diff options
Diffstat (limited to '8943.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 8943.txt | 6771 |
1 files changed, 6771 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/8943.txt b/8943.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b444aa1 --- /dev/null +++ b/8943.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6771 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Adela Cathcart, Vol. 3, by George MacDonald + +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: Adela Cathcart, Vol. 3 + +Author: George MacDonald + +Posting Date: August 8, 2012 [EBook #8943] +Release Date: September, 2005 +First Posted: August 28, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADELA CATHCART, VOL. 3 *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charles Bidwell and Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + +ADELA CATHCART + +Volume Three + +By George MacDonald + + +CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. + + +CHAPTER + +I. MY UNCLE PETER.--CONTINUED + +II. THE GIANT'S HEART + +III. A CHILD'S HOLIDAY + +IV. INTERRUPTION + +V. PERCY + +VI. THE CRUEL PAINTER + +VII. THE CASTLE + +VIII. WHAT NEXT? + +XI. GENERALSHIP + +X. AN UNFORESEEN FORESIGHT + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MY UNCLE PETER.--CONTINUED. + + +"It was resolved that on the same evening, Chrissy should tell my uncle +her story. We went out for a walk together; and though she was not +afraid to go, the least thing startled her. A voice behind her would +make her turn pale and look hurriedly round. Then she would smile +again, even before the colour had had time to come back to her cheeks, +and say--'What a goose I am! But it is no wonder.' I could see too that +she looked down at her nice clothes now and then with satisfaction. She +does not like me to say so, but she does not deny it either, for +Chrissy can't tell a story even about her own feelings. My uncle had +given us five pounds each to spend, and that was jolly. We bought each +other such a lot of things, besides some for other people. And then we +came home and had dinner _tete-a-tete_ in my uncle's dining-room; after +which we went up to my uncle's room, and sat over the fire in the +twilight till his afternoon-nap was over, and he was ready for his tea. +This was ready for him by the time he awoke. Chrissy got up on the bed +beside him; I got up at the foot of the bed, facing her, and we had the +tea-tray and plenty of _etceteras_ between us. + +"'Oh! I _am_ happy!' said Chrissy, and began to cry. + +"'So am I, my darling!' rejoined Uncle Peter, and followed her example. + +"'So am I,' said I, 'but I don't mean to cry about it.' And then I did. + +"We all had one cup of tea, and some bread and butter in silence after +this. But when Chrissy had poured out the second cup for Uncle Peter, +she began of her own accord to tell us her story. + +"'It was very foggy when we came out of school that afternoon, as you +may remember, dear uncle.' + +"'Indeed I do,' answered Uncle Peter with a sigh. + +"'I was coming along the way home with Bessie--you know Bessie, +uncle--and we stopped to look in at a bookseller's window where the gas +was lighted. It was full of Christmas things already. One of them I +thought very pretty, and I was standing staring at it, when all at once +I saw that a big drabby woman had poked herself in between Bessie and +me. She was staring in at the window too. She was so nasty that I moved +away a little from her, but I wanted to have one more look at the +picture. The woman came close to me. I moved again. Again she pushed up +to me. I looked in her face, for I was rather cross by this time. A +horrid feeling, I cannot tell you what it was like, came over me as +soon as I saw her. I know how it was now, but I did not know then why I +was frightened. I think she saw I was frightened; for she instantly +walked against me, and shoved and hustled me round the corner--it was a +corner-shop--and before I knew, I was in another street. It was dark +and narrow. Just at the moment a man came from the opposite side and +joined the woman. Then they caught hold of my hands, and before my +fright would let me speak, I was deep into the narrow lane, for they +ran with me as fast as they could. Then I began to scream, but they +said such horrid words that I was forced to hold my tongue; and in a +minute more they had me inside a dreadful house, where the plaster was +dropping away from the walls, and the skeleton-ribs of the house were +looking through. I was nearly dead with terror and disgust. I don't +think it was a bit less dreadful to me from having dim recollections of +having known such places well enough at one time of my life. I think +that only made me the more frightened, because so the place seemed to +have a claim upon me. What if I ought to be there after all, and these +dreadful creatures were my father and mother! + +"'I thought they were going to beat me at once, when the woman, whom I +suspected to be my aunt, began to take off my frock. I was dreadfully +frightened, but I could not cry. However it was only my clothes that +they wanted. But I cannot tell you how frightful it was. They took +almost everything I had on, and it was only when I began to scream in +despair--sit still, Charlie, it's all over now--that they stopped, with +a nod to each other, as much as to say--'we can get the rest +afterwards.' Then they put a filthy frock on me; brought me some dry +bread to eat; locked the door, and left me. It was nearly dark now. +There was no fire. And all my warm clothes were gone.--Do sit still, +Charlie.--I was dreadfully cold. There was a wretched-looking bed in +one corner, but I think I would have died of cold rather than get into +it. And the air in the place was frightful. How long I sat there in the +dark, I don't know.' + +"'What did you do all the time?' said I. + +"'There was only one thing to be done, Charlie. I think that is a +foolish question to ask.' + +"'Well, what _did_ you do, Chrissy?' + +"'Said my prayers, Charlie.' + +"'And then?' + +"'Said them again.' + +"'And nothing else?' + +"'Yes; I tried to get out of the window, but that was of no use; for I +could not open it. And it was one story high at least.' + +"'And what did you do next?' + +"'Said over all my hymns.' + +"'And then--what _did_ you do next?' + +"'Why do you ask me so many times?' + +"'Because I want to know.' + +"'Well, I will tell you.--I left my prayers alone; and I began at the +beginning, and I told God the whole story, as if He had known nothing +about it, from the very beginning when Uncle Peter found me on the +crossing, down to the minute when I was talking there to Him in the +dark.' + +"'Ah! my dear,' said my uncle, with faltering voice, 'you felt better +after that, I daresay. And here was I in despair about you, and thought +He did not care for any of us. I was very naughty, indeed.' + +"'And what next?' I said. + +"'By and by I heard a noise of quarrelling in the street, which came +nearer and nearer. The door was burst open by some one falling against +it. Blundering steps came up the stairs. The two who had robbed me, +evidently tipsy, were trying to unlock the door. At length they +succeeded, and tumbled into the room.' + +"'Where is the unnatural wretch,' said the woman, 'who ran away and +left her own mother in poverty and sickness?'-- + +"'Oh! uncle, can it be that she is my mother?' said Chrissy, +interrupting herself. + +"'I don't think she is,' answered Uncle Peter. 'She only wanted to vex +you, my lamb. But it doesn't matter whether she is or not.' + +"'Doesn't it, uncle?--I am ashamed of her.' + +"'But you are God's child. And He can't be ashamed of you. For He gave +you the mother you had, whoever she was, and never asked you which you +would have. So you need not mind. We ought always to like best to be +just what God has made us.' + +"'I am sure of that, uncle.--Well, she began groping about to find me, +for it was very dark. I sat quite still, except for trembling all over, +till I felt her hands on me, when I jumped up, and she fell on the +floor. She began swearing dreadfully, but did not try to get up. I +crept away to another corner. I heard the man snoring, and the woman +breathing loud. Then I felt my way to the door, but, to my horror, +found the man lying across it on the floor, so that I could not open +it. Then I believe I cried for the first time. I was nearly frozen to +death, and there was all the long night to bear yet. How I got through +it, I cannot tell. It did go away. Perhaps God destroyed some of it for +me. But when the light began to come through the window, and show me +all the filth of the place, the man and the woman lying on the floor, +the woman with her head cut and covered with blood, I began to feel +that the darkness had been my friend. I felt this yet more when I saw +the state of my own dress, which I had forgotten in the dark. I felt as +if I had done some shameful thing, and wanted to follow the darkness, +and hide in the skirts of it. It was an old gown of some woollen stuff, +but it was impossible to tell what, it was so dirty and worn. I was +ashamed that even those drunken creatures should wake and see me in it. +But the light would come, and it came and came, until at last it waked +them up, and the first words were so dreadful! They quarrelled and +swore at each other and at me, until I almost thought there couldn't be +a God who would let that go on so, and never stop it. But I suppose He +wants them to stop, and doesn't care to stop it Himself, for He could +easily do that of course, if He liked.' + +"'Just right, my darling!' said Uncle Peter with emotion. + +"Chrissy saw that my uncle was too much excited by her story although +he tried not to show it, and with a wisdom which I have since learned +to appreciate, cut it short. + +"'They did not treat me cruelly, though, the worst was, that they gave +me next to nothing to eat. Perhaps they wanted to make me thin and +wretched looking, and I believe they succeeded.--Charlie, you'll turn +over the cream, if you don't sit still.--Three days passed this way. I +have thought all over it, and I think they were a little puzzled how to +get rid of me. They had no doubt watched me for a long time, and now +they had got my clothes, they were afraid.--At last one night they took +me out. My aunt, if aunt she is, was respectably dressed--that is, +comparatively, and the man had a great-coat on, which covered his dirty +clothes. They helped me into a cart which stood at the door, and drove +off. I resolved to watch the way we went. But we took so many turnings +through narrow streets before we came out in a main road, that I soon +found it was all one mass of confusion in my head; and it was too dark +to read any of the names of the streets, for the man kept as much in +the middle of the road as possible. We drove some miles, I should +think, before we stopped at the gate of a small house with a big porch, +which stood alone. My aunt got out and went up to the house, and was +admitted. After a few minutes, she returned, and making me get out, she +led me up to the house, where an elderly lady stood, holding the door +half open. When we reached it, my aunt gave me a sort of shove in, +saying to the lady, 'There she is.' Then she said to me: 'Come now be a +good girl and don't tell lies,' and turning hastily, ran down the +steps, and got into the cart at the gate, which drove off at once the +way we had come. The lady looked at me from head to foot sternly but +kindly too, I thought, and so glad was I to find myself clear of those +dreadful creatures, that I burst out crying. She instantly began to +read me a lecture on the privilege of being placed with Christian +people, who would instruct me how my soul might be saved, and teach me +to lead an honest and virtuous life. I tried to say that I had led an +honest life. But as often as I opened my mouth to tell anything about +myself or my uncle, or, indeed, to say anything at all, I was stopped +by her saying--'Now don't tell lies. Whatever you do, don't tell lies.' +This shut me up quite. I could not speak when I knew she would not +believe me. But I did not cry, I only felt my face get very hot, and +somehow my back-bone grew longer, though I felt my eyes fixed on the +ground. + +"'But,' she went on, 'you must change you dress. I will show you the +way to your room, and you will find a print gown there, which I hope +you will keep clean. And above all things don't tell lies.' + +"Here Chrissy burst out laughing, as if it was such fun to be accused +of lying; but presently her eyes filled, and she made haste to go on. + +"'You may be sure I made haste to put on the nice clean frock, and, to +my delight, found other clean things for me as well. I declare I felt +like a princess for a whole day after, notwithstanding the occupation. +For I soon found that I had been made over to Mrs. Sprinx, as a servant +of all work. I think she must have paid these people for the chance of +reclaiming one whom they had represented as at least a great liar. +Whether my wages were to be paid to them, or even what they were to be, +I never heard. I made up my mind at once that the best thing would be +to do the work without grumbling, and do it as well as I could, for +that would be doing no harm to anyone, but the contrary, while it would +give me the better chance of making my escape. But though I was +determined to get away the first opportunity, and was miserable when I +thought how anxious you would all be about me, yet I confess it was +such a relief to be clean and in respectable company, that I caught +myself singing once or twice the very first day. But the old lady soon +stopped that. She was about in the kitchen the greater part of the day +till almost dinner-time, and taught me how to cook and save my soul +both at once.' + +"'Indeed,' interrupted Uncle Peter, 'I have read receipts for the +salvation of the soul that sounded very much as if they came out of a +cookery-book.' And the wrinkles of his laugh went up into his +night-cap. Neither Chrissy nor I understood this at the time, but I +have often thought of it since. + +"Chrissy went on: + +"'I had finished washing up my dinner-things, and sat down for a few +minutes, for I was tired. I was staring into the fire, and thinking and +thinking how I should get away, and what I should do when I got out of +the house, and feeling as if the man and the woman were always prowling +about it, and watching me through the window, when suddenly I saw a +little boy in a corner of the kitchen, staring at me with great brown +eyes. He was a little boy, perhaps about six years old, with a pale +face, and very earnest look. I did not speak to him, but waited to see +what he would do. A few minutes passed, and I forgot him. But as I was +wiping my eyes, which would get wet sometimes, notwithstanding my +good-fortune, he came up to me, and said in a timid whisper, + +"'Are you a princess?' + +"'What makes you think that?' I said. + +"'You have got such white hands,' he answered. + +"'No, I am not a princess,' I said. + +"'Aren't you Cinderella?' + +"'No, my darling,' I replied; 'but something like her; for they have +stolen me away from home and brought me here. I wish I could get away.' + +"'And here I confess I burst into a down right fit of crying. + +"'Don't cry,' said the little fellow, stroking my cheek. 'I will let +you out some time. Shall you be able to find your way home all by +yourself?' + +"'Yes I think so,' I answered; but at the same time, I felt very +doubtful about it, because I always fancied those people watching, me. +But before either of us spoke again, in came Mrs. Sprinx. + +"'You naughty boy! What business have you to make the servant neglect +her work?' + +"'For I was still sitting by the fire, and my arm was round the dear +little fellow, and his head was leaning on my shoulder. + +"'She's not a servant, auntie!' cried he, indignantly. 'She's a real +princess, though of course she won't own to it.' + +"'What lies you have been telling the boy! You ought to be ashamed of +yourself. Come along directly. Get the tea at once, Jane.' + +"'My little friend went with his aunt, and I rose and got the tea. But +I felt much lighter-hearted since I had the sympathy of the little boy +to comfort me. Only I was afraid they would make him hate me. But, +although I saw very little of him the rest of the time, I knew they had +not succeeded in doing so; for as often as he could, he would come +sliding up to me, saying 'How do you do, princess?'and then run away, +afraid of being seen and scolded. + +"'I was getting very desperate about making my escape, for there was a +high wall about the place, and the gate was always locked at night. +When Christmas-Eve came, I was nearly crazy with thinking that +to-morrow was uncle's birthday; and that I should not be with him. But +that very night, after I had gone to my room, the door opened, and in +came little Eddie in his nightgown, his eyes looking very bright and +black over it. + +"'There, princess!' said he, 'there is the key of the gate. Run.' + +"'I took him in my arms and kissed him, unable to speak. He struggled +to get free, and ran to the door. There he turned and said: + +"'You will come back and see me some day--will you not?' + +"'That I will,' I answered. + +"'That you shall,' said Uncle Peter. + +"'I hid the key, and went to bed, where I lay trembling. As soon as I +was sure they must be asleep, I rose and dressed. I had no bonnet or +shawl but those I had come in; and though they disgusted me, I thought +it better to put them on. But I dared not unlock the street-door for +fear of making a noise. So I crept out of the kitchen-window, and then +I got out at the gate all safe. No one was in sight. So I locked it +again, and threw the key over. But what a time of fear and wandering +about I had in the darkness, before I dared to ask any one the way. It +was a bright, clear night; and I walked very quietly till I came upon a +great wide common. The sky, and the stars, and the wideness frightened +me, and made me gasp at first. I felt as if I should fall away from +everything into nothing. And it was so lonely! But then I thought of +God, and in a moment I knew that what I had thought loneliness was +really the presence of God. And then I grew brave again, and walked on. +When the morning dawned, I met a bricklayer going to his work; and +found that I had been wandering away from London all the time; but I +did not mind that. Now I turned my face towards it, though not the way +I had come. But I soon got dreadfully tired and faint, and once I think +I fainted quite. I went up to a house, and asked for a piece of bread, +and they gave it to me, and I felt much better after eating it. But I +had to rest so often, and got so tired, and my feet got so sore, +that--you know how late it was before I got home to my darling uncle.' + +"'And me too!' I expostulated. + +"'And you, too, Charlie,' she answered; and we all cried over again. + +"'This shan't happen any more!' said my uncle. + +"After tea was over, he asked for writing things, and wrote a note, +which he sent off. + +"The next morning, about eleven, as I was looking out of the window, I +saw a carriage drive up and stop at our door. + +"'What a pretty little brougham!' I cried. 'And such a jolly horse! +Look here, Chrissy!' + +"Presently Uncle Peter's bell rang, and Miss Chrissy was sent for. She +came down again radiant with pleasure. + +"'What do you think, Charlie! That carriage is mine--all my own. And I +am to go to school in it always. Do come and have a ride in it.' + +"You may be sure I was delighted to do so. + +"'Where shall we go?' I said. + +"'Let us ask uncle if we may go and see the little darling who set me +free.' + +"His consent was soon obtained, and away we went. It was a long drive, +but we enjoyed it beyond everything. When we reached the house, we were +shown into the drawing-room. + +"There was Mrs. Sprinx and little Eddie. The lady stared; but the child +knew Cinderella at once, and flew into her arms. + +"'I knew you were a princess!' he cried. 'There, auntie!' + +"But Mrs. Sprinx had put on an injured look, and her hands shook very +much. + +"'Really, Miss Belper, if that is your name, you have behaved in a most +unaccountable way. Why did you not tell me, instead of stealing the key +of the gate, and breaking the kitchen window? A most improper way for a +young lady to behave--to run out of the house at midnight!' + +"'You forget, madam,' replied Chrissy, with more dignity than I had +ever seen her assume, 'that as soon as ever I attempted to open my +mouth, you told me not to tell lies. You believed the wicked people who +brought me here rather than myself. However, as you will not be +friendly, I think we had better go. Come, Charlie?' + +"'Don't go, princess,' pleaded little Eddie. + +"'But I must, for your auntie does not like me,' said Chrissy. + +"'I am sure I always meant to do my duty by you. And I will do so +still.--Beware, my dear young woman, of the deceitfulness of riches. +Your carriage won't save your soul!' + +"Chrissy was on the point of saying something rude, as she confessed +when we got out; but she did not. She made her bow, turned and walked +away. I followed, and poor Eddie would have done so too, but was laid +hold of by his aunt. I confess this was not quite proper behaviour on +Chrissy's part; but I never discovered that till she made me see it. +She was very sorry afterwards, and my uncle feared the brougham had +begun to hurt her already, as she told me. For she had narrated the +whole story to him, and his look first let her see that she had been +wrong. My uncle went with her afterwards to see Mrs. Sprinx, and thank +her for having done her best; and to take Eddie such presents as my +uncle only knew how to buy for children. When he went to school, I know +he sent him a gold watch. From that time till now that she is my wife, +Chrissy has had no more such adventures; and if Uncle Peter did not die +on Christmas-day, it did not matter much, for Christmas-day makes all +the days of the year as sacred as itself." + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE GIANT'S HEART. + + +When Harry had finished reading, the colonel gallantly declared that +the story was the best they had had. Mrs. Armstrong received this as a +joke, and begged him not to be so unsparing. + +"Ah! Mrs. Armstrong," returned he laughing, "you are not old enough +yet, to know the truth from a joke. Don't you agree with me about the +story, Mrs. Cathcart?" + +"I think it is very pretty and romantic. Such men as Uncle Peter are +not very common in the world. The story is not too true to Nature." + +This she said in a tone intended to indicate superior acquaintance with +the world and its nature. I fear Mrs. Cathcart and some others whom I +could name, mean by _Nature_ something very bad indeed, which yet an +artist is bound to be loyal to. The colonel however seemed to be of a +different opinion. + +"If there never was such a man as Uncle Peter," said he, "there ought +to have been; and it is all the more reason for putting him into a +story that he is not to be found in the world." + +"Bravo!" cried I. "You have answered a great question in a few words." + +"I don't know," rejoined our host. "Have I? It seems to me as plain as +the catechism." + +I thought he might have found a more apt simile, but I held my peace. + +Next morning, I walked out in the snow. Since the storm of that +terrible night, it had fallen again quietly and plentifully; and now in +the sunlight, the world--houses and trees, ponds and rivers--was like a +creation, more than blocked out, but far from finished--in marble. + +"And this," I said to myself, as I regarded the wondrous loveliness +with which the snow had at once clothed and disfigured the bare +branches of the trees, "this is what has come of the chaos of falling +flakes! To this repose of beauty has that storm settled and sunk! Will +it not be so with our mental storms as well?" + +But here the figure displeased me; for those were not the true right +shapes of the things; and the truth does not stick to things, but shows +itself out of them. + +"This lovely show," I said, "is the result of a busy fancy. This white +world is the creation of a poet such as Shelley, in whom the fancy was +too much for the intellect. Fancy settles upon anything; half destroys +its form, half beautifies it with something that is not its own. But +the true creative imagination, the form-seer, and the form-bestower, +falls like the rain in the spring night, vanishing amid the roots of +the trees; not settling upon them in clouds of wintry white, but +breaking forth from them in clouds of summer green." + +And then my thoughts very naturally went from Nature to my niece; and I +asked myself whether within the last few days I had not seen upon her +countenance the expression of a mental spring-time. For the mind has +its seasons four, with many changes, as well as the world, only that +the cycles are generally longer: they can hardly be more mingled than +as here in our climate. + +Let me confess, now that the subject of the confession no longer +exists, that there had been something about Adela that, pet-child of +mine as she was, had troubled me. In all her behaviour, so far as I had +had any opportunity of judging, she had been as good as my desires at +least. But there was a want in her face, a certain flatness of +expression which I did not like. I love the common with all my heart, +but I hate the common-place; and, foolish old bachelor that I am, the +common-place in a woman troubles me, annoys me, makes me miserable. +Well, it was something of the common-place in Adela's expression that +had troubled me. Her eyes were clear, with lovely long dark lashes, but +somehow the light in them had been always the same; and occasionally +when I talked to her of the things I most wished her to care about, +there was such an immobile condition of the features, associated with +such a ready assent in words, that I felt her notion of what I meant +must be something very different indeed from what I did mean. Her face +looked as if it were made of something too thick for the inward light +to shine through--wax, and not living muscle and skin. The fact was, +the light within had not been kindled, else that face of hers would +have been ready enough to let it shine out. Hitherto she had not seemed +to me to belong at all to that company that praises God with sweet +looks, as Thomas Hood describes Ruth as doing. What was wanting I had +found it difficult to define. Her soul was asleep. She was dreaming a +child's dreams, instead of seeing a woman's realities--realities that +awake the swift play of feature, as the wind of God arouses the +expression of a still landscape. So there seemed after all a gulf +between her and me. She did not see what I saw, feel what I felt, seek +what I sought. Occasionally even, the delicate young girl, pure and +bright as the snow that hung on the boughs around me, would shock the +wizened old bachelor with her worldliness--a worldliness that lay only +in the use of current worldly phrases of selfish contentment, or +selfish care. Ah! how little do young beauties understand of the +pitiful emotions which they sometimes rouse in the breasts of men whom +they suppose to be absorbed in admiration of them! But for faith that +these girls are God's work and only half made yet, one would turn from +them with sadness, almost painful dislike, and take refuge with some +noble-faced grandmother, or withered old maid, whose features tell of +sorrow and patience. And the beauty would think with herself that such +a middle-aged gentleman did not admire pretty girls, and was severe and +unkind and puritanical; whereas it was the lack of beauty that made him +turn away; the disappointment of a face--dull, that ought to be +radiant; or the presence of only that sort of beauty, which in middle +age, except the deeper nature should meantime come into play, would be +worse than common-place--would be mingled with the trail of more or +less guilty sensuality. Many a woman at forty is repulsive, whom common +men found at twenty irresistibly attractive; and many a woman at +seventy is lovely to the eyes of the man who would have been compelled +to allow that she was decidedly plain at seventeen. + +"Maidens' bairns are aye weel guided," says the Scotch proverb; and the +same may be said of bachelors' wives. So I will cease the strain, and +return to Adela, the change in whom first roused it. + +Of late, I had seen a glimmer of something in her countenance which I +had never seen before--a something which, the first time I perceived +it, made me say to her, in my own hearing only: "Ah, my dear, we shall +understand each other by and by!" And now and then the light in her eye +would be dimmed as by the fore-shadowing of a tear, when there was no +immediate and visible cause to account for it; and--which was very +strange--I could not help fancying she began to be a little shy of her +old uncle.--Could it be that she was afraid of his insight reaching to +her heart, and reading there more than she was yet willing to confess +to herself?--But whatever the cause of the change might be, there was +certainly a responsiveness in her, a readiness to meet every utterance, +and take it home, by which the vanity of the old bachelor would have +been flattered to the full, had not his heart come first, and +forestalled the delight. + +So absorbed was I in considering these things, that the time passed +like one of my thoughts; and before I knew I found myself on the verge +of the perilous moor over which Harry had ridden in the teeth and heart +of the storm. How smooth yet cruel it looked in its thick covering of +snow! There was heather beneath, within which lay millions of purple +bells, ready to rush out at the call of summer, and ring peals of merry +gladness, making the desolate place not only blossom but rejoice as the +rose. And there were cold wells of brown water beneath that snow, of +depth unknown, which nourished nothing but the green grass that hid the +cold glare of their presence from the eyes of the else warefully +affrighted traveller. And I thought of Adela when I thought of the +heather; and of some other woman whom I had known, when I thought of +the wells. + +When I came home, I told Adela where I had been, and what a desolate +place it was. And the flush that rose on her pale cheek was just like +the light of the sunset which I had left shining over the whiteness of +that snowy region. And I said to myself: "It _is_ so. And I trust it +may be well." + +As I walked home, I had bethought myself of a story which I had brought +down with me in the hope of a chance of reading it, but which Adela's +illness had put out of my mind; for it was only a child's story; and +although I hoped older people might find something in it, it would have +been absurd to read it without the presence of little children. So I +said to Adela: + +"Don't you know any little children in Purleybridge, Adela?" + +"Oh! yes; plenty." + +"Couldn't you ask some of them one night, and I would tell them a +story. I think at this season they should have a share in what is +going, and I have got one I think they would like." + +"I shall be delighted. I will speak to papa about it at once. But next +time--." + +"Yes, I know. Next time Harry Armstrong was going to read; but to tell +you the truth, Adela, I doubt if he will be ready. I know he is +dreadfully busy just now, and I believe he will be thankful to have a +reprieve for a day or two, and his story, which I expect will be a good +one, will be all the better for it." + +"Then I will speak to papa about it the moment he comes in; and you +will tell Mr. Henry. And mind, uncle, you take the change upon your own +shoulders." + +"Trust me, my dear," I said, as I left the room. + +As I had anticipated, Harry was grateful. Everything was arranged. So +the next evening but one, we had a merry pretty company of boys and +girls, none older, or at least looking older, than twelve. It did my +heart good to see how Adela made herself at home with them, and talked +to them as if she were one of themselves. By the time tea was over, I +had made friends with them all, which was a stroke in its way nearly +equal to Chaucer's, who made friends with all the nine and twenty +Canterbury pilgrims before the sun was down. And the way I did was +this. I began with the one next me, asking her the question: + +"Do you like fairy-stories?" + +"Yes, I do," answered she, heartily. + +"Did you ever hear of the princess with the blue foot?" + +"No. Will you tell me, please?" + +Then I turned to the one on my other side, and asked her: + +"Did you ever hear of the giant that was all skin--not skin and bone, +you know, but all skin?" + +"No-o" she answered, and her round blue eyes got rounder and bluer. + +The next was a boy. I asked him: + +"Did you ever hear of Don Worm of Wakemup?" + +"No. Do please tell us about it." + +And so I asked them, round the room. And by that time all eyes were +fixed upon me. Then I said: + +"You see I cannot tell you all these stories to-night. But would you +all like one of some sort?" + +A chorus of _I should_ filled the room. + +"What shall it be about, then?" + +"A wicked fairy." + +"No; that's stupid. I'm tired of wicked fairies," said a scornful +little girl. + +"A good giant, then," said a priggish imp, with a face as round as the +late plum-pudding. + +"I am afraid I could not tell you a story about a _good_ giant; for +unfortunately all the good giants I ever heard of were very stupid; so +stupid that a story would not make itself about them; so stupid, +indeed, that they were always made game of by creatures not half so big +or half so good; and I don't like such stories. Shall I tell you about +the wicked giant that grew little children in his garden instead of +radishes, and then carried them about in his waistcoat pocket, and ate +one as often as he remembered he had got some?" + +"Yes, yes; please do." + +"He used to catch little children and plant them in his garden, where +you might see them in rows, with their heads only above ground, rolling +their eyes about, and growing awfully fast. He liked greedy boys +best--boys that ate plum-pudding till they felt as if their belts were +too tight." + +Here the fat-faced boy stuck both his hands inside his belt. + +"Because he was so fond of radishes," I went on, "he lived just on the +borders of Giantland, where it touched on the country of common people. +Now, everything in Giantland was so big, that the common people saw +only a mass of awful mountains and clouds; and no living man had ever +come from it, as far as anybody knew, to tell what he had seen in it. + +"Somewhere near these borders, on the other side, by the edge of a +great forest, lived a labourer with his wife and a great many children. +One day Tricksey-Wee, as they called her, teased her brother Buffy-Bob, +till he could not bear it any longer, and gave her a box on the ear. +Tricksey-Wee cried; and Buffy-Bob was so sorry and ashamed of himself, +that he cried too, and ran off into the wood. He was so long gone, that +Tricksey-Wee began to be frightened, for she was very fond of her +brother; and she was so sorry that she had first teased him, and then +cried, that at last she ran into the wood to look for him, though there +was more chance of losing herself than of finding him. And, indeed, so +it seemed likely to turn out; for, running on without looking, she at +length found herself in a valley she knew nothing about. And no wonder; +for what she thought was a valley with round, rocky sides, was no other +than the space between two of the roots of a great tree that grew on +the borders of Giantland. She climbed over the side of it, and right up +to what she took for a black, round-topped mountain, far away; but she +soon discovered that it was close to her, and was a hollow place so +great that she could not tell what it was hollowed out of. Staring at +it, she found that it was a doorway; and, going nearer and staring +harder, she saw the door, far in, with a knocker of iron upon it, a +great many yards above her head, and as large as the anchor of a big +ship. Now, nobody had ever been unkind to Tricksey-Wee, and therefore +she was not afraid of anybody. For Buffy-Bob's box on the ear she did +not think worth considering. So, spying a little hole at the bottom of +the door, which had been nibbled by some giant mouse, she crept through +it, and found herself in an enormous hall, as big as if the late Mr. +Martin, R.A., had been the architect. She could not have seen the other +end of it at all, except for the great fire that was burning there, +diminished to a spark in the distance. Towards this fire she ran as +fast as she could, and was not far from it when something fell before +her with a great clatter, over which she tumbled, and went rolling on +the floor. She was not much hurt, however, and got up in a moment. Then +she saw that she had fallen over something not unlike a great iron +bucket. When she examined it more closely, she discovered that it was a +thimble; and looking up to see who had dropped it, beheld a huge face, +with spectacles as big as the round windows in a church, bending over +her, and looking everywhere for the thimble. Tricksey-Wee immediately +laid hold of it in both her arms, and lifted it about an inch nearer to +the nose of the peering giantess. This movement made the old lady see +where it was, and, her finger popping into it, it vanished from the +eyes of Tricksey-Wee, buried in the folds of a white stocking, like a +cloud in the sky, which Mrs. Giant was busy darning. For it was +Saturday night, and her husband would wear nothing but white stockings +on Sunday." + +"But how could he be so particular about white stockings on Sunday, and +eat little children?" asked one of the group. + +"Why, to be sure," I answered, "he did eat little children, but only +_very_ little ones; and if ever it crossed his mind that it was wrong +to do so, he always said to himself that he wore whiter stockings on +Sunday than any other giant in all Giantland. + +"At that instant, Tricksey-Wee heard a sound like the wind in a tree +full of leaves, and could not think what it could be; till, looking up, +she found that it was the giantess whispering to her; and when she +tried very hard, she could hear what she said well enough. + +"'Run away, dear little girl,' she said, 'as fast as you can; for my +husband will be home in a few minutes.' + +"'But I've never been naughty to your husband,' said Tricksey-Wee, +looking up in the giantess's face. + +"'That doesn't matter. You had better go. He is fond of little +children, particularly little girls!' + +"'Oh! Then he won't hurt me.' + +"'I am not sure of that. He is so fond of them that he eats them up; +and I am afraid he couldn't help hurting you a little. He's a very good +man though.' + +"'Oh! then--' began Tricksey-Wee, feeling rather frightened; but before +she could finish her sentence, she heard the sound of footsteps very +far apart and very heavy. The next moment, who should come running +towards her, full speed, and as pale as death, but Buffy-Bob! She held +out her arms, and he ran into them. But when she tried to kiss him, she +only kissed the back of his head; for his white face and round eyes +were turned to the door. + +"'Run, children; run and hide,' said the giantess. + +"'Come, Buffy,' said Tricksey; 'yonder's a great brake; we'll hide in +it.' + +"The brake was a big broom; and they had just got into the bristles of +it, when they heard the door open with a sound of thunder; and in +stalked the giant. You would have thought you saw the whole earth +through the door when he opened it, so wide was it; and, when he closed +it, it was like nightfall. + +"'Where is that little boy?' he cried, with a voice like the bellowing +of cannon. 'He looked a very nice boy, indeed. I am almost sure he +crept through the mouse hole at the bottom of the door. Where is he, my +dear?' + +"'I don't know,' answered the giantess. + +"'But you know it is wicked to tell lies; don't you, dear?' retorted +the giant. + +"'Now, you ridiculous old Thunderthump!' said his wife, with a smile as +broad as the sea in the sun; 'how can I mend your white stockings, and +look after little boys? You have got plenty to last you over Sunday, I +am sure. Just look what good little boys they are!' + +"Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob peered through the bristles, and discovered +a row of little boys, about a dozen, with very fat faces and goggle +eyes, sitting before the fire, and looking stupidly into it. +Thunderthump intended the most of these for seed, and was feeding them +well before planting them. Now and then, however, he could not keep his +teeth off them, and would eat one by the bye, without salt." + + * * * * * + +"Now, you know that's all nonsense; for little children don't grow in +gardens, I know. _You_ may believe in the radish beds: _I_ don't," said +one pert little puss. + +"I never said I did," replied I. "If the giant did, that's enough for +my story. I told you the good giants are very stupid; so you may think +what the bad ones are. Indeed, the giant never really tried the plan. +No doubt he did plant the children, but he always pulled them up and +ate them before they had a chance of increasing. + +"He strode up to the wretched children. Now, what made them very +wretched indeed was, that they knew if they could only keep from +eating, and grow thin, the giant would dislike them, and turn them out +to find their way home; but notwithstanding this, so greedy were they, +that they ate as much as ever they could hold. The giantess, who fed +them, comforted herself with thinking that they were not real boys and +girls, but only little pigs pretending to be boys and girls. + +"'Now tell me the truth,' cried the giant, bending his face down over +them. They shook with terror, and every one hoped it was somebody else +the giant liked best. 'Where is the little boy that ran into the hall +just now? Whoever tells me a lie shall be instantly boiled.' + +"'He's in the broom,' cried one dough-faced boy. 'He's in there, and a +little girl with him.' + +"'The naughty children,' cried the giant, 'to hide from _me_!' And he +made a stride towards the broom. + +"'Catch hold of the bristles, Bobby. Get right into a tuft, and hold +on,' cried Tricksey-Wee, just in time. + +"The giant caught up the broom, and seeing nothing under it, set it +down again with a bang that threw them both on the floor. He then made +two strides to the boys, caught the dough-faced one by the neck, took +the lid off a great pot that was boiling on the fire, popped him in as +if he had been a trussed chicken, put the lid on again, and saying, +'There boys! See what comes of lying!' asked no more questions; for, as +he always kept his word, he was afraid he might have to do the same to +them all; and he did not like boiled boys. He like to eat them crisp, +as radishes, whether forked or not, ought to be eaten. He then sat +down, and asked his wife if his supper was ready. She looked into the +pot, and, throwing the boy out with the ladle, as if he had been a +black-beetle that had tumbled in and had had the worst of it, answered +that she thought it was. Whereupon he rose to help her; and, taking the +pot from the fire, poured the whole contents, bubbling and splashing +into a dish like a vat. Then they say down to supper. The children in +the broom could not see what they had; but it seemed to agree with +them; for the giant talked like thunder, and the giantess answered like +the sea, and they grew chattier and chattier. At length the giant said: + +"'I don't feel quite comfortable about that heart of mine.' And as he +spoke, instead of laying his hand on his bosom, he waved it away +towards the corner where the children were peeping from the +broom-bristles, like frightened little mice. + +"'Well, you know, my darling Thunderthump,' answered his wife, 'I +always thought it ought to be nearer home. But you know best, of +course.' + +"'Ha! ha! You don't know where it is, wife. I moved it a month ago.' + +"'What a man you are, Thunderthump! You trust any creature alive rather +than your wife.' + +"Here the giantess gave a sob which sounded exactly like a wave going +flop into the mouth of a cave up to the roof. + +"'Where have you got it now?' she resumed, checking her emotion. + +"'Well, Doodlem, I don't mind telling _you_,' said the giant, +soothingly. 'The great she-eagle has got it for a nest-egg. She sits on +it night and day, and thinks she will bring the greatest eagle out of +it that ever sharpened his beak on the rocks of Mount Skycrack. I can +warrant no one else will touch it while she has got it. But she is +rather capricious, and I confess I am not easy about it; for the least +scratch of one of her claws would do for me at once. And she _has_ +claws.'" + + * * * * * + +"What funny things you do make up!" said a boy. "How could the giant's +heart be in an eagle's nest, and the giant himself alive and well +without it?" + +"Whatever you may think of it, Master Fred, I assure you I did not make +it up. If it ever was made up, no one can tell who did it; for it was +written in the chronicles of Giantland long before one of us was born. +It was quite common," said I, in an injured tone, "for a giant to put +his heart out to nurse, because he did not like the trouble and +responsibility of doing it himself. It was, I confess, a dangerous sort +of thing to do.--But do you want any more of my story or not?" + +"Oh! yes, please," cried Frederick, very heartily. + +"Then don't you find any more fault with it, or I will stop." + +Master Fred was straightway silent, and I went on. + + * * * * * + +"All this time Buffy-Bob and Tricksey-Wee were listening with long +ears. _They_ did not dispute about the giant's heart, and +impossibility, and all that; for they were better educated than Master +Fred, and knew all about it. 'Oh!' thought Tricksey-Wee, 'if I could +but find the giant's cruel heart, wouldn't I give it a squeeze!' + +"The giant and giantess went on talking for a long time. The giantess +kept advising the giant to hide his heart somewhere in the house; but +he seemed afraid of the advantage it would give her over him. + +"'You could hide it at the bottom of the flour-barrel,' said she. + +"'That would make me feel chokey,' answered he. + +"'Well, in the coal-cellar, or in the dust-hole. That's the place! No +one would think of looking for your heart in the dust-hole.' + +"'Worse and worse!' cried the giant. + +"'Well, the water-butt?' said she. + +"'No, no; it would grow spongy there,' said he. + +"'Well, what will you do with it?' + +"'I will leave it a month longer where it is, and then I will give it +to the Queen of the Kangaroos, and she will carry it in her pouch for +me. It is best to change, you know, and then my enemies can't find it. +But, dear Doodlem, it's a fretting care to have a heart of one's own to +look after. The responsibility is too much for me. If it were not for a +bite of a radish now and then, I never could bear it.' + +"Here the giant looked lovingly towards the row of little boys by the +fire, all of whom were nodding, or asleep on the floor. + +"'Why don't you trust it to me, dear Thunderthump?' said his wife. 'I +would take the best possible care of it.' + +"'I don't doubt it, my love. But the responsibility would be too much +for you. You would no longer be my darling, light-hearted, airy, +laughing Doodlem. It would transform you into a heavy, oppressed woman, +weary of life--as I am.' + +"The giant closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep. His wife got +his stockings, and went on with her darning. Soon, the giant's pretence +became reality, and the giantess began to nod over her work. + +"'Now, Buffy,' whispered Tricksey-Wee, 'now's our time. I think it's +moonlight, and we had better be off. There's a door with a hole for the +cat just behind us.' + +"'All right!' said Bob; 'I'm ready.' + +"So they got out of the broom-brake, and crept to the door. But, to +their great disappointment, when they got through it, they found +themselves in a sort of shed. It was full of tubs and things, and, +though it was built of wood only, they could not find a crack. + +"'Let us try this hole,' said Tricksey; for the giant and giantess were +sleeping behind them, and they dared not go back. + +"'All right,' said Bob. He seldom said anything else than _All right_. + +"Now this hole was in a mound that came in through the wall of the shed +and went along the floor for some distance. They crawled into it, and +found it very dark. But groping their way along, they soon came to a +small crack, through which they saw grass, pale in the moonshine. As +they crept on, they found the hole began to get wider and lead upwards. + +"'What is that noise of rushing?' said Buffy-Bob. + +"'I can't tell,' replied Tricksey; 'for, you see, I don't know what we +are in.' + +"The fact was, they were creeping along a channel in the heart of a +giant tree; and the noise they heard was the noise of the sap rushing +along in its wooden pipes. When they laid their ears to the wall, they +heard it gurgling along with a pleasant noise. + +"'It sounds kind and good,' said Tricksey. 'It is water running. Now it +must be running from somewhere to somewhere. I think we had better go +on, and we shall come somewhere.' + +"It was now rather difficult to go on, for they had to climb as if they +were climbing a hill; and now the passage was wide. Nearly worn out, +they saw light overhead at last, and creeping through a crack into the +open air, found themselves on the fork of a huge tree. A great, broad, +uneven space lay around them, out of which spread boughs in every +direction, the smallest of them as big as the biggest tree in the +country of common people. Overhead were leaves enough to supply all the +trees they had ever seen. Not much moonlight could come through, but +the leaves would glimmer white in the wind at times. The tree was full +of giant birds. Every now and then, one would sweep through, with a +great noise. But, except an occasional chirp, sounding like a shrill +pipe in a great organ, they made no noise. All at once an owl began to +hoot. He thought he was singing. As soon as he began, other birds +replied, making rare game of him. To their astonishment, the children +found they could understand every word they sang. And what they said +was something like this: + + "'I will sing a song. + I'm the owl.' + 'Sing a song, you sing-song + Ugly fowl! + What will you sing about, + Now the light is out?' + + "'Sing about the night; + I'm the owl.' + 'You could not see for the light, + Stupid fowl.' + 'Oh! the moon! and the dew! + And the shadows!--tu-whoo!' + +"The owl spread out his silent, soft, sly wings, and lighting between +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob, nearly smothered them, closing up one under +each wing. It was like being buried in a down bed. But the owl did not +like anything between his sides and his wings, so he opened his wings +again, and the children made haste to get out. Tricksey-Wee immediately +went in front of the bird, and looking up into his huge face, which was +as round as the eyes of the giantess's spectacles, and much bigger, +dropped a pretty courtesy, and said: + +"'Please, Mr. Owl, I want to whisper to you.' + +"'Very well, small child,' answered the owl, looking important, and +stooping his ear towards her. 'What is it?' + +"'Please tell me where the eagle lives that sits on the giant's heart.' + +"'Oh, you naughty child! That's a secret. For shame!' + +"And with a great hiss that terrified them, the owl flew into the tree. +All birds are fond of secrets; but not many of them can keep them so +well as the owl. + +"So the children went on because they did not know what else to do. +They found the way very rough and difficult, the tree was so full of +humps and hollows. Now and then they plashed into a pool of rain; now +and then they came upon twigs growing out of the trunk where they had +no business, and they were as large as full-grown poplars. Sometimes +they came upon great cushions of soft moss, and on one of them they lay +down and rested. But they had not lain long before they spied a large +nightingale sitting on a branch, with its bright eyes looking up at the +moon. In a moment more he began to sing, and the birds about him began +to reply, but in a very different tone from that in which they had +replied to the owl. Oh, the birds did call the nightingale such pretty +names! The nightingale sang, and the birds replied like this:-- + + "I will sing a song. + I'm the nightingale.' + 'Sing a song, long, long, + Little Neverfail! + What will you sing about, + Light in or light out?' + + 'Sing about the light + Gone away; + Down, away, and out of sight-- + Poor lost day! + Mourning for the day dead, + O'er his dim bed.' + +"The nightingale sang so sweetly, that the children would have fallen +asleep but for fear of losing any of the song. When the nightingale +stopped they got up and wandered on. They did not know where they were +going, but they thought it best to keep going on, because then they +might come upon something or other. They were very sorry they forgot to +ask the nightingale about the eagle's nest, but his music had put +everything else out of their heads. They resolved, however, not to +forget the next time they had a chance. They went on and on, till they +were both tired, and Tricksey-Wee said at last, trying to laugh, + +"'I declare my legs feel just like a Dutch doll's.' + +"'Then here's the place to go to bed in,' said Buffy-Bob. + +"They stood at the edge of a last year's nest, and looked down with +delight into the round, mossy cave. Then they crept gently in, and, +lying down in each other's arms, found it so deep, and warm, and +comfortable, and soft, that they were soon fast asleep. + +"Now close beside them, in a hollow, was another nest, in which lay a +lark and his wife; and the children were awakened very early in the +morning, by a dispute between Mr. and Mrs. Lark. + +"'Let me up,' said the lark. + +"'It is not time,' said the lark's wife. + +"'It is,' said the lark, rather rudely. 'The darkness is quite thin. I +can almost see my own beak.' + +"'Nonsense!' said the lark's wife. 'You know you came home yesterday +morning quite worn out--you had to fly so very high before you saw him. +I am sure he would not mind if you took it a little easier. Do be quiet +and go to sleep again.' + +"'That's not it at all,' said the lark. 'He doesn't want me. I want +him. Let me up, I say.' + +"He began to sing; and Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob, having now learned +the way, answered him:-- + + "'I will sing a song, + I'm the Lark.' + 'Sing, sing, Throat-strong, + Little Kill-the-dark. + What will you sing about, + Now the night is out?' + + "'I can only call; + I can't think. + Let me up--that's all. + Let me drink! + Thirsting all the long night + For a drink of light.' + +"By this time the lark was standing on the edge of his nest and looking +at the children. + +"'Poor little things! You can't fly,' said the lark. + +"'No; but we can look up,' said Tricksey. + +"'Ah! you don't know what it is to see the very first of the sun.' + +"'But we know what it is to wait till he comes. He's no worse for your +seeing him first, is he?' + +"'Oh! no, certainly not,' answered the lark, with condescension; and +then, bursting into his _jubilate_, he sprung aloft, clapping his wings +like a clock running down. + +"'Tell us where--' began Buffy-Bob. + +"But the lark was out of sight. His song was all that was left of him. +That was everywhere, and he was nowhere. + +"'Selfish bird!' said Buffy. 'It's all very well for larks to go +hunting the sun, but they have no business to despise their neighbours, +for all that.' + +"'Can I be of any use to you?' said a sweet bird-voice out of the nest. +This was the lark's wife, who staid at home with the young larks while +her husband went to church. + +"'Oh! thank you. If you please,' answered Tricksey-Wee. + +"And up popped a pretty brown head; and then up came a brown feathery +body; and last of all came the slender legs on to the edge of the nest. +There she turned, and, looking down into the nest, from which came a +whole litany of chirpings for breakfast, said, 'Lie still, little +ones.' Then she turned to the children. 'My husband is King of the +Larks,' she said. + +"Buffy-Bob took off his cap, and Tricksey-Wee courtesied very low. + +"'Oh, it's not me,' said the bird, looking very shy. 'I am only his +wife. It's my husband.'And she looked up after him into the sky, whence +his song was still falling like a shower of musical hailstones. Perhaps +she could see him. + +"'He's a splendid bird,' said Buffy-Bob; 'only you know he _will_ get +up a little too early.' + +"'Oh, no! he doesn't. It's only his way, you know. But tell me what I +can do for you.' + +"'Tell us, please, Lady Lark, where the she-eagle lives that sits on +Giant Thunderthump's heart.' + +"'Oh! that is a secret.' + +"'Did you promise not to tell?' + +"'No; but larks ought to be discreet. They see more than other birds.' + +"'But you don't fly up high like your husband, do you?' + +"'Not often. But it's no matter. I come to know things for all that.' + +"'Do tell me, and I will sing you a song,' said Tricksey-Wee. + +"'Can you sing too?' + +"'Yes. And I will sing you a song I learned the other day about a lark +and his wife.' + +"'Please do,' said the lark's wife. 'Be quiet, children, and listen.' + +"Tricksey-Wee was very glad she happened to know a song which would +please the lark's wife, at least, whatever the lark himself might have +thought of it, if he had heard it. So she sang: + + "'Good morrow, my lord!' in the sky alone, + Sang the lark, as the sun ascended his throne. + 'Shine on me, my lord; I only am come, + Of all your servants, to welcome you home. + I have flown for an hour, right up, I swear, + To catch the first shine of your golden hair!' + + 'Must I thank you, then,' said the king, 'Sir Lark, + For flying so high, and hating the dark? + You ask a full cup for half a thirst: + Half is love of me, and half love to be first. + There's many a bird that makes no haste, + But waits till I come. That's as much to my taste.' + + And the king hid his head in a turban of cloud; + And the lark stopped singing, quite vexed and cowed. + But he flew up higher, and thought, 'Anon, + The wrath of the king will be over and gone; + And his crown, shining out of the cloudy fold, + Will change my brown feathers to a glory of gold.' + + So he flew, with the strength of a lark he flew. + But, as he rose, the cloud rose too; + And not a gleam of the golden hair + Came through the depth of the misty air; + Till, weary with flying, with sighing sore, + The strong sun-seeker could do no more. + + His wings had had no chrism of gold; + And his feathers felt withered and worn and old; + And he sank, and quivered, and dropped like a stone. + And there on his nest, where he left her, alone, + Sat his little wife on her little eggs, + Keeping them warm with wings and legs. + + Did I say alone? Ah, no such thing! + Full in her face was shining the king. + 'Welcome, Sir Lark! You look tired,' said he. + 'Up is not always the best way to me. + While you have been singing so high and away, + I've been shining to your little wife all day.' + + He had set his crown all about the nest, + And out of the midst shone her little brown breast; + And so glorious was she in russet gold, + That for wonder and awe Sir Lark grew cold. + He popped his head under her wing, and lay + As still as a stone, till the king was away. + +"As soon as Tricksey-Wee had finished her song, the lark's wife began a +low, sweet, modest little song of her own; and after she had piped away +for two or three minutes, she said: + +"'You dear children, what can I do for you?' + +"'Tell us where the she-eagle lives, please,' said Tricksey-Wee. + +"'Well, I don't think there can be much harm in telling such wise, good +children,' said Lady Lark; 'I am sure you don't want to do any +mischief.' + +"'Oh, no; quite the contrary,' said Buffy-Bob. + +"'Then I'll tell you. She lives on the very topmost peak of Mount +Skycrack; and the only way to get up is, to climb on the spiders' webs +that cover it from top to bottom.' + +"'That's rather serious,' said Tricksey-Wee. + +"'But you don't want to go up, you foolish little thing. You can't go. +And what do you want to go up for?' + +"'That is a secret,' said Tricksey-Wee. + +"'Well, it's no business of mine,' rejoined Lady Lark, a little +offended, and quite vexed that she had told them. So she flew away to +find some breakfast for her little ones, who by this time were chirping +very impatiently. The children looked at each other, joined hands, and +walked off. + +"In a minute more the sun was up, and they soon reached the outside of +the tree. The bark was so knobby and rough, and full of twigs, that +they managed to get down, though not without great difficulty. Then, +far away to the north, they saw a huge peak, like the spire of a +church, going right up into the sky. They thought this must be Mount +Skycrack, and turned their faces towards it. As they went on, they saw +a giant or two, now and then, striding about the fields or through the +woods, but they kept out of their way. Nor were they in much danger; +for it was only one or two of the border giants that were so very fond +of children. At last they came to the foot of Mount Skycrack. It stood +in a plain alone, and shot right up, I don't know how many thousand +feet, into the air, a long, narrow, spearlike mountain. The whole face +of it, from top to bottom, was covered with a network of spiders' webs, +with threads of various sizes, from that of silk to that of whipcord. +The webs shook, and quivered, and waved in the sun, glittering like +silver. All about ran huge, greedy spiders, catching huge, silly flies, +and devouring them. + +"Here they sat down to consider what could be done. The spiders did not +heed them, but ate away at the flies. At the foot of the mountain, and +all round it, was a ring of water, not very broad, but very deep. Now, +as they sat watching, one of the spiders, whose web was woven across +this water, somehow or other lost his hold, and fell on his back. +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob ran to his assistance, and laying hold each +of one of his legs, succeeded, with the help of the other legs, which +struggled spiderfully, in getting him out upon dry land. As soon as he +had shaken himself, and dried himself a little, the spider turned to +the children, saying, + +"'And now, what can I do for you?' + +"'Tell us, please,' said they, 'how we can get up the mountain to the +she-eagle's nest.' + +"'Nothing is easier,' answered the spider. 'Just run up there, and tell +them all I sent you, and nobody will mind you.' + +"'But we haven't got claws like you, Mr. Spider,' said Buffy. + +"'Ah! no more you have, poor unprovided creatures! Still, I think we +can manage it. Come home with me.' + +"'You won't eat us, will you?' said Buffy. + +"'My dear child,' answered the spider, in a tone of injured dignity, 'I +eat nothing but what is mischievous or useless. You have helped me, and +now I will help you.' + +"The children rose at once, and, climbing as well as they could, +reached the spider's nest in the centre of the web. They did not find +it very difficult; for whenever too great a gap came, the spider +spinning a strong cord stretched it just where they would have chosen +to put their feet next. He left them in his nest, after bringing them +two enormous honey-bags, taken from bees that he had caught. Presently +about six of the wisest of the spiders came back with him. It was +rather horrible to look up and see them all round the mouth of the +nest, looking down on them in contemplation, as if wondering whether +they would be nice eating. At length one of them said: + +"'Tell us truly what you want with the eagle, and we will try to help +you.' + +"Then Tricksey-Wee told them that there was a giant on the borders who +treated little children no better than radishes, and that they had +narrowly escaped being eaten by him; that they had found out that the +great she-eagle of Mount Skycrack was at present sitting on his heart; +and that, if they could only get hold of the heart, they would soon +teach the giant better behaviour. + +"'But,' said their host, 'if you get at the heart of the giant, you +will find it as large as one of your elephants. What can you do with +it?' + +"'The least scratch will kill it,' answered Buffy-Bob. + +"'Ah! but you might do better than that,' said the spider.--'Now we +have resolved to help you. Here is a little bag of spider-juice. The +giants cannot bear spiders, and this juice is dreadful poison to them. +We are all ready to go up with you, and drive the eagle away. Then you +must put the heart into this other bag, and bring it down with you; for +then the giant will be in your power.' + +"'But how can we do that?' said Buffy. 'The bag is not much bigger than +a pudding-bag.' + +"'But it is as large as you will find convenient to carry.' + +"'Yes; but what are we to do with the heart?' + +"'Put it into the bag, to be sure. Only, first, you must squeeze a drop +out of the other bag upon it. You will see what will happen.' + +"'Very well; we will,' said Tricksey-Wee. 'And now, if you please, how +shall we go?' + +"'Oh, that's our business,' said the first spider. 'You come with me, +and my grandfather will take your brother. Get up.' + +"So Tricksey-Wee mounted on the narrow part of the spider's back, and +held fast. And Buffy-Bob got on the grandfather's back. And up they +scrambled, over one web after another, up and up. And every spider +followed; so that, when Tricksey-Wee looked back, she saw a whole army +of spiders scrambling after them. + +"'What can we want with so many?' she thought; but she said nothing. + +"The moon was now up, and it was a splendid sight below and around +them. All Giantland was spread out under them, with its great hills, +lakes, trees, and animals. And all above them was the clear heaven, and +Mount Skycrack rising into it, with its endless ladders of spiderwebs, +glittering like cords made of moonbeams. And up the moonbeams went, +crawling, and scrambling, and racing, a huge army of huge spiders. + +"At length they reached all but the very summit, where they stopped. +Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob could see above them a great globe of +feathers, that finished off the mountain like an ornamental knob. + +"'How shall we drive her off?' said Buffy. + +"'We'll soon manage that,' said the grandfather spider. 'Come on, you, +down there.' + +"Up rushed the whole army, past the children, over the edge of the +nest, on to the she-eagle, and buried themselves in her feathers. In a +moment she became very restless, and went picking about with her beak. +All at once she spread out her wings, with a sound like a whirlwind, +and flew off to bathe in the sea; and then the spiders began to drop +from her in all directions on their gossamer wings. The children had to +hold fast to keep the wind of the eagle's flight from blowing them off. +As soon as it was over, they looked into the nest, and there lay the +giant's heart--an awful and ugly thing. + +"'Make haste, child!' said Tricksey's spider. So Tricksey took her bag, +and squeezed a drop out of it upon the heart. She thought she heard the +giant give a far-off roar of pain, and she nearly fell from her seat +with terror. The heart instantly began to shrink. It shrunk and +shrivelled till it was nearly gone; and Buffy-Bob caught it up and put +it into the bag. Then the two spiders turned and went down again as +fast as they could. Before they got to the bottom, they heard the +shrieks of the she-eagle over the loss of her egg; but the spiders told +them not to be alarmed, for her eyes were too big to see them. By the +time they reached the foot of the mountain, all the spiders had got +home, and were busy again catching flies, as if nothing had happened. +So the children, after renewed thanks to their friends, set off, +carrying the giant's heart with them. + +"'If you should find it at all troublesome, just give it a little more +spider-juice directly,' said the grandfather, as they took their leave. + +"Now, the giant had given an awful roar of pain, the moment they +anointed his heart, and had fallen down in a fit, in which he lay so +long that all the boys might have escaped if they had not been so fat. +One did--and got home in safety. For days the giant was unable to +speak. The first words he uttered were, + +"'Oh, my heart! my heart!' + +"'Your heart is safe enough, dear Thunderthump,' said his wife. 'Really +a man of your size ought not to be so nervous and apprehensive. I am +ashamed of you.' + +"'You have no heart, Doodlem,' answered he. 'I assure you that this +moment mine is in the greatest danger. It has fallen into the hands of +foes, though who they are I cannot tell.' + +"Here he fainted again; for Tricksey-Wee, finding the heart begin to +swell a little, had given it the least touch of spider-juice. + +"Again he recovered, and said: + +"'Dear Doodlem, my heart is coming back to me. It is coming nearer and +nearer.' + +"After lying silent for a few hours, he exclaimed: + +"'It is in the house, I know!' And he jumped up and walked about, +looking in every corner. + +"Just then, Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob came out of the hole in the +tree-root, and through the cat-hole in the door, and walked boldly +towards the giant. Both kept their eyes busy watching him. Led by the +love of his own heart, the giant soon spied them, and staggered +furiously towards them. + +"'I will eat you, you vermin!' he cried. 'Give me my heart.' + +"Tricksey gave the heart a sharp pinch; when down fell the giant on his +knees, blubbering, and crying, and begging for his heart. + +"'You shall have it, if you behave yourself properly,' said Tricksey. + +"'What do you want me to do?' asked he, whimpering. + +"'To take all those boys and girls, and carry them home at once.' + +"'I'm not able; I'm too ill.' + +"'Take them up directly.' + +"'I can't, till you give me my heart.' + +"'Very well!' said Tricksey; and she gave the heart another pinch. + +"The giant jumped to his feet, and catching up all the children, thrust +some into his waistcoat pockets, some into his breast-pocket, put two +or three into his hat, and took a bundle of them under each arm. Then +he staggered to the door. All this time poor Doodlem was sitting in her +armchair, crying, and mending a white stocking. + +"The giant led the way to the borders. He could not go fast, so that +Buffy and Tricksey managed to keep up with him. When they reached the +borders, they thought it would be safer to let the children find their +own way home. So they told him to set them down. He obeyed. + +"'Have you put them all down, Mr. Thunderthump?' asked. Tricksey-Wee. + +"'Yes,' said the giant. + +"'That's a lie!' squeaked a little voice; and out came a head from his +waistcoat-pocket. + +"Tricksey-Wee pinched the heart till the giant roared with pain. + +"'You're not a gentleman. You tell stories,' she said. + +"'He was the thinnest of the lot,' said Thunderthump, crying. + +"'Are you all there now, children?' asked Tricksey. + +"'Yes, ma'am,' said they, after counting themselves very carefully, and +with some difficulty; for they were all stupid children. + +"'Now,' said Tricksey-Wee to the giant, 'will you promise to carry off +no more children, and never to eat a child again all you life?' + +"'Yes, yes! I promise,' answered Thunderthump, sobbing. + +"'And you will never cross the borders of Giantland?' + +"'Never.' + +"'And you shall never again wear white stockings on a Sunday, all your +life long.--Do you promise?' + +"The giant hesitated at this, and began to expostulate; but +Tricksey-Wee, believing it would be good for his morals, insisted; and +the giant promised. + +"Then she required of him, that, when she gave him back his heart, he +should give it to his wife to take care of for him for ever after. The +poor giant feel on his knees and began again to beg. But Tricksey-Wee +giving the heart a slight pinch, he bawled out: + +"'Yes, yes! Doodlem shall have it, I swear. Only she must not put it in +the flour-barrel, or in the dust-hole.' + +"'Certainly not. Make your own bargain with her.--And you promise not +to interfere with my brother and me, or to take any revenge for what we +have done?' + +"'Yes, yes, my dear children; I promise everything. Do, pray, make +haste and give me back my poor heart.' + +"'Wait there, then, till I bring it to you.' + +"'Yes, yes. Only make haste, for I feel very faint.' + +"Tricksey-Wee began to undo the mouth of the bag. But Buffy-Bob, who +had got very knowing on his travels, took out his knife with the +pretence of cutting the string; but, in reality, to be prepared for any +emergency. + +"No sooner was the heart out of the bag, than it expanded to the size +of a bullock; and the giant, with a yell of rage and vengeance, rushed +on the two children, who had stepped sideways from the terrible heart. +But Buffy-Bob was too quick for Thunderthump. He sprang to the heart, +and buried his knife in it, up to the hilt. A fountain of blood spouted +from it; and with a dreadful groan, the giant fell dead at the feet of +little Tricksey-Wee, who could not help being sorry for him after all." + + * * * * * + +"Silly thing!" said a little wisehead. + +"What a horrid story!" said one small girl with great eyes, who sat +staring into the fire. + +"I don't think it at all a nice story for supper, with those horrid +spiders, too," said an older girl. + +"Well, let us have a game and forget it," I said. + +"No; that we shan't, I am sure," said one. + +"I will tell our Amy. Won't it be fun?" + +"She'll scream," said another. + +"I'll tell her all the more." + +"No, no; you mustn't be unkind," said I; "else you will never help +little children against wicked giants. The giants will eat you too, +then." + +"Oh! I know what you mean. You can't frighten me." + +This was said by one of the elder girls, who promised fair to reach +before long the summit of uncompromising womanhood. She made me feel +very small with my moralizing; so I dropt it. On the whole I was rather +disappointed with the effect of my story. Perhaps the disappointment +was no more than I deserved; but I did not like to think I had failed +with children. + +Nor did I think so any longer after a darling little blue-eyed girl, +who had sat next me at tea, came to me to say good night, and, reaching +up, put her arms round my neck and kissed me, and then whispered very +gently: + +"Thank you, dear Mr. Smith. I will be good. It was a very nice story. +If I was a man, I would kill all the wicked people in the world. But I +am only a little girl, you know; so I can only be good." + +The darling did not know how much more one good woman can do to kill +evil than all the swords of the world in the hands of righteous heroes. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A CHILD'S HOLIDAY. + + +When the next evening of our assembly came, I could see on Adela's face +a look of subdued expectation, and I knew now to what to attribute it: +Harry was going to read. There was a restlessness in her eyelids--they +were always rising, and falling as suddenly. But when the time drew +near, they grew more still; only her colour went and came a little. By +the time we were all seated, she was as quiet as death. Harry pulled +out a manuscript. + +"Have you any objection to a ballad-story?" he asked of the company +generally. + +"Certainly not," was the common reply; though Ralph stared a little, +and his wife looked at him. I believe the reason was, that they had +never known Harry write poetry before. But as soon as he had uttered +the title--"_The Two Gordons_"-- + +"You young rascal!" cried his brother. "Am I to keep you in material +for ever? Are you going to pluck my wings till they are as bare as an +egg? Really, ladies and gentlemen," he continued, in pretended anger, +while Harry was keeping down a laugh of keen enjoyment, "it is too bad +of that scapegrace brother of mine! Of course you are all welcome to +anything I have got; but he has no right to escape from his +responsibilities on that account. It is rude to us all. I know he can +write if he likes." + +"Why, Ralph, you would be glad of such a brother to steal your sermons +from, if you had been up all night as I was. Of course I did not mean +to claim any more credit than that of unearthing some of your shy +verses.--May I read them or not?" + +"Oh! of course. But it is lucky I came prepared for some escapade of +the sort, and brought a manuscript of proper weight and length in my +pocket." + +Suddenly Harry's face changed from a laughing to a grave one. I saw how +it was. He had glanced at Adela, and her look of unmistakeable +disappointment was reflected in his face. But there was a glimmer of +pleasure in his eyes, notwithstanding; and I fancied I could see that +the pleasure would have been more marked, had he not feared that he had +placed himself at a disadvantage with her, namely, that she would +suppose him incapable of producing a story. However, it was only for a +moment that this change of feeling stopped him. With a gesture of some +haste he re-opened the manuscript, which he had rolled up as if to +protect it from the indignation of his brother, and read the following +ballad: + + _"The Two Gordons._ + + I + +"There was John Gordon, and Archibold, + And an earl's twin sons were they. +When they were one and twenty years old, + They fell out on their birth-day. + +"'Turn,' said Archibold, 'brother sly! + Turn now, false and fell; +Or down thou goest, as black as a lie, + To the father of lies in hell.' + +"'Why this to me, brother Archie, I pray? + What ill have I done to thee?' +'Smooth-faced hound, thou shall rue the day + Thou gettest an answer of me. + +"'For mine will be louder than Lady Janet's, + And spoken in broad daylight-- +And the wall to scale is my iron mail, + Not her castle wall at night.' + +"'I clomb the wall of her castle tall, + In the moon and the roaring wind; +It was dark and still in her bower until + The morning looked in behind.' + +"'Turn therefore, John Gordon, false brother; + For either thou or I, +On a hard wet bed--wet, cold, and red, + For evermore shall lie.' + +"'Oh, Archibold, Janet is my true love; + Would I had told it thee!' +'I hate thee the worse. Turn, or I'll curse + The night that got thee and me.' + +"Their swords they drew, and the sparks they flew, + As if hammers did anvils beat; +And the red blood ran, till the ground began + To plash beneath their feet. + +"'Oh, Archie! thou hast given me a cold supper, + A supper of steel, I trow; +But reach me one grasp of a brother's hand, + And turn me, before you go.' + +"But he turned himself on his gold-spurred heel, + And away, with a speechless frown; +And up in the oak, with a greedy croak, + The carrion-crow claimed his own. + + II + +"The sun looked over a cloud of gold; + Lady Margaret looked over the wall. +Over the bridge rode Archibold; + Behind him his merry men all. + +"He leads his band to the holy land. + They follow with merry din. +A white Christ's cross is on his back; + In his breast a darksome sin. + +"And the white cross burned him like the fire, + That he could nor eat nor rest; +It burned in and in, to get at the sin, + That lay cowering in his breast. + +"A mile from the shore of the Dead Sea, + The army lay one night. +Lord Archibold rose; and out he goes, + Walking in the moonlight. + +"He came to the shore of the old salt sea-- + Yellow sands with frost-like tinge; +The bones of the dead on the edge of its bed, + Lay lapped in its oozy fringe. + +"He sat him down on a half-sunk stone, + And he sighed so dreary and deep: +'The devil may take my soul when I wake, + If he'd only let me sleep!' + +"Out from the bones and the slime and the stones, + Came a voice like a raven's croak: +'Was it thou, Lord Archibold Gordon?' it said, + 'Was it thou those words that spoke?' + +"'I'll say them again,' quoth Archibold, + 'Be thou ghost or fiend of the deep.' +'Lord Archibold heed how thou may'st speed, + If thou sell me thy soul for sleep.' + +"Lord Archibold laughed with a loud _ha! ha!_-- + The Dead Sea curdled to hear: +'Thou would'st have the worst of the bargain curst-- + It has every fault but fear.' + +"'Done, Lord Archibold?' 'Lord Belzebub, done!' + His laugh came back in a moan. +The salt glittered on, and the white moon shone, + And Lord Archibold was alone. + +"And back he went to his glimmering tent; + And down in his cloak he lay; +And sound he slept; and a pale-faced man + Watched by his bed till day. + +"And if ever he turned or moaned in his sleep, + Or his brow began to lower, +Oh! gentle and clear, in the sleeper's ear, + He would whisper words of power; + +"Till his lips would quiver, and sighs of bliss + From sorrow's bosom would break; +And the tear, soft and slow, would gather and flow; + And yet he would not wake. + +"Every night the pale-faced man + Sat by his bed, I say; +And in mail rust-brown, with his visor down, + Rode beside him in battle-fray. + +"But well I wot that it was not + The devil that took his part; +But his twin-brother John, he thought dead and gone, + Who followed to ease his heart. + + III + +"Home came Lord Archibold, weary wight, + Home to his own countree; +And he cried, when his castle came in sight, + 'Now Christ me save and see!' + +"And the man in rust-brown, with his visor down, + Had gone, he knew not where. +And he lighted down, and into the hall, + And his mother met him there. + +"But dull was her eye, though her mien was high; + And she spoke like Eve to Cain: +'Lord Archibold Gordon, answer me true, + Or I'll never speak again. + +"'Where is thy brother, Lord Archibold? + He was flesh and blood of thine. +Has thy brother's keeper laid him cold, + Where the warm sun cannot shine?' + +"Lord Archibold could not speak a word, + For his heart was almost broke. +He turned to go. The carrion-crow + At the window gave a croak. + +"'Now where art thou going, Lord Archie?' she said, + 'With thy lips so white and thin?' +'Mother, good-bye; I am going to lie + In the earth with my brother-twin.' + +"Lady Margaret sank on her couch. 'Alas! + I shall lose them both to-day.' +Lord Archibold strode along the road, + To the field of the Brothers' Fray. + +"He came to the spot where they had fought. + 'My God!' he cried in fright, +'They have left him there, till his bones are bare; + Through the plates they glimmer white.' + +"For his brother's armour lay there, dank, + And worn with frost and dew. +Had the long, long grass that grew so rank, + Grown the very armour through? + +"'O brother, brother!' cried the Earl, + With a loud, heart-broken wail, +'I would put my soul into thy bones, + To see thee alive and hale.' + +"'Ha! ha!' said a voice from out the helm-- + 'Twas the voice of the Dead Sea shore-- +And the joints did close, and the armour rose, + And clattered and grass uptore-- + +"'Thou canst put no soul into his bones, + Thy brother alive to set; +For the sleep was thine, and thy soul is mine, + And, Lord Archibold, well-met!' + +"'Two words to that!' said the fearless Earl; + 'The sleep was none of thine; +For I dreamed of my brother all the night-- + His soul brought the sleep to mine. + +"'But I care not a crack for a soul so black, + And thou may'st have it yet: +I would let it burn to eternity, + My brother alive to set.' + +"The demon lifted his beaver up, + Crusted with blood and mould; +And, lo! John Gordon looked out of the helm, + And smiled upon Archibold. + +"'Thy soul is mine, brother Archie,' he said, + 'And I yield it thee none the worse; +No devil came near thee, Archie, lad, + But a brother to be thy nurse.' + +"Lord Archibold fell upon his knee, + On the blood-fed, bright green sod: +'The soul that my brother gives back to me, + Is thine for ever, O God!'" + + +"Now for a piece of good, honest prose!" said the curate, the moment +Harry had finished, without allowing room for any remarks. "That is, if +the ladies and gentlemen will allow me to read once more." + +Of course, all assented heartily. + +"It is nothing of a story, but I think it is something of a picture, +drawn principally from experiences of my own childhood, which I told +you was spent chiefly in the north of Scotland. The one great joy of +the year, although some years went without it altogether, was the +summer visit paid to the shores of the Moray Firth. My story is merely +a record of some of the impressions left on myself by such a visit, +although the boy is certainly not a portrait of myself; and if it has +no result, no end, reaching beyond childhood into what is commonly +called life, I presume it is not of a peculiar or solitary character in +that respect; for surely many that we count finished +stories--life-histories--must look very different to the angels; and if +they haven't to be written over again, at least they have to be carried +on a few aeons further. + +"A CHILD'S HOLIDAY. + +"Before the door of a substantial farm-house in the north of Scotland, +stands a vehicle of somewhat singular construction. When analysed, +however, its composition proves to be simple enough. It is a common +agricultural cart, over which, by means of a few iron rods bent across, +a semi-cylindrical covering of white canvas has been stretched. It is +thus transformed from a hay or harvest cart into a family carriage, of +comfortable dimensions, though somewhat slow of progress. The lack of +springs is supplied by thick layers of straw, while sacks stuffed with +the same material are placed around for seats. Various articles are +being stowed away under the bags, and in the corners among the straw, +by children with bright expectant faces; the said articles having been +in process of collection and arrangement for a month or six weeks +previous, in anticipation of the journey which now lies, in all its +length and brightness, the length and brightness of a long northern +summer's day, before them. + +"At last, all their private mysteries of provisions, playthings, and +books, having found places of safety more or less accessible on demand, +every motion of the horse, every shake and rattle of the covered cart, +makes them only more impatient to proceed; which desire is at length +gratified by their moving on at a funeral pace through the open gate. +They are followed by another cart loaded with the luggage necessary for +a six-week's sojourn at one of the fishing villages on the coast, about +twenty miles distant from their home. Their father and mother are to +follow in the gig, at a later hour in the day, expecting to overtake +them about half-way on the road.--Through the neighbouring village they +pass, out upon the lonely highway. + +"Some seeds are borne to the place of their destiny by their own wings +and the wings of the wind, some by the wings of birds, some by simple +gravitation. The seed of my story, namely, the covered cart, sent forth +to find the soil for its coming growth, is dragged by a stout horse to +the sea-shore; and as it oscillates from side to side like a balloon +trying to walk, I shall say something of its internal constitution, and +principally of its germ; for, regarded as the seed of my story, a pale +boy of thirteen is the germ of the cart. First, though he will be of +little use to us afterwards, comes a great strong boy of sixteen, who +considerably despises this mode of locomotion, believing himself quite +capable of driving his mother in the gig, whereas he is only destined +to occupy her place in the evening, and return with his father. Then +comes the said germ, a boy whom repeated attacks of illness have +blanched, and who looks as if the thinness of its earthly garment made +his soul tremble with the proximity of the ungenial world. Then follows +a pretty blonde, with smooth hair, and smooth cheeks, and bright blue +eyes, the embodiment of home pleasures and love; whose chief enjoyment, +and earthly destiny indeed, so far as yet revealed, consist in +administering to the cupidities of her younger brother, a very ogre of +gingerbread men, and Silenus of bottled milk. This milk, by the way, is +expected, from former experience, to afford considerable pleasure at +the close of the journey, in the shape of one or two pellets of butter +in each bottle; the novelty of the phenomenon, and not any scarcity of +the article, constituting the ground of interest. A baby on the lap of +a rosy country-girl, and the servant in his blue Sunday coat, who sits +outside the cover on the edge of the cart, but looks in occasionally to +show some attention to the young woman, complete the contents of the +vehicle. + +"Herbert Netherby, though, as I have said, only thirteen years of age, +had already attained a degree of mental development sufficient for +characterization. Disease had favoured the almost unhealthy +predominance of the mental over the bodily powers of the child; so +that, although the constitution which at one time was supposed to have +entirely given way, had for the last few years been gradually gaining +strength, he was still to be seen far oftener walking about with his +hands in his pockets, and his gaze bent on the ground, or turned up to +the clouds, than joining in any of the boyish sports of those of his +own age. A nervous dread of ridicule would deter him from taking his +part, even when for a moment the fountain of youthfulness gushed forth, +and impelled him to find rest in activity. So the impulse would pass +away, and he would relapse into his former quiescence. But this partial +isolation ministered to the growth of a love of Nature which, although +its roots were coeval with his being, might not have so soon appeared +above ground, but for this lack of human companionship. Thus the boy +became one of Nature's favourites, and enjoyed more than a common share +of her teaching. + +"But he loved her most in her stranger moods. The gathering of a blue +cloud, on a sultry summer afternoon, he watched with intense hope, in +expectation of a thunder-storm; and a windy night, after harvest, when +the trees moaned and tossed their arms about, and the wind ran hither +and hither over the desolate fields of stubble, made the child's heart +dance within him, and sent him out careering through the deepening +darkness. To meet him then, you would not have known him for the +sedate, actionless boy, whom you had seen in the morning looking +listlessly on while his schoolfellows played. But of all his loves for +the shows of Nature, none was so strong as his love for water--common +to childhood, with its mills of rushes, its dams, its bridges, its +aqueducts; only in Herbert, it was more a quiet, delighted +contemplation. Weakness prevented his joining his companions in the +river; but the sight of their motions in the mystery of the water, as +they floated half-idealized in the clear depth, or glided along by +graceful propulsion, gave him as much real enjoyment as they received +themselves. For it was water itself that delighted him, whether in rest +or motion; whether rippling over many stones, like the first +half-articulate sounds of a child's speech, mingled with a strange +musical tremble and cadence which the heart only, and not the ear, +could detect; or lying in deep still pools, from the bottom of which +gleamed up bright green stones, or yet brighter water-plants, cool in +their little grotto, with water for an atmosphere and a firmament, +through which the sun-rays came, washed of their burning heat, but +undimmed of their splendour. He would lie for an hour by the side of a +hill-streamlet; he would stand gazing into a muddy pool, left on the +road by last night's rain. Once, in such a brown-yellow pool, he beheld +a glory--the sun, encircled with a halo vast and wide, varied like the +ring of opal colours seen about the moon when she floats through white +clouds, only larger and brighter than that. Looking up, he could see +nothing but a chaos of black clouds, brilliant towards the sun: the +colours he could not see, except in the muddy water. + +"In autumn the rains would come down for days, and the river grow +stormy, forget its clearness, and spread out like a lake over the +meadows; and that was delightful indeed. But greater yet was the +delight when the foot-bridge was carried away; for then they had to +cross the stream in a boat. He longed for water where it could not be; +would fain have seen it running through the grass in front of his +father's house; and had a waking vision of a stream with wooden shores +that babbled through his bedroom. So it may be fancied with what +delight he overheard the parental decision that they should spend some +weeks by the shores of the great world--water, the father and the grave +of rivers. + +"After many vain outlooks, and fruitless inquiries of their driver, a +sudden turn in the road brought them in sight of the sea between the +hills; itself resembling a low blue hill, covered with white stones. +Indeed, the little girl only doubted whether those were white stones or +sheep scattered all over it. They lost sight of it; saw it again; and +hailed it with greater rapture than at first. + +"The sun was more than halfway down when they arrived. They had secured +a little cottage, almost on the brow of the high shore, which in most +places went down perpendicularly to the beach or sands, and in some +right into deep water; but opposite the cottage, declined with a +sloping, grassy descent. A winding track led down to the village, which +nestled in a hollow, with steep footpaths radiating from it. In front +of it, lower still, lay the narrow beach, narrow even at low water, for +the steep, rocky shore went steep and rocky down into the abyss. A +thousand fantastic rocks stood between land and water; amidst which, at +half-tide, were many little rocky arbours, with floors of sunny sand, +and three or four feet of water. Here you might bathe, or sit on the +ledges with your feet in the water, medicated with the restless glitter +and bewilderment of a half-dissolved sunbeam. + +"A promontory, curving out into the sea, on the right, formed a bay and +natural harbour, from which, towards the setting sun, many +fishing-boats were diverging into the wide sea, as the children, stiff +and weary, were getting out of the cart. Herbert's fatigue was soon +forgotten in watching their brown-dyed sails, glowing almost red in the +sunset, as they went out far into the dark, hunters of the deep, to +spend the night on the waters. + +"From the windows, the children could not see the shore, with all its +burst of beauties struck out from the meeting of things unlike; for it +lay far down, and the brow of the hill rose between it and them; only +they knew that below the waves were breaking on the rocks, and they +heard the gush and roar filling all the air. The room in which Herbert +slept was a little attic, with a window towards the sea. After gazing +with unutterable delight on the boundless water, which lay like a +condensed sky in the grey light of the sleeping day (for there is no +night at this season in the North), till he saw it even when his +eyelids closed from weariness, he lay down, and the monotonous lullaby +of the sea mingled with his dreams. + +"Next morning he was wakened by the challenging and replying of the +sentinel-cocks, whose crowing sounded to him more clear and musical +than that of any of the cocks at home. He jumped out of bed. It was a +sunny morning, and his soul felt like a flake of sunshine, as he looked +out of his window on the radiant sea, green and flashing, its clear +surface here and there torn by the wind into spots of opaque white. So +happy did he feel, that he might have been one who had slept through +death and the judgment, and had awaked, a child, still in the kingdom +of God, under the new heavens and upon the new earth. + +"After breakfast, they all went down with their mother to the +sea-shore. As they went, the last of the boats which had gone out the +night before, were returning laden, like bees. The sea had been +bountiful. Everything shone with gladness. But as Herbert drew nearer, +he felt a kind of dread at the recklessness of the waves. On they +hurried, assailed the rocks, devoured the sands, cast themselves in +wild abandonment on whatever opposed them. He feared at first to go +near, for they were unsympathizing, caring not for his love or his joy, +and would sweep him away like one of those floating sea-weeds. 'If they +are such in their play,' thought he, 'what must they be in their +anger!' But ere long he was playing with the sea as with a tame tiger, +chasing the retreating waters till they rallied and he, in his turn, +had to flee from their pursuit. Wearied at length, he left his brother +and sister building castles of wet sand, and wandered along the shore. + +"Everywhere about lay shallow lakes of salt water, so shallow that they +were invisible, except when a puff of wind blew a thousand ripples into +the sun; whereupon they flashed as if a precipitous rain of stormy +light had rushed down upon them. Lifting his eyes from one of these +films of water, Herbert saw on the opposite side, stooping to pick up +some treasure of the sea, a little girl, apparently about nine years of +age. When she raised herself and saw Herbert, she moved slowly away +with a quiet grace, that strangely contrasted with her tattered +garments. She was ragged like the sea-shore, or the bunch of dripping +sea-weed that she carried in her hand; she was bare from foot to knee, +and passed over the wet sand with a gleam; the wind had been at more +trouble with her hair than any loving hand; it was black, lusterless, +and tangled. The sight of rags was always enough to move Herbert's +sympathies, and he wished to speak to the little girl, and give her +something. But when he had followed her a short distance, all at once, +and without having looked round, she began to glide away from him with +a wave-like motion, dancing and leaping; till a clear pool in the +hollow of a tabular rock imbedded in the sand, arrested her progress. +Here she stood like a statue, gazing into its depth; then, with a dart +like a kingfisher, plunged half into it, caught something at which her +head and curved neck showed that she looked with satisfaction--and +again, before Herbert could come near her, was skimming along the +uneven shore. He followed, as a boy follows a lapwing; but she, like +the lapwing, gradually increased the distance between them, till he +gave up the pursuit with some disappointment, and returned to his +brother and sister. More ambitious than they, he proceeded to +construct--chiefly for the sake of the moat he intended to draw around +it--a sand-castle of considerable pretensions; but the advancing tide +drove him from his stronghold before he had begun to dig the projected +fosse. + +"As they returned home, they passed a group of fishermen in their long +boots and flapped sou'-westers, looking somewhat anxiously seaward. +Much to Herbert's delight, they predicted a stiff gale, and probably a +storm. A low bank of cloud had gathered along the horizon, and the wind +had already freshened; the white spots were thicker on the waves, and +the sound of their trampling on the shore grew louder. + +"After dinner, they sat at the window of their little parlour, looking +out over the sea, which grew darker and more sullen, ever as the +afternoon declined. The cloudy bank had risen and walled out the sun; +but a narrow space of blue on the horizon looked like the rent whence +the wind rushed forth on the sea, and with the feet of its stormy +horses tore up the blue surface, and scattered the ocean-dust in +clouds. As evening drew on, Herbert could keep in the house no longer. +He wandered away on the heights, keeping from the brow of the cliffs; +now and then stooping and struggling with a stormier eddy; till, +descending into a little hollow, he sunk below the plane of the +tempest, and stood in the glow of a sudden calm, hearing the tumult all +round him, but himself in peace. Looking up, he could see nothing but +the sides of the hollow with the sky resting on them, till, turning +towards the sea, he saw, at some distance, a point of the cliff rising +abruptly into the air. At the same moment, the sun looked out from a +crack in the clouds, on the very horizon; and as Herbert could not see +the sunset, the peculiar radiance illuminated the more strangely the +dark vault of earth and cloudy sky. Suddenly, to his astonishment, it +was concentrated on the form of the little ragged girl. She stood on +the summit of the peak before him. The light was a crown, not to her +head only, but to her whole person; as if she herself were the crown +set on the brows of the majestic shore. Disappearing as suddenly, it +left her standing on the peak, dark and stormy; every tress, if tresses +they could be called, of her windy hair, every tatter of her scanty +garments, seeming individually to protest, 'The wind is my playmate; +let me go!' If Aphrodite was born of the sunny sea, this child was the +offspring of the windy shore; as if the mind of the place had developed +for itself a consciousness, and this was its embodiment. She bore a +strange affinity to the rocks, and the sea-weed, and the pools, and the +wide, wild ocean; and Herbert would scarcely have been shocked to see +her cast herself from the cliff into the waves, which now dashed +half-way up its height. By the time he had got out of the hollow, she +had vanished, and where she had gone he could not conjecture. He half +feared she had fallen over the precipice; and several times that night, +as the vapour of dreams gathered around him, he started from his +half-sleep in terror at seeing the little genius of the storm fall from +her rock-pedestal into the thundering waves as its foot. + +"Next day the wind continuing off the sea, with vapour and rain, the +children were compelled to remain within doors, and betake themselves +to books and playthings. But Herbert's chief resource lay in watching +the sea and the low grey sky, between which was no distinguishable +horizon. The wind still increased, and before the afternoon it blew a +thorough storm, wind and waves raging together on the rocky shore. The +fishermen had secured their boats, drawing them up high on the land; +but what vessels might be labouring under the low misty pall no one +could tell. Many anxious fears were expressed for some known to be at +sea; and many tales of shipwreck were told that night in the +storm-shaken cottages. + +"The day was closing in, darkened the sooner by the mist, when Herbert, +standing at the window, now rather weary, saw the little girl dart past +like a petrel. He snatched up his cap and rushed from the house, +buttoning his jacket to defend him from the weather. The little fellow, +though so quiet among other boys, was a lover of the storm as much as +the girl was, and would have preferred its buffeting, so long as his +strength lasted, to the warmest nook by the fireside; and now he could +not resist the temptation to follow her. As soon as he was clear of the +garden, he saw her stopping to gaze down on the sea--starting again +along the heights--blown out of her course--and regaining it by +struggling up in the teeth of the storm. He at once hastened in +pursuit, trying as much as possible to keep out of her sight, and was +gradually lessening the distance between them, when, on crossing the +hollow already mentioned, he saw her on the edge of the cliff, close to +the pinnacle on which she had stood the night before; where after +standing for a moment, she sank downwards and vanished, but whether +into earth or air, he could not tell. He approached the place. A blast +of more than ordinary violence fought against him, as if determined to +preserve the secret of its favourite's refuge. But he persisted, and +gained the spot. + +"He then found that the real edge of the precipice was several yards +farther off, the ground sloping away from where he stood. At his feet, +in the slope, was an almost perpendicular opening. He hesitated a +little; but, sure that the child was a real human child and no phantom, +he did not hesitate long. He entered and found it lead spirally +downwards. Descending with some difficulty, for the passage was narrow, +he arrived at a small chamber, into one corner of which the stone +shaft, containing the stair, projected half its round. The chamber +looked as if it had been hollowed out of the rock. A narrow window, +little more than a loop-hole through the thick wall, admitted the roar +of the waves and a dim grey light. This light was just sufficient to +show him the child in the farthest corner of the chamber, bending +forward with her hands between her knees, in a posture that indicated +fear. The little playfellow of the winds was not sure of him. At the +first word he spoke, a sea-bird, which had made its home in the +apartment, startled by the sound of his voice, dashed through the +window, with a sudden clang of wings, into the great misty void +without; and Herbert looking out after it, almost forgot the presence +of the little girl in the awe and delight of the spectacle before him. +It was now much darker, and the fog had settled down more closely on +the face of the deep; but just below him he could see the surface of +the ocean, whose mad waves appeared to rush bellowing out of the unseen +on to the shore of the visible. When, after some effort, he succeeded +in leaning out of the window, he could see the shore beneath him; for +he was on its extreme verge, and the spray now and then dashed through +the loop-hole into the chamber. He was still gazing and absorbed, when +a sweet timid voice, that yet partook undefinably of the wildness of a +sea-breeze, startled him out of his contemplation. + +"'Did my mother send you to me?' said the voice. + +"He looked down. Close beside him stood the child, gazing earnestly up +into his face through the twilight from the window. + +"'Where does your mother live?' asked Herbert. + +"'All out there,' the child answered, pointing to the window. + +"While he was thinking what she could mean, she continued: + +"'Mother is angry to-night; but when the sun comes out, and those nasty +clouds are driven away, she will laugh again. Mother does not like +black clouds and fogs; they spoil her house.' + +"Still perplexed as to the child's meaning, Herbert asked, + +"'Does your mother love you?' + +"'Yes, except when she is angry. She does not love me to-night; but +to-morrow, perhaps, she will be all over laughs to me; and that makes +me run to her; and she will smile to me all day, till night comes and +she goes to sleep, and leaves me alone; for I hear her sleeping, but I +cannot go to sleep with her.'" + +Here the curate interrupted his reading to remark, that he feared he +had spoiled the pathos of the child's words, by translating them into +English; but that they must gain more, for the occasion, by being made +intelligible to his audience, than they could lose by the change from +their original form. + +"Herbert's sympathies had by this time made him suspect that the child +must be talking of the sea, which somehow she had come to regard as her +mother. He asked, + +"'Where does your father live, then?' + +"'I have not any father,' she answered. 'I had one, but mother took +him.' + +"Several other questions Herbert put; but still the child's notions ran +in the same channel. They were wild notions, but uttered with +confidence as if they were the most ordinary facts. It seemed that +whatever her imagination suggested, bore to her the impress of +self-evident truth; and that she knew no higher reality. + +"By this time it was almost dark. + +"'I must go home,' said Herbert. + +"'I will go with you,' responded the girl. + +"She ran along beside him, but in the discursive manner natural to her; +till, coming to one of the paths descending towards the shore, she +darted down, without saying good-night even. + +"Next day, the storm having abated, and the sun shining out, they were +standing on the beach, near a fisherman, who like them was gazing +seawards, when the child went skimming past along the shore. Mrs. +Netherby asked the fisherman about her, and learned the secret of the +sea's motherhood. She had been washed ashore from the wreck of a +vessel; and was found on the beach, tied to a spar. All besides had +perished. From the fragment they judged it to have been a Dutch vessel. +Some one had said in her hearing--'Poor child! the sea is her mother;' +and her imagination had cherished the idea. A fisherman, who had no +family, had taken her to his house and loved her dearly. But he lost +his wife shortly after; and a year or two ago, the sea had taken him, +the only father she knew. All, however, were kind to her. She was +welcome wherever she chose to go and share with the family. But no one +knew today where she would be to-morrow, where she would have her next +meal, or where she would sleep. She was wild, impulsive, affectionate. +The simple people of the village believed her to be of foreign birth +and high descent, while reverence for her lonely conditions made them +treat her with affection as well as deference; so that the forsaken +child, regarded as subject to no law, was as happy in her freedom and +confidence as any wild winged thing of the land or sea. The summer +loved her; the winter strengthened her. Her first baptism in the salt +waters had made her a free creature of the earth and skies; had +fortified her, Achilles-like, against all hardship, cold, and nakedness +to come; had delivered her from the bonds of habit and custom, and +shown in her what earth and air of themselves can do, to make the +lowest, most undeveloped life, a divine gift. + +"The following morning, the sea was smooth and clear. So was the sky. +Looking down from their cottage, the sea appeared to Herbert to slope +steeply up to the horizon, so that the shore lay like a deep narrow +valley between him and it. Far down, at the low pier, he saw a little +boat belonging to a retired ship-captain. The oars were on board; and +the owner and some one with him were walking towards the boat. Now the +captain had promised to take him with him some day. + +"He was half-way down the road a moment after the words of permission +had left his mother's lips, and was waiting at the boat when the two +men came up. They readily agreed to let him go with them. They were +going to row to a village on the opposite side of the bay, and return +in the evening. Herbert was speechless with delight. They got in, the +boat heaving beneath them, unmoored and pushed off. This suspension +between sea and sky was a new sensation to Herbert; for when he looked +down, his eye did not repose on the surface, but penetrated far into a +clear green abyss, where the power of vision seemed rather to vanish +than be arrested. When he looked up, the shore was behind them; and he +knew, for the first time, what it was to look at the land as he had +looked at the sea; to regard the land, in its turn, as a +_phenomenon_--observing it apart from himself. + +"Running along the shore like a little bird, he saw the child of the +sea; and, further to the right, the peak on which she had stood in the +sunset, and into whose mysterious chamber she had led him. The captain +here put a pocket-telescope into his hand; and with this annihilator of +space he made new discoveries. He saw a little window in the cliff, +doubtless the same from which he had looked out on the dim sea; and +then perceived that the front of the cliff, in that part, was no rock, +but a wall, regularly and strongly built. It was evidently the remains +of an old fortress. The front foundation had been laid in the rocks of +the shore; the cliff had then been faced up with masonry; and behind +chambers had been cut in the rock; into one of which Herbert had +descended a ruined spiral stair. The castle itself, which had stood on +the top, had mouldered away, leaving only a rugged and broken surface. + +"By this time they were near the opposite shore, and Herbert looked up +with dread at the great cliffs that rose perpendicularly out of the +water, which heaved slowly and heavily, with an appearance of immense +depth, against them. Their black jagged sides had huge holes, into +which the sea rushed--far into the dark--with a muffled roar; and large +protuberances of rock, bare and threatening. Numberless shadows lay on +their faces; and here and there from their tops trickled little steams, +plashing into the waves at their feet. Passing through a natural arch +in a rock, lofty and narrow, called the Devil's Bridge, and turning a +little promontory, they were soon aground on the beach. + +"When the captain had finished his business, they had some dinner at +the inn; and while the two men drank their grog, Herbert was a +delighted listener to many a sea story, old and new. How the boy longed +to be a sailor, and live always on the great waters! The blocks and +cordage of the fast-rooted flagstaff before the inn, assumed an almost +magic interest to him, as the two sailors went on with their tales of +winds and rocks, and narrow escapes and shipwrecks. And how proud he +was of the friendship of these old seafarers! + +"At length it was time to return home. As they rowed slowly along, the +sun was going down in the west, and their shadows were flung far on the +waves, which gleamed and glistened in the rich calm light. Land and sea +were bathed in the blessing of heaven; its glory was on the rocks, and +on the shore, and in the depth of the heaving sea. Under the boat, +wherever it went, shone a paler green. The only sounds were of the oars +in the row-locks, of the drip from their blades as they rose and made +curves in the air, and the low plash with which they dipped again into +the sea; while the water in the wake of the boat hastened to compose +itself again to that sleep from which it had been unwillingly roused by +the passing keel. The boy's heart was full. Often in after years he +longed for the wings of a dove that he might fly to that boat (still +floating in the calm sea of his memory), and there lie until his spirit +had had rest enough. + +"The next time that Herbert approached the little girl, she waited his +coming; and while they talked, Mrs. Netherby joined them with her +Effie. Presently the gaze of the sea-child was fixed upon little Effie, +to the all but total neglect of the others. The result of this +contemplation was visible the next day. Mrs. Netherby having invited +her to come and see them, the following morning, as they were seated at +breakfast, the door of the room opened, without any prefatory tap, and +in peeped with wild confidence the smiling face of the untamed Undine. +It was at once evident that civilization had laid a finger upon her, +and that a new womanly impulse had been awakened. For there she stood, +gazing at Effie, and with both hands smoothing down her own hair, which +she had managed, after a fashion, to part in the middle, and had +plentifully wetted with sea-water. In her run up the height, it had +begun to dry, and little spangles of salt were visible all over it. She +could not alter her dress, whose many slashes showed little lining +except her skin; but she had done all she could to approximate her +appearance to that of Effie, whom she seemed to regard as a little +divinity. + +"Mrs. Netherby's heart was drawn towards the motherless child, and she +clothed her from head to foot; though how far this was a benefit as +regarded cold and heat, is a question. Herbert began to teach her to +read; in which her progress was just like her bodily movements over the +earth's surface; now a dead pause, and now the flight of a bird. Now +and then she would suddenly start up, heedless where her book might +happen to fall, and rush out along the heights; returning next day, or +the same afternoon, and, without any apology, resuming her studies. + +"This holiday was to Herbert one of those seasons which tinge the whole +of the future life. It was a storehouse of sights and sounds and images +of thought; a tiring-room, wherein to clothe the ideas that came forth +to act their parts upon the stage of reason. Often at night, just ere +the sleep that wipes out the day from the overfilled and blotted +tablets of the brain, enwrapped him in its cool, grave-like garments, a +vision of the darkened sea, spotted and spangled with pools of +unutterable light, would rise before him unbidden, in that infinite +space for creation which lies dark and waiting under the closed +eyelids. The darkened sea might be but the out-thrown image of his own +overshadowed soul; and the spots of light the visual form of his hopes. +So clearly would these be present to him sometimes, that when he opened +his eyes and gazed into the darkness of his room, he would see the +bright spaces shining before him still. Then he would fall asleep and +dream on about the sea--watching a little cutter perhaps, as 'she +leaned to the lee, and girdled the wave,' flinging the frolic-some +waters from her bows, and parting a path for herself between. Or he +would be seated with the helm in his hand, and all the force and the +joy wherewith she dashed headlong on the rising waves, and half pierced +them and half drove them under her triumphant keel, would be issuing +from his will and his triumph. + +"Surely even for the sad despairing waves there is some hope, out in +that boundless room which borders on the sky, and upon which, even in +the gloomiest hour of tempest, falls sometimes from heaven a glory +intense. + +"So when the time came that the lover of waters must return, he went +back enriched with new visions of them in their great home and +motherland, he had seen them still and silent as a soul in holy trance; +he had seen them raving in a fury of livid green, swarming with +'white-mouthed waves;' he had seen them lying in one narrow ridge of +unbroken blue, where the eye, finding no marks to measure the distance +withal, saw miles as furlongs; and he had seen sweeps and shadows +innumerable stretched along its calm expanse, so dividing it into +regions, and graduating the distance, that the eye seemed to wander on +and on from sea to sea, and the ships to float in oceans beyond oceans +of infinite reach. O lonely space! awful indeed wert thou, did no one +love us! But he had yet to receive one more vision of the waters, and +that was to be in a dream. With this dream I will close the story of +his holiday; for it went with him ever after, breaking forth from the +dream-home, and encompassing his waking thoughts with an atmosphere of +courage and hope, when his heart was ready to sink in a world which was +not the world the boy had thought to enter, when he ran to welcome his +fate. + +"On their last Sunday, Herbert went with his mother to the evening +service in a little chapel in the midst of the fishermen's cottages. It +was a curious little place, with galleries round, that nearly met in +the middle, and a high pulpit with a great sounding-board over it, from +which came the voice of an earnest little Methodist, magnified by his +position into a mighty prophet. The good man was preaching on the +parable of _the sheep and the goats;_ and, in his earnestness for his +own theology and the souls of his hearers, was not content that the +Lord should say these things in his own way, but he must say them in +his too. And a terrible utterance it was! Looking about, unconsciously +seeking some relief from the accumulation of horrors with which the +preacher was threatening the goats of his congregation, Herbert spied, +in the very front of one of the side galleries, his little pupil, white +with terror, and staring with round unwinking eyes full in the face of +the prophet of fear. Never after could he read the parable without +seeing the blanched face of the child, and feeling a renewal of that +evening's sadness over the fate of the poor goats which afterwards grew +into the question--'Doth God care for oxen, and not for goats?' He +never saw the child again; for they left the next day, and she did not +come to bid them good-by. + +"As he went home from the chapel, her face of terror haunted him. + +"That night he fell asleep, as usual, with the sound of the waves in +his soul. And as he slept he dreamed.--He stood, as he thought, upon +the cliff, within which lay the remnants of the old castle. The sun was +slowly sinking down the western sky, and a great glory lay upon the +sea. Close to the shore beneath, by the side of some low rocks, floated +a little boat. He thought how delightful it would be to lie in the boat +in the sunlight, and let it die away upon his bosom. He scrambled down +the rocks, stepped on board, and laid himself in the boat, with his +face turned towards the sinking sun. Lower and lower the sun sank, +seeming to draw the heavens after him, like a net. At length he plunged +beneath the waves; but as his last rays disappeared on the horizon, lo! +a new splendour burst upon the astonished boy. The whole waters were +illuminated from beneath, with the permeating glories of the buried +radiance. In rainbow circles, and intermingling, fluctuating sweeps of +colours, the sea lay like an intense opal, molten with the fire of its +own hues. The sky gave back the effulgence with a less deep but more +heavenly loveliness. + +"But betwixt the sea and the sky, just over the grave of the down-gone +sun, a dark spot appeared, parting the earth and the heaven where they +had mingled in embraces of light. And the dark spot grew and spread, +and a cold breath came softly over the face of the shining waters; and +the colours paled away; and as the blossom-sea withered and grew grey +below, the clouds withered and darkened above. The sea began to swell +and moan and look up, like the soul of a man whose joy is going down in +darkness; and a horror came over the heart of the sleeper, and in his +dream he lifted up his head, meaning to rise and hasten to his home. +But, behold, the shore was far away, and the great castle-cliff had +sunk to a low ridge! With a cry, he sank back on the bosom of the +careless sea. + +"The boat began to rise and fall on the waking waves. Then a great +blast of wind laid hold of it, and whirled it about. Once more he +looked up, and saw that the tops of the waves were torn away, and that +'the white water was coming out of the black.' Higher and higher rose +the billows; louder and louder roared the wind across their jagged +furrows, tearing awful descants from their bursting chords, and tossing +the little boat like a leaf in the lone desert of storms; now holding +it perched on the very crest of a wave, in the mad eye of the tempest, +while the chaotic waters danced, raving about, in hopeless confusion; +now letting it sink in the hollow of the waves, and lifting above it +cold glittering walls of water, that becalmed it as in a sheltered +vale, while the hurricane roaring above, flung arches of writhing +waters across from billow to billow overhead, and threatened to close, +as in a transparent tomb, boat and boy. At length, when the boat rose +once more, unwilling, to the awful ridge, jagged and white, a yet +fiercer blast tore it from the top of the wave. The dreamer found +himself choking in the waters, and soon lost all consciousness of the +buffeting waves or the shrieking winds. + +"When the dreamer again awoke, he felt that he was carried along +through the storm above the waves; for they reached him only in bursts +of spray, though the wind raged around him more fiercely than ever. He +opened his eyes and looked downwards. Beneath him seethed and boiled +the tumultuous billows, their wreathy tops torn from them, and shot, in +long vanishing sheets of spray, over the distracted wilderness. Such +was the turmoil beneath, that he had to close his eyes again to feel +that he was moving onwards. + +"The next time he opened them, it was to look up. And lo! a shadowy +face bent over him, whence love unutterable was falling in floods, from +eyes deep, and dark, and still, as the heavens that are above the +clouds, Great waves of hair streamed back from a noble head, and +floated on the tides of the tempest. The face was like his mother's and +like his father's, and like a face that he had seen somewhere in a +picture, but far more beautiful and strong and loving than all. With a +sudden glory of gladness, in which the spouting pinnacles of the +fathomless pyramids of wandering waters dwindled into the confusion of +a few troubled water-drops, he knew, he knew that the Lord was carrying +his lamb in his bosom. Around him were the everlasting arms, and above +him the lamps that light heaven and earth, the eyes that watch and are +not weary. And now he felt the arms in which he lay, and he nestled +close to that true, wise bosom, which has room in it for all, and where +none will strive. + +"Over the waters went the Master, now crossing the calm hollows, now +climbing the rising wave, now shrouded in the upper ocean of drifting +spray, that wrapped him around with whirling force, and anon calmly +descending the gliding slope into the glassy trough below. Sometimes, +when he looked up, the dreamer could see nothing but the clouds driving +across the heavens, whence now and then a star, in a little well of +blue, looked down upon him; but anon he knew that the driving clouds +were his drifting hair, and that the stars in the blue wells of heaven +were his love-lighted eyes. Over the sea he strode, and the floods +lifted up their heads in vain. The billows would gather and burst +around and over them; but a moment more, and the billows were beneath +his feet, and on they were going, safe and sure. + +"Long time the journey endured; and the dream faded and again revived. +It was as if he had slept, and again awaked; for he lay in soft grass +on a mountain-side, and the form of a mighty man lay outstretched +beside him, who was weary with a great weariness. + +"Below, the sea howled and beat against the base of the mountain; but +it was far below. Again the Lord arose, and lifted him up, and bore him +onwards. Up to the mountain-top they went, through the keen, cold air, +and over the fields of snow and ice. On the peak the Master paused and +looked down. + +"In a vast amphitheatre below, was gathered a multitude that no man +could number. They crowded on all sides beyond the reach of the sight, +rising up the slopes of the surrounding mountains, till they could no +longer be distinguished; grouped and massed upon height above height; +filling the hollows, and plains, and platforms all about. But every eye +looked towards the lowest centre of the mountain-amphitheatre, where a +little vacant spot awaited the presence of some form, which should be +the heart of all the throng. Down towards this centre the Lord bore +him. Entering the holy circle, he set him gently down, and then looked +all around, as if searching earnestly for some one he could not see. + +"And not finding whom he sought, he walked across the open space. A +path was instantly divided for him through the dense multitude +surrounding it. Along this lane of men and women and children, he went; +and Herbert ran, following close at his feet; for now all the universe +seemed empty save where he was. And he was not rebuked, but suffered to +follow. And although the Lord walked fast and far, the feet following +him were not weary, but grew in speed and in power. Through the great +crowd and beyond it, never looking back, up and over the brow of the +mountain they went, and leaving behind them the gathered universe of +men, descended into a pale night. Hither and hither went the Master, +searching up and down the gloomy valley; now looking behind a great +rock, and now through a thicket of brushwood; now entering a dark cave, +and now ascending a height and gazing all around; till at last, on a +bare plain, seated on a grey stone, with her hands in her lap, they +found the little orphan child who had called the sea her mother. + +"As he drew near to her, the Lord called out, 'My poor little lamb, I +have found you at last!' But she did not seem to hear or understand +what he said; for she fell on her knees, and held up her clasped hands, +and cried, 'Do not be angry with me. I am a goat; and I ran away +because I was afraid. Do not burn me.' But all the answer the Lord made +was to stoop, and lift her, and hold her to his breast. And she was an +orphan no more. + +"So he turned and went back over hill and over dale, and Herbert +followed, rejoicing that the lost lamb was found. + +"As he followed, he spied in a crevice of a rock, close by his path, a +lovely primrose. He stooped to pluck it. And ere he began again to +follow, a cock crew shrill and loud; and he knew it was the cock that +rebuked Peter; and he trembled and stood up. The Master had vanished. +He, too, fell a-weeping bitterly. And again the cock crew; and he +opened his eyes, and knew that he had dreamed. His mother stood by his +bedside, comforting the weeper with kisses. And he cried to her-- + +"'O mother! surely he would not come over the sea to find me in the +storm, and then leave me because I stopped to pluck a flower!'" + + * * * * * + +"Too long, I am afraid," said the curate, the moment he had finished +his paper, looking at his watch. + +"We have not thought so, I am sure," said Adela, courteously. The +ladies rose to go. + +"Who is to read next?" said the schoolmaster. + +"Why, of course," said the curate, indignantly, "it ought to be my +brother, but there is no depending on him." + +"If this frost lasts, I will positively read next time," said the +doctor. "But, you know, Ralph, it will be better for you to bring +something else with you, lest I should fail again." + +"Cool!" said the curate. "I think it is time we dropped it." + +"No, please don't," said Harry, with a little anxiety in his tone. "I +really want to read my story." + +"It looks like it, doesn't it?" + +"Now, Ralph, a clergyman should never be sarcastic. Be as indignant as +you please--but--sarcastic--never. It is very easy for you, who know +just what you have to do, and have besides whole volumes in that +rickety old desk of yours, to keep such an appointment as this. Mine is +produced for the occasion, _bona fide_; and I cannot tell what may be +required of me from one hour to another." + +He went up to Adela. + +"I am very sorry to have failed again," he said. + +"But you won't next time, will you?" + +"I will not, if I can help it." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +INTERRUPTION. + + +But it was Adela herself who failed next time. I had seen her during +the reading draw her shawl about her as if she were cold. She seemed +quite well when the friends left, but she had caught a chill; and +before the morning she was quite feverish, and unable to leave her bed. + +"You see, Colonel," said Mrs. Cathcart at breakfast, "that this doctor +of yours is doing the child harm instead of good. He has been +suppressing instead of curing the complaint; and now she is worse than +ever." + +"When the devil--" I began to remark in reply. + +"Mr. Smith!" exclaimed Mrs. Cathcart. + +"Allow me, madam, to finish my sentence before you make up your mind to +be shocked.--When the devil goes out of a man, or a woman either, he +gives a terrible wrench by way of farewell. Now, as the prophet Job +teaches us, all disease is from the devil; and--" + +"The prophet Job!--Mr. Smith?" + +"Well, the old Arab Scheik, if you like that epithet better." + +"Really, Mr. Smith!" + +"Well, I don't mind what you call him. I only mean to say that a +disease sometimes goes out with a kind of flare, like a candle--or like +the poor life itself. I believe, if this is an intermittent fever--as, +from your description, I expect it will prove to be--it will be the +best thing for her." + +"Well, we shall see what Dr. Wade will say." + +"Dr. Wade?" I exclaimed. + +"Of course, my brother will not think of trusting such a serious case +to an inexperienced young man like Mr. Armstrong." + +"It seems to me," I replied, "that for some time the case has ceased to +be a serious one. You must allow that Adela is better." + +"Seemed to be better, Mr. Smith. But it was all excitement, and here is +the consequence. I, as far as I have any influence, decidedly object to +Mr. Armstrong having anything more to do with the case." + +"Perhaps you are right, Jane," said the colonel. "I fear you are. But +how can I ask Dr. Wade to resume his attendance?" + +Always nervous about Adela, his sister-in-law had at length succeeded +in frightening him. + +"Leave that to me," she said; "I will manage him." + +"Pooh!" said I, rudely. "He will jump at it. It will be a grand triumph +for him. I only want you to mind what you are about. You know Adela +does not like Dr. Wade." + +"And she does like _Doctor_ Armstrong?" said Mrs. Cathcart, stuffing +each word with significance. + +"Yes," I answered, boldly. "Who would not prefer the one to the other?" + +But her arrow had struck. The colonel rose, and saying only, "Well, +Jane, I leave the affair in your hands," walked out of the room. I was +coward enough to follow him. Had it been of any use, coward as I was, I +would have remained. + +But Mrs. Cathcart, if she had not reckoned without her host, had, at +least, reckoned without her hostess. She wrote instantly to Dr. Wade, +in terms of which it is enough to say that they were successful, for +they brought the doctor at once. I saw him pass through the hall, +looking awfully stiff, important, and condescending. Beeves, who had +opened the door to him, gave me a very queer look as he showed him into +the drawing-room, ringing, at the same time, for Adela's maid. + +Now Mrs. Cathcart had not expected that the doctor would arrive so +soon, and had, as yet, been unable to make up her mind how to +communicate to the patient the news of the change in the physical +ministry. So when the maid brought the message, all that her cunning +could provide her with at the moment was the pretence, that he had +called so opportunely by chance. + +"Ask him to walk up," she said, after just one moment's hesitation. + +Adela heard the direction her aunt gave, through the cold shiver which +was then obliterating rather than engrossing her attention, and +concluded that they had sent for Mr. Armstrong. But Mrs. Cathcart, +turning towards her, said-- + +"Adela, my love, Dr. Wade had just called; and I have asked him to step +up stairs." + +The patient started up. + +"Aunt, what do you mean? If that old wife comes into this room, I will +make him glad to go out of it!" + +You see she was feverish, poor child, else I am sure she could not have +been so rude to her aunt. But before Mrs. Cathcart could reply, in came +Dr. Wade. He walked right up to the bed, after a stately obeisance to +the lady attendant. + +"I am sorry to find you so ill, Miss Cathcart." + +"I am perfectly well, Dr. Wade. I am sorry you have had the trouble of +walking up stairs." + +As she said this, she rang the bell at the head of her bed. Her maid, +who had been listening at the door, entered at once.--I had all this +from Adela herself afterwards. + +"Emma, bring me my desk. Dr. Wade, there must be some mistake. It was +my aunt, Mrs. Cathcart, who sent for you. Had she given me the +opportunity, I would have begged that the interview might take place in +her room instead of mine." + +Dr. Wade retreated towards the fireplace, where Mrs. Cathcart stood, +quite aware that she had got herself into a mess of no ordinary +complication. Yet she persisted in her cunning. She lifted her finger +to her forehead. + +"Ah?" said Dr. Wade. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Cathcart. + +"Wandering?" + +"Dreadfully." + +After some more whispering, the doctor sat down to write a +prescription. But meantime, Adela was busy writing another. What she +wrote was precisely to this effect-- + +"Dear Mr. Armstrong, + +"I have caught a bad cold, and my aunt has let loose Dr. Wade upon me. +Please come directly, if you will save me from ever so much nasty +medicine, at the least. My aunt is not my mother, thank heaven! though +she would gladly usurp that relationship. + +"Yours most truly, + +"Adela Cathcart." + +She folded and sealed the note--sealed it carefully--and gave it to +Emma, who vanished with it, followed instantly by Mrs. Cathcart. As to +what took place outside the door--shall I confess it?--Beeves is my +informant. + +"Where are you going, Emma? Emma, come here directly," said Mrs. +Cathcart. + +Emma obeyed. + +"I am going a message for mis'ess." + +"Who is that note for?" + +"I didn't ask. John can read well enough." + +"Show it me." + +Emma, I presume, closed both lips and hand very tight. "I command you." + +"Miss Cathcart pays me my wages, ma'am," said Emma, and turning, sped +down-stairs like a carrier-pigeon. + +In the hall she met Beeves, and told him the story. + +"There she comes!" cried he. "Give me the letter. I'll take it myself." + +"You're not going without your hat, surely, Mr. Beeves," said Emma. + +"Bless me! It's down-stairs. There's master's old one! He'll never want +it again. And if he does, it'll be none the worse." + +And he was out of the door in a moment. Beeves's alarm, however, as to +Mrs. Cathcart's approach, was a false one. She returned into the sick +chamber, with a face fiery red, and found Dr. Wade just finishing an +elaborate prescription. + +"There!" said he, rising. "Send for that at once, and let it be taken +directly. Good morning." + +He left the room instantly, making signs that he was afraid of exciting +his patient, as she did not appear to approve of his presence. + +"What is the prescription?" said Adela, quite quietly, as Mrs. Cathcart +approached the bed, apparently trying to decipher it. + +"I am glad to see you so much calmer, my dear. You must not excite +yourself. The prescription?--I cannot make it out. Doctors do write so +badly. I suppose they consider it professional." + +"They consider a good many things professional which are only stupid. +Let me see it." + +Mrs. Cathcart, thrown off her guard, gave it to her. Adela tore it in +fragments, and threw it in a little storm on the floor. + +"Adela!" screamed Mrs. Cathcart. "What is to be done?" + +"Pay Dr. Wade his fee, and tell him I shall never be too ill to refuse +his medicines. Now, aunt! You find I am determined.--I declare you make +me behave so ill that I am ashamed of myself." + +Here the poor impertinent child crept under the clothes, and fell +a-weeping bitterly. Mrs. Cathcart had sense enough to see that nothing +could be done, and retired to her room. Getting weary of her own +society after a few moments of solitude, she proceeded to go +down-stairs. But half-way down, she was met full in the face by Harry +Armstrong ascending two steps at a time. He had already met Dr. Wade, +as he came out of the dining-room, where he had been having an +interview with the colonel. Harry had turned, and held out his hand +with a "How do you do, Dr. Wade?" But that gentleman had bowed with the +utmost stiffness, and kept his hand at home. + +"So it is to be open war and mutual slander, is it, Dr. Wade?" said +Harry. "In that case, I want to know how you come to interfere with my +patient. I have had no dismissal, which punctilio I took care to know +was observed in your case." + +"Sir, I was sent for," said Dr. Wade, haughtily. + +"I have in my pocket a note from the lady of this house, requesting my +immediate attendance. If you have received a request to the same +purport from a visitor, you obey it at your own risk. Good morning." + +Then Harry walked quietly up the first half of the stair, while Beeves +hastened to open the door to the crest-fallen Dr. Wade; but by the time +he met Mrs. Cathcart, his rate of ascent had considerably increased. As +soon as she saw him, however, without paying any attention to the usual +formality of a greeting, she turned and re-entered her niece's room. +Her eyes were flashing, and her face spotted red and white with +helpless rage. But she would not abandon the field. Harry bowed to her, +and passed on to the bed, where he was greeted with a smile. + +"There's not much the matter, I hope?" he said, returning the smile. + +"It may suit you to make light of my niece's illness, Mr. Armstrong; +but I beg to inform you that her father thought it serious enough to +send for Dr. Wade. He has been here already, and your attendance is +quite superfluous." + +"No doubt; no doubt. But as I am here, I may as well prescribe." + +"Dr. Wade has already prescribed." + +"And I have taken his prescription, have I not, aunt?--and destroyed +it, Mr. Armstrong, instead of my own chance." + +"Of what?" said Mrs. Cathcart, with vulgar significance. + +"Of getting rid of two officious old women at once," said Adela--in a +rage, I fear I must confess, as the only excuse for impertinence. + +"Come, come," said Harry, "this won't do. I cannot have my patient +excited in this way. Miss Cathcart, may I ring for your maid?" + +For answer, Adela rang the bell herself. Her aunt was pretending to +look out of the window. + +"Will you go and ask your master," said Harry, when Emma made her +appearance, "to be so kind as come here for a moment?" + +The poor colonel--an excellent soldier, a severe master, with the +highest notions of authority and obedience, found himself degraded by +his own conduct, as other autocrats have proved before, into a +temporizing incapable. It was the more humiliating that he was quite +aware in his own honest heart that it was jealousy of Harry that had +brought him into this painful position. But he obeyed the summons at +once; for wherever there was anything unpleasant to be done, there, +with him, duty assumed the sterner command. As soon as he entered the +room, Harry, without giving time for anyone else to determine the +course of the conference, said: + +"There has been some mistake, Colonel Cathcart, between Dr. Wade and +myself, which has already done Miss Cathcart no good. As I find her +very feverish, though not by any means alarmingly ill, I must, as her +medical attendant, insist that _no_ one come into her room but yourself +or her maid." + +Every one present perfectly understood this; and however, in other +circumstances, the colonel might have resented the tone of authority +with which Harry spoke, he was compelled, for his daughter's sake, to +yield; and he afterwards justified Harry entirely. Mrs. Cathcart walked +out of the room with her neck invisible from behind. The colonel sat +down by the fire. Harry wrote his prescription on the half sheet from +which Dr. Wade had torn his; and then saying that he would call in the +evening, took his leave of the colonel, and bowed to his patient, +receiving a glance of acknowledgment which could not fail to generate +the feeling that there was a secret understanding between them, and +that he had done just what she wanted. He mounted his roan horse, +called Rhubarb, with a certain elation of being, which he tried to hide +from everyone but himself. + +When doctors forget that their patients are more like musical +instruments than machines, they will soon need to be reminded that they +are men and women, and not dogs or horses. Yet, alas for the poor dogs +and horses that fall into the hands of a man without a human sympathy +even with them! I, John Smith, bless you, my doctor-friends, that ye +are not doctors merely, but good and loving men; and, in virtue +thereof, so much the more--so exceedingly the more _Therapeutae_. + +I need not follow the course of the fever. Each day the arrival of the +cold fit was longer delayed, and the violence of both diminished, until +they disappeared altogether. But a day or two before this happy result +was completed, Adela had been allowed to go down to the drawing-room, +and had delighted her father with her cheerfulness and hopefulness. It +really seemed as if the ague had carried off the last remnants of the +illness under which she had been so long labouring. But then, you can +never put anything to the _experimentum crucis_; and there were other +causes at work for Adela's cure, which were perhaps more powerful than +even the ague. However this may have been, she got almost quite well in +a very short space of time; and with her father's consent, issued +invitations to another meeting of the story-club. They were at once +satisfactorily responded to. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PERCY. + + +By this time Percy had returned to London. His mother remained; but the +terms understood between her niece and herself were those of icy +politeness and reserve. I learned afterwards that something of an +understanding had also been arrived at between Percy and Harry; ever +since learning the particulars of which, I have liked the young rascal +a great deal better. So I will trouble my reader to take an interest in +my report of the affair. + +Percy met Harry at the gate, after one of his professional visits, and +accosted him thus: + +"Mr. Armstrong, my mother says you have been rude to her." + +"I am not in the least aware of it, Mr. Percy." + +"Oh! I don't care much. She is provoking. Besides, she can take care of +herself. That's not it." + +"What is it, then?" + +"What do you mean about Adela?" + +"I have said nothing more than that she has had a sharp attack of +intermittent fever, which is going off." + +"Come, come--you know what I mean." + +"I may suspect, but I don't choose to answer hints, the meaning of +which I _only_ suspect. I might make a fool of myself." + +"Well, I'll be plain. Are you in love with her?" + +"Suppose I were, you are not the first to whom I should think it +necessary to confess." + +"Well, are you paying your addresses to her?" + +"I am sorry I cannot consent to make my answers as frank as your +questions. You have the advantage of me in straightforwardness, I +confess. Only you have got sun and wind of me both." + +"Come, come--I hate dodging." + +"I daresay you do. But just let me shift round a bit, and see what you +will do then.--Are _you in love with Miss Cathcart?_" + +"Yes." + +"Upon my word, I shouldn't have thought it. Here have we been all +positively conspiring to do her good, and you have been paying ten +times the attention to the dogs and horses that you have paid to her." + +"By Jove! it's quite true. But I couldn't somehow." + +"Then she hasn't encouraged you?" + +"By Jupiter! you are frank enough now.--No, damn it--not a bit.--But +she used to like me, and she would again, if you would let her alone." + +"Now, Mr. Percy, I'll tell you what.--I don't believe you are a bit in +love with her." + +"She's devilish pretty." + +"Well?" + +"And I declare I think she got prettier and prettier every day till +this cursed ague took her.--Your fault too, my mother says." + +"We'll leave your mother out of the question now, if you please. Do you +know what made her look prettier and prettier--for you are quite right +about that?" + +"No. I suppose you were giving her arsenic." + +"No. I was giving her the true _elixir vitae_, unknown even to the +Rosicrucians." + +Percy stared. + +"I will explain myself. Her friend, Mr. Smith--" + +"Old fogie!" + +"Old bachelor--yes.--Mr. Smith and I agreed that she was dying of +ennui; and so we got up this story-club, and got my brother and the +rest to bear a hand in it. It did her all the good the most sanguine of +us could have hoped for." + +"I thought it horrid slow." + +"I am surprised at that, for you were generally asleep." + +"I was forced, in self-defence. I couldn't smoke." + +"It gave her something to think about." + +"So it seems." + +"Now, Mr. Percy, how could you think you had the smallest chance with +her, when here was the first one and then another turning each the +flash of his own mental prism upon her weary eyes, and healing them +with light; while you would not take the smallest trouble to gratify +her, or even to show yourself to anything like advantage?--My dear +fellow, what a fool you are!" + +"Mr. Armstrong!" + +"Come, come--you began with frankness, and I've only gone on with it. +You are a good-hearted fellow, and ought to be made something of." + +"At all events, you make something of yourself, to talk of your own +productions as the elixir _vitae_." + +"You forget that I am in disgrace as well as yourself on that score; +for I have not read a word of my own since the club began." + +"Then how the devil should I be worse off than you?" + +"I didn't say you were. I only said you did your best to place yourself +at a disadvantage. I at least took a part in the affair, although a +very humble one. But depend upon it, a girl like Miss Cathcart thinks +more of mental gifts, than of any outward advantages which a man may +possess; and in the company of those who _think_, a fellow's good looks +don't go for much. She could not help measuring you by those other +men--and women too. But you may console yourself with the reflection +that there are plenty of girls, and pretty ones too, of a very +different way of judging; and for my part you are welcome to the pick +of them." + +"You mean to say that I sha'n't have Addie?" + +"Not in the least. But, come now--do you think yourself worthy of a +girl like that?" + +"No. Do you?" + +"No. But I should not feel such a hypocrite if she thought me worthy, +as to give her up on that ground." + +"Then what _do_ you mean?" + +"To win her, if I can." + +"Whew!" + +"But if you are a gentleman, you will let me say so myself, and not +betray my secret." + +"Damned if I do! Good luck to you! There's my hand. I believe you're a +good fellow after all. I wish I had seen you ride to hounds. They tell +me it's a sight." + +"Thank you heartily. But what are you going to do?" + +"Go back to the sweet-flowing Thames, and the dreams of the desk." + +"Well--be a man as well as a gentleman. Don't be a fool." + +"Hang it all! I believe it was her money, after all, I was in love +with. Good-bye!" + +But the poor fellow looked grave enough as he went away. And I trust +that, before long, he, too, began to reap some of the good corn that +grows on the wintry fields of disappointment.--I have my eye upon him; +but it is little an _old fogie_ like me can do with a fellow like Percy. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CRUEL PAINTER. + + +Now to return to the Story-Club. + +On the night appointed, we met. And to the delight of all the rest of +us, Harry arrived with a look that satisfied us that he was to be no +defaulter this time. The look was one of almost nervous uneasiness. Of +course this sprung from anxiety to please Adela--at least, so I +interpreted it. She occupied her old place on the couch; we all +arranged ourselves nearly as before; and the fire was burning very +bright. Before he began, however, Harry, turning to our host, said: + +"May I arrange the scene as I please, for the right effect of my story?" + +"Certainly," answered the colonel. + +Harry rose, and extinguished the lamp. + +"But, my dear sir," said the colonel, "how can you read now?" + +"Perfectly, by the firelight," answered Harry. + +He then went to the windows, and drawing aside the curtains, drew up +the blinds. + +It was full high moon, and the light so clear that, notwithstanding the +brightness of the fire, each window seemed to lie in ghostly shimmer on +the floor. Not a breath of wind was abroad. The whole country being +covered with snow, the air was filled with a snowy light. On one side +rose the high roof of another part of the house, on which the snow was +lying thick and smooth, undisturbed save by the footprints, visible in +the moon, of a large black cat, which had now paused in the middle of +it, and was looking round suspiciously towards the source of the light +which had surprised him in his midnight walk. + +"Now," said Harry, returning to his seat, and putting on an air of +confidence to conceal the lack of it, "let any one who has nerves +retire at once, both for his own sake and that of the company! This is +just such a night as I wanted to read my story +in--snow--stillness--moonlight outside, and nothing but firelight +inside. Mind, Ralph, you keep up the fire, for the room will be more +ready to get cold now the coverings are off the windows.--You will say +at once if you feel it cold, Miss Cathcart?" + +Adela promised; and Harry, who had his manuscript gummed together in a +continuous roll, so that he might not have to turn over any leaves, +began at once: + +"THE CRUEL PAINTER. + +"Among the young men assembled at the University of Prague, in the year +159--, was one called Karl von Wolkenlicht. A somewhat careless +student, he yet held a fair position in the estimation of both +professors and men, because he could hardly look at a proposition +without understanding it. Where such proposition, however, had to do +with anything relating to the deeper insights of the nature, he was +quite content that, for him, it should remain a proposition; which, +however, he laid up in one of his mental cabinets, and was ready to +reproduce at a moment's notice. This mental agility was more than +matched by the corresponding corporeal excellence, and both aided in +producing results in which his remarkable strength was equally +apparent. In all games depending upon the combination of muscle and +skill, he had scarce rivalry enough to keep him in practice. His +strength, however, was embodied in such a softness of muscular outline, +such a rare Greek-like style of beauty, and associated with such a +gentleness of manner and behaviour, that, partly from the truth of the +resemblance, partly from the absurdity of the contrast, he was known +throughout the university by the diminutive of the feminine form of his +name, and was always called Lottchen. + +"'I say, Lottchen,' said one of his fellow-students, called Richter, +across the table in a wine-cellar they were in the habit of +frequenting, 'do you know, Heinrich Hoellenrachen here says that he saw +this morning, with mortal eyes, whom do you think?--Lilith.' + +"'Adam's first wife?' asked Lottchen, with an attempt at carelessness, +while his face flushed like a maiden's. + +"'None of your chaff!'said Richter. 'Your face is honester than your +tongue, and confesses what you cannot deny, that you would give your +chance of salvation--a small one to be sure, but all you've got--for +one peep at Lilith. Wouldn't you now, Lottchen?' + +"'Go to the devil!' was all Lottchen's answer to his tormentor; but he +turned to Heinrich, to whom the students had given the surname above +mentioned, because of the enormous width of his jaws, and said with +eagerness and envy, disguising them as well as he could, under the +appearance of curiosity: + +"'You don't mean it, Heinrich? You've been taking the beggar in! +Confess now.' + +"'Not I. I saw her with my two eyes.' + +"'Notwithstanding the different planes of their orbits,' suggested +Richter. + +"'Yes, notwithstanding the fact that I can get a parallax to any of the +fixed stars in a moment, with only the breadth of my nose for the +base,' answered Heinrich, responding at once to the fun, and careless +of the personal defect insinuated. 'She was near enough for even me to +see her perfectly.' + +"'When? Where? How?' asked Lottchen. + +"'Two hours ago. In the churchyard of St. Stephen's. By a lucky chance. +Any more little questions, my child?' answered Hoellenrachen. + +"'What could have taken her there, who is seen nowhere?' said Richter. + +"She was seated on a grave. After she left, I went to the place; but it +was a new-made grave. There was no stone up. I asked the sexton about +her. He said he supposed she was the daughter of the woman buried there +last Thursday week. I knew it was Lilith.' + +"'Her mother dead!' said Lottchen, musingly. Then he thought with +himself--'She will be going there again, then!' But he took care that +this ghost-thought should wander unembodied. 'But how did you know her, +Heinrich? You never saw her before.' + +"'How do you come to be over head and ears in love with her, Lottchen, +and you haven't seen her at all?' interposed Richter. + +"'Will you or will you not go to the devil?' rejoined Lottchen, with a +comic crescendo; to which the other replied with a laugh. + +"'No one could miss knowing her,' said Heinrich. + +"'Is she so very like, then?' + +"'It is always herself, her very self.' + +"A fresh flask of wine, turning out to be not up to the mark, brought +the current of conversation against itself; not much to the +dissatisfaction of Lottchen, who had already resolved to be in the +churchyard of St. Stephen's at sun-down the following day, in the hope +that he too might be favoured with a vision of Lilith. + +"This resolution he carried out. Seated in a porch of the church, not +knowing in what direction to look for the apparition he hoped to see, +and desirous as well of not seeming to be on the watch for one, he was +gazing at the fallen rose-leaves of the sunset, withering away upon the +sky; when, glancing aside by an involuntary movement, he saw a woman +seated upon a new-made grave, not many yards from where he sat, with +her face buried in her hands, and apparently weeping bitterly. Karl was +in the shadow of the porch, and could see her perfectly, without much +danger of being discovered by her; so he sat and watched her. She +raised her head for a moment, and the rose-flush of the west fell over +it, shining on the tears with which it was wet, and giving the whole a +bloom which did not belong to it, for it was always pale, and now pale +as death. It was indeed the face of Lilith, the most celebrated beauty +of Prague. + +"Again she buried her face in her hands; and Karl sat with a strange +feeling of helplessness, which grew as he sat; and the longing to help +her whom he could not help, drew his heart towards her with a trembling +reverence which was quite new to him. She wept on. The western roses +withered slowly away, and the clouds blended with the sky, and the +stars gathered like drops of glory sinking through the vault of night, +and the trees about the churchyard grew black, and Lilith almost +vanished in the wide darkness. At length she lifted her head, and +seeing the night around her, gave a little broken cry of dismay. The +minutes had swept over her head, not through her mind, and she did not +know that the dark had come. + +"Hearing her cry, Karl rose and approached her. She heard his +footsteps, and started to her feet. Karl spoke-- + +"'Do not be frightened,' he said. 'Let me see you home. I will walk +behind you.' + +"'Who are you?' she rejoined. + +"'Karl Wolkenlicht.' + +"'I have heard of you. Thank you. I can go home alone.' + +"Yet, as if in a half-dreamy, half-unconscious mood, she accepted his +offered hand to lead her through the graves, and allowed him to walk +beside her, till, reaching the corner of a narrow street, she suddenly +bade him good-night and vanished. He thought it better not to follow +her, so he returned her good-night and went home. + +"How to see her again was his first thought the next day; as, in fact, +how to see her at all had been his first thought for many days. She +went nowhere that ever he heard of; she knew nobody that he knew; she +was never seen at church, or at market; never seen in the street. Her +home had a dreary, desolate aspect. It looked as if no one ever went +out or in. It was like a place on which decay had fallen because there +was no indwelling spirit. The mud of years was baked upon its door, and +no faces looked out of its dusty windows. + +"How then could she be the most celebrated beauty of Prague? How then +was it that Heinrich Hoellenrachen knew her the moment he saw her? +Above all, how was it that Karl Wolkenlicht had, in fact, fallen in +love with her before ever he saw her? It was thus-- + +"Her father was a painter. Belonging thus to the public, it had taken +the liberty of re-naming him. Every one called him Teufelsbuerst, or +Devilsbrush. It was a name with which, to judge from the nature of his +representations, he could hardly fail to be pleased. For, not as a +nightmare dream, which may alternate with the loveliest visions, but as +his ordinary everyday work, he delighted to represent human suffering. + +"Not an aspect of human woe or torture, as expressed in countenance or +limb, came before his willing imagination, but he bore it straightway +to his easel. In the moments that precede sleep, when the black space +before the eyes of the poet teems with lovely faces, or dawns into a +spirit-landscape, face after face of suffering, in all varieties of +expression, would crowd, as if compelled by the accompanying fiends, to +present themselves, in awful levee, before the inner eye of the +expectant master. Then he would rise, light his lamp, and, with rapid +hand, make notes of his visions; recording, with swift successive +sweeps of his pencil, every individual face which had rejoiced his evil +fancy. Then he would return to his couch, and, well satisfied, fall +asleep to dream yet further embodiments of human ill. + +"What wrong could man or mankind have done him, to be thus fearfully +pursued by the vengeance of the artist's hate? + +"Another characteristic of the faces and form which he drew was, that +they were all beautiful in the original idea. The lines of each face, +however distorted by pain, would have been, in rest, absolutely +beautiful; and the whole of the execution bore witness to the fact that +upon this original beauty the painter had directed the artillery of +anguish to bring down the sky-soaring heights of its divinity to the +level of a hated existence. To do this, he worked in perfect accordance +with artistic law, falsifying no line of the original forms. It was the +suffering, rather than his pencil, that wrought the change. The latter +was the willing instrument to record what the imagination conceived +with a cruelty composed enough to be correct. + +"To enhance the beauty he had thus distorted, and so to enhance yet +further the suffering that produced the distortion, he would often +represent attendant demons, whom he made as ugly as his imagination +could compass; avoiding, however, all grotesqueness beyond what was +sufficient to indicate that they were demons, and not men. Their +ugliness rose from hate, envy, and all evil passions; amongst which he +especially delighted to represent a gloating exultation over human +distress. And often in the midst of his clouds of demon faces, would +some one who knew him recognise the painter's own likeness, such as the +mirror might have presented it to him when he was busiest over the +incarnation of some exquisite torture. + +"But apparently with the wish to avoid being supposed to choose such +representations for their own sakes, he always found a story, often in +the histories of the church, whose name he gave to the painting, and +which he pretended to have inspired the pictorial conception. No one, +however, who looked upon his suffering martyrs, could suppose for a +moment that he honoured their martyrdom. They were but the vehicles for +his hate of humanity. He was the torturer, and not Diocletian or Nero. + +"But, stranger yet to tell, there was no picture, whatever its subject, +into which he did not introduce one form of placid and harmonious +loveliness. In this, however, his fierceness was only more fully +displayed. For in no case did this form manifest any relation either to +the actors or the endurers in the picture. Hence its very loveliness +became almost hateful to those who beheld it. Not a shade crossed the +still sky of that brow, not a ripple disturbed the still sea of that +cheek. She did not hate, she did not love the sufferers: the painter +would not have her hate, for that would be to the injury of her +loveliness: would not have her love, for he hated. Sometimes she +floated above, as a still, unobservant angel, her gaze turned upward, +dreaming along, careless as a white summer cloud, across the blue. If +she looked down on the scene below, it was only that the beholder might +see that she saw and did not care--that not a feather of her outspread +pinions would quiver at the sight. Sometimes she would stand in the +crowd, as if she had been copied there from another picture, and had +nothing to do with this one, nor any right to be in it at all. Or when +the red blood was trickling drop by drop from the crushed limb, she +might be seen standing nearest, smiling over a primrose or the bloom on +a peach. Some had said that she was the painter's wife; that she had +been false to him; that he had killed her; and, finding that that was +no sufficing revenge, thus half in love, and half in deepest hate, +immortalized his vengeance. But it was now universally understood that +it was his daughter, of whose loveliness extravagant reports went +abroad; though all said, doubtless reading this from her father's +pictures, that she was a beauty without a heart. Strange theories of +something else supplying its place were rife among the anatomical +students. With the girl in the pictures, the wild imagination of +Lottchen, probably in part from her apparently absolute +unattainableness and her undisputed heartlessness, had fallen in love, +as far as the mere imagination can fall in love. + +"But again, how was he to see her? He haunted the house night after +night. Those blue eyes never met his. No step responsive to his came +from that door. It seemed to have been so long unopened that it had +grown as fixed and hard as the stones that held its bolts in their +passive clasp. He dared not watch in the daytime, and with all his +watching at night, he never saw father or daughter or domestic cross +the threshold. Little he thought that, from a shot-window near the +door, a pair of blue eyes, like Lilith's, but paler and colder, were +watching him just as a spider watches the fly that is likely ere long +to fall into his toils. And into those toils Karl soon fell. For her +form darkened the page; her form stood on the threshold of sleep; and +when, overcome with watching, he did enter its precincts, her form +entered with him, and walked by his side. He must find her; or the +world might go to the bottomless pit for him. But how? + +"Yes. He would be a painter. Teufelsbuerst would receive him as a +humble apprentice. He would grind his colours, and Teufelsbuerst would +teach him the mysteries of the science which is the handmaiden of art. +Then he might see _her_, and that was all his ambition. + +"In the clear morning light of a day in autumn, when the leaves were +beginning to fall seared from the hand of that Death which has his +dance in the chapels of nature as well as in the cathedral aisles of +men--he walked up and knocked at the dingy door. The spider painter +opened it himself. He was a little man, meagre and pallid, with those +faded blue eyes, a low nose in three distinct divisions, and thin, +curveless, cruel lips. He wore no hair on his face; but long grey +locks, long as a woman's, were scattered over his shoulders, and hung +down on his breast. When Wolkenlicht had explained his errand, he +smiled a smile in which hypocrisy could not hide the cunning, and, +after many difficulties, consented to receive him as a pupil, on +condition that he would become an inmate of his house. Wolkenlicht's +heart bounded with delight, which he tried to hide: the second smile of +Teufelsbuerst might have shown him that he had ill succeeded. The fact +that he was not a native of Prague, but coming from a distant part of +the country, was entirely his own master in the city, rendered this +condition perfectly easy to fulfil; and that very afternoon he entered +the studio of Teufelsbuerst as his scholar and servant. + +"It was a great room, filled with the appliances and results of art. +Many pictures, festooned with cobwebs, were hung carelessly on the +dirty walls. Others, half finished, leaned against them, on the floor. +Several, in different stages of progress, stood upon easels. But all +spoke the cruel bent of the artist's genius. In one corner a lay figure +was extended on a couch, covered with a pall of black velvet. Through +its folds, the form beneath was easily discernible; and one hand and +forearm protruded from beneath it, at right angles to the rest of the +frame. Lottchen could not help shuddering when he saw it. Although he +overcame the feeling in a moment, he felt a great repugnance to seating +himself with his back towards it, as the arrangement of an easel, at +which Teufelsbuerst wished him to draw, rendered necessary. He +contrived to edge himself round, so that when he lifted his eyes he +should see the figure, and be sure that it could not rise without his +being aware of it. But his master saw and understood his altered +position; and under some pretence about the light, compelled him to +resume the position in which he had placed him at first; after which he +sat watching, over the top of his picture, the expression of his +countenance as he tried to draw; reading in it the horrid fancy that +the figure under the pall had risen, and was stealthily approaching to +look over his shoulder. But Lottchen resisted the feeling, and, being +already no contemptible draughtsman, was soon interested enough to +forget it. And then, any moment _she_ might enter. + +"Now began a system of slow torture, for the chance of which the +painter had been long on the watch--especially since he had first seen +Karl lingering about the house. His opportunities of seeing physical +suffering were nearly enough even for the diseased necessities of his +art; but now he had one in his power, on whom, his own will fettering +him, he could try any experiments he pleased for the production of a +kind of suffering, in the observation of which he did not consider that +he had yet sufficient experience. He would hold the very heart of the +youth in his hand, and wring it and torture it to his own content. And +lest Karl should be strong enough to prevent those expressions of pain +for which he lay on the watch, he would make use of further means, +known to himself, and known to few besides. + +"All that day Karl saw nothing of Lilith; but he heard her voice +once--and that was enough for one day. The next, she was sitting to her +father the greater part of the day, and he could see her as often as he +dared glance up from his drawing. She had looked at him when she +entered, but had shown no sign of recognition; and all day long she +took no further notice of him. He hoped, at first, that this came of +the intelligence of love; but he soon began to doubt it. For he saw +that, with the holy shadow of sorrow, all that distinguished the +expression of her countenance from that which the painter so constantly +reproduced, had vanished likewise. It was the very face of the +unheeding angel whom, as often as he lifted his eyes higher than hers, +he saw on the wall above her, playing on a psaltery in the smoke of the +torment ascending for ever from burning Babylon.--The power of the +painter had not merely wrought for the representation of the woman of +his imagination; it had had scope as well in realizing her. + +"Karl soon began to see that communication, other than of the eyes, was +all but hopeless; and to any attempt in that way she seemed altogether +indisposed to respond. Nor if she had wished it, would it have been +safe; for as often as he glanced towards her, instead of hers, he met +the blue eyes of the painter gleaming upon him like winter lightning. +His tones, his gestures, his words, seemed kind: his glance and his +smile refused to be disguised. + +"The first day he dined alone in the studio, waited upon by an old +woman; the next he was admitted to the family table, with Teufelsbuerst +and Lilith. The room offered a strange contrast to the study. As far as +handicraft, directed by a sumptuous taste, could construct a +house-paradise, this was one. But it seemed rather a paradise of +demons; for the walls were covered with Teufelsbuerst's paintings. +During the dinner, Lilith's gaze scarcely met that of Wolkenlicht; and +once or twice, when their eyes did meet, her glance was so perfectly +unconcerned, that Karl wished he might look at her for ever without the +fear of her looking at him again. She seemed like one whose love had +rushed out glowing with seraphic fire, to be frozen to death in a more +than wintry cold: she now walked lonely without her love. In the +evenings, he was expected to continue his drawing by lamplight; and at +night he was conducted by Teufelsbuerst to his chamber. Not once did he +allow him to proceed thither alone, and not once did he leave him there +without locking and bolting the door on the outside. But he felt +nothing except the coldness of Lilith. + +"Day after day she sat to her father, in every variety of costume that +could best show the variety of her beauty. How much greater that beauty +might be, if it ever blossomed into a beauty of soul, Wolkenlicht never +imagined; for he soon loved her enough to attribute to her all the +possibilities of her face as actual possessions of her being. To +account for everything that seemed to contradict this perfection, his +brain was prolific in inventions; till he was compelled at last to see +that she was in the condition of a rose-bud, which, on the point of +blossoming, had been chilled into a changeless bud by the cold of an +untimely frost. For one day, after the father and daughter had become a +little more accustomed to his silent presence, a conversation began +between them, which went on until he saw that Teufelsbuerst believed in +nothing except his art. How much of his feeling for that could be +dignified by the name of belief, seeing its objects were such as they +were, might have been questioned. It seemed to Wolkenlicht to amount +only to this: that, amidst a thousand distastes, it was a pleasant +thing to reproduce on the canvas the forms he beheld around him, +modifying them to express the prevailing feelings of his own mind. + +"A more desolate communication between souls than that which then +passed between father and daughter could hardly be imagined. The father +spoke of humanity and all its experiences in a tone of the bitterest +scorn. He despised men, and himself amongst them; and rejoiced to think +that the generations rose and vanished, brood after brood, as the crops +of corn grew and disappeared. Lilith, who listened to it all unmoved, +taking only an intellectual interest in the question, remarked that +even the corn had more life than that; for, after its death, it rose +again in the new crop. Whether she meant that the corn was therefore +superior to man, forgetting that the superior can produce being without +losing its own, or only advanced an objection to her father's argument, +Wolkenlicht could not tell. But Teufelsbuerst laughed like the sound of +a saw, and said: 'Follow out the analogy, my Lilith, and you will see +that man is like the corn that springs again after it is buried; but +unfortunately the only result we know of is a vampire.' + +"Wolkenlicht looked up, and saw a shudder pass through the frame, and +over the pale thin face of the painter. This he could not account for. +But Teufelsbuerst could have explained it, for there were strange +whispers abroad, and they had reached his ear; and his philosophy was +not quite enough for them. But the laugh with which Lilith met this +frightful attempt at wit, grated dreadfully on Wolkenlicht's feeling. +With her, too, however, a reaction seemed to follow. For, turning round +a moment after, and looking at the picture on which her father was +working, the tears rose in her eyes, and she said: 'Oh! father, how +like my mother you have made me this time!' 'Child!' retorted the +painter with a cold fierceness, 'you have no mother. That which is gone +out is gone out. Put no name in my hearing on that which is not. Where +no substance is, how can there be a name?' + +"Lilith rose and left the room. Wolkenlicht now understood that Lilith +was a frozen bud, and could not blossom into a rose. But pure love +lives by faith. It loves the vaguely beheld and unrealized ideal. It +dares believe that the loved is not all that she ever seemed. It is in +virtue of this that love loves on. And it was in virtue of this, that +Wolkenlicht loved Lilith yet more after he discovered what a grave of +misery her unbelief was digging for her within her own soul. For her +sake he would bear anything--bear even with calmness the torments of +his own love; he would stay on, hoping and hoping.--The text, that we +know not what a day may bring forth, is just as true of good things as +of evil things; and out of Time's womb the facts must come. + +"But with the birth of this resolution to endure, his suffering abated; +his face grew more calm; his love, no less earnest, was less imperious; +and he did not look up so often from his work when Lilith was present. +The master could see that his pupil was more at ease, and that he was +making rapid progress in his art. This did not suit his designs, and he +would betake himself to his further schemes. + +"For this purpose he proceeded first to simulate a friendship for +Wolkenlicht, the manifestations of which he gradually increased, until, +after a day or two, he asked him to drink wine with him in the evening. +Karl readily agreed. The painter produced some of his best; but took +care not to allow Lilith to taste it; for he had cunningly prepared and +mingled with it a decoction of certain herbs and other ingredients, +exercising specific actions upon the brain, and tending to the +inordinate excitement of those portions of it which are principally +under the rule of the imagination. By the reaction of the brain during +the operation of these stimulants, the imagination is filled with +suggestions and images. The nature of these is determined by the +prevailing mood of the time. They are such as the imagination would +produce of itself, but increased in number and intensity. +Teufelsbuerst, without philosophizing about it, called his preparation +simply a love-philtre, a concoction well known by name, but the +composition of which was the secret of only a few. Wolkenlicht had, of +course, not the least suspicion of the treatment to which he was +subjected. + +"Teufelsbuerst was, however, doomed to fresh disappointment. Not that +his potion failed in the anticipated effect, for now Karl's real +sufferings began; but that such was the strength of Karl's will, and +his fear of doing anything that might give a pretext for banishing him +from the presence of Lilith, that he was able to conceal his feelings +far too successfully for the satisfaction of Teufelsbuerst's art. Yet +he had to fetter himself with all the restraints that self-exhortation +could load him with, to refrain from falling at the feet of Lilith and +kissing the hem of her garment. For that, as the lowliest part of all +that surrounded her, itself kissing the earth, seemed to come nearest +within the reach of his ambition, and therefore to draw him the most. + +"No doubt the painter had experience and penetration enough to perceive +that he was suffering intensely; but he wanted to see the suffering +embodied in outward signs, bringing it within the region over which his +pencil held sway. He kept on, therefore, trying one thing after +another, and rousing the poor youth to agony; till to his other +sufferings were added, at length, those of failing health; a fact which +notified itself evidently enough even for Teufelsbuerst, though its +signs were not of the sort he chiefly desired. But Karl endured all +bravely. + +"Meantime, for various reasons, he scarcely ever left the house. + +"I must now interrupt the course of my story to introduce another +element. + +"A few years before the period of my tale, a certain shoemaker of the +city had died under circumstances more than suggestive of suicide. He +was buried, however, with such precautions, that six weeks elapsed +before the rumour of the facts broke out; upon which rumour, not +before, the most fearful reports began to be circulated, supported by +what seemed to the people of Prague incontestable evidence.--A +_spectrum_ of the deceased appeared to multitudes of persons, playing +horrible pranks, and occasioning indescribable consternation throughout +the whole town. This went on till at last, about eight months after his +burial, the magistrates caused his body to be dug up; when it was found +in just the condition of the bodies of those who in the eastern +countries of Europe are called _vampires_. They buried the corpse under +the gallows; but neither the digging up nor the re-burying were of +avail to banish the spectre. Again the spade and pick-axe were set to +work, and the dead man being found considerably improved in _condition_ +since his last interment, was, with various horrible indignities, burnt +to ashes, 'after which the _spectrum_ was never seen more.' + +"And a second epidemic of the same nature had broken out a little +before the period to which I have brought my story. + +"About midnight, after a calm frosty day, for it was now winter, a +terrible storm of wind and snow came on. The tempest howled frightfully +about the house of the painter, and Wolkenlicht found some solace in +listening to the uproar, for his troubled thoughts would not allow him +to sleep. It raged on all the next three days, till about noon on the +fourth day, when it suddenly fell, and all was calm. The following +night, Wolkenlicht, lying awake, heard unaccountable noises in the next +house, as of things thrown about, of kicking and fighting horses, and +of opening and shutting gates. Flinging wide his lattice and looking +out, the noise of howling dogs came to him from every quarter of the +town. The moon was bright and the air was still. In a little while he +heard the sounds of a horse going at full gallop round the house, so +that it shook as if it would fall; and flashes of light shone into his +room. How much of this may have been owing to the effect of the drugs +on poor Lottchen's brain, I leave my readers to determine. But when the +family met at breakfast in the morning, Teufelsbuerst, who had been +already out of doors, reported that he had found the marks of strange +feet in the snow, all about the house and through the garden at the +back; stating, as his belief, that the tracks must be continued over +the roofs, for there was no passage otherwise. There was a wicked gleam +in his eye as he spoke; and Lilith believed that he was only trying an +experiment on Karl's nerves. He persisted that he had never seen any +footprints of the sort before. Karl informed him of his experiences +during the night; upon which Teufelsbuerst looked a little graver +still, and proceeded to tell them that the storm, whose snow was still +covering the ground, had arisen the very moment that their next door +neighbour died, and had ceased as suddenly the moment he was buried, +though it had raved furiously all the time of the funeral, so that 'it +made men's bodies quake and their teeth chatter in their heads.' Karl +had heard that the man, whose name was John Kuntz, was dead and buried. +He knew that he had been a very wealthy, and therefore most +respectable, alderman of the town; that he had been very fond of +horses; and that he had died in consequence of a kick received from one +of his own, as he was looking at his hoof. But he had not heard that, +just before he died, a black cat 'opened the casement with her nails, +ran to his bed, and violently scratched his face and the bolster, as if +she endeavoured by force to remove him out of the place where he lay. +But the cat afterwards was suddenly gone, and she was no sooner gone, +but he breathed his last.' + +"So said Teufelsbuerst, as the reporter of the town talk. Lilith looked +very pale and terrified; and it was perhaps owing to this that the +painter brought no more tales home with him. There were plenty to +bring, but he heard them all and said nothing. The fact was that the +philosopher himself could not resist the infection of the fear that was +literally raging in the city; and perhaps the reports that he himself +had sold himself to the devil had sufficient response from his own evil +conscience to add to the influence of the epidemic upon him. The whole +place was infested with the presence of the dead Kuntz, till scarce a +man or woman would dare to be alone. He strangled old men; insulted +women; squeezed children to death; knocked out the brains of dogs +against the ground; pulled up posts; turned milk into blood; nearly +killed a worthy clergyman by breathing upon him the intolerable airs of +the grave, cold and malignant and noisome; and, in short, filled the +city with a perfect madness of fear, so that every report was believed +without the smallest doubt or investigation. + +"Though Teufelsbuerst brought home no more of the town talk, the old +servant was a faithful purveyor, and frequented the news-mart +assiduously. Indeed she had some nightmare experiences of her own that +she was proud to add to the stock of horrors which the city enjoyed +with such a hearty community of goods. For those regions were not far +removed from the birthplace and home of the vampire. The belief in +vampires is the quintessential concentration and embodiment of all the +passion of fear in Hungary and the adjacent regions. Nor, of all the +other inventions of the human imagination, has there ever been one so +perfect in crawling terror as this. Lilith and Karl were quite familiar +with the popular ideas on the subject. It did not require to be +explained to them, that a vampire was a body retaining a kind of animal +life after the soul had departed. If any relation existed between it +and the vanished ghost, it was only sufficient to make it restless in +its grave. Possessed of vitality enough to keep it uncorrupted and +pliant, its only instinct was a blind hunger for the sole food which +could keep its awful life persistent--living human blood. Hence it, or, +if not it, a sort of semi-material exhalation or essence of it, +retaining its form and material relations, crept from its tomb, and +went roaming about till it found some one asleep, towards whom it had +an attraction, founded on old affection. It sucked the blood of this +unhappy being, transferring so much of its life to itself as a vampire +could assimilate. Death was the certain consequence. If suspicion +conjectured aright, and they opened the proper grave, the body of the +vampire would be found perfectly fresh and plump, sometimes indeed of +rather florid complexion;--with grown hair, eyes half open, and the +stains of recent blood about its greedy, leech-like lips. Nothing +remained but to consume the corpse to ashes, upon which the vampire +would show itself no more. But what added infinitely to the horror was +the certainty that whoever died from the mouth of the vampire, wrinkled +grandsire or delicate maiden, must in turn rise from the grave, and go +forth a vampire, to suck the blood of the dearest left behind. This was +the generation of the vampire brood. Lilith trembled at the very name +of the creature. Karl was too much in love to be afraid of anything. +Yet the evident fear of the unbelieving painter took a hold of his +imagination; and, under the influence of the potions of which he still +partook unwittingly, when he was not thinking about Lilith, he was +thinking about the vampire. + +"Meantime, the condition of things in the painter's household continued +much the same for Wolkenlicht--work all day; no communication between +the young people; the dinner and the wine; silent reading when work was +done, with stolen glances many over the top of the book, glances that +were never returned; the cold good-night; the locking of the door; the +wakeful night and the drowsy morning. But at length a change came, and +sooner than any of the party had expected. For, whether it was that the +impatience of Teufelsbuerst had urged him to yet more dangerous +experiments, or that the continuance of those he had been so long +employing had overcome at length the vitality of Wolkenlicht--one +afternoon, as he was sitting at his work, he suddenly dropped from his +chair, and his master hurrying to him in some alarm, found him rigid +and apparently lifeless. Lilith was not in the study when this took +place. In justice to Teufelsbuerst, it must be confessed that he +employed all the skill he was master of, which for beneficent purposes +was not very great, to restore the youth; but without avail. At last, +hearing the footsteps of Lilith, he desisted in some consternation; and +that she might escape being shocked by the sight of a dead body where +she had been accustomed to see a living one, he removed the lay figure +from the couch, and laid Karl in its place, covering him with a black +velvet pall. He was just in time. She started at seeing no one in +Karl's place and said: + +"'Where is your pupil, father?' + +"'Gone home,' he answered, with a kind of convulsive grin. + +"She glanced round the room, caught sight of the lay figure where it +had not been before, looked at the couch, and saw the pall yet heaved +up from beneath, opened her eyes till the entire white sweep around the +iris suggested a new expression of consternation to Teufelsbuerst, +though from a quarter whence he did not desire or look for it; and +then, without a word, sat down to a drawing she had been busy upon the +day before. But her father, glancing at her now, as Wolkenlicht had +used to do, could not help seeing that she was frightfully pale. She +showed no other sign of uneasiness. As soon as he released her, she +withdrew, with one more glance, as she passed, at the couch and the +figure blocked out in black upon it. She hastened to her chamber, shut +and locked the door, sat down on the side of the couch, and fell, not +a-weeping, but a-thinking. Was he dead? What did it matter? They would +all be dead soon. Her mother was dead already. It was only that the +earth could not bear more children, except she devoured those to whom +she had already given birth. But what if they had to come back in +another form, and live another sad, hopeless, loveless life over +again?--And so she went on questioning, and receiving no replies; while +through all her thoughts passed and repassed the eyes of Wolkenlicht, +which she had often felt to be upon her when she did not see them, wild +with repressed longing, the light of their love shining through the +veil of diffused tears, ever gathering and never overflowing. Then came +the pale face, so worshipping, so distant in its self-withdrawn +devotion, slowly dawning out of the vapours of her reverie. When it +vanished, she tried to see it again. It would not come when she called +it; but when her thoughts left knocking at the door of the lost, and +wandered away, out came the pale, troubled, silent face again, +gathering itself up from some unknown nook in her world of phantasy, +and once more, when she tried to steady it by the fixedness of her own +regard, fading back into the mist. So the phantasm of the dead drew +near and wooed, as the living had never dared.--What if there were any +good in loving? What if men and women did not die all out, but some dim +shade of each, like that pale, mind-ghost of Wolkenlicht, floated +through the eternal vapours of chaos? And what if they might sometimes +cross each other's path, meet, know that they met, love on? Would not +that revive the withered memory, fix the fleeting ghost, give a new +habitation, a body even, to the poor, unhoused wanderers, frozen by the +eternal frosts, no longer thinking beings, but thoughts wandering +through the brain of the 'Melancholy Mass?' Back with the thought came +the face of the dead Karl, and the maiden threw herself on her bed in a +flood of bitter tears. She could have loved him if he had only lived: +she did love him, for he was dead. But even in the midst of the remorse +that followed--for had she not killed him?--life seemed a less hard and +hopeless thing than before. For it is love itself and not its responses +or results that is the soul of life and its pleasures. + +"Two hours passed ere she could again show herself to her father, from +whom she seemed in some new way divided by the new feeling in which he +did not, and could not share. But at last, lest he should seek her, and +finding her, should suspect her thoughts, she descended and sought +him.--For there is a maidenliness in sorrow, that wraps her garments +close around her.--But he was not to be seen; the door of the study was +locked. A shudder passed through her as she thought of what her father, +who lost no opportunity of furthering his all but perfect acquaintance +with the human form and structure, might be about with the figure which +she knew lay dead beneath that velvet pall, but which had arisen to +haunt the hollow caves and cells of her living brain. She rushed away, +and up once more to her silent room, through the darkness which had now +settled down in the house; threw herself again on her bed, and lay +almost paralysed with horror and distress. + +"But Teufelsbuerst was not about anything so frightful as she supposed, +though something frightful enough. I have already implied that +Wolkenlicht was, in form, as fine an embodiment of youthful manhood as +any old Greek republic could have provided one of its sculptors with as +model for an Apollo. It is true, that to the eye of a Greek artist he +would not have been more acceptable in consequence of the regimen he +had been going through for the last few weeks; but the emaciation of +Wolkenlicht's frame, and the consequent prominence of the muscles, +indicating the pain he had gone through, were peculiarly attractive to +Teufelsbuerst.--He was busy preparing to take a cast of the body of his +dead pupil, that it might aid to the perfection of his future labours. + +"He was deep in the artistic enjoyment of a form, at the same time so +beautiful and strong, yet with the lines of suffering in every limb and +feature, when his daughter's hand was laid on the latch. He started, +flung the velvet drapery over the body, and went to the door. But +Lilith had vanished. He returned to his labours. The operation took a +long time, for he performed it very carefully. Towards midnight, he had +finished encasing the body in a close-clinging shell of plaster, which, +when broken off, and fitted together, would be the matrix to the form +of the dead Wolkenlicht. Before leaving it to harden till the morning, +he was just proceeding to strengthen it with an additional layer all +over, when a flash of lightning, reflected in all its dazzle from the +snow without, almost blinded him. A peal of long-drawn thunder +followed; the wind rose; and just such a storm came on as had risen +some time before at the death of Kuntz, whose spectre was still +tormenting the city. The gnomes of terror, deep hidden in the caverns +of Teufelsbuerst's nature, broke out jubilant. With trembling hands he +tried to cast the pall over the awful white chrysalis,--failed, and +fled to his chamber. And there lay the studio naked to the eyes of the +lightning, with its tortured forms throbbing out of the dark, and +quivering, as with life, in the almost continuous palpitations of the +light; while on the couch lay the motionless mass of whiteness, +gleaming blue in the lightning, almost more terrible in its crude +indications of the human form, than that which it enclosed. It lay +there as if dropped from some tree of chaos, haggard with the snows of +eternity--a huge misshapen nut, with a corpse for its kernel. + +"But the lightning would soon have revealed a more terrible sight +still, had there been any eyes to behold it. At midnight, while a peal +of thunder was just dying away in the distance, the crust of death flew +asunder, rending in all directions; and, pale as his investiture, +staring with ghastly eyes, the form of Karl started up sitting on the +couch. Had he not been far beyond ordinary men in strength, he could +not thus have rent his sepulchre. Indeed, had Teufelsbuerst been able +to finish his task by the additional layer of gypsum which he +contemplated, he must have died the moment life revived; although, so +long as the trance lasted, neither the exclusion from the air, nor the +practical solidification of the walls of his chest, could do him any +injury. He had lain unconscious throughout the operations of +Teufelsbuerst, but now the catalepsy had passed away, possibly under +the influence of the electric condition of the atmosphere. Very likely +the strength he now put forth was intensified by a convulsive reaction +of all the powers of life, as is not infrequently the case in sudden +awakenings from similar interruptions of vital activity. The coming to +himself and the bursting of his case were simultaneous. He sat staring +about him, with, of all his mental faculties, only his imagination +awake, from which the thoughts that occupied it when he fell senseless +had not yet faded. These thoughts had been compounded of feelings about +Lilith, and speculations about the vampire that haunted the +neighbourhood; and the fumes of the last drug of which he had partaken, +still hovering in his brain, combined with these thoughts and fancies +to generate the delusion that he had just broken from the embrace of +his coffin, and risen, the last-born of the vampire race. The sense of +unavoidable obligation to fulfil his doom, was yet mingled with a faint +flutter of joy, for he knew that he must go to Lilith. With a deep +sigh, he rose, gathered up the pall of black velvet, flung it around +him, stepped from the couch, and left the study to find her. + +"Meantime, Teufelsbuerst had sufficiently recovered to remember that he +had left the door of the studio unfastened, and that any one entering +would discover in what he had been engaged, which, in the case of his +getting into any difficulty about the death of Karl, would tell +powerfully against him. He was at the farther end of a long passage, +leading from the house to the studio, on his way to make all secure, +when Karl appeared at the door, and advanced towards him. The painter, +seized with invincible terror, turned and fled. He reached his room, +and fell senseless on the floor. The phantom held on its way, heedless. + +"Lilith, on gaining her room the second time, had thrown herself on her +bed as before, and had wept herself into a troubled slumber. She lay +dreaming--and dreadful dreams. Suddenly she awoke in one of those peals +of thunder which tormented the high regions of the air, as a storm +billows the surface of the ocean. She lay awake and listened. As it +died away, she thought she heard, mingling with its last muffled +murmurs, the sound of moaning. She turned her face towards the room in +keen terror. But she saw nothing. Another light, long-drawn sigh +reached her ear, and at the same moment a flash of lightning illumined +the room. In the corner farthest from her bed, she spied a white face, +nothing more. She was dumb and motionless with fear. Utter darkness +followed, a darkness that seemed to enter into her very brain. Yet she +felt that the face was slowly crossing the black gulf of the room, and +drawing near to where she lay. The next flash revealed, as it bended +over her, the ghastly face of Karl, down which flowed fresh tears. The +rest of his form was lost in blackness. Lilith did not faint, but it +was the very force of her fear that seemed to keep her alive. It became +for the moment the atmosphere of her life. She lay trembling and +staring at the spot in the darkness where she supposed the face of Karl +still to be. But the next flash showed her the face far off, looking at +her through the panes of her lattice-window. + +"For Lottchen, as soon as he saw Lilith, seemed to himself to go +through a second stage of awaking. Her face made him doubt whether he +could be a vampire after all; for instead of wanting to bite her arm +and suck the blood, he all but fell down at her feet in a passion of +speechless love. The next moment he became aware that his presence must +be at least very undesirable to her; and in an instant he had reached +her window, which he knew looked upon a lower roof that extended +between two different parts of the house, and before the next flash +came, he had stepped through the lattice and closed it behind him. + +"Believing his own room to be attainable from this quarter, he +proceeded along the roof in the direction he judged best. The cold +winter air by degrees restored him entirely to his right mind, and he +soon comprehended the whole of the circumstances in which he found +himself. Peeping through a window he was passing, to see whether it +belonged to his room, he spied Teufelsbuerst, who, at the very moment, +was lifting his head from the faint into which he had fallen at the +first sight of Lottchen. The moon was shining clear, and in its light +the painter saw, to his horror, the pale face staring in at his window. +He thought it had been there ever since he had fainted, and dropped +again in a deeper swoon than before. Karl saw him fall, and the truth +flashed upon him that the wicked artist took him for what he had +believed himself to be when first he recovered from his trance--namely, +the vampire of the former Karl Wolkenlicht. The moment he comprehended +it, he resolved to keep up the delusion if possible. Meantime he was +innocently preparing a new ingredient for the popular dish of horrors +to be served at the ordinary of the city the next day. For the old +servant's were not the only eyes that had seen him besides those of +Teufelsbuerst. What could be more like a vampire, dragging his pall +after him, than this apparition of poor, half-frozen Lottchen, crawling +across the roof? Karl remembered afterwards that he had heard the dogs +howling awfully in every direction, as he crept along; but this was +hardly necessary to make those who saw him conclude that it was the +same phantasm of John Kuntz, which had been infesting the whole city, +and especially the house next door to the painter's, which had been the +dwelling of the respectable alderman who had degenerated into this most +disreputable of moneyless vagabonds. What added to the consternation of +all who heard of it, was the sickening conviction that the extreme +measures which they had resorted to in order to free the city from the +ghoul, beyond which nothing could be done, had been utterly unavailing, +successful as they had proved in every other known case of the kind. +For, urged as well by various horrid signs about his grave, which not +even its close proximity to the altar could render a place of repose, +they had opened it, had found in the body every peculiarity belonging +to a vampire, had pulled it out with the greatest difficulty on account +of a quite supernatural ponderosity; which rendered the horse which had +killed him--a strong animal--all but unable to drag it along, and had +at last, after cutting it in pieces, and expending on the fire two +hundred and sixteen great billets, succeeded in conquering its +incombustibleness, and reducing it to ashes. Such, at least, was the +story which had reached the painter's household, and was believed by +many; and if all this did not compel the perturbed corpse to rest, what +more could be done? + +"When Karl had reached his room, and was dressing himself, the thought +struck him that something might be made of the report of the extreme +weight of the body of old Kuntz, to favour the continuance of the +delusion of Teufelsbuerst, although he hardly knew yet to what use he +could turn this delusion. He was convinced that he would have made no +progress however long he might have remained in his house; and that he +would have more chance of favour with Lilith if he were to meet her in +any other circumstances whatever than those in which he invariably saw +her--namely, surrounded by her father's influences, and watched by her +father's cold blue eyes. + +"As soon as he was dressed, he crept down to the studio, which was now +quiet enough, the storm being over, and the moon filling it with her +steady shine. In the corner lay in all directions the fragments of the +mould which his own body had formed and filled. The bag of plaster and +the bucket of water which the painter had been using stood beside. +Lottchen gathered all the pieces together, and then making his way to +an outhouse where he had seen various odds and ends of rubbish lying, +chose from the heap as many pieces of old iron and other metal as he +could find. To these he added a few large stones from the garden. When +he had got all into the studio, he locked the door, and proceeded to +fit together the parts of the mould, filling up the hollow as he went +on with the heaviest things he could get into it, and solidifying the +whole by pouring in plaster; till, having at length completed it, and +obliterated, as much as possible, the marks of joining, he left it to +harden, with the conviction that now it would make a considerable +impression on Teufelsbuerst's imagination, as well as on his muscular +sense. He then left everything else as nearly undisturbed as he could; +and, knowing all the ways of the house, was soon in the street, without +leaving any signs of his exit. + +"Karl soon found himself before the house in which his friend +Hoellenrachen resided. Knowing his studious habits, he had hoped to see +his light still burning, nor was he disappointed. He contrived to bring +him to his window, and a moment after, the door was cautiously opened. + +"'Why, Lottchen, where do you come from?' + +"'From the grave, Heinrich, or next door to it.' + +"'Come in, and tell me all about it. We thought the old painter had +made a model of you, and tortured you to death.' + +"'Perhaps you were not far wrong. But get me a horn of ale, for even a +vampire is thirsty, you know.' + +"'A vampire!' exclaimed Heinrich, retreating a pace, and involuntarily +putting himself upon his guard. + +"Karl laughed. + +"'My hand was warm, was it not, old fellow?' he said. Vampires are +cold, all but the blood.' + +"'What a fool I am!' rejoined Heinrich. 'But you know we have been +hearing such horrors lately that a fellow may be excused for shuddering +a little when a pale-faced apparition tells him at two o'clock in the +morning that he is a vampire, and thirsty, too.' + +"Karl told him the whole story; and the mental process of regarding it +for the sake of telling it, revealed to him pretty clearly some of the +treatment of which he had been unconscious at the time. Heinrich was +quite sure that his suspicions were correct. And now the question was, +what was to be done next? + +"'At all events,' said Heinrich, 'we must keep you out of the way for +some time. I will represent to my landlady that you are in hiding from +enemies, and her heart will rule her tongue. She can let you have a +garret-room, I know; and I will do as well as I can to bear you +company. We shall have time then to invent some plan of operation.' + +"To this proposal Karl agreed with hearty thanks, and soon all was +arranged. The only conclusion they could yet arrive at was, that +somehow or other the old demon-painter must be tamed. + +"Meantime, how fared it with Lilith? She too had no doubt that she had +seen the body-ghost of poor Karl, and that the vampire had, according +to rule, paid her the first visit because he loved her best. This was +horrible enough if the vampire were not really the person he +represented; but if in any sense it were Karl himself, at least it gave +some expectation of a more prolonged existence than her father had +taught her to look for; and if love anything like her mother's still +lasted, even along with the habits of a vampire, there was something to +hope for in the future. And then, though he had visited her, he had +not, as far as she was aware, deprived her of a drop of blood. She +could not be certain that he had not bitten her, for she had been in +such a strange condition of mind that she might not have felt it, but +she believed that he had restrained the impulses of his vampire nature, +and had left her, lest he should yet yield to them. She fell fast +asleep; and, when morning came, there was not, as far as she could +judge, one of those triangular leech-like perforations to be found upon +her whole body. Will it be believed that the moment she was satisfied +of this, she was seized by a terrible jealousy, lest Karl should have +gone and bitten some one else? Most people will wonder that she should +not have gone out of her senses at once; but there was all the +difference between a visit from a real vampire and a visit from a man +she had begun to love, even although she took him for a vampire. All +the difference does _not_ lie in a name. They were very different +causes, and the effects must be very different. + +"When Teufelsbuerst came down in the morning, he crept into the studio +like a murderer. There lay the awful white block, seeming to his eyes +just the same as he had left it. What was to be done with it? He dared +not open it. Mould and model must go together. But whither? If inquiry +should be made after Wolkenlicht, and this were discovered anywhere on +his premises, would it not be enough to bring him at once to the +gallows? Therefore it would be dangerous to bury it in the garden, or +in the cellar. + +"'Besides,' thought he, with a shudder, 'that would be to fix the +vampire as a guest for ever.'--And the horrors of the past night rushed +back upon his imagination with renewed intensity. What would it be to +have the dead Karl crawling about his house for ever, now inside, now +out, now sitting on the stairs, now staring in at the windows? + +"He would have dragged it to the bottom of his garden, past which the +Moldau flowed, and plunged it into the stream; but then, should the +spectre continue to prove troublesome, it would be almost impossible to +reach the body so as to destroy it by fire; besides which, he could not +do it without assistance, and the probability of discovery. If, +however, the apparition should turn out to be no vampire, but only a +respectable ghost, they might manage to endure its presence, till it +should be weary of haunting them. + +"He resolved at last to convey the body for the meantime into a +concealed cellar in the house, seeing something must be done before his +daughter came down. Proceeding to remove it, his consternation as +greatly increased when he discovered how the body had grown in weight +since he had thus disposed of it, leaving on his mind scarcely a hope +that it could turn out not to be a vampire after all. He could scarcely +stir it, and there was but one whom he could call to his +assistance--the old woman who acted as his housekeeper and servant. + +"He went to her room, roused her, and told her the whole story. Devoted +to her master for many years, and not quite so sensitive to fearful +influences as when less experienced in horrors, she showed immediate +readiness to render him assistance. Utterly unable, however, to lift +the mass between them, they could only drag and push it along; and such +a slow toil was it that there was no time to remove the traces of its +track, before Lilith came down and saw a broad white line leading from +the door of the studio down the cellar-stairs. She knew in a moment +what it meant; but not a word was uttered about the matter, and the +name of Karl Wolkenlicht seemed to be entirely forgotten. + +"But how could the affairs of a house go on all the same when every one +of the household knew that a dead body lay in the cellar?--nay more, +that, although it lay still and dead enough all day, it would come half +alive at nightfall, and, turning the whole house into a sepulchre by +its presence, go creeping about like a cat all over it in the +dark--perhaps with phosphorescent eyes? So it was not surprising that +the painter abandoned his studio early, and that the three found +themselves together in the gorgeous room formerly described, as soon as +twilight began to fall. + +"Already Teufelsbuerst had begun to experience a kind of shrinking from +the horrid faces in his own pictures, and to feel disgusted at the +abortions of his own mind. But all that he and the old woman now felt +was an increasing fear as the night drew on, a kind of sickening and +paralysing terror. The thing down there would not lie quiet--at least +its phantom in the cellars of their imagination would not. As much as +possible, however, they avoided alarming Lilith, who, knowing all they +knew, was as silent as they. But her mind was in a strange state of +excitement, partly from the presence of a new sense of love, the +pleasure of which all the atmosphere of grief into which it grew could +not totally quench. It comforted her somehow, as a child may comfort +when his father is away. + +"Bedtime came, and no one made a move to go. Without a word spoken on +the subject, the three remained together all night; the elders nodding +and slumbering occasionally, and Lilith getting some share of repose on +a couch. All night the shape of death might be somewhere about the +house; but it did not disturb them. They heard no sound, saw no sight; +and when the morning dawned, they separated, chilled and stupid, and +for the time beyond fear, to seek repose in their private chambers. +There they remained equally undisturbed. + +"But when the painter approached his easel a few hours after, looking +more pale and haggard still than he was wont, from the fears of the +night, a new bewilderment took possession of him. He had been busy with +a fresh embodiment of his favourite subject, into which he had sketched +the form of the student as the sufferer. He had represented poor +Wolkenlicht as just beginning to recover from a trance, while a group +of surgeons, unaware of the signs of returning life, were absorbed in a +minute dissection of one of the limbs. At an open door he had painted +Lilith passing, with her face buried in a bunch of sweet peas. But when +he came to the picture, he found, to his astonishment and terror, that +the face of one of the group was now turned towards that of the victim, +regarding his revival with demoniac satisfaction, and taking pains to +prevent the others from discovering it. The face of this prince of +torturers was that of Teufelsbuerst himself. Lilith had altogether +vanished, and in her place stood the dim vampire reiteration of the +body that lay extended on the table, staring greedily at the assembled +company. With trembling hands the painter removed the picture from the +easel, and turned its face to the wall. + +"Of course this was the work of Lottchen. When he left the house, he +took with him the key of a small private door, which was so seldom used +that, while it remained closed, the key would not be missed, perhaps +for many months. Watching the windows, he had chosen a safe time to +enter, and had been hard at work all night on these alterations. +Teufelsbuerst attributed them to the vampire, and left the picture as +he found it, not daring to put brush to it again. + +"The next night was passed much after the same fashion. But the fear +had begun to die away a little in the hearts of the women, who did not +know what had taken place in the studio on the previous night. It +burrowed, however, with gathered force in the vitals of Teufelsbuerst. +But this night likewise passed in peace; and before it was over, the +old woman had taken to speculating in her own mind as to the best way +of disposing of the body, seeing it was not at all likely to be +troublesome. But when the painter entered his studio in trepidation the +next morning, he found that the form of the lovely Lilith was painted +out of every picture in the room. This could not be concealed; and +Lilith and the servant became aware that the studio was the portion of +the house in haunting which the vampire left the rest in peace. + +"Karl recounted all the tricks he had played to his friend Heinrich, +who begged to be allowed to bear him company the following night. To +this Karl consented, thinking it would be considerably more agreeable +to have a companion. So they took a couple of bottles of wine and some +provisions with them, and before midnight found themselves snug in the +studio. They sat very quiet for some time, for they knew that if they +were seen, two vampires would not be so terrible as one, and might +occasion discovery. But at length Heinrich could bear it no longer. "'I +say, Lottchen, let's go and look; for your dead body. What has the old +beggar done with it?' + +"'I think I know. Stop; let me peep out. All right! Come along.' + +"With a lamp in his hand, he led the way to the cellars, and after +searching about a little they discovered it. + +"'It looks horrid enough,' said Heinrich, 'but think a drop or two of +wine would brighten it up a little.' + +"So he took a bottle from his pocket, and after they had had a glass +apiece, he dropped a third in blots all over the plaster. Being red +wine, it had the effect Hoellenrachen desired. + +"'When they visit it next, they will know that the vampire can find the +food he prefers,' said he. + +"In a corner close by the plaster, they found the clothes Karl had worn. + +"'Hillo!' said Heinrich, 'we'll make something of this find.' + +"So he carried them with him to the studio. There he got hold of the +lay-figure. + +"'What are you about, Heinrich?' + +"'Going to make a scarecrow to keep the ravens off old Teufel's +pictures,' answered Heinrich, as he went on dressing the lay-figure in +Karl's clothes. He next seated the creature at an easel with its back +to the door, so that it should be the first thing the painter should +see when he entered. Karl meant to remove this before he went, for it +was too comical to fall in with the rest of his proceedings. But the +two sat down to their supper, and by the time they had finished the +wine, they thought they should like to go to bed. So they got up and +went home, and Karl forgot the lay-figure, leaving it in busy +motionlessness all night before the easel. + +"When Teufelsbuerst saw it, he turned and fled with a cry that brought +his daughter to his help. He rushed past her, able only to articulate: + +"The vampire! The vampire! Painting!' + +"Far more courageous than he, because her conscience was more peaceful, +Lilith passed on to the studio. She too recoiled a step or two when she +saw the figure; but with the sight of the back of Karl, as she supposed +it to be, came the longing to see the face that was on the other side. +So she crept round and round by the wall, as far off as she could. The +figure remained motionless. It was a strange kind of shock that she +experienced when she saw the face, disgusting from its inanity. The +absurdity next struck her; and with the absurdity flashed into her mind +the conviction that this was not the doing of a vampire; for of all +creatures under the moon, he could not be expected to be a humorist. A +wild hope sprang up in her mind that Karl was not dead. Of this she +soon resolved to make herself sure. + +"She closed the door of the studio; in the strength of her new hope +undressed the figure, put it in its place, concealed the garments--all +the work of a few minutes; and then, finding her father just recovering +from the worst of his fear, told him there was nothing in the studio +but what ought to be there, and persuaded him to go and see. He not +only saw no one, but found that no further liberties had been taken +with his pictures. Reassured, he soon persuaded himself that the +spectre in this case had been the offspring of his own terror-haunted +brain. But he had no spirit for painting now. He wandered about the +house, himself haunting it like a restless ghost. + +"When night came, Lilith retired to her own room. The waters of fear +had begun to subside in the house; but the painter and his old +attendant did not yet follow her example. + +"As soon, however, as the house was quite still, Lilith glided +noiselessly down the stairs, went into the studio, where as yet there +assuredly was no vampire, and concealed herself in a corner. + +"As it would not do for an earnest student like Heinrich to be away +from his work very often, he had not asked to accompany Lottchen this +time. And indeed Karl himself, a little anxious about the result of the +scarecrow, greatly preferred going alone. + +"While she was waiting for what might happen, the conviction grew upon +Lilith, as she reviewed all the past of the story, that these phenomena +were the work of the real Karl, and of no vampire. In a few moments she +was still more sure of this. Behind the screen where she had taken +refuge, hung one of the pictures out of which her portrait had been +painted the night before last. She had taken a lamp with her into the +studio, with the intention of extinguishing it the moment she heard any +sign of approach; but as the vampire lingered, she began to occupy +herself with examining the picture beside her. She had not looked at it +long, before she wetted the tip of her forefinger, and began to rub +away at the obliteration. Her suspicions were instantly confirmed: the +substance employed was only a gummy wash over the paint. The delight +she experienced at the discovery threw her into a mischievous humour. + +"'I will see,' she said to herself, 'whether I cannot match Karl +Wolkenlicht at this game.' + +"In a closet in the room hung a number of costumes, which Lilith had at +different times worn for her father. Among them was a large white +drapery, which she easily disposed as a shroud. With the help of some +chalk, she soon made herself ghastly enough, and then placing her lamp +on the floor behind the screen, and setting a chair over it, so that it +should throw no light in any direction, she waited once more for the +vampire. Nor had she much longer to wait. She soon heard a door move, +the sound of which she hardly knew, and then the studio door opened. +Her heart beat dreadfully, not with fear lest it should be a vampire +after all, but with hope that it was Karl. To see him once more was too +great joy. Would she not make up to him for all her coldness! But would +he care for her now? Perhaps he had been quite cured of his longing for +a hard heart like hers. She peeped. It was he sure enough, looking as +handsome as ever. He was holding his light to look at her last work, +and the expression of his face, even in regarding her handiwork, was +enough to let her know that he loved her still. If she had not seen +this, she dared not have shown herself from her hiding-place. Taking +the lamp in her hand, she got upon the chair, and looked over the +screen, letting the light shine from below upon her face. She then made +a slight noise to attract Karl's attention. He looked up, evidently +rather startled, and saw the face of Lilith in the air. He gave a +stifled cry threw himself on his knees with his arms stretched towards +her, and moaned-- + +"'I have killed her! I have killed her!' + +"Lilith descended, and approached him noiselessly. He did not move. She +came close to him and said-- + +"'Are you Karl Wolkenlicht?' + +"His lips moved, but no sound came. + +"'If you are a vampire, and I am a ghost,' she said--but a low happy +laugh alone concluded the sentence. + +"Karl sprang to his feet. Lilith's laugh changed into a burst of +sobbing and weeping, and in another moment the ghost was in the arms of +the vampire. + +"Lilith had no idea how far her father had wronged Karl, and though, +from thinking over the past, he had no doubt that the painter had +drugged him, he did not wish to pain her by imparting this conviction. +But Lilith was afraid of a reaction of rage and hatred in her father +after the terror was removed; and Karl saw that he might thus be +deprived of all further intercourse with Lilith, and all chance of +softening the old man's heart towards him; while Lilith would not hear +of forsaking him who had banished all the human race but herself. They +managed at length to agree upon a plan of operation. + +"The first thing they did was to go to the cellar where the plaster +mass lay, Karl carrying with him a great axe used for cleaving wood. +Lilith shuddered when she saw it, stained as it was with the wine +Heinrich had spilt over it, and almost believed herself the midnight +companion of a vampire after all, visiting with him the terrible corpse +in which he lived all day. But Karl soon reassured her; and a few good +blows of the axe revealed a very different core to that which +Teufelsbuerst supposed to be in it. Karl broke it into pieces, and with +Lilith's help, who insisted on carrying her share, the whole was soon +at the bottom of the Moldau and every trace of its ever having existed +removed. Before morning, too, the form of Lilith had dawned anew in +every picture. There was no time to restore to its former condition the +one Karl had first altered; for in it the changes were all that they +seemed; nor indeed was he capable of restoring it in the master's +style; but they put it quite out of the way, and hoped that sufficient +time might elapse before the painter thought of it again. + +"When they had done, and Lilith, for all his entreaties, would remain +with him no longer, Karl took his former clothes with him, and having +spent the rest of the night in his old room, dressed in them in the +morning. When Teufelsbuerst entered his studio next day, there sat +Karl, as if nothing had happened, finishing the drawing on which he had +been at work when the fit of insensibility came upon him. The painter +started, stared, rubbed his eyes, thought it was another spectral +illusion, and was on the point of yielding to his terror, when Karl +rose, and approached him with a smile. The healthy, sunshiny +countenance of Karl, let him be ghost or goblin, could not fail to +produce somewhat of a tranquilizing effect on Teufelsbuerst. He took +his offered hand mechanically, his countenance utterly vacant with +idiotic bewilderment. Karl said: + +"'I was not well, and thought it better to pay a visit to a friend for +a few days; but I shall soon make up for lost time, for I am all right +now.' + +"He sat down at once, taking no notice of his master's behaviour, and +went on with his drawing. Teufelsbuerst stood staring at him for some +minutes without moving, then suddenly turned and left the room. Karl +heard him hurrying down the cellar stairs. In a few moments he came up +again. Karl stole a glance at him. There he stood in the same spot, no +doubt more full of bewilderment than ever, but it was not possible that +his face should express more. At last he went to his easel, and sat +down with a long-drawn sigh as if of relief. But though he sat at his +easel, he painted none that day; and as often as Karl ventured a +glance, he saw him still staring at him. The discovery that his +pictures were restored to their former condition aided, no doubt, in +leading him to the same conclusion as the other facts, whatever that +conclusion might be--probably that he had been the sport of some evil +power, and had been for the greater part of a week utterly bewitched. +Lilith had taken care to instruct the old woman, with whom she was +all-powerful; and as neither of them showed the smallest traces of the +astonishment which seemed to be slowly vitrifying his own brain, he was +at last perfectly satisfied that things had been going on all right +everywhere but in his inner man; and in this conclusion he certainly +was not far wrong, in more senses than one. But when all was restored +again to the old routine, it became evident that the peculiar direction +of his art in which he had hitherto indulged had ceased to interest +him. The shock had acted chiefly upon that part of his mental being +which had been so absorbed. He would sit for hours without doing +anything, apparently plunged in meditation.--Several weeks elapsed +without any change, and both Lilith and Karl were getting dreadfully +anxious about him. Karl paid him every attention; and the old man, for +he now looked much older than before, submitted to receive his services +as well as those of Lilith. At length, one morning, he said in a slow +thoughtful tone: + +"'Karl Wolkenlicht, I should like to paint you.' + +"'Certainly, sir,' answered Karl, jumping up, 'where would you like me +to sit?' + +"So the ice of silence and inactivity was broken, and the painter drew +and painted; and the spring of his art flowed once more; and he made a +beautiful portrait of Karl--a portrait without evil or suffering. And +as soon as he had finished Karl, he began once more to paint Lilith; +and when he had painted her, he composed a picture for the very purpose +of introducing them together; and in this picture there was neither +ugliness nor torture, but human feeling and human hope instead. Then +Karl knew that he might speak to him of Lilith; and he spoke, and was +heard with a smile. But he did not dare to tell him the truth of the +vampire story till one day that Teufelsbuerst was lying on the floor of +a room in Karl's ancestral castle, half smothered in grandchildren; +when the only answer it drew from the old man was a kind of shuddering +laugh and the words--'Don't speak of it, Karl, my boy!'" + + * * * * * + +No one had interrupted Harry. His brother had put a shovelful of coals +on the fire, to keep up the flame; but not a word had been spoken. The +cold moon had shone in at the windows all the time, her light made yet +colder by the snowy sheen from the face of the earth; and any horror +that the story could generate had had full freedom to operate on the +minds of the listeners. + +"Well, I'm glad its over, for my part," said Mrs. Bloomfield. "It made +my flesh creep." + +"I do not see any good in founding a story upon a superstition. One +knows it is false, all the time," said Mrs. Cathcart. + +"But," said Harry, "all that I have related might have taken place; for +the story is not founded on the superstition itself, but on the belief +of the people of the time in the superstition. I have merely used this +belief to give the general tone to the story, and sometimes the +particular occasion for events in it, the vampire being a terrible fact +to those times." + +"You write," said the curate, "as if you quoted occasionally from some +authority." + +"The story of John Kuntz, as well as that of the shoemaker, is told by +Henry More in his _Antidote against Atheism_. He believed the whole +affair. His authority is Martin Weinrich, a Silesian doctor. I have +only taken the liberty of shifting the scene of the _post-mortem_ +exploits of Kuntz from a town of Silesia to Prague." + +"Well, Harry," said his sister-in-law, "if your object was to frighten +us, I confess that I for one was tolerably uncomfortable. But I don't +know that that is a very high aim in story-telling." + +"If that were all--certainly not," replied Harry, glancing towards +Adela, who had not spoken. Nor did she speak yet. But her expression +showed plainly enough that it was not the horror of the story that had +taken chief hold of her mind. Her face was full of suppressed light, +and she was evidently satisfied--or shall I call it _gratified_?--as +well as delighted with the tale. Something or other in it had touched +her not only deeply, but nearly. + +Nothing was said about another meeting--perhaps because, from Adela's +illness, the order had been interrupted, and the present had required a +special summons. + +The ladies had gone up stairs to put on their bonnets. I had crossed +into the library, which was on the same floor with the drawing-room, to +find out if I was right in supposing I had seen some volumes of Henry +More's works on the shelves--certainly the colonel could never have +bought them. Our host, the curate and the schoolmaster had followed me. +Harry had remained behind in the drawing-room. Thinking of something I +wanted to say to him before he went, I left the gentlemen looking over +the book-shelves, and went to cross again to the drawing-room. But when +I reached the door, there stood at the top of the stair, Adela and +Harry. She had evidently just said something warm about the story. I +could almost read what she had said still lingering on her face, which +was turned up a good deal to look into his, so near each other were +they standing. Hers had a rosy flush as of sunset over it, while his +glowed like the sun rising in a mist. Evidently the pleasures of giving +and receiving were in this case nearly equal. But they were not of long +duration; for the moment I appeared, they bade each other a hurried +good night, and parted. I, thinking it better to pretermit my speech to +Harry, retreated into the library, and was glad to think that no one +had seen that conference but myself. Such a conjunction of planets +prefigured, however, not merely warm spring weather, but sultry gloom, +and thunderous clouds to follow; and although I was delighted with my +astronomical observation, I could not help growing anxious about the +omen. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE CASTLE. + + +The next day, as I passed the school-house on my way to call on the +curate, I heard such an uproar that I stopped involuntarily to listen. +I soon satisfied myself that it was only the usual water-spout +occasioned on the ocean of boyhood by the vacuum of the master. As soon +as I entered the curate's study, there stood the missing master, hat in +hand. He had not sat down, and would not, hearing all the time, no +doubt, in his soul, the far confusion of his forsaken realm. He had but +that moment entered. + +"You come just in the right time, Smith," said the curate.--We had +already dropped unnecessary prefixes.--"Here is Mr. Bloomfield come to +ask us to spend a final evening with him and Mrs. Bloomfield. And in +the name of the whole company, I have taken upon me to assure him that +it will give us pleasure. Am I not right?" + +"Undoubtedly," I replied. "What evening have you fixed upon, Mr. +Bloomfield?" + +"This day week," he answered. "Shall I tell you why I put it off so +long?" + +"If you please." + +"I heard your brother, Mr. Armstrong, say that you were very fond of +parables. Now I have always had a leaning that way myself; and for +years I have had one in particular glimmering before my mental sight. +The ambition seized me, to write it out for one of our meetings, and so +submit it to your judgment; for, Mr. Armstrong, I am so delighted with +your sermons and opinions generally, that I long to let you know that I +am not only friendly, but capable of sympathizing with you. But it is +only in the rough yet, and I want to have plenty of time to act the +dutiful bear to my offspring, and lick it into thorough shape. So if +you will come this day week, Mrs. Bloomfield and I will be delighted to +entertain you in our humble fashion. But, bless me! the boys will be +all in a heap of confusion worse confounded before I get back to them. +I have no business to be away from them at this hour. Good morning, +gentlemen." + +And off ran the worthy Neptune, to quell, by the vision of his +returning head, the rebellious waves of boyish impulse. + +"That man will be a great comfort to you, Armstrong," I said. + +"I know he will. He is a far-seeing, and what is better, a far-feeling +man." + +"There is true wealth in him, it seems to me, although it may be of +narrow reach in expression," said I. + +"I think so, quite. He seems to me to be one of those who have never +grown robust because they have laboured in-doors instead of going out +to work in the open air. There is a shrinking delicacy about him when +with those whom he doesn't feel to be of his own kind, which makes him +show to a disadvantage. But you should see him amongst his boys to do +him justice." + +We were interrupted by the entrance of Mrs. Armstrong, who came, after +their simple fashion, to tell her husband that dinner was ready. I took +my leave. + +In the evening, Mrs. Bloomfield called to invite Adela and the colonel; +and the affair was settled for that day week. + +"You're much better, my dear, are you not?" said the worthy woman to my +niece. + +"Indeed I am, Mrs. Bloomfield. I could not have believed it possible +that I should be so much better in so short a time--and at this season +of the year too." + +"Mr. Armstrong is a very clever young man, I think; though I can't say +I quite relished that extraordinary story of his." + +"I suppose he is clever," replied Adela, something demurely as I +thought. "I must say I liked the story." + +"Ah, well! Young people, you know, Mr. Smith--But, bless me! I'm sure I +beg your pardon. I had forgotten you weren't a married man. Of course +you're one of the young people too, Mr. Smith." + +"I don't think there's much of youth to choose between you and me, Mrs. +Bloomfield," said I, "if I may venture to say so. But I fear I do +belong to the young people, if a liking for extravagant stories, so +long as they mean well, you know--is to be the test of the +classification. I fear I have a depraved taste, that way. I don't mean +in this particular instance, though, Adela." + +"I hope not," answered Adela, with a blushing smile, which I, at least, +could read, having had not merely the key to it, but the open door and +window as well, ever since I had seen the two standing together at the +top of the stair. + +That night the weather broke. A slow thaw set in; and before many days +were over, islands of green began to appear amid the "wan water" of the +snow--to use a phrase common in Scotch ballads, though with a different +application. The graves in the churchyard lifted up their green altars +of earth, as the first whereon to return thanks for the prophecy of +spring; which, surely, if it has force and truth anywhere, speaks +loudest to us in the churchyard. And on Sunday the sun broke out and +shone on the green hillocks, just as good old Mr. Venables was reading +the words, "I will not leave you comfortless--I will come to you." + +And the ice vanished from the river, and the dark stream flowed, +somewhat sullen, but yet glad at heart, on through the low meadows +bordered with pollards, which, poor things, maltreated and mutilated, +yet did the best they could, and went on growing wildly in all insane +shapes--pitifully mingling formality and grotesqueness. + +And the next day the hounds met at Castle Irksham. And that day Colonel +Cathcart would ride with them. + +For the good man had gathered spirit just as the light grew upon his +daughter's face. And he was merry like a boy now that the first breath +of spring--for so it seemed, although no doubt plenty of wintriness +remained and would yet show itself--had loosened the hard hold of the +frost, which is the death of Nature. The frost is hard upon old people; +and the spring is so much the more genial and blessed in its sweet +influences on them. Do we grow old that, in our weakness and loss of +physical self-assertion, we may learn the benignities of the +universe--only to be learned first through the feeling of their +want?--I do not envy the man who laughs the east wind to scorn. He can +never know the balmy power of its sister of the west, which is the +breath of the Lord, the symbol of the one _genial_ strength at the root +of all life, resurrection, and growth--commonly called the Spirit of +God.--Who has not seen, as the infirmities of age grow upon old men, +the haughty, self-reliant spirit that had neglected, if not despised +the gentle ministrations of love, grow as it were a little scared, and +begin to look about for some kindness; begin to return the warm +pressure of the hand, and to submit to be waited upon by the anxiety of +love? Not in weakness alone comes the second childhood upon men, but +often in childlikeness; for in old age as in nature, to quote the song +of the curate, + + Old Autumn's fingers + Paint in hues of Spring. + +The necessities of the old man prefigure and forerun the dawn of the +immortal childhood. For is not our necessity towards God our highest +blessedness--the fair cloud that hangs over the summit of existence? +Thank God, he has made his children so noble and high that they cannot +do without Him! I believe we are sent into this world just to find this +out. + +But to leave my reflections and return to my story--such as it is. The +colonel mounted me on an old horse of his, "whom," to quote from Sir +Philip Sidney's _Arcadia_, "though he was near twenty years old, he +preferred for a piece of sure service, before a great number of +younger." Now the piece of sure service, in the present instance, was +to take care of old John Smith, who was only a middling horseman, +though his friend, the colonel, would say that he rode pretty well for +a lad. The old horse, in fact, knew not only what he could do, but what +I could do, for our powers were about equal. He looked well about for +the gaps and the narrow places. From weakness in his forelegs, he had +become a capital buck-jumper, as I think Cathcart called him, always +alighting over a hedge on his hind legs, instead of his fore ones, +which was as much easier for John Smith as for Hop o' my Thumb--that +was the name of the old horse, he being sixteen hands, at least. But I +beg my reader's pardon for troubling him with all this about my horse, +for, assuredly, neither he nor I will perform any deed of prowess in +his presence. But I have the weakness of garrulity in regard to a +predilection from the indulgence of which circumstances have debarred +me. + +At nine o'clock my friend and I started upon hacks for the meet. Now, I +am not going to describe the "harrow and weal away!" with which the +soul of poor Reynard is hunted out of the world--if, indeed, such a +clever wretch can have a soul. I daresay--I hope, at least, that the +argument of the fox-hunter is analogically just, who, being +expostulated with on the cruelty of fox-hunting, replied--"Well, you +know, the hounds like it; and the horses like it; and there's no doubt +the men like it--and who knows whether the fox doesn't like it too?" +But I would not have introduced the subject except for the sake of what +my reader will find in the course of a page or two, and which assuredly +is not fox-hunting. + +We soon found. But just before, a sudden heavy noise, coming apparently +from a considerable distance, made one or two of the company say, with +passing curiosity: "What is that?" It was instantly forgotten, however, +as soon as the fox broke cover. He pointed towards Purley-bridge. We +had followed for some distance, circumstances permitting Hop o' my +Thumb to keep in the wake of his master, when the colonel, drawing +rein, allowed me--I ought to say _us_, for the old horse had quite as +much voice in the matter as I had--to come up with him. + +"The cunning old dog!" said he. "He has run straight for the deepest +cutting in the railway. They'll all be pounded presently! They don't +know this part so well as I do. I know every field and gate in it. I +used to go larking over it all when I was only a cub myself. Confound +it! I'm not up to much to-day. I suppose I'm getting old, you know; or +I'd strike off here at right angles to the left, and make for the +bridge at Crumple's Corner. I should lose the hounds though, I fear. I +wonder what his lordship will do." + +All the time my old friend was talking, we were following the rest of +the field, whom, sure enough, as soon as we got into the next +inclosure, we saw drawing up one after another on the top of the +railway cutting, which ran like the river of death between them and the +fox-hunter's paradise. But at the moment we entered this field, whom +should we see approaching us at right angles, from the direction of +Purleybridge, but Harry Armstrong, mounted on _the_ mare! I rode +towards him. + +"Trapped, you see," said I. "Are you after the fox--or some nobler +game?" + +"I was going my rounds," answered Harry, "when I caught sight of the +hounds. I have no very pressing case to day, so I turned a few yards +out of the road to see a bit of the sport. Confound these railways!" + +At the moment--and all this passed, as the story-teller is so often +compelled to remind his reader, in far less time than it takes to +tell--over the hedge on the opposite side from where Harry had entered +the field, blundered a country fellow, on a great, heavy, but spirited +horse, and ploughed his way up the soft furrow to where we stood. + +"Doctor!" he cried, half-breathless with haste and exertion--"Doctor!" + +"Well?" answered Henry, alert. + +"There's a awful accident at Grubblebon Quarry, sir. Powder blowed up. +Legs and arms! Good God! sir, make haste." + +"Well," said Harry, whose compressed lips alone gave sign of his being +ready for action, "ride to the town, and tell my housekeeper to give +you bandages and wadding and oil, and splints, and whatever she knows +to be needful. Are there many hurt?" + +"Half a dozen alive, sir." + +"Then you'd better let the other doctors know as well. And just tell my +man to saddle Jilter and take him to by brother, the curate. He had +better come out at once. Ride now." + +"I _will_, sir," said the man, and was over the hedge in another minute. + +But not before Harry was over the railway. For he rode gently towards +it, as if nothing particular was to be done, and chose as the best spot +one close to where several of the gentlemen stood, disputing for a +moment as to which was the best way to get across. Now on the top of +the cutting there was a rail, and between the rail and the edge of the +cutting a space of about four feet. Harry trotted his mare gently up to +the rail, and went over. Nor was the mutual confidence of mare and +master misplaced from either side. She lighted and stood stock still +within a foot of the slope, so powerful was she to stop herself. An +uproar of cries arose among the men. I heard the old soldier's voice +above them all. + +"Damn you, Armstrong, you fool!" he cried; "you'll break your neck, and +serve you right too!" + +I don't know a stronger proof that the classical hell has little hold +on the faith of the Saxons, than that good-hearted and true men will +not unfrequently damn their friends when they are most anxious to save +them. But before the words were half out of the colonel's mouth, Harry +was half-way down the cutting. He had gone straight at it like a cat, +and it was of course the only way. I had galloped to the edge after +him, and now saw him, or rather her, descending by a succession of +rebounds--not bounds--a succession, in fact, of short falls upon the +fore-legs, while Harry's head was nearly touching her rump. Arrived at +the bottom, she gave two bounds across the rails, and the same moment +was straining right up the opposite bank in a fierce agony of effort, +Harry hanging upon her neck. Now the mighty play of her magnificent +hind quarters came into operation. I could see, plainly enough across +the gulf, the alternate knotting and loosening of the thick muscles as, +step by step, she tore her way up the grassy slope. It was a terrible +trial of muscle and wind, and very few horses could have stood it. As +she neared the top, her pace grew slower and slower, and the exertion +more and more severe. If she had given in, she would have rolled to the +bottom, but nothing was less in her thoughts. Her master never spurred +or urged her, except it may have been by whispering in her ear, to +which his mouth was near enough: he knew she needed no excitement to +that effort. At length the final heave of her rump, as it came up to a +level with her withers, told the breathless spectators that the attempt +was a success, when a loud "Hurrah for the doctor and his mare!" burst +from their lips. The doctor, however, only waved his hand in +acknowledgment, for he had all to do yet. Fortunately there was space +enough between the edge and the fence on that side to allow of his +giving his mare a quarter of a circle of a gallop before bringing her +up to the rail, else in her fatigue she might have failed to top it. +Over she went and away, with her tail streaming out behind her, as if +she had done nothing worth thinking about, once it was done. One more +cheer for the doctor--but no one dared to follow him. They scattered in +different directions to find a less perilous crossing. I stuck by my +leader. + +"By Jove! Cathcart," said Lord Irksham, as they parted, "that doctor of +yours is a hero. He ought to have been bred a soldier." + +"He's better employed, my lord," bawled the old colonel; for they were +now a good many yards asunder, making for different points in the +hedge. From this answer, I hoped well for the doctor. At all events, +the colonel admired his manliness more than ever, and that was a great +thing. For me, I could hardly keep down the expression of an excitement +which I did not wish to show. It was a great relief to me when the +_hurrah!_ arose, and I could let myself off in that way. I told you, +kind reader, I was only an old boy. But, as the Arabs always give God +thanks when they see a beautiful woman, and quite right too! so, in my +heart, I praised God who had made a mare with such muscles, and a man +with such a heart. And I said to myself, "A fine muscle is a fine +thing; but the finest muscle of all, keeping the others going too, is +the heart itself. That is the true Christian muscle. And the real +muscular Christianity is that which pours in a life-giving torrent from +the devotion of the heart, receiving only that it may give." + +But I fancy I hear my reader saying, + +"Mr. Smith, you've forgotten the fox. What a sportsman you make!" + +Well, I had forgotten the fox. But then we didn't kill him or find +another that day. So you won't care for the rest of the run. + +I was tired enough by the time we got back to Purleybridge. I went +early to bed. + +The next morning, the colonel, the moment we met at the breakfast +table, said to me, + +"You did not hear, Smith, what that young rascal of a doctor said to +Lord Irksham last night?" + +"No, what was it?" + +"It seems they met again towards evening, and his lordship said to him: +'You hare-brained young devil!'--you know his lordship's rough way," +interposed the colonel, forgetting how roundly he had sworn at Harry +himself, "'by the time you're my age, you'll be more careful of the few +brains you'll have left.' To which expostulated Master Harry replied: +'If your lordship had been my age, and would have done it yourself to +kill a fox: when I am your lordship's age, I hope I shall have the +grace left to do as much to save a man.' Whereupon his lordship +rejoined, holding out his hand, 'By Jove! sir, you are an honour to +your profession. Come and dine with me on Monday.' And what do you +think the idiot did?--Backed out of it, and wouldn't go, because he +thought his lordship condescending, and he didn't want his patronage. +But his lordship's not a bit like that, you know." + +"Then if he isn't, he'll like Harry all the better for declining, and +will probably send him a proper invitation." + +And sure enough, I was right; and Harry did dine at Castle Irksham on +Monday. + +Adela's eyes showed clearly enough that her ears were devouring every +word we had said; and the glow on her face could not be mistaken by me +at least, though to another it might well appear only the sign of such +an enthusiasm as one would like every girl to feel in the presence of +noble conduct of any kind. She had heard the whole story last night you +may be sure; and I do not doubt that the unrestrained admiration shown +by her father for the doctor's conduct, was a light in her heart which +sleep itself could not extinguish, and which went shining on in her +dreams. Admiration of the beloved is dear to a woman. You see I like to +show that although I _am_ an old bachelor, I know something about +_them_. + +I met Harry that morning; that is, I contrived to meet him. + +"Well, how are you to-day, Harry?" I said. + +"All right, thank you." + +"Were there many hurt at the quarry?" + +"Oh! it wasn't so very bad, I'm happy to say." + +"You did splendidly yesterday." + +"Oh, nonsense! It was my mare. It wasn't me. I had nothing to do with +it." + +"Well! well! you have my full permission to say so, and to think so, +too." + +"Well! well! say no more about it." + +So it was long before the subject was again alluded to by me. But it +will be long, too, before it is forgotten in that county. + +And so the evening came when we were to meet--for the last time as the +Story-telling club--at the schoolmaster's house. It was now past the +time I had set myself for returning to London, and although my plans +were never of a very unalterable complexion, seeing I had the faculty +of being able to write wherever I was, and never admitted chairs and +tables, and certain rows of bookshelves, to form part of my mental +organism, without which the rest of the mechanism would be thrown out +of gear, I had yet reasons for wishing to be in London; and I intended +to take my departure on the day but one after the final meeting.--I may +just remark, that before this time one or two families had returned to +Purleybridge, and others were free from their Christmas engagements, +who would have been much pleased to join our club; but, considering its +ephemeral nature, and seeing it had been formed only for what we hoped +was a passing necessity, we felt that the introduction of new blood, +although essential for the long life of anything constituted for long +life, would only hasten the decay of its butterfly constitution. So we +had kept our meetings entirely to ourselves. + +We all arrived about the same time, and found our host and hostess full +of quiet cordiality, to which their homeliness lent an additional +charm. The relation of host and guest is weakened by every addition to +a company, and in a large assembly all but disappears. Indeed, the +tendency of the present age is to blot from the story of every-day life +all reminders of the ordinary human relations, as commonplace and +insignificant, and to mingle all society in one concourse of atoms, in +which the only distinctions shall be those of _rank_; whereas the sole +power to keep social intercourse from growing stale is the recognition +of the immortal and true in all the simple human relations. Then we +look upon all men with reverence, and find ourselves safe and at home +in the midst of divine intents, which may be violated and striven with, +but can never be escaped, because the will of God is the very life and +well-being of his creatures. + +Mrs. Bloomfield looked very nice in her black silk dress, and collar +and cuffs of old lace, as she presided at the tea-table, and made us +all feel that it was a pleasure to her to serve us. + +After repeated apologies, and confessions of failure, our host then +read the following _parable_, as he called it, though I daresay it +would be more correct to call it an _allegory_. But as that word has so +many wearisome associations, I, too, intend, whether right or wrong, to +call it a parable. So, then, it shall be: + +"THE CASTLE: A PARABLE. + +"On the top of a high cliff, forming part of the base of a great +mountain, stood a lofty castle. When or how it was built, no man knew; +nor could any one pretend to understand its architecture. Every one who +looked upon it felt that it was lordly and noble; and where one part +seemed not to agree with another, the wise and modest dared not to call +them incongruous, but presumed that the whole might be constructed on +some higher principle of architecture than they yet understood. What +helped them to this conclusion was, that no one had ever seen the whole +of the edifice; that, even of the portion best known, some part or +other was always wrapped in thick folds of mist from the mountain; and +that, when the sun shone upon this mist, the parts of the building that +appeared through the vaporous veil were strangely glorified in their +indistinctness, so that they seemed to belong to some aerial abode in +the land of the sunset; and the beholders could hardly tell whether +they had ever seen them before, or whether they were now for the first +time partially revealed. + +"Nor, although it was inhabited, could certain information be procured +as to its internal construction. Those who dwelt in it often discovered +rooms they had never entered before--yea, once or twice,--whole suites +of apartments, of which only dim legends had been handed down from +former times. Some of them expected to find, one day, secret places, +filled with treasures of wondrous jewels; amongst which they hoped to +light upon Solomon's ring, which had for ages disappeared from the +earth, but which had controlled the spirits, and the possession of +which made a man simply what a man should be, the king of the world. +Now and then, a narrow, winding stair, hitherto untrodden, would bring +them forth on a new turret, whence new prospects of the circumjacent +country were spread out before them. How many more of these there might +be, or how much loftier, no one could tell. Nor could the foundations +of the castle in the rock on which it was built be determined with the +smallest approach to precision. Those of the family who had given +themselves to exploring in that direction, found such a labyrinth of +vaults and passages, and endless successions of down-going stairs, out +of one underground space into a yet lower, that they came to the +conclusion that at least the whole mountain was perforated and +honeycombed in this fashion. They had a dim consciousness, too, of the +presence, in those awful regions, of beings whom they could not +comprehend. Once they came upon the brink of a great black gulf, in +which the eye could see nothing but darkness: they recoiled with +horror; for the conviction flashed upon them that that gulf went down +into the very central spaces of the earth, of which they had hitherto +been wandering only in the upper crust; nay, that the seething +blackness before them had relations mysterious, and beyond human +comprehension, with the far-off voids of space, into which the stars +dare not enter. + +"At the foot of the cliff whereon the castle stood, lay a deep lake, +inaccessible save by a few avenues, being surrounded on all sides with +precipices which made the water look very black, although it was pure +as the night-sky. From a door in the castle, which was not to be +otherwise entered, a broad flight of steps, cut in the rock, went down +to the lake, and disappeared below its surface. Some thought the steps +went to the very bottom of the water. + +"Now in this castle there dwelt a large family of brothers and sisters. +They had never seen their father or mother. The younger had been +educated by the elder, and these by an unseen care and ministration, +about the sources of which they had, somehow or other, troubled +themselves very little--for what people are accustomed to, they regard +as coming from nobody; as if help and progress and joy and love were +the natural crops of Chaos or old Night. But Tradition said that one +day--it was utterly uncertain _when_--their father would come, and +leave them no more; for he was still alive, though where he lived +nobody knew. In the meantime all the rest had to obey their eldest +brother, and listen to his counsels. + +"But almost all the family was very fond of liberty, as they called it; +and liked to run up and down, hither and thither, roving about, with +neither law nor order, just as they pleased. So they could not endure +their brother's tyranny, as they called it. At one time they said that +he was only one of themselves, and therefore they would not obey him; +at another, that he was not like them, and could not understand them, +and _therefore_ they would not obey him. Yet, sometimes, when he came +and looked them full in the face, they were terrified, and dared not +disobey, for he was stately and stern and strong. Not one of them loved +him heartily, except the eldest sister, who was very beautiful and +silent, and whose eyes shone as if light lay somewhere deep behind +them. Even she, although she loved him, thought him very hard +sometimes; for when he had once said a thing plainly, he could not be +persuaded to think it over again. So even she forgot him sometimes, and +went her own ways, and enjoyed herself without him. Most of them +regarded him as a sort of watchman, whose business it was to keep them +in order; and so they were indignant and disliked him. Yet they all had +a secret feeling that they ought to be subject to him; and after any +particular act of disregard, none of them could think, with any peace, +of the old story about the return of their father to his house. But +indeed they never thought much about it, or about their father at all; +for how could those who cared so little for their brother, whom they +saw every day, care for their father whom they had never seen?--One +chief cause of complaint against him was that he interfered with their +favourite studies and pursuits; whereas he only sought to make them +give up trifling with earnest things, and seek for truth, and not for +amusement, from the many wonders around them. He did not want them to +turn to other studies, or to eschew pleasures; but, in those studies, +to seek the highest things most, and other things in proportion to +their true worth and nobleness. This could not fail to be distasteful +to those who did not care for what was higher than they. And so matters +went on for a time. They thought they could do better without their +brother; and their brother knew they could not do at all without him, +and tried to fulfil the charge committed into his hands. + +"At length, one day, for the thought seemed to strike them +simultaneously, they conferred together about giving a great +entertainment in their grandest rooms to any of their neighbours who +chose to come, or indeed to any inhabitants of the earth or air who +would visit them. They were too proud to reflect that some company +might defile even the dwellers in what was undoubtedly the finest +palace on the face of the earth. But what made the thing worse, was, +that the old tradition said that these rooms were to be kept entirely +for the use of the owner of the castle. And, indeed, whenever they +entered them, such was the effect of their loftiness and grandeur upon +their minds, that they always thought of the old story, and could not +help believing it. Nor would the brother permit them to forget it now; +but, appearing suddenly amongst them, when they had no expectation of +being interrupted by him, he rebuked them, both for the indiscriminate +nature of their invitation, and for the intention of introducing any +one, not to speak of some who would doubtless make their appearance on +the evening in question, into the rooms kept sacred for the use of the +unknown father. But by this time their talk with each other had so +excited their expectations of enjoyment, which had previously been +strong enough, that anger sprung up within them at the thought of being +deprived of their hopes, and they looked each other in the eyes; and +the look said: 'We are many and he is one--let us get rid of him, for +he is always finding fault, and thwarting us in the most innocent +pleasures;--as if we would wish to do anything wrong!' So without a +word spoken, they rushed upon him; and although he was stronger than +any of them, and struggled hard at first, yet they overcame him at +last. Indeed some of them thought he yielded to their violence long +before they had the mastery of him; and this very submission terrified +the more tender-hearted amongst them. However, they bound him; carried +him down many stairs, and, having remembered an iron staple in the wall +of a certain vault, with a thick rusty chain attached to it, they bore +him thither, and made the chain fast around him. There they left him, +shutting the great gnarring brazen door of the vault, as they departed +for the upper regions of the castle. + +"Now all was in a tumult of preparation. Every one was talking of the +coming festivity; but no one spoke of the deed they had done. A sudden +paleness overspread the face, now of one, and now of another; but it +passed away, and no one took any notice of it; they only plied the task +of the moment the more energetically. Messengers were sent far and +near, not to individuals or families, but publishing in all places of +concourse a general invitation to any who chose to come on a certain +day, and partake for certain succeeding days of the hospitality of the +dwellers in the castle. Many were the preparations immediately begun +for complying with the invitation. But the noblest of their neighbours +refused to appear; not from pride, but because of the unsuitableness +and carelessness of such a mode. With some of them it was an old +condition in the tenure of their estates, that they should go to no +one's dwelling except visited in person, and expressly solicited. +Others, knowing what sort of persons would be there, and that, from a +certain physical antipathy, they could scarcely breathe in their +company, made up their minds at once not to go. Yet multitudes, many of +them beautiful and innocent as well as gay, resolved to appear. + +"Meanwhile the great rooms of the castle were got in readiness--that +is, they proceeded to deface them with decorations; for there was a +solemnity and stateliness about them in their ordinary condition, which +was at once felt to be unsuitable for the light-hearted company so soon +to move about in them with the self-same carelessness with which men +walk abroad within the great heavens and hills and clouds. One day, +while the workmen were busy, the eldest sister, of whom I have already +spoken, happened to enter, she knew not why. Suddenly the great idea of +the mighty halls dawned upon her, and filled her soul. The so-called +decorations vanished from her view, and she felt as if she stood in her +father's presence. She was at one elevated and humbled. As suddenly the +idea faded and fled, and she beheld but the gaudy festoons and +draperies and paintings which disfigured the grandeur. She wept and +sped away. Now it was too late to interfere, and things must take their +course. She would have been but a Cassandra-prophetess to those who saw +but the pleasure before them. She had not been present when her brother +was imprisoned; and indeed for some days had been so wrapt in her own +business, that she had taken but little heed of anything that was going +on. But they all expected her to show herself when the company was +gathered; and they had applied to her for advice at various times +during their operations. + +"At length the expected hour arrived, and the company began to +assemble. It was a warm summer evening. The dark lake reflected the +rose-coloured clouds in the west, and through the flush rowed many +gaily painted boats, with various coloured flags, towards the massy +rock on which the castle stood. The trees and flowers seemed already +asleep, and breathing forth their sweet dream-breath. Laughter and low +voices rose from the breast of the lake to the ears of the youths and +maidens looking forth expectant from the lofty windows. They went down +to the broad platform at the top of the stairs in front of the door to +receive their visitors. By degrees the festivities of the evening +commenced. The same smiles flew forth both at eyes and lips, darting +like beams through the gathering crowd. Music, from unseen sources, now +rolled in billows, now crept in ripples through the sea of air that +filled the lofty rooms. And in the dancing halls, when hand took hand, +and form and motion were moulded and swayed by the indwelling music, it +governed not these alone, but, as the ruling spirit of the place, every +new burst of music for a new dance swept before it a new and accordant +odour, and dyed the flames that glowed in the lofty lamps with a new +and accordant stain. The floors bent beneath the feet of the +time-keeping dancers. But twice in the evening some of the inmates +started, and the pallor occasionally common to the household overspread +their faces, for they felt underneath them a counter-motion to the +dance, as if the floor rose slightly to answer their feet. And all the +time their brother lay below in the dungeon, like John the Baptist in +the castle of Herod, when the lords and captains sat around, and the +daughter of Herodias danced before them. Outside, all around the +castle, brooded the dark night unheeded; for the clouds had come up +from all sides, and were crowding together overhead. In the unfrequent +pauses of the music, they might have heard, now and then, the gusty +rush of a lonely wind, coming and going no one could know whence or +whither, born and dying unexpected and unregarded. + +"But when the festivities were at their height, when the external and +passing confidence which is produced between superficial natures by a +common pleasure was at the full, a sudden crash of thunder quelled the +music, as the thunder quells the noise of the uplifted sea. The windows +were driven in, and torrents of rain, carried in the folds of a rushing +wind, poured into the halls. The lights were swept away; and the great +rooms, now dark within, were darkened yet more by the dazzling shoots +of flame from the vault of blackness overhead. Those that ventured to +look out of the windows saw, in the blue brilliancy of the +quick-following jets of lightning, the lake at the foot of the rock, +ordinarily so still and so dark, lighted up, not on the surface only, +but down to half its depth; so that, as it tossed in the wind, like a +tortured sea of writhing flames, or incandescent half-molten serpents +of brass, they could not tell whether a strong phosphorescence did not +issue from the transparent body of the waters, as if earth and sky +lightened together, one consenting source of flaming utterance. + +"Sad was the condition of the late plastic mass of living form that had +flowed into shape at the will and law of the music. Broken into +individuals, the common transfusing spirit withdrawn, they stood +drenched, cold, and benumbed, with clinging garments; light, order, +harmony, purpose departed, and chaos restored; the issuings of life +turned back on their sources, chilly and dead. And in every heart +reigned the falsest of despairing convictions, that this was the only +reality, and that was but a dream. The eldest sister stood with clasped +hands and down-bent head, shivering and speechless, as if waiting for +something to follow. Nor did she wait long. A terrible flash and +thunder-peal made the castle rock; and in the pausing silence that +followed, her quick sense heard the rattling of a chain far off, deep +down; and soon the sound of heavy footsteps, accompanied with the +clanking of iron, reached her ear. She felt that her brother was at +hand. Even in the darkness, and amidst the bellowing of another +deep-bosomed cloud-monster, she knew that he had entered the room. A +moment after, a continuous pulsation of angry blue light began, which, +lasting for some moments, revealed him standing amidst them, gaunt, +haggard, and motionless; his hair and beard untrimmed, his face +ghastly, his eyes large and hollow. The light seemed to gather around +him as a centre. Indeed some believed that it throbbed and radiated +from his person, and not from the stormy heavens above them. The +lightning had rent the wall of his prison, and released the iron staple +of his chain, which he had wound about him like a girdle. In his hand +he carried an iron fetter-bar, which he had found on the floor of the +vault. More terrified at his aspect than at all the violence of the +storm, the visitors, with many a shriek and cry, rushed out into the +tempestuous night. By degrees, the storm died away. Its last flash +revealed the forms of the brothers and sisters lying prostrate, with +their faces on the floor, and that fearful shape standing motionless +amidst them still. + +"Morning dawned, and there they lay, and there he stood. But at a word +from him, they arose and went about their various duties, though +listlessly enough. The eldest sister was the last to rise; and when she +did, it was only by a terrible effort that she was able to reach her +room, where she fell again on the floor. There she remained lying for +days. The brother caused the doors of the great suite of rooms to be +closed, leaving them just as they were, with all the childish adornment +scattered about, and the rain still falling in through the shattered +windows. 'Thus let them lie,' said he, 'till the rain and frost have +cleansed them of paint and drapery: no storm can hurt the pillars and +arches of these halls.' + +"The hours of this day went heavily. The storm was gone, but the rain +was left; the passion had departed, but the tears remained behind. Dull +and dark the low misty clouds brooded over the castle and the lake, and +shut out all the neighbourhood. Even if they had climbed to the +loftiest known turret, they would have found it swathed in a garment of +clinging vapour, affording no refreshment to the eye, and no hope to +the heart. There was one lofty tower that rose sheer a hundred feet +above the rest, and from which the fog could have been seen lying in a +grey mass beneath; but that tower they had not yet discovered, nor +another close beside it, the top of which was never seen, nor could be, +for the highest clouds of heaven clustered continually around it. The +rain fell continuously, though not heavily, without; and within, too, +there were clouds from which dropped the tears which are the rain of +the spirit. All the good of life seemed for the time departed, and +their souls lived but as leafless trees that had forgotten the joy of +the summer, and whom no wind prophetic of spring had yet visited. They +moved about mechanically, and had not strength enough left to wish to +die. + +"The next day the clouds were higher, and a little wind blew through +such loopholes in the turrets as the false improvements of the inmates +had not yet filled with glass, shutting out, as the storm, so the +serene visitings of the heavens. Throughout the day, the brother took +various opportunities of addressing a gentle command, now to one and +now to another of his family. It was obeyed in silence. The wind blew +fresher through the loopholes and the shattered windows of the great +rooms, and found its way, by unknown passages, to faces and eyes hot +with weeping. It cooled and blessed them.--When the sun arose the next +day, it was in a clear sky. + +"By degrees, everything fell into the regularity of subordination. With +the subordination came increase of freedom. The steps of the more +youthful of the family were heard on the stairs and in the corridors +more light and quick than ever before. Their brother had lost the +terrors of aspect produced by his confinement, and his commands were +issued more gently, and oftener with a smile, than in all their +previous history. By degrees his presence was universally felt through +the house. It was no surprise to any one at his studies, to see him by +his side when he lifted up his eyes, though he had not before known +that he was in the room. And although some dread still remained, it was +rapidly vanishing before the advances of a firm friendship. Without +immediately ordering their labours, he always influenced them, and +often altered their direction and objects. The change soon evident in +the household was remarkable. A simpler, nobler expression was visible +on all the countenances. The voices of the men were deeper, and yet +seemed by their very depth more feminine than before; while the voices +of the women were softer and sweeter, and at the same time more full +and decided. Now the eyes had often an expression as if their sight was +absorbed in the gaze of the inward eyes; and when the eyes of two met, +there passed between those eyes the utterance of a conviction that both +meant the same thing. But the change was, of course, to be seen more +clearly, though not more evidently, in individuals. + +"One of the brothers, for instance, was very fond of astronomy. He had +his observatory on a lofty tower, which stood pretty clear of the +others, towards the north and east. But hitherto, his astronomy, as he +had called it, had been more of the character of astrology. Often, too, +he might have been seen directing a heaven-searching telescope to catch +the rapid transit of a fiery shooting-star, belonging altogether to the +earthly atmosphere, and not to the serene heavens. He had to learn that +the signs of the air are not the signs of the skies. Nay, once, his +brother surprised him in the act of examining through his longest tube +a patch of burning heath upon a distant hill. But now he was diligent +from morning till night in the study of the laws of the truth that has +to do with stars; and when the curtain of the sunlight was about to +rise from before the heavenly worlds which it had hidden all day long, +he might be seen preparing his instruments with that solemn countenance +with which it becometh one to look into the mysterious harmonies of +Nature. Now he learned what law and order and truth are, what consent +and harmony mean; how the individual may find his own end in a higher +end, where law and freedom mean the same thing, and the purest +certainty exists without the slightest constraint. Thus he stood on the +earth, and looked to the heavens. + +"Another, who had been much given to searching out the hollow places +and recesses in the foundations of the castle, and who was often to be +found with compass and ruler working away at a chart of the same which +he had been in process of constructing, now came to the conclusion, +that only by ascending the upper regions of his abode could he become +capable of understanding what lay beneath; and that, in all +probability, one clear prospect, from the top of the highest attainable +turret, over the castle as it lay below, would reveal more of the idea +of its internal construction, than a year spent in wandering through +its subterranean vaults. But the fact was, that the desire to ascend +wakening within him had made him forget what was beneath; and having +laid aside his chart for a time at least, he was now to be met in every +quarter of the upper parts, searching and striving upward, now in one +direction, now in another; and seeking, as he went, the best outlooks +into the clear air of outer realities. + +"And they began to discover that they were all meditating different +aspects of the same thing; and they brought together their various +discoveries, and recognized the likeness between them; and the one +thing often explained the other, and combining with it helped to a +third. They grew in consequence more and more friendly and loving; so +that every now and then one turned to another and said, as in surprise, +'Why, you are my brother!'--'Why, you are my sister!' And yet they had +always known it. + +"The change reached to all. One, who lived on the air of sweet sounds, +and who was almost always to be found seated by her harp or some other +instrument, had, till the late storm, been generally merry and playful, +though sometimes sad. But for a long time after that, she was often +found weeping, and playing little simple airs which she had heard in +childhood--backward longings, followed by fresh tears. Before long, +however, a new element manifested itself in her music. It became yet +more wild, and sometimes retained all its sadness, but it was mingled +with anticipation and hope. The past and the future merged in one; and +while memory yet brought the rain-cloud, expectation threw the rainbow +across its bosom--and all was uttered in her music, which rose and +swelled, now to defiance, now to victory; then died in a torrent of +weeping. + +"As to the eldest sister, it was many days before she recovered from +the shock. At length, one day, her brother came to her, took her by the +hand, led her to an open window, and told her to seat herself by it, +and look out. She did so; but at first saw nothing more than an +unsympathizing blaze of sunlight. But as she looked, the horizon +widened out, and the dome of the sky ascended, till the grandeur seized +upon her soul, and she fell on her knees and wept. Now the heavens +seemed to bend lovingly over her, and to stretch out wide cloud-arms to +embrace her; the earth lay like the bosom of an infinite love beneath +her, and the wind kissed her cheek with an odour of roses. She sprang +to her feet, and turned, in an agony of hope, expecting to behold the +face of the father, but there stood only her brother, looking calmly +though lovingly on her emotion. She turned again to the window. On the +hilltops rested the sky: Heaven and Earth were one; and the prophecy +awoke in her soul, that from betwixt them would the steps of the father +approach. + +"Hitherto she had seen but Beauty; now she beheld Truth. Often had she +looked on such clouds as these, and loved the strange ethereal curves +into which the winds moulded them; and had smiled as her little pet +sister told her what curious animals she saw in them, and tried to +point them out to her. Now they were as troops of angels, jubilant over +her new birth, for they sang, in her soul, of beauty, and truth, and +love. She looked down, and her little sister knelt beside her. + +"She was a curious child, with black, glittering eyes, and dark hair; +at the mercy of every wandering wind; a frolicsome, daring girl, who +laughed more than she smiled. She was generally in attendance on her +sister, and was always finding and bringing her strange things. She +never pulled a primrose, but she knew the haunts of all the orchis +tribe, and brought from them bees and butterflies innumerable, as +offerings to her sister. Curious moths and glow-worms were her greatest +delight; and she loved the stars, because they were like the +glow-worms. But the change had affected her too; for her sister saw +that her eyes had lost their glittering look, and had become more +liquid and transparent. And from that time she often observed that her +gaiety was more gentle, her smile more frequent, her laugh less +bell-like; and although she was as wild as ever, there was more +elegance in her motions, and more music in her voice. And she clung to +her sister with far greater fondness than before. + +"The land reposed in the embrace of the warm summer days. The clouds of +heaven nestled around the towers of the castle; and the hearts of its +inmates became conscious of a warm atmosphere--of a presence of love. +They began to feel like the children of a household, when the mother is +at home. Their faces and forms grew daily more and more beautiful, till +they wondered as they gazed on each other. As they walked in the +gardens of the castle, or in the country around, they were often +visited, especially the eldest sister, by sounds that no one heard but +themselves, issuing from woods and waters; and by forms of love that +lightened out of flowers, and grass, and great rocks. Now and then the +young children would come in with a slow, stately step, and, with great +eyes that looked as if they would devour all the creation, say that +they had met the father amongst the trees, and that he had kissed them; +'And,' added one of them once, 'I grew so big!' But when the others +went out to look, they could see no one. And some said it must have +been the brother, who grew more and more beautiful, and loving, and +reverend, and who had lost all traces of hardness, so that they +wondered they could ever have thought him stern and harsh. But the +eldest sister held her peace, and looked up, and her eyes filled with +tears. 'Who can tell,' thought she, 'but the little children know more +about it than we?' + +"Often, at sunrise, might be heard their hymn of praise to their unseen +father, whom they felt to be near, though they saw him not. Some words +thereof once reached my ear through the folds of the music in which +they floated, as in an upward snowstorm of sweet sounds. And these are +some of the words I heard--but there was much I seemed to hear which I +could not understand, and some things which I understood but cannot +utter again. + +"'We thank thee that we have a father, and not a maker; that thou hast +begotten us, and not moulded us as images of clay; that we have come +forth of thy heart, and have not been fashioned by thy hands. It _must_ +be so. Only the heart of a father is able to create. We rejoice in it, +and bless thee that we know it. We thank thee for thyself. Be what thou +art--our root and life, our beginning and end, our all in all. Come +home to us. Thou livest; therefore we live. In thy light we see. Thou +art--that is all our song.' + +"Thus they worship, and love, and wait. Their hope and expectation grow +ever stronger and brighter, that one day, ere long, the Father will +show Himself amongst them, and thenceforth dwell in His own house for +evermore. What was once but an old legend has become the one desire of +their hearts. + +"And the loftiest hope is the surest of being fulfilled." + + * * * * * + +"Thank you, heartily," said the curate. "I will choose another time to +tell you how much I have enjoyed your parable, which is altogether to +my mind, and far beyond anything I could do." + +Mr. Bloomfield returned no answer, but his countenance showed that he +was far from hearing this praise unmoved. The faces of the rest showed +that they too had listened with pleasure; and Adela's face shone as if +she had received more than delight--hope, namely, and onward impulse. +The colonel alone--I forgot to say that Mrs. Cathcart had a headache, +and did not come--seemed to have been left behind. + +"I am a stupid old fellow, I believe," said he; "but to tell the truth, +I did not know what to make of it. It seemed all the time to be telling +me in one breath something I knew and something I didn't and couldn't +know. I wish I could express what I mean, but it puzzled me too much +for that; although every now and then it sounded very beautiful indeed." + +"I will try and tell you what it said to me, sometime, papa," said +Adela. + +"Thank you, my child; I should much like to understand it. I believe I +have done my duty by my king and country, but a man has to learn a good +deal after all that is over and done with; and I suppose it is never +too late to begin, Mr. Armstrong?" + +"On the contrary, I not merely believe that no future time can be so +good as the present, but I am inclined to assert that no past time +could have been so good as the present. This seems to be a paradox, but +I think I could explain it very easily. I find, however, that the +ladies are looking as if they wanted to go home, and I am quite ready, +Mrs. Armstrong. But while the ladies put their bonnets on, just let +Smith see your schoolroom, Mr. Bloomfield. As an inhabitant of +Purleybridge, I already begin to be proud of it." + +The ladies did go to put on their bonnets. I followed Mr. Bloomfield +and the colonel into the schoolroom, and the curate followed me. But +after we had looked about us and remarked on the things about for five +minutes, finding I had left my handkerchief in the drawing-room, I went +back to fetch it. The door was open, and I saw Adela--no bonnet on her +head yet--standing face to face with Harry. They were alone. I +hesitated for a moment what I should do, and while I hesitated, I could +not help seeing the arm of the doctor curved and half-outstretched, as +if it would gladly have folded about her, and his face droop and droop, +till it could not have been more than half a foot from hers. Now, as +far as my seeing this was concerned, there was no harm done. But behind +me came the curate and the schoolmaster, and they had eyes in their +heads, at least equal to mine. Well, no great harm yet. And just far +enough down the stair to see into the drawing-room, appeared their +wives, who could not fail to see the unconscious pair, at least as well +as we men below. Still there was no great harm done, for Mrs. Cathcart +was at home, as I have said. But, _horresco referens!_ excuse the +recondite quotation--at the same moment the form of the colonel +appeared, looking over the heads of all before him right in at the +drawing-room door, and full at the young sinners, who had heard no +sound along the matted passage. + +"Here's a go!" said I to myself--not aloud, observe, for it was slang. + +For just think of a man like Harry caught thus in a perfect trap of +converging looks. + +As if from a sudden feeling of hostile presence, he glanced round--and +stood erect. The poor fellow's face at once flushed as red as shame +could make it, but he neither lost his self-possession, nor sought to +escape under cover of a useless pretence. He turned to the colonel. + +"Colonel Cathcart," he said, "I will choose a more suitable time to +make my apology. I wish you good night." + +He bowed to us all, not choosing to risk a refusal of his hand by the +colonel, and went quickly out of the house. + +The colonel stood for some moments, which felt to me like minutes, as +if he had just mounted guard at the drawing-room door. His face was +perfectly expressionless. We men felt very much like stale oysters, and +would rather have skipped that same portion of our inevitable +existence. What the ladies felt, I do not pretend, being an old +bachelor, to divine. + +Adela, pale as death, fled up the stair. The only thing left for the +rest of us was, to act as much as possible as if nothing were the +matter, and get out of the way before the poor girl came down again. As +soon as I got home, I went to my own room, and thus avoided the +_tete-a-tete_ with my host which generally closed our evenings. + +The colonel went up to his daughter's room, and remained there for +nearly an hour. Adela was not at the breakfast-table the next morning. +Her father looked very gloomy, and Mrs. Cathcart grimly satisfied, with +_I told you so_ written on her face as plainly as I have now written it +on the paper. How she came to know anything about it, I can only +conjecture. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHAT NEXT? + + +Harry called early, and was informed that the colonel was not at home. + +"Something's the matter, Mr. Armstrong," said Beeves. "Master's not at +home to you to-day, he says, nor any other day till he countermands the +order--that was the word, sir. I'm sure I am very sorry, sir." + +"So am I," said Harry. "How's your mistress?" + +"Haven't seen her to-day, sir. Emma says she's poorly. But she is down. +Emma looks as if she knew something and wouldn't tell it. I'll get it +out of her though, sir. We'll be having that old Wade coming about the +house again, I'm afeard, sir. _He's_ no good." + +"At all events you will let your master know that I have called," said +Harry, as he turned disconsolately, to take his departure. + +"That I will, sir. And I'll be sure he hears me. He's rather deaf, +sometimes, you know, sir." + +"Thank you, Beeves. Good morning." + +Now what could have been Harry's intention in calling upon the colonel? +Why, as he had said himself, to make an apology. But what kind of +apology could he make? Clearly there was only one that would satisfy +all parties--and that must be in the form of a request to be allowed to +pay his addresses--(that used to be the phrase in my time--I don't know +the young ladies' slang for it now-a-days)--to Adela. Did I +say--_satisfy all parties_? This was just the one form affairs might +take, which would least of all satisfy the colonel. I believe, with all +his rigid proprieties, he would have preferred the confession that the +doctor had so far forgotten himself as to attempt to snatch a kiss--a +theft of which I cannot imagine a gentleman guilty, least of all a +doctor from his patient; which relation no doubt the colonel persisted +in regarding as the sole possible and everlastingly permanent one +between Adela and Harry. The former was, however, the only apology +Harry could make; and evidently the colonel expected it when he refused +to see him. + +But why should he refuse to see him?--The doctor was not on an equality +with the colonel. Well, to borrow a form from the Shorter Catechism: +wherein consisted the difference between the colonel and the +doctor?--The difference between the colonel and the doctor consisted +chiefly in this, that whereas the colonel lived by the wits of his +ancestors, Harry lived by his own, and therefore was not so respectable +as the colonel. Or in other words: the colonel inherited a good estate, +with the ordinary quantity of brains; while Harry inherited a good +education and an extraordinary quantity of brains. So of course it was +very presumptuous in Harry to aspire to the hand of Miss Cathcart. + +In the forenoon the curate called upon me, and was shown into the +library where I was. + +"What's that scapegrace brother of mine been doing, Smith?" he asked, +the moment he entered. + +"Wanting to marry Adela," I replied. + +"What has he done?" + +"Called this morning." + +"And seen Colonel Cathcart?" + +"No." + +"Not at home?" + +"In a social sense, not at home; in a moral sense, very far from at +home; in a natural sense, seated in his own arm-chair, with his own +work on the Peninsular War open on the table before him." + +"Wouldn't see him?" + +"No." + +"What's he to do then?" + +"I think we had better leave that to him. Harry is not the man I take +him for if he doesn't know his own way better than you or I can tell +him." + +"You're right, Smith. How's Miss Cathcart?" + +"I have never seen her so well. Certainly she did not come down to +breakfast, but I believe that was merely from shyness. She appeared in +the dining-room directly after, and although it was evident she had +been crying, her step was as light and her colour as fresh as her lover +even could wish to see them." + +"Then she is not without hope in the matter?" + +"If she loves him, and I think she does, she is not without hope. But I +do not think the fact of her looking well would be sufficient to prove +that. For some mental troubles will favour the return of bodily health. +They will at least give one an interest in life." + +"Then you think her father has given in a little about it?" + +"I don't believe it.--If her illness and she were both of an ordinary +kind, she would gain her point now by taking to her bed. But from what +I know of Adela she would scorn and resist that." + +"Well, we must let matters take their course. Harry is worthy of the +best wife in Christendom." + +"I believe it. And more, if Adela will make that best wife, I think he +will have the best wife. But we must have patience." + +Next morning, a letter arrived from Harry to the colonel. I have seen +it, and it was to this effect: + +"My dear Sir,--As you will not see me, I am forced to write to you. Let +my earnest entreaty to be allowed to address your daughter, cover, if +it cannot make up for, my inadvertence of the other evening. I am very +sorry I have offended you. If you will receive me, I trust you will not +find it hard to forget. Yours, &c." + +To this the colonel replied: + +"Sir,--It is at least useless, if not worse, to apply for an _ex post +facto_ permission. What I might have answered, had the courtesies of +society been observed, it may be easy for me to determine, but it is +useless now to repeat. Allow me to say that I consider such behaviour +of a medical practitioner towards a young lady, his patient, altogether +unworthy of a gentleman, as every member of a learned profession is +supposed to be. I have the honour, &c." + +I returned the curate's call, and while we were sitting in his study, +in walked Harry with a rather rueful countenance. + +"What do you say to that, Ralph?" said he, handing his brother the +letter. + +"Cool," replied Ralph. "But Harry, my boy, you have given him quite the +upper hand of you. How could you be so foolish as kiss the girl there +and then?" + +"I didn't," said Harry. + +"But you did just as bad. You were going to do it." + +"I don't think I was. But somehow those great eyes of hers kept pulling +and pulling my head, so that I don't know what I was going to do. I +remember nothing but her eyes. Suddenly a scared look in them startled +me, and I saw it all. Mr. Smith, was it so very dishonourable of me?" + +"You are the best judge of that yourself, Harry," I answered. "Just let +me look at the note." + +I read it, folded it up carefully, and returning it, said: + +"He's given you a good hold of him there. It is really too bad of +Cathcart, being a downright good fellow, to forget that he ran away +with Miss Selby, old Sir George, the baronet's daughter. Neither of +them ever repented it; though he was only Captain Cathcart then, in a +regiment of foot, too, and was not even next heir to the property he +has now." + +"Hurrah!" cried Harry. + +"Stop, stop. That doesn't make it a bit better," said his brother. "I +suppose you mean to argue with him on that ground, do you?" + +"No, I don't. I'm not such a fool. But if I _should_ be forced to run +away with her, _he_ can't complain, you know." + +"No, no, Harry, my boy," said I. "That won't do. It would break the old +man's heart. You must have patience for a while." + +"Yes, yes. I know what I mean to do." + +"What?" + +"When I've made up my mind, I never ask advice. It only bewilders a +fellow." + +"Quite right, Hal," said his brother. "Only don't do anything foolish." + +"I won't do anything she doesn't like." + +"No, nor anything you won't like yourself afterwards," I ventured to +say. + +"I hope not," returned he, gravely, as he walked out, too much absorbed +to bid either of us _good morning_. + +It was now more than time that I should return to town; but I could not +leave affairs in this unsatisfactory state. I therefore lingered on to +see what would come next. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GENERALSHIP. + + +The next day Harry called again. + +"Master 'aint countermanded the order, Doctor. He 'aint at home--not a +bit of it. He 'aint been out of the house since that night." + +"Well, is Miss Cathcart at home?" + +"She's said nothing to the contrairy, sir. I believe she _is_ at home. +I know she's out in the garding--on the terridge." + +And old Beeves held the door wide open, as if to say--"Don't stop to +ask any questions, but step into the garden." Which Harry did. + +There was a high gravel terrace along one end of it, always dry and +sunny when there was any sun going; and there she was, over-looked by +the windows of her papa's room. + +Now I do not know anything that passed upon that terrace. How should I +know? Neither of them was likely to tell old Smith. And I wonder at the +clumsiness of novelists in pretending to reveal all that _he_ said, and +all that _she_ answered. But if I were such a clumsy novelist, I should +like to invent it all, and see if I couldn't make you believe every +word of it. + +This is what I would invent. + +The moment Adela caught sight of Harry, she cast one frightened glance +up to her father's windows, and stood waiting. He lifted his hat; and +held out his hand. She took it. Neither spoke. They turned together and +walked along the terrace. + +"I am very sorry," said Harry at last. + +"Are you? What for?" + +"Because I got you into a scrape." + +"Oh! I don't care." + +"Don't you?" + +"No; not a bit." + +"I didn't mean it." + +"What didn't you mean?" + +"It did look like it, I know." + +"Look like what?" + +"Adela, you'll drive me crazy. It was all your fault." + +"So I told papa, and he was angrier than ever." + +"You angel! It wasn't your fault. It was your eyes. I couldn't help it. +Adela, I love you dreadfully." + +"I'm _so_ glad." + +She gave a sigh as of relief. + +"Why?" + +"Because I wished you would. But I don't deserve it. A great clever man +like you love a useless girl like me! I _am_ so glad!" + +"But your papa?" + +"I'm so happy, I can't think about him steadily just yet." + +"Adela, I love you--so dearly! Only I am too old for you." + +"Old! how old are you?" + +"Nearly thirty." + +"And I'm only one-and-twenty. You're worth one and a half of me--yes +twenty of me." + +And so their lips played with the ripples of love, while their hearts +were heaving with the ground swell of its tempest. + +Now what I do know about is this: + +The colonel came down-stairs in his dressing-gown and slippers, and +found Beeves flattening his nose against the glass of the garden-door. + +"Beeves!" said the colonel. + +"Sir!" said Beeves, darting around and confronting his master with a +face purple and pale from the sense of utter unpreparedness. + +"Beeves, where is your mistress?" + +"My mistress, sir? I beg your pardon, sir, I'm sure, sir! How should I +know, sir? I 'aint let her out. Shall I run up-stairs and see if she is +in her room?" + +"Open the door." + +Beeves laid violent hold upon the handle of the door, and pulled and +twisted, but always took care to pull before he twisted. + +"I declare if that stupid Ann 'aint been and locked it. It aint nice in +the garden to-day, sir--leastways without goloshes," added he, looking +down at his master's slippers. + +Now the colonel understood Beeves, and Beeves knew that he understood +him. But Beeves knew likewise that the colonel would not give in to the +possibility of his servant's taking such liberties with him. + +"Never mind," said the colonel; "I will go the other way." + +The moment he was out of sight, Beeves opened the garden-door, and +began gesticulating like a madman, fully persuaded that the doctor +would make his escape. But so far from being prepared to run away, +Harry had come there with the express intention of forcing a +conference. So that when the colonel made his appearance on the +terrace, the culprits walked slowly towards him. He went to meet them +with long military strides, and was the first to speak. + +"Mr. Armstrong, to what am I to attribute this intrusion?" + +"Chiefly to the desire of seeing you, Colonel Cathcart." + +"And I find you with my daughter!--Adela, go in-doors," + +Adela withdrew at once. + +"You denied yourself, and I inquired for Miss Cathcart." + +"You will oblige me by not calling again." + +"Surely I have committed no fault beyond forgiveness." + +"You have taken advantage of your admission into my family to entrap +the affections of my daughter." + +"Colonel Cathcart, as far as my conscience tells me, I have not behaved +unworthily." + +"Sir, is it not unworthy of a gentleman to use such professional +advantages to gain the favour of one who--you will excuse me for +reminding you of what you will not allow me to forget--is as much above +him in social position, as inferior to him in years and experience." + +"Is it always unworthy in a gentleman to aspire to a lady above him in +social position, Colonel Cathcart?" + +The honesty of the colonel checked all reply to this home-thrust. + +Harry resumed: + +"At least I am able to maintain my wife in what may be considered +comfort." + +"Your wife!" exclaimed the colonel, his anger blazing out at the word. +"If you use that expression with any prospective reference to Miss +Cathcart, I am master enough in my own family to insure you full +possession of the presumption. I wish you good morning." + +The angry man of war turned on his slippered heel, and was striding +away. + +"One word, I beg," said Harry. + +The colonel had too much courtesy in his nature not to stop and turn +half towards the speaker. + +"I beg to assure you," said Harry, "that I shall continue to cherish +the hope that after-thoughts will present my conduct, as well as +myself, in a more favourable light to Colonel Cathcart." + +And he lifted his hat, and walked away by the gate. + +"By Jove!" said the colonel, to himself, notwithstanding the rage he +was in, "the fellow can express himself like a gentleman, anyhow." + +And so he went back to his room, where I heard him pacing about for +hours. I believe he found that his better self was not to be so easily +put down as he had supposed; and that that better self sided with Adela +and Harry. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AN UNFORESEEN FORESIGHT. + + +What else is a Providence? + +Harry went about his work as usual, only with a graver face. + +Adela looked very sad, but without any of her old helpless and hopeless +air. Her health was quite established; and she now returned all the +attention her father had paid to her.--Fortunately Mrs. Cathcart had +gone home. + +"Cunning puss!" some of my readers may say; "she was trying to coax the +old man out of his resolution." But such a notion would be quite unjust +to my niece. She was more in danger of going to the other extreme, to +avoid hypocrisy. But she had the divine gift of knowing what any one +she loved was feeling and thinking; and she knew that her father was +suffering, and all about it. The old man's pace grew heavier; the lines +about his mouth grew deeper; he sat at table without speaking; he ate +very little, and drank more wine. Adela's eyes followed his every +action. I could see that sometimes she was ready to rise and throw her +arms about him. Often I saw in her lovely eyes that peculiar clearness +of the atmosphere which indicates the nearness of rain. And once or +twice she rose and left the room, as if to save her from an otherwise +unavoidable exposure of her feelings. + +The gloom fell upon the servants too. Beeves waited in a leaden-handed +way, that showed he was determined to do his duty, although it should +bring small pleasure with it. He took every opportunity of unburdening +his bosom to me. + +"It's just like when mis'ess died," said he. "The very cocks walk about +the yard as if they had hearse-plumes in their tails. Everybody looks +ready to hang hisself, except you, Mr. Smith. And that's a comfort." + +The fact was, that I had very little doubt as to how it would all end. +But I would not interfere; for I saw that it would be much better for +the colonel's heart and conscience to right themselves, than that he +should be persuaded to anything, it was very hard for him. He had led +his regiment to victory and glory; he had charged and captured many a +gun; he had driven the enemy out of many a boldly defended +entrenchment; and was it not hard that he could not drive the _eidolon_ +of a country surgeon out of the bosom of his little girl? (It was hard +that he could not; but it would have been a deal harder if he could). +He had nursed and loved, and petted and spoiled her. And she _would_ +care for a man whom he disliked! + +But here the old man was mistaken. He did not dislike Harry Armstrong. +He admired and honoured him. He almost loved him for his gallant +devotion to his duty. He would have been proud of him for a son--but +not for a son-in-law. He would not have minded adopting him, or doing +anything _but_ giving him Adela. There was a great deal of pride left +in the old soldier, and that must be taken out of him. We shall all +have to thank God for the whip of scorpions which, if needful, will do +its part to drive us into the kingdom of heaven. + +"How happy the dear old man will be," I said to myself, "when he just +yields this last castle of selfishness, and walks unhoused into the new +childhood, of which God takes care!" + +And this end came sooner than I had looked for it. + +I had made up my mind that it would be better for me to go. + +When I told Adela that I must go, she gave me a look in which lay the +whole story in light and in tears. I answered with a pressure of her +hand and an old uncle's kiss. But no word was spoken on the subject. + +I had a final cigar with the curate, and another with the schoolmaster; +bade them and their wives good-bye; told them all would come right if +we only had patience, and then went to Harry. But he was in the +country, and I thought I should not see him again. + +With the assistance of good Beeves, I got my portmanteau packed that +night. I was going to start about ten o'clock next morning. It was long +before I got to sleep, and I heard the step of the colonel, whose room +was below mine on the drawing-room floor, going up and down, up and +down, all the time, till slumber came at last, and muffled me up.--We +met at breakfast, a party lugubrious enough. Beeves waited like a mute; +the colonel ate his breakfast like an offended parent; Adela trifled +with hers like one who had other things to think about; and I ate mine +like a parting guest who was being anything but sped. When the postbag +was brought in, the colonel unlocked it mechanically; distributed the +letters; opened one with indifference, read a few lines, and with a +groan fell back in his chair. We started up, and laid him on the sofa. +With the privilege of an old friend, I glanced at the letter, and found +that a certain speculation in which the colonel had ventured largely, +had utterly failed. I told Adela enough to satisfy her as to the nature +of the misfortune. We feared apoplexy, but before we could send for any +medical man, he opened his eyes, and called Adela. He clasped her to +his bosom, and then tried to rise; but fell back helpless. + +"Shall we send for Dr. Wade?" said Adela, trembling and pale as death. + +"Dr. Wade!" faltered the old man, with a perceptible accent of scorn. + +"Which shall we send for?" I said. + +"How can you ask?" he answered, feebly. "Harry Armstrong, of course." + +The blood rushed into Adela's white face, and Beeves rushed out of the +room. In a quarter of an hour, Harry was with us. Adela had retired. He +made a few inquiries, administered some medicine he had brought with +him, and, giving orders that he should not be disturbed for a couple of +hours, left him with the injunction to keep perfectly quiet. + +"Take my traps up to my room again, Beeves: and tell the coach-man he +won't be wanted this morning." + +"Thank you, sir," said Beeves. "I don't know what we should do without +you, sir." + +When Harry returned, we carried the colonel up to his own room, and +Beeves got him to bed. I said something about a nurse, but Harry said +there was no one so fit to nurse him as Adela. The poor man had never +been ill before; and I daresay he would have been very rebellious, had +he not had a great trouble at his heart to quiet him. He was as +submissive as could be desired. + +I felt sure he would be better as soon as he had told Adela. I gave +Harry a hint of the matter, and he looked very much as if he would +shout "Oh, jolly!" but he did not. + +Towards the evening, the colonel called his daughter to his bedside, +and said, + +"Addie, darling, I have hurt you dreadfully." + +"Oh, no! dear papa; you have not. And it is so easy to put it all +right, you know," she added, turning her head away a little. + +"No, my child," he said in a tone full of self-reproach, "nobody can +put it right. I have made us both beggars, Addie, my love." + +"Well, dearest papa, you can bear a little poverty surely?" + +"It's not of myself I am thinking, my darling. Don't do me that +injustice, or I shall behave like a fool. It's only you I am thinking +of." + +"Oh, is that all, papa? Do you know that, if it were not for your sake, +I could sing a song about it!" + +"Ah! you don't know what you make so light of. Poverty is not so easy +to endure." + +"Papa," said Adela, solemnly, "if you knew how awful things looked to +me a little while ago--but it's all gone now!--the whole earth black +and frozen to the heart, with no God in it, and nothing worth living +for--you would not wonder that I take the prospect of poverty with +absolute indifference--yes, if you will believe me, with something of a +strange excitement. There will be something to battle with and beat." + +And she stretched out a strong, beautiful white arm--from which the +loose open sleeve fell back, as if with that weapon of might she would +strike poverty to the earth; but it was only to adjust the pillow, +which had slipped sideways from the loved head. + +"But Mr. Armstrong will not want to marry you now, Addie." + +"Oh, won't he?" thought Adela; or at least I think she thought so. But +she said, rather demurely, and very shyly: + +"But that won't be any worse than it was before; for you know you would +never have let me marry him anyhow." + +"Oh! yes, I would, in time, Adela. I am not such a brute as you take me +for." + +"Oh! you dear darling papa!" cried the poor child, and burst into +tears, with her head on her father's bosom. And he began comforting her +so sweetly, that you would have thought she had lost everything, and he +was going to give her all back again. + +"Papa! papa!" she cried, "I will work for you; I will be your servant; +I will love you and love you to all eternity. I won't leave you. I +won't indeed. What _does_ it matter for the money!" + +At this moment the doctor entered. + +"Ah!" he said, "this won't do at all. I thought you would have made a +better nurse, Miss Adela. There you are, both crying together!" + +"Indeed, Mr. Henry," said Adela, rather comically, "it's not my fault. +He would cry." + +And as she spoke she wiped away her own tears. + +"But he's looking much better, after all," said Harry. "Allow me to +feel your pulse." + +The patient was pronounced much better; fresh orders were given; and +Harry took his leave. + +But Adela felt vexed. She did not consider that he knew nothing of what +had passed between her father and her. To the warm fire-side of her +knowledge, he came in wintry and cold. Of course it would never do for +the doctor to aggravate his patient's symptoms by making love to his +daughter; but ought he not to have seen that it was all right between +them now?--How often we feel and act as if our mood were the atmosphere +of the world! It may be a cold frost within us, when our friend is in +the glow of a summer sunset: and we call him unsympathetic and +unfeeling. If we let him know the state of our world, we should see the +rosehues fade from his, and our friend put off his singing robes, and +sit down with us in sackcloth and ashes, to share our temptation and +grief. + +"You see I cannot offer you to him now, Adela," said her father. + +"No, papa." + +But I knew that all had come right, although I saw from Adela's manner +that she was not happy about it. + +So things went on for a week, during which the colonel was slowly +mending. I used to read him to sleep. Adela would sit by the fire, or +by the bedside, and go and come while I was reading. + +One afternoon, in the twilight, Harry entered. We greeted; and then, +turning to the bed, I discovered that my friend was asleep. We drew +towards the fire, and sat down. Adela had gone out of the room a few +minutes before. + +"He is such a manageable patient!" I said. + +"Noble old fellow!" returned the doctor. "I wish he would like me, and +then all would be well." + +"He doesn't dislike you personally," I said. + +"I hope not. I can understand his displeasure perfectly, and repugnance +too. But I assure you, Mr. Smith, I did not lay myself out to gain her +affections. I was caught myself before I knew. And I believe she liked +me too before she knew." + +"I fear their means will be very limited after this." + +"For his sake I am very sorry to hear it; but for my own, I cannot help +thinking it the luckiest thing that could have happened." + +"I am not so sure of that. It might increase the difficulty." + +At this moment I thought I heard the handle of the door move, but there +was a screen between us and it. I went on. + +"That is, if you still want to marry her, you know." + +"Marry her!" he said. "If she were a beggar-maid, I would be proud as +King Cophetua to marry her to-morrow." + +There was a rustle in the twilight, and a motion of its gloom. With a +quick gliding, Adela drew near, knelt beside Harry, and hid her eyes on +his knee. I thought it better to go. + +Was this unmaidenly of her? + +I say "No, for she knew that he loved her." + +As I left the room, I heard the colonel call-- + +"Adela." + +And when I returned, I found them both standing by the bedside, and the +old man holding a hand of each. + +"Now, John Smith," I said to myself, "you may go when you please." + +Before we, that is, I and my reader, part, however, my reader may be +inclined to address me thus: + +"Pray, Mr. Smith, do you think it was your wonderful prescription of +story-telling, that wrought Miss Cathcart's cure?" + +"How can I tell?" I answer. "Probably it had its share. But there were +other things to take into the account. If you went on to ask me whether +it was not Harry's prescriptions; or whether it was not the curate's +sermons; or whether it was not her falling in love with the doctor; or +whether even her father's illness and the loss of their property had +not something to do with it; or whether it was not the doctor's falling +in love with her; or that the cold weather suited her; I should reply +in the same way to every one of the interrogatories." + +But I retort another question: + +"Did you ever know anything whatever resulting from the operation of +one separable cause?" + +In regard to any good attempt I have ever made in my life, I am content +to know that the end has been gained. Whether _I_ have succeeded or not +is of no consequence, if I have tried well.--In the present case, Adela +recovered; and my own conviction is, that the cure was effected mainly +from within. Except in physics, we can put nothing to the _experimentum +crucis_, and must be content with conjecture and probability. + +The night before I left, I had a strange dream. I stood in a lonely +cemetery in a pine-forest. Dark trees that never shed their foliage +rose all around--strange trees that mourn for ever, because they never +die. The dream light that has no visible source, because it is in the +soul that dreams, showed all in a dim blue-grey dawn, that never grew +clearer. The night wind was the only power abroad save myself. It went +with slow intermitting, sigh-like gusts, through the tops of the +dreaming trees; for the trees seemed, in the midst of my dream, to have +dreams of their own. + +Now this burial-place was mine. I had tended it for years. In it lay +all the men and women whom I had honoured and loved. + +And I was a great sculptor. And over every grave I had placed a marble +altar, and upon every altar the marble bust of the man or woman who lay +beneath; each in the supreme beauty which all the defects of birth and +of time and of incompleteness, could not hide from the eye of the +prophetic sculptor. Each was like a half-risen glorified form of the +being who had there descended into the realms of Hades. And through +these glimmering rows of the dead I walked in the dream-light; and from +one to another I went in the glory of having known and loved them; now +weeping sad tears over the loss of the beautiful; now rejoicing in the +strength of the mighty; now exulting in the love and truth which would +yet dawn upon me when I too should go down beneath the visible, and +emerge in the realms of the actual and the unseen? All the time I was +sensible of a wondrous elevation of being, a glory of life and feeling +hitherto unknown to me. + +I had entered the secret places of my own hidden world by the gate of +sleep, and walked about them in my dream. + +Gradually I became aware that a foreign sound was mingling with the +sighing of the tree-tops overhead. It grew and grew, till I recognized +the sound of wheels--not of heavenly chariots, but of earthly motion +and business. I heard them stop at the lofty gates of my holy place, +and by twoes and threes, or in solitary singleness, came people into my +garden of the dead. And who should they be but the buried ones?--all +those whose marble busts stood in ghostly silence, within the shadows +of the everlasting pines? And they talked and laughed and jested. And +my city of the dead melted away. And lo! we stood in the midst of a +great market-place; and I knew it to be the market-place in which the +children had sat who said to the other children: + +"We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto +you, and ye have not lamented." + +And to my misery, I saw that the faces of my fathers and brothers, my +mothers and sisters, had not grown nobler in the country of the dead, +in which I had thought them safe and shining. Cares, as of this world, +had so settled upon them, that I could hardly recognize the old +likeness; and the dim forms of the ideal glory which I had reproduced +in my marble busts, had vanished altogether. Ah me! my world of the +dead! my city of treasures, hid away under the locks and bars of the +unchangeable! Was there then no world of realities?--only a Vanity Fair +after all? The glorious women went sweeping about, smiling and talking, +and buying and adorning, but they were glorious no longer; for they had +common thoughts, and common beauties, and common language and aims and +hopes; and everything was common about them. And ever and anon, with a +kind of shiver, as if to keep alive my misery by the sight of my own +dreams, the marble busts would glimmer out, faintly visible amidst the +fair, as if about to reappear, and, dispossessing the vacuity of folly, +assert the noble and the true, and give me back my dead to love and +worship once more, in the loneliness of the pine-forest. Side by side +with a greedy human face, would shimmer out for a moment the ghostly +marble face; and the contrast all but drove me mad with perplexity and +misery. + +"Alas!" I cried, "where is my future? Where is my beautiful death?" + +All at once I saw the face of a man who went round and round the skirts +of the market, and looked earnestly in amongst the busy idlers. He was +head and shoulders taller than any there; and his face was a pale face, +with an infinite future in it, visible in all its grief. I made my way +through the crowd, which regarded me with a look which I could not +understand, and came to the stranger. I threw myself at his feet and +sobbed: "I have lost them all. I will follow thee." He took me by the +hand, and led me back. We walked up and down the fair together. And as +we walked, the tumult lessened, and lessened. They made a path for us +to go, and all eyes were turned upon my guide. The tumult sank, and all +was still. Men and women stood in silent rows. My guide looked upon +them all, on the right and on the left. And they all looked on him till +their eyes filled with tears. And the old faces of my friends grew +slowly out of the worldly faces, until at length they were such as I +had known of yore. + +Suddenly they all fell upon their knees, and their faces changed into +the likeness of my marble faces. Then my guide waved his hand--and lo! +we were in the midst of my garden of the dead; and the wind was like +the sound of a going in the tops of the pine trees; and my white +marbles glimmered glorified on the altars of the tombs. And the dream +vanished, and I came awake. + +And I will not say here whose face the face of my guide was like. + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adela Cathcart, Vol. 3, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADELA CATHCART, VOL. 3 *** + +***** This file should be named 8943.txt or 8943.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/9/4/8943/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charles Bidwell and Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |