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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/8661.txt b/8661.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..396a548 --- /dev/null +++ b/8661.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8418 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Algonquin Maiden, by +G. Mercer Adam and A. Ethelwyn Wetherald + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Algonquin Maiden + A Romance of the Early Days of Upper Canada + +Author: G. Mercer Adam + A. Ethelwyn Wetherald + +Posting Date: September 26, 2012 [EBook #8661] +Release Date: August, 2005 +First Posted: July 30, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ALGONQUIN MAIDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Wendy Crockett, Juliet Sutherland, Charles +Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team from +images generously made available by the Canadian Institute +for Historical Microreproductions. + + + + + + + + + + +AN ALGONQUIN MAIDEN + +A ROMANCE OF THE EARLY DAYS OF UPPER CANADA + +BY + +G. MERCER ADAM AND A. ETHELWYN WETHERALD + + + + +Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the year one thousand eight +hundred and eighty-six, by GRAEME MERCER ADAM and AGNES ETHELWYN +WETHERALD, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, Ottawa. + + + + +TO THE VETERAN PUBLISHER, John Lovell, Esq., OF MONTREAL, WHO HAS +SPENT A LONG AND BUSY LIFE IN THE VARIED SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY, THIS +MODEST EFFORT IN THE FIELD OF CANADIAN FICTION IS AFFECTIONATELY AND +ADMIRINGLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHORS. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER I. + +The Young Master of Pine Towers + + CHAPTER II. + +An Upper Canadian Household + + CHAPTER III. + +"When Summer Days were Fair" + + CHAPTER IV. + +Indian Annals and Legends + + CHAPTER V. + +The Algonquin Maiden + + CHAPTER VI. + +Catechisings + + CHAPTER VII. + +An Accident + + CHAPTER VIII. + +Convalescence + + CHAPTER IX. + +On the Way to the Capital + + CHAPTER X. + +York and the Maitlands + + CHAPTER XI. + +After "The Ball" + + CHAPTER XII. + +A Kiss and its Consequences + + CHAPTER XIII. + +Rival Attractions + + CHAPTER XIV. + +"Muddy Little York" + + CHAPTER XV. + +Politics at the Capital + + CHAPTER XVI. + +Love's Protestations + + CHAPTER XVII. + +A Picnic in the Woods + + CHAPTER XVIII. + +The Commodore Surrenders + + CHAPTER XIX. + +At Stamford Cottage + + CHAPTER XX. + +The Coming of Wanda + + CHAPTER XXI. + +The Passing of Wanda + + CHAPTER XXII. + +Love's Rewards + + + + +AN ALGONQUIN MAIDEN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE YOUNG MASTER OF PINE TOWERS. + + +It was a May morning in 1825--spring-time of the year, late spring-time +of the century. It had rained the night before, and a warm pallor in +the eastern sky was the only indication that the sun was trying to +pierce the gray dome of nearly opaque watery fog, lying low upon that +part of the world now known as the city of Toronto, then the town of +Little York. This cluster of five or six hundred houses had taken up a +determined position at the edge of a forest then gloomily forbidding +in its aspect, interminable in extent, inexorable in its resistance to +the shy or to the sturdy approaches of the settler. Man _versus_ +nature--the successive assaults of perishing humanity upon the almost +impregnable fortresses of the eternal forests--this was the struggle +of Canadian civilization, and its hard-won triumphs were bodied forth +in the scattered roofs of these cheap habitations. Seen now through +soft gradations of vapoury gloom, they took on a poetic significance, +as tenderly intangible as the romantic halo which the mist of years +loves to weave about the heads of departed pioneers, who, for the most +part, lived out their lives in plain, grim style, without any thought +of posing as "conquering heroes" in the eyes of succeeding generations. + +From the portico of one of these dwellings, under a wind-swayed sign +which advertised it to be a place of rest and refreshment, stepped a +man of more than middle age, whose nervous gait and anxious face +betokened a mind ill at ease. He had the look and air of a highly +respectable old servitor,--one who had followed the family to whom he +was bound by ties of life-long service to a country of which he +strongly disapproved, not because it offered a poor field for his own +advancement, but because, to his mind, its crude society and narrow +opportunities ill became the distinction of the Old World family to +whose fortunes he was devoted. Time had softened these prejudices, but +had failed to melt them; and if they had a pardonable fashion of +congealing under the stress of the Canadian winter, they generally +showed signs of a thaw at the approach of spring. At the present +moment he had no thought, no eyes, for anything save a mist-enshrouded +speck far off across the waters of Lake Ontario. All the impatience +and longing of the week just past found vent through his eyes, as he +watched that pale, uncertain, scarcely visible mote on the horizon. As +he reached the shore the fog lifted a little, and a great sunbeam, +leaping from a cloud, illumined for a moment the smooth expanse of +water; but the new day was as yet chary of its gifts. It was very +still. The woods and waves alike were tranced in absolute calm. The +unlighted heavens brooded upon the silent limpid waters and the +breathless woods, while between them, with restless step, and heart as +gloomy as the morning, with secret, sore misgiving, paced the old +servant, his attention still riveted upon that distant speck. The +sight of land and home to the gaze of a long absent wanderer, wearied +with ocean, is not more dear than the first glimpse of the approaching +sail to watching eyes on shore. + +Was it in truth the packet vessel for whose coming he had yearningly +waited, or the dark wing of a soaring bird, or did it exist only in +imagination? The tide of his impatience rose anew as the dim object +slowly resolved itself into the semblance of a sail, shrouded in the +pale, damp light of early morning. Unwilling to admit to his usually +grave unimpressible self the fact that he was restless and disturbed, +he reduced his pace to a dignified march, extended his chosen beat to +a wider margin of the sandy shore, and, parting the blighted branches +of a group of trees, that bore evidence of the effect of constant +exposure to lake winds, he affected to examine them critically. But +the hand that touched the withered leaves trembled, and his sight was +dimmed with something closely resembling the morning's mist. When he +again raised his eyes to that white-sailed vessel it looked to his +hopeless gaze absolutely becalmed. The slow moments dragged heavily +along. The mantle of fog was wholly lifted at last, and the lonely +watcher was enveloped in the soft beauty of the morning. A light cloud +hung motionless, as though spell-bound, above the mute and moveless +trees, while before him the dead blue slopes of heaven were unbroken +by a single flying bird, the wide waste of water unlighted, save by +that unfluttering sail. + +And now, like a visible response to his silent but seemingly +resistless longing, a boat was rapidly pushed away from the larger +craft, and the swift flash and fall of the oars kept time to the +pulsing in the old man's breast. Again ensued that inglorious conflict +between self-respecting sobriety of demeanour and long suppressed +emotion, which ended only when the boat grated on the sand, and a +blonde stalwart youth leaped ashore. The old man fell upon his neck +with tears and murmured ejaculations of gratitude and welcome; but +young impatient hands pushed him not ungently aside, and a youthful +voice, high and intense from anxiety, urgently exclaimed: + +"My mother! How is my mother?" + +"She yet breathes, thank God. She has been longing for your coming as +a suffering saint longs for heaven. She must see you before she dies!" + +The young man turned a little aside with down-bent head. His positive +blue eyes looked almost feverishly bright; and the lip, on which he +had unconsciously bitten hard, now released from pressure, quivered +perceptibly; but with the unwillingness or inability of youth to admit +the inevitableness of a great grief he burst forth with: + +"Is that all you have to say to me?" And then, as his keen eye noticed +the tears still undried upon the cheeks of the old man, he sighed +heavily. "Can nothing be done? Is there no help? It doesn't seem +possible!" He ground his heel heavily into the sand. "Say something, +Tredway," he entreated, "anything with a gleam of hope in it." + +Tredway shook his head. "The only hope that remains is that you will +reach home in time to receive her last words. This is the second time +that I have come down expecting to meet you." + +The young fellow with his erect military air and noticeably handsome +face betrayed a remote consciousness that he was perhaps worth the +trouble of coming after twice. As they together hastened up from the +beach the younger of the two briefly narrated the cause of his +delay--a delay occasioned by stress of weather on the Atlantic, and +the state of the roads in the valley of the Mohawk, on the journey +from the seaboard. He had lost not an hour, the young man said, in +obeying the summons of his father, the Commodore, to quit England and +return to his Canadian home ere his much-loved mother passed from the +earth. + +Eager to reach that home, which was on the shores of Lake Simcoe, the +young Cadet bade the old servitor hasten to get their horses ready +when they would instantly set forth. As they were about to mount, the +younger of the two was accosted by an old friend, now an attache of +Government House, who, learning of the arrival of the packet, and +expecting the young master of Pine Towers, had strolled down to the +landing-place to welcome the newcomer and ask him to partake of the +Governor's hospitality. The young man, however, begged his friend to +have him excused, and with dutiful messages of respect for the +Governor and his household, and a cordial adieu to his former +boon-companion, he rapidly set off for home, closely followed by his +attendant. + +Coming up the old military road, cut out between York and Holland +Landing by His Majesty's corps of Queen's Rangers, under the _regime_ +of Governor Simcoe, both horsemen fell into a brief silence, broken by +sorrowful inquiries from the younger man regarding the subject which +lay so close to the heart of each. "Dying!" he exclaimed in deep +sadness, and with the utter incapacity of young and ardent life to +conceive the reality of death. "And my own mother. It seems natural +enough for other mothers to die--but mine! Heaven help us! We never +know the meaning of grief until it comes to our own threshold." + +The old steward viewed with a desolate stare the May landscape, +brightly lit with sunshine and bloom, and said wearily: + +"But what can one expect in this wretched, half-civilized country? Now +in England--" + +His voice lingered long upon that fondly loved word, and his young +master concluded the sentence with, + +"There would be little hope, but in this 'brave new world,' where the +odour of the woods is a tonic, and the air brings healing and balm, +how can death exist? Ah, Tredway, this is a beautiful country!" + +"To me there is but one beautiful country--that is England." Again +there was that lingering intonation. + +Edward Macleod gave vent to a short melancholy laugh. The allurements +of an old civilization were over-ripe to his taste. Promise appealed +to his imagination; fulfilment was a dull fact. Along with the +unmistakable evidences of birth and breeding in his person, there was +in his fresh youth and buoyancy something joyously akin to the +vigorous young life about him. + +"England," said Tredway, with his disapproving regard fixed upon the +wilderness around, "is a garden." + +"And I take no delight in gardens," declared Edward. "I was never +intended for a garden statue. This long day's journey under the giant +trees of the wild, unconquered woods seems to gratify some savage +instinct of my nature. The old country is well adapted to keep alive +old customs, old notions, old traditions; but for me I am a Canadian, +my mind is wearied with over-much civilization. I hate the English +love of land for land's sake. That line of hills, swelling in massive +curves, and crowned, not with a tottering ruin, serving to hang some +legendary romance or faded rag of superstition upon, but with stately +trees--that is my idea of the beautiful." + +He struck into a sharp gallop, his bright head above the dark blue +military cloak forming a picturesque feature in the woodland, and the +flying heels of his spirited horse seeming to add a rattling chorus of +applause to his patriotic sentiments. The old retainer ambled along in +his wake, but more slowly. His idea of the beautiful was not quite so +recklessly defiant. Presently, for he was still jaded from the effects +of his long journey on the previous day, he relaxed his attempt at +speed, and soon lost sight of his companion altogether. The vision of +waving cloak and flying steed vanished in the green aisles of the +forest. + +Along the Oak Ridges--situate some thirty miles from York--which the +two horsemen now neared, a Huguenot settlement had been formed about +the close of the eighteenth century. The settlers were French officers +of the noblesse order, who, during the French Revolution, when the +royalist cause became desperate, emigrated to England, thence to +Canada, where, by the bounty of the Crown, they were given grants of +land in this portion of the Province of Upper Canada. Here many of +these _emigres_ had made clearings on the Ridges, and reared _chateaux_ +for themselves and their households after the manner of their ancestral +homes in Languedoc and Brittany. Into the grounds of one of these +mansions had the younger horseman disappeared to pay his hurried +respects to the stately dame who was its owner, and who, with her fair +daughter, were intimate friends of the Macleod family. + +Almost before the old man had time to wonder what mad freak had kept +his young master so long from the beaten road, he was at his side +again. + +"I have been trying to get a glimpse of my little friend, Helene," he +said, in explanation of his absence, "but the DeBerczy mansion is as +empty as a church on Monday. They still go to Lake Simcoe in summer, +I suppose. But what does this early flight portend?" + +"It was caused solely by the serious nature of your mother's illness. +Madame and Mademoiselle have been now five weeks at 'Bellevue.'" + +The young man's face darkened, or rather lost the brightness that +habitually played upon it, like gleams of sunshine on a stream, which, +when disappearing, show the depth of the tide beneath. + +"You would scarcely know the young lady now," continued Tredway. "The +difference between fifteen and eighteen is the difference between +childhood and womanhood." + +"I suppose she has grown like a young forest tree, and holds her +graceful head almost as high." + +"She is well grown, and very beautiful, but not bewitching like your +sister Rose." + +"Ah! dear little Rose! But she, too, I doubt not, is a bud no longer. +It's odd how much easier it is for a girl to be a woman than for a boy +to become a man." There was something vaguely suggestive of regret in +the gesture with which young Macleod lightly brushed his short upper +lip, whose hirsute adornment was not, in its owner's estimation, all +that it ought to have been. "I was twenty-one last winter. Do I look +very young?" he inquired, with the natural anxiety of a man who has +recently escaped the ignominy of being in his teens. + +"You look altogether too young," dryly returned the ancient servitor, +"to appreciate the worth of a country where old customs, old ideas, +and old traditions are respected." + +"Then may youth always be mine!" exclaimed Edward, looking round him +with the glow in his heart, sure to be felt by the devout worshipper +of Nature in the large and beautiful presence of her whom he adores. +The region about him, esteemed the epitome of dreariness in winter, +held now in its depths a vast luxury of vegetation. The wild vines ran +knotted and twisted about the trunks and branches of multitudinous +trees, and the fallen logs were draped with moss, lichens, and +delicate ferns. Passing through this boundless wilderness, they seemed +to look into a succession of woodland chambers, thickly carpeted with +wild flowers, gorgeously festooned with creeping and parasitical +plants hanging from the branches, and secured in their leafy seclusion +by walls of abundant foliage. In one of these natural parlours they +paused for their mid-day repast--mid-day in the world without, but +here, where only vagrant gleams of the spring sun pierced the forest +solitudes, gloomy with spruce and pine, there was a sense of morning +in the air. This appearance was heightened by the delicate curtains of +cobweb, strung with shining pearls, which still might be seen after +the fog at early dawn. There was no sound except sometimes that of an +invisible bird, singing in the upper air, or when a partridge, roused +by approaching steps, started from the hollow, and rapidly whirring +away directly before them was again startled into flight when they +overtook it. + +The road they followed cut straight through the forest, and, disdaining +to enclose the hills in graceful curves, attacked and surmounted them +in the direct fashion common to our forefathers, when they encountered +obstacles of any serious nature. The absence of human sight or voice +gave a strangeness to the sound of their own utterances, and there +were frequent lapses into that sad silence which fell upon them as +naturally as the gloom from the overshadowing boughs above. The old +attendant who viewed every member of the family whom he served and +loved just as the first man regarded the world at his first glimpse of +it--that is, as an extension of his own consciousness--was deeply +moved at the sight of his young master's sombre face. Edward's heart, +indeed, ached painfully. The perpetual repetition of this luxuriance +of young fresh life in the woods of May was a constant reminder of a +life that until lately had been as vigorously beautiful, and now +perhaps had passed away from this world forever. + +Leaving their weary horses at Holland Landing, they took boat down the +river and bay, desiring to hasten their arrival at the family mansion, +nearly opposite to what is now the prettily situated town of Barrie. +Edward sat apart and gazed long and silently at the waving tree lines, +dark against a luminous, cool, gray sky, with its scattered but serene +group of clouds. All his desire for home and for her who was the +sunshine of it had resolved itself into a yearning that gnawed +momentarily at his heart. Instead of the fair sky and landscape and +silent waterways of his New World home, he saw or rather felt, the +hush of a dim chamber, whose wasted occupant had travelled far into +the valley of the shadow of death. His wet eyes, looking abroad upon +the outer world, were as the eyes of those who see not. The afternoon +sunshine paled and thinned, but beneath the chill of the spring day +there lay a warm hint of the untold tenderness of midsummer. +Unconsciously to himself the prophecy brought a feeling of comfort to +his heart, in its reminder of the glory of that summer to which his +mother might even now be passing--"the glory that was to be revealed." + +It was early twilight when Edward Macleod reached his beautiful home +overlooking Kempenfeldt Bay. The broad, solid-built house, with its +commanding position, and spacious verandas, seemed just such a mansion +as an old naval officer, who was reduced to the insipid necessity of a +life on shore, would choose to dwell in. One might almost be tempted +to call it a fine piece of marine architecture, in some of its +fanciful reminders of an ocean vessel. Its solitariness, its pointed +turrets and gables, its proud position on what might be termed the +topmost wave of earth in that region, the flying flag at its summit, +and the ample white curtains that fluttered sail-like in the open +windows, all heightened the resemblance. From its portal down to the +bay, extended a noble avenue of hardwood trees--oak, walnut and +elm--never planted by the hand of man. Their gracious lives the +woodman had spared, and now, with their outstretched branches, +catching the faint evening breeze, they seemed to breathe a sad +benediction upon the returning youth, who walked hurriedly and +tremblingly beneath them. + +As he stepped from their leafy shadow upon the sunset-gilded lawn, he +was startled by an apparition which seemed suddenly to take shape from +a sweet-scented thicket of lilacs now in profuse bloom at the rear of +the house. A dark, lissome creature, beautiful as a young princess, +but a princess in the disguise of a savage, darted past him. So sudden +was the appearance, and so swift the flight of this dusky Diana, +speeding through the blossoming shrubs of spring, that his mind +retained only a general impression of a face, perfect-featured and +olive-tinted, and a form robed in a brilliant and barbarous admixture +of scarlet, yellow, and very dark blue. + +But the next moment every sensation and emotion gave way to +overwhelming and profound grief, for his sister Rose, hurrying to meet +him, threw herself into his arms with an abandon of sorrow that seemed +to leave no room for hope. The fatal question burned a moment on his +lips, then died away unuttered, leaving them pale as ashes, and a big +tear fell upon the bright head of the girl whom he now believed to be +with himself motherless. But in a moment his father took his hand in a +tense, strong grasp, and drew him quickly forward. "She yet breathes," +he whispered, "but is unable to recognize any of us. Heaven grant she +may know you. For days past her moan has been, 'I cannot die until I +see my son, until I see my first-born.'" + +His voice broke as they entered the chamber of death. The young man, +feeling strangely weak and blind, sat down beside the bed, for the +awful hush of this darkened room weighed heavily upon him. As in a +terrible dream he saw the sorrowing forms of his younger brother and +sister, crouching at his feet, poor Rose drooping in the doorway, his +father's trembling hands grasping a post of the high, old-fashioned +bedstead, and, on the other side of the bed a youthful stranger, whose +black dress and very black hair divinely framed a face and throat of +milky whiteness. These objects left but a weak impression upon his +dulled senses, for all his soul was going out in resistless longing +towards the fast-ebbing life that seemed to be slipping away from his +feeble grasp. He stroked the little bloodless hand, and kissed +repeatedly the wasted cheek, uttering at the same time low murmurs of +entreaty that she would look upon him once more before she died. All +in vain. Utterly still and unresponsive as death itself, she lay +before him. "Dear mother," he implored, "it is your son, your own +Edward that calls you. Can you not hear? Will you not come back to me +a single moment? Ah, I cannot let you go; I cannot, I cannot!" His +voice sank in a passionate murmur of grief. "You will look at me once, +will you not? Oh, mother, mother, mother!" + +He had fallen to his knees, with his face on the pillow close to hers, +and his last words smote upon her ear like the inarticulate wail of an +infant whose life must perish along with the strong sustaining life of +her who gave it birth. The head turned ever so slightly, the eyelids +quivered faintly and lifted, and her eyes looked fully and tenderly +upon her son. Then, with a mighty effort, she raised one transparent +hand, and brought it feebly, flutteringly, higher and higher, until +it lay upon his cheek. A strange faint light of unearthly sweetness +played about her lips. It was a light as sweet and beautiful as +her own life had been, but now it paled and faded--brightened +again--flickered a moment--and then went out forever. + +The sad sound of children weeping broke the silence of the +death-chamber. Edward still knelt, and Rose was bowed with grief; but +the old Commodore's courageous voice sounded as though wrung from the +depths of his sorely-stricken heart: + +"The Lord gave, and the Lord--" his tongue failed him, but after a +momentary struggle he continued in shaking tones--"and the Lord taketh +away. _Blessed_--" + +He could say no more. + +Surely the blessing that, for choking sobs, could not find utterance +on earth, was heard in heaven, and abundantly returned upon the brave +and desolate spirit of him who strove to pronounce it. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN UPPER CANADIAN HOUSEHOLD. + + +The breakfast-room of Pine Towers, on a bright, sunny morning, some +three or four days after the death of its much-respected mistress, +held a large concourse of the notables of York, and other private and +official gentry of the Province. They had come to take part, on the +previous day, in the funeral obsequies; and were now, after a night's +rest and bountiful morning repast, about to return to the Capital. +Among the number gathered to pay respect to the deceased lady's +memory, as well as to show their regard and sympathy for the bereaved +husband, the good old Commodore, were many whose names were "household +words" in the early days of Upper Canada. Sixty years have passed over +the Province since the notable gathering, and all who were then +present have paid the debt of nature. Hushed now as are their voices, +the Macleod breakfast-room, on the morning we have indicated, was a +perfect babel of noise. The solemn pageant of the previous day, and +the sacred griefs of those whom the grim Enemy had made desolate, +seemed at the moment to have been forgotten by the departing throng; +and for a time the young master of Pine Towers, as he bade adieu to +his father's guests, witnessed a scene in sharp contrast to yesterday's +orderly decorum. It was with a sigh of relief that Edward Macleod saw +the last of the miscellaneous vehicles move off, and the final guest +take the road to the bateaux on the lake, to convey him and those who +were returning by water to Holland Landing, there to find the means of +reaching the Capital. + +Entering the house, empty now of all but those who were left of its +usual inmates, including his sister's friend, the beautiful +Helene--whom he had hardly had an opportunity to more than greet on +his return from England--an overpowering sense of desolation fell upon +him. Seating himself near his mother's favourite window, the young +man's loneliness and bereavement found vent in tears. All the past +came vividly before him--a mother's life-long devotion and tender +care; her thousand winning ways and loving endearments; her pride in +his future career and prospects; and the recollection of the many +innocent confidences which a mother loves to pour into the ear of a +handsome, grown-up son, whose filial affection and chivalrous devotion +assure her that she still possesses charms to which her husband and +his contemporaries of a previous generation had been wont sedulously +to pay tribute. "Ah, beautiful mother, it is not to-day nor to-morrow +that I shall fully realize that I am to see thee no more on earth," +said the young man musingly, as he left his seat and strode nervously +up and down the room, while his favourite hound from a rug by the +large open fire-place eyed his agitated movements. + +Presently the young man's soliloquies were interrupted by the timid +entrance of his sister, Rose, followed by the more decided and stately +tread of the charming Helene. + +"Ah, Edward," said his sister, "you are alone. Have all our guests +gone?" + +"Yes," was the reply, "and I am not sorry to have the house again to +ourselves." + +"You, of course, include Helene among the latter," observed Rose +interrogatively. + +"I do, certainly," was Edward's instant and cordial response, as he +offered Helene his hand to conduct her down the steps into the +conservatory and out on to the lawn. "Miss DeBerczy, of course, is one +of us, though you told me this morning that she, too, expressed a wish +to be gone." + +Helene interrupted these remarks with the explanation that her wish to +take leave was owing to a mandate of her mother's which had reached +her that morning. + +"We shall all be sorry at your leaving us so soon," was Edward's +courteous rejoinder. "But, when you go," he added, "you must permit me +to accompany you to 'Bellevue,' for I wish to pay my respects to your +mamma; it is a long time now since we met. Besides, I have to deliver +to her the cameos I brought her from England and the family trinkets +your uncle entrusted to my care." + +"Mamma, I know, is eager to receive them, and will be delighted to +welcome you back. In her note, by the way, she tells me that Captain +John Franklin has written to her from York, asking permission to call +upon her on his way north. You know that the Arctic Expedition is to +go overland, by way of Penetanguishene and Rupert's Land, and is to +effect a junction with Captain Beechey's party operating from Hudson's +Bay." + +"So I learned before I left England," replied Edward. "I hope my +father," he added, "will be able to meet the members of the Expedition. +It would rouse him from his grief, and I know that he takes a great +interest in Captain Franklin's project." + +The conversation was now monopolized by the ladies, for Helene took +Rose aside to tell that young lady that her mamma had given her some +news of a young and handsome land-surveyor, of Barrie, of whom she had +heard Rose speak in terms of warm admiration. + +The gentleman referred to was Allan Dunlop, who, Helene related, had +been very useful at York to Captain Franklin, in giving him information +as to the route to be followed by his Expedition on its way to the +"hoarse North sea." + +Rose visibly coloured as she listened to the young man's praises, in +the extract Helene's mother had enclosed from Captain Franklin's +communication. That young lady protested, however, that Allan Dunlop +was her brother's friend, not hers. "Indeed," she added, "we have only +occasionally met at the Church at Barrie, and I have not even been +introduced to him." + +"Ah, and how is it that his name is always on your lips after every +service I hear you have attended across the bay?" queried Helene +archly. + +The tints deepened on Rose's sweet, bright face as she apologetically +urged "that at such times there was doubtless nothing better to talk +about." + +Happily for Rose the embarrassing conversation was interrupted by the +return of her brother, who rejoined the ladies to say that on the +highway, at the end of the avenue down which he had strolled, a party +of marines and English shipwrights, in command of a naval officer, had +just passed on their way to the post, near Barrie, to proceed on the +morrow by the Notawassaga river to the Georgian Bay, and on to the new +naval station at Penetanguishene. A Mr. Galt, who accompanied the +party, and was on his way to the Canada Land Company's reserve in the +Huron district, had brought him letters from York, among which, he +added, was one from his old friend, Allan Dunlop, condoling with him +on the loss of his mother and sending his respectful compliments to +his father and his family. + +"How curious!" observed Helene, "why, we've just been talking of Mr. +Dunlop." + +"You mean to say," interposed Rose, "that _you_ have just been talking +of him." + +"Well! that is quite a coincidence, Miss DeBerczy, but do you know my +friend?" asked Edward. + +"No, I've not that pleasure," replied the beautiful Huguenot, "but +your sister, I believe, knows him--" + +"Oh, Helene! I do _not_!" said Rose, interruptingly. + +Edward turned towards his sister, and for a moment regarded her +lovingly. After a pause, he said, "Well, Sis, if you _do_ know him, +you know one of the best and most promising of my early acquaintances, +and from what I have heard of him since my return, I feel that I want +to improve my own acquaintance with him, and shall not be sorry to +know that he has become your friend as well as mine." + +"But, Edward, you must wait till I _do_ know him," said Rose with some +emphasis. "I know your friend by sight only, and have never spoken to +him; though, I confess, I have heard a good deal of him in the recent +election, and much that is favourable, though papa has taken a great +dislike to him on account of his political opinions." + +"Ah, papa's Tory prejudices would be sure to do injustice to Dunlop," +Edward rejoined; "but, I fear," he added, "there is need in the +political arena of Upper Canada of just such a Reformer as he." + +At this stage of the conversation the old Commodore was observed on +the veranda, and Tredway approached the group to announce that lunch +was on the table. + +Commodore Macleod, as may be inferred from his son's remark about his +father's Tory prejudices, was a Tory of the old school, a member of +the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, and a firm ally and stiff +upholder of the Provincial Executive, who had earned for themselves, +by their autocratic rule, the rather sinister designation of "the +Family Compact." As a trusted friend and loyal supporter of the +oligarchy of the day, whom a well-known radical who figured prominently +in the later history of the Province was wont to speak of as that army +of placemen and pensioners, "Paymasters, Receivers, Auditors, King, +Lords and Commons, who swallowed the whole revenue of Upper +Canada"--the reference to a man of the type of young Dunlop, who +aspired to political honours, was particularly distasteful, and sure +to bring upon the object of his bitter animadversion the full vials of +his wrath. + +Ralph Macleod was a grand specimen of the sturdy British seamen, who +contributed by their prowess to make England mistress of the seas. He +entered the navy during the war with Holland, and served under Lord +Howe, when that old "sea-dog," in 1782, came to the relief of +Gibraltar, against the combined forces of France and Spain. He served +subsequently under Lord Rodney, in the West Indies, and was a shipmate +of Nelson's in Sir John Jervis' victory over the Spanish fleet off +Cape St. Vincent. For his share in that action Macleod gained his +captaincy, while his friend Commodore Nelson was made a Rear-Admiral. +In 1797 he was wounded at Camperdown while serving under Admiral +Duncan, and retired with the rank of Commodore. + +Early in the century, he married an English lady and came to Canada, +where for a time he held various posts on the naval stations on the +Lakes, and was with Barclay, on his flagship, _The Detroit_, in the +disaster on Lake Erie, in September, 1813. Narrowly escaping capture +by Commander Perry's forces at Put-in-Bay, he joined General Proctor +in his retreat from Amherstburg to the Thames, and was present at the +battle of Moravian Town, where the Indian chief, Tecumseh, lost his +life. + +When the Treaty of Ghent terminated the war and left Canada in +possession of her own, Commodore Macleod, with other old naval +officers, retired from the service, and took grants of land in the +neighbourhood of Lake Simcoe. Being possessed of considerable private +means, the Commodore built a palatial residence on the borders of that +lake, and varied the monotony of a life ashore by an engrossing +interest in politics and the active duties of a Legislative Councillor. +The illness of his wife, to whom he was devoted, had in the past two +years almost entirely withdrawn him from political life, and lost to +his colleagues in the Upper House the services of one who took grim +pleasure in strangling bills obnoxious to the dominant faction which +originated in the Lower Chamber. His temporary withdrawal from the +Legislative Council, and the lengthened absence in England of Dr. +Strachan, that sturdy ecclesiastic who was long the ruling spirit of +the "Family Compact," emboldened the leaders of Reform to inveigh +against the Hydra-headed abuses of the time, and sow broadcast the +dragon-teeth of discontent and the seeds of a speedy harvest of +sedition. + +Already, Wm. Lyon Mackenzie had unfolded, in the lively columns of +_The Colonial Advocate_, his "plentiful crop of grievances;" while the +harsh operations of the Alien Act, the interdicting of immigrants from +the United States, the arrogant claims of the Anglican Church to the +exclusive possession of the Clergy Reserves, and the jobbery and +corruption that prevailed in the Land-granting Department of the +Government, all contributed to fan the flame of discontent and sap the +loyalty of the colony. In the Legislative Assembly each recurring +session added to the clamour of opposition, and emphasized the demand +for Responsible Government and Popular Rights. But as yet such demands +were looked upon as the ravings of lunacy or the impertinences of +treason. Constitutional Government, even in the mother-land, was not +yet fully attained; and, in a distant dependency, it was not to be +expected that the prerogative of the Crown, or the rights and +privileges of its nominee, an irresponsible Executive, were to be made +subordinate to the will of the people. "Take care what you are about +in Canada," were the irate words William IV. hurled at his ministers, +some few years after the period of which we are writing. "By--!" added +this constitutional monarch, "I will never consent to alienate the +Crown Lands nor to make the Council elective." + +With such outbursts of royal petulance and old-time kingcraft, and +similar ebullitions from Downing Street, exhorting the Upper Canadian +Administration to hold tight the reins of government, the reforming +spirit of the period had a hard time of it in entering on its many +years conflict with an arrogant and bureaucratic Executive. Of many of +the members of the ruling faction of the time it may not become us now +to speak harshly, for most of them were men of education and +refinement, and in their day did good service to the State. If, in the +exercise of their office, they lacked consideration at times for the +less favoured of their fellow-colonists, they had the instincts and +bearing of gentlemen, save, it may be, when, in conclave, occasion +drove them to a violent and contemptuous opposition to the will of the +people. But men--most of all politicians--naturally defend the +privileges which, they enjoy; and the exceptional circumstances of the +country seemed at the time to give to the holders of office a +prescriptive right to their position and emoluments. + +At the period of which we are writing, there was much need of wise +moderation on the side of the governed as well as on that of the +governing class. But of moderation there was little; and the nature of +the evils complained of, the non-conciliatory attitude of the ruling +oligarchy, and the licence which a "Free Press,"--recently introduced +into the colony,--gave in formulating charges of corruption, and in +loosening the tongue of invective, made it almost impossible to +discuss affairs of State, save in the heated terms familiar to +irritated and incensed combatants. It was at this period that the +young land-surveyor, Allan Dunlop, entered the Legislative Assembly +and took his seat as member for the Northern division of the Home +District. Though warmly espousing the cause of the people in the +ever-recurring collisions with the different branches of the +Government, and as warmly asserting the rights and privileges of the +popular Chamber in its struggles with the autocracy of the Upper +House, the young Parliamentarian was equally jealous of the reasonable +prerogative of the Crown, and temperate in the language he used when +he had occasion to decry its abuse. He was one of the few in the +Legislature who, while they recognized that the old system of +government was becoming less and less suited to the genius and wants +of the young Canadian community, at the same time wished to usher in +the new _regime_ with the moderation and tact which mark the work of +the thoughtful politician and the aims of the true statesman. It has +been said that one never knows what is inside a politician. What was +inside the Reformer, Allan Dunlop, was all that became a patriot and +a high-minded gentleman. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +"WHEN SUMMER DAYS WERE FAIR." + + +Afterwards--for close upon the coming of every grief, however great, +fall the slow, dull footsteps of Afterwards--, the bereaved Macleod +family took up again the occupations and interests of life in the +benumbed fashion of those whose nerves are slow in recovering the +effect of a great shock. Edward alone bore a brave front, though his +heart at times failed him. He was something of a puzzle to the friend +of his sister, who could not reconcile the tears which she saw in his +eyes one moment to the jest she heard from his lips the next, and who +marvelled in secret that the utter abandon of his grief at the bedside +of his dying mother had not been followed by a state of settled +melancholy after her death. To the cool, steadfast nature of +Mademoiselle DeBerczy this alternate light and shade, gaiety and +grief, in the heart of Rose, as well as of her brother, was difficult +to understand; but now she began faintly to perceive that to their +ardent temperament sunshine came as naturally as it did to the first +day of spring, which, while it ached with the remembrance of winter, +could not wholly repress on that account its natural brightness. +Certainly Edward Macleod, though his unusually pale face gave evidence +of the suffering which he had lately experienced--nay, which he was +even now experiencing--could not say that life for him was utterly +without consolation. For the sake of the stricken household, for the +sake of her who had left them desolate, he would be a man; and, being +that complex creature, a man, involves not only the lofty virtues of +courage and self-forgetfulness, but also a tender susceptibility to +the charms of these perfect spring days, and to the no less alluring +charms of a maiden in the spring-time of youth. + +Nearly a week had elapsed since the funeral of Mrs. Macleod, and now a +second message from home had been received by Helene DeBerczy, +reminding her that her invalid mother had claims which could no longer +be set aside. If Madame DeBerczy's language was seldom imperative, her +intention abundantly made up for the deficiency. Consequently, her +daughter was now reluctantly turning her face homeward--a dull +outlook, brightened only by the prospect of a boat-ride down the bay +with Edward and Rose. + +"And to think," said Edward to Helene, as the trio paced the long +avenue together, "that I scarcely recognized you on the evening of my +return!" + +"That is not surprising. I am an entirely different person from the +one you left three years ago." + +"Let me see," mused the young man, "three years ago you were a little +inclined to be haughty and cold, occasionally difficult to please, and +sometimes exacting. On the whole, 'tis pleasant to reflect that you +are an entirely different person now." + +He turned towards her with a merry glance, but her face was invisible. +She wore one of those long straw bonnets, no doubt esteemed very +pretty and stylish in that day, but marred by what a disciple of +Fowler might call a remarkable phrenological development of the +anterior portion. This severely intellectual quality in the bonnets of +that time naturally stood in the way of the merely sensuous delights +of observation. Edward had barely time to be reminded of an unused +well, in whose dark, shallow depths his boyish eyes had once +discovered a cluster of white water-lilies, languidly opening to the +light, when the liquid eyes and lily-like face in the inner vista of +this well-like bonnet again confronted him. + +"Is that the sort of person I used to be?" she queried, with the +incredulity one naturally feels on being presented with a slightly +exaggerated outline of one's own failings. "What pleasant memories you +must have carried away with you!" + +"I did, indeed--myriads of them. Some of the pleasantest were +connected with our last dance together. Do you remember it?" + +A slight warmth crept up, not into her cheeks, but into her eyes. "I +have never forgiven you for that," she said. + +"And you don't deserve forgiveness," declared Rose, championing the +cause of her friend. + +"Ah, well," said the culprit, "perhaps I had better wait till I +deserve it before I plead for it." + +How strange and far away, almost like part of their childhood, seemed +the time of which he spoke. Like a painted picture, suddenly thrust +before their view, the scene came back to them. A windy night in late +Autumn, illumined without only by the broad shafts of light from the +Commodore's mansion, and within by the leaping flames in the big hall +fire-place. The young people had improvised a dance in the great hall, +and Helene had tantalizingly bestowed most of her favours upon Fred +Jarvis, a handsome youngster of twenty, who frequently improved his +opportunities of becoming the special object of Edward's boyish +enmity. To fall a willing victim to the pangs of jealousy formed, +however, no part of this young gentleman's intention. Returning late +in the evening, he caught a glimpse of Fred and Helene dancing a +stately minuet together, and, lightly securing his horse at the door, +he entered the hall, just as Helene was protesting that she was too +tired to dance any longer. "Just once with me," he pleaded; and their +winged footsteps kept time to the tumultuous throbbing of the music. +The young girl suddenly grew faint. "Give me air," she cried, and at +the words Edward's strong arm swept her across the broad veranda, and +up on the waiting steed. Mounting behind her, like another young +Lochinvar, they dashed wildly off, but just in what direction could +not be told, for Helene, in mingled consternation, exhaustion, and +alarm, had fainted in earnest, and Edward, in the endeavour to hold +her limp, unconscious figure before him, had dropped the reins. The +steed, however, with a prudent indisposition for pastures new at that +hour of the night, turned into a stubble-field, and brought up at a +haystack. How, in the utter darkness, and with the wind blowing a +gale, the young man managed to restore his companion to consciousness +and bring her back to the house, were mysteries which Rose could never +attempt to penetrate with any degree of satisfaction. Helene, of +course, was superbly angry, and even this bare mention of the escapade +brought fire to her eyes and a loftier poise to the well-set head. +Strongly set about the heart of this young Huguenot were barriers of +pride, that could not be overleaped in a day--scarcely in a life-time. + +"It is a bargain, then," said Edward, with a mischievous light in his +smile, "you will never forgive, and I shall never forget." + +"I wish, if it isn't asking too much, that you would allow me to +forget. I particularly want to forget everything unpleasant on a +morning as beautiful as this," rejoined Helene. + +It was indeed an ideal morning. The sky was as soft and warm, as blue +and white, as only the skies of early summer can be. Treading the +mingled shadow and light, thrown from the interlacing boughs above, +they came at last to the blue curves of Kempenfeldt Bay, whose waves +lapped lightly on the beach. Here they found the two younger Macleod +children, who had come to see the party off. Just as the latter +arrived, the youth, Herbert, who had been amusing himself rocking a +punt in a creek by the shore, managed to upset the craft and +precipitate himself into deep water. The mishap had no more serious +result--for the lad was a good swimmer--than to frighten Rose, and +deprive her of the anticipated pleasure of a visit to "Bellevue" with +Helene and her brother Edward. Bidding the former a hurried goodbye, +with injunctions to her brother to take care of her friend, Rose +disappeared with the children into the woods. + +The young man now released a row-boat from its bondage to the shore, +helped his companion into it, and pushed it far out upon its native +element. A new day in the New World, and a long boat-ride before +them--what could they wish for more? Edward, at least, enjoyed the +prospect extremely, especially when he could get the bonnet rightly +focused. This was a matter somewhat difficult of achievement, as its +owner had to his mind a heedless habit of dodging, and his remarks, +instead of being didactic and improving in their nature, were +necessarily exclamatory and interrogative, in order to gain the +attention of his fair _vis-a-vis_. Being a young gentleman of literary +tastes he thought of Addison's dissertation upon the fan, and its +great adaptability to the purposes of the coquette. To the mind of +this impartial critic, a fan was not half so effective and terrible a +weapon as the present style of bonnet. + +"Bother Addison!" he suddenly exclaimed aloud. + +"I beg your pardon," said a voice from the depths of the obnoxious +head-gear before him. + +"I was thinking of the author of _The Spectator_. You know Johnson +says we ought to give our days and nights to the study of Addison. +Don't you think it would be more profitable for us to devote our days +and nights to the study of Nature?" + +"Undoubtedly; and especially in this short-summered region, where +there are only a few months of the year in which one can pursue one's +studies out of doors. My days are spent on the shore, and as for my +nights--well, even at night I often go to sleep to the fancy that I am +drifting over the water with just such a gentle movement as this." + +"I hope," said Edward gravely, "that you have an efficient oarsman. +You couldn't row and sleep at the same time, you know." + +He looked up to see if his companion was struck with the force of this +observation, but although they were moving towards the east, the +bonnet pointed due north. There was also a slight suspicion of the +wintry north in the tone with which she replied: + +"Oh, there is no labour connected with it; I am merely drifting--drifting +to the Isle of Sleep." + +"That is a pretty idea, but it is too lonely and listless to suit me. +I should prefer to have a young lady in the boat--and a pair of oars." + +"In that case you would have to row," and, with a slightly mocking +accent, "you couldn't row and sleep at the same time, you know." + +"In that case I should never want to sleep. No, please, Miss DeBerczy, +don't look to the north again. Every time your gaze is riveted upon +that frozen region my heart sinks within me. I feel as if I were not +entertaining you as well as I should." + +"Oh, don't let that illusion disturb you. I have never doubted that +you were entertaining me as well as you--could." + +A brief silence fell upon them, broken only by the regular plash of +the oars. In the young man's conversational attacks there had been +nothing but a light play of sunny humour, but in this last retort of +hers there was something like the glimmer of cold steel. It wounded +him, yet he was unwilling either to conceal or reveal the hurt. But +Helene DeBerczy had this weakness, common to generous souls, that she +could not utter an ungenerous remark without suffering more than her +victim. So, scarcely more than a minute elapsed before she said +appealingly, + +"You are not going to leave me with the last word, are you?" + +"Is not that what your sex specially like to have?" + +"Perhaps so. I should prefer to have the _best_ word, and--" + +"And let a certain well-known gentleman take the hindmost?" supplied +the young man smilingly. + +"If he only would! What a shocking thing to say, but with me it is +always conscience who has the very hindmost word; and my conscience is +perfect mistress of the art of saying disagreeable things. At the +present moment she is trying to make me believe that I have been +unpardonably rude to you." + +"She is mistaken then, for even if it were possible for you to be +rude, I could not fail to pardon you immediately." + +"There! now you have had the best word. It is useless for me to try to +say anything better than that. Perhaps the most becoming thing I could +do would be to relapse into ignominious silence." + +"Silence! Desolation! And with a two-mile pull yet before us! If I +have had the best word you have uttered the worst one. What so +terrible as silence?" + +"It is said to be golden." + +"And, like the gold that Robinson Crusoe discovered on his island, it +is of no particular use to anyone." + +"It is one of the charms of Nature." + +"A charm that I have never discovered. What about the ever-present hum +of multitudinous insects, the song of birds, the moan of winds, the +laughter of leaping water? It seems to me that Nature is all voice." + +"Then, suppose," said the undaunted young lady, lifting her languorous +lids, "that we listen to her voice." + +There was no answering this; but, as the bonnet now veered towards the +sunny south, and the boat rounding the sharp corner of the bay +abruptly turned in the same direction, the young man was surprised to +find himself looking his companion fully in the face, caught in the +sudden sunshine of her smile. + +"I was about to remark," he said, emboldened by this token of favour, +"that there is nothing I delight in so much as listening to the voice +of nature--that is human nature." + +The smile deepened into a rippling laugh. "I am in one of my inhuman +moods this morning," she said, "but I believe my forte is action +rather than speech. Let me take your place, and those oars, please." + +He resigned them both, and at once; not because the unusual exertion +had made any appreciable inroad upon his strength, but because he +foresaw new phases of picturesqueness in the young girl's dainty +handling of the oars. Nor was he disappointed. The skirt of her dress +was narrow and long, beginning, like an infant's robe, a few inches +below the arms, and thence descending in softly curving lines to her +feet, with as little hint of rigidity or compression about the +tenderly rounded waist as about the full fair throat above it. She +stretched out a pair of shoes, incredibly small and unmistakably +French, and bent her slender gauntleted hands blithely to their task. +The newborn sweetness of the spring morning was about them. On the +heavily wooded shore the great evergreens towered darkly against the +sun, but its beams fell with dazzling brightness upon the meadowy +undulations of the lake. Above them they heard at times the wild cry +of the soaring gull, or the apparently disembodied voice of some +unseen bird. Behind them they left the beautiful stretch of Kempenfeldt +Bay, gleaming in the sunshine, and now they slowly ascended the waters +of Cook's Bay, called after the great circumnavigator, under whom many +of the naval officers who had settled in the region had served, +Governor Simcoe's father, after whom the old Lac des Clies--as the +French called it--had received its modern name, being a shipmate. + +But, now, Helene, whose slender strength had succumbed to the +difficulties of propelling their little craft, resumed her old seat, +and her bonnet, like a dark lantern, sometimes allowed a charming +light to be reflected upon surrounding objects, and then as suddenly +withdrew it. In the blue distance, near the mouth of the Holland +River, they caught the first glimpse of "Bellevue"--the home of the +DeBerczy's. The long sunlit run had after all been too brief. Edward +began to realize that some days might elapse before this pleasure +could be repeated. He drew in his oars, and let the boat rock idly on +the tide. His companion gave him an inquiring glance. "I wish," said +he, "that you would do me a favour." + +"Isn't that rather an extraordinary request?" + +"Not at all. It is a very natural remark. It has not yet advanced so +far as to be a request." + +"Oh! well, of course, I can't grant what isn't a request." + +"Does that mean that you can grant what is one?" + +"Sometimes." + +"How good of you! But, as I said before, I had only expressed a wish. +Aren't you in the least interested in my wishes?" + +"If you were interested in mine you would take up those oars again." + +"And thereby shorten the term of your imprisonment by me! Your +kindness emboldens me to make known my desire. I wish you would let me +examine something that appears to be hanging to your bonnet." + +"Is it a grub--a caterpillar--a spider?" These horrors were mentioned +in the order of their detestability, and with a rising accent. + +"Really, I wouldn't like to say, unless you remove the bonnet." She +gave a convulsive twitch to the strings, and pulled them into a hard +knot. "Can't you brush it off?" she asked Edward breathlessly. + +"Pray do not be so alarmed. No, indeed, I couldn't brush it off. It +sticks too fast for that. I wish," he said, as she made a frantic +lurch towards him, "that you could be mild but firm--I mean not quite +so agitated." Her breath came in quick perfumed wafts into his face, +as his steady fingers strove to undo the knot in her ribbons. But even +after this lengthy business was concluded his trouble (if it could +rightly be called a trouble) was only half over, for the careful Rose, +with a prudent foreknowledge of the power of lake breezes to +disarrange, if not carry away altogether, the headgear of helpless +woman, had by some ingenious arrangement of hair-pins fastened the +bonnet to the raven locks of her friend in such a manner that it could +not be removed without endangering the structure of her elaborate +hair-architecture. So it was among the dark waves of rapidly +down-flowing tresses that Helene's voice was again heard beseeching +him to tell her what it was. + +"Your scientific curiosity seems to be almost as great as your fear of +the insect creation. But, really, it is quite a harmless little +fellow. See!" and he pointed to a steel beetle set with a view to +ornamental effect in the centre of a little rosette of ribbons. + +"Oh, shameless!" exclaimed the young girl, sinking her lily-white face +again among the abundant waves of her hair. + +"Yes, I daresay he is ashamed enough to think that he isn't alive when +he sees that you regret it so much." + +It is very annoying to be obliged to laugh when one has just made up +one's mind to be very angry; but Mademoiselle DeBerczy, with all her +haughtiness, was endowed with a sense of humour; so it was with only a +weak show of reproachful indignation that she at last threw back her +head and exclaimed: + +"How could you--when I have such a horror of every sort of creeping +thing--and you knew what it was all the time!" + +"Oh, excuse me, I did not know--that is, I wasn't positive. At a +distance I thought it was some sort of a big fly--a blue-bottle. Now I +see it is a blue beetle." + +The young lady deigned no reply. + +"I am sorry that you were frightened, but you don't seem to be a bit +sorry on account of my sufferings." + +"Your sufferings?" + +"Yes, see how surprised you are even to know that they existed! But +they are over now. At frequent intervals, all through this long +voyage, I have been forced to look at a heavenly body through a +telescope--that is, when I could get the telescope properly adjusted +to my vision. The difficulties of adjustment have cost me a world of +trouble." + +She gazed at him a moment in wide-eyed amazement, and then without +attempting to solve the riddle of his remarks, proceeded to reduce her +wind-blown locks to something like their usual law and order. The dark +heavy waves, rioting in the breeze, seemed to offer a problem to the +deft white fingers that fluttered among them, but they were speedily +subjugated, and the despised bonnet was added as the crowning touch. +Not a moment too soon, for the boat grated on the sandy beach, and the +austere windows of her home were looking coldly down upon her. A pair +of austere eyes were also fixedly regarding her; but of this Helene +was happily unconscious. Perhaps it was the instinct of hospitality +alone that made her smile so brightly upon the brother of her friend, +as they walked up to the house together. The grounds about "Bellevue," +not so ample as those surrounding the home of the old Commodore, gave +equal evidence of wealth and taste, and reminded one of a little park +set in the midst of the wilderness. The garden borders were bright +with crocuses and snowdrops and rich in promises of future bloom, +while from the orchard slopes on the left came a fair vision of +wall-like masses of foliage, frescoed with blossoms and the perfumed +touch of the blithe breezes at play among them. Entering the quaint, +dimly-lighted hall, they passed under long plumes of peacock feathers, +o'erhanging the arched doorway leading into the drawing-room. The +floors were waxed and polished, the apartments spacious and lofty with +elaborate cornices and panels. Leaving her guest in mute contemplation +of a tiny wood fire in a great fire-place, the young girl ran lightly +up the broad, low stairway, pausing at the half-way landing to gaze +dreamily from a casemated window out upon the sparkling waters of the +lake. Some of its brightness was reflected in her eyes, as, with a +step less discreet and deferential than that which usually +characterized her approaches to her mother's bedchamber, she passed on +to a half-closed door, tapped lightly upon it, and then pushed it wide +open. + +"Ah, my daughter, what tidings do you bring?" + +"He has come!" declared the girl, proclaiming with unaffected gladness +what was at that moment a great event in her life. + +"He!" + +The chilly palm which the elder lady had extended, without rising, for +the customary greeting, was not so chilly as the tone with which she +uttered this offending pronoun. Helene, suddenly remembering with deep +self-reproach the grief that her mother must feel in the loss of her +old friend, took the cold fingers in both her warm white hands, and +whispered tenderly: + +"She has gone!" + +Madame DeBerczy was not overcome by this intelligence. She had indeed +learned the sad truth from Tredway, who had been despatched to +"Bellevue" by the Commodore immediately upon the death of his wife. +Consequently, at this moment, her heart did not suffer so much as her +sense of propriety--which her enemies asserted was a more vital organ. + +"I trust," she said, not unkindly, but with a sort of majestic +displeasure, "that you do not mention these facts to me in what you +consider the order of their importance." + +The young girl was chilled. She moved away to one of the spindle-legged +chairs near a window, and played absently with the knotted fringes of +the old-fashioned dimity curtain. "I mention them in the order of +their occurrence," she said gently. "Dear Mrs. Macleod could scarcely +close her eyes on earth until they rested upon her son. He brought me +over in his boat this morning, and is waiting below to see you. Do you +feel able to go down?" + +"I hope I shall always be able to respond to social requirements, and +the son of my old friend must not be slighted. Were you about to +suggest that I receive him in my bedchamber?" + +Helene, who had risen with charming alertness at the first intimation +of her mother's intentions, now confronted that frigid dame with the +subdued radiance of her glance. "Ah, dear mother!" she murmured +deprecatingly. Daughterly submissiveness, tender consideration for an +invalid's querulous moods, gentle insistence upon her own right to be +happy in spite of them, were all radiated from the softly spoken +words. Rigid propriety may have slain its thousands, perhaps its tens +of thousands, but the elder lady foresaw with terrible clearness that +it would never find a victim in this blithe girl, who refrained from +dancing down the stairs before her simply because her happiness was +accustomed to find expression in her looks, not in her actions. +However, motherly allegiance to duty might curb if it could not +altogether control. "Is it possible that I heard you humming a tune as +you came through the hall?" she inquired. + +"No, no; it is impossible! I hummed it so low that you certainly could +not have heard it!" + +Dignified rebuke was out of the question, as they had reached the foot +of the stairway. In another moment Edward Macleod was bending +profoundly over the hand of his hostess. The aristocratic, little old +lady, with her delicate faded face, always seemed to him like some +rare piece of porcelain or other fragile, highly-finished object. He +led her to the easiest chair, and drew his own close beside her, only +interrupting the absorbed attention which he gave to her remarks by +soft inquiries regarding her health, or compliments upon the way in +which her not very vigorous constitution had withstood the severity of +the Canadian winter. + +This noble dame, though she had been accustomed to a Northern climate, +had never reconciled herself to it. She still longed for _la belle +France_. Those who accompanied her husband to this portion of Upper +Canada, on the outbreak of the French Revolution, had either returned +to France or had gone to settle in French Canada, at the capital of +which Helene was born shortly after the death of her father. The old +friendship of General DeBerczy for Commodore Macleod, and the fact +that the latter was the executor of her husband's estate and the +guardian of her daughter, had led her to return to the Huguenot colony +on the Oak Ridges, and summer always found Madame and her household at +her northern villa, near the Macleod residence, on Lake Simcoe. Here +Edward passed the day gossiping with the old lady, and sauntering +about the trim grounds with the stately Helene until the afternoon was +far advanced. + +After taking his leave of Madame DeBerczy, Edward cast a fugitive +glance about him in search of her daughter, but that young lady, for +reasons of her own, was absent. He suffered a vague disappointment, as +he took his way to the shore, but at the water's edge a girlish form +overtook him, and a superb bouquet of hot-house flowers was placed in +his hand. + +"I brought them for you to place upon--upon--" + +She hesitated. It sounded like wanton cruelty to say "your mother's +grave" to him, whose idea of everything lovely on earth must be +signified in the word "mother," everything terrible in the word +"grave." But he understood her, and thanked her, while his heart and +eyes filled fast. On that lonely homeward row the burden of his +bereavement lay heavily upon him, and the remembrance of his happy +morning with his childhood's friend, though sweet, was almost as faint +as the fragrance exhaled from the rare exotics at his feet. The pure +tender curves of the white camellias reminded him of Helene. She +herself was the rare product of choicest care and cultivation--the +flower of an old and complex civilization. The fancy pleased him at +first, and then woke in his mind a certain vague disdain. What place +had hot-house plants, either human or otherwise, in this wild new +land, whose illimitable forests as yet were almost strangers to axe +and fire? + +In a remote and solitary corner of his own domain, the Commodore had +made for his dead wife a last abiding-place. Thitherward, and alone, +the motherless youth bent his steps in the soft glow of sunset. The +stillness of the place was broken only by the whisper of the trees +overhead, the faint hum of insects, and the low murmur of the lapping +waters of the lake. Walking with downbent head and step so light that +his footfall made no slightest sound upon the young grass in his path, +he did not see the form of a half wild, wholly beautiful girl, emerge +from the deep gloom of the woods before him. Nor did she observe him, +for her attention was wholly bent upon the armful of forest-flowers, +which she let fall upon the grave with a passionate gesture of grief. +The young man, looking up in startled amaze, recognized the strange, +fantastic figure that had fled before his approach on the evening of +his return home. He scarcely noticed her odd costume of mingled blue +and yellow, so drawn was he to the dusky splendour of her face. The +warm vitality of the mantling cheek, and the charm of the lustrous +lips, were matched in hue by a blood-coloured 'kerchief, carelessly +knotted about the supple, tawny throat, behind which streamed a +profuse abundance of deep-black hair. Giving him one frightened +glance, she turned and sped like some strange tropic bird upon the +wind. Moved by wonder, curiosity, and admiration, the young man gave +stealthy chase; but, after following in the wake of her flying feet by +bush and brier, and through the tangled thickets of the forest, he had +the poor satisfaction of losing sight of her altogether, and then +gaining one last glimpse of her, as, from the dense shadowy point +where she became invisible, shot out a birch-bark canoe, and the dying +sunset illumined with all the hues of victory the superb form of an +Algonquin maiden rapidly rowing away. Hot, irritated, and tired, +Edward returned home, nor did he observe that, in this fruitless +chase, one of the pure buds that Helene had given him had fallen from +his breast, on which he had pinned it, and had been rudely crushed +beneath his heel. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +INDIAN ANNALS AND LEGENDS. + + +The last flame of sunset had gone out on a horizon of ashy paleness, +as the light bark of the Indian girl swept up the beach, and its +occupant, after making it secure, loitered idly home. Here, undismayed +by observation, she was as gracefully at ease as a fawn in its leafy +covert, and as quickly startled into flight at the tread of a stranger. + +So lightly did her moccasined feet press the underbrush that no sound +preceded her coming, until she reached the blanketed opening of a +wigwam where sat an aged Algonquin chief, very grave, very dignified, +very far from being immaculately clean. The young girl was not +intimidated by this picturesque combination of dignity and dirt. +Perhaps it was the absence of these qualities in the young cadet that +caused her sudden flight from him. Seating herself on a bearskin, not +far from her foster-father, she interchanged with him mellow syllables +of greeting. The chief placed a finger upon her moist brow, and +inquired the cause of her haste. + +"It was the young kinsman of the Wild Rose who followed me. His head +is beautiful as the sun, but he moves, alas, yes, he moves more +slowly." + +"Then, why this haste?" queried the Indian, who, though he could boast +all the keen and subtle instincts of his race, was apparently in some +matters as obtuse as a white man. + +The girl bowed her face upon her slim brown hands. + +"I do not like the glances of his eye," she said. "They are strong and +dazzling as sunbeams on the water." + +The chief smoked in meditative silence. "You go too often to the +dwelling of the Wild Rose, my daughter." + +"Ah, yes; but to-night her pink face is dewy wet, I know, and she is +alone. The Moon-in-a-black-cloud has gone to the home of her people." + +"Then let her seek consolation in the slow moving sun. The pale-faced +nation are not fit associates for an Algonquin maiden. Mother Earth +has no love for them; they are quick to wash away her lightest +finger-touch upon them. They are pale and lifeless as a rock over +which the stream washes continually. Their men are afraid of the rain; +their women of the sunshine." + +"It is even so. The Wild Rose covers her head, and even her hands, +when she leaves the house." + +At this mournful assent the chief warmed to his task of depreciation. + +"They are degraded, these pale faces, they are poor-spirited, mean, +contemptible; unable to cope with the wild beasts of the forest, they +settle down in weak resignation to grow vegetables; nothing stirs them +from their state of ignoble content except the call to battle, and +that is responded to not in defence of the lives of their fathers, +their wives and children, but merely to settle some petty quarrel +between the chiefs of their nations. + +"Ah, they are a strange, servile race! They work with their hands." +The Indian paused and looked down at the wrinkled yet shapely members +that lay before him. "They look upon the grand forest as their natural +enemy, burning, cutting, mutilating, until they have made that odious +thing 'a clearing,' when a house is built with the dead bodies of the +beautiful trees that have fallen by their hand." + +"But surely they are not wholly bad," pleaded the girl, her kind heart +refusing to accept the belief that even the lowest of humanity could +be utterly worthless. + +The chief was not to be turned from the swift current of his thoughts +by idle interruptions. + +"Their religion is dead, buried in a book, and they put it from them +as easily as they put the book on the shelf. Our religion is alive, +broad as the earth, deep as the sky. They go into a _house_ to +worship; _our_ temple is fashioned by the great Spirit, and our +prayers ascend continually like the white smoke from our wigwams. Ah, +but they should be pitied not blamed. They are far from the heart of +nature--they have ceased to be her children." + +"It is money they worship, and the soul of a man becomes like that +which he adores. They mourn bitterly for their dead, because they feel +how great is the distance between them and the land of spirits. I have +heard that there are white men who do not believe that this land +exists, but that cannot be true." + +There were some depths of degradation that even his far-reaching +imagination failed to compass. Wanda listened wearily, though she +manifested no signs of impatience. + +"The pale-faced women are sometimes very beautiful," she said. + +"Yes; but they are strange, unnatural creatures. In times of anger +they attack their helpless little ones, talking in a harsh voice, +pinching, beating, slapping them, doing everything but bite them." + +His listener did not shudder. The Indian, no matter how much his +feelings may be stirred, is unaccustomed to evince emotion. + +"With us," continued the old man, "an angry woman frequently pulls her +husband's hair; for is he not her husband to do with what she likes? +but to fall upon her own flesh and blood--that is unnatural and +horrible. It is as if she should wilfully injure her own person, +bruise it with stones or sear it with hot irons. Perhaps it is because +the pale-faced tribes suffer so much in childhood that they are weak +and cowardly in manhood. They shrink and cry like a wounded panther at +the touch of pain." + +The girl who had not dwelt upon it except in her thoughts was +nevertheless filled with a gently uplifting sense of race superiority. +Her admiration of Rose was tinged with pity. Poor garden flower, +confined for life to the dull walks and prim parterres of a fixed +enclosure, when she might roam the wild paths of the forest; condemned +to sleep in a close room, on stifling feathers, and bathe in an +elongated tub, when she might feel the elasticity of hemlock boughs +beneath her, inhale the perfumed breath of myriad trees, and plunge at +sunrise into the gleaming waters of the lake. It was indeed a pitiable +life. + +They entered the wigwam, and seated themselves on the rush mats that +lay upon the ground. About them were carelessly disposed some dressed +skins of the beaver and otter, a brace of wild duck, fishing tackle, +and the accoutrements of the chase, a rifle, powder-horn and shot +pouch. The chief himself, in his buckskin garment, tightened by a +wampum belt, his deer-skin moccasins, scarlet cloth leggings and +blanket, was not the least picturesque object of the interior. Usually +reticent, he found great difficulty to-night in withdrawing his mind +from the subject that had taken such violent possession of it. + +"The influence of the white race is spreading," he said. "Like the +poison vines of the forest it touches all who come near it with fatal +effect. The tribe of the Hurons is infected with it, and they are +becoming mere tillers of the soil--miserable earth-worms! Men were +made to be free as the bounding deer or the flowing stream, but they +have paled and weakened, they have become wretched grovellers on the +ground." + +Wanda's large eyes held a smouldering fire of repressed indignation. +Her mother had been a Huron. + +The story of that dark time, far back in the annals of Canada, when +the Huron hunting-grounds in this region were laid waste by the +destroyer, had been told her so often that her childish imagination +had been filled with horror, and a passionate sense of outraged +justice and impossible revenge stirred within her at the bare mention +of her mother's martyred tribe. She did not vent her feelings in +bitter or retaliatory speech--that is the weakness of fairer-faced +women--but through her brain rushed like a swift stream a vivid +recollection of the tragic tale as it fell from the lips of her Huron +mother upon her young horror-stricken heart. + +Less than two hundred years before, the poetry of Indian life among +the peaceful shades of this virgin wilderness was turned into a tale +too ghastly for human imagination, too terrible for human endurance. +At that time the Huron settlements on the borders of Lakes Simcoe and +Couchiching, and between Nottawasaga and Matchedash bays, numbered +from twenty to thirty thousand souls. The picturesque country, thickly +dotted with Indian towns, was for many years the scene of Champlain's +zealous efforts to erect in these western wilds the standard of the +Cross. While he won, among the Hurons, converts to his faith and a +colony to his country, they found in him a leader in a fateful attack +upon their ancient and most obdurate enemies, the Iroquois. The result +of the expedition was failure and discomfiture, but years afterwards, +when Champlain was dead, and the "great-souled and giant-statured Jean +de Brebeuf" became known as the apostle of the tribe, this foray +brought most disastrous consequences upon the unsuspecting Hurons. + +Not far from the present site of Barrie was the frontier town of St. +Joseph, where the Jesuit Fathers, in view of the perils surrounding +them, had concentrated their forces in a central stronghold, with a +further inland defence at Ste. Marie, near the site of the present +town of Penetanguishene. Here, at St. Joseph, after years of incessant +labour, of discomforts and discouragements without parallel in the +annals of our country, the ardent souls whose enthusiasm for faith and +duty had become the dominant principle of their life, were swept away +in the red tide of blood that was opened by the Iroquois. One still +fair morning in the summer of 1648, while most of the warriors were +absent at the chase, and a company of devout worshippers were +celebrating Mass in the Mission Chapel, their brutish enemies +descended upon their peaceful domains, and by means of every torture +conceivable to the savage imagination practically exterminated the +tribe. Before the century had half-ended the mission post of St. +Ignace was similarly invaded by the Iroquois, who, after they wearied +of the pastime of hacking the flesh off their prisoners with tomahawks +and hatchets, and scorching them with red-hot irons, bound them at +last to the stake and mercifully allowed the swift-mounting flames to +end their sufferings. Whole families were bound in their houses before +the town was set on fire, and their wild cries mingled with the wilder +laughter of their inhuman captors. The few who escaped were so wounded +and mutilated that before they could reach a place of safety numbers +of them died frozen in the woods. + +The remembrance of this dark tale never failed to stir the young girl +to a sort of slow self-contained fury, but the blood of the +peace-loving Hurons was in her veins, and could not long be dominated +by the vengeful propensities of her haughty Algonquin father. +Invariably with the mixture of blood comes the warring of diverse +emotions, the dissatisfaction with the present life, the secret +yearning for something better, the impulse towards something worse. +She sighed furtively, and half-impatiently went outside to tend the +evening camp-fire. The blazing branches illuminated the starless +summer night, and cast a superb glow over the beautiful half-clothed +figure crouching not far from them. Beyond, the dark blue bay ebbed +and flowed languidly. + +Some days elapsed before Wanda again made her appearance in the +neighbourhood of the Commodore's mansion. This was caused partly by +shyness, partly by fear of meeting the bold-eyed youth, whose interest +in her had been so painfully apparent. At length Rose, who had noted +with wonder and a little anxiety this unusual absence, suggested to +her brother that they call upon one of her Indian friends. To this +Edward demurred, on the ground that the work in which he happened to +be engaged at the time could not possibly wait. But when he learned +that the beautiful Wanda was the friend alluded to he agreed to go +with her at once, saying that the work he was doing could wait as well +as not. Such was the manner in which brotherly affection was manifested +sixty years ago. + +It was a still, almost breathless evening in June. From the meadows, +thickly starred with dew, rose the thin high chorus of the crickets, +while above, the commingling of gray cloud and crimson sunset had +subsided into dusk and golden twilight, which were giving place to the +white radiance of the moon slowly climbing the warm heights of heaven. +It was so quiet that the sound of waves and insects seemed like the +softest whispers of nature. Rose and Edward had rowed down the bay for +Helene, who usually accompanied them on their impromptu excursions by +lake and wood. Seen in the pale brilliance of sky and water her +loveliness had an almost unearthly quality, perfectly akin to the +night, but giving her a strange effect of soft remoteness from her +friends. The light from a brazier, fitted into a stanchion in the prow +of the boat, in which some pieces of birch-bark were kindled, brought +the deep dark shadow of the woods into sharp relief, and gave a more +vivid brilliance to the immediate surroundings; but along the dimly-lit +path in the forest all the magical influences of the night held sway. +Beneath the tangled underbrush they caught glimpses of the rich and +fantastic vegetation with which the earth was clothed, while above +them, intermingled with the shadows cast by the vaulted boughs, played +the vivid brightness of the moon. Some of the trees were deeply +girdled--a slow method of killing them. These lingering deaths affected +the trio with melancholy. A wounded inmate of the grove, standing in +mute and pathetic resignation to its fate, loses first the feeling of +the sap that, blood-like, circulates through every limb, then all its +leafy honours fade, and its death is slow and inevitable as the death +of a forsaken woman who carries a deep hurt at the heart. + +Near where a group of lofty elms lifted their beautiful heads up to +the moonlight they found the old chief busily engaged in mending his +seine. He greeted them with entire self-possession, rising and giving +his hand to each, after which he resumed his occupation in tranquil +content, as though the duties of hospitality were now over. The young +ladies, however, without waiting for any further exhibition of +courtesy, seated themselves on a mossy log, and bestowed upon their +host and his employment the flattering attention, which, if it failed +to make an impression upon him, would certainly prove him more--or +less--than mortal man. Edward, meantime, finding a convenient bough a +few feet above his head, amused himself in swinging by his hands, with +a view to muscular development. The contrast between the sad dignity +of the aged Indian, the lone survivor of a despised race, and the +light-heartedness of the fair boy, upon whom all the hopes of his +family centred, struck both girls forcibly. After a few sympathetic +inquiries regarding the health of the chief, Rose asked after the +whereabouts of Wanda. + +"She is not here," he replied. "She flies from our home as a bird +flies from its cage, returning only when she is weary, or when the +shades of night are upon the land." + +"Do you know where she is?" inquired Edward, dropping to his feet, and +seating himself on a log facing the others. + +"Somewhere in the forest," replied the Indian, indicating the direction +by a broad sweep of the hand, which might include a thousand acres. + +This was sufficiently indefinite. "It appears to be characteristic of +this young lady that she is either a vanished joy, or just on the +point of becoming one. Have you any idea how far away she is?" he +asked. + +"Something more than twice the flight of an arrow," tranquilly +answered the Indian--"yes, much more. It used to be that she went +short distances, but she now goes a papoose's journey of half a +sun--sometimes further." He viewed his impatient guest a moment with +gravity, and added, "yes, much further." + +"And you trust her all alone?" + +"She is an Algonquin maiden. She fears nothing." + +"And why is an Algonquin superior to a Huron, for instance?" The young +man, leaning idly back, and caressing the Indian dog of the chief, +pursued his questions without any definite purpose, but merely to draw +out his reserved-looking host. + +"Why is the fleet deer that spurns the soil better than the dull ox +that tills it? Or why is the eagle better than the hen that picks up +corn in your doorway? But there was a time when in all the land no +Indian could be found who was tame and stupid--what you call +civilized." + +"Tell us a legend of that time, will you not?" pleaded Rose, who had +been watching in silence for a fitting opportunity to make her +favourite request. + +"Ah, please do," said Edward, and the three settled themselves +comfortably to listen. + +"It was a great many moons ago," began the chief, "long before the +time of my grandfather. All the Indian races were then as one people, +living in peace, and speaking one tongue. Not one of them worked with +his hands. The deer, the beaver, the otter, the antelope, and the bear +flourished and fattened for all, and were caught with scarcely any +skill or effort. The men were never wearied in the chase, nor the +women with pounding corn. None of the white races had as yet come upon +the earth to molest and insult the guardian spirits of hill and stream +and stately wood, and the red men, then as now, were in the habit of +propitiating these deities by offerings of maize, bright coloured +flowers, or belts of wampum laid upon the mountains, or dropped into +caves or streams. Yes, every one lived without fear of his neighbour, +and the red ochre with which our tribes paint their faces in war was +used only to decorate the pipe of peace. + +"One day it happened that a few chosen ones of all these tribes were +met together upon a plain, about the distance of four bow-shots across. +Very green and shining it looked to the eye, for it was in the +Flower-moon, and the great star of day was bright in the heaven. By +its clear light they saw, far in the distance, two strange, enormous +things moving towards them. But whether these things were writhing +wreaths of thunder clouds descended to earth, or gigantic trees +denuded of their foliage and suddenly gifted with the power of motion, +or whether they were wild beasts of a size never seen before, they +could not tell. But presently they found them to be immense creatures +in the form of rattlesnakes, poisoning the air with their vile +effluvia, and destroying every green tree and living thing in their +path. Every delicate plant and creeping thing was poisoned by their +breath, and the larger animals were devoured in the flap of a bird's +wing. With them came terrific lightnings that rent the trees and cleft +the solid rock, and thunders which caused the earth to reel like a man +who had drank many times of fire-water. Nearer and nearer they +approached, and now the chosen residents of this fair plain were +filled with alarm for their lives, and at once began to build +fortifications against the terrible intruders. The snakes, who +appeared to prefer the flesh of man to that of the other animals, +crawled up close to the defence of their enemies, and flung their long +horrible bodies against it, but in vain. It was useless to attack them +with bows and arrows, on account of the scales which enveloped them +like an armour. Those who ventured without the walls were instantly +swallowed, while those within, who had fasted many suns, were growing +weak from want of food. + +"Now there was among them a chief, called the Big Bear, who was very +brave and cunning. He had been a hunter of the deer and wolf ever +since he had been pronounced a man. No danger was so great that he +could not find a trail out of it. So when he began to speak all the +people who remained gathered round him. + +"'Brothers and chiefs,' he said, 'I perceive that one of our enemies +is a woman, because she is less sluggish in her movements than the +other, and her eyes are bright and deceitful. Besides she cares not to +eat all the time, but she will sometimes go to view herself in the +river, or when she thinks no one is looking will slyly turn her head +to see the graceful movements of her tail. Brothers, my plan is this: +Let me contrive to win the heart of this vain squaw-snake, and then +with her aid I shall be able to destroy her husband; afterwards we may +compass the destruction of the faithless wife. If I perish it is in a +good cause, I am a willing martyr.' + +"This good man proceeded that very night to carry out his noble +purpose. The sky was full of shining lights as he mounted the +fortification, and bent toward her, murmuring: 'Ah, beautiful creature, +thy form is graceful as a winding stream, and thine eyes are two stars +reflected in it. That stupid man-snake, lying in heavy sleep, how can +he appreciate you? He is withered and worthless as a last year's leaf. +As for me I flee to you from the dull women of my tribe, who are like +so many dead trees, that stand even after life has left them. You are +alive and beautiful in every movement, like the long curving wave that +breaks upon the beach.' + +"Oh, there is no doubt that Big Bear knew all about the best way to +make love, for very soon the squaw-snake began to show great +discontent with her husband, to scold him in a high voice, and to wish +that he were dead; whereas she greeted Big Bear with much affection, +warming her glittering head in his breast, and embracing him several +times by coiling round and round him. But she was careful to turn her +head away, so as not to poison him by her breath. As for Big Bear, +though he was glad to win her love, he wished her not to love him too +well as she had a wonderful dexterity in snapping off the heads of +those whom she admired. Her consent to the death of her husband was +easily gained, and she bade him dip the points of two arrows in the +poison of her sting. This he did and after retiring within the +fortification he levelled one arrow at the head of the husband, while +he deposited the other in that of the wicked wife. The horrid monsters +rolled over in agony, and rent the air with their death-shrieks, while +all the people gathering about Big Bear, called him their brother, +because by his wonderful knowledge of the arts of flirtation he had +delivered them from great peril. But the most grievous result of the +danger through which they had passed was this, that the poison ejected +by the snakes in their death-agonies affected all the tribes of the +earth to such an extent that each began to use a different language +which could not be comprehended by the others. Since that time a young +man of one race very seldom weds with the daughter of another, because +she does not understand the lies he tells." + +"Is it necessary for him to tell her what is not true, in order to +marry her?" asked Edward. + +"It is customary," replied the chief, gravely returning to his task, +without the suspicion of a smile. + +"Oh, strange peculiarity of the red men," softly exclaimed Helene. She +begged for another legend, but the Indian had relapsed into his normal +state of imperious dignity; so, after thanking him for the extravaganza, +to which they had listened with admirable self-possession, they +returned to the beach, the dog plunging joyfully into the green depths +of the forest before them. The great woods were warm, odorous, +breathless. Rose pushed back the damp blonde locks from her brow. "I +wish you could have seen Wanda," she said. "The girl is quite a beauty. +Half wild, of course, but with a sort of barbaric splendour about her +that dazzles and bewilders one. You will understand when you see her, +why the Indians speak the word 'pale-face' with a contemptuous +inflection." + +"I suppose," mused Edward, "that paleness to them means weakness, lack +of blood, vitality, courage, and all that most becomes a man. Yet as a +matter of taste I prefer white to copper colour." His blue eyes were +bent upon the lily-like face of Helene. + +"Wait till you see her," was his sister's laughing response. + +"And that will be many moons hence, to use the language of our +story-teller, if she continues as elusive as the wind. I have had +glimpses of her, or rather of the flutter of her vanishing raiment. +A being with a wonderfully perfect face, clothed in heterogeneous and +many-coloured garments, and educated on the amazing fictions with +which her foster-father's memory seems to be stored, would be worth +waiting to see." + +But he had not long to wait. As he stood on the beach in the absence +of his companions, who were carefully retracing their steps to the +wigwam in search of a glove, presumably dropped by the way, he caught +sight of the Indian girl, her back turned towards him, lazily rocking +herself in his boat. For a moment he thrilled with the excitement of a +hunter in the presence of that desirable object, "a splendid shot." +Then he crept stealthily forward, sprang into the boat, and before the +startled girl could recover from her amazement, he was rowing her far +out on the moonlit bay. "There!" he cried, exultantly, bending an +ardent yet laughing gaze upon her, "now you may run away as fast as +you like." + +The girl neither spoke nor moved. A great fire of resentment was +burning in her heart, and its flames mounted to her cheeks. "My soul!" +he murmured, "how beautiful you are!" She faced him fully and fairly, +with the magnificent disdain of an empress in exile. In some way she +gave him the impression that this brilliant little escapade was rather +a poor joke after all. "Do me the favour of moving a muscle," he +pleaded mockingly, and his request was lavishly granted. Before he +could guess her intention she was in the water, knocking an oar from +his hand in her rapid exit, and swimming at an incredible rate of +speed for the nearest point of land, from which she sped like a hunted +thing to the woods. + +Left alone in this unceremonious fashion the young man paddled +ruefully after his missing oar, and then struck out boldly after the +escaped captive, with the intention of apologizing for what now seemed +to him rather a cowardly performance; but the footsteps of the flying +maiden left no trace upon the beach. His discomfited gaze rested on no +living thing save the approaching figures of his sister and her friend, +whose humane inquiries and frequent jests concerning the half wild, +wholly dripping, vision that had crossed their path, contributed in no +way to the young man's enjoyment of their homeward row. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ALGONQUIN MAIDEN. + + +Early on one of those matchless summer mornings, for he loved to adopt +the hours kept by the birds, Edward set forth alone on a voyage of +discovery. The wilds of his native land had a great and enduring +fascination for him. He never ceased to enjoy the charm of a forest so +dense that one might stay in it for days without the danger of +discovery. Wandering as he listed, hurrying or loitering as it pleased +him, and resting when weary beneath the outstretched arms of the +over-shadowing wood, he drank deeply of the simple joys of a free and +careless savage life. His whole nature became sensitive and receptive, +like that of a poet, an absorbent of the beauty and music of earth and +air. + +The long bright hours of this particular day were spent in exploring +bayous and marshes, and in paddling among the ledges and around the +lovely islands of Lake Couchiching. The dazzling blue expanse--mirror +of a sky as blue--was broadly edged with reeds and rushes, flags and +water-lilies, and framed by the thickly wooded shore and the green +still cliffs that overhung the quiet waves. The air was laden with the +sweet faint odours of early summer, and a soft breeze was lightly +blowing under skies as soft. The youthful voyager went ashore, and for +a long time lay stretched on the sand with his gun watching for +wild-fowl. + +The woods were brilliant with flowers, blue larkspur, scarlet lichens, +the white and yellow and purple cyprepedium, or lady's slipper, called +by the Indians 'moccasin flower,' the purple and scarlet iris, the +bright pink blossom of the columbine, and all the other wind-blown and +world-forgotten flowerets of the forest. + +As the day grew warmer he betook himself for coolness to a quiet +leaf-screened nook, beneath a rudely sculptured cliff, mantled in +foliage. Here he reclined after his midday lunch, gazing out upon a +sky so blue that it seemed a sea washing the invisible shores of +heaven, and dreaming of as many things as usually occupy the fancy of +a young man on an idle June day. But one event of which he did not +dream was rapidly approaching. A wild bird more brilliant and +beautiful than any he had so patiently waited for with his gun was +preparing to fall at his feet. Just above his head the Algonquin +maiden, Wanda, who like himself had strayed far from home, was +reposing warm and wearied in utter unconsciousness of the proximity of +any human being. The shining waters of the lake beneath her gave her a +sudden charming inspiration. Springing up with the alertness of one +upon whom fatigue lies as lightly as dew upon the sward, she swiftly +disrobed, and remained a moment graceful as a young maple in autumn, +standing in beautiful undress, its delicate limbs bare of leaves, and +all its light raiment fallen in a many coloured heap to the ground. + +In the natural _abandon_ of the situation, Wanda neared the edge of +the overhanging cliff, and sprang far out into the water. Edward, who +was still lounging under the rock, was startled by the flashing +outline--like a meteor from the heavens--of a human figure, which, in +the twinkling of an eye, had cleaved the smooth surface of the lake, +sank far into its depths, and reappeared some distance off. The +glistening waters seemed to set in diamonds the beautifully shaped +head and neck of the Indian maiden as she disported herself in the +cool lake, and made for a point of land where a winding pathway, +covered to the water's edge by a profuse growth of young trees, led up +to the cliff above. + +Recalling the classical story, familiar to his youth, and the judgment +of the gods--"Henceforth be blind for thine eyes have seen too +much!"--the young man concealed himself from view from the lake and +waited for some time before venturing to regain the cliff overhead. + +The fear of not being able to overtake the Indian beauty prevented +Edward from remaining a prisoner quite as long as his sense of +propriety dictated. But his fear was justified. She had almost reached +the vanishing point of his vision when he finally emerged from his +involuntary hiding-place. When at last he came up with her she +confronted him with the wide innocent gaze of a child suddenly +startled in its play. Then the swift instinct of the savage, the +uncontrollable desire to fly, took possession of her. But the young +man laid a light detaining hand upon her slim brown wrist. "Don't +leave me," he entreated, "I want to ask you the way home." + +It was the only pretext he could invent on the spur of the moment, and +it answered his purpose admirably. She stopped to view with undisguised +amazement, tempered with faint scorn, a human being who was so ignorant +of the commonest affairs of life as to lose himself in the woods. She +never dreamed of doubting his word. "I will be your guide," she said, +with grave friendliness. + +"You are very kind. I am afraid," said the youth with well-feigned +discouragement, "that we are a long way from home." + +"This is my home," said Wanda, as they stepped into the shadow of the +limitless forest. "It is only white men who are content to live on a +little patch of ground and shut the sky away from them. The Indian is +at home everywhere." + +"That is certainly an advantage, for when a person's home is spread +all over the continent he can never be lost. What should I have done +if I had not met you?" + +She made no reply. Flitting before him like some gorgeous bird, he was +obliged to follow her at a pace that was anything but agreeable on +this hot afternoon. Presently she turned and came back. He was leaning +against a tree, breathing heavily, and exhibiting every symptom of +extreme fatigue. + +"You are forcing me to lead a terribly fast life," he declared. "You +have no idea of how tired I am." + +She laid a smooth brown hand upon his heart. If it beat faster at the +touch it was not sufficiently rapid to cause alarm. "You are not tired +at all," she declared with the air of a wise physician who is not to +be imposed upon, "besides there is need for haste. It is going to +rain." + +And indeed the intense heat of the summer afternoon threatened to find +relief in a thunder shower. The atmosphere suddenly cooled and +darkened. The strange, shrill, foreboding chirp of a bird was the only +sound heard in the forest, except the rushing of a new-risen hurrying +wind in the tree-tops. Then came the loud patter of rain on the leaves +overhead, accompanied by a heavy crash of thunder. + +"The Great Spirit is angry," murmured the young girl, her eyes +dilating, and her breast heaving. + +"Well, experience teaches me that the best course to pursue when +people are angry is to keep perfectly still until the storm blows +over. It's no use talking back. Ah! don't do that," he implored as +she stooped and kissed the ground. + +"But I must. It will propitiate the angry spirit and preserve us from +danger." + +"Oh, how can you waste your sweetness on the desert earth, in that +fashion? It _may_ preserve us from danger, but it is likely to have a +contrary effect on me." + +The temporary shelter afforded by the interlacing branches overhead +was now beaten down by the strength of the storm, which descended in +torrents. "Ah! you are afraid," he observed softly, drawing nearer to +her. + +"It is for you," she responded, "The rain is no more to me than it is +to a red squirrel, but you, poor canary bird, your yellow head should +be safe in its own cage." + +This anxious, motherly tone brought a smile to the lips of the young +man. A sudden thought struck his guide. Grasping his hand she drew him +swiftly along until they reached the hollow trunk of an immense oak, +into which she hastily thrust him. "There is not room for both," she +declared, looking like a dripping naiad, as the rain-drops thickened +about her. "Then there is not room for me," responded Edward, whose +sense of chivalry rebelled at the idea of looking from a place of +security upon an unprotected woman, exposed to the fury of the storm. +He drew her reluctant form beside him, but she was impatient and ill +at ease in her enforced shelter, as though she had been one of the +untamed things of the wood, caught and prisoned against its will. +Outside the rain fell fast, while within crouched this beautiful +creature as remotely as possible from her human companion, and gazing +longingly forth upon the wild elements of whose life her own life +seemed to form a vital part. Her pulse beat fast in sympathy with the +fast beating rain. Her large liquid eyes were dark as woodland pools. +She did not pay her companion the compliment of being embarrassed in +the slightest degree by his presence. Her only feeling was one of +physical discomfort in her cramped position, and impatience with the +man who could imagine that for her such protection was necessary. It +crossed his mind that here was a veritable child of nature, untamed, +untamable, not only in her habits and surroundings, her modes of life +and thought, but in her very nature, in every fibre of her being, +every emotion of her mind. Her superb unconsciousness chagrined and +then irritated him. A beautiful woman might as well be a beautiful +statue as to persist in behaving like one. A sudden rash desire took +possession of the youth to test the quality of this superhuman +indifference. The opportunity was tempting, the moment auspicious; he +might never be so near her again. He laid one hand upon her arm, and +bent his fair head till it reached her shoulder. Then he bestowed a +lingering kiss upon the lovely curve of her cheek where it melted into +her neck. She turned her proud head slowly, and looked at him through +eyes that deepened and glowed. + +"Wanda!" he breathed softly. + +For answer he received a stinging blow on the face. Nor was he +consoled by the spectacle of a wild girl darting from under the +shelter of the tree, and vanishing from his sight. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CATECHISINGS. + + +A June Sunday in the country, radiant, cloudless, odorous with the +breath of countless blossoms, thrilled with the melody of unnumbered +voices, was just beginning. The first blush of morning lay warm upon +sky and lake--the splendour above perfectly matched by the splendour +below,--as Rose Macleod opened her casement window fronting the east, +and looked out upon the myriad tender tints, the new yet ever familiar +harmonies of light and colour with which the world was clothed. The +gray walls of the Commodore's home on this side were hung with +climbing plants, and as his pretty daughter leaned out of her chamber +window a dewy branch of roses, loosened from its fastening, struck her +softly on the cheek. The touch gave her a thrill, delicately keen--a +pleasure, sharp as pain. No life was abroad yet except the birds, but +the morning-glories were all awake. She could see their wealth of +tender bloom outspread upon the rugged heap of rocks, warm with +sunshine, that separated between a corner of the flower-smothered turf +and the dark shadow of the almost impenetrable woods. + +With her golden head drooped in drowsy meditation upon her folded arms +she would have made a picture for a painter, a picture rose-tinted and +rose-framed. But no painter was there to look upon her except the sun, +and his ardent attentions becoming altogether too warm to be agreeable +he was incontinently shut outside. She turned away with that slight +sense of intoxication that comes from gazing too long upon the +inexpressible beauty of a world that is dimmed only by the complaints +and forebodings of querulous humanity. In the cool dimness of the +pretty many-windowed room she stood a moment irresolutely, and then +went in search of inspiration to a row of well-used books, over which +she ran a pink reflective finger-tip. But nothing there responded to +her need. It is a rare book that is worthy to hold the attention of +maidenhood on a June morning. + +So, as further slumber was impossible, she presently slipped down +stairs, and stepped out upon the broad veranda. Afterwards came the +younger children, Herbert and Eva, whose usually bright faces were +shadowed now with the consciousness that it was Sunday, a fact that +was aggravated rather than palliated by the radiant perfection of the +weather. The Commodore, who was the most sympathetic soul alive, +would, if he could have followed his own unperverted instincts, have +had his children as happy on Sunday as on any other day, but it was +necessary to make concessions to the Puritan spirit of the time, which +ruled that a certain degree of discomfort and restraint should mark +the first day of the week. But every dull look vanished as the +father's step was heard, for his was one of those genial, warm-hearted, +caressing natures, which are calculated to dispel the chill of even an +old-fashioned Sunday. There was also a hearty brusqueness in the tone +of his voice, something of the sea in the swing of his gait, and even +in the movement of his full kindly gray eye, which could not fail to +inspire confidence. His children flew to him at once, laying violent +hands upon him, and clinging to his arms with decorously subdued +shrieks of merriment, as he walked briskly to and fro. + +"Where's Edward?" he demanded of his eldest daughter, as they +approached that young lady, who was pensively reclining in a rustic +chair. + +"Not up yet, papa," she dreamily responded, uplifting her face for his +morning salutation. + +"Not _awake_ yet," corrected Herbert, with a boy's unmistakable +contempt for the luxurious habits of his elders. + +"Lazy dog!" commented the Commodore, in a voice whose irateness was +wholly assumed. "If I had come down late to breakfast when I was young +I would have been sent back to bed again." + +"That is what Ed. would like," declared Herbert. "He said it was no +use calling Sunday a day of rest unless one could get all the rest one +wanted, and it was hardly worth while for him to get up at all on a +day when he couldn't fish or shoot or go out in his boat." + +"The young barbarian! After all the care and pains expended on his +bringing up. What shall we do about it, Rosy?" + +"Call him again!" said Herbert, who, with the ever-fertile mind of +tender youth, was never destitute of practical suggestions. + +"Bright boy! run at once and ring the bell just outside his door." As +the child departed to make the clangour, so much more delightful to +his own ears than to those for whom it was intended, Eva observed: + +"But he came in so late last night, papa, and looked very tired." + +The Commodore patted the head of his little girl, but he continued to +direct towards her elder sister a glance of half-humorous inquiry. +Poor Rose knitted her pretty brows in troubled perplexity. She had +been informed in the "Advice to Young Women," "Duties of Womanhood," +and other ethical works of the day, that a sister's influence is +illimitable, and she felt besides an added weight of responsibility +towards her motherless sister and brothers. "I don't know, papa," she +said at last, "unless we all take to the backwoods, live in a wigwam, +and feast on the fruits of the chase. Edward chafes a good deal under +the restraints of civilized life." + +"Ah, here comes the prodigal son!" joyously exclaimed Eva, who ran to +meet her favourite brother, oblivious of the smiles produced by her +unflatteringly inapt remark. + +"Don't kill any calf for me," entreated Edward, thrusting his younger +sister's straight yellow locks over her face, until it was hard to say +where her features ended and the back of her head began. "I deserve +it, but I don't like it. Veal is my detestation." + +"Upon my word," said the old gentleman, looking very hard at a +discoloured spot just above the left eye of his eldest born, "it looks +as though I had been trying to kill the prodigal instead of the calf. +That's a bad bruise, my boy." + +"'Tis, sir," responded Edward, in a tone which implied that meek +assent was all that could be expected from him to a proposition so +very self-evident. He felt uncomfortably conscious that the eyes of +the assembled family were upon him, and glanced half enviously at Eva, +as though the ability to shake a sunny mane over one's face at will +was something to be thankful for. The breakfast bell roused them from +a momentary silence, but the shadow of this mysterious bruise seemed +to follow them even to the table. Herbert and Eva, aged respectively +ten and twelve, had that superabundant love of information so +characteristic of their tender years. They sat in round-eyed silence, +bringing the battery of their glances to bear upon their unfortunate +brother, who at last could endure it no longer. + +"Upon my life!" he exclaimed, "one would think I was the +governor-general, or some wild animal in a menagerie, to become the +object of so much concentrated and distinguished attention." + +"Which would you say he was, Eva?" asked Herbert. + +"Which what?" inquired that young lady. + +"Sir Peregrine Maitland, or a wild animal?" + +"Oh, Sir Peregrine, of course. See what a lofty, scornful way he has +of looking at us. And yet he is not really proud; he is willing to sit +down with us at our humble board, just as though he was a common +person." + +"Children!" said Rose with soft reproach, but her voice trembled, and +the imps were subjugated only outwardly. + +"Anything particular going on in Barrie?" queried the Commodore, +turning to his eldest son. + +"Really, I can't say. I haven't been over in several days." + +"Oh, I imagined you were there last night." + +"I never go there at night," protested the young man, with unnecessary +vehemence. It was clear to him now that his father and sister held a +very low opinion of him indeed. Probably they thought he had been hurt +in some vulgar tavern brawl, or drunken street fight. The idea was +loathsome to him. He had not a single low taste or trait of character. + +"I'm afraid," said Herbert, shaking his head with mock regret, "that +you are a very wild fellow." + +"He means that you are very fond of the wilds," interpreted Rose, +hurriedly endeavouring to avert the threatened domestic storm. "Eva," +she continued, taking up that irrepressible damsel before she could +give utterance to the uncalled-for remark, which was but too evidently +burning upon her lips, "do you know your catechism?" + +"Yes," replied her sister, in rather an aggrieved tone, for she did +not relish this change in the conversation, "I know it--to a certain +extent." + +"Eva looks as though she would prefer to catechise Edward," slyly +interpolated her father; and under this shameless encouragement the +young lady boldly observed: + +"Indeed, I should. I should like to begin right at the beginning with, +'Can you tell me, dear child, who made you'--have that big black +bruise on your brow?" + +"I can," responded Edward, imperturbably. "It was a beautiful little +beast, not much bigger than you are, but a great deal prettier." + +"Was it, really?" Any offence that might have been taken at the +uncomplimentary nature of the reply was swallowed up in eager +curiosity. "What was it?" + +"Well, that I can't tell you. I never saw anything like it before." + +"That's queer," said Herbert. "What colour was it?" + +"Oh, black and brown and all the loveliest shades of scarlet--with +cruel, little, white teeth, sharp and strong as a squirrel's teeth." + +"But it didn't bite you," said Rose, with a puzzled glance at the +white brow, whose delicate fairness made the discolouration more +conspicuous. + +"No, but it looked fully capable of biting--enchanting little brute!" + +"Why on earth didn't you shoot it?" questioned the Commodore, rousing +himself to the exploration of this new mystery. + +The young man laughed a little guiltily. "To tell the truth the idea +never once entered my head. You have no idea what beautiful eyes it +had." + +"Oh--sentimentalist!" + +"Yes, I was sentimental enough yesterday, but it will be long before I +am troubled that way again." + +"At any rate," said Herbert, as they drifted back to the shadowing +veranda, whose flowery screen the sun had not yet penetrated, "you +can't go to church." + +"I wish I could take you all over in my sail-boat," said his elder +brother, wistfully surveying the blue waters of Kempenfeldt Bay. + +"Ed., you are a heathen," declared Miss Eva, whose usual adoring +advocacy of her brother's opinions was paralized by this assault upon +the proprieties; "it's wicked to ride in a boat on Sunday." + +"But it's perfectly right to ride in a carriage," added Herbert, with +a view to giving information, and not with any satirical intention. + +There was no reply. If it is a crime to possess a too great +susceptibility to the ever-deepening charm of woods and waters then +Edward Macleod was the chief of sinners. In his father he had a secret +sympathizer, for the old gentleman himself was not without strong +leanings toward a free and careless, if not semi-savage, life. But no +hint of this escaped him in the presence of the younger children, +whose air of severe morality, born of renewed attacks and final +triumph over the difficulties of the Sunday School lesson, he +considered it unwise to disturb. + +Church service was not a painfully long or tedious affair. The little +wooden structure, erected for that purpose in Barrie, had the air of +trying to be in sweet accord with the outlying wilderness, from the +dark green drapery of ivy which charitably strove to hide its raw +newness. The town itself (for in a new country everything in excess of +a post-office is called a town) was wrapped in Sabbath stillness. The +little church was well filled, for a bright Sunday in a country +village draws the inhabitants from their homes as infallibly as bees +from their hives. Workers and drones they were all there, bowed +together under the sense of a common need, and of faith in a common +Helper, which alone makes men free and equal. + +Like a light in a dark place gleamed the bright head of Rose Macleod +in the farthest corner of the family pew. A vagrant sunbeam, like a +golden arrow, pierced the gloom about her, but to the disappointment +of _one_ interested observer, it failed to reach the rich coils, so +nearly resembling it in colour. This observer presently reminded +himself that he had come there to worship the divine, as revealed in +holy writ, not in human beauty; nevertheless he could not forbear +sending another stealthy glance, which, more accurately aimed than the +sunbeam, rested fully and lingeringly upon the shadowy recess, where a +glowing amber-golden head bloomed richly forth against the frigid +back-ground of a bare wooden wall. The dainty little lady, enveloped +in the antique richness of a stiff brocade, should have been made +aware by some mysteriously occult means of a strange thrill at the +heart, caused by the protracted gaze of a handsome fellow-worshipper, +but to tell the truth her thoughts were piously intent upon the +enormity of her own sins, and the necessity of reclaiming her brother +from the very literal wildness of his ways. + +Service was over; the still air seemed vibrant with the notes of the +last hymn, and tender with the just-uttered words of the benediction, +as this stately little damsel, with the peculiar air of distinction +which set so charmingly upon her doll-like personality, passed down +the aisle and out into the sunshine. She had looked on him--she had +been conscious of his existence; but it was seemingly in the same way +that she had noticed the wooden pews against which her rich little +robe was trailing, and the floor which felt the pressure of her dainty +feet. Allan Dunlop standing among the outcoming worshippers, whose +greetings he mechanically responded to, silently anathematized the +soulless edict of society, which forbids a man to stand and gaze after +a vanishing vision in feminine form. The receding figure was not +wholly unconscious, however, of the mute homage of which she had been +the recipient. + +A few hours later this lovely possessor of all the graces and virtues, +according to the newly-awakened imagination of her unknown admirer, +reclined in her shell-pink apartment, in which the breezes blowing +through the lattice sounded like the _andante_ of the sea, and sighed +for the forbidden fruit of a half-finished novel. But the sigh +perished with the breath that gave it birth. The next moment she +sternly doubled a very diminutive fist, and demanded of herself +whether that was the best use that could be made of her time and +opportunities. Then she looked about for some missionary work. It was +not far to seek, for the children, weary of purposeless drifting on +the still monotonous tide of Sunday afternoon, came battering at her +door with united hands and voices, demanding a story. In the midst of +her recital she suddenly bethought herself of Edward and inquired +after his whereabouts. + +"Roaming up and down the strawberry patch," said Eva. + +"Seeking what he may devour," added her brother, unconsciously giving +a scriptural turn to his information. + +"For shame, Herbert!" + +"Shame enough! He never offered me one." + +The subject of this discussion passed the open door shortly after and +looked rather forlornly in upon the interested trio. On his way +upstairs a casement window that stood ajar swung softly open as he +passed it, touched by the invisible fingers of the breeze; and the +young man was not comforted by the picture suddenly revealed to +him--the picture of a slim shape in a light canoe darting bird-like +over the water. Rose felt a vague pang of pity, but had no opportunity +to go to him. Her ministrations were in active demand by the younger +pair from whom she was unable to free herself until twilight fell, +when they voluntarily resigned her to a need greater than their own. +On many a summer night in years past they had seen their father and +mother pace the winding length of the avenue together. Now, when the +tender gloom of evening was beginning, and the solitary figure of the +Commodore was seen going with drooped head toward his favourite walk, +it was Rose who ran with eager step to take the vacant place at his +side. If his heart was saddened by that shadowy presence, which walks +at eventide by the side of him who is bereaved, it could not be wholly +cast down so long as warm clinging hands were about his arm, a bright +face looking up into his, and a clear voice, from which every note of +sadness was excluded, murmuring a thousand entertaining nothings in +his ear. + +If Rose was a never-failing fountain of alluring fiction to Herbert +and Eva, and the comfort of life to her father, she was the +sympathizing _confidante_ of her elder brother, who unburdened his +heart to her in a private interview just before retiring. + +"But what under the sun made you kiss her?" inquired this practical +young lady. + +"Oh, murder, Rose, what a question! What under the sun makes one taste +a peach or pluck a flower?" + +"But if the peach or the flower does not belong to you? Well, I'll not +lecture you, Edward; you have sufficiently expiated your offence." + +"I never dreamed," returned the delinquent, "that a kiss for a blow, +which is the Christian's rule of morals, could be translated by the +poor savage into a blow for a kiss." + +"Probably you terrified her. That old chief has brought her up in the +belief that the white man is a compound of all the vices." + +"Well, she behaved as though I might be that. She never paused to +consider the ruin she had wrought, but darted off like a flash of +lightning." + +Rose laughed; but after she departed the smile upon her brother's face +quickly vanished. Not that the bruise on his brow was so severe, but +he found it impossible to forgive the blow to his vanity. + +"Beautiful little brute!" he muttered under his breath, "I haven't +done with her yet. She'll live to give me something prettier than this +in return for my caresses." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN ACCIDENT. + + +Some days later, Edward, mounted on his favourite Black Bess, waiting +for Rose to accompany him in a morning gallop, was amazed to see that +venturesome young lady prepare to seat herself on Flip, a crazy little +animal scarcely more than a colt, whose character for unsteadiness was +notorious. + +"I have set my heart on him," was all Rose could say in answer to her +brother's protestations. + +"Set your heart on him as much as you please," returned Edward, "so +long as you do not set your person on him." + +"In England," ventured, the respectful Tredway, "young ladies +generally prefer a more trustworthy animal." + +"Well, when we go to England," responded Rose, casting her arms around +the neck of her slandered steed, "we'll do as the English do--won't we +Flip, dear? In this country we'll have just a little of our own wild +way." + +From this decision there was no appeal. The words were scarcely spoken +when there was a swift scamper of heels, a smothered sound, half +shriek, half laughter, from Rose's lips, a cloud of dust, and that was +all. Edward's alarm was changed to amusement as the pony, after its +first wild flight, settled down into a sort of dancing step, ambling, +pirouetting, curvetting, sidling, arching its wilful neck at one +moment, and rushing off at a rate that bade fair to break its rider's +at the next. + +By fits and starts--a great many of them--they managed to make their +way to "Bellevue," where the lovely Helene, arrayed in the alluring +coolness of a white _neglige_, and with her braided locks drooping to +her waist, came down the walk to meet them. + +"Rose Macleod!" she exclaimed, for Black Bess was still far in the +rear, and she imagined her friend unaccompanied, "and on that +desperately dangerous little Flip!" + +"The very same," responded Rose saucily, "but I don't know how long I +may remain on him. We want you to join us in a glorious old gallop." + +"Good morning, Mademoiselle," exclaimed Edward, reining in his black +steed. "I hope Madame DeBerczy is better than usual, as I have some +thoughts of leaving my wild sister with her. She's every bit as +unmanageable as Flip." + +"Leave me, indeed," retorted Rose, "as though I could trust you alone +in the woods--with a pretty girl." + +The last words were inaudible, save to Helene, between whom and Rose +there passed a subtle glance which gave Edward a vague alarm. Could it +be that Helene had received intelligence of his encounter with Wanda? +No, it was clearly impossible. There was nothing of mocking in her +look--nothing but the pretty consciousness of a girl who could not +forget that her shoulders and arms were gleaming beneath the mist of a +muslin altogether too thin, and a weight of loosened braids altogether +too thick, to be proper subjects for a young man's contemplation. + +She presently vanished within, and reappeared before they had time to +be impatient. In her close-clinging habit, with her black braids +securely pinned, a handful of lilies drooping at her waist, and the +whole of her fair young figure invested with a sort of stately +maidenliness, she formed a sufficient contrast to Rose, who, perched +defiantly upon her wicked little steed, looked every inch a rogue. +Mademoiselle DeBerczy's white horse was slim and graceful as became +its owner, who glanced with lady-like apprehension at the dashings and +plungings and other dog-like vagaries of Flip. "Dear me, Rose," she at +last remarked rather nervously, "I can't bear to look at you." + +"Then don't look at me!" exclaimed the wild girl, "go on with Edward; +Flip and I are going to make a morning of it." + +The young man nothing loth drew in Black Bess beside the milk-white +palfrey, and began to comment upon the beauty of the morning, of the +woods through which they were passing, and, lastly, of an Indian +child, who, straying away from a settlement of wigwams, perched itself +upon a stump, and surveyed the cavalcade with round-eyed interest. + +"The loveliest Indian girl I ever saw," remarked Helene, "is Wanda, +the Algonquin chief's adopted daughter. But this is no news to you, as +I hear that you were quite forcibly struck by her." + +Oh, the ambiguities of the English language! There was not a quiver of +an eye-lash, not the slightest curl of the scarlet lips, and the wide +dark eyes were seemingly free from guile; but, nevertheless, Edward +suffered again that vague alarm which had sprung into being at the +gate of "Bellevue." + +"I think her very pretty, certainly," he returned, "but I can't say +that I admire her." + +"I am surprised at that. Rose told me that she made quite an +impression upon you." + +Ought this to be taken literally? The lily-white face was no tell-tale. +Could one so fair be so deceitful? This matter must be further probed. + +"The impression was not altogether a pleasant one," he confessed with +a rising flush. + +"Not pleasant? You are very hard to please. She is not only remarkably +handsome but she has a vigorous personality--a sort of native force +that is sure to make its mark." + +"I fear I am not an admirer of force--that is in a woman." + +"I am sure you have no reason to be. It is possible that even the +beautiful Wanda might not be above browbeating a man." + +"Oh, she might do worse than that," said Edward, with the coolness +born of desperation. "She might sink so low as to basely persecute him +with her knowledge of a secret extracted from his sister. Don't you +think that would be treating him very contemptibly." + +"It would depend altogether upon what sort of treatment he deserved." + +"It occurs to me that the unfortunate creature we have in mind has +suffered enough." + +It was evident that Helene thought so too. She said nothing, but the +sweet eyes that had refrained from mocking at him could not hide a +tinge of remorse. This pledge of peace was quickly noted by the +much-enduring youth, whose gratitude might have found vocal expression +had not his attention that moment been called off by an approaching +pedestrian, who suddenly appeared at a curve in the Penetanguishene +road, which, after partly retracing their steps, they had now reached. + +"What, Dunlop, as I live!" he exclaimed, eagerly reining in his steed, +and extending a cordial hand. "My dear fellow, how long have you been +at home, and why have I been left in ignorance of your coming?" + +The young man who had paid Helene the doubtful tribute of a +disappointed glance, returned the greeting warmly, but in more +measured terms. "I was at church on Sunday," he said, "for the first +time since my return home. Why weren't you there?" + +"Ugh!" said Edward, as though the recollection had been an icicle +suddenly thrust down his back. "Why, to tell the truth, I performed an +act of worship on the day before, and the consequence was so frightful +that I was discouraged from further attempts at prayer and praise. I +hadn't the heart to go." + +"You hadn't the _face_ to go!" softly corrected Helene. + +"Exactly. Your knowledge of the facts is copious and profound. Excuse +me! Miss DeBerczy, let me present to you Mr. Allan Dunlop, Provincial +land-surveyor, member for the Home District, future leader in +parliament, and a man after my own heart!" + +The stranger looked as though a less elaborate introduction might have +pleased him better. "Edward you are as extravagant as ever," he +exclaimed, and then, turning to the lady, with a sort of shy sincerity, +"Don't believe him, Miss DeBerczy. I am studying politics and +practicing surveying, but that is all." + +"And you mean to say that you are not a man after my own heart," +demanded Edward, threatening him with his riding-whip; "then, perhaps, +you will be good enough to tell me whose heart you _are_ after." + +An embarrassed laugh broke from Allan's lips, as he thought +involuntarily of the queenly little creature, golden crowned and +richly robed, whose reign had begun, so far as he knew, on the Sunday +previous. Oddly enough, the same personage came at that moment to +Helene's mind, and she hurriedly inquired, "Why, where can Rose be?" + +"Here she comes," said Edward, after a backward glance, and here +indeed she came. With her bright hair flying in the breeze, her riding +hat rakishly askew, one glove invisible, and the other tucked for safe +keeping under the saddle, her riding-habit gray with dust, and +fantastically trimmed with thorns and nettles, her blue eyes at their +bluest, her pink cheeks at their rosiest, she produced a very powerful +effect upon the minds of her spectators. Perhaps it would not be too +much to say that she produced three distinct effects upon their minds. + +Helene was the first to recover the faculty of speech. "Why, you are a +regular little brier rose!" she exclaimed laughingly, wheeling her +horse about so as to remove what appeared to be the larger part of a +blackberry bush from her friend's habit, and improving the opportunity +to insert a pin in the ragged edges of a dreadful looking rent, which +the premature removal of the blackberry bush had revealed. + +Edward introduced his friend to Rose with a gravity which was too +evidently born of the belief that she had never before presented quite +so disreputable an appearance. Allan knew his goddess under this +quaint disguise, and his heart beat a loud recognition. The cool +graceful black and white propriety of Helene DeBerczy was barren of +significance compared with the slightest strand of yellow wilful hair +that blew about the pink-shamed face of his friend's sister. + +With renewed expressions of good-feeling and the promise, by Allan, of +an early visit to Pine Towers, the young men separated, the riding +party moving off in the same order as before, Helene and Edward going +first, leaving Rose and Flip to follow at their own discretion. + +But the latter, who had exhausted every known device for his own +amusement, now suddenly discovered and put into instant execution +another way to annoy his pretty mistress. This was to stand perfectly +still--inexorably, indomitably, immovably still. In vain Rose whipped, +begged, prayed, and almost wept. But Flip was thereby only strengthened +in his decision. Rose's companions had vanished around the bend in the +road. Though lost to sight they were to memory obnoxious. How mean of +Edward to go off in that cool, careless way, without a thought of her +left behind! How contemptible of Helene to leave her without so much +as a hair-pin to repair the ravages made by that horrible little horse. +And now, worse and worse, Allan Dunlop, who might have had the +gentlemanliness to make himself invisible as soon as possible, came +hurrying back to be a further witness of her dishevelled embarrassment. + +"I am afraid your horse is a little fractious," he suggested +respectfully. + +"Oh, no," replied Rose, earnestly, scarcely conscious of what she +said. "Only--sometimes--he won't go." + +This was a statement which Flip seemed in no wise disposed to +contradict. + +"Perhaps if you will allow me to pet him a little, we may induce a +change in his behaviour." He drew near and laid his head upon the +pony's mane, accidentally brushing with his moustache the warm little +hand upon the reins. Its owner drew it away, while an expression of +absolute pain crossed her face. "I don't know what you can think of +me," she said contritely. "I lost one of my gloves in reaching for a +branch above my head, and its no use wearing the other and trying to +be half respectable." She was miserably conscious that she was not +even that, as she tried to fasten up her loosely waving locks, and +thought of the awful rent in her habit, through which that saving pin +had slipped and been lost sight of forever, like a weary little +missionary in a very large field of labour. The skirt beneath was +deplorably short, and her feet, though small, were not small enough to +be invisible. Her chivalrous attendant seemed quite unconscious of +these glaring deficiencies in her appearance, as he looked up with a +bright smile, and said: "There, I think he will go now." At the word +Flip began a slow undulating movement, something akin to that produced +by a rocking-horse, which while it "goes" fast enough makes no +perceptible progress. Poor Rose, excited and unstrung by her morning's +adventures, dropped the reins in disgust, and then with one hand +clutching her skirt, and the other her hair, she resigned herself to a +fit of uncontrollable laughter. The next moment the wilful horse made +a wild plunge forward, and the wilful girl was flung with terrible +force against a heap of stones on the roadside. Colourless, motionless, +breathless, she lay at the feet of Allan Dunlop, whose heart turned +sick as he discerned among the yellow locks outspread on the gray +stones a slender stream of blood. + +For a moment the young man stood horror-struck. Fortunately he was not +far from home, and there he proceeded at once to take the almost +lifeless girl. As he was about to lift her gently in his arms, a low +moan escaped her lips, the significance of which he was not slow to +catch. Unable to speak, almost unable to move, she made a slight +writhing motion of the limbs, accompanied by a convulsive twitch at +the torn gown. Allan Dunlop was not dull-witted enough to suppose that +her ankle was sprained. His sensibilities and sympathies were +exquisitely quick and fine. Catching up an end of the unfortunate +riding-habit he twisted it closely about the helplessly exposed little +feet--an act of delicacy which received a faint glance of grateful +recognition before she lapsed into utter unconsciousness. Gathering +her into his arms he carried her as he might have carried a child to +the shelter of his own house. But here a fresh dilemma presented +itself. Not a soul was in the house. His father had not yet returned +from market, his mother and the servant were absent, he knew not +where. Placing her on a couch he bathed with awkwardly gentle fingers +the wound in her head, and dared even to wipe away a few drops of +blood from the little pallid face. Still the white lids lay motionless +over the blue eyes, and the girlish form was unmoved by a breath. He +stood anxiously looking down at her, wondering what his mother would +do in his place, and feeling in every fibre a man's natural +helplessness in the presence of a suffering woman. "What can I do for +you?" he asked, as she at last opened her eyes, and gazed +half-frightened at her strange surroundings. + +"Thank you, I believe I am quite comfortable, except--except for the +dreadful pain. I feel so terribly shaken." And the poor child broke +into uncontrollable sobs. + +"Oh, don't cry!" begged Allan, who might with equal truth have claimed +that he too felt terribly shaken. "I can't imagine where my mother has +gone." He stared miserably out of the window a moment, and then +returned to his patient, with the air of a man who is not going to +shirk a duty, no matter how difficult it may be. + +"If you could dry your eyes," he began with a sort of brotherly +gentleness, "and tell"-- + +"I'm afraid I can't. I don't dare move my right hand from under me, +the pain is so acute in my back, and there is something dreadfully +wrong with my left arm." + +Dreadfully wrong indeed! It hung limp and broken. The young man was +spurred by the sight to instant, decisive action. + +"Miss Macleod," he said, "I will have to leave you alone, and go at +once for a physician and your father. Do you think you can be very +brave?" + +Her tears flowed afresh at the question. This time he wiped them away +himself. "Oh, I'm afraid I couldn't be that," she said. "I never +could. But I'll promise not to run away before you come back." + +She _is_ a brave little soul after all, he thought, as he waved his +hand, and hurried off to the stable; but that is a woman's courage--cry +one moment and make a joke the next. + +Mrs. Dunlop, who was not as far distant from home as her son had +supposed, entered the house a few minutes after his departure, +followed by the servant, both bearing great baskets of raspberries. +The two women were sufficiently astonished at sight of the unexpected +and most unfortunate guest; but Allan's mother would scarcely allow +Rose to pronounce a word of her penitent confession. It was enough for +her to know that here was an opportunity for her to relieve suffering, +and she improved it with characteristic tact and delicacy. The +open-eyed and open-mouthed maid was sent on various small missions of +mercy, which she attacked with zeal, in the hope that thereby in some +way her abounding thirst for information might be assuaged. + +Very soon after, the quiet farm-house became the rendezvous of an +unusual number of strangers. Helene and Edward, who had returned to +see if Allan could tell them anything concerning the whereabouts of +the missing girl, came first. Helene, full of grief and contrition +because she had not remained by the side of Rose through the entire +length of her perilous undertaking, and Edward, whose brotherly +sympathy was tinged by the magnanimous consciousness that nothing +would tempt him to remind her that he had warned her of the evil which +had resulted in her downfall. Afterwards came the physician who set +the broken arm, and forbade the patient's removal, and then the +Commodore, in whose brawny neck his daughter hid a wet, pitiful face. + +"It was my fault, Papa," she whispered, "and it's a miracle I'm not +broken up into more pieces than I am. I deserve to be. I'm as full of +penitence as I am of pain. But don't you be troubled about me. Mrs. +Dunlop is as good and kind as it is possible to be. I am sure they are +very nice people." + +Very nice people perhaps, but very little to the Commodore's taste. As +he turned to greet the man, upon whose hospitality his daughter had +been so literally and unexpectedly thrown, he was scarcely his frank, +genial, outspoken self. There was a secret root of prejudice against +this unpretending farmer, whose son's political views were as far from +his own as the east is from the west, and whose social position was +decidedly inferior. Not that the kindly Commodore was gifted with that +microscopic eye which is too easily impressed by the infinitesimal +gradations of society, but he retained too much of the Old World +feeling for class distinctions to make him oblivious to the difference +in their rank. + +"Good heavens! Edward," he exclaimed, in a conversation with his son a +few days after the accident, "what uncommonly low ground our little +Rose has been suddenly transplanted to. That old farmer looks as stiff +and straight as one of his own furrows, and his son, what's-his-name? +is of the same mould." + +"It's remarkably rich mould, Father. Not such low ground as one might +think." + +"Rich! What, in dollars and cents?" + +"No; better than that. In knowledge and sense. Allan Dunlop is a very +bright fellow." + +"Oh! I _thought_ the paternal acres could scarcely afford a sufficient +yield of potatoes and parsnips to furnish material wealth. As for the +sense you speak of, I hope your friend possesses enough to keep him +from making love to your sister." + +"He is far too proud to make love to one whom he considers his social +superior, though she might do worse than permit it." + +"Oh, dear yes; she might have been thrown into a settlement of +savages, and wedded to the first wild Indian that ran to pick her up." + +Edward's cheek reddened perceptibly. + +"Or she might marry a snob," he said. + +"Come, Edward," returned the Commodore, with a breezy laugh, "you must +not insinuate that your old father is such a disagreeable sort of +person. But, seriously, you don't consider Allan Dunlop your equal, do +you?" + +"No," said Edward, "I don't think him my equal." + +"That's the sensible way to look at it. Not but that he is as good and +necessary in his way as the earth he tills and the vegetables he +sells." + +"Oh, it is the father--who, by the way, is an old soldier--that tills +and sells. The son, as you know, is a young rising politician--a +radical." + +"I am only too well aware of that, but why couldn't he stick to the +plough? Its the unluckiest business imaginable, Edward, that we should +have played into their hands in this way. They are the last sort of +people to whom one cares to be under a personal obligation." + +Edward had no balm to apply to his father's irritation. "When I say +that I don't consider Allan my equal," he explained, "I mean that I +fancy him my superior." + +His father laughed aloud. "You seem to have a good many fancies," he +said, tolerantly, and continued to smoke in meditative silence. + +And still among the people of whom her father and brother held such +entirely opposite opinions lay the helpless Rose, victim of a slow +fever, which left her, as Helene pityingly said, weak as a roseleaf. +But Helene seldom saw her now. Edward and his father were also all but +banished from her bedside. "Really," said Dr. Ardagh to the Commodore, +"I must insist upon absolute quiet as the first requisite for my +patient's recovery. Those daily visits are exciting and harmful. Mrs. +Dunlop has a perfect genius for sick-nursing, and you can safely leave +your daughter to her. She is really a remarkable woman!" + +The Commodore made a wry face. "Not long ago Edward would have me +believe that the Dunlops, father and son, were endowed with uncommon +mental power. Now it appears that the mother is similarly gifted. My +poor child hasn't brains enough to keep her from riding an unsafe +colt, but it is to be hoped she knows enough to appreciate the +advantages of her situation." + +The doctor raised his eyebrows at this peculiar pleasantry, but +managed to harrow his listener's heart by intimating that it would be +a confoundedly strange thing if young Dunlop did not appreciate _his_ +advantages. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CONVALESCENCE. + + +To be slowly recovering from a severe illness is almost like being +again a very little child. So thought Rose Macleod, as she lay between +lavender-scented sheets, in the quaint stone cottage, whose deep +old-fashioned window seats, and low whitewashed ceilings, were +becoming as familiar to her as the stately halls of her home. The +protracted leisure of convalescence was growing burdensome to her. So +many days had she watched the lights and shadows woven throughout the +greenery, just outside her window, or listened to the weird measure of +the rain when the wind surged like a sea through the foliage, or held +her breath for joy when a flying bird pulsed vividly across the sky, +or counted the milk-white flowers of the locust tree, as they strewed +the ground with blossoms, or noted the exact moment when the +morning-glories softly clasped their purple petals together, as though +unable to contain a greater fulness of joy than was brought by the +summer morning. It was now early evening, and Rose gave vent to a +little uncontrollable sigh. Mrs. Dunlop came as quickly to the bedside +as though the sigh had been the sound of a trumpet. She was a very +pleasant object for weary invalid eyes to rest upon. Her dark hair was +satin-smooth, her voice and movements were quiet and refined. There +was in her face that mingling of shyness and sincerity, irradiated by +a look of the keenest intelligence, which reminded Rose of Allan, +between whom and his mother there was a strong resemblance. + +"I have something to tell you," she said gently. "As my prisoner you +have behaved in such an exemplary manner, keeping all the rules of the +institution, and making no attempt to run away, that I have decided to +give you the freedom of another room." + +"Oh, am I to go into another room?" Had a voyage to Europe been +proposed to her it could scarcely have suggested pleasanter ideas of +change. "A new wall-paper, and a new window! What more could I ask +for? But how am I to get there? What means of transportation have +you?" + +"That is just what I am thinking of. I could dress you in my gray +wrapper, and then--would you mind if Allan were to help me to lift you +to the couch in my room?" + +Rose shuddered a little. A faint pink stained for a moment the +whiteness of her cheek. "I shouldn't mind it if I were senseless," she +said, "but I don't want him to think I have lost my senses again. No, +we'll have to give up that idea." + +But Mrs. Dunlop was not the sort of person to give up an idea without +good cause. "The mountain must then go to Mahomet," said she, and +wheeling the couch close to the sick-bed, she arranged the invalid +cosily among the cushions, and pushed her slowly into her own +apartment. "If I were twice as large as you are," she added, "instead +of being just your size, I should have carried you in half the time." + +But another and more serious consequence followed that same evening +upon the striking similarity in figure between Mrs. Dunlop and Miss +Macleod. Golden twilight had changed to dim dusk, but Rose still lay +with her fair head almost buried among the cushions. She expected a +visit from her father that evening, and the temptation to show him +what she could do and dare was irresistible. All her hostess's hints +that bed-time had arrived were wasted upon deaf ears. At last, in a +little anxiety as to the result of her experiment, if the Commodore +did not arrive, Mrs. Dunlop went out to the front gate to see if there +were signs of his approach. At the same moment Allan entered the house +by the back door, and looked about for his mother. Impelled by a +"fatalistic necessity" he went up to her room, the sound of his +carefully modulated tread upon the stairway filling the heart of Rose +with delight, for was not that her own father, who had probably been +informed at the gate of the change in her condition and surroundings, +and who was coming up so softly in order to surprise her. Allan, +meanwhile, glancing in, saw nothing in the gray gloom but a small +figure in a well-known wrapper, stretched wearily upon the couch. +"Poor little mother," he thought. "She is quite tired out." He went up +to her intending to bestow a filial caress upon her cheek, but before +his design could be accomplished he was drawn close by a single arm +around his neck, and repeatedly kissed. "You blessed darling!" she +softly exclaimed, "here I've been waiting for you, and _waiting_ for +you and longing--_Oh_!" That silky moustache and that chin, that was +_not_ stubby, could they belong to a gentleman of sixty years? Her +right arm fell limp and useless as the other. "I thought you were my +father," she said in a weak voice of mingled disappointment, anger and +shame. + +"And I thought you were my mother," was all the guilty wretch could +offer in extenuation of his conduct. + +The people whose parts this unfortunate pair had been playing with +such ill success were now heard at the door below. Allan felt like a +criminal as he stole into the hall, and thence into his own room; but +the Commodore could scarcely understand the propriety of a strange and +otherwise objectionable young man holding a moonless _tete-a-tete_ +with his daughter. In any case his presence would involve disagreeable +explanations. If her cheeks were as flushed as his own no doubt her +doting parent would ascribe it to renewed health and strength. + +But the young man, sitting alone in the perfumed darkness of that +summer night, with his hot head fallen upon the window-sill, did not +imagine that the fire that burned along his own veins was an +indication of health. On the contrary, he feared it the symptom of a +dreaded disease--the fever and delirium of love. What was that little +yellow-haired girl to him? Nothing! nothing! Yet her kisses burned +upon his lips, and every drop of blood in his body seemed to +contradict his nonchalant nothing with a passionate everything! Yes, +she was in truth the lamp of his life, but in that radiant light how +pitiful his life appeared. How pitiful, and yet how beautiful, for in +the tender illumination of her imagined love rough places became +smooth, dark ways bright, and the heights of possible achievement were +faintly flushed with all the delicate tints of dawn--the dawn of a +diviner day than any he had yet looked upon. When he went to sleep it +was to dream of walking in a wilderness of roses. Pale and drooping, +broken and dying, red and roguish, blushing, wanton, wild and warm, +each bore some fantastic resemblance to Rose Macleod, and each was set +about with "little wilful thorns." The hand which he eagerly +outstretched to pluck the loveliest rose of all was pierced and +bleeding. Still he did not despair of reaching it. But as his longing +eyes drew nearer and nearer the stately little beauty turned suddenly +a deep blood-red, and then he saw that the crimson drops falling from +his own wounds had worked this transformation. He hid her in his +bosom, and held her there. But the closer she was pressed the richer +and more fragrant was the breath she exhaled, intoxicating all his +senses, and the farther into his heart went the cruel thorns, until in +mingled pain and rapture he awoke. + +This Allan Dunlop, though born and bred on a farm, had in him the +spring of a higher and finer life. He was a man of delicate instincts, +refined feelings, and great native sensibility, inherited from his +mother, at whose history we may take a rapid backward glance. + +Far away in one of the stately homes of "Merrie England," when the +eighteenth century was old, a gentlewoman, young, charming, and full +of an habitually repressed life and gaiety, waited for her cavalier, +the youthful riding-master who had little to recommend himself to her +gracious kindness save that deep but indefinable charm which a +handsome man on a spirited charger is so prone to exert on the +feminine imagination. The morning was fair, the lady was fairer, and +the heart of her gallant attendant beat faster than the feet of his +steed, as the flying skirt of her robe swept his stirrup, and the soft +length of her mist-like veil blew before his eyes and caressed his +brown cheek. It was not the only mist that blew before his eyes nor +before her's either, poor child! for the rival contrast between this +wild rush over hedge and ditch and bright green meadow and the stiffly +guarded walks and ways of home had spurred her imagination also into a +gallop. "We will never come back," he said jestingly, "we will ride +away into a world of our own!" but there was something reckless in his +laugh and a formidable note of earnestness in his jesting. He never +dreamed that her pulse beat quicker after his careless speeches, and +he was in truth a good deal in awe of her, for the buckram propriety +which had encased her like a garment ever since she could remember was +not easily thrown aside. This young pair, though as deeply in love +with each other as it is possible for man and maid to be, had never +acknowledged the fact by a syllable. Anna Sherwood was too shy and +prim; Richard Dunlop too poor and proud. He had been a trooper in a +cavalry regiment, afterwards riding-master in a garrison town in +England, and since his coming to Canada, and before taking to farming, +he held the position of fort-adjutant at Penetanguishene; at present +he was tutor in equestrian arts to the young lady whom he passionately +loved. Of her there is little to tell except that until this dashing +young fellow crossed her path she had experienced about as much change +and variety in her life as though she had been a plant grown in a +flower-pot. On sunny days she was allowed the outside air; on stormy +days she was kept within. She toiled not, neither did she spin. +Nothing was required of her except colourless acquiescence in a life +of torpid, unnatural, unendurable _ennui_. + +The young lady's only guardian was a wealthy maiden aunt, who was as +rich as she was old maidish--a statement likely to thrill the heart of +any mammon-worshipper among her acquaintance--and whose special pride +was the exemplary manner in which she had brought up her brother's +child. The daring young fellow who had presumed to fall in love with +this model niece followed her uninvited into the family sitting-room +on returning from their ride, a proceeding which rather alarmed the +gentle Anna, though her much dreaded relative was absent. He did not +sit down, but took a decisive stand on the hearth-rug. He looked like +a man who has something he must say, though the saying of it will all +but cost him his life. She sat down with a strange foreboding at her +heart of something terrible to come. The austere influences of her +aunt's home were upon her. She sat in prim composure, pale hands +clasped, and pale lids drooping upon cheeks that had lost every +particle of the warmth and glow gained by exercise. "Miss Sherwood," +he began, "there is something I have been longing to say to you for +weeks past, and though it is a perfectly useless, almost impertinent +thing to say, still I cannot leave it burning in my heart any longer. +It is that you are dearer to me than any woman on earth--and always +will be." His voice broke a little, but he went bravely on. "You need +not think that I shall annoy you with frequent repetitions of this +fact, or that I expect to gain anything by the statement of it. I know +that you are proud and self-sufficing, and," a little bitterly, "that +I can never be anything more to you than the dust thrown up by your +horse's heels--a necessary evil. I don't know why I should tell you +this, except that I cannot suffer in silence any longer. I am going to +leave you now--to leave you forever. Won't you say good-bye? Is there +nothing you will say to me, little Nan?" + +In spite of himself his voice had sunk to a tone of caressing +tenderness. The pale proud girl had listened to him without moving a +fibre or lifting an eyelash. But now there came a great flow of blood +to her face, a swift rush of tears to her eyes. + +"Nothing," she said, "except"-- + +She wrung her hands: pride dies very hard. + +"Except that I love you, Dick!" + +His eyes blazed. "Then, by Heaven," he cried, "we shall never part." +He caught her to his breast and held her there a moment without +speaking. He was too dazed to speak. The scene was dramatic; and Miss +Maria Sherwood, who entered the room at that moment, did not approve +of the drama. She held that it was sensational in conduct, scurrilous +in character, scandalous in its consequences; and it is highly +probable that from this brief glimpse of it she saw no reason to +change her opinions. Act second, as may be imagined, was stormy and +exciting, gaining in interest as it progressed, and the last scene in +these private theatricals saw the hero and heroine shipped off to +Canada--that better country, where the lives and loves of those to +whom fate has been cruel are graciously spared, under conditions +adverse enough but still endurable. + +That life and love can continue to exist beneath bleak foreign skies, +when grim Poverty howls wolf-like at the door, and the winds of +seemingly year-long winters are scarcely less fierce, was the +proposition these courageous young people set themselves to prove. No +day dawned so dark that was not illumined for him by the repetition of +that shamelessly unmaidenly speech, "I love you, Dick." As for her, +she never ceased to smile at the blindness of a man who could imagine +that luxurious imprisonment for life without him could be more +alluring than the greatest hardships endured in the perpetual sunshine +of his love. + +Of this pair, whose romance had outlasted the sordid cares and +trials of life in the backwoods, Allan Dunlop, with his exquisite +susceptibilities, and ambitious aims, was the honest fruit. He was not +visible to Rose for some days after their emotional and wholly +involuntary encounter in his mother's room, and then he brought her a +great handful of her fragrant namesakes. She had been promoted for +half-an-hour to a huge well-cushioned chair, in which she reclined +rather languidly. The roses formed a pretext for a little desultory +conversation, and then Allan, noticing the invalid's little ears were +turning pink, presumably at the recollection of their last meeting, +could not forbear saying: + +"I feel that I ought to beg your pardon, Miss Macleod, for the way I +treated you the other evening. It was a brutal assault, though wholly +unintentional." + +Poor Rose, who remembered that it was she who made the assault, +expressed the belief that she would rather it were forgotten than +forgiven. + +"I'm afraid I can't forget it. Some things make too deep an impression. +Of course," he added, in his embarrassment, "it was the last thing I +should have wished to do." + +"Of course!" echoed the miserable girl, wondering if he meant what he +said. + +"Allan," said his mother, entering the room at that moment, "what are +you saying to distress my patient? I don't like the look of these +feverish cheeks." + +"I fear I have committed the unpardonable sin, as Miss Rose refuses to +pardon it." + +Mrs. Dunlop, who was in absolute ignorance of the subject of +conversation, looked smilingly from one to the other. + +"Promise her that the offence will never be repeated, Allan," she +said, "and then it may receive forgiveness." + +The young man coloured scarlet. "The conditions are too hard," he +murmured. "I think, on the whole, I should prefer to go unforgiven." +And he hastily rose and left the room. + +But if Rose Macleod was not free from afflictions of a sentimental +nature, her brother Edward was even less so. This young man sorely +missed the girlish society which his sister in happier days had +constantly drawn about her. One afternoon, when time hung particularly +heavy on his hands, he decided to go over to "Bellevue," ostensibly to +give Madame DeBerczy the latest information concerning Rose, but +really to solace his soul with a sight of the beautiful Helene. On his +way over he chanced to overtake the Algonquin girl, Wanda, whom he +proceeded to upbraid in no measured terms for the way in which she had +treated him. + +"Ah, don't!" she cried at last, covering her ears with her hands, +"your words are like hailstones, sharp and cruel and cold." + +"Then will you not say that you are sorry?" he pleaded, bending his +fair head once more perilously near to the soft, brown neck. + +"Sorry that you deserved the blow? yes; certainly!" + +"Wanda," cried Edward, an irrepressible smile breaking through his +assumed anger, "you are a witch, and a wicked witch, too. It is like +your race to be cruel and merciless, indifferent to the pain you +inflict, and--" + +"No, no," retorted the girl, indignantly, "it is not true." She was +irradiated by her wrath. The usual faint yet warm redness of her face +had changed to a deeper hue, and her eyes were smouldering fires. +Edward had never seen her look so handsome; but his attention was +distracted from her at that instant by some rough, prickly shrubs, +near which they were passing. He put out his hand instinctively to +keep them from touching his companion, and a sharp thorn pierced his +palm. He immediately affected to be in great pain. + +"It is easy for the pale-face to suffer," she said tauntingly. + +"It is impossible for your race to be pitiful," he replied in the same +tone. + +Again she flushed hotly, and, as if to disprove his assertion, she +seized his hand, and pressed it closely to her angrily, heaving bosom, +as she tried to extract the thorn from it. But it had penetrated too +far, and with a quick impatient ah! she bent her warm red lips to his +palm and strove to reach the thorn with her little white teeth. After +several attempts she was at last successful, and looked up with an air +of innocent triumph. + +"I take back my cruel words," Edward said. "I am sure you can be a +little pitiful." Then he put her gently but hastily aside, for they +were close upon "Bellevue," and he was eager to meet Helene. + +With a grieved, child-like wonder the beautiful, ignorant savage +watched him, as he hurried across the velvet lawn, among beds of +brilliant flowers, to greet a lily-like maiden, clad in what, in her +uncivilized eyes, appeared to be a mingling of mist and moonbeams. It +was the first time that he had shown a wish to leave her. Hitherto she +had been the object of his pursuit, of his devotion, of his ardent +desire. Now, like a cold blast, his neglect struck chill upon her +heart, and she turned back into the forest solitudes with all the +brightness suddenly and strangely gone out of her life. + +But instead of being translated to the earthly paradise of a beautiful +woman's favour, Edward, to his own great disappointment and chagrin, +found himself in a very different atmosphere. Helene was cold, nearly +silent, utterly indifferent. She was looking unusually well. The rich +harmonious contrasts of face and hair--the midnight darkness of the +one breaking into the radiant dawn of the other--never before +impressed him so vividly. But she was terribly distant. The young man +assured himself rather bitterly that if she were a thousand miles off +she could not have been more oblivious of his presence. She was +alluring even in her indifference, graceful, elegant, angelic--but an +angel carved in ice. "I have been so unfortunate as to offend you," he +said at parting, as they stood alone in the soft, moonless, summer +dusk. + +"I don't know; is it a matter of much importance?" There was an accent +of weariness in her voice, but the tone was hard. + +"Yes, to me. You are as cold as death!" + +"What a very unpleasant fancy!" She shivered lightly, and extended the +tips of her very chilly fingers to him in a last good-night. + +Mademoiselle Helene was intensely proud. She had been an unobserved +witness of the scene between Edward and Wanda in the wood, and, of +course, had made her own misinterpretation. A man who could permit a +low, untutored savage to fawn upon him in that way, kissing his hand +repeatedly, and flushing with gratified vanity, presumably at his +words of endearment, could scarcely expect to be treated otherwise +than with disdain by the high-bred girl whom he had previously +delighted to honour. As for Edward he was sorely hurt and bewildered. +Helene's treatment of him he considered decidedly curt, and natural +resentment burned within him at the thought. But before he reached +home his anger had passed away, and with it all remembrance of the +cold maiden and the unpleasant evening she had given him. In their +place lived an intense recollection of a tawny woman, beautiful and +warm-blooded; and his heart thrilled with a tumult of emotions at the +memory of her lustrous velvet lips closely pressed within his wounded +hand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ON THE WAY TO THE CAPITAL. + + +From early summer to late autumn, from assurance of bloom to certainty +of frost, is but a step--the step between life and death. The +murmuring leaves and waters on the shores of Kempenfeldt Bay had +learned a louder and harsher melody--the wild wind-prophecy of winter. +For a brief season Indian summer came to re-illumine the despairing +days, and the larches, set aflame by her hand, flashed like lights. +Then through the softly tinted wood broke the Autumn brightness upon +delicate shimmering birch trees, red sumachs, purple tinged sassafras, +golden rod and asters; but now the oaks and beeches had changed their +velvet green raiment to dull brown, and all the wild woods, after the +pitiless and well-nigh perpetual rains of Fall, were stricken and +discoloured. Madame and Mademoiselle DeBerczy had flown with the +birds, and were now domiciled in their winter home at the Oak Ridges, +whither Rose Macleod, in response to an urgent invitation from Helene, +had accompanied them, and whence she wrote letters of entreaty to her +father, urging him to take a house in York for the winter. + +"Not that it is so particularly lively," she wrote, "but it is not +quite so deathly as at Pine Towers. Edward will be willing to come, I +know, desperate lover of nature that he is, for there is nothing in +the woods now but eternal requiem over lost and buried beauty, of +which, in the natural vanity of youth, he may be tempted to consider +himself a part. As for the children they will build snow-houses, and +sit down in them, thus ensuring permanent bad colds, and the other +member of your family, if she returns home, will 'look before and +after, and sigh for what is not.' Is not that a sufficiently +depressing picture? Dear papa, you know that, like the bad little boys +in a certain class of Sunday School literature, I can't be ruled +except by kindness. Now see what an immense opportunity I have given +you to govern me according to approved Sunday School ethics!" + +She paused a moment, considering not what could be said, but what +could be omitted from a missive which was to be convincing as well as +caressing in its nature, when Helene entered the room. + +"Love letter, Rose?" she inquired carelessly. + +"Certainly," responded her friend, "all my letters are love letters. +Would you have me write to a person I didn't love?" + +"Why, I couldn't help it, that is supposing the letter you are writing +is addressed to Allan Dunlop. Of course he is a person you don't love." + +"There is no reason why I should." + +"No reason? O ingratitude! After he dived under the heels of a fiery +horse, carried you nearly lifeless into the house, and took off his +boots every time he entered it for six weeks thereafter. How much +further could a man's devotion go?" + +"I am beginning to find out," said Rose, with a slight return of an +invalid's irritation, "how far a _woman's_ devotion can go." + +Helene arched her delicate brows. "Are you offended?" she asked, +anxiously. "Ah, don't be! I'll take back every word. He _didn't_ take +off his boots, nor carry you in, nor pick you up, and, let me see--what +other assertion did I make? Oh, yes. Of course he is a person you _do_ +love. But oh, Rose, Rose, what are you blushing about? This isn't the +time of year for roses to blush." + +"Upon my word, Helene, you are enough to make a stone wall blush." + +"Ah, you are thinking of the stone walls of a certain farm cottage. I +can imagine you sitting propped up in bed, with a volume of hymns +marking the line, 'Stone walls do not a prison make,' with a big +exclamation-point, and a 'So true!'" + +Rose leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. + +"Are you very tired, dear?" inquired her friend, with real tenderness. + +"Very tired," was the languid reply, that was not without a satirical +intonation. "It seems as though my rest was a good deal broken." + +"Broken bone! broken heart! broken rest! dear me! Well, I suppose they +follow each other in natural sequence." + +"Helene," said her mother, "you are chattering like a magpie. What is +it all about?" + +"Broken utterances, mamma. Not worth piecing together and repeating." + +Madame DeBerczy, seated alone at the other end of the apartment, +turned upon her daughter a face of such majestic severity as +effectually to quell that young lady's recklessly merry mood. But it +was not for long. The irrepressible joyousness of her nature was not +permanently subdued until two weeks later, when the family were +surprised by the unlooked-for appearance of Edward Macleod. This young +man was the bearer of good-tidings. His father and the rest of the +family were even now domiciled at an hotel in York waiting for Rose to +arrive in order to consult her preferences before selecting a house. +The announcement made both girls happy, but when it was discovered +that Edward was to take his sister away in a few hours their joy was +changed to lamentation. To be separated, hateful thought! How could it +be endured? They withdrew for a brief space to consider this weighty +problem, leaving Edward in dignified conversation with Madame +DeBerczy. He was strangely reminded of his first visit to her after +his return from England. Alike, and yet how different. Then the +prophecy of summer's golden perfection was in the air. But his hopes +with it had too-quickly ripened and died. The coolness that had sprang +up between Helene and himself had grown and strengthened into the +permanent winter of discontent. He was recalled from the chilling +reflections into which this thought had plunged him by the concluding +words of a remark by Madame DeBerczy: "I approve of a certain amount +of life and animation," she said, "but they are inclined to be too +frisky." + +"What on earth is she talking about?" queried Edward inaudibly. He +could form no idea, but he was suddenly extricated from his dilemma by +observing the antics of two pet kittens on the hearth-rug. + +"Altogether too frisky," he acquiesced, "but charming little pets." + +"It appears to me," said the lady, with a good deal of frigidity in +her manner, "that they should be something better than that." + +"Oh, you could scarcely expect such young things to be stately and +dignified, Madame DeBerczy. They seem to me very pretty and graceful." + +"In my day prettiness and grace were not considered so essential for +young ladies as dignity and stateliness." + +"Young ladies! Really, I beg your pardon, dear Madame, for my +inattention. I imagined you were talking of kittens." He blushed so +vividly over his mistake that a more circumspect old lady even than +the one he was addressing would have found it hard not to forgive him. + +But now the girls re-entered the room with looks of deep dejection. +"We have decided that we can't part," said Helene. "United we stand, +divided we fall." + +"And so," said Rose boldly, addressing Madame DeBerczy, "we have come +to ask if Helene cannot go back with us for a few days." She paused a +moment, for in asking a favour of so lofty a personage as Madame +DeBerczy, she was never certain whether she ought to prostrate herself +on the floor in oriental fashion, or merely bend the knee. In this +case she did neither. But her sweet pleading eyes spoke "libraries," +so Helene told her afterwards. The imaginative objections already +forming in the mother's mind vanished away, and she was prevailed upon +to give her consent. + +"Though it leaves me rather at the mercy of Sophia," she said, as she +went out to lunch. + +Edward lifted an inquiring pair of eyes. + +"Sophia is my new maid," explained his hostess. "Her ideas on the +subject of liberty and equality are extreme. Sometimes," she added +mournfully, "I am in doubt as to whether I have hired Sophia, or +Sophia has hired me." + +The young people longed to exchange covert glances of amusement, but +this relief was denied them. It was no laughing matter to the stately +sufferer at the head of the table. Rose spoke in the decent accents of +sympathy and condolence, but her brother and friend were not profuse +of speech. The latter was thinking of possible explanations and +reconciliations that might arise through the frequent opportunities of +meeting with Edward, which a temporary residence under the same roof +would entail, and the former was feasting his beauty-loving eyes upon +a strikingly lovely picture on the other side of the table--the +picture of two heads, golden-yellow and raven-black, against the rich +background of a peacock-tinted tapestry screen. + +They were much less picturesque in their winter wraps, as they whirled +away under the leafless trees, but they made up for it in merriment. +Edward and Helene were secretly glad of the presence of Rose. It was +impossible to be frigidly formal with that sunny face beaming up now +at one, then at the other. This deep young person had made up her mind +that she would spare no pains to bring about a better state of feeling +between the two. When conversation lagged or threatened to become +formally precise, she gave utterance to some amazing piece of +nonsense, which compelled a laugh from the others, or else indulged in +prettily assumed alarm, lest their horse should prove untrustworthy. + +"When you see a horse's ears move," she declared, "it is a sign that +he is vicious. Flip's ears were never still." + +"Why, Rose," cried her brother, "this horse is no more like Flip than +an old cow is like a wild cat. Besides his ears don't move." + +"Oh, yes, they do," remarked Helene, with the calmness of scientific +conviction. "When a horse moves his ears have got to move too. They +are not detachable. It is the same with other animals." + +"Where is my note-book?" inquired Edward, after a fruitless search in +his various pockets, while Rose observed "Well, you may say what you +please, but I feel sure he is not safe." + +"Indeed, he isn't," echoed the driver. "He's liable to turn around any +moment and bite you. It's a good thing the livery stable man hitched +him up head first, else we might all have been devoured by the +ferocious beast." + +Such pleasantries might have been indefinitely extended had not +unusual sounds of mirth and minstrelsy coming from behind arrested +their attention. + +"Why, it is the Elmsleys," softly exclaimed Rose. "Dear me! I haven't +seen Grace and Eleanor for months." + +These young ladies hailed her with every expression of delight as the +carriages came to a stand-still together. They had a prodigious amount +to say. At last, as the horses were growing restive, Mrs. Elmsley +invited Miss Macleod to join their family party, as they also were on +their way to York. + +"_Do_!" echoed the daughters, and Rose accepted with alacrity. "The +horse we have isn't at all safe," she explained, "and I am quite +nervous on the subject since my accident last summer." + +"Rose," demanded Helene, in a low aside, but with a tragic countenance, +"you surely are not going to leave me?" + +The girl laughed as she accepted Mr. Elmsley's proffered assistance +from one vehicle into the other. "Why, you are quite a grown woman," +observed that gentleman, apparently much impressed by her mature +proportions, "and it seems like only the other day that you were seven +years old, and used to kiss me when we met." + +"Well, I'll kiss you again," replied the saucy Rose, adding after a +moment's pause,--"when I am seven years old." + +"I warn you, Mrs. Elmsley," said Edward, shaking his head with doleful +foreboding, "that girl knows how to look like the innocent flower she +is named after, and be the serpent under it." + +"Did you know," said his slandered sister, addressing the same lady, +and indicating the pair she had basely forsaken, "those are the very +two that were with me when I was so badly hurt last summer. Do you +wonder that I am glad to escape from them?" + +The party drove off amid jests and laughter, while the young ladies, +applying their lips once more to a leaf of grass-ribbon each had in +her hand, produced such sounds as, according to their father, might, +Orpheus-like, have drawn stones and brickbats after them, but from a +murderous rather than a magnetic motive. + +"I wonder if Rose is really nervous," said Edward, breaking the +silence that bound them after the departure of the others. + +"I think she is really nonsensical," said Rose's friend, not very +blandly. + +"Are you then so sorry to be left alone with me?" + +The young lady evaded the question, but became extremely loquacious. +She intimated that almost any companionship, or none at all, could be +endured on this beautifully melancholy autumn day, and called his +attention to the leaves underfoot, which had grown brown and ragged, +like the pages of a very old book on which the centuries had laid +their slow relentless fingers. In a burst of girlish confidence she +told him that always, after the wild winds had stripped from the +shuddering woodland its last leaves, and the pitiless rains had washed +it clean, the spectacle of bare-branched trees, standing against the +gentle gloom of a pale November sky, reminded her of a company of +worldings, from whom every vestige of earthly ambition, pride and +prosperity had fallen away. "Anything," she said to herself, +"_anything_ to keep the talk from becoming personal." + +"I can understand that," said Edward, "but the influences of +unworldliness--I was almost saying other-worldliness--are nowhere felt +as in the woods. Sometimes they exert a strange spell upon me. The +petty pride and shallow subterfuges of fashionable life are impossible +in nature's solitudes. Don't you think so?" + +"Yes;" assented Helene, not seeing whither her unthinking acquiescence +might lead her. + +"That is why I dare to ask you why you have been so cold and formal +towards me, so unlike your old self, for the last three months?" + +No petty pride could help her now, no shallow subterfuges come to her +aid. She had declared that they were impossible here. She could not +turn her face away from his truth-compelling gaze. Why had Rose left +her alone to be tortured in this dreadful way? How could she confess +to him that jealousy and wounded vanity had caused the change in her +demeanour? "I cannot tell you," she said at last. She had turned paler +even than usual, but her eyes burned. + +"I am sorry to have given you pain," he said almost tenderly, and then +the confession broke from her in a little storm of pent-up emotion. + +"It was because I ceased to respect you! How could I respect a man who +would allow a wild ignorant creature to caress his hands and hang upon +his words?" + +He turned a face of pure bewilderment upon her. "If you mean the +Algonquin girl, Wanda," he said, "she has never treated me otherwise +than with indifference, anger and contempt." He explained the scene of +which Helene had been an involuntary witness, and the proud girl felt +humiliated and belittled. But he was too generous and perhaps too +clever to allow her to suppose that he attributed her coldness to weak +jealousy. That would have placed her at a disadvantage which her pride +would never have forgiven. + +"So you believed me to be a vain contemptible idiot," he said, "Then +you did perfectly right to scorn me." He drove on furiously, with +tense lips and contracted brow. She had misjudged him cruelly, but he +would not descend to harsh accusation. Helene was decidedly +uncomfortable. "I have never scorned you," she said. "It was because +I believed you superior to the folly and weakness of ordinary men that +it grieved me to think you were otherwise." + +"It grieved you," he repeated in a softer tone. "Hereafter I wish you +would confide all your griefs to me the moment you are aware of them." + +"To tell the truth, I don't expect to have any more." She laughed her +old joyous friendly laugh, and he stretched his arm across her lap to +adjust the robe more closely to her form. Her attitude towards him had +completely changed, concretely as well as abstractly, for now she sat +cosily and contentedly by his side, instead of perching herself a yard +away, and allowing the winter winds to emphasize the coldness that had +existed between them. This wonderful improvement in the mental +atmosphere made them oblivious to a change in the outer air until +Helene remarked upon the peculiar odour of smoke about them. This +increased until it became almost stifling. Evidently the blazing brush +heap, lit by the hand of some thrifty settler, had extended further +than he was aware of. The smoke blew past them, and they were in the +midst of that vividly picturesque spectacle--a fire in the forest. The +flames ran swiftly up the dry, dead limbs, turning trees into huge +blazing torches, and the light underbrush beneath them took on +beautiful and fantastic shapes of fire. The gray sky was illumined +with fiery banners, while, like scarlet-clothed imps at a carnival, +the flames leaped and danced among the twigs and smaller branches. + +The hot breeze blowing on her cheek filled Helene with sudden alarm, +and Edward urged the horse to a quicker pace. But the frightened +creature needed no urging. With a great shuddering leap he sprang +forward as though a thousand fire-fiends from the infernal regions had +been after him. Helene uttered a half-suppressed shriek, and clung +strenuously to Edward's arm. Suddenly he gave a loud gasp of dismay. +On the road directly before them a pile of brush had caught the blaze +and stretched before their startled eyes like a burning bridge. All +attempts to stop or turn around were useless. The horse was wholly +beyond control. For a moment they were enveloped in smoke and flame, +shut into a fiery furnace, from which an instant later they emerged +from danger, but with a badly singed steed and an unpleasant odour of +fire upon them. Edward had pushed Helene to the bottom of the +carriage, and flung the robe over her. Now he drew her trembling, and +sobbing a little, back to his side. She was shaking excessively, and +in order to restore her equanimity there was clearly nothing else to +be done but to hold her closely in his arms, let fall his face to +hers, and breathe in her ear every word of sympathy and comfort that +came to his mind. She lay weakly with closed eyes upon his breast, +while the excitement in her pulses gradually died away. When she +opened her eyes the short November day was nearly at its close, and +York was in sight. She drew away to her own corner of the seat, not +with any visible blushes, for her complexion never lost its warm +whiteness, but her eyes glowed, and her lips were 'like a thread of +scarlet.' + +"I am glad Rose was not with us," she said, feeling a pressing need to +say something, and in default of anything better to say, "as she is +even more nervous than I am." + +"Yes, I am _very_ glad she was not with us," assented Edward, with an +unusual amount of brotherly fervour, while he turned his horse in the +direction of the only available hotel in the Capital, where the +wearied travellers were content to rest for a few days before setting +out in search of a new home. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +YORK AND THE MAITLANDS. + + +There are difficulties in the way of one who would describe an event +after an immortal poet has given it a setting in lines that a +worshipping world will not willingly let die. A tree, it is said, is +never struck by lightning more than once, and it is safe to suppose +that a subject is never illumined by the rays of heaven-descended +genius without being as thoroughly exhausted. Nevertheless, with our +tame domestic lantern, let us endeavour to throw a little prosaic +light over the details of a scene that has been irradiated by the +imagination of a Byron. + +It was one of the events of the season to the social world of that +foreign town, but to us it is one of the events of the century. On an +evening in June, 1815, in the city of Brussels, the Duchess of +Richmond gave a ball on so magnificent a scale that even the gray +heads of society's veteran devotees were a little turned, and the +chestnut and golden pates of their juniors tossed sleeplessly on their +pillows for several nights preceding it. After all, humanity is +perpetually and overpoweringly interested in nothing except humanity. +On the evening appointed there was a vast beautiful throng, moving +through halls as beautiful and more vast; there was the witchery of +soft lights and softer sounds, of odours and colours that enchant the +senses; there were banks of flowers, each of whose tiny blossoms +yielded its dying breath to make the world sweeter for an hour, and +among them, under the starry lights, in warm human veins, flowed a +thousand streams; very blue, not so blue, and even common crimson. But +all flowed faster than usual, perhaps the better to warm the lovely +bare shoulders and arms, or to paint the sweet cheeks above them in +the vivid hues of glad, intense young life. Intermingled with the +costly robes and flashing gems on the ideal figures of fair women, +gleamed the brilliant uniforms of brave men. "A thousand hearts beat +happily"--with one exception. This was in the possession of the second +daughter of a duke. She was even then remarkable for her beauty and +for a certain imperious, condescending grace. The gay throng of which +she was a part was no more to her than so many buttercups and daisies; +and these sumptuous apartments, so far as they concerned her, might +have been a series of green meadows. At last her indifferent glance, +travelling over the room, encountered an object that faintly flushed +her cheek, and brightened the eyes, whose orbit of vision was now +limited to the circle immediately about her. Cold indifference had +changed to throbbing impatience. Ah, why did he not come! With whom +was he lingering? She dared not look up lest her glance, like a swift, +bright messenger, should tell him all her heart, and draw him +magnetically to her side. No, he must come of his own choice, and +quickly, else her mood would change. Soft strains of music arose, +melting, aching, dying upon the air. Her heart melted, ached, and +apparently died also, for it turned cold and hard as she glanced at +her watch, and saw that it was more than a minute, nearly _two_ +minutes (two eternities they seemed to her) since she began to be glad +that she had come. + +The next instant her long-lashed lids were raised in spite of herself, +and she confronted a singularly tall and attractive-looking gentleman, +whose face, from its pensive sadness, had a certain poetic charm. He +begged the honour of the next dance with her. She regretted that he +was too late. He looked disappointed, but ventured to name the next +one. She was sorry, but it was impossible. Had she room for him +anywhere at all on her list? She shook her head prettily but +inexorably. The handsomest coquette and the plainest school-ma'am have +this in common, that they detest and punish tardiness. The young man +was overpowered by his sense of loss. It was small comfort to stand +and look at the beautiful girl. When the gates of paradise are closed +against one it matters little whether they are made of gold or of +iron. Inwardly he bestowed some very hard names upon himself for +imagining that that peerless creature would be allowed to await a +willing wall-flower his languidly deferred appearance. + +Again those heavenly strains rose and throbbed upon the air. It was +maddening. The keenness of his disappointment gave his face an +intensity of ardent expression that certainly did not detract from its +charm in the eyes of the girl who at that instant glanced up into it. +The next moment he was pressed aside--very decorously, very +courteously, even apologetically pushed aside, but still compelled by +an insinuating patrician hand to make room for its owner, a gentleman +whose extremely lofty title had already drawn the homage of a hundred +admiring pairs of eyes upon him, and whose prevailing expression was a +haughty consciousness of accustomed and assumed success. The young +lady whom he now honoured with a request to dance did not think of his +title, nor of his condescension, nor of him. She declined with +characteristic indifference on the plea that she was already engaged, +and turning placed her hand on the arm of Sir Peregrine Maitland, +whose suddenly bewildered and enraptured heart, if it had never before +given its assent to the time-worn proposition that all is fair in love +as well as in war, certainly could not hesitate now. Perhaps the +triumphs of the ball-room are not less thrilling than those of the +battle-field. "Why were you so cruel to me a moment ago?" he murmured, +looking down into eyes that but too clearly reflected the happiness of +his own. + +"For the same reason that I am kind to you now," she responded like a +flash. + +He did not ask her the reason. Perhaps he was intuitively and +blissfully aware of it. Did ever maiden discover a more demurely +daring way of telling her lover that she loved him? + +But now, caressed by little wafts of perfume, and half-dazed by the +blaze of lights and colours around and above them, they were drifting +as on a tide upon soft swelling waves of music. In liquid undulations +of sweet sound they floated insensibly down the windings of the waltz, +nor dreamed of danger till the note of warning came. It was a +prodigious note--nothing less than the boom of a cannon--and the +signal for instant, perhaps life-long, separation. + + "Who could guess, + If ever more should meet those mutual eyes? + Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise." + +But, as we know, two pairs at least of those mutual eyes were destined +to meet again, and meet as gladly and warmly as when their owners +danced together on the evening before the battle of Waterloo. But the +chill atmosphere of a father's disapproval lay between them. It is +reasonable to suppose that the fourth Duke of Richmond and Lennox was +not so susceptible to the charms of pensive and picturesque young +gentlemen as was his wilful daughter. Among the names on a list of +invitations to a party given by the latter appeared that of Sir +Peregrine Maitland, which, coming under the cold parental eye, was +promptly erased. At the same time he inquired of his daughter why she +permitted that undesirable gentleman to hang about her skirts--why she +did not let him go. The response was that after this decided slight he +probably _would_ go; she added with a little sigh that she did not +know where. The duke profanely and contemptuously mentioned a locality +which shall be nameless. The young lady made no reply. She believed in +division of labour, and in former domestic affairs of this sort her +stern parent had invariably said what he pleased, while she contented +herself with merely doing what she pleased. + +Proverbially, actions speak louder than words, and the present case +was no exception, for while the echo of her father's speech did not go +beyond the walls of the apartment they were in, her own rash +performance, which was a direct consequence of it, was a few days +later noised abroad through all Paris. This was an evening call at the +lodgings of Sir Peregrine Maitland. She came in unannounced, flushed, +eager, defiant, lovely, letting fall the rich train of her robe, which +she had caught up in a swift flight through the streets, and throwing +off her enveloping cloak, which scattered a shower of sparkling drops +on brow and bosom, and beautiful bare arms, for a light shower had +fallen. "They would not let you come to me, so I have come to you," +she declared with a daring little laugh. "I have run away from my +guests. There is a houseful of them and they tire me to death. +Everyone tires me to-night except you." The gentleman stood before her +speechless with bewilderment. "I believe," she said with a little +pout, like a spoiled child, "that you are not glad to see me." + +"Glad to see you," he repeated, "dearest, yes! But not in this way, at +this time." + +She turned aside, but the drops that glittered on her cheek now were +not caused by the rain. Her shimmering silken robes seemed to utter +continuous soft whispers of applause to her nervous yet graceful +movements. Altogether she was an incongruous object in the unhome-like +bareness of a bachelor's apartments. "You are not very cordial, +monsieur," she remarked in a cold tone, as she stood with her back to +him, staring hard at an uninteresting picture above the mantel-shelf; +"it seems to be a pleasure to you to receive an evening caller, but +not exactly a rapture." She smiled her old imperious smile as she +threw herself into a tired-looking chair, while her host, with very +obvious reluctance, sank into one just opposite. For an instant her +beauty smote upon his brain. He leaned forward until his face touched +the lapful of rare old laces that flowed wave-like from waist to knee +on the dress of the girl he loved. + +"Darling," he murmured, "it is a rapture"--then he suddenly drew +himself very far back in his chair--"but not exactly a pleasure!" + +She rose again and moved restlessly about the room. He stood pale, +speechless, waiting for her to go--a waiting that was almost a +supplication. "How could you have the courage to come to me," he +breathed as she drew near him. + +"Because I hadn't the courage to stay away from you. I am brave enough +to do, but not to endure." + +"My poor love! if this escapade becomes public you will have enough to +endure." + +"I do not care for the world." She stood facing him with the absolute +sincerity and trust of irresistible love. "I care for you," she said. + +He took the little jewelled hand and reverently kissed it. "Ah, don't +do that!" she cried, drawing it away with a quick impatient frown. He +drew away, supposing that he had offended her, while she, giving him +the puzzled incredulous look that a woman must give a man when she +discovers, not that his intuitions are duller than her own, but that +he has no intuitions at all, continued her tour about the room. + +"Sweetheart," he said, following her, but not venturing to lay a +finger upon her, "you _must_ go." His voice was earnest and very +tender. + +"The same idea has occurred to me," she said, "but I dislike to hurry. +There is nothing so vulgar as haste." Her old mocking tone had +returned, and in despair he threw himself back into his seat. + +Something in the pathetic grace of his attitude and the beauty of his +sensitive poetic face smote upon the heart that, with all its +perversity, belonged alone to him. She ran to him and knelt at his +side, with her white arms outstretched across his knees, and her +lovely head bowed upon them. The young man realized with sharp +distinctness that the fear of society is not the strongest feeling +that can animate the human frame. He uttered a few passionate words of +endearment, and would have gathered her closely into his breast, but +she, without looking up, sprang suddenly from him and, seizing her +cloak, sped wind-like to her home. + +But there were consequences. Madame Grundy, who is chief among those +for whom Satan finds some mischief still, openly declared that there +were some forms of imprudence that could be tolerated and some that +could not, and that this particular indiscretion must, with reluctance, +be relegated to the latter class. The irate father of the erring one +coincided with this view of things, and a speedy marriage was the +result. "Not guilty--but she mustn't do so again!" had evidently been +the verdict of society. + +A few months later, in 1818, Sir Peregrine Maitland, his affairs of +love happily settled, was appointed ruler of Upper Canada, where his +attention was turned to affairs of State. But there was one subject in +connection with his courtship-days which had never been satisfactorily +settled, and upon which he did not venture to question his wife until +several years had elapsed. Then, late one afternoon, it recurred to +him in that unaccountable way in which bygone events are accustomed to +rise at odd times and lay claim to the attention. + +"Dear," he said, "why did you object to my kissing your hand the +evening you called on me in Paris?" + +"You may lay out the corn-coloured silk, Emma," said Lady Sarah to her +maid, who came that moment with an inquiry upon toilette matters. Then +as the girl disappeared she resumed her novel, peeping over the top of +it at her husband. + +"As though I wanted you to kiss my _hand_!" she said. + +"_Oh_!" A sudden light seemed to dawn upon the dense masculine +understanding. Sir Peregrine was very proud of his beautiful wife. At +the private reception which she gave that evening the corn-coloured +silk gown was the centre of a group of government officials and the +social dignitaries of the time, between herself and whom the ball of +conversation kept lightly moving. + +She turned from them to greet an old friend. "Ah, Commodore, so you +are really settled here for the winter. Rose told me that you had some +thoughts of remaining out in the bush through the cold season, in the +cosy but rather too exclusive manner of a family of chipmunks. What +have you been doing all summer?" + +"Keeping myself unspotted from the world," replied the gentleman, with +a stately bow to the lady, and a sportive glance at the worthy +representatives of the social world surrounding her. + +"How very scriptural! Do Bibles grow on bushes in the backwoods that +quotation of them comes so easily?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure. Such searching theological questions are, I +suppose, what a man must expect to confront when he forsakes the +simple and sequestered life of the chipmunks." + +"Well, I am disappointed. I supposed from the expression of your eyes +that you were going to say something complimentary." + +"My dear Lady Sarah, do compliments grow on street corners in the +metropolis that the expectation of them comes so easily?" + +"No, indeed--nor in drawing-rooms either, apparently. It is a novelty +to meet a man who persists in making his conversation impersonal; but +it is really cold-hearted of you to think of remaining so long away +from us." + +"How can you say so! Absence, you know, makes the heart grow fonder." + +"Does it?" The lady made a feint of moving away. "Now if it were only +possible for me to absent myself," she said, laughingly. + +"Impossible! That is for me to do." And the gentleman withdrew with +flattering haste. + +In his place appeared a blonde young man, with deep sea-blue eyes and +a bright buoyant expression, on whose arm his hostess laid a soft +detaining hand. "Were you on the point of asking me to walk about a +little?" she inquired. "I am going to accept with alacrity." + +The young fellow, who would scarcely have made the suggestion in the +face and eyes of several among the most distinguished of his fellow +citizens immediately surrounding her, was not slow to respond, though +he assumed an expression of alarm. + +"I fear this is a deep-laid plot," he remarked. "I saw my father +leaving you in haste a moment ago. Probably he has offended you, and +you are about to visit the iniquities of the parents upon the +children. Pray are you taking me apart in order to spare my sensitive +feelings? So kind of you!" + +"Well, it was not my benevolent intention to lecture you at all, +either in public or private, but since you speak of it so feelingly no +doubt the need exists. First tell me what you have been doing all +summer." + +"Living out in the wild woods among the wild flowers, wild animals, +wild Indians, and--" + +"What a wild young man! I am positively afraid of you." + +"Delightful! Please oblige me by remaining so. It is difficult for me +to be appalling for any length of time, yet the emotion of fear must +be cultivated in your mind at all hazards." + +"And why?" + +"Because you will never dare to lecture the awe-inspiring being of +whom you are in mortal terror." + +"Oh! are you sure of that? I met a famous lecturer the other day, and +he assured me that he never stepped before an audience without +suffering from fright; yet he did not spare his hearers on that +account." + +"Such is the hardheartedness of man. We expect more from a woman." + +"More of a lecture, or more hardheartedness?" + +"More of the latter--from you." + +"Well I am under the impression that you will receive, before long, a +good deal of the former from a young lady present. Are you aware that +we are observed?" + +"I am sure that one of us is the observed of all observers." + +"It is kind of you not to add that politeness forbids you to say +which. But what I mean is that since we began to talk I have twice +encountered a glance from the darkest eyes I ever saw." + +"They must belong to Mademoiselle DeBerczy." + +"They do. That girl's eyes and hair are black enough to cast a gloom +over the liveliest conversation." + +"But her smiles are bright enough to illumine the gloom." + +"Then it is a shame that she should waste them upon that rather +slow-looking young man in front of her. Will you take me back to my +seat and then go and see if you can release her from bondage?" + +The request was immediately acceded to, and not long afterwards Helene +DeBerczy and Edward Macleod were exchanging the light talk, not worth +reporting, that springs so easily from those whose hearts are light. + +Meantime where was Rose? To all outward appearance she was demurely +listening to the remarks of a distinguished statesman, whose opinions +were held to be of great weight, and whose form, at any rate, fully +merited this description. He was so delighted to think that one so +young and fair could be so deep. Alas! she _was_ deep in a sense the +gifted gentleman never knew. For, while the sweet head bowed assent, +and the rose-bud lips unclosed to utter such remarks as "Ah, indeed! +You surprise me!" and "Very true!" to statements of profound national +import, her maiden meditations were as free as fancy. Before her +mental vision the brilliant rooms with their gay well-dressed +assemblage melted away, and in their place was a fair green meadow, +wide and waving and deliciously cool under the declining sun of a +summer evening. The last load of the second crop of hay was on its way +to the barn, when a great longing desire took possession of her to +ride on it. She walked out to the field, very slowly and feebly, but +still she actually walked--and the whole cavalcade came to a dead stop +at sight of her, for she had never been able to go any farther than +the gate since her accident. Mr. Dunlop, and Allan, and the hired man, +and even the oxen all stopped, and looked at her as though they +expected to hear that the house was afire, or that the servant girl +had run away with the butcher's boy. But when they found that nothing +was wanted except a ride on a load of hay Mr. Dunlop said, "bless the +child!" and held her up as high as he could reach. Then Allan lifted +her the rest of the way, blushing as he did so. She remembered how +beautifully clean he looked in his white shirt sleeves, and what clear +warm shades of brown there were in the eyes and on the cheeks under +the broad straw hat. She remembered, too, with a little warmth of +feeling--not a _very_ uncomfortable warmth of feeling--how, when the +waggon made a great lurch going over a ditch, she had uttered a little +scream, and laid strenuous hands of appeal upon the white sleeved arm, +and how, when they came to another ditch, a brown palm had held fast +to her trembling hand until the danger was over. Halfway in the barn +door he made the oxen stop, until she had stood on tip toe, and put +her hand among the little swallows in a nest under the eaves. Ah, what +was there in the memory of new-mown hay to fill her with this sharp +sweet pain? She awoke from her dream to a consciousness that the +gentleman beside her was saying that it was sufficiently clear to +every enlightened understanding that unless tum tum tum tum measures +were instantly adopted mum mum mum mum would be the inevitable result. + +"Oh, no doubt of it," said Rose, and then there was a readjustment of +the group in her immediate vicinity. Lady Sarah Maitland appeared with +a bewitching smile and begged to introduce the honourable gentleman, +who had been discoursing with so much eloquence to a friend of hers. +The 'friend' hovered in the distance, but even in perspective it was +clear to be seen that he was a man of great powers of endurance. + +The honourable gentleman concealed under a flattered smile his +distaste for the proposition, and in a few moments his place was +occupied by Lady Sarah, who took one of the little hands, soft and +pink as a handful of rose-leaves, between her own. + +"I wonder if I might venture to ask a favour," she said. + +"I'm sure I should never venture to refuse it," returned the young +girl, with all a young girl's appreciation of kindness coming from a +thoroughbred woman of the world. + +"Then I wish very much that you would sing one of your favourite +songs. It would be a great pleasure to very many of us." + +"I'll not wait to be coaxed," was the reply, after a moment's +hesitation. "It is only really good singers who can afford to do +that." + +In spite of her dimpled figure and child-face, Rose Macleod had a very +stately little way with her, and it served to repel one pair of eyes +that for the first time that evening caught sight of her as she moved +towards the instrument. A little queen! That was what he had always +called her in his heart. _His_ little queen! Oh, how had he dared to +enthrone her there? Presumptuous idiot! she was as far from him as the +stars are from the weeds. But the girl at the piano thought of nothing +but the sharp, sweet odour of new-mown hay. Sharp as a sword and sweet +as love, it pierced and thrilled her being. Then, like a fragrant +blossom, a melody sprang from the hidden sources of her pain. The +sympathetic musical expressiveness of her voice, and its pure +penetrating quality filled the room, and riveted the attention of +every one in it. Others came in from adjoining rooms, until, in the +press of the throng, a young man was forced, in spite of himself, +nearer and nearer to the instrument, and found himself close beside +the fair girl-goddess of song, just as the last words left her lips. +Like one awaking from sleep she looked at him, and then the glad light +of recognition swept up to her eyes. Her dream had come true. "Oh," +she exclaimed, "it is Allan!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AFTER "THE BALL." + + +She was conscious of what she had said an instant afterwards and +blushed to the brow. If any one at that moment had asked her what's in +a name, and she had been compelled to reveal her inmost convictions, +the fair Rose, who by any other name would be as sweet, would have +answered "impropriety, embarrassment, a host of unpleasant emotions." +It was impossible to explain to him that she had been helping him to +make hay that evening in Lady Sarah Maitland's parlours, and that that +was why the name that she had heard so frequently in the meadow had +left her lips so easily and naturally that night. Better try and seem +unconscious. But unconsciousness, like happiness, comes unsought or +not at all. As for Allan, his own name had never made such music in +his ears and surely to no lone watcher waiting for the dawn could the +first blush of morn be more welcome than was to him this lovely +mantling bloom on the face of the girl he loved. + +"Charming!" "Exquisite!" "Do sing something else!" were the +exclamations rained upon her as she ceased to sing, but she looked +only to him. + +"How is it I have never heard you sing before?" he inquired, with the +applause that the others had uttered shining unspoken in his eyes. + +"You have too many professional singers about your home. I am afraid +to sing before them. Did you ever hear birds called 'the angels of +earth?'" + +"Never." + +"Well, if nobody else originated the phrase I am willing to do +so--rather than that it shouldn't be originated at all." + +"It may be a pretty idea," said Allan, "and yet it fails to suit my +critical taste." They withdrew a little from the crowd, and found a +quiet place in which to sit and chat, for now a pianist of note had +been led a willing sacrifice to the place Rose vacated. + +"You must be hard to please," said Rose. "What can be more like an +angel than a bird? It has wings, and it sings, and it is rejoicingly +happy. It seems to be particularly blest every moment of its blessed +little life." + +"Very likely. Nevertheless I think a flower much more closely +resembles an angel." + +"A flower? Why, there is scarcely a point of resemblance." + +The young man laughed, but the slight whimsical frown between his +brows deepened. + +"Now that isn't at all what I expected you to say. I thought you might +be kind enough to inquire, 'What flower?' and then I could reply, 'The +queen of flowers.'" + +Rose looked down a moment at the warm pink hands restlessly twining +and intertwining in her lap. "I am glad I did not make the inquiry," +she said. + +"You don't like clumsy compliments?" + +"I believe I don't like any kind from you." + +"Why, please?" + +"I don't know exactly, unless because it seems natural to expect +something better." + +Allan Dunlop was dimly aware that a compliment of a very high order +had been paid to himself. "Our best friends are those who compel us to +do our best," he said. "I hope you will always expect something better +of me than anything I have done." + +It was the speech of an ambitious young man. They both recognized the +note of earnestness that seemed to place them for a moment above the +frivolous crowd about them. Only for a moment; then they lapsed easily +into the light talk so natural to the occasion. + +"Have you had a pleasant evening?" he asked. + +"Very pleasant." Her mind reverted once more to her delightful +reverie, and the scent of new-mown hay was again about her. Then, as +though he could read her thoughts, she brought them back to the +present with a quick little blush, and mentioned the name of the +gentleman who had absorbed so large a part of her time, if not of her +attention, through the evening. + +"Now, why should she blush when she mentions his name?" thought poor +Allan, with a sharp jealous pang at his heart, for the man she alluded +to was an eligible bachelor, who had successfully resisted the charms +of one generation of maidens. "If you find Mr. Gallon's conversation +so interesting," he said, rather forlornly, "mine will seem dull by +contrast. What was he expatiating upon?" + +"Politics, mostly." + +"Are you interested in that subject? I think of going into politics +more deeply myself some time." + +"Do you, indeed? More than you have?" If he had spoken of going into a +decline Rose could not have looked more foreboding. Allan glanced +across half-enviously at the personage who had the power to invest +that topic with interest. "He seems to be more than usually roused +to-night." + +Rose suppressed a yawn. "Does he talk better when he is roused than he +does when he's asleep?" she asked. + +"Surely he displayed no signs of sleepiness when talking with you." + +"No; but I cannot answer for myself." + +That senseless pang of jealousy died a very easy death after all, and +the only sufferer from it would have been entirely happy were it not +for the advancing form of Commodore Macleod, who came in search of his +daughter, and bore her off with a speed that left her lover a little +chilled and daunted. + +The Canadian winter with its bright, fierce days and sparkling nights +was upon them, but it held no terrors for the young hearts who met it +in a mood as defiantly merry as its own. Only a suffering or morbid +nature sees in winter the synonym of death and decay; fancies that +mourning and desolation is the burden of the gaily whistling winds; +and regards the bare trees, rid of their dusty garments, and quietly +resting, as shivering skeletons, and the dancing snow-flakes as the +colourless pall that hides from sight all there is of life and +loveliness. Nature, when the labours of the year are over, sinks to +rest beneath her fleecy coverings, lulled to sleep in the kindly, yet +frosty, arms of the Northern tempest. What wild weird lullabies are +sung to her unheeding ears, dulled by the lethargy of sleep. How early +falls the darkness, and how late the long night lingers, the better to +ensure repose to the sweet mistress of the earth! How bright the +starry eyes of heaven keeping watch above her rest! + +The Macleods had settled in a furnished house, through which Rose had +already diffused the charm of her dainty personality. She was kneeling +before the hearth, like a young fire-worshipper, one snowy afternoon, +and thinking a little drearily that the close environment of a +snow-storm in town rendered it almost as lonely as the country, when a +visitor was announced, the sound of whose name seemed to make the +solitude populous. It was Allan Dunlop, whom she instantly forgave for +so soon availing himself of her permission to call, when she realized +how welcome a break his coming made in the cheerless monotony of the +day. He caught a glimpse of bright hair against a background of +blazing logs, and then she came forward to meet him, not eagerly, not +shyly, but with a charming manner in which both eagerness and shyness +were suggested. At that moment all the warmth and brightness of the +bleak colourless world shone for him in the eyes and hair of this +sweet girl, and in the glowing fire-place before which she drew his +chair. + +"It is exactly the sort of day on which one expects to be free from +the annoyance of callers," he said. "Ought I to apologize?" + +"By all means--instantly--and in the most profuse and elaborate +terms." She assumed her grand air, mounted a footstool, and stood +looking over his head with her saucy chin elevated, waiting for the +abject petition that did not come. The young man's heart rendered the +tribute of an unmistakable throb to its "little queen;" but emotional +declarations are out of place after a short acquaintance, especially +when there exists a decided belief that they will be listened to in an +unfriendly spirit, or, what is infinitely worse, in a friendly spirit. +It was the fear of making Rose his friend that steeled Allan's +determination to bide his time, and that rendered his present reply +rather more stiff than sensational. + +"I beg a thousand pardons," he began, when she interrupted him with-- + +"Oh, that is too many. Do try and be a little more moderate in your +demands. Would it please you to have me spend the whole afternoon in +forgiving you?" + +Allan laughed--a blithe contented little laugh. "Any way that you like +to spend the afternoon will please me," he said, "so long as I am not +deprived of your presence. Oh, not _that_ way," he added, as a little +frown crept between her golden-brown eyebrows, "that way excepted." + +"Very well. I'll not frown at you, but you must promise not to come so +near again to the verge of a compliment." + +"I promise. Anything to keep a frown from marring the--I mean from +your face. But the difficulty is to think of anything that is as easy +to say." + +"You might better remind me of my faults." + +"Oh, you could scarcely expect me to be eloquent on that subject. I +didn't know that they exist--that is to say, I am incapable of +speaking upon a subject so wide reaching and profound. Are they like +unto the snow-flakes for multitude?" + +"No, not quite so numerous, but far worse in quality. For instance, +the other day I never smiled at papa the least bit when I said, good +morning!" + +"Horrible! what an unnatural daughter!" + +"It was because he wouldn't let me dance as often as I wanted to the +night before. He said he must draw the line somewhere. It is strange +that the word _somewhere_ in that sentence invariably means the +precise point where it is most painful to have it drawn." + +Allan Dunlop, who had already had some experience of the Commodore's +ability to draw the line at the sensitive point designated by his +daughter, murmured only, "very strange." + +"Not that he was in the least unkind about it," continued Rose. "Papa +is always lovely to me, no matter how I behave." + +"Very lovely?" + +"_Very_ lovely." + +"I never before was so struck with the truths of heredity," mused the +young man. "You are exactly like him." + +"_Oh_!" the girl dropped her face in her hands a moment, and then +thrust them out with the palms toward her guest. "You have need to beg +a thousand pardons and a thousand more to cover the offences you have +committed. And you have broken your promise!" + +"What a harsh accusation! I promised not to come to the verge of a +compliment. Do you think that was on the verge?" + +"No! It was too blunt--too dreadfully--" + +"It is a pleasure to hear you so emphatically contradict an assertion +made by yourself." + +"That is a mere quibble--a legal quibble. Well, there is no doubt that +you would make a very successful lawyer." + +"Is that a compliment, or does it approach the verge of one?" + +Before this problem could be solved Herbert, who was deeply engaged in +a game of checkers with his younger sister, at the other end of the +apartment, suddenly announced: "Rose, here is Mr. Galton coming across +the street, making directly for our house." + +"Oh, dear!" was the very inhospitable exclamation of its pretty +mistress. Then as she caught an amused glance from Allan's eyes, she +added demurely, "I am so glad." + +"Perhaps it would be better for me to go." The words escaped with +obvious reluctance. + +"Better for which of us?" + +"For both, I think." + +"Your charities are conducted on too large a scale. Now, if you could +only content yourself with benefiting _one_ of us you would remain. I +have a dread of that man." + +"So have I, but from a different motive. As your dread increases, mine +grows less." + +Close analysis and consideration of this fact gave a very becoming +tint to her cheeks as she welcomed the entering guest. "Ah, Miss +Rose," he exclaimed, "blooming as ever, in spite of wintry days. Do +you know I came very near going past your door?" He allowed the +announcement of this providentially averted calamity to sink deep into +her heart, while he bowed to Allan. + +"This is an unexpected pleasure," murmured the young lady, with +sufficient formality to prevent her words from being dangerously +insincere. + +"Unexpected to you and a pleasure to me?" queried the gentleman, with +a keen glance at the pair, whose _tete-a-tete_ he had evidently +disturbed, "or do your words bear reference to the idea of seeing me +going past your door?" + +The amount of truth in these very good guesses startled the girl to +whom they were addressed into an uncomfortable sense of guilt. "How +can you accuse me of anything so horrid?" she said, drawing her chair +not far from him, and looking into his face with the appreciative air +and attitude that are not to be resisted. + +"Mr. Galton," said Herbert, who, having completed the game, and +vanquished his sister, could afford to turn his attention to the +frivolous conversation of his elders, "do you know what Rose said +when she saw you coming? She said, 'Oh, dear, I am so glad!'" + +"Herbert," implored Rose, crimsoning under these carefully reported +words, and fearing that Mr. Galton, not being aware of the motive +which prompted them, would not know whether to be ecstatic or +sarcastic, "you are a terrible boy!" + +"Herbert has done me a great kindness," exclaimed the flattered +gentleman, who considered Rose's embarrassment quite natural, and very +pleasing under the circumstances. "All my doubts of a welcome he has +happily removed." + +In the fear that these doubts might unhappily return if he were +allowed to continue conversation with a too-confiding younger brother, +Rose devoted herself with nervous intentness to his entertainment, and +succeeded brilliantly. Fragments of laughter and chat drifted across +to where Eva was trying to persuade Allan into playing checkers. + +"Just one game, please, Mr. Dunlop," pleaded the little damsel, in +resistless accents. + +"If you but knew what a wretched player I am," said the young man +gloomily. + +"Oh, _are_ you a wretched player?" she exclaimed brightly, "I am so +glad. Then there is some chance for me." She added confidentially, "I +am even more wretched." + +"I hope you may never have the same reason to be," said Allan, with a +half-suppressed glance at the lively pair near the window. + +A lover, from his very nature, must be decidedly unhappy or supremely +blest, and it is scarcely to be expected that perfect felicity can +reign in a heart whose pretty mistress is spending her smiles on +another man. Allan did not believe that Rose really cared for Mr. +Galton--he had seen too many proofs to the contrary--but he did +believe that she was giving that objectionable gentleman every reason +to think that she did care. With how many men did she pursue this +course of action, and was he to believe her guilty of careless +coquetry? Upon how many admirers may a rose breathe perfume and still +keep its innocent heart sweet for its lover? These were the questions +that rankled in his mind, while Eva set the checkers in place. + +"Perhaps I can keep you from getting a king," she said exultantly. + +"If I can only keep my queen," observed the young man absently. + +"Why, Mr. Dunlop, there are no queens in this game; it isn't like +chess." + +"There! you see how little I know about it," was the regretful reply. + +Despite this painful manifestation of ignorance the two combatants +appeared for a while to be very equally matched. Then the advantage +was clearly on Allan's side. His king committed frightful havoc among +the scattered ranks of the enemy, till suddenly, as he observed the +painful stress of attention and warm colour in the face of his fair +little foe, a strange and unaccountable languor fell upon his troops. +They seemed to care not whether they lived or died, while their +shameless commander, surveying them with anxious countenance, gave +vent to his emotion in such ejaculations as, "Dear me!" "Why didn't I +see that move?" or, "The idea of your taking two men at one jump!" At +last the announcement that he was completely vanquished was joyfully +made by Eva, and incredulously listened to by Herbert, who viewed his +sister's opponent with amazement, not unmingled with pity. + +"The battle is indeed lost!" Herbert said, quoting the historic words +in a consolatory way; "but there is time to win another." + +"I'm afraid not," said Allan, rising and preparing to depart. + +"I wish that you could have won the game, too," said Eva, suddenly +stricken with remorse in the midst of her good-fortune. + +"You are a very kind little girl. I can depend on you to consider my +feelings." + +The accent, ever so slight, upon the "you" aroused Rose's attention. +"Why, you are not going?" she exclaimed, coming towards him. + +"Such is my charitable intention," he replied, smiling with sad eyes. + +"I was only waiting for you to finish your game before bringing Mr. +Galton to the fire to talk politics with you." + +"That is a warm topic, and a warm place." + +"Perhaps Mr. Dunlop fears that we shall quarrel on the subject. You +know we are on different sides, Miss Macleod." + +"We shall hardly come to blows, I think," returned Allan, with the +look of bright good-fellowship which made him a favourite with both +political parties. + +"The idea of your quarrelling with anybody!" said Rose, as she +accompanied him to the door. + +"I may have a very serious disagreement with him some time," replied +her jealous though unacknowledged lover, "but it will not be about +politics." + +He ran hastily down the steps, unconsciously brushing against +Commodore Macleod, who favoured him with a bow of about the same +temperature as the weather. Muttering a hurried excuse, he went on +into the cold gloom of the early winter twilight, shivering slightly, +not from the chill without, but from the deadlier chill within. 'What +a pompous unbearable old fellow the elder Macleod was. How could he +endure to have him for a father-in-law? Ah! how could he endure not +to have him?' The fear that he might never stand in a closer +relationship to a man for whom he had so little liking lay heavily +upon him. + +That same evening the object of these mingled emotions laid a +detaining hand upon the shoulder of his pretty daughter as she bent to +bestow a bed-time kiss upon his grizzled moustache. "I wish to have a +little conversation with you, my dear, on a serious subject." + +"Oh, but Papa," replied the spoiled girl, "I am not at all in a +serious frame of mind." + +"It is highly probable that you will find yourself so at the end of +our talk." + +"Charming prospect! After such an inducement as that I can't resist +any longer." She sank back into a low chair near a great case of +books, for they were sitting in the cosy library. + +"I met young Dunlop coming out of the house as I was coming in," began +the Commodore. "I was sorry to see that." + +"I was sorry to see it, too, Papa, but he couldn't be persuaded to +stay longer." + +"That is not a very respectful answer to give to your old father; +nevertheless, I am glad to hear it, as it assures me that you have not +reached the point when his absence will leave you sad." + +"Oh, no! But I am willing to admit that over Mr. Galton's departure I +did come very near shedding tears--of joy." + +"I hope my little girl will have no cause to shed any other kind." + +"His little girl" endeavoured to look oracular as she replied: "That +will largely depend upon the nature of the information you are about +to communicate to me." + +"It is only a request, my dear! I wish for your own sake that you +would have as little as possible to do with that young Dunlop." + +There was an appreciable interval of silence. Rose stared hard at the +fire. Her father added, "Of course, I do not wish you to do anything +unreasonable." + +"I am sure of that," said the girl softly, "nor anything unkind." + +The gentleman stirred a little uneasily in his chair. "You must +remember," he said, "that the greatest unkindness one can do another +is to encourage false hopes in him." + +"How would you like me to treat him?" + +"Oh, my dear child, I can't tell. You know perfectly well yourself. Be +preoccupied, absent-minded, indifferent, when he comes. Make him +repeat what he says, and then answer him at random. Look as though you +had a thousand things to distract your attention, and treat him as +though he were the chair on which he is sitting." + +"And you think that would be an ample and delicate return for the +countless kindnesses shown me by himself, and his people last summer?" + +"Oh, hang himself and his people!" was the Commodore's mental comment. +Aloud he said, "Well, the young fellow could hardly leave you to +perish under the horse's heels. What he did was only common decency." + +"Then, perhaps, it would be as well to treat him with common decency. +Don't you think that desirable quality is omitted from your course of +treatment?" Her tones were those of caressing gentleness, but the +flame of the firelight was not more red than the cheek on which it +gleamed. + +"Why, bless me, Rose, I don't want you to give him the cut direct. +There is no need to put him either in paradise or the inferno. Better +adopt a happy medium." + +"Yes; but purgatory is rather an unhappy medium." + +"Well, my dear, I have nothing more to say. I suppose it is natural +that you should set aside the counsel of a man who has loved you for +nineteen years in favour of the attention of one who has known you +about the same number of weeks." + +"Papa, you are unjust!" The repressed tears came at last, but they +were dried as quickly as they dropped. + +"Can't you understand," he continued in a softened tone, "that I would +willingly give him anything in return for his kindness--except my +eldest daughter?" + +"That is a gift he would never value. A society man might do so, but +the idea of a young fellow of talent and energy and ambition and +brains looking at a little goose like me!" + +The Commodore laughed. "No doubt it would be a great hardship for him +to look at you; but young men of talent, ambition and that sort of +thing are not afraid of hardship. In fact they grow to love it. So you +think he would not value the gift?" He laughed again very heartily. + +"I am perfectly certain," declared the young girl, with impressive +earnestness, "that he will never stoop to ask you for it." + +"Then there is nothing more to be said," replied the Commodore, with +an air of great relief. "The whole question could not be more +satisfactorily settled. You are my own loyal little girl and--and you +don't think me a dreadfully cross old bear, do you?" + +She went straight to his arms. "How can I help it," she asked, with +her customary bright smile, "when you give me such a bearish hug?" + +But alone in her room, the smile vanished in a tempest of fast-coming +tears. There was a reason for them, but she was unconscious of it +then. Later she discovered it to lie in the fact that in her heart of +hearts she was not a "loyal little girl" at all, but an "out and out +little traitor and rebel." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A KISS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + + +It was late afternoon in a Canadian midwinter day. Cold and still, +with a coldness so intense that the blinding brightness of the sun +made no discernable impression on the densely packed snow, and with a +stillness absolutely undisturbed by any slightest breath of blustering +wind. Before the early twilight came, Rose Macleod, wrapped in furs +from dainty head to well-booted feet, ran lightly down stairs, tapping +softly at the library door on the way. + +"I am all ready, Papa," she said, illumining the room for a moment +with a pair of dark blue eyes and crimson cheeks. "Don't you think it +will be a beautiful night?" + +"Very beautiful, and cold enough to kill an Esquimaux. I confess it +would be a pleasure to know that in a few hours you would be safe +under the blankets instead of junketing over at Madame DeBerczy's." + +"I shall be just as safe under the buffalo robes, just as warm, and a +great deal happier." + +"Very well; be off then. By the way, how many are in your party?" + +"Oh, nearly a dozen at least." + +"Then there is a possibility that you will not all perish. Tell the +survivors to report themselves here as early tomorrow morning as +possible." + +There was a sound of bells and a mingling of merry voices as a +sleigh-load of young people drove up to the door, and waited for Rose +to join them. "Delays are dangerous," observed Edward, as his sister, +after opening the door, was suddenly stung by the reflection that she +had not taken a last comprehensive view of herself in the glass, and +turned to the hall mirror to rectify the omission. + +"Particularly, when it is below zero," said another. + +"What is she doing now?" patiently inquired a third. + +"Airing the hall," responded a girlish voice. "Oh, no, she is really +coming! Rose," she called, "come and sit by me." + +"No, there is more room here," said another voice; while still another +exclaimed, "I have been keeping such a cosy little corner here for +you." + +She stood in smiling hesitancy a moment, when her hand, from which she +had removed the glove in order to adjust an unruly hair-pin, was taken +by another hand, firm and warm and gloveless, and she was drawn almost +unconsciously to the side of its owner. It was Allan Dunlop who had +thus taken summary possession of her, and incurred a little of her +dignified displeasure. + +"You left me no room for choice," she said in a slightly offended +tone. + +"I beg your pardon, I was thinking only of leaving you room for a +seat." + +She was silent. It was very difficult to keep this young man at a +distance, when there was such a very little distance between them, and +yet she must be true to the promise tacitly given to her father. She +must be cool, indifferent, uninterested. "It isn't a matter of any +importance," she said absently. + +"I'm afraid it is to me," he continued in a lower tone, "I know +scarcely a soul here, and declined Edward's invitation to join you on +that account." + +"Oh, it is very easy to become acquainted with a sleighing-party." She +greeted the two young ladies on the other side of him, and introduced +him to them. They were refined, attractive-looking girls, but they had +a fatal defect. They absorbed social heat and light instead of +radiating them. It seemed as though they might be saying: "There, now, +you got us into an unpleasant situation by inviting us here, and it's +your duty to make us happy; but we're not having a good time at all, +and we'd like to know what you're going to do about it." Allan did the +best he could, not half-heartedly, for he was accustomed to do +thoroughly whatever he attempted, and his success was marked. Those +grave girls, who, heretofore, had always seemed to be haunted by some +real or fancied neglect, were in a gale of semi-repressed merriment. +The mirth was infectious, and as the horses flew over the frozen road, +the gay jingle of bells mingled happily with the joyous laughter of +young voices. Poor Rose, whose natural love for society and capacity +for fun-making had induced her to set very pleasant hopes upon this +sleigh-ride, found herself, much to her surprise, the only silent one +of the company. With Allan's gracefully unconcerned personality on one +side, a middle-aged lady of rather severe aspect--the matron of the +party--on the other, and just opposite a pair who were very agreeably +and entirely engaged _with_ as well as _to_ each other, all means of +communication seemed to be hopelessly cut off. It was really very +unreasonable for Allan to act in this way. He was saving her the +trouble of treating him badly and keeping him at a distance; but, +strange to say, there are some disagreeable duties of which one does +not wish to be relieved. If it were possible to be overwhelmingly +dignified when one is buried shoulder deep in bear and buffalo +skins--but that was out of the question. + +The clear crystalline day began to be softly shadowed by twilight. +Behind them lay the town, its roofs and spires robed in swan's-down, +while on all sides the fallen logs and deep underbrush, the level +stubbles and broad irregular hollows, and all the vast sweep of dark +evergreen forest, melting away in immeasurable distance, was a +dazzling white waste of snow. In the bright moonshine it sparkled as +though studded with innumerable stars. Above them was a marvellously +brilliant sky. + +Suddenly, under a group of trees that stretched their ghostly arms +across the roadway, the cavalcade came to a full stop; and Edward, who +was driving, looked round with a face of gloomy foreboding at the +merrymakers. + +"What is the matter?" demanded half-a-dozen voices. + +"We shall have to go back," announced the young man, with a look of +forced resignation. + +"Go back!" echoed the same voices an octave higher, "why, what has +happened?" + +"Nothing, except that Rose ought to take another look at herself in +the hall mirror. There is something fatally wrong with her appearance." + +"About which part of my appearance?" demanded the young lady, who was +too well acquainted with her brother to be at all surprised or +disturbed by anything he could say. + +"I don't know, I'm sure. Perhaps its the _tout ensemble_. Yes, that's +just what it is." + +"Do drive on, Edward, and don't be ridiculous. It's too cold to +discuss even so important a subject as that." + +"I am sure you must be suffering from the cold." It was Allan who +spoke, turning round to her in a tone of quick, low tenderness. + +"Not in the least!" Every small emphatic word was keen and hard as a +piece of ice. Then, in the white moonlight, she confronted something +that made her heart sink, it was the unmistakable look of mental +suffering, a look that showed her that he at any rate was suffering +from the cold--the sharp stinging cold of a winter whose beginning was +pressing bitterly upon them, whose end, so far as they could see, was +death. + +The mansion of Madame DeBerczy sent out broad shafts of light through +its many windows to welcome the latest addition to the brilliant +throng already assembled in its ample interior. Madame herself was +superb in a regal-looking gown that became her aristocratic old +countenance as a rich setting becomes an antique cameo. Her stately +rooms were aglow with immense fire-places, each holding a small +cart-load of hissing and crackling wood, the reflected light gleaming +brightly from the shining fire-irons, while a number of brass +sconces--the picturesque chandeliers of the past--polished to the +similitude of gold, were softly shimmering overhead. The beautiful +English furniture of the last century, artistic yet home-like; the old +world cabinets, covered with surface carving, solid yet graceful in +appearance; tiles, grave and cheerful in design, set into oaken +mantel-pieces; peacock coloured screens, and ample crimson curtains, +edged with heavy silken borders of gold, all lent their aid to +brighten and enrich the rooms that to-night were graced by some of the +best society from Upper Canada's; most ambitious little town of York. +Mademoiselle Helene, beautiful in a blush rose gown, with a few +star-shaped flowers of the same shade in her silky hair, was the +magical living synthesis of this small world of warmth and colour in +the eyes of her lover. These eyes were more than usually brilliant +from his long ride in the keen air, and the yellow locks upon the +smooth white brow were several noticeable inches above the heads of +those around him. As he walked down the crowded rooms, in enviable +proximity to the blushing dress, his handsome face and half careless, +half military air drew the attention of more than one bright pair of +eyes. + +"Rather a pretty boy," commented a pompous-looking gentleman, +patronizingly. + +"But entirely too fair," was the disapproving response of the critical +young lady beside him, whose own complexion and opinion were certainly +free from the undesirable quality she referred to. "Of course, a pink +face is attractive--in a doll." + +"Then the daughter of our hostess escapes the imputation of being +doll-like." + +"Oh, she is quite too overgrown for that. It's a pity she has that +peculiar complexion through which the blood never shows." + +In another group, an enthusiastic young creature whispered to her +mother: "Mamma, do notice Miss DeBerczy's face; white as a cherry +blossom, and her lips the cherries themselves. Isn't she just like +a picture?" + +"Yes, dear," drawled mamma, adjusting her eye-glass with an air of +rendering impartial justice, "like a very ill-painted picture. Why +don't she lay on her colours a little more artistically?" + +"Oh, she doesn't lay them on, they're natural." + +"Well, Lena, you should not be so quick to notice and comment upon +natural defects. Not one of us is free from them, and it is +uncharitable and unkind to make them the subject of remark." + +Thus silenced and put in the wrong the young lady ventured nothing +further. + +"Edward," said Helene, later in the evening, "really you ought to +dance with somebody else. There are dozens of charming girls here." + +"Which dozen did you wish me to dance with?" + +"Don't be nonsensical, please. Haven't you any preference?" + +"Oh, decidedly, yes." He glanced at a _petite_ maiden, whose figure +and movements were light and fairy-like. "But I'm afraid she would +refuse me." + +"I don't think she would." + +"That isn't sufficient. My vanity is painfully sensitive to the +smallest danger of slight." + +The fairy-like person had unconsciously assumed an appreciative, not +to say sympathetic, expression. Helene smiled. "Your fears are very +becoming to your youth and modesty, but I think I may go so far as to +say I am sure she will not refuse." + +"That is joyful news." Another set was forming, and he rose with hand +extended to Helene. "You said you were sure she would not refuse," he +responded to her look of blank amaze; and then, as she yielded to the +irresistible entreaty in his eyes, he murmured softly, "How could you +imagine I had any other preference but you?" + +"One imagines a great many strange things," she replied. "Once I +fancied that you preferred an Indian girl." + +"_How could you_!" he repeated with intense emphasis. All that part of +his life seemed vague and far away as though he had dreamed it in some +prehistoric period of his existence. It refused to take the hues and +proportion of reality. Yes, that was nothing but a wild fantastic +dream--the sort of dream from which one wakes with a wretchedly bad +taste in the mouth. This rare girl, with the flower-like curves and +colours, was the only reality. And yet, was she reality? Her dress, +wreathed flame-like from warm white shoulders to satin shod feet, lay +in rich glowing lengths upon the waxed and polished floor. Her +beautiful head, too heavily weighted with braids and coils of raven +blackness, swayed slumberously upon the dainty white neck, and he +could not tell whether he better liked to see the dark lashes lying +upon her cheeks or uplifted to reveal the magical eyes beneath. He was +very much in love. The soft intoxicating strains of music went to his +head like wine. He was powerless to struggle against the thrilling +illusion of the hour. When the others returned to their seats or +promenaded the brilliant rooms they escaped alone and unobserved into +the conservatory. Here they beheld the greatest possible contrast to +the desolate wintry waste without. The air was heavy and languorous +with the odour of tropic flowers. The music, almost oppressive in the +crowded parlours, melted deliciously upon the ear as they wandered +away. Helene, when she noticed that they were quite alone, suffered a +vague alarm. She told herself in one moment that it was not possible +that Edward would choose this opportunity for a formal declaration of +his love, and the next moment she reminded herself that impossible +things are the ones that frequently come to pass. The idea, like an +ill-shaped burden, pressed uncomfortably upon her. + +A maiden's heart, like a summer night, knows and loves its own secret. +All through the mysterious deep hours of sleep it holds the secret +closely wrapped in darkness, pure as the dew on the grass, innocent as +the little leaves in the forest, glorious as the countless stars of +heaven. Some time, and soon enough, the dawn will come. Then the stars +will pale before a glory more intense, the countless little leaves, +like delicate human emotions, will wake and stir, and the white mists +of maidenliness will be warmed with heavenly radiance. But after +sunrise comes the day--the long prosaic day of duty and denial, of +work and its rewards, of sober, plain realities. Why should the night +of mystery and beauty hasten towards the common light? Her being +thrilled under the first faint approaches of the dawn, and yet--yet a +little longer, oh, ardent, impetuous, all-conquering Sun! It seemed as +though the girl's very soul were pleading. The rich-hued, +fragrance-laden flowers in the sweet dim place bent their heads to +listen, but her impassioned lover paid no heed to the unspoken prayer. +The sense of her beauty--of her unsurpassable charm, mingled with the +voluptuous music--pierced his heart with insupportable pain. Could she +not feel his unuttered love? Her lily-like face was cool and pale, but +in that warm-coloured robe it seemed as though her very body blushed. +In leaning over to reach a peculiar flower that attracted her +attention, a little wave of her gown rested upon his knee, and it +seemed to his infatuated vision that the insensate fabric throbbed as +well as glowed from the momentary contact. Helene kept up a continual +flow of small talk, of which he heard not a syllable. Rising hurriedly, +her long train caught in a low branch that stretched across the walk, +and he bent to extricate it. + +"How is it that you dare to touch the hem of my garment?" she demanded +laughingly. + +"Oh, I can dare more than that," he cried. The conviction that she +loved him, as indeed she did, gave him a sort of desperate courage. He +took her in his arms and held her close, kissing her passionately on +lips and eyes and soft white shoulders. She neither moved nor spoke, +but stood, when he released her, confronting him with a sort of +frigid, fascinated stare. "Oh, what have I done? Helene," he exclaimed +tremblingly. "I thought you loved me." + +"_I_?" she questioned with haughty disdain, "_love_?" she demanded +with incredulous contempt, "_you_?" + +The concentrated fires of her wrath and scorn were heaped upon this +final monosyllable. Every word was a fierce insulting interrogation. +Surely the traditional "three sweet words" had never before been +uttered with such tragic effect. She stood before him a living statue +of outraged pride, clothed in a fiery robe of righteous indignation; +then she turned and passed out of his sight, leaving the young man to +his reflections. + +They were bitter enough in all truth. He still cared for Helene, he +loved her as he loved himself. But it is only fair to add that he held +himself in the very smallest estimation. He had acted like a drunken +fool. How would he like any man alive to treat his little Rose in that +style? But then she might have behaved reasonably about it. She had +trampled on his heart, and left it sore and bruised and bleeding. Very +well, he was not a child to cry out when he was hurt. He went back to +the gay throng, and saw, as in a cruel dream, the girl who despised +him scattering profuse smiles upon others. No matter! Nothing could +possibly be of any importance now. Rose was making her way with some +difficulty towards him. How wan and tired she looked. Was it possible +that any one besides himself was suffering? The idea was absurd. + +"Isn't it time for us to go, Edward?" she said. "Madame DeBerczy has +invited our party to remain over to-morrow, but I promised papa not to +desert him any longer than was strictly necessary." Edward found the +proposition a most welcome one. They could not leave Oak Ridges too +soon, nor remain away from it too long. + +His sister's drooping little figure attracted the attention of Helene. +"Do you talk of going?" Helene asked. "Well, so you shall go--to bed; +and the very first bed we come to." She bent caressingly over the +little golden head of her friend. Their beautiful arms were +interlinked. Rose glanced irresolutely at her brother. + +"You will need to put on the extra wraps you brought," he said, "as it +is particularly cold at this hour of the morning." Helene was ignored +utterly. He did not seem to know that she was present. The proud girl +was wounded to the quick. She was not visible at their leave-takings. +When every one was gone she went away upstairs, telling herself at +every step that she hated, hated, Edward Macleod; that he was in all +things and in every way detestable. She did not weep nor bewail. The +tears showed as seldom in her eyes as the blood in her cheeks, and her +pride was of the inflexible sort that scorns to relax when its +possessor is alone. She dropped into a heavy troubled sleep, and +dreamed that she was solitary in a frozen land, whose only sunshine +was the golden head of her lover. In the strange fantastic manner of +dreams he seemed to be a very little child, whose light warm weight +lay along her arms, close to the heart above which he had pressed +those burning kisses. It was bitter cold; but the whole scene was like +a picture of winter. She could not feel it--she could feel nothing but +the aching of her own heart, the warm breath growing ever warmer, and +the clinging hands, clinging ever closer, of the child she loved. The +sense of delicious languor changed to a feeling of heaviness--almost +suffocation. Every golden hair of the head upon her breast pierced her +like a ray of brightest sunshine. Hastily putting him from her she +fled away with the wintry winds, herself as wild and swift and +soulless as they. But presently coming to look for the child, and +unable to find him, she realized that he was lost, and then she woke, +trembling with deep, tearless sobs. + +"What is it, my dearest?" called Madame DeBerczy from the next room. + +"Nothing, mother, dear, but a troubled dream." + +"Ah, it is the excitement of these late hours. Try to sleep again." + +But Helene could sleep no more. A few days later she heard that Edward +Macleod, with a party of friends, had gone on a shooting expedition to +the Muskoka country. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +RIVAL ATTRACTIONS. + + +The current of a strong human affection, when it is thrown back upon +itself, must find vent in another direction. The weakest stream of +passion, when its chosen course is impeded by an immovable obstacle, +does not sink by gentle degrees into the earth, and thus, lost to +sight, become merely a thing of memory. There is disturbance and +disorder; banks are overflowed; and fields, once made fruitful and +beautiful by the softly-flowing river, lie sodden and unwholesome, +flooded by the dangerous waves. For days and nights Edward's brain was +surging with the sound of rushing waters. The tumultuous feelings so +strongly excited, so completely overthrown that evening in the +conservatory with Helene, would not subside. They beat upon his +desolate heart in great waves of rage, remorse, despair, and love, +like the beating of lonely waters upon a shipwrecked shore. + +Hence it was that he welcomed the idea conveyed in a letter from a +friend in Barrie that they, with another boon companion, should go +hunting in Muskoka. Edward wrote an immediate agreement to the +proposition, mentioning Pine Towers as the place most convenient for +them to meet and lay plans for future action. He at once made +preparations to depart, for the idea of delay was intolerable to him. +The very atmosphere of the town was poisonous--the demands of society +not to be tolerated. He told his family that his old longing for the +wilds had come upon him, the sort of _ennui_ that nothing but the +odour of the woods could cure. The close of the day following found +him on the frozen shores of Kempenfeldt Bay, now clasped in the icy +arms of winter. The wind was wild among the leafless trees along the +avenue, but the desolation of his home was a visible response to the +sorer desolation of his heart. + +The two or three old servants remaining in the lonely house were +delighted to see the young master home again. Olympia, the coloured +cook, whose high-sounding cognomen was usually reduced to Olly, gave +him a welcome equal to what might be expected from a whole plantation +of darkies. Her eyes and teeth shone in perpetual smiles, her gaily +turbaned head and dusky hands gesticulated in perfect time to the +exclamations poured out upon him. + +"Well, my soul!" she cried; "well, my soul! Marse Ed., its good to see +you home again. Come in, chile, come right in! How mis'able you do +look to be sure. Just like a ghost, so cold and white. Shan't I mix +you a little something warm?" + +"Oh, no, Olly, I'm all right; just a little tired after my long +journey, that's all." + +She recognized the lifelessness in his tone, the jaded look and air of +one who is fighting a hard battle in the face of sure defeat. "You's +sick, honey," she exclaimed, with the ready sympathy of her race, "and +you's come back to old Olly to take care ob you. Dat's right, chile, +I'll just mix you a little warm--" + +"Oh, dear, no, Olly, thank you; its comfort enough just to be quiet +and to be at home." + +She left him in the parlour, but he pushed on after her into the great +fire-lit kitchen, partly because he detested the society of his own +thoughts, partly because it suited his present mood to be made much of +by the kindly old woman, to whom his mother all her life had been a +"chile." It was almost like being a boy again to sit in the chimney +corner and tell old Olly the story of his journey in all its details. +But before the recital was half-finished, something stirred in the +semi-darkness, on the other side of the fire-place. + +"Why, bress my heart," said Olly, "I t'ought you was a dog, Wanda, you +sat dat quiet. What's de matter wid you, gal? Whar's your manners?" + +The graceful shrinking figure would gladly have escaped out of sight, +but at the sound of her name Edward came forward to greet the Indian +girl. Olly, with many muttered protestations against the rudeness +shown to her young mahs'r, lifted the trap-door, and vanished down +cellar. The pale life-weary young man was alone with the sweet womanly +savage. + +He held the little hand she offered him very closely and kindly. + +"Are you glad to see me, Wanda?" he asked. + +That was the keynote of his mental state. He was not glad to see +anyone or anything, but he was still interested to know that someone +cared for him. In his present mood it was certainly more pleasant to +feel that others were kindly disposed towards him than that they were +indifferent. The Algonquin maiden, on her side, was filled with a soft +delicious emotion. In the summer, when this daring young man pursued +her, she repulsed him; but in the winter, when he left her, she +thought of him. The natural result of her meditations upon so +fascinating a subject it is not difficult to conjecture. She began to +believe in the reality of his regard for her, and to fancy that he had +left her because of her harshness, of which he had frequently +complained. Now, could it be possible that his coming had anything to +do with the thought of her? Yes, she replied, she was glad to see him; +her blushing beautiful face gave eloquent testimony to the fact. He +released her then, and followed Olly into the dining-room, where a +small but sumptuous repast was laid, for nothing in the house above +nor in the cellar beneath was considered too good for young mahs'r. +"You'd be sprised, Marse Ed.," confided the old woman, "de improvement +made by dat chile since I took her in han'. It jus' went agin my +stomach to see her runnin' wild, widout a frien' in de worl', cept +dose heathen Injuns. She t'ought a heap ob yer mudder, an' I could'nt +tell her 'nough about her. Dat gave me a holt on her, you see, and +dars no denyin' she's changed a lot since las' summer." + +"Tell her to come in here," said Edward, "and I'll judge for myself." + +So in a few moments she came in, though with obvious reluctance, and +took the chair that Edward placed for her at the table. It was a novel +experience to the young man to find his wishes so implicitly obeyed by +this hitherto almost unapproachable girl. He felt disposed to exercise +this wonderful newly-acquired authority. "You must eat something, +Wanda," he observed; "I dislike to eat alone." + +This was the sharpest test that could have been applied to the +improvement he wished to discover, but the girl's incomparable native +grace never failed her. It was impossible that she should either +lounge in her chair or sit stiffly erect in it. Her use of knife and +fork was marked, not by awkwardness but by extreme deliberation, and +careful observation of the manner in which Edward wielded his own. She +wore a dark grey dress, which he dimly remembered to have seen on his +sister Rose, and which that young lady had altered to fit the +Algonquin girl. The entire absence of colour in the dress intensified +by contrast the rich hues of cheek and lip, and the deep blackness of +eyes and hair. The only detail of her appearance which displeased his +taste was the strings of cheap glass beads wound about neck and waist. +Was there a vein of cheapness and vulgarity in her character to +correspond with this outward manifestation? He believed not. It was so +easy to believe everything that was good of this shy sweet personage. +He examined her narrowly and critically in the new and remarkable +_role_ she was compelled to play as the guest and equal of himself. +There was a surprising almost ludicrous similarity between the native +unconsciousness and dignity of the Indian and that of certain +high-bred dames whereof he knew, and yet there was about her the +unmistakable something that proved her wholly unversed in the ways of +society. Her dainty hands were very brown; her manner without being +constrained was certainly not easy; and her expression was that of a +bird, one moment resigned to imprisonment, the next panting for +liberty. In one word she was untamed. But was she untamable? His heart +beat faster at the thought. When the tea things were removed he threw +himself upon the couch; while the girl, sitting before the blazing +hearth, took between her hands and drew upon her knees the slender +head of his favourite hound. They made a striking picture, and the +blue, beauty-loving eyes of the spectator looked longingly upon it. +The dark lovely face bent forward seemed more childish in its soft +curves since the capacity to love and suffer had wakened in her +breast. Her sweet lips trembled with repressed feeling. + +"Wanda," said Edward, "don't waste caresses on that unthankful brute. +He doesn't need them." + +She looked at him with wide startled eyes. "Come to _me_," he breathed +in resistless accents. "Ah, Wanda, you pitied me once when I had a +scratch on my hand. Can not you pity me now when I have a sword in my +heart?" + +It was not love that called her; it was the despairing cry of one who +was perishing to be loved. She rose after a moment, steadying herself +by a hand on the chair-back, for her beautiful frame was swayed by +irresolution, love, shame and pride. Slowly, very slowly, with the +sweet uncertain footsteps of a baby that fears to tread the little +distance between itself and the waiting irresistible arms of love, she +came towards him. It seemed at every moment that she must break away +and fly, as she had flown from him in the woods of summer. When she +reached his side her proud head fell, then the drooping shoulders bent +lower and lower till the uncertain knees at last failed her, and she +sank trembling on the cushion at his side with her arms about his +face. It was the attitude of protection, not that of a weak craving +for it. The fierce pain for which he asked her pity could arise from +nothing else but his love for her. This was the reasoning of the +simple savage--a reasoning that reached the hitherto unsounded depths +of passion and pathos in her nature. The young man, who bore in his +heart a bitter recollection of the scornful repulse offered by one +beautiful girl, could not resist the matchless tenderness so freely +given by another. He laid his face wearily against her arm, and she +bent over him murmuring words of uncontrollable love and pity. + +Afterwards he asked himself what in the name of all the powers of evil +he meant by it; but this was some days afterwards. A long tramp +through the frozen woods in search of game had brought him a single +wild animal and a great many sober thoughts. In the rough log house in +which he and his companions were camping for a week, there was neither +room nor opportunity for private meditation; but the conviction came +to him with the luminous abruptness of lightning that he had used this +ignorant girl merely as a salve for his wounded vanity, and cruelly +deceived her by so doing. Not that his early passion for the Indian +girl had died a natural death. On the contrary it had been fanned into +fresh flame by the novel charm of her sweet approachableness. None the +less, but rather all the more clearly, he saw the detestable +selfishness of his own course. But, unfortunately, his tenderness for +her kept pace with his self-contempt. His feelings toward Helene and +Wanda at the present moment were just such as a man might entertain +toward the enemy who had conquered him, and the woman who, in his +greatest need, had succoured and saved him. For the one a bitterness +that could not rise to the crowning revenge of forgiveness, for the +other a passion of gratitude that would last a life-time. + +"It appears to me," said Ridout, who was the most outspoken of the +party, "that we have a precious dull time of it in the evenings. +Macleod, here, is about as talkative as the deer he has slain." + +The trio had been smoking in silence before a huge fire, but this +reference to Edward's great exploit of the day roused them to +conversation. + +"It is no unusual thing for Macleod to distinguish himself in that +direction," said Boulton, the elder of the two. "He has long been +known as the champion _dear_-killer." + +This wretched attempt at a pun was loftily ignored by the subject of +it. + +"Alas, 'tis too true!" mourned the other. "Come, Ned, try to be +entertaining for once; tell us about the pretty Indian girl you were +mooning with." + +"What did you say?" demanded Edward, freezingly. + +"You heard perfectly well what I said." + +"What do you mean by it?" + +"Oh, I _mean_ the pretty squaw you were _spooning_ with, if that suits +you better." + +"Gently, Tom," interposed Boulton parenthetically, "don't mention +_all_ the meanness you mean." + +"I would like to inquire what right you have to mention any of it," +exclaimed Edward wrathfully. + +"Oh, none--none, whatever. Only it was town talk in Barrie last Fall +that you had become infatuated with the sweet little squaw to such an +extent that your charming sister, with commendable prudence and +foresight, had you put out of harm's way as speedily as possible. +There's no accounting for such reports." + +"I don't understand it at all," said Edward, with mingled anger and +humiliation. "How can people be so silly?" + +"Exactly what your slanderers inquired of each other. Impossible to +tell what they meant." The young man laughed rather disagreeably as he +went off to bed. + +"Look here, Ned," said Boulton, bringing a sympathetic hand down upon +his friend's shoulder, "don't you take any notice of what Tom Ridout +or any of his set may say. Of course every young fellow makes a fool +of himself _some time_, in _some_ direction; it's natural and proper, +and just what is expected of him. All is he shouldn't make a complete +fool of himself, and nobody believes that of you." + +"Ugh!" said Edward, and relapsed into gloomy silence, from which he +awoke to find himself alone, with the candle sputtering in its socket. +He took off his boots, and threw one of them viciously, but with +unerring aim, at the expiring light, and so went despondently to bed. + +"Our fair friend appears to be quite as susceptible to the remarks +made upon his wild-wood acquaintance as to the wild-wood acquaintance +herself." This was the observation of Ridout, as he and Boulton went +the following morning to investigate the trap they had set. + +"Don't be a fool, Tom," said Boulton, with a perfectly unruffled face +and tone, "that is, any more of one than you can help. Of course every +young cub like you is expected to be one to a certain extent, but what +I mean is don't be a _big_ one." + +It was impossible to be angry with words so placidly spoken. "I don't +know what can make you so wondrous kind to Macleod," said Ridout, +"unless it is a fellow-feeling, and I wouldn't have thought that of +you, Boulton. But look here," surveying the empty trap with boyish +disgust, "nothing taken in but ourselves! Well, we'll have to make it +unpleasant for Tommy. That's the only comfort left us." + +Tommy was the coloured boy, who was cook, housekeeper and general +factotum for the three. When ill-luck overtook them it was felt to be +some slight compensation to be at liberty to make it unpleasant for +Tommy. But one day, towards the end of their self-imposed exile, it +stormed so heavily and incessantly that they were compelled to remain +within doors, and here Tommy's unfailing good-nature deprived the +abuse with which he was heaped of all its power to charm and console. +On the principle which governs the selection of a victim by the +shipwrecked and storm-beaten remnant of a crew at sea, there was +nothing more natural than that Edward Macleod should fall a prey to +the general famishing desire for amusement. Boulton had been idly +humming the air of an Indian love-song, in which Ridout joined aloud, +substituting the name of Wanda for that of the ideal heroine. As the +sentiment of the song was of the most languorous and 'die-away' sort +it was impossible that the two men should abstain from mingling their +smiles. The conclusion of the singing was followed by a few remarks +from Ridout, one of which provoked a shout of uproarious laughter. For +a moment Edward's face was alive with intense suffering; the next it +had paled and hardened into marble-like rigidity. + +"I wonder if either of you are aware," he said, with cold distinctness +of utterance, "that the subject of your conversation is to be my wife." + +Tom Ridout stared a moment in unbelieving amazement, and then blushed +to the eyes. "I beg your pardon," he stammered, "I never thought--I +didn't dream--" He broke down completely, unable to grasp the +statement that shed such a different light upon their idle talk. +Boulton was not subject to fluctuation of emotion, and there was no +visible manifestation of a change in his feelings. The match he struck +while Edward was speaking went out. He reached for another; it also +went out. + +"It seems to me," he said mildly, taking his unlighted pipe from his +lips, "that these are the worst matches I ever saw." + +Ridout had recovered some of his usual self-assurance. "It seems to +_me_," he declared boldly, "that it's the worst match I ever heard +of." + +"Worst or best," said Edward, with dogged resolution, "it will be +necessary for you to speak of it with respect--in my presence." + +This seemed to be the end of the matter; but Boulton, who had at last +got his pipe agoing, could not forbear offering a few final words on +the subject. + +"It's all right, Ned," he remarked, in his gentlest and kindest tones, +"perfectly right and natural that a young fellow should make a fool +of himself. That's exactly what's expected of him. But it isn't +necessary that he should make an _everlasting_ fool of himself. +Not--strictly--necessary." + +Edward rose and left the room. + +To leave the room in a region upon which unpicturesque prosperity has +not yet descended is equivalent to leaving the house, and that is +exactly what the young man did. Of course there was a loft above that +was reached by a perilously steep pair of stairs; but he was not a cur +to creep away into a kennel. He went out and battled with the pitiless +storm, a fiercer storm beating within his breast than that which raged +without. The crazy words he had just uttered were not spoken simply to +stop the idle talk of his companions; they were the ultimate +expression of the thoughts over which he had brooded for days past. +Helene was dead to him, and her mocking ghost haunted the desolate +chambers of his heart, filling them with scornful laughter. But now +upon the door of this wretched habitation had timidly knocked another +guest--a guest of blooming and throbbing flesh and blood. Should he +deny her admittance? Unlearned was she as one of the shy birds of the +forest, but then she was eminently teachable. If his love for her +could not be called a liberal education was it not something better? +Was it not a liberal and lasting joy? After all, what did women know, +any way? A few miserable half-learned accomplishments, the aggregate +of which did not amount to so much as the eagle's feather on the proud +little head of his darling. Yes, he dared to say it--his darling! He +pictured her in winter as sitting by his side, before the fire, the +delicate head of his pet dog encircled by her arm; in summer they +would roam in blest content together through the endless forests of +this beautiful new world. + +And so with all his doubts triumphantly set aside he returned to the +house, and during the remainder of their stay his continued flow of +exuberant good spirits seemed to confirm the rightfulness of his +conclusions. On his way back to York he stopped a few hours at his old +home, for the sake of a brief stolen interview with Wanda. She met him +with little low murmurs of tenderness and joy, and parted from him as +a girl parts from the man in whose love she has absolute confidence, +for whose sake she would willingly die. + +When he reached home, his appearance of high health and persistent +overflow of liveliness were ascribed by his family to continuous +out-door exercise, nor did they dream that the sweet fever and +delirium of love was upon him. Rose gave him an anxious glance or two, +but poor Rose had trouble enough of her own. That cold night at the +Oak Ridges, which had completely killed Edward's hopes with regard to +Helene, had cast a light but lasting frost over her own. It had been +painful enough to avoid Allan, but it was no less painful to be +deprived of that privilege. The truth was he had given her very few +opportunities to put into practice the course of treatment recommended +by her father. Had she been the heroine of a novel there would +inevitably have been misunderstandings of the most serious and +complicated character. But she was mortal, and withal a very +tender-hearted little maiden, and the secret of her cold tones and +wistful glances, though for a while it sorely puzzled Allan, was at +last divined by the sure intuition of love. They met frequently at +various social gatherings, but it was as though a solid sheet of glass +intervened between them. Through this apparently impalpable medium +they could see, and smile, and speak, but no tender touch of palm, or +breath of love, or thrill of quickened heart-beat could be felt +between. How many times had Allan Dunlop been tempted to outstretch +his hand and shatter this glassy surface! It were easily done but at +the price of possible sharp pain and aching wounds, and the greater +horror of seeing the sweet grieving face on the other side shrink away +from him, startled by the shock. No, he would bide his time. And so, +while his eyes grew hollow, his close shut lips remained very +resolute. Love _can_ wait (though waiting is the hardest task ever +assigned it), but only on condition that it is given the food it needs. + +Allan kept his love alive on glimpses of sunny hair, and sad little +smiles, and fragments of talk, that, light and conventional as they +might seem to chance listeners, were to him clothed with lovely hidden +meanings. Sometimes when the eyes met by chance the small warm hands +plucked nervously at the flowers she carried, or there was a restless +consciousness in step and glance, or a scarcely perceptible quiver of +the curved lip, or a piteous droop of the regal little head. Very +slight things were these, yet out of them Memory and Imagination made +a sumptuous feast, at which Love, like a starveling prince in exile, +sat down with never sated appetite. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +MUDDY LITTLE YORK. + + +If the course of true love could be persuaded to forsake its ancient +uncomfortable method in favour of a single harrassed lover, surely the +trials of Allan Dunlop might soften its harsh turbulence, and move it +to a gentler flow. Rose was devoted to her father, and the tie between +them, made stronger by her mother's death, was not of a nature to be +affected by the sighing breath of a mere lover. Then she was as +lovable as she was lovely, and there was nothing in the cordial liking +of a host of friends to encourage the growth of any morbid desire for +the affection of a poor and insignificant outsider. There were other +insurmountable points on the mountain chain of circumstance that lay +between him and his heart's dearest wish. The Commodore's inherent +reverence for birth and breeding, and his comparative indifference to +brain, was one of them. The obstinate pride of Allan's undistinguished +and ambitious self was another. + +Of all sorts of pride the sort that goes with inferiority, not of +person, or behaviour, or talents, but of mere social position, is the +most inveterate. This unreasonable feeling was the mightiest of all +the obstructions that, mountain-like, lay between them; but on its +rough sides--flowers on an arid rock--grew the yearning affections, +seemingly rootless, yet continuing to bloom in secret, scarce +discovered beauty. Of what use was it, he asked himself in bitterness, +to brood over these impassable barriers, to cultivate a faith in the +power of his own affection strong enough to remove them, to cherish +the vain imagination that this incomparably sweet girl and his own +plain self were made for each other, and that no earthly obstacle +could suffice to separate them? Upon his soul had fallen the edict of +society, "What man hath put asunder let no higher power join together!" + +And so he hardened his heart and closed his eyes to the heavenly +vision of girlish beauty and purity that shone forever in the upper +skies of his consciousness, as clear as the star of evening, and +almost as far away. But tears flow as easily beneath closed lids as +when the eyes are wide open, and to the hardest heart come moments of +reverie, of sudden waking from sleep, or involuntary lapsing into day +dream, when, like a sword in the heart, comes the thought of one too +dearly loved. Do his best he could not escape these moments of +exquisite torture. The poem he was reading fell fantastically into the +tune of the last waltz down which he and Rose had drifted together. +The prose--and very prosy--work he impatiently seized in the hope of +banishing that witching melody from his brain, simply followed the +perverted feet of the poem. Down the dull page danced the meaningless +syllables, keeping time to the delicious strain in a way that was +simply appalling to a mind whose intellectual processes were, as a +rule, thoroughly well regulated. If he walked the street there was +small chance but that some half-turned head or fluttering robe among +the women he met would remind him of the sweetest head and prettiest +drapery in the world. + +Always along the misty aisles of his consciousness sped this little +lovely vision, now hasting, now delaying, now bending with melting +tenderness toward him, now mockingly eluding his grasp, never out of +sight, never within reach. No wonder he grew pale and heavy-eyed and +_distrait_. But no one of those who noticed that he ate little and +spoke little, and walked with weary footsteps, knew that he was a +haunted man--haunted not by any pale spectre, but by veritable flesh +and blood, gold crowned, pink tinted, and illumined by the bluest eyes +this side of the blue heavens. It is useless for those who are +troubled in this way to say they _will not_ be haunted. Celestial +visits are planned with reference to anything but the convenience of +their recipient. + +Allan Dunlop was spoken of as 'a pushing young man,' but in affairs of +the heart he did not push--he simply waited. Not that he had any faith +in the so-called beneficent influences of time--for what young lover +is willing to believe that the slow drag of months and years over his +passion will crush all life from it at last?--but he had the delicacy +of nature which forbids the gross intrusion of personal wishes and +desires upon unwilling ears. He had, besides, a spark of that +old-world loyalty which is prone to uphold the claim of the father in +the face of despairing aspirants for the daughter's hand. + +This unwillingness to take an advantage, or to push it when it was +thrust upon him, was not without a certain allurement for Rose. She +was accustomed to be sought after; but the man who unconsciously +occupied a higher place in her estimation than any by whom she was +surrounded, held himself aloof. Probably he despised her and the +frivolous society in which she moved. It was a depressing reflection, +for the regard of those whom we believe to be our superiors is +infinitely more precious than the adoration of those who are not. + +To the lover, as to the good general, the knowledge of when not to +approach is of inestimable importance. Scarce are the girls upon whose +hearts a tender impression can be made in the middle of an ordinary +work-a-day forenoon, or who can give sigh for sigh immediately after a +hearty dinner. Very few are those who, at all times, are equally +approachable and appreciative. Allan's stern, self-denying course of +action, to which he considered himself forced, could not have been +better chosen had he had nothing at heart but the aim of furthering +his own interests. In Rose's imagination he had always formed an +admirable contrast to the purposeless, objectless young men of her +acquaintance, and his wise withdrawal after he had roused her +interest, she interpreted as indifference. So let it be, thought the +young lady, assuming a feeling of entire content. But assumed feelings +are not lasting. She who had been the life of society now grew very +weary of it. She yawned secretly in rooms of entertainment, or +invented lame excuses for her non-appearance there. "I can't think +what is the matter with me," she said to herself. "I never cared for +solitude, and I don't now; but I care less for common people and +commonplace talk." + +It was perfectly consistent with this state of feeling that, on one of +the most disagreeable of all disagreeable March days, she should go +out alone for a long walk which had no definite direction nor object. +There was a certain satisfaction in matching her restless mood with +the restless weather, in feeling herself now gently buoyed along, now +almost lifted up and borne away on the strong wings of the rushing +wind. Great soft flakes of snow were falling, and yielding up their +heavenly purity at the first touch of earth, and the dull sunless day, +weary of its own existence, was with seeming relief dying into night. +Rose walked very fast without being aware of the fact. It is a +peculiarity of windy weather that it begets a mental exaltation, in +which even the clumsiest body seems to partake of the immortal energy +of the soul. Rose's trim figure moved as softly and swiftly as a +sail-boat before the wind. Nevertheless it was with a feeling of +dismay that she found herself at the edge of night and far from home. +She had been dreaming as she walked, and now--the usual fate of +dreamers--she found herself abruptly brought face to face with reality. +The big flakes were still falling, the wind still urging her forward, +as she turned to retrace her steps. But now progress became difficult. +The wind was in her face, and the snow blinded her eyes. She had +turned so suddenly that the broad-shouldered, heavily-coated young +pedestrian, who had been following in her wake, was astounded to see +her, with down-bent head, swiftly advance and abruptly fling herself +upon him with an impetuosity born of sightless but determined +resistance to the rampant breezes. The next instant, with a movement +equally impetuous, and a deeply drawn "oh!" she swept aside and looked +straight into the eyes of Allan Dunlop. "I didn't know it was you," +she murmured, her cheeks turning to flame beneath his gaze. + +"No, you usually treat me with more _hauteur_. I never expected you to +make all the advances in this way." + +"Oh, shameless!" exclaimed Rose, clasping both daintily gloved hands +first to her ears, then to her eyes. Then, mockingly, she responded, +"I never expected to find you so approachable." + +They were very glad to meet again. They did not say so, but what +necessity existed for the verbal expression of a fact so apparent in +the face looking down and in the face that for more than a moment at a +time was unable to look up. She laid her hand within his arm, and they +faced the storm together. "What were you doing at this end of the +town?" she asked, fearing he would make the same inquiry of her. + +"Following in your footsteps," he replied. "I was not sure who it was, +but your gait reminded me so much of yourself." + +What light words to make a little heart beat faster! The wind would +have blown them away if she had not caught them. + +"Ah, yes, no doubt a moving spectacle, but," glancing at the rough +pavement which had grown worse and worse, until in pure self pity it +came to an end, "I'm afraid that for the last half-hour I have led you +a hard life of it." + +"It was hard--very. This side-walk is a disgrace to the town, and it +usually has a depressing effect on me to be out in windy, uncertain +kind of weather, but I think"--the wind blew an end of her long silken +scarf caressingly about his neck--"I think it was worth while." + +In his heart he added, "Little darling, what rough road would I not +travel in pursuit of you, if only you would turn at last to throw +yourself in my arms." + +They walked on for a little in silence. When love looks out of the +eyes, and hesitates on the lips, and trembles in the arm that feels +the confiding pressure of a tiny hand, it seems as though words were a +crude, primitive method of communicating ideas. Nevertheless, so +strong is the power of habit, that there are few who can resist the +imagined necessity to talk if one feels like it, and make talk if one +does not. So presently Rose remarked upon the beauty of the town. Even +in his love wrapt state the idea struck Allan as slightly absurd. + +"Where do you find it?" he asked in amused perplexity, looking at the +little wooden houses and shops, the meagre beginnings of a city that +as yet had no time to be beautiful, and noted the vile mud with which +the streets were thickly overlaid. "Though, of course," he added, +"there is scarcely anything to be seen save darkness, and that element +is strictly necessary to an appreciation of the beauties of 'Muddy +Little York.'" + +"Oh," exclaimed Rose, "don't you see the lights flashing in the +windows, and in every little muddy pool on the street? Think of the +concentrated life in these little human nests set against the vast +wilderness. Look at those faint yellow rays mingling with the slanting +lines of snow, with the deep woods and dark sky in the distance. If it +isn't beauty it is poetry." + +Her foot slipped a little on an unexpected piece of ice, and his arm +felt the momentary pressure of both hands. "It is everything heavenly +you can mention," said Allan devoutly. + +He noticed the slight instantaneous withdrawal, and was impelled to be +practical, if possible; so he began to dilate at length upon the +future glories of York. "This will be a great city, some day," he said. + +"Possibly, but who loves greatness? People may say what they please +against muddy little York. To me it is dear because it is so little." + +"Yes, there is an unexplainable charm in littleness." He glanced +thoughtfully down at the dainty figure beside him, while Rose wondered +if it would be possible for her to make a remark to which he could not +give a personal application. It was impossible for them to walk on in +silence, as though this were a lover's idle stroll. Her face warmed at +the mere fancy. No, she must e'en try again. + +"Particularly when it is a little breeze," she said. "Now, a huge, +awkward, overgrown affair like this changes what ought to be a caress +into an assault." + +"Yes; but you brave little creature, how blithely you face it. I wish +I could shelter you from the storm. I wish I could defend you from all +the storms of life." + +His voice broke, and the girl felt as though her heart would burst. No +bold, imperious, master spirit was this, demanding her love and life +as if they were his by natural right. It was as though she had been +newly roused by a faint knock at the door; and now, before her foot +was set upon the stair that led down to the entering guest, he had +turned away again. + +"I like your way of meeting the tempest," he continued. "You face it +for a moment with mocking defiance, then you step aside to escape a +fierce gust, or turn your head to avoid at least half its violence. +You seem to be coquetting with old Boreas. For me, I can't play with +the foe; I simply have to meet him and fight him till my strength is +exhausted--then rest till I can get breath--then up and at it again. +Do you remember those old lines: + + "'A little I'me hurt but not yett slaine, + I'le but lye down and bleed awhile, + And then I'le rise and fight againe!'" + +"Oh, heaven help me," thought poor Rose, "what _can_ I say now? There +is nothing in the world to say." She fell to crying bitterly, as she +safely could under cover of the snow and the darkness; but after a +minute she controlled herself, and was, to outward appearance, +tranquil and buoyant as before. + +They had reached the house. He stepped inside the warmly-lighted hall +just for a moment, as Rose, with a gesture of dismay, threw off her +wraps, and disclosed an inappropriately elaborate little gown, +partially soaked by the storm. "I suppose I need not have put on +anything so fine as this to go out in on a wet day, but I am fond of +dressing, not for others, but for myself. I prefer feeling effects to +producing them. Do you think me very selfish?" + +"Oh, yes; everything that is hard, unfeeling, and unlike your sweet +little self." + +She had already mounted a few steps of the stairway, as he had said he +could not stay. His outstretched hand held hers in a last good-by, but +instead of going he touched a fold of the damp edge of her gown. "It +is very wet," he said. "You are shockingly careless." And then, +without daring to meet the divine eyes bent upon him, he lifted her +hand reverently to his lips, and so went forth into the night and the +storm. + +"Rose," said the Commodore, interrupting her at the head of the +stairs, "who is it that has just gone?" + +"Mr. Dunlop," said his daughter hesitatingly; "he overtook--he met--I +met him on my way home, and he came with me." The young girl's face +was a flame, and her heart was a song. She felt that she was +aggressively, barbarously happy, and tried to modify the unruly +emotion out of deference to her father's anticipated anger. He looked +extremely annoyed. + +"I am sorry to seem arbitrary," he said, "but in future, my dear, it +will greatly oblige me if you will so conduct yourself towards that +young man as to discourage him from meeting or overtaking you, or +accompanying you home." + +"Very well, Papa." Not a ray of light faded from her eyes, not a +particle of warmth from her smile. She had heard him make similar +remarks before, and they affected her the same as if he had said: "It +is yet winter; don't be deceived into supposing that spring-time is +coming." Ah! but under the snows of winter, what power can hinder the +countless delicate roots of spring flowers from thrilling into life? + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +POLITICS AT THE CAPITAL. + + +But more was destined to burgeon into blossom than the flowers of +spring. Allan Dunlop's fame as a politician had grown concurrently +with the growth of his love. In the Legislature he had won for himself +a prominent position, and was known as a sagacious counsellor, a +persuasive speaker, a ready and effective debater, and a good steady +worker on Committees. No name carried more weight in Parliament than +his, and his influence in the country was as marked as was his +influence in the House. This was as readily conceded by his political +opponents as it was claimed by his friends. He had, moreover, a +prepossessing manner, a comely presence, and a countenance which, when +animated, was not wanting in expression or fire. He was, withal, the +most modest and lovable of men; and had he not sat on the Opposition +benches he would have been courted by the Tory supporters of the +Government and been fawned upon by the leading members of "The Family +Compact." + +Allan Dunlop had, however, entered the House as a radical, but of a +moderate type; and though he dealt the Executive many trenchant blows, +and did yeoman service in advancing the cause of Reform, he was too +loyal a man to rank with the "heated enthusiasts" who were threatening +to overturn the Constitution and make a republic out of the colony, +and too judicious and right-minded to affirm that the Administration +of the Province was wholly evil and corrupt. On the contrary, while he +insisted that the Executive should pay more deference to the voice of +the Parliamentary majority, and so avoid the ever-cropping-up +conflicts between the Administration and the popular Chamber, he +recognized the fact that the evils complained of had their origin in +defects in the Act which gave the Province its Constitution; and being +engrained in the paternal system of government that had long been in +vogue could not possibly be at once and satisfactorily remedied. + +It was true that in none of the other Provinces was power so firmly +centralized in the hands of a dominant and exclusive class, as was the +case in Upper Canada. But this state of things, Allan Dunlop conceded, +was a legacy from the period of military rule which followed the +Conquest, and the natural consequence of appointing members to seats +in the Executive and Legislative Councils _for life_. Dunlop was also +well aware that the social condition of the Province, at that early +period, tended to centre power and authority of necessity in the hands +of a few leading men. All the public offices were in their gift; and +the entire public domain, including the Crown and Clergy Land +reserves, was also in their hands. Hence it was that through the +patronage at their disposal the "Family Compact" were enabled to fill +the Lower House with their supporters and adherents, and, in large +measure, to shape the Provincial Legislation, so as to maintain their +hold of office and perpetuate a monopoly of power. That the ruling +oligarchy used their positions autocratically, and kept a heavy hand +upon the turbulent and disaffected, was true; but their respect for +British institutions, and their staunch loyalty to the Crown, at a +time when republican sentiments were dangerously prevalent, were +virtues which might well offset innumerable misdeeds, and square the +account in any unprejudiced arraignment. + +But though Allan Dunlop possessed a mind eminently fair and judicial, +and, Reformer as he was, could dispassionately discuss the "burning +questions" of the time, there were abuses connected with the mode of +governing which he stoutly strove to remedy, and injustice done to +loyal settlers in the iniquitous land system that prevailed which +roused his indignation and called forth many a bitter phillipic in the +House. These trenchant attacks of the young land-surveyor were greatly +feared by the Executive, and were the cause of much trepidation and +uneasiness in the Legislative Council. + +For a time Commodore Macleod, who had now returned to his accustomed +duties in the Upper House, took pleasure in replying to Dunlop's +attacks in the Lower Chamber; but the young Parliamentarian, though he +treated his opponent with courtly deference, had so effective a way of +demolishing the Commodore's arguments and of genially turning the +shafts of his invective upon his adversary, that he soon abandoned the +attempt to break a lance with his young and able antagonist. Dunlop's +temper was habitually sweet and always under command, and this gave +him a great advantage over his sometimes irascible opponents. His +manner, however, was at times fiery--especially when exposing cases of +hardship and injustice, when his arraignment of the Executive was +vehement and uncompromising. But the "Family Compact" was at the +period too firmly entrenched and buttressed about by patronage for +Allan Dunlop to effect much reform in the system of government, though +his assaults were keenly felt in the Upper House, and they made a +powerful impression in the country, which heartily endorsed the young +land-surveyor's strenuous appeals for the redress of long-existing +abuses, and the concession of Responsible Government. + +"What a noble fellow that young Dunlop is!" said Lady Sarah Maitland +to her escort in the House, as the youthful tribune closed an +impassioned appeal on behalf of settlers from the United States, who +had been subjected to great hardships and outrage by the tools of the +Government. + +"A pestilent rascal!" was the testy rejoinder of the old Commodore, +who, with his daughter Rose, had accompanied her Ladyship on the day +in question to the House of Assembly. + +"Nay! you shall not say that of him, Commodore, for I mean to invite +him to accompany us to Stamford Cottage at the close of the Session, +if he will give me that pleasure," said Lady Sarah, warmly. + +"Sir Peregrine will have something to say to that, Madame," was the +Commodore's blunt reply, "and Mr. Attorney-General, here," he added, +"ought to arrest you for wishing to consort with seditious agitators +and evil-disposed persons." + +"I think I ought to take you both into custody," interposed +Attorney-General Robinson, "for spoiling with your quarrel the effect +of young Dunlop's speech. It was admirable, both in tone and matter, +and I shall at once look into the grievances he complained of. Don't +you think, Miss Macleod, that your father is unreasonably prejudiced +against the member for your section of the Home District?" + +"I think him everything harsh and unpaternal when politics is the +subject of conversation," replied that young lady guardedly. + +"Ah! politics is an unclean game," observed the courtly leader of the +House; "but it would be vastly sweeter and cleaner were all our +politicians of the type of Dunlop. I think him a grand fellow--but, I +agree with you, Commodore, that he should be on the other side." + +"Or we should be on _his_ side, Mr. Attorney-General," said Lady +Sarah, with a meaning glance at Rose Macleod. + +At this juncture, the Attorney-General, having to address the House, +took leave of the ladies, and the Government House party rose and left +the Chamber. + +Later in the day, the Attorney-General took occasion to refer to +Dunlop's speech, and to commend its temperate and courteous tone, +though the matter his young friend brought to the notice of the +Government, said the Attorney-General, if true, severely reflected on +the management of one of the Departments, which, the speaker added, +he would take care at once to inquire into. + +Other matters occupied the attention of the House for the remainder of +the afternoon, and when the Speaker rose to retire a buzz of +conversation ensued on the stirring topics to be brought up at the +evening's sitting. Two of these topics related to matters which, at +the period, convulsed the community, and threatened to overthrow the +fabric of society in the colony, if not the Constitution itself. One +was the case of Captain Matthews, a member of the Assembly, who was +charged with disturbing the tranquillity of the Province by requesting +the orchestra, at the theatre of York, to play sundry seditious tunes +at the close of an entertainment, and thus inferentially to pay +disrespect to His Majesty's crown and person. The other was the +escapade of a number of young people in York, of respectable standing, +who had committed a gross breach of the peace in breaking into and +ransacking the printing-office of Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, smashing the +presses of that martyr to Reform, and throwing into the lake the type +which had been used in setting up some pungent articles against the +Government. + +"Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" the moralizing +bystander of the period might have observed, as he took note of the +electrical condition of the political atmosphere of York, and, indeed, +of the whole Province--the result of the indiscretion of one man, and +the partisan frolic of half a dozen lads, who had inherited, with the +bluest of Tory blood, the prejudices of their fathers. The wrecking of +the Mackenzie printing-office was, of course, a serious conspiracy +against the peace of a youthful and law-abiding community. But it will +occur to the modern reader of the transaction, that the act was +scarcely so heinous as to bring it before the country's legislature, +and become the subject of a grave Parliamentary inquiry. + +The act has to be viewed, however, in the light of preceding events, +and with a knowledge of facts in the thrilling drama of Reform, at the +time being enacted on the political stage of Upper Canada. Society in +the Province was long wont to poise itself between two opinions, as to +the degree of justification for the course which Reform took at the +time of the Gourlay agitation, and which, in Mackenzie's day, +culminated in rebellion. The issues of the conflict have, however, +settled that point; and though Tory bias loves still to stand by the +"Family Compact," the popular sympathies are with the actors who were +whilom outlawed, and on whose heads the Crown did them the honour, for +a time, to set a high value. + +Chief among these actors, at the time of which we are writing, was he +whose printing-presses had just been ruthlessly demolished, and whose +fonts of type youthful Torydom had gleefully consigned to the deep. +The provocation had been a long series of intemperate newspaper +criticism of the Government, numerous inflammatory appeals to the +people to rise against constituted authority, and much scurrilous +abuse of leading members of the "Family Compact," who wished, as a +safeguard against revolution and chaos, to crush the "patriot" +Mackenzie, and drive him from the Province. But though thorny as was +then the path of Reform, and galling the insult and injury done to its +martyrs, Mackenzie did not shrink from pursuing the course he had cut +out for himself; and his intense hatred of injustice, and sturdy +defiance of those whom he held responsible for the maladministration +of affairs, gained him many adherents and sympathizers. The outrage +that had just been committed on his property vastly increased the +number of the latter, while popular indignation compelled the +Government to disown the act, and to make it, as we have seen, the +subject of Parliamentary inquiry. From the Parliament the matter went +to the Courts, and there the scapegraces, who had been concerned in +the outrage, were mulcted in a large amount, which their parents, high +government officials, had ruefully to pay over to the aggrieved +printer and incipient rebel. Thus ended one act in the drama of these +distraught times. How shall we keep our countenance and deal with the +other? + +Let us first tell the story, as we gather it, in the main, from the +Journals of the House. For some time previous to the meeting of the +Legislature, in 1826, partisans of the Administration had got in the +habit of noting defections from the loyal side among men of substance +and position in the colony, and particularly among members of the +representative Chamber, where the cry for Responsible Government was +waxing loud, and where sullen protests were almost daily heard against +the system of official patronage and favouritism that prevailed in the +government of the Province. The Administration being now in the +minority in the popular Chamber, and "the long shadows of Canadian +Radicalism" having begun to settle upon the troubled "Family Compact," +it became important to note the increasing defections, real or +fancied, in the Legislative Assembly, so that, if possible, the +"bolters" might be coaxed or bribed back, or, failing that, that they +might, in some way, be jockeyed out of the House and made to suffer +for their defection. Among those who had recently taken the bit in +their teeth was a Captain Matthews, a retired officer, in receipt of a +pension, who represented the county of Middlesex, and had of late gone +over to Democracy. For this act he was "put upon the list," and became +a marked man on the mental tablets of the myrmidons of the Executive. + +About this time there came to York a company of strolling actors from +the neighbouring Republic, whose fortunes were at a low ebb, and whose +dignity had very much run down at the heels. To revive their fortunes, +they gave an entertainment in the extemporized theatre of the town, +under the kindly proffered patronage of the members of the Legislature. +It was New Year's Eve, and the fun--the age was still a bibulous +one--waxed fast and furious. At last the curtain dropped, and the +modest orchestra struck up "God save the king!" Hats were at once +doffed, and from among the standing audience came a loud but unsteady +voice, calling upon the orchestra to "play up" Hail Columbia! or +Yankee Doodle. + +The sober section of the play-house was stunned. Was it possible that +Democracy could go to such lengths--within sight of the "royal arms," +over the Lieutenant-Governor's box, and with the decaying notes of the +national anthem in Tory ears? + +It was but too true. Again and again rose the shout for the seditious +tunes. Abashed loyalty sought to escape from the house, but the crowd +jostled and intervened. The scene now became uproarious. Affrighted +Conservatives were seen to jam their hats on their heads--the only +mark of disapproval possible--and glare defiance at those who impeded +the exit. The Tory member for Stormonth--it was afterwards admitted in +evidence--stripped his coat and threatened to knock any two of the +opposing Radicals down. Meanwhile the orchestra, unable to accomplish +the higher flight of "Hail Columbia!" struck up the commoner and more +objectionable tune; and three grave legislators, it is said, danced +while "Yankee Doodle" was played. The Democratic orgie at last spent +itself with the music, and after a while all breathed the outer, +communistic air of heaven. + +After the racket comes the reckoning; and Captain Matthews, whose +share in inducing the play-house fiddlers to discourse republican +music to monarchical ears was reported with due exaggerations and +aspersions on his loyalty, to the military authorities, speedily found +himself the victim of an infamous plot. Distorted accounts of the +scene at the theatre had been sent to the Commander of the Forces, at +Quebec; and the member for Middlesex was specially singled out as the +seditious rioter on the occasion, and the leader in what was termed "a +disloyal and disgraceful affair." Presently there came an order for +Capt. Matthews to report himself to the military authorities at +Quebec, and at that port to take ship for England, where he was to be +tried by court-martial. To enable him to obey the summons it was first +necessary to obtain leave of absence from the Legislature; and the +motion that was to come up in the Assembly that evening, was, whether +the House, on the evidence before it, would agree to release the +incriminated officer from his Parliamentary duties so as to face the +frivolous charge at the "Horse-Guards" in London. + +The discussion opened by the presentation to the House of the report +of the Committee of Inquiry that had sat upon the matter--a report +which exonerated Captain Matthews from the charge preferred against +him, and relieved him from the scandalous accusation of disloyalty. +The report closed with a protest against the tendency, on the part of +the Government, to resort to espionage and inquisitorial measures, in +endeavouring to rid the Province of those obnoxious to the ruling +faction, and in attempting to undermine the independence of the +Legislature by scandalizing its members and awing them into political +subserviency. The conviction was reiterated that there was no ground +for the charge against Captain Matthews, the malignity and falsity of +which was due to political hostility to that gentleman. + +A lively debate ensued on the motion to receive the report, members of +the Government fiercely objecting to its reception by the House, and +the Opposition as warmly insisting on its acceptance. The temper of +the Government was not improved when young Dunlop rose, and, in a few +quiet and well-chosen words, asserted the right of Parliament to +protect its members from officious military arraignment on frivolous +and vexatious pretexts. It was the duty of the Government, remarked +the young tribune, to calm, not to augment, the fever of popular +excitement by acts of an arbitrary and autocratic character,--such as +instigating ridiculous prosecutions, and casting doubt on the loyalty +of men who had long and faithfully served the Crown, and whose only +fault was to set their country above their party. + +That the existence of Upper Canada as a colony of the Crown--Dunlop +continued--was imperiled by paying some exigent actors from the other +side of the line the compliment of calling for a national air dear to +republican hearts and ears, he did not for a moment believe. He was, +at the same time, he affirmed, keenly sensitive to the beguiling +effects of enlivening music, and--falling into a lighter vein--he +confessed that he did not know what might be the consequence if the +members of the Government organized themselves into a well-trained +minstrel troupe and entered the neighbouring Republic singing the +pathetic airs of the Old Dominion, artfully interspersed with the +soul-stirring strains of the "British Grenadiers" and "Rule Britannia." +He thought, moreover, that if the grave and reverend seigniors of the +"Family Compact" would blacken their faces as they had blackened their +hearts, and "star" it through the lowly hamlets of the Province, +singing, say, the Jacobite airs of a previous generation, it would do +more to cement the attachment of Canada to the Crown than all the +efforts of the combined army of officials, placemen, and henchmen of +the Government _plus_ the Judges, the Sheriffs, the Recorder, the +Incumbents of fat Clergy Reserves, the Gauge's, Tollmen, Hangmen, +Customs Officers, Turnkeys, and Landing-Waiters. + +Seriously, Allan Dunlop added,--and he had no apology to make for +indulging in levity in discussing this frivolous matter--it was +beneath the dignity of the House to occupy itself with the further +consideration of the charges against the honourable member for +Middlesex. These charges were so trivial and ill-founded, and they +originated in such a trumpery fear lest the Crown should suffer +indignity where indignity was in no wise offered to it, that he begged +the House to dismiss the matter forthwith and refuse Captain Matthews +leave to absent himself from his Parliamentary duties. After a +scattering fusilade of small talk from both sides of the House, the +report of the Committee was received, leave was refused, and the +disturbing question was laid at rest. + +Those who have followed, it may be with interest, this veracious piece +of history, and are curious to learn the fate of the honourable member +for Middlesex, will find the story graphically told in Mr. Dent's +"Canadian Rebellion," Vol. I., chap. 6. The authors take the liberty +of appending Mr. Dent's closing paragraph: "But though Captain +Matthews," says the historian, "had been cleared by the Legislature, +he had still to run the gauntlet of the military inquisition. They +could not compel his attendance during the existence of the Parliament +then in being, but they possessed an effectual means of reducing him +to ultimate submission. This power they exercised; his pension was +stopped--a very serious matter to a man with a large family and many +responsibilities. He continued to fight the battles of Reform with +dogged courage and pertinacity as long as his means admitted of his +doing so, but he was soon reduced to a condition of great pecuniary +distress, and was compelled to succumb. Broken-hearted and worn out, +he resigned his seat in the Assembly, and returned to England, where, +after grievous delay, he succeeded in getting his pension restored. He +never returned to Canada, and survived the restoration of his pension +but a short time. Thus, through the malignity of a selfish and secret +cabal, was Upper Canada deprived of the services of a zealous and +useful citizen and legislator, whose residence among us, had it been +continued, could not have failed to advance the cause of freedom and +justice." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +LOVE'S PROTESTATIONS. + + +During the rest of the dreary winter the memory of that enchanted walk +through mire and darkness and driving snow, kept two hearts--Rose's +and Allan's--fully awake. A pity, too; for sleep covers a multitude of +sufferings, and when the most impressible part of our being is wrapped +in unconsciousness, we can make shift to go through the world with +only an endurable number of the usual aches and ailments. If these +young hearts had ever really slumbered since their owners met for the +first time, less than a year before, it had been rather an uneasy +repose; and now that they were fully awake, it was to find not the +glory of the dawn, but a dark bleak day, whose beginning could +scarcely be distinguished from the night out of which it emerged, +whose end was so far--so drearily far away. Things went on as before +in their old monotonous manner. Winter relented into spring, and the +intimacy that had warmed almost into acknowledged love that wild March +evening had apparently died of its own intensity. Rose and Allan met +occasionally, but with mutual avoidance; she from innate loyalty to +her father--he from a pride that was too strong to plead. So the +endless conflict went on, but not alone in the minds of the lovers. + +The doughty Commodore was daily suffering in his own person the just +punishment, which is but too apt to overtake the man, who in a point +of difference with a woman ends by having his own way. This stern +parent liked to think of himself as generous, compassionate, and +tender-hearted; and he had been grievously cheated out of this +agreeable sensation. His daughter's absolute and sweet-natured loyalty +to his will sharpened his sense of deprivation. Was it possible that +he was unnatural and tyrannical? The answer to this question was what +Rose's pale cheeks seemed to require of him, and he chafed under the +mute, unconscious, persistent repetition of the query. He recommended +her to take long walks, but she came back from them paler and more +lifeless than before. He began to see that it was possible to gain +one's own point and lose something infinitely more precious. It hurt +him to see her suffer, and he despised himself as the suspected cause +of her sufferings. He asked himself how he could have endured it if, +in his courting days, he had been shut out from the woman he loved. +She was infinitely his superior, he thought with a swelling heart, and +then his arm fell on the back of the chair beside him, and his hand +clenched, as he grimly wondered what bolts or bars would suffice to +have kept them apart. If she was alive now would she have taken this +cruelly peremptory course with their daughter? He revolved the +question with a sore heart. It admitted of but one answer. In all her +sweet and gentle life his wife had never been either peremptory or +cruel. + +Unknown to Rose her father's stout heart showed signs of thawing with +the weather. He began to inform himself warily, and by indirect means, +with regard to the character, circumstances, and prospects of Allan +Dunlop, in much the same way as we make a study of the drug, hitherto +supposed to be a poison, but now believed capable of saving the life +of a loved one. In his present mood of despondency and anxiety it +seemed that every fresh fact that he learned served to raise Allan and +lower himself in his own estimation. It is difficult to atone for a +wrong so delicate that one shrinks from expressing it in words, and +yet the need of making at least one attempt at reparation was pressing +sorely upon him. + +So it was with almost a girlish bound of the heart that the Commodore +read aloud, one morning, in all the polysyllabic glory of newspaper +English, an account of the heroic way in which a young child was saved +from drowning by the prompt and daring action of Allan Dunlop. It was +an opportunity for praising his enemy, and the worthy gentleman was +almost as relieved and happy as the rescued child. "Upon my word, +Rose," he said, turning to the silent girl at the other end of the +breakfast table, "that young Dunlop is a much finer fellow than I +supposed him to be." + +"Yes, Papa," she assented meagrely. She had no idea of undoing the +work of weeks--the work of steeling herself against the sweetness of +recollection--by too warm an interest in the subject. + +"The idea of a child paddling about alone in a boat during that +horrible storm," continued the Commodore, more impatient, if the truth +were known, with his daughter's lukewarmness than with the waifs +recklessness. "Not one man in a thousand," he continued abruptly, +"would have ventured out on Lake Ontario in that raging tempest." + +"People of plebeian origin usually have a well-developed muscular +system," remarked Rose. + +"But they are not fond of risking their life in the interest of their +muscles," returned the gentleman, annoyed at the girl's obstinacy, nor +dreaming how sweet from his lips sounded his praise of her lover. + +"It depends upon what their life is worth. Common folks, who suffer +under the well-merited contempt of their social superiors, must grow +at last to despise what better educated people know to be despicable." + +"No doubt, it is as you say," replied her father. He was thoroughly +irritated, and all his benevolent notions took flight, as they are apt +to do when the object of our philanthropy proves perverse. "I was +about to suggest that you invite him to your party to-morrow night; +but in the present state of feeling perhaps it would be better not." + +"I haven't the least idea that he would come," returned the girl. "He +isn't the sort of person to allow himself to be taken up and dropped +at random." + +"Well, settle it to suit yourself," he concluded. She reflected +bitterly that this privilege came when it was too late. Nevertheless, +she was grateful for it, and scolded herself soundly for giving her +father undutiful replies. She also remarked in the solitude of her own +room that she did not care a particle whether Allan came or not, and +then with a fluttering heart she wrote him a note of invitation. When +Tredway was requested to deliver it that ancient servitor manifested +so much interest in his errand that the blue eyes of his young +mistress lingered on him a moment in surprise. + +"I am under very great obligations to Mr. Dunlop," he said. "I may say +that I owe my life to him?" + +"You, too!" laughed the girl. "Why it was only the other day that he +rescued a strange child from the wild waves." + +"He rescued me from the wild woods," said the man, with the +impressiveness of one who wishes to celebrate the most remarkable +escape on record. Tredway had a profound objection to the woods. In +the previous summer he had, with great reluctance, served as +commissary general to a party of young men, who went in pursuit of a +week's sport to Burlington Bay. Edward and Allan were of the number, +and when Tredway was lost on a little expedition of his own, to the +nearest shanty in quest of provisions, it was Allan who went in search +of him, and after some difficulty brought him back to camp. The event +had been a source of some amusement to the rest; but to the mind of +its hero it had lost nothing of its tragic aspect. "The woods are +very confusing to a person of my life and habits," he observed +deprecatingly. + +"Oh, yes, indeed," returned Rose, "and so very different from England." + +The gratitude with which Tredway listened to this remark was not +unmixed with regret that the tone in which it was uttered was sportive +rather than serious. He was consoled, however, by the reflection that +national differences could not be expected to oppress the heart of +unthinking youth as it did that of sad maturity. + +The unreasoning joy that flamed in Allan Dunlop's face, as he glanced +over the dainty note, faded into ashen paleness as he remembered what +its response must be. "Sit down, Tredway," he said mechanically, "I +will have an answer ready in a moment." Grateful to be relieved of the +pains of indecision by the necessity for prompt action he took up a +pen and wrote rapidly: + +"DEAR MISS MACLEOD: + +It is very hard for me to refuse your kind invitation to be with you +to-morrow night, but it is impossible to accept it. If I were invited +to Paradise, 'for one night only,' with the knowledge that I must +forego my share of its delights thenceforth, I should wish to return +the same answer. Have I no right to hint that your presence is my +Paradise? Forgive me for it, and for my rudeness and perverseness, +which all arises out of my consuming and indestructible love for you. +The only thing I can say that can condone this offence is that I never +cease trying to destroy your image in my heart. So far the results are +extremely discouraging; but I cannot resign the hope that Time, the +great healer, may also prove, like other notable physicians, the great +destroyer. Ah! what am I saying? I can never say enough to you, and +yet already I have said too much. God bless the sweet ruler of my life +and heart forever, and grant that every ill that threatens her may +fall instead upon the head of her unworthy lover. + +Will you not write me a word of forgiveness for resisting the +temptation to go to you? + + Ever your worshipper, + + ALLAN DUNLOP." + +He ended with a strange feeling of the incongruity of this declaration +of passion with his surroundings, the stuffy unhomelike chambers on +King Street, and the rather severe presence of a man, whose existence +emphasized all the hated social distinction that never weighed so +heavily on him as at present. This rigorous representative of his +class took the message delivered to him, and stood for a moment +hesitatingly in the doorway. + +"Your people are quite well, I hope, Tredway," said Allan. + +"Yes, sir, thank you. Quite well, with the exception of Miss Rose. She +is looking badly." + +"I am very sorry. I made no inquiries about her, because, since her +accident last summer, she has never been otherwise than well. I wish," +and his tones were sad and sincere as his meaning, "that I could do +something for her." + +"Thank you, sir. It is taking a great liberty to say so, but your +visits are so infrequent that I believe Miss Rose is under the +impression that you did not greatly care." + +"Oh, I _care_ enough, quite enough," he added mentally. "The fact is +there is danger of my caring too much, and nobody knows better than +you, Tredway, that that would be the greatest piece of folly I could +perpetrate. Miss Rose is vastly my social superior." + +The old man bowed his head as though this were too obvious a truth to +need comment. Then he said encouragingly: + +"Ah, there is nothing but the remains of their former greatness left +to the Macleods. They are growing more and more _bourgeois_ since +coming to this degenerate country. + +"Yes, I imagine that their family dignity, in such times as these, may +be a little out of repair; but I can hardly venture to build vain +hopes on the ruins. You are a good fellow, Tredway; good-bye!" + +A few days later the coveted answer to his missive came. + +"DEAR MR. DUNLOP: + +Since I am to see you no more it seems unnecessary if not unkind of me +to write and prolong the pain of parting. But if you were dying, and +should tell me with nearly your latest breath what you wrote in your +letter, I should want you to know that the confession was dear and +sacred to me--something I should remember all the rest of my life. + +I am not willing to believe that your future will be wholly bereft of +consolation. One who is capable of imperiling his life to save that of +an unknown child ought to know that he can never find any better +company than his own. But you need never be lonely; I hear your name +and career frequently spoken of with warm appreciation by your +friends, among whom I hope you will always number + + Yours very sincerely, + + ROSE MACLEOD." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Allan, as he read and re-read this brief epistle, +"she does not despise my love, but she recognizes its hopelessness." +With the usual bluntness of masculine perception he failed to see that +it was impossible for her to ignore what he himself was accustomed to +dwell upon at such dreary length. If he was profoundly convinced that +there was no hope, she could scarcely condescend to suggest that there +might be a glimmer. So the young man continued to be wrapped in the +darkness which was largely born of his own imagination. + +"What rank," he wrote, in immediate response, "shall I assign you +among my friends? One's friend may be simply an acquaintance of long +standing, who cherishes no special animosity toward one, or it may be +the stranger of a year ago, who now is knit into the very fibre of +one's being. Just so closely woven with my inmost self have you grown, +dear, and to put the thought of you away from me is like putting my +own eyes from me. Do you think I can be trusted as a friend? I foresee +that I shall be the most faithless one ever known, for I have never +been your friend, and I don't know how to begin to be one, whereas I +have had nearly a year's experience in loving you. But I am jesting +with a sore heart. It is strange that I can jest at all; and yet I +know that I am richer and happier in owning the smallest corner of +your heart, than if I possessed the whole of any other woman's." + +He wrote a great deal more of the same sort, by turns light, fanciful, +woful or desperate. But all this Rose ignored. "I am very glad," she +wrote demurely, "that you are rich and happy on such insufficient +grounds. I could scarcely deny a corner of my heart to any of my +friends, but the rest of them are well enough acquainted with me to +know that the possession is not a source of unmixed joy. This illusion +of yours must be destroyed, and, as you will see, my share of this +correspondence is going to tend gently but inexorably towards that +end. I still cherish hopes of retaining your friendship. It is so much +more difficult for a man to be a woman's friend than it is for him to +be by turns her worshipper and oppressor--and you are made to conquer +difficult things, and be made stronger by them. You have admirable +qualities--self-forgetfulness, lofty purpose, a will that never +falters, a heart that never faints. I discovered all these before I +received your letters. Otherwise, do you think I would have discovered +them at all?" + +Thus preached this adorable little high-priest of heroic self-denial, +and when she had made an end she burst into tears, and wished that +Allan were there to wipe them away. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A PICNIC IV THE WOODS. + + +Winter had passed, and in hot haste--literal hot haste--the time of +the singing of birds had come. It was early in the season when the +Macleods returned to their summer home, but "lily-footed spring" was +there before them. Earth, air, and sky were bathed in a glory of +sunlight, which strove to penetrate the dark labyrinth of the pines +through which the wind sang. The bay was embowered in gleaming +foliage. In its clear waters the Indians plunged or paddled, or lay in +attitudes picturesquely inert upon its shores. Above it in graceful +curves the unwearying gulls were sinking, rising, and wheeling aloft. + +On one of these halcyon days of early summer Rose Macleod was +re-reading a letter from her friend Helene; which, though a mere +elegant scrawl in the first place, and now yellow and worn with age, +has been with some difficulty deciphered by the writers of this +veracious history. + +"We shall return to Bellevue next week," she wrote, "though what +possible benefit can accrue from our returning I cannot pretend to +say. Either home is distasteful to me; so is the rest of the world; so +are the people in it. Enviable condition, is it not? I seem to be +afflicted with a sort of dreadful mental indigestion. Everything I see +and hear and read disagrees with me, so I suppose it is only a natural +consequence that I should be disagreeable. Oh, dear, dear! What is the +good of living, Rose? What is the use or beauty of anything? The Rev. +the Archdeacon of York half-playfully says I need to be regenerated. +Dr. Widmer says my circulation is weak. Poor mamma says nothing; but +she looks a world of reproach. I wish she would take the scriptural +rod to me. That would improve the circulation, I fancy; and if it +didn't produce a state of regeneration it might at least be a +practical step towards it. But I don't know why I should make a jest +of my own misery, when I want nothing on earth except to be a little +child again, so I could creep off into the long grass somewhere, and +cry all my sick heart away. I used to be able to cry when I was five +or six years old, but now it is a lost art. + +"By the way, speaking of tears reminds me that your friend, Mr. +Dunlop, was here last evening, and, while shewing him some views of +foreign scenes, we suddenly came across that old, little painting of +yourself, in which the artist represented you as a stiff-jointed +child, with a row of curls the colour and shape of shavings neatly +glued to a little wooden head. You remember how we used to make fun of +it. I always said that picture was bad enough to bring tears, and +there was actually quite a perceptible moisture in his eyes as he +looked at it. Who would have supposed that he possessed so much +aesthetic sensibility? + +"Well, I am only wearying you, so I will close. Don't be troubled +about me, dear. Sometimes I am violently interested in my own +unreasonable sufferings, and at other times I am wholly indifferent to +them; but nothing can befall my perverse nature that shall alter the +tenderness always existing for you in the heart of your loving + + HELENE." + +Rose read all but the concluding paragraphs aloud to her brother, who, +standing at the open door, was looking idly out upon the leaf and +blossom of a lovely garden. "What a stream of unalloyed egotism!" he +said. "In a woman it's a detestable quality." + +"Oh, you should say a rare quality," amended Rose, with a smile that +ended in a sigh. + +"Well, it's something that can't be too rare." A fading spring lily +dropped on the doorstep by one of the children received an impatient +kick, as though he would dismiss the present conversation in a similar +manner. "Rose," he said, "I wish you would ask Wanda to our +sailing-party to-morrow." + +"Why, Edward, I might as well ask a blue-bird. She will come if it +happens to suit her inclination at the moment, otherwise not." + +"Don't you think a regular invitation would please her?" + +"Oh, dear, no; it isn't as though she were a civilized creature. You +don't seem to grasp the fact that she's only a wild thing of the +woods." + +A pause ensued. "There are other facts," resumed Edward a little +unsteadily, "that I _have_ grasped. One is that she is the most +beautiful woman I ever saw; another--that I love her." + +Rose put up her hands as though to save her eyes from some hideous +sight, "It can't be true!" she exclaimed. + +"My dear little sister, it is true; and your inability to accept it is +not a very flattering tribute to my good taste." + +"It _can't_ be true," repeated Rose. "You must mean that you have +merely taken a fancy to her." + +"Well, it is a fancy that has grown to enormous proportions. I cannot +live without her. If that is fancy it has all the strength of +conviction." + +"Oh, Edward, you can't really love her. It is only her beauty that you +care for." + +"You might as well say that the sunflower doesn't really love the sun; +it is only the sunshine that it cares for. Wanda's beauty is part of +herself." + +"And it will remain so a dozen, or perhaps a score, of years. After +that you will have for your wife a coarse ignorant woman, forever +chafing at the restrictions of civilized life; angering, annoying and +humiliating you in a thousand ways, a woman whom you cannot admire, +whom it will be impossible for you to respect." + +Edward's eyes blazed. Not until that moment did his sister realize how +complete was his infatuation for Wanda. + +"It is you who are ignorant and coarse," he cried, "in your remarks +upon the girl who is my promised wife. No matter what befalls her, she +will always be clothed in the unfading beauty of my love." + +Rose was deeply grieved. She stood with clasped hands looking +despairingly at her brother. "You poor boy," she breathed, "you poor +motherless boy! What can I say to you?" + +"Well, there are a good many things that you can say; but what I +should prefer you to say would be to the effect that you will break it +as gently as possible to Papa." + +"I shall not break it at all," declared the girl warmly. "It would +nearly kill poor father. Haven't you any consideration for him?" + +"Yes; sufficient to make me wish that the truth should be clothed in +your own sweet persuasive accents, when it is conveyed to him. I don't +wish to jar him any more than is necessary." + +"Edward, you are perfectly heartless!" + +"That is the natural consequence of losing one's heart, isn't it?" + +"Oh, then, you are only jesting. It's a very good joke, but in +questionable taste." + +"Dear Rose, believe me, I was never more in earnest than at present." + +"Except when you are out hunting. I have seen you go without food and +sleep simply because you were on the track of some beautiful wild +creature that was forced to yield its liberty and life merely to +gratify your whim. It is in that despicable way that you would treat +Wanda." + +The young man smiled. He perceived that his sister was changing her +tactics. + +"You are very considerate and tender of Wanda," he said, "but not so +much as I expect to be." + +The conversation, which was growing more and more unsatisfactory, was +abruptly terminated by the entrance of one of the other members of the +family. + +As a natural result of this interview Wanda was invited to go with +them in the sail-boat next day. Rose was clear-witted enough to see +that persistent opposition would only intensify the halo of romance +which her infatuated brother had discovered upon the brow of the +Algonquin Maiden, and that outward acquiescence would give the +attachment an air of prosaic tameness, if anything could. Besides, a +scandal is made more scandalous when the offender's family are known +to be in a state of hopelessly outraged enmity. + +Thus bravely reasoned Rose, while her heart sank within her. She was +not prepared for the worst, but it was necessary that she should +behave in all points as if she were; otherwise the worst might be +hastened. It was impossible to view Wanda in the light of a possible +sister-in-law; nevertheless, she gave her the pink cambric dress for +which the Indian girl had so often expressed admiration, and +supplemented the kindness with a pair of gloves, destined never to be +worn, and a straw hat, whose trimming was speedily torn off and its +place supplied by wampum, gorgeous feathers, the stained quills of the +porcupine, with tufts of moose hair, dyed blue and red. + +Certainly she looked very pretty as she stood on the shore next day, +all ready for departure. Even Rose, who for the first time in her kind +little life would willingly have noticed personal defects, was forced +to admit that Wanda was looking and acting particularly well; the only +apparent fault being a lack of harmony between herself and her dress. +They were two separate entities, not only in fact but in appearance, +and they were seemingly in a state of subdued but constant warfare. +The truth was, that this wild girl of the woods was secretly chafing +against the stiffly starched prison in which she found herself +helplessly immured. + +It was very pleasant out on the water. The fresh vigour of the breeze +filling the sail with life, the waves swirling up about the sides of +the boat, the dancing motion of their little craft upon the water, the +changing tints, the shadows and ripples of the bay gave them a quiet +yet keen delight. Their destination was a point of land on Lake +Simcoe, where a party of picnicers was already assembled. A group of +girls came down to the shore as they landed, and bore Rose and Eva +away with them. In the leafy distance Edward caught a glimpse of +Helene DeBerczy, and in his heart the young man thanked heaven that he +was not as other men are, or even as the callow youths who were +hanging upon her utterances. + +After a while, Edward observed Wanda standing apart, and looking at +the marauders in her loved woods as a man might look upon the enemies +who, with fire and sword, were desolating the home of his fathers. +Between her and these gay girls there was a difference, not of degree +but of kind. They loved the forest as a background for themselves; she +loved it as herself. The curious eyes fixed upon her were more +respectful in their gaze when Edward quietly took his place beside +her. Presently, Rose with her devoted adherents joined them, and every +effort was put forth to make the Indian girl feel at home in her home. +But for the most part they were futile. Wanda was thoroughly ill at +ease, though she concealed the fact with the native stolidity of her +race. But love's intuitions are keen, and Edward realized that his +little sweetheart was very uncomfortable. What could be the reason? +Her dress seemed incongruous, and yet it was perfectly in accord with +the linen and lawns and flower-dotted muslins about her. + +"Laura," observed a young lady behind him, in a muffled whisper which +he could not choose but hear, "do look at Helene DeBerczy's costume. +Could anything be more out of place at a picnic?" Edward's gaze, +involuntarily straying to the garb which was so singularly +inappropriate, rested upon the filmiest of black stuffs, exquisite as +cobweb, through which were revealed the long perfect arms, and the +tender curves of neck and shoulder. From this gracious figure was +exhaled invisible radiations--the luxurious sense of refined +womanliness. How gross and earthly, how fatally commonplace and +prosaic seemed everyone about her. The violently high spirits of the +other girls, their scramblings for flowers and shriekings at snakes, +their too obvious blushes and iron-clad flirtations, seemed not to +come a-nigh her. "Her soul was like a star and dwelt apart." The young +man assured himself that he was not falling in love with her again; he +was merely laying at her feet an involuntary tribute of admiration, +the sort of admiration which he might feel for a rare poem. + +Meanwhile the girl with whom he was in love had made what Edward +called "an object" of herself. By this uncertain phrase he did not +mean an object of admiration, poetic or otherwise. Left for a brief +season to her own devices Wanda had torn and muddied her gown, lost +her hat, and in other respects behaved, as a maiden lady present +remarked, precisely like an overgrown child of five years, who has +"never had any bringing up." All the children had taken an immense +fancy to her, and she was delighting them with her dexterity in +climbing trees when Edward cast a hot, shamed, imploring look at his +sister, to which she responded by saying: + +"Wanda, you must be very tired. Come and sit down a while and rest." + +The girl, seeing Edward a little apart from the others, took a seat +beside him, at which distinct mark of preference the rest smiled. Her +lover alone wore a heavy frown. He glanced at the frouzy hair, to +which not even the beauty of the face beneath could reconcile him; +then at the scratched and sun-burned hands, and lastly at the stained +and battered gown. "Wanda," he said with stern brevity, "how did you +get your dress so wet?" + +"Wading the brook," she replied, surveying the dripping and discoloured +skirt with entire indifference. + +"That is very improper. You shouldn't do such things. Why are you not +quiet?" + +"Only the dead are quiet; but perhaps you wish to kill me." + +The remark was startling, but it was unaccompanied by a ray of emotion +in face or voice. Only in the large soft eyes lay a depth of suffering +such as he had seen in the look of a dying fawn, wounded by his hand. +"Your words pierce like arrows," she said. + +"Dear Wanda, forgive me; I am expecting too much of you. It is +exceedingly cruel of me to make you suffer so." + +"Wanda!" called one of a group of children, "come and swing us, +please." + +"Don't go," whispered Edward decisively. He himself strode over to +them, lifted one chubby youngster after another into the huge swing, +and sent them flying into the tree-tops. It was a form of pastime that +he detested; but he was not going to have Wanda at the beck and call +of "those little ruffians." At last, with the sympathetic assurance +that if they wanted any more swinging they were at liberty to get it +from each other, he left them, and rejoined the Indian girl. + +"Wanda!" said Helene, as she spread a shawl on the ground, "just step +across to our carriage, will you, and bring me a cushion you will find +there." + +"You must not!" declared Edward, in a low savage whisper, preparing to +go himself; but the girl was off like a swallow before the wind. He +met her on the way back, took the cushion from her, and presented it +to its owner with a bow of exaggerated deference. Helene's black brows +expressed the utmost astonishment; but as she confronted Edward's +wrathful gaze her own eyes caught fire, and the two who once had been +so nearly lovers now manifested no other emotion toward each other +save repressed and concentrated hate. + +"I wish you to understand," said the exasperated young man to Wanda, +as he accompanied her to dinner, "that you are not a servant, and you +mustn't obey anyone's commands." + +"No," was the slow reply, "I shall obey no one's commands, not even +yours;" and with these words she turned and fled into the woods. The +ever-present desire to escape had conquered at last. + +"How kind you are to that unfortunate girl!" observed the lady next +him at dinner. "She must try your patience so much." + +Edward admitted that his patience had been tried; but he was in no +mood to expatiate upon the subject. He had a very slight idea of what +he was eating and drinking, or of what all the talking was about. The +sunshine flecking the open clearing gave him a feeling that he would +soon have a dreadful headache. After it was over he lay down, and +tried to forget his troubles in a noontide nap. Gradually the voices +about him softened and died away. For a moment he was floating upon +the still waters of sleep, and then he drifted back to shore. Opening +his eyes he found himself alone with Helene, who was asleep among her +wrappings at a little distance. The rest had strayed away in pairs and +groups, out of hearing if not out of sight. The unconscious figure +seemed clothed in an atmosphere of ethereal sweetness, and Edward +caught himself wondering whether the root of an affection, whose life +is years long, is ever removed from the heart, unless the heart is +removed with it. He began seriously to doubt, not his constancy to +Wanda, but his inconstancy to Helene. Suddenly she opened her eyes and +caught his glance. He withdrew it at once, and in the embarrassment of +the moment made some inane remark upon the beauty of the day. Helene +rose with deliberation, put one white hand to the well-brushed head, +trim and shining as a raven's wing, and with the utmost tranquillity +answered "yes." Certainly she had the most irritating way in the world +of pronouncing the words which usually sound sweetest from a woman's +lips. He did not wait to continue a conversation so unpropitiously +begun, but went off on a lonely exploring tramp along the shore. + +Late in the afternoon as he was returning, he noticed a nondescript +figure sitting solitary on the bank, which, as he approached resolved +itself into the superb outline of his Indian love. Unconscious of +observation she threw herself backward, in an attitude as remarkable +for its beauty as for its unconventionality. She seemed to be +luxuriating with a sort of animal content in the brightness of the +sunshine, the softness of the odorous breeze, and the warmth of the +water in which her slim bare feet were dabbling; she dug her brown +fingers in the earth, as though the very touch of the soil was intense +delight. The hated dress was reduced to ruinous pink rags, which +became her untamed beauty as the habiliments of civilization never +could have done. Her slowly approaching lover viewed her with mingled +amusement and horror, while deep in his heart flowed the dark; current +of a great despair. Hearing his footsteps she nerved herself for the +expected reproaches, which he knew were worse than useless; but seeing +in his face nothing but undisguised admiration, she sprang lightly to +her feet and threw herself upon his neck. Edward kissed her, but it +was with a thrill of ineffable self-contempt, and a sharp consciousness +that the only charm this girl possessed for him was that she allowed +him to kiss her. Then he drew away and brushed with fastidious glove +the dust his coat retained from contact with her shoulder. + +"See what I have found!" she exclaimed, holding up a small trinket that +glittered in the sunlight. "It belongs to the Moon-in-a-black-cloud." + +It was a little gold locket, which he had often noticed on the neck of +Helene. Shortly before Wanda's abrupt flight, she had pointed with +childish curiosity to the slender bright chain clearly visible beneath +the transparent folds of the black gown, and the young lady had +obligingly drawn the locket from its secret place upon her heart, for +the gratification of its admirer. Left for a time on the outside of +her dress, one of the tiny links must have severed, and the pretty +trinket slipped to the ground unnoticed by its owner. The young man in +whose hand it now lay was tempted to a dishonourable action. He had +often begged Helene to show him the contents of this locket--a favour +which had uniformly been denied. Now the opportunity was his without +the asking. Nothing rewarded his curiosity save a lock of yellow hair, +probably cut from the head of Rose. Queer fancy, he thought, for one +girl to cherish the tresses of another. Suddenly he was struck by an +idea that sent the blood throbbing to his temples. He examined the +tress a second time. The bright hair growing upon his sister's head he +knew had a reddish tinge, and its silky length terminated in ring-like +curls. This was short and straight, of a pale colour, and showed by +its unevenness that it had been "shingled." His heart beat as though +it would burst. "You must take this back to its owner," he said +imperatively. + +Wanda slipped her hand in his. "We will go together," she said. + +He glanced at her bare feet and ruined raiment, and realized with a +burning flush that he was thoroughly ashamed of her. No, he could not +take the hand of his future wife and face that crowd of curious +worldlings. The mere touch of her soiled fingers was repugnant to him. +She seemed like some coarse weed, whose vivid hues he might admire in +passing, but which he would shrink from wearing on his person. + +"It will be better for you to go alone," he replied. "Don't tell the +lady that anyone beside yourself has seen the locket. I will come +presently." + +But he lingered a long time after she left him, drinking against his +will the sharp waters of bitter-sweet reflection. There came back to +him an afternoon a year ago, when his sister Eva, out of childish love +of mischief, had stolen up behind him, and cut off the lock of hair +which fell over his brow. + +"Mere masculine vanity," she had said, as the scissors snapped. He had +sprung up instantly, and pursued her as she fled shrieking down the +avenue. Helene, who was the only other occupant of the room had looked +almost shocked at their conduct, and his pet lock of hair had +mysteriously disappeared. Since then during how many days and nights +had it been rising and falling upon the proud bosom, that he knew very +well would be cold in death before it would give evidence of a +quickened heart-beat in his presence. The knowledge he had gained by +the discovery of the locket made Helene dangerously dear to him, and +yet relieved him of not a particle of his duty towards Wanda. He saw +neither of the girls again that day, but he carried home with him a +stinging memory of both. Late that night he was pacing his room with +sick heart and aching head, while in the next apartment Rose was +assuring herself that the picnic had been a great success. "Really," +she meditated, "nothing could possibly be worse--or better--than the +way in which Wanda behaved." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE COMMODORE SURRENDERS. + + +A few weeks later there was another excursion to the emerald glooms of +the forest, but this was limited in number to the Macleods and +DeBerczys, with a few of their intimate friends. Wanda was absent on +one of her indefinite expeditions--indefinite in length as well as in +object, though the wigwam of her foster-feather was one of the points +of interest visited by the party. Conspicuous among the numerous +Indians in the settlement in the neighbourhood of Orillia was the last +of the Algonquins, partly because of the pathos which attaches to the +sole survivor in any region of a nearly extinct race, partly because +of the mantle of traditional glory that had fallen upon him from the +shoulders of valorous ancestors. He declined to join the revellers at +their midday feasting under the trees, but his unexpected appearance +afterwards suggested a pleasant substitute for the noon-day siesta. +"Talk about the storied memories of the past, in the old world," said +Edward, leaning back on the mossy sward, and gazing up through green +branches to the blue heaven, "this country has had its share of them, +and here is the man," clapping a friendly hand on the Indian's +shoulder, "who can tell us about them." + +"Ah, do!" implored Herbert and Eva. + +"Ah, don't!" entreated their father. "If there's anything that spoils +the sylvan shades for me, it is to learn that they were once the scene +of battle axes and blood spilling, and such like gruesomeness." + +"But we _ought_ to know about it," said Helene. "It's history." + +"That makes it all the worse. If it were fiction I wouldn't care." + +"Now, Papa," said Rose, "that evinces a depraved taste. People will +blame your home-training. Consider my feelings." + +"That is what I supposed I was doing, my dear, in praying to be +delivered from a tale that would make your blood run cold." + +"What a delightful way for one's blood to run in this weather," lazily +remarked one of the Boulton girls, and the other said she was pining +for a story of particular horror. + +"Oh, a story, by all means," said the Commodore, "but let it be a +tradition or something of that sort." Then turning to the Chief: "Does +not our brother know the legend of the unfortunate wretch of a man who +was set upon and abused by a lot of unmerciful women, because he +barbarously forbade them to learn all the history they wanted? +Something of that sort would be appropriate." + +"Our brother" shook his head. "That is beyond my skill, but I can +relate a story of the times before ever women were brought into the +world." + +"Rather dull times for the men, weren't they?" inquired one of the +party. + +"It is the belief of some of our race that they were very good times," +replied the Chief, tranquilly. "The men of that period, free from the +influence of the other sex, have been spoken of as a much better race +of beings than they are to-day. At that time you never heard of such a +thing as a man being cross to his wife, or too attentive to his +neighbour's wife, and when the husband came back from the chase +without meat there was no one to scold him. Every man had his own way, +and dwelt in peace in his own wigwam. As fast as they died out the +Manito created more, and as they had no families they had nothing to +fight for, nothing to defend, and, consequently, there were few wars +among them. There were, I am sorry to say, some disadvantages. The men +were obliged to weed corn, dry fish, mend nets, fell trees, carry +logs, and do other women's work, which, as we know, is a great +degradation. Also, when they were sick or in trouble, some of the +weaker ones were heard to declare that they wished women were +invented, but as a rule they were blithe and gay as warriors in the +dance that follows a great victory. There were many ennobling +influences in this world before women entered it. Vanity did not +exist. Simplicity was the rule, especially in attire, which ordinarily +consisted of hunting coats and leggings, deerskin moccasins and +coloured blankets, enriched with beads. It was only once in a while +that they appeared in black eagle plumes, and gorgeous feathers, +garters gay with beads, moccasins worked with stained porcupine +quills, leggings of scarlet cloth, embroidered and decorated with +tufts of moosehair, dyed blue and red, robes curiously plaited of the +bark of the mulberry, and adorned with bear claws, hawks' bills and +turtle shells. Besides being plain and quiet in their dress they were +very upright in their lives. No man ever was known to lie to his +neighbour; but now when you see a man and woman too frequently +together you may be sure he is telling her things that come true about +as often as larks fall from the skies. Neither were men in those days +ever deceived; but now they are tangled in women's wiles as easily as +a partridge is caught in a net. There were no cowards, for men at all +times are staunch and bold, whereas a woman has nothing but the heart +of a little bird in her breast. All nature shared in man's prosperity. +The corn grew to the height of a young forest tree, and in the +hunting-grounds the deer and bears were as thick as stars. + +"But the chief glory of man in those days was his long, superb and +glossy tail; for at that time it could not be said that the horses +were more highly gifted than he. You must often have noticed the pride +with which horses switch their tails about, apparently to drive off +flies, but really to show their superiority to the race they serve. +The reproach of having no tail is one that is hard to bear; but at the +time of which I speak all men were endowed with luxuriant tails, some +of them black as the shell of a butternut when it is fully ripe, +others the colour of the setting sun, but all trimmed with shells, gay +coloured beads and flowers, and strings of alligators' teeth. Those +who say that there is nothing on earth so beautiful as a woman did not +live in the time when tails were invented. Nothing could surpass the +pride their owners took in them, nor the scorn that was heaped upon +the hapless creature whose tail was short or scanty. + +"But, as often happens to people who have all and more than they need, +so it was with our ancestors. From being simply proud of their tails +they began to grow vain and useless, caring for nothing but their own +ease and adornment, neglecting to harvest the maize, feeble in the +chase, sleeping sometimes for the space of nearly a moon, and unable +to take more than a woman's journey of six suns at a time. Then the +Manito reflected and said to himself: 'This will never do. Man was not +made to be a mere groundling. His greatest luxury must be taken from +him, and in its place there must be given him something to tax his +patience and strengthen his powers.' So one fine morning every man in +the world woke up to find his tail missing. Great was the surprise and +lamentation, and this was not lessened by the sudden appearance of the +women, who came in number like that of the flight of pigeons in the +moon before the snow moon. No prayers could avail to stay their +coming, and from that time all the troubles in the world began. No man +was allowed to have his own way thenceforward, nor was he permitted to +plod along in his old, slow, comfortable fashion, but each one in +terror went to work as swift as a loon flying before a high wind." + +The laugh that arose at the end of this not strictly authentic +narrative was prolonged by a strange voice, and Allan Dunlop, who, +unobserved, had made his appearance among them, now came forward to +exchange greetings with his friends. Herbert and Eva Macleod hung +enraptured about him, while he went to congratulate the old Indian +upon his gifts as a story-teller. Then Edward's warm hand clasped his. +"Come over and see my father," he said. "Oh, no, he is asleep. He +generally sleeps in the afternoon of the day." + +"A very good plan when one comes to the afternoon of one's days," +observed Allan, and then he went over to speak to Rose. + +Her little soft hand fluttered up to his as a bird flutters to its +nest. They had not met since that stormy March night. Since then he +had confessed, in correspondence between them, that life was a +perpetual struggle between him and love, and she had asked--though not +in so many words--if it would make it any easier for him to know that +she was engaged in the same struggle with the same great enemy. Ah, +with what a fine pen had she written that, and with what pale ink, and +nervous, nearly illegible strokes, and how she had crowded it down to +the very edge of the paper. But he had read it, and it was fixed on +his mind as clearly as though it had been written in lightning on the +dark horizon of his future. And now, though his brown eyes were +warming into black, and her cheeks were the colour of the flower after +which she was named, they talked of conventional things in an +indifferent way, as is the customary and proper thing to do. They saw +little of each other through the remainder of the afternoon, but when +they were making ready for the sail home, Eva, at Allan's invitation, +sprang into his little light boat. + +"Come with me, Rose," she cried, "Mr. Dunlop is going to row me home, +and it will be better worth while if there are two of us." + +The excuses which Rose instantly invented were not so strong as the +vehement tones in which her sister uttered her invitation, and to +avoid attracting attention or remark she gently seated herself in the +boat, which Allan exultantly pushed away from the shore. The delight +of being for a little while almost alone with his love was +intoxicating. The younger girl, who had counted so ardently upon the +pleasure of Allan's society, found herself in a short time too sleepy +to enjoy it. Her pale, pretty head nodded drowsily, and at last found +a resting-place in the lap of her sister. The other two did not +exchange many words. It would have been a shame to disturb the +play-worn little maid. The night was very beautiful; the stars seemed +softly remote. Beneath their light the woods gleamed mysteriously, and +the waves were hushed into a dream of peace. The bay that at sunset +had seemed a sea of melted gold, now held the young moon trembling in +its liquid embrace. About them played the ineffable caresses of the +light evening breeze. + +"Rose," said Allan, softly. + +She looked up with conscious resistance, but it was too late for that +now. The imperious passion of his mood met the sad grace of her +attitude. His speech flowed fast and warm as if it had been blood from +his veins. She felt herself weakening into helpless tears. "Ah, spare +me!" she cried. "It is all so hopeless. My father--" + +"I am coming to see your father to-morrow," he said. "It will be a +hard battle, but it must be decided at once." + +He helped them to land, and they walked in silence to the house. At +the doorway, in which Eva had disappeared, Rose took Allan's +outstretched hand in both of hers, and drawing it close, laid her +weary, wet little face down upon it. The sound of voices and laughter +came up from the beach, and she hastily released herself and fled to +her room. + +The next afternoon Eva Macleod, with an air of considerable +importance, tapped at the door of her father's apartment. "Papa," she +said, with that fondness for a choice diction observable in carefully +reared young ladies at the beginning of their teens, "may I have a +private conversation with you?" + +"Why, certainly, my dear! A little talk, I suppose, you mean." + +Without heeding this undignified interruption, Miss Eva gave her +parent a very accurate report of the dramatic scene in the boat the +evening before, of which she had been an interested auditor. + +"Of course," she added, in conscientious defence, "I didn't want them +to suppose I was sleeping, but if I had opened my eyes it would have +been very embarrassing for us all." + +"Humph!" said her father. "Does Rose know that you were awake?" + +"No, I have not broached the topic to her," replied Eva, with an +affectation of maturer speech. + +"Humph!" said the gentleman again; a quizzical glance at his younger +daughter breaking for a moment through the gloom with which he was +meditating the fate of the elder one. "Well, I am glad you 'broached' +it to me; I shall--" + +"Papa," interrupted Eva, with bated breath, glancing down from the +window at which she stood, "there is Allan now." + +"_Allan_! You are mightily well acquainted. I see I must prepare to +make an unconditional surrender." + +He walked in a nervous and disquieted manner out of the room. At the +head of the stairs he encountered Mademoiselle DeBerczy, on her way +up. + +"Helene," he said, with the desperation of one who in the fifty-ninth +minute after the eleventh hour does not entirely despair of a gleam of +hope, "I wish you would tell me in two words if Rose loves Allan +Dunlop. Does she?" + +"_Don't_ she!" exclaimed Helene, with explosive earnestness, and the +two words were sufficient. Their effect was not lessened by subsequent +occurrences. On opening the drawing-room door Rose hastened to his +side, turning her back, as she did so, upon a young man of ardent but +entirely self-respectful aspect, standing not far distant. + +"Oh, Papa!" she cried in her extremity, "save me from him. He loves +me!" + +"Is that the only reason?" asked her father. + +"No; there is a greater one. _I love him_!" + +"Ah!" murmured Allan softly, "it is to _me_ you should say that." + +"She shall have unlimited opportunities for saying it to you," +observed the elder gentleman, with kindly promptness, but with a sore +heart. "After a while," he added, turning to Allan, with his hand on +the door knob, "I will be glad to see you." + +In this sentence, which is an interesting illustration of the power of +manners over mind, the word "will" was purposely substituted for the +customary "shall." It was only by an active effort of will that the +good Commodore could be glad to see his daughter's suitor. But their +interview, if it did not prove a death-blow to his prejudices, at +least inflicted serious injuries upon them, from which they never +afterwards recovered. He was won over by the young fellow's manliness, +which, when contrasted with mere gentlemanliness, apart from it, puts +the latter at a striking disadvantage, even in the mind of the +confirmed aristocrat. There was also a tinge of absurdity in the idea +of being ashamed of a son-in-law of whom his country was beginning to +be proud. Perhaps it was as well that he should arrive unaided at this +opinion, for Allan had won the rest of the household to his side, and +a belief in which one is entirely alone must contain something more +than mere pride of birth in order to support its possessor in comfort. +Even the loyal Tredway would have failed to respond to his imagined +need, for this faithful servitor had long since discovered that the +happiness of his young mistress was more to be desired than the +preservation of any fancied superiority on the part of the family to +which he was devotedly attached. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +AT STAMFORD COTTAGE. + + +Not more than three miles from the Falls of Niagara, between them and +Queenston, lies the pretty village of Stamford, in which, over sixty +years ago, Upper Canada's Lieutenant-Governor built the summer home +which became his favourite place of abode. Set in the midst of a vast +natural park, its appearance corresponded perfectly to Mrs. Jameson's +description of an elegant villa, framed in the interminable forests. +Here, within sound of the great cataract and, on clear, typically +Canadian days, within sight of York, thirty miles distant across the +lake, Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah Maitland found a grateful retreat +from the cares of public life. Not that they loved society less, but +solitude more; especially, to use a Hibernicism, when that solitude +was shared. In the early summer of 1827 Stamford Cottage was filled +with people after its pretty mistress's own heart. If she suspected +one of her guests of being also after the heart of another, it did not +endear him the less to her. Why should she not remove from the paths +of her _proteges_ the scarcely perceptible obstacles which prevented +them from being as happily married as herself? But one day she +discovered that the role of match-maker is as arduous as it is +alluring, and with this she went at once to her husband's study. + +"Dear," she began, "I have become greatly interested in a young man, +and I thought it only right that you should know about it before it +goes any further." + +"Ah, yes, certainly." The gentleman looked rather abstracted. "And the +young fellow--is he interested too?" + +"Oh, interested is a feeble word. He is desperately in love." + +"Then you haven't taken me into your confidence a moment too soon. Has +he declared his passion?" + +"No; that's just the trouble. He goes mooning round and mooning round, +and never saying a word. And I'm sure," added the lady in an aggrieved +tone, "I've given him every opportunity. Yesterday after infinite +pains I brought him and Helene together in the arbour, and made some +pretext for escaping into the house. What did that--infant--do but +follow me out?" + +"Quite natural, if his feelings towards you are such as you have +described." + +"Towards _me_! You don't imagine I am talking of myself." + +"That is what your words would lead one to believe." + +"Oh, dear husband, you know perfectly well what I mean. I do think +that when a man sets out to be stupid he succeeds a thousand times +better than a woman. Surely you have noticed how badly Edward Macleod +and Helene DeBerczy are behaving." + +"Really, my dear, I have not. I supposed they were behaving remarkably +well." + +"In one sense--yes. They are as 'polite as peas.' But why _should_ +they be polite?" + +"Well, it is a custom of the country, I suppose. It's hard to account +for all the strange things one sees in a foreign land." + +"My object is not so much to account for it as to put an end to it. +It's ridiculous for two people, who have known each other from +babyhood, to be standing aloof, and looking as if the honour of each +other's acquaintance was the last thing to be desired. And now +Mademoiselle Helene wants to go home. She does not complain or repine +or importune, but every day, and several times a day, she presents the +idea to her mother, with varying degrees of emphasis, and in the tone +of one who believes that continual dropping will wear away the stone. +Madame DeBerczy as yet remains sweetly obdurate. She is enjoying her +visit, and there seems to be no special good reason why it should be +terminated. I particularly wish them to stay, as I want if possible to +bring about a better understanding between Helene and Edward. We must +not let them escape." + +In pursuance of the policy suggested by his wife, Sir Peregrine took +occasion to have a special kindly little chat with Helene, with a view +to overcome her reluctance to remain. Naturally of a reserved +disposition his cordial hospitality found expression in looks and +actions rather than words, and these took a greater value from the +infrequency with which they were uttered. + +"What is this I hear about your wanting to leave us?" he said, +addressing Helene, who, with her mother, was seated on his left at +dinner that evening. "Have you really grown very tired of us all?" + +The young lady laid down her knife and fork, and the unconscious +movement, combined with her unusual pallor, gave one the impression +that she was indeed very tired. + +"No, Sir Peregrine, only of myself. I seem to be suffering from a +prolonged attack of spring fever. Don't you think home is the best +place for those who have the bad taste to be in poor health?" + +"No doubt of it," replied the gentleman, at which she gave him a +grateful glance, thinking she had won an unexpected ally; "but," he +continued, "I hoped you would feel at home here." + +Helene assured him that it was impossible for her to enjoy her visit +more than she was doing. As she made this perfectly sincere statement +her melancholy eyes by chance encountered the deep blue ones of her +unacknowledged lover. In their depths lurked an expression of absolute +relief. Could he then be glad to hear of their projected departure? +She hoped so. It would be very much better for both. "Has it never +occurred to you," she asked of Sir Peregrine, "that the pleasantest +things in this world are very seldom the best for us?" + +"I am sorry to hear you say that," he rejoined pleasantly, "as I was +about to ask you to go out driving with me to-morrow morning. There is +a view near the Falls that I believe you have never yet seen, and the +gratification of showing it to you would be to me one of the +pleasantest things in the world." + +The young lady very willingly admitted that this was an exception to +the rule she had just laid down. Lady Sarah, who thus far had approved +her husband's tactics, now gave him a slightly questioning glance, but +he returned her such a look of self-confident good cheer, that she +knew at once he must be involved in a deep-laid plot of his own. As a +rule she had small respect for masculine plots, and before another day +had elapsed her sentiment on the subject was abundantly shared by at +least two of her guests. Mademoiselle DeBerczy had always entertained +a genuine admiration and liking for the Lieutenant-Governor. His +chivalrous courtesy, picturesque appearance, and the exquisite +refinement of his tone and manner pleased her fastidious taste. So it +was with almost a light heart that she made her preparations next +morning for the drive. But when seated in the carriage, and waiting +with a bright face the appearing of her delinquent attendant, it was +not pleasant to be told by the gentleman himself that important +dispatches had just arrived by the morning's mail, which demanded his +personal and immediate attention. "Besides that fact," said His +Excellency, "I had forgotten an appointment I have with the Hon. Mr. +Hamilton Merritt to talk over his great project of the Welland Canal +between the two Lakes, and I cannot disappoint him." He couldn't think +of asking her to wait until the sun was hot, and the pleasure of the +drive spoiled, added the Lieutenant-Governor. But here was Edward +Macleod, who would no doubt be glad to take his place. At this +announcement Helene longed to fly to her room, but she could think of +no valid excuse. The young man, sitting with the last _Gazette_ in +hand in a rustic chair on the veranda, listened to the summons with +silent horror. He actually turned pale, but like Helene, he could +think of no possible excuse for evading the turn affairs had taken. He +rose mechanically, gave inarticulate utterance to the pleasure he did +not feel, and took his seat beside the unhappy girl, who shrank +visibly into her corner. + +"Admirable!" exclaimed Lady Sarah, softly stepping out to witness the +unusual phenomenon of Edward and Helene driving away together. "I +never supposed a man _could_ have so much sagacity and foresight. Here +have I been cudgelling my brains to keep those two from playing hide +and seek--no, hide and _avoid_--ever since they came, and now you +accomplish it in the easiest and most natural way in the world. See +what it is to have a clever husband! How did you happen to think of +those important dispatches?" + +Emphasis would indicate too coarsely the delicate stress laid upon the +last two words. The gentleman looked extremely puzzled. + +"_Happen_ to think? I am _obliged_ to think of them." + +"Really? What a lucky accident! So you are not the sly designing +schemer I supposed. Ah, well, you are the soul of honour, and that is +infinitely better." + +Certainly to her mind in the present case that was what appearances +would seem to indicate; but the poor wretches who were tending slowly +toward the brink of some indefinable horror, more awful to their +imaginations than the great cataract itself, thought not so much upon +the means by which they were brought into their present painful +position, as upon the impossibility of escape from it. To the eye of +a casual wayfarer these handsome young people, driving abroad through +the dewy freshness of the morning, with the long lovely day before +them, could not be considered objects of pity. + +For a while they took refuge in commonplaces, relieved by lapses of +eloquent silence; then as the winding road conducted them by easy +gradations into greener depths of leafy solitude they looked +involuntarily into each other's eyes, and realized that, beneath all +the bitterness and pride and cruel estrangement, their love was the +truest, most unalterable, part of their life. + +"Perhaps," said Edward, speaking as though the words were wrung from +him, "it is better that we should meet once more alone, though it be +for the last time." + +The girl gave a low murmur of assent. Her eyes were looking straight +forward. The solitude was permeated by the deep thunder of the Falls, +and it voiced the depth of her despair. "For the last time," she said +within herself, "for the last time." + +"I have a favour to ask," he continued, "a favour that I verily +believe a man never yet asked of the woman he loved; and I do love +you, my darling--there, let me say it once, since I can never say it +again--I love you with all my heart and soul." He bowed his head, and +she could see the blue vein in his temple growing bluer and swelling +as he spoke. He had not laid a finger upon her, he could not so much +as lift his eyes up to her face, but a mocking breeze suddenly blew a +fold of her raiment against his cheek, and he kissed it passionately. +Helene held her hands tightly together; they were trembling violently. + +"I want to beg of you," he said, still without looking up, "to look +upon me with suspicion, aversion, and distrust; to disbelieve any good +you may hear of me; to hate me if you can; to treat me as long as you +live with uniform coldness and indifference." + +"I understand," she replied with icy brevity, "you think there is +danger of my treating you otherwise." + +Now, since the discovery of the locket, and its tell-tale contents, +this was precisely the danger that Edward had feared, but he was a +diplomatist. + +"Have you ever given me the slightest reason to think so?" he +demanded. "At my least approach your natural pride changes to +haughtiness, arrogance, and scorn. But the one thing greater than +your pride is my love. Ah, you know nothing about it--you cannot +imagine its power. Madmen have warned those who were dearest to them +to fly from their sight, lest in spite of themselves an irreparable +injury be inflicted. And so I urge you to continue avoiding me, to +cast behind not even a single glance of pity, lest in spite of your +pride, in spite of my reason, I should bend all my power to the one +object of winning you." + +This calamity, it may be supposed, was not quite so great and horrible +to the mind of the young lady as it was in the excited imagination of +her lover. "I do not understand you," she said quietly. "What is it +you wish to ask of me?" + +"Only this: that you will never think of me with the slightest degree +of kindness; that you will drop me from your acquaintance; that you +will forget that I ever existed." + +"Very well;" her tones were even quieter than before, and a great deal +colder! "I promise never to think any more of you than I do at this +moment." And all the time she was crying with inward tears, "O, +darling, darling, as though I could think any more of you than I do +now! As though I could, as though I could!" + +"Thank you," said Edward, "you are removing a terrible temptation from +my way, and helping to make me stronger and less ignoble than I am. +Let me tell you all about it, Helene. Do you remember that night in +the conservatory last winter, when you treated me so cruelly? Yes, I +own I was a wild animal; but you might have tamed me, and instead you +infuriated me. I went from you to Wanda, the Indian girl with whom I +flirted last summer. She was in civilized garb, in my mother's home, +quiet as a bird that has been driven by the storms of winter into a +place of shelter. I too had been tempest-driven, and her warm welcome, +her beauty and tenderness, stole away my senses. She soothed my +injured vanity, satisfied my desperate hunger for love, and I lived +for weeks in the belief that we were made for each other. But with the +return of summer the untamed spirit of her race took possession of +her, and when I saw her with you,--ah, dearest, is there need for me +to say more? I cannot marry her; every fibre of my being, every +sentiment of my soul, revolts from it; but neither am I such a monster +of iniquity as to try to win any one else, and found my lifelong +happiness upon that poor girl's broken-hearted despair. No, Helene, +you have no right to look at me in that way. I never wronged her in +the base brutish sense of the word--never in a way that the spirit of +my dead mother might not have witnessed--but I have robbed her of her +heart, and find too late that I do not want it. I cannot free her from +her suffering, but at least I shall always share it." + +And I too, was Helene's internal response. Aloud she suggested that it +was time for them to return. Her indifference was precisely what +Edward had begged for, but now in return for his confidence it chilled +him. She noticed his disappointment, and with a sudden impulse of +sympathy, she laid a tiny gloved hand upon his arm. "Oh, you are +right," she breathed, "perfectly right. It is infinitely better to +suffer with her than to be happy and contemptible and forget her. +Believe me I shall not be a hindrance to you." + +He took in his own the little fluttering hand, and held it in what he +believed to be a quiet friendly clasp. It was an immense relief to +unburden his mind to any one, and her approval was very sweet to a +heart that had been torn for weary days and nights by self-accusation +and self-contempt. Unconsciously he leaned nearer to her, still +holding the little hand, which its owner did not withdraw, because it +was for "the last time." In the reaction from the severe strain of the +days and weeks gone past they were almost light-hearted. Before +re-entering the village Edward stopped the horse in a leafy covert, +where for a few minutes they might be secure from observation. + +"It is only to say good-bye, my heart's idol," he explained. "Since I +have proved myself unworthy even of your liking I must go away from you +forever. But our parting must be here in private." He held both her +hands now in a tight, strong grasp, and looked into her face with +unutterable love. "Ah, heaven," he groaned, "I cannot give you up! I +cannot, I cannot!" He bowed his face upon the lilies in her lap, but +the languid bloodless things could not cool the fever in his cheeks. +For her life she could not help laying her hand tenderly upon his +head--the young golden head that lay so wearily close to her empty +arms; but she said nothing. A woman's heart is dumb, not because it is +created so, but because society has decreed that that is the only +proper thing for it to be. "Helene," he murmured, lifting his head +with a strange dazed look, "I believe I have been delirious all the +morning. What possible good could my suffering be to Wanda? I don't +know what I have said, but I wish you would forget it all. I wish you +would remember nothing except that I love you--love you--_love you_!" + +The girl laughed aloud and bitterly. "So that is the length of a man's +remorse! No! You have begged me to despise you, and now I shall beg +you not to make it dangerously easy for me to do so." + +Her contempt was a tonic. It reminded the young man that he deserved, +not only that but his own contempt as well. They drove home without +exchanging another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE COMING OF WANDA. + + +The spectacle of a pair of lovers equally pale and proud alighting at +her door was rather dispiriting to Lady Sarah Maitland, but she did +not lose heart. This she rightly considered to be the proper thing for +_them_, not for her to do. At least they should not escape "the +solitude of the crowd," and opportunities for bringing them into this +sort of solitude were not lacking. The same afternoon an English lord, +who had recently been making a tour of the States, with some officers +of His Majesty's 70th Regiment, then stationed at York, arrived at +Stamford Cottage, and in their honour a large number of guests were +assembled that evening. The soft radiance of mingled moonlight and +candle light, the artistic luxury of the place and its surroundings, +the exquisite robes of soft-voiced women, the cultivated tone and +manner of the men, with a sort of subtle and distinguished aroma of +British nobility shed over the whole--all of these things held for +Edward Macleod a potent witchery. This evening he was in unusually +good spirits, and was entertaining a group of gentlemen, who had +gathered about him in the centre of the large drawing-room, by an +amusing account of his hunting experiences in the backwoods. The +sounds of subdued mirth that followed his recital induced a passing +bevy of ladies to join them. Lady Sarah took the arm of Helene, and +gave him her flattering attention along with the rest. A young man +never talks poorly from the knowledge that he has gained the ear of +his audience. + +"Really, a remarkably bright young fellow," confided Lord E---- to Sir +Peregrine, at the close of another story, which was accentuated by +little bursts of gentle laughter. + +A slight breeze blew from a suddenly opened door upon the wax tapers, +and the next moment a strange figure made its way through that +brilliantly dressed assemblage, and laid its hand upon the arm of +Edward. With his face flushed and eyes brightened by the sweetly +breathed flattery that, like wine, was apt to go to his brain, he +turned and beheld Wanda. She had evidently walked all the way from her +home for the express purpose of finding him. Her dress, made up of +various coloured garments, the cast-off raiment of those whose charity +had fed and lodged her on the way, was covered with dust; her +magnificent hair lay in a great straggling heap upon her shoulders. +"My father has gone to the spirit-land," she said, "and now I come to +you." Lady Sarah and Rose advanced immediately, with protestations of +pity and sympathy, and entreaties that she would go at once with them +to find food and rest. But she was immovable as granite. "I have come +to _you_," she said, her beautiful eyes fixed upon Edward, and she +uttered a few words of endearment in the Huron tongue. Nobody +understood them but the young man, his sister, and hostess. The latter +lady felt herself growing very cold, but she accompanied the pair to a +private parlour, and returned to her guests with an amused smile upon +her lips. + +"Poor thing!" she said in a clear voice, distinctly audible to all. +"Her foster-father died last week, and left no end of messages and +requests to Mr. Macleod, his friend and constant companion in his +hunting expeditions. The girl has that exaggerated idea of filial duty +common to the Indian races. She could not rest until she had fulfilled +his dying wishes." + +No; Lady Sarah certainly did not merit the compliment she had given +her husband--she was not the soul of honour--but what would you? With +her cheery voice and confident laugh she had dispelled at a breath the +vile suspicion of scandal. The company experienced a wonderful relief, +and the conversation naturally turned to the peculiarities of savages. +Rose had vanished, and it was generally supposed that she was with her +brother and that queer Indian girl. In reality she was locked in her +room, saturating her pillow with her tears. + +Edward was alone with Wanda. For a moment the blood ran hot in his +veins, and he longed to act the part of a man. He longed to take the +hand of this beautiful travel-stained savage, and lead her back into +the midst of those fashionably dressed, superficially smiling, ladies +and gentlemen. He longed to declare, nay, rather to thunder forth, the +words: "This is my promised wife! Through weary days and nights, with +sore feet and sorer heart she has been coming to me. Burned by the sun +and blinded with the dust, hungry and thirsty, and aching in every +fibre, her trust never faltered, her love never failed. And her love +is matched by mine. The loyalty and devotion of my life I lay at her +poor bleeding feet." + +That would have satisfied his imagination, but in real life imagination +must always go a-hungering. He sat down beside her with a face far +more weary than her own. + +"Wanda," he burst forth, "my poor fatherless, friendless child, what +can I say to you? I am a villain, a coward, a reptile! I thought I +loved you, and I do not. No, though my heart aches for you, I do not +love you. Oh, you look as though I were murdering you, and it is +better for me to murder you now by a few sharp terrible words, than by +a life-time of neglect and loathing." + +The colour had all ebbed from her face. She fell on her knees beside +him, and her liquid childish eyes and sweet lips were upraised to his. + +"No, no, my little fawn, I must not kiss you. It is wicked to kiss +what we do not love. And I do _not_ love you." He was sheltering +himself behind that assertion, but of a sudden he broke into crying, +and his tears fell upon her face. "Child," he said, rising and pacing +the room, "do you know what it is to many a man, who cares a great +deal for your lips and eyes, and nothing for your mind and soul? It is +to marry a beast! You would be wretched with me. We should grow +inexpressibly tired of each other. Tell me," he cried, stopping short +in his swift walk to and fro, and confronting her with parched lips +and wet eyes, "could you endure to have me say cruel things to you +every day? Could you bear to have me think bitter things of you in my +heart, though I left them unsaid? How could you live under my coldness +and neglect? You must learn to hate me--to scorn me,--to think as +harshly of me as I shall always think of myself." + +She was faint and dizzy, but she rose to her feet, and groped feebly +to the door, cowering from him as she went, with her hands over her +eyes. Then she turned back with a low wail of irrepressible anguish. + +"I cannot leave you," she said, "I cannot give you up!" + +Again he was bound in her chains. Her feverish hands held his, her +burning eyes drank up the dew in his own, her pathetic presence +thrilled him with a sense of love stronger than any he had dreamed of +or imagined. Neglect, cruelty, bitterness, scorn! What did the words +mean? Like poisonous weeds they had grown fast and rank before his +eyes, but in the burning face of this all-conquering love they had +shrunk, withered and dead to the earth. Yes, it was the vile earth +from which they had sprung, and it was in the radiant heavens that +this great love was shining. Wanda's victory was nearly complete. The +only thing lacking to make it so was that she should renounce it +altogether. And this she did--not with conscious art but by that sure +instinct of womanliness which teaches that a man won by other than +indirect methods is not won at all. Then she said, pushing him gently +aside, "I will go away now, and never see you again, because I am a +burden to you. No," for he had put his hand upon her wrist, "you must +not touch me, because--" the words choked her for a moment, and then +they fell from her lips with a sound of fathomless despair--"it is as +though you were my little child that I was forced to leave forever." +Again she had reached the door, but this time it was his arm around +her that brought her back, his protestations of undying affection that +revived her drooping frame. + +There was a light tap at the door, which opened to admit Lady Sarah +Maitland. "My maids will attend to this poor child," she said, +addressing Edward. "She will have a bath, and food, and a bed. +Meantime, I want you to help to entertain my guests." + +"Really?" The young man frowned at the idea of rejoining that gay +throng. He was in a state of mental exaltation--so far up in the +clouds that the idea of attending a reception given by his brilliant +hostess seemed by contrast spiritless and earthy. + +"It would be a great kindness to let me off," he pleaded. + +"It would be the greatest kindness to compel you to come," she +insisted. There was a significance in the eye and tone of this +thorough-bred woman of the world that were not without effect upon +Edward, who at once accompanied her. His bright face, collected +manner, and ready speech, lessened the impression made upon the +company by the episode which had drawn general attention to him early +in the evening. Not till after the guests had begun to retire did he +again see Wanda. Running upstairs to get a wrap for the fair shoulders +of a young lady, who preferred a moonlit seat on the lawn to the +rather oppressive warmth within doors, he chanced into a little +sitting-room in which Wanda, left alone for a moment, was resting with +closed eyes in a great easy chair. Fresh from her bath, with her damp +heavy hair lying along the folds of a loose white _neglige_, she +looked almost too tired to smile. Edward advanced with beating heart, +but stopped half-way, suddenly smitten by the sight of a pair of +little bruised feet, carefully bandaged, resting upon a stool--the +little feet that had travelled such a long hard road, that had been +torn and wounded for his sake. A great wave of shame swept over him. + +"I am not worthy to stand in your presence," he said penitently, +kneeling at her side. + +A low murmur of joy escaped the Indian Maiden's lips. + +She drew his head down for a moment under the dusky curtain of her +overhanging hair, and then her eyes closed again. + +Edward rose and beheld in the open doorway Helene DeBerczy; her large +gaze, darker than a thunder cloud, was illumined by a long lightning +flash of merciless irony. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE PASSING OF WANDA. + + +After night comes morning in the material world, but in that inner +sphere of thought and feeling, which is the only reality, it +frequently happens that after night comes a greater depth of darkness. +The early light of successive summer mornings falling into the +sleeping-room of Edward Macleod seemed to mock the heavy gloom which +perpetually enshrouded his heart. He was back in his old home, for the +pleasant circle at Stamford Cottage had broken up shortly after the +unexpected advent of Wanda. A few days of enforced civilization had +affected her more severely than the hard journey preceding it, and she +had returned to her native wilds with the feeling of a bird regaining +its freedom. Where in all the limitless forest she could be found at +any particular time her lover could not tell. He was her lover +still--he must always remain her lover. He had attempted to limit and +define the strange irresistible attraction she exerted over him, he +had voluntarily resolved upon life-long celibacy rather than subject +her to the bitterness of seeing him belong to another; and if in +thought he ever yielded to this great, untamed unrepressed love of +hers, it was with something of the exaltation and ardour of one who +makes a supreme sacrifice. + +Edward Macleod was no sentimentalist, and yet he was conscious of a +very delicate, infinitely sad satisfaction in the belief that he would +expiate with his life the folly he had committed in permitting her to +love him. In the loftiest sense he would be true to her. He could not +be selfish and shameless enough to set forever aside the desolation +that his hands had callously wrought. As her sorrow could never be +mitigated it should always be shared. He would do everything for her. +She should be educated, and inducted by gentle degrees into the +refinement of civilization--he fervently hoped that it might not prove +the refinement of cruelty. She should not be left desolate, forsaken, +uncared-for; she should share everything he had except his heart. That +was to be kept empty for her sake--for the sake of the sweet dusky +maiden who had once possessed it. + +Who had _once_ possessed it! Ah, was it true then that she no longer +held a claim? He had closed the door hesitatingly and with sharp pain +in her face, but now the bare recollection of the little brown hands +fumbling upon it thrilled him with a blissful sense that perhaps, +after all, his life was not to be the utter sacrifice that he had +supposed. Perhaps this peerless creature by some magical process of +development might yet meet and satisfy his intellectual demands. She +had already the soul of an angel--yes, and the beauty of an angel. And +yet he was not satisfied. + +It was this haunting dissatisfaction that kept him a prisoner in his +room, one brilliant afternoon, when the fresh world without seemed too +insupportable a mockery of his jaded and cynical state of mind. He +stepped out upon the little balcony that ran under the windows of his +own and his sister's apartments, and looked with a sore heart upon the +eternal miracle of earth and sky. He sank heavily down upon a low +seat, feeling very old and worn. If the back is fitted to the burden, +it occurred to him that the painful process of adjustment would have +to be continued through an interminable period of years. Perhaps it is +only the stiff, bent shoulders of age that are really fitted to bear +the burdens that impetuous youth find unendurably irksome. + +While he sat in utter silence, thrilled occasionally with shrill sweet +bursts of irrepressible bird song, and inwardly tortured by the +hateful whisperings of doubt, remorse and despair, the door of his +sister's apartment was opened, and a murmur of voices told him that +Rose and Helene had returned together from an afternoon drive. Through +the lightly draped open window their conversation, distinctly heard, +forced him into the position of an unintentional eaves-dropper. There +seemed at first no reason why he should withdraw, and when the reason +became apparent he found it impossible to make his presence known. + +"Is your brother in the house?" asked Helene, waiting for the answer +before laying aside hat and gloves, and dropping languidly into an +easy chair. + +"Oh, no," returned Rose, "he is never at home at this hour of the day. +Why? Did you wish to see him?" + +"I? No! I wish never to see him!" The words were uttered in a +passionate undertone. + +Rose came directly and beseechingly over to her friend. "Dear Helene," +she said, "what is this terrible trouble that is preying upon your +life? Every day you grow thinner and whiter and colder--more like a +moonbeam than a mortal woman. Soon I fear you will fade from my grasp +altogether, and I shall have nothing left but the recollection that +you did not care enough for me to confide in me. I am sure there is +something dreadful between you and Edward." + +"Something, yes, but not enough; there should be an ocean--a whole +world between us." + +"I wish I could help you a little." + +"Help me, dearest? It is like your goodness to think of such a thing; +but it is impossible. No, there is nothing tragic, or terrible, or awe +compelling, in my fate. It is nothing, I suppose, beyond the common +lot of a great portion of humanity. It is simply--" she hesitated a +moment, while a choking sob rose in her throat; she clasped her white +hands above her head in a stern effort at self control, and then flung +them down with an irrepressible moan--"it is simply that I am hungry, +and thirsty, and cold, and tired and I want to go back to my old home, +to my only home in the heart of the man I love. My poor child, do I +startle you by talking in this passionate lawless, way? You invited my +confidence, and it is such a relief to give it to you. To every one +else in the world I must keep up the desolate show of appearing +heartless and lifeless, incapable of compassion, of suffering and +yearning. But with you, for a little while, I want to be myself. I am +not a mere drawing-room ornament, prized by its owner, and gazed at by +curious beholders. I am a wretched woman. Oh, Rose, Rose, I am an +inexpressibly wretched woman!" + +She caught the little warm hands, sympathizingly outstretched towards +her, and pressed them to her neck, where the veins throbbed fast. + +"No, don't pity me yet--only listen to me. I am so tired of living on +husks, I seem to be nothing but a husk myself, brainless, soulless, +and empty. I am so tired of sham and pretence, of keeping up +appearances. I hate appearances. They are all false, unreal, loathsome. +Yes, I am a well-trained puppet; I smile and chatter, dance and sing, +am haughtily self-satisfied; but at night--at night my sick heart +cries like a starving child, and I pace the floor with it until I fear +that its wailings will drive me mad. I heap insults on my darling, and +profess to scorn his tenderness, and all the time I could fly to him, +and rain caresses upon him, and hold him closely folded in the arms of +my love perpetually. No, he is not to blame, and Wanda is not to +blame, for all this wretchedness. I don't understand how a woman can +hate her rival. The fact of their loving the same object gives them a +closer kinship than that between twin sisters. Wanda's sufferings are +too much like my own to permit me even to dislike her. She has rich +beauty, a rarely luxuriant vitality, and the immense advantage of +being free to show her love in a natural way. I have nothing but my +love for her lover! If I could only trample on it, despise it, spurn +it, but I can't, I can't! My love is stronger than my pride, stronger +than my life. It is not a mere fancy of yesterday, it has grown and +strengthened with my years." + +"I remember one evening in York, last spring," Helene continued, "when +it was warm enough to leave doors and windows open to admit the free +breeze from the lake; I happened to pass a wretched little shanty in +the lower part of the town. A commonplace woman within was cooking +supper in plain sight of the street, and I thought what a miserable +lot must be hers. Then her husband, a grimy-looking workman came home, +and she put her toil-worn hands about his neck, and gave him a welcome +that left me dazed and desolate, filled with unbearable pain and envy, +because I knew then, as I know now, that for my darling and me there +can be no sweet home-coming, no interposition of my love between him +and the sordid cares of the day. The measure of my need will never be +filled. Ah, _mon Dieu_, it is very hard--it is bitterly hard!" + +The low passionate tones died away into absolute silence. Rose's +tender arms were closely clasped about her friend, and her wet cheek +was pressed against the pale face on her shoulder; but she could find +no words to match the heart-sickness that had at last found free vent +in speech. Perhaps the deepest sympathy can be expressed only by +silence. In a few moments Helene looked up gratefully and with a +quivering smile. "Dear little, pet," she said, "it is a sin for me to +burden you with the shameless story of my griefs. I hardly know what I +have been saying, so you must not attach too much importance to it. +After all, it is only a mood." The inevitable reaction after deep +feeling had come. + +"I wish with all my heart that I could help you," said Rose, +soothingly but despairingly. + +"So you can. Give me those two blue eyes of yours to kiss. They are +blue as wood-violets, and look grieved and sad--so exactly like +Edward's." She leaned over and kissed them fervently. "Oh, I must not +yield to such thoughts. I must control myself. I must be strong. I +must conquer everything. Heaven help me!" The last words sounded like +a piteous prayer, as indeed they were. "Come and sing to me, Rose. +Sing my soul out of this perdition if you can." + +The two girls departed to the music-room, and, shortly after, Edward, +with the soundless step of a murderer, crept down stairs and far out +into the forest. Like one driven by an indwelling demon into the +wilderness he walked swiftly with great strides away from his trouble. +No, not away from it, for it surrounded him like the atmosphere. +Sometimes he stopped from sheer exhaustion, and leaned heavily against +a tree, while the perspiration stood on his brow in large drops. At +one of these times there was a rustling among the thick leaves behind +him, and Wanda stole timidly, yet with the fearless innocence of a +child, to his side. He groaned aloud as she hid her face upon his +breast. "Ah, you are sad as a night in the moon of dying leaves," she +said, pulling his arms about her. + +"It is because I do not love you," he returned, and the cruel sentence +was softened by the measureless sadness of his tone. + +"Oh, but you shall love me!" Each passionate word seemed a link in a +strong chain that bound him inexorably to her. "What does it matter," +she pleaded, "that you care little for me now? My love is great enough +for both. I can give my life up, but I can never give you up. You are +dearer to me than life!" + +She leaned over him, and he felt as in a dream the old potential charm +of her flower-sweet breath and glowing beauty. Still, though he +submitted to her caresses, he did not return them. Within his ears the +impassioned words of Helene were sounding perpetually, deafening him +to every other appeal. His visible presence was with Wanda, his breast +was deeply stirred with pity and affection and remorse for her, but +his soul was left behind with that stricken girl, to whose +broken-hearted confessions he had been a forced listener. + +The day had lost its brightness, as though twilight had suddenly laid +her dusky hand across the burning gaze of noon; the shadows deepened +perceptibly about them; the sky threatened, the darkened trees seemed +full of dread, the last gleam of light faded swiftly into the black +approaching clouds, and they were speedily engulfed in one of those +impatient summer showers, whose sharp fury quickly spends itself. +Edward was reminded of that time a year ago when they were alone in +the storm. Again the Indian girl bent reverently to the ground, +exclaiming in awed accents, "The Great Spirit is angry." "He has need +to be angry," muttered the young man, hurrying his companion to a +denser part of the forest, where the thickly intermingled boughs might +form a roof above them. But before they reached it a terrific burst of +thunder broke upon their ears, and a tree beside them was suddenly +snapped by the wind, and flung to the ground. The girl, with the quick +instinct of a savage, stepped aside, pulling hard as she did so upon +the arm of Edward. But he, walking as one in a dream, was scarcely +less unconscious of what was going on around him than when, a moment +later, he lay, felled to the earth by the fallen tree. + +Wanda uttered an ejaculation of horror and alarm, and exerting all her +strength she dragged the inanimate figure away from its enshrouding +coverlet of leaves. The rain beat heavily upon the bloodless, upturned +face. "What can I do for you?" she cried in despair, taking his +handkerchief and binding tightly the deep wound on his head. He opened +his eyes languidly, and murmured scarcely above his breath, "Bring +Helene!" She did not pause even to kiss the pale lips, but flew swift +as Love itself upon Love's errand. And yet, in her consuming desire to +obey the least wish of her idol, it seemed to her that every fibre of +her eager frame was clogged and weighted with lead. The rain blinded +her eyes, the tangled underbrush tripped her feet, and more than once +she fell panting and trembling on the dead leaves. Only for a moment; +then she sprang up again, leaping, running, pushing away the branches +that stretched across her path, spurning at every step the solid earth +that interposed so much of its dull bulk between her and her heart's +desire. Reaching the lake she jumped quickly into a boat Edward had +given her, which lay near, and she made haste for Kempenfeldt Bay. + +The rain ceased before she reached Pine Towers, and with the first +radiant glance of the sun Helene had come to the wood's edge for the +sake of the forest odours, which are never so pungent and delicious as +immediately after a thunder-storm. In the thinnest, most transparent +of summer white gowns, with her lily-pale face and drooping figure, +she looked like some rare flower which the storm in pity had spared. +So thought Wanda, who, now that the object of her search was in sight, +approached very slowly and wearily, her breast rent by fierce pangs of +jealousy. Why had Edward wished at such a critical time for this +useless weakling? What possible good could she be to him in what might +be his dying moments? And all the time, Helene, fixing her sad eyes +upon this wild girl of the woods, noting her drenched, ragged and +earth-stained raiment, and the dark sullen expression that jealousy +had painted upon her face, saw more than all and above all the +overwhelming beauty, which belittled all externals, and made them +scarcely worth notice. "What wonder," thought Helene, "that Edward is +given up heart and soul to this peerless creature, when the mere sight +of her quickens my slow pulses?" + +The two loves of Edward Macleod stood face to face. Wanda explained +her presence in a few cold words. "Some of the family can take a +carriage and everything necessary and go to him by the road," she +said. "You will reach him much sooner by letting me row you across the +bay in my boat." + +Helene trembled visibly, and a great longing possessed her to go +instantly to Edward. Then a strong fear seized her. She felt a +profound distrust of this beautiful savage with the coarse garments, +rough speech, and strangely marred visage. Perhaps to revenge herself +for Edward's suspected unfaithfulness she had killed him in the +forest, and wished now to satiate her appetite for vengeance by taking +the woman who loved him to view her ghastly work. Perhaps the whole +story was a fabrication to lure her to some lonely spot in the +boundless woods, where she would be horribly murdered. Perhaps-- + +"Come!" urged Wanda, with passionate entreaty. "He is dying." + +"Is it you who have killed him?" demanded Helene, sternly voicing all +her fears in that black suspicion. + +The girl turned away with a quick writhing motion. "No," she groaned, +"it is he who has killed me--with two words--_bring Helene_." She +darted to the house with the news of Edward's accident, and then to +the beach, where Helene was already before her. The tiny skiff was +pushed off, and the two girls were alone together. + +As long as she lived Helene DeBerczy remembered that swift boat ride +across the bay. Great masses of black clouds still hung heavily in the +western sky, occasionally pierced by a brilliant flash of sunshine, +that emphasized by contrast the dreariness succeeding it. Below, the +waters were dark and troubled, while from the flat shores rose the +majestic monotony of the forest, chill, shadowy, inscrutable. But +these were as the frame of a picture, that printed itself indelibly +upon the heart of this high-born woman of the world--the picture of a +tropically beautiful face, now for the first time deathly pale, and +seamed with lines of unutterable anguish; of bare rounded arms, +showing in their raised muscles, and in the tense grasp of the oars, +a power of self-repression awful in its strength; of deeply-heaving +bosom, beneath which was raging that old, old conflict between true +and false love--the true love that gives everything, the false love +that grasps everything; of the passionate, eloquent, suffering eyes, +full of jealousy and yearning, fierce hate and fiercer desire, and +behind all, yes, dominating all, the struggle for martyr-like +self-effacement whose cry forever is, not for my sake, but for the +sake of one that I love. Great waves of pity overwhelmed every other +emotion in Helene's breast, as she leaned forward. "My poor child," +she said, "how intensely you love him! Do not let my coming hurt you +so, I have long ago yielded him to you." + +"But he has not yielded himself to me," moaned the girl, her ashen +lips framing the cry that came from her soul. The boat grated in the +sand, and she sprang out, and pulled it upon the beach. Then, taking +in a feverish clasp the delicately-draped arm of the other, she +hurried her to the spot where Edward still lay, deadly pale but +conscious. He did not look at Wanda--he had no eyes save for Helene. +With a little cry of passionate love and sorrow she flung herself +beside him, and drew the white wounded face close to her aching heart. +His broken syllables of love were in her ears, his head was nestled, +like that of a weary child, within her arms, his blood was staining +the white laces on her breast. For a moment Wanda paused and looked +upon them; then noiselessly as a dream she vanished away. + +But where in the wide, pitiless world is there a place of refuge for a +woman's broken heart? Instinctively Wanda went back to the boat, and +rowed far out upon the troubled waters. The afternoon's storm had been +but the warning of a wilder one yet to come; the heavy skies shut down +on all sides, adamantine and inexorable as the fate enshrouding her; +from the mute mysterious woods came the sighing of the wind, sinking +now into deep moaning, then rising into a shrill anguish, that was +answered by the sobbing of the waves upon the beach. All nature seemed +stirred to the heart at the hopeless misery of this her cherished +child. But Wanda's eyes were blank, and her ears deafened to the +sights and sounds around her. With the desperation of despair she +rowed fast and strenuously out into the heaving lake, while hours +passed, and the black night, like a pall, enveloped all things +earthly. At last, with her strength utterly gone, she dropped the oars +and drifted wherever the wild tide might choose to take her. Low +mutterings of thunder shook the air, and with them she mingled the +notes of an Indian death-chant. Before the weird, heart-breaking tones +had ceased, the black heavens opened, and tears of pity were rained +upon this desolate human soul. She lay outstretched, her glorious face +upturned to the starless skies, her tired hands far apart over the +sides of the boat. Towards them with wolfish haste rushed the +white-capped breakers, rising in fury as they reached the little +craft, and flinging themselves wildly across it. Wanda paid no heed. +Her voice rose once again, thrilling the air with its wild sweet +melody, and then she sank, without even a convulsive clutch at the +frail bark which overturned upon her. + +So perished the life that was naught but a mere empty husk, since +love, its strong sweet occupant, had departed. Alas, poor Wanda! alas, +poor little one, whose sore feet and sorer heart could find no +resting-place in all this wide hard world. The anguished winds moaned +on far into the night; the sad waves, now racked and scourged by the +tempest, sobbed ceaselessly upon the beach; the pitiful heavens +outpoured their flood of tears, but the tortured soul that had +committed the god-like sin of loving too much had found rest at last. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +LOVE'S REWARDS. + + +A few days afterwards the body of the Algonquin maiden, recovered from +the waves, was lying in an upper chamber at Pine Towers. Whatever may +have been the supreme agony in which this suffering soul parted from +its human habitation, no trace of it remained upon the inanimate form. +Free from scar or stain it lay, the languid limbs forever motionless, +the cold hands crossed upon a pulseless breast, the beautiful figure, +heavily shadowed in enshrouding tresses, stretched in painless repose, +and on the wonderful face the expression of one who has gained, not +rest and peace--when had she ever hungered for these?--but the look, +almost startling in its intensity, of one who has found love. +Somewhere, sometime, we who struggle through life--nay, rather, +struggle _after_ life--in this world that God so loved, shall find our +longings satisfied; the one yearning cry of our heart shall be +stilled. The poet shall touch the stars, whose pale light now shines +so uncertainly upon his brow; the painter shall put upon canvas a +beauty too deep for words; the worshipper of nature shall thrill with +the knowledge of unspoken secrets; the seeker after truth shall learn +the mysteries of heaven. The infinite Father cannot deny his children; +He will not cheat them. But the lessons of patience are harder to +learn than those of labour. + +Upon this poor child of the wilderness had fallen a happiness so +bewildering and so complete that it seemed as though the perfect lips +must open to give utterance to a joy too full to be contained. But to +the man self-accused of robbing her of love and life, this sweet +reflected glory from the other side of the dark gateway brought no +consolation. In that silent room, flooded with cold moonlight, Edward +Macleod stood alone in the dead girl's presence, and felt the bitter +waves of remorse sweep over his soul. Her beauty, touched by the light +of absolute happiness, thrilled him now as never before. From mere +wantonness, he had crushed out the heart of this faultlessly lovely +and innocent creature, and his head fell upon his breast in shame and +self-contempt. God might forgive him, but how could he ever forgive +himself? + +The door blew open, and, silently as a vision, Helene came in and +stood beside him. It was a strange place for a lover's tryst--that +bare room with its lifeless occupant, flooded with white unearthly +moonlight "Let me stay with you, Edward," she pleaded, with quivering +lips. "No," she added, in answer to the unspoken fear in his eyes, "I +shall not try to comfort you." She knew intuitively that no consolation +could avail in this hour of silent self-torture. "Only," she whispered, +"you must let me share your grief, for I also have wronged her." + +And so, with clasped hands, they bent together and kissed the +beautiful still lips that could never utter an accusing word against +them. Their love founded upon death had suddenly become as mysterious +and sacred as the life of a child whose mother perished when she gave +it birth. + +Some months elapsed after the burial of Wanda before Edward ventured +to bring his dearest hopes under the notice of Madame DeBerczy. This +august personage, in whose memory yet lingered frequent rumours of the +young man's flirtations with the nut-brown forest maid, cherished no +particular partiality for him. If Helene's lover had ever entertained +the unfounded illusion that her lily-white hand had been too lightly +won, he might willingly have submitted to the just punishment of his +presumption; but in view of his long struggle to win her favour, it +was dispiriting to learn that there was still a greater height to +conquer,--the lofty indifference of one whom he wished, in spite of +her weaknesses, to make his mother-in-law. Ice, however, will melt +when exposed to a certain degree of heat, and this was where Edward's +naturally sunny disposition and the warmth of his love did him good +service. Before the good lady fairly realized the change that was +passing over her feelings with regard to her daughter's suitor, she +had ceased to speak of him as that frivolous young Macleod, and had +begun to see for herself in his handsome face the sincerity and +sadness that follow in the wake of every deep and painful experience. + +From approval it is but a step to appreciation, and this merges by +natural degrees into affection. Helene, who, though she did not +consider Edward faultless, was apt to find his faults more alluring +than the virtues of some others, had at last the satisfaction of +knowing that her mother inclined to take a like view of them; and her +now impatient lover was made glad by a formal acceptance from Madame +DeBerczy of his request for her daughter's hand. + +Meantime, Rose and Allan, whose course of love, if it had not suffered +so tempestuous a passage, had still flowed for the most part under +gloomy skies, were at last in the enjoyment of undisputed sunshine. In +this unaccustomed atmosphere the fairest flower of the Macleod family +bloomed anew, and her lover at last beheld his prospects _couleur de +rose_. Allan had accepted an invitation from the old Commodore to +visit Pine Towers, and the impression he made upon his prospective +father-in-law grew daily deeper and pleasanter, till, to the elder +gentleman's sorrow at the thought of parting from his fondly-loved +daughter, was added real regret that he had never before appreciated +the sterling qualities of her chosen husband. + +Politically, their views, which had once been wide asunder as the +poles, had now almost unconsciously met and kissed each other. Nor was +this the result of abandoned convictions. Both men continued to +cherish their old notions of things, and to hold to the traditions of +the party to which each was attached. But Allan Dunlop and the +Commodore had come to know and to respect each other, and, as the +result, each took a more dispassionate view of the questions which +disturbed the country and which had ranged them politically on opposite +sides. This change was specially noticeable in the elder of the two. +Though allied to the party who prided themselves in being regarded as +stiff, unbending Tories, Commodore Macleod had an acute sense of what +was just and fair; and under a somewhat rough exterior he had a +kindly, sympathetic heart. This latter virtue in the old gentleman +made him keenly alive to the grievances of the people, and particularly +sensitive to appeals from settlers, the hardships of whose lot, though +he had himself little experience of them, were nevertheless often +present to his mind. His manly character, moreover, though it was +occasionally hid under a sailor's brusque testiness, disposed him to +appreciate manliness in others, and to be sympathetic towards those +whose aims were high and whose motives were good. Thus, despite his +inherent conservatism and pride of birth, he was gradually won over to +regard Dunlop, first with tolerance, then with awakened interest and +respect, and finally with admiration and love. + +Dunlop, on the other hand, though he abated nothing in his enthusiasm +for the cause of the people, and never faltered in his loyalty to +duty, came to regard the political situation, if not from the point of +view of his opponents, at least from a point of view which was +eminently statesmanlike and discreet. Influenced by a broader +comprehension of affairs, and by a more complaisant regard for the +country's rulers, who had done and were doing much for the young +commonwealth, however sorely the political system pressed upon the +people, Dunlop placed a check upon his gift of parliamentary raillery, +and refrained from pressing many reforms which time, he knew, would +quietly and with less acrimony bring about. + +To these ameliorating influences both men unresistingly submitted +themselves, and, as a consequence, each came nearer to the other; +while the bond of love between Rose and Allan cemented the alliance +political, and threw down all barriers that had once frowned on the +alliance matrimonial. It was a consciousness of this change of feeling +which led Allan Dunlop, on his return for a time to his political +duties at York, to write to Rose in the following strain, and to +assure her of the complete cordiality that now existed, and was sure +to continue to exist, between her father and himself: + + "YORK, November 30th, 1827. + +"MY DEAR ROSE: From the paradise of the garden of Pine Towers, with +you as its ineffably sweet, pervading presence, to the inferno of +these Legislative Halls, with their scenes of discord and turbulence, +duty and fate have ruthlessly and unfeelingly banished me. Coming from +your restful presence, how little disposed am I to enter upon the +strifes of these stormy times, and to take up the gage of battle +thrown recklessly down by some knight of the Upper House, whose idea, +either of manly dignity or of Parliamentary warfare, is not that of +the "_preux chevalier, sans peur et sans reproche_." + +Yet I would be unworthy of the little queen I serve, whose smiles and +favour are a continuous inspiration to me, were I weakly to forego my +duty, and desire to seek the solace of her presence without having +first acquitted myself with honour on this mimic field of battle. What +is to be the outcome of this strife of tongues, and what the future of +our country, riven asunder as it is by those, on the one side, who are +jealous merely for their own rights and privileges, and, on the other, +by those who care only for the distraction and clamour of fruitless +contention, it were hard to say. With the ever-increasing +complications, the fires of discontent must some day burst into flame. +Even now it wants but the breath of a bold, daring spirit to set the +whole Province in a blaze; and I shudder at the prospect unless a +spirit of conciliation speedily shows itself, and the Executive makes +some surrender of its autocratic powers. + +In the discussion of political affairs I had recently with your +father, I am glad to say that we agree very closely as to the inciting +causes of the public discontent, and have a common opinion as to the +best,--indeed, the only satisfactory,--means of applying a remedy. +This unity of feeling must rivet and perpetuate our friendship, and +aid in bringing about, what I ardently desire, some necessary and +immediate reforms in our mode of government. I need hardly say to you, +who are so dear to me, how fervently I hail this mutual understanding +on political matters, and how much I auger from it of weal to the +country and of pleasure and happiness to ourselves. Heaven grant that +all I expect from it may be realized! + +I have no news to give you of social matters in York, save of Lady +Mary Willis's Fancy Ball, which is to come off at the close of the +year. Mr. Galt, of the Canada Company, the Robinsons, Hewards, +Hagermans, Widmers, Spragges, and Baldwins--everybody but a few of the +Government House people--are taking a great interest in the coming +affair. There is to be a sleighing-party soon also, from the Macaulays +to the Crookshank's farm, and on to the Denisons. I have been asked to +join it, and wish you were to be here in time, to make one--the +dearest to me!--of the party. + +With my respects to your father, kind regards to Edward and Mad'lle +Helene, and abiding love to your sweet self and the little people of +your household, + + I remain, ever and devotedly yours, + + ALLAN DUNLOP." + +But there was little need now of formal--or indeed of any--correspondence +between Allan and Rose, for they were soon to be forever together, in +the bonds not only of a common sympathy and a common interest in their +country's welfare, but in that closer union of hearts which both had +secretly longed for and both had feared would never come about. It was +arranged that in the spring of the following year there would be a +double marriage, and that the day that saw Edward united to Helene +would also see the union of Allan and Rose. Even now, preparations for +the interesting event had been set on foot, and society in "Muddy +Little York" was on the tip-toe of excitement over the coming weddings. + +As the winter passed, and the month drew near which was to witness the +two-fold alliance, the young people of the Capital took a delirious +interest in every circumstance, however trivial, connected with the +affair. Of course, the double ceremony was to take place at the Church +of St. James, and it was known that the Lieutenant-Governor and Lady +Sarah Maitland, before finally quitting the Province, were to be +present, and that the redoubtable politico-ecclesiastic, the +Archdeacon of York, was to tie the knots, and, in his richest doric, +pronounce both couples severally "mon and wife." The wedding breakfast, +it was also a matter of current talk, was to be at the homestead of a +distinguished member of the local judiciary; and it had also leaked +out that, thereafter, the united couples were to embark on His +Majesty's sloop-of-war, "_The Princess Charlotte_," and be conveyed as +far as Kingston, on the wedding journey to Quebec, where Edward, with +his bride, was to proceed to England to rejoin his regiment, and Allan +and Rose were to spend the honeymoon in some delightful retreat on the +St. Lawrence. + +What need is there to continue the chronicle?--save to assure the +modern reader of this old-time story that everything happily came +about as foreshadowed in the gossip we have just related, and that +the after-fortunes of the four happy people who took that early +wedding journey on the St. Lawrence were as bright as those of the +happiest Canadian bride and bridegroom that have ever taken the same +journey since. + + THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Algonquin Maiden, by +G. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: An Algonquin Maiden + A Romance of the Early Days of Upper Canada + +Author: G. Mercer Adam + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8661] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 30, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ALGONQUIN MAIDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Wendy Crockett, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously +made available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions. + + + + +AN ALGONQUIN MAIDEN + +A ROMANCE OF THE EARLY DAYS OF UPPER CANADA + +BY + +G. MERCER ADAM AND A. ETHELWYN WETHERALD + + + + +Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the year one thousand eight +hundred and eighty-six, by GRAEME MERCER ADAM and AGNES ETHELWYN +WETHERALD, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, Ottawa. + + + + +TO THE VETERAN PUBLISHER, John Lovell, Esq., OF MONTREAL, WHO HAS +SPENT A LONG AND BUSY LIFE IN THE VARIED SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY, THIS +MODEST EFFORT IN THE FIELD OF CANADIAN FICTION IS AFFECTIONATELY AND +ADMIRINGLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHORS. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER I. + +The Young Master of Pine Towers + + CHAPTER II. + +An Upper Canadian Household + + CHAPTER III. + +"When Summer Days were Fair" + + CHAPTER IV. + +Indian Annals and Legends + + CHAPTER V. + +The Algonquin Maiden + + CHAPTER VI. + +Catechisings + + CHAPTER VII. + +An Accident + + CHAPTER VIII. + +Convalescence + + CHAPTER IX. + +On the Way to the Capital + + CHAPTER X. + +York and the Maitlands + + CHAPTER XI. + +After "The Ball" + + CHAPTER XII. + +A Kiss and its Consequences + + CHAPTER XIII. + +Rival Attractions + + CHAPTER XIV. + +"Muddy Little York" + + CHAPTER XV. + +Politics at the Capital + + CHAPTER XVI. + +Love's Protestations + + CHAPTER XVII. + +A Picnic in the Woods + + CHAPTER XVIII. + +The Commodore Surrenders + + CHAPTER XIX. + +At Stamford Cottage + + CHAPTER XX. + +The Coming of Wanda + + CHAPTER XXI. + +The Passing of Wanda + + CHAPTER XXII. + +Love's Rewards + + + + +AN ALGONQUIN MAIDEN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE YOUNG MASTER OF PINE TOWERS. + + +It was a May morning in 1825--spring-time of the year, late spring-time +of the century. It had rained the night before, and a warm pallor in +the eastern sky was the only indication that the sun was trying to +pierce the gray dome of nearly opaque watery fog, lying low upon that +part of the world now known as the city of Toronto, then the town of +Little York. This cluster of five or six hundred houses had taken up a +determined position at the edge of a forest then gloomily forbidding +in its aspect, interminable in extent, inexorable in its resistance to +the shy or to the sturdy approaches of the settler. Man _versus_ +nature--the successive assaults of perishing humanity upon the almost +impregnable fortresses of the eternal forests--this was the struggle +of Canadian civilization, and its hard-won triumphs were bodied forth +in the scattered roofs of these cheap habitations. Seen now through +soft gradations of vapoury gloom, they took on a poetic significance, +as tenderly intangible as the romantic halo which the mist of years +loves to weave about the heads of departed pioneers, who, for the most +part, lived out their lives in plain, grim style, without any thought +of posing as "conquering heroes" in the eyes of succeeding generations. + +From the portico of one of these dwellings, under a wind-swayed sign +which advertised it to be a place of rest and refreshment, stepped a +man of more than middle age, whose nervous gait and anxious face +betokened a mind ill at ease. He had the look and air of a highly +respectable old servitor,--one who had followed the family to whom he +was bound by ties of life-long service to a country of which he +strongly disapproved, not because it offered a poor field for his own +advancement, but because, to his mind, its crude society and narrow +opportunities ill became the distinction of the Old World family to +whose fortunes he was devoted. Time had softened these prejudices, but +had failed to melt them; and if they had a pardonable fashion of +congealing under the stress of the Canadian winter, they generally +showed signs of a thaw at the approach of spring. At the present +moment he had no thought, no eyes, for anything save a mist-enshrouded +speck far off across the waters of Lake Ontario. All the impatience +and longing of the week just past found vent through his eyes, as he +watched that pale, uncertain, scarcely visible mote on the horizon. As +he reached the shore the fog lifted a little, and a great sunbeam, +leaping from a cloud, illumined for a moment the smooth expanse of +water; but the new day was as yet chary of its gifts. It was very +still. The woods and waves alike were tranced in absolute calm. The +unlighted heavens brooded upon the silent limpid waters and the +breathless woods, while between them, with restless step, and heart as +gloomy as the morning, with secret, sore misgiving, paced the old +servant, his attention still riveted upon that distant speck. The +sight of land and home to the gaze of a long absent wanderer, wearied +with ocean, is not more dear than the first glimpse of the approaching +sail to watching eyes on shore. + +Was it in truth the packet vessel for whose coming he had yearningly +waited, or the dark wing of a soaring bird, or did it exist only in +imagination? The tide of his impatience rose anew as the dim object +slowly resolved itself into the semblance of a sail, shrouded in the +pale, damp light of early morning. Unwilling to admit to his usually +grave unimpressible self the fact that he was restless and disturbed, +he reduced his pace to a dignified march, extended his chosen beat to +a wider margin of the sandy shore, and, parting the blighted branches +of a group of trees, that bore evidence of the effect of constant +exposure to lake winds, he affected to examine them critically. But +the hand that touched the withered leaves trembled, and his sight was +dimmed with something closely resembling the morning's mist. When he +again raised his eyes to that white-sailed vessel it looked to his +hopeless gaze absolutely becalmed. The slow moments dragged heavily +along. The mantle of fog was wholly lifted at last, and the lonely +watcher was enveloped in the soft beauty of the morning. A light cloud +hung motionless, as though spell-bound, above the mute and moveless +trees, while before him the dead blue slopes of heaven were unbroken +by a single flying bird, the wide waste of water unlighted, save by +that unfluttering sail. + +And now, like a visible response to his silent but seemingly +resistless longing, a boat was rapidly pushed away from the larger +craft, and the swift flash and fall of the oars kept time to the +pulsing in the old man's breast. Again ensued that inglorious conflict +between self-respecting sobriety of demeanour and long suppressed +emotion, which ended only when the boat grated on the sand, and a +blonde stalwart youth leaped ashore. The old man fell upon his neck +with tears and murmured ejaculations of gratitude and welcome; but +young impatient hands pushed him not ungently aside, and a youthful +voice, high and intense from anxiety, urgently exclaimed: + +"My mother! How is my mother?" + +"She yet breathes, thank God. She has been longing for your coming as +a suffering saint longs for heaven. She must see you before she dies!" + +The young man turned a little aside with down-bent head. His positive +blue eyes looked almost feverishly bright; and the lip, on which he +had unconsciously bitten hard, now released from pressure, quivered +perceptibly; but with the unwillingness or inability of youth to admit +the inevitableness of a great grief he burst forth with: + +"Is that all you have to say to me?" And then, as his keen eye noticed +the tears still undried upon the cheeks of the old man, he sighed +heavily. "Can nothing be done? Is there no help? It doesn't seem +possible!" He ground his heel heavily into the sand. "Say something, +Tredway," he entreated, "anything with a gleam of hope in it." + +Tredway shook his head. "The only hope that remains is that you will +reach home in time to receive her last words. This is the second time +that I have come down expecting to meet you." + +The young fellow with his erect military air and noticeably handsome +face betrayed a remote consciousness that he was perhaps worth the +trouble of coming after twice. As they together hastened up from the +beach the younger of the two briefly narrated the cause of his +delay--a delay occasioned by stress of weather on the Atlantic, and +the state of the roads in the valley of the Mohawk, on the journey +from the seaboard. He had lost not an hour, the young man said, in +obeying the summons of his father, the Commodore, to quit England and +return to his Canadian home ere his much-loved mother passed from the +earth. + +Eager to reach that home, which was on the shores of Lake Simcoe, the +young Cadet bade the old servitor hasten to get their horses ready +when they would instantly set forth. As they were about to mount, the +younger of the two was accosted by an old friend, now an attache of +Government House, who, learning of the arrival of the packet, and +expecting the young master of Pine Towers, had strolled down to the +landing-place to welcome the newcomer and ask him to partake of the +Governor's hospitality. The young man, however, begged his friend to +have him excused, and with dutiful messages of respect for the +Governor and his household, and a cordial adieu to his former +boon-companion, he rapidly set off for home, closely followed by his +attendant. + +Coming up the old military road, cut out between York and Holland +Landing by His Majesty's corps of Queen's Rangers, under the _regime_ +of Governor Simcoe, both horsemen fell into a brief silence, broken by +sorrowful inquiries from the younger man regarding the subject which +lay so close to the heart of each. "Dying!" he exclaimed in deep +sadness, and with the utter incapacity of young and ardent life to +conceive the reality of death. "And my own mother. It seems natural +enough for other mothers to die--but mine! Heaven help us! We never +know the meaning of grief until it comes to our own threshold." + +The old steward viewed with a desolate stare the May landscape, +brightly lit with sunshine and bloom, and said wearily: + +"But what can one expect in this wretched, half-civilized country? Now +in England--" + +His voice lingered long upon that fondly loved word, and his young +master concluded the sentence with, + +"There would be little hope, but in this 'brave new world,' where the +odour of the woods is a tonic, and the air brings healing and balm, +how can death exist? Ah, Tredway, this is a beautiful country!" + +"To me there is but one beautiful country--that is England." Again +there was that lingering intonation. + +Edward Macleod gave vent to a short melancholy laugh. The allurements +of an old civilization were over-ripe to his taste. Promise appealed +to his imagination; fulfilment was a dull fact. Along with the +unmistakable evidences of birth and breeding in his person, there was +in his fresh youth and buoyancy something joyously akin to the +vigorous young life about him. + +"England," said Tredway, with his disapproving regard fixed upon the +wilderness around, "is a garden." + +"And I take no delight in gardens," declared Edward. "I was never +intended for a garden statue. This long day's journey under the giant +trees of the wild, unconquered woods seems to gratify some savage +instinct of my nature. The old country is well adapted to keep alive +old customs, old notions, old traditions; but for me I am a Canadian, +my mind is wearied with over-much civilization. I hate the English +love of land for land's sake. That line of hills, swelling in massive +curves, and crowned, not with a tottering ruin, serving to hang some +legendary romance or faded rag of superstition upon, but with stately +trees--that is my idea of the beautiful." + +He struck into a sharp gallop, his bright head above the dark blue +military cloak forming a picturesque feature in the woodland, and the +flying heels of his spirited horse seeming to add a rattling chorus of +applause to his patriotic sentiments. The old retainer ambled along in +his wake, but more slowly. His idea of the beautiful was not quite so +recklessly defiant. Presently, for he was still jaded from the effects +of his long journey on the previous day, he relaxed his attempt at +speed, and soon lost sight of his companion altogether. The vision of +waving cloak and flying steed vanished in the green aisles of the +forest. + +Along the Oak Ridges--situate some thirty miles from York--which the +two horsemen now neared, a Huguenot settlement had been formed about +the close of the eighteenth century. The settlers were French officers +of the noblesse order, who, during the French Revolution, when the +royalist cause became desperate, emigrated to England, thence to +Canada, where, by the bounty of the Crown, they were given grants of +land in this portion of the Province of Upper Canada. Here many of +these _emigres_ had made clearings on the Ridges, and reared _chateaux_ +for themselves and their households after the manner of their ancestral +homes in Languedoc and Brittany. Into the grounds of one of these +mansions had the younger horseman disappeared to pay his hurried +respects to the stately dame who was its owner, and who, with her fair +daughter, were intimate friends of the Macleod family. + +Almost before the old man had time to wonder what mad freak had kept +his young master so long from the beaten road, he was at his side +again. + +"I have been trying to get a glimpse of my little friend, Helene," he +said, in explanation of his absence, "but the DeBerczy mansion is as +empty as a church on Monday. They still go to Lake Simcoe in summer, +I suppose. But what does this early flight portend?" + +"It was caused solely by the serious nature of your mother's illness. +Madame and Mademoiselle have been now five weeks at 'Bellevue.'" + +The young man's face darkened, or rather lost the brightness that +habitually played upon it, like gleams of sunshine on a stream, which, +when disappearing, show the depth of the tide beneath. + +"You would scarcely know the young lady now," continued Tredway. "The +difference between fifteen and eighteen is the difference between +childhood and womanhood." + +"I suppose she has grown like a young forest tree, and holds her +graceful head almost as high." + +"She is well grown, and very beautiful, but not bewitching like your +sister Rose." + +"Ah! dear little Rose! But she, too, I doubt not, is a bud no longer. +It's odd how much easier it is for a girl to be a woman than for a boy +to become a man." There was something vaguely suggestive of regret in +the gesture with which young Macleod lightly brushed his short upper +lip, whose hirsute adornment was not, in its owner's estimation, all +that it ought to have been. "I was twenty-one last winter. Do I look +very young?" he inquired, with the natural anxiety of a man who has +recently escaped the ignominy of being in his teens. + +"You look altogether too young," dryly returned the ancient servitor, +"to appreciate the worth of a country where old customs, old ideas, +and old traditions are respected." + +"Then may youth always be mine!" exclaimed Edward, looking round him +with the glow in his heart, sure to be felt by the devout worshipper +of Nature in the large and beautiful presence of her whom he adores. +The region about him, esteemed the epitome of dreariness in winter, +held now in its depths a vast luxury of vegetation. The wild vines ran +knotted and twisted about the trunks and branches of multitudinous +trees, and the fallen logs were draped with moss, lichens, and +delicate ferns. Passing through this boundless wilderness, they seemed +to look into a succession of woodland chambers, thickly carpeted with +wild flowers, gorgeously festooned with creeping and parasitical +plants hanging from the branches, and secured in their leafy seclusion +by walls of abundant foliage. In one of these natural parlours they +paused for their mid-day repast--mid-day in the world without, but +here, where only vagrant gleams of the spring sun pierced the forest +solitudes, gloomy with spruce and pine, there was a sense of morning +in the air. This appearance was heightened by the delicate curtains of +cobweb, strung with shining pearls, which still might be seen after +the fog at early dawn. There was no sound except sometimes that of an +invisible bird, singing in the upper air, or when a partridge, roused +by approaching steps, started from the hollow, and rapidly whirring +away directly before them was again startled into flight when they +overtook it. + +The road they followed cut straight through the forest, and, disdaining +to enclose the hills in graceful curves, attacked and surmounted them +in the direct fashion common to our forefathers, when they encountered +obstacles of any serious nature. The absence of human sight or voice +gave a strangeness to the sound of their own utterances, and there +were frequent lapses into that sad silence which fell upon them as +naturally as the gloom from the overshadowing boughs above. The old +attendant who viewed every member of the family whom he served and +loved just as the first man regarded the world at his first glimpse of +it--that is, as an extension of his own consciousness--was deeply +moved at the sight of his young master's sombre face. Edward's heart, +indeed, ached painfully. The perpetual repetition of this luxuriance +of young fresh life in the woods of May was a constant reminder of a +life that until lately had been as vigorously beautiful, and now +perhaps had passed away from this world forever. + +Leaving their weary horses at Holland Landing, they took boat down the +river and bay, desiring to hasten their arrival at the family mansion, +nearly opposite to what is now the prettily situated town of Barrie. +Edward sat apart and gazed long and silently at the waving tree lines, +dark against a luminous, cool, gray sky, with its scattered but serene +group of clouds. All his desire for home and for her who was the +sunshine of it had resolved itself into a yearning that gnawed +momentarily at his heart. Instead of the fair sky and landscape and +silent waterways of his New World home, he saw or rather felt, the +hush of a dim chamber, whose wasted occupant had travelled far into +the valley of the shadow of death. His wet eyes, looking abroad upon +the outer world, were as the eyes of those who see not. The afternoon +sunshine paled and thinned, but beneath the chill of the spring day +there lay a warm hint of the untold tenderness of midsummer. +Unconsciously to himself the prophecy brought a feeling of comfort to +his heart, in its reminder of the glory of that summer to which his +mother might even now be passing--"the glory that was to be revealed." + +It was early twilight when Edward Macleod reached his beautiful home +overlooking Kempenfeldt Bay. The broad, solid-built house, with its +commanding position, and spacious verandas, seemed just such a mansion +as an old naval officer, who was reduced to the insipid necessity of a +life on shore, would choose to dwell in. One might almost be tempted +to call it a fine piece of marine architecture, in some of its +fanciful reminders of an ocean vessel. Its solitariness, its pointed +turrets and gables, its proud position on what might be termed the +topmost wave of earth in that region, the flying flag at its summit, +and the ample white curtains that fluttered sail-like in the open +windows, all heightened the resemblance. From its portal down to the +bay, extended a noble avenue of hardwood trees--oak, walnut and +elm--never planted by the hand of man. Their gracious lives the +woodman had spared, and now, with their outstretched branches, +catching the faint evening breeze, they seemed to breathe a sad +benediction upon the returning youth, who walked hurriedly and +tremblingly beneath them. + +As he stepped from their leafy shadow upon the sunset-gilded lawn, he +was startled by an apparition which seemed suddenly to take shape from +a sweet-scented thicket of lilacs now in profuse bloom at the rear of +the house. A dark, lissome creature, beautiful as a young princess, +but a princess in the disguise of a savage, darted past him. So sudden +was the appearance, and so swift the flight of this dusky Diana, +speeding through the blossoming shrubs of spring, that his mind +retained only a general impression of a face, perfect-featured and +olive-tinted, and a form robed in a brilliant and barbarous admixture +of scarlet, yellow, and very dark blue. + +But the next moment every sensation and emotion gave way to +overwhelming and profound grief, for his sister Rose, hurrying to meet +him, threw herself into his arms with an abandon of sorrow that seemed +to leave no room for hope. The fatal question burned a moment on his +lips, then died away unuttered, leaving them pale as ashes, and a big +tear fell upon the bright head of the girl whom he now believed to be +with himself motherless. But in a moment his father took his hand in a +tense, strong grasp, and drew him quickly forward. "She yet breathes," +he whispered, "but is unable to recognize any of us. Heaven grant she +may know you. For days past her moan has been, 'I cannot die until I +see my son, until I see my first-born.'" + +His voice broke as they entered the chamber of death. The young man, +feeling strangely weak and blind, sat down beside the bed, for the +awful hush of this darkened room weighed heavily upon him. As in a +terrible dream he saw the sorrowing forms of his younger brother and +sister, crouching at his feet, poor Rose drooping in the doorway, his +father's trembling hands grasping a post of the high, old-fashioned +bedstead, and, on the other side of the bed a youthful stranger, whose +black dress and very black hair divinely framed a face and throat of +milky whiteness. These objects left but a weak impression upon his +dulled senses, for all his soul was going out in resistless longing +towards the fast-ebbing life that seemed to be slipping away from his +feeble grasp. He stroked the little bloodless hand, and kissed +repeatedly the wasted cheek, uttering at the same time low murmurs of +entreaty that she would look upon him once more before she died. All +in vain. Utterly still and unresponsive as death itself, she lay +before him. "Dear mother," he implored, "it is your son, your own +Edward that calls you. Can you not hear? Will you not come back to me +a single moment? Ah, I cannot let you go; I cannot, I cannot!" His +voice sank in a passionate murmur of grief. "You will look at me once, +will you not? Oh, mother, mother, mother!" + +He had fallen to his knees, with his face on the pillow close to hers, +and his last words smote upon her ear like the inarticulate wail of an +infant whose life must perish along with the strong sustaining life of +her who gave it birth. The head turned ever so slightly, the eyelids +quivered faintly and lifted, and her eyes looked fully and tenderly +upon her son. Then, with a mighty effort, she raised one transparent +hand, and brought it feebly, flutteringly, higher and higher, until +it lay upon his cheek. A strange faint light of unearthly sweetness +played about her lips. It was a light as sweet and beautiful as +her own life had been, but now it paled and faded--brightened +again--flickered a moment--and then went out forever. + +The sad sound of children weeping broke the silence of the +death-chamber. Edward still knelt, and Rose was bowed with grief; but +the old Commodore's courageous voice sounded as though wrung from the +depths of his sorely-stricken heart: + +"The Lord gave, and the Lord--" his tongue failed him, but after a +momentary struggle he continued in shaking tones--"and the Lord taketh +away. _Blessed_--" + +He could say no more. + +Surely the blessing that, for choking sobs, could not find utterance +on earth, was heard in heaven, and abundantly returned upon the brave +and desolate spirit of him who strove to pronounce it. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN UPPER CANADIAN HOUSEHOLD. + + +The breakfast-room of Pine Towers, on a bright, sunny morning, some +three or four days after the death of its much-respected mistress, +held a large concourse of the notables of York, and other private and +official gentry of the Province. They had come to take part, on the +previous day, in the funeral obsequies; and were now, after a night's +rest and bountiful morning repast, about to return to the Capital. +Among the number gathered to pay respect to the deceased lady's +memory, as well as to show their regard and sympathy for the bereaved +husband, the good old Commodore, were many whose names were "household +words" in the early days of Upper Canada. Sixty years have passed over +the Province since the notable gathering, and all who were then +present have paid the debt of nature. Hushed now as are their voices, +the Macleod breakfast-room, on the morning we have indicated, was a +perfect babel of noise. The solemn pageant of the previous day, and +the sacred griefs of those whom the grim Enemy had made desolate, +seemed at the moment to have been forgotten by the departing throng; +and for a time the young master of Pine Towers, as he bade adieu to +his father's guests, witnessed a scene in sharp contrast to yesterday's +orderly decorum. It was with a sigh of relief that Edward Macleod saw +the last of the miscellaneous vehicles move off, and the final guest +take the road to the bateaux on the lake, to convey him and those who +were returning by water to Holland Landing, there to find the means of +reaching the Capital. + +Entering the house, empty now of all but those who were left of its +usual inmates, including his sister's friend, the beautiful +Helene--whom he had hardly had an opportunity to more than greet on +his return from England--an overpowering sense of desolation fell upon +him. Seating himself near his mother's favourite window, the young +man's loneliness and bereavement found vent in tears. All the past +came vividly before him--a mother's life-long devotion and tender +care; her thousand winning ways and loving endearments; her pride in +his future career and prospects; and the recollection of the many +innocent confidences which a mother loves to pour into the ear of a +handsome, grown-up son, whose filial affection and chivalrous devotion +assure her that she still possesses charms to which her husband and +his contemporaries of a previous generation had been wont sedulously +to pay tribute. "Ah, beautiful mother, it is not to-day nor to-morrow +that I shall fully realize that I am to see thee no more on earth," +said the young man musingly, as he left his seat and strode nervously +up and down the room, while his favourite hound from a rug by the +large open fire-place eyed his agitated movements. + +Presently the young man's soliloquies were interrupted by the timid +entrance of his sister, Rose, followed by the more decided and stately +tread of the charming Helene. + +"Ah, Edward," said his sister, "you are alone. Have all our guests +gone?" + +"Yes," was the reply, "and I am not sorry to have the house again to +ourselves." + +"You, of course, include Helene among the latter," observed Rose +interrogatively. + +"I do, certainly," was Edward's instant and cordial response, as he +offered Helene his hand to conduct her down the steps into the +conservatory and out on to the lawn. "Miss DeBerczy, of course, is one +of us, though you told me this morning that she, too, expressed a wish +to be gone." + +Helene interrupted these remarks with the explanation that her wish to +take leave was owing to a mandate of her mother's which had reached +her that morning. + +"We shall all be sorry at your leaving us so soon," was Edward's +courteous rejoinder. "But, when you go," he added, "you must permit me +to accompany you to 'Bellevue,' for I wish to pay my respects to your +mamma; it is a long time now since we met. Besides, I have to deliver +to her the cameos I brought her from England and the family trinkets +your uncle entrusted to my care." + +"Mamma, I know, is eager to receive them, and will be delighted to +welcome you back. In her note, by the way, she tells me that Captain +John Franklin has written to her from York, asking permission to call +upon her on his way north. You know that the Arctic Expedition is to +go overland, by way of Penetanguishene and Rupert's Land, and is to +effect a junction with Captain Beechey's party operating from Hudson's +Bay." + +"So I learned before I left England," replied Edward. "I hope my +father," he added, "will be able to meet the members of the Expedition. +It would rouse him from his grief, and I know that he takes a great +interest in Captain Franklin's project." + +The conversation was now monopolized by the ladies, for Helene took +Rose aside to tell that young lady that her mamma had given her some +news of a young and handsome land-surveyor, of Barrie, of whom she had +heard Rose speak in terms of warm admiration. + +The gentleman referred to was Allan Dunlop, who, Helene related, had +been very useful at York to Captain Franklin, in giving him information +as to the route to be followed by his Expedition on its way to the +"hoarse North sea." + +Rose visibly coloured as she listened to the young man's praises, in +the extract Helene's mother had enclosed from Captain Franklin's +communication. That young lady protested, however, that Allan Dunlop +was her brother's friend, not hers. "Indeed," she added, "we have only +occasionally met at the Church at Barrie, and I have not even been +introduced to him." + +"Ah, and how is it that his name is always on your lips after every +service I hear you have attended across the bay?" queried Helene +archly. + +The tints deepened on Rose's sweet, bright face as she apologetically +urged "that at such times there was doubtless nothing better to talk +about." + +Happily for Rose the embarrassing conversation was interrupted by the +return of her brother, who rejoined the ladies to say that on the +highway, at the end of the avenue down which he had strolled, a party +of marines and English shipwrights, in command of a naval officer, had +just passed on their way to the post, near Barrie, to proceed on the +morrow by the Notawassaga river to the Georgian Bay, and on to the new +naval station at Penetanguishene. A Mr. Galt, who accompanied the +party, and was on his way to the Canada Land Company's reserve in the +Huron district, had brought him letters from York, among which, he +added, was one from his old friend, Allan Dunlop, condoling with him +on the loss of his mother and sending his respectful compliments to +his father and his family. + +"How curious!" observed Helene, "why, we've just been talking of Mr. +Dunlop." + +"You mean to say," interposed Rose, "that _you_ have just been talking +of him." + +"Well! that is quite a coincidence, Miss DeBerczy, but do you know my +friend?" asked Edward. + +"No, I've not that pleasure," replied the beautiful Huguenot. "but +your sister, I believe, knows him--" + +"Oh, Helene! I do _not_!" said Rose, interruptingly. + +Edward turned towards his sister, and for a moment regarded her +lovingly. After a pause, he said, "Well, Sis, if you _do_ know him, +you know one of the best and most promising of my early acquaintances, +and from what I have heard of him since my return, I feel that I want +to improve my own acquaintance with him, and shall not be sorry to +know that he has become your friend as well as mine." + +"But, Edward, you must wait till I _do_ know him," said Rose with some +emphasis. "I know your friend by sight only, and have never spoken to +him; though, I confess, I have heard a good deal of him in the recent +election, and much that is favourable, though papa has taken a great +dislike to him on account of his political opinions." + +"Ah, papa's Tory prejudices would be sure to do injustice to Dunlop," +Edward rejoined; "but, I fear," he added, "there is need in the +political arena of Upper Canada of just such a Reformer as he." + +At this stage of the conversation the old Commodore was observed on +the veranda, and Tredway approached the group to announce that lunch +was on the table. + +Commodore Macleod, as may be inferred from his son's remark about his +father's Tory prejudices, was a Tory of the old school, a member of +the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, and a firm ally and stiff +upholder of the Provincial Executive, who had earned for themselves, +by their autocratic rule, the rather sinister designation of "the +Family Compact." As a trusted friend and loyal supporter of the +oligarchy of the day, whom a well-known radical who figured prominently +in the later history of the Province was wont to speak of as that army +of placemen and pensioners, "Paymasters, Receivers, Auditors, King, +Lords and Commons, who swallowed the whole revenue of Upper +Canada"--the reference to a man of the type of young Dunlop, who +aspired to political honours, was particularly distasteful, and sure +to bring upon the object of his bitter animadversion the full vials of +his wrath. + +Ralph Macleod was a grand specimen of the sturdy British seamen, who +contributed by their prowess to make England mistress of the seas. He +entered the navy during the war with Holland, and served under Lord +Howe, when that old "sea-dog," in 1782, came to the relief of +Gibraltar, against the combined forces of France and Spain. He served +subsequently under Lord Rodney, in the West Indies, and was a shipmate +of Nelson's in Sir John Jervis' victory over the Spanish fleet off +Cape St. Vincent. For his share in that action Macleod gained his +captaincy, while his friend Commodore Nelson was made a Rear-Admiral. +In 1797 he was wounded at Camperdown while serving under Admiral +Duncan, and retired with the rank of Commodore. + +Early in the century, he married an English lady and came to Canada, +where for a time he held various posts on the naval stations on the +Lakes, and was with Barclay, on his flagship, _The Detroit_, in the +disaster on Lake Erie, in September, 1813. Narrowly escaping capture +by Commander Perry's forces at Put-in-Bay, he joined General Proctor +in his retreat from Amherstburg to the Thames, and was present at the +battle of Moravian Town, where the Indian chief, Tecumseh, lost his +life. + +When the Treaty of Ghent terminated the war and left Canada in +possession of her own, Commodore Macleod, with other old naval +officers, retired from the service, and took grants of land in the +neighbourhood of Lake Simcoe. Being possessed of considerable private +means, the Commodore built a palatial residence on the borders of that +lake, and varied the monotony of a life ashore by an engrossing +interest in politics and the active duties of a Legislative Councillor. +The illness of his wife, to whom he was devoted, had in the past two +years almost entirely withdrawn him from political life, and lost to +his colleagues in the Upper House the services of one who took grim +pleasure in strangling bills obnoxious to the dominant faction which +originated in the Lower Chamber. His temporary withdrawal from the +Legislative Council, and the lengthened absence in England of Dr. +Strachan, that sturdy ecclesiastic who was long the ruling spirit of +the "Family Compact," emboldened the leaders of Reform to inveigh +against the Hydra-headed abuses of the time, and sow broadcast the +dragon-teeth of discontent and the seeds of a speedy harvest of +sedition. + +Already, Wm. Lyon Mackenzie had unfolded, in the lively columns of +_The Colonial Advocate_, his "plentiful crop of grievances;" while the +harsh operations of the Alien Act, the interdicting of immigrants from +the United States, the arrogant claims of the Anglican Church to the +exclusive possession of the Clergy Reserves, and the jobbery and +corruption that prevailed in the Land-granting Department of the +Government, all contributed to fan the flame of discontent and sap the +loyalty of the colony. In the Legislative Assembly each recurring +session added to the clamour of opposition, and emphasized the demand +for Responsible Government and Popular Rights. But as yet such demands +were looked upon as the ravings of lunacy or the impertinences of +treason. Constitutional Government, even in the mother-land, was not +yet fully attained; and, in a distant dependency, it was not to be +expected that the prerogative of the Crown, or the rights and +privileges of its nominee, an irresponsible Executive, were to be made +subordinate to the will of the people. "Take care what you are about +in Canada," were the irate words William IV. hurled at his ministers, +some few years after the period of which we are writing. "By--!" added +this constitutional monarch, "I will never consent to alienate the +Crown Lands nor to make the Council elective." + +With such outbursts of royal petulance and old-time kingcraft, and +similar ebullitions from Downing Street, exhorting the Upper Canadian +Administration to hold tight the reins of government, the reforming +spirit of the period had a hard time of it in entering on its many +years conflict with an arrogant and bureaucratic Executive. Of many of +the members of the ruling faction of the time it may not become us now +to speak harshly, for most of them were men of education and +refinement, and in their day did good service to the State. If, in the +exercise of their office, they lacked consideration at times for the +less favoured of their fellow-colonists, they had the instincts and +bearing of gentlemen, save, it may be, when, in conclave, occasion +drove them to a violent and contemptuous opposition to the will of the +people. But men--most of all politicians--naturally defend the +privileges which, they enjoy; and the exceptional circumstances of the +country seemed at the time to give to the holders of office a +prescriptive right to their position and emoluments. + +At the period of which we are writing, there was much need of wise +moderation on the side of the governed as well as on that of the +governing class. But of moderation there was little; and the nature of +the evils complained of, the non-conciliatory attitude of the ruling +oligarchy, and the licence which a "Free Press,"--recently introduced +into the colony,--gave in formulating charges of corruption, and in +loosening the tongue of invective, made it almost impossible to +discuss affairs of State, save in the heated terms familiar to +irritated and incensed combatants. It was at this period that the +young land-surveyor, Allan Dunlop, entered the Legislative Assembly +and took his seat as member for the Northern division of the Home +District. Though warmly espousing the cause of the people in the +ever-recurring collisions with the different branches of the +Government, and as warmly asserting the rights and privileges of the +popular Chamber in its struggles with the autocracy of the Upper +House, the young Parliamentarian was equally jealous of the reasonable +prerogative of the Crown, and temperate in the language he used when +he had occasion to decry its abuse. He was one of the few in the +Legislature who, while they recognized that the old system of +government was becoming less and less suited to the genius and wants +of the young Canadian community, at the same time wished to usher in +the new _regime_ with the moderation and tact which mark the work of +the thoughtful politician and the aims of the true statesman. It has +been said that one never knows what is inside a politician. What was +inside the Reformer, Allan Dunlop, was all that became a patriot and +a high-minded gentleman. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +"WHEN SUMMER DAYS WERE FAIR." + + +Afterwards--for close upon the coming of every grief, however great, +fall the slow, dull footsteps of Afterwards--, the bereaved Macleod +family took up again the occupations and interests of life in the +benumbed fashion of those whose nerves are slow in recovering the +effect of a great shock. Edward alone bore a brave front, though his +heart at times failed him. He was something of a puzzle to the friend +of his sister, who could not reconcile the tears which she saw in his +eyes one moment to the jest she heard from his lips the next, and who +marvelled in secret that the utter abandon of his grief at the bedside +of his dying mother had not been followed by a state of settled +melancholy after her death. To the cool, steadfast nature of +Mademoiselle DeBerczy this alternate light and shade, gaiety and +grief, in the heart of Rose, as well as of her brother, was difficult +to understand; but now she began faintly to perceive that to their +ardent temperament sunshine came as naturally as it did to the first +day of spring, which, while it ached with the remembrance of winter, +could not wholly repress on that account its natural brightness. +Certainly Edward Macleod, though his unusually pale face gave evidence +of the suffering which he had lately experienced--nay, which he was +even now experiencing--could not say that life for him was utterly +without consolation. For the sake of the stricken household, for the +sake of her who had left them desolate, he would be a man; and, being +that complex creature, a man, involves not only the lofty virtues of +courage and self-forgetfulness, but also a tender susceptibility to +the charms of these perfect spring days, and to the no less alluring +charms of a maiden in the spring-time of youth. + +Nearly a week had elapsed since the funeral of Mrs. Macleod, and now a +second message from home had been received by Helene DeBerczy, +reminding her that her invalid mother had claims which could no longer +be set aside. If Madame DeBerczy's language was seldom imperative, her +intention abundantly made up for the deficiency. Consequently, her +daughter was now reluctantly turning her face homeward--a dull +outlook, brightened only by the prospect of a boat-ride down the bay +with Edward and Rose. + +"And to think," said Edward to Helene, as the trio paced the long +avenue together, "that I scarcely recognized you on the evening of my +return!" + +"That is not surprising. I am an entirely different person from the +one you left three years ago." + +"Let me see," mused the young man, "three years ago you were a little +inclined to be haughty and cold, occasionally difficult to please, and +sometimes exacting. On the whole, 'tis pleasant to reflect that you +are an entirely different person now." + +He turned towards her with a merry glance, but her face was invisible. +She wore one of those long straw bonnets, no doubt esteemed very +pretty and stylish in that day, but marred by what a disciple of +Fowler might call a remarkable phrenological development of the +anterior portion. This severely intellectual quality in the bonnets of +that time naturally stood in the way of the merely sensuous delights +of observation. Edward had barely time to be reminded of an unused +well, in whose dark, shallow depths his boyish eyes had once +discovered a cluster of white water-lilies, languidly opening to the +light, when the liquid eyes and lily-like face in the inner vista of +this well-like bonnet again confronted him. + +"Is that the sort of person I used to be?" she queried, with the +incredulity one naturally feels on being presented with a slightly +exaggerated outline of one's own failings. "What pleasant memories you +must have carried away with you!" + +"I did, indeed--myriads of them. Some of the pleasantest were +connected with our last dance together. Do you remember it?" + +A slight warmth crept up, not into her cheeks, but into her eyes. "I +have never forgiven you for that," she said. + +"And you don't deserve forgiveness," declared Rose, championing the +cause of her friend. + +"Ah, well," said the culprit, "perhaps I had better wait till I +deserve it before I plead for it." + +How strange and far away, almost like part of their childhood, seemed +the time of which he spoke. Like a painted picture, suddenly thrust +before their view, the scene came back to them. A windy night in late +Autumn, illumined without only by the broad shafts of light from the +Commodore's mansion, and within by the leaping flames in the big hall +fire-place. The young people had improvised a dance in the great hall, +and Helene had tantalizingly bestowed most of her favours upon Fred +Jarvis, a handsome youngster of twenty, who frequently improved his +opportunities of becoming the special object of Edward's boyish +enmity. To fall a willing victim to the pangs of jealousy formed, +however, no part of this young gentleman's intention. Returning late +in the evening, he caught a glimpse of Fred and Helene dancing a +stately minuet together, and, lightly securing his horse at the door, +he entered the hall, just as Helene was protesting that she was too +tired to dance any longer. "Just once with me," he pleaded; and their +winged footsteps kept time to the tumultuous throbbing of the music. +The young girl suddenly grew faint. "Give me air," she cried, and at +the words Edward's strong arm swept her across the broad veranda, and +up on the waiting steed. Mounting behind her, like another young +Lochinvar, they dashed wildly off, but just in what direction could +not be told, for Helene, in mingled consternation, exhaustion, and +alarm, had fainted in earnest, and Edward, in the endeavour to hold +her limp, unconscious figure before him, had dropped the reins. The +steed, however, with a prudent indisposition for pastures new at that +hour of the night, turned into a stubble-field, and brought up at a +haystack. How, in the utter darkness, and with the wind blowing a +gale, the young man managed to restore his companion to consciousness +and bring her back to the house, were mysteries which Rose could never +attempt to penetrate with any degree of satisfaction. Helene, of +course, was superbly angry, and even this bare mention of the escapade +brought fire to her eyes and a loftier poise to the well-set head. +Strongly set about the heart of this young Huguenot were barriers of +pride, that could not be overleaped in a day--scarcely in a life-time. + +"It is a bargain, then," said Edward, with a mischievous light in his +smile, "you will never forgive, and I shall never forget." + +"I wish, if it isn't asking too much, that you would allow me to +forget. I particularly want to forget everything unpleasant on a +morning as beautiful as this," rejoined Helene. + +It was indeed an ideal morning. The sky was as soft and warm, as blue +and white, as only the skies of early summer can be. Treading the +mingled shadow and light, thrown from the interlacing boughs above, +they came at last to the blue curves of Kempenfeldt Bay, whose waves +lapped lightly on the beach. Here they found the two younger Macleod +children, who had come to see the party off. Just as the latter +arrived, the youth, Herbert, who had been amusing himself rocking a +punt in a creek by the shore, managed to upset the craft and +precipitate himself into deep water. The mishap had no more serious +result--for the lad was a good swimmer--than to frighten Rose, and +deprive her of the anticipated pleasure of a visit to "Bellevue" with +Helene and her brother Edward. Bidding the former a hurried goodbye, +with injunctions to her brother to take care of her friend, Rose +disappeared with the children into the woods. + +The young man now released a row-boat from its bondage to the shore, +helped his companion into it, and pushed it far out upon its native +element. A new day in the New World, and a long boat-ride before +them--what could they wish for more? Edward, at least, enjoyed the +prospect extremely, especially when he could get the bonnet rightly +focused. This was a matter somewhat difficult of achievement, as its +owner had to his mind a heedless habit of dodging, and his remarks, +instead of being didactic and improving in their nature, were +necessarily exclamatory and interrogative, in order to gain the +attention of his fair _vis-a-vis_. Being a young gentleman of literary +tastes he thought of Addison's dissertation upon the fan, and its +great adaptability to the purposes of the coquette. To the mind of +this impartial critic, a fan was not half so effective and terrible a +weapon as the present style of bonnet. + +"Bother Addison!" he suddenly exclaimed aloud. + +"I beg your pardon," said a voice from the depths of the obnoxious +head-gear before him. + +"I was thinking of the author of _The Spectator_. You know Johnson +says we ought to give our days and nights to the study of Addison. +Don't you think it would be more profitable for us to devote our days +and nights to the study of Nature?" + +"Undoubtedly; and especially in this short-summered region, where +there are only a few months of the year in which one can pursue one's +studies out of doors. My days are spent on the shore, and as for my +nights--well, even at night I often go to sleep to the fancy that I am +drifting over the water with just such a gentle movement as this." + +"I hope," said Edward gravely, "that you have an efficient oarsman. +You couldn't row and sleep at the same time, you know." + +He looked up to see if his companion was struck with the force of this +observation, but although they were moving towards the east, the +bonnet pointed due north. There was also a slight suspicion of the +wintry north in the tone with which she replied: + +"Oh, there is no labour connected with it; I am merely drifting--drifting +to the Isle of Sleep." + +"That is a pretty idea, but it is too lonely and listless to suit me. +I should prefer to have a young lady in the boat--and a pair of oars." + +"In that case you would have to row," and, with a slightly mocking +accent, "you couldn't row and sleep at the same time, you know." + +"In that case I should never want to sleep. No, please, Miss DeBerczy, +don't look to the north again. Every time your gaze is riveted upon +that frozen region my heart sinks within me. I feel as if I were not +entertaining you as well as I should." + +"Oh, don't let that illusion disturb you. I have never doubted that +you were entertaining me as well as you--could." + +A brief silence fell upon them, broken only by the regular plash of +the oars. In the young man's conversational attacks there had been +nothing but a light play of sunny humour, but in this last retort of +hers there was something like the glimmer of cold steel. It wounded +him, yet he was unwilling either to conceal or reveal the hurt. But +Helene DeBerczy had this weakness, common to generous souls, that she +could not utter an ungenerous remark without suffering more than her +victim. So, scarcely more than a minute elapsed before she said +appealingly, + +"You are not going to leave me with the last word, are you?" + +"Is not that what your sex specially like to have?" + +"Perhaps so. I should prefer to have the _best_ word, and--" + +"And let a certain well-known gentleman take the hindmost?" supplied +the young man smilingly. + +"If he only would! What a shocking thing to say, but with me it is +always conscience who has the very hindmost word; and my conscience is +perfect mistress of the art of saying disagreeable things. At the +present moment she is trying to make me believe that I have been +unpardonably rude to you." + +"She is mistaken then, for even if it were possible for you to be +rude, I could not fail to pardon you immediately." + +"There! now you have had the best word. It is useless for me to try to +say anything better than that. Perhaps the most becoming thing I could +do would be to relapse into ignominious silence." + +"Silence! Desolation! And with a two-mile pull yet before us! If I +have had the best word you have uttered the worst one. What so +terrible as silence?" + +"It is said to be golden." + +"And, like the gold that Robinson Crusoe discovered on his island, it +is of no particular use to anyone." + +"It is one of the charms of Nature." + +"A charm that I have never discovered. What about the ever-present hum +of multitudinous insects, the song of birds, the moan of winds, the +laughter of leaping water? It seems to me that Nature is all voice." + +"Then, suppose," said the undaunted young lady, lifting her languorous +lids, "that we listen to her voice." + +There was no answering this; but, as the bonnet now veered towards the +sunny south, and the boat rounding the sharp corner of the bay +abruptly turned in the same direction, the young man was surprised to +find himself looking his companion fully in the face, caught in the +sudden sunshine of her smile. + +"I was about to remark," he said, emboldened by this token of favour, +"that there is nothing I delight in so much as listening to the voice +of nature--that is human nature." + +The smile deepened into a rippling laugh. "I am in one of my inhuman +moods this morning," she said, "but I believe my forte is action +rather than speech. Let me take your place, and those oars, please." + +He resigned them both, and at once; not because the unusual exertion +had made any appreciable inroad upon his strength, but because he +foresaw new phases of picturesqueness in the young girl's dainty +handling of the oars. Nor was he disappointed. The skirt of her dress +was narrow and long, beginning, like an infant's robe, a few inches +below the arms, and thence descending in softly curving lines to her +feet, with as little hint of rigidity or compression about the +tenderly rounded waist as about the full fair throat above it. She +stretched out a pair of shoes, incredibly small and unmistakably +French, and bent her slender gauntleted hands blithely to their task. +The newborn sweetness of the spring morning was about them. On the +heavily wooded shore the great evergreens towered darkly against the +sun, but its beams fell with dazzling brightness upon the meadowy +undulations of the lake. Above them they heard at times the wild cry +of the soaring gull, or the apparently disembodied voice of some +unseen bird. Behind them they left the beautiful stretch of Kempenfeldt +Bay, gleaming in the sunshine, and now they slowly ascended the waters +of Cook's Bay, called after the great circumnavigator, under whom many +of the naval officers who had settled in the region had served, +Governor Simcoe's father, after whom the old Lac des Clies--as the +French called it--had received its modern name, being a shipmate. + +But, now, Helene, whose slender strength had succumbed to the +difficulties of propelling their little craft, resumed her old seat, +and her bonnet, like a dark lantern, sometimes allowed a charming +light to be reflected upon surrounding objects, and then as suddenly +withdrew it. In the blue distance, near the mouth of the Holland +River, they caught the first glimpse of "Bellevue"--the home of the +DeBerczy's. The long sunlit run had after all been too brief. Edward +began to realize that some days might elapse before this pleasure +could be repeated. He drew in his oars, and let the boat rock idly on +the tide. His companion gave him an inquiring glance. "I wish," said +he, "that you would do me a favour." + +"Isn't that rather an extraordinary request?" + +"Not at all. It is a very natural remark. It has not yet advanced so +far as to be a request." + +"Oh! well, of course, I can't grant what isn't a request." + +"Does that mean that you can grant what is one?" + +"Sometimes." + +"How good of you! But, as I said before, I had only expressed a wish. +Aren't you in the least interested in my wishes?" + +"If you were interested in mine you would take up those oars again." + +"And thereby shorten the term of your imprisonment by me! Your +kindness emboldens me to make known my desire. I wish you would let me +examine something that appears to be hanging to your bonnet." + +"Is it a grub--a caterpillar--a spider?" These horrors were mentioned +in the order of their detestability, and with a rising accent. + +"Really, I wouldn't like to say, unless you remove the bonnet." She +gave a convulsive twitch to the strings, and pulled them into a hard +knot. "Can't you brush it off?" she asked Edward breathlessly. + +"Pray do not be so alarmed. No, indeed, I couldn't brush it off. It +sticks too fast for that. I wish," he said, as she made a frantic +lurch towards him, "that you could be mild but firm--I mean not quite +so agitated." Her breath came in quick perfumed wafts into his face, +as his steady fingers strove to undo the knot in her ribbons. But even +after this lengthy business was concluded his trouble (if it could +rightly be called a trouble) was only half over, for the careful Rose, +with a prudent foreknowledge of the power of lake breezes to +disarrange, if not carry away altogether, the headgear of helpless +woman, had by some ingenious arrangement of hair-pins fastened the +bonnet to the raven locks of her friend in such a manner that it could +not be removed without endangering the structure of her elaborate +hair-architecture. So it was among the dark waves of rapidly +down-flowing tresses that Helene's voice was again heard beseeching +him to tell her what it was. + +"Your scientific curiosity seems to be almost as great as your fear of +the insect creation. But, really, it is quite a harmless little +fellow. See!" and he pointed to a steel beetle set with a view to +ornamental effect in the centre of a little rosette of ribbons. + +"Oh, shameless!" exclaimed the young girl, sinking her lily-white face +again among the abundant waves of her hair. + +"Yes, I daresay he is ashamed enough to think that he isn't alive when +he sees that you regret it so much." + +It is very annoying to be obliged to laugh when one has just made up +one's mind to be very angry; but Mademoiselle DeBerczy, with all her +haughtiness, was endowed with a sense of humour; so it was with only a +weak show of reproachful indignation that she at last threw back her +head and exclaimed: + +"How could you--when I have such a horror of every sort of creeping +thing--and you knew what it was all the time!" + +"Oh, excuse me, I did not know--that is, I wasn't positive. At a +distance I thought it was some sort of a big fly--a blue-bottle. Now I +see it is a blue beetle." + +The young lady deigned no reply. + +"I am sorry that you were frightened, but you don't seem to be a bit +sorry on account of my sufferings." + +"Your sufferings?" + +"Yes, see how surprised you are even to know that they existed! But +they are over now. At frequent intervals, all through this long +voyage, I have been forced to look at a heavenly body through a +telescope--that is, when I could get the telescope properly adjusted +to my vision. The difficulties of adjustment have cost me a world of +trouble." + +She gazed at him a moment in wide-eyed amazement, and then without +attempting to solve the riddle of his remarks, proceeded to reduce her +wind-blown locks to something like their usual law and order. The dark +heavy waves, rioting in the breeze, seemed to offer a problem to the +deft white fingers that fluttered among them, but they were speedily +subjugated, and the despised bonnet was added as the crowning touch. +Not a moment too soon, for the boat grated on the sandy beach, and the +austere windows of her home were looking coldly down upon her. A pair +of austere eyes were also fixedly regarding her; but of this Helene +was happily unconscious. Perhaps it was the instinct of hospitality +alone that made her smile so brightly upon the brother of her friend, +as they walked up to the house together. The grounds about "Bellevue," +not so ample as those surrounding the home of the old Commodore, gave +equal evidence of wealth and taste, and reminded one of a little park +set in the midst of the wilderness. The garden borders were bright +with crocuses and snowdrops and rich in promises of future bloom, +while from the orchard slopes on the left came a fair vision of +wall-like masses of foliage, frescoed with blossoms and the perfumed +touch of the blithe breezes at play among them. Entering the quaint, +dimly-lighted hall, they passed under long plumes of peacock feathers, +o'erhanging the arched doorway leading into the drawing-room. The +floors were waxed and polished, the apartments spacious and lofty with +elaborate cornices and panels. Leaving her guest in mute contemplation +of a tiny wood fire in a great fire-place, the young girl ran lightly +up the broad, low stairway, pausing at the half-way landing to gaze +dreamily from a casemated window out upon the sparkling waters of the +lake. Some of its brightness was reflected in her eyes, as, with a +step less discreet and deferential than that which usually +characterized her approaches to her mother's bedchamber, she passed on +to a half-closed door, tapped lightly upon it, and then pushed it wide +open. + +"Ah, my daughter, what tidings do you bring?" + +"He has come!" declared the girl, proclaiming with unaffected gladness +what was at that moment a great event in her life. + +"He!" + +The chilly palm which the elder lady had extended, without rising, for +the customary greeting, was not so chilly as the tone with which she +uttered this offending pronoun. Helene, suddenly remembering with deep +self-reproach the grief that her mother must feel in the loss of her +old friend, took the cold fingers in both her warm white hands, and +whispered tenderly: + +"She has gone!" + +Madame DeBerczy was not overcome by this intelligence. She had indeed +learned the sad truth from Tredway, who had been despatched to +"Bellevue" by the Commodore immediately upon the death of his wife. +Consequently, at this moment, her heart did not suffer so much as her +sense of propriety--which her enemies asserted was a more vital organ. + +"I trust," she said, not unkindly, but with a sort of majestic +displeasure, "that you do not mention these facts to me in what you +consider the order of their importance." + +The young girl was chilled. She moved away to one of the spindle-legged +chairs near a window, and played absently with the knotted fringes of +the old-fashioned dimity curtain. "I mention them in the order of +their occurrence," she said gently. "Dear Mrs. Macleod could scarcely +close her eyes on earth until they rested upon her son. He brought me +over in his boat this morning, and is waiting below to see you. Do you +feel able to go down?" + +"I hope I shall always be able to respond to social requirements, and +the son of my old friend must not be slighted. Were you about to +suggest that I receive him in my bedchamber?" + +Helene, who had risen with charming alertness at the first intimation +of her mother's intentions, now confronted that frigid dame with the +subdued radiance of her glance. "Ah, dear mother!" she murmured +deprecatingly. Daughterly submissiveness, tender consideration for an +invalid's querulous moods, gentle insistence upon her own right to be +happy in spite of them, were all radiated from the softly spoken +words. Rigid propriety may have slain its thousands, perhaps its tens +of thousands, but the elder lady foresaw with terrible clearness that +it would never find a victim in this blithe girl, who refrained from +dancing down the stairs before her simply because her happiness was +accustomed to find expression in her looks, not in her actions. +However, motherly allegiance to duty might curb if it could not +altogether control. "Is it possible that I heard you humming a tune as +you came through the hall?" she inquired. + +"No, no; it is impossible! I hummed it so low that you certainly could +not have heard it!" + +Dignified rebuke was out of the question, as they had reached the foot +of the stairway. In another moment Edward Macleod was bending +profoundly over the hand of his hostess. The aristocratic, little old +lady, with her delicate faded face, always seemed to him like some +rare piece of porcelain or other fragile, highly-finished object. He +led her to the easiest chair, and drew his own close beside her, only +interrupting the absorbed attention which he gave to her remarks by +soft inquiries regarding her health, or compliments upon the way in +which her not very vigorous constitution had withstood the severity of +the Canadian winter. + +This noble dame, though she had been accustomed to a Northern climate, +had never reconciled herself to it. She still longed for _la belle +France_. Those who accompanied her husband to this portion of Upper +Canada, on the outbreak of the French Revolution, had either returned +to France or had gone to settle in French Canada, at the capital of +which Helene was born shortly after the death of her father. The old +friendship of General DeBerczy for Commodore Macleod, and the fact +that the latter was the executor of her husband's estate and the +guardian of her daughter, had led her to return to the Huguenot colony +on the Oak Ridges, and summer always found Madame and her household at +her northern villa, near the Macleod residence, on Lake Simcoe. Here +Edward passed the day gossiping with the old lady, and sauntering +about the trim grounds with the stately Helene until the afternoon was +far advanced. + +After taking his leave of Madame DeBerczy, Edward cast a fugitive +glance about him in search of her daughter, but that young lady, for +reasons of her own, was absent. He suffered a vague disappointment, as +he took his way to the shore, but at the water's edge a girlish form +overtook him, and a superb bouquet of hot-house flowers was placed in +his hand. + +"I brought them for you to place upon--upon--" + +She hesitated. It sounded like wanton cruelty to say "your mother's +grave" to him, whose idea of everything lovely on earth must be +signified in the word "mother," everything terrible in the word +"grave." But he understood her, and thanked her, while his heart and +eyes filled fast. On that lonely homeward row the burden of his +bereavement lay heavily upon him, and the remembrance of his happy +morning with his childhood's friend, though sweet, was almost as faint +as the fragrance exhaled from the rare exotics at his feet. The pure +tender curves of the white camellias reminded him of Helene. She +herself was the rare product of choicest care and cultivation--the +flower of an old and complex civilization. The fancy pleased him at +first, and then woke in his mind a certain vague disdain. What place +had hot-house plants, either human or otherwise, in this wild new +land, whose illimitable forests as yet were almost strangers to axe +and fire? + +In a remote and solitary corner of his own domain, the Commodore had +made for his dead wife a last abiding-place. Thitherward, and alone, +the motherless youth bent his steps in the soft glow of sunset. The +stillness of the place was broken only by the whisper of the trees +overhead, the faint hum of insects, and the low murmur of the lapping +waters of the lake. Walking with downbent head and step so light that +his footfall made no slightest sound upon the young grass in his path, +he did not see the form of a half wild, wholly beautiful girl, emerge +from the deep gloom of the woods before him. Nor did she observe him, +for her attention was wholly bent upon the armful of forest-flowers, +which she let fall upon the grave with a passionate gesture of grief. +The young man, looking up in startled amaze, recognized the strange, +fantastic figure that had fled before his approach on the evening of +his return home. He scarcely noticed her odd costume of mingled blue +and yellow, so drawn was he to the dusky splendour of her face. The +warm vitality of the mantling cheek, and the charm of the lustrous +lips, were matched in hue by a blood-coloured 'kerchief, carelessly +knotted about the supple, tawny throat, behind which streamed a +profuse abundance of deep-black hair. Giving him one frightened +glance, she turned and sped like some strange tropic bird upon the +wind. Moved by wonder, curiosity, and admiration, the young man gave +stealthy chase; but, after following in the wake of her flying feet by +bush and brier, and through the tangled thickets of the forest, he had +the poor satisfaction of losing sight of her altogether, and then +gaining one last glimpse of her, as, from the dense shadowy point +where she became invisible, shot out a birch-bark canoe, and the dying +sunset illumined with all the hues of victory the superb form of an +Algonquin maiden rapidly rowing away. Hot, irritated, and tired, +Edward returned home, nor did he observe that, in this fruitless +chase, one of the pure buds that Helene had given him had fallen from +his breast, on which he had pinned it, and had been rudely crushed +beneath his heel. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +INDIAN ANNALS AND LEGENDS. + + +The last flame of sunset had gone out on a horizon of ashy paleness, +as the light bark of the Indian girl swept up the beach, and its +occupant, after making it secure, loitered idly home. Here, undismayed +by observation, she was as gracefully at ease as a fawn in its leafy +covert, and as quickly startled into flight at the tread of a stranger. + +So lightly did her moccasined feet press the underbrush that no sound +preceded her coming, until she reached the blanketed opening of a +wigwam where sat an aged Algonquin chief, very grave, very dignified, +very far from being immaculately clean. The young girl was not +intimidated by this picturesque combination of dignity and dirt. +Perhaps it was the absence of these qualities in the young cadet that +caused her sudden flight from him. Seating herself on a bearskin, not +far from her foster-father, she interchanged with him mellow syllables +of greeting. The chief placed a finger upon her moist brow, and +inquired the cause of her haste. + +"It was the young kinsman of the Wild Rose who followed me. His head +is beautiful as the sun, but he moves, alas, yes, he moves more +slowly." + +"Then, why this haste?" queried the Indian, who, though he could boast +all the keen and subtle instincts of his race, was apparently in some +matters as obtuse as a white man. + +The girl bowed her face upon her slim brown hands. + +"I do not like the glances of his eye," she said. "They are strong and +dazzling as sunbeams on the water." + +The chief smoked in meditative silence. "You go too often to the +dwelling of the Wild Rose, my daughter." + +"Ah, yes; but to-night her pink face is dewy wet, I know, and she is +alone. The Moon-in-a-black-cloud has gone to the home of her people." + +"Then let her seek consolation in the slow moving sun. The pale-faced +nation are not fit associates for an Algonquin maiden. Mother Earth +has no love for them; they are quick to wash away her lightest +finger-touch upon them. They are pale and lifeless as a rock over +which the stream washes continually. Their men are afraid of the rain; +their women of the sunshine." + +"It is even so. The Wild Rose covers her head, and even her hands, +when she leaves the house." + +At this mournful assent the chief warmed to his task of depreciation. + +"They are degraded, these pale faces, they are poor-spirited, mean, +contemptible; unable to cope with the wild beasts of the forest, they +settle down in weak resignation to grow vegetables; nothing stirs them +from their state of ignoble content except the call to battle, and +that is responded to not in defence of the lives of their fathers, +their wives and children, but merely to settle some petty quarrel +between the chiefs of their nations. + +"Ah, they are a strange, servile race! They work with their hands." +The Indian paused and looked down at the wrinkled yet shapely members +that lay before him. "They look upon the grand forest as their natural +enemy, burning, cutting, mutilating, until they have made that odious +thing 'a clearing,' when a house is built with the dead bodies of the +beautiful trees that have fallen by their hand." + +"But surely they are not wholly bad," pleaded the girl, her kind heart +refusing to accept the belief that even the lowest of humanity could +be utterly worthless. + +The chief was not to be turned from the swift current of his thoughts +by idle interruptions. + +"Their religion is dead, buried in a book, and they put it from them +as easily as they put the book on the shelf. Our religion is alive, +broad as the earth, deep as the sky. They go into a _house_ to +worship; _our_ temple is fashioned by the great Spirit, and our +prayers ascend continually like the white smoke from our wigwams. Ah, +but they should be pitied not blamed. They are far from the heart of +nature--they have ceased to be her children." + +"It is money they worship, and the soul of a man becomes like that +which he adores. They mourn bitterly for their dead, because they feel +how great is the distance between them and the land of spirits. I have +heard that there are white men who do not believe that this land +exists, but that cannot be true." + +There were some depths of degradation that even his far-reaching +imagination failed to compass. Wanda listened wearily, though she +manifested no signs of impatience. + +"The pale-faced women are sometimes very beautiful," she said. + +"Yes; but they are strange, unnatural creatures. In times of anger +they attack their helpless little ones, talking in a harsh voice, +pinching, beating, slapping them, doing everything but bite them." + +His listener did not shudder. The Indian, no matter how much his +feelings may be stirred, is unaccustomed to evince emotion. + +"With us," continued the old man, "an angry woman frequently pulls her +husband's hair; for is he not her husband to do with what she likes? +but to fall upon her own flesh and blood--that is unnatural and +horrible. It is as if she should wilfully injure her own person, +bruise it with stones or sear it with hot irons. Perhaps it is because +the pale-faced tribes suffer so much in childhood that they are weak +and cowardly in manhood. They shrink and cry like a wounded panther at +the touch of pain." + +The girl who had not dwelt upon it except in her thoughts was +nevertheless filled with a gently uplifting sense of race superiority. +Her admiration of Rose was tinged with pity. Poor garden flower, +confined for life to the dull walks and prim parterres of a fixed +enclosure, when she might roam the wild paths of the forest; condemned +to sleep in a close room, on stifling feathers, and bathe in an +elongated tub, when she might feel the elasticity of hemlock boughs +beneath her, inhale the perfumed breath of myriad trees, and plunge at +sunrise into the gleaming waters of the lake. It was indeed a pitiable +life. + +They entered the wigwam, and seated themselves on the rush mats that +lay upon the ground. About them were carelessly disposed some dressed +skins of the beaver and otter, a brace of wild duck, fishing tackle, +and the accoutrements of the chase, a rifle, powder-horn and shot +pouch. The chief himself, in his buckskin garment, tightened by a +wampum belt, his deer-skin moccasins, scarlet cloth leggings and +blanket, was not the least picturesque object of the interior. Usually +reticent, he found great difficulty to-night in withdrawing his mind +from the subject that had taken such violent possession of it. + +"The influence of the white race is spreading," he said. "Like the +poison vines of the forest it touches all who come near it with fatal +effect. The tribe of the Hurons is infected with it, and they are +becoming mere tillers of the soil--miserable earth-worms! Men were +made to be free as the bounding deer or the flowing stream, but they +have paled and weakened, they have become wretched grovellers on the +ground." + +Wanda's large eyes held a smouldering fire of repressed indignation. +Her mother had been a Huron. + +The story of that dark time, far back in the annals of Canada, when +the Huron hunting-grounds in this region were laid waste by the +destroyer, had been told her so often that her childish imagination +had been filled with horror, and a passionate sense of outraged +justice and impossible revenge stirred within her at the bare mention +of her mother's martyred tribe. She did not vent her feelings in +bitter or retaliatory speech--that is the weakness of fairer-faced +women--but through her brain rushed like a swift stream a vivid +recollection of the tragic tale as it fell from the lips of her Huron +mother upon her young horror-stricken heart. + +Less than two hundred years before, the poetry of Indian life among +the peaceful shades of this virgin wilderness was turned into a tale +too ghastly for human imagination, too terrible for human endurance. +At that time the Huron settlements on the borders of Lakes Simcoe and +Couchiching, and between Nottawasaga and Matchedash bays, numbered +from twenty to thirty thousand souls. The picturesque country, thickly +dotted with Indian towns, was for many years the scene of Champlain's +zealous efforts to erect in these western wilds the standard of the +Cross. While he won, among the Hurons, converts to his faith and a +colony to his country, they found in him a leader in a fateful attack +upon their ancient and most obdurate enemies, the Iroquois. The result +of the expedition was failure and discomfiture, but years afterwards, +when Champlain was dead, and the "great-souled and giant-statured Jean +de Brebeuf" became known as the apostle of the tribe, this foray +brought most disastrous consequences upon the unsuspecting Hurons. + +Not far from the present site of Barrie was the frontier town of St. +Joseph, where the Jesuit Fathers, in view of the perils surrounding +them, had concentrated their forces in a central stronghold, with a +further inland defence at Ste. Marie, near the site of the present +town of Penetanguishene. Here, at St. Joseph, after years of incessant +labour, of discomforts and discouragements without parallel in the +annals of our country, the ardent souls whose enthusiasm for faith and +duty had become the dominant principle of their life, were swept away +in the red tide of blood that was opened by the Iroquois. One still +fair morning in the summer of 1648, while most of the warriors were +absent at the chase, and a company of devout worshippers were +celebrating Mass in the Mission Chapel, their brutish enemies +descended upon their peaceful domains, and by means of every torture +conceivable to the savage imagination practically exterminated the +tribe. Before the century had half-ended the mission post of St. +Ignace was similarly invaded by the Iroquois, who, after they wearied +of the pastime of hacking the flesh off their prisoners with tomahawks +and hatchets, and scorching them with red-hot irons, bound them at +last to the stake and mercifully allowed the swift-mounting flames to +end their sufferings. Whole families were bound in their houses before +the town was set on fire, and their wild cries mingled with the wilder +laughter of their inhuman captors. The few who escaped were so wounded +and mutilated that before they could reach a place of safety numbers +of them died frozen in the woods. + +The remembrance of this dark tale never failed to stir the young girl +to a sort of slow self-contained fury, but the blood of the +peace-loving Hurons was in her veins, and could not long be dominated +by the vengeful propensities of her haughty Algonquin father. +Invariably with the mixture of blood comes the warring of diverse +emotions, the dissatisfaction with the present life, the secret +yearning for something better, the impulse towards something worse. +She sighed furtively, and half-impatiently went outside to tend the +evening camp-fire. The blazing branches illuminated the starless +summer night, and cast a superb glow over the beautiful half-clothed +figure crouching not far from them. Beyond, the dark blue bay ebbed +and flowed languidly. + +Some days elapsed before Wanda again made her appearance in the +neighbourhood of the Commodore's mansion. This was caused partly by +shyness, partly by fear of meeting the bold-eyed youth, whose interest +in her had been so painfully apparent. At length Rose, who had noted +with wonder and a little anxiety this unusual absence, suggested to +her brother that they call upon one of her Indian friends. To this +Edward demurred, on the ground that the work in which he happened to +be engaged at the time could not possibly wait. But when he learned +that the beautiful Wanda was the friend alluded to he agreed to go +with her at once, saying that the work he was doing could wait as well +as not. Such was the manner in which brotherly affection was manifested +sixty years ago. + +It was a still, almost breathless evening in June. From the meadows, +thickly starred with dew, rose the thin high chorus of the crickets, +while above, the commingling of gray cloud and crimson sunset had +subsided into dusk and golden twilight, which were giving place to the +white radiance of the moon slowly climbing the warm heights of heaven. +It was so quiet that the sound of waves and insects seemed like the +softest whispers of nature. Rose and Edward had rowed down the bay for +Helene, who usually accompanied them on their impromptu excursions by +lake and wood. Seen in the pale brilliance of sky and water her +loveliness had an almost unearthly quality, perfectly akin to the +night, but giving her a strange effect of soft remoteness from her +friends. The light from a brazier, fitted into a stanchion in the prow +of the boat, in which some pieces of birch-bark were kindled, brought +the deep dark shadow of the woods into sharp relief, and gave a more +vivid brilliance to the immediate surroundings; but along the dimly-lit +path in the forest all the magical influences of the night held sway. +Beneath the tangled underbrush they caught glimpses of the rich and +fantastic vegetation with which the earth was clothed, while above +them, intermingled with the shadows cast by the vaulted boughs, played +the vivid brightness of the moon. Some of the trees were deeply +girdled--a slow method of killing them. These lingering deaths affected +the trio with melancholy. A wounded inmate of the grove, standing in +mute and pathetic resignation to its fate, loses first the feeling of +the sap that, blood-like, circulates through every limb, then all its +leafy honours fade, and its death is slow and inevitable as the death +of a forsaken woman who carries a deep hurt at the heart. + +Near where a group of lofty elms lifted their beautiful heads up to +the moonlight they found the old chief busily engaged in mending his +seine. He greeted them with entire self-possession, rising and giving +his hand to each, after which he resumed his occupation in tranquil +content, as though the duties of hospitality were now over. The young +ladies, however, without waiting for any further exhibition of +courtesy, seated themselves on a mossy log, and bestowed upon their +host and his employment the flattering attention, which, if it failed +to make an impression upon him, would certainly prove him more--or +less--than mortal man. Edward, meantime, finding a convenient bough a +few feet above his head, amused himself in swinging by his hands, with +a view to muscular development. The contrast between the sad dignity +of the aged Indian, the lone survivor of a despised race, and the +light-heartedness of the fair boy, upon whom all the hopes of his +family centred, struck both girls forcibly. After a few sympathetic +inquiries regarding the health of the chief, Rose asked after the +whereabouts of Wanda. + +"She is not here," he replied. "She flies from our home as a bird +flies from its cage, returning only when she is weary, or when the +shades of night are upon the land." + +"Do you know where she is?" inquired Edward, dropping to his feet, and +seating himself on a log facing the others. + +"Somewhere in the forest," replied the Indian, indicating the direction +by a broad sweep of the hand, which might include a thousand acres. + +This was sufficiently indefinite. "It appears to be characteristic of +this young lady that she is either a vanished joy, or just on the +point of becoming one. Have you any idea how far away she is?" he +asked. + +"Something more than twice the flight of an arrow," tranquilly +answered the Indian--"yes, much more. It used to be that she went +short distances, but she now goes a papoose's journey of half a +sun--sometimes further." He viewed his impatient guest a moment with +gravity, and added, "yes, much further." + +"And you trust her all alone?" + +"She is an Algonquin maiden. She fears nothing." + +"And why is an Algonquin superior to a Huron, for instance?" The young +man, leaning idly back, and caressing the Indian dog of the chief, +pursued his questions without any definite purpose, but merely to draw +out his reserved-looking host. + +"Why is the fleet deer that spurns the soil better than the dull ox +that tills it? Or why is the eagle better than the hen that picks up +corn in your doorway? But there was a time when in all the land no +Indian could be found who was tame and stupid--what you call +civilized." + +"Tell us a legend of that time, will you not?" pleaded Rose, who had +been watching in silence for a fitting opportunity to make her +favourite request. + +"Ah, please do," said Edward, and the three settled themselves +comfortably to listen. + +"It was a great many moons ago," began the chief, "long before the +time of my grandfather. All the Indian races were then as one people, +living in peace, and speaking one tongue. Not one of them worked with +his hands. The deer, the beaver, the otter, the antelope, and the bear +flourished and fattened for all, and were caught with scarcely any +skill or effort. The men were never wearied in the chase, nor the +women with pounding corn. None of the white races had as yet come upon +the earth to molest and insult the guardian spirits of hill and stream +and stately wood, and the red men, then as now, were in the habit of +propitiating these deities by offerings of maize, bright coloured +flowers, or belts of wampum laid upon the mountains, or dropped into +caves or streams. Yes, every one lived without fear of his neighbour, +and the red ochre with which our tribes paint their faces in war was +used only to decorate the pipe of peace. + +"One day it happened that a few chosen ones of all these tribes were +met together upon a plain, about the distance of four bow-shots across. +Very green and shining it looked to the eye, for it was in the +Flower-moon, and the great star of day was bright in the heaven. By +its clear light they saw, far in the distance, two strange, enormous +things moving towards them. But whether these things were writhing +wreaths of thunder clouds descended to earth, or gigantic trees +denuded of their foliage and suddenly gifted with the power of motion, +or whether they were wild beasts of a size never seen before, they +could not tell. But presently they found them to be immense creatures +in the form of rattlesnakes, poisoning the air with their vile +effluvia, and destroying every green tree and living thing in their +path. Every delicate plant and creeping thing was poisoned by their +breath, and the larger animals were devoured in the flap of a bird's +wing. With them came terrific lightnings that rent the trees and cleft +the solid rock, and thunders which caused the earth to reel like a man +who had drank many times of fire-water. Nearer and nearer they +approached, and now the chosen residents of this fair plain were +filled with alarm for their lives, and at once began to build +fortifications against the terrible intruders. The snakes, who +appeared to prefer the flesh of man to that of the other animals, +crawled up close to the defence of their enemies, and flung their long +horrible bodies against it, but in vain. It was useless to attack them +with bows and arrows, on account of the scales which enveloped them +like an armour. Those who ventured without the walls were instantly +swallowed, while those within, who had fasted many suns, were growing +weak from want of food. + +"Now there was among them a chief, called the Big Bear, who was very +brave and cunning. He had been a hunter of the deer and wolf ever +since he had been pronounced a man. No danger was so great that he +could not find a trail out of it. So when he began to speak all the +people who remained gathered round him. + +"'Brothers and chiefs,' he said, 'I perceive that one of our enemies +is a woman, because she is less sluggish in her movements than the +other, and her eyes are bright and deceitful. Besides she cares not to +eat all the time, but she will sometimes go to view herself in the +river, or when she thinks no one is looking will slyly turn her head +to see the graceful movements of her tail. Brothers, my plan is this: +Let me contrive to win the heart of this vain squaw-snake, and then +with her aid I shall be able to destroy her husband; afterwards we may +compass the destruction of the faithless wife. If I perish it is in a +good cause, I am a willing martyr.' + +"This good man proceeded that very night to carry out his noble +purpose. The sky was full of shining lights as he mounted the +fortification, and bent toward her, murmuring: 'Ah, beautiful creature, +thy form is graceful as a winding stream, and thine eyes are two stars +reflected in it. That stupid man-snake, lying in heavy sleep, how can +he appreciate you? He is withered and worthless as a last year's leaf. +As for me I flee to you from the dull women of my tribe, who are like +so many dead trees, that stand even after life has left them. You are +alive and beautiful in every movement, like the long curving wave that +breaks upon the beach.' + +"Oh, there is no doubt that Big Bear knew all about the best way to +make love, for very soon the squaw-snake began to show great +discontent with her husband, to scold him in a high voice, and to wish +that he were dead; whereas she greeted Big Bear with much affection, +warming her glittering head in his breast, and embracing him several +times by coiling round and round him. But she was careful to turn her +head away, so as not to poison him by her breath. As for Big Bear, +though he was glad to win her love, he wished her not to love him too +well as she had a wonderful dexterity in snapping off the heads of +those whom she admired. Her consent to the death of her husband was +easily gained, and she bade him dip the points of two arrows in the +poison of her sting. This he did and after retiring within the +fortification he levelled one arrow at the head of the husband, while +he deposited the other in that of the wicked wife. The horrid monsters +rolled over in agony, and rent the air with their death-shrieks, while +all the people gathering about Big Bear, called him their brother, +because by his wonderful knowledge of the arts of flirtation he had +delivered them from great peril. But the most grievous result of the +danger through which they had passed was this, that the poison ejected +by the snakes in their death-agonies affected all the tribes of the +earth to such an extent that each began to use a different language +which could not be comprehended by the others. Since that time a young +man of one race very seldom weds with the daughter of another, because +she does not understand the lies he tells." + +"Is it necessary for him to tell her what is not true, in order to +marry her?" asked Edward. + +"It is customary," replied the chief, gravely returning to his task, +without the suspicion of a smile. + +"Oh, strange peculiarity of the red men," softly exclaimed Helene. She +begged for another legend, but the Indian had relapsed into his normal +state of imperious dignity; so, after thanking him for the extravaganza, +to which they had listened with admirable self-possession, they +returned to the beach, the dog plunging joyfully into the green depths +of the forest before them. The great woods were warm, odorous, +breathless. Rose pushed back the damp blonde locks from her brow. "I +wish you could have seen Wanda," she said. "The girl is quite a beauty. +Half wild, of course, but with a sort of barbaric splendour about her +that dazzles and bewilders one. You will understand when you see her, +why the Indians speak the word 'pale-face' with a contemptuous +inflection." + +"I suppose," mused Edward, "that paleness to them means weakness, lack +of blood, vitality, courage, and all that most becomes a man. Yet as a +matter of taste I prefer white to copper colour." His blue eyes were +bent upon the lily-like face of Helene. + +"Wait till you see her," was his sister's laughing response. + +"And that will be many moons hence, to use the language of our +story-teller, if she continues as elusive as the wind. I have had +glimpses of her, or rather of the flutter of her vanishing raiment. +A being with a wonderfully perfect face, clothed in heterogeneous and +many-coloured garments, and educated on the amazing fictions with +which her foster-father's memory seems to be stored, would be worth +waiting to see." + +But he had not long to wait. As he stood on the beach in the absence +of his companions, who were carefully retracing their steps to the +wigwam in search of a glove, presumably dropped by the way, he caught +sight of the Indian girl, her back turned towards him, lazily rocking +herself in his boat. For a moment he thrilled with the excitement of a +hunter in the presence of that desirable object, "a splendid shot." +Then he crept stealthily forward, sprang into the boat, and before the +startled girl could recover from her amazement, he was rowing her far +out on the moonlit bay. "There!" he cried, exultantly, bending an +ardent yet laughing gaze upon her, "now you may run away as fast as +you like." + +The girl neither spoke nor moved. A great fire of resentment was +burning in her heart, and its flames mounted to her cheeks. "My soul!" +he murmured, "how beautiful you are!" She faced him fully and fairly, +with the magnificent disdain of an empress in exile. In some way she +gave him the impression that this brilliant little escapade was rather +a poor joke after all. "Do me the favour of moving a muscle," he +pleaded mockingly, and his request was lavishly granted. Before he +could guess her intention she was in the water, knocking an oar from +his hand in her rapid exit, and swimming at an incredible rate of +speed for the nearest point of land, from which she sped like a hunted +thing to the woods. + +Left alone in this unceremonious fashion the young man paddled +ruefully after his missing oar, and then struck out boldly after the +escaped captive, with the intention of apologizing for what now seemed +to him rather a cowardly performance; but the footsteps of the flying +maiden left no trace upon the beach. His discomfited gaze rested on no +living thing save the approaching figures of his sister and her friend, +whose humane inquiries and frequent jests concerning the half wild, +wholly dripping, vision that had crossed their path, contributed in no +way to the young man's enjoyment of their homeward row. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ALGONQUIN MAIDEN. + + +Early on one of those matchless summer mornings, for he loved to adopt +the hours kept by the birds, Edward set forth alone on a voyage of +discovery. The wilds of his native land had a great and enduring +fascination for him. He never ceased to enjoy the charm of a forest so +dense that one might stay in it for days without the danger of +discovery. Wandering as he listed, hurrying or loitering as it pleased +him, and resting when weary beneath the outstretched arms of the +over-shadowing wood, he drank deeply of the simple joys of a free and +careless savage life. His whole nature became sensitive and receptive, +like that of a poet, an absorbent of the beauty and music of earth and +air. + +The long bright hours of this particular day were spent in exploring +bayous and marshes, and in paddling among the ledges and around the +lovely islands of Lake Couchiching. The dazzling blue expanse--mirror +of a sky as blue--was broadly edged with reeds and rushes, flags and +water-lilies, and framed by the thickly wooded shore and the green +still cliffs that overhung the quiet waves. The air was laden with the +sweet faint odours of early summer, and a soft breeze was lightly +blowing under skies as soft. The youthful voyager went ashore, and for +a long time lay stretched on the sand with his gun watching for +wild-fowl. + +The woods were brilliant with flowers, blue larkspur, scarlet lichens, +the white and yellow and purple cyprepedium, or lady's slipper, called +by the Indians 'moccasin flower,' the purple and scarlet iris, the +bright pink blossom of the columbine, and all the other wind-blown and +world-forgotten flowerets of the forest. + +As the day grew warmer he betook himself for coolness to a quiet +leaf-screened nook, beneath a rudely sculptured cliff, mantled in +foliage. Here he reclined after his midday lunch, gazing out upon a +sky so blue that it seemed a sea washing the invisible shores of +heaven, and dreaming of as many things as usually occupy the fancy of +a young man on an idle June day. But one event of which he did not +dream was rapidly approaching. A wild bird more brilliant and +beautiful than any he had so patiently waited for with his gun was +preparing to fall at his feet. Just above his head the Algonquin +maiden, Wanda, who like himself had strayed far from home, was +reposing warm and wearied in utter unconsciousness of the proximity of +any human being. The shining waters of the lake beneath her gave her a +sudden charming inspiration. Springing up with the alertness of one +upon whom fatigue lies as lightly as dew upon the sward, she swiftly +disrobed, and remained a moment graceful as a young maple in autumn, +standing in beautiful undress, its delicate limbs bare of leaves, and +all its light raiment fallen in a many coloured heap to the ground. + +In the natural _abandon_ of the situation, Wanda neared the edge of +the overhanging cliff, and sprang far out into the water. Edward, who +was still lounging under the rock, was startled by the flashing +outline--like a meteor from the heavens--of a human figure, which, in +the twinkling of an eye, had cleaved the smooth surface of the lake, +sank far into its depths, and reappeared some distance off. The +glistening waters seemed to set in diamonds the beautifully shaped +head and neck of the Indian maiden as she disported herself in the +cool lake, and made for a point of land where a winding pathway, +covered to the water's edge by a profuse growth of young trees, led up +to the cliff above. + +Recalling the classical story, familiar to his youth, and the judgment +of the gods--"Henceforth be blind for thine eyes have seen too +much!"--the young man concealed himself from view from the lake and +waited for some time before venturing to regain the cliff overhead. + +The fear of not being able to overtake the Indian beauty prevented +Edward from remaining a prisoner quite as long as his sense of +propriety dictated. But his fear was justified. She had almost reached +the vanishing point of his vision when he finally emerged from his +involuntary hiding-place. When at last he came up with her she +confronted him with the wide innocent gaze of a child suddenly +startled in its play. Then the swift instinct of the savage, the +uncontrollable desire to fly, took possession of her. But the young +man laid a light detaining hand upon her slim brown wrist. "Don't +leave me," he entreated, "I want to ask you the way home." + +It was the only pretext he could invent on the spur of the moment, and +it answered his purpose admirably. She stopped to view with undisguised +amazement, tempered with faint scorn, a human being who was so ignorant +of the commonest affairs of life as to lose himself in the woods. She +never dreamed of doubting his word. "I will be your guide," she said, +with grave friendliness. + +"You are very kind. I am afraid," said the youth with well-feigned +discouragement, "that we are a long way from home." + +"This is my home," said Wanda, as they stepped into the shadow of the +limitless forest. "It is only white men who are content to live on a +little patch of ground and shut the sky away from them. The Indian is +at home everywhere." + +"That is certainly an advantage, for when a person's home is spread +all over the continent he can never be lost. What should I have done +if I had not met you?" + +She made no reply. Flitting before him like some gorgeous bird, he was +obliged to follow her at a pace that was anything but agreeable on +this hot afternoon. Presently she turned and came back. He was leaning +against a tree, breathing heavily, and exhibiting every symptom of +extreme fatigue. + +"You are forcing me to lead a terribly fast life," he declared. "You +have no idea of how tired I am." + +She laid a smooth brown hand upon his heart. If it beat faster at the +touch it was not sufficiently rapid to cause alarm. "You are not tired +at all," she declared with the air of a wise physician who is not to +be imposed upon, "besides there is need for haste. It is going to +rain." + +And indeed the intense heat of the summer afternoon threatened to find +relief in a thunder shower. The atmosphere suddenly cooled and +darkened. The strange, shrill, foreboding chirp of a bird was the only +sound heard in the forest, except the rushing of a new-risen hurrying +wind in the tree-tops. Then came the loud patter of rain on the leaves +overhead, accompanied by a heavy crash of thunder. + +"The Great Spirit is angry," murmured the young girl, her eyes +dilating, and her breast heaving. + +"Well, experience teaches me that the best course to pursue when +people are angry is to keep perfectly still until the storm blows +over. It's no use talking back. Ah! don't do that," he implored as +she stooped and kissed the ground. + +"But I must. It will propitiate the angry spirit and preserve us from +danger." + +"Oh, how can you waste your sweetness on the desert earth, in that +fashion? It _may_ preserve us from danger, but it is likely to have a +contrary effect on me." + +The temporary shelter afforded by the interlacing branches overhead +was now beaten down by the strength of the storm, which descended in +torrents. "Ah! you are afraid," he observed softly, drawing nearer to +her. + +"It is for you," she responded, "The rain is no more to me than it is +to a red squirrel, but you, poor canary bird, your yellow head should +be safe in its own cage." + +This anxious, motherly tone brought a smile to the lips of the young +man. A sudden thought struck his guide. Grasping his hand she drew him +swiftly along until they reached the hollow trunk of an immense oak, +into which she hastily thrust him. "There is not room for both," she +declared, looking like a dripping naiad, as the rain-drops thickened +about her. "Then there is not room for me," responded Edward, whose +sense of chivalry rebelled at the idea of looking from a place of +security upon an unprotected woman, exposed to the fury of the storm. +He drew her reluctant form beside him, but she was impatient and ill +at ease in her enforced shelter, as though she had been one of the +untamed things of the wood, caught and prisoned against its will. +Outside the rain fell fast, while within crouched this beautiful +creature as remotely as possible from her human companion, and gazing +longingly forth upon the wild elements of whose life her own life +seemed to form a vital part. Her pulse beat fast in sympathy with the +fast beating rain. Her large liquid eyes were dark as woodland pools. +She did not pay her companion the compliment of being embarrassed in +the slightest degree by his presence. Her only feeling was one of +physical discomfort in her cramped position, and impatience with the +man who could imagine that for her such protection was necessary. It +crossed his mind that here was a veritable child of nature, untamed, +untamable, not only in her habits and surroundings, her modes of life +and thought, but in her very nature, in every fibre of her being, +every emotion of her mind. Her superb unconsciousness chagrined and +then irritated him. A beautiful woman might as well be a beautiful +statue as to persist in behaving like one. A sudden rash desire took +possession of the youth to test the quality of this superhuman +indifference. The opportunity was tempting, the moment auspicious; he +might never be so near her again. He laid one hand upon her arm, and +bent his fair head till it reached her shoulder. Then he bestowed a +lingering kiss upon the lovely curve of her cheek where it melted into +her neck. She turned her proud head slowly, and looked at him through +eyes that deepened and glowed. + +"Wanda!" he breathed softly. + +For answer he received a stinging blow on the face. Nor was he +consoled by the spectacle of a wild girl darting from under the +shelter of the tree, and vanishing from his sight. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CATECHISINGS. + + +A June Sunday in the country, radiant, cloudless, odorous with the +breath of countless blossoms, thrilled with the melody of unnumbered +voices, was just beginning. The first blush of morning lay warm upon +sky and lake--the splendour above perfectly matched by the splendour +below,--as Rose Macleod opened her casement window fronting the east, +and looked out upon the myriad tender tints, the new yet ever familiar +harmonies of light and colour with which the world was clothed. The +gray walls of the Commodore's home on this side were hung with +climbing plants, and as his pretty daughter leaned out of her chamber +window a dewy branch of roses, loosened from its fastening, struck her +softly on the cheek. The touch gave her a thrill, delicately keen--a +pleasure, sharp as pain. No life was abroad yet except the birds, but +the morning-glories were all awake. She could see their wealth of +tender bloom outspread upon the rugged heap of rocks, warm with +sunshine, that separated between a corner of the flower-smothered turf +and the dark shadow of the almost impenetrable woods. + +With her golden head drooped in drowsy meditation upon her folded arms +she would have made a picture for a painter, a picture rose-tinted and +rose-framed. But no painter was there to look upon her except the sun, +and his ardent attentions becoming altogether too warm to be agreeable +he was incontinently shut outside. She turned away with that slight +sense of intoxication that comes from gazing too long upon the +inexpressible beauty of a world that is dimmed only by the complaints +and forebodings of querulous humanity. In the cool dimness of the +pretty many-windowed room she stood a moment irresolutely, and then +went in search of inspiration to a row of well-used books, over which +she ran a pink reflective finger-tip. But nothing there responded to +her need. It is a rare book that is worthy to hold the attention of +maidenhood on a June morning. + +So, as further slumber was impossible, she presently slipped down +stairs, and stepped out upon the broad veranda. Afterwards came the +younger children, Herbert and Eva, whose usually bright faces were +shadowed now with the consciousness that it was Sunday, a fact that +was aggravated rather than palliated by the radiant perfection of the +weather. The Commodore, who was the most sympathetic soul alive, +would, if he could have followed his own unperverted instincts, have +had his children as happy on Sunday as on any other day, but it was +necessary to make concessions to the Puritan spirit of the time, which +ruled that a certain degree of discomfort and restraint should mark +the first day of the week. But every dull look vanished as the +father's step was heard, for his was one of those genial, warm-hearted, +caressing natures, which are calculated to dispel the chill of even an +old-fashioned Sunday. There was also a hearty brusqueness in the tone +of his voice, something of the sea in the swing of his gait, and even +in the movement of his full kindly gray eye, which could not fail to +inspire confidence. His children flew to him at once, laying violent +hands upon him, and clinging to his arms with decorously subdued +shrieks of merriment, as he walked briskly to and fro. + +"Where's Edward?" he demanded of his eldest daughter, as they +approached that young lady, who was pensively reclining in a rustic +chair. + +"Not up yet, papa," she dreamily responded, uplifting her face for his +morning salutation. + +"Not _awake_ yet," corrected Herbert, with a boy's unmistakable +contempt for the luxurious habits of his elders. + +"Lazy dog!" commented the Commodore, in a voice whose irateness was +wholly assumed. "If I had come down late to breakfast when I was young +I would have been sent back to bed again." + +"That is what Ed. would like," declared Herbert. "He said it was no +use calling Sunday a day of rest unless one could get all the rest one +wanted, and it was hardly worth while for him to get up at all on a +day when he couldn't fish or shoot or go out in his boat." + +"The young barbarian! After all the care and pains expended on his +bringing up. What shall we do about it, Rosy?" + +"Call him again!" said Herbert, who, with the ever-fertile mind of +tender youth, was never destitute of practical suggestions. + +"Bright boy! run at once and ring the bell just outside his door." As +the child departed to make the clangour, so much more delightful to +his own ears than to those for whom it was intended, Eva observed: + +"But he came in so late last night, papa, and looked very tired." + +The Commodore patted the head of his little girl, but he continued to +direct towards her elder sister a glance of half-humorous inquiry. +Poor Rose knitted her pretty brows in troubled perplexity. She had +been informed in the "Advice to Young Women," "Duties of Womanhood," +and other ethical works of the day, that a sister's influence is +illimitable, and she felt besides an added weight of responsibility +towards her motherless sister and brothers. "I don't know, papa," she +said at last, "unless we all take to the backwoods, live in a wigwam, +and feast on the fruits of the chase. Edward chafes a good deal under +the restraints of civilized life." + +"Ah, here comes the prodigal son!" joyously exclaimed Eva, who ran to +meet her favourite brother, oblivious of the smiles produced by her +unflatteringly inapt remark. + +"Don't kill any calf for me," entreated Edward, thrusting his younger +sister's straight yellow locks over her face, until it was hard to say +where her features ended and the back of her head began. "I deserve +it, but I don't like it. Veal is my detestation." + +"Upon my word," said the old gentleman, looking very hard at a +discoloured spot just above the left eye of his eldest born, "it looks +as though I had been trying to kill the prodigal instead of the calf. +That's a bad bruise, my boy." + +"'Tis, sir," responded Edward, in a tone which implied that meek +assent was all that could be expected from him to a proposition so +very self-evident. He felt uncomfortably conscious that the eyes of +the assembled family were upon him, and glanced half enviously at Eva, +as though the ability to shake a sunny mane over one's face at will +was something to be thankful for. The breakfast bell roused them from +a momentary silence, but the shadow of this mysterious bruise seemed +to follow them even to the table. Herbert and Eva, aged respectively +ten and twelve, had that superabundant love of information so +characteristic of their tender years. They sat in round-eyed silence, +bringing the battery of their glances to bear upon their unfortunate +brother, who at last could endure it no longer. + +"Upon my life!" he exclaimed, "one would think I was the +governor-general, or some wild animal in a menagerie, to become the +object of so much concentrated and distinguished attention." + +"Which would you say he was, Eva?" asked Herbert. + +"Which what?" inquired that young lady. + +"Sir Peregrine Maitland, or a wild animal?" + +"Oh, Sir Peregrine, of course. See what a lofty, scornful way he has +of looking at us. And yet he is not really proud; he is willing to sit +down with us at our humble board, just as though he was a common +person." + +"Children!" said Rose with soft reproach, but her voice trembled, and +the imps were subjugated only outwardly. + +"Anything particular going on in Barrie?" queried the Commodore, +turning to his eldest son. + +"Really, I can't say. I haven't been over in several days." + +"Oh, I imagined you were there last night." + +"I never go there at night," protested the young man, with unnecessary +vehemence. It was clear to him now that his father and sister held a +very low opinion of him indeed. Probably they thought he had been hurt +in some vulgar tavern brawl, or drunken street fight. The idea was +loathsome to him. He had not a single low taste or trait of character. + +"I'm afraid," said Herbert, shaking his head with mock regret, "that +you are a very wild fellow." + +"He means that you are very fond of the wilds," interpreted Rose, +hurriedly endeavouring to avert the threatened domestic storm. "Eva," +she continued, taking up that irrepressible damsel before she could +give utterance to the uncalled-for remark, which was but too evidently +burning upon her lips, "do you know your catechism?" + +"Yes," replied her sister, in rather an aggrieved tone, for she did +not relish this change in the conversation, "I know it--to a certain +extent." + +"Eva looks as though she would prefer to catechise Edward," slyly +interpolated her father; and under this shameless encouragement the +young lady boldly observed: + +"Indeed, I should. I should like to begin right at the beginning with, +'Can you tell me, dear child, who made you'--have that big black +bruise on your brow?" + +"I can," responded Edward, imperturbably. "It was a beautiful little +beast, not much bigger than you are, but a great deal prettier." + +"Was it, really?" Any offence that might have been taken at the +uncomplimentary nature of the reply was swallowed up in eager +curiosity. "What was it?" + +"Well, that I can't tell you. I never saw anything like it before." + +"That's queer," said Herbert. "What colour was it?" + +"Oh, black and brown and all the loveliest shades of scarlet--with +cruel, little, white teeth, sharp and strong as a squirrel's teeth." + +"But it didn't bite you," said Rose, with a puzzled glance at the +white brow, whose delicate fairness made the discolouration more +conspicuous. + +"No, but it looked fully capable of biting--enchanting little brute!" + +"Why on earth didn't you shoot it?" questioned the Commodore, rousing +himself to the exploration of this new mystery. + +The young man laughed a little guiltily. "To tell the truth the idea +never once entered my head. You have no idea what beautiful eyes it +had." + +"Oh--sentimentalist!" + +"Yes, I was sentimental enough yesterday, but it will be long before I +am troubled that way again." + +"At any rate," said Herbert, as they drifted back to the shadowing +veranda, whose flowery screen the sun had not yet penetrated, "you +can't go to church." + +"I wish I could take you all over in my sail-boat," said his elder +brother, wistfully surveying the blue waters of Kempenfeldt Bay. + +"Ed., you are a heathen," declared Miss Eva, whose usual adoring +advocacy of her brother's opinions was paralized by this assault upon +the proprieties; "it's wicked to ride in a boat on Sunday." + +"But it's perfectly right to ride in a carriage," added Herbert, with +a view to giving information, and not with any satirical intention. + +There was no reply. If it is a crime to possess a too great +susceptibility to the ever-deepening charm of woods and waters then +Edward Macleod was the chief of sinners. In his father he had a secret +sympathizer, for the old gentleman himself was not without strong +leanings toward a free and careless, if not semi-savage, life. But no +hint of this escaped him in the presence of the younger children, +whose air of severe morality, born of renewed attacks and final +triumph over the difficulties of the Sunday School lesson, he +considered it unwise to disturb. + +Church service was not a painfully long or tedious affair. The little +wooden structure, erected for that purpose in Barrie, had the air of +trying to be in sweet accord with the outlying wilderness, from the +dark green drapery of ivy which charitably strove to hide its raw +newness. The town itself (for in a new country everything in excess of +a post-office is called a town) was wrapped in Sabbath stillness. The +little church was well filled, for a bright Sunday in a country +village draws the inhabitants from their homes as infallibly as bees +from their hives. Workers and drones they were all there, bowed +together under the sense of a common need, and of faith in a common +Helper, which alone makes men free and equal. + +Like a light in a dark place gleamed the bright head of Rose Macleod +in the farthest corner of the family pew. A vagrant sunbeam, like a +golden arrow, pierced the gloom about her, but to the disappointment +of _one_ interested observer, it failed to reach the rich coils, so +nearly resembling it in colour. This observer presently reminded +himself that he had come there to worship the divine, as revealed in +holy writ, not in human beauty; nevertheless he could not forbear +sending another stealthy glance, which, more accurately aimed than the +sunbeam, rested fully and lingeringly upon the shadowy recess, where a +glowing amber-golden head bloomed richly forth against the frigid +back-ground of a bare wooden wall. The dainty little lady, enveloped +in the antique richness of a stiff brocade, should have been made +aware by some mysteriously occult means of a strange thrill at the +heart, caused by the protracted gaze of a handsome fellow-worshipper, +but to tell the truth her thoughts were piously intent upon the +enormity of her own sins, and the necessity of reclaiming her brother +from the very literal wildness of his ways. + +Service was over; the still air seemed vibrant with the notes of the +last hymn, and tender with the just-uttered words of the benediction, +as this stately little damsel, with the peculiar air of distinction +which set so charmingly upon her doll-like personality, passed down +the aisle and out into the sunshine. She had looked on him--she had +been conscious of his existence; but it was seemingly in the same way +that she had noticed the wooden pews against which her rich little +robe was trailing, and the floor which felt the pressure of her dainty +feet. Allan Dunlop standing among the outcoming worshippers, whose +greetings he mechanically responded to, silently anathematized the +soulless edict of society, which forbids a man to stand and gaze after +a vanishing vision in feminine form. The receding figure was not +wholly unconscious, however, of the mute homage of which she had been +the recipient. + +A few hours later this lovely possessor of all the graces and virtues, +according to the newly-awakened imagination of her unknown admirer, +reclined in her shell-pink apartment, in which the breezes blowing +through the lattice sounded like the _andante_ of the sea, and sighed +for the forbidden fruit of a half-finished novel. But the sigh +perished with the breath that gave it birth. The next moment she +sternly doubled a very diminutive fist, and demanded of herself +whether that was the best use that could be made of her time and +opportunities. Then she looked about for some missionary work. It was +not far to seek, for the children, weary of purposeless drifting on +the still monotonous tide of Sunday afternoon, came battering at her +door with united hands and voices, demanding a story. In the midst of +her recital she suddenly bethought herself of Edward and inquired +after his whereabouts. + +"Roaming up and down the strawberry patch," said Eva. + +"Seeking what he may devour," added her brother, unconsciously giving +a scriptural turn to his information. + +"For shame, Herbert!" + +"Shame enough! He never offered me one." + +The subject of this discussion passed the open door shortly after and +looked rather forlornly in upon the interested trio. On his way +upstairs a casement window that stood ajar swung softly open as he +passed it, touched by the invisible fingers of the breeze; and the +young man was not comforted by the picture suddenly revealed to +him--the picture of a slim shape in a light canoe darting bird-like +over the water. Rose felt a vague pang of pity, but had no opportunity +to go to him. Her ministrations were in active demand by the younger +pair from whom she was unable to free herself until twilight fell, +when they voluntarily resigned her to a need greater than their own. +On many a summer night in years past they had seen their father and +mother pace the winding length of the avenue together. Now, when the +tender gloom of evening was beginning, and the solitary figure of the +Commodore was seen going with drooped head toward his favourite walk, +it was Rose who ran with eager step to take the vacant place at his +side. If his heart was saddened by that shadowy presence, which walks +at eventide by the side of him who is bereaved, it could not be wholly +cast down so long as warm clinging hands were about his arm, a bright +face looking up into his, and a clear voice, from which every note of +sadness was excluded, murmuring a thousand entertaining nothings in +his ear. + +If Rose was a never-failing fountain of alluring fiction to Herbert +and Eva, and the comfort of life to her father, she was the +sympathizing _confidante_ of her elder brother, who unburdened his +heart to her in a private interview just before retiring. + +"But what under the sun made you kiss her?" inquired this practical +young lady. + +"Oh, murder, Rose, what a question! What under the sun makes one taste +a peach or pluck a flower?" + +"But if the peach or the flower does not belong to you? Well, I'll not +lecture you, Edward; you have sufficiently expiated your offence." + +"I never dreamed," returned the delinquent, "that a kiss for a blow, +which is the Christian's rule of morals, could be translated by the +poor savage into a blow for a kiss." + +"Probably you terrified her. That old chief has brought her up in the +belief that the white man is a compound of all the vices." + +"Well, she behaved as though I might be that. She never paused to +consider the ruin she had wrought, but darted off like a flash of +lightning." + +Rose laughed; but after she departed the smile upon her brother's face +quickly vanished. Not that the bruise on his brow was so severe, but +he found it impossible to forgive the blow to his vanity. + +"Beautiful little brute!" he muttered under his breath, "I haven't +done with her yet. She'll live to give me something prettier than this +in return for my caresses." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN ACCIDENT. + + +Some days later, Edward, mounted on his favourite Black Bess, waiting +for Rose to accompany him in a morning gallop, was amazed to see that +venturesome young lady prepare to seat herself on Flip, a crazy little +animal scarcely more than a colt, whose character for unsteadiness was +notorious. + +"I have set my heart on him," was all Rose could say in answer to her +brother's protestations. + +"Set your heart on him as much as you please," returned Edward, "so +long as you do not set your person on him." + +"In England," ventured, the respectful Tredway, "young ladies +generally prefer a more trustworthy animal." + +"Well, when we go to England," responded Rose, casting her arms around +the neck of her slandered steed, "we'll do as the English do--won't we +Flip, dear? In this country we'll have just a little of our own wild +way." + +From this decision there was no appeal. The words were scarcely spoken +when there was a swift scamper of heels, a smothered sound, half +shriek, half laughter, from Rose's lips, a cloud of dust, and that was +all. Edward's alarm was changed to amusement as the pony, after its +first wild flight, settled down into a sort of dancing step, ambling, +pirouetting, curvetting, sidling, arching its wilful neck at one +moment, and rushing off at a rate that bade fair to break its rider's +at the next. + +By fits and starts--a great many of them--they managed to make their +way to "Bellevue," where the lovely Helene, arrayed in the alluring +coolness of a white _neglige_, and with her braided locks drooping to +her waist, came down the walk to meet them. + +"Rose Macleod!" she exclaimed, for Black Bess was still far in the +rear, and she imagined her friend unaccompanied, "and on that +desperately dangerous little Flip!" + +"The very same," responded Rose saucily, "but I don't know how long I +may remain on him. We want you to join us in a glorious old gallop." + +"Good morning, Mademoiselle," exclaimed Edward, reining in his black +steed. "I hope Madame DeBerczy is better than usual, as I have some +thoughts of leaving my wild sister with her. She's every bit as +unmanageable as Flip." + +"Leave me, indeed," retorted Rose, "as though I could trust you alone +in the woods--with a pretty girl." + +The last words were inaudible, save to Helene, between whom and Rose +there passed a subtle glance which gave Edward a vague alarm. Could it +be that Helene had received intelligence of his encounter with Wanda? +No, it was clearly impossible. There was nothing of mocking in her +look--nothing but the pretty consciousness of a girl who could not +forget that her shoulders and arms were gleaming beneath the mist of a +muslin altogether too thin, and a weight of loosened braids altogether +too thick, to be proper subjects for a young man's contemplation. + +She presently vanished within, and reappeared before they had time to +be impatient. In her close-clinging habit, with her black braids +securely pinned, a handful of lilies drooping at her waist, and the +whole of her fair young figure invested with a sort of stately +maidenliness, she formed a sufficient contrast to Rose, who, perched +defiantly upon her wicked little steed, looked every inch a rogue. +Mademoiselle DeBerczy's white horse was slim and graceful as became +its owner, who glanced with lady-like apprehension at the dashings and +plungings and other dog-like vagaries of Flip. "Dear me, Rose," she at +last remarked rather nervously, "I can't bear to look at you." + +"Then don't look at me!" exclaimed the wild girl, "go on with Edward; +Flip and I are going to make a morning of it." + +The young man nothing loth drew in Black Bess beside the milk-white +palfrey, and began to comment upon the beauty of the morning, of the +woods through which they were passing, and, lastly, of an Indian +child, who, straying away from a settlement of wigwams, perched itself +upon a stump, and surveyed the cavalcade with round-eyed interest. + +"The loveliest Indian girl I ever saw," remarked Helene, "is Wanda, +the Algonquin chief's adopted daughter. But this is no news to you, as +I hear that you were quite forcibly struck by her." + +Oh, the ambiguities of the English language! There was not a quiver of +an eye-lash, not the slightest curl of the scarlet lips, and the wide +dark eyes were seemingly free from guile; but, nevertheless, Edward +suffered again that vague alarm which had sprung into being at the +gate of "Bellevue." + +"I think her very pretty, certainly," he returned, "but I can't say +that I admire her." + +"I am surprised at that. Rose told me that she made quite an +impression upon you." + +Ought this to be taken literally? The lily-white face was no tell-tale. +Could one so fair be so deceitful? This matter must be further probed. + +"The impression was not altogether a pleasant one," he confessed with +a rising flush. + +"Not pleasant? You are very hard to please. She is not only remarkably +handsome but she has a vigorous personality--a sort of native force +that is sure to make its mark." + +"I fear I am not an admirer of force--that is in a woman." + +"I am sure you have no reason to be. It is possible that even the +beautiful Wanda might not be above browbeating a man." + +"Oh, she might do worse than that," said Edward, with the coolness +born of desperation. "She might sink so low as to basely persecute him +with her knowledge of a secret extracted from his sister. Don't you +think that would be treating him very contemptibly." + +"It would depend altogether upon what sort of treatment he deserved." + +"It occurs to me that the unfortunate creature we have in mind has +suffered enough." + +It was evident that Helene thought so too. She said nothing, but the +sweet eyes that had refrained from mocking at him could not hide a +tinge of remorse. This pledge of peace was quickly noted by the +much-enduring youth, whose gratitude might have found vocal expression +had not his attention that moment been called off by an approaching +pedestrian, who suddenly appeared at a curve in the Penetanguishene +road, which, after partly retracing their steps, they had now reached. + +"What, Dunlop, as I live!" he exclaimed, eagerly reining in his steed, +and extending a cordial hand. "My dear fellow, how long have you been +at home, and why have I been left in ignorance of your coming?" + +The young man who had paid Helene the doubtful tribute of a +disappointed glance, returned the greeting warmly, but in more +measured terms. "I was at church on Sunday," he said, "for the first +time since my return home. Why weren't you there?" + +"Ugh!" said Edward, as though the recollection had been an icicle +suddenly thrust down his back. "Why, to tell the truth, I performed an +act of worship on the day before, and the consequence was so frightful +that I was discouraged from further attempts at prayer and praise. I +hadn't the heart to go." + +"You hadn't the _face_ to go!" softly corrected Helene. + +"Exactly. Your knowledge of the facts is copious and profound. Excuse +me! Miss DeBerczy, let me present to you Mr. Allan Dunlop, Provincial +land-surveyor, member for the Home District, future leader in +parliament, and a man after my own heart!" + +The stranger looked as though a less elaborate introduction might have +pleased him better. "Edward you are as extravagant as ever," he +exclaimed, and then, turning to the lady, with a sort of shy sincerity, +"Don't believe him, Miss DeBerczy. I am studying politics and +practicing surveying, but that is all." + +"And you mean to say that you are not a man after my own heart," +demanded Edward, threatening him with his riding-whip; "then, perhaps, +you will be good enough to tell me whose heart you _are_ after." + +An embarrassed laugh broke from Allan's lips, as he thought +involuntarily of the queenly little creature, golden crowned and +richly robed, whose reign had begun, so far as he knew, on the Sunday +previous. Oddly enough, the same personage came at that moment to +Helene's mind, and she hurriedly inquired, "Why, where can Rose be?" + +"Here she comes," said Edward, after a backward glance, and here +indeed she came. With her bright hair flying in the breeze, her riding +hat rakishly askew, one glove invisible, and the other tucked for safe +keeping under the saddle, her riding-habit gray with dust, and +fantastically trimmed with thorns and nettles, her blue eyes at their +bluest, her pink cheeks at their rosiest, she produced a very powerful +effect upon the minds of her spectators. Perhaps it would not be too +much to say that she produced three distinct effects upon their minds. + +Helene was the first to recover the faculty of speech. "Why, you are a +regular little brier rose!" she exclaimed laughingly, wheeling her +horse about so as to remove what appeared to be the larger part of a +blackberry bush from her friend's habit, and improving the opportunity +to insert a pin in the ragged edges of a dreadful looking rent, which +the premature removal of the blackberry bush had revealed. + +Edward introduced his friend to Rose with a gravity which was too +evidently born of the belief that she had never before presented quite +so disreputable an appearance. Allan knew his goddess under this +quaint disguise, and his heart beat a loud recognition. The cool +graceful black and white propriety of Helene DeBerczy was barren of +significance compared with the slightest strand of yellow wilful hair +that blew about the pink-shamed face of his friend's sister. + +With renewed expressions of good-feeling and the promise, by Allan, of +an early visit to Pine Towers, the young men separated, the riding +party moving off in the same order as before, Helene and Edward going +first, leaving Rose and Flip to follow at their own discretion. + +But the latter, who had exhausted every known device for his own +amusement, now suddenly discovered and put into instant execution +another way to annoy his pretty mistress. This was to stand perfectly +still--inexorably, indomitably, immovably still. In vain Rose whipped, +begged, prayed, and almost wept. But Flip was thereby only strengthened +in his decision. Rose's companions had vanished around the bend in the +road. Though lost to sight they were to memory obnoxious. How mean of +Edward to go off in that cool, careless way, without a thought of her +left behind! How contemptible of Helene to leave her without so much +as a hair-pin to repair the ravages made by that horrible little horse. +And now, worse and worse, Allan Dunlop, who might have had the +gentlemanliness to make himself invisible as soon as possible, came +hurrying back to be a further witness of her dishevelled embarrassment. + +"I am afraid your horse is a little fractious," he suggested +respectfully. + +"Oh, no," replied Rose, earnestly, scarcely conscious of what she +said. "Only--sometimes--he won't go." + +This was a statement which Flip seemed in no wise disposed to +contradict. + +"Perhaps if you will allow me to pet him a little, we may induce a +change in his behaviour." He drew near and laid his head upon the +pony's mane, accidentally brushing with his moustache the warm little +hand upon the reins. Its owner drew it away, while an expression of +absolute pain crossed her face. "I don't know what you can think of +me," she said contritely. "I lost one of my gloves in reaching for a +branch above my head, and its no use wearing the other and trying to +be half respectable." She was miserably conscious that she was not +even that, as she tried to fasten up her loosely waving locks, and +thought of the awful rent in her habit, through which that saving pin +had slipped and been lost sight of forever, like a weary little +missionary in a very large field of labour. The skirt beneath was +deplorably short, and her feet, though small, were not small enough to +be invisible. Her chivalrous attendant seemed quite unconscious of +these glaring deficiencies in her appearance, as he looked up with a +bright smile, and said: "There, I think he will go now." At the word +Flip began a slow undulating movement, something akin to that produced +by a rocking-horse, which while it "goes" fast enough makes no +perceptible progress. Poor Rose, excited and unstrung by her morning's +adventures, dropped the reins in disgust, and then with one hand +clutching her skirt, and the other her hair, she resigned herself to a +fit of uncontrollable laughter. The next moment the wilful horse made +a wild plunge forward, and the wilful girl was flung with terrible +force against a heap of stones on the roadside. Colourless, motionless, +breathless, she lay at the feet of Allan Dunlop, whose heart turned +sick as he discerned among the yellow locks outspread on the gray +stones a slender stream of blood. + +For a moment the young man stood horror-struck. Fortunately he was not +far from home, and there he proceeded at once to take the almost +lifeless girl. As he was about to lift her gently in his arms, a low +moan escaped her lips, the significance of which he was not slow to +catch. Unable to speak, almost unable to move, she made a slight +writhing motion of the limbs, accompanied by a convulsive twitch at +the torn gown. Allan Dunlop was not dull-witted enough to suppose that +her ankle was sprained. His sensibilities and sympathies were +exquisitely quick and fine. Catching up an end of the unfortunate +riding-habit he twisted it closely about the helplessly exposed little +feet--an act of delicacy which received a faint glance of grateful +recognition before she lapsed into utter unconsciousness. Gathering +her into his arms he carried her as he might have carried a child to +the shelter of his own house. But here a fresh dilemma presented +itself. Not a soul was in the house. His father had not yet returned +from market, his mother and the servant were absent, he knew not +where. Placing her on a couch he bathed with awkwardly gentle fingers +the wound in her head, and dared even to wipe away a few drops of +blood from the little pallid face. Still the white lids lay motionless +over the blue eyes, and the girlish form was unmoved by a breath. He +stood anxiously looking down at her, wondering what his mother would +do in his place, and feeling in every fibre a man's natural +helplessness in the presence of a suffering woman. "What can I do for +you?" he asked, as she at last opened her eyes, and gazed +half-frightened at her strange surroundings. + +"Thank you, I believe I am quite comfortable, except--except for the +dreadful pain. I feel so terribly shaken." And the poor child broke +into uncontrollable sobs. + +"Oh, don't cry!" begged Allan, who might with equal truth have claimed +that he too felt terribly shaken. "I can't imagine where my mother has +gone." He stared miserably out of the window a moment, and then +returned to his patient, with the air of a man who is not going to +shirk a duty, no matter how difficult it may be. + +"If you could dry your eyes," he began with a sort of brotherly +gentleness, "and tell"-- + +"I'm afraid I can't. I don't dare move my right hand from under me, +the pain is so acute in my back, and there is something dreadfully +wrong with my left arm." + +Dreadfully wrong indeed! It hung limp and broken. The young man was +spurred by the sight to instant, decisive action. + +"Miss Macleod," he said, "I will have to leave you alone, and go at +once for a physician and your father. Do you think you can be very +brave?" + +Her tears flowed afresh at the question. This time he wiped them away +himself. "Oh, I'm afraid I couldn't be that," she said. "I never +could. But I'll promise not to run away before you come back." + +She _is_ a brave little soul after all, he thought, as he waved his +hand, and hurried off to the stable; but that is a woman's courage--cry +one moment and make a joke the next. + +Mrs. Dunlop, who was not as far distant from home as her son had +supposed, entered the house a few minutes after his departure, +followed by the servant, both bearing great baskets of raspberries. +The two women were sufficiently astonished at sight of the unexpected +and most unfortunate guest; but Allan's mother would scarcely allow +Rose to pronounce a word of her penitent confession. It was enough for +her to know that here was an opportunity for her to relieve suffering, +and she improved it with characteristic tact and delicacy. The +open-eyed and open-mouthed maid was sent on various small missions of +mercy, which she attacked with zeal, in the hope that thereby in some +way her abounding thirst for information might be assuaged. + +Very soon after, the quiet farm-house became the rendezvous of an +unusual number of strangers. Helene and Edward, who had returned to +see if Allan could tell them anything concerning the whereabouts of +the missing girl, came first. Helene, full of grief and contrition +because she had not remained by the side of Rose through the entire +length of her perilous undertaking, and Edward, whose brotherly +sympathy was tinged by the magnanimous consciousness that nothing +would tempt him to remind her that he had warned her of the evil which +had resulted in her downfall. Afterwards came the physician who set +the broken arm, and forbade the patient's removal, and then the +Commodore, in whose brawny neck his daughter hid a wet, pitiful face. + +"It was my fault, Papa," she whispered, "and it's a miracle I'm not +broken up into more pieces than I am. I deserve to be. I'm as full of +penitence as I am of pain. But don't you be troubled about me. Mrs. +Dunlop is as good and kind as it is possible to be. I am sure they are +very nice people." + +Very nice people perhaps, but very little to the Commodore's taste. As +he turned to greet the man, upon whose hospitality his daughter had +been so literally and unexpectedly thrown, he was scarcely his frank, +genial, outspoken self. There was a secret root of prejudice against +this unpretending farmer, whose son's political views were as far from +his own as the east is from the west, and whose social position was +decidedly inferior. Not that the kindly Commodore was gifted with that +microscopic eye which is too easily impressed by the infinitesimal +gradations of society, but he retained too much of the Old World +feeling for class distinctions to make him oblivious to the difference +in their rank. + +"Good heavens! Edward," he exclaimed, in a conversation with his son a +few days after the accident, "what uncommonly low ground our little +Rose has been suddenly transplanted to. That old farmer looks as stiff +and straight as one of his own furrows, and his son, what's-his-name? +is of the same mould." + +"It's remarkably rich mould, Father. Not such low ground as one might +think." + +"Rich! What, in dollars and cents?" + +"No; better than that. In knowledge and sense. Allan Dunlop is a very +bright fellow." + +"Oh! I _thought_ the paternal acres could scarcely afford a sufficient +yield of potatoes and parsnips to furnish material wealth. As for the +sense you speak of, I hope your friend possesses enough to keep him +from making love to your sister." + +"He is far too proud to make love to one whom he considers his social +superior, though she might do worse than permit it." + +"Oh, dear yes; she might have been thrown into a settlement of +savages, and wedded to the first wild Indian that ran to pick her up." + +Edward's cheek reddened perceptibly. + +"Or she might marry a snob," he said. + +"Come, Edward," returned the Commodore, with a breezy laugh, "you must +not insinuate that your old father is such a disagreeable sort of +person. But, seriously, you don't consider Allan Dunlop your equal, do +you?" + +"No," said Edward, "I don't think him my equal." + +"That's the sensible way to look at it. Not but that he is as good and +necessary in his way as the earth he tills and the vegetables he +sells." + +"Oh, it is the father--who, by the way, is an old soldier--that tills +and sells. The son, as you know, is a young rising politician--a +radical." + +"I am only too well aware of that, but why couldn't he stick to the +plough? Its the unluckiest business imaginable, Edward, that we should +have played into their hands in this way. They are the last sort of +people to whom one cares to be under a personal obligation." + +Edward had no balm to apply to his father's irritation. "When I say +that I don't consider Allan my equal," he explained, "I mean that I +fancy him my superior." + +His father laughed aloud. "You seem to have a good many fancies," he +said, tolerantly, and continued to smoke in meditative silence. + +And still among the people of whom her father and brother held such +entirely opposite opinions lay the helpless Rose, victim of a slow +fever, which left her, as Helene pityingly said, weak as a roseleaf. +But Helene seldom saw her now. Edward and his father were also all but +banished from her bedside. "Really," said Dr. Ardagh to the Commodore, +"I must insist upon absolute quiet as the first requisite for my +patient's recovery. Those daily visits are exciting and harmful. Mrs. +Dunlop has a perfect genius for sick-nursing, and you can safely leave +your daughter to her. She is really a remarkable woman!" + +The Commodore made a wry face. "Not long ago Edward would have me +believe that the Dunlops, father and son, were endowed with uncommon +mental power. Now it appears that the mother is similarly gifted. My +poor child hasn't brains enough to keep her from riding an unsafe +colt, but it is to be hoped she knows enough to appreciate the +advantages of her situation." + +The doctor raised his eyebrows at this peculiar pleasantry, but +managed to harrow his listener's heart by intimating that it would be +a confoundedly strange thing if young Dunlop did not appreciate _his_ +advantages. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CONVALESCENCE. + + +To be slowly recovering from a severe illness is almost like being +again a very little child. So thought Rose Macleod, as she lay between +lavender-scented sheets, in the quaint stone cottage, whose deep +old-fashioned window seats, and low whitewashed ceilings, were +becoming as familiar to her as the stately halls of her home. The +protracted leisure of convalescence was growing burdensome to her. So +many days had she watched the lights and shadows woven throughout the +greenery, just outside her window, or listened to the weird measure of +the rain when the wind surged like a sea through the foliage, or held +her breath for joy when a flying bird pulsed vividly across the sky, +or counted the milk-white flowers of the locust tree, as they strewed +the ground with blossoms, or noted the exact moment when the +morning-glories softly clasped their purple petals together, as though +unable to contain a greater fulness of joy than was brought by the +summer morning. It was now early evening, and Rose gave vent to a +little uncontrollable sigh. Mrs. Dunlop came as quickly to the bedside +as though the sigh had been the sound of a trumpet. She was a very +pleasant object for weary invalid eyes to rest upon. Her dark hair was +satin-smooth, her voice and movements were quiet and refined. There +was in her face that mingling of shyness and sincerity, irradiated by +a look of the keenest intelligence, which reminded Rose of Allan, +between whom and his mother there was a strong resemblance. + +"I have something to tell you," she said gently. "As my prisoner you +have behaved in such an exemplary manner, keeping all the rules of the +institution, and making no attempt to run away, that I have decided to +give you the freedom of another room." + +"Oh, am I to go into another room?" Had a voyage to Europe been +proposed to her it could scarcely have suggested pleasanter ideas of +change. "A new wall-paper, and a new window! What more could I ask +for? But how am I to get there? What means of transportation have +you?" + +"That is just what I am thinking of. I could dress you in my gray +wrapper, and then--would you mind if Allan were to help me to lift you +to the couch in my room?" + +Rose shuddered a little. A faint pink stained for a moment the +whiteness of her cheek. "I shouldn't mind it if I were senseless," she +said, "but I don't want him to think I have lost my senses again. No, +we'll have to give up that idea." + +But Mrs. Dunlop was not the sort of person to give up an idea without +good cause. "The mountain must then go to Mahomet," said she, and +wheeling the couch close to the sick-bed, she arranged the invalid +cosily among the cushions, and pushed her slowly into her own +apartment. "If I were twice as large as you are," she added, "instead +of being just your size, I should have carried you in half the time." + +But another and more serious consequence followed that same evening +upon the striking similarity in figure between Mrs. Dunlop and Miss +Macleod. Golden twilight had changed to dim dusk, but Rose still lay +with her fair head almost buried among the cushions. She expected a +visit from her father that evening, and the temptation to show him +what she could do and dare was irresistible. All her hostess's hints +that bed-time had arrived were wasted upon deaf ears. At last, in a +little anxiety as to the result of her experiment, if the Commodore +did not arrive, Mrs. Dunlop went out to the front gate to see if there +were signs of his approach. At the same moment Allan entered the house +by the back door, and looked about for his mother. Impelled by a +"fatalistic necessity" he went up to her room, the sound of his +carefully modulated tread upon the stairway filling the heart of Rose +with delight, for was not that her own father, who had probably been +informed at the gate of the change in her condition and surroundings, +and who was coming up so softly in order to surprise her. Allan, +meanwhile, glancing in, saw nothing in the gray gloom but a small +figure in a well-known wrapper, stretched wearily upon the couch. +"Poor little mother," he thought. "She is quite tired out." He went up +to her intending to bestow a filial caress upon her cheek, but before +his design could be accomplished he was drawn close by a single arm +around his neck, and repeatedly kissed. "You blessed darling!" she +softly exclaimed, "here I've been waiting for you, and _waiting_ for +you and longing--_Oh_!" That silky moustache and that chin, that was +_not_ stubby, could they belong to a gentleman of sixty years? Her +right arm fell limp and useless as the other. "I thought you were my +father," she said in a weak voice of mingled disappointment, anger and +shame. + +"And I thought you were my mother," was all the guilty wretch could +offer in extenuation of his conduct. + +The people whose parts this unfortunate pair had been playing with +such ill success were now heard at the door below. Allan felt like a +criminal as he stole into the hall, and thence into his own room; but +the Commodore could scarcely understand the propriety of a strange and +otherwise objectionable young man holding a moonless _tete-a-tete_ +with his daughter. In any case his presence would involve disagreeable +explanations. If her cheeks were as flushed as his own no doubt her +doting parent would ascribe it to renewed health and strength. + +But the young man, sitting alone in the perfumed darkness of that +summer night, with his hot head fallen upon the window-sill, did not +imagine that the fire that burned along his own veins was an +indication of health. On the contrary, he feared it the symptom of a +dreaded disease--the fever and delirium of love. What was that little +yellow-haired girl to him? Nothing! nothing! Yet her kisses burned +upon his lips, and every drop of blood in his body seemed to +contradict his nonchalant nothing with a passionate everything! Yes, +she was in truth the lamp of his life, but in that radiant light how +pitiful his life appeared. How pitiful, and yet how beautiful, for in +the tender illumination of her imagined love rough places became +smooth, dark ways bright, and the heights of possible achievement were +faintly flushed with all the delicate tints of dawn--the dawn of a +diviner day than any he had yet looked upon. When he went to sleep it +was to dream of walking in a wilderness of roses. Pale and drooping, +broken and dying, red and roguish, blushing, wanton, wild and warm, +each bore some fantastic resemblance to Rose Macleod, and each was set +about with "little wilful thorns." The hand which he eagerly +outstretched to pluck the loveliest rose of all was pierced and +bleeding. Still he did not despair of reaching it. But as his longing +eyes drew nearer and nearer the stately little beauty turned suddenly +a deep blood-red, and then he saw that the crimson drops falling from +his own wounds had worked this transformation. He hid her in his +bosom, and held her there. But the closer she was pressed the richer +and more fragrant was the breath she exhaled, intoxicating all his +senses, and the farther into his heart went the cruel thorns, until in +mingled pain and rapture he awoke. + +This Allan Dunlop, though born and bred on a farm, had in him the +spring of a higher and finer life. He was a man of delicate instincts, +refined feelings, and great native sensibility, inherited from his +mother, at whose history we may take a rapid backward glance. + +Far away in one of the stately homes of "Merrie England," when the +eighteenth century was old, a gentlewoman, young, charming, and full +of an habitually repressed life and gaiety, waited for her cavalier, +the youthful riding-master who had little to recommend himself to her +gracious kindness save that deep but indefinable charm which a +handsome man on a spirited charger is so prone to exert on the +feminine imagination. The morning was fair, the lady was fairer, and +the heart of her gallant attendant beat faster than the feet of his +steed, as the flying skirt of her robe swept his stirrup, and the soft +length of her mist-like veil blew before his eyes and caressed his +brown cheek. It was not the only mist that blew before his eyes nor +before her's either, poor child! for the rival contrast between this +wild rush over hedge and ditch and bright green meadow and the stiffly +guarded walks and ways of home had spurred her imagination also into a +gallop. "We will never come back," he said jestingly, "we will ride +away into a world of our own!" but there was something reckless in his +laugh and a formidable note of earnestness in his jesting. He never +dreamed that her pulse beat quicker after his careless speeches, and +he was in truth a good deal in awe of her, for the buckram propriety +which had encased her like a garment ever since she could remember was +not easily thrown aside. This young pair, though as deeply in love +with each other as it is possible for man and maid to be, had never +acknowledged the fact by a syllable. Anna Sherwood was too shy and +prim; Richard Dunlop too poor and proud. He had been a trooper in a +cavalry regiment, afterwards riding-master in a garrison town in +England, and since his coming to Canada, and before taking to farming, +he held the position of fort-adjutant at Penetanguishene; at present +he was tutor in equestrian arts to the young lady whom he passionately +loved. Of her there is little to tell except that until this dashing +young fellow crossed her path she had experienced about as much change +and variety in her life as though she had been a plant grown in a +flower-pot. On sunny days she was allowed the outside air; on stormy +days she was kept within. She toiled not, neither did she spin. +Nothing was required of her except colourless acquiescence in a life +of torpid, unnatural, unendurable _ennui_. + +The young lady's only guardian was a wealthy maiden aunt, who was as +rich as she was old maidish--a statement likely to thrill the heart of +any mammon-worshipper among her acquaintance--and whose special pride +was the exemplary manner in which she had brought up her brother's +child. The daring young fellow who had presumed to fall in love with +this model niece followed her uninvited into the family sitting-room +on returning from their ride, a proceeding which rather alarmed the +gentle Anna, though her much dreaded relative was absent. He did not +sit down, but took a decisive stand on the hearth-rug. He looked like +a man who has something he must say, though the saying of it will all +but cost him his life. She sat down with a strange foreboding at her +heart of something terrible to come. The austere influences of her +aunt's home were upon her. She sat in prim composure, pale hands +clasped, and pale lids drooping upon cheeks that had lost every +particle of the warmth and glow gained by exercise. "Miss Sherwood," +he began, "there is something I have been longing to say to you for +weeks past, and though it is a perfectly useless, almost impertinent +thing to say, still I cannot leave it burning in my heart any longer. +It is that you are dearer to me than any woman on earth--and always +will be." His voice broke a little, but he went bravely on. "You need +not think that I shall annoy you with frequent repetitions of this +fact, or that I expect to gain anything by the statement of it. I know +that you are proud and self-sufficing, and," a little bitterly, "that +I can never be anything more to you than the dust thrown up by your +horse's heels--a necessary evil. I don't know why I should tell you +this, except that I cannot suffer in silence any longer. I am going to +leave you now--to leave you forever. Won't you say good-bye? Is there +nothing you will say to me, little Nan?" + +In spite of himself his voice had sunk to a tone of caressing +tenderness. The pale proud girl had listened to him without moving a +fibre or lifting an eyelash. But now there came a great flow of blood +to her face, a swift rush of tears to her eyes. + +"Nothing," she said, "except"-- + +She wrung her hands: pride dies very hard. + +"Except that I love you, Dick!" + +His eyes blazed. "Then, by Heaven," he cried, "we shall never part." +He caught her to his breast and held her there a moment without +speaking. He was too dazed to speak. The scene was dramatic; and Miss +Maria Sherwood, who entered the room at that moment, did not approve +of the drama. She held that it was sensational in conduct, scurrilous +in character, scandalous in its consequences; and it is highly +probable that from this brief glimpse of it she saw no reason to +change her opinions. Act second, as may be imagined, was stormy and +exciting, gaining in interest as it progressed, and the last scene in +these private theatricals saw the hero and heroine shipped off to +Canada--that better country, where the lives and loves of those to +whom fate has been cruel are graciously spared, under conditions +adverse enough but still endurable. + +That life and love can continue to exist beneath bleak foreign skies, +when grim Poverty howls wolf-like at the door, and the winds of +seemingly year-long winters are scarcely less fierce, was the +proposition these courageous young people set themselves to prove. No +day dawned so dark that was not illumined for him by the repetition of +that shamelessly unmaidenly speech, "I love you, Dick." As for her, +she never ceased to smile at the blindness of a man who could imagine +that luxurious imprisonment for life without him could be more +alluring than the greatest hardships endured in the perpetual sunshine +of his love. + +Of this pair, whose romance had outlasted the sordid cares and +trials of life in the backwoods, Allan Dunlop, with his exquisite +susceptibilities, and ambitious aims, was the honest fruit. He was not +visible to Rose for some days after their emotional and wholly +involuntary encounter in his mother's room, and then he brought her a +great handful of her fragrant namesakes. She had been promoted for +half-an-hour to a huge well-cushioned chair, in which she reclined +rather languidly. The roses formed a pretext for a little desultory +conversation, and then Allan, noticing the invalid's little ears were +turning pink, presumably at the recollection of their last meeting, +could not forbear saying: + +"I feel that I ought to beg your pardon, Miss Macleod, for the way I +treated you the other evening. It was a brutal assault, though wholly +unintentional." + +Poor Rose, who remembered that it was she who made the assault, +expressed the belief that she would rather it were forgotten than +forgiven. + +"I'm afraid I can't forget it. Some things make too deep an impression. +Of course," he added, in his embarrassment, "it was the last thing I +should have wished to do." + +"Of course!" echoed the miserable girl, wondering if he meant what he +said. + +"Allan," said his mother, entering the room at that moment, "what are +you saying to distress my patient? I don't like the look of these +feverish cheeks." + +"I fear I have committed the unpardonable sin, as Miss Rose refuses to +pardon it." + +Mrs. Dunlop, who was in absolute ignorance of the subject of +conversation, looked smilingly from one to the other. + +"Promise her that the offence will never be repeated, Allan," she +said, "and then it may receive forgiveness." + +The young man coloured scarlet. "The conditions are too hard," he +murmured. "I think, on the whole, I should prefer to go unforgiven." +And he hastily rose and left the room. + +But if Rose Macleod was not free from afflictions of a sentimental +nature, her brother Edward was even less so. This young man sorely +missed the girlish society which his sister in happier days had +constantly drawn about her. One afternoon, when time hung particularly +heavy on his hands, he decided to go over to "Bellevue," ostensibly to +give Madame DeBerczy the latest information concerning Rose, but +really to solace his soul with a sight of the beautiful Helene. On his +way over he chanced to overtake the Algonquin girl, Wanda, whom he +proceeded to upbraid in no measured terms for the way in which she had +treated him. + +"Ah, don't!" she cried at last, covering her ears with her hands, +"your words are like hailstones, sharp and cruel and cold." + +"Then will you not say that you are sorry?" he pleaded, bending his +fair head once more perilously near to the soft, brown neck. + +"Sorry that you deserved the blow? yes; certainly!" + +"Wanda," cried Edward, an irrepressible smile breaking through his +assumed anger, "you are a witch, and a wicked witch, too. It is like +your race to be cruel and merciless, indifferent to the pain you +inflict, and--" + +"No, no," retorted the girl, indignantly, "it is not true." She was +irradiated by her wrath. The usual faint yet warm redness of her face +had changed to a deeper hue, and her eyes were smouldering fires. +Edward had never seen her look so handsome; but his attention was +distracted from her at that instant by some rough, prickly shrubs, +near which they were passing. He put out his hand instinctively to +keep them from touching his companion, and a sharp thorn pierced his +palm. He immediately affected to be in great pain. + +"It is easy for the pale-face to suffer," she said tauntingly. + +"It is impossible for your race to be pitiful," he replied in the same +tone. + +Again she flushed hotly, and, as if to disprove his assertion, she +seized his hand, and pressed it closely to her angrily, heaving bosom, +as she tried to extract the thorn from it. But it had penetrated too +far, and with a quick impatient ah! she bent her warm red lips to his +palm and strove to reach the thorn with her little white teeth. After +several attempts she was at last successful, and looked up with an air +of innocent triumph. + +"I take back my cruel words," Edward said. "I am sure you can be a +little pitiful." Then he put her gently but hastily aside, for they +were close upon "Bellevue," and he was eager to meet Helene. + +With a grieved, child-like wonder the beautiful, ignorant savage +watched him, as he hurried across the velvet lawn, among beds of +brilliant flowers, to greet a lily-like maiden, clad in what, in her +uncivilized eyes, appeared to be a mingling of mist and moonbeams. It +was the first time that he had shown a wish to leave her. Hitherto she +had been the object of his pursuit, of his devotion, of his ardent +desire. Now, like a cold blast, his neglect struck chill upon her +heart, and she turned back into the forest solitudes with all the +brightness suddenly and strangely gone out of her life. + +But instead of being translated to the earthly paradise of a beautiful +woman's favour, Edward, to his own great disappointment and chagrin, +found himself in a very different atmosphere. Helene was cold, nearly +silent, utterly indifferent. She was looking unusually well. The rich +harmonious contrasts of face and hair--the midnight darkness of the +one breaking into the radiant dawn of the other--never before +impressed him so vividly. But she was terribly distant. The young man +assured himself rather bitterly that if she were a thousand miles off +she could not have been more oblivious of his presence. She was +alluring even in her indifference, graceful, elegant, angelic--but an +angel carved in ice. "I have been so unfortunate as to offend you," he +said at parting, as they stood alone in the soft, moonless, summer +dusk. + +"I don't know; is it a matter of much importance?" There was an accent +of weariness in her voice, but the tone was hard. + +"Yes, to me. You are as cold as death!" + +"What a very unpleasant fancy!" She shivered lightly, and extended the +tips of her very chilly fingers to him in a last good-night. + +Mademoiselle Helene was intensely proud. She had been an unobserved +witness of the scene between Edward and Wanda in the wood, and, of +course, had made her own misinterpretation. A man who could permit a +low, untutored savage to fawn upon him in that way, kissing his hand +repeatedly, and flushing with gratified vanity, presumably at his +words of endearment, could scarcely expect to be treated otherwise +than with disdain by the high-bred girl whom he had previously +delighted to honour. As for Edward he was sorely hurt and bewildered. +Helene's treatment of him he considered decidedly curt, and natural +resentment burned within him at the thought. But before he reached +home his anger had passed away, and with it all remembrance of the +cold maiden and the unpleasant evening she had given him. In their +place lived an intense recollection of a tawny woman, beautiful and +warm-blooded; and his heart thrilled with a tumult of emotions at the +memory of her lustrous velvet lips closely pressed within his wounded +hand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ON THE WAY TO THE CAPITAL. + + +From early summer to late autumn, from assurance of bloom to certainty +of frost, is but a step--the step between life and death. The +murmuring leaves and waters on the shores of Kempenfeldt Bay had +learned a louder and harsher melody--the wild wind-prophecy of winter. +For a brief season Indian summer came to re-illumine the despairing +days, and the larches, set aflame by her hand, flashed like lights. +Then through the softly tinted wood broke the Autumn brightness upon +delicate shimmering birch trees, red sumachs, purple tinged sassafras, +golden rod and asters; but now the oaks and beeches had changed their +velvet green raiment to dull brown, and all the wild woods, after the +pitiless and well-nigh perpetual rains of Fall, were stricken and +discoloured. Madame and Mademoiselle DeBerczy had flown with the +birds, and were now domiciled in their winter home at the Oak Ridges, +whither Rose Macleod, in response to an urgent invitation from Helene, +had accompanied them, and whence she wrote letters of entreaty to her +father, urging him to take a house in York for the winter. + +"Not that it is so particularly lively," she wrote, "but it is not +quite so deathly as at Pine Towers. Edward will be willing to come, I +know, desperate lover of nature that he is, for there is nothing in +the woods now but eternal requiem over lost and buried beauty, of +which, in the natural vanity of youth, he may be tempted to consider +himself a part. As for the children they will build snow-houses, and +sit down in them, thus ensuring permanent bad colds, and the other +member of your family, if she returns home, will 'look before and +after, and sigh for what is not.' Is not that a sufficiently +depressing picture? Dear papa, you know that, like the bad little boys +in a certain class of Sunday School literature, I can't be ruled +except by kindness. Now see what an immense opportunity I have given +you to govern me according to approved Sunday School ethics!" + +She paused a moment, considering not what could be said, but what +could be omitted from a missive which was to be convincing as well as +caressing in its nature, when Helene entered the room. + +"Love letter, Rose?" she inquired carelessly. + +"Certainly," responded her friend, "all my letters are love letters. +Would you have me write to a person I didn't love?" + +"Why, I couldn't help it, that is supposing the letter you are writing +is addressed to Allan Dunlop. Of course he is a person you don't love." + +"There is no reason why I should." + +"No reason? O ingratitude! After he dived under the heels of a fiery +horse, carried you nearly lifeless into the house, and took off his +boots every time he entered it for six weeks thereafter. How much +further could a man's devotion go?" + +"I am beginning to find out," said Rose, with a slight return of an +invalid's irritation, "how far a _woman's_ devotion can go." + +Helene arched her delicate brows. "Are you offended?" she asked, +anxiously. "Ah, don't be! I'll take back every word. He _didn't_ take +off his boots, nor carry you in, nor pick you up, and, let me see--what +other assertion did I make? Oh, yes. Of course he is a person you _do_ +love. But oh, Rose, Rose, what are you blushing about? This isn't the +time of year for roses to blush." + +"Upon my word, Helene, you are enough to make a stone wall blush." + +"Ah, you are thinking of the stone walls of a certain farm cottage. I +can imagine you sitting propped up in bed, with a volume of hymns +marking the line, 'Stone walls do not a prison make,' with a big +exclamation-point, and a 'So true!'" + +Rose leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. + +"Are you very tired, dear?" inquired her friend, with real tenderness. + +"Very tired," was the languid reply, that was not without a satirical +intonation. "It seems as though my rest was a good deal broken." + +"Broken bone! broken heart! broken rest! dear me! Well, I suppose they +follow each other in natural sequence." + +"Helene," said her mother, "you are chattering like a magpie. What is +it all about?" + +"Broken utterances, mamma. Not worth piecing together and repeating." + +Madame DeBerczy, seated alone at the other end of the apartment, +turned upon her daughter a face of such majestic severity as +effectually to quell that young lady's recklessly merry mood. But it +was not for long. The irrepressible joyousness of her nature was not +permanently subdued until two weeks later, when the family were +surprised by the unlooked-for appearance of Edward Macleod. This young +man was the bearer of good-tidings. His father and the rest of the +family were even now domiciled at an hotel in York waiting for Rose to +arrive in order to consult her preferences before selecting a house. +The announcement made both girls happy, but when it was discovered +that Edward was to take his sister away in a few hours their joy was +changed to lamentation. To be separated, hateful thought! How could it +be endured? They withdrew for a brief space to consider this weighty +problem, leaving Edward in dignified conversation with Madame +DeBerczy. He was strangely reminded of his first visit to her after +his return from England. Alike, and yet how different. Then the +prophecy of summer's golden perfection was in the air. But his hopes +with it had too-quickly ripened and died. The coolness that had sprang +up between Helene and himself had grown and strengthened into the +permanent winter of discontent. He was recalled from the chilling +reflections into which this thought had plunged him by the concluding +words of a remark by Madame DeBerczy: "I approve of a certain amount +of life and animation," she said, "but they are inclined to be too +frisky." + +"What on earth is she talking about?" queried Edward inaudibly. He +could form no idea, but he was suddenly extricated from his dilemma by +observing the antics of two pet kittens on the hearth-rug. + +"Altogether too frisky," he acquiesced, "but charming little pets." + +"It appears to me," said the lady, with a good deal of frigidity in +her manner, "that they should be something better than that." + +"Oh, you could scarcely expect such young things to be stately and +dignified, Madame DeBerczy. They seem to me very pretty and graceful." + +"In my day prettiness and grace were not considered so essential for +young ladies as dignity and stateliness." + +"Young ladies! Really, I beg your pardon, dear Madame, for my +inattention. I imagined you were talking of kittens." He blushed so +vividly over his mistake that a more circumspect old lady even than +the one he was addressing would have found it hard not to forgive him. + +But now the girls re-entered the room with looks of deep dejection. +"We have decided that we can't part," said Helene. "United we stand, +divided we fall." + +"And so," said Rose boldly, addressing Madame DeBerczy, "we have come +to ask if Helene cannot go back with us for a few days." She paused a +moment, for in asking a favour of so lofty a personage as Madame +DeBerczy, she was never certain whether she ought to prostrate herself +on the floor in oriental fashion, or merely bend the knee. In this +case she did neither. But her sweet pleading eyes spoke "libraries," +so Helene told her afterwards. The imaginative objections already +forming in the mother's mind vanished away, and she was prevailed upon +to give her consent. + +"Though it leaves me rather at the mercy of Sophia," she said, as she +went out to lunch. + +Edward lifted an inquiring pair of eyes. + +"Sophia is my new maid," explained his hostess. "Her ideas on the +subject of liberty and equality are extreme. Sometimes," she added +mournfully, "I am in doubt as to whether I have hired Sophia, or +Sophia has hired me." + +The young people longed to exchange covert glances of amusement, but +this relief was denied them. It was no laughing matter to the stately +sufferer at the head of the table. Rose spoke in the decent accents of +sympathy and condolence, but her brother and friend were not profuse +of speech. The latter was thinking of possible explanations and +reconciliations that might arise through the frequent opportunities of +meeting with Edward, which a temporary residence under the same roof +would entail, and the former was feasting his beauty-loving eyes upon +a strikingly lovely picture on the other side of the table--the +picture of two heads, golden-yellow and raven-black, against the rich +background of a peacock-tinted tapestry screen. + +They were much less picturesque in their winter wraps, as they whirled +away under the leafless trees, but they made up for it in merriment. +Edward and Helene were secretly glad of the presence of Rose. It was +impossible to be frigidly formal with that sunny face beaming up now +at one, then at the other. This deep young person had made up her mind +that she would spare no pains to bring about a better state of feeling +between the two. When conversation lagged or threatened to become +formally precise, she gave utterance to some amazing piece of +nonsense, which compelled a laugh from the others, or else indulged in +prettily assumed alarm, lest their horse should prove untrustworthy. + +"When you see a horse's ears move," she declared, "it is a sign that +he is vicious. Flip's ears were never still." + +"Why, Rose," cried her brother, "this horse is no more like Flip than +an old cow is like a wild cat. Besides his ears don't move." + +"Oh, yes, they do," remarked Helene, with the calmness of scientific +conviction. "When a horse moves his ears have got to move too. They +are not detachable. It is the same with other animals." + +"Where is my note-book?" inquired Edward, after a fruitless search in +his various pockets, while Rose observed "Well, you may say what you +please, but I feel sure he is not safe." + +"Indeed, he isn't," echoed the driver. "He's liable to turn around any +moment and bite you. It's a good thing the livery stable man hitched +him up head first, else we might all have been devoured by the +ferocious beast." + +Such pleasantries might have been indefinitely extended had not +unusual sounds of mirth and minstrelsy coming from behind arrested +their attention. + +"Why, it is the Elmsleys," softly exclaimed Rose. "Dear me! I haven't +seen Grace and Eleanor for months." + +These young ladies hailed her with every expression of delight as the +carriages came to a stand-still together. They had a prodigious amount +to say. At last, as the horses were growing restive, Mrs. Elmsley +invited Miss Macleod to join their family party, as they also were on +their way to York. + +"_Do_!" echoed the daughters, and Rose accepted with alacrity. "The +horse we have isn't at all safe," she explained, "and I am quite +nervous on the subject since my accident last summer." + +"Rose," demanded Helene, in a low aside, but with a tragic countenance, +"you surely are not going to leave me?" + +The girl laughed as she accepted Mr. Elmsley's proffered assistance +from one vehicle into the other. "Why, you are quite a grown woman," +observed that gentleman, apparently much impressed by her mature +proportions, "and it seems like only the other day that you were seven +years old, and used to kiss me when we met." + +"Well, I'll kiss you again," replied the saucy Rose, adding after a +moment's pause,--"when I am seven years old." + +"I warn you, Mrs. Elmsley," said Edward, shaking his head with doleful +foreboding, "that girl knows how to look like the innocent flower she +is named after, and be the serpent under it." + +"Did you know," said his slandered sister, addressing the same lady, +and indicating the pair she had basely forsaken, "those are the very +two that were with me when I was so badly hurt last summer. Do you +wonder that I am glad to escape from them?" + +The party drove off amid jests and laughter, while the young ladies, +applying their lips once more to a leaf of grass-ribbon each had in +her hand, produced such sounds as, according to their father, might, +Orpheus-like, have drawn stones and brickbats after them, but from a +murderous rather than a magnetic motive. + +"I wonder if Rose is really nervous," said Edward, breaking the +silence that bound them after the departure of the others. + +"I think she is really nonsensical," said Rose's friend, not very +blandly. + +"Are you then so sorry to be left alone with me?" + +The young lady evaded the question, but became extremely loquacious. +She intimated that almost any companionship, or none at all, could be +endured on this beautifully melancholy autumn day, and called his +attention to the leaves underfoot, which had grown brown and ragged, +like the pages of a very old book on which the centuries had laid +their slow relentless fingers. In a burst of girlish confidence she +told him that always, after the wild winds had stripped from the +shuddering woodland its last leaves, and the pitiless rains had washed +it clean, the spectacle of bare-branched trees, standing against the +gentle gloom of a pale November sky, reminded her of a company of +worldings, from whom every vestige of earthly ambition, pride and +prosperity had fallen away. "Anything," she said to herself, +"_anything_ to keep the talk from becoming personal." + +"I can understand that," said Edward, "but the influences of +unworldliness--I was almost saying other-worldliness--are nowhere felt +as in the woods. Sometimes they exert a strange spell upon me. The +petty pride and shallow subterfuges of fashionable life are impossible +in nature's solitudes. Don't you think so?" + +"Yes;" assented Helene, not seeing whither her unthinking acquiescence +might lead her. + +"That is why I dare to ask you why you have been so cold and formal +towards me, so unlike your old self, for the last three months?" + +No petty pride could help her now, no shallow subterfuges come to her +aid. She had declared that they were impossible here. She could not +turn her face away from his truth-compelling gaze. Why had Rose left +her alone to be tortured in this dreadful way? How could she confess +to him that jealousy and wounded vanity had caused the change in her +demeanour? "I cannot tell you," she said at last. She had turned paler +even than usual, but her eyes burned. + +"I am sorry to have given you pain," he said almost tenderly, and then +the confession broke from her in a little storm of pent-up emotion. + +"It was because I ceased to respect you! How could I respect a man who +would allow a wild ignorant creature to caress his hands and hang upon +his words?" + +He turned a face of pure bewilderment upon her. "If you mean the +Algonquin girl, Wanda," he said, "she has never treated me otherwise +than with indifference, anger and contempt." He explained the scene of +which Helene had been an involuntary witness, and the proud girl felt +humiliated and belittled. But he was too generous and perhaps too +clever to allow her to suppose that he attributed her coldness to weak +jealousy. That would have placed her at a disadvantage which her pride +would never have forgiven. + +"So you believed me to be a vain contemptible idiot," he said, "Then +you did perfectly right to scorn me." He drove on furiously, with +tense lips and contracted brow. She had misjudged him cruelly, but he +would not descend to harsh accusation. Helene was decidedly +uncomfortable. "I have never scorned you," she said. "It was because +I believed you superior to the folly and weakness of ordinary men that +it grieved me to think you were otherwise." + +"It grieved you," he repeated in a softer tone. "Hereafter I wish you +would confide all your griefs to me the moment you are aware of them." + +"To tell the truth, I don't expect to have any more." She laughed her +old joyous friendly laugh, and he stretched his arm across her lap to +adjust the robe more closely to her form. Her attitude towards him had +completely changed, concretely as well as abstractly, for now she sat +cosily and contentedly by his side, instead of perching herself a yard +away, and allowing the winter winds to emphasize the coldness that had +existed between them. This wonderful improvement in the mental +atmosphere made them oblivious to a change in the outer air until +Helene remarked upon the peculiar odour of smoke about them. This +increased until it became almost stifling. Evidently the blazing brush +heap, lit by the hand of some thrifty settler, had extended further +than he was aware of. The smoke blew past them, and they were in the +midst of that vividly picturesque spectacle--a fire in the forest. The +flames ran swiftly up the dry, dead limbs, turning trees into huge +blazing torches, and the light underbrush beneath them took on +beautiful and fantastic shapes of fire. The gray sky was illumined +with fiery banners, while, like scarlet-clothed imps at a carnival, +the flames leaped and danced among the twigs and smaller branches. + +The hot breeze blowing on her cheek filled Helene with sudden alarm, +and Edward urged the horse to a quicker pace. But the frightened +creature needed no urging. With a great shuddering leap he sprang +forward as though a thousand fire-fiends from the infernal regions had +been after him. Helene uttered a half-suppressed shriek, and clung +strenuously to Edward's arm. Suddenly he gave a loud gasp of dismay. +On the road directly before them a pile of brush had caught the blaze +and stretched before their startled eyes like a burning bridge. All +attempts to stop or turn around were useless. The horse was wholly +beyond control. For a moment they were enveloped in smoke and flame, +shut into a fiery furnace, from which an instant later they emerged +from danger, but with a badly singed steed and an unpleasant odour of +fire upon them. Edward had pushed Helene to the bottom of the +carriage, and flung the robe over her. Now he drew her trembling, and +sobbing a little, back to his side. She was shaking excessively, and +in order to restore her equanimity there was clearly nothing else to +be done but to hold her closely in his arms, let fall his face to +hers, and breathe in her ear every word of sympathy and comfort that +came to his mind. She lay weakly with closed eyes upon his breast, +while the excitement in her pulses gradually died away. When she +opened her eyes the short November day was nearly at its close, and +York was in sight. She drew away to her own corner of the seat, not +with any visible blushes, for her complexion never lost its warm +whiteness, but her eyes glowed, and her lips were 'like a thread of +scarlet.' + +"I am glad Rose was not with us," she said, feeling a pressing need to +say something, and in default of anything better to say, "as she is +even more nervous than I am." + +"Yes, I am _very_ glad she was not with us," assented Edward, with an +unusual amount of brotherly fervour, while he turned his horse in the +direction of the only available hotel in the Capital, where the +wearied travellers were content to rest for a few days before setting +out in search of a new home. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +YORK AND THE MAITLANDS. + + +There are difficulties in the way of one who would describe an event +after an immortal poet has given it a setting in lines that a +worshipping world will not willingly let die. A tree, it is said, is +never struck by lightning more than once, and it is safe to suppose +that a subject is never illumined by the rays of heaven-descended +genius without being as thoroughly exhausted. Nevertheless, with our +tame domestic lantern, let us endeavour to throw a little prosaic +light over the details of a scene that has been irradiated by the +imagination of a Byron. + +It was one of the events of the season to the social world of that +foreign town, but to us it is one of the events of the century. On an +evening in June, 1815, in the city of Brussels, the Duchess of +Richmond gave a ball on so magnificent a scale that even the gray +heads of society's veteran devotees were a little turned, and the +chestnut and golden pates of their juniors tossed sleeplessly on their +pillows for several nights preceding it. After all, humanity is +perpetually and overpoweringly interested in nothing except humanity. +On the evening appointed there was a vast beautiful throng, moving +through halls as beautiful and more vast; there was the witchery of +soft lights and softer sounds, of odours and colours that enchant the +senses; there were banks of flowers, each of whose tiny blossoms +yielded its dying breath to make the world sweeter for an hour, and +among them, under the starry lights, in warm human veins, flowed a +thousand streams; very blue, not so blue, and even common crimson. But +all flowed faster than usual, perhaps the better to warm the lovely +bare shoulders and arms, or to paint the sweet cheeks above them in +the vivid hues of glad, intense young life. Intermingled with the +costly robes and flashing gems on the ideal figures of fair women, +gleamed the brilliant uniforms of brave men. "A thousand hearts beat +happily"--with one exception. This was in the possession of the second +daughter of a duke. She was even then remarkable for her beauty and +for a certain imperious, condescending grace. The gay throng of which +she was a part was no more to her than so many buttercups and daisies; +and these sumptuous apartments, so far as they concerned her, might +have been a series of green meadows. At last her indifferent glance, +travelling over the room, encountered an object that faintly flushed +her cheek, and brightened the eyes, whose orbit of vision was now +limited to the circle immediately about her. Cold indifference had +changed to throbbing impatience. Ah, why did he not come! With whom +was he lingering? She dared not look up lest her glance, like a swift, +bright messenger, should tell him all her heart, and draw him +magnetically to her side. No, he must come of his own choice, and +quickly, else her mood would change. Soft strains of music arose, +melting, aching, dying upon the air. Her heart melted, ached, and +apparently died also, for it turned cold and hard as she glanced at +her watch, and saw that it was more than a minute, nearly _two_ +minutes (two eternities they seemed to her) since she began to be glad +that she had come. + +The next instant her long-lashed lids were raised in spite of herself, +and she confronted a singularly tall and attractive-looking gentleman, +whose face, from its pensive sadness, had a certain poetic charm. He +begged the honour of the next dance with her. She regretted that he +was too late. He looked disappointed, but ventured to name the next +one. She was sorry, but it was impossible. Had she room for him +anywhere at all on her list? She shook her head prettily but +inexorably. The handsomest coquette and the plainest school-ma'am have +this in common, that they detest and punish tardiness. The young man +was overpowered by his sense of loss. It was small comfort to stand +and look at the beautiful girl. When the gates of paradise are closed +against one it matters little whether they are made of gold or of +iron. Inwardly he bestowed some very hard names upon himself for +imagining that that peerless creature would be allowed to await a +willing wall-flower his languidly deferred appearance. + +Again those heavenly strains rose and throbbed upon the air. It was +maddening. The keenness of his disappointment gave his face an +intensity of ardent expression that certainly did not detract from its +charm in the eyes of the girl who at that instant glanced up into it. +The next moment he was pressed aside--very decorously, very +courteously, even apologetically pushed aside, but still compelled by +an insinuating patrician hand to make room for its owner, a gentleman +whose extremely lofty title had already drawn the homage of a hundred +admiring pairs of eyes upon him, and whose prevailing expression was a +haughty consciousness of accustomed and assumed success. The young +lady whom he now honoured with a request to dance did not think of his +title, nor of his condescension, nor of him. She declined with +characteristic indifference on the plea that she was already engaged, +and turning placed her hand on the arm of Sir Peregrine Maitland, +whose suddenly bewildered and enraptured heart, if it had never before +given its assent to the time-worn proposition that all is fair in love +as well as in war, certainly could not hesitate now. Perhaps the +triumphs of the ball-room are not less thrilling than those of the +battle-field. "Why were you so cruel to me a moment ago?" he murmured, +looking down into eyes that but too clearly reflected the happiness of +his own. + +"For the same reason that I am kind to you now," she responded like a +flash. + +He did not ask her the reason. Perhaps he was intuitively and +blissfully aware of it. Did ever maiden discover a more demurely +daring way of telling her lover that she loved him? + +But now, caressed by little wafts of perfume, and half-dazed by the +blaze of lights and colours around and above them, they were drifting +as on a tide upon soft swelling waves of music. In liquid undulations +of sweet sound they floated insensibly down the windings of the waltz, +nor dreamed of danger till the note of warning came. It was a +prodigious note--nothing less than the boom of a cannon--and the +signal for instant, perhaps life-long, separation. + + "Who could guess, + If ever more should meet those mutual eyes? + Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise." + +But, as we know, two pairs at least of those mutual eyes were destined +to meet again, and meet as gladly and warmly as when their owners +danced together on the evening before the battle of Waterloo. But the +chill atmosphere of a father's disapproval lay between them. It is +reasonable to suppose that the fourth Duke of Richmond and Lennox was +not so susceptible to the charms of pensive and picturesque young +gentlemen as was his wilful daughter. Among the names on a list of +invitations to a party given by the latter appeared that of Sir +Peregrine Maitland, which, coming under the cold parental eye, was +promptly erased. At the same time he inquired of his daughter why she +permitted that undesirable gentleman to hang about her skirts--why she +did not let him go. The response was that after this decided slight he +probably _would_ go; she added with a little sigh that she did not +know where. The duke profanely and contemptuously mentioned a locality +which shall be nameless. The young lady made no reply. She believed in +division of labour, and in former domestic affairs of this sort her +stern parent had invariably said what he pleased, while she contented +herself with merely doing what she pleased. + +Proverbially, actions speak louder than words, and the present case +was no exception, for while the echo of her father's speech did not go +beyond the walls of the apartment they were in, her own rash +performance, which was a direct consequence of it, was a few days +later noised abroad through all Paris. This was an evening call at the +lodgings of Sir Peregrine Maitland. She came in unannounced, flushed, +eager, defiant, lovely, letting fall the rich train of her robe, which +she had caught up in a swift flight through the streets, and throwing +off her enveloping cloak, which scattered a shower of sparkling drops +on brow and bosom, and beautiful bare arms, for a light shower had +fallen. "They would not let you come to me, so I have come to you," +she declared with a daring little laugh. "I have run away from my +guests. There is a houseful of them and they tire me to death. +Everyone tires me to-night except you." The gentleman stood before her +speechless with bewilderment. "I believe," she said with a little +pout, like a spoiled child, "that you are not glad to see me." + +"Glad to see you," he repeated, "dearest, yes! But not in this way, at +this time." + +She turned aside, but the drops that glittered on her cheek now were +not caused by the rain. Her shimmering silken robes seemed to utter +continuous soft whispers of applause to her nervous yet graceful +movements. Altogether she was an incongruous object in the unhome-like +bareness of a bachelor's apartments. "You are not very cordial, +monsieur," she remarked in a cold tone, as she stood with her back to +him, staring hard at an uninteresting picture above the mantel-shelf; +"it seems to be a pleasure to you to receive an evening caller, but +not exactly a rapture." She smiled her old imperious smile as she +threw herself into a tired-looking chair, while her host, with very +obvious reluctance, sank into one just opposite. For an instant her +beauty smote upon his brain. He leaned forward until his face touched +the lapful of rare old laces that flowed wave-like from waist to knee +on the dress of the girl he loved. + +"Darling," he murmured, "it is a rapture"--then he suddenly drew +himself very far back in his chair--"but not exactly a pleasure!" + +She rose again and moved restlessly about the room. He stood pale, +speechless, waiting for her to go--a waiting that was almost a +supplication. "How could you have the courage to come to me," he +breathed as she drew near him. + +"Because I hadn't the courage to stay away from you. I am brave enough +to do, but not to endure." + +"My poor love! if this escapade becomes public you will have enough to +endure." + +"I do not care for the world." She stood facing him with the absolute +sincerity and trust of irresistible love. "I care for you," she said. + +He took the little jewelled hand and reverently kissed it. "Ah, don't +do that!" she cried, drawing it away with a quick impatient frown. He +drew away, supposing that he had offended her, while she, giving him +the puzzled incredulous look that a woman must give a man when she +discovers, not that his intuitions are duller than her own, but that +he has no intuitions at all, continued her tour about the room. + +"Sweetheart," he said, following her, but not venturing to lay a +finger upon her, "you _must_ go." His voice was earnest and very +tender. + +"The same idea has occurred to me," she said, "but I dislike to hurry. +There is nothing so vulgar as haste." Her old mocking tone had +returned, and in despair he threw himself back into his seat. + +Something in the pathetic grace of his attitude and the beauty of his +sensitive poetic face smote upon the heart that, with all its +perversity, belonged alone to him. She ran to him and knelt at his +side, with her white arms outstretched across his knees, and her +lovely head bowed upon them. The young man realized with sharp +distinctness that the fear of society is not the strongest feeling +that can animate the human frame. He uttered a few passionate words of +endearment, and would have gathered her closely into his breast, but +she, without looking up, sprang suddenly from him and, seizing her +cloak, sped wind-like to her home. + +But there were consequences. Madame Grundy, who is chief among those +for whom Satan finds some mischief still, openly declared that there +were some forms of imprudence that could be tolerated and some that +could not, and that this particular indiscretion must, with reluctance, +be relegated to the latter class. The irate father of the erring one +coincided with this view of things, and a speedy marriage was the +result. "Not guilty--but she mustn't do so again!" had evidently been +the verdict of society. + +A few months later, in 1818, Sir Peregrine Maitland, his affairs of +love happily settled, was appointed ruler of Upper Canada, where his +attention was turned to affairs of State. But there was one subject in +connection with his courtship-days which had never been satisfactorily +settled, and upon which he did not venture to question his wife until +several years had elapsed. Then, late one afternoon, it recurred to +him in that unaccountable way in which bygone events are accustomed to +rise at odd times and lay claim to the attention. + +"Dear," he said, "why did you object to my kissing your hand the +evening you called on me in Paris?" + +"You may lay out the corn-coloured silk, Emma," said Lady Sarah to her +maid, who came that moment with an inquiry upon toilette matters. Then +as the girl disappeared she resumed her novel, peeping over the top of +it at her husband. + +"As though I wanted you to kiss my _hand_!" she said. + +"_Oh_!" A sudden light seemed to dawn upon the dense masculine +understanding. Sir Peregrine was very proud of his beautiful wife. At +the private reception which she gave that evening the corn-coloured +silk gown was the centre of a group of government officials and the +social dignitaries of the time, between herself and whom the ball of +conversation kept lightly moving. + +She turned from them to greet an old friend. "Ah, Commodore, so you +are really settled here for the winter. Rose told me that you had some +thoughts of remaining out in the bush through the cold season, in the +cosy but rather too exclusive manner of a family of chipmunks. What +have you been doing all summer?" + +"Keeping myself unspotted from the world," replied the gentleman, with +a stately bow to the lady, and a sportive glance at the worthy +representatives of the social world surrounding her. + +"How very scriptural! Do Bibles grow on bushes in the backwoods that +quotation of them comes so easily?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure. Such searching theological questions are, I +suppose, what a man must expect to confront when he forsakes the +simple and sequestered life of the chipmunks." + +"Well, I am disappointed. I supposed from the expression of your eyes +that you were going to say something complimentary." + +"My dear Lady Sarah, do compliments grow on street corners in the +metropolis that the expectation of them comes so easily?" + +"No, indeed--nor in drawing-rooms either, apparently. It is a novelty +to meet a man who persists in making his conversation impersonal; but +it is really cold-hearted of you to think of remaining so long away +from us." + +"How can you say so! Absence, you know, makes the heart grow fonder." + +"Does it?" The lady made a feint of moving away. "Now if it were only +possible for me to absent myself," she said, laughingly. + +"Impossible! That is for me to do." And the gentleman withdrew with +flattering haste. + +In his place appeared a blonde young man, with deep sea-blue eyes and +a bright buoyant expression, on whose arm his hostess laid a soft +detaining hand. "Were you on the point of asking me to walk about a +little?" she inquired. "I am going to accept with alacrity." + +The young fellow, who would scarcely have made the suggestion in the +face and eyes of several among the most distinguished of his fellow +citizens immediately surrounding her, was not slow to respond, though +he assumed an expression of alarm. + +"I fear this is a deep-laid plot," he remarked. "I saw my father +leaving you in haste a moment ago. Probably he has offended you, and +you are about to visit the iniquities of the parents upon the +children. Pray are you taking me apart in order to spare my sensitive +feelings? So kind of you!" + +"Well, it was not my benevolent intention to lecture you at all, +either in public or private, but since you speak of it so feelingly no +doubt the need exists. First tell me what you have been doing all +summer." + +"Living out in the wild woods among the wild flowers, wild animals, +wild Indians, and--" + +"What a wild young man! I am positively afraid of you." + +"Delightful! Please oblige me by remaining so. It is difficult for me +to be appalling for any length of time, yet the emotion of fear must +be cultivated in your mind at all hazards." + +"And why?" + +"Because you will never dare to lecture the awe-inspiring being of +whom you are in mortal terror." + +"Oh! are you sure of that? I met a famous lecturer the other day, and +he assured me that he never stepped before an audience without +suffering from fright; yet he did not spare his hearers on that +account." + +"Such is the hardheartedness of man. We expect more from a woman." + +"More of a lecture, or more hardheartedness?" + +"More of the latter--from you." + +"Well I am under the impression that you will receive, before long, a +good deal of the former from a young lady present. Are you aware that +we are observed?" + +"I am sure that one of us is the observed of all observers." + +"It is kind of you not to add that politeness forbids you to say +which. But what I mean is that since we began to talk I have twice +encountered a glance from the darkest eyes I ever saw." + +"They must belong to Mademoiselle DeBerczy." + +"They do. That girl's eyes and hair are black enough to cast a gloom +over the liveliest conversation." + +"But her smiles are bright enough to illumine the gloom." + +"Then it is a shame that she should waste them upon that rather +slow-looking young man in front of her. Will you take me back to my +seat and then go and see if you can release her from bondage?" + +The request was immediately acceded to, and not long afterwards Helene +DeBerczy and Edward Macleod were exchanging the light talk, not worth +reporting, that springs so easily from those whose hearts are light. + +Meantime where was Rose? To all outward appearance she was demurely +listening to the remarks of a distinguished statesman, whose opinions +were held to be of great weight, and whose form, at any rate, fully +merited this description. He was so delighted to think that one so +young and fair could be so deep. Alas! she _was_ deep in a sense the +gifted gentleman never knew. For, while the sweet head bowed assent, +and the rose-bud lips unclosed to utter such remarks as "Ah, indeed! +You surprise me!" and "Very true!" to statements of profound national +import, her maiden meditations were as free as fancy. Before her +mental vision the brilliant rooms with their gay well-dressed +assemblage melted away, and in their place was a fair green meadow, +wide and waving and deliciously cool under the declining sun of a +summer evening. The last load of the second crop of hay was on its way +to the barn, when a great longing desire took possession of her to +ride on it. She walked out to the field, very slowly and feebly, but +still she actually walked--and the whole cavalcade came to a dead stop +at sight of her, for she had never been able to go any farther than +the gate since her accident. Mr. Dunlop, and Allan, and the hired man, +and even the oxen all stopped, and looked at her as though they +expected to hear that the house was afire, or that the servant girl +had run away with the butcher's boy. But when they found that nothing +was wanted except a ride on a load of hay Mr. Dunlop said, "bless the +child!" and held her up as high as he could reach. Then Allan lifted +her the rest of the way, blushing as he did so. She remembered how +beautifully clean he looked in his white shirt sleeves, and what clear +warm shades of brown there were in the eyes and on the cheeks under +the broad straw hat. She remembered, too, with a little warmth of +feeling--not a _very_ uncomfortable warmth of feeling--how, when the +waggon made a great lurch going over a ditch, she had uttered a little +scream, and laid strenuous hands of appeal upon the white sleeved arm, +and how, when they came to another ditch, a brown palm had held fast +to her trembling hand until the danger was over. Halfway in the barn +door he made the oxen stop, until she had stood on tip toe, and put +her hand among the little swallows in a nest under the eaves. Ah, what +was there in the memory of new-mown hay to fill her with this sharp +sweet pain? She awoke from her dream to a consciousness that the +gentleman beside her was saying that it was sufficiently clear to +every enlightened understanding that unless tum tum tum tum measures +were instantly adopted mum mum mum mum would be the inevitable result. + +"Oh, no doubt of it," said Rose, and then there was a readjustment of +the group in her immediate vicinity. Lady Sarah Maitland appeared with +a bewitching smile and begged to introduce the honourable gentleman, +who had been discoursing with so much eloquence to a friend of hers. +The 'friend' hovered in the distance, but even in perspective it was +clear to be seen that he was a man of great powers of endurance. + +The honourable gentleman concealed under a flattered smile his +distaste for the proposition, and in a few moments his place was +occupied by Lady Sarah, who took one of the little hands, soft and +pink as a handful of rose-leaves, between her own. + +"I wonder if I might venture to ask a favour," she said. + +"I'm sure I should never venture to refuse it," returned the young +girl, with all a young girl's appreciation of kindness coming from a +thoroughbred woman of the world. + +"Then I wish very much that you would sing one of your favourite +songs. It would be a great pleasure to very many of us." + +"I'll not wait to be coaxed," was the reply, after a moment's +hesitation. "It is only really good singers who can afford to do +that." + +In spite of her dimpled figure and child-face, Rose Macleod had a very +stately little way with her, and it served to repel one pair of eyes +that for the first time that evening caught sight of her as she moved +towards the instrument. A little queen! That was what he had always +called her in his heart. _His_ little queen! Oh, how had he dared to +enthrone her there? Presumptuous idiot! she was as far from him as the +stars are from the weeds. But the girl at the piano thought of nothing +but the sharp, sweet odour of new-mown hay. Sharp as a sword and sweet +as love, it pierced and thrilled her being. Then, like a fragrant +blossom, a melody sprang from the hidden sources of her pain. The +sympathetic musical expressiveness of her voice, and its pure +penetrating quality filled the room, and riveted the attention of +every one in it. Others came in from adjoining rooms, until, in the +press of the throng, a young man was forced, in spite of himself, +nearer and nearer to the instrument, and found himself close beside +the fair girl-goddess of song, just as the last words left her lips. +Like one awaking from sleep she looked at him, and then the glad light +of recognition swept up to her eyes. Her dream had come true. "Oh," +she exclaimed, "it is Allan!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AFTER "THE BALL." + + +She was conscious of what she had said an instant afterwards and +blushed to the brow. If any one at that moment had asked her what's in +a name, and she had been compelled to reveal her inmost convictions, +the fair Rose, who by any other name would be as sweet, would have +answered "impropriety, embarrassment, a host of unpleasant emotions." +It was impossible to explain to him that she had been helping him to +make hay that evening in Lady Sarah Maitland's parlours, and that that +was why the name that she had heard so frequently in the meadow had +left her lips so easily and naturally that night. Better try and seem +unconscious. But unconsciousness, like happiness, comes unsought or +not at all. As for Allan, his own name had never made such music in +his ears and surely to no lone watcher waiting for the dawn could the +first blush of morn be more welcome than was to him this lovely +mantling bloom on the face of the girl he loved. + +"Charming!" "Exquisite!" "Do sing something else!" were the +exclamations rained upon her as she ceased to sing, but she looked +only to him. + +"How is it I have never heard you sing before?" he inquired, with the +applause that the others had uttered shining unspoken in his eyes. + +"You have too many professional singers about your home. I am afraid +to sing before them. Did you ever hear birds called 'the angels of +earth?'" + +"Never." + +"Well, if nobody else originated the phrase I am willing to do +so--rather than that it shouldn't be originated at all." + +"It may be a pretty idea," said Allan, "and yet it fails to suit my +critical taste." They withdrew a little from the crowd, and found a +quiet place in which to sit and chat, for now a pianist of note had +been led a willing sacrifice to the place Rose vacated. + +"You must be hard to please," said Rose. "What can be more like an +angel than a bird? It has wings, and it sings, and it is rejoicingly +happy. It seems to be particularly blest every moment of its blessed +little life." + +"Very likely. Nevertheless I think a flower much more closely +resembles an angel." + +"A flower? Why, there is scarcely a point of resemblance." + +The young man laughed, but the slight whimsical frown between his +brows deepened. + +"Now that isn't at all what I expected you to say. I thought you might +be kind enough to inquire, 'What flower?' and then I could reply, 'The +queen of flowers.'" + +Rose looked down a moment at the warm pink hands restlessly twining +and intertwining in her lap. "I am glad I did not make the inquiry," +she said. + +"You don't like clumsy compliments?" + +"I believe I don't like any kind from you." + +"Why, please?" + +"I don't know exactly, unless because it seems natural to expect +something better." + +Allan Dunlop was dimly aware that a compliment of a very high order +had been paid to himself. "Our best friends are those who compel us to +do our best," he said. "I hope you will always expect something better +of me than anything I have done." + +It was the speech of an ambitious young man. They both recognized the +note of earnestness that seemed to place them for a moment above the +frivolous crowd about them. Only for a moment; then they lapsed easily +into the light talk so natural to the occasion. + +"Have you had a pleasant evening?" he asked. + +"Very pleasant." Her mind reverted once more to her delightful +reverie, and the scent of new-mown hay was again about her. Then, as +though he could read her thoughts, she brought them back to the +present with a quick little blush, and mentioned the name of the +gentleman who had absorbed so large a part of her time, if not of her +attention, through the evening. + +"Now, why should she blush when she mentions his name?" thought poor +Allan, with a sharp jealous pang at his heart, for the man she alluded +to was an eligible bachelor, who had successfully resisted the charms +of one generation of maidens. "If you find Mr. Gallon's conversation +so interesting," he said, rather forlornly, "mine will seem dull by +contrast. What was he expatiating upon?" + +"Politics, mostly." + +"Are you interested in that subject? I think of going into politics +more deeply myself some time." + +"Do you, indeed? More than you have?" If he had spoken of going into a +decline Rose could not have looked more foreboding. Allan glanced +across half-enviously at the personage who had the power to invest +that topic with interest. "He seems to be more than usually roused +to-night." + +Rose suppressed a yawn. "Does he talk better when he is roused than he +does when he's asleep?" she asked. + +"Surely he displayed no signs of sleepiness when talking with you." + +"No; but I cannot answer for myself." + +That senseless pang of jealousy died a very easy death after all, and +the only sufferer from it would have been entirely happy were it not +for the advancing form of Commodore Macleod, who came in search of his +daughter, and bore her off with a speed that left her lover a little +chilled and daunted. + +The Canadian winter with its bright, fierce days and sparkling nights +was upon them, but it held no terrors for the young hearts who met it +in a mood as defiantly merry as its own. Only a suffering or morbid +nature sees in winter the synonym of death and decay; fancies that +mourning and desolation is the burden of the gaily whistling winds; +and regards the bare trees, rid of their dusty garments, and quietly +resting, as shivering skeletons, and the dancing snow-flakes as the +colourless pall that hides from sight all there is of life and +loveliness. Nature, when the labours of the year are over, sinks to +rest beneath her fleecy coverings, lulled to sleep in the kindly, yet +frosty, arms of the Northern tempest. What wild weird lullabies are +sung to her unheeding ears, dulled by the lethargy of sleep. How early +falls the darkness, and how late the long night lingers, the better to +ensure repose to the sweet mistress of the earth! How bright the +starry eyes of heaven keeping watch above her rest! + +The Macleods had settled in a furnished house, through which Rose had +already diffused the charm of her dainty personality. She was kneeling +before the hearth, like a young fire-worshipper, one snowy afternoon, +and thinking a little drearily that the close environment of a +snow-storm in town rendered it almost as lonely as the country, when a +visitor was announced, the sound of whose name seemed to make the +solitude populous. It was Allan Dunlop, whom she instantly forgave for +so soon availing himself of her permission to call, when she realized +how welcome a break his coming made in the cheerless monotony of the +day. He caught a glimpse of bright hair against a background of +blazing logs, and then she came forward to meet him, not eagerly, not +shyly, but with a charming manner in which both eagerness and shyness +were suggested. At that moment all the warmth and brightness of the +bleak colourless world shone for him in the eyes and hair of this +sweet girl, and in the glowing fire-place before which she drew his +chair. + +"It is exactly the sort of day on which one expects to be free from +the annoyance of callers," he said. "Ought I to apologize?" + +"By all means--instantly--and in the most profuse and elaborate +terms." She assumed her grand air, mounted a footstool, and stood +looking over his head with her saucy chin elevated, waiting for the +abject petition that did not come. The young man's heart rendered the +tribute of an unmistakable throb to its "little queen;" but emotional +declarations are out of place after a short acquaintance, especially +when there exists a decided belief that they will be listened to in an +unfriendly spirit, or, what is infinitely worse, in a friendly spirit. +It was the fear of making Rose his friend that steeled Allan's +determination to bide his time, and that rendered his present reply +rather more stiff than sensational. + +"I beg a thousand pardons," he began, when she interrupted him with-- + +"Oh, that is too many. Do try and be a little more moderate in your +demands. Would it please you to have me spend the whole afternoon in +forgiving you?" + +Allan laughed--a blithe contented little laugh. "Any way that you like +to spend the afternoon will please me," he said, "so long as I am not +deprived of your presence. Oh, not _that_ way," he added, as a little +frown crept between her golden-brown eyebrows, "that way excepted." + +"Very well. I'll not frown at you, but you must promise not to come so +near again to the verge of a compliment." + +"I promise. Anything to keep a frown from marring the--I mean from +your face. But the difficulty is to think of anything that is as easy +to say." + +"You might better remind me of my faults." + +"Oh, you could scarcely expect me to be eloquent on that subject. I +didn't know that they exist--that is to say, I am incapable of +speaking upon a subject so wide reaching and profound. Are they like +unto the snow-flakes for multitude?" + +"No, not quite so numerous, but far worse in quality. For instance, +the other day I never smiled at papa the least bit when I said, good +morning!" + +"Horrible! what an unnatural daughter!" + +"It was because he wouldn't let me dance as often as I wanted to the +night before. He said he must draw the line somewhere. It is strange +that the word _somewhere_ in that sentence invariably means the +precise point where it is most painful to have it drawn." + +Allan Dunlop, who had already had some experience of the Commodore's +ability to draw the line at the sensitive point designated by his +daughter, murmured only, "very strange." + +"Not that he was in the least unkind about it," continued Rose. "Papa +is always lovely to me, no matter how I behave." + +"Very lovely?" + +"_Very_ lovely." + +"I never before was so struck with the truths of heredity," mused the +young man. "You are exactly like him." + +"_Oh_!" the girl dropped her face in her hands a moment, and then +thrust them out with the palms toward her guest. "You have need to beg +a thousand pardons and a thousand more to cover the offences you have +committed. And you have broken your promise!" + +"What a harsh accusation! I promised not to come to the verge of a +compliment. Do you think that was on the verge?" + +"No! It was too blunt--too dreadfully--" + +"It is a pleasure to hear you so emphatically contradict an assertion +made by yourself." + +"That is a mere quibble--a legal quibble. Well, there is no doubt that +you would make a very successful lawyer." + +"Is that a compliment, or does it approach the verge of one?" + +Before this problem could be solved Herbert, who was deeply engaged in +a game of checkers with his younger sister, at the other end of the +apartment, suddenly announced: "Rose, here is Mr. Galton coming across +the street, making directly for our house." + +"Oh, dear!" was the very inhospitable exclamation of its pretty +mistress. Then as she caught an amused glance from Allan's eyes, she +added demurely, "I am so glad." + +"Perhaps it would be better for me to go." The words escaped with +obvious reluctance. + +"Better for which of us?" + +"For both, I think." + +"Your charities are conducted on too large a scale. Now, if you could +only content yourself with benefiting _one_ of us you would remain. I +have a dread of that man." + +"So have I, but from a different motive. As your dread increases, mine +grows less." + +Close analysis and consideration of this fact gave a very becoming +tint to her cheeks as she welcomed the entering guest. "Ah, Miss +Rose," he exclaimed, "blooming as ever, in spite of wintry days. Do +you know I came very near going past your door?" He allowed the +announcement of this providentially averted calamity to sink deep into +her heart, while he bowed to Allan. + +"This is an unexpected pleasure," murmured the young lady, with +sufficient formality to prevent her words from being dangerously +insincere. + +"Unexpected to you and a pleasure to me?" queried the gentleman, with +a keen glance at the pair, whose _tete-a-tete_ he had evidently +disturbed, "or do your words bear reference to the idea of seeing me +going past your door?" + +The amount of truth in these very good guesses startled the girl to +whom they were addressed into an uncomfortable sense of guilt. "How +can you accuse me of anything so horrid?" she said, drawing her chair +not far from him, and looking into his face with the appreciative air +and attitude that are not to be resisted. + +"Mr. Galton," said Herbert, who, having completed the game, and +vanquished his sister, could afford to turn his attention to the +frivolous conversation of his elders, "do you know what Rose said +when she saw you coming? She said, 'Oh, dear, I am so glad!'" + +"Herbert," implored Rose, crimsoning under these carefully reported +words, and fearing that Mr. Galton, not being aware of the motive +which prompted them, would not know whether to be ecstatic or +sarcastic, "you are a terrible boy!" + +"Herbert has done me a great kindness," exclaimed the flattered +gentleman, who considered Rose's embarrassment quite natural, and very +pleasing under the circumstances. "All my doubts of a welcome he has +happily removed." + +In the fear that these doubts might unhappily return if he were +allowed to continue conversation with a too-confiding younger brother, +Rose devoted herself with nervous intentness to his entertainment, and +succeeded brilliantly. Fragments of laughter and chat drifted across +to where Eva was trying to persuade Allan into playing checkers. + +"Just one game, please, Mr. Dunlop," pleaded the little damsel, in +resistless accents. + +"If you but knew what a wretched player I am," said the young man +gloomily. + +"Oh, _are_ you a wretched player?" she exclaimed brightly, "I am so +glad. Then there is some chance for me." She added confidentially, "I +am even more wretched." + +"I hope you may never have the same reason to be," said Allan, with a +half-suppressed glance at the lively pair near the window. + +A lover, from his very nature, must be decidedly unhappy or supremely +blest, and it is scarcely to be expected that perfect felicity can +reign in a heart whose pretty mistress is spending her smiles on +another man. Allan did not believe that Rose really cared for Mr. +Galton--he had seen too many proofs to the contrary--but he did +believe that she was giving that objectionable gentleman every reason +to think that she did care. With how many men did she pursue this +course of action, and was he to believe her guilty of careless +coquetry? Upon how many admirers may a rose breathe perfume and still +keep its innocent heart sweet for its lover? These were the questions +that rankled in his mind, while Eva set the checkers in place. + +"Perhaps I can keep you from getting a king," she said exultantly. + +"If I can only keep my queen," observed the young man absently. + +"Why, Mr. Dunlop, there are no queens in this game; it isn't like +chess." + +"There! you see how little I know about it," was the regretful reply. + +Despite this painful manifestation of ignorance the two combatants +appeared for a while to be very equally matched. Then the advantage +was clearly on Allan's side. His king committed frightful havoc among +the scattered ranks of the enemy, till suddenly, as he observed the +painful stress of attention and warm colour in the face of his fair +little foe, a strange and unaccountable languor fell upon his troops. +They seemed to care not whether they lived or died, while their +shameless commander, surveying them with anxious countenance, gave +vent to his emotion in such ejaculations as, "Dear me!" "Why didn't I +see that move?" or, "The idea of your taking two men at one jump!" At +last the announcement that he was completely vanquished was joyfully +made by Eva, and incredulously listened to by Herbert, who viewed his +sister's opponent with amazement, not unmingled with pity. + +"The battle is indeed lost!" Herbert said, quoting the historic words +in a consolatory way; "but there is time to win another." + +"I'm afraid not," said Allan, rising and preparing to depart. + +"I wish that you could have won the game, too," said Eva, suddenly +stricken with remorse in the midst of her good-fortune. + +"You are a very kind little girl. I can depend on you to consider my +feelings." + +The accent, ever so slight, upon the "you" aroused Rose's attention. +"Why, you are not going?" she exclaimed, coming towards him. + +"Such is my charitable intention," he replied, smiling with sad eyes. + +"I was only waiting for you to finish your game before bringing Mr. +Galton to the fire to talk politics with you." + +"That is a warm topic, and a warm place." + +"Perhaps Mr. Dunlop fears that we shall quarrel on the subject. You +know we are on different sides, Miss Macleod." + +"We shall hardly come to blows, I think," returned Allan, with the +look of bright good-fellowship which made him a favourite with both +political parties. + +"The idea of your quarrelling with anybody!" said Rose, as she +accompanied him to the door. + +"I may have a very serious disagreement with him some time," replied +her jealous though unacknowledged lover, "but it will not be about +politics." + +He ran hastily down the steps, unconsciously brushing against +Commodore Macleod, who favoured him with a bow of about the same +temperature as the weather. Muttering a hurried excuse, he went on +into the cold gloom of the early winter twilight, shivering slightly, +not from the chill without, but from the deadlier chill within. 'What +a pompous unbearable old fellow the elder Macleod was. How could he +endure to have him for a father-in-law? Ah! how could he endure not +to have him?' The fear that he might never stand in a closer +relationship to a man for whom he had so little liking lay heavily +upon him. + +That same evening the object of these mingled emotions laid a +detaining hand upon the shoulder of his pretty daughter as she bent to +bestow a bed-time kiss upon his grizzled moustache. "I wish to have a +little conversation with you, my dear, on a serious subject" + +"Oh, but Papa," replied the spoiled girl, "I am not at all in a +serious frame of mind." + +"It is highly probable that you will find yourself so at the end of +our talk." + +"Charming prospect! After such an inducement as that I can't resist +any longer." She sank back into a low chair near a great case of +books, for they were sitting in the cosy library. + +"I met young Dunlop coming out of the house as I was coming in," began +the Commodore. "I was sorry to see that." + +"I was sorry to see it, too, Papa, but he couldn't be persuaded to +stay longer." + +"That is not a very respectful answer to give to your old father; +nevertheless, I am glad to hear it, as it assures me that you have not +reached the point when his absence will leave you sad." + +"Oh, no! But I am willing to admit that over Mr. Galton's departure I +did come very near shedding tears--of joy." + +"I hope my little girl will have no cause to shed any other kind." + +"His little girl" endeavoured to look oracular as she replied: "That +will largely depend upon the nature of the information you are about +to communicate to me." + +"It is only a request, my dear! I wish for your own sake that you +would have as little as possible to do with that young Dunlop." + +There was an appreciable interval of silence. Rose stared hard at the +fire. Her father added, "Of course, I do not wish you to do anything +unreasonable." + +"I am sure of that," said the girl softly, "nor anything unkind." + +The gentleman stirred a little uneasily in his chair. "You must +remember," he said, "that the greatest unkindness one can do another +is to encourage false hopes in him." + +"How would you like me to treat him?" + +"Oh, my dear child, I can't tell. You know perfectly well yourself. Be +preoccupied, absent-minded, indifferent, when he comes. Make him +repeat what he says, and then answer him at random. Look as though you +had a thousand things to distract your attention, and treat him as +though he were the chair on which he is sitting." + +"And you think that would be an ample and delicate return for the +countless kindnesses shown me by himself, and his people last summer?" + +"Oh, hang himself and his people!" was the Commodore's mental comment. +Aloud he said, "Well, the young fellow could hardly leave you to +perish under the horse's heels. What he did was only common decency." + +"Then, perhaps, it would be as well to treat him with common decency. +Don't you think that desirable quality is omitted from your course of +treatment?" Her tones were those of caressing gentleness, but the +flame of the firelight was not more red than the cheek on which it +gleamed. + +"Why, bless me, Rose, I don't want you to give him the cut direct. +There is no need to put him either in paradise or the inferno. Better +adopt a happy medium." + +"Yes; but purgatory is rather an unhappy medium." + +"Well, my dear, I have nothing more to say. I suppose it is natural +that you should set aside the counsel of a man who has loved you for +nineteen years in favour of the attention of one who has known you +about the same number of weeks." + +"Papa, you are unjust!" The repressed tears came at last, but they +were dried as quickly as they dropped. + +"Can't you understand," he continued in a softened tone, "that I would +willingly give him anything in return for his kindness--except my +eldest daughter?" + +"That is a gift he would never value. A society man might do so, but +the idea of a young fellow of talent and energy and ambition and +brains looking at a little goose like me!" + +The Commodore laughed. "No doubt it would be a great hardship for him +to look at you; but young men of talent, ambition and that sort of +thing are not afraid of hardship. In fact they grow to love it. So you +think he would not value the gift?" He laughed again very heartily. + +"I am perfectly certain," declared the young girl, with impressive +earnestness, "that he will never stoop to ask you for it." + +"Then there is nothing more to be said," replied the Commodore, with +an air of great relief. "The whole question could not be more +satisfactorily settled. You are my own loyal little girl and--and you +don't think me a dreadfully cross old bear, do you?" + +She went straight to his arms. "How can I help it," she asked, with +her customary bright smile, "when you give me such a bearish hug?" + +But alone in her room, the smile vanished in a tempest of fast-coming +tears. There was a reason for them, but she was unconscious of it +then. Later she discovered it to lie in the fact that in her heart of +hearts she was not a "loyal little girl" at all, but an "out and out +little traitor and rebel." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A KISS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + + +It was late afternoon in a Canadian midwinter day. Cold and still, +with a coldness so intense that the blinding brightness of the sun +made no discernable impression on the densely packed snow, and with a +stillness absolutely undisturbed by any slightest breath of blustering +wind. Before the early twilight came, Rose Macleod, wrapped in furs +from dainty head to well-booted feet, ran lightly down stairs, tapping +softly at the library door on the way. + +"I am all ready, Papa," she said, illumining the room for a moment +with a pair of dark blue eyes and crimson cheeks. "Don't you think it +will be a beautiful night?" + +"Very beautiful, and cold enough to kill an Esquimaux. I confess it +would be a pleasure to know that in a few hours you would be safe +under the blankets instead of junketing over at Madame DeBerczy's." + +"I shall be just as safe under the buffalo robes, just as warm, and a +great deal happier." + +"Very well; be off then. By the way, how many are in your party?" + +"Oh, nearly a dozen at least." + +"Then there is a possibility that you will not all perish. Tell the +survivors to report themselves here as early tomorrow morning as +possible." + +There was a sound of bells and a mingling of merry voices as a +sleigh-load of young people drove up to the door, and waited for Rose +to join them. "Delays are dangerous," observed Edward, as his sister, +after opening the door, was suddenly stung by the reflection that she +had not taken a last comprehensive view of herself in the glass, and +turned to the hall mirror to rectify the omission. + +"Particularly, when it is below zero," said another. + +"What is she doing now?" patiently inquired a third. + +"Airing the hall," responded a girlish voice. "Oh, no, she is really +coming! Rose," she called, "come and sit by me." + +"No, there is more room here," said another voice; while still another +exclaimed, "I have been keeping such a cosy little corner here for +you." + +She stood in smiling hesitancy a moment, when her hand, from which she +had removed the glove in order to adjust an unruly hair-pin, was taken +by another hand, firm and warm and gloveless, and she was drawn almost +unconsciously to the side of its owner. It was Allan Dunlop who had +thus taken summary possession of her, and incurred a little of her +dignified displeasure. + +"You left me no room for choice," she said in a slightly offended +tone. + +"I beg your pardon, I was thinking only of leaving you room for a +seat." + +She was silent. It was very difficult to keep this young man at a +distance, when there was such a very little distance between them, and +yet she must be true to the promise tacitly given to her father. She +must be cool, indifferent, uninterested. "It isn't a matter of any +importance," she said absently. + +"I'm afraid it is to me," he continued in a lower tone, "I know +scarcely a soul here, and declined Edward's invitation to join you on +that account." + +"Oh, it is very easy to become acquainted with a sleighing-party." She +greeted the two young ladies on the other side of him, and introduced +him to them. They were refined, attractive-looking girls, but they had +a fatal defect. They absorbed social heat and light instead of +radiating them. It seemed as though they might be saying: "There, now, +you got us into an unpleasant situation by inviting us here, and it's +your duty to make us happy; but we're not having a good time at all, +and we'd like to know what you're going to do about it." Allan did the +best he could, not half-heartedly, for he was accustomed to do +thoroughly whatever he attempted, and his success was marked. Those +grave girls, who, heretofore, had always seemed to be haunted by some +real or fancied neglect, were in a gale of semi-repressed merriment. +The mirth was infectious, and as the horses flew over the frozen road, +the gay jingle of bells mingled happily with the joyous laughter of +young voices. Poor Rose, whose natural love for society and capacity +for fun-making had induced her to set very pleasant hopes upon this +sleigh-ride, found herself, much to her surprise, the only silent one +of the company. With Allan's gracefully unconcerned personality on one +side, a middle-aged lady of rather severe aspect--the matron of the +party--on the other, and just opposite a pair who were very agreeably +and entirely engaged _with_ as well as _to_ each other, all means of +communication seemed to be hopelessly cut off. It was really very +unreasonable for Allan to act in this way. He was saving her the +trouble of treating him badly and keeping him at a distance; but, +strange to say, there are some disagreeable duties of which one does +not wish to be relieved. If it were possible to be overwhelmingly +dignified when one is buried shoulder deep in bear and buffalo +skins--but that was out of the question. + +The clear crystalline day began to be softly shadowed by twilight. +Behind them lay the town, its roofs and spires robed in swan's-down, +while on all sides the fallen logs and deep underbrush, the level +stubbles and broad irregular hollows, and all the vast sweep of dark +evergreen forest, melting away in immeasurable distance, was a +dazzling white waste of snow. In the bright moonshine it sparkled as +though studded with innumerable stars. Above them was a marvellously +brilliant sky. + +Suddenly, under a group of trees that stretched their ghostly arms +across the roadway, the cavalcade came to a full stop; and Edward, who +was driving, looked round with a face of gloomy foreboding at the +merrymakers. + +"What is the matter?" demanded half-a-dozen voices. + +"We shall have to go back," announced the young man, with a look of +forced resignation. + +"Go back!" echoed the same voices an octave higher, "why, what has +happened?" + +"Nothing, except that Rose ought to take another look at herself in +the hall mirror. There is something fatally wrong with her appearance." + +"About which part of my appearance?" demanded the young lady, who was +too well acquainted with her brother to be at all surprised or +disturbed by anything he could say. + +"I don't know, I'm sure. Perhaps its the _tout ensemble_. Yes, that's +just what it is." + +"Do drive on, Edward, and don't be ridiculous. It's too cold to +discuss even so important a subject as that." + +"I am sure you must be suffering from the cold." It was Allan who +spoke, turning round to her in a tone of quick, low tenderness. + +"Not in the least!" Every small emphatic word was keen and hard as a +piece of ice. Then, in the white moonlight, she confronted something +that made her heart sink, it was the unmistakable look of mental +suffering, a look that showed her that he at any rate was suffering +from the cold--the sharp stinging cold of a winter whose beginning was +pressing bitterly upon them, whose end, so far as they could see, was +death. + +The mansion of Madame DeBerczy sent out broad shafts of light through +its many windows to welcome the latest addition to the brilliant +throng already assembled in its ample interior. Madame herself was +superb in a regal-looking gown that became her aristocratic old +countenance as a rich setting becomes an antique cameo. Her stately +rooms were aglow with immense fire-places, each holding a small +cart-load of hissing and crackling wood, the reflected light gleaming +brightly from the shining fire-irons, while a number of brass +sconces--the picturesque chandeliers of the past--polished to the +similitude of gold, were softly shimmering overhead. The beautiful +English furniture of the last century, artistic yet home-like; the old +world cabinets, covered with surface carving, solid yet graceful in +appearance; tiles, grave and cheerful in design, set into oaken +mantel-pieces; peacock coloured screens, and ample crimson curtains, +edged with heavy silken borders of gold, all lent their aid to +brighten and enrich the rooms that to-night were graced by some of the +best society from Upper Canada's; most ambitious little town of York. +Mademoiselle Helene, beautiful in a blush rose gown, with a few +star-shaped flowers of the same shade in her silky hair, was the +magical living synthesis of this small world of warmth and colour in +the eyes of her lover. These eyes were more than usually brilliant +from his long ride in the keen air, and the yellow locks upon the +smooth white brow were several noticeable inches above the heads of +those around him. As he walked down the crowded rooms, in enviable +proximity to the blushing dress, his handsome face and half careless, +half military air drew the attention of more than one bright pair of +eyes. + +"Rather a pretty boy," commented a pompous-looking gentleman, +patronizingly. + +"But entirely too fair," was the disapproving response of the critical +young lady beside him, whose own complexion and opinion were certainly +free from the undesirable quality she referred to. "Of course, a pink +face is attractive--in a doll." + +"Then the daughter of our hostess escapes the imputation of being +doll-like." + +"Oh, she is quite too overgrown for that. It's a pity she has that +peculiar complexion through which the blood never shows." + +In another group, an enthusiastic young creature whispered to her +mother: "Mamma, do notice Miss DeBerczy's face; white as a cherry +blossom, and her lips the cherries themselves. Isn't she just like +a picture?" + +"Yes, dear," drawled mamma, adjusting her eye-glass with an air of +rendering impartial justice, "like a very ill-painted picture. Why +don't she lay on her colours a little more artistically?" + +"Oh, she doesn't lay them on, they're natural." + +"Well, Lena, you should not be so quick to notice and comment upon +natural defects. Not one of us is free from them, and it is +uncharitable and unkind to make them the subject of remark." + +Thus silenced and put in the wrong the young lady ventured nothing +further. + +"Edward," said Helene, later in the evening, "really you ought to +dance with somebody else. There are dozens of charming girls here." + +"Which dozen did you wish me to dance with?" + +"Don't be nonsensical, please. Haven't you any preference?" + +"Oh, decidedly, yes." He glanced at a _petite_ maiden, whose figure +and movements were light and fairy-like. "But I'm afraid she would +refuse me." + +"I don't think she would." + +"That isn't sufficient. My vanity is painfully sensitive to the +smallest danger of slight." + +The fairy-like person had unconsciously assumed an appreciative, not +to say sympathetic, expression. Helene smiled. "Your fears are very +becoming to your youth and modesty, but I think I may go so far as to +say I am sure she will not refuse." + +"That is joyful news." Another set was forming, and he rose with hand +extended to Helene. "You said you were sure she would not refuse," he +responded to her look of blank amaze; and then, as she yielded to the +irresistible entreaty in his eyes, he murmured softly, "How could you +imagine I had any other preference but you?" + +"One imagines a great many strange things," she replied. "Once I +fancied that you preferred an Indian girl." + +"_How could you_!" he repeated with intense emphasis. All that part of +his life seemed vague and far away as though he had dreamed it in some +prehistoric period of his existence. It refused to take the hues and +proportion of reality. Yes, that was nothing but a wild fantastic +dream--the sort of dream from which one wakes with a wretchedly bad +taste in the mouth. This rare girl, with the flower-like curves and +colours, was the only reality. And yet, was she reality? Her dress, +wreathed flame-like from warm white shoulders to satin shod feet, lay +in rich glowing lengths upon the waxed and polished floor. Her +beautiful head, too heavily weighted with braids and coils of raven +blackness, swayed slumberously upon the dainty white neck, and he +could not tell whether he better liked to see the dark lashes lying +upon her cheeks or uplifted to reveal the magical eyes beneath. He was +very much in love. The soft intoxicating strains of music went to his +head like wine. He was powerless to struggle against the thrilling +illusion of the hour. When the others returned to their seats or +promenaded the brilliant rooms they escaped alone and unobserved into +the conservatory. Here they beheld the greatest possible contrast to +the desolate wintry waste without. The air was heavy and languorous +with the odour of tropic flowers. The music, almost oppressive in the +crowded parlours, melted deliciously upon the ear as they wandered +away. Helene, when she noticed that they were quite alone, suffered a +vague alarm. She told herself in one moment that it was not possible +that Edward would choose this opportunity for a formal declaration of +his love, and the next moment she reminded herself that impossible +things are the ones that frequently come to pass. The idea, like an +ill-shaped burden, pressed uncomfortably upon her. + +A maiden's heart, like a summer night, knows and loves its own secret. +All through the mysterious deep hours of sleep it holds the secret +closely wrapped in darkness, pure as the dew on the grass, innocent as +the little leaves in the forest, glorious as the countless stars of +heaven. Some time, and soon enough, the dawn will come. Then the stars +will pale before a glory more intense, the countless little leaves, +like delicate human emotions, will wake and stir, and the white mists +of maidenliness will be warmed with heavenly radiance. But after +sunrise comes the day--the long prosaic day of duty and denial, of +work and its rewards, of sober, plain realities. Why should the night +of mystery and beauty hasten towards the common light? Her being +thrilled under the first faint approaches of the dawn, and yet--yet a +little longer, oh, ardent, impetuous, all-conquering Sun! It seemed as +though the girl's very soul were pleading. The rich-hued, +fragrance-laden flowers in the sweet dim place bent their heads to +listen, but her impassioned lover paid no heed to the unspoken prayer. +The sense of her beauty--of her unsurpassable charm, mingled with the +voluptuous music--pierced his heart with insupportable pain. Could she +not feel his unuttered love? Her lily-like face was cool and pale, but +in that warm-coloured robe it seemed as though her very body blushed. +In leaning over to reach a peculiar flower that attracted her +attention, a little wave of her gown rested upon his knee, and it +seemed to his infatuated vision that the insensate fabric throbbed as +well as glowed from the momentary contact. Helene kept up a continual +flow of small talk, of which he heard not a syllable. Rising hurriedly, +her long train caught in a low branch that stretched across the walk, +and he bent to extricate it. + +"How is it that you dare to touch the hem of my garment?" she demanded +laughingly. + +"Oh, I can dare more than that," he cried. The conviction that she +loved him, as indeed she did, gave him a sort of desperate courage. He +took her in his arms and held her close, kissing her passionately on +lips and eyes and soft white shoulders. She neither moved nor spoke, +but stood, when he released her, confronting him with a sort of +frigid, fascinated stare. "Oh, what have I done? Helene," he exclaimed +tremblingly. "I thought you loved me." + +"_I_?" she questioned with haughty disdain, "_love_?" she demanded +with incredulous contempt, "_you_?" + +The concentrated fires of her wrath and scorn were heaped upon this +final monosyllable. Every word was a fierce insulting interrogation. +Surely the traditional "three sweet words" had never before been +uttered with such tragic effect. She stood before him a living statue +of outraged pride, clothed in a fiery robe of righteous indignation; +then she turned and passed out of his sight, leaving the young man to +his reflections. + +They were bitter enough in all truth. He still cared for Helene, he +loved her as he loved himself. But it is only fair to add that he held +himself in the very smallest estimation. He had acted like a drunken +fool. How would he like any man alive to treat his little Rose in that +style? But then she might have behaved reasonably about it. She had +trampled on his heart, and left it sore and bruised and bleeding. Very +well, he was not a child to cry out when he was hurt. He went back to +the gay throng, and saw, as in a cruel dream, the girl who despised +him scattering profuse smiles upon others. No matter! Nothing could +possibly be of any importance now. Rose was making her way with some +difficulty towards him. How wan and tired she looked. Was it possible +that any one besides himself was suffering? The idea was absurd. + +"Isn't it time for us to go, Edward?" she said. "Madame DeBerczy has +invited our party to remain over to-morrow, but I promised papa not to +desert him any longer than was strictly necessary." Edward found the +proposition a most welcome one. They could not leave Oak Ridges too +soon, nor remain away from it too long. + +His sister's drooping little figure attracted the attention of Helene. +"Do you talk of going?" Helene asked. "Well, so you shall go--to bed; +and the very first bed we come to." She bent caressingly over the +little golden head of her friend. Their beautiful arms were +interlinked. Rose glanced irresolutely at her brother. + +"You will need to put on the extra wraps you brought," he said, "as it +is particularly cold at this hour of the morning." Helene was ignored +utterly. He did not seem to know that she was present. The proud girl +was wounded to the quick. She was not visible at their leave-takings. +When every one was gone she went away upstairs, telling herself at +every step that she hated, hated, Edward Macleod; that he was in all +things and in every way detestable. She did not weep nor bewail. The +tears showed as seldom in her eyes as the blood in her cheeks, and her +pride was of the inflexible sort that scorns to relax when its +possessor is alone. She dropped into a heavy troubled sleep, and +dreamed that she was solitary in a frozen land, whose only sunshine +was the golden head of her lover. In the strange fantastic manner of +dreams he seemed to be a very little child, whose light warm weight +lay along her arms, close to the heart above which he had pressed +those burning kisses. It was bitter cold; but the whole scene was like +a picture of winter. She could not feel it--she could feel nothing but +the aching of her own heart, the warm breath growing ever warmer, and +the clinging hands, clinging ever closer, of the child she loved. The +sense of delicious languor changed to a feeling of heaviness--almost +suffocation. Every golden hair of the head upon her breast pierced her +like a ray of brightest sunshine. Hastily putting him from her she +fled away with the wintry winds, herself as wild and swift and +soulless as they. But presently coming to look for the child, and +unable to find him, she realized that he was lost, and then she woke, +trembling with deep, tearless sobs. + +"What is it, my dearest?" called Madame DeBerczy from the next room. + +"Nothing, mother, dear, but a troubled dream." + +"Ah, it is the excitement of these late hours. Try to sleep again." + +But Helene could sleep no more. A few days later she heard that Edward +Macleod, with a party of friends, had gone on a shooting expedition to +the Muskoka country. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +RIVAL ATTRACTIONS. + + +The current of a strong human affection, when it is thrown back upon +itself, must find vent in another direction. The weakest stream of +passion, when its chosen course is impeded by an immovable obstacle, +does not sink by gentle degrees into the earth, and thus, lost to +sight, become merely a thing of memory. There is disturbance and +disorder; banks are overflowed; and fields, once made fruitful and +beautiful by the softly-flowing river, lie sodden and unwholesome, +flooded by the dangerous waves. For days and nights Edward's brain was +surging with the sound of rushing waters. The tumultuous feelings so +strongly excited, so completely overthrown that evening in the +conservatory with Helene, would not subside. They beat upon his +desolate heart in great waves of rage, remorse, despair, and love, +like the beating of lonely waters upon a shipwrecked shore. + +Hence it was that he welcomed the idea conveyed in a letter from a +friend in Barrie that they, with another boon companion, should go +hunting in Muskoka. Edward wrote an immediate agreement to the +proposition, mentioning Pine Towers as the place most convenient for +them to meet and lay plans for future action. He at once made +preparations to depart, for the idea of delay was intolerable to him. +The very atmosphere of the town was poisonous--the demands of society +not to be tolerated. He told his family that his old longing for the +wilds had come upon him, the sort of _ennui_ that nothing but the +odour of the woods could cure. The close of the day following found +him on the frozen shores of Kempenfeldt Bay, now clasped in the icy +arms of winter. The wind was wild among the leafless trees along the +avenue, but the desolation of his home was a visible response to the +sorer desolation of his heart. + +The two or three old servants remaining in the lonely house were +delighted to see the young master home again. Olympia, the coloured +cook, whose high-sounding cognomen was usually reduced to Olly, gave +him a welcome equal to what might be expected from a whole plantation +of darkies. Her eyes and teeth shone in perpetual smiles, her gaily +turbaned head and dusky hands gesticulated in perfect time to the +exclamations poured out upon him. + +"Well, my soul!" she cried; "well, my soul! Marse Ed., its good to see +you home again. Come in, chile, come right in! How mis'able you do +look to be sure. Just like a ghost, so cold and white. Shan't I mix +you a little something warm?" + +"Oh, no, Olly, I'm all right; just a little tired after my long +journey, that's all." + +She recognized the lifelessness in his tone, the jaded look and air of +one who is fighting a hard battle in the face of sure defeat. "You's +sick, honey," she exclaimed, with the ready sympathy of her race, "and +you's come back to old Olly to take care ob you. Dat's right, chile, +I'll just mix you a little warm--" + +"Oh, dear, no, Olly, thank you; its comfort enough just to be quiet +and to be at home." + +She left him in the parlour, but he pushed on after her into the great +fire-lit kitchen, partly because he detested the society of his own +thoughts, partly because it suited his present mood to be made much of +by the kindly old woman, to whom his mother all her life had been a +"chile." It was almost like being a boy again to sit in the chimney +corner and tell old Olly the story of his journey in all its details. +But before the recital was half-finished, something stirred in the +semi-darkness, on the other side of the fire-place. + +"Why, bress my heart," said Olly, "I t'ought you was a dog, Wanda, you +sat dat quiet. What's de matter wid you, gal? Whar's your manners?" + +The graceful shrinking figure would gladly have escaped out of sight, +but at the sound of her name Edward came forward to greet the Indian +girl. Olly, with many muttered protestations against the rudeness +shown to her young mahs'r, lifted the trap-door, and vanished down +cellar. The pale life-weary young man was alone with the sweet womanly +savage. + +He held the little hand she offered him very closely and kindly. + +"Are you glad to see me, Wanda?" he asked. + +That was the keynote of his mental state. He was not glad to see +anyone or anything, but he was still interested to know that someone +cared for him. In his present mood it was certainly more pleasant to +feel that others were kindly disposed towards him than that they were +indifferent. The Algonquin maiden, on her side, was filled with a soft +delicious emotion. In the summer, when this daring young man pursued +her, she repulsed him; but in the winter, when he left her, she +thought of him. The natural result of her meditations upon so +fascinating a subject it is not difficult to conjecture. She began to +believe in the reality of his regard for her, and to fancy that he had +left her because of her harshness, of which he had frequently +complained. Now, could it be possible that his coming had anything to +do with the thought of her? Yes, she replied, she was glad to see him; +her blushing beautiful face gave eloquent testimony to the fact. He +released her then, and followed Olly into the dining-room, where a +small but sumptuous repast was laid, for nothing in the house above +nor in the cellar beneath was considered too good for young mahs'r. +"You'd be sprised, Marse Ed.," confided the old woman, "de improvement +made by dat chile since I took her in han'. It jus' went agin my +stomach to see her runnin' wild, widout a frien' in de worl', cept +dose heathen Injuns. She t'ought a heap ob yer mudder, an' I could'nt +tell her 'nough about her. Dat gave me a holt on her, you see, and +dars no denyin' she's changed a lot since las' summer." + +"Tell her to come in here," said Edward, "and I'll judge for myself." + +So in a few moments she came in, though with obvious reluctance, and +took the chair that Edward placed for her at the table. It was a novel +experience to the young man to find his wishes so implicitly obeyed by +this hitherto almost unapproachable girl. He felt disposed to exercise +this wonderful newly-acquired authority. "You must eat something, +Wanda," he observed; "I dislike to eat alone." + +This was the sharpest test that could have been applied to the +improvement he wished to discover, but the girl's incomparable native +grace never failed her. It was impossible that she should either +lounge in her chair or sit stiffly erect in it. Her use of knife and +fork was marked, not by awkwardness but by extreme deliberation, and +careful observation of the manner in which Edward wielded his own. She +wore a dark grey dress, which he dimly remembered to have seen on his +sister Rose, and which that young lady had altered to fit the +Algonquin girl. The entire absence of colour in the dress intensified +by contrast the rich hues of cheek and lip, and the deep blackness of +eyes and hair. The only detail of her appearance which displeased his +taste was the strings of cheap glass beads wound about neck and waist. +Was there a vein of cheapness and vulgarity in her character to +correspond with this outward manifestation? He believed not. It was so +easy to believe everything that was good of this shy sweet personage. +He examined her narrowly and critically in the new and remarkable +_role_ she was compelled to play as the guest and equal of himself. +There was a surprising almost ludicrous similarity between the native +unconsciousness and dignity of the Indian and that of certain +high-bred dames whereof he knew, and yet there was about her the +unmistakable something that proved her wholly unversed in the ways of +society. Her dainty hands were very brown; her manner without being +constrained was certainly not easy; and her expression was that of a +bird, one moment resigned to imprisonment, the next panting for +liberty. In one word she was untamed. But was she untamable? His heart +beat faster at the thought. When the tea things were removed he threw +himself upon the couch; while the girl, sitting before the blazing +hearth, took between her hands and drew upon her knees the slender +head of his favourite hound. They made a striking picture, and the +blue, beauty-loving eyes of the spectator looked longingly upon it. +The dark lovely face bent forward seemed more childish in its soft +curves since the capacity to love and suffer had wakened in her +breast. Her sweet lips trembled with repressed feeling. + +"Wanda," said Edward, "don't waste caresses on that unthankful brute. +He doesn't need them." + +She looked at him with wide startled eyes. "Come to _me_," he breathed +in resistless accents. "Ah, Wanda, you pitied me once when I had a +scratch on my hand. Can not you pity me now when I have a sword in my +heart?" + +It was not love that called her; it was the despairing cry of one who +was perishing to be loved. She rose after a moment, steadying herself +by a hand on the chair-back, for her beautiful frame was swayed by +irresolution, love, shame and pride. Slowly, very slowly, with the +sweet uncertain footsteps of a baby that fears to tread the little +distance between itself and the waiting irresistible arms of love, she +came towards him. It seemed at every moment that she must break away +and fly, as she had flown from him in the woods of summer. When she +reached his side her proud head fell, then the drooping shoulders bent +lower and lower till the uncertain knees at last failed her, and she +sank trembling on the cushion at his side with her arms about his +face. It was the attitude of protection, not that of a weak craving +for it. The fierce pain for which he asked her pity could arise from +nothing else but his love for her. This was the reasoning of the +simple savage--a reasoning that reached the hitherto unsounded depths +of passion and pathos in her nature. The young man, who bore in his +heart a bitter recollection of the scornful repulse offered by one +beautiful girl, could not resist the matchless tenderness so freely +given by another. He laid his face wearily against her arm, and she +bent over him murmuring words of uncontrollable love and pity. + +Afterwards he asked himself what in the name of all the powers of evil +he meant by it; but this was some days afterwards. A long tramp +through the frozen woods in search of game had brought him a single +wild animal and a great many sober thoughts. In the rough log house in +which he and his companions were camping for a week, there was neither +room nor opportunity for private meditation; but the conviction came +to him with the luminous abruptness of lightning that he had used this +ignorant girl merely as a salve for his wounded vanity, and cruelly +deceived her by so doing. Not that his early passion for the Indian +girl had died a natural death. On the contrary it had been fanned into +fresh flame by the novel charm of her sweet approachableness. None the +less, but rather all the more clearly, he saw the detestable +selfishness of his own course. But, unfortunately, his tenderness for +her kept pace with his self-contempt. His feelings toward Helene and +Wanda at the present moment were just such as a man might entertain +toward the enemy who had conquered him, and the woman who, in his +greatest need, had succoured and saved him. For the one a bitterness +that could not rise to the crowning revenge of forgiveness, for the +other a passion of gratitude that would last a life-time. + +"It appears to me," said Ridout, who was the most outspoken of the +party, "that we have a precious dull time of it in the evenings. +Macleod, here, is about as talkative as the deer he has slain." + +The trio had been smoking in silence before a huge fire, but this +reference to Edward's great exploit of the day roused them to +conversation. + +"It is no unusual thing for Macleod to distinguish himself in that +direction," said Boulton, the elder of the two. "He has long been +known as the champion _dear_-killer." + +This wretched attempt at a pun was loftily ignored by the subject of +it. + +"Alas, 'tis too true!" mourned the other. "Come, Ned, try to be +entertaining for once; tell us about the pretty Indian girl you were +mooning with." + +"What did you say?" demanded Edward, freezingly. + +"You heard perfectly well what I said." + +"What do you mean by it?" + +"Oh, I _mean_ the pretty squaw you were _spooning_ with, if that suits +you better." + +"Gently, Tom," interposed Boulton parenthetically, "don't mention +_all_ the meanness you mean." + +"I would like to inquire what right you have to mention any of it," +exclaimed Edward wrathfully. + +"Oh, none--none, whatever. Only it was town talk in Barrie last Fall +that you had become infatuated with the sweet little squaw to such an +extent that your charming sister, with commendable prudence and +foresight, had you put out of harm's way as speedily as possible. +There's no accounting for such reports." + +"I don't understand it at all," said Edward, with mingled anger and +humiliation. "How can people be so silly?" + +"Exactly what your slanderers inquired of each other. Impossible to +tell what they meant." The young man laughed rather disagreeably as he +went off to bed. + +"Look here, Ned," said Boulton, bringing a sympathetic hand down upon +his friend's shoulder, "don't you take any notice of what Tom Ridout +or any of his set may say. Of course every young fellow makes a fool +of himself _some time_, in _some_ direction; it's natural and proper, +and just what is expected of him. All is he shouldn't make a complete +fool of himself, and nobody believes that of you." + +"Ugh!" said Edward, and relapsed into gloomy silence, from which he +awoke to find himself alone, with the candle sputtering in its socket. +He took off his boots, and threw one of them viciously, but with +unerring aim, at the expiring light, and so went despondently to bed. + +"Our fair friend appears to be quite as susceptible to the remarks +made upon his wild-wood acquaintance as to the wild-wood acquaintance +herself." This was the observation of Ridout, as he and Boulton went +the following morning to investigate the trap they had set. + +"Don't be a fool, Tom," said Boulton, with a perfectly unruffled face +and tone, "that is, any more of one than you can help. Of course every +young cub like you is expected to be one to a certain extent, but what +I mean is don't be a _big_ one." + +It was impossible to be angry with words so placidly spoken. "I don't +know what can make you so wondrous kind to Macleod," said Ridout, +"unless it is a fellow-feeling, and I wouldn't have thought that of +you, Boulton. But look here," surveying the empty trap with boyish +disgust, "nothing taken in but ourselves! Well, we'll have to make it +unpleasant for Tommy. That's the only comfort left us." + +Tommy was the coloured boy, who was cook, housekeeper and general +factotum for the three. When ill-luck overtook them it was felt to be +some slight compensation to be at liberty to make it unpleasant for +Tommy. But one day, towards the end of their self-imposed exile, it +stormed so heavily and incessantly that they were compelled to remain +within doors, and here Tommy's unfailing good-nature deprived the +abuse with which he was heaped of all its power to charm and console. +On the principle which governs the selection of a victim by the +shipwrecked and storm-beaten remnant of a crew at sea, there was +nothing more natural than that Edward Macleod should fall a prey to +the general famishing desire for amusement. Boulton had been idly +humming the air of an Indian love-song, in which Ridout joined aloud, +substituting the name of Wanda for that of the ideal heroine. As the +sentiment of the song was of the most languorous and 'die-away' sort +it was impossible that the two men should abstain from mingling their +smiles. The conclusion of the singing was followed by a few remarks +from Ridout, one of which provoked a shout of uproarious laughter. For +a moment Edward's face was alive with intense suffering; the next it +had paled and hardened into marble-like rigidity. + +"I wonder if either of you are aware," he said, with cold distinctness +of utterance, "that the subject of your conversation is to be my wife." + +Tom Ridout stared a moment in unbelieving amazement, and then blushed +to the eyes. "I beg your pardon," he stammered, "I never thought--I +didn't dream--" He broke down completely, unable to grasp the +statement that shed such a different light upon their idle talk. +Boulton was not subject to fluctuation of emotion, and there was no +visible manifestation of a change in his feelings. The match he struck +while Edward was speaking went out. He reached for another; it also +went out. + +"It seems to me," he said mildly, taking his unlighted pipe from his +lips, "that these are the worst matches I ever saw." + +Ridout had recovered some of his usual self-assurance. "It seems to +_me_," he declared boldly, "that it's the worst match I ever heard +of." + +"Worst or best," said Edward, with dogged resolution, "it will be +necessary for you to speak of it with respect--in my presence." + +This seemed to be the end of the matter; but Boulton, who had at last +got his pipe agoing, could not forbear offering a few final words on +the subject. + +"It's all right, Ned," he remarked, in his gentlest and kindest tones, +"perfectly right and natural that a young fellow should make a fool +of himself. That's exactly what's expected of him. But it isn't +necessary that he should make an _everlasting_ fool of himself. +Not--strictly--necessary." + +Edward rose and left the room. + +To leave the room in a region upon which unpicturesque prosperity has +not yet descended is equivalent to leaving the house, and that is +exactly what the young man did. Of course there was a loft above that +was reached by a perilously steep pair of stairs; but he was not a cur +to creep away into a kennel. He went out and battled with the pitiless +storm, a fiercer storm beating within his breast than that which raged +without. The crazy words he had just uttered were not spoken simply to +stop the idle talk of his companions; they were the ultimate +expression of the thoughts over which he had brooded for days past. +Helene was dead to him, and her mocking ghost haunted the desolate +chambers of his heart, filling them with scornful laughter. But now +upon the door of this wretched habitation had timidly knocked another +guest--a guest of blooming and throbbing flesh and blood. Should he +deny her admittance? Unlearned was she as one of the shy birds of the +forest, but then she was eminently teachable. If his love for her +could not be called a liberal education was it not something better? +Was it not a liberal and lasting joy? After all, what did women know, +any way? A few miserable half-learned accomplishments, the aggregate +of which did not amount to so much as the eagle's feather on the proud +little head of his darling. Yes, he dared to say it--his darling! He +pictured her in winter as sitting by his side, before the fire, the +delicate head of his pet dog encircled by her arm; in summer they +would roam in blest content together through the endless forests of +this beautiful new world. + +And so with all his doubts triumphantly set aside he returned to the +house, and during the remainder of their stay his continued flow of +exuberant good spirits seemed to confirm the rightfulness of his +conclusions. On his way back to York he stopped a few hours at his old +home, for the sake of a brief stolen interview with Wanda. She met him +with little low murmurs of tenderness and joy, and parted from him as +a girl parts from the man in whose love she has absolute confidence, +for whose sake she would willingly die. + +When he reached home, his appearance of high health and persistent +overflow of liveliness were ascribed by his family to continuous +out-door exercise, nor did they dream that the sweet fever and +delirium of love was upon him. Rose gave him an anxious glance or two, +but poor Rose had trouble enough of her own. That cold night at the +Oak Ridges, which had completely killed Edward's hopes with regard to +Helene, had cast a light but lasting frost over her own. It had been +painful enough to avoid Allan, but it was no less painful to be +deprived of that privilege. The truth was he had given her very few +opportunities to put into practice the course of treatment recommended +by her father. Had she been the heroine of a novel there would +inevitably have been misunderstandings of the most serious and +complicated character. But she was mortal, and withal a very +tender-hearted little maiden, and the secret of her cold tones and +wistful glances, though for a while it sorely puzzled Allan, was at +last divined by the sure intuition of love. They met frequently at +various social gatherings, but it was as though a solid sheet of glass +intervened between them. Through this apparently impalpable medium +they could see, and smile, and speak, but no tender touch of palm, or +breath of love, or thrill of quickened heart-beat could be felt +between. How many times had Allan Dunlop been tempted to outstretch +his hand and shatter this glassy surface! It were easily done but at +the price of possible sharp pain and aching wounds, and the greater +horror of seeing the sweet grieving face on the other side shrink away +from him, startled by the shock. No, he would bide his time. And so, +while his eyes grew hollow, his close shut lips remained very +resolute. Love _can_ wait (though waiting is the hardest task ever +assigned it), but only on condition that it is given the food it needs. + +Allan kept his love alive on glimpses of sunny hair, and sad little +smiles, and fragments of talk, that, light and conventional as they +might seem to chance listeners, were to him clothed with lovely hidden +meanings. Sometimes when the eyes met by chance the small warm hands +plucked nervously at the flowers she carried, or there was a restless +consciousness in step and glance, or a scarcely perceptible quiver of +the curved lip, or a piteous droop of the regal little head. Very +slight things were these, yet out of them Memory and Imagination made +a sumptuous feast, at which Love, like a starveling prince in exile, +sat down with never sated appetite. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +MUDDY LITTLE YORK. + + +If the course of true love could be persuaded to forsake its ancient +uncomfortable method in favour of a single harrassed lover, surely the +trials of Allan Dunlop might soften its harsh turbulence, and move it +to a gentler flow. Rose was devoted to her father, and the tie between +them, made stronger by her mother's death, was not of a nature to be +affected by the sighing breath of a mere lover. Then she was as +lovable as she was lovely, and there was nothing in the cordial liking +of a host of friends to encourage the growth of any morbid desire for +the affection of a poor and insignificant outsider. There were other +insurmountable points on the mountain chain of circumstance that lay +between him and his heart's dearest wish. The Commodore's inherent +reverence for birth and breeding, and his comparative indifference to +brain, was one of them. The obstinate pride of Allan's undistinguished +and ambitious self was another. + +Of all sorts of pride the sort that goes with inferiority, not of +person, or behaviour, or talents, but of mere social position, is the +most inveterate. This unreasonable feeling was the mightiest of all +the obstructions that, mountain-like, lay between them; but on its +rough sides--flowers on an arid rock--grew the yearning affections, +seemingly rootless, yet continuing to bloom in secret, scarce +discovered beauty. Of what use was it, he asked himself in bitterness, +to brood over these impassable barriers, to cultivate a faith in the +power of his own affection strong enough to remove them, to cherish +the vain imagination that this incomparably sweet girl and his own +plain self were made for each other, and that no earthly obstacle +could suffice to separate them? Upon his soul had fallen the edict of +society, "What man hath put asunder let no higher power join together!" + +And so he hardened his heart and closed his eyes to the heavenly +vision of girlish beauty and purity that shone forever in the upper +skies of his consciousness, as clear as the star of evening, and +almost as far away. But tears flow as easily beneath closed lids as +when the eyes are wide open, and to the hardest heart come moments of +reverie, of sudden waking from sleep, or involuntary lapsing into day +dream, when, like a sword in the heart, comes the thought of one too +dearly loved. Do his best he could not escape these moments of +exquisite torture. The poem he was reading fell fantastically into the +tune of the last waltz down which he and Rose had drifted together. +The prose--and very prosy--work he impatiently seized in the hope of +banishing that witching melody from his brain, simply followed the +perverted feet of the poem. Down the dull page danced the meaningless +syllables, keeping time to the delicious strain in a way that was +simply appalling to a mind whose intellectual processes were, as a +rule, thoroughly well regulated. If he walked the street there was +small chance but that some half-turned head or fluttering robe among +the women he met would remind him of the sweetest head and prettiest +drapery in the world. + +Always along the misty aisles of his consciousness sped this little +lovely vision, now hasting, now delaying, now bending with melting +tenderness toward him, now mockingly eluding his grasp, never out of +sight, never within reach. No wonder he grew pale and heavy-eyed and +_distrait_. But no one of those who noticed that he ate little and +spoke little, and walked with weary footsteps, knew that he was a +haunted man--haunted not by any pale spectre, but by veritable flesh +and blood, gold crowned, pink tinted, and illumined by the bluest eyes +this side of the blue heavens. It is useless for those who are +troubled in this way to say they _will not_ be haunted. Celestial +visits are planned with reference to anything but the convenience of +their recipient. + +Allan Dunlop was spoken of as 'a pushing young man,' but in affairs of +the heart he did not push--he simply waited. Not that he had any faith +in the so-called beneficent influences of time--for what young lover +is willing to believe that the slow drag of months and years over his +passion will crush all life from it at last?--but he had the delicacy +of nature which forbids the gross intrusion of personal wishes and +desires upon unwilling ears. He had, besides, a spark of that +old-world loyalty which is prone to uphold the claim of the father in +the face of despairing aspirants for the daughter's hand. + +This unwillingness to take an advantage, or to push it when it was +thrust upon him, was not without a certain allurement for Rose. She +was accustomed to be sought after; but the man who unconsciously +occupied a higher place in her estimation than any by whom she was +surrounded, held himself aloof. Probably he despised her and the +frivolous society in which she moved. It was a depressing reflection, +for the regard of those whom we believe to be our superiors is +infinitely more precious than the adoration of those who are not. + +To the lover, as to the good general, the knowledge of when not to +approach is of inestimable importance. Scarce are the girls upon whose +hearts a tender impression can be made in the middle of an ordinary +work-a-day forenoon, or who can give sigh for sigh immediately after a +hearty dinner. Very few are those who, at all times, are equally +approachable and appreciative. Allan's stern, self-denying course of +action, to which he considered himself forced, could not have been +better chosen had he had nothing at heart but the aim of furthering +his own interests. In Rose's imagination he had always formed an +admirable contrast to the purposeless, objectless young men of her +acquaintance, and his wise withdrawal after he had roused her +interest, she interpreted as indifference. So let it be, thought the +young lady, assuming a feeling of entire content. But assumed feelings +are not lasting. She who had been the life of society now grew very +weary of it. She yawned secretly in rooms of entertainment, or +invented lame excuses for her non-appearance there. "I can't think +what is the matter with me," she said to herself. "I never cared for +solitude, and I don't now; but I care less for common people and +commonplace talk." + +It was perfectly consistent with this state of feeling that, on one of +the most disagreeable of all disagreeable March days, she should go +out alone for a long walk which had no definite direction nor object. +There was a certain satisfaction in matching her restless mood with +the restless weather, in feeling herself now gently buoyed along, now +almost lifted up and borne away on the strong wings of the rushing +wind. Great soft flakes of snow were falling, and yielding up their +heavenly purity at the first touch of earth, and the dull sunless day, +weary of its own existence, was with seeming relief dying into night. +Rose walked very fast without being aware of the fact. It is a +peculiarity of windy weather that it begets a mental exaltation, in +which even the clumsiest body seems to partake of the immortal energy +of the soul. Rose's trim figure moved as softly and swiftly as a +sail-boat before the wind. Nevertheless it was with a feeling of +dismay that she found herself at the edge of night and far from home. +She had been dreaming as she walked, and now--the usual fate of +dreamers--she found herself abruptly brought face to face with reality. +The big flakes were still falling, the wind still urging her forward, +as she turned to retrace her steps. But now progress became difficult. +The wind was in her face, and the snow blinded her eyes. She had +turned so suddenly that the broad-shouldered, heavily-coated young +pedestrian, who had been following in her wake, was astounded to see +her, with down-bent head, swiftly advance and abruptly fling herself +upon him with an impetuosity born of sightless but determined +resistance to the rampant breezes. The next instant, with a movement +equally impetuous, and a deeply drawn "oh!" she swept aside and looked +straight into the eyes of Allan Dunlop. "I didn't know it was you," +she murmured, her cheeks turning to flame beneath his gaze. + +"No, you usually treat me with more _hauteur_. I never expected you to +make all the advances in this way." + +"Oh, shameless!" exclaimed Rose, clasping both daintily gloved hands +first to her ears, then to her eyes. Then, mockingly, she responded, +"I never expected to find you so approachable." + +They were very glad to meet again. They did not say so, but what +necessity existed for the verbal expression of a fact so apparent in +the face looking down and in the face that for more than a moment at a +time was unable to look up. She laid her hand within his arm, and they +faced the storm together. "What were you doing at this end of the +town?" she asked, fearing he would make the same inquiry of her. + +"Following in your footsteps," he replied. "I was not sure who it was, +but your gait reminded me so much of yourself." + +What light words to make a little heart beat faster! The wind would +have blown them away if she had not caught them. + +"Ah, yes, no doubt a moving spectacle, but," glancing at the rough +pavement which had grown worse and worse, until in pure self pity it +came to an end, "I'm afraid that for the last half-hour I have led you +a hard life of it." + +"It was hard--very. This side-walk is a disgrace to the town, and it +usually has a depressing effect on me to be out in windy, uncertain +kind of weather, but I think"--the wind blew an end of her long silken +scarf caressingly about his neck--"I think it was worth while." + +In his heart he added, "Little darling, what rough road would I not +travel in pursuit of you, if only you would turn at last to throw +yourself in my arms." + +They walked on for a little in silence. When love looks out of the +eyes, and hesitates on the lips, and trembles in the arm that feels +the confiding pressure of a tiny hand, it seems as though words were a +crude, primitive method of communicating ideas. Nevertheless, so +strong is the power of habit, that there are few who can resist the +imagined necessity to talk if one feels like it, and make talk if one +does not. So presently Rose remarked upon the beauty of the town. Even +in his love wrapt state the idea struck Allan as slightly absurd. + +"Where do you find it?" he asked in amused perplexity, looking at the +little wooden houses and shops, the meagre beginnings of a city that +as yet had no time to be beautiful, and noted the vile mud with which +the streets were thickly overlaid. "Though, of course," he added, +"there is scarcely anything to be seen save darkness, and that element +is strictly necessary to an appreciation of the beauties of 'Muddy +Little York.'" + +"Oh," exclaimed Rose, "don't you see the lights flashing in the +windows, and in every little muddy pool on the street? Think of the +concentrated life in these little human nests set against the vast +wilderness. Look at those faint yellow rays mingling with the slanting +lines of snow, with the deep woods and dark sky in the distance. If it +isn't beauty it is poetry." + +Her foot slipped a little on an unexpected piece of ice, and his arm +felt the momentary pressure of both hands. "It is everything heavenly +you can mention," said Allan devoutly. + +He noticed the slight instantaneous withdrawal, and was impelled to be +practical, if possible; so he began to dilate at length upon the +future glories of York. "This will be a great city, some day," he said. + +"Possibly, but who loves greatness? People may say what they please +against muddy little York. To me it is dear because it is so little." + +"Yes, there is an unexplainable charm in littleness." He glanced +thoughtfully down at the dainty figure beside him, while Rose wondered +if it would be possible for her to make a remark to which he could not +give a personal application. It was impossible for them to walk on in +silence, as though this were a lover's idle stroll. Her face warmed at +the mere fancy. No, she must e'en try again. + +"Particularly when it is a little breeze," she said. "Now, a huge, +awkward, overgrown affair like this changes what ought to be a caress +into an assault." + +"Yes; but you brave little creature, how blithely you face it. I wish +I could shelter you from the storm. I wish I could defend you from all +the storms of life." + +His voice broke, and the girl felt as though her heart would burst. No +bold, imperious, master spirit was this, demanding her love and life +as if they were his by natural right. It was as though she had been +newly roused by a faint knock at the door; and now, before her foot +was set upon the stair that led down to the entering guest, he had +turned away again. + +"I like your way of meeting the tempest," he continued. "You face it +for a moment with mocking defiance, then you step aside to escape a +fierce gust, or turn your head to avoid at least half its violence. +You seem to be coquetting with old Boreas. For me, I can't play with +the foe; I simply have to meet him and fight him till my strength is +exhausted--then rest till I can get breath--then up and at it again. +Do you remember those old lines: + + "'A little I'me hurt but not yett slaine, + I'le but lye down and bleed awhile, + And then I'le rise and fight againe!'" + +"Oh, heaven help me," thought poor Rose, "what _can_ I say now? There +is nothing in the world to say." She fell to crying bitterly, as she +safely could under cover of the snow and the darkness; but after a +minute she controlled herself, and was, to outward appearance, +tranquil and buoyant as before. + +They had reached the house. He stepped inside the warmly-lighted hall +just for a moment, as Rose, with a gesture of dismay, threw off her +wraps, and disclosed an inappropriately elaborate little gown, +partially soaked by the storm. "I suppose I need not have put on +anything so fine as this to go out in on a wet day, but I am fond of +dressing, not for others, but for myself. I prefer feeling effects to +producing them. Do you think me very selfish?" + +"Oh, yes; everything that is hard, unfeeling, and unlike your sweet +little self." + +She had already mounted a few steps of the stairway, as he had said he +could not stay. His outstretched hand held hers in a last good-by, but +instead of going he touched a fold of the damp edge of her gown. "It +is very wet," he said. "You are shockingly careless." And then, +without daring to meet the divine eyes bent upon him, he lifted her +hand reverently to his lips, and so went forth into the night and the +storm. + +"Rose," said the Commodore, interrupting her at the head of the +stairs, "who is it that has just gone?" + +"Mr. Dunlop," said his daughter hesitatingly; "he overtook--he met--I +met him on my way home, and he came with me." The young girl's face +was a flame, and her heart was a song. She felt that she was +aggressively, barbarously happy, and tried to modify the unruly +emotion out of deference to her father's anticipated anger. He looked +extremely annoyed. + +"I am sorry to seem arbitrary," he said, "but in future, my dear, it +will greatly oblige me if you will so conduct yourself towards that +young man as to discourage him from meeting or overtaking you, or +accompanying you home." + +"Very well, Papa." Not a ray of light faded from her eyes, not a +particle of warmth from her smile. She had heard him make similar +remarks before, and they affected her the same as if he had said: "It +is yet winter; don't be deceived into supposing that spring-time is +coming." Ah! but under the snows of winter, what power can hinder the +countless delicate roots of spring flowers from thrilling into life? + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +POLITICS AT THE CAPITAL. + + +But more was destined to burgeon into blossom than the flowers of +spring. Allan Dunlop's fame as a politician had grown concurrently +with the growth of his love. In the Legislature he had won for himself +a prominent position, and was known as a sagacious counsellor, a +persuasive speaker, a ready and effective debater, and a good steady +worker on Committees. No name carried more weight in Parliament than +his, and his influence in the country was as marked as was his +influence in the House. This was as readily conceded by his political +opponents as it was claimed by his friends. He had, moreover, a +prepossessing manner, a comely presence, and a countenance which, when +animated, was not wanting in expression or fire. He was, withal, the +most modest and lovable of men; and had he not sat on the Opposition +benches he would have been courted by the Tory supporters of the +Government and been fawned upon by the leading members of "The Family +Compact." + +Allan Dunlop had, however, entered the House as a radical, but of a +moderate type; and though he dealt the Executive many trenchant blows, +and did yeoman service in advancing the cause of Reform, he was too +loyal a man to rank with the "heated enthusiasts" who were threatening +to overturn the Constitution and make a republic out of the colony, +and too judicious and right-minded to affirm that the Administration +of the Province was wholly evil and corrupt. On the contrary, while he +insisted that the Executive should pay more deference to the voice of +the Parliamentary majority, and so avoid the ever-cropping-up +conflicts between the Administration and the popular Chamber, he +recognized the fact that the evils complained of had their origin in +defects in the Act which gave the Province its Constitution; and being +engrained in the paternal system of government that had long been in +vogue could not possibly be at once and satisfactorily remedied. + +It was true that in none of the other Provinces was power so firmly +centralized in the hands of a dominant and exclusive class, as was the +case in Upper Canada. But this state of things, Allan Dunlop conceded, +was a legacy from the period of military rule which followed the +Conquest, and the natural consequence of appointing members to seats +in the Executive and Legislative Councils _for life_. Dunlop was also +well aware that the social condition of the Province, at that early +period, tended to centre power and authority of necessity in the hands +of a few leading men. All the public offices were in their gift; and +the entire public domain, including the Crown and Clergy Land +reserves, was also in their hands. Hence it was that through the +patronage at their disposal the "Family Compact" were enabled to fill +the Lower House with their supporters and adherents, and, in large +measure, to shape the Provincial Legislation, so as to maintain their +hold of office and perpetuate a monopoly of power. That the ruling +oligarchy used their positions autocratically, and kept a heavy hand +upon the turbulent and disaffected, was true; but their respect for +British institutions, and their staunch loyalty to the Crown, at a +time when republican sentiments were dangerously prevalent, were +virtues which might well offset innumerable misdeeds, and square the +account in any unprejudiced arraignment. + +But though Allan Dunlop possessed a mind eminently fair and judicial, +and, Reformer as he was, could dispassionately discuss the "burning +questions" of the time, there were abuses connected with the mode of +governing which he stoutly strove to remedy, and injustice done to +loyal settlers in the iniquitous land system that prevailed which +roused his indignation and called forth many a bitter phillipic in the +House. These trenchant attacks of the young land-surveyor were greatly +feared by the Executive, and were the cause of much trepidation and +uneasiness in the Legislative Council. + +For a time Commodore Macleod, who had now returned to his accustomed +duties in the Upper House, took pleasure in replying to Dunlop's +attacks in the Lower Chamber; but the young Parliamentarian, though he +treated his opponent with courtly deference, had so effective a way of +demolishing the Commodore's arguments and of genially turning the +shafts of his invective upon his adversary, that he soon abandoned the +attempt to break a lance with his young and able antagonist. Dunlop's +temper was habitually sweet and always under command, and this gave +him a great advantage over his sometimes irascible opponents. His +manner, however, was at times fiery--especially when exposing cases of +hardship and injustice, when his arraignment of the Executive was +vehement and uncompromising. But the "Family Compact" was at the +period too firmly entrenched and buttressed about by patronage for +Allan Dunlop to effect much reform in the system of government, though +his assaults were keenly felt in the Upper House, and they made a +powerful impression in the country, which heartily endorsed the young +land-surveyor's strenuous appeals for the redress of long-existing +abuses, and the concession of Responsible Government. + +"What a noble fellow that young Dunlop is!" said Lady Sarah Maitland +to her escort in the House, as the youthful tribune closed an +impassioned appeal on behalf of settlers from the United States, who +had been subjected to great hardships and outrage by the tools of the +Government. + +"A pestilent rascal!" was the testy rejoinder of the old Commodore, +who, with his daughter Rose, had accompanied her Ladyship on the day +in question to the House of Assembly. + +"Nay! you shall not say that of him, Commodore, for I mean to invite +him to accompany us to Stamford Cottage at the close of the Session, +if he will give me that pleasure," said Lady Sarah, warmly. + +"Sir Peregrine will have something to say to that, Madame," was the +Commodore's blunt reply, "and Mr. Attorney-General, here," he added, +"ought to arrest you for wishing to consort with seditious agitators +and evil-disposed persons." + +"I think I ought to take you both into custody," interposed +Attorney-General Robinson, "for spoiling with your quarrel the effect +of young Dunlop's speech. It was admirable, both in tone and matter, +and I shall at once look into the grievances he complained of. Don't +you think, Miss Macleod, that your father is unreasonably prejudiced +against the member for your section of the Home District?" + +"I think him everything harsh and unpaternal when politics is the +subject of conversation," replied that young lady guardedly. + +"Ah! politics is an unclean game," observed the courtly leader of the +House; "but it would be vastly sweeter and cleaner were all our +politicians of the type of Dunlop. I think him a grand fellow--but, I +agree with you, Commodore, that he should be on the other side." + +"Or we should be on _his_ side, Mr. Attorney-General," said Lady +Sarah, with a meaning glance at Rose Macleod. + +At this juncture, the Attorney-General, having to address the House, +took leave of the ladies, and the Government House party rose and left +the Chamber. + +Later in the day, the Attorney-General took occasion to refer to +Dunlop's speech, and to commend its temperate and courteous tone, +though the matter his young friend brought to the notice of the +Government, said the Attorney-General, if true, severely reflected on +the management of one of the Departments, which, the speaker added, +he would take care at once to inquire into. + +Other matters occupied the attention of the House for the remainder of +the afternoon, and when the Speaker rose to retire a buzz of +conversation ensued on the stirring topics to be brought up at the +evening's sitting. Two of these topics related to matters which, at +the period, convulsed the community, and threatened to overthrow the +fabric of society in the colony, if not the Constitution itself. One +was the case of Captain Matthews, a member of the Assembly, who was +charged with disturbing the tranquillity of the Province by requesting +the orchestra, at the theatre of York, to play sundry seditious tunes +at the close of an entertainment, and thus inferentially to pay +disrespect to His Majesty's crown and person. The other was the +escapade of a number of young people in York, of respectable standing, +who had committed a gross breach of the peace in breaking into and +ransacking the printing-office of Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, smashing the +presses of that martyr to Reform, and throwing into the lake the type +which had been used in setting up some pungent articles against the +Government. + +"Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" the moralizing +bystander of the period might have observed, as he took note of the +electrical condition of the political atmosphere of York, and, indeed, +of the whole Province--the result of the indiscretion of one man, and +the partisan frolic of half a dozen lads, who had inherited, with the +bluest of Tory blood, the prejudices of their fathers. The wrecking of +the Mackenzie printing-office was, of course, a serious conspiracy +against the peace of a youthful and law-abiding community. But it will +occur to the modern reader of the transaction, that the act was +scarcely so heinous as to bring it before the country's legislature, +and become the subject of a grave Parliamentary inquiry. + +The act has to be viewed, however, in the light of preceding events, +and with a knowledge of facts in the thrilling drama of Reform, at the +time being enacted on the political stage of Upper Canada. Society in +the Province was long wont to poise itself between two opinions, as to +the degree of justification for the course which Reform took at the +time of the Gourlay agitation, and which, in Mackenzie's day, +culminated in rebellion. The issues of the conflict have, however, +settled that point; and though Tory bias loves still to stand by the +"Family Compact," the popular sympathies are with the actors who were +whilom outlawed, and on whose heads the Crown did them the honour, for +a time, to set a high value. + +Chief among these actors, at the time of which we are writing, was he +whose printing-presses had just been ruthlessly demolished, and whose +fonts of type youthful Torydom had gleefully consigned to the deep. +The provocation had been a long series of intemperate newspaper +criticism of the Government, numerous inflammatory appeals to the +people to rise against constituted authority, and much scurrilous +abuse of leading members of the "Family Compact," who wished, as a +safeguard against revolution and chaos, to crush the "patriot" +Mackenzie, and drive him from the Province. But though thorny as was +then the path of Reform, and galling the insult and injury done to its +martyrs, Mackenzie did not shrink from pursuing the course he had cut +out for himself; and his intense hatred of injustice, and sturdy +defiance of those whom he held responsible for the maladministration +of affairs, gained him many adherents and sympathizers. The outrage +that had just been committed on his property vastly increased the +number of the latter, while popular indignation compelled the +Government to disown the act, and to make it, as we have seen, the +subject of Parliamentary inquiry. From the Parliament the matter went +to the Courts, and there the scapegraces, who had been concerned in +the outrage, were mulcted in a large amount, which their parents, high +government officials, had ruefully to pay over to the aggrieved +printer and incipient rebel. Thus ended one act in the drama of these +distraught times. How shall we keep our countenance and deal with the +other? + +Let us first tell the story, as we gather it, in the main, from the +Journals of the House. For some time previous to the meeting of the +Legislature, in 1826, partisans of the Administration had got in the +habit of noting defections from the loyal side among men of substance +and position in the colony, and particularly among members of the +representative Chamber, where the cry for Responsible Government was +waxing loud, and where sullen protests were almost daily heard against +the system of official patronage and favouritism that prevailed in the +government of the Province. The Administration being now in the +minority in the popular Chamber, and "the long shadows of Canadian +Radicalism" having begun to settle upon the troubled "Family Compact," +it became important to note the increasing defections, real or +fancied, in the Legislative Assembly, so that, if possible, the +"bolters" might be coaxed or bribed back, or, failing that, that they +might, in some way, be jockeyed out of the House and made to suffer +for their defection. Among those who had recently taken the bit in +their teeth was a Captain Matthews, a retired officer, in receipt of a +pension, who represented the county of Middlesex, and had of late gone +over to Democracy. For this act he was "put upon the list," and became +a marked man on the mental tablets of the myrmidons of the Executive. + +About this time there came to York a company of strolling actors from +the neighbouring Republic, whose fortunes were at a low ebb, and whose +dignity had very much run down at the heels. To revive their fortunes, +they gave an entertainment in the extemporized theatre of the town, +under the kindly proffered patronage of the members of the Legislature. +It was New Year's Eve, and the fun--the age was still a bibulous +one--waxed fast and furious. At last the curtain dropped, and the +modest orchestra struck up "God save the king!" Hats were at once +doffed, and from among the standing audience came a loud but unsteady +voice, calling upon the orchestra to "play up" Hail Columbia! or +Yankee Doodle. + +The sober section of the play-house was stunned. Was it possible that +Democracy could go to such lengths--within sight of the "royal arms," +over the Lieutenant-Governor's box, and with the decaying notes of the +national anthem in Tory ears? + +It was but too true. Again and again rose the shout for the seditious +tunes. Abashed loyalty sought to escape from the house, but the crowd +jostled and intervened. The scene now became uproarious. Affrighted +Conservatives were seen to jam their hats on their heads--the only +mark of disapproval possible--and glare defiance at those who impeded +the exit. The Tory member for Stormonth--it was afterwards admitted in +evidence--stripped his coat and threatened to knock any two of the +opposing Radicals down. Meanwhile the orchestra, unable to accomplish +the higher flight of "Hail Columbia!" struck up the commoner and more +objectionable tune; and three grave legislators, it is said, danced +while "Yankee Doodle" was played. The Democratic orgie at last spent +itself with the music, and after a while all breathed the outer, +communistic air of heaven. + +After the racket comes the reckoning; and Captain Matthews, whose +share in inducing the play-house fiddlers to discourse republican +music to monarchical ears was reported with due exaggerations and +aspersions on his loyalty, to the military authorities, speedily found +himself the victim of an infamous plot. Distorted accounts of the +scene at the theatre had been sent to the Commander of the Forces, at +Quebec; and the member for Middlesex was specially singled out as the +seditious rioter on the occasion, and the leader in what was termed "a +disloyal and disgraceful affair." Presently there came an order for +Capt. Matthews to report himself to the military authorities at +Quebec, and at that port to take ship for England, where he was to be +tried by court-martial. To enable him to obey the summons it was first +necessary to obtain leave of absence from the Legislature; and the +motion that was to come up in the Assembly that evening, was, whether +the House, on the evidence before it, would agree to release the +incriminated officer from his Parliamentary duties so as to face the +frivolous charge at the "Horse-Guards" in London. + +The discussion opened by the presentation to the House of the report +of the Committee of Inquiry that had sat upon the matter--a report +which exonerated Captain Matthews from the charge preferred against +him, and relieved him from the scandalous accusation of disloyalty. +The report closed with a protest against the tendency, on the part of +the Government, to resort to espionage and inquisitorial measures, in +endeavouring to rid the Province of those obnoxious to the ruling +faction, and in attempting to undermine the independence of the +Legislature by scandalizing its members and awing them into political +subserviency. The conviction was reiterated that there was no ground +for the charge against Captain Matthews, the malignity and falsity of +which was due to political hostility to that gentleman. + +A lively debate ensued on the motion to receive the report, members of +the Government fiercely objecting to its reception by the House, and +the Opposition as warmly insisting on its acceptance. The temper of +the Government was not improved when young Dunlop rose, and, in a few +quiet and well-chosen words, asserted the right of Parliament to +protect its members from officious military arraignment on frivolous +and vexatious pretexts. It was the duty of the Government, remarked +the young tribune, to calm, not to augment, the fever of popular +excitement by acts of an arbitrary and autocratic character,--such as +instigating ridiculous prosecutions, and casting doubt on the loyalty +of men who had long and faithfully served the Crown, and whose only +fault was to set their country above their party. + +That the existence of Upper Canada as a colony of the Crown--Dunlop +continued--was imperiled by paying some exigent actors from the other +side of the line the compliment of calling for a national air dear to +republican hearts and ears, he did not for a moment believe. He was, +at the same time, he affirmed, keenly sensitive to the beguiling +effects of enlivening music, and--falling into a lighter vein--he +confessed that he did not know what might be the consequence if the +members of the Government organized themselves into a well-trained +minstrel troupe and entered the neighbouring Republic singing the +pathetic airs of the Old Dominion, artfully interspersed with the +soul-stirring strains of the "British Grenadiers" and "Rule Britannia." +He thought, moreover, that if the grave and reverend seigniors of the +"Family Compact" would blacken their faces as they had blackened their +hearts, and "star" it through the lowly hamlets of the Province, +singing, say, the Jacobite airs of a previous generation, it would do +more to cement the attachment of Canada to the Crown than all the +efforts of the combined army of officials, placemen, and henchmen of +the Government _plus_ the Judges, the Sheriffs, the Recorder, the +Incumbents of fat Clergy Reserves, the Gauge's, Tollmen, Hangmen, +Customs Officers, Turnkeys, and Landing-Waiters. + +Seriously, Allan Dunlop added,--and he had no apology to make for +indulging in levity in discussing this frivolous matter--it was +beneath the dignity of the House to occupy itself with the further +consideration of the charges against the honourable member for +Middlesex. These charges were so trivial and ill-founded, and they +originated in such a trumpery fear lest the Crown should suffer +indignity where indignity was in no wise offered to it, that he begged +the House to dismiss the matter forthwith and refuse Captain Matthews +leave to absent himself from his Parliamentary duties. After a +scattering fusilade of small talk from both sides of the House, the +report of the Committee was received, leave was refused, and the +disturbing question was laid at rest. + +Those who have followed, it may be with interest, this veracious piece +of history, and are curious to learn the fate of the honourable member +for Middlesex, will find the story graphically told in Mr. Dent's +"Canadian Rebellion," Vol. I., chap. 6. The authors take the liberty +of appending Mr. Dent's closing paragraph: "But though Captain +Matthews," says the historian, "had been cleared by the Legislature, +he had still to run the gauntlet of the military inquisition. They +could not compel his attendance during the existence of the Parliament +then in being, but they possessed an effectual means of reducing him +to ultimate submission. This power they exercised; his pension was +stopped--a very serious matter to a man with a large family and many +responsibilities. He continued to fight the battles of Reform with +dogged courage and pertinacity as long as his means admitted of his +doing so, but he was soon reduced to a condition of great pecuniary +distress, and was compelled to succumb. Broken-hearted and worn out, +he resigned his seat in the Assembly, and returned to England, where, +after grievous delay, he succeeded in getting his pension restored. He +never returned to Canada, and survived the restoration of his pension +but a short time. Thus, through the malignity of a selfish and secret +cabal, was Upper Canada deprived of the services of a zealous and +useful citizen and legislator, whose residence among us, had it been +continued, could not have failed to advance the cause of freedom and +justice." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +LOVE'S PROTESTATIONS. + + +During the rest of the dreary winter the memory of that enchanted walk +through mire and darkness and driving snow, kept two hearts--Rose's +and Allan's--fully awake. A pity, too; for sleep covers a multitude of +sufferings, and when the most impressible part of our being is wrapped +in unconsciousness, we can make shift to go through the world with +only an endurable number of the usual aches and ailments. If these +young hearts had ever really slumbered since their owners met for the +first time, less than a year before, it had been rather an uneasy +repose; and now that they were fully awake, it was to find not the +glory of the dawn, but a dark bleak day, whose beginning could +scarcely be distinguished from the night out of which it emerged, +whose end was so far--so drearily far away. Things went on as before +in their old monotonous manner. Winter relented into spring, and the +intimacy that had warmed almost into acknowledged love that wild March +evening had apparently died of its own intensity. Rose and Allan met +occasionally, but with mutual avoidance; she from innate loyalty to +her father--he from a pride that was too strong to plead. So the +endless conflict went on, but not alone in the minds of the lovers. + +The doughty Commodore was daily suffering in his own person the just +punishment, which is but too apt to overtake the man, who in a point +of difference with a woman ends by having his own way. This stern +parent liked to think of himself as generous, compassionate, and +tender-hearted; and he had been grievously cheated out of this +agreeable sensation. His daughter's absolute and sweet-natured loyalty +to his will sharpened his sense of deprivation. Was it possible that +he was unnatural and tyrannical? The answer to this question was what +Rose's pale cheeks seemed to require of him, and he chafed under the +mute, unconscious, persistent repetition of the query. He recommended +her to take long walks, but she came back from them paler and more +lifeless than before. He began to see that it was possible to gain +one's own point and lose something infinitely more precious. It hurt +him to see her suffer, and he despised himself as the suspected cause +of her sufferings. He asked himself how he could have endured it if, +in his courting days, he had been shut out from the woman he loved. +She was infinitely his superior, he thought with a swelling heart, and +then his arm fell on the back of the chair beside him, and his hand +clenched, as he grimly wondered what bolts or bars would suffice to +have kept them apart. If she was alive now would she have taken this +cruelly peremptory course with their daughter? He revolved the +question with a sore heart. It admitted of but one answer. In all her +sweet and gentle life his wife had never been either peremptory or +cruel. + +Unknown to Rose her father's stout heart showed signs of thawing with +the weather. He began to inform himself warily, and by indirect means, +with regard to the character, circumstances, and prospects of Allan +Dunlop, in much the same way as we make a study of the drug, hitherto +supposed to be a poison, but now believed capable of saving the life +of a loved one. In his present mood of despondency and anxiety it +seemed that every fresh fact that he learned served to raise Allan and +lower himself in his own estimation. It is difficult to atone for a +wrong so delicate that one shrinks from expressing it in words, and +yet the need of making at least one attempt at reparation was pressing +sorely upon him. + +So it was with almost a girlish bound of the heart that the Commodore +read aloud, one morning, in all the polysyllabic glory of newspaper +English, an account of the heroic way in which a young child was saved +from drowning by the prompt and daring action of Allan Dunlop. It was +an opportunity for praising his enemy, and the worthy gentleman was +almost as relieved and happy as the rescued child. "Upon my word, +Rose," he said, turning to the silent girl at the other end of the +breakfast table, "that young Dunlop is a much finer fellow than I +supposed him to be." + +"Yes, Papa," she assented meagrely. She had no idea of undoing the +work of weeks--the work of steeling herself against the sweetness of +recollection--by too warm an interest in the subject. + +"The idea of a child paddling about alone in a boat during that +horrible storm," continued the Commodore, more impatient, if the truth +were known, with his daughter's lukewarmness than with the waifs +recklessness. "Not one man in a thousand," he continued abruptly, +"would have ventured out on Lake Ontario in that raging tempest." + +"People of plebeian origin usually have a well-developed muscular +system," remarked Rose. + +"But they are not fond of risking their life in the interest of their +muscles," returned the gentleman, annoyed at the girl's obstinacy, nor +dreaming how sweet from his lips sounded his praise of her lover. + +"It depends upon what their life is worth. Common folks, who suffer +under the well-merited contempt of their social superiors, must grow +at last to despise what better educated people know to be despicable." + +"No doubt, it is as you say," replied her father. He was thoroughly +irritated, and all his benevolent notions took flight, as they are apt +to do when the object of our philanthropy proves perverse. "I was +about to suggest that you invite him to your party to-morrow night; +but in the present state of feeling perhaps it would be better not." + +"I haven't the least idea that he would come," returned the girl. "He +isn't the sort of person to allow himself to be taken up and dropped +at random." + +"Well, settle it to suit yourself," he concluded. She reflected +bitterly that this privilege came when it was too late. Nevertheless, +she was grateful for it, and scolded herself soundly for giving her +father undutiful replies. She also remarked in the solitude of her own +room that she did not care a particle whether Allan came or not, and +then with a fluttering heart she wrote him a note of invitation. When +Tredway was requested to deliver it that ancient servitor manifested +so much interest in his errand that the blue eyes of his young +mistress lingered on him a moment in surprise. + +"I am under very great obligations to Mr. Dunlop," he said. "I may say +that I owe my life to him?" + +"You, too!" laughed the girl. "Why it was only the other day that he +rescued a strange child from the wild waves." + +"He rescued me from the wild woods," said the man, with the +impressiveness of one who wishes to celebrate the most remarkable +escape on record. Tredway had a profound objection to the woods. In +the previous summer he had, with great reluctance, served as +commissary general to a party of young men, who went in pursuit of a +week's sport to Burlington Bay. Edward and Allan were of the number, +and when Tredway was lost on a little expedition of his own, to the +nearest shanty in quest of provisions, it was Allan who went in search +of him, and after some difficulty brought him back to camp. The event +had been a source of some amusement to the rest; but to the mind of +its hero it had lost nothing of its tragic aspect. "The woods are +very confusing to a person of my life and habits," he observed +deprecatingly. + +"Oh, yes, indeed," returned Rose, "and so very different from England." + +The gratitude with which Tredway listened to this remark was not +unmixed with regret that the tone in which it was uttered was sportive +rather than serious. He was consoled, however, by the reflection that +national differences could not be expected to oppress the heart of +unthinking youth as it did that of sad maturity. + +The unreasoning joy that flamed in Allan Dunlop's face, as he glanced +over the dainty note, faded into ashen paleness as he remembered what +its response must be. "Sit down, Tredway," he said mechanically, "I +will have an answer ready in a moment." Grateful to be relieved of the +pains of indecision by the necessity for prompt action he took up a +pen and wrote rapidly: + +"DEAR MISS MACLEOD: + +It is very hard for me to refuse your kind invitation to be with you +to-morrow night, but it is impossible to accept it. If I were invited +to Paradise, 'for one night only,' with the knowledge that I must +forego my share of its delights thenceforth, I should wish to return +the same answer. Have I no right to hint that your presence is my +Paradise? Forgive me for it, and for my rudeness and perverseness, +which all arises out of my consuming and indestructible love for you. +The only thing I can say that can condone this offence is that I never +cease trying to destroy your image in my heart. So far the results are +extremely discouraging; but I cannot resign the hope that Time, the +great healer, may also prove, like other notable physicians, the great +destroyer. Ah! what am I saying? I can never say enough to you, and +yet already I have said too much. God bless the sweet ruler of my life +and heart forever, and grant that every ill that threatens her may +fall instead upon the head of her unworthy lover. + +Will you not write me a word of forgiveness for resisting the +temptation to go to you? + + Ever your worshipper, + + ALLAN DUNLOP." + +He ended with a strange feeling of the incongruity of this declaration +of passion with his surroundings, the stuffy unhomelike chambers on +King Street, and the rather severe presence of a man, whose existence +emphasized all the hated social distinction that never weighed so +heavily on him as at present. This rigorous representative of his +class took the message delivered to him, and stood for a moment +hesitatingly in the doorway. + +"Your people are quite well, I hope, Tredway," said Allan. + +"Yes, sir, thank you. Quite well, with the exception of Miss Rose. She +is looking badly." + +"I am very sorry. I made no inquiries about her, because, since her +accident last summer, she has never been otherwise than well. I wish," +and his tones were sad and sincere as his meaning, "that I could do +something for her." + +"Thank you, sir. It is taking a great liberty to say so, but your +visits are so infrequent that I believe Miss Rose is under the +impression that you did not greatly care." + +"Oh, I _care_ enough, quite enough," he added mentally. "The fact is +there is danger of my caring too much, and nobody knows better than +you, Tredway, that that would be the greatest piece of folly I could +perpetrate. Miss Rose is vastly my social superior." + +The old man bowed his head as though this were too obvious a truth to +need comment. Then he said encouragingly: + +"Ah, there is nothing but the remains of their former greatness left +to the Macleods. They are growing more and more _bourgeois_ since +coming to this degenerate country. + +"Yes, I imagine that their family dignity, in such times as these, may +be a little out of repair; but I can hardly venture to build vain +hopes on the ruins. You are a good fellow, Tredway; good-bye!" + +A few days later the coveted answer to his missive came. + +"DEAR MR. DUNLOP: + +Since I am to see you no more it seems unnecessary if not unkind of me +to write and prolong the pain of parting. But if you were dying, and +should tell me with nearly your latest breath what you wrote in your +letter, I should want you to know that the confession was dear and +sacred to me--something I should remember all the rest of my life. + +I am not willing to believe that your future will be wholly bereft of +consolation. One who is capable of imperiling his life to save that of +an unknown child ought to know that he can never find any better +company than his own. But you need never be lonely; I hear your name +and career frequently spoken of with warm appreciation by your +friends, among whom I hope you will always number + + Yours very sincerely, + + ROSE MACLEOD." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Allan, as he read and re-read this brief epistle, +"she does not despise my love, but she recognizes its hopelessness." +With the usual bluntness of masculine perception he failed to see that +it was impossible for her to ignore what he himself was accustomed to +dwell upon at such dreary length. If he was profoundly convinced that +there was no hope, she could scarcely condescend to suggest that there +might be a glimmer. So the young man continued to be wrapped in the +darkness which was largely born of his own imagination. + +"What rank," he wrote, in immediate response, "shall I assign you +among my friends? One's friend may be simply an acquaintance of long +standing, who cherishes no special animosity toward one, or it may be +the stranger of a year ago, who now is knit into the very fibre of +one's being. Just so closely woven with my inmost self have you grown, +dear, and to put the thought of you away from me is like putting my +own eyes from me. Do you think I can be trusted as a friend? I foresee +that I shall be the most faithless one ever known, for I have never +been your friend, and I don't know how to begin to be one, whereas I +have had nearly a year's experience in loving you. But I am jesting +with a sore heart. It is strange that I can jest at all; and yet I +know that I am richer and happier in owning the smallest corner of +your heart, than if I possessed the whole of any other woman's." + +He wrote a great deal more of the same sort, by turns light, fanciful, +woful or desperate. But all this Rose ignored. "I am very glad," she +wrote demurely, "that you are rich and happy on such insufficient +grounds. I could scarcely deny a corner of my heart to any of my +friends, but the rest of them are well enough acquainted with me to +know that the possession is not a source of unmixed joy. This illusion +of yours must be destroyed, and, as you will see, my share of this +correspondence is going to tend gently but inexorably towards that +end. I still cherish hopes of retaining your friendship. It is so much +more difficult for a man to be a woman's friend than it is for him to +be by turns her worshipper and oppressor--and you are made to conquer +difficult things, and be made stronger by them. You have admirable +qualities--self-forgetfulness, lofty purpose, a will that never +falters, a heart that never faints. I discovered all these before I +received your letters. Otherwise, do you think I would have discovered +them at all?" + +Thus preached this adorable little high-priest of heroic self-denial, +and when she had made an end she burst into tears, and wished that +Allan were there to wipe them away. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A PICNIC IV THE WOODS. + + +Winter had passed, and in hot haste--literal hot haste--the time of +the singing of birds had come. It was early in the season when the +Macleods returned to their summer home, but "lily-footed spring" was +there before them. Earth, air, and sky were bathed in a glory of +sunlight, which strove to penetrate the dark labyrinth of the pines +through which the wind sang. The bay was embowered in gleaming +foliage. In its clear waters the Indians plunged or paddled, or lay in +attitudes picturesquely inert upon its shores. Above it in graceful +curves the unwearying gulls were sinking, rising, and wheeling aloft. + +On one of these halcyon days of early summer Rose Macleod was +re-reading a letter from her friend Helene; which, though a mere +elegant scrawl in the first place, and now yellow and worn with age, +has been with some difficulty deciphered by the writers of this +veracious history. + +"We shall return to Bellevue next week," she wrote, "though what +possible benefit can accrue from our returning I cannot pretend to +say. Either home is distasteful to me; so is the rest of the world; so +are the people in it. Enviable condition, is it not? I seem to be +afflicted with a sort of dreadful mental indigestion. Everything I see +and hear and read disagrees with me, so I suppose it is only a natural +consequence that I should be disagreeable. Oh, dear, dear! What is the +good of living, Rose? What is the use or beauty of anything? The Rev. +the Archdeacon of York half-playfully says I need to be regenerated. +Dr. Widmer says my circulation is weak. Poor mamma says nothing; but +she looks a world of reproach. I wish she would take the scriptural +rod to me. That would improve the circulation, I fancy; and if it +didn't produce a state of regeneration it might at least be a +practical step towards it. But I don't know why I should make a jest +of my own misery, when I want nothing on earth except to be a little +child again, so I could creep off into the long grass somewhere, and +cry all my sick heart away. I used to be able to cry when I was five +or six years old, but now it is a lost art. + +"By the way, speaking of tears reminds me that your friend, Mr. +Dunlop, was here last evening, and, while shewing him some views of +foreign scenes, we suddenly came across that old, little painting of +yourself, in which the artist represented you as a stiff-jointed +child, with a row of curls the colour and shape of shavings neatly +glued to a little wooden head. You remember how we used to make fun of +it. I always said that picture was bad enough to bring tears, and +there was actually quite a perceptible moisture in his eyes as he +looked at it. Who would have supposed that he possessed so much +aesthetic sensibility? + +"Well, I am only wearying you, so I will close. Don't be troubled +about me, dear. Sometimes I am violently interested in my own +unreasonable sufferings, and at other times I am wholly indifferent to +them; but nothing can befall my perverse nature that shall alter the +tenderness always existing for you in the heart of your loving + + HELENE." + +Rose read all but the concluding paragraphs aloud to her brother, who, +standing at the open door, was looking idly out upon the leaf and +blossom of a lovely garden. "What a stream of unalloyed egotism!" he +said. "In a woman it's a detestable quality." + +"Oh, you should say a rare quality," amended Rose, with a smile that +ended in a sigh. + +"Well, it's something that can't be too rare." A fading spring lily +dropped on the doorstep by one of the children received an impatient +kick, as though he would dismiss the present conversation in a similar +manner. "Rose," he said, "I wish you would ask Wanda to our +sailing-party to-morrow." + +"Why, Edward, I might as well ask a blue-bird. She will come if it +happens to suit her inclination at the moment, otherwise not." + +"Don't you think a regular invitation would please her?" + +"Oh, dear, no; it isn't as though she were a civilized creature. You +don't seem to grasp the fact that she's only a wild thing of the +woods." + +A pause ensued. "There are other facts," resumed Edward a little +unsteadily, "that I _have_ grasped. One is that she is the most +beautiful woman I ever saw; another--that I love her." + +Rose put up her hands as though to save her eyes from some hideous +sight, "It can't be true!" she exclaimed. + +"My dear little sister, it is true; and your inability to accept it is +not a very flattering tribute to my good taste." + +"It _can't_ be true," repeated Rose. "You must mean that you have +merely taken a fancy to her." + +"Well, it is a fancy that has grown to enormous proportions. I cannot +live without her. If that is fancy it has all the strength of +conviction." + +"Oh, Edward, you can't really love her. It is only her beauty that you +care for." + +"You might as well say that the sunflower doesn't really love the sun; +it is only the sunshine that it cares for. Wanda's beauty is part of +herself." + +"And it will remain so a dozen, or perhaps a score, of years. After +that you will have for your wife a coarse ignorant woman, forever +chafing at the restrictions of civilized life; angering, annoying and +humiliating you in a thousand ways, a woman whom you cannot admire, +whom it will be impossible for you to respect." + +Edward's eyes blazed. Not until that moment did his sister realize how +complete was his infatuation for Wanda. + +"It is you who are ignorant and coarse," he cried, "in your remarks +upon the girl who is my promised wife. No matter what befalls her, she +will always be clothed in the unfading beauty of my love." + +Rose was deeply grieved. She stood with clasped hands looking +despairingly at her brother. "You poor boy," she breathed, "you poor +motherless boy! What can I say to you?" + +"Well, there are a good many things that you can say; but what I +should prefer you to say would be to the effect that you will break it +as gently as possible to Papa." + +"I shall not break it at all," declared the girl warmly. "It would +nearly kill poor father. Haven't you any consideration for him?" + +"Yes; sufficient to make me wish that the truth should be clothed in +your own sweet persuasive accents, when it is conveyed to him. I don't +wish to jar him any more than is necessary." + +"Edward, you are perfectly heartless!" + +"That is the natural consequence of losing one's heart, isn't it?" + +"Oh, then, you are only jesting. It's a very good joke, but in +questionable taste." + +"Dear Rose, believe me, I was never more in earnest than at present." + +"Except when you are out hunting. I have seen you go without food and +sleep simply because you were on the track of some beautiful wild +creature that was forced to yield its liberty and life merely to +gratify your whim. It is in that despicable way that you would treat +Wanda." + +The young man smiled. He perceived that his sister was changing her +tactics. + +"You are very considerate and tender of Wanda," he said, "but not so +much as I expect to be." + +The conversation, which was growing more and more unsatisfactory, was +abruptly terminated by the entrance of one of the other members of the +family. + +As a natural result of this interview Wanda was invited to go with +them in the sail-boat next day. Rose was clear-witted enough to see +that persistent opposition would only intensify the halo of romance +which her infatuated brother had discovered upon the brow of the +Algonquin Maiden, and that outward acquiescence would give the +attachment an air of prosaic tameness, if anything could. Besides, a +scandal is made more scandalous when the offender's family are known +to be in a state of hopelessly outraged enmity. + +Thus bravely reasoned Rose, while her heart sank within her. She was +not prepared for the worst, but it was necessary that she should +behave in all points as if she were; otherwise the worst might be +hastened. It was impossible to view Wanda in the light of a possible +sister-in-law; nevertheless, she gave her the pink cambric dress for +which the Indian girl had so often expressed admiration, and +supplemented the kindness with a pair of gloves, destined never to be +worn, and a straw hat, whose trimming was speedily torn off and its +place supplied by wampum, gorgeous feathers, the stained quills of the +porcupine, with tufts of moose hair, dyed blue and red. + +Certainly she looked very pretty as she stood on the shore next day, +all ready for departure. Even Rose, who for the first time in her kind +little life would willingly have noticed personal defects, was forced +to admit that Wanda was looking and acting particularly well; the only +apparent fault being a lack of harmony between herself and her dress. +They were two separate entities, not only in fact but in appearance, +and they were seemingly in a state of subdued but constant warfare. +The truth was, that this wild girl of the woods was secretly chafing +against the stiffly starched prison in which she found herself +helplessly immured. + +It was very pleasant out on the water. The fresh vigour of the breeze +filling the sail with life, the waves swirling up about the sides of +the boat, the dancing motion of their little craft upon the water, the +changing tints, the shadows and ripples of the bay gave them a quiet +yet keen delight. Their destination was a point of land on Lake +Simcoe, where a party of picnicers was already assembled. A group of +girls came down to the shore as they landed, and bore Rose and Eva +away with them. In the leafy distance Edward caught a glimpse of +Helene DeBerczy, and in his heart the young man thanked heaven that he +was not as other men are, or even as the callow youths who were +hanging upon her utterances. + +After a while, Edward observed Wanda standing apart, and looking at +the marauders in her loved woods as a man might look upon the enemies +who, with fire and sword, were desolating the home of his fathers. +Between her and these gay girls there was a difference, not of degree +but of kind. They loved the forest as a background for themselves; she +loved it as herself. The curious eyes fixed upon her were more +respectful in their gaze when Edward quietly took his place beside +her. Presently, Rose with her devoted adherents joined them, and every +effort was put forth to make the Indian girl feel at home in her home. +But for the most part they were futile. Wanda was thoroughly ill at +ease, though she concealed the fact with the native stolidity of her +race. But love's intuitions are keen, and Edward realized that his +little sweetheart was very uncomfortable. What could be the reason? +Her dress seemed incongruous, and yet it was perfectly in accord with +the linen and lawns and flower-dotted muslins about her. + +"Laura," observed a young lady behind him, in a muffled whisper which +he could not choose but hear, "do look at Helene DeBerczy's costume. +Could anything be more out of place at a picnic?" Edward's gaze, +involuntarily straying to the garb which was so singularly +inappropriate, rested upon the filmiest of black stuffs, exquisite as +cobweb, through which were revealed the long perfect arms, and the +tender curves of neck and shoulder. From this gracious figure was +exhaled invisible radiations--the luxurious sense of refined +womanliness. How gross and earthly, how fatally commonplace and +prosaic seemed everyone about her. The violently high spirits of the +other girls, their scramblings for flowers and shriekings at snakes, +their too obvious blushes and iron-clad flirtations, seemed not to +come a-nigh her. "Her soul was like a star and dwelt apart." The young +man assured himself that he was not falling in love with her again; he +was merely laying at her feet an involuntary tribute of admiration, +the sort of admiration which he might feel for a rare poem. + +Meanwhile the girl with whom he was in love had made what Edward +called "an object" of herself. By this uncertain phrase he did not +mean an object of admiration, poetic or otherwise. Left for a brief +season to her own devices Wanda had torn and muddied her gown, lost +her hat, and in other respects behaved, as a maiden lady present +remarked, precisely like an overgrown child of five years, who has +"never had any bringing up." All the children had taken an immense +fancy to her, and she was delighting them with her dexterity in +climbing trees when Edward cast a hot, shamed, imploring look at his +sister, to which she responded by saying: + +"Wanda, you must be very tired. Come and sit down a while and rest." + +The girl, seeing Edward a little apart from the others, took a seat +beside him, at which distinct mark of preference the rest smiled. Her +lover alone wore a heavy frown. He glanced at the frouzy hair, to +which not even the beauty of the face beneath could reconcile him; +then at the scratched and sun-burned hands, and lastly at the stained +and battered gown. "Wanda," he said with stern brevity, "how did you +get your dress so wet?" + +"Wading the brook," she replied, surveying the dripping and discoloured +skirt with entire indifference. + +"That is very improper. You shouldn't do such things. Why are you not +quiet?" + +"Only the dead are quiet; but perhaps you wish to kill me." + +The remark was startling, but it was unaccompanied by a ray of emotion +in face or voice. Only in the large soft eyes lay a depth of suffering +such as he had seen in the look of a dying fawn, wounded by his hand. +"Your words pierce like arrows," she said. + +"Dear Wanda, forgive me; I am expecting too much of you. It is +exceedingly cruel of me to make you suffer so." + +"Wanda!" called one of a group of children, "come and swing us, +please." + +"Don't go," whispered Edward decisively. He himself strode over to +them, lifted one chubby youngster after another into the huge swing, +and sent them flying into the tree-tops. It was a form of pastime that +he detested; but he was not going to have Wanda at the beck and call +of "those little ruffians." At last, with the sympathetic assurance +that if they wanted any more swinging they were at liberty to get it +from each other, he left them, and rejoined the Indian girl. + +"Wanda!" said Helene, as she spread a shawl on the ground, "just step +across to our carriage, will you, and bring me a cushion you will find +there." + +"You must not!" declared Edward, in a low savage whisper, preparing to +go himself; but the girl was off like a swallow before the wind. He +met her on the way back, took the cushion from her, and presented it +to its owner with a bow of exaggerated deference. Helene's black brows +expressed the utmost astonishment; but as she confronted Edward's +wrathful gaze her own eyes caught fire, and the two who once had been +so nearly lovers now manifested no other emotion toward each other +save repressed and concentrated hate. + +"I wish you to understand," said the exasperated young man to Wanda, +as he accompanied her to dinner, "that you are not a servant, and you +mustn't obey anyone's commands." + +"No," was the slow reply, "I shall obey no one's commands, not even +yours;" and with these words she turned and fled into the woods. The +ever-present desire to escape had conquered at last. + +"How kind you are to that unfortunate girl!" observed the lady next +him at dinner. "She must try your patience so much." + +Edward admitted that his patience had been tried; but he was in no +mood to expatiate upon the subject. He had a very slight idea of what +he was eating and drinking, or of what all the talking was about. The +sunshine flecking the open clearing gave him a feeling that he would +soon have a dreadful headache. After it was over he lay down, and +tried to forget his troubles in a noontide nap. Gradually the voices +about him softened and died away. For a moment he was floating upon +the still waters of sleep, and then he drifted back to shore. Opening +his eyes he found himself alone with Helene, who was asleep among her +wrappings at a little distance. The rest had strayed away in pairs and +groups, out of hearing if not out of sight. The unconscious figure +seemed clothed in an atmosphere of ethereal sweetness, and Edward +caught himself wondering whether the root of an affection, whose life +is years long, is ever removed from the heart, unless the heart is +removed with it. He began seriously to doubt, not his constancy to +Wanda, but his inconstancy to Helene. Suddenly she opened her eyes and +caught his glance. He withdrew it at once, and in the embarrassment of +the moment made some inane remark upon the beauty of the day. Helene +rose with deliberation, put one white hand to the well-brushed head, +trim and shining as a raven's wing, and with the utmost tranquillity +answered "yes." Certainly she had the most irritating way in the world +of pronouncing the words which usually sound sweetest from a woman's +lips. He did not wait to continue a conversation so unpropitiously +begun, but went off on a lonely exploring tramp along the shore. + +Late in the afternoon as he was returning, he noticed a nondescript +figure sitting solitary on the bank, which, as he approached resolved +itself into the superb outline of his Indian love. Unconscious of +observation she threw herself backward, in an attitude as remarkable +for its beauty as for its unconventionality. She seemed to be +luxuriating with a sort of animal content in the brightness of the +sunshine, the softness of the odorous breeze, and the warmth of the +water in which her slim bare feet were dabbling; she dug her brown +fingers in the earth, as though the very touch of the soil was intense +delight. The hated dress was reduced to ruinous pink rags, which +became her untamed beauty as the habiliments of civilization never +could have done. Her slowly approaching lover viewed her with mingled +amusement and horror, while deep in his heart flowed the dark; current +of a great despair. Hearing his footsteps she nerved herself for the +expected reproaches, which he knew were worse than useless; but seeing +in his face nothing but undisguised admiration, she sprang lightly to +her feet and threw herself upon his neck. Edward kissed her, but it +was with a thrill of ineffable self-contempt, and a sharp consciousness +that the only charm this girl possessed for him was that she allowed +him to kiss her. Then he drew away and brushed with fastidious glove +the dust his coat retained from contact with her shoulder. + +"See what I have found!" she exclaimed, holding up a small trinket that +glittered in the sunlight. "It belongs to the Moon-in-a-black-cloud." + +It was a little gold locket, which he had often noticed on the neck of +Helene. Shortly before Wanda's abrupt flight, she had pointed with +childish curiosity to the slender bright chain clearly visible beneath +the transparent folds of the black gown, and the young lady had +obligingly drawn the locket from its secret place upon her heart, for +the gratification of its admirer. Left for a time on the outside of +her dress, one of the tiny links must have severed, and the pretty +trinket slipped to the ground unnoticed by its owner. The young man in +whose hand it now lay was tempted to a dishonourable action. He had +often begged Helene to show him the contents of this locket--a favour +which had uniformly been denied. Now the opportunity was his without +the asking. Nothing rewarded his curiosity save a lock of yellow hair, +probably cut from the head of Rose. Queer fancy, he thought, for one +girl to cherish the tresses of another. Suddenly he was struck by an +idea that sent the blood throbbing to his temples. He examined the +tress a second time. The bright hair growing upon his sister's head he +knew had a reddish tinge, and its silky length terminated in ring-like +curls. This was short and straight, of a pale colour, and showed by +its unevenness that it had been "shingled." His heart beat as though +it would burst. "You must take this back to its owner," he said +imperatively. + +Wanda slipped her hand in his. "We will go together," she said. + +He glanced at her bare feet and ruined raiment, and realized with a +burning flush that he was thoroughly ashamed of her. No, he could not +take the hand of his future wife and face that crowd of curious +worldlings. The mere touch of her soiled fingers was repugnant to him. +She seemed like some coarse weed, whose vivid hues he might admire in +passing, but which he would shrink from wearing on his person. + +"It will be better for you to go alone," he replied. "Don't tell the +lady that anyone beside yourself has seen the locket. I will come +presently." + +But he lingered a long time after she left him, drinking against his +will the sharp waters of bitter-sweet reflection. There came back to +him an afternoon a year ago, when his sister Eva, out of childish love +of mischief, had stolen up behind him, and cut off the lock of hair +which fell over his brow. + +"Mere masculine vanity," she had said, as the scissors snapped. He had +sprung up instantly, and pursued her as she fled shrieking down the +avenue. Helene, who was the only other occupant of the room had looked +almost shocked at their conduct, and his pet lock of hair had +mysteriously disappeared. Since then during how many days and nights +had it been rising and falling upon the proud bosom, that he knew very +well would be cold in death before it would give evidence of a +quickened heart-beat in his presence. The knowledge he had gained by +the discovery of the locket made Helene dangerously dear to him, and +yet relieved him of not a particle of his duty towards Wanda. He saw +neither of the girls again that day, but he carried home with him a +stinging memory of both. Late that night he was pacing his room with +sick heart and aching head, while in the next apartment Rose was +assuring herself that the picnic had been a great success. "Really," +she meditated, "nothing could possibly be worse--or better--than the +way in which Wanda behaved." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE COMMODORE SURRENDERS. + + +A few weeks later there was another excursion to the emerald glooms of +the forest, but this was limited in number to the Macleods and +DeBerczys, with a few of their intimate friends. Wanda was absent on +one of her indefinite expeditions--indefinite in length as well as in +object, though the wigwam of her foster-feather was one of the points +of interest visited by the party. Conspicuous among the numerous +Indians in the settlement in the neighbourhood of Orillia was the last +of the Algonquins, partly because of the pathos which attaches to the +sole survivor in any region of a nearly extinct race, partly because +of the mantle of traditional glory that had fallen upon him from the +shoulders of valorous ancestors. He declined to join the revellers at +their midday feasting under the trees, but his unexpected appearance +afterwards suggested a pleasant substitute for the noon-day siesta. +"Talk about the storied memories of the past, in the old world," said +Edward, leaning back on the mossy sward, and gazing up through green +branches to the blue heaven, "this country has had its share of them, +and here is the man," clapping a friendly hand on the Indian's +shoulder, "who can tell us about them." + +"Ah, do!" implored Herbert and Eva. + +"Ah, don't!" entreated their father. "If there's anything that spoils +the sylvan shades for me, it is to learn that they were once the scene +of battle axes and blood spilling, and such like gruesomeness." + +"But we _ought_ to know about it," said Helene. "It's history." + +"That makes it all the worse. If it were fiction I wouldn't care." + +"Now, Papa," said Rose, "that evinces a depraved taste. People will +blame your home-training. Consider my feelings." + +"That is what I supposed I was doing, my dear, in praying to be +delivered from a tale that would make your blood run cold." + +"What a delightful way for one's blood to run in this weather," lazily +remarked one of the Boulton girls, and the other said she was pining +for a story of particular horror. + +"Oh, a story, by all means," said the Commodore, "but let it be a +tradition or something of that sort." Then turning to the Chief: "Does +not our brother know the legend of the unfortunate wretch of a man who +was set upon and abused by a lot of unmerciful women, because he +barbarously forbade them to learn all the history they wanted? +Something of that sort would be appropriate." + +"Our brother" shook his head. "That is beyond my skill, but I can +relate a story of the times before ever women were brought into the +world." + +"Rather dull times for the men, weren't they?" inquired one of the +party. + +"It is the belief of some of our race that they were very good times," +replied the Chief, tranquilly. "The men of that period, free from the +influence of the other sex, have been spoken of as a much better race +of beings than they are to-day. At that time you never heard of such a +thing as a man being cross to his wife, or too attentive to his +neighbour's wife, and when the husband came back from the chase +without meat there was no one to scold him. Every man had his own way, +and dwelt in peace in his own wigwam. As fast as they died out the +Manito created more, and as they had no families they had nothing to +fight for, nothing to defend, and, consequently, there were few wars +among them. There were, I am sorry to say, some disadvantages. The men +were obliged to weed corn, dry fish, mend nets, fell trees, carry +logs, and do other women's work, which, as we know, is a great +degradation. Also, when they were sick or in trouble, some of the +weaker ones were heard to declare that they wished women were +invented, but as a rule they were blithe and gay as warriors in the +dance that follows a great victory. There were many ennobling +influences in this world before women entered it. Vanity did not +exist. Simplicity was the rule, especially in attire, which ordinarily +consisted of hunting coats and leggings, deerskin moccasins and +coloured blankets, enriched with beads. It was only once in a while +that they appeared in black eagle plumes, and gorgeous feathers, +garters gay with beads, moccasins worked with stained porcupine +quills, leggings of scarlet cloth, embroidered and decorated with +tufts of moosehair, dyed blue and red, robes curiously plaited of the +bark of the mulberry, and adorned with bear claws, hawks' bills and +turtle shells. Besides being plain and quiet in their dress they were +very upright in their lives. No man ever was known to lie to his +neighbour; but now when you see a man and woman too frequently +together you may be sure he is telling her things that come true about +as often as larks fall from the skies. Neither were men in those days +ever deceived; but now they are tangled in women's wiles as easily as +a partridge is caught in a net. There were no cowards, for men at all +times are staunch and bold, whereas a woman has nothing but the heart +of a little bird in her breast. All nature shared in man's prosperity. +The corn grew to the height of a young forest tree, and in the +hunting-grounds the deer and bears were as thick as stars. + +"But the chief glory of man in those days was his long, superb and +glossy tail; for at that time it could not be said that the horses +were more highly gifted than he. You must often have noticed the pride +with which horses switch their tails about, apparently to drive off +flies, but really to show their superiority to the race they serve. +The reproach of having no tail is one that is hard to bear; but at the +time of which I speak all men were endowed with luxuriant tails, some +of them black as the shell of a butternut when it is fully ripe, +others the colour of the setting sun, but all trimmed with shells, gay +coloured beads and flowers, and strings of alligators' teeth. Those +who say that there is nothing on earth so beautiful as a woman did not +live in the time when tails were invented. Nothing could surpass the +pride their owners took in them, nor the scorn that was heaped upon +the hapless creature whose tail was short or scanty. + +"But, as often happens to people who have all and more than they need, +so it was with our ancestors. From being simply proud of their tails +they began to grow vain and useless, caring for nothing but their own +ease and adornment, neglecting to harvest the maize, feeble in the +chase, sleeping sometimes for the space of nearly a moon, and unable +to take more than a woman's journey of six suns at a time. Then the +Manito reflected and said to himself: 'This will never do. Man was not +made to be a mere groundling. His greatest luxury must be taken from +him, and in its place there must be given him something to tax his +patience and strengthen his powers.' So one fine morning every man in +the world woke up to find his tail missing. Great was the surprise and +lamentation, and this was not lessened by the sudden appearance of the +women, who came in number like that of the flight of pigeons in the +moon before the snow moon. No prayers could avail to stay their +coming, and from that time all the troubles in the world began. No man +was allowed to have his own way thenceforward, nor was he permitted to +plod along in his old, slow, comfortable fashion, but each one in +terror went to work as swift as a loon flying before a high wind." + +The laugh that arose at the end of this not strictly authentic +narrative was prolonged by a strange voice, and Allan Dunlop, who, +unobserved, had made his appearance among them, now came forward to +exchange greetings with his friends. Herbert and Eva Macleod hung +enraptured about him, while he went to congratulate the old Indian +upon his gifts as a story-teller. Then Edward's warm hand clasped his. +"Come over and see my father," he said. "Oh, no, he is asleep. He +generally sleeps in the afternoon of the day." + +"A very good plan when one comes to the afternoon of one's days," +observed Allan, and then he went over to speak to Rose. + +Her little soft hand fluttered up to his as a bird flutters to its +nest. They had not met since that stormy March night. Since then he +had confessed, in correspondence between them, that life was a +perpetual struggle between him and love, and she had asked--though not +in so many words--if it would make it any easier for him to know that +she was engaged in the same struggle with the same great enemy. Ah, +with what a fine pen had she written that, and with what pale ink, and +nervous, nearly illegible strokes, and how she had crowded it down to +the very edge of the paper. But he had read it, and it was fixed on +his mind as clearly as though it had been written in lightning on the +dark horizon of his future. And now, though his brown eyes were +warming into black, and her cheeks were the colour of the flower after +which she was named, they talked of conventional things in an +indifferent way, as is the customary and proper thing to do. They saw +little of each other through the remainder of the afternoon, but when +they were making ready for the sail home, Eva, at Allan's invitation, +sprang into his little light boat. + +"Come with me, Rose," she cried, "Mr. Dunlop is going to row me home, +and it will be better worth while if there are two of us." + +The excuses which Rose instantly invented were not so strong as the +vehement tones in which her sister uttered her invitation, and to +avoid attracting attention or remark she gently seated herself in the +boat, which Allan exultantly pushed away from the shore. The delight +of being for a little while almost alone with his love was +intoxicating. The younger girl, who had counted so ardently upon the +pleasure of Allan's society, found herself in a short time too sleepy +to enjoy it. Her pale, pretty head nodded drowsily, and at last found +a resting-place in the lap of her sister. The other two did not +exchange many words. It would have been a shame to disturb the +play-worn little maid. The night was very beautiful; the stars seemed +softly remote. Beneath their light the woods gleamed mysteriously, and +the waves were hushed into a dream of peace. The bay that at sunset +had seemed a sea of melted gold, now held the young moon trembling in +its liquid embrace. About them played the ineffable caresses of the +light evening breeze. + +"Rose," said Allan, softly. + +She looked up with conscious resistance, but it was too late for that +now. The imperious passion of his mood met the sad grace of her +attitude. His speech flowed fast and warm as if it had been blood from +his veins. She felt herself weakening into helpless tears. "Ah, spare +me!" she cried. "It is all so hopeless. My father--" + +"I am coming to see your father to-morrow," he said. "It will be a +hard battle, but it must be decided at once." + +He helped them to land, and they walked in silence to the house. At +the doorway, in which Eva had disappeared, Rose took Allan's +outstretched hand in both of hers, and drawing it close, laid her +weary, wet little face down upon it. The sound of voices and laughter +came up from the beach, and she hastily released herself and fled to +her room. + +The next afternoon Eva Macleod, with an air of considerable +importance, tapped at the door of her father's apartment. "Papa," she +said, with that fondness for a choice diction observable in carefully +reared young ladies at the beginning of their teens, "may I have a +private conversation with you?" + +"Why, certainly, my dear! A little talk, I suppose, you mean." + +Without heeding this undignified interruption, Miss Eva gave her +parent a very accurate report of the dramatic scene in the boat the +evening before, of which she had been an interested auditor. + +"Of course," she added, in conscientious defence, "I didn't want them +to suppose I was sleeping, but if I had opened my eyes it would have +been very embarrassing for us all." + +"Humph!" said her father. "Does Rose know that you were awake?" + +"No, I have not broached the topic to her," replied Eva, with an +affectation of maturer speech. + +"Humph!" said the gentleman again; a quizzical glance at his younger +daughter breaking for a moment through the gloom with which he was +meditating the fate of the elder one. "Well, I am glad you 'broached' +it to me; I shall--" + +"Papa," interrupted Eva, with bated breath, glancing down from the +window at which she stood, "there is Allan now." + +"_Allan_! You are mightily well acquainted. I see I must prepare to +make an unconditional surrender." + +He walked in a nervous and disquieted manner out of the room. At the +head of the stairs he encountered Mademoiselle DeBerczy, on her way +up. + +"Helene," he said, with the desperation of one who in the fifty-ninth +minute after the eleventh hour does not entirely despair of a gleam of +hope, "I wish you would tell me in two words if Rose loves Allan +Dunlop. Does she?" + +"_Don't_ she!" exclaimed Helene, with explosive earnestness, and the +two words were sufficient. Their effect was not lessened by subsequent +occurrences. On opening the drawing-room door Rose hastened to his +side, turning her back, as she did so, upon a young man of ardent but +entirely self-respectful aspect, standing not far distant. + +"Oh, Papa!" she cried in her extremity, "save me from him. He loves +me!" + +"Is that the only reason?" asked her father. + +"No; there is a greater one. _I love him_!" + +"Ah!" murmured Allan softly, "it is to _me_ you should say that." + +"She shall have unlimited opportunities for saying it to you," +observed the elder gentleman, with kindly promptness, but with a sore +heart. "After a while," he added, turning to Allan, with his hand on +the door knob, "I will be glad to see you." + +In this sentence, which is an interesting illustration of the power of +manners over mind, the word "will" was purposely substituted for the +customary "shall." It was only by an active effort of will that the +good Commodore could be glad to see his daughter's suitor. But their +interview, if it did not prove a death-blow to his prejudices, at +least inflicted serious injuries upon them, from which they never +afterwards recovered. He was won over by the young fellow's manliness, +which, when contrasted with mere gentlemanliness, apart from it, puts +the latter at a striking disadvantage, even in the mind of the +confirmed aristocrat. There was also a tinge of absurdity in the idea +of being ashamed of a son-in-law of whom his country was beginning to +be proud. Perhaps it was as well that he should arrive unaided at this +opinion, for Allan had won the rest of the household to his side, and +a belief in which one is entirely alone must contain something more +than mere pride of birth in order to support its possessor in comfort. +Even the loyal Tredway would have failed to respond to his imagined +need, for this faithful servitor had long since discovered that the +happiness of his young mistress was more to be desired than the +preservation of any fancied superiority on the part of the family to +which he was devotedly attached. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +AT STAMFORD COTTAGE. + + +Not more than three miles from the Falls of Niagara, between them and +Queenston, lies the pretty village of Stamford, in which, over sixty +years ago, Upper Canada's Lieutenant-Governor built the summer home +which became his favourite place of abode. Set in the midst of a vast +natural park, its appearance corresponded perfectly to Mrs. Jameson's +description of an elegant villa, framed in the interminable forests. +Here, within sound of the great cataract and, on clear, typically +Canadian days, within sight of York, thirty miles distant across the +lake, Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah Maitland found a grateful retreat +from the cares of public life. Not that they loved society less, but +solitude more; especially, to use a Hibernicism, when that solitude +was shared. In the early summer of 1827 Stamford Cottage was filled +with people after its pretty mistress's own heart. If she suspected +one of her guests of being also after the heart of another, it did not +endear him the less to her. Why should she not remove from the paths +of her _proteges_ the scarcely perceptible obstacles which prevented +them from being as happily married as herself? But one day she +discovered that the role of match-maker is as arduous as it is +alluring, and with this she went at once to her husband's study. + +"Dear," she began, "I have become greatly interested in a young man, +and I thought it only right that you should know about it before it +goes any further." + +"Ah, yes, certainly." The gentleman looked rather abstracted. "And the +young fellow--is he interested too?" + +"Oh, interested is a feeble word. He is desperately in love." + +"Then you haven't taken me into your confidence a moment too soon. Has +he declared his passion?" + +"No; that's just the trouble. He goes mooning round and mooning round, +and never saying a word. And I'm sure," added the lady in an aggrieved +tone, "I've given him every opportunity. Yesterday after infinite +pains I brought him and Helene together in the arbour, and made some +pretext for escaping into the house. What did that--infant--do but +follow me out?" + +"Quite natural, if his feelings towards you are such as you have +described." + +"Towards _me_! You don't imagine I am talking of myself." + +"That is what your words would lead one to believe." + +"Oh, dear husband, you know perfectly well what I mean. I do think +that when a man sets out to be stupid he succeeds a thousand times +better than a woman. Surely you have noticed how badly Edward Macleod +and Helene DeBerczy are behaving." + +"Really, my dear, I have not. I supposed they were behaving remarkably +well." + +"In one sense--yes. They are as 'polite as peas.' But why _should_ +they be polite?" + +"Well, it is a custom of the country, I suppose. It's hard to account +for all the strange things one sees in a foreign land." + +"My object is not so much to account for it as to put an end to it. +It's ridiculous for two people, who have known each other from +babyhood, to be standing aloof, and looking as if the honour of each +other's acquaintance was the last thing to be desired. And now +Mademoiselle Helene wants to go home. She does not complain or repine +or importune, but every day, and several times a day, she presents the +idea to her mother, with varying degrees of emphasis, and in the tone +of one who believes that continual dropping will wear away the stone. +Madame DeBerczy as yet remains sweetly obdurate. She is enjoying her +visit, and there seems to be no special good reason why it should be +terminated. I particularly wish them to stay, as I want if possible to +bring about a better understanding between Helene and Edward. We must +not let them escape." + +In pursuance of the policy suggested by his wife, Sir Peregrine took +occasion to have a special kindly little chat with Helene, with a view +to overcome her reluctance to remain. Naturally of a reserved +disposition his cordial hospitality found expression in looks and +actions rather than words, and these took a greater value from the +infrequency with which they were uttered. + +"What is this I hear about your wanting to leave us?" he said, +addressing Helene, who, with her mother, was seated on his left at +dinner that evening. "Have you really grown very tired of us all?" + +The young lady laid down her knife and fork, and the unconscious +movement, combined with her unusual pallor, gave one the impression +that she was indeed very tired. + +"No, Sir Peregrine, only of myself. I seem to be suffering from a +prolonged attack of spring fever. Don't you think home is the best +place for those who have the bad taste to be in poor health?" + +"No doubt of it," replied the gentleman, at which she gave him a +grateful glance, thinking she had won an unexpected ally; "but," he +continued, "I hoped you would feel at home here." + +Helene assured him that it was impossible for her to enjoy her visit +more than she was doing. As she made this perfectly sincere statement +her melancholy eyes by chance encountered the deep blue ones of her +unacknowledged lover. In their depths lurked an expression of absolute +relief. Could he then be glad to hear of their projected departure? +She hoped so. It would be very much better for both. "Has it never +occurred to you," she asked of Sir Peregrine, "that the pleasantest +things in this world are very seldom the best for us?" + +"I am sorry to hear you say that," he rejoined pleasantly, "as I was +about to ask you to go out driving with me to-morrow morning. There is +a view near the Falls that I believe you have never yet seen, and the +gratification of showing it to you would be to me one of the +pleasantest things in the world." + +The young lady very willingly admitted that this was an exception to +the rule she had just laid down. Lady Sarah, who thus far had approved +her husband's tactics, now gave him a slightly questioning glance, but +he returned her such a look of self-confident good cheer, that she +knew at once he must be involved in a deep-laid plot of his own. As a +rule she had small respect for masculine plots, and before another day +had elapsed her sentiment on the subject was abundantly shared by at +least two of her guests. Mademoiselle DeBerczy had always entertained +a genuine admiration and liking for the Lieutenant-Governor. His +chivalrous courtesy, picturesque appearance, and the exquisite +refinement of his tone and manner pleased her fastidious taste. So it +was with almost a light heart that she made her preparations next +morning for the drive. But when seated in the carriage, and waiting +with a bright face the appearing of her delinquent attendant, it was +not pleasant to be told by the gentleman himself that important +dispatches had just arrived by the morning's mail, which demanded his +personal and immediate attention. "Besides that fact," said His +Excellency, "I had forgotten an appointment I have with the Hon. Mr. +Hamilton Merritt to talk over his great project of the Welland Canal +between the two Lakes, and I cannot disappoint him." He couldn't think +of asking her to wait until the sun was hot, and the pleasure of the +drive spoiled, added the Lieutenant-Governor. But here was Edward +Macleod, who would no doubt be glad to take his place. At this +announcement Helene longed to fly to her room, but she could think of +no valid excuse. The young man, sitting with the last _Gazette_ in +hand in a rustic chair on the veranda, listened to the summons with +silent horror. He actually turned pale, but like Helene, he could +think of no possible excuse for evading the turn affairs had taken. He +rose mechanically, gave inarticulate utterance to the pleasure he did +not feel, and took his seat beside the unhappy girl, who shrank +visibly into her corner. + +"Admirable!" exclaimed Lady Sarah, softly stepping out to witness the +unusual phenomenon of Edward and Helene driving away together. "I +never supposed a man _could_ have so much sagacity and foresight. Here +have I been cudgelling my brains to keep those two from playing hide +and seek--no, hide and _avoid_--ever since they came, and now you +accomplish it in the easiest and most natural way in the world. See +what it is to have a clever husband! How did you happen to think of +those important dispatches?" + +Emphasis would indicate too coarsely the delicate stress laid upon the +last two words. The gentleman looked extremely puzzled. + +"_Happen_ to think? I am _obliged_ to think of them." + +"Really? What a lucky accident! So you are not the sly designing +schemer I supposed. Ah, well, you are the soul of honour, and that is +infinitely better." + +Certainly to her mind in the present case that was what appearances +would seem to indicate; but the poor wretches who were tending slowly +toward the brink of some indefinable horror, more awful to their +imaginations than the great cataract itself, thought not so much upon +the means by which they were brought into their present painful +position, as upon the impossibility of escape from it. To the eye of +a casual wayfarer these handsome young people, driving abroad through +the dewy freshness of the morning, with the long lovely day before +them, could not be considered objects of pity. + +For a while they took refuge in commonplaces, relieved by lapses of +eloquent silence; then as the winding road conducted them by easy +gradations into greener depths of leafy solitude they looked +involuntarily into each other's eyes, and realized that, beneath all +the bitterness and pride and cruel estrangement, their love was the +truest, most unalterable, part of their life. + +"Perhaps," said Edward, speaking as though the words were wrung from +him, "it is better that we should meet once more alone, though it be +for the last time." + +The girl gave a low murmur of assent. Her eyes were looking straight +forward. The solitude was permeated by the deep thunder of the Falls, +and it voiced the depth of her despair. "For the last time," she said +within herself, "for the last time." + +"I have a favour to ask," he continued, "a favour that I verily +believe a man never yet asked of the woman he loved; and I do love +you, my darling--there, let me say it once, since I can never say it +again--I love you with all my heart and soul." He bowed his head, and +she could see the blue vein in his temple growing bluer and swelling +as he spoke. He had not laid a finger upon her, he could not so much +as lift his eyes up to her face, but a mocking breeze suddenly blew a +fold of her raiment against his cheek, and he kissed it passionately. +Helene held her hands tightly together; they were trembling violently. + +"I want to beg of you," he said, still without looking up, "to look +upon me with suspicion, aversion, and distrust; to disbelieve any good +you may hear of me; to hate me if you can; to treat me as long as you +live with uniform coldness and indifference." + +"I understand," she replied with icy brevity, "you think there is +danger of my treating you otherwise." + +Now, since the discovery of the locket, and its tell-tale contents, +this was precisely the danger that Edward had feared, but he was a +diplomatist. + +"Have you ever given me the slightest reason to think so?" he +demanded. "At my least approach your natural pride changes to +haughtiness, arrogance, and scorn. But the one thing greater than +your pride is my love. Ah, you know nothing about it--you cannot +imagine its power. Madmen have warned those who were dearest to them +to fly from their sight, lest in spite of themselves an irreparable +injury be inflicted. And so I urge you to continue avoiding me, to +cast behind not even a single glance of pity, lest in spite of your +pride, in spite of my reason, I should bend all my power to the one +object of winning you." + +This calamity, it may be supposed, was not quite so great and horrible +to the mind of the young lady as it was in the excited imagination of +her lover. "I do not understand you," she said quietly. "What is it +you wish to ask of me?" + +"Only this: that you will never think of me with the slightest degree +of kindness; that you will drop me from your acquaintance; that you +will forget that I ever existed." + +"Very well;" her tones were even quieter than before, and a great deal +colder! "I promise never to think any more of you than I do at this +moment." And all the time she was crying with inward tears, "O, +darling, darling, as though I could think any more of you than I do +now! As though I could, as though I could!" + +"Thank you," said Edward, "you are removing a terrible temptation from +my way, and helping to make me stronger and less ignoble than I am. +Let me tell you all about it, Helene. Do you remember that night in +the conservatory last winter, when you treated me so cruelly? Yes, I +own I was a wild animal; but you might have tamed me, and instead you +infuriated me. I went from you to Wanda, the Indian girl with whom I +flirted last summer. She was in civilized garb, in my mother's home, +quiet as a bird that has been driven by the storms of winter into a +place of shelter. I too had been tempest-driven, and her warm welcome, +her beauty and tenderness, stole away my senses. She soothed my +injured vanity, satisfied my desperate hunger for love, and I lived +for weeks in the belief that we were made for each other. But with the +return of summer the untamed spirit of her race took possession of +her, and when I saw her with you,--ah, dearest, is there need for me +to say more? I cannot marry her; every fibre of my being, every +sentiment of my soul, revolts from it; but neither am I such a monster +of iniquity as to try to win any one else, and found my lifelong +happiness upon that poor girl's broken-hearted despair. No, Helene, +you have no right to look at me in that way. I never wronged her in +the base brutish sense of the word--never in a way that the spirit of +my dead mother might not have witnessed--but I have robbed her of her +heart, and find too late that I do not want it. I cannot free her from +her suffering, but at least I shall always share it." + +And I too, was Helene's internal response. Aloud she suggested that it +was time for them to return. Her indifference was precisely what +Edward had begged for, but now in return for his confidence it chilled +him. She noticed his disappointment, and with a sudden impulse of +sympathy, she laid a tiny gloved hand upon his arm. "Oh, you are +right," she breathed, "perfectly right. It is infinitely better to +suffer with her than to be happy and contemptible and forget her. +Believe me I shall not be a hindrance to you." + +He took in his own the little fluttering hand, and held it in what he +believed to be a quiet friendly clasp. It was an immense relief to +unburden his mind to any one, and her approval was very sweet to a +heart that had been torn for weary days and nights by self-accusation +and self-contempt. Unconsciously he leaned nearer to her, still +holding the little hand, which its owner did not withdraw, because it +was for "the last time." In the reaction from the severe strain of the +days and weeks gone past they were almost light-hearted. Before +re-entering the village Edward stopped the horse in a leafy covert, +where for a few minutes they might be secure from observation. + +"It is only to say good-bye, my heart's idol," he explained. "Since I +have proved myself unworthy even of your liking I must go away from you +forever. But our parting must be here in private." He held both her +hands now in a tight, strong grasp, and looked into her face with +unutterable love. "Ah, heaven," he groaned, "I cannot give you up! I +cannot, I cannot!" He bowed his face upon the lilies in her lap, but +the languid bloodless things could not cool the fever in his cheeks. +For her life she could not help laying her hand tenderly upon his +head--the young golden head that lay so wearily close to her empty +arms; but she said nothing. A woman's heart is dumb, not because it is +created so, but because society has decreed that that is the only +proper thing for it to be. "Helene," he murmured, lifting his head +with a strange dazed look, "I believe I have been delirious all the +morning. What possible good could my suffering be to Wanda? I don't +know what I have said, but I wish you would forget it all. I wish you +would remember nothing except that I love you--love you--_love you_!" + +The girl laughed aloud and bitterly. "So that is the length of a man's +remorse! No! You have begged me to despise you, and now I shall beg +you not to make it dangerously easy for me to do so." + +Her contempt was a tonic. It reminded the young man that he deserved, +not only that but his own contempt as well. They drove home without +exchanging another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE COMING OF WANDA. + + +The spectacle of a pair of lovers equally pale and proud alighting at +her door was rather dispiriting to Lady Sarah Maitland, but she did +not lose heart. This she rightly considered to be the proper thing for +_them_, not for her to do. At least they should not escape "the +solitude of the crowd," and opportunities for bringing them into this +sort of solitude were not lacking. The same afternoon an English lord, +who had recently been making a tour of the States, with some officers +of His Majesty's 70th Regiment, then stationed at York, arrived at +Stamford Cottage, and in their honour a large number of guests were +assembled that evening. The soft radiance of mingled moonlight and +candle light, the artistic luxury of the place and its surroundings, +the exquisite robes of soft-voiced women, the cultivated tone and +manner of the men, with a sort of subtle and distinguished aroma of +British nobility shed over the whole--all of these things held for +Edward Macleod a potent witchery. This evening he was in unusually +good spirits, and was entertaining a group of gentlemen, who had +gathered about him in the centre of the large drawing-room, by an +amusing account of his hunting experiences in the backwoods. The +sounds of subdued mirth that followed his recital induced a passing +bevy of ladies to join them. Lady Sarah took the arm of Helene, and +gave him her flattering attention along with the rest. A young man +never talks poorly from the knowledge that he has gained the ear of +his audience. + +"Really, a remarkably bright young fellow," confided Lord E---- to Sir +Peregrine, at the close of another story, which was accentuated by +little bursts of gentle laughter. + +A slight breeze blew from a suddenly opened door upon the wax tapers, +and the next moment a strange figure made its way through that +brilliantly dressed assemblage, and laid its hand upon the arm of +Edward. With his face flushed and eyes brightened by the sweetly +breathed flattery that, like wine, was apt to go to his brain, he +turned and beheld Wanda. She had evidently walked all the way from her +home for the express purpose of finding him. Her dress, made up of +various coloured garments, the cast-off raiment of those whose charity +had fed and lodged her on the way, was covered with dust; her +magnificent hair lay in a great straggling heap upon her shoulders. +"My father has gone to the spirit-land," she said, "and now I come to +you." Lady Sarah and Rose advanced immediately, with protestations of +pity and sympathy, and entreaties that she would go at once with them +to find food and rest. But she was immovable as granite. "I have come +to _you_," she said, her beautiful eyes fixed upon Edward, and she +uttered a few words of endearment in the Huron tongue. Nobody +understood them but the young man, his sister, and hostess. The latter +lady felt herself growing very cold, but she accompanied the pair to a +private parlour, and returned to her guests with an amused smile upon +her lips. + +"Poor thing!" she said in a clear voice, distinctly audible to all. +"Her foster-father died last week, and left no end of messages and +requests to Mr. Macleod, his friend and constant companion in his +hunting expeditions. The girl has that exaggerated idea of filial duty +common to the Indian races. She could not rest until she had fulfilled +his dying wishes." + +No; Lady Sarah certainly did not merit the compliment she had given +her husband--she was not the soul of honour--but what would you? With +her cheery voice and confident laugh she had dispelled at a breath the +vile suspicion of scandal. The company experienced a wonderful relief, +and the conversation naturally turned to the peculiarities of savages. +Rose had vanished, and it was generally supposed that she was with her +brother and that queer Indian girl. In reality she was locked in her +room, saturating her pillow with her tears. + +Edward was alone with Wanda. For a moment the blood ran hot in his +veins, and he longed to act the part of a man. He longed to take the +hand of this beautiful travel-stained savage, and lead her back into +the midst of those fashionably dressed, superficially smiling, ladies +and gentlemen. He longed to declare, nay, rather to thunder forth, the +words: "This is my promised wife! Through weary days and nights, with +sore feet and sorer heart she has been coming to me. Burned by the sun +and blinded with the dust, hungry and thirsty, and aching in every +fibre, her trust never faltered, her love never failed. And her love +is matched by mine. The loyalty and devotion of my life I lay at her +poor bleeding feet." + +That would have satisfied his imagination, but in real life imagination +must always go a-hungering. He sat down beside her with a face far +more weary than her own. + +"Wanda," he burst forth, "my poor fatherless, friendless child, what +can I say to you? I am a villain, a coward, a reptile! I thought I +loved you, and I do not. No, though my heart aches for you, I do not +love you. Oh, you look as though I were murdering you, and it is +better for me to murder you now by a few sharp terrible words, than by +a life-time of neglect and loathing." + +The colour had all ebbed from her face. She fell on her knees beside +him, and her liquid childish eyes and sweet lips were upraised to his. + +"No, no, my little fawn, I must not kiss you. It is wicked to kiss +what we do not love. And I do _not_ love you." He was sheltering +himself behind that assertion, but of a sudden he broke into crying, +and his tears fell upon her face. "Child," he said, rising and pacing +the room, "do you know what it is to many a man, who cares a great +deal for your lips and eyes, and nothing for your mind and soul? It is +to marry a beast! You would be wretched with me. We should grow +inexpressibly tired of each other. Tell me," he cried, stopping short +in his swift walk to and fro, and confronting her with parched lips +and wet eyes, "could you endure to have me say cruel things to you +every day? Could you bear to have me think bitter things of you in my +heart, though I left them unsaid? How could you live under my coldness +and neglect? You must learn to hate me--to scorn me,--to think as +harshly of me as I shall always think of myself." + +She was faint and dizzy, but she rose to her feet, and groped feebly +to the door, cowering from him as she went, with her hands over her +eyes. Then she turned back with a low wail of irrepressible anguish. + +"I cannot leave you," she said, "I cannot give you up!" + +Again he was bound in her chains. Her feverish hands held his, her +burning eyes drank up the dew in his own, her pathetic presence +thrilled him with a sense of love stronger than any he had dreamed of +or imagined. Neglect, cruelty, bitterness, scorn! What did the words +mean? Like poisonous weeds they had grown fast and rank before his +eyes, but in the burning face of this all-conquering love they had +shrunk, withered and dead to the earth. Yes, it was the vile earth +from which they had sprung, and it was in the radiant heavens that +this great love was shining. Wanda's victory was nearly complete. The +only thing lacking to make it so was that she should renounce it +altogether. And this she did--not with conscious art but by that sure +instinct of womanliness which teaches that a man won by other than +indirect methods is not won at all. Then she said, pushing him gently +aside, "I will go away now, and never see you again, because I am a +burden to you. No," for he had put his hand upon her wrist, "you must +not touch me, because--" the words choked her for a moment, and then +they fell from her lips with a sound of fathomless despair--"it is as +though you were my little child that I was forced to leave forever." +Again she had reached the door, but this time it was his arm around +her that brought her back, his protestations of undying affection that +revived her drooping frame. + +There was a light tap at the door, which opened to admit Lady Sarah +Maitland. "My maids will attend to this poor child," she said, +addressing Edward. "She will have a bath, and food, and a bed. +Meantime, I want you to help to entertain my guests." + +"Really?" The young man frowned at the idea of rejoining that gay +throng. He was in a state of mental exaltation--so far up in the +clouds that the idea of attending a reception given by his brilliant +hostess seemed by contrast spiritless and earthy. + +"It would be a great kindness to let me off," he pleaded. + +"It would be the greatest kindness to compel you to come," she +insisted. There was a significance in the eye and tone of this +thorough-bred woman of the world that were not without effect upon +Edward, who at once accompanied her. His bright face, collected +manner, and ready speech, lessened the impression made upon the +company by the episode which had drawn general attention to him early +in the evening. Not till after the guests had begun to retire did he +again see Wanda. Running upstairs to get a wrap for the fair shoulders +of a young lady, who preferred a moonlit seat on the lawn to the +rather oppressive warmth within doors, he chanced into a little +sitting-room in which Wanda, left alone for a moment, was resting with +closed eyes in a great easy chair. Fresh from her bath, with her damp +heavy hair lying along the folds of a loose white _neglige_, she +looked almost too tired to smile. Edward advanced with beating heart, +but stopped half-way, suddenly smitten by the sight of a pair of +little bruised feet, carefully bandaged, resting upon a stool--the +little feet that had travelled such a long hard road, that had been +torn and wounded for his sake. A great wave of shame swept over him. + +"I am not worthy to stand in your presence," he said penitently, +kneeling at her side. + +A low murmur of joy escaped the Indian Maiden's lips. + +She drew his head down for a moment under the dusky curtain of her +overhanging hair, and then her eyes closed again. + +Edward rose and beheld in the open doorway Helene DeBerczy; her large +gaze, darker than a thunder cloud, was illumined by a long lightning +flash of merciless irony. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE PASSING OF WANDA. + + +After night comes morning in the material world, but in that inner +sphere of thought and feeling, which is the only reality, it +frequently happens that after night comes a greater depth of darkness. +The early light of successive summer mornings falling into the +sleeping-room of Edward Macleod seemed to mock the heavy gloom which +perpetually enshrouded his heart. He was back in his old home, for the +pleasant circle at Stamford Cottage had broken up shortly after the +unexpected advent of Wanda. A few days of enforced civilization had +affected her more severely than the hard journey preceding it, and she +had returned to her native wilds with the feeling of a bird regaining +its freedom. Where in all the limitless forest she could be found at +any particular time her lover could not tell. He was her lover +still--he must always remain her lover. He had attempted to limit and +define the strange irresistible attraction she exerted over him, he +had voluntarily resolved upon life-long celibacy rather than subject +her to the bitterness of seeing him belong to another; and if in +thought he ever yielded to this great, untamed unrepressed love of +hers, it was with something of the exaltation and ardour of one who +makes a supreme sacrifice. + +Edward Macleod was no sentimentalist, and yet he was conscious of a +very delicate, infinitely sad satisfaction in the belief that he would +expiate with his life the folly he had committed in permitting her to +love him. In the loftiest sense he would be true to her. He could not +be selfish and shameless enough to set forever aside the desolation +that his hands had callously wrought. As her sorrow could never be +mitigated it should always be shared. He would do everything for her. +She should be educated, and inducted by gentle degrees into the +refinement of civilization--he fervently hoped that it might not prove +the refinement of cruelty. She should not be left desolate, forsaken, +uncared-for; she should share everything he had except his heart. That +was to be kept empty for her sake--for the sake of the sweet dusky +maiden who had once possessed it. + +Who had _once_ possessed it! Ah, was it true then that she no longer +held a claim? He had closed the door hesitatingly and with sharp pain +in her face, but now the bare recollection of the little brown hands +fumbling upon it thrilled him with a blissful sense that perhaps, +after all, his life was not to be the utter sacrifice that he had +supposed. Perhaps this peerless creature by some magical process of +development might yet meet and satisfy his intellectual demands. She +had already the soul of an angel--yes, and the beauty of an angel. And +yet he was not satisfied. + +It was this haunting dissatisfaction that kept him a prisoner in his +room, one brilliant afternoon, when the fresh world without seemed too +insupportable a mockery of his jaded and cynical state of mind. He +stepped out upon the little balcony that ran under the windows of his +own and his sister's apartments, and looked with a sore heart upon the +eternal miracle of earth and sky. He sank heavily down upon a low +seat, feeling very old and worn. If the back is fitted to the burden, +it occurred to him that the painful process of adjustment would have +to be continued through an interminable period of years. Perhaps it is +only the stiff, bent shoulders of age that are really fitted to bear +the burdens that impetuous youth find unendurably irksome. + +While he sat in utter silence, thrilled occasionally with shrill sweet +bursts of irrepressible bird song, and inwardly tortured by the +hateful whisperings of doubt, remorse and despair, the door of his +sister's apartment was opened, and a murmur of voices told him that +Rose and Helene had returned together from an afternoon drive. Through +the lightly draped open window their conversation, distinctly heard, +forced him into the position of an unintentional eaves-dropper. There +seemed at first no reason why he should withdraw, and when the reason +became apparent he found it impossible to make his presence known. + +"Is your brother in the house?" asked Helene, waiting for the answer +before laying aside hat and gloves, and dropping languidly into an +easy chair. + +"Oh, no," returned Rose, "he is never at home at this hour of the day. +Why? Did you wish to see him?" + +"I? No! I wish never to see him!" The words were uttered in a +passionate undertone. + +Rose came directly and beseechingly over to her friend. "Dear Helene," +she said, "what is this terrible trouble that is preying upon your +life? Every day you grow thinner and whiter and colder--more like a +moonbeam than a mortal woman. Soon I fear you will fade from my grasp +altogether, and I shall have nothing left but the recollection that +you did not care enough for me to confide in me. I am sure there is +something dreadful between you and Edward." + +"Something, yes, but not enough; there should be an ocean--a whole +world between us." + +"I wish I could help you a little." + +"Help me, dearest? It is like your goodness to think of such a thing; +but it is impossible. No, there is nothing tragic, or terrible, or awe +compelling, in my fate. It is nothing, I suppose, beyond the common +lot of a great portion of humanity. It is simply--" she hesitated a +moment, while a choking sob rose in her throat; she clasped her white +hands above her head in a stern effort at self control, and then flung +them down with an irrepressible moan--"it is simply that I am hungry, +and thirsty, and cold, and tired and I want to go back to my old home, +to my only home in the heart of the man I love. My poor child, do I +startle you by talking in this passionate lawless, way? You invited my +confidence, and it is such a relief to give it to you. To every one +else in the world I must keep up the desolate show of appearing +heartless and lifeless, incapable of compassion, of suffering and +yearning. But with you, for a little while, I want to be myself. I am +not a mere drawing-room ornament, prized by its owner, and gazed at by +curious beholders. I am a wretched woman. Oh, Rose, Rose, I am an +inexpressibly wretched woman!" + +She caught the little warm hands, sympathizingly outstretched towards +her, and pressed them to her neck, where the veins throbbed fast. + +"No, don't pity me yet--only listen to me. I am so tired of living on +husks, I seem to be nothing but a husk myself, brainless, soulless, +and empty. I am so tired of sham and pretence, of keeping up +appearances. I hate appearances. They are all false, unreal, loathsome. +Yes, I am a well-trained puppet; I smile and chatter, dance and sing, +am haughtily self-satisfied; but at night--at night my sick heart +cries like a starving child, and I pace the floor with it until I fear +that its wailings will drive me mad. I heap insults on my darling, and +profess to scorn his tenderness, and all the time I could fly to him, +and rain caresses upon him, and hold him closely folded in the arms of +my love perpetually. No, he is not to blame, and Wanda is not to +blame, for all this wretchedness. I don't understand how a woman can +hate her rival. The fact of their loving the same object gives them a +closer kinship than that between twin sisters. Wanda's sufferings are +too much like my own to permit me even to dislike her. She has rich +beauty, a rarely luxuriant vitality, and the immense advantage of +being free to show her love in a natural way. I have nothing but my +love for her lover! If I could only trample on it, despise it, spurn +it, but I can't, I can't! My love is stronger than my pride, stronger +than my life. It is not a mere fancy of yesterday, it has grown and +strengthened with my years." + +"I remember one evening in York, last spring," Helene continued, "when +it was warm enough to leave doors and windows open to admit the free +breeze from the lake; I happened to pass a wretched little shanty in +the lower part of the town. A commonplace woman within was cooking +supper in plain sight of the street, and I thought what a miserable +lot must be hers. Then her husband, a grimy-looking workman came home, +and she put her toil-worn hands about his neck, and gave him a welcome +that left me dazed and desolate, filled with unbearable pain and envy, +because I knew then, as I know now, that for my darling and me there +can be no sweet home-coming, no interposition of my love between him +and the sordid cares of the day. The measure of my need will never be +filled. Ah, _mon Dieu_, it is very hard--it is bitterly hard!" + +The low passionate tones died away into absolute silence. Rose's +tender arms were closely clasped about her friend, and her wet cheek +was pressed against the pale face on her shoulder; but she could find +no words to match the heart-sickness that had at last found free vent +in speech. Perhaps the deepest sympathy can be expressed only by +silence. In a few moments Helene looked up gratefully and with a +quivering smile. "Dear little, pet," she said, "it is a sin for me to +burden you with the shameless story of my griefs. I hardly know what I +have been saying, so you must not attach too much importance to it. +After all, it is only a mood." The inevitable reaction after deep +feeling had come. + +"I wish with all my heart that I could help you," said Rose, +soothingly but despairingly. + +"So you can. Give me those two blue eyes of yours to kiss. They are +blue as wood-violets, and look grieved and sad--so exactly like +Edward's." She leaned over and kissed them fervently. "Oh, I must not +yield to such thoughts. I must control myself. I must be strong. I +must conquer everything. Heaven help me!" The last words sounded like +a piteous prayer, as indeed they were. "Come and sing to me, Rose. +Sing my soul out of this perdition if you can." + +The two girls departed to the music-room, and, shortly after, Edward, +with the soundless step of a murderer, crept down stairs and far out +into the forest. Like one driven by an indwelling demon into the +wilderness he walked swiftly with great strides away from his trouble. +No, not away from it, for it surrounded him like the atmosphere. +Sometimes he stopped from sheer exhaustion, and leaned heavily against +a tree, while the perspiration stood on his brow in large drops. At +one of these times there was a rustling among the thick leaves behind +him, and Wanda stole timidly, yet with the fearless innocence of a +child, to his side. He groaned aloud as she hid her face upon his +breast. "Ah, you are sad as a night in the moon of dying leaves," she +said, pulling his arms about her. + +"It is because I do not love you," he returned, and the cruel sentence +was softened by the measureless sadness of his tone. + +"Oh, but you shall love me!" Each passionate word seemed a link in a +strong chain that bound him inexorably to her. "What does it matter," +she pleaded, "that you care little for me now? My love is great enough +for both. I can give my life up, but I can never give you up. You are +dearer to me than life!" + +She leaned over him, and he felt as in a dream the old potential charm +of her flower-sweet breath and glowing beauty. Still, though he +submitted to her caresses, he did not return them. Within his ears the +impassioned words of Helene were sounding perpetually, deafening him +to every other appeal. His visible presence was with Wanda, his breast +was deeply stirred with pity and affection and remorse for her, but +his soul was left behind with that stricken girl, to whose +broken-hearted confessions he had been a forced listener. + +The day had lost its brightness, as though twilight had suddenly laid +her dusky hand across the burning gaze of noon; the shadows deepened +perceptibly about them; the sky threatened, the darkened trees seemed +full of dread, the last gleam of light faded swiftly into the black +approaching clouds, and they were speedily engulfed in one of those +impatient summer showers, whose sharp fury quickly spends itself. +Edward was reminded of that time a year ago when they were alone in +the storm. Again the Indian girl bent reverently to the ground, +exclaiming in awed accents, "The Great Spirit is angry." "He has need +to be angry," muttered the young man, hurrying his companion to a +denser part of the forest, where the thickly intermingled boughs might +form a roof above them. But before they reached it a terrific burst of +thunder broke upon their ears, and a tree beside them was suddenly +snapped by the wind, and flung to the ground. The girl, with the quick +instinct of a savage, stepped aside, pulling hard as she did so upon +the arm of Edward. But he, walking as one in a dream, was scarcely +less unconscious of what was going on around him than when, a moment +later, he lay, felled to the earth by the fallen tree. + +Wanda uttered an ejaculation of horror and alarm, and exerting all her +strength she dragged the inanimate figure away from its enshrouding +coverlet of leaves. The rain beat heavily upon the bloodless, upturned +face. "What can I do for you?" she cried in despair, taking his +handkerchief and binding tightly the deep wound on his head. He opened +his eyes languidly, and murmured scarcely above his breath, "Bring +Helene!" She did not pause even to kiss the pale lips, but flew swift +as Love itself upon Love's errand. And yet, in her consuming desire to +obey the least wish of her idol, it seemed to her that every fibre of +her eager frame was clogged and weighted with lead. The rain blinded +her eyes, the tangled underbrush tripped her feet, and more than once +she fell panting and trembling on the dead leaves. Only for a moment; +then she sprang up again, leaping, running, pushing away the branches +that stretched across her path, spurning at every step the solid earth +that interposed so much of its dull bulk between her and her heart's +desire. Reaching the lake she jumped quickly into a boat Edward had +given her, which lay near, and she made haste for Kempenfeldt Bay. + +The rain ceased before she reached Pine Towers, and with the first +radiant glance of the sun Helene had come to the wood's edge for the +sake of the forest odours, which are never so pungent and delicious as +immediately after a thunder-storm. In the thinnest, most transparent +of summer white gowns, with her lily-pale face and drooping figure, +she looked like some rare flower which the storm in pity had spared. +So thought Wanda, who, now that the object of her search was in sight, +approached very slowly and wearily, her breast rent by fierce pangs of +jealousy. Why had Edward wished at such a critical time for this +useless weakling? What possible good could she be to him in what might +be his dying moments? And all the time, Helene, fixing her sad eyes +upon this wild girl of the woods, noting her drenched, ragged and +earth-stained raiment, and the dark sullen expression that jealousy +had painted upon her face, saw more than all and above all the +overwhelming beauty, which belittled all externals, and made them +scarcely worth notice. "What wonder," thought Helene, "that Edward is +given up heart and soul to this peerless creature, when the mere sight +of her quickens my slow pulses?" + +The two loves of Edward Macleod stood face to face. Wanda explained +her presence in a few cold words. "Some of the family can take a +carriage and everything necessary and go to him by the road," she +said. "You will reach him much sooner by letting me row you across the +bay in my boat." + +Helene trembled visibly, and a great longing possessed her to go +instantly to Edward. Then a strong fear seized her. She felt a +profound distrust of this beautiful savage with the coarse garments, +rough speech, and strangely marred visage. Perhaps to revenge herself +for Edward's suspected unfaithfulness she had killed him in the +forest, and wished now to satiate her appetite for vengeance by taking +the woman who loved him to view her ghastly work. Perhaps the whole +story was a fabrication to lure her to some lonely spot in the +boundless woods, where she would be horribly murdered. Perhaps-- + +"Come!" urged Wanda, with passionate entreaty. "He is dying." + +"Is it you who have killed him?" demanded Helene, sternly voicing all +her fears in that black suspicion. + +The girl turned away with a quick writhing motion. "No," she groaned, +"it is he who has killed me--with two words--_bring Helene_." She +darted to the house with the news of Edward's accident, and then to +the beach, where Helene was already before her. The tiny skiff was +pushed off, and the two girls were alone together. + +As long as she lived Helene DeBerczy remembered that swift boat ride +across the bay. Great masses of black clouds still hung heavily in the +western sky, occasionally pierced by a brilliant flash of sunshine, +that emphasized by contrast the dreariness succeeding it. Below, the +waters were dark and troubled, while from the flat shores rose the +majestic monotony of the forest, chill, shadowy, inscrutable. But +these were as the frame of a picture, that printed itself indelibly +upon the heart of this high-born woman of the world--the picture of a +tropically beautiful face, now for the first time deathly pale, and +seamed with lines of unutterable anguish; of bare rounded arms, +showing in their raised muscles, and in the tense grasp of the oars, +a power of self-repression awful in its strength; of deeply-heaving +bosom, beneath which was raging that old, old conflict between true +and false love--the true love that gives everything, the false love +that grasps everything; of the passionate, eloquent, suffering eyes, +full of jealousy and yearning, fierce hate and fiercer desire, and +behind all, yes, dominating all, the struggle for martyr-like +self-effacement whose cry forever is, not for my sake, but for the +sake of one that I love. Great waves of pity overwhelmed every other +emotion in Helene's breast, as she leaned forward. "My poor child," +she said, "how intensely you love him! Do not let my coming hurt you +so, I have long ago yielded him to you." + +"But he has not yielded himself to me," moaned the girl, her ashen +lips framing the cry that came from her soul. The boat grated in the +sand, and she sprang out, and pulled it upon the beach. Then, taking +in a feverish clasp the delicately-draped arm of the other, she +hurried her to the spot where Edward still lay, deadly pale but +conscious. He did not look at Wanda--he had no eyes save for Helene. +With a little cry of passionate love and sorrow she flung herself +beside him, and drew the white wounded face close to her aching heart. +His broken syllables of love were in her ears, his head was nestled, +like that of a weary child, within her arms, his blood was staining +the white laces on her breast. For a moment Wanda paused and looked +upon them; then noiselessly as a dream she vanished away. + +But where in the wide, pitiless world is there a place of refuge for a +woman's broken heart? Instinctively Wanda went back to the boat, and +rowed far out upon the troubled waters. The afternoon's storm had been +but the warning of a wilder one yet to come; the heavy skies shut down +on all sides, adamantine and inexorable as the fate enshrouding her; +from the mute mysterious woods came the sighing of the wind, sinking +now into deep moaning, then rising into a shrill anguish, that was +answered by the sobbing of the waves upon the beach. All nature seemed +stirred to the heart at the hopeless misery of this her cherished +child. But Wanda's eyes were blank, and her ears deafened to the +sights and sounds around her. With the desperation of despair she +rowed fast and strenuously out into the heaving lake, while hours +passed, and the black night, like a pall, enveloped all things +earthly. At last, with her strength utterly gone, she dropped the oars +and drifted wherever the wild tide might choose to take her. Low +mutterings of thunder shook the air, and with them she mingled the +notes of an Indian death-chant. Before the weird, heart-breaking tones +had ceased, the black heavens opened, and tears of pity were rained +upon this desolate human soul. She lay outstretched, her glorious face +upturned to the starless skies, her tired hands far apart over the +sides of the boat. Towards them with wolfish haste rushed the +white-capped breakers, rising in fury as they reached the little +craft, and flinging themselves wildly across it. Wanda paid no heed. +Her voice rose once again, thrilling the air with its wild sweet +melody, and then she sank, without even a convulsive clutch at the +frail bark which overturned upon her. + +So perished the life that was naught but a mere empty husk, since +love, its strong sweet occupant, had departed. Alas, poor Wanda! alas, +poor little one, whose sore feet and sorer heart could find no +resting-place in all this wide hard world. The anguished winds moaned +on far into the night; the sad waves, now racked and scourged by the +tempest, sobbed ceaselessly upon the beach; the pitiful heavens +outpoured their flood of tears, but the tortured soul that had +committed the god-like sin of loving too much had found rest at last. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +LOVE'S REWARDS. + + +A few days afterwards the body of the Algonquin maiden, recovered from +the waves, was lying in an upper chamber at Pine Towers. Whatever may +have been the supreme agony in which this suffering soul parted from +its human habitation, no trace of it remained upon the inanimate form. +Free from scar or stain it lay, the languid limbs forever motionless, +the cold hands crossed upon a pulseless breast, the beautiful figure, +heavily shadowed in enshrouding tresses, stretched in painless repose, +and on the wonderful face the expression of one who has gained, not +rest and peace--when had she ever hungered for these?--but the look, +almost startling in its intensity, of one who has found love. +Somewhere, sometime, we who struggle through life--nay, rather, +struggle _after_ life--in this world that God so loved, shall find our +longings satisfied; the one yearning cry of our heart shall be +stilled. The poet shall touch the stars, whose pale light now shines +so uncertainly upon his brow; the painter shall put upon canvas a +beauty too deep for words; the worshipper of nature shall thrill with +the knowledge of unspoken secrets; the seeker after truth shall learn +the mysteries of heaven. The infinite Father cannot deny his children; +He will not cheat them. But the lessons of patience are harder to +learn than those of labour. + +Upon this poor child of the wilderness had fallen a happiness so +bewildering and so complete that it seemed as though the perfect lips +must open to give utterance to a joy too full to be contained. But to +the man self-accused of robbing her of love and life, this sweet +reflected glory from the other side of the dark gateway brought no +consolation. In that silent room, flooded with cold moonlight, Edward +Macleod stood alone in the dead girl's presence, and felt the bitter +waves of remorse sweep over his soul. Her beauty, touched by the light +of absolute happiness, thrilled him now as never before. From mere +wantonness, he had crushed out the heart of this faultlessly lovely +and innocent creature, and his head fell upon his breast in shame and +self-contempt. God might forgive him, but how could he ever forgive +himself? + +The door blew open, and, silently as a vision, Helene came in and +stood beside him. It was a strange place for a lover's tryst--that +bare room with its lifeless occupant, flooded with white unearthly +moonlight "Let me stay with you, Edward," she pleaded, with quivering +lips. "No," she added, in answer to the unspoken fear in his eyes, "I +shall not try to comfort you." She knew intuitively that no consolation +could avail in this hour of silent self-torture. "Only," she whispered, +"you must let me share your grief, for I also have wronged her." + +And so, with clasped hands, they bent together and kissed the +beautiful still lips that could never utter an accusing word against +them. Their love founded upon death had suddenly become as mysterious +and sacred as the life of a child whose mother perished when she gave +it birth. + +Some months elapsed after the burial of Wanda before Edward ventured +to bring his dearest hopes under the notice of Madame DeBerczy. This +august personage, in whose memory yet lingered frequent rumours of the +young man's flirtations with the nut-brown forest maid, cherished no +particular partiality for him. If Helene's lover had ever entertained +the unfounded illusion that her lily-white hand had been too lightly +won, he might willingly have submitted to the just punishment of his +presumption; but in view of his long struggle to win her favour, it +was dispiriting to learn that there was still a greater height to +conquer,--the lofty indifference of one whom he wished, in spite of +her weaknesses, to make his mother-in-law. Ice, however, will melt +when exposed to a certain degree of heat, and this was where Edward's +naturally sunny disposition and the warmth of his love did him good +service. Before the good lady fairly realized the change that was +passing over her feelings with regard to her daughter's suitor, she +had ceased to speak of him as that frivolous young Macleod, and had +begun to see for herself in his handsome face the sincerity and +sadness that follow in the wake of every deep and painful experience. + +From approval it is but a step to appreciation, and this merges by +natural degrees into affection. Helene, who, though she did not +consider Edward faultless, was apt to find his faults more alluring +than the virtues of some others, had at last the satisfaction of +knowing that her mother inclined to take a like view of them; and her +now impatient lover was made glad by a formal acceptance from Madame +DeBerczy of his request for her daughter's hand. + +Meantime, Rose and Allan, whose course of love, if it had not suffered +so tempestuous a passage, had still flowed for the most part under +gloomy skies, were at last in the enjoyment of undisputed sunshine. In +this unaccustomed atmosphere the fairest flower of the Macleod family +bloomed anew, and her lover at last beheld his prospects _couleur de +rose_. Allan had accepted an invitation from the old Commodore to +visit Pine Towers, and the impression he made upon his prospective +father-in-law grew daily deeper and pleasanter, till, to the elder +gentleman's sorrow at the thought of parting from his fondly-loved +daughter, was added real regret that he had never before appreciated +the sterling qualities of her chosen husband. + +Politically, their views, which had once been wide asunder as the +poles, had now almost unconsciously met and kissed each other. Nor was +this the result of abandoned convictions. Both men continued to +cherish their old notions of things, and to hold to the traditions of +the party to which each was attached. But Allan Dunlop and the +Commodore had come to know and to respect each other, and, as the +result, each took a more dispassionate view of the questions which +disturbed the country and which had ranged them politically on opposite +sides. This change was specially noticeable in the elder of the two. +Though allied to the party who prided themselves in being regarded as +stiff, unbending Tories, Commodore Macleod had an acute sense of what +was just and fair; and under a somewhat rough exterior he had a +kindly, sympathetic heart. This latter virtue in the old gentleman +made him keenly alive to the grievances of the people, and particularly +sensitive to appeals from settlers, the hardships of whose lot, though +he had himself little experience of them, were nevertheless often +present to his mind. His manly character, moreover, though it was +occasionally hid under a sailor's brusque testiness, disposed him to +appreciate manliness in others, and to be sympathetic towards those +whose aims were high and whose motives were good. Thus, despite his +inherent conservatism and pride of birth, he was gradually won over to +regard Dunlop, first with tolerance, then with awakened interest and +respect, and finally with admiration and love. + +Dunlop, on the other hand, though he abated nothing in his enthusiasm +for the cause of the people, and never faltered in his loyalty to +duty, came to regard the political situation, if not from the point of +view of his opponents, at least from a point of view which was +eminently statesmanlike and discreet. Influenced by a broader +comprehension of affairs, and by a more complaisant regard for the +country's rulers, who had done and were doing much for the young +commonwealth, however sorely the political system pressed upon the +people, Dunlop placed a check upon his gift of parliamentary raillery, +and refrained from pressing many reforms which time, he knew, would +quietly and with less acrimony bring about. + +To these ameliorating influences both men unresistingly submitted +themselves, and, as a consequence, each came nearer to the other; +while the bond of love between Rose and Allan cemented the alliance +political, and threw down all barriers that had once frowned on the +alliance matrimonial. It was a consciousness of this change of feeling +which led Allan Dunlop, on his return for a time to his political +duties at York, to write to Rose in the following strain, and to +assure her of the complete cordiality that now existed, and was sure +to continue to exist, between her father and himself: + + "YORK, November 30th, 1827. + +"MY DEAR ROSE: From the paradise of the garden of Pine Towers, with +you as its ineffably sweet, pervading presence, to the inferno of +these Legislative Halls, with their scenes of discord and turbulence, +duty and fate have ruthlessly and unfeelingly banished me. Coming from +your restful presence, how little disposed am I to enter upon the +strifes of these stormy times, and to take up the gage of battle +thrown recklessly down by some knight of the Upper House, whose idea, +either of manly dignity or of Parliamentary warfare, is not that of +the "_preux chevalier, sans peur et sans reproche_." + +Yet I would be unworthy of the little queen I serve, whose smiles and +favour are a continuous inspiration to me, were I weakly to forego my +duty, and desire to seek the solace of her presence without having +first acquitted myself with honour on this mimic field of battle. What +is to be the outcome of this strife of tongues, and what the future of +our country, riven asunder as it is by those, on the one side, who are +jealous merely for their own rights and privileges, and, on the other, +by those who care only for the distraction and clamour of fruitless +contention, it were hard to say. With the ever-increasing +complications, the fires of discontent must some day burst into flame. +Even now it wants but the breath of a bold, daring spirit to set the +whole Province in a blaze; and I shudder at the prospect unless a +spirit of conciliation speedily shows itself, and the Executive makes +some surrender of its autocratic powers. + +In the discussion of political affairs I had recently with your +father, I am glad to say that we agree very closely as to the inciting +causes of the public discontent, and have a common opinion as to the +best,--indeed, the only satisfactory,--means of applying a remedy. +This unity of feeling must rivet and perpetuate our friendship, and +aid in bringing about, what I ardently desire, some necessary and +immediate reforms in our mode of government. I need hardly say to you, +who are so dear to me, how fervently I hail this mutual understanding +on political matters, and how much I auger from it of weal to the +country and of pleasure and happiness to ourselves. Heaven grant that +all I expect from it may be realized! + +I have no news to give you of social matters in York, save of Lady +Mary Willis's Fancy Ball, which is to come off at the close of the +year. Mr. Galt, of the Canada Company, the Robinsons, Hewards, +Hagermans, Widmers, Spragges, and Baldwins--everybody but a few of the +Government House people--are taking a great interest in the coming +affair. There is to be a sleighing-party soon also, from the Macaulays +to the Crookshank's farm, and on to the Denisons. I have been asked to +join it, and wish you were to be here in time, to make one--the +dearest to me!--of the party. + +With my respects to your father, kind regards to Edward and Mad'lle +Helene, and abiding love to your sweet self and the little people of +your household, + + I remain, ever and devotedly yours, + + ALLAN DUNLOP." + +But there was little need now of formal--or indeed of any--correspondence +between Allan and Rose, for they were soon to be forever together, in +the bonds not only of a common sympathy and a common interest in their +country's welfare, but in that closer union of hearts which both had +secretly longed for and both had feared would never come about. It was +arranged that in the spring of the following year there would be a +double marriage, and that the day that saw Edward united to Helene +would also see the union of Allan and Rose. Even now, preparations for +the interesting event had been set on foot, and society in "Muddy +Little York" was on the tip-toe of excitement over the coming weddings. + +As the winter passed, and the month drew near which was to witness the +two-fold alliance, the young people of the Capital took a delirious +interest in every circumstance, however trivial, connected with the +affair. Of course, the double ceremony was to take place at the Church +of St. James, and it was known that the Lieutenant-Governor and Lady +Sarah Maitland, before finally quitting the Province, were to be +present, and that the redoubtable politico-ecclesiastic, the +Archdeacon of York, was to tie the knots, and, in his richest doric, +pronounce both couples severally "mon and wife." The wedding breakfast, +it was also a matter of current talk, was to be at the homestead of a +distinguished member of the local judiciary; and it had also leaked +out that, thereafter, the united couples were to embark on His +Majesty's sloop-of-war, "_The Princess Charlotte_," and be conveyed as +far as Kingston, on the wedding journey to Quebec, where Edward, with +his bride, was to proceed to England to rejoin his regiment, and Allan +and Rose were to spend the honeymoon in some delightful retreat on the +St. Lawrence. + +What need is there to continue the chronicle?--save to assure the +modern reader of this old-time story that everything happily came +about as foreshadowed in the gossip we have just related, and that +the after-fortunes of the four happy people who took that early +wedding journey on the St. Lawrence were as bright as those of the +happiest Canadian bride and bridegroom that have ever taken the same +journey since. + + THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Algonquin Maiden, by G. 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