confidence. I could help you materially in your
+great object, if you would only make a friend of me."
+
+"And what would your own object be? The pure anxiety to do right?"
+
+"Partly, and I might say mainly, that; also an ambition for your good
+opinion, which seems so inaccessible. But you will think me selfish if I
+even hint at any condition of any kind. Every body I have ever met with
+likes me, except Miss Castlewood."
+
+As he spoke he glanced down his fine amber-colored beard, shining in the
+sun, and even in the sun showing no gray hair (for a reason which Mrs.
+Hockin told me afterward), and he seemed to think it hard that a man
+with such a beard should be valued lightly.
+
+"I do not see why we should talk," I said, "about either likes or
+dislikes. Only, if you have any thing to tell, I shall be very much
+obliged to you."
+
+This gentleman looked at me in a way which I have often observed in
+England. A general idea there prevails that the free and enlightened
+natives of the West are in front of those here in intelligence, and
+to some extent, therefore, in dishonesty. But there must be many cases
+where the two are not the same.
+
+"No," I replied, while he was looking at his buttons, which had every
+British animal upon them; "I mean nothing more than the simple thing
+I say. If you ought to tell me any thing, tell it. I am accustomed to
+straightforward people. But they disappoint one by their never knowing
+any thing."
+
+"But I know something," he answered, with a nod of grave, mysterious
+import; "and perhaps I will tell you some day, when admitted, if ever I
+have such an honor, to some little degree of friendship."
+
+"Oh, please not to think of yourself," I exclaimed, in a manner which
+must have amused him. "In such a case, the last thing that you should do
+is that. Think only of what is right and honorable, and your duty toward
+a lady. Also your duty to the laws of your country. I am not at all sure
+that you ought not to be arrested. But perhaps it is nothing at all,
+after all; only something invented to provoke me."
+
+"In that case, I can only drop the subject," he answered, with that
+stern gleam of the eyes which I had observed before, and detested. "I
+was also to tell you that we dine to-day an hour before the usual time,
+that my cousin may go out in the boat for whiting. The sea will be as
+smooth as glass. Perhaps you will come with us."
+
+With these words, he lifted his hat and went off, leaving me in a most
+uncomfortable state, as he must have known if he had even tried to
+think. For I could not get the smallest idea what he meant; and, much as
+I tried to believe that he must be only pretending, for reasons of his
+own, to have something important to tell me, scarcely was it possible to
+be contented so. A thousand absurd imaginations began to torment me as
+to what he meant. He lived in London so much, for instance, that he had
+much quicker chance of knowing whatever there was to know; again, he was
+a man of the world, full of short, sharp sagacity, and able to penetrate
+what I could not; then, again, he kept a large account with Shovelin,
+Wayte, and Shovelin, as Major Hockin chanced to say; and I knew not that
+a banker's reserve is much deeper than his deposit; moreover--which, to
+my mind, was almost stronger proof than any thing--Sir Montague Hockin
+was of smuggling pedigree, and likely to be skillful in illicit runs of
+knowledge.
+
+However, in spite of all this uneasiness, not another word would I say
+to him about it, waiting rather for him to begin again upon it. But,
+though I waited and waited, as, perhaps, with any other person I
+scarcely could have done, he would not condescend to give me even
+another look about it.
+
+Disliking that gentleman more and more for his supercilious conduct and
+certainty of subduing me, I naturally turned again to my good host and
+hostess. But here there was very little help or support to be obtained
+at present. Major Hockin was laying the foundations of "The Bruntsea
+Assembly-Rooms, Literary Institute, Mutual Improvement Association,
+Lyceum, and Baths, from sixpence upward;" while Mrs. Hockin had a hatch
+of "White Sultans," or, rather, a prolonged sitting of eggs, fondly
+hoped to hatch at last, from having cost so much, like a chicken-hearted
+Conference. Much as I sorrowed at her disappointment--for the sitting
+cost twelve guineas--I could not feel quite guiltless of a petty and
+ignoble smile, when, after hoping against hope, upon the thirtieth day
+she placed her beautifully sound eggs in a large bowl of warm water, in
+which they floated as calmly as if their price was a penny a dozen. The
+poor lady tried to believe that they were spinning with vitality; but at
+last she allowed me to break one, and lo! it had been half boiled by the
+advertiser. "This is very sad," cried Mrs. Hockin; and the patient old
+hen, who was come in a basket of hay to see the end of it, echoed with a
+cluck that sentiment.
+
+These things being so, I was left once more to follow my own guidance,
+which had seemed, in the main, to be my fortune ever since my father
+died. For one day Mr. Shovelin had appeared, to my great joy and
+comfort, as a guide and guardian; but, alas! for one day only. And,
+except for his good advice and kind paternal conduct to me, it seemed
+at present an unlucky thing that I had ever discovered him. Not only
+through deep sense of loss and real sorrow for him, but also because
+Major Hockin, however good and great and generous, took it unreasonably
+into his head that I threw him over, and threw myself (as with want of
+fine taste he expressed it) into the arms of the banker. This hurt
+me very much, and I felt that Major Hockin could never have spoken so
+hastily unless his hair had been originally red; and so it might be
+detected, even now, where it survived itself, though blanched where he
+brushed it into that pretentious ridge. Sometimes I liked that man, when
+his thoughts were large and liberal; but no sooner had he said a fine
+brave thing than he seemed to have an after-thought not to go too
+far with it; just as he had done about the poor robbed woman from the
+steerage and the young man who pulled out his guinea. I paid him for
+my board and lodging, upon a scale settled by Uncle Sam himself, at
+California prices; therefore I am under no obligation to conceal his
+foibles. But, take him altogether, he was good and brave and just,
+though unable, from absence of inner light, to be to me what Uncle Sam
+had been.
+
+When I perceived that the Major condemned my simple behavior in London,
+and (if I may speak it, as I said it to myself) "blew hot and cold" in
+half a minute--hot when I thought of any good things to be done, and
+cold as soon as he became the man to do them--also, when I remembered
+what a chronic plague was now at Bruntsea, in the shape of Sir Montague,
+who went to and fro, but could never be trusted to be far off, I
+resolved to do what I had long been thinking of, and believed that
+my guardian, if he had lived another day, would have recommended. I
+resolved to go and see Lord Castlewood, my father's first cousin and
+friend in need.
+
+When I asked my host and hostess what they thought of this, they both
+declared that it was the very thing they were at the point of advising,
+which, however, they had forborne from doing because I never took
+advice. At this, as being such a great exaggeration, I could not help
+smiling seriously; but I could not accept their sage opinion that,
+before I went to see my kinsman, I ought to write and ask his leave to
+do so. For that would have made it quite a rude thing to call, as I
+must still have done, if he should decline beforehand to receive me.
+Moreover, it would look as if I sought an invitation, while only wanting
+an interview. Therefore, being now full of money again, I hired the
+flyman who had made us taste the water, and taking train at Newport, and
+changing at two or three places as ordered, crossed many little streams,
+and came to a fair river, which proved to be the Thames itself, a few
+miles above Reading.
+
+In spite of all the larger lessons of travel, adventure, and
+tribulation, my heart was throbbing with some rather small feelings, as
+for the first time I drew near to the home of my forefathers. I should
+have been sorry to find it ugly or mean, or lying in a hole, or even
+modern or insignificant; and when none of these charges could be brought
+against it, I was filled with highly discreditable pain that Providence
+had not seen fit to issue me into this world in the masculine form; in
+which case this fine property would, according to the rules of mankind,
+have been mine. However, I was very soon ashamed of such ideas, and sat
+down on a bank to dispel them with the free and fair view around me.
+
+The builder of that house knew well both where to place and how to shape
+it, so as not to spoil the site. It stood near the brow of a bosoming
+hill, which sheltered it, both with wood and clevice, from the rigor
+and fury of the north and east; while in front the sloping foreground
+widened its soft lap of green. In bays and waves of rolling grass,
+promontoried, here and there, by jutting copse or massive tree, and
+jotted now and then with cattle as calm as boats at anchor, the range
+of sunny upland fell to the reedy fringe and clustered silence of deep
+river meadows. Here the Thames, in pleasant bends of gentleness and
+courtesy, yet with will of its own ways, being now a plenteous river,
+spreads low music, and holds mirror to the woods and hills and fields,
+casting afar a broad still gleam, and on the banks presenting tremulous
+infinitude of flash.
+
+Now these things touched me all the more because none of them belonged
+to me; and, after thus trying to enlarge my views, I got up with much
+better heart, and hurried on to have it over, whatever it might be.
+A girl brought up in the real English way would have spent her last
+shilling to drive up to the door in the fly at the station--a most sad
+machine--but I thought it no disgrace to go in a more becoming manner.
+
+One scarcely ever acts up to the force of situation; and I went as
+quietly into that house as if it were Betsy Bowen's. If any body had
+been rude to me, or asked who I was, or a little thing of that sort, my
+spirit might have been up at once, and found, as usually happens then,
+good reason to go down afterward. But happily there was nothing of the
+kind. An elderly man, without any gaudy badges, opened the door very
+quietly, and begged my pardon, before I spoke, for asking me to speak
+softly. It was one of his lordship's very worst days, and when he was
+so, every sound seemed to reach him. I took the hint, and did not speak
+at all, but followed him over deep matting into a little room to which
+he showed me. And then I gave him a little note, written before I left
+Bruntsea, and asked him whether he thought that his master was well
+enough to attend to it.
+
+He looked at me in a peculiar manner, for he had known my father well,
+having served from his youth in the family; but he only asked whether my
+message was important. I answered that it was, but that I would wait for
+another time rather than do any harm. But he said that, however ill his
+master was, nothing provoked him more than to find that any thing was
+neglected through it. And before I could speak again he was gone with my
+letter to Lord Castlewood.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+AT HOME
+
+
+Some of the miserable, and I might say strange, things which had
+befallen me from time to time unseasonably, now began to force their
+remembrance upon me. Such dark figures always seem to make the most of
+a nervous moment, when solid reason yields to fluttering fear and small
+misgivings. There any body seems to lie, as a stranded sailor lies, at
+the foot of perpendicular cliffs of most inhuman humanity, with all the
+world frowning down over the crest, and no one to throw a rope down.
+Often and often had I felt this want of any one to help me, but the only
+way out of it seemed to be to do my best to help myself.
+
+Even, now I had little hope, having been so often dashed, and knowing
+that my father's cousin possessed no share of my father's strength. He
+might, at the utmost, give good advice, and help me with kind feeling;
+but if he wanted to do more, surely he might have tried ere now. But my
+thoughts about this were cut short by a message that he would be glad to
+see me, and I followed the servant to the library.
+
+Here I found Lord Castlewood sitting in a high-backed chair, uncushioned
+and uncomfortable. When he saw me near him he got up and took my hand,
+and looked at me, and I was pleased to find his face well-meaning,
+brave, and generous. But even to rise from his chair was plainly no
+small effort to him, and he leaned upon a staff or crutch as he offered
+me a small white hand.
+
+"Miss Castlewood," he said, with a very weak yet clear and silvery
+voice, "for many years I have longed in vain and sought in vain to hear
+of you. I have not escaped all self-reproach through my sense of want of
+energy; yet, such as I am, I have done my best, or I do my best to think
+so."
+
+"I am sure you have," I replied, without thinking, knowing his kindness
+to my father, and feeling the shame of my own hot words to Mr. Shovelin
+about him. "I owe you more gratitude than I can tell, for your goodness
+to my dear father. I am not come now to trouble you, but because it was
+my duty."
+
+While I was speaking he managed to lead me, feebly as himself could
+walk, to a deep chair for reading, or some such use, whereof I have had
+few chances. And in every step and word and gesture I recognized that
+foreign grace which true-born Britons are proud to despise on both sides
+of the Atlantic. And, being in the light, I watched him well, because I
+am not a foreigner.
+
+In the clear summer light of the westering sun (which is better for
+accurate uses than the radiance of the morning) I saw a firm, calm face,
+which might in good health have been powerful--a face which might be
+called the moonlight image of my father's. I could not help turning away
+to cry, and suspicion fled forever.
+
+"My dear young cousin," he said, as soon as I was fit to speak to, "your
+father trusted me, and so must you. You may think that I have forgotten
+you, or done very little to find you out. It was no indifference, no
+forgetfulness: I have not been able to work myself, and I have had very
+deep trouble of my own."
+
+He leaned on his staff, and looked down at me, for I had sat down when
+thus overcome, and I knew that the forehead and eyes were those of a
+learned and intellectual man. How I knew this it is impossible to say,
+for I never had met with such a character as this, unless it were the
+Abbe of Flechon, when I was only fourteen years old, and valued his
+great skill in spinning a top tenfold more than all his deep learning.
+Lord Castlewood had long, silky hair, falling in curls of silver gray
+upon either side of his beautiful forehead, and the gaze of his soft
+dark eyes was sad, gentle, yet penetrating. Weak health and almost
+constant pain had chastened his delicate features to an expression
+almost feminine, though firm thin lips and rigid lines showed masculine
+will and fortitude. And when he spoke of his own trouble (which,
+perhaps, he would not have done except for consolation's sake), I knew
+that he meant something even more grievous than bodily anguish.
+
+"It is hard," he said, "that you, so young and healthy and full of high
+spirit as you are (unless your face belies you), should begin the best
+years of your life, as common opinion puts such things, in such a cloud
+of gloom and shame."
+
+"There is no shame at all," I answered; "and if there is gloom, I am
+used to that; and so was my father for years and years. What is my
+trouble compared with his?"
+
+"Your trouble is nothing when compared with his, so far as regards the
+mere weight of it; but he was a strong man to carry his load; you are a
+young and a sensitive woman. The burden may even be worse for you. Now
+tell me all about yourself, and what has brought you to me."
+
+His voice was so quiet and soothing that I seemed to rest beneath it. He
+had not spoken once of religion or the will of God, nor plied me at all
+with those pious allusions, which even to the reverent mind are like
+illusions when so urged. Lord Castlewood had too deep a sense of the
+will of God to know what it is; and he looked at me wistfully as at one
+who might have worse experience of it.
+
+Falling happily under his influence, as his clear, kind eyes met mine,
+I told him every thing I could think of about my father and myself, and
+all I wanted to do next, and how my heart and soul were set upon
+getting to the bottom of every thing. And while I spoke with spirit, or
+softness, or, I fear, sometimes with hate, I could not help seeing that
+he was surprised, but not wholly displeased, with my energy. And then,
+when all was exhausted, came the old question I had heard so often, and
+found so hard to answer--
+
+"And what do you propose to do next, Erema?"
+
+"To go to the very place itself," I said, speaking strongly under
+challenge, though quite unresolved about such a thing before; "to live
+in the house where my father lived, and my mother and all of the family
+died; and from day to day to search every corner and fish up every bit
+of evidence, until I get hold of the true man at last, of the villain
+who did it--who did it, and left my father and all the rest of us to be
+condemned and die for it."
+
+"Erema," replied my cousin, as he had told me now to call him, "you are
+too impetuous for such work, and it is wholly unfit for you. For such a
+task, persons of trained sagacity and keen observation are needed. And
+after all these eighteen years, or nearly nineteen now it must be, there
+can not be any thing to discover there."
+
+"But if I like, may I go there, cousin, if only to satisfy my own mind?
+I am miserable now at Bruntsea, and Sir Montague Hockin wears me out."
+
+"Sir Montague Hockin!" Lord Castlewood exclaimed; "why, you did not tell
+me that he was there. Wherever he is, you should not be."
+
+"I forgot to speak of him. He does not live there, but is continually
+to and fro for bathing, or fishing, or rabbit-shooting, or any other
+pretext. And he makes the place very unpleasant to me, kind as the Major
+and Mrs. Hockin are, because I can never make him out at all."
+
+"Do not try to do so," my cousin answered, looking at me earnestly; "be
+content to know nothing of him, my dear. If you can put up with a very
+dull house, and a host who is even duller, come here and live with me,
+as your father would have wished, and as I, your nearest relative, now
+ask and beg of you."
+
+This was wonderfully kind, and for a moment I felt tempted. Lord
+Castlewood being an elderly man, and, as the head of our family, my
+natural protector, there could be nothing wrong, and there might be much
+that was good, in such an easy arrangement. But, on the other hand, it
+seemed to me that after this my work would languish. Living in comfort
+and prosperity under the roof of my forefathers, beyond any doubt I
+should begin to fall into habits of luxury, to take to the love of
+literature, which I knew to be latent within me, to lose the clear,
+strong, practical sense of the duty for which I, the last of seven, was
+spared, and in some measure, perhaps, by wanderings and by hardships,
+fitted. And then I thought of my host's weak health, continual pain (the
+signs of which were hardly repressed even while he was speaking), and
+probably also his secluded life. Was it fair to force him, by virtue of
+his inborn kindness and courtesy, to come out of his privileges and deal
+with me, who could not altogether be in any place a mere nobody? And so
+I refused his offer.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you indeed," I said, "but I think you might
+be sorry for it. I will come and stop with you every now and then, when
+your health is better, and you ask me. But to live here altogether would
+not do; I should like it too well, and do nothing else."
+
+"Perhaps you are right," he replied, with the air of one who cares
+little for any thing, which is to me the most melancholy thing, and
+worse than any distress almost; "you are very young, my dear, and years
+should be allowed to pass before you know what full-grown sorrow is. You
+have had enough, for your age, of it. You had better not live in this
+house; it is not a house for cheerfulness."
+
+"Then if I must neither live here nor at Bruntsea," I asked, with sudden
+remonstrance, feeling as if every body desired to be quit of me or to
+worry me, "to what place in all the world am I to go, unless it is back
+to America? I will go at once to Shoxford, and take lodgings of my own."
+
+"Perhaps you had better wait a little while," Lord Castlewood answered,
+gently, "although I would much rather have you at Shoxford than where
+you are at present. But please to remember, my good Erema, that you can
+not go to Shoxford all alone. I have a most faithful and trusty man--the
+one who opened the door to you. He has been here before his remembrance.
+He disdains me still as compared with your father. Will you have him to
+superintend you? I scarcely see how you can do any good, but if you do
+go, you must go openly, and as your father's daughter."
+
+"I have no intention whatever of going in any other way, Lord
+Castlewood; but perhaps," I continued, "it would be as well to make as
+little stir as possible. Of an English village I know nothing but the
+little I have seen at Bruntsea, but there they make a very great fuss
+about any one who comes down with a man-servant."
+
+"To be sure," replied my cousin, with a smile; "they would not be true
+Britons otherwise. Perhaps you would do better without Stixon; but of
+course you must not go alone. Could you by any means persuade your old
+nurse Betsy to go with you?"
+
+"How good of you to think of it!--how wise you are!" I really could not
+help saying, as I gazed at his delicate and noble face. "I am sure that
+if Betsy can come, she will; though of course she must be compensated
+well for the waste all her lodgers will make of it. They are very
+wicked, and eat most dreadfully if she even takes one day's holiday.
+What do you think they even do? She has told me with tears in her eyes
+of it. They are all allowed a pat of butter, a penny roll, and two
+sardines for breakfast. No sooner do they know that her back is
+turned--"
+
+"Erema!" cried my cousin, with some surprise; and being so recalled,
+I was ashamed. But I never could help taking interest in very little
+things indeed, until my own common-sense, or somebody else, came to tell
+me what a child I was. However, I do believe that Uncle Sam liked me all
+the better for this fault.
+
+"My dear, I did not mean to blame you," Lord Castlewood said, most
+kindly; "it must be a great relief for you to look on at other people.
+But tell me--or rather, since you have told me almost every thing you
+know--let me, if only in one way I can help you, help you at least in
+that way."
+
+Knowing that he must mean money, I declined, from no false pride, but a
+set resolve to work out my work, if possible, through my own resources.
+But I promised to apply to him at once if scarcity should again befall
+me, as had happened lately. And then I longed to ask him why he seemed
+to have so low an opinion of Sir Montague Hockin. That question,
+however, I feared to put, because it might not be a proper one, and
+also because my cousin had spoken in a very strange tone, as if of some
+private dislike or reserve on that subject. Moreover, it was too evident
+that I had tried his courtesy long enough. From time to time pale shades
+of bodily pain, and then hot flushes, had flitted across his face, like
+clouds on a windy summer evening. And more than once he had glanced at
+the time-piece, not to hurry me, but as if he dreaded its announcements.
+It was a beautiful clock, and struck with a silvery sound every quarter
+of an hour. And now, as I rose to say good-by, to catch my evening
+train, it struck a quarter to five, and my cousin stood up, with his
+weight upon his staff, and looked at me with an inexpressible depth of
+weary misery.
+
+"I have only a few minutes left," he said, "during which I can say any
+thing. My time is divided into two sad parts: the time when I am capable
+of very little, and the time when I am capable of nothing; and the
+latter part is twice the length of the other. For sixteen hours of every
+day, far better had I be dead than living, so far as our own little
+insolence may judge. But I speak of it only to excuse bad manners, and
+perhaps I show worse by doing so. I shall not be able to see you again
+until to-morrow morning. Do not go; they will arrange all that. Send a
+note to Major Hockin by Stixon's boy. Stixon and Mrs. Price will see to
+your comfort, if those who are free from pain require any other comfort.
+Forgive me; I did not mean to be rude. Sometimes I can not help giving
+way."
+
+Less enviable than the poorest slave, Lord Castlewood sank upon his hard
+stiff chair, and straightened his long narrow hands upon his knees, and
+set his thin lips in straight blue lines. Each hand was as rigid as the
+ivory handle of an umbrella or walking-stick, and his lips were like
+clamped wire. This was his regular way of preparing for the onset of
+the night, so that no grimace, no cry, no moan, or other token of fierce
+agony should be wrung from him.
+
+"My lord will catch it stiff to-night," said Mr. Stixon, who came as I
+rang, and then led me away to the drawing-room; "he always have it ten
+times worse after any talking or any thing to upset him like. And so,
+then, miss--excuse a humble servant--did I understand from him that you
+was the Captain's own daughter?"
+
+"Yes; but surely your master wants you--he is in such dreadful pain. Do
+please to go to him, and do something."
+
+"There is nothing to be done, miss," Stixon answered, with calm
+resignation; "he is bound to stay so for sixteen hours, and then
+he eases off again. But bless my heart, miss--excuse me in your
+presence--his lordship is thoroughly used to it. It is my certain
+knowledge that for seven years now he has never had seven minutes free
+from pain--seven minutes all of a heap, I mean. Some do say, miss, as
+the Lord doeth every thing according to His righteousness, that the
+reason is not very far to seek."
+
+I asked him what he meant, though I ought, perhaps, to have put a stop
+to his loquacity; and he pretended not to hear, which made me ask him
+all the more.
+
+"A better man never lived than my lord," he answered, with a little
+shock at my misprision; "but it has been said among censoorous persons
+that nobody ever had no luck as came in suddenly to a property and a
+high state of life on the top of the heads of a family of seven."
+
+"What a poor superstition!" I cried, though I was not quite sure of its
+being a wicked one. "But what is your master's malady, Stixon? Surely
+there might be something done to relieve his violent pain, even if there
+is no real cure for it?"
+
+"No, miss, nothing can be done. The doctors have exorced themselves.
+They tried this, that, and the other, but nature only flew worse against
+them. 'Tis a thing as was never heard of till the Constitooshon was
+knocked on the head and to pieces by the Reform Bill. And though they
+couldn't cure it, they done what they could do, miss. They discovered a
+very good name for it--they christened it the 'New-rager!'"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+LORD CASTLEWOOD
+
+
+In the morning, when I was called again to see my afflicted
+cousin--Stixon junior having gladly gone to explain things for me at
+Bruntsea--little as I knew of any bodily pain (except hunger, or thirst,
+or weariness, and once in my life a headache), I stood before Lord
+Castlewood with a deference and humility such as I had never felt before
+toward any human being. Not only because he bore perpetual pain in
+the two degrees of night and day--the day being dark and the night
+jet-black--without a murmur or an evil word; not only because through
+the whole of this he had kept his mind clear and his love of knowledge
+bright; not even because he had managed, like Job, to love God through
+the whole of it. All these were good reasons for very great and very
+high respect of any man; and when there was no claim whatever on his
+part to any such feeling, it needs must come. But when I learned another
+thing, high respect at once became what might be called deep reverence.
+And this came to pass in a simple and, as any one must confess, quite
+inevitable way.
+
+It was not to be supposed that I could sit the whole of my first evening
+in that house without a soul to speak to. So far as my dignity and sense
+of right permitted, I wore out Mr. Stixon, so far as he would go,
+not asking him any thing that the very worst-minded person could call
+"inquisitive," but allowing him to talk, as he seemed to like to do,
+while he waited upon me, and alternately lamented my hapless history and
+my hopeless want of taste.
+
+"Ah, your father, the Captain, now, he would have knowed what this is!
+You've no right to his eyes, Miss Erma, without his tongue and palate.
+No more of this, miss! and done for you a-purpose! Well, cook will be
+put out, and no mistake! I better not let her see it go down, anyhow."
+And the worthy man tearfully put some dainty by, perhaps without any
+view to his own supper.
+
+"Lord Castlewood spoke to me about a Mrs. Price--the housekeeper, is
+she not?" I asked at last, being so accustomed to like what I could get,
+that the number of dishes wearied me.
+
+"Oh yes, miss," said Stixon, very shortly, as if that description
+exhausted Mrs. Price.
+
+"If she is not too busy, I should like to see her as soon as these
+things are all taken away. I mean if she is not a stranger, and if she
+would like to see me."
+
+"No new-comers here," Mr. Stixon replied; "we all works our way up
+regular, the same as my lad is beginning for to do. New-fangled ways is
+not accepted here. We puts the reforming spirits scrubbing of the steps
+till their knuckles is cracked and their knees like a bean. The old lord
+was the man for discipline--your grandfather, if you please, miss. He
+catched me when I were about that high--"
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Stixon; but would he have encouraged you to talk as you
+so very kindly talk to me, instead of answering a question?"
+
+I thought that poor Stixon would have been upset by this, and was angry
+with myself for saying it; but instead of being hurt, he only smiled and
+touched his forehead.
+
+"Well, now, you did remind me uncommon of him then, miss. I could
+have heard the old lord speak almost, though he were always harsh and
+distant. And as I was going for to say, he catched me fifty years agone
+next Lammas-tide; a pear-tree of an early sort it was; you may see the
+very tree if you please to stand here, miss, though the pears is quite
+altered now, and scarcely fit to eat. Well, I was running off with my
+cap chock-full, miss--"
+
+"Please to keep that story for another time," I said; "I shall be most
+happy to hear it then. But I have a particular wish, if you please, to
+see Mrs. Price before dark, unless there is any good reason why I should
+not."
+
+"Oh no, Miss Erma, no reason at all. Only please to bear in mind,
+miss, that she is a coorous woman. She is that jealous, and I might say
+forward--"
+
+"Then she is capable of speaking for herself."
+
+"You are right, miss, there, and no mistake. She can speak for herself
+and for fifty others--words enough, I mean, for all of them. But I would
+not have her know for all the world that I said it."
+
+"Then if you do not send her to me at once, the first thing I shall do
+will be to tell her."
+
+"Oh no, miss, none of your family would do that; that never has been
+done anonymous."
+
+I assured him that my threat was not in earnest, but of pure impatience.
+And having no motive but downright jealousy for keeping Mrs. Price from
+me, he made up his mind at last to let her come. But he told me to be
+careful what I said; I must not expect it to be at all like talking to
+himself, for instance.
+
+The housekeeper came up at last, by dint of my persistence, and she
+stopped in the doorway and made me a courtesy, which put me out of
+countenance, for nobody ever does that in America, and scarcely any one
+in England now, except in country-dancing. Instead of being as described
+by Stixon, Mrs. Price was of a very quiet, sensible, and respectful
+kind. She was rather short, but looked rather tall, from her even
+walk and way of carrying her head. Her figure was neat, and her face
+clear-spoken, with straight pretty eyebrows, and calm bright eyes. I
+felt that I could tell her almost any thing, and she would think
+before she talked of it. And in my strong want of some woman to advise
+with--Betsy Bowen being very good but very narrow, and Mrs. Hockin a
+mere echo of the Major until he contradicted her, and Suan Isco, with
+her fine, large views, five thousand miles out of sight just now--this
+was a state of things to enhance the value of any good countenance
+feminine.
+
+At any rate, I was so glad to see her that, being still ungraduated in
+the steps of rank (though beginning to like a good footing there), I ran
+up and took her by both hands, and fetched her out of her grand courtesy
+and into a low chair. At this she was surprised, as one quick glance
+showed; and she thought me, perhaps, what is called in England "an
+impulsive creature." This put me again upon my dignity, for I never have
+been in any way like that, and I clearly perceived that she ought to
+understand a little more distinctly my character.
+
+It is easy to begin with this intention, but very hard indeed to keep
+it up when any body of nice ways and looks is sitting with a proper
+deferential power of listening, and liking one's young ideas, which
+multiply and magnify themselves at each demand. So after some general
+talk about the weather, the country, the house, and so on, we came to
+the people of the house, or at any rate the chief person. And I asked
+her a few quiet questions about Lord Castlewood's health and habits, and
+any thing else she might like to tell me. For many things had seemed
+to me a little strange and out of the usual course, and on that account
+worthy to be spoken of without common curiosity. Mrs. Price told me that
+there were many things generally divulged and credited, which therefore
+lay in her power to communicate without any derogation from her office.
+Being pleased with these larger words (which I always have trouble in
+pronouncing), I asked her whether there was any thing else. And she
+answered yes, but unhappily of a nature to which it was scarcely
+desirable to allude in my presence. I told her that this was not
+satisfactory, and I might say quite the opposite; that having "alluded"
+to whatever it might be, she was bound to tell me all about it. That
+I had lived in very many countries, in all of which wrong things
+continually went on, of which I continually heard just in that sort of
+way and no more. Enough to make one uncomfortable, but not enough to
+keep one instructed and vigilant as to things that ought to be avoided.
+Upon this she yielded either to my arguments or to her own dislike
+of unreasonable silence, and gave me the following account of the
+misfortunes of Lord Castlewood:
+
+Herbert William Castlewood was the third son of Dean Castlewood, a
+younger brother of my grandfather, and was born in the year 1806. He
+was older, therefore, than my father, but still (even before my father's
+birth, which provided a direct heir) there were many lives betwixt him
+and the family estates. And his father, having as yet no promotion in
+the Church, found it hard to bring up his children. The eldest son got
+a commission in the army, and the second entered the navy, while Herbert
+was placed in a bank at Bristol--not at all the sort of life which he
+would have chosen. But being of a gentle, unselfish nature, as well as a
+weak constitution, he put up with his state in life, and did his best to
+give satisfaction.
+
+This calm courage generally has its reward, and in the year 1842, not
+very long before the death of my grandfather at Shoxford, Mr. Herbert
+Castlewood, being well-connected, well-behaved, diligent, and pleasing,
+obtained a partnership in the firm, which was, perhaps, the foremost in
+the west of England. His two elder brothers happened then to be at home,
+Major and Commander Castlewood, each of whom had seen very hard service,
+and found it still harder slavery to make both ends meet, although
+bachelors. But, returning full of glory, they found one thing harder
+still, and that was to extract any cash from their father, the highly
+venerated Dean, who in that respect, if in no other, very closely
+resembled the head of the family. Therefore these brave men resolved to
+go and see their Bristol brother, to whom they were tenderly attached,
+and who now must have money enough and to spare. So they wrote to their
+brother to meet them on the platform, scarcely believing that they could
+be there in so short a time from London; for they never had travelled by
+rail before; and they set forth in wonderful spirits, and laughed at
+the strange, giddy rush of the travelling, and made bets with each other
+about punctual time (for trains kept much better time while new), and,
+as long as they could time it, they kept time to a second. But, sad to
+relate, they wanted no chronometers when they arrived at Bristol, both
+being killed at a blow, with their watches still going, and a smile
+on their faces. For the train had run into a wall of Bath stone, and
+several of the passengers were killed.
+
+The sight of his two brothers carried out like this, after so many years
+of not seeing them, was too much for Mr. Herbert Castlewood's nerves,
+which always had been delicate. And he shivered all the more from
+reproach of conscience, having made up his mind not to lend them any
+money, as a practical banker was compelled to do. And from that very
+moment he began to feel great pain.
+
+Mrs. Price assured me that the doctors all agreed that nothing but
+change of climate could restore Mr. Castlewood's tone and system, and
+being full of art (though so simple, as she said, which she could not
+entirely reconcile), he set off for Italy, and there he stopped, with
+the good leave of his partners, being now valued highly as heir to the
+Dean, who was known to have put a good trifle together. And in Italy
+my father must have found him, as related by Mr. Shovelin, and there
+received kindness and comfort in his trouble, if trouble so deep could
+be comforted.
+
+Now I wondered and eagerly yearned to know whether my father, at such
+a time, and in such a state of loneliness, might not have been led to
+impart to his cousin and host and protector the dark mystery which lay
+at the bottom of his own conduct. Knowing how resolute and stern he was,
+and doubtless then imbittered by the wreck of love and life, I thought
+it more probable that he had kept silence even toward so near a
+relative, especially as he had seen very little of his cousin Herbert
+till he had found him thus. Moreover, my grandfather and the Dean had
+spent little brotherly love on each other, having had a life-long feud
+about a copy-hold furze brake of nearly three-quarters of an acre, as
+Betsy remembered to have heard her master say.
+
+To go on, however, with what Mrs. Price was saying. She knew scarcely
+any thing about my father, because she was too young at that time to
+be called into the counsels of the servants' hall, for she scarcely was
+thirty-five yet, as she declared, and she certainly did not look forty.
+But all about the present Lord Castlewood she knew better than any body
+else, perhaps, because she had been in the service of his wife, and,
+indeed, her chief attendant. Then, having spoken of her master's wife,
+Mrs. Price caught herself up, and thenceforth called her only his
+"lady."
+
+Mr. Herbert Castlewood, who had minded his business for so many years,
+and kept himself aloof from ladies, spending all his leisure in good
+literature, at this time of life and in this state of health (for the
+shock he had received struck inward), fell into an accident tenfold
+worse--the fatal accident of love. And this malady raged the more
+powerfully with him on account of breaking out so late in life. In one
+of the picture-galleries at Florence, or some such place, Mrs. Price
+declared, he met with a lady who made all the pictures look cold and
+dull and dead to him. A lovely young creature she must have been (as
+even Mrs. Price, who detested her, acknowledged), and to the eyes of a
+learned but not keen man as good as lovely. My father was gone to look
+after me, and fetch me out of England, but even if he had been there,
+perhaps he scarcely could have stopped it; for this Mr. Castlewood,
+although so quiet, had the family fault of tenacity.
+
+Mrs. Price, being a very steady person, with a limited income, and
+enough to do, was inclined to look down upon the state of mind in which
+Mr. Castlewood became involved. She was not there at the moment, of
+course, but suddenly sent for when all was settled; nevertheless, she
+found out afterward how it began from her master's man, through what he
+had for dinner. And in the kitchen-garden at Castlewood no rampion
+would she allow while she lived. I asked her whether she had no pity, no
+sympathy, no fine feeling, and how she could have become Mrs. Price if
+she never had known such sentiments. But she said that they only called
+her "Mistress" on account of her authority, and she never had been drawn
+to the opposite sex, though many times asked in marriage. And what she
+had seen of matrimony led her far away from it. I was sorry to hear her
+say this, and felt damped, till I thought that the world was not all
+alike.
+
+Then she told me, just as if it were no more than a bargain for a pound
+of tallow candles, how Mr. Herbert Castlewood, patient and persistent,
+was kept off and on for at least two years by the mother of his sweet
+idol. How the old lady held a balance in her mind as to the likelihood
+of his succession, trying, through English friends, to find the value
+and the course of property. Of what nation she was, Mrs. Price could
+not say, and only knew that it must be a bad one. She called herself the
+Countess of Ixorism, as truly pronounced in English; and she really was
+of good family too, so far as any foreigner can be. And her daughter's
+name was Flittamore, not according to the right spelling, perhaps, but
+pronounced with the proper accent.
+
+Flittamore herself did not seem to care, according to what Mrs. Price
+had been told, but left herself wholly in her mother's hands, being sure
+of her beauty still growing upon her, and desiring to have it admired
+and praised. And the number of foreigners she always had about her
+sometimes made her real lover nearly give her up. But, alas! he was not
+quite wise enough for this, with all that he had read and learned and
+seen. Therefore, when it was reported from Spain that my father had
+been killed by bandits--the truth being that he was then in Greece--the
+Countess at last consented to the marriage of her daughter with Herbert
+Castlewood, and even seemed to press it forward for some reasons of her
+own. And the happy couple set forth upon their travels, and Mrs. Price
+was sent abroad to wait upon the lady.
+
+For a few months they seemed to get on very well, Flittamore showing
+much affection for her husband, whose age was a trifle more than her own
+doubled, while he was entirely wrapped up in her, and labored that the
+graces of her mind might be worthy to compare with those more visible.
+But her spiritual face and most sweet poetic eyes were vivid with bodily
+brilliance alone. She had neither mind enough to learn, nor heart enough
+to pretend to learn.
+
+It is out of my power to describe such things, even if it were my duty
+to do so, which, happily, it has never been; moreover, Mrs. Price, in
+what she told me, exercised a just and strict reserve. Enough that Mr.
+Castlewood's wedded life was done with in six months and three days.
+Lady Castlewood, as she would be called, though my father still was
+living and his cousin disclaimed the title--away she ran from some dull
+German place, after a very stiff lesson in poetry, and with her ran off
+a young Englishman, the present Sir Montague Hockin. He was Mr. Hockin
+then, and had not a half-penny of his own; but Flittamore met that
+difficulty by robbing her husband to his last farthing.
+
+This had happened about twelve years back, soon after I was placed at
+the school in Languedoc, to which I was taken so early in life that
+I almost forget all about it. But it might have been better for poor
+Flittamore if she had been brought up at a steady place like that, with
+sisters and ladies of retreat, to teach her the proper description of
+her duties to mankind. I seemed now in my own mind to condemn her quite
+enough, feeling how superior her husband must have been; but Mrs. Price
+went even further, and became quite indignant that any one should pity
+her.
+
+"A hussy! a hussy! a poppet of a hussy!" she exclaimed, with greater
+power than her quiet face could indicate; "never would I look at her.
+Speak never so, Miss Castlewood. My lord is the very best of all men,
+and she has made him what he is. The pity she deserves is to be trodden
+under foot, as I saw them do in Naples."
+
+After all the passion I had seen among rough people, I scarcely could
+help trembling at the depth of wrath dissembled and firmly controlled
+in calm clear eyes under very steadfast eyebrows. It was plain that Lord
+Castlewood had, at any rate, the gift of being loved by his dependents.
+
+"I hope that he took it aright!" I cried, catching some of her
+indignation; "I hope that he cast her to the winds, without even a sigh
+for such a cruel creature!"
+
+"He was not strong enough," she answered, sadly; "his bodily health was
+not equal to it. From childhood he had been partly crippled and spoiled
+in his nerves by an accident. And the shock of that sight at Bristol
+flew to his weakness, and was too much for him. And now this third and
+worst disaster, coming upon him where his best hope lay, and at such a
+time of life, took him altogether off his legs. And off his head too,
+I might almost say, miss; for, instead of blaming her, he put the fault
+entirely upon himself. At his time of life, and in such poor health, he
+should not have married a bright young girl: how could he ever hope to
+make her happy? That was how he looked at it, when he should have sent
+constables after her."
+
+"And what became of her--the mindless animal, to forsake so good and
+great a man! I do hope she was punished, and that vile man too."
+
+"She was, Miss Castlewood; but he was not; at least he has not received
+justice yet. But he will, he will, he will, miss. The treacherous thief!
+And my lord received him as a young fellow-countryman under a cloud, and
+lent him money, and saved him from starving; for he had broken with his
+father and was running from his creditors."
+
+"Tell me no more," I said; "not another word. It is my fate to meet
+that--well, that gentleman--almost every day. And he, and he--oh, how
+thankful I am to have found out all this about him!"
+
+The above will show why, when I met my father's cousin on the following
+morning--with his grand, calm face, as benevolent as if he had passed a
+night of luxurious rest instead of sleepless agony--I knew myself to be
+of a lower order in mind and soul and heart than his; a small, narrow,
+passionate girl, in the presence of a large, broad-sighted, and
+compassionate man.
+
+I threw myself altogether on his will; for, when I trust, I trust
+wholly. And, under his advice, I did not return with any rash haste to
+Bruntsea, but wrote in discharge of all duty there; while Mrs. Price, a
+clear and steadfast woman, was sent to London to see Wilhelmina Strouss.
+These two must have had very great talks together, and, both being
+zealous and faithful, they came to many misunderstandings. However, on
+the whole, they became very honest friends, and sworn allies at last,
+discovering more, the more they talked, people against whom they felt a
+common and just enmity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+SHOXFORD
+
+
+Are there people who have never, in the course of anxious life, felt
+desire to be away, to fly away, from every thing, however good and dear
+to them, and rest a little, and think new thought, or let new thought
+flow into them, from the gentle air of some new place, where nobody has
+heard of them--a place whose cares, being felt by proxy, almost seem
+romantic, and where the eyes spare brain and heart with a critic's
+self-complacence? If any such place yet remains, the happy soul may seek
+it in an inland English village.
+
+A village where no billows are to stun or to confound it, no crag or
+precipice to trouble it with giddiness, and where no hurry of restless
+tide makes time, its own father, uneasy. But in the quiet, at the bottom
+of the valley, a beautiful rivulet, belonging to the place, hastens or
+lingers, according to its mood; hankering here and there, not to be away
+yet; and then, by the doing of its own work, led to a swift perplexity
+of ripples. Here along its side, and there softly leaning over it, fresh
+green meadows lie reposing in the settled meaning of the summer day. For
+this is a safer time of year than the flourish of the spring-tide, when
+the impulse of young warmth awaking was suddenly smitten by the bleak
+east wind, and cowslip and cuckoo-flower and speedwell got their bright
+lips browned with cold. Then, moreover, must the meads have felt the
+worry of scarcely knowing yet what would be demanded of them; whether to
+carry an exacting load of hay, or only to feed a few sauntering cows.
+
+But now every trouble has been settled for the best; the long grass
+is mown, and the short grass browsed, and capers of the fairies and
+caprices of the cows have dappled worn texture with a deeper green.
+Therefore let eyes that are satisfied here--as any but a very bad eye
+must be, with so many changes of softness--follow the sweet lead of the
+valley; and there, in a bend of the gently brawling river, stands the
+never-brawling church.
+
+A church less troubled with the gift of tongues is not to be found in
+England: a church of gray stone that crumbles just enough to entice
+frail mortal sympathy, and confesses to the storms it has undergone in
+a tone that conciliates the human sigh. The tower is large, and high
+enough to tell what the way of the wind is without any potato-bury on
+the top, and the simple roof is not cruciated with tiles of misguided
+fancy. But gray rest, and peace of ages, and content of lying calmly
+six feet deeper than the bustle of the quick; memory also, and oblivion,
+following each other slowly, like the shadows of the church-yard
+trees--for all of these no better place can be, nor softer comfort.
+
+For the village of Shoxford runs up on the rise, and straggles away from
+its burial-place, as a child from his school goes mitching. There are
+some few little ups and downs in the manner of its building, as well as
+in other particulars about it; but still it keeps as parallel with the
+crooked river as the far more crooked ways of men permit. But the whole
+of the little road of houses runs down the valley from the church-yard
+gate; and above the church, looking up the pretty valley, stands nothing
+but the mill and the plank bridge below it; and a furlong above that
+again the stone bridge, where the main road crosses the stream, and is
+consoled by leading to a big house--the Moonstock Inn.
+
+The house in which my father lived so long--or rather, I should say, my
+mother, while he was away with his regiment--and where we unfortunate
+seven saw the light, stands about half-way down the little village,
+being on the right-hand side of the road as you come down the valley
+from the Moonstock bridge. Therefore it is on the further and upper side
+of the street--if it can be called a street--from the valley and the
+river and the meads below the mill, inasmuch as every bit of Shoxford,
+and every particle of the parish also, has existence--of no mean sort,
+as compared with other parishes, in its own esteem--on the right side of
+the river Moon.
+
+My father's house, in this good village, standing endwise to the street,
+was higher at one end than at the other. That is to say, the ground came
+sloping, or even falling, as fairly might be said, from one end to the
+other of it, so that it looked like a Noah's ark tilted by Behemoth
+under the stern-post. And a little lane, from a finely wooded hill, here
+fell steeply into the "High Street" (as the grocer and the butcher loved
+to call it), and made my father's house most distinct, by obeying a
+good deal of its outline, and discharging in heavy rain a free supply of
+water under the weather-board of our front-door. This front-door opened
+on the little steep triangle formed by the meeting of lane and road,
+while the back-door led into a long but narrow garden running along the
+road, but raised some feet above it; the bank was kept up by a rough
+stone wall crested with stuck-up snap-dragon and valerian, and
+faced with rosettes and disks and dills of houseleek, pennywort, and
+hart's-tongue.
+
+Betsy and I were only just in time to see the old house as it used to
+be; for the owner had died about half a year ago, and his grandson,
+having proved his will, was resolved to make short work with it. The
+poor house was blamed for the sorrows it had sheltered, and had the
+repute of two spectres, as well as the pale shadow of misfortune. For my
+dear father was now believed by the superstitious villagers to haunt the
+old home of his happiness and love, and roam from room to room in search
+of his wife and all his children. But his phantom was most careful not
+to face that of his father, which stalked along haughtily, as behooved
+a lord, and pointed forever to a red wound in its breast. No wonder,
+therefore, that the house would never let; and it would have been
+pulled down long ago if the owner had not felt a liking for it, through
+memories tender and peculiar to himself. His grandson, having none of
+these to contend with, resolved to make a mere stable of it, and build
+a public-house at the bottom of the garden, and turn the space between
+them into skittle-ground, and so forth.
+
+To me this seemed such a very low idea, and such a desecration of a
+sacred spot, that if I had owned any money to be sure of, I would have
+offered hundreds to prevent it. But I found myself now in a delicate
+state of mind concerning money, having little of my own, and doubting
+how much other people might intend for me. So that I durst not offer to
+buy land and a house without any means to pay.
+
+And it was not for that reason only that Betsy and I kept ourselves
+quiet. We knew that any stir in this little place about us--such as my
+name might at once set going--would once for all destroy all hope
+of doing good by coming. Betsy knew more of such matters than I did,
+besides all her knowledge of the place itself, and her great superiority
+of age; therefore I left to her all little management, as was in every
+way fair and wise. For Mrs. Strouss had forsaken a large and good
+company of lodgers, with only Herr Strouss to look after them--and
+who was he among them? If she trod on one side of her foot, or felt a
+tingling in her hand, or a buzzing in her ear, she knew in a moment what
+it was--of pounds and pounds was she being cheated, a hundred miles off,
+by foreigners!
+
+For this reason it had cost much persuasion and many appeals to her
+faithfulness, as well as considerable weekly payment, ere ever my good
+nurse could be brought away from London; and perhaps even so she never
+would have come if I had not written myself to Mrs. Price, then visiting
+Betsy in European Square, that if the landlady was too busy to be
+spared by her lodgers, I must try to get Lord Castlewood to spare me
+his housekeeper. Upon this Mrs. Strouss at once declared that Mrs.
+Price would ruin every thing; and rather than that--no matter what she
+lost--she herself would go with me. And so she did, and she managed very
+well, keeping my name out of sight (for, happen what might, I would have
+no false one); and she got quiet lodgings in her present name, which
+sounded nicely foreign; and the village being more agitated now about my
+father's material house, and the work they were promised in pulling it
+down, than about his shattered household, we had a very favorable time
+for coming in, and were pronounced to be foreigners who must not be
+allowed to run up bills.
+
+This rustic conclusion suited us quite well, and we soon confirmed it
+unwittingly, Betsy offering a German thaler and I an American dollar at
+the shop of the village chandler and baker, so that we were looked upon
+with some pity, and yet a kind desire for our custom. Thus, without any
+attempt of ours at either delusion or mystery, Mrs. Strouss was hailed
+throughout the place as "Madam Straw," while I, through the sagacity
+of a deeply read shoe-maker, obtained a foreign name, as will by-and-by
+appear.
+
+We lodged at the post-office, not through any wisdom or even any thought
+on our part, but simply because we happened there to find the cleanest
+and prettiest rooms in the place. For the sun being now in the height
+of August, and having much harvest to ripen, at middle day came ramping
+down the little street of Shoxford like the chairman of the guild of
+bakers. Every house having lately brightened up its whitewash--which
+they always do there when the frosts are over, soon after the feast of
+St. Barnabas--and the weeds of the way having fared amiss in the absence
+of any water-cart, it was not in the strong, sharp character of the sun
+to miss such an opportunity. After the red Californian glare, I had no
+fear of any English sun; but Betsy was frightened, and both of us were
+glad to get into a little place sheltered by green blinds. This chanced
+to be the post-office, and there we found nice lodgings.
+
+By an equal chance this proved to be the wisest thing we could possibly
+have done, if we had set about it carefully. For why, that nobody ever
+would impute any desire of secrecy to people who straightway unpacked
+their boxes at the very head-quarters of all the village news. And the
+mistress of the post was a sharp-tongued woman, pleased to speak freely
+of her neighbors' doings, and prompt with good advice that they should
+heed their own business, if any of them durst say a word about her own.
+She kept a tidy little shop, showing something of almost every thing;
+but we had a side door, quite of our own, where Betsy met the baker's
+wife and the veritable milkman; and neither of them knew her, which was
+just what she had hoped; and yet it made her speak amiss of them.
+
+But if all things must be brought to the harsh test of dry reason, I
+myself might be hard pushed to say what good I hoped to do by coming
+thus to Shoxford. I knew of a great many things, for certain, that never
+had been thoroughly examined here; also I naturally wished to see, being
+a native, what the natives were; and, much more than that, it was always
+on my mind that here lay my mother and the other six of us.
+
+Therefore it was an impatient thing for me to hear Betsy working out the
+afternoon with perpetual chatter and challenge of prices, combating now
+as a lodger all those points which as a landlady she never would allow
+even to be moot questions. If any applicant in European Square had dared
+so much as hint at any of all the requirements which she now expected
+gratis, she would simply have whisked her duster, and said that the
+lodgings for such people must be looked for down the alley. However,
+Mrs. Busk, our new landlady, although she had a temper of her own (as
+any one keeping a post-office must have) was forced by the rarity
+of lodgers here to yield many points, which Mrs. Strouss, on her own
+boards, would not even have allowed to be debated. All this was entirely
+against my wish; for when I have money, I spend it, finding really no
+other good in it; but Betsy told me that the purest principle of all
+was--not to be cheated.
+
+So I left her to have these little matters out, and took that occasion
+for stealing away (as the hours grew on toward evening) to a place where
+I wished to be quite alone. And the shadow of the western hills shed
+peace upon the valley, when I crossed a little stile leading into
+Shoxford church-yard.
+
+For a minute or two I was quite afraid, seeing nobody any where about,
+nor even hearing any sound in the distance to keep me company. For the
+church lay apart from the village, and was thickly planted out from it,
+the living folk being full of superstition, and deeply believing in the
+dead people's ghosts. And even if this were a wife to a husband, or even
+a husband reappearing to his wife, there was not a man or a woman in the
+village that would not run away from it.
+
+This I did not know at present, not having been there long enough;
+neither had I any terror of that sort, not being quite such a coward, I
+should hope. But still, as the mantles of the cold trees darkened, and
+the stony remembrance of the dead grew pale, and of the living there was
+not even the whistle of a grave-digger--my heart got the better of
+my mind for a moment, and made me long to be across that stile again.
+Because (as I said to myself) if there had been a hill to go up, that
+would be so different and so easy; but going down into a place like
+this, whence the only escape must be by steps, and where any flight must
+be along channels that run in and out of graves and tombstones, I tried
+not to be afraid, yet could not altogether help it.
+
+But lo! when I came to the north side of the tower, scarcely thinking
+what to look for, I found myself in the middle of a place which made me
+stop and wonder. Here were six little grassy tuffets, according to the
+length of children, all laid east and west, without any stint of room,
+harmoniously.
+
+From the eldest to the youngest, one could almost tell the age at which
+their lowly stature stopped, and took its final measurement.
+
+And in the middle was a larger grave, to comfort and encourage them, as
+a hen lies down among her chicks and waits for them to shelter. Without
+a name to any of them, all these seven graves lay together, as in a
+fairy ring of rest, and kind compassion had prevented any stranger from
+coming to be buried there.
+
+I would not sit on my mother's grave for fear of crushing the pretty
+grass, which some one tended carefully; but I stood at its foot, and
+bent my head, and counted all the little ones. Then I thought of my
+father in the grove of peaches, more than six thousand miles away, on
+the banks of the soft Blue River. And a sense of desolate sorrow and of
+the blessing of death overwhelmed me.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE SEXTON
+
+
+With such things in my mind, it took me long to come back to my work
+again. It even seemed a wicked thing, so near to all these proofs of
+God's great visitation over us, to walk about and say, "I will do this,"
+or even to think, "I will try to do that." My own poor helplessness, and
+loss of living love to guide me, laid upon my heart a weight from which
+it scarcely cared to move. All was buried, all was done with, all had
+passed from out the world, and left no mark but graves behind. What good
+to stir anew such sadness, even if a poor weak thing like me could move
+its mystery?
+
+Time, however, and my nurse Betsy, and Jacob Rigg the gardener, brought
+me back to a better state of mind, and renewed the right courage
+within me. But, first of all, Jacob Rigg aroused my terror and interest
+vividly. It may be remembered that this good man had been my father's
+gardener at the time of our great calamity, and almost alone of the
+Shoxford people had shown himself true and faithful. Not that the
+natives had turned against us, or been at all unfriendly; so far from
+this was the case, that every one felt for our troubles, and pitied us,
+my father being of a cheerful and affable turn, until misery hardened
+him; but what I mean is that only one or two had the courage to go
+against the popular conclusion and the convictions of authority.
+
+But Jacob was a very upright man, and had a strong liking for his
+master, who many and many a time--as he told me--had taken a spade and
+dug along with him, just as if he were a jobbing gardener born, instead
+of a fine young nobleman; "and nobody gifted with that turn of mind,
+likewise very clever in white-spine cowcumbers, could ever be relied
+upon to go and shoot his father." Thus reasoned old Jacob, and he always
+had done so, and meant evermore to abide by it; and the graves which
+he had tended now for nigh a score of years, and meant to tend till
+he called for his own, were--as sure as he stood there in Shoxford
+church-yard a-talking to me, who was the very image of my father, God
+bless me, though not of course so big like--the graves of slaughtered
+innocents, and a mother who was always an angel. And the parson might
+preach forever to him about the resurrection, and the right coming
+uppermost when you got to heaven, but to his mind that was scarcely any
+count at all; and if you came to that, we ought to hang Jack Ketch, as
+might come to pass in the Revelations. But while a man had got his own
+bread to earn, till his honor would let him go to the work-house, and
+his duty to the rate-payers, there was nothing that vexed him more than
+to be told any texts of Holy Scripture. Whatever God Almighty had put
+down there was meant for ancient people, the Jews being long the most
+ancient people, though none the more for that did he like them; and
+so it was mainly the ancient folk, who could not do a day's work worth
+eighteenpence, that could enter into Bible promises. Not that he was at
+all behindhand about interpretation; but as long as he could fetch and
+earn, at planting box and doing borders, two shillings and ninepence a
+day and his beer, he was not going to be on for kingdom come.
+
+I told him that I scarcely thought his view of our condition here would
+be approved by wise men who had found time to study the subject. But he
+answered that whatever their words might be, their doings showed that
+they knew what was the first thing to attend to. And if it ever happened
+him to come across a parson who was as full of heaven outside as he
+was inside his surplice, he would keep his garden in order for nothing
+better than his blessing.
+
+I knew of no answer to be made to this. And indeed he seemed to be aware
+that his conversation was too deep for me; so he leaned upon his spade,
+and rubbed his long blue chin in the shadow of the church tower, holding
+as he did the position of sexton, and preparing even now to dig a grave.
+
+"I keeps them well away from you," he said, as he began to chop out a
+new oblong in the turf; "many a shilling have I been offered by mothers
+about their little ones, to put 'em inside of the 'holy ring,' as we
+calls this little cluster; but not for five golden guineas would I do
+it, and have to face the Captain, dead or alive, about it. We heard that
+he was dead, because it was put in all the papers; and a pleasant place
+I keeps for him, to come home alongside of his family. A nicer gravelly
+bit of ground there couldn't be in all the county; and if no chance of
+him occupying it, I can drive down a peg with your mark, miss."
+
+"Thank you," I answered; "you are certainly most kind; but, Mr. Rigg, I
+would rather wait a little. I have had a very troublesome life thus far,
+and nothing to bind me to it much; but still I would rather not have my
+peg driven down just--just at present."
+
+"Ah, you be like all the young folk that think the tree for their
+coffins ain't come to the size of this spade handle yet. Lord bless you
+for not knowing what He hath in hand! Now this one you see me a-raising
+of the turf for, stood as upright as you do, a fortnight back, and as
+good about the chest and shoulders, and three times the color in her
+cheeks, and her eyes a'most as bright as yourn be. Not aristocratic,
+you must understand me, miss, being only the miller's daughter, nor
+instructed to throw her voice the same as you do, which is better than
+gallery music; but setting these haxidents to one side, a farmer would
+have said she was more preferable, because more come-at-able, though not
+in my opinion to be compared--excuse me for making so free, miss, but
+when it comes to death we has a kind of right to do it--and many a young
+farmer, coming to the mill, was disturbed in his heart about her, and
+far and wide she was known, being proud, as the Beauty of the Moonshine,
+from the name of our little river. She used to call me 'Jacob Diggs,'
+because of my porochial office, with a meaning of a joke on my parenshal
+name. Ah, what a merry one she were! And now this is what I has to do
+for her! And sooner would I 'a doed it a'most for my own old ooman!"
+
+"Oh, Jacob!" I cried, being horrified at the way in which he tore up the
+ground, as if his wife was waiting, "the things you say are quite wrong,
+I am sure, for a man in your position. You are connected with this
+church almost as much as the clerk is."
+
+"More, miss, ten times more! He don't do nothing but lounge on the front
+of his desk, and be too lazy to keep up 'Amen,' while I at my time of
+life go about, from Absolution to the fifth Lord's prayer, with a stick
+that makes my rheumatics worse, for the sake of the boys with their
+pocket full of nuts. When I was a boy there was no nuts, except at the
+proper time of year, a month or two on from this time of speaking; and
+we used to crack they in the husk, and make no noise to disturb the
+congregation; but now it is nuts, nuts, round nuts, flat nuts, nuts with
+three corners to them--all the year round nuts to crack, and me to find
+out who did it!"
+
+"But, Mr. Rigg," I replied, as he stopped, looking hotter in mind than
+in body, "is it not Mrs. Rigg, your good wife, who sells all the nuts on
+a Saturday for the boys to crack on a Sunday?"
+
+"My missus do sell some, to be sure; yes, just a few. But not of a
+Saturday more than any other day."
+
+"Then surely, Mr. Rigg, you might stop it, by not permitting any sale
+of nuts except to good boys of high principles. And has it not happened
+sometimes, Mr. Rigg, that boys have made marks on their nuts, and bought
+them again at your shop on a Monday? I mean, of course, when your duty
+has compelled you to empty the pockets of a boy in church."
+
+Now this was a particle of shamefully small gossip, picked up naturally
+by my Betsy, but pledged to go no further; and as soon as I had spoken
+I became a little nervous, having it suddenly brought to my mind that I
+had promised not even to whisper it; and now I had told it to the man of
+all men! But Jacob appeared to have been quite deaf, and diligently went
+on digging. And I said "good-evening," for the grave was for the morrow;
+and he let me go nearly to the stile before he stuck his spade into the
+ground and followed.
+
+"Excoose of my making use," he said, "of a kind of a personal reference,
+miss; but you be that pat with your answers, it maketh me believe you
+must be sharp inside--more than your father, the poor Captain, were, as
+all them little grass buttons argueth. Now, miss, if I thought you had
+head-piece enough to keep good counsel and ensue it, maybe I could tell
+you a thing as would make your hair creep out of them coorous hitch-ups,
+and your heart a'most bust them there braids of fallallies."
+
+"Why, what in the world do you mean?" I asked, being startled by the old
+man's voice and face.
+
+"Nothing, miss, nothing. I was only a-joking. If you bain't come to no
+more discretion than that--to turn as white as the clerk's smock-frock
+of a Easter-Sunday--why, the more of a joke one has, the better, to
+bring your purty color back to you. Ah! Polly of the mill was the maid
+for color--as good for the eyesight as a chaney-rose in April. Well,
+well, I must get on with her grave; they're a-coming to speak the good
+word over un on sundown."
+
+He might have known how this would vex and perplex me. I could not bear
+to hinder him in his work--as important as any to be done by man for
+man--and yet it was beyond my power to go home and leave him there,
+and wonder what it was that he had been so afraid to tell. So I quietly
+said, "Then I will wish you a very good evening again, Mr. Rigg, as you
+are too busy to be spoken with." And I walked off a little way, having
+met with men who, having begun a thing, needs must have it out, and
+fully expecting him to call me back. But Jacob only touched his hat, and
+said, "A pleasant evening to you, ma'am."
+
+Nothing could have made me feel more resolute than this did. I did not
+hesitate one moment in running back over the stile again, and demanding
+of Jacob Rigg that he should tell me whether he meant any thing or
+nothing; for I was not to be played with about important matters, like
+the boys in the church who were cracking nuts.
+
+"Lord! Lord, now!" he said, with his treddled heel scraping the shoulder
+of his shining spade; "the longer I live in this world, the fitter I
+grow to get into the ways of the Lord. His ways are past finding out,
+saith King David: but a man of war, from his youth upward, hath no
+chance such as a gardening man hath. What a many of them have I found
+out!"
+
+"What has that got to do with it!" I cried. "Just tell me what it was
+you were speaking of just now."
+
+"I was just a-thinking, when I looked at you, miss," he answered, in the
+prime of leisure, and wiping his forehead from habit only, not because
+he wanted it, "how little us knows of the times and seasons and the
+generations of the sons of men. There you stand, miss, and here stand I,
+as haven't seen your father for a score of years a'most; and yet there
+comes out of your eyes into mine the very same look as the Captain used
+to send, when snakes in the grass had been telling lies about me coming
+late, or having my half pint or so on. Not that the Captain was a hard
+man, miss--far otherwise, and capable of allowance, more than any of the
+women be. But only the Lord, who doeth all things aright, could 'a made
+you come, with a score of years atween, and the twinkle in your eyes
+like--Selah!"
+
+"You know what you mean, perhaps, but I do not," I answered, quite
+gently, being troubled by his words and the fear of having tried to
+hurry him; "but you should not say what you have said, Jacob Rigg, to
+me, your master's daughter, if you only meant to be joking. Is this the
+place to joke with me?"
+
+I pointed to all that lay around me, where I could not plant a foot
+without stepping over my brothers or sisters; and the old man, callous
+as he might be, could not help feeling for--a pinch of snuff. This
+he found in the right-hand pocket of his waistcoat, and took it very
+carefully, and made a little noise of comfort; and thus, being fully
+self-assured again, he stood, with his feet far apart and his head on
+one side, regarding me warily. And I took good care not to say another
+word.
+
+"You be young," he said at last; "and in these latter days no wisdom is
+ordained in the mouths of babes and sucklings, nor always in the mouths
+of them as is themselves ordained. But you have a way of keeping your
+chin up, miss, as if you was gifted with a stiff tongue likewise. And
+whatever may hap, I has as good mind to tell 'e."
+
+"That you are absolutely bound to do," I answered, as forcibly as I
+could. "Duty to your former master and to me, his only child--and to
+yourself, and your Maker too--compel you, Jacob Rigg, to tell me every
+thing you know."
+
+"Then, miss," he answered, coming nearer to me, and speaking in a low,
+hoarse voice, "as sure as I stand here in God's churchyard, by all this
+murdered family, I knows the man who done it!"
+
+He looked at me, with a trembling finger upon his hard-set lips, and the
+spade in his other hand quivered like a wind vane; but I became as firm
+as the monument beside me, and my heart, instead of fluttering, grew as
+steadfast as a glacier. Then, for the first time, I knew that God had
+not kept me living, when all the others died, without fitting me also
+for the work there was to do.
+
+"Come here to the corner of the tower, miss," old Jacob went on, in his
+excitement catching hold of the sleeve of my black silk jacket. "Where
+we stand is a queer sort of echo, which goeth in and out of them big
+tombstones. And for aught I can say to contrairy, he may be a-watching
+of us while here we stand."
+
+I glanced around, as if he were most welcome to be watching me, if only
+I could see him once. But the place was as silent as its graves; and
+I followed the sexton to the shadow of a buttress. Here he went into
+a deep gray corner, lichened and mossed by a drip from the roof; and
+being, both in his clothes and self, pretty much of that same color,
+he was not very easy to discern from stone when the light of day was
+declining.
+
+"This is where I catches all the boys," he whispered; "and this is where
+I caught him, one evening when I were tired, and gone to nurse my knees
+a bit. Let me see--why, let me see! Don't you speak till I do, miss.
+Were it the last but one I dug? Or could un 'a been the last but two?
+Never mind; I can't call to mind quite justly. We puts down about one a
+month in this parish, without any distemper or haxident. Well, it must
+'a been the one afore last--to be sure, no call to scratch my head
+about un. Old Sally Mock, as sure as I stand here--done handsome by
+the rate-payers. Over there, miss, if you please to look--about two
+land-yard and a half away. Can you see un with the grass peeking up
+a'ready?"
+
+"Never mind that, Jacob. Do please to go on."
+
+"So I be, miss. So I be doing to the best of the power granted me. Well,
+I were in this little knuckle of a squat, where old Sally used to say
+as I went to sleep, and charged the parish for it--a spiteful old ooman,
+and I done her grave with pleasure, only wishing her had to pay for
+it; and to prove to her mind that I never goed asleep here, I was just
+making ready to set fire to my pipe, having cocked my shovel in to ease
+my legs, like this, when from round you corner of the chancel-foot, and
+over again that there old tree, I seed a something movin' along--movin'
+along, without any noise or declarance of solid feet walking. You may
+see the track burnt in the sod, if you let your eyes go along this here
+finger."
+
+"Oh, Jacob, how could you have waited to see it?"
+
+"I did, miss, I did; being used to a-many antics in this dead-yard, such
+as a man who hadn't buried them might up foot to run away from. But they
+no right, after the service of the Church, to come up for more than one
+change of the moon, unless they been great malefactors. And then they be
+ashamed of it; and I reminds them of it. 'Amen,' I say, in the very same
+voice as I used at the tail of their funerals; and then they knows well
+that I covered them up, and the most uneasy goes back again. Lor' bless
+you, miss, I no fear of the dead. At both ends of life us be harmless.
+It is in the life, and mostways in the middle of it, we makes all the
+death for one another."
+
+This was true enough; and I only nodded to him, fearing to interject any
+new ideas from which he might go rambling.
+
+"Well, that there figure were no joke, mind you," the old man continued,
+as soon as he had freshened his narrative powers with another pinch of
+snuff, "being tall and grim, and white in the face, and very onpleasant
+for to look at, and its eyes seemed a'most to burn holes in the air. No
+sooner did I see that it were not a ghostie, but a living man the
+same as I be, than my knees begins to shake and my stumps of teeth to
+chatter. And what do you think it was stopped me, miss, from slipping
+round this corner, and away by belfry? Nort but the hoddest idea you
+ever heared on. For all of a suddint it was borne unto my mind that the
+Lord had been pleased to send us back the Captain; not so handsome as
+he used to be, but in the living flesh, however, in spite of they
+newspapers. And I were just at the pint of coming forrard, out of this
+here dark cornder, knowing as I had done my duty by them graves that his
+honor, to my mind, must 'a come looking after, when, lucky for me, I
+see summat in his walk, and then in his countenance, and then in all
+his features, unnateral on the Captain's part, whatever his time of life
+might be. And sure enough, miss, it were no Captain more nor I myself
+be."
+
+"Of course not. How could it be? But who was it, Jacob?"
+
+"You bide a bit, miss, and you shall hear the whole. Well, by that time
+'twas too late for me to slip away, and I was bound to scrooge up into
+the elbow of this nick here, and try not to breathe, as nigh as might
+be, and keep my Lammas cough down; for I never see a face more full
+of malice and uncharity. However, he come on as straight as a arrow,
+holding his long chin out, like this, as if he gotten crutches under
+it, as the folk does with bad water. A tall man, as tall as the Captain
+a'most, but not gifted with any kind aspect. He trampsed over the
+general graves, like the devil come to fetch their souls out; but when
+he come here to the 'holy ring,' he stopped short, and stood with his
+back to me. I could hear him count the seven graves, as pat as the
+shells of oysters to pay for, and then he said all their names, as true,
+from the biggest to the leastest one, as Betsy Bowen could 'a done it,
+though none of 'em got no mark to 'em. Oh, the poor little hearts, it
+was cruel hard upon them! And then my lady in the middle, making
+seven. So far as I could catch over his shoulder, he seemed to be quite
+a-talking with her--not as you and I be, miss, but a sort of a manner of
+a way, like."
+
+"And what did he seem to say? Oh, Jacob, how long you do take over it!"
+
+"Well, he did not, miss; that you may say for sartain. And glad I was
+to have him quick about it; for he might have redooced me to such a
+condition--ay, and I believe a' would, too, if onst a' had caught
+sight of me--as the parish might 'a had to fight over the appintment of
+another sexton. And so at last a' went away. And I were that stiff with
+scrooging in this cornder--"
+
+"Is that all? Oh, that comes to nothing. Surely you must have more to
+tell me? It may have been some one who knew our names. It may have been
+some old friend of the family."
+
+"No, miss, no! No familiar friend; or if he was, he were like King
+David's. He bore a tyrannous hate against 'e, and the poison of asps
+were under his lips. In this here hattitude he stood, with his back
+toward me, and his reins more upright than I be capable of putting it.
+And this was how he held up his elbow and his head. Look 'e see, miss,
+and then 'e know as much as I do."
+
+Mr. Rigg marched with a long smooth step--a most difficult strain for
+his short bowed legs--as far as the place he had been pointing out; and
+there he stood with his back to me, painfully doing what the tall man
+had done, so far as the difference of size allowed.
+
+It was not possible for me to laugh in a matter of such sadness; and yet
+Jacob stood, with his back to me, spreading and stretching himself in
+such a way, to be up to the dimensions of the stranger, that--low as it
+was--I was compelled to cough, for fear of fatally offending him.
+
+"That warn't quite right, miss. Now you look again," he exclaimed, with
+a little readjustment. "Only he had a thing over one shoulder, the like
+of what the Scotchmen wear; and his features was beyond me, because of
+the back of his head, like. For God's sake keep out of his way, miss."
+
+The sexton stood in a musing and yet a stern and defiant attitude, with
+the right elbow clasped in the left-hand palm, the right hand resting
+half-clinched upon the forehead, and the shoulders thrown back, as if
+ready for a blow.
+
+"What a very odd way to stand!" I said.
+
+"Yes, miss. And what he said was odder. 'Six, and the mother!' I heared
+un say; 'no cure for it, till I have all seven.' But stop, miss. Not a
+breath to any one! Here comes the poor father and mother to speak the
+blessing across their daughter's grave--and the grave not two foot down
+yet!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+A SIMPLE QUESTION
+
+
+Now this account of what Jacob Rigg had seen and heard threw me into a
+state of mind extremely unsatisfactory. To be in eager search of some
+unknown person who had injured me inexpressibly, without any longing for
+revenge on my part, but simply with a view to justice--this was a very
+different thing from feeling that an unknown person was in quest of
+me, with the horrible purpose of destroying me to insure his own wicked
+safety.
+
+At first I almost thought that he was welcome to do this; that such a
+life as mine (if looked at from an outer point of view) was better to be
+died than lived out. Also that there was nobody left to get any good out
+of all that I could do; and even if I ever should succeed, truth would
+come out of her tomb too late. And this began to make me cry, which I
+had long given over doing, with no one to feel for the heart of it.
+
+But a thing of this kind could not long endure; and as soon as the sun
+of the morrow arose (or at least as soon as I was fit to see him), my
+view of the world was quite different. Here was the merry brook, playing
+with the morning, spread around with ample depth and rich retreat of
+meadows, and often, after maze of leisure, hastening with a tinkle into
+shadowy delight of trees. Here, as well, were happy lanes, and footpaths
+of a soft content, unworn with any pressure of the price of time or
+business. None of them knew (in spite, at flurried spots, of their own
+direction posts) whence they were coming or whither going--only that
+here they lay, between the fields or through them, like idle veins
+of earth, with sometimes company of a man or boy, whistling to his
+footfall, or a singing maid with a milking pail. And how ungrateful it
+would be to forget the pleasant copses, in waves of deep green leafage
+flowing down and up the channeled hills, waving at the wind to tints and
+tones of new refreshment, and tempting idle folk to come and hear the
+hush, and see the twinkled texture of pellucid gloom.
+
+Much, however, as I loved to sit in places of this kind alone, for some
+little time I feared to do so, after hearing the sexton's tale; for
+Jacob's terror was so unfeigned (though his own life had not been
+threatened) that, knowing as I did from Betsy's account, as well as his
+own appearance, that he was not at all a nervous man, I could not help
+sharing his vague alarm. It seemed so terrible that any one should come
+to the graves of my sweet mother and her six harmless children, and,
+instead of showing pity, as even a monster might have tried to do,
+should stand, if not with threatening gestures, yet with a most hostile
+mien, and thirst for the life of the only survivor--my poor self.
+
+But terrible or not, the truth was so; and neither Betsy nor myself
+could shake Mr. Rigg's conclusion. Indeed, he became more and more
+emphatic, in reply to our doubts and mild suggestions, perhaps that his
+eyes had deceived him, or perhaps that, taking a nap in the corner of
+the buttress, he had dreamed at least a part of it. And Betsy, on the
+score of ancient friendship and kind remembrance of his likings, put
+it to him in a gentle way whether his knowledge of what Sally Mock had
+been, and the calumnies she might have spoken of his beer (when herself,
+in the work-house, deprived of it), might not have induced him to take
+a little more than usual in going down so deep for her. But he answered,
+"No; it was nothing of the sort. Deep he had gone, to the tiptoe of his
+fling; not from any feeling of a wish to keep her down, but just because
+the parish paid, and the parish would have measurement. And when that
+was on, he never brought down more than the quart tin from the public;
+and never had none down afterward. Otherwise the ground was so ticklish,
+that a man, working too free, might stay down there. No, no! That
+idea was like one of Sally's own. He just had his quart of Persfield
+ale--short measure, of course, with a woman at the bar--and if that were
+enough to make a man dream dreams, the sooner he dug his own grave, the
+better for all connected with him."
+
+We saw that we had gone too far in thinking of such a possibility; and
+if Mr. Rigg had not been large-minded, as well as notoriously sober,
+Betsy might have lost me all the benefit of his evidence by her
+London-bred clumsiness with him. For it takes quite a different
+handling, and a different mode of outset, to get on with the London
+working class and the laboring kind of the country; or at least it
+seemed to me so.
+
+Now my knowledge of Jacob Rigg was owing, as might be supposed, to Betsy
+Strouss, who had taken the lead of me in almost every thing ever since
+I brought her down from London. And now I was glad that, in one point
+at least, her judgment had overruled mine--to wit, that my name and
+parentage were as yet not generally known in the village. Indeed, only
+Betsy herself and Jacob and a faithful old washer-woman, with no roof to
+her mouth, were aware of me as Miss Castlewood. Not that I had taken any
+other name--to that I would not stoop--but because the public, of its
+own accord, paying attention to Betsy's style of addressing me, followed
+her lead (with some little improvement), and was pleased to entitle me
+"Miss Raumur."
+
+Some question had been raised as to spelling me aright, till a man of
+advanced intelligence proved to many eyes, and even several pairs of
+spectacles (assembled in front of the blacksmith's shop), that no other
+way could be right except that. For there it was in print, as any one
+able might see, on the side of an instrument whose name and qualities
+were even more mysterious than those in debate. Therefore I became "Miss
+Raumur;" and a protest would have gone for nothing unless printed also.
+But it did not behoove me to go to that expense, while it suited me very
+well to be considered and pitied as a harmless foreigner--a being who
+on English land may find some cause to doubt whether, even in his own
+country, a prophet could be less thought of. And this large pity for me,
+as an outlandish person, in the very spot where I was born, endowed me
+with tenfold the privilege of the proudest native. For the natives of
+this valley are declared to be of a different stock from those around
+them, not of the common Wessex strain, but of Jutish or Danish
+origin. How that may be I do not know; at any rate, they think well of
+themselves, and no doubt they have cause to do so.
+
+Moreover, they all were very kind to me, and their primitive ways amused
+me, as soon as they had settled that I was a foreigner, equally beyond
+and below inquiry. They told me that I was kindly welcome to stay there
+as long as it pleased me; and knowing how fond I was of making pictures,
+after beholding my drawing-book, every farmer among them gave me leave
+to come into his fields, though he never had heard there was any thing
+there worth painting.
+
+When once there has been a deposit of idea in the calm deep eocene of
+British rural mind, the impression will outlast any shallow deluge of
+the noblest education. Shoxford had settled two points forever, without
+troubling reason to come out of her way--first, that I was a foreign
+young lady of good birth, manners, and money; second, and far more
+important, I was here to write and paint a book about Shoxford. Not
+for the money, of that I had no need (according to the congress at the
+"Silver-edged Holly"), but for the praise and the knowledge of it,
+like, and to make a talk among high people. But the elders shook their
+heads--as I heard from Mr. Rigg, who hugged his knowledge proudly, and
+uttered dim sayings of wisdom let forth at large usury: he did not mind
+telling me that the old men shook their heads, for fear of my being a
+deal too young, and a long sight too well favored (as any man might tell
+without his specs on), for to write any book upon any subject yet, leave
+alone an old, ancient town like theirs. However, there might be no harm
+in my trying, and perhaps the school-master would cross out the bad
+language.
+
+Thus for once fortune now was giving me good help, enabling me to go
+about freely, and preventing (so far as I could see, at least) all
+danger of discovery by my unknown foe. So here I resolved to keep my
+head-quarters, dispensing, if it must be so, with Betsy's presence,
+and not even having Mrs. Price to succeed her, unless my cousin should
+insist upon it. And partly to dissuade him from that, and partly to
+hear his opinion of the sexton's tale, I paid a flying visit to Lord
+Castlewood; while "Madam Straw," as Betsy now was called throughout the
+village, remained behind at Shoxford. For I long had desired to know a
+thing which I had not ventured to ask my cousin--though I did ask Mr.
+Shovelin--whether my father had intrusted him with the key of his own
+mysterious acts. I scarcely knew whether it was proper even now to put
+this question to Lord Castlewood; but even without doing so, I might get
+at the answer by watching him closely while I told my tale. Not a letter
+had reached me since I came to Shoxford, neither had I written any,
+except one to Uncle Sam; and keeping to this excellent rule, I arrived
+at Castlewood without notice.
+
+In doing this I took no liberty, because full permission had been given
+me about it; and indeed I had been expected there, as Stixon told me,
+some days before. He added that his master was about as usual, but had
+shown some uneasiness on my account, though the butler was all in the
+dark about it, and felt it very hard after all these years, "particular,
+when he could hardly help thinking that Mrs. Price--a new hand compared
+to himself, not to speak of being a female--knowed all about it, and
+were very aggravating. But there, he would say no more; he knew his
+place, and he always had been valued in it, long afore Mrs. Price come
+up to the bottom of his waistcoat."
+
+My cousin received me with kindly warmth, and kissed me gently on the
+forehead. "My dear, how very well you look!" he said. "Your native air
+has agreed with you. I was getting, in my quiet way, rather sedulous
+and self-reproachful about you. But you would have your own way, like a
+young American; and it seems that you were right."
+
+"It was quite right," I answered, with a hearty kiss, for I never could
+be cold-natured; and this was my only one of near kin, so far, at least,
+as my knowledge went. "I was quite right in going; and I have done good.
+At any rate, I have found out something--something that may not be of
+any kind of use; but still it makes me hope things."
+
+With that, in as few words as ever I could use, I told Lord Castlewood
+the whole of Jacob's tale, particularly looking at him all the while I
+spoke, to settle in my own mind whether the idea of such a thing was new
+to him. Concerning that, however, I could make out nothing. My cousin,
+at his time of life, and after so much travelling, had much too large a
+share of mind and long skill of experience for me to make any thing out
+of his face beyond his own intention. And whether he had suspicion or
+not of any thing at all like what I was describing, or any body having
+to do with it, was more than I ever might have known, if I had not
+gathered up my courage and put the question outright to him. I told
+him that if I was wrong in asking, he was not to answer; but, right or
+wrong, ask him I must.
+
+"The question is natural, and not at all improper," replied Lord
+Castlewood, standing a moment for change of pain, which was all his
+relief. "Indeed, I expected you to ask me that before. But, Erema, I
+have also had to ask myself about it, whether I have any right to answer
+you. And I have decided not to do so, unless you will pledge yourself to
+one thing."
+
+"I will pledge myself to any thing," I answered, rashly; "I do not care
+what it is, if only to get at the bottom of this mystery."
+
+"I scarcely think you will hold good to your words when you hear what
+you have to promise. The condition upon which I tell you what I believe
+to be the cause of all is, that you let things remain as they are, and
+keep silence forever about them."
+
+"Oh, you can not be so cruel, so atrocious!" I cried, in my bitter
+disappointment. "What good would it be for me to know things thus, and
+let the vile wrong continue? Surely you are not bound to lay on me a
+condition so impossible?"
+
+"After much consideration and strong wish to have it otherwise, I have
+concluded that I am so bound."
+
+"In duty to my father, or the family, or what? Forgive me for asking,
+but it does seem so hard."
+
+"It seems hard, my dear, and it is hard as well," he answered, very
+gently, yet showing in his eyes and lips no chance of any yielding. "But
+remember that I do not know, I only guess, the secret; and if you give
+the pledge I speak of, you merely follow in your father's steps."
+
+"Never," I replied, with as firm a face as his. "It may have been my
+father's duty, or no doubt he thought it so; but it can not be mine,
+unless I make it so by laying it on my honor. And I will not do that."
+
+"Perhaps you are right; but, at any rate, remember that I have not tried
+to persuade you. I wish to do what is for your happiness, Erema. And
+I think that, on the whole, with your vigor and high spirit, you are
+better as you are than if you had a knowledge which you could only brood
+over and not use."
+
+"I will find out the whole of it myself," I cried, for I could not
+repress all excitement; "and then I need not brood over it, but may have
+it out and get justice. In the wildest parts of America justice comes
+with perseverance: am I to abjure it in the heart of England? Lord
+Castlewood, which is first--justice or honor?"
+
+"My cousin, you are fond of asking questions difficult to answer.
+Justice and honor nearly always go together. When they do otherwise,
+honor stands foremost, with people of good birth, at least."
+
+"Then I will be a person of very bad birth. If they come into conflict
+in my life, as almost every thing seems to do, my first thought shall be
+of justice; and honor shall come in as its ornament afterward."
+
+"Erema," said my cousin, "your meaning is good, and at your time of life
+you can scarcely be expected to take a dispassionate view of things."
+
+At first I felt almost as if I could hate a "dispassionate view of
+things." Things are made to arouse our passion, so long as meanness and
+villainy prevail; and if old men, knowing the balance of the world,
+can contemplate them all "dispassionately," more clearly than any thing
+else, to my mind, that proves the beauty of being young. I am sure that
+I never was hot or violent--qualities which I especially dislike--but
+still I would rather almost have those than be too philosophical. And
+now, while I revered my father's cousin for his gentleness, wisdom, and
+long-suffering, I almost longed to fly back to the Major, prejudiced,
+peppery, and red-hot for justice, at any rate in all things that
+concerned himself.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+SOME ANSWER TO IT
+
+
+Hasty indignation did not drive me to hot action. A quiet talk with
+Mrs. Price, as soon as my cousin's bad hour arrived, was quite enough to
+bring me back to a sense of my own misgovernment. Moreover, the evening
+clouds were darkening for a night of thunder, while the silver Thames
+looked nothing more than a leaden pipe down the valleys. Calm words fall
+at such times on quick temper like the drip of trees on people who
+have been dancing. I shivered, as my spirit fell, to think of my weak
+excitement, and poor petulance to a kind, wise friend, a man of many
+sorrows and perpetual affliction. And then I recalled what I had
+observed, but in my haste forgotten--Lord Castlewood was greatly changed
+even in the short time since I had left his house for Shoxford. Pale he
+had always been, and his features (calm as they were, and finely cut)
+seemed almost bleached by in-door life and continual endurance. But
+now they showed worse sign than this--a delicate transparence of faint
+color, and a waxen surface, such as I had seen at a time I can not bear
+to think of. Also he had tottered forward, while he tried for steadfast
+footing, quite as if his worried members were almost worn out at last.
+
+Mrs. Price took me up quite sharply--at least for one of her
+well-trained style--when I ventured to ask if she had noticed this,
+which made me feel uneasy. "Oh dear, no!" she said, looking up from
+the lace-frilled pockets of her silk apron, which appeared to my mind
+perhaps a little too smart, and almost of a vulgar tincture; and I think
+that she saw in my eyes that much, and was vexed with herself for not
+changing it--"oh dear, no, Miss Castlewood! We who know and watch
+him should detect any difference of that nature at the moment of its
+occurrence. His lordship's health goes vacillating; a little up now,
+and then a little down, like a needle that is mounted to show the dip
+of compass; and it varies according to the electricity, as well as the
+magnetic influence."
+
+"What doctor told you that?" I asked, seeing in a moment that this
+housekeeper was dealing in quotation.
+
+"You are very"--she was going to say "rude," but knew better when she
+saw me waiting for it--"well, you are rather brusque, as we used to call
+it abroad, Miss Castlewood; but am I incapable of observing for myself?"
+
+"I never implied that," was my answer. "I believe that you are most
+intelligent, and fit to nurse my cousin, as you are to keep his
+house. And what you have said shows the clearness of your memory and
+expression."
+
+"You are very good to speak so," she answered, recovering her temper
+beautifully, but, like a true woman, resolved not to let me know any
+thing more about it. "Oh, what a clap of thunder! Are you timid? This
+house has been struck three times, they say. It stands so prominently.
+It is this that has made my lord look so."
+
+"Let us hope, then to see him much better to-morrow," I said, very
+bravely, though frightened at heart, being always a coward of thunder.
+"What are these storms you get in England compared to the tropical
+outbursts? Let us open the window, if you please, and watch it."
+
+"I hear myself called," Mrs. Price exclaimed. "I am sorry to leave you,
+miss. You know best. But please not to sit by an open window; nothing is
+more dangerous."
+
+"Except a great bunch of steel keys," I replied; and gazing at her nice
+retreating figure, saw it quickened, as a flash of lightning passed,
+with the effort of both hands to be quit of something.
+
+The storm was dreadful; and I kept the window shut, but could not help
+watching, with a fearful joy, the many-fingered hazy pale vibrations,
+the reflections of the levin in the hollow of the land. And sadly I
+began to think of Uncle Sam and all his goodness; and how in a storm,
+a thousandfold of this, he went down his valley in the torrent of the
+waves, and must have been drowned, and perhaps never found again, if he
+had not been wearing his leathern apron.
+
+This made me humble, as all great thoughts do, and the sidelong drizzle
+in among the heavy rain (from the big drops jostling each other in the
+air, and dashing out splashes of difference) gave me an idea of the sort
+of thing I was--and how very little more. And feeling rather lonely in
+the turn that things had taken, I rang the bell for somebody; and up
+came Stixon.
+
+"Lor', miss! Lor', what a burning shame of Prick!--'Prick' we call her,
+in our genial moments, hearing as the 'k' is hard in Celtic language;
+and all abroad about her husband. My very first saying to you was, not
+to be too much okkipied with her. Look at the pinafore on her! Lord be
+with me! If his lordship, as caught me, that day of this very same month
+fifty years, in the gooseberry bush--"
+
+"To be sure!" I said, knowing that story by heart, together with all its
+embellishments; "but things are altered since that day. Nothing can be
+more to your credit, I am sure, than to be able to tell such a tale in
+the very place where it happened."
+
+"But, Miss--Miss Erma, I ain't begun to tell it."
+
+"Because you remember that I am acquainted with it. A thing so
+remarkable is not to be forgotten. Now let me ask you a question of
+importance; and I beg you, as an old servant of this family, to
+answer it carefully and truly. Do you remember any one, either here or
+elsewhere, so like my father, Captain Castlewood, as to be taken for
+him at first sight, until a difference of expression and of walk was
+noticed?"
+
+Mr. Stixon looked at me with some surprise, and then began to think
+profoundly, and in doing so he supported his chin with one hand.
+
+"Let me see--like the Captain?" He reflected slowly: "Did I ever see a
+gentleman like poor Master George, as was? A gentleman, of course, it
+must have been--and a very tall, handsome, straight gentleman, to be
+taken anyhow for young Master George. And he must have been very like
+him, too, to be taken for him by resemblance. Well then, miss, to the
+best of my judgment, I never did see such a gentleman."
+
+"I don't know whether it was a gentleman or not," I answered, with
+some impatience at his tantalizing slowness; "but he carried his chin
+stretched forth--like this."
+
+For Stixon's own attitude had reminded me of a little point in Jacob
+Rigg's description, which otherwise might have escaped me.
+
+"Lor', now, and he carried his chin like that!" resumed the butler, with
+an increase of intelligence by no means superfluous. "Why, let me see,
+now, let me see. Something do come across my mind when you puts out your
+purty chin, miss; but there, it must have been a score of years agone,
+or more--perhaps five-and-twenty. What a daft old codger I be getting,
+surely! No wonder them new lights puts a bushel over me."
+
+"No," I replied; "you are simply showing great power of memory, Stixon.
+And now please to tell me, as soon as you can, who it was--a tall man,
+remember, and a handsome one, with dark hair, perhaps, or at any rate
+dark eyes--who resembled (perhaps not very closely, but still enough to
+mislead at a distance) my dear father--Master George, as you call him,
+for whose sake you are bound to tell me every thing you know. Now try to
+think--do please try your very best, for my sake."
+
+"That I will, miss; that I will, with all my heart, with all my mind,
+with all my soul, and with all my strength, as I used to have to say
+with my hands behind my back, afore education were invented. Only please
+you to stand with your chin put out, miss, and your profield towards me.
+That is what brings it up, and nothing else at all, miss. Only, not to
+say a word of any sort to hurry me. A tracherous and a deep thing is the
+memory and the remembrance."
+
+Mr. Stixon's memory was so deep that there seemed to be no bottom to it,
+or, at any rate, what lay there took a very long time to get at. And I
+waited, with more impatience than hope, the utterance of his researches.
+
+"I got it now; I got it all, miss, clear as any pictur'!" the old man
+cried out, at the very moment when I was about to say, "Please to leave
+off; I am sure it is too much for you." "Not a pictur' in all of our
+gallery, miss, two-and-fifty of 'em, so clear as I see that there man,
+dark as it was, and a heavy wind a-blowing. What you call them things,
+miss, if you please, as comes with the sun, like a face upon the water?
+Wicked things done again the will of the Lord, and He makes them fade
+out afterwards."
+
+"Perhaps you mean photographs. Is that the word?"
+
+"The very word, and no mistake. A sinful trespass on the works of God,
+to tickle the vanity of gals. But he never spread himself abroad like
+them. They shows all their ear-rings, and their necks, and smiles. But
+he never would have shown his nose, if he could help it, that stormy
+night when I come to do my duty. He come into this house without so much
+as a 'by your leave' to nobody, and vexed me terrible accordingly. It
+was in the old lord's time, you know, miss, a one of the true sort, as
+would have things respectful, and knock down any man as soon as look.
+And it put me quite upon the touch-and-go, being responsible for all
+the footman's works, and a young boy promoted in the face of my opinion,
+having my own son worth a dozen of him. This made me look at the nature
+of things, miss, and find it on my conscience to be after every body."
+
+"Yes, Stixon, yes! Now do go on. You must always have been, not only
+after, but a very long way after, every body."
+
+"Miss Erma, if you throw me out, every word goes promiscuous. In a
+heffort of the mind like this it is every word, or no word. Now, did
+I see him come along the big passage?--a 'currydoor' they call it now,
+though no more curry in it than there is door. No, I never seed him come
+along the passage, and that made it more reproachful. He come out of
+a green-baize door--the very place I can point out to you, and the
+selfsame door, miss, though false to the accuracy of the mind that knows
+it, by reason of having been covered up red, and all the brass buttons
+lost to it in them new-fangled upholsteries. Not that I see him come
+through, if you please, but the sway of the door, being double-jointed,
+was enough to show legs, had been there. And knowing that my lord's
+private room was there, made me put out my legs quite wonderful."
+
+"Oh, do please to put out your words half as quickly."
+
+"No, miss, no. I were lissome in those days, though not so very stiff
+at this time of speaking, and bound to be guarded in the guidance of the
+tongue. And now, miss, I think if you please to hear the rest to-morrow,
+I could tell it better."
+
+A more outrageous idea than this was never presented to me. Even if I
+could have tried to wait, this dreadful old man might have made up his
+mind not to open his lips in the morning, or, if he would speak, there
+might be nothing left to say. His memory was nursed up now, and my only
+chance was to keep it so. Therefore I begged him to please to go on, and
+no more would I interrupt him. And I longed to be ten years older, so as
+not to speak when needless.
+
+"So then, Miss Erma, if I must go on," resumed the well-coaxed Stixon,
+"if my duty to the family driveth me to an 'arrowing subjeck, no words
+can more justly tell what come to pass than my language to my wife. She
+were alive then, the poor dear hangel, and the mother of seven children,
+which made me, by your leave comparing humble roofs with grandeur, a
+little stiff to him up stairs, as come in on the top of seven. For I
+said to my wife when I went home--sleeping out of the house, you see,
+miss, till the Lord was pleased to dissolve matrimony--'Polly,' I
+said, when I took home my supper, 'you may take my word for it there is
+something queer.' Not another word did I mean to tell her, as behooved
+my dooty. Howsoever, no peace was my lot till I made a clean bosom of
+it, only putting her first on the Testament, and even that not safe with
+most of them. And from that night not a soul has heard a word till it
+comes to you, miss. He come striding along, with his face muffled up,
+for all the world like a bugglar, and no more heed did he pay to me than
+if I was one of the pedestals. But I were in front of him at the door,
+and to slip out so was against all orders. So in front of him I stands,
+with my hand upon the handles, and meaning to have a word with him, to
+know who he was, and such like, and how he comes there, and what he had
+been seeking, with the spoons and the forks and the gravies on my mind.
+And right I would have been in a court of law (if the lawyers was put
+out of it) for my hefforts in that situation. And then, what do you
+think he done, miss? So far from entering into any conversation with me,
+or hitting at me, like a man--which would have done good to think of--he
+send out one hand to the bottom of my vest--as they call it now in all
+the best livery tailors--and afore I could reason on it, there I was
+a-lying on a star in six colors of marble. When I come to think on it,
+it was but a push directed to a part of my system, and not a hit
+under the belt, the like of which no Briton would think of delivering.
+Nevertheless, there was no differ in what came to me, miss, and my
+spirit was roused, as if I had been hit foul by one of the prizemen.
+No time to get up, but I let out one foot at his long legs as a' was
+slipping through the door, and so nearly did I fetch him over that he
+let go his muffle to balance himself with the jamb, and same moment a
+strong rush of wind laid bare the whole of his wicked face to me. For a
+bad wicked face it was, as ever I did see; whether by reason of the kick
+I gave, and a splinter in the shin, or by habit of the mind, a proud and
+'aughty and owdacious face, and, as I said to my poor wife, reminded me
+a little of our Master George; not in his ordinary aspect, to be sure,
+but as Master George might look if he was going to the devil. Pray
+excoose me, miss, for bad words, but no good ones will do justice.
+And so off he goes, after one look at me on the ground, not worth
+considering, with his chin stuck up, as if the air was not good enough
+to be breathed perpendiklar like."
+
+"And of course you followed him," I exclaimed, perceiving that Stixon
+would allow me now to speak. "Without any delay you went after him."
+
+"Miss Erma, you forget what my dooty was. My dooty was to stay by the
+door and make it fast, as custodian of all this mansion. No little
+coorosity, or private resentment, could 'a borne me out in doing so. As
+an outraged man I was up for rushing out, but as a trusted official, and
+responsible head footman, miss--for I were not butler till nine months
+after that--my dooty was to put the big bolt in."
+
+"And you did it, without even looking out to see if he tried to set the
+house on fire! Oh, Stixon, I fear that you were frightened."
+
+"Now, Miss Erma, I calls it ungrateful, after all my hefforts to obleege
+you, to put a bad construction upon me. You hurts me, miss, in my
+tenderest parts, as I never thought Master George's darter would 'a
+doed. But there, they be none of them as they used to be! Master George
+would 'a said, if he ever had heard it. 'Stixon, my man, you have acted
+for the best, and showed a sound discretion. Stixon,' he would have
+said, 'here's a George and Dragon in reward of your gallant conduck.'
+Ah, that sort of manliness is died out now."
+
+This grated at first upon my feelings, because it seemed tainted with
+selfishness, and it did not entirely agree with my own recollections
+of my father. But still Mr. Stixon must have suffered severely in that
+conflict, and to blame him for not showing rashness was to misunderstand
+his position. And so, before putting any other questions to him, I felt
+in my pocket for a new half sovereign, which I hoped would answer.
+
+Mr. Stixon received it in an absent manner, as if he were still in the
+struggle of his story, and too full of duty to be thankful. Yet I
+saw that he did not quite realize the truth of a nobly philosophic
+proverb--"the half is more than the whole." Nevertheless, he stowed away
+his half, in harmony with a good old English saying.
+
+"Now, when you were able to get up at last," I inquired, with tender
+interest, "what did you see, and what did you do, and what conclusion
+did you come to?"
+
+"I came to the conclusion, miss, that I were hurt considerable.
+Coorosity on my part were quenched by the way as I had to rub myself.
+But a man is a man, and the last thing to complain of is the exercise of
+his functions. And when I come round I went off to his lordship, as if
+I had heared his bell ring. All of us knew better than to speak till him
+beginning, for he were not what they now call 'halfable,' but very much
+to the contrary. So he says, 'You door-skulker, what do you want there?'
+And I see that he got his hot leg up, certain to fly to bad language.
+According, I asked, with my breath in my hand, if he pleased to see any
+young man there just now, by reason that such likes had been observated
+going out in some direction. But his lordship roared to me to go in
+another direction, not fit for young ladies. My old lord was up to every
+word of English; but his present lordship is the hopposite extreme."
+
+"Is that all you have to tell me, Stixon? Did you never see that fearful
+man again? Did you never even hear of him?"
+
+"Never, miss, never! And to nobody but you have I ever told all as I
+told now. But you seems to be born to hear it all."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+A WITCH
+
+
+It was true enough that Stixon now had nothing more to tell, but what he
+had told already seemed of very great importance, confirming strongly,
+as it did, the description given me by Jacob Rigg. And even the butler's
+concluding words--that I seemed born to hear it all--comforted me like
+some good omen, and cheered me forward to make them true. Not that I
+could, in my sad and dangerous enterprise, always be confident.
+Some little spirit I must have had, and some resolve to be faithful,
+according to the power of a very common mind, admiring but never
+claiming courage. For I never did feel in any kind of way any gift of
+inspiration, or even the fitness of a quick, strong mind for working out
+deeds of justice. There were many good ladies in America then, and now
+there are some in England, perceiving so clearly their own superiority
+as to run about largely proclaiming it. How often I longed to be a
+little more like these, equal to men in achievements of the body, and
+very far beyond them in questions of the mind!
+
+However, it was useless to regret my lacks, and foolish, perhaps, to
+think of them. To do my very best with what little gifts I had was more
+to the purpose and more sensible. Taking in lonely perplexity now this
+dim yet exciting view of things, I resolved, right or wrong, to abide
+at the place where the only chance was of pursuing my search. I was
+pledged, as perhaps has been said before, to keep from every one
+excepting faithful Betsy, and above all from Lord Castlewood, the
+unexpected little tale wrung out of Mr. Stixon. That promise had been
+given without any thought, in my eagerness to hear every thing, and
+probably some people would have thought of it no more. But the trusty
+butler was so scared when I asked him to release me from it, so penitent
+also at his own indiscretion, which never would have overcome him (as he
+said in the morning) only for the thunder-storm, that instead of getting
+off, I was quite obliged to renew and confirm my assurances.
+
+Therefore, in truth, I had no chance left but to go back to Shoxford and
+do my best, meeting all dark perils with the shield of right spread over
+me. And a great thing now in my favor was to feel some confidence again
+in the guidance of kind Wisdom. The sense of this never had abandoned me
+so much as to make me miserable about it; but still I had never tried to
+shelter under it, and stay there faithfully, as the best of people
+do. And even now I was not brought to such a happy attitude, although
+delivered by these little gleams of light from the dark void of
+fatalism, into which so many bitter blows had once been driving me.
+
+However, before setting off again, I made one more attempt upon Lord
+Castlewood, longing to know whether his suspicions would help me at
+all to identify the figure which had frightened both the sexton and the
+butler. That the person was one and the same, I did not for a moment
+call in question, any more than I doubted that he was the man upon
+whose head rested the blood of us. But why he should be allowed to go
+scot-free while another bore his brand, and many others died for him,
+and why all my most just and righteous efforts to discover him should
+receive, if not discouragement, at any rate most lukewarm aid--these and
+several other questions were as dark as ever.
+
+"You must not return to Shoxford, my cousin," Lord Castlewood said to
+me that day, after a plain though courteous refusal to enlighten me even
+with a mere surmise, except upon the condition before rejected. "I can
+not allow you to be there without strict supervision and protection. You
+will not, perhaps, be aware of it, as perhaps you have not been before;
+but a careful watch will be kept on you. I merely tell you this that you
+may not make mistakes, and confound friendly vigilance with the spying
+of an enemy. Erema, you will be looked after."
+
+I could not help being grateful for his kindness, and really, try as I
+might to be fearless, it would be a great comfort to have some one to
+protect me. On the other hand, how would this bear upon my own freedom
+of looking about, my desire to make my own occasions, and the need of
+going every where? Could these be kept to my liking at all while an
+unknown power lay in kind regard of me? Considering these things, I
+begged my cousin to leave me to my own devices, for that I was afraid
+of nobody on earth, while only seeking justice, and that England must
+be worse than the worst parts of America if any harm to me could be
+apprehended at quiet times and in such a quiet place.
+
+My cousin said no more upon that point, though I felt that he was not in
+any way convinced; but he told me that he thought I should pay a little
+visit, if only for a day, such as I treated him with, to my good friends
+at Bruntsea, before I returned to Shoxford. There was no one now
+at Bruntsea whom I might not wish to meet, as he knew by a trifling
+accident; and after all the kind services rendered by Major and Mrs.
+Hockin, it was hardly right to let them begin to feel themselves
+neglected. Now the very same thing had occurred to me, and I was going
+to propose it; and many things which I found it hard to do without were
+left in my little chest of locked-up drawers there. But of that, to my
+knowledge, I scarcely thought twice; whereas I longed to see and have
+a talk with dear "Aunt Mary." Now, since my affairs had been growing so
+strange, and Lord Castlewood had come forward--not strongly, but still
+quite enough to speak of--there had been a kind-hearted and genuine wish
+at Bruntsea to recover me. And this desire had unreasonably grown while
+starved with disappointment. The less they heard of me, the more they
+imagined in their rich good-will, and the surer they became that, after
+all, there was something in my ideas.
+
+But how could I know this, without any letters from them, since letters
+were a luxury forbidden me at Shoxford? I knew it through one of the
+simplest and commonest of all nature's arrangements. Stixon's boy,
+as every body called him (though he must have been close upon
+five-and-twenty, and carried a cane out of sight of the windows), being
+so considered, and treated boyishly by the maids of Castlewood, asserted
+his dignity, and rose above his value as much as he had lain below it,
+by showing that he owned a tender heart, and them that did not despise
+it. For he chanced to be walking with his cane upon the beach (the very
+morning after he first went to Bruntsea, too late for any train back
+again), and casting glances of interior wonder over the unaccustomed
+sea--when from the sea itself out-leaped a wondrous rosy deity.
+
+"You there, Mr. Stixon! Oh my! How long?" exclaimed Mrs. Hockin's new
+parlormaid, ready to drop, though in full print now, on the landward
+steps of the bathing-machine set up by the reckless Major.
+
+"Come this very hinstant, miss, honor bright!" replied the junior
+Stixon, who had moved in good society; "and just in the hackmy of time,
+miss, if I may offer you my 'umble hand."
+
+The fair nymph fixed him with a penetrating gaze through tresses full
+of salt curliness, while her cheeks were conscious of an unclad dip. But
+William Stixon's eyes were firm with pure truth, gently toning into shy
+reproach and tenderness. He had met her at supper last night, and done
+his best; but (as he said to the Castlewood maids) it was only feeling
+then, whereas now it was emoshun.
+
+"Then you are a gentleman!" Polly Hopkins cried; "and indeed, Mr.
+Stixon, these are slippery things." She was speaking of the steps, as
+she came down them, and they had no hand-rails; and the young man felt
+himself to be no more Stixon's boy, but a gentleman under sweet refining
+pressure.
+
+From that hour forth it was pronounced, and they left the world to its
+own opinion, that they were keeping company; and although they were
+sixty miles apart by air, and eighty-two by railway, at every post
+their hearts were one, with considerable benefit to the United Kingdom's
+revenue. Also they met by the sad sea waves, when the bathing-machines
+had been hauled up--for the Major now had three of them--as often as
+Stixon senior smiled--which he did whenever he was not put out--on the
+bygone ways of these children. For Polly Hopkins had a hundred pounds,
+as well as being the only child of the man who kept the only shop for
+pickled pork in Bruntsea. And my Mr. Stixon could always contrive to get
+orders from his lordship to send the boy away, with his carriage paid,
+when his health demanded bathing. Hence it is manifest that the deeds
+and thoughts of Bruntsea House, otherwise called "Bruntlands,"
+were known quite as well, and discussed even better--because
+dispassionately--at Castlewood than and as they were at home.
+
+Now I won forever the heart of Stixon's boy, and that of Polly
+Hopkins, by recoiling with horror from the thought of going to Bruntsea
+unattended. After all my solitary journeys, this might have been called
+hypocrisy, if it had been inconvenient; but coming as it did, it was
+pronounced, by all who desired either news or love, to be another proof
+of the goodness of my heart.
+
+Escorted thus by William Stixon (armed with a brilliant cane bought for
+this occasion), and knowing that Sir Montague Hockin was not there, I
+arrived at Bruntlands in the afternoon, and received a kindly welcome
+from my dear friend Mrs. Hockin. Her husband was from home, and she
+grieved to say that now he was generally doing this; but nobody else
+could have any idea what his avocations were! Then she paid me some
+compliments on my appearance--a thing that I never thought of, except
+when I came to a question of likeness, or chanced to be thinking of
+things, coming up as they will, at a looking-glass.
+
+That the Major was out was a truth established in my mind some time
+ago; because I had seen him, as our fly crawled by, expressly and
+emphatically at work on a rampart of his own designing. The work was
+quite new to me, but not so his figure. Though I could not see people
+three miles off, as Firm Gundry was said to do, I had pretty clear
+sight, and could not mistake the Major within a furlong. And there he
+was, going about in a row of square notches against the sea-line, with
+his coat off, and brandishing some tool, vehemently carrying on to
+spirits less active than his own. I burned with desire to go and join
+him, for I love to see activity; but Mrs. Hockin thought that I had
+better stay away, because it was impossible to get on there without
+language too strong for young ladies.
+
+This closed the question, and I stopped with her, and found the best
+comfort that I ever could have dreamed of. "Aunt Mary" was so steadfast,
+and so built up with, or rather built of, the very faith itself, that to
+talk with her was as good as reading the noblest chapter of the Bible.
+She put by all possibility of doubt as to the modern interference of the
+Lord, with such a sweet pity and the seasoned smile of age, and so much
+feeling (which would have been contempt if she had not been softened
+by her own escapes), that really I, who had come expecting to set her
+beautiful white hair on end, became like a little child put into the
+corner, but too young yet for any other punishment at school, except to
+be looked at. Nevertheless, though I did look small, it made me all the
+happier. I seemed to become less an individual, and more a member of
+a large kind race under paternal management. From a practical point of
+view this may have been amiss, but it helped to support me afterward.
+And before I began to get weary or rebel against her gentle teaching, in
+came her husband; and she stopped at once, because he had never any time
+for it.
+
+"My geological hammer!" cried the Major, being in a rush as usual.
+"Oh, Miss Castlewood! I did not see you. Pardon me! It is the want of
+practice only; so wholly have you deserted us. Fallen into better hands,
+of course. Well, how are you? But I need not ask. If ever there was a
+young lady who looked well--don't tell me of troubles, or worries, or
+nerves--I put up my glasses, and simply say, 'Pretty young ladies
+are above all pity!' My hammer, dear Mary; my hammer I must have. The
+geological one, you know; we have come on a bit of old Roman work; the
+bricklayer's hammers go flat, like lead. I have just one minute and a
+half to spare. What fine fellows those Romans were! I will build like
+a Roman. See to every bit of it myself, Erema. No contractor's jobs for
+me. Mary, you know where to find it."
+
+"Well, dear, I think that you had it last, to get the bung out of the
+beer barrel, when the stool broke down in the corner, you know, because
+you would--"
+
+"Never mind about that. The drayman made a fool of himself. I proceeded
+upon true principles. That fellow knew nothing of leverage."
+
+"Well, dear, of course you understand it best. But he told cook that it
+was quite a mercy that you got off without a broken leg; and compared
+with that, two gallons of spilled ale--" Mrs. Hockin made off, without
+finishing her sentence.
+
+"What a woman she is!" cried the Major; "she takes such a lofty view
+of things, and she can always find my tools. Erema, after dinner I
+must have a talk with you. There is something going on here--on my
+manor--which I can not at all get a clew to, except by connecting you
+with it, the Lord knows how. Of course you have nothing to do with it;
+but still my life has been so free from mystery that, that--you know
+what I mean--"
+
+"That you naturally think I must be at the bottom of every thing
+mysterious. Now is there any thing dark about me? Do I not labor to get
+at the light? Have I kept from your knowledge any single thing? But you
+never cared to go into them."
+
+"It is hardly fair of you to say that. The fact is that you, of your own
+accord, have chosen other counselors. Have you heard any more of your
+late guardian, Mr. Shovelin? I suppose that his executor, or some one
+appointed by him, is now your legal guardian."
+
+"I have not even asked what the law is," I replied. "Lord Castlewood is
+my proper guardian, according to all common-sense, and I mean to have
+him so. He has inquired through his solicitors as to Mr. Shovelin, and
+I am quite free there. My father's will is quite good, they say; but it
+never has been proved, and none of them care to do it. My cousin thinks
+that I could compel them to prove it, or to renounce in proper form; but
+Mr. Shovelin's sons are not nice people--as different from him as night
+from day, careless and wild and dashing."
+
+"Then do you mean to do nothing about it? What a time she is finding
+that hammer!"
+
+"I leave it entirely to my cousin, and he is waiting for legal advice.
+I wish to have the will, of course, for the sake of my dear father; but
+with or without any will, my mother's little property comes to me. And
+if my dear father had nothing to leave, why should we run up a great
+lawyer's bill?"
+
+"To be sure not! I see. That makes all the difference. I admire your
+common-sense," said the Major--"but there! Come and look, and just
+exercise it here. There is that very strange woman again, just at the
+end of my new road. She stands quite still, and then stares about,
+sometimes for an hour together. Nobody knows who she is, or why she
+came. She has taken a tumble-down house on my manor, from a wretch of a
+fellow who denies my title; and what she lives on is more than any one
+can tell, for she never spends sixpence in Bruntsea. Some think that she
+walks in the dark to Newport, and gets all her food at some ship stores
+there. And one of our fishermen vows that he met her walking on the sea,
+as he rowed home one night, and she had a long red bag on her shoulder.
+She is a witch, that is certain; for she won't answer me, however
+politely I accost her. But the oddest thing of all is the name she gave
+to the fellow she took the house from. What do you think she called
+herself? Of all things in the world--'Mrs. Castlewood!' I congratulate
+you on your relative."
+
+"How very strange!" I answered. "Oh, now I see why you connect me with
+it; and I beg your pardon for having been vexed. But let me go and see
+her. Oh, may I go at once, if you please, and speak to her?"
+
+"The very thing I wish--if you are not afraid. I will come with you,
+when I get my hammer. Oh, here it is! Mary, how clever you are! Now look
+out of the window, and you shall see Erema make up to her grandmamma."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+NOT AT HOME
+
+
+Mrs. Hockin, however, had not the pleasure promised her by the facetious
+Major of seeing me "make up to my grandmamma." For although we set off
+at once to catch the strange woman who had roused so much curiosity,
+and though, as we passed the door of Bruntlands, we saw her still at her
+post in the valley, like Major Hockin's new letter-box, for some reason
+best known to herself we could not see any more of her. For, hurry as he
+might upon other occasions, nothing would make the Major cut a corner of
+his winding "drive" when descending it with a visitor. He enjoyed every
+yard of its length, because it was his own at every step, and he counted
+his paces in an under-tone, to be sure of the length, for perhaps the
+thousandth time. It was long enough in a straight line, one would have
+thought, but he was not the one who thought so; and therefore he had
+doubled it by judicious windings, as if for the purpose of breaking the
+descent.
+
+"Three hundred and twenty-one," he said, as he came to a post, where he
+meant to have a lodge as soon as his wife would let him; "now the old
+woman stands fifty-five yards on, at a spot where I mean to have an
+ornamental bridge, because our fine saline element runs up there when
+the new moon is perigee. My dear, I am a little out of breath, which
+affects my sight for the moment. Doubtless that is why I do not see
+her."
+
+"If I may offer an opinion," I said, "in my ignorance of all the changes
+you have made, the reason why we do not see her may be that she is gone
+out of sight."
+
+"Impossible!" Major Hockin cried--"simply impossible, Erema! She never
+moves for an hour and a half. And she was not come, was she, when you
+came by?"
+
+"I will not be certain," I answered; "but I think that I must have seen
+her if she had been there, because I was looking about particularly at
+all your works as we came by."
+
+"Then she must be there still; let us tackle her."
+
+This was easier said than done, for we found no sign of any body at the
+place where she certainly had been standing less than five minutes ago.
+We stood at the very end and last corner of the ancient river trough,
+where a little seam went inland from it, as if some trifle of a brook
+had stolen down while it found a good river to welcome it. But now there
+was only a little oozy gloss from the gleam of the sun upon some lees of
+marshy brine left among the rushes by the last high tide.
+
+"You see my new road and the key to my intentions?" said the Major,
+forgetting all about his witch, and flourishing his geological hammer,
+while standing thus at his "nucleus." "To understand all, you have only
+to stand here. You see those leveling posts, adjusted with scientific
+accuracy. You see all those angles, calculated with micrometric
+precision. You see how the curves are radiated--"
+
+"It is very beautiful, I have no doubt; but you can not have Uncle Sam's
+gift of machinery. And do you understand every bit of it yourself?"
+
+"Erema, not a jot of it. I like to talk about it freely when I can,
+because I see all its beauties. But as to understanding it, my dear, you
+might set to, if you were an educated female, and deliver me a lecture
+upon my own plan. Intellect is, in such matters, a bubble. I know good
+bricks, good mortar, and good foundations."
+
+"With your great ability, you must do that," I answered, very gently,
+being touched with his humility and allowance of my opinion; "you will
+make a noble town of it. But when is the railway coming?"
+
+"Not yet. We have first to get our Act; and a miserable-minded wretch,
+who owns nothing but a rabbit-warren, means to oppose it. Don't let us
+talk of him. It puts one out of patience when a man can not see his
+own interest. But come and see our assembly-rooms, literary institute,
+baths, etc., etc.--that is what we are urging forward now."
+
+"But may I not go first and look for my strange namesake? Would it be
+wrong of me to call upon her?"
+
+"No harm whatever," replied my companion; "likewise no good. Call fifty
+times, but you will get no answer. However, it is not a very great
+round, and you will understand my plans more clearly. Step out, my dear,
+as if you had got a troop of Mexicans after you. Ah, what a fine turn
+for that lot now!" He was thinking of the war which had broken out, and
+the battle of Bull's Run.
+
+Without any such headlong speed, we soon came to the dwelling-place of
+the stranger, and really for once the good Major had not much overdone
+his description. Truly it was almost tumbling down, though massively
+built, and a good house long ago; and it looked the more miserable now
+from being placed in a hollow of the ground, whose slopes were tufted
+with rushes and thistles and ragwort. The lower windows were blocked up
+from within, the upper were shattered and crumbling and dangerous,
+with blocks of cracked stone jutting over them; and the last surviving
+chimney gave less smoke than a workman's homeward whiff of his pipe to
+comfort and relieve the air.
+
+The only door that we could see was of heavy black oak, without any
+knocker; but I clinched my hand, having thick gloves on, and made what
+I thought a very creditable knock, while the Major stood by, with his
+blue-lights up, and keenly gazed and gently smiled.
+
+"Knock again, my dear," he said; "you don't knock half hard enough."
+
+I knocked again with all my might, and got a bruised hand for a
+fortnight, but there was not even the momentary content produced by an
+active echo. The door was as dead as every thing else.
+
+"Now for my hammer," my companion cried. "This house, in all sound law,
+is my own. I will have a 'John Doe and Richard Roe'--a fine action of
+ejectment. Shall I be barred out upon my own manor?"
+
+With hot indignation he swung his hammer, but nothing came of it except
+more noise. Then the Major grew warm and angry.
+
+"My charter contains the right of burning witches or drowning them,
+according to their color. The execution is specially imposed upon the
+bailiff of this ancient town, and he is my own pickled-pork man. His
+name is Hopkins, and I will have him out with his seal and stick and all
+the rest. Am I to be laughed at in this way?"
+
+For we thought we heard a little screech of laughter from the loneliness
+of the deep dark place, but no other answer came, and perhaps it was
+only our own imagining.
+
+"Is there no other door--perhaps one at the back?" I asked, as the lord
+of the manor stamped.
+
+"No, that has been walled up long ago. The villain has defied me from
+the very first. Well, we shall see. This is all very fine. You witness
+that they deny the owner entrance?"
+
+"Undoubtedly I can depose to that. But we must not waste your valuable
+time."
+
+"After all, the poor ruin is worthless," he went on, calming down as we
+retired. "It must be leveled, and that hole filled up. It is quite an
+eye-sore to our new parade. And no doubt it belongs to me--no doubt it
+does. The fellow who claims it was turned out of the law. Fancy any man
+turned out of the law! Erema, in all your far West experience, did you
+ever see a man bad enough to be turned out of the law?"
+
+"Major Hockin, how can I tell? But I fear that their practice was very,
+very sad--they very nearly always used to hang them."
+
+"The best use--the best use a rogue can be put to. Some big thief has
+put it the opposite way, because he was afraid of his own turn. The
+constitution must be upheld, and, by the Lord! it shall be--at any rate,
+in East Bruntsea. West Bruntsea is all a small-pox warren out of my
+control, and a skewer in my flesh. And some of my tenants have gone
+across the line to snap their dirty hands at me."
+
+Being once in this cue, Major Hockin went on, not talking to me much,
+but rather to himself, though expecting me now and then to say "yes;"
+and this I did when necessary, for his principles of action were beyond
+all challenge, and the only question was how he carried them out.
+
+He took me to his rampart, which was sure to stop the sea, and at the
+same time to afford the finest place in all Great Britain for a view of
+it. Even an invalid might sit here in perfect shelter from the heaviest
+gale, and watch such billows as were not to be seen except upon the
+Major's property.
+
+"The reason of that is quite simple," he said, "and a child may see the
+force of it. In no other part of the kingdom can you find so steep a
+beach fronting the southwest winds, which are ten to one of all other
+winds, without any break of sand or rock outside. Hence we have what you
+can not have on a shallow shore--grand rollers: straight from the very
+Atlantic, Erema; you and I have seen them. You may see by the map that
+they all end here, with the wind in the proper quarter."
+
+"Oh, please not to talk of such horrors," I said. "Why, your ramparts
+would go like pie crust."
+
+The Major smiled a superior smile, and after more talk we went home to
+dinner.
+
+From something more than mere curiosity, I waited at Bruntsea for a day
+or two, hoping to see that strange namesake of mine who had shown so
+much inhospitality. For she must have been at home when we made that
+pressing call, inasmuch as there was no other place to hide her within
+the needful distance of the spot where she had stood. But the longer
+I waited, the less would she come out--to borrow the good Irishman's
+expression--and the Major's pillar-box, her favorite resort, was left in
+conspicuous solitude. And when a letter came from Sir Montague Hockin,
+asking leave to be at Bruntlands on the following evening, I packed
+up my goods with all haste, and set off, not an hour too soon, for
+Shoxford.
+
+But before taking leave of these kind friends, I begged them to do for
+me one little thing, without asking me to explain my reason, which,
+indeed, was more than I could do. I begged them, not of course to watch
+Sir Montague, for that they could not well do to a guest, but simply to
+keep their eyes open and prepared for any sign of intercourse, if such
+there were, between this gentleman and that strange interloper. Major
+Hockin stared, and his wife looked at me as if my poor mind must
+have gone astray, and even to myself my own thought appeared absurd.
+Remembering, however, what Sir Montague had said, and other little
+things as well, I did not laugh as they did. But perhaps one part of my
+conduct was not right, though the wrong (if any) had been done before
+that--to wit, I had faithfully promised Mrs. Price not to say a word
+at Bruntlands about their visitor's low and sinful treachery toward my
+cousin. To give such a promise had perhaps been wrong, but still without
+it I should have heard nothing of matters that concerned me nearly. And
+now it seemed almost worse to keep than to break such a pledge, when I
+thought of a pious, pure-minded, and holy-hearted woman, like my dear
+"Aunt Mary," unwittingly brought into friendly contact with a man of the
+lowest nature. And as for the Major, instead of sitting down with such
+a man to dinner, what would he have done but drive him straightway from
+the door, and chase him to the utmost verge of his manor with the peak
+end of his "geological hammer?"
+
+However, away I went without a word against that contemptible and base
+man, toward whom--though he never had injured me--I cherished, for my
+poor cousin's sake, the implacable hatred of virtuous youth. And a wild
+idea had occurred to me (as many wild ideas did now in the crowd of
+things gathering round me) that this strange woman, concealed from the
+world, yet keenly watching some members of it, might be that fallen and
+miserable creature who had fled from a good man with a bad one, because
+he was more like herself--Flittamore, Lady Castlewood. Not that she
+could be an "old woman" yet, but she might look old, either by disguise,
+or through her own wickedness; and every body knows how suddenly those
+southern beauties fall off, alike in face and figure. Mrs. Price had not
+told me what became of her, or even whether she was dead or alive, but
+merely said, with a meaning look, that she was "punished" for her sin,
+and I had not ventured to inquire how, the subject being so distasteful.
+
+To my great surprise, and uneasiness as well, I had found at Bruntlands
+no letter whatever, either to the Major or myself, from Uncle Sam or any
+other person at the saw-mills. There had not been time for any answer
+to my letter of some two months back, yet being alarmed by the Sawyer's
+last tidings, I longed, with some terror, for later news. And all the
+United Kingdom was now watching with tender interest the dismemberment,
+as it almost appeared, of the other mighty Union. Not with malice, or
+snug satisfaction, as the men of the North in their agony said, but
+certainly without any proper anguish yet, and rather as a genial
+and sprightly spectator, whose love of fair play perhaps kindles his
+applause of the spirit and skill of the weaker side. "'Tis a good
+fight--let them fight it out!" seemed to be the general sentiment; but
+in spite of some American vaunt and menace (which of late years had been
+galling) every true Englishman deeply would have mourned the humiliation
+of his kindred.
+
+In this anxiety for news I begged that my letters might be forwarded
+under cover to the postmistress at Shoxford, and bearing my initials.
+For now I had made up my mind to let Mrs. Busk know whatever I could
+tell her. I had found her a cross and well-educated woman, far above her
+neighbors, and determined to remain so. Gossip, that universal leveler,
+theoretically she despised; and she had that magnificent esteem for
+rank which works so beautifully in England. And now when my good nurse
+reasonably said that, much as she loved to be with me, her business
+would allow that delight no longer, and it also came home to my own mind
+that money would be running short again, and small hope left in this
+dreadful civil war of our nugget escaping pillage (which made me shudder
+horribly at internal discord), I just did this--I dismissed Betsy, or
+rather I let her dismiss herself, which she might not have altogether
+meant to do, although she threatened it so often. For here she had
+nothing to do but live well, and protest against tricks of her own
+profession which she practiced as necessary laws at home; and so, with
+much affection, for the time we parted.
+
+Mrs. Busk was delighted at her departure, for she never had liked to be
+criticised so keenly while she was doing her very best. And as soon as
+the wheels of Betsy's fly had shown their last spoke at the corner, she
+told me, with a smile, that her mind had been made up to give us notice
+that very evening to seek for better lodgings. But she could not wish
+for a quieter, pleasanter, or more easily pleased young lady than I was
+without any mischief-maker; and so, on the spur of the moment, I took
+her into my own room, while her little girl minded the shop, and there
+and then I told her who I was, and what I wanted.
+
+And now she behaved most admirably. Instead of expressing surprise, she
+assured me that all along she had felt there was something, and that
+I must be somebody. Lovely as my paintings were (which I never heard,
+before or since, from any impartial censor), she had known that it could
+not be that alone which had kept me so long in their happy valley. And
+now she did hope I would do her the honor to stay beneath her humble
+roof, though entitled to one so different. And was the fairy ring in the
+church-yard made of all my family?
+
+I replied that too surely this was so, and that nothing would please me
+better than to find, according to my stature, room to sleep inside it
+as soon as ever I should have solved the mystery of its origin. At the
+moment this was no exaggeration, so depressing was the sense of fighting
+against the unknown so long, with scarcely any one to stand by me, or
+avenge me if I fell. And Betsy's departure, though I tried to take it
+mildly, had left me with a readiness to catch my breath.
+
+But to dwell upon sadness no more than need be (a need as sure as
+hunger), it was manifest now to my wondering mind that once more I had
+chanced upon a good, and warm, and steadfast heart. Every body is said
+to be born, whether that happens by night or day, with a certain little
+widowed star, which has lost its previous mortal, concentrating from a
+billion billion of miles, or leagues, or larger measure, intense, but
+generally invisible, radiance upon him or her; and to take for the
+moment this old fable as of serious meaning, my star was to find bad
+facts at a glance, but no bad folk without long gaze.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+THE MAN AT LAST
+
+
+This new alliance with Mrs. Busk not only refreshed my courage, but
+helped me forward most importantly. In truth, if it had not been for
+this I never could have borne what I had to bear, and met the perils
+which I had to meet. For I had the confidence of feeling now that here
+was some one close at hand, an intelligent person, and well acquainted
+with the place and neighborhood, upon whom I could rely for warning,
+succor, and, if the worst should come to the very worst, revenge. It is
+true that already I had Jacob Rigg, and perhaps the protector promised
+by my cousin; but the former was as ignorant as he was honest, and of
+the latter, as he made no sign, how could I tell any thing?
+
+Above all things, Mrs. Busk's position, as mistress of the letters, gave
+me very great advantage both for offense and defense. For without the
+smallest breach of duty or of loyal honor she could see that my letters
+passed direct to me or from me, as the case might be, at the same time
+that she was bound to observe all epistles addressed to strangers or
+new-comers in her district, which extended throughout the valley. And
+by putting my letters in the Portsmouth bag, instead of that for
+Winchester, I could freely correspond with any of my friends without any
+one seeing name or postmark in the neighboring villages.
+
+It is needless to say that I had long since explored and examined with
+great diligence that lonely spot where my grandfather met his terrible
+and mysterious fate. Not that there seemed to be any hope now, after
+almost nineteen years, of finding even any token of the crime committed
+there. Only that it was natural for me, feeling great horror of this
+place, to seek to know it thoroughly.
+
+For this I had good opportunity, because the timid people of the valley,
+toward the close of day, would rather trudge another half mile of the
+homeward road than save brave legs at the thumping cost of hearts not
+so courageous. For the planks were now called "Murder-bridge;" and
+every body knew that the red spots on it, which could never be seen by
+daylight, began to gleam toward the hour of the deed, and glowed (as if
+they would burn the wood) when the church clock struck eleven.
+
+This phenomenon was beyond my gifts of observation; and knowing that
+my poor grandfather had scarcely set foot on the bridge, if ever he set
+foot there at all--which at present was very doubtful--also that he
+had fallen backward, and only bled internally, I could not reconcile
+tradition (however recent) with proven truth. And sure of no disturbance
+from the step of any native, here I often sat in a little bowered
+shelter of my own, well established up the rise, down which the path
+made zigzag, and screened from that and the bridge as well by sheaf of
+twigs and lop of leaves. It was a little forward thicket, quite detached
+from the upland copse, to which perhaps it had once belonged, and
+crusted up from the meadow slope with sod and mould in alternate steps.
+And being quite the elbow of a foreland of the meadow-reach, it yielded
+almost a "bird's-eye view" of the beautiful glade and the wandering
+brook.
+
+One evening when I was sitting here, neither drawing, nor working, nor
+even thinking with any set purpose, but idly allowing my mind to rove,
+like the rivulet, without any heed, I became aware of a moving figure
+in the valley. At first it did not appear to me as a thing at all worth
+notice; it might be a very straightforward cow, or a horse, coming on
+like a stalking-horse, keeping hind-legs strictly behind, in direct
+desire of water. I had often seen those sweet things that enjoy four
+legs walking in the line of distance as if they were no better off than
+we are, kindly desiring, perhaps, to make the biped spectator content
+with himself. And I was content to admire this cow or horse, or whatever
+it might be, without any more than could be helped of that invidious
+feeling which has driven the human race now to establish its right to a
+tail, and its hope of four legs. So little, indeed, did I think of what
+I saw, that when among the hazel twigs, parted carelessly by my hand,
+a cluster of nuts hung manifest, I gathered it, and began to crack and
+eat, although they were scarcely ripe yet.
+
+But while employed in this pleasant way, I happened to glance again
+through my leafy screen, and then I distinguished the figure in the
+distance as that of a man walking rapidly. He was coming down the
+mill-stream meadow toward the wooden bridge, carrying a fishing rod, but
+clearly not intent on angling. For instead of following the course
+of the stream, he was keeping quite away from it, avoiding also the
+footpath, or, at any rate, seeming to prefer the long shadows of the
+trees and the tufted places. This made me look at him, and very soon I
+shrank into my nest and watched him.
+
+As he came nearer any one could tell that he was no village workman,
+bolder than the rest, and venturesome to cross the "Murder-bridge" in
+his haste to be at home. The fishing rod alone was enough to show this
+when it came into clearer view; for our good people, though they fished
+sometimes, only used rough rods of their own making, without any varnish
+or brass thing for the line. And the man was of different height and
+walk and dress from any of our natives.
+
+"Who can he be?" I whispered to myself, as my heart began to beat
+heavily, and then seemed almost to stop, as it answered, "This is the
+man who was in the churchyard." Ignoble as it was, and contemptible,
+and vile, and traitorous to all duty, my first thought was about my own
+escape; for I felt that if this man saw me there he would rush up
+the hill and murder me. Within pistol-shot of the very place where my
+grandfather had been murdered--a lonely place, an unholy spot, and I was
+looking at the hand that did it.
+
+The thought of this made me tremble so, though well aware that my death
+might ensue from a twig on the rustle, or a leaf upon the flutter, that
+my chance of making off unseen was gone ere I could seize it. For now
+the man was taking long strides over the worn-out planks of the bridge,
+disdaining the hand-rail, and looking upward, as if to shun sight of the
+footing. Advancing thus, he must have had his gaze point-blank upon my
+lair of leafage; but, luckily for me, there was gorse upon the ridge,
+and bracken and rag-thistles, so that none could spy up and through the
+footing of my lurking-place. But if any person could have spied me,
+this man was the one to do it. So carefully did he scan the distance
+and inspect the foreground, as if he were resolved that no eye should be
+upon him while he was doing what he came to do. And he even drew forth
+a little double telescope, such as are called "binoculars," and fixed
+it on the thicket which hid me from him, and then on some other dark
+places.
+
+No effort would compose or hush the heavy beating of my heart; my lips
+were stiffened with dread of loud breath, and all power of motion left
+me. For even a puff of wind might betray me, the ruffle of a spray, or
+the lifting of a leaf, or the random bounce of a beetle. Great peril
+had encompassed me ere now, but never had it grasped me as this did, and
+paralyzed all the powers of my body. Rather would I have stood in the
+midst of a score of Mexican rovers than thus in the presence of that one
+man. And yet was not this the very thing for which I had waited, longed,
+and labored? I scorned myself for this craven loss of nerve, but that
+did not enable me to help it. In this benumbed horror I durst not even
+peep at the doings of my enemy; but presently I became aware that he had
+moved from the end of the planks (where he stood for some time as calmly
+as if he had done nothing there), and had passed round the back of the
+hawthorn-tree, and gone down to the place where the body was found, and
+was making most narrow and minute search there. And now I could watch
+him without much danger, standing as I did well above him, while his
+eyes were steadfastly bent downward. And, not content with eyesight
+only, he seemed to be feeling every blade of grass or weed, every single
+stick or stone, craning into each cranny of the ground, and probing
+every clod with his hands. Then, after vainly searching with the very
+utmost care all the space from the hawthorn trunk to the meadow-leet
+(which was dry as usual), he ran, in a fury of impatience, to his rod,
+which he had stuck into the bank, as now I saw, and drew off the butt
+end, and removed the wheel, or whatever it is that holds the fishing
+line; and this butt had a long spike to it, shining like a halberd in a
+picture.
+
+This made me shudder; but my spirit was returning, and therewith my
+power of reasoning, and a deep stir of curiosity. After so many years
+and such a quantity of searching, what could there still be left to seek
+for in this haunted and horrible place? And who was the man that was
+looking for it?
+
+The latter question partly solved itself. It must be the murderer, and
+no other, whoever he might be among the many black spots of humanity.
+But as to the other point, no light could be thrown upon it, unless the
+search should be successful, and perhaps not even then. But now this
+anxiety, and shame of terror, made me so bold--for I can not call it
+brave--that I could not rest satisfied where I was, and instead of
+blessing every leaf and twig that hid me from the enemy, nothing would
+do for me but to creep nearer, in spite of that truculent long bright
+spike.
+
+I thought of my father, and each fibre of my frame seemed to harden with
+vigor and fleetness. Every muscle of my body could be trusted now. I had
+always been remarkably light of foot. Could a man of that age catch me?
+It was almost as much as Firm Gundry could do, as in childish days I had
+proved to him. And this man, although his hair was not gray, must be on
+the slow side of fifty now, and perhaps getting short of his very wicked
+breath. Then I thought of poor Firm, and of good Uncle Sam, and how they
+scorned poltroonery; and, better still, I thought of that great Power
+which always had protected me: in a word, I resolved to risk it.
+
+But I had not reckoned upon fire-arms, which such a scoundrel was pretty
+sure to have; and that idea struck cold upon my valor. Nevertheless, I
+would not turn back. With no more sound than a field-mouse makes in the
+building of its silken nest, and feet as light as the step of the wind
+upon the scarcely ruffled grass, I quitted my screen, and went gliding
+down a hedge, or rather the residue of some old hedge, which would
+shelter me a little toward the hollow of the banks. I passed low places,
+where the man must have seen me if he had happened to look up; but he
+was stooping with his back to me, and working in the hollow of the dry
+water trough. He was digging with the long spike of his rod, and I heard
+the rattle of each pebble that he struck.
+
+Before he stood up again, to ease his back and to look at the
+ground which he still had to turn, I was kneeling behind a short,
+close-branched holly, the very last bush of the hedge-row, scarcely
+fifteen yards from the hawthorn-tree. It was quite impossible to get
+nearer without coming face to face with him. And now I began again to
+tremble, but with a great effort conquered it.
+
+The man was panting with his labor, and seemed to be in a vile temper
+too. He did not swear, but made low noises full of disappointment. And
+then he caught up his tool, with a savage self-control, and fell to
+again.
+
+Now was my time to see what he was like, and engrave him on my memory.
+But, lo! in a moment I need not do that. The face was the bad image
+of my father's. A lowered, and vicious, and ill-bred image of a noble
+countenance--such as it was just possible to dream that my dear father's
+might have fallen to, if his mind and soul had plunged away from the
+good inborn and implanted in them. The figure was that of a tall strong
+man, with shoulders rather slouching, and a habit of keeping his head
+thrown back, which made a long chin look longer. Altogether he seemed a
+perilous foe, and perhaps a friend still more perilous.
+
+Be he what he might, he was working very hard. Not one of all Uncle
+Sam's men, to my knowledge, least of all Martin, would have worked so
+hard. With his narrow and ill-adapted tool he contrived to turn over, in
+less than twenty minutes, the entire bed of the meadow-leet, or trough,
+for a length of about ten yards. Then he came to the mouth, where the
+water of the main stream lapped back into it, and he turned up the
+bottom as far as he could reach, and waited for the mud he had raised to
+clear away. When this had flowed down with the stream, he walked in for
+some little distance till the pool grew deep; but in spite of all his
+labor, there was nothing.
+
+Meanwhile the sunset glow was failing, and a gray autumnal haze crept up
+the tranquil valley. Shadows waned and faded into dimness more diffuse,
+and light grew soft and vague and vaporous. The gleam of water, and the
+gloss of grass, and deep relief of trees, began to lose their several
+phase and mingle into one large twilight blend. And cattle, from
+their milking sheds, came lowing for more pasture; and the bark of a
+shepherd's dog rang quick, as if his sheep were drowsy.
+
+In the midst of innocent sights and sounds that murderer's heart misgave
+him. He left his vain quest off, and gazed, with fear and hate of
+nature's beauty, at the change from day to night which had not waited
+for him. Some touch of his childhood moved him perhaps, some thought of
+times when he played "I spy," or listened to twilight ghost tales; at
+any rate, as he rose and faced the evening, he sighed heavily.
+
+Then he strode away; and although he passed me almost within length of
+his rod, there was little fear of his discovering me, because his mind
+was elsewhere.
+
+It will, perhaps, be confessed by all who are not as brave as lions
+that so far I had acquitted myself pretty well in this trying matter.
+Horribly scared as I was at first, I had not allowed this to conquer
+me, but had even rushed into new jeopardy. But now the best part of my
+courage was spent; and when the tall stranger refixed his rod and calmly
+recrossed those ominous planks, I durst not set forth on the perilous
+errand of spying out his ways and tracking him. A glance was enough to
+show the impossibility in those long meadows of following without being
+seen in this stage of the twilight. Moreover, my nerves had been tried
+too long, and presence of mind could not last forever. All I could do,
+therefore, was to creep as far as the trunk of the hawthorn-tree, and
+thence observe that my enemy did not return by the way he had come, but
+hastened down the dusky valley.
+
+One part of his labors has not been described, though doubtless a highly
+needful one. To erase the traces of his work, or at least obscure them
+to a careless eye, when he had turned as much ground as he thought it
+worth his while to meddle with, he trod it back again to its level as
+nearly as might be, and then (with a can out of his fishing basket)
+sluiced the place well with the water of the stream. This made it look
+to any heedless person, who would not descend to examine it, as if there
+had been nothing more than a little reflux from the river, caused by a
+flush from the mill-pond. This little stratagem increased my fear of a
+cunning and active villain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+A STRONG TEMPTATION
+
+
+Now it will be said, and I also knew, that there was nothing as yet,
+except most frail and feeble evidence, to connect that nameless stranger
+with the crime charged upon my father. Indeed, it might be argued well
+that there was no evidence at all, only inference and suspicion. That,
+however, was no fault of mine; and I felt as sure about it as if I had
+seen him in the very act. And this conclusion was not mine alone; for
+Mrs. Busk, a most clever woman, and the one who kept the post-office,
+entirely agreed with me that there could be no doubt on earth about it.
+
+But when she went on to ask me what it was my intention to do next, for
+the moment I could do nothing more than inquire what her opinion was.
+And she told me that she must have a good night's rest before advising
+any thing. For the thought of having such a heinous character in her own
+delivery district was enough to unhinge her from her postal duties, some
+of which might be useful to me.
+
+With a significant glance she left me to my own thoughts, which were sad
+enough, and too sad to be worth recording. For Mrs. Busk had not the
+art of rousing people and cheering them, such as Betsy Strouss, my
+old nurse, had, perhaps from her knowledge of the nursery. My present
+landlady might be the more sagacious and sensible woman of the two, and
+therefore the better adviser; but for keeping one up to the mark she was
+not in any way equal to Betsy.
+
+There is no ingratitude in saying this, because she herself admitted it.
+A clever woman, with a well-balanced mind, knows what she can do, and
+wherein she fails, better than a man of her own proportion does. And
+Mrs. Busk often lamented, without much real mortification, that she had
+not been "born sympathetic."
+
+All the more perhaps for that, she was born sagacious, which is a less
+pleasing, but, in a bitter pinch, a more really useful, quality. And
+before I had time to think much of her defects, in the crowd of more
+important thought, in she came again, with a letter in her hand, and a
+sparkle of triumph in her small black eyes. After looking back along the
+passage, and closing my door, she saw that my little bay-window had its
+old-fashioned shutters fastened, and then, in a very low whisper, she
+said, "What you want to know is here, miss."
+
+"Indeed!" I answered, in my usual voice. "How can you know that? The
+letter is sealed."
+
+"Hush! Would you have me ruined for your sake? This was at the bottom of
+the Nepheton bag. It fell on the floor. That was God's will, to place it
+in your power."
+
+"It is not in my power," I answered, whispering in my turn, and staring
+at it, in the strong temptation. "I have no right even to look at it. It
+is meant for some one else, and sealed."
+
+"The seal is nothing. I can manage that. Another drop of wax--and I
+strike our stamp by accident over the breakage. I refuse to know any
+thing about it. I am too busy with the other letters. Five minutes--lock
+the door--and I will come again."
+
+This was a desperate conflict for me, worse even than bodily danger. My
+first impulse was to have nothing to do with it--even to let the letter
+lie untouched, and, if possible, unglanced at. But already it was too
+late for the eyes to turn away. The address had flashed upon me before I
+thought of any thing, and while Mrs. Busk held it up to me. And now
+that address was staring at me, like a contemptuous challenge, while the
+seal, the symbol of private rights and deterrent honor, lay undermost.
+The letter was directed to "H. W. C., Post-office, Newport, Sussex." The
+writing was in round hand, and clear, so as not to demand any scrutiny,
+and to seem like that of a lawyer's clerk, and the envelope was of thin
+repellent blue.
+
+My second impulse was to break the letter open and read it without
+shrinking. Public duty must conquer private scruples. Nothing but the
+hand of Providence itself could have placed this deadly secret in my
+power so amazingly. Away with all squeamishness, and perhaps prevent
+more murder.
+
+But that "perhaps" gave me sudden pause. I had caught up the letter, and
+stood near the candle to soften the wax and lift the cover with a small
+sharp paper-knife, when it flashed on my mind that my cousin would
+condemn and scorn what I was doing. Unconsciously I must have made him
+now my standard of human judgment, or what made me think of him at that
+moment? I threw down the letter, and then I knew. The image of Lord
+Castlewood had crossed my mind, because the initials were his own--those
+of Herbert William Castlewood. This strange coincidence--if it were,
+indeed, an accident--once more set me thinking. Might not this letter be
+from his agent, of whom he had spoken as my protector here, but to whom
+as all unseen I scarcely ever gave a thought? Might not young Stixon,
+who so often was at Bruntsea, be employed to call at Newport for such
+letters, and return with them to his master? It was not very likely, for
+my cousin had the strongest contempt of anonymous doings. Still it was
+possible, and the bare possibility doubled my reluctance to break the
+seal.
+
+For one minute longer I stood in doubt, and then honor and candor and
+truth prevailed. If any other life had been in peril but my own, duty to
+another might have overridden all. But duty to one's self, if overpushed
+in such a case, would hold some taint of cowardice. So I threw the
+letter, with a sense of loathing, on a chair. Whatever it might contain,
+it should pass, at least for me, inviolate.
+
+Now when Mrs. Busk came to see what I had done, or rather left undone,
+she flew into a towering passion, until she had no time to go on with
+it. The rattle of the rickety old mail-cart, on its way to Winchester
+that night, was heard, and the horn of the driver as he passed the
+church.
+
+"Give it me. 'A mercy! A young natural, that you are!" the good woman
+cried, as she flung out of the room to dash her office stamp upon that
+hateful missive, and to seal the leathern bag. "Seal, indeed! Inviolate!
+How many seals have I got to make every day of my life?"
+
+I heard a great thump from the corner of the shop where the business of
+the mails was conducted; and she told me afterward that she was so put
+out, that broken that seal should be--one way or another. Accordingly
+she smashed it with the office stamp, which was rather like a
+woman's act, methought; and then, having broken it, she never looked
+inside--which, perhaps, was even more so.
+
+When she recovered her leisure and serenity, and came in, to forgive
+me and be forgiven, we resolved to dismiss the moral aspect of the
+question, as we never should agree about it, although Mrs. Busk was not
+so certain as she had been, when she found that the initials were the
+initials of a lord. And then I asked her how she came to fix upon that
+letter among so many others, and to feel so sure that it came from my
+treacherous enemy.
+
+"In the first place, I know every letter from Nepheton," she answered,
+very sensibly. "There are only fourteen people that write letters in the
+place, and twelve of those fourteen buy their paper in my shop--there is
+no shop at all at Nepheton. In the next place, none of them could write
+a hand like that, except the parson and the doctor, who are far above
+disguise. And two other things made me certain as could be. That letter
+was written at the 'Green Man' ale-house; not on their paper, nor yet
+with their ink; but being in great hurry, it was dusted with their
+sand--a sand that turns red upon ink, miss. And the time of dispatch
+there is just what he would catch, by walking fast after his dig where
+you saw him, going in that direction too, and then having his materials
+ready to save time. And if all that is not enough to convince you,
+miss--you remember that you told me our old sexton's tale?"
+
+"To be sure I do. The first evening I was left alone here. And you have
+been so kind, there is nothing I would hide from you."
+
+"Well, miss, the time of old Jacob's tale is fixed by the death of poor
+old Sally Mock; and the stranger came again after you were here, just
+before the death of the miller's eldest daughter, and you might almost
+have seen him. Poor thing! we all called her the 'flower of the Moon,'
+meaning our little river. What a fine young woman she was, to be sure!
+Whenever we heard of any strangers about, we thought they were prowling
+after her. I was invited to her funeral, and I went, and nothing could
+be done nicer. But they never will be punctual with burials here; they
+like to dwell on them, and keep the bell going, for the sake of the
+body, and the souls that must come after it. And so, when it was done, I
+was twenty minutes late for the up mail and the cross-country post,
+and had to move my hands pretty sharp, I can assure you. That doesn't
+matter; I got through it, with the driver of the cart obliging, by means
+of some beer and cold bacon. But what I feared most was the Nepheton
+bag, having seen the old man at the funeral, and knowing what they do
+afterward. I could not return him 'too late' again, or he would lose his
+place for certain, and a shilling a day made all the difference to
+him, between wife and no wife. The old pair without it must go to the
+workhouse, and never see one another. However, when I was despairing
+quite of him, up he comes with his bag quite correct, but only one
+letter to sort in it, and that letter was, miss, the very identical of
+the one you held in your hands just now. And a letter as like it as two
+peas had come when we buried old Sally. It puzzled me then, but I had
+no clew to it; only now, you see, putting this and that together, the
+things we behold must have some meaning for us; and to let them go
+without it is against the will of God; especially when at the bottom of
+the bag."
+
+"If you hear so soon of any stranger in the valley," I asked, to escape
+the re-opening of the opening question, "how can that man come and go--a
+man of remarkable stature and appearance--without any body asking who he
+is?"
+
+"You scarcely could have put it better, miss, for me to give the answer.
+They do ask who he is, and they want to know it, and would like any
+body to tell them. But being of a different breed, as they are, from all
+outside the long valley, speaking also with a different voice, they fear
+to talk so freely out of their own ways and places. Any thing they can
+learn in and out among themselves, they will learn; but any thing out of
+that they let go, in the sense of outlandish matter. Bless you, miss,
+if your poor grandfather had been shot any where else in England, how
+different it would have been for him!"
+
+"For us, you mean, Mrs. Busk. Do you think the man who did it had that
+in his mind?"
+
+"Not unless he knew the place, as few know it. No, that was an accident
+of his luck, as many other things have been. But the best luck stops at
+last, Miss Erema; and unless I am very much mistaken, you will be the
+stop of his. I shall find out, in a few days, where he came from, where
+he staid, and when he went away. I suppose you mean to let him go away?"
+
+"What else am I to do?" I asked. "I have no evidence at all against him;
+only my own ideas. The police would scarcely take it up, even if--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk of them. They spoil every thing. And none of our people
+would say a word, or care to help us, if it came to that. The police are
+all strangers, and our people hate them. And, indeed, I believe that
+the worst thing ever done was the meddling of that old Jobbins. The old
+stupe is still alive at Petersfield, and as pompous-headed as ever. My
+father would have been the man for your sad affair, miss, if the
+police had only been invented in his time. Ah, yes, he was sharp! Not a
+Moonstock man--you may take your oath of that, miss--but a good honest
+native from Essex. But he married my mother, a Moonstock woman; or they
+would not put up with me here at all. You quality people have your ideas
+to hold by, and despise all others, and reasonable in your opinions; but
+you know nothing--nothing--nothing--of the stiffness of the people under
+you."
+
+"How should I know any thing of that?" I answered; "all these things are
+new to me. I have not been brought up in this country, as you know. I
+come from a larger land, where your stiffness may have burst out into
+roughness, from having so much room suddenly. But tell me what you think
+now your father would have done in such a case as mine is."
+
+"Miss Erema, he was that long-headed that nobody could play leap-frog
+with him. None of them ever cleared over his barrel. He walked into this
+village fifty-five years back, this very month, with his spade upon his
+shoulder and the knowledge of every body in his eye. They all put up
+against him, but they never put him down; and in less than three months
+he went to church, I do assure you, with the only daughter of the only
+baker. After that he went into the baking line himself; he turned his
+spade into a shovel, as he said, and he introduced new practices."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Busk, not adulteration?"
+
+"No, miss, no! The very last thing he would think of. Only the good use
+of potatoes in the bread, when flour was frightful bad and painful dear.
+What is the best meal of the day? he used to reason. Dinner. And why?
+Why, because of the potatoes. If I can make people take potato for their
+breakfast, and potato for their supper too, I am giving them three meals
+a day instead of one. And the health of the village corresponded to it."
+
+"Oh, but, Mrs. Busk, he might have made them do it by persuasion, or at
+least with their own knowledge--"
+
+"No, miss, no! The whole nature of our people, Moonstock or out of it,
+is never to take victuals by any sort of persuasion. If St. Paul was to
+come and preach, 'Eat this or that,' all I had of it in the shop would
+go rotten. They hate any meddling with their likings, and they suspect
+doctor's rubbish in all of it."
+
+"I am quite of their opinion," I replied; "and I am glad to hear of
+their independence. I always used to hear that in England none of the
+poor people dared have a will of their own."
+
+Mrs. Busk lifted up her hands to express amazement at my ignorance,
+and said that she "must run away and put the shutters up, or else the
+policeman would come rapping, and look for a glass of beer, which he had
+no right to till it came to the bottom of the firkin; and this one was
+only tapped last Sunday week. Don't you ever think of the police, miss."
+
+Probably this was good advice, and it quite agreed with the opinions
+of others, and my own impressions as to the arrogant lethargy of "the
+force," as they called themselves, in my father's case. Mrs. Busk had
+more activity and intelligence in her little head than all the fat
+sergeants and inspectors of the county, helmet, belt, and staff, and
+all.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+MASTER WITHYPOOL
+
+
+At first I was much inclined to run for help, or at least for counsel,
+either to Lord Castlewood or to Major Hockin; but further consideration
+kept me from doing any thing of the kind. In the first place, neither
+of them would do much good; for my cousin's ill health would prevent him
+from helping me, even if his strange view of the case did not, while
+the excellent Major was much too hot and hasty for a delicate task like
+this. And, again, I might lose the most valuable and important of all
+chances by being away from the spot just now. And so I remained at
+Shoxford for a while, keeping strict watch upon the stranger's haunt,
+and asking about him by means of Mrs. Busk.
+
+"I have heard more about him, miss," she said one day, when the down
+letters had been dispatched, which happened about middle-day. "He has
+been here only those three times this summer, upon excuse of fishing
+always. He stays at old Wellham, about five miles down the river, where
+the people are not true Moonites. And one thing that puzzles them is,
+that although he puts up there simply for the angling, he always chooses
+times when the water is so low that to catch fish is next to impossible.
+He left his fishing quarters upon the very day after you saw him
+searching so; and he spoke as if he did not mean to come again this
+season. And they say that they don't want him neither, he is such a
+morose, close-fisted man; and drinking nothing but water, there is very
+little profit with him."
+
+"And did you find out what his name is? How cleverly you have managed!"
+
+"He passes by the name of 'Captain Brown;' but the landlord of his inn,
+who has been an old soldier, is sure he was never in the army, nor
+any other branch of the service. He thinks that he lives by inventing
+things, for he is always at some experiments, and one of his great
+points is to make a lamp that will burn and move about under water. To
+be sure you see the object of that, miss?"
+
+"No, really, Mrs. Busk, I can not. I have not your penetration."
+
+"Why, of course, to find what he can not find upon land. There is
+something of great importance there, either for its value or its
+meaning. Have you ever been told that your poor grandfather wore any
+diamonds or precious jewels?"
+
+"No. I have asked about that most especially. He had nothing about him
+to tempt a robber. He was a very strong-willed man, and he hated outward
+trumpery."
+
+"Then it must be something that this man himself has dropped, unless it
+were a document, or any other token, missing from his lordship. And few
+things of that sort would last for twenty years almost."
+
+"Nineteen years the day after to-morrow," I answered, with a glance at
+my pocket-book. "I determined to be here on that very day. No doubt I
+am very superstitious. But one thing I can not understand is this--what
+reason can there have been for his letting so many years pass, and then
+hunting like this?"
+
+"No one can answer that question, miss, without knowing more than we
+know. But many reasons might be supposed. He might have been roving
+abroad, for instance, just as you and your father have been. Or he might
+not have known that the thing was there; or it might not have been of
+importance till lately; or he might have been afraid, until something
+else happened. Does he know that you are now in England?"
+
+"How can I possibly tell, Mrs. Busk? He seems to know a great deal
+too much. He found me out when I was at Colonel Gundry's. At least I
+conclude so, from what I know now; but I hope he does not know"--and at
+such a dreadful idea I shuddered.
+
+"I am almost sure that he can not know it," the good postmistress
+answered, "or he would have found means to put an end to you. That would
+have been his first object."
+
+"But, Mrs. Busk," I said, being much disturbed by her calmness, "surely,
+surely he is not to be allowed to make an end of every one! I came to
+this country with the full intention of going into every thing. But
+I did not mean at all, except in my very best moments, to sacrifice
+myself. It seems too bad--too bad to think of."
+
+"So it is, Miss Erema," Mrs. Busk replied, without any congenial
+excitement. "It does seem hard for them that have the liability on them.
+But still, miss, you have always shown such a high sense of duty, and of
+what you were about--"
+
+"I can't--I can not. There are times, I do assure you, when I am fit for
+nothing, Mrs. Busk, and wish myself back in America. And if this man is
+to have it all his own way--"
+
+"Not he, miss--not he. Be you in no hurry. Could he even have his way
+with our old miller? No; Master Withypool was too many for him."
+
+"That is a new thing. You never told me that. What did he try to do with
+the miller?"
+
+"I don't justly know what it was, Miss Erema. I never spoke to miller
+about it, and, indeed, I have had no time since I heard of it. But those
+that told me said that the tall strange gentleman was terribly put out,
+and left the gate with a black cloud upon his face, and the very next
+day the miller's daughter died, quite sudden and mysterious."
+
+"How very strange! But now I have got a new idea. Has the miller a
+strong high dam to his pond, and a good stout sluice-gate at the end!"
+
+"Yes, miss, to be sure he has," said Mrs. Busk; "otherwise how could he
+grind at all, when the river is so low as it is sometimes?"
+
+"Then I know what he wanted, and I will take a leaf out of his own
+book--the miscreant! He wanted the miller to stop back the water and
+leave the pool dry at the 'Murder-bridge.' Would it be possible for him
+to do that?"
+
+"I can not tell you, miss; but your thought is very clever. It is likely
+enough that he did want that, though he never would dare to ask without
+some pretense--some other cause I mean, to show for it. He may have been
+thinking that whatever he was wanting was likely to be under water. And
+that shows another thing, if it is so."
+
+"Mrs. Busk, my head goes round with such a host of complications. I do
+my best to think them out--and then there comes another!"
+
+"No, miss; this only clears things up a little. If the man can not be
+sure whether what he is looking for is on land or under water, it seems
+to me almost to show that it was lost at the murder time in the dark
+and flurry. A man would know if he dropped any thing in the water by
+daylight, from the splash and the ripple, and so on, for the stream is
+quite slow at that corner. He dropped it, miss, when he did the deed, or
+else it came away from his lordship."
+
+"Nothing was lost, as I said before, from the body of my grandfather,
+so far at least as our knowledge goes. Whatever was lost was the
+murderer's. Now please to tell me all about the miller, and how I may
+get round him."
+
+"You make me laugh in the middle of black things, miss, by the way
+you have of putting them. But as to the miller--Master Withypool is a
+wonder, as concerns the ladies. He is one of those men that stand up for
+every thing when a man tries upper side of them. But let a woman come,
+and get up under, and there he is--a pie crust lifted. Why, I, at my
+age, could get round him, as you call it. But you, miss--and more than
+that, you are something like his daughter; and the old man frets after
+her terrible. Go you into his yard, and just smile upon him, miss, and
+if the Moon River can be stopped, he'll stop it for you."
+
+This seemed a very easy way to do it. But I told Mrs. Busk that I would
+pay well also, for the loss of a day's work at the mill was more than
+fifty smiles could make up.
+
+But she told me, above all things, not to do that. For old Master
+Withypool was of that sort that he would stand for an hour with his
+hands in his pocket for a half-penny, if not justly owing from him. But
+nothing more angered him than a bribe to step outside of his duty. He
+had plenty of money, and was proud of it. But sooner would he lose a
+day's work to do a kindness, when he was sure of having right behind it,
+than take a week's profit without earning it. And very likely that was
+where the dark man failed, from presuming that money would do every
+thing. However, there was nothing like judging for one's self; and if
+I would like to be introduced, she could do it for me with the best
+effect; taking as she did a good hundred-weight of best "households"
+from him every week, although not herself in the baking line, but always
+keeping quartern bags, because the new baker did adulterate so.
+
+I thought of her father, and how things work round; but that they would
+do without remarks of mine. So I said nothing on that point, but asked
+whether Master Withypool would require any introduction. And to this
+Mrs. Busk said, "Oh dear, no!" And her throat had been a little rough
+since Sunday, and the dog was chained tight, even if any dog would bite
+a sweet young lady; and to her mind the miller would be more taken up
+and less fit to vapor into obstacles, if I were to hit upon him all
+alone, just when he came out to the bank of his cabbage garden, not
+so very long after his dinner, to smoke his pipe and to see his things
+a-growing.
+
+It was time to get ready if I meant to catch him then, for he always
+dined at one o'clock, and the mill was some three or four meadows up the
+stream; therefore as soon as Mrs. Busk had re-assured me that she was
+quite certain of my enemy's departure, I took my drawing things and set
+forth to call upon Master Withypool.
+
+Passing through the church-yard, which was my nearest way, and glancing
+sadly at the "fairy ring," I began to have some uneasiness about the
+possible issue of my new scheme. Such a thing required more thinking
+out than I had given to it. For instance, what reason could I give the
+miller for asking so strange a thing of him? And how could the whole of
+the valley be hindered from making the greatest talk about the stoppage
+of their own beloved Moon, even if the Moon could be stopped without
+every one of them rushing down to see it? And if it was so talked of,
+would it not be certain to come to the ears of that awful man? And if
+so, how long before he found me out, and sent me to rejoin my family?
+
+These thoughts compelled me to be more discreet; and having lately
+done a most honorable thing, in refusing to read that letter, I felt a
+certain right to play a little trick now of a purely harmless character.
+I ran back therefore to my writing-desk, and took from its secret drawer
+a beautiful golden American eagle, a large coin, larger and handsomer
+than any in the English coinage. Uncle Sam gave it to me on my birthday,
+and I would not have taken 50 pounds for it. With this I hurried to that
+bridge of fear, which I had not yet brought myself to go across; and
+then, not to tell any story about it, I snipped a little hole in the
+corner of my pocket, while my hand was still steady ere I had to mount
+the bridge. Then pinching that hole up with a squeeze, I ran and got
+upon that wicked bridge, and then let go. The heavy gold coin fell upon
+the rotten plank, and happily rolled into the water, as if it were glad
+not to tempt its makers to any more sin for the sake of it.
+
+Shutting up thought, for fear of despising myself for the coinage of
+such a little trick, I hurried across the long meadow to the mill, and
+went through the cow-gate into the yard, and the dog began to bark at
+me. Seeing that he had a strong chain on, I regarded him with lofty
+indignation. "Do you know what Jowler would do to you?" I said; "Jowler,
+a dog worth ten of you. He would take you by the neck and drop you into
+that pond for daring to insult his mistress!" The dog appeared to feel
+the force of my remarks, for he lay down again, and with one eye watched
+me in a manner amusing, but insidious. Then, taking good care to keep
+out of his reach, I went to the mill-pond and examined it.
+
+It looked like a very nice pond indeed, long, and large, and well banked
+up, not made into any particular shape, but producing little rushy
+elbows. The water was now rather low, and very bright (though the Moon
+itself is not a crystal stream), and a school of young minnows, just
+watching a water-spider with desirous awe, at sight of me broke away,
+and reunited, with a speed and precision that might shame the whole of
+our very best modern fighting. Then many other things made a dart away,
+and furrowed the shadow of the willows, till distance quieted the fear
+of man--that most mysterious thing in nature--and the shallow pool was
+at peace again, and bright with unruffled reflections.
+
+"What ails the dog?" said a deep gruff voice; and the poor dog received
+a contemptuous push, not enough to hurt him, but to wound his feelings
+for doing his primary duty. "Servant, miss. What can I do for you?
+Foot-path is t'other side of that there hedge."
+
+"Yes, but I left the foot-path on purpose. I came to have a talk with
+you, if you will allow me."
+
+"Sartain! sartain," the miller replied, lifting a broad floury hat and
+showing a large gray head. "Will you come into house, miss, or into
+gearden?"
+
+I chose the garden, and he led the way, and set me down upon an old oak
+bench, where the tinkle of the water through the flood-gates could be
+heard.
+
+"So you be come to paint the mill at last," he said. "Many a time I've
+looked out for you. The young leddy down to Mother Busk's, of course.
+Many's the time we've longed for you to come, you reminds us so of
+somebody. Why, my old missus can't set eyes on you in church, miss,
+without being forced to sit down a'most. But we thought it very pretty
+of you not to come, miss, while the trouble was so new upon us."
+
+Something in my look or voice made the old man often turn away, while
+I told him that I would make the very best drawing of his mill that I
+could manage, and would beg him to accept it.
+
+"Her ought to 'a been on the plank," he said, with trouble in getting
+his words out. "But there! what good? Her never will stand on that plank
+no more. No, nor any other plank."
+
+I told him that I would put her on the plank, if he had any portrait of
+her showing her dress and her attitude. Without saying what he had, he
+led me to the house, and stood behind me, while I went inside. And then
+he could not keep his voice as I went from one picture of his darling to
+another, not thinking (as I should have done) of what his feelings might
+be, but trying, as no two were at all alike, to extract a general idea
+of her.
+
+"Nobody knows what her were to me," the old man said, with a quiet
+little noise and a sniff behind my shoulder. "And with one day's illness
+her died--her died."
+
+"But you have others left. She was not the only one. Please, Mr.
+Withypool, to try to think of that. And your dear wife still alive
+to share your trouble. Just think for a moment of what happened to my
+father. His wife and six children all swept off in a month--and I just
+born, to be brought up with a bottle!"
+
+I never meant, of course, to have said a word of this, but was carried
+away by that common old idea of consoling great sorrow with a greater
+one. And the sense of my imprudence broke vexatiously upon me when the
+old man came and stood between me and his daughter's portraits.
+
+"Well, I never!" he exclaimed, with his bright eyes steadfast with
+amazement. "I know you now, miss. Now I knows you. To think what a set
+of blind newts us must be! And you the very moral of your poor father,
+in a female kind of way! To be sure, how well I knew the Captain! A
+nicer man never walked the earth, neither a more unlucky one."
+
+"I beg you--let me beg you," I began to say; "since you have found me
+out like this--"
+
+"Hush, miss, hush! Not my own wife shall know, unless your own tongue
+telleth her. A proud man I shall be, Miss Raumur," he continued, with
+emphasis on my local name, "if aught can be found in my power to serve
+you. Why, Lord bless you, miss," he whispered, looking round, "your
+father and I has spent hours together! He were that pleasant in his ways
+and words, he would drop in from his fishing, when the water was too
+low, and sit on that very same bench where you sat, and smoke his pipe
+with me, and tell me about battles, and ask me about bread. And many a
+time I have slipped up the gate, to give him more water for his flies
+to play, and the fish not to see him so plainly. Ah, we have had many
+pleasant spells together; and his eldest boy and girl, Master George and
+Miss Henrietta, used to come and fetch our eggs. My Polly there was in
+love with him, we said; she sat upon his lap so, when she were two years
+old, and played with his beautiful hair, and blubbered--oh, she did
+blubber, when the Captain went away!"
+
+This invested Polly with new interest for me, and made me determine to
+spare no pains in putting her pretty figure well upon the plank. Then
+I said to the miller, "How kind of you to draw up your sluice-gates to
+oblige my father! Now will you put them down and keep them down, to do a
+great service both to him and me?"
+
+Without a moment's hesitation, he promised that any thing he could do
+should be done, if I would only tell him what I wanted. But perhaps it
+would be better to have our talk outside. Taking this hint, I followed
+him back to the bench in the open garden, and there explained what I
+wished to have done, and no longer concealed the true reason. The good
+miller answered that with all his heart he would do that much to oblige
+me, and a hundred times more than that; but some little thought and care
+were needful. With the river so low as it was now, he could easily stop
+the back-water, and receive the whole of the current in his dam, and
+keep it from flowing down his wheel trough, and thus dry the lower
+channel for perhaps half an hour, which would be ample for my purpose.
+Engineering difficulties there were none; but two or three other things
+must be heeded. Miller Sims, a mile or so down river, must be settled
+with, to fill his dam well, and begin to discharge, when the upper water
+failed, so as not to dry the Moon all down the valley, which would
+have caused a commotion. Miller Sims being own brother-in-law to Master
+Withypool, that could be arranged easily enough, after one day's notice.
+But a harder thing to manage would be to do the business without rousing
+curiosity, and setting abroad a rumor which would be sure to reach my
+enemy. And the hardest thing of all, said Master Withypool, smiling as
+he thought of what himself had once been, would be to keep those blessed
+boys away, who find out every thing, and go every where. Not a boy
+of Shoxford but would be in the river, or dancing upon its empty bed,
+screeching and scolloping up into his cap any poor bewildered trout
+chased into the puddles, if it were allowed to leak out, however feebly,
+that the Moon water was to stop running. And then how was I to seek for
+any thing?
+
+This was a puzzle. But, with counsel, we did solve it. And we quietly
+stopped the Moon, without man or boy being much the wiser.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+GOING TO THE BOTTOM
+
+
+It is not needful to explain every thing, any more than it was for me to
+tell the miller about my golden eagle, and how I had managed to lose it
+in the Moon--a trick of which now I was heartily ashamed, in the face
+of honest kindness. So I need not tell how Master Withypool managed to
+settle with his men, and to keep the boys unwitting of what was about
+to come to pass. Enough that I got a note from him to tell me that the
+little river would be run out, just when all Shoxford was intent upon
+its dinner, on the second day after I had seen him. And he could not say
+for certain, but thought it pretty safe, that nobody would come near me,
+if I managed to be there at a quarter before one, when the stream would
+begin to run dry, and I could watch it. I sent back a line by the pretty
+little girl, a sister of poor Polly, to say how much I thanked him,
+and how much I hoped that he himself would meet me there, if his time
+allowed. For he had been too delicate to say a word of that; but I felt
+that he had a good right to be there, and, knowing him now, I was not
+afraid.
+
+Nearly every thing came about as well as could be wished almost. Master
+Withypool took the precaution, early in the morning, to set his great
+fierce bull at large, who always stopped the foot-path. This bull knew
+well the powers of a valley in conducting sound; and he loved to stand,
+as if at the mouth of a funnel, and roar down it to another bull a mile
+below him, belonging to his master's brother-in-law. And when he did
+this, there was scarcely a boy, much less a man or woman, with
+any desire to assert against him the public right of thoroughfare.
+Throughout that forenoon, then, this bull bellowed nobly, still finding
+many very wicked flies about, so that two mitching boys, who meant to
+fish for minnows with a pin, were obliged to run away again.
+
+However, I was in the dark about him, and as much afraid of him as any
+body, when he broke into sight of me round a corner, without any tokens
+of amity. I had seen a great many great bulls before, including Uncle
+Sam's good black one, who might not have meant any mischief at all, and
+atoned for it--if he did--by being washed away so.
+
+And therefore my courage soon returned, when it became quite clear that
+this animal now had been fastened with a rope, and could come no nearer.
+For some little time, then, I waited all alone, as near that bridge as I
+could bring myself to stand, for Mrs. Busk, my landlady, could not leave
+the house yet, on account of the mid-day letters. Moreover, she thought
+that she had better stay away, as our object was to do things as quietly
+as could be.
+
+Much as I had watched this bridge from a distance, or from my
+sheltering-place, I had never been able to bring myself to make any kind
+of sketch of it, or even to insert it in a landscape, although it
+was very well suited and expressive, from its crooked and antique
+simplicity. The overhanging, also, of the hawthorn-tree (not ruddy yet,
+but russety with its coloring crop of coral), and the shaggy freaks of
+ivy above the twisted trunk, and the curve of the meadows and bold elbow
+of the brook, were such as an artist would have pitched his tent for,
+and tantalized poor London people with a dream of cool repose.
+
+As yet the little river showed no signs of doing what the rustic--or
+surely it should have been the cockney--was supposed to stand still and
+wait for. There was no great rush of headlong water, for that is not
+the manner of the stream in the very worst of weather; but there was the
+usual style of coming on, with lips and steps at the sides, and cords of
+running toward the middle. Quite enough, at any rate, to make the trout
+jump, without any omen of impending drought, and to keep all the play
+and the sway of movement going on serenely.
+
+I began to be afraid that the miller must have failed in his stratagem
+against the water-god, and that, as I had read in Pope's Homer, the
+liquid deity would beat the hero, when all of a sudden there were signs
+that man was the master of this little rustic. Broadswords of flag and
+rapiers of water-grass, which had been quivering merrily, began to hang
+down and to dip themselves in loops, and the stones of the brink showed
+dark green stripes on their sides as they stood naked. Then fine little
+cakes of conglomerated stuff, which only a great man of nature could
+describe, came floating about, and curdling into corners, and holding
+on to one another in long-tailed strings. But they might do what they
+liked, and make their very best of it, as they fell away to nothing upon
+stones and mud. For now more important things began to open, the like
+of which never had been yielded up before--plots of slimy gravel, varied
+with long streaks of yellow mud, dotted with large double shells, and
+parted into little oozy runs by wriggling water-weeds. And here was
+great commotion and sad panic of the fish, large fellows splashing and
+quite jumping out of water, as their favorite hovers and shelves ran
+dry, and darting away, with their poor backs in the air, to the deepest
+hole they could think of. Hundreds must have come to flour, lard, and
+butter if boys had been there to take advantage. But luckily things had
+been done so well that boys were now in their least injurious moment,
+destroying nothing worse than their own dinners.
+
+A very little way below the old wooden bridge the little river ran into
+a deepish pool, as generally happens at or near a corner, especially
+where there is a confluence sometimes. And seeing nothing, as I began to
+search intently, stirring with a long-handled spud which I had brought,
+I concluded that even my golden eagle had been carried into that deep
+place. However, water or no water, I resolved to have it out with that
+dark pool as soon as the rest of the channel should be drained, which
+took a tormenting time to do; and having thick boots on, I pinned up my
+skirts, and jumping down into the shoals, began to paddle in a fashion
+which reminded me of childish days passed pleasantly in the Blue River.
+
+Too busy thus to give a thought to any other thing, I did not even see
+the miller, until he said,
+
+"Good-day, miss," lifting his hat, with a nice kind smile. "Very busy,
+miss, I see, and right you are to be so. The water will be upon us again
+in less than half an hour. Now let me clear away they black weeds for
+you. I brought this little shivel a-purpose. If I may make so bold,
+miss, what do 'e look to find here?"
+
+"I have not the very smallest notion," I could only answer; "but if
+there is any thing, it must be in that hole. I have searched all the
+shallow part so closely that I doubt whether even a sixpence could
+escape me, unless it were buried in the mud or pebbles. Oh, how can I
+manage to search that hole? There must be a yard of water there."
+
+"One thing I ought to have told 'e for to do," Master Withypool
+whispered, as he went on shoveling--"to do what the boys do when they
+lose a farden--to send another after un. If so be now, afore the water
+was run out, you had stood on that there bridge, and dropped a bright
+coin into it, a new half crown or a two-shilling piece, why, the chances
+would be that the run of the current would 'a taken it nigh to the
+likeliest spot for holding any other little matter as might 'a dropped,
+permiskous, you might say, into this same water."
+
+"I have done so," I answered; "I have done that very thing, though not
+at all with that object. The day before yesterday a beautiful coin, a
+golden eagle of America, fell from my pocket on that upper plank, and
+rolled into the water. I would not lose it for a great deal, because it
+was given to me by my dearest friend, the greatest of all millers."
+
+"And ha'n't you found it yet, miss? Well, that is queer. Perhaps we
+shall find it now, with something to the back of it. I thought yon hole
+was too far below the bridge. But there your gold must be, and something
+else, most likely. Plaise to wait a little bit, and us 'll have the wet
+out of un. I never should 'a thought of that but for your gold guinea,
+though."
+
+With these words Master Withypool pulled his coat off and rolled up his
+shirt sleeves, displaying arms fit to hold their own even with Uncle
+Sam's almost; and then he fell to with his shovel and dug, while I ran
+with my little spud to help.
+
+"Plaise keep out of way, miss; I be afeard of knocking you. Not but what
+you works very brave indeed, miss."
+
+Knowing what men are concerning "female efforts," I got out of the
+strong man's way, although there was plenty of room for me. What he
+wanted to do was plain enough--to dig a trench down the empty bed of the
+Moon River, deep enough to drain that pit before the stream came down
+again.
+
+"Never thought to run a race against my own old dam," he said, as he
+stopped for a moment to recover breath. "Us never knows what us may have
+to do. Old dam must be a'most busting now. But her's sound enough, till
+her beginneth to run over."
+
+I did not say a word, because it might have done some mischief, but I
+could not help looking rather anxiously up stream, for fear of the water
+coming down with a rush, as it very soon must do. Master Withypool had
+been working, not as I myself would have done, from the lips of the dark
+pit downward, but from a steep run some twenty yards below, where there
+was almost a little cascade when the river was full flowing; from this
+he had made his channel upward, cutting deeper as he came along, till
+now, at the brink of the obstinate pool, his trench was two feet deep
+almost. I had no idea that any man could work so with a shovel, which
+seems such a clumsy tool compared with a spade: but a gentleman who
+knows the country and the people told me that, with their native weapon,
+Moonites will do as much digging in an hour as other folk get through in
+an hour and a half with a spade. But this may be only, perhaps, because
+they are working harder.
+
+"Now," said Master Withypool at last, standing up, with a very red face,
+and desiring to keep all that unheeded--"now, miss, to you it belongeth
+to tap this here little cornder, if desirable. Plaise to excoose of me
+going up of bank to tell 'e when the wet cometh down again."
+
+"Please to do nothing of the sort," I answered, knowing that he offered
+to stand out of sight from a delicate dread of intrusion. "Please to tap
+the pool yourself, and stay here, as a witness of what we find in it."
+
+"As you plaise, miss, as you plaise. Not a moment for to lose in
+arguing. Harken now, the water is atopping of our dam. Her will be here
+in five minutes."
+
+With three or four rapid turns of his shovel, which he spun almost
+as fast as a house-maid spins a mop, he fetched out the plug of earth
+severing his channel from the deep, reluctant hole. And then I saw the
+wisdom of his way of working: for if he had dug downward from the pool
+itself, the water would have followed him all the way, and even drowned
+his tool out of its own strokes; whereas now, with a swirl and a curl of
+ropy mud, away rushed the thick, sluggish, obstinate fluid, and in less
+than two minutes the hole was almost dry.
+
+The first thing I saw was my golden eagle, lodged about half-way down
+the slope on a crust of black sludge, from which I caught it up and
+presented it to Master Withypool, as a small token and record of his
+kindness; and to this day he carries it upon his Sunday watch chain.
+
+"I always am lucky in finding things," I exclaimed, while he watched
+me, and the up stream too, whence a babble of water was approaching. "As
+sure as I live I have found it!"
+
+"No doubt about your living, miss. And the Captain were always lively.
+But what have your bright eyes hit upon? I see nort for the life of me."
+
+"Look there," I cried, "at the very bottom of it--almost under the
+water. Here, where I put my spud--a bright blue line! Oh, can I go down,
+or is it quicksand?"
+
+"No quicksand in our little river, miss. But your father's daughter
+shannot go into the muck, while John Withypool stands by. I see un now,
+sure enough; now I see un! But her needeth care, or her may all goo away
+in mullock. Well, I thought my eyes was sharp enough; but I'm blest if I
+should have spied that, though. A bit of flint, mebbe, or of blue glass
+bottle. Anyhow, us will see the bottom of un."
+
+He was wasting no time while he spoke, but working steadfastly for his
+purpose, fixing the blade of his shovel below the little blue line I
+was peering at, so that no slip of the soft yellow slush should bury
+it down, and plunge over it. If that had once happened, good-by to all
+chance of ever beholding this thing again, for the river was coming,
+with fury and foam, to assert its ancient right of way.
+
+With a short laugh the miller jumped down into the pit. "Me to be served
+so, by my own mill-stream! Lor', if I don't pay you out for this!"
+
+His righteous wrath failed to stop the water from pouring into the pit
+behind him; and, strong as he was, he nearly lost his footing, having
+only mud to stand upon. It seemed to me that he was going to be drowned,
+and I offered him the handle of my spud to help him; but he stopped
+where he was, and was not going to be hurried.
+
+"I got un now," he said; "now I don't mind coming out. You see if I
+don't pay you out for this! Why, I always took you for a reasonable
+hanimal."
+
+He shook his fist strongly at the river, which had him well up to the
+middle by this time; and then he disdainfully waded out, with wrath in
+all his countenance.
+
+"I've a great mind to stop there, and see what her would do," he said to
+me, forgetting altogether what he went for. "And I would, if I had had
+my dinner. A scat of a thing as I can manage with my thumb! Ah, you have
+made a bad day of it."
+
+"But what have you found, Mr. Withypool?" I asked, for I could not enter
+into his wrath against the water, wet as he was to the shoulders. "You
+have something in your hand. May I see it, if you please? And then do
+please to go home and change your clothes."
+
+"A thing I never did in my life, miss, and should be ashamed to begin at
+this age. Clothes gets wet, and clothes dries on us, same as un did on
+the sheep afore us; else they gets stiff and creasy. What this little
+thing is ne'er a body may tell, in my line of life--but look'th
+aristocratic."
+
+The "mullock," as he called it, from his hands, and from the bed where
+it had lain so long, so crusted the little thing which he gave me, that
+I dipped it again in the swelling stream, and rubbed it with both hands,
+to make out what it was. And then I thought how long it had lain there;
+and suddenly to my memory it came, that in all likelihood the time of
+that was nineteen years this very day.
+
+"Will another year pass," I cried, "before I make out all about it? What
+are you, and who, now looking at me with such sad, sad eyes?"
+
+For I held in my hand a most handsome locket, of blue enamel and
+diamonds, with a back of chased gold, and in front the miniature of a
+beautiful young woman, done as they never seem to do them now. The
+work was so good, and the fitting so close, that no drop of water had
+entered, and the face shone through the crystal glass as fresh as the
+day it was painted. A very lovely face it was, yet touched with a shade
+of sadness, as the loveliest faces generally are; and the first thought
+of any beholder would be, "That woman was born for sorrow."
+
+The miller said as much when I showed it to him.
+
+"Lord bless my heart! I hope the poor craitur' hathn't lasted half so
+long as her pictur' hath."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+HERMETICALLY SEALED
+
+
+The discovery which I have described above (but not half so well as
+the miller tells it now) created in my young heart a feeling of really
+strong curiosity. To begin with, how could this valuable thing have got
+into the Moon-stream, and lain there so long, unsought for, or at best
+so unskillfully sought for? What connection could it have with the
+tragic death of my grandfather? Why was that man so tardily come to
+search for it, if he might do so without any body near him? Again,
+what woman was this whose beauty no water or mud could even manage to
+disguise? That last was a most disturbing question to one's bodily peace
+of mind. And then came another yet more urgent--what was in the inside
+of this tight case?
+
+That there was something inside of it seemed almost a certainty. The
+mere value of the trinket, or even the fear that it ever might turn
+up as evidence, would scarcely have brought that man so often to stir
+suspicion by seeking it; though, after so long a time, he well might
+hope that suspicion was dead and buried. And being unable to open this
+case--after breaking three good nails over it, and then the point of a
+penknife--I turned to Master Withypool, who was stamping on the grass to
+drain himself.
+
+"What sort of a man was that," I asked, "who wanted you to do what
+now you have so kindly done for me? About a month or six weeks ago? Do
+please to tell me, as nearly as you can."
+
+If Mrs. Withypool had been there, she might have lost all patience with
+me for putting long questions so selfishly to a man who had done so much
+for me, and whose clothes were now dripping in a wind which had arisen
+to test his theory of drying. He must have lost a large quantity of
+what scientific people call "caloric." But never a shiver gave he in
+exchange.
+
+"Well, miss," he said, "I was thinking a'most of speaking on that very
+matter. More particular since you found that little thing, with the
+pretty lady inside of it. It were borne in on my mind that thissom were
+the very thing he were arter."
+
+"No doubt of it," I answered, with far less patience, though being
+comparatively dry. "But what was he like? Was he like this portrait?"
+
+"This picture of the lady? No; I can't say that he were, so much. The
+face of a big man he hath, with short black fringes to it. Never showeth
+to my idea any likeliness of a woman. No, no, miss; think you not at all
+that you have got him in that blue thing. Though some of their pictures
+is like men, the way they dress up nowadays."
+
+"I did not mean that it was meant for him; what I mean is, do you see
+any sign of family likeness? Any resemblance about the eyes, or mouth,
+or forehead?"
+
+"Well, now, I don't know but what I might," replied Master Withypool,
+gazing very hard; "if I was to look at 'un long enough, a' might find
+some'at favoring of that tall fellow, I do believe. Indeed, I do believe
+the more I look, the more I diskivers the image of him."
+
+The good and kind miller's perception of the likeness strengthened
+almost too fast, as if the wish were father to the thought, until I saw
+clearly how selfish I was in keeping him in that state so long; for I
+knew, from what Mrs. Busk had told me, that in spite of all his large
+and grand old English sentiments about his clothes, his wife would make
+him change them all ere ever she gave him a bit of dinner, and would
+force him then to take a glass of something hot. So I gave him a
+thousand thanks, though not a thousandth part of what he deserved, and
+saw him well on his homeward way before I went back to consider things.
+
+As soon as my landlady was at leisure to come in and talk with me,
+and as soon as I had told her how things happened, and shown her our
+discovery, we both of us did the very same thing, and said almost the
+very same words. Our act was, with finger and nail and eye, to rime into
+every jot of it; and our words were,
+
+"I am sure there is something inside. If not, it would open sensibly."
+
+In the most senseless and obstinate manner it refused not only to open,
+but to disclose any thing at all about itself. Whether it ever had been
+meant to open, and if so, where, and by what means; whether, without
+any gift of opening, it might have a hidden thing inside; whether, when
+opened by force or skill, it might show something we had no business
+with, or (which would be far worse) nothing at all--good Mrs. Busk and
+myself tested, tapped, and felt, and blew, and listened, and tried every
+possible overture, and became at last quite put out with it.
+
+"It is all of a piece with the villains that owned it," the postmistress
+exclaimed at last. "There is no penetrating either it or them. Most
+likely they have made away with this beautiful lady on the cover. Kill
+one, kill fifty, I have heard say. I hope Master Withypool will let out
+nothing, or evil it will be for you, miss. If I was you, I would carry a
+pistol."
+
+"Now please not to frighten me, Mrs. Busk. I am not very brave at the
+best of times, and this has made me so nervous. If I carried a pistol, I
+should shoot myself the very first hour of wearing it. The mere thought
+of it makes me tremble. Oh, why was I ever born, to do man's work?"
+
+"Because, miss, a man would not have done it half so well. When you
+saw that villain digging, a man would have rushed out and spoiled
+all chance. And now what man could have ever found this? Would Master
+Withypool ever have emptied the Moon River for a man, do you think? Or
+could any man have been down among us all this time, in this jealous
+place, without his business being long ago sifted out and scattered over
+him? No, no, miss; you must not talk like that--and with me as well to
+help you. The rogues will have reason to wish, I do believe, that they
+had only got a man to deal with."
+
+In this argument there were points which had occurred to me before; but
+certainly it is a comfort to have one's own ideas in a doubtful matter
+reproduced, and perhaps put better, by a mind to which one may have lent
+them, perhaps, with a loan all unacknowledged. However, trouble teaches
+care, and does it so well that the master and the lesson in usage of
+words are now the same; therefore I showed no sign of being suggested
+with my own suggestions, but only asked, quietly, "What am I to do?"
+
+"My dear young lady," Mrs. Busk replied, after stopping some time to
+think of it, "my own opinion is, for my part, that you ought to consult
+somebody."
+
+"But I am, Mrs. Busk. I am now consulting you."
+
+"Then I think, miss, that this precious case should be taken at once to
+a jeweler, who can open it without doing any damage, which is more than
+we can do."
+
+"To be sure; I have thought of that," I replied. "But how can that
+be done without arousing curiosity?--without the jeweler seeing its
+contents, if indeed it has any? And in that case the matter would be no
+longer at our own disposal, as now it is. I have a great mind to split
+it with a hammer. What are the diamonds to me?"
+
+"It is not the diamonds, but the picture, miss, that may be most
+important. And more than that, you might ruin the contents, so as not
+to make head or tale of them. No, no; it is a risk that must be run; we
+must have a jeweler, but not one of this neighborhood."
+
+"Then I shall have to go to London again, and perhaps lose something
+most important here. Can you think of no other way out of it?"
+
+"No, miss, at present I see nothing else. Unless you will place it all
+in the hands of the police."
+
+"Constable Jobbins, to wit, or his son! No, thank you, Mrs. Busk, not
+yet. Surely we are not quite reduced to such a hopeless pass as that. My
+father knew what the police were worth, and so does Betsy, and so does
+Major Hockin. 'Pompous noodles,' the Major calls them, who lay hold of
+every thing by the wrong end."
+
+"Then if he can lay hold of the right end, miss, what better could you
+do than consult him?"
+
+I had been thinking of this already, and pride alone debarred me. That
+gentleman's active nature drove him to interfere with other people's
+business, even though he had never heard of them; and yet through some
+strange reasoning of his own, or blind adoption of public unreason, he
+had made me dislike, or at any rate not like, him, until he began to
+show signs at last of changing his opinion. And now the question was,
+had he done that enough for me, without loss of self-respect, to open my
+heart to him, and seek counsel?
+
+In settling that point the necessity of the case overrode, perhaps, some
+scruples; in sooth, I had nobody else to go to. What could I do with
+Lord Castlewood? Nothing; all his desire was to do exactly what my
+father would have done: and my father had never done any thing more than
+rove and roam his life out. To my mind this was dreadful now, when every
+new thing rising round me more and more clearly to my mind established
+what I never had doubted--his innocence. Again, what good could I do by
+seeking Betsy's opinion about it, or that of Mrs. Price, or Stixon, or
+any other person I could think of? None whatever--and perhaps much harm.
+Taking all in all, as things turn up, I believed myself to be almost
+equal to the cleverest of those three in sense, and in courage not
+inferior. Moreover, a sort of pride--perhaps very small, but not
+contemptible--put me against throwing my affairs so much into the hands
+of servants.
+
+For this idea Uncle Sam, no doubt the most liberal of men, would perhaps
+condemn me. But still I was not of the grand New World, whose pedigrees
+are arithmetic (at least with many of its items, though the true Uncle
+Sam was the last for that); neither could I come up to the largeness of
+universal brotherhood. That was not to be expected of a female; and few
+things make a man more angry than for his wife to aspire to it. No such
+ideas had ever troubled me; I had more important things to think of,
+or, at any rate, something to be better carried out. And of all these
+desultory thoughts it came that I packed up that odious but very lovely
+locket, without further attempt to unriddle it, and persuaded my very
+good and clever Mrs. Busk to let me start right early. By so doing I
+could have three hours with a good gentleman always in a hurry, and yet
+return for the night to Shoxford, if he should advise me so.
+
+Men and women seem alike to love to have their counsels taken; and the
+equinox being now gone by, Mrs. Busk was ready to begin before the tardy
+sun was up, who begins to give you short measure at once when he finds
+the weights go against him. Mrs. Busk considered not the sun, neither
+any of his doings. The time of day was more momentous than any of the
+sun's proceedings. Railway time was what she had to keep (unless a good
+customer dropped in), and as for the sun--"clock slow, clock fast," in
+the almanacs, showed how he managed things; and if that was not enough,
+who could trust him to keep time after what he had done upon the dial of
+Ahaz? Reasoning thus--if reason it was--she packed me off in a fly for
+the nearest railway station, and by midday I found the Major laboring on
+his ramparts.
+
+After proper salutations, I could not help expressing wonder at the
+rapid rise of things. Houses here and houses there, springing up like
+children's teeth, three or four in a row together, and then a long
+gap, and then some more. And down the slope a grand hotel, open for
+refreshment, though as yet it had no roof on; for the Major, in virtue
+of his charter, defied all the magistrates to stop him from selling
+whatever was salable on or off the premises. But noblest and grandest
+of all to look at was the "Bruntsea Athenaeum, Lyceum, Assembly-Rooms,
+Institution for Mutual Instruction, Christian Young Men's Congress, and
+Sanitary, Saline, Hydropathic Hall, at nominal prices to be had gratis."
+
+"How you do surprise me!" I said to Major Hockin, after reading all
+that, which he kindly requested me to do with care; "but where are the
+people to come from?"
+
+"Erema," he replied, as if that question had been asked too often, "you
+have not had time to study the laws of political economy--the noblest
+of noble sciences. The first of incontrovertible facts is that supply
+creates demand. Now ask yourself whether there could even be a Yankee if
+ideas like yours had occurred to Columbus?"
+
+This was beyond me; for I never could argue, and strove to the utmost
+not to do so. "You understand those things, and I do not," said I, with
+a smile, which pleased him. "My dear aunt Mary always says that you are
+the cleverest man in the world; and she must know most about it."
+
+"Partiality! partiality!" cried the Major, with a laugh, and pulling his
+front hair up. "Such things pass by me like the idle wind; or rather,
+perhaps, they sadden me, from my sense of my own deficiencies. But,
+bless me! dinner must be waiting. Look at that fellow's trowel--he
+knows: he turns up the point of it like a spoon. They say that he can
+smell his dinner two miles off. We all dine at one o'clock now, that I
+may rout up every man-Jack of them."
+
+The Major sounded a steam-guard's whistle, and led me off in the rapidly
+vanishing wake of his hungry workmen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+CONVICTION
+
+
+Sir Montague Hockin, to my great delight, was still away from Bruntsea.
+If he had been there, it would have been a most awkward thing for me to
+meet him, or to refuse to do so. The latter course would probably have
+been the one forced upon me by self-respect and affection toward my
+cousin; and yet if so, I could scarcely have avoided an explanation with
+my host. From the nature of the subject, and several other reasons, this
+would have been most unpleasant; and even now I was haunted with doubts,
+as I had been from the first, whether I ought not to have told Mrs.
+Hockin long ago what had been said of him. At first sight that seemed
+the honest thing to do; but three things made against it. It might seem
+forward and meddlesome; it must be a grievous thing to my cousin to have
+his sad story discussed again; and lastly, I had promised Mrs. Price
+that her words should go no further. So that on the whole perhaps I
+acted aright in keeping that infamous tale to myself as long as ever it
+was possible.
+
+But now ere ever I spoke of him--which I was always loath to do--Mrs.
+Hockin told me that he very seldom came to see them now, and when he did
+come he seemed to be uneasy and rather strange in his manners. I thought
+to myself that the cause of this was clear. Sir Montague, knowing that I
+went to Castlewood, was pricked in his conscience, and afraid of having
+his vile behavior to my cousin disclosed. However, that idea of mine
+was wrong, and a faulty conception of simple youth. The wicked forgive
+themselves so quickly, if even they find any need of it, that every body
+else is supposed to do the same. With this I have no patience. A
+wrong unrepented of and unatoned gathers interest, instead of getting
+discount, from lost time. And so I hated that man tenfold.
+
+Good Mrs. Hockin lamented his absence not only for the sake of her
+darling fowls, but also because she considered him a check upon the
+Major's enterprise. Great as her faith was in her husband's ability and
+keenness, she was often visited with dark misgivings about such heavy
+outlay. Of economy (as she often said) she certainly ought to know
+something, having had to practice it as strictly as any body in the
+kingdom, from an age she could hardly remember. But as for what was now
+brought forward as a great discovery--economy in politics--Mrs. Hockin
+had tried to follow great opinions, but could only find, so far,
+downright extravagance. Supply (as she had observed fifty times with her
+own butcher and fishmonger), instead of creating demand, produced a
+lot of people hankering round the corner, till the price came down to
+nothing. And if it were so with their institutions--as her dear husband
+called his new public-house--who was to find all the interest due to
+the building and land societies? Truly she felt that Sir Rufus Hockin,
+instead of doing any good to them, had behaved very badly in leaving
+them land, and not even a shilling to work it with.
+
+It relieved her much to tell me this, once for all and in strict
+confidence; because her fine old-fashioned (and we now may say quite
+obsolete) idea of duty toward her husband forbade her ever to say to
+him, or about him, when it could be helped, any thing he might not like,
+any thing which to an evil mind might convey a desire on her part to
+meddle with--with--
+
+"Political economy," I said; and she laughed, and said, Yes, that was
+just it. The Major of course knew best, and she ought with all her
+heart to trust him not to burden their old days with debt, after all the
+children they had brought up and fairly educated upon the professional
+income of a distinguished British officer, who is not intended by his
+superiors to provide successors.
+
+"Perhaps it is like the boiled eggs they send me," the old lady said,
+with her soft sweet smile, "for my poor hens to sit upon. Their race is
+too good to be made common. So now they get tinkers' and tailors' boys,
+after much competition, and the crammed sons of cooks. And in peace-time
+they do just as well."
+
+Of such things I knew nothing; but she seemed to speak with bitterness,
+the last thing to be found in all her nature, yet discoverable--as all
+bad things (except its own) are--by the British government. I do not
+speak from my own case, in which they discovered nothing.
+
+By the time these things had been discussed, my host (who was always
+particular about his dress) came down to dinner, and not until that was
+over could I speak of the subject which had brought me there. No sooner
+had I begun my tale than they both perceived that it must neither be
+flurried nor interrupted, least of all should it be overheard.
+
+"Come into my lock-up," cried the Major; "or, better still, let us go
+out of doors. We can sit in my snuggery on the cliff, with only gulls
+and jackdaws to listen, and mount my telescope and hoist my flag, and
+the men know better than to skulk their work. I can see every son of a
+gun of them as clearly as if I had them on parade. You wish Mrs. Hockin
+to come, I suppose. Very well, let us be off at once. I shall count my
+fellows coming back from dinner."
+
+With a short quick step the Major led the way to a beautifully situated
+outpost at a corner of the cliff, where land and sea for many a fair
+league rolled below. A niche of the chalk had been cleverly enlarged and
+scooped into a shell-shaped bower, not, indeed, gloriously overhung, as
+in the far West might have been, but broken of its white defiant glare
+by climbing and wandering verdure. Seats and slabs of oak were fixed to
+check excess of chalkiness, and a parapet of a pattern which the Major
+called Egyptian saved fear of falling down the cliff, and served to
+spread a paper on, or to rest a telescope.
+
+"From this point," said the Major, crossing wiry yet substantial legs,
+"the whole of my little domain may be comprised as in a bird's-eye view.
+It is nothing, of course, much less than nothing, compared with the Earl
+of Crowcombe's, or the estate of Viscount Gamberley; still, such as it
+is, it carries my ideas, and it has an extent of marine frontage such
+as they might envy. We are asked 5 pounds per foot for a thread of land
+fronting on a highway, open to every kind of annoyance, overlooked,
+without any thing to look at. How much, then, per fathom (or measure, if
+you please, by cable-lengths) is land worth fronting the noble, silent,
+uncontaminating, healthful sea? Whence can come no coster-mongers'
+cries, no agitating skir of bagpipes or the maddening hurdy-gurdy, no
+German band expecting half a crown for the creation of insanity; only
+sweet murmur of the wavelets, and the melodious whistle of a boatman
+catching your breakfast lobster. Where, again, if you love the
+picturesque--"
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Hockin, gently, "you always were eloquent from the
+first day I saw you; and if you reconstitute our borough, as you hope,
+and enter Parliament for Bruntsea, what a sensation you will create!
+But I wished to draw your attention to the fact that Erema is waiting to
+tell her tale."
+
+"To be sure. I will not stop her. Eloquence is waste of time, and I
+never yet had half a second to spare. Fear no eloquence from me; facts
+and logic are my strong points. And now, Erema, show what yours are."
+
+At first this made me a little timid, for I had never thought that any
+strong points would be needed for telling a simple tale. To my mind the
+difficulty was, not to tell the story, but to know what to make of it
+when told; and soon I forgot all about myself in telling what I had
+seen, heard, and found.
+
+The Major could not keep himself from stamping great holes through
+his--something I forget the name of, but people sow it to make turf
+of chalk--and dear "Aunt Mary's" soft pink cheeks, which her last
+grandchild might envy, deepened to a tone of rose; while her eyes, so
+full of heavenly faith when she got upon lofty subjects, took a most
+human flash and sparkle of hatred not theological.
+
+"Seven!" she cried; "oh, Nicholas, Nicholas, you never told me there
+were seven!"
+
+"There were not seven graves without the mother," the Major answered,
+sternly. "And what odds whether seven or seventy? The criminality is the
+point, not the accumulation of results. Still, I never heard of so big a
+blackguard. And what did he do next, my dear?"
+
+The way in which they took my story was a great surprise to me, because,
+although they were so good, they had never paid any attention to it
+until it became exciting. They listened with mere politeness until the
+scent of a very wicked man began to taint my narrative; but from that
+moment they drew nearer, and tightened their lips, and held their
+breath, and let no word escape them. It made me almost think that
+people even of pure excellence, weaned as they are from wicked things by
+teaching and long practice, must still retain a hankering for them done
+at other people's cost.
+
+"And now," cried the Major, "let us see it"--even before I had time to
+pull it out, though ready to be quick, from a knowledge of his ways.
+"Show it, and you shall have my opinion. And Mary's is certain to agree
+with mine. My dear, that makes yours so priceless."
+
+"Then, Nicholas, if I retain my own, yours is of no value. Never mind
+that. Now don't catch words, or neither opinion will be worth a thought.
+My dear, let us see it and then judge."
+
+"My own idea, but not so well expressed," Major Hockin answered, as he
+danced about, while I with stupid haste was tugging at my package of the
+hateful locket. For I had not allowed that deceitful thing any quarters
+in my pocket, where dear little relics of my father lay, but had
+fastened it under my dress in a manner intended in no way for gentlemen
+to think about. Such little things annoy one's comfort, and destroy
+one's power of being quite high-minded. However, I got it out at last,
+and a flash of the sun made the difference.
+
+"Brilliants, Mary!" the Major cried; "brilliants of first water; such
+as we saw, you know where; and any officer in the British army except
+myself, I do believe, would have had them at once in his camlet
+pouch--my dear, you know all about it. Bless my heart, how slow you are!
+Is it possible you have forgotten it? There came out a fellow, and I cut
+him down, as my duty was, without ceremony. You know how I used to do
+it, out of regulation, with a slash like this--"
+
+"Oh, Nicholas, you will be over the cliff! You have shown me how you
+used to do it, a thousand times--but you had no cricks in your back
+then: and remember how brittle the chalk is."
+
+"The chalk may be brittle, but I am tough. I insist upon doing every
+thing as well as I did it forty years ago. Mary, you ought not to speak
+to me like that. Eighteen, nineteen, twenty brilliants, worth twenty
+pounds apiece upon an average, I do believe. Four hundred pounds. That
+would finish our hotel."
+
+"Nicholas!"
+
+"My dear, I was only in fun. Erema understands me. But who is this
+beautiful lady?"
+
+"The very point," I exclaimed, while he held it so that the pensive
+beauty of the face gleamed in soft relief among bright blue enamel and
+sparkling gems. "The very thing that I must know--that I would give my
+life to know--that I have fifty thousand fancies--"
+
+"Now don't be excited, Erema, if you please. What will you give me to
+tell you who it is?"
+
+"All those diamonds, which I hate the sight of, and three-quarters of my
+half nugget; and if that is not enough--"
+
+"It is a thousand times too much; I will tell you for just one smile,
+and I know it, will be a smile of unbelief."
+
+"No, no; I will believe it, whoever you say," with excitement superior
+to grammar, I cried; "only tell me at once--don't be so long."
+
+"But then you won't believe me when I do tell you," the Major replied,
+in the most provoking way. "I shall tell you the last person you would
+ever think of, and then you will only laugh at me."
+
+"I won't laugh; how can I laugh in such a matter? I will believe you if
+you say it is--Aunt Mary."
+
+"My dear, you had better say at once that it is I, and have no more
+mystery about it." Mrs. Hockin was almost as impatient as myself.
+
+"Mrs. Hockin, you must indeed entertain an exalted idea of your own
+charms. I knew that you were vain, but certainly did not--Well, then,
+if you will allow me no peace, this is the lady that lives down in the
+ruin, and stands like a pillar by my pillar-box."
+
+"I never thought you would joke like that," I cried, with vexation and
+anger. "Oh, is it a subject to be joked about?"
+
+"I never was graver in my life; and you promised implicitly to believe
+me. At any rate, believe that I speak in earnest."
+
+"That I must believe, when you tell me so. But what makes you think such
+a wonderful thing? I should have thought nothing more impossible. I had
+made up my mind that it was Flittamore who lived down here; but this can
+not be she. Flittamore was unheard of at the time of my grandfather's
+death. Moreover, her character was not like this; she was giddy and
+light and heartless. This lady had a heart--good or bad, a deep one.
+Most certainly it is not Flittamore."
+
+"Flittamore! I do not remember that name. You should either tell us all
+or tell us nothing." The Major's tone was reproachful, and his eyes from
+their angular roofs looked fierce.
+
+"I have not told you," I said, "because it can have nothing to do with
+it. The subject is a painful one, and belongs to my family only."
+
+"Enough. I am not inquisitive--on the other hand, too forgetful. I have
+an appointment at 3.25. It takes me seven minutes and a quarter to get
+there. I must be two minutes and three-quarters late. Mrs. Hockin, mount
+the big telescope and point it at the ramparts; keep the flag up also.
+Those fellows will be certain that I am up here, while I enfilade
+them from the western end with this fine binocular. Surprises maintain
+discipline. Good-by, my dear, and, Miss Castlewood, good-by. Tea at
+6.30, and not too much water."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+VAIN ZEAL
+
+
+Leaving his telescope leveled at the men, the Major marched off with
+his opera-glass in a consciously provoking style, and Mrs. Hockin most
+heartily joined me in condemning such behavior. In a minute or two,
+however, she would not have one word said against him, and the tide of
+her mind (as befits a married woman) was beyond all science; so that the
+drift of all words came back to her husband's extraordinary merits. And
+certainly these, if at all like her description, deserved to be dwelt
+upon at very precious periods.
+
+However, I had heard enough of them before; for the Major himself was
+not mute upon this point, though comparatively modest, and oftentimes
+deprecating praise ere ever he received it. And so I brought Mrs. Hockin
+back at last to talk about the lady who was living in the ruin.
+
+"It is not quite a ruin," she said. "My dear husband is fond of
+picturesque expressions. However, it is not in very good repair; and
+being unable to get possession of it, through some legal quibble,
+possibly he may look at it from a rather unfavorable point of view. And
+for the same reason--though he is so purely just--he may have formed a
+bad opinion of the strange individual who lives there. What right has
+she to be living without his leave upon his own manor? But there she is,
+and she does not care for us or any body. She fetches all she wants, she
+speaks to none, and if any body calls for rates or taxes, or any other
+public intrusion, they may knock and knock, but never get in, and at
+last they go away again."
+
+"But surely that can not go on forever. Bruntsea is such an enlightened
+place."
+
+"Our part of it is, but the rest quite benighted. As the man says--I
+forget his name, but the man that misunderstands us so--his contention
+is that 'Desolate Hole,' as the Major calls it, although in the middle
+of our land, is entirely distinct from it. My husband never will put up
+with that--his love of justice is far too strong--and he means to have a
+lawsuit. But still he has reasons for not beginning yet; and he puts up
+with a great deal, I am sure. It is too bad for them to tease him so."
+
+"It does seem a very sad thing," I replied; "and the poor soul living
+there all alone! Even in the summer it is bad enough; but whatever will
+she do when the winter comes? Why, the sea in bad weather must be almost
+in upon her. And the roar of the pebbles all night! Major Hockin will
+never allow her to stay there."
+
+"What can he do, when he can not get in, and they even deny his title?
+I assure you, Erema, I have sent down cream, and even a dozen of my
+precious eggs, with the lady of the manor's compliments; but instead
+of being grateful, they were never taken in; and my Polly--'Miss Polly
+Hopkins,' you know--very wisely took it all to her grandmother."
+
+"To her grandmother instead of mine, as the Major facetiously calls her.
+And now he says this is her portrait; and instead of giving his reasons,
+runs away! Really you must excuse me, Aunt Mary, for thinking that your
+good husband has a little too much upon his mind sometimes."
+
+The old lady laughed, as I loved to see her do. "Well, my dear, after
+that, I think you had better have it out with him. He comes home to tea
+at 6.30, which used to be half past six in my days. He is very tired
+then, though he never will allow it, and it would not be fair to attack
+him. I give him a mutton-chop, or two poached eggs, or some other trifle
+of nourishment. And then I make him doze for an hour and a half, to
+soothe his agitated intellect. And when he wakes he has just one glass
+of hot water and sugar, with a little Lochnagar. And then he is equal to
+any thing--backgammon, bezique, or even conversation."
+
+Impatient as I was, I saw nothing better; and by this time I was
+becoming used to what all of us must put up with--the long postponement
+of our heavy cares to the light convenience of others. Major Hockin
+might just as well have stopped, when he saw how anxious I was. Uncle
+Sam would have stopped the mill itself, with a dozen customers waiting;
+but no doubt he had spoiled me; and even that should not make me bitter.
+Aunt Mary and I understood one another. We gazed away over the breadth
+of the sea and the gleam of its texture, and we held our peace.
+
+Few things are more surprising than the calm way in which ripe age looks
+on at things which ought to amaze it. And yet any little one of its own
+concerns grows more important, perhaps, than ever as the shadow of the
+future dwindles. Major Hockin had found on the beach a pebble with a
+streak of agate in it. He took it as the harbinger of countless
+agates, and resolved to set up a lapidary, with a tent, or even a shop,
+perhaps--not to pay, but to be advertised, and catch distinguished
+visitors.
+
+"Erema, you are a mighty finder; you found the biggest nugget yet
+discovered. You know about stones from the Rocky Mountains, or at least
+the Sierra Nevada. You did not discover this beautiful agate, but you
+saw and greatly admired it. We might say that a 'young lady, eminent for
+great skill in lithology, famed as the discoverer,' etc. Hold it between
+your eyes and this candle, but wet it in the slop-basin first; now you
+see the magnificent veins of blue."
+
+"I see nothing of the kind," I said; for really it was too bad of him.
+"It seems to me a dirty bit of the commonest flint you could pick up."
+
+This vexed him more than I wished to have done, and I could not help
+being sorry; for he went into a little fit of sulks, and Aunt Mary
+almost frowned at me. But he could not stay long in that condition, and
+after his doze and his glass he came forth as lively and meddlesome as
+ever. And the first thing he did was to ask me for the locket.
+
+"Open it?" he cried; "why, of course I can; there is never any
+difficulty about that. The finest workmanship in the world is that of
+the Indian jewelers. I have been among them often; I know all their
+devices and mechanism, of which the European are bad copies. I have only
+to look round this thing twice, and then pronounce my Sesame."
+
+"My dear, then look round it as fast as you can," said his wife, with
+a traitorous smile at me, "and we won't breathe a Sess till it flies
+asunder."
+
+"Mary, Miss Castlewood makes you pert, although herself so well
+conducted. However, I do not hesitate to say that I will open this case
+in two minutes."
+
+"Of course you will, dear," Mrs. Hockin replied, with provoking
+acquiescence. "The Major never fails, Erema, in any thing he is so sure
+about; and this is a mere child's toy to him. Well, dear, have you done
+it? But I need not ask. Oh, let us see what is inside of it!"
+
+"I have not done it yet, Mrs. Hockin; and if you talk with such
+rapidity, of course you throw me out. How can I command my thoughts, or
+even recall my experience?"
+
+"Hush! now hush, Erema! And I myself will hush most reverently."
+
+"You have no reverence in you, and no patience. Do you expect me to do
+such a job in one second? Do you take me for a common jeweler? I beg you
+to remember--"
+
+"Well, my dear, I remember only what you told us. You were to turn it
+round twice, you know, and then cry Sesame. Erema, was it not so?"
+
+"I never said any thing of the sort. What I said was simply
+this--However, to reason with ladies is rude; I shall just be off to my
+study."
+
+"Where you keep your tools, my darling," Mrs. Hockin said, softly, after
+him: "at least, I mean, when you know where they are."
+
+I was astonished at Aunt Mary's power of being so highly provoking, and
+still more at her having the heart to employ it. But she knew best what
+her husband was; and to worship forever is not wise.
+
+"Go and knock at his door in about five minutes," Mrs. Hockin said to
+me, with some mischief in her eyes. "If he continues to fail, he may
+possibly take a shorter way with it. And with his tools so close at
+hand--"
+
+"Oh," I exclaimed, "his geological hammer--that dreadful crusher! May I
+go at once? I detest that thing, but I can not have it smashed."
+
+"He will not break it up, my dear, without your leave. He never would
+think of such a thing, of course. However, you may as well go after
+him."
+
+It was wrong of Mrs. Hockin to make me do this; and I felt quite
+ashamed of myself when I saw the kind old Major sitting by his lamp, and
+wrinkling his forehead into locks and keys of puzzle, but using violence
+to his own mind alone. And I was the more ashamed when, instead of
+resenting my intrusion, he came to meet me, and led me to his chair, and
+placed the jeweled trinket in my hand, and said, "My dear, I give it
+up. I was wrong in taking it away from you. You must consult some one
+wiser."
+
+"That odious thing!" I answered, being touched by this unusual humility
+of his; "you shall not give it up; and I know no wiser person. A
+lapidary's tricks are below your knowledge. But if you are not tired of
+me and offended, may I leave it to you to get it opened?"
+
+"I would like nothing better," he replied, recovering his natural
+briskness and importance; "but you ought to be there, my dear; you must
+be there. Are you sure that you ought not rather to take it to your good
+cousin Lord Castlewood? Now think before you answer."
+
+"I need not think twice of that, Major Hockin. Good and learned as
+my father's cousin is, he has distinctly refused to help me, for some
+mysterious reason of his own, in searching into this question. Indeed,
+my great hope is to do it without him: for all that I know, he might
+even wish to thwart me."
+
+"Enough, my dear; it shall be just as you wish. I brought you to
+England, and I will stand by you. My cousin, Colonel Gundry, has
+committed you to me. I have no patience with malefactors. I never took
+this matter up, for very many reasons; and among them not the least was
+that Sampson, your beloved 'Uncle Sam,' thought it better not to do so.
+But if you desire it, and now that I feel certain that an infamous wrong
+has been done to you--which I heartily beg your pardon for my doubt
+of--by the Lord of all justice, every thing else may go to the devil,
+till I see it out. Do you desire it, Erema?"
+
+"I certainly do not wish that any of your great works should be
+neglected. But if, without that, you can give me your strong help, my
+only difficulty will be to thank you."
+
+"I like plain speaking, and you always speak plainly; sometimes too
+plainly," he said, recollecting little times when he had the worst of
+it. "How far do you trust me now?"
+
+"Major Hockin, I trust you altogether. You may make mistakes, as all men
+do--"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes. About my own affairs; but I never do that for other
+people. I pay a bill for twopence, if it is my own. If I am trustee of
+it, I pay three half-pence."
+
+His meaning was a little beyond me now; but it seemed better not to tell
+him so; for he loved to explain his own figures of speech, even when he
+had no time to spare for it. And he clearly expected me to ask him to
+begin; or at least it seemed so from his eyebrows. But that only came
+home to me afterward.
+
+"Please not to speak of my affairs like that," I said, as if I were
+quite stupid; "I mean to pay fourpence for every twopence--both to
+friends and enemies."
+
+"You are a queer girl; I have always said so. You turn things to your
+own ideas so. However, we must put up with that, though none of my
+daughters have ever done it; for which I am truly thankful. But now
+there is very little time to lose. The meaning of this thing must be
+cleared up at once. And there is another thing to be done as well, quite
+as important, in my opinion. I will go to London with you to-morrow, if
+you like. My clever little Cornishman will see to things here--the man
+that sets up all the angles."
+
+"But why should I hurry you to London so?" I asked. "Surely any good
+country jeweler could manage it? Or let us break it open."
+
+"On no account," he answered; "we might spoil it all; besides the great
+risk to the diamonds, which are very brittle things. To London we must
+take it, for this reason--the closure of this case is no jeweler's work;
+of that I have quite convinced myself. It is the work of a first-rate
+lapidary, and the same sort of man must undo it."
+
+To this I agreed quite readily, because of such things I knew nothing;
+whereas my host spoke just as if he had been brought up to both those
+walks of art. And then I put a question which had long been burning on
+my tongue.
+
+"What made you imagine, Major Hockin, that this very beautiful face
+could have ever been that of the old lady living in the ruin?"
+
+"In Desolate Hole? I will tell you at once; and then call it, if you
+like, an imagination. Of all the features of the human face there is
+none more distinctive than the eyebrow. 'Distinctive' is not exactly
+what I mean--I mean more permanently marked and clear. The eyes change,
+the nose changes, so does the mouth, and even the shape of the forehead
+sometimes; but the eyebrows change very little, except in color. This I
+have noticed, because my own may perhaps be a little peculiar; and they
+have always been so. At school I received a nickname about it, for boys
+are much sharper than men about such things; and that name after fifty
+years fits as well as ever. You may smile, if you like; I shall not tell
+you what it was, but leave you to re-invent it, if you can. Now look
+at this first-rate miniature. Do you see an unusual but not uncomely
+formation of the eyebrows?"
+
+"Certainly I do; though I did not observe it until you drew my
+attention. I had only regarded the face, as a whole."
+
+"The face, as a whole, is undoubtedly fine. But the eyebrows have a
+peculiar arch, and the least little turn at the lower end, as if they
+designed to rise again. The lady of Desolate Hole has the same."
+
+"But how can you tell? How very strange! I thought she let nobody see
+her face."
+
+"You are perfectly right about that, Erema; so far at least as she has
+vouchsafed to exhibit her countenance to me. Other people may be more
+fortunate. But when I met her for the second time, being curious already
+about her, I ventured to offer my services, with my inborn chivalry, at
+a place where the tide was running up, and threatened to surround her.
+My politeness was not appreciated, as too often is the case; for she
+made me a very stiff bow, and turned away. Her face had been covered by
+the muffler of her cloak, as if the sea-breeze were too much for her;
+and she did not even raise her eyes. But before she turned away, I
+obtained a good glance at her eyebrows--and they were formed like
+these."
+
+"But her age, Major Hockin! Her age--what is it?"
+
+"Upon that proverbially delicate point I can tell you but little,
+Erema. Perhaps, however, I may safely say that she can not be much under
+twenty."
+
+"It is not right to provoke me so. You call her 'the old woman,'
+and compare her to your letter-box. You must have some idea--is she
+seventy?"
+
+"Certainly not, I should say; though she can not expect me to defend
+her, when she will not show her face to me; and what is far worse, at my
+time of life, she won't even pay me a half-penny of rent. Now let us go
+back to Aunt Mary, my dear; she always insists upon packing overnight."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+
+CADMEIAN VICTORY
+
+
+Before two o'clock of the following day Major Hockin and myself were
+in London, and ready to stay there for two or three days, if it should
+prove needful. Before leaving Bruntsea I had written briefly to Lord
+Castlewood, telling him that important matters had taken me away from
+Shoxford, and as soon as I could explain them, I would come and tell him
+all about it. This was done only through fear of his being annoyed at my
+independence.
+
+From London Bridge the Major took a cab direct to Clerkenwell; and again
+I observed that of all his joys one of the keenest was to match his wits
+against a cabman's. "A regular muff, this time," he said, as he jerked
+up and down with his usual delight in displaying great knowledge of
+London; "no sport to be had out of him. Why, he stared at me when I said
+'Rosamond Street,' and made me stick on 'Clerkenwell.' Now here he is
+taking us down Snow Hill, when he should have been crossing Smithfield.
+Smithfield, cabby, Smithfield!"
+
+"Certain, Sir, Smiffle, if you gives the order;" and he turned the
+poor horse again, and took us up the hill, and among a great number of
+barriers. "No thoroughfare," "No thoroughfare," on all hands stretched
+across us; but the cabman threaded his way between, till he came to the
+brink of a precipice. The horse seemed quite ready, like a Roman, to
+leap down it, seeing nothing less desirable than his present mode of
+life, till a man with a pickaxe stopped him.
+
+"What are you at?" cried the Major, with fury equalled by nothing except
+his fright. "Erema, untie my big rattan. Quick--quick--"
+
+"Captain," said the cabman, coolly, "I must have another shilling for
+this job. A hextra mile and a quarter, to your orders. You knows Lunnon
+so much better. Smiffle stopped--new railway--new meat market--never
+heered of that now, did you?"
+
+"You scoundrel, drive straight to the nearest police office."
+
+"Must jump this little ditch, then, Captain. Five pun' fine for you,
+when we gets there. Hold on inside, old gentleman. Kuck, kuck, Bob, you
+was a hunter once. It ain't more than fifty feet deep, my boy."
+
+"Turn round! turn round, I tell you! turn round! If your neck is
+forfeit, you rogue, mine is not. I never was so taken in in my life!"
+Major Hockin continued to rave, and amid many jeers we retreated humbly,
+and the driver looked in at us with a gentle grin. "And I thought he was
+so soft, you know! Erema, may I swear at him?"
+
+"On no account," I said. "Why, after all, it is only a shilling, and the
+loss of time. And then, you can always reflect that you have discharged,
+as you say, a public duty, by protesting against a vile system."
+
+"Protesting is very well, when it pays," the Major answered, gloomily;
+"but to pay for protesting is another pair of shoes."
+
+This made him cross, and he grew quite fierce when the cabman smote
+him for eight-pence more. "Four parcels on the roof, Captain," he said,
+looking as only a cabman can look at his money, and spinning his extra
+shilling. "Twopence each under new hact, you know. Scarcely thought a
+hofficer would 'a tried evasion."
+
+"You consummate scoundrel--and you dress yourself like a countryman!
+I'll have your badge indorsed--I'll have your license marked. Erema, pay
+the thief; it is more than I can do."
+
+"Captain, your address, if you please; I shall summon you for scurrilous
+language, as the hact directs. Ah, you do right to be driven to a pawn
+shop."
+
+Triumphantly he drove off, while the Major cried, "Never tie up my
+rattan again. Oh, it was Mrs. Hockin, was it? What a fool I was not to
+stop on my own manor!"
+
+"I pray you to disdain such low impudence," I said, for I could not bear
+to see him shake like that, and grieved to have brought him into it.
+"You have beaten fifty of them--a hundred of them--I have heard you
+say."
+
+"Certainly I have, my dear; but I had no Bruntsea then, and could not
+afford to pay the rogues. That makes me feel it so bitterly, so loftily,
+and so righteously. To be treated like this, when I think of all my
+labors for the benefit of the rascally human race! my Institute, my
+Lyceum, my Mutual Improvement Association, and Christian Young Men's
+something. There is no institution, after all, to be compared to the
+tread-mill."
+
+Recovering himself with this fine conclusion, he led me down a little
+sloping alley, scarcely wide enough for a wheelbarrow, to an old black
+door, where we set down our parcels; for he had taken his, while
+I carried mine, and not knowing what might happen yet, like a true
+peace-maker I stuck to the sheaf of umbrellas and the rattan cane. And
+thankful I was, and so might be the cabman, to have that weapon nicely
+sheathed with silk.
+
+Major Hockin's breath was short, through too much talking without
+action, and he waited for a minute at this door, to come back to his
+equanimity. And I thought that our female breath falls short for the
+very opposite reason--when we do too much and talk too little; which
+happily seldom happens.
+
+He was not long in coming back to his usual sprightliness and decision.
+And it was no small relief to me, who was looking at him miserably,
+and longing that his wife was there, through that very sad
+one-and-eightpence, when he pulled out a key, which he always carried
+as signer and lord of Bruntsea, the key of the town-hall, which had
+survived lock, door, and walls by centuries, and therewith struck a door
+which must have reminded that key of its fine old youth.
+
+Before he had knocked so very many times, the door was opened by a young
+man wearing an apron and a brown paper cap, who knew Major Hockin at
+once, and showed us up stairs to a long low workshop. Here were many
+wheels and plates and cylinders revolving by energy of a strap which
+came through the floor and went through the ceiling. And the young man
+told us to be careful how we walked, for fear of getting entangled.
+Several men, wearing paper caps and aprons of leather or baize, were
+sitting doing dextrous work, no doubt, and doing it very easily, and the
+master of them all was hissing over some fine touch of jewel as a groom
+does at a horse. Then seeing us, he dropped his holders, and threw a
+leather upon his large lens, and came and took us to a little side room.
+
+"Are you not afraid to leave them?" asked the Major. "They may secrete
+some gems, Mr. Handkin."
+
+"Never," said the lapidary, with some pride. "I could trust these men
+with the Koh-i-noor; which we could have done better, I believe, than
+it was done by the Hollanders. But we don't get the chance to do much in
+diamonds, through the old superstition about Amsterdam, and so on. No,
+no; the only thing I can't trust my men about is to work as hard when
+I am away as when I am there. And now, Sir, what can I do for you? Any
+more Bruntsea pebbles? The last were not worth the cutting."
+
+"So you said; but I did not think so. We have some agates as good as
+any from Aberystwith or Perthshire. But what I want now is to open this
+case. It must be done quite privately, for a most particular reason. It
+does open, doesn't it? I am sure it does."
+
+"Certainly it opens," Mr. Handkin answered, while I trembled with
+anxiety as he lightly felt it round the edges with fingers engrained
+with corundum. "I could open it in one instant, but the enamel might
+fly. Will you risk it?"
+
+The Major looked at me, and I said, "Oh no; please not to risk any
+thing, if any slower process will do it without risk. We want it done
+without injury."
+
+"Then it will cost a good bit," he replied. "I can open it for five
+shillings, if you run the risk; if that rests with me, I must charge
+five pounds."
+
+"Say three," cried the Major. "Well, then, say four guineas: I have a
+lot of work in store for you."
+
+"I never overcharge, and I never depart from my figures," the lapidary
+answered. "There is only one other man in London who knows the secret of
+this enamel, and he is my brother. They never make such enamel now. The
+art is lost, like that of the French paste of a hundred years ago,
+which almost puzzles even me until I go behind it. I will give you
+my brother's address if you like; but instead of five pounds, he will
+charge you ten guineas--if it must be done in private. Without that
+condition, I can do it for two pounds. You wish to know why that should
+make such a difference. Well, for this simple reason: to make sure of
+the job, it must be done by daylight; it can be done only in my chief
+work-room; if no one is to see what I am about (and my men have sharp
+eyes, I can tell you), all my hands must be sacked for the afternoon,
+but not without their wages. That alone would go far toward the
+difference, and then there is the dropping of the jobs in hand, and
+waste of power, and so on. I have asked you too little, Major Hockin, I
+assure you; but having said, I will stick to it, although I would much
+rather you would let me off."
+
+"I have known you for many years," the Major answered--"ever since you
+were a boy, with a flat box, working at our Cornish opals. You would
+have done a lot of work for five pounds then. But I never knew you
+overcharge for any thing. We agree to your terms, and are obliged to
+you. But you guarantee no damage?"
+
+"I will open this locket, take out its contents, whatever they may be,
+and reclose it so that the maker, if still alive--which is not very
+probable--should not know that it had been meddled with."
+
+"Very well; that is exactly what we want; for I have an idea about it
+which I may try to go on with afterward. And for that it is essential to
+have no symptom that it ever has been opened. What are these brilliants
+worth, Mr. Handkin?"
+
+"Well, Sir, in the trade, about a hundred and fifty, though I dare say
+they cost three hundred. And the portrait is worth another hundred, if I
+find on the back the marks I expect."
+
+"You do not mean to say that you know the artist?" I could not help
+exclaiming, though determined not to speak. "Oh, then, we shall find out
+every thing!"
+
+"Erema, you are a--well, you are a silly!" Major Hockin exclaimed, and
+then colored with remembering that rather he should have let my lapse
+pass. But the lapidary seemed to pay no attention, only to be calling
+down to some one far below. "Now mind what you say," the Major whispered
+to me, just as if he were the essence of discretion.
+
+"The work-room is clear now," Mr. Handkin said; "the fellows were
+delighted to get their afternoon. Now you see that I have to take off
+this hoop, and there lies the difficulty. I could have taken out the
+gold back, as I said, with very little trouble, by simply cutting it.
+But the locket would never have been quite the same, though we put a
+new back; and, more than that, the pressure of the tool might flaw
+the enamel, or even crack the portrait, for the make of this thing is
+peculiar. Now first I submit the rim or verge, without touching the
+brilliants, mind you, to the action of a little preparation of my own--a
+gentle but penetrative solvent. You are welcome to watch me; you will be
+none the wiser; you are not in the trade, though the young lady looks as
+if she would make a good polisher. Very well: if this were an ordinary
+closure, with two flat surfaces meeting, the solvent would be absorbed
+into the adhesion, expansion would take place, and there we have it. But
+this is what we call a cyme-joint, a cohesion of two curved surfaces,
+formed in a reflex curve which admits the solvent most reluctantly,
+or, indeed, not at all, without too long application. For that, then,
+another kind of process is needful, and we find it in frictional
+heat applied most gradually and judiciously. For that I must have a
+buff-leather wheel, whose revolutions are timed to a nicety, and that
+wheel I only have in this room. Now you see why I sent the men away."
+
+Though I watched his work with great interest, it is out of my power
+to describe it now, and, moreover, it is not needful. Major Hockin,
+according to his nature, grew quite restless and impatient, and even
+went out for a walk, with his cane unpacked and unsheathed against
+cabmen. But I was content to wait and watch, having always heard and
+thought that good work will not do itself, but must have time and
+skill to second it. And Mr. Handkin, moving arms, palms, and fingers
+beautifully, put the same thought into words.
+
+"Good work takes a deal of time to do; but the man that does it all the
+time knows well that it will take long to undo. Here it comes undone at
+last!"
+
+As he spoke, the excitable Major returned.
+
+"Done it, eh? Well, you are a clever fellow. Now don't look inside it;
+that is no part of your business, nor mine either, unless this young
+lady desires it. Hand it to her first, my friend."
+
+"Wait half a minute," said the lapidary; "it is so far opened that the
+hoop spins round, but it must not be taken off until it cools. The lady
+may lift it then with care. I have done this job as a piece of fine art;
+I have no wish to see any more of it."
+
+"Handkin, don't you be so touchy to a brother Cornishman. I thought that
+I was Cornish enough, but you go cliffs beyond me."
+
+"Well, Major Hockin," the lapidary answered, "I beg your pardon, if I
+said harm. But a man doing careful and skilled work--and skilled work
+it is, at every turn of the hand, as miss can bear witness, while you
+walked off--he don't care who it is, Major Hockin, he would fight his
+own brother to maintain it."
+
+"Very well, very well. Let us come away. I always enter into every
+body's feelings. I see yours as clearly, Handkin, as if you had laid
+them open on that blessed wheel. My insight has always been remarkable.
+Every one, without exception, says that of me. Now come away, come
+away--will you never see?"
+
+Intent as I was upon what lay in my left palm relaxing itself, I could
+not help being sorry for the way in which the man of art, after all his
+care, was ground down by his brother Cornishman. However, he had lived
+long enough in the world to feel no surprise at ingratitude.
+
+Now I went to one of the windows, as the light (which had been very
+good) began to pale from its long and labored sufferance of London,
+and then, with soft and steady touch, I lifted off the loosened hoop. A
+smell of mustiness--for smells go through what nothing else can--was
+the first thing to perceive, and then, having moved the disk of gold, I
+found a piece of vellum. This was doubled, and I opened it, and read, in
+small clear writing:
+
+
+"May 7, 1809 A.D., George, Lord Castlewood, married Winifred, only child
+of Thomas Hoyle, as this his signature witnesseth.
+
+"CASTLEWOOD.
+
+"(Witness) THOMAS HOYLE."
+
+
+There was nothing more inside this locket, except two little wisps of
+hair tied with gold thread, and the miniature upon ivory, bearing on the
+back some anagram, probably that of the artist.
+
+Already had I passed through a great many troubles, changes, chances,
+and adventures which always seem strange (when I come to look back), but
+never surprised me at the moment. Indeed, I might almost make bold to
+pronounce that not many persons of my age and sex have been visited,
+wholly against their own will, by such a series of incidents, not to say
+marvelous, but at any rate fairly to be called unusual. And throughout
+them perhaps it will be acknowledged by all who have cared to consider
+them, that up to the present time I did not fail more than themselves
+might have done in patience. And in no description of what came to
+pass have I colored things at all in my own favor--at least so far as
+intention goes--neither laid myself out to get sympathy, though it often
+would have done me a world of good.
+
+But now I am free to confess that my patience broke down very sadly.
+Why, if what was written on that vellum was true, and Major Hockin
+correct as well, it came to no less than this, that my own dear father
+was a base-born son, and I had no right to the name I was so proud of!
+If, moreover, as I now began to dream, that terrible and mysterious
+man did not resemble my father so closely without some good reason,
+it seemed too likely that he might be his elder brother and the proper
+heir.
+
+This was bad enough to think of, but an idea a thousandfold worse
+assailed me in the small hours of the night, as I lay on Mrs. Strouss's
+best bed, which she kept for consuls, or foreign barons, or others whom
+she loved to call "international notorieties." Having none of these now,
+she assigned me that bed after hearing all I had to say, and not making
+all that she might have done of it, because of the praise that would
+fall to Mrs. Busk.
+
+However, she acknowledged that she knew nothing of the history of "the
+poor old lord." He might have carried on, for all she could tell, with
+many wives before his true one--a thing she heard too much of; but
+as for the Captain not being his true son and the proper heir to the
+peerage, let any one see him walk twice, and then have a shadow of a
+doubt about it! This logic pleased but convinced me not, and I had to go
+to bed in a very unhappy, restless, and comfortless state of mind.
+
+I hope that, rather than myself, that bed, full of international
+confusion, is to blame for the wicked ideas which assailed me while I
+could not even try to sleep. One of them--and a loyal daughter could
+scarcely have a worse one--was that my own dear father, knowing Lord
+Castlewood's bad behavior, and his own sad plight in consequence, and
+through that knowledge caring little to avenge his death, for wife and
+children's sake preferred to foil inquiry rather than confront the
+truth and challenge it. He might not have meant to go so far, at first
+beginning with it; but, starting once, might be driven on by grievous
+loss, and bitter sense of recreant friends, and the bleak despair of a
+homeless world before him. And serving as the scape-goat thus, he might
+have received from the real culprit a pledge for concealment of the
+family disgrace.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII
+
+A RETURN CALL
+
+
+In the morning I labored to dismiss these thoughts, these shameful
+suspicions, almost as injurious to my father's honor as it was to
+suspect him of the crime itself. And calling back my memories of him,
+and dwelling on what Mr. Shovelin said, and Uncle Sam and others, I
+became quite happy in the firm conviction that I ought to be put upon
+bread and water for having such vile visions. Then suddenly a thing came
+to my mind which shattered happy penitence.
+
+Major Hockin had spoken of another purpose which he had in store while
+bringing me thus to London--another object, that is to say, besides the
+opening of the trinket. And this his second intention was to "have it
+out," as he expressed it, "with that league of curs and serpents, Vypan,
+Goad, and Terryer." This was the partnership whose card of business had
+been delivered at the sawmills under circumstances which, to say the
+least, required explanation. And the Major, with strong words and tugs
+of his head-crest, had vowed to get that explanation, or else put the
+lot of them into a police dock.
+
+Moreover, when, at the opening of the locket, I did not think fit to
+show the lapidary what I had found inside it, except the painting
+on ivory (which proved to be as he expected), and when my companion
+suppressed curiosity at the risk of constitution, and while I could
+scarcely tell what I was about (through sudden shock and stupidity), I
+must have been hurried on to tell Major Hockin the whole of the private
+things I had discovered. For, in truth, there was scarcely any time
+to think; and I was afraid of giving way, which must have befallen me
+without relief of words; and being so much disturbed I may, in the cab,
+have rushed off for comfort to the Major, sitting so close to me. No
+doubt I did so, from what happened afterward; but in the morning, after
+such a night, I really could not be certain what I had said to Betsy,
+and what to him.
+
+A large mind would have been steady throughout, and regarded the
+question of birth as a thing to which we, who are not consulted about
+it, should bear ourselves indifferently. And gladly would I have done
+so, if I could, but the power was not in me. No doubt it served me right
+for having been proud about such a trifle; but though I could call it a
+trifle as long as it seemed to be in my favor, my strength of mind was
+not enough to look at it so when against me.
+
+Betsy told me not to be like that, for I had a great deal to go through
+yet, and must not be drawing on my spirit so, every atom of which would
+be needful. For the General--as she called the Major--was coming to
+fetch me at eleven o'clock to face some abominable rascals, and without
+any breakfast how could I do it? Then I remembered all about the
+appointment to go to Messrs. Vypan, Goad, and Terryer, and beginning to
+think about them, I saw sad confirmation of my bad ideas. My father's
+wicked elder brother by another mother had left his own rights pending,
+as long as my father lived, for good reason. For if the latter had
+turned against him, through a breach of compact, things might go ill in
+a criminal court; but having him silenced now by death, this man might
+come forward boldly and claim estates and title. His first point would
+be to make sure as sure could be of the death of my father, to get hold
+of his private papers, and of me, who might possess dangerous knowledge.
+And if this were so, one could understand at once Mr. Goad's attempt
+upon Uncle Sam.
+
+"Now none of this! none of this, I say, Erema!" Major Hockin exclaimed,
+as he ran in and saw me scarcely even caring to hold my own with the
+gentle Maximilian--to which name Mr. Strouss was promoted from the too
+vernacular "Hans." "My dear, I never saw you look ill before. Why, bless
+my heart, you will have crows'-feet! Nurse, what are you doing with her?
+Look at her eyes, and be ashamed of yourself. Give her goulard, tisane,
+tiffany--I never know what the proper word is--something, any thing,
+volatile Sally, hartshorn, ammonia, aromatic vinegar, saline draught, or
+something strong. Why, I want her to look at her very, very best."
+
+"As if she was a-going to a ball, poor dear!" Betsy Strouss replied,
+with some irony. "A young lady full of high spirits by nature, and have
+never had her first dance yet! The laws and institutions of this
+kingdom is too bad for me, General. I shall turn foreigner, like my poor
+husband."
+
+"It is vere goot, vere goot always," said the placid Maximilian;
+"foreigner dis way, foreigner dat way; according to de hills, or de sea,
+or de fighting, or being born, or someting else."
+
+"Hold your tongue, Hans," cried his Wilhelmina; "remember that you are
+in England now, and must behave constitutionally. None of your loose
+outlandish ideas will ever get your bread in England. Was I born
+according to fighting, or hills, or sea, or any thing less than the will
+of the Lord, that made the whole of them, and made you too? General,
+I beg you to excuse him, if you can. When he gets upon such things, he
+never can stop. His goodness is very great; but he must have a firm hand
+put upon his 'philosophy.' Maximilian, you may go and smoke your pipe
+for an hour and a quarter, and see where the cheapest greens and oil
+are, for his Excellence is coming in to-night; and mind you get plenty
+of stump in them. His Excellence loves them, and they fill the dish,
+besides coming cheaper. Now, Miss Erema, if you please, come here. Trust
+you in me, miss, and soon I will make you a credit to the General."
+
+I allowed her to manage my dress and all that according to her own
+ideas; but when she entreated to finish me up with the "leastest
+little touch of red, scarcely up to the usual color, by reason of not
+sleeping," I stopped her at once, and she was quite content with the
+color produced by the thought of it. Meanwhile Major Hockin, of course,
+was becoming beyond all description impatient. He had made the greatest
+point of my being adorned, and expected it done in two minutes! And he
+hurried me so, when I did come down, that I scarcely noticed either cab
+or horse, and put on my new gloves anyhow.
+
+"My dear, you look very nice," he said at last, when thoroughly tired
+of grumbling. "That scoundrel of a Goad will be quite amazed at sight of
+the child he went to steal."
+
+"Mr. Goad!" I replied, with a shudder, caused, perhaps, by dark
+remembrance; "if we go to the office, you surely will not expect me to
+see Mr. Goad himself?"
+
+"That depends, as the Frenchmen say. It is too late now to shrink back
+from any thing. If I can spare you, I will. If not, you must not be
+ashamed to show yourself."
+
+"I am never ashamed to show myself. But I would rather not go to that
+place at all. If things should prove to be as I begin to think, I had
+better withdraw from the whole of it, and only lament that I ever began.
+My father was right; after all, my father was wise; and I ought to have
+known it. And perhaps Uncle Sam knew the truth, and would not tell me,
+for fear of my rushing to the Yosemite. Cabman, please to turn the horse
+and go in the opposite direction." But the Major pulled me back, and the
+driver lifted his elbow and said, "All right."
+
+"Erema," the Major began, quite sternly, "things are gone a little
+too far for this. We are now embarked upon a most important
+investigation"--even in my misery I could scarce help smiling at his
+love of big official words--"an investigation of vast importance. A
+crime of the blackest dye has been committed, and calmly hushed up, for
+some petty family reason, for a period of almost twenty years. I am not
+blaming your father, my dear; you need not look so indignant. It is
+your own course of action, remember, which has led to the present--the
+present--well, let us say imbroglio. A man of honor and an officer of
+her Majesty's service stands now committed at your request--mind, at
+your own request--"
+
+"Yes, yes, I know; but I only meant you to--to go as far as I should
+wish."
+
+"Confidential instructions, let us say; but there are times when duty
+to society overrides fine feeling. I have felt that already. The die
+is cast. No half-and-half measures, no beating about the bush, for me.
+After what I saw yesterday, and the light that burst upon me, I did not
+act hastily--I never do, though slow coaches may have said so. I put
+this and that together carefully, and had my dinner, and made up my
+mind. And you see the result in that man on the box."
+
+"The cabman? Oh yes, you resolved to have a cab, and drive to those
+wicked informers."
+
+"Where are your eyes? You are generally so quick. This morning you are
+quite unlike yourself--so weak, so tearful, and timorous. Have you not
+seen that by side of the cabman there sits another man altogether? One
+of the most remarkable men of the age, as your dear Yankees say."
+
+"Not a policeman in disguise, I hope. I saw a very common, insignificant
+man. I thought he was the driver's groom, perhaps."
+
+"Hush! he hears every thing, even on this granite. He is not a
+policeman; if he were, a few things that disgrace the force never would
+happen. If the policemen of England did their duty as our soldiers do,
+at once I would have gone to them; my duty would have been to do so. As
+it is, I go to our private police, who would not exist if the force were
+worth a rap. Vypan, Goad, and Terryer, in spite of Goad's clumsiness,
+rank second. I go to the first of all these firms, and I get their very
+cleverest rascal."
+
+Major Hockin, speaking in this hoarse whisper--for he could not whisper
+gently--folded his arms, and then nodded his head, as much as to say,
+"I have settled it now. You have nothing to do but praise me." But I was
+vexed and perplexed too much to trust my voice with an answer.
+
+"The beauty of this arrangement is," he continued, with vast
+complacency, "that the two firms hate one another as the devil
+hates--no, that won't do; there is no holy water to be found among
+them--well, as a snake hates a slow-worm, let us say. 'Set a thief to
+catch a thief' is a fine old maxim; still better when the two thieves
+have robbed one another."
+
+As he spoke, the noble stranger slipped off the driving seat without
+troubling the cabman to stop his jerking crawl, and he did it so well
+that I had no chance of observing his nimble face or form. "You are
+disappointed," said the Major, which was the last thing I would have
+confessed. "You may see that man ten thousand times, and never be able
+to swear to him. Ha! ha! he is a oner!"
+
+"I disdain such mean tricks beyond all expression," I exclaimed, as was
+only natural, "and every thing connected with them. It is so low to talk
+of such things. But what in the world made him do it? Where does he come
+from, and what is his name?"
+
+"Like all noble persons, he has got so many names that he does not know
+which is the right one; only his are short and theirs are long. He
+likes 'Jack' better than any thing else, because it is not distinctive.
+'Cosmopolitan Jack,' some call him, from his combining the manners and
+customs, features and figures, of nearly all mankind. He gets on with
+every one, for every one is gratified by seeing himself reflected in
+him. And he can jump from one frame to another as freely as Proteus
+or the populace. And yet, with all that, he is perfectly honest to any
+allegiance he undertakes. He would not betray us to Vypan, Goad, and
+Terryer for your great nugget and the Castlewood estates."
+
+"I have heard that there are such people," I said; "but what can he
+possibly know about me? And what is he coming to do for us now?"
+
+"He knows all about you, for a very simple reason. That you do not know
+him, is a proof of his ability. For you must have met him times out of
+number. This is the fellow employed by your good but incapable cousin,
+Lord Castlewood."
+
+"He is not incapable; he is a man of great learning, and noble
+character--"
+
+"Well, never mind that; you must not be so hot. What I mean is that he
+has done nothing for you beyond providing for your safety. And that
+he certainly did right well, and at considerable expense, for this man
+can't be had for nothing. You need have been under no terror at all in
+any of the scenes you have been through. Your safety was watched for
+continually."
+
+"Then why did he not come and help me? Why did he not find out that
+horrible man?"
+
+"Because it was not in his orders, and Jack is the last man to go beyond
+those. He is so clever that the stupid Moonites took him for a stupid
+Moonite. You should have employed him yourself, Erema; but you are so
+proud and independent."
+
+"I should hope so, indeed. Should I put up with deceit? If the truth
+is not to be had without falsehood, it is not worth having. But what is
+this man to do here now?"
+
+"That depends upon circumstances. He has better orders than I could
+give, for I am no hand at scheming. Here we are; or here we stop.
+Say nothing till I tell you. Pray allow me the honor. You keep in the
+background, remember, with your veil, or whatever you call it, down.
+Nobody stops at the very door. Of course that is humbug--we conform to
+it."
+
+With a stiff inclination, the gallant Major handed me out of the cab in
+a quiet corner of a narrow street, then paid the driver with less
+fuss than usual, and led me into a queer little place marked in almost
+illegible letters, "Little England Polygon." "You have the card, my
+dear?" he whispered; "keep it till I call you in. But be ready to
+produce it in a moment. For the rest, I leave you to your own wit. Jack
+is on the watch, mind."
+
+There were two doors near together, one a brave door with a plate,
+and swung on playing hinges, the other of too secluded a turn to even
+pronounce itself "private." We passed through the public door, and found
+only a lobby, with a boy on guard. "Mr. Goad? Yes, Sir. This way, Sir,"
+cried the boy. "Lady stay? Yes, Sir; waiting-room for ladies. Chair,
+miss; here, if you please--first right. Mr. Goad, second on the left.
+Knock twice. Paper, miss? Poker chained at this time of year. Bell A,
+glass of water. Bell B, cup of tea, if ladies grows impatient."
+
+If I had been well, I might have reduced this boy to his proper
+magnitude, for I never could endure young flippancy; but my spirits
+were so low that the boy banged the door with a fine sense of having
+vanquished me. And before there was any temptation to ring Bell A, not
+to mention Bell B, the sound of a wrathful voice began coming.
+Nearer and nearer it came, till the Major strode into the "ladies'
+waiting-room," and used language no ladies should wait for.
+
+"Oh, don't!" I said; "what would Mrs. Hockin say? And consider me too,
+Major Hockin, if you please."
+
+"I have considered you, and that makes me do it. Every body knows what
+I am. Did I ever exaggerate in all my life? Did I ever say any thing
+without just grounds? Did I ever take any distorted views? Did I ever
+draw upon my imagination? Erema, answer me this instant!"
+
+"I do not remember a single instance of your drawing upon your
+imagination," I answered, gravely, and did not add, "because there is
+none to draw upon."
+
+"Very well. I was sure of your concurrence. Then just come with me. Take
+my arm, if you please, and have the thief's card ready. Now keep your
+temper and your self-command."
+
+With this good advice, the Major, whose arm and whole body were jerking
+with wrath, led me rapidly down the long passage and through a door, and
+my eyes met the eyes of the very man who had tried to bribe Uncle Sam of
+me. He never saw me then, and he did not know me now; but his insolent
+eyes fell under mine. I looked at him quietly, and said nothing.
+
+"Now, Mr. Goad, you still assert that you never were in
+California--never even crossed the Atlantic. This young lady under
+my protection--don't you be afraid, my dear--is the Honorable Erema
+Castlewood, whom you, in the pay of a murderer, went to fetch,
+and perhaps to murder. Now, do you acknowledge it? You wrote her
+description, and ought to know her. You double-dyed villain, out with
+it!"
+
+"Major Hockin," said Mr. Goad, trying to look altogether at his ease,
+but failing, and with his bull-dog forehead purple, "if indeed you are
+an officer--which I doubt for the credit of her Majesty's service--if
+the lady were not present, I should knock you down." And the big man got
+up as if to do it.
+
+"Never mind her," my companion answered, in a magnanimous manner; "she
+has seen worse than that, poor thing. Here I am--just come and do it."
+
+The Major was scarcely more than half the size of Mr. Goad in mere
+bodily bulk, and yet he defied him in this way. He carefully took his
+blue lights off, then drew up the crest of his hair, like his wife's
+most warlike cock a-crowing, and laid down his rattan upon a desk, and
+doubled his fists, and waited. Then he gave a blink from the corner of
+his gables, clearly meaning, "Please to stop and see it out." It was a
+distressing thing to see, and the Major's courage was so grand that I
+could not help smiling. Mr. Goad, however, did not advance, but assumed
+a superior manner.
+
+"Major," he said, "we are not young men; we must not be so hasty. You
+carry things with too high a hand, as veteran officers are apt to do.
+Sir, I make allowance for you; I retract my menace, and apologize. We
+move in different spheres of life, Sir, or I would offer you my hand."
+
+"No, thank you!" the Major exclaimed, and then looked sorry for his
+arrogance. "When a man has threatened me, and that man sees the mistake
+of doing so, I am pacified, Sir, in a moment; but it takes me some time
+to get over it. I have served his Gracious Majesty, and now hers,
+in every quarter of the civilized globe, with distinction, Sir--with
+distinction, and thanks, and no profit to taint the transaction, Sir.
+In many battles I have been menaced with personal violence, and have
+received it, as in such positions is equitable. I am capable, Sir, of
+receiving it still, and repaying it, not without interest."
+
+"Hang it, Major, if a man is sorry, a soldier forgives him frankly.
+You abused me, and I rashly threatened you. I beg your pardon, as a man
+should do, and that should be an end to it."
+
+"Very well, very well; say no more about it. But am I to understand that
+you still deny in that barefaced manner, with my witness here, the fact
+of your having been at Colonel Gundry's--my cousin, Sir, and a man not
+to be denied, without an insult to myself--a man who possesses ingots
+of gold, ingots of gold, enough to break the Bank of England, and a
+man whose integrity doubles them all. Have you not heard of the monster
+nugget, transcending the whole of creation, discovered by this young
+lady looking at you, in the bed of the saw-mill river, and valued at
+more than half a million?"
+
+"You don't mean to say so? When was it? Sylvester never said a word
+about it--the papers, I mean, never mentioned it."
+
+"Try no more--well, I won't say lies, though they are confounded
+lies--what I mean is, no further evasion, Mr. Goad. Sylvester's name
+is enough, Sir. Here is the card of your firm, with your own note of
+delivery on the back, handed by you to my cousin, the Colonel. And here
+stands the lady who saw you do it."
+
+"Major, I will do my very best to remember. I am here, there, every
+where--China one day, Peru the next, Siberia the day after. And this
+young lady found the nugget, did she? How wonderfully lucky she must
+be!"
+
+"I am lucky; I find out every thing; and I shall find out you, Mr.
+Goad." Thus I spoke on the spur of the moment, and I could not have
+spoken better after a month of consultation. Rogues are generally
+superstitious. Mr. Goad glanced at me with a shudder, as I had gazed
+at him some three years back; and then he dropped his bad, oily-looking
+eyes.
+
+"I make mistakes sometimes," he said, "as to where I have been and where
+I have not. If this young lady saw me there, it stands to reason that I
+may have been there. I have a brother extremely similar. He goes about a
+good deal also. Probably you saw my brother."
+
+"I saw no brother of yours, but yourself. Yourself--your mean and
+cowardly self--and I shall bring you to justice."
+
+"Well, well," he replied, with a poor attempt to turn the matter
+lightly; "I never contradict ladies; it is an honor to be so observed by
+them. Now, Major, can you give me any good reason for drawing upon a bad
+memory? My time is valuable. I can not refer to such by-gone matters for
+nothing."
+
+"We will not bribe you, if that is what you mean," Major Hockin made
+answer, scornfully. "This is a criminal case, and we have evidence you
+little dream of. Our only offer is--your own safety, if you make a clean
+breast of it. We are on the track of a murderer, and your connection
+with him will ruin you. Unless you wish to stand in the dock at his
+side, you will tell us every thing."
+
+"Sir, this is violent language."
+
+"And violent acts will follow it: if you do not give up your principal,
+and every word you know about him, you will leave this room in custody.
+I have Cosmopolitan Jack outside, and the police at a sign from him will
+come."
+
+"Is this job already in the hands of the police, then?"
+
+"No, not yet. I resolved to try you first. If you refuse, it will be
+taken up at once; and away goes your last chance, Sir."
+
+Mr. Goad's large face became like a field of conflicting passions and
+low calculations. Terror, fury, cupidity, and doggedness never had a
+larger battle-field.
+
+"Allow me at least to consult my partners," he said, in a low voice and
+almost with a whine; "we may do things irregular sometimes, but we never
+betray a client."
+
+"Either betray your client or yourself," the Major answered, with a
+downright stamp. "You shall consult no one. You have by this watch
+forty-five seconds to consider it."
+
+"You need not trouble yourself to time me," the other answered, sulkily;
+"my duty to the firm overrides private feeling. Miss Castlewood, I call
+you to witness, since Major Hockin is so peppery--"
+
+"Peppery, Sir, is the very last word that ever could be applied to
+me. My wife, my friends, every one that knows me, even my furthest-off
+correspondents, agree that I am pure patience."
+
+"It may be so, Major; but you have not shown it. Miss Castlewood, I have
+done you no harm. If you had been given up to me, you would have been
+safer than where you were. My honor would have been enlisted. I now
+learn things which I never dreamed of--or, at least--at least only
+lately. I always believed the criminality to be on the other side.
+We never ally ourselves with wrong. But lately things have come to my
+knowledge which made me doubtful as to facts. I may have been duped--I
+believe I have been: I am justified, therefore, in turning the tables."
+
+"If you turn tables," broke in the Major, who was grumbling to himself
+at the very idea of having any pepper in his nature--"Goad, if you turn
+tables, mind you, you must do it better than the mesmerists. Out of this
+room you do not stir; no darkness--no bamboozling! Show your papers,
+Sir, without sleight of hand. Surrender, or you get no quarter."
+
+To me it was quite terrifying to see my comrade thus push his victory.
+Mr. Goad could have killed him at any moment, and but for me perhaps
+would have done so. But even in his fury he kept on casting glances of
+superstitious awe at me, while I stood quite still and gazed at him.
+Then he crossed the room to a great case of drawers, unlocked something
+above the Major's head, made a sullen bow, and handed him a packet.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+
+WANTED, A SAWYER
+
+
+To judge Mr. Goad by his own scale of morality and honor, he certainly
+had behaved very well through a trying and unexpected scene. He fought
+for his honor a great deal harder than ever it could have deserved of
+him; and then he strove well to appease it with cash, the mere thought
+of which must have flattered it. However, it was none the worse for
+a little disaster of this kind. At the call of duty it coalesced with
+interest and fine sense of law, and the contact of these must have
+strengthened it to face any future production.
+
+For the moment he laid it aside in a drawer--and the smallest he
+possessed would hold it--and being compelled to explain his instructions
+(partly in short-hand and partly in cipher), he kindly, and for the main
+of it truly, interpreted them as follows:
+
+"July 31, 1858.--Received directions from M. H. to attend without
+fail, at whatever expense, to any matter laid before us by a tall, dark
+gentleman bearing his card. M. H. considerably in our debt; but his
+father can not last long. Understand what he means, having dealt with
+this matter before, and managed well with it.
+
+"August 2.--Said gentleman called, gave no name, and was very close.
+Had experienced some great wrong. Said that he was true heir to the C.
+estates now held by Lord C. Only required a little further evidence to
+claim them; and some of this was to be got through us. Important
+papers must be among the effects of the old lord's son, lately dead in
+California, the same for whom a reward had been offered, and we had been
+employed about it. Must get possession of those papers, and of the girl,
+if possible. Yankees to be bribed, at whatever figure, and always stand
+out for a high one. Asked where funds were to come from; gave good
+reference, and verified it. To be debited to the account of M. H.
+Said we would have nothing to do with it without more knowledge of our
+principal. Replied, with anger, that he himself was Lord C., ousted by
+usurpers. Had not the necessary proofs as yet, but would get them, and
+blast all his enemies. Had doubts about his sanity, and still greater
+about his solvency. Resolved to inquire into both points.
+
+"August 3.--M. H. himself, as cool as ever, but shammed to be indignant.
+Said we were fools if we did not take it up. Not a farthing would he pay
+of his old account, and fellows like us could not bring actions. Also a
+hatful of money was to be made of this job, managed snugly. Emigrants to
+California were the easiest of all things to square up. A whole train
+of them disappeared this very year, by Indians or Mormons, and no bones
+made. The best and most active of us must go--too ticklish for an agent.
+We must carry on all above-board out there, and as if sent by British
+government. In the far West no one any wiser. Resolved to go myself,
+upon having a certain sum in ready.
+
+"August 5.--The money raised. Start for Liverpool to-morrow. Require a
+change, or would not go. May hit upon a nugget, etc., etc."
+
+Mr. Goad's memoranda of his adventures, and signal defeat by Uncle Sam,
+have no claim to be copied here, though differing much from my account.
+With their terse unfeeling strain, they might make people laugh who had
+not sadder things to think of. And it matters very little how that spy
+escaped, as such people almost always seem to do.
+
+"Two questions, Goad, if you please," said Major Hockin, who had smiled
+sometimes, through some of his own remembrances; "what has happened
+since your return, and what is the name of the gentleman whom you have
+called 'M.H.?'"
+
+"Is it possible that you do not know, Sir? Why, he told us quite lately
+that you were at his back! You must know Sir Montague Hockin."
+
+"Yes, yes; certainly I do," the old man said, shortly, with a quick
+gleam in his eyes; "a highly respected gentleman now, though he may have
+sown his wild oats like the rest. To be sure; of course I know all about
+it. His meaning was good, but he was misled."
+
+In all my little experience of life nothing yet astonished me more than
+this. I scarcely knew whom to believe, or what. That the Major, most
+upright of men, should take up his cousin's roguery--all new to him--and
+speak of him thus! But he gave me a nudge; and being all confusion, I
+said nothing, and tried to look at neither of them, because my eyes must
+always tell the truth.
+
+"As to the other point," Mr. Goad went on; "since my embassy failed, we
+have not been trusted with the confidence we had the right to expect.
+Ours is a peculiar business, Sir: 'Trust me in all, or trust me not at
+all,' as one of our modern poets says, is the very essence of it. And
+possibly, Major, if that had been done, even your vigor and our sense
+of law might not have extorted from me what you have heard. Being
+cashiered, as we are, we act according to the strictest honor in
+divulging things no longer confided to us."
+
+"Goad, you have done yourself the utmost credit, legally,
+intellectually, and--well, I will not quite say morally. If I ever have
+a nasty job to do--at least I mean a stealthy one--which God, who
+has ever kept me straight, forbid!--I will take care not to lose your
+address. I have a very queer thing occurring on my manor--I believe
+it is bound up with this affair--never mind; I must think--I hate all
+underhanded work."
+
+"Major, our charges are strictly moderate. We do in a week what takes
+lawyers a twelvemonth. Allow me to hand you one of our new cards."
+
+"No, no. My pockets are all full. And I don't want to have it found
+among my papers. No offense, Mr. Goad, no offense at all. Society is
+not as it was when I was young. I condemn no modern institutions, Sir,
+though the world gets worse every day of its life."
+
+In terror of committing himself to any connection with such a firm, the
+Major put on his dark lights again, took up his cane, and let every body
+know, with a summary rap on the floor, that he might have relaxed, but
+would not allow any further liberty about it. And as he marched away,
+not proudly, yet with a very nice firmness, I was almost afraid to say
+any thing to him to disturb his high mental attitude. For Mrs. Hockin
+must have exclaimed that here was a noble spectacle.
+
+"But one thing," I forced myself to suggest; "do ask one thing before
+we go. That strange man who called himself 'Lord Castlewood' here, and
+'Captain Brown' at Soberton--have they any idea where to find him now?
+And why does he not come forward?"
+
+My comrade turned back, and put these questions; and the private
+inquirer answered that they had no idea of his whereabouts, but could
+easily imagine many good reasons for his present reserve of claim. For
+instance, he might be waiting for discovery of further evidence;
+or (which was even more likely) for the death of the present Lord
+Castlewood, which could not be very far distant, and would remove the
+chief opponent. It grieved me deeply to find that my cousin's condition
+was so notorious, and treated of in such a cold-blooded way, like a mule
+fallen lame, or a Chinaman in Frisco.
+
+"My dear, you must grow used to such things," Major Hockin declared,
+when he saw that I was vexed, after leaving those selfish premises. "If
+it were not for death, how could any body live? Right feeling is shown
+by considering such points, and making for the demise of others even
+more preparation than for our own. Otherwise there is a selfishness
+about it by no means Christian-minded. You look at things always from
+such an intense and even irreligious point of view. But such things are
+out of my line altogether. Your Aunt Mary understands them best."
+
+"Would you be able," I said, "to account to Aunt Mary conscientiously
+for that dreadful story which I heard you tell? I scarcely knew where I
+stood, Major Hockin."
+
+"You mean about Montague? Family honor must be defended at any price.
+Child, I was greatly pained to go beyond the truth; but in such a case
+it is imperative. I was shocked and amazed at my cousin's conduct; but
+how could I let such a fellow know that? And think what I owe to his
+father, Sir Rufus? No, no; there are times when Bayard himself must
+stretch a point. Honor and religion alike demand it; and Mrs. Hockin
+need never hear of it."
+
+"Certainly I shall not speak of it," I answered, though a little
+surprised at his arguments; "but you mean, of course, to find out all
+about it. It seems to me such a suspicious thing. But I never could bear
+Sir Montague."
+
+The Major smiled grimly, and, perceiving that he wished to drop the
+subject, I said no more. He had many engagements in London always, and I
+must not attempt to engross his time. However, he would not for a moment
+hear of leaving me any where but with Betsy, for perhaps he saw how
+strange I was. And, being alone at last with her, I could keep up my
+pride no longer.
+
+Through all that had happened, there never had been such a dreadful
+trial as I had borne this day without a word to any one. Danger and loss
+and sad dreariness of mind, from want of young companionship; mystery
+also, and obscurity of life, had always been my fortune. With all of
+these I had striven, to the best of my very small ability, having from
+nature no gift except the dull one of persistence. And throughout that
+struggle I had felt quite sure that a noble yearning for justice and a
+lofty power of devotion were my two impelling principles. But now,
+when I saw myself sprung of low birth, and the father of my worship
+base-born, down fell all my arduous castles, and I craved to go under
+the earth and die.
+
+For every word of Mr. Goad, and every crooked turn of little things in
+twist against me--even the Major's last grim smile--all began to work
+together, and make up a wretched tumult, sounding in my ears like drums.
+Where was the use of going on, of proving any body's guilt or any body's
+innocence, if the utmost issue of the whole would be to show my father
+an impostor? Then, and only then, I knew that love of abstract justice
+is to little minds impossible, that sense of honor is too prone to hang
+on chance of birth, and virtue's fountain, self-respect, springs but ill
+from parental taint.
+
+When I could no longer keep such bitter imaginings to myself, but poured
+them forth to Betsy, she merely laughed, and asked me how I could be
+such a simpleton. Only to think of my father in such a light was beyond
+her patience! Where was my pride, she would like to know, and my birth,
+and my family manners? However, she did believe there was something in
+my ideas, if you turned them inside out, and took hold of them by the
+other end. It was much more likely, to her mind, that the villain, the
+unknown villain at the bottom of all the misery, was really the son
+born out of wedlock, if any such there were at all, and therefore a wild
+harum-scarum fellow like Ishmael in the Book of Genesis. And it would
+be just of a piece, she thought, with the old lord's character to drive
+such a man to desperation by refusing to give him a farthing.
+
+"All that might very well be," I answered; "but it would in no way serve
+to explain my father's conduct, which was the great mystery of all."
+Nevertheless, I was glad to accept almost any view of the case rather
+than that which had forced itself upon me since the opening of the
+locket. Any doubt of that most wretched conclusion was a great relief
+while it lasted; and, after so long a time of hope and self-reliance,
+should I cast away all courage through a mere suspicion?
+
+While I was thus re-assuring myself, and being re-assured by my faithful
+nurse, sad news arrived, and drove my thoughts into another crooked
+channel. Mrs. Hockin, to meet my anxiety for some tidings from
+California, had promised that if any letter came, she would not even
+wait for the post, but forward it by special messenger. And thus, that
+very same evening, I received a grimy epistle, in an unknown hand, with
+the postmark of Sacramento. Tearing it open, I read as follows:
+
+
+"MISS 'REMA,--No good luck ever came, since you, to this Blue River
+Station, only to be washed away, and robbed by greasers, and shot
+through the ribs, and got more work than can do, and find an almighty
+nugget sent by Satan. And now the very worst luck of all have come,
+wholly and out of all denial, by you and your faces and graces and
+French goings on. Not that I do not like you, mind; for you always was
+very polite to me, and done your best when you found me trying to put up
+with the trials put on me. But now this trial is the worst of all that
+ever come to my establishings; and to go away now as I used to think
+of doing when tyrannized upon is out of my way altogether, and only an
+action fit for a half-breed. Sawyer Gundry hath cut and run, without a
+word behind him--no instructions for orders in hand, and pouring in--no
+directions where to find him, not even 'God bless you' to any one of the
+many hands that looked up to him. Only a packet of dollars for me to pay
+the wages for two months to come, and a power of lawyer to receive all
+debts, and go on anyhow just the same. And to go on just the same is
+more than the worst of us has the heart for, without the sight of his
+old red face. He may have been pretty sharp, and too much the master now
+and then, perhaps; but to do without him is a darned sight worse, and
+the hands don't take to me like him. Many's the time I have seen his
+faults, of having his own way, and such likes, and paying a man beyond
+his time if his wife was out of order. And many's the time I have said
+myself I was fitter to be at the head of it.
+
+"About that I was right enough, perhaps, if I had started upon my own
+hook; but to stand in the tracks he has worn to his own foot is to
+go into crooked compasses. There is never a day without some hand
+threatening to strike and to better himself, as if they were hogs to
+come and go according to the acorns; and such low words I can never put
+up with, and packs them off immediate. No place can be carried on if
+the master is to shut up his lips to impudence. And now I have only
+got three hands left, with work enough for thirty, and them three only
+stopped on, I do believe, to grumble of me if the Sawyer do come home!
+
+"But what we all want to know--and old Suan took a black stick to make
+marks for you--is why the old man hath run away, and where. Young Firm,
+who was getting a sight too uppish for me to have long put up with him,
+he was going about here, there, and every where, from the very first
+time of your going away, opening his mouth a deal too much, and asking
+low questions how long I stopped to dinner. Old Suan said he was
+troubled in his mind, as the pale-faces do about young girls, instead
+of dragging them to their wigwams; and she would give him a spell to get
+over it. But nothing came of that; and when the war broke out, he had
+words with his grandfather, and went off, so they said, to join the
+rebels.
+
+"Sawyer let him go, as proud as could be, though he would sooner have
+cut his own head off; and the very same night he sat down by his fire
+and shammed to eat supper as usual. But I happened to go in to get some
+orders, and, my heart, I would never wish to see such things again!
+
+"The old man would never waste a bit of victuals, as you know, Miss
+'Rema; and, being acquaint with Suan's way of watching, he had
+slipped all his supper aside from his plate, and put it on a clean
+pocket-handkerchief to lock it in the press till his appetite should
+serve; and I caught him in the act, and it vexed him. 'Ha'n't you the
+manners to knock at the door?' he said; and I said, 'Certainly,' and
+went back and done it; and, troubled as he was, he grinned a bit. Then
+he bowed his great head, as he always did when he knew he had gone
+perhaps a trifle too far with a man in my position. I nodded to forgive
+him, and he stood across, and saw that he could do no less than liquor
+me, after such behavior. But he only brought out one glass; and I said,
+'Come, Colonel, square is square, you know.' 'Excuse of me, Martin,' he
+said; 'but no drop of strong drink passes the brim of my mouth till this
+gallivanting is done with. I might take too much, as the old men do,
+to sink what they don't want to think on.' 'You mean about bully-cock
+Firm,' says I; 'rebel Firm--nigger-driver Firm.' 'Hush!' he said; 'no
+bad words about it. He has gone by his conscience and his heart. What do
+we know of what come inside of him?'
+
+"This was true enough, for I never did make that boy out to my liking:
+and the old man now was as stiff as a rock, and pretty nigh as peculiar.
+He made me a cocktail of his own patent, to show how firm his hand was;
+but the lines of his face was like wainscot mouldings, and the cords of
+his arm stood out like cogs. Then he took his long pipe, as he may have
+done perhaps every blessed night for the last fifty years; but that
+length of time ought to have learned him better than to go for to fill
+it upside down. 'Ha, ha!' he said; 'every thing is upside down since I
+was a man under heaven--countries and nations and kindreds and duties;
+and why not a old tobacco-pipe? That's the way babies blow bubbles with
+them. We shall all have to smoke 'em that way if our noble republic is
+busted up. Fill yours, and try it, Martin.'
+
+"Instead of enjoying my cocktail, Miss 'Rema, I never was so down at
+mouth; for, to my mind, his old heart was broken while he carried on so.
+And let every body say what they will, one thing there is no denying of.
+Never was seen on this side of the big hills a man fit to walk in the
+tracks of Uncle Sam, so large and good-hearted according to his lights,
+hard as a grizzly bear for a man to milk him, but soft in the breastbone
+as a young prairie-hen for all folk down upon their nine-pins.
+
+"You may be surprised, miss, to find me write so long. Fact is, the
+things won't go out of my mind without it. And it gives me a comfort,
+after all I may have said, to put good opinions upon paper. If he never
+should turn up again, my language will be to his credit; whereas if
+he do come back, with the betting a horse to a duck against it, to
+his pride he will read this testimonial of yours, faithfully, MARTIN
+CLOGFAST.
+
+"P.S.--Can't carry on like this much longer. Enough to rip one's heart
+up. You never would know the old place, miss. The heads of the horses is
+as long as their tails with the way they carry them; the moss is as big
+as a Spaniard's beard upon the kitchen door-sill; and the old dog howls
+all day and night, like fifty thousand scalpers. Suan saith, if you was
+to come back, the lad might run home after you. 'Tisn't the lad I cares
+about so much, but poor old Sawyer, at his time of life, swallowed up in
+the wilderness."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L
+
+THE PANACEA
+
+
+As if my own trouble were not enough, so deeply was I grieved by this
+sad news that I had a great mind to turn back on my own and fly to
+far-off disasters. To do so appeared for the moment a noble thing, and
+almost a duty; but now, looking back, I perceive that my instinct was
+right when it told me to stay where I was, and see out my own sad story
+first. And Betsy grew hot at the mere idea of my hankering after a
+miller's affairs, as she very rudely expressed it. To hear about lords
+and ladies, and their crimes and adventures, was lovely; but to dwell
+upon people of common birth, and in trade, was most unbeseeming. A man
+who mended his own mill, and had hands like horn--well, even she was of
+better blood than that, she hoped.
+
+Before these large and liberal views had fairly been expounded, Major
+Hockin arrived, with his mind in such a state that he opened his watch
+every second.
+
+"Erema, I must speak to you alone," he cried; "no, not even you, Mrs.
+Strouss, if you please. If my ward likes to tell you, why, of course she
+can; but nobody shall say that I did. There are things that belong to
+the family alone. The most loyal retainers--you know what I mean."
+
+"General, I was not aware that you belonged to the family. But this way,
+Sir; this way, if you please. There is lath and plaster to that wall,
+and a crack in the panel of the door, Sir. But here is a room where I
+keep my jams, with double brick and patent locks, from sweet-toothed
+lodgers. The 'scutcheon goes over the key-hole, General. Perhaps you
+will see to that, while I roll up the carpet outside; and then, if any
+retainers come, you will hear their footsteps."
+
+"Bless the woman, what a temper she has!" whispered the Major, in dread
+of her ears. "Is she gone, Erema? She wants discipline."
+
+"Yes, she is gone," I said, trying to be lightsome; "but you are enough
+to frighten any one."
+
+"So far from that, she has quite frightened me. But never mind such
+trifles. Erema, since I saw you I have discovered, I may almost say,
+every thing."
+
+Coming upon me so suddenly, even with all allowance made for the Major's
+sanguine opinion of his own deeds, this had such effect upon my flurried
+brain that practice alone enabled me to stand upright and gaze at him.
+
+"Perhaps you imagined when you placed the matter in my hands, Miss
+Castlewood," he went on, with sharp twinkles from the gables of his
+eyes, but soft caresses to his whiskers, "that you would be left in the
+hands of a man who encouraged a crop of hay under his feet. Never did
+you or any body make a greater mistake. That is not my character, Miss
+Castlewood."
+
+"Why do you call me 'Miss Castlewood' so? You quite make me doubt my own
+right to the name."
+
+Major Hockin looked at me with surprise, which gladdened even more than
+it shamed me. Clearly his knowledge of all, as he described it, did not
+comprise the disgrace which I feared.
+
+"You are almost like Mrs. Strouss to-day," he answered, with some
+compassion. "What way is the wind? I have often observed that when one
+female shows asperity, nearly all the others do the same. The weather
+affects them more than men, because they know nothing about it. But to
+come back--are you prepared to hear what I have got to tell you?"
+
+I bowed without saying another word. For he should be almost the last of
+mankind to give a lecture upon irritation.
+
+"Very well; you wish me to go on. Perceiving how sadly you were upset by
+the result of those interviews, first with Handkin, and then with Goad,
+after leaving you here I drove at once to the office, studio, place of
+business, or whatever you please to call it, of the famous fellow in
+the portrait line, whose anagram, private mark, or whatever it is, was
+burned into the back of the ivory. Handkin told me the fellow was dead,
+or, of course, his work would be worth nothing; but the name was carried
+on, and the register kept, at a little place somewhere in Soho, where,
+on the strength of his old repute, they keep up a small trade with
+inferior hands. I gave them a handsome order for a thing that will never
+be handsome, I fear--my old battered physiognomy. And then I produced
+the locket which in some queer state of mind you had given me, and made
+them hunt out their old books, and at last discovered the very entry.
+But to verify it I must go to Paris, where his son is living."
+
+"Whose son? Lord Castlewood's?"
+
+"Erema, have you taken leave of your senses? What son has Lord
+Castlewood? The artist's son, to be sure; the son of the man who did the
+likeness. Is it the vellum and the stuff upon it that has so upset your
+mind? I am glad that you showed it to me, because it would have been
+mean to do otherwise. But show it to no one else, my dear, except your
+cousin, Lord Castlewood. He has the first right of all to know it,
+though he will laugh at it as I do. Trumpery of that sort! Let them
+produce a certified copy of a register. If they could do that, need they
+ever have shot that raffish old lord--I beg pardon, my dear--your highly
+respected grandfather? No, no; don't tell me. Nicholas Hockin was never
+in any way famous for want of brains, my dear, and he tells you to keep
+your pluck up."
+
+"I never can thank you enough," I replied, "for such inspiriting
+counsel. I have been rather miserable all this day. And I have had such
+a letter from America!"
+
+Without my intending any offer of the kind, or having such idea at the
+furthest tip of any radius of mind, I found myself under a weight about
+the waist, like the things the young girls put on now. And this was the
+arm of the Major, which had been knocked about in some actions, but was
+useful still to let other people know, both in this way and that, what
+he thought of them. And now it let me know that he pitied me.
+
+This kindness from so old a soldier made me partial to him. He had taken
+an age to understand me, because my father was out of the army almost
+before I was born, and therefore I had no traditions. Also, from want
+of drilling, I had been awkward to this officer, and sometimes mutinous,
+and sometimes a coward. All that, however, he forgave me when he saw
+me so downhearted; and while I was striving to repress all signs, the
+quivering of my lips perhaps suggested thoughts of kissing. Whereupon
+he kissed my forehead with nice dry lips, and told me not to be at all
+afraid.
+
+"How many times have you been brave?" he inquired, to set me counting,
+knowing from all his own children, perhaps, that nothing stops futile
+tears and the waste of sobs like prompt arithmetic. "Six, if not seven,
+times you have displayed considerable valor. Are you going to fall
+away through some wretched imagination of your own? Now don't stop to
+argue--time will not allow it. I have put Cosmopolitan Jack as well upon
+the track of Captain Brown. I have not told you half of what I could
+tell, and what I am doing; but never mind, never mind; it is better that
+you should not know too much, my dear. Young minds, from their want of
+knowledge of the world, are inclined to become uneasy. Now go to bed and
+sleep soundly, Erema, for we have lots to do to-morrow, and you have had
+a most worrying day to-day. To-morrow, of course, you must come with me
+to Paris. You can parleyvoo better than I can."
+
+However, as it happened, I did nothing of the kind, for when he came
+back in the morning, and while he was fidgeting and hurrying me, and
+vowing that we should lose the tidal train, a letter from Bruntsea was
+put into my hand. I saw Mrs. Price's clear writing, followed by good
+Aunt Mary's crooked lines, and knew that the latter must have received
+it too late to be sent by her messenger. In few words it told me that
+if I wished to see my cousin alive, the only chance was to start
+immediately.
+
+Shock and self-reproach and wonder came (as usual) before grief, which
+always means to stay, and waits to get its mourning ready. I loved and
+respected my cousin more deeply than any one living, save Uncle Sam; and
+now to lose them both at once seemed much too dreadful to be true.
+There was no time to think. I took the Major's cab, and hurried off to
+Paddington, leaving him to catch his tidal train.
+
+Alas! when I got to Castlewood, there was but a house of mourning!
+Faithful Stixon's eyes were dim, and he pointed upward and said,
+"Hush!" I entered with great awe, and asked, "How long?" And he said,
+"Four-and-twenty hours now; and a more peacefuller end was never seen,
+and to lament was sinful; but he was blessed if he could help it." I
+told him, through my tears, that this was greatly to his credit, and he
+must not crush fine feelings, which are an honor to our nature. And he
+said that I was mistress now, and must order him to my liking.
+
+I asked him to send Mrs. Price to me, if she was not too busy; and he
+answered that he believed her to be a very good soul, and handy. And if
+he ever had been thought to speak in a sense disparishing of her, such
+things should not be borne in mind, with great afflictions over us. Mrs.
+Price, hearing that I was come, already was on her way to me, and
+now glanced at the door for Mr. Stixon to depart, in a manner past
+misunderstanding.
+
+"He gives himself such airs!" she said; "sometimes one would think--but
+I will not trouble you now with that, Miss Castlewood, or Lady
+Castlewood--which do you please to be called, miss? They say that the
+barony goes on, when there is no more Viscount."
+
+"I please to be called 'Miss Castlewood,' even if I have any right to be
+called that. But don't let us talk of such trifles now. I wish to hear
+only of my cousin."
+
+"Well, you know, ma'am, what a sufferer he has been for years. If ever
+an angel had pains all over, and one leg compulsory of a walking-stick,
+that angel was his late lordship. He would stand up and look at one, and
+give orders in that beautiful silvery voice of his, just as if he was
+lying on a bed of down. And never a twitch, nor a hitch in his face, nor
+his words, nor any other part of him. I assure you, miss, that I have
+been quite amazed and overwhelmed with interest while looking at his
+poor legs, and thinking--"
+
+"I can quite enter into it. I have felt the same. But please to come to
+what has happened lately."
+
+"The very thing I was at the point of doing. Then last Sunday, God alone
+knows why, the pain did not come on at all. For the first time for seven
+years or more the pain forgot the time-piece. His lordship thought that
+the clock was wrong; but waited with his usual patience, though missing
+it from the length of custom, instead of being happy. But when it
+was come to an hour too late for the proper attack of the enemy, his
+lordship sent orders for Stixon's boy to take a good horse and ride to
+Pangbourne for a highly respectable lawyer. There was no time to fetch
+Mr. Spines, you see, miss, the proper solicitor, who lives in London.
+The gentleman from Pangbourne was here by eight o'clock; and then and
+there his lordship made his will, to supersede all other wills. He put
+it more clearly, the lawyer said, than he himself could have put it, but
+not, of course, in such legal words, but doubtless far more beautiful.
+Nobody in the house was forgotten; and the rule of law being, it seems,
+that those with best cause to remember must not witness, two of the
+tenants were sent for, and wrote down their names legitimate. And then
+his lordship lay back and smiled, and said, 'I shall have no more pain.'
+
+"All that night and three days more he slept as sound as a little child,
+to make up for so many years. We called two doctors in; but they only
+whispered and looked dismal, and told us to have hot water ready at any
+hour of the day or night. Nobody loved him as I did, miss, from seeing
+so much of his troubles and miraculous way of bearing them; and I sat by
+the hour and hour, and watched him, trusting no paid nurses.
+
+"It must have been eight o'clock on Wednesday morning--what is to-day?
+Oh, Friday--then Thursday morning it must have been, when the clouds
+opened up in the east, and the light of the sun was on the window-sill,
+not glaring or staring, but playing about, with patterns of leaves
+between it; and I went to screen it from his poor white face; but he
+opened his eyes, as if he had been half awake, half dreaming, and he
+tried to lift one of his thin, thin hands to tell me not to do it. So I
+let the curtain stay as it was, and crept back, and asked, very softly,
+'Will your lordship have some breakfast?'
+
+"He did not seem to comprehend me, but only watched the window; and
+if ever a blessed face there was, looking toward heaven's glory, his
+lordship had it, so that I could scarcely keep from sobbing. For I never
+had seen any living body die, but knew that it must be so. He heard me
+catching my breath, perhaps, or at any rate he looked at me; and the
+poor angel knew that I was a woman; and being full of high respect, as
+he always was for females--in spite of the way they had served him--it
+became apparent to his mind that the pearl button of his neck was open,
+as ordered by the doctors. And he tried to lift his hand to do it; and
+then he tried to turn away, but could not manage either. Poor dear! the
+only movement he could make was to a better world.
+
+"Then I drew the sheet across his chest, and he gave me a little smile
+of thanks, and perhaps he knew whose hand it was. But the look of his
+kind soft eyes was flickering--not steady, I mean, miss--but glancing
+and stopping and going astray, as drops of rain do on the window-glass.
+But I could not endure to examine him much; at such a holy time I felt
+that to watch death was unholy.
+
+"Perhaps I ought to have rung the bell for others to be present. But his
+lordship was always shy, you know, miss; and with none of his kindred
+left, and no wife to say 'good-by' to him, right or wrong I resolved
+alone to see him depart to his everlasting rest. And people may talk
+about hirelings, but I think nobody loved him as I did."
+
+Here Mrs. Price broke fairly down, and I could not help admiring her.
+To a faithful servant's humility and duty she had added a woman's pure
+attachment to one more gifted than herself, and ruined for life by her
+own sex. But she fell away frightened and ashamed beneath my look, as if
+I had caught her in sacrilege.
+
+"Well, miss, we all must come and go," she began again, rather clumsily;
+"and, good and great as he was, his lordship has left few to mourn for
+him. Only the birds and beasts and animals that he was so good to; they
+will miss him, if men don't. There came one of his favorite pigeons,
+white as snow all over, and sat on the sill of the window, and cooed,
+and arched up its neck for his fingers. And he tried to put his fingers
+out, but they were ice already. Whether that or something else brought
+home his thoughts, who knows, miss? but he seemed to mix the pigeon up
+with some of his own experience.
+
+"'Say that I have forgiven her, if ever she did harm to me,' he
+whispered, without moving lips. 'Times and times, when I was young, I
+was not always steady;' and then he seemed to wander in his mind among
+old places; and he would have laughed at something if his voice had been
+sufficient.
+
+"'Bitter grief and pain shall never come again,' he seemed to breathe,
+with a calm, soft smile, like a child with its rhyme about the rain when
+the sun breaks out; and sure enough, the sun upon the quilt above
+his heart was shining, as if there could be no more clouds. Then he
+whispered a few short words to the Lord, more in the way of thanks than
+prayer, and his eyes seemed to close of their own accord, or with some
+good spirit soothing them. And when or how his sleep passed from this
+world into the other there was scarcely the flutter of a nerve to show.
+There he lies, like an image of happiness. Will you come and see him?"
+
+I followed her to the bedroom, and am very glad that I did so; for
+it showed me the bliss of a good man's rest, and took away my fear of
+death.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI
+
+LIFE SINISTER
+
+
+When business and the little cares of earthly life awoke again, every
+one told me (to my great surprise and no small terror at first, but
+soon to increasing acquiescence) that I was now the mistress of the fair
+estates of Castlewood, and, the male line being extinct, might claim
+the barony, if so pleased me; for that, upon default of male heirs,
+descended by the spindle. And as to the property, with or without any
+will of the late Lord Castlewood, the greater part would descend to me
+under unbarred settlement, which he was not known to have meddled with.
+On the contrary, he confirmed by his last will the settlement--which
+they told me was quite needless--and left me all that he had to leave,
+except about a thousand pounds distributed in legacies. A private
+letter to me was sealed up with his will, which, of course, it would not
+behoove me to make public. But thus much--since our family history is,
+alas! so notorious--in duty to him I should declare. He begged me, if
+his poor lost wife--of whom he had never spoken to me--should re-appear
+and need it, to pay her a certain yearly sum, which I thought a great
+deal too much for her, but resolved to obey him exactly.
+
+Neither the will nor the letter contained any reference to my
+grandfather, or the possibility of an adverse claim. I could not,
+however, be quit of deep uneasiness and anxiety, but stanchly determined
+that every acre should vanish in folds of "the long robe" rather than
+pass to a crafty villain who had robbed me of all my kindred. My hatred
+of that man deepened vastly, as he became less abstract, while my terror
+decreased in proportion. I began to think that, instead of being
+the reckless fiend I had taken him for, he was only a low, plotting,
+cold-blooded rogue, without even courage to save him. By this time
+he must have heard all about me, my pursuit of him, and my presence
+here--then why not come and shoot me, just as he shot my grandfather?
+
+The idea of this was unwelcome; still, I felt no sort of gratitude, but
+rather a lofty contempt toward him for not having spirit to try it.
+In Shoxford church-yard he had expressed (if Sexton Rigg was not then
+deceived) an unholy wish to have me there, at the feet of my brothers
+and sisters. Also he had tried to get hold of me--doubtless with a
+view to my quietude--when I was too young to defend myself, and left at
+haphazard in a lawless land. What was the reason, if his mind was
+still the same, for ceasing to follow me now? Was I to be treated with
+contempt as one who had tried her best and could do nothing, as a feeble
+creature whose movements were not even worth inquiry? Anger at such an
+idea began to supersede fear, as my spirits returned.
+
+Meanwhile Major Hockin was making no sign as to what had befallen him
+in Paris, or what Cosmopolitan Jack was about. But, strangely enough,
+he had sent me a letter from Bruntsea instead of Paris, and addressed
+in grand style to no less a person than "The right honorable Baroness
+Castlewood"--a title which I had resolved, for the present, neither to
+claim nor acknowledge. In that letter the Major mingled a pennyweight
+of condolence with more congratulation than the post could carry for the
+largest stamp yet invented. His habit of mind was to magnify things; and
+he magnified my small grandeur, and seemed to think nothing else worthy
+of mention.
+
+Through love of the good kind cousin I had lost, even more than through
+common and comely respect toward the late head of the family, I felt it
+impossible to proceed, for the present, with any inquiries, but left
+the next move to the other side. And the other side made it, in a manner
+such as I never even dreamed of.
+
+About three weeks after I became, in that sad way, the mistress,
+escaping one day from lawyers and agents, who held me in dreary
+interview, with long computations of this and of that, and formalities
+almost endless, I went, for a breath of good earnest fresh air, beyond
+precinct of garden or shrubbery. To me these seemed in mild weather to
+temper and humanize the wind too strictly, and take the wild spirit out
+of it; and now, for the turn of the moment, no wind could be too rough
+to tumble in. After long months of hard trouble, and worry, and fear,
+and sad shame, and deep sorrow, the natural spring of clear youth into
+air and freedom set me upward. For the nonce there was nothing upon my
+selfish self to keep it downward; troubles were bubbles, and grief a
+low thief, and reason almost treason. I drank the fine fountain of air
+unsullied, and the golden light stamped with the royalty of sun.
+
+Hilarious moments are but short, and soon cold sense comes back again.
+Already I began to feel ashamed of young life's selfish outburst, and
+the vehement spring of mere bodily health. On this account I sat down
+sadly in a little cove of hill, whereto the soft breeze from the river
+came up, with a tone of wavelets, and a sprightly water-gleam. And here,
+in fern and yellow grass and tufted bights of bottom growth, the wind
+made entry for the sun, and they played with one another.
+
+Besting here, and thinking, with my face between my hands, I wondered
+what would be the end. Nothing seemed secure or certain, nothing even
+steady or amenable to foresight. Even guess-work or the wider cast of
+dreams was always wrong. To-day the hills and valleys, and the glorious
+woods of wreathen gold, bright garnet, and deep amethyst, even that
+blue river yet unvexed by autumn's turbulence, and bordered with green
+pasture of a thousand sheep and cattle--to-day they all were mine (so
+far as mortal can hold ownership)--to-morrow, not a stick, or twig, or
+blade of grass, or fallen leaf, but might call me a trespasser. To see
+them while they still were mine, and to regard them humbly, I rose and
+took my black hat off--a black hat trimmed with mourning gray. Then
+turning round, I met a gaze, the wildest, darkest, and most awful ever
+fixed on human face.
+
+"Who are you? What do you want here?" I faltered forth, while shrinking
+back for flight, yet dreading or unable to withdraw my gaze from his.
+The hollow ground barred all escape; my own land was a pit for me, and
+I must face this horror out. Here, afar from house or refuge, hand of
+help, or eye of witness, front to front I must encounter this atrocious
+murderer.
+
+For moments, which were ages to me, he stood there without a word; and
+daring not to take my eyes from his, lest he should leap at me, I had no
+power (except of instinct), and could form no thought of him, for mortal
+fear fell over me. If he would only speak, would only move his lips, or
+any thing!
+
+"The Baroness is not brave," he said at last, as if reproachfully; "but
+she need have no fear now of me. Does her ladyship happen to know who I
+am?"
+
+"The man who murdered my grandfather."
+
+"Yes, if you put a false color on events. The man who punished a
+miscreant, according to the truer light. But I am not here to argue
+points. I intend to propose a bargain. Once for all, I will not harm
+you. Try to listen calmly. Your father behaved like a man to me, and I
+will be no worse to you. The state of the law in this country is such
+that I am forced to carry fire-arms. Will it conduce to your peace of
+mind if I place myself at your mercy?"
+
+I tried to answer; but my heart was beating so that no voice came, only
+a flutter in my trembling throat. Wrath with myself for want of courage
+wrestled in vain with pale, abject fear. The hand which offered me
+the pistol seemed to my dazed eyes crimson still with the blood of my
+grandfather.
+
+"You will not take it? Very well; it lies here at your service. If your
+father's daughter likes to shoot me, from one point of view it will be
+just; and but for one reason, I care not. Don't look at me with pity,
+if you please. For what I have done I feel no remorse, no shadow of
+repentance. It was the best action of my life. But time will fail,
+unless you call upon your courage speedily. None of your family lack
+that; and I know that you possess it. Call your spirit up, my dear."
+
+"Oh, please not to call me that! How dare you call me that?"
+
+"That is right. I did it on purpose. And yet I am your uncle. Not by the
+laws of men, but by the laws of God--if there are such things. Now, have
+you the strength to hear me?"
+
+"Yes; I am quite recovered now. I can follow every word you say.
+But--but I must sit down again."
+
+"Certainly. Sit there, and I will stand. I will not touch or come nearer
+to you than a story such as mine requires. You know your own side of it;
+now hear mine.
+
+"More than fifty years ago there was a brave young nobleman, handsome,
+rich, accomplished, strong, not given to drink or gambling, or any
+fashionable vices. His faults were few, and chiefly three--he had
+a headstrong will, loved money, and possessed no heart at all. With
+chances in his favor, this man might have done as most men do who have
+such gifts from fortune. But he happened to meet with a maiden far
+beneath him in this noble world, and he set his affections--such as they
+were--upon that poor young damsel.
+
+"This was Winifred Hoyle, the daughter of Thomas Hoyle, a farmer, in a
+lonely part of Hampshire, and among the moors of Rambledon. The nobleman
+lost his way, while fishing, and being thirsty, went to ask for milk.
+What matter how it came about? He managed to win her heart before she
+heard of his rank and title. He persuaded her even to come and meet him
+in the valley far from her father's house, where he was wont to angle;
+and there, on a lonely wooden bridge across a little river, he knelt
+down (as men used to do) and pledged his solemn truth to her. His solemn
+lie--his solemn lie!
+
+"Such love as his could not overleap the bars of rank or the pale of
+wealth--are you listening to me carefully?--or, at any rate, not both
+of them. If the poor farmer could only have given his Winifred 50,000
+pounds, the peer would have dropped his pride, perhaps, so far as to be
+honest. But farmers in that land are poor, and Mr. Hoyle could give
+his only child his blessing only. And this he did in London, where his
+simple mind was all abroad, and he knew not church from chapel. He
+took his daughter for the wife of a lord, and so she took herself, poor
+thing! when she was but his concubine. In 1809 such tricks were easily
+played by villains upon young girls so simple.
+
+"But he gave her attestation and certificate under his own hand; and
+her poor father signed it, and saw it secured in a costly case, and then
+went home as proud as need be for the father of a peer, but sworn to
+keep it three years secret, till the king should give consent. Such foul
+lies it was the pride of a lord to tell to a farmer.
+
+"You do not exclaim--of course you do not. The instincts of your race
+are in you, because you are legitimate. Those of the robbed side are in
+me, because I am of the robbed. I am your father's elder brother. Which
+is the worse, you proud young womam, the dastard or the bastard?"
+
+"You have wrongs, most bitter wrongs," I answered, meeting fierce eyes
+mildly; "but you should remember that I am guiltless of those wrongs,
+and so was my father. And I think that if you talk of birth so, you must
+know that gentlemen speak quietly to ladies."
+
+"What concern is that of mine? A gentleman is some one's son. I am the
+son of nobody. But to you I will speak quietly, for the sake of your
+poor father. And you must listen quietly. I am not famous for sweet
+temper. Well, this great lord took his toy to Paris, where he had her
+at his mercy. She could not speak a word of French; she did not know a
+single soul. In vain she prayed him to take her to his English home;
+or, if not that, to restore her to her father. Not to be too long about
+it--any more than he was--a few months were enough for him. He found
+fault with her manners, with her speech, her dress, her every thing--all
+which he had right, perhaps, to do, but should have used it earlier. And
+she, although not born to the noble privilege of weariness, had been an
+old man's darling, and could not put up with harshness. From words they
+came to worse, until he struck her, told her of her shame, or rather
+his own infamy, and left her among strangers, helpless, penniless, and
+brokenhearted, to endure the consequence.
+
+"There and thus I saw the light beneath most noble auspices. But I need
+not go on with all that. As long as human rules remain, this happy tale
+will always be repeated with immense applause. My mother's love was
+turned to bitter hatred of his lordship, and, when her father died from
+grief, to eager thirst for vengeance. And for this purpose I was born.
+
+"You see that--for a bastard--I have been fairly educated; but not a
+farthing did his lordship ever pay for that, or even to support his
+casual. My grandfather Hoyle left his little all to his daughter
+Winifred; and upon that, and my mother's toil and mine, we have kept
+alive. Losing sight of my mother gladly--for she was full of pride, and
+hoped no more to trouble him, after getting her father's property--he
+married again, or rather he married for the first time without perjury,
+which enables the man to escape from it. She was of his own rank--as you
+know--the daughter of an earl, and not of a farmer. It would not have
+been safe to mock her, would it? And there was no temptation.
+
+"The history of my mother and myself does not concern you. Such people
+are of no account until they grow dangerous to the great. We lived in
+cheap places and wandered about, caring for no one, and cared for by
+the same. Mrs. Hoyle and Thomas Hoyle we called ourselves when we wanted
+names; and I did not even know the story of our wrongs till the heat
+and fury of youth were past. Both for her own sake and mine my mother
+concealed it from me. Pride and habit, perhaps, had dulled her just
+desire for vengeance; and, knowing what I was, she feared--the thing
+which has befallen me. But when I was close upon thirty years old, and
+my mother eight-and-forty--for she was betrayed in her teens--a sudden
+illness seized her. Believing her death to be near, she told me, as
+calmly as possible, every thing, with all those large, quiet views of
+the past, which at such a time seem the regular thing, but make the
+wrong tenfold blacker. She did not die; if she had, it might have been
+better both for her and me, and many other people. Are you tired of my
+tale? Or do you want to hear the rest?"
+
+"You can not be asking me in earnest," I replied, while I watched his
+wild eyes carefully. "Tell me the rest, if you are not afraid."
+
+"Afraid, indeed! Then, for want of that proper tendance and comfort
+which a few pounds would have brought her, although she survived, she
+survived as a wreck, the mere relic and ruin of her poor unhappy self.
+I sank my pride for her sake, and even deigned to write to him, in rank
+and wealth so far above me, in every thing else such a clot below my
+heel. He did the most arrogant thing a snob can do--he never answered my
+letter.
+
+"I scraped together a little money, and made my way to England, and
+came to that house--which you now call yours--and bearded that noble
+nobleman--that father to be so proud of! He was getting on now in years,
+and growing, perhaps, a little nervous, and my first appearance scared
+him. He got no obeisance from me, you may be certain, but still I did
+not revile him. I told him of my mother's state of mind, and the great
+care she required, and demanded that, in common justice, he, having
+brought her to this, should help her. But nothing would he promise, not
+a sixpence even, in the way of regular allowance. Any thing of that sort
+could only be arranged by means of his solicitors. He had so expensive a
+son, with a very large and growing family, that he could not be pledged
+to any yearly sum. But if I would take a draft for 100 pounds, and sign
+an acquittance in full of all claims, I might have it, upon proving my
+identity.
+
+"What identity had I to prove? He had taken good care of that. I turned
+my back on him and left the house, without even asking for his curse,
+though as precious as a good man's blessing.
+
+"It was a wild and windy night, but with a bright moon rising, and going
+across this park--or whatever it is called--I met my brother. At a crest
+of the road we met face to face, with the moon across our foreheads. We
+had never met till now, nor even heard of one another; at least he had
+never heard of me. He started back as if at his own ghost; but I had
+nothing to be startled at, in this world or the other.
+
+"I made his acquaintance, with deference, of course, and we got on
+very well together. At one time it seemed good luck for him to have
+illegitimate kindred; for I saved his life when he was tangled in the
+weeds of this river while bathing. You owe me no thanks. I thought twice
+about it, and if the name would have ended with him, I would never have
+used my basket-knife. By trade I am a basket-maker, like many another
+'love-child.'
+
+"However, he was grateful, if ever any body was, for I ran some risk in
+doing it; and he always did his very best for me, and encouraged me to
+visit him. Not at his home--of course that would never do--but when
+he was with his regiment. Short of money as he always was, through
+his father's nature and his own, which in some points were the very
+opposite, he was even desirous to give me some of that; but I never took
+a farthing from him. If I had it at all, I would have it from the proper
+one. And from him I resolved to have it.
+
+"How terrified you look! I am coming to it now. Are you sure that you
+can bear it? It is nothing very harrowing; but still, young ladies--"
+
+"I feel a little faint," I could not help saying; "but that is nothing.
+I must hear the whole of it. Please to go on without minding me."
+
+"For my own sake I will not, as well as for yours. I can not have you
+fainting, and bringing people here. Go to the house and take food, and
+recover your strength, and then come here again. I promise to be here,
+and your father's daughter will not take advantage of my kindness."
+
+Though his eyes were fierce (instead of being sad) and full of strange
+tempestuous light, they bore some likeness to my father's, and asserted
+power over me. Reluctant as I was, I obeyed this man, and left him
+there, and went slowly to the house, walking as if in a troubled dream.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII
+
+FOR LIFE, DEATH
+
+
+Upon my return, I saw nothing for a time but fans and feathers of
+browning fern, dark shags of ling, and podded spurs of broom and furze,
+and wisps of grass. With great relief (of which I felt ashamed while
+even breathing it), I thought that the man was afraid to tell the rest
+of his story, and had fled; but ere my cowardice had much time for
+self-congratulation a tall figure rose from the ground, and fear
+compelled me into courage. For throughout this long interview more and
+more I felt an extremely unpleasant conviction. That stranger might not
+be a downright madman, nor even what is called a lunatic; but still
+it was clear that upon certain points--the laws of this country, for
+instance, and the value of rank and station--his opinions were so
+outrageous that his reason must be affected. And, even without such
+proofs as these, his eyes and his manner were quite enough. Therefore I
+had need of no small caution, not only concerning my words and gestures,
+but as to my looks and even thoughts, for he seemed to divine these last
+as quickly as they flashed across me. I never had learned to conceal my
+thoughts, and this first lesson was an awkward one.
+
+"I hope you are better," he said, as kindly as it was possible for him
+to speak. "Now have no fear of me, once more I tell you. I will not sham
+any admiration, affection, or any thing of that kind; but as for harming
+you--why, your father was almost the only kind heart I ever met!"
+
+"Then why did you send a most vile man to fetch me, when my father was
+dead in the desert?"
+
+"I never did any thing of the sort. It was done in my name, but not by
+me; I never even heard of it until long after, and I have a score to
+settle with the man who did it."
+
+"But Mr. Goad told me himself that you came and said you were the true
+Lord Castlewood, and ordered him at once to America. I never saw truth
+more plainly stamped on a new situation--the face of a rogue--than I saw
+it then on the face of Mr. Goad."
+
+"You are quite right; he spoke the truth--to the utmost of his
+knowledge. I never saw Goad, and he never saw me. I never even dreamed
+of pretending to the title. I was personated by a mean, low friend of
+Sir Montague Hockin; base-born as I am, I would never stoop to such a
+trick. You will find out the meaning of that by-and-by. I have taken
+the law into my own hands--it is the only way to work such laws--I
+have committed what is called a crime. But, compared with Sir Montague
+Hockin, I am whiter than yonder shearling on his way to the river for
+his evening drink."
+
+I gazed at his face, and could well believe it. The setting sun shone
+upon his chin and forehead--good, resolute, well-marked features; his
+nose and mouth were keen and clear, his cheeks curt and pale (though
+they would have been better for being a trifle cleaner). There was
+nothing suggestive of falsehood or fraud, and but for the wildness
+of the eyes and flashes of cold ferocity, it might have been called a
+handsome face.
+
+"Very well," he began again, with one of those jerks which had
+frightened me, "your father was kind to me, very kind indeed; but he
+knew the old lord too well to attempt to interpose on my behalf. On
+the other hand, he gave no warning of my manifest resolve; perhaps he
+thought it a woman's threat, and me no better than a woman! And partly
+for his sake, no doubt, though mainly for my mother's, I made the short
+work which I made; for he was horribly straitened--and in his free,
+light way he told me so--by his hard curmudgeon of a father.
+
+"To that man, hopeless as he was, I gave fair grace, however, and
+plenty of openings for repentance. None of them would he embrace, and he
+thought scorn of my lenity. And I might have gone on with such weakness
+longer, if I had not heard that his coach-and-four was ordered for the
+Moonstock Inn.
+
+"That he should dare thus to pollute the spot where he had so forsworn
+himself! I resolved that there he should pay justice, either with his
+life or death. And I went to your father's place to tell him to prepare
+for disturbances; but he was gone to see his wife, and I simply borrowed
+a pistol.
+
+"Now you need not be at all afraid nor shrink away from me like that.
+I was bound upon stricter justice than any judge that sets forth on
+circuit; and I meant to give, and did give, what no judge affords to the
+guilty--the chance of leading a better life. I had brought my mother
+to England, and she was in a poor place in London; her mind was failing
+more and more, and reverting to her love-time, the one short happiness
+of her life. 'If I could but see him, if I could but see him, and show
+him his tall and clever son, he would forgive me all my sin in thinking
+ever to be his wife. Oh, Thomas! I was too young to know it. If I could
+but see him once, just once!'
+
+"How all this drove me no tongue can tell. But I never let her know it;
+I only said, 'Mother, he shall come and see you if he ever sees any body
+more!' And she trusted me and was satisfied. She only said, 'Take my
+picture, Thomas, to remind him of the happy time, and his pledge to me
+inside of it.' And she gave me what she had kept for years in a bag of
+chamois leather, the case of which I spoke before, which even in our
+hardest times she would never send to the pawn-shop.
+
+"The rest is simple enough. I swore by the God, or the Devil, who made
+me, that this black-hearted man should yield either his arrogance or his
+life. I followed him to the Moon valley, and fate ordained that I should
+meet him where he forswore himself to my mother; on that very plank
+where he had breathed his deadly lies he breathed his last. Would you
+like to hear all about it?"
+
+For answer I only bowed my head. His calm, methodical way of telling
+his tale, like a common adventure with a dog, was more shocking than any
+fury.
+
+"Then it was this. I watched him from the Moonstock Inn to a house in
+the village, where he dined with company; and I did not even know that
+it was the house of his son, your father--so great a gulf is fixed
+between the legitimate and the bastard! He had crossed the wooden bridge
+in going, and was sure to cross it in coming back. How he could tread
+those planks without contrition and horror--but never mind. I resolved
+to bring him to a quiet parley there, and I waited in the valley.
+
+"The night was soft, and dark in patches where the land or wood closed
+in; and the stream was brown and threw no light, though the moon was on
+the uplands. Time and place alike were fit for our little explanation.
+The path wound down the meadow toward me, and I knew that he must come.
+My firm intention was to spare him, if he gave me a chance of it; but he
+never had the manners to do that.
+
+"Here I waited, with the cold leaves fluttering around me, until I heard
+a firm, slow step coming down the narrow path. Then a figure appeared in
+a stripe of moonlight, and stopped, and rested on a staff. Perhaps his
+lordship's mind went back some five-and-thirty years, to times when he
+told pretty stories here; and perhaps he laughed to himself to think how
+well he had got out of it. Whatever his meditations were, I let him have
+them out, and waited.
+
+"If he had even sighed, I might have felt more kindness toward him; but
+he only gave something between a cough and a grunt, and I clearly heard
+him say, 'Gout to-morrow morning! what the devil did I drink port-wine
+for!' He struck the ground with his stick and came onward, thinking far
+more of his feet than heart.
+
+"Then, as he planted one foot gingerly on the timber and stayed himself,
+I leaped along the bridge and met him, and without a word looked at him.
+The moon was topping the crest of the hills and threw my shadow upon
+him, the last that ever fell upon his body to its knowledge.
+
+"'Fellow, out of the way!' he cried, with a most commanding voice and
+air, though only too well he knew me; and my wrath against him began to
+rise.
+
+"'You pass not here, and you never make another live step on this
+earth,' I said, as calmly as now I speak, 'unless you obey my orders.'
+
+"He saw his peril, but he had courage--perhaps his only virtue. 'Fool!
+whoever you are,' he shouted, that his voice might fetch him help; 'none
+of these moon-struck ways with me! If you want to rob me, try it!'
+
+"'You know too well who I am,' I answered, as he made to push me back.
+'Lord Castlewood, here you have the choice--to lick the dust, or be
+dust! Here you forswore yourself; here you pay for perjury. On this
+plank you knelt to poor Winifred Hoyle, whom you ruined and cast by; and
+now on this plank you shall kneel to her son and swear to obey him--or
+else you die!'
+
+"In spite of all his pride, he trembled as if I had been Death himself,
+instead of his own dear eldest son.
+
+"'What do you want!' As he asked, he laid one hand on the rickety rail
+and shook it, and the dark old tree behind him shook. 'How much will
+satisfy you?'
+
+"'Miser, none of your money for us! it is too late for your half
+crowns! We must have a little of what you have grudged--having none to
+spare--your honor. My demands are simple, and only two. My mother is
+fool enough to yearn for one more sight of your false face; you will
+come with me and see her.'
+
+"'And if I yield to that, what next?'
+
+"'The next thing is a trifle to a nobleman like you. Here I have, in
+this blue trinket (false gems and false gold, of course), your solemn
+signature to a lie. At the foot of that you will have the truth to
+write, "I am a perjured liar!" and proudly sign it "Castlewood," in the
+presence of two witnesses. This can not hurt your feelings much, and it
+need not be expensive.'
+
+"Fury flashed in his bright old eyes, but he strove to check its
+outbreak. The gleaning of life, after threescore years, was better, in
+such lordly fields, than the whole of the harvest we got. He knew that I
+had him all to myself, to indulge my filial affection.
+
+"'You have been misled; you have never heard the truth; you have only
+heard your mother's story. Allow me to go back and to sit in a dry
+place; I am tired, and no longer young; you are bound to hear my tale as
+well. I passed a dry stump just now; I will go back: there is no fear of
+interruption.' My lord was talking against time.
+
+"'From this bridge you do not budge until you have gone on your knees
+and sworn what I shall dictate to you; this time it shall be no perjury.
+Here I hold your cursed pledge--'
+
+"He struck at me, or at the locket--no matter which--but it flew away.
+My right arm was crippled by his heavy stick; but I am left-handed, as a
+bastard should be. From my left hand he took his death, and I threw the
+pistol after him: such love had he earned from his love-child!"
+
+Thomas Castlewood, or Hoyle, or whatever else his name was, here broke
+off from his miserable words, and, forgetting all about my presence, set
+his gloomy eyes on the ground. Lightly he might try to speak, but there
+was no lightness in his mind, and no spark of light in his poor dead
+soul. Being so young, and unacquainted with the turns of life-worn mind,
+I was afraid to say a word except to myself, and to myself I only said,
+"The man is mad, poor fellow; and no wonder!"
+
+The sun was setting, not upon the vast Pacific from desert heights, but
+over the quiet hills and through the soft valleys of tame England; and,
+different as the whole scene was, a certain other sad and fearful sunset
+lay before me: the fall of night upon my dying father and his helpless
+child, the hour of anguish and despair! Here at last was the cause of
+all laid horribly before me; and the pity deeply moving me passed into
+cold abhorrence. But the man was lost in his own visions.
+
+"So in your savage wrath," I said, "you killed your own father, and in
+your fright left mine to bear the brunt of it."
+
+He raised his dark eyes heavily, and his thoughts were far astray from
+mine. He did not know what I had said, though he knew that I had spoken.
+The labor of calling to mind and telling his treatment of his father had
+worked upon him so much that he could not freely shift attention.
+
+"I came for something, something that can be only had from you," he
+said, "and only since your cousin's death, and something most important.
+But will you believe me? it is wholly gone, gone from mind and memory!"
+
+"I am not surprised at that," I answered, looking at his large wan face,
+and while I did so, losing half my horror in strange sadness. "Whatever
+it is, I will do it for you; only let me know by post."
+
+"I see what you mean--not to come any more. You are right about that,
+for certain. But your father was good to me, and I loved him, though
+I had no right to love any one. My letter will show that I wronged him
+never. The weight of the world is off my mind since I have told you
+every thing; you can send me to the gallows, if you think fit, but leave
+it till my mother dies. Good-by, poor child. I have spoiled your life,
+but only by chance consequence, not in murder-birth--as I was born."
+
+Before I could answer or call him back, if I even wished to do so,
+he was far away, with his long, quiet stride; and, like his life, his
+shadow fell, chilling, sombre, cast away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII
+
+BRUNTSEA DEFIANT
+
+
+Thus at last--by no direct exertion of my own, but by turn after turn
+of things to which I blindly gave my little help--the mystery of my life
+was solved. Many things yet remained to be fetched up to focus and seen
+round; but the point of points was settled.
+
+Of all concerned, my father alone stood blameless and heroic. What tears
+of shame and pride I shed, for ever having doubted him!--not doubting
+his innocence of the crime itself, but his motives for taking it upon
+him. I had been mean enough to dream that my dear father outraged
+justice to conceal his own base birth!
+
+That ever such thought should have entered my mind may not make me
+charitable to the wicked thoughts of the world at large, but, at any
+rate, it ought to do so. And the man in question, my own father, who
+had starved himself to save me! Better had I been the most illegal child
+ever issued into this cold world, than dare to think so of my father,
+and then find him the model of every thing.
+
+To hide the perjury, avarice, and cowardice of his father, and to
+appease the bitter wrong, he had even bowed to take the dark suspicion
+on himself, until his wronged and half-sane brother (to whom, moreover,
+he owed his life) should have time to fly from England. No doubt he
+blamed himself as much as he condemned the wretched criminal, because
+he had left his father so long unwarned and so unguarded, and had
+thoughtlessly used light words about him, which fell not lightly on a
+stern, distempered mind. Hence, perhaps, the exclamation which had told
+against him so.
+
+And then when he broke jail--which also told against him terribly--to
+revisit his shattered home, it is likely enough that he meant after that
+to declare the truth, and stand his trial as a man should do. But his
+wife, perhaps, in her poor weak state, could not endure the thought of
+it, knowing how often jury is injury, and seeing all the weight against
+him. She naturally pledged him to pursue his flight, "for her sake,"
+until she should be better able to endure his trial, and until he should
+have more than his own pure word and character to show. And probably
+if he had then been tried, with so many things against him, and no
+production of that poor brother, his tale would have seemed but a flimsy
+invention, and "Guilty" would have been the verdict. And they could not
+know that, in such case, the guilty man would have come forward, as we
+shall see that he meant to do.
+
+When my father heard of his dear wife's death, and believed, no doubt,
+that I was buried with the rest, the gloom of a broken and fated man,
+like polar night, settled down on him. What matter to him about public
+opinion or any thing else in the world just now? The sins of his father
+were on his head; let them rest there, rather than be trumpeted by him.
+He had nothing to care for; let him wander about. And so he did for
+several years, until I became a treasure to him--for parental is not
+intrinsic value--and then, for my sake, as now appeared, he betook us
+both to a large kind land.
+
+Revolving these things sadly, and a great many more which need not be
+told, I thought it my duty to go as soon as possible to Bruntsea, and
+tell my good and faithful friends what I was loath to write about.
+There, moreover, I could obtain what I wanted to confirm me--the opinion
+of an upright, law-abiding, honorable man about the course I proposed
+to take. And there I might hear something more as to a thing which
+had troubled me much in the deepest of my own troubles--the melancholy
+plight of dear Uncle Sam. Wild, and absurd as it may appear to people of
+no gratitude, my heart was set upon faring forth in search of the noble
+Sawyer, if only it could be reconciled with my duty here in England.
+That such a proceeding would avail but little, seemed now, alas! too
+manifest; but a plea of that kind generally means that we have no mind
+to do a thing.
+
+Be that as it will, I made what my dear Yankees--to use the Major's
+impertinent phrase--call "straight tracks" for that ancient and obsolete
+town, rejuvenized now by its Signor. The cause of my good friend's
+silence--not to use that affected word "reticence"--was quite unknown to
+me, and disturbed my spirit with futile guesses.
+
+Resolute, therefore, to pierce the bottom of every surviving mystery,
+I made claim upon "Mr. Stixon, junior"--as "Stixon's boy" had now
+vindicated his right to be called, up to supper-time--and he with high
+chivalry responded. Not yet was he wedded to Miss Polly Hopkins, the
+daughter of the pickled-pork man; otherwise would he or could he have
+made telegraphic blush at the word "Bruntsea?" And would he have been
+quite so eager to come?
+
+Such things are trifling, compared to our own, which naturally fill the
+universe. I was bound to be a great lady now, and patronize and regulate
+and drill all the doings of nature. So I durst not even ask, though
+desiring much to do so, how young Mr. Stixon was getting on with his
+delightful Polly. And his father, as soon as he found me turned into
+the mistress, and "his lady" (as he would have me called thenceforth,
+whether or no on my part), not another word would he tell me of the
+household sentiments, politics, or romances. It would have been thought
+a thing beneath me to put any nice little questions now, and I was
+obliged to take up the tone which others used toward me. But all the
+while I longed for freedom, Uncle Sam, Suan Isco, and even Martin of the
+Mill.
+
+Law business, however, and other hinderances, kept me from starting at
+once for Bruntsea, impatient as I was to do so. Indeed, it was not until
+the morning of the last Saturday in November that I was able to get
+away. The weather had turned to much rain, I remember, with two or three
+tempestuous nights, and the woods were almost bare of leaves, and the
+Thames looked brown and violent.
+
+In the fly from Newport to Bruntsea I heard great rollers thundering
+heavily upon the steep bar of shingle, and such a lake of water shone in
+the old bed of the river that I quite believed at first that the Major
+had carried out his grand idea, and brought the river back again. But
+the flyman shook his head, and looked very serious, and told me that
+he feared bad times were coming. What I saw was the work of the Lord in
+heaven, and no man could prevail against it. He had always said, though
+no concern of his--for he belonged to Newport--that even a British
+officer could not fly in the face of the Almighty. He himself had a
+brother on the works, regular employed, and drawing good money, and
+proud enough about it; and the times he had told him across a pint of
+ale--howsomever, our place was to hope for the best; but the top of the
+springs was not come yet, and a pilot out of Newport told him the water
+was making uncommon strong; but he did hope the wind had nigh blowed
+itself out; if not, they would have to look blessed sharp tomorrow. He
+had heard say that in time of Queen Elizabeth sixscore of houses was
+washed clean away, and the river itself knocked right into the sea; and
+a thing as had been once might just come to pass again, though folk was
+all so clever now they thought they wor above it. But, for all that,
+their grandfathers' goggles might fit them. But here we was in Bruntsea
+town, and, bless his old eyes--yes! If I pleased to look along his whip,
+I might see ancient pilot come, he did believe, to warn of them!
+
+Following his guidance, I descried a stout old man, in a sailor's
+dress, weather-proof hat, and long boots, standing on a low seawall, and
+holding vehement converse with some Bruntsea boatmen and fishermen who
+were sprawling on the stones as usual.
+
+"Driver, you know him. Take the lower road," I said, "and ask what his
+opinion is."
+
+"No need to ask him," the flyman answered; "old Banks would never
+be here, miss, if he was of two opinions. He hath come to fetch his
+daughter out of harm, I doubt, the wife of that there Bishop Jim, they
+call him--the chap with two nails to his thumb, you know. Would you like
+to hear how they all take it, miss?"
+
+With these words he turned to the right, and drove into Major Hockin's
+"Sea Parade." There we stopped to hear what was going on, and it proved
+to be well worth our attention. The old pilot perhaps had exhausted
+reason, and now was beginning to give way to wrath. The afternoon was
+deepening fast, with heavy gray clouds lowering, showing no definite
+edge, but streaked with hazy lines, and spotted by some little murky
+blurs or blots, like tar pots, carried slowly.
+
+"Hath Noah's Ark ever told a lie?" the ancient pilot shouted, pointing
+with one hand at these, and with a clinched fist at the sea, whence came
+puffs of sullen air, and turned his gray locks backward. "Mackerel sky
+when the sun got up, mermaiden's eggs at noon, and now afore sunset
+Noah's Arks! Any of them breweth a gale of wind, and the three of them
+bodes a tempest. And the top of the springs of the year to-morrow.
+Are ye daft, or all gone upon the spree, my men? Your fathers would 'a
+knowed what the new moon meant. Is this all that cometh out of larning
+to read?"
+
+"Have a pinch of 'bacco, old man," said one, "to help you off with that
+stiff reel. What consarn can he be of yourn?"
+
+"Don't you be put out, mate," cried another. "Never came sea as could
+top that bar, and never will in our time. Go and calk your old leaky
+craft, Master Banks."
+
+"We have rode out a good many gales without seeking prophet from
+Newport--a place never heerd on when this old town was made."
+
+"Come and wet your old whistle at the 'Hockin Arms,' Banks. You must
+want it, after that long pipe."
+
+"'Hockin Arms,' indeed!" the pilot answered, turning away in a rage from
+them. "What Hockin Arms will there be this time to-morrow? Hockin legs
+wanted, more likely, and Hockin wings. And you poor grinning ninnies,
+as ought to have four legs, ye'll be praying that ye had them to-morrow.
+However, ye've had warning, and ye can't blame me. The power of the Lord
+is in the air and sea. Is this the sort of stuff ye trust in?"
+
+He set one foot against our Major's wall--an action scarcely honest
+while it was so green--and, coming from a hale and very thickset man,
+the contemptuous push sent a fathom of it outward. Rattle, rattle went
+the new patent concrete, starting up the lazy-pated fellows down below.
+
+"You'll try the walls of a jail," cried one. "You go to Noah's Ark,"
+shouted another. The rest bade him go to a place much worse; but he
+buttoned his jacket in disdain, and marched away, without spoiling the
+effect by any more weak words.
+
+"Right you are," cried my flyman--"right you are, Master Banks. Them
+lubbers will sing another song to-morrow. Gee up, old hoss, then!"
+
+All this, and the ominous scowl of the sky and menacing roar of the sea
+(already crowding with black rollers), disturbed me so that I could
+say nothing, until, at the corner of the grand new hotel, we met Major
+Hockin himself, attired in a workman's loose jacket, and carrying a
+shovel. He was covered with mud and dried flakes of froth, and even his
+short white whiskers were incrusted with sparkles of brine; but his face
+was ruddy and smiling, and his manner as hearty as ever.
+
+"You here, Erema! Oh, I beg pardon--Baroness Castlewood, if you please.
+My dear, again I congratulate you."
+
+"You have as little cause to do that as I fear I can find in your case.
+You have no news for me from America? How sad! But what a poor plight
+you yourself are in!"
+
+"Not a bit of it. At first sight you might think so; and we certainly
+have had a very busy time. Send back the fly. Leave your bag at our
+hotel. Porter, be quick with Lady Castlewood's luggage. One piece of
+luck befalls me--to receive so often this beautiful hand. What a lot of
+young fellows now would die of envy--"
+
+"I am glad that you still can talk nonsense," I said; "for I truly was
+frightened at this great lake, and so many of your houses even standing
+in the water."
+
+"It will do them good. It will settle the foundations and crystallize
+the mortar. They will look twice as well when they come out again,
+and never have rats or black beetles. We were foolish enough to be
+frightened at first; and there may have been danger a fortnight ago. But
+since that tide we have worked day and night, and every thing is now so
+stable that fear is simply ridiculous. On the whole, it has been a most
+excellent thing--quite the making, in fact, of Bruntsea."
+
+"Then Bruntsea must be made of water," I replied, gazing sadly at the
+gulf which parted us from the Sea Parade, the Lyceum, and Baths, the
+Bastion Promenade, and so on; beyond all which the streaky turmoil and
+misty scud of the waves were seen.
+
+"Made of beer, more likely," he retorted, with a laugh. "If my fellows
+worked like horses--which they did--they also drank like fishes. Their
+mouths were so dry with the pickle, they said. But the total abstainers
+were the worst, being out of practice with the can. However, let us
+make no complaints. We ought to be truly thankful; and I shall miss
+the exercise. That is why you have heard so little from me. You see the
+position at a glance. I have never been to Paris at all, Erema. I have
+not rubbed up my parleywoo, with a blast from Mr. Bellows. I was stopped
+by a telegram about this job--acrior illum. I had some Latin once, quite
+enough for the House of Commons, but it all oozed out at my elbows; and
+to ladies (by some superstition) it is rude--though they treat us to bad
+French enough. Never mind. What I want to say is this, that I have done
+nothing, but respected your sad trouble; for you took a wild fancy to
+that poor bedridden, who never did you a stroke of good except about
+Cosmopolitan Jack, and whose removal has come at the very nick of time.
+For what could you have done for money, with the Yankees cutting each
+other's throats, and your nugget quite sure to be annexed, or, at the
+very best, squared up in greenbacks?"
+
+"You ought not to speak so, Major Hockin. If all your plans were not
+under water, I should be quite put out with you. My cousin was not
+bedridden; neither was he at all incapable, as you have called him once
+or twice. He was an infinitely superior man to--to what one generally
+sees; and when you have heard what I have to tell, in his place
+you would have done just as he did. And as for money, and 'happy
+release'--as the people who never want it for themselves express
+it--such words simply sicken me; at great times they are so sordid."
+
+"What is there in this world that is not sordid--to the young in one
+sense, and to the old in another?"
+
+Major Hockin so seldom spoke in this didactic way, and I was so unable
+to make it out, that, having expected some tiff on his part at my
+juvenile arrogance, I was just in the mould for a deep impression from
+sudden stamp of philosophy. I had nothing to say in reply, and he went
+up in my opinion greatly.
+
+He knew it; and he said, with touching kindness, "Erema, come and see
+your dear aunt Mary. She has had an attack of rheumatic gout in her
+thimble-finger, and her maids have worried her out of her life, and
+by far the most brilliant of her cocks (worth 20 pounds they tell me)
+breathed his last on Sunday night, with gapes, or croup, or something.
+This is why you have not heard again from her. I have been in the
+trenches day and night, stoning out the sea with his own stones, by a
+new form of concrete discovered by myself. And unless I am very much
+mistaken--in fact, I do not hesitate to say--But such things are not
+in your line at all. Let us go up to the house. Our job is done, and I
+think Master Neptune may pound away in vain. I have got a new range in
+the kitchen now, partly of my own invention; you can roast, or bake, or
+steam, or stew, or frizzle kabobs--all by turning a screw. And not only
+that, but you can keep things hot, piping hot, and ripening, as it were,
+better than when they first were done. Instead of any burned iron taste,
+or scum on the gravy, or clottiness, they mellow by waiting, and make
+their own sauce. If I ever have time I shall patent this invention; why,
+you may burn brick-dust in it, Bath-brick, hearth-stone, or potsherds!
+At any hour of the day or night, while the sea is in this condition, I
+may want my dinner; and there we have it. We say grace immediately,
+and down we sit. Let us take it by surprise, if it can be taken so. Up
+through my chief drive, instanter! I think that I scarcely ever felt
+more hungry. The thought of that range always sets me off. And one of
+its countless beauties is the noble juicy fragrance."
+
+Major Hockin certainly possessed the art--so meritorious in a host--of
+making people hungry; and we mounted the hill with alacrity, after
+passing his letter-box, which reminded me of the mysterious lady. He
+pointed to "Desolate Hole," as he called it, and said that he believed
+she was there still, though she never came out now to watch their house.
+And a man of dark and repelling aspect had been seen once or twice by
+his workmen, during the time of their night relays, rapidly walking
+toward Desolate Hole. How any one could live in such a place, with the
+roar and the spray of the sea, as it had been, at the very door, and
+through the windows, some people might understand, but not the Major.
+
+Good Mrs. Hockin received me with her usual warmth and kindness, and
+scolded me for having failed to write more to her, as all people seem
+to do when conscious of having neglected that duty themselves. Then she
+showed me her thimble-finger, which certainly was a little swollen;
+and then she poured forth her gratitude for her many blessings, as she
+always did after any little piece of grumbling. And I told her that
+if at her age I were only a quarter as pleasant and sweet of temper, I
+should consider myself a blessing to any man.
+
+After dinner my host produced the locket, which he had kept for the
+purpose of showing it to the artist's son in Paris, and which he admired
+so intensely that I wished it were mine to bestow on him. Then I told
+him that, through a thing wholly unexpected--the confession of the
+criminal himself--no journey to Paris was needful now. I repeated that
+strange and gloomy tale, to the loud accompaniment of a rising wind and
+roaring sea, while both my friends listened intently.
+
+"Now what can have led him so to come to you?" they asked; "and what do
+you mean to do about it?"
+
+"He came to me, no doubt, to propose some bargain, which could not be
+made in my cousin's lifetime. But the telling of his tale made him feel
+so strange that he really could not remember what it was. As to what
+I am to do, I must beg for your opinion; such a case is beyond my
+decision." Mrs. Hockin began to reply, but stopped, looking dutifully at
+her lord.
+
+"There is no doubt what you are bound to do, at least in one way," the
+Major said. "You are a British subject, I suppose, and you must obey
+the laws of the country. A man has confessed to you a murder--no matter
+whether it was committed twenty years ago or two minutes; no matter
+whether it was a savage, cold-blooded, premeditated crime, or whether
+there were things to palliate it. Your course is the same; you must hand
+him over. In fact, you ought never to have let him go."
+
+"How could I help it?" I pleaded, with surprise. "It was impossible for
+me to hold him."
+
+"Then you should have shot him with his own pistol. He offered it to
+you. You should have grasped it, pointed it at his heart, and told him
+that he was a dead man if he stirred."
+
+"Aunt Mary, would you have done that?" I asked. "It is so easy to talk
+of fine things! But in the first place, I had no wish to stop him; and
+in the next, I could not if I had."
+
+"My dear," Mrs. Hockin replied, perceiving my distress at this view of
+the subject, "I should have done exactly what you did. If the laws
+of this country ordain that women are to carry them out against great
+strong men, who, after all, have been sadly injured, why, it proves that
+women ought to make the laws, which to my mind is simply ridiculous."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV
+
+BRUNTSEA DEFEATED
+
+
+Little sleep had I that night. Such conflict was in my mind about the
+proper thing to be done next, and such a war of the wind outside, above
+and between the distant uproar of the long tumultuous sea. Of that sound
+much was intercepted by the dead bulk of the cliff, but the wind swung
+fiercely over this, and rattled through all shelter. In the morning the
+storm was furious; but the Major declared that his weather-glass had
+turned, which proved that the gale was breaking. The top of the tide
+would be at one o'clock, and after church we should behold a sight he
+was rather proud of--the impotent wrath of the wind and tide against his
+patent concrete.
+
+"My dear, I scarcely like such talk," Mrs. Hockin gently interposed.
+"To me it seems almost defiant of the power of the Lord. Remember what
+happened to poor Smeaton--at least I think his name was Smeaton, or
+Stanley, was it? But I dare say you know best. He defied the strength
+of the Lord, like the people at the mouth of their tent, and he was
+swallowed up."
+
+"Mary, my dear, get your prayer-book. Rasper's fly is waiting for us,
+and the parson has no manners. When he drops off, I present to the
+living; and I am not at all sure that I shall let George have it. He
+is fond of processions, and all that stuff. The only procession in the
+Church of England is that of the lord of the manor to his pew. I will be
+the master in my own church."
+
+"Of course, dear, of course; so you ought to be. It always was so in my
+father's parish. But you must not speak so of our poor George. He may be
+'High-Church,' as they call it; but he knows what is due to his family,
+and he has a large one coming."
+
+We set off hastily for the church, through blasts of rain and buffets of
+wind, which threatened to overturn the cab, and the seaward window
+was white, as in a snowstorm, with pellets of froth, and the drift of
+sea-scud. I tried to look out, but the blur and the dash obscured the
+sight of every thing. And though in this lower road we were partly
+sheltered by the pebble ridge, the driver was several times obliged to
+pull his poor horse up and face the wind, for fear of our being blown
+over.
+
+That ancient church, with its red-tiled spire, stands well up in the
+good old town, at the head of a street whose principal object now
+certainly is to lead to it. Three hundred years ago that street had
+business of its own to think of, and was brave perhaps with fine men and
+maids at the time of the Spanish Armada. Its only bravery now was the
+good old church, and some queer gables, and a crypt (which was true
+to itself by being buried up to the spandrels), and one or two corners
+where saints used to stand, until they were pelted out of them, and
+where fisher-like men, in the lodging season, stand selling fish caught
+at Billingsgate. But to Bruntsea itself the great glory of that street
+was rather of hope than of memory. Bailiff Hopkins had taken out
+three latticed windows, and put in one grand one of plate-glass, with
+"finishing" blinds all varnished. And even on a Sunday morning Bruntsea
+wanted to know what ever the bailiff was at behind them. Some said that
+he did all his pickling on a Sunday; and by putting up "spectacle glass"
+he had challenged the oldest inhabitant to come and try his focus.
+
+Despite all the rattle and roar of the wind, we went on in church
+as usual. The vicar had a stout young curate from Durham, who could
+outshout any tempest, with a good stone wall between them; and the
+Bruntsea folk were of thicker constitution than to care an old hat for
+the weather. Whatever was "sent by the Lord" they took with a grumble,
+but no excitement. The clock in front of the gallery told the time
+of the day as five minutes to twelve, when the vicar, a pleasant
+old-fashioned man, pronounced his text, which he always did thrice over
+to make us sure of it. And then he hitched up his old black gown, and
+directed his gaze at the lord of the manor, to impress the whole church
+with authority. Major Hockin acknowledged in a proper manner this
+courtesy of the minister by rubbing up his crest, and looking even more
+wide-awake than usual; whereas Aunt Mary, whose kind heart longed to
+see her own son in that pulpit, calmly settled back her shoulders, and
+arranged her head and eyes so well as to seem at a distance in rapt
+attention, while having a nice little dream of her own. But suddenly all
+was broken up. The sexton (whose license as warden of the church, and
+even whose duty it was to hear the sermon only fitfully, from the tower
+arch, where he watched the boys, and sniffed the bakehouse of his own
+dinner)--to the consternation of every body, this faithful man ran up
+the nave, with his hands above his head, and shouted,
+
+"All Brownzee be awash, awash"--sounding it so as to rhyme with
+"lash"--"the zea, the zea be all over us!"
+
+The clergyman in the pulpit turned and looked through a window behind
+him, while all the congregation rose.
+
+"It is too true," the preacher cried; "the sea is in over the bank, my
+friends. Every man must rush to his own home. The blessing of the Lord
+be on you through His fearful visitation!"
+
+He had no time to say more; and we thought it very brave of him to say
+that, for his own house was in the lower village, and there he had a
+wife and children sick. In half a minute the church was empty, and the
+street below it full of people, striving and struggling against the
+blast, and breasting it at an incline like swimmers, but beaten back
+ever and anon and hurled against one another, with tattered umbrellas,
+hats gone, and bonnets hanging. And among them, like gulls before the
+wind, blew dollops of spray and chunks of froth, with every now and then
+a slate or pantile.
+
+All this was so bad that scarcely any body found power to speak, or
+think, or see. The Major did his very best to lead us, but could by no
+means manage it. And I screamed into his soundest ear to pull Aunt Mary
+into some dry house--for she could not face such buffeting--and to let
+me fare for myself as I might. So we left Mrs. Hockin in the bailiff's
+house, though she wanted sadly to come with us, and on we went to behold
+the worst. And thus, by running the byes of the wind, and craftily
+hugging the corners, we got to the foot of the street at last, and then
+could go no further.
+
+For here was the very sea itself, with furious billows panting. Before
+us rolled and ran a fearful surf of crested whiteness, torn by the
+screeching squalls, and tossed in clashing tufts and pinnacles. And
+into these came, sweeping over the shattered chine of shingle, gigantic
+surges from the outer deep, towering as they crossed the bar, and
+combing against the sky-line, then rushing onward, and driving the
+huddle of the ponded waves before them.
+
+The tide was yet rising, and at every blow the wreck and the havoc grew
+worse and worse. That long sweep of brick-work, the "Grand Promenade,"
+bowed and bulged, with wall and window knuckled in and out, like
+wattles; the "Sea Parade" was a parade of sea; and a bathing-machine
+wheels upward lay, like a wrecked Noah's Ark, on the top of the
+"Saline-Silico-Calcareous Baths."
+
+The Major stood by me, while all his constructions "went by the board,"
+as they say at sea; and verily every thing was at sea. I grieved for him
+so that it was not the spray alone that put salt drops on my cheeks. And
+I could not bear to turn and look at his good old weather-beaten face.
+But he was not the man to brood upon his woes in silence. He might have
+used nicer language, perhaps, but his inner sense was manful.
+
+"I don't care a damn," he shouted, so that all the women heard him. "I
+can only say I am devilish glad that I never let one of those houses."
+
+There was a little band of seamen, under the shelter of a garden wall,
+crouching, or sitting, or standing (or whatever may be the attitude,
+acquired by much voyaging and experience of bad weather, which can not
+be solved, as to centre of gravity, even by the man who does it), and
+these men were so taken with the Major's manifesto, clinched at once and
+clarified to them by strong, short language, that they gave him a loud
+"hurrah," which flew on the wings of the wind over house-tops. So queer
+and sound is English feeling that now Major Hockin became in truth what
+hitherto he was in title only--the lord and master of Bruntsea.
+
+"A boat! a boat!" he called out again. "We know not who are drowning.
+The bank still breaks the waves; a stout boat surely could live inside
+it."
+
+"Yes, a boat could live well enough in this cockle, though never among
+them breakers," old Barnes, the fisherman, answered, who used to take us
+out for whiting; "but Lord bless your honor, all the boats are thumped
+to pieces, except yonner one, and who can get at her?"
+
+Before restoring his hands to their proper dwelling-place--his
+pockets--he jerked his thumb toward a long white boat, which we had not
+seen through the blinding scud. Bereft of its brethren, or sisters--for
+all fluctuating things are feminine--that boat survived, in virtue of
+standing a few feet higher than the rest. But even so, and mounted
+on the last hump of the pebble ridge, it was rolling and reeling with
+stress of the wind and the wash of wild water under it.
+
+"How nobly our Lyceum stands!" the Major shouted, for any thing less
+than a shout was dumb. "This is the time to try institutions. I am proud
+of my foundations."
+
+In answer to his words appeared a huge brown surge, a mountain ridge,
+seething backward at the crest with the spread and weight of onset.
+This great wave smote all other waves away, or else embodied them, and
+gathered its height against the poor worn pebble bank, and descended.
+A roar distinct above the universal roar proclaimed it; a crash of
+conflict shook the earth, and the shattered bank was swallowed in a
+world of leaping whiteness. When this wild mass dashed onward into the
+swelling flood before us, there was no sign of Lyceum left, but stubs of
+foundation, and a mangled roof rolling over and over, like a hen-coop.
+
+"Well, that beats every thing I ever saw," exclaimed the gallant Major.
+"What noble timber! What mortise-work! No London scamping there, my
+lads. But what comes here? Why, the very thing we wanted! Barnes, look
+alive, my man. Run to your house, and get a pair of oars and a bucket."
+
+It was the boat, the last surviving boat of all that hailed from
+Bruntsea. That monstrous billow had tossed it up like a school-boy's
+kite, and dropped it whole, with an upright keel, in the inland sea,
+though nearly half full of water. Driven on by wind and wave, it labored
+heavily toward us; and more than once it seemed certain to sink as it
+broached to and shipped seas again. But half a dozen bold fishermen
+rushed with a rope into the short angry surf--to which the polled
+shingle bank still acted as a powerful breakwater, else all Bruntsea had
+collapsed--and they hauled up the boat with a hearty cheer, and ran her
+up straight with, "Yo--heave--oh!" and turned her on her side to drain,
+and then launched her again, with a bucket and a man to bail out the
+rest of the water, and a pair of heavy oars brought down by Barnes, and
+nobody knows what other things.
+
+"Naught to steer with. Rudder gone!" cried one of the men, as the
+furious gale drove the boat, athwart the street, back again.
+
+"Wants another oar," said Barnes. "What a fool I were to bring only
+two!"
+
+"Here you are!" shouted Major Hockin. "One of you help me to pull up
+this pole."
+
+Through a shattered gate they waded into a little garden, which had been
+the pride of the season at Bruntsea; and there from the ground they tore
+up a pole, with a board at the top nailed across it, and the following
+not rare legend: "Lodgings to let. Inquire within. First floor front,
+and back parlors."
+
+"Fust-rate thing to steer with! Would never have believed you had the
+sense!" So shouted Barnes--a rough man, roughened by the stress of storm
+and fright. "Get into starn-sheets if so liketh. Ye know, ye may be
+useful."
+
+"I defy you to push off without my sanction. Useful, indeed! I am the
+captain of this boat. All the ground under it is mine. Did you think,
+you set of salted radicals, that I meant to let you go without me? And
+all among my own houses!"
+
+"Look sharp, governor, if you has the pluck, then. Mind, we are more
+like to be swamped than not."
+
+As the boat swung about, Major Hockin jumped in, and so, on the spur of
+the moment, did I. We staggered all about with the heave and roll,
+and both would have fallen on the planks, or out over, if we had not
+tumbled, with opposite impetus, into the arms of each other. Then a
+great wave burst and soaked us both, and we fell into sitting on a
+slippery seat.
+
+Meanwhile two men were tugging at each oar, and Barnes himself steering
+with the sign-board; and the head of the boat was kept against the
+wind and the billows from our breakwater. Some of these seemed resolved
+(though shorn of depth and height in crossing) to rush all over us and
+drown us in the washer-women's drying ground. By skill and presence
+of mind, our captain, Barnes, foiled all their violence, till we got a
+little shelter from the ruins of the "Young Men's Christian Institute."
+
+"Hold all!" cried Barnes; "only keep her head up, while I look about
+what there is to do."
+
+The sight was a thing to remember; and being on the better side now of
+the scud, because it was flying away from us, we could make out a great
+deal more of the trouble which had befallen Bruntsea. The stormy fiord
+which had usurped the ancient track of the river was about a furlong in
+width, and troughed with white waves vaulting over. And the sea rushed
+through at the bottom as well, through scores of yards of pebbles, as it
+did in quiet weather even, when the tide was brimming. We in the tossing
+boat, with her head to the inrush of the outer sea, were just like
+people sitting upon the floats or rafts of a furious weir; and if any
+such surge had topped the ridge as the one which flung our boat to us,
+there could be no doubt that we must go down as badly as the Major's
+houses. However, we hoped for the best, and gazed at the desolation
+inland.
+
+Not only the Major's great plan, but all the lower line of old Bruntsea,
+was knocked to pieces, and lost to knowledge in freaks of wind-lashed
+waters. Men and women were running about with favorite bits of
+furniture, or feather-beds, or babies' cradles, or whatever they had
+caught hold of. The butt ends of the three old streets that led down
+toward the sea-ground were dipped, as if playing seesaw in the surf, and
+the storm made gangways of them and lighthouses of the lamp-posts. The
+old public-house at the corner was down, and the waves leaping in at the
+post-office door, and wrecking the globes of the chemist.
+
+"Drift and dash, and roar and rush, and the devil let loose in the thick
+of it. My eyes are worn out with it. Take the glass, Erema, and tell
+us who is next to be washed away. A new set of clothes-props for Mrs.
+Mangles I paid for the very day I came back from town."
+
+With these words, the lord of the submarine manor (whose strength of
+spirit amazed me) offered his pet binocular, which he never went without
+upon his own domain. And fisherman Barnes, as we rose and fell, once
+more saved us from being "swamped" by his clever way of paddling through
+a scallop in the stern, with the board about the first floor front to
+let.
+
+The seamen, just keeping way on the boat, sheltered their eyes with
+their left hands, and fixed them on the tumultuous scene.
+
+I also gazed through the double glass, which was a very clear one; but
+none of us saw any human being at present in any peril.
+
+"Old pilot was right, after all," said one; "but what a good job as it
+come o' middle day, and best of all of a Sunday!"
+
+"I have heered say," replied another, "that the like thing come to pass
+nigh upon three hunder years agone. How did you get your things out, Jem
+Bishop?"
+
+Jem, the only one of them whose house was in the havoc, regarded with a
+sailor's calmness the entry of the sea through his bedroom window, and
+was going to favor us with a narrative, when one of his mates exclaimed,
+
+"What do I see yonner, lads? Away beyond town altogether. Seemeth to me
+like a fellow swimming. Miss, will you lend me spy-glass? Never seed a
+double-barreled one before. Can use him with one eye shut, I s'pose?"
+
+"No good that way, Joe," cried Barnes, with a wink of superior
+knowledge, for he often had used this binocular. "Shut one eye for one
+barrel--stands to reason, then, you shut both for two, my son."
+
+"Stow that," said the quick-eyed sailor, as he brought the glass to bear
+in a moment. "It is a man in the water, lads, and swimming to save the
+witch, I do believe."
+
+"Bless me!" cried the Major; "how stupid of us! I never thought once of
+that poor woman. She must be washed out long ago. Pull for your lives,
+my friends. A guinea apiece if you save her."
+
+"And another from me," I cried. Whereupon the boat swept round, and the
+tough ash bent, and we rushed into no small danger. For nearly half a
+mile had we to pass of raging and boisterous water, almost as wild as
+the open sea itself at the breaches of the pebble ridge. And the risk of
+a heavy sea boarding us was fearfully multiplied by having thus to cross
+the storm instead of breasting it. Useless and helpless, and only in
+the way, and battered about by wind and sea, so that my Sunday dress was
+become a drag, what folly, what fatuity, what frenzy, I might call it,
+could ever have led me to jump into that boat? "I don't know. I only
+know that I always do it," said my sensible self to its mad sister, as
+they both shut their eyes at a great white wave. "If I possibly survive,
+I will try to know better. But ever from my childhood I am getting into
+scrapes."
+
+The boat labored on, with a good many grunts, but not a word from any
+one. More than once we were obliged to fetch up as a great billow topped
+the poor shingle bank; and we took so much water on board that the
+men said afterward that I saved them. I only remember sitting down and
+working at the bucket with both hands, till much of the skin was
+gone, and my arms and many other places ached. But what was that to be
+compared with drowning?
+
+At length we were opposite "Desolate Hole," which was a hole no longer,
+but filled and flooded with the churning whirl and reckless dominance
+of water. Tufts and tussocks of shattered brush and rolling wreck played
+round it, and the old gray stone of mullioned windows split the wash
+like mooring-posts. We passed and gazed; but the only sound was the
+whistling of the tempest, and the only living sight a sea-gull, weary of
+his wings, and drowning.
+
+"No living creature can be there," the Major broke our long silence.
+"Land, my friends, if land we may. We risk our own lives for nothing."
+
+The men lay back on their oars to fetch the gallant boat to the wind
+again, when through a great gap in the ruins they saw a sight that
+startled manhood. At the back of that ruin, on the landward side, on a
+wall which, tottered under them, there were two figures standing. One a
+tall man, urging on, the other a woman shrinking. At a glance, or with
+a thought, I knew them both. One was Lord Castlewood's first love, the
+other his son and murderer.
+
+Our men shouted with the whole power of their hearts to tell that
+miserable pair to wait till succor should be brought to them. And the
+Major stood up and waved his hat, and in doing so tumbled back again.
+I can not tell--how could I tell in the thick of it?--but an idea or a
+flit of fancy touched me (and afterward became conviction) that while
+the man heard us not at all, and had no knowledge of us, his mother
+turned round and saw us all, and faced the storm in preference.
+
+Whatever the cause may have been, at least she suddenly changed her
+attitude. The man had been pointing to the roof, which threatened to
+fall in a mass upon them, while she had been shuddering back from the
+depth of eddying waves below her. But now she drew up her poor bent
+figure, and leaned on her son to obey him.
+
+Our boat, with strong arms laboring for life, swept round the old gable
+of the ruin; but we were compelled to "give it wide berth," as Captain
+Barnes shouted; and then a black squall of terrific wind and hail burst
+forth. We bowed our heads and drew our bodies to their tightest compass,
+and every rib of our boat vibrated as a violin does; and the oars were
+beaten flat, and dashed their drip into fringes like a small-toothed
+comb.
+
+That great squall was either a whirlwind or the crowning blast of a
+hurricane. It beat the high waves hollow, as if it fell from the sky
+upon them; and it snapped off one of our oars at the hilt, so that two
+of our men rolled backward. And when we were able to look about again
+the whole roof of "Desolate Hole" was gone, and little of the walls left
+standing. And how we should guide our course, or even save our lives, we
+knew not.
+
+We were compelled to bring up--as best we might--with the boat's head
+to the sea, and so to keep it by using the steering gear against the
+surviving oar. As for the people we were come to save, there was no
+chance whatever of approaching them. Even without the mishap to the oar,
+we never could have reached them.
+
+And indeed when first we saw them again they seemed better off than
+ourselves were. For they were not far from dry land, and the man (a
+skillful and powerful swimmer) had a short piece of plank, which he knew
+how to use to support his weak companion.
+
+"Brave fellow! fine fellow!" the Major cried, little knowing whom he was
+admiring. "See how he keeps up his presence of mind! Such a man as that
+is worth any thing. And he cares more for her than he does for himself.
+He shall have the Society's medal. One more long and strong stroke, my
+noble friend. Oh, great God! what has befallen him?"
+
+In horror and pity we gazed. The man had been dashed against something
+headlong. He whirled round and round in white water, his legs were
+thrown up, and we saw no more of him. The woman cast off the plank, and
+tossed her helpless arms in search of him. A shriek, ringing far on
+the billowy shore, declared that she had lost him; and then, without a
+struggle, she clasped her hands, and the merciless water swallowed her.
+
+"It is all over," cried Major Hockin, lifting his drenched hat solemnly.
+"The Lord knoweth best. He has taken them home."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV
+
+A DEAD LETTER
+
+
+With that great tornado, the wind took a leap of more points of the
+compass than I can tell. Barnes, the fisherman, said how many; but I
+might be quite wrong in repeating it. One thing, at any rate, was within
+my compass--it had been blowing to the top of its capacity, direct from
+the sea, but now it began to blow quite as hard along the shore. This
+rough ingratitude of wind to waves, which had followed each breath of
+its orders, produced extraordinary passion, and raked them into pointed
+wind-cocks.
+
+"Captain, we can't live this out," cried Barnes; "we must run her ashore
+at once; tide has turned; we might be blown out to sea, with one oar,
+and then the Lord Himself couldn't save us."
+
+Crippled as we were, we contrived to get into a creek, or backwater,
+near the Major's gate. Here the men ran the boat up, and we all climbed
+out, stiff, battered, and terrified, but doing our best to be most truly
+thankful.
+
+"Go home, Captain, as fast as you can, and take the young lady along of
+you," said Mr. Barnes, as we stood and gazed at the weltering breadth of
+disaster. "We are born to the drip, but not you, Sir; and you are not so
+young as you was, you know."
+
+"I am younger than ever I was," the lord of the manor answered, sternly,
+yet glancing back to make sure of no interruption from his better
+half--who had not even heard of his danger. "None of that nonsense to
+me, Barnes. You know your position, and I know mine. On board of that
+boat you took the lead, and that may have misled you. I am very much
+obliged to you, I am sure, for all your skill and courage, which have
+saved the lives of all of us. But on land you will just obey me."
+
+"Sartinly, Captain. What's your orders?"
+
+"Nothing at all. I give no orders. I only make suggestions. But if your
+experience sees a way to recover those two poor bodies, let us try it
+at once--at once, Barnes. Erema, run home. This is no scene for you. And
+tell Margaret to put on the double-bottomed boiler, with the stock she
+made on Friday, and a peck of patent pease. There is nothing to beat pea
+soup; and truly one never knows what may happen."
+
+This was only too evident now, and nobody disobeyed him.
+
+Running up his "drive" to deliver that message, at one of the many
+bends I saw people from Bruntsea hurrying along a footpath through the
+dairy-farm. While the flood continued this was their only way to meet
+the boat's crew. On the steps of "Smuggler's Castle" (as Bruntlands
+House was still called by the wicked) I turned again, and the new
+sea-line was fringed with active searchers. I knew what they were
+looking for, but, scared and drenched and shivering as I was, no more
+would I go near them. My duty was rather to go in and comfort dear Aunt
+Mary and myself. In that melancholy quest I could do no good, but a
+great deal of harm, perhaps, if any thing was found, by breaking forth
+about it.
+
+Mrs. Hockin had not the least idea of the danger we had encountered.
+Bailiff Hopkins had sent her home in Rasper's fly by an inland road, and
+she kept a good scolding quite ready for her husband, to distract his
+mind from disaster. That trouble had happened she could not look out
+of her window without knowing; but could it be right, at their time of
+life, to stand in the wet so, and challenge Providence, and spoil the
+first turkey-poult of the season?
+
+But when she heard of her husband's peril, in the midst of all his
+losses, his self-command, and noble impulse first of all to rescue life,
+she burst into tears, and hugged and kissed me, and said the same thing
+nearly fifty times.
+
+"Just like him. Just like my Nicholas. You thought him a speculative,
+selfish man. Now you see your mistake, Erema."
+
+When her veteran husband came home at last (thoroughly jaded, and
+bringing his fishermen to gulp the pea soup and to gollop the turkey),
+a small share of mind, but a large one of heart, is required to imagine
+her doings. Enough that the Major kept saying, "Pooh-pooh!" and the more
+he said, the less he got of it.
+
+When feelings calmed down, and we returned to facts, our host and hero
+(who, in plain truth, had not so wholly eclipsed me in courage, though
+of course I expected no praise, and got none, for people hate courage in
+a lady), to put it more simply, the Major himself, making a considerable
+fuss, as usual--for to my mind he never could be Uncle Sam--produced
+from the case of his little "Church Service," to which he had stuck like
+a Briton, a sealed and stamped letter, addressed to me at Castlewood, in
+Berkshire--"stamped," not with any post-office tool, but merely with the
+red thing which pays the English post.
+
+Sodden and blurred as the writing was, I knew the clear, firm hand, the
+same which on the envelope at Shoxford had tempted me to meanness. This
+letter was from Thomas Hoyle; the Major had taken it from the pocket of
+his corpse; all doubt about his death was gone. When he felt his feet on
+the very shore, and turned to support his mother, a violent wave struck
+the back of his head upon Major Hockin's pillar-box.
+
+Such sadness came into my heart--though sternly it should have been
+gladness--that I begged their pardon, and went away, as if with a
+private message. And wicked as it may have been, to read was more than
+once to cry. The letter began abruptly:
+
+"You know nearly all my story now. I have only to tell you what brought
+me to you, and what my present offer is. But to make it clear, I must
+enlarge a little.
+
+"There was no compact of any kind between your father and myself. He
+forbore at first to tell what he must have known, partly, perhaps, to
+secure my escape, and partly for other reasons. If he had been brought
+to trial, his duty to his family and himself would have led him, no
+doubt, to explain things. And if that had failed, I would have returned
+and surrendered myself. As things happened, there was no need.
+
+"Through bad luck, with which I had nothing to do, though doubtless the
+whole has been piled on my head, your father's home was destroyed, and
+he seems to have lost all care for every thing. Yet how much better off
+was he than I! Upon me the curse fell at birth; upon him, after thirty
+years of ease and happiness. However, for that very reason, perhaps, he
+bore it worse than I did. He grew imbittered against the world, which
+had in no way ill-treated him; whereas its very first principle is to
+scorn all such as I am. He seems to have become a misanthrope, and
+a fatalist like myself. Though it might almost make one believe the
+existence of such a thing as justice to see pride pay for its wickedness
+thus--the injury to the outcast son recoil upon the pampered one, and
+the family arrogance crown itself with the ignominy of the family.
+
+"In any case, there was no necessity for my interference; and being
+denied by fate all sense of duty to a father, I was naturally driven to
+double my duty to my mother, whose life was left hanging upon mine.
+So we two for many years wandered about, shunning islands and insular
+prejudice. I also shunned your father, though (so far as I know) he
+neither sought me nor took any trouble to clear himself. If the one
+child now left him had been a son, heir to the family property and so
+on, he might have behaved quite otherwise, and he would have been bound
+to do so. But having only a female child, who might never grow up, and,
+if she did, was very unlikely to succeed, he must have resolved at least
+to wait. And perhaps he confirmed himself with the reflection that even
+if people believed his tale (so long after date and so unvouched), so
+far as family annals were concerned, the remedy would be as bad as the
+disease. Moreover, he owed his life to me, at great risk of my own; and
+to pay such a debt with the hangman's rope would scarcely appear quite
+honorable, even in the best society.
+
+"It is not for me to pretend to give his motives, although from my
+knowledge of his character I can guess them pretty well, perhaps. We
+went our several ways in the world, neither of us very fortunate.
+
+"One summer, in the Black Forest, I fell in with an outcast Englishman,
+almost as great a vagabond as myself. He was under the ban of the law
+for writing his father's name without license. He did not tell me that,
+or perhaps even I might have despised him, for I never was dishonest.
+But one great bond there was between us--we both detested laws and men.
+My intimacy with him is the one thing in life which I am ashamed of. He
+passed by a false name then, of course. But his true name was Montague
+Hockin. My mother was in very weak health then, and her mind for the
+most part clouded; and I need not say that she knew nothing of what I
+had done for her sake. That man pretended to take the greatest interest
+in her condition, and to know a doctor at Baden who could cure her.
+
+"We avoided all cities (as he knew well), and lived in simple villages,
+subsisting partly upon my work, and partly upon the little income left
+by my grandfather, Thomas Hoyle. But, compared with Hockin, we were well
+off; and he did his best to swindle us. Luckily all my faith in mankind
+was confined to the feminine gender, and not much even of that survived.
+In a very little time I saw that people may repudiate law as well from
+being below as from being above it.
+
+"Then he came one night, with the finest style and noblest contempt
+of every thing. We must prepare ourselves for great news, and all our
+kindness to him would be repaid tenfold in a week or two. Let me go into
+Freyburg that time to-morrow night, and listen. I asked him nothing as
+to what he meant, for I was beginning to weary of him, as of every body.
+However, I thought it just worth while, having some one who bought
+my wicker-work, to enter the outskirts of the town on the following
+evening, and wait to be told if any news was stirring. And the people
+were amazed at my not knowing that last night the wife of an English
+lord--for so they called him, though no lord yet--had run away with a
+golden-bearded man, believed to be also English.
+
+"About that you know more, perhaps, than I do. But I wish you to know
+what that Hockin was, and to clear myself of complicity. Of Herbert
+Castlewood I knew nothing, and I never even saw the lady. And to say (as
+Sir Montague Hockin has said) that I plotted all that wickedness, from
+spite toward all of the Castlewood name, is to tell as foul a lie as
+even he can well indulge in.
+
+"It need not be said that he does not know my story from any word of
+mine. To such a fellow I was not likely to commit my mother's fate. But
+he seems to have guessed at once that there was something strange in
+my history; and then, after spying and low prying at my mother, to have
+shaped his own conclusion. Then, having entirely under his power
+that young fool who left a kind husband for him, he conceived a most
+audacious scheme. This was no less than to rob your cousin, the last
+Lord Castlewood, not of his wife and jewels and ready money only, but
+also of all the disposable portion of the Castlewood estates. For the
+lady's mother had taken good care, like a true Hungarian, to have all
+the lands settled upon her daughter, so far as the husband could deal
+with them. And though, at the date of the marriage, he could not really
+deal at all with them--your father being still alive--it appears that
+his succession (when it afterward took place) was bound, at any rate, as
+against himself. A divorce might have canceled this--I can not say--but
+your late cousin was the last man in the world to incur the needful
+exposure. Upon this they naturally counted.
+
+"The new 'Lady Hockin' (as she called herself, with as much right as
+'Lady Castlewood') flirted about while her beauty lasted; but even then
+found her master in a man of deeper wickedness. But if her poor husband
+desired revenge--which he does not seem to have done, perhaps--he could
+not have had it better. She was seized with a loathsome disease, which
+devoured her beauty, like Herod and his glory. I believe that she
+still lives, but no one can go near her; least of all, the fastidious
+Montague."
+
+At this part of the letter I drew a deep breath, and exclaimed, "Thank
+God!" I know not how many times; and perhaps it was a crime of me to do
+it even once.
+
+"Finding his nice prospective game destroyed by this little
+accident--for he meant to have married the lady after her husband's
+death, and set you at defiance; but even he could not do that now,
+little as he cares for opinion--what did he do but shift hands
+altogether? He made up his mind to confer the honor of his hand on you,
+having seen you somewhere in London, and his tactics became the very
+opposite of what they had been hitherto. Your father's innocence now
+must be maintained instead of his guiltiness.
+
+"With this in view, he was fool enough to set the detective police after
+me--me, who could snap all their noses off! For he saw how your heart
+was all set on one thing, and expected to have you his serf forever,
+by the simple expedient of hanging me. The detectives failed, as they
+always do. He also failed in his overtures to you.
+
+"You did your utmost against me also, for which I bear you no ill-will,
+but rather admire your courage. You acted in a straightforward way, and
+employed no dirty agency. Of your simple devices I had no fear. However,
+I thought it as well to keep an eye upon that Hockin, and a worthy old
+fool, some relation of his, who had brought you back from America. To
+this end I kept my head-quarters near him, and established my mother
+comfortably. She was ordered sea air, and has had enough. To-morrow I
+shall remove her. By the time you receive this letter we shall both be
+far away, and come back no more; but first I shall punish that Hockin.
+Without personal violence this will be done.
+
+"Now what I propose to you is simple, moderate, and most strictly just.
+My mother's little residue of life must pass in ease and comfort. She
+has wronged no one, but ever been wronged. Allow her 300 pounds a year,
+to be paid as I shall direct you. For myself I will not take a farthing.
+You will also restore, as I shall direct, the trinket upon which she
+sets great value, and for which I sought vainly when we came back to
+England. I happen to know that you have it now.
+
+"In return for these just acts, you have the right to set forth the
+whole truth publicly, to proclaim your father's innocence, and (as
+people will say) his chivalry; and, which will perhaps rejoice you also,
+to hear no more of
+
+"THOMAS HOYLE.
+
+"P.S.--Of course I am trusting your honor in this. But your father's
+daughter can be no sneak; as indeed I have already proved."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI
+
+WITH HIS OWN SWORD
+
+
+"What a most wonderful letter!" cried the Major, when, after several
+careful perusals, I thought it my duty to show it to him. "He calls me
+a 'worthy old fool,' does he? Well, I call him something a great deal
+worse--an unworthy skulk, a lunatic, a subverter of rank, and a Radical!
+And because he was a bastard, is the whole world base? And to come and
+live like that in a house of mine, and pay me no rent, and never even
+let me see him! Your grandfather was quite right, my dear, in giving him
+the cold shoulder. Of course you won't pay him a farthing."
+
+"You forget that he is dead," I answered, "and his poor mother with him.
+At least he behaved well to his mother. You called him a hero--when you
+knew not who he was. Poor fellow, he is dead! And, in spite of all, I
+can not help being very sorry for him."
+
+"Yes, I dare say. Women always are. But you must show a little
+common-sense, Erema. Your grandfather seems to have had too much, and
+your father far too little. We must keep this matter quiet. Neither the
+man nor the woman must we know, or a nice stir we shall have in all the
+county papers. There must be an inquest, of course, upon them both; but
+none of the fellows read this direction, for the admirable reason that
+they can not read. Our coming forward could do no good, and just now
+Bruntsea has other things to think of; and, first and foremost, my ruin,
+as they say."
+
+"Please not to talk of that," I exclaimed. "I can raise any quantity of
+money now, and you shall have it without paying interest. You wanted the
+course of the river restored, and now you have more--you have got the
+very sea. You could float the Bridal Veil itself, I do believe, at
+Bruntsea."
+
+"You have suggested a fine idea," the Major exclaimed, with emphasis.
+"You certainly should have been an engineer. It is a thousand times
+easier--as every body knows--to keep water in than to keep it out.
+Having burst my barricade, the sea shall stop inside and pay for it. Far
+less capital will be required. By Jove, what a fool I must have been
+not to see the hand of Providence in all this! Mary, can you spare me a
+minute, my dear? The noblest idea has occurred to me. Well, never mind,
+if you are busy; perhaps I had better not state it crudely, though it
+is not true that it happens every hour. I shall turn it over in my mind
+throughout the evening service. I mean to be there, just to let them
+see. They think that I am crushed, of course. They will see their
+mistake; and, Erema, you may come. The gale is over, and the evening
+bright. You sit by the fire, Mary, my dear; I shall not let you out
+again; keep the silver kettle boiling. In church I always think more
+clearly than where people talk so much. But when I come home I require
+something. I see, I see. Instead of an idle, fashionable lounging-place
+for nincompoops from London, instead of flirtation and novel-reading,
+vulgarity, show, and indecent attire, and positively immoral bathing,
+we will now have industry, commerce, wealth, triumph of mechanism, lofty
+enterprise, and international good-will. A harbor has been the great
+want of this coast; see what a thing it is at Newport! We will now have
+a harbor and floating docks, without any muddy, malarious river--all
+blue water from the sea; and our fine cliff range shall be studded with
+good houses. And the whole shall be called 'Erema-port.'"
+
+Well, Erema must be getting very near her port, although it was not at
+Bruntsea. Enough for this excellent man and that still more excellent
+woman that there they are, as busy and as happy as the day is
+long--which imposes some limit upon happiness, perhaps, inasmuch as to
+the busy every day is short. But Mrs. Hockin, though as full of fowls as
+ever, gets no White Sultans nor any other rarity now from Sir Montague
+Hockin. That gentleman still is alive--so far, at least, as we have
+heard of; but no people owning any self-respect ever deal with him, to
+their knowledge. He gambled away all his father's estates, and the
+Major bought the last of them for his youngest son, a very noble Captain
+Hockin (according to his mother's judgment), whom I never had the honor
+of seeing. Sir Montague lives in a sad plight somewhere, and his cousin
+still hopes that he may turn honest.
+
+But as to myself and far greater persons, still there are a few words
+to be said. As soon as all necessary things were done at Bruntsea and at
+Castlewood, and my father's memory cleared from all stain, and by simple
+truth ennobled, in a manner strictly legal and consistent with
+heavy expenses, myself having made a long deposition and received
+congratulations--as soon as it was possible, I left them all, and set
+sail for America.
+
+The rashness of such a plan it is more easy for one to establish than
+two to deny. But what was there in it of peril or of enterprise compared
+with what I had been through already? I could not keep myself now from
+going, and reasoned but little about it.
+
+Meanwhile there had been no further tidings of Colonel Gundry or Firm,
+or even Martin of the Mill himself. But one thing I did which showed
+some little foresight. As soon as my mind was made up, and long before
+ever I could get away, I wrote to Martin Clogfast, telling him of my
+intention, and begging him, if he had any idea of the armies, or the
+Sawyer, or even Firm, or any thing whatever of interest, to write
+(without losing a day) to me, directing his letter to a house in New
+York whose address Major Hockin gave me.
+
+So many things had to be done, and I listened so foolishly to the Major
+(who did his very best to stop me), that it came to be May, 1862 (nearly
+four years after my father's death), before I could settle all my plans
+and start. For every body said that I was much too young to take such
+a journey all by myself, and "what every body says must be right,"
+whenever there is no exception to prove the rule. "Aunt Marys" are not
+to be found every day, nor even Major Hockins; and this again helped
+to throw me back in getting away from England. And but for his vast
+engineering ideas, and another slight touch of rheumatic gout (brought
+upon herself by Mrs. Hockin through setting seven hens in one evening),
+the Major himself might have come with me, "to observe the new military
+tactics," as well as to look for his cousin Sampson.
+
+In recounting this I seem to be as long as the thing itself was in
+accomplishing. But at last it was done, and most kindly was I offered
+the very thing to suit me--permission to join the party of a well-known
+British officer, Colonel Cheriton, of the Engineers. This gentleman,
+being of the highest repute as a writer upon military subjects,
+had leave from the Federal government to observe the course of this
+tremendous war. And perhaps he will publish some day what seems as
+yet to be wholly wanting--a calm and impartial narrative of that
+unparalleled conflict. At any rate, he meant to spare no trouble in a
+matter so instructive, and he took his wife and two daughters--very nice
+girls, who did me a world of good--to establish them in Washington, or
+wherever the case might require.
+
+Lucky as this was for me, I could not leave my dear and faithful friends
+without deep sorrow; but we all agreed that it should be only for a very
+little time. We landed first at New York, and there I found two letters
+from Martin of the Mill. In the first he grumbled much, and told me that
+nothing was yet known about Uncle Sam; in the second he grumbled (if
+possible) more, but gave me some important news. To wit, he had received
+a few lines from the Sawyer, who had failed as yet to find his grandson,
+and sadly lamented the misery he saw, and the shocking destruction of
+God's good works. He said that he could not bring himself to fight (even
+if he were young enough) against his own dear countrymen, one of whom
+was his own grandson; at the same time he felt that they must be put
+down for trying to have things too much their own way. About slavery, he
+had seen too much of niggers to take them at all for his equals, and no
+white man with any self-respect would desire to be their brother. The
+children of Ham were put down at the bottom, as their noses and their
+lips pronounced, according to Divine revelation; and for sons of Japheth
+to break up the noblest nation in the world, on their account, was
+like rushing in to inherit their curse. As sure as his name was Sampson
+Gundry, those who had done it would get the worst, though as yet they
+were doing wonders. And there could be no doubt about one thing--which
+party it was that began it. But come what would of it, here he was; and
+never would Saw-mills see him again unless he brought Firm Gundry. But
+he wanted news of poor Miss 'Rema; and if any came to the house, they
+must please to send it to the care of Colonel Baker, headquarters of the
+Army of the Potomac.
+
+This was the very thing I wished to know, and I saw now how stupid I
+must have been not to have thought of it long ago. For Colonel Baker
+was, to my knowledge, an ancient friend of Uncle Sam, and had joined the
+national army at the very outbreak of the war. Well known not only in
+California, but throughout the States, for gallantry and conduct, this
+officer had been a great accession to the Federal cause, when so many
+wavered, and so he was appointed to a good command. But, alas! when I
+told Colonel Cheriton my news, I learned from him (who had carefully
+watched all the incidents of the struggle) that Uncle Sam's noble friend
+had fallen in the battle of Ball's Bluff, while charging at the head of
+his regiment.
+
+Still, there was hope that some of the officers might know where to find
+Uncle Sam, who was not at all a man to be mislaid; and being allowed
+to accompany my English friends, I went on to Washington. We found
+that city in a highly nervous state, and from time to time ready to be
+captured. General Jackson was almost at the gates, and the President
+every day was calling out for men. The Army of Virginia had been beaten
+back to intrenchments before the capital, and General Lee was invading
+Maryland. Battle followed battle, thick as blows upon a threshing-floor,
+and though we were always said to be victorious, the enemy seemed
+none the more to run away. In this confusion, what chance had I of
+discovering even the Sawyer?
+
+Colonel Cheriton (who must have found me a dreadful thorn in the flank
+of his strategy) missed no opportunity of inquiry, as he went from one
+valley to another. For the war seemed to run along the course of rivers,
+though it also passed through the forests and lakes, and went up into
+the mountains. Our wonderfully clever and kind member of the British
+army was delighted with the movements of General Lee, who alone showed
+scientific elegance in slaying his fellow-countrymen; and the worst of
+it was that instead of going after my dear Uncle Sam, Colonel Cheriton
+was always rushing about with maps, plans, and telescopes, to follow the
+tracery of Lee's campaign. To treat of such matters is far beyond me,
+as I am most thankful to confess. Neither will I dare to be sorry for a
+great man doing what became his duty. My only complaint against him is
+that he kept us in a continual fright.
+
+However, this went by, and so did many other things, though heavily
+laden with grief and death; and the one thing we learned was to
+disbelieve ninety-nine out of every hundred. Letters for the Sawyer were
+dispatched by me to every likely place for him, and advertisements put
+into countless newspapers, but none of them seemed to go near him. Old
+as he was, he avoided feather-beds, and roamed like a true Californian.
+But at last I found him, in a sad, sad way.
+
+It was after the battle of Chancellorsville, and our army had been
+driven back across the Rappahannock. "Our army," I call it, because
+(although we belonged to neither party) fortune had brought us into
+contact with these, and knowing more about them, we were bound to take
+their side. And not only that, but to me it appeared altogether beyond
+controversy that a man of large mind and long experience (such as Uncle
+Sam had) should know much better than his grandson which cause was the
+one to fight for. At the same time Firm was not at all to be condemned.
+And if it was true, as Martin Clogfast said, that trouble of mind at my
+absence had driven him into a prejudiced view, nothing could possibly be
+more ungracious than for me to make light of his judgment.
+
+Being twenty years old by this time, I was wiser than I used to be, and
+now made a practice of thinking twice before rushing into peril, as I
+used to do in California, and to some extent also in England. For though
+my adventures might not have been as strange as many I myself have heard
+of (especially from Suan Isco), nevertheless they had comprised enough
+of teaching and suffering also to make me careful about having any more.
+And so for a long time I kept at the furthest distance possible, in
+such a war, from the vexing of the air with cannons, till even Colonel
+Cheriton's daughters--perfectly soft and peaceful girls--began to
+despise me as a coward. Knowing what I had been through, I indulged
+their young opinions.
+
+Therefore they were the more startled when I set forth under a sudden
+impulse, or perhaps impatience, for a town very near the head-quarters
+of the defeated General Hooker. As they were so brave, I asked them
+whether they would come with me; but although their father was known to
+be there, they turned pale at the thought of it. This pleased me, and
+made me more resolute to go; and in three days' time I was at Falmouth,
+a town on our side of the Rappahannock.
+
+Here I saw most miserable sights that made me ashamed of all trifling
+fear. When hundreds and thousands of gallant men were dying in crippled
+agony, who or what was I to make any fuss about my paltry self? Clumsy
+as I was, some kind and noble ladies taught me how to give help among
+the sufferers.
+
+At first I cried so at every body's pain, while asking why ever they
+should have it, that I did some good by putting them up to bear it
+rather than distress me so. And when I began to command myself (as
+custom soon enabled me), I did some little good again by showing them
+how I cared for them. Their poor weak eyes, perhaps never expecting
+to see a nice thing in the world again, used to follow me about with a
+faint, slow roll, and a feeble spark of jealousy.
+
+That I should have had such a chance of doing good, onefold to others
+and a thousandfold to self, at this turn of life, when I was full of
+little me, is another of the many most clear indications of a kind hand
+over me. Every day there was better than a year of ordinary life in
+breaking the mind from its little selfish turns, and opening the heart
+to a larger power. And all this discipline was needed.
+
+For one afternoon, when we all were tired, with great heat upon us
+suddenly, and the flies beginning to be dreadful, our chief being rather
+unwell and fast asleep, the surgeons away, and our beds as full as they
+could be, I was called down to reason with an applicant who would take
+no denial. "A rough man, a very rough old man, and in a most terrible
+state of mind," said the girl who brought the message; "and room he
+would have, or he would know the reason."
+
+"The reason is not far to seek," I answered, more to myself than her, as
+I ran down the stairs to discomfit that old man. At the open door, with
+the hot wind tossing worn white curls and parching shriveled cheeks, now
+wearily raising his battered hat, stood my dear Uncle Sam, the Sawyer.
+
+"Lor' a massy! young lady, be you altogether daft? In my best of days,
+never was I lips for kissing. And the bootifulest creatur--Come now, I
+ain't saved your life, have I now?"
+
+"Yes, fifty times over--fifty thousand times. Uncle Sam, don't you know
+Erema?"
+
+"My eyes be dashed! And dashed they be, to forget the look of yours,
+my dearie. Seven days have I marched without thanking the Lord; and hot
+coals of fire has He poured upon me now, for His mercy endureth forever.
+To think of you--to think of you--as like my own child as could be--only
+of more finer breed--here standing in front of me, like this here!
+There! I never dreamed to do that again, and would scorn a young man at
+the sight of it."
+
+The Sawyer was too honest to conceal that he was weeping. He simply
+turned his tanned and weathered face toward the door-post, not to hide
+his tears, but reconcile his pride by feigning it. I felt that he must
+be at very low ebb, and all that I had seen of other people's sorrow had
+no power to assuage me. Inside the door, to keep the hot wind out and
+hide my eyes from the old man's face, I had some little quiet sobs,
+until we could both express ourselves.
+
+"It is poor Firm, the poor, poor lad!--oh, what hath happened him? That
+I should see the day!"
+
+Uncle Sam's deep voice broke into a moan, and he bowed his rough
+forehead on his arm, and shook. Then I took him by the sleeve and
+brought him in.
+
+"Not dead--poor Firm, your only one--not dead?" as soon as words would
+come, I asked, and trembled for the opening of his lips.
+
+"Not dead--not quite; but ten times worse. He hath flown into the face
+of the Lord, like Saul and his armor-bearer; he hath fallen on his
+own sword; and the worst of it is that the darned thing won't come out
+again."
+
+"Firm--the last person in the world to do it! Oh, Uncle Sam, surely they
+have told you--"
+
+"No lies--no lie at all, my dear. And not only that, but he wanteth now
+to die--and won't be long first, I reckon. But no time to lose, my dear.
+The Lord hath sent you to make him happy in his leaving of the world.
+Can 'e raise a bed and a doctor here? If he would but groan, I could
+bear it a bit, instead of bleeding inward. And for sartin sure, a'
+would groan nicely, if only by force of habit, at first sight of a real
+doctor."
+
+"There are half a dozen here," I said; "or at least close by. He shall
+have my own bed. But where is he?"
+
+"We have laid 'un in the sand," he answered, simply, "for to dry his
+perspiration. That weak the poor chap is that he streameth night and
+day, miss. Never would you know him for our Firm now, any more than me
+for Sampson Gundry. Ah me! but the Lord is hard on us!"
+
+Slowly and heavily he went his way to fetch poor Firm to the hospital;
+while, with light feet but a heavy heart, I returned to arouse our
+managers. Speedily and well were all things done; and in half an hour
+Finn lay upon my bed, with two of the cleverest surgeons of New York
+most carefully examining his wasted frame. These whispered and shook
+their heads, as in such a case was indispensable; and listening eagerly,
+I heard the senior surgeon say, "No, he could never bear it." The
+younger man seemed to think otherwise, but to give way to the longer
+experience. Then dear Uncle Sam, having bought a new hat at the corner
+of the street, came forward. Knowing too well what excitement is, and
+how it changes every one, I lifted my hand for him to go back; but he
+only put his great hot web of fingers into mine, and drew me to him
+softly, and covered me up with his side. "He heareth nort, nort, nort,"
+he whispered to me; and then spoke aloud:
+
+"Gentlemen and ladies--or ladies and gentlemen, is the more correct form
+nowadays--have I leave to say a word or two? Then if I have, as your
+manner to me showeth, and heartily thanking you for that same, my words
+shall go into an acorn-cup. This lad, laid out at your mercy here,
+was as fine a young fellow as the West hath ever raised--straight and
+nimble, and could tell no lie. Family reasons, as you will excoose of,
+drew him to the arms of rebellion. I may have done, and overdone it
+myself, in arguing cantrips and convictions, whereof to my knowledge
+good never came yet. At any rate, off he went anyhow, and the force
+of nature drew me after him. No matter that to you, I dare say; but it
+would be, if you was in it.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen, here he is, and no harm can you make out of him.
+Although he hath fought for the wrong side to our thinking, bravely
+hath he fought, and made his way to a colonelship, worth five thousand
+dollars, if ever they pay their wages. Never did I think that he would
+earn so much, having never owned gifts of machinery; and concerning the
+handling of the dollars, perhaps, will carry my opinion out. But where
+was I wandering of a little thing like that?
+
+"It hath pleased the Lord, who doeth all things well, when finally come
+to look back upon--the Lord hath seen fit to be down on this young
+man for going agin his grandfather. From Californy--a free State, mind
+you--he come away to fight for slavery. And how hath he magnified his
+office? By shooting the biggest man on that side, the almighty foe of
+the Union, the foremost captain of Midian--the general in whom they
+trusted. No bullets of ours could touch him; but by his own weapons he
+hath fallen. And soon as Ephraim Gundry heard it, he did what you see
+done to him."
+
+Uncle Sam having said his say--which must have cost him dearly--withdrew
+from the bed where his grandson's body lay shrunken, lax, and grimy. To
+be sure that it was Firm, I gave one glance--for Firm had always been
+straight, tall, and large--and then, in a miserable mood, I stole to the
+Sawyer's side to stand with him. "Am I to blame? Is this my fault? For
+even this am I to blame?" I whispered; but he did not heed me, and his
+hands were like hard stone.
+
+After a long, hot, heavy time, while I was laboring vainly, the Sawyer
+also (through exhaustion of excitement) weary, and afraid to begin again
+with new bad news, as beaten people expect to do, the younger surgeon
+came up to him, and said, "Will you authorize it?"
+
+"To cut 'un up? To show your museums what a Western lad is? Never. By
+the Blue River he shall have a good grave. So help me God, to my own, my
+man!"
+
+"You misunderstand me. We have more subjects now than we should want for
+fifty years. War knocks the whole of their value on the head. We have
+fifty bodies as good as this, and are simply obliged to bury them. What
+I mean is, shall we pull the blade out?"
+
+"Can he do any thing with that there blade in him? I have heard of a man
+in Kentucky once--"
+
+"Yes, yes; we know all those stories, Colonel--suit the newspapers, not
+the journals. This fellow has what must kill him inside; he is worn to
+a shadow already. If there it is left, die he must, and quick stick;
+inflammation is set up already. If we extract it, his chance of
+surviving is scarcely one in a hundred."
+
+"Let him have the one, then, the one in the hundred, like the ninety and
+nine lost sheep. The Lord can multiply a hundredfold--some threescore,
+and some an hundredfold. I will speak to Him, gentlemen, while you try
+the job."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII
+
+FEMALE SUFFRAGE
+
+
+All that could be done by skill and care and love, was done for Firm.
+Our lady manager and head nurse never left him when she could be spared,
+and all the other ladies vied in zeal for this young soldier, so that
+I could scarcely get near him. His grandfather's sad and extraordinary
+tale was confirmed by a wounded prisoner. Poor Ephraim Gundry's rare
+power of sight had been fatal perhaps to the cause he fought for, or
+at least to its greatest captain. Returning from desperate victory, the
+general, wrapped in the folds of night, and perhaps in the gloom of his
+own stern thoughts, while it seemed quite impossible that he should be
+seen, encountered the fire of his own troops; and the order to fire was
+given by his favorite officer, Colonel Firm Gundry. When the young man
+learned that he had destroyed, by a lingering death, the chief idol of
+his heart, he called for a rifle, but all refused him, knowing too well
+what his purpose was. Then under the trees, without a word or sigh, he
+set the hilt of his sword upon the earth, and the point to his heart--as
+well as he could find it. The blade passed through him, and then snapped
+off--But I can not bear to speak of it.
+
+And now, few people might suppose it, but the substance of which he was
+made will be clear, when not only his own knowledge of his case but
+also the purest scientific reasoning established a truth more frankly
+acknowledged in the New World than in the Old one. It was proved that,
+with a good constitution, it is safer to receive two wounds than one,
+even though they may not be at the same time taken. Firm had been
+shot by the captain of Mexican robbers, as long ago related. He was
+dreadfully pulled down at the time, and few people could have survived
+it. But now that stood him in the very best stead, not only as a lesson
+of patience, but also in the question of cartilage. But not being
+certain what cartilage is, I can only refer inquirers to the note-book
+of the hospital, which has been printed.
+
+For us it was enough to know that (shattered as he was and must be) this
+brave and single-minded warrior struggled for the time successfully with
+that great enemy of the human race, to whom the human race so largely
+consign one another and themselves. But some did say, and emphatically
+Uncle Sam, that Colonel Firm Gundry--for a colonel he was now, not by
+courtesy, but commission--would never have held up his head to do it,
+but must have gone on with his ravings for death, if somebody had not
+arrived in the nick of time, and cried over him--a female somebody from
+old England.
+
+And, even after that, they say that he never would have cared to be a
+man again, never would have calmed his conscience with the reflection,
+so commonplace and yet so high--that having done our best according to
+our lights, we must not dwell always on our darkness--if once again, and
+for the residue of life, there had not been some one to console him--a
+consolation that need not have, and is better without, pure reason,
+coming, as that would come, from a quarter whence it is never quite
+welcome. Enough for me that he never laid hand to a weapon of war again,
+and never shall unless our own home is invaded.
+
+For after many months--each equal to a year of teaching and of
+humbling--there seemed to be a good time for me to get away and attend
+to my duties in England. Of these I had been reminded often by letters,
+and once by a messenger; but all money matters seemed dust in the
+balance where life and death were swinging. But now Uncle Sam and his
+grandson, having their love knit afresh by disaster, were eager to start
+for the Saw-mill, and trust all except their own business to Providence.
+
+I had told them that, when they went westward, my time would be come for
+starting eastward; and being unlikely to see them again, I should hope
+for good news frequently. And then I got dear Uncle Sam by himself, and
+begged him, for the sake of Firm's happiness, to keep him as far as he
+could from Pennsylvania Sylvester. At the same time I thought that the
+very nice young lady who jumped upon his nose from the window, Miss
+Annie--I forgot her name, or at any rate I told him so--would make him
+a good straightforward wife, so far as one could tell from having seen
+her. And that seemed to have been settled in their infancy. And if he
+would let me know when it was to be, I had seen a thing in London I
+should like to give them.
+
+When I asked the Sawyer to see to this, instead of being sorry, he
+seemed quite pleased, and nodded sagaciously, and put his hat on, as he
+generally did, to calculate.
+
+"Both of them gals have married long ago," he said, looking at me with a
+fine soft gaze; "and bad handfuls their mates have got of them. But
+what made you talk of them, missy--or 'my lady,' as now you are in old
+country, I hear--what made you think of them like that, my dearie?"
+
+"I can't tell what made me think of them. How can I tell why I think of
+every thing?"
+
+"Still, it was an odd thing for your ladyship to say."
+
+"Uncle Sam, I am nobody's ladyship, least of all yours. What makes you
+speak so? I am your own little wandering child, whose life you saved,
+and whose father you loved, and who loses all who love her. Even from
+you I am forced to go away. Oh, why is it always my fate--my fate?"
+
+"Hush!" said the old man; and I stopped my outburst at his whisper. "To
+talk of fate, my dearie, shows either one thing or the other--that we
+have no will of our own, or else that we know not how to guide it. I
+never knew a good man talk of fate. The heathens and the pagans made it.
+The Lord in heaven is enough for me; and He always hath allowed me my
+own free-will, though I may not have handled 'un cleverly. And He giveth
+you your own will now, my missy--to go from us or to stop with us. And
+being as you are a very grand young woman now, owning English land and
+income paid in gold instead of greenbacks--the same as our nugget seems
+likely--to my ideas it would be wrong if we was so much as to ask you."
+
+"Is that what you are full of, then, and what makes you so mysterious? I
+did think that you knew me better, and I had a right to hope so."
+
+"Concerning of yourself alone is not what we must think of. You might
+do this, or you might do that, according to what you was told, or, even
+more, according to what was denied you. For poor honest people, like
+Firm and me, to deal with such a case is out of knowledge. For us it
+is--go by the will of the Lord, and dead agin your own desires."
+
+"But, dear Uncle Sam," I cried, feeling that now I had him upon his
+own tenterhooks, "you rebuked me as sharply as lies in your nature for
+daring to talk about fate just now; but to what else comes your own
+conduct, if you are bound to go against your own desire? If you have
+such a lot of freewill, why must you do what you do not like to do?"
+
+"Well, well, perhaps I was talking rather large. The will of the world
+is upon us as well. And we must have respect for its settlements."
+
+"Now let me," I said, with a trembling wish to have every thing right
+and maidenly. "I have seen so much harm from misunderstandings, and they
+are so simple when it is too late--let me ask you one or two questions,
+Uncle Sam. You always answer every body. And to you a crooked answer is
+impossible."
+
+"Business is business," the Sawyer said. "My dear, I contract
+accordingly."
+
+"Very well. Then, in the first place, what do you wish to have done with
+me? Putting aside all the gossip, I mean, of people who have never even
+heard of me."
+
+"Why, to take you back to Saw-mill with us, where you always was so
+natural."
+
+"In the next place, what does your grandson wish?"
+
+"To take you back to Saw-mill with him, and keep you there till death do
+you part, as chanceth to all mortal pairs."
+
+"And now, Uncle Sam, what do I wish? You say we all have so much
+free-will."
+
+"It is natural that you should wish, my dear, to go and be a great
+lady, and marry a nobleman of your own rank, and have a lot of little
+noblemen."
+
+"Then I fly against nature; and the fault is yours for filling me so
+with machinery."
+
+The Sawyer was beaten, and he never said again that a woman can not
+argue.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII
+
+BEYOND DESERT, AND DESERTS
+
+
+From all the carnage, havoc, ruin, hatred, and fury of that wicked war
+we set our little convoy forth, with passes procured from either side.
+According to all rules of war, Firm was no doubt a prisoner; but having
+saved his life, and taken his word to serve no more against them,
+remembering also that he had done them more service than ten regiments,
+the Federal authorities were not sorry to be quit of him.
+
+He, for his part, being of a deep, retentive nature, bore in his wounded
+breast a sorrow which would last his lifetime. To me he said not a
+single word about his bitter fortune, and he could not bring himself
+to ask me whether I would share it. Only from his eyes sometimes I knew
+what he was thinking; and having passed through so much grief, I
+was moved with deep compassion. Poor Firm had been trained by his
+grandfather to a strong, earnest faith in Providence, and now this
+compelled him almost to believe that he had been specially visited. For
+flying in the face of his good grandfather, and selfishly indulging his
+own stiff neck, his punishment had been hard, and almost heavier than he
+could bear. Whatever might happen to him now, the spring and the flower
+of his life were gone; he still might have some calm existence, but
+never win another day of cloudless joy. And if he had only said this, or
+thought about it, we might have looked at him with less sadness of our
+own.
+
+But he never said any thing about himself, nor gave any opening for
+our comfort to come to him. Only from day to day he behaved gently and
+lovingly to both of us, as if his own trouble must be fought out by
+himself, and should dim no other happiness. And this kept us thinking of
+his sorrow all the more, so that I could not even look at him without a
+flutter of the heart, which was afraid to be a sigh.
+
+At last, upon the great mountain range, through which we now were
+toiling, with the snow little more than a mantle for the peaks, and a
+sparkling veil for sunrise, dear Uncle Sam, who had often shown signs of
+impatience, drew me apart from the rest. Straightforward and blunt as he
+generally was, he did not seem altogether ready to begin, but pulled off
+his hat, and then put it on again, the weather being now cold and hot
+by turns. And while he did this he was thinking at his utmost, as every
+full vein of his forehead declared. And being at home with his ways, I
+waited.
+
+"Think you got ahead of me? No, not you," he exclaimed at last, in
+reply to some version of his own of my ideas, which I carefully made a
+nonentity under the scrutiny of his keen blue eyes. "No, no, missy;
+you wait a bit. Uncle Sam was not hatched yesterday, and it takes fifty
+young ladies to go round him."
+
+"Is that from your size, Uncle Sam, or your depth?"
+
+"Well, a mixture of both, I do believe. Now the last thing you ever
+would think of, if you lived to be older than Washington's nurse, is the
+very thing I mean to put to you. Only you must please to take it well,
+according to my meaning. You see our Firm going to a shadow, don't you?
+Very well; the fault of that is all yourn. Why not up and speak to him?"
+
+"I speak to him every day, Uncle Sam, and I spare no efforts to fatten
+him. I am sure I never dreamed of becoming such a cook. But soon he will
+have Suan Isco."
+
+"Old Injun be darned! It's not the stomach, it's the heart as wants
+nourishment with yon poor lad. He looketh that pitiful at you sometimes,
+my faith, I can hardly tell whether to laugh at his newings or cry at
+the lean face that does it."
+
+"You are not talking like yourself, Uncle Sam. And he never does any
+thing of the kind. I am sure there is nothing to laugh at."
+
+"No, no; to be sure not. I made a mistake. Heroic is the word, of
+course--every thing is heroic."
+
+"It is heroic," I answered, with some vexation at his lightness. "If you
+can not see it, I am sorry for you. I like large things; and I know of
+nothing larger than the way poor Firm is going on."
+
+"You to stand up for him!" Colonel Gundry answered, as if he could
+scarcely look at me. "You to talk large of him, my Lady Castlewood,
+while you are doing of his heart into small wittles! Well, I did
+believe, if no one else, that you were a straightforward one."
+
+"And what am I doing that is crooked now?"
+
+"Well, not to say crooked, Miss 'Rema; no, no. Only onconsistent, when
+squared up."
+
+"Uncle Sam, you're a puzzle to me to-day. What is inconsistent? What is
+there to square up?"
+
+He fetched a long breath, and looked wondrous wise. Then, as if his
+main object was to irritate me, he made a long stride, and said, "Soup's
+a-bilin now."
+
+"Let it boil over, then. You must say what you mean. Oh, Uncle Sam, I
+only want to do the right!"
+
+"I dessay. I dessay. But have you got the pluck, miss? Our little missy
+would 'a done more than that. But come to be great lady--why, they take
+another tune. With much mind, of course it might be otherwise. But none
+of 'em have any much of that to spare."
+
+"Your view is a narrow one," I replied, knowing how that would astonish
+him. "You judge by your own experience only; and to do that shows a sad
+want of breadth, as the ladies in England express it."
+
+The Sawyer stared, and then took off his hat, and then felt all about
+for his spectacles. The idea of being regarded by a "female" from a
+larger and loftier point of view, made a new sensation in his system.
+
+"Yes," I continued, with some enjoyment, "let us try to look largely
+at all things, Uncle Sam. And supposing me capable of that, what is the
+proper and the lofty course to take?"
+
+He looked at me with a strange twinkle in his eyes, and with three words
+discomfited me--"Pop the question."
+
+Much as I had heard of woman's rights, equality of body and mind
+with man, and superiority in morals, it did not appear to me that her
+privilege could be driven to this extent. But I shook my head till all
+my hair came down; and so if our constitutional right of voting by color
+was exercised, on this occasion it claimed the timid benefit of ballot.
+
+With us a suggestion, for the time discarded, has often double effect
+by-and-by; and though it was out of my power to dream of acting up to
+such directions, there could be no possible harm in reviewing such a
+theory theoretically.
+
+Now nothing beyond this was in my thoughts, nor even so much as that
+(safely may I say), when Firm and myself met face to face on the third
+day after Uncle Sam's ideas. Our little caravan, of which the Sawyer
+was the captain, being bound for Blue River and its neighborhood, had
+quitted the Sacramento track by a fork on the left not a league from
+the spot where my father had bidden adieu to mankind. And knowing every
+twist and turn of rock, our drivers brought us at the camping-time
+almost to the verge of chaparral.
+
+I knew not exactly how far we were come, but the dust-cloud of memory
+was stirring, and though mountains looked smaller than they used to
+look, the things done among them seemed larger. And wandering forth from
+the camp to think, when the evening meal was over, lo! there I stood in
+that selfsame breach or portal of the desert in which I stood once by
+my father's side, with scared and weary eyes, vainly seeking safety's
+shattered landmark. The time of year was different, being the ripe end
+of October now; but though the view was changed in tint, it was even
+more impressive. Sombre memories, and deep sense of grandeur, which is
+always sad, and solemn lights, and stealing shadows, compassed me with
+thoughtfulness. In the mouth of the gorge was a gray block of granite,
+whereupon I sat down to think.
+
+Old thoughts, dull thoughts, thoughts as common as the clouds that cross
+the distant plain, and as vague as the wind that moves them--they please
+and they pass, and they may have shed kindly influence, but what are
+they? The life that lies before us is, in some way, too, below us, like
+yon vast amplitude of plain; but it must be traversed foot by foot, and
+laboriously travailed, without the cloudy vaporing or the high-flown
+meditation. And all that must be done by me, alone, with none to love
+me, and (which for a woman is so much worse) nobody ever to have for my
+own, to cherish, love, and cling to.
+
+Tier upon tier, and peak over peak, the finest mountains of the world
+are soaring into the purple firmament. Like northern lights, they flash,
+or flush, or fade into a reclining gleam; like ladders of heaven, they
+bar themselves with cloudy air; and like heaven itself, they rank
+their white procession. Lonely, feeble, puny, I look up with awe and
+reverence; the mind pronounces all things small compared with this
+magnificence. Yet what will all such grandeur do--the self-defensive
+heart inquires--for puny, feeble, lonely me?
+
+Before another shadow deepened or another light grew pale, a slow,
+uncertain step drew near, and by the merest chance it happened to be
+Ephraim Gundry's. I was quite surprised, and told him so; and he said
+that he also was surprised at meeting me in this way. Remembering how
+long I had been here, I thought this most irrational, but checked myself
+from saying so, because he looked so poorly. And more than that, I asked
+him kindly how he was this evening, and smoothed my dress to please his
+eye, and offered him a chair of rock. But he took no notice of all these
+things.
+
+I thought of the time when he would have behaved so very differently
+from this, and nothing but downright pride enabled me to repress
+vexation. However, I resolved to behave as kindly as if he were his own
+grandfather.
+
+"How grand these mountains are!" I said. "It must do you good to see
+them again. Even to me it is such a delight. And what must it be to you,
+a native?"
+
+"Yes, I shall wander from them no more. How I wish that I had never done
+so?"
+
+"Have men less courage than women?" I asked, with one glance at his pale
+worn face. "I owe you the debt of life; and this is the place to think
+and speak of it. I used to talk freely of that, you know. You used to
+like to hear me speak; but now you are tired of that, and tired of all
+the world as well, I fear."
+
+"No, I am tired of nothing, except my own vile degradation. I am tired
+of my want of spirit, that I can not cast my load. I am tired of my lack
+of reason, which should always guide a man. What is the use of mind or
+intellect, reasoning power, or whatever it is called, if the whole of
+them can not enable a man to hold out against a stupid heart?"
+
+"I think you should be proud," I said, while trembling to approach the
+subject which never had been touched between us, "at having a nature
+so sensitive. Your evil chance might have been any body's, and must of
+course have been somebody's. But nobody else would have taken it so--so
+delightfully as you have done!"
+
+"Delightfully! Is that the word you use? May I ask who gets any delight
+from it?"
+
+"Why, all who hate the Southern cause," I replied, with a sudden turn of
+thought, though I never had meant to use the word. "Surely that needs no
+explanation."
+
+"They are delighted, are they? Yes, I can very well believe it.
+Narrow-minded bigots! Yes, they are sure to be delighted. They call it a
+just visitation, of course, a righteous retribution. And they hope I may
+never get over it."
+
+"I pray you to take it more gently," I said; "they are very good
+men, and wish you no harm. But they must have their own opinions; and
+naturally they think them just."
+
+"Then all their opinions are just wrong. They hope to see me go down,
+to my grave. They shall not have that pleasure. I will outlive every
+old John Brown of them. I did not care two cents to live just now.
+Henceforth I will make a point of it. If I cannot fight for true freedom
+any more, having ruined it perhaps already, the least I can do is to
+give no more triumph to its bitter enemies. I will eat and drink, and
+begin this very night. I suppose you are one of them, as you put their
+arguments so neatly. I suppose you consider me a vile slave-driver?"
+
+"You are very ill," I said, with my heart so full of pity that anger
+could not enter; "you are very ill, and very weak. How could you drive
+the very best slave now--even such a marvel as Uncle Tom?"
+
+Firm Gundry smiled; on his lean dry face there shone a little flicker,
+which made me think of the time when he bought a jest-book, published at
+Cincinnati, to make himself agreeable to my mind. And little as I meant
+it, I smiled also, thinking of the way he used to come out with his
+hard-fought jokes, and expect it.
+
+"I wish you were at all as you used to be," he said, looking at me
+softly through the courage of his smile, "instead of being such a grand
+lady."
+
+"And I wish you were a little more like yourself," I answered, without
+thinking; "you used to think always there was nobody like me."
+
+"Suppose that I am of the same opinion still? Tenfold, fiftyfold, a
+millionfold?"
+
+"To suppose a thing of that sort is a little too absurd, when you have
+shown no sign of it."
+
+"For your own dear sake I have shown no sign. The reason of that is too
+clear to explain."
+
+"Then how stupid I must be not to see an atom of it!"
+
+"Why, who would have any thing to say to me--a broken-down man, a fellow
+marked out for curses, one who hates even the sight of himself? The
+lowest of the low would shun me."
+
+He turned away from me, and gazed back toward the dismal, miserable,
+spectral desert; while I stood facing the fruitful, delicious, flowery
+Paradise of all the world. I thought of the difference in our lots,
+and my heart was in misery about him. Then I conquered my pride and my
+littleness and trumpery, and did what the gentle sweet Eve might have
+done. And never have I grieved for that action since.
+
+With tears on my cheeks quite undissembled, and a breast not ashamed of
+fluttering, I ran to Firm Gundry, and took his right hand, and allowed
+him no refuge from tender wet eyes. Then before he could come to see the
+meaning of this haste--because of his very high discipline--I was out
+of his distance, and sitting on a rock, and I lifted my eyes, full of
+eloquence, to his; then I dropped them, and pulled my hat forward, and
+said, as calmly as was possible, "I have done enough. The rest remains
+with you, Firm Gundry."
+
+The rest remained with him. Enough that I was part of that rest; and if
+not the foundation or crown of it, something desirous to be both, and
+failing (if fail it ever does) from no want of trial. Uncle Sam says
+that I never fail at all, and never did fail in any thing, unless it was
+when I found that blamed nugget, for which we got three wagon-loads of
+greenbacks; which (when prosperity at last revives) will pay perhaps for
+greasing all twelve wheels.
+
+Jowler admits not that failure even. As soon as he recovered from canine
+dementia, approaching very closely to rabies, at seeing me in the flesh
+once more (so that the Sierra Nevada rang with avalanches of barking),
+he tugged me to the place where his teeth were set in gold, and proved
+that he had no hydrophobia. His teeth are scanty now, but he still can
+catch a salmon, and the bright zeal and loyalty of his soft brown
+eyes and the sprightly elevation of his tail are still among dogs as
+pre-eminent as they are to mankind inimitable.
+
+
+
+Now the war is past, and here we sit by the banks of the soft Blue
+River. The early storm and young conflict of a clouded life are over.
+Still out of sight there may be yet a sea of troubles to buffet with;
+but it is not merely a selfish thought that others will face it with me.
+Dark mysteries have been cleared away by being confronted bravely; and
+the lesson has been learned that life (like California flowers) is of
+infinite variety. This little river, ten steps wide, on one side has all
+lupins, on the other side all larkspurs. Can I tell why? Can any body?
+Can even itself, so full of voice and light, unroll the reason?
+
+Behind us tower the stormy crags, before us spread soft tapestry of
+earth and sweep of ocean. Below us lies my father's grave, whose sin was
+not his own, but fell on him, and found him loyal. To him was I loyal
+also, as a daughter should be; and in my lap lies my reward--for I am no
+more Erema.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Erema, by R. D. Blackmore
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