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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/78689-0.txt b/78689-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b5aa05 --- /dev/null +++ b/78689-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3846 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78689 *** + + + + + THE + + CONTRAST, + + + BY THE AUTHOR OF “MATILDA,” “YES AND NO,” + &c. &c. + + + Take but degree away--untune that string, + And hark! what discord follows. + SHAKSPEARE. + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + + + + LONDON: + + HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY, + + NEW BURLINGTON STREET. + + 1832. + + + + + THE CONTRAST. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + Knights and dames I sing, + Such as the times may furnish: ’tis a flight + Which seems at first to need no lofty wing + Plumed by Longinus, or the Stagyrite: + The difficulty lies in colouring, + (Keeping the due proportions still in sight,) + With nature, manners which are artificial, + And rendering general that which is especial. + BYRON. + + He’s justice of the peace, ay, and rotulorum. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +Some years had passed over Sir North Saunders’ head since we were +last in his company, and yet we shall find him much as we left him, +neither richer nor poorer, wiser nor better, nor, except “quoad” +baptismal register, much older than when, upon first establishing +himself for the summer season at Hornscliff Abbey, he had accompanied +Castleton and Lady Madelina to Morden Bay. He still looked much the +same; he could still eat as much, and walk as little. True, in the +interval one great epoch had occurred in the life of a politician of +his calibre; _he had sworn off_, or, to explain it in other words +to the uninitiated, he was now turned sixty: a fact which, when +sworn to, gives a member of Parliament an exemption from attendance +on committees, it being “in the wisdom of the legislature” thought +that to rise by ten o’clock in the forenoon would be very injurious +at that advanced age, though to sit up all night, and decide the +most important questions at five o’clock in the morning, is a duty +constantly exacted. + +Coeval, however, with this survival of part of his senatorial +functions, he had assumed new provincial duties. He had lately acted +as a justice of the peace! in the jargon of the sessions, he had sued +out his _dedimus_, and become one of the _quorum_, a phraseology +probably retained to contradict the proverbial assertion, that +translation of the dead languages is of benefit to country gentlemen. + +It may be thought a little late for an elderly gentleman, turned +sixty, to take upon himself, for the first time, the complicated +duties of administering the laws; but then it should be recollected +that he had passed the last forty in making them, and from the +singular ease with which he had, during that period, executed his +part in the former process, it is no wonder that he thought himself +perfectly adequate to the subordinate department he now undertook. +It may not be understood with what sort of “hocus pocus” facility +most of the enactments, on the construction of which Sir North +had undertaken to decide, had become the law of the land. Provided +they touched not the interests of any one within hearing, the whole +process seems to consist in a bit of parchment being subjected to the +magic touch of a certain number of men with wigs on their heads and +gowns on their backs, a certain number of times; true, it is also +said to be read a certain number of times, which, however, consists +in one of the gownsmen mumbling the first unmeaning half line in a +tone somewhat lower than that in which every voice is talking around +him. The chief of the gownsmen then, in somewhat the same tone, +invites all of one opinion to say “ay,” and all of the other “no;” +an invitation to which, whilst all are equally unconscious to what +it alludes, no one can pay the slightest attention. Having undergone +this mystic touch the prescribed number of times in one room, it for +once gets into the hands of a man without either gown or wig, who, +with sundry “kotous,” carries it into another room, where it is again +subject, a similar number of times, to the same touching process, +when at last all the wigs being now collected in one room, one of +them stands in the middle, produces a few strange sounds of barbarous +French, and the magic parchment at once becomes the law of the land, +without ninety-nine in a hundred, upon whose authority it has so +become, ever having heard more of it than the cabalistic syllable, +equally applicable to all, of “Whereas.” + +The fact is, from the day of the Druids down to our own inclusive, +there never was any mummery more unmeaning than that with which an +unopposed law is passed through the British legislature. Therefore, +though from being constantly at the beck of every succeeding +whipper-in of the Treasury, Sir North had, perhaps, more frequently +than any other individual, bowed bills up to the bar of the House +of Lords; he was not by any means aware how much he had by that +contributed to complicate the new duties he had undertaken, off hand, +and expected to execute by intuition. But here, let not the reader +be alarmed: I am not going to start off with one of the sweeping +invectives, with some so popular, against the “great unpaid;” such +a digression would be out of place here, if I thought it in reason +anywhere. But my own opinion is, that it is a system which rather +requires to be regulated than superseded. I by no means think that +all is obtained that is required, because the magistrate is unpaid: +but neither do I think that all would be remedied if he was paid. I +do not think it by any means certain, that this change alone would +at once insure oracles of wisdom, and miracles of wit, all over the +country. If, too, their appointments are all to emanate from the +crown, I am much surprised that any, who entertain a constitutional +jealousy of the executive, should tolerate a plan, which either +must be made the means of increased patronage to the dependants of +Government and their supporters amongst the local aristocracy, or +if there ever should be a minister who should be disposed to drill +all under him into a sort of military subordination, would enable +him to organize a system, if not of police espionage, at least, of +ministerial surveillance. “Surveillance!” The word is not English; +because the thing itself has never been naturalized amongst us. And +next to the consideration of how the stipendiary magistrates are to +be appointed, comes that of from what class are they to be selected. +Probably from amongst those educated for the profession of the law. +But you could never expect that the infinite number of appointments +necessary, would be such as to tempt men of eminence or ambition to +accept them, so that everywhere you must be content with mediocrity +of talent and attainments. Added to this, is the name of lawyer, +whether deservedly or not, so popular among the lower orders, as +to make such a change desired by those for whose advantage it is +supposed to be proposed? Whatever the defects of the present system +may be, I am sure much good is frequently effected by the attention +willingly paid to the amicable recommendations of him who is looked +up to in his immediate neighbourhood, as uniting the character of +magistrate with that of kind protector, or benevolent landlord. Far, +however, am I from thinking that the present system is perfect. Many, +I am aware, are the instances both of injustice and ignorance, +which it has fostered under the head of injustice. The “game laws,” +administered by the very persons most interested against the accused +party, have led to much capricious tyranny. But abolish the game laws +(as you have begun to do); destroy the unjust law, and you remove +the temptation to injustice in the administration. As to ignorance, +too, I am afraid that there are but too many lamentable instances; +but why, then, is the most complicated and important business of +administering the laws, supposed to be the only one for which no +previous practice or preparation is required? A diploma is expected +for medicine; a degree or examination, for taking orders as a priest. +Why, as most of our magistrates are of the class usually educated at +one of the Universities, why should not a course of English law be +engrafted upon the many less useful things exacted as necessary to +a degree? or why should not a certificate from a separate college, +established for that purpose, be required from every one wishing +to act as a magistrate? Would it be very unreasonable to expect +that some little fitness should be ascertained, before duties were +undertaken, in which the interests of so many, and amongst them those +the least able to defend themselves, are involved. But nothing of +this kind was required of Sir North Saunders; and he had entered upon +the whole career of “summoning, passing, committing, and certifying,” +without undergoing any other _test_ than the one then exacted from +all, for the preservation of religious intolerance. Through life +it had been the maxim of Sir North Saunders, to unite as much as +possible the outward appearance of a dissipated man of pleasure, with +the solid advantages of a shrewd man of business; and as a principal +ingredient in maintaining his first character, he was always very +conspicuous in his devotion to some one of the reigning beauties +of the day. Not that his gallantries were ever of a nature either +to endanger the character of their object, or at all to interfere +with any more serious affair in which she might at the time be +engaged;--on the contrary, his gratification always seemed complete +when his house was proposed for any little flirting assignation, on +the part of the person whom he for the time admired. And this was a +favour not unfrequently granted to him, being on many accounts found +particularly convenient; for whilst the decorous character of the +society, which he united both in town and country, was maintained +by the tutelary presence of some of the most rigid dowagers of his +own party and connexion, always anxious for the support of splendid +establishments, whether domestic or political, and attracted by the +orthodoxy of his creed and kitchen, there was a most complete absence +of all constraint in a society where every one thought they rather +honoured the host, by condescending to partake of his hospitalities. +Not that Sir North was without his “toad-eaters;”--where is the man +of forty thousand a-year that ever was?--but it was so completely the +tone of the house to take every thing Sir North did for his friends, +as a matter of course, and as their due, that there was never any +openly avowed admiration of any thing, and his veriest creatures +only carried on a contraband trade in flattery, smuggling their +contingent of subserviency at a favourable moment, when unobserved; +and even these, to whom his hospitality was a convenience, and who +had no alternative between the Baronet and his Grace Humphrey, would, +without scruple, criticise the most _recherché_ of his _entrées_, and +make believe a bottle was corked to show they were not obliged to +drink it. + +The party at present assembled consisted, as usual, of a strange +melange, composed of well-paid placemen in search of amusement during +the recess, and needy men of fashion seeking subsistence through the +dead months; of dowagers hunting marrying men, and dandies hunting +married women; but amongst those were to be found, some whom Sir +North had contrived to persuade to visit him, who were rather above +the class usually collected at a house whose ostentatious hospitality +was too much ridiculed to be very _recherché_. And in this list was +to be placed Lady Gayland, the young widow mentioned in Castleton’s +letter to his friend, as a continental acquaintance. She had lately +returned to her native country, and had accepted the invitation to +Hornscliff Abbey, eagerly pressed by Sir North. As she possessed +too much good spirits to be really bored anywhere; and too much +good sense to affect to be so at the caprice of others, and quite +wit enough to avail herself, as a matter of amusement, and in a +good-natured way, of the ridicule of Sir North’s character; she found +such a residence for a short time, well calculated to suit her easy +humour, and independent situation. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + Her chief resource was in her own high spirit, + Which judged mankind at their due estimation; + And for coquetry she disdained to wear it, + Secure of admiration; its impression + Was faint as if an every-day possession. + BYRON. + + But then her face + So lovely, yet so arch; so full of mirth, + The overflowings of an innocent heart. + + +It will be equally impossible, I fear, to give the reader of these +pages an idea of the charm of Lady Gayland’s character, whether he +is allowed to guess his way to its developement through the mazes of +contradictory traits which the events themselves may incidentally +present, and so be left puzzled and perplexed, as Lord Castleton +himself was in his former acquaintance with her; or whether the more +arduous task shall be undertaken of giving him a clue through the +medium of introductory description. Yet, how to tie down to terms of +fixed description, that which, if it was as brilliant, was also as +changeful as the sun-beam! How to exemplify that which, at all times, +was unlike any thing else, or how to describe that which was often +most unlike itself! I might, it is true, vaunt the undeniable beauty +of her fine features, expatiate on the brilliancy of her full dark +eye; or detail the form of that noble brow which seemed the chosen +throne of thought. Yet how, even by this means, to give any idea of +that strength of varied expression, which, as the occasion required, +even before the ready words had risen to her lips, stamped upon her +countenance the perfect prototype of indignation, ridicule, or +sympathy! If I were even to recall some of the sallies of her playful +wit, they might, thus stiffly recorded, no longer be the same as +when flowing forth the spontaneous burst of high spirits and buoyant +fancy; and seem, perhaps, abrupt and harsh when deprived of the +accompanying sweet smile and soft tone, which could even blunt the +sting of satire. + +On the other hand, it might be difficult to persuade those who felt +not that her movements were the result of some higher impulse, which +spurned the usual rules of drawing-room refinement--how impossible it +was that under any circumstances she could ever be ungraceful; and +such as she was, when most unlike every one else, she seemed least +aware of it herself. Her’s was the singularity of genius; not the +genius of singularity. If she was often in word and deed what some +might say they would not imitate, still oftener was she what others +owned they could not emulate. And whilst many who knew her slightly, +thought it was well for the world that there was no _second_ Lady +Gayland; all who knew her well, thought there was nothing which the +world could not better spare than that one. + +The morning after the events, described in the last Chapter, had +happened at Morden Bay, a large party was assembled round the +breakfast-table at Sir North’s, and in the full enjoyment of the +social meal; for though, contrary to his usual custom, their host +had not yet appeared, his authority had been put in commission, as +amongst the guests there were many who considered themselves quite at +liberty to treat his servants as if they were their own. + +“How I envy you your spirits, Lady Gayland!” drawled out that +beshawled and draperied anatomy, Mrs. M‘Angle, as she sat coiled up +in one corner of the easy _fauteuil_, which, as an invalid, had been +provided for her. “I shan’t be half awake these three hours yet; and +you talk as gaily as if it was after midnight, instead of before +noon.” + +“For my part,” said Lady Gayland, “I never feel more alive than with +the freshness of the morning dew upon my thoughts; I enjoy, above all +the other _agrémens_ of a country party, a social breakfast-table. +But where is he ‘_who is the cause of mirth in others_?’” + +“Our host has undertaken the part of Banquo,” rejoined his humble +friend, Mr. Spencer, pointing to the vacant chair of Sir North. + +“Perhaps we are too noisy for him; he is accustomed ten months in the +year to a solitary meal, dividing his attention between his sodden +muffin, and newspaper done dry at a quick fire; but, after all, I +believe here he is.” + +But it was not Sir North, but an individual whose entrance was +likely to produce, amongst the other guests, a much stronger +sensation than “one so common hacknied in the eyes of men,” as their +much despised host. The person in question was equipped, as to his +lower man, in the most correct shooting costume; but the jacket had +not as yet replaced the accustomed blue coat with royal buttons, +crossed up to his chin, many loops for sundry stars being seen on +his left breast. He was well known to all the half-fed placemen, who +now _officiously_, perhaps _officially_, cleared him his place at +the breakfast-table, and who, though they would gladly have picked +up HIS crumbs, brushed THEIR OWN out of his way. Indeed, though +all there might not previously have come in personal contact with +him, who did not know, by name, The Right Honourable the Earl of +Stayinmore, K.G., G.C.B., G.G.C., the proprietor of the three snug +little boroughs of Singlecot, Bankcumwall, and Old Summertemple, +and one of the confidential advisers of the Crown at that day? His +Lordship had, through life, observed great judgment in establishing +the reputation of his wisdom by his silence--and of his consequence, +by his civility. But he contrived by his silence often to place more +restraint upon opinion than others by a direct negative, looking +the while as “if I could contradict if it was worth my while;” and +his civility was so ostentatiously condescending, that to some it +was more offensive than would have been the actual assumption of +superiority. One of those who saw it in this light was Lady Gayland; +and it was evident to the blindest of bystanders, even whilst +the diplomatic assurances, &c. of the morning acknowledgements, +were going on between them, that there would very soon be a “war +of opinion.” The serviles formed a royalist militia round Lord +S. whilst all the unquiet spirits looked to Lady Gayland for +encouragement. + +Lord Stayinmore was, however, determined if possible to propitiate +his beautiful antagonist by the studied courtesy of his morning +address to her; and disregarding the attempts of his satellites to +fix him in their system by offering vacant chairs as he bowed his way +up the table, he at last deposited himself in one just opposite Lady +Gayland, saying, with a curvature of the body and an inflexion of the +voice, which became so substantial an impersonation of the shade of +Chesterfield, “Here’s metal more attractive.” + +“New and true,” muttered Lady Gayland; adding more loudly, and in a +manner it was impossible to say positively was meant for ridicule: +“‘I kiss thy hand, but not flattery, Cæsar,’” “There,” said she, +turning to her neighbour Mr. Spencer; “there is a quotation repaid +in kind, as original, and more sincere.” + +As there was nothing in the world, next to the loss of his three +Boroughs of Singlecot, Bankcumwall, and Old Summertemple, which Lord +Stayinmore so particularly dreaded as the idea of being laughed +at, warned by a certain “lurking devil in her eye,” he did not +again address Lady Gayland, but confined himself for some time to +condescending commonplaces amongst his other neighbours. But this +prolonged armistice was, as other prolonged armistices may (not a +thousand years ago) have been, displeasing to these bystanders, who +thought they might gain, and could not lose, by the actual conflict +of the contending parties. And Mr. Spencer, who was sitting next her, +viewed it peculiarly in this light. + +Peter Alexander Spencer was rather, in his way, a character: he +had been ever since he left school a “rising young man,” in every +other respect except bodily height, which had remained stationary +at _five feet one_; but like many little men, he had a most exalted +idea of his own importance, though with great power of bending +to the weaknesses of others, when it suited his object. He was +remarkable for another thing; not only always using the longest +words, but adding still more to their natural length by protracted +pronunciation. He had arrived there the day before, unable to resist +Sir North’s offer of an opportunity to try his double-barrelled +gun, though very proud of the career that had just opened to him, +by being called to the Bar. His arrival had much exhilarated Lady +Gayland. I am afraid it must be owned, that she dearly loved a butt, +and there was in the assumed importance, and natural insignificance +of Mr. Spencer, much, that irresistibly cried out to any one with +the slightest sense of the ridiculous. “Even if you love me, laugh +at me!” She was constantly, in the effervescence of her merry +mood, venting forth many bad jokes about “short Spencers,” and +“long robes,” which she would have been very sorry to have heard +repeated, and which would have been as soon forgotten by every one +else as by herself, but for the intervention of Spencer’s friend, +Mr. Middleman, who shared Spencer’s britscha down, at the allotted +cost of one _post-horse_, and half a post-boy. Middleman was one +of those persons who make their way in the world by constantly +repeating such sentences as “Did you hear what Lady Gayland said of +Spencer! Capital! eh?” Thus storing up the superabundant produce of +more fertile imaginations, and retailing it forth, at moments of +conversational scarcity, thereby gaining his own little percentage +of attention; which he achieved in this instance by repeating, +whenever he thought it would entail most ridicule on his friend and +fellow-traveller, what Lady Gayland had only lightly uttered in a +moment of thoughtlessness. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + A beauteous ripple of the brilliant stream + Of rank and youth, though purer than the rest. + BYRON. + + Great things were now to be achieved at table. + * * * + + But oh, the scenes mid which they met and parted-- + The thoughts, the recollections, sweet and bitter-- + Th’ Elysian dreams of lovers when they loved-- + Who shall restore them? + * * * + + +In the mean time, Mr. Spencer, whose general _toadying_ turn was +regulated in its particular application by the accidental propinquity +of the moment, now drawled out, making as usual a prolonged note of +each vowel, or a sort of appogiatura between it and its succeeding +consonant, + +“D--_o_--_o_ pray t--_o_rture him a l--_ee_tle. There’s nothing so +del--_i_ghtful as your persifl_a_--_a_--_ge_.” + +“But I’m not so sanguinary an amazon as to declare unprovoked war,” +replied she, “still, ‘sotto voce,’ his silence leaves me no pretence: +he is determined to avail himself of the most literal application of +the Italian proverb, + + ‘In bocca chiusa non entran’ mosche.’” + +But even whilst she was thus declining any wanton act of hostility, +a subject was fixed upon Lord Stayinmore, by one of his satellites, +which was almost the only one on which he could then have been +provoked so far to commit his opinion as to risk a contradiction. + +The topic introduced was the conduct which ought to be pursued by +the government of that day, upon one of those “bit by bit” measures +of reform which then excited curiosity, and, if not interest in +itself, had, at least, divided opinion as to the effect the treatment +of it might have upon the constantly recurring cry for parliamentary +reform. Lord Stayinmore felt more deeply than he thought on this +subject, and always expressed himself strongly upon it. + +“It is the bounden duty,” said he, “of every man who has been bred +up in due estimation of the unparalleled blessings of our invaluable +constitution, to make his immovable stand at once, arresting these +erratic changes on the very threshold of their progress, nipping in +the bud these flowery projects of alteration, choking and damming up, +as I may say, this mischievous current of public opinion, even at its +fountain head.” + +Lady Gayland, for the sake of herself as well as her hearers, had +much rather have met her antagonist on some field where her wit +might have given her more vantage ground of position, than on the +wide and level plains of political discussion, and here she was, +therefore, determined not to be forced into a general action; but as +she retired, she could not avoid a skirmishing diversion; and taking +up his last words, “Stop, indeed, the current of public opinion +at its fountain head!” she continued. “That puts me in mind of an +incident I remember hearing last year amongst the _Yuoddling_ hills +of Switzerland. Shall I begin, ‘Once upon a time----’” + +“Oh, pray do,” exclaimed simultaneously half the breakfast-table. + +“You have, most of you, seen those German _Stu_--dents in the +_U_--_niversities_ who are sedentary in the winter, but peripatetic +all the summer, with waists like wasps, and faces like sheep, all +lank locks and learning. One of these was taken to see the source of +the Danube, when, whilst he pressed his palm against the bubbling +spring as it oozed through the cleft of the rock, he exclaimed, in a +fit of geographical grandiloquence, ‘I wonder what they’ll think of +that at Vienna?’ What do you think they did think of that at Vienna, +Lord Stayinmore?” + +“Amusing! but how applicable?” condescendingly notified Lord +Stayinmore, avoiding the question himself by interposing another. + +“Oh, my dear Lord,” replied Lady Gayland, “if it is mine to adorn the +tale, it is not mine to point the moral; but, however, if you will +make a Cassandra of me in spite of myself, and insist upon my ‘laying +bare my prophetic soul,’ I should say that, if whilst you think you +have the power, you attempt to impede the natural flow of popular +feeling with those political bungs, Singlecot and Bankcumwall, which +you now have at your fingers’ ends, they will only be the more +inevitably borne down with its headlong career; and that the majestic +stream of public opinion, swollen on all sides by tributary springs, +will flow resistlessly onward, bearing on its triumphant waves the +united wishes of a liberal government and a grateful people; and any +such opposition as you now threaten, will then no more be felt, than +was the impression of the pigmy fingers of the German student in the +diminished waters of the Danube at Vienna!” + +Lady Gayland had warmed with her subject, and had rattled on more +than she had intended; but she had tact enough, in the midst of +her rhapsody, to perceive evident intimations on the part of +Lord Stayinmore, that the impression she was making was far from +agreeable. He made, first, a nondescript sort of a noise, between a +short cough and a long groan; his chin sunk within the loose folds +of his ample neckcloth, and his broad chest swelled against the +closely-buttoned breast of his well-padded coat. Suddenly checking +herself, she therefore added, in a more playful tone, “But, as +Beatrice says, _I pray your Grace, pardon me, I was born to speak all +mirth, and no matter_.” + +“No matter, indeed, Ma’am,” said Lord Stayinmore, with a forced +effort to maintain his courtesy--“I can sincerely affirm that it is +no matter. Could any one oblige me with the evening paper?” he added, +anxious to escape. + +“Here it is,” said she, handing it over to him with equal +_empressement_; then turning to Mr. Spencer, “‘A nemico che fugge fa +un ponte d’oro,’ as the prudent Italians say; and in default of gold, +I pay in paper currency.” + +“How little they can have to fill the papers with,” said his +Lordship, “when they are reduced to such extracts from the country +journals as this. ‘Lord Castleton has been some time expected at his +seat, Somersby Park, in this neighbourhood, but has not yet arrived. +Report says, that being in a delicate state of health, he still +lingers amongst the sea-breezes at Brighton, but none of the late +notices from that fashionable watering-place mention his Lordship as +amongst its distinguished visitants.’ Who cares?” + +“Indeed, I never knew any body care at all about Lord Castleton’s +movements; he is one of those persons in whose case universal +popularity is synonymous with general indifference,” drawled out Mrs. +MacAngle, who had, in former days, made as much of an effort as was +consistent with her listless nature to detach him from his allegiance +to Lady Madelina Manfred. + +“Castleton will never make any figure in public life. He cannot keep +his object in view with the proper uniformity of purpose,” ejaculated +Lord Stayinmore. “He has no steady political consistency, still +harping on the threatened dangers of Bankcumwall, Singlecot, and +Summertemple.” + +“For my part, I reckon him an intolerable _bore_,” said Mr. Spencer, +to whom he never addressed half-a-dozen words in his life; “and +it’s quite a mistake to _ca-al_ him ha-andsome: a fair man a-always +wants expression,” added he, casting, as he rose from the table, an +approving glance at his own enormous black head, which, being stuck +upon the shortest of persons’ was only just seen trunkless in the +mirror above the sideboard. + +“You have, some of you,” said Lady Gayland, “hit upon the greatest +of all possible faults under which he at present labours, if not in +all your eyes, on all your tongues; he is the absent one. How lucky +it is that all the sins which absence from such a society as this +comprehends, all its atrocities, imperfections, ridicules, (that is +not in this case so much an anti-climax as you think,) can never be +perpetuated on one devoted head; that we are all in turn subject +to its influence, and that, if _la moitié du monde prend plaisir à +médire, et l’autre moitié à croire les médisances_, in our turn _we_ +must all be comprised in one or other of these two divisions.” + +“Dear Lady Gayland, what a tirade!” said Mrs. MacAngle; “I was +not aware, when I ventured to assert that nobody cared about Lord +Castleton, that you were prepared to give me so immediate and +convincing a contradiction of my assertion.” + +How many distant and scattered images will the reference but of a +moment collect, when the heart points the index of the memory. Even +whilst Mrs. MacAngle was drawling forth her half-hinted insinuation, +there passed over in the mirror of Lady Gayland’s mind the reflection +of many a brilliant fête, and many a meeting in sculptured hall, and +the softer shade of many a social promenade, beneath the soothing +influence of an Italian summer. But whatever she felt, she hesitated +not to reply, “You are now quite mistaken!” blushing slightly, +perhaps, at her generous warmth being so misinterpreted, and +speaking, consequently, in a more hurried manner. “You are now quite +mistaken! my observations were merely general. It is true, I did know +Lord Castleton well in Italy; but our exotic acquaintance, which the +warm south had ripened into intimacy, has not borne transplanting +into this northern clime, and I have seen but little of him since +my return. Certainly, I will acknowledge that my recollection of +him does not confirm the opinions of this meeting, that he is all +these,--ill-looking--dull--weak, and uninteresting, but _n’importe_. +Do I think the worse of him for all this? or, in point of fact, do +any of you? And which of you would not say as much of his present +neighbour, if afflicted with that first of faults, absence? The +only cure would be, if B. instead of C. could some day hear what A. +meant C. should hear of B. how much less agreeable a companion that +first of wits A. would be thought by his butt B. I have often longed +that there could be cross-hearings as well as cross-readings; but +the misfortune is, that though libellous letters might be mis-sent, +mis-directed, a social sarcasm never miscarries, but goes straight to +its mark.” + +“But really, for you of all people,” said Mrs. Mac Angle, “to +complain of one’s occasionally saying a severe thing!” + +“I am as aware as any one can be, how much too freely I often speak +my mind to those that are present, for which, of those _here_ whom +I have thus offended, I humbly sue for pardon,” clasping her hands +together, and looking at Lord Stayinmore with an expression of +contrition, which, though slightly burlesqued, it was impossible +to resent, and difficult to resist. “But, _en revanche_, I never do +speak ill of the absent; perhaps, for no better reason than that my +soul pants for nobler game. Had my friend Peter the Great there,” +pointing to Mr. Spencer, who was seen equipped for sport starting +from the front-door; “had he, like his northern namesake, ever known +other fields than those of stubble, and popped at what could pop at +him again, he would not be so keen after the partridges.” + +Above a quarter of an hour had elapsed after this conversation, and +the last lingering sipper of tea and crumbler of roll had brought +to conclusion his most carefully elongated meal, when at length Sir +North made his appearance, and, with a jerking bow, to be divided +amongst all present, began, in that sort of disjointed colloquy and +string of clipped sentences for which, it was before mentioned, he +was famous:--“I beg a thousand pardons--quite shocked; but the fact +is--a most unpleasant occurrence that--Lady Gayland, I need not ask +how your Ladyship has rested--evident--Aurora--rather Hebe;--but as +breakfast’s over--somewhat late for that simile--Jupiter’s jug, and +all that--I am never late, only the fact is, this morning--a most +unpleasant occurrence that--Lord Stayinmore, it has prevented my +reading the papers,--only looked at the Gazette--Delighted to see the +judicious use your Lordship has made of the vacancy caused by the +death of our late excellent friend. You could not have chosen better; +no steadier voter than Montague Mumchance;--won’t speak often,--so +much the better. Talk of rising young men, indeed; we don’t care for +their rising, so long as they are good sitters. Apropos to rising, +though you will not think that that is my forte--but the fact is, a +most unpleasant occurrence, involving a little legal business--only +just come down, not got into Burn yet--as fresh at it as my friend +Peter Spencer. By the bye, where is he?--just the game for him to +smell out--like a young pointer--break him in--” + +“But Peter Spencer is just now smelling out game by the means of his +proxy pointer,” said his friend Mr. Middleman, “and he’s applying his +own nose to the stock of his gun in a turnip field.” + +“Peter the Great,” added Lady Gayland, “is probably, like his +imperial namesake, by this time, if not _overthrown_, fairly _beat_ +by the _Swedes_. But, my dear Sir North, now you have sufficiently +informed us both that the fact is an unpleasant occurrence, and +that the unpleasant occurrence is a fact, do let us judge of their +reciprocal qualities ourselves, and tell us what has happened?” + +Sir North then informed his hearers, as clearly as the confused and +contradictory notions he had as yet imbibed on the subject enabled +him, of some of the occurrences of the preceding night; how a daring +gang of smugglers had been captured by a revenue cutter, after +having landed and concealed somewhere a valuable cargo, and how it +was found on this occasion a barbarous murder had been added to +their former misdeeds. All the information they had as yet collected +was vague, and amounted merely to inference. It was principally +derived from the captain of the revenue cutter, whom even Sir North +had had penetration enough to discover to be a shrewd and sensible +man; though this opinion, which he had correctly formed, he did +not himself confirm to his present hearers in its full extent, by +the more confused and interpolated version which he gave of the +information he had thus obtained. + +No one of the smugglers had as yet seemed the least inclined to turn +King’s evidence; no corpse had been found on board the vessel; but +the open boat or coble belonging to the lugger had several stains of +blood at the bottom, and on its gunnel the stamp of a bloody hand was +distinctly traced, the ends of the finger marks being inside, and as +if they had been strongly pressed against the inward ledge, seeming +to indicate that a person mortally hurt had been thrown overboard, +and had struggled for life to the last by clinging to the side of the +boat. + +The part which was quite unintelligible to them to whom Sir North +endeavoured to explain it, and which had rather puzzled the captain +of the cutter himself, was how to connect these appearances with the +exclamations, when first found, of the girl, who had been discovered +on the beach; and who appeared to have some connection with, or +at least, previous knowledge of the transactions of the gang, as +involved in the last night’s adventure. Her first wild inquiry had +been, “Where is the body?” which would lead one to conclude, that the +act of violence had been committed ashore, and under her observation; +and yet the appearances in the boat would seem to indicate that the +mortal struggle had been after they had put out to sea. + +“As it is,” said Sir North, “it is impossible, at present, to extract +any coherent account from her; she is either decidedly _non compos_, +or, though far be it from me to suspect any thing harsh of one so +young, who ought not yet to be hardened, and who, I am bound to +add, is of rather an interesting appearance; yet I fear all this +unwillingness to give any account arises from wilful stubbornness.” + +“Poor wretch! stubbornness!” exclaimed Lady Gayland, +compassionately; “is there no more charitable way to account for such +unwillingness? She would not, probably, young as you describe her, +have been even casually involved in such a transaction, unless under +circumstances which would lead one to believe her at this moment +labouring under the overwhelming affliction of either the untimely +loss, or impending shame, of some one she loves. Where is she?” + +“Why, I saw I could make nothing of her at present,” answered Sir +North, “so I turned her over to Jones, telling her to keep her apart +from her companions, and lock her up a bit by herself, in a darkish, +lonely room, where, I’ll warrant, reflection will bring her about, +and she will understand her duty, and learn how to make her peace +with the offended majesty of injured justice.” + +Sir North attempted to look grand, under the consciousness that he +was himself to personify his own peroration. Lady Gayland made no +reply, but shortly after left the room. + +Sir North, with all his vanity, did not feel himself quite up to +understanding, much less expounding and administering, the most +complicated section of the most intricate portion of our penal code, +which comprises the revenue laws; with which, in this instance, there +was but too much reason to fear an accusation of murder would be +involved. He therefore postponed the examination till late in the +day, when he hoped for the arrival of an able solicitor from Mayton; +one whose well-tried merits had prevented our poor friend Pounce, in +his probationary lifetime, from dividing any business with him: and +this Mr. Asklaw, Sir North meant on this occasion should act as his +clerk: his butler, who usually doubled that part, being, in point of +fact, not up to much more besides executing warrants himself to take +up the oldest offenders from the cellar, and making out “permits” to +transfer poachers to the House of Correction. + +By thus postponing the examination, Sir North calculated that, even +should Mr. Asklaw not come upon his summons, Peter Spencer would then +be returned with his bagfull, not of briefs, but of birds, and ready +to act as his assessor. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Yet time serves wherein you may redeem + Your banished honours, and restore yourselves + Into the good thoughts of the world again. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +“I can assure your Ladyship, it’s quite the most _unsuitablest_ +place you ever _seed_ for your Ladyship,” said Mrs. Jones, in answer +to Lady Gayland’s entreaty to be shown the room to which the poor +girl had been conveyed. “It’s quite a place for a lady like you to +catch the _cholera_, or the _tic-dooleeroose_, or some other narvous +disorder.” + +“Why! should all these dreadful things happen to me for staying in +it for a few minutes, at my own will and pleasure, and yet it be a +proper place in which forcibly to confine that poor creature? What is +it? not a real dungeon, I hope?” + +“Oh! no, my Lady, I trust I am not such an _unchristen hankeret_, as +to deal in such things. You see, Ma’am, the fact is, she’s stowed in +my lumber-room. It’s many a year now, whenever Sir North said to me, +‘Jones, take this here out of my way, and put it by’--up it’s always +gone, under lock and key, into the lumber-room. So, when he said +to-day, ‘You, Jones, put by this young woman, and keep her safe till +I want her;’ it come most _natral_ like to me, just to pop her in +there, and there she is.” + +There was much in Mrs. Jones’s manner which would have been to Lady +Gayland, at any other time, irresistible food for ridicule; but the +errand on which she was then going, had so much excited her interest, +that she was regulated, in her answers to Mrs. Jones, by an anxious +desire to smooth as much as possible the precise objections that +were started by that methodical body to the object she had in view. +No one of which objections were founded at all upon any difficulty +in counteracting Sir North’s orders, which had been that the young +person should be kept alone; for, though Mrs. Jones had known Sir +North all his life-time, and, consequently, much of her own, she had +not therefore imbibed a more respectful deference for his authority, +than those more recently added members of his establishment, which +had been gradually swelled to the present extent. Mrs. Jones had +begun life as servant-maid to old Sir Simon, at his office in the +City. And therefore let it not be supposed that she is given as a +common specimen of the housekeeping species as it now exists. It +would be strange indeed, if, in these days, when education has been +so widely diffused amongst the middling and lower orders, a pet +preserve of slipslop and ignorance should be found, exactly amongst +those who have the most means of improving themselves by comparing +their own phraseology with that of their superiors. Mrs. Jones had, +in spite of the accumulated dignity of her multiplied charges, +retained much of the original “Maid of All Work of Cripplegate.” In +the course of the many years when she had been left in the solitary +keeping of Hornscliff Abbey, her original cockney had become a little +chequered with the country dialect in the neighbourhood: and from her +occasional association with the fine gentlemen’s fine gentlemen, and +the _elegantes, helegant women_, which Sir North had occasionally, +at considerable intervals, collected there, she had acquired nothing +but awkward affectation. + +But I forget that all this while I am keeping Lady Gayland on the +staircase of the turret even longer than Mrs. Jones would, who, at +length, said-- + +“But, _o’ coorse_, my Lady, I’m not going for to say you shan’t not +do nothing you chooses.” And with this she began to mount the spiral +staircase of the turret, jingling at the same time the big bunch of +keys, from which she was feeling out the biggest, as belonging to the +ponderous lock of the lumber-room. Whilst fitting it in its allotted +key-hole, she turned to Lady Gayland, saying, “I’m afraid your +Ladyship will find it a small matter _dampishish_, it’s so nigh the +roof. I could light a bit of fire now, but it do smoke a triflish at +first lighting: as I remember well this time five years back, when +Sir North set me to burn some old papers here; and if I’d known you’d +been so _descending_ as to come up here, I’d have lighted it when I +first put her in here; but the reason was I was a bit _timbersome_ of +her, poor despairing _cretur_! that she might be _misheevous_ with +fire, since we’ve heard tell of the burnings of the _insensiblaries_, +and some of them _papish monkeish_ old chairs would catch like +tinder.” + +Her follower, as may be imagined, declined the offer to smother her +with smoke, though, at first entrance, the room struck damp, and yet +close, as never having been aired. The low gallery, let into the roof +and sparingly lighted, was, nevertheless, spacious, as far as its +dimensions could be guessed at through the immense heaps of littered +rubbish with which it was crowded, and which afforded ample proofs +that if Mrs. Jones, who kept the key, rarely visited it, she could +never have done so empty-handed. + +Against the low groined windows were leaned so as almost to exclude +the light, broken detached wings of a japan screen, and over them +were hung the sails of a pleasure-boat. On the seats of some +fractured high-backed cedar chairs, which had belonged to the monks, +were piled all the numbers of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ from the +beginning; a crayon drawing of George Anne Bellamy; a print of +Admiral Duncan; Mrs. Abington, as _Scrub_; Sir Simon’s hatchment; and +some coloured lamps for an illumination. On an old billiard-table +were heaped, a gouty chair, fishing-tackle, packets of Sir Simon’s +treasury vouchers scattered loose about, and specimens of rare plants +sent as presents and never unpacked, with every other possible +variety of chaotic confusion, much too numerous to describe. + +But Lady Gayland hardly observed all this, for her attention was +engrossed by an object which seemed as motionless as any of the +incongruous fixtures by which it was surrounded. Lucy Darnell was +discovered sitting on a low stool, leaning one elbow on a tattered +sofa beside her, and the other on her knee, whilst she covered +her face with her hands, pressing the palms against her eyes, and +clenching between her fingers, the locks of her long fair hair, which +was twined and twisted through them. Her intended comforter, Lady +Gayland, moved slowly and softly towards her, and was about to place +herself silently on the sofa beside her, on which Lucy was leaning, +when Mrs. Jones stopped her with something of a scream: + +“Oh, my Lady! take care! it’s dust an inch thick, quite a shame to +be seen! nothing as comes here ever feels a duster _agin_; and _that +ere sofar_ has been here long afore my day; they do say it was put +by ever since the last Lord Hornscliff was laid on it, when he made +away with himself, after he had made away with every thing else; and +to think of your brushing down the nasty dust as _has bin_ there ever +since, with that sweet gown. Vapor, (vapeur) too, as Mrs. Angel-leek +calls it, is the most wulnerablest colour as is!” + +Lady Gayland could have been impatient at this interference, but +she preferred quickly, but effectually getting rid of Mrs. Jones +altogether, to any mode of controlling her proceedings. And as this +wish was not effected by words, it need not be recorded in them; it +is therefore sufficient to say, that the manner which she adopted for +conveying her desire to Mrs. Jones was satisfactory to both parties. + +When at length left alone with poor Lucy Darnell, her visitor felt, +from the graceful, though desolate, attitude of the young person +before her, an interest in her, for which she had not been previously +prepared; and though she had come there with an anxious desire to +minister comfort to her sufferings, she knew not exactly in what +way to commence her self-imposed task. She bent silently over the +apparently unconscious sufferer, desirous, if possible, that her +presence should appear to be in some way acknowledged by her to +whom she came, before she abruptly intruded herself on her notice. +She stood intently gazing on her whose face was still concealed. On +her own fine countenance, the workings of that benevolence which +had brought her there, were blended with that softened expression +of true feminine delicacy, which now made her pause and shrink +from the fear of incautiously wounding where she meant to soothe. +It would have been next to impossible to identify in her, who was +even then fastidiously restrained by the mere chance of inadvertent +offence or injury to a helpless girl, whom she came to serve--the +same person who, an hour before, had fearlessly scattered the +shafts of her ridicule amongst the great and powerful--those who +were easiest to offend and slowest to forgive. The classical contour +of the finely-chiselled features was indeed the same, and was such +as Domenichino would have selected for its beauty--such as, loving +to paint, he would have dressed in one or other of those varied +expressions, according as his subject had been, a Sibyl or a saint. + +Seeing that the motionless being over whom she leaned, and whom +she had gradually approached, still gave no sign of awakened +consciousness, she softly touched the cold and clammy hand, still so +strongly pressed by Lucy against her brow and forehead, and attempted +gently to draw it off, and take it between her’s, and addressed to +her at the same time these words: + +“However great your grief may be, my poor child, there may be some +part of your sorrow which it may be in the power of another to +alleviate; and if so, I think you would prefer to open your heart to +one of your own sex, though unknown to you, rather than to any of +those rude and lawless men in whose company you were brought here, +but to whose society, I feel assured when I look at you, you must be +entirely a stranger.” + +There was that harmony in the silvery tone of Lady Gayland’s +voice--there was that sympathy in her soft and persuasive touch, +which, though Lucy’s faculties were as yet too scattered to enable +her rightly to comprehend the purport of what was said, yet prevented +her from abruptly rejecting the proffered interference. + +“Thank you most kindly, Ma’am,” said she, gently returning the soft +pressure of the lady’s hand with that which she now allowed her +to detach from her cheek, but dropping her head at the same time +still lower towards her knees, and shading her features with the +other hand, whilst she spoke--“thank you most kindly; But yesterday +I should not have known what to wish for, what favour to ask of any +one, stranger or not; and to-day, though I am obliged to you all +every bit the same, not all your kindness could lend me one ray of +comfort.” + +“Why so?” replied her visitor. “It is evident that you are at present +labouring under some severe affliction; but there is no situation +from which every ray of comfort or of hope is excluded, except +guilt, and even there, only from hardened and habitual guilt: that, +I feel assured, is not your case; nay, you tell me yourself that +but yesterday all was peace and content around; think, then, how +much of your present distress may have arisen, not so much from the +extent of the actual calamity which oppresses you, as from the sudden +abruptness of the change by which it was effected. Nay, perhaps you +may have been imprudent,--you have, contrary to the consent of your +friends, wandered where these suspicious associates have unexpectedly +involved you in their lawless transactions,--you dread the exposure, +to those whom you respect, which this discovery entails? If so, +confide openly to me; my protection might, when mere imprudence, not +guilt, is its cause, smooth your return there, whence you ought never +to have wandered. Shame ought never to be allowed to weigh down so +young and gentle a head; and since yesterday it cannot be your casual +connection with the smuggling transactions of last night which have +so completely changed your situation as would induce your friends to +cast you off.” + +“Oh, no, God bless them! no one will cast me off; my dear father +could never dart an angry look or give a hard word to his poor Lucy, +if all the judges of the land had found me guilty! But ’tisn’t for +that I grieve: I do not fear for myself; there will be no judge to +find me guilty;--they’ll lay the blame elsewhere, and he will suffer +for it, and it is by him that the name which I bear, and shame, will +be said to have been coupled together, and his stout heart and daring +spirit will only serve to bear the passive trial of a disgraceful +death. But all the time I shall feel that I was the guilty one; yes, +I killed him as much as if I gave the blow. He’s gone, he’s dead, the +best, the kindest, the gentlest, and I’m sure, whatever he was, one +of the noblest of men.” + +It was in vain that Lady Gayland gave the best attention of which her +acute faculties were capable, to these disjointed and self-accusing +reflections, on the events of the last four-and-twenty hours; it +was in vain that she attempted to connect in her mind any distinct +idea of what actually had happened, or of who the various parties +were to whom allusion had been made, or what connexion they had with +the person before her: but gathering that her grief was principally +connected with the murder supposed to have been committed, and having +heard from Sir North that the occurrence was not at all as yet +substantiated by evidence, she endeavoured to console the mourner by +throwing some doubts upon the fact, saying, “Give not way at once, my +poor girl, to such bitter repinings; you could not feel more acutely +if his death were already ascertained and pronounced. I understand +that there are yet hopes that the wounded man may recover.” + +“Ah! where is he?” screamed Lucy, starting up; “have they then found +him? Quick, dearest Lady, take me to him; let me care him, watch +him, preserve his precious life. But no, no, no!” added she, sinking +down again, upon reading in Lady Gayland’s expressive countenance +that she saw she had gone too far in attempting to excite hopes which +she could not support, “no, I see you are only humouring me like a +child. He cannot, he never will be found. Why was he not found in +the boat with the others, when they refused to let him stay with me? +Where should he be then? ’tis the roar of the waves can alone answer +that question. It was no wild vision when from the beach I thought I +saw them fling him overboard. He struggled hard, and one he dragged +down with him, and, as I thought, the contending breakers bore both +aloft for a moment before my sight, and then, swallowing them as they +sank, rose in another hideous form without them, and closed for ever +over their heads. Was all this so, or not?--who can tell? who can +tell? I’m sure Lucy cannot.” + +Knitting her brows, she seemed for a short time endeavouring to +collect and analyze her thoughts on the subject; then, as if finding +the effort in vain, she covered her face again with her hands, and +sobbed hysterically. + +Lady Gayland’s strong mind enabled her, when she thought it +necessary, to command her feelings, and through all the early part +of this scene she had made extraordinary efforts to do so, knowing +that if she could be at all useful when she wished so to be, it must +only be by calming the sufferer, not increasing her excitation by +sharing her emotions. But the wild and plaintive manner in which Lucy +asked herself the question as to the reality of the dreadful scene +she fancied, struck upon one of those simple chords which pure nature +has implanted in every gentle breast, which, when touched, vibrate +irresistible sympathy; and she was by this for a time so completely +upset as to be unable to attempt to resume her task of comforter. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + I beseech you, + Wrest once the law to your authority: + To do a great right, do a little wrong. + SHAKSPEARE. + + My watch, Sir, has indeed comprehended two auspicious persons. + IBID. + + +Whilst Lady Gayland struggled to recover her own composure, she felt +how important it was to prepare Lucy’s mind for the ordeal which she +had so soon to go through in the shape of a legal investigation into +all these transactions, and previous to which it was so important +that her tranquillity should in some measure be restored. She knew +the unfair inferences which might by possibility be drawn from +her present disordered state; how often, in the hard judgment of +technical men, the effects of modest embarrassment and awe-struck +inexperience may be perverted into the confusion and contradictions +of guilt; and in this case the probability of such a misconstruction +was increased by the overwhelming nature of the recent sorrows which +oppressed her. Yet all the assistance which she could give her to +support her through so severe a trial, Lady Gayland felt, must be +in previous advice, for to it she must go alone and unaccompanied. +However much the interest she now felt in her new _protégée_ might +make her wish to accompany her, she was aware that her presence, as a +female guest of Sir North’s, at a legal investigation in his private +room, into a deed of blood and violence, would be rather misplaced. +She therefore attempted to sustain the impression of the last idea, +which seemed to have so powerful an effect on Lucy’s feelings, and +to enforce upon her a due sense of the unpleasant duty to which she +was shortly to be summoned, and from which she could not shrink, +saying, “If that dreadful scene to which you have alluded with such +natural sensations of horror, is actually impressed upon your mind +as a fact, you should endeavour to recollect that you are now in +the power, and shortly will be summoned into the presence of those +who have a right to ask all you know on the subject. You would, of +course, be most careful not to make a matter of grave accusation +against any one that which may have been merely the workings of your +own distempered imagination; but if you can really feel assured that +you actually saw that which you described, however painful it may be +to the retiring gentleness of your character to bear witness against +any one, you have now no choice; you owe it not only to the memory +of him you mourn, but also your duty to that superior power who has +ordained that through you justice should in this instance be done on +guilt, commands you to speak, without fear or shrinking, the plain +and simple truth.” + +“What! and myself twine the rope round his neck. Ugh! no, no!” +muttered Lucy, shuddering: “my first, best, my only friend, whose +only fault was loving me too well; who has thought of his Lucy far, +far off, when, what was night to him, was day to me. No; if they have +tortures here, let them use them, rather than I will utter one word +against poor George.” + +Lady Gayland felt now completely perplexed: she thought she knew the +language of passion; she thought she could not be completely deceived +in her estimate of artless innocence; and yet it was difficult +to reconcile such contradictory expressions of strong affection, +as it seemed, at the same time, for the slayer and the slain; him +who had fallen a victim to lawless violence, and the perpetrator +of the deed. The fact was, that Lucy’s affectionate disposition +unconsciously impelled her to vent her feelings in exaggerated terms, +when speaking of either of them; principally from the self-reproaches +with regard to both, which she mixed up with the horrors of the last +four-and-twenty hours. She could not bear to reflect that the last +words on Churchill’s lips, before his untimely end, were unrequited +professions of love for her, which love had, indeed, been the cause +of his death: as little could she bear to recollect that it was to +her alleged fickleness, though there never had been any positive +pledges to confirm such an accusation, that George had attributed +all his progressive errors, and but too plainly traced his last +dreadful act of guilt. + +Lady Gayland’s object in seeking Lucy Darnell in her present +temporary confinement, had been, if possible, to soothe the sorrows +of an unfortunate female. But it was no part of her intention to +gratify her own curiosity through the medium of that involuntary +half-confidence which those sorrows themselves might be the +means of eliciting. The sort of mystery which to her seemed to +hang over Lucy’s connexion, both with the murdered man and him +who was in custody, induced her to avoid, rather than to press, +any farther questions on that part of the subject; and she was +confining her counsel to general advice, not to get herself into +farther difficulties by an apparent attempt to thwart the ends of +justice, when Mrs. Jones re-entered the room to inform her that the +Lawyer from Mayton was arrived, and Mr. Spencer was taking off his +shooting-gaiters, and Sir North was almost ready for what Mrs. Jones +called his _justiciary_ business. + +Lady Gayland rose to leave her _protegée_ with an anxious feeling +as to the conduct she would pursue during her approaching trial: in +spite of the doubt she was left in as to her connexion with some +of the parties concerned in these transactions, the course of the +interview with her had excited in her monitress’s breast a powerful +interest in her behalf. + +It was impossible not to be prepossessed in her favour by her +personal appearance; though the obscurity of the darkened room +in which they were, had prevented Lady Gayland from seeing her +thoroughly. It is not merely on its victim man, that beauty in woman, +when apart from rivalry, produces an irresistibly forcible effect. +Lady Gayland, with all her occasional off-hand manner of speaking, +and with the frequent temptations opened to an ever-ready fancy +of ridiculing personal defects, could never be accused of having +made an ill-natured remark upon a rival beauty; and, certainly, she +could very well spare any occasional advantage which such use of her +satirical powers might have been sufficient to promise. But here, not +only the immeasurable distinction of their different rank in life, +but the present position of one of the parties, would have prevented +the idea of possible rivalry: and certainly, whatever may be thought +the best light for commanding admiration; for exciting sympathy, +there is nothing like beauty in distress. + +Lucy was, on her side, so much touched by the unexpected interest +shown in her fate by so superior a being as Lady Gayland, that, +before parting with her, she promised faithfully, that in the +examination to which she was about to be subjected, she would +endeavour to be composed; and that at any rate she would be perfectly +candid, on every part which related to herself, who she was and +whence she came; and that as far as she could, without injuring those +she wished to save, she would explain the whole transaction. + +Lady Gayland, however, could not satisfy herself perfectly with this +conditional promise. She felt a great inclination still, if possible, +to be present at the examination; and in passing through the +entrance-hall, in her way down, she found Sir North and Mr. Spencer +in close conference; the former with a light, calfskin-covered, +legal-looking, quarto volume under his arm; the other drawing the +_charge_, not of the prisoners, but of his gun. The case had, +however, been opened to him, as he was saying, + +“Oh, certainly, Sir North; it will be the su-mmit of _ea_-rthly +_fe-li-ci_-ty to me, to render myself, in the most _di-mi_-nutive +degree, your servi_cea_ble sl_a_-ve. It is, as you justly assumed, +one of the most _co_-mpli-_ca_-ted departm_e_-nts of your judicial +functions. The advice of a pr_o_-fessional man is not only expedient, +but I may say indisp-_e_-nsable to a rural Archimedes. I suppose we +must attack them under the 9th of George II. Chap. 35. for running +unlawful goods. Apropos, Sir North--that black bitch, Juno, has +taken to running hares; we had better put her into the indictment; +’p_o_-n my soul we had--ha! ha! If, according to the 9th of George +II. this ch_a_-rge could be extr_a-ac_ted, I mean substantiated, it +would be the most _e-li_-gible mode of p_ro_c_ee_ding; if not, we +must pr-_o_-c_ee_d against them under the 5th of George III. Chapter +13. In the mean time, I will just change these,” sticking out +conceitedly a worsted-clad fragment of a column, which was called +a leg, and which it would have been well for him if he could have +changed. + +In all this he had shown as usual, that, with the greatest +pretensions to accurate information, and professions of the desire +to serve, his knowledge was never useful, and his assistance always +contingent upon his own convenience. + +Lady Gayland joined Sir North, as Mr. Spencer left him. “My dear Sir +North, I am very anxious to interest you in favour of that young +girl, who is about to be examined before you; I am sure that her +connexion with these lawless parties is accidental and recent; but I +foresee that she will be terribly alarmed at the whole proceeding. +Now, what I want of you is no hard task,--it is only to recollect as +_much_ as possible, that _she_ is a very pretty young girl, and as +_little_ as possible, that you are the ‘great Justice Midas.’ I beg +pardon,” she said, seeing that that last allusion was unfortunate; +“all I meant was, that I hoped you would be the good-natured, +indulgent person, you are to _all_ of our sex, and not endue any +additional dignity on this occasion. Now just promise me that,” she +said, in her most coaxing manner. + +Sir North, who, in the fascination of her address, forgot Justice +Midas, answered, + +“My dear Lady Gayland, I have not now to inform you, that to me your +_will_ alone is law; only recollect, it must not only be law to me, +but must appear so to the professional gentlemen I have called in, or +else--” + +“Nay, Sir North, take care, or I shall come myself, and see whether +you administer accurately what you own you consider as your only law, +my sovereign will and pleasure.” + +Sir North would generally have thought himself only too much +flattered at Lady Gayland making him her _butt_, in any manner +which at the moment might hit her fancy, or chime in with her merry +humour; but just at present, principally from its novelty, his +magisterial dignity was his hobby, on which account her threatened +presence, bringing with it the imminent danger of ridicule, was +particularly unpleasant to him; and he, therefore, bowed himself +away, with as much of a negative as he dared to put upon any proposal +of hers, vented in disjointed, half-sentences, “Fear--perfectly +impossible--distract attention--syren voice--imperative +duty--strictly private--magisterial functions--lives at stake--” + +Lady Gayland, looking after him, only muttered, “Full of wise saws, +and modern instances, and so he plays his part;” for she evidently +saw that it would be impossible under these circumstances, with any +delicacy, to press her desire to attend, and therefore, gave it up, +and retired to her own room, to wait the result. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + I am Robert Shallow, Sir, a poor Esquire of this county, and one of the + King’s Justices of the Peace. + SHAKSPEARE. + + There is no future pang + Can deal that justice on the self-condemned + He deals on his own soul. + BYRON. + + +Sir North having taken his seat on what is figuratively called the +“bench,” typified in this instance by a most portentous looking elbow +chair, meant not only passively to confer dignity upon him who sat +in it, but calculated actively to strike awe into all who approached +it, the prisoners were summoned into his presence. The judicial +consequence of Sir North’s _ci-devant_ study had been recently +perfected by “appropriate scenery and decorations” in the shape of +frame-work divisions, borrowed exactly from the “London boards” or +Metropolitan police-offices. In short, there was only one ingredient +wanting to make it an excellent “justice-shop,” and that was a little +stock of law on the part of the purveyor of that commodity. + +Sir North being stationed in what the servants called his throne, +with Mr. Asklaw on one side, and Mr. Spencer on the other, with +Captain Scudd, of the cutter, at a little distance, the prisoners +were brought in. They were many in number, and of varied appearance, +from the hard weather-beaten _tar_, who feared nothing, to the fresh +lubberly youth, who was scared with the apparent certainty of an +hempen cord. There was, among them, both the uneasy assumption of +pretended recklessness, and the downcast gaze of nerveless despair. +The whole set had on this occasion, too, an unusually care-worn +and disordered appearance, as much from the active labours and +hard-fought dangers of the preceding night, as from the awkwardness +of their present position. Captain Collett alone, neither in his +outward appearance, nor, as it seemed, in his internal sensations, +was at all changed by the events that had taken place, but still wore +the same unvaried expression of quiet cunning. + +Poor George Darnell, on the other hand, could not have been +recognised for the same light-hearted, frank-spoken, somewhat +overbearing roisterer who had appeared at his uncle’s hospitable +board so few days before. The remorseful feelings of which he had +been the prey during the last few hours, appeared almost to have +eaten into his very features, so deeply was their impression stamped +upon his wild and haggard countenance. + +Sir North, whose great anxiety was not to show how little he really +knew of the duties which he had undertaken to discharge, soon found +the greatest difference in the value of his two coadjutors,--of the +professional assistant whom he had casually sought from Mayton, and +of the private friend, on whose considerate suggestions he had mainly +depended for helping him, without expense, out of a difficulty. +The latter (Mr. Spencer) appeared only anxious to confound all his +hearers with the extent of his own information, in which confusion +his friend was most especially included. Mr. Asklaw’s desire, on the +other hand, was to transfuse his own knowledge almost imperceptibly +for the use of his principal. Mr. Spencer began a tirade, much too +long and tedious to be recorded here; the result of which was, that +poor Sir North’s head, in the conclusion, only retained a chaotic +mass of contradictory acts of parliament which he had quoted, +principally from the 8th of George II. c. 18, to the 52d George III. +c. 143, these both inclusive; much about “foreign brandy, arrack +rum, or strong waters;” something about the eye or the limb of a +custom-house officer being assessed of the value of 50_l._ extra; +but most of all, for Mr. Spencer principally relied upon the act +against vessels for hovering near the coast, Sir North had to hear of +the peculiar construction of “cutters, luggers, shallops, wherries, +smacks, and yawls:” this, more than any thing else, bewildered +him; for though he would not for the world have acknowledged his +ignorance, but, on the contrary, looked at least as wise as usual +on the subject, yet there was not one of these, whether cutter, +lugger, shallop, wherry, smack, or yawl, which, if he had seen, he +could have known from Noah’s ark. In the mean time, Mr. Asklaw had +quietly insinuated a Burn’s Justice open at the right place before +him; and though, his head still being a little confused with Peter +Spencer’s prolific jargon, his eye did at first wander to the wrong +page of the two, and his attention yet stranded amongst the islands +of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man; yet, at length, he was +beginning to fancy he saw his way clearer, when Spencer having, as +he thought, satisfactorily played the part of counsel, rose to try +his hand as a judge, and make some sort of address to the prisoners; +and he was particularly diffuse upon the enormity of the conduct of +the leader of such a gang as this, (the captain of the smugglers,) +who, in attempting to defraud his country, had evidently deluded his +followers, many of whom were young offenders. Whilst Spencer was +working himself into eloquence, he was interrupted by Captain Collett. + +“I’ll tell you what, young gentleman, I take it you’ve only your own +authority for putting yourself into the commission here; if so, you’d +better keep your advice for those who ask it, and your opinions for +those who need them. It is no part of my present misfortunes that +I should be forced to hear you preach; I know exactly how much I’m +forced to bear, and no more. I must answer his worship’s questions +there, always provided that I need not criminate myself, which I’m +not very likely to do; and I must mind his worship’s bidding always, +providing it’s according to law, which, of course, it’s likely to be, +but of which same law, it’s as well to let all present know, I’ve +myself some little smattering. But it’s neither my business, nor my +pleasure, to stand here as a mark for you to shoot your tongue at, as +practice in jaw, or law, whichever you please to call it.” + +“Silence, fellow, respect the court!” said Sir North, in, as he +thought, the most impressive manner. + +Whilst this collateral dispute was going on, Mr. Asklaw, who had not +previously had any communication with the Captain of the revenue +cutter, had extracted from him the degree of circumstantial evidence +he had been able to collect, and which had, since they arrived at +Hornscliff, been, to a certain extent, confirmed by the general +report, that a stranger, who had been for some days residing in +that neighbourhood, was mysteriously missing. He again repeated +the appearances they had remarked in the smuggler’s open boat, +intimating that a deed of violence had been there consummated. The +girl’s exclamation, when found on the beach, seeming to prove that +the assault which had been the cause of death, (whether by fire-arms, +or what other means, did not yet appear,) had taken place on shore +previous to the re-embarkation; it immediately occurred to Mr. +Asklaw, that this being much the more serious charge of the two, it +would be most desirable to go into this first; because, could a case +of murder be substantiated and brought home to the parties, the other +accusation, though a much more complicated affair, was of infinitely +minor importance. + +He therefore suggested that the young girl, who was in attendance, +should be called in and examined as to her knowledge of the earlier +part of these transactions, to which her exclamation on the beach +had referred. This proposal was acceded to by Sir North, and poor +Lucy sent for. In the interval which followed, had all present, of +every degree, not been too much occupied with their own concerns to +remark George, the workings of his countenance, in his efforts to +maintain his composure during these moments of, to him, agonizing +suspense, would then have been construed as the struggles of a guilty +conscience. + +After some little while the door opened, and Mrs. Jones only made her +appearance. “I ask pardon, Sir North, for _protruding_ myself, but +it’s quite impossible that young person can make her _testament_, for +she’s _parfectly historical_.” + +It was urged by Mr. Spencer that she ought at least to be brought +there, that they might themselves judge of the state in which she +was; when George, with apparent effort, stepped forward to prevent +it. “It’s not the least necessary, gentlemen, if you’ll only give me +leave to speak a moment. She could only hang me if she came here, and +I’d rather do that job for myself than owe it to her handy-work. If +I must know that my guilt is in her thoughts, let me in mercy think +that she could not bring her lips to utter it. If you’ll only hear +me, I’ll tell you all. Nay, never fear,” said he to his companions, +observing rather a murmur of alarm, “I’m not going to peach about +any of you; leave me _alone_ to tell what concerns myself _alone_. +I know you all too well to think you’d make any difficulties about +my twisting my own hempen cord--I know very well what you, too, +are going to say, gentlemen,” added he, turning to the bench, and +persevering through an attempt to interrupt him from thence, “you +would advise me not to criminate myself; but when a man has brought +disgrace on an honest name, repaid the kindness of his kin with +deceit, and behaved like a bloodthirsty savage in the presence of her +he loved, why, the sooner he finishes his own business the better, +and the less he mixes up with his shameful end those dear ones for +whom it would have been better that they had never seen him.--I’ll +out with it at once, without more words,” continued he in a firmer +tone, and, after gulping down that emotion which swelled within his +throat, “’Twas I that killed Churchill; it was all my own affair; +these comrades had nought to do with it. I might not be minded, +perhaps, to kill him outright, but I certainly did hate him with all +my heart, and I fear my spirit yearned for his blood.” + +“One moment,” said Mr. Asklaw; “(with your leave, Sir North,) I must +remind you that you can be doing yourself no good by speaking in that +tone: by making those declarations of furious hatred, you are giving +your unhappy act the character of deliberate murder.” + +“God forgive me then!” said George; “I would not willingly make +myself out worse than I really am; not for my own sake, for my sand +is run, but for theirs who must share my shame, and to whom there +will soon nought be left behind that was mine but my bad name, +which will stick to them long after they’ve tried hard to forget +George Darnell. I did not mean to say that I carried deadly weapons +expressly to destroy him; but for many a long year that oaken staff, +when ashore, has never been out of my gripe; I never had so much ado +to keep it still as when I was nigh him. It may all be very wrong and +unchristianlike, but when a lad has never had but one hope in the +farthermost seas, and the darkest nights, and the roughest weather, +it’s hard to be run down and capsized by a fair-weather punt, when he +thinks he’s just got safe into that port to which his thoughts have +always turned, as the needle to the pole.” + +Mr. Spencer, who was very jealous of any interference on the part of +Mr. Asklaw with what he considered as his peculiar province, the +whole conduct of this case, having already officiated as counsel and +judge, now took upon himself the department of clerk, and offered +to take down this voluntary confession of George Darnell; and when +divested of those ebullitions of feeling, with which the first +explanation was mixed up, and reduced, as he thought, to technical +form, it contained an accurate account of all that part of which the +reader is already aware: George’s first meeting with Churchill on +the cliff, the altercation, the blow, the subsequent conveyance of +the wounded man to the cave on the beach, and his having afterwards +been carried aboard by the orders of Capt. Collett; but of anything +which passed afterwards, (of which I hope the reader is also anxious +to be informed,) he could add nothing certain. There had been such +a confusion in jumping amid the dashing breakers aboard the lugger, +from the crowded boat, that neither the moment, nor the manner, of +Churchill’s end had been remarked by him. It was possible that he +might have fallen the victim of a casual scuffle, or of a blow dealt +in hostility by one of the crew, as the evidence of Capt. Scudd, as +to the state of the coble, seemed to infer; or he might, as George +had previously imagined, have been washed overboard by the breakers, +his weak state preventing him from saving himself by taking effectual +hold. But the only fact to which the confession could speak was, that +upon drawing up the boat, he was nowhere to be found: a circumstance +that, as the revenue cutter was directly after, through the darkness, +discerned a-head, had failed to make even then a transient impression +on the crew. + +The result of this confession of George’s was not exactly as he had +anticipated, to concentrate upon himself all the blame; for it was +decided by Sir North, with the advice of his “privy council,” which, +as Mr. Asklaw, from disagreement with the rest of the cabinet, had +resigned, now consisted merely of Peter Spencer, that, connecting +George’s statement with the evidence of Captain Scudd, he George, his +confession having been duly signed, should stand committed to the +county gaol, as a principal in the wilful murder of Churchill, and +Captain Collett, and the rest of his boat’s crew, who had carried him +aboard, as accessaries after the fact. + +As soon as this result was communicated to Lady Gayland, she occupied +herself in contriving how Lucy might most speedily, and with the +least discomfort, be restored to her friends, which was arranged +without much difficulty. But she was afterwards prevented from +fulfilling her promise, with which she accompanied the completion of +this arrangement, “That she would herself pay her a visit there.” +For the next post brought letters summoning her to town on legal +business connected with her duty as executrix to Sir Joseph, and +consequently abridged her intended stay at Hornscliff. But though she +cannot accompany the reader there, and he must not expect to revisit +Morden Bay in such gay society as the first time, or to find there as +happy a home as in the second, yet once again for a short time he is +requested to turn his attention towards Bankside Farm. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Few years have passed since brightly cross the way + Lights from each window shot the lengthened ray, + And busy looks in every face were seen, + Through the warm precincts of the reigning Queen. + There fires, inviting, blazed; and all around + Was heard the tinkling bell’s seducing sound: + The nimble waiters to that sound, from far, + Sprang to the call, then hastened to the bar, + Where a glad priestess of the temple swayed, + The most obedient, and the most obeyed. + CRABBE. + + +And first, by the way, to stop at the little town of Mayton. The +evening had begun to close in on the day of the events described +above, when the Widow Westbury, having, unfortunately, no guests +to occupy her within, was standing at her front door, the somewhat +narrow threshold of which the ample expanse of her spotless apron +now more completely filled than when on first taking up that +position, seven years back, she had been herself the most attractive +sign to stray travellers on an idle afternoon to induce them to slip +in beside her. She had, as usual on such occasions, been looking +listlessly up the street, and down the road, when, on turning her +head again in the direction of the road leading from Hornscliff, she +was struck with the uncommon spectacle of two carriages crowded with +persons, apparently both within and without, and attended by others +on horseback, coming into town. One short hopeful vision she had time +to form, of full bedrooms and an empty larder, before undeceived +by observing that they were two hack chaises, and, therefore, the +regular undoubted allies of her powerful rival, the Angel, to which, +of course, they therefore edged off. + +The Widow Westbury was not an envious woman, but one pang she could +not suppress at the exuberance of her rival’s good fortune, whilst +her own house was literally empty, and she turned her head in the +opposite direction, to avoid seeing the actual unloading. But she +was as much surprised here as at what had met her view in the other +direction. It was not market-day, and yet it could be no other than +Farmer Darnell whom she beheld riding towards her, and pressing +George’s pony beyond its natural speed. The first impression of +pleasure which the Widow derived from recognising him was, however, +as completely destroyed, as had been the half-formed hopes in the +other direction, as soon as she made out the extraordinary state in +which he arrived. His first words were, as he kicked the pony towards +the stable gateway. “Hast seen her, Widow? Hast heard anything on +her? Oh! I’se lost her, she’s gone! She’s been kidnapped from us.” + +“What’s fashed about, George? tell us, hinny. Is’t cart mare’s lost, +that ye’re come on t’ galloway?” + +“The cart mare, indeed! she might gang and be d--d, for what I’d fash +myself about the likes of she. But I ax yer pardon, Widow. It’s na +th’ time for a sinfu’ mon to tak’ to profane swearing, when he’s in +sair trouble as I am now. What cared I for hard toimes, for rot i’ +th’ flocks, or blight i’ th’ crops, so long as I had but her, my own +pet lamb, my pride, and my joy--my little Lucy?” + +“And sure there won’t be any harm come to Miss Lucy, then?” asked the +Widow. + +“Harm! I trust in mercy, none. But I’se sair flayed aboot her,” +replied he, in language that would have been hardly intelligible +to any but indigenous ears, his provincialism being, as is often +observed to be the case, redoubled by excitement. “And only to think +now that I slept so sound all through t’ night, when may be she was +struggling with them as have _spraited_ her away from us. But I made +sartain sure she were at her aunt’s, where she had boided the night +afore; but when morning came, and it were noised about that there +had been some fasheous doings on t’ beach, I took galloway and rode +down to sister Alice’s, and when I fooun’ my poor darling child had +never bin there, I were clean demented, and did not ken which way to +gang, but as all t’ turnpikes come through Mayton, I thought I’d may +be hear some tidings of her here; and I’ve lossen a good hour, for I +thought to come the gainest way straight by the salt-marshes--and t’ +galloway was matched to get me throughf, as he was like to be--being +o’er small to bear me, even on canny groond.” + +“And if you haven’t been bogged and are quite dripping wet up to your +waist!” interrupted the Widow--“Come in, Richard, I’ll see and get +you some tidings, and make you comfortable the while.” + +“Comfort!” replied Richard, contemptuously; “comfort! and where’s the +comfort ever like to visit me again, but in the sight of my child?” + +“But step in a wee bit, and tell me all about it, while Joe gives +a feed to the galloway, for he’s clean done at present. Is’t alone +she’s missing?” + +“No: George never com’d back naither; but I don’t count much about +that, for he’s a messmate about in these parts; and he said maybe he +shouldn’t return last night. But Painter Churchill wasn’t to be found +naither.” + +“Richard, I’d my misgivings when you took that man home with you +from here, that no good would come of it: he’s just the sort of +soft-spoken chap to take with a young girl. I wish it mayn’t be along +with he that she’s off.” + +“What, Widow! my own Lucy, that’s come of decent folk, and all along +been used to have a good roof-top over her head, and bide where she +was known and looked up to; she to bemean herself to give up all and +follow a vagabond stroller, of her own free mind! that’s the least +crediblest surmise of all. Hark! what’s that ere chap saying about +George Darnell?” overhearing the voices of those who were already +circulating in the street that it was George Darnell who had been +brought there in a chaise, on his way to the county gaol. This, +when explained, was sure to be a bitter aggravation of the troubles +of Farmer Darnell, who had always loved his nephew better than any +thing else in the world, except her whom he was then seeking; but +the first impression made on him by this news was only, that somehow +or another it must be connected with the absence of Lucy; and acting +upon the idea, he strode across to the Angel, to inform himself, +without stopping to ask any farther particulars, or to listen to the +Widow’s request that he wouldn’t show himself at “t’ other house” in +that unsightly gait. He was however much shocked, when, upon first +desiring to be shown to George Darnell, a difficulty was made by +the constables in whose custody he was, upon the ground that it was +not usual to allow any communication with a prisoner who was on his +way to gaol on so grave a charge as murder. This objection being +at last surmounted, and the Farmer admitted to George by one of +the constables, his parental anxiety again superseding every other +feeling, he blurted out, “Sad job indeed, George! but feyther before +uncle, after all. Hast seen her? Hast heard on her?” + +George, who could make every allowance for any one, father or not, +considering Lucy before every thing else in the world, also forgot +for the moment, his own dreadful situation, in the pleasure he felt +in dissipating his uncle’s fear for his daughter, by informing him +of her safety, and that her return home might speedily be expected. +After this explanation, the more painful task remained, of detailing +to his uncle the particulars of the awful situation in which he had +involved himself. In the whole course of his life, George had never +known what it was to offend his uncle. Many faults he had certainly +committed from his earliest childhood, and scrapes he had got into +with his aunt and others about the house; but his uncle had always +rather taken his part on these occasions; that indulgence towards +venial errors, the result of a disposition not over-strict for +himself, and consequently easy for others, being confirmed by his +strong partiality for his nephew. This only made it more painful to +George to have to break to him the dreadful crime with which he was +now charged; of all the circumstances connected with which he gave +him a faithful account. + +Richard Darnell wished, if possible, not to increase the anguish +which he saw his nephew suffered in the relation, but his own +disappointment would break through his endeavours to make the least +of it. + +“It’s a baddish piece of work indeed, George,” he said; “that must +be confessed. I hope and trust you may be gettin’ well quit on’t, +and you’re not to doubt that we--that is, I--will do all in my power +to help you. But to think, George, how little I would have guessed +that the first sorrow I ever had about my poor child should be +of your making; I that always looked forward to your keeping her +out of harm’s way when I should be gone to my long rest; and that +it should be you brought her among all that unseemly society! But +I will not say now, how far I’d pushed my hopes that sometime the +name of Darnell might be left to share atween you two in peace and +honour; but to think that, through you, it should fall out that my +own innocent child should have been gaped at by the gentlefolk as a +wanton one, the tramping follower of a band of unlawful ruffians!” + +“Don’t, I pray you, uncle,” said George, “don’t; no more o’ that; +it’s just the light in which I’ve been turning it over all this day +and night, and you can’t any how put that stronger in words than I’ve +had it in my thoughts; only from you it hurts me more, for it comes, +I know, strange to Richard Darnell to say an unkind word when his +back’s not up: and of myself you never did yet.” + +The dialogue was here interrupted by the head constable, “Come, +gentlemen, the chaise be ready;” in the phrase of the minions of the +law, any one becoming a gentleman who is consigned to their custody +on any charge, however trivial or flagrant. + +The other prisoners, who had been stowed in different apartments, +were then brought out, and, upon seeing them, and particularly +recognizing Kit Collett again, Richard Darnell, whose fears +immediately turned to the breeze all this would raise at home, though +anxious to avoid, of his own accord, giving George any farther pain, +could not help saying: “Lord! Lord! George, to think how my Missus +will fash herself when she hears tell how you brought a ruffian like +that ere to sit aside her and break her bread! I shall have a bad +time of it with her, George, all along of you; and if this bean’t +the very spot where I seed you off from last time! That were another +guess voyage you were a-bound on then, George: and who kens but I may +have been summut to blame myself? If I’d gi’en you some o’ that good +counsel your aunt said you needed, and had been a bit more minded +what I was after myself, who knows? But good b’ye, George,” added he, +as his nephew was put into the chaise, “you’ll be gettin’ through +yet, I’se sure.” + +And, with a heavier heart, though with somewhat a steadier head +than when he last saw George drive off from the Angel, poor Richard +Darnell returned to the Queen’s Head. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + O’er all within, the lady-hostess rules, + Her bar she governs, and her kitchen schools; + To every guest the appropriate speech is made, + And every duty with distinction paid. + CRABBE. + + Why do you keep alone, + Of sorriest fancies your companions making? + Using those thoughts which should indeed have died + With them they think on. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +In the mean time there had been an arrival at the Queen’s Head. At +the desire of Lady Gayland, Lucy Darnell had been sent as far as +Mayton, in Sir North’s pony-phaeton, accompanied by her own maid, +Mam’selle Angelique, or Angel-leek, as Mrs. Jones called her. +Lucy’s companion was a gay-hearted, good-humoured little Parisian +girl, recently imported by her mistress; and she thought she best +accomplished the purpose for which she was sent, and whiled away the +tedium of the way, by singing to her in succession scraps of little +French chansons; and occasionally, when Lucy seemed most depressed, +assuring her in a tone of sympathy, but half in English, half in +French, both equally unintelligible to her to whom it was addressed, +that she was to take “courage,” for that it was impossible they could +ever be so cruel as to hang a “_si joli garçon de contrabandist_,” as +that “_amour_” whom she had seen pass the windows. + +In this opinion she was more kind and courteous than sincere; for +though George was a fine, handsome, well-made lad, he certainly at +no time, and least of all then, accurately answered the definition +of the sort of man a French girl frequently styles “_un amour_.” Sir +North’s coachman had found, that though the Widow Westbury’s ale +sometimes, for the time being, got the better of memory, memory was +always in favour of making another attack upon it, and therefore he +drove straight, without asking any questions, to the Queen’s Head. +Mrs. Westbury having found out who the two ladies were, met Richard +Darnell on his return with one of her sweetest smiles, “And what do +you think I’ve got for you now?” + +But Richard, who was not at that moment in the most amiable frame of +mind towards his hostess, from the compunctious recollections which +his parting with George had awakened, only replied, making straight +for the stable, “It’s of nae use now, Widow, I’ll not tak’ a drop of +aught you’ve gotten, or touch aught you could give till I’ve seen my +child again.” + +“And what if it should be just your child herself I’ve got to offer +you?” + +“What! what, Lucy?” and Richard Darnell, pushing past the Widow, +rushed into the front parlour, when, upon finding her, the sudden +transition from despondency had a most powerful effect upon him. +His athletic frame actually shook with agitation, and he blubbered +outright, whilst he buried his daughter in his capacious arms. + +At this extraordinary spectacle, even Mam’selle Angelique was not a +little touched, though still more astonished at what she thought a +wonderful natural phenomenon, and lifting up her hands in amazement, +unmixed however with ridicule, exclaimed, “_Mon Dieu! mon Dieu! que +les ours de ce pays-ci jouent le grand sentiment!_” + +The widow having followed our friend into the room, was very anxious, +as it was rather late, that they should stay there all night; but the +Farmer would not hear of it. + +“It’s all very well, Widow; I am always agreeable, you know, when +I’m by myself, but this is my child, whom I’ve only just gettin’ back +out o’ the hands of the Philistines, as my Missus would speak it, and +home’s the most seemly place for the likes o’ she; and besides, Anne, +you know this house wouldn’t be altogither quite entirely fitting +like, you understand.” + +This being said in a manner that was quite intelligible to the +hostess, as conveying a negative of her proposal, she bestirred +herself with real zeal to procure them a conveyance homewards, which +was speedily obtained in the shape of a taxed cart; and Angelique, +after kissing Lucy on both cheeks with the fervour of an old friend, +prepared to resume her seat in the phaeton, attended by the coachman +alone, and whom she treated, on her return, to the same scraps of the +same little “vaudeville airs,” to which he occasionally ventured to +attempt a somewhat incongruous accompaniment; Mrs. Westbury’s ale +having made such a breach in his habitual respectful deference for +the steward’s room, as would have been resented by any other member +of that upper house, but which the light-hearted French girl easily +put up with, as adding to the amusement of the moment. + +In the mean time the Farmer, with one arm guiding the reins, and the +other still round his recovered treasure, partly as if to be sure he +should not again lose her, and partly to save her delicate limbs from +some of the dislocating effects of this rough conveyance, pursued +his way homeward. And if we once see him safe, we will promise that +the story shall not linger long there at present; for Mrs. Darnell, +it may be imagined, had not been rendered more companionable by all +the late events, and though her fault-finding disposition had been +so long used to pick out petty errors, as not to be able at once to +stretch itself so as to comprehend the enormity of George’s present +offences, yet, perhaps, she was more intolerable when perpetually +fishing for minor accompanying grievances, which would have escaped +the other parties, in the overpowering disgrace of George’s +approaching trial. + +But Mrs. Darnell was, as her husband had anticipated, particularly +indignant upon a ruffian like Collett having sat at her board. “Only +to think, if he’d slept here too! as Richard was daft enough to ask +him; it’s just of a piece wi’ all the rest.” And in succession, +“George’s having left Lucy on the shore alone of such a night, to +catch her death of cold, and spoil all her clothes; and Lucy having +been never minded that she’d lost her bonnet there, and having come +home at last with that queer Frenchified thing instead; and Richard, +when he returned from Mayton, having left George’s pony behind, and +Joe Hostler having broken his knees in bringing him over the next +day;”--all these were enumerated, and each in turn pronounced to +be “just of a piece wi’ all the rest.” The effect of all this upon +her husband was to make him enter into a warm and angry defence of +himself upon points on which, if the contrite feelings with which he +had returned from Mayton had been sustained, he would undoubtedly +have pleaded guilty, and sued for mercy. + +The peril in which Lucy had lately been, and the alarm which that +peril had occasioned to her father, had left so strong an impression +on the minds of both as to draw forth more than ever their mutual +feelings of affection, and to multiply more than ever little offices +of attachment on one side, and protection on the other: there never +was a better daughter or a kinder father. For many days after Lucy’s +return, Richard Darnell could not bear, without uneasiness, to see +her stray beyond the garden gate; and when he went out to his work, +she employed almost all the time, till she saw him come back, in +devising and arranging his choicest comforts, and endeavouring how to +welcome him home with his favourite little indulgences. The result +of all this was, that Mrs. Darnell very soon reckoned them a useless +pair of idle _do-noughts_; and after many vain attempts to propitiate +her mother on that head, Lucy finding that her presence seemed +only to open an additional ground of dispute, the effect of these +altercations between her parents was to drive her more from home, to +seek comfort, where she never sought it in vain, in the society of +her aunt. From this in itself she could derive nothing but benefit; +but it is matter of doubt whether she, in her present frame of mind, +was the better for those solitary rambles by which these interviews +were necessarily both preceded and followed. + +During the course of her short acquaintance with Churchill, she +had, she hardly knew why, been led gradually to think of him more +with the anxious deference due to a superior being, than with the +easy consciousness of equality. This feeling, since the melancholy +thoughts that he was now no more, had hallowed the memory of their +interviews, had increased in intensity to a degree amounting to +reverence, almost to adoration, and with it she would have shrunk +from mixing any alloy of feminine tenderness; whilst, on the +other hand, the shame that George, her cousin, the playmate of +her infantine years, should have so fallen, was mixed up with the +deepest anxiety for his impending fate, constantly recurring, and +as constantly checked by the idea that its indulgence was an injury +to Churchill’s murdered shade, whom her excited imagination often +pictured to be hanging about her in these much-loved spots in her +rambles, which they had together so lately visited. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Better be with the dead + Whom we to gain our place have sent to peace, + Than on the torture of the mind to lie + In restless ecstasy. + SHAKSPEARE. + + How many pine in want and dungeon glooms, + Shut from the common air, and common use + Of their own limbs! + THOMSON. + + +It has often struck me, that though it is said, in answer to the +question, “whom does time gallop withal?--with a thief to the +gallows, for, though he goes as softly as foot can fall, he thinks +himself too soon there:” yet, if there is a course which time has to +run, which should, if possible, be shortened, it is that elongated +period which, in the greater part of this kingdom, has often to be +passed between the commitment of a prisoner and his trial. In many +cases nine months may elapse--nine weary months elapse before those +whose trials ultimately end in acquittal, can be restored to their +family; and of those who are committed, how large a proportion are +afterwards proved to have been innocent? or rather, if you please, +not proved to be guilty? With the numberless law reforms, previously +deemed visionary and impossible, which the last few years have seen +actually put in practice, it is not likely that this evil should long +be allowed to continue. How the alteration is to be effected, or by +what separation of the civil and criminal functions of the judges the +courts of law at Westminster Hall could still continue open during +the terms, as they are now required to be, and yet commissions for +the dispatch of criminal justice be issued to the country,--must be +left to more experienced heads than mine to determine. But the evil +of the want of some such arrangement is not confined alone to that +one, in itself sufficient, of an innocent man chancing to be detained +whilst those seasons have almost revolved during which he should have +supported his family by his labour; but it is also not rare that +the tendency to crime, which might be epidemic before, is rendered +so much more virulent by contagion, that he who went in a petty +offender, whether acquitted that time or not, comes out a confirmed +criminal; and even on the guilty, on whom certain punishment must +be done, how much of the benefit of that example, which is the sole +object of punishment, is destroyed by its not being speedy as well as +certain! In this age, celebrated above all its other peculiarities +for the rapid succession of fresh sensations, what crime, however +atrocious, can fix the attention of the public for nine long months? +A rural Burke, or a provincial Bishop, is examined upon a charge, +which the infamous notoriety of the first has identified with his +name, both as a noun and a verb. The London journals teem with the +fullest accounts, headed with the most inviting particulars of the +most revolting details. Nine months, perhaps, elapse, and he dies, +without confession, is hanged and dissected, and all in three lines +of the smallest type in an obscure corner of the fourth page of the +same newspaper. Here the benefit of the example is lost, and nobody +can tell exactly why. The interval that has elapsed is rarely blamed +for it. Nobody out of prison holds the stop-watch for him that is +within. I remember, some years back, a fashionable offender, whose +name was in every body’s mouth at the time, being sentenced to five +years’ confinement in ---- gaol; his liberation was, at length, +announced in the papers. It became the subject of conversation. No +one could believe that any how he could have stayed his whole time, +and bets were made and lost upon the utter impossibility of the +fact. And yet, though to those who had “_thus doft the world_ aside, +and bid it pass,” and had kept no count of time, the fact seemed +impossible, to the individual himself, how endless had seemed the +early snail-like creeping days, how tedious the last lingering hours! + +But though the first part of these reflections were meant for the +benefit of my friend George, whom we left on his way to the county +gaol, the last seem exclusively devoted to the reader, and as, +perhaps, he may think being longer detained by them as cruel as would +be George’s protracted confinement, I hasten to the week preceding +the one in which the Assizes were to be held. + +The time of George’s confinement had not extended at all near +to the full period to which, if his offence had happened at a +different moment, it might have stretched; but was within the +average length previous to trial. Still it had been long enough to +work a considerable effect upon his feelings, which were naturally +good; and with a strongly reviving anxiety that his existence might +be preserved, came a steadfast purpose, if his prayer should be +granted, to lead a new life. He had passed, as usual, much of his +day in solitary meditation, when one evening the door of his cell +was opened by the turnkey, who ushered in a respectable-looking +gentleman, dressed in black, whom the gaoler proposed to leave alone +with George, saying, as he went out, “You may speak your mind freely +to this gemman; he’s come to sarve you in a professional _pint_, and +he never meddles but where there’s a chance; he’s not one of them +carrion beaks, as we calls those who hover about them who are as safe +bespoke as if they were already doomed.” + +The professional gentleman, when left alone with George, proceeded +to tell him, that from the examination he had already made into his +case, he thought it by no means a bad one. The worst point was the +confession he had been foolish enough to make and sign; but he was +in hopes that there were informalities and illegalities in the terms +of that confession which would at once prevent its being recorded +as evidence, and therefore also prevent his being obliged to have +recourse to a last expedient, which he hinted he thought he had in +his power, to procure his acquittal. “But,” added he, “you may depend +upon it that, if you are only sincere with me, every possible pains +shall be taken, for I am directed to spare no expense.” + +“But I beg you will spare it, though,” said George, “I’m not going to +have the hard-earned savings of my poor uncle squandered to save such +a prodigal as I have been.” + +“I beg your pardon, but it is not from your uncle I have received +those directions. No part of the costs will fall on him.” + +“On whom then? for I’ve not a stiver to give you, if that’s your +hope.” + +“I am not at liberty to explain farther,” replied the solicitor. “But +it is sufficient for you to know, that I do not intend any demand on +you, and am myself quite easy on the subject. With respect to your +uncle, the only communication I have had with him has been on the +subject of his daughter’s testimony. She was subpœnaed on the other +side, but from the conversation I had during my visit to your uncle, +I thought her testimony was so likely to be favourable to you, that, +upon hearing this, her previous distress was changed to eagerness on +the subject; and she now expresses perfect readiness to come forward.” + +“Bless her! does she indeed?” said George, “and to speak in my +behalf! A word from her cannot fail to do me good: it must tell with +every one.” + +After this they proceeded more in detail to arrange the particulars +of the defence. The same professional gentleman had, as he told +George, been to Bankside Farm, and upon expressing there the same +anonymous commission to spare no expense in the defence, Lucy knew +not to whom she could trace, at the same time, the will and the power +so to act, except, perhaps, to the Lady who had been so kind to her +at Hornscliff Abbey. + +The evening preceding the day of trial at length arrived. +This was, as usual on such occasions, fixed for Friday, as was +considerately explained to George by the turnkey, that he might have +four-and-twenty hours more to prepare, in case of any awkward result, +as murderers must die within eight-and-forty hours of conviction; +and, as Sunday does not count, they, by this arrangement, gain one +day more. + +Lucy came into the town on that evening, accompanied by her father, +and also by her aunt, who had upon this occasion made the effort +to leave a home from which she had never stirred for many years, +conceiving it to be her duty to support her beloved niece through +this painful trial, and knowing that, if she did not go, her +sister-in-law would have thought she must: and Alice was aware that +her mother’s presence must inevitably be the source of additional, +though unintentional, torment to Lucy. It was settled, that on +no account would it be proper for Lucy to visit George in prison, +even if her character of witness would not have prevented her from +obtaining admission; but Alice Darnell, by the indulgence of the +governor of the prison, had a long interview with her unfortunate +nephew, and, as he expressed himself, it was from that alone that +he had derived the only true consolation of which he had for long +partaken. But poor Alice’s efforts to maintain her composure before +him, combined with the unusual exertion which the whole expedition +had occasioned her, had so shattered her already broken spirits, that +she was utterly unequal to accompany her niece to court next morning, +and it was with her father alone, that Lucy attended there. + +The Grand Jury had, the day before, found a “true bill” against +George Darnell for “wilful murder;” and against Christopher Collett, +and three other of the smugglers, as accessaries after the fact; and +had thrown out the bills against the others. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + Are you acquainted with the difference + That holds the present question in the court? + Is not this the boy redeemed from death? + SHAKSPEARE. + + Can the sea yield up its dead alive? + + +The Judge took his seat on the bench at nine o’clock: on one side of +him was the high-sheriff, and on the other sat an acquaintance of +the sheriff’s, a fair-haired good-looking young man, who seemed a +silent but apparently an interested spectator of all the proceedings; +and to him the Judge turned frequently during what followed, making +easy courteous remarks, occasionally in a tone of levity which +perhaps did not quite become the person from whom they emanated, or +the occasion on which they were expressed: nor did they seem to be +particularly acceptable to him to whom they were addressed, for he +very faintly re-echoed his Lordship’s chuckling accompaniment to his +own pleasantry. + +The prisoners having been placed at the bar, and the pleadings +having been opened from his first brief by Mr. Spencer, a proceeding +which in any hands always seems calculated to make the matter a +thousand times more unintelligible to a simple-minded jury, the case +was stated by a senior counsel, whose practice was so exclusively +confined to the criminal court, that it was said of him, by the +witlings below him, “that he never took any daily exercise but on the +_rope-walk_.” The first witness then called was Lucy Darnell. This +was an awful moment for poor George, when on such an occasion he +heard that name shouted in the court by the crier, and taken up by +the javelin-men. + +Except that one moment when, as he was brought back handcuffed, he +had met her half distracted on the beach, he had not seen her since +they parted in anger before the cave. And now, as she appeared at +this summons and mounted the elevated witness-box, a murmur of +admiration ran through the court, so little did her appearance +coincide with what any one who had not seen her, had formed to +themselves as their idea of the sort of girl who was likely to be +mixed up in a transaction of this kind. The effect was universal. +Even the old Judge expressed his favourable feelings in rather too +lively a sally to the fair young man beside him. Mr. Bailey senior, +the leading counsel for the prosecution, altered his usual address to +persons in her situation, of “my good girl,” into “Miss Darnell.” +Tutored as she had been by her aunt, and determined as she was not to +cast her eyes to the bar, Lucy got through all the first questions +tolerably well, interspersed as they were with repeated desires +from Mr. Bailey, “that she would raise her voice,” and “lift up her +head,” and “look at my Lord and the gentlemen of the jury;” and at +length, interrupted by a request, conveyed by him in an unusually +courteous manner, that she would remove her bonnet,--a suggestion +offered to him who made it by a learned brother, who, from where he +sat, could not see her face,--she chose rather to comply at once with +this request, than to make any difficulties, and in consequence, +the graceful contour of her face and throat, except where partially +concealed by the luxuriant clusters of her fine light-brown hair, +became visible to all. This was followed by another of those general +murmurs of approbation peculiarly remarked in courts of justice, +because, perhaps, there least of all they ought to find vent. + +To all the first questions, as, “What’s your name?” “Where do you +live?” “What is your father?” “Do you know George Darnell?” “Did +you know a person of the name of Churchill?” “Do you remember the +evening of the 19th of the month of----?” the reader will readily +have anticipated her answers, and they were given with the same +facility, which any of my readers themselves, if they have paid +courteous attention to these pages, could have replied. But when it +came to the act in question, and she was required to speak accurately +to the blow given, old Bailey and his young witness no longer pulled +so well together. She having stated that she was so far off at the +time, that she could not speak positively as to anything more than +seeing the deceased fall: it was then again, “Come, my good girl, you +must try and recollect yourself.” For Mr. Bailey, perhaps, suspecting +that there was a flaw in George’s confession, was very anxious to +have it confirmed on this point. At last, not being able to weather +this difficulty, he was provoked to say, “Come, my good girl, if +the deceased Churchill had been your sweetheart, instead of the +prisoner at the bar, I think this is not exactly the sort of evidence +you would have given.” At this, one of the prisoner’s counsel, who +had been affecting to take notes, but who was, in fact, sketching +the witness’s profile on a scrap of paper before him, finding his +avocation interrupted by the flood of tears which burst from her at +this unjust remark, addressed the Judge, saying, “My Lord, my learned +friend forgets this is his own witness.” The Judge was, for a moment, +prevented from replying, by the amusement he seemed to experience +from the fair young man beside him, who probably, from being easily +excited, and unused to the decorum required in courts of justice, +had started up, as if to resent the insult offered to the young +person, to whose testimony he had throughout been very attentive. His +Lordship smiled for a moment, and then phlegmatically said, + +“Mr. Bailey, you may as well not persevere in these remarks.” + +As soon as the poor witness was sufficiently composed to be enabled +to go on with her testimony, she was farther interrogated with +respect to the deceased, his habits and character, and whether he was +likely to provoke offence. To all of which she replied warmly and +fervently in his favour. The examination in chief being concluded, +the junior sketching counsel on the other side would have proceeded +to ask her some questions, but, as the solicitor for the defence had +complied with the directions to spare no expense, he had engaged Mr. +Serjeant Leaderly, who had then been pleading in the other court, and +having just been summoned, the consequence was, an immense bustle +and rustling of silk gowns, and many obtrusive heads were somewhat +roughly tapped by the javelin-men, to make room for the learned +Serjeant, and at length he arrived, and took his place on the seat +immediately under the bench, when the Judge handed over a paper to +him, with, + +“Take a sandwich, brother Leaderly; they have been sent me by my +learned brother in the other court. I suppose, as they are _hung_ +beef, he thought the venue ought to lie here; at any rate, I can’t +deny that _he’s_ on the _civil side_ now,” chuckling audibly, and +turning round to the fair young man for applause, who, by the +constrained expression of his countenance, seemed to think that the +ermine and the toga, no more than grey hairs, became a fool and a +jester. + +Mr. Serjeant Leaderly, mumbling his sandwich the while, and turning +over the folios of his brief, at length began: + +“My good girl, you knew the deceased (what’s his name?) Churchill; +did he ever himself follow the nautical calling?” + +“Sir?” + +“Was he involved in these smuggling transactions himself?” + +“I believe not, Sir.” + +“What was his habit while he resided in your house?” + +“His habit was to walk out with me, whenever mother would let him.” + +“Yes, yes, I dare say; but I don’t mean that.--Did he ever wear a +short round-cut jacket?” + +“I can’t remember that he ever did.” + +“Will you undertake to say that he never did wear a short round-cut +jacket?” + +“No, I cannot.” + +“Will you pretend to deny that he ever did wear a short round-cut +jacket?” + +“No; I cannot say positively that he never did.” + +The turn of this examination having so little to do with the previous +course of the trial, of which Mr. Serjeant Leaderly had not heard a +word, surprised several. And one or two briefless juniors who were +sitting together, whispered, + +“A short round-cut jacket! What can Leaderly be driving at? Spencer, +that’s you he’s describing. Spencer, that must be a cut at you.” + +“No,” retorted the other, “it’s the reverse of a cut at Spencer, for +he seems to think thereby to hang a tail.” + +But Leaderly, perhaps, not having had time to do more than ascertain +that this was a principal witness for the prosecution, and thinking +it his business to discredit her, evidently somehow imagined he had +made a point, and he continued, + +“Then do you mean to tell me, Lucy Darnell, that you cannot answer my +question simply and decidedly, yes or no?” + +“I cannot say positively.” + +“Oh! you cannot say positively. We must try somehow, and bring you to +the point; you will recollect you are on your oath, or is that a fact +you do recollect?” + +“Yes, Sir, certainly,” said Lucy, mildly but firmly. + +At this moment a messenger from the other court whispered, from +behind the railing, to Mr. Serjeant Leaderly, that the important +cause of Scurry _versus_ Waitfort was just called on; upon which the +Serjeant, nodding apart, said, + +“And being upon your oath, which, it appears, you do recollect, you +mean to tell my lord and the gentlemen of the jury, that you cannot +recollect whether Churchill either did or did not ever wear a short +round-cut jacket?” + +“No, I cannot, indeed.” + +“My Lord, I shall ask the witness no farther questions,” said the +Serjeant, with the self-satisfied air of a man who had settled the +whole business; and gathering up his papers into his bag, and with +the same rustling of silk gown and tapping of intervening heads, he +made his exit. And this was all the benefit George derived from the +first lawyer on the circuit having been engaged in his behalf. + +At this period of the trial the Judge interfered. He was, or he would +never have been on the bench, barring that one defect, an unfortunate +incontinence of waggery, a very quick-sighted person as to the weak +points in a cause; and when he could exercise the power of retention +upon the flow of his pleasantry till a fitting occasion, he was an +excellent judge. He said, “Gentlemen of the jury, I don’t think +this will do at all. It don’t appear clear that the body of this +unfortunate gentleman was ever found. Now, Lucy Darnell, listen to +me; don’t distress yourself. I am not going to ask you any question +which need have that effect. It appears that you knew this Churchill +very well, and therefore would have been able to recognize him +however changed. Now don’t turn your head away, nobody’s going to +frighten you; look at me, and answer my question. When was the last +time you saw Churchill, dead or alive?” + +As the Judge finished his question, Lucy, preparing to answer it, +raised her eyes in the direction she had been desired; a ray of +sunshine, through the sky-light above, fell full upon the countenance +of the fair young man on the bench; and Lucy, uttering a piercing +scream, dropped lifeless at the bottom of the witness-box. The +impression which had produced this sudden effect was, that the +person before her was no other than Churchill, and though somewhat +changed in many respects from the state in which she had lately known +him, yet still gazing on her with the same fond interest which his +countenance had expressed on the night on which they last had been +parted.--It certainly was Churchill, or rather Lord Castleton, she +then beheld. + +It was thought best for her recovery to remove her from the +court, though no one guessed the cause of this emotion, which +was attributed to the severe discipline, in the shape of cross +examination, to which she had been subjected; and as no one besides +Lord Castleton suspected that his living apparition had produced this +powerful effect, he, without any danger of enlightening them on that +subject, to which he was still averse, speedily afterwards himself +left the court. The reader will foresee George’s acquittal, from +the turn which the Judge’s examination had taken, because, however +the matter might have been for a time involved in mystery from +the confused nature of the depositions taken by Mr. Spencer, upon +enquiry it turned out, that there was no proof of any murder having +been actually committed, from any dead body having been discovered. +We shall therefore take the liberty of inviting the reader also to +leave the court, as what has been recorded was only so far as was +thought necessary for the progress of the story, and with no ambition +of broaching a paraphrase of the celebrated “Causes Celèbres” of a +neighbouring country; and still less with the bad taste of attempting +a parody of our own. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + ’Twas strange: in youth, all action, and all life, + Burning for pleasure, not averse from strife, + Woman--the field--the ocean--all that gave + Promise of gladness, peril of a grave, + In turn he tried. + BYRON. + + There be land rats, and water rats, land thieves, and water thieves. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +It is always irksome, in the progress of an “ower true tale,” when +any circumstance has to be explained through the medium of an +extraordinary coincidence, knowing, as one does, that any instance of +the kind, particularly the fortuitous appearance of a necessary agent +at the appointed moment, occurring as such things do in actual life, +and passing unheeded, yet when recorded on paper they are received +with a revulsion of incredulity. The chances of events sometimes +mould themselves into strange combinations. It was but two or three +years back that two men threw themselves down at the same day and +the same hour, one from the leaning tower of Pisa, the other from +St. Mark’s at Venice. There could have been no possible connexion +between these acts. But if a similar coincidence had been interwoven +in a framework of fiction, it would have caused the manufacture to be +rejected as unworkmanlike. If, on the other hand, the same sort of +combination, had favoured a superstitious presentiment, it would have +been taken as an undeniable confirmation of the preternatural. + +I have volunteered this preface, though hardly, I think, a necessary +one, before explaining the manner in which Lord Castleton’s life +was preserved: to do which effectually, it will be necessary to +allude a little to one or two incidents in his early life. It will +have been collected, though merely from Alice Darnell’s collateral +tale, that he lost his father when very young; and it will also have +been inferred from the same source, that, during his earlier years, +he could have seen but little of his mother, who had lived separate +from her husband on the Continent. Young Somers remained under his +grandfather’s roof, whilst his mother was amusing herself abroad, +and his father was constantly shifting about in country quarters +with his militia regiment. His infantine years would therefore have +been deprived of any but mercenary female superintendence, except +for the unremitting care of his foster-mother: whose affection for +him was certainly too pure and truly maternal, to be attributed to +any mercenary motives. She had sought, and easily obtained from his +grandfather, the permission to continue her care of him long, very +long after he had completely outgrown the discharge of her original +functions. The only condition with which this request was mixed up, +was not for remuneration, for that, being in easy circumstances, +was not an object, though, left to Lord Castleton, it followed as a +matter of course,--but was, that she might be allowed to have her +own son, the foster-brother of young Somers, also under the roof. +This was thought, at the time, rather an advantage than otherwise, by +the grandfather of our hero; but it turned out quite the contrary, +for the characters of both the parties concerned. It accustomed the +young heir to require a dependent companion, and it habituated the +future yeoman to notions of expense quite beyond his rank in life. +One thing, however, it certainly promoted, a lasting attachment +between the boys: this, on the side of Somers, subject to the alloy +of caprice, and occasional forgetfulness of a superior; on the part +of Harry, ripening into that feeling of utter devotion to its object, +which the relation of foster-brother in the earlier stages of society +was said constantly to produce; and which has not been entirely +without example in our own times. + +The earliest event which made a permanent impression on either of the +boys, was the melancholy end of Colonel Somers. Old Lord Castleton, +being at the time it happened very infirm, and almost bedridden, had, +upon being informed of his son’s self-inflicted death, sent Nurse +Carter to make the necessary arrangements for his remains. + +She had, upon her return from the seaport where it was mentioned he +had destroyed himself, collected her two young charges round her, +and, with the irresistible desire of her age and station to make +the most of a shocking story, had not spared them the slightest +particular of what she had heard and seen. Much of this, of course, +only served to frighten them out of their wits for many nights +afterwards, but, as she put it in the shape of warning, she took a +locket which she had found round the deceased’s neck, and hung it +round young Somers, saying, “I know not what this may mean, but your +father wore it till his death; do you wear it till yours, and mayhap +the sight of it may sometime save you from rashly daring the same +fate.” + +Old Lord Castleton lived enough to appoint guardians for his +grandson, quite independent of the mother, whose second marriage he +much disapproved. The immediate effect of most of this was, that +young Somers remained much longer than perhaps he ought to have done +with the Carters. But at length he was sent to a public school, and +from thence to the University; and of course, for some time, lost +sight entirely of young Henry Carter. But the latter had been long +enough with him to contract habits which did not exactly enable him +to confine his attention to the process which intervenes between +the plough and the reaping-hook. On the contrary, his exclusive +preferences of the horse-race and the cock-pit soon engrossed him +entirely. His mother did not live long enough to suffer all the +uneasiness that these confirmed habits, on his part, would have +caused her, but died in the firm confidence that the day of the +return of her dear young Lord, when of age, to take possession of the +lands of his ancestors, would be the date of the commencement of a +brilliant career for the only other object of her equally divided +solicitude, his early playmate and foster-brother. + +In the mean time Harry Carter fell, step by step, into the most +desperate courses, and went on from one extravagance to another. He +was at length so completely ruined that he was obliged to decamp, and +make for the nearest seaport, hardly knowing whether he would seek +out his patron, who was still on the Continent, or start for America +with some choice companions, who were thither bound, and who tried to +persuade him to try his luck with them. His option, however, on this +subject, was rendered superfluous by a press-gang, who entered the +public-house where they were assembled, and carried them all on board +a tender; from thence Harry Carter, in due time, was transferred to +a man-of-war, which was to cruise in the Mediterranean. Though not +inclined to work if he could help it,--when he could not, he made the +best of a bad job, and soon became an able seaman. + +It so happened, that once being ashore at a small retired bay on the +Island of Sicily, he and others of his messmates got into a broil +with some of the natives, and, as it had originated in an imputed +act of sacrilege on their part, they were in great danger from the +offended feelings of the priest-ridden peasants, who, congregating +in numbers around them, cut off their retreat to their boats. Harry +Carter, who was foremost in the defence, though he had not been a +ringleader in the outrage, was himself sore beset, when a party of +English travellers, who had been making the tour of the island on +foot, coming up at the moment, interfered between them at no little +risk to themselves; which danger was however removed, as soon as +they came to explain matters; the quarrel having originated in +misapprehension, and the attack having been provoked by the universal +impatience of Englishmen, who, if from ignorance of the language +of a people they cannot make use of their tongues, immediately +have recourse to their hands. Harry Carter at once, through all +the alterations of intervening years, recognized the playmate of +his youth, Somers, now Lord Castleton, who was much hurt at the +condition in life, that of a common sailor, in which he now found his +foster-brother; which he could not help in some degree attributing +to his own forgetfulness and neglect. But Carter would not allow him +to reproach himself on the subject; and, as his duty prevented his +farther stay, the parting between the foster-brothers was as sudden +as the meeting was unexpected, and, in preparing to shove off, Harry +Carter said, “It’s not like we should often meet again, as we used +to do, my Lord: but now I have seen you, you’ve come like a guardian +angel upon me, and I shall only pray that, if there ever should be an +occasion in which you should stand in need of the like assistance, +that may be the moment I may next cross your path.” + +And this fervently devoted expression of his wishes, was heard and +granted; for they next met at that most critical moment in Morden Bay. + +At the Peace, Henry Carter had been discharged from the navy, and +soon afterwards falling in with Kit Collett, a free trader’s life +had too many temptations for his own confirmed irregular habits for +him to resist the offers made him by that person to join him in +“_La Pie voleuse_.” It so happened, that, being one of the sharpest +and cleverest of the crew, he had been employed by his Captain +confidentially, not long before this last venture, upon a line of +coast on which they had not previously made a descent. He was sent to +make a survey of it, and arrange matters with some loose characters +in the neighbourhood for furthering their scheme. + +In the early part of the labours of that eventful evening, Harry +Carter had worked with all the zeal of a principal in stowing the +kegs, thinking that much of the responsibility as to the success of +the venture devolved on him who had so warmly counselled it. But when +the wounded man was shot into the cave, by two of his comrades, with +much less care than they had bestowed upon the other more valuable +burthens with which they had been charged, Harry Carter’s natural +good-nature induced him to devote a little more attention than any +of his messmates seemed inclined to pay to their fellow-creature. +This kindly disposition soon acquired an unexpected inducement to +continue its good offices. The first thing that peculiarly excited +his attention was, that upon attempting to stanch the wound which was +just above the temple, he found that the hair which had clotted into +it was false, being part of a wig which covered a plentiful crop of +natural hair, of a different colour. The cave was already obscure, +yet the light, crisply curling locks, which he now discovered, seemed +to him to be such as he had never seen but on one person before. +The apparent impossibility of a surmise which supposed so altered a +condition in life, at first staggered him; yet it was evident, from +the discovery he had just made, that the person, whoever he was, had +for some reason or another assumed a disguise. It was difficult, even +if the wounded man had been in a state to reply to verbal inquiries, +to make any safely, whilst all his comrades were perpetually passing. +He bethought him of the locket which his mother had put round +Somers’s neck when a boy, with the positive injunction, never, under +any circumstances, to remove it. This injunction, he knew, for some +time had been rigidly observed. He remembered the form and shape of +it himself, and he determined to be decided in his conduct by the +circumstance of finding the locket there or not. + +“If it is there,” thought he, “not only shall I feel sure that it +really is my foster-brother, but I shall feel myself enforced as much +by my mother’s memory, as by my own more recent vow, to do all in my +power to save him.” + +It was while endeavouring to ascertain this point by searching within +his clothes that Lucy found him, as she thought, employed in plunder. +If he had not actually had his hand on the locket when she addressed +him, the obvious interest taken in him by a girl in that rank of +life would again have staggered him, as he could only imagine that +the disguise must have been temporarily assumed for the purpose, +perhaps, of detecting that very illicit act in which they were then +engaged. But still the locket was there, and in neither that nor the +features, as far as he could discern them, could he be mistaken; and +therefore his determination was fixed, at all risks, to save him. +He was aware, however, that much immediate risk to himself might be +incurred, without even a chance of effecting that object. Any open +assistance would now have been set down for mutiny, and there is no +legal discipline so severe as that which binds lawless men together +in moments of danger. But he quickly formed in his head a plan which +he thought could not fail. + +He had been celebrated as one of the best swimmers in the navy: +it was, then, without any uneasiness that he assisted to convey +Castleton to the boat, and even helped to shove it off, knowing +that the lugger would come quite as near the shore as the surf +would permit; and the moment when the smugglers would be in all +the confusion of holding on till the coble was empty, was that he +had fixed for the execution of his intended escape with Castleton, +trusting to the darkness of the night and the roar of the breakers +to assist him in escaping unobserved. Till this time arrived, he sat +stanching the temple of the wounded man with his hand, that he might +not be too much exhausted by previous loss of blood to be able to +sustain even his passive share in the escape. The confusion of the +smugglers at that moment was increased by hearing that another sail, +supposed to be a revenue cutter, was in sight; and this confusion +was even more serviceable to him than he had anticipated. + +Not only did he succeed in dropping overboard himself unnoticed, +but also in pulling Castleton after him: in supporting himself to +do which, his bloody hand had made that strongly marked impression, +as of struggling fingers, which Captain Scudd had naturally enough +interpreted to have been left by some one who had endeavoured to +save himself when thrown over. Bearing his still unconscious burthen +lashed to him in that manner which a skilful swimmer knows would +least impede his own efforts, it is possible that he may have risen +for a moment on the breakers in the manner Lucy imagined she had +seen; but, carefully directing his course where he knew there was +least surf and easiest landing, Carter made for the shore, which he +reached just in time, being almost too much exhausted by the double +weight he had carried to have been able to have struggled farther. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + And I have thrust myself into this maze, + Haply to wive and thrive as I may best. + SHAKSPEARE. + + It was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable + sequestration. + + +Once on shore, while pausing to recover himself, he gazed with a +proud feeling of satisfaction on the still insensible being whom he +had thus providentially rescued; for Carter had been engaged in too +many frays not to know that the wound was not in itself dangerous, +though a severe one; but he also knew enough of the comrades he had +just left to feel certain that upon the first confirmation of the +report of a revenue cutter nearing them, which he had heard just as +he was jumping overboard, a second blow, more sure, would inevitably +have fallen on their already half-lifeless victim: and, tied in a +sack with stones, he would too surely have sought the bottom, to +prevent the possibility of his bearing witness against them. + +As soon as Harry Carter was sufficiently recovered again to take up +the motionless body, which as yet showed no symptom of returning +life, he made at once for a lone hut in a cleft between two rocks, +from which an almost impassable road led up into the open country. + +Here, as he expected, he found a light cart in the charge of one of +the loose characters who were in league with the smugglers, and whom +he had directed to meet him there on that evening so provided, in +case “_La Pie voleuse_” should have chanced to bring, as part of her +cargo, any smaller articles of more value, which might as well have +been removed, under the cover of the darkness, to one of those most +complete of all possible devices for concealment which are found in +the centre of a populous town. + +His confidant was not a little surprised when he beheld him bearing, +as he thought, a corpse, instead of, as he had expected, lace gloves +or ladies’ shoes. + +“I say, messmate, holloa!” he cried out, “this is no go, if you’ve +been after a burking job here. You told me I was to carry light +articles, and you fig me off with a stiff ’un. I was never in the +mole-catching line myself, and shouldn’t like to be twigged grubbing.” + +“Hold your peace, you lubber,” said Carter, “the man’s not dead, nor +like to die; and if he doesn’t, this will turn out the best job you +ever did yet of all your days. If you’ll only just carry him to yon +place where we were to have taken t’other things, you’ll have earned +as good a brace of RAGS, as sure as your name’s John Smutt; and +perhaps ten times as many more, if you’re only just mum a bit, and +don’t say a word about all this, if we find he wishes you not.” + +“Oh! I’ll say nout aboot it. The objections are all about doing it; +once done, there’ll be little to be gained, I take, to either of us, +by having it blowed. But, let us feel:--why, his fin moved--sure +enough, he’s alive. Well, that’s another guess sort of case, +certainly; so I’ll just pop him in here, where he’ll lie as snug as +possible; and I only hope he’ll live to think of that hush-money you +talk about. What’s it?--ten times ten. Why, that’s a hundred pounds. +A hundred pounds!!” + +The journey thus arranged was performed expeditiously, and without +observation, in the covered cart; and by break of day they reached +the large inland town, to which they were bound. Here, in the +first instance, Castleton was conveyed to an obscure lodging, as +Carter thought that there he would be better concealed, till with +returning consciousness he might himself be consulted, how far he +wished his late adventure to be known. It will at once be seen, that +if Castleton was not anxious that it should be made the subject +of enquiry, the less that was said about it the better for Carter +himself, who was now rather in an awkward position with both the +parties in any investigation that might be undertaken. + +The contusion on the temple, which was Castleton’s principal injury, +though a severe one, quickly progressed towards recovery, under the +anxious care of his present attendant; and he now suffered most from +the weakness ensuing from loss of blood, by a cut which he had also +received in his fall. + +His faculties were, after a time, perfectly restored; and upon +recognising Carter, and ascertaining the particulars of his escape, +his gratitude to his deliverer knew no bounds. His first step was to +have himself moved to a more decent lodging, still without assuming +his own name, and to confirm Carter’s bargain with his confederate, +of a hundred pounds, upon condition of his saying nothing about the +sort of cargo his cart had contained. This sum was to be paid in six +months, provided that at the end of the time nothing was known about +the adventure; a remote date for payment being suggested by Carter, +who thought that his acquaintance would be more easily constrained +by future expectation than by past favours; and in this Castleton +acquiesced, being very anxious, for a variety of mixed reasons, that +his late adventure should not be made the subject of gossip. + +When almost recovered from the effects of his late accident, Henry +Carter one day brought him the circumstantial account of the arrest +of George Darnell and the gang of smugglers, and of their committal, +George as his murderer, and the others as accessaries after the fact. +Castleton could not for a moment doubt what ought to be his conduct +under such circumstances: at once to show himself to the authorities, +who had entertained the charge, and to state the facts of the case; +bearing, as he did, in his own living person the only utterly +incontrovertible evidence against the truth of such an accusation. +But it was not so easy for him to make up his mind to take this step, +as to convince himself that it was what he ought to do; and he at +length succeeded in persuading his reason, that, peculiarly situated +as he was, there were very good excuses (he went no farther than +that) for his adopting a different line of conduct. + +He had ulterior, and, as he thought, truly beneficial views for +the parties most interested, in his decision of this question; and +he felt his pride would prevent him from maintaining his present +intentions, if a public disclosure of all the facts was to take +place. The sight of Lucy’s agony at his sufferings, and her energetic +interference on his behalf on the beach, hallowed as that impression +had been by his again relapsing into death-like insensibility, +had removed any lingering doubts he had entertained as to making +her his wife; and that was now the object nearest his heart. His +principal notion in assuming the disguise, and seeking Bankside +Farm, in execution of the project he had formed, was to be himself +sure that the person who could, in such an assumed character, win +her affections, must be loved for himself alone, and that he might +then enjoy the happy consciousness that his bride had not been +influenced in her preference of him, by any of the outward advantages +of his worldly situation: advantages which he had found not without +their influence upon women even in the highest rank. Yet this was a +satisfaction which he wished as much as possible to keep to himself. +Indeed he did not feel sure that the success of the very object he +had in view would appear to the fashionable denizens of the world so +self-evident, if they were merely made acquainted with the simple +facts of the case. They would be apt, without enquiring into the +way in which he might have won her affections, to imagine it just +possible, if they knew from how low a rank in life he had raised the +future Lady Castleton, that she might be influenced in her acceptance +of him by those extraneous advantages of fortune, which must +certainly have as much weight with her, as with those who, from want +of contrast, could not be expected to value them even so highly as +the low-born peasant. It was, therefore, no part of his scheme, that +it should ever be precisely known in the world who Lady Castleton +had been; and in directing his steps a second time towards Morden +Bay, he was much decided by thinking, that if further observation +there confirmed his early recollections, not only the peculiarly +delicate and refined nature of Lucy’s beauty might, unquestioned, +bear transplanting into any rank in life, but from the very secluded +spot where she had been brought up, and the retired habits of her +parents, her former home need never be traced, even by the prying +and the curious. All these were conditional accompaniments of his +scheme, without which he would never have formed it originally; and +without which, even now, desperately in love with Lucy as he was, or +thought he was, he would still hesitate as to its accomplishment. +And yet all these encouraging considerations were threatened with +complete overthrow, if, by discovering himself, in order to procure +George’s release, he was obliged to disclose any circumstance of his +late adventures. The very extraordinary nature of the facts he would +have to relate, coupled, as they would be, with his own well-known +name, would immediately circulate the wonderful tale in every shape +of paragraph, pamphlet, and perhaps ballad. Then the numberless jokes +which would be circulated, about the supposed rivalry between “The +Noble Lord” and “The Smuggler Cousin,” to which the facts of the +case, when disclosed, would give more than a plausible appearance +of truth! Then that very lawless lad, with all the innuendoes about +doubtful preference between them, was to be his cousin. His cousin! +A convicted smuggler! For though his own appearance would free him +from the charge of wilful murder, the revenue prosecutions would +only be confirmed by the publicity thus given to the transactions in +which they had originated; whereas, if by any other means the danger +from the first prosecution for murder could be averted, without his +being obliged to appear himself ostensibly in it, he did not despair +subsequently, by the exertion of his interest indirectly, to procure +the other to be dropped, at least as against George and the crew. As +all these considerations passed in succession through his mind, they +might have kept him undecided how to act; but the increased force of +his attachment to Lucy, craving, urgent, and engrossing as it then +was, if it still could not be dignified with the name of love, in +its most exalted sense, impelled him to take the course most likely +to get the better of these difficulties, which he foresaw might yet +interfere to prevent his making her his wife. + +He, therefore, sent for his confidential man of business, to whom +he told all, and from whom he was happy to hear that the conceited +carelessness with which Mr. Spencer had perverted all the facts which +had been prepared for him in the examination before the magistrate, +rendered it most probable that an acquittal might be easily procured +without his being obliged to disclose himself; and his lawyer having, +in consequence, been entrusted with the management of the defence, +Lord Castleton entered the court with the intention of only coming +forward himself as a last resource. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + Your father’s image is so hit in you, + His very air, that I should call you + As I did him. + + Surely I saw a form, a proud, bright form, + Standing beside my couch. + + +When Lord Castleton had made his arrangement for watching the +progress of the trial, and the conduct of the Darnell family in it, +one of the last enquiries he had made previously to going to court, +was the exact situation of the lodgings they had taken in town; and +thither he directed his steps upon leaving the court by a different +door from that which Lucy had been carried out. + +Alice Darnell had remained in a most painful state of agitating +suspense, pacing the little parlour in which she had been left by +her brother and his daughter. It was so long since she had heard the +busy hum of men; the little lodging where she had now been left to +her solitary fancies and thickening recollections, was so like one to +which she had been used in happier days, then long gone by; the Babel +sound of many voices in the peculiarly thronged streets, were such as +had not met her ear since on that dreadful night she had forced her +way through the crowds of the theatre, to learn her husband’s fate: +all these combined, had worked her into a dreadful state of nervous +excitement, when a knock was heard at the street door, and she opened +that of the apartment at the head of the stairs, thinking that it was +probably some one from the courts, bringing her intelligence. + +A stranger ascended the obscured staircase, and Alice, upon his +raising his head slowly, receded from the door without uttering a +word, but keeping her eyes intently fixed upon him as he entered the +room. She pressed her hands against her brain, muttering, “Somers! +Churchill! Who is it? Oh merciful powers, deprive me not of my +senses! The grave might, for some special purpose, have been made +to render up or one or other of these departed spirits; but this +confused vision which recalls them both at once, can only be the +creature of my disordered imagination.” + +“Miss Alice Darnell,” said Castleton, “excuse this intrusion, I +entreat you. It was your niece I sought, for the purpose of offering +her an explanation of my conduct. I regret that my sudden appearance +should have so discomposed you, who, as well as the rest of your +family, will have much to forgive in my past conduct; but I trust, +that the future will not give you any thing of which to complain.” + +“Who is it then? Churchill indeed restored to life; but not as I saw +you last! The resemblance is much stronger! the hair so like! But I +must not pursue that train, or indeed think of myself at all, if I +mean to keep my spirits and my senses to support others. But if you +are here, what is the trial then about? Where is my niece--my poor +misguided nephew?” + +“I will explain all to you, Miss Darnell. The manner in which I have +always heard Lucy speak of you, forbids any mystery where you are +the person concerned. Your nephew either now is, or soon will be, +safe. And for your beloved niece--allow me, before I explain myself +farther, to ask--I am sure my Lucy could never conceal any thing from +you--Do you think--you know not how much hangs on your answer--do you +think she could be really, truly happy, in sharing somewhat a more +exalted lot in life with him whom she only knew as the poor painter +Churchill? Perhaps it has been providentially ordained that I should +have this opportunity of asking a candid reply to that question +from you. If your answer must dash my hopes at once, it may be in +mercy ordained that I should hear it from you, that I may no longer +unwarrantably trespass on the tranquillity of one whose interest +I may have failed in exciting. But I implore you, if you can give +me any encouragement to think otherwise, to do so now. A young and +artless girl may perhaps succeed in concealing the nature of her +sentiments from him who seeks to awaken partiality; but--forgive me +if I address you thus the first time of our meeting;--but it seems +to me, that through Lucy, I already know you thoroughly; and all +my hopes depend upon the impression of her feelings towards myself +formed by you,--her ever watchful guardian genius, from whom she +never could have attempted concealment.” + +“It was even thus that Somers looked--it was even thus that Somers +pleaded; and it is not by my lips that such pleadings can be +pronounced vain,” said Alice Darnell, half to herself. “Strange +similarity!” she continued, “yes, even to the inexplicable mystery +of the transaction from which all the mischief in my own case +arose.” Then more decidedly addressing herself to her anxiously +expectant listener, she said: “Forgive me if, till you have +completely cleared away all the mystery in which your proceedings +have been involved, I must decline at present giving any answer +to your enquiries--enquiries which even then you would be hardly +authorised in making of me, and which, perhaps, I should be as little +justified in answering for another; for imprudent as is that woman +who herself opens her heart to him who conceals his intentions, most +unpardonable would she be who, under similar circumstances, betrayed +the confidence of another. Not only should my niece’s sentiments, if +favourable, not through me be known, but, if necessary, they should +themselves be checked, and controlled, till your explanation is +complete.” + +“Excuse me, if, in my anxiety to have my doubts removed, I have +myself omitted to be as explicit as I had intended. I commenced by +stating that from you I would have no concealment. But from a name +which I have heard you several times appear to connect with me, I +thought you had some clue to the knowledge I came to impart. Your +niece has only known me as Churchill, but Somers is my name, though +Castleton is the title by which I am called. But you are ill--are +agitated--” interrupting himself, in sudden alarm. For as Castleton +had proceeded in this apparently natural explanation, the gaze of +Alice had become more intensely fixed on his countenance, and at the +abrupt mention of that fatal name, so long enshrined in the secret +recesses of her heart, the sorrows of years passed from her mind, +and for one short fleeting moment she believed she saw before her +the lover of her youth, the husband of her heart--the adored, the +departed Somers. All the blood in her exhausted frame seemed to rush +to her face, as starting from her chair, she staggered one step +towards him, wildly exclaiming: “Somers! my own, my lost--my God! +no--Forgive me, you shall know all.” + +And then, bursting into an agonizing flood of tears, she gradually +resumed her composure enough to answer the kind enquiries of her +astonished visitor; who, greatly touched and alarmed at the extent of +her emotion, almost forgot his own urgent anxieties, and asked with +great interest how he had unintentionally distressed her. + +“No, go on, my Lord, I entreat you; one moment’s bewildering +astonishment at the disclosure you have just made, if you knew all, +you could not but expect from me; but my object is not to revive past +griefs of my own; but to guard the future of another from similar +danger. I own that while exacting candour from you, concealment on my +part comes with an ill grace; but my demand is founded upon a desire +to secure a happy future to her whom you profess to love, and for +whom alone I now live. My own silence arises from an anxious wish +to spare a recital, which you might think injurious to the memory of +one whom we are equally bound to guard from reproach. Yes, my Lord, +strange as it may appear to you, there was another person in whom we +were mutually deeply interested. At a future time, perhaps, if you +require it, I shall be bound to be explicit; but now I conjure you +by your professed attachment, by your desire to have your own doubts +removed, proceed with your own explanation.” + +Castleton, when so adjured, proceeded at once to recount his early +admiration of Lucy; and he detailed with so much unaffected candour +the motives which had induced him a second time to visit Bankside +Farm; and he dwelt with so much fervour upon the still increasing +force of his passion, as he became better acquainted with its object; +and the whole was urged in that soft winning manner, so like one +which his auditress had formerly known to be resistless; that any +previous unfavourable impression was soon removed from Alice’s mind; +most willing, as she was, to be convinced of his sincerity. + +By this means he soon acquired a most powerful advocate, had it +been necessary, in his favour with Lucy; but before they had +completely arranged the manner in which he should proceed towards +the accomplishment of his object, a bustle in the passage below +announced, as they rightly imagined, the return of Lucy herself. + +As Castleton had already recounted to Alice Darnell the shock that +his unexpected apparition in court had caused to her niece, she +prudently recommended that he should not again present himself to +her till she had herself ascertained whether the poor girl’s nerves +had yet recovered from the agitation they had experienced. With +this view, beseeching him to await her return where he then was, +she went out to meet her niece, with the intention of communicating +with her first in her own room, before she informed her who was +there awaiting her: and it was fortunate that she so decided, for +she found Lucy in a much worse state than she had anticipated. Her +delicate frame, and soft and sensitive nature, were not calculated +to sustain any great nervous excitement. Her mental faculties, clear +and just as they generally were, and adequately sustained, under +ordinary circumstances, by the constant desire to be right herself +and to do wrong to no one, wanted nevertheless that practical energy +which might support them in any extraordinary trial. She had for +many hours fought against the weakness of her nature, in striving to +go successfully through the effort of her examination; and the last +shock,--the apparition, as she thought, of Churchill, had completely +upset her. + +The delay in her return from the court had been caused by a +succession of fainting-fits, in the intervals of which her intellects +had been far from settled. She had been attended, in a waiting-room, +by the best medical adviser of the place, who happened to be in +court; and after a conveyance had been procured to remove her home, +he had recommended that, upon returning there, all agitating subjects +should be avoided, and the most perfect quiet rigidly enforced during +the rest of the day. + +These transactions were explained to Alice in a few words by her +brother, before he returned into court to hear George’s fate, +the uncertainty about which, he could not help thinking, was the +main cause of his daughter’s indisposition. The aunt, therefore, +accompanied her charge to her own back-room, and darkening it as +much as possible, persuaded her to stretch herself on the bed. Lucy +knew her aunt perfectly, and tacitly complied with her desire; but, +as far as could be gathered from the low mutterings that continued +at intervals, her faculties seemed still confused. All this time, +Castleton remained in the place where he had been left by Alice, +fixed like a statue, afraid to stir, lest the least motion on +his part should disturb the invalid; bitterly regretting his own +inconsiderate appearance in court, and venting reproaches on his own +head, which, but that the same fear which kept him stationary checked +his utterance, would have been as loud as they were heartfelt. + +At length Alice slowly opened the intermediate door, and putting her +finger on her lip, whispered-- + +“I think she sleeps now. She is still far far from composed, and it +would be quite impossible that she should be fit to see you to-day; +nor, indeed, do I think it ought to be risked at all, till I have +had an opportunity of first explaining much to her, if such occasion +should recur on her partial recovery. How much have I authority from +you to say?” + +“Say all--every thing--you cannot possibly say enough; for words were +never coined that could express all I feel.” + +“Hush,” interrupted Alice; “I hear her voice again, and I think +repeating your name. Step softly this way; and if she repeats it +again, as she did but now, no explanation I could give to the +question you asked me could be one half so satisfactory;” and she +placed him just within the doorway of the obscure apartment. + +“Aunt Alice,” called Lucy from the bed. “Aunt Alice; quick, dear +aunt. Hast seen him? where is he? and why is the morning so dark--so +dismal dark? when he’s come back, so gay too, on purpose to marry me. +I knew he couldn’t have it in his heart to die, when he loved me so; +and I’m sure I’d rather have died a thousand deaths myself, than that +he should so have perished.” + +There was more even in the tone with which these words were uttered, +than in the disjointed and incoherent sentences themselves, which +confirmed Castleton in his conviction that he was beloved. And so +Alice Darnell construed what she heard; for, as she again motioned +him to retire, she said, + +“You cannot surely, my dear Lord, have any more questions to ask of +me now. If you have, trust to my ready-getting answers for you before +to-morrow. She must have rest and quiet now; but with these all will +soon be well again. The ills that spring from a surfeit of happiness, +may in this world be left to their own cure; while there are scars +that misfortune has graven, which any casual coincidence may re-open, +and no time can completely heal. Good b’ye, my dear Lord; and in the +midst of your own happiness, think again of what you proposed to do +for my poor nephew George.” + +Lord Castleton having, in the course of his explanation to Alice, +in which he had candidly confessed his dislike that his connexion +with the smuggling transactions should be published to the world, +intimated his intention of providing for George in a manner that +should be satisfactory to all his family. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + Oh, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes! + SHAKSPEARE. + + +Alice Darnell had made good and sufficient use of the interval +left her, to execute the task of explaining the past, and opening +the future to the parties concerned. For before that time next +day, she had succeeded in clearing the coast, not only of her +brother, but, what was perhaps more difficult, of her nephew George, +whose acquittal the day before upon both charges, had, thanks to +the clumsiness of Mr. Spencer, been complete. With some little +difficulty Alice had persuaded him, as well as his uncle, that it +would be better for them to keep out of the way; and Castleton had +been for some time established with Lucy, in undisturbed possession +of the little lodging-house parlour. + +Whilst he was opening to her, by degrees, the brilliant prospects +which he proposed to her to share with him, she sat on the sofa +beside him, holding one hand in both of hers, and looking up at him +with an expression of innocent adoration, such as could only be +pourtrayed upon a countenance of such unrivalled sweetness. As, after +detailing his views for their own future, he turned to describe what +he proposed to do for the different members of her own family, she +interrupted him with-- + +“Oh, my dear Lord! but that you are even much more good than great, +I should wonder at your kindness to poor George, not only to bear +him no ill-will for daring to lift his lowly hand against your life, +but even to propose to serve him so effectually, and exactly in the +way he would like best. To procure him a birth in a king’s ship, by +which, in time, he may become an admiral, for George is very clever +in that line, though rude and unlettered in others--think of that, +aunt Alice!” addressing her aunt, who had then entered the room, +which she occasionally quitted. “Think of that, that George may +live to be an admiral, and all through the kind forgiving goodness +of my own dear Lord here,” added she, pressing his hand, which she +held against her heart, and then dropping her head, and looking up +timidly from under her brows, as if she thought she had been too +demonstrative; then turning the subject, she said, “But George is to +go away then, to-day? and didn’t he wish to see me?” + +“Yes, he shall see you, when my Lord is obliged to go and arrange his +other necessary matters,” replied Alice; part of whose plan was, in +every possible way to avoid flurry to her niece, whose spirits were +hardly yet settled. She therefore decided that she should not see +more than one person at a time; and, as restored composure was her +great object, she determined, that least of all ought Lucy to see +Castleton and George together. + +Lord Castleton, whose intimate friend had just taken the command of +a frigate commissioned for Halifax, and under sailing orders, had +written the strongest recommendation of George, begging his friend +to take him as a supernumerary midshipman, and, if occasion should +occur, to promote him. As it is not always necessary to analyze +motives for liberal actions, so, certainly, no one of the parties who +were to benefit either directly or otherwise by this recommendation, +estimated how much the peculiar value of the arrangement, in Lord +Castleton’s eyes, was enhanced, by the ship taking so immediate a +departure for so distant a station. + +Alice Darnell had, upon a consideration of all the bearings of the +case, been disposed to acquiesce in what was rather the suggestion +offered, than the condition proposed by Lord Castleton, that the +marriage should be strictly private; and that, indeed, it need never +be exactly known what had been the previous condition in life, where +the previous residence, of his future wife. She was as much justified +by her own early experience of the great world, as she was guided +by her partiality for her niece, in imagining, that there was a +natural unaffected grace in Lucy’s manner, which would prevent her +former very humble state from being suspected, if not promulgated. +Her early recollections of the world, at the same time, served to +remind her that, if that humble origin was known, defects, supposed +inseparable from it, would be imagined, even though they did not +exist. + +On the other hand, concealment on this head, if desirable, was +rendered peculiarly practicable, from the utter solitude in which +Lucy had been brought up, never having had even an acquaintance out +of her own thinly-scattered and secluded neighbourhood. Her brother, +too, Alice felt, however well calculated to fill with credit the +state to which he was born, would be unfit, as he would be unwilling, +to be placed in any other; and his wife, however willing she might be +to make the experiment, would be infinitely more unfit than Richard +Darnell to accompany her daughter into that exalted sphere in which +she was now to move. + +Alice Darnell could not help rejoicing that the absence of her +sister-in-law upon this occasion, removed any difficulty that might +have been expected from her not being so well aware as every body +who was acquainted with her was, how impossible it would be that she +should share with Lucy all the advantages of her new situation. + +“I should have thought,” said Alice, addressing Castleton, “that you +of all men would have been least likely to persuade me to overlook +all the ills that sometimes spring from mystery in the married +state. But mystery, where it affects the character of the connexion +to be formed, or where it only relates to circumstances which that +connexion itself supersedes, is quite distinct; and therefore I am +inclined to agree with you, that it is better the marriage should +take place here privately, and as soon as the special licence can be +procured, that when my brother and I return home, we may announce it +to her mother as an event completed.” + +This being settled, Castleton said to Lucy, “I must leave you now to +take steps for the licence. Farewell for the present, and only for +the _present_, for it is a word that the future shall teach _us_ to +forget to use.” + +Castleton having left the room, Alice desired George to come in, to +take leave of his cousin, as he was to depart that afternoon. He was +dressed in a manner better calculated to suit his new character of +gentleman; but never looked so awkward, or seemed so little at his +ease. He walked first straight for the window, then half towards +Lucy, but turned to the fireplace, and from thence back to the +window, without saying a word. From thence he was gently drawn away +by his cousin, who said, “Come, dear cousin George, have you nothing +pretty to say to your poor little Lucy? I am sure I wish _you_ joy of +your promotion with all my heart.” + +“And I am as sure that in all mine, there is no other wish than that +your promotion, if you like so to call it, may be attended with every +earthly happiness. Perhaps I’d better go at once. Good b’ye.” + +“Nay stay, dear George, it is not enough that we should separate +with these wishes, without settling how we may be informed whether +they are fulfilled or not. I can never forget those days, when we +neither of us ever formed a thought that the other didn’t know; and +believe me, till we meet again, I shall have no greater pleasure than +hearing from you, and how you are getting on;--and now you may put +a direction that will easier reach its mark, than poor Lucy Darnell, +Bankside Farm, England. Wasn’t that the way you wrote to me last, you +said? You’ll try again, won’t you, dear?” + +“No, I think I’d better not; it wouldn’t be altogether suitable, I +think, with your new situation. When you get accustomed to all these +fine folk, there will be much in George Darnell you’ll wish altered; +and I shouldn’t like to bring shame on you, Lucy.” + +“Bring shame on me! that you could never do, but by such courses as +you have lately followed; and to these I have no fear you will turn +again. Do not bring shame on yourself by such means, and you can +never bring shame on me. If you mean that, because I’m a lady, shame +could spring from the homeliness of true and tried affection, that +would be shame of my own making; ay, and worse than I could bear.” + +“Ay, you speak all this out of kindness, and like yourself, dear +Lucy: and so you feel now, I’m sure. But a time will come--and what’s +more, it ought to come--when the less you see, or even perhaps hear +of me, the better. I will not bring up now all about our former +parting, and all that. I was much older than you were then, and +things you said made more impression on me than they were like to do +on yourself; but it’s all for the best. He that’s won you, has done +his taste credit, to find you out, quite out of his line as you were, +and I’m bound to speak well of him, for he’s behaved nobly to me; and +I’ve no doubt he’ll try and make you happy, and he ought to succeed, +for he’s plenty of helps to try with; but all I can say is, that you +can’t want to hear of ME, and I shouldn’t like to intrude.” + +“Why shouldn’t I want to hear of you? You talk of the helps he has, +by which I suppose you mean power and wealth. But what would be one’s +first wish to put them to, but to assist one’s friends? And who would +be the first of friends whom one would seek out at the end of the +world to serve? Why, who but you, dear George.” + +“Ay, all that’s as you feel now; and I don’t mean to say that any +change could ever make you hard or unfeeling, but I can’t but think +that it an’t in nature that this should always remain the same. I +dare say you judge me a little altered now; so I am, perhaps. I have +turned more things over in my head lately, than I did in all my +life before. A prison’s quite the school of thought. You’re going, +on t’other hand, to one perpetual holiday of the mind,--and every +thing else if you like. It will be an existence of which you’ve no +idea. Well! it mayn’t suit after all. But if so, it’s no short voyage +you’re bound on. You’ll never have Bankside Farm and Morden Bay to +leeward again; and, therefore, you had better not have cousin George +to pilot your thoughts the way they must never turn. But as it’s much +more like you’ll find all sunshine around you, I would not like to +be the one black spot on your horizon; and when not in sight, you +must soon forget to care about the humble playmate of your youth, who +feels even in parting from you so completely that your unhappiness +must make his, that he heartily prays that this last may be the case. +Prosper in your new line of life, and that you may do so, take not +with you a thought of your old one. Once more, a long good b’ye.” + +“Good b’ye, dearest George,” said Lucy, throwing herself for the last +time into his arms. + +“No, Lucy; that’s more than I can bear,” cried George, tearing +himself away, and rushing from her presence. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever + Ran on the greensward; nothing she does or seems, + But smacks of something greater than herself, + Too noble for this place. + SHAKSPEARE. + + The best maker of all marriages + Combine your hearts in one, your states in one! + + +“Come, lassie,” said Farmer Darnell as he entered, and found her +still in tears. “Come, that’ll be only a sunsh_oi_ny shower I guess, +without which they say our hopes never ripen; but your’s are all fit +for harvesting; so, cheer up, cheer up, my darling child.” + +“Oh! father, it’s more than a passing sorrow parting with one’s +earliest friend. I am not ungrateful for the great bounties shown +me; and to think that the noblest, the handsomest, the best of men, +should have condescended like to seek me, when I’m sure there’s not a +high-born lady amongst whom he’s lived, but must have been only too +happy if he’d have turned his eyes on any one of them! Yet, I’ve just +seen, perhaps, the last of George. I shall soon also be separated +from you; and what I lose seems all as strange to me as what I gain. +I see the sudden end of every feeling and thought of which I cannot +recollect the beginning. I would, I feel, at the same time willingly +die in grateful adoration of him who is only much too great and good +for me; but it comes in some sort to this, for so completely new an +existence has something in it of the character of death.” + +“Nay, my bonny bairn,” said her father; “take it not in _sick_e a +fasheous style. It comes sair to me ’tis true, to part wi’ that has +been my sole fireside comfort since it first s_u_pped pap--since it +first climbed upon my knee, by thrusting its little fingers into +t’ button-holes. But for thee, my child, you’ve only gettin now a +station you were always fitter to hold than to boide wi’ the loike +o’ us. I can’t quite make it clear why it should be so; it were the +same wi’ Alice afore you. You and she are quite another guess sort o’ +class from your mither and me. It’s agin all the rules of breeding +stock that so it should be; but so it is, and that’s a’ that I know.” + +“But, my dear father, my heart tells me of no such distinction; and +won’t let me think of parting from you without such a pang here, as +teaches me that ’tis to you I truly belong.” + +“As to parting, and all that, my dear child, it’s not a church-yard +separation to which we’re bound to resign ourselves. But it’s along +wi’ Alice I’ve been settling that I should make but a rummish concern +of it in t’ great world. And it’s not any pride, or any thing of that +kind, of my Lord’s that would come atwixt us. No, nothing has been +kinder like than your Lord has been. And he’s just been talking it +’ower out there, and how he would never wish you to forget the best +of fathers. That’s what he called me. And when I thought of you, and +heard him say so, if he’d made me a lord like himself, I could not +have been prouder than of that title. And he added that he’d make +it his care a year should never pass without your coming somehow +or other to see us; and that showed his consideration like. But, +lord, when I thought it was a question of once a year or so, wi’ a +_somehow or other_ tacked to it, I could not but feel like an auld +hen that reared a ducklin, and saw the great waters afore her, into +which she mun never follow her. And here I stand cackling like just +such another auld fool, instead of being thankful for all favours, +as I should be. And after all, when I make myself out a hen, it’s +your mother’s part I’m taking of. And she do cackle sometimes, sure +enough.” + +“As you mention my mother, I must say, my dear father, that I hope +you and aunt Alice won’t have me married, as I heard you settling, +without her being brought over. For though I cannot say that in +all respects it is quite as much pain to be separated from her as +from you, my own kindest father; yet, if it is a brilliant, it is a +strange, and to all concerned, a somewhat perilous career on which I +am about to enter; and what safeguard so good at such a moment as to +have asked and deserved a mother’s blessing.” + +“Why that’s a’ true enough, and pretty and like yourself to think +so; but it were to spare a power o’ fash she’d mak, that we settled +it t’other way. That is, it were your aunt, she promised me it should +be all her doing. For it were not like I should take it on myself, +and to gang back there all alone afterwards. But here’s sister, talk +it over wi’ she.” + +But when Alice found her niece make such a point of her mother’s +presence, she did not think herself justified in adhering to her +first arrangement; she therefore proposed that her brother should +write to her, and should offer to go as far as Mayton, to meet her; +but this part he seemed to have particular reasons of his own for +disliking. + +“What! meet she at Mayton? that wouldn’t be altogether quite +suitable. Stop at Queen’s Head! Bide at the widow’s till she came +there to find me out! No, sister, I don’t see why I should gi’ up my +share of the last days o’ my darling child, along o’ she. There are +coaches fra’ Mayton here, let her take one o’ they.” + +As this suggestion seemed reasonable enough, it was not opposed; +and as Castleton, however much he might deprecate Mrs. Darnell’s +presence, could not but honour Lucy’s scruples, he made no objection, +only hoping still that she might not come; which wish seemed more +likely to be gratified from the somewhat obscure nature of Farmer +Darnell’s communication, which ran thus: + + “Respected Wife, + + “This comes first to let you know George is gitten well shot + of his bad job, and now he’s gone to better himself; next to + require your presence at this presint, as soon as evrey bit + quait convenient. I’ve considered you’d loike to see t’ gude + looks has comed to Lucy, sine we comed here; she’s now the + most beautiful prospect ony one ever seed; and she’s quoite + fit to be married ony day, she thinks, if you’d only come. I + can’t enter into ony more particular observations by reason + of the post knowing it, only this; you’ll find curb bridle + for t’ poney on a broken peg behind door in t’ cowshed; put + him on a crupper, for there’s a tail about his tumbling down + wi’ Joe Ostler on Langden bank. But you’ll plaise to call to + mind purticklar that t’ Angel is the house at Mayton, from + which stage coach starts. + + “Your fond sarvant and humble husband to command, + RICHARD DARNELL.” + +As Richard Darnell, in writing this letter, had his own misgivings +that some of the words might not be spelt exactly right, he thought +it best no one but himself should see it, and therefore put it +himself into the post without showing it to any one, only letting +them know that he had written a letter, which he felt sure would +bring the good woman. But as soon as she could be expected, instead +came the following answer: + + “RICHARD DARNELL, + + “You must be clean demented to send me such a daft epistle. If + the name had never been on t’ bottom, I should have guessed it + could but have been your’n; for it’s just of a piece wi’ all + the rest. As for George being cleared of this sad affair, it’s + right to be thankfull for any sinner that’s spared. But where, + pray, is he gone? To better himself, you say! If he’s really + minded in penitence to better himself, and I’m sure there’s + need on’t, only let me take him in hand, there’s no need of + his going vagabonding again for that. As for what you say + about Lucy, I knew how it would be, you’d be sure to spoil + her. I’m not going to tramp after her, to see her good looks, + as you call it. If she can’t come to me, let her gang her ain + gait, and not expect her elders to fash themselves about the + like of she. I don’t make out what you mean by her having + getting good looks: if it’s only her foolish prettiness you + commend, as I suppose by your saying she’s the most beautiful + prospect ever seen, I’d have you to recollect, that when you + were i’ that city afore, you thought some one else the most + beautiful prospect you ever seed. Though I’m thankful I never + set my head o’ such vanities. But it’s like you, a _cretur_ + made up of hand and mouth, ever whilst you live to think all’s + best that’s by you. I’ll be bound the truest thing that’s in + your letter is, that the silly chit thinks herself fit to be + married. If so, let her be so without me. I thought not long + ago she’d been ready to demean herself by throwing herself at + the head of Painter Churchill. If so, as I said afore, it’s + all her ain affair. + + “This from your loving wife, + “MARGARET DARNELL. + + “Postscript. It was so like you to put best bridle on broken + peg in t’ cowshed. But it’s just of a piece wi’ all the rest.” + +When Farmer Darnell had spelt through this somewhat lengthy, though +unsatisfactory reply, he saw that he had somehow made a mess of +it, and he did not feel quite certain whether he had sufficiently +explained his daughter’s marriage as a fact, not as a surmise. He +took it, full of perplexity, to his sister, who not having seen her +brother’s, to which this was an answer, never suspected that in point +of fact it had never been clearly explained that it was to witness +the great alliance of her daughter she was summoned; and as she +knew enough of the unhappy and worrying temper of her sister-in-law, +to think it possible from the first an ungracious answer might be +returned, she therefore thought it best that her mother’s declining +to come should be communicated to Lucy, omitting those details in her +answer which might be hurtful to her feelings. And this plan suited +the impatience of Castleton, and the inclinations of the farmer; +and therefore it was settled that the wedding should be no longer +postponed. + +It was a gay-looking morning, in early spring, which shone +auspiciously on the happy scene, when the select family circle, to +whom alone the secret had been confided, sought the parish church +of St. ----, in the city of ----, armed with the special licence, +which in due form permitted the union of the Right Honourable Egbert +Athelstan Somers Lord Castleton to Lucy Darnell. + +Though no high-born kindred crowded round the altar, or lightly +tripped, or swept in state up the empty aisles, which struck chill +and damp upon the little party as they first quitted the light and +buoyant atmosphere without; yet in the whole line of Lord Castleton’s +ancestry, even including that progenitor who had won a stately dame, +through whom, as his name denoted, was traced his descent to the +heptarchy--never had any of his forefathers led to the altar a more +lovely object, or one in outward appearance more distinguished and +refined, than the lowly maid who now clung anxiously to him for +support. + +The wedding-robe which she wore had been chosen by him, and though +simple was tasteful; and her aunt’s care had prevented any glaring +defects in the mode of wearing it, which her unpractised ignorance +might otherwise have betrayed; though her toilet was a task which +the perfect proportion of her slight and elegant form rendered easy. +The delicate and finely chiseled contour of her features, and the +unstudied grace of her whole figure, even to the tapering fingers of +the small hand, whose gentle pressure on Lord Castleton’s arm seemed +to claim protection--all these marked her as fitted to adorn that +exalted station to which she was then to be raised. + +The quiet dignity of Alice Darnell’s whole deportment showed her a +fitting chaperon on such an occasion for the future peeress. To be +sure, the honest farmer, though dressed in his very best, did not +seem quite of a piece with the other performers in the ceremony; but +nobody could feel this more thoroughly than he did himself; and so +unaffectedly, as to be compatible with great pride in his daughter, +and no shame for himself; and therefore he kept in the back-ground, +exulting yet retiring. + +As Lucy knelt at the altar, unconsciously in an attitude which +sculptors might have studied for the line of grace, Castleton fixed +upon her an ardent gaze of unmeasured admiration, which, as the +ceremony concluded, and they rose to depart, she repaid with the mild +expression of intense devotion rather than of passion. + +“God save your Ladyship!” cried Farmer Darnell, coming up and +kissing her, trying to bury his feelings in a tone of banter, but in +vain:--“God save you! Lady ----. Good b’ye, my own darling Lucy!” and +he retired to gulp down his emotion. Her aunt also took leave of her +here, to avoid the parting in the streets. + +Castleton supported her trembling frame tenderly to the carriage; +and, as soon as they had entered, pressed her to his heart, +saying--“My own, own Lucy, now!” And as the carriage rattled rapidly +through the narrow streets of the city, they were soon out of sight +of the farmer and his sister, who had followed to the door of the +church, to watch the departure of what they both loved best in the +world. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + ----There + Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it. + SHAKSPEARE. + + So this begins our happy honeymoon. + + Honour, high honour, and renown to Hymen! + + +A Honeymoon! ’Tis a strange term!--an ambiguous definition of the +period of time which it describes: a singular compound of two +incongruous parts--honey and moon. What has the moon, “the inconstant +moon,” to do with that whose “sweets do pall with sameness?” Is there +any sly sarcasm conveyed in the term?--any lurking insinuation, +that where a blessing has been “daily swallowed by men’s eyes, they +surfeited with honey;” and that, as the match-making Friar Lawrence +says, “is loathsome in its own deliciousness?” But, no--it cannot +be. When at sea for a meaning, one seeks the aid of a Dictionary to +pilot one back to sense, and Johnson defines a honeymoon as “the +first month after marriage, when there is nothing but tenderness and +pleasure;” and as this lexicographical lover had tried it himself, +he must have spoken from an experience of his own sensations,--for, +with all the merits of his laborious compilation, he is never known +to have given a signification in direct opposition to his own +feelings and prejudices. It is a curious image this raises to one’s +mind--Doctor Johnson passing a whole month in which there was nothing +but “tenderness and pleasure!” + +For these sensations also must, to exist, have been reciprocal; +he must have found another who would lavish similar tenderness +on him,--derive parallel pleasure from him. And our wonderment +increases that such should have been the impression which he chose to +perpetuate in folio sheets for ever, when one recollects that he was +married to a woman twice his own age; and as it is insinuated by one +of his female gossips, he had begun by being in love with his future +bride’s daughter. Add to this, that his own account of his ride to +church does not accord with the immediate prelude to a honied sequel. +Johnson, about to become a bridegroom, in love, and on horseback, at +one and the same time, is an image almost to upset gravity. He states +that on their ride from Birmingham to Derby, they quarrelled two or +three times about the pace, and says, “I was not to be made the slave +of caprice, and I resolved to begin as I meant to end; I therefore +pushed on briskly till I was fairly out of her sight; I contrived +that she should soon come up with me; when she did, I observed her to +be in tears.” + +Here does not seem to have been much tenderness on his part, or +one would think much pleasure on hers: but there is no disputing +about tastes; and even after this unpropitious beginning, Johnson, +upon experience, defines the honey-moon as “a month in which there +is nothing but tenderness and pleasure.” There have been, however, +others not so well calculated to pamper themselves with such +unalloyed lusciousness, who have found the taste of the honey infused +with a well-known taint of bitterness; and others may have suspected +that some of the wax had, in that honied space, somewhat clogged the +wings of time. For, admitting to the fullest extent-- + + “Domestic happiness, the only bliss + Of Paradise that has survived the fall;” + +yet it is not the growth of an hour. It is not slipped on with the +wedding-ring. At the altar the staple only is riveted, for which +habit has yet to forge, link by link, those imperceptible bonds which +chain the heart within the domestic circle. Mutual good understanding +must be established by slow degrees. In the vegetable world a graft +is an unsightly excrescence at first; and no more in temper and +tastes, than in trees, is the fruit of such an experiment borne on +the instant. How much tacit, perhaps unconscious, compromise must +gradually be matured, before, as Thomson says-- + + “Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will, + With boundless confidence;” + +he pronounces-- + + “Happy they the happiest of their kind.” + +If, therefore, as I suspect, even amongst those who have afterwards +experienced the most perfect domestic happiness, there have +occasionally been in some of the four-and-twenty hours of some of the +eight-and-twenty days of this mellifluous month some moments when +slight restraint and transient disappointment have mixed themselves +up with that tenderness and pleasure which are said to monopolise it; +if it is a probationary period, which is not sufficient to establish +the whole foundation of happiness for the future, it is sometimes +quite sufficient to dispel some of the bright illusions of the past; +this variegated month will sometimes make sad inroads into the +permanence of that sort of love that-- + + “Is but a bright beguiling spell, + Which only lives whilst passion glows.” + +The passion of love sometimes revels in contradiction. It gains +strength by opposition; it attracts by separation; it smiles most +upon its exacted sacrifices; it entrenches itself most behind broken +duties; its fairest hopes are gathered in the wildest field of fear, +but its vigour is apt to be lost in regular set garden culture; it +pines upon stated indulgence; it dwindles when its shoots are in set +form nailed to the wall; when its early blossom is success, its only +fruit is satiety. + +If there ever was a blissful honey-moon! If?--There have been +myriads; those of a mixed character, for which I have been +endeavouring to account, are but the exceptions. In the very first +class of blissful honey-moons, was that of Castleton and Lucy;--most +happy positively, in its exemptions from any of the causes which I +have mentioned as occasionally chequering that happiness: and most +happy comparatively, with their mutual experience of the past: and +I fear I must forestall so far as to add, also comparatively with +their future wedded life. Here there was no unsettled compromise of +tastes, no gradual adaptation of former habits; for the companion was +no more new to Lucy, than was the existence to which she had been +transferred. The very atmosphere she breathed was strange to her; and +in entering upon that new existence, she had but one all-engrossing +object--to study in her own manner the happiness of him to whose +destiny she was united. + +Castleton was by nature affectionate; but he must have been +insensible indeed, if he had not shared with more fervour, and +almost equal freshness, every feeling of one so beautiful and so +gracious, so tender and so devoted, as his gentle bride. Besides, he +had another security against her fondness palling upon possession, +if such a thing could otherwise have been possible. It was an +original experiment he had attempted, so far successful, whose +future progress he had to watch; and this blended occupation with his +enjoyment. And there was certainly occupation enough in explaining +many rudiments of conduct in her present sphere, of which Lucy was +completely ignorant. Anxious as she was to learn, and eager as +she was to adopt, any suggestion of his, in spite of her natural +quickness, he sometimes found it difficult to make her comprehend +his meaning, from some ideas being perfectly new to her, which were +so interwoven with his early nature that he could not recollect and +identify their first impression. Castleton being, himself, a person +of very cultivated mind, and having been much in a society famed for +ready memory and apt illustration, had adopted, perhaps more than any +one else, a sort of shorthand turn of conversation, a comprehensive +cypher, known only to the initiated; in which a half-hinted +allusion, or trite quotation, was often meant to awaken a whole train +of ideas: such an inclination he was, of course, obliged to check in +all his communications with Lucy. This made his instructions often +much more circumlocutory, and consequently protracted, than they +would otherwise have been; and though it was impossible to imagine a +more gentle tutor, or a more docile pupil, yet even blended as it was +with the soft dalliance of those first days of exclusive devotion, +there was something irksome to both parties, in the perpetual +recurrence of such topics. + +Instruction, however mildly conveyed, infallibly destroys that +feeling of equality, in exact proportion to which confidence is +generally found to exist. Every day Castleton felt more and more +how impossible it would be to ask Lucy’s opinion on any of those +subjects on which she was profoundly ignorant; and every day Lucy +became more aware of her deficiencies, and more anxious therefore to +conceal them from him; and that she could only do by acquiescing in +her ignorance, for there was no one else from whom she could seek +information. There were some points on which she would even have +endeavoured to extract knowledge from the servants; but dreading, +from her former habits, nothing so much as too great a familiarity +in this respect, Castleton had made it one of his first desires to +her, that she would confine her communications with them, to asking +for what she wanted. To this, as to every other desire of his, she +yielded, as far as she could, implicit obedience; but it was often +a great exertion on her part to do so. Of her own maid she had felt +from the first a considerable awe; and to such a degree did this +continue, that she could not conceive any fatigue from labour equal +to the burthen of her assistance. Being naturally of a disposition +both active and obliging, it was quite new to her to have any thing +done for her which she could do for herself. For some time she had as +great a horror of touching a bell-rope, as others have in touching +the string of a shower-bath; and when services were obtruded on her +by the domestics as a matter of course, she had much difficulty in +checking the exuberance of her gratitude. + +At home, Big Betsey, mentioned above as the maid of all work, +never considered as any part of her multitudinous duties the +waiting on Miss Lucy, who she not only said “mought moind herself,” +but sometimes called to her, almost authoritatively, to “lend a +hauping haund.” It was, probably, in consequence of the habit thus +engendered, that Lady Castleton was one day caught “lending a helping +hand” to an overloaded under laundry-maid, who had been sent by her +superior with a wicker-bound snowy freight of her Ladyship’s own +superfine linen. But of all the irksome feelings caused by Lucy’s +new position, there was none from which she suffered more, than +_waiting_ to be _waited on_. And it was hinted in the hall, that when +my Lord was not in the room, my Lady got up to help herself to what +she wanted from the sideboard!! And it was whispered in the female +conclave of the housekeeper’s room, that her Ladyship seemed even to +like to--lace her own stays!! + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + I would detain you here some + Month or two before you venture. + + How often have I told you ’twould be thus, + How often said my dignity would last + But till ’twere known. + + Set on towards London. + SHAKSPEARE. + + +It had been a _real_ Spring-day, by which we mean one not often +realized, but such a Spring-day as even smoke-dried poets fancy. Lucy +was seated in her own pretty boudoir, which Castleton had arranged +for her with infinite taste. She was making-up and combining with +great care a nosegay of choicest flowers, which she had gathered +from the neighbouring conservatory, into which on one side her +apartment opened; with this she was decorating a beautiful marble +vase, presented to her by her husband, which always stood on the +table beside her. Castleton had been absent that morning on a distant +ride, on business connected with his property; she had previously +been interrupted, and was now anxious, before his return, to finish +this trivial, but to her interesting occupation: for the vase never +met her husband’s eye, studded with its varied scents and gaily +diversified colours, without eliciting the observation, “No one +could arrange these half so prettily as you.” And it required to be +aware, as she was, of her manifold deficiencies, to feel the peculiar +pleasure derived in hearing the repetition of these words from the +lips she loved. She was still thus engaged, when Castleton entered, +and throwing himself on the sofa beside her, interrupted her task by +taking one of her hands in his, pressing his palm against hers--then +tenderly parting her fingers, by entwining his own between them; +whilst, passing his other arm round her waist, he drew her towards +him, and looking fondly in her face, said to himself, “They must, at +any rate, have thought her very beautiful.” + +The origin of this reflection was, that on coming home by the +high-road he had met his nearest neighbour, Mrs. Eresby, with her +two daughters, returning from a visit they had during that morning +volunteered to the bride. On perceiving him, Mrs. Eresby had stopped +the carriage for a moment, and after expressing regrets at missing +him, had said, “Charmed with Lady Castleton--so very natural and +perfectly unaffected.” + +In bowing, the only possible reply to this compliment, he thought +he had intercepted the telegraph of a smile between Miss Eresby +and her sister Arabella, who sat opposite to each other on the +side of the carriage into which he was leaning.--“Very natural and +perfectly unaffected!” he thought, as he rode home, “What has she +been doing?” Certainly, if there was any quality which Castleton must +have most sought to secure by such means as he had resorted to in +the choice of a wife, it must have been that she should be “natural +and unaffected.” And yet it is true that this testimony of the first +person who had seen her to the success of his pursuit, gave him any +thing but pleasure.--“So you have had visitors this morning, Lucy; +how did you amuse them?” + +“Oh, they seemed to amuse each other very well; there were three of +them.” + +“How do you mean, amuse themselves? they did not, surely, talk to +each other much before you?” + +“Her the others called mother didn’t.” + +“My dear Lucy, I’m sure they never called her _mother_.” + +“Well then, mamma perhaps it was; I will remember, my dear Lord, what +you told me, never to say mother.” + +“And did they make many enquiries of you? ask many questions?” + +“Oh, such a many!” + +“So many, dearest love, you mean to say.” + +“Well, so I do, thank you; and then the mamma asked me, as she had +never seen me before, if I had not been much abroad; and I said, +never at all till I married; and then she said, ‘What! had I been +to Paris since?’ and I find she meant foreign parts by abroad. And +she told me that we ought to go to London soon; that the season was +advanced, and that the Pasta would come out soon this spring. What is +the Pasta--a plant?” + +“A plant! no, love. Pasta is a singer’s name, you could not be +expected to know that; but I hope you didn’t say any thing to show +them your ignorance?” + +“Oh, no; you told me, whenever I was completely puzzled, that silence +was best; so I said nothing. Pasta’s the name of a singer, then! +Oh, that accounts, for a moment after she the mamma said, that her +daughter Arabella sang delightfully, and asked me if I would sing +with her; so I said no, I’d much rather listen. That was right, +warn’t it? You see I knew you’d ask me all about it, so I recollected +it for you. Arabella then asked me if I would accompany her? so I +said, Wherever she liked,--where did she want to go? But, I suppose, +she altered her mind, for she sat down to the grand instrument you +had brought here for me to begin my lessons upon; and then she sang +such an extraordinary song--all coming from her throat. And the +sister asked me if I understood German? and I answered, No, nor +French neither.” + +“That was an unnecessary addition, my love.” + +“Well, so it was. Then the youngest sister explained to me, that it +was a song a Swiss peasant girl sang whilst she was milking her cow; +and I said that must be very difficult, to sing while milking a cow. +And then the mamma asked how I knew; and I said I had _tried_ very +_often_.” + +“How could you, dear Lucy, volunteer such an avowal?” + +“I thought you would be afraid of that; but it all did very well, for +the mother said I was so amusing, had so much natural wit, and they +all tried to persuade me I had said something clever.” + +“Well, go on--and what then?” + +“And then the lady took me aside, and began saying so much in praise +of you; and when she once got me on that subject, I was ready and +glib enough, I warrant you. But somehow, though I then found it so +much easier to speak, I find it more difficult to recollect exactly +what I said. Is not that strange? And then she said that my happiness +would excite so much envy in the great world; that you had been +admired, courted, nay, even loved by rich, noble, clever ladies. Why +was all this? and how could you ever think to leave all these, to +seek out from her quiet home your poor little Lucy?” + +“Oh, that’s a story of by-gone days. These were follies of my youth, +which I thought I had lived to repent.” + + ‘Nor knew, till seated by thy side, + My heart in all save hope the same.’ + +“Why, save hope, my dear Lord? What may you not only hope, but trust, +from my constant devotion?” + +“I did not mean to tie myself precisely to every word I uttered. It +was only a quotation. + +“And what is a quotation?” + +“A quotation is the vehicle in which imagination posts forward, when +she only hires her Pegasus from memory. Or sometimes it is only a +quit-rent, which the intellectual cultivator, who farms an idea, +pays to the original proprietor; or rather,”--(seeing that he was +not making the matter more intelligible by his explanation,)--“or +rather, it is when we convey our own thoughts by the means of the +more perfect expressions of some favourite author.” + +“But then, surely _you_ need not be driven to borrow, whose own words +always sound to me like a book. As for poor me, I wish I could talk +in quotations for ever; then I need not fear to make these mistakes, +which, as it is, I am afraid I am always like to do.” + +There was so much modesty, so lively a sense of her own deficiencies, +with so anxious a desire to remedy them, that Castleton could not, +upon the whole, derive other than a pleasant impression from the +result of this interview. + +It has been said that Lucy’s boudoir had been furnished in a manner +that showed the most studied care in the selection, the most +unlimited expenditure in the profusion of articles of luxury. Perhaps +Castleton had even rather exceeded in this respect, from knowing +how different had been the habits of her early life, and rather +wishing that she should, whilst they were still alone, get over the +trouble of being at her ease, rather than let the world witness the +awkwardness of her first impressions, and the difficulty of her +first endeavour not to be astonished at so much that was new. + +But there was one department to which he had prudently devoted his +attention, and this from a higher motive, an anxious desire to +cultivate the taste of his pupil-bride, in a manner which might be +an enjoyment, not a task. Her room had been hung with the choicest +“_chefs-d’œuvre_” both of ancient and modern art: the most attractive +subjects, treated in the most skilful manner, in an assortment +of cabinet pictures of various masters. This, at least, thought +Castleton, is an art for which she has shown a wonderful aptitude: +poetry I cannot as yet hope that she should fancy or comprehend; and +of any incipient love of general literature I as yet see no symptom; +but this is a taste which cannot fail to refine such a character as +hers. From Claude and from Poussin she may learn that classical +association will adorn and idealize even the material beauties of +nature; and from the good conception of some historical subject by +the great Italian masters, she may reverse the usual routine, and +from admiration of the manner in which these subjects are treated, +derive a taste for the subjects themselves. Then, thought he, I shall +always have the agreeable reflection, that it was by me alone this +taste was first formed, and that it was by a mutual partiality for +this art that community of feeling was first established between us. +Castleton had mistaken the effect for the cause; he was not aware, +that whilst she had readily followed all the movements of the pencil, +it was the hand that had guided it, not the lines that it traced, +which had given it peculiar value in her eyes. Another morning he had +been again absent on the business which had taken him from home the +day of Mrs. Eresby’s visit; and at the door of the boudoir he was met +by Lucy, who had watched for his returning step, and, drawing him +in after her with more than her usual demonstrations of delight at +seeing him again, with a most triumphant “Look there!” directed his +attention to the costly frames which, under his special direction, +had been carefully fitted to the varied gems of art mentioned above, +but which were, instead, now filled with flimsy drawings upon +different coloured papers; and upon nearer inspection he discovered +them to be his own hasty sketches, which had been thrown aside with +the character he had assumed, and forgotten in the attainment of the +object of that assumption. + +“Lucy, you cannot really have been so foolish, so childish, as to +remove those beautiful pictures for such wretched daubs as these?” +This was uttered hastily, and the look of triumph passed away at +the same moment from Lucy’s previously elated countenance, as, in +a desponding tone, she “bade him see that the pictures were still +there,” and that she had occupied herself that morning in cutting +with care and adapting the sketches to the different frames that +hung round her room, which operation had been completed by neatly +attaching the papers in each corner of the pictures with pins. + +“Take them down again, for heaven’s sake!” said Lord Castleton; “it +is a bitter disappointment to me, to see you had no taste whatever +for the beauties of these gems, which I selected for you with so much +care, and which, at least, I hoped you might appreciate. I wish you +would try, at least, to know the things you ought to admire.” + +“I am sure I always admired these,” said Lucy, sorrowfully, laying +the rejected sketches in a heap before Lord Castleton, and adding to +herself in a lower tone, “so pretty, and so like!” on observing the +upper one of the heap to be a home view of Bankside Farm, and its old +orchard and now deserted garden. But her husband’s good-humour was +not restored by the gentle submission of her looks and manners; he +took the sketches in his hand, and as he turned them over rapidly, +and as each and every one in which Morden Bay was commemorated +recalled the scene of some unpleasant event, some degrading doubt, +some unworthy conflict, which he wished for ever to blot from his own +mind, and hide from the prying curiosity of others, with a sudden +impulse he crushed them firmly together in his hands, and then flung +them on the blazing fire before him. Lucy at first started forward to +save them, but her habitual obedience and respect checked her first +hasty movement. She gazed fixedly on the blazing memorials of her +childhood home; and the first bitter tears she had shed since her +marriage chased each other down her cheeks, as she exclaimed, “Oh, +what a pity to destroy them! I loved them so; they were among the +few, the very few things which reminded me of you and dear Bankside +Farm together.” + +“Nay, do not distress yourself so, my dear Lucy. You need, I hope, +nothing to remind you of me, now I am always with you; and the rocks +and the trees of Morden Bay, for it was only inanimate forms that +were there commemorated, will remain the same till you see them +again,--the same the last as the first time you beheld them. But it +is the solitude in which you have been sometimes left lately which +has made you gloomy. Business makes it necessary that I should soon +go to London; we will start next week, and then you will be too +much occupied with seeing, and being seen, to have leisure for these +morbid reflections.” + + + + + END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, + Dorset-street, Fleet-street. + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: + +Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent +hyphenation in the text. These were left unchanged, as were jargon, +dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings. Misspelled words were +not corrected. Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by +underscores, _like this_. Final stops missing at the end of sentences +were added. One unnecessary apostrophe was removed. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78689 *** diff --git a/78689-h/78689-h.htm b/78689-h/78689-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb376e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/78689-h/78689-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5794 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no,date=no,address=no,email=no,url=no"> + <title> + The Contrast, Vol. 2 | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h1 { /* use for book title */ + margin: 1em 5% 1em; + font-size: 180%;} +h2 { /* use for chapter headings */ + margin:2em 5% 1em; + font-size: 150%;} +h3 { margin: 2em 5% 1em; + font-size: 120%;} +.h1head { + clear: both; + display: block; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + page-break-before: avoid; + margin: 4em 5% 1em; + font-size: 180%; } +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; + margin-top: 4em;} + +/* Paragraph styles */ +p { + margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + line-height: 175%; + text-indent: 1em;} +.unindent {text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em;} +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;} +.right {text-align: right; margin-right: 2em;} + +blockquote { + margin-top: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 90%; +} + +/* Font styles */ +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} +em {font-style: italic;} +.small {font-size: 90%;} +.muchsmaller {font-size: 75%;} +.ls {letter-spacing: .25em; + margin-right: -0.25em;} +strong {font-weight: bold;} + +a { border:none; text-decoration:none; font-variant:normal; } +abbr { border:none; text-decoration:none; font-variant:normal; } + +/* Rules */ +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + + /* Page numbers */ +.pagenum { + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; font-size: 90%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; line-height: 150%;} +.poemright {text-align: right;} +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent0a {text-indent: -3.5em;} +.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1.0em;} +.poetry .indent10 {text-indent: 2.0em;} +.poetry .indent12 {text-indent: 3.0em;} +.poetry .indent14 {text-indent: 4.0em;} +.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5.0em;} +.poetry .indent18 {text-indent: 6.0em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + </style> + </head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78689 ***</div> + + +<h1><span class="muchsmaller">THE</span><br> +<br> +<span class="ls">CONTRAST</span>,</h1> + +<p class="p2 center x-ebookmaker-important"> +BY THE AUTHOR OF “MATILDA,” “YES AND NO,” +&c. &c.</p> + +<hr> +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="verse indent0">Take but degree away—untune that string,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hark! what discord follows.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> +</div> +<hr> + +<p class="p2 center small ls">IN THREE VOLUMES.</p> + +<p class="p2 center"> +<abbr title="Volume Two">VOL. II.</abbr> +</p> + +<p class="p2 center">LONDON:<br> +HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,<br> +<span class="small">NEW BURLINGTON STREET.<br> +1832.</span> +</p> +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="unindent">CONTENTS</p><p class="unindent"> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER <abbr title="One">I.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER <abbr title="Two">II.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER <abbr title="Three">III.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER <abbr title="Four">IV.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER <abbr title="Five">V.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER <abbr title="Six">VI.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Seven">VII.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Eight">VIII.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER <abbr title="Nine">IX.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER <abbr title="Ten">X.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER <abbr title="Eleven">XI.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Twelve">XII.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Thirteen">XIII.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER <abbr title="Fourteen">XIV.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER <abbr title="Fifteen">XV.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER <abbr title="Sixteen">XVI.</abbr></a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Seventeen">XVII.</abbr></a><br> +</p> +</div> +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1"></span></p> + <h2 class="h1head" id="THE_CONTRAST"> + THE CONTRAST. + </h2> +</div> + +<hr> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="One">I.</abbr> + </h2> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent10">Knights and dames I sing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as the times may furnish: ’tis a flight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which seems at first to need no lofty wing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plumed by Longinus, or the Stagyrite:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The difficulty lies in colouring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Keeping the due proportions still in sight,)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With nature, manners which are artificial,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rendering general that which is especial.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Byron.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He’s justice of the peace, ay, and rotulorum.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> years had passed over Sir North Saunders’ +head since we were last in his company, +and yet we shall find him much as we left him, +neither richer nor poorer, wiser nor better, nor, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2"></span>except “quoad” baptismal register, much +older than when, upon first establishing himself +for the summer season at Hornscliff Abbey, +he had accompanied Castleton and Lady Madelina +to Morden Bay. He still looked much +the same; he could still eat as much, and walk +as little. True, in the interval one great epoch +had occurred in the life of a politician of his +calibre; <em>he had sworn off</em>, or, to explain it in +other words to the uninitiated, he was now +turned sixty: a fact which, when sworn to, +gives a member of Parliament an exemption +from attendance on committees, it being “in +the wisdom of the legislature” thought that to +rise by ten o’clock in the forenoon would be +very injurious at that advanced age, though to +sit up all night, and decide the most important +questions at five o’clock in the morning, is a +duty constantly exacted.</p> + +<p>Coeval, however, with this survival of part +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3"></span>of his senatorial functions, he had assumed +new provincial duties. He had lately acted as +a justice of the peace! in the jargon of the +sessions, he had sued out his <i lang="la">dedimus</i>, and +become one of the <i lang="la">quorum</i>, a phraseology probably +retained to contradict the proverbial assertion, +that translation of the dead languages +is of benefit to country gentlemen.</p> + +<p>It may be thought a little late for an elderly +gentleman, turned sixty, to take upon himself, +for the first time, the complicated duties of administering +the laws; but then it should be +recollected that he had passed the last forty in +making them, and from the singular ease with +which he had, during that period, executed +his part in the former process, it is no wonder +that he thought himself perfectly adequate +to the subordinate department he now undertook. +It may not be understood with what +sort of “hocus pocus” facility most of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4"></span>enactments, on the construction of which Sir +North had undertaken to decide, had become +the law of the land. Provided they touched +not the interests of any one within hearing, +the whole process seems to consist in a bit of +parchment being subjected to the magic touch +of a certain number of men with wigs on their +heads and gowns on their backs, a certain +number of times; true, it is also said to be +read a certain number of times, which, however, +consists in one of the gownsmen mumbling +the first unmeaning half line in a tone +somewhat lower than that in which every voice +is talking around him. The chief of the gownsmen +then, in somewhat the same tone, invites +all of one opinion to say “ay,” and all of +the other “no;” an invitation to which, whilst +all are equally unconscious to what it alludes, +no one can pay the slightest attention. Having +undergone this mystic touch the prescribed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5"></span>number of times in one room, it for once gets +into the hands of a man without either gown or +wig, who, with sundry “kotous,” carries it +into another room, where it is again subject, a +similar number of times, to the same touching +process, when at last all the wigs being now +collected in one room, one of them stands in +the middle, produces a few strange sounds of +barbarous French, and the magic parchment at +once becomes the law of the land, without +ninety-nine in a hundred, upon whose authority +it has so become, ever having heard more of it +than the cabalistic syllable, equally applicable +to all, of “Whereas.”</p> + +<p>The fact is, from the day of the Druids +down to our own inclusive, there never was +any mummery more unmeaning than that with +which an unopposed law is passed through +the British legislature. Therefore, though +from being constantly at the beck of every +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6"></span>succeeding whipper-in of the Treasury, Sir +North had, perhaps, more frequently than +any other individual, bowed bills up to the +bar of the House of Lords; he was not by any +means aware how much he had by that contributed +to complicate the new duties he had +undertaken, off hand, and expected to execute +by intuition. But here, let not the reader be +alarmed: I am not going to start off with one +of the sweeping invectives, with some so popular, +against the “great unpaid;” such a +digression would be out of place here, if I +thought it in reason anywhere. But my own +opinion is, that it is a system which rather +requires to be regulated than superseded. I by +no means think that all is obtained that is required, +because the magistrate is unpaid: but +neither do I think that all would be remedied +if he was paid. I do not think it by any +means certain, that this change alone would +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7"></span>at once insure oracles of wisdom, and miracles +of wit, all over the country. If, too, their appointments +are all to emanate from the crown, +I am much surprised that any, who entertain +a constitutional jealousy of the executive, +should tolerate a plan, which either must +be made the means of increased patronage to +the dependants of Government and their supporters +amongst the local aristocracy, or if +there ever should be a minister who should be +disposed to drill all under him into a sort of +military subordination, would enable him to +organize a system, if not of police espionage, +at least, of ministerial surveillance. “Surveillance!” +The word is not English; because +the thing itself has never been naturalized +amongst us. And next to the consideration +of how the stipendiary magistrates are to be +appointed, comes that of from what class are +they to be selected. Probably from amongst +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8"></span>those educated for the profession of the law. +But you could never expect that the infinite number +of appointments necessary, would be such as +to tempt men of eminence or ambition to accept +them, so that everywhere you must be content +with mediocrity of talent and attainments. +Added to this, is the name of lawyer, whether +deservedly or not, so popular among the lower +orders, as to make such a change desired by +those for whose advantage it is supposed to be +proposed? Whatever the defects of the present +system may be, I am sure much good is +frequently effected by the attention willingly +paid to the amicable recommendations of him +who is looked up to in his immediate neighbourhood, +as uniting the character of magistrate +with that of kind protector, or benevolent +landlord. Far, however, am I from thinking +that the present system is perfect. Many, I +am aware, are the instances both of injustice +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9"></span>and ignorance, which it has fostered under the +head of injustice. The “game laws,” administered +by the very persons most interested +against the accused party, have led to much +capricious tyranny. But abolish the game +laws (as you have begun to do); destroy the +unjust law, and you remove the temptation +to injustice in the administration. As to ignorance, +too, I am afraid that there are but +too many lamentable instances; but why, then, +is the most complicated and important business +of administering the laws, supposed +to be the only one for which no previous +practice or preparation is required? A diploma +is expected for medicine; a degree or +examination, for taking orders as a priest. +Why, as most of our magistrates are of the +class usually educated at one of the Universities, +why should not a course of English law +be engrafted upon the many less useful things +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10"></span>exacted as necessary to a degree? or why +should not a certificate from a separate college, +established for that purpose, be required from +every one wishing to act as a magistrate? +Would it be very unreasonable to expect that +some little fitness should be ascertained, before +duties were undertaken, in which the interests +of so many, and amongst them those the least +able to defend themselves, are involved. But +nothing of this kind was required of Sir North +Saunders; and he had entered upon the whole +career of “summoning, passing, committing, +and certifying,” without undergoing any other +<em>test</em> than the one then exacted from all, for +the preservation of religious intolerance. +Through life it had been the maxim of Sir +North Saunders, to unite as much as possible +the outward appearance of a dissipated man of +pleasure, with the solid advantages of a shrewd +man of business; and as a principal ingredient +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11"></span>in maintaining his first character, he was always +very conspicuous in his devotion to some +one of the reigning beauties of the day. Not +that his gallantries were ever of a nature either +to endanger the character of their object, or at +all to interfere with any more serious affair in +which she might at the time be engaged;—on +the contrary, his gratification always seemed +complete when his house was proposed for any +little flirting assignation, on the part of the +person whom he for the time admired. And +this was a favour not unfrequently granted +to him, being on many accounts found particularly +convenient; for whilst the decorous character +of the society, which he united both in +town and country, was maintained by the +tutelary presence of some of the most rigid +dowagers of his own party and connexion, always +anxious for the support of splendid establishments, +whether domestic or political, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12"></span>attracted by the orthodoxy of his creed and +kitchen, there was a most complete absence +of all constraint in a society where every one +thought they rather honoured the host, by condescending +to partake of his hospitalities. Not +that Sir North was without his “toad-eaters;”—where +is the man of forty thousand a-year +that ever was?—but it was so completely the +tone of the house to take every thing Sir North +did for his friends, as a matter of course, and +as their due, that there was never any openly +avowed admiration of any thing, and his veriest +creatures only carried on a contraband trade in +flattery, smuggling their contingent of subserviency +at a favourable moment, when unobserved; +and even these, to whom his hospitality +was a convenience, and who had no alternative +between the Baronet and his Grace +Humphrey, would, without scruple, criticise +the most <i lang="fr">recherché</i> of his <i lang="fr">entrées</i>, and make believe +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13"></span>a bottle was corked to show they were not +obliged to drink it.</p> + +<p>The party at present assembled consisted, as +usual, of a strange melange, composed of well-paid +placemen in search of amusement during +the recess, and needy men of fashion seeking +subsistence through the dead months; of dowagers +hunting marrying men, and dandies hunting +married women; but amongst those were +to be found, some whom Sir North had contrived +to persuade to visit him, who were rather +above the class usually collected at a house +whose ostentatious hospitality was too much +ridiculed to be very <i lang="fr">recherché</i>. And in this +list was to be placed Lady Gayland, the young +widow mentioned in Castleton’s letter to his +friend, as a continental acquaintance. She had +lately returned to her native country, and had +accepted the invitation to Hornscliff Abbey, +eagerly pressed by Sir North. As she possessed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14"></span>too much good spirits to be really bored +anywhere; and too much good sense to affect +to be so at the caprice of others, and quite wit +enough to avail herself, as a matter of amusement, +and in a good-natured way, of the ridicule +of Sir North’s character; she found such +a residence for a short time, well calculated to +suit her easy humour, and independent situation.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Two">II.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Her chief resource was in her own high spirit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which judged mankind at their due estimation;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And for coquetry she disdained to wear it,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Secure of admiration; its impression</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was faint as if an every-day possession.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Byron.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent16">But then her face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So lovely, yet so arch; so full of mirth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The overflowings of an innocent heart.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> will be equally impossible, I fear, to give +the reader of these pages an idea of the charm +of Lady Gayland’s character, whether he is +allowed to guess his way to its developement +through the mazes of contradictory traits which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16"></span>the events themselves may incidentally present, +and so be left puzzled and perplexed, as Lord +Castleton himself was in his former acquaintance +with her; or whether the more arduous +task shall be undertaken of giving him a clue +through the medium of introductory description. +Yet, how to tie down to terms of fixed +description, that which, if it was as brilliant, +was also as changeful as the sun-beam! How +to exemplify that which, at all times, was +unlike any thing else, or how to describe that +which was often most unlike itself! I might, +it is true, vaunt the undeniable beauty of her +fine features, expatiate on the brilliancy of her +full dark eye; or detail the form of that noble +brow which seemed the chosen throne of +thought. Yet how, even by this means, to +give any idea of that strength of varied expression, +which, as the occasion required, even +before the ready words had risen to her lips, +stamped upon her countenance the perfect prototype +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17"></span>of indignation, ridicule, or sympathy! +If I were even to recall some of the sallies of +her playful wit, they might, thus stiffly recorded, +no longer be the same as when flowing forth +the spontaneous burst of high spirits and +buoyant fancy; and seem, perhaps, abrupt +and harsh when deprived of the accompanying +sweet smile and soft tone, which could even +blunt the sting of satire.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, it might be difficult to +persuade those who felt not that her movements +were the result of some higher impulse, which +spurned the usual rules of drawing-room refinement—how +impossible it was that under any +circumstances she could ever be ungraceful; +and such as she was, when most unlike every +one else, she seemed least aware of it herself. +Her’s was the singularity of genius; not the +genius of singularity. If she was often in word +and deed what some might say they would not +imitate, still oftener was she what others owned +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18"></span>they could not emulate. And whilst many who +knew her slightly, thought it was well for the +world that there was no <em>second</em> Lady Gayland; +all who knew her well, thought there was +nothing which the world could not better spare +than that one.</p> + +<p>The morning after the events, described in +the last Chapter, had happened at Morden Bay, +a large party was assembled round the breakfast-table +at Sir North’s, and in the full enjoyment +of the social meal; for though, contrary +to his usual custom, their host had not yet appeared, +his authority had been put in commission, +as amongst the guests there were many +who considered themselves quite at liberty to +treat his servants as if they were their own.</p> + +<p>“How I envy you your spirits, Lady Gayland!” +drawled out that beshawled and draperied +anatomy, Mrs. M‘Angle, as she sat +coiled up in one corner of the easy <i lang="fr">fauteuil</i>, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19"></span>which, as an invalid, had been provided for her. +“I shan’t be half awake these three hours yet; +and you talk as gaily as if it was after midnight, +instead of before noon.”</p> + +<p>“For my part,” said Lady Gayland, “I +never feel more alive than with the freshness of +the morning dew upon my thoughts; I enjoy, +above all the other <i lang="fr">agrémens</i> of a country +party, a social breakfast-table. But where is +he ‘<em>who is the cause of mirth in others</em>?’”</p> + +<p>“Our host has undertaken the part of +Banquo,” rejoined his humble friend, Mr. +Spencer, pointing to the vacant chair of Sir +North.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps we are too noisy for him; he is +accustomed ten months in the year to a solitary +meal, dividing his attention between his +sodden muffin, and newspaper done dry at a +quick fire; but, after all, I believe here he is.”</p> + +<p>But it was not Sir North, but an individual +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20"></span>whose entrance was likely to produce, amongst +the other guests, a much stronger sensation +than “one so common hacknied in the eyes of +men,” as their much despised host. The person +in question was equipped, as to his lower man, +in the most correct shooting costume; but the +jacket had not as yet replaced the accustomed +blue coat with royal buttons, crossed up to his +chin, many loops for sundry stars being seen +on his left breast. He was well known to all +the half-fed placemen, who now <em>officiously</em>, perhaps +<em>officially</em>, cleared him his place at the +breakfast-table, and who, though they would +gladly have picked up <span class="allsmcap">HIS</span> crumbs, brushed +<span class="allsmcap">THEIR OWN</span> out of his way. Indeed, though +all there might not previously have come +in personal contact with him, who did not +know, by name, The Right Honourable the +Earl of Stayinmore, <abbr title="Knight of the Garter">K.G.</abbr>, <abbr title="Knight Grand Cross">G.C.B.</abbr>, G.G.C., +the proprietor of the three snug little boroughs +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21"></span>of Singlecot, Bankcumwall, and Old Summertemple, +and one of the confidential advisers +of the Crown at that day? His Lordship +had, through life, observed great judgment +in establishing the reputation of his +wisdom by his silence—and of his consequence, +by his civility. But he contrived by his silence +often to place more restraint upon opinion +than others by a direct negative, looking +the while as “if I could contradict if it was +worth my while;” and his civility was so +ostentatiously condescending, that to some it +was more offensive than would have been the +actual assumption of superiority. One of +those who saw it in this light was Lady +Gayland; and it was evident to the blindest of +bystanders, even whilst the diplomatic assurances, +&c. of the morning acknowledgements, +were going on between them, that there would +very soon be a “war of opinion.” The serviles +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22"></span>formed a royalist militia round Lord S. +whilst all the unquiet spirits looked to Lady +Gayland for encouragement.</p> + +<p>Lord Stayinmore was, however, determined +if possible to propitiate his beautiful antagonist +by the studied courtesy of his morning address +to her; and disregarding the attempts +of his satellites to fix him in their system by +offering vacant chairs as he bowed his way up +the table, he at last deposited himself in one +just opposite Lady Gayland, saying, with a +curvature of the body and an inflexion of the +voice, which became so substantial an impersonation +of the shade of Chesterfield, “Here’s +metal more attractive.”</p> + +<p>“New and true,” muttered Lady Gayland; +adding more loudly, and in a manner it was impossible +to say positively was meant for ridicule: +“‘I kiss thy hand, but not flattery, Cæsar,’” +“There,” said she, turning to her neighbour +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23"></span>Mr. Spencer; “there is a quotation repaid in +kind, as original, and more sincere.”</p> + +<p>As there was nothing in the world, next to +the loss of his three Boroughs of Singlecot, +Bankcumwall, and Old Summertemple, which +Lord Stayinmore so particularly dreaded as +the idea of being laughed at, warned by a +certain “lurking devil in her eye,” he did not +again address Lady Gayland, but confined himself +for some time to condescending commonplaces +amongst his other neighbours. But +this prolonged armistice was, as other prolonged +armistices may (not a thousand years +ago) have been, displeasing to these bystanders, +who thought they might gain, and could not +lose, by the actual conflict of the contending +parties. And Mr. Spencer, who was sitting +next her, viewed it peculiarly in this light.</p> + +<p>Peter Alexander Spencer was rather, in his +way, a character: he had been ever since he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24"></span>left school a “rising young man,” in every +other respect except bodily height, which had +remained stationary at <em>five feet one</em>; but like +many little men, he had a most exalted idea of +his own importance, though with great power +of bending to the weaknesses of others, when it +suited his object. He was remarkable for another +thing; not only always using the longest +words, but adding still more to their natural +length by protracted pronunciation. He had +arrived there the day before, unable to resist +Sir North’s offer of an opportunity to try his +double-barrelled gun, though very proud of +the career that had just opened to him, by +being called to the Bar. His arrival had +much exhilarated Lady Gayland. I am afraid +it must be owned, that she dearly loved a +butt, and there was in the assumed importance, +and natural insignificance of Mr. Spencer, +much, that irresistibly cried out to any one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25"></span>with the slightest sense of the ridiculous. +“Even if you love me, laugh at me!” She +was constantly, in the effervescence of her +merry mood, venting forth many bad jokes +about “short Spencers,” and “long robes,” +which she would have been very sorry to have +heard repeated, and which would have been as +soon forgotten by every one else as by herself, +but for the intervention of Spencer’s friend, +Mr. Middleman, who shared Spencer’s britscha +down, at the allotted cost of one <em>post-horse</em>, +and half a post-boy. Middleman was one of +those persons who make their way in the world +by constantly repeating such sentences as +“Did you hear what Lady Gayland said of +Spencer! Capital! eh?” Thus storing up +the superabundant produce of more fertile +imaginations, and retailing it forth, at moments +of conversational scarcity, thereby gaining his +own little percentage of attention; which he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26"></span>achieved in this instance by repeating, whenever +he thought it would entail most ridicule +on his friend and fellow-traveller, what Lady +Gayland had only lightly uttered in a moment +of thoughtlessness.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Three">III.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A beauteous ripple of the brilliant stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of rank and youth, though purer than the rest.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Byron.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Great things were now to be achieved at table.</div> + <div class="poemright">* * *</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But oh, the scenes mid which they met and parted—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The thoughts, the recollections, sweet and bitter—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ Elysian dreams of lovers when they loved—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who shall restore them?</div> + <div class="poemright">* * *</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the mean time, Mr. Spencer, whose general +<em>toadying</em> turn was regulated in its particular +application by the accidental propinquity +of the moment, now drawled out, making as +usual a prolonged note of each vowel, or a sort +of appogiatura between it and its succeeding +consonant,</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28"></span></p> + +<p>“D—<em>o</em>—<em>o</em> pray t—<em>o</em>rture him a l⁠—<em>ee</em>tle. +There’s nothing so del‑—<em>i</em>ghtful as your +persifl<em>a</em>—<em>a</em>—<em>ge</em>.”</p> + +<p>“But I’m not so sanguinary an amazon as +to declare unprovoked war,” replied she, “still, +‘sotto voce,’ his silence leaves me no pretence: +he is determined to avail himself of the most +literal application of the Italian proverb,</p> + +<p class="center small" lang="it"> +‘In bocca chiusa non entran’ mosche.’” +</p> + +<p>But even whilst she was thus declining any +wanton act of hostility, a subject was fixed +upon Lord Stayinmore, by one of his satellites, +which was almost the only one on which he +could then have been provoked so far to commit +his opinion as to risk a contradiction.</p> + +<p>The topic introduced was the conduct which +ought to be pursued by the government of that +day, upon one of those “bit by bit” measures +of reform which then excited curiosity, and, if +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29"></span>not interest in itself, had, at least, divided opinion +as to the effect the treatment of it might +have upon the constantly recurring cry for +parliamentary reform. Lord Stayinmore felt +more deeply than he thought on this subject, +and always expressed himself strongly upon it.</p> + +<p>“It is the bounden duty,” said he, “of every +man who has been bred up in due estimation +of the unparalleled blessings of our invaluable +constitution, to make his immovable stand at +once, arresting these erratic changes on the +very threshold of their progress, nipping in +the bud these flowery projects of alteration, +choking and damming up, as I may say, this +mischievous current of public opinion, even at +its fountain head.”</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland, for the sake of herself as well +as her hearers, had much rather have met her +antagonist on some field where her wit might +have given her more vantage ground of position, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30"></span>than on the wide and level plains of political +discussion, and here she was, therefore, +determined not to be forced into a general +action; but as she retired, she could not avoid +a skirmishing diversion; and taking up his last +words, “Stop, indeed, the current of public +opinion at its fountain head!” she continued. +“That puts me in mind of an incident I remember +hearing last year amongst the <em>Yuoddling</em> +hills of Switzerland. Shall I begin, ‘Once +upon a time——’”</p> + +<p>“Oh, pray do,” exclaimed simultaneously +half the breakfast-table.</p> + +<p>“You have, most of you, seen those German +<em>Stu</em>—dents in the <em>U</em>—<em>niversities</em> who are sedentary +in the winter, but peripatetic all the +summer, with waists like wasps, and faces like +sheep, all lank locks and learning. One of +these was taken to see the source of the Danube, +when, whilst he pressed his palm against the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31"></span>bubbling spring as it oozed through the cleft of +the rock, he exclaimed, in a fit of geographical +grandiloquence, ‘I wonder what they’ll think +of that at Vienna?’ What do you think they +did think of that at Vienna, Lord Stayinmore?”</p> + +<p>“Amusing! but how applicable?” condescendingly +notified Lord Stayinmore, avoiding +the question himself by interposing another.</p> + +<p>“Oh, my dear Lord,” replied Lady Gayland, +“if it is mine to adorn the tale, it is not +mine to point the moral; but, however, if you +will make a Cassandra of me in spite of myself, +and insist upon my ‘laying bare my prophetic +soul,’ I should say that, if whilst you think +you have the power, you attempt to impede the +natural flow of popular feeling with those political +bungs, Singlecot and Bankcumwall, which +you now have at your fingers’ ends, they will +only be the more inevitably borne down with +its headlong career; and that the majestic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32"></span>stream of public opinion, swollen on all sides +by tributary springs, will flow resistlessly onward, +bearing on its triumphant waves the +united wishes of a liberal government and a +grateful people; and any such opposition as +you now threaten, will then no more be felt, +than was the impression of the pigmy fingers +of the German student in the diminished waters +of the Danube at Vienna!”</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland had warmed with her subject, +and had rattled on more than she had intended; +but she had tact enough, in the midst of her +rhapsody, to perceive evident intimations on the +part of Lord Stayinmore, that the impression +she was making was far from agreeable. He +made, first, a nondescript sort of a noise, +between a short cough and a long groan; his +chin sunk within the loose folds of his ample +neckcloth, and his broad chest swelled against +the closely-buttoned breast of his well-padded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33"></span>coat. Suddenly checking herself, she therefore +added, in a more playful tone, “But, as +Beatrice says, <em>I pray your Grace, pardon me, +I was born to speak all mirth, and no matter</em>.”</p> + +<p>“No matter, indeed, Ma’am,” said Lord +Stayinmore, with a forced effort to maintain his +courtesy—“I can sincerely affirm that it is no +matter. Could any one oblige me with the +evening paper?” he added, anxious to escape.</p> + +<p>“Here it is,” said she, handing it over to him +with equal <i lang="fr">empressement</i>; then turning to Mr. +Spencer, “<span lang="it">‘A nemico che fugge fa un ponte +d’oro,’</span> as the prudent Italians say; and in default +of gold, I pay in paper currency.”</p> + +<p>“How little they can have to fill the +papers with,” said his Lordship, “when they +are reduced to such extracts from the country +journals as this. ‘Lord Castleton has been some +time expected at his seat, Somersby Park, in +this neighbourhood, but has not yet arrived. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34"></span>Report says, that being in a delicate state of +health, he still lingers amongst the sea-breezes +at Brighton, but none of the late notices from +that fashionable watering-place mention his +Lordship as amongst its distinguished visitants.’ +Who cares?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, I never knew any body care at all +about Lord Castleton’s movements; he is one of +those persons in whose case universal popularity +is synonymous with general indifference,” drawled +out Mrs. MacAngle, who had, in former days, +made as much of an effort as was consistent +with her listless nature to detach him from his +allegiance to Lady Madelina Manfred.</p> + +<p>“Castleton will never make any figure in +public life. He cannot keep his object in view +with the proper uniformity of purpose,” ejaculated +Lord Stayinmore. “He has no steady +political consistency, still harping on the +threatened dangers of Bankcumwall, Singlecot, +and Summertemple.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35"></span></p> + +<p>“For my part, I reckon him an intolerable +<em>bore</em>,” said Mr. Spencer, to whom he never +addressed half-a-dozen words in his life; “and +it’s quite a mistake to <em>ca-al</em> him ha-andsome: +a fair man a-always wants expression,” added +he, casting, as he rose from the table, an approving +glance at his own enormous black head, +which, being stuck upon the shortest of persons’ +was only just seen trunkless in the mirror above +the sideboard.</p> + +<p>“You have, some of you,” said Lady Gayland, +“hit upon the greatest of all possible +faults under which he at present labours, if +not in all your eyes, on all your tongues; he +is the absent one. How lucky it is that all the +sins which absence from such a society as this +comprehends, all its atrocities, imperfections, +ridicules, (that is not in this case so much an +anti-climax as you think,) can never be perpetuated +on one devoted head; that we are all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36"></span>in turn subject to its influence, and that, if <i lang="fr">la +moitié du monde prend plaisir à médire, et +l’autre moitié à croire les médisances</i>, in our +turn <em>we</em> must all be comprised in one or other +of these two divisions.”</p> + +<p>“Dear Lady Gayland, what a tirade!” said +Mrs. MacAngle; “I was not aware, when +I ventured to assert that nobody cared about +Lord Castleton, that you were prepared to give +me so immediate and convincing a contradiction +of my assertion.”</p> + +<p>How many distant and scattered images will +the reference but of a moment collect, when +the heart points the index of the memory. +Even whilst Mrs. MacAngle was drawling forth +her half-hinted insinuation, there passed over in +the mirror of Lady Gayland’s mind the reflection +of many a brilliant fête, and many a meeting in +sculptured hall, and the softer shade of many +a social promenade, beneath the soothing influence +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37"></span>of an Italian summer. But whatever +she felt, she hesitated not to reply, “You are +now quite mistaken!” blushing slightly, perhaps, +at her generous warmth being so misinterpreted, +and speaking, consequently, in a +more hurried manner. “You are now quite +mistaken! my observations were merely general. +It is true, I did know Lord Castleton +well in Italy; but our exotic acquaintance, +which the warm south had ripened into intimacy, +has not borne transplanting into this +northern clime, and I have seen but little of +him since my return. Certainly, I will acknowledge +that my recollection of him does +not confirm the opinions of this meeting, that +he is all these,—ill-looking—dull—weak, and +uninteresting, but <i lang="fr">n’importe</i>. Do I think the +worse of him for all this? or, in point of fact, +do any of you? And which of you would not +say as much of his present neighbour, if afflicted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38"></span>with that first of faults, absence? The +only cure would be, if B. instead of C. could +some day hear what A. meant C. should hear +of B. how much less agreeable a companion +that first of wits A. would be thought by his +butt B. I have often longed that there could +be cross-hearings as well as cross-readings; but +the misfortune is, that though libellous letters +might be mis-sent, mis-directed, a social sarcasm +never miscarries, but goes straight to its mark.”</p> + +<p>“But really, for you of all people,” said +Mrs. Mac Angle, “to complain of one’s occasionally +saying a severe thing!”</p> + +<p>“I am as aware as any one can be, how +much too freely I often speak my mind to +those that are present, for which, of those <em>here</em> +whom I have thus offended, I humbly sue +for pardon,” clasping her hands together, and +looking at Lord Stayinmore with an expression +of contrition, which, though slightly burlesqued, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39"></span>it was impossible to resent, and difficult +to resist. “But, <i lang="fr">en revanche</i>, I never do +speak ill of the absent; perhaps, for no better +reason than that my soul pants for nobler +game. Had my friend Peter the Great there,” +pointing to Mr. Spencer, who was seen equipped +for sport starting from the front-door; +“had he, like his northern namesake, ever +known other fields than those of stubble, and +popped at what could pop at him again, he +would not be so keen after the partridges.”</p> + +<p>Above a quarter of an hour had elapsed after +this conversation, and the last lingering sipper +of tea and crumbler of roll had brought to +conclusion his most carefully elongated meal, +when at length Sir North made his appearance, +and, with a jerking bow, to be divided +amongst all present, began, in that sort of +disjointed colloquy and string of clipped sentences +for which, it was before mentioned, he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40"></span>was famous:—“I beg a thousand pardons—quite +shocked; but the fact is—a most unpleasant +occurrence that—Lady Gayland, I need +not ask how your Ladyship has rested—evident—Aurora—rather +Hebe;—but as breakfast’s +over—somewhat late for that simile—Jupiter’s +jug, and all that—I am never late, +only the fact is, this morning—a most unpleasant +occurrence that—Lord Stayinmore, it has +prevented my reading the papers,—only looked +at the Gazette—Delighted to see the judicious +use your Lordship has made of the vacancy +caused by the death of our late excellent friend. +You could not have chosen better; no steadier +voter than Montague Mumchance;—won’t +speak often,—so much the better. Talk of +rising young men, indeed; we don’t care for +their rising, so long as they are good sitters. +Apropos to rising, though you will not think +that that is my forte—but the fact is, a most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41"></span>unpleasant occurrence, involving a little legal +business—only just come down, not got into +Burn yet—as fresh at it as my friend Peter +Spencer. By the bye, where is he?—just the +game for him to smell out—like a young pointer—break +him in‑—”</p> + +<p>“But Peter Spencer is just now smelling out +game by the means of his proxy pointer,” said +his friend Mr. Middleman, “and he’s applying +his own nose to the stock of his gun in a turnip +field.”</p> + +<p>“Peter the Great,” added Lady Gayland, +“is probably, like his imperial namesake, by +this time, if not <em>overthrown</em>, fairly <em>beat</em> by the +<em>Swedes</em>. But, my dear Sir North, now you +have sufficiently informed us both that the fact +is an unpleasant occurrence, and that the unpleasant +occurrence is a fact, do let us judge +of their reciprocal qualities ourselves, and tell +us what has happened?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42"></span></p> + +<p>Sir North then informed his hearers, as +clearly as the confused and contradictory notions +he had as yet imbibed on the subject +enabled him, of some of the occurrences of the +preceding night; how a daring gang of smugglers +had been captured by a revenue cutter, +after having landed and concealed somewhere a +valuable cargo, and how it was found on this +occasion a barbarous murder had been added +to their former misdeeds. All the information +they had as yet collected was vague, and +amounted merely to inference. It was principally +derived from the captain of the revenue +cutter, whom even Sir North had had penetration +enough to discover to be a shrewd and +sensible man; though this opinion, which he +had correctly formed, he did not himself confirm +to his present hearers in its full extent, +by the more confused and interpolated version +which he gave of the information he had thus +obtained.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43"></span></p> + +<p>No one of the smugglers had as yet seemed +the least inclined to turn King’s evidence; no +corpse had been found on board the vessel; but +the open boat or coble belonging to the lugger +had several stains of blood at the bottom, and +on its gunnel the stamp of a bloody hand was +distinctly traced, the ends of the finger marks +being inside, and as if they had been strongly +pressed against the inward ledge, seeming to +indicate that a person mortally hurt had been +thrown overboard, and had struggled for life +to the last by clinging to the side of the boat.</p> + +<p>The part which was quite unintelligible to +them to whom Sir North endeavoured to +explain it, and which had rather puzzled the +captain of the cutter himself, was how to +connect these appearances with the exclamations, +when first found, of the girl, who had +been discovered on the beach; and who appeared +to have some connection with, or at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44"></span>least, previous knowledge of the transactions +of the gang, as involved in the last night’s +adventure. Her first wild inquiry had been, +“Where is the body?” which would lead one +to conclude, that the act of violence had been +committed ashore, and under her observation; +and yet the appearances in the boat would seem +to indicate that the mortal struggle had been +after they had put out to sea.</p> + +<p>“As it is,” said Sir North, “it is impossible, +at present, to extract any coherent account +from her; she is either decidedly <i lang="it">non +compos</i>, or, though far be it from me to +suspect any thing harsh of one so young, +who ought not yet to be hardened, and who, +I am bound to add, is of rather an interesting +appearance; yet I fear all this unwillingness +to give any account arises from wilful +stubbornness.”</p> + +<p>“Poor wretch! stubbornness!” exclaimed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45"></span>Lady Gayland, compassionately; “is there no +more charitable way to account for such unwillingness? +She would not, probably, young +as you describe her, have been even casually +involved in such a transaction, unless under +circumstances which would lead one to believe +her at this moment labouring under the overwhelming +affliction of either the untimely loss, +or impending shame, of some one she loves. +Where is she?”</p> + +<p>“Why, I saw I could make nothing of her +at present,” answered Sir North, “so I turned +her over to Jones, telling her to keep her +apart from her companions, and lock her up +a bit by herself, in a darkish, lonely room, +where, I’ll warrant, reflection will bring her +about, and she will understand her duty, and +learn how to make her peace with the offended +majesty of injured justice.”</p> + +<p>Sir North attempted to look grand, under +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46"></span>the consciousness that he was himself to personify +his own peroration. Lady Gayland +made no reply, but shortly after left the +room.</p> + +<p>Sir North, with all his vanity, did not +feel himself quite up to understanding, much +less expounding and administering, the most +complicated section of the most intricate portion +of our penal code, which comprises the +revenue laws; with which, in this instance, +there was but too much reason to fear an +accusation of murder would be involved. He +therefore postponed the examination till late +in the day, when he hoped for the arrival +of an able solicitor from Mayton; one whose +well-tried merits had prevented our poor friend +Pounce, in his probationary lifetime, from dividing +any business with him: and this Mr. +Asklaw, Sir North meant on this occasion should +act as his clerk: his butler, who usually +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47"></span>doubled that part, being, in point of fact, not +up to much more besides executing warrants +himself to take up the oldest offenders from the +cellar, and making out “permits” to transfer +poachers to the House of Correction.</p> + +<p>By thus postponing the examination, Sir +North calculated that, even should Mr. Asklaw +not come upon his summons, Peter Spencer +would then be returned with his bagfull, not +of briefs, but of birds, and ready to act as his +assessor.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Four">IV.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet time serves wherein you may redeem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your banished honours, and restore yourselves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the good thoughts of the world again.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">I can</span> assure your Ladyship, it’s quite the +most <em>unsuitablest</em> place you ever <em>seed</em> for your +Ladyship,” said Mrs. Jones, in answer to Lady +Gayland’s entreaty to be shown the room to +which the poor girl had been conveyed. “It’s +quite a place for a lady like you to catch the +<em>cholera</em>, or the <em>tic-dooleeroose</em>, or some other +narvous disorder.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49"></span></p> + +<p>“Why! should all these dreadful things +happen to me for staying in it for a few minutes, +at my own will and pleasure, and yet it +be a proper place in which forcibly to confine +that poor creature? What is it? not a real +dungeon, I hope?”</p> + +<p>“Oh! no, my Lady, I trust I am not such +an <em>unchristen hankeret</em>, as to deal in such +things. You see, Ma’am, the fact is, she’s +stowed in my lumber-room. It’s many a year +now, whenever Sir North said to me, ‘Jones, +take this here out of my way, and put it by’—up +it’s always gone, under lock and key, into +the lumber-room. So, when he said to-day, +‘You, Jones, put by this young woman, and +keep her safe till I want her;’ it come most +<em>natral</em> like to me, just to pop her in there, and +there she is.”</p> + +<p>There was much in Mrs. Jones’s manner +which would have been to Lady Gayland, at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50"></span>any other time, irresistible food for ridicule; but +the errand on which she was then going, had +so much excited her interest, that she was regulated, +in her answers to Mrs. Jones, by an anxious +desire to smooth as much as possible the +precise objections that were started by that +methodical body to the object she had in view. +No one of which objections were founded at all +upon any difficulty in counteracting Sir North’s +orders, which had been that the young person +should be kept alone; for, though Mrs. Jones +had known Sir North all his life-time, and, +consequently, much of her own, she had not +therefore imbibed a more respectful deference +for his authority, than those more recently +added members of his establishment, which +had been gradually swelled to the present +extent. Mrs. Jones had begun life as servant-maid +to old Sir Simon, at his office in the City. +And therefore let it not be supposed that she +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51"></span>is given as a common specimen of the housekeeping +species as it now exists. It would be +strange indeed, if, in these days, when education +has been so widely diffused amongst the +middling and lower orders, a pet preserve of +slipslop and ignorance should be found, exactly +amongst those who have the most means +of improving themselves by comparing their +own phraseology with that of their superiors. +Mrs. Jones had, in spite of the accumulated +dignity of her multiplied charges, retained +much of the original “Maid of All Work of +Cripplegate.” In the course of the many +years when she had been left in the solitary +keeping of Hornscliff Abbey, her original +cockney had become a little chequered with +the country dialect in the neighbourhood: and +from her occasional association with the fine +gentlemen’s fine gentlemen, and the <em>elegantes, +helegant women</em>, which Sir North had occasionally, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52"></span>at considerable intervals, collected +there, she had acquired nothing but awkward +affectation.</p> + +<p>But I forget that all this while I am keeping +Lady Gayland on the staircase of the turret +even longer than Mrs. Jones would, who, at +length, said⁠—</p> + +<p>“But, <em>o’ coorse</em>, my Lady, I’m not going for +to say you shan’t not do nothing you chooses.” +And with this she began to mount the spiral +staircase of the turret, jingling at the same +time the big bunch of keys, from which she was +feeling out the biggest, as belonging to the +ponderous lock of the lumber-room. Whilst +fitting it in its allotted key-hole, she turned to +Lady Gayland, saying, “I’m afraid your Ladyship +will find it a small matter <em>dampishish</em>, it’s +so nigh the roof. I could light a bit of fire +now, but it do smoke a triflish at first lighting: +as I remember well this time five years back, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53"></span>when Sir North set me to burn some old +papers here; and if I’d known you’d been so +<em>descending</em> as to come up here, I’d have lighted +it when I first put her in here; but the reason +was I was a bit <em>timbersome</em> of her, poor despairing +<em>cretur</em>! that she might be <em>misheevous</em> with +fire, since we’ve heard tell of the burnings of +the <em>insensiblaries</em>, and some of them <em>papish +monkeish</em> old chairs would catch like tinder.”</p> + +<p>Her follower, as may be imagined, declined +the offer to smother her with smoke, though, +at first entrance, the room struck damp, and +yet close, as never having been aired. The low +gallery, let into the roof and sparingly lighted, +was, nevertheless, spacious, as far as its dimensions +could be guessed at through the immense +heaps of littered rubbish with which it was +crowded, and which afforded ample proofs that +if Mrs. Jones, who kept the key, rarely visited +it, she could never have done so empty-handed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54"></span></p> + +<p>Against the low groined windows were leaned +so as almost to exclude the light, broken detached +wings of a japan screen, and over them +were hung the sails of a pleasure-boat. On +the seats of some fractured high-backed cedar +chairs, which had belonged to the monks, were +piled all the numbers of the <cite>Gentleman’s Magazine</cite> +from the beginning; a crayon drawing +of George Anne Bellamy; a print of Admiral +Duncan; Mrs. Abington, as <em>Scrub</em>; Sir +Simon’s hatchment; and some coloured lamps +for an illumination. On an old billiard-table +were heaped, a gouty chair, fishing-tackle, +packets of Sir Simon’s treasury vouchers scattered +loose about, and specimens of rare plants +sent as presents and never unpacked, with +every other possible variety of chaotic confusion, +much too numerous to describe.</p> + +<p>But Lady Gayland hardly observed all this, +for her attention was engrossed by an object +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55"></span>which seemed as motionless as any of the incongruous +fixtures by which it was surrounded. +Lucy Darnell was discovered sitting on a low +stool, leaning one elbow on a tattered sofa beside +her, and the other on her knee, whilst she +covered her face with her hands, pressing the +palms against her eyes, and clenching between +her fingers, the locks of her long fair hair, +which was twined and twisted through them. +Her intended comforter, Lady Gayland, moved +slowly and softly towards her, and was about +to place herself silently on the sofa beside her, +on which Lucy was leaning, when Mrs. Jones +stopped her with something of a scream:</p> + +<p>“Oh, my Lady! take care! it’s dust an +inch thick, quite a shame to be seen! nothing +as comes here ever feels a duster <em>agin</em>; and +<em>that ere sofar</em> has been here long afore my day; +they do say it was put by ever since the last +Lord Hornscliff was laid on it, when he made +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56"></span>away with himself, after he had made away +with every thing else; and to think of your +brushing down the nasty dust as <em>has bin</em> there +ever since, with that sweet gown. Vapor, +(vapeur) too, as Mrs. Angel-leek calls it, is the +most wulnerablest colour as is!”</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland could have been impatient at +this interference, but she preferred quickly, +but effectually getting rid of Mrs. Jones altogether, +to any mode of controlling her proceedings. +And as this wish was not effected by +words, it need not be recorded in them; it is +therefore sufficient to say, that the manner +which she adopted for conveying her desire to +Mrs. Jones was satisfactory to both parties.</p> + +<p>When at length left alone with poor Lucy +Darnell, her visitor felt, from the graceful, +though desolate, attitude of the young person +before her, an interest in her, for which +she had not been previously prepared; and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57"></span>though she had come there with an anxious desire +to minister comfort to her sufferings, she +knew not exactly in what way to commence her +self-imposed task. She bent silently over the +apparently unconscious sufferer, desirous, if +possible, that her presence should appear to be +in some way acknowledged by her to whom she +came, before she abruptly intruded herself on +her notice. She stood intently gazing on her +whose face was still concealed. On her own +fine countenance, the workings of that benevolence +which had brought her there, were blended +with that softened expression of true feminine +delicacy, which now made her pause and +shrink from the fear of incautiously wounding +where she meant to soothe. It would have been +next to impossible to identify in her, who was +even then fastidiously restrained by the mere +chance of inadvertent offence or injury to a +helpless girl, whom she came to serve—the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58"></span>same person who, an hour before, had fearlessly +scattered the shafts of her ridicule amongst the +great and powerful—those who were easiest to +offend and slowest to forgive. The classical +contour of the finely-chiselled features was indeed +the same, and was such as Domenichino +would have selected for its beauty—such as, +loving to paint, he would have dressed in one +or other of those varied expressions, according +as his subject had been, a Sibyl or a saint.</p> + +<p>Seeing that the motionless being over whom +she leaned, and whom she had gradually approached, +still gave no sign of awakened consciousness, +she softly touched the cold and +clammy hand, still so strongly pressed by Lucy +against her brow and forehead, and attempted +gently to draw it off, and take it between her’s, +and addressed to her at the same time these +words:</p> + +<p>“However great your grief may be, my +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59"></span>poor child, there may be some part of your +sorrow which it may be in the power of another +to alleviate; and if so, I think you would +prefer to open your heart to one of your own +sex, though unknown to you, rather than to +any of those rude and lawless men in whose +company you were brought here, but to whose +society, I feel assured when I look at you, you +must be entirely a stranger.”</p> + +<p>There was that harmony in the silvery tone +of Lady Gayland’s voice—there was that sympathy +in her soft and persuasive touch, which, +though Lucy’s faculties were as yet too scattered +to enable her rightly to comprehend the +purport of what was said, yet prevented her +from abruptly rejecting the proffered interference.</p> + +<p>“Thank you most kindly, Ma’am,” said she, +gently returning the soft pressure of the lady’s +hand with that which she now allowed her to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60"></span>detach from her cheek, but dropping her head +at the same time still lower towards her knees, +and shading her features with the other hand, +whilst she spoke—“thank you most kindly; +But yesterday I should not have known what +to wish for, what favour to ask of any one, +stranger or not; and to-day, though I am +obliged to you all every bit the same, not +all your kindness could lend me one ray of +comfort.”</p> + +<p>“Why so?” replied her visitor. “It is evident +that you are at present labouring under +some severe affliction; but there is no situation +from which every ray of comfort or of hope is +excluded, except guilt, and even there, only +from hardened and habitual guilt: that, I feel +assured, is not your case; nay, you tell me +yourself that but yesterday all was peace and +content around; think, then, how much of +your present distress may have arisen, not so +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61"></span>much from the extent of the actual calamity +which oppresses you, as from the sudden abruptness +of the change by which it was effected. +Nay, perhaps you may have been imprudent,—you +have, contrary to the consent of your +friends, wandered where these suspicious associates +have unexpectedly involved you in their +lawless transactions,—you dread the exposure, +to those whom you respect, which this discovery +entails? If so, confide openly to me; my protection +might, when mere imprudence, not guilt, +is its cause, smooth your return there, whence +you ought never to have wandered. Shame +ought never to be allowed to weigh down so +young and gentle a head; and since yesterday +it cannot be your casual connection with the +smuggling transactions of last night which +have so completely changed your situation as +would induce your friends to cast you off.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no, God bless them! no one will cast +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62"></span>me off; my dear father could never dart an +angry look or give a hard word to his poor +Lucy, if all the judges of the land had found +me guilty! But ’tisn’t for that I grieve: I do +not fear for myself; there will be no judge to +find me guilty;—they’ll lay the blame elsewhere, +and he will suffer for it, and it is by +him that the name which I bear, and shame, +will be said to have been coupled together, +and his stout heart and daring spirit will only +serve to bear the passive trial of a disgraceful +death. But all the time I shall feel that I was +the guilty one; yes, I killed him as much as +if I gave the blow. He’s gone, he’s dead, +the best, the kindest, the gentlest, and I’m +sure, whatever he was, one of the noblest of +men.”</p> + +<p>It was in vain that Lady Gayland gave the +best attention of which her acute faculties were +capable, to these disjointed and self-accusing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63"></span>reflections, on the events of the last four-and-twenty +hours; it was in vain that she attempted +to connect in her mind any distinct idea of +what actually had happened, or of who the +various parties were to whom allusion had been +made, or what connexion they had with the +person before her: but gathering that her grief +was principally connected with the murder +supposed to have been committed, and having +heard from Sir North that the occurrence was +not at all as yet substantiated by evidence, she +endeavoured to console the mourner by throwing +some doubts upon the fact, saying, “Give not +way at once, my poor girl, to such bitter repinings; +you could not feel more acutely if his +death were already ascertained and pronounced. +I understand that there are yet hopes that the +wounded man may recover.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! where is he?” screamed Lucy, starting +up; “have they then found him? Quick, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64"></span>dearest Lady, take me to him; let me care him, +watch him, preserve his precious life. But no, +no, no!” added she, sinking down again, upon +reading in Lady Gayland’s expressive countenance +that she saw she had gone too far in +attempting to excite hopes which she could not +support, “no, I see you are only humouring +me like a child. He cannot, he never will be +found. Why was he not found in the boat with +the others, when they refused to let him +stay with me? Where should he be then? +’tis the roar of the waves can alone answer +that question. It was no wild vision when +from the beach I thought I saw them fling him +overboard. He struggled hard, and one he +dragged down with him, and, as I thought, +the contending breakers bore both aloft for a +moment before my sight, and then, swallowing +them as they sank, rose in another hideous +form without them, and closed for ever over +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65"></span>their heads. Was all this so, or not?—who +can tell? who can tell? I’m sure Lucy cannot.”</p> + +<p>Knitting her brows, she seemed for a short +time endeavouring to collect and analyze her +thoughts on the subject; then, as if finding +the effort in vain, she covered her face again +with her hands, and sobbed hysterically.</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland’s strong mind enabled her, +when she thought it necessary, to command her +feelings, and through all the early part of this +scene she had made extraordinary efforts to do +so, knowing that if she could be at all useful +when she wished so to be, it must only be by +calming the sufferer, not increasing her excitation +by sharing her emotions. But the wild +and plaintive manner in which Lucy asked herself +the question as to the reality of the dreadful +scene she fancied, struck upon one of those +simple chords which pure nature has implanted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66"></span>in every gentle breast, which, when touched, +vibrate irresistible sympathy; and she was by +this for a time so completely upset as to be +unable to attempt to resume her task of comforter.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Five">V.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent18">I beseech you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wrest once the law to your authority:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To do a great right, do a little wrong.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My watch, Sir, has indeed comprehended two auspicious persons.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Ibid.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whilst</span> Lady Gayland struggled to recover +her own composure, she felt how important +it was to prepare Lucy’s mind for the ordeal +which she had so soon to go through in the +shape of a legal investigation into all these +transactions, and previous to which it was so +important that her tranquillity should in some +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68"></span>measure be restored. She knew the unfair inferences +which might by possibility be drawn +from her present disordered state; how often, +in the hard judgment of technical men, the +effects of modest embarrassment and awe-struck +inexperience may be perverted into the confusion +and contradictions of guilt; and in this +case the probability of such a misconstruction +was increased by the overwhelming nature of +the recent sorrows which oppressed her. Yet +all the assistance which she could give her to +support her through so severe a trial, Lady +Gayland felt, must be in previous advice, for +to it she must go alone and unaccompanied. +However much the interest she now felt in her +new <i lang="fr">protégée</i> might make her wish to accompany +her, she was aware that her presence, as a +female guest of Sir North’s, at a legal investigation +in his private room, into a deed of blood +and violence, would be rather misplaced. She +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69"></span>therefore attempted to sustain the impression +of the last idea, which seemed to have so +powerful an effect on Lucy’s feelings, and to +enforce upon her a due sense of the unpleasant +duty to which she was shortly to be summoned, +and from which she could not shrink, saying, +“If that dreadful scene to which you have +alluded with such natural sensations of horror, +is actually impressed upon your mind as a fact, +you should endeavour to recollect that you are +now in the power, and shortly will be summoned +into the presence of those who have a +right to ask all you know on the subject. You +would, of course, be most careful not to make a +matter of grave accusation against any one that +which may have been merely the workings of +your own distempered imagination; but if you +can really feel assured that you actually saw +that which you described, however painful it +may be to the retiring gentleness of your character +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70"></span>to bear witness against any one, you +have now no choice; you owe it not only to +the memory of him you mourn, but also your +duty to that superior power who has ordained +that through you justice should in this instance +be done on guilt, commands you to speak, without +fear or shrinking, the plain and simple +truth.”</p> + +<p>“What! and myself twine the rope round +his neck. Ugh! no, no!” muttered Lucy, +shuddering: “my first, best, my only friend, +whose only fault was loving me too well; who +has thought of his Lucy far, far off, when, +what was night to him, was day to me. No; +if they have tortures here, let them use them, +rather than I will utter one word against poor +George.”</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland felt now completely perplexed: +she thought she knew the language of passion; +she thought she could not be completely deceived +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71"></span>in her estimate of artless innocence; +and yet it was difficult to reconcile such contradictory +expressions of strong affection, as it +seemed, at the same time, for the slayer and +the slain; him who had fallen a victim to lawless +violence, and the perpetrator of the deed. +The fact was, that Lucy’s affectionate disposition +unconsciously impelled her to vent her +feelings in exaggerated terms, when speaking +of either of them; principally from the self-reproaches +with regard to both, which she +mixed up with the horrors of the last four-and-twenty +hours. She could not bear to reflect +that the last words on Churchill’s lips, before +his untimely end, were unrequited professions +of love for her, which love had, indeed, been +the cause of his death: as little could she bear +to recollect that it was to her alleged fickleness, +though there never had been any positive +pledges to confirm such an accusation, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72"></span>that George had attributed all his progressive +errors, and but too plainly traced his last +dreadful act of guilt.</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland’s object in seeking Lucy Darnell +in her present temporary confinement, had +been, if possible, to soothe the sorrows of an +unfortunate female. But it was no part of her +intention to gratify her own curiosity through +the medium of that involuntary half-confidence +which those sorrows themselves might be the +means of eliciting. The sort of mystery which +to her seemed to hang over Lucy’s connexion, +both with the murdered man and him who +was in custody, induced her to avoid, rather +than to press, any farther questions on that +part of the subject; and she was confining her +counsel to general advice, not to get herself +into farther difficulties by an apparent attempt +to thwart the ends of justice, when Mrs. Jones +re-entered the room to inform her that the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73"></span>Lawyer from Mayton was arrived, and Mr. +Spencer was taking off his shooting-gaiters, and +Sir North was almost ready for what Mrs. +Jones called his <em>justiciary</em> business.</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland rose to leave her <i lang="fr">protegée</i> with +an anxious feeling as to the conduct she would +pursue during her approaching trial: in spite +of the doubt she was left in as to her connexion +with some of the parties concerned in these +transactions, the course of the interview with +her had excited in her monitress’s breast a +powerful interest in her behalf.</p> + +<p>It was impossible not to be prepossessed in +her favour by her personal appearance; though +the obscurity of the darkened room in which +they were, had prevented Lady Gayland from +seeing her thoroughly. It is not merely on +its victim man, that beauty in woman, when +apart from rivalry, produces an irresistibly +forcible effect. Lady Gayland, with all her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74"></span>occasional off-hand manner of speaking, and +with the frequent temptations opened to an +ever-ready fancy of ridiculing personal defects, +could never be accused of having made an +ill-natured remark upon a rival beauty; and, +certainly, she could very well spare any occasional +advantage which such use of her satirical +powers might have been sufficient to promise. +But here, not only the immeasurable +distinction of their different rank in life, but +the present position of one of the parties, +would have prevented the idea of possible +rivalry: and certainly, whatever may be +thought the best light for commanding admiration; +for exciting sympathy, there is nothing +like beauty in distress.</p> + +<p>Lucy was, on her side, so much touched +by the unexpected interest shown in her fate +by so superior a being as Lady Gayland, +that, before parting with her, she promised +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75"></span>faithfully, that in the examination to which +she was about to be subjected, she would +endeavour to be composed; and that at any +rate she would be perfectly candid, on every +part which related to herself, who she was and +whence she came; and that as far as she +could, without injuring those she wished to +save, she would explain the whole transaction.</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland, however, could not satisfy +herself perfectly with this conditional promise. +She felt a great inclination still, if possible, +to be present at the examination; and in passing +through the entrance-hall, in her way +down, she found Sir North and Mr. Spencer +in close conference; the former with a light, +calfskin-covered, legal-looking, quarto volume +under his arm; the other drawing the <em>charge</em>, +not of the prisoners, but of his gun. The case +had, however, been opened to him, as he was +saying,</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76"></span></p> + +<p>“Oh, certainly, Sir North; it will be the +su-mmit of <em>ea</em>-rthly <em>fe-li-ci</em>-ty to me, to render +myself, in the most <em>di-mi</em>-nutive degree, your +servi<em>cea</em>ble sl<em>a</em>-ve. It is, as you justly assumed, +one of the most <em>co</em>-mpli-<em>ca</em>-ted departm<em>e</em>-nts +of your judicial functions. The +advice of a pr<em>o</em>-fessional man is not only expedient, +but I may say indisp-<em>e</em>-nsable to a +rural Archimedes. I suppose we must attack +them under the 9th of George <abbr title="Two">II.</abbr> <abbr title="Chapter">Chap.</abbr> 35. +for running unlawful goods. Apropos, Sir +North—that black bitch, Juno, has taken to +running hares; we had better put her into +the indictment; ’p<em>o</em>-n my soul we had—ha! +ha! If, according to the 9th of George +<abbr title="Two">II.</abbr> this ch<em>a</em>-rge could be extr<em>a-ac</em>ted, I mean +substantiated, it would be the most <em>e-li</em>-gible +mode of p<em>ro</em>c<em>ee</em>ding; if not, we must pr-<em>o</em>-c<em>ee</em>d +against them under the 5th of George <abbr title="Three">III.</abbr> +Chapter 13. In the mean time, I will just +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77"></span>change these,” sticking out conceitedly a +worsted-clad fragment of a column, which was +called a leg, and which it would have been +well for him if he could have changed.</p> + +<p>In all this he had shown as usual, that, +with the greatest pretensions to accurate information, +and professions of the desire to +serve, his knowledge was never useful, and +his assistance always contingent upon his own +convenience.</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland joined Sir North, as Mr. +Spencer left him. “My dear Sir North, I am +very anxious to interest you in favour of that +young girl, who is about to be examined before +you; I am sure that her connexion with these +lawless parties is accidental and recent; but I +foresee that she will be terribly alarmed at the +whole proceeding. Now, what I want of you +is no hard task,—it is only to recollect as <em>much</em> +as possible, that <em>she</em> is a very pretty young +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78"></span>girl, and as <em>little</em> as possible, that you are the +‘great Justice Midas.’ I beg pardon,” she +said, seeing that that last allusion was unfortunate; +“all I meant was, that I hoped you +would be the good-natured, indulgent person, +you are to <em>all</em> of our sex, and not endue any +additional dignity on this occasion. Now just +promise me that,” she said, in her most coaxing +manner.</p> + +<p>Sir North, who, in the fascination of her +address, forgot Justice Midas, answered,</p> + +<p>“My dear Lady Gayland, I have not now +to inform you, that to me your <em>will</em> alone is +law; only recollect, it must not only be law to +me, but must appear so to the professional +gentlemen I have called in, or else‑—”</p> + +<p>“Nay, Sir North, take care, or I shall come +myself, and see whether you administer accurately +what you own you consider as your only +law, my sovereign will and pleasure.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79"></span></p> + +<p>Sir North would generally have thought +himself only too much flattered at Lady Gayland +making him her <em>butt</em>, in any manner +which at the moment might hit her fancy, or +chime in with her merry humour; but just at +present, principally from its novelty, his magisterial +dignity was his hobby, on which account +her threatened presence, bringing with it the +imminent danger of ridicule, was particularly +unpleasant to him; and he, therefore, bowed +himself away, with as much of a negative as +he dared to put upon any proposal of <a id=“chg1”></a>hers, +vented in disjointed, half-sentences, “Fear—perfectly +impossible—distract attention—syren +voice—imperative duty—strictly private—magisterial +functions—lives at stake‑—”</p> + +<p>Lady Gayland, looking after him, only muttered, +“Full of wise saws, and modern instances, +and so he plays his part;” for she +evidently saw that it would be impossible +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80"></span>under these circumstances, with any delicacy, +to press her desire to attend, and therefore, +gave it up, and retired to her own room, to +wait the result.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Six">VI.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I am Robert Shallow, Sir, a poor Esquire of this county, and one of the King’s Justices of the Peace.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent16">There is no future pang</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can deal that justice on the self-condemned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He deals on his own soul.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Byron.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir North</span> having taken his seat on what is +figuratively called the “bench,” typified in this +instance by a most portentous looking elbow +chair, meant not only passively to confer +dignity upon him who sat in it, but calculated +actively to strike awe into all who approached +it, the prisoners were summoned +into his presence. The judicial consequence of +Sir North’s <i lang="fr">ci-devant</i> study had been recently +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82"></span>perfected by “appropriate scenery and decorations” +in the shape of frame-work divisions, +borrowed exactly from the “London boards” +or Metropolitan police-offices. In short, there +was only one ingredient wanting to make it an +excellent “justice-shop,” and that was a little +stock of law on the part of the purveyor of +that commodity.</p> + +<p>Sir North being stationed in what the servants +called his throne, with Mr. Asklaw on one +side, and Mr. Spencer on the other, with Captain +Scudd, of the cutter, at a little distance, +the prisoners were brought in. They were +many in number, and of varied appearance, +from the hard weather-beaten <em>tar</em>, who feared +nothing, to the fresh lubberly youth, who was +scared with the apparent certainty of an +hempen cord. There was, among them, both +the uneasy assumption of pretended recklessness, +and the downcast gaze of nerveless despair. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83"></span>The whole set had on this occasion, too, an +unusually care-worn and disordered appearance, +as much from the active labours and hard-fought +dangers of the preceding night, as from +the awkwardness of their present position. +Captain Collett alone, neither in his outward +appearance, nor, as it seemed, in his internal +sensations, was at all changed by the events that +had taken place, but still wore the same unvaried +expression of quiet cunning.</p> + +<p>Poor George Darnell, on the other hand, +could not have been recognised for the same +light-hearted, frank-spoken, somewhat overbearing +roisterer who had appeared at his uncle’s +hospitable board so few days before. The remorseful +feelings of which he had been the +prey during the last few hours, appeared almost +to have eaten into his very features, so deeply +was their impression stamped upon his wild and +haggard countenance.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84"></span></p> + +<p>Sir North, whose great anxiety was not to +show how little he really knew of the duties +which he had undertaken to discharge, soon +found the greatest difference in the value of his +two coadjutors,—of the professional assistant +whom he had casually sought from Mayton, +and of the private friend, on whose considerate +suggestions he had mainly depended for helping +him, without expense, out of a difficulty. The +latter (Mr. Spencer) appeared only anxious to +confound all his hearers with the extent of his +own information, in which confusion his friend +was most especially included. Mr. Asklaw’s +desire, on the other hand, was to transfuse his +own knowledge almost imperceptibly for the +use of his principal. Mr. Spencer began a +tirade, much too long and tedious to be recorded +here; the result of which was, that +poor Sir North’s head, in the conclusion, only +retained a chaotic mass of contradictory acts of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85"></span>parliament which he had quoted, principally +from the 8th of George <abbr title="Two">II.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">c.</abbr> 18, to the <abbr title="fifthy-second">52d</abbr> +George <abbr title="Three">III.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">c.</abbr> 143, these both inclusive; much +about “foreign brandy, arrack rum, or strong +waters;” something about the eye or the limb +of a custom-house officer being assessed of the +value of 50<abbr title="pounds"><i>l.</i></abbr> extra; but most of all, for Mr. +Spencer principally relied upon the act against +vessels for hovering near the coast, Sir +North had to hear of the peculiar construction +of “cutters, luggers, shallops, wherries, +smacks, and yawls:” this, more than any +thing else, bewildered him; for though he +would not for the world have acknowledged +his ignorance, but, on the contrary, looked at +least as wise as usual on the subject, yet there +was not one of these, whether cutter, lugger, +shallop, wherry, smack, or yawl, which, if he +had seen, he could have known from Noah’s ark. +In the mean time, Mr. Asklaw had quietly insinuated +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86"></span>a Burn’s Justice open at the right place +before him; and though, his head still being +a little confused with Peter Spencer’s prolific +jargon, his eye did at first wander to the +wrong page of the two, and his attention yet +stranded amongst the islands of Guernsey, +Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man; yet, at +length, he was beginning to fancy he saw his +way clearer, when Spencer having, as he +thought, satisfactorily played the part of counsel, +rose to try his hand as a judge, and make +some sort of address to the prisoners; and he +was particularly diffuse upon the enormity of +the conduct of the leader of such a gang as +this, (the captain of the smugglers,) who, in +attempting to defraud his country, had evidently +deluded his followers, many of whom +were young offenders. Whilst Spencer was +working himself into eloquence, he was interrupted +by Captain Collett.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87"></span></p> + +<p>“I’ll tell you what, young gentleman, I take +it you’ve only your own authority for putting +yourself into the commission here; if so, you’d +better keep your advice for those who ask +it, and your opinions for those who need +them. It is no part of my present misfortunes +that I should be forced to hear you +preach; I know exactly how much I’m forced +to bear, and no more. I must answer his worship’s +questions there, always provided that I +need not criminate myself, which I’m not very +likely to do; and I must mind his worship’s +bidding always, providing it’s according to law, +which, of course, it’s likely to be, but of which +same law, it’s as well to let all present know, +I’ve myself some little smattering. But it’s +neither my business, nor my pleasure, to stand +here as a mark for you to shoot your tongue +at, as practice in jaw, or law, whichever you +please to call it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88"></span></p> + +<p>“Silence, fellow, respect the court!” said +Sir North, in, as he thought, the most impressive +manner.</p> + +<p>Whilst this collateral dispute was going on, +Mr. Asklaw, who had not previously had any +communication with the Captain of the revenue +cutter, had extracted from him the +degree of circumstantial evidence he had been +able to collect, and which had, since they arrived +at Hornscliff, been, to a certain extent, +confirmed by the general report, that a stranger, +who had been for some days residing in that +neighbourhood, was mysteriously missing. He +again repeated the appearances they had remarked +in the smuggler’s open boat, intimating +that a deed of violence had been there consummated. +The girl’s exclamation, when found +on the beach, seeming to prove that the assault +which had been the cause of death, (whether by +fire-arms, or what other means, did not yet appear,) +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89"></span>had taken place on shore previous to the +re-embarkation; it immediately occurred to +Mr. Asklaw, that this being much the more +serious charge of the two, it would be most +desirable to go into this first; because, could a +case of murder be substantiated and brought +home to the parties, the other accusation, +though a much more complicated affair, was of +infinitely minor importance.</p> + +<p>He therefore suggested that the young girl, +who was in attendance, should be called in and +examined as to her knowledge of the earlier +part of these transactions, to which her exclamation +on the beach had referred. This proposal +was acceded to by Sir North, and poor +Lucy sent for. In the interval which followed, +had all present, of every degree, not been too +much occupied with their own concerns to +remark George, the workings of his countenance, +in his efforts to maintain his composure +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90"></span>during these moments of, to him, agonizing +suspense, would then have been construed as +the struggles of a guilty conscience.</p> + +<p>After some little while the door opened, and +Mrs. Jones only made her appearance. “I +ask pardon, Sir North, for <em>protruding</em> myself, +but it’s quite impossible that young person can +make her <em>testament</em>, for she’s <em>parfectly historical</em>.”</p> + +<p>It was urged by Mr. Spencer that she ought +at least to be brought there, that they might +themselves judge of the state in which she was; +when George, with apparent effort, stepped +forward to prevent it. “It’s not the least necessary, +gentlemen, if you’ll only give me leave +to speak a moment. She could only hang me +if she came here, and I’d rather do that job for +myself than owe it to her handy-work. If I +must know that my guilt is in her thoughts, +let me in mercy think that she could not bring +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91"></span>her lips to utter it. If you’ll only hear me, I’ll +tell you all. Nay, never fear,” said he to his +companions, observing rather a murmur of +alarm, “I’m not going to peach about any +of you; leave me <em>alone</em> to tell what concerns +myself <em>alone</em>. I know you all too well to think +you’d make any difficulties about my twisting +my own hempen cord—I know very well what +you, too, are going to say, gentlemen,” added +he, turning to the bench, and persevering +through an attempt to interrupt him from +thence, “you would advise me not to criminate +myself; but when a man has brought +disgrace on an honest name, repaid the kindness +of his kin with deceit, and behaved like +a bloodthirsty savage in the presence of her +he loved, why, the sooner he finishes his own +business the better, and the less he mixes +up with his shameful end those dear ones for +whom it would have been better that they had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92"></span>never seen him.—I’ll out with it at once, without +more words,” continued he in a firmer +tone, and, after gulping down that emotion +which swelled within his throat, “’Twas I +that killed Churchill; it was all my own affair; +these comrades had nought to do with +it. I might not be minded, perhaps, to kill +him outright, but I certainly did hate him with +all my heart, and I fear my spirit yearned for +his blood.”</p> + +<p>“One moment,” said Mr. Asklaw; “(with +your leave, Sir North,) I must remind you +that you can be doing yourself no good by +speaking in that tone: by making those declarations +of furious hatred, you are giving +your unhappy act the character of deliberate +murder.”</p> + +<p>“God forgive me then!” said George; “I +would not willingly make myself out worse +than I really am; not for my own sake, for my +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93"></span>sand is run, but for theirs who must share my +shame, and to whom there will soon nought be +left behind that was mine but my bad name, +which will stick to them long after they’ve +tried hard to forget George Darnell. I did +not mean to say that I carried deadly weapons +expressly to destroy him; but for many a long +year that oaken staff, when ashore, has never +been out of my gripe; I never had so much +ado to keep it still as when I was nigh him. +It may all be very wrong and unchristianlike, +but when a lad has never had but one hope in +the farthermost seas, and the darkest nights, +and the roughest weather, it’s hard to be run +down and capsized by a fair-weather punt, +when he thinks he’s just got safe into that port +to which his thoughts have always turned, as +the needle to the pole.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Spencer, who was very jealous of any +interference on the part of Mr. Asklaw with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94"></span>what he considered as his peculiar province, +the whole conduct of this case, having already +officiated as counsel and judge, now took upon +himself the department of clerk, and offered to +take down this voluntary confession of George +Darnell; and when divested of those ebullitions +of feeling, with which the first explanation was +mixed up, and reduced, as he thought, to +technical form, it contained an accurate account +of all that part of which the reader is already +aware: George’s first meeting with Churchill on +the cliff, the altercation, the blow, the subsequent +conveyance of the wounded man to the cave on +the beach, and his having afterwards been carried +aboard by the orders of Capt. Collett; +but of anything which passed afterwards, (of +which I hope the reader is also anxious to be +informed,) he could add nothing certain. There +had been such a confusion in jumping amid the +dashing breakers aboard the lugger, from the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95"></span>crowded boat, that neither the moment, nor +the manner, of Churchill’s end had been remarked +by him. It was possible that he might +have fallen the victim of a casual scuffle, or +of a blow dealt in hostility by one of the crew, +as the evidence of Capt. Scudd, as to the state +of the coble, seemed to infer; or he might, as +George had previously imagined, have been +washed overboard by the breakers, his weak +state preventing him from saving himself by +taking effectual hold. But the only fact to +which the confession could speak was, that +upon drawing up the boat, he was nowhere to +be found: a circumstance that, as the revenue +cutter was directly after, through the darkness, +discerned a-head, had failed to make even then +a transient impression on the crew.</p> + +<p>The result of this confession of George’s was +not exactly as he had anticipated, to concentrate +upon himself all the blame; for it was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96"></span>decided by Sir North, with the advice of his +“privy council,” which, as Mr. Asklaw, from +disagreement with the rest of the cabinet, +had resigned, now consisted merely of Peter +Spencer, that, connecting George’s statement +with the evidence of Captain Scudd, he George, +his confession having been duly signed, should +stand committed to the county gaol, as a principal +in the wilful murder of Churchill, and +Captain Collett, and the rest of his boat’s crew, +who had carried him aboard, as accessaries after +the fact.</p> + +<p>As soon as this result was communicated +to Lady Gayland, she occupied herself in +contriving how Lucy might most speedily, +and with the least discomfort, be restored +to her friends, which was arranged without +much difficulty. But she was afterwards prevented +from fulfilling her promise, with which +she accompanied the completion of this arrangement, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97"></span>“That she would herself pay her +a visit there.” For the next post brought letters +summoning her to town on legal business +connected with her duty as executrix to Sir +Joseph, and consequently abridged her intended +stay at Hornscliff. But though she cannot +accompany the reader there, and he must not +expect to revisit Morden Bay in such gay +society as the first time, or to find there as +happy a home as in the second, yet once again +for a short time he is requested to turn his +attention towards Bankside Farm.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Seven">VII.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Few years have passed since brightly cross the way</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lights from each window shot the lengthened ray,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And busy looks in every face were seen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the warm precincts of the reigning Queen.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There fires, inviting, blazed; and all around</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was heard the tinkling bell’s seducing sound:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The nimble waiters to that sound, from far,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sprang to the call, then hastened to the bar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where a glad priestess of the temple swayed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The most obedient, and the most obeyed.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Crabbe.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">And</span> first, by the way, to stop at the little +town of Mayton. The evening had begun to +close in on the day of the events described above, +when the Widow Westbury, having, unfortunately, +no guests to occupy her within, was +standing at her front door, the somewhat narrow +threshold of which the ample expanse of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99"></span>her spotless apron now more completely filled +than when on first taking up that position, +seven years back, she had been herself the +most attractive sign to stray travellers on an +idle afternoon to induce them to slip in beside +her. She had, as usual on such occasions, +been looking listlessly up the street, and down +the road, when, on turning her head again in +the direction of the road leading from Hornscliff, +she was struck with the uncommon spectacle +of two carriages crowded with persons, +apparently both within and without, and attended +by others on horseback, coming into +town. One short hopeful vision she had time +to form, of full bedrooms and an empty larder, +before undeceived by observing that they were +two hack chaises, and, therefore, the regular +undoubted allies of her powerful rival, the +Angel, to which, of course, they therefore +edged off.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100"></span></p> + +<p>The Widow Westbury was not an envious +woman, but one pang she could not suppress +at the exuberance of her rival’s good fortune, +whilst her own house was literally empty, and +she turned her head in the opposite direction, +to avoid seeing the actual unloading. But she +was as much surprised here as at what had +met her view in the other direction. It was +not market-day, and yet it could be no other +than Farmer Darnell whom she beheld riding +towards her, and pressing George’s pony beyond +its natural speed. The first impression +of pleasure which the Widow derived from +recognising him was, however, as completely +destroyed, as had been the half-formed hopes +in the other direction, as soon as she made out +the extraordinary state in which he arrived. +His first words were, as he kicked the pony +towards the stable gateway. “Hast seen her, +Widow? Hast heard anything on her? Oh! +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101"></span>I’se lost her, she’s gone! She’s been kidnapped +from us.”</p> + +<p>“What’s fashed about, George? tell us, +hinny. Is’t cart mare’s lost, that ye’re come +on t’ galloway?”</p> + +<p>“The cart mare, indeed! she might gang +and be d—d, for what I’d fash myself about the +likes of she. But I ax yer pardon, Widow. +It’s na th’ time for a sinfu’ mon to tak’ to profane +swearing, when he’s in sair trouble as I am +now. What cared I for hard toimes, for rot +i’ th’ flocks, or blight i’ th’ crops, so long as I +had but her, my own pet lamb, my pride, and +my joy—my little Lucy?”</p> + +<p>“And sure there won’t be any harm come to +Miss Lucy, then?” asked the Widow.</p> + +<p>“Harm! I trust in mercy, none. But I’se +sair flayed aboot her,” replied he, in language +that would have been hardly intelligible to any +but indigenous ears, his provincialism being, as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102"></span>is often observed to be the case, redoubled by +excitement. “And only to think now that I +slept so sound all through t’ night, when may +be she was struggling with them as have <em>spraited</em> +her away from us. But I made sartain +sure she were at her aunt’s, where she had +boided the night afore; but when morning +came, and it were noised about that there had +been some fasheous doings on t’ beach, I took +galloway and rode down to sister Alice’s, and +when I fooun’ my poor darling child had never +bin there, I were clean demented, and did not +ken which way to gang, but as all t’ turnpikes +come through Mayton, I thought I’d may be +hear some tidings of her here; and I’ve lossen a +good hour, for I thought to come the gainest +way straight by the salt-marshes—and t’ galloway +was matched to get me throughf, as he was +like to be—being o’er small to bear me, even +on canny groond.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103"></span></p> + +<p>“And if you haven’t been bogged and are +quite dripping wet up to your waist!” interrupted +the Widow—“Come in, Richard, I’ll +see and get you some tidings, and make you +comfortable the while.”</p> + +<p>“Comfort!” replied Richard, contemptuously; +“comfort! and where’s the comfort +ever like to visit me again, but in the sight +of my child?”</p> + +<p>“But step in a wee bit, and tell me all +about it, while Joe gives a feed to the galloway, +for he’s clean done at present. Is’t +alone she’s missing?”</p> + +<p>“No: George never com’d back naither; +but I don’t count much about that, for he’s +a messmate about in these parts; and he said +maybe he shouldn’t return last night. But +Painter Churchill wasn’t to be found naither.”</p> + +<p>“Richard, I’d my misgivings when you +took that man home with you from here, that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104"></span>no good would come of it: he’s just the sort +of soft-spoken chap to take with a young girl. I +wish it mayn’t be along with he that she’s off.”</p> + +<p>“What, Widow! my own Lucy, that’s +come of decent folk, and all along been used +to have a good roof-top over her head, and +bide where she was known and looked up to; +she to bemean herself to give up all and follow +a vagabond stroller, of her own free mind! +that’s the least crediblest surmise of all. +Hark! what’s that ere chap saying about +George Darnell?” overhearing the voices of +those who were already circulating in the +street that it was George Darnell who had +been brought there in a chaise, on his way +to the county gaol. This, when explained, +was sure to be a bitter aggravation of the +troubles of Farmer Darnell, who had always +loved his nephew better than any thing else +in the world, except her whom he was then +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105"></span>seeking; but the first impression made on +him by this news was only, that somehow +or another it must be connected with the +absence of Lucy; and acting upon the idea, +he strode across to the Angel, to inform himself, +without stopping to ask any farther particulars, +or to listen to the Widow’s request +that he wouldn’t show himself at “t’ other +house” in that unsightly gait. He was however +much shocked, when, upon first desiring +to be shown to George Darnell, a difficulty +was made by the constables in whose custody +he was, upon the ground that it was not +usual to allow any communication with a +prisoner who was on his way to gaol on so +grave a charge as murder. This objection +being at last surmounted, and the Farmer admitted +to George by one of the constables, +his parental anxiety again superseding every +other feeling, he blurted out, “Sad job indeed, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106"></span>George! but feyther before uncle, after +all. Hast seen her? Hast heard on her?”</p> + +<p>George, who could make every allowance +for any one, father or not, considering Lucy +before every thing else in the world, also forgot +for the moment, his own dreadful situation, +in the pleasure he felt in dissipating his uncle’s +fear for his daughter, by informing him of +her safety, and that her return home might +speedily be expected. After this explanation, +the more painful task remained, of detailing +to his uncle the particulars of the awful +situation in which he had involved himself. +In the whole course of his life, George had +never known what it was to offend his uncle. +Many faults he had certainly committed from +his earliest childhood, and scrapes he had +got into with his aunt and others about the +house; but his uncle had always rather +taken his part on these occasions; that indulgence +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107"></span>towards venial errors, the result of +a disposition not over-strict for himself, and +consequently easy for others, being confirmed +by his strong partiality for his nephew. This +only made it more painful to George to have +to break to him the dreadful crime with which +he was now charged; of all the circumstances +connected with which he gave him a faithful +account.</p> + +<p>Richard Darnell wished, if possible, not to +increase the anguish which he saw his nephew +suffered in the relation, but his own disappointment +would break through his endeavours +to make the least of it.</p> + +<p>“It’s a baddish piece of work indeed, +George,” he said; “that must be confessed. I +hope and trust you may be gettin’ well quit +on’t, and you’re not to doubt that we—that is, +I—will do all in my power to help you. But to +think, George, how little I would have guessed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108"></span>that the first sorrow I ever had about my poor +child should be of your making; I that always +looked forward to your keeping her out of +harm’s way when I should be gone to my long +rest; and that it should be you brought her +among all that unseemly society! But I will +not say now, how far I’d pushed my hopes +that sometime the name of Darnell might be +left to share atween you two in peace and +honour; but to think that, through you, it +should fall out that my own innocent child +should have been gaped at by the gentlefolk +as a wanton one, the tramping follower of a +band of unlawful ruffians!”</p> + +<p>“Don’t, I pray you, uncle,” said George, +“don’t; no more o’ that; it’s just the light +in which I’ve been turning it over all this day +and night, and you can’t any how put that +stronger in words than I’ve had it in my +thoughts; only from you it hurts me more, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109"></span>for it comes, I know, strange to Richard Darnell +to say an unkind word when his back’s +not up: and of myself you never did yet.”</p> + +<p>The dialogue was here interrupted by the +head constable, “Come, gentlemen, the chaise +be ready;” in the phrase of the minions of the +law, any one becoming a gentleman who is +consigned to their custody on any charge, +however trivial or flagrant.</p> + +<p>The other prisoners, who had been stowed +in different apartments, were then brought +out, and, upon seeing them, and particularly +recognizing Kit Collett again, Richard Darnell, +whose fears immediately turned to the breeze +all this would raise at home, though anxious +to avoid, of his own accord, giving George +any farther pain, could not help saying: +“Lord! Lord! George, to think how my +Missus will fash herself when she hears tell how +you brought a ruffian like that ere to sit aside +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110"></span>her and break her bread! I shall have a bad +time of it with her, George, all along of you; +and if this bean’t the very spot where I seed +you off from last time! That were another +guess voyage you were a-bound on then, +George: and who kens but I may have been +summut to blame myself? If I’d gi’en you +some o’ that good counsel your aunt said you +needed, and had been a bit more minded what +I was after myself, who knows? But good +b’ye, George,” added he, as his nephew was +put into the chaise, “you’ll be gettin’ through +yet, I’se sure.”</p> + +<p>And, with a heavier heart, though with +somewhat a steadier head than when he last +saw George drive off from the Angel, poor +Richard Darnell returned to the Queen’s +Head.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Eight">VIII.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er all within, the lady-hostess rules,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her bar she governs, and her kitchen schools;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To every guest the appropriate speech is made,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And every duty with distinction paid.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Crabbe.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent14">Why do you keep alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sorriest fancies your companions making?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Using those thoughts which should indeed have died</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With them they think on.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the mean time there had been an arrival +at the Queen’s Head. At the desire of Lady +Gayland, Lucy Darnell had been sent as far as +Mayton, in Sir North’s pony-phaeton, accompanied +by her own maid, Mam’selle Angelique, +or Angel-leek, as Mrs. Jones called her. +Lucy’s companion was a gay-hearted, good-humoured +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112"></span>little Parisian girl, recently imported +by her mistress; and she thought she +best accomplished the purpose for which she +was sent, and whiled away the tedium of the +way, by singing to her in succession scraps of +little French chansons; and occasionally, when +Lucy seemed most depressed, assuring her in a +tone of sympathy, but half in English, half +in French, both equally unintelligible to her to +whom it was addressed, that she was to take +“courage,” for that it was impossible they +could ever be so cruel as to hang a “<i lang="fr">si joli garçon +de contrabandist</i>,” as that “<i lang="fr">amour</i>” whom +she had seen pass the windows.</p> + +<p>In this opinion she was more kind and courteous +than sincere; for though George was a +fine, handsome, well-made lad, he certainly at +no time, and least of all then, accurately answered +the definition of the sort of man a +French girl frequently styles “<i lang="fr">un amour</i>.” Sir +North’s coachman had found, that though the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113"></span>Widow Westbury’s ale sometimes, for the time +being, got the better of memory, memory was +always in favour of making another attack +upon it, and therefore he drove straight, without +asking any questions, to the Queen’s Head. +Mrs. Westbury having found out who the two +ladies were, met Richard Darnell on his return +with one of her sweetest smiles, “And what do +you think I’ve got for you now?”</p> + +<p>But Richard, who was not at that moment +in the most amiable frame of mind towards his +hostess, from the compunctious recollections +which his parting with George had awakened, +only replied, making straight for the stable, +“It’s of nae use now, Widow, I’ll not tak’ +a drop of aught you’ve gotten, or touch +aught you could give till I’ve seen my child +again.”</p> + +<p>“And what if it should be just your child +herself I’ve got to offer you?”</p> + +<p>“What! what, Lucy?” and Richard Darnell, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114"></span>pushing past the Widow, rushed into the +front parlour, when, upon finding her, the sudden +transition from despondency had a most +powerful effect upon him. His athletic frame +actually shook with agitation, and he blubbered +outright, whilst he buried his daughter in +his capacious arms.</p> + +<p>At this extraordinary spectacle, even Mam’selle +Angelique was not a little touched, +though still more astonished at what she +thought a wonderful natural phenomenon, and +lifting up her hands in amazement, unmixed +however with ridicule, exclaimed, “<i lang="fr">Mon Dieu! +mon Dieu! que les ours de ce pays-ci jouent le +grand sentiment!</i>”</p> + +<p>The widow having followed our friend into +the room, was very anxious, as it was rather +late, that they should stay there all night; but +the Farmer would not hear of it.</p> + +<p>“It’s all very well, Widow; I am always +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115"></span>agreeable, you know, when I’m by myself, but +this is my child, whom I’ve only just gettin’ +back out o’ the hands of the Philistines, as my +Missus would speak it, and home’s the most +seemly place for the likes o’ she; and besides, +Anne, you know this house wouldn’t be altogither +quite entirely fitting like, you understand.”</p> + +<p>This being said in a manner that was quite +intelligible to the hostess, as conveying a negative +of her proposal, she bestirred herself with +real zeal to procure them a conveyance homewards, +which was speedily obtained in the +shape of a taxed cart; and Angelique, after +kissing Lucy on both cheeks with the fervour +of an old friend, prepared to resume her seat +in the phaeton, attended by the coachman +alone, and whom she treated, on her return, to +the same scraps of the same little “vaudeville +airs,” to which he occasionally ventured to +attempt a somewhat incongruous accompaniment; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116"></span>Mrs. Westbury’s ale having made such +a breach in his habitual respectful deference +for the steward’s room, as would have been +resented by any other member of that upper +house, but which the light-hearted French girl +easily put up with, as adding to the amusement +of the moment.</p> + +<p>In the mean time the Farmer, with one arm +guiding the reins, and the other still round his +recovered treasure, partly as if to be sure he +should not again lose her, and partly to save her +delicate limbs from some of the dislocating effects +of this rough conveyance, pursued his way +homeward. And if we once see him safe, we will +promise that the story shall not linger long there +at present; for Mrs. Darnell, it may be imagined, +had not been rendered more companionable +by all the late events, and though her +fault-finding disposition had been so long used +to pick out petty errors, as not to be able at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117"></span>once to stretch itself so as to comprehend the +enormity of George’s present offences, yet, perhaps, +she was more intolerable when perpetually +fishing for minor accompanying grievances, +which would have escaped the other parties, +in the overpowering disgrace of George’s +approaching trial.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Darnell was, as her husband had +anticipated, particularly indignant upon a ruffian +like Collett having sat at her board. +“Only to think, if he’d slept here too! as +Richard was daft enough to ask him; it’s +just of a piece wi’ all the rest.” And in +succession, “George’s having left Lucy on the +shore alone of such a night, to catch her death +of cold, and spoil all her clothes; and Lucy +having been never minded that she’d lost her +bonnet there, and having come home at last +with that queer Frenchified thing instead; +and Richard, when he returned from Mayton, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118"></span>having left George’s pony behind, and Joe +Hostler having broken his knees in bringing +him over the next day;”—all these were enumerated, +and each in turn pronounced to be +“just of a piece wi’ all the rest.” The effect +of all this upon her husband was to make him +enter into a warm and angry defence of himself +upon points on which, if the contrite feelings +with which he had returned from Mayton +had been sustained, he would undoubtedly +have pleaded guilty, and sued for mercy.</p> + +<p>The peril in which Lucy had lately been, +and the alarm which that peril had occasioned +to her father, had left so strong an impression +on the minds of both as to draw forth more +than ever their mutual feelings of affection, and +to multiply more than ever little offices of +attachment on one side, and protection on the +other: there never was a better daughter or +a kinder father. For many days after Lucy’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119"></span>return, Richard Darnell could not bear, without +uneasiness, to see her stray beyond the garden +gate; and when he went out to his work, she +employed almost all the time, till she saw +him come back, in devising and arranging his +choicest comforts, and endeavouring how to +welcome him home with his favourite little +indulgences. The result of all this was, that +Mrs. Darnell very soon reckoned them a useless +pair of idle <em>do-noughts</em>; and after many vain +attempts to propitiate her mother on that head, +Lucy finding that her presence seemed only +to open an additional ground of dispute, the +effect of these altercations between her parents +was to drive her more from home, to seek +comfort, where she never sought it in vain, in +the society of her aunt. From this in itself +she could derive nothing but benefit; but it is +matter of doubt whether she, in her present +frame of mind, was the better for those solitary +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120"></span>rambles by which these interviews were necessarily +both preceded and followed.</p> + +<p>During the course of her short acquaintance +with Churchill, she had, she hardly knew why, +been led gradually to think of him more with +the anxious deference due to a superior being, +than with the easy consciousness of equality. +This feeling, since the melancholy thoughts +that he was now no more, had hallowed the +memory of their interviews, had increased in +intensity to a degree amounting to reverence, +almost to adoration, and with it she would +have shrunk from mixing any alloy of feminine +tenderness; whilst, on the other hand, +the shame that George, her cousin, the playmate +of her infantine years, should have so +fallen, was mixed up with the deepest anxiety +for his impending fate, constantly recurring, +and as constantly checked by the idea that +its indulgence was an injury to Churchill’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121"></span>murdered shade, whom her excited imagination +often pictured to be hanging about her +in these much-loved spots in her rambles, +which they had together so lately visited.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Nine">IX.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent12">Better be with the dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom we to gain our place have sent to peace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than on the torture of the mind to lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In restless ecstasy.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How many pine in want and dungeon glooms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shut from the common air, and common use</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their own limbs!</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Thomson.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> has often struck me, that though it is +said, in answer to the question, “whom does +time gallop withal?—with a thief to the gallows, +for, though he goes as softly as foot can fall, +he thinks himself too soon there:” yet, if +there is a course which time has to run, which +should, if possible, be shortened, it is that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123"></span>elongated period which, in the greater part +of this kingdom, has often to be passed between +the commitment of a prisoner and his +trial. In many cases nine months may elapse—nine +weary months elapse before those whose +trials ultimately end in acquittal, can be +restored to their family; and of those who +are committed, how large a proportion are +afterwards proved to have been innocent? or +rather, if you please, not proved to be guilty? +With the numberless law reforms, previously +deemed visionary and impossible, which the +last few years have seen actually put in practice, +it is not likely that this evil should long +be allowed to continue. How the alteration +is to be effected, or by what separation of +the civil and criminal functions of the judges +the courts of law at Westminster Hall could +still continue open during the terms, as they +are now required to be, and yet commissions +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124"></span>for the dispatch of criminal justice be issued +to the country,—must be left to more experienced +heads than mine to determine. But +the evil of the want of some such arrangement +is not confined alone to that one, in itself +sufficient, of an innocent man chancing to be +detained whilst those seasons have almost revolved +during which he should have supported +his family by his labour; but it is also not rare +that the tendency to crime, which might be +epidemic before, is rendered so much more virulent +by contagion, that he who went in a petty +offender, whether acquitted that time or not, +comes out a confirmed criminal; and even on +the guilty, on whom certain punishment must +be done, how much of the benefit of that example, +which is the sole object of punishment, +is destroyed by its not being speedy +as well as certain! In this age, celebrated +above all its other peculiarities for the rapid +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125"></span>succession of fresh sensations, what crime, however +atrocious, can fix the attention of the +public for nine long months? A rural Burke, +or a provincial Bishop, is examined upon a +charge, which the infamous notoriety of the +first has identified with his name, both as +a noun and a verb. The London journals +teem with the fullest accounts, headed with +the most inviting particulars of the most revolting +details. Nine months, perhaps, elapse, +and he dies, without confession, is hanged +and dissected, and all in three lines of the +smallest type in an obscure corner of the +fourth page of the same newspaper. Here the +benefit of the example is lost, and nobody can +tell exactly why. The interval that has elapsed +is rarely blamed for it. Nobody out of prison +holds the stop-watch for him that is within. +I remember, some years back, a fashionable +offender, whose name was in every body’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126"></span>mouth at the time, being sentenced to five +years’ confinement in —— gaol; his liberation +was, at length, announced in the papers. It +became the subject of conversation. No one +could believe that any how he could have +stayed his whole time, and bets were made and +lost upon the utter impossibility of the fact. +And yet, though to those who had “<em>thus doft +the world</em> aside, and bid it pass,” and had kept +no count of time, the fact seemed impossible, to +the individual himself, how endless had seemed +the early snail-like creeping days, how tedious +the last lingering hours!</p> + +<p>But though the first part of these reflections +were meant for the benefit of my friend George, +whom we left on his way to the county gaol, +the last seem exclusively devoted to the reader, +and as, perhaps, he may think being longer +detained by them as cruel as would be George’s +protracted confinement, I hasten to the week +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127"></span>preceding the one in which the Assizes were +to be held.</p> + +<p>The time of George’s confinement had not +extended at all near to the full period to which, +if his offence had happened at a different moment, +it might have stretched; but was within +the average length previous to trial. Still it +had been long enough to work a considerable +effect upon his feelings, which were naturally +good; and with a strongly reviving anxiety +that his existence might be preserved, came a +steadfast purpose, if his prayer should be +granted, to lead a new life. He had passed, as +usual, much of his day in solitary meditation, +when one evening the door of his cell was +opened by the turnkey, who ushered in a respectable-looking +gentleman, dressed in black, +whom the gaoler proposed to leave alone with +George, saying, as he went out, “You may +speak your mind freely to this gemman; he’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128"></span>come to sarve you in a professional <em>pint</em>, and +he never meddles but where there’s a chance; +he’s not one of them carrion beaks, as we calls +those who hover about them who are as safe +bespoke as if they were already doomed.”</p> + +<p>The professional gentleman, when left alone +with George, proceeded to tell him, that from +the examination he had already made into his +case, he thought it by no means a bad one. +The worst point was the confession he had +been foolish enough to make and sign; but he +was in hopes that there were informalities and +illegalities in the terms of that confession which +would at once prevent its being recorded as +evidence, and therefore also prevent his being +obliged to have recourse to a last expedient, +which he hinted he thought he had in his +power, to procure his acquittal. “But,” added +he, “you may depend upon it that, if you are +only sincere with me, every possible pains shall +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129"></span>be taken, for I am directed to spare no expense.”</p> + +<p>“But I beg you will spare it, though,” said +George, “I’m not going to have the hard-earned +savings of my poor uncle squandered +to save such a prodigal as I have been.”</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon, but it is not from +your uncle I have received those directions. +No part of the costs will fall on him.”</p> + +<p>“On whom then? for I’ve not a stiver to +give you, if that’s your hope.”</p> + +<p>“I am not at liberty to explain farther,” +replied the solicitor. “But it is sufficient for +you to know, that I do not intend any demand +on you, and am myself quite easy on the subject. +With respect to your uncle, the only +communication I have had with him has been +on the subject of his daughter’s testimony. +She was subpœnaed on the other side, but +from the conversation I had during my visit to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130"></span>your uncle, I thought her testimony was so +likely to be favourable to you, that, upon hearing +this, her previous distress was changed to +eagerness on the subject; and she now expresses +perfect readiness to come forward.”</p> + +<p>“Bless her! does she indeed?” said George, +“and to speak in my behalf! A word from her +cannot fail to do me good: it must tell with +every one.”</p> + +<p>After this they proceeded more in detail to +arrange the particulars of the defence. The +same professional gentleman had, as he told +George, been to Bankside Farm, and upon expressing +there the same anonymous commission +to spare no expense in the defence, Lucy +knew not to whom she could trace, at the same +time, the will and the power so to act, except, +perhaps, to the Lady who had been so kind to +her at Hornscliff Abbey.</p> + +<p>The evening preceding the day of trial at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131"></span>length arrived. This was, as usual on such +occasions, fixed for Friday, as was considerately +explained to George by the turnkey, +that he might have four-and-twenty hours +more to prepare, in case of any awkward result, +as murderers must die within eight-and-forty +hours of conviction; and, as Sunday does +not count, they, by this arrangement, gain one +day more.</p> + +<p>Lucy came into the town on that evening, +accompanied by her father, and also by her +aunt, who had upon this occasion made the +effort to leave a home from which she had never +stirred for many years, conceiving it to be her +duty to support her beloved niece through this +painful trial, and knowing that, if she did not +go, her sister-in-law would have thought she +must: and Alice was aware that her mother’s +presence must inevitably be the source of additional, +though unintentional, torment to Lucy. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132"></span>It was settled, that on no account would it be +proper for Lucy to visit George in prison, even +if her character of witness would not have prevented +her from obtaining admission; but +Alice Darnell, by the indulgence of the governor +of the prison, had a long interview +with her unfortunate nephew, and, as he expressed +himself, it was from that alone that +he had derived the only true consolation of +which he had for long partaken. But poor +Alice’s efforts to maintain her composure before +him, combined with the unusual exertion +which the whole expedition had occasioned +her, had so shattered her already broken +spirits, that she was utterly unequal to accompany +her niece to court next morning, +and it was with her father alone, that Lucy +attended there.</p> + +<p>The Grand Jury had, the day before, found +a “true bill” against George Darnell for “wilful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133"></span>murder;” and against Christopher Collett, +and three other of the smugglers, as accessaries +after the fact; and had thrown out the +bills against the others.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Ten">X.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Are you acquainted with the difference</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That holds the present question in the court?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is not this the boy redeemed from death?</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Can the sea yield up its dead alive?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Judge took his seat on the bench at +nine o’clock: on one side of him was the high-sheriff, +and on the other sat an acquaintance of +the sheriff’s, a fair-haired good-looking young +man, who seemed a silent but apparently an interested +spectator of all the proceedings; and to +him the Judge turned frequently during what +followed, making easy courteous remarks, occasionally +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135"></span>in a tone of levity which perhaps did not +quite become the person from whom they emanated, +or the occasion on which they were expressed: +nor did they seem to be particularly +acceptable to him to whom they were addressed, +for he very faintly re-echoed his Lordship’s +chuckling accompaniment to his own pleasantry.</p> + +<p>The prisoners having been placed at the bar, +and the pleadings having been opened from his +first brief by Mr. Spencer, a proceeding which +in any hands always seems calculated to make +the matter a thousand times more unintelligible +to a simple-minded jury, the case was stated +by a senior counsel, whose practice was so exclusively +confined to the criminal court, that it +was said of him, by the witlings below him, +“that he never took any daily exercise but on +the <em>rope-walk</em>.” The first witness then called +was Lucy Darnell. This was an awful moment +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136"></span>for poor George, when on such an occasion +he heard that name shouted in the court +by the crier, and taken up by the javelin-men.</p> + +<p>Except that one moment when, as he was +brought back handcuffed, he had met her half +distracted on the beach, he had not seen her +since they parted in anger before the cave. +And now, as she appeared at this summons and +mounted the elevated witness-box, a murmur of +admiration ran through the court, so little did +her appearance coincide with what any one who +had not seen her, had formed to themselves +as their idea of the sort of girl who was likely +to be mixed up in a transaction of this kind. +The effect was universal. Even the old Judge +expressed his favourable feelings in rather too +lively a sally to the fair young man beside +him. Mr. Bailey senior, the leading counsel +for the prosecution, altered his usual address to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137"></span>persons in her situation, of “my good girl,” +into “Miss Darnell.” Tutored as she had +been by her aunt, and determined as she was +not to cast her eyes to the bar, Lucy got +through all the first questions tolerably well, +interspersed as they were with repeated desires +from Mr. Bailey, “that she would raise her +voice,” and “lift up her head,” and “look at +my Lord and the gentlemen of the jury;” and +at length, interrupted by a request, conveyed +by him in an unusually courteous manner, that +she would remove her bonnet,—a suggestion +offered to him who made it by a learned brother, +who, from where he sat, could not see her +face,—she chose rather to comply at once with +this request, than to make any difficulties, and +in consequence, the graceful contour of her face +and throat, except where partially concealed +by the luxuriant clusters of her fine light-brown +hair, became visible to all. This was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138"></span>followed by another of those general murmurs +of approbation peculiarly remarked in courts of +justice, because, perhaps, there least of all +they ought to find vent.</p> + +<p>To all the first questions, as, “What’s your +name?” “Where do you live?” “What is +your father?” “Do you know George Darnell?” +“Did you know a person of the name +of Churchill?” “Do you remember the evening +of the 19th of the month of——?” the +reader will readily have anticipated her answers, +and they were given with the same facility, +which any of my readers themselves, if +they have paid courteous attention to these +pages, could have replied. But when it came +to the act in question, and she was required to +speak accurately to the blow given, old Bailey +and his young witness no longer pulled so well +together. She having stated that she was so +far off at the time, that she could not speak +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139"></span>positively as to anything more than seeing the +deceased fall: it was then again, “Come, my +good girl, you must try and recollect yourself.” +For Mr. Bailey, perhaps, suspecting that there +was a flaw in George’s confession, was very +anxious to have it confirmed on this point. At +last, not being able to weather this difficulty, +he was provoked to say, “Come, my good +girl, if the deceased Churchill had been your +sweetheart, instead of the prisoner at the bar, +I think this is not exactly the sort of evidence +you would have given.” At this, one of the +prisoner’s counsel, who had been affecting to +take notes, but who was, in fact, sketching +the witness’s profile on a scrap of paper before +him, finding his avocation interrupted by the +flood of tears which burst from her at this unjust +remark, addressed the Judge, saying, “My +Lord, my learned friend forgets this is his own +witness.” The Judge was, for a moment, prevented +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140"></span>from replying, by the amusement he +seemed to experience from the fair young man +beside him, who probably, from being easily +excited, and unused to the decorum required +in courts of justice, had started up, as if to +resent the insult offered to the young person, +to whose testimony he had throughout been +very attentive. His Lordship smiled for a +moment, and then phlegmatically said,</p> + +<p>“Mr. Bailey, you may as well not persevere +in these remarks.”</p> + +<p>As soon as the poor witness was sufficiently +composed to be enabled to go on with her +testimony, she was farther interrogated with +respect to the deceased, his habits and character, +and whether he was likely to provoke +offence. To all of which she replied warmly +and fervently in his favour. The examination +in chief being concluded, the junior sketching +counsel on the other side would have proceeded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141"></span>to ask her some questions, but, as the +solicitor for the defence had complied with the +directions to spare no expense, he had engaged +Mr. Serjeant Leaderly, who had then been +pleading in the other court, and having just +been summoned, the consequence was, an immense +bustle and rustling of silk gowns, and +many obtrusive heads were somewhat roughly +tapped by the javelin-men, to make room for the +learned Serjeant, and at length he arrived, and +took his place on the seat immediately under +the bench, when the Judge handed over a paper +to him, with,</p> + +<p>“Take a sandwich, brother Leaderly; they +have been sent me by my learned brother in +the other court. I suppose, as they are <em>hung</em> +beef, he thought the venue ought to lie here; +at any rate, I can’t deny that <em>he’s</em> on the <em>civil +side</em> now,” chuckling audibly, and turning round +to the fair young man for applause, who, by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142"></span>the constrained expression of his countenance, +seemed to think that the ermine and the toga, +no more than grey hairs, became a fool and a +jester.</p> + +<p>Mr. Serjeant Leaderly, mumbling his sandwich +the while, and turning over the folios of +his brief, at length began:</p> + +<p>“My good girl, you knew the deceased +(what’s his name?) Churchill; did he ever +himself follow the nautical calling?”</p> + +<p>“Sir?”</p> + +<p>“Was he involved in these smuggling transactions +himself?”</p> + +<p>“I believe not, Sir.”</p> + +<p>“What was his habit while he resided in +your house?”</p> + +<p>“His habit was to walk out with me, whenever +mother would let him.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, yes, I dare say; but I don’t mean +that.—Did he ever wear a short round-cut +jacket?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143"></span></p> + +<p>“I can’t remember that he ever did.”</p> + +<p>“Will you undertake to say that he never +did wear a short round-cut jacket?”</p> + +<p>“No, I cannot.”</p> + +<p>“Will you pretend to deny that he ever +did wear a short round-cut jacket?”</p> + +<p>“No; I cannot say positively that he never +did.”</p> + +<p>The turn of this examination having so little +to do with the previous course of the trial, of +which Mr. Serjeant Leaderly had not heard a +word, surprised several. And one or two briefless +juniors who were sitting together, whispered,</p> + +<p>“A short round-cut jacket! What can +Leaderly be driving at? Spencer, that’s you +he’s describing. Spencer, that must be a cut +at you.”</p> + +<p>“No,” retorted the other, “it’s the reverse +of a cut at Spencer, for he seems to think +thereby to hang a tail.”</p> + +<p>But Leaderly, perhaps, not having had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144"></span>time to do more than ascertain that this was a +principal witness for the prosecution, and thinking +it his business to discredit her, evidently +somehow imagined he had made a point, and he +continued,</p> + +<p>“Then do you mean to tell me, Lucy Darnell, +that you cannot answer my question simply +and decidedly, yes or no?”</p> + +<p>“I cannot say positively.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! you cannot say positively. We must +try somehow, and bring you to the point; you +will recollect you are on your oath, or is that a +fact you do recollect?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Sir, certainly,” said Lucy, mildly but +firmly.</p> + +<p>At this moment a messenger from the other +court whispered, from behind the railing, to +Mr. Serjeant Leaderly, that the important +cause of Scurry <i lang="la">versus</i> Waitfort was just called +on; upon which the Serjeant, nodding apart, said,</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145"></span></p> + +<p>“And being upon your oath, which, it appears, +you do recollect, you mean to tell +my lord and the gentlemen of the jury, that +you cannot recollect whether Churchill either +did or did not ever wear a short round-cut +jacket?”</p> + +<p>“No, I cannot, indeed.”</p> + +<p>“My Lord, I shall ask the witness no farther +questions,” said the Serjeant, with the self-satisfied +air of a man who had settled the whole +business; and gathering up his papers into his +bag, and with the same rustling of silk gown +and tapping of intervening heads, he made his +exit. And this was all the benefit George derived +from the first lawyer on the circuit having +been engaged in his behalf.</p> + +<p>At this period of the trial the Judge interfered. +He was, or he would never have been +on the bench, barring that one defect, an unfortunate +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146"></span>incontinence of waggery, a very +quick-sighted person as to the weak points in a +cause; and when he could exercise the power +of retention upon the flow of his pleasantry +till a fitting occasion, he was an excellent judge. +He said, “Gentlemen of the jury, I don’t think +this will do at all. It don’t appear clear that +the body of this unfortunate gentleman was +ever found. Now, Lucy Darnell, listen to me; +don’t distress yourself. I am not going to ask +you any question which need have that effect. +It appears that you knew this Churchill very +well, and therefore would have been able to +recognize him however changed. Now don’t +turn your head away, nobody’s going to +frighten you; look at me, and answer my question. +When was the last time you saw +Churchill, dead or alive?”</p> + +<p>As the Judge finished his question, Lucy, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147"></span>preparing to answer it, raised her eyes in the +direction she had been desired; a ray of sunshine, +through the sky-light above, fell full upon +the countenance of the fair young man on the +bench; and Lucy, uttering a piercing scream, +dropped lifeless at the bottom of the witness-box. +The impression which had produced this +sudden effect was, that the person before her +was no other than Churchill, and though somewhat +changed in many respects from the state +in which she had lately known him, yet still +gazing on her with the same fond interest which +his countenance had expressed on the night +on which they last had been parted.—It certainly +was Churchill, or rather Lord Castleton, +she then beheld.</p> + +<p>It was thought best for her recovery to +remove her from the court, though no one +guessed the cause of this emotion, which was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148"></span>attributed to the severe discipline, in the shape +of cross examination, to which she had been +subjected; and as no one besides Lord Castleton +suspected that his living apparition had +produced this powerful effect, he, without any +danger of enlightening them on that subject, +to which he was still averse, speedily afterwards +himself left the court. The reader +will foresee George’s acquittal, from the turn +which the Judge’s examination had taken, +because, however the matter might have +been for a time involved in mystery from the +confused nature of the depositions taken by +Mr. Spencer, upon enquiry it turned out, +that there was no proof of any murder having +been actually committed, from any dead body +having been discovered. We shall therefore +take the liberty of inviting the reader also to +leave the court, as what has been recorded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149"></span>was only so far as was thought necessary for +the progress of the story, and with no ambition +of broaching a paraphrase of the celebrated +“Causes Celèbres” of a neighbouring country; +and still less with the bad taste of attempting +a parody of our own.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Eleven">XI.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0a">’Twas strange: in youth, all action, and all life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Burning for pleasure, not averse from strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Woman—the field—the ocean—all that gave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Promise of gladness, peril of a grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In turn he tried.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Byron.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There be land rats, and water rats, land thieves, and water thieves.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is always irksome, in the progress of an +“ower true tale,” when any circumstance has +to be explained through the medium of an +extraordinary coincidence, knowing, as one +does, that any instance of the kind, particularly +the fortuitous appearance of a necessary +agent at the appointed moment, occurring as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151"></span>such things do in actual life, and passing +unheeded, yet when recorded on paper they +are received with a revulsion of incredulity. +The chances of events sometimes mould themselves +into strange combinations. It was but +two or three years back that two men threw +themselves down at the same day and the same +hour, one from the leaning tower of Pisa, the +other from St. Mark’s at Venice. There could +have been no possible connexion between these +acts. But if a similar coincidence had been +interwoven in a framework of fiction, it would +have caused the manufacture to be rejected +as unworkmanlike. If, on the other hand, +the same sort of combination, had favoured +a superstitious presentiment, it would have +been taken as an undeniable confirmation of +the preternatural.</p> + +<p>I have volunteered this preface, though +hardly, I think, a necessary one, before explaining +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152"></span>the manner in which Lord Castleton’s +life was preserved: to do which effectually, +it will be necessary to allude a little to one +or two incidents in his early life. It will +have been collected, though merely from Alice +Darnell’s collateral tale, that he lost his father +when very young; and it will also have been +inferred from the same source, that, during +his earlier years, he could have seen but little +of his mother, who had lived separate from +her husband on the Continent. Young Somers +remained under his grandfather’s roof, whilst +his mother was amusing herself abroad, and +his father was constantly shifting about in +country quarters with his militia regiment. +His infantine years would therefore have been +deprived of any but mercenary female superintendence, +except for the unremitting care of +his foster-mother: whose affection for him +was certainly too pure and truly maternal, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153"></span>to be attributed to any mercenary motives. +She had sought, and easily obtained from his +grandfather, the permission to continue her +care of him long, very long after he had +completely outgrown the discharge of her +original functions. The only condition with +which this request was mixed up, was not +for remuneration, for that, being in easy circumstances, +was not an object, though, left to +Lord Castleton, it followed as a matter of +course,—but was, that she might be allowed +to have her own son, the foster-brother of +young Somers, also under the roof. This was +thought, at the time, rather an advantage than +otherwise, by the grandfather of our hero; but +it turned out quite the contrary, for the characters +of both the parties concerned. It accustomed +the young heir to require a dependent +companion, and it habituated the future yeoman +to notions of expense quite beyond his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154"></span>rank in life. One thing, however, it certainly +promoted, a lasting attachment between +the boys: this, on the side of Somers, subject +to the alloy of caprice, and occasional +forgetfulness of a superior; on the part of +Harry, ripening into that feeling of utter +devotion to its object, which the relation +of foster-brother in the earlier stages of +society was said constantly to produce; and +which has not been entirely without example +in our own times.</p> + +<p>The earliest event which made a permanent +impression on either of the boys, was the +melancholy end of Colonel Somers. Old Lord +Castleton, being at the time it happened very +infirm, and almost bedridden, had, upon being +informed of his son’s self-inflicted death, sent +Nurse Carter to make the necessary arrangements +for his remains.</p> + +<p>She had, upon her return from the seaport +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155"></span>where it was mentioned he had destroyed +himself, collected her two young charges +round her, and, with the irresistible desire of +her age and station to make the most of a shocking +story, had not spared them the slightest particular +of what she had heard and seen. Much +of this, of course, only served to frighten them +out of their wits for many nights afterwards, +but, as she put it in the shape of warning, +she took a locket which she had found round +the deceased’s neck, and hung it round young +Somers, saying, “I know not what this may +mean, but your father wore it till his death; +do you wear it till yours, and mayhap the +sight of it may sometime save you from rashly +daring the same fate.”</p> + +<p>Old Lord Castleton lived enough to appoint +guardians for his grandson, quite independent +of the mother, whose second marriage he much +disapproved. The immediate effect of most of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156"></span>this was, that young Somers remained much +longer than perhaps he ought to have done +with the Carters. But at length he was sent +to a public school, and from thence to the +University; and of course, for some time, lost +sight entirely of young Henry Carter. But the +latter had been long enough with him to contract +habits which did not exactly enable him +to confine his attention to the process which +intervenes between the plough and the reaping-hook. +On the contrary, his exclusive preferences +of the horse-race and the cock-pit +soon engrossed him entirely. His mother did +not live long enough to suffer all the uneasiness +that these confirmed habits, on his part, would +have caused her, but died in the firm confidence +that the day of the return of her dear +young Lord, when of age, to take possession +of the lands of his ancestors, would be the +date of the commencement of a brilliant career +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157"></span>for the only other object of her equally divided +solicitude, his early playmate and foster-brother.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Harry Carter fell, step by +step, into the most desperate courses, and went +on from one extravagance to another. He was +at length so completely ruined that he was +obliged to decamp, and make for the nearest +seaport, hardly knowing whether he would +seek out his patron, who was still on the +Continent, or start for America with some +choice companions, who were thither bound, +and who tried to persuade him to try his luck +with them. His option, however, on this +subject, was rendered superfluous by a press-gang, +who entered the public-house where they +were assembled, and carried them all on board +a tender; from thence Harry Carter, in due +time, was transferred to a man-of-war, which +was to cruise in the Mediterranean. Though +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158"></span>not inclined to work if he could help it,—when +he could not, he made the best of a bad job, +and soon became an able seaman.</p> + +<p>It so happened, that once being ashore at +a small retired bay on the Island of Sicily, +he and others of his messmates got into a +broil with some of the natives, and, as it had +originated in an imputed act of sacrilege on +their part, they were in great danger from +the offended feelings of the priest-ridden peasants, +who, congregating in numbers around +them, cut off their retreat to their boats. Harry +Carter, who was foremost in the defence, +though he had not been a ringleader in the +outrage, was himself sore beset, when a party +of English travellers, who had been making +the tour of the island on foot, coming up at +the moment, interfered between them at no +little risk to themselves; which danger was +however removed, as soon as they came to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159"></span>explain matters; the quarrel having originated +in misapprehension, and the attack +having been provoked by the universal impatience +of Englishmen, who, if from ignorance +of the language of a people they cannot make +use of their tongues, immediately have recourse +to their hands. Harry Carter at once, +through all the alterations of intervening years, +recognized the playmate of his youth, Somers, +now Lord Castleton, who was much hurt at +the condition in life, that of a common sailor, +in which he now found his foster-brother; +which he could not help in some degree attributing +to his own forgetfulness and neglect. +But Carter would not allow him to reproach +himself on the subject; and, as his duty prevented +his farther stay, the parting between the +foster-brothers was as sudden as the meeting +was unexpected, and, in preparing to shove +off, Harry Carter said, “It’s not like we should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160"></span>often meet again, as we used to do, my Lord: +but now I have seen you, you’ve come like a +guardian angel upon me, and I shall only pray +that, if there ever should be an occasion in +which you should stand in need of the like +assistance, that may be the moment I may next +cross your path.”</p> + +<p>And this fervently devoted expression of his +wishes, was heard and granted; for they next +met at that most critical moment in Morden Bay.</p> + +<p>At the Peace, Henry Carter had been discharged +from the navy, and soon afterwards +falling in with Kit Collett, a free trader’s life +had too many temptations for his own confirmed +irregular habits for him to resist the +offers made him by that person to join him in +“<i lang="fr">La Pie voleuse</i>.” It so happened, that, being +one of the sharpest and cleverest of the crew, +he had been employed by his Captain confidentially, +not long before this last venture, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161"></span>upon a line of coast on which they had not +previously made a descent. He was sent to +make a survey of it, and arrange matters with +some loose characters in the neighbourhood +for furthering their scheme.</p> + +<p>In the early part of the labours of that +eventful evening, Harry Carter had worked +with all the zeal of a principal in stowing the +kegs, thinking that much of the responsibility +as to the success of the venture devolved on +him who had so warmly counselled it. But +when the wounded man was shot into the cave, +by two of his comrades, with much less care +than they had bestowed upon the other more +valuable burthens with which they had been +charged, Harry Carter’s natural good-nature +induced him to devote a little more attention +than any of his messmates seemed inclined to +pay to their fellow-creature. This kindly disposition +soon acquired an unexpected inducement +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162"></span>to continue its good offices. The first +thing that peculiarly excited his attention was, +that upon attempting to stanch the wound +which was just above the temple, he found +that the hair which had clotted into it was +false, being part of a wig which covered a plentiful +crop of natural hair, of a different colour. +The cave was already obscure, yet the light, +crisply curling locks, which he now discovered, +seemed to him to be such as he had never +seen but on one person before. The apparent +impossibility of a surmise which supposed so +altered a condition in life, at first staggered +him; yet it was evident, from the discovery he +had just made, that the person, whoever he +was, had for some reason or another assumed +a disguise. It was difficult, even if the wounded +man had been in a state to reply to verbal +inquiries, to make any safely, whilst all his +comrades were perpetually passing. He bethought +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163"></span>him of the locket which his mother +had put round Somers’s neck when a boy, with +the positive injunction, never, under any circumstances, +to remove it. This injunction, he +knew, for some time had been rigidly observed. +He remembered the form and shape +of it himself, and he determined to be decided +in his conduct by the circumstance of finding +the locket there or not.</p> + +<p>“If it is there,” thought he, “not only +shall I feel sure that it really is my foster-brother, +but I shall feel myself enforced as +much by my mother’s memory, as by my own +more recent vow, to do all in my power to +save him.”</p> + +<p>It was while endeavouring to ascertain this +point by searching within his clothes that +Lucy found him, as she thought, employed +in plunder. If he had not actually had his +hand on the locket when she addressed him, the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164"></span>obvious interest taken in him by a girl in that +rank of life would again have staggered him, as +he could only imagine that the disguise must +have been temporarily assumed for the purpose, +perhaps, of detecting that very illicit act +in which they were then engaged. But still +the locket was there, and in neither that nor the +features, as far as he could discern them, could +he be mistaken; and therefore his determination +was fixed, at all risks, to save him. He was +aware, however, that much immediate risk to +himself might be incurred, without even a +chance of effecting that object. Any open +assistance would now have been set down for +mutiny, and there is no legal discipline so severe +as that which binds lawless men together +in moments of danger. But he quickly formed +in his head a plan which he thought could not +fail.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165"></span></p> + +<p>He had been celebrated as one of the best +swimmers in the navy: it was, then, without +any uneasiness that he assisted to convey Castleton +to the boat, and even helped to shove it +off, knowing that the lugger would come quite +as near the shore as the surf would permit; +and the moment when the smugglers would be +in all the confusion of holding on till the coble +was empty, was that he had fixed for the execution +of his intended escape with Castleton, +trusting to the darkness of the night and the +roar of the breakers to assist him in escaping +unobserved. Till this time arrived, he sat +stanching the temple of the wounded man +with his hand, that he might not be too much +exhausted by previous loss of blood to be able +to sustain even his passive share in the escape. +The confusion of the smugglers at that moment +was increased by hearing that another sail, supposed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166"></span>to be a revenue cutter, was in sight; and +this confusion was even more serviceable to +him than he had anticipated.</p> + +<p>Not only did he succeed in dropping overboard +himself unnoticed, but also in pulling +Castleton after him: in supporting himself to +do which, his bloody hand had made that +strongly marked impression, as of struggling +fingers, which Captain Scudd had naturally +enough interpreted to have been left by some +one who had endeavoured to save himself when +thrown over. Bearing his still unconscious +burthen lashed to him in that manner which a +skilful swimmer knows would least impede his +own efforts, it is possible that he may have +risen for a moment on the breakers in the +manner Lucy imagined she had seen; but, +carefully directing his course where he knew +there was least surf and easiest landing, Carter +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167"></span>made for the shore, which he reached just in +time, being almost too much exhausted by the +double weight he had carried to have been +able to have struggled farther.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Twelve">XII.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And I have thrust myself into this maze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Haply to wive and thrive as I may best.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p>It was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an +answerable sequestration.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Once</span> on shore, while pausing to recover +himself, he gazed with a proud feeling of satisfaction +on the still insensible being whom he +had thus providentially rescued; for Carter had +been engaged in too many frays not to know that +the wound was not in itself dangerous, though a +severe one; but he also knew enough of the +comrades he had just left to feel certain that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169"></span>upon the first confirmation of the report of a +revenue cutter nearing them, which he had +heard just as he was jumping overboard, a +second blow, more sure, would inevitably have +fallen on their already half-lifeless victim: +and, tied in a sack with stones, he would too +surely have sought the bottom, to prevent +the possibility of his bearing witness against +them.</p> + +<p>As soon as Harry Carter was sufficiently +recovered again to take up the motionless body, +which as yet showed no symptom of returning +life, he made at once for a lone hut in a cleft +between two rocks, from which an almost impassable +road led up into the open country.</p> + +<p>Here, as he expected, he found a light cart +in the charge of one of the loose characters who +were in league with the smugglers, and whom +he had directed to meet him there on that evening +so provided, in case “<i lang="fr">La Pie voleuse</i>” should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170"></span>have chanced to bring, as part of her cargo, +any smaller articles of more value, which +might as well have been removed, under the +cover of the darkness, to one of those most +complete of all possible devices for concealment +which are found in the centre of a populous +town.</p> + +<p>His confidant was not a little surprised when +he beheld him bearing, as he thought, a corpse, +instead of, as he had expected, lace gloves or +ladies’ shoes.</p> + +<p>“I say, messmate, holloa!” he cried out, +“this is no go, if you’ve been after a burking +job here. You told me I was to carry light +articles, and you fig me off with a stiff ’un. I +was never in the mole-catching line myself, and +shouldn’t like to be twigged grubbing.”</p> + +<p>“Hold your peace, you lubber,” said Carter, +“the man’s not dead, nor like to die; and if +he doesn’t, this will turn out the best job you +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171"></span>ever did yet of all your days. If you’ll only +just carry him to yon place where we were to +have taken t’other things, you’ll have earned as +good a brace of <span class="allsmcap">RAGS</span>, as sure as your name’s +John Smutt; and perhaps ten times as many +more, if you’re only just mum a bit, and don’t +say a word about all this, if we find he wishes +you not.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! I’ll say nout aboot it. The objections +are all about doing it; once done, there’ll be +little to be gained, I take, to either of us, by +having it blowed. But, let us feel:—why, his +fin moved—sure enough, he’s alive. Well, +that’s another guess sort of case, certainly; so +I’ll just pop him in here, where he’ll lie as +snug as possible; and I only hope he’ll live +to think of that hush-money you talk about. +What’s it?—ten times ten. Why, that’s a +hundred pounds. A hundred pounds!!”</p> + +<p>The journey thus arranged was performed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172"></span>expeditiously, and without observation, in the +covered cart; and by break of day they reached +the large inland town, to which they were +bound. Here, in the first instance, Castleton +was conveyed to an obscure lodging, as Carter +thought that there he would be better concealed, +till with returning consciousness he +might himself be consulted, how far he wished +his late adventure to be known. It will at +once be seen, that if Castleton was not anxious +that it should be made the subject of enquiry, +the less that was said about it the better for +Carter himself, who was now rather in an +awkward position with both the parties in any +investigation that might be undertaken.</p> + +<p>The contusion on the temple, which was +Castleton’s principal injury, though a severe +one, quickly progressed towards recovery, +under the anxious care of his present attendant; +and he now suffered most from the weakness +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173"></span>ensuing from loss of blood, by a cut +which he had also received in his fall.</p> + +<p>His faculties were, after a time, perfectly +restored; and upon recognising Carter, and +ascertaining the particulars of his escape, his +gratitude to his deliverer knew no bounds. +His first step was to have himself moved to +a more decent lodging, still without assuming +his own name, and to confirm Carter’s bargain +with his confederate, of a hundred pounds, upon +condition of his saying nothing about the sort +of cargo his cart had contained. This sum +was to be paid in six months, provided that at +the end of the time nothing was known about +the adventure; a remote date for payment +being suggested by Carter, who thought that +his acquaintance would be more easily constrained +by future expectation than by past +favours; and in this Castleton acquiesced, +being very anxious, for a variety of mixed reasons, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174"></span>that his late adventure should not be +made the subject of gossip.</p> + +<p>When almost recovered from the effects of +his late accident, Henry Carter one day brought +him the circumstantial account of the arrest of +George Darnell and the gang of smugglers, +and of their committal, George as his murderer, +and the others as accessaries after the +fact. Castleton could not for a moment doubt +what ought to be his conduct under such circumstances: +at once to show himself to the +authorities, who had entertained the charge, +and to state the facts of the case; bearing, as +he did, in his own living person the only utterly +incontrovertible evidence against the truth of +such an accusation. But it was not so easy for +him to make up his mind to take this step, +as to convince himself that it was what he +ought to do; and he at length succeeded in +persuading his reason, that, peculiarly situated +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175"></span>as he was, there were very good excuses (he +went no farther than that) for his adopting +a different line of conduct.</p> + +<p>He had ulterior, and, as he thought, truly +beneficial views for the parties most interested, +in his decision of this question; and he felt his +pride would prevent him from maintaining his +present intentions, if a public disclosure of all +the facts was to take place. The sight of Lucy’s +agony at his sufferings, and her energetic interference +on his behalf on the beach, hallowed as +that impression had been by his again relapsing +into death-like insensibility, had removed any +lingering doubts he had entertained as to +making her his wife; and that was now the +object nearest his heart. His principal notion +in assuming the disguise, and seeking Bankside +Farm, in execution of the project he had formed, +was to be himself sure that the person +who could, in such an assumed character, win +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176"></span>her affections, must be loved for himself alone, +and that he might then enjoy the happy consciousness +that his bride had not been influenced +in her preference of him, by any of the +outward advantages of his worldly situation: +advantages which he had found not without +their influence upon women even in the highest +rank. Yet this was a satisfaction which he +wished as much as possible to keep to himself. +Indeed he did not feel sure that the success of +the very object he had in view would appear +to the fashionable denizens of the world so +self-evident, if they were merely made acquainted +with the simple facts of the case. +They would be apt, without enquiring into the +way in which he might have won her affections, +to imagine it just possible, if they knew from +how low a rank in life he had raised the future +Lady Castleton, that she might be influenced +in her acceptance of him by those extraneous +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177"></span>advantages of fortune, which must certainly +have as much weight with her, as with those +who, from want of contrast, could not be expected +to value them even so highly as the +low-born peasant. It was, therefore, no part +of his scheme, that it should ever be precisely +known in the world who Lady Castleton had +been; and in directing his steps a second time +towards Morden Bay, he was much decided by +thinking, that if further observation there confirmed +his early recollections, not only the +peculiarly delicate and refined nature of Lucy’s +beauty might, unquestioned, bear transplanting +into any rank in life, but from the very +secluded spot where she had been brought up, +and the retired habits of her parents, her former +home need never be traced, even by the +prying and the curious. All these were conditional +accompaniments of his scheme, without +which he would never have formed it originally; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178"></span>and without which, even now, desperately +in love with Lucy as he was, or thought +he was, he would still hesitate as to its accomplishment. +And yet all these encouraging +considerations were threatened with complete +overthrow, if, by discovering himself, in order +to procure George’s release, he was obliged to +disclose any circumstance of his late adventures. +The very extraordinary nature of the facts he +would have to relate, coupled, as they would +be, with his own well-known name, would immediately +circulate the wonderful tale in every +shape of paragraph, pamphlet, and perhaps ballad. +Then the numberless jokes which would +be circulated, about the supposed rivalry between +“The Noble Lord” and “The Smuggler +Cousin,” to which the facts of the case, when +disclosed, would give more than a plausible appearance +of truth! Then that very lawless lad, +with all the innuendoes about doubtful preference +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179"></span>between them, was to be his cousin. His +cousin! A convicted smuggler! For though +his own appearance would free him from the +charge of wilful murder, the revenue prosecutions +would only be confirmed by the publicity +thus given to the transactions in which they +had originated; whereas, if by any other means +the danger from the first prosecution for murder +could be averted, without his being obliged +to appear himself ostensibly in it, he did not +despair subsequently, by the exertion of his +interest indirectly, to procure the other to be +dropped, at least as against George and the +crew. As all these considerations passed in +succession through his mind, they might have +kept him undecided how to act; but the +increased force of his attachment to Lucy, +craving, urgent, and engrossing as it then was, +if it still could not be dignified with the name +of love, in its most exalted sense, impelled him +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180"></span>to take the course most likely to get the better +of these difficulties, which he foresaw might +yet interfere to prevent his making her his +wife.</p> + +<p>He, therefore, sent for his confidential man of +business, to whom he told all, and from whom +he was happy to hear that the conceited carelessness +with which Mr. Spencer had perverted +all the facts which had been prepared for him +in the examination before the magistrate, rendered +it most probable that an acquittal might +be easily procured without his being obliged +to disclose himself; and his lawyer having, in +consequence, been entrusted with the management +of the defence, Lord Castleton entered +the court with the intention of only coming +forward himself as a last resource.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Thirteen">XIII.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Your father’s image is so hit in you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His very air, that I should call you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As I did him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Surely I saw a form, a proud, bright form,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Standing beside my couch.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> Lord Castleton had made his arrangement +for watching the progress of the +trial, and the conduct of the Darnell family in +it, one of the last enquiries he had made previously +to going to court, was the exact situation +of the lodgings they had taken in town; +and thither he directed his steps upon leaving +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182"></span>the court by a different door from that which +Lucy had been carried out.</p> + +<p>Alice Darnell had remained in a most painful +state of agitating suspense, pacing the little +parlour in which she had been left by her +brother and his daughter. It was so long +since she had heard the busy hum of men; +the little lodging where she had now been left +to her solitary fancies and thickening recollections, +was so like one to which she had been used +in happier days, then long gone by; the Babel +sound of many voices in the peculiarly thronged +streets, were such as had not met her ear since +on that dreadful night she had forced her way +through the crowds of the theatre, to learn her +husband’s fate: all these combined, had worked +her into a dreadful state of nervous excitement, +when a knock was heard at the street +door, and she opened that of the apartment +at the head of the stairs, thinking that it was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183"></span>probably some one from the courts, bringing +her intelligence.</p> + +<p>A stranger ascended the obscured staircase, +and Alice, upon his raising his head slowly, +receded from the door without uttering a word, +but keeping her eyes intently fixed upon him +as he entered the room. She pressed her hands +against her brain, muttering, “Somers! +Churchill! Who is it? Oh merciful powers, +deprive me not of my senses! The grave +might, for some special purpose, have been +made to render up or one or other of these +departed spirits; but this confused vision which +recalls them both at once, can only be the creature +of my disordered imagination.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Alice Darnell,” said Castleton, “excuse +this intrusion, I entreat you. It was +your niece I sought, for the purpose of offering +her an explanation of my conduct. I regret +that my sudden appearance should have so +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184"></span>discomposed you, who, as well as the rest +of your family, will have much to forgive +in my past conduct; but I trust, that the +future will not give you any thing of which to +complain.”</p> + +<p>“Who is it then? Churchill indeed restored +to life; but not as I saw you last! The resemblance +is much stronger! the hair so like! +But I must not pursue that train, or indeed +think of myself at all, if I mean to keep my +spirits and my senses to support others. But +if you are here, what is the trial then about? +Where is my niece—my poor misguided +nephew?”</p> + +<p>“I will explain all to you, Miss Darnell. +The manner in which I have always heard +Lucy speak of you, forbids any mystery where +you are the person concerned. Your nephew +either now is, or soon will be, safe. And for +your beloved niece—allow me, before I explain +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185"></span>myself farther, to ask—I am sure my Lucy +could never conceal any thing from you—Do +you think—you know not how much hangs on +your answer—do you think she could be +really, truly happy, in sharing somewhat a more +exalted lot in life with him whom she only +knew as the poor painter Churchill? Perhaps +it has been providentially ordained that I +should have this opportunity of asking a candid +reply to that question from you. If your +answer must dash my hopes at once, it may be +in mercy ordained that I should hear it from +you, that I may no longer unwarrantably trespass +on the tranquillity of one whose interest +I may have failed in exciting. But I implore +you, if you can give me any encouragement to +think otherwise, to do so now. A young and +artless girl may perhaps succeed in concealing +the nature of her sentiments from him who +seeks to awaken partiality; but—forgive me +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186"></span>if I address you thus the first time of our +meeting;—but it seems to me, that through +Lucy, I already know you thoroughly; and +all my hopes depend upon the impression of +her feelings towards myself formed by you,—her +ever watchful guardian genius, from whom +she never could have attempted concealment.”</p> + +<p>“It was even thus that Somers looked—it +was even thus that Somers pleaded; and it is +not by my lips that such pleadings can be pronounced +vain,” said Alice Darnell, half to herself. +“Strange similarity!” she continued, +“yes, even to the inexplicable mystery of the +transaction from which all the mischief in my +own case arose.” Then more decidedly addressing +herself to her anxiously expectant +listener, she said: “Forgive me if, till you have +completely cleared away all the mystery in +which your proceedings have been involved, +I must decline at present giving any answer to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187"></span>your enquiries—enquiries which even then you +would be hardly authorised in making of me, +and which, perhaps, I should be as little justified +in answering for another; for imprudent +as is that woman who herself opens her heart to +him who conceals his intentions, most unpardonable +would she be who, under similar circumstances, +betrayed the confidence of another. +Not only should my niece’s sentiments, if favourable, +not through me be known, but, if +necessary, they should themselves be checked, +and controlled, till your explanation is complete.”</p> + +<p>“Excuse me, if, in my anxiety to have my +doubts removed, I have myself omitted to be +as explicit as I had intended. I commenced by +stating that from you I would have no concealment. +But from a name which I have +heard you several times appear to connect with +me, I thought you had some clue to the knowledge +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188"></span>I came to impart. Your niece has only +known me as Churchill, but Somers is my +name, though Castleton is the title by which I +am called. But you are ill—are agitated—” +interrupting himself, in sudden alarm. For +as Castleton had proceeded in this apparently +natural explanation, the gaze of Alice had become +more intensely fixed on his countenance, +and at the abrupt mention of that fatal name, +so long enshrined in the secret recesses of her +heart, the sorrows of years passed from her +mind, and for one short fleeting moment she +believed she saw before her the lover of her +youth, the husband of her heart—the adored, +the departed Somers. All the blood in her exhausted +frame seemed to rush to her face, as +starting from her chair, she staggered one step +towards him, wildly exclaiming: “Somers! +my own, my lost—my God! no—Forgive me, +you shall know all.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189"></span></p> + +<p>And then, bursting into an agonizing flood of +tears, she gradually resumed her composure +enough to answer the kind enquiries of her +astonished visitor; who, greatly touched and +alarmed at the extent of her emotion, almost +forgot his own urgent anxieties, and asked with +great interest how he had unintentionally distressed +her.</p> + +<p>“No, go on, my Lord, I entreat you; one +moment’s bewildering astonishment at the disclosure +you have just made, if you knew all, +you could not but expect from me; but my +object is not to revive past griefs of my own; +but to guard the future of another from similar +danger. I own that while exacting candour +from you, concealment on my part comes with +an ill grace; but my demand is founded upon +a desire to secure a happy future to her whom +you profess to love, and for whom alone I now +live. My own silence arises from an anxious +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190"></span>wish to spare a recital, which you might think +injurious to the memory of one whom we are +equally bound to guard from reproach. Yes, +my Lord, strange as it may appear to you, +there was another person in whom we were +mutually deeply interested. At a future time, +perhaps, if you require it, I shall be bound to +be explicit; but now I conjure you by your +professed attachment, by your desire to have +your own doubts removed, proceed with your +own explanation.”</p> + +<p>Castleton, when so adjured, proceeded at +once to recount his early admiration of Lucy; +and he detailed with so much unaffected candour +the motives which had induced him a +second time to visit Bankside Farm; and he +dwelt with so much fervour upon the still +increasing force of his passion, as he became +better acquainted with its object; and the whole +was urged in that soft winning manner, so like +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191"></span>one which his auditress had formerly known to +be resistless; that any previous unfavourable +impression was soon removed from Alice’s +mind; most willing, as she was, to be convinced +of his sincerity.</p> + +<p>By this means he soon acquired a most powerful +advocate, had it been necessary, in his +favour with Lucy; but before they had completely +arranged the manner in which he should +proceed towards the accomplishment of his object, +a bustle in the passage below announced, +as they rightly imagined, the return of Lucy +herself.</p> + +<p>As Castleton had already recounted to Alice +Darnell the shock that his unexpected apparition +in court had caused to her niece, she prudently +recommended that he should not again +present himself to her till she had herself ascertained +whether the poor girl’s nerves had yet +recovered from the agitation they had experienced. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192"></span>With this view, beseeching him to +await her return where he then was, she went +out to meet her niece, with the intention of +communicating with her first in her own room, +before she informed her who was there awaiting +her: and it was fortunate that she so decided, +for she found Lucy in a much worse state than +she had anticipated. Her delicate frame, and +soft and sensitive nature, were not calculated +to sustain any great nervous excitement. Her +mental faculties, clear and just as they generally +were, and adequately sustained, under +ordinary circumstances, by the constant desire +to be right herself and to do wrong to no one, +wanted nevertheless that practical energy which +might support them in any extraordinary trial. +She had for many hours fought against the +weakness of her nature, in striving to go successfully +through the effort of her examination; +and the last shock,—the apparition, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193"></span>as she thought, of Churchill, had completely +upset her.</p> + +<p>The delay in her return from the court +had been caused by a succession of fainting-fits, +in the intervals of which her intellects had +been far from settled. She had been attended, +in a waiting-room, by the best medical adviser +of the place, who happened to be in court; and +after a conveyance had been procured to remove +her home, he had recommended that, +upon returning there, all agitating subjects +should be avoided, and the most perfect quiet +rigidly enforced during the rest of the day.</p> + +<p>These transactions were explained to Alice +in a few words by her brother, before he returned +into court to hear George’s fate, the +uncertainty about which, he could not help +thinking, was the main cause of his daughter’s +indisposition. The aunt, therefore, accompanied +her charge to her own back-room, and darkening +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194"></span>it as much as possible, persuaded her to stretch +herself on the bed. Lucy knew her aunt perfectly, +and tacitly complied with her desire; +but, as far as could be gathered from the low +mutterings that continued at intervals, her +faculties seemed still confused. All this time, +Castleton remained in the place where he had +been left by Alice, fixed like a statue, afraid +to stir, lest the least motion on his part should +disturb the invalid; bitterly regretting his own +inconsiderate appearance in court, and venting +reproaches on his own head, which, but that the +same fear which kept him stationary checked +his utterance, would have been as loud as they +were heartfelt.</p> + +<p>At length Alice slowly opened the intermediate +door, and putting her finger on her lip, +whispered⁠—</p> + +<p>“I think she sleeps now. She is still far +far from composed, and it would be quite impossible +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195"></span>that she should be fit to see you to-day; +nor, indeed, do I think it ought to be +risked at all, till I have had an opportunity of +first explaining much to her, if such occasion +should recur on her partial recovery. How +much have I authority from you to say?”</p> + +<p>“Say all—every thing—you cannot possibly +say enough; for words were never coined +that could express all I feel.”</p> + +<p>“Hush,” interrupted Alice; “I hear her +voice again, and I think repeating your name. +Step softly this way; and if she repeats it +again, as she did but now, no explanation I +could give to the question you asked me could +be one half so satisfactory;” and she placed +him just within the doorway of the obscure +apartment.</p> + +<p>“Aunt Alice,” called Lucy from the bed. +“Aunt Alice; quick, dear aunt. Hast seen +him? where is he? and why is the morning +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196"></span>so dark—so dismal dark? when he’s +come back, so gay too, on purpose to marry +me. I knew he couldn’t have it in his heart +to die, when he loved me so; and I’m sure +I’d rather have died a thousand deaths myself, +than that he should so have perished.”</p> + +<p>There was more even in the tone with which +these words were uttered, than in the disjointed +and incoherent sentences themselves, which confirmed +Castleton in his conviction that he was +beloved. And so Alice Darnell construed what +she heard; for, as she again motioned him to +retire, she said,</p> + +<p>“You cannot surely, my dear Lord, have +any more questions to ask of me now. If you +have, trust to my ready-getting answers for you +before to-morrow. She must have rest and +quiet now; but with these all will soon be +well again. The ills that spring from a surfeit +of happiness, may in this world be left +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197"></span>to their own cure; while there are scars that +misfortune has graven, which any casual coincidence +may re-open, and no time can completely +heal. Good b’ye, my dear Lord; and +in the midst of your own happiness, think +again of what you proposed to do for my poor +nephew George.”</p> + +<p>Lord Castleton having, in the course of his +explanation to Alice, in which he had candidly +confessed his dislike that his connexion with +the smuggling transactions should be published +to the world, intimated his intention of providing +for George in a manner that should be +satisfactory to all his family.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Fourteen">XIV.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes!</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alice Darnell</span> had made good and sufficient +use of the interval left her, to execute the +task of explaining the past, and opening the +future to the parties concerned. For before +that time next day, she had succeeded in clearing +the coast, not only of her brother, but, +what was perhaps more difficult, of her nephew +George, whose acquittal the day before upon +both charges, had, thanks to the clumsiness of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199"></span>Mr. Spencer, been complete. With some little +difficulty Alice had persuaded him, as well +as his uncle, that it would be better for them +to keep out of the way; and Castleton had +been for some time established with Lucy, in +undisturbed possession of the little lodging-house +parlour.</p> + +<p>Whilst he was opening to her, by degrees, +the brilliant prospects which he proposed to her +to share with him, she sat on the sofa beside +him, holding one hand in both of hers, and +looking up at him with an expression of innocent +adoration, such as could only be pourtrayed +upon a countenance of such unrivalled +sweetness. As, after detailing his views for +their own future, he turned to describe what +he proposed to do for the different members of +her own family, she interrupted him with⁠—</p> + +<p>“Oh, my dear Lord! but that you are even +much more good than great, I should wonder +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200"></span>at your kindness to poor George, not only to +bear him no ill-will for daring to lift his lowly +hand against your life, but even to propose to +serve him so effectually, and exactly in the way +he would like best. To procure him a birth in a +king’s ship, by which, in time, he may become an +admiral, for George is very clever in that line, +though rude and unlettered in others—think +of that, aunt Alice!” addressing her aunt, who +had then entered the room, which she occasionally +quitted. “Think of that, that George +may live to be an admiral, and all through the +kind forgiving goodness of my own dear Lord +here,” added she, pressing his hand, which she +held against her heart, and then dropping her +head, and looking up timidly from under her +brows, as if she thought she had been too demonstrative; +then turning the subject, she said, +“But George is to go away then, to-day? and +didn’t he wish to see me?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201"></span></p> + +<p>“Yes, he shall see you, when my Lord is +obliged to go and arrange his other necessary +matters,” replied Alice; part of whose plan +was, in every possible way to avoid flurry to +her niece, whose spirits were hardly yet settled. +She therefore decided that she should not see +more than one person at a time; and, as restored +composure was her great object, she determined, +that least of all ought Lucy to see +Castleton and George together.</p> + +<p>Lord Castleton, whose intimate friend had +just taken the command of a frigate commissioned +for Halifax, and under sailing orders, +had written the strongest recommendation of +George, begging his friend to take him as a +supernumerary midshipman, and, if occasion +should occur, to promote him. As it is not +always necessary to analyze motives for liberal +actions, so, certainly, no one of the parties who +were to benefit either directly or otherwise by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202"></span>this recommendation, estimated how much the +peculiar value of the arrangement, in Lord +Castleton’s eyes, was enhanced, by the ship +taking so immediate a departure for so distant +a station.</p> + +<p>Alice Darnell had, upon a consideration of +all the bearings of the case, been disposed to +acquiesce in what was rather the suggestion +offered, than the condition proposed by Lord +Castleton, that the marriage should be strictly +private; and that, indeed, it need never be +exactly known what had been the previous +condition in life, where the previous residence, +of his future wife. She was as much justified by +her own early experience of the great world, as +she was guided by her partiality for her niece, +in imagining, that there was a natural unaffected +grace in Lucy’s manner, which would +prevent her former very humble state from +being suspected, if not promulgated. Her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203"></span>early recollections of the world, at the same +time, served to remind her that, if that humble +origin was known, defects, supposed inseparable +from it, would be imagined, even though they +did not exist.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, concealment on this head, +if desirable, was rendered peculiarly practicable, +from the utter solitude in which Lucy had +been brought up, never having had even an acquaintance +out of her own thinly-scattered and +secluded neighbourhood. Her brother, too, +Alice felt, however well calculated to fill with +credit the state to which he was born, would be +unfit, as he would be unwilling, to be placed in +any other; and his wife, however willing she +might be to make the experiment, would be +infinitely more unfit than Richard Darnell to +accompany her daughter into that exalted +sphere in which she was now to move.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204"></span></p> + +<p>Alice Darnell could not help rejoicing that +the absence of her sister-in-law upon this +occasion, removed any difficulty that might +have been expected from her not being so well +aware as every body who was acquainted with +her was, how impossible it would be that she +should share with Lucy all the advantages of +her new situation.</p> + +<p>“I should have thought,” said Alice, addressing +Castleton, “that you of all men would +have been least likely to persuade me to overlook +all the ills that sometimes spring from +mystery in the married state. But mystery, +where it affects the character of the connexion +to be formed, or where it only relates to circumstances +which that connexion itself supersedes, +is quite distinct; and therefore I am +inclined to agree with you, that it is better the +marriage should take place here privately, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205"></span>as soon as the special licence can be procured, +that when my brother and I return home, we +may announce it to her mother as an event +completed.”</p> + +<p>This being settled, Castleton said to Lucy, +“I must leave you now to take steps for the +licence. Farewell for the present, and only +for the <em>present</em>, for it is a word that the future +shall teach <em>us</em> to forget to use.”</p> + +<p>Castleton having left the room, Alice desired +George to come in, to take leave of his cousin, +as he was to depart that afternoon. He was +dressed in a manner better calculated to suit +his new character of gentleman; but never +looked so awkward, or seemed so little at his +ease. He walked first straight for the window, +then half towards Lucy, but turned to the +fireplace, and from thence back to the window, +without saying a word. From thence he was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206"></span>gently drawn away by his cousin, who said, +“Come, dear cousin George, have you nothing +pretty to say to your poor little Lucy? I am +sure I wish <em>you</em> joy of your promotion with +all my heart.”</p> + +<p>“And I am as sure that in all mine, there +is no other wish than that your promotion, +if you like so to call it, may be attended +with every earthly happiness. Perhaps I’d +better go at once. Good b’ye.”</p> + +<p>“Nay stay, dear George, it is not enough +that we should separate with these wishes, +without settling how we may be informed +whether they are fulfilled or not. I can never +forget those days, when we neither of us ever +formed a thought that the other didn’t know; +and believe me, till we meet again, I shall have +no greater pleasure than hearing from you, +and how you are getting on;—and now you +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207"></span>may put a direction that will easier reach its +mark, than poor Lucy Darnell, Bankside +Farm, England. Wasn’t that the way you +wrote to me last, you said? You’ll try again, +won’t you, dear?”</p> + +<p>“No, I think I’d better not; it wouldn’t +be altogether suitable, I think, with your new +situation. When you get accustomed to all +these fine folk, there will be much in George +Darnell you’ll wish altered; and I shouldn’t +like to bring shame on you, Lucy.”</p> + +<p>“Bring shame on me! that you could never +do, but by such courses as you have lately +followed; and to these I have no fear you will +turn again. Do not bring shame on yourself +by such means, and you can never bring shame +on me. If you mean that, because I’m a +lady, shame could spring from the homeliness +of true and tried affection, that would be shame +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208"></span>of my own making; ay, and worse than I +could bear.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, you speak all this out of kindness, +and like yourself, dear Lucy: and so you feel +now, I’m sure. But a time will come—and +what’s more, it ought to come—when the less +you see, or even perhaps hear of me, the +better. I will not bring up now all about our +former parting, and all that. I was much older +than you were then, and things you said made +more impression on me than they were like to +do on yourself; but it’s all for the best. He +that’s won you, has done his taste credit, to +find you out, quite out of his line as you were, +and I’m bound to speak well of him, for he’s +behaved nobly to me; and I’ve no doubt he’ll +try and make you happy, and he ought to succeed, +for he’s plenty of helps to try with; but +all I can say is, that you can’t want to hear of +<span class="allsmcap">ME</span>, and I shouldn’t like to intrude.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209"></span></p> + +<p>“Why shouldn’t I want to hear of you? +You talk of the helps he has, by which I suppose +you mean power and wealth. But what +would be one’s first wish to put them to, but +to assist one’s friends? And who would be the +first of friends whom one would seek out at +the end of the world to serve? Why, who +but you, dear George.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, all that’s as you feel now; and I +don’t mean to say that any change could +ever make you hard or unfeeling, but I can’t +but think that it an’t in nature that this +should always remain the same. I dare say +you judge me a little altered now; so I am, +perhaps. I have turned more things over +in my head lately, than I did in all my life +before. A prison’s quite the school of thought. +You’re going, on t’other hand, to one perpetual +holiday of the mind,—and every thing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210"></span>else if you like. It will be an existence of +which you’ve no idea. Well! it mayn’t suit +after all. But if so, it’s no short voyage +you’re bound on. You’ll never have Bankside +Farm and Morden Bay to leeward again; +and, therefore, you had better not have cousin +George to pilot your thoughts the way they +must never turn. But as it’s much more like +you’ll find all sunshine around you, I would +not like to be the one black spot on your horizon; +and when not in sight, you must soon +forget to care about the humble playmate of +your youth, who feels even in parting from +you so completely that your unhappiness must +make his, that he heartily prays that this last +may be the case. Prosper in your new line of +life, and that you may do so, take not with +you a thought of your old one. Once more, +a long good b’ye.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211"></span></p> + +<p>“Good b’ye, dearest George,” said Lucy, +throwing herself for the last time into his arms.</p> + +<p>“No, Lucy; that’s more than I can bear,” +cried George, tearing himself away, and rushing +from her presence.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Fifteen">XV.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ran on the greensward; nothing she does or seems,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But smacks of something greater than herself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too noble for this place.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The best maker of all marriages</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Combine your hearts in one, your states in one!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Come</span>, lassie,” said Farmer Darnell as he +entered, and found her still in tears. “Come, +that’ll be only a sunsh<em>oi</em>ny shower I guess, +without which they say our hopes never ripen; +but your’s are all fit for harvesting; so, cheer +up, cheer up, my darling child.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! father, it’s more than a passing sorrow +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213"></span>parting with one’s earliest friend. I am +not ungrateful for the great bounties shown +me; and to think that the noblest, the handsomest, +the best of men, should have condescended +like to seek me, when I’m sure there’s +not a high-born lady amongst whom he’s lived, +but must have been only too happy if he’d +have turned his eyes on any one of them! +Yet, I’ve just seen, perhaps, the last of +George. I shall soon also be separated from +you; and what I lose seems all as strange to +me as what I gain. I see the sudden end of +every feeling and thought of which I cannot +recollect the beginning. I would, I feel, at the +same time willingly die in grateful adoration of +him who is only much too great and good for +me; but it comes in some sort to this, for so +completely new an existence has something in +it of the character of death.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, my bonny bairn,” said her father; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214"></span>“take it not in <em>sick</em>e a fasheous style. It comes +sair to me ’tis true, to part wi’ that has been +my sole fireside comfort since it first s<em>u</em>pped +pap—since it first climbed upon my knee, by +thrusting its little fingers into t’ button-holes. +But for thee, my child, you’ve only gettin +now a station you were always fitter to hold +than to boide wi’ the loike o’ us. I can’t quite +make it clear why it should be so; it were the +same wi’ Alice afore you. You and she are +quite another guess sort o’ class from your +mither and me. It’s agin all the rules of +breeding stock that so it should be; but so it +is, and that’s a’ that I know.”</p> + +<p>“But, my dear father, my heart tells me of +no such distinction; and won’t let me think of +parting from you without such a pang here, as +teaches me that ’tis to you I truly belong.”</p> + +<p>“As to parting, and all that, my dear child, +it’s not a church-yard separation to which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215"></span>we’re bound to resign ourselves. But it’s +along wi’ Alice I’ve been settling that I should +make but a rummish concern of it in t’ great +world. And it’s not any pride, or any thing of +that kind, of my Lord’s that would come atwixt +us. No, nothing has been kinder like than +your Lord has been. And he’s just been +talking it ’ower out there, and how he would +never wish you to forget the best of fathers. +That’s what he called me. And when I +thought of you, and heard him say so, if he’d +made me a lord like himself, I could not have +been prouder than of that title. And he added +that he’d make it his care a year should never +pass without your coming somehow or other to +see us; and that showed his consideration like. +But, lord, when I thought it was a question of +once a year or so, wi’ a <em>somehow or other</em> tacked +to it, I could not but feel like an auld hen that +reared a ducklin, and saw the great waters +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216"></span>afore her, into which she mun never follow her. +And here I stand cackling like just such another +auld fool, instead of being thankful for all +favours, as I should be. And after all, when I +make myself out a hen, it’s your mother’s part +I’m taking of. And she do cackle sometimes, +sure enough.”</p> + +<p>“As you mention my mother, I must say, +my dear father, that I hope you and aunt +Alice won’t have me married, as I heard you +settling, without her being brought over. For +though I cannot say that in all respects it is +quite as much pain to be separated from her +as from you, my own kindest father; yet, if +it is a brilliant, it is a strange, and to all concerned, +a somewhat perilous career on which +I am about to enter; and what safeguard so +good at such a moment as to have asked and +deserved a mother’s blessing.”</p> + +<p>“Why that’s a’ true enough, and pretty and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217"></span>like yourself to think so; but it were to spare +a power o’ fash she’d mak, that we settled it +t’other way. That is, it were your aunt, she +promised me it should be all her doing. For +it were not like I should take it on myself, and +to gang back there all alone afterwards. But +here’s sister, talk it over wi’ she.”</p> + +<p>But when Alice found her niece make such a +point of her mother’s presence, she did not +think herself justified in adhering to her first +arrangement; she therefore proposed that her +brother should write to her, and should offer to +go as far as Mayton, to meet her; but this part +he seemed to have particular reasons of his own +for disliking.</p> + +<p>“What! meet she at Mayton? that wouldn’t +be altogether quite suitable. Stop at +Queen’s Head! Bide at the widow’s till she +came there to find me out! No, sister, I don’t +see why I should gi’ up my share of the last +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218"></span>days o’ my darling child, along o’ she. There +are coaches fra’ Mayton here, let her take one +o’ they.”</p> + +<p>As this suggestion seemed reasonable enough, +it was not opposed; and as Castleton, however +much he might deprecate Mrs. Darnell’s presence, +could not but honour Lucy’s scruples, +he made no objection, only hoping still that she +might not come; which wish seemed more +likely to be gratified from the somewhat obscure +nature of Farmer Darnell’s communication, +which ran thus:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.0em;">“<span class="smcap">Respected Wife</span>,</span> +</p> + +<p>“This comes first to let you know George is +gitten well shot of his bad job, and now he’s +gone to better himself; next to require your +presence at this presint, as soon as evrey bit +quait convenient. I’ve considered you’d loike +to see t’ gude looks has comed to Lucy, sine +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219"></span>we comed here; she’s now the most beautiful +prospect ony one ever seed; and she’s quoite fit +to be married ony day, she thinks, if you’d only +come. I can’t enter into ony more particular +observations by reason of the post knowing it, +only this; you’ll find curb bridle for t’ poney +on a broken peg behind door in t’ cowshed; +put him on a crupper, for there’s a tail about +his tumbling down wi’ Joe Ostler on Langden +bank. But you’ll plaise to call to mind purticklar +that t’ Angel is the house at Mayton, +from which stage coach starts.</p> + +<p class="right">“Your fond sarvant and humble husband to command, + <span class="smcap">Richard Darnell</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>As Richard Darnell, in writing this letter, +had his own misgivings that some of the words +might not be spelt exactly right, he thought it +best no one but himself should see it, and +therefore put it himself into the post without +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220"></span>showing it to any one, only letting them know +that he had written a letter, which he felt sure +would bring the good woman. But as soon as +she could be expected, instead came the following +answer:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.0em;">“<span class="smcap">Richard Darnell</span>,</span> +</p> + +<p>“You must be clean demented to send me +such a daft epistle. If the name had never +been on t’ bottom, I should have guessed it +could but have been your’n; for it’s just of +a piece wi’ all the rest. As for George being +cleared of this sad affair, it’s right to be thankfull +for any sinner that’s spared. But where, +pray, is he gone? To better himself, you say! +If he’s really minded in penitence to better +himself, and I’m sure there’s need on’t, only +let me take him in hand, there’s no need of his +going vagabonding again for that. As for +what you say about Lucy, I knew how it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221"></span>would be, you’d be sure to spoil her. I’m +not going to tramp after her, to see her good +looks, as you call it. If she can’t come to me, +let her gang her ain gait, and not expect her +elders to fash themselves about the like of she. +I don’t make out what you mean by her having +getting good looks: if it’s only her foolish prettiness +you commend, as I suppose by your saying +she’s the most beautiful prospect ever seen, +I’d have you to recollect, that when you were +i’ that city afore, you thought some one else the +most beautiful prospect you ever seed. Though +I’m thankful I never set my head o’ such vanities. +But it’s like you, a <em>cretur</em> made up of +hand and mouth, ever whilst you live to think +all’s best that’s by you. I’ll be bound the +truest thing that’s in your letter is, that the +silly chit thinks herself fit to be married. If +so, let her be so without me. I thought not +long ago she’d been ready to demean herself +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222"></span>by throwing herself at the head of Painter +Churchill. If so, as I said afore, it’s all her +ain affair.</p> + +<p>“This from your loving wife,</p> + +<p class="right"> + “<span class="smcap">Margaret Darnell</span>. +</p> + +<p>“Postscript. It was so like you to put best +bridle on broken peg in t’ cowshed. But it’s +just of a piece wi’ all the rest.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>When Farmer Darnell had spelt through +this somewhat lengthy, though unsatisfactory +reply, he saw that he had somehow made a +mess of it, and he did not feel quite certain +whether he had sufficiently explained his daughter’s +marriage as a fact, not as a surmise. He +took it, full of perplexity, to his sister, who not +having seen her brother’s, to which this was an +answer, never suspected that in point of fact it +had never been clearly explained that it was to +witness the great alliance of her daughter she +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223"></span>was summoned; and as she knew enough of +the unhappy and worrying temper of her sister-in-law, +to think it possible from the first an +ungracious answer might be returned, she therefore +thought it best that her mother’s declining +to come should be communicated to Lucy, +omitting those details in her answer which might +be hurtful to her feelings. And this plan suited +the impatience of Castleton, and the inclinations +of the farmer; and therefore it was settled +that the wedding should be no longer postponed.</p> + +<p>It was a gay-looking morning, in early spring, +which shone auspiciously on the happy scene, +when the select family circle, to whom alone +the secret had been confided, sought the parish +church of St. ——, in the city of ——, armed +with the special licence, which in due form +permitted the union of the Right Honourable +Egbert Athelstan Somers Lord Castleton to +Lucy Darnell.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224"></span></p> + +<p>Though no high-born kindred crowded round +the altar, or lightly tripped, or swept in state up +the empty aisles, which struck chill and damp +upon the little party as they first quitted the +light and buoyant atmosphere without; yet +in the whole line of Lord Castleton’s ancestry, +even including that progenitor who had won a +stately dame, through whom, as his name denoted, +was traced his descent to the heptarchy—never +had any of his forefathers led to the +altar a more lovely object, or one in outward +appearance more distinguished and refined, than +the lowly maid who now clung anxiously to +him for support.</p> + +<p>The wedding-robe which she wore had been +chosen by him, and though simple was tasteful; +and her aunt’s care had prevented any +glaring defects in the mode of wearing it, which +her unpractised ignorance might otherwise have +betrayed; though her toilet was a task which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225"></span>the perfect proportion of her slight and elegant +form rendered easy. The delicate and finely +chiseled contour of her features, and the unstudied +grace of her whole figure, even to the +tapering fingers of the small hand, whose gentle +pressure on Lord Castleton’s arm seemed to +claim protection—all these marked her as fitted +to adorn that exalted station to which she was +then to be raised.</p> + +<p>The quiet dignity of Alice Darnell’s whole +deportment showed her a fitting chaperon on +such an occasion for the future peeress. To be +sure, the honest farmer, though dressed in his +very best, did not seem quite of a piece with +the other performers in the ceremony; but +nobody could feel this more thoroughly than +he did himself; and so unaffectedly, as to be +compatible with great pride in his daughter, +and no shame for himself; and therefore he kept +in the back-ground, exulting yet retiring.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_226"></span></p> + +<p>As Lucy knelt at the altar, unconsciously in +an attitude which sculptors might have studied +for the line of grace, Castleton fixed upon her +an ardent gaze of unmeasured admiration, +which, as the ceremony concluded, and they +rose to depart, she repaid with the mild expression +of intense devotion rather than of +passion.</p> + +<p>“God save your Ladyship!” cried Farmer +Darnell, coming up and kissing her, trying to +bury his feelings in a tone of banter, but in +vain:—“God save you! Lady ——. Good +b’ye, my own darling Lucy!” and he retired to +gulp down his emotion. Her aunt also took +leave of her here, to avoid the parting in the +streets.</p> + +<p>Castleton supported her trembling frame tenderly +to the carriage; and, as soon as they had +entered, pressed her to his heart, saying—“My +own, own Lucy, now!” And as the carriage +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227"></span>rattled rapidly through the narrow streets +of the city, they were soon out of sight of the +farmer and his sister, who had followed to the +door of the church, to watch the departure of +what they both loved best in the world.</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Sixteen">XVI.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent14">——There</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So this begins our happy honeymoon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Honour, high honour, and renown to Hymen!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Honeymoon</span>! ’Tis a strange term!—an +ambiguous definition of the period of time +which it describes: a singular compound of two +incongruous parts—honey and moon. What +has the moon, “the inconstant moon,” to do +with that whose “sweets do pall with sameness?” +Is there any sly sarcasm conveyed in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229"></span>the term?—any lurking insinuation, that where +a blessing has been “daily swallowed by men’s +eyes, they surfeited with honey;” and that, as +the match-making Friar Lawrence says, “is +loathsome in its own deliciousness?” But, no—it +cannot be. When at sea for a meaning, one +seeks the aid of a Dictionary to pilot one back +to sense, and Johnson defines a honeymoon as +“the first month after marriage, when there is +nothing but tenderness and pleasure;” and as +this lexicographical lover had tried it himself, +he must have spoken from an experience of his +own sensations,—for, with all the merits of his +laborious compilation, he is never known to +have given a signification in direct opposition +to his own feelings and prejudices. It is a +curious image this raises to one’s mind—Doctor +Johnson passing a whole month in which +there was nothing but “tenderness and pleasure!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230"></span></p> + +<p>For these sensations also must, to exist, have +been reciprocal; he must have found another +who would lavish similar tenderness on him,—derive +parallel pleasure from him. And our +wonderment increases that such should have +been the impression which he chose to perpetuate +in folio sheets for ever, when one recollects +that he was married to a woman twice his +own age; and as it is insinuated by one of his +female gossips, he had begun by being in love +with his future bride’s daughter. Add to this, +that his own account of his ride to church +does not accord with the immediate prelude to +a honied sequel. Johnson, about to become +a bridegroom, in love, and on horseback, at +one and the same time, is an image almost to +upset gravity. He states that on their ride +from Birmingham to Derby, they quarrelled +two or three times about the pace, and says, +“I was not to be made the slave of caprice, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231"></span>and I resolved to begin as I meant to end; I +therefore pushed on briskly till I was fairly +out of her sight; I contrived that she should +soon come up with me; when she did, I observed +her to be in tears.”</p> + +<p>Here does not seem to have been much tenderness +on his part, or one would think much +pleasure on hers: but there is no disputing +about tastes; and even after this unpropitious +beginning, Johnson, upon experience, defines +the honey-moon as “a month in which there is +nothing but tenderness and pleasure.” There +have been, however, others not so well calculated +to pamper themselves with such unalloyed +lusciousness, who have found the taste +of the honey infused with a well-known taint of +bitterness; and others may have suspected that +some of the wax had, in that honied space, +somewhat clogged the wings of time. For, +admitting to the fullest extent⁠—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_232"></span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0a">“Domestic happiness, the only bliss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Paradise that has survived the fall;”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="unindent">yet it is not the growth of an hour. It is not +slipped on with the wedding-ring. At the +altar the staple only is riveted, for which +habit has yet to forge, link by link, those imperceptible +bonds which chain the heart within +the domestic circle. Mutual good understanding +must be established by slow degrees. In +the vegetable world a graft is an unsightly +excrescence at first; and no more in temper and +tastes, than in trees, is the fruit of such an +experiment borne on the instant. How much +tacit, perhaps unconscious, compromise must +gradually be matured, before, as Thomson +says⁠—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0a">“Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With boundless confidence;”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="unindent">he pronounces⁠—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Happy they the happiest of their kind.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_233"></span></p> + +<p>If, therefore, as I suspect, even amongst +those who have afterwards experienced the +most perfect domestic happiness, there have +occasionally been in some of the four-and-twenty +hours of some of the eight-and-twenty +days of this mellifluous month some moments +when slight restraint and transient disappointment +have mixed themselves up with that tenderness +and pleasure which are said to monopolise +it; if it is a probationary period, which is +not sufficient to establish the whole foundation +of happiness for the future, it is sometimes +quite sufficient to dispel some of the bright +illusions of the past; this variegated month +will sometimes make sad inroads into the +permanence of that sort of love that⁠—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0a">“Is but a bright beguiling spell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which only lives whilst passion glows.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The passion of love sometimes revels in contradiction. +It gains strength by opposition; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234"></span>it attracts by separation; it smiles most upon +its exacted sacrifices; it entrenches itself most +behind broken duties; its fairest hopes are +gathered in the wildest field of fear, but its +vigour is apt to be lost in regular set garden +culture; it pines upon stated indulgence; it +dwindles when its shoots are in set form nailed +to the wall; when its early blossom is success, +its only fruit is satiety.</p> + +<p>If there ever was a blissful honey-moon! +If?—There have been myriads; those of a +mixed character, for which I have been endeavouring +to account, are but the exceptions. +In the very first class of blissful honey-moons, +was that of Castleton and Lucy;—most happy +positively, in its exemptions from any of the +causes which I have mentioned as occasionally +chequering that happiness: and most happy +comparatively, with their mutual experience of +the past: and I fear I must forestall so far as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235"></span>to add, also comparatively with their future +wedded life. Here there was no unsettled +compromise of tastes, no gradual adaptation of +former habits; for the companion was no more +new to Lucy, than was the existence to which +she had been transferred. The very atmosphere +she breathed was strange to her; and in +entering upon that new existence, she had but +one all-engrossing object—to study in her own +manner the happiness of him to whose destiny +she was united.</p> + +<p>Castleton was by nature affectionate; but +he must have been insensible indeed, if he had +not shared with more fervour, and almost equal +freshness, every feeling of one so beautiful and +so gracious, so tender and so devoted, as his +gentle bride. Besides, he had another security +against her fondness palling upon possession, if +such a thing could otherwise have been possible. +It was an original experiment he had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236"></span>attempted, so far successful, whose future progress +he had to watch; and this blended occupation +with his enjoyment. And there was +certainly occupation enough in explaining many +rudiments of conduct in her present sphere, of +which Lucy was completely ignorant. Anxious +as she was to learn, and eager as she was to +adopt, any suggestion of his, in spite of her +natural quickness, he sometimes found it difficult +to make her comprehend his meaning, +from some ideas being perfectly new to her, +which were so interwoven with his early nature +that he could not recollect and identify their +first impression. Castleton being, himself, a +person of very cultivated mind, and having +been much in a society famed for ready memory +and apt illustration, had adopted, perhaps +more than any one else, a sort of shorthand +turn of conversation, a comprehensive +cypher, known only to the initiated; in which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237"></span>a half-hinted allusion, or trite quotation, was +often meant to awaken a whole train of ideas: +such an inclination he was, of course, obliged +to check in all his communications with Lucy. +This made his instructions often much more +circumlocutory, and consequently protracted, +than they would otherwise have been; and +though it was impossible to imagine a more +gentle tutor, or a more docile pupil, yet even +blended as it was with the soft dalliance of +those first days of exclusive devotion, there +was something irksome to both parties, in the +perpetual recurrence of such topics.</p> + +<p>Instruction, however mildly conveyed, infallibly +destroys that feeling of equality, in exact +proportion to which confidence is generally +found to exist. Every day Castleton felt more +and more how impossible it would be to ask +Lucy’s opinion on any of those subjects on +which she was profoundly ignorant; and every +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238"></span>day Lucy became more aware of her deficiencies, +and more anxious therefore to conceal +them from him; and that she could only do +by acquiescing in her ignorance, for there was +no one else from whom she could seek information. +There were some points on which she +would even have endeavoured to extract knowledge +from the servants; but dreading, from +her former habits, nothing so much as too +great a familiarity in this respect, Castleton +had made it one of his first desires to her, that +she would confine her communications with +them, to asking for what she wanted. To this, +as to every other desire of his, she yielded, as +far as she could, implicit obedience; but it +was often a great exertion on her part to do so. +Of her own maid she had felt from the first a +considerable awe; and to such a degree did +this continue, that she could not conceive any +fatigue from labour equal to the burthen of her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239"></span>assistance. Being naturally of a disposition +both active and obliging, it was quite new to +her to have any thing done for her which she +could do for herself. For some time she had +as great a horror of touching a bell-rope, as +others have in touching the string of a shower-bath; +and when services were obtruded on her +by the domestics as a matter of course, she +had much difficulty in checking the exuberance +of her gratitude.</p> + +<p>At home, Big Betsey, mentioned above as +the maid of all work, never considered as any +part of her multitudinous duties the waiting on +Miss Lucy, who she not only said “mought +moind herself,” but sometimes called to her, +almost authoritatively, to “lend a hauping +haund.” It was, probably, in consequence of +the habit thus engendered, that Lady Castleton +was one day caught “lending a helping hand” +to an overloaded under laundry-maid, who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240"></span>had been sent by her superior with a wicker-bound +snowy freight of her Ladyship’s own +superfine linen. But of all the irksome feelings +caused by Lucy’s new position, there was none +from which she suffered more, than <em>waiting</em> to +be <em>waited on</em>. And it was hinted in the hall, +that when my Lord was not in the room, my +Lady got up to help herself to what she wanted +from the sideboard!! And it was whispered in +the female conclave of the housekeeper’s room, +that her Ladyship seemed even to like to—lace +her own stays!!</p> + +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_241"></span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII"> + CHAPTER <abbr title="Seventeen">XVII.</abbr> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">I would detain you here some</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Month or two before you venture.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How often have I told you ’twould be thus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How often said my dignity would last</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But till ’twere known.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Set on towards London.</div> + <div class="poemright"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> had been a <em>real</em> Spring-day, by which we +mean one not often realized, but such a Spring-day +as even smoke-dried poets fancy. Lucy +was seated in her own pretty boudoir, which +Castleton had arranged for her with infinite +taste. She was making-up and combining with +great care a nosegay of choicest flowers, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242"></span>she had gathered from the neighbouring conservatory, +into which on one side her apartment +opened; with this she was decorating a beautiful +marble vase, presented to her by her husband, +which always stood on the table beside +her. Castleton had been absent that morning +on a distant ride, on business connected with +his property; she had previously been interrupted, +and was now anxious, before his return, +to finish this trivial, but to her interesting occupation: +for the vase never met her husband’s +eye, studded with its varied scents and gaily +diversified colours, without eliciting the observation, +“No one could arrange these half so +prettily as you.” And it required to be aware, +as she was, of her manifold deficiencies, to feel +the peculiar pleasure derived in hearing the +repetition of these words from the lips she +loved. She was still thus engaged, when Castleton +entered, and throwing himself on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243"></span>sofa beside her, interrupted her task by taking +one of her hands in his, pressing his palm +against hers—then tenderly parting her fingers, +by entwining his own between them; whilst, +passing his other arm round her waist, he drew +her towards him, and looking fondly in her +face, said to himself, “They must, at any rate, +have thought her very beautiful.”</p> + +<p>The origin of this reflection was, that on +coming home by the high-road he had met his +nearest neighbour, Mrs. Eresby, with her two +daughters, returning from a visit they had +during that morning volunteered to the bride. +On perceiving him, Mrs. Eresby had stopped +the carriage for a moment, and after expressing +regrets at missing him, had said, “Charmed +with Lady Castleton—so very natural and perfectly +unaffected.”</p> + +<p>In bowing, the only possible reply to this +compliment, he thought he had intercepted the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244"></span>telegraph of a smile between Miss Eresby and +her sister Arabella, who sat opposite to each +other on the side of the carriage into which he +was leaning.—“Very natural and perfectly unaffected!” +he thought, as he rode home, “What +has she been doing?” Certainly, if there was +any quality which Castleton must have most +sought to secure by such means as he had +resorted to in the choice of a wife, it must have +been that she should be “natural and unaffected.” +And yet it is true that this testimony +of the first person who had seen her to the +success of his pursuit, gave him any thing but +pleasure.—“So you have had visitors this +morning, Lucy; how did you amuse them?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, they seemed to amuse each other very +well; there were three of them.”</p> + +<p>“How do you mean, amuse themselves? +they did not, surely, talk to each other much +before you?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245"></span></p> + +<p>“Her the others called mother didn’t.”</p> + +<p>“My dear Lucy, I’m sure they never called +her <em>mother</em>.”</p> + +<p>“Well then, mamma perhaps it was; I will +remember, my dear Lord, what you told me, +never to say mother.”</p> + +<p>“And did they make many enquiries of you? +ask many questions?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, such a many!”</p> + +<p>“So many, dearest love, you mean to say.”</p> + +<p>“Well, so I do, thank you; and then the +mamma asked me, as she had never seen me +before, if I had not been much abroad; and I +said, never at all till I married; and then she +said, ‘What! had I been to Paris since?’ and +I find she meant foreign parts by abroad. And +she told me that we ought to go to London +soon; that the season was advanced, and that +the Pasta would come out soon this spring. +What is the Pasta—a plant?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246"></span></p> + +<p>“A plant! no, love. Pasta is a singer’s name, +you could not be expected to know that; but +I hope you didn’t say any thing to show them +your ignorance?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no; you told me, whenever I was completely +puzzled, that silence was best; so I +said nothing. Pasta’s the name of a singer, +then! Oh, that accounts, for a moment after +she the mamma said, that her daughter +Arabella sang delightfully, and asked me if I +would sing with her; so I said no, I’d much +rather listen. That was right, warn’t it? You +see I knew you’d ask me all about it, so I recollected +it for you. Arabella then asked me if +I would accompany her? so I said, Wherever +she liked,—where did she want to go? But, I +suppose, she altered her mind, for she sat down +to the grand instrument you had brought here +for me to begin my lessons upon; and then +she sang such an extraordinary song—all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247"></span>coming from her throat. And the sister asked +me if I understood German? and I answered, +No, nor French neither.”</p> + +<p>“That was an unnecessary addition, my +love.”</p> + +<p>“Well, so it was. Then the youngest sister +explained to me, that it was a song a Swiss +peasant girl sang whilst she was milking +her cow; and I said that must be very difficult, +to sing while milking a cow. And then +the mamma asked how I knew; and I said I +had <em>tried</em> very <em>often</em>.”</p> + +<p>“How could you, dear Lucy, volunteer +such an avowal?”</p> + +<p>“I thought you would be afraid of that; +but it all did very well, for the mother said +I was so amusing, had so much natural wit, +and they all tried to persuade me I had +said something clever.”</p> + +<p>“Well, go on—and what then?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_248"></span></p> + +<p>“And then the lady took me aside, and +began saying so much in praise of you; and +when she once got me on that subject, I was +ready and glib enough, I warrant you. But +somehow, though I then found it so much +easier to speak, I find it more difficult to +recollect exactly what I said. Is not that +strange? And then she said that my happiness +would excite so much envy in the +great world; that you had been admired, +courted, nay, even loved by rich, noble, +clever ladies. Why was all this? and how +could you ever think to leave all these, to +seek out from her quiet home your poor little +Lucy?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, that’s a story of by-gone days. +These were follies of my youth, which I +thought I had lived to repent.”</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0a">‘Nor knew, till seated by thy side,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart in all save hope the same.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249"></span></p> + +<p>“Why, save hope, my dear Lord? What +may you not only hope, but trust, from my +constant devotion?”</p> + +<p>“I did not mean to tie myself precisely +to every word I uttered. It was only a quotation.</p> + +<p>“And what is a quotation?”</p> + +<p>“A quotation is the vehicle in which imagination +posts forward, when she only hires +her Pegasus from memory. Or sometimes it +is only a quit-rent, which the intellectual cultivator, +who farms an idea, pays to the original +proprietor; or rather,”—(seeing that he was not +making the matter more intelligible by his explanation,)—“or +rather, it is when we convey +our own thoughts by the means of the more +perfect expressions of some favourite author.”</p> + +<p>“But then, surely <em>you</em> need not be driven +to borrow, whose own words always sound to me +like a book. As for poor me, I wish I could +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250"></span>talk in quotations for ever; then I need not +fear to make these mistakes, which, as it is, +I am afraid I am always like to do.”</p> + +<p>There was so much modesty, so lively a +sense of her own deficiencies, with so anxious +a desire to remedy them, that Castleton +could not, upon the whole, derive other than a +pleasant impression from the result of this +interview.</p> + +<p>It has been said that Lucy’s boudoir had +been furnished in a manner that showed the +most studied care in the selection, the most +unlimited expenditure in the profusion of +articles of luxury. Perhaps Castleton had +even rather exceeded in this respect, from +knowing how different had been the habits +of her early life, and rather wishing that she +should, whilst they were still alone, get over +the trouble of being at her ease, rather than +let the world witness the awkwardness of her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251"></span>first impressions, and the difficulty of her first +endeavour not to be astonished at so much that +was new.</p> + +<p>But there was one department to which he +had prudently devoted his attention, and +this from a higher motive, an anxious desire +to cultivate the taste of his pupil-bride, in a +manner which might be an enjoyment, not +a task. Her room had been hung with the +choicest “<i lang="fr">chefs-d’œuvre</i>” both of ancient and +modern art: the most attractive subjects, +treated in the most skilful manner, in an assortment +of cabinet pictures of various masters. +This, at least, thought Castleton, is an +art for which she has shown a wonderful aptitude: +poetry I cannot as yet hope that she +should fancy or comprehend; and of any incipient +love of general literature I as yet see +no symptom; but this is a taste which cannot +fail to refine such a character as hers. From +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252"></span>Claude and from Poussin she may learn that +classical association will adorn and idealize +even the material beauties of nature; and +from the good conception of some historical +subject by the great Italian masters, she may +reverse the usual routine, and from admiration +of the manner in which these subjects are +treated, derive a taste for the subjects themselves. +Then, thought he, I shall always have +the agreeable reflection, that it was by me +alone this taste was first formed, and that it +was by a mutual partiality for this art that community +of feeling was first established between +us. Castleton had mistaken the effect for the +cause; he was not aware, that whilst she had +readily followed all the movements of the pencil, +it was the hand that had guided it, not the +lines that it traced, which had given it peculiar +value in her eyes. Another morning +he had been again absent on the business +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253"></span>which had taken him from home the day of +Mrs. Eresby’s visit; and at the door of the +boudoir he was met by Lucy, who had watched +for his returning step, and, drawing him in +after her with more than her usual demonstrations +of delight at seeing him again, with +a most triumphant “Look there!” directed +his attention to the costly frames which, under +his special direction, had been carefully fitted +to the varied gems of art mentioned above, but +which were, instead, now filled with flimsy drawings +upon different coloured papers; and upon +nearer inspection he discovered them to be his +own hasty sketches, which had been thrown aside +with the character he had assumed, and forgotten +in the attainment of the object of that +assumption.</p> + +<p>“Lucy, you cannot really have been so +foolish, so childish, as to remove those beautiful +pictures for such wretched daubs as these?” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254"></span>This was uttered hastily, and the look of triumph +passed away at the same moment from +Lucy’s previously elated countenance, as, in a +desponding tone, she “bade him see that the +pictures were still there,” and that she had +occupied herself that morning in cutting with +care and adapting the sketches to the different +frames that hung round her room, which operation +had been completed by neatly attaching +the papers in each corner of the pictures with +pins.</p> + +<p>“Take them down again, for heaven’s sake!” +said Lord Castleton; “it is a bitter disappointment +to me, to see you had no taste whatever +for the beauties of these gems, which I +selected for you with so much care, and which, +at least, I hoped you might appreciate. I wish +you would try, at least, to know the things you +ought to admire.”</p> + +<p>“I am sure I always admired these,” said +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255"></span>Lucy, sorrowfully, laying the rejected sketches +in a heap before Lord Castleton, and adding +to herself in a lower tone, “so pretty, and so +like!” on observing the upper one of the heap +to be a home view of Bankside Farm, and its +old orchard and now deserted garden. But +her husband’s good-humour was not restored +by the gentle submission of her looks and manners; +he took the sketches in his hand, and as +he turned them over rapidly, and as each and +every one in which Morden Bay was commemorated +recalled the scene of some unpleasant +event, some degrading doubt, some unworthy +conflict, which he wished for ever to blot from +his own mind, and hide from the prying curiosity +of others, with a sudden impulse he +crushed them firmly together in his hands, and +then flung them on the blazing fire before him. +Lucy at first started forward to save them, but +her habitual obedience and respect checked her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256"></span>first hasty movement. She gazed fixedly on +the blazing memorials of her childhood home; +and the first bitter tears she had shed since her +marriage chased each other down her cheeks, +as she exclaimed, “Oh, what a pity to destroy +them! I loved them so; they were among +the few, the very few things which reminded +me of you and dear Bankside Farm together.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, do not distress yourself so, my dear +Lucy. You need, I hope, nothing to remind +you of me, now I am always with you; and +the rocks and the trees of Morden Bay, for it +was only inanimate forms that were there commemorated, +will remain the same till you see +them again,—the same the last as the first time +you beheld them. But it is the solitude in +which you have been sometimes left lately +which has made you gloomy. Business makes +it necessary that I should soon go to London; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257"></span>we will start next week, and then you will be +too much occupied with seeing, and being +seen, to have leisure for these morbid reflections.”</p> + + +<p class="p4 center allsmcap"> +END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. +</p> + +<p class="p2 center muchsmaller"> +LONDON:<br> +PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,<br> +Dorset-street, Fleet-street. +</p> +<hr aria-hidden="true" class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter transnote"> +<h3>Transcriber’s Note:</h3> + +<p>A simple table of contents was added for the convenience of users. +Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent +hyphenation in the text. These were left unchanged, as were jargon, +dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings. Misspelled words were +not corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences +were added. One unnecessary apostrophe was removed.</p> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78689 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/78689-h/images/cover.jpg b/78689-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b056f9f --- /dev/null +++ b/78689-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, 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. 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