diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 7646.txt | 1871 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 7646.zip | bin | 0 -> 39115 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 1887 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7646.txt b/7646.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7efd399 --- /dev/null +++ b/7646.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1871 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Ernest Maltravers, by Bulwer-Lytton, Book 7 +#74 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +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: Ernest Maltravers, Book 7 + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7646] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 11, 2004] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERNEST MALTRAVERS, LYTTON, V7 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by Dagny, + and David Widger, + + + + + +BOOK VII. + + Every man should strive to be as good as possible, but not + suppose himself to be the only thing that is good. + --PLOTIN. EN. 11. lib. ix. c. 9. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Deceit is the strong but subtle chain which runs through + all the members of a society, and links them together; + trick or be tricked is the alternative; 'tis the way of + the world, and without it intercourse would drop." + /Anonymous writer/ of 1722. + + "A lovely child she was, of looks serene, + And motions which o'er things indifferent shed + The grace and gentleness from whence they came." + PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. + + "His years but young, but his experience old."--SHAKESPEARE. + + "He after honour hunts, I after love."--/Ibid./ + +LUMLEY FERRERS was one of the few men in the world who act upon a +profound, deliberate, and organized system--he had done so even from a +boy. When he was twenty-one, he had said to himself, "Youth is the +season for enjoyment: the triumphs of manhood, the wealth of age, do not +compensate for a youth spent in unpleasurable toils." Agreeably to this +maxim, he had resolved not to adopt any profession; and being fond of +travel, and of a restless temper, he had indulged abroad in all the +gratifications that his moderate income could afford him: that income +went farther on the Continent than at home, which was another reason for +the prolongation of his travels. Now, when the whims and passions of +youth were sated; and, ripened by a consummate and various knowledge of +mankind, his harder capacities of mind became developed and centred into +such ambition as it was his nature to conceive, he acted no less upon a +regular and methodical plan of conduct, which he carried into details. +He had little or nothing within himself to cross his cold theories by +contradictory practice; for he was curbed by no principles and regulated +but by few tastes: and our tastes are often checks as powerful as our +principles. Looking round the English world, Ferrers saw, that at his +age and with an equivocal position, and no chances to throw away, it was +necessary that he should cast off all attributes of the character of the +wanderer and the /garcon/. + +"There is nothing respectable in lodgings and a cab," said Ferrers to +himself--that "/self/" was his grand confidant!--"nothing stationary. +Such are the appliances of a here-to-day-gone-to-morrow kind of life. +One never looks substantial till one pays rates and taxes, and has a +bill with one's butcher!" + +Accordingly, without saying a word to anybody, Ferrers took a long lease +of a large house, in one of those quiet streets that proclaim the owners +do not wish to be made by fashionable situations--streets in which, if +you have a large house, it is supposed to be because you can afford one. +He was very particular in its being a respectable street--Great George +Street, Westminster, was the one he selected. + +No frippery or baubles, common to the mansions of young bachelors--no +buhl, and marquetrie, and Sevres china, and cabinet pictures, +distinguished the large dingy drawing-rooms of Lumley Ferrers. He +bought all the old furniture a bargain of the late tenant--tea-coloured +chintz curtains, and chairs and sofas that were venerable and solemn +with the accumulated dust of twenty-five years. The only things about +which he was particular were a very long dining-table that would hold +four-and-twenty, and a new mahogany sideboard. Somebody asked him why +he cared about such articles. "I don't know," said he "but I observe +all respectable family-men do--there must be something in it--I shall +discover the secret by and by." + +In this house did Mr. Ferrers ensconce himself with two middle-aged +maidservants, and a man out of livery, whom he chose from a multitude of +candidates, because the man looked especially well fed. Having thus +settled himself, and told every one that the lease of his house was for +sixty-three years, Lumley Ferrers made a little calculation of his +probable expenditure, which he found, with good management, might amount +to about one-fourth more than his income. + +"I shall take the surplus out of my capital," said he, "and try the +experiment for five years; if it don't do, and pay me profitably, why, +then either men are not to be lived upon, or Lumley Ferrers is a much +duller clog than he thinks himself!" + +Mr. Ferrers had deeply studied the character of his uncle, as a prudent +speculator studies the qualities of a mine in which he means to invest +his capital, and much of his present proceedings was intended to act +upon the uncle as well as upon the world. He saw that the more he could +obtain for himself, not a noisy, social, fashionable reputation, but a +good, sober, substantial one, the more highly Mr. Templeton would +consider him, and the more likely he was to be made his uncle's +heir,--that is, provided Mrs. Templeton did not supersede the nepotal +parasite by indigenous olive-branches. This last apprehension died away +as time passed, and no signs of fertility appeared. And, accordingly, +Ferrers thought he might prudently hazard more upon the game on which he +now ventured to rely. There was one thing, however, that greatly +disturbed his peace; Mr. Templeton, though harsh and austere in his +manner to his wife, was evidently attached to her; and, above all, he +cherished the fondest affection for his stepdaughter. He was as anxious +for her health, her education, her little childish enjoyments, as if he +had been not only her parent, but a very doting one. He could not bear +her to be crossed or thwarted. Mr. Templeton, who had never spoiled +anything before, not even an old pen (so careful, and calculating, and +methodical was he), did his best to spoil this beautiful child whom he +could not even have the vain luxury of thinking he had produced to the +admiring world. Softly, exquisitely lovely was that little girl; and +every day she increased in the charm of her person, and in the caressing +fascination of her childish ways. Her temper was so sweet and docile, +that fondness and petting, however injudiciously exhibited, only seemed +yet more to bring out the colours of a grateful and tender nature. +Perhaps the measured kindness of more reserved affection might have been +the true way of spoiling one whose instincts were all for exacting and +returning love. She was a plant that suns less warm might have nipped +and chilled. But beneath an uncapricious and unclouded sunshine she +sprang up in a luxurious bloom of heart and sweetness of disposition. + +Every one, even those who did not generally like children, delighted in +this charming creature, excepting only Mr. Lumley Ferrers. But that +gentleman, less mild than Pope's Narcissa,-- + + "To make a wash, had gladly stewed the child!" + +He had seen how very common it is for a rich man, married late in life, +to leave everything to a young widow and her children by her former +marriage, when once attached to the latter; and he sensibly felt that he +himself had but a slight hold over Templeton by the chain of the +affections. He resolved, therefore, as much as possible, to alienate +his uncle from his young wife; trusting that, as the influence of the +wife was weakened, that of the child would be lessened also; and to +raise in Templeton's vanity and ambition an ally that might supply to +himself the want of love. He pursued his twofold scheme with masterly +art and address. He first sought to secure the confidence and regard of +the melancholy and gentle mother; and in this--for she was peculiarly +unsuspicious and inexperienced, he obtained signal and complete success. +His frankness of manner, his deferential attention, the art with which +he warded off from her the spleen or ill-humour of Mr. Templeton, the +cheerfulness that his easy gaiety threw over a very gloomy house, made +the poor lady hail his visits and trust in his friendship. Perhaps she +was glad of any interruption to /tetes-a-tetes/ with a severe and +ungenial husband, who had no sympathy for the sorrows, of whatever +nature they might be, which preyed upon her, and who made it a point of +morality to find fault wherever he could. + +The next step in Lumley's policy was to arm Templeton's vanity against +his wife, by constantly refreshing his consciousness of the sacrifices +he had made by marriage, and the certainty that he would have attained +all his wishes had he chosen more prudently. By perpetually, but most +judiciously, rubbing this sore point, he, as it were, fixed the +irritability into Templeton's constitution, and it reacted on all his +thoughts, aspiring or domestic. Still, however, to Lumley's great +surprise and resentment, while Templeton cooled to his wife, he only +warmed to her child. Lumley had not calculated enough upon the thirst +and craving for affection in most human hearts; and Templeton, though +not exactly an amiable man, had some excellent qualities; if he had less +sensitively regarded the opinion of the world, he would neither have +contracted the vocabulary of cant, nor sickened for a peerage--both his +affectation of saintship, and his gnawing desire of rank, arose from an +extraordinary and morbid deference to opinion, and a wish for worldly +honours and respect, which he felt that his mere talents could not +secure to him. But he was, at bottom, a kindly man--charitable to the +poor, considerate to his servants, and had within him the want to love +and be loved, which is one of the desires wherewith the atoms of the +universe are cemented and harmonised. Had Mrs. Templeton evinced love to +him, he might have defied all Lumley's diplomacy, been consoled for +worldly disadvantages, and been a good and even uxorious husband. But +she evidently did not love him, though an admirable, patient, provident +wife; and her daughter /did/ love him--love him as well even as she +loved her mother; and the hard worldling would not have accepted a +kingdom as the price of that little fountain of pure and ever-refreshing +tenderness. Wise and penetrating as Lumley was, he never could +thoroughly understand this weakness, as he called it; for we never know +men entirely, unless we have complete sympathies with men in all their +natural emotions; and Nature had left the workmanship of Lumley Ferrers +unfinished and incomplete, by denying him the possibility of caring for +anything but himself. + +His plan for winning Templeton's esteem and deference was, however, +completely triumphant. He took care that nothing in his /menage/ should +appear "/extravagant/;" all was sober, quiet, and well-regulated. He +declared that he had so managed as to live within his income: and +Templeton receiving no hint for money, nor aware that Ferrers had on the +Continent consumed a considerable portion of his means, believed him. +Ferrers gave a great many dinners, but he did not go on that foolish +plan which has been laid down by persons who pretend to know life, as a +means of popularity--he did not profess to give dinners better than +other people. He knew that, unless you are a very rich or a very great +man, no folly is equal to that of thinking that you soften the hearts of +your friends by soups /a la bisque/, and Johannisberg at a guinea a +bottle. They all go away saying, "What right has that d----d fellow to +give a better dinner than we do? What horrid taste! What ridiculous +presumption." + +No; though Ferrers himself was a most scientific epicure, and held the +luxury of the palate at the highest possible price, he dieted his +friends on what he termed "respectable fare." His cook put plenty of +flour into the oyster sauce; cod's head and shoulders made his +invariable fish; and four /entrees/, without flavour or pretence, were +duly supplied by the pastry-cook, and carefully eschewed by the host. +Neither did Mr. Ferrers affect to bring about him gay wits and brilliant +talkers. He confined himself to men of substantial consideration, and +generally took care to be himself the cleverest person present; while he +turned the conversation on serious matters crammed for the +occasion--politics, stocks, commerce, and the criminal code. Pruning +his gaiety, though he retained his frankness, he sought to be known as a +highly-informed, painstaking man, who would be sure to rise. His +connections, and a certain nameless charm about him, consisting chiefly +in a pleasant countenance, a bold yet winning candour, and the absence +of all /hauteur/ or pretence, enabled him to assemble round this plain +table, which, if it gratified no taste, wounded no self-love, a +sufficient number of public men of rank, and eminent men of business, to +answer his purpose. The situation he had chosen, so near the Houses of +Parliament, was convenient to politicians, and, by degrees, the large +dingy drawing-rooms became a frequent resort for public men to talk over +those thousand underplots by which a party is served or attached. Thus, +though not in parliament himself, Ferrers became insensibly associated +with parliamentary men and things, and the ministerial party, whose +politics he espoused, praised him highly, made use of him, and meant, +some day or other, to do something for him. + +While the career of this able and unprincipled man thus opened--and of +course the opening was not made in a day--Ernest Maltravers was +ascending by a rough, thorny, and encumbered path, to that eminence on +which the monuments of men are built. His success in public life was +not brilliant nor sudden. For, though he had eloquence and knowledge, +he disdained all oratorical devices; and though he had passion and +energy, he could scarcely be called a warm partisan. He met with much +envy, and many obstacles; and the gracious and buoyant sociality of +temper and manners that had, in early youth, made him the idol of his +contemporaries at school or college, had long since faded away into a +cold, settled, and lofty, though gentle reserve, which did not attract +towards him the animal spirits of the herd. But though he spoke seldom, +and heard many, with half his powers, more enthusiastically cheered, he +did not fail of commanding attention and respect; and though no darling +of cliques and parties, yet in that great body of the people who were +ever the audience and tribunal to which, in letters or in politics, +Maltravers appealed, there was silently growing up, and spreading wide, +a belief in his upright intentions, his unpurchasable honour, and his +correct and well-considered views. He felt that his name was safely +invested, though the return for the capital was slow and moderate. He +was contented to abide his time. + +Every day he grew more attached to that true philosophy which makes a +man, as far as the world will permit, a world to himself; and from the +height of a tranquil and serene self-esteem, he felt the sun shine above +him, when malignant clouds spread sullen and ungenial below. He did not +despise or wilfully shock opinion, neither did he fawn upon and flatter +it. Where he thought the world should be humoured, he humoured--where +contemned, he contemned it. There are many cases in which an honest, +well-educated, high-hearted individual is a much better judge than the +multitude of what is right and what is wrong; and in these matters he is +not worth three straws if he suffer the multitude to bully or coax him +out of his judgment. The Public, if you indulge it, is a most damnable +gossip, thrusting its nose into people's concerns, where it has no right +to make or meddle; and in those things, where the Public is impertinent, +Maltravers scorned and resisted its interference as haughtily as he +would the interference of any insolent member of the insolent whole. It +was this mixture of deep love and profound respect for the eternal +PEOPLE, and of calm, passionless disdain for that capricious charlatan, +the momentary PUBLIC, which made Ernest Maltravers an original and +solitary thinker; and an actor, in reality modest and benevolent, in +appearance arrogant and unsocial. "Pauperism, in contradistinction to +poverty," he was wont to say, "is the dependence upon other people for +existence, not on our own exertions; there is a moral pauperism in the +man who is dependent on others for that support of moral +life--self-respect." + +Wrapped in this philosophy, he pursued his haughty and lonesome way, and +felt that in the deep heart of mankind, when prejudices and envies +should die off, there would be a sympathy with his motives and his +career. So far as his own health was concerned, the experiment had +answered. No mere drudgery of business--late hours and dull +speeches--can produce the dread exhaustion which follows the efforts of +the soul to mount into the higher air of severe thought or intense +imagination. Those faculties which had been overstrained now lay +fallow--and the frame rapidly regained its tone. Of private comfort and +inspiration Ernest knew but little. He gradually grew estranged from +his old friend Ferrers, as their habits became opposed. Cleveland lived +more and more in the country, and was too well satisfied with his +quondam pupil's course of life and progressive reputation to trouble him +with exhortation or advice. Cesarini had grown a literary lion, whose +genius was vehemently lauded by all the reviews--on the same principle +as that which induces us to praise foreign singers or dead men;--we must +praise something, and we don't like to praise those who jostle +ourselves. Cesarini had therefore grown prodigiously conceited--swore +that England was the only country for true merit; and no longer +concealed his jealous anger at the wider celebrity of Maltravers. +Ernest saw him squandering away his substance, and prostituting his +talents to drawing-room trifles, with a compassionate sigh. He sought +to warn him, but Cesarini listened to him with such impatience that he +resigned the office of monitor. He wrote to De Montaigne, who succeeded +no better. Cesarini was bent on playing his own game. And to one game, +without a metaphor, he had at last come. His craving for excitement +vented itself at Hazard, and his remaining guineas melted daily away. + +But De Montaigne's letters to Maltravers consoled him for the loss of +less congenial friends. The Frenchman was now an eminent and celebrated +man; and his appreciation of Maltravers was sweeter to the latter than +would have been the huzzas of crowds. But, all this while, his vanity +was pleased and his curiosity roused by the continued correspondence of +his unseen Egeria. That correspondence (if so it may be called, being +all on one side) had now gone on for a considerable time, and he was +still wholly unable to discover the author: its tone had of late +altered--it had become more sad and subdued--it spoke of the hollowness +as well as the rewards of fame; and, with a touch of true womanly +sentiment, often hinted more at the rapture of soothing dejection, than +of sharing triumph. In all these letters, there was the undeniable +evidence of high intellect and deep feeling; they excited a strong and +keen interest in Maltravers, yet the interest was not that which made +him wish to discover, in order that he might love, the writer. They +were for the most part too full of the irony and bitterness of a man's +spirit, to fascinate one who considered that gentleness was the essence +of a woman's strength. Temper spoke in them, no less than mind and +heart, and it was not the sort of temper which a man who loves women to +be womanly could admire. + +"I hear you often spoken of" (ran one of these strange epistles), "and I +am almost equally angry whether fools presume to praise or to blame you. +This miserable world we live in, how I loathe and disdain it!--yet I +desire you to serve and to master it! Weak contradiction, effeminate +paradox! Oh! rather a thousand times that you would fly from its mean +temptations and poor rewards!--if the desert were your dwelling-place +and you wished one minister, I could renounce all--wealth, flattery, +repute, womanhood--to serve you. + + * * * * * + +"I once admired you for your genius. My disease has fastened on me, and +I now almost worship you for yourself. I have seen you, Ernest +Maltravers,--seen you often,--and when you never suspected that these +eyes were on you. Now that I have seen, I understand you better. We +can not judge men by their books and deeds. Posterity can know nothing +of the beings of the past. A thousand books never written--a thousand +deeds never done--are in the eyes and lips of the few greater than the +herd. In that cold, abstracted gaze, that pale and haughty brow, I read +the disdain of obstacles, which is worthy of one who is confident of the +goal. But my eyes fill with tears when I survey you!--you are sad, you +are alone! If failures do not mortify you, success does not elevate. +Oh, Maltravers, I, woman as I am, and living in a narrow circle, I, even +I, know at last that to have desires nobler, and ends more august, than +others, is but to surrender waking life to morbid and melancholy dreams. + + * * * * * + +"Go more into the world, Maltravers--go more into the world, or quit it +altogether. Your enemies must be met; they accumulate, they grow +strong--you are too tranquil, too slow in your steps towards the prize +which should be yours, to satisfy my impatience, to satisfy your +friends. Be less refined in your ambition that you may be more +immediately useful. The feet of clay after all are the swiftest in the +race. Even Lumley Ferrers will outstrip you if you do not take heed. + + * * * * * + +"Why do I run on thus!--you--you love another, yet you are not less the +ideal that I could love--if ever I loved any one. You love--and +yet--well--no matter." + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Well, but this is being only an official nobleman. No matter, + 'tis still being a nobleman, and that's his aim." + /Anonymous writer of 1772/. + + "La musique est le seul des talens qui jouissent de lui-meme; + tons les autres veulent des temoins."*--MARMONTEL. + +* Music is the sole talent which gives pleasure of itself; all the +others require witnesses. + + "Thus the slow ox would gaudy trappings claim."--HORACE. + +MR. TEMPLETON had not obtained his peerage, and, though he had met with +no direct refusal, nor made even a direct application to headquarters, +he was growing sullen. He had great parliamentary influence, not close +borough, illegitimate influence, but very proper orthodox influence of +character, wealth, and so forth. He could return one member at least +for a city--he could almost return one member for a county, and in three +boroughs any activity on his part could turn the scale in a close +contest. The ministers were strong, but still they could not afford to +lose supporters hitherto zealous--the example of desertion is +contagious. In the town which Templeton had formerly represented, and +which he now almost commanded, a vacancy suddenly ocurred--a candidate +started on the opposition side and commenced a canvass; to the +astonishment and panic of the Secretary of the Treasury, Templeton put +forward no one, and his interest remained dormant. Lord Saxingham +hurried to Lumley. + +"My dear fellow, what is this?--what can your uncle be about? We shall +lose this place--one of our strongholds. Bets run even." + +"Why, you see, you have all behaved very ill to my uncle--I am really +sorry for it, but I can do nothing." + +"What, this confounded peerage! Will that content him, and nothing +short of it?" + +"Nothing." + +"He must have it, by Jove!" + +"And even that may come too late." + +"Ha! do you think so?" + +"Will you leave the matter to me?" + +"Certainly--you are a monstrous clever fellow, and we all esteem you." + +"Sit down and write as I dictate, my dear lord." + +"Well," said Lord Saxingham, seating himself at Lumley's enormous +writing-table--"well, go on." + +"/My dear Mr. Templeton/--" + +"Too familiar," said Lord Saxingham. + +"Not a bit; go on." + +"/My dear Mr. Templeton:/-- + +"/We are anxious to secure your parliamentary influence in C------ to +the proper quarter, namely, to your own family, as the best defenders of +the administration, which you honour by your support. We wish signally, +at the same time, to express our confidence in your principles, and our +gratitude for your countenance./" + +"D-----d sour countenance!" muttered Lord Saxingham. + +"/Accordingly,/" continued Ferrers, "/as one whose connection with you +permits the liberty, allow me to request that you will suffer our joint +relation, Mr. Ferrers, to be put into immediate nomination./" + +Lord Saxingham threw down the pen and laughed for two minutes without +ceasing. "Capital, Lumley, capital--Very odd I did not think of it +before." + +"Each man for himself, and God for us all," returned Lumley, gravely: +"pray go on, my dear lord." + +"/We are sure you could not have a representative that would, more +faithfully reflect your own opinions and our interests. One word more. +A creation of peers will probably take place in the spring, among which +I am sure your name would be to his Majesty a gratifying addition; the +title will of course be secured to your sons--and failing the latter, to +your nephew./ + + "/With great regard and respect, + + "Truly yours, + + "SAXINGHAM./" + +"There, inscribe that 'Private and confidential,' and send it express +to my uncle's villa." + +"It shall be done, my dear Lumley--and this contents me as much as it +does you. You are really a man to do us credit. You think it will be +arranged?" + +"No doubt of it." + +"Well, good day. Lumley, come to me when it is all settled: Florence is +always glad to see yon; she says no one amuses her more. And I am sure +that is rare praise, for she is a strange girl,--quite a Timon in +petticoats." + +Away went Lord Saxingham. + +"Florence glad to see me!" said Lumley, throwing his arms behind him, +and striding to and fro the room--"Scheme the Second begins to smile +upon me behind the advancing shadow of Scheme One. If I can but succeed +in keeping away other suitors from my fair cousin until I am in a +condition to propose myself, why, I may carry off the greatest match in +the three kingdoms. /Courage, mon brave Ferrers, courage!/" + +It was late that evening when Ferrers arrived at his uncle's villa. He +found Mrs. Templeton in the drawing-room seated at the piano. He +entered gently; she did not hear him, and continued at the instrument. +Her voice was so sweet and rich, her taste so pure, that Ferrers, who +was a good judge of music, stood in delighted surprise. Often as he had +now been a visitor, even an inmate, at the house, he had never before +heard Mrs. Templeton play any but sacred airs, and this was one of the +popular songs of sentiment. He perceived that her feeling at last +overpowered her voice, and she paused abruptly, and turning round, her +face was so eloquent of emotion, that Ferrers was forcibly struck by its +expression. He was not a man apt to feel curiosity for anything not +immediately concerning himself; but he did feel curious about this +melancholy and beautiful woman. There was in her usual aspect that +inexpressible look of profound resignation which betokens a lasting +remembrance of a bitter past: a prematurely blighted heart spoke in her +eyes, in her smile, her languid and joyless step. But she performed the +routine of her quiet duties with a calm and conscientious regularity +which showed that grief rather depressed than disturbed her thoughts. +If her burden were heavy, custom seemed to have reconciled her to bear +it without repining; and the emotion which Ferrers now traced in her +soft and harmonious features was of a nature he had only once witnessed +before--viz., on the first night he had seen her, when poetry, which is +the key of memory, had evidently opened a chamber haunted by mournful +and troubled ghosts. + +"Ah! dear madam," said Ferrers, advancing, as he found himself +discovered, "I trust I do not disturb you. My visit is unseasonable; +but my uncle--where is he?" + +"He has been in town all the morning; he said he should dine out, and I +now expect him every minute." + +"You have been endeavouring to charm away the sense of his absence. +Dare I ask you to continue to play? It is seldom that I hear a voice so +sweet and skill so consummate. You must have been instructed by the +best Italian masters." + +"No," said Mrs. Templeton, with a very slight colour in her delicate +cheek, "I learned young, and of one who loved music and felt it; but who +was not a foreigner." + +"Will you sing me that song again?--you give the words a beauty I never +discovered in them; yet they (as well as the music itself), are by my +poor friend whom Mr. Templeton does not like--Maltravers." + +"Are they his also?" said Mrs. Templeton, with emotion; "it is strange I +did not know it. I heard the air in the streets, and it struck me much. +I inquired the name of the song and bought it--it is very strange!" + +"What is strange?" + +"That there is a kind of language in your friend's music and poetry +which comes home to me, like words I have heard years ago! Is he young, +this Mr. Maltravers?" + +"Yes, he is still young." + +"And, and--" + +Here Mrs. Templeton was interrupted by the entrance of her husband. He +held the letter from Lord Saxingham--it was yet unopened. He seemed +moody; but that was common with him. He coldly shook hands with Lumley; +nodded to his wife, found fault with the fire, and throwing himself into +his easy-chair, said, "So, Lumley, I think I was a fool for taking your +advice--and hanging back about this new election. I see by the evening +papers that there is shortly to be a creation of peers. If I had shown +activity on behalf of the government I might have shamed them into +gratitude." + +"I think I was right, sir," replied Lumley; "public men are often +alarmed into gratitude, seldom shamed into it. Firm votes, like old +friends, are most valued when we think we are about to lose them; but +what is that letter in your hand?" + +"Oh, some begging petition, I suppose." + +"Pardon me--it has an official look." Templeton put on his spectacles, +raised the letter, examined the address and seal, hastily opened it, and +broke into an exclamation very like an oath: when he had concluded--" +Give me your hand, nephew--the thing is settled--I am to have the +peerage. You were right--ha, ha!--my dear wife, you will be my lady, +think of that--aren't you glad?--why don't your ladyship smile? Where's +the child--where is she, I say?" + +"Gone to bed, sir," said Mrs. Templeton, half frightened. + +"Gone to bed! I must go and kiss her. Gone to bed, has she? Light +that candle, Lumley." [Here Mr. Templeton rang the bell.] "John," said +he, as the servant entered,--"John, tell James to go the first thing in +the morning to Baxter's, and tell him not to paint my chariot till he +hears from me. I must go kiss the child--I must, really." + +"D--- the child," muttered Lumley, as, after giving the candle to his +uncle, he turned to the fire; "what the deuce has she got to do with the +matter? Charming little girl--yours, madam! how I love her! My uncle +dotes on her--no wonder!" + +"He is, indeed, very, very, fond of her," said Mrs. Templeton, with a +sigh that seemed to come from the depth of her heart. + +"Did he take a fancy to her before you were married?" + +"Yes, I believe--oh yes, certainly." + +"Her own father could not be more fond of her." + +Mrs. Templeton made no answer, but lighted her candle, and wishing +Lumley good night, glided from the room. + +"I wonder if my grave aunt and my grave uncle took a bite at the apple +before they bought the right of the tree. It looks suspicious; yet no, +it can't be; there is nothing of the seducer or the seductive about the +old fellow. It is not likely--here he comes." + +In came Templeton, and his eyes were moist, and his brow relaxed. + +"And how is the little angel, sir?" asked Ferrers. + +"She kissed me, though I woke her up; children are usually cross when +wakened." + +"Are they?--little dears! Well, sir, so I was right, then; may I see +the letter?" + +"There it is." + +Ferrers drew his chair to the fire, and read his own production with all +the satisfaction of an anonymous author. + +"How kind!--how considerate!--how delicately put!--a double favour! But +perhaps, after all, it does not express your wishes." + +"In what way?" + +"Why--why--about myself." + +"/You!/--is there anything about /you/ in it?--I did not observe +/that/--let me see." + +"Uncles never selfish!--mem. for commonplace book!" thought Ferrers. + +The uncle knit his brows as he re-perused the letter. This won't do, +Lumley," said he very shortly, when he had done. + +"A seat in parliament is too much honour for a poor nephew, then, sir?" +said Lumley, very bitterly, though he did not feel at all bitter; but it +was the proper tone. "I have done all in my power to advance your +ambition, and you will not even lend a hand to forward me one step in my +career. But, forgive me, sir, I have no right to expect it." + +"Lumley," replied Templeton, kindly, "you mistake me. I think much more +highly of you than I did--much: there is a steadiness, a sobriety about +you most praiseworthy, and you shall go into parliament if you wish it; +but not for C------. I will give my interest there to some other friend +of the government, and in return they can give you a treasury borough! +That is the same thing to you." + +Lumley was agreeably surprised--he pressed his uncle's hand warmly, and +thanked him cordially. Mr. Templeton proceeded to explain to him that +it was inconvenient and expensive sitting for places where one's family +was known, and Lumley fully subscribed to all. + +"As for the settlement of the peerage, that is all right," said +Templeton; and then he sank into a reverie, from which he broke +joyously--"yes, that is all right. I have projects, objects--this may +unite them all--nothing can be better--you will be the next +lord--what--I say, what title shall we have?" + +"Oh, take a sounding one--yon have very little landed property, I +think?" + +"Two thousand a year in ------shire, bought a bargain." + +"What's the name of the place?" + +"Grubley." + +"Lord Grubley!--Baron Grubley of Grubley--oh, atrocious! Who had the +place before you?" + +"Bought it of Mr. Sheepshanks--very old family." + +"But surely some old Norman once had the place?" + +"Norman, yes! Henry the Second gave it to his barber--Bertram Courval." + +"That's it!--that's it! Lord de Courval--singular coincidence!--descent +from the old line. Herald's College soon settle all that. Lord de +Courval!--nothing can sound better. There must be a village or hamlet +still called Courval about the property." + +"I am afraid not. There is Coddle End!" + +"Coddle End!--Coddle End!--the very thing, sir--the very thing--clear +corruption from Courval!--Lord de Courval of Courval! Superb! Ha! ha!" + +"Ha! ha!" laughed Templeton, and he had hardly laughed before since he +was thirty. + +The relations sat long and conversed familiarly. Ferrers slept at the +villa, and his sleep was sound; for he thought little of plans once +formed and half executed; it was the hunt that kept him awake, and he +slept like a hound when the prey was down. Not so Templeton, who did +not close his eyes all night.--"Yes, yes," thought he, "I must get the +fortune and the title in one line by a prudent management. Ferrers +deserves what I mean to do for him. Steady, good-natured, frank, and +will get on--yes, yes, I see it all. Meanwhile I did well to prevent +his standing for C------; might pick up gossip about Mrs. T., and other +things that might be unpleasant. Ah, I'm a shrewd fellow!" + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "/Lauzun./--There, Marquis, there, I've done it. + /Montespan./--Done it! yes! Nice doings!" + /The Duchess de la Valliere/. + +LUMLEY hastened to strike while the iron was hot. The next morning he +went straight to the Treasury--saw the managing secretary, a clever, +sharp man, who, like Ferrers, carried off intrigue and manoeuvre by a +blunt, careless, bluff manner. + +Ferrers announced that he was to stand for the free, respectable, open +city of C------, with an electoral population of 2,500. A very showy +place it was for a member in the old ante-reform times, and was +considered a thoroughly independent borough. The secretary +congratulated and complimented him. + +"We have had losses lately in /our/ elections among the larger +constituencies," said Lumley. + +"We have indeed--three towns lost in the last six months. Members do +die so very unseasonably." + +"Is Lord Staunch yet provided for?" asked Lumley. Now Lord Staunch was +one of the popular show-fight great guns of the administration--not in +office, but that most useful person to all governments, an out-and-out +supporter upon the most independent principles--who was known to have +refused place and to value himself on independence--a man who helped the +government over the stile when it was seized with a temporary lameness, +and who carried "great weight with him in the country." Lord Staunch +had foolishly thrown up a close borough in order to contest a large +city, and had failed in the attempt. His failure was everywhere cited +as a proof of the growing unpopularity of ministers. + +"Is Lord Staunch yet provided for?" asked Lumley. + +"Why, he must have his old seat--Three-Oaks. Three-Oaks is a nice, quiet +little place; most respectable constituency--all Staunch's own family." + +"Just the thing for him; yet, 'tis a pity that he did not wait to stand +for C------; my uncle's interest would have secured him." + +"Ay, I thought so the moment C------ was vacant. However, it is too +late now." + +"It would be a great triumph if Lord Staunch could show that a large +constituency volunteered to elect him without expense." + +"Without expense!--Ah, yes, indeed! It would prove that purity of +election still exists--that British institutions are still upheld." + +"It might be done, Mr. ------." + +"Why, I thought that you--" + +"Were to stand--that is true--and it will be difficult to manage my +uncle; but he loves me much--you know I am his heir--I believe I could +do it; that is, if you think it would be /a very great advantage/ to the +party, and /a very great service/ to the government." + +"Why, Mr. Ferrers, it would indeed be both." + +"And in that case I could have Three-Oaks." + +"I see--exactly so; but to give up so respectable a seat--really it is a +sacrifice." + +"Say no more, it shall be done. A deputation shall wait on Lord Staunch +directly. I will see my uncle, and a despatch shall be sent down to +C------ to-night; at least, I hope so. I must not be too confident. My +uncle is an old man, nobody but myself can manage him; I'll go this +instant." + +"You may be sure your kindness will be duly appreciated." + +Lumley shook hands cordially with the secretary and retired. The +secretary was not "humbugged," nor did Lumley expect he should be. But +the secretary noted this of Lumley Ferrers (and that gentleman's object +was gained), that Lumley Ferrers was a man who looked out for office, +and if he did tolerably well in parliament, that Lumley Ferrers was a +man who ought to be /pushed/. + +Very shortly afterwards the /Gazette/ announced the election of Lord +Staunch for C------, after a sharp but decisive contest. The +ministerial journals rang with exulting paeans; the opposition ones +called the electors of C------ all manner of hard names, and declared +that Mr. Stout, Lord Staunch's opponent, would petition--which he never +did. In the midst of the hubbub, Mr. Lumley Ferrers quietly and +unobservedly crept into the representation of Three-Oaks. + +On the night of his election he went to Lord Saxingham's; but what there +happened deserves another chapter. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Je connois des princes du sang, des princes etrangers, des + grands seigneurs, des ministres d'etat, des magistrats, et + des philosophes qui fileroient pour l'amour de vous. En + pouvez-vous demander davantage?"* + /Lettres de Madame de Sevigne/ + +* I know princes of the blood, foreign princes, great lords, ministers +of state, magistrates, and philosophers who would even spin for love of +you. What can you ask more? + + "/Lindore./ I--I believe it will choke me. I'm in love * * * Now +hold your tongue. Hold your tongue, I say. + + "/Dalner./ You in love! Ha! ha! + + "/Lind./ There, he laughs. + + "/Dal./ No; I am really sorry for you." + + /German Play (False Delicacy)/. + + * * * "What is here? + + Gold."--SHAKSPEARE. + +IT happened that that evening Maltravers had, for the first time, +accepted one of many invitations with which Lord Saxingham had honoured +him. His lordship and Maltravers were of different political parties, +nor were they in other respects adapted to each other. Lord Saxingham +was a clever man in his way, but worldly even to a proverb among worldly +people. That "man was born to walk erect and look upon the stars," is +an eloquent fallacy that Lord Saxingham might suffice to disprove. He +seemed born to walk with a stoop; and if he ever looked upon any stars, +they were those which go with a garter. Though of celebrated and +historical ancestry, great rank, and some personal reputation, he had +all the ambition of a /parvenu/. He had a strong regard for office, not +so much from the sublime affection for that sublime thing,--power over +the destinies of a glorious nation,--as because it added to that vulgar +thing--importance in his own set. He looked on his cabinet uniform as a +beadle looks on his gold lace. He also liked patronage, secured good +things to distant connections, got on his family to the remotest degree +of relationship; in short, he was of the earth, earthy. He did not +comprehend Maltravers; and Maltravers, who every day grew prouder and +prouder, despised him. Still, Lord Saxingham was told that Maltravers +was a rising man, and he thought it well to be civil to rising men, of +whatever party; besides, his vanity was flattered by having men who are +talked of in his train. He was too busy and too great a personage to +think Maltravers could be other than sincere, when he declared himself, +in his notes, "very sorry," or "much concerned," to forego the honour of +dining with Lord Saxingham on the, &c., &c.; and therefore continued his +invitations, till Maltravers, from that fatality which undoubtedly +regulates and controls us, at last accepted the proffered distinction. + +He arrived late--most of the guests were assembled; and, after +exchanging a few words with his host, Ernest fell back into the general +group, and found himself in the immediate neighbourhood of Lady Florence +Lascelles. This lady had never much pleased Maltravers, for he was not +fond of masculine or coquettish heroines, and Lady Florence seemed to +him to merit both epithets; therefore, though he had met her often since +the first day he had been introduced to her, he had usually contented +himself with a distant bow or a passing salutation. But now, as he +turned round and saw her, she was, for a miracle, sitting alone; and in +her most dazzling and noble countenance there was so evident an +appearance of ill health, that he was struck and touched by it. In +fact, beautiful as she was, both in face and form, there was something +in the eye and the bloom of Lady Florence, which a skilful physician +would have seen with prophetic pain. And, whenever occasional illness +paled the roses of the cheek, and sobered the play of the lips, even an +ordinary observer would have thought of the old commonplace +proverb--"that the brightest beauty has the briefest life." It was some +sentiment of this kind, perhaps, that now awakened the sympathy of +Maltravers. He addressed her with more marked courtesy than usual, and +took a seat by her side. + +"You have been to the House, I suppose, Mr. Maltravers?" said Lady +Florence. + +"Yes, for a short time; it is not one of our field nights--no division +was expected; and by this time, I dare say, the House has been counted +out." + +"Do you like the life?" + +"It has excitement," said Maltravers, evasively. + +"And the excitement is of a noble character?" + +"Scarcely so, I fear--it is so made up of mean and malignant +motives,--there is in it so much jealousy of our friends, so much +unfairness to our enemies;--such readiness to attribute to others the +basest objects,--such willingness to avail ourselves of the poorest +stratagems! The ends may be great, but the means are very ambiguous." + +"I knew /you/ would feel this," exclaimed Lady Florence, with a +heightened colour. + +"Did you?" said Maltravers, rather interested as well as surprised. "I +scarcely imagined it possible that you would deign to divine secrets so +insignificant." + +"You did not do me justice, then," returned Lady Florence, with an arch +yet half-painful smile; "for--but I was about to be impertinent." + +"Nay, say on." + +For--then--I do not imagine you to be one apt to do injustice to +yourself." + +"Oh, you consider me presumptuous and arrogant; but that is common +report, and you do right, perhaps, to believe it." + +"Was there ever any one unconscious of his own merit?" asked Lady +Florence, proudly. "They who distrust themselves have good reason for +it." + +"You seek to cure the wound you inflicted," returned Maltravers, +smiling. + +"No; what I said was an apology for myself, as well as for you. You +need no words to vindicate you; you are a man, and can bear out all +arrogance with the royal motto /Dieu et mon droit/. With you deeds can +support pretension; but I am a woman--it was a mistake of Nature." + +"But what triumphs that man can achieve bring so immediate, so palpable +a reward as those won by a woman, beautiful and admired--who finds every +room an empire, and every class her subjects?" + +"It is a despicable realm." + +"What!--to command--to win--to bow to your worship--the greatest, and +the highest, and the sternest; to own slaves in those whom men recognise +as their lords! Is such a power despicable? If so, what power is to be +envied?" + +Lady Florence turned quickly round to Maltravers, and fixed on him her +large dark eyes, as if she would read into his very heart. She turned +away with a blush and a slight frown--"There is mockery on your lip," +said she. + +Before Maltravers could answer, dinner was announced, and a foreign +ambassador claimed the hand of Lady Florence. Maltravers saw a young +lady with gold oats in her very light hair, fall to his lot, and +descended to the dining-room, thinking more of Lady Florence Lascelles +than he had ever done before. + +He happened to sit nearly opposite to the young mistress of the house +(Lord Saxingham, as the reader knows, was a widower and Lady Florence an +only child); and Maltravers was that day in one of those felicitous +moods in which our animal spirits search and carry up, as it were, to +the surface, our intellectual gifts and acquisitions. He conversed +generally and happily; but once, when he turned his eyes to appeal to +Lady Florence for her opinion on some point in discussion, he caught her +gaze fixed upon him with an expression that checked the current of his +gaiety, and cast him into a curious and bewildered reverie. In that +gaze there was earnest and cordial admiration; but it was mixed with so +much mournfulness, that the admiration lost its eloquence, and he who +noticed it was rather saddened than flattered. + +After dinner, when Maltravers sought the drawing-rooms, he found them +filled with the customary snob of good society. In one corner he +discovered Castruccio Cesarini, playing on a guitar, slung across his +breast with a blue riband. The Italian sang well; many young ladies +were grouped round him, amongst others Florence Lascelles. Maltravers, +fond as he was of music, looked upon Castruccio's performance as a +disagreeable exhibition. He had a Quixotic idea of the dignity of +talent; and though himself of a musical science, and a melody of voice +that would have thrown the room into ecstasies, he would as soon have +turned juggler or tumbler for polite amusement, as contend for the +bravos of a drawing-room. It was because he was one of the proudest men +in the world, that Maltravers was one of the least /vain/. He did not +care a rush for applause in small things. But Cesarini would have +summoned the whole world to see him play at push-pin, if he thought the +played it well. + +"Beautiful! divine! charming!" cried the young ladies, as Cesarini +ceased; and Maltravers observed that Florence praised more earnestly +than the rest, and that Cesarini's dark eye sparkled, and his pale cheek +flushed with unwonted brilliancy. Florence turned to Maltravers, and +the Italian, following her eyes, frowned darkly. + +"You know the Signor Cesarini," said Florence, joining Maltravers. "He +is an interesting and gifted person." + +"Unquestionably. I grieve to see him wasting his talents upon a soil +that may yield a few short-lived flowers, without one useful plant or +productive fruit." + +"He enjoys the passing hour, Mr. Maltravers; and sometimes, when I see +the mortifications that await sterner labour, I think he is right." + +"Hush!" said Maltravers; "his eyes are on us--he is listening +breathlessly for every word you utter. I fear that you have made an +unconscious conquest of a poet's heart; and if so, he purchases the +enjoyment of the passing hour at a fearful price." + +"Nay," said Lady Florence, indifferently, "he is one of those to whom +the fancy supplies the place of the heart. And if I give him an +inspiration, it will be an equal luxury to him whether his lyre be +strung to hope or disappointment. The sweetness of his verses will +compensate to him for any bitterness in actual life." + +"There are two kinds of love," answered Maltravers,--"love and +self-love; the wounds of the last are often most incurable in those who +appear least vulnerable to the first. Ah, Lady Florence, were I +privileged to play the monitor, I would venture on one warning, however +much it might offend yon." + +"And that is--" + +"To forbear coquetry." + +Maltravers smiled as he spoke, but it was gravely--and at the same time +he moved gently away. But Lady Florence laid her hand on his arm. + +"Mr. Maltravers," said she, very softly, and with a kind of faltering in +her tone, "am I wrong to say that I am anxious for your good opinion? +Do not judge me harshly. I am soured, discontented, unhappy. I have no +sympathy with the world. These men whom I see around me--what are they? +the mass of them unfeeling and silken egotists--ill-judging, +ill-educated, well-dressed: the few who are called distinguished--how +selfish in their ambition, how passionless in their pursuits! Am I to +be blamed if I sometimes exert a power over such as these, which rather +proves my scorn of them than my own vanity?" + +"I have no right to argue with you." + +"Yes, argue with me, convince me, guide me--Heaven knows that, impetuous +and haughty as I am, I need a guide,"--and Lady Florence's eyes swam +with tears. Ernest's prejudices against her were greatly shaken: he was +even somewhat dazzled by her beauty, and touched by her unexpected +gentleness; but still, his heart was not assailed, and he replied almost +coldly, after a short pause: + +"Dear Lady Florence, look round the world--who so much to be envied as +yourself? What sources of happiness and pride are open to you! Why, +then, make to yourself causes of discontent?--why be scornful of those +who cross not your path? Why not look with charity upon God's less +endowed children, beneath you as they may seem? What consolation have +you in hurting the hearts or the vanities of others? Do you raise +yourself even in your own estimation? You affect to be above your +sex--yet what character do you despise more in women than that which you +assume? Semiramis should not be a coquette. There now, I have offended +you--I confess I am very rude." + +"I am not offended," said Florence, almost struggling with her tears; +and she added inly, "Ah, I am too happy!"--There are some lips from +which even the proudest women love to hear the censure which appears to +disprove indifference. + +It was at this time that Lumley Ferrers, flushed with the success of his +schemes and projects, entered the room; and his quick eye fell upon that +corner, in which he detected what appeared to him a very alarming +flirtation between his rich cousin and Ernest Maltravers. He advanced +to the spot, and, with his customary frankness, extended a hand to each. + +"Ah, my dear and fair cousin, give me your congratulations, and ask me +for my first frank, to be bound up in a collection of autographs by +distinguished senators--it will sell high one of these days. Your most +obedient, Mr. Maltravers;--how we shall laugh in our sleeves at the +humbug of politics, when you and I, the best friends in the world, sit +/vis-a-vis/ on opposite benches. But why, Lady Florence, have you never +introduced me to your pet Italian? /Allons/! I am his match in +Alfieri, whom, of course, he swears by, and whose verses, by the way, +seem cut out of box-wood--the hardest material for turning off that sort +of machinery that invention ever hit on." + +Thus saying, Ferrers contrived, as he thought, very cleverly, to divide +a pair that he much feared were justly formed to meet by nature--and, to +his great joy, Maltravers shortly afterwards withdrew. + +Ferrers, with the happy ease that belonged to his complacent, though +plotting character, soon made Cesarini at home with him; and two or +three slighting expressions which the former dropped with respect to +Maltravers, coupled with some outrageous compliments to the Italian, +completely won the heart of the poet. The brilliant Florence was more +silent and subdued than usual; and her voice was softer, though graver, +when she replied to Castruccio's eloquent appeals. Castruccio was one +of those men who /talk fine/. By degrees, Lumley lapsed into silence, +and listened to what took place between Lady Florence and the Italian, +while appearing to be deep in "The Views of the Rhine," which lay on the +table. + +"Ah," said the latter, in his soft native tongue, "could you know how I +watch every shade of that countenance which makes my heaven! Is it +clouded? night is with me!--is it radiant? I am as the Persian gazing on +the sun!" + +"Why do you speak thus to me? were you not a poet, I might be angry." + +"You were not angry when the English poet, that cold Maltravers, spoke +to you perhaps as boldly." + +Lady Florence drew up her haughty head. "Signor," said she, checking, +however, her first impulse, and with mildness, "Mr. Maltravers neither +flatters nor--" + +"Presumes, you were about to say," said Cesarini, grinding his teeth. +"But it is well--once you were less chilling to the utterance of my deep +devotion." + +"Never, Signor Cesarini, never--but when I thought it was but the common +gallantry of your nation: let me think so still." + +"No, proud woman," said Cesarini, fiercely, "no--hear the truth." + +Lady Florence rose indignantly. + +"Hear me," he continued. "I--I, the poor foreigner, the despised +minstrel, dare to lift up my eyes to you! I love you!" + +Never had Florence Lascelles been so humiliated and confounded. However +she might have amused herself with the vanity of Cesarini, she had not +given him, as she thought, the warrant to address her--the great Lady +Florence, the prize of dukes and princes--in this hardy manner; she +almost fancied him insane. But the next moment she recalled the warning +of Maltravers, and felt as if her punishment had commenced. + +"You will think and speak more calmly, sir, when we meet again," and so +saying, she swept away. + +Cesarini remained rooted to the spot, with his dark countenance +expressing such passions as are rarely seen in the aspects of civilised +men. + +"Where do you lodge, Signor Cesarini?" asked the bland, familiar voice +of Ferrers. "Let us walk part of the way together--that is, when you +are tired of these hot rooms." + +Cesarini groaned. "You are ill," continued Ferrers; "the air will +revive you--come." He glided from the room, and the Italian +mechanically followed him. They walked together for some moments in +silence, side by side, in a clear, lovely, moonlight night. At length +Ferrers said, "Pardon me, my dear signor, but you may already have +observed that I am a very frank, odd sort of fellow. I see you are +caught by the charms of my cruel cousin. Can I serve you in any way?" + +A man at all acquainted with the world in which we live would have been +suspicious of such cordiality in the cousin of an heiress, towards a +very unsuitable aspirant. But Cesarini, like many indifferent poets +(but like few good ones), had no common sense. He thought it quite +natural that a man who admired his poetry so much as Lumley had declared +he did, should take a lively interest in his welfare; and he therefore +replied warmly, "Oh, sir, this is indeed a crushing blow: I dreamed she +loved me. She was ever flattering and gentle when she spoke to me, and +in verse already I had told her of my love, and met with no rebuke." + +"Did your verses really and plainly declare love, and in your own +person?" + +"Why, the sentiment was veiled, perhaps--put into the mouth of a +fictitious character, or conveyed in an allegory." + +"Oh," ejaculated Ferrers, thinking it very likely that the gorgeous +Florence, hymned by a thousand bards, had done little more than cast a +glance over the lines that had cost poor Cesarini such anxious toil, and +inspired him with such daring hope. "Oh!--and to-night she was more +severe--she is a terrible coquette, /la belle Florence/! But perhaps +you have a rival." + +"I feel it--I saw it--I know it." + +"Whom do you suspect?" + +"That accursed Maltravers! He crosses me in every path--my spirit +quails beneath his whenever we encounter. I read my doom." + +"If it be Maltravers," said Ferrers, gravely, "the danger cannot be +great. Florence has seen but little of him, and he does not admire her +much; but she is a great match, and he is ambitious. We must guard +against this betimes, Cesarini--for know that I dislike Maltravers as +much as you do, and will cheerfully aid you in any plan to blight his +hopes in that quarter." + +"Generous, noble friend!--yet he is richer, better-born than I." + +"That may be: but to one in Lady Florence's position, all minor grades +of rank in her aspirants seem pretty well levelled. Come, I don't tell +you that I would not sooner she married a countryman and an equal--but I +have taken a liking to you, and I detest Maltravers. She is very +romantic--fond of poetry to a passion--writes it herself, I fancy. Oh, +you'll just suit her; but, alas! how will you see her?" + +"See her! What mean you?" + +"Why, have you not declared love to-night? I thought I overheard you. +Can you for a moment fancy that, after such an avowal, Lady Florence +will again receive you--that is, if she mean to reject your suit?" + +"Fool that I was! But no--she must, she shall." + +"Be persuaded; in this country violence will not do. Take my advice, +write an humble apology, confess your fault, invoke her pity; and, +declaring that you renounce for ever the character of a lover, implore +still to be acknowledged as a friend. Be quiet now, hear me out; I am +older than you; I know my cousin; this will pique her; your modesty will +soothe, while your coldness will arouse, her vanity. Meanwhile you will +watch the progress of Maltravers; I will be by your elbow; and between +us, to use a homely phrase, we will do for him. Then you may have your +opportunity, clear stage, and fair play." + +Cesarini was at first rebellious; but, at length, even he saw the policy +of the advice. But Lumley would not leave him till the advice was +adopted. He made Castruccio accompany him to a club, dictated the +letter to Florence, and undertook its charge. This was not all. + +"It is also necessary," said Lumley, after a short but thoughtful +silence, "that you should write to Maltravers." + +"And for what?" + +"I have my reasons. Ask him, in a frank and friendly spirit, his +opinion of Lady Florence; state your belief that she loves you, and +inquire ingenuously what he thinks your chances of happiness in such a +union." + +"But why this?" + +"His answer may be useful," returned Lumley, musingly. "Stay, I will +dictate the letter." + +Cesarini wondered and hesitated, but there was that about Lumley Ferrers +which had already obtained command over the weak and passionate poet. +He wrote, therefore, as Lumley dictated, beginning with some commonplace +doubts as to the happiness of marriage in general, excusing himself for +his recent coldness towards Maltravers, and asking him his confidential +opinion both as to Lady Florence's character and his own chances of +success. + +This letter, like the former one, Lumley sealed and despatched. + +"You perceive," he then said, briefly, to Cesarini, "that it is the +object of this letter to entrap Maltravers into some plain and honest +avowal of his dislike to Lady Florence; we may make good use of such +expressions hereafter, if he should ever prove a rival. And now go home +to rest: you look exhausted. Adieu, my new friend." + +"I have long had a presentiment," said Lumley to his councillor SELF, as +he walked to Great George Street, "that that wild girl has conceived a +romantic fancy for Maltravers. But I can easily prevent such an +accident ripening into misfortune. Meanwhile, I have secured a tool, if +I want one. By Jove, what an ass that poet is! But so was Cassio; yet +Iago made use of him. If Iago had been born now, and dropped that +foolish fancy for revenge, what a glorious fellow he would have been! +Prime minister at least!" + +Pale, haggard, exhausted, Castruccio Cesarini, traversing a length of +way, arrived at last at a miserable lodging in the suburb of Chelsea. +His fortune was now gone; gone in supplying the poorest food to a +craving and imbecile vanity: gone, that its owner might seem what nature +never meant him for: the elegant Lothario, the graceful man of pleasure, +the troubadour of modern life! gone in horses, and jewels, and fine +clothes, and gaming, and printing unsaleable poems on gilt-edged vellum; +gone, that he might not be a greater but a more fashionable man than +Ernest Maltravers! Such is the common destiny of those poor adventurers +who confine fame to boudoirs and saloons. No matter whether they be +poets or dandies, wealthy /parvenus/ or aristocratic cadets, all equally +prove the adage that the wrong paths to reputation are strewed with the +wrecks of peace, fortune, happiness, and too often honour! And yet this +poor young man had dared to hope for the hand of Florence Lascelles! He +had the common notion of foreigners, that English girls marry for love, +are very romantic; that, within the three seas, heiresses are as +plentiful as blackberries; and for the rest, his vanity had been so +pampered, that it now insinuated itself into every fibre of his +intellectual and moral system. + +Cesarini looked cautiously round, as he arrived at his door; for he +fancied that, even in that obscure place, persons might be anxious to +catch a glimpse of the celebrated poet; and he concealed his residence +from all; dined on a roll when he did not dine out, and left his address +at "The Travellers." He looked round, I say, and he did observe a tall +figure wrapped in a cloak that had indeed followed him from a distant +and more populous part of the town. But the figure turned round, and +vanished instantly. Cesarini mounted to his second floor. And about +the middle of the next day a messenger left a letter at his door, +containing one hundred pounds in a blank envelope. Cesarini knew not +the writing of the address; his pride was deeply wounded. Amidst all +his penury, he had not even applied to his own sister. Could it come +from her, from De Montaigne? He was lost in conjecture. He put the +remittance aside for a few days; for he had something fine in him, the +poor poet! but bills grew pressing, and necessity hath no law. + +Two days afterwards, Cesarini brought to Ferrers the answer he had +received from Maltravers. Lumley had rightly foreseen that the high +spirit of Ernest would conceive some indignation at the coquetry of +Florence in beguiling the Italian into hopes never to be realised, and +that he would express himself openly and warmly. He did so, however, +with more gentleness than Lumley had anticipated. + +"This is not exactly the thing," said Ferrers, after twice reading the +letter; "still it may hereafter be a strong card in our hands--we will +keep it." + +So saying, he locked the letter up in his desk, and Cesarini soon forgot +its existence. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "She was a phantom of delight, + When first she gleamed upon my sight: + A lovely apparition sent + To be a moment's ornament."--WORDSWORTH. + +MALTRAVERS did not see Lady Florence again for some weeks; meanwhile, +Lumley Ferrers made his /debut/ in parliament. Rigidly adhering to his +plan of acting on a deliberate system, and not prone to overrate +himself, Mr. Ferrers did not, like most promising new members, try the +hazardous ordeal of a great first speech. Though bold, fluent, and +ready, he was not eloquent; and he knew that on great occasions, when +great speeches are wanted, great guns like to have the fire to +themselves. Neither did he split upon the opposite rock of "promising +young men," who stick to "the business of the house" like leeches, and +quibble on details; in return for which labour they are generally voted +bores, who can never do anything remarkable. But he spoke frequently, +shortly, courageously, and with a strong dash of good-humoured +personality. He was the man whom a minister could get to say something +which other people did not like to say: and he did so with a frank +fearlessness that carried off any seeming violation of good taste. He +soon became a very popular speaker in the parliamentary clique; +especially with the gentlemen who crowd the bar, and never want to hear +the argument of the debate. Between him and Maltravers a visible +coldness now existed; for the latter looked upon his old friend (whose +principles of logic led him even to republicanism, and who had been +accustomed to accuse Ernest of temporising with plain truths, if he +demurred to their application to artificial states of society) as a +cold-blooded and hypocritical adventurer; while Ferrers, seeing that +Ernest could now be of no further use to him, was willing enough to drop +a profitless intimacy. Nay, he thought it would be wise to pick a +quarrel with him, if possible, as the best means of banishing a supposed +rival from the house of his noble relation, Lord Saxingham. But no +opportunity for that step presented itself; so Lumley kept a fit of +convenient rudeness, or an impromptu sarcasm, in reserve, if ever it +should be wanted. + +The season and the session were alike drawing to a close, when +Maltravers received a pressing invitation from Cleveland to spend a week +at his villa, which he assured Ernest would be full of agreeable people; +and as all business productive of debate or division was over, +Maltravers was glad to obtain fresh air, and a change of scene. +Accordingly, he sent down his luggage and favourite books, and one +afternoon in early August rode alone towards Temple Grove. He was much +dissatisfied, perhaps disappointed, with his experience of public life; +and with his high-wrought and over-refining views of the deficiencies of +others more prominent, he was in a humour to mingle also censure of +himself, for having yielded too much to the doubts and scruples that +often, in the early part of their career, beset the honest and sincere, +in the turbulent whirl of politics, and ever tend to make the robust +hues that should belong to action + + "Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." + +His mind was working its way slowly towards those conclusions, which +sometimes ripen the best practical men out of the most exalted +theorists, and perhaps he saw before him the pleasing prospect +flatteringly exhibited to another, when he complained of being too +honest for party, viz., "of becoming a very pretty rascal in time!" + +For several weeks he had not heard from his unknown correspondent, and +the time was come when he missed those letters, now continued for more +than two years; and which, in their eloquent mixture of complaint, +exhortation, despondent gloom and declamatory enthusiasm, had often +soothed him in dejection, and made him more sensible of triumph. While +revolving in his mind thoughts connected with these subjects--and, +somehow or other, with his more ambitious reveries were always mingled +musings of curiosity respecting his correspondent--he was struck by the +beauty of a little girl, of about eleven years old, who was walking with +a female attendant on the footpath that skirted the road. I said that +he was struck by her beauty, but that is a wrong expression; it was +rather the charm of her countenance than the perfection of her features +which arrested the gaze of Maltravers--a charm that might not have +existed for others, but was inexpressibly attractive to him, and was so +much apart from the vulgar fascination of mere beauty, that it would +have equally touched a chord at his heart, if coupled with homely +features or a bloomless cheek. This charm was in a wonderful innocent +and dove-like softness of expression. We all form to ourselves some +/beau-ideal/ of the "fair spirit" we desire as our earthly "minister," +and somewhat capriciously gauge and proportion our admiration of living +shapes according as the /beau-ideal/ is more or less embodied or +approached. Beauty, of a stamp that is not familiar to the dreams of +our fancy, may win the cold homage of our judgment, while a look, a +feature, a something that realises and calls up a boyish vision, and +assimilates even distantly to the picture we wear within us, has a +loveliness peculiar to our eyes, and kindles an emotion that almost +seems to belong to memory. It is this which the Platonists felt when +they wildly supposed that souls attracted to each other on earth had +been united in an earlier being and a diviner sphere; and there was in +the young face on which Ernest gazed precisely this ineffable harmony +with his preconceived notions of the beautiful. Many a nightly and +noonday reverie was realised in those mild yet smiling eyes of the +darkest blue; in that ingenuous breadth of brow, with its +slightly-pencilled arches, and the nose, not cut in that sharp and clear +symmetry which looks so lovely in marble, but usually gives to flesh and +blood a decided and hard character, that better becomes the sterner than +the gentler sex--no; not moulded in the pure Grecian, nor in the pure +Roman, cast; but small, delicate, with the least possible inclination to +turn upward, that was only to be detected in one position of the head, +and served to give a prettier archness to the sweet flexile lips, which, +from the gentleness of their repose, seemed to smile unconsciously, but +rather from a happy constitutional serenity than from the giddiness of +mirth. Such was the character of this fair child's countenance, on +which Maltravers turned and gazed involuntarily and reverently, with +something of the admiring delight with which we look upon the Virgin of +a Rafaele, or the sunset landscape of a Claude. The girl did not appear +to feel any premature coquetry at the evident, though respectful +admiration she excited. She met the eyes bent upon her, brilliant and +eloquent as they were, with a fearless and unsuspecting gaze, and +pointed out to her companion, with all a child's quick and unrestrained +impulse, the shining and raven gloss, the arched and haughty neck, of +Ernest's beautiful Arabian. + +Now there happened between Maltravers and the young object of his +admiration a little adventure, which served, perhaps, to fix in her +recollection this short encounter with a stranger; for certain it is +that, years after, she did remember both the circumstances of the +adventure and the features of Maltravers. She wore one of those large +straw-hats which look so pretty upon children, and the warmth of the day +made her untie the strings which confined it. A gentle breeze arose, as +by a turn in the road the country became more open, and suddenly wafted +the hat from its proper post, almost to the hoofs of Ernest's horse. +The child naturally made a spring forward to arrest the deserter, and +her foot slipped down the bank, which was rather steeply raised above +the road. She uttered a low cry of pain. To dismount--to regain the +prize--and to restore it to its owner, was, with Ernest, the work of a +moment; the poor girl had twisted her ankle and was leaning upon her +servant for support. But when she saw the anxiety, and almost the +alarm, upon the stranger's face (and her exclamation of pain had +literally thrilled his heart--so much and so unaccountably had she +excited his interest), she made an effort at self-control, not common at +her years, and, with a forced smile, assured him she was not much +hurt--that it was nothing--that she was just at home. + +"Oh, miss!" said the servant, "I am sure you are very bad. Dear heart, +how angry master will be! It was not my fault; was it, sir?" + +"Oh, no, it was not your fault, Margaret; don't be frightened--papa +sha'n't blame you. But I'm much better now." So saying, she tried to +walk; but the effort was in vain--she turned yet more pale, and though +she struggled to prevent a shriek, the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +It was very odd, but Maltravers had never felt more touched--the tears +stood in his own eyes; he longed to carry her in his arms, but, child as +she was, a strange kind of nervous timidity forbade him. Margaret, +perhaps, expected it of him, for she looked hard in his face, before she +attempted a burthen to which, being a small, slight person, she was by +no means equal. However, after a pause, she took up her charge, who, +ashamed of her tears, and almost overcome with pain, nestled her head in +the woman's bosom, and Maltravers walked by her side, while his docile +and well-trained horse followed at a distance, every now and then +putting its fore-legs on the bank and cropping away a mouthful of leaves +from the hedge-row. + +"Oh, Margaret!" said the little sufferer, "I cannot bear it--indeed I +cannot." + +And Maltravers observed that Margaret had permitted the lame foot to +hang down unsupported, so that the pain must indeed have been scarcely +bearable. He could restrain himself no longer. + +"You are not strong enough to carry her," said he, sharply, to the +servant; and the next moment the child was in his arms. Oh, with what +anxious tenderness he bore her! and he was so happy when she turned her +face to him and smiled, and told him she now scarcely felt the pain. If +it were possible to be in love with a child of eleven years old, +Maltravers was almost in love. His pulses trembled as he felt her pure +breath on his cheek, and her rich beautiful hair was waved by the breeze +across his lips. He hushed his voice to a whisper as he poured forth +all the soothing and comforting expressions which give a natural +eloquence to persons fond of children--and Ernest Maltravers was the +idol of children;--he understood and sympathised with them; he had a +great deal of the child himself, beneath the rough and cold husk of his +proud reserve. At length they came to a lodge, and Margaret eagerly +inquiring "whether master and missus were at home," seemed delighted to +hear they were not. Ernest, however, insisted on bearing his charge +across the lawn to the house, which, like most suburban villas, was but +a stone's throw from the lodge; and, receiving the most positive promise +that surgical advice should be immediately sent for, he was forced to +content himself with laying the sufferer on a sofa in the drawing-room; +and she thanked him so prettily, and assured him she was so much easier, +that he would have given the world to kiss her. The child had completed +her conquest over him by being above the child's ordinary littleness of +making the worst of things, in order to obtain the consequence and +dignity of being pitied;--she was evidently unselfish and considerate +for others. He did kiss her, but it was the hand that he kissed, and no +cavalier ever kissed his lady's hand with more respect; and then, for +the first time, the child blushed--then, for the first time, she felt as +if the day would come when she should be a child no longer! Why was +this?--perhaps because it is an era in life--the first sign of a +tenderness that inspires respect, not familiarity! + +"If ever again I could be in love," said Maltravers, as he spurred on +his road, "I really think it would be with that exquisite child. My +feeling is more like that of love at first sight than any emotion which +beauty ever caused in me. Alice--Valerie--no; the /first/ sight of them +did not:--but what folly is this--a child of eleven--and I verging upon +thirty!" + +Still, however, folly as it might be, the image of that young girl +haunted Maltravers for many days; till change of scene, the distractions +of society, the grave thoughts of manhood, and, above all, a series of +exciting circumstances about to be narrated, gradually obliterated a +strange and most delightful impression. He had learned, however, that +Mr. Templeton was the proprietor of the villa, which was the child's +home. He wrote to Ferrers to narrate the incident, and to inquire after +the sufferer. In due time he heard from that gentleman that the child +was recovered, and gone with Mr. and Mrs. Templeton to Brighton, for +change of air and sea-bathing. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERNEST MALTRAVERS, LYTTON, V7 *** + +********* This file should be named 7646.txt or 7646.zip ********* + +This eBook was produced by Dagny, + and David Widger, + +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. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* diff --git a/7646.zip b/7646.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c59597a --- /dev/null +++ b/7646.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39f4949 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #7646 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7646) |