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diff --git a/old/berem10.txt b/old/berem10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..004dce2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/berem10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17303 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Erema, by R. D. Blackmore +#3 in our series by R. D. Blackmore + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Erema + My Father's Sin + +Author: R. D. Blackmore + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7112] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 11, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE 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. + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Erema, by R. D. Blackmore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EREMA *** + +This file should be named berem10.txt or berem10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, berem11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, berem10a.txt + +Produced by Don Lainson + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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