diff options
31 files changed, 24857 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31212-8.txt b/31212-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be88017 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3867 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +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: The Advocate + +Author: Charles Heavysege + +Posting Date: March 11, 2010 [EBook #31212] +Release Date: February 7, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + + + + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan with corrections by Bowerbird + + + + + +THE +ADVOCATE + +A NOVEL + +BY +CHARLES HEAVYSEGE, +Author of "Saul," "Jephthah's Daughter." +&c., &c., &c. + +ILLUSTRATED BY J. ALLAN. +(engraved by John Henry Walker after illustrations by J. Allan) + +MONTREAL +RICHARD WORTHINGTON, +GREAT ST. JAMES STREET. + +1865. + +M. LONGMOORE & CO., PRINTERS. + + + + +[Illustration: Stillyside] + + + + +THE ADVOCATE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Take, oh take those lips away, + That so sweetly were forsworn; + And those eyes, the break of day, + Lights that do mislead the morn: + But my kisses bring again, + bring again + Seals of love, but sealed in vain, + seal'd in vain." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + +On a bright day during the month of September, of the year 1800, +two persons were in earnest conversation in a lawyer's office in +the city of Montreal. One of them was the most distinguished +advocate of that place; a man of some three score years, and of a +commanding yet wild and singular aspect. His companion was a +well-dressed female of middle age, and comely, though mournful +countenance. Some disagreeable topic seemed to have just ruffled +both of their tempers, for her face was moist with tears, and +darkened with an expression of disappointment. His own was slightly +marked with annoyance, and, suddenly ceasing to arrange some folded +law papers that he held in his hands, and had gathered up from the +table at which he was standing, he exclaimed in tones of mingled +surprise and asperity: "Still at the old song! still harping, +harping, harping! Peace, no more of it. Heaven would be insufferable +with but one hymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl, earth +uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety, what a charm hast +thou!" + +"Is this, then, all your answer?" enquired the female, sorrowfully. + +"Is it not decisive?" he demanded sharply. "Woman, away: am I not +busy? Is not this the very Passion week of preparation before the +Easter of the Assizes?" Then with an upward leer of his eyes, that +were now filled with frolicksome humour, whilst at the corners of +his mouth flickered a grim smile, he continued: "Mona Macdonald, +I am neither selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not +prone to be provoked to marriage; though Satan in your shape has +for so many years tempted me thereto, I have still remained in the +bachelors' Eden, in spite of you and the Serpent. Marry you! Do I +look in the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough to commit +the unpardonable sin? No, a man may put himself beyond the reach +of mercy by other means than that." + +Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued: + +"What more is marriage than mere desert sands, in which life's +current is lost until it reappears in a parcel of bubbles called +babies. What is it but the fool's end, the knave's means; a warning +to the wise, a snare to the simple; the wantonness of youth, the +weakness of years; a pillory wherein to exercise patience; what is +it but the Church's stocks for the wayward feet of women. Marry +you! To marry is to commit two souls to the prison of one body; to +put two pigs into one poke; two legs into one boot, two arms into +one sleeve, two heads into one hat, two necks into one noose, two +corpses into one coffin, and this into a wet grave, for marriage +is a perennial spring of tears. Marry! Why should I bind myself +with a vow that I must break, not being by nature continent and +loving? Marry you! Yes, when I hate you. Have I a sinistrous look +to meditate such mischief? Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom? +Pish! I am ashamed to be so importuned." + +[Illustration: "Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom?"] + +This badinage was uttered with the fire of youth, combined with +the authority of age, accustomed to be obeyed, and the listener +offered no rejoinder; but the speaker, having approached, gazed +into her eyes with a twinkling smile of mirth, that gradually +changed to one of fondness and pity; and kissing her respectfully, +he added in a soft tone: "Come, come, how is the maid Amanda, how +fares our charming foundling?" + +"Well," was quietly replied. + +"Mona, I love that girl," he continued, assuming a tone of deep +sincerity, "for along with the whole web of your goodness, nature +has interwoven into the fine fabric of her form a thread of my +evil--not in the grosser sense,--no, no; still, look after her; +the breath of passion must be stirring in her, and at her years +most maids are tinder to love's dropping sparks. Remember, there +never yet was a nun but once had tender thoughts. Love comes unto +all that live, and with not less certainty than death's advances +--nay, even the cold, bony frame of death itself, at last comes +wooing, and elopes with life. Now, home and cheer your charge." +And he playfully pushed her from the room, then, throwing himself +into his chair, resumed the interrupted study of his briefs. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "A seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone." + + _All's Well That Ends Well._ + +The advocate was by birth an Englishman, and a cadet of an ancient +family, who, after having spent a dissolute youth and early manhood, +had come to Canada. Here he became acquainted with an old, half-pay +Highland officer of Wolfe's Army, who for his signal services +rendered during the operations of the British force before Quebec, +had been rewarded with a grant of land in that vicinity. Like others +of his countrymen, the Highlander had settled in the Province, and +married into a French Canadian family. But, soon, after their +union, his wife died in giving birth to a daughter, which he reared +to womanhood with all the strength of an undivided affection. The +Englishman's frank bearing and singular mental powers won the +admiration of the old soldier, and, at the same time, dazzled and +captivated his comely and unsophisticated daughter, to whom the +stranger was soon understood to stand in the light of a lover. But +Macdonald--for such was the name of the warm-hearted clansman--was +not destined to see his dearest wishes realized in the union of +the two. A sudden sickness laid low his hardy frame, and, dying, +he called the pair to his bedside, and joined their hands in +anticipation of the rite of wedlock. The father dead, the lover +betook himself to the study of the law, and with an extraordinary +aptitude and diligence, not only mastered the details of legal +practice, but comprehended, beyond others, the great principles +both of English and of French jurisprudence as practised in Lower +Canada. Ambitious of excellence, he resolved to complete his studies +of the latter in France itself. Of means he had little, but she, +confiding in his honor, consented that the estate left to her by +her father should be sold, to furnish him with the necessary funds +for his maintenance in Paris. In that gay capital--whilst taking +advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels +of the French Bar,--he associated with gamesters and courtezans, +and was at length left with resources barely sufficient to enable +him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary +acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile +eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque +humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his +fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible +scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence, +and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist +with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite +counsel for the defence. Extensive practice, and its concomitant, +a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving +him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with +it she had given him herself, day by day looked for the nuptial +tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become +a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer +in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her his long plighted +vows, he sent her to a lonely dwelling on the then unpeopled Ottawa +to hide her shame. There she remained till the scandal of their +connection was forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female +child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called +Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind +the bluff known as Mount Royal, or popularly the "mountain," that +lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City +of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious +in his profession, he continued to indulge his vein for pleasure; +not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-secrecy +of his home; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure +from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in those days, +the province was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials, +and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself;--men +of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion, +language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association, +whereof his house became one of the centres of reunion. There, +aware of his gentle descent, and impressed with his transcendent +abilities; charmed with his conversation--as pithy as it was apt +to be impure--his wit, his taste, his information, his judgment; +sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines, and luxuriance of +his table, around which military officer and civil servant, merchant +and judge, were accustomed to assemble, rank and office were +forgotten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour. +Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them, however disguised; +and, secure in that close conclave, where no pure female presence +was found to check the bacchanalian song, or forbid the ribald +jest, all sat to listen to and applaud their host's inimitable +stories, his grotesque descriptions, his wayward thoughts and +fantastic images; to hearken to his close analysis, his robust +reasoning, his wondrous pathos, his sublime exaggeration; and, as +the wine circulated, to observe yet more his chameleon aspect and +Protean character unfold itself; now grovelling like the Paradisal +toad, wherein, at the ear of Eve, was hidden the form of Lucifer; +now, touched by the Ithuriel spear of some keen conception, suddenly +soaring, like to the bright expanded shape of the surprised and +fallen Archangel, till the guests themselves, like the startled +Ithuriel recoiling from the instant apparition of the fiend, drew +back in amazement, or, as if at the jests of another Yorick, raised +over the table a long, eruptive roar. Nor was that all. For a moment +he would assume the moralist, the theologian, or,--leaving both +revelation and the pandects,--become the philosopher, pacing the +universe for occult truth; or the metaphysician, tracking the region +of the supersensuous; and, over every theme, flying on mocking +mental pinions, seeming an intellectual satan, passing through the +region of vain questionings and doubtful disquisition, dim out to +the abyss. And thus he lived, using, and abusing, his rare gifts; +no virtuous and accomplished wife presiding at these feasts, ever +degenerating into orgies, or giving sanctity to these walls; within +which were gathered the brightest, gayest, noblest, most powerful +--often most dissolute--of the land. But now the guests were thinned +in numbers by death, by marriage, by worn out passions; and many +a fierce spirit had been tamed by adversity, till the mirth had +grown to be half moody, and the saturnalia gross rather in intention +than in fact. + +[Illustration: "As if at the jests of another Yorick, raised over +the table a long, eruptive roar."] + +Yet ever amidst these distracting pleasures his heart reverted, +first, to the woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to the sylvan +shades of Stillyside, which latter he still took delight to visit +and adorn; cherishing its mistress, and watching over and nurturing +her child, the fruit of her fondness and of his falsehood;--but +commonly known and publicly acknowledged, only as her foster +daughter, and, in his own prouder circle, as his ward. For himself, +he never occupied other than a handsome suburban residence, situated +between the city and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona +Macdonald seldom entered; and when she did so, it was to be scowled +upon by its menial mistress, a French Canadian, named Babet Blais, +who viewed the melancholy visitor with angry and jealous eyes. Into +this house many comely Abigails had come and gone; but Babet Blais +remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, acquired a wife's +settlement and privileges, by virtue of the presence of a dwarfish, +swarthy creature, half oaf, half imp, their mutual offspring. This +strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb, +was named Narcisse, and flitted about the house rather than made +it his home; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence, +and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and +indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him. +Reckless, stupid, savage; ignoble and stubborn; with thick, black, +stubby hair, and dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes +filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like live coals; +deep-chested, and with shoulders raised and rounded, giving him an +air of pugnacity; snarl written upon his countenance, and pride in +the pose of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient, +he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman, +reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to +her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him; +wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so +severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged +him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the +more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming +his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper, +in one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His +father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon +relinquished the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled him +to a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to take him +into his office. But, instead of applying himself there, he spent +most of his time in idleness and debauchery; by night frequenting +the abodes of vice and infamy, and by day, haunting the doors and +corridors of the court-house, in the latter always instinctively +seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sullen and offended parent. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Haply despair hath seized her." + + _Cymbeline._ + +It was now evening, and the landscape lay steeped in yellow sunshine; +when Mona Macdonald rode slowly homewards, silent and buried in +gloom. Her way lay around the base of the mountain. But neither +its adjacent and majestic sides on the one hand, nor the placid, +mellow-tinted, and sky-bounded plain on the other were regarded by +her. Her thoughts were still with the advocate in his office, or +with her departed father in her native home below Quebec, as he +and she had lived and loved each other there, nearly twenty years +before. Thus preoccupied, she lent no heed to the landscape, although +before her was the broad, descending sun, and behind her was the +mighty Saint Lawrence basking in burnished gold; and soon another +stream, a branch of the Ottawa, appeared in the distance, the two +clasping between them as in a zone the Island of Montreal. But +neither the note of birds, the lowing of cattle, the barking of +dogs, the churr of the bullfrog, the distant human voices coming +faintly over the lea, nor yet the elysean landscape were seen or +heard; and not until the carriage drew up at Stillyside, and the +bark of a lap-dog, on the top of the distant steps, that led to +the verandah in front of the house, struck her ear, did she fully +awake from her mournful reverie. Then, alighting, she passed +through a postern that hung at the side of folding gates, and, +winding her way up a walk bordered with shrubs and flowers, approached +the dwelling, that stood upon a knoll. At that moment the sound +of a cowbell in the contiguous mountain coppice told the slow +approach of a dappled dairy, in charge of a swarthy French Canadian +youth. All else was quiet about the place, that seemed to be lying +in a sort of listless, half dreamy tranquillity and halcyon repose. +The mansion itself was spacious, and built of the grey limestone +of the district. Woodbine and hop, clematis and the Virginia creeper +half concealed its rugged exterior, and clothed in tangled luxuriance +the verandah that extended along the front. The roof was covered +with shingles, painted red; and in it were a number of dormer +windows, which, like all the other windows, were hidden with closed +green blinds or shutters. Swallows were darting about the eaves, +and wheeling around a fountain and jet d'eau in front, that were +fed by a mountain spring behind the house; whilst from one of the +rather numerous chimneys a frail wreath of blue smoke crept, and +lingered lazily about the lightning rod, before it rose and melted +away into the pure evening sky. But by this time the lap-dog had +come forwards to meet her, and now ran in advance, emitting a fitful +and joyous bark; and as she ascended the steps the door was opened +by a servant, who, having admitted her, closed it again; but not +before a stranger might, from without, have witnessed a fair and +youthful female figure swiftly descend the stairs into the hall, +and, throwing her arms around the neck of the returned traveller, +greet her with an affectionate salute. A large, grey mastiff now +appeared from the rear of the building, and, while the driver was +removing sundry parcels from the carriage, took a few slow and +solemn turns about the knoll, then, on the departure of man and +vehicle, retired for the night to his kennel, leaving the scene as +quiet as before. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Ungracious wretch, + Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves + Where manners ne'er were preached! Out of my sight." + + _Twelfth Night._ + +On the morning of the following day, Mona Macdonald sat at breakfast +in a room at Stillyside. She was plainly and neatly dressed; and +with her sat a figure more lady-like, and still in her teens, +attired simply, but with negligent taste. Both seemed abstracted, +and, as they silently sipped their tea, appeared to be brooding +over some recent, sad subject of conversation. The weather, too, +without, was as sombre as the mood within. A canopy of cold, grey +clouds covered the sky; the air was chilly, and the wind swayed +the trees to and fro, betokening rain. From time to time the cat, +with arched back, and tail erect, came loudly purring, and rubbing +its sleek sides against the skirts of its mistresses; the lap-dog +was restless; and upon the hearthrug a drowsy spaniel lay with his +nose between his paws, and whined fitfully in a dog's day-dream; +whilst the females, at length altogether ceasing to eat, sat +self-absorbed. On the face of the elder was an expression of sorrow +tempered with patience, but on that of the younger, an air of +melancholy was mingled with resentment, that heightened almost into +majesty a form and countenance of extraordinary and statuesque +beauty. From time to time her companion regarded her with a look +of anxiety and tenderness; and at length, seeing her still abstaining +from the suspended meal, exclaimed: + +"Eat, child, eat: fasting is bad for the young." + +"I have no appetite, except for information," was mournfully replied; +and the elder again regarded her affectionately; then with subdued +earnestness, and in an expostulatory tone, rejoined: + +"Be pacified, Amanda; for curiosity often brings us care. Let well +alone, and it will continue to be well with you; but why should +you thus persist to peer into the bottom of your past; as it were, +asking the fashion of your swaddling clothes? Fie! you are too +impatient; too importunate. Pray, no longer question me against my +will, making enquiries that may not be answered. Live without asking +why you live. No more of this. Does not your guardian love you as +though you were his child; and is he not wiser than yourself; to +judge of what knowledge is for your welfare? You ask me, why this +mystery about your birth. Amanda, we move midst mystery from birth +to death, and they who seek to solve it seek for sorrow." + +"These words disturb me more than your past silence," exclaimed +the younger. "What horror is there to reveal touching my origin, +that you yet dare not shew me?" + +"I dare not break your guardian's command," replied the elder, +firmly. + +"Neither can I control a natural desire to know what so nearly +concerns me," retorted the other. "I beg of you to solve this +mystery of my birth. It is my right, my birthright, to know who +gave me birth. It is said that I was found--where was I found? by +whom? how have I been confided to your care? by whose appointment +have I had given to me this guardian? and why is he so kind, and +wherefore are you so faithful? Tell me, nurse, why has he caused +me to be educated with such care; from what motive has he caused +me to be furnished with accomplishments that seem to reach beyond +the bounds of my prospective sphere? Nurse, I charge you,--if you +indeed have nursed me from my birth, as you declare you have +done,--tell me, I pray you tell me: it is not much to ask: the very +poorest child yet knows its parentage; the meanest beggar knows +whether his father once asked alms or not; but I know nothing of +my progenitors; whether they were of a proud or of a humble station, +whether good or vicious; whether they be yet living or be long +since dead. I do not know even whether my guardian knew them, nor +how he has come to be my guardian, my kind supporter, friend: +nothing do I know of these, whose all I ought to know. What is the +reason of this singular secrecy? Nurse, tell me all you know,--for +well I know you know,--tell me, I say, about my parentage; declare, +again I charge you, and now most solemnly, if you really love me, +who gave me to your care and to his kind tutelage: Nurse, Mona, +foster-mother, speak; how have I become the ward, nay, like the +very child, of that eccentric, wise, gay, good old man?" + +"More gay than good, and not so wise as wicked," muttered Mona, +and, not giving her companion time to reply, continued: + +"Amanda, do not importune me further, I conjure you. Enough for +you to know your guardian loves you, cherishes you even as if you +were his child. Let us arise from table since our meal seems +done;--what is it that alarms you?" Ah! And at that moment the +report of a gun, the crashing of a window pane, the sound of shot +hurtling past, its striking the opposite wall of the apartment, +and dropping, along with falling plaster, on to the floor, burst +upon them; followed, without, by the expostulating tones of a +man-servant, that were soon overpowered by a loud guffaw, and, +before the interlocuters had recovered from their astonishment and +terror, Narcisse, followed by several men carrying fowling pieces, +rushed, swearing, into the vestibule. Amanda saw him, and, rising +to her feet, regarded him through the doorway with a look of scorn +and anger akin to that cast by the Belviderean Apollo upon the +wounded Python. But his dull temperament was invulnerable to the +arrows that shot from her eyes, and, undaunted, he swept forward +into the room, and with coarse familiarity attempted to salute her. +He was unsuccessful, for Mona, advancing between them, hindered +the nearer approach of the intruding mannikin, who, baffled, and +with the eyes of Amanda still fixed upon him, and yet beaming +ineffable contempt and disdain, at length stood before her with +downcast look, like one detected in some act of guilt. His companions +one by one slunk back to the lawn, whither in the dumb disgrace of +his discomfiture, he followed them. There, meeting with the domestic +already mentioned, and who had now been joined by a fellow-servant; +first an altercation, then a scuffle ensued, in which latter the +mastiff took an effective part, in maintaining the equality of the +house against what otherwise would have been overwhelming odds; +but he was at last disabled by a blow with the butt of a +fowling-piece, whilst the lap-dog, as it stood barking on the +borders of the fray, was shot dead by the cowardly and vindictive +Narcisse. This was too much to be borne, and, indignant, the ladies +descended to the lawn. At the same moment, three female domestics +appeared upon the scene, and changed the character of the encounter. +Three brawny ruffians seized each an Abigail, and attempted to bear +her off, as of old the treacherous Roman bachelors carried the +Sabine maids. Screams filled the air, mingled with oaths and +laughter; and the affair that had been begun in vulgar, aimless, +frolic, might have ended in serious outrage, but just then a horseman +appeared at the gate, dismounted, and, rushing in, riding-whip in +hand, plied it with such vigor, that in a few seconds all the rude +gang had fled except Narcisse, who, having stumbled, was seized by +the collar, hurried forward, and spurned through the gateway into +the road, leaving his fowling-piece behind him. + +The stranger now for the first time seemed to observe the ladies, +and bowing to them respectfully, for a moment appeared to hesitate +whether to approach and address them. They, too, stood silent, but +it was with mixed astonishment and agitation, and he still stood +regarding the younger with an expression of deep admiration; till, +as if suddenly recollecting himself, and bowing yet more profoundly +than before, accompanied with an apologetic smile, enhancing the +beauty of his young and noble countenance, he gracefully retired +to his steed, vaulted into the saddle, and, galloping away, was +soon hidden from their view by a turn in the road. + +"Oh, nurse, Mona, we have been rude indeed!" then exclaimed the +younger: "We have committed the most odious of all sins, ingratitude; +and," she added half archly, "we have seen the noblest of all forms, +Mona, a gentleman. Nay, but to have let the chivalrous stranger, +our deliverer, depart without a word of grateful recognition;--who +will champion us the next time, good Mona." + +"May we never again require such timely help, child," replied her +mentor: "But let us go within and ascertain the damage that has +been done there by these vagabonds from the city;" and, so saying, +she took up the dead lap-dog and carried it tenderly in upon her +arm, viewing it with a wistful expression of grief and pity, whilst +Amanda stooped to caress the wounded mastiff, then followed with +an air of pensive majesty, not without looking in the direction in +which the gallant stranger, had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own." + + _As You Like It._ + +It was near mid-day, and the advocate was engaged in his office, +when the notary with whom Narcisse had been placed, suddenly +entering, angrily demanded: + +"Where is Narcisse, where is your son, sir? Here I am wanting his +assistance, now, and he is missing, he is gone, no one knows where, +nor where he has stowed those papers. Where is he, sir; where is +the boy, I say; where is your son?" + +The advocate looked up at this sudden disturbance, and, drawing a +deep sigh, exclaimed with bitter emphasis: + +"I would he were nowhere; that he were erased from the book of +being; I would he were in heaven,--or else--in your office, Monsieur +Veuillot. Is that a bad wish for either?" + +"But he is not in my office," said Veuillot. + +"Nor in heaven neither, I fear," rejoined the advocate. + +"Where is he, then?" demanded the excited notary: "where is your +son?" + +"Such a son!" murmured the advocate, shrugging his shoulders. "Do +you wish to be pleasant with me, Monsieur Veuillot? my evil genius +call him. Son! I own I feed him, as I do other vermin that infest +my house." + +"But where is he?" reiterated the notary with growing impatience, +and seeming resolved to take no denial. + +"Where is he?" echoed the advocate: "ask his mother; yes, sir, ask +his dam. Oh, Monsieur Veuillot, is there not deep damnation in thus +having an idiot for one's child? Here is your purgatory:--purgatory? +no: for purgatory is a kind of half-way house to heaven, but this +son of mine is to me a slippery stepping-stone to perdition. Sir, +a child should be a cherub to lift its parents' spirit to the skies; +but mine, oh!"--and a spasm of agony passed over the old man's +visage, succeeded by a forced expression of calmness, as he continued: + +"Veuillot, you have heard of Solomon. He speaks of the foolish son +of a wise father. He was himself the father of a fool, that rent +the kingdom,--Rehoboam I mean,--and he kept concubines, too; so +I suppose he waxed fruitful in fools. I have but one fool, therefore +I am thankful;--but then he is a thorough fool, a most unmitigated, +and unmitigatable fool; the fool of fools, a finished fool, the +pink of fools; a most preposterous, backwards-going, crab-like +fool; a filthy fool; an idiot, sir, without either parts or particle +of ambition; an ape, an owl that flits about by day; a bat, and a +bad bat, that flits from tavern to sty; chief of the devil's +nightingales; a raven that, roving to foul roosts, goes beating +the bosom of the night; a soul that loves the darkness; a mole, +sir, a blind mole; a piece of animated perversity, a creature +that persists to go astray." + +"Where has he strayed to now?" demanded the notary. + +"Into the hands of justice, perhaps;" was the fierce reply: "into +the grip of the law; up to the foot of the gallows; on to the hill +of my extreme disgrace." + +"Where is he, where can I find him? tell me only where," cried +Veuillot. + +"Where! let echo answer,--would you wish to hunt him?" said the +advocate, mocking. "Did you ever gallop, sir, after a hedgehog? have +you assisted to draw a badger? I am badgered by him, and will blame +him, ay, ban him, for he is my curse, my bane; why should I not +curse him as Noah cursed that foul whelp Canaan? Beshrew him for +a block-head, a little black-browed beetle, a blot of ink, a shifting +shadow, a roving rat, a mouse, yes, sir, a very mouse, that creeps +in and out of its hole when the old cat is away. Away, Mr. Notary, +away; go, good Monsieur Veuillot. There are more conceptions in +man than he has yet expressed either in statutes or in testaments. +Go; you are a deed-drawer; I'll be a deed doer: I'll do, I'll do,--I +do not know what I'll do, but something shall be done. He shall be +shaken over perdition; sent to grind in the prison house; sold into +slavery:--fool! he shall be banished to Caughnawaga, or to +Loretto;--the further the better; he shall be sent to the Lake of +the Two Mountains, sir, or to Saint Regis to learn the war-whoop +and gallant the squaws. You smile:--but to your errand, Veuillot; +it is not known where my son is: I saw him last night, may I never +see him again! Then, dying, my old age, perhaps, may close in +peace: not else, not else." + +The notary departed, but the exasperated lawyer still conversed +with himself. "I cannot decently die," he said, "any more than I +can devoutly live, pricked through the very reins and kidneys with +that skewer. Alas! he is my goad, my thorn in the flesh, the +messenger of satan sent to buffet me. He is the mosquitto that +stings my knuckles; the little, black, abominable fly that will +insist to assail my nose; he is my bruise, my blain, my blister, +my settled, ceaseless source of irritation: the cause, the cause--of +what is he the cause? Alas! that I should ever have been the cause +of such a foul effect! But let it be so; the whitest skins have +moles, the sun has spots; he is my mole, my spot; and I, I am the +father of the fool, Narcisse." + +Narcisse was that moment at a tavern in the beautiful village of +Cote des Neiges, adjacent to Stillyside, and much resorted to by +pleasure seekers from Montreal. His companions, too, were there, +bewailing the loss of one of their fowling-pieces, and devising +means for revenge on their interrupter and successful assailant. +There they remained, and, instead of spending the day, as was their +first intention, on the side of the mountain, in popping at small +birds they passed many of its hours in quaffing large potations, +the effects of which they in some degree slept off by a long +afternoon nap. It was now nightfall, and they were returning +homewards, conversing in loud and angry tones on the humiliation +of the morning, and threatening retribution against its cause, the +gallant stranger. Narcisse, with the litigiousness of his maternal +race, and prompted by his inkling of law, was for launching an +action for assault and battery against their assailant's purse, +whilst the others, pot-valiant, declared their anxiety to meet him +in bodily conflict on another field; and thus discoursing in the +deepening gloom, the party arrived opposite the mansion at Stillyside. +For a few moments they halted, undetermined whether to approach, +and demand the delivery of the captured weapon; but at last agreed +to waive the requisition, chiefly at the instance of Narcisse, who +authoritatively ruled, that to demand and accept of the feloniously +acquired gun, would be to compound a felony. Hereupon, being +somewhat more at ease in their minds, they proceeded, and now less +noisily, continuing on their way with only occasional bursts of +abuse, and the firing off of fag ends of French songs, accompanied +with a fitful fusilade of low, horselaughter; and thus, mollified +and maudlin, unsteadily continued their straggling march, until +they halted at a gate on the roadside, and some distance behind +which, loomed a large, dingy and deserted-looking dwelling, half +concealed by tall trees. No light was to be seen, but, after a +brief consultation, the party swung open the gate, entered, and +having reached the house, one of the number gave a peculiar tapping +at a window, followed by a low whistle or call, that was immediately +answered by a corresponding sound from within, and this again by +a counter signal, which was repeated like the faintly returning +tone of an echo; and, after some delay, the door slowly opened, +the voices of men and women, mingling in boisterous mirth, burst +forth like the roar of a suddenly opened furnace, the party entered, +and the door was closed again. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?" + + _Macbeth._ + +At the same hour that Narcisse and his companions entered the sombre +and suspicious looking dwelling, the advocate returned to his home +in the upper environs of the city, wearied in mind and frame, from +an application broken only by the entrance of Monsieur Veuillot, +and the arrival of a messenger from Stillyside, who, hot and excited +from the violent scene whereof it had been the theatre, painted +the outrage in deepened colors, and exaggerated form. Anger and +shame contended in the old lawyer's bosom as he heard the story; +the former sentiment urging for the punishment of the delinquents, +the latter pleading for forbearance; for amongst the transgressors +was his illegitimate son, whose share in the offence, if brought +into the light of the tribunal, would thence cast back a shadow +upon the father, and point, publicly and anew, to their disreputable +relationship. Others also, whose reputation was far dearer to him +than his own, must be dragged, either as witnesses or as prosecutrix, +to public gaze, and thus be made to furnish matter for the tongue +of scandal. Perhaps, too, some latent paternal tenderness inclined +the incensed advocate to mercy; and, giving the messenger a hastily +written note, sympathizing with the tenants of Stillyside, he +despatched him thither, along with a noble Newfoundland dog, then +lying in the office, and which he meant should replace the disabled +mastiff. Afterwards, his thoughts, occupied with the important +professional business of the day, scarcely reverted to the vexatious +occurrence of the morning; but now, at eve, the tide of attention, +that had been so long dammed back, came flowing over his spirit +with increasing depth and force; and, in spite of his unwillingness +and the necessity for recruiting his wasted energies, for the +performance of the onerous public duties of the morrow, he fell to +brooding over the new misdeed of the already too obnoxious Narcisse. +From the son, his musings reverted to the menial mother, and, by +contrast, from her to the fair tenants at Stillyside; till, tossed +by the contrary and vexed tides of thought and feeling, he arose, +perturbed from the lounge, went to the window, and, drawing aside +the curtains, beheld in the east the full moon climbing the clear, +blue heavens, amidst a multitude of marble clouds. Struck with +sudden admiration and oblivious pleasure, he opened the folding +frames and stepped into the garden. The air was balmy; and, soothed +by the change, he returned within, reassumed the habiliments of +the day, took a stout, ivory-headed walking cane from its corner, +and, calling a domestic, announced that he should for some time be +absent. His first impulse was to cross a contiguous, half-reclaimed +tract, sprinkled with vast boulders of the glacial period, and +reach the turnpike road that led around the mountain. But before +he turned to commence his stroll he paused to gaze down on the +outstretched city, that, lying as asleep on the arm of the St. +Lawrence, with tin-covered domes, spires, cupolas, minarets, and +radiant roofs, showing like molten silver in the moonbeams, +contrasting with the dark shingles covering most of the houses, +presented an enchanted-looking scene of glory and of gloom. On the +left, and oldest of its class, was the Bonsecours Church, with its +high-pitched roof, and airy, but inelegant, campanile, refulgent +as if cut from some rock of diamond. Nearer, was the Court House, +and, beneath it, the Jail; and, behind them both, the dusky expanse +of the poplar-planted Champ de Mars. In the midst of the city rose +the tin-mailed tower and spire of the French Cathedral, and, at +its rear, loomed the neighboring, wall-girt, solemn Seminary of +Saint Sulpice. The bright, precipitous roof of the Church of the +Recollets, and the spangled canopy of the vast foundation of the +Grey Nuns reposed resplendent; and, within its ample enclosure, +luminous as a moon-lit lake, the quadrangled and cloistered College +of Montreal. Beyond these, in the midst of the shining river, +duskily slumbered the little, fortified and wooded Island of Sainte +Hélène; and up the stream, apast the petty promontory of Pointe +Saint Charles, stretched the low, umbrageous lapse of Nuns Island, +whence the eye followed the bending flood, that trended towards +where, with eternal toil and sullen roar, agonize for ever the +hoary rapids of Lachine. In the other direction the eye roved +downwards over Hochelaga and Longueuil, Longue Pointe and Pointe +aux Trembles, towards where lay the islet-strewn shallows of +Boucherville, and, lower yet, the village of Varennes. The mountains +of Boucherville, Beloeil, Chambly, and Vermont shadowy bounded the +horizon; and, turning from these, abrupt before him rose the awful +and spectral presence of Mount Royal. Skirting its foot he now +proceeded, brushing away the shining dew, disturbing the lazy lizard +and the serenading grasshopper, and hearing below him the harsh +croaking of the bullfrog in the pool; whilst, ever and anon, the +gust awoke, with a huge sigh, the dreaming maples, poplars, and +dark, penitential pines. From the remote, secluded farms came the +faint bark of dogs; and amidst such sights and sounds he at length +emerged upon the winding road, that, if followed, would lead him +past Stillyside. Slowly and without special aim he continued to +walk, ruminating and still drawn onwards, lured by the time and +scene, until the sound alike of mastiff and of cur had ceased, the +grasshopper refused to pipe upon the dusty road, and the too distant +bullfrog was no longer heard gurgling to its mates, but all was +silent, lying as in a trance, both heaven and earth. And then he +paused, and lapsing into meditation, stood unconscious of surrounding +things, till the tolling of the clock in the distant tower of the +cathedral of Notre Dame awoke him, and, starting from his reverie +and listening, he counted the hours to the full score of midnight. +Struck, then, by the weird aspect of the scene and singular silence, +a vague sense of horror stole through him, and he exclaimed hoarsely: +"This is the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn +and spirits walk abroad!" and scarcely had the words escaped his +lips when a wild tumult rose near him, and he perceived a bacchanalian +and disorderly troop of both sexes sallying into the moonlight; +wherein with uncouth antics and inviting pose, they disported +towards a group of trees, encircling which, and in the chequered +beams beneath their boughs, he beheld them in Harlequin and +Columbine-like appeals of passion, or already mated and forming +for the meditated measure; appearing the very gang of Circe;--and +in their midst he now observed his son, the brutish looking, cunning, +and sensual Narcisse, wine-flushed and loud, and seeming to be the +mimic Comus of the crew. As with the power of divination, he at +once comprehended the spectacle. He had arrived opposite the +equivocal building wherein Narcisse and his companions had disappeared +some hours before, and the door of which had just been suddenly +flung open, and kindling with wrath he at once advanced upon the +bacchants in the midst of their orgies. At the same instant, from +the direction of the city and unseen by him, a tall rider on a +lofty steed, cloak flying to the breeze, swept by like an apparition; +greeted only with a comical yell of astonishment and derision from +one of the females, as like a spectre it swept by. But the hilarious +band before him was too much preoccupied with the performance of +its mockeries to have observed anything, and the advocate, with +eyes gleaming and fixed upon his son, who now perceiving him stood +terror stricken, approached the revellers, who subsided before him, +as, with grey hair fluttering in the wind, he came beneath the +extending boughs, like some denouncing Druid amidst the sacred +oaks, his countenance inflamed, his whole frame seeming to shake +as if in throes to eject some foul possession; or, rather, as if +he were himself a fierce, incarnate, and unfriendly spirit; and, +at length, addressing his son, who was now leaning against a tree, +both for support and concealment, he burst forth: "Miscreant!"--and +the word was echoed from the side of a huge, dilapidated barn, +--"Wretches," he hollowed; and the guilty crowd, fearing both +individual recognition and personal contact, again began to retire. + +"Stay," he commanded, imperiously, "you are known, and flight shall +put the worst construction on your case;--halt, brawlers and bullies, +spendthrifts and bankrupts, breakers of the peace; sons of afflicted +parents, husbands of weeping wives, brothers of sisters both ashamed +and grieved; outlaws; the city's scum, the country's scourge, the +harvest that shall yet be reaped for the jail, and leave gleanings +for the gallows; abandoned creatures, linger;" and suddenly grasping +Narcisse: "Sirrah," he cried, "here is your nightly haunt, these +are your companions,--come with me, sir, come,--ah, will you resist +your"--father he was about to say, but he recoiled from the word +as from an adder, and, casting upon his son a look of unspeakable +disdain, he shook the writhing criminal, who the next moment escaped +from his hold, and slunk away, still looking backward over his +shoulder and muttering curses upon his begetter. The advocate stood +watching him in silence, as, withdrawing along with the others, +the distance dimmed his form, and drowned his maledictions; then, +drawing a deep sigh, a dark, vindictive scowl gathered upon his +visage, until its expression became diabolical, and these words +rolled from his heaving chest in deep, irregular murmurs: + +"Thou son of a wicked and rebellious woman, do I not know that thou +hast set my friends against me, and caused mine enemies to hold me +in derision! But thou shalt suffer, thou shalt bend, or I will +break thee, yea, dash thee into pieces. May not the potter do what +he wills with the cup his own hands have fashioned? Away with +thee, misshapen reptile; may soon the Saint Lawrence hide thee, or +may'st thou soon be laid in the burial field of thy mother's race. +Away, thou vessel of dishonor; grant Heaven that I may not yet make +of thee a vessel of wrath!" and the old man's countenance worked +convulsively, as he seemed to be revolving some terrible idea; but +at last growing calmer he exclaimed: "Down, down, ye cruel thoughts, +ye horrible conceptions; hence, busiest suggestions of the fiend; +be silent at my ears, ye visionary lips; ye perilous and importunate +prompters, peace!" But scarcely had he uttered these words, when +a report of firearms sounded amongst the trees, and a shot rattled +through the boughs, scattering the leaves upon his head; and the +replicated echoes had hardly ceased, when a peal of triumphant +laughter rose, and continued to be renewed till the spot appeared +a field for the sport of a hundred goblins of mischief. + +"Come in," at length said a voice, and, turning, he beheld a woman +standing in the doorway. + +"Who are you?" he enquired. + +"Enter, and learn;" she answered: "I would not have you murdered +in your old age. Do you not know me?" and seizing him rudely she +drew him towards her until his face almost touched her own emaciated +countenance, on which played a sardonic smile as she turned it +towards the moonlight, and he strove to free himself, exclaiming: + +"Witch, hag, loose me:" and gazed upon her with a look of mingled +amazement and abhorrence. + +"Am I then so changed?" she demanded, with a gloomy smile; "am I +become a leper; am I grown loathsome now, whom you once declared +to be so lovely? Follow me, false man; you did not once require +solicitation." And again the sound of firearms startled the night, +and once more the leaves fell fluttering on his head, and the beldam +angrily exclaimed: "Come in, old fool," and laid hands on him a +second time, as, in a voice thick and hurried with dislike and +terror, he replied: "You are remembered by me, woman; give me +shelter for a moment," and hastily stepping with her over the +threshhold, she closed the door after them. Another burst of +triumphant laughter rose from the retiring revellers, and again +moonlight and returning silence rested on the scene. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "It is my lady: oh, it is my love!" + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + +The agitation of the morning at Stillyside had subsided as the day +wore, but the mind of Amanda Macdonald (for such was the name of +the younger and fairer denizen of that sequestered abode) remained +pensive and preoccupied; and when at her usual hour she had ascended +to her chamber, instead of retiring to rest, she took up a tale of +the troubadours, and read; nor did she lay down the volume till +the sudden flickering of the candle in the socket and the simultaneous +tolling from the distant belfry of the church of the village of +Saint Laurent warned her that it was midnight. Then, feeling +oppressed, alike with the heaviness of the atmosphere of her room, +and a strange weight at her heart, analogous to the lassitude that +is sometimes felt in the beginning of sickness, she arose, drew +aside the curtains, and throwing open the folding window, stepped +on to the verandah. A clear Canadian night, appearing a new and +chaster version of the day, greeted her. The moon, at night's +meridian, hung high in the fulness of its autumnal splendor, tranquil +in the solitude of the sky, a solitude unbroken, save by a few +small stars that were twinkling in the azure, and a fleet of low, +dappled clouds that were coasting the horizon. Awhile her eyes +dwelt abstractedly on the sight, then, falling, they wandered +listlessly over the broad and shining expanse of landscape before +her; where Nature, unrobed, seemed as in a bath; for in front, the +grass, steeped in descending dews, glittered as a lake. Woods +confined the view in one direction, and the gleamy wave of the +Ottawa, amidst filmy obscurity, bounded it, yet further off, in +another. Unseen but felt, like the unperceived Genius of the +landscape, towered close behind her the sombre-sided mountain; and, +touched by the solemn scene, she advanced, and, leaning upon the +balustrade, heaved a deep sigh; then lapsed into a reverie so +profound, that she failed to hear the tramp of a horse now rapidly +approaching, and to note the change to sudden silence, caused by +its stopping at the postern. But there, transfixed with wonder and +admiration, and looking like a bronze equestrian statue at the +gate, now, mounted, sat gazing the lately flying horseman of the +road, the champion of the morning on those grounds, and contemplated +the figure on the verandah; then, dismounting, tied his steed, and +vaulting over the fence, swiftly approached across the lawn; till, +as if suddenly aware of being on holy ground, he paused, and stood +with reverential aspect and clasped hands, eagerly bending towards +her as if in adoration. Thus engaged, as stands in ecstasy some +newly arrived pilgrim before a shrine, he stood enrapt; whilst she +remained as moveless as a carved angel leaning over a cathedral +aisle, and, with her eyes fixed on vacancy, at length mournfully +exclaimed: "Sad, sad, so sad!--yet why am I so sad? No denser +grows the mystery around my birth; and if knight errants yet live, +rescuing maids, or he is a wandering god, and here is Arcadia, why +should that make me grieve? It is true that he is handsome--and +yet what of that?--most men are handsome in the eyes of maids. But +he appears the paragon of men. Is he indeed not all a man should +be? Where were the blemish, the exception; who shall challenge +nature, saying, in his form, that here she has given too little, +there too much?--Ah, me! I am not happy, yet I should be so." + +"Can I have heard aright, or do I dream?" gasped out the stranger. + +"A knight, a god;" she continued, yet musing; "oh, he came hither +like a knight of old, or as an angry angel sent to scatter +fiends;--or, rather, like the lightning he arrived, out of the +storm cloud of I know not where. Where is he now? whence was he? +who is he? what? Alas, I know nothing of where, nor who, nor what, +nor whence he is; all that I know is, I am strangely sad; and that +such perfection was not made for me." + +"Is this not Stillyside?" enquired the listener, "or do I wander +in some spirit-land; lost, lost;--oh, so luxuriously lost! She, +too, seems lost--lost in a reverie, and all forlorn. I'll speak to +her;--and yet I fear to speak, I fear to breathe, lest the undulating +air should burst this, and prove it to be but a bubble. Yet she +breathes, she spoke, and oh, such words! Words, be at my command; +I will address her, for this is not fancy: could fancy shew a moving +soul of sorrow? See how the passion plays upon that face, as she +thus stands with sad-eyed earnestness, maintaining converse with +the hollow sky. Looked ever aught so fair yet so forlorn? Methinks +there is a tear upon her cheek. Why comes it from the Eden of her +eye? I must speak to her;" and with mixed fear and fervour he +exclaimed: "May Heaven keep you from grave cause of sorrow, lady! +Forgive me, oh, forgive me, lady, or vision, for, by these dazzled +eyes, and, as I fear, by your offended form, I Scarcely can divine +whether you are of earth or air; pardon me if I have appeared here +by night, as unpremeditatedly as I came by day. Bid me begone, +--and yet permit me to remain, for, by my life, and the deep +admiration with which you have inspired me, I cannot leave you till +I learn your grief, and with it, peradventure, my own doom. Whom +did you speak of even now, fair form?" + +"Who asks of me that question; who is it that thus listens when I +thought myself alone?" she demanded haughtily, looking downwards +from the verandah. "Sir, just now I spoke, and said--I know not +what. What you have overheard me say I fear was foolish; do not, +then, regard it. I know you now. You are the stranger who, this +morning, drove those violent intruders from these grounds. Ah, +who would have thought you would return by night, and thus, sir, +play the eaves-dropper! Oh, for shame! Nay, you are not the one I +took you for. Sir, it is mean to overlisten; mean, very mean; nay, +it is base, unmanly, to listen to a maid, when she commits her +vagaries to the moon." + +"Scourge me, for I deserve it, with your tongue;" rejoined the +stranger--"but, lady, you were not alone, though I were absent; +no; you cannot be alone. Such excellence must draw hither elves +and midnight troops of fairies; by day, by night, each moment must +array around you the good wishes of the world. No, not alone; the +very sky is filled with watchers and the ground covered with +invisible feet, that have come here to do you homage; then why not +I found here to pay you mine? Are you still angry?" + +"You have offended me," she answered;--"and yet perhaps I am too +severe with you. I fear I am ungrateful. 'Mean,' did I say? It was +mean in me to say so, and most forgetful of the favor conferred +here by you this morning. No, I vow it was not mean--at least in +_you_. And yet it was mean, it was very mean in you, sir, thus to +overstep the golden mean of manners. Scourge you? Ah, I fear you +well deserve it;--and yet if I could, I would put to scourging that +word, 'mean,' that has just escaped from out of my petulent lips, +as sometimes a froward, disobedient child runs into danger; breaking +away from out of the nurse's arms. But you should not have played +the bold intruder, and joined in these vain vigils;--nay, begone, +or I must, myself, withdraw. I do entreat you, stay no longer; come +some other time,--but go to-night; make no excuse for staying, or +you may yet compel me to be angry with you. Indeed, I fear that I +am too forgiving. Go, I pardon you,--but go at once, or I may yet +repent to have condoned what it, in truth, were hard to justify." + +"Heaven pardons heavier sins," observed the stranger. + +"Yes, when its pardon is sought for;" was rejoined; "but I pardon +you without your craving it; and, remember, Heaven's pardon is not +granted to us simply for the asking; neither do we receive it +because our hearts are penitent; but for the sake of Him who died +for us upon the cross; hence you are now forgiven by me, not for +your prayers' sake, nor for your regret, but rather because +beforehand, the night's offence has been cancelled by the morning's +favor. For the rest, retire, sir: what you have heard, you have +heard. You have heard my words, yet give no heed to them. If I +to-night have walked forth in my sleep, and dreamed on this +verandah;--why, then, it was but a dream. Let it be thus esteemed, +and so we part. Good night." + +"Stay!" exclaimed the stranger, as, smiling with ineffable sweetness, +and deeply curtsying, she drew backwards towards the window: "Stay; +how can those part whom destiny hath joined; how be divided whom +their fates make one? Stay, lady, and let love, young love, plead +his own cause. Oh, I would yet charm you with my tongue, even as +your own detected tongue has just declared that this morning I +charmed you with my deed. Stay. If, in truth, you did admire, +what, at the moment of its execution, I thought nothing of, and +value now only as it has relation to yourself, hear my appeal." + +"What does this mean?" she asked, startled at his earnestness: "I +do not know you; go, oh, go; I say again, I do not know you, sir." + +"I never knew myself till now," he cried with bitter pathos. + +"I say, I do not know you; you do not know _me;_" she reiterated. + +"Know me to be irrevocably yours;" rejoined the stranger, "for you +have bound my heart in such fast thraldom, that even yourself could +not deliver it." + +"And, perhaps, I would not, if I could,--unless you asked it:" she +answered: "and yet, sir, possibly you jest. Oh, sir, forbear; +begone, nor longer fool here a surprised, lone girl. What is your +purpose? who, and whence, are you? On your honor, answer me truly." + +"I am the seigneur Montigny's only son: my purpose and my thoughts +towards you are all honorable:" he replied. And she rejoined: "Oh, +if your intentions are dishonorable, and you have not the spirit, +as you have the aspect, of a gentleman, yet keep this secret, as +you are a man." + +"What shall be said to reassure you?" demanded Montigny. "Witness, +Heaven, if I assume to act, or intend anything injurious towards +you. Believe me. I am the heir to a proud seigniory: you are,--I +know not what; enough for me to know, you are the fairest figure +that has yet filled mine eyes, and surely as good as fair. Will +you be mine, as I am yours for ever? Speak, why are you silent?" + +"Hist," she said, listening. + +"What is the matter?" he enquired. + +"Nothing, perhaps nothing:" she continued, whilst her voice +faltered:--"but go, oh, go, and come again to-morrow, or next +week, or when you will. I'll think on what you have said; but go; +I tremble so; stay here no longer; think, should we be observed. +I am ashamed to think of it. I am ashamed to look the moon in the +face, ashamed to look into yours. Oh, sir, what have I done? What +have you said? How have I answered? for I am perplexed. Away, yet +come again; come fifty times; but stay no longer now; begone;--return +though when you choose; do not wait for an invitation.--Listen, +I hear it again; begone, begone; did you not hear something?--it +was nothing, perhaps, but yet begone." + +"Never without your love pledge will I leave you," replied Montigny +firmly. + +"And would you force me to avow myself?" she asked. "May Heaven +absolve me if I err herein! No, give me leisure to reflect: this +were too sudden. These passion-hurried vows were too much like +those vapors, that, igniting, rush like to unorbed stars across +the night, then, vanished, leave it blacker. Do not tempt me. To +act in haste is to repent at leisure; and quickliest lighted coals +grow soonest cool. Even now I feel my cheek aglow with shame, that +burns its passage to my rooted hair. Away: if you should not forget +me, why, you are as though you were still present; for your thought, +which is your truest self, remains with me. If you should grow +oblivious--why, it is I that shall suffer, and not you." + +"Oh, waste of words on what can never be!" Exclaimed Montigny: +"cease to doubt me. Forget you! Love's memories are immortal. Love +writes the lineaments of the beloved in rock, not sand." + +"Yet rocks may lose their effigies, the pyramids their inscriptions, +the strong-clamped monument may tumble, and the marble bust, by +time, may let the salient features fall into one indistinguishable +round," she answered doubtingly. + +"They may;" rejoined Montigny: "but neither flowing time nor chafing +circumstance can erase affection from the constant mind. Mind is +more obdurate than steel; and love, the tenderest of the train of +passions, is, in its memory, as indestructible as gold;--gold that +resists the all-corroding fire. No; the fire may melt the impress +from the seal, the sun the angles from the stony ice; the jagged +rocks may from encounter with the wind and rain grow smooth; this +hilly globe may grow at length to be as level as is the sea, and +every jutting headland of the shore may crumble and disappear; but +your bright image must to the eventide of life's cogitation, stay, +like a sacred peak whose lofty brow stands ever gilded in the +setting sun. Forget you! little hazard: he whose heart is impressed +with the absent's form, needs wear no miniature upon the breast; +the scholar who knows his task by rote, needs not retain his eye +upon the book." + +"Hearts may prove false," she answered solemnly, "and tasks to +treacherous memory committed may be forgotten; but will you forget +these weighty words: will you be constant, oh, will you prove true; +for did I give you all I have, my love, what were there left me +should you throw it away?" + +"Injurious and incredulous one," returned Montigny, "save Lucifer, +who ever threw from him heaven?" + +"Forgive me," she replied, "it is but a timid girl that speaks. +She did not doubt you, though she sought to prove you. Yet are you +sure you love her? Ask your heart, then render me its reply, as +one might do, who having listened for me to the murmuring shell, +should bring me tidings of the storm-vexed sea. Vow not, but listen." + +Montigny seemed for awhile to listen to his heart; then, looking +at her, replied: + +"Surer than is assurance itself I am yours. Say that you are mine, +and every further word shall seem only to be redundant and +apochryphal; for when love's lips have made their revelation, what +more is wanting to complete the canon." + +"Believe that I have said it," she half whispered; then, starting, +and changing color, "hist, hist," she added, "once more I hear it: +heard _you_ nothing?" + +"I nothing heard but you," replied Montigny: "Proceed; for your +voice is sweeter to me than plashing fountain's, or than Saint +Laurent's chimes, or than would be--could we hear it--the fabulous +music of those night-hung spheres, coming harmonious to our listening +ears, borne on the shoulders of the cherub winds. Why are you +silent?" + +"Listen," she said, looking still more alarmed. + +"I do," he answered. + +"Yet heard you nothing?" + +"Nothing but ourselves." + +"Nothing besides?" + +"What further should I hear?" he asked. + +"And yet it seemed as if I heard another," she continued. "Are we +watched? speak, tell me," she demanded,--"I hear it again; listen." + +Montigny listened a moment, then replied soothingly: + +"Dismiss these pale-cheeked panics, for you hear nothing; or if +you do it is but the common voices of the night. It is merely the +hoarse bullfrog croaking in the swamp; and the green grasshopper +a chirrupping in the meadow; for, saving these, all nature with +myself is listening to you. Be reassured: there is nothing, but +what your own excited fancy has conjured: even the wind has ceased +to sigh amongst the leaves; the moon stands still, and her arrested +beam no longer draws the shadow on the dreamy dial. Then, proceed, +my love, for when you speak you fill my ears with heaven, but when +you pause then opens the abyss." + +"Yet listen; I hear it again:" she said; "it was not fancy; no." + +"What else? what can befall you, love, whilst I am here?" he +murmured. + +"Nothing, I hope," she answered, falteringly. + +"Then nothing dread." + +"I dread to say it, yet I must: Good night." + +"Already?" he demanded. + +"All too long!" cried an imperious voice; and the advocate stood +before them. + +"Amanda, ah, Amanda, Miss Macdonald," he continued, "is it thus you +fool us? Go, bird, into your cage. Nurse, take my lady in." And +Amanda beheld behind her the melancholy Mona, half shrouded in a +cloak covering her night attire. + +[Illustration: "Amanda, oh! Amanda, is it thus you fool us?"] + +Silently they both of them withdrew, and the stranger was left +alone with the advocate, who, laying his hand detectingly on the +other's shoulder, thus addressed him: + +"Claude Montigny, I do not ask of you what brings you here, for I +have something overheard, and in that something, all. Given the +arc, the eye completes the perfect circle; furnished the angle and +the object's distance, and we can tell the dizzy altitude. Mark +me, sir. We climb with risk, but there is greater danger in +descending. Young sir seigneur, you have ascended to a height you +may not safely stoop from. As sportive and adventurous schoolboys +sometimes ascend a scaffolding in the absence of the builders, and +continue to scale from tier to tier, until they pause for breath; +so, I fear, that you this night, in her protector's absence, have +soared in the affections of my ward. Beware, beware: I would not +threaten you--a gentleman neither needs nor brooks a threat--but, +by my life and the strength that yet is left me, woe to the man +that shall fool me in yonder girl! Seek not to trifle with me, +Claude Montigny. Tell me your purpose; inform me how your acquaintance +with my ward began; how it was fostered; how it has been concealed; +and how it thus has ripened into this secret, midnight interview. +Speak; what do you say, sir, in arrest of judgment? Be seated, and +recount to me the story of your love, if you do love my ward--as +you have told her that you do--and to that love be attached a story, +long or brief; or if this passion--which you have propounded most +passionately to her--be of a mere mushroom growth, born of to-night, +sown by the hand of moonlight in a girl's dark eyes; or in her +heart, perhaps, by the fairies that you spoke of, and producing +some form of feeling or forced fruit of fancy; coeval with, and +meant to be as transient, as is the present fungi of these fields. +Sit down by me, and let your tongue a true deliverance make between +yourself, me, and my foster-daughter." And seating himself heavily +on a garden bench, and leaning with both hands clasped over the top +of his gold-headed cane, he looked enquiringly up into the face of +the young man, and added: "Come, plead before me to this charge of +heart-stealing, as touching which you have been taken in the act." + +"Sir," then said the stranger with dignity, whilst he slowly seated +himself; "sir, you are justified in thus misdoubting me; for though +a gentleman should, like the wife of Caesar, be above suspicion, +never yet knew chivalry a time but there were recreant knights. +Moreover, I can perceive that circumstances now must shadow, and, +as with refracting influence, distort me, so that I may well stand +here seeming to be deformed, although my soul, if you could see +it, would show wanting no part of honour's fair proportions. Hear +me, then, patiently, for I plead less for my own defence than for +her vindication who has just retired beneath your frown." + +And the ingenuous but compromised Montigny sketched the brief +history of his passion, and when he had done, the advocate, looking +into his countenance keenly, but confidingly, rejoined: + +"You speak the truth, I know it by your eye, wherein no falsehood +might harbour for a moment; yet, young seigneur, you have entered +on a perilous path; dare you walk in it? It is the way of honor, +and will prove to be the way of safety; but, beshrew me, if I do +not fear that it may prove to you a way of pain. Whatever may be +the ways of wisdom, the ways of honour are not always ways of +pleasantness, nor is the path of duty always one of peace. If you +would wear the rose you must grasp it as it grows amidst the thorns. +And now, farewell--yet, hold. I hold you to your bond. The forfeit +were the forfeit of your word, which you have pledged to me and +mine. Remember, not only have you offered love unto my ward, but +you have been accepted." + +"Even so:" exclaimed Montigny; "and may--" + +"Call nothing down that might become your harm," said the advocate +admonishingly: "Rain has before now become transformed to hailstones, +and done much damage; and dews descending so benignly, have once, +it is said, in form of rain, swelled to a deluge that has drowned +the world. May the skies be still propitious to you, Claude Montigny. +Although temptation burn as fiercely as dogdays, do not fall beneath +it, for less hurtful were a hundred sunstrokes to the body, than +to the soul is one temptation that hath overcome it. Again farewell." +And he pressed Claude's hand convulsively, then tossed it from him +half disdainfully, and both departed from the grounds. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "Think no more of this night's accidents." + + _Midsummer Night's Dream._ + +From Stillyside Claude Montigny rode towards the western extremity +of the island; his thoughts steeped in bliss, and the country, as +it slumbered in the moonlight, seeming to him the land of Elysium. +At the ferry of Pointe Saint Claire he engaged a bateau in which +he was rowed over the confluence of the rivers Ottawa and Saint +Lawrence by four boatmen who, from time to time, in a low tone, as +if afraid of awakening the dawn, chaunted, now an old song of +Normandy, and now a ballad upon the fate of some lost voyageur. +The moon was yet shining, and he was in the mood to enjoy such +minstrelsy; but when they neared the opposite shore, a feeling of +sadness and apprehension stole over him, as he thought of meeting +his father, to whom he knew he must either communicate distasteful +tidings, or what was worse to his ingenuous mind, practice a culpable +concealment. Thus musing, as day broke he leaped on shore, and +again mounting his horse rode thoughtful through forest and farm; +now reburied in the darkness of night, which yet lingered amidst +the foliage, and now emerging into the light of the clearing; until, +as the sun was rising over the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, +he entered the manorial gates of Mainville, and passing through +the park-like grounds, was once more in the proud home of the +Montignys. + +Meantime, Amanda Macdonald had not slept. Shame, joy, fear, hope +possessed her; but fear chiefly, for she dreaded the coming morrow, +when she must meet her foster-mother, and--what to her was yet more +terrible--her, as she supposed, deeply offended guardian; and it +was not till the birds began to chirp and flit about her window, +that she fell into a deep, refreshing slumber that lasted long into +the day, and was at length broken by the voice of Mona bidding her +arise. + +The advocate, on the other hand, who had at once returned to town, +arose at his usual hour, and repairing to his office, began the +business of the day; whilst at a later period, the dissipated +Narcisse again found his boon companions, and with them renewed +the debauch of yesterday. + +During the day the anxious Mona did not fail to question her charge +touching the interrupted interview; and the latter at length related +how it had befallen, confessed to her sudden passion for the gallant +Montigny, revealed his plighted vows, and confiding herself to the +bosom where she had always found advice and comfort, deprecated +the displeasure of her guardian. But the betrayed Mona could give +her only slight encouragement, in what was now yet nearer to her +than even her guardian's favor, her lover's truth. + +"Child," said Mona to her emphatically and in a warning tone, after +musing, "Child, hope not too much; fear everything, for man is +naturally false towards woman. Ah, you have yet learned but little +of man, and may you never learn too much. Beware, beware, beware, +Amanda. Happy the ignorant, happy is the woman whom no false man +has taught to distrust his sex! Man's love to woman is as evanescent +as is the presence of the summer-morning mist, that, for an hour +or so, hugs lovingly the lea, then vanishes for ever. What are his +vows but vapour? Poor, rash girl, why, without warning me, have +you opened the horn-book of love, and spelled at such a speed, +that, in a day's time, you have read as far as warier maids dare +con in years?" And Amanda looked both abashed and amazed; but at +length enquired in wonder: + +"What may you mean by these strange utterances? Nay, nay, dear +Mona: you slander your own father by this language." + +"Thou canst not say, child, that I slander thine," responded Mona, +tartly; and her countenance darkened with an equivocal expression +new to Amanda, who, catching at the inuendo, earnestly demanded, + +"Who was my father? tell me, for you know; I myself know, I feel, +(and not untrustworthy is this intuition) that I am not here a mere +fortuitous foundling. Who was my mother? I charge you to inform +me." + +"Girl, had not man been false, you had not needed to have so often +asked of me that question," Mona replied with a cynical expression, +and hoarse, sepulchral voice, that, whilst it seemed to vindicate +herself, reproved her fellow, on whose face an air of horror now +mantled, as she excitedly exclaimed: + +"Say more, or else unsay what you have already uttered. What must +be understood from this alarming language? Although there hangs a +mystery over my birth, surely there rests upon it no dishonor. +Acquaint me, then, once more I charge you, and now by the love and +kindness that you have always shewn to me, declare, for you know--I +say I feel you know; whose child am I, where was I born, how have +I been committed to your care, adopted, cherished; I, who have no +filial claims upon you; adjudged to be an orphan, perhaps the child +of charity; how have I been divided between you and my guardian, +or held as if I were your mutual bond? Inform me, Mona, my good +Mona, foster-mother, nurse, you who have been to me as a true mother +might be, say whose I am; whether, and where, my parents live; and, +if they live, why they have thus abandoned me," and she burst into +a flood of tears. + +"Quiet yourself, my fond one," answered Mona, moved also to tears +by this appeal; "your birth on one side is as high as any that this +country boasts, therefore is as high as Claude Montigny's. Your +mother is descended from a warlike Scottish line, your father's +father was an English peer. Your parents are yet living; but their +union, which was in many points unequal, was, alas! rendered the +more unequal by a gulf-like disproportion in the passion that +provoked it;--a gulf, too, that was undiscovered, till, too late, +your mother saw it. Thence, their lives, their loves, so call it, +their mutual progress (save on the course of fondness towards +yourself, their child, whereon they journey equal side by side) +has for years kept, and yet keeps, a still disparting pace; and, +oh, Amanda, excuse these tears, for well I know your mother, and +pity her, having many a time listened to her fruitless complaints; +but until your father, who is the laggard one of this most +misappointed pair, shall, either underneath the whip of a castigating +conscience, or prompted by the spur of your poor mother's sharp +appeals, come up abreast, and fill a certain chasm of omission by +an indemnifying deed, which has been by him most selfishly left +undone, but whose performance is essential to the full fruition by +you of your fortune, you must remain, as you have hitherto done, +my foster-child, and your grim guardian's ward; a waif we hold +waiting for its claimants; and until they arrive, let me beseech +you, as though I were the mother I have spoken of, to think no +further of young Claude Montigny." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: + I am sick in displeasure to him; and whatsoever comes athwart + his affection, ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross + this marriage?" + + _Much ado about nothing._ + +A few days after the conversation detailed in the preceding chapter, +there was ushered into the office of the advocate at Montreal a +gentleman, who announced himself as Montigny, Seigneur of Mainville. +He was tall, and of a distinguished aspect, and had scarcely accepted +of the advocate's invitation to be seated, when, like a man impatient +to be done with a disagreeable business, he began: + +"I have a son, sir, and you, as I believe, a ward, an orphan girl;" +pronouncing with a mixture of pity and contempt the last two words. + +The advocate observed this depreciatory intonation, and throwing +himself backwards in his large easy chair, repeated: "An orphan +girl," at the same time putting a half angry, half comical expression +into his countenance, and perpetrating a pun in what followed: +"Yes, many of your Canadian noblesse would bless themselves to have +been her father. The poor fellow, it is well he is not here to have +overheard you. An orphan girl: true, as you say, I have an orphan +girl,--or one that passes for such; a girl I love, a ward, a +charming child, yonder at Stillyside. Were I disposed to praise +her I might say she is the Mountain's maid; the Dryad of its woods, +a grace, a goddess, fairer than Diana, and far purer, for one may +guess the fool Diana made of that poor boy, Endymion. But what +concerning my ward, sir, my most immaculate lady?" + +"Would you forbid my son access to her?" enquired the seigneur. + +"Ah! you wish for an injunction;" said the advocate; "show me cause. +I have, sir--as you seem aware--a ward dwelling yonder at my seat +at Stillyside;--a place I sometimes visit; a sort of shrine, a kind +of hermitage or chapel, wherein two devotees, two nun-like, holy +women consume the hours; leading there, pious, penitential lives, +making each day a sort of hallowed tide, and every eve a vigil." + +"You are humorous," replied the seigneur. "Excuse me, I am sorry, +but it were best that I should speak plainly. I would not wish to +see your ward dishonored." + +"Dishonored! not a seigneur, nor a seigneur's son dare dream of +such a consummation, nor, daring so to dream, could compass it," +cried the advocate, growing crimson. "Yet this is kind of you;" he +added, bowing as if deeply grateful;--"and yet," he continued, +"there can be no fear of an offence: is not your son a clergyman? +for, if he be, and they confess to him anything worse than to have +admitted him to their confidence--why, sir, he shall be allowed to +enter, and shrive them when he chooses;" and after a momentary +silence, "Fie! fie!" he resumed, rolling in his chair; "'the fool +hath said in his heart there is no God,' and the wise man of +Mainville, who has been all his life looking for purity in a +petticoat, says 'there is no virtue in woman.' But I say, both +these oracles are in the wrong; there is not only a Divinity, but +there are women too who are virtuous. This is a clumsy jest, sir. +My ward be dishonored by your son? Yes, when the diamond can be +cut with a feather. Monsieur Montigny, a tempest is as harmless as +a breath, when that tempest is being hurled against the rock; a +breath is even as effectual as is a tempest, when that breath is +puffed against the dust. So buzzing blandishments of sighing fops, +may blow the frail flowerets from weak, wanton natures; whilst +vehement vows of otherwise most honorable men, though urged as +strongly as the northern blast, are in vain against the marble +front of virtue. I am marble to your wishes." + +"You weigh your danger as little as you do your language," observed +the seigneur. "Will you permit a trespasser, a tempter within your +grounds; a wolf, a fox, a bear within your fold?" + +The advocate shrugged his shoulders and replied: "No, heaven +forbid;--and Stillyside is to me as an outer court of heaven, +wherein my ward dwells as a sort of semi-solitary angel." + +"Yet angels fell, and so may she fall," interjected the seigneur +quickly. + +"They did, and without a tempter, too, Monsieur Montigny," returned +the advocate, quietly; then added: "the height of heaven turned +the heads of the angels giddy." + +"Girls are giddy," remarked the seigneur gravely. + +"Boys are more frequently foolish," drily retorted the advocate: +"and often coming to girls for kisses, go away with cuffs. I hope +your son has neither sought for the one nor yet received the other. +But what is this son, Monsieur Montigny, that you would have me +believe to be so formidable? Is he another Lucifer, couched at my +Ward's ear, as his dark prototype once squatted at that of Eve? Or +is he Lothario alive again? Is he Leander, and are the Ottawa's +jaws a western Hellespont, with my ward and Stillyside, for Hero +and her tower?" + +"Your verandah," remarked the seigneur, "is not higher than was +Hero's tower, although, I trust, your ward's virtue may be more +exalted than was Hero's. But are you aware, sir, that already my +son has had her company, alone, at midnight, on your grounds; all +others retired; she alone watching, with Claude Montigny and the +broad, full moon?" + +"An actionable moon," exclaimed the lawyer, "and a decided case of +lunacy against the lovers. But, alas, sir, in this respect we have +all been sinners in our youth, and all grown wondrous righteous +with our years. Have we not ourselves, when we were young,--ay, +and upon inclement winter nights too, courted brown peasant girls +beneath both stars and moon? What if the nights were cold, the +blood was warm; and now with these volcanic veins of ours grown +cool, why, we may walk on the quenched crater of concupiscence, +and who dares challenge us, and say, ha, ha! smut clings to you, +gentlemen; you have the smell of fire upon you. No, sir, no; we +are fumigated, ventilated, scented, powdered, purged as with hyssop. +Pish! he must be truly an Ethiop, whom time cannot whiten; a very +leopard, who will not part with his spots, since the sun himself +shall lose _his_ some day, purged in his own fires." + +"I repeat, sir, your ward is in danger," said the seigneur doggedly. + +"Not at all. Is the diamond in danger when it is put into the +crucible; is the gold deteriorated when it is being deterged from +dross?" was responded. + +"Infatuated man, would you open the door to the seducer?" asked +the seigneur, growing angry with the contumelious lawyer. + +"Seducer!" said the advocate, affecting to be shocked: "that is a +huge stone to throw at your own son: and remember; is not every +man's frame a glass house, whereat the soul that inhabits it should +invite no stone throwing from the little red catapult of a neighbour's +tongue? Beware, beware; have mercy, Monsieur Montigny. 'All flesh +is grass,' the Prophet proclaims; but I assert, 'All flesh is +glass.'" + +"A woman's reputation is as brittle," was the seigneur's ready +repartee; "therefore warn off my son from Stillyside." + +"But should he not regard me, sir, what then?" + +"Brandish the law over him, your chosen weapon," answered the +seigneur. + +The lawyer suddenly looked grave, and, affecting to be offended, +demanded sternly: "Monsieur Montigny, am I a mere mechanic to do +your bidding? Brandish the law indeed! Is, then, the law but an +ordinary cudgel, to thwack the shoulders with or beat the brains +out? The law, sir, is a sacred weapon, not to be lightly taken up, +neither to be profanely applied to paltry uses, any more than we +would take the tempered razor to pick a bone, or pare our cheese +with. Brandish the law! The man that can talk of brandishing the +law would brandish a piece of the true cross, sir, if he had it; +he would drink, sir, from his mother's skull, and with his father's +thigh-bones play at shinty. What is the law? What less is it than +the will and force of all employed for one; the savage sense of +justice, disciplined and drilled till it can move in regular array, +invincibly, to conquer wrong; surely too vast an engine to be +employed on trifles. Who wants a wheel to break a butterfly upon; +or, to crush a worm who calls for a pavior's rammer? Monsieur +Montigny, listen. Mercy is Heaven's first attribute, and the +executioner is the State's meanest, as well as last, servant; shall +I, then, stoop to this, who may aspire to that? Shall I wield a +whip of legal scorpions before your son, should he seek to re-enter +Stillyside? Would you have me, as once Heaven's cherubim stood at +the gates of Paradise, with fiery swords turning all ways, to hinder +its ejected tenants from breaking back into the garden,--would you +have me, I say, stand at my gates at Stillyside, and, meeting young +Montigny, flourish in his face a fist full of fasces, in the form +of threatened pains and penalties? No; your suit, sir, is denied: +you take nothing by your motion." + +"Dare you deny," retorted the seigneur, loudly, and with a look of +coming triumph; "dare you deny that you are privy to their intimacy; +will you assert that you--yourself unseen--have not witnessed my +son in secret, midnight conversation with your ward at Stillyside; +there overheard them interchanging vows of endless love, and dealing +declarations of devotedness unto each other;--I ask you; did you +not hear and see these doings, and, even when you did at length +surprise the pair, did you not by failing to condemn their folly, +give it your silent sanction?" + +"Something of this I did," said the advocate coolly, "for I remembered +some rather liberal breathings of my own when I was young,--and +youth will have its fling,--nay, do not bite your lip, but listen. +Monsieur Montigny, thus far we have met guile with guile. Just like +two wily fencers, both of us, waiting to spy our advantage, have +still witheld the lunge, until, at last, you, having grown desperate, +have rushed into the close. Yet, do not let your anger overbear +discretion. The heated iron hisses when it is plunged into the +trough, but shall we hiss at each other like geese or serpents? +Shall we quarrel, deny the undeniable, try to undo the accomplished +deed? What is done is done, and not Omnipotence itself, sir, could +undo it." + +"But we may hinder further evil," observed the seigneur. + +"Ay? Would you keep out the lightning by high builded walls?" +demanded the advocate, "for you are as likely to accomplish that, +as to keep lovers from each other. No, let them alone, for they +are as climbing Titans towards their wishes' skies; despising +guardians' gates and fathers' fences, just as much as did Briareus +and his crew disdain its rugged sides, and risk their necks up +steep Olympus, when they were making war on Jove. You cannot bar +them. The sun may be debarred from attics, and frost may be kept +out of cellars, but, Monsieur Montigny, the mutually enamoured can +never be permanently parted. Sir, no more." + +"Enamoured he, and she at length dishonoured," cried the seigneur, +disregarding the injunction. + +"Her honour is its own sufficient guardian," was responded. + +"Have regard, sir, to your future peace," was urged. + +"Peace, sir, like silence, never comes for calling for," rejoined +the advocate. + +"Impracticable man, have you no fear?" demanded the foiled Montigny +upbraidingly. + +"None for my ward; I hope you have as little for your son," said +the lawyer sarcastically. + +"Your ward invites my son, by sitting upon the verandah at midnight, +to attract him when he passes by, as the Hebrew woman, Tamar, once +sat to decoy the foolish Judah. Do you deny this? I have learned +all, all," outburst the indignant seigneur. + +"Do I deny it?" cried the advocate, the blood, in anger, rushing +to his face. "Dare you affirm it? Monsieur, if you mean seriously +to asperse my ward, I say, prepare;--not for the action of the +law,--no, no, I hate the law, when it is cited for myself,--but +for the action of an old man's arm. Sir, I have been a swordsman +in my youth, and though the lank skeleton of my skill at fence is +buried in disuse, it moves now in the grave of this right hand, +that so long has wielded only the quiet quill. I do not bid you +quail; not I,--but, by the angry devil of the duel, you answer me, +either sword point to sword point; or from the pointing pistol, +that shall speak both sharp and decisive, and the dotting bullet, +perhaps, put a period to your proud life's scrawl. But no; I am +grown too old to have recourse to violence. Away, go, go; but, mind +you, do not breathe this calumny into a human ear,--no, not into +the air. Shame, shame! you are no noble minded man, to villify my +ward and your own son; whom, if I accounted to be as strangely base +as you have shown yourself to be, and have depicted him, I would +forbid to tread within my gates, and hound him from my door at +Stillyside." + +"Words only anger you," said the astonished and half daunted +seigneur. + +"Such words as yours have been:" was replied. "What! do you expect +to strike upon a bank where bees have settled, yet not be stung; +or dream to be allowed to draw the bare hand, clasping down a sword, +but not be wounded?" + +"What shall I say, yet not offend you?" soothingly enquired Montigny. + +"Say what you will," the advocate continued: "what can be worse +than what you have said already?" + +"Hear me," said the seigneur, in the manner of one who is going to +make a confidential proposal: "Either remove your ward, and +receive a compensation for her absence, or quickly marry her, and +I will provide her with a dower." + +"Now you are indeed a generous gentleman," said the advocate, +smiling; "You must have built churches, surely, or founded hospitals, +and always have dealt out dollars liberally to the deserving. But +you are wealthy, and can do these things without being impoverished. +It is fortunate that you are wealthy, for I shall accept of no +paltry sum. Only imagine, to have to banish her; to quench, or to +remove, the very beam that fills my life with light. You must be +liberal, if you would have me exile her Come, sign me a bond for +what I shall demand." + +"You are in haste," observed the seigneur, somewhat startled at +the advocate catching so readily at the bait; but the latter was +ready with his reply: + +"Because your son may now be at Stillyside, and, whilst we are +haggling, may carry off my ward,--or I might change my mind," he +answered. + +"And I, too, may change mine," was the rejoinder. + +"Why, then, we are quits;" observed the advocate carelessly, and +as if all parley were at an end; "we are as we were, and, for the +young ones, they are as they were; but if I know the force of +youthful blood, you, with all your endeavours, will not be able +long to keep them apart." + +"What is your price for her expatriation?" demanded the seigneur +sullenly, as if coming to terms; and the advocate replied: + +"No, marry her, marry her; we will have her married. We either +marry her or do nothing in this business, sir, which, after all, +were, perhaps, best left to those who have most interest in it;--but +if you think differently, be it yours to find the money, I will +find the match:--and let it be understood, that you find her a +dowry which would be fitting for a seigneur's daughter; or else, +without a dowry, I shall not scruple to give her to a seigneur's +son. Why are you silent?" + +The proud, perplexed parent made no answer, but secretly groaned +in his dilemma, and at length exclaimed: "Insatiate old man, have +you no son, the thought of which may teach you to be just towards +me and mine? What do I ask of you? Little,--or what would cost you +little, yet you ask a fortune of me; and to enrich, too, one, whom, +as a punishment, I have reason rather to desire should always be +poor. Do not deny it; she has ensnared my son. It is impossible, +that he who has roamed over half the world, and has yet come home +uncaptivated, though in his travels he has met the fairest and the +richest, can have been caught at the mere passing by your farm of +Stillyside, can at a glance have been so smitten as to meditate +this marriage. No, he has been decoyed, seduced. You might as well +declare that a young eagle would not return to its nest, but plunge +into some casually discovered coop, and roost there, as aver that, +without some irregular influence, Claude Montigny would seek your +ward in marriage. If she marry him, she will marry a beggar: not +an acre of mine shall he inherit, not a dollar of mine will he +receive. Give her a dowry? Give her a dukedom. No, sir; I will +not buy brass from you at the price of gold; I will not subsidize +you to avoid your ward." And, with the words, he bowed himself out +of the room, and the advocate, casting himself backwards in his +easy chair, laughing, exclaimed: "Was ever such a proposition +started?--started! yes; and shall eventually be carried. It is not +what we do, but it is the motive that induced the deed, that gives +the color to it. She shall be Madam Montigny, in spite of old +Montigny's self; and for her dowry, (which I asked Montigny to +provide, only that it might be returned to him through his son), +I'll mortgage my old brains to procure it for her." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + While you here do snoring lie + Open-ey'd conspiracy + His time doth take: + If of life you keep a care, + Shake off slumber, and beware: + Awake! Awake! + + _The Tempest._ + +Amongst the seigniories contiguous to the eastern extremity of the +island of Montreal, lies that of Montboeuf. Its present owner was +André Duchatel, a descendent of the Sieur Duchatel, a cadet of an +ancient French noble family, to whom the seigniory was granted by +royal letters patent, about the middle of the seventeenth century. +But if any nobility of soul, or refinement of aspect existed in +the first of the Canadian dynasty of Duchatel, it had not been +transmitted to the living representative of the line. As the long +hung-up sword or unused ploughshare, lose their brightness and edge +from want of use, perhaps these qualities of mind and body had +disappeared for want of a fitter field for their display. André +Duchatel, seigneur of Montboeuf, was a vulgar looking, short, +broad-set, florid figure, of fifty years or so; material in his +tastes, in disposition obstinate and narrow-minded, unenlarged by +education; shy with strangers, yet fond of good fellowship with +his acquaintance, and, with much reason, accounted to be rich. He +was a widower, but lived in a kind of surly, patriarchal state, in +the midst of three sons and a daughter; the former being dissipated +and sensual, the latter of a showy person, but in character, +superficial, vain, vindictive, proud. + +An intimacy had long existed between the houses of Montigny and +Duchatel, which, in spite of their different genius, had for +generations continued as it were to shake hands across the island. +The latter family, though equal to the former in wealth and pedigree, +secretly acknowledged it as the superior, and with a view to an +alliance between the two, Seraphine Duchatel, even when a child, +was a frequent visitor at Mainville; her relations hoping that +thereby, she and Claude Montigny might become inspired with a mutual +liking, the prelude to their desired union. + +This union, it was understood, was to be cemented on the part of +Duchatel, by the gift, as her marriage portion, of a tract of land +adjoining the seigniory of Mainville, and at present the property +of André Duchatel; but which, at the nuptials, would be added to +the Montigny manor, as a sort of arrière fief, and so gratify the +craving of the elder Montigny for territorial aggrandizement. The +splendid person of Claude had long ago caught the slight affections +of Seraphine, who in her visits to Mainville, would hang upon him, +much to his distaste, and persist to make him her reluctant cavalier, +though neither her blandishments nor his father's wishes could +induce him to return these visits, or appear to reciprocate her +preference. Nor would a closer and wider acquaintance with the +Duchatels have lessened his reluctance. The eldest son, Samson, +was a colossal bully, dividing his time between field sports, +intemperance, and intrigues with the daughters of the censitors on +his father's seigniory; or in yet lower illicit amours with the +peasant girls of the manorial village; varied by occasional journeys, +made more for debauchery than business, to the city of Montreal. +The second scion of the house, Pierre, was a good-enough looking, +and not ill-disposed youth; whom his father, as if willing to offer +up his choicest lamb for the sins of the family fold, had intended +for the church. But the former had far other intentions towards +the fair than absolving them from their peccadilloes, and entertained +other ideas of foreign travel than that of going on distant Indian +missions; whilst the youngest brother, Alphonse, was an unbroken +colt and madcap, articled to one of the principal legal firms in +the city. Although in years he was but ancle deep, he was already +in potations full five fathoms; a worthy graduate of the +licentiousness of the town, and boon companion of the dissolute +Narcisse; whom, in a giddy moment he had made acquainted with the +family matrimonial design on young Montigny. Narcisse, in his turn, +had a domestic story, that instinct, revenge, and a mother's command +impelled him to relate, and which he told to the rollicking, but +now attentive Alphonse, with a wicked glee, raised by the prospect +of mischief. A discovery had been made by his brooding and despised +parent. Chance had thrown in her way an opportunity for which she +had watched for years. Mona Macdonald had visited the advocate at +his dwelling, and her presence had stirred not only the womanly +curiosity of the lynx-eyed Babet Blais, but her malicious jealousy +of one whom she could never but regard as a hateful and favored +rival. So, overhearing them in earnest conversation in the library, +she, with the unrestrained enjoyment of a low, untutored nature, +stole to the door, that was slightly ajar, and there, with her ear +applied to the interstice, learned the circumstance of the discovered +interview between Claude and Amanda at Stillyside, with their +plighted troth, not disapproved of by the advocate. Swelling with +envy and anger, and recollecting what Narcisse had told her of the +predilection and hopes of Alphonse Duchatel's sister in regard to +Claude Montigny, she, with an intent to dash the proud prospect +which seemed to be opening before the child of an odious--and as +she deemed, unlawful competitor for the advocate's favors, conceived +the spiteful idea of informing the Duchatels of what she had just +discovered. Further to instigate her, all the real and all the +fancied wrongs that her son had suffered from his father rose up +before her, magnified by her imagination, and prompting her to the +gratification of her unreasoning spleen. Her purpose was soon put +into execution. That night Narcisse came home sober; and giving +him some warm supper, followed by a delicacy that she had set aside +for him as a dessert, and which, with a half human, half animal +affection, she watched him devour, she broke the subject to him. +He grinned with an infantile delight, as he heard the important +secret, and discussed with her the project that might hinder the +good fortune of the haughty foundling, whose disdain had long +chagrined him, and under the recollection of whose scorn during +the recent raid on Stillyside, he was yet smarting. With heightened +pleasure she beheld his joyful interest, and, warming with his +sympathy, whilst she gloated over the anticipated revenge, she +exclaimed, as her face assumed a dark, prophetic aspect: "Yes, we +will humble that mongrel, and her proud, petted child. What better +are they than we, what nearer to thy father? See how I toil, and +do his drudgery; keep him a home, who, but for me, would have no +home, and no one to care for him. Yet no fine country house for +me, fine clothes, rich presents; no fine gifts for thee, my child, +no endless schooling, no sending _thee_ to travel; no allowance, +no expense to help to make of thee a gentleman, like his endeavours +to make her child a lady; no fine lady sought for thee to be thy +wife, Narcisse; no closetings for me, who, but for her, had been +thy father's wife, and not his servant. But God and the virgin have +at last heard our prayers. Narcisse, my darling, tell Alphonse +Duchatel all that I have told thyself. Bid him quickly inform his +father, brothers, sister; and if they have French blood in their +veins they will balk this half-breed and her daughter brat." + +Never was there an apter pupil than Narcisse proved now; never a +willinger. Scarcely could he refrain from at once rushing forth to +find his friend, Alphonse; and he did at length arise with the +blessing and Godspeed of his mother, intending to inform him, +touching the rival who had so far and so suddenly outstripped his +sister on the road of Claude's regard, when the voice of the advocate +was heard calling upon his son to attend him in the room above. +Narcisse obeyed; but filled with a sentiment of rising rebellion +and new-born insolence, as of one who intends no longer to be +checked, nor submit to unmerited harshness and tyranny. There the +two had an altercation, provoked by the old grudges, and aggravated +by Narcisse's recent dissipation, escapade, and neglect of duty, +and still more sharpened by his present pertness and contumacy. +Anger rose high between parent and child, and the latter, in +unconcealed dudgeon flung from the room, and left the house, his +breast charged with a spiteful purpose; and going straight to the +lodgings of Alphonse Duchatel, he told all--and more than all--that +he had learned respecting the menaced alliance between the children +of Mainville and Montboeuf. + +Burning with the information, the young and impetuous Alphonse +scarcely slept that night, and in the morning, having obtained +leave of absence, rode swiftly to his paternal home, and, in sudden, +solemn family council, declared what he had learned of danger to +the connubial scheme that had long been planned for his sister and +the distinction of their house. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell." + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + + "Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes." + + _Othello._ + +Whilst the news that Claude Montigny had given, to a girl of dubious +birth and uncertain social position, the heart, for the possession +of which the supercillious Seraphine Duchatel had so long striven +in vain, was disturbing the souls of the Montboeuf Manorhouse, the +seigneur of Mainville, ill at ease, and apprehensive of a hasty +and irremediable matrimonial step on the part of his son, started +for Montreal again to visit the intractable advocate. + +Later in the same day, Claude also took horse, and rode towards +the banks of the Ottawa, where he arrived at dusk, and crossing at +the ferry from the main to Sainte Anne, he thence, solitary, and +filled with chequered thoughts, continued his way, whilst the +ground grew dimmer and yet dimmer, and star after star stole out; +till, as the moon rose slowly in the glimmering air, he reached +the neighbourhood of dim Mount Royal. + +At the same hour that the large bateau was heaving its way over +the vexed flood of the meeting waters of the Saint Lawrence and +the Ottawa, four horsemen crossed a rustic bridge, that led from +the mainland to the opposite, or eastern extremity of the Island +of Montreal. One of the riders was of gigantic stature, and another +of diminutive proportions; and all were clad in the coarse grey +frieze suit of the country, and wore upon their heads the common +blue cap or tuque. Pursuing their way, they kept to the least +frequented paths; endeavouring to avoid recognition; until the +coming night concealed them, and they journeyed beneath the decrescent +and feebly shining moon. + +And now, whilst such was transpiring at the extremities of the +Island, at Stillyside, its centre, the curtains had been drawn, +and the lighted lamp, with its frosted glass globe, shone serene +and silvery, like a minor and domestic moon. Mona Macdonald sat +sewing near a table, whilst Amanda read aloud. On a sofa a lazy +lapdog dreamed, the parrot slept on its swing, and the bullfinch +on the perch in its cage, and in the pauses of Amanda's voice, the +drowsy cat was heard purring in its evening doze. Nothing was heard +without, except the fitful bark of the Newfoundland dog at some +stray passer by; and, at length, even that had ceased; Mona's needle +was laid aside, the domestics, obedient to the early habits of +country life, were abed, Mona herself had now retired, and Amanda +being left alone, nothing was heard but the measured ticking of +the old clock on the corner of the stairs. The lamp had been taken +away by the departing Mona, and in the obscurity, the moonbeams +fell in grey streaks adown the damask curtains; and after a brief +meditation on the subject of her reading, Amanda rose, noiselessly +ascended the carpeted stairs to her room, approached the window, +drew aside the drapery, and gazed towards Mainville. Thus had she +done each night since the memorable interview with Claude Montigny; +and now not less long did she linger there, but longer; nor thought +of retiring, till, startled at the approaching sound of horses, +she hastily re-closed the curtains; the sound ceased, and she began +slowly to undress. But her thoughts were elsewhere; and, falling +into a reverie, she sat with her raised fingers still upon her +dress, that she was about to withdraw from before her snowy bosom, +when again she heard the sound of hoofs on the road, and soon a +shaking of reins near the gate, and champing of the bit, mingled +with the smothered growl of the awakened Newfoundlander. Divining +the cause, and seized with trembling, she arose, again threw aside +the curtains, and beheld in the moonlight a figure advancing up +the lawn. A moment she gazed upon the apparition; then, scarcely +knowing what she did, opened the folding window, and half within +and half without her chamber, leaning forward into the night, +demanded in a piercing whisper of enquiry and alarm: "Who comes +there? Speak, is it Claude Montigny?" + +"It is I, my love, for by what name shall you be called, yet dearer, +worthier than love?" responded the subdued, yet full, clear voice +of Claude. Then, drawing nearer, he continued in an enraptured +tone: + +"Oh, my lady, oh, my heart, my love, my life; my mistress now, my +wife that is to be: my breath, my soul; my hope, my happiness, my +all in all; fair presence--but in vain my tongue seeks for the word +that shall embody you, and, like the hunted hare returning to its +form, so does my soul return to that word, love. My love, then, be +it, for you are my love, you are my life henceforward; nor shall +the hereafter part us, for wherever you are there unto me will +still be heaven. Oh, my love, is it not kind of fortune thus to +call you forth? a favorable omen of the issue of this night. Oh, +come forth, my love; come forth, and make a hallowed aisle of the +verandah." + +"Alas!" exclaimed Amanda, stepping to the verandah, "why have you +ventured here again so soon,--or, rather, why so late? for are +there not ruffian robbers on the road, and all the secret perils +of the night?" + +"No peril equals that of absence from yourself," said Claude, "for +passion has greater perils than the road. Cupid's arrows are more +terrible to him whose breast is bared by the absence of its mistress, +than would be at the traveller's throat the armed and threatening +hands of fifty ruthless robbers. But how have you fared since we +were so rudely parted?" + +Amanda sighed. "But so so;" she murmured mournfully, "it is a slight +burn that does not smart a little when the scorched part is snatched +away from the fire:" and hanging down her head bashfully, repeated, +"But so so:--I have felt an unaccustomed care--of little +consequence,--but, oh, tell me, Montigny, how your father, the +proud, rich seigneur takes this matter, for I know you would inform +him of it. Is he not incensed, not angry; does he not upbraid you, +and call me evil, and perhaps deserved, hard names?" + +"He has expostulated with me;" Claude responded; "yet not with too +much earnestness, knowing love's fires are blown by opposition. +How seems your guardian?" + +"How shall I dare to meet him!" murmured Amanda musing. + +"Do not fear him;" Claude rejoined: "he will not chide you;--besides, +you shall be gone to-morrow. I come to-night, a Jason for the golden +fleece, and may not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and +my desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and will not, +returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless they shall be freighted +with your form. Mine own one, do not stand transfixed like death +in life, but live here no longer; leave it, and live with me for +ever, for from where you are my feet shall never stray. Do not +misdoubt me: though man were as faithless as it is said that woman +is fickle, yet I were loyal towards _you_, whom I implore to be my +affianced to-night, my bride to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!--Oh, so soon," exclaimed Amanda, starting. + +"It will be a thousand years till then;" interposed Montigny; "and +yet it will be the glad millenium, since you shall reign amidst my +meditations, and towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints. +This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed you mine by +the great sacrament of marriage will be glory, such as the saved +soul experiences when, in Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure, +and proof against the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent. +Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate? Amanda, be +immediately mine. What are your thoughts? What are you that transports +me with impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being, and +become one with yourself in history and fate? Our fate commands; +let us obey it, since, what is fate's behest, but Heaven's directing +voice; what is our destiny, but the deed which we perceive may not +be left undone." + +"Rash man, forbear;" pronounced Amanda, her face darkening with +displeasure; "you counsel me to evil. Though I would esteem you as +I would some annunciating angel, beyond impeachment of veracity, +and bent on a generous errand, you seem as a fallen spirit now; +tempting me, not enlightening. No, Montigny, no. Shall I deceive +my guardian so kind, shall I defraud your house, your father, you? +I, who have no fortune, nor--as is your lot--upon my name, neither +the rime and hoar of silver, new renown, nor golden rust of brown +antiquity,--the dust of ages in heroic deeds, lying on your +escutcheon, dyeing it as the dust that dapples the bright insect's +wings;--shall I, I say, come and lie like to a bar sinister across +it? for what else should I be considered by your indignant friends, +except, indeed, a shadow on your brightness, a shame across your +honour?" and she hung her head in despairing sadness, whilst Montigny +thus replied: + +"Oh, shame on me, to hear you so self-slandered! Friends! mistaken +friends. And what although my father and the world esteemed you my +inferior; what were their estimation unto me; and, compared with +you, what is the value of heraldic honours and traditionary glory +heaped upon the dead, which is, in truth, too often only as the +phosphorescent glimmer that hangs upon decay: what are these gauds +to me, who count you to be far above the worth of monumental effigy, +or marble mask, my living love; whom I will set,--not in the tomb +of cold, pale porphyry, nor in a sable, slabbed sarcophagus, but +breathing, and enshrined in fortune's framing gold. Fastidious +girl, and prouder than the proud Montignys, listen to me, listen. +We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the +lonely sea;--we are as two ships that, being long from port, have, +sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed +and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. Have +you not given me yours? If you have not, why, then, return me mine." + +"Then were I poor indeed," replied Amanda. + +"Yet I were poorer without yours," retorted Claude, "poorer than +he who begs his bread. I wish I had to beg my bread for you, then +richly should you fare; for who, when I should crave for love of +you, (as mendicants ask alms for love of heaven), could then refuse +me? Oh, refuse no longer my request. Estimate not my fortune, but +appraise myself; and whatsoever you may deem to be my value, account +your own worth as being ten thousand times that sum. Still take +me, a mere miserable doit; an earnest, an instalment towards the +payment of the debt of love and loyalty, that shall require a life +to liquidate, then leave me bankrupt in untold arrears." + +"I should forgive the debt, even before you could have asked +forgiveness," replied Amanda, smiling, though much moved; "and yet +I would not leave you perfectly absolved, but still retain you by +some small reminder, some power of execution over you--not to be +exercised towards you to your hurt--far from it, but I would be +absolute that I might shew you mercy; even as noblest kings have +been despotic, and in their day have delighted in dispensing pardon. +So would I be towards you;--or even as the King of Kings--to speak +it reverently--who, of His boundless goodness and free grace, +remits the debts and manifold trespasses of us, his poor, defaulting +creatures." + +"Go on, for it is bliss to hear you," murmured Claude. + +"Nay, I have done;--what have I said?" she quietly enquired of him. + +"Would you unsay it?" he demanded eagerly. + +"Only to say it again," she answered blushing,--"yet I fear I have +babbled strangely;--but, remember, I was never wooed before, nor +answered wooer; so, being a novice in love's archery, it may be +that the gust of a too ardent breath has caught my words, and from +my meaning wafted them awry." + +"And can a fountain yield both bitter and sweet?" demanded Claude: +"or are you as changeful as is yon waning moon?" he asked half +chidingly. + +"Rather consider me to be as is the sun, that knows no change of +aspect throughout the livelong year; or, if it vary, swells its +orb in winter," she observed, "even as I would now appear to you +with fuller favor, amidst this young acquaintance's chilly prospect." + +"Chilly! it is summer wherever lovers cast their eyes, the bright +Bermudas. Do not libel love, nor our sweet fortunes," cried Claude +impetuously: "For me, there never will be winter where you are; +and why, when I am with you, should you thus seem to shiver, as it +were, in the shadow of November?" + +"I am no casuist," she said, "and yet it would appear to be too +selfish in me, too much like to fraud, should I accept all that +you offer me, such vast and personal advantage, and for which I +bring you no equivalent, no dower, no estate; nothing to counterpoise +the wide possessions that you will inherit;--nothing that may +conciliate your family, rich in material things and heaped with +honors,--save my poor love;--and what were that?" + +"More than them all," ejaculated Claude, "but why these scruples? +In human hearts love is not placed against love, as in the scales +the commodity is placed against the weight; neither is it exchanged +for land, or bartered for position; but it is always given, and is +the donor's whole, unmeasured and immeasurable. It is infinite, +growing whilst it is being given, even as the horizon grows upon +the eye of him who travels towards it. It _is_ because _it must_ be; +it is unselfish; nay, unto itself it is unjust; often giving the +most where it receives the least; possessing nothing, yet possessing +all, if it possesses but all its object's heart. It is towards its +object as is the encircling and cloud-breeding sea unto the verdant +island, encompassing, and in soft showers, shedding itself over +it. As the sea sheds itself in soft showers upon the island, so do +I shed my fondness, and would shed my fortune, over you, and in +return seek for yourself,--no more, for what more could you give, +what more could I receive, who count all else as worthless dross. +What hinders then our marriage?" + +"Your father," was replied. + +"He would not consent unto our nuptials though I should pray him +on my bended knees, so obstinate and unyielding is his pride," +asseverated Claude. + +"My guardian, too, is proud," answered Amanda. + +"Let us not wait, but wed without, and not against their leave, +then;" Montigny urged adroitly:--"but your guardian will consent: +he has avowed as much unto me privately; so, mark; when morning +brings the daylight to the east, be ready. Meet me beyond these +grounds; when we will hasten to the village of Saint Laurent, and +there be married. The deed being thus achieved, none will oppose, +for before the irrevocable all rebuke is dumb." + +"And so am I to this," was replied with dignity. + +"Yet let me speak:" Montigny urged with desperate eagerness, "let +me persuade you, for to this pass it must come; then let it come +at once, since each day will cause the path thereunto to grow more +rugged. My father's storm of threats, my mother's deluge of tears, +will make the way impassable and past repair. You falter; your +silence speaks consent; you are convinced, and yield to the necessity +for this ungracious consummation. Good night. To-morrow early, meet +me at the church of Saint Laurent, all shall be ready,--pray offer +no remonstrance;--meet me there at ten,--the priest is my fast +friend;--nay, do not grieve, but say good night; to-morrow you +shall smile:--goodnight, good night;" and kissing his hand to her, +before she could reply, the impetuous lover reached the postern, +and, vaulting into the saddle, vanished. + +Paralyzed with amazement and apprehension, Amanda stood motionless +and dumb. She would have called on Claude to return, but dare not, +lest she should alarm the slumbering inmates of the house, and she +was still standing irresolute and helpless, when something was +suddenly thrown over her face, shrouding her in darkness, and before +she could resist she was lifted from her feet, hurried across the +lawn in a diverse direction from that taken by Claude, and on +arriving on the road, swung into a lofty saddle. A huge arm from +some one seated behind received her, passing around her waist, and +feeling like the coil of a boa-constrictor; and, amidst the sound +of several persons mounting in haste, spurs were struck into the +sides of the large animal, that reared with a vast bound which +nearly dismounted its riders; and at once, as it seemed, a troop +were flying with her at the top of their speed along the road. Half +fainting from terror, and stifling in the folds of some coarse +envelopment, she was unable to utter a cry for help, and the +cavalcade scoured along its way. One seemed to ride before them, +and the rest behind. No one spoke, but her companion on the crupper +grasped her tightly, like a relentless fate, and onwards they still +bounded, and the deeply spurred steeds in agony of exertion stretched +themselves to the task, and still they flew, and still Amanda strove +to recover her voice; till as the dumb, in some moment of mortal +terror, are said to have found speech, she, with accents, that, +bursting through the thick veil, rung amidst the night, shrieked +out the name of Claude Montigny. A low, chuckling laugh arose around +her, followed by a curse, and a hoarse threat of violence from the +figure that rode on the crupper, who at the same time again dug +spurs into the flanks of the courser, that once more, with its +huge, responding bound nearly dismounted its riders; and prompted +as it seemed by fear of a rescue, the rate accelerated till the +troop was scouring over the ground with the flight of a tempest. +Confused with terror, and alarmed at the threats of her powerful +keeper, she remained silent, unable to divine in what direction +they were hurrying; but felt that her captor and custodian kept +looking behind, as if afraid of some one in pursuit; and the killing +pace appeared to rise yet higher, and the animals to quiver in +quick bounds like mortal throes, as the spurs were plied up to the +rowels, and the creatures seemed to swallow the ground, until again +over all burst, as might the shriek of an imprisoned gnome, from +beneath her envelopement, the cry of Amanda calling upon the name +of Claude Montigny. + +"Forward! faster, yet faster!" cried a voice in rage and apprehension; +and with renewed application of whip and spur, the party tore along +the road, shaking it as the prairie is shaken when it is swept over +by a herd of buffaloes. + +[Illustration: "The party tore along the road, shaking it as the +prairie shakes when it is swept over by a herd of buffaloes."] + +"Claude, Claude!" she again shrieked, and now in addition to the +thick cowl, a huge hand was placed upon her mouth, a threat of +instant death came from the terrible voice behind her, the grip +tightened round her form, and, making her darkness yet darker, at +that moment the clouds, that had been lately gathering, covered +the moon. Soon the way divided before them. To the left it meandered +half hidden with trees, to the right it loomed straight and open, +leading to Montreal, and the motion of the horses, now abreast and +flinging foam from their bits, seemed like the tossing of the +boiling rapids, and amidst the thunder of the hoofs the hoarse +voice of him who rode behind her, hissing with earnestness and fear +like an excited Python, exclaimed: + +"Brother, and you, master Imp, make for the city; away!" And soon, +from the diminished sound, she knew that they had parted company +with a portion of her convoy. She could hear, too, that the remaining +horseman of the four, for that had been the number, had now fallen +into the rear, and, soon, she thought she heard through her mufflings +a voice crying as if commanding them to stay; and again she heard +it, but it had grown fainter, and wider from the track they were +pursuing, and now nothing was heard but the sound of their impetuous +course through the wood. This was soon cleared, when their speed +seemed to relax, and the hard breathing of the overstrained beasts, +proclaimed how much the chase had told upon them; and at last the +veil was slightly raised, a large, coarse visage peered under it, +and the hoarse voice enquired mockingly: "How fares my bird? We +will let a little light into its cage, if it will promise to sing +no more. What says my hooded crow?" and a titanic and convulsive +hug followed, causing her to shrink with pain, and revolt in disgust +and horror; feelings which changed to mortal apprehension, when +the same lascivious looking ruffian bade his now sole male companion +ride on before. The latter made no answer, but dashed up alongside, +and gazed into the face of Amanda as he passed, with an air of +curiosity mingled with admiration and respect. There was in him a +likeness to the sinistrous countenanced ogre behind her; yet he +was a rather handsome young fellow; and as the wind, caused by +their rapid course, blew backward his long, curly hair, he exhibited +a cast of honesty and openness in his aspect. The other seemed to +be impatient at his lingering, and growled: "Don't hang glowering +here; forwards, and warn me if any one approaches, that I may cover +up this toy." And whilst the monster readjusted the cowl to the +face of Amanda, his comrade again pricked the panting sides of his +own horse, that being lightlier laden than its fellow, easily shot +ahead. And thus they swept along the road, whilst the rising breeze +still drove the clouds over the face of the moon, and the race +seemed to have its fantastic counterpart in the wrack of the sky. +And now they silently journeyed, avoiding village and hamlet, by +making wide detours; but, in spite of their precautions, arousing +the bark of many a solitary cur, as they swept by each homestead +like an apparition. Even these incidents, and possible chances for +her rescue at length ceased, and the despairing Amanda, too proud +to vainly beg for her release from her stubborn captors, drew the +hood again over her face, and in the double darkness called upon +Heaven to be her protector and deliverer. That Claude had heard +her cries she felt assured; that he had pursued a portion of her +abductors towards Montreal, and would continue his efforts, with +those of her guardian and the inmates of Stillyside, to find and +recover her she did not doubt; but in the meantime what might she +not have to endure? And shrinking from the contemplation of the +uncertain gulf before her, she was at length recalled to a sense +of external things, by a sudden change of sound, from that of the +clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road, to one like the roll +of a distant peal of thunder, and telling her they were crossing +a rude wooden bridge, that led from the Island to the main. Then +for the first time the riders permanently abated their speed, and +their prisoner enquired of them whither they were carrying her. + +"Never mind that, my pretty passenger pigeon," replied the elder +with a ghoul-like grin; "you will not require to find your way back +this year." And the foaming, exhausted animals, relieved from the +trying gallop, dropped into a feeble trot or lazy canter, whilst +Amanda gazed wistfully around to discover some glimpse of dawn. +No certain sign of it, however, could she perceive on the circle +of the horizon, though all around there showed the whitened eaves +of the roof of gloomy clouds. Her companions, too, casting jealous +glances at each other in the obscurity, had become more mutually +taciturn; and the wind, that during the previous part of their +flight had risen, as if to be in keeping with the current violence, +had now fallen to a calm; and, proceeding thus, she continued to +tell the terrors of her situation, as they alternately glided +through the gloom of the clearing, or plunged into the denser +darkness of the forest; till at last she was startled by something +leaping against her feet, followed by the pleased but stifled +barking of a huge hound close by her, and at the same instant she +saw a woman bearing a lighted candle in her hand, emerge from a +hovel on the road side. The next moment the party were halted before +it, and the woman, holding up her light, shed its beams upon the +face and form of Amanda, whose arrival she seemed to have been +expecting; and after having fixed her eyes searchingly upon her, +turned them with a familiar and significant look on the still seated +ruffian. The light illuminated her own countenance as much as that +of Amanda, who, repelled by her manners and appearance, sat +motionless, and checked the appeal that was rising to her lips. +The redoubtable rider dismounted awkwardly from behind her, half +dragged her from the tall beast, and hurried her into the house. +The woman followed, and having closed the door, placed the candle +on a table, and sat down by the fire; when Amanda, still standing +in the midst of the miserable room, began: + +"Woman, what place is this? Where am I, and why have I been brought +hither?" then bursting into passionate grief: "Oh, woman, woman, +whosoever you are, save me, I implore you, from this man," and +with the words she sprang towards the door; but the churlish giant, +guessing her intention, intercepted, and bore her back, saying +"Keep quiet, gentle lady; have patience, bashful beauty; sit down, +sit down; come pet, come." And he made as if to approach her; when, +forgetting the hazard of her position, and inspired with returning +native courage, with her heart swelling with womanly indignation, +and looking the vast figure in the face, she cried with an utterance +tremulous from grief and scorn: "Whither have you brought me, +villain, and for what end? Sirrah, come no nearer me: I am polluted +by your touch. Out, shameless wretch!" and again she rushed towards +the door, but found it resist her utmost efforts: and, baffled, +turning within, she once more addressed herself to the female, who +was now carelessly warming herself before some embers on the hearth. + +"Woman," she said, "for that you are one your form and garb assure +me, though your behaviour gives your exterior the lie; woman, if +you be one, save me. Charge this man--for you have influence with +him--to liberate me; oh! charge him to release me. Turn me into +the lane, into the field, or where you will; but let me leave this +house without delay." + +The female, with a grim smile, bade her recompose herself; whilst +the burly brute doggedly hinted to her that she would have to remain +some time in those parts, and might as well sit down and be content. +Perplexed at this second announcement of her intended restriction, +Amanda stood mute in fear and horror. To arouse the creature in +whose power she was might be immediately dangerous, but, for a +moment, to seem resigned to her abduction was impossible. Trembling +with dismay and sickening with apprehension, her limbs would scarcely +sustain her; and as she mentally revolved, looking wistfully around, +as if to spy any nook or cranny for escape, she at last exclaimed: + +"Again, I ask, why am I brought hither? Outlaw, who are you? wherein +have I wronged you, that you should drag me to I know not where? +What place is this, and why have you come with men as heartless as +yourself, stealing me from my home to bring me hither, and cast me +into this den?" and her bosom filled as she ended; but her hearer, +knowing no compunction, only answered with a sneer: "To clip your +wings, madam," then gave a low laugh, as if of self-applause at +his quickness of repartee, or the prospect of her humiliation, and +added: "Pray, miss, retire; you have not been abed to-night, and +watching is not good for English ladies' eyes." + +"Shameless!" she cried, looking upon him with unmitigable disdain, +"how dare you hint at rest within these walls? Return me to the +spot whence you have taken me; render me to my home, so desecrated, +so invaded by such felonious feet as yours. Felon, convey me to +my home at Stillyside, and there reinstate me; if indeed you have +the heart, as you have the outward semblance, of a man;" and, in +spite of her resentment, she burst into a flood of tears. + +But not even woman's tears could move his stolid disposition, or +melt his stony heart; and, looking at her with an expression akin +to contempt, he demanded: + +"What, take the bird back to the bush where we have caught it? No. +Besides at present you have taken a long-enough ride, and when next +you journey it must be further in the same direction. You shall +see the world, and learn how wide it is; you shall have most +excellent French society." + +"Oh, keep me, heaven, from such society as yours," she +ejaculated:--"base man!--but do you know to what you have exposed +yourself? Beware; I am not without friends both subtle and strong, +and one of whom will not be slow to punish you for this outrage. +Release me, stranger, or you shall be visited with his vengeance, +not to be trifled with, not to be risked with safety." + +"Ah, the old advocate," exclaimed the giant, with more bitterness +than he had hitherto manifested; "Outrage! he has himself outraged +too many of our race." + +"Ay, that he has;" the woman chimed in, whilst her eyes suddenly +glared dilating, and she looked menacingly at Amanda; "there is +Robitaille, and Lamoureux, and Paille, and myself, and Babet Blais, +--poor Babet! but her boy, _his_ boy, his own son, has paid him +down with sorrow, _he_ has punished him;--ha! ha!" and both she +and her Gorgon-like guest laughed a meaning and triumphant laugh, +whilst Amanda yet stood there to be baited by the brutish man and +the lost, revengeful woman, the latter of whom thus continued to +vent her spleen: "Mistress, what are you but an English interloper? +Girl, how can we endure you? Do you not despise us? Do you not +insult, despoil, dishonor us? Do you not covet our lands, do you +not reap the taxes, take the trade? Would you not all be Seigneurs? +What shall we give you that you have not already taken! Ah, out +upon you, my young mistress! Think it well if you should not receive +what I shall not now name to you,--your guardian's gift to many a +maiden--and worse;" she added between her teeth; "death, death," +and turned away scowling. + +"Return me to my home, or worse than death awaits you;" cried +Amanda; "endless infamy; hated of our race, despised of yours, +disowned by both." + +But the woman by this time had begun to busy herself in piling new +logs upon the fire, and the colossus, her companion, after having +scanned the apartment, seemingly to ascertain whether it was to be +trusted to retain the prisoner, at length, satisfied with the result +of his scrutiny, unlocked the door with the key which he drew from +his pocket, and bestowing a bow of mock respect upon Amanda, who +affected not to perceive it, departed; and she, without vouchsafing +a look upon her feminine but callous jailor, sank upon a chair in +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "Ring the alarm bell." + + _Macbeth._ + +The abductors of Amanda were no other than the three sons of André +Duchatel, along with the vindictive Narcisse acting as their guide. +He and Alphonse Duchatel, at the branching of the road, had parted +company with the others, and so drawn upon themselves the pursuer, +Claude Montigny, who being magnificently mounted gained fast upon +them, till fearing to be overtaken they leaped from their horses, +and taking to their heels concealed themselves amongst the trees +that covered the side of the mountain, and where no rider could +follow. Claude then saw that he had been the dupe of a stratagem; +and after galloping across the country, struck the road that he +had been decoyed from following; then urging his horse in the +direction which he supposed the principal abductors had pursued, +he at length in despair left it, and again clearing fence and brook, +held his course towards the city of Montreal, where he arrived +betwixt midnight and dawn, and with the butt of his riding-whip +knocked at the advocate's door. + +The old man was dreaming of the apparently fair fortune of Amanda; +of the ingenuous Claude, and of his father, the importunate and +imperious Seigneur, when the clang rung through the mansion, and +rudely dispelled his visions. At first he was doubtful as to the +reality of the alarm, and was dropping again to sleep, when once +more the riding-whip sent the startling summons, and leaping from +his bed, he threw open the window, and putting his head out, gruffly +demanded, who was there. + +"Claude Montigny," was answered from beneath. + +"And what wants Claude Montigny at this hour?" asked the advocate, +who now perceived the figures of steed and dismounted rider beneath +him in the obscurity. + +"Dress instantly, and quick come down," was the reply. The window +closed, and in a few minutes the advocate, with his morning gown +thrown over him, opened the door. + +"Why how is this?" he demanded in astonishment, as he beheld Claude +on the footwalk, whip in one hand, and with the other holding his +horse by the bridle. + +Claude stood silent. + +"How is this?" reiterated the advocate: "Out with it, man. Is your +father wild? does he threaten to disinherit you?" + +"Not that, but worse:" Claude answered; "worse than your worst +suspicions, and it may be worse than the death of one you much +regard." + +"Has any thing evil happened to my ward?" asked the advocate, +exhibiting alarm. "Why do you pause? Inform me quickly." + +"Too quickly, perhaps, I shall inform you," replied Claude, +deprecatingly. "Something evil has happened to your ward. Arm +yourself now with firmness, and be calm; be cool in judgment, prompt +in execution; you who can counsel others, now prepare to be the +best counsellor to yourself." + +"What act shall follow this preamble?" said the lawyer, raising +his thick, white, shaggy eyebrows in enquiring wonder: "Go on, go +on;" he commanded in a short, gasping utterance; "declare the pains +and penalties. She lives? Amanda lives? Has she proved false? You +have not lost her?" + +"Lost her! oh!" exclaimed Claude, unable to curb his emotion. + +"Nay, confess it; announce the worst; the broadest misfortune; my +ears are open for it," pursued the other. + +"But I have no heart, no tongue to fill them with my dire news," +Claude stammered, and the advocate resumed, growing impatient: + +"Of my ward what can you tell me that is untoward? Of myself say +anything: foretell disaster, prophecy my death;--but what of +her?--you say she lives?" + +"She does." + +"Is well?" + +Claude shook his head, and remained silent. + +"Sir, let your lips pronounce my doom at once," said the advocate, +striving to be calm, yet alarmed and irritated; "Proceed:--I am +ashamed to say it, but I tremble. What has befallen my ward, what +trouble has alighted on my child?--for so I call her. Claude +Montigny, what is it brings you here betwixt night and day, with +tidings that you falter to deliver?" + +"Calm yourself;" counselled Claude in a warning tone. + +"I will;" answered the advocate; "I do;--resolve me quickly." + +"I fear to do so," Montigny uttered pathetically, as if his resolution +had suddenly given way. + +"Let me hear it, torture me no longer:" cried the advocate +imperatively: "Perfect knowledge, perhaps, may stun me; but far +worse to bear than were a shower of vitriol poured on a green wound, +are these distilled, dire drops of apprehension. Sir, are you guilty +that you thus stand dumb? What have you done injurious towards my +ward, that you so linger upon the street, and to my queries but +gaze like one demented? Sir, I charge you, tell me without more +reserve or hesitation, lest at last I listen to you with less of +fear than of anger. You have been--" + +"The innocent accessory, I fear, to others' villany," Claude +interrupted; "still, hear me," he continued, "and forgive me if I +bring you tidings that shall hang as heavy on your soul as lead; +yet have given me the leaden bullet's swiftness, or that of the +blast, to waft them hither, blasting, to yourself.--Sir, you have +been robbed, bereaved; the star of Stillyside is set,--or, worse, +plucked from its firmament; my life, my lady, oh, my new-made love, +your peerless ward is stolen." + +"Stolen!" the advocate echoed. + +"Stolen; even from my very arms is plucked," continued Claude. + +"Ill-freighted messenger," groaned the old lawyer; "stolen! oh, +Montigny, you have stolen half the strength from these old limbs, +and strained the sinews that have never bent before, neither to +man nor to misfortune. Stolen! How stolen? It is false; you jest, +you mean that you yourself have stolen her,--have stolen her heart; +you know I lately caught you in the act;--but, for her person, she +would not, could not, give it you without my leave. Montigny, you +have not stolen together to the church?--but this is in the street; +come in." + +Claude tied his courser to a young maple that grew near the door; +and, whilst he was doing so, the advocate retired within, murmuring: +"Montigny, Seigneur Montigny, this is your work, and yet may prove +the dearest piece of petty larceny that ever man committed; as dear +as would have been to have furnished the dower you refused me. No;" +he continued musing, "trouble does not spring from out of the +ground. Then whence comes this? Who hates me?" he continued sharply; +"Covets her? Whom would her absence serve? who, except the father +of you boy, the Sieur Montigny?" and he had scarcely finished his +soliloquy when he was rejoined by Claude, who, straightway in the +obscurity of the library, related to him the adventure of the night. + +The old man listened in silence, but his bosom heaved, and when +Claude had ceased, he grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: + +"Montigny, we are bound together in that girl, the outrage upon whom +has made us rivals in the task to find and rescue her. Yet are you +sure the voice you heard was her's? You did not see her carried +off; you only heard, or thought you heard, her cry. You may have +been deceived. Hasten back to Stillyside. She may be there now +sleeping between the unruffled sheets, making them sweeter than +the perfuming lavender;--if she be not--why then--alas! what then?" +And he struck his palm against his brow, holding it there, perplexed, +revolving. + +"You say you heard your name pronounced?" he enquired at length. + +"I did," said Claude, unhesitatingly; and this seemed to satisfy +the lawyer's doubts, and, rising, he said, shaking his companion +by the hand: "Montigny, go. Beat up the bush at Stillyside; and if +she be not there,--why all the country side shall be roused to find +and bring her back. But, Claude, she is safe. Yet hie you thither; +mount again your horse, and bring me word before the day breaks: +begone." And in a few moments Claude was scouring back to Stillyside, +and the advocate ruminating alone amidst the shadows of his library. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "This noble gentleman, Lord Titus here, + Is in opinion, and in honor, wronged; + That in the rescue of Lavinia, + With his own hand did slay his youngest son" + + _Titus Andronicus._ + +The elder Montigny, wrathful and irresolute, and like a beast in +the toils, had yesterday again visited the advocate on the same +errand as before, and with a like unsatisfactory result. But instead +of returning to Mainville he had proceeded to the Duchatel Manor +House; partly for counsel, but chiefly to ascertain whether its +owner--who, he deemed, had an equal interest with himself in the +removal of Amanda--would join with him in furnishing the demanded +dower. The subject was broached privately to the shrewd and worldly +André, who on hearing it propounded swore indignantly at the +advocate's audacity, and roundly refused to accede to any such +appropriation of his substance: so after fierce denunciations of +the insolence of upstart English adventurers, and censure of the +infatuation of young fellows in affairs of the heart, the theme +was dropped for the present, and the remainder of the day spent in +looking over the estate, and in those attentions that are usually +bestowed on a visitor, be he ever so familiar a one, much more when +he is both distinguished and in prospective relationship. The next +day the topic was resumed, but this time in the presence of Samson +Duchatel, as he sat yawning between asleep and awake, but who, on +hearing the conversation, aroused himself, and bade Montigny be +easy, and not dream of endowing the foreigner, since he, Samson, +had already secured the troublesome fair one. Montigny took little +notice of this, thinking it to be but the jest or boast, or, at +furthest, merely the loose announcement of the intention of the +unscrupulous giant; who soon afterwards invited him to walk abroad. +The company of Samson was not coveted by the more refined and +anxious Seigneur, but the former pressed him, and he thought that +locomotion might divert his mind from the contemplation of the +coming degradation and folly of his son. He consented, and issuing +from the ancient and flower-festooned porch of the Manor House, +they walked along in mid-morning of late September, the drowsy +charms of the summer's faded foliage just awakening to a resurrection +in the glorified beauty of Autumn; and, almost in silence, they +proceeded along the road or lane, till they came to the dubious +dwelling where, some hours before, Amanda was left a prisoner. The +sullen and sloven-looking female who had received her was now +dressed in gaudy attire, and saluted them as they entered, at the +same time casting a look of enquiry and surprise into the face of +Samson, and of suspicion on the Seigneur. + +"Bring up the body of your prisoner;" growled the former, loudly, +as he threw his huge frame into an arm-chair. "Come, habeas corpus, +habeas corpus. Now, if we had Alphonse here," he continued, "he +could repeat the whole writ in Latin. Habeas corpus, habeas corpus," +muttered the puzzled savage, fumbling in his brains for the context, +"habeas corpus, habeas corpus;--" then, relinquishing the vain +search, and addressing himself to the woman, at the same time +elevating his voice, he vociferated: "Hillo, come, lady sheriff, +bring up the body of your prisoner, I say;" when, as if in obedience +to the call of a magician, a door opened, and from an inner room, +with face flushed, brow dark and fretted with indignation, lips +pouting, breast heaving, and her eyes overflowing with tears, in +bounded his sister, Seraphine Duchatel, exclaiming: "And is this +the creature that has stood between me and Claude? and brought +here, too, to flout me to my face! I'll not endure it;" and she +burst into a fresh torrent of tears. + +"Who has stood between you, girl?" enquired the brother, half +teasingly, half tenderly: "if there be a stump between here and +Mainville that hinders you from driving your carriage thither, tell +me, and we'll pull it up as quickly as Doctor Lanctot would pull +you a tooth out." + +"You have done well, indeed," continued the angry girl, weeping, +and not minding his clumsy badinage, "you have done well indeed, +to bring her here to answer me, to scorn me, to defy me, to parade +herself before me, to stand in my presence as proud as any +peacock,--only not half so beautiful." + +"Fine feathers make fine birds, Phin," drily retorted her brother. + +"She is not fine, and if she be, she shall be plucked of her finery;" +exclaimed the sister: "I'll tear her eyes out; what business has +she to look at _me_, and speak so insolently? I'll have her face +flayed; her hair shall be plucked up by the roots;" and she stamped +with her little foot. + +"We'll have her scalped, girl!" condoled her brother. + +"Yes, this is the way you always think to manage me; by laughing +at me," cried the spoiled child, in renewed agony of tears. + +"Why, what is the matter?" demanded the Seigneur, wondering, and +startled by these threatening allusions: "What is the meaning of +all this, Samson?" + +"Oh," answered the latter, striving to perpetrate a pun, "Only that +we have brought Phin a handmaiden, and she finds her handsomer than +is agreeable;--but there is many a servant comelier than the +mistress." + +"Let me behold this Paragon," said the Seigneur, at the same time +rising, and moving towards the door of the inner room, that had +been left ajar by the rude Seraphine, in her indignant exit. Pushing +it slowly open, he beheld Amanda, with half-averted form, seated +upon a chair, her head bowed, but her face wearing an expression +of proud serenity mixed with grief. His first impulse was to retire; +but pity, respect, admiration, and even awe, bound him to the spot, +and he remained gazing till curiosity and commiseration alike +combined to induce him to address a figure so incongruous with that +mean place, and whose majestic sorrow seemed too sacred for +interruption. + +"Young lady, by your leave; pray pardon me; but can a stranger be +of service to you?" he at length enquired. + +Amanda looked upward. "Oh, if you are, as you seem to be, a gentleman, +do not leave me;" she exclaimed beseechingly, as she slowly rose +and approached him: "do not leave me, but convey me back to +Stillyside, from whence I have been stolen by that man. Oh, sir, +you do not know with what a load of thanks its owner will repay +you, should you rescue me from this base durance." + +The seigneur looked enquiringly at Samson, but the latter seemed +more disposed to wait to see how the seigneur regarded the appeal, +than to reply to the tacit question. + +"Why have you been brought hither, and against your will?" resumed +the seigneur, respectfully. + +"I am as yet ignorant of the cause;" she answered: "I do not know, +I cannot divine, why I am here a prisoner." + +"She does know;" fiercely interrupted the sobbing Seraphine, "She +does, she does," she reiterated, and seemed disposed to fly at her +tooth and nail. "She knows she is a bold and wicked creature,--she, +she, she; she is a, a,--I don't know what she is;" she cried, spurting +out the last words in a paroxysm of sorrow and vexation, and flung +herself into a chair sobbing hysterically, with toilet and temper +alike disordered. + +"Calm yourself, Seraphine," said the Seigneur. + +"Yes, calm thyself, girl," echoed the ponderous Samson. "Why, what +a wild duck thou art, sister, flapping and quacking because an +unshotted barrel has been fired at thee. She is an unshotted gun, +she has no name; and what is a thing without a name? nothing: for +if it were something it would have been called something. What +thing is there--that is a thing--that has not got what a pudding +has? a name," and he laughed till his sides shook, and drawing a +pouch from his pocket, took thence a quid of tobacco, and put it +into his cheek, at the same time playfully offering another to the +outraged Seraphine, who petulently dashed it from his fingers, and +affected to bridle at the insult. + +Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the Seigneur, who had +been watching her during the heartless flirtation between the +brother and sister, advanced one pace into the room, and said: "I +know your story, and have reason to be angry, not so much with you +as with my son, whom, I believe, you are acquainted with, one Claude +Montigny." Amanda turned away her face and blushed. + +[Illustration: "Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the +Seigneur advanced one pace into the room."] + +"You do know him I perceive," the Seigneur continued, "and if by +chance he has happened to know you I do not blame him, much less +can I blame yourself: but, lady, remember," and the proud Montigny +advanced, and bending over her whilst his voice fell, as if it were +intended for her ear alone, said "remember, we are not all of the +same degree, though Heaven has fashioned all of the same clay. The +proudest and the wealthiest in Canada might hail you as a daughter; +but old prescription, antecedents, prospects, all combine to render +impossible your union with my son." + +Amanda blushed yet deeper, and both of them stood for awhile +embarrassed, but at length she said falteringly, and glowing like +a crimson poppy in her confusion: + +"I own it just that you should urge these large considerations; +yet, believe me, sir, I have been passive in this matter, and have +not sought your son's acquaintance; neither, indeed, has he, if he +be rightly judged, (and you would not wrong your son), perhaps, +sought mine; for it would seem there are amities that Providence +provides for us, without our will or knowledge. It was accident +that brought us face to face; as we observe the sun and moon--that +are separate in their seasons, and withal so different in their +glory's given degree--brought monthly, and as if fortuitously, +though, in reality, by eternal, fixed design, into conjunctive +presence amidst the sky. + +Yet who shall blame the sun and moon for that? + +"None," said the Seigneur. + +"Then let no one blame your son and me," continued Amanda, "if +Heaven, perhaps to try us, has ordained that our paths should cross +each other, as might two strange and diverse celestial bodies pass +apparently too hazardously near each other in their appointed +orbits. For the rest, forgive me, sir, and may He who best knows +what is for the benefit of his creatures, and who sometimes for +their good, sees it right that they should suffer wrongfully, assist +me. Since this has pleased Him, I bow, and bear it the best I may, +and trust too, that He will, in His good pleasure, deliver me from +this that He has permitted to fall upon me, my present sad and +dangerous estate of a poor prisoner here." + +"Heaven will indeed rescue you from this infamous restraint, and +I will gladly be its minister," returned the Seigneur, melted almost +to love with pity, and dropping a tear; "none shall detain you +here; you are safe. Let me, myself--if thereby to some extent may +be atoned to you the wrong you have sustained in being hurried +hither--conduct you to your guardian." + +"And raise the devil!--ay, and bring him here: her guardian is +his half brother," suddenly roared Samson in surprise and terror. +"No, Montigny, she has given too much trouble in the catching to +be so lightly released. Besides, is she to be still allowed to +stand between her betters. Leave her with me." + +"Yes, leave her with Samson," cried the sulking Seraphine, starting +up in her chair. "He has known better girls, and handsomer, +too;--umph! how much men can be mistaken. It is wonderful that +Claude should covet her. Take her to her guardian! fie, Monsieur +Montigny," and half turning away in her seat with scorn and disgust, +she cast a look of ineffable hatred and disdain at the suppliant +Amanda, whilst the woman of the house fixed her jealousy-filled +eyes on Samson as he murmurred: "She shall not go: she is my +prisoner." + +"She must return with me, sir," said the Seigneur, quietly but +firmly. "Are you not aware how great is the penalty that you have +incurred by this disgraceful scandal? Think it fortunate if you +shall be able in any way to compound for it with the lady's guardian. +Seraphine, mollify your indignation towards one who has not meant +to thwart you. Return to the hall with your brother, whilst I +conduct this injured lady to the parsonage, to remain there until +I can escort her home, and (as I hope) with the aid of her +intercession, obtain the pardon of her cruel abductors." + +"It is you that is cruel:" cried the weeping Seraphine: "it is +Claude that is cruel. Not meant to thwart me! she _has_ thwarted +me, and you encourage her, you justify her, Monsieur Montigny." + +"We will crucify her," cried Samson. + +"Say no more," commanded the seigneur: "you are both of you ignorant +of the heinous nature of what you have done. Her guardian has the +power to punish you. Tremble lest he should exercise it." And, with +these words, he gave his arm to Amanda, and, passing amidst the +scowling trio, led her from the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "Confess the truth." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + "You would pluck out the heart of my mystery." + + _Hamlet._ + +Claude Montigny rode to Stillyside and back, and was again with +the advocate within the hour. To conceive the terror and outcry in +that quiet dwelling, when its inmates ascertained that Amanda was +missing, let the reader recall the commotion in the castle of +Macbeth, when on the morning following his fatal entrance beneath +its battlements, it is discovered that the royal Duncan has been +murdered. As vehement and as wild as when the distracted Macduff, +in frantic tones and with wringing hands, declares to the assembling +sons and thanes of the ill-starred monarch, that, "confusion now +has made its masterpiece, most sacrilegeous murder has broken open +the Lord's anointed temple, and stolen hence the life o' the +building," was the outcry and disorder on the discovery of Amanda's +absence; and the wail and lamentation rung in Claude's ear as he +rode away from the gate to return to Montreal, where, still pacing +the library, the advocate anxiously awaited him. By the ratiocination, +as well as by the intuition, of the old man, the seigneur of +Mainville was reasonably to be suspected of being at least an +accessory to the stealing of Amanda. Claude, too, was not unvisited +by suspicions of his father's complicity; but thrust the dishonoring +doubts from him, as might a suffering saint dismiss hard thoughts +of the dealings of Providence towards himself. Each thought more +than he expressed to the other, but at length the advocate +communicated to Claude his injurious suspicions, acquainting him +with the fact and nature of his father's visits to his office; when +Claude, in turn, informed the advocate of the long cherished project +of an alliance between the houses of Duchatel and Montigny. This +information not only confirmed, but widened the field of the +advocate's fears. He was aware also of the lawless character of +Duchatel's sons; and recollected to have heard that the youngest +was a comrade of Narcisse, who, he likewise knew, entertained a +covert spite against Amanda, and, for his mother's sake, a rankling +dislike of Mona Macdonald. Against both of these his umbrage might +be supposed to have been heated by his recent ignominious expulsion +from Stillyside; and to gratify this resentment he might now be +executing some scheme of revenge, wherein, from his intimacy with +the young Duchatel, he could know that that family had cause to be +ready to assist him. Here was a clue to the recovery of his ward:--in +legal parlance, here was a prima facie case; and it but remained +to find and prosecute the criminals. To seize his son, and, by +threats or promises, extract a confession from him was the first +idea. But where was the errant and suspected Narcisse to be found? +His father knew he was absent, so the mother was summoned. She +came, but advanced no further than the threshold of the room, and +fell a trembling with fear, behaviour that she would fain have +dissembled to be from cold, for, with the divination with which +guilt endows its subject, she at once knew that the stranger was +the young Montigny, and herself had been cited in order to suffer +a searching cross-examination. + +"Woman," said the advocate sternly, and wheeling his arm-chair +round so as to face her, "Woman, where is your son?" + +"Helas!" she exclaimed, and shrugged her shoulders, as much as to +say, "I don't know where he is;" and smiled a rueful smile. + +"No grinning now," cried the lawyer, raising his finger and shaking +it at her, and frowning as he was wont to do when he wished to +intimidate a witness, "no grinning now, madam. Will you pretend to +say you know nothing of where he was last night, where he is at +present?" + +"Helas!" again exclaimed the affrighted Babet: "sir you forget +yourself. Last night? Why it is yet night. Open the shutters and +put out the lamp, and you will still be in darkness. Let me return +to bed." + +"Babet Blais, many a better woman than you have I wished bedridden," +the advocate cried with bitterness. "Beshrew me, but your answer. +Remember I am flint if you are steel, hence the less often we are +smitten together in this enquiry, the fewer may be the revealing +sparks. Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, whereon +your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon your +guilty face, as grimly as the lurid East that brews a rainy day, +to you the type of tears." + +[Illustration: "Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, +whereon your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon +your guilty face."] + +"What do you mean?" demanded the half mystified and still dissembling +woman, in terror. + +"What do I mean? I mean that you shall tell me where your son was +during the last night, and where he is now." + +"Where he is _now_?" echoed Babet, "Last night? it is now night, +or only just near dawning." + +"Yes, we are near the dawning," mocked the old man, with loud, +relentless equivoque. "Madam, shed here the sunbeams of your highest +intelligence; clear the dull atmosphere of your soul from fog; and +let us see and hear respecting this occurrence, all that yourself +have seen, and heard, and known." + +"Master, I know nothing," said she, "what affair?" enquired the +woman, fitfully. + +"Is Narcisse at home?" bellowed the advocate, quivering with +excitement, and red to the roots of his white hair with wrath. +"Evil betide me that he should have ever made here his home;" he +continued. "Who called him hither? I? No, no; I called for aught +that might see fit to come, conditioned that it came in human guise; +but yonder frothy fool, yon swarthy pigmy, I did not summon him. +I called for anything of earth, but Heaven (to punish me) straight +passed the unhallowed call to hell, that sent me up a demon." The +apartment resounded with the last word, and still the old man's +voice was heard like the departing rumble of a thunder peal, as he +continued, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, whilst his +countenance assumed an air of singular elevation, passionately +exclaiming: "Oh, that a man who could have entertained the gods +with high conceits and philosophic parle,--could have communed with +spirits of the skies, should be assailed and pestered from the +pit!--Go on, woman, we will exorcise you, we will purge you, though +you be fouler than the Augean stable, that had been left uncleaned +for thirty years; ay, though you be as foul as is the stall that +holds the grimy company of the lost, and which goes uncleaned for +ever. Proceed, I charge thee!" and the fierce-eyed lawyer sat +dilated and erect in his chair, glaring upon her like a serpent +rearing its crest from amidst its coils, as he waited for an answer. + +"I cannot, I know no further," she said at length with meek +doggedness. + +"What say you?" exclaimed the advocate, almost screaming with +astonishment. + +"I know no further; I know nothing," she replied. + +"Assist me, patience, to confound this creature! Nothing! you know +all;" he shouted. "All, I say, all; for never had such a mother +such a son, but he did pour out all his purposes, all the infernal +cornucopia, into her breast from his. You have no secrets between +you; you, his mother, know all his course; his thoughts, intents, +conspiracies and plots; his loves, his hates, his loose, irregular +life; his merry moments, and his moods of malice. I charge thee, +tell us where he was last night, where yesterday, where he is now, +and where he will be to-morrow." + +"Monsieur, I know no more, know nothing," cried the woman, appealing +to Claude. "My master is mad," and, bursting into tears, began: +"Here have I been his housekeeper twenty years--" + +"Twenty years too long," vociferated the advocate. "One half the +period that heaven was vexed with a stiff-necked generation have +I endured you, Babet. Housekeeper! eh? Keeper of the King's +conscience next, a she Lord Chancellor,--but continue: call yourself +Keeper of the Seals, and mistress--or master either--of the Rolls, +so you unroll your secret. Tell all you may; empty your flask of +falsehood, then at the bottom we may find some sediment of truth. +Commence; don't count upon concealment. I will wring the truth from +you, though it shall ooze out drop by drop, and each drop be a +portion of your life." + +Babet was still silent, but the lawyer pursued: + +"Oh, toad, ugly and venomous, you have a precious jewel in your +head; deliver it; discover to myself and to this gentleman all that +you know about your son's late conduct. Speak, or you shall have +your closed lips forced apart, or there shall be found and set you +such tormenting penance, that you shall sue with speed to make +confession. What! still silent? Bathe no longer that face with +tears. Out on thee, crocodile! Oh, that those trite tears were +scales, falling, to leave you bare and vulnerable to arrows of +adjurement; then, with patience I could see them fall as fast as +flakes of snow in winter, till thou wert as white as Judge's ermine +with them! Creature, hast thou nothing plausible, nothing for us, +nothing for him, nor me?" + +"Nothing for you, nor for this gentleman," she answered quietly. + +"Do not imagine him to be so gentle, neither. Though he dwells +staid and silent, he is a roaring lion, that should I let slip may +soon devour thee, Babet. Overweening woman, you do not know how +much you and yours have wronged him," said the advocate. + +Claude had heard all this without speaking, but now he interposed, +to try persuasion. + +"Good Babet," said he, soothingly, "if you are aware of anything +untoward of Monsieur's ward, and will declare it, I guarantee to +you, not only a condonation for your son, if he have in any shape +conspired against her, but a reward so weighty for yourself, that +you shall bless the hour that you were awoke so early to be scolded. +What do you know of the lost lady of Stillyside?" + +At these words a smile covered her face, as if of satisfaction at +good news; then, shrugging her shoulders, she languidly asked: "Is +she missing?" and added, "Helas! then others have an absent child, +as well as I," and shook her head; and, with another shrug, continued, +as if subsiding into herself, and in a tone of combined decision +and sadness: "I know nothing of the lady, nothing of my boy. Heaven +grant my son is safe, my poor Narcisse, and that he may not return +and meet his cruel father, who so hates him;" and she brushed away +a tear from her cheek. + +"Heaven grant indeed we do not meet at present!" ejaculated the +foiled advocate; "for if we did, I might so far exceed a parent's +punitory privilege, that I should win but blame from the blind +world instead of sympathy. Begone, vampire," and she vanished like +a ghost at cockcrow. + +That smile of her's at the mention of Amanda missing, had been +caught by the advocate's keen eye, and convinced him that she and +her son were accessories to the felony of the night. Brief +consultation now sufficed between him and Claude, who also felt +convinced of her complicity. Light began to glimmer amidst the +darkness of the situation, and, as it kindled into a dreary dawn, +as might a new scene amongst dissolving views, shadowy and sinistrous +amidst it seemed to loom the figures of the Duchatels; and, before +the sun had risen, Claude, winged equally with hope and indignation, +was posting towards Montboeuf. The advocate threw himself upon a +couch, and he would fain have thrown up his brief of that day, but +it was for a case involving capital punishment, and, at the eleventh +hour, to have deserted his client would have brought upon himself, +not only professional dishonor, but guilt. Hence, with heavy heart +and unwilling faculties he bent his attention to the study of the +important case, whilst at intervals he swallowed a portion of the +morning's meal, that at the usual hour was silently placed before +him; and at last, with an inexpressible sadness and boding, he left +the stillness of his home for the walls of the busy and exciting +arena of the criminal court. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!" + + _Hamlet._ + + "Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye" + + _Macbeth._ + +The Court had been opened, and was crowded with lawyers, petit +jurors, witnesses, and excited spectators. A criminal trial of +such interest as the present one had not occurred there for years; +and the business in the Civil Courts had virtually been adjourned, +so great was the determination of the pleaders therein to be present, +and witness the conducting of a case so calculated to call forth +the powers of the renowned and venerable advocate. All conspired +to show that an extraordinary scene was to be enacted there that +day. The Judge was more than usually grave, attentive and deliberate; +the Crown Prosecutor wary, and complete in his preparations; the +legal, technical, and clerical grounds of exception and demur, +before the Crown was allowed to take up the burden of proof, were +entered and explored by the advocate, as one who reconnoitres before +committing his feet to dark and dangerous precincts, where any one +of his advancing steps may prove to be fatal. + +And now the case had been laid before the jury, and the witnesses +for the prosecution, each as he testified touching the fearful +crime laid to the charge of the prisoner at the bar, were being +subjected to the terrible ordeal of a cross-examination by the +advocate; who all eye all ear appeared, as in his earlier days; +quick to detect, prompt to demand, stern to insist, at watch and +ward at every point; so that his client seemed to have found in +him an irresistible champion, and the crowd, to all of whom he was +familiar, considered his success as certain, just as the veteran +soldiery anticipate a triumph from the General, who has so often +led them to victory that they deem him to have become invincible. +But to the thoughtful and more observant, at times he showed signs +of preoccupation, strangely at variance with his present undoubted +supremely master mood; and as the trial proceeded these fits of +wandering from the point increased in duration and intensity. An +anxious expression settled on his countenance; his usually energetic +but measured movements when he was thus engaged became irregular +and nervous; and he frequently cast glances towards the entrance, +as if expecting the arrival of some one; and twice in the midst of +withering cross-examinations, stopped short at the sight of +individuals elbowing their way through the crowd; gazing upon them +enquiringly and with an air of expectation, until, passing, they +became embedded in the serried mass of spectators; when, with a +look of disappointment, he resumed his task, and again with consummate +talent and characteristic vigor, did battle for his client, whose +dark distinction in the dock went nigh unnoticed, from the settled +attention bestowed on his defender, just as the prominently exhibited +prize is sometimes overlooked and temporarily forgotten, in the +observation compelled to the rare skill shown by the competing +players. + +But whilst the father was thus tasking every power of his trained +intellect, and crowning his career with forensic fires, that now, +in the evening of his genius, burned even more signally, than they +had done in the midst of its meridian splendors;--whilst thus +calling upon his great gifts, that, like to antique jewels brightened +by abrasion in the wearing, shone yet the more from the polish of +experience; and while lending a legal learning that, as a rapier +which, ever ready and ever in requisition, has acquired no rust, +was the more available from long practice combined with intuitive +tact;--whilst all this was passing in high and public court, the +ignoble son was awaking in a low lodging; weary and stiff after +the raid of the past night, anxious and timid from a sense of guilt, +and fearful of a future calling to account. His first wish was to +discover whether his sire was yet informed of the disappearance of +his ward. He knew that his father was retained in the trial which +had been fixed for that day, and had there been any whom he could +conveniently have sent to ascertain whether or not the advocate +was in court, he would have despatched one thither, but he could +prevail upon none about him to go for love, and money he had none +to offer. His mother, alarmed at her master's discovery of the +participation by Narcisse in their successful conspiracy, and not +knowing where to find the latter, had despatched a messenger to +the lodging of their bold and insolent accomplice, Alphonse Duchatel, +requesting him to warn her son to avoid his father during that day. +But the messenger failed to find him, and Narcisse at last arose, +dressed, and, prompted by a curiosity that overcame his apprehensions, +approached the Court House. + +Meantime the advocate, tortured by increasing alarm, and with his +imagination filling with tragic touches the picture of the possible +fate of Amanda, had lost both recollection and temper; and for the +first time when conducting a cross-examination, had been not merely +baffled, but successfully bearded and insulted by an irritated +witness, to relieve himself from whom, he was obliged abruptly to +bid him leave the box. The occurrence stung him to the quick, though +he strove to hide his chagrin;--no wonder. Taken at disadvantage, +and in a moment of weakness, the old pleader was obliged to perceive +that the wager of mental duel between himself and the witness had +been decided against him; and to feel that, in an unsought encounter +and fair affray, he had been publicly worsted. To add to his +mortification, the witness walked from the box with the air of a +conqueror, and cast an insolent look of triumph around the court +and upon his antagonist, whose discomfiture was so signal as to be +evident to judge, jurors, witnesses, spectators, all. Still more +to increase the advocate's perturbation, the heat of the court had +become excessive, and the rebuff--which, at an earlier period of +his career, and with an unwounded heart, would have provoked only +such a grim and threatening smile as a powerful wrestler might +wear, when, in the careless security of proud contempt, he had been +thrown by a boy--now, in the self-esteem of age and the anguish +of bereavement, moved him almost to madness. Seizing his gown, he +half cast it from his form, regardless of decorum, and stood the +picture of misery, rage, and scorn. + +Just then the court arose for a brief recess. Glad to breathe for +a moment the fresher air, the spectators retired, the jury returned +into their room, the sheriff and the crown prosecutor sauntered to +their respective offices, the panel of petit jurors escaped in a +body, the prisoner withdrew from the front of the dock, and sat +unseen, pondering his chances between the gallows and an +acquittal;--even the criers of the court abandoned their posts, +and the younger members of the bar, who usually gathered round the +advocate on these occasions, greeting him with pleasant compliments, +and polite and reverent attentions, seeing him thus moody, drifted +to the lobby, and in it paid court to some other, and secondary +legal luminary who was there holding his levee. For awhile the +advocate was left alone; then, emerging through the large folding +doors into the corridor or lobby, now cumbered with the gossipping +groups, through which he passed, solitary and in his gown, like +Caesar in his robe passing through the midst of the conspirators, +he proceeded past the doors of the offices occupied by the various +crown officials. None spoke to the old man, he spoke to none, but +his breast burned in agony, and a cloud was on his brow, like the +smoke that wreathes around the crater of a volcano. His eyes seemed +to shoot forth sparks, and his lips were muttering. Anger and sorrow +were upon his face, but, turning a corner in the building, he was +now hidden from the view of the multitude, and strode along the +main corridor towards the huge double staircase that, midway therein, +wound down to the dim entrance hall, that was divided by ponderous +doors from the esplanade between the building and the busy street. +A low, massive balustrade guarded the bridge-like portion of the +corridor that hung between the heads of the twin flights of stairs, +and whence, on looking down, was seen the paved abyss below. +Approaching this part, what did he behold but the truant Narcisse, +unconscious of his presence, ascending one of these flights of +stairs. At the sight of him the gloomy elements of his soul seemed +to flash within him and explode, rending all resolution of restraint, +and leaving him a puppet of some destructive power, as he stood +eyeing his son's approach, as the cat eyes that of the marauding +mouse, motionless, allowing the culprit to draw near, until, +detected, he stood, too nigh to retreat, too terrified to advance, +and, as the fascinated bird drops into the open jaws of the serpent, +fell resistless into the grasp of the advocate's extended hand. +Then, as the firedamp when met by the miner's candle must explode, +or as the liberated lightning must rend the cloud, though the latter +be near Jove's throne, so the frenzied father, regardless, nay, +forgetful, of the place, the time, the occasion, of himself and +natural ties, assailed the scared Narcisse, clutching him by the +throat with the strength of a maniac, and pushing him backwards +against the balustrade, and holding him there transfixed, while, +with eyes seething with wrath beneath the blanched, and big, +umbrageous brows, and showing like a sudden opening of the infernal +pit, he cried: "Demon, degenerate dog, where hast thou been walking +to and fro in the earth? whom helping to devour? Ah, son of Satan, +ah! Aroint thee, Imp, Abortion." + +[Illustration: "Demon! degenerate dog! where hast thou been walking +to and fro on the earth?"] + +The astonished wretch strove to reply, but terror and strangulation +forbade him; and the enraged parent, like an incarnate storm, at +arm's-length shook him, as the dog shakes the rat which it has +caught, or the lion its prey; and each moment the shuddering youth, +hearing his father's deep curses, and stiffening with horror, was +urged further and yet further over the abyss, and still with aimless, +outstretched arms, and disparted, claw-like fingers, strove to +clutch the advocate's gown; while with upturned and beseeching eyes +starting from their sockets, and still half on the balustrade and +half in air, with nothing but the grasp of his adversary retaining +him, he hung, while the arm that held him quivered, and surged +uneasily from side to side, as if irresolute whether to plunge him +or to draw him back; until a growl of satisfaction, followed by an +execration, gurgling in the advocate's throat, announced the coming +climax: the arm was jerked outwards, the clenched fingers unclutched +themselves, like an automaton's, and the miserable mannikin tumbled +with a yell down to the stones beneath. An instant all was silent, +then a faint groan rose from the bruised form, that the next moment +lay on the bloody flags a senseless corpse. Drawing a loud sigh +of indescribable relief, after his fearful and protracted agitation, +the advocate--and now murderer--stood glaring downwards with fixed +eyes and yet clenched teeth; then, sickening at the horrid sight +which loomed beneath, turned and leaned for support against the +balustrade over which he had cast his child. Hearing the noise of +the scuffle, some stragglers from the mixed crowd on the lobby came +running to the spot, and one enquired of the advocate if he were +seized with a sudden sickness. But he only pointed downwards to +where lay his ill-fated victim; and shook his head, looking all +woebegone, in mad, mute misery. Astonished, some descended, and +bearing the body up the stairs, laid it on a bench that stood +against the wall, and opposite its destroyer; while a still increasing +and motley multitude, including jurors, witnesses, constables, +criers, counsellors, clerks of the court, crown prosecutor, sheriff, +and lastly, the judge himself, hurrying, gathered round the scene +of the catastrophe. A surgeon who happened to have been subpoened +upon the current trial, opened a vein, but the blood refused to +flow; and a barrister, stripping himself of his gown, threw it over +the body as a pall. No one dared enquire the origin of what he saw, +until the judge arriving, demanded: "Who has done this?" + +"I," feebly answered the advocate, ghastly pale, and yet leaning +for support on the fatal balustrade. Alas! what a change! His +countenance was grown haggard, and his white hair hung dishrevelled +about his collapsed visage, like icicles round the pinched countenance +of Winter. Despair was in his look, and he uttered the name of +Amanda, and gazed bewildered around him, as if awaking from a +sorrowful dream; and now began to whimper, to gaze upon the pall-like +gown, and now to call upon the spirit that had flown--as a scared +bird from a bush--forth from the body that lay beneath it. + +"Narcisse," he feebly cried, "Narcisse, my son,--for thou wert +yet my son,--Narcisse, Narcisse," he reiterated piteously; and the +Sheriff advanced in his purple gown, and girt with his golden hilted +sword, laid his hand on the shoulder of the old man, the lately +proud advocate, but now wretched culprit, as a sign of his being +put under arrest. But none else moved; the Sheriff himself shrinking +from ordering the constable to give effect to the signal. All seemed +transfixed with pain or chained with horror, as in tremulous tones +of touching tenderness the slayer continued to call upon the dead. + +"Narcisse, my son, my son," he cried in agony; "Oh, I have killed +thee, child; oh, thou art dead, dead, dead.--But thou didst steal +thy sister; yes, I know thou didst; ay, that thou didst, and hast +delivered her to dishonor, therefore have I killed thee. Come, +Amanda, come hither, dearest, and behold thy brother; behold thy +father, see what he has done, and all for thee. Yes, I did it, all +you curious crowd. Amanda, oh, where art thou? let me see thee ere +I die: Amanda dear, Amanda;" and at the words, Amanda, leaning on +the arm of Claude, and followed by the elder Montigny and André +Duchatel, appeared upon the corridor, a sweet smile playing upon +her features, and hastening forwards she fell upon the neck of her +guardian, who was still leaning against the balustrade, pale, +haggard and forlorn. Her companions, restrained by astonishment +and fear, gazed aloof and mute, whilst the wretched criminal, eyeing +them with a look of misery and suspicion, in a tone of inexpressible +sadness at length exclaimed: + +"Come you to see me, then, before I die; do you come to triumph +over me, Seigneur Montigny? Look, see there, but do not touch it, +for it is abhorred, abominable, a foul spirit, a black imp of hell. +Amanda, art thou found?--Do not tremble, girl, do not weep; my +daughter, child, for, without a figure, thou art my daughter; art, +to the very letter, love, my child. Oh, we have much to tell each +other; see what I have done--but hear me, then condemn me. Oh, +Amanda, it is bliss to see, to feel thee here;--but here, here in +this breast is sadness. I have been a rash and hasty fool, a madman, +if you will, but no, no murderer; we kill mere vermin, we exterminate +rats, roaches; and what worse than that is this which I have done. +Pshaw, he was a reptile, a black beetle that came flying against +me. He, my son! Oh, slander, where wilt thou not cast thy slime? +the thing that the deceitful, wily woman palmed upon me, he my son, +thy brother? preposterous conception. Yet sad has been the creature's +end; and sad, sad, sad, I felt this morning when I left my home, +with a presentiment which seemed to say, that I should never enter +it again; and that presentiment is now fulfilled. Fate urged me +on. Unnatural hate has pushed me to the ledge, and now I sink to +lose myself in the abyss. Oh, foul fate! this deed foul, foul! +Fair, fair Amanda, close thine eyes on this enormity; or be content +to see it, yet not understand it, for knowledge here would surely +drive thee mad." + +"Oh, sir, am I not mad, delirious?" enquired Amanda: "Oh, my kind +guardian, my good angel, more than father, friend. What have you +done? you have done nothing evil!" and she sobbed upon his bosom, +and Claude stood transfixed and silent, until his eyes meeting +those of the advocate, he demanded passionately: + +"Sir, what may this mean; what horrible allusions drop like venom +from your tongue; whence comes this change; tell me, I charge you, +sir, why are you now so shaken, so wandering in your noble intellect, +even mad; you whom I left this morning, sad indeed, yet sane?" + +"I do not know whether I was sane or not when I did what I have +done, or whether I am so just now; but for this scene, which must +appear most strange to you, see there what shall explain it all," +replied the advocate; and the gown was partially withdrawn from +the corpse by one of the spectators, and Claude with his male +companions gazed upon it aghast, whilst Amanda turning away in +terror and uttering a feeble moan, hid her face in the old man's +breast. + +"How has this happened?" Claude demanded at last with a voice hoarse +and guttural with abhorrence; and the advocate shrugging his +shoulders cynically replied: + +"A bruise, a fatal fall; strange that he should have died of it. +It has been said, the lower in the scale of being, the higher the +tenacity of life. Yet here is an inferior intelligence dies of as +little corporeal damage, as might a poet or a philosopher. There +is no certainty in speculation, for by this experiment it has been +proved, that the bulls-eye in the stable window, in falling is as +fragile as the palace's clearest pane of crystal. Who would have +thought it? A dunce, that no one would have branded for having +brains, has from a mere tumble given up the ghost. Bury him, bury +him; I am sorry for it, but cannot howl," and at these last words +a howl was heard from below, and soon Babet Blais came rushing +along the corridor, wringing her hands, and frantically demanding: +"Where is he, where is my boy, my sweet Narcisse?" and threw herself +upon the corpse of her son. The advocate looked on with a bitter +smile, and when he beheld her covering with kisses the cold, coarse +features, exclaimed: "How these things love each other!--but when +he was alive she would give him the food out of her mouth, draw +for him the blood from her veins, sacrifice the immortal soul in +her body with lies and patent perjury and crookedest excuses, if +so was that she might screen him and his faults, deceiving +me.--Beshrew thee, woman!--but wherefore should I curse thee? thou +art what thou wert made to be, even as I am that which I was made +to be, a desolation and a miserable man:" and when he ceased Babet +started from her knees, and, looking on him with new born fierceness, +cried: "Monster, not master; man killer, son killer,--oh, you have +killed my own, my dear Narcisse! murdered my son, my boy, my child, +my only joy:" and she again cast herself upon the body, and, with +her face nestling in the dead bosom, sobbed and wept aloud. + +The advocate seemed softened, and, looking at Claude, demanded: +"Who is there that shall not fulfil his fate? for this I was born, +and for it I shall die." The sheriff again essayed to remove him, +but he sank at his touch, as the dust of an ancient corpse falls +before the breath of the outer atmosphere, and with mortality +moulding his visage: "Stay," he said, "let me die here; death has +arrested me, he needs no warrant." A spasm passed over his face, +his frame slightly quivered; and looking beseechingly at Claude, +the latter bent tenderly over him, and he thus began: "It were +foolish in me to suppose that you have not heard of my irregularities. +You will not be astonished, then, when I call this girl my child, +no longer my mere ward, but mine own child, so late acknowledged. +Amanda, child,"--and his voice faltered, while he spoke with +increasing difficulty,--"will you acknowledge me in this disgrace, +receiving with the name of father that of felon? Mona Macdonald is +your mother, to whom I have promised marriage till my way down to +perdition is paved with broken oaths, as false as her love was +true, and as hot as was the fire which fell from heaven, when Elijah +strove with Baal's prophets, and that licked up the water in the +trench, as did those burning oaths of mine so often dry up her +tears. Give me your hand, Claude; Seigneur Montigny, give me yours. +I see a change within you towards this lady. Stand not between her +and your son, as you would wish no sin to stand betwixt yourself +and Heaven at Judgment." Then in a low tone meant only for Claude's +ear, he whispered, gasping: + +[Illustration: "Quick, I am dying: bend over me: let me perceive +your breath, for I am blind."] + +"Think all I would have said, if there were time, and we were +happier. Farewell for ever; I cannot tarry, neither would I do it +now. I have outlived myself by near an hour, for I was not myself +when I performed this deed." And again a spasm passed over his +frame, his eyes grew fixed and glazed, and he earnestly exclaimed: +"Gather near me all who love me, and all to love whom is my duty. +Quick, quick; for a film overspreads my eyes, the throes of death +are tearing down this frame. Quick, I am dying. Bend over me; let +me perceive your breath, for I am blind. Bend, bend;--stoop yet +lower; I cannot feel you, for each sense grows dull; stoop lower +yet.--Oh, soul, why all this haste? Amanda, Claude, poor, missing +Mona, I have somewhat more to say to you; quick, listen, listen, +or it will be too late. Pshaw! pshaw! it _is_ too late, too late, +too late!" And his head fell backwards, and with his arms clasped +convulsively around the necks of Claude and Amanda, the advocate, +like his son, was a corpse. On the following day both of them were +laid in the English burying ground, but no stone marks the spot, +and in vain the stranger seeks to discover it. None are able, or +care, to point it out, restrained by a superstitious awe. A few +octogenarians still remember him, and look grave and shake the +head, when questioned as to the story and fate of the talented and +terrible Advocate of Montreal. + + +END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + +***** This file should be named 31212-8.txt or 31212-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31212/ + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan with corrections by Bowerbird + +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 +https://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 F3. 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 MERCHANTIBILITY 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 web page at https://www.pglaf.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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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 +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +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 https://pglaf.org + +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 including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.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 thirty 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: + + https://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. diff --git a/31212-8.zip b/31212-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4369bf --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-8.zip diff --git a/31212-h.zip b/31212-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..99acd69 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h.zip diff --git a/31212-h/31212-h.htm b/31212-h/31212-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28b619e --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/31212-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4697 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/> + <title> + The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + p.main {font-weight: bold; font-size: 150%; margin-right: 10%; text-indent: 0;} + p.hang {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em; } + p.hanging {font-size: 150%; text-align: center; width: 70%; font-weight: bold; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: left; /* all headings left */ + clear: both; + } + + hr { width: 33%; border-top: double 3px; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; clear: both; + } + div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; background-color: #DEE; color: #000; + margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: left;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + +/* LISTS */ + ul { position: relative; + width:80%; + list-style-type:none;} + li { margin-top: 0.25em; + line-height: 1.2em; } + + body{margin-left: 12%; + margin-right: 12%; + } + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 12%; font-size: 95%;} + + .sider { position: absolute; left: 18%; margin-left: .5em; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; text-align: left; } + .sidel { position: absolute; right: 18%; margin-right: .5em; + font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; } + + .bhead { border-top: double 3px; border-bottom: double 3px; } + .bbox {border: solid 2px; width: 25%; margin: auto; padding: 1em; + text-align: left; font-size: 80%;} + + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +/* FOOTNOTES */ + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px; margin-top:1em; clear: both;} + .footnotes h3 { margin-top: 0.5em;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 85%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:12%; margin-right:12%; text-align: left; font-size: 85%;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 14em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +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: The Advocate + +Author: Charles Heavysege + +Posting Date: March 11, 2010 [EBook #31212] +Release Date: February 7, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + + + + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan with corrections by Bowerbird + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h2>THE ADVOCATE</h2> +<p>A NOVEL</p> +<h3>BY CHARLES HEAVYSEGE,</h3> +<p>Author of “Saul,” “Jephthah's Daughter.”<br/> +&c., &c., &c.</p> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY J. ALLAN.</h3> +<h3>(engraved by John Henry Walker after illustrations by J. Allan)</h3> + +<p> +MONTREAL<br/> +RICHARD WORTHINGTON,<br/> +GREAT ST. JAMES STREET.<br/> +<br/> +1865.<br/> +<br/> +M. LONGMOORE & CO., PRINTERS.<br/> +</p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<ul> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></li> +</ul> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I">THE ADVOCATE.</a></h2> + +<a href="images/picture0002-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0002-small.jpg" + alt="Stillyside"/></a> + + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Take, oh take those lips away,</p> +<p>That so sweetly were forsworn;</p> +<p>And those eyes, the break of day,</p> +<p>Lights that do mislead the morn:</p> +<p>But my kisses bring again,</p> +<p><span class="i3">bring again</span></p> +<p>Seals of love, but sealed in vain,</p> +<p><span class="i3">seal'd in vain.”</span></p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Measure for Measure.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +On a bright day during the month of September, of the year 1800, +two persons were in earnest conversation in a lawyer's office in +the city of Montreal. One of them was the most distinguished +advocate of that place; a man of some three score years, and of a +commanding yet wild and singular aspect. His companion was a +well-dressed female of middle age, and comely, though mournful +countenance. Some disagreeable topic seemed to have just ruffled +both of their tempers, for her face was moist with tears, and +darkened with an expression of disappointment. His own was slightly +marked with annoyance, and, suddenly ceasing to arrange some folded +law papers that he held in his hands, and had gathered up from the +table at which he was standing, he exclaimed in tones of mingled +surprise and asperity: “Still at the old song! still harping, +harping, harping! Peace, no more of it. Heaven would be insufferable +with but one hymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl, earth +uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety, what a charm hast +thou!” +</p> + +<p> +“Is this, then, all your answer?” enquired the female, sorrowfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it not decisive?” he demanded sharply. “Woman, away: am I not +busy? Is not this the very Passion week of preparation before the +Easter of the Assizes?” Then with an upward leer of his eyes, that +were now filled with frolicksome humour, whilst at the corners of +his mouth flickered a grim smile, he continued: “Mona Macdonald, +I am neither selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not +prone to be provoked to marriage; though Satan in your shape has +for so many years tempted me thereto, I have still remained in the +bachelors' Eden, in spite of you and the Serpent. Marry you! Do I +look in the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough to commit +the unpardonable sin? No, a man may put himself beyond the reach +of mercy by other means than that.” +</p> + +<p> +Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued: +</p> + +<p> +“What more is marriage than mere desert sands, in which life's +current is lost until it reappears in a parcel of bubbles called +babies. What is it but the fool's end, the knave's means; a warning +to the wise, a snare to the simple; the wantonness of youth, the +weakness of years; a pillory wherein to exercise patience; what is +it but the Church's stocks for the wayward feet of women. Marry +you! To marry is to commit two souls to the prison of one body; to +put two pigs into one poke; two legs into one boot, two arms into +one sleeve, two heads into one hat, two necks into one noose, two +corpses into one coffin, and this into a wet grave, for marriage +is a perennial spring of tears. Marry! Why should I bind myself +with a vow that I must break, not being by nature continent and +loving? Marry you! Yes, when I hate you. Have I a sinistrous look +to meditate such mischief? Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom? +Pish! I am ashamed to be so importuned.” +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0010-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0010-small.jpg" + alt="Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom?"/></a> + +<p> +This badinage was uttered with the fire of youth, combined with +the authority of age, accustomed to be obeyed, and the listener +offered no rejoinder; but the speaker, having approached, gazed +into her eyes with a twinkling smile of mirth, that gradually +changed to one of fondness and pity; and kissing her respectfully, +he added in a soft tone: “Come, come, how is the maid Amanda, how +fares our charming foundling?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” was quietly replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Mona, I love that girl,” he continued, assuming a tone of deep +sincerity, “for along with the whole web of your goodness, nature +has interwoven into the fine fabric of her form a thread of my +evil—not in the grosser sense,—no, no; still, look after her; +the breath of passion must be stirring in her, and at her years +most maids are tinder to love's dropping sparks. Remember, there +never yet was a nun but once had tender thoughts. Love comes unto +all that live, and with not less certainty than death's advances +—nay, even the cold, bony frame of death itself, at last comes +wooing, and elopes with life. Now, home and cheer your charge.” +And he playfully pushed her from the room, then, throwing himself +into his chair, resumed the interrupted study of his briefs. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +“A seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone.” +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>All's Well That Ends Well.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The advocate was by birth an Englishman, and a cadet of an ancient +family, who, after having spent a dissolute youth and early manhood, +had come to Canada. Here he became acquainted with an old, half-pay +Highland officer of Wolfe's Army, who for his signal services +rendered during the operations of the British force before Quebec, +had been rewarded with a grant of land in that vicinity. Like others +of his countrymen, the Highlander had settled in the Province, and +married into a French Canadian family. But, soon, after their +union, his wife died in giving birth to a daughter, which he reared +to womanhood with all the strength of an undivided affection. The +Englishman's frank bearing and singular mental powers won the +admiration of the old soldier, and, at the same time, dazzled and +captivated his comely and unsophisticated daughter, to whom the +stranger was soon understood to stand in the light of a lover. But +Macdonald—for such was the name of the warm-hearted clansman—was +not destined to see his dearest wishes realized in the union of +the two. A sudden sickness laid low his hardy frame, and, dying, +he called the pair to his bedside, and joined their hands in +anticipation of the rite of wedlock. The father dead, the lover +betook himself to the study of the law, and with an extraordinary +aptitude and diligence, not only mastered the details of legal +practice, but comprehended, beyond others, the great principles +both of English and of French jurisprudence as practised in Lower +Canada. Ambitious of excellence, he resolved to complete his studies +of the latter in France itself. Of means he had little, but she, +confiding in his honor, consented that the estate left to her by +her father should be sold, to furnish him with the necessary funds +for his maintenance in Paris. In that gay capital—whilst taking +advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels +of the French Bar,—he associated with gamesters and courtezans, +and was at length left with resources barely sufficient to enable +him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary +acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile +eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque +humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his +fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible +scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence, +and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist +with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite +counsel for the defence. Extensive practice, and its concomitant, +a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving +him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with +it she had given him herself, day by day looked for the nuptial +tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become +a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer +in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her his long plighted +vows, he sent her to a lonely dwelling on the then unpeopled Ottawa +to hide her shame. There she remained till the scandal of their +connection was forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female +child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called +Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind +the bluff known as Mount Royal, or popularly the “mountain,” that +lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City +of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious +in his profession, he continued to indulge his vein for pleasure; +not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-secrecy +of his home; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure +from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in those days, +the province was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials, +and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself;—men +of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion, +language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association, +whereof his house became one of the centres of reunion. There, +aware of his gentle descent, and impressed with his transcendent +abilities; charmed with his conversation—as pithy as it was apt +to be impure—his wit, his taste, his information, his judgment; +sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines, and luxuriance of +his table, around which military officer and civil servant, merchant +and judge, were accustomed to assemble, rank and office were +forgotten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour. +Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them, however disguised; +and, secure in that close conclave, where no pure female presence +was found to check the bacchanalian song, or forbid the ribald +jest, all sat to listen to and applaud their host's inimitable +stories, his grotesque descriptions, his wayward thoughts and +fantastic images; to hearken to his close analysis, his robust +reasoning, his wondrous pathos, his sublime exaggeration; and, as +the wine circulated, to observe yet more his chameleon aspect and +Protean character unfold itself; now grovelling like the Paradisal +toad, wherein, at the ear of Eve, was hidden the form of Lucifer; +now, touched by the Ithuriel spear of some keen conception, suddenly +soaring, like to the bright expanded shape of the surprised and +fallen Archangel, till the guests themselves, like the startled +Ithuriel recoiling from the instant apparition of the fiend, drew +back in amazement, or, as if at the jests of another Yorick, raised +over the table a long, eruptive roar. Nor was that all. For a moment +he would assume the moralist, the theologian, or,—leaving both +revelation and the pandects,—become the philosopher, pacing the +universe for occult truth; or the metaphysician, tracking the region +of the supersensuous; and, over every theme, flying on mocking +mental pinions, seeming an intellectual satan, passing through the +region of vain questionings and doubtful disquisition, dim out to +the abyss. And thus he lived, using, and abusing, his rare gifts; +no virtuous and accomplished wife presiding at these feasts, ever +degenerating into orgies, or giving sanctity to these walls; within +which were gathered the brightest, gayest, noblest, most powerful +—often most dissolute—of the land. But now the guests were thinned +in numbers by death, by marriage, by worn out passions; and many +a fierce spirit had been tamed by adversity, till the mirth had +grown to be half moody, and the saturnalia gross rather in intention +than in fact. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0018-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0018-small.jpg" + alt="As if at the jests of another Yorick, raised over +the table a long, eruptive roar."/></a> + +<p> +Yet ever amidst these distracting pleasures his heart reverted, +first, to the woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to the sylvan +shades of Stillyside, which latter he still took delight to visit +and adorn; cherishing its mistress, and watching over and nurturing +her child, the fruit of her fondness and of his falsehood;—but +commonly known and publicly acknowledged, only as her foster +daughter, and, in his own prouder circle, as his ward. For himself, +he never occupied other than a handsome suburban residence, situated +between the city and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona +Macdonald seldom entered; and when she did so, it was to be scowled +upon by its menial mistress, a French Canadian, named Babet Blais, +who viewed the melancholy visitor with angry and jealous eyes. Into +this house many comely Abigails had come and gone; but Babet Blais +remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, acquired a wife's +settlement and privileges, by virtue of the presence of a dwarfish, +swarthy creature, half oaf, half imp, their mutual offspring. This +strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb, +was named Narcisse, and flitted about the house rather than made +it his home; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence, +and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and +indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him. +Reckless, stupid, savage; ignoble and stubborn; with thick, black, +stubby hair, and dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes +filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like live coals; +deep-chested, and with shoulders raised and rounded, giving him an +air of pugnacity; snarl written upon his countenance, and pride in +the pose of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient, +he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman, +reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to +her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him; +wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so +severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged +him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the +more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming +his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper, +in one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His +father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon +relinquished the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled him +to a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to take him +into his office. But, instead of applying himself there, he spent +most of his time in idleness and debauchery; by night frequenting +the abodes of vice and infamy, and by day, haunting the doors and +corridors of the court-house, in the latter always instinctively +seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sullen and offended parent. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Haply despair hath seized her.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Cymbeline.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +It was now evening, and the landscape lay steeped in yellow sunshine; +when Mona Macdonald rode slowly homewards, silent and buried in +gloom. Her way lay around the base of the mountain. But neither +its adjacent and majestic sides on the one hand, nor the placid, +mellow-tinted, and sky-bounded plain on the other were regarded by +her. Her thoughts were still with the advocate in his office, or +with her departed father in her native home below Quebec, as he +and she had lived and loved each other there, nearly twenty years +before. Thus preoccupied, she lent no heed to the landscape, although +before her was the broad, descending sun, and behind her was the +mighty Saint Lawrence basking in burnished gold; and soon another +stream, a branch of the Ottawa, appeared in the distance, the two +clasping between them as in a zone the Island of Montreal. But +neither the note of birds, the lowing of cattle, the barking of +dogs, the churr of the bullfrog, the distant human voices coming +faintly over the lea, nor yet the elysean landscape were seen or +heard; and not until the carriage drew up at Stillyside, and the +bark of a lap-dog, on the top of the distant steps, that led to +the verandah in front of the house, struck her ear, did she fully +awake from her mournful reverie. Then, alighting, she passed +through a postern that hung at the side of folding gates, and, +winding her way up a walk bordered with shrubs and flowers, approached +the dwelling, that stood upon a knoll. At that moment the sound +of a cowbell in the contiguous mountain coppice told the slow +approach of a dappled dairy, in charge of a swarthy French Canadian +youth. All else was quiet about the place, that seemed to be lying +in a sort of listless, half dreamy tranquillity and halcyon repose. +The mansion itself was spacious, and built of the grey limestone +of the district. Woodbine and hop, clematis and the Virginia creeper +half concealed its rugged exterior, and clothed in tangled luxuriance +the verandah that extended along the front. The roof was covered +with shingles, painted red; and in it were a number of dormer +windows, which, like all the other windows, were hidden with closed +green blinds or shutters. Swallows were darting about the eaves, +and wheeling around a fountain and jet d'eau in front, that were +fed by a mountain spring behind the house; whilst from one of the +rather numerous chimneys a frail wreath of blue smoke crept, and +lingered lazily about the lightning rod, before it rose and melted +away into the pure evening sky. But by this time the lap-dog had +come forwards to meet her, and now ran in advance, emitting a fitful +and joyous bark; and as she ascended the steps the door was opened +by a servant, who, having admitted her, closed it again; but not +before a stranger might, from without, have witnessed a fair and +youthful female figure swiftly descend the stairs into the hall, +and, throwing her arms around the neck of the returned traveller, +greet her with an affectionate salute. A large, grey mastiff now +appeared from the rear of the building, and, while the driver was +removing sundry parcels from the carriage, took a few slow and +solemn turns about the knoll, then, on the departure of man and +vehicle, retired for the night to his kennel, leaving the scene as +quiet as before. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Ungracious wretch,</p> +<p>Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves</p> +<p>Where manners ne'er were preached! Out of my sight.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Twelfth Night.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +On the morning of the following day, Mona Macdonald sat at breakfast +in a room at Stillyside. She was plainly and neatly dressed; and +with her sat a figure more lady-like, and still in her teens, +attired simply, but with negligent taste. Both seemed abstracted, +and, as they silently sipped their tea, appeared to be brooding +over some recent, sad subject of conversation. The weather, too, +without, was as sombre as the mood within. A canopy of cold, grey +clouds covered the sky; the air was chilly, and the wind swayed +the trees to and fro, betokening rain. From time to time the cat, +with arched back, and tail erect, came loudly purring, and rubbing +its sleek sides against the skirts of its mistresses; the lap-dog +was restless; and upon the hearthrug a drowsy spaniel lay with his +nose between his paws, and whined fitfully in a dog's day-dream; +whilst the females, at length altogether ceasing to eat, sat +self-absorbed. On the face of the elder was an expression of sorrow +tempered with patience, but on that of the younger, an air of +melancholy was mingled with resentment, that heightened almost into +majesty a form and countenance of extraordinary and statuesque +beauty. From time to time her companion regarded her with a look +of anxiety and tenderness; and at length, seeing her still abstaining +from the suspended meal, exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Eat, child, eat: fasting is bad for the young.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have no appetite, except for information,” was mournfully replied; +and the elder again regarded her affectionately; then with subdued +earnestness, and in an expostulatory tone, rejoined: +</p> + +<p> +“Be pacified, Amanda; for curiosity often brings us care. Let well +alone, and it will continue to be well with you; but why should +you thus persist to peer into the bottom of your past; as it were, +asking the fashion of your swaddling clothes? Fie! you are too +impatient; too importunate. Pray, no longer question me against my +will, making enquiries that may not be answered. Live without asking +why you live. No more of this. Does not your guardian love you as +though you were his child; and is he not wiser than yourself; to +judge of what knowledge is for your welfare? You ask me, why this +mystery about your birth. Amanda, we move midst mystery from birth +to death, and they who seek to solve it seek for sorrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“These words disturb me more than your past silence,” exclaimed +the younger. “What horror is there to reveal touching my origin, +that you yet dare not shew me?” +</p> + +<p> +“I dare not break your guardian's command,” replied the elder, +firmly. +</p> + +<p> +“Neither can I control a natural desire to know what so nearly +concerns me,” retorted the other. “I beg of you to solve this +mystery of my birth. It is my right, my birthright, to know who +gave me birth. It is said that I was found—where was I found? by +whom? how have I been confided to your care? by whose appointment +have I had given to me this guardian? and why is he so kind, and +wherefore are you so faithful? Tell me, nurse, why has he caused +me to be educated with such care; from what motive has he caused +me to be furnished with accomplishments that seem to reach beyond +the bounds of my prospective sphere? Nurse, I charge you,—if you +indeed have nursed me from my birth, as you declare you have +done,—tell me, I pray you tell me: it is not much to ask: the very +poorest child yet knows its parentage; the meanest beggar knows +whether his father once asked alms or not; but I know nothing of +my progenitors; whether they were of a proud or of a humble station, +whether good or vicious; whether they be yet living or be long +since dead. I do not know even whether my guardian knew them, nor +how he has come to be my guardian, my kind supporter, friend: +nothing do I know of these, whose all I ought to know. What is the +reason of this singular secrecy? Nurse, tell me all you know,—for +well I know you know,—tell me, I say, about my parentage; declare, +again I charge you, and now most solemnly, if you really love me, +who gave me to your care and to his kind tutelage: Nurse, Mona, +foster-mother, speak; how have I become the ward, nay, like the +very child, of that eccentric, wise, gay, good old man?” +</p> + +<p> +“More gay than good, and not so wise as wicked,” muttered Mona, +and, not giving her companion time to reply, continued: +</p> + +<p> +“Amanda, do not importune me further, I conjure you. Enough for +you to know your guardian loves you, cherishes you even as if you +were his child. Let us arise from table since our meal seems +done;—what is it that alarms you?” Ah! And at that moment the +report of a gun, the crashing of a window pane, the sound of shot +hurtling past, its striking the opposite wall of the apartment, +and dropping, along with falling plaster, on to the floor, burst +upon them; followed, without, by the expostulating tones of a +man-servant, that were soon overpowered by a loud guffaw, and, +before the interlocuters had recovered from their astonishment and +terror, Narcisse, followed by several men carrying fowling pieces, +rushed, swearing, into the vestibule. Amanda saw him, and, rising +to her feet, regarded him through the doorway with a look of scorn +and anger akin to that cast by the Belviderean Apollo upon the +wounded Python. But his dull temperament was invulnerable to the +arrows that shot from her eyes, and, undaunted, he swept forward +into the room, and with coarse familiarity attempted to salute her. +He was unsuccessful, for Mona, advancing between them, hindered +the nearer approach of the intruding mannikin, who, baffled, and +with the eyes of Amanda still fixed upon him, and yet beaming +ineffable contempt and disdain, at length stood before her with +downcast look, like one detected in some act of guilt. His companions +one by one slunk back to the lawn, whither in the dumb disgrace of +his discomfiture, he followed them. There, meeting with the domestic +already mentioned, and who had now been joined by a fellow-servant; +first an altercation, then a scuffle ensued, in which latter the +mastiff took an effective part, in maintaining the equality of the +house against what otherwise would have been overwhelming odds; +but he was at last disabled by a blow with the butt of a +fowling-piece, whilst the lap-dog, as it stood barking on the +borders of the fray, was shot dead by the cowardly and vindictive +Narcisse. This was too much to be borne, and, indignant, the ladies +descended to the lawn. At the same moment, three female domestics +appeared upon the scene, and changed the character of the encounter. +Three brawny ruffians seized each an Abigail, and attempted to bear +her off, as of old the treacherous Roman bachelors carried the +Sabine maids. Screams filled the air, mingled with oaths and +laughter; and the affair that had been begun in vulgar, aimless, +frolic, might have ended in serious outrage, but just then a horseman +appeared at the gate, dismounted, and, rushing in, riding-whip in +hand, plied it with such vigor, that in a few seconds all the rude +gang had fled except Narcisse, who, having stumbled, was seized by +the collar, hurried forward, and spurned through the gateway into +the road, leaving his fowling-piece behind him. +</p> + +<p> +The stranger now for the first time seemed to observe the ladies, +and bowing to them respectfully, for a moment appeared to hesitate +whether to approach and address them. They, too, stood silent, but +it was with mixed astonishment and agitation, and he still stood +regarding the younger with an expression of deep admiration; till, +as if suddenly recollecting himself, and bowing yet more profoundly +than before, accompanied with an apologetic smile, enhancing the +beauty of his young and noble countenance, he gracefully retired +to his steed, vaulted into the saddle, and, galloping away, was +soon hidden from their view by a turn in the road. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, nurse, Mona, we have been rude indeed!” then exclaimed the +younger: “We have committed the most odious of all sins, ingratitude; +and,” she added half archly, “we have seen the noblest of all forms, +Mona, a gentleman. Nay, but to have let the chivalrous stranger, +our deliverer, depart without a word of grateful recognition;—who +will champion us the next time, good Mona.” +</p> + +<p> +“May we never again require such timely help, child,” replied her +mentor: “But let us go within and ascertain the damage that has +been done there by these vagabonds from the city;” and, so saying, +she took up the dead lap-dog and carried it tenderly in upon her +arm, viewing it with a wistful expression of grief and pity, whilst +Amanda stooped to caress the wounded mastiff, then followed with +an air of pensive majesty, not without looking in the direction in +which the gallant stranger, had disappeared. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>As You Like It.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +It was near mid-day, and the advocate was engaged in his office, +when the notary with whom Narcisse had been placed, suddenly +entering, angrily demanded: +</p> + +<p> +“Where is Narcisse, where is your son, sir? Here I am wanting his +assistance, now, and he is missing, he is gone, no one knows where, +nor where he has stowed those papers. Where is he, sir; where is +the boy, I say; where is your son?” +</p> + +<p> +The advocate looked up at this sudden disturbance, and, drawing a +deep sigh, exclaimed with bitter emphasis: +</p> + +<p> +“I would he were nowhere; that he were erased from the book of +being; I would he were in heaven,—or else—in your office, Monsieur +Veuillot. Is that a bad wish for either?” +</p> + +<p> +“But he is not in my office,” said Veuillot. +</p> + +<p> +“Nor in heaven neither, I fear,” rejoined the advocate. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he, then?” demanded the excited notary: “where is your +son?” +</p> + +<p> +“Such a son!” murmured the advocate, shrugging his shoulders. “Do +you wish to be pleasant with me, Monsieur Veuillot? my evil genius +call him. Son! I own I feed him, as I do other vermin that infest +my house.” +</p> + +<p> +“But where is he?” reiterated the notary with growing impatience, +and seeming resolved to take no denial. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he?” echoed the advocate: “ask his mother; yes, sir, ask +his dam. Oh, Monsieur Veuillot, is there not deep damnation in thus +having an idiot for one's child? Here is your purgatory:—purgatory? +no: for purgatory is a kind of half-way house to heaven, but this +son of mine is to me a slippery stepping-stone to perdition. Sir, +a child should be a cherub to lift its parents' spirit to the skies; +but mine, oh!”—and a spasm of agony passed over the old man's +visage, succeeded by a forced expression of calmness, as he continued: +</p> + +<p> +“Veuillot, you have heard of Solomon. He speaks of the foolish son +of a wise father. He was himself the father of a fool, that rent +the kingdom,—Rehoboam I mean,—and he kept concubines, too; so +I suppose he waxed fruitful in fools. I have but one fool, therefore +I am thankful;—but then he is a thorough fool, a most unmitigated, +and unmitigatable fool; the fool of fools, a finished fool, the +pink of fools; a most preposterous, backwards-going, crab-like +fool; a filthy fool; an idiot, sir, without either parts or particle +of ambition; an ape, an owl that flits about by day; a bat, and a +bad bat, that flits from tavern to sty; chief of the devil's +nightingales; a raven that, roving to foul roosts, goes beating +the bosom of the night; a soul that loves the darkness; a mole, +sir, a blind mole; a piece of animated perversity, a creature +that persists to go astray.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where has he strayed to now?” demanded the notary. +</p> + +<p> +“Into the hands of justice, perhaps;” was the fierce reply: “into +the grip of the law; up to the foot of the gallows; on to the hill +of my extreme disgrace.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he, where can I find him? tell me only where,” cried +Veuillot. +</p> + +<p> +“Where! let echo answer,—would you wish to hunt him?” said the +advocate, mocking. “Did you ever gallop, sir, after a hedgehog? have +you assisted to draw a badger? I am badgered by him, and will blame +him, ay, ban him, for he is my curse, my bane; why should I not +curse him as Noah cursed that foul whelp Canaan? Beshrew him for +a block-head, a little black-browed beetle, a blot of ink, a shifting +shadow, a roving rat, a mouse, yes, sir, a very mouse, that creeps +in and out of its hole when the old cat is away. Away, Mr. Notary, +away; go, good Monsieur Veuillot. There are more conceptions in +man than he has yet expressed either in statutes or in testaments. +Go; you are a deed-drawer; I'll be a deed doer: I'll do, I'll do,—I +do not know what I'll do, but something shall be done. He shall be +shaken over perdition; sent to grind in the prison house; sold into +slavery:—fool! he shall be banished to Caughnawaga, or to +Loretto;—the further the better; he shall be sent to the Lake of +the Two Mountains, sir, or to Saint Regis to learn the war-whoop +and gallant the squaws. You smile:—but to your errand, Veuillot; +it is not known where my son is: I saw him last night, may I never +see him again! Then, dying, my old age, perhaps, may close in +peace: not else, not else.” +</p> + +<p> +The notary departed, but the exasperated lawyer still conversed +with himself. “I cannot decently die,” he said, “any more than I +can devoutly live, pricked through the very reins and kidneys with +that skewer. Alas! he is my goad, my thorn in the flesh, the +messenger of satan sent to buffet me. He is the mosquitto that +stings my knuckles; the little, black, abominable fly that will +insist to assail my nose; he is my bruise, my blain, my blister, +my settled, ceaseless source of irritation: the cause, the cause—of +what is he the cause? Alas! that I should ever have been the cause +of such a foul effect! But let it be so; the whitest skins have +moles, the sun has spots; he is my mole, my spot; and I, I am the +father of the fool, Narcisse.” +</p> + +<p> +Narcisse was that moment at a tavern in the beautiful village of +Cote des Neiges, adjacent to Stillyside, and much resorted to by +pleasure seekers from Montreal. His companions, too, were there, +bewailing the loss of one of their fowling-pieces, and devising +means for revenge on their interrupter and successful assailant. +There they remained, and, instead of spending the day, as was their +first intention, on the side of the mountain, in popping at small +birds they passed many of its hours in quaffing large potations, +the effects of which they in some degree slept off by a long +afternoon nap. It was now nightfall, and they were returning +homewards, conversing in loud and angry tones on the humiliation +of the morning, and threatening retribution against its cause, the +gallant stranger. Narcisse, with the litigiousness of his maternal +race, and prompted by his inkling of law, was for launching an +action for assault and battery against their assailant's purse, +whilst the others, pot-valiant, declared their anxiety to meet him +in bodily conflict on another field; and thus discoursing in the +deepening gloom, the party arrived opposite the mansion at Stillyside. +For a few moments they halted, undetermined whether to approach, +and demand the delivery of the captured weapon; but at last agreed +to waive the requisition, chiefly at the instance of Narcisse, who +authoritatively ruled, that to demand and accept of the feloniously +acquired gun, would be to compound a felony. Hereupon, being +somewhat more at ease in their minds, they proceeded, and now less +noisily, continuing on their way with only occasional bursts of +abuse, and the firing off of fag ends of French songs, accompanied +with a fitful fusilade of low, horselaughter; and thus, mollified +and maudlin, unsteadily continued their straggling march, until +they halted at a gate on the roadside, and some distance behind +which, loomed a large, dingy and deserted-looking dwelling, half +concealed by tall trees. No light was to be seen, but, after a +brief consultation, the party swung open the gate, entered, and +having reached the house, one of the number gave a peculiar tapping +at a window, followed by a low whistle or call, that was immediately +answered by a corresponding sound from within, and this again by +a counter signal, which was repeated like the faintly returning +tone of an echo; and, after some delay, the door slowly opened, +the voices of men and women, mingling in boisterous mirth, burst +forth like the roar of a suddenly opened furnace, the party entered, +and the door was closed again. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +At the same hour that Narcisse and his companions entered the sombre +and suspicious looking dwelling, the advocate returned to his home +in the upper environs of the city, wearied in mind and frame, from +an application broken only by the entrance of Monsieur Veuillot, +and the arrival of a messenger from Stillyside, who, hot and excited +from the violent scene whereof it had been the theatre, painted +the outrage in deepened colors, and exaggerated form. Anger and +shame contended in the old lawyer's bosom as he heard the story; +the former sentiment urging for the punishment of the delinquents, +the latter pleading for forbearance; for amongst the transgressors +was his illegitimate son, whose share in the offence, if brought +into the light of the tribunal, would thence cast back a shadow +upon the father, and point, publicly and anew, to their disreputable +relationship. Others also, whose reputation was far dearer to him +than his own, must be dragged, either as witnesses or as prosecutrix, +to public gaze, and thus be made to furnish matter for the tongue +of scandal. Perhaps, too, some latent paternal tenderness inclined +the incensed advocate to mercy; and, giving the messenger a hastily +written note, sympathizing with the tenants of Stillyside, he +despatched him thither, along with a noble Newfoundland dog, then +lying in the office, and which he meant should replace the disabled +mastiff. Afterwards, his thoughts, occupied with the important +professional business of the day, scarcely reverted to the vexatious +occurrence of the morning; but now, at eve, the tide of attention, +that had been so long dammed back, came flowing over his spirit +with increasing depth and force; and, in spite of his unwillingness +and the necessity for recruiting his wasted energies, for the +performance of the onerous public duties of the morrow, he fell to +brooding over the new misdeed of the already too obnoxious Narcisse. +From the son, his musings reverted to the menial mother, and, by +contrast, from her to the fair tenants at Stillyside; till, tossed +by the contrary and vexed tides of thought and feeling, he arose, +perturbed from the lounge, went to the window, and, drawing aside +the curtains, beheld in the east the full moon climbing the clear, +blue heavens, amidst a multitude of marble clouds. Struck with +sudden admiration and oblivious pleasure, he opened the folding +frames and stepped into the garden. The air was balmy; and, soothed +by the change, he returned within, reassumed the habiliments of +the day, took a stout, ivory-headed walking cane from its corner, +and, calling a domestic, announced that he should for some time be +absent. His first impulse was to cross a contiguous, half-reclaimed +tract, sprinkled with vast boulders of the glacial period, and +reach the turnpike road that led around the mountain. But before +he turned to commence his stroll he paused to gaze down on the +outstretched city, that, lying as asleep on the arm of the St. +Lawrence, with tin-covered domes, spires, cupolas, minarets, and +radiant roofs, showing like molten silver in the moonbeams, +contrasting with the dark shingles covering most of the houses, +presented an enchanted-looking scene of glory and of gloom. On the +left, and oldest of its class, was the Bonsecours Church, with its +high-pitched roof, and airy, but inelegant, campanile, refulgent +as if cut from some rock of diamond. Nearer, was the Court House, +and, beneath it, the Jail; and, behind them both, the dusky expanse +of the poplar-planted Champ de Mars. In the midst of the city rose +the tin-mailed tower and spire of the French Cathedral, and, at +its rear, loomed the neighboring, wall-girt, solemn Seminary of +Saint Sulpice. The bright, precipitous roof of the Church of the +Recollets, and the spangled canopy of the vast foundation of the +Grey Nuns reposed resplendent; and, within its ample enclosure, +luminous as a moon-lit lake, the quadrangled and cloistered College +of Montreal. Beyond these, in the midst of the shining river, +duskily slumbered the little, fortified and wooded Island of Sainte +Hélène; and up the stream, apast the petty promontory of Pointe +Saint Charles, stretched the low, umbrageous lapse of Nuns Island, +whence the eye followed the bending flood, that trended towards +where, with eternal toil and sullen roar, agonize for ever the +hoary rapids of Lachine. In the other direction the eye roved +downwards over Hochelaga and Longueuil, Longue Pointe and Pointe +aux Trembles, towards where lay the islet-strewn shallows of +Boucherville, and, lower yet, the village of Varennes. The mountains +of Boucherville, Beloeil, Chambly, and Vermont shadowy bounded the +horizon; and, turning from these, abrupt before him rose the awful +and spectral presence of Mount Royal. Skirting its foot he now +proceeded, brushing away the shining dew, disturbing the lazy lizard +and the serenading grasshopper, and hearing below him the harsh +croaking of the bullfrog in the pool; whilst, ever and anon, the +gust awoke, with a huge sigh, the dreaming maples, poplars, and +dark, penitential pines. From the remote, secluded farms came the +faint bark of dogs; and amidst such sights and sounds he at length +emerged upon the winding road, that, if followed, would lead him +past Stillyside. Slowly and without special aim he continued to +walk, ruminating and still drawn onwards, lured by the time and +scene, until the sound alike of mastiff and of cur had ceased, the +grasshopper refused to pipe upon the dusty road, and the too distant +bullfrog was no longer heard gurgling to its mates, but all was +silent, lying as in a trance, both heaven and earth. And then he +paused, and lapsing into meditation, stood unconscious of surrounding +things, till the tolling of the clock in the distant tower of the +cathedral of Notre Dame awoke him, and, starting from his reverie +and listening, he counted the hours to the full score of midnight. +Struck, then, by the weird aspect of the scene and singular silence, +a vague sense of horror stole through him, and he exclaimed hoarsely: +“This is the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn +and spirits walk abroad!” and scarcely had the words escaped his +lips when a wild tumult rose near him, and he perceived a bacchanalian +and disorderly troop of both sexes sallying into the moonlight; +wherein with uncouth antics and inviting pose, they disported +towards a group of trees, encircling which, and in the chequered +beams beneath their boughs, he beheld them in Harlequin and +Columbine-like appeals of passion, or already mated and forming +for the meditated measure; appearing the very gang of Circe;—and +in their midst he now observed his son, the brutish looking, cunning, +and sensual Narcisse, wine-flushed and loud, and seeming to be the +mimic Comus of the crew. As with the power of divination, he at +once comprehended the spectacle. He had arrived opposite the +equivocal building wherein Narcisse and his companions had disappeared +some hours before, and the door of which had just been suddenly +flung open, and kindling with wrath he at once advanced upon the +bacchants in the midst of their orgies. At the same instant, from +the direction of the city and unseen by him, a tall rider on a +lofty steed, cloak flying to the breeze, swept by like an apparition; +greeted only with a comical yell of astonishment and derision from +one of the females, as like a spectre it swept by. But the hilarious +band before him was too much preoccupied with the performance of +its mockeries to have observed anything, and the advocate, with +eyes gleaming and fixed upon his son, who now perceiving him stood +terror stricken, approached the revellers, who subsided before him, +as, with grey hair fluttering in the wind, he came beneath the +extending boughs, like some denouncing Druid amidst the sacred +oaks, his countenance inflamed, his whole frame seeming to shake +as if in throes to eject some foul possession; or, rather, as if +he were himself a fierce, incarnate, and unfriendly spirit; and, +at length, addressing his son, who was now leaning against a tree, +both for support and concealment, he burst forth: “Miscreant!”—and +the word was echoed from the side of a huge, dilapidated barn, +—“Wretches,” he hollowed; and the guilty crowd, fearing both +individual recognition and personal contact, again began to retire. +</p> + +<p> +“Stay,” he commanded, imperiously, “you are known, and flight shall +put the worst construction on your case;—halt, brawlers and bullies, +spendthrifts and bankrupts, breakers of the peace; sons of afflicted +parents, husbands of weeping wives, brothers of sisters both ashamed +and grieved; outlaws; the city's scum, the country's scourge, the +harvest that shall yet be reaped for the jail, and leave gleanings +for the gallows; abandoned creatures, linger;” and suddenly grasping +Narcisse: “Sirrah,” he cried, “here is your nightly haunt, these +are your companions,—come with me, sir, come,—ah, will you resist +your”—father he was about to say, but he recoiled from the word +as from an adder, and, casting upon his son a look of unspeakable +disdain, he shook the writhing criminal, who the next moment escaped +from his hold, and slunk away, still looking backward over his +shoulder and muttering curses upon his begetter. The advocate stood +watching him in silence, as, withdrawing along with the others, +the distance dimmed his form, and drowned his maledictions; then, +drawing a deep sigh, a dark, vindictive scowl gathered upon his +visage, until its expression became diabolical, and these words +rolled from his heaving chest in deep, irregular murmurs: +</p> + +<p> +“Thou son of a wicked and rebellious woman, do I not know that thou +hast set my friends against me, and caused mine enemies to hold me +in derision! But thou shalt suffer, thou shalt bend, or I will +break thee, yea, dash thee into pieces. May not the potter do what +he wills with the cup his own hands have fashioned? Away with +thee, misshapen reptile; may soon the Saint Lawrence hide thee, or +may'st thou soon be laid in the burial field of thy mother's race. +Away, thou vessel of dishonor; grant Heaven that I may not yet make +of thee a vessel of wrath!” and the old man's countenance worked +convulsively, as he seemed to be revolving some terrible idea; but +at last growing calmer he exclaimed: “Down, down, ye cruel thoughts, +ye horrible conceptions; hence, busiest suggestions of the fiend; +be silent at my ears, ye visionary lips; ye perilous and importunate +prompters, peace!” But scarcely had he uttered these words, when +a report of firearms sounded amongst the trees, and a shot rattled +through the boughs, scattering the leaves upon his head; and the +replicated echoes had hardly ceased, when a peal of triumphant +laughter rose, and continued to be renewed till the spot appeared +a field for the sport of a hundred goblins of mischief. +</p> + +<p> +“Come in,” at length said a voice, and, turning, he beheld a woman +standing in the doorway. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” he enquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Enter, and learn;” she answered: “I would not have you murdered +in your old age. Do you not know me?” and seizing him rudely she +drew him towards her until his face almost touched her own emaciated +countenance, on which played a sardonic smile as she turned it +towards the moonlight, and he strove to free himself, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“Witch, hag, loose me:” and gazed upon her with a look of mingled +amazement and abhorrence. +</p> + +<p> +“Am I then so changed?” she demanded, with a gloomy smile; “am I +become a leper; am I grown loathsome now, whom you once declared +to be so lovely? Follow me, false man; you did not once require +solicitation.” And again the sound of firearms startled the night, +and once more the leaves fell fluttering on his head, and the beldam +angrily exclaimed: “Come in, old fool,” and laid hands on him a +second time, as, in a voice thick and hurried with dislike and +terror, he replied: “You are remembered by me, woman; give me +shelter for a moment,” and hastily stepping with her over the +threshhold, she closed the door after them. Another burst of +triumphant laughter rose from the retiring revellers, and again +moonlight and returning silence rested on the scene. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“It is my lady: oh, it is my love!”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Romeo and Juliet.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The agitation of the morning at Stillyside had subsided as the day +wore, but the mind of Amanda Macdonald (for such was the name of +the younger and fairer denizen of that sequestered abode) remained +pensive and preoccupied; and when at her usual hour she had ascended +to her chamber, instead of retiring to rest, she took up a tale of +the troubadours, and read; nor did she lay down the volume till +the sudden flickering of the candle in the socket and the simultaneous +tolling from the distant belfry of the church of the village of +Saint Laurent warned her that it was midnight. Then, feeling +oppressed, alike with the heaviness of the atmosphere of her room, +and a strange weight at her heart, analogous to the lassitude that +is sometimes felt in the beginning of sickness, she arose, drew +aside the curtains, and throwing open the folding window, stepped +on to the verandah. A clear Canadian night, appearing a new and +chaster version of the day, greeted her. The moon, at night's +meridian, hung high in the fulness of its autumnal splendor, tranquil +in the solitude of the sky, a solitude unbroken, save by a few +small stars that were twinkling in the azure, and a fleet of low, +dappled clouds that were coasting the horizon. Awhile her eyes +dwelt abstractedly on the sight, then, falling, they wandered +listlessly over the broad and shining expanse of landscape before +her; where Nature, unrobed, seemed as in a bath; for in front, the +grass, steeped in descending dews, glittered as a lake. Woods +confined the view in one direction, and the gleamy wave of the +Ottawa, amidst filmy obscurity, bounded it, yet further off, in +another. Unseen but felt, like the unperceived Genius of the +landscape, towered close behind her the sombre-sided mountain; and, +touched by the solemn scene, she advanced, and, leaning upon the +balustrade, heaved a deep sigh; then lapsed into a reverie so +profound, that she failed to hear the tramp of a horse now rapidly +approaching, and to note the change to sudden silence, caused by +its stopping at the postern. But there, transfixed with wonder and +admiration, and looking like a bronze equestrian statue at the +gate, now, mounted, sat gazing the lately flying horseman of the +road, the champion of the morning on those grounds, and contemplated +the figure on the verandah; then, dismounting, tied his steed, and +vaulting over the fence, swiftly approached across the lawn; till, +as if suddenly aware of being on holy ground, he paused, and stood +with reverential aspect and clasped hands, eagerly bending towards +her as if in adoration. Thus engaged, as stands in ecstasy some +newly arrived pilgrim before a shrine, he stood enrapt; whilst she +remained as moveless as a carved angel leaning over a cathedral +aisle, and, with her eyes fixed on vacancy, at length mournfully +exclaimed: “Sad, sad, so sad!—yet why am I so sad? No denser +grows the mystery around my birth; and if knight errants yet live, +rescuing maids, or he is a wandering god, and here is Arcadia, why +should that make me grieve? It is true that he is handsome—and +yet what of that?—most men are handsome in the eyes of maids. But +he appears the paragon of men. Is he indeed not all a man should +be? Where were the blemish, the exception; who shall challenge +nature, saying, in his form, that here she has given too little, +there too much?—Ah, me! I am not happy, yet I should be so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can I have heard aright, or do I dream?” gasped out the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“A knight, a god;” she continued, yet musing; “oh, he came hither +like a knight of old, or as an angry angel sent to scatter +fiends;—or, rather, like the lightning he arrived, out of the +storm cloud of I know not where. Where is he now? whence was he? +who is he? what? Alas, I know nothing of where, nor who, nor what, +nor whence he is; all that I know is, I am strangely sad; and that +such perfection was not made for me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is this not Stillyside?” enquired the listener, “or do I wander +in some spirit-land; lost, lost;—oh, so luxuriously lost! She, +too, seems lost—lost in a reverie, and all forlorn. I'll speak to +her;—and yet I fear to speak, I fear to breathe, lest the undulating +air should burst this, and prove it to be but a bubble. Yet she +breathes, she spoke, and oh, such words! Words, be at my command; +I will address her, for this is not fancy: could fancy shew a moving +soul of sorrow? See how the passion plays upon that face, as she +thus stands with sad-eyed earnestness, maintaining converse with +the hollow sky. Looked ever aught so fair yet so forlorn? Methinks +there is a tear upon her cheek. Why comes it from the Eden of her +eye? I must speak to her;” and with mixed fear and fervour he +exclaimed: “May Heaven keep you from grave cause of sorrow, lady! +Forgive me, oh, forgive me, lady, or vision, for, by these dazzled +eyes, and, as I fear, by your offended form, I Scarcely can divine +whether you are of earth or air; pardon me if I have appeared here +by night, as unpremeditatedly as I came by day. Bid me begone, +—and yet permit me to remain, for, by my life, and the deep +admiration with which you have inspired me, I cannot leave you till +I learn your grief, and with it, peradventure, my own doom. Whom +did you speak of even now, fair form?” +</p> + +<p> +“Who asks of me that question; who is it that thus listens when I +thought myself alone?” she demanded haughtily, looking downwards +from the verandah. “Sir, just now I spoke, and said—I know not +what. What you have overheard me say I fear was foolish; do not, +then, regard it. I know you now. You are the stranger who, this +morning, drove those violent intruders from these grounds. Ah, +who would have thought you would return by night, and thus, sir, +play the eaves-dropper! Oh, for shame! Nay, you are not the one I +took you for. Sir, it is mean to overlisten; mean, very mean; nay, +it is base, unmanly, to listen to a maid, when she commits her +vagaries to the moon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Scourge me, for I deserve it, with your tongue;” rejoined the +stranger—“but, lady, you were not alone, though I were absent; +no; you cannot be alone. Such excellence must draw hither elves +and midnight troops of fairies; by day, by night, each moment must +array around you the good wishes of the world. No, not alone; the +very sky is filled with watchers and the ground covered with +invisible feet, that have come here to do you homage; then why not +I found here to pay you mine? Are you still angry?” +</p> + +<p> +“You have offended me,” she answered;—“and yet perhaps I am too +severe with you. I fear I am ungrateful. 'Mean,' did I say? It was +mean in me to say so, and most forgetful of the favor conferred +here by you this morning. No, I vow it was not mean—at least in +<i>you</i>. And yet it was mean, it was very mean in you, sir, thus to +overstep the golden mean of manners. Scourge you? Ah, I fear you +well deserve it;—and yet if I could, I would put to scourging that +word, 'mean,' that has just escaped from out of my petulent lips, +as sometimes a froward, disobedient child runs into danger; breaking +away from out of the nurse's arms. But you should not have played +the bold intruder, and joined in these vain vigils;—nay, begone, +or I must, myself, withdraw. I do entreat you, stay no longer; come +some other time,—but go to-night; make no excuse for staying, or +you may yet compel me to be angry with you. Indeed, I fear that I +am too forgiving. Go, I pardon you,—but go at once, or I may yet +repent to have condoned what it, in truth, were hard to justify.” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven pardons heavier sins,” observed the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, when its pardon is sought for;” was rejoined; “but I pardon +you without your craving it; and, remember, Heaven's pardon is not +granted to us simply for the asking; neither do we receive it +because our hearts are penitent; but for the sake of Him who died +for us upon the cross; hence you are now forgiven by me, not for +your prayers' sake, nor for your regret, but rather because +beforehand, the night's offence has been cancelled by the morning's +favor. For the rest, retire, sir: what you have heard, you have +heard. You have heard my words, yet give no heed to them. If I +to-night have walked forth in my sleep, and dreamed on this +verandah;—why, then, it was but a dream. Let it be thus esteemed, +and so we part. Good night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stay!” exclaimed the stranger, as, smiling with ineffable sweetness, +and deeply curtsying, she drew backwards towards the window: “Stay; +how can those part whom destiny hath joined; how be divided whom +their fates make one? Stay, lady, and let love, young love, plead +his own cause. Oh, I would yet charm you with my tongue, even as +your own detected tongue has just declared that this morning I +charmed you with my deed. Stay. If, in truth, you did admire, +what, at the moment of its execution, I thought nothing of, and +value now only as it has relation to yourself, hear my appeal.” +</p> + +<p> +“What does this mean?” she asked, startled at his earnestness: “I +do not know you; go, oh, go; I say again, I do not know you, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never knew myself till now,” he cried with bitter pathos. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, I do not know you; you do not know <i>me;</i>” she reiterated. +</p> + +<p> +“Know me to be irrevocably yours;” rejoined the stranger, “for you +have bound my heart in such fast thraldom, that even yourself could +not deliver it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, perhaps, I would not, if I could,—unless you asked it:” she +answered: “and yet, sir, possibly you jest. Oh, sir, forbear; +begone, nor longer fool here a surprised, lone girl. What is your +purpose? who, and whence, are you? On your honor, answer me truly.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the seigneur Montigny's only son: my purpose and my thoughts +towards you are all honorable:” he replied. And she rejoined: “Oh, +if your intentions are dishonorable, and you have not the spirit, +as you have the aspect, of a gentleman, yet keep this secret, as +you are a man.” +</p> + +<p> +“What shall be said to reassure you?” demanded Montigny. “Witness, +Heaven, if I assume to act, or intend anything injurious towards +you. Believe me. I am the heir to a proud seigniory: you are,—I +know not what; enough for me to know, you are the fairest figure +that has yet filled mine eyes, and surely as good as fair. Will +you be mine, as I am yours for ever? Speak, why are you silent?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hist,” she said, listening. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter?” he enquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, perhaps nothing:” she continued, whilst her voice +faltered:—“but go, oh, go, and come again to-morrow, or next +week, or when you will. I'll think on what you have said; but go; +I tremble so; stay here no longer; think, should we be observed. +I am ashamed to think of it. I am ashamed to look the moon in the +face, ashamed to look into yours. Oh, sir, what have I done? What +have you said? How have I answered? for I am perplexed. Away, yet +come again; come fifty times; but stay no longer now; begone;—return +though when you choose; do not wait for an invitation.—Listen, +I hear it again; begone, begone; did you not hear something?—it +was nothing, perhaps, but yet begone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never without your love pledge will I leave you,” replied Montigny +firmly. +</p> + +<p> +“And would you force me to avow myself?” she asked. “May Heaven +absolve me if I err herein! No, give me leisure to reflect: this +were too sudden. These passion-hurried vows were too much like +those vapors, that, igniting, rush like to unorbed stars across +the night, then, vanished, leave it blacker. Do not tempt me. To +act in haste is to repent at leisure; and quickliest lighted coals +grow soonest cool. Even now I feel my cheek aglow with shame, that +burns its passage to my rooted hair. Away: if you should not forget +me, why, you are as though you were still present; for your thought, +which is your truest self, remains with me. If you should grow +oblivious—why, it is I that shall suffer, and not you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, waste of words on what can never be!” Exclaimed Montigny: +“cease to doubt me. Forget you! Love's memories are immortal. Love +writes the lineaments of the beloved in rock, not sand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet rocks may lose their effigies, the pyramids their inscriptions, +the strong-clamped monument may tumble, and the marble bust, by +time, may let the salient features fall into one indistinguishable +round,” she answered doubtingly. +</p> + +<p> +“They may;” rejoined Montigny: “but neither flowing time nor chafing +circumstance can erase affection from the constant mind. Mind is +more obdurate than steel; and love, the tenderest of the train of +passions, is, in its memory, as indestructible as gold;—gold that +resists the all-corroding fire. No; the fire may melt the impress +from the seal, the sun the angles from the stony ice; the jagged +rocks may from encounter with the wind and rain grow smooth; this +hilly globe may grow at length to be as level as is the sea, and +every jutting headland of the shore may crumble and disappear; but +your bright image must to the eventide of life's cogitation, stay, +like a sacred peak whose lofty brow stands ever gilded in the +setting sun. Forget you! little hazard: he whose heart is impressed +with the absent's form, needs wear no miniature upon the breast; +the scholar who knows his task by rote, needs not retain his eye +upon the book.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hearts may prove false,” she answered solemnly, “and tasks to +treacherous memory committed may be forgotten; but will you forget +these weighty words: will you be constant, oh, will you prove true; +for did I give you all I have, my love, what were there left me +should you throw it away?” +</p> + +<p> +“Injurious and incredulous one,” returned Montigny, “save Lucifer, +who ever threw from him heaven?” +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me,” she replied, “it is but a timid girl that speaks. +She did not doubt you, though she sought to prove you. Yet are you +sure you love her? Ask your heart, then render me its reply, as +one might do, who having listened for me to the murmuring shell, +should bring me tidings of the storm-vexed sea. Vow not, but listen.” +</p> + +<p> +Montigny seemed for awhile to listen to his heart; then, looking +at her, replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Surer than is assurance itself I am yours. Say that you are mine, +and every further word shall seem only to be redundant and +apochryphal; for when love's lips have made their revelation, what +more is wanting to complete the canon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Believe that I have said it,” she half whispered; then, starting, +and changing color, “hist, hist,” she added, “once more I hear it: +heard <i>you</i> nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“I nothing heard but you,” replied Montigny: “Proceed; for your +voice is sweeter to me than plashing fountain's, or than Saint +Laurent's chimes, or than would be—could we hear it—the fabulous +music of those night-hung spheres, coming harmonious to our listening +ears, borne on the shoulders of the cherub winds. Why are you +silent?” +</p> + +<p> +“Listen,” she said, looking still more alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +“I do,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet heard you nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing but ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing besides?” +</p> + +<p> +“What further should I hear?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“And yet it seemed as if I heard another,” she continued. “Are we +watched? speak, tell me,” she demanded,—“I hear it again; listen.” +</p> + +<p> +Montigny listened a moment, then replied soothingly: +</p> + +<p> +“Dismiss these pale-cheeked panics, for you hear nothing; or if +you do it is but the common voices of the night. It is merely the +hoarse bullfrog croaking in the swamp; and the green grasshopper +a chirrupping in the meadow; for, saving these, all nature with +myself is listening to you. Be reassured: there is nothing, but +what your own excited fancy has conjured: even the wind has ceased +to sigh amongst the leaves; the moon stands still, and her arrested +beam no longer draws the shadow on the dreamy dial. Then, proceed, +my love, for when you speak you fill my ears with heaven, but when +you pause then opens the abyss.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet listen; I hear it again:” she said; “it was not fancy; no.” +</p> + +<p> +“What else? what can befall you, love, whilst I am here?” he +murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, I hope,” she answered, falteringly. +</p> + +<p> +“Then nothing dread.” +</p> + +<p> +“I dread to say it, yet I must: Good night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Already?” he demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“All too long!” cried an imperious voice; and the advocate stood +before them. +</p> + +<p> +“Amanda, ah, Amanda, Miss Macdonald,” he continued, “is it thus you +fool us? Go, bird, into your cage. Nurse, take my lady in.” And +Amanda beheld behind her the melancholy Mona, half shrouded in a +cloak covering her night attire. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0059-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0059-small.jpg" + alt="Amanda, oh! Amanda, is it thus you fool us?"/></a> + +<p> +Silently they both of them withdrew, and the stranger was left +alone with the advocate, who, laying his hand detectingly on the +other's shoulder, thus addressed him: +</p> + +<p> +“Claude Montigny, I do not ask of you what brings you here, for I +have something overheard, and in that something, all. Given the +arc, the eye completes the perfect circle; furnished the angle and +the object's distance, and we can tell the dizzy altitude. Mark +me, sir. We climb with risk, but there is greater danger in +descending. Young sir seigneur, you have ascended to a height you +may not safely stoop from. As sportive and adventurous schoolboys +sometimes ascend a scaffolding in the absence of the builders, and +continue to scale from tier to tier, until they pause for breath; +so, I fear, that you this night, in her protector's absence, have +soared in the affections of my ward. Beware, beware: I would not +threaten you—a gentleman neither needs nor brooks a threat—but, +by my life and the strength that yet is left me, woe to the man +that shall fool me in yonder girl! Seek not to trifle with me, +Claude Montigny. Tell me your purpose; inform me how your acquaintance +with my ward began; how it was fostered; how it has been concealed; +and how it thus has ripened into this secret, midnight interview. +Speak; what do you say, sir, in arrest of judgment? Be seated, and +recount to me the story of your love, if you do love my ward—as +you have told her that you do—and to that love be attached a story, +long or brief; or if this passion—which you have propounded most +passionately to her—be of a mere mushroom growth, born of to-night, +sown by the hand of moonlight in a girl's dark eyes; or in her +heart, perhaps, by the fairies that you spoke of, and producing +some form of feeling or forced fruit of fancy; coeval with, and +meant to be as transient, as is the present fungi of these fields. +Sit down by me, and let your tongue a true deliverance make between +yourself, me, and my foster-daughter.” And seating himself heavily +on a garden bench, and leaning with both hands clasped over the top +of his gold-headed cane, he looked enquiringly up into the face of +the young man, and added: “Come, plead before me to this charge of +heart-stealing, as touching which you have been taken in the act.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir,” then said the stranger with dignity, whilst he slowly seated +himself; “sir, you are justified in thus misdoubting me; for though +a gentleman should, like the wife of Caesar, be above suspicion, +never yet knew chivalry a time but there were recreant knights. +Moreover, I can perceive that circumstances now must shadow, and, +as with refracting influence, distort me, so that I may well stand +here seeming to be deformed, although my soul, if you could see +it, would show wanting no part of honour's fair proportions. Hear +me, then, patiently, for I plead less for my own defence than for +her vindication who has just retired beneath your frown.” +</p> + +<p> +And the ingenuous but compromised Montigny sketched the brief +history of his passion, and when he had done, the advocate, looking +into his countenance keenly, but confidingly, rejoined: +</p> + +<p> +“You speak the truth, I know it by your eye, wherein no falsehood +might harbour for a moment; yet, young seigneur, you have entered +on a perilous path; dare you walk in it? It is the way of honor, +and will prove to be the way of safety; but, beshrew me, if I do +not fear that it may prove to you a way of pain. Whatever may be +the ways of wisdom, the ways of honour are not always ways of +pleasantness, nor is the path of duty always one of peace. If you +would wear the rose you must grasp it as it grows amidst the thorns. +And now, farewell—yet, hold. I hold you to your bond. The forfeit +were the forfeit of your word, which you have pledged to me and +mine. Remember, not only have you offered love unto my ward, but +you have been accepted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even so:” exclaimed Montigny; “and may—” +</p> + +<p> +“Call nothing down that might become your harm,” said the advocate +admonishingly: “Rain has before now become transformed to hailstones, +and done much damage; and dews descending so benignly, have once, +it is said, in form of rain, swelled to a deluge that has drowned +the world. May the skies be still propitious to you, Claude Montigny. +Although temptation burn as fiercely as dogdays, do not fall beneath +it, for less hurtful were a hundred sunstrokes to the body, than +to the soul is one temptation that hath overcome it. Again farewell.” +And he pressed Claude's hand convulsively, then tossed it from him +half disdainfully, and both departed from the grounds. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Think no more of this night's accidents.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Midsummer Night's Dream.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +From Stillyside Claude Montigny rode towards the western extremity +of the island; his thoughts steeped in bliss, and the country, as +it slumbered in the moonlight, seeming to him the land of Elysium. +At the ferry of Pointe Saint Claire he engaged a bateau in which +he was rowed over the confluence of the rivers Ottawa and Saint +Lawrence by four boatmen who, from time to time, in a low tone, as +if afraid of awakening the dawn, chaunted, now an old song of +Normandy, and now a ballad upon the fate of some lost voyageur. +The moon was yet shining, and he was in the mood to enjoy such +minstrelsy; but when they neared the opposite shore, a feeling of +sadness and apprehension stole over him, as he thought of meeting +his father, to whom he knew he must either communicate distasteful +tidings, or what was worse to his ingenuous mind, practice a culpable +concealment. Thus musing, as day broke he leaped on shore, and +again mounting his horse rode thoughtful through forest and farm; +now reburied in the darkness of night, which yet lingered amidst +the foliage, and now emerging into the light of the clearing; until, +as the sun was rising over the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, +he entered the manorial gates of Mainville, and passing through +the park-like grounds, was once more in the proud home of the +Montignys. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, Amanda Macdonald had not slept. Shame, joy, fear, hope +possessed her; but fear chiefly, for she dreaded the coming morrow, +when she must meet her foster-mother, and—what to her was yet more +terrible—her, as she supposed, deeply offended guardian; and it +was not till the birds began to chirp and flit about her window, +that she fell into a deep, refreshing slumber that lasted long into +the day, and was at length broken by the voice of Mona bidding her +arise. +</p> + +<p> +The advocate, on the other hand, who had at once returned to town, +arose at his usual hour, and repairing to his office, began the +business of the day; whilst at a later period, the dissipated +Narcisse again found his boon companions, and with them renewed +the debauch of yesterday. +</p> + +<p> +During the day the anxious Mona did not fail to question her charge +touching the interrupted interview; and the latter at length related +how it had befallen, confessed to her sudden passion for the gallant +Montigny, revealed his plighted vows, and confiding herself to the +bosom where she had always found advice and comfort, deprecated +the displeasure of her guardian. But the betrayed Mona could give +her only slight encouragement, in what was now yet nearer to her +than even her guardian's favor, her lover's truth. +</p> + +<p> +“Child,” said Mona to her emphatically and in a warning tone, after +musing, “Child, hope not too much; fear everything, for man is +naturally false towards woman. Ah, you have yet learned but little +of man, and may you never learn too much. Beware, beware, beware, +Amanda. Happy the ignorant, happy is the woman whom no false man +has taught to distrust his sex! Man's love to woman is as evanescent +as is the presence of the summer-morning mist, that, for an hour +or so, hugs lovingly the lea, then vanishes for ever. What are his +vows but vapour? Poor, rash girl, why, without warning me, have +you opened the horn-book of love, and spelled at such a speed, +that, in a day's time, you have read as far as warier maids dare +con in years?” And Amanda looked both abashed and amazed; but at +length enquired in wonder: +</p> + +<p> +“What may you mean by these strange utterances? Nay, nay, dear +Mona: you slander your own father by this language.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou canst not say, child, that I slander thine,” responded Mona, +tartly; and her countenance darkened with an equivocal expression +new to Amanda, who, catching at the inuendo, earnestly demanded, +</p> + +<p> +“Who was my father? tell me, for you know; I myself know, I feel, +(and not untrustworthy is this intuition) that I am not here a mere +fortuitous foundling. Who was my mother? I charge you to inform +me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Girl, had not man been false, you had not needed to have so often +asked of me that question,” Mona replied with a cynical expression, +and hoarse, sepulchral voice, that, whilst it seemed to vindicate +herself, reproved her fellow, on whose face an air of horror now +mantled, as she excitedly exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Say more, or else unsay what you have already uttered. What must +be understood from this alarming language? Although there hangs a +mystery over my birth, surely there rests upon it no dishonor. +Acquaint me, then, once more I charge you, and now by the love and +kindness that you have always shewn to me, declare, for you know—I +say I feel you know; whose child am I, where was I born, how have +I been committed to your care, adopted, cherished; I, who have no +filial claims upon you; adjudged to be an orphan, perhaps the child +of charity; how have I been divided between you and my guardian, +or held as if I were your mutual bond? Inform me, Mona, my good +Mona, foster-mother, nurse, you who have been to me as a true mother +might be, say whose I am; whether, and where, my parents live; and, +if they live, why they have thus abandoned me,” and she burst into +a flood of tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Quiet yourself, my fond one,” answered Mona, moved also to tears +by this appeal; “your birth on one side is as high as any that this +country boasts, therefore is as high as Claude Montigny's. Your +mother is descended from a warlike Scottish line, your father's +father was an English peer. Your parents are yet living; but their +union, which was in many points unequal, was, alas! rendered the +more unequal by a gulf-like disproportion in the passion that +provoked it;—a gulf, too, that was undiscovered, till, too late, +your mother saw it. Thence, their lives, their loves, so call it, +their mutual progress (save on the course of fondness towards +yourself, their child, whereon they journey equal side by side) +has for years kept, and yet keeps, a still disparting pace; and, +oh, Amanda, excuse these tears, for well I know your mother, and +pity her, having many a time listened to her fruitless complaints; +but until your father, who is the laggard one of this most +misappointed pair, shall, either underneath the whip of a castigating +conscience, or prompted by the spur of your poor mother's sharp +appeals, come up abreast, and fill a certain chasm of omission by +an indemnifying deed, which has been by him most selfishly left +undone, but whose performance is essential to the full fruition by +you of your fortune, you must remain, as you have hitherto done, +my foster-child, and your grim guardian's ward; a waif we hold +waiting for its claimants; and until they arrive, let me beseech +you, as though I were the mother I have spoken of, to think no +further of young Claude Montigny.” +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: +I am sick in displeasure to him; and whatsoever comes athwart +his affection, ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross +this marriage?”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Much ado about nothing.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +A few days after the conversation detailed in the preceding chapter, +there was ushered into the office of the advocate at Montreal a +gentleman, who announced himself as Montigny, Seigneur of Mainville. +He was tall, and of a distinguished aspect, and had scarcely accepted +of the advocate's invitation to be seated, when, like a man impatient +to be done with a disagreeable business, he began: +</p> + +<p> +“I have a son, sir, and you, as I believe, a ward, an orphan girl;” +pronouncing with a mixture of pity and contempt the last two words. +</p> + +<p> +The advocate observed this depreciatory intonation, and throwing +himself backwards in his large easy chair, repeated: “An orphan +girl,” at the same time putting a half angry, half comical expression +into his countenance, and perpetrating a pun in what followed: +“Yes, many of your Canadian noblesse would bless themselves to have +been her father. The poor fellow, it is well he is not here to have +overheard you. An orphan girl: true, as you say, I have an orphan +girl,—or one that passes for such; a girl I love, a ward, a +charming child, yonder at Stillyside. Were I disposed to praise +her I might say she is the Mountain's maid; the Dryad of its woods, +a grace, a goddess, fairer than Diana, and far purer, for one may +guess the fool Diana made of that poor boy, Endymion. But what +concerning my ward, sir, my most immaculate lady?” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you forbid my son access to her?” enquired the seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you wish for an injunction;” said the advocate; “show me cause. +I have, sir—as you seem aware—a ward dwelling yonder at my seat +at Stillyside;—a place I sometimes visit; a sort of shrine, a kind +of hermitage or chapel, wherein two devotees, two nun-like, holy +women consume the hours; leading there, pious, penitential lives, +making each day a sort of hallowed tide, and every eve a vigil.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are humorous,” replied the seigneur. “Excuse me, I am sorry, +but it were best that I should speak plainly. I would not wish to +see your ward dishonored.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dishonored! not a seigneur, nor a seigneur's son dare dream of +such a consummation, nor, daring so to dream, could compass it,” +cried the advocate, growing crimson. “Yet this is kind of you;” he +added, bowing as if deeply grateful;—“and yet,” he continued, +“there can be no fear of an offence: is not your son a clergyman? +for, if he be, and they confess to him anything worse than to have +admitted him to their confidence—why, sir, he shall be allowed to +enter, and shrive them when he chooses;” and after a momentary +silence, “Fie! fie!” he resumed, rolling in his chair; “'the fool +hath said in his heart there is no God,' and the wise man of +Mainville, who has been all his life looking for purity in a +petticoat, says 'there is no virtue in woman.' But I say, both +these oracles are in the wrong; there is not only a Divinity, but +there are women too who are virtuous. This is a clumsy jest, sir. +My ward be dishonored by your son? Yes, when the diamond can be +cut with a feather. Monsieur Montigny, a tempest is as harmless as +a breath, when that tempest is being hurled against the rock; a +breath is even as effectual as is a tempest, when that breath is +puffed against the dust. So buzzing blandishments of sighing fops, +may blow the frail flowerets from weak, wanton natures; whilst +vehement vows of otherwise most honorable men, though urged as +strongly as the northern blast, are in vain against the marble +front of virtue. I am marble to your wishes.” +</p> + +<p> +“You weigh your danger as little as you do your language,” observed +the seigneur. “Will you permit a trespasser, a tempter within your +grounds; a wolf, a fox, a bear within your fold?” +</p> + +<p> +The advocate shrugged his shoulders and replied: “No, heaven +forbid;—and Stillyside is to me as an outer court of heaven, +wherein my ward dwells as a sort of semi-solitary angel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet angels fell, and so may she fall,” interjected the seigneur +quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“They did, and without a tempter, too, Monsieur Montigny,” returned +the advocate, quietly; then added: “the height of heaven turned +the heads of the angels giddy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Girls are giddy,” remarked the seigneur gravely. +</p> + +<p> +“Boys are more frequently foolish,” drily retorted the advocate: +“and often coming to girls for kisses, go away with cuffs. I hope +your son has neither sought for the one nor yet received the other. +But what is this son, Monsieur Montigny, that you would have me +believe to be so formidable? Is he another Lucifer, couched at my +Ward's ear, as his dark prototype once squatted at that of Eve? Or +is he Lothario alive again? Is he Leander, and are the Ottawa's +jaws a western Hellespont, with my ward and Stillyside, for Hero +and her tower?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your verandah,” remarked the seigneur, “is not higher than was +Hero's tower, although, I trust, your ward's virtue may be more +exalted than was Hero's. But are you aware, sir, that already my +son has had her company, alone, at midnight, on your grounds; all +others retired; she alone watching, with Claude Montigny and the +broad, full moon?” +</p> + +<p> +“An actionable moon,” exclaimed the lawyer, “and a decided case of +lunacy against the lovers. But, alas, sir, in this respect we have +all been sinners in our youth, and all grown wondrous righteous +with our years. Have we not ourselves, when we were young,—ay, +and upon inclement winter nights too, courted brown peasant girls +beneath both stars and moon? What if the nights were cold, the +blood was warm; and now with these volcanic veins of ours grown +cool, why, we may walk on the quenched crater of concupiscence, +and who dares challenge us, and say, ha, ha! smut clings to you, +gentlemen; you have the smell of fire upon you. No, sir, no; we +are fumigated, ventilated, scented, powdered, purged as with hyssop. +Pish! he must be truly an Ethiop, whom time cannot whiten; a very +leopard, who will not part with his spots, since the sun himself +shall lose <i>his</i> some day, purged in his own fires.” +</p> + +<p> +“I repeat, sir, your ward is in danger,” said the seigneur doggedly. +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all. Is the diamond in danger when it is put into the +crucible; is the gold deteriorated when it is being deterged from +dross?” was responded. +</p> + +<p> +“Infatuated man, would you open the door to the seducer?” asked +the seigneur, growing angry with the contumelious lawyer. +</p> + +<p> +“Seducer!” said the advocate, affecting to be shocked: “that is a +huge stone to throw at your own son: and remember; is not every +man's frame a glass house, whereat the soul that inhabits it should +invite no stone throwing from the little red catapult of a neighbour's +tongue? Beware, beware; have mercy, Monsieur Montigny. 'All flesh +is grass,' the Prophet proclaims; but I assert, 'All flesh is +glass.'” +</p> + +<p> +“A woman's reputation is as brittle,” was the seigneur's ready +repartee; “therefore warn off my son from Stillyside.” +</p> + +<p> +“But should he not regard me, sir, what then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Brandish the law over him, your chosen weapon,” answered the +seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +The lawyer suddenly looked grave, and, affecting to be offended, +demanded sternly: “Monsieur Montigny, am I a mere mechanic to do +your bidding? Brandish the law indeed! Is, then, the law but an +ordinary cudgel, to thwack the shoulders with or beat the brains +out? The law, sir, is a sacred weapon, not to be lightly taken up, +neither to be profanely applied to paltry uses, any more than we +would take the tempered razor to pick a bone, or pare our cheese +with. Brandish the law! The man that can talk of brandishing the +law would brandish a piece of the true cross, sir, if he had it; +he would drink, sir, from his mother's skull, and with his father's +thigh-bones play at shinty. What is the law? What less is it than +the will and force of all employed for one; the savage sense of +justice, disciplined and drilled till it can move in regular array, +invincibly, to conquer wrong; surely too vast an engine to be +employed on trifles. Who wants a wheel to break a butterfly upon; +or, to crush a worm who calls for a pavior's rammer? Monsieur +Montigny, listen. Mercy is Heaven's first attribute, and the +executioner is the State's meanest, as well as last, servant; shall +I, then, stoop to this, who may aspire to that? Shall I wield a +whip of legal scorpions before your son, should he seek to re-enter +Stillyside? Would you have me, as once Heaven's cherubim stood at +the gates of Paradise, with fiery swords turning all ways, to hinder +its ejected tenants from breaking back into the garden,—would you +have me, I say, stand at my gates at Stillyside, and, meeting young +Montigny, flourish in his face a fist full of fasces, in the form +of threatened pains and penalties? No; your suit, sir, is denied: +you take nothing by your motion.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dare you deny,” retorted the seigneur, loudly, and with a look of +coming triumph; “dare you deny that you are privy to their intimacy; +will you assert that you—yourself unseen—have not witnessed my +son in secret, midnight conversation with your ward at Stillyside; +there overheard them interchanging vows of endless love, and dealing +declarations of devotedness unto each other;—I ask you; did you +not hear and see these doings, and, even when you did at length +surprise the pair, did you not by failing to condemn their folly, +give it your silent sanction?” +</p> + +<p> +“Something of this I did,” said the advocate coolly, “for I remembered +some rather liberal breathings of my own when I was young,—and +youth will have its fling,—nay, do not bite your lip, but listen. +Monsieur Montigny, thus far we have met guile with guile. Just like +two wily fencers, both of us, waiting to spy our advantage, have +still witheld the lunge, until, at last, you, having grown desperate, +have rushed into the close. Yet, do not let your anger overbear +discretion. The heated iron hisses when it is plunged into the +trough, but shall we hiss at each other like geese or serpents? +Shall we quarrel, deny the undeniable, try to undo the accomplished +deed? What is done is done, and not Omnipotence itself, sir, could +undo it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But we may hinder further evil,” observed the seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay? Would you keep out the lightning by high builded walls?” +demanded the advocate, “for you are as likely to accomplish that, +as to keep lovers from each other. No, let them alone, for they +are as climbing Titans towards their wishes' skies; despising +guardians' gates and fathers' fences, just as much as did Briareus +and his crew disdain its rugged sides, and risk their necks up +steep Olympus, when they were making war on Jove. You cannot bar +them. The sun may be debarred from attics, and frost may be kept +out of cellars, but, Monsieur Montigny, the mutually enamoured can +never be permanently parted. Sir, no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Enamoured he, and she at length dishonoured,” cried the seigneur, +disregarding the injunction. +</p> + +<p> +“Her honour is its own sufficient guardian,” was responded. +</p> + +<p> +“Have regard, sir, to your future peace,” was urged. +</p> + +<p> +“Peace, sir, like silence, never comes for calling for,” rejoined +the advocate. +</p> + +<p> +“Impracticable man, have you no fear?” demanded the foiled Montigny +upbraidingly. +</p> + +<p> +“None for my ward; I hope you have as little for your son,” said +the lawyer sarcastically. +</p> + +<p> +“Your ward invites my son, by sitting upon the verandah at midnight, +to attract him when he passes by, as the Hebrew woman, Tamar, once +sat to decoy the foolish Judah. Do you deny this? I have learned +all, all,” outburst the indignant seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Do I deny it?” cried the advocate, the blood, in anger, rushing +to his face. “Dare you affirm it? Monsieur, if you mean seriously +to asperse my ward, I say, prepare;—not for the action of the +law,—no, no, I hate the law, when it is cited for myself,—but +for the action of an old man's arm. Sir, I have been a swordsman +in my youth, and though the lank skeleton of my skill at fence is +buried in disuse, it moves now in the grave of this right hand, +that so long has wielded only the quiet quill. I do not bid you +quail; not I,—but, by the angry devil of the duel, you answer me, +either sword point to sword point; or from the pointing pistol, +that shall speak both sharp and decisive, and the dotting bullet, +perhaps, put a period to your proud life's scrawl. But no; I am +grown too old to have recourse to violence. Away, go, go; but, mind +you, do not breathe this calumny into a human ear,—no, not into +the air. Shame, shame! you are no noble minded man, to villify my +ward and your own son; whom, if I accounted to be as strangely base +as you have shown yourself to be, and have depicted him, I would +forbid to tread within my gates, and hound him from my door at +Stillyside.” +</p> + +<p> +“Words only anger you,” said the astonished and half daunted +seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Such words as yours have been:” was replied. “What! do you expect +to strike upon a bank where bees have settled, yet not be stung; +or dream to be allowed to draw the bare hand, clasping down a sword, +but not be wounded?” +</p> + +<p> +“What shall I say, yet not offend you?” soothingly enquired Montigny. +</p> + +<p> +“Say what you will,” the advocate continued: “what can be worse +than what you have said already?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hear me,” said the seigneur, in the manner of one who is going to +make a confidential proposal: “Either remove your ward, and +receive a compensation for her absence, or quickly marry her, and +I will provide her with a dower.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now you are indeed a generous gentleman,” said the advocate, +smiling; “You must have built churches, surely, or founded hospitals, +and always have dealt out dollars liberally to the deserving. But +you are wealthy, and can do these things without being impoverished. +It is fortunate that you are wealthy, for I shall accept of no +paltry sum. Only imagine, to have to banish her; to quench, or to +remove, the very beam that fills my life with light. You must be +liberal, if you would have me exile her Come, sign me a bond for +what I shall demand.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are in haste,” observed the seigneur, somewhat startled at +the advocate catching so readily at the bait; but the latter was +ready with his reply: +</p> + +<p> +“Because your son may now be at Stillyside, and, whilst we are +haggling, may carry off my ward,—or I might change my mind,” he +answered. +</p> + +<p> +“And I, too, may change mine,” was the rejoinder. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, then, we are quits;” observed the advocate carelessly, and +as if all parley were at an end; “we are as we were, and, for the +young ones, they are as they were; but if I know the force of +youthful blood, you, with all your endeavours, will not be able +long to keep them apart.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is your price for her expatriation?” demanded the seigneur +sullenly, as if coming to terms; and the advocate replied: +</p> + +<p> +“No, marry her, marry her; we will have her married. We either +marry her or do nothing in this business, sir, which, after all, +were, perhaps, best left to those who have most interest in it;—but +if you think differently, be it yours to find the money, I will +find the match:—and let it be understood, that you find her a +dowry which would be fitting for a seigneur's daughter; or else, +without a dowry, I shall not scruple to give her to a seigneur's +son. Why are you silent?” +</p> + +<p> +The proud, perplexed parent made no answer, but secretly groaned +in his dilemma, and at length exclaimed: “Insatiate old man, have +you no son, the thought of which may teach you to be just towards +me and mine? What do I ask of you? Little,—or what would cost you +little, yet you ask a fortune of me; and to enrich, too, one, whom, +as a punishment, I have reason rather to desire should always be +poor. Do not deny it; she has ensnared my son. It is impossible, +that he who has roamed over half the world, and has yet come home +uncaptivated, though in his travels he has met the fairest and the +richest, can have been caught at the mere passing by your farm of +Stillyside, can at a glance have been so smitten as to meditate +this marriage. No, he has been decoyed, seduced. You might as well +declare that a young eagle would not return to its nest, but plunge +into some casually discovered coop, and roost there, as aver that, +without some irregular influence, Claude Montigny would seek your +ward in marriage. If she marry him, she will marry a beggar: not +an acre of mine shall he inherit, not a dollar of mine will he +receive. Give her a dowry? Give her a dukedom. No, sir; I will +not buy brass from you at the price of gold; I will not subsidize +you to avoid your ward.” And, with the words, he bowed himself out +of the room, and the advocate, casting himself backwards in his +easy chair, laughing, exclaimed: “Was ever such a proposition +started?—started! yes; and shall eventually be carried. It is not +what we do, but it is the motive that induced the deed, that gives +the color to it. She shall be Madam Montigny, in spite of old +Montigny's self; and for her dowry, (which I asked Montigny to +provide, only that it might be returned to him through his son), +I'll mortgage my old brains to procure it for her.” +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>While you here do snoring lie</p> +<p>Open-ey'd conspiracy</p> +<p><span class="i3">His time doth take:</span></p> +<p>If of life you keep a care,</p> +<p>Shake off slumber, and beware:</p> +<p><span class="i3">Awake! Awake!</span></p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>The Tempest.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +Amongst the seigniories contiguous to the eastern extremity of the +island of Montreal, lies that of Montboeuf. Its present owner was +André Duchatel, a descendent of the Sieur Duchatel, a cadet of an +ancient French noble family, to whom the seigniory was granted by +royal letters patent, about the middle of the seventeenth century. +But if any nobility of soul, or refinement of aspect existed in +the first of the Canadian dynasty of Duchatel, it had not been +transmitted to the living representative of the line. As the long +hung-up sword or unused ploughshare, lose their brightness and edge +from want of use, perhaps these qualities of mind and body had +disappeared for want of a fitter field for their display. André +Duchatel, seigneur of Montboeuf, was a vulgar looking, short, +broad-set, florid figure, of fifty years or so; material in his +tastes, in disposition obstinate and narrow-minded, unenlarged by +education; shy with strangers, yet fond of good fellowship with +his acquaintance, and, with much reason, accounted to be rich. He +was a widower, but lived in a kind of surly, patriarchal state, in +the midst of three sons and a daughter; the former being dissipated +and sensual, the latter of a showy person, but in character, +superficial, vain, vindictive, proud. +</p> + +<p> +An intimacy had long existed between the houses of Montigny and +Duchatel, which, in spite of their different genius, had for +generations continued as it were to shake hands across the island. +The latter family, though equal to the former in wealth and pedigree, +secretly acknowledged it as the superior, and with a view to an +alliance between the two, Seraphine Duchatel, even when a child, +was a frequent visitor at Mainville; her relations hoping that +thereby, she and Claude Montigny might become inspired with a mutual +liking, the prelude to their desired union. +</p> + +<p> +This union, it was understood, was to be cemented on the part of +Duchatel, by the gift, as her marriage portion, of a tract of land +adjoining the seigniory of Mainville, and at present the property +of André Duchatel; but which, at the nuptials, would be added to +the Montigny manor, as a sort of arrière fief, and so gratify the +craving of the elder Montigny for territorial aggrandizement. The +splendid person of Claude had long ago caught the slight affections +of Seraphine, who in her visits to Mainville, would hang upon him, +much to his distaste, and persist to make him her reluctant cavalier, +though neither her blandishments nor his father's wishes could +induce him to return these visits, or appear to reciprocate her +preference. Nor would a closer and wider acquaintance with the +Duchatels have lessened his reluctance. The eldest son, Samson, +was a colossal bully, dividing his time between field sports, +intemperance, and intrigues with the daughters of the censitors on +his father's seigniory; or in yet lower illicit amours with the +peasant girls of the manorial village; varied by occasional journeys, +made more for debauchery than business, to the city of Montreal. +The second scion of the house, Pierre, was a good-enough looking, +and not ill-disposed youth; whom his father, as if willing to offer +up his choicest lamb for the sins of the family fold, had intended +for the church. But the former had far other intentions towards +the fair than absolving them from their peccadilloes, and entertained +other ideas of foreign travel than that of going on distant Indian +missions; whilst the youngest brother, Alphonse, was an unbroken +colt and madcap, articled to one of the principal legal firms in +the city. Although in years he was but ancle deep, he was already +in potations full five fathoms; a worthy graduate of the +licentiousness of the town, and boon companion of the dissolute +Narcisse; whom, in a giddy moment he had made acquainted with the +family matrimonial design on young Montigny. Narcisse, in his turn, +had a domestic story, that instinct, revenge, and a mother's command +impelled him to relate, and which he told to the rollicking, but +now attentive Alphonse, with a wicked glee, raised by the prospect +of mischief. A discovery had been made by his brooding and despised +parent. Chance had thrown in her way an opportunity for which she +had watched for years. Mona Macdonald had visited the advocate at +his dwelling, and her presence had stirred not only the womanly +curiosity of the lynx-eyed Babet Blais, but her malicious jealousy +of one whom she could never but regard as a hateful and favored +rival. So, overhearing them in earnest conversation in the library, +she, with the unrestrained enjoyment of a low, untutored nature, +stole to the door, that was slightly ajar, and there, with her ear +applied to the interstice, learned the circumstance of the discovered +interview between Claude and Amanda at Stillyside, with their +plighted troth, not disapproved of by the advocate. Swelling with +envy and anger, and recollecting what Narcisse had told her of the +predilection and hopes of Alphonse Duchatel's sister in regard to +Claude Montigny, she, with an intent to dash the proud prospect +which seemed to be opening before the child of an odious—and as +she deemed, unlawful competitor for the advocate's favors, conceived +the spiteful idea of informing the Duchatels of what she had just +discovered. Further to instigate her, all the real and all the +fancied wrongs that her son had suffered from his father rose up +before her, magnified by her imagination, and prompting her to the +gratification of her unreasoning spleen. Her purpose was soon put +into execution. That night Narcisse came home sober; and giving +him some warm supper, followed by a delicacy that she had set aside +for him as a dessert, and which, with a half human, half animal +affection, she watched him devour, she broke the subject to him. +He grinned with an infantile delight, as he heard the important +secret, and discussed with her the project that might hinder the +good fortune of the haughty foundling, whose disdain had long +chagrined him, and under the recollection of whose scorn during +the recent raid on Stillyside, he was yet smarting. With heightened +pleasure she beheld his joyful interest, and, warming with his +sympathy, whilst she gloated over the anticipated revenge, she +exclaimed, as her face assumed a dark, prophetic aspect: “Yes, we +will humble that mongrel, and her proud, petted child. What better +are they than we, what nearer to thy father? See how I toil, and +do his drudgery; keep him a home, who, but for me, would have no +home, and no one to care for him. Yet no fine country house for +me, fine clothes, rich presents; no fine gifts for thee, my child, +no endless schooling, no sending <i>thee</i> to travel; no allowance, +no expense to help to make of thee a gentleman, like his endeavours +to make her child a lady; no fine lady sought for thee to be thy +wife, Narcisse; no closetings for me, who, but for her, had been +thy father's wife, and not his servant. But God and the virgin have +at last heard our prayers. Narcisse, my darling, tell Alphonse +Duchatel all that I have told thyself. Bid him quickly inform his +father, brothers, sister; and if they have French blood in their +veins they will balk this half-breed and her daughter brat.” +</p> + +<p> +Never was there an apter pupil than Narcisse proved now; never a +willinger. Scarcely could he refrain from at once rushing forth to +find his friend, Alphonse; and he did at length arise with the +blessing and Godspeed of his mother, intending to inform him, +touching the rival who had so far and so suddenly outstripped his +sister on the road of Claude's regard, when the voice of the advocate +was heard calling upon his son to attend him in the room above. +Narcisse obeyed; but filled with a sentiment of rising rebellion +and new-born insolence, as of one who intends no longer to be +checked, nor submit to unmerited harshness and tyranny. There the +two had an altercation, provoked by the old grudges, and aggravated +by Narcisse's recent dissipation, escapade, and neglect of duty, +and still more sharpened by his present pertness and contumacy. +Anger rose high between parent and child, and the latter, in +unconcealed dudgeon flung from the room, and left the house, his +breast charged with a spiteful purpose; and going straight to the +lodgings of Alphonse Duchatel, he told all—and more than all—that +he had learned respecting the menaced alliance between the children +of Mainville and Montboeuf. +</p> + +<p> +Burning with the information, the young and impetuous Alphonse +scarcely slept that night, and in the morning, having obtained +leave of absence, rode swiftly to his paternal home, and, in sudden, +solemn family council, declared what he had learned of danger to +the connubial scheme that had long been planned for his sister and +the distinction of their house. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Romeo and Juliet.</i> +</span></p> +<br/> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Othello.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +Whilst the news that Claude Montigny had given, to a girl of dubious +birth and uncertain social position, the heart, for the possession +of which the supercillious Seraphine Duchatel had so long striven +in vain, was disturbing the souls of the Montboeuf Manorhouse, the +seigneur of Mainville, ill at ease, and apprehensive of a hasty +and irremediable matrimonial step on the part of his son, started +for Montreal again to visit the intractable advocate. +</p> + +<p> +Later in the same day, Claude also took horse, and rode towards +the banks of the Ottawa, where he arrived at dusk, and crossing at +the ferry from the main to Sainte Anne, he thence, solitary, and +filled with chequered thoughts, continued his way, whilst the +ground grew dimmer and yet dimmer, and star after star stole out; +till, as the moon rose slowly in the glimmering air, he reached +the neighbourhood of dim Mount Royal. +</p> + +<p> +At the same hour that the large bateau was heaving its way over +the vexed flood of the meeting waters of the Saint Lawrence and +the Ottawa, four horsemen crossed a rustic bridge, that led from +the mainland to the opposite, or eastern extremity of the Island +of Montreal. One of the riders was of gigantic stature, and another +of diminutive proportions; and all were clad in the coarse grey +frieze suit of the country, and wore upon their heads the common +blue cap or tuque. Pursuing their way, they kept to the least +frequented paths; endeavouring to avoid recognition; until the +coming night concealed them, and they journeyed beneath the decrescent +and feebly shining moon. +</p> + +<p> +And now, whilst such was transpiring at the extremities of the +Island, at Stillyside, its centre, the curtains had been drawn, +and the lighted lamp, with its frosted glass globe, shone serene +and silvery, like a minor and domestic moon. Mona Macdonald sat +sewing near a table, whilst Amanda read aloud. On a sofa a lazy +lapdog dreamed, the parrot slept on its swing, and the bullfinch +on the perch in its cage, and in the pauses of Amanda's voice, the +drowsy cat was heard purring in its evening doze. Nothing was heard +without, except the fitful bark of the Newfoundland dog at some +stray passer by; and, at length, even that had ceased; Mona's needle +was laid aside, the domestics, obedient to the early habits of +country life, were abed, Mona herself had now retired, and Amanda +being left alone, nothing was heard but the measured ticking of +the old clock on the corner of the stairs. The lamp had been taken +away by the departing Mona, and in the obscurity, the moonbeams +fell in grey streaks adown the damask curtains; and after a brief +meditation on the subject of her reading, Amanda rose, noiselessly +ascended the carpeted stairs to her room, approached the window, +drew aside the drapery, and gazed towards Mainville. Thus had she +done each night since the memorable interview with Claude Montigny; +and now not less long did she linger there, but longer; nor thought +of retiring, till, startled at the approaching sound of horses, +she hastily re-closed the curtains; the sound ceased, and she began +slowly to undress. But her thoughts were elsewhere; and, falling +into a reverie, she sat with her raised fingers still upon her +dress, that she was about to withdraw from before her snowy bosom, +when again she heard the sound of hoofs on the road, and soon a +shaking of reins near the gate, and champing of the bit, mingled +with the smothered growl of the awakened Newfoundlander. Divining +the cause, and seized with trembling, she arose, again threw aside +the curtains, and beheld in the moonlight a figure advancing up +the lawn. A moment she gazed upon the apparition; then, scarcely +knowing what she did, opened the folding window, and half within +and half without her chamber, leaning forward into the night, +demanded in a piercing whisper of enquiry and alarm: “Who comes +there? Speak, is it Claude Montigny?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is I, my love, for by what name shall you be called, yet dearer, +worthier than love?” responded the subdued, yet full, clear voice +of Claude. Then, drawing nearer, he continued in an enraptured +tone: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my lady, oh, my heart, my love, my life; my mistress now, my +wife that is to be: my breath, my soul; my hope, my happiness, my +all in all; fair presence—but in vain my tongue seeks for the word +that shall embody you, and, like the hunted hare returning to its +form, so does my soul return to that word, love. My love, then, be +it, for you are my love, you are my life henceforward; nor shall +the hereafter part us, for wherever you are there unto me will +still be heaven. Oh, my love, is it not kind of fortune thus to +call you forth? a favorable omen of the issue of this night. Oh, +come forth, my love; come forth, and make a hallowed aisle of the +verandah.” +</p> + +<p> +“Alas!” exclaimed Amanda, stepping to the verandah, “why have you +ventured here again so soon,—or, rather, why so late? for are +there not ruffian robbers on the road, and all the secret perils +of the night?” +</p> + +<p> +“No peril equals that of absence from yourself,” said Claude, “for +passion has greater perils than the road. Cupid's arrows are more +terrible to him whose breast is bared by the absence of its mistress, +than would be at the traveller's throat the armed and threatening +hands of fifty ruthless robbers. But how have you fared since we +were so rudely parted?” +</p> + +<p> +Amanda sighed. “But so so;” she murmured mournfully, “it is a slight +burn that does not smart a little when the scorched part is snatched +away from the fire:” and hanging down her head bashfully, repeated, +“But so so:—I have felt an unaccustomed care—of little +consequence,—but, oh, tell me, Montigny, how your father, the +proud, rich seigneur takes this matter, for I know you would inform +him of it. Is he not incensed, not angry; does he not upbraid you, +and call me evil, and perhaps deserved, hard names?” +</p> + +<p> +“He has expostulated with me;” Claude responded; “yet not with too +much earnestness, knowing love's fires are blown by opposition. +How seems your guardian?” +</p> + +<p> +“How shall I dare to meet him!” murmured Amanda musing. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not fear him;” Claude rejoined: “he will not chide you;—besides, +you shall be gone to-morrow. I come to-night, a Jason for the golden +fleece, and may not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and +my desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and will not, +returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless they shall be freighted +with your form. Mine own one, do not stand transfixed like death +in life, but live here no longer; leave it, and live with me for +ever, for from where you are my feet shall never stray. Do not +misdoubt me: though man were as faithless as it is said that woman +is fickle, yet I were loyal towards <i>you</i>, whom I implore to be my +affianced to-night, my bride to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“To-morrow!—Oh, so soon,” exclaimed Amanda, starting. +</p> + +<p> +“It will be a thousand years till then;” interposed Montigny; “and +yet it will be the glad millenium, since you shall reign amidst my +meditations, and towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints. +This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed you mine by +the great sacrament of marriage will be glory, such as the saved +soul experiences when, in Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure, +and proof against the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent. +Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate? Amanda, be +immediately mine. What are your thoughts? What are you that transports +me with impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being, and +become one with yourself in history and fate? Our fate commands; +let us obey it, since, what is fate's behest, but Heaven's directing +voice; what is our destiny, but the deed which we perceive may not +be left undone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Rash man, forbear;” pronounced Amanda, her face darkening with +displeasure; “you counsel me to evil. Though I would esteem you as +I would some annunciating angel, beyond impeachment of veracity, +and bent on a generous errand, you seem as a fallen spirit now; +tempting me, not enlightening. No, Montigny, no. Shall I deceive +my guardian so kind, shall I defraud your house, your father, you? +I, who have no fortune, nor—as is your lot—upon my name, neither +the rime and hoar of silver, new renown, nor golden rust of brown +antiquity,—the dust of ages in heroic deeds, lying on your +escutcheon, dyeing it as the dust that dapples the bright insect's +wings;—shall I, I say, come and lie like to a bar sinister across +it? for what else should I be considered by your indignant friends, +except, indeed, a shadow on your brightness, a shame across your +honour?” and she hung her head in despairing sadness, whilst Montigny +thus replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, shame on me, to hear you so self-slandered! Friends! mistaken +friends. And what although my father and the world esteemed you my +inferior; what were their estimation unto me; and, compared with +you, what is the value of heraldic honours and traditionary glory +heaped upon the dead, which is, in truth, too often only as the +phosphorescent glimmer that hangs upon decay: what are these gauds +to me, who count you to be far above the worth of monumental effigy, +or marble mask, my living love; whom I will set,—not in the tomb +of cold, pale porphyry, nor in a sable, slabbed sarcophagus, but +breathing, and enshrined in fortune's framing gold. Fastidious +girl, and prouder than the proud Montignys, listen to me, listen. +We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the +lonely sea;—we are as two ships that, being long from port, have, +sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed +and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. Have +you not given me yours? If you have not, why, then, return me mine.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then were I poor indeed,” replied Amanda. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet I were poorer without yours,” retorted Claude, “poorer than +he who begs his bread. I wish I had to beg my bread for you, then +richly should you fare; for who, when I should crave for love of +you, (as mendicants ask alms for love of heaven), could then refuse +me? Oh, refuse no longer my request. Estimate not my fortune, but +appraise myself; and whatsoever you may deem to be my value, account +your own worth as being ten thousand times that sum. Still take +me, a mere miserable doit; an earnest, an instalment towards the +payment of the debt of love and loyalty, that shall require a life +to liquidate, then leave me bankrupt in untold arrears.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should forgive the debt, even before you could have asked +forgiveness,” replied Amanda, smiling, though much moved; “and yet +I would not leave you perfectly absolved, but still retain you by +some small reminder, some power of execution over you—not to be +exercised towards you to your hurt—far from it, but I would be +absolute that I might shew you mercy; even as noblest kings have +been despotic, and in their day have delighted in dispensing pardon. +So would I be towards you;—or even as the King of Kings—to speak +it reverently—who, of His boundless goodness and free grace, +remits the debts and manifold trespasses of us, his poor, defaulting +creatures.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go on, for it is bliss to hear you,” murmured Claude. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, I have done;—what have I said?” she quietly enquired of him. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you unsay it?” he demanded eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“Only to say it again,” she answered blushing,—“yet I fear I have +babbled strangely;—but, remember, I was never wooed before, nor +answered wooer; so, being a novice in love's archery, it may be +that the gust of a too ardent breath has caught my words, and from +my meaning wafted them awry.” +</p> + +<p> +“And can a fountain yield both bitter and sweet?” demanded Claude: +“or are you as changeful as is yon waning moon?” he asked half +chidingly. +</p> + +<p> +“Rather consider me to be as is the sun, that knows no change of +aspect throughout the livelong year; or, if it vary, swells its +orb in winter,” she observed, “even as I would now appear to you +with fuller favor, amidst this young acquaintance's chilly prospect.” +</p> + +<p> +“Chilly! it is summer wherever lovers cast their eyes, the bright +Bermudas. Do not libel love, nor our sweet fortunes,” cried Claude +impetuously: “For me, there never will be winter where you are; +and why, when I am with you, should you thus seem to shiver, as it +were, in the shadow of November?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am no casuist,” she said, “and yet it would appear to be too +selfish in me, too much like to fraud, should I accept all that +you offer me, such vast and personal advantage, and for which I +bring you no equivalent, no dower, no estate; nothing to counterpoise +the wide possessions that you will inherit;—nothing that may +conciliate your family, rich in material things and heaped with +honors,—save my poor love;—and what were that?” +</p> + +<p> +“More than them all,” ejaculated Claude, “but why these scruples? +In human hearts love is not placed against love, as in the scales +the commodity is placed against the weight; neither is it exchanged +for land, or bartered for position; but it is always given, and is +the donor's whole, unmeasured and immeasurable. It is infinite, +growing whilst it is being given, even as the horizon grows upon +the eye of him who travels towards it. It <i>is</i> because <i>it must</i> be; +it is unselfish; nay, unto itself it is unjust; often giving the +most where it receives the least; possessing nothing, yet possessing +all, if it possesses but all its object's heart. It is towards its +object as is the encircling and cloud-breeding sea unto the verdant +island, encompassing, and in soft showers, shedding itself over +it. As the sea sheds itself in soft showers upon the island, so do +I shed my fondness, and would shed my fortune, over you, and in +return seek for yourself,—no more, for what more could you give, +what more could I receive, who count all else as worthless dross. +What hinders then our marriage?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your father,” was replied. +</p> + +<p> +“He would not consent unto our nuptials though I should pray him +on my bended knees, so obstinate and unyielding is his pride,” +asseverated Claude. +</p> + +<p> +“My guardian, too, is proud,” answered Amanda. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us not wait, but wed without, and not against their leave, +then;” Montigny urged adroitly:—“but your guardian will consent: +he has avowed as much unto me privately; so, mark; when morning +brings the daylight to the east, be ready. Meet me beyond these +grounds; when we will hasten to the village of Saint Laurent, and +there be married. The deed being thus achieved, none will oppose, +for before the irrevocable all rebuke is dumb.” +</p> + +<p> +“And so am I to this,” was replied with dignity. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet let me speak:” Montigny urged with desperate eagerness, “let +me persuade you, for to this pass it must come; then let it come +at once, since each day will cause the path thereunto to grow more +rugged. My father's storm of threats, my mother's deluge of tears, +will make the way impassable and past repair. You falter; your +silence speaks consent; you are convinced, and yield to the necessity +for this ungracious consummation. Good night. To-morrow early, meet +me at the church of Saint Laurent, all shall be ready,—pray offer +no remonstrance;—meet me there at ten,—the priest is my fast +friend;—nay, do not grieve, but say good night; to-morrow you +shall smile:—goodnight, good night;” and kissing his hand to her, +before she could reply, the impetuous lover reached the postern, +and, vaulting into the saddle, vanished. +</p> + +<p> +Paralyzed with amazement and apprehension, Amanda stood motionless +and dumb. She would have called on Claude to return, but dare not, +lest she should alarm the slumbering inmates of the house, and she +was still standing irresolute and helpless, when something was +suddenly thrown over her face, shrouding her in darkness, and before +she could resist she was lifted from her feet, hurried across the +lawn in a diverse direction from that taken by Claude, and on +arriving on the road, swung into a lofty saddle. A huge arm from +some one seated behind received her, passing around her waist, and +feeling like the coil of a boa-constrictor; and, amidst the sound +of several persons mounting in haste, spurs were struck into the +sides of the large animal, that reared with a vast bound which +nearly dismounted its riders; and at once, as it seemed, a troop +were flying with her at the top of their speed along the road. Half +fainting from terror, and stifling in the folds of some coarse +envelopment, she was unable to utter a cry for help, and the +cavalcade scoured along its way. One seemed to ride before them, +and the rest behind. No one spoke, but her companion on the crupper +grasped her tightly, like a relentless fate, and onwards they still +bounded, and the deeply spurred steeds in agony of exertion stretched +themselves to the task, and still they flew, and still Amanda strove +to recover her voice; till as the dumb, in some moment of mortal +terror, are said to have found speech, she, with accents, that, +bursting through the thick veil, rung amidst the night, shrieked +out the name of Claude Montigny. A low, chuckling laugh arose around +her, followed by a curse, and a hoarse threat of violence from the +figure that rode on the crupper, who at the same time again dug +spurs into the flanks of the courser, that once more, with its +huge, responding bound nearly dismounted its riders; and prompted +as it seemed by fear of a rescue, the rate accelerated till the +troop was scouring over the ground with the flight of a tempest. +Confused with terror, and alarmed at the threats of her powerful +keeper, she remained silent, unable to divine in what direction +they were hurrying; but felt that her captor and custodian kept +looking behind, as if afraid of some one in pursuit; and the killing +pace appeared to rise yet higher, and the animals to quiver in +quick bounds like mortal throes, as the spurs were plied up to the +rowels, and the creatures seemed to swallow the ground, until again +over all burst, as might the shriek of an imprisoned gnome, from +beneath her envelopement, the cry of Amanda calling upon the name +of Claude Montigny. +</p> + +<p> +“Forward! faster, yet faster!” cried a voice in rage and apprehension; +and with renewed application of whip and spur, the party tore along +the road, shaking it as the prairie is shaken when it is swept over +by a herd of buffaloes. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0098-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0098-small.jpg" + alt="The party tore along the road, shaking it as the +prairie shakes when it is swept over by a herd of buffaloes."/></a> + +<p> +“Claude, Claude!” she again shrieked, and now in addition to the +thick cowl, a huge hand was placed upon her mouth, a threat of +instant death came from the terrible voice behind her, the grip +tightened round her form, and, making her darkness yet darker, at +that moment the clouds, that had been lately gathering, covered +the moon. Soon the way divided before them. To the left it meandered +half hidden with trees, to the right it loomed straight and open, +leading to Montreal, and the motion of the horses, now abreast and +flinging foam from their bits, seemed like the tossing of the +boiling rapids, and amidst the thunder of the hoofs the hoarse +voice of him who rode behind her, hissing with earnestness and fear +like an excited Python, exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Brother, and you, master Imp, make for the city; away!” And soon, +from the diminished sound, she knew that they had parted company +with a portion of her convoy. She could hear, too, that the remaining +horseman of the four, for that had been the number, had now fallen +into the rear, and, soon, she thought she heard through her mufflings +a voice crying as if commanding them to stay; and again she heard +it, but it had grown fainter, and wider from the track they were +pursuing, and now nothing was heard but the sound of their impetuous +course through the wood. This was soon cleared, when their speed +seemed to relax, and the hard breathing of the overstrained beasts, +proclaimed how much the chase had told upon them; and at last the +veil was slightly raised, a large, coarse visage peered under it, +and the hoarse voice enquired mockingly: “How fares my bird? We +will let a little light into its cage, if it will promise to sing +no more. What says my hooded crow?” and a titanic and convulsive +hug followed, causing her to shrink with pain, and revolt in disgust +and horror; feelings which changed to mortal apprehension, when +the same lascivious looking ruffian bade his now sole male companion +ride on before. The latter made no answer, but dashed up alongside, +and gazed into the face of Amanda as he passed, with an air of +curiosity mingled with admiration and respect. There was in him a +likeness to the sinistrous countenanced ogre behind her; yet he +was a rather handsome young fellow; and as the wind, caused by +their rapid course, blew backward his long, curly hair, he exhibited +a cast of honesty and openness in his aspect. The other seemed to +be impatient at his lingering, and growled: “Don't hang glowering +here; forwards, and warn me if any one approaches, that I may cover +up this toy.” And whilst the monster readjusted the cowl to the +face of Amanda, his comrade again pricked the panting sides of his +own horse, that being lightlier laden than its fellow, easily shot +ahead. And thus they swept along the road, whilst the rising breeze +still drove the clouds over the face of the moon, and the race +seemed to have its fantastic counterpart in the wrack of the sky. +And now they silently journeyed, avoiding village and hamlet, by +making wide detours; but, in spite of their precautions, arousing +the bark of many a solitary cur, as they swept by each homestead +like an apparition. Even these incidents, and possible chances for +her rescue at length ceased, and the despairing Amanda, too proud +to vainly beg for her release from her stubborn captors, drew the +hood again over her face, and in the double darkness called upon +Heaven to be her protector and deliverer. That Claude had heard +her cries she felt assured; that he had pursued a portion of her +abductors towards Montreal, and would continue his efforts, with +those of her guardian and the inmates of Stillyside, to find and +recover her she did not doubt; but in the meantime what might she +not have to endure? And shrinking from the contemplation of the +uncertain gulf before her, she was at length recalled to a sense +of external things, by a sudden change of sound, from that of the +clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road, to one like the roll +of a distant peal of thunder, and telling her they were crossing +a rude wooden bridge, that led from the Island to the main. Then +for the first time the riders permanently abated their speed, and +their prisoner enquired of them whither they were carrying her. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind that, my pretty passenger pigeon,” replied the elder +with a ghoul-like grin; “you will not require to find your way back +this year.” And the foaming, exhausted animals, relieved from the +trying gallop, dropped into a feeble trot or lazy canter, whilst +Amanda gazed wistfully around to discover some glimpse of dawn. +No certain sign of it, however, could she perceive on the circle +of the horizon, though all around there showed the whitened eaves +of the roof of gloomy clouds. Her companions, too, casting jealous +glances at each other in the obscurity, had become more mutually +taciturn; and the wind, that during the previous part of their +flight had risen, as if to be in keeping with the current violence, +had now fallen to a calm; and, proceeding thus, she continued to +tell the terrors of her situation, as they alternately glided +through the gloom of the clearing, or plunged into the denser +darkness of the forest; till at last she was startled by something +leaping against her feet, followed by the pleased but stifled +barking of a huge hound close by her, and at the same instant she +saw a woman bearing a lighted candle in her hand, emerge from a +hovel on the road side. The next moment the party were halted before +it, and the woman, holding up her light, shed its beams upon the +face and form of Amanda, whose arrival she seemed to have been +expecting; and after having fixed her eyes searchingly upon her, +turned them with a familiar and significant look on the still seated +ruffian. The light illuminated her own countenance as much as that +of Amanda, who, repelled by her manners and appearance, sat +motionless, and checked the appeal that was rising to her lips. +The redoubtable rider dismounted awkwardly from behind her, half +dragged her from the tall beast, and hurried her into the house. +The woman followed, and having closed the door, placed the candle +on a table, and sat down by the fire; when Amanda, still standing +in the midst of the miserable room, began: +</p> + +<p> +“Woman, what place is this? Where am I, and why have I been brought +hither?” then bursting into passionate grief: “Oh, woman, woman, +whosoever you are, save me, I implore you, from this man,” and +with the words she sprang towards the door; but the churlish giant, +guessing her intention, intercepted, and bore her back, saying +“Keep quiet, gentle lady; have patience, bashful beauty; sit down, +sit down; come pet, come.” And he made as if to approach her; when, +forgetting the hazard of her position, and inspired with returning +native courage, with her heart swelling with womanly indignation, +and looking the vast figure in the face, she cried with an utterance +tremulous from grief and scorn: “Whither have you brought me, +villain, and for what end? Sirrah, come no nearer me: I am polluted +by your touch. Out, shameless wretch!” and again she rushed towards +the door, but found it resist her utmost efforts: and, baffled, +turning within, she once more addressed herself to the female, who +was now carelessly warming herself before some embers on the hearth. +</p> + +<p> +“Woman,” she said, “for that you are one your form and garb assure +me, though your behaviour gives your exterior the lie; woman, if +you be one, save me. Charge this man—for you have influence with +him—to liberate me; oh! charge him to release me. Turn me into +the lane, into the field, or where you will; but let me leave this +house without delay.” +</p> + +<p> +The female, with a grim smile, bade her recompose herself; whilst +the burly brute doggedly hinted to her that she would have to remain +some time in those parts, and might as well sit down and be content. +Perplexed at this second announcement of her intended restriction, +Amanda stood mute in fear and horror. To arouse the creature in +whose power she was might be immediately dangerous, but, for a +moment, to seem resigned to her abduction was impossible. Trembling +with dismay and sickening with apprehension, her limbs would scarcely +sustain her; and as she mentally revolved, looking wistfully around, +as if to spy any nook or cranny for escape, she at last exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Again, I ask, why am I brought hither? Outlaw, who are you? wherein +have I wronged you, that you should drag me to I know not where? +What place is this, and why have you come with men as heartless as +yourself, stealing me from my home to bring me hither, and cast me +into this den?” and her bosom filled as she ended; but her hearer, +knowing no compunction, only answered with a sneer: “To clip your +wings, madam,” then gave a low laugh, as if of self-applause at +his quickness of repartee, or the prospect of her humiliation, and +added: “Pray, miss, retire; you have not been abed to-night, and +watching is not good for English ladies' eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shameless!” she cried, looking upon him with unmitigable disdain, +“how dare you hint at rest within these walls? Return me to the +spot whence you have taken me; render me to my home, so desecrated, +so invaded by such felonious feet as yours. Felon, convey me to +my home at Stillyside, and there reinstate me; if indeed you have +the heart, as you have the outward semblance, of a man;” and, in +spite of her resentment, she burst into a flood of tears. +</p> + +<p> +But not even woman's tears could move his stolid disposition, or +melt his stony heart; and, looking at her with an expression akin +to contempt, he demanded: +</p> + +<p> +“What, take the bird back to the bush where we have caught it? +No. Besides at present you have taken a long-enough ride, and +when next you journey it must be further in the same direction. +You shall see the world, and learn how wide it is; you shall +have most excellent French society.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, keep me, heaven, from such society as yours,” she +ejaculated:—“base man!—but do you know to what you have exposed +yourself? Beware; I am not without friends both subtle and strong, +and one of whom will not be slow to punish you for this outrage. +Release me, stranger, or you shall be visited with his vengeance, +not to be trifled with, not to be risked with safety.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the old advocate,” exclaimed the giant, with more bitterness +than he had hitherto manifested; “Outrage! he has himself outraged +too many of our race.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, that he has;” the woman chimed in, whilst her eyes suddenly +glared dilating, and she looked menacingly at Amanda; “there is +Robitaille, and Lamoureux, and Paille, and myself, and Babet Blais, +—poor Babet! but her boy, <i>his</i> boy, his own son, has paid him +down with sorrow, <i>he</i> has punished him;—ha! ha!” and both she +and her Gorgon-like guest laughed a meaning and triumphant laugh, +whilst Amanda yet stood there to be baited by the brutish man and +the lost, revengeful woman, the latter of whom thus continued to +vent her spleen: “Mistress, what are you but an English interloper? +Girl, how can we endure you? Do you not despise us? Do you not +insult, despoil, dishonor us? Do you not covet our lands, do you +not reap the taxes, take the trade? Would you not all be Seigneurs? +What shall we give you that you have not already taken! Ah, out +upon you, my young mistress! Think it well if you should not receive +what I shall not now name to you,—your guardian's gift to many a +maiden—and worse;” she added between her teeth; “death, death,” +and turned away scowling. +</p> + +<p> +“Return me to my home, or worse than death awaits you;” cried +Amanda; “endless infamy; hated of our race, despised of yours, +disowned by both.” +</p> + +<p> +But the woman by this time had begun to busy herself in piling new +logs upon the fire, and the colossus, her companion, after having +scanned the apartment, seemingly to ascertain whether it was to be +trusted to retain the prisoner, at length, satisfied with the result +of his scrutiny, unlocked the door with the key which he drew from +his pocket, and bestowing a bow of mock respect upon Amanda, who +affected not to perceive it, departed; and she, without vouchsafing +a look upon her feminine but callous jailor, sank upon a chair in +silence. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Ring the alarm bell.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The abductors of Amanda were no other than the three sons of André +Duchatel, along with the vindictive Narcisse acting as their guide. +He and Alphonse Duchatel, at the branching of the road, had parted +company with the others, and so drawn upon themselves the pursuer, +Claude Montigny, who being magnificently mounted gained fast upon +them, till fearing to be overtaken they leaped from their horses, +and taking to their heels concealed themselves amongst the trees +that covered the side of the mountain, and where no rider could +follow. Claude then saw that he had been the dupe of a stratagem; +and after galloping across the country, struck the road that he +had been decoyed from following; then urging his horse in the +direction which he supposed the principal abductors had pursued, +he at length in despair left it, and again clearing fence and brook, +held his course towards the city of Montreal, where he arrived +betwixt midnight and dawn, and with the butt of his riding-whip +knocked at the advocate's door. +</p> + +<p> +The old man was dreaming of the apparently fair fortune of Amanda; +of the ingenuous Claude, and of his father, the importunate and +imperious Seigneur, when the clang rung through the mansion, and +rudely dispelled his visions. At first he was doubtful as to the +reality of the alarm, and was dropping again to sleep, when once +more the riding-whip sent the startling summons, and leaping from +his bed, he threw open the window, and putting his head out, gruffly +demanded, who was there. +</p> + +<p> +“Claude Montigny,” was answered from beneath. +</p> + +<p> +“And what wants Claude Montigny at this hour?” asked the advocate, +who now perceived the figures of steed and dismounted rider beneath +him in the obscurity. +</p> + +<p> +“Dress instantly, and quick come down,” was the reply. The window +closed, and in a few minutes the advocate, with his morning gown +thrown over him, opened the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Why how is this?” he demanded in astonishment, as he beheld Claude +on the footwalk, whip in one hand, and with the other holding his +horse by the bridle. +</p> + +<p> +Claude stood silent. +</p> + +<p> +“How is this?” reiterated the advocate: “Out with it, man. Is your +father wild? does he threaten to disinherit you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not that, but worse:” Claude answered; “worse than your worst +suspicions, and it may be worse than the death of one you much +regard.” +</p> + +<p> +“Has any thing evil happened to my ward?” asked the advocate, +exhibiting alarm. “Why do you pause? Inform me quickly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Too quickly, perhaps, I shall inform you,” replied Claude, +deprecatingly. “Something evil has happened to your ward. Arm +yourself now with firmness, and be calm; be cool in judgment, prompt +in execution; you who can counsel others, now prepare to be the +best counsellor to yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“What act shall follow this preamble?” said the lawyer, raising +his thick, white, shaggy eyebrows in enquiring wonder: “Go on, go +on;” he commanded in a short, gasping utterance; “declare the pains +and penalties. She lives? Amanda lives? Has she proved false? You +have not lost her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lost her! oh!” exclaimed Claude, unable to curb his emotion. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, confess it; announce the worst; the broadest misfortune; my +ears are open for it,” pursued the other. +</p> + +<p> +“But I have no heart, no tongue to fill them with my dire news,” +Claude stammered, and the advocate resumed, growing impatient: +</p> + +<p> +“Of my ward what can you tell me that is untoward? Of myself say +anything: foretell disaster, prophecy my death;—but what of +her?—you say she lives?” +</p> + +<p> +“She does.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is well?” +</p> + +<p> +Claude shook his head, and remained silent. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, let your lips pronounce my doom at once,” said the advocate, +striving to be calm, yet alarmed and irritated; “Proceed:—I am +ashamed to say it, but I tremble. What has befallen my ward, what +trouble has alighted on my child?—for so I call her. Claude +Montigny, what is it brings you here betwixt night and day, with +tidings that you falter to deliver?” +</p> + +<p> +“Calm yourself;” counselled Claude in a warning tone. +</p> + +<p> +“I will;” answered the advocate; “I do;—resolve me quickly.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear to do so,” Montigny uttered pathetically, as if his resolution +had suddenly given way. +</p> + +<p> +“Let me hear it, torture me no longer:” cried the advocate +imperatively: “Perfect knowledge, perhaps, may stun me; but far +worse to bear than were a shower of vitriol poured on a green wound, +are these distilled, dire drops of apprehension. Sir, are you guilty +that you thus stand dumb? What have you done injurious towards my +ward, that you so linger upon the street, and to my queries but +gaze like one demented? Sir, I charge you, tell me without more +reserve or hesitation, lest at last I listen to you with less of +fear than of anger. You have been—” +</p> + +<p> +“The innocent accessory, I fear, to others' villany,” Claude +interrupted; “still, hear me,” he continued, “and forgive me if I +bring you tidings that shall hang as heavy on your soul as lead; +yet have given me the leaden bullet's swiftness, or that of the +blast, to waft them hither, blasting, to yourself.—Sir, you have +been robbed, bereaved; the star of Stillyside is set,—or, worse, +plucked from its firmament; my life, my lady, oh, my new-made love, +your peerless ward is stolen.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stolen!” the advocate echoed. +</p> + +<p> +“Stolen; even from my very arms is plucked,” continued Claude. +</p> + +<p> +“Ill-freighted messenger,” groaned the old lawyer; “stolen! oh, +Montigny, you have stolen half the strength from these old limbs, +and strained the sinews that have never bent before, neither to +man nor to misfortune. Stolen! How stolen? It is false; you jest, +you mean that you yourself have stolen her,—have stolen her heart; +you know I lately caught you in the act;—but, for her person, she +would not, could not, give it you without my leave. Montigny, you +have not stolen together to the church?—but this is in the street; +come in.” +</p> + +<p> +Claude tied his courser to a young maple that grew near the door; +and, whilst he was doing so, the advocate retired within, murmuring: +“Montigny, Seigneur Montigny, this is your work, and yet may prove +the dearest piece of petty larceny that ever man committed; as dear +as would have been to have furnished the dower you refused me. No;” +he continued musing, “trouble does not spring from out of the +ground. Then whence comes this? Who hates me?” he continued sharply; +“Covets her? Whom would her absence serve? who, except the father +of you boy, the Sieur Montigny?” and he had scarcely finished his +soliloquy when he was rejoined by Claude, who, straightway in the +obscurity of the library, related to him the adventure of the night. +</p> + +<p> +The old man listened in silence, but his bosom heaved, and when +Claude had ceased, he grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Montigny, we are bound together in that girl, the outrage upon whom +has made us rivals in the task to find and rescue her. Yet are you +sure the voice you heard was her's? You did not see her carried +off; you only heard, or thought you heard, her cry. You may have +been deceived. Hasten back to Stillyside. She may be there now +sleeping between the unruffled sheets, making them sweeter than +the perfuming lavender;—if she be not—why then—alas! what then?” +And he struck his palm against his brow, holding it there, perplexed, +revolving. +</p> + +<p> +“You say you heard your name pronounced?” he enquired at length. +</p> + +<p> +“I did,” said Claude, unhesitatingly; and this seemed to satisfy +the lawyer's doubts, and, rising, he said, shaking his companion +by the hand: “Montigny, go. Beat up the bush at Stillyside; and if +she be not there,—why all the country side shall be roused to find +and bring her back. But, Claude, she is safe. Yet hie you thither; +mount again your horse, and bring me word before the day breaks: +begone.” And in a few moments Claude was scouring back to Stillyside, +and the advocate ruminating alone amidst the shadows of his library. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“This noble gentleman, Lord Titus here,</p> +<p>Is in opinion, and in honor, wronged;</p> +<p>That in the rescue of Lavinia,</p> +<p>With his own hand did slay his youngest son”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Titus Andronicus.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The elder Montigny, wrathful and irresolute, and like a beast in +the toils, had yesterday again visited the advocate on the same +errand as before, and with a like unsatisfactory result. But instead +of returning to Mainville he had proceeded to the Duchatel Manor +House; partly for counsel, but chiefly to ascertain whether its +owner—who, he deemed, had an equal interest with himself in the +removal of Amanda—would join with him in furnishing the demanded +dower. The subject was broached privately to the shrewd and worldly +André, who on hearing it propounded swore indignantly at the +advocate's audacity, and roundly refused to accede to any such +appropriation of his substance: so after fierce denunciations of +the insolence of upstart English adventurers, and censure of the +infatuation of young fellows in affairs of the heart, the theme +was dropped for the present, and the remainder of the day spent in +looking over the estate, and in those attentions that are usually +bestowed on a visitor, be he ever so familiar a one, much more when +he is both distinguished and in prospective relationship. The next +day the topic was resumed, but this time in the presence of Samson +Duchatel, as he sat yawning between asleep and awake, but who, on +hearing the conversation, aroused himself, and bade Montigny be +easy, and not dream of endowing the foreigner, since he, Samson, +had already secured the troublesome fair one. Montigny took little +notice of this, thinking it to be but the jest or boast, or, at +furthest, merely the loose announcement of the intention of the +unscrupulous giant; who soon afterwards invited him to walk abroad. +The company of Samson was not coveted by the more refined and +anxious Seigneur, but the former pressed him, and he thought that +locomotion might divert his mind from the contemplation of the +coming degradation and folly of his son. He consented, and issuing +from the ancient and flower-festooned porch of the Manor House, +they walked along in mid-morning of late September, the drowsy +charms of the summer's faded foliage just awakening to a resurrection +in the glorified beauty of Autumn; and, almost in silence, they +proceeded along the road or lane, till they came to the dubious +dwelling where, some hours before, Amanda was left a prisoner. The +sullen and sloven-looking female who had received her was now +dressed in gaudy attire, and saluted them as they entered, at the +same time casting a look of enquiry and surprise into the face of +Samson, and of suspicion on the Seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Bring up the body of your prisoner;” growled the former, loudly, +as he threw his huge frame into an arm-chair. “Come, habeas corpus, +habeas corpus. Now, if we had Alphonse here,” he continued, “he +could repeat the whole writ in Latin. Habeas corpus, habeas corpus,” +muttered the puzzled savage, fumbling in his brains for the context, +“habeas corpus, habeas corpus;—” then, relinquishing the vain +search, and addressing himself to the woman, at the same time +elevating his voice, he vociferated: “Hillo, come, lady sheriff, +bring up the body of your prisoner, I say;” when, as if in obedience +to the call of a magician, a door opened, and from an inner room, +with face flushed, brow dark and fretted with indignation, lips +pouting, breast heaving, and her eyes overflowing with tears, in +bounded his sister, Seraphine Duchatel, exclaiming: “And is this +the creature that has stood between me and Claude? and brought +here, too, to flout me to my face! I'll not endure it;” and she +burst into a fresh torrent of tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Who has stood between you, girl?” enquired the brother, half +teasingly, half tenderly: “if there be a stump between here and +Mainville that hinders you from driving your carriage thither, tell +me, and we'll pull it up as quickly as Doctor Lanctot would pull +you a tooth out.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have done well, indeed,” continued the angry girl, weeping, +and not minding his clumsy badinage, “you have done well indeed, +to bring her here to answer me, to scorn me, to defy me, to parade +herself before me, to stand in my presence as proud as any +peacock,—only not half so beautiful.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fine feathers make fine birds, Phin,” drily retorted her brother. +</p> + +<p> +“She is not fine, and if she be, she shall be plucked of her finery;” +exclaimed the sister: “I'll tear her eyes out; what business has +she to look at <i>me</i>, and speak so insolently? I'll have her face +flayed; her hair shall be plucked up by the roots;” and she stamped +with her little foot. +</p> + +<p> +“We'll have her scalped, girl!” condoled her brother. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, this is the way you always think to manage me; by laughing +at me,” cried the spoiled child, in renewed agony of tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, what is the matter?” demanded the Seigneur, wondering, and +startled by these threatening allusions: “What is the meaning of +all this, Samson?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh,” answered the latter, striving to perpetrate a pun, “Only that +we have brought Phin a handmaiden, and she finds her handsomer than +is agreeable;—but there is many a servant comelier than the +mistress.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let me behold this Paragon,” said the Seigneur, at the same time +rising, and moving towards the door of the inner room, that had +been left ajar by the rude Seraphine, in her indignant exit. Pushing +it slowly open, he beheld Amanda, with half-averted form, seated +upon a chair, her head bowed, but her face wearing an expression +of proud serenity mixed with grief. His first impulse was to retire; +but pity, respect, admiration, and even awe, bound him to the spot, +and he remained gazing till curiosity and commiseration alike +combined to induce him to address a figure so incongruous with that +mean place, and whose majestic sorrow seemed too sacred for +interruption. +</p> + +<p> +“Young lady, by your leave; pray pardon me; but can a stranger be +of service to you?” he at length enquired. +</p> + +<p> +Amanda looked upward. “Oh, if you are, as you seem to be, a gentleman, +do not leave me;” she exclaimed beseechingly, as she slowly rose +and approached him: “do not leave me, but convey me back to +Stillyside, from whence I have been stolen by that man. Oh, sir, +you do not know with what a load of thanks its owner will repay +you, should you rescue me from this base durance.” +</p> + +<p> +The seigneur looked enquiringly at Samson, but the latter seemed +more disposed to wait to see how the seigneur regarded the appeal, +than to reply to the tacit question. +</p> + +<p> +“Why have you been brought hither, and against your will?” resumed +the seigneur, respectfully. +</p> + +<p> +“I am as yet ignorant of the cause;” she answered: “I do not know, +I cannot divine, why I am here a prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +“She does know;” fiercely interrupted the sobbing Seraphine, “She +does, she does,” she reiterated, and seemed disposed to fly at her +tooth and nail. “She knows she is a bold and wicked creature,—she, +she, she; she is a, a,—I don't know what she is;” she cried, spurting +out the last words in a paroxysm of sorrow and vexation, and flung +herself into a chair sobbing hysterically, with toilet and temper +alike disordered. +</p> + +<p> +“Calm yourself, Seraphine,” said the Seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, calm thyself, girl,” echoed the ponderous Samson. “Why, what +a wild duck thou art, sister, flapping and quacking because an +unshotted barrel has been fired at thee. She is an unshotted gun, +she has no name; and what is a thing without a name? nothing: for +if it were something it would have been called something. What +thing is there—that is a thing—that has not got what a pudding +has? a name,” and he laughed till his sides shook, and drawing a +pouch from his pocket, took thence a quid of tobacco, and put it +into his cheek, at the same time playfully offering another to the +outraged Seraphine, who petulently dashed it from his fingers, and +affected to bridle at the insult. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the Seigneur, who had +been watching her during the heartless flirtation between the +brother and sister, advanced one pace into the room, and said: “I +know your story, and have reason to be angry, not so much with you +as with my son, whom, I believe, you are acquainted with, one Claude +Montigny.” Amanda turned away her face and blushed. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0119-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0119-small.jpg" + alt="Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the +Seigneur advanced one pace into the room."/></a> + +<p> +“You do know him I perceive,” the Seigneur continued, “and if by +chance he has happened to know you I do not blame him, much less +can I blame yourself: but, lady, remember,” and the proud Montigny +advanced, and bending over her whilst his voice fell, as if it were +intended for her ear alone, said “remember, we are not all of the +same degree, though Heaven has fashioned all of the same clay. The +proudest and the wealthiest in Canada might hail you as a daughter; +but old prescription, antecedents, prospects, all combine to render +impossible your union with my son.” +</p> + +<p> +Amanda blushed yet deeper, and both of them stood for awhile +embarrassed, but at length she said falteringly, and glowing like +a crimson poppy in her confusion: +</p> + +<p> +“I own it just that you should urge these large considerations; +yet, believe me, sir, I have been passive in this matter, and have +not sought your son's acquaintance; neither, indeed, has he, if he +be rightly judged, (and you would not wrong your son), perhaps, +sought mine; for it would seem there are amities that Providence +provides for us, without our will or knowledge. It was accident +that brought us face to face; as we observe the sun and moon—that +are separate in their seasons, and withal so different in their +glory's given degree—brought monthly, and as if fortuitously, +though, in reality, by eternal, fixed design, into conjunctive +presence amidst the sky. +</p> + +<p> +Yet who shall blame the sun and moon for that? +</p> + +<p> +“None,” said the Seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Then let no one blame your son and me,” continued Amanda, “if +Heaven, perhaps to try us, has ordained that our paths should cross +each other, as might two strange and diverse celestial bodies pass +apparently too hazardously near each other in their appointed +orbits. For the rest, forgive me, sir, and may He who best knows +what is for the benefit of his creatures, and who sometimes for +their good, sees it right that they should suffer wrongfully, assist +me. Since this has pleased Him, I bow, and bear it the best I may, +and trust too, that He will, in His good pleasure, deliver me from +this that He has permitted to fall upon me, my present sad and +dangerous estate of a poor prisoner here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven will indeed rescue you from this infamous restraint, and +I will gladly be its minister,” returned the Seigneur, melted almost +to love with pity, and dropping a tear; “none shall detain you +here; you are safe. Let me, myself—if thereby to some extent may +be atoned to you the wrong you have sustained in being hurried +hither—conduct you to your guardian.” +</p> + +<p> +“And raise the devil!—ay, and bring him here: her guardian is +his half brother,” suddenly roared Samson in surprise and terror. +“No, Montigny, she has given too much trouble in the catching to +be so lightly released. Besides, is she to be still allowed to +stand between her betters. Leave her with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, leave her with Samson,” cried the sulking Seraphine, starting +up in her chair. “He has known better girls, and handsomer, +too;—umph! how much men can be mistaken. It is wonderful that +Claude should covet her. Take her to her guardian! fie, Monsieur +Montigny,” and half turning away in her seat with scorn and disgust, +she cast a look of ineffable hatred and disdain at the suppliant +Amanda, whilst the woman of the house fixed her jealousy-filled +eyes on Samson as he murmurred: “She shall not go: she is my +prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +“She must return with me, sir,” said the Seigneur, quietly but +firmly. “Are you not aware how great is the penalty that you have +incurred by this disgraceful scandal? Think it fortunate if you +shall be able in any way to compound for it with the lady's guardian. +Seraphine, mollify your indignation towards one who has not meant +to thwart you. Return to the hall with your brother, whilst I +conduct this injured lady to the parsonage, to remain there until +I can escort her home, and (as I hope) with the aid of her +intercession, obtain the pardon of her cruel abductors.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is you that is cruel:” cried the weeping Seraphine: “it is +Claude that is cruel. Not meant to thwart me! she <i>has</i> thwarted +me, and you encourage her, you justify her, Monsieur Montigny.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will crucify her,” cried Samson. +</p> + +<p> +“Say no more,” commanded the seigneur: “you are both of you ignorant +of the heinous nature of what you have done. Her guardian has the +power to punish you. Tremble lest he should exercise it.” And, with +these words, he gave his arm to Amanda, and, passing amidst the +scowling trio, led her from the place. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Confess the truth.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Measure for Measure.</i> +</span></p> +<br/> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“You would pluck out the heart of my mystery.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Hamlet.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +Claude Montigny rode to Stillyside and back, and was again with +the advocate within the hour. To conceive the terror and outcry in +that quiet dwelling, when its inmates ascertained that Amanda was +missing, let the reader recall the commotion in the castle of +Macbeth, when on the morning following his fatal entrance beneath +its battlements, it is discovered that the royal Duncan has been +murdered. As vehement and as wild as when the distracted Macduff, +in frantic tones and with wringing hands, declares to the assembling +sons and thanes of the ill-starred monarch, that, “confusion now +has made its masterpiece, most sacrilegeous murder has broken open +the Lord's anointed temple, and stolen hence the life o' the +building,” was the outcry and disorder on the discovery of Amanda's +absence; and the wail and lamentation rung in Claude's ear as he +rode away from the gate to return to Montreal, where, still pacing +the library, the advocate anxiously awaited him. By the ratiocination, +as well as by the intuition, of the old man, the seigneur of +Mainville was reasonably to be suspected of being at least an +accessory to the stealing of Amanda. Claude, too, was not unvisited +by suspicions of his father's complicity; but thrust the dishonoring +doubts from him, as might a suffering saint dismiss hard thoughts +of the dealings of Providence towards himself. Each thought more +than he expressed to the other, but at length the advocate +communicated to Claude his injurious suspicions, acquainting him +with the fact and nature of his father's visits to his office; when +Claude, in turn, informed the advocate of the long cherished project +of an alliance between the houses of Duchatel and Montigny. This +information not only confirmed, but widened the field of the +advocate's fears. He was aware also of the lawless character of +Duchatel's sons; and recollected to have heard that the youngest +was a comrade of Narcisse, who, he likewise knew, entertained a +covert spite against Amanda, and, for his mother's sake, a rankling +dislike of Mona Macdonald. Against both of these his umbrage might +be supposed to have been heated by his recent ignominious expulsion +from Stillyside; and to gratify this resentment he might now be +executing some scheme of revenge, wherein, from his intimacy with +the young Duchatel, he could know that that family had cause to be +ready to assist him. Here was a clue to the recovery of his ward:—in +legal parlance, here was a prima facie case; and it but remained +to find and prosecute the criminals. To seize his son, and, by +threats or promises, extract a confession from him was the first +idea. But where was the errant and suspected Narcisse to be found? +His father knew he was absent, so the mother was summoned. She +came, but advanced no further than the threshold of the room, and +fell a trembling with fear, behaviour that she would fain have +dissembled to be from cold, for, with the divination with which +guilt endows its subject, she at once knew that the stranger was +the young Montigny, and herself had been cited in order to suffer +a searching cross-examination. +</p> + +<p> +“Woman,” said the advocate sternly, and wheeling his arm-chair +round so as to face her, “Woman, where is your son?” +</p> + +<p> +“Helas!” she exclaimed, and shrugged her shoulders, as much as to +say, “I don't know where he is;” and smiled a rueful smile. +</p> + +<p> +“No grinning now,” cried the lawyer, raising his finger and shaking +it at her, and frowning as he was wont to do when he wished to +intimidate a witness, “no grinning now, madam. Will you pretend to +say you know nothing of where he was last night, where he is at +present?” +</p> + +<p> +“Helas!” again exclaimed the affrighted Babet: “sir you forget +yourself. Last night? Why it is yet night. Open the shutters and +put out the lamp, and you will still be in darkness. Let me return +to bed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Babet Blais, many a better woman than you have I wished bedridden,” +the advocate cried with bitterness. “Beshrew me, but your answer. +Remember I am flint if you are steel, hence the less often we are +smitten together in this enquiry, the fewer may be the revealing +sparks. Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, whereon +your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon your +guilty face, as grimly as the lurid East that brews a rainy day, +to you the type of tears.” +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0128-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0128-small.jpg" + alt="Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, +whereon your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon +your guilty face."/></a> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” demanded the half mystified and still dissembling +woman, in terror. +</p> + +<p> +“What do I mean? I mean that you shall tell me where your son was +during the last night, and where he is now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where he is <i>now</i>?” echoed Babet, “Last night? it is now night, +or only just near dawning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, we are near the dawning,” mocked the old man, with loud, +relentless equivoque. “Madam, shed here the sunbeams of your highest +intelligence; clear the dull atmosphere of your soul from fog; and +let us see and hear respecting this occurrence, all that yourself +have seen, and heard, and known.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master, I know nothing,” said she, “what affair?” enquired the +woman, fitfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Is Narcisse at home?” bellowed the advocate, quivering with +excitement, and red to the roots of his white hair with wrath. +“Evil betide me that he should have ever made here his home;” he +continued. “Who called him hither? I? No, no; I called for aught +that might see fit to come, conditioned that it came in human guise; +but yonder frothy fool, yon swarthy pigmy, I did not summon him. +I called for anything of earth, but Heaven (to punish me) straight +passed the unhallowed call to hell, that sent me up a demon.” The +apartment resounded with the last word, and still the old man's +voice was heard like the departing rumble of a thunder peal, as he +continued, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, whilst his +countenance assumed an air of singular elevation, passionately +exclaiming: “Oh, that a man who could have entertained the gods +with high conceits and philosophic parle,—could have communed with +spirits of the skies, should be assailed and pestered from the +pit!—Go on, woman, we will exorcise you, we will purge you, though +you be fouler than the Augean stable, that had been left uncleaned +for thirty years; ay, though you be as foul as is the stall that +holds the grimy company of the lost, and which goes uncleaned for +ever. Proceed, I charge thee!” and the fierce-eyed lawyer sat +dilated and erect in his chair, glaring upon her like a serpent +rearing its crest from amidst its coils, as he waited for an answer. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot, I know no further,” she said at length with meek +doggedness. +</p> + +<p> +“What say you?” exclaimed the advocate, almost screaming with +astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“I know no further; I know nothing,” she replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Assist me, patience, to confound this creature! Nothing! you know +all;” he shouted. “All, I say, all; for never had such a mother +such a son, but he did pour out all his purposes, all the infernal +cornucopia, into her breast from his. You have no secrets between +you; you, his mother, know all his course; his thoughts, intents, +conspiracies and plots; his loves, his hates, his loose, irregular +life; his merry moments, and his moods of malice. I charge thee, +tell us where he was last night, where yesterday, where he is now, +and where he will be to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur, I know no more, know nothing,” cried the woman, appealing +to Claude. “My master is mad,” and, bursting into tears, began: +“Here have I been his housekeeper twenty years—” +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty years too long,” vociferated the advocate. “One half the +period that heaven was vexed with a stiff-necked generation have +I endured you, Babet. Housekeeper! eh? Keeper of the King's +conscience next, a she Lord Chancellor,—but continue: call yourself +Keeper of the Seals, and mistress—or master either—of the Rolls, +so you unroll your secret. Tell all you may; empty your flask of +falsehood, then at the bottom we may find some sediment of truth. +Commence; don't count upon concealment. I will wring the truth from +you, though it shall ooze out drop by drop, and each drop be a +portion of your life.” +</p> + +<p> +Babet was still silent, but the lawyer pursued: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, toad, ugly and venomous, you have a precious jewel in your +head; deliver it; discover to myself and to this gentleman all that +you know about your son's late conduct. Speak, or you shall have +your closed lips forced apart, or there shall be found and set you +such tormenting penance, that you shall sue with speed to make +confession. What! still silent? Bathe no longer that face with +tears. Out on thee, crocodile! Oh, that those trite tears were +scales, falling, to leave you bare and vulnerable to arrows of +adjurement; then, with patience I could see them fall as fast as +flakes of snow in winter, till thou wert as white as Judge's ermine +with them! Creature, hast thou nothing plausible, nothing for us, +nothing for him, nor me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing for you, nor for this gentleman,” she answered quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not imagine him to be so gentle, neither. Though he dwells +staid and silent, he is a roaring lion, that should I let slip may +soon devour thee, Babet. Overweening woman, you do not know how +much you and yours have wronged him,” said the advocate. +</p> + +<p> +Claude had heard all this without speaking, but now he interposed, +to try persuasion. +</p> + +<p> +“Good Babet,” said he, soothingly, “if you are aware of anything +untoward of Monsieur's ward, and will declare it, I guarantee to +you, not only a condonation for your son, if he have in any shape +conspired against her, but a reward so weighty for yourself, that +you shall bless the hour that you were awoke so early to be scolded. +What do you know of the lost lady of Stillyside?” +</p> + +<p> +At these words a smile covered her face, as if of satisfaction at +good news; then, shrugging her shoulders, she languidly asked: “Is +she missing?” and added, “Helas! then others have an absent child, +as well as I,” and shook her head; and, with another shrug, continued, +as if subsiding into herself, and in a tone of combined decision +and sadness: “I know nothing of the lady, nothing of my boy. Heaven +grant my son is safe, my poor Narcisse, and that he may not return +and meet his cruel father, who so hates him;” and she brushed away +a tear from her cheek. +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven grant indeed we do not meet at present!” ejaculated the +foiled advocate; “for if we did, I might so far exceed a parent's +punitory privilege, that I should win but blame from the blind +world instead of sympathy. Begone, vampire,” and she vanished like +a ghost at cockcrow. +</p> + +<p> +That smile of her's at the mention of Amanda missing, had been +caught by the advocate's keen eye, and convinced him that she and +her son were accessories to the felony of the night. Brief +consultation now sufficed between him and Claude, who also felt +convinced of her complicity. Light began to glimmer amidst the +darkness of the situation, and, as it kindled into a dreary dawn, +as might a new scene amongst dissolving views, shadowy and sinistrous +amidst it seemed to loom the figures of the Duchatels; and, before +the sun had risen, Claude, winged equally with hope and indignation, +was posting towards Montboeuf. The advocate threw himself upon a +couch, and he would fain have thrown up his brief of that day, but +it was for a case involving capital punishment, and, at the eleventh +hour, to have deserted his client would have brought upon himself, +not only professional dishonor, but guilt. Hence, with heavy heart +and unwilling faculties he bent his attention to the study of the +important case, whilst at intervals he swallowed a portion of the +morning's meal, that at the usual hour was silently placed before +him; and at last, with an inexpressible sadness and boding, he left +the stillness of his home for the walls of the busy and exciting +arena of the criminal court. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Hamlet.</i> +</span></p> +<br/> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</span></p> + + +<p> +The Court had been opened, and was crowded with lawyers, petit +jurors, witnesses, and excited spectators. A criminal trial of +such interest as the present one had not occurred there for years; +and the business in the Civil Courts had virtually been adjourned, +so great was the determination of the pleaders therein to be present, +and witness the conducting of a case so calculated to call forth +the powers of the renowned and venerable advocate. All conspired +to show that an extraordinary scene was to be enacted there that +day. The Judge was more than usually grave, attentive and deliberate; +the Crown Prosecutor wary, and complete in his preparations; the +legal, technical, and clerical grounds of exception and demur, +before the Crown was allowed to take up the burden of proof, were +entered and explored by the advocate, as one who reconnoitres before +committing his feet to dark and dangerous precincts, where any one +of his advancing steps may prove to be fatal. +</p> + +<p> +And now the case had been laid before the jury, and the witnesses +for the prosecution, each as he testified touching the fearful +crime laid to the charge of the prisoner at the bar, were being +subjected to the terrible ordeal of a cross-examination by the +advocate; who all eye all ear appeared, as in his earlier days; +quick to detect, prompt to demand, stern to insist, at watch and +ward at every point; so that his client seemed to have found in +him an irresistible champion, and the crowd, to all of whom he was +familiar, considered his success as certain, just as the veteran +soldiery anticipate a triumph from the General, who has so often +led them to victory that they deem him to have become invincible. +But to the thoughtful and more observant, at times he showed signs +of preoccupation, strangely at variance with his present undoubted +supremely master mood; and as the trial proceeded these fits of +wandering from the point increased in duration and intensity. An +anxious expression settled on his countenance; his usually energetic +but measured movements when he was thus engaged became irregular +and nervous; and he frequently cast glances towards the entrance, +as if expecting the arrival of some one; and twice in the midst of +withering cross-examinations, stopped short at the sight of +individuals elbowing their way through the crowd; gazing upon them +enquiringly and with an air of expectation, until, passing, they +became embedded in the serried mass of spectators; when, with a +look of disappointment, he resumed his task, and again with consummate +talent and characteristic vigor, did battle for his client, whose +dark distinction in the dock went nigh unnoticed, from the settled +attention bestowed on his defender, just as the prominently exhibited +prize is sometimes overlooked and temporarily forgotten, in the +observation compelled to the rare skill shown by the competing +players. +</p> + +<p> +But whilst the father was thus tasking every power of his trained +intellect, and crowning his career with forensic fires, that now, +in the evening of his genius, burned even more signally, than they +had done in the midst of its meridian splendors;—whilst thus +calling upon his great gifts, that, like to antique jewels brightened +by abrasion in the wearing, shone yet the more from the polish of +experience; and while lending a legal learning that, as a rapier +which, ever ready and ever in requisition, has acquired no rust, +was the more available from long practice combined with intuitive +tact;—whilst all this was passing in high and public court, the +ignoble son was awaking in a low lodging; weary and stiff after +the raid of the past night, anxious and timid from a sense of guilt, +and fearful of a future calling to account. His first wish was to +discover whether his sire was yet informed of the disappearance of +his ward. He knew that his father was retained in the trial which +had been fixed for that day, and had there been any whom he could +conveniently have sent to ascertain whether or not the advocate +was in court, he would have despatched one thither, but he could +prevail upon none about him to go for love, and money he had none +to offer. His mother, alarmed at her master's discovery of the +participation by Narcisse in their successful conspiracy, and not +knowing where to find the latter, had despatched a messenger to +the lodging of their bold and insolent accomplice, Alphonse Duchatel, +requesting him to warn her son to avoid his father during that day. +But the messenger failed to find him, and Narcisse at last arose, +dressed, and, prompted by a curiosity that overcame his apprehensions, +approached the Court House. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the advocate, tortured by increasing alarm, and with his +imagination filling with tragic touches the picture of the possible +fate of Amanda, had lost both recollection and temper; and for the +first time when conducting a cross-examination, had been not merely +baffled, but successfully bearded and insulted by an irritated +witness, to relieve himself from whom, he was obliged abruptly to +bid him leave the box. The occurrence stung him to the quick, though +he strove to hide his chagrin;—no wonder. Taken at disadvantage, +and in a moment of weakness, the old pleader was obliged to perceive +that the wager of mental duel between himself and the witness had +been decided against him; and to feel that, in an unsought encounter +and fair affray, he had been publicly worsted. To add to his +mortification, the witness walked from the box with the air of a +conqueror, and cast an insolent look of triumph around the court +and upon his antagonist, whose discomfiture was so signal as to be +evident to judge, jurors, witnesses, spectators, all. Still more +to increase the advocate's perturbation, the heat of the court had +become excessive, and the rebuff—which, at an earlier period of +his career, and with an unwounded heart, would have provoked only +such a grim and threatening smile as a powerful wrestler might +wear, when, in the careless security of proud contempt, he had been +thrown by a boy—now, in the self-esteem of age and the anguish +of bereavement, moved him almost to madness. Seizing his gown, he +half cast it from his form, regardless of decorum, and stood the +picture of misery, rage, and scorn. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the court arose for a brief recess. Glad to breathe for +a moment the fresher air, the spectators retired, the jury returned +into their room, the sheriff and the crown prosecutor sauntered to +their respective offices, the panel of petit jurors escaped in a +body, the prisoner withdrew from the front of the dock, and sat +unseen, pondering his chances between the gallows and an +acquittal;—even the criers of the court abandoned their posts, +and the younger members of the bar, who usually gathered round the +advocate on these occasions, greeting him with pleasant compliments, +and polite and reverent attentions, seeing him thus moody, drifted +to the lobby, and in it paid court to some other, and secondary +legal luminary who was there holding his levee. For awhile the +advocate was left alone; then, emerging through the large folding +doors into the corridor or lobby, now cumbered with the gossipping +groups, through which he passed, solitary and in his gown, like +Caesar in his robe passing through the midst of the conspirators, +he proceeded past the doors of the offices occupied by the various +crown officials. None spoke to the old man, he spoke to none, but +his breast burned in agony, and a cloud was on his brow, like the +smoke that wreathes around the crater of a volcano. His eyes seemed +to shoot forth sparks, and his lips were muttering. Anger and sorrow +were upon his face, but, turning a corner in the building, he was +now hidden from the view of the multitude, and strode along the +main corridor towards the huge double staircase that, midway therein, +wound down to the dim entrance hall, that was divided by ponderous +doors from the esplanade between the building and the busy street. +A low, massive balustrade guarded the bridge-like portion of the +corridor that hung between the heads of the twin flights of stairs, +and whence, on looking down, was seen the paved abyss below. +Approaching this part, what did he behold but the truant Narcisse, +unconscious of his presence, ascending one of these flights of +stairs. At the sight of him the gloomy elements of his soul seemed +to flash within him and explode, rending all resolution of restraint, +and leaving him a puppet of some destructive power, as he stood +eyeing his son's approach, as the cat eyes that of the marauding +mouse, motionless, allowing the culprit to draw near, until, +detected, he stood, too nigh to retreat, too terrified to advance, +and, as the fascinated bird drops into the open jaws of the serpent, +fell resistless into the grasp of the advocate's extended hand. +Then, as the firedamp when met by the miner's candle must explode, +or as the liberated lightning must rend the cloud, though the latter +be near Jove's throne, so the frenzied father, regardless, nay, +forgetful, of the place, the time, the occasion, of himself and +natural ties, assailed the scared Narcisse, clutching him by the +throat with the strength of a maniac, and pushing him backwards +against the balustrade, and holding him there transfixed, while, +with eyes seething with wrath beneath the blanched, and big, +umbrageous brows, and showing like a sudden opening of the infernal +pit, he cried: “Demon, degenerate dog, where hast thou been walking +to and fro in the earth? whom helping to devour? Ah, son of Satan, +ah! Aroint thee, Imp, Abortion.” +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0141-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0141-small.jpg" + alt="Demon! degenerate dog! where hast thou been walking +to and fro on the earth?"/></a> + +<p> +The astonished wretch strove to reply, but terror and strangulation +forbade him; and the enraged parent, like an incarnate storm, at +arm's-length shook him, as the dog shakes the rat which it has +caught, or the lion its prey; and each moment the shuddering youth, +hearing his father's deep curses, and stiffening with horror, was +urged further and yet further over the abyss, and still with aimless, +outstretched arms, and disparted, claw-like fingers, strove to +clutch the advocate's gown; while with upturned and beseeching eyes +starting from their sockets, and still half on the balustrade and +half in air, with nothing but the grasp of his adversary retaining +him, he hung, while the arm that held him quivered, and surged +uneasily from side to side, as if irresolute whether to plunge him +or to draw him back; until a growl of satisfaction, followed by an +execration, gurgling in the advocate's throat, announced the coming +climax: the arm was jerked outwards, the clenched fingers unclutched +themselves, like an automaton's, and the miserable mannikin tumbled +with a yell down to the stones beneath. An instant all was silent, +then a faint groan rose from the bruised form, that the next moment +lay on the bloody flags a senseless corpse. Drawing a loud sigh +of indescribable relief, after his fearful and protracted agitation, +the advocate—and now murderer—stood glaring downwards with fixed +eyes and yet clenched teeth; then, sickening at the horrid sight +which loomed beneath, turned and leaned for support against the +balustrade over which he had cast his child. Hearing the noise of +the scuffle, some stragglers from the mixed crowd on the lobby came +running to the spot, and one enquired of the advocate if he were +seized with a sudden sickness. But he only pointed downwards to +where lay his ill-fated victim; and shook his head, looking all +woebegone, in mad, mute misery. Astonished, some descended, and +bearing the body up the stairs, laid it on a bench that stood +against the wall, and opposite its destroyer; while a still increasing +and motley multitude, including jurors, witnesses, constables, +criers, counsellors, clerks of the court, crown prosecutor, sheriff, +and lastly, the judge himself, hurrying, gathered round the scene +of the catastrophe. A surgeon who happened to have been subpoened +upon the current trial, opened a vein, but the blood refused to +flow; and a barrister, stripping himself of his gown, threw it over +the body as a pall. No one dared enquire the origin of what he saw, +until the judge arriving, demanded: “Who has done this?” +</p> + +<p> +“I,” feebly answered the advocate, ghastly pale, and yet leaning +for support on the fatal balustrade. Alas! what a change! His +countenance was grown haggard, and his white hair hung dishrevelled +about his collapsed visage, like icicles round the pinched countenance +of Winter. Despair was in his look, and he uttered the name of +Amanda, and gazed bewildered around him, as if awaking from a +sorrowful dream; and now began to whimper, to gaze upon the pall-like +gown, and now to call upon the spirit that had flown—as a scared +bird from a bush—forth from the body that lay beneath it. +</p> + +<p> +“Narcisse,” he feebly cried, “Narcisse, my son,—for thou wert +yet my son,—Narcisse, Narcisse,” he reiterated piteously; and the +Sheriff advanced in his purple gown, and girt with his golden hilted +sword, laid his hand on the shoulder of the old man, the lately +proud advocate, but now wretched culprit, as a sign of his being +put under arrest. But none else moved; the Sheriff himself shrinking +from ordering the constable to give effect to the signal. All seemed +transfixed with pain or chained with horror, as in tremulous tones +of touching tenderness the slayer continued to call upon the dead. +</p> + +<p> +“Narcisse, my son, my son,” he cried in agony; “Oh, I have killed +thee, child; oh, thou art dead, dead, dead.—But thou didst steal +thy sister; yes, I know thou didst; ay, that thou didst, and hast +delivered her to dishonor, therefore have I killed thee. Come, +Amanda, come hither, dearest, and behold thy brother; behold thy +father, see what he has done, and all for thee. Yes, I did it, all +you curious crowd. Amanda, oh, where art thou? let me see thee ere +I die: Amanda dear, Amanda;” and at the words, Amanda, leaning on +the arm of Claude, and followed by the elder Montigny and André +Duchatel, appeared upon the corridor, a sweet smile playing upon +her features, and hastening forwards she fell upon the neck of her +guardian, who was still leaning against the balustrade, pale, +haggard and forlorn. Her companions, restrained by astonishment +and fear, gazed aloof and mute, whilst the wretched criminal, eyeing +them with a look of misery and suspicion, in a tone of inexpressible +sadness at length exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Come you to see me, then, before I die; do you come to triumph +over me, Seigneur Montigny? Look, see there, but do not touch it, +for it is abhorred, abominable, a foul spirit, a black imp of hell. +Amanda, art thou found?—Do not tremble, girl, do not weep; my +daughter, child, for, without a figure, thou art my daughter; art, +to the very letter, love, my child. Oh, we have much to tell each +other; see what I have done—but hear me, then condemn me. Oh, +Amanda, it is bliss to see, to feel thee here;—but here, here in +this breast is sadness. I have been a rash and hasty fool, a madman, +if you will, but no, no murderer; we kill mere vermin, we exterminate +rats, roaches; and what worse than that is this which I have done. +Pshaw, he was a reptile, a black beetle that came flying against +me. He, my son! Oh, slander, where wilt thou not cast thy slime? +the thing that the deceitful, wily woman palmed upon me, he my son, +thy brother? preposterous conception. Yet sad has been the creature's +end; and sad, sad, sad, I felt this morning when I left my home, +with a presentiment which seemed to say, that I should never enter +it again; and that presentiment is now fulfilled. Fate urged me +on. Unnatural hate has pushed me to the ledge, and now I sink to +lose myself in the abyss. Oh, foul fate! this deed foul, foul! +Fair, fair Amanda, close thine eyes on this enormity; or be content +to see it, yet not understand it, for knowledge here would surely +drive thee mad.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sir, am I not mad, delirious?” enquired Amanda: “Oh, my kind +guardian, my good angel, more than father, friend. What have you +done? you have done nothing evil!” and she sobbed upon his bosom, +and Claude stood transfixed and silent, until his eyes meeting +those of the advocate, he demanded passionately: +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, what may this mean; what horrible allusions drop like venom +from your tongue; whence comes this change; tell me, I charge you, +sir, why are you now so shaken, so wandering in your noble intellect, +even mad; you whom I left this morning, sad indeed, yet sane?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know whether I was sane or not when I did what I have +done, or whether I am so just now; but for this scene, which must +appear most strange to you, see there what shall explain it all,” +replied the advocate; and the gown was partially withdrawn from +the corpse by one of the spectators, and Claude with his male +companions gazed upon it aghast, whilst Amanda turning away in +terror and uttering a feeble moan, hid her face in the old man's +breast. +</p> + +<p> +“How has this happened?” Claude demanded at last with a voice hoarse +and guttural with abhorrence; and the advocate shrugging his +shoulders cynically replied: +</p> + +<p> +“A bruise, a fatal fall; strange that he should have died of it. +It has been said, the lower in the scale of being, the higher the +tenacity of life. Yet here is an inferior intelligence dies of as +little corporeal damage, as might a poet or a philosopher. There +is no certainty in speculation, for by this experiment it has been +proved, that the bulls-eye in the stable window, in falling is as +fragile as the palace's clearest pane of crystal. Who would have +thought it? A dunce, that no one would have branded for having +brains, has from a mere tumble given up the ghost. Bury him, bury +him; I am sorry for it, but cannot howl,” and at these last words +a howl was heard from below, and soon Babet Blais came rushing +along the corridor, wringing her hands, and frantically demanding: +“Where is he, where is my boy, my sweet Narcisse?” and threw herself +upon the corpse of her son. The advocate looked on with a bitter +smile, and when he beheld her covering with kisses the cold, coarse +features, exclaimed: “How these things love each other!—but when +he was alive she would give him the food out of her mouth, draw +for him the blood from her veins, sacrifice the immortal soul in +her body with lies and patent perjury and crookedest excuses, if +so was that she might screen him and his faults, deceiving +me.—Beshrew thee, woman!—but wherefore should I curse thee? thou +art what thou wert made to be, even as I am that which I was made +to be, a desolation and a miserable man:” and when he ceased Babet +started from her knees, and, looking on him with new born fierceness, +cried: “Monster, not master; man killer, son killer,—oh, you have +killed my own, my dear Narcisse! murdered my son, my boy, my child, +my only joy:” and she again cast herself upon the body, and, with +her face nestling in the dead bosom, sobbed and wept aloud. +</p> + +<p> +The advocate seemed softened, and, looking at Claude, demanded: +“Who is there that shall not fulfil his fate? for this I was born, +and for it I shall die.” The sheriff again essayed to remove him, +but he sank at his touch, as the dust of an ancient corpse falls +before the breath of the outer atmosphere, and with mortality +moulding his visage: “Stay,” he said, “let me die here; death has +arrested me, he needs no warrant.” A spasm passed over his face, +his frame slightly quivered; and looking beseechingly at Claude, +the latter bent tenderly over him, and he thus began: “It were +foolish in me to suppose that you have not heard of my irregularities. +You will not be astonished, then, when I call this girl my child, +no longer my mere ward, but mine own child, so late acknowledged. +Amanda, child,”—and his voice faltered, while he spoke with +increasing difficulty,—“will you acknowledge me in this disgrace, +receiving with the name of father that of felon? Mona Macdonald is +your mother, to whom I have promised marriage till my way down to +perdition is paved with broken oaths, as false as her love was +true, and as hot as was the fire which fell from heaven, when Elijah +strove with Baal's prophets, and that licked up the water in the +trench, as did those burning oaths of mine so often dry up her +tears. Give me your hand, Claude; Seigneur Montigny, give me yours. +I see a change within you towards this lady. Stand not between her +and your son, as you would wish no sin to stand betwixt yourself +and Heaven at Judgment.” Then in a low tone meant only for Claude's +ear, he whispered, gasping: +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0151-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0151-small.jpg" + alt="Quick, I am dying: bend over me: let me perceive +your breath, for I am blind."/></a> + +<p> +“Think all I would have said, if there were time, and we were +happier. Farewell for ever; I cannot tarry, neither would I do it +now. I have outlived myself by near an hour, for I was not myself +when I performed this deed.” And again a spasm passed over his +frame, his eyes grew fixed and glazed, and he earnestly exclaimed: +“Gather near me all who love me, and all to love whom is my duty. +Quick, quick; for a film overspreads my eyes, the throes of death +are tearing down this frame. Quick, I am dying. Bend over me; let +me perceive your breath, for I am blind. Bend, bend;—stoop yet +lower; I cannot feel you, for each sense grows dull; stoop lower +yet.—Oh, soul, why all this haste? Amanda, Claude, poor, missing +Mona, I have somewhat more to say to you; quick, listen, listen, +or it will be too late. Pshaw! pshaw! it <i>is</i> too late, too late, +too late!” And his head fell backwards, and with his arms clasped +convulsively around the necks of Claude and Amanda, the advocate, +like his son, was a corpse. On the following day both of them were +laid in the English burying ground, but no stone marks the spot, +and in vain the stranger seeks to discover it. None are able, or +care, to point it out, restrained by a superstitious awe. A few +octogenarians still remember him, and look grave and shake the +head, when questioned as to the story and fate of the talented and +terrible Advocate of Montreal. +</p> + +<p> +[End of <i>The Advocate</i> by Charles Heavysege] +</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + +***** This file should be named 31212-h.htm or 31212-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31212/ + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan with corrections by Bowerbird + +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 +https://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 F3. 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 MERCHANTIBILITY 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 web page at https://www.pglaf.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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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 +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +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 https://pglaf.org + +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 including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.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 thirty 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: + + https://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. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0002-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0002-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea7be0c --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0002-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0002-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0002-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfc7f5b --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0002-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0010-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0010-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd26ff7 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0010-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0010-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0010-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..038314a --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0010-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0018-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0018-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..16f9a47 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0018-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0018-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0018-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ee3e0d --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0018-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0059-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0059-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a97e6b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0059-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0059-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0059-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..63e8794 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0059-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0098-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0098-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf51608 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0098-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0098-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0098-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c453d75 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0098-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0119-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0119-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7115d3f --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0119-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0119-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0119-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4ac394 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0119-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0128-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0128-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9d7882 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0128-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0128-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0128-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67258f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0128-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0141-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0141-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a16165d --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0141-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0141-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0141-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..39c9c59 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0141-small.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0151-large.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0151-large.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..820caec --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0151-large.jpg diff --git a/31212-h/images/picture0151-small.jpg b/31212-h/images/picture0151-small.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..58c05a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212-h/images/picture0151-small.jpg diff --git a/31212.txt b/31212.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e40af29 --- /dev/null +++ b/31212.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3867 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +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: The Advocate + +Author: Charles Heavysege + +Posting Date: March 11, 2010 [EBook #31212] +Release Date: February 7, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + + + + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan with corrections by Bowerbird + + + + + +THE +ADVOCATE + +A NOVEL + +BY +CHARLES HEAVYSEGE, +Author of "Saul," "Jephthah's Daughter." +&c., &c., &c. + +ILLUSTRATED BY J. ALLAN. +(engraved by John Henry Walker after illustrations by J. Allan) + +MONTREAL +RICHARD WORTHINGTON, +GREAT ST. JAMES STREET. + +1865. + +M. LONGMOORE & CO., PRINTERS. + + + + +[Illustration: Stillyside] + + + + +THE ADVOCATE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Take, oh take those lips away, + That so sweetly were forsworn; + And those eyes, the break of day, + Lights that do mislead the morn: + But my kisses bring again, + bring again + Seals of love, but sealed in vain, + seal'd in vain." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + +On a bright day during the month of September, of the year 1800, +two persons were in earnest conversation in a lawyer's office in +the city of Montreal. One of them was the most distinguished +advocate of that place; a man of some three score years, and of a +commanding yet wild and singular aspect. His companion was a +well-dressed female of middle age, and comely, though mournful +countenance. Some disagreeable topic seemed to have just ruffled +both of their tempers, for her face was moist with tears, and +darkened with an expression of disappointment. His own was slightly +marked with annoyance, and, suddenly ceasing to arrange some folded +law papers that he held in his hands, and had gathered up from the +table at which he was standing, he exclaimed in tones of mingled +surprise and asperity: "Still at the old song! still harping, +harping, harping! Peace, no more of it. Heaven would be insufferable +with but one hymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl, earth +uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety, what a charm hast +thou!" + +"Is this, then, all your answer?" enquired the female, sorrowfully. + +"Is it not decisive?" he demanded sharply. "Woman, away: am I not +busy? Is not this the very Passion week of preparation before the +Easter of the Assizes?" Then with an upward leer of his eyes, that +were now filled with frolicksome humour, whilst at the corners of +his mouth flickered a grim smile, he continued: "Mona Macdonald, +I am neither selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not +prone to be provoked to marriage; though Satan in your shape has +for so many years tempted me thereto, I have still remained in the +bachelors' Eden, in spite of you and the Serpent. Marry you! Do I +look in the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough to commit +the unpardonable sin? No, a man may put himself beyond the reach +of mercy by other means than that." + +Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued: + +"What more is marriage than mere desert sands, in which life's +current is lost until it reappears in a parcel of bubbles called +babies. What is it but the fool's end, the knave's means; a warning +to the wise, a snare to the simple; the wantonness of youth, the +weakness of years; a pillory wherein to exercise patience; what is +it but the Church's stocks for the wayward feet of women. Marry +you! To marry is to commit two souls to the prison of one body; to +put two pigs into one poke; two legs into one boot, two arms into +one sleeve, two heads into one hat, two necks into one noose, two +corpses into one coffin, and this into a wet grave, for marriage +is a perennial spring of tears. Marry! Why should I bind myself +with a vow that I must break, not being by nature continent and +loving? Marry you! Yes, when I hate you. Have I a sinistrous look +to meditate such mischief? Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom? +Pish! I am ashamed to be so importuned." + +[Illustration: "Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom?"] + +This badinage was uttered with the fire of youth, combined with +the authority of age, accustomed to be obeyed, and the listener +offered no rejoinder; but the speaker, having approached, gazed +into her eyes with a twinkling smile of mirth, that gradually +changed to one of fondness and pity; and kissing her respectfully, +he added in a soft tone: "Come, come, how is the maid Amanda, how +fares our charming foundling?" + +"Well," was quietly replied. + +"Mona, I love that girl," he continued, assuming a tone of deep +sincerity, "for along with the whole web of your goodness, nature +has interwoven into the fine fabric of her form a thread of my +evil--not in the grosser sense,--no, no; still, look after her; +the breath of passion must be stirring in her, and at her years +most maids are tinder to love's dropping sparks. Remember, there +never yet was a nun but once had tender thoughts. Love comes unto +all that live, and with not less certainty than death's advances +--nay, even the cold, bony frame of death itself, at last comes +wooing, and elopes with life. Now, home and cheer your charge." +And he playfully pushed her from the room, then, throwing himself +into his chair, resumed the interrupted study of his briefs. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "A seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone." + + _All's Well That Ends Well._ + +The advocate was by birth an Englishman, and a cadet of an ancient +family, who, after having spent a dissolute youth and early manhood, +had come to Canada. Here he became acquainted with an old, half-pay +Highland officer of Wolfe's Army, who for his signal services +rendered during the operations of the British force before Quebec, +had been rewarded with a grant of land in that vicinity. Like others +of his countrymen, the Highlander had settled in the Province, and +married into a French Canadian family. But, soon, after their +union, his wife died in giving birth to a daughter, which he reared +to womanhood with all the strength of an undivided affection. The +Englishman's frank bearing and singular mental powers won the +admiration of the old soldier, and, at the same time, dazzled and +captivated his comely and unsophisticated daughter, to whom the +stranger was soon understood to stand in the light of a lover. But +Macdonald--for such was the name of the warm-hearted clansman--was +not destined to see his dearest wishes realized in the union of +the two. A sudden sickness laid low his hardy frame, and, dying, +he called the pair to his bedside, and joined their hands in +anticipation of the rite of wedlock. The father dead, the lover +betook himself to the study of the law, and with an extraordinary +aptitude and diligence, not only mastered the details of legal +practice, but comprehended, beyond others, the great principles +both of English and of French jurisprudence as practised in Lower +Canada. Ambitious of excellence, he resolved to complete his studies +of the latter in France itself. Of means he had little, but she, +confiding in his honor, consented that the estate left to her by +her father should be sold, to furnish him with the necessary funds +for his maintenance in Paris. In that gay capital--whilst taking +advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels +of the French Bar,--he associated with gamesters and courtezans, +and was at length left with resources barely sufficient to enable +him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary +acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile +eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque +humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his +fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible +scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence, +and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist +with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite +counsel for the defence. Extensive practice, and its concomitant, +a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving +him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with +it she had given him herself, day by day looked for the nuptial +tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become +a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer +in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her his long plighted +vows, he sent her to a lonely dwelling on the then unpeopled Ottawa +to hide her shame. There she remained till the scandal of their +connection was forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female +child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called +Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind +the bluff known as Mount Royal, or popularly the "mountain," that +lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City +of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious +in his profession, he continued to indulge his vein for pleasure; +not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-secrecy +of his home; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure +from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in those days, +the province was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials, +and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself;--men +of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion, +language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association, +whereof his house became one of the centres of reunion. There, +aware of his gentle descent, and impressed with his transcendent +abilities; charmed with his conversation--as pithy as it was apt +to be impure--his wit, his taste, his information, his judgment; +sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines, and luxuriance of +his table, around which military officer and civil servant, merchant +and judge, were accustomed to assemble, rank and office were +forgotten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour. +Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them, however disguised; +and, secure in that close conclave, where no pure female presence +was found to check the bacchanalian song, or forbid the ribald +jest, all sat to listen to and applaud their host's inimitable +stories, his grotesque descriptions, his wayward thoughts and +fantastic images; to hearken to his close analysis, his robust +reasoning, his wondrous pathos, his sublime exaggeration; and, as +the wine circulated, to observe yet more his chameleon aspect and +Protean character unfold itself; now grovelling like the Paradisal +toad, wherein, at the ear of Eve, was hidden the form of Lucifer; +now, touched by the Ithuriel spear of some keen conception, suddenly +soaring, like to the bright expanded shape of the surprised and +fallen Archangel, till the guests themselves, like the startled +Ithuriel recoiling from the instant apparition of the fiend, drew +back in amazement, or, as if at the jests of another Yorick, raised +over the table a long, eruptive roar. Nor was that all. For a moment +he would assume the moralist, the theologian, or,--leaving both +revelation and the pandects,--become the philosopher, pacing the +universe for occult truth; or the metaphysician, tracking the region +of the supersensuous; and, over every theme, flying on mocking +mental pinions, seeming an intellectual satan, passing through the +region of vain questionings and doubtful disquisition, dim out to +the abyss. And thus he lived, using, and abusing, his rare gifts; +no virtuous and accomplished wife presiding at these feasts, ever +degenerating into orgies, or giving sanctity to these walls; within +which were gathered the brightest, gayest, noblest, most powerful +--often most dissolute--of the land. But now the guests were thinned +in numbers by death, by marriage, by worn out passions; and many +a fierce spirit had been tamed by adversity, till the mirth had +grown to be half moody, and the saturnalia gross rather in intention +than in fact. + +[Illustration: "As if at the jests of another Yorick, raised over +the table a long, eruptive roar."] + +Yet ever amidst these distracting pleasures his heart reverted, +first, to the woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to the sylvan +shades of Stillyside, which latter he still took delight to visit +and adorn; cherishing its mistress, and watching over and nurturing +her child, the fruit of her fondness and of his falsehood;--but +commonly known and publicly acknowledged, only as her foster +daughter, and, in his own prouder circle, as his ward. For himself, +he never occupied other than a handsome suburban residence, situated +between the city and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona +Macdonald seldom entered; and when she did so, it was to be scowled +upon by its menial mistress, a French Canadian, named Babet Blais, +who viewed the melancholy visitor with angry and jealous eyes. Into +this house many comely Abigails had come and gone; but Babet Blais +remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, acquired a wife's +settlement and privileges, by virtue of the presence of a dwarfish, +swarthy creature, half oaf, half imp, their mutual offspring. This +strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb, +was named Narcisse, and flitted about the house rather than made +it his home; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence, +and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and +indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him. +Reckless, stupid, savage; ignoble and stubborn; with thick, black, +stubby hair, and dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes +filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like live coals; +deep-chested, and with shoulders raised and rounded, giving him an +air of pugnacity; snarl written upon his countenance, and pride in +the pose of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient, +he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman, +reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to +her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him; +wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so +severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged +him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the +more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming +his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper, +in one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His +father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon +relinquished the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled him +to a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to take him +into his office. But, instead of applying himself there, he spent +most of his time in idleness and debauchery; by night frequenting +the abodes of vice and infamy, and by day, haunting the doors and +corridors of the court-house, in the latter always instinctively +seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sullen and offended parent. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Haply despair hath seized her." + + _Cymbeline._ + +It was now evening, and the landscape lay steeped in yellow sunshine; +when Mona Macdonald rode slowly homewards, silent and buried in +gloom. Her way lay around the base of the mountain. But neither +its adjacent and majestic sides on the one hand, nor the placid, +mellow-tinted, and sky-bounded plain on the other were regarded by +her. Her thoughts were still with the advocate in his office, or +with her departed father in her native home below Quebec, as he +and she had lived and loved each other there, nearly twenty years +before. Thus preoccupied, she lent no heed to the landscape, although +before her was the broad, descending sun, and behind her was the +mighty Saint Lawrence basking in burnished gold; and soon another +stream, a branch of the Ottawa, appeared in the distance, the two +clasping between them as in a zone the Island of Montreal. But +neither the note of birds, the lowing of cattle, the barking of +dogs, the churr of the bullfrog, the distant human voices coming +faintly over the lea, nor yet the elysean landscape were seen or +heard; and not until the carriage drew up at Stillyside, and the +bark of a lap-dog, on the top of the distant steps, that led to +the verandah in front of the house, struck her ear, did she fully +awake from her mournful reverie. Then, alighting, she passed +through a postern that hung at the side of folding gates, and, +winding her way up a walk bordered with shrubs and flowers, approached +the dwelling, that stood upon a knoll. At that moment the sound +of a cowbell in the contiguous mountain coppice told the slow +approach of a dappled dairy, in charge of a swarthy French Canadian +youth. All else was quiet about the place, that seemed to be lying +in a sort of listless, half dreamy tranquillity and halcyon repose. +The mansion itself was spacious, and built of the grey limestone +of the district. Woodbine and hop, clematis and the Virginia creeper +half concealed its rugged exterior, and clothed in tangled luxuriance +the verandah that extended along the front. The roof was covered +with shingles, painted red; and in it were a number of dormer +windows, which, like all the other windows, were hidden with closed +green blinds or shutters. Swallows were darting about the eaves, +and wheeling around a fountain and jet d'eau in front, that were +fed by a mountain spring behind the house; whilst from one of the +rather numerous chimneys a frail wreath of blue smoke crept, and +lingered lazily about the lightning rod, before it rose and melted +away into the pure evening sky. But by this time the lap-dog had +come forwards to meet her, and now ran in advance, emitting a fitful +and joyous bark; and as she ascended the steps the door was opened +by a servant, who, having admitted her, closed it again; but not +before a stranger might, from without, have witnessed a fair and +youthful female figure swiftly descend the stairs into the hall, +and, throwing her arms around the neck of the returned traveller, +greet her with an affectionate salute. A large, grey mastiff now +appeared from the rear of the building, and, while the driver was +removing sundry parcels from the carriage, took a few slow and +solemn turns about the knoll, then, on the departure of man and +vehicle, retired for the night to his kennel, leaving the scene as +quiet as before. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Ungracious wretch, + Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves + Where manners ne'er were preached! Out of my sight." + + _Twelfth Night._ + +On the morning of the following day, Mona Macdonald sat at breakfast +in a room at Stillyside. She was plainly and neatly dressed; and +with her sat a figure more lady-like, and still in her teens, +attired simply, but with negligent taste. Both seemed abstracted, +and, as they silently sipped their tea, appeared to be brooding +over some recent, sad subject of conversation. The weather, too, +without, was as sombre as the mood within. A canopy of cold, grey +clouds covered the sky; the air was chilly, and the wind swayed +the trees to and fro, betokening rain. From time to time the cat, +with arched back, and tail erect, came loudly purring, and rubbing +its sleek sides against the skirts of its mistresses; the lap-dog +was restless; and upon the hearthrug a drowsy spaniel lay with his +nose between his paws, and whined fitfully in a dog's day-dream; +whilst the females, at length altogether ceasing to eat, sat +self-absorbed. On the face of the elder was an expression of sorrow +tempered with patience, but on that of the younger, an air of +melancholy was mingled with resentment, that heightened almost into +majesty a form and countenance of extraordinary and statuesque +beauty. From time to time her companion regarded her with a look +of anxiety and tenderness; and at length, seeing her still abstaining +from the suspended meal, exclaimed: + +"Eat, child, eat: fasting is bad for the young." + +"I have no appetite, except for information," was mournfully replied; +and the elder again regarded her affectionately; then with subdued +earnestness, and in an expostulatory tone, rejoined: + +"Be pacified, Amanda; for curiosity often brings us care. Let well +alone, and it will continue to be well with you; but why should +you thus persist to peer into the bottom of your past; as it were, +asking the fashion of your swaddling clothes? Fie! you are too +impatient; too importunate. Pray, no longer question me against my +will, making enquiries that may not be answered. Live without asking +why you live. No more of this. Does not your guardian love you as +though you were his child; and is he not wiser than yourself; to +judge of what knowledge is for your welfare? You ask me, why this +mystery about your birth. Amanda, we move midst mystery from birth +to death, and they who seek to solve it seek for sorrow." + +"These words disturb me more than your past silence," exclaimed +the younger. "What horror is there to reveal touching my origin, +that you yet dare not shew me?" + +"I dare not break your guardian's command," replied the elder, +firmly. + +"Neither can I control a natural desire to know what so nearly +concerns me," retorted the other. "I beg of you to solve this +mystery of my birth. It is my right, my birthright, to know who +gave me birth. It is said that I was found--where was I found? by +whom? how have I been confided to your care? by whose appointment +have I had given to me this guardian? and why is he so kind, and +wherefore are you so faithful? Tell me, nurse, why has he caused +me to be educated with such care; from what motive has he caused +me to be furnished with accomplishments that seem to reach beyond +the bounds of my prospective sphere? Nurse, I charge you,--if you +indeed have nursed me from my birth, as you declare you have +done,--tell me, I pray you tell me: it is not much to ask: the very +poorest child yet knows its parentage; the meanest beggar knows +whether his father once asked alms or not; but I know nothing of +my progenitors; whether they were of a proud or of a humble station, +whether good or vicious; whether they be yet living or be long +since dead. I do not know even whether my guardian knew them, nor +how he has come to be my guardian, my kind supporter, friend: +nothing do I know of these, whose all I ought to know. What is the +reason of this singular secrecy? Nurse, tell me all you know,--for +well I know you know,--tell me, I say, about my parentage; declare, +again I charge you, and now most solemnly, if you really love me, +who gave me to your care and to his kind tutelage: Nurse, Mona, +foster-mother, speak; how have I become the ward, nay, like the +very child, of that eccentric, wise, gay, good old man?" + +"More gay than good, and not so wise as wicked," muttered Mona, +and, not giving her companion time to reply, continued: + +"Amanda, do not importune me further, I conjure you. Enough for +you to know your guardian loves you, cherishes you even as if you +were his child. Let us arise from table since our meal seems +done;--what is it that alarms you?" Ah! And at that moment the +report of a gun, the crashing of a window pane, the sound of shot +hurtling past, its striking the opposite wall of the apartment, +and dropping, along with falling plaster, on to the floor, burst +upon them; followed, without, by the expostulating tones of a +man-servant, that were soon overpowered by a loud guffaw, and, +before the interlocuters had recovered from their astonishment and +terror, Narcisse, followed by several men carrying fowling pieces, +rushed, swearing, into the vestibule. Amanda saw him, and, rising +to her feet, regarded him through the doorway with a look of scorn +and anger akin to that cast by the Belviderean Apollo upon the +wounded Python. But his dull temperament was invulnerable to the +arrows that shot from her eyes, and, undaunted, he swept forward +into the room, and with coarse familiarity attempted to salute her. +He was unsuccessful, for Mona, advancing between them, hindered +the nearer approach of the intruding mannikin, who, baffled, and +with the eyes of Amanda still fixed upon him, and yet beaming +ineffable contempt and disdain, at length stood before her with +downcast look, like one detected in some act of guilt. His companions +one by one slunk back to the lawn, whither in the dumb disgrace of +his discomfiture, he followed them. There, meeting with the domestic +already mentioned, and who had now been joined by a fellow-servant; +first an altercation, then a scuffle ensued, in which latter the +mastiff took an effective part, in maintaining the equality of the +house against what otherwise would have been overwhelming odds; +but he was at last disabled by a blow with the butt of a +fowling-piece, whilst the lap-dog, as it stood barking on the +borders of the fray, was shot dead by the cowardly and vindictive +Narcisse. This was too much to be borne, and, indignant, the ladies +descended to the lawn. At the same moment, three female domestics +appeared upon the scene, and changed the character of the encounter. +Three brawny ruffians seized each an Abigail, and attempted to bear +her off, as of old the treacherous Roman bachelors carried the +Sabine maids. Screams filled the air, mingled with oaths and +laughter; and the affair that had been begun in vulgar, aimless, +frolic, might have ended in serious outrage, but just then a horseman +appeared at the gate, dismounted, and, rushing in, riding-whip in +hand, plied it with such vigor, that in a few seconds all the rude +gang had fled except Narcisse, who, having stumbled, was seized by +the collar, hurried forward, and spurned through the gateway into +the road, leaving his fowling-piece behind him. + +The stranger now for the first time seemed to observe the ladies, +and bowing to them respectfully, for a moment appeared to hesitate +whether to approach and address them. They, too, stood silent, but +it was with mixed astonishment and agitation, and he still stood +regarding the younger with an expression of deep admiration; till, +as if suddenly recollecting himself, and bowing yet more profoundly +than before, accompanied with an apologetic smile, enhancing the +beauty of his young and noble countenance, he gracefully retired +to his steed, vaulted into the saddle, and, galloping away, was +soon hidden from their view by a turn in the road. + +"Oh, nurse, Mona, we have been rude indeed!" then exclaimed the +younger: "We have committed the most odious of all sins, ingratitude; +and," she added half archly, "we have seen the noblest of all forms, +Mona, a gentleman. Nay, but to have let the chivalrous stranger, +our deliverer, depart without a word of grateful recognition;--who +will champion us the next time, good Mona." + +"May we never again require such timely help, child," replied her +mentor: "But let us go within and ascertain the damage that has +been done there by these vagabonds from the city;" and, so saying, +she took up the dead lap-dog and carried it tenderly in upon her +arm, viewing it with a wistful expression of grief and pity, whilst +Amanda stooped to caress the wounded mastiff, then followed with +an air of pensive majesty, not without looking in the direction in +which the gallant stranger, had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own." + + _As You Like It._ + +It was near mid-day, and the advocate was engaged in his office, +when the notary with whom Narcisse had been placed, suddenly +entering, angrily demanded: + +"Where is Narcisse, where is your son, sir? Here I am wanting his +assistance, now, and he is missing, he is gone, no one knows where, +nor where he has stowed those papers. Where is he, sir; where is +the boy, I say; where is your son?" + +The advocate looked up at this sudden disturbance, and, drawing a +deep sigh, exclaimed with bitter emphasis: + +"I would he were nowhere; that he were erased from the book of +being; I would he were in heaven,--or else--in your office, Monsieur +Veuillot. Is that a bad wish for either?" + +"But he is not in my office," said Veuillot. + +"Nor in heaven neither, I fear," rejoined the advocate. + +"Where is he, then?" demanded the excited notary: "where is your +son?" + +"Such a son!" murmured the advocate, shrugging his shoulders. "Do +you wish to be pleasant with me, Monsieur Veuillot? my evil genius +call him. Son! I own I feed him, as I do other vermin that infest +my house." + +"But where is he?" reiterated the notary with growing impatience, +and seeming resolved to take no denial. + +"Where is he?" echoed the advocate: "ask his mother; yes, sir, ask +his dam. Oh, Monsieur Veuillot, is there not deep damnation in thus +having an idiot for one's child? Here is your purgatory:--purgatory? +no: for purgatory is a kind of half-way house to heaven, but this +son of mine is to me a slippery stepping-stone to perdition. Sir, +a child should be a cherub to lift its parents' spirit to the skies; +but mine, oh!"--and a spasm of agony passed over the old man's +visage, succeeded by a forced expression of calmness, as he continued: + +"Veuillot, you have heard of Solomon. He speaks of the foolish son +of a wise father. He was himself the father of a fool, that rent +the kingdom,--Rehoboam I mean,--and he kept concubines, too; so +I suppose he waxed fruitful in fools. I have but one fool, therefore +I am thankful;--but then he is a thorough fool, a most unmitigated, +and unmitigatable fool; the fool of fools, a finished fool, the +pink of fools; a most preposterous, backwards-going, crab-like +fool; a filthy fool; an idiot, sir, without either parts or particle +of ambition; an ape, an owl that flits about by day; a bat, and a +bad bat, that flits from tavern to sty; chief of the devil's +nightingales; a raven that, roving to foul roosts, goes beating +the bosom of the night; a soul that loves the darkness; a mole, +sir, a blind mole; a piece of animated perversity, a creature +that persists to go astray." + +"Where has he strayed to now?" demanded the notary. + +"Into the hands of justice, perhaps;" was the fierce reply: "into +the grip of the law; up to the foot of the gallows; on to the hill +of my extreme disgrace." + +"Where is he, where can I find him? tell me only where," cried +Veuillot. + +"Where! let echo answer,--would you wish to hunt him?" said the +advocate, mocking. "Did you ever gallop, sir, after a hedgehog? have +you assisted to draw a badger? I am badgered by him, and will blame +him, ay, ban him, for he is my curse, my bane; why should I not +curse him as Noah cursed that foul whelp Canaan? Beshrew him for +a block-head, a little black-browed beetle, a blot of ink, a shifting +shadow, a roving rat, a mouse, yes, sir, a very mouse, that creeps +in and out of its hole when the old cat is away. Away, Mr. Notary, +away; go, good Monsieur Veuillot. There are more conceptions in +man than he has yet expressed either in statutes or in testaments. +Go; you are a deed-drawer; I'll be a deed doer: I'll do, I'll do,--I +do not know what I'll do, but something shall be done. He shall be +shaken over perdition; sent to grind in the prison house; sold into +slavery:--fool! he shall be banished to Caughnawaga, or to +Loretto;--the further the better; he shall be sent to the Lake of +the Two Mountains, sir, or to Saint Regis to learn the war-whoop +and gallant the squaws. You smile:--but to your errand, Veuillot; +it is not known where my son is: I saw him last night, may I never +see him again! Then, dying, my old age, perhaps, may close in +peace: not else, not else." + +The notary departed, but the exasperated lawyer still conversed +with himself. "I cannot decently die," he said, "any more than I +can devoutly live, pricked through the very reins and kidneys with +that skewer. Alas! he is my goad, my thorn in the flesh, the +messenger of satan sent to buffet me. He is the mosquitto that +stings my knuckles; the little, black, abominable fly that will +insist to assail my nose; he is my bruise, my blain, my blister, +my settled, ceaseless source of irritation: the cause, the cause--of +what is he the cause? Alas! that I should ever have been the cause +of such a foul effect! But let it be so; the whitest skins have +moles, the sun has spots; he is my mole, my spot; and I, I am the +father of the fool, Narcisse." + +Narcisse was that moment at a tavern in the beautiful village of +Cote des Neiges, adjacent to Stillyside, and much resorted to by +pleasure seekers from Montreal. His companions, too, were there, +bewailing the loss of one of their fowling-pieces, and devising +means for revenge on their interrupter and successful assailant. +There they remained, and, instead of spending the day, as was their +first intention, on the side of the mountain, in popping at small +birds they passed many of its hours in quaffing large potations, +the effects of which they in some degree slept off by a long +afternoon nap. It was now nightfall, and they were returning +homewards, conversing in loud and angry tones on the humiliation +of the morning, and threatening retribution against its cause, the +gallant stranger. Narcisse, with the litigiousness of his maternal +race, and prompted by his inkling of law, was for launching an +action for assault and battery against their assailant's purse, +whilst the others, pot-valiant, declared their anxiety to meet him +in bodily conflict on another field; and thus discoursing in the +deepening gloom, the party arrived opposite the mansion at Stillyside. +For a few moments they halted, undetermined whether to approach, +and demand the delivery of the captured weapon; but at last agreed +to waive the requisition, chiefly at the instance of Narcisse, who +authoritatively ruled, that to demand and accept of the feloniously +acquired gun, would be to compound a felony. Hereupon, being +somewhat more at ease in their minds, they proceeded, and now less +noisily, continuing on their way with only occasional bursts of +abuse, and the firing off of fag ends of French songs, accompanied +with a fitful fusilade of low, horselaughter; and thus, mollified +and maudlin, unsteadily continued their straggling march, until +they halted at a gate on the roadside, and some distance behind +which, loomed a large, dingy and deserted-looking dwelling, half +concealed by tall trees. No light was to be seen, but, after a +brief consultation, the party swung open the gate, entered, and +having reached the house, one of the number gave a peculiar tapping +at a window, followed by a low whistle or call, that was immediately +answered by a corresponding sound from within, and this again by +a counter signal, which was repeated like the faintly returning +tone of an echo; and, after some delay, the door slowly opened, +the voices of men and women, mingling in boisterous mirth, burst +forth like the roar of a suddenly opened furnace, the party entered, +and the door was closed again. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?" + + _Macbeth._ + +At the same hour that Narcisse and his companions entered the sombre +and suspicious looking dwelling, the advocate returned to his home +in the upper environs of the city, wearied in mind and frame, from +an application broken only by the entrance of Monsieur Veuillot, +and the arrival of a messenger from Stillyside, who, hot and excited +from the violent scene whereof it had been the theatre, painted +the outrage in deepened colors, and exaggerated form. Anger and +shame contended in the old lawyer's bosom as he heard the story; +the former sentiment urging for the punishment of the delinquents, +the latter pleading for forbearance; for amongst the transgressors +was his illegitimate son, whose share in the offence, if brought +into the light of the tribunal, would thence cast back a shadow +upon the father, and point, publicly and anew, to their disreputable +relationship. Others also, whose reputation was far dearer to him +than his own, must be dragged, either as witnesses or as prosecutrix, +to public gaze, and thus be made to furnish matter for the tongue +of scandal. Perhaps, too, some latent paternal tenderness inclined +the incensed advocate to mercy; and, giving the messenger a hastily +written note, sympathizing with the tenants of Stillyside, he +despatched him thither, along with a noble Newfoundland dog, then +lying in the office, and which he meant should replace the disabled +mastiff. Afterwards, his thoughts, occupied with the important +professional business of the day, scarcely reverted to the vexatious +occurrence of the morning; but now, at eve, the tide of attention, +that had been so long dammed back, came flowing over his spirit +with increasing depth and force; and, in spite of his unwillingness +and the necessity for recruiting his wasted energies, for the +performance of the onerous public duties of the morrow, he fell to +brooding over the new misdeed of the already too obnoxious Narcisse. +From the son, his musings reverted to the menial mother, and, by +contrast, from her to the fair tenants at Stillyside; till, tossed +by the contrary and vexed tides of thought and feeling, he arose, +perturbed from the lounge, went to the window, and, drawing aside +the curtains, beheld in the east the full moon climbing the clear, +blue heavens, amidst a multitude of marble clouds. Struck with +sudden admiration and oblivious pleasure, he opened the folding +frames and stepped into the garden. The air was balmy; and, soothed +by the change, he returned within, reassumed the habiliments of +the day, took a stout, ivory-headed walking cane from its corner, +and, calling a domestic, announced that he should for some time be +absent. His first impulse was to cross a contiguous, half-reclaimed +tract, sprinkled with vast boulders of the glacial period, and +reach the turnpike road that led around the mountain. But before +he turned to commence his stroll he paused to gaze down on the +outstretched city, that, lying as asleep on the arm of the St. +Lawrence, with tin-covered domes, spires, cupolas, minarets, and +radiant roofs, showing like molten silver in the moonbeams, +contrasting with the dark shingles covering most of the houses, +presented an enchanted-looking scene of glory and of gloom. On the +left, and oldest of its class, was the Bonsecours Church, with its +high-pitched roof, and airy, but inelegant, campanile, refulgent +as if cut from some rock of diamond. Nearer, was the Court House, +and, beneath it, the Jail; and, behind them both, the dusky expanse +of the poplar-planted Champ de Mars. In the midst of the city rose +the tin-mailed tower and spire of the French Cathedral, and, at +its rear, loomed the neighboring, wall-girt, solemn Seminary of +Saint Sulpice. The bright, precipitous roof of the Church of the +Recollets, and the spangled canopy of the vast foundation of the +Grey Nuns reposed resplendent; and, within its ample enclosure, +luminous as a moon-lit lake, the quadrangled and cloistered College +of Montreal. Beyond these, in the midst of the shining river, +duskily slumbered the little, fortified and wooded Island of Sainte +Helene; and up the stream, apast the petty promontory of Pointe +Saint Charles, stretched the low, umbrageous lapse of Nuns Island, +whence the eye followed the bending flood, that trended towards +where, with eternal toil and sullen roar, agonize for ever the +hoary rapids of Lachine. In the other direction the eye roved +downwards over Hochelaga and Longueuil, Longue Pointe and Pointe +aux Trembles, towards where lay the islet-strewn shallows of +Boucherville, and, lower yet, the village of Varennes. The mountains +of Boucherville, Beloeil, Chambly, and Vermont shadowy bounded the +horizon; and, turning from these, abrupt before him rose the awful +and spectral presence of Mount Royal. Skirting its foot he now +proceeded, brushing away the shining dew, disturbing the lazy lizard +and the serenading grasshopper, and hearing below him the harsh +croaking of the bullfrog in the pool; whilst, ever and anon, the +gust awoke, with a huge sigh, the dreaming maples, poplars, and +dark, penitential pines. From the remote, secluded farms came the +faint bark of dogs; and amidst such sights and sounds he at length +emerged upon the winding road, that, if followed, would lead him +past Stillyside. Slowly and without special aim he continued to +walk, ruminating and still drawn onwards, lured by the time and +scene, until the sound alike of mastiff and of cur had ceased, the +grasshopper refused to pipe upon the dusty road, and the too distant +bullfrog was no longer heard gurgling to its mates, but all was +silent, lying as in a trance, both heaven and earth. And then he +paused, and lapsing into meditation, stood unconscious of surrounding +things, till the tolling of the clock in the distant tower of the +cathedral of Notre Dame awoke him, and, starting from his reverie +and listening, he counted the hours to the full score of midnight. +Struck, then, by the weird aspect of the scene and singular silence, +a vague sense of horror stole through him, and he exclaimed hoarsely: +"This is the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn +and spirits walk abroad!" and scarcely had the words escaped his +lips when a wild tumult rose near him, and he perceived a bacchanalian +and disorderly troop of both sexes sallying into the moonlight; +wherein with uncouth antics and inviting pose, they disported +towards a group of trees, encircling which, and in the chequered +beams beneath their boughs, he beheld them in Harlequin and +Columbine-like appeals of passion, or already mated and forming +for the meditated measure; appearing the very gang of Circe;--and +in their midst he now observed his son, the brutish looking, cunning, +and sensual Narcisse, wine-flushed and loud, and seeming to be the +mimic Comus of the crew. As with the power of divination, he at +once comprehended the spectacle. He had arrived opposite the +equivocal building wherein Narcisse and his companions had disappeared +some hours before, and the door of which had just been suddenly +flung open, and kindling with wrath he at once advanced upon the +bacchants in the midst of their orgies. At the same instant, from +the direction of the city and unseen by him, a tall rider on a +lofty steed, cloak flying to the breeze, swept by like an apparition; +greeted only with a comical yell of astonishment and derision from +one of the females, as like a spectre it swept by. But the hilarious +band before him was too much preoccupied with the performance of +its mockeries to have observed anything, and the advocate, with +eyes gleaming and fixed upon his son, who now perceiving him stood +terror stricken, approached the revellers, who subsided before him, +as, with grey hair fluttering in the wind, he came beneath the +extending boughs, like some denouncing Druid amidst the sacred +oaks, his countenance inflamed, his whole frame seeming to shake +as if in throes to eject some foul possession; or, rather, as if +he were himself a fierce, incarnate, and unfriendly spirit; and, +at length, addressing his son, who was now leaning against a tree, +both for support and concealment, he burst forth: "Miscreant!"--and +the word was echoed from the side of a huge, dilapidated barn, +--"Wretches," he hollowed; and the guilty crowd, fearing both +individual recognition and personal contact, again began to retire. + +"Stay," he commanded, imperiously, "you are known, and flight shall +put the worst construction on your case;--halt, brawlers and bullies, +spendthrifts and bankrupts, breakers of the peace; sons of afflicted +parents, husbands of weeping wives, brothers of sisters both ashamed +and grieved; outlaws; the city's scum, the country's scourge, the +harvest that shall yet be reaped for the jail, and leave gleanings +for the gallows; abandoned creatures, linger;" and suddenly grasping +Narcisse: "Sirrah," he cried, "here is your nightly haunt, these +are your companions,--come with me, sir, come,--ah, will you resist +your"--father he was about to say, but he recoiled from the word +as from an adder, and, casting upon his son a look of unspeakable +disdain, he shook the writhing criminal, who the next moment escaped +from his hold, and slunk away, still looking backward over his +shoulder and muttering curses upon his begetter. The advocate stood +watching him in silence, as, withdrawing along with the others, +the distance dimmed his form, and drowned his maledictions; then, +drawing a deep sigh, a dark, vindictive scowl gathered upon his +visage, until its expression became diabolical, and these words +rolled from his heaving chest in deep, irregular murmurs: + +"Thou son of a wicked and rebellious woman, do I not know that thou +hast set my friends against me, and caused mine enemies to hold me +in derision! But thou shalt suffer, thou shalt bend, or I will +break thee, yea, dash thee into pieces. May not the potter do what +he wills with the cup his own hands have fashioned? Away with +thee, misshapen reptile; may soon the Saint Lawrence hide thee, or +may'st thou soon be laid in the burial field of thy mother's race. +Away, thou vessel of dishonor; grant Heaven that I may not yet make +of thee a vessel of wrath!" and the old man's countenance worked +convulsively, as he seemed to be revolving some terrible idea; but +at last growing calmer he exclaimed: "Down, down, ye cruel thoughts, +ye horrible conceptions; hence, busiest suggestions of the fiend; +be silent at my ears, ye visionary lips; ye perilous and importunate +prompters, peace!" But scarcely had he uttered these words, when +a report of firearms sounded amongst the trees, and a shot rattled +through the boughs, scattering the leaves upon his head; and the +replicated echoes had hardly ceased, when a peal of triumphant +laughter rose, and continued to be renewed till the spot appeared +a field for the sport of a hundred goblins of mischief. + +"Come in," at length said a voice, and, turning, he beheld a woman +standing in the doorway. + +"Who are you?" he enquired. + +"Enter, and learn;" she answered: "I would not have you murdered +in your old age. Do you not know me?" and seizing him rudely she +drew him towards her until his face almost touched her own emaciated +countenance, on which played a sardonic smile as she turned it +towards the moonlight, and he strove to free himself, exclaiming: + +"Witch, hag, loose me:" and gazed upon her with a look of mingled +amazement and abhorrence. + +"Am I then so changed?" she demanded, with a gloomy smile; "am I +become a leper; am I grown loathsome now, whom you once declared +to be so lovely? Follow me, false man; you did not once require +solicitation." And again the sound of firearms startled the night, +and once more the leaves fell fluttering on his head, and the beldam +angrily exclaimed: "Come in, old fool," and laid hands on him a +second time, as, in a voice thick and hurried with dislike and +terror, he replied: "You are remembered by me, woman; give me +shelter for a moment," and hastily stepping with her over the +threshhold, she closed the door after them. Another burst of +triumphant laughter rose from the retiring revellers, and again +moonlight and returning silence rested on the scene. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "It is my lady: oh, it is my love!" + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + +The agitation of the morning at Stillyside had subsided as the day +wore, but the mind of Amanda Macdonald (for such was the name of +the younger and fairer denizen of that sequestered abode) remained +pensive and preoccupied; and when at her usual hour she had ascended +to her chamber, instead of retiring to rest, she took up a tale of +the troubadours, and read; nor did she lay down the volume till +the sudden flickering of the candle in the socket and the simultaneous +tolling from the distant belfry of the church of the village of +Saint Laurent warned her that it was midnight. Then, feeling +oppressed, alike with the heaviness of the atmosphere of her room, +and a strange weight at her heart, analogous to the lassitude that +is sometimes felt in the beginning of sickness, she arose, drew +aside the curtains, and throwing open the folding window, stepped +on to the verandah. A clear Canadian night, appearing a new and +chaster version of the day, greeted her. The moon, at night's +meridian, hung high in the fulness of its autumnal splendor, tranquil +in the solitude of the sky, a solitude unbroken, save by a few +small stars that were twinkling in the azure, and a fleet of low, +dappled clouds that were coasting the horizon. Awhile her eyes +dwelt abstractedly on the sight, then, falling, they wandered +listlessly over the broad and shining expanse of landscape before +her; where Nature, unrobed, seemed as in a bath; for in front, the +grass, steeped in descending dews, glittered as a lake. Woods +confined the view in one direction, and the gleamy wave of the +Ottawa, amidst filmy obscurity, bounded it, yet further off, in +another. Unseen but felt, like the unperceived Genius of the +landscape, towered close behind her the sombre-sided mountain; and, +touched by the solemn scene, she advanced, and, leaning upon the +balustrade, heaved a deep sigh; then lapsed into a reverie so +profound, that she failed to hear the tramp of a horse now rapidly +approaching, and to note the change to sudden silence, caused by +its stopping at the postern. But there, transfixed with wonder and +admiration, and looking like a bronze equestrian statue at the +gate, now, mounted, sat gazing the lately flying horseman of the +road, the champion of the morning on those grounds, and contemplated +the figure on the verandah; then, dismounting, tied his steed, and +vaulting over the fence, swiftly approached across the lawn; till, +as if suddenly aware of being on holy ground, he paused, and stood +with reverential aspect and clasped hands, eagerly bending towards +her as if in adoration. Thus engaged, as stands in ecstasy some +newly arrived pilgrim before a shrine, he stood enrapt; whilst she +remained as moveless as a carved angel leaning over a cathedral +aisle, and, with her eyes fixed on vacancy, at length mournfully +exclaimed: "Sad, sad, so sad!--yet why am I so sad? No denser +grows the mystery around my birth; and if knight errants yet live, +rescuing maids, or he is a wandering god, and here is Arcadia, why +should that make me grieve? It is true that he is handsome--and +yet what of that?--most men are handsome in the eyes of maids. But +he appears the paragon of men. Is he indeed not all a man should +be? Where were the blemish, the exception; who shall challenge +nature, saying, in his form, that here she has given too little, +there too much?--Ah, me! I am not happy, yet I should be so." + +"Can I have heard aright, or do I dream?" gasped out the stranger. + +"A knight, a god;" she continued, yet musing; "oh, he came hither +like a knight of old, or as an angry angel sent to scatter +fiends;--or, rather, like the lightning he arrived, out of the +storm cloud of I know not where. Where is he now? whence was he? +who is he? what? Alas, I know nothing of where, nor who, nor what, +nor whence he is; all that I know is, I am strangely sad; and that +such perfection was not made for me." + +"Is this not Stillyside?" enquired the listener, "or do I wander +in some spirit-land; lost, lost;--oh, so luxuriously lost! She, +too, seems lost--lost in a reverie, and all forlorn. I'll speak to +her;--and yet I fear to speak, I fear to breathe, lest the undulating +air should burst this, and prove it to be but a bubble. Yet she +breathes, she spoke, and oh, such words! Words, be at my command; +I will address her, for this is not fancy: could fancy shew a moving +soul of sorrow? See how the passion plays upon that face, as she +thus stands with sad-eyed earnestness, maintaining converse with +the hollow sky. Looked ever aught so fair yet so forlorn? Methinks +there is a tear upon her cheek. Why comes it from the Eden of her +eye? I must speak to her;" and with mixed fear and fervour he +exclaimed: "May Heaven keep you from grave cause of sorrow, lady! +Forgive me, oh, forgive me, lady, or vision, for, by these dazzled +eyes, and, as I fear, by your offended form, I Scarcely can divine +whether you are of earth or air; pardon me if I have appeared here +by night, as unpremeditatedly as I came by day. Bid me begone, +--and yet permit me to remain, for, by my life, and the deep +admiration with which you have inspired me, I cannot leave you till +I learn your grief, and with it, peradventure, my own doom. Whom +did you speak of even now, fair form?" + +"Who asks of me that question; who is it that thus listens when I +thought myself alone?" she demanded haughtily, looking downwards +from the verandah. "Sir, just now I spoke, and said--I know not +what. What you have overheard me say I fear was foolish; do not, +then, regard it. I know you now. You are the stranger who, this +morning, drove those violent intruders from these grounds. Ah, +who would have thought you would return by night, and thus, sir, +play the eaves-dropper! Oh, for shame! Nay, you are not the one I +took you for. Sir, it is mean to overlisten; mean, very mean; nay, +it is base, unmanly, to listen to a maid, when she commits her +vagaries to the moon." + +"Scourge me, for I deserve it, with your tongue;" rejoined the +stranger--"but, lady, you were not alone, though I were absent; +no; you cannot be alone. Such excellence must draw hither elves +and midnight troops of fairies; by day, by night, each moment must +array around you the good wishes of the world. No, not alone; the +very sky is filled with watchers and the ground covered with +invisible feet, that have come here to do you homage; then why not +I found here to pay you mine? Are you still angry?" + +"You have offended me," she answered;--"and yet perhaps I am too +severe with you. I fear I am ungrateful. 'Mean,' did I say? It was +mean in me to say so, and most forgetful of the favor conferred +here by you this morning. No, I vow it was not mean--at least in +_you_. And yet it was mean, it was very mean in you, sir, thus to +overstep the golden mean of manners. Scourge you? Ah, I fear you +well deserve it;--and yet if I could, I would put to scourging that +word, 'mean,' that has just escaped from out of my petulent lips, +as sometimes a froward, disobedient child runs into danger; breaking +away from out of the nurse's arms. But you should not have played +the bold intruder, and joined in these vain vigils;--nay, begone, +or I must, myself, withdraw. I do entreat you, stay no longer; come +some other time,--but go to-night; make no excuse for staying, or +you may yet compel me to be angry with you. Indeed, I fear that I +am too forgiving. Go, I pardon you,--but go at once, or I may yet +repent to have condoned what it, in truth, were hard to justify." + +"Heaven pardons heavier sins," observed the stranger. + +"Yes, when its pardon is sought for;" was rejoined; "but I pardon +you without your craving it; and, remember, Heaven's pardon is not +granted to us simply for the asking; neither do we receive it +because our hearts are penitent; but for the sake of Him who died +for us upon the cross; hence you are now forgiven by me, not for +your prayers' sake, nor for your regret, but rather because +beforehand, the night's offence has been cancelled by the morning's +favor. For the rest, retire, sir: what you have heard, you have +heard. You have heard my words, yet give no heed to them. If I +to-night have walked forth in my sleep, and dreamed on this +verandah;--why, then, it was but a dream. Let it be thus esteemed, +and so we part. Good night." + +"Stay!" exclaimed the stranger, as, smiling with ineffable sweetness, +and deeply curtsying, she drew backwards towards the window: "Stay; +how can those part whom destiny hath joined; how be divided whom +their fates make one? Stay, lady, and let love, young love, plead +his own cause. Oh, I would yet charm you with my tongue, even as +your own detected tongue has just declared that this morning I +charmed you with my deed. Stay. If, in truth, you did admire, +what, at the moment of its execution, I thought nothing of, and +value now only as it has relation to yourself, hear my appeal." + +"What does this mean?" she asked, startled at his earnestness: "I +do not know you; go, oh, go; I say again, I do not know you, sir." + +"I never knew myself till now," he cried with bitter pathos. + +"I say, I do not know you; you do not know _me;_" she reiterated. + +"Know me to be irrevocably yours;" rejoined the stranger, "for you +have bound my heart in such fast thraldom, that even yourself could +not deliver it." + +"And, perhaps, I would not, if I could,--unless you asked it:" she +answered: "and yet, sir, possibly you jest. Oh, sir, forbear; +begone, nor longer fool here a surprised, lone girl. What is your +purpose? who, and whence, are you? On your honor, answer me truly." + +"I am the seigneur Montigny's only son: my purpose and my thoughts +towards you are all honorable:" he replied. And she rejoined: "Oh, +if your intentions are dishonorable, and you have not the spirit, +as you have the aspect, of a gentleman, yet keep this secret, as +you are a man." + +"What shall be said to reassure you?" demanded Montigny. "Witness, +Heaven, if I assume to act, or intend anything injurious towards +you. Believe me. I am the heir to a proud seigniory: you are,--I +know not what; enough for me to know, you are the fairest figure +that has yet filled mine eyes, and surely as good as fair. Will +you be mine, as I am yours for ever? Speak, why are you silent?" + +"Hist," she said, listening. + +"What is the matter?" he enquired. + +"Nothing, perhaps nothing:" she continued, whilst her voice +faltered:--"but go, oh, go, and come again to-morrow, or next +week, or when you will. I'll think on what you have said; but go; +I tremble so; stay here no longer; think, should we be observed. +I am ashamed to think of it. I am ashamed to look the moon in the +face, ashamed to look into yours. Oh, sir, what have I done? What +have you said? How have I answered? for I am perplexed. Away, yet +come again; come fifty times; but stay no longer now; begone;--return +though when you choose; do not wait for an invitation.--Listen, +I hear it again; begone, begone; did you not hear something?--it +was nothing, perhaps, but yet begone." + +"Never without your love pledge will I leave you," replied Montigny +firmly. + +"And would you force me to avow myself?" she asked. "May Heaven +absolve me if I err herein! No, give me leisure to reflect: this +were too sudden. These passion-hurried vows were too much like +those vapors, that, igniting, rush like to unorbed stars across +the night, then, vanished, leave it blacker. Do not tempt me. To +act in haste is to repent at leisure; and quickliest lighted coals +grow soonest cool. Even now I feel my cheek aglow with shame, that +burns its passage to my rooted hair. Away: if you should not forget +me, why, you are as though you were still present; for your thought, +which is your truest self, remains with me. If you should grow +oblivious--why, it is I that shall suffer, and not you." + +"Oh, waste of words on what can never be!" Exclaimed Montigny: +"cease to doubt me. Forget you! Love's memories are immortal. Love +writes the lineaments of the beloved in rock, not sand." + +"Yet rocks may lose their effigies, the pyramids their inscriptions, +the strong-clamped monument may tumble, and the marble bust, by +time, may let the salient features fall into one indistinguishable +round," she answered doubtingly. + +"They may;" rejoined Montigny: "but neither flowing time nor chafing +circumstance can erase affection from the constant mind. Mind is +more obdurate than steel; and love, the tenderest of the train of +passions, is, in its memory, as indestructible as gold;--gold that +resists the all-corroding fire. No; the fire may melt the impress +from the seal, the sun the angles from the stony ice; the jagged +rocks may from encounter with the wind and rain grow smooth; this +hilly globe may grow at length to be as level as is the sea, and +every jutting headland of the shore may crumble and disappear; but +your bright image must to the eventide of life's cogitation, stay, +like a sacred peak whose lofty brow stands ever gilded in the +setting sun. Forget you! little hazard: he whose heart is impressed +with the absent's form, needs wear no miniature upon the breast; +the scholar who knows his task by rote, needs not retain his eye +upon the book." + +"Hearts may prove false," she answered solemnly, "and tasks to +treacherous memory committed may be forgotten; but will you forget +these weighty words: will you be constant, oh, will you prove true; +for did I give you all I have, my love, what were there left me +should you throw it away?" + +"Injurious and incredulous one," returned Montigny, "save Lucifer, +who ever threw from him heaven?" + +"Forgive me," she replied, "it is but a timid girl that speaks. +She did not doubt you, though she sought to prove you. Yet are you +sure you love her? Ask your heart, then render me its reply, as +one might do, who having listened for me to the murmuring shell, +should bring me tidings of the storm-vexed sea. Vow not, but listen." + +Montigny seemed for awhile to listen to his heart; then, looking +at her, replied: + +"Surer than is assurance itself I am yours. Say that you are mine, +and every further word shall seem only to be redundant and +apochryphal; for when love's lips have made their revelation, what +more is wanting to complete the canon." + +"Believe that I have said it," she half whispered; then, starting, +and changing color, "hist, hist," she added, "once more I hear it: +heard _you_ nothing?" + +"I nothing heard but you," replied Montigny: "Proceed; for your +voice is sweeter to me than plashing fountain's, or than Saint +Laurent's chimes, or than would be--could we hear it--the fabulous +music of those night-hung spheres, coming harmonious to our listening +ears, borne on the shoulders of the cherub winds. Why are you +silent?" + +"Listen," she said, looking still more alarmed. + +"I do," he answered. + +"Yet heard you nothing?" + +"Nothing but ourselves." + +"Nothing besides?" + +"What further should I hear?" he asked. + +"And yet it seemed as if I heard another," she continued. "Are we +watched? speak, tell me," she demanded,--"I hear it again; listen." + +Montigny listened a moment, then replied soothingly: + +"Dismiss these pale-cheeked panics, for you hear nothing; or if +you do it is but the common voices of the night. It is merely the +hoarse bullfrog croaking in the swamp; and the green grasshopper +a chirrupping in the meadow; for, saving these, all nature with +myself is listening to you. Be reassured: there is nothing, but +what your own excited fancy has conjured: even the wind has ceased +to sigh amongst the leaves; the moon stands still, and her arrested +beam no longer draws the shadow on the dreamy dial. Then, proceed, +my love, for when you speak you fill my ears with heaven, but when +you pause then opens the abyss." + +"Yet listen; I hear it again:" she said; "it was not fancy; no." + +"What else? what can befall you, love, whilst I am here?" he +murmured. + +"Nothing, I hope," she answered, falteringly. + +"Then nothing dread." + +"I dread to say it, yet I must: Good night." + +"Already?" he demanded. + +"All too long!" cried an imperious voice; and the advocate stood +before them. + +"Amanda, ah, Amanda, Miss Macdonald," he continued, "is it thus you +fool us? Go, bird, into your cage. Nurse, take my lady in." And +Amanda beheld behind her the melancholy Mona, half shrouded in a +cloak covering her night attire. + +[Illustration: "Amanda, oh! Amanda, is it thus you fool us?"] + +Silently they both of them withdrew, and the stranger was left +alone with the advocate, who, laying his hand detectingly on the +other's shoulder, thus addressed him: + +"Claude Montigny, I do not ask of you what brings you here, for I +have something overheard, and in that something, all. Given the +arc, the eye completes the perfect circle; furnished the angle and +the object's distance, and we can tell the dizzy altitude. Mark +me, sir. We climb with risk, but there is greater danger in +descending. Young sir seigneur, you have ascended to a height you +may not safely stoop from. As sportive and adventurous schoolboys +sometimes ascend a scaffolding in the absence of the builders, and +continue to scale from tier to tier, until they pause for breath; +so, I fear, that you this night, in her protector's absence, have +soared in the affections of my ward. Beware, beware: I would not +threaten you--a gentleman neither needs nor brooks a threat--but, +by my life and the strength that yet is left me, woe to the man +that shall fool me in yonder girl! Seek not to trifle with me, +Claude Montigny. Tell me your purpose; inform me how your acquaintance +with my ward began; how it was fostered; how it has been concealed; +and how it thus has ripened into this secret, midnight interview. +Speak; what do you say, sir, in arrest of judgment? Be seated, and +recount to me the story of your love, if you do love my ward--as +you have told her that you do--and to that love be attached a story, +long or brief; or if this passion--which you have propounded most +passionately to her--be of a mere mushroom growth, born of to-night, +sown by the hand of moonlight in a girl's dark eyes; or in her +heart, perhaps, by the fairies that you spoke of, and producing +some form of feeling or forced fruit of fancy; coeval with, and +meant to be as transient, as is the present fungi of these fields. +Sit down by me, and let your tongue a true deliverance make between +yourself, me, and my foster-daughter." And seating himself heavily +on a garden bench, and leaning with both hands clasped over the top +of his gold-headed cane, he looked enquiringly up into the face of +the young man, and added: "Come, plead before me to this charge of +heart-stealing, as touching which you have been taken in the act." + +"Sir," then said the stranger with dignity, whilst he slowly seated +himself; "sir, you are justified in thus misdoubting me; for though +a gentleman should, like the wife of Caesar, be above suspicion, +never yet knew chivalry a time but there were recreant knights. +Moreover, I can perceive that circumstances now must shadow, and, +as with refracting influence, distort me, so that I may well stand +here seeming to be deformed, although my soul, if you could see +it, would show wanting no part of honour's fair proportions. Hear +me, then, patiently, for I plead less for my own defence than for +her vindication who has just retired beneath your frown." + +And the ingenuous but compromised Montigny sketched the brief +history of his passion, and when he had done, the advocate, looking +into his countenance keenly, but confidingly, rejoined: + +"You speak the truth, I know it by your eye, wherein no falsehood +might harbour for a moment; yet, young seigneur, you have entered +on a perilous path; dare you walk in it? It is the way of honor, +and will prove to be the way of safety; but, beshrew me, if I do +not fear that it may prove to you a way of pain. Whatever may be +the ways of wisdom, the ways of honour are not always ways of +pleasantness, nor is the path of duty always one of peace. If you +would wear the rose you must grasp it as it grows amidst the thorns. +And now, farewell--yet, hold. I hold you to your bond. The forfeit +were the forfeit of your word, which you have pledged to me and +mine. Remember, not only have you offered love unto my ward, but +you have been accepted." + +"Even so:" exclaimed Montigny; "and may--" + +"Call nothing down that might become your harm," said the advocate +admonishingly: "Rain has before now become transformed to hailstones, +and done much damage; and dews descending so benignly, have once, +it is said, in form of rain, swelled to a deluge that has drowned +the world. May the skies be still propitious to you, Claude Montigny. +Although temptation burn as fiercely as dogdays, do not fall beneath +it, for less hurtful were a hundred sunstrokes to the body, than +to the soul is one temptation that hath overcome it. Again farewell." +And he pressed Claude's hand convulsively, then tossed it from him +half disdainfully, and both departed from the grounds. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "Think no more of this night's accidents." + + _Midsummer Night's Dream._ + +From Stillyside Claude Montigny rode towards the western extremity +of the island; his thoughts steeped in bliss, and the country, as +it slumbered in the moonlight, seeming to him the land of Elysium. +At the ferry of Pointe Saint Claire he engaged a bateau in which +he was rowed over the confluence of the rivers Ottawa and Saint +Lawrence by four boatmen who, from time to time, in a low tone, as +if afraid of awakening the dawn, chaunted, now an old song of +Normandy, and now a ballad upon the fate of some lost voyageur. +The moon was yet shining, and he was in the mood to enjoy such +minstrelsy; but when they neared the opposite shore, a feeling of +sadness and apprehension stole over him, as he thought of meeting +his father, to whom he knew he must either communicate distasteful +tidings, or what was worse to his ingenuous mind, practice a culpable +concealment. Thus musing, as day broke he leaped on shore, and +again mounting his horse rode thoughtful through forest and farm; +now reburied in the darkness of night, which yet lingered amidst +the foliage, and now emerging into the light of the clearing; until, +as the sun was rising over the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, +he entered the manorial gates of Mainville, and passing through +the park-like grounds, was once more in the proud home of the +Montignys. + +Meantime, Amanda Macdonald had not slept. Shame, joy, fear, hope +possessed her; but fear chiefly, for she dreaded the coming morrow, +when she must meet her foster-mother, and--what to her was yet more +terrible--her, as she supposed, deeply offended guardian; and it +was not till the birds began to chirp and flit about her window, +that she fell into a deep, refreshing slumber that lasted long into +the day, and was at length broken by the voice of Mona bidding her +arise. + +The advocate, on the other hand, who had at once returned to town, +arose at his usual hour, and repairing to his office, began the +business of the day; whilst at a later period, the dissipated +Narcisse again found his boon companions, and with them renewed +the debauch of yesterday. + +During the day the anxious Mona did not fail to question her charge +touching the interrupted interview; and the latter at length related +how it had befallen, confessed to her sudden passion for the gallant +Montigny, revealed his plighted vows, and confiding herself to the +bosom where she had always found advice and comfort, deprecated +the displeasure of her guardian. But the betrayed Mona could give +her only slight encouragement, in what was now yet nearer to her +than even her guardian's favor, her lover's truth. + +"Child," said Mona to her emphatically and in a warning tone, after +musing, "Child, hope not too much; fear everything, for man is +naturally false towards woman. Ah, you have yet learned but little +of man, and may you never learn too much. Beware, beware, beware, +Amanda. Happy the ignorant, happy is the woman whom no false man +has taught to distrust his sex! Man's love to woman is as evanescent +as is the presence of the summer-morning mist, that, for an hour +or so, hugs lovingly the lea, then vanishes for ever. What are his +vows but vapour? Poor, rash girl, why, without warning me, have +you opened the horn-book of love, and spelled at such a speed, +that, in a day's time, you have read as far as warier maids dare +con in years?" And Amanda looked both abashed and amazed; but at +length enquired in wonder: + +"What may you mean by these strange utterances? Nay, nay, dear +Mona: you slander your own father by this language." + +"Thou canst not say, child, that I slander thine," responded Mona, +tartly; and her countenance darkened with an equivocal expression +new to Amanda, who, catching at the inuendo, earnestly demanded, + +"Who was my father? tell me, for you know; I myself know, I feel, +(and not untrustworthy is this intuition) that I am not here a mere +fortuitous foundling. Who was my mother? I charge you to inform +me." + +"Girl, had not man been false, you had not needed to have so often +asked of me that question," Mona replied with a cynical expression, +and hoarse, sepulchral voice, that, whilst it seemed to vindicate +herself, reproved her fellow, on whose face an air of horror now +mantled, as she excitedly exclaimed: + +"Say more, or else unsay what you have already uttered. What must +be understood from this alarming language? Although there hangs a +mystery over my birth, surely there rests upon it no dishonor. +Acquaint me, then, once more I charge you, and now by the love and +kindness that you have always shewn to me, declare, for you know--I +say I feel you know; whose child am I, where was I born, how have +I been committed to your care, adopted, cherished; I, who have no +filial claims upon you; adjudged to be an orphan, perhaps the child +of charity; how have I been divided between you and my guardian, +or held as if I were your mutual bond? Inform me, Mona, my good +Mona, foster-mother, nurse, you who have been to me as a true mother +might be, say whose I am; whether, and where, my parents live; and, +if they live, why they have thus abandoned me," and she burst into +a flood of tears. + +"Quiet yourself, my fond one," answered Mona, moved also to tears +by this appeal; "your birth on one side is as high as any that this +country boasts, therefore is as high as Claude Montigny's. Your +mother is descended from a warlike Scottish line, your father's +father was an English peer. Your parents are yet living; but their +union, which was in many points unequal, was, alas! rendered the +more unequal by a gulf-like disproportion in the passion that +provoked it;--a gulf, too, that was undiscovered, till, too late, +your mother saw it. Thence, their lives, their loves, so call it, +their mutual progress (save on the course of fondness towards +yourself, their child, whereon they journey equal side by side) +has for years kept, and yet keeps, a still disparting pace; and, +oh, Amanda, excuse these tears, for well I know your mother, and +pity her, having many a time listened to her fruitless complaints; +but until your father, who is the laggard one of this most +misappointed pair, shall, either underneath the whip of a castigating +conscience, or prompted by the spur of your poor mother's sharp +appeals, come up abreast, and fill a certain chasm of omission by +an indemnifying deed, which has been by him most selfishly left +undone, but whose performance is essential to the full fruition by +you of your fortune, you must remain, as you have hitherto done, +my foster-child, and your grim guardian's ward; a waif we hold +waiting for its claimants; and until they arrive, let me beseech +you, as though I were the mother I have spoken of, to think no +further of young Claude Montigny." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: + I am sick in displeasure to him; and whatsoever comes athwart + his affection, ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross + this marriage?" + + _Much ado about nothing._ + +A few days after the conversation detailed in the preceding chapter, +there was ushered into the office of the advocate at Montreal a +gentleman, who announced himself as Montigny, Seigneur of Mainville. +He was tall, and of a distinguished aspect, and had scarcely accepted +of the advocate's invitation to be seated, when, like a man impatient +to be done with a disagreeable business, he began: + +"I have a son, sir, and you, as I believe, a ward, an orphan girl;" +pronouncing with a mixture of pity and contempt the last two words. + +The advocate observed this depreciatory intonation, and throwing +himself backwards in his large easy chair, repeated: "An orphan +girl," at the same time putting a half angry, half comical expression +into his countenance, and perpetrating a pun in what followed: +"Yes, many of your Canadian noblesse would bless themselves to have +been her father. The poor fellow, it is well he is not here to have +overheard you. An orphan girl: true, as you say, I have an orphan +girl,--or one that passes for such; a girl I love, a ward, a +charming child, yonder at Stillyside. Were I disposed to praise +her I might say she is the Mountain's maid; the Dryad of its woods, +a grace, a goddess, fairer than Diana, and far purer, for one may +guess the fool Diana made of that poor boy, Endymion. But what +concerning my ward, sir, my most immaculate lady?" + +"Would you forbid my son access to her?" enquired the seigneur. + +"Ah! you wish for an injunction;" said the advocate; "show me cause. +I have, sir--as you seem aware--a ward dwelling yonder at my seat +at Stillyside;--a place I sometimes visit; a sort of shrine, a kind +of hermitage or chapel, wherein two devotees, two nun-like, holy +women consume the hours; leading there, pious, penitential lives, +making each day a sort of hallowed tide, and every eve a vigil." + +"You are humorous," replied the seigneur. "Excuse me, I am sorry, +but it were best that I should speak plainly. I would not wish to +see your ward dishonored." + +"Dishonored! not a seigneur, nor a seigneur's son dare dream of +such a consummation, nor, daring so to dream, could compass it," +cried the advocate, growing crimson. "Yet this is kind of you;" he +added, bowing as if deeply grateful;--"and yet," he continued, +"there can be no fear of an offence: is not your son a clergyman? +for, if he be, and they confess to him anything worse than to have +admitted him to their confidence--why, sir, he shall be allowed to +enter, and shrive them when he chooses;" and after a momentary +silence, "Fie! fie!" he resumed, rolling in his chair; "'the fool +hath said in his heart there is no God,' and the wise man of +Mainville, who has been all his life looking for purity in a +petticoat, says 'there is no virtue in woman.' But I say, both +these oracles are in the wrong; there is not only a Divinity, but +there are women too who are virtuous. This is a clumsy jest, sir. +My ward be dishonored by your son? Yes, when the diamond can be +cut with a feather. Monsieur Montigny, a tempest is as harmless as +a breath, when that tempest is being hurled against the rock; a +breath is even as effectual as is a tempest, when that breath is +puffed against the dust. So buzzing blandishments of sighing fops, +may blow the frail flowerets from weak, wanton natures; whilst +vehement vows of otherwise most honorable men, though urged as +strongly as the northern blast, are in vain against the marble +front of virtue. I am marble to your wishes." + +"You weigh your danger as little as you do your language," observed +the seigneur. "Will you permit a trespasser, a tempter within your +grounds; a wolf, a fox, a bear within your fold?" + +The advocate shrugged his shoulders and replied: "No, heaven +forbid;--and Stillyside is to me as an outer court of heaven, +wherein my ward dwells as a sort of semi-solitary angel." + +"Yet angels fell, and so may she fall," interjected the seigneur +quickly. + +"They did, and without a tempter, too, Monsieur Montigny," returned +the advocate, quietly; then added: "the height of heaven turned +the heads of the angels giddy." + +"Girls are giddy," remarked the seigneur gravely. + +"Boys are more frequently foolish," drily retorted the advocate: +"and often coming to girls for kisses, go away with cuffs. I hope +your son has neither sought for the one nor yet received the other. +But what is this son, Monsieur Montigny, that you would have me +believe to be so formidable? Is he another Lucifer, couched at my +Ward's ear, as his dark prototype once squatted at that of Eve? Or +is he Lothario alive again? Is he Leander, and are the Ottawa's +jaws a western Hellespont, with my ward and Stillyside, for Hero +and her tower?" + +"Your verandah," remarked the seigneur, "is not higher than was +Hero's tower, although, I trust, your ward's virtue may be more +exalted than was Hero's. But are you aware, sir, that already my +son has had her company, alone, at midnight, on your grounds; all +others retired; she alone watching, with Claude Montigny and the +broad, full moon?" + +"An actionable moon," exclaimed the lawyer, "and a decided case of +lunacy against the lovers. But, alas, sir, in this respect we have +all been sinners in our youth, and all grown wondrous righteous +with our years. Have we not ourselves, when we were young,--ay, +and upon inclement winter nights too, courted brown peasant girls +beneath both stars and moon? What if the nights were cold, the +blood was warm; and now with these volcanic veins of ours grown +cool, why, we may walk on the quenched crater of concupiscence, +and who dares challenge us, and say, ha, ha! smut clings to you, +gentlemen; you have the smell of fire upon you. No, sir, no; we +are fumigated, ventilated, scented, powdered, purged as with hyssop. +Pish! he must be truly an Ethiop, whom time cannot whiten; a very +leopard, who will not part with his spots, since the sun himself +shall lose _his_ some day, purged in his own fires." + +"I repeat, sir, your ward is in danger," said the seigneur doggedly. + +"Not at all. Is the diamond in danger when it is put into the +crucible; is the gold deteriorated when it is being deterged from +dross?" was responded. + +"Infatuated man, would you open the door to the seducer?" asked +the seigneur, growing angry with the contumelious lawyer. + +"Seducer!" said the advocate, affecting to be shocked: "that is a +huge stone to throw at your own son: and remember; is not every +man's frame a glass house, whereat the soul that inhabits it should +invite no stone throwing from the little red catapult of a neighbour's +tongue? Beware, beware; have mercy, Monsieur Montigny. 'All flesh +is grass,' the Prophet proclaims; but I assert, 'All flesh is +glass.'" + +"A woman's reputation is as brittle," was the seigneur's ready +repartee; "therefore warn off my son from Stillyside." + +"But should he not regard me, sir, what then?" + +"Brandish the law over him, your chosen weapon," answered the +seigneur. + +The lawyer suddenly looked grave, and, affecting to be offended, +demanded sternly: "Monsieur Montigny, am I a mere mechanic to do +your bidding? Brandish the law indeed! Is, then, the law but an +ordinary cudgel, to thwack the shoulders with or beat the brains +out? The law, sir, is a sacred weapon, not to be lightly taken up, +neither to be profanely applied to paltry uses, any more than we +would take the tempered razor to pick a bone, or pare our cheese +with. Brandish the law! The man that can talk of brandishing the +law would brandish a piece of the true cross, sir, if he had it; +he would drink, sir, from his mother's skull, and with his father's +thigh-bones play at shinty. What is the law? What less is it than +the will and force of all employed for one; the savage sense of +justice, disciplined and drilled till it can move in regular array, +invincibly, to conquer wrong; surely too vast an engine to be +employed on trifles. Who wants a wheel to break a butterfly upon; +or, to crush a worm who calls for a pavior's rammer? Monsieur +Montigny, listen. Mercy is Heaven's first attribute, and the +executioner is the State's meanest, as well as last, servant; shall +I, then, stoop to this, who may aspire to that? Shall I wield a +whip of legal scorpions before your son, should he seek to re-enter +Stillyside? Would you have me, as once Heaven's cherubim stood at +the gates of Paradise, with fiery swords turning all ways, to hinder +its ejected tenants from breaking back into the garden,--would you +have me, I say, stand at my gates at Stillyside, and, meeting young +Montigny, flourish in his face a fist full of fasces, in the form +of threatened pains and penalties? No; your suit, sir, is denied: +you take nothing by your motion." + +"Dare you deny," retorted the seigneur, loudly, and with a look of +coming triumph; "dare you deny that you are privy to their intimacy; +will you assert that you--yourself unseen--have not witnessed my +son in secret, midnight conversation with your ward at Stillyside; +there overheard them interchanging vows of endless love, and dealing +declarations of devotedness unto each other;--I ask you; did you +not hear and see these doings, and, even when you did at length +surprise the pair, did you not by failing to condemn their folly, +give it your silent sanction?" + +"Something of this I did," said the advocate coolly, "for I remembered +some rather liberal breathings of my own when I was young,--and +youth will have its fling,--nay, do not bite your lip, but listen. +Monsieur Montigny, thus far we have met guile with guile. Just like +two wily fencers, both of us, waiting to spy our advantage, have +still witheld the lunge, until, at last, you, having grown desperate, +have rushed into the close. Yet, do not let your anger overbear +discretion. The heated iron hisses when it is plunged into the +trough, but shall we hiss at each other like geese or serpents? +Shall we quarrel, deny the undeniable, try to undo the accomplished +deed? What is done is done, and not Omnipotence itself, sir, could +undo it." + +"But we may hinder further evil," observed the seigneur. + +"Ay? Would you keep out the lightning by high builded walls?" +demanded the advocate, "for you are as likely to accomplish that, +as to keep lovers from each other. No, let them alone, for they +are as climbing Titans towards their wishes' skies; despising +guardians' gates and fathers' fences, just as much as did Briareus +and his crew disdain its rugged sides, and risk their necks up +steep Olympus, when they were making war on Jove. You cannot bar +them. The sun may be debarred from attics, and frost may be kept +out of cellars, but, Monsieur Montigny, the mutually enamoured can +never be permanently parted. Sir, no more." + +"Enamoured he, and she at length dishonoured," cried the seigneur, +disregarding the injunction. + +"Her honour is its own sufficient guardian," was responded. + +"Have regard, sir, to your future peace," was urged. + +"Peace, sir, like silence, never comes for calling for," rejoined +the advocate. + +"Impracticable man, have you no fear?" demanded the foiled Montigny +upbraidingly. + +"None for my ward; I hope you have as little for your son," said +the lawyer sarcastically. + +"Your ward invites my son, by sitting upon the verandah at midnight, +to attract him when he passes by, as the Hebrew woman, Tamar, once +sat to decoy the foolish Judah. Do you deny this? I have learned +all, all," outburst the indignant seigneur. + +"Do I deny it?" cried the advocate, the blood, in anger, rushing +to his face. "Dare you affirm it? Monsieur, if you mean seriously +to asperse my ward, I say, prepare;--not for the action of the +law,--no, no, I hate the law, when it is cited for myself,--but +for the action of an old man's arm. Sir, I have been a swordsman +in my youth, and though the lank skeleton of my skill at fence is +buried in disuse, it moves now in the grave of this right hand, +that so long has wielded only the quiet quill. I do not bid you +quail; not I,--but, by the angry devil of the duel, you answer me, +either sword point to sword point; or from the pointing pistol, +that shall speak both sharp and decisive, and the dotting bullet, +perhaps, put a period to your proud life's scrawl. But no; I am +grown too old to have recourse to violence. Away, go, go; but, mind +you, do not breathe this calumny into a human ear,--no, not into +the air. Shame, shame! you are no noble minded man, to villify my +ward and your own son; whom, if I accounted to be as strangely base +as you have shown yourself to be, and have depicted him, I would +forbid to tread within my gates, and hound him from my door at +Stillyside." + +"Words only anger you," said the astonished and half daunted +seigneur. + +"Such words as yours have been:" was replied. "What! do you expect +to strike upon a bank where bees have settled, yet not be stung; +or dream to be allowed to draw the bare hand, clasping down a sword, +but not be wounded?" + +"What shall I say, yet not offend you?" soothingly enquired Montigny. + +"Say what you will," the advocate continued: "what can be worse +than what you have said already?" + +"Hear me," said the seigneur, in the manner of one who is going to +make a confidential proposal: "Either remove your ward, and +receive a compensation for her absence, or quickly marry her, and +I will provide her with a dower." + +"Now you are indeed a generous gentleman," said the advocate, +smiling; "You must have built churches, surely, or founded hospitals, +and always have dealt out dollars liberally to the deserving. But +you are wealthy, and can do these things without being impoverished. +It is fortunate that you are wealthy, for I shall accept of no +paltry sum. Only imagine, to have to banish her; to quench, or to +remove, the very beam that fills my life with light. You must be +liberal, if you would have me exile her Come, sign me a bond for +what I shall demand." + +"You are in haste," observed the seigneur, somewhat startled at +the advocate catching so readily at the bait; but the latter was +ready with his reply: + +"Because your son may now be at Stillyside, and, whilst we are +haggling, may carry off my ward,--or I might change my mind," he +answered. + +"And I, too, may change mine," was the rejoinder. + +"Why, then, we are quits;" observed the advocate carelessly, and +as if all parley were at an end; "we are as we were, and, for the +young ones, they are as they were; but if I know the force of +youthful blood, you, with all your endeavours, will not be able +long to keep them apart." + +"What is your price for her expatriation?" demanded the seigneur +sullenly, as if coming to terms; and the advocate replied: + +"No, marry her, marry her; we will have her married. We either +marry her or do nothing in this business, sir, which, after all, +were, perhaps, best left to those who have most interest in it;--but +if you think differently, be it yours to find the money, I will +find the match:--and let it be understood, that you find her a +dowry which would be fitting for a seigneur's daughter; or else, +without a dowry, I shall not scruple to give her to a seigneur's +son. Why are you silent?" + +The proud, perplexed parent made no answer, but secretly groaned +in his dilemma, and at length exclaimed: "Insatiate old man, have +you no son, the thought of which may teach you to be just towards +me and mine? What do I ask of you? Little,--or what would cost you +little, yet you ask a fortune of me; and to enrich, too, one, whom, +as a punishment, I have reason rather to desire should always be +poor. Do not deny it; she has ensnared my son. It is impossible, +that he who has roamed over half the world, and has yet come home +uncaptivated, though in his travels he has met the fairest and the +richest, can have been caught at the mere passing by your farm of +Stillyside, can at a glance have been so smitten as to meditate +this marriage. No, he has been decoyed, seduced. You might as well +declare that a young eagle would not return to its nest, but plunge +into some casually discovered coop, and roost there, as aver that, +without some irregular influence, Claude Montigny would seek your +ward in marriage. If she marry him, she will marry a beggar: not +an acre of mine shall he inherit, not a dollar of mine will he +receive. Give her a dowry? Give her a dukedom. No, sir; I will +not buy brass from you at the price of gold; I will not subsidize +you to avoid your ward." And, with the words, he bowed himself out +of the room, and the advocate, casting himself backwards in his +easy chair, laughing, exclaimed: "Was ever such a proposition +started?--started! yes; and shall eventually be carried. It is not +what we do, but it is the motive that induced the deed, that gives +the color to it. She shall be Madam Montigny, in spite of old +Montigny's self; and for her dowry, (which I asked Montigny to +provide, only that it might be returned to him through his son), +I'll mortgage my old brains to procure it for her." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + While you here do snoring lie + Open-ey'd conspiracy + His time doth take: + If of life you keep a care, + Shake off slumber, and beware: + Awake! Awake! + + _The Tempest._ + +Amongst the seigniories contiguous to the eastern extremity of the +island of Montreal, lies that of Montboeuf. Its present owner was +Andre Duchatel, a descendent of the Sieur Duchatel, a cadet of an +ancient French noble family, to whom the seigniory was granted by +royal letters patent, about the middle of the seventeenth century. +But if any nobility of soul, or refinement of aspect existed in +the first of the Canadian dynasty of Duchatel, it had not been +transmitted to the living representative of the line. As the long +hung-up sword or unused ploughshare, lose their brightness and edge +from want of use, perhaps these qualities of mind and body had +disappeared for want of a fitter field for their display. Andre +Duchatel, seigneur of Montboeuf, was a vulgar looking, short, +broad-set, florid figure, of fifty years or so; material in his +tastes, in disposition obstinate and narrow-minded, unenlarged by +education; shy with strangers, yet fond of good fellowship with +his acquaintance, and, with much reason, accounted to be rich. He +was a widower, but lived in a kind of surly, patriarchal state, in +the midst of three sons and a daughter; the former being dissipated +and sensual, the latter of a showy person, but in character, +superficial, vain, vindictive, proud. + +An intimacy had long existed between the houses of Montigny and +Duchatel, which, in spite of their different genius, had for +generations continued as it were to shake hands across the island. +The latter family, though equal to the former in wealth and pedigree, +secretly acknowledged it as the superior, and with a view to an +alliance between the two, Seraphine Duchatel, even when a child, +was a frequent visitor at Mainville; her relations hoping that +thereby, she and Claude Montigny might become inspired with a mutual +liking, the prelude to their desired union. + +This union, it was understood, was to be cemented on the part of +Duchatel, by the gift, as her marriage portion, of a tract of land +adjoining the seigniory of Mainville, and at present the property +of Andre Duchatel; but which, at the nuptials, would be added to +the Montigny manor, as a sort of arriere fief, and so gratify the +craving of the elder Montigny for territorial aggrandizement. The +splendid person of Claude had long ago caught the slight affections +of Seraphine, who in her visits to Mainville, would hang upon him, +much to his distaste, and persist to make him her reluctant cavalier, +though neither her blandishments nor his father's wishes could +induce him to return these visits, or appear to reciprocate her +preference. Nor would a closer and wider acquaintance with the +Duchatels have lessened his reluctance. The eldest son, Samson, +was a colossal bully, dividing his time between field sports, +intemperance, and intrigues with the daughters of the censitors on +his father's seigniory; or in yet lower illicit amours with the +peasant girls of the manorial village; varied by occasional journeys, +made more for debauchery than business, to the city of Montreal. +The second scion of the house, Pierre, was a good-enough looking, +and not ill-disposed youth; whom his father, as if willing to offer +up his choicest lamb for the sins of the family fold, had intended +for the church. But the former had far other intentions towards +the fair than absolving them from their peccadilloes, and entertained +other ideas of foreign travel than that of going on distant Indian +missions; whilst the youngest brother, Alphonse, was an unbroken +colt and madcap, articled to one of the principal legal firms in +the city. Although in years he was but ancle deep, he was already +in potations full five fathoms; a worthy graduate of the +licentiousness of the town, and boon companion of the dissolute +Narcisse; whom, in a giddy moment he had made acquainted with the +family matrimonial design on young Montigny. Narcisse, in his turn, +had a domestic story, that instinct, revenge, and a mother's command +impelled him to relate, and which he told to the rollicking, but +now attentive Alphonse, with a wicked glee, raised by the prospect +of mischief. A discovery had been made by his brooding and despised +parent. Chance had thrown in her way an opportunity for which she +had watched for years. Mona Macdonald had visited the advocate at +his dwelling, and her presence had stirred not only the womanly +curiosity of the lynx-eyed Babet Blais, but her malicious jealousy +of one whom she could never but regard as a hateful and favored +rival. So, overhearing them in earnest conversation in the library, +she, with the unrestrained enjoyment of a low, untutored nature, +stole to the door, that was slightly ajar, and there, with her ear +applied to the interstice, learned the circumstance of the discovered +interview between Claude and Amanda at Stillyside, with their +plighted troth, not disapproved of by the advocate. Swelling with +envy and anger, and recollecting what Narcisse had told her of the +predilection and hopes of Alphonse Duchatel's sister in regard to +Claude Montigny, she, with an intent to dash the proud prospect +which seemed to be opening before the child of an odious--and as +she deemed, unlawful competitor for the advocate's favors, conceived +the spiteful idea of informing the Duchatels of what she had just +discovered. Further to instigate her, all the real and all the +fancied wrongs that her son had suffered from his father rose up +before her, magnified by her imagination, and prompting her to the +gratification of her unreasoning spleen. Her purpose was soon put +into execution. That night Narcisse came home sober; and giving +him some warm supper, followed by a delicacy that she had set aside +for him as a dessert, and which, with a half human, half animal +affection, she watched him devour, she broke the subject to him. +He grinned with an infantile delight, as he heard the important +secret, and discussed with her the project that might hinder the +good fortune of the haughty foundling, whose disdain had long +chagrined him, and under the recollection of whose scorn during +the recent raid on Stillyside, he was yet smarting. With heightened +pleasure she beheld his joyful interest, and, warming with his +sympathy, whilst she gloated over the anticipated revenge, she +exclaimed, as her face assumed a dark, prophetic aspect: "Yes, we +will humble that mongrel, and her proud, petted child. What better +are they than we, what nearer to thy father? See how I toil, and +do his drudgery; keep him a home, who, but for me, would have no +home, and no one to care for him. Yet no fine country house for +me, fine clothes, rich presents; no fine gifts for thee, my child, +no endless schooling, no sending _thee_ to travel; no allowance, +no expense to help to make of thee a gentleman, like his endeavours +to make her child a lady; no fine lady sought for thee to be thy +wife, Narcisse; no closetings for me, who, but for her, had been +thy father's wife, and not his servant. But God and the virgin have +at last heard our prayers. Narcisse, my darling, tell Alphonse +Duchatel all that I have told thyself. Bid him quickly inform his +father, brothers, sister; and if they have French blood in their +veins they will balk this half-breed and her daughter brat." + +Never was there an apter pupil than Narcisse proved now; never a +willinger. Scarcely could he refrain from at once rushing forth to +find his friend, Alphonse; and he did at length arise with the +blessing and Godspeed of his mother, intending to inform him, +touching the rival who had so far and so suddenly outstripped his +sister on the road of Claude's regard, when the voice of the advocate +was heard calling upon his son to attend him in the room above. +Narcisse obeyed; but filled with a sentiment of rising rebellion +and new-born insolence, as of one who intends no longer to be +checked, nor submit to unmerited harshness and tyranny. There the +two had an altercation, provoked by the old grudges, and aggravated +by Narcisse's recent dissipation, escapade, and neglect of duty, +and still more sharpened by his present pertness and contumacy. +Anger rose high between parent and child, and the latter, in +unconcealed dudgeon flung from the room, and left the house, his +breast charged with a spiteful purpose; and going straight to the +lodgings of Alphonse Duchatel, he told all--and more than all--that +he had learned respecting the menaced alliance between the children +of Mainville and Montboeuf. + +Burning with the information, the young and impetuous Alphonse +scarcely slept that night, and in the morning, having obtained +leave of absence, rode swiftly to his paternal home, and, in sudden, +solemn family council, declared what he had learned of danger to +the connubial scheme that had long been planned for his sister and +the distinction of their house. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell." + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + + "Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes." + + _Othello._ + +Whilst the news that Claude Montigny had given, to a girl of dubious +birth and uncertain social position, the heart, for the possession +of which the supercillious Seraphine Duchatel had so long striven +in vain, was disturbing the souls of the Montboeuf Manorhouse, the +seigneur of Mainville, ill at ease, and apprehensive of a hasty +and irremediable matrimonial step on the part of his son, started +for Montreal again to visit the intractable advocate. + +Later in the same day, Claude also took horse, and rode towards +the banks of the Ottawa, where he arrived at dusk, and crossing at +the ferry from the main to Sainte Anne, he thence, solitary, and +filled with chequered thoughts, continued his way, whilst the +ground grew dimmer and yet dimmer, and star after star stole out; +till, as the moon rose slowly in the glimmering air, he reached +the neighbourhood of dim Mount Royal. + +At the same hour that the large bateau was heaving its way over +the vexed flood of the meeting waters of the Saint Lawrence and +the Ottawa, four horsemen crossed a rustic bridge, that led from +the mainland to the opposite, or eastern extremity of the Island +of Montreal. One of the riders was of gigantic stature, and another +of diminutive proportions; and all were clad in the coarse grey +frieze suit of the country, and wore upon their heads the common +blue cap or tuque. Pursuing their way, they kept to the least +frequented paths; endeavouring to avoid recognition; until the +coming night concealed them, and they journeyed beneath the decrescent +and feebly shining moon. + +And now, whilst such was transpiring at the extremities of the +Island, at Stillyside, its centre, the curtains had been drawn, +and the lighted lamp, with its frosted glass globe, shone serene +and silvery, like a minor and domestic moon. Mona Macdonald sat +sewing near a table, whilst Amanda read aloud. On a sofa a lazy +lapdog dreamed, the parrot slept on its swing, and the bullfinch +on the perch in its cage, and in the pauses of Amanda's voice, the +drowsy cat was heard purring in its evening doze. Nothing was heard +without, except the fitful bark of the Newfoundland dog at some +stray passer by; and, at length, even that had ceased; Mona's needle +was laid aside, the domestics, obedient to the early habits of +country life, were abed, Mona herself had now retired, and Amanda +being left alone, nothing was heard but the measured ticking of +the old clock on the corner of the stairs. The lamp had been taken +away by the departing Mona, and in the obscurity, the moonbeams +fell in grey streaks adown the damask curtains; and after a brief +meditation on the subject of her reading, Amanda rose, noiselessly +ascended the carpeted stairs to her room, approached the window, +drew aside the drapery, and gazed towards Mainville. Thus had she +done each night since the memorable interview with Claude Montigny; +and now not less long did she linger there, but longer; nor thought +of retiring, till, startled at the approaching sound of horses, +she hastily re-closed the curtains; the sound ceased, and she began +slowly to undress. But her thoughts were elsewhere; and, falling +into a reverie, she sat with her raised fingers still upon her +dress, that she was about to withdraw from before her snowy bosom, +when again she heard the sound of hoofs on the road, and soon a +shaking of reins near the gate, and champing of the bit, mingled +with the smothered growl of the awakened Newfoundlander. Divining +the cause, and seized with trembling, she arose, again threw aside +the curtains, and beheld in the moonlight a figure advancing up +the lawn. A moment she gazed upon the apparition; then, scarcely +knowing what she did, opened the folding window, and half within +and half without her chamber, leaning forward into the night, +demanded in a piercing whisper of enquiry and alarm: "Who comes +there? Speak, is it Claude Montigny?" + +"It is I, my love, for by what name shall you be called, yet dearer, +worthier than love?" responded the subdued, yet full, clear voice +of Claude. Then, drawing nearer, he continued in an enraptured +tone: + +"Oh, my lady, oh, my heart, my love, my life; my mistress now, my +wife that is to be: my breath, my soul; my hope, my happiness, my +all in all; fair presence--but in vain my tongue seeks for the word +that shall embody you, and, like the hunted hare returning to its +form, so does my soul return to that word, love. My love, then, be +it, for you are my love, you are my life henceforward; nor shall +the hereafter part us, for wherever you are there unto me will +still be heaven. Oh, my love, is it not kind of fortune thus to +call you forth? a favorable omen of the issue of this night. Oh, +come forth, my love; come forth, and make a hallowed aisle of the +verandah." + +"Alas!" exclaimed Amanda, stepping to the verandah, "why have you +ventured here again so soon,--or, rather, why so late? for are +there not ruffian robbers on the road, and all the secret perils +of the night?" + +"No peril equals that of absence from yourself," said Claude, "for +passion has greater perils than the road. Cupid's arrows are more +terrible to him whose breast is bared by the absence of its mistress, +than would be at the traveller's throat the armed and threatening +hands of fifty ruthless robbers. But how have you fared since we +were so rudely parted?" + +Amanda sighed. "But so so;" she murmured mournfully, "it is a slight +burn that does not smart a little when the scorched part is snatched +away from the fire:" and hanging down her head bashfully, repeated, +"But so so:--I have felt an unaccustomed care--of little +consequence,--but, oh, tell me, Montigny, how your father, the +proud, rich seigneur takes this matter, for I know you would inform +him of it. Is he not incensed, not angry; does he not upbraid you, +and call me evil, and perhaps deserved, hard names?" + +"He has expostulated with me;" Claude responded; "yet not with too +much earnestness, knowing love's fires are blown by opposition. +How seems your guardian?" + +"How shall I dare to meet him!" murmured Amanda musing. + +"Do not fear him;" Claude rejoined: "he will not chide you;--besides, +you shall be gone to-morrow. I come to-night, a Jason for the golden +fleece, and may not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and +my desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and will not, +returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless they shall be freighted +with your form. Mine own one, do not stand transfixed like death +in life, but live here no longer; leave it, and live with me for +ever, for from where you are my feet shall never stray. Do not +misdoubt me: though man were as faithless as it is said that woman +is fickle, yet I were loyal towards _you_, whom I implore to be my +affianced to-night, my bride to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!--Oh, so soon," exclaimed Amanda, starting. + +"It will be a thousand years till then;" interposed Montigny; "and +yet it will be the glad millenium, since you shall reign amidst my +meditations, and towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints. +This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed you mine by +the great sacrament of marriage will be glory, such as the saved +soul experiences when, in Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure, +and proof against the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent. +Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate? Amanda, be +immediately mine. What are your thoughts? What are you that transports +me with impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being, and +become one with yourself in history and fate? Our fate commands; +let us obey it, since, what is fate's behest, but Heaven's directing +voice; what is our destiny, but the deed which we perceive may not +be left undone." + +"Rash man, forbear;" pronounced Amanda, her face darkening with +displeasure; "you counsel me to evil. Though I would esteem you as +I would some annunciating angel, beyond impeachment of veracity, +and bent on a generous errand, you seem as a fallen spirit now; +tempting me, not enlightening. No, Montigny, no. Shall I deceive +my guardian so kind, shall I defraud your house, your father, you? +I, who have no fortune, nor--as is your lot--upon my name, neither +the rime and hoar of silver, new renown, nor golden rust of brown +antiquity,--the dust of ages in heroic deeds, lying on your +escutcheon, dyeing it as the dust that dapples the bright insect's +wings;--shall I, I say, come and lie like to a bar sinister across +it? for what else should I be considered by your indignant friends, +except, indeed, a shadow on your brightness, a shame across your +honour?" and she hung her head in despairing sadness, whilst Montigny +thus replied: + +"Oh, shame on me, to hear you so self-slandered! Friends! mistaken +friends. And what although my father and the world esteemed you my +inferior; what were their estimation unto me; and, compared with +you, what is the value of heraldic honours and traditionary glory +heaped upon the dead, which is, in truth, too often only as the +phosphorescent glimmer that hangs upon decay: what are these gauds +to me, who count you to be far above the worth of monumental effigy, +or marble mask, my living love; whom I will set,--not in the tomb +of cold, pale porphyry, nor in a sable, slabbed sarcophagus, but +breathing, and enshrined in fortune's framing gold. Fastidious +girl, and prouder than the proud Montignys, listen to me, listen. +We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the +lonely sea;--we are as two ships that, being long from port, have, +sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed +and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. Have +you not given me yours? If you have not, why, then, return me mine." + +"Then were I poor indeed," replied Amanda. + +"Yet I were poorer without yours," retorted Claude, "poorer than +he who begs his bread. I wish I had to beg my bread for you, then +richly should you fare; for who, when I should crave for love of +you, (as mendicants ask alms for love of heaven), could then refuse +me? Oh, refuse no longer my request. Estimate not my fortune, but +appraise myself; and whatsoever you may deem to be my value, account +your own worth as being ten thousand times that sum. Still take +me, a mere miserable doit; an earnest, an instalment towards the +payment of the debt of love and loyalty, that shall require a life +to liquidate, then leave me bankrupt in untold arrears." + +"I should forgive the debt, even before you could have asked +forgiveness," replied Amanda, smiling, though much moved; "and yet +I would not leave you perfectly absolved, but still retain you by +some small reminder, some power of execution over you--not to be +exercised towards you to your hurt--far from it, but I would be +absolute that I might shew you mercy; even as noblest kings have +been despotic, and in their day have delighted in dispensing pardon. +So would I be towards you;--or even as the King of Kings--to speak +it reverently--who, of His boundless goodness and free grace, +remits the debts and manifold trespasses of us, his poor, defaulting +creatures." + +"Go on, for it is bliss to hear you," murmured Claude. + +"Nay, I have done;--what have I said?" she quietly enquired of him. + +"Would you unsay it?" he demanded eagerly. + +"Only to say it again," she answered blushing,--"yet I fear I have +babbled strangely;--but, remember, I was never wooed before, nor +answered wooer; so, being a novice in love's archery, it may be +that the gust of a too ardent breath has caught my words, and from +my meaning wafted them awry." + +"And can a fountain yield both bitter and sweet?" demanded Claude: +"or are you as changeful as is yon waning moon?" he asked half +chidingly. + +"Rather consider me to be as is the sun, that knows no change of +aspect throughout the livelong year; or, if it vary, swells its +orb in winter," she observed, "even as I would now appear to you +with fuller favor, amidst this young acquaintance's chilly prospect." + +"Chilly! it is summer wherever lovers cast their eyes, the bright +Bermudas. Do not libel love, nor our sweet fortunes," cried Claude +impetuously: "For me, there never will be winter where you are; +and why, when I am with you, should you thus seem to shiver, as it +were, in the shadow of November?" + +"I am no casuist," she said, "and yet it would appear to be too +selfish in me, too much like to fraud, should I accept all that +you offer me, such vast and personal advantage, and for which I +bring you no equivalent, no dower, no estate; nothing to counterpoise +the wide possessions that you will inherit;--nothing that may +conciliate your family, rich in material things and heaped with +honors,--save my poor love;--and what were that?" + +"More than them all," ejaculated Claude, "but why these scruples? +In human hearts love is not placed against love, as in the scales +the commodity is placed against the weight; neither is it exchanged +for land, or bartered for position; but it is always given, and is +the donor's whole, unmeasured and immeasurable. It is infinite, +growing whilst it is being given, even as the horizon grows upon +the eye of him who travels towards it. It _is_ because _it must_ be; +it is unselfish; nay, unto itself it is unjust; often giving the +most where it receives the least; possessing nothing, yet possessing +all, if it possesses but all its object's heart. It is towards its +object as is the encircling and cloud-breeding sea unto the verdant +island, encompassing, and in soft showers, shedding itself over +it. As the sea sheds itself in soft showers upon the island, so do +I shed my fondness, and would shed my fortune, over you, and in +return seek for yourself,--no more, for what more could you give, +what more could I receive, who count all else as worthless dross. +What hinders then our marriage?" + +"Your father," was replied. + +"He would not consent unto our nuptials though I should pray him +on my bended knees, so obstinate and unyielding is his pride," +asseverated Claude. + +"My guardian, too, is proud," answered Amanda. + +"Let us not wait, but wed without, and not against their leave, +then;" Montigny urged adroitly:--"but your guardian will consent: +he has avowed as much unto me privately; so, mark; when morning +brings the daylight to the east, be ready. Meet me beyond these +grounds; when we will hasten to the village of Saint Laurent, and +there be married. The deed being thus achieved, none will oppose, +for before the irrevocable all rebuke is dumb." + +"And so am I to this," was replied with dignity. + +"Yet let me speak:" Montigny urged with desperate eagerness, "let +me persuade you, for to this pass it must come; then let it come +at once, since each day will cause the path thereunto to grow more +rugged. My father's storm of threats, my mother's deluge of tears, +will make the way impassable and past repair. You falter; your +silence speaks consent; you are convinced, and yield to the necessity +for this ungracious consummation. Good night. To-morrow early, meet +me at the church of Saint Laurent, all shall be ready,--pray offer +no remonstrance;--meet me there at ten,--the priest is my fast +friend;--nay, do not grieve, but say good night; to-morrow you +shall smile:--goodnight, good night;" and kissing his hand to her, +before she could reply, the impetuous lover reached the postern, +and, vaulting into the saddle, vanished. + +Paralyzed with amazement and apprehension, Amanda stood motionless +and dumb. She would have called on Claude to return, but dare not, +lest she should alarm the slumbering inmates of the house, and she +was still standing irresolute and helpless, when something was +suddenly thrown over her face, shrouding her in darkness, and before +she could resist she was lifted from her feet, hurried across the +lawn in a diverse direction from that taken by Claude, and on +arriving on the road, swung into a lofty saddle. A huge arm from +some one seated behind received her, passing around her waist, and +feeling like the coil of a boa-constrictor; and, amidst the sound +of several persons mounting in haste, spurs were struck into the +sides of the large animal, that reared with a vast bound which +nearly dismounted its riders; and at once, as it seemed, a troop +were flying with her at the top of their speed along the road. Half +fainting from terror, and stifling in the folds of some coarse +envelopment, she was unable to utter a cry for help, and the +cavalcade scoured along its way. One seemed to ride before them, +and the rest behind. No one spoke, but her companion on the crupper +grasped her tightly, like a relentless fate, and onwards they still +bounded, and the deeply spurred steeds in agony of exertion stretched +themselves to the task, and still they flew, and still Amanda strove +to recover her voice; till as the dumb, in some moment of mortal +terror, are said to have found speech, she, with accents, that, +bursting through the thick veil, rung amidst the night, shrieked +out the name of Claude Montigny. A low, chuckling laugh arose around +her, followed by a curse, and a hoarse threat of violence from the +figure that rode on the crupper, who at the same time again dug +spurs into the flanks of the courser, that once more, with its +huge, responding bound nearly dismounted its riders; and prompted +as it seemed by fear of a rescue, the rate accelerated till the +troop was scouring over the ground with the flight of a tempest. +Confused with terror, and alarmed at the threats of her powerful +keeper, she remained silent, unable to divine in what direction +they were hurrying; but felt that her captor and custodian kept +looking behind, as if afraid of some one in pursuit; and the killing +pace appeared to rise yet higher, and the animals to quiver in +quick bounds like mortal throes, as the spurs were plied up to the +rowels, and the creatures seemed to swallow the ground, until again +over all burst, as might the shriek of an imprisoned gnome, from +beneath her envelopement, the cry of Amanda calling upon the name +of Claude Montigny. + +"Forward! faster, yet faster!" cried a voice in rage and apprehension; +and with renewed application of whip and spur, the party tore along +the road, shaking it as the prairie is shaken when it is swept over +by a herd of buffaloes. + +[Illustration: "The party tore along the road, shaking it as the +prairie shakes when it is swept over by a herd of buffaloes."] + +"Claude, Claude!" she again shrieked, and now in addition to the +thick cowl, a huge hand was placed upon her mouth, a threat of +instant death came from the terrible voice behind her, the grip +tightened round her form, and, making her darkness yet darker, at +that moment the clouds, that had been lately gathering, covered +the moon. Soon the way divided before them. To the left it meandered +half hidden with trees, to the right it loomed straight and open, +leading to Montreal, and the motion of the horses, now abreast and +flinging foam from their bits, seemed like the tossing of the +boiling rapids, and amidst the thunder of the hoofs the hoarse +voice of him who rode behind her, hissing with earnestness and fear +like an excited Python, exclaimed: + +"Brother, and you, master Imp, make for the city; away!" And soon, +from the diminished sound, she knew that they had parted company +with a portion of her convoy. She could hear, too, that the remaining +horseman of the four, for that had been the number, had now fallen +into the rear, and, soon, she thought she heard through her mufflings +a voice crying as if commanding them to stay; and again she heard +it, but it had grown fainter, and wider from the track they were +pursuing, and now nothing was heard but the sound of their impetuous +course through the wood. This was soon cleared, when their speed +seemed to relax, and the hard breathing of the overstrained beasts, +proclaimed how much the chase had told upon them; and at last the +veil was slightly raised, a large, coarse visage peered under it, +and the hoarse voice enquired mockingly: "How fares my bird? We +will let a little light into its cage, if it will promise to sing +no more. What says my hooded crow?" and a titanic and convulsive +hug followed, causing her to shrink with pain, and revolt in disgust +and horror; feelings which changed to mortal apprehension, when +the same lascivious looking ruffian bade his now sole male companion +ride on before. The latter made no answer, but dashed up alongside, +and gazed into the face of Amanda as he passed, with an air of +curiosity mingled with admiration and respect. There was in him a +likeness to the sinistrous countenanced ogre behind her; yet he +was a rather handsome young fellow; and as the wind, caused by +their rapid course, blew backward his long, curly hair, he exhibited +a cast of honesty and openness in his aspect. The other seemed to +be impatient at his lingering, and growled: "Don't hang glowering +here; forwards, and warn me if any one approaches, that I may cover +up this toy." And whilst the monster readjusted the cowl to the +face of Amanda, his comrade again pricked the panting sides of his +own horse, that being lightlier laden than its fellow, easily shot +ahead. And thus they swept along the road, whilst the rising breeze +still drove the clouds over the face of the moon, and the race +seemed to have its fantastic counterpart in the wrack of the sky. +And now they silently journeyed, avoiding village and hamlet, by +making wide detours; but, in spite of their precautions, arousing +the bark of many a solitary cur, as they swept by each homestead +like an apparition. Even these incidents, and possible chances for +her rescue at length ceased, and the despairing Amanda, too proud +to vainly beg for her release from her stubborn captors, drew the +hood again over her face, and in the double darkness called upon +Heaven to be her protector and deliverer. That Claude had heard +her cries she felt assured; that he had pursued a portion of her +abductors towards Montreal, and would continue his efforts, with +those of her guardian and the inmates of Stillyside, to find and +recover her she did not doubt; but in the meantime what might she +not have to endure? And shrinking from the contemplation of the +uncertain gulf before her, she was at length recalled to a sense +of external things, by a sudden change of sound, from that of the +clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road, to one like the roll +of a distant peal of thunder, and telling her they were crossing +a rude wooden bridge, that led from the Island to the main. Then +for the first time the riders permanently abated their speed, and +their prisoner enquired of them whither they were carrying her. + +"Never mind that, my pretty passenger pigeon," replied the elder +with a ghoul-like grin; "you will not require to find your way back +this year." And the foaming, exhausted animals, relieved from the +trying gallop, dropped into a feeble trot or lazy canter, whilst +Amanda gazed wistfully around to discover some glimpse of dawn. +No certain sign of it, however, could she perceive on the circle +of the horizon, though all around there showed the whitened eaves +of the roof of gloomy clouds. Her companions, too, casting jealous +glances at each other in the obscurity, had become more mutually +taciturn; and the wind, that during the previous part of their +flight had risen, as if to be in keeping with the current violence, +had now fallen to a calm; and, proceeding thus, she continued to +tell the terrors of her situation, as they alternately glided +through the gloom of the clearing, or plunged into the denser +darkness of the forest; till at last she was startled by something +leaping against her feet, followed by the pleased but stifled +barking of a huge hound close by her, and at the same instant she +saw a woman bearing a lighted candle in her hand, emerge from a +hovel on the road side. The next moment the party were halted before +it, and the woman, holding up her light, shed its beams upon the +face and form of Amanda, whose arrival she seemed to have been +expecting; and after having fixed her eyes searchingly upon her, +turned them with a familiar and significant look on the still seated +ruffian. The light illuminated her own countenance as much as that +of Amanda, who, repelled by her manners and appearance, sat +motionless, and checked the appeal that was rising to her lips. +The redoubtable rider dismounted awkwardly from behind her, half +dragged her from the tall beast, and hurried her into the house. +The woman followed, and having closed the door, placed the candle +on a table, and sat down by the fire; when Amanda, still standing +in the midst of the miserable room, began: + +"Woman, what place is this? Where am I, and why have I been brought +hither?" then bursting into passionate grief: "Oh, woman, woman, +whosoever you are, save me, I implore you, from this man," and +with the words she sprang towards the door; but the churlish giant, +guessing her intention, intercepted, and bore her back, saying +"Keep quiet, gentle lady; have patience, bashful beauty; sit down, +sit down; come pet, come." And he made as if to approach her; when, +forgetting the hazard of her position, and inspired with returning +native courage, with her heart swelling with womanly indignation, +and looking the vast figure in the face, she cried with an utterance +tremulous from grief and scorn: "Whither have you brought me, +villain, and for what end? Sirrah, come no nearer me: I am polluted +by your touch. Out, shameless wretch!" and again she rushed towards +the door, but found it resist her utmost efforts: and, baffled, +turning within, she once more addressed herself to the female, who +was now carelessly warming herself before some embers on the hearth. + +"Woman," she said, "for that you are one your form and garb assure +me, though your behaviour gives your exterior the lie; woman, if +you be one, save me. Charge this man--for you have influence with +him--to liberate me; oh! charge him to release me. Turn me into +the lane, into the field, or where you will; but let me leave this +house without delay." + +The female, with a grim smile, bade her recompose herself; whilst +the burly brute doggedly hinted to her that she would have to remain +some time in those parts, and might as well sit down and be content. +Perplexed at this second announcement of her intended restriction, +Amanda stood mute in fear and horror. To arouse the creature in +whose power she was might be immediately dangerous, but, for a +moment, to seem resigned to her abduction was impossible. Trembling +with dismay and sickening with apprehension, her limbs would scarcely +sustain her; and as she mentally revolved, looking wistfully around, +as if to spy any nook or cranny for escape, she at last exclaimed: + +"Again, I ask, why am I brought hither? Outlaw, who are you? wherein +have I wronged you, that you should drag me to I know not where? +What place is this, and why have you come with men as heartless as +yourself, stealing me from my home to bring me hither, and cast me +into this den?" and her bosom filled as she ended; but her hearer, +knowing no compunction, only answered with a sneer: "To clip your +wings, madam," then gave a low laugh, as if of self-applause at +his quickness of repartee, or the prospect of her humiliation, and +added: "Pray, miss, retire; you have not been abed to-night, and +watching is not good for English ladies' eyes." + +"Shameless!" she cried, looking upon him with unmitigable disdain, +"how dare you hint at rest within these walls? Return me to the +spot whence you have taken me; render me to my home, so desecrated, +so invaded by such felonious feet as yours. Felon, convey me to +my home at Stillyside, and there reinstate me; if indeed you have +the heart, as you have the outward semblance, of a man;" and, in +spite of her resentment, she burst into a flood of tears. + +But not even woman's tears could move his stolid disposition, or +melt his stony heart; and, looking at her with an expression akin +to contempt, he demanded: + +"What, take the bird back to the bush where we have caught it? No. +Besides at present you have taken a long-enough ride, and when next +you journey it must be further in the same direction. You shall +see the world, and learn how wide it is; you shall have most +excellent French society." + +"Oh, keep me, heaven, from such society as yours," she +ejaculated:--"base man!--but do you know to what you have exposed +yourself? Beware; I am not without friends both subtle and strong, +and one of whom will not be slow to punish you for this outrage. +Release me, stranger, or you shall be visited with his vengeance, +not to be trifled with, not to be risked with safety." + +"Ah, the old advocate," exclaimed the giant, with more bitterness +than he had hitherto manifested; "Outrage! he has himself outraged +too many of our race." + +"Ay, that he has;" the woman chimed in, whilst her eyes suddenly +glared dilating, and she looked menacingly at Amanda; "there is +Robitaille, and Lamoureux, and Paille, and myself, and Babet Blais, +--poor Babet! but her boy, _his_ boy, his own son, has paid him +down with sorrow, _he_ has punished him;--ha! ha!" and both she +and her Gorgon-like guest laughed a meaning and triumphant laugh, +whilst Amanda yet stood there to be baited by the brutish man and +the lost, revengeful woman, the latter of whom thus continued to +vent her spleen: "Mistress, what are you but an English interloper? +Girl, how can we endure you? Do you not despise us? Do you not +insult, despoil, dishonor us? Do you not covet our lands, do you +not reap the taxes, take the trade? Would you not all be Seigneurs? +What shall we give you that you have not already taken! Ah, out +upon you, my young mistress! Think it well if you should not receive +what I shall not now name to you,--your guardian's gift to many a +maiden--and worse;" she added between her teeth; "death, death," +and turned away scowling. + +"Return me to my home, or worse than death awaits you;" cried +Amanda; "endless infamy; hated of our race, despised of yours, +disowned by both." + +But the woman by this time had begun to busy herself in piling new +logs upon the fire, and the colossus, her companion, after having +scanned the apartment, seemingly to ascertain whether it was to be +trusted to retain the prisoner, at length, satisfied with the result +of his scrutiny, unlocked the door with the key which he drew from +his pocket, and bestowing a bow of mock respect upon Amanda, who +affected not to perceive it, departed; and she, without vouchsafing +a look upon her feminine but callous jailor, sank upon a chair in +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "Ring the alarm bell." + + _Macbeth._ + +The abductors of Amanda were no other than the three sons of Andre +Duchatel, along with the vindictive Narcisse acting as their guide. +He and Alphonse Duchatel, at the branching of the road, had parted +company with the others, and so drawn upon themselves the pursuer, +Claude Montigny, who being magnificently mounted gained fast upon +them, till fearing to be overtaken they leaped from their horses, +and taking to their heels concealed themselves amongst the trees +that covered the side of the mountain, and where no rider could +follow. Claude then saw that he had been the dupe of a stratagem; +and after galloping across the country, struck the road that he +had been decoyed from following; then urging his horse in the +direction which he supposed the principal abductors had pursued, +he at length in despair left it, and again clearing fence and brook, +held his course towards the city of Montreal, where he arrived +betwixt midnight and dawn, and with the butt of his riding-whip +knocked at the advocate's door. + +The old man was dreaming of the apparently fair fortune of Amanda; +of the ingenuous Claude, and of his father, the importunate and +imperious Seigneur, when the clang rung through the mansion, and +rudely dispelled his visions. At first he was doubtful as to the +reality of the alarm, and was dropping again to sleep, when once +more the riding-whip sent the startling summons, and leaping from +his bed, he threw open the window, and putting his head out, gruffly +demanded, who was there. + +"Claude Montigny," was answered from beneath. + +"And what wants Claude Montigny at this hour?" asked the advocate, +who now perceived the figures of steed and dismounted rider beneath +him in the obscurity. + +"Dress instantly, and quick come down," was the reply. The window +closed, and in a few minutes the advocate, with his morning gown +thrown over him, opened the door. + +"Why how is this?" he demanded in astonishment, as he beheld Claude +on the footwalk, whip in one hand, and with the other holding his +horse by the bridle. + +Claude stood silent. + +"How is this?" reiterated the advocate: "Out with it, man. Is your +father wild? does he threaten to disinherit you?" + +"Not that, but worse:" Claude answered; "worse than your worst +suspicions, and it may be worse than the death of one you much +regard." + +"Has any thing evil happened to my ward?" asked the advocate, +exhibiting alarm. "Why do you pause? Inform me quickly." + +"Too quickly, perhaps, I shall inform you," replied Claude, +deprecatingly. "Something evil has happened to your ward. Arm +yourself now with firmness, and be calm; be cool in judgment, prompt +in execution; you who can counsel others, now prepare to be the +best counsellor to yourself." + +"What act shall follow this preamble?" said the lawyer, raising +his thick, white, shaggy eyebrows in enquiring wonder: "Go on, go +on;" he commanded in a short, gasping utterance; "declare the pains +and penalties. She lives? Amanda lives? Has she proved false? You +have not lost her?" + +"Lost her! oh!" exclaimed Claude, unable to curb his emotion. + +"Nay, confess it; announce the worst; the broadest misfortune; my +ears are open for it," pursued the other. + +"But I have no heart, no tongue to fill them with my dire news," +Claude stammered, and the advocate resumed, growing impatient: + +"Of my ward what can you tell me that is untoward? Of myself say +anything: foretell disaster, prophecy my death;--but what of +her?--you say she lives?" + +"She does." + +"Is well?" + +Claude shook his head, and remained silent. + +"Sir, let your lips pronounce my doom at once," said the advocate, +striving to be calm, yet alarmed and irritated; "Proceed:--I am +ashamed to say it, but I tremble. What has befallen my ward, what +trouble has alighted on my child?--for so I call her. Claude +Montigny, what is it brings you here betwixt night and day, with +tidings that you falter to deliver?" + +"Calm yourself;" counselled Claude in a warning tone. + +"I will;" answered the advocate; "I do;--resolve me quickly." + +"I fear to do so," Montigny uttered pathetically, as if his resolution +had suddenly given way. + +"Let me hear it, torture me no longer:" cried the advocate +imperatively: "Perfect knowledge, perhaps, may stun me; but far +worse to bear than were a shower of vitriol poured on a green wound, +are these distilled, dire drops of apprehension. Sir, are you guilty +that you thus stand dumb? What have you done injurious towards my +ward, that you so linger upon the street, and to my queries but +gaze like one demented? Sir, I charge you, tell me without more +reserve or hesitation, lest at last I listen to you with less of +fear than of anger. You have been--" + +"The innocent accessory, I fear, to others' villany," Claude +interrupted; "still, hear me," he continued, "and forgive me if I +bring you tidings that shall hang as heavy on your soul as lead; +yet have given me the leaden bullet's swiftness, or that of the +blast, to waft them hither, blasting, to yourself.--Sir, you have +been robbed, bereaved; the star of Stillyside is set,--or, worse, +plucked from its firmament; my life, my lady, oh, my new-made love, +your peerless ward is stolen." + +"Stolen!" the advocate echoed. + +"Stolen; even from my very arms is plucked," continued Claude. + +"Ill-freighted messenger," groaned the old lawyer; "stolen! oh, +Montigny, you have stolen half the strength from these old limbs, +and strained the sinews that have never bent before, neither to +man nor to misfortune. Stolen! How stolen? It is false; you jest, +you mean that you yourself have stolen her,--have stolen her heart; +you know I lately caught you in the act;--but, for her person, she +would not, could not, give it you without my leave. Montigny, you +have not stolen together to the church?--but this is in the street; +come in." + +Claude tied his courser to a young maple that grew near the door; +and, whilst he was doing so, the advocate retired within, murmuring: +"Montigny, Seigneur Montigny, this is your work, and yet may prove +the dearest piece of petty larceny that ever man committed; as dear +as would have been to have furnished the dower you refused me. No;" +he continued musing, "trouble does not spring from out of the +ground. Then whence comes this? Who hates me?" he continued sharply; +"Covets her? Whom would her absence serve? who, except the father +of you boy, the Sieur Montigny?" and he had scarcely finished his +soliloquy when he was rejoined by Claude, who, straightway in the +obscurity of the library, related to him the adventure of the night. + +The old man listened in silence, but his bosom heaved, and when +Claude had ceased, he grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: + +"Montigny, we are bound together in that girl, the outrage upon whom +has made us rivals in the task to find and rescue her. Yet are you +sure the voice you heard was her's? You did not see her carried +off; you only heard, or thought you heard, her cry. You may have +been deceived. Hasten back to Stillyside. She may be there now +sleeping between the unruffled sheets, making them sweeter than +the perfuming lavender;--if she be not--why then--alas! what then?" +And he struck his palm against his brow, holding it there, perplexed, +revolving. + +"You say you heard your name pronounced?" he enquired at length. + +"I did," said Claude, unhesitatingly; and this seemed to satisfy +the lawyer's doubts, and, rising, he said, shaking his companion +by the hand: "Montigny, go. Beat up the bush at Stillyside; and if +she be not there,--why all the country side shall be roused to find +and bring her back. But, Claude, she is safe. Yet hie you thither; +mount again your horse, and bring me word before the day breaks: +begone." And in a few moments Claude was scouring back to Stillyside, +and the advocate ruminating alone amidst the shadows of his library. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "This noble gentleman, Lord Titus here, + Is in opinion, and in honor, wronged; + That in the rescue of Lavinia, + With his own hand did slay his youngest son" + + _Titus Andronicus._ + +The elder Montigny, wrathful and irresolute, and like a beast in +the toils, had yesterday again visited the advocate on the same +errand as before, and with a like unsatisfactory result. But instead +of returning to Mainville he had proceeded to the Duchatel Manor +House; partly for counsel, but chiefly to ascertain whether its +owner--who, he deemed, had an equal interest with himself in the +removal of Amanda--would join with him in furnishing the demanded +dower. The subject was broached privately to the shrewd and worldly +Andre, who on hearing it propounded swore indignantly at the +advocate's audacity, and roundly refused to accede to any such +appropriation of his substance: so after fierce denunciations of +the insolence of upstart English adventurers, and censure of the +infatuation of young fellows in affairs of the heart, the theme +was dropped for the present, and the remainder of the day spent in +looking over the estate, and in those attentions that are usually +bestowed on a visitor, be he ever so familiar a one, much more when +he is both distinguished and in prospective relationship. The next +day the topic was resumed, but this time in the presence of Samson +Duchatel, as he sat yawning between asleep and awake, but who, on +hearing the conversation, aroused himself, and bade Montigny be +easy, and not dream of endowing the foreigner, since he, Samson, +had already secured the troublesome fair one. Montigny took little +notice of this, thinking it to be but the jest or boast, or, at +furthest, merely the loose announcement of the intention of the +unscrupulous giant; who soon afterwards invited him to walk abroad. +The company of Samson was not coveted by the more refined and +anxious Seigneur, but the former pressed him, and he thought that +locomotion might divert his mind from the contemplation of the +coming degradation and folly of his son. He consented, and issuing +from the ancient and flower-festooned porch of the Manor House, +they walked along in mid-morning of late September, the drowsy +charms of the summer's faded foliage just awakening to a resurrection +in the glorified beauty of Autumn; and, almost in silence, they +proceeded along the road or lane, till they came to the dubious +dwelling where, some hours before, Amanda was left a prisoner. The +sullen and sloven-looking female who had received her was now +dressed in gaudy attire, and saluted them as they entered, at the +same time casting a look of enquiry and surprise into the face of +Samson, and of suspicion on the Seigneur. + +"Bring up the body of your prisoner;" growled the former, loudly, +as he threw his huge frame into an arm-chair. "Come, habeas corpus, +habeas corpus. Now, if we had Alphonse here," he continued, "he +could repeat the whole writ in Latin. Habeas corpus, habeas corpus," +muttered the puzzled savage, fumbling in his brains for the context, +"habeas corpus, habeas corpus;--" then, relinquishing the vain +search, and addressing himself to the woman, at the same time +elevating his voice, he vociferated: "Hillo, come, lady sheriff, +bring up the body of your prisoner, I say;" when, as if in obedience +to the call of a magician, a door opened, and from an inner room, +with face flushed, brow dark and fretted with indignation, lips +pouting, breast heaving, and her eyes overflowing with tears, in +bounded his sister, Seraphine Duchatel, exclaiming: "And is this +the creature that has stood between me and Claude? and brought +here, too, to flout me to my face! I'll not endure it;" and she +burst into a fresh torrent of tears. + +"Who has stood between you, girl?" enquired the brother, half +teasingly, half tenderly: "if there be a stump between here and +Mainville that hinders you from driving your carriage thither, tell +me, and we'll pull it up as quickly as Doctor Lanctot would pull +you a tooth out." + +"You have done well, indeed," continued the angry girl, weeping, +and not minding his clumsy badinage, "you have done well indeed, +to bring her here to answer me, to scorn me, to defy me, to parade +herself before me, to stand in my presence as proud as any +peacock,--only not half so beautiful." + +"Fine feathers make fine birds, Phin," drily retorted her brother. + +"She is not fine, and if she be, she shall be plucked of her finery;" +exclaimed the sister: "I'll tear her eyes out; what business has +she to look at _me_, and speak so insolently? I'll have her face +flayed; her hair shall be plucked up by the roots;" and she stamped +with her little foot. + +"We'll have her scalped, girl!" condoled her brother. + +"Yes, this is the way you always think to manage me; by laughing +at me," cried the spoiled child, in renewed agony of tears. + +"Why, what is the matter?" demanded the Seigneur, wondering, and +startled by these threatening allusions: "What is the meaning of +all this, Samson?" + +"Oh," answered the latter, striving to perpetrate a pun, "Only that +we have brought Phin a handmaiden, and she finds her handsomer than +is agreeable;--but there is many a servant comelier than the +mistress." + +"Let me behold this Paragon," said the Seigneur, at the same time +rising, and moving towards the door of the inner room, that had +been left ajar by the rude Seraphine, in her indignant exit. Pushing +it slowly open, he beheld Amanda, with half-averted form, seated +upon a chair, her head bowed, but her face wearing an expression +of proud serenity mixed with grief. His first impulse was to retire; +but pity, respect, admiration, and even awe, bound him to the spot, +and he remained gazing till curiosity and commiseration alike +combined to induce him to address a figure so incongruous with that +mean place, and whose majestic sorrow seemed too sacred for +interruption. + +"Young lady, by your leave; pray pardon me; but can a stranger be +of service to you?" he at length enquired. + +Amanda looked upward. "Oh, if you are, as you seem to be, a gentleman, +do not leave me;" she exclaimed beseechingly, as she slowly rose +and approached him: "do not leave me, but convey me back to +Stillyside, from whence I have been stolen by that man. Oh, sir, +you do not know with what a load of thanks its owner will repay +you, should you rescue me from this base durance." + +The seigneur looked enquiringly at Samson, but the latter seemed +more disposed to wait to see how the seigneur regarded the appeal, +than to reply to the tacit question. + +"Why have you been brought hither, and against your will?" resumed +the seigneur, respectfully. + +"I am as yet ignorant of the cause;" she answered: "I do not know, +I cannot divine, why I am here a prisoner." + +"She does know;" fiercely interrupted the sobbing Seraphine, "She +does, she does," she reiterated, and seemed disposed to fly at her +tooth and nail. "She knows she is a bold and wicked creature,--she, +she, she; she is a, a,--I don't know what she is;" she cried, spurting +out the last words in a paroxysm of sorrow and vexation, and flung +herself into a chair sobbing hysterically, with toilet and temper +alike disordered. + +"Calm yourself, Seraphine," said the Seigneur. + +"Yes, calm thyself, girl," echoed the ponderous Samson. "Why, what +a wild duck thou art, sister, flapping and quacking because an +unshotted barrel has been fired at thee. She is an unshotted gun, +she has no name; and what is a thing without a name? nothing: for +if it were something it would have been called something. What +thing is there--that is a thing--that has not got what a pudding +has? a name," and he laughed till his sides shook, and drawing a +pouch from his pocket, took thence a quid of tobacco, and put it +into his cheek, at the same time playfully offering another to the +outraged Seraphine, who petulently dashed it from his fingers, and +affected to bridle at the insult. + +Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the Seigneur, who had +been watching her during the heartless flirtation between the +brother and sister, advanced one pace into the room, and said: "I +know your story, and have reason to be angry, not so much with you +as with my son, whom, I believe, you are acquainted with, one Claude +Montigny." Amanda turned away her face and blushed. + +[Illustration: "Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the +Seigneur advanced one pace into the room."] + +"You do know him I perceive," the Seigneur continued, "and if by +chance he has happened to know you I do not blame him, much less +can I blame yourself: but, lady, remember," and the proud Montigny +advanced, and bending over her whilst his voice fell, as if it were +intended for her ear alone, said "remember, we are not all of the +same degree, though Heaven has fashioned all of the same clay. The +proudest and the wealthiest in Canada might hail you as a daughter; +but old prescription, antecedents, prospects, all combine to render +impossible your union with my son." + +Amanda blushed yet deeper, and both of them stood for awhile +embarrassed, but at length she said falteringly, and glowing like +a crimson poppy in her confusion: + +"I own it just that you should urge these large considerations; +yet, believe me, sir, I have been passive in this matter, and have +not sought your son's acquaintance; neither, indeed, has he, if he +be rightly judged, (and you would not wrong your son), perhaps, +sought mine; for it would seem there are amities that Providence +provides for us, without our will or knowledge. It was accident +that brought us face to face; as we observe the sun and moon--that +are separate in their seasons, and withal so different in their +glory's given degree--brought monthly, and as if fortuitously, +though, in reality, by eternal, fixed design, into conjunctive +presence amidst the sky. + +Yet who shall blame the sun and moon for that? + +"None," said the Seigneur. + +"Then let no one blame your son and me," continued Amanda, "if +Heaven, perhaps to try us, has ordained that our paths should cross +each other, as might two strange and diverse celestial bodies pass +apparently too hazardously near each other in their appointed +orbits. For the rest, forgive me, sir, and may He who best knows +what is for the benefit of his creatures, and who sometimes for +their good, sees it right that they should suffer wrongfully, assist +me. Since this has pleased Him, I bow, and bear it the best I may, +and trust too, that He will, in His good pleasure, deliver me from +this that He has permitted to fall upon me, my present sad and +dangerous estate of a poor prisoner here." + +"Heaven will indeed rescue you from this infamous restraint, and +I will gladly be its minister," returned the Seigneur, melted almost +to love with pity, and dropping a tear; "none shall detain you +here; you are safe. Let me, myself--if thereby to some extent may +be atoned to you the wrong you have sustained in being hurried +hither--conduct you to your guardian." + +"And raise the devil!--ay, and bring him here: her guardian is +his half brother," suddenly roared Samson in surprise and terror. +"No, Montigny, she has given too much trouble in the catching to +be so lightly released. Besides, is she to be still allowed to +stand between her betters. Leave her with me." + +"Yes, leave her with Samson," cried the sulking Seraphine, starting +up in her chair. "He has known better girls, and handsomer, +too;--umph! how much men can be mistaken. It is wonderful that +Claude should covet her. Take her to her guardian! fie, Monsieur +Montigny," and half turning away in her seat with scorn and disgust, +she cast a look of ineffable hatred and disdain at the suppliant +Amanda, whilst the woman of the house fixed her jealousy-filled +eyes on Samson as he murmurred: "She shall not go: she is my +prisoner." + +"She must return with me, sir," said the Seigneur, quietly but +firmly. "Are you not aware how great is the penalty that you have +incurred by this disgraceful scandal? Think it fortunate if you +shall be able in any way to compound for it with the lady's guardian. +Seraphine, mollify your indignation towards one who has not meant +to thwart you. Return to the hall with your brother, whilst I +conduct this injured lady to the parsonage, to remain there until +I can escort her home, and (as I hope) with the aid of her +intercession, obtain the pardon of her cruel abductors." + +"It is you that is cruel:" cried the weeping Seraphine: "it is +Claude that is cruel. Not meant to thwart me! she _has_ thwarted +me, and you encourage her, you justify her, Monsieur Montigny." + +"We will crucify her," cried Samson. + +"Say no more," commanded the seigneur: "you are both of you ignorant +of the heinous nature of what you have done. Her guardian has the +power to punish you. Tremble lest he should exercise it." And, with +these words, he gave his arm to Amanda, and, passing amidst the +scowling trio, led her from the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "Confess the truth." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + "You would pluck out the heart of my mystery." + + _Hamlet._ + +Claude Montigny rode to Stillyside and back, and was again with +the advocate within the hour. To conceive the terror and outcry in +that quiet dwelling, when its inmates ascertained that Amanda was +missing, let the reader recall the commotion in the castle of +Macbeth, when on the morning following his fatal entrance beneath +its battlements, it is discovered that the royal Duncan has been +murdered. As vehement and as wild as when the distracted Macduff, +in frantic tones and with wringing hands, declares to the assembling +sons and thanes of the ill-starred monarch, that, "confusion now +has made its masterpiece, most sacrilegeous murder has broken open +the Lord's anointed temple, and stolen hence the life o' the +building," was the outcry and disorder on the discovery of Amanda's +absence; and the wail and lamentation rung in Claude's ear as he +rode away from the gate to return to Montreal, where, still pacing +the library, the advocate anxiously awaited him. By the ratiocination, +as well as by the intuition, of the old man, the seigneur of +Mainville was reasonably to be suspected of being at least an +accessory to the stealing of Amanda. Claude, too, was not unvisited +by suspicions of his father's complicity; but thrust the dishonoring +doubts from him, as might a suffering saint dismiss hard thoughts +of the dealings of Providence towards himself. Each thought more +than he expressed to the other, but at length the advocate +communicated to Claude his injurious suspicions, acquainting him +with the fact and nature of his father's visits to his office; when +Claude, in turn, informed the advocate of the long cherished project +of an alliance between the houses of Duchatel and Montigny. This +information not only confirmed, but widened the field of the +advocate's fears. He was aware also of the lawless character of +Duchatel's sons; and recollected to have heard that the youngest +was a comrade of Narcisse, who, he likewise knew, entertained a +covert spite against Amanda, and, for his mother's sake, a rankling +dislike of Mona Macdonald. Against both of these his umbrage might +be supposed to have been heated by his recent ignominious expulsion +from Stillyside; and to gratify this resentment he might now be +executing some scheme of revenge, wherein, from his intimacy with +the young Duchatel, he could know that that family had cause to be +ready to assist him. Here was a clue to the recovery of his ward:--in +legal parlance, here was a prima facie case; and it but remained +to find and prosecute the criminals. To seize his son, and, by +threats or promises, extract a confession from him was the first +idea. But where was the errant and suspected Narcisse to be found? +His father knew he was absent, so the mother was summoned. She +came, but advanced no further than the threshold of the room, and +fell a trembling with fear, behaviour that she would fain have +dissembled to be from cold, for, with the divination with which +guilt endows its subject, she at once knew that the stranger was +the young Montigny, and herself had been cited in order to suffer +a searching cross-examination. + +"Woman," said the advocate sternly, and wheeling his arm-chair +round so as to face her, "Woman, where is your son?" + +"Helas!" she exclaimed, and shrugged her shoulders, as much as to +say, "I don't know where he is;" and smiled a rueful smile. + +"No grinning now," cried the lawyer, raising his finger and shaking +it at her, and frowning as he was wont to do when he wished to +intimidate a witness, "no grinning now, madam. Will you pretend to +say you know nothing of where he was last night, where he is at +present?" + +"Helas!" again exclaimed the affrighted Babet: "sir you forget +yourself. Last night? Why it is yet night. Open the shutters and +put out the lamp, and you will still be in darkness. Let me return +to bed." + +"Babet Blais, many a better woman than you have I wished bedridden," +the advocate cried with bitterness. "Beshrew me, but your answer. +Remember I am flint if you are steel, hence the less often we are +smitten together in this enquiry, the fewer may be the revealing +sparks. Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, whereon +your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon your +guilty face, as grimly as the lurid East that brews a rainy day, +to you the type of tears." + +[Illustration: "Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, +whereon your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon +your guilty face."] + +"What do you mean?" demanded the half mystified and still dissembling +woman, in terror. + +"What do I mean? I mean that you shall tell me where your son was +during the last night, and where he is now." + +"Where he is _now_?" echoed Babet, "Last night? it is now night, +or only just near dawning." + +"Yes, we are near the dawning," mocked the old man, with loud, +relentless equivoque. "Madam, shed here the sunbeams of your highest +intelligence; clear the dull atmosphere of your soul from fog; and +let us see and hear respecting this occurrence, all that yourself +have seen, and heard, and known." + +"Master, I know nothing," said she, "what affair?" enquired the +woman, fitfully. + +"Is Narcisse at home?" bellowed the advocate, quivering with +excitement, and red to the roots of his white hair with wrath. +"Evil betide me that he should have ever made here his home;" he +continued. "Who called him hither? I? No, no; I called for aught +that might see fit to come, conditioned that it came in human guise; +but yonder frothy fool, yon swarthy pigmy, I did not summon him. +I called for anything of earth, but Heaven (to punish me) straight +passed the unhallowed call to hell, that sent me up a demon." The +apartment resounded with the last word, and still the old man's +voice was heard like the departing rumble of a thunder peal, as he +continued, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, whilst his +countenance assumed an air of singular elevation, passionately +exclaiming: "Oh, that a man who could have entertained the gods +with high conceits and philosophic parle,--could have communed with +spirits of the skies, should be assailed and pestered from the +pit!--Go on, woman, we will exorcise you, we will purge you, though +you be fouler than the Augean stable, that had been left uncleaned +for thirty years; ay, though you be as foul as is the stall that +holds the grimy company of the lost, and which goes uncleaned for +ever. Proceed, I charge thee!" and the fierce-eyed lawyer sat +dilated and erect in his chair, glaring upon her like a serpent +rearing its crest from amidst its coils, as he waited for an answer. + +"I cannot, I know no further," she said at length with meek +doggedness. + +"What say you?" exclaimed the advocate, almost screaming with +astonishment. + +"I know no further; I know nothing," she replied. + +"Assist me, patience, to confound this creature! Nothing! you know +all;" he shouted. "All, I say, all; for never had such a mother +such a son, but he did pour out all his purposes, all the infernal +cornucopia, into her breast from his. You have no secrets between +you; you, his mother, know all his course; his thoughts, intents, +conspiracies and plots; his loves, his hates, his loose, irregular +life; his merry moments, and his moods of malice. I charge thee, +tell us where he was last night, where yesterday, where he is now, +and where he will be to-morrow." + +"Monsieur, I know no more, know nothing," cried the woman, appealing +to Claude. "My master is mad," and, bursting into tears, began: +"Here have I been his housekeeper twenty years--" + +"Twenty years too long," vociferated the advocate. "One half the +period that heaven was vexed with a stiff-necked generation have +I endured you, Babet. Housekeeper! eh? Keeper of the King's +conscience next, a she Lord Chancellor,--but continue: call yourself +Keeper of the Seals, and mistress--or master either--of the Rolls, +so you unroll your secret. Tell all you may; empty your flask of +falsehood, then at the bottom we may find some sediment of truth. +Commence; don't count upon concealment. I will wring the truth from +you, though it shall ooze out drop by drop, and each drop be a +portion of your life." + +Babet was still silent, but the lawyer pursued: + +"Oh, toad, ugly and venomous, you have a precious jewel in your +head; deliver it; discover to myself and to this gentleman all that +you know about your son's late conduct. Speak, or you shall have +your closed lips forced apart, or there shall be found and set you +such tormenting penance, that you shall sue with speed to make +confession. What! still silent? Bathe no longer that face with +tears. Out on thee, crocodile! Oh, that those trite tears were +scales, falling, to leave you bare and vulnerable to arrows of +adjurement; then, with patience I could see them fall as fast as +flakes of snow in winter, till thou wert as white as Judge's ermine +with them! Creature, hast thou nothing plausible, nothing for us, +nothing for him, nor me?" + +"Nothing for you, nor for this gentleman," she answered quietly. + +"Do not imagine him to be so gentle, neither. Though he dwells +staid and silent, he is a roaring lion, that should I let slip may +soon devour thee, Babet. Overweening woman, you do not know how +much you and yours have wronged him," said the advocate. + +Claude had heard all this without speaking, but now he interposed, +to try persuasion. + +"Good Babet," said he, soothingly, "if you are aware of anything +untoward of Monsieur's ward, and will declare it, I guarantee to +you, not only a condonation for your son, if he have in any shape +conspired against her, but a reward so weighty for yourself, that +you shall bless the hour that you were awoke so early to be scolded. +What do you know of the lost lady of Stillyside?" + +At these words a smile covered her face, as if of satisfaction at +good news; then, shrugging her shoulders, she languidly asked: "Is +she missing?" and added, "Helas! then others have an absent child, +as well as I," and shook her head; and, with another shrug, continued, +as if subsiding into herself, and in a tone of combined decision +and sadness: "I know nothing of the lady, nothing of my boy. Heaven +grant my son is safe, my poor Narcisse, and that he may not return +and meet his cruel father, who so hates him;" and she brushed away +a tear from her cheek. + +"Heaven grant indeed we do not meet at present!" ejaculated the +foiled advocate; "for if we did, I might so far exceed a parent's +punitory privilege, that I should win but blame from the blind +world instead of sympathy. Begone, vampire," and she vanished like +a ghost at cockcrow. + +That smile of her's at the mention of Amanda missing, had been +caught by the advocate's keen eye, and convinced him that she and +her son were accessories to the felony of the night. Brief +consultation now sufficed between him and Claude, who also felt +convinced of her complicity. Light began to glimmer amidst the +darkness of the situation, and, as it kindled into a dreary dawn, +as might a new scene amongst dissolving views, shadowy and sinistrous +amidst it seemed to loom the figures of the Duchatels; and, before +the sun had risen, Claude, winged equally with hope and indignation, +was posting towards Montboeuf. The advocate threw himself upon a +couch, and he would fain have thrown up his brief of that day, but +it was for a case involving capital punishment, and, at the eleventh +hour, to have deserted his client would have brought upon himself, +not only professional dishonor, but guilt. Hence, with heavy heart +and unwilling faculties he bent his attention to the study of the +important case, whilst at intervals he swallowed a portion of the +morning's meal, that at the usual hour was silently placed before +him; and at last, with an inexpressible sadness and boding, he left +the stillness of his home for the walls of the busy and exciting +arena of the criminal court. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!" + + _Hamlet._ + + "Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye" + + _Macbeth._ + +The Court had been opened, and was crowded with lawyers, petit +jurors, witnesses, and excited spectators. A criminal trial of +such interest as the present one had not occurred there for years; +and the business in the Civil Courts had virtually been adjourned, +so great was the determination of the pleaders therein to be present, +and witness the conducting of a case so calculated to call forth +the powers of the renowned and venerable advocate. All conspired +to show that an extraordinary scene was to be enacted there that +day. The Judge was more than usually grave, attentive and deliberate; +the Crown Prosecutor wary, and complete in his preparations; the +legal, technical, and clerical grounds of exception and demur, +before the Crown was allowed to take up the burden of proof, were +entered and explored by the advocate, as one who reconnoitres before +committing his feet to dark and dangerous precincts, where any one +of his advancing steps may prove to be fatal. + +And now the case had been laid before the jury, and the witnesses +for the prosecution, each as he testified touching the fearful +crime laid to the charge of the prisoner at the bar, were being +subjected to the terrible ordeal of a cross-examination by the +advocate; who all eye all ear appeared, as in his earlier days; +quick to detect, prompt to demand, stern to insist, at watch and +ward at every point; so that his client seemed to have found in +him an irresistible champion, and the crowd, to all of whom he was +familiar, considered his success as certain, just as the veteran +soldiery anticipate a triumph from the General, who has so often +led them to victory that they deem him to have become invincible. +But to the thoughtful and more observant, at times he showed signs +of preoccupation, strangely at variance with his present undoubted +supremely master mood; and as the trial proceeded these fits of +wandering from the point increased in duration and intensity. An +anxious expression settled on his countenance; his usually energetic +but measured movements when he was thus engaged became irregular +and nervous; and he frequently cast glances towards the entrance, +as if expecting the arrival of some one; and twice in the midst of +withering cross-examinations, stopped short at the sight of +individuals elbowing their way through the crowd; gazing upon them +enquiringly and with an air of expectation, until, passing, they +became embedded in the serried mass of spectators; when, with a +look of disappointment, he resumed his task, and again with consummate +talent and characteristic vigor, did battle for his client, whose +dark distinction in the dock went nigh unnoticed, from the settled +attention bestowed on his defender, just as the prominently exhibited +prize is sometimes overlooked and temporarily forgotten, in the +observation compelled to the rare skill shown by the competing +players. + +But whilst the father was thus tasking every power of his trained +intellect, and crowning his career with forensic fires, that now, +in the evening of his genius, burned even more signally, than they +had done in the midst of its meridian splendors;--whilst thus +calling upon his great gifts, that, like to antique jewels brightened +by abrasion in the wearing, shone yet the more from the polish of +experience; and while lending a legal learning that, as a rapier +which, ever ready and ever in requisition, has acquired no rust, +was the more available from long practice combined with intuitive +tact;--whilst all this was passing in high and public court, the +ignoble son was awaking in a low lodging; weary and stiff after +the raid of the past night, anxious and timid from a sense of guilt, +and fearful of a future calling to account. His first wish was to +discover whether his sire was yet informed of the disappearance of +his ward. He knew that his father was retained in the trial which +had been fixed for that day, and had there been any whom he could +conveniently have sent to ascertain whether or not the advocate +was in court, he would have despatched one thither, but he could +prevail upon none about him to go for love, and money he had none +to offer. His mother, alarmed at her master's discovery of the +participation by Narcisse in their successful conspiracy, and not +knowing where to find the latter, had despatched a messenger to +the lodging of their bold and insolent accomplice, Alphonse Duchatel, +requesting him to warn her son to avoid his father during that day. +But the messenger failed to find him, and Narcisse at last arose, +dressed, and, prompted by a curiosity that overcame his apprehensions, +approached the Court House. + +Meantime the advocate, tortured by increasing alarm, and with his +imagination filling with tragic touches the picture of the possible +fate of Amanda, had lost both recollection and temper; and for the +first time when conducting a cross-examination, had been not merely +baffled, but successfully bearded and insulted by an irritated +witness, to relieve himself from whom, he was obliged abruptly to +bid him leave the box. The occurrence stung him to the quick, though +he strove to hide his chagrin;--no wonder. Taken at disadvantage, +and in a moment of weakness, the old pleader was obliged to perceive +that the wager of mental duel between himself and the witness had +been decided against him; and to feel that, in an unsought encounter +and fair affray, he had been publicly worsted. To add to his +mortification, the witness walked from the box with the air of a +conqueror, and cast an insolent look of triumph around the court +and upon his antagonist, whose discomfiture was so signal as to be +evident to judge, jurors, witnesses, spectators, all. Still more +to increase the advocate's perturbation, the heat of the court had +become excessive, and the rebuff--which, at an earlier period of +his career, and with an unwounded heart, would have provoked only +such a grim and threatening smile as a powerful wrestler might +wear, when, in the careless security of proud contempt, he had been +thrown by a boy--now, in the self-esteem of age and the anguish +of bereavement, moved him almost to madness. Seizing his gown, he +half cast it from his form, regardless of decorum, and stood the +picture of misery, rage, and scorn. + +Just then the court arose for a brief recess. Glad to breathe for +a moment the fresher air, the spectators retired, the jury returned +into their room, the sheriff and the crown prosecutor sauntered to +their respective offices, the panel of petit jurors escaped in a +body, the prisoner withdrew from the front of the dock, and sat +unseen, pondering his chances between the gallows and an +acquittal;--even the criers of the court abandoned their posts, +and the younger members of the bar, who usually gathered round the +advocate on these occasions, greeting him with pleasant compliments, +and polite and reverent attentions, seeing him thus moody, drifted +to the lobby, and in it paid court to some other, and secondary +legal luminary who was there holding his levee. For awhile the +advocate was left alone; then, emerging through the large folding +doors into the corridor or lobby, now cumbered with the gossipping +groups, through which he passed, solitary and in his gown, like +Caesar in his robe passing through the midst of the conspirators, +he proceeded past the doors of the offices occupied by the various +crown officials. None spoke to the old man, he spoke to none, but +his breast burned in agony, and a cloud was on his brow, like the +smoke that wreathes around the crater of a volcano. His eyes seemed +to shoot forth sparks, and his lips were muttering. Anger and sorrow +were upon his face, but, turning a corner in the building, he was +now hidden from the view of the multitude, and strode along the +main corridor towards the huge double staircase that, midway therein, +wound down to the dim entrance hall, that was divided by ponderous +doors from the esplanade between the building and the busy street. +A low, massive balustrade guarded the bridge-like portion of the +corridor that hung between the heads of the twin flights of stairs, +and whence, on looking down, was seen the paved abyss below. +Approaching this part, what did he behold but the truant Narcisse, +unconscious of his presence, ascending one of these flights of +stairs. At the sight of him the gloomy elements of his soul seemed +to flash within him and explode, rending all resolution of restraint, +and leaving him a puppet of some destructive power, as he stood +eyeing his son's approach, as the cat eyes that of the marauding +mouse, motionless, allowing the culprit to draw near, until, +detected, he stood, too nigh to retreat, too terrified to advance, +and, as the fascinated bird drops into the open jaws of the serpent, +fell resistless into the grasp of the advocate's extended hand. +Then, as the firedamp when met by the miner's candle must explode, +or as the liberated lightning must rend the cloud, though the latter +be near Jove's throne, so the frenzied father, regardless, nay, +forgetful, of the place, the time, the occasion, of himself and +natural ties, assailed the scared Narcisse, clutching him by the +throat with the strength of a maniac, and pushing him backwards +against the balustrade, and holding him there transfixed, while, +with eyes seething with wrath beneath the blanched, and big, +umbrageous brows, and showing like a sudden opening of the infernal +pit, he cried: "Demon, degenerate dog, where hast thou been walking +to and fro in the earth? whom helping to devour? Ah, son of Satan, +ah! Aroint thee, Imp, Abortion." + +[Illustration: "Demon! degenerate dog! where hast thou been walking +to and fro on the earth?"] + +The astonished wretch strove to reply, but terror and strangulation +forbade him; and the enraged parent, like an incarnate storm, at +arm's-length shook him, as the dog shakes the rat which it has +caught, or the lion its prey; and each moment the shuddering youth, +hearing his father's deep curses, and stiffening with horror, was +urged further and yet further over the abyss, and still with aimless, +outstretched arms, and disparted, claw-like fingers, strove to +clutch the advocate's gown; while with upturned and beseeching eyes +starting from their sockets, and still half on the balustrade and +half in air, with nothing but the grasp of his adversary retaining +him, he hung, while the arm that held him quivered, and surged +uneasily from side to side, as if irresolute whether to plunge him +or to draw him back; until a growl of satisfaction, followed by an +execration, gurgling in the advocate's throat, announced the coming +climax: the arm was jerked outwards, the clenched fingers unclutched +themselves, like an automaton's, and the miserable mannikin tumbled +with a yell down to the stones beneath. An instant all was silent, +then a faint groan rose from the bruised form, that the next moment +lay on the bloody flags a senseless corpse. Drawing a loud sigh +of indescribable relief, after his fearful and protracted agitation, +the advocate--and now murderer--stood glaring downwards with fixed +eyes and yet clenched teeth; then, sickening at the horrid sight +which loomed beneath, turned and leaned for support against the +balustrade over which he had cast his child. Hearing the noise of +the scuffle, some stragglers from the mixed crowd on the lobby came +running to the spot, and one enquired of the advocate if he were +seized with a sudden sickness. But he only pointed downwards to +where lay his ill-fated victim; and shook his head, looking all +woebegone, in mad, mute misery. Astonished, some descended, and +bearing the body up the stairs, laid it on a bench that stood +against the wall, and opposite its destroyer; while a still increasing +and motley multitude, including jurors, witnesses, constables, +criers, counsellors, clerks of the court, crown prosecutor, sheriff, +and lastly, the judge himself, hurrying, gathered round the scene +of the catastrophe. A surgeon who happened to have been subpoened +upon the current trial, opened a vein, but the blood refused to +flow; and a barrister, stripping himself of his gown, threw it over +the body as a pall. No one dared enquire the origin of what he saw, +until the judge arriving, demanded: "Who has done this?" + +"I," feebly answered the advocate, ghastly pale, and yet leaning +for support on the fatal balustrade. Alas! what a change! His +countenance was grown haggard, and his white hair hung dishrevelled +about his collapsed visage, like icicles round the pinched countenance +of Winter. Despair was in his look, and he uttered the name of +Amanda, and gazed bewildered around him, as if awaking from a +sorrowful dream; and now began to whimper, to gaze upon the pall-like +gown, and now to call upon the spirit that had flown--as a scared +bird from a bush--forth from the body that lay beneath it. + +"Narcisse," he feebly cried, "Narcisse, my son,--for thou wert +yet my son,--Narcisse, Narcisse," he reiterated piteously; and the +Sheriff advanced in his purple gown, and girt with his golden hilted +sword, laid his hand on the shoulder of the old man, the lately +proud advocate, but now wretched culprit, as a sign of his being +put under arrest. But none else moved; the Sheriff himself shrinking +from ordering the constable to give effect to the signal. All seemed +transfixed with pain or chained with horror, as in tremulous tones +of touching tenderness the slayer continued to call upon the dead. + +"Narcisse, my son, my son," he cried in agony; "Oh, I have killed +thee, child; oh, thou art dead, dead, dead.--But thou didst steal +thy sister; yes, I know thou didst; ay, that thou didst, and hast +delivered her to dishonor, therefore have I killed thee. Come, +Amanda, come hither, dearest, and behold thy brother; behold thy +father, see what he has done, and all for thee. Yes, I did it, all +you curious crowd. Amanda, oh, where art thou? let me see thee ere +I die: Amanda dear, Amanda;" and at the words, Amanda, leaning on +the arm of Claude, and followed by the elder Montigny and Andre +Duchatel, appeared upon the corridor, a sweet smile playing upon +her features, and hastening forwards she fell upon the neck of her +guardian, who was still leaning against the balustrade, pale, +haggard and forlorn. Her companions, restrained by astonishment +and fear, gazed aloof and mute, whilst the wretched criminal, eyeing +them with a look of misery and suspicion, in a tone of inexpressible +sadness at length exclaimed: + +"Come you to see me, then, before I die; do you come to triumph +over me, Seigneur Montigny? Look, see there, but do not touch it, +for it is abhorred, abominable, a foul spirit, a black imp of hell. +Amanda, art thou found?--Do not tremble, girl, do not weep; my +daughter, child, for, without a figure, thou art my daughter; art, +to the very letter, love, my child. Oh, we have much to tell each +other; see what I have done--but hear me, then condemn me. Oh, +Amanda, it is bliss to see, to feel thee here;--but here, here in +this breast is sadness. I have been a rash and hasty fool, a madman, +if you will, but no, no murderer; we kill mere vermin, we exterminate +rats, roaches; and what worse than that is this which I have done. +Pshaw, he was a reptile, a black beetle that came flying against +me. He, my son! Oh, slander, where wilt thou not cast thy slime? +the thing that the deceitful, wily woman palmed upon me, he my son, +thy brother? preposterous conception. Yet sad has been the creature's +end; and sad, sad, sad, I felt this morning when I left my home, +with a presentiment which seemed to say, that I should never enter +it again; and that presentiment is now fulfilled. Fate urged me +on. Unnatural hate has pushed me to the ledge, and now I sink to +lose myself in the abyss. Oh, foul fate! this deed foul, foul! +Fair, fair Amanda, close thine eyes on this enormity; or be content +to see it, yet not understand it, for knowledge here would surely +drive thee mad." + +"Oh, sir, am I not mad, delirious?" enquired Amanda: "Oh, my kind +guardian, my good angel, more than father, friend. What have you +done? you have done nothing evil!" and she sobbed upon his bosom, +and Claude stood transfixed and silent, until his eyes meeting +those of the advocate, he demanded passionately: + +"Sir, what may this mean; what horrible allusions drop like venom +from your tongue; whence comes this change; tell me, I charge you, +sir, why are you now so shaken, so wandering in your noble intellect, +even mad; you whom I left this morning, sad indeed, yet sane?" + +"I do not know whether I was sane or not when I did what I have +done, or whether I am so just now; but for this scene, which must +appear most strange to you, see there what shall explain it all," +replied the advocate; and the gown was partially withdrawn from +the corpse by one of the spectators, and Claude with his male +companions gazed upon it aghast, whilst Amanda turning away in +terror and uttering a feeble moan, hid her face in the old man's +breast. + +"How has this happened?" Claude demanded at last with a voice hoarse +and guttural with abhorrence; and the advocate shrugging his +shoulders cynically replied: + +"A bruise, a fatal fall; strange that he should have died of it. +It has been said, the lower in the scale of being, the higher the +tenacity of life. Yet here is an inferior intelligence dies of as +little corporeal damage, as might a poet or a philosopher. There +is no certainty in speculation, for by this experiment it has been +proved, that the bulls-eye in the stable window, in falling is as +fragile as the palace's clearest pane of crystal. Who would have +thought it? A dunce, that no one would have branded for having +brains, has from a mere tumble given up the ghost. Bury him, bury +him; I am sorry for it, but cannot howl," and at these last words +a howl was heard from below, and soon Babet Blais came rushing +along the corridor, wringing her hands, and frantically demanding: +"Where is he, where is my boy, my sweet Narcisse?" and threw herself +upon the corpse of her son. The advocate looked on with a bitter +smile, and when he beheld her covering with kisses the cold, coarse +features, exclaimed: "How these things love each other!--but when +he was alive she would give him the food out of her mouth, draw +for him the blood from her veins, sacrifice the immortal soul in +her body with lies and patent perjury and crookedest excuses, if +so was that she might screen him and his faults, deceiving +me.--Beshrew thee, woman!--but wherefore should I curse thee? thou +art what thou wert made to be, even as I am that which I was made +to be, a desolation and a miserable man:" and when he ceased Babet +started from her knees, and, looking on him with new born fierceness, +cried: "Monster, not master; man killer, son killer,--oh, you have +killed my own, my dear Narcisse! murdered my son, my boy, my child, +my only joy:" and she again cast herself upon the body, and, with +her face nestling in the dead bosom, sobbed and wept aloud. + +The advocate seemed softened, and, looking at Claude, demanded: +"Who is there that shall not fulfil his fate? for this I was born, +and for it I shall die." The sheriff again essayed to remove him, +but he sank at his touch, as the dust of an ancient corpse falls +before the breath of the outer atmosphere, and with mortality +moulding his visage: "Stay," he said, "let me die here; death has +arrested me, he needs no warrant." A spasm passed over his face, +his frame slightly quivered; and looking beseechingly at Claude, +the latter bent tenderly over him, and he thus began: "It were +foolish in me to suppose that you have not heard of my irregularities. +You will not be astonished, then, when I call this girl my child, +no longer my mere ward, but mine own child, so late acknowledged. +Amanda, child,"--and his voice faltered, while he spoke with +increasing difficulty,--"will you acknowledge me in this disgrace, +receiving with the name of father that of felon? Mona Macdonald is +your mother, to whom I have promised marriage till my way down to +perdition is paved with broken oaths, as false as her love was +true, and as hot as was the fire which fell from heaven, when Elijah +strove with Baal's prophets, and that licked up the water in the +trench, as did those burning oaths of mine so often dry up her +tears. Give me your hand, Claude; Seigneur Montigny, give me yours. +I see a change within you towards this lady. Stand not between her +and your son, as you would wish no sin to stand betwixt yourself +and Heaven at Judgment." Then in a low tone meant only for Claude's +ear, he whispered, gasping: + +[Illustration: "Quick, I am dying: bend over me: let me perceive +your breath, for I am blind."] + +"Think all I would have said, if there were time, and we were +happier. Farewell for ever; I cannot tarry, neither would I do it +now. I have outlived myself by near an hour, for I was not myself +when I performed this deed." And again a spasm passed over his +frame, his eyes grew fixed and glazed, and he earnestly exclaimed: +"Gather near me all who love me, and all to love whom is my duty. +Quick, quick; for a film overspreads my eyes, the throes of death +are tearing down this frame. Quick, I am dying. Bend over me; let +me perceive your breath, for I am blind. Bend, bend;--stoop yet +lower; I cannot feel you, for each sense grows dull; stoop lower +yet.--Oh, soul, why all this haste? Amanda, Claude, poor, missing +Mona, I have somewhat more to say to you; quick, listen, listen, +or it will be too late. Pshaw! pshaw! it _is_ too late, too late, +too late!" And his head fell backwards, and with his arms clasped +convulsively around the necks of Claude and Amanda, the advocate, +like his son, was a corpse. On the following day both of them were +laid in the English burying ground, but no stone marks the spot, +and in vain the stranger seeks to discover it. None are able, or +care, to point it out, restrained by a superstitious awe. A few +octogenarians still remember him, and look grave and shake the +head, when questioned as to the story and fate of the talented and +terrible Advocate of Montreal. + + +END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + +***** This file should be named 31212.txt or 31212.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31212/ + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan with corrections by Bowerbird + +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 +https://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 F3. 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 MERCHANTIBILITY 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 web page at https://www.pglaf.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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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 +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +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 https://pglaf.org + +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 including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.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 thirty 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: + + https://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. diff --git a/31212.zip b/31212.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2eec41e --- /dev/null +++ b/31212.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb8611d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #31212 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31212) diff --git a/old/20100207-31212-8.txt b/old/20100207-31212-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77fc309 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20100207-31212-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3862 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +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.net + + +Title: The Advocate + +Author: Charles Heavysege + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31212] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + + + + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan + + + + + +THE +ADVOCATE + +A NOVEL + +BY +CHARLES HEAVYSEGE, +Author of "Saul," "Jephthah's Daughter." +&c., &c., &c. + +ILLUSTRATED BY J. ALLAN. +(engraved by John Henry Walker after illustrations by J. Allan) + +MONTREAL +RICHARD WORTHINGTON, +GREAT ST. JAMES STREET. + +1865. + +M. LONGMOORE & CO., PRINTERS. + + + + +[Illustration: Stillyside] + + + + +THE ADVOCATE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Take, oh take those lips away, + That so sweetly were forsworn; + And those eyes, the break of day, + Lights that do mislead the morn: + But my kisses bring again, + bring again + Seals of love, but sealed in vain, + seal'd in vain." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + +On a bright day during the month of September, of the year 1800, +two persons were in earnest conversation in a lawyer's office in +the city of Montreal. One of them was the most distinguished +advocate of that place; a man of some three score years, and of a +commanding yet wild and singular aspect. His companion was a +well-dressed female of middle age, and comely, though mournful +countenance. Some disagreeable topic seemed to have just ruffled +both of their tempers, for her face was moist with tears, and +darkened with an expression of disappointment. His own was slightly +marked with annoyance, and, suddenly ceasing to arrange some folded +law papers that he held in his hands, and had gathered up from the +table at which he was standing, he exclaimed in tones of mingled +surprise and asperity: "Still at the old song! still harping, +harping, harping! Peace, no more of it. Heaven would be insufferable +with but one hymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl, earth +uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety, what a charm hast +thou!" + +"Is this, then, all your answer?" enquired the female, sorrowfully. + +"Is it not decisive?" he demanded sharply. "Woman, away: am I not +busy? Is not this the very Passion week of preparation before the +Easter of the Assizes?" Then with an upward leer of his eyes, that +were now filled with frolicksome humour, whilst at the corners of +his mouth flickered a grim smile, he continued: "Mona Macdonald, +I am neither selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not +prone to be provoked to marriage; though Satan in your shape has +for so many years tempted me thereto, I have still remained in the +bachelors' Eden, in spite of you and the Serpent. Marry you! Do I +look in the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough to commit +the unpardonable sin? No, a man may put himself beyond the reach +of mercy by other means than that." + +Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued: "What more is marriage +than mere desert sands, in which life's current is lost until it +reappears in a parcel of bubbles called babies. What is it but the +fool's end, the knave's means; a warning to the wise, a snare to +the simple; the wantonness of youth, the weakness of years; a +pillory wherein to exercise patience; what is it but the Church's +stocks for the wayward feet of women. Marry you! To marry is to +commit two souls to the prison of one body; to put two pigs into +one poke; two legs into one boot, two arms into one sleeve, two +heads into one hat, two necks into one noose, two corpses into one +coffin, and this into a wet grave, for marriage is a perennial +spring of tears. Marry! Why should I bind myself with a vow that +I must break, not being by nature continent and loving? Marry you! +Yes, when I hate you. Have I a sinistrous look to meditate such +mischief? Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom? Pish! I am +ashamed to be so importuned." + +[Illustration: "Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom?"] + +This badinage was uttered with the fire of youth, combined with +the authority of age, accustomed to be obeyed, and the listener +offered no rejoinder; but the speaker, having approached, gazed +into her eyes with a twinkling smile of mirth, that gradually +changed to one of fondness and pity; and kissing her respectfully, +he added in a soft tone: "Come, come, how is the maid Amanda, how +fares our charming foundling?" + +"Well," was quietly replied. + +"Mona, I love that girl," he continued, assuming a tone of deep +sincerity, "for along with the whole web of your goodness, nature +has interwoven into the fine fabric of her form a thread of my +evil--not in the grosser sense,--no, no; still, look after her; +the breath of passion must be stirring in her, and at her years +most maids are tinder to love's dropping sparks. Remember, there +never yet was a nun but once had tender thoughts. Love comes unto +all that live, and with not less certainty than death's advances +--nay, even the cold, bony frame of death itself, at last comes +wooing, and elopes with life. Now, home and cheer your charge." +And he playfully pushed her from the room, then, throwing himself +into his chair, resumed the interrupted study of his briefs. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "A seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone." + + _All's Well That Ends Well._ + +The advocate was by birth an Englishman, and a cadet of an ancient +family, who, after having spent a dissolute youth and early manhood, +had come to Canada. Here he became acquainted with an old, half-pay +Highland officer of Wolfe's Army, who for his signal services +rendered during the operations of the British force before Quebec, +had been rewarded with a grant of land in that vicinity. Like others +of his countrymen, the Highlander had settled in the Province, and +married into a French Canadian family. But, soon, after their +union, his wife died in giving birth to a daughter, which he reared +to womanhood with all the strength of an undivided affection. The +Englishman's frank bearing and singular mental powers won the +admiration of the old soldier, and, at the same time, dazzled and +captivated his comely and unsophisticated daughter, to whom the +stranger was soon understood to stand in the light of a lover. But +Macdonald--for such was the name of the warm-hearted clansman--was +not destined to see his dearest wishes realized in the union of +the two. A sudden sickness laid low his hardy frame, and, dying, +he called the pair to his bedside, and joined their hands in +anticipation of the rite of wedlock. The father dead, the lover +betook himself to the study of the law, and with an extraordinary +aptitude and diligence, not only mastered the details of legal +practice, but comprehended, beyond others, the great principles +both of English and of French jurisprudence as practised in Lower +Canada. Ambitious of excellence, he resolved to complete his studies +of the latter in France itself. Of means he had little, but she, +confiding in his honor, consented that the estate left to her by +her father should be sold, to furnish him with the necessary funds +for his maintenance in Paris. In that gay capital--whilst taking +advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels +of the French Bar,--he associated with gamesters and courtezans, +and was at length left with resources barely sufficient to enable +him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary +acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile +eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque +humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his +fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible +scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence, +and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist +with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite +counsel for the defence. Extensive practice, and its concomitant, +a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving +him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with +it she had given him herself, day by day looked for the nuptial +tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become +a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer +in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her his long plighted +vows, he sent her to a lonely dwelling on the then unpeopled Ottawa +to hide her shame, There she remained till the scandal of their +connection was forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female +child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called +Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind +the bluff known as Mount Royal, or popularly the "mountain," that +lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City +of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious +in his profession, he continued to indulge his vein for pleasure; +not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-secrecy +of his home; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure +from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in those days, +the province was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials, +and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself;--men +of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion, +language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association, +whereof his house became one of the centres of reunion. There, +aware of his gentle descent, and impressed with his transcendent +abilities; charmed with his conversation--as pithy as it was apt +to be impure--his wit, his taste, his information, his judgment; +sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines, and luxuriance of +his table, around which military officer and civil servant, merchant +and judge, were accustomed to assemble, rank and office were +forgotten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour. +Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them, however disguised; +and, secure in that close conclave, where no pure female presence +was found to check the bacchanalian song, or forbid the ribald +jest, all sat to listen to and applaud, their host's inimitable +stories, his grotesque descriptions, his wayward thoughts and +fantastic images; to hearken to his close analysis, his robust +reasoning, his wondrous pathos, his sublime exaggeration; and, as +the wine circulated, to observe yet more his chameleon aspect and +Protean character unfold itself; now grovelling like the Paradisal +toad, wherein, at the ear of Eve, was hidden the form of Lucifer; +now, touched by the Ithuriel spear of some keen conception, suddenly +soaring, like to the bright expanded shape of the surprised and +fallen Archangel, till the guests themselves, like the startled +Ithuriel recoiling from the instant apparition of the fiend, drew +back in amazement, or, as if at the jests of another Yorick, raised +over the table a long, eruptive roar. Nor was that all. For a moment +he would assume the moralist, the theologian, or,--leaving both +revelation, and the pandects,--become the philosopher, pacing the +universe for occult truth; or the metaphysician, tracking the region +of the supersensuous; and, over every theme, flying on mocking +mental pinions, seeming an intellectual satan, passing through the +region of vain questionings and doubtful disquisition, dim out to +the abyss. And thus he lived, using, and abusing, his rare gifts; +no virtuous and accomplished wife presiding at these feasts, ever +degenerating into orgies, or giving sanctity to these walls; within +which were gathered the brightest, gayest, noblest, most powerful +--often most dissolute--of the land. But now the guests were thinned +in numbers by death, by marriage, by worn out passions; and many +a fierce spirit had been tamed by adversity, till the mirth had +grown to be half moody, and the saturnalia gross rather in intention +than in fact. + +[Illustration "As if at the jests of another Yorick, raised over +the table a long, eruptive roar."] + +Yet ever amidst these distracting pleasures his heart reverted, +first, to the woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to the sylvan +shades of Stillyside, which latter he still took delight to visit +and adorn; cherishing its mistress, and watching over and nurturing +her child, the fruit of her fondness and of his falsehood;--but +commonly known and publicly acknowledged, only as her foster +daughter, and, in his own prouder circle, as his ward. For himself, +he never occupied other than a handsome suburban residence, situated +between the city and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona +Macdonald seldom entered; and when she did so, it was to be scowled +upon by its menial mistress, a French Canadian, named Babet Blais, +who viewed the melancholy visitor with angry and jealous eyes. Into +this house many comely Abigails had come and gone; but Babet Blais +remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, acquired a wife's +settlement and privileges, by virtue of the presence of a dwarfish, +swarthy creature, half oaf, half imp, their mutual offspring. This +strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb, +was named Narcisse, and flitted about the house rather than made +it his home; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence, +and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and +indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him. +Reckless, stupid, savage; ignoble and stubborn; with thick, black, +stubby hair, and dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes +filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like live coals; +deep-chested, and with shoulders raised and rounded, giving him an +air of pugnacity; snarl written upon his countenance, and pride in +the pose of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient, +he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman, +reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to +her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him; +wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so +severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged +him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the +more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming +his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper, +in one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His +father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon +relinquished the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled him +to a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to take him +into his office. But, instead of applying himself there, he spent +most of his time in idleness and debauchery; by night frequenting +the abodes of vice and infamy, and by day, haunting the doors and +corridors of the court-house, in the latter always instinctively +seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sullen and offended parent. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Haply despair hath seized her." + + _Cymbeline._ + +It was now evening, and the landscape lay steeped in yellow sunshine; +when Mona Macdonald rode slowly homewards, silent and buried in +gloom. Her way lay around the base of the mountain. But neither +its adjacent and majestic sides on the one hand, nor the placid, +mellow-tinted, and sky-bounded plain on the other were regarded by +her. Her thoughts were still with the advocate in his office, or +with her departed father in her native home below Quebec, as he +and she had lived and loved each other there, nearly twenty years +before. Thus preoccupied, she lent no heed to the landscape, although +before her was the broad, descending sun, and behind her was the +mighty Saint Lawrence basking in burnished gold; and soon another +stream, a branch of the Ottawa, appeared in the distance, the two +clasping between them as in a zone the Island of Montreal. But +neither the note of birds, the lowing of cattle, the barking, of +dogs, the churr of the bullfrog, the distant human voices coming +faintly over the lea, nor yet the elysean landscape were seen or +heard; and not until the carriage drew up at Stillyside, and the +bark of a lap-dog, on the top of the distant steps, that led to +the verandah in front of the house, struck her ear, did she fully +awake from her mournful reverie. Then, alighting, she passed +through a postern that hung at the side of folding gates, and, +winding her way up a walk bordered with shrubs and flowers, approached +the dwelling, that stood upon a knoll. At that moment the sound +of a cowbell in the contiguous mountain coppice told the slow +approach of a dappled dairy, in charge of a swarthy French Canadian +youth. All else was quiet about the place, that seemed to be lying +in a sort of listless, half dreamy tranquillity and halcyon repose. +The mansion itself was spacious, and built of the grey limestone +of the district. Woodbine and hop, clematis and the Virginia creeper +half concealed; its rugged exterior, and clothed in tangled luxuriance +the verandah that extended along the front. The roof was covered +with shingles, painted red; and in it were a number of dormer +windows, which, like all the other windows, were hidden with closed +green blinds or shutters. Swallows were darting about the eaves, +and wheeling around a fountain and jet d'eau in front, that were +fed by a mountain spring behind the house; whilst from one of the +rather numerous chimneys a frail wreath of blue smoke crept, and +lingered lazily about the lightning rod, before it rose and melted +away into the pure evening sky. But by this time the lap-dog had +come forwards to meet her, and now ran in advance, emitting a fitful +and joyous bark; and as she ascended the steps the door was opened +by a servant, who, having admitted her, closed it again; but not +before a stranger might, from without, have witnessed a fair and +youthful female figure swiftly descend the stairs into the hall, +and, throwing her arms around the neck of the returned traveller, +greet her with an affectionate salute. A large, grey mastiff now +appeared from the rear of the building, and, while the driver was +removing sundry parcels from the carriage, took a few slow and +solemn turns about the knoll, then, on the departure of man and +vehicle, retired for the night to his kennel, leaving the scene as +quiet as before. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Ungracious wretch, + Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves + Where manners ne'er were preached! Out of my sight." + + _Twelfth Night._ + +On the morning of the following day, Mona Macdonald sat at breakfast +in a room at Stillyside. She was plainly and neatly dressed; and +with her sat a figure more lady-like, and still in her teens, +attired simply, but with negligent taste. Both seemed abstracted, +and, as they silently sipped their tea, appeared to be brooding +over some recent, sad subject of conversation. The weather, too, +without, was as sombre as the mood within. A canopy of cold, grey +clouds covered the sky; the air was chilly, and the wind swayed +the trees to and fro, betokening rain. From time to time the cat, +with arched back, and tail erect, came loudly purring, and rubbing +its sleek sides against the skirts of its mistresses; the lap-dog +was restless; and upon the hearthrug a drowsy spaniel lay with his +nose between his paws, and whined fitfully in a dog's day-dream; +whilst the females, at length altogether ceasing to eat, sat +self-absorbed. On the face of the elder was an expression of sorrow +tempered with patience, but on that of the younger, an air of +melancholy was mingled with resentment, that heightened almost into +majesty a form and countenance of extraordinary and statuesque +beauty. From time to time her companion regarded her with a look +of anxiety and tenderness; and at length, seeing her still abstaining +from the suspended meal, exclaimed: + +"Eat, child, eat: fasting is bad for the young." + +"I have no appetite, except for information," was mournfully replied; +and the elder again regarded her affectionately; then with subdued +earnestness, and in an expostulatory tone, rejoined: + +"Be pacified, Amanda; for curiosity often brings us care. Let well +alone, and it will continue to be well with you; but why should +you thus persist to peer into the bottom of your past; as it were, +asking the fashion of your swaddling clothes? Fie! you are too +impatient; too importunate. Pray, no longer question me against my +will, making enquiries that may not be answered. Live without asking +why you live. No more of this. Does not your guardian love you as +though you were his child; and is he not wiser than yourself; to +judge of what knowledge is for your welfare? You ask me, why this +mystery about your birth. Amanda, we move midst mystery from birth +to death, and they who seek to solve it seek for sorrow." + +"These words disturb me more than your past silence," exclaimed +the younger. "What horror is there to reveal touching my origin, +that you yet dare not shew me?" + +"I dare not break your guardian's command," replied the elder, +firmly. + +"Neither can I control a natural desire to know what so nearly +concerns me," retorted the other. "I beg of you to solve this +mystery of my birth. It is my right, my birthright, to know who +gave me birth. It is said that I was found--where was I found? by +whom? how have I been confided to your care? by whose appointment +have I had given to me this guardian? and why is he so kind, and +wherefore are you so faithful? Tell me, nurse, why has he caused +me to be educated with such care; from what motive has he caused +me to be furnished with accomplishments that seem to reach beyond +the bounds of my prospective sphere? Nurse, I charge you,--if you +indeed have nursed me from my birth, as you declare you have +done,--tell me, I pray you tell me: it is not much to ask: the very +poorest child yet knows its parentage; the meanest beggar knows +whether his father once asked alms or not; but I know nothing of +my progenitors; whether they were of a proud or of a humble station, +whether good or vicious; whether they be yet living or be long +since dead. I do not know even whether my guardian knew them, nor +how he has come to be my guardian, my kind supporter, friend: +nothing do I know of these, whose all I ought to know. What is the +reason of this singular secrecy? Nurse, tell me all you know,--for +well I know you know,--tell me, I say, about my parentage; declare, +again I charge you, and now most solemnly, if you really love me, +who gave me to your care and to his kind tutelage: Nurse, Mona, +foster-mother, speak; how have I become the ward, nay, like the +very child, of that eccentric, wise, gay, good old man?" + +"More gay than good, and not so wise as wicked," muttered Mona, +and, not giving her companion time to reply, continued: + +"Amanda, do not importune me further, I conjure you. Enough for +you to know your guardian loves you, cherishes you even as if you +were his child. Let us arise from table since our meal seems +done;--what is it that alarms you?" Ah! And at that moment the +report of a gun, the crashing of a window pane, the sound of shot +hurtling past, its striking the opposite wall of the apartment, +and dropping, along with falling plaster, on to the floor, burst +upon them; followed, without, by the expostulating tones of a +man-servant, that were soon overpowered by a loud guffaw, and, +before the interlocutors had recovered from their astonishment and +terror, Narcisse, followed by several men carrying fowling pieces, +rushed, swearing, into the vestibule Amanda saw him, and, rising +to her feet, regarded him through the doorway with a look of scorn +and anger akin to that cast by the Belviderean Apollo upon the +wounded Python. But his dull temperament was invulnerable to the +arrows that shot from her eyes, and, undaunted, he swept forward +into the room, and with coarse familiarity attempted to salute her. +He was unsuccessful, for Mona, advancing between them, hindered +the nearer approach of the intruding mannikin, who, baffled, and +with the eyes of Amanda still fixed upon him, and yet beaming +ineffable contempt and disdain, at length stood before her with +downcast look, like one detected in some act of guilt. His companions +one by one slunk back to the lawn, whither in the dumb disgrace of +his discomfiture, he followed them. There, meeting with the domestic +already mentioned, and who had now been joined by a fellow-servant; +first an altercation, then a scuffle ensued, in which latter the +mastiff took an effective part, in maintaining the equality of the +house against what otherwise would have been overwhelming odds; +but he was at last disabled by a blow with the butt of a +fowling-piece, whilst the lap-dog, as it stood barking on the +borders of the fray, was shot dead by the cowardly and vindictive +Narcisse. This was too much to be borne, and, indignant, the ladies +descended to the lawn. At the same moment, three female domestics +appeared upon the scene, and changed the character of the encounter. +Three brawny ruffians seized each an Abigail, and attempted to tear +her off, as of old the treacherous Roman bachelors carried the +Sabine maids. Screams filled the air, mingled with oaths and +laughter; and the affair that had been, begun in vulgar, aimless, +frolic, might have ended in serious outrage, but just then a horseman +appeared at the gate, dismounted, and, rushing in, riding-whip in +hand, plied it with such vigor, that in a few seconds all the rude +gang had fled except Narcisse, who, having stumbled, was seized by +the collar, hurried forward, and spurned through the gateway into +the road, leaving his fowling-piece behind him. + +The stranger now for the first time seemed to observe the ladies, +and bowing to them respectfully, for a moment appeared to hesitate +whether to approach and address them. They, too, stood silent, but +it was with mixed astonishment and agitation, and he still stood +regarding the younger with an expression of deep admiration; till, +as if suddenly recollecting himself, and bowing yet more profoundly +than before, accompanied with an apologetic smile, enhancing the +beauty of his young and noble countenance, he gracefully retired +to his steed, vaulted into the saddle, and, galloping away, was +soon hidden from their view by a turn in the road. + +"Oh, nurse, Mona, we have been rude indeed!" then exclaimed the +younger: "We have committed the most odious of all sins, ingratitude; +and," she added half archly, "we have seen the noblest of all forms, +Mona, a gentleman. Nay, but to have let the chivalrous stranger, +our deliverer, depart without a word of grateful recognition;--who +will champion us the next time, good Mona." + +"May we never again require such timely help, child," replied her +mentor: "But let us go within and ascertain the damage that has +been done there by these vagabonds from the city;" and, so saying, +she took up the dead lap-dog and carried it tenderly in upon her +arm, viewing it with a wistful expression of grief and pity, whilst +Amanda stooped to caress the wounded mastiff, then followed with +an air of pensive majesty, not without looking in the direction in +which the gallant stranger, had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own." + + _As You Like It._ + +It was near mid-day, and the advocate was engaged in his office, +when the notary with whom Narcisse had been placed, suddenly +entering, angrily demanded: + +"Where is Narcisse, where is your son, sir? Here I am wanting his +assistance, now, and he is missing, he is gone, no one knows where, +nor where he has stowed those papers. Where is he, sir; where is +the boy, I say; where is your son?" + +The advocate looked up at this sudden disturbance, and, drawing a +deep sigh, exclaimed with bitter emphasis: + +"I would he were nowhere; that he were erased from the book of +being; I would he were in heaven,--or else--in your office, Monsieur +Veuillot. Is that a bad wish for either?" + +"But he is not in my office," said Veuillot. + +"Nor in heaven neither, I fear," rejoined the advocate. + +"Where is he, then?" demanded the excited notary: "where is your +son?" + +"Such a son!" murmured the advocate, shrugging his shoulders. "Do +you wish to be pleasant with me, Monsieur Veuillot? my evil genius +call him. Son! I own I feed him, as I do other vermin that infest +my house." + +"But where is he?" reiterated the notary with growing impatience, +and seeming resolved to take no denial. + +"Where is he?" echoed the advocate: "ask his mother; yes, sir, ask +his dam. Oh, Monsieur Veuillot, is there not deep damnation in thus +having an idiot for one's child? Here is your purgatory:--purgatory? +no: for purgatory is a kind of half-way house to heaven, but this +son of mine is to me a slippery stepping-stone to perdition. Sir, +a child should be a cherub to lift its parents' spirit to the skies; +but mine, oh!"--and a spasm of agony passed over the old man's +visage, succeeded by a forced expression of calmness, as he continued: + +"Veuillot, you have heard of Solomon. He speaks of the foolish son +of a wise father. He was himself the father of a fool, that rent +the kingdom,--Rehoboam. I mean,--and he kept concubines, too; so +I suppose he waxed fruitful in fools. I have but one fool, therefore +I am thankful;--but then he is a thorough fool, a most unmitigated, +and unmitigatable fool; the fool of fools, a finished fool, the +pink of fools; a most preposterous, backwards-going, crab-like +fool; a filthy fool; an idiot, sir, without either parts or particle +of ambition; an ape, an owl that flits about by day; a bat, and a +bad bat, that flits from tavern to sty; chief of the devil's +nightingales; a raven that, roving to foul roosts, goes beating +the bosom of the night; a soul that loves the darkness; a mole, +sir, a blind mole; a piece of animated perversity, a creature +that persists to go astray." + +"Where has he strayed to now?" demanded the notary. + +"Into the hands of justice, perhaps;" was the fierce reply: "into +the grip of the law; up to the foot of the gallows; on to the hill +of my extreme disgrace." + +"Where is he, where can I find him? tell me only where," cried +Veuillot. + +"Where! let echo answer,--would you wish to hunt him?" said the +advocate, mocking. "Did you ever gallop, sir, after a hedgehog? have +you assisted to draw a badger? I am badgered by him, and will blame +him, ay, ban him, for he is my curse, my bane; why should I not +curse him as Noah cursed that foul whelp Canaan? Beshrew him for +a block head, a little black-browed beetle, a blot of ink, a shifting +shadow, a roving rat, a mouse, yes, sir, a very mouse, that creeps +in and out of its hole when the old cat is away. Away, Mr. Notary, +away; go, good Monsieur Veuillot. There are more conceptions in +man than he has yet expressed either in statutes or in testaments. +Go; you are a deed-drawer; I'll be a deed doer: I'll do, I'll do,--I +do not know what I'll do, but something shall be done. He shall be +shaken over perdition; sent to grind in the prison house; sold into +slavery:--fool! he shall be banished to Caughnawaga, or to +Loretto;--the further the better; he shall be sent to the Lake of +the Two Mountains, sir, or to Saint Regis to learn the war-whoop +and gallant the squaws. You smile:--but to your errand, Veuillot; +it is not known where my son is: I saw him last night, may I never +see him again! Then, dying, my old age, perhaps, may close in +peace: not else, not else." + +The notary departed, but the exasperated lawyer still conversed +with himself. "I cannot decently die," he said, "any more than I +can devoutly live, pricked through the very reins and kidneys with +that skewer. Alas! he is my goad, my thorn in the flesh, the +messenger of satan sent to buffet me. He is the mosquitto that +stings my knuckles; the little, black, abominable fly that will +insist to assail my nose; he is my bruise, my blain, my blister, +my settled, ceaseless source, of irritation: the cause, the cause--of +what is he the cause? Alas! that I should ever have been the cause +of such a foul effect! But let it be so; the whitest skins have +moles, the sun has spots; he is my mole, my spot; and I, I am the +father of the fool, Narcisse." + +Narcisse was that moment at a tavern in the beautiful village of +Cote des Neiges, adjacent to Stillyside, and much resorted to by +pleasure seekers from Montreal. His companions, too, were there, +bewailing the loss of one of their fowling-pieces, and devising +means for revenge on their interrupter and successful assailant. +There they remained, and, instead of spending the day, as was their +first intention, on the side of the mountain, in popping at small +birds they passed many of its hours in quaffing large potations, +the effects of which they in some degree slept off by a long +afternoon nap. It was now nightfall, and they were returning +homewards, conversing in loud and angry tones on the humiliation +of the morning, and threatening retribution against its cause, the +gallant stranger, Narcisse, with the litigiousness of his maternal +race, and prompted by his inkling of law, was for launching an +action for assault and battery against their assailant's purse, +whilst the others, pot-valiant, declared their anxiety to meet him +in bodily conflict on another field; and thus discoursing in the +deepening gloom, the party arrived opposite the mansion at Stillyside. +For a few moments they halted, undetermined whether to approach, +and demand the delivery of the captured weapon; but at last agreed +to waive the requisition, chiefly at the instance of Narcisse, who +authoritatively ruled, that to demand and accept of the feloniously +acquired gun, would be to compound a felony. Hereupon, being +somewhat more at ease in their minds, they proceeded, and now less +noisily, continuing on their way with only occasional bursts of +abuse, and the firing off of fag ends of French songs, accompanied +with a fitful fusilade of low, horselaughter; and thus, mollified +and maudlin, unsteadily continued their straggling march, until +they halted at a gate on the roadside, and some distance behind +which, loomed a large, dingy and deserted-looking dwelling, half +concealed by tall trees. No light was to be seen, but, after a +brief consultation, the party swung open the gate, entered, and +having reached the house, one of the number gave a peculiar tapping +at a window, followed by a low whistle or call, that was immediately +answered by a corresponding sound from within, and this again by +a counter signal, which was repeated like the faintly returning +tone of an echo; and, after some delay, the door slowly opened, +the voices of men and women, mingling in boisterous mirth, burst +forth like the roar of a suddenly opened furnace, the party entered, +and the door was closed again. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?" + + _Macbeth._ + +At the same hour that Narcisse and his companions entered the sombre +and suspicious looking dwelling, the advocate returned to his home +in the upper environs of the city, wearied in mind and frame, from +an application broken only by the entrance of Monsieur Veuillot, +and the arrival of a messenger from Stillyside, who, hot and excited +from the violent scene whereof it had been the theatre, painted +the outrage in deepened colors, and exaggerated form. Auger and +shame contended in the old lawyer's bosom as he heard the story; +the former sentiment urging for the punishment of the delinquents, +the latter pleading for forbearance; for amongst the transgressors +was his illegitimate son, whose share in the offence, if brought +into the light of the tribunal, would thence cast back a shadow +upon the father, and point, publicly and anew, to their disreputable +relationship. Others also, whose reputation was far dearer to him +than his own, must be dragged, either as witnesses or as prosecutrix, +to public gaze, and thus be made to furnish matter for the tongue +of scandal. Perhaps, too, some latent paternal tenderness inclined +the incensed advocate to mercy; and, giving the messenger a hastily +written note, sympathizing with the tenants of Stillyside, he +despatched him thither, along with a noble Newfoundland dog, then +lying in the office, and which he meant should replace the disabled +mastiff. Afterwards, his thoughts, occupied with the important +professional business of the day, scarcely reverted to the vexatious +occurrence of the morning; but now, at eve, the tide of attention, +that had been so long dammed back, came flowing over his spirit +with increasing depth and force; and, in spite of his unwillingness +and the necessity for recruiting his wasted energies, for the +performance of the onerous public duties of the morrow, he fell to +brooding over the new misdeed of the already too obnoxious Narcisse. +From the son, his musings reverted to the menial mother, and, by +contrast, from her to the fair tenants at Stillyside; till, tossed +by the contrary and vexed tides of thought and feeling, he arose, +perturbed from the lounge, went to the window, and, drawing aside +the curtains, beheld in the east the full moon climbing the clear, +blue heavens, amidst a multitude of marble clouds. Struck with +sudden admiration and oblivious pleasure, he opened the folding +frames and stepped into the garden. The air was balmy; and, soothed +by the change, he returned within, reassumed the habiliments of +the day, took a stout, ivory-headed walking cane from its corner, +and, calling a domestic, announced that he should for some time be +absent. His first impulse was to cross a contiguous, half-reclaimed +tract, sprinkled with vast boulders of the glacial period, and +reach the turnpike road that led around the mountain. But before +he turned to commence his stroll he paused to gaze down on the +outstretched city, that, lying as asleep on the arm of the St. +Lawrence, with tin-covered domes, spires, cupolas, minarets, and +radiant roofs, showing like molten silver in the moonbeams, +contrasting with the dark shingles covering most of the houses, +presented an enchanted-looking scene of glory and of gloom. On the +left, and oldest of its class, was the Bonsecours Church, with its +high-pitched roof, and airy, but inelegant, campanile, refulgent +as if cut from some rock of diamond. Nearer, was the Court House, +and, beneath it, the Jail; and, behind them both, the dusky expanse +of the poplar-planted Champ de Mars. In the midst of the city rose +the tin-mailed tower and spire of the French Cathedral, and, at +its rear, loomed the neighboring, wall-girt, solemn Seminary of +Saint Sulpice. The bright, precipitous roof of the Church of the +Recollets, and the spangled canopy of the vast foundation of the +Grey Nuns reposed resplendent; and, within its ample enclosure, +luminous as a moon-lit lake, the quadrangled and cloistered College +of Montreal. Beyond these, in the midst of the shining river, +duskily slumbered the little, fortified and wooded Island of Sainte +Hélène; and up the stream, apast the petty promontory of Pointe +Saint Charles, stretched the low, umbrageous lapse of Nuns Island, +whence the eye followed the bending flood, that trended towards +where, with eternal toil and sullen roar, agonize for ever the +hoary rapids of Lachine. In the other direction the eye roved +downwards over Hochelaga and Longueuil, Longue Pointe and Pointe +aux Trembles, towards where lay the islet-strewn shallows of +Boucherville, and, lower yet, the village of Varennes. The mountains +of Boucherville, Beloeil, Chambly, and Vermont shadowy bounded the +horizon; and, turning from these, abrupt before him rose the awful +and spectral presence of Mount Royal. Skirting its foot he now +proceeded, brushing away the shining dew, disturbing the lazy lizard +and the serenading grasshopper, and hearing below him the harsh +croaking of the bullfrog in the pool; whilst, ever and anon, the +gust awoke, with a huge sigh, the dreaming maples, poplars, and +dark, penitential pines. From the remote, secluded farms came the +faint bark of dogs; and amidst such sights and sounds he at length +emerged upon the winding road, that, if followed, would lead him +past Stillyside. Slowly and without special aim he continued to +walk, ruminating and still drawn onwards, lured by the time and +scene, until the sound alike of mastiff and of cur had ceased, the +grasshopper refused to pipe upon the dusty road, and the too distant +bullfrog was no longer heard gurgling to its mates, but all was +silent, lying as in a trance, both heaven and earth. And then he +paused, and lapsing into meditation, stood unconscious of surrounding +things, till the tolling of the clock in the distant tower of the +cathedral of Notre Dame awoke him, and, starting from his reverie +and listening, he counted the hours to the full score of midnight. +Struck, then, by the weird aspect of the scene and singular silence, +a vague sense of horror stole through him, and he exclaimed hoarsely: +"This is the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn +and spirits walk abroad!" and scarcely had the words escaped his +lips when a wild tumult rose near him, and he perceived a bacchanalian +and disorderly troop of both sexes sallying into the moonlight; +wherein with uncouth antics and inviting pose, they disported +towards a group of trees, encircling which, and in the chequered +beams beneath their boughs, he beheld them in Harlequin and +Columbine-like appeals of passion, or already mated and forming +for the meditated measure; appearing the very gang of Circe;--and +in their midst he now observed his son, the brutish looking, cunning, +and sensual Narcisse, wine-flushed and loud, and seeming to be the +mimic Comus of the crew. As with the power of divination, he at +once comprehended the spectacle. He had arrived opposite the +equivocal building wherein Narcisse and his companions had disappeared +some hours before, and the door of which had just been suddenly +flung open, and kindling with wrath he at once advanced upon the +bacchants in the midst of their orgies. At the same instant, from +the direction of the city and unseen by him, a tall rider on a +lofty steed, cloak flying to the breeze, swept by like an apparition; +greeted only with a comical yell of astonishment and derision from +one of the females, as like a spectre it swept by. But the hilarious +band before him was too much preoccupied with the performance of +its mockeries to have observed anything, and the advocate, with +eyes gleaming and fixed upon his son, who now perceiving him stood +terror stricken, approached the revellers, who subsided before him, +as, with grey hair fluttering in the wind, he came beneath the +extending boughs, like some denouncing Druid amidst the sacred +oaks, his countenance inflamed, his whole frame seeming to shake +as if in throes to eject some foul possession; or, rather, as if +he were himself a fierce, incarnate, and unfriendly spirit; and, +at length, addressing his son, who was now leaning against a tree, +both for support and concealment, he burst forth: "Miscreant!"--and +the word was echoed from the side of a huge, dilapidated barn, +--"Wretches," he hollowed; and the guilty crowd, fearing both +individual recognition and personal contact, again began to retire. + +"Stay," he commanded, imperiously, "you are known, and flight shall +put the worst construction on your case;--halt, brawlers and bullies, +spendthrifts and bankrupts, breakers of the peace; sons of afflicted +parents, husbands of weeping wives, brothers of sisters both ashamed +and grieved; outlaws; the city's scum, the country's scourge, the +harvest that shall yet be reaped for the jail, and leave gleanings +for the gallows; abandoned creatures, linger;" and suddenly grasping +Narcisse: "Sirrah," he cried, "here is your nightly haunt, these +are your companions,--come with me, sir, come,--ah, will you resist +your--" father he was about to say, but he recoiled from the word +as from an adder, and, casting upon his son a look of unspeakable +disdain, he shook the writhing criminal, who the next moment escaped +from his hold, and slunk away, still looking backward over his +shoulder and muttering curses upon his begetter. The advocate stood +watching him in silence, as, withdrawing along with the others, +the distance dimmed his form, and drowned his maledictions; then, +drawing a deep sigh, a dark, vindictive scowl gathered upon his +visage, until its expression became diabolical, and these words +rolled from his heaving chest in deep, irregular murmurs: + +"Thou son of a wicked and rebellious woman, do I not know that thou +hast set my friends against me, and caused mine enemies to hold me +in derision! But thou shall suffer, thou shalt bend, or I will +break thee, yea, dash thee into pieces. May not the potter do what +he wills with the cup his own hands have, fashioned? Away with +thee, misshapen reptile; may soon the Saint Lawrence hide thee, or +may'st thou soon be laid in the burial field of thy mother's race. +Away, thou vessel of dishonor; grant Heaven that I may not yet make +of thee a vessel of wrath!" and the old man's countenance worked +convulsively, as he seemed to be revolving some terrible idea; but +at last growing calmer he exclaimed; "Down, down, ye cruel thoughts, +ye horrible conceptions; hence, busiest suggestions of the fiend; +be silent at my ears, ye visionary lips; ye perilous and importunate +prompters, peace!" But scarcely had he uttered these words, when +a report of firearms sounded amongst the trees, and a shot rattled +through the boughs, scattering the leaves upon his head; and the +replicated echoes had hardly ceased, when a peal of triumphant +laughter rose, and continued to be renewed till the spot appeared +a field for the sport of a hundred goblins of mischief. + +"Come in," at length said a voice, and, turning, he beheld a woman +standing in the doorway. + +"Who are you?" he enquired. + +"Enter, and learn;" she answered: "I would not have you murdered +in your old, age. Do you not know me?" and seizing him rudely she +drew him towards her until his face almost touched her own emaciated +countenance, on which played a sardonic smile as she turned it +towards the moonlight, and he strove to free himself, exclaiming: + +"Witch, hag, loose me:" and gazed upon her with a look of mingled +amazement and abhorrence. + +"Am I then so changed?" she demanded, with a gloomy smile; "am I +become a leper; am I grown loathsome now, whom you once declared +to be so lovely? Follow me, false man; you did not once require +solicitation." And again the sound of firearms startled the night, +and once more the leaves fell fluttering on his head, and the beldam +angrily exclaimed: "Come in, old fool," and laid hands on him a +second time, as, in a voice thick and hurried with dislike and +terror, he replied: "You are remembered by me, woman; give me +shelter for a moment," and hastily stepping with her over the +threshhold, she closed the door after them. Another burst of +triumphant laughter rose from the retiring revellers, and again +moonlight and returning silence rested on the scene. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "It is my lady: oh, it is my love!" + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + +The agitation of the morning at Stillyside had subsided as the day +wore, but the mind of Amanda Macdonald (for such was the name of +the younger and fairer denizen of that sequestered abode) remained +pensive and preoccupied; and when at her usual hour she had ascended +to her chamber, instead of retiring to rest, she took up a tale of +the troubadours, and read; nor did she lay down the volume till +the sudden flickering of the candle in the socket and the simultaneous +tolling from the distant belfry of the church of the village of +Saint Laurent warned her that it was midnight. Then, feeling +oppressed, alike with the heaviness of the atmosphere of her room, +and a strange weight at her heart, analogous to the lassitude that +is sometimes felt in the beginning of sickness, she arose, drew +aside the curtains, and throwing open the folding window, stepped +on to the verandah. A clear Canadian night, appearing a new and +chaster version of the day, greeted her. The moon, at night's +meridian, hung high in the fulness of its autumnal splendor, tranquil +in the solitude of the sky, a solitude unbroken, save by a few +small stars that were twinkling in the azure, and a fleet of low, +dappled clouds that were coasting the horizon. Awhile her eves +dwelt abstractedly on the sight, then, falling, they wandered +listlessly over the broad and shining expanse of landscape before +her; where Nature, unrobed, seemed as in a bath; for in front, the +grass, steeped in descending dews, glittered as a lake. Woods +confined the view in one direction, and the gleamy wave of the +Ottawa, amidst filmy obscurity, bounded it, yet further off, in +another. Unseen but felt, like the unperceived Genius of the +landscape, towered close behind her the sombre-sided mountain; and, +touched by the solemn scene, she advanced, and, leaning upon the +balustrade, heaved a deep sigh; then lapsed into a reverie so +profound, that she failed to hear the tramp of a horse now rapidly +approaching, and to note the change to sudden silence, caused by +its stopping at the postern. But there, transfixed with wonder and +admiration, and looking like a bronze equestrian statue at the +gate, now, mounted, sat gazing the lately flying horseman of the +road, the champion of the morning on those grounds, and contemplated +the figure on the verandah; then, dismounting, tied his steed, and +vaulting over the fence, swiftly approached across the lawn; till, +as if suddenly aware of being on holy ground, he paused, and stood +with reverential aspect and clasped hands, eagerly bending towards +her as if in adoration. Thus engaged, as stands in ecstasy some +newly arrived pilgrim before a shrine, he stood enrapt; whilst she +remained as moveless as a carved angel leaning over a cathedral +aisle, and, with her eyes fixed on vacancy, at length mournfully +exclaimed: "Sad, sad, so sad!--yet why am I so sad? No denser +grows the mystery around my birth; and if knight errants yet live, +rescuing maids, or he is a wandering god, and here is Arcadia, why +should that make me grieve? It is true that he is handsome--and +yet what of that?--most men are handsome in the eyes of maids. But +he appears the paragon of men. Is he indeed not all a man should +be? Where were the blemish, the exception; who shall challenge +nature, saying, in his form, that here she has given too little, +there too much?--Ah, me! I am not happy, yet I should be so." + +"Can have heard aright, or do I dream?" gasped out the stranger. + +"A knight, a god;" she continued, yet musing; "oh, he came hither +like a knight of old, or as an angry angel sent to scatter +fiends;--or, rather, like the lightning he arrived, out of the +storm cloud of I know not where. Where is he now? whence was he? +who is he? what? Alas, I know nothing of where, nor who, nor what, +nor whence he is; all that I know is, I am strangely sad; and that +such perfection was not made for me." + +"Is this not Stillyside?" enquired the listener, "or do I wander +in some spirit-land; lost, lost;--oh, so luxuriously lost! She, +too, seems lost--lost in a reverie, and all forlorn. I'll speak to +her;--and yet I fear to speak, I fear to breathe, lest the undulating +air should burst this, and prove it to be but a bubble. Yet she +breathes, she spoke, and oh, such words! Words, be at my command; +I will address her, for this is not fancy: could fancy shew a moving +soul of sorrow? See how the passion plays upon that face, as she +thus stands with sad-eyed earnestness, maintaining converse with +the hollow sky. Looked ever aught so fair yet so forlorn? Methinks +there is a tear upon her cheek. Why comes it from the Eden of her +eye? I must speak to her;" and with mixed fear and fervour he +exclaimed: "May Heaven keep you from grave cause of sorrow, lady! +Forgive me, oh, forgive me, lady, or vision, for, by these dazzled +eyes, and, as I fear, by your offended form, I Scarcely can divine +whether you are of earth or air; pardon me if I have appeared here +by night, as unpremeditatedly as I came by day. Bid me begone, +--and yet permit me to remain, for, by my life, and the deep +admiration with which you have inspired me, I cannot leave you till +I learn your grief, and with it, peradventure, my own doom. Whom +did you speak of even now, fair form?" + +"Who asks of me that question; who is it that thus listens when I +thought myself alone?" she demanded haughtily, looking downwards +from the verandah. "Sir, just now I spoke, and said--I know not +what. What you have overheard me say I fear was foolish; do not, +then, regard it. I know you now. You are the stranger who, this +morning, drove those violent intruders from these grounds. Ah, +who would have thought you would return by night, and thus, sir, +play the eaves-dropper! Oh, for shame! Nay, you are not the one I +took you for. Sir, it is mean to overlisten; mean, very mean; nay, +it is base, unmanly, to listen to a maid, when she commits her +vagaries to the moon." + +"Scourge me, for I deserve it, with your tongue;" rejoined the +stranger--"but, lady, you were not alone, though I were absent; +no; you cannot be alone. Such excellence must draw hither elves +and midnight troops of fairies; by day, by night, each moment must +array around you the good wishes of the world. No, not alone; the +very sky is filled with watchers and the ground covered with +invisible feet, that have come here to do you homage; then why not +I found here to pay you mine? Are you still angry?" + +"You have offended me," she answered;--"and yet perhaps I am too +severe with you. I fear I am ungrateful. 'Mean,' did I say? It was +mean in me to say so, and most forgetful of the favor conferred +here by you this morning. No, I vow it was not mean--at least in +_you_. And yet it was mean, it was very mean in you, sir, thus to +overstep the golden mean of manners. Scourge you? Ah, I fear you +well deserve it;--and yet if I could, I would put to scourging that +word, 'mean,' that has just escaped from out of my petulent lips, +as sometimes a froward, disobedient child runs into danger; breaking +away from out of the nurse's arms. But you should not have played +the bold intruder, and joined in these vain vigils;--nay, begone, +or I must, myself, withdraw. I do entreat you, stay no longer; come +some other time,--but go to-night; make no excuse for staying, or +you may yet compel me to be angry with you. Indeed, I fear that I +am too forgiving. Go, I pardon you,--but go at once, or I may yet +repent to have condoned what it, in truth, were hard to justify." + +"Heaven pardons heavier sins," observed the stranger. + +"Yes, when its pardon is sought for;" was rejoined; "but I pardon +you without your craving it; and, remember, Heaven's pardon is not +granted to us simply for the asking; neither do we receive it +because our hearts are penitent; but for the sake of Him who died +for us upon the cross; hence you are now forgiven by me, not for +your prayers' sake, nor for your regret, but rather because +beforehand, the night's offence has been cancelled by the morning's +favor. For the rest, retire, sir: what you have heard, you have +heard. You have heard my words, yet give no heed to them. If I +to-night have walked forth in my sleep, and dreamed on this +verandah;--why, then, it was but a dream. Let it be thus esteemed, +and so we part. Good night." + +"Stay!" exclaimed the stranger, as, smiling with ineffable sweetness, +and deeply curtsying, she drew backwards towards the window: "Stay; +how can those part whom destiny hath joined; how be divided whom +their fates make one? Stay, lady, and let love, young love, plead +his own cause. Oh, I would yet charm you with my tongue, even as +your own detected tongue has just declared that this morning I +charmed you with my deed. Stay. If, in truth, you did admire, +what, at the moment of its execution, I thought nothing of, and +value now only as it has relation to yourself, hear my appeal." + +"What does this mean?" she asked, startled at his earnestness: "I +do not know you; go, oh, go; I say again, I do not know you, sir." + +"I never knew myself till now," he cried with bitter pathos. + +"I say, I do not know you; you do not know _me;_" she reiterated. + +"Know me to be irrevocably yours;" rejoined the stranger, "for you +have bound my heart in such fast thraldom, that even yourself could +not deliver it." + +"And, perhaps, I would not, if I could,--unless you asked it:" she +answered: "and yet, sir, possibly you jest. Oh, sir, forbear; +begone, nor longer fool here a surprised, lone girl. What is your +purpose? who, and whence, are you? On your honor, answer me truly." + +"I am the seigneur Montigny's only son: my purpose and my thoughts +towards you are all honorable:" he replied. And she rejoined: "Oh, +if your intentions are dishonorable, and you have not the spirit, +as you have the aspect, of a gentleman, yet keep this secret, as +you are a man." + +"What shall be said to reassure you?" demanded Montigny. "Witness, +Heaven, if I assume to act, or intend anything injurious towards +you. Believe me. I am the heir to a proud seigniory: you are,--I +know not what; enough for me to know, you are the fairest figure +that has yet filled mine eyes, and surely as good as fair. Will +you be mine, as I am yours for ever? Speak, why are you silent?" + +"Hist," she said, listening. + +"What is the matter?" he enquired. + +"Nothing, perhaps nothing:" she continued, whilst her voice +faltered:--"but go, oh, go, and come again to-morrow, or next +week, or when you will. I'll think on what you have said; but go; +I tremble so; stay here no longer; think, should we be observed. +I am ashamed to think of it. I am ashamed to look the moon in the +face, ashamed to look into yours. Oh, sir, what have I done? What +have you said? How have I answered? for I am perplexed. Away, yet +come again; come fifty times; but stay no longer now; begone;--return +though when you choose; do not wait for an invitation.--Listen, +I hear it again; begone, begone; did you not hear something?--it +was nothing, perhaps, but yet begone." + +"Never without your love pledge will I leave you," replied Montigny +firmly. + +"And would you force me to avow myself?" she asked. "May Heaven +absolve me if I err herein! No, give me leisure to reflect: this +were too sudden. These passion-hurried vows were too much like +those vapors, that, igniting, rush like to unorbed stars across +the night, then, vanished, leave it blacker. Do not tempt me. To +act in haste is to repent at leisure; and quickliest lighted coals +grow soonest cool. Even now I feel my cheek aglow with shame, that +burns its passage to my rooted hair. Away: if you should not forget +me, why, you are as though you were still present; for your thought, +which is your truest self, remains with me. If you should grow +oblivious--why, it is I that shall suffer, and not you." + +"Oh, waste of words on what can never be!" Exclaimed Montigny: +"cease to doubt me. Forget you! Love's memories are immortal. Love +writes the lineaments of the beloved in rock, not sand.' + +"Yet rocks may lose their effigies, the pyramids their inscriptions, +the strong-clamped monument may tumble, and the marble bust, by +time, may let the salient features fall into one indistinguishable +round," she answered doubtingly. + +"They may;" rejoined Montigny: "but neither flowing time nor chafing +circumstance can erase affection from the constant mind. Mind is +more obdurate than steel; and love, the tenderest of the train of +passions, is, in its memory, as indestructible as gold;--gold that +resists the all-corroding fire. No; the fire may melt the impress +from the seal, the sun the angles from the stony ice; the jagged +rocks may from encounter with the wind and rain grow smooth; this +hilly globe may grow at length to be as level as is the sea, and +every jutting headland of the shore may crumble and disappear; but +your bright image must to the eventide of life's cogitation, stay, +like a sacred peak whose lofty brow stands ever gilded in the +setting sun. Forget you! little hazard: he whose heart is impressed +with the absent's form, needs wear no miniature upon the breast; +the scholar who knows his task by rote, needs not retain his eye +upon the book." + +"Hearts may prove false," she answered solemnly, "and tasks to +treacherous memory committed may be forgotten; but will you forget +these weighty words: will you be constant, oh, will you prove true; +for did I give you all I have, my love, what were there left me +should you throw it away?" + +"Injurious and incredulous one," returned Montigny, "save Lucifer, +who ever threw from him heaven?" + +"Forgive me," she replied, "it is but a timid girl that speaks. +She did not doubt you, though she sought to prove you. Yet are you +sure you love her? Ask your heart, then render me its reply, as +one might do, who having listened for me to the murmuring shell, +should bring me tidings of the storm-vexed sea. Vow not, but listen." + +Montigny seemed for awhile to listen to his heart; then, looking +at her, replied: + +"Surer than is assurance itself I am yours. Say that you are mine, +and every further word shall seem only to be redundant and +apochryphal; for when love's lips have made their revelation, what +more is wanting to complete the canon." + +"Believe that I have said it," she half whispered; then, starting, +and changing color, "hist, hist," she added, "once more I hear it: +heard _you_ nothing?" + +"I nothing heard but you." replied Montigny: "Proceed; for your +voice is sweeter to me than plashing fountain's, or than Saint +Laurent's chimes, or than would be--could we hear it--the fabulous +music of those night-hung spheres, coming harmonious to our listening +ears, borne on the shoulders of the cherub winds. Why are you +silent?" + +"Listen," she said, looking still more alarmed. + +"I do," he answered. + +"Yet heard you nothing?" + +"Nothing but ourselves." + +"Nothing besides?" + +"What further should I hear?" he asked. + +"And yet it seemed as if I heard another," she continued. "Are we +watched? speak, tell me," she demanded,--"I hear it again; listen." + +Montigny listened a moment, then replied soothingly: + +"Dismiss these pale-cheeked panics, for you hear nothing; or if +you do it is but the common voices of the night. It is merely the +hoarse bullfrog croaking in the swamp; and the green grasshopper +a chirrupping in the meadow; for, saving these, all nature with +myself is listening to you. Be reassured: there is nothing, but +what your own excited fancy has conjured: even the wind has ceased +to sigh amongst the leaves; the moon stands still, and her arrested +beam no longer draws the shadow on the dreamy dial. Then, proceed, +my love, for when you speak you fill my ears with heaven, but when +you pause then opens the abyss." + +"Yet listen; I hear it again:" she said; "it was not fancy; no." + +"What else? what can befall you, love, whilst I am here?" he +murmured. + +"Nothing. I hope," she answered, falteringly. + +"Then nothing dread." + +"I dread to say it, yet I must: Good night." + +"Already?" he demanded. + +"All too long!" cried an imperious voice; and the advocate stood +before them. + +"Amanda, ah, Amanda, Miss Macdonald," he continued, "is it thus you +fool us? Go, bird, into your cage. Nurse, take my lady in." And +Amanda beheld behind her the melancholy Mona, half shrouded in a +cloak covering her night attire. + +[Illustration: "Amanda, oh! Amanda, is it thus you fool us?"] + +Silently they both of them withdrew, and the stranger was left +alone with the advocate, who, laying his hand detectingly on the +other's shoulder, thus addressed him: + +"Claude Montigny, I do not ask of you what brings you here, for I +have something overheard, and in that something, all. Given the +arc, the eye completes the perfect circle; furnished the angle and +the object's distance, and we can tell the dizzy altitude. Mark +me, sir. We climb with risk, but there is greater danger in +descending. Young sir seigneur, you have ascended to a height you +may not safely stoop from. As sportive and adventurous schoolboys +sometimes ascend a scaffolding in the absence of the builders, and +continue to scale from tier to tier, until they pause for breath; +so, I fear, that you this night, in her protector's absence, have +soared in the affections of my ward. Beware, beware: I would not +threaten you--a gentleman neither needs nor brooks a threat--but, +by my life and the strength that yet is left me, woe to the man +that shall fool me in yonder girl! Seek not to trifle with me, +Claude Montigny. Tell me your purpose; inform me how your acquaintance +with my ward began; how it was fostered; how it has been concealed; +and how it thus has ripened into this secret, midnight interview. +Speak; what do you say, sir, in arrest of judgment? Be seated, and +recount to me the story of your love, if you do love my ward--as +you have told her that you do--and to that love be attached a story, +long or brief; or if this passion--which you have propounded most +passionately to her--be of a mere mushroom growth, born of to-night, +sown by the hand of moonlight in a girl's dark eyes; or in her +heart, perhaps, by the fairies that you spoke of, and producing +some form of feeling or forced fruit of fancy; coeval with, and +meant to be as transient, as is the present fungi of these fields. +Sit down by me, and let your tongue a true deliverance make between +yourself, me, and my foster-daughter." And seating himself heavily +on a garden bench, and leaning with both hands clasped over the top +of his gold-headed cane, he looked enquiringly up into the face of +the young man, and added: "Come, plead before me to this charge of +heart-stealing, as touching which you have been taken in the act." + +"Sir," then said the stranger with dignity, whilst he slowly seated +himself; "sir, you are justified in thus misdoubting me; for though +a gentleman should, like the wife of Caesar, be above suspicion, +never yet knew chivalry a time but there were recreant knights. +Moreover, I can perceive that circumstances now must shadow, and, +as with refracting influence, distort me, so that I may well stand +here seeming to be deformed, although my soul, if you could see +it, would show wanting no part of honour's fair proportions. Hear +me, then, patiently, for I plead less for my own defence than for +her vindication who has just retired beneath your frown." + +And the ingenuous but compromised Montigny sketched the brief +history of his passion, and when he had done, the advocate, looking +into his countenance keenly, but confidingly, rejoined: + +"You speak the truth, I know it by your eye, wherein no falsehood +might harbour for a moment; yet, young seigneur, you have entered +on a perilous path; dare you walk in it? It is the way of honor, +and will prove to be the way of safety; but, beshrew me, if I do +not fear that it may prove to you a way of pain. Whatever may be +the ways of wisdom, the ways of honour are not always ways of +pleasantness, nor is the path of duty always one of peace. If you +would wear the rose you must grasp it as it grows amidst the thorns. +And now, farewell--yet, hold. I hold you to your bond. The forfeit +were the forfeit of your word, which you have pledged to me and +mine. Remember, not only have you offered love unto my ward, but +you have been accepted." + +"Even so:" exclaimed Montigny; "and may--" + +"Call nothing down that might become your harm," said the advocate +admonishingly: "Rain has before now become transformed to hailstones, +and done much damage; and dews descending so benignly, have once, +it is said, in form of rain, swelled to a deluge that has drowned +the world. May the skies be still propitious to you, Claude Montigny. +Although temptation burn as fiercely as dogdays, do not fall beneath +it, for less hurtful were a hundred sunstrokes to the body, than +to the soul is one temptation that hath overcome it. Again farewell." +And he pressed Claude's hand convulsively, then tossed it from him +half disdainfully, and both departed from the grounds. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "Think no more of this night's accidents." + + _Midsummer Night's Dream._ + +From Stillyside Claude Montigny rode towards the western extremity +of the island; his thoughts steeped in bliss, and the country, as +it slumbered in the moonlight, seeming to him the land of Elysium. +At the ferry of Pointe Saint Claire he engaged a bateau in which +he was rowed over the confluence of the rivers Ottawa and Saint +Lawrence by four boatmen who, from time to time, in a low tone, as +if afraid of awakening the dawn, chaunted, now an old song of +Normandy, and now a ballad upon the fate of some lost voyageur. +The moon was yet shining, and he was in the mood to enjoy such +minstrelsy; but when they neared the opposite shore, a feeling of +sadness and apprehension stole over him, as he thought of meeting +his father, to whom he knew he must either communicate distasteful +tidings, or what was worse to his ingenuous mind, practice a culpable +concealment. Thus musing, as day broke he leaped on shore, and +again mounting his horse rode thoughtful through forest and farm; +now reburied in the darkness of night, which yet lingered amidst +the foliage, and now emerging into the light of the clearing; until, +as the sun was rising over the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, +he entered the manorial gates of Mainville, and passing through +the park-like grounds, was once more in the proud home of the +Montignys. + +Meantime, Amanda Macdonald had not slept. Shame, joy, fear, hope +possessed her; but fear chiefly, for she dreaded the coming morrow, +when she must meet her foster-mother, and--what to her was yet more +terrible--her, as she supposed, deeply offended guardian; and it +was not till the birds began to chirp and flit about her window, +that she fell into a deep, refreshing slumber that lasted long into +the day, and was at length broken by the voice of Mona bidding her +arise. + +The advocate, on the other hand, who had at once returned to town, +arose at his usual hour, and repairing to his office, began the +business of the day; whilst at a later period, the dissipated +Narcisse again found his boon companions, and with them renewed +the debauch of yesterday. + +During the day the anxious Mona did not fail to question her charge +touching the interrupted interview; and the latter at length related +how it had befallen, confessed to her sudden passion for the gallant +Montigny, revealed his plighted vows, and confiding herself to the +bosom where she had always found advice and comfort, deprecated +the displeasure of her guardian. But the betrayed Mona could give +her only slight encouragement, in what was now yet nearer to her +than even her guardian's favor, her lover's truth. + +"Child," said Mona to her emphatically and in a warning tone, after +musing, "Child, hope not too much; fear everything, for man is +naturally false towards woman. Ah, you have yet learned but little +of man, and may you never learn too much. Beware, beware, beware, +Amanda, Happy the ignorant, happy is the woman whom no false man +has taught to distrust his sex! Man's love to woman is as evanescent +as is the presence of the summer-morning mist, that, for an hour +or so, hugs lovingly the lea, then vanishes for ever. What are his +vows but vapour? Poor, rash girl, why, without warning me, have +you opened the horn-book of love, and spelled at such a speed, +that, in a day's time, you have read as far as warier maids dare +con in years?" And Amanda looked both abashed and amazed; but at +length enquired in wonder: + +"What may you mean by these strange utterances? Nay, nay, dear +Mona: you slander your own father by this language." + +"Thou canst not say, child, that I slander thine," responded Mona, +tartly; and her countenance darkened with an equivocal expression +new to Amanda, who, catching at the inuendo, earnestly demanded, + +"Who was my father? tell me, for you know; I myself know, I feel, +(and not untrustworthy is this intuition) that I am not here a mere +fortuitous foundling. Who was my mother? I charge you to inform +me." + +"Girl, had not man been false, you had not needed to have so often +asked of me that question," Mona replied with a cynical expression, +and hoarse, sepulchral voice, that, whilst it seemed to vindicate +herself, reproved her fellow, on whose face an air of horror now +mantled, as she excitedly exclaimed: + +"Say more, or else unsay what you have already uttered. What must +be understood from this alarming language? Although there hangs a +mystery over my birth, surely there rests upon it no dishonor. +Acquaint me, then, once more I charge you, and now by the love and +kindness that you have always shown to me, declare, for you know--I +say I feel you know; whose child am I, where was I born, how have +I been committed to your care, adopted, cherished; I, who have no +filial claims upon you; adjudged to be an orphan, perhaps the child +of charity; how have I been divided between you and my guardian, +or held as if I were your mutual bond? Inform me, Mona, my good +Mona, foster-mother, nurse, you who have been to me as a true mother +might be, say whose I am; whether, and where, my parents live; and, +if they live, why they have thus abandoned me," and she burst into +a flood of tears. + +"Quiet yourself, my fond one," answered Mona, moved also to tears +by this appeal; "your birth on one side is as high as any that this +country boasts, therefore is as high as Claude Montigny's. Your +mother is descended from a warlike Scottish line, your father's +father was an English peer. Your parents are yet living; but their +union, which was in many points unequal, was, alas! rendered the +more unequal by a gulf-like disproportion in the passion that +provoked it;--a gulf, too, that was undiscovered, till, too late, +your mother saw it. Thence, their lives, their loves, so call it, +their mutual progress (save on the course of fondness towards +yourself, their child, whereon they journey equal side by side) +has for years kept, and yet keeps, a still disparting pace; and, +oh, Amanda, excuse these tears, for well I know your mother, and +pity her, having many a time listened to her fruitless complaints; +but until your father, who is the laggard one of this most +misappointed pair, shall, either underneath the whip of a castigating +conscience, or prompted by the spur of your poor mother's sharp +appeals, come up abreast, and fill a certain chasm of omission by +an indemnifying deed, which has been by him most selfishly left +undone, but whose performance is essential to the full fruition by +you of your fortune, you must remain, as you have hitherto done, +my foster-child, and your grim guardian's ward; a waif we hold +waiting for its claimants; and until they arrive, let me beseech +you, as though I were the mother I have spoken of, to think no +further of young Claude Montigny." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: + I am sick in displeasure to him; and whatsoever comes athwart + his affection, ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross + this marriage?" + + _Much ado about nothing._ + +A few days after the conversation detailed in the preceding chapter, +there was ushered into the office of the advocate at Montreal a +"gentleman, who announced himself as Montigny, Seigneur of Mainville. +He was tall, and of a distinguished aspect, and had scarcely accepted +of the advocate's invitation to be seated, when, like a man impatient +to be done with a disagreeable business, he began: + +"I have a son, sir, and you, as I believe, a ward, an orphan girl;" +pronouncing with a mixture of pity and contempt the last two words. + +The advocate observed this depreciatory intonation, and throwing +himself backwards in his large easy chair, repeated: "An orphan +girl," at the same time putting a half angry, half comical expression +into his countenance, and perpetrating a pun in what followed: +"Yes, many of your Canadian noblesse would bless themselves to have +been her father. The poor fellow, it is well he is not here to have +overheard you. An orphan girl: true, as you say, I have an orphan +girl,--or one that passes for such; a girl I love, a ward, a +charming child, yonder at Stillyside. Were I disposed to praise +her I might say she is the Mountain's maid; the Dryad of its woods, +a grace, a goddess, fairer than Diana, and far purer, for one may +guess the fool Diana made of that poor boy, Endymion. But what +concerning my ward, sir, my most immaculate lady?" + +"Would you forbid my son access to her?" enquired the seigneur. + +"Ah! you wish for an injunction;" said the advocate; "show me cause. +I have, sir--as you seem aware--a ward dwelling yonder at my seat +at Stillyside;--a place I sometimes visit; a sort of shrine, a kind +of hermitage or chapel, wherein two devotees, two nun-like, holy +women consume the hours; leading there, pious, penitential lives, +making each day a sort of hallowed tide, and every eve a vigil." + +"You are humorous," replied the seigneur. "Excuse me, I am sorry, +but it were best that I should speak plainly. I would not wish to +see your ward dishonored." + +"Dishonored! not a seigneur, nor a seigneur's son dare dream of +such a consummation, nor, daring so to dream, could compass it," +cried the advocate, growing crimson. "Yet this is kind of you;" he +added, bowing as if deeply grateful;--"and yet," he continued, +"there can be no fear of an offence: is not your son a clergyman? +for, if he be, and they confess to him anything worse than to have +admitted him to their confidence--why, sir, he shall be allowed to +enter, and shrive them when he chooses;" and after a momentary +silence, "Fie! fie!" he resumed, rolling in his chair; "'the fool +hath said in his heart there is no God,' and the wise man of +Mainville, who has been all his life looking for purity in a +petticoat, says 'there is no virtue in woman.' But I say, both +these oracles are in the wrong; there is not only a Divinity, but +there are women too who are virtuous. This is a clumsy jest, sir. +My ward be dishonored by your son? Yes, when the diamond can be +cut with a feather. Monsieur Montigny, a tempest is as harmless as +a breath, when that tempest is being hurled against the rock; a +breath is even as effectual as is a tempest, when that breath is +puffed against the dust. So buzzing blandishments of sighing fops, +may blow the frail flowerets from weak, wanton natures; whilst +vehement vows of otherwise most honorable men, though urged as +strongly as the northern blast, are in vain against the marble +front of virtue. I am marble to your wishes." + +"You weigh your danger as little as you do your language," observed +the seigneur. "Will you permit a trespasser, a tempter within your +grounds; a wolf, a fox, a bear within your fold?" + +The advocate shrugged his shoulders and replied: "No, heaven +forbid;--and Stillyside is to me as an outer court of heaven, +wherein my ward dwells as a sort of semi-solitary angel." + +"Yet angels fell, and so may she fall," interjected the seigneur +quickly. + +"They did, and without a tempter, too, Monsieur Montigny," returned +the advocate, quietly; then added: "the height of heaven turned +the heads of the angels giddy." + +"Girls are giddy." remarked the seigneur gravely. + +"Boys are more frequently foolish," drily retorted the advocate: +"and often coming to girls for kisses, go away with cuffs. I hope +your son has neither sought for the one nor yet received the other. +But what is this son, Monsieur Montigny, that you would have me +believe to be so formidable? Is he another Lucifer, couched at my +Ward's ear, as his dark prototype once squatted at that of Eve? Or +is he Lothario alive again? Is he Leander, and are the Ottawa's +jaws a western Hellespont, with my ward and Stillyside, for Hero +and her tower?" + +"Your verandah," remarked the seigneur, "is not higher than was +Hero's tower, although, I trust, your ward's virtue may be more +exalted than was Hero's. But are you aware, sir, that already my +son has had her company, alone, at midnight, on your grounds; all +others retired; she alone watching, with Claude Montigny and the +broad, full moon?" + +"An actionable moon," exclaimed the lawyer, "and a decided case of +lunacy against the lovers. But, alas, sir, in this respect we have +all been sinners in our youth, and all grown wondrous righteous +with our years. Have we not ourselves, when we were young,--ay, +and upon inclement winter nights too, courted brown peasant girls +beneath both stars and moon? What if the nights were cold, the +blood was warm; and now with these volcanic veins of ours grown +cool, why, we may walk on the quenched crater of concupiscence, +and who dares challenge us, and say, ha, ha! smut clings to you, +gentlemen; you have the smell of fire upon you. No, sir, no: we +are fumigated, ventilated, scented, powdered, purged as with hyssop. +Pish! he must be truly an Ethiop, whom time cannot whiten; a very +leopard, who will not part with his spots, since the sun himself +shall lose _his_ some day, purged in his own fires." + +"I repeat, sir, your ward is in danger," said the seigneur doggedly. + +"Not at all. Is the diamond in danger when it is put into the +crucible; is the gold deteriorated when it is being deterged from +dross?" was responded. + +"Infatuated man, would you open the door to the seducer?" asked +the seigneur, growing angry with the contumelious lawyer. + +"Seducer!" said the advocate, affecting to be shocked: "that is a +huge stone to throw at your own son: and remember; is not every +man's frame a glass house, whereat the soul that inhabits it should +invite no stone throwing from the little red catapult of a neighbour's +tongue? Beware, beware; have mercy, Monsieur Montigny. 'All flesh +is grass,' the Prophet proclaims; but I assert. 'All flesh is +glass.'" + +"A woman's reputation is as brittle," was the seigneur's ready +repartee; "therefore warn off my son from Stillyside." + +"But should he not regard me, sir, what then?" + +"Brandish the law over him, your chosen weapon," answered the +seigneur. + +The lawyer suddenly looked grave, and, affecting to be offended, +demanded sternly: "Monsieur Montigny, am I a mere mechanic to do +your bidding? Brandish the law indeed! Is, then, the law but an +ordinary cudgel, to thwack the shoulders with or beat the brains +out? The law, sir, is a sacred weapon, not to be lightly taken up, +neither to be profanely applied to paltry uses, any more than we +would take the tempered razor to pick a bone, or pare our cheese +with. Brandish the law! The man that can talk of brandishing the +law would brandish a piece of the true cross, sir, if he had it; +he would drink, sir, from his mother's skull, and with his father's +thigh-bones play at shinty. What is the law? What less is it than +the will and force of all employed for one; the savage sense of +justice, disciplined and drilled till it can move in regular array, +invincibly, to conquer wrong; surely too vast an engine to be +employed on trifles. Who wants a wheel to break a butterfly upon; +or, to crush a worm who calls for a pavior's rammer? Monsieur +Montigny, listen. Mercy is Heaven's first attribute, and the +executioner is the State's meanest, as well as last, servant; shall +I, then, stoop to this, who may aspire to that? Shall I wield a +whip of legal scorpions before your son, should he seek to re-enter +Stillyside? Would you have me, as once Heaven's cherubim stood at +the gates of Paradise, with fiery swords turning all ways, to hinder +its ejected tenants from breaking back into the garden,--would you +have me, I say, stand at my gates at Stillyside, and, meeting young +Montigny, flourish in his face a fist full of fasces, in the form +of threatened pains and penalties? No; your suit, sir, is denied: +you take nothing by your motion." + +"Dare you deny," retorted the seigneur, loudly, and with a look of +coming triumph; "dare you deny that you are privy to their intimacy; +will you assert that you--yourself unseen--have not witnessed my +son in secret, midnight conversation with your ward at Stillyside; +there overheard them interchanging vows of endless love, and dealing +declarations of devotedness unto each other;--I ask you; did you +not hear and see these doings, and, even when you did at length +surprise the pair, did you not by failing to condemn their folly, +give it your silent sanction?" + +"Something of this I did," said the advocate coolly, "for I remembered +some rather liberal breathings of my own when I was young,--and +youth will have its fling,--nay, do not bite your lip, but listen. +Monsieur Montigny, thus far we have met guile with guile. Just like +two wily fencers, both of us, waiting to spy our advantage, have +still witheld the lunge, until, at last, you, having grown desperate, +have rushed into the close. Yet, do not let your anger overbear +discretion. The heated iron hisses when it is plunged into the +trough, but shall we hiss at each other like geese or serpents? +Shall we quarrel, deny the undeniable, try to undo the accomplished +deed? What is done is done, and not Omnipotence itself, sir, could +undo it." + +"But we may hinder further evil," observed the seigneur. + +"Ay? Would you keep out the lightning by high builded walls?" +demanded the advocate, "for you are as likely to accomplish that, +as to keep lovers from each other. No, let them alone, for they +are as climbing Titans towards their wishes' skies; despising +guardians' gates and fathers' fences, just as much as did Briareus +and his crew disdain its rugged sides, and risk their necks up +steep Olympus, when they were making war on Jove. You cannot bar +them. The sun may be debarred from attics, and frost may be kept +out of cellars, but, Monsieur Montigny, the mutually enamoured can +never be permanently parted. Sir, no more." + +"Enamoured he, and she at length dishonoured," cried the seigneur, +disregarding the injunction. + +"Her honour is its own sufficient guardian," was responded. + +"Have regard, sir, to your future peace," was urged. + +"Peace, sir, like silence, never comes for calling for," rejoined +the advocate. + +"Impracticable man, have you no fear?" demanded the foiled Montigny +upbraidingly. + +"None for my ward; I hope you have as little for your son," said, +the lawyer sarcastically. + +"Your ward invites my son, by sitting upon the verandah at midnight, +to attract him when he passes by, as the Hebrew woman, Tamar, once +sat to decoy the foolish Judah. Do you deny this? I have learned +all, all," outburst the indignant seigneur. + +"Do I deny it?" cried the advocate, the blood, in anger, rushing +to his face. "Dare you affirm it? Monsieur, if you mean seriously +to asperse my ward, I say, prepare;--not for the action of the +law,--no, no, I hate the law, when it is cited for myself,--but +for the action of an old man's arm. Sir, I have been a swordsman +in my youth, and though the lank skeleton of my skill at fence is +buried in disuse, it moves now in the grave of this right hand, +that so long has wielded only the quiet quill. I do not bid you +quail; not I,--but, by the angry devil of the duel, you answer me, +either sword point to sword point; or from the pointing pistol, +that shall speak both sharp and decisive, and the dotting bullet, +perhaps, put a period to your proud life's scrawl. But no; I am +grown too old to have recourse to violence. Away, go, go; but, mind +you, do not breathe this calumny into a human ear,--no, not into +the air. Shame, shame! you are no noble minded man, to villify my +ward and your own son; whom, if I accounted to be as strangely base +as you have shown yourself to be, and have depicted him, I would +forbid to tread within my gates, and hound him from my door at +Stillyside." + +"Words only anger you," said the astonished and half daunted +seigneur. + +"Such words as yours have been:" was replied. "What! do you expect +to strike upon a bank where bees have settled, yet not be stung; +or dream to be allowed to draw the bare hand, clasping down a sword, +but not be wounded?" + +"What shall I say, yet not offend you?" soothingly enquired Montigny. + +"Say what you will," the advocate continued: "what can be worse +than what you have said already?" + +"Hear me," said the seigneur, in the manner of one who is going to +make, a confidential proposal: "Either remove your ward, and +receive a compensation for her absence, or quickly marry her, and +I will provide her with a dower." + +"Now you are indeed a generous gentleman," said the advocate, +smiling; "You must have built churches, surely, or founded hospitals, +and always have dealt out dollars liberally to the deserving. But +you are wealthy, and can do these things without being impoverished. +It is fortunate that you are wealthy, for I shall accept of no +paltry sum. Only imagine, to have to banish her; to quench, or to +remove, the very beam that fills my life with light. You must be +liberal, if you would have me exile her Come, sign me a bond for +what I shall demand." + +"You are in haste," observed the seigneur, somewhat startled at +the advocate catching so readily at the bait; but the latter was +ready with his reply: + +"Because your son may now be at Stillyside, and, whilst we are +haggling, may carry off my ward,--or I might change my mind," he +answered. + +"And I, too, may change mine," was the rejoinder. + +"Why, then, we are quits;" observed the advocate carelessly, and +as if all parley were at an end; "we are as we were, and, for the +young ones, they are as they were; but if I know the force of +youthful blood, you, with all your endeavours, will not be able +long to keep them apart." + +"What is your price for her expatriation?" demanded the seigneur +sullenly, as if coming to terms; and the advocate replied: + +"No, marry her, marry her; we will have her married. We either +marry her or do nothing in this business, sir, which, after all, +were, perhaps, best left to those who have most interest in it;--but +if you think differently, be it yours to find the money, I will +find the match:--and let it be understood, that you find her a +dowry which would be fitting for a seigneur's daughter; or else, +without a dowry, I shall not scruple to give her to a seigneur's +son. Why are you silent?" + +The proud, perplexed parent made no answer, but secretly, groaned +in his dilemma, and at length exclaimed: "Insatiate old man, have +you no son, the thought of which may teach you to be just towards +me and mine? What do I ask of you? Little,--or what would cost you +little, yet you ask a fortune of me; and to enrich, too, one, whom, +as a punishment, I have reason rather to desire should always be +poor. Do not deny it; she has ensnared my son. It is impossible, +that he who has roamed over half the world, and has yet come home +uncaptivated, though in his travels he has met the fairest and the +richest, can have been caught at the mere passing by your farm of +Stillyside, can at a glance have been so smitten as to meditate +this marriage. No, he has been decoyed, seduced. You might as well +declare that a young eagle would not return to its nest, but plunge +into some casually discovered coop, and roost there, as aver that, +without some irregular influence, Claude Montigny would seek your +ward in marriage. If she marry him, she will marry a beggar: not +an acre of mine shall he inherit, not a dollar of mine will he +receive. Give her a dowry? Give her a dukedom. No, sir; I will +not buy brass from you at the price of gold; will not subsidize +you to avoid your ward." And, with the words, he bowed himself out +of the room, and the advocate, casting himself backwards in his +easy chair, laughing, exclaimed: "Was ever such a proposition +started?--started! yes; and shall eventually be carried. It is not +what we do, but it is the motive that induced the deed, that gives +the color to it. She shall be Madam Montigny, in spite of old +Montigny's self; and for her dowry, (which I asked Montigny to +provide, only that it might be returned to him through his son), +I'll mortgage my old brains to procure it for her." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + While you here do snoring lie + Open-ey'd conspiracy + His time doth take: + If of life you keep a care. + Shake off slumber, and beware: + Awake! Awake! + + _The Tempest._ + +Amongst the seigniories contiguous to the eastern extremity of the +island of Montreal, lies that of Montboeuf. Its present owner was +André Duchatel, a descendent of the Sieur Duchatel, a cadet of an +ancient French noble family, to whom the seigniory was granted by +royal letters patent, about the middle of the seventeenth century. +But if any nobility of soul, or refinement of aspect existed in +the first of the Canadian dynasty of Duchatel, it had not been +transmitted to the living representative of the line. As the long +hung-up sword or unused ploughshare, lose their brightness and edge +from want of use, perhaps these qualities of mind and body had +disappeared for want of a fitter field for their display. André +Duchatel, seigneur of Montboeuf, was a vulgar looking, short, +broad-set, florid figure, of fifty years or so; material in his +tastes, in disposition obstinate and narrow-minded, unenlarged by +education; shy with strangers, yet fond of good fellowship with +his acquaintance, and, with much reason, accounted to be rich. He +was a widower, but lived in a kind of surly, patriarchal state, in +the midst of three sons and a daughter: the former being dissipated +and sensual, the latter of a showy person, but in character, +superficial, vain, vindictive, proud. + +An intimacy had long existed between the houses of Montigny and +Duchatel, which, in spite of their different genius, had for +generations continued as it were to shake hands across the island. +The latter family, though equal to the former in wealth and pedigree, +secretly acknowledged it as the superior, and with a view to an +alliance between the two, Seraphine Duchatel, even when a child, +was a frequent visitor at Mainville; her relations hoping that +thereby, she and Claude Montigny might become inspired with a mutual +liking, the prelude to their desired union. + +This union, it was understood, was to be cemented on the part of +Duchatel, by the gift, as her marriage portion, of a tract of land +adjoining the seigniory of Mainville, and at present the property +of André Duchatel; but which, at the nuptials, would be added to +the Montigny manor, as a sort of arrière fief, and so gratify the +craving of the elder Montigny for territorial aggrandizement. The +splendid person of Claude had long ago caught the slight affections +of Seraphine, who in her visits to Mainville, would hang upon him, +much to his distaste, and persist to make him her reluctant cavalier, +though neither her blandishments nor his father's wishes could +induce him to return these visits, or appear to reciprocate her +preference. Nor would a closer and wider acquaintance with the +Duchatels have lessened his reluctance. The eldest son, Samson, +was a colossal bully, dividing his time between field sports, +intemperance, and intrigues with the daughters of the censitors on +his father's seigniory; or in yet lower illicit amours with the +peasant girls of the manorial village; varied by occasional journeys, +made more for debauchery than business, to the city of Montreal. +The second scion of the house, Pierre, was a good-enough looking, +and Hot ill-disposed youth; whom his father, as if willing to offer +up his choicest lamb for the sins of the family fold, had intended +for the church. But the former had far other intentions towards +the fair than absolving them from their peccadilloes, and entertained, +other ideas of foreign travel than that of going on distant Indian +missions; whilst the youngest brother, Alphonse, was an unbroken +colt and madcap, articled to one of the principal legal firms in +the city. Although in years he was but ancle deep, he was already +in potations full five fathoms; a worthy graduate of the +licentiousness of the town, and boon companion of the dissolute +Narcisse; whom, in a giddy moment he had made acquainted with the +family matrimonial design on young Montigny. Narcisse, in his turn, +had a domestic story, that instinct, revenge, and a mother's command +impelled him to relate, and which he told to the rollicking, but +now attentive Alphonse, with a wicked glee, raised by the prospect +of mischief. A discovery had been made by his brooding and despised +parent. Chance had thrown in her way an opportunity for which she +had watched for years. Mona Macdonald had visited the advocate at +his dwelling, and her presence had stirred not only the womanly +curiosity of the lynx-eyed Babet Blais, but her malicious jealousy +of one whom she could never but regard as a hateful and favored +rival. So, overhearing them in earnest conversation in the library, +she, with the unrestrained enjoyment of a low, untutored nature, +stole to the door, that was slightly ajar, and there, with her ear +applied to the interstice, learned the circumstance of the discovered +interview between Claude and Amanda at Stillyside, with their +plighted troth, not disapproved of by the advocate. Swelling with +envy and anger, and recollecting what Narcisse had told her of the +predilection, and hopes of Alphonse Duchatel's sister in regard to +Claude Montigny, she, with an intent to dash the proud prospect +which seemed to be opening before the child of an odious--and as +she deemed, unlawful competitor for the advocate's favors, conceived +the spiteful idea of informing the Duchatels of what she had just +discovered. Further to instigate her, all the real and all the +fancied wrongs that her son had suffered from his father rose up +before her, magnified by her imagination, and prompting her to the +gratification of her unreasoning spleen. Her purpose was soon put +into execution. That night Narcisse came home sober; and giving +him some warm supper, followed by a delicacy that she had set aside +for him as a dessert, and which, with a half human, half animal +affection, she watched him devour, she broke the subject to him. +He grinned with an infantile delight, as he heard the important +secret, and discussed with her the project that might hinder the +good fortune of the haughty foundling, whose disdain had long +chagrined him, and under the recollection of whose scorn during +the recent raid on Stillyside, he was yet smarting. With heightened +pleasure she beheld his joyful interest, and, warming with his +sympathy, whilst she gloated over the anticipated revenge, she +exclaimed, as her face assumed a dark, prophetic aspect: "Yes, we +will humble that mongrel, and her proud, petted child. What better +are they than we, what nearer to thy father? See how I toil, and +do his drudgery; keep him a home, who, but for me, would have no +home, and no one to care for him. Yet no fine country house for +me, fine clothes, rich presents; no fine gifts for thee, my child, +no endless schooling, no sending _thee_ to travel; no allowance, +no expense to help to make of thee a gentleman, like his endeavours +to make her child a lady; no fine lady sought for thee to be thy +wife, Narcisse; no closetings for me, who, but for her, had been +thy father's wife, and not his servant. But God and the virgin have +at last heard our prayers. Narcisse, my darling, tell Alphonse +Duchatel all that I have told thyself. Bid him quickly inform his +father, brothers, sister; and if they have French blood in their +veins they will balk this half-breed and her daughter brat." + +Never was there an apter pupil than Narcisse proved now; never a +willinger. Scarcely could he refrain from at once rushing forth to +find his friend, Alphonse; and he did at length arise with the +blessing and Godspeed of his mother, intending to inform him, +touching the rival who had so far and so suddenly outstripped his +sister on the road of Claude's regard, when the voice of the advocate +was heard calling upon his son to attend him in the room above. +Narcisse obeyed; but filled with a sentiment of rising rebellion +and new-born insolence, as of one who intends no longer to lie +checked, nor submit to unmerited harshness and tyranny. There the +two had an altercation, provoked by the old grudges, and aggravated +by Narcisse's recent dissipation, escapade, and neglect of duty, +and still more sharpened by his present pertness and contumacy. +Anger rose high between parent and child, and the latter, in +unconcealed dudgeon flung from the room, and left the house, his +breast charged with a spiteful purpose: and going straight to the +lodgings of Alphonse Duchatel, he told all--and more than all--that +he had learned respecting the menaced alliance between the children +of Mainville and Montboeuf. + +Burning with the information, the young and impetuous Alphonse +scarcely slept that night, and in the morning, haying obtained +leave of absence, rode swiftly to his paternal home, and, in sudden, +solemn family council, declared what he had learned of danger to +the connubial scheme that had long been planned for his sister and +the distinction of their house. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell." + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + + "Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes." + + _Othello._ + +Whilst the news that Claude Montigny had given, to a girl of dubious +birth and uncertain social position, the heart, for the possession +of which the supercillious Seraphine Duchatel had so long striven +in vain, was disturbing the souls of the Montboeuf Manorhouse, the +seigneur of Mainville, ill at ease, and apprehensive of a hasty +and irremediable matrimonial step on the part of his son, started +for Montreal again to visit the intractable advocate. + +Later in the same day, Claude also took horse, and rode towards +the banks of the Ottawa, where he arrived at dusk, and crossing at +the ferry from the main to Sainte Anne, he thence, solitary, and +filled with checquered thoughts, continued his way, whilst the +ground grew dimmer and yet dimmer, and star after star stole out; +till, as the moon rose slowly in the glimmering air, he reached +the neighbourhood of dim Mount Royal. + +At the same hour that the large bateau was heaving its way over +the vexed flood of the meeting waters of the Saint Lawrence and +the Ottawa, four horsemen crossed a rustic bridge, that led from +the mainland to the opposite, or eastern extremity of the Island +of Montreal. One of the riders was of gigantic stature, and another +of diminutive proportions; and all were clad in the coarse grey +frieze suit of the country, and wore upon their heads the common +blue cap or tuque. Pursuing their way, they kept to the least +frequented paths; endeavouring to avoid recognition; until the +coming night concealed them, and they journeyed beneath the decrescent +and feebly shining moon. + +And now, whilst such was transpiring at the extremities of the +Island, at Stillyside, its centre, the curtains had been drawn, +and the lighted lamp, with its frosted glass globe, shone serene +and silvery, like a minor and domestic moon. Mona Macdonald sat +sewing near a table, whilst Amanda read aloud. On a sofa a lazy +lapdog dreamed, the parrot slept on its swing, and the bullfinch +on the perch in its cage, and in the pauses of Amanda's voice, the +drowsy cat was heard purring in its evening doze. Nothing was heard +without, except the fitful bark of the Newfoundland dog at some +stray passer by; and, at length, even that had ceased; Mona's needle +was laid aside, the domestics, obedient to the early habits of +country life, were abed, Mona herself had now retired, and Amanda +being left alone, nothing was heard but the measured ticking of +the old clock on the corner of the stairs. The lamp had been taken +away by the departing Mona, and in the obscurity, the moonbeams +fell in grey streaks adown the damask curtains; and after a brief +meditation on the subject of her reading, Amanda rose, noiselessly +ascended the carpeted stairs to her room, approached the window, +drew aside the drapery, and gazed towards Mainville. Thus had she +done each night since the memorable interview with Claude Montigny; +and now not less long did she linger there, but longer; nor thought +of retiring, till, startled at the approaching sound of horses, +she hastily re-closed the curtains; the sound ceased, and she began +slowly to undress. But her thoughts were elsewhere; and, falling +into a reverie, she sat with her raised fingers still upon her +dress, that she was about to withdraw from before her snowy bosom, +when again she heard the sound of hoofs on the road, and soon a +shaking of reins near the gate, and champing of the bit, mingled +with the smothered growl of the awakened Newfoundlander. Divining +the cause, and seized with trembling, she arose, again threw aside +the curtains, and beheld in the moonlight a figure advancing up +the lawn. A moment she gazed upon the apparition; then, scarcely +knowing what she did, opened the folding window, and half within +and half without her chamber, leaning forward into the night, +demanded in a piercing whisper of enquiry and alarm: "Who comes +there? Speak, is it Claude Montigny?" + +"It is I, my love, for by what name shall you be called, yet dearer, +worthier than love?" responded the subdued, yet full, clear voice +of Claude. Then, drawing nearer, he continued in an enraptured +tone: + +"Oh, my lady, oh, my heart, my love, my life; my mistress now, my +wife that is to be: my breath, my soul; my hope, my happiness, my +all in all; fair presence--but in vain my tongue seeks for the word +that shall embody you, and, like the hunted hare returning to its +form, so does my soul return to that word, love. My love, then, be +it, for you are my love, you are my life henceforward; nor shall +the hereafter part us, for wherever you are there unto me will +still he heaven. Oh, my love, is it not kind of fortune thus to +call you forth? a favorable omen of the issue of this night. Oh, +come forth, my love; come forth, and make a hallowed aisle of the +verandah." + +"Alas!" exclaimed Amanda, stepping to the verandah, "why have you +ventured here again so soon,--or, rather, why so late? for are +there not ruffian robbers on the road, and all the secret perils +of the night?" + +"No peril equals that of absence from yourself," said Claude, "for +passion has greater perils than the road. Cupid's arrows are more +terrible to him whose breast is bared by the absence of its mistress, +than would be at the traveller's throat the armed and threatening +hands of fifty ruthless robbers. But how have you fared since we +were so rudely parted?" + +Amanda sighed. "But so so;" she murmured mournfully, "it is a slight +burn that does not smart a little when the scorched part is snatched +away from the fire:" and hanging down her head bashfully, repeated, +"But so so:--I have felt an unaccustomed care--of little +consequence,--but, oh, tell me, Montigny, how your father, the +proud, rich seigneur takes this matter, for I know you would inform +him of it. Is he not incensed, not angry; does he not upbraid you, +and call me evil, and perhaps deserved, hard names?" + +"He has expostulated with me;" Claude responded; "yet not with too +much earnestness, knowing love's fires are blown by opposition. +How seems your guardian?" + +"How shall I dare to meet him!" murmured Amanda musing. + +"Do not fear him;" Claude rejoined: "he will not chide you;--besides, +you shall be gone to-morrow. I come to-night, a Jason for the golden +fleece, and may not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and +my desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and will not, +returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless they shall be freighted +with your form. Mine own one, do not stand transfixed like death +in life, but live here no longer; leave it, and live with me for +ever, for from where you are my feet shall never stray. Do not +misdoubt me: though man were as faithless as it is said that woman +is fickle, yet I were loyal towards _you_, whom I implore to be my +affianced to-night, my bride to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!--Oh, so soon," exclaimed Amanda, starting. + +"It will be a thousand years till then;" interposed Montigny; "and +yet it will be the glad millenium, since you shall reign amidst my +meditations, and towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints. +This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed you mine by +the great sacrament of marriage will be glory, such as the saved +soul experiences when, in Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure, +and proof against the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent. +Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate? Amanda, be +immediately mine. What are your thoughts? What are you that transports +me with impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being, and +become one with yourself in history and fate? Our fate commands; +let us obey it, since, what is fate's behest, but Heaven's directing +voice; what is our destiny, but the deed which we perceive may not +be left undone." + +"Rash man, forbear;" pronounced Amanda, her face darkening with +displeasure; "you counsel me to evil. Though I would esteem you as +I would some annunciating angel, beyond impeachment of veracity, +and bent on a generous errand, you seem as a fallen spirit now; +tempting me, not enlightening. No, Montigny, no. Shall I deceive +my guardian so kind, shall I defraud your house, your father, you? +I, who have no fortune, nor--as is your lot--upon my name, neither +the rime and hoar of silver, new renown, nor golden rust of brown +antiquity,--the dust of ages in heroic deeds, lying on your +escutcheon, dyeing it as the dust that dapples the bright insect's +wings;--shall I, I say, come and lie like to a bar sinister across +it? for what else should I be considered by your indignant friends, +except, indeed, a shadow on your brightness, a shame across your +honour?" and she hung her head in despairing sadness, whilst Montigny +thus replied: + +"Oh, shame on me, to hear you so self-slandered! Friends! mistaken +friends. And what although my father and the world esteemed you my +inferior; what were their estimation unto me; and, compared with +you, what is the value of heraldic honours and traditionary glory +heaped upon the dead, which is, in truth, too often only as the +phosphorescent glimmer that hangs upon decay: what are these gauds +to me, who count you to be far above the worth of monumental effigy, +or marble mask, my living love; whom I will set,--not in the tomb +of cold, pale porphyry, nor in a sable, slabbed sarcophagus, but +breathing, and enshrined in fortune's framing gold. Fastidious +girl, and prouder than the proud Montignys, listen to me, listen. +We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the +lonely sea;--we are as two ships that, being long from port, have, +sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed +and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. Have +you not given me yours? If you have not, why, then, return me mine." + +"Then were I poor indeed," replied Amanda. + +"Yet I were poorer without yours," retorted Claude, "poorer than +he who begs his bread. I wish I had to beg my bread for you, then +richly should you fare; for who, when I should crave for love of +you, (as mendicants ask alms for love of heaven), could then refuse +me? Oh, refuse no longer my request. Estimate not my fortune, but +appraise myself; and whatsoever you may deem to be my value, account +your own worth as being ten thousand times that sum. Still take +me, a mere miserable doit; an earnest, an instalment towards the +payment of the debt of love and loyalty, that shall require a life +to liquidate, then leave me bankrupt in untold arrears." + +"I should forgive the debt, even before you could have asked +forgiveness." replied Amanda, smiling, though much moved; "and yet +I would not leave you perfectly absolved, but still retain you by +some small reminder, some power of execution over you--not to be +exercised towards you to your hurt--far from it, but I would be +absolute that I might shew you mercy; even as noblest kings have +been despotic, and in their day have delighted in dispensing pardon. +So would I be towards you;--or even as the King of Kings--to speak +it reverently--who, of His boundless goodness and, free grace, +remits the debts and manifold trespasses of us, his poor, defaulting +creatures." + +"Go on, for it is bliss to hear you," murmured Claude. + +"Nay, I have done;--what have I said?" she quietly enquired of him. + +"Would you unsay it?" he demanded eagerly. + +"Only to say it again," she answered blushing,--"yet I fear I have +babbled strangely;--but, remember, I was never wooed before, nor +answered wooer; so, being a novice in love's archery, it may be +that the gust of a too ardent breath has caught my words, and from +my meaning wafted them awry." + +"And can a fountain yield both bitter and sweet?" demanded Claude: +"or are you as changeful as is yon waning moon?" he asked half +chidingly. + +"Rather consider me to be as is the sun, that knows no change of +aspect throughout the livelong year; or, if it vary, swells its +orb in winter," she observed, "even as I would now appear to you +with fuller favor, amidst this young acquaintance's chilly prospect." + +"Chilly! it is summer wherever lovers cast their eyes, the bright +Bermudas. Do not libel love, nor our sweet fortunes." cried Claude +impetuously: "For me, there never will be winter where you are; +and why, when I am with you, should you thus seem to shiver, as it +were, in the shadow of November?" + +"I am no casuist," she said, "and yet it would appear to be too +selfish in me, too much like to fraud, should I accept all that +you offer me, such vast and personal advantage, and for which I +bring you no equivalent, no dower, no estate; nothing to counterpoise +the wide possessions that you will inherit;--nothing that may +conciliate your family, rich in material things and heaped with +honors,--save my poor love;--and what were that?" + +"More than them all," ejaculated Claude, "but why these scruples? +In human hearts love is not placed against love, as in the scales +the commodity is placed against the weight; neither is it exchanged +for land, or bartered for position; but it is always given, and is +the donor's whole, unmeasured and immeasurable. It is infinite, +growing whilst it is being given, even as the horizon grows upon +the eye of him who travels towards it. It is because _it must_ be; +it is unselfish; nay, unto itself it is unjust; often giving the +most where it receives the least; possessing nothing, yet possessing +all, if it possesses but all its object's heart. It is towards its +object as is the encircling and cloud-breeding sea unto the verdant +island, encompassing, and in soft showers, shedding itself over +it. As the sea sheds itself in soft showers upon the island, so do +I shed my fondness, and would shed my fortune, over you, and in +return seek for yourself,--no more, for what more could you give, +what more could I receive, who count all else as worthless dross. +What hinders then our marriage?" + +"Your father," was replied. + +"He would not consent unto our nuptials though I should pray him +on my bended knees, so obstinate and unyielding is his pride," +asseverated Claude. + +"My guardian, too, is proud," answered Amanda. + +"Let us not wait, but wed without, and not against their leave, +then;" Montigny urged adroitly:--"but your guardian will consent: +he has avowed as much unto me privately; so, mark; when morning +brings the daylight to the east, be ready. Meet me beyond these +grounds; when we will hasten to the village of Saint Laurent, and +there be married. The deed being thus achieved, none will oppose, +for before the irrevocable all rebuke is dumb." + +"And so am I to this," was replied with dignity. + +"Yet let me speak:" Montigny urged with desperate eagerness, "let +me persuade you, for to this pass it must come; then let it come +at once, since each day will cause the path thereunto to grow more +rugged. My father's storm of threats, my mother's deluge of tears, +will make the way impassable and past repair. You falter; your +silence speaks consent; you are convinced, and yield to the necessity +for this ungracious consummation. Good night. To-morrow early, meet +me at the church of Saint Laurent, all shall be ready,--pray offer +no remonstrance;--meet me there at ten,--the priest is my fast +friend;--nay, do not grieve, but say good night; to-morrow you +shall smile:--goodnight, good night;" and kissing his hand to her, +before she could reply, the impetuous lover reached the postern, +and, vaulting into the saddle, vanished. + +Paralyzed with amazement and apprehension, Amanda stood motionless +and dumb. She would have called on Claude to return, but dare not, +lest she should alarm the slumbering inmates of the house, and she +was still standing irresolute and helpless, when something was +suddenly thrown over her face, shrouding her in darkness, and before +she could resist she was lifted from her feet, hurried across the +lawn in a diverse direction from that taken by Claude, and on +arriving on the road, swung into a lofty saddle. A huge arm from +some one seated behind received her, passing around her waist, and +feeling like the coil of a boa-constrictor; and, amidst the sound +of several persons mounting in haste, spurs were struck into the +sides of the large animal, that reared with a vast bound which +nearly dismounted its riders; and at once, as it seemed, a troop +were flying with her at the top of their speed along the road. Half +fainting from terror, and stifling in the folds of some coarse +envelopment, she was unable to utter a cry for help, and the +cavalcade scoured along its way. One seemed to ride before them, +and the rest behind. No one spoke, but her companion on the crupper +grasped her tightly, like a relentless fate, and onwards they still +bounded, and the deeply spurred steeds in agony of exertion stretched +themselves to the task, and still they flew, and still Amanda strove +to recover her voice; till as the dumb, in some moment of mortal +terror, are said to have found speech, she, with accents, that, +bursting through the thick veil, rung amidst the night, shrieked +out the name of Claude Montigny. A low, chuckling laugh arose around +her, followed by a curse, and a hoarse threat of violence from the +figure that rode on the crupper, who at the same time again dug +spurs into the flanks of the courser, that once more, with its +huge, responding bound nearly dismounted its riders; and prompted +is it seemed by fear of a rescue, the rate accelerated till the +troop was scouring over the ground with the flight of a tempest. +Confused with terror, and alarmed at the threats of her powerful +keeper, she remained silent, unable to divine in what direction +they were hurrying; but felt that her captor and custodian kept +looking behind, as if afraid of some one in pursuit; and the killing +pace appeared to rise yet higher, and the animals to quiver in +quick bounds like mortal throes, as the spurs were plied up to the +rowels, and the creatures seemed to swallow the ground, until again +overall burst, as might the shriek of an imprisoned gnome, from +beneath her envelopment, the cry of Amanda calling upon the name +of Claude Montigny. + +"Forward! faster, yet faster!" cried a voice in rage and apprehension; +and with renewed application of whip and spur, the party tore along +the road, shaking it as the prairie is shaken when it is swept over +by a herd of buffaloes. + +[Illustration: "The party tore along the road, shaking it as the +prairie shakes when it is swept over by a herd of buffaloes."] + +"Claude, Claude!" she again shrieked, and now in addition to the +thick cowl, a huge hand was placed upon her mouth, a threat of +instant death came from the terrible voice behind her, the grip +tightened round her form, and, making her darkness yet darker, at +that moment the clouds, that had been lately gathering, covered +the moon. Soon the way divided before them. To the left it meandered +half hidden with trees, to the right it loomed straight and open, +leading to Montreal, and the motion of the horses, now abreast and +flinging foam from their bits, seemed like the tossing of the +boiling rapids, and amidst the thunder of the hoofs the hoarse +voice of him who rode behind her, hissing with earnestness and fear +like an excited Python, exclaimed: + +"Brother, and you, master Imp, make for the city; away!" And soon, +from the diminished sound, she knew that they had parted company +with a portion of her convoy. She could hear, too, that the remaining +horseman of the four, for that had been the number, had now fallen +into the rear, and, soon, she thought she heard through her mufflings +a voice crying as if commanding them to stay; and again she heard +it, but it had grown fainter, and wider from the track they were +pursuing, and now nothing was heard but the sound of their impetuous +course through the wood. This was soon cleared, when their speed +seemed to relax, and the hard breathing of the overstrained beasts, +proclaimed how much the chase had told upon them; and at last the +veil was slightly raised, a large, coarse visage peered under it, +and the hoarse voice enquired mockingly: "How fares my bird? We +will let a little light into its cage, if it will promise to sing +no more. What says my hooded crow?" and a titanic and convulsive +hug followed, causing her to shrink with pain, and revolt in disgust +and horror; feelings which changed to mortal apprehension, when +the same lascivious looking ruffian bade his now sole male companion +ride on before. The latter made no answer, but dashed up alongside, +and gazed into the face of Amanda as he passed, with an air of +curiosity mingled with admiration and respect. There was in him a +likeness to the sinistrous countenanced ogre behind her; yet he +was a rather handsome young fellow; and as the wind, caused by +their rapid course, blew backward his long, curly hair, he exhibited +a cast of honesty and openness in his aspect. The other seemed to +be impatient at his lingering, and growled: "Don't hang glowering +here; forwards, and warn me if any one approaches, that I may cover +up this toy." And whilst the monster readjusted the cowl to the +face of Amanda, his comrade again pricked the panting sides of his +own horse, that being lightlier laden than its fellow, easily shot +ahead. And thus they swept along the road, whilst the rising breeze +still drove the clouds over the face of the moon, and the race +seemed to have its fantastic counterpart in the wrack of the sky. +And now they silently journeyed, avoiding village and hamlet, by +making wide detours; but, in spite of their precautions, arousing +the bark of many a solitary cur, as they swept by each homestead +like an apparition. Even these incidents, and possible chances for +her rescue at length ceased, and the despairing Amanda, too proud +to vainly beg for her release from her stubborn captors, drew the +hood again over her face, and in the double darkness called upon +Heaven to be her protector and deliverer. That Claude had heard +her cries she felt assured; that he had pursued a portion of her +abductors towards Montreal, and would continue his efforts, with +those of her guardian and the inmates of Stillyside, to find and +recover her she did not doubt; but in the meantime what might she +not have to endure? And shrinking from the contemplation of the +uncertain gulf before her, she was at length recalled to a sense +of external things, by a sudden change of sound, from that of the +clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road, to one like the roll +of a distant peal of thunder, and telling her they were crossing +a rude wooden bridge, that led from the Island to the main. Then +for the first time the riders permanently abated their speed, and +their prisoner enquired of them whither they were carrying her. + +"Never mind that, my pretty passenger pigeon," replied the elder +with a ghoul-like grin; "you will not require to find your way hack +this year." And the foaming, exhausted animals, relieved from the +trying gallop, dropped into a feeble trot or lazy canter, whilst +Amanda gazed wistfully around to discover, some glimpse of dawn. +No certain sign of it, however, could she perceive on the circle +of the horizon, though all around there showed the whitened eaves +of the roof of gloomy clouds. Her companions, too, casting jealous +glances at each other in the obscurity, had become more mutually +taciturn; and the wind, that during the previous part of their +flight had risen, as if to be in keeping with the current violence, +had now fallen to a calm; and, proceeding thus, she continued to +tell the terrors of her situation, as they alternately glided +through the gloom of the clearing, or plunged into the denser +darkness of the forest; till at last she was startled by something +leaping against her feet, followed by the pleased but stifled +barking of a huge hound close by her, and at the same instant she +saw a woman bearing a lighted candle in her hand, emerge from a +hovel on the road side. The next moment the party were halted before +it, and the woman, holding up her light, shed its beams upon the +face and form of Amanda, whose arrival she seemed to have been +expecting; and after having fixed her eyes searchingly upon her, +turned them with a familiar and significant look on the still seated +ruffian. The light illuminated her own countenance as much as that +of Amanda, who, repelled by her manners and appearance, sat +motionless, and checked the appeal that was rising to her lips. +The redoubtable rider dismounted awkwardly from behind her, half +dragged her from the tall beast, and hurried her into the house. +The woman followed, and having closed the door, placed the candle +on a table, and sat down by the fire; when Amanda, still standing +in the midst of the miserable room, began: + +"Woman, what place is this? Where am I, and why have I been brought +hither?" then bursting into passionate grief: "Oh, woman, woman, +whosoever you are, save me, I implore you, from this man," find +with the words she sprang towards the door; but the churlish giant, +guessing her intention, intercepted, and bore her back, saying +"Keep quiet, gentle lady; have patience, bashful, beauty; sit down, +sit down; come pet, come." And he made as if to approach her; when, +forgetting the hazard of her position, and inspired with returning +native courage, with her heart swelling with womanly indignation, +and looking the vast figure in the face, she cried with an utterance +tremulous from grief and scorn: "Whither have you brought me, +villain, and for what end? Sirrah, come no nearer me: I am polluted +by your touch. Out, shameless wretch!" and again she rushed towards +the door, but found it resist her utmost efforts: and, baffled, +turning within, she once more addressed herself to the female, who +was now carelessly warming herself before some embers on the hearth. + +"Woman," she said, "for that you are one your form and garb assure +me, though your behaviour gives your exterior the lie; woman, if +you be one, save me. Charge this man--for you have influence with +him--to liberate me; oh! charge him to release me. Turn me into +the lane, into the field, or where you will; but let me leave this +house without delay." + +The female, with a grim smile, bade her recompose herself; whilst +the burly brute doggedly hinted to her that she would have to remain +some time in those parts, and might as well sit down and be content. +Perplexed at this second announcement of her intended restriction, +Amanda stood mute in fear and horror. To arouse the creature in +whose power she was might be immediately dangerous, but, for a +moment, to seem resigned to her abduction was impossible. Trembling +with dismay and sickening with apprehension, her limbs would scarcely +sustain her; and as she mentally revolved, looking wistfully around, +as if to spy any nook or cranny for escape, she at last exclaimed: + +"Again, I ask, why am I brought hither? Outlaw, who are you? wherein +have I wronged you, that you should drag me to I know not where? +What place is this, and why have you come with men as heartless as +yourself, stealing me from my home to bring me hither, and cast me +into this den?" and her bosom filled as she ended; but her hearer, +knowing no compunction, only answered with a sneer: "To clip your +wings, madam," then gave a low laugh, as if of self-applause at +his quickness of repartee, or the prospect of her humiliation, and +added: "Pray, miss, retire; you have not been abed to-night, and +watching is not good for English ladies' eyes." + +"Shameless!" she cried, looking upon him with unmitigable disdain, +"how dare you hint at rest within these walls? Return me to the +spot whence you have taken me; render me to my home, so desecrated, +so invaded by such felonious feet as yours. Felon, convey me to +my home at Stillyside, and there reinstate me; if indeed you have +the heart, as you have the outward semblance, of a man;" and, in +spite of her resentment, she burst into a flood of tears. + +But not even woman's tears could move his stolid disposition, or +melt his stony heart; and, looking at her with an expression akin +to contempt, he demanded: "What, take the bird back to the bush +where we have caught it? No, Besides at present you have taken a +long-enough ride, and when next you journey it must be further in +the same direction. You shall see the world, and learn how wide it +is; you shall have most excellent French society." + +"Oh, keep me, heaven, from such society as yours," she +ejaculated:--"base man!--but do you know to what you have exposed +yourself? Beware; I am not without friends both subtle and strong, +and one of whom will not be slow to punish you for this outrage. +Release me, stranger, or you shall be visited with his vengeance, +not to be trifled with, not to be risked with safety." + +"Ah, the old advocate," exclaimed the giant, with more bitterness +than he had hitherto manifested; "Outrage! he has himself outraged +too many of our race." + +"Ay, that he has;" the woman chimed in, whilst her eyes suddenly +glared dilating, and she looked menacingly at Amanda; "there is +Robitaille, and Lamoureux, and Paille, and myself, and Babet Blais, +--poor Babet! but her boy, _his_ boy, his own son, has paid him +down with sorrow, _he_ has punished him;--ha! ha!" and both she +and her Gorgon-like guest laughed a meaning and triumphant laugh, +whilst Amanda yet stood there to be baited by the brutish man and +the lost, revengeful woman, the latter of whom thus continued to +vent her spleen: "Mistress, what are you but an English interloper? +Girl, how can we endure you? Do you not despise us? Do you not +insult, despoil, dishonor us? Do you not covet our lands, do you +not reap the taxes, take the trade? Would you not all be Seigneurs? +What shall we give you that you have not already taken! Ah, out +upon you, my young mistress! Think it well if you should not receive +what I shall not now name to you,--your guardian's gift to many a +maiden--and worse;" she added between her teeth; "death, death," +and turned away scowling. + +"Return me to my home, or worse than death awaits you;" cried +Amanda; "endless infamy; hated of our race, despised of yours, +disowned by both." + +But the woman by this time had begun to busy herself in piling new +logs upon the fire, and the colossus, her companion, after having +scanned the apartment, seemingly to ascertain whether it was to be +trusted to retain the prisoner, at length, satisfied with the result +of his scrutiny, unlocked the door with the key which he drew from +his pocket, and bestowing a bow of mock respect upon Amanda, who +affected not to perceive it, departed; and she, without vouchsafing +a look upon her feminine but callous jailor, sank upon a chair in +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "Ring the alarm bell." + + _Macbeth._ + +The abductors of Amanda were no other than the three sons of André +Duchatel, along with the vindictive Narcisse acting as their guide. +He and Alphonse Duchatel, at the branching of the road, had parted +company with the others, and so drawn upon themselves the pursuer, +Claude Montigny, who being magnificently mounted gained fast upon +them, till fearing to be overtaken they leaped from their horses, +and taking to their heels concealed, themselves amongst the trees +that covered the side of the mountain, and where no rider could +follow. Claude then saw that he had been the dupe of a stratagem; +and after galloping across the country, struck the road that he +had been decoyed from following; then urging his horse in the +direction which he supposed the principal abductors had pursued, +he at length in despair left it, and again clearing fence and brook, +held his course towards the city of Montreal, where he arrived +betwixt midnight and dawn, and with the butt of his riding-whip +knocked at the advocate's door. + +The old man was dreaming of the apparently fair fortune of Amanda; +of the ingenuous Claude, and of his father, the importunate and +imperious Seigneur, when the clang rung through the mansion, and +rudely dispelled his visions. At first he was doubtful as to the +reality of the alarm, and was dropping again to sleep, when once +more the riding-whip sent the startling summons, and leaping from +his bed, he threw open the window, and putting his head out, gruffly +demanded, who was there. + +"Claude Montigny," was answered from beneath. + +"And what wants Claude Montigny at this hour?" asked the advocate, +who now perceived the figures of steed and dismounted rider beneath +him in the obscurity. + +"Dress instantly, and quick come down," was the reply. The window +closed, and in a few minutes the advocate, with his morning gown +thrown over him, opened the door. + +"Why how is this?" he demanded in astonishment, as he beheld Claude +on the footwalk, whip in one hand, and with the other holding his +horse by the bridle. + +Claude stood silent. + +"How is this?" reiterated the advocate: "Out with it, man. Is your +father wild? does he threaten to disinherit you?" + +"Not that, but worse:" Claude answered "worse than your worst +suspicions, and it may be worse than the death of one you much +regard." + +"Has any thing evil happened to my ward?" asked the advocate, +exhibiting alarm. "Why do you pause? Inform me quickly." + +"Too quickly, perhaps, I shall inform you," replied Claude, +deprecatingly. "Something evil has happened to your ward. Arm +yourself now with firmness, and be calm; be cool in judgment, prompt +in execution; you who can counsel others, now prepare to be the +best counsellor to yourself." + +"What act shall follow this preamble?" said the lawyer, raising +his thick, white, shaggy eyebrows in enquiring wonder: "Go on, go +on;" he commanded in a short, gasping utterance; "declare the pains +and penalties. She lives? Amanda lives? Has she proved false? You +have not lost her?" + +"Lost her! oh!" exclaimed Claude, unable to curb his emotion. + +"Nay, confess it; announce the worst; the broadest misfortune; my +ears are open for it," pursued the other. + +"But I have no heart, no tongue to fill them with my dire news," +Claude stammered, and the advocate resumed, growing impatient: + +"Of my ward what can you tell me that is untoward? Of myself say +anything: foretell disaster, prophecy my death;--but what of +her?--you say she lives?" + +"She does." + +"Is well?" + +Claude shook his head, and remained silent. + +"Sir, let your lips pronounce my doom at once," said the advocate, +striving to be calm, yet alarmed and irritated; "Proceed:--I am +ashamed to say it, but I tremble. What has befallen my ward, what +trouble has alighted on my child?--for so I call her. Claude +Montigny, what is it brings you here betwixt night and day, with +tidings that you falter to deliver?" + +"Calm yourself;" counselled Claude in a warning tone. + +"I will;" answered the advocate; "I do;--resolve me quickly." + +"I fear to do so," Montigny uttered pathetically, as if his resolution +had suddenly given way. + +"Let me hear it, torture me no longer:" cried the advocate +imperatively: "Perfect knowledge, perhaps, may stun me; but far +worse to bear than were a shower of vitriol poured on a green wound, +are these distilled, dire drops of apprehension. Sir, are you guilty +that you thus stand dumb? What have you done injurious towards my +ward, that you so linger upon the street, and to my queries but +gaze like one demented? Sir, I charge you, tell me without more +reserve or hesitation, lest at last I listen to you with less of +fear than of anger. You have been--" + +"The innocent accessory, I fear, to others' villany," Claude +interrupted; "still, hear me," he continued, "and forgive me if I +bring you tidings that shall hang as heavy on your soul as lead; +yet have given me the leaden bullet's swiftness, or that of the +blast, to waft them hither, blasting, to yourself.--Sir, you have +been robbed, bereaved; the star of Stillyside is set,--or, worse, +plucked from its firmament; my life, my lady, oh, my new-made love, +your peerless ward is stolen." + +"Stolen!" the advocate echoed. + +"Stolen; even from my very arms is plucked," continued Claude. + +"Ill-freighted messenger," groaned the old lawyer; "stolen! oh, +Montigny, you have stolen half the strength from these old limbs, +and strained the sinews that have never bent before, neither to +man nor to misfortune. Stolen! How stolen? It is false; you jest, +you mean that you yourself have stolen her,--have stolen her heart; +you know I lately caught you in the act;--but, for her person, she +would not, could not, give it you without my leave. Montigny, you +have not stolen together to the church?--but this is in the street; +come in." + +Claude tied his courser to a young maple that grew near the door; +and, whilst he was doing so, the advocate retired within, murmuring: +"Montigny, Seigneur Montigny, this is your work, and yet may prove +the dearest piece of petty larceny that ever man committed; as dear +as would have been to have furnished the dower you refused me. No;" +he continued musing, "trouble does not spring from out of the +ground. Then whence comes this? Who hates me?" he continued sharply; +"Covets her? Whom would her absence serve? who, except the father +of you boy, the Sieur Montigny?" and he had scarcely finished his +soliloquy when he was rejoined by Claude, who, straightway in the +obscurity of the library, related to him the adventure of the night. + +The old man listened in silence, but his bosom heaved, and when +Claude had ceased, he grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: + +"Montigny, we are bound together in that girl, the outrage upon whom +has made us rivals in the task to find and rescue her. Yet are you +sure the voice you heard was her's? You did not see her carried +off; you only heard, or thought you heard, her cry. You may have +been deceived. Hasten back to Stillyside. She may be there now +sleeping between the unruffled sheets, making them sweeter than +the perfuming lavender;--if she be not--why then--alas! what then?" +And he struck his palm against his brow, holding it there, perplexed, +revolving. + +"You say you heard your name pronounced?" he enquired at length. + +"I did," said Claude, unhesitatingly; and this seemed to satisfy +the lawyer's doubts, and, rising, he said, shaking his companion +by the hand: "Montigny, go. Beat up the bush at Stillyside; and if +she be not there,--why all the country side shall be roused to find +and bring her back. But, Claude, she is safe. Yet hie you thither; +mount again your horse, and bring me word before the day breaks: +begone." And in a few moments Claude was scouring back to Stillyside, +and the advocate ruminating alone amidst the shadows of his library. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "This noble gentleman, Lord Titus here, + Is in opinion, and in honor, wronged; + That in the rescue of Lavinia, + With his own hand did slay his youngest son" + + _Titus Andronicus._ + +The elder Montigny, wrathful and irresolute, and like a beast in +the toils, had yesterday again visited the advocate on the same +errand as before, and with a like unsatisfactory result. But instead +of returning to Mainville he had proceeded to the Duchatel Manor +House; partly for counsel, but chiefly to ascertain whether its +owner--who, he deemed, had an equal interest with himself in the +removal of Amanda--would join with him in furnishing the demanded +dower. The subject was broached privately to the shrewd and worldly +André, who on hearing it propounded swore indignantly at the +advocate's audacity, and roundly refused to accede to any such +appropriation of his substance: so after fierce denunciations of +the insolence of upstart English adventurers, and censure of the +infatuation of young fellows in affairs of the heart, the theme +was dropped for the present, and the remainder of the day spent in +looking over the estate, and in those attentions that are usually +bestowed on a visitor, be he ever so familiar a one, much more when +he is both distinguished and in prospective relationship. The next +day the topic was resumed, but this time in the presence of Samson +Duchatel, as he sat yawning between asleep and awake, but who, on +hearing the conversation, aroused himself, and bade Montigny be +easy, and not dream of endowing the foreigner, since he, Samson, +had already secured the troublesome fair one. Montigny took little +notice of this, thinking it to be but the jest or toast, or, at +furthest, merely the loose announcement of the intention of the +unscrupulous giant; who soon afterwards invited him to walk abroad. +The company of Samson was not coveted by the more refined and +anxious Seigneur, but the former pressed him, and he thought that +locomotion might divert his mind from the contemplation of the +coming degradation and folly of his son. He consented, and issuing +from the ancient and flower-festooned porch of the Manor House, +they walked along in mid-morning of late September, the drowsy +charms of the summer's faded foliage just awakening to a resurrection +in the glorified beauty of Autumn; and, almost in silence, they +proceeded along the road or lane, till they came to the dubious +dwelling where, some hours before. Amanda was left a prisoner. The +sullen and sloven-looking female who had received her was now +dressed in gaudy attire, and saluted them as they entered, at the +same time casting a look of enquiry and surprise into the face of +Samson, and of suspicion on the Seigneur. + +"Bring up the body of your prisoner;" growled the former, loudly, +as he threw his huge frame into an arm-chair. "Come, habeas corpus, +habeas corpus. Now, if we had Alphonse here," he continued, "he +could repeat the whole writ in Latin. Habeas corpus, habeas corpus," +muttered the puzzled savage, fumbling in his brains for the context, +"habeas corpus, habeas corpus;--" then, relinquishing the vain +search, and addressing himself to the woman, at the same time +elevating his voice, he vociferated: "Hillo, come, lady sheriff, +bring up the body of your prisoner, I say;" when, as if in obedience +to the call of a magician, a door opened, and from an inner room, +with face flushed, brow dark and fretted with indignation, lips +pouting, breast heaving, and her eyes overflowing with tears, in +bounded his sister, Seraphine Duchatel, exclaiming: "And is this +the creature that has stood between me and Claude? and brought +here, too, to flout me to my face! I'll not endure it;" and she +burst into a fresh torrent of tears. + +"Who has stood between you, girl?" enquired the brother, half +teasingly, half tenderly: "if there be a stump between here and +Mainville that hinders you from driving your carriage thither, tell +me, and we'll pull it up as quickly as Doctor Lanctot would pull +you a tooth out." + +"You have done well, indeed," continued the angry girl, weeping, +and not minding his clumsy badinage, "you have done well indeed, +to bring her here to answer me, to scorn me, to defy me, to parade +herself before me, to stand in my presence as proud as any +peacock,--only not half so beautiful." + +"Fine feathers make fine birds, Phin," drily retorted her brother. + +"She is not fine, and if she be, she shall be plucked of her finery;" +exclaimed the sister: "I'll tear her eyes out; what business has +she to look at _me_, and speak so insolently? I'll have her face +flayed; her hair, shall be plucked up by the roots;" and she stamped +with her little foot. + +"We'll have her scalped, girl!" condoled her brother. + +"Yes, this is the way you always think to manage me; by laughing +at me," cried the spoiled child, in renewed agony of tears. + +"Why, what is the matter?" demanded the Seigneur, wondering, and +startled by these threatening allusions: "What is the meaning of +all this, Samson?" + +"Oh," answered the latter, striving to perpetrate a pun, "Only that +we have brought Phin a handmaiden, and she finds her handsomer than +is agreeable;--but there is many a servant comelier than the +mistress." + +"Let me behold this Paragon," said the Seigneur, at the same time +rising, and moving towards the door of the inner room, that had +been left ajar by the rude Seraphine, in her indignant exit. Pushing +it slowly open, he beheld Amanda, with half-averted form, seated +upon a chair, her head bowed, but her face wearing an expression +of proud serenity mixed with grief. His first impulse was to retire; +but pity, respect, admiration, and even awe, bound him to the spot, +and he remained gazing till curiosity and commiseration alike +combined to induce him to address a figure so incongruous with that +mean place, and whose majestic sorrow seemed too sacred for +interruption. + +"Young lady, by your leave; pray pardon me; but can a stranger be +of service to you?" he at length enquired. + +Amanda looked upward. "Oh, if you are, as you seem to be, a gentleman. +do not leave me;" she exclaimed beseechingly, as she slowly rose +and approached him: "do not leave me, but convey me back to +Stillyside, from whence I have been stolen by that man. Oh, sir, +you do not know with what a load of thanks its owner will repay +you, should you rescue me from this base durance." + +The seigneur looked enquiringly at Samson, but the latter seemed +more disposed to wait to see how the seigneur regarded the appeal, +than to reply to the tacit question. + +"Why have you been brought hither, and against your will?" resumed +the seigneur, respectfully. + +"I am as yet ignorant of the cause;" she answered: "I do not know, +I cannot divine, why I am here a prisoner." + +"She does know;" fiercely interrupted the sobbing Seraphine, "She +does, she does," she reiterated, and seemed disposed to fly at her +tooth and nail. "She knows she is a bold and wicked creature,--she, +she, she; she is a, a,--I don't know what she is;" she cried, spurting +out the last words in a paroxysm of sorrow and vexation, and flung +herself into a chair sobbing hysterically, with toilet and temper +alike disordered. + +"Calm yourself, Seraphine," said the Seigneur. + +"Yes, calm thyself, girl." echoed the ponderous Samson. "Why, what +a wild duck thou art, sister, flapping and quacking because an +unshotted barrel has been fired at thee. She is an unshotted gun, +she has no name; and what is a thing without a name? nothing: for +if it were something it would have been called something. What +thing is there--that is a thing--that has not got what a pudding +has? a name," and he laughed till his sides shook, and drawing a +pouch from his pocket, took thence a quid of tobacco, and put it +into his cheek, at the same time playfully offering another to the +outraged Seraphine, who petulently dashed it from his fingers, and +affected to bridle at the insult. + +Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the Seigneur, who had +been watching her during the heartless flirtation between the +brother and sister, advanced one pace into the room, and said: "I +know your story, and have reason to be angry, not so much with you +as with my son, whom, I believe, you are acquainted with, one Claude +Montigny." Amanda turned away her face and blushed. + +[Illustration: "Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the +Seigneur advanced one pace into the room."] + +"You do know him I perceive," the Seigneur continued, "and if by +chance he has happened to know you I do not blame him, much less +can I blame yourself: but, lady, remember," and the proud Montigny +advanced and bending over her whilst his voice fell, as if it were +intended for her ear alone, said "remember, we are not all of the +same degree, though Heaven has fashioned all of the same clay. The +proudest and the wealthiest in Canada might hail you as a daughter; +but old prescription, antecedents, prospects, all combine to render +impossible your union with my son." + +Amanda blushed yet deeper, and both of them stood for awhile +embarrassed, but at length she said falteringly, and glowing like +a crimson poppy in her confusion: + +"I own it just that you should urge these large considerations; +yet, believe me, sir, I have been passive in this matter, and have +not sought your son's acquaintance; neither, indeed, has he, if he +be rightly judged, (and you would not wrong your son), perhaps, +sought mine; for it would seem there are amities that Providence +provides for us, without our will or knowledge. It was accident +that brought us face to face; as we observe the sun and moon--that +are separate in their seasons, and withal so different in their +glory's given degree--brought monthly, and as if fortuitously, +though, in reality, by eternal, fixed design, into conjunctive +presence amidst the sky. Yet who shall blame the sun and moon for +that? + +"None," said the Seigneur. + +"Then let no one blame your son and me," continued Amanda, "if +Heaven, perhaps to try us, has ordained that our paths should cross +each other, as might two strange and diverse celestial bodies pass +apparently too hazardously near each other in their appointed +orbits. For the rest, forgive me, sir, and may He who best knows +what is for the benefit of his creatures, and who sometimes for +their good, sees it right that they should suffer wrongfully, assist +me. Since this has pleased Him, I bow, and bear it the best I may, +and trust too, that He will, in His good pleasure, deliver me from +this that He has permitted to fall upon me, my present sad and +dangerous estate of a poor prisoner here." + +"Heaven will indeed rescue you from this infamous restraint, and +I will gladly be its minister," returned the Seigneur, melted almost +to love with pity, and dropping a tear; "none shall detain you +here; you are safe. Let me, myself--if thereby to some extent may +be atoned to you the wrong you have sustained in being hurried +hither--conduct you to your guardian." + +"And raise the devil!--ay, and bring him here: her guardian is +his half brother," suddenly roared Samson in surprise and terror. +"No. Montigny, she has given too much trouble in the catching to +be so lightly released. Besides, is she to be still allowed to +stand between her betters. Leave her with me." + +"Yes, leave her with Samson," cried the sulking Seraphine, starting +up in her chair. "He has known better girls, and handsomer, +too;--umph! how much men can be mistaken. It is wonderful that +Claude should covet her. Take her to her guardian! fie, Monsieur +Montigny," and half turning away in her seat with scorn and disgust, +she cast a look of ineffable hatred and disdain at the suppliant +Amanda, whilst the woman of the house fixed her jealousy-filled +eyes on Samson as he murmurred: "She shall not go: she is my +prisoner." + +"She must return with me, sir," said the Seigneur, quietly but +firmly. "Are you not aware how great is the penalty that you have +incurred by this disgraceful scandal? Think it fortunate if you +shall be able in any way to compound for it with the lady's guardian. +Seraphine, mollify your indignation towards one who has not meant +to thwart you. Return to the hall with your brother, whilst I +conduct this injured lady to the parsonage, to remain there until +I can escort her home, and (as I hope) with the aid of her +intercession, obtain the pardon of her cruel abductors." + +"It is you that is cruel:" cried the weeping Seraphine: "it is +Claude that is cruel. Not meant to thwart me! she _has_ thwarted +me, and you encourage her, you justify her, Monsieur Montigny." + +"We will crucify her," cried Samson. + +"Say no more," commanded the seigneur: "you are both of you ignorant +of the heinous nature of what you have done. Her guardian has the +power to punish you. Tremble lest he should exercise it." And, with +these words, he gave his arm to Amanda, and, passing amidst the +scowling trio, led her from the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "Confess the truth." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + "You would pluck out the heart of my mystery." + + _Hamlet._ + +Claude Montigny rode to Stillyside and back, and was again with +the advocate within the hour. To conceive the terror and outcry in +that quiet dwelling, when its inmates ascertained that Amanda was +missing, let the reader recall the commotion in the castle of +Macbeth, when on the morning following his fatal entrance beneath +its battlements, it is discovered that the royal Duncan has been +murdered. As vehement and as wild as when the distracted Macduff, +in frantic tones and with wringing hands, declares to the assembling +sons and thanes of the ill-starred monarch, that, "confusion now +has made its masterpiece, most sacrilegeous murder has broken open +the Lord's anointed temple, and stolen hence the life o' the +building," was the outcry and disorder on the discovery of Amanda's +absence; and the wail and lamentation rung in Claude's ear as he +rode away from the gate to return to Montreal, where, still pacing +the library, the advocate anxiously awaited him. By the ratiocination, +as well as by the intuition, of the old man, the seigneur of +Mainville was reasonably to be suspected of being at least an +accessory to the stealing of Amanda. Claude, too, was not unvisited +by suspicions of his father's complicity; but thrust the dishonoring +doubts from him, as might a suffering saint dismiss hard thoughts +of the dealings of Providence towards himself. Each thought more +than he expressed to the other, but at length the advocate +communicated to Claude his injurious suspicions, acquainting him +with the fact and nature of his father's visits to his office; when +Claude, in turn, informed the advocate of the long cherished project +of an alliance between the houses of Duchatel and Montigny. This +information not only confirmed, but widened the field of the +advocate's fears. He was aware also of the lawless character of +Duchatel's sons; and recollected to have heard that the youngest +was a comrade of Narcisse, who, he likewise knew, entertained a +covert spite against Amanda, and, for his mother's sake, a rankling +dislike of Mona Macdonald. Against both of these his umbrage might +be supposed to have been heated by his recent ignominious expulsion +from Stillyside; and to gratify this resentment he might now be +executing some scheme of revenge, wherein, from his intimacy with +the young Duchatel, he could know that that family had cause to be +ready to assist him. Here was a clue to the recovery of his ward:--in +legal parlance, here was a prima facie case; and it but remained +to find and prosecute the criminals. To seize his son, and, by +threats or promises, extract a confession from him was the first +idea. But where was the errant and suspected Narcisse to be found? +His father knew he was absent, so the mother was summoned. She +came, but advanced no further than the threshold of the room, and +fell a trembling with fear, behaviour that she would fain have +dissembled to be from cold, for, with the divination with which +guilt endows its subject, she at once knew that the stranger was +the young Montigny, and herself had been cited in order to suffer +a searching cross-examination. + +"Woman," said the advocate sternly, and wheeling his arm-chair +round so as to face her, "Woman, where is your son?" + +"Helas!" she exclaimed, and shrugged her shoulders, as much as to +say, "I don't know where he is;" and smiled a rueful smile. + +"No grinning now," cried the lawyer, raising his finger and shaking +it at her, and frowning as he was wont to do when he wished to +intimidate a witness, "no grinning now, madam. Will you pretend to +say you know nothing of where he was last night, where he is at +present?" + +"Helas!" again exclaimed the affrighted Babet: "sir you forget +yourself. Last night? Why it is yet night. Open the shutters and +put out the lamp, and you will still be in darkness. Let me return +to bed." + +"Babet Blais, many a better woman than you have I wished bedridden," +the advocate cried with bitterness. "Beshrew me, but your answer. +Remember I am flint if you are steel, hence the less often we are +smitten together in this enquiry, the fewer may be the revealing +sparks. Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, whereon +your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon your +guilty face, as grimly as the lurid East that brews a rainy day, +to you the type of tears." + +[Illustration: "Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, +whereon your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon +your guilty face."] + +"What do you mean?" demanded the half mystified and still dissembling +woman, in terror. + +"What do I mean? I mean that you shall tell me where your son was +during the last night, and where he is now." + +"Where he is _now_?" echoed Babet, "Last night? it is now night, +or only just near dawning." + +"Yes, we are near the dawning," mocked the old man, with loud, +relentless equivoque. "Madam, shed here the sunbeams of your highest +intelligence; clear the dull atmosphere of your soul from fog; and +let us see and hear respecting this occurrence, all that yourself +have seen, and heard, and known." + +"Master, I know nothing," said she, "what affair?" enquired the +woman, fitfully. + +"Is Narcisse at home?" bellowed the advocate, quivering with +excitement, and red to the roots of his white hair with wrath. +"Evil betide me that he should have ever made here his home;" he +continued. "Who called him hither? I? No, no; I called for aught +that might see fit to come, conditioned that it came in human guise; +but yonder frothy fool, yon swarthy pigmy, I did not summon him. +I called for any thing of earth, but Heaven (to punish me) straight +passed the unhallowed call to hell, that sent me up a demon." The +apartment resounded with the last word, and still the old man's +voice was heard like the departing rumble of a thunder peal, as he +continued, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, whilst his +countenance assumed an air of singular elevation, passionately +exclaiming: "Oh, that a man who could have entertained the gods +with high conceits and philosophic parle,--could have communed with +spirits of the skies, should be assailed and pestered from the +pit!--Go on, woman, we will exorcise you, we will purge you, though +you be fouler than the Augean stable, that had been left uncleaned +for thirty years; ay, though you be as foul as is the stall that +holds the grimy company of the lost, and which goes uncleaned for +ever. Proceed, I charge thee!" and the fierce-eyed lawyer sat +dilated and erect in his chair, glaring upon her like a serpent +rearing its crest from amidst its coils, as he waited for an answer. + +"I cannot, I know no further," she said at length with meek +doggedness. + +"What say you?" exclaimed the advocate, almost screaming with +astonishment. + +"I know no further; I know nothing," she replied. + +"Assist me, patience, to confound this creature! Nothing! you know +all;" he shouted. "All, I say, all; for never had such a mother +such a son, but he did pour out all his purposes, all the infernal +cornucopia, into her breast from his. You have no secrets between +you; you, his mother, know all his course; his thoughts, intents, +conspiracies and plots; his loves, his hates, his loose, irregular +life; his merry moments, and his moods of malice. I charge thee, +tell us where he was last night, where yesterday, where he is now, +and where he will be to-morrow." + +"Monsieur, I know no more, know nothing," cried the woman, appealing +to Claude. "My master is mad," and, bursting into tears, began: +"Here have I been his housekeeper twenty years--" + +"Twenty years too long," vociferated the advocate. "One half the +period that heaven was vexed with a stiff-necked generation have +I endured you, Babet. Housekeeper! eh? Keeper of the King's +conscience next, a she Lord Chancellor,--but continue: call yourself +Keeper of the Seals, and mistress--or master either--of the Rolls, +so you unroll your secret. Tell all you may; empty your flask of +falsehood, then at the bottom we may find some sediment of truth. +Commence; don't count upon concealment. I will wring the truth from +you, though it shall ooze out drop by drop, and each, drop be a +portion of your life." + +Babet was still silent, but the lawyer pursued: + +"Oh, toad, ugly and venomous, you have a precious jewel in your +head; deliver it; discover to myself and to this gentleman all that +you know about your son's late conduct. Speak, or you shall have +your closed lips forced apart, or there shall be found and set you +such tormenting penance, that you shall sue with speed to make +confession. What! still silent? Bathe no longer that face with +tears. Out on thee, crocodile! Oh, that those trite tears were +scales, falling, to leave you bare and vulnerable to arrows of +adjurement; then, with patience I could see them fall as fast as +flakes of snow in winter, till thou wert as white as Judge's ermine +with them! Creature, hast thou nothing plausible, nothing for us, +nothing for him, nor me?" + +"Nothing for you, nor for this gentleman," she answered quietly. + +"Do not imagine him to be so gentle, neither. Though he dwells +staid and silent, he is a roaring lion, that should I let slip may +soon devour thee, Babet. Overweening woman, you do not know how +much you and yours have wronged him," said the advocate. + +Claude had heard all this without speaking, but now he interposed, +to try persuasion. + +"Good Babet," said he, soothingly, "if you are aware of anything +untoward of Monsieur's ward, and will declare it, I guarantee to +you, not only a condonation for your son, if he have in any shape +conspired against her, but a reward so weighty for yourself, that +you shall bless the hour that you were awoke so early to be scolded. +What do you know of the lost lady of Stillyside?" + +At these words a smile covered her face, as if of satisfaction at +good news; then, shrugging her shoulders, she languidly asked: "Is +she missing?" and added, "Helas! then others have an absent child, +as well as I," and shook her head; and, with another shrug, continued, +as if subsiding into herself, and in a tone of combined decision +and sadness: "I know nothing of the lady, nothing of my boy. Heaven +grant my son is safe, my poor Narcisse, and that he may not return +and meet his cruel father, who so hates him;" and she brushed away +a tear from her cheek. + +"Heaven grant indeed we do not meet at present!" ejaculated the +foiled advocate; "for if we did, I might so far exceed a parent's +punitory privilege, that I should win but blame from the blind +world instead of sympathy. Begone, vampire," and she vanished like +a ghost at cockcrow. + +That smile of her's at the mention of Amanda missing, had been +caught by, the advocate's keen eye, and convinced him that she and +her son were accessories to the felony of the night. Brief +consultation now sufficed between him and Claude, who also felt +convinced of her complicity. Light began to glimmer amidst the +darkness of the situation, and, as it kindled into a dreary dawn, +as might a new scene amongst dissolving views, shadowy and sinistrous +amidst it seemed to loom the figures of the Duchatels; and, before +the sun had risen, Claude, winged equally with hope and indignation, +was posting towards Montboeuf. The advocate threw himself upon a +couch, and he would fain have thrown up his brief of that day, but +it was for a case involving capital punishment, and, at the eleventh +hour, to have deserted his client would have brought upon himself, +not only professional dishonor, but guilt. Hence, with heavy heart +and unwilling faculties he bent his attention to the study of the +important case, whilst at intervals he swallowed a portion of the +morning's meal, that at the usual hour was silently placed before +him; and at last, with an inexpressible sadness and boding, he left +the stillness of his home for the walls of the busy and exciting +arena of the criminal court. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!" + + _Hamlet._ + + "Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye" + + _Macbeth._ + +The Court had been opened, and was crowded with lawyers, petit +jurors, witnesses, and excited spectators. A criminal trial of +such interest as the present one had not occurred there for years; +and the business in the Civil Courts had virtually been adjourned, +so great was the determination of the pleaders therein to be present, +and witness the conducting of a case so calculated to call forth +the powers of the renowned and venerable advocate. All conspired +to show that an extraordinary scene was to be enacted there that +day. The Judge was more than usually grave, attentive and deliberate; +the Crown Prosecutor wary, and complete in his preparations; the +legal, technical, and clerical grounds of exception and demur, +before the Crown was allowed to take up the burden of proof, were +entered and explored by the advocate, as one who reconnoitres before +committing his feet to dark and dangerous precincts, where any one +of his advancing steps may prove to be fatal. + +And now the case had been laid before the jury, and the witnesses +for the prosecution, each as he testified touching the fearful +crime laid to the charge of the prisoner at the bar, were being +subjected to the terrible ordeal of a cross-examination by the +advocate; who all eye all ear appeared, as in his earlier days; +quick to detect, prompt to demand, stern to insist, at watch and +ward at every point; so that his client seemed to have found in +him an irresistible champion, and the crowd, to all of whom he was +familiar, considered his success as certain, just as the veteran +soldiery anticipate a triumph from the General, who has so often +led them to victory that they deem him to have become invincible. +But to the thoughtful and more observant, at times he showed signs +of preoccupation, strangely at variance with his present undoubted +supremely master mood; and as the trial proceeded these fits of +wandering from the point increased in duration and intensity. An +anxious expression settled on his countenance; his usually energetic +but measured movements when he was thus engaged became irregular +and nervous; and he frequently cast glances towards the entrance, +as if expecting the arrival of some one; and twice in the midst of +withering cross-examinations, stopped short at the sight of +individuals elbowing their way through the crowd; gazing upon them +enquiringly and with an air of expectation, until, passing, they +became embedded in the serried mass of spectators; when, with a +look of disappointment, he resumed his task, and again with consummate +talent and characteristic vigor, did battle for his client, whose +dark distinction in the dock went nigh unnoticed, from the settled +attention bestowed on his defender, just as the prominently exhibited +prize is sometimes overlooked and temporarily forgotten, in the +observation compelled to the rare skill shown by the competing +players. + +But whilst the father was thus tasking every power of his trained +intellect, and crowning his career with forensic fires, that now, +in the evening of his genius, burned even more signally, than they +had done in the midst of its meridian splendors;--whilst thus +calling upon his great gifts, that, like to antique jewels brightened +by abrasion in the wearing, shone yet the more from the polish of +experience; and while lending a legal learning that, as a rapier +which, ever ready and ever in requisition, has acquired no rust, +was the more available from long practice combined with intuitive +tact;--whilst all this was passing in high and public court, the +ignoble son was awaking in a low lodging; weary and stiff after +the raid of the past night, anxious and timid from a sense of guilt, +and fearful of a future calling to account. His first wish was to +discover whether his sire was yet informed of the disappearance of +his ward. He knew that his father was retained in the trial which +had been fixed for that day, and had there been any whom he could +conveniently have sent to ascertain whether or not the advocate +was in court, he would have despatched one thither, but he could +prevail upon none about him to go for love, and money he had none +to offer. His mother, alarmed at her master's discovery of the +participation by Narcisse in their successful conspiracy, and not +knowing where to find the latter, had despatched a messenger to +the lodging of their bold and insolent accomplice, Alphonse Duchatel, +requesting him to warn her son to avoid his father during that day. +But the messenger failed to find him, and Narcisse at last arose, +dressed, and, prompted by a curiosity that overcame his apprehensions, +approached the Court House. + +Meantime the advocate, tortured by increasing alarm, and with his +imagination filling with tragic touches the picture of the possible +fate of Amanda, had lost both recollection and temper; and for the +first time when conducting a cross-examination, had been not merely +baffled, but successfully bearded and insulted by an irritated +witness, to relieve himself from whom, he was obliged abruptly to +bid him leave the box. The occurrence stung him to the quick, though +he strove to hide his chagrin;--no wonder. Taken at disadvantage, +and in a moment of weakness, the old pleader was obliged to perceive +that the wager of mental duel between himself and the witness had +been decided against him; and to feel that, in an unsought encounter +and fair affray, he had been publicly worsted. To add to his +mortification, the witness walked from the box with the air of a +conqueror, and cast an insolent look of triumph around the court +and upon his antagonist, whose discomfiture was so signal as to be +evident to judge, jurors, witnesses, spectators, all. Still more +to increase the advocate's perturbation, the heat of the court had +become excessive, and the rebuff--which, at an earlier period of +his career, and with an unwounded heart, would have provoked only +such a grim and threatening smile as a powerful wrestler might +wear, when, in the careless security of proud contempt, he had been +thrown by a boy--now, in the self-esteem of age and the anguish +of bereavement, moved him almost to madness. Seizing his gown, he +half cast it from his form, regardless of decorum, and stood the +picture of misery, rage, and scorn. + +Just then the court arose for a brief recess. Glad to breathe for +a moment the fresher air, the spectators retired, the jury returned +into their room, the sheriff and the crown prosecutor sauntered to +their respective offices, the panel of petit jurors escaped in a +body, the prisoner withdrew from the front of the dock, and sat +unseen, pondering his chances between the gallows and an +acquittal;--even the criers of the court abandoned their posts, +and the younger members of the bar, who usually gathered round the +advocate on these occasions, greeting him with pleasant compliments, +and polite and reverent attentions, seeing him thus moody, drifted +to the lobby, and in it paid court to some other, and secondary +legal luminary who was there holding his levee. For awhile the +advocate was left alone; then, emerging through the large folding +doors into the corridor or lobby, now cumbered with the gossipping +groups, through which he passed, solitary and in his gown, like +Caesar in his robe passing through the midst of the conspirators, +he proceeded past the doors of the offices occupied by the various +crown officials. None spoke to the old man, he spoke to none, but +his breast burned in agony, and a cloud was on his brow, like the +smoke that wreathes around the crater of a volcano. His eyes seemed +to shoot forth sparks, and his lips were muttering. Anger and sorrow +were upon his face, but, turning a corner in the building, he was +now hidden from the view of the multitude, and strode along the +main corridor towards the huge double staircase that, midway therein, +wound down to the dim entrance hall, that was divided by ponderous +doors from the esplanade between the building and the busy street. +A low, massive balustrade guarded the bridge-like portion of the +corridor that hung between the heads of the twin flights of stairs, +and whence, on looking down, was seen the paved abyss below. +Approaching this part, what did he behold but the truant Narcisse, +unconscious of his presence, ascending one of these flights of +stairs. At the sight of him the gloomy elements of his soul seemed +to flash within him and explode, rending all resolution of restraint, +and leaving him a puppet of some destructive power, as he stood +eyeing his son's approach, as the cat eyes that of the marauding +mouse, motionless, allowing the culprit to draw near, until, +detected, he stood, too nigh, to retreat, too terrified to advance, +and, as the fascinated bird drops into the open jaws of the serpent, +fell resistless into the grasp of the advocate's extended hand. +Then, as the firedamp when met by the miner's candle must explode, +or as the liberated lightning must rend the cloud, though the latter +be near Jove's throne, so the frenzied father, regardless, nay, +forgetful, of the place, the time, the occasion, of himself and +natural ties, assailed the scared Narcisse, clutching him by the +throat with the strength of a maniac, and pushing him backwards +against the balustrade, and holding him there transfixed, while, +with eyes seething with wrath beneath the blanched, and big, +umbrageous brows, and showing like a sudden opening of the infernal +pit, he cried: "Demon, degenerate dog, where bast thou been walking +to and fro in the earth? whom helping to devour? Ah, son of Satan, +ah! Aroint thee, Imp, Abortion." + +[Illustration: "Demon! degenerate dog! where hast thou been walking +to and fro on the earth?"] + +The astonished wretch strove to reply, but terror and strangulation +forbade him; and the enraged parent, like an incarnate storm, at +arm's-length shook him, as the dog shakes the rat which it has +caught, or the lion its prey; and each moment the shuddering youth, +hearing his father's deep curses, and stiffening with horror, was +urged further and yet further over the abyss, and still with aimless, +outstretched arms, and disparted, claw-like fingers, strove to +clutch the advocate's gown; while with upturned and beseeching eyes +starting from their sockets, and still half on the balustrade and +half in air, with nothing but the grasp of his adversary retaining +him, he hung, while the arm that held him quivered, and surged +uneasily from side to side, as if irresolute whether to plunge him +or to draw him back; until a growl of satisfaction, followed by an +execration, gurgling in the advocate's throat, announced the coming +climax: the arm was jerked outwards, the clenched fingers unclutched +themselves, like an automaton's, and the miserable mannikin tumbled +with a yell down to the stones beneath. An instant all was silent, +then a faint groan rose from the bruised form, that the next moment +lay on the bloody flags a senseless corpse. Drawing a loud sigh +of indescribable relief, after his fearful and protracted agitation, +the advocate--and now murderer--stood glaring downwards with fixed +eyes and yet clenched teeth; then, sickening at the horrid sight +which loomed beneath, turned and leaned for support against the +balustrade over which he had cast his child. Hearing the noise of +the scuffle, some stragglers from the mixed crowd on the lobby came +running to the spot, and one enquired of the advocate if he were +seized with a sudden sickness. But he only pointed downwards to +where lay his ill-fated victim; and shook his head, looking all +woebegone, in mad, mute misery. Astonished, some descended, and +bearing the body up the stairs, laid it on a bench that stood +against the wall, and opposite its destroyer; while a still increasing +and motley multitude, including jurors, witnesses, constables, +criers, counsellors, clerks of the court, crown prosecutor, sheriff, +and lastly, the judge himself, hurrying, gathered round the scene +of the catastrophe. A surgeon who happened to have been subpoened +upon the current trial, opened a vein, but the blood refused to +flow; and a barrister, stripping himself of his gown, threw it over +the body as a pall. No one dared enquire the origin of what he saw, +until the judge arriving, demanded: "Who has done this?" + +"I," feebly answered the advocate, ghastly pale, and yet leaning +for support on the fatal balustrade. Alas! what a change! His +countenance was grown haggard, and his white hair hung dishrevelled +about his collapsed visage, like icicles round the pinched countenance +of Winter. Despair was in his look, and he uttered the name of +Amanda, and gazed bewildered around him, as if awaking from a +sorrowful dream; and now began to whimper, to gaze upon the pall-like +gown, and now to call upon the spirit that had flown--as a scared +bird from a bush--forth from the body that lay beneath it. + +"Narcisse," he feebly cried, "Narcisse, my son,--for thou wert +yet my son,--Narcisse, Narcisse," he reiterated piteously; and the +Sheriff advanced in his purple gown, and girt with his golden hilted +sword, laid his hand on the shoulder of the old man, the lately +proud advocate, but now wretched culprit, as a sign of his being +put under arrest. But none else moved; the Sheriff himself shrinking +from ordering the constable to give effect to the signal. All seemed +transfixed with pain or chained with horror, as in tremulous tones +of touching tenderness the slayer continued to call upon the dead. + +"Narcisse, my son, my son." he cried in agony; "Oh, I have killed +thee, child; oh, thou art dead, dead, dead.--But thou didst steal +thy sister; yes, I know thou didst; ay, that thou didst, and hast +delivered her to dishonor, therefore have I killed thee. Come, +Amanda, come hither, dearest, and behold thy brother; behold thy +father, see what he has done, and all for thee. Yes, I did it, all +you curious crowd Amanda, oh, where art thou? let me see thee ere +I die: Amanda dear, Amanda;" and at the words, Amanda, leaning on +the arm of Claude, and followed by the elder Montigny and André +Duchatel, appeared upon the corridor, a sweet smile playing upon +her features, and hastening forwards she fell upon the neck of her +guardian, who was still leaning against the balustrade, pale, +haggard and forlorn. Her companions, restrained by astonishment +and fear, gazed aloof and mute, whilst the wretched criminal, eyeing +them with a look of misery and suspicion, in a tone of inexpressible +sadness at length exclaimed: + +"Come you to see me, then, before I die; do you come to triumph +over me, Seigneur Montigny? Look, see there, but do not touch it, +for it is abhorred, abominable, a foul spirit, a black imp of hell. +Amanda, art thou found?--Do not tremble, girl, do not weep; my +daughter, child, for, without a figure, thou art my daughter; art, +to the very letter, love, my child. Oh, we have much to tell each +other; see what I have done--but hear me, then condemn me. Oh, +Amanda, it is bliss to see, to feel thee here;--but here, here in +this breast is sadness. I have been a rash and hasty fool, a madman, +if you will, but no, no murderer; we kill mere vermin, we exterminate +rats, roaches; and what worse than that is this which I have done. +Pshaw, he was a reptile, a black beetle that came flying against +me. He, my son! Oh, slander, where wilt thou not cast thy slime? +the thing that the deceitful, wily woman palmed upon me, he my son, +thy brother? preposterous conception. Yet sad has been the creature's +end; and sad, sad, sad, I felt this morning when I left my home, +with a presentiment which seemed to say, that I should never enter +it again; and that presentiment is now fulfilled. Fate urged me +on. Unnatural hate has pushed me to the ledge, and now I sink to +lose myself in the abyss. Oh, foul fate! this deed foul, foul! +Fair, fair Amanda, close thine eyes on this enormity; or be content +to see it, yet not understand it, for knowledge here would surely +drive thee mad." + +"Oh, sir, am I not mad, delirious?" enquired Amanda: "Oh, my kind +guardian, my good angel, more than father, friend. What have you +done? you have done nothing evil!" and she sobbed upon his bosom, +and Claude stood transfixed and silent, until his eyes meeting +those of the advocate, he demanded passionately: + +"Sir, what may this mean; what horrible allusions drop like venom +from your tongue; whence comes this change; tell me, I charge you, +sir, why are you now so shaken, so wandering in your noble intellect, +even mad; you whom I left this morning, sad indeed, yet sane?" + +"I do not know whether I was sane or not when I did what I have +done, or whether I am so just now; but for this scene, which must +appear most strange to you, see there what shall explain it all," +replied the advocate; and the gown was partially withdrawn from +the corpse by one of the spectators, and Claude with his male +companions gazed upon it aghast, whilst Amanda turning away in +terror and uttering a feeble moan, hid her face in the old man's +breast. + +"How has this happened?" Claude demanded at last with a voice hoarse +and guttural with abhorrence; and the advocate shrugging his +shoulders cynically replied: + +"A bruise, a fatal fall; strange that he should have died of it. +It has been said, the lower in the scale of being, the higher the +tenacity of life. Yet here is an inferior intelligence dies of as +little corporeal damage, as might a poet or a philosopher. There +is no certainty in speculation, for by this experiment it has been +proved, that the bulls-eye in the stable window, in falling is as +fragile as the palace's clearest pane of crystal. Who would have +thought it? A dunce, that no one would have branded for having +brains, has from a mere tumble given up the ghost. Bury him, bury +him; I am sorry for it, but cannot howl," and at these last words +a howl was heard from below, and soon Babet Blais came rushing +along the corridor, wringing her hands, and frantically demanding: +"Where is he, where is my boy, my sweet Narcisse?" and threw herself +upon the corpse of her son. The advocate looked on with a bitter +smile, and when he beheld her covering with kisses the cold, coarse +features, exclaimed: "How these things love each other!--but when +he was alive she would give him the food out of her mouth, draw +for him the blood from her veins, sacrifice the immortal soul in +her body with lies and patent perjury and crookedest excuses, if +so was that she might screen him and his faults, deceiving +me.--Beshrew thee, woman!--but wherefore should I curse thee? thou +art what thou wert made to be, even as I am that which I was made +to be, a desolation and a miserable man:" and when he ceased Babet +started from her knees, and, looking on him with new born fierceness, +cried: "Monster, not master; man killer, son killer,--oh, you have +killed my own, my dear Narcisse! murdered my son, my boy, my child, +my only joy:" and she again cast herself upon the body, and, with +her face nestling in the dead bosom, sobbed and wept aloud. + +The advocate seemed softened, and, looking at Claude, demanded: +"Who is there that shall not fulfil his fate? for this I was born, +and for it I shall die." The sheriff again essayed to remove him, +but he sank at his touch, as the dust of an ancient corpse falls +before the breath of the outer atmosphere, and with mortality +moulding his visage: "Stay," he said, "let me die here; death has +arrested me, he needs no warrant." A spasm passed over his face, +his frame slightly quivered; and looking beseechingly at Claude, +the latter bent tenderly over him, and he thus began: "It were +foolish in me to suppose that you have not heard of my irregularities. +You will not be astonished, then, when I call this girl my child, +no longer my mere ward, but mine own child, so late acknowledged. +Amanda, child,"--and his voice faltered, while he spoke with +increasing difficulty,--"will you acknowledge me in this disgrace, +receiving with the name of father that of felon? Mona Macdonald is +your mother, to whom I have promised marriage till my way down to +perdition is paved with broken oaths, as false as her love was +true, and as hot as was the fire which fell from heaven, when Elijah +strove with Baal's prophets, and that licked up the water in the +trench, as did those burning oaths of mine so often dry up her +tears. Give me your hand, Claude; Seigneur Montigny, give me yours. +I see a change within you towards this lady. Stand not between her +and your son, as you would wish no sin to stand betwixt yourself +and Heaven at Judgment." Then in a low tone meant only for Claude's +ear, he whispered, gasping: + +[Illustration: "Quick, I am dying: bend over me: let me perceive +your breath, for I am blind."] + +"Think all I would have said, if there were time, and we were +happier. Farewell for ever; I cannot tarry, neither would I do it +now. I have outlived myself by near an hour, for I was not myself +when I performed this deed." And again a spasm passed over his +frame, his eyes grew fixed and glazed, and he earnestly exclaimed: +"Gather near me all who love me, and all to love whom is my duty. +Quick, quick; for a film overspreads my eyes, the throes of death +are tearing down this frame. Quick, I am dying. Bend over me; let +me perceive your breath, for I am blind. Bend, bend;--stoop yet +lower; I cannot feel you, for each sense grows dull; stoop lower +yet.--Oh, soul, why all this haste? Amanda, Claude, poor, missing +Mona, I have somewhat more to say to you; quick, listen, listen, +or it will be too late. Pshaw! pshaw! it _is_ too late, too late, +too late!" And his head fell backwards, and with his arms clasped +convulsively around the necks of Claude and Amanda, the advocate, +like his son, was a corpse. On the following day both of them were +laid in the English burying ground, but no stone marks the spot, +and in vain the stranger seeks to discover it. None are able, or +care, to point it out, restrained by a superstitious awe. A few +octogenarians still remember him, and look grave and shake the +head, when questioned as to the story and fate of the talented and +terrible Advocate of Montreal. + + +END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + +***** This file should be named 31212-8.txt or 31212-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31212/ + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan + +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 +http://gutenberg.net/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.net + +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.net), +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 F3. 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 MERCHANTIBILITY 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 web page at http://www.pglaf.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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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 +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +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 http://pglaf.org + +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 including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty 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: + + http://www.gutenberg.net + +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. diff --git a/old/20100207-31212-h.htm b/old/20100207-31212-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd8436c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20100207-31212-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4686 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/> + <title> + The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + p.main {font-weight: bold; font-size: 150%; margin-right: 10%; text-indent: 0;} + p.hang {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em; } + p.hanging {font-size: 150%; text-align: center; width: 70%; font-weight: bold; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: left; /* all headings left */ + clear: both; + } + + hr { width: 33%; border-top: double 3px; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; clear: both; + } + div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; background-color: #DEE; color: #000; + margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: left;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + +/* LISTS */ + ul { position: relative; + width:80%; + list-style-type:none;} + li { margin-top: 0.25em; + line-height: 1.2em; } + + body{margin-left: 12%; + margin-right: 12%; + } + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 12%; font-size: 95%;} + + .sider { position: absolute; left: 18%; margin-left: .5em; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; text-align: left; } + .sidel { position: absolute; right: 18%; margin-right: .5em; + font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; } + + .bhead { border-top: double 3px; border-bottom: double 3px; } + .bbox {border: solid 2px; width: 25%; margin: auto; padding: 1em; + text-align: left; font-size: 80%;} + + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +/* FOOTNOTES */ + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px; margin-top:1em; clear: both;} + .footntoes h3 { margin-top: 0.5em;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 85%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:12%; margin-right:12%; text-align: left; font-size: 85%;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 14em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +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.net + + +Title: The Advocate + +Author: Charles Heavysege + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31212] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + + + + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h2>THE ADVOCATE</h2> +<p>A NOVEL</p> +<h3>BY CHARLES HEAVYSEGE,</h3> +<p>Author of “Saul,” “Jephthah's Daughter.”<br/> +&c., &c., &c.</p> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY J. ALLAN.</h3> +<h3>(engraved by John Henry Walker after illustrations by J. Allan)</h3> + +<p> +MONTREAL<br/> +RICHARD WORTHINGTON,<br/> +GREAT ST. JAMES STREET.<br/> +<br/> +1865.<br/> +<br/> +M. LONGMOORE & CO., PRINTERS.<br/> +</p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<ul> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></li> +</ul> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I">THE ADVOCATE.</a></h2> + +<a href="images/picture0002-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0002-small.jpg" + alt="Stillyside"/></a> + + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Take, oh take those lips away,</p> +<p>That so sweetly were forsworn;</p> +<p>And those eyes, the break of day,</p> +<p>Lights that do mislead the morn:</p> +<p>But my kisses bring again,</p> +<p><span class="i3">bring again</span></p> +<p>Seals of love, but sealed in vain,</p> +<p><span class="i3">seal'd in vain.”</span></p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Measure for Measure.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +On a bright day during the month of September, of the year 1800, +two persons were in earnest conversation in a lawyer's office in +the city of Montreal. One of them was the most distinguished +advocate of that place; a man of some three score years, and of a +commanding yet wild and singular aspect. His companion was a +well-dressed female of middle age, and comely, though mournful +countenance. Some disagreeable topic seemed to have just ruffled +both of their tempers, for her face was moist with tears, and +darkened with an expression of disappointment. His own was slightly +marked with annoyance, and, suddenly ceasing to arrange some folded +law papers that he held in his hands, and had gathered up from the +table at which he was standing, he exclaimed in tones of mingled +surprise and asperity: “Still at the old song! still harping, +harping, harping! Peace, no more of it. Heaven would be insufferable +with but one hymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl, earth +uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety, what a charm hast +thou!” +</p> + +<p> +“Is this, then, all your answer?” enquired the female, sorrowfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it not decisive?” he demanded sharply. “Woman, away: am I not +busy? Is not this the very Passion week of preparation before the +Easter of the Assizes?” Then with an upward leer of his eyes, that +were now filled with frolicksome humour, whilst at the corners of +his mouth flickered a grim smile, he continued: “Mona Macdonald, +I am neither selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not +prone to be provoked to marriage; though Satan in your shape has +for so many years tempted me thereto, I have still remained in the +bachelors' Eden, in spite of you and the Serpent. Marry you! Do I +look in the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough to commit +the unpardonable sin? No, a man may put himself beyond the reach +of mercy by other means than that.” +</p> + +<p> +Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued: “What more is marriage +than mere desert sands, in which life's current is lost until it +reappears in a parcel of bubbles called babies. What is it but the +fool's end, the knave's means; a warning to the wise, a snare to +the simple; the wantonness of youth, the weakness of years; a +pillory wherein to exercise patience; what is it but the Church's +stocks for the wayward feet of women. Marry you! To marry is to +commit two souls to the prison of one body; to put two pigs into +one poke; two legs into one boot, two arms into one sleeve, two +heads into one hat, two necks into one noose, two corpses into one +coffin, and this into a wet grave, for marriage is a perennial +spring of tears. Marry! Why should I bind myself with a vow that +I must break, not being by nature continent and loving? Marry you! +Yes, when I hate you. Have I a sinistrous look to meditate such +mischief? Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom? Pish! I am +ashamed to be so importuned.” +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0010-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0010-small.jpg" + alt="Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom?"/></a> + +<p> +This badinage was uttered with the fire of youth, combined with +the authority of age, accustomed to be obeyed, and the listener +offered no rejoinder; but the speaker, having approached, gazed +into her eyes with a twinkling smile of mirth, that gradually +changed to one of fondness and pity; and kissing her respectfully, +he added in a soft tone: “Come, come, how is the maid Amanda, how +fares our charming foundling?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” was quietly replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Mona, I love that girl,” he continued, assuming a tone of deep +sincerity, “for along with the whole web of your goodness, nature +has interwoven into the fine fabric of her form a thread of my +evil—not in the grosser sense,—no, no; still, look after her; +the breath of passion must be stirring in her, and at her years +most maids are tinder to love's dropping sparks. Remember, there +never yet was a nun but once had tender thoughts. Love comes unto +all that live, and with not less certainty than death's advances +—nay, even the cold, bony frame of death itself, at last comes +wooing, and elopes with life. Now, home and cheer your charge.” +And he playfully pushed her from the room, then, throwing himself +into his chair, resumed the interrupted study of his briefs. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +“A seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone.” +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>All's Well That Ends Well.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The advocate was by birth an Englishman, and a cadet of an ancient +family, who, after having spent a dissolute youth and early manhood, +had come to Canada. Here he became acquainted with an old, half-pay +Highland officer of Wolfe's Army, who for his signal services +rendered during the operations of the British force before Quebec, +had been rewarded with a grant of land in that vicinity. Like others +of his countrymen, the Highlander had settled in the Province, and +married into a French Canadian family. But, soon, after their +union, his wife died in giving birth to a daughter, which he reared +to womanhood with all the strength of an undivided affection. The +Englishman's frank bearing and singular mental powers won the +admiration of the old soldier, and, at the same time, dazzled and +captivated his comely and unsophisticated daughter, to whom the +stranger was soon understood to stand in the light of a lover. But +Macdonald—for such was the name of the warm-hearted clansman—was +not destined to see his dearest wishes realized in the union of +the two. A sudden sickness laid low his hardy frame, and, dying, +he called the pair to his bedside, and joined their hands in +anticipation of the rite of wedlock. The father dead, the lover +betook himself to the study of the law, and with an extraordinary +aptitude and diligence, not only mastered the details of legal +practice, but comprehended, beyond others, the great principles +both of English and of French jurisprudence as practised in Lower +Canada. Ambitious of excellence, he resolved to complete his studies +of the latter in France itself. Of means he had little, but she, +confiding in his honor, consented that the estate left to her by +her father should be sold, to furnish him with the necessary funds +for his maintenance in Paris. In that gay capital—whilst taking +advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels +of the French Bar,—he associated with gamesters and courtezans, +and was at length left with resources barely sufficient to enable +him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary +acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile +eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque +humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his +fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible +scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence, +and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist +with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite +counsel for the defence. Extensive practice, and its concomitant, +a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving +him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with +it she had given him herself, day by day looked for the nuptial +tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become +a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer +in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her his long plighted +vows, he sent her to a lonely dwelling on the then unpeopled Ottawa +to hide her shame, There she remained till the scandal of their +connection was forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female +child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called +Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind +the bluff known as Mount Royal, or popularly the “mountain,” that +lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City +of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious +in his profession, he continued to indulge his vein for pleasure; +not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-secrecy +of his home; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure +from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in those days, +the province was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials, +and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself;—men +of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion, +language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association, +whereof his house became one of the centres of reunion. There, +aware of his gentle descent, and impressed with his transcendent +abilities; charmed with his conversation—as pithy as it was apt +to be impure—his wit, his taste, his information, his judgment; +sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines, and luxuriance of +his table, around which military officer and civil servant, merchant +and judge, were accustomed to assemble, rank and office were +forgotten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour. +Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them, however disguised; +and, secure in that close conclave, where no pure female presence +was found to check the bacchanalian song, or forbid the ribald +jest, all sat to listen to and applaud, their host's inimitable +stories, his grotesque descriptions, his wayward thoughts and +fantastic images; to hearken to his close analysis, his robust +reasoning, his wondrous pathos, his sublime exaggeration; and, as +the wine circulated, to observe yet more his chameleon aspect and +Protean character unfold itself; now grovelling like the Paradisal +toad, wherein, at the ear of Eve, was hidden the form of Lucifer; +now, touched by the Ithuriel spear of some keen conception, suddenly +soaring, like to the bright expanded shape of the surprised and +fallen Archangel, till the guests themselves, like the startled +Ithuriel recoiling from the instant apparition of the fiend, drew +back in amazement, or, as if at the jests of another Yorick, raised +over the table a long, eruptive roar. Nor was that all. For a moment +he would assume the moralist, the theologian, or,—leaving both +revelation, and the pandects,—become the philosopher, pacing the +universe for occult truth; or the metaphysician, tracking the region +of the supersensuous; and, over every theme, flying on mocking +mental pinions, seeming an intellectual satan, passing through the +region of vain questionings and doubtful disquisition, dim out to +the abyss. And thus he lived, using, and abusing, his rare gifts; +no virtuous and accomplished wife presiding at these feasts, ever +degenerating into orgies, or giving sanctity to these walls; within +which were gathered the brightest, gayest, noblest, most powerful +—often most dissolute—of the land. But now the guests were thinned +in numbers by death, by marriage, by worn out passions; and many +a fierce spirit had been tamed by adversity, till the mirth had +grown to be half moody, and the saturnalia gross rather in intention +than in fact. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0018-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0018-small.jpg" + alt="As if at the jests of another Yorick, raised over +the table a long, eruptive roar."/></a> + +<p> +Yet ever amidst these distracting pleasures his heart reverted, +first, to the woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to the sylvan +shades of Stillyside, which latter he still took delight to visit +and adorn; cherishing its mistress, and watching over and nurturing +her child, the fruit of her fondness and of his falsehood;—but +commonly known and publicly acknowledged, only as her foster +daughter, and, in his own prouder circle, as his ward. For himself, +he never occupied other than a handsome suburban residence, situated +between the city and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona +Macdonald seldom entered; and when she did so, it was to be scowled +upon by its menial mistress, a French Canadian, named Babet Blais, +who viewed the melancholy visitor with angry and jealous eyes. Into +this house many comely Abigails had come and gone; but Babet Blais +remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, acquired a wife's +settlement and privileges, by virtue of the presence of a dwarfish, +swarthy creature, half oaf, half imp, their mutual offspring. This +strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb, +was named Narcisse, and flitted about the house rather than made +it his home; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence, +and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and +indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him. +Reckless, stupid, savage; ignoble and stubborn; with thick, black, +stubby hair, and dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes +filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like live coals; +deep-chested, and with shoulders raised and rounded, giving him an +air of pugnacity; snarl written upon his countenance, and pride in +the pose of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient, +he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman, +reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to +her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him; +wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so +severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged +him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the +more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming +his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper, +in one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His +father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon +relinquished the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled him +to a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to take him +into his office. But, instead of applying himself there, he spent +most of his time in idleness and debauchery; by night frequenting +the abodes of vice and infamy, and by day, haunting the doors and +corridors of the court-house, in the latter always instinctively +seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sullen and offended parent. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Haply despair hath seized her.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Cymbeline.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +It was now evening, and the landscape lay steeped in yellow sunshine; +when Mona Macdonald rode slowly homewards, silent and buried in +gloom. Her way lay around the base of the mountain. But neither +its adjacent and majestic sides on the one hand, nor the placid, +mellow-tinted, and sky-bounded plain on the other were regarded by +her. Her thoughts were still with the advocate in his office, or +with her departed father in her native home below Quebec, as he +and she had lived and loved each other there, nearly twenty years +before. Thus preoccupied, she lent no heed to the landscape, although +before her was the broad, descending sun, and behind her was the +mighty Saint Lawrence basking in burnished gold; and soon another +stream, a branch of the Ottawa, appeared in the distance, the two +clasping between them as in a zone the Island of Montreal. But +neither the note of birds, the lowing of cattle, the barking, of +dogs, the churr of the bullfrog, the distant human voices coming +faintly over the lea, nor yet the elysean landscape were seen or +heard; and not until the carriage drew up at Stillyside, and the +bark of a lap-dog, on the top of the distant steps, that led to +the verandah in front of the house, struck her ear, did she fully +awake from her mournful reverie. Then, alighting, she passed +through a postern that hung at the side of folding gates, and, +winding her way up a walk bordered with shrubs and flowers, approached +the dwelling, that stood upon a knoll. At that moment the sound +of a cowbell in the contiguous mountain coppice told the slow +approach of a dappled dairy, in charge of a swarthy French Canadian +youth. All else was quiet about the place, that seemed to be lying +in a sort of listless, half dreamy tranquillity and halcyon repose. +The mansion itself was spacious, and built of the grey limestone +of the district. Woodbine and hop, clematis and the Virginia creeper +half concealed; its rugged exterior, and clothed in tangled luxuriance +the verandah that extended along the front. The roof was covered +with shingles, painted red; and in it were a number of dormer +windows, which, like all the other windows, were hidden with closed +green blinds or shutters. Swallows were darting about the eaves, +and wheeling around a fountain and jet d'eau in front, that were +fed by a mountain spring behind the house; whilst from one of the +rather numerous chimneys a frail wreath of blue smoke crept, and +lingered lazily about the lightning rod, before it rose and melted +away into the pure evening sky. But by this time the lap-dog had +come forwards to meet her, and now ran in advance, emitting a fitful +and joyous bark; and as she ascended the steps the door was opened +by a servant, who, having admitted her, closed it again; but not +before a stranger might, from without, have witnessed a fair and +youthful female figure swiftly descend the stairs into the hall, +and, throwing her arms around the neck of the returned traveller, +greet her with an affectionate salute. A large, grey mastiff now +appeared from the rear of the building, and, while the driver was +removing sundry parcels from the carriage, took a few slow and +solemn turns about the knoll, then, on the departure of man and +vehicle, retired for the night to his kennel, leaving the scene as +quiet as before. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Ungracious wretch,</p> +<p>Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves</p> +<p>Where manners ne'er were preached! Out of my sight.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Twelfth Night.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +On the morning of the following day, Mona Macdonald sat at breakfast +in a room at Stillyside. She was plainly and neatly dressed; and +with her sat a figure more lady-like, and still in her teens, +attired simply, but with negligent taste. Both seemed abstracted, +and, as they silently sipped their tea, appeared to be brooding +over some recent, sad subject of conversation. The weather, too, +without, was as sombre as the mood within. A canopy of cold, grey +clouds covered the sky; the air was chilly, and the wind swayed +the trees to and fro, betokening rain. From time to time the cat, +with arched back, and tail erect, came loudly purring, and rubbing +its sleek sides against the skirts of its mistresses; the lap-dog +was restless; and upon the hearthrug a drowsy spaniel lay with his +nose between his paws, and whined fitfully in a dog's day-dream; +whilst the females, at length altogether ceasing to eat, sat +self-absorbed. On the face of the elder was an expression of sorrow +tempered with patience, but on that of the younger, an air of +melancholy was mingled with resentment, that heightened almost into +majesty a form and countenance of extraordinary and statuesque +beauty. From time to time her companion regarded her with a look +of anxiety and tenderness; and at length, seeing her still abstaining +from the suspended meal, exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Eat, child, eat: fasting is bad for the young.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have no appetite, except for information,” was mournfully replied; +and the elder again regarded her affectionately; then with subdued +earnestness, and in an expostulatory tone, rejoined: +</p> + +<p> +“Be pacified, Amanda; for curiosity often brings us care. Let well +alone, and it will continue to be well with you; but why should +you thus persist to peer into the bottom of your past; as it were, +asking the fashion of your swaddling clothes? Fie! you are too +impatient; too importunate. Pray, no longer question me against my +will, making enquiries that may not be answered. Live without asking +why you live. No more of this. Does not your guardian love you as +though you were his child; and is he not wiser than yourself; to +judge of what knowledge is for your welfare? You ask me, why this +mystery about your birth. Amanda, we move midst mystery from birth +to death, and they who seek to solve it seek for sorrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“These words disturb me more than your past silence,” exclaimed +the younger. “What horror is there to reveal touching my origin, +that you yet dare not shew me?” +</p> + +<p> +“I dare not break your guardian's command,” replied the elder, +firmly. +</p> + +<p> +“Neither can I control a natural desire to know what so nearly +concerns me,” retorted the other. “I beg of you to solve this +mystery of my birth. It is my right, my birthright, to know who +gave me birth. It is said that I was found—where was I found? by +whom? how have I been confided to your care? by whose appointment +have I had given to me this guardian? and why is he so kind, and +wherefore are you so faithful? Tell me, nurse, why has he caused +me to be educated with such care; from what motive has he caused +me to be furnished with accomplishments that seem to reach beyond +the bounds of my prospective sphere? Nurse, I charge you,—if you +indeed have nursed me from my birth, as you declare you have +done,—tell me, I pray you tell me: it is not much to ask: the very +poorest child yet knows its parentage; the meanest beggar knows +whether his father once asked alms or not; but I know nothing of +my progenitors; whether they were of a proud or of a humble station, +whether good or vicious; whether they be yet living or be long +since dead. I do not know even whether my guardian knew them, nor +how he has come to be my guardian, my kind supporter, friend: +nothing do I know of these, whose all I ought to know. What is the +reason of this singular secrecy? Nurse, tell me all you know,—for +well I know you know,—tell me, I say, about my parentage; declare, +again I charge you, and now most solemnly, if you really love me, +who gave me to your care and to his kind tutelage: Nurse, Mona, +foster-mother, speak; how have I become the ward, nay, like the +very child, of that eccentric, wise, gay, good old man?” +</p> + +<p> +“More gay than good, and not so wise as wicked,” muttered Mona, +and, not giving her companion time to reply, continued: +</p> + +<p> +“Amanda, do not importune me further, I conjure you. Enough for +you to know your guardian loves you, cherishes you even as if you +were his child. Let us arise from table since our meal seems +done;—what is it that alarms you?” Ah! And at that moment the +report of a gun, the crashing of a window pane, the sound of shot +hurtling past, its striking the opposite wall of the apartment, +and dropping, along with falling plaster, on to the floor, burst +upon them; followed, without, by the expostulating tones of a +man-servant, that were soon overpowered by a loud guffaw, and, +before the interlocutors had recovered from their astonishment and +terror, Narcisse, followed by several men carrying fowling pieces, +rushed, swearing, into the vestibule Amanda saw him, and, rising +to her feet, regarded him through the doorway with a look of scorn +and anger akin to that cast by the Belviderean Apollo upon the +wounded Python. But his dull temperament was invulnerable to the +arrows that shot from her eyes, and, undaunted, he swept forward +into the room, and with coarse familiarity attempted to salute her. +He was unsuccessful, for Mona, advancing between them, hindered +the nearer approach of the intruding mannikin, who, baffled, and +with the eyes of Amanda still fixed upon him, and yet beaming +ineffable contempt and disdain, at length stood before her with +downcast look, like one detected in some act of guilt. His companions +one by one slunk back to the lawn, whither in the dumb disgrace of +his discomfiture, he followed them. There, meeting with the domestic +already mentioned, and who had now been joined by a fellow-servant; +first an altercation, then a scuffle ensued, in which latter the +mastiff took an effective part, in maintaining the equality of the +house against what otherwise would have been overwhelming odds; +but he was at last disabled by a blow with the butt of a +fowling-piece, whilst the lap-dog, as it stood barking on the +borders of the fray, was shot dead by the cowardly and vindictive +Narcisse. This was too much to be borne, and, indignant, the ladies +descended to the lawn. At the same moment, three female domestics +appeared upon the scene, and changed the character of the encounter. +Three brawny ruffians seized each an Abigail, and attempted to tear +her off, as of old the treacherous Roman bachelors carried the +Sabine maids. Screams filled the air, mingled with oaths and +laughter; and the affair that had been, begun in vulgar, aimless, +frolic, might have ended in serious outrage, but just then a horseman +appeared at the gate, dismounted, and, rushing in, riding-whip in +hand, plied it with such vigor, that in a few seconds all the rude +gang had fled except Narcisse, who, having stumbled, was seized by +the collar, hurried forward, and spurned through the gateway into +the road, leaving his fowling-piece behind him. +</p> + +<p> +The stranger now for the first time seemed to observe the ladies, +and bowing to them respectfully, for a moment appeared to hesitate +whether to approach and address them. They, too, stood silent, but +it was with mixed astonishment and agitation, and he still stood +regarding the younger with an expression of deep admiration; till, +as if suddenly recollecting himself, and bowing yet more profoundly +than before, accompanied with an apologetic smile, enhancing the +beauty of his young and noble countenance, he gracefully retired +to his steed, vaulted into the saddle, and, galloping away, was +soon hidden from their view by a turn in the road. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, nurse, Mona, we have been rude indeed!” then exclaimed the +younger: “We have committed the most odious of all sins, ingratitude; +and,” she added half archly, “we have seen the noblest of all forms, +Mona, a gentleman. Nay, but to have let the chivalrous stranger, +our deliverer, depart without a word of grateful recognition;—who +will champion us the next time, good Mona.” +</p> + +<p> +“May we never again require such timely help, child,” replied her +mentor: “But let us go within and ascertain the damage that has +been done there by these vagabonds from the city;” and, so saying, +she took up the dead lap-dog and carried it tenderly in upon her +arm, viewing it with a wistful expression of grief and pity, whilst +Amanda stooped to caress the wounded mastiff, then followed with +an air of pensive majesty, not without looking in the direction in +which the gallant stranger, had disappeared. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>As You Like It.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +It was near mid-day, and the advocate was engaged in his office, +when the notary with whom Narcisse had been placed, suddenly +entering, angrily demanded: +</p> + +<p> +“Where is Narcisse, where is your son, sir? Here I am wanting his +assistance, now, and he is missing, he is gone, no one knows where, +nor where he has stowed those papers. Where is he, sir; where is +the boy, I say; where is your son?” +</p> + +<p> +The advocate looked up at this sudden disturbance, and, drawing a +deep sigh, exclaimed with bitter emphasis: +</p> + +<p> +“I would he were nowhere; that he were erased from the book of +being; I would he were in heaven,—or else—in your office, Monsieur +Veuillot. Is that a bad wish for either?” +</p> + +<p> +“But he is not in my office,” said Veuillot. +</p> + +<p> +“Nor in heaven neither, I fear,” rejoined the advocate. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he, then?” demanded the excited notary: “where is your +son?” +</p> + +<p> +“Such a son!” murmured the advocate, shrugging his shoulders. “Do +you wish to be pleasant with me, Monsieur Veuillot? my evil genius +call him. Son! I own I feed him, as I do other vermin that infest +my house.” +</p> + +<p> +“But where is he?” reiterated the notary with growing impatience, +and seeming resolved to take no denial. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he?” echoed the advocate: “ask his mother; yes, sir, ask +his dam. Oh, Monsieur Veuillot, is there not deep damnation in thus +having an idiot for one's child? Here is your purgatory:—purgatory? +no: for purgatory is a kind of half-way house to heaven, but this +son of mine is to me a slippery stepping-stone to perdition. Sir, +a child should be a cherub to lift its parents' spirit to the skies; +but mine, oh!”—and a spasm of agony passed over the old man's +visage, succeeded by a forced expression of calmness, as he continued: +</p> + +<p> +“Veuillot, you have heard of Solomon. He speaks of the foolish son +of a wise father. He was himself the father of a fool, that rent +the kingdom,—Rehoboam. I mean,—and he kept concubines, too; so +I suppose he waxed fruitful in fools. I have but one fool, therefore +I am thankful;—but then he is a thorough fool, a most unmitigated, +and unmitigatable fool; the fool of fools, a finished fool, the +pink of fools; a most preposterous, backwards-going, crab-like +fool; a filthy fool; an idiot, sir, without either parts or particle +of ambition; an ape, an owl that flits about by day; a bat, and a +bad bat, that flits from tavern to sty; chief of the devil's +nightingales; a raven that, roving to foul roosts, goes beating +the bosom of the night; a soul that loves the darkness; a mole, +sir, a blind mole; a piece of animated perversity, a creature +that persists to go astray.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where has he strayed to now?” demanded the notary. +</p> + +<p> +“Into the hands of justice, perhaps;” was the fierce reply: “into +the grip of the law; up to the foot of the gallows; on to the hill +of my extreme disgrace.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he, where can I find him? tell me only where,” cried +Veuillot. +</p> + +<p> +“Where! let echo answer,—would you wish to hunt him?” said the +advocate, mocking. “Did you ever gallop, sir, after a hedgehog? have +you assisted to draw a badger? I am badgered by him, and will blame +him, ay, ban him, for he is my curse, my bane; why should I not +curse him as Noah cursed that foul whelp Canaan? Beshrew him for +a block head, a little black-browed beetle, a blot of ink, a shifting +shadow, a roving rat, a mouse, yes, sir, a very mouse, that creeps +in and out of its hole when the old cat is away. Away, Mr. Notary, +away; go, good Monsieur Veuillot. There are more conceptions in +man than he has yet expressed either in statutes or in testaments. +Go; you are a deed-drawer; I'll be a deed doer: I'll do, I'll do,—I +do not know what I'll do, but something shall be done. He shall be +shaken over perdition; sent to grind in the prison house; sold into +slavery:—fool! he shall be banished to Caughnawaga, or to +Loretto;—the further the better; he shall be sent to the Lake of +the Two Mountains, sir, or to Saint Regis to learn the war-whoop +and gallant the squaws. You smile:—but to your errand, Veuillot; +it is not known where my son is: I saw him last night, may I never +see him again! Then, dying, my old age, perhaps, may close in +peace: not else, not else.” +</p> + +<p> +The notary departed, but the exasperated lawyer still conversed +with himself. “I cannot decently die,” he said, “any more than I +can devoutly live, pricked through the very reins and kidneys with +that skewer. Alas! he is my goad, my thorn in the flesh, the +messenger of satan sent to buffet me. He is the mosquitto that +stings my knuckles; the little, black, abominable fly that will +insist to assail my nose; he is my bruise, my blain, my blister, +my settled, ceaseless source, of irritation: the cause, the cause—of +what is he the cause? Alas! that I should ever have been the cause +of such a foul effect! But let it be so; the whitest skins have +moles, the sun has spots; he is my mole, my spot; and I, I am the +father of the fool, Narcisse.” +</p> + +<p> +Narcisse was that moment at a tavern in the beautiful village of +Cote des Neiges, adjacent to Stillyside, and much resorted to by +pleasure seekers from Montreal. His companions, too, were there, +bewailing the loss of one of their fowling-pieces, and devising +means for revenge on their interrupter and successful assailant. +There they remained, and, instead of spending the day, as was their +first intention, on the side of the mountain, in popping at small +birds they passed many of its hours in quaffing large potations, +the effects of which they in some degree slept off by a long +afternoon nap. It was now nightfall, and they were returning +homewards, conversing in loud and angry tones on the humiliation +of the morning, and threatening retribution against its cause, the +gallant stranger, Narcisse, with the litigiousness of his maternal +race, and prompted by his inkling of law, was for launching an +action for assault and battery against their assailant's purse, +whilst the others, pot-valiant, declared their anxiety to meet him +in bodily conflict on another field; and thus discoursing in the +deepening gloom, the party arrived opposite the mansion at Stillyside. +For a few moments they halted, undetermined whether to approach, +and demand the delivery of the captured weapon; but at last agreed +to waive the requisition, chiefly at the instance of Narcisse, who +authoritatively ruled, that to demand and accept of the feloniously +acquired gun, would be to compound a felony. Hereupon, being +somewhat more at ease in their minds, they proceeded, and now less +noisily, continuing on their way with only occasional bursts of +abuse, and the firing off of fag ends of French songs, accompanied +with a fitful fusilade of low, horselaughter; and thus, mollified +and maudlin, unsteadily continued their straggling march, until +they halted at a gate on the roadside, and some distance behind +which, loomed a large, dingy and deserted-looking dwelling, half +concealed by tall trees. No light was to be seen, but, after a +brief consultation, the party swung open the gate, entered, and +having reached the house, one of the number gave a peculiar tapping +at a window, followed by a low whistle or call, that was immediately +answered by a corresponding sound from within, and this again by +a counter signal, which was repeated like the faintly returning +tone of an echo; and, after some delay, the door slowly opened, +the voices of men and women, mingling in boisterous mirth, burst +forth like the roar of a suddenly opened furnace, the party entered, +and the door was closed again. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +At the same hour that Narcisse and his companions entered the sombre +and suspicious looking dwelling, the advocate returned to his home +in the upper environs of the city, wearied in mind and frame, from +an application broken only by the entrance of Monsieur Veuillot, +and the arrival of a messenger from Stillyside, who, hot and excited +from the violent scene whereof it had been the theatre, painted +the outrage in deepened colors, and exaggerated form. Auger and +shame contended in the old lawyer's bosom as he heard the story; +the former sentiment urging for the punishment of the delinquents, +the latter pleading for forbearance; for amongst the transgressors +was his illegitimate son, whose share in the offence, if brought +into the light of the tribunal, would thence cast back a shadow +upon the father, and point, publicly and anew, to their disreputable +relationship. Others also, whose reputation was far dearer to him +than his own, must be dragged, either as witnesses or as prosecutrix, +to public gaze, and thus be made to furnish matter for the tongue +of scandal. Perhaps, too, some latent paternal tenderness inclined +the incensed advocate to mercy; and, giving the messenger a hastily +written note, sympathizing with the tenants of Stillyside, he +despatched him thither, along with a noble Newfoundland dog, then +lying in the office, and which he meant should replace the disabled +mastiff. Afterwards, his thoughts, occupied with the important +professional business of the day, scarcely reverted to the vexatious +occurrence of the morning; but now, at eve, the tide of attention, +that had been so long dammed back, came flowing over his spirit +with increasing depth and force; and, in spite of his unwillingness +and the necessity for recruiting his wasted energies, for the +performance of the onerous public duties of the morrow, he fell to +brooding over the new misdeed of the already too obnoxious Narcisse. +From the son, his musings reverted to the menial mother, and, by +contrast, from her to the fair tenants at Stillyside; till, tossed +by the contrary and vexed tides of thought and feeling, he arose, +perturbed from the lounge, went to the window, and, drawing aside +the curtains, beheld in the east the full moon climbing the clear, +blue heavens, amidst a multitude of marble clouds. Struck with +sudden admiration and oblivious pleasure, he opened the folding +frames and stepped into the garden. The air was balmy; and, soothed +by the change, he returned within, reassumed the habiliments of +the day, took a stout, ivory-headed walking cane from its corner, +and, calling a domestic, announced that he should for some time be +absent. His first impulse was to cross a contiguous, half-reclaimed +tract, sprinkled with vast boulders of the glacial period, and +reach the turnpike road that led around the mountain. But before +he turned to commence his stroll he paused to gaze down on the +outstretched city, that, lying as asleep on the arm of the St. +Lawrence, with tin-covered domes, spires, cupolas, minarets, and +radiant roofs, showing like molten silver in the moonbeams, +contrasting with the dark shingles covering most of the houses, +presented an enchanted-looking scene of glory and of gloom. On the +left, and oldest of its class, was the Bonsecours Church, with its +high-pitched roof, and airy, but inelegant, campanile, refulgent +as if cut from some rock of diamond. Nearer, was the Court House, +and, beneath it, the Jail; and, behind them both, the dusky expanse +of the poplar-planted Champ de Mars. In the midst of the city rose +the tin-mailed tower and spire of the French Cathedral, and, at +its rear, loomed the neighboring, wall-girt, solemn Seminary of +Saint Sulpice. The bright, precipitous roof of the Church of the +Recollets, and the spangled canopy of the vast foundation of the +Grey Nuns reposed resplendent; and, within its ample enclosure, +luminous as a moon-lit lake, the quadrangled and cloistered College +of Montreal. Beyond these, in the midst of the shining river, +duskily slumbered the little, fortified and wooded Island of Sainte +Hélène; and up the stream, apast the petty promontory of Pointe +Saint Charles, stretched the low, umbrageous lapse of Nuns Island, +whence the eye followed the bending flood, that trended towards +where, with eternal toil and sullen roar, agonize for ever the +hoary rapids of Lachine. In the other direction the eye roved +downwards over Hochelaga and Longueuil, Longue Pointe and Pointe +aux Trembles, towards where lay the islet-strewn shallows of +Boucherville, and, lower yet, the village of Varennes. The mountains +of Boucherville, Beloeil, Chambly, and Vermont shadowy bounded the +horizon; and, turning from these, abrupt before him rose the awful +and spectral presence of Mount Royal. Skirting its foot he now +proceeded, brushing away the shining dew, disturbing the lazy lizard +and the serenading grasshopper, and hearing below him the harsh +croaking of the bullfrog in the pool; whilst, ever and anon, the +gust awoke, with a huge sigh, the dreaming maples, poplars, and +dark, penitential pines. From the remote, secluded farms came the +faint bark of dogs; and amidst such sights and sounds he at length +emerged upon the winding road, that, if followed, would lead him +past Stillyside. Slowly and without special aim he continued to +walk, ruminating and still drawn onwards, lured by the time and +scene, until the sound alike of mastiff and of cur had ceased, the +grasshopper refused to pipe upon the dusty road, and the too distant +bullfrog was no longer heard gurgling to its mates, but all was +silent, lying as in a trance, both heaven and earth. And then he +paused, and lapsing into meditation, stood unconscious of surrounding +things, till the tolling of the clock in the distant tower of the +cathedral of Notre Dame awoke him, and, starting from his reverie +and listening, he counted the hours to the full score of midnight. +Struck, then, by the weird aspect of the scene and singular silence, +a vague sense of horror stole through him, and he exclaimed hoarsely: +“This is the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn +and spirits walk abroad!” and scarcely had the words escaped his +lips when a wild tumult rose near him, and he perceived a bacchanalian +and disorderly troop of both sexes sallying into the moonlight; +wherein with uncouth antics and inviting pose, they disported +towards a group of trees, encircling which, and in the chequered +beams beneath their boughs, he beheld them in Harlequin and +Columbine-like appeals of passion, or already mated and forming +for the meditated measure; appearing the very gang of Circe;—and +in their midst he now observed his son, the brutish looking, cunning, +and sensual Narcisse, wine-flushed and loud, and seeming to be the +mimic Comus of the crew. As with the power of divination, he at +once comprehended the spectacle. He had arrived opposite the +equivocal building wherein Narcisse and his companions had disappeared +some hours before, and the door of which had just been suddenly +flung open, and kindling with wrath he at once advanced upon the +bacchants in the midst of their orgies. At the same instant, from +the direction of the city and unseen by him, a tall rider on a +lofty steed, cloak flying to the breeze, swept by like an apparition; +greeted only with a comical yell of astonishment and derision from +one of the females, as like a spectre it swept by. But the hilarious +band before him was too much preoccupied with the performance of +its mockeries to have observed anything, and the advocate, with +eyes gleaming and fixed upon his son, who now perceiving him stood +terror stricken, approached the revellers, who subsided before him, +as, with grey hair fluttering in the wind, he came beneath the +extending boughs, like some denouncing Druid amidst the sacred +oaks, his countenance inflamed, his whole frame seeming to shake +as if in throes to eject some foul possession; or, rather, as if +he were himself a fierce, incarnate, and unfriendly spirit; and, +at length, addressing his son, who was now leaning against a tree, +both for support and concealment, he burst forth: “Miscreant!”—and +the word was echoed from the side of a huge, dilapidated barn, +—“Wretches,” he hollowed; and the guilty crowd, fearing both +individual recognition and personal contact, again began to retire. +</p> + +<p> +“Stay,” he commanded, imperiously, “you are known, and flight shall +put the worst construction on your case;—halt, brawlers and bullies, +spendthrifts and bankrupts, breakers of the peace; sons of afflicted +parents, husbands of weeping wives, brothers of sisters both ashamed +and grieved; outlaws; the city's scum, the country's scourge, the +harvest that shall yet be reaped for the jail, and leave gleanings +for the gallows; abandoned creatures, linger;” and suddenly grasping +Narcisse: “Sirrah,” he cried, “here is your nightly haunt, these +are your companions,—come with me, sir, come,—ah, will you resist +your—” father he was about to say, but he recoiled from the word +as from an adder, and, casting upon his son a look of unspeakable +disdain, he shook the writhing criminal, who the next moment escaped +from his hold, and slunk away, still looking backward over his +shoulder and muttering curses upon his begetter. The advocate stood +watching him in silence, as, withdrawing along with the others, +the distance dimmed his form, and drowned his maledictions; then, +drawing a deep sigh, a dark, vindictive scowl gathered upon his +visage, until its expression became diabolical, and these words +rolled from his heaving chest in deep, irregular murmurs: +</p> + +<p> +“Thou son of a wicked and rebellious woman, do I not know that thou +hast set my friends against me, and caused mine enemies to hold me +in derision! But thou shall suffer, thou shalt bend, or I will +break thee, yea, dash thee into pieces. May not the potter do what +he wills with the cup his own hands have, fashioned? Away with +thee, misshapen reptile; may soon the Saint Lawrence hide thee, or +may'st thou soon be laid in the burial field of thy mother's race. +Away, thou vessel of dishonor; grant Heaven that I may not yet make +of thee a vessel of wrath!” and the old man's countenance worked +convulsively, as he seemed to be revolving some terrible idea; but +at last growing calmer he exclaimed; “Down, down, ye cruel thoughts, +ye horrible conceptions; hence, busiest suggestions of the fiend; +be silent at my ears, ye visionary lips; ye perilous and importunate +prompters, peace!” But scarcely had he uttered these words, when +a report of firearms sounded amongst the trees, and a shot rattled +through the boughs, scattering the leaves upon his head; and the +replicated echoes had hardly ceased, when a peal of triumphant +laughter rose, and continued to be renewed till the spot appeared +a field for the sport of a hundred goblins of mischief. +</p> + +<p> +“Come in,” at length said a voice, and, turning, he beheld a woman +standing in the doorway. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” he enquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Enter, and learn;” she answered: “I would not have you murdered +in your old, age. Do you not know me?” and seizing him rudely she +drew him towards her until his face almost touched her own emaciated +countenance, on which played a sardonic smile as she turned it +towards the moonlight, and he strove to free himself, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“Witch, hag, loose me:” and gazed upon her with a look of mingled +amazement and abhorrence. +</p> + +<p> +“Am I then so changed?” she demanded, with a gloomy smile; “am I +become a leper; am I grown loathsome now, whom you once declared +to be so lovely? Follow me, false man; you did not once require +solicitation.” And again the sound of firearms startled the night, +and once more the leaves fell fluttering on his head, and the beldam +angrily exclaimed: “Come in, old fool,” and laid hands on him a +second time, as, in a voice thick and hurried with dislike and +terror, he replied: “You are remembered by me, woman; give me +shelter for a moment,” and hastily stepping with her over the +threshhold, she closed the door after them. Another burst of +triumphant laughter rose from the retiring revellers, and again +moonlight and returning silence rested on the scene. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“It is my lady: oh, it is my love!”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Romeo and Juliet.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The agitation of the morning at Stillyside had subsided as the day +wore, but the mind of Amanda Macdonald (for such was the name of +the younger and fairer denizen of that sequestered abode) remained +pensive and preoccupied; and when at her usual hour she had ascended +to her chamber, instead of retiring to rest, she took up a tale of +the troubadours, and read; nor did she lay down the volume till +the sudden flickering of the candle in the socket and the simultaneous +tolling from the distant belfry of the church of the village of +Saint Laurent warned her that it was midnight. Then, feeling +oppressed, alike with the heaviness of the atmosphere of her room, +and a strange weight at her heart, analogous to the lassitude that +is sometimes felt in the beginning of sickness, she arose, drew +aside the curtains, and throwing open the folding window, stepped +on to the verandah. A clear Canadian night, appearing a new and +chaster version of the day, greeted her. The moon, at night's +meridian, hung high in the fulness of its autumnal splendor, tranquil +in the solitude of the sky, a solitude unbroken, save by a few +small stars that were twinkling in the azure, and a fleet of low, +dappled clouds that were coasting the horizon. Awhile her eves +dwelt abstractedly on the sight, then, falling, they wandered +listlessly over the broad and shining expanse of landscape before +her; where Nature, unrobed, seemed as in a bath; for in front, the +grass, steeped in descending dews, glittered as a lake. Woods +confined the view in one direction, and the gleamy wave of the +Ottawa, amidst filmy obscurity, bounded it, yet further off, in +another. Unseen but felt, like the unperceived Genius of the +landscape, towered close behind her the sombre-sided mountain; and, +touched by the solemn scene, she advanced, and, leaning upon the +balustrade, heaved a deep sigh; then lapsed into a reverie so +profound, that she failed to hear the tramp of a horse now rapidly +approaching, and to note the change to sudden silence, caused by +its stopping at the postern. But there, transfixed with wonder and +admiration, and looking like a bronze equestrian statue at the +gate, now, mounted, sat gazing the lately flying horseman of the +road, the champion of the morning on those grounds, and contemplated +the figure on the verandah; then, dismounting, tied his steed, and +vaulting over the fence, swiftly approached across the lawn; till, +as if suddenly aware of being on holy ground, he paused, and stood +with reverential aspect and clasped hands, eagerly bending towards +her as if in adoration. Thus engaged, as stands in ecstasy some +newly arrived pilgrim before a shrine, he stood enrapt; whilst she +remained as moveless as a carved angel leaning over a cathedral +aisle, and, with her eyes fixed on vacancy, at length mournfully +exclaimed: “Sad, sad, so sad!—yet why am I so sad? No denser +grows the mystery around my birth; and if knight errants yet live, +rescuing maids, or he is a wandering god, and here is Arcadia, why +should that make me grieve? It is true that he is handsome—and +yet what of that?—most men are handsome in the eyes of maids. But +he appears the paragon of men. Is he indeed not all a man should +be? Where were the blemish, the exception; who shall challenge +nature, saying, in his form, that here she has given too little, +there too much?—Ah, me! I am not happy, yet I should be so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can have heard aright, or do I dream?” gasped out the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“A knight, a god;” she continued, yet musing; “oh, he came hither +like a knight of old, or as an angry angel sent to scatter +fiends;—or, rather, like the lightning he arrived, out of the +storm cloud of I know not where. Where is he now? whence was he? +who is he? what? Alas, I know nothing of where, nor who, nor what, +nor whence he is; all that I know is, I am strangely sad; and that +such perfection was not made for me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is this not Stillyside?” enquired the listener, “or do I wander +in some spirit-land; lost, lost;—oh, so luxuriously lost! She, +too, seems lost—lost in a reverie, and all forlorn. I'll speak to +her;—and yet I fear to speak, I fear to breathe, lest the undulating +air should burst this, and prove it to be but a bubble. Yet she +breathes, she spoke, and oh, such words! Words, be at my command; +I will address her, for this is not fancy: could fancy shew a moving +soul of sorrow? See how the passion plays upon that face, as she +thus stands with sad-eyed earnestness, maintaining converse with +the hollow sky. Looked ever aught so fair yet so forlorn? Methinks +there is a tear upon her cheek. Why comes it from the Eden of her +eye? I must speak to her;” and with mixed fear and fervour he +exclaimed: “May Heaven keep you from grave cause of sorrow, lady! +Forgive me, oh, forgive me, lady, or vision, for, by these dazzled +eyes, and, as I fear, by your offended form, I Scarcely can divine +whether you are of earth or air; pardon me if I have appeared here +by night, as unpremeditatedly as I came by day. Bid me begone, +—and yet permit me to remain, for, by my life, and the deep +admiration with which you have inspired me, I cannot leave you till +I learn your grief, and with it, peradventure, my own doom. Whom +did you speak of even now, fair form?” +</p> + +<p> +“Who asks of me that question; who is it that thus listens when I +thought myself alone?” she demanded haughtily, looking downwards +from the verandah. “Sir, just now I spoke, and said—I know not +what. What you have overheard me say I fear was foolish; do not, +then, regard it. I know you now. You are the stranger who, this +morning, drove those violent intruders from these grounds. Ah, +who would have thought you would return by night, and thus, sir, +play the eaves-dropper! Oh, for shame! Nay, you are not the one I +took you for. Sir, it is mean to overlisten; mean, very mean; nay, +it is base, unmanly, to listen to a maid, when she commits her +vagaries to the moon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Scourge me, for I deserve it, with your tongue;” rejoined the +stranger—“but, lady, you were not alone, though I were absent; +no; you cannot be alone. Such excellence must draw hither elves +and midnight troops of fairies; by day, by night, each moment must +array around you the good wishes of the world. No, not alone; the +very sky is filled with watchers and the ground covered with +invisible feet, that have come here to do you homage; then why not +I found here to pay you mine? Are you still angry?” +</p> + +<p> +“You have offended me,” she answered;—“and yet perhaps I am too +severe with you. I fear I am ungrateful. 'Mean,' did I say? It was +mean in me to say so, and most forgetful of the favor conferred +here by you this morning. No, I vow it was not mean—at least in +<i>you</i>. And yet it was mean, it was very mean in you, sir, thus to +overstep the golden mean of manners. Scourge you? Ah, I fear you +well deserve it;—and yet if I could, I would put to scourging that +word, 'mean,' that has just escaped from out of my petulent lips, +as sometimes a froward, disobedient child runs into danger; breaking +away from out of the nurse's arms. But you should not have played +the bold intruder, and joined in these vain vigils;—nay, begone, +or I must, myself, withdraw. I do entreat you, stay no longer; come +some other time,—but go to-night; make no excuse for staying, or +you may yet compel me to be angry with you. Indeed, I fear that I +am too forgiving. Go, I pardon you,—but go at once, or I may yet +repent to have condoned what it, in truth, were hard to justify.” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven pardons heavier sins,” observed the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, when its pardon is sought for;” was rejoined; “but I pardon +you without your craving it; and, remember, Heaven's pardon is not +granted to us simply for the asking; neither do we receive it +because our hearts are penitent; but for the sake of Him who died +for us upon the cross; hence you are now forgiven by me, not for +your prayers' sake, nor for your regret, but rather because +beforehand, the night's offence has been cancelled by the morning's +favor. For the rest, retire, sir: what you have heard, you have +heard. You have heard my words, yet give no heed to them. If I +to-night have walked forth in my sleep, and dreamed on this +verandah;—why, then, it was but a dream. Let it be thus esteemed, +and so we part. Good night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stay!” exclaimed the stranger, as, smiling with ineffable sweetness, +and deeply curtsying, she drew backwards towards the window: “Stay; +how can those part whom destiny hath joined; how be divided whom +their fates make one? Stay, lady, and let love, young love, plead +his own cause. Oh, I would yet charm you with my tongue, even as +your own detected tongue has just declared that this morning I +charmed you with my deed. Stay. If, in truth, you did admire, +what, at the moment of its execution, I thought nothing of, and +value now only as it has relation to yourself, hear my appeal.” +</p> + +<p> +“What does this mean?” she asked, startled at his earnestness: “I +do not know you; go, oh, go; I say again, I do not know you, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never knew myself till now,” he cried with bitter pathos. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, I do not know you; you do not know <i>me;</i>” she reiterated. +</p> + +<p> +“Know me to be irrevocably yours;” rejoined the stranger, “for you +have bound my heart in such fast thraldom, that even yourself could +not deliver it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, perhaps, I would not, if I could,—unless you asked it:” she +answered: “and yet, sir, possibly you jest. Oh, sir, forbear; +begone, nor longer fool here a surprised, lone girl. What is your +purpose? who, and whence, are you? On your honor, answer me truly.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the seigneur Montigny's only son: my purpose and my thoughts +towards you are all honorable:” he replied. And she rejoined: “Oh, +if your intentions are dishonorable, and you have not the spirit, +as you have the aspect, of a gentleman, yet keep this secret, as +you are a man.” +</p> + +<p> +“What shall be said to reassure you?” demanded Montigny. “Witness, +Heaven, if I assume to act, or intend anything injurious towards +you. Believe me. I am the heir to a proud seigniory: you are,—I +know not what; enough for me to know, you are the fairest figure +that has yet filled mine eyes, and surely as good as fair. Will +you be mine, as I am yours for ever? Speak, why are you silent?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hist,” she said, listening. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter?” he enquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, perhaps nothing:” she continued, whilst her voice +faltered:—“but go, oh, go, and come again to-morrow, or next +week, or when you will. I'll think on what you have said; but go; +I tremble so; stay here no longer; think, should we be observed. +I am ashamed to think of it. I am ashamed to look the moon in the +face, ashamed to look into yours. Oh, sir, what have I done? What +have you said? How have I answered? for I am perplexed. Away, yet +come again; come fifty times; but stay no longer now; begone;—return +though when you choose; do not wait for an invitation.—Listen, +I hear it again; begone, begone; did you not hear something?—it +was nothing, perhaps, but yet begone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never without your love pledge will I leave you,” replied Montigny +firmly. +</p> + +<p> +“And would you force me to avow myself?” she asked. “May Heaven +absolve me if I err herein! No, give me leisure to reflect: this +were too sudden. These passion-hurried vows were too much like +those vapors, that, igniting, rush like to unorbed stars across +the night, then, vanished, leave it blacker. Do not tempt me. To +act in haste is to repent at leisure; and quickliest lighted coals +grow soonest cool. Even now I feel my cheek aglow with shame, that +burns its passage to my rooted hair. Away: if you should not forget +me, why, you are as though you were still present; for your thought, +which is your truest self, remains with me. If you should grow +oblivious—why, it is I that shall suffer, and not you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, waste of words on what can never be!” Exclaimed Montigny: +“cease to doubt me. Forget you! Love's memories are immortal. Love +writes the lineaments of the beloved in rock, not sand.' +</p> + +<p> +“Yet rocks may lose their effigies, the pyramids their inscriptions, +the strong-clamped monument may tumble, and the marble bust, by +time, may let the salient features fall into one indistinguishable +round,” she answered doubtingly. +</p> + +<p> +“They may;” rejoined Montigny: “but neither flowing time nor chafing +circumstance can erase affection from the constant mind. Mind is +more obdurate than steel; and love, the tenderest of the train of +passions, is, in its memory, as indestructible as gold;—gold that +resists the all-corroding fire. No; the fire may melt the impress +from the seal, the sun the angles from the stony ice; the jagged +rocks may from encounter with the wind and rain grow smooth; this +hilly globe may grow at length to be as level as is the sea, and +every jutting headland of the shore may crumble and disappear; but +your bright image must to the eventide of life's cogitation, stay, +like a sacred peak whose lofty brow stands ever gilded in the +setting sun. Forget you! little hazard: he whose heart is impressed +with the absent's form, needs wear no miniature upon the breast; +the scholar who knows his task by rote, needs not retain his eye +upon the book.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hearts may prove false,” she answered solemnly, “and tasks to +treacherous memory committed may be forgotten; but will you forget +these weighty words: will you be constant, oh, will you prove true; +for did I give you all I have, my love, what were there left me +should you throw it away?” +</p> + +<p> +“Injurious and incredulous one,” returned Montigny, “save Lucifer, +who ever threw from him heaven?” +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me,” she replied, “it is but a timid girl that speaks. +She did not doubt you, though she sought to prove you. Yet are you +sure you love her? Ask your heart, then render me its reply, as +one might do, who having listened for me to the murmuring shell, +should bring me tidings of the storm-vexed sea. Vow not, but listen.” +</p> + +<p> +Montigny seemed for awhile to listen to his heart; then, looking +at her, replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Surer than is assurance itself I am yours. Say that you are mine, +and every further word shall seem only to be redundant and +apochryphal; for when love's lips have made their revelation, what +more is wanting to complete the canon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Believe that I have said it,” she half whispered; then, starting, +and changing color, “hist, hist,” she added, “once more I hear it: +heard <i>you</i> nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“I nothing heard but you.” replied Montigny: “Proceed; for your +voice is sweeter to me than plashing fountain's, or than Saint +Laurent's chimes, or than would be—could we hear it—the fabulous +music of those night-hung spheres, coming harmonious to our listening +ears, borne on the shoulders of the cherub winds. Why are you +silent?” +</p> + +<p> +“Listen,” she said, looking still more alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +“I do,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet heard you nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing but ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing besides?” +</p> + +<p> +“What further should I hear?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“And yet it seemed as if I heard another,” she continued. “Are we +watched? speak, tell me,” she demanded,—“I hear it again; listen.” +</p> + +<p> +Montigny listened a moment, then replied soothingly: +</p> + +<p> +“Dismiss these pale-cheeked panics, for you hear nothing; or if +you do it is but the common voices of the night. It is merely the +hoarse bullfrog croaking in the swamp; and the green grasshopper +a chirrupping in the meadow; for, saving these, all nature with +myself is listening to you. Be reassured: there is nothing, but +what your own excited fancy has conjured: even the wind has ceased +to sigh amongst the leaves; the moon stands still, and her arrested +beam no longer draws the shadow on the dreamy dial. Then, proceed, +my love, for when you speak you fill my ears with heaven, but when +you pause then opens the abyss.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet listen; I hear it again:” she said; “it was not fancy; no.” +</p> + +<p> +“What else? what can befall you, love, whilst I am here?” he +murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing. I hope,” she answered, falteringly. +</p> + +<p> +“Then nothing dread.” +</p> + +<p> +“I dread to say it, yet I must: Good night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Already?” he demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“All too long!” cried an imperious voice; and the advocate stood +before them. +</p> + +<p> +“Amanda, ah, Amanda, Miss Macdonald,” he continued, “is it thus you +fool us? Go, bird, into your cage. Nurse, take my lady in.” And +Amanda beheld behind her the melancholy Mona, half shrouded in a +cloak covering her night attire. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0059-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0059-small.jpg" + alt="Amanda, oh! Amanda, is it thus you fool us?"/></a> + +<p> +Silently they both of them withdrew, and the stranger was left +alone with the advocate, who, laying his hand detectingly on the +other's shoulder, thus addressed him: +</p> + +<p> +“Claude Montigny, I do not ask of you what brings you here, for I +have something overheard, and in that something, all. Given the +arc, the eye completes the perfect circle; furnished the angle and +the object's distance, and we can tell the dizzy altitude. Mark +me, sir. We climb with risk, but there is greater danger in +descending. Young sir seigneur, you have ascended to a height you +may not safely stoop from. As sportive and adventurous schoolboys +sometimes ascend a scaffolding in the absence of the builders, and +continue to scale from tier to tier, until they pause for breath; +so, I fear, that you this night, in her protector's absence, have +soared in the affections of my ward. Beware, beware: I would not +threaten you—a gentleman neither needs nor brooks a threat—but, +by my life and the strength that yet is left me, woe to the man +that shall fool me in yonder girl! Seek not to trifle with me, +Claude Montigny. Tell me your purpose; inform me how your acquaintance +with my ward began; how it was fostered; how it has been concealed; +and how it thus has ripened into this secret, midnight interview. +Speak; what do you say, sir, in arrest of judgment? Be seated, and +recount to me the story of your love, if you do love my ward—as +you have told her that you do—and to that love be attached a story, +long or brief; or if this passion—which you have propounded most +passionately to her—be of a mere mushroom growth, born of to-night, +sown by the hand of moonlight in a girl's dark eyes; or in her +heart, perhaps, by the fairies that you spoke of, and producing +some form of feeling or forced fruit of fancy; coeval with, and +meant to be as transient, as is the present fungi of these fields. +Sit down by me, and let your tongue a true deliverance make between +yourself, me, and my foster-daughter.” And seating himself heavily +on a garden bench, and leaning with both hands clasped over the top +of his gold-headed cane, he looked enquiringly up into the face of +the young man, and added: “Come, plead before me to this charge of +heart-stealing, as touching which you have been taken in the act.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir,” then said the stranger with dignity, whilst he slowly seated +himself; “sir, you are justified in thus misdoubting me; for though +a gentleman should, like the wife of Caesar, be above suspicion, +never yet knew chivalry a time but there were recreant knights. +Moreover, I can perceive that circumstances now must shadow, and, +as with refracting influence, distort me, so that I may well stand +here seeming to be deformed, although my soul, if you could see +it, would show wanting no part of honour's fair proportions. Hear +me, then, patiently, for I plead less for my own defence than for +her vindication who has just retired beneath your frown.” +</p> + +<p> +And the ingenuous but compromised Montigny sketched the brief +history of his passion, and when he had done, the advocate, looking +into his countenance keenly, but confidingly, rejoined: +</p> + +<p> +“You speak the truth, I know it by your eye, wherein no falsehood +might harbour for a moment; yet, young seigneur, you have entered +on a perilous path; dare you walk in it? It is the way of honor, +and will prove to be the way of safety; but, beshrew me, if I do +not fear that it may prove to you a way of pain. Whatever may be +the ways of wisdom, the ways of honour are not always ways of +pleasantness, nor is the path of duty always one of peace. If you +would wear the rose you must grasp it as it grows amidst the thorns. +And now, farewell—yet, hold. I hold you to your bond. The forfeit +were the forfeit of your word, which you have pledged to me and +mine. Remember, not only have you offered love unto my ward, but +you have been accepted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even so:” exclaimed Montigny; “and may—” +</p> + +<p> +“Call nothing down that might become your harm,” said the advocate +admonishingly: “Rain has before now become transformed to hailstones, +and done much damage; and dews descending so benignly, have once, +it is said, in form of rain, swelled to a deluge that has drowned +the world. May the skies be still propitious to you, Claude Montigny. +Although temptation burn as fiercely as dogdays, do not fall beneath +it, for less hurtful were a hundred sunstrokes to the body, than +to the soul is one temptation that hath overcome it. Again farewell.” +And he pressed Claude's hand convulsively, then tossed it from him +half disdainfully, and both departed from the grounds. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Think no more of this night's accidents.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Midsummer Night's Dream.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +From Stillyside Claude Montigny rode towards the western extremity +of the island; his thoughts steeped in bliss, and the country, as +it slumbered in the moonlight, seeming to him the land of Elysium. +At the ferry of Pointe Saint Claire he engaged a bateau in which +he was rowed over the confluence of the rivers Ottawa and Saint +Lawrence by four boatmen who, from time to time, in a low tone, as +if afraid of awakening the dawn, chaunted, now an old song of +Normandy, and now a ballad upon the fate of some lost voyageur. +The moon was yet shining, and he was in the mood to enjoy such +minstrelsy; but when they neared the opposite shore, a feeling of +sadness and apprehension stole over him, as he thought of meeting +his father, to whom he knew he must either communicate distasteful +tidings, or what was worse to his ingenuous mind, practice a culpable +concealment. Thus musing, as day broke he leaped on shore, and +again mounting his horse rode thoughtful through forest and farm; +now reburied in the darkness of night, which yet lingered amidst +the foliage, and now emerging into the light of the clearing; until, +as the sun was rising over the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, +he entered the manorial gates of Mainville, and passing through +the park-like grounds, was once more in the proud home of the +Montignys. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, Amanda Macdonald had not slept. Shame, joy, fear, hope +possessed her; but fear chiefly, for she dreaded the coming morrow, +when she must meet her foster-mother, and—what to her was yet more +terrible—her, as she supposed, deeply offended guardian; and it +was not till the birds began to chirp and flit about her window, +that she fell into a deep, refreshing slumber that lasted long into +the day, and was at length broken by the voice of Mona bidding her +arise. +</p> + +<p> +The advocate, on the other hand, who had at once returned to town, +arose at his usual hour, and repairing to his office, began the +business of the day; whilst at a later period, the dissipated +Narcisse again found his boon companions, and with them renewed +the debauch of yesterday. +</p> + +<p> +During the day the anxious Mona did not fail to question her charge +touching the interrupted interview; and the latter at length related +how it had befallen, confessed to her sudden passion for the gallant +Montigny, revealed his plighted vows, and confiding herself to the +bosom where she had always found advice and comfort, deprecated +the displeasure of her guardian. But the betrayed Mona could give +her only slight encouragement, in what was now yet nearer to her +than even her guardian's favor, her lover's truth. +</p> + +<p> +“Child,” said Mona to her emphatically and in a warning tone, after +musing, “Child, hope not too much; fear everything, for man is +naturally false towards woman. Ah, you have yet learned but little +of man, and may you never learn too much. Beware, beware, beware, +Amanda, Happy the ignorant, happy is the woman whom no false man +has taught to distrust his sex! Man's love to woman is as evanescent +as is the presence of the summer-morning mist, that, for an hour +or so, hugs lovingly the lea, then vanishes for ever. What are his +vows but vapour? Poor, rash girl, why, without warning me, have +you opened the horn-book of love, and spelled at such a speed, +that, in a day's time, you have read as far as warier maids dare +con in years?” And Amanda looked both abashed and amazed; but at +length enquired in wonder: +</p> + +<p> +“What may you mean by these strange utterances? Nay, nay, dear +Mona: you slander your own father by this language.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou canst not say, child, that I slander thine,” responded Mona, +tartly; and her countenance darkened with an equivocal expression +new to Amanda, who, catching at the inuendo, earnestly demanded, +</p> + +<p> +“Who was my father? tell me, for you know; I myself know, I feel, +(and not untrustworthy is this intuition) that I am not here a mere +fortuitous foundling. Who was my mother? I charge you to inform +me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Girl, had not man been false, you had not needed to have so often +asked of me that question,” Mona replied with a cynical expression, +and hoarse, sepulchral voice, that, whilst it seemed to vindicate +herself, reproved her fellow, on whose face an air of horror now +mantled, as she excitedly exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Say more, or else unsay what you have already uttered. What must +be understood from this alarming language? Although there hangs a +mystery over my birth, surely there rests upon it no dishonor. +Acquaint me, then, once more I charge you, and now by the love and +kindness that you have always shown to me, declare, for you know—I +say I feel you know; whose child am I, where was I born, how have +I been committed to your care, adopted, cherished; I, who have no +filial claims upon you; adjudged to be an orphan, perhaps the child +of charity; how have I been divided between you and my guardian, +or held as if I were your mutual bond? Inform me, Mona, my good +Mona, foster-mother, nurse, you who have been to me as a true mother +might be, say whose I am; whether, and where, my parents live; and, +if they live, why they have thus abandoned me,” and she burst into +a flood of tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Quiet yourself, my fond one,” answered Mona, moved also to tears +by this appeal; “your birth on one side is as high as any that this +country boasts, therefore is as high as Claude Montigny's. Your +mother is descended from a warlike Scottish line, your father's +father was an English peer. Your parents are yet living; but their +union, which was in many points unequal, was, alas! rendered the +more unequal by a gulf-like disproportion in the passion that +provoked it;—a gulf, too, that was undiscovered, till, too late, +your mother saw it. Thence, their lives, their loves, so call it, +their mutual progress (save on the course of fondness towards +yourself, their child, whereon they journey equal side by side) +has for years kept, and yet keeps, a still disparting pace; and, +oh, Amanda, excuse these tears, for well I know your mother, and +pity her, having many a time listened to her fruitless complaints; +but until your father, who is the laggard one of this most +misappointed pair, shall, either underneath the whip of a castigating +conscience, or prompted by the spur of your poor mother's sharp +appeals, come up abreast, and fill a certain chasm of omission by +an indemnifying deed, which has been by him most selfishly left +undone, but whose performance is essential to the full fruition by +you of your fortune, you must remain, as you have hitherto done, +my foster-child, and your grim guardian's ward; a waif we hold +waiting for its claimants; and until they arrive, let me beseech +you, as though I were the mother I have spoken of, to think no +further of young Claude Montigny.” +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: +I am sick in displeasure to him; and whatsoever comes athwart +his affection, ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross +this marriage?”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Much ado about nothing.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +A few days after the conversation detailed in the preceding chapter, +there was ushered into the office of the advocate at Montreal a +“gentleman, who announced himself as Montigny, Seigneur of Mainville. +He was tall, and of a distinguished aspect, and had scarcely accepted +of the advocate's invitation to be seated, when, like a man impatient +to be done with a disagreeable business, he began: +</p> + +<p> +“I have a son, sir, and you, as I believe, a ward, an orphan girl;” +pronouncing with a mixture of pity and contempt the last two words. +</p> + +<p> +The advocate observed this depreciatory intonation, and throwing +himself backwards in his large easy chair, repeated: “An orphan +girl,” at the same time putting a half angry, half comical expression +into his countenance, and perpetrating a pun in what followed: +“Yes, many of your Canadian noblesse would bless themselves to have +been her father. The poor fellow, it is well he is not here to have +overheard you. An orphan girl: true, as you say, I have an orphan +girl,—or one that passes for such; a girl I love, a ward, a +charming child, yonder at Stillyside. Were I disposed to praise +her I might say she is the Mountain's maid; the Dryad of its woods, +a grace, a goddess, fairer than Diana, and far purer, for one may +guess the fool Diana made of that poor boy, Endymion. But what +concerning my ward, sir, my most immaculate lady?” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you forbid my son access to her?” enquired the seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you wish for an injunction;” said the advocate; “show me cause. +I have, sir—as you seem aware—a ward dwelling yonder at my seat +at Stillyside;—a place I sometimes visit; a sort of shrine, a kind +of hermitage or chapel, wherein two devotees, two nun-like, holy +women consume the hours; leading there, pious, penitential lives, +making each day a sort of hallowed tide, and every eve a vigil.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are humorous,” replied the seigneur. “Excuse me, I am sorry, +but it were best that I should speak plainly. I would not wish to +see your ward dishonored.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dishonored! not a seigneur, nor a seigneur's son dare dream of +such a consummation, nor, daring so to dream, could compass it,” +cried the advocate, growing crimson. “Yet this is kind of you;” he +added, bowing as if deeply grateful;—“and yet,” he continued, +“there can be no fear of an offence: is not your son a clergyman? +for, if he be, and they confess to him anything worse than to have +admitted him to their confidence—why, sir, he shall be allowed to +enter, and shrive them when he chooses;” and after a momentary +silence, “Fie! fie!” he resumed, rolling in his chair; “'the fool +hath said in his heart there is no God,' and the wise man of +Mainville, who has been all his life looking for purity in a +petticoat, says 'there is no virtue in woman.' But I say, both +these oracles are in the wrong; there is not only a Divinity, but +there are women too who are virtuous. This is a clumsy jest, sir. +My ward be dishonored by your son? Yes, when the diamond can be +cut with a feather. Monsieur Montigny, a tempest is as harmless as +a breath, when that tempest is being hurled against the rock; a +breath is even as effectual as is a tempest, when that breath is +puffed against the dust. So buzzing blandishments of sighing fops, +may blow the frail flowerets from weak, wanton natures; whilst +vehement vows of otherwise most honorable men, though urged as +strongly as the northern blast, are in vain against the marble +front of virtue. I am marble to your wishes.” +</p> + +<p> +“You weigh your danger as little as you do your language,” observed +the seigneur. “Will you permit a trespasser, a tempter within your +grounds; a wolf, a fox, a bear within your fold?” +</p> + +<p> +The advocate shrugged his shoulders and replied: “No, heaven +forbid;—and Stillyside is to me as an outer court of heaven, +wherein my ward dwells as a sort of semi-solitary angel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet angels fell, and so may she fall,” interjected the seigneur +quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“They did, and without a tempter, too, Monsieur Montigny,” returned +the advocate, quietly; then added: “the height of heaven turned +the heads of the angels giddy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Girls are giddy.” remarked the seigneur gravely. +</p> + +<p> +“Boys are more frequently foolish,” drily retorted the advocate: +“and often coming to girls for kisses, go away with cuffs. I hope +your son has neither sought for the one nor yet received the other. +But what is this son, Monsieur Montigny, that you would have me +believe to be so formidable? Is he another Lucifer, couched at my +Ward's ear, as his dark prototype once squatted at that of Eve? Or +is he Lothario alive again? Is he Leander, and are the Ottawa's +jaws a western Hellespont, with my ward and Stillyside, for Hero +and her tower?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your verandah,” remarked the seigneur, “is not higher than was +Hero's tower, although, I trust, your ward's virtue may be more +exalted than was Hero's. But are you aware, sir, that already my +son has had her company, alone, at midnight, on your grounds; all +others retired; she alone watching, with Claude Montigny and the +broad, full moon?” +</p> + +<p> +“An actionable moon,” exclaimed the lawyer, “and a decided case of +lunacy against the lovers. But, alas, sir, in this respect we have +all been sinners in our youth, and all grown wondrous righteous +with our years. Have we not ourselves, when we were young,—ay, +and upon inclement winter nights too, courted brown peasant girls +beneath both stars and moon? What if the nights were cold, the +blood was warm; and now with these volcanic veins of ours grown +cool, why, we may walk on the quenched crater of concupiscence, +and who dares challenge us, and say, ha, ha! smut clings to you, +gentlemen; you have the smell of fire upon you. No, sir, no: we +are fumigated, ventilated, scented, powdered, purged as with hyssop. +Pish! he must be truly an Ethiop, whom time cannot whiten; a very +leopard, who will not part with his spots, since the sun himself +shall lose <i>his</i> some day, purged in his own fires.” +</p> + +<p> +“I repeat, sir, your ward is in danger,” said the seigneur doggedly. +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all. Is the diamond in danger when it is put into the +crucible; is the gold deteriorated when it is being deterged from +dross?” was responded. +</p> + +<p> +“Infatuated man, would you open the door to the seducer?” asked +the seigneur, growing angry with the contumelious lawyer. +</p> + +<p> +“Seducer!” said the advocate, affecting to be shocked: “that is a +huge stone to throw at your own son: and remember; is not every +man's frame a glass house, whereat the soul that inhabits it should +invite no stone throwing from the little red catapult of a neighbour's +tongue? Beware, beware; have mercy, Monsieur Montigny. 'All flesh +is grass,' the Prophet proclaims; but I assert. 'All flesh is +glass.'” +</p> + +<p> +“A woman's reputation is as brittle,” was the seigneur's ready +repartee; “therefore warn off my son from Stillyside.” +</p> + +<p> +“But should he not regard me, sir, what then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Brandish the law over him, your chosen weapon,” answered the +seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +The lawyer suddenly looked grave, and, affecting to be offended, +demanded sternly: “Monsieur Montigny, am I a mere mechanic to do +your bidding? Brandish the law indeed! Is, then, the law but an +ordinary cudgel, to thwack the shoulders with or beat the brains +out? The law, sir, is a sacred weapon, not to be lightly taken up, +neither to be profanely applied to paltry uses, any more than we +would take the tempered razor to pick a bone, or pare our cheese +with. Brandish the law! The man that can talk of brandishing the +law would brandish a piece of the true cross, sir, if he had it; +he would drink, sir, from his mother's skull, and with his father's +thigh-bones play at shinty. What is the law? What less is it than +the will and force of all employed for one; the savage sense of +justice, disciplined and drilled till it can move in regular array, +invincibly, to conquer wrong; surely too vast an engine to be +employed on trifles. Who wants a wheel to break a butterfly upon; +or, to crush a worm who calls for a pavior's rammer? Monsieur +Montigny, listen. Mercy is Heaven's first attribute, and the +executioner is the State's meanest, as well as last, servant; shall +I, then, stoop to this, who may aspire to that? Shall I wield a +whip of legal scorpions before your son, should he seek to re-enter +Stillyside? Would you have me, as once Heaven's cherubim stood at +the gates of Paradise, with fiery swords turning all ways, to hinder +its ejected tenants from breaking back into the garden,—would you +have me, I say, stand at my gates at Stillyside, and, meeting young +Montigny, flourish in his face a fist full of fasces, in the form +of threatened pains and penalties? No; your suit, sir, is denied: +you take nothing by your motion.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dare you deny,” retorted the seigneur, loudly, and with a look of +coming triumph; “dare you deny that you are privy to their intimacy; +will you assert that you—yourself unseen—have not witnessed my +son in secret, midnight conversation with your ward at Stillyside; +there overheard them interchanging vows of endless love, and dealing +declarations of devotedness unto each other;—I ask you; did you +not hear and see these doings, and, even when you did at length +surprise the pair, did you not by failing to condemn their folly, +give it your silent sanction?” +</p> + +<p> +“Something of this I did,” said the advocate coolly, “for I remembered +some rather liberal breathings of my own when I was young,—and +youth will have its fling,—nay, do not bite your lip, but listen. +Monsieur Montigny, thus far we have met guile with guile. Just like +two wily fencers, both of us, waiting to spy our advantage, have +still witheld the lunge, until, at last, you, having grown desperate, +have rushed into the close. Yet, do not let your anger overbear +discretion. The heated iron hisses when it is plunged into the +trough, but shall we hiss at each other like geese or serpents? +Shall we quarrel, deny the undeniable, try to undo the accomplished +deed? What is done is done, and not Omnipotence itself, sir, could +undo it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But we may hinder further evil,” observed the seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay? Would you keep out the lightning by high builded walls?” +demanded the advocate, “for you are as likely to accomplish that, +as to keep lovers from each other. No, let them alone, for they +are as climbing Titans towards their wishes' skies; despising +guardians' gates and fathers' fences, just as much as did Briareus +and his crew disdain its rugged sides, and risk their necks up +steep Olympus, when they were making war on Jove. You cannot bar +them. The sun may be debarred from attics, and frost may be kept +out of cellars, but, Monsieur Montigny, the mutually enamoured can +never be permanently parted. Sir, no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Enamoured he, and she at length dishonoured,” cried the seigneur, +disregarding the injunction. +</p> + +<p> +“Her honour is its own sufficient guardian,” was responded. +</p> + +<p> +“Have regard, sir, to your future peace,” was urged. +</p> + +<p> +“Peace, sir, like silence, never comes for calling for,” rejoined +the advocate. +</p> + +<p> +“Impracticable man, have you no fear?” demanded the foiled Montigny +upbraidingly. +</p> + +<p> +“None for my ward; I hope you have as little for your son,” said, +the lawyer sarcastically. +</p> + +<p> +“Your ward invites my son, by sitting upon the verandah at midnight, +to attract him when he passes by, as the Hebrew woman, Tamar, once +sat to decoy the foolish Judah. Do you deny this? I have learned +all, all,” outburst the indignant seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Do I deny it?” cried the advocate, the blood, in anger, rushing +to his face. “Dare you affirm it? Monsieur, if you mean seriously +to asperse my ward, I say, prepare;—not for the action of the +law,—no, no, I hate the law, when it is cited for myself,—but +for the action of an old man's arm. Sir, I have been a swordsman +in my youth, and though the lank skeleton of my skill at fence is +buried in disuse, it moves now in the grave of this right hand, +that so long has wielded only the quiet quill. I do not bid you +quail; not I,—but, by the angry devil of the duel, you answer me, +either sword point to sword point; or from the pointing pistol, +that shall speak both sharp and decisive, and the dotting bullet, +perhaps, put a period to your proud life's scrawl. But no; I am +grown too old to have recourse to violence. Away, go, go; but, mind +you, do not breathe this calumny into a human ear,—no, not into +the air. Shame, shame! you are no noble minded man, to villify my +ward and your own son; whom, if I accounted to be as strangely base +as you have shown yourself to be, and have depicted him, I would +forbid to tread within my gates, and hound him from my door at +Stillyside.” +</p> + +<p> +“Words only anger you,” said the astonished and half daunted +seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Such words as yours have been:” was replied. “What! do you expect +to strike upon a bank where bees have settled, yet not be stung; +or dream to be allowed to draw the bare hand, clasping down a sword, +but not be wounded?” +</p> + +<p> +“What shall I say, yet not offend you?” soothingly enquired Montigny. +</p> + +<p> +“Say what you will,” the advocate continued: “what can be worse +than what you have said already?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hear me,” said the seigneur, in the manner of one who is going to +make, a confidential proposal: “Either remove your ward, and +receive a compensation for her absence, or quickly marry her, and +I will provide her with a dower.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now you are indeed a generous gentleman,” said the advocate, +smiling; “You must have built churches, surely, or founded hospitals, +and always have dealt out dollars liberally to the deserving. But +you are wealthy, and can do these things without being impoverished. +It is fortunate that you are wealthy, for I shall accept of no +paltry sum. Only imagine, to have to banish her; to quench, or to +remove, the very beam that fills my life with light. You must be +liberal, if you would have me exile her Come, sign me a bond for +what I shall demand.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are in haste,” observed the seigneur, somewhat startled at +the advocate catching so readily at the bait; but the latter was +ready with his reply: +</p> + +<p> +“Because your son may now be at Stillyside, and, whilst we are +haggling, may carry off my ward,—or I might change my mind,” he +answered. +</p> + +<p> +“And I, too, may change mine,” was the rejoinder. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, then, we are quits;” observed the advocate carelessly, and +as if all parley were at an end; “we are as we were, and, for the +young ones, they are as they were; but if I know the force of +youthful blood, you, with all your endeavours, will not be able +long to keep them apart.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is your price for her expatriation?” demanded the seigneur +sullenly, as if coming to terms; and the advocate replied: +</p> + +<p> +“No, marry her, marry her; we will have her married. We either +marry her or do nothing in this business, sir, which, after all, +were, perhaps, best left to those who have most interest in it;—but +if you think differently, be it yours to find the money, I will +find the match:—and let it be understood, that you find her a +dowry which would be fitting for a seigneur's daughter; or else, +without a dowry, I shall not scruple to give her to a seigneur's +son. Why are you silent?” +</p> + +<p> +The proud, perplexed parent made no answer, but secretly, groaned +in his dilemma, and at length exclaimed: “Insatiate old man, have +you no son, the thought of which may teach you to be just towards +me and mine? What do I ask of you? Little,—or what would cost you +little, yet you ask a fortune of me; and to enrich, too, one, whom, +as a punishment, I have reason rather to desire should always be +poor. Do not deny it; she has ensnared my son. It is impossible, +that he who has roamed over half the world, and has yet come home +uncaptivated, though in his travels he has met the fairest and the +richest, can have been caught at the mere passing by your farm of +Stillyside, can at a glance have been so smitten as to meditate +this marriage. No, he has been decoyed, seduced. You might as well +declare that a young eagle would not return to its nest, but plunge +into some casually discovered coop, and roost there, as aver that, +without some irregular influence, Claude Montigny would seek your +ward in marriage. If she marry him, she will marry a beggar: not +an acre of mine shall he inherit, not a dollar of mine will he +receive. Give her a dowry? Give her a dukedom. No, sir; I will +not buy brass from you at the price of gold; will not subsidize +you to avoid your ward.” And, with the words, he bowed himself out +of the room, and the advocate, casting himself backwards in his +easy chair, laughing, exclaimed: “Was ever such a proposition +started?—started! yes; and shall eventually be carried. It is not +what we do, but it is the motive that induced the deed, that gives +the color to it. She shall be Madam Montigny, in spite of old +Montigny's self; and for her dowry, (which I asked Montigny to +provide, only that it might be returned to him through his son), +I'll mortgage my old brains to procure it for her.” +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>While you here do snoring lie</p> +<p>Open-ey'd conspiracy</p> +<p><span class="i3">His time doth take:</span></p> +<p>If of life you keep a care.</p> +<p>Shake off slumber, and beware:</p> +<p><span class="i3">Awake! Awake!</span></p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>The Tempest.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +Amongst the seigniories contiguous to the eastern extremity of the +island of Montreal, lies that of Montboeuf. Its present owner was +André Duchatel, a descendent of the Sieur Duchatel, a cadet of an +ancient French noble family, to whom the seigniory was granted by +royal letters patent, about the middle of the seventeenth century. +But if any nobility of soul, or refinement of aspect existed in +the first of the Canadian dynasty of Duchatel, it had not been +transmitted to the living representative of the line. As the long +hung-up sword or unused ploughshare, lose their brightness and edge +from want of use, perhaps these qualities of mind and body had +disappeared for want of a fitter field for their display. André +Duchatel, seigneur of Montboeuf, was a vulgar looking, short, +broad-set, florid figure, of fifty years or so; material in his +tastes, in disposition obstinate and narrow-minded, unenlarged by +education; shy with strangers, yet fond of good fellowship with +his acquaintance, and, with much reason, accounted to be rich. He +was a widower, but lived in a kind of surly, patriarchal state, in +the midst of three sons and a daughter: the former being dissipated +and sensual, the latter of a showy person, but in character, +superficial, vain, vindictive, proud. +</p> + +<p> +An intimacy had long existed between the houses of Montigny and +Duchatel, which, in spite of their different genius, had for +generations continued as it were to shake hands across the island. +The latter family, though equal to the former in wealth and pedigree, +secretly acknowledged it as the superior, and with a view to an +alliance between the two, Seraphine Duchatel, even when a child, +was a frequent visitor at Mainville; her relations hoping that +thereby, she and Claude Montigny might become inspired with a mutual +liking, the prelude to their desired union. +</p> + +<p> +This union, it was understood, was to be cemented on the part of +Duchatel, by the gift, as her marriage portion, of a tract of land +adjoining the seigniory of Mainville, and at present the property +of André Duchatel; but which, at the nuptials, would be added to +the Montigny manor, as a sort of arrière fief, and so gratify the +craving of the elder Montigny for territorial aggrandizement. The +splendid person of Claude had long ago caught the slight affections +of Seraphine, who in her visits to Mainville, would hang upon him, +much to his distaste, and persist to make him her reluctant cavalier, +though neither her blandishments nor his father's wishes could +induce him to return these visits, or appear to reciprocate her +preference. Nor would a closer and wider acquaintance with the +Duchatels have lessened his reluctance. The eldest son, Samson, +was a colossal bully, dividing his time between field sports, +intemperance, and intrigues with the daughters of the censitors on +his father's seigniory; or in yet lower illicit amours with the +peasant girls of the manorial village; varied by occasional journeys, +made more for debauchery than business, to the city of Montreal. +The second scion of the house, Pierre, was a good-enough looking, +and Hot ill-disposed youth; whom his father, as if willing to offer +up his choicest lamb for the sins of the family fold, had intended +for the church. But the former had far other intentions towards +the fair than absolving them from their peccadilloes, and entertained, +other ideas of foreign travel than that of going on distant Indian +missions; whilst the youngest brother, Alphonse, was an unbroken +colt and madcap, articled to one of the principal legal firms in +the city. Although in years he was but ancle deep, he was already +in potations full five fathoms; a worthy graduate of the +licentiousness of the town, and boon companion of the dissolute +Narcisse; whom, in a giddy moment he had made acquainted with the +family matrimonial design on young Montigny. Narcisse, in his turn, +had a domestic story, that instinct, revenge, and a mother's command +impelled him to relate, and which he told to the rollicking, but +now attentive Alphonse, with a wicked glee, raised by the prospect +of mischief. A discovery had been made by his brooding and despised +parent. Chance had thrown in her way an opportunity for which she +had watched for years. Mona Macdonald had visited the advocate at +his dwelling, and her presence had stirred not only the womanly +curiosity of the lynx-eyed Babet Blais, but her malicious jealousy +of one whom she could never but regard as a hateful and favored +rival. So, overhearing them in earnest conversation in the library, +she, with the unrestrained enjoyment of a low, untutored nature, +stole to the door, that was slightly ajar, and there, with her ear +applied to the interstice, learned the circumstance of the discovered +interview between Claude and Amanda at Stillyside, with their +plighted troth, not disapproved of by the advocate. Swelling with +envy and anger, and recollecting what Narcisse had told her of the +predilection, and hopes of Alphonse Duchatel's sister in regard to +Claude Montigny, she, with an intent to dash the proud prospect +which seemed to be opening before the child of an odious—and as +she deemed, unlawful competitor for the advocate's favors, conceived +the spiteful idea of informing the Duchatels of what she had just +discovered. Further to instigate her, all the real and all the +fancied wrongs that her son had suffered from his father rose up +before her, magnified by her imagination, and prompting her to the +gratification of her unreasoning spleen. Her purpose was soon put +into execution. That night Narcisse came home sober; and giving +him some warm supper, followed by a delicacy that she had set aside +for him as a dessert, and which, with a half human, half animal +affection, she watched him devour, she broke the subject to him. +He grinned with an infantile delight, as he heard the important +secret, and discussed with her the project that might hinder the +good fortune of the haughty foundling, whose disdain had long +chagrined him, and under the recollection of whose scorn during +the recent raid on Stillyside, he was yet smarting. With heightened +pleasure she beheld his joyful interest, and, warming with his +sympathy, whilst she gloated over the anticipated revenge, she +exclaimed, as her face assumed a dark, prophetic aspect: “Yes, we +will humble that mongrel, and her proud, petted child. What better +are they than we, what nearer to thy father? See how I toil, and +do his drudgery; keep him a home, who, but for me, would have no +home, and no one to care for him. Yet no fine country house for +me, fine clothes, rich presents; no fine gifts for thee, my child, +no endless schooling, no sending <i>thee</i> to travel; no allowance, +no expense to help to make of thee a gentleman, like his endeavours +to make her child a lady; no fine lady sought for thee to be thy +wife, Narcisse; no closetings for me, who, but for her, had been +thy father's wife, and not his servant. But God and the virgin have +at last heard our prayers. Narcisse, my darling, tell Alphonse +Duchatel all that I have told thyself. Bid him quickly inform his +father, brothers, sister; and if they have French blood in their +veins they will balk this half-breed and her daughter brat.” +</p> + +<p> +Never was there an apter pupil than Narcisse proved now; never a +willinger. Scarcely could he refrain from at once rushing forth to +find his friend, Alphonse; and he did at length arise with the +blessing and Godspeed of his mother, intending to inform him, +touching the rival who had so far and so suddenly outstripped his +sister on the road of Claude's regard, when the voice of the advocate +was heard calling upon his son to attend him in the room above. +Narcisse obeyed; but filled with a sentiment of rising rebellion +and new-born insolence, as of one who intends no longer to lie +checked, nor submit to unmerited harshness and tyranny. There the +two had an altercation, provoked by the old grudges, and aggravated +by Narcisse's recent dissipation, escapade, and neglect of duty, +and still more sharpened by his present pertness and contumacy. +Anger rose high between parent and child, and the latter, in +unconcealed dudgeon flung from the room, and left the house, his +breast charged with a spiteful purpose: and going straight to the +lodgings of Alphonse Duchatel, he told all—and more than all—that +he had learned respecting the menaced alliance between the children +of Mainville and Montboeuf. +</p> + +<p> +Burning with the information, the young and impetuous Alphonse +scarcely slept that night, and in the morning, haying obtained +leave of absence, rode swiftly to his paternal home, and, in sudden, +solemn family council, declared what he had learned of danger to +the connubial scheme that had long been planned for his sister and +the distinction of their house. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Romeo and Juliet.</i> +</span></p> +<br/> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Othello.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +Whilst the news that Claude Montigny had given, to a girl of dubious +birth and uncertain social position, the heart, for the possession +of which the supercillious Seraphine Duchatel had so long striven +in vain, was disturbing the souls of the Montboeuf Manorhouse, the +seigneur of Mainville, ill at ease, and apprehensive of a hasty +and irremediable matrimonial step on the part of his son, started +for Montreal again to visit the intractable advocate. +</p> + +<p> +Later in the same day, Claude also took horse, and rode towards +the banks of the Ottawa, where he arrived at dusk, and crossing at +the ferry from the main to Sainte Anne, he thence, solitary, and +filled with checquered thoughts, continued his way, whilst the +ground grew dimmer and yet dimmer, and star after star stole out; +till, as the moon rose slowly in the glimmering air, he reached +the neighbourhood of dim Mount Royal. +</p> + +<p> +At the same hour that the large bateau was heaving its way over +the vexed flood of the meeting waters of the Saint Lawrence and +the Ottawa, four horsemen crossed a rustic bridge, that led from +the mainland to the opposite, or eastern extremity of the Island +of Montreal. One of the riders was of gigantic stature, and another +of diminutive proportions; and all were clad in the coarse grey +frieze suit of the country, and wore upon their heads the common +blue cap or tuque. Pursuing their way, they kept to the least +frequented paths; endeavouring to avoid recognition; until the +coming night concealed them, and they journeyed beneath the decrescent +and feebly shining moon. +</p> + +<p> +And now, whilst such was transpiring at the extremities of the +Island, at Stillyside, its centre, the curtains had been drawn, +and the lighted lamp, with its frosted glass globe, shone serene +and silvery, like a minor and domestic moon. Mona Macdonald sat +sewing near a table, whilst Amanda read aloud. On a sofa a lazy +lapdog dreamed, the parrot slept on its swing, and the bullfinch +on the perch in its cage, and in the pauses of Amanda's voice, the +drowsy cat was heard purring in its evening doze. Nothing was heard +without, except the fitful bark of the Newfoundland dog at some +stray passer by; and, at length, even that had ceased; Mona's needle +was laid aside, the domestics, obedient to the early habits of +country life, were abed, Mona herself had now retired, and Amanda +being left alone, nothing was heard but the measured ticking of +the old clock on the corner of the stairs. The lamp had been taken +away by the departing Mona, and in the obscurity, the moonbeams +fell in grey streaks adown the damask curtains; and after a brief +meditation on the subject of her reading, Amanda rose, noiselessly +ascended the carpeted stairs to her room, approached the window, +drew aside the drapery, and gazed towards Mainville. Thus had she +done each night since the memorable interview with Claude Montigny; +and now not less long did she linger there, but longer; nor thought +of retiring, till, startled at the approaching sound of horses, +she hastily re-closed the curtains; the sound ceased, and she began +slowly to undress. But her thoughts were elsewhere; and, falling +into a reverie, she sat with her raised fingers still upon her +dress, that she was about to withdraw from before her snowy bosom, +when again she heard the sound of hoofs on the road, and soon a +shaking of reins near the gate, and champing of the bit, mingled +with the smothered growl of the awakened Newfoundlander. Divining +the cause, and seized with trembling, she arose, again threw aside +the curtains, and beheld in the moonlight a figure advancing up +the lawn. A moment she gazed upon the apparition; then, scarcely +knowing what she did, opened the folding window, and half within +and half without her chamber, leaning forward into the night, +demanded in a piercing whisper of enquiry and alarm: “Who comes +there? Speak, is it Claude Montigny?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is I, my love, for by what name shall you be called, yet dearer, +worthier than love?” responded the subdued, yet full, clear voice +of Claude. Then, drawing nearer, he continued in an enraptured +tone: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my lady, oh, my heart, my love, my life; my mistress now, my +wife that is to be: my breath, my soul; my hope, my happiness, my +all in all; fair presence—but in vain my tongue seeks for the word +that shall embody you, and, like the hunted hare returning to its +form, so does my soul return to that word, love. My love, then, be +it, for you are my love, you are my life henceforward; nor shall +the hereafter part us, for wherever you are there unto me will +still he heaven. Oh, my love, is it not kind of fortune thus to +call you forth? a favorable omen of the issue of this night. Oh, +come forth, my love; come forth, and make a hallowed aisle of the +verandah.” +</p> + +<p> +“Alas!” exclaimed Amanda, stepping to the verandah, “why have you +ventured here again so soon,—or, rather, why so late? for are +there not ruffian robbers on the road, and all the secret perils +of the night?” +</p> + +<p> +“No peril equals that of absence from yourself,” said Claude, “for +passion has greater perils than the road. Cupid's arrows are more +terrible to him whose breast is bared by the absence of its mistress, +than would be at the traveller's throat the armed and threatening +hands of fifty ruthless robbers. But how have you fared since we +were so rudely parted?” +</p> + +<p> +Amanda sighed. “But so so;” she murmured mournfully, “it is a slight +burn that does not smart a little when the scorched part is snatched +away from the fire:” and hanging down her head bashfully, repeated, +“But so so:—I have felt an unaccustomed care—of little +consequence,—but, oh, tell me, Montigny, how your father, the +proud, rich seigneur takes this matter, for I know you would inform +him of it. Is he not incensed, not angry; does he not upbraid you, +and call me evil, and perhaps deserved, hard names?” +</p> + +<p> +“He has expostulated with me;” Claude responded; “yet not with too +much earnestness, knowing love's fires are blown by opposition. +How seems your guardian?” +</p> + +<p> +“How shall I dare to meet him!” murmured Amanda musing. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not fear him;” Claude rejoined: “he will not chide you;—besides, +you shall be gone to-morrow. I come to-night, a Jason for the golden +fleece, and may not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and +my desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and will not, +returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless they shall be freighted +with your form. Mine own one, do not stand transfixed like death +in life, but live here no longer; leave it, and live with me for +ever, for from where you are my feet shall never stray. Do not +misdoubt me: though man were as faithless as it is said that woman +is fickle, yet I were loyal towards <i>you</i>, whom I implore to be my +affianced to-night, my bride to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“To-morrow!—Oh, so soon,” exclaimed Amanda, starting. +</p> + +<p> +“It will be a thousand years till then;” interposed Montigny; “and +yet it will be the glad millenium, since you shall reign amidst my +meditations, and towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints. +This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed you mine by +the great sacrament of marriage will be glory, such as the saved +soul experiences when, in Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure, +and proof against the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent. +Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate? Amanda, be +immediately mine. What are your thoughts? What are you that transports +me with impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being, and +become one with yourself in history and fate? Our fate commands; +let us obey it, since, what is fate's behest, but Heaven's directing +voice; what is our destiny, but the deed which we perceive may not +be left undone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Rash man, forbear;” pronounced Amanda, her face darkening with +displeasure; “you counsel me to evil. Though I would esteem you as +I would some annunciating angel, beyond impeachment of veracity, +and bent on a generous errand, you seem as a fallen spirit now; +tempting me, not enlightening. No, Montigny, no. Shall I deceive +my guardian so kind, shall I defraud your house, your father, you? +I, who have no fortune, nor—as is your lot—upon my name, neither +the rime and hoar of silver, new renown, nor golden rust of brown +antiquity,—the dust of ages in heroic deeds, lying on your +escutcheon, dyeing it as the dust that dapples the bright insect's +wings;—shall I, I say, come and lie like to a bar sinister across +it? for what else should I be considered by your indignant friends, +except, indeed, a shadow on your brightness, a shame across your +honour?” and she hung her head in despairing sadness, whilst Montigny +thus replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, shame on me, to hear you so self-slandered! Friends! mistaken +friends. And what although my father and the world esteemed you my +inferior; what were their estimation unto me; and, compared with +you, what is the value of heraldic honours and traditionary glory +heaped upon the dead, which is, in truth, too often only as the +phosphorescent glimmer that hangs upon decay: what are these gauds +to me, who count you to be far above the worth of monumental effigy, +or marble mask, my living love; whom I will set,—not in the tomb +of cold, pale porphyry, nor in a sable, slabbed sarcophagus, but +breathing, and enshrined in fortune's framing gold. Fastidious +girl, and prouder than the proud Montignys, listen to me, listen. +We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the +lonely sea;—we are as two ships that, being long from port, have, +sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed +and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. Have +you not given me yours? If you have not, why, then, return me mine.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then were I poor indeed,” replied Amanda. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet I were poorer without yours,” retorted Claude, “poorer than +he who begs his bread. I wish I had to beg my bread for you, then +richly should you fare; for who, when I should crave for love of +you, (as mendicants ask alms for love of heaven), could then refuse +me? Oh, refuse no longer my request. Estimate not my fortune, but +appraise myself; and whatsoever you may deem to be my value, account +your own worth as being ten thousand times that sum. Still take +me, a mere miserable doit; an earnest, an instalment towards the +payment of the debt of love and loyalty, that shall require a life +to liquidate, then leave me bankrupt in untold arrears.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should forgive the debt, even before you could have asked +forgiveness.” replied Amanda, smiling, though much moved; “and yet +I would not leave you perfectly absolved, but still retain you by +some small reminder, some power of execution over you—not to be +exercised towards you to your hurt—far from it, but I would be +absolute that I might shew you mercy; even as noblest kings have +been despotic, and in their day have delighted in dispensing pardon. +So would I be towards you;—or even as the King of Kings—to speak +it reverently—who, of His boundless goodness and, free grace, +remits the debts and manifold trespasses of us, his poor, defaulting +creatures.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go on, for it is bliss to hear you,” murmured Claude. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, I have done;—what have I said?” she quietly enquired of him. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you unsay it?” he demanded eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“Only to say it again,” she answered blushing,—“yet I fear I have +babbled strangely;—but, remember, I was never wooed before, nor +answered wooer; so, being a novice in love's archery, it may be +that the gust of a too ardent breath has caught my words, and from +my meaning wafted them awry.” +</p> + +<p> +“And can a fountain yield both bitter and sweet?” demanded Claude: +“or are you as changeful as is yon waning moon?” he asked half +chidingly. +</p> + +<p> +“Rather consider me to be as is the sun, that knows no change of +aspect throughout the livelong year; or, if it vary, swells its +orb in winter,” she observed, “even as I would now appear to you +with fuller favor, amidst this young acquaintance's chilly prospect.” +</p> + +<p> +“Chilly! it is summer wherever lovers cast their eyes, the bright +Bermudas. Do not libel love, nor our sweet fortunes.” cried Claude +impetuously: “For me, there never will be winter where you are; +and why, when I am with you, should you thus seem to shiver, as it +were, in the shadow of November?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am no casuist,” she said, “and yet it would appear to be too +selfish in me, too much like to fraud, should I accept all that +you offer me, such vast and personal advantage, and for which I +bring you no equivalent, no dower, no estate; nothing to counterpoise +the wide possessions that you will inherit;—nothing that may +conciliate your family, rich in material things and heaped with +honors,—save my poor love;—and what were that?” +</p> + +<p> +“More than them all,” ejaculated Claude, “but why these scruples? +In human hearts love is not placed against love, as in the scales +the commodity is placed against the weight; neither is it exchanged +for land, or bartered for position; but it is always given, and is +the donor's whole, unmeasured and immeasurable. It is infinite, +growing whilst it is being given, even as the horizon grows upon +the eye of him who travels towards it. It is because <i>it must</i> be; +it is unselfish; nay, unto itself it is unjust; often giving the +most where it receives the least; possessing nothing, yet possessing +all, if it possesses but all its object's heart. It is towards its +object as is the encircling and cloud-breeding sea unto the verdant +island, encompassing, and in soft showers, shedding itself over +it. As the sea sheds itself in soft showers upon the island, so do +I shed my fondness, and would shed my fortune, over you, and in +return seek for yourself,—no more, for what more could you give, +what more could I receive, who count all else as worthless dross. +What hinders then our marriage?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your father,” was replied. +</p> + +<p> +“He would not consent unto our nuptials though I should pray him +on my bended knees, so obstinate and unyielding is his pride,” +asseverated Claude. +</p> + +<p> +“My guardian, too, is proud,” answered Amanda. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us not wait, but wed without, and not against their leave, +then;” Montigny urged adroitly:—“but your guardian will consent: +he has avowed as much unto me privately; so, mark; when morning +brings the daylight to the east, be ready. Meet me beyond these +grounds; when we will hasten to the village of Saint Laurent, and +there be married. The deed being thus achieved, none will oppose, +for before the irrevocable all rebuke is dumb.” +</p> + +<p> +“And so am I to this,” was replied with dignity. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet let me speak:” Montigny urged with desperate eagerness, “let +me persuade you, for to this pass it must come; then let it come +at once, since each day will cause the path thereunto to grow more +rugged. My father's storm of threats, my mother's deluge of tears, +will make the way impassable and past repair. You falter; your +silence speaks consent; you are convinced, and yield to the necessity +for this ungracious consummation. Good night. To-morrow early, meet +me at the church of Saint Laurent, all shall be ready,—pray offer +no remonstrance;—meet me there at ten,—the priest is my fast +friend;—nay, do not grieve, but say good night; to-morrow you +shall smile:—goodnight, good night;” and kissing his hand to her, +before she could reply, the impetuous lover reached the postern, +and, vaulting into the saddle, vanished. +</p> + +<p> +Paralyzed with amazement and apprehension, Amanda stood motionless +and dumb. She would have called on Claude to return, but dare not, +lest she should alarm the slumbering inmates of the house, and she +was still standing irresolute and helpless, when something was +suddenly thrown over her face, shrouding her in darkness, and before +she could resist she was lifted from her feet, hurried across the +lawn in a diverse direction from that taken by Claude, and on +arriving on the road, swung into a lofty saddle. A huge arm from +some one seated behind received her, passing around her waist, and +feeling like the coil of a boa-constrictor; and, amidst the sound +of several persons mounting in haste, spurs were struck into the +sides of the large animal, that reared with a vast bound which +nearly dismounted its riders; and at once, as it seemed, a troop +were flying with her at the top of their speed along the road. Half +fainting from terror, and stifling in the folds of some coarse +envelopment, she was unable to utter a cry for help, and the +cavalcade scoured along its way. One seemed to ride before them, +and the rest behind. No one spoke, but her companion on the crupper +grasped her tightly, like a relentless fate, and onwards they still +bounded, and the deeply spurred steeds in agony of exertion stretched +themselves to the task, and still they flew, and still Amanda strove +to recover her voice; till as the dumb, in some moment of mortal +terror, are said to have found speech, she, with accents, that, +bursting through the thick veil, rung amidst the night, shrieked +out the name of Claude Montigny. A low, chuckling laugh arose around +her, followed by a curse, and a hoarse threat of violence from the +figure that rode on the crupper, who at the same time again dug +spurs into the flanks of the courser, that once more, with its +huge, responding bound nearly dismounted its riders; and prompted +is it seemed by fear of a rescue, the rate accelerated till the +troop was scouring over the ground with the flight of a tempest. +Confused with terror, and alarmed at the threats of her powerful +keeper, she remained silent, unable to divine in what direction +they were hurrying; but felt that her captor and custodian kept +looking behind, as if afraid of some one in pursuit; and the killing +pace appeared to rise yet higher, and the animals to quiver in +quick bounds like mortal throes, as the spurs were plied up to the +rowels, and the creatures seemed to swallow the ground, until again +overall burst, as might the shriek of an imprisoned gnome, from +beneath her envelopment, the cry of Amanda calling upon the name +of Claude Montigny. +</p> + +<p> +“Forward! faster, yet faster!” cried a voice in rage and apprehension; +and with renewed application of whip and spur, the party tore along +the road, shaking it as the prairie is shaken when it is swept over +by a herd of buffaloes. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0098-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0098-small.jpg" + alt="The party tore along the road, shaking it as the +prairie shakes when it is swept over by a herd of buffaloes."/></a> + +<p> +“Claude, Claude!” she again shrieked, and now in addition to the +thick cowl, a huge hand was placed upon her mouth, a threat of +instant death came from the terrible voice behind her, the grip +tightened round her form, and, making her darkness yet darker, at +that moment the clouds, that had been lately gathering, covered +the moon. Soon the way divided before them. To the left it meandered +half hidden with trees, to the right it loomed straight and open, +leading to Montreal, and the motion of the horses, now abreast and +flinging foam from their bits, seemed like the tossing of the +boiling rapids, and amidst the thunder of the hoofs the hoarse +voice of him who rode behind her, hissing with earnestness and fear +like an excited Python, exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Brother, and you, master Imp, make for the city; away!” And soon, +from the diminished sound, she knew that they had parted company +with a portion of her convoy. She could hear, too, that the remaining +horseman of the four, for that had been the number, had now fallen +into the rear, and, soon, she thought she heard through her mufflings +a voice crying as if commanding them to stay; and again she heard +it, but it had grown fainter, and wider from the track they were +pursuing, and now nothing was heard but the sound of their impetuous +course through the wood. This was soon cleared, when their speed +seemed to relax, and the hard breathing of the overstrained beasts, +proclaimed how much the chase had told upon them; and at last the +veil was slightly raised, a large, coarse visage peered under it, +and the hoarse voice enquired mockingly: “How fares my bird? We +will let a little light into its cage, if it will promise to sing +no more. What says my hooded crow?” and a titanic and convulsive +hug followed, causing her to shrink with pain, and revolt in disgust +and horror; feelings which changed to mortal apprehension, when +the same lascivious looking ruffian bade his now sole male companion +ride on before. The latter made no answer, but dashed up alongside, +and gazed into the face of Amanda as he passed, with an air of +curiosity mingled with admiration and respect. There was in him a +likeness to the sinistrous countenanced ogre behind her; yet he +was a rather handsome young fellow; and as the wind, caused by +their rapid course, blew backward his long, curly hair, he exhibited +a cast of honesty and openness in his aspect. The other seemed to +be impatient at his lingering, and growled: “Don't hang glowering +here; forwards, and warn me if any one approaches, that I may cover +up this toy.” And whilst the monster readjusted the cowl to the +face of Amanda, his comrade again pricked the panting sides of his +own horse, that being lightlier laden than its fellow, easily shot +ahead. And thus they swept along the road, whilst the rising breeze +still drove the clouds over the face of the moon, and the race +seemed to have its fantastic counterpart in the wrack of the sky. +And now they silently journeyed, avoiding village and hamlet, by +making wide detours; but, in spite of their precautions, arousing +the bark of many a solitary cur, as they swept by each homestead +like an apparition. Even these incidents, and possible chances for +her rescue at length ceased, and the despairing Amanda, too proud +to vainly beg for her release from her stubborn captors, drew the +hood again over her face, and in the double darkness called upon +Heaven to be her protector and deliverer. That Claude had heard +her cries she felt assured; that he had pursued a portion of her +abductors towards Montreal, and would continue his efforts, with +those of her guardian and the inmates of Stillyside, to find and +recover her she did not doubt; but in the meantime what might she +not have to endure? And shrinking from the contemplation of the +uncertain gulf before her, she was at length recalled to a sense +of external things, by a sudden change of sound, from that of the +clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road, to one like the roll +of a distant peal of thunder, and telling her they were crossing +a rude wooden bridge, that led from the Island to the main. Then +for the first time the riders permanently abated their speed, and +their prisoner enquired of them whither they were carrying her. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind that, my pretty passenger pigeon,” replied the elder +with a ghoul-like grin; “you will not require to find your way hack +this year.” And the foaming, exhausted animals, relieved from the +trying gallop, dropped into a feeble trot or lazy canter, whilst +Amanda gazed wistfully around to discover, some glimpse of dawn. +No certain sign of it, however, could she perceive on the circle +of the horizon, though all around there showed the whitened eaves +of the roof of gloomy clouds. Her companions, too, casting jealous +glances at each other in the obscurity, had become more mutually +taciturn; and the wind, that during the previous part of their +flight had risen, as if to be in keeping with the current violence, +had now fallen to a calm; and, proceeding thus, she continued to +tell the terrors of her situation, as they alternately glided +through the gloom of the clearing, or plunged into the denser +darkness of the forest; till at last she was startled by something +leaping against her feet, followed by the pleased but stifled +barking of a huge hound close by her, and at the same instant she +saw a woman bearing a lighted candle in her hand, emerge from a +hovel on the road side. The next moment the party were halted before +it, and the woman, holding up her light, shed its beams upon the +face and form of Amanda, whose arrival she seemed to have been +expecting; and after having fixed her eyes searchingly upon her, +turned them with a familiar and significant look on the still seated +ruffian. The light illuminated her own countenance as much as that +of Amanda, who, repelled by her manners and appearance, sat +motionless, and checked the appeal that was rising to her lips. +The redoubtable rider dismounted awkwardly from behind her, half +dragged her from the tall beast, and hurried her into the house. +The woman followed, and having closed the door, placed the candle +on a table, and sat down by the fire; when Amanda, still standing +in the midst of the miserable room, began: +</p> + +<p> +“Woman, what place is this? Where am I, and why have I been brought +hither?” then bursting into passionate grief: “Oh, woman, woman, +whosoever you are, save me, I implore you, from this man,” find +with the words she sprang towards the door; but the churlish giant, +guessing her intention, intercepted, and bore her back, saying +“Keep quiet, gentle lady; have patience, bashful, beauty; sit down, +sit down; come pet, come.” And he made as if to approach her; when, +forgetting the hazard of her position, and inspired with returning +native courage, with her heart swelling with womanly indignation, +and looking the vast figure in the face, she cried with an utterance +tremulous from grief and scorn: “Whither have you brought me, +villain, and for what end? Sirrah, come no nearer me: I am polluted +by your touch. Out, shameless wretch!” and again she rushed towards +the door, but found it resist her utmost efforts: and, baffled, +turning within, she once more addressed herself to the female, who +was now carelessly warming herself before some embers on the hearth. +</p> + +<p> +“Woman,” she said, “for that you are one your form and garb assure +me, though your behaviour gives your exterior the lie; woman, if +you be one, save me. Charge this man—for you have influence with +him—to liberate me; oh! charge him to release me. Turn me into +the lane, into the field, or where you will; but let me leave this +house without delay.” +</p> + +<p> +The female, with a grim smile, bade her recompose herself; whilst +the burly brute doggedly hinted to her that she would have to remain +some time in those parts, and might as well sit down and be content. +Perplexed at this second announcement of her intended restriction, +Amanda stood mute in fear and horror. To arouse the creature in +whose power she was might be immediately dangerous, but, for a +moment, to seem resigned to her abduction was impossible. Trembling +with dismay and sickening with apprehension, her limbs would scarcely +sustain her; and as she mentally revolved, looking wistfully around, +as if to spy any nook or cranny for escape, she at last exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Again, I ask, why am I brought hither? Outlaw, who are you? wherein +have I wronged you, that you should drag me to I know not where? +What place is this, and why have you come with men as heartless as +yourself, stealing me from my home to bring me hither, and cast me +into this den?” and her bosom filled as she ended; but her hearer, +knowing no compunction, only answered with a sneer: “To clip your +wings, madam,” then gave a low laugh, as if of self-applause at +his quickness of repartee, or the prospect of her humiliation, and +added: “Pray, miss, retire; you have not been abed to-night, and +watching is not good for English ladies' eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shameless!” she cried, looking upon him with unmitigable disdain, +“how dare you hint at rest within these walls? Return me to the +spot whence you have taken me; render me to my home, so desecrated, +so invaded by such felonious feet as yours. Felon, convey me to +my home at Stillyside, and there reinstate me; if indeed you have +the heart, as you have the outward semblance, of a man;” and, in +spite of her resentment, she burst into a flood of tears. +</p> + +<p> +But not even woman's tears could move his stolid disposition, or +melt his stony heart; and, looking at her with an expression akin +to contempt, he demanded: “What, take the bird back to the bush +where we have caught it? No, Besides at present you have taken a +long-enough ride, and when next you journey it must be further in +the same direction. You shall see the world, and learn how wide it +is; you shall have most excellent French society.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, keep me, heaven, from such society as yours,” she +ejaculated:—“base man!—but do you know to what you have exposed +yourself? Beware; I am not without friends both subtle and strong, +and one of whom will not be slow to punish you for this outrage. +Release me, stranger, or you shall be visited with his vengeance, +not to be trifled with, not to be risked with safety.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the old advocate,” exclaimed the giant, with more bitterness +than he had hitherto manifested; “Outrage! he has himself outraged +too many of our race.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, that he has;” the woman chimed in, whilst her eyes suddenly +glared dilating, and she looked menacingly at Amanda; “there is +Robitaille, and Lamoureux, and Paille, and myself, and Babet Blais, +—poor Babet! but her boy, <i>his</i> boy, his own son, has paid him +down with sorrow, <i>he</i> has punished him;—ha! ha!” and both she +and her Gorgon-like guest laughed a meaning and triumphant laugh, +whilst Amanda yet stood there to be baited by the brutish man and +the lost, revengeful woman, the latter of whom thus continued to +vent her spleen: “Mistress, what are you but an English interloper? +Girl, how can we endure you? Do you not despise us? Do you not +insult, despoil, dishonor us? Do you not covet our lands, do you +not reap the taxes, take the trade? Would you not all be Seigneurs? +What shall we give you that you have not already taken! Ah, out +upon you, my young mistress! Think it well if you should not receive +what I shall not now name to you,—your guardian's gift to many a +maiden—and worse;” she added between her teeth; “death, death,” +and turned away scowling. +</p> + +<p> +“Return me to my home, or worse than death awaits you;” cried +Amanda; “endless infamy; hated of our race, despised of yours, +disowned by both.” +</p> + +<p> +But the woman by this time had begun to busy herself in piling new +logs upon the fire, and the colossus, her companion, after having +scanned the apartment, seemingly to ascertain whether it was to be +trusted to retain the prisoner, at length, satisfied with the result +of his scrutiny, unlocked the door with the key which he drew from +his pocket, and bestowing a bow of mock respect upon Amanda, who +affected not to perceive it, departed; and she, without vouchsafing +a look upon her feminine but callous jailor, sank upon a chair in +silence. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Ring the alarm bell.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The abductors of Amanda were no other than the three sons of André +Duchatel, along with the vindictive Narcisse acting as their guide. +He and Alphonse Duchatel, at the branching of the road, had parted +company with the others, and so drawn upon themselves the pursuer, +Claude Montigny, who being magnificently mounted gained fast upon +them, till fearing to be overtaken they leaped from their horses, +and taking to their heels concealed, themselves amongst the trees +that covered the side of the mountain, and where no rider could +follow. Claude then saw that he had been the dupe of a stratagem; +and after galloping across the country, struck the road that he +had been decoyed from following; then urging his horse in the +direction which he supposed the principal abductors had pursued, +he at length in despair left it, and again clearing fence and brook, +held his course towards the city of Montreal, where he arrived +betwixt midnight and dawn, and with the butt of his riding-whip +knocked at the advocate's door. +</p> + +<p> +The old man was dreaming of the apparently fair fortune of Amanda; +of the ingenuous Claude, and of his father, the importunate and +imperious Seigneur, when the clang rung through the mansion, and +rudely dispelled his visions. At first he was doubtful as to the +reality of the alarm, and was dropping again to sleep, when once +more the riding-whip sent the startling summons, and leaping from +his bed, he threw open the window, and putting his head out, gruffly +demanded, who was there. +</p> + +<p> +“Claude Montigny,” was answered from beneath. +</p> + +<p> +“And what wants Claude Montigny at this hour?” asked the advocate, +who now perceived the figures of steed and dismounted rider beneath +him in the obscurity. +</p> + +<p> +“Dress instantly, and quick come down,” was the reply. The window +closed, and in a few minutes the advocate, with his morning gown +thrown over him, opened the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Why how is this?” he demanded in astonishment, as he beheld Claude +on the footwalk, whip in one hand, and with the other holding his +horse by the bridle. +</p> + +<p> +Claude stood silent. +</p> + +<p> +“How is this?” reiterated the advocate: “Out with it, man. Is your +father wild? does he threaten to disinherit you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not that, but worse:” Claude answered “worse than your worst +suspicions, and it may be worse than the death of one you much +regard.” +</p> + +<p> +“Has any thing evil happened to my ward?” asked the advocate, +exhibiting alarm. “Why do you pause? Inform me quickly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Too quickly, perhaps, I shall inform you,” replied Claude, +deprecatingly. “Something evil has happened to your ward. Arm +yourself now with firmness, and be calm; be cool in judgment, prompt +in execution; you who can counsel others, now prepare to be the +best counsellor to yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“What act shall follow this preamble?” said the lawyer, raising +his thick, white, shaggy eyebrows in enquiring wonder: “Go on, go +on;” he commanded in a short, gasping utterance; “declare the pains +and penalties. She lives? Amanda lives? Has she proved false? You +have not lost her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lost her! oh!” exclaimed Claude, unable to curb his emotion. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, confess it; announce the worst; the broadest misfortune; my +ears are open for it,” pursued the other. +</p> + +<p> +“But I have no heart, no tongue to fill them with my dire news,” +Claude stammered, and the advocate resumed, growing impatient: +</p> + +<p> +“Of my ward what can you tell me that is untoward? Of myself say +anything: foretell disaster, prophecy my death;—but what of +her?—you say she lives?” +</p> + +<p> +“She does.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is well?” +</p> + +<p> +Claude shook his head, and remained silent. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, let your lips pronounce my doom at once,” said the advocate, +striving to be calm, yet alarmed and irritated; “Proceed:—I am +ashamed to say it, but I tremble. What has befallen my ward, what +trouble has alighted on my child?—for so I call her. Claude +Montigny, what is it brings you here betwixt night and day, with +tidings that you falter to deliver?” +</p> + +<p> +“Calm yourself;” counselled Claude in a warning tone. +</p> + +<p> +“I will;” answered the advocate; “I do;—resolve me quickly.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear to do so,” Montigny uttered pathetically, as if his resolution +had suddenly given way. +</p> + +<p> +“Let me hear it, torture me no longer:” cried the advocate +imperatively: “Perfect knowledge, perhaps, may stun me; but far +worse to bear than were a shower of vitriol poured on a green wound, +are these distilled, dire drops of apprehension. Sir, are you guilty +that you thus stand dumb? What have you done injurious towards my +ward, that you so linger upon the street, and to my queries but +gaze like one demented? Sir, I charge you, tell me without more +reserve or hesitation, lest at last I listen to you with less of +fear than of anger. You have been—” +</p> + +<p> +“The innocent accessory, I fear, to others' villany,” Claude +interrupted; “still, hear me,” he continued, “and forgive me if I +bring you tidings that shall hang as heavy on your soul as lead; +yet have given me the leaden bullet's swiftness, or that of the +blast, to waft them hither, blasting, to yourself.—Sir, you have +been robbed, bereaved; the star of Stillyside is set,—or, worse, +plucked from its firmament; my life, my lady, oh, my new-made love, +your peerless ward is stolen.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stolen!” the advocate echoed. +</p> + +<p> +“Stolen; even from my very arms is plucked,” continued Claude. +</p> + +<p> +“Ill-freighted messenger,” groaned the old lawyer; “stolen! oh, +Montigny, you have stolen half the strength from these old limbs, +and strained the sinews that have never bent before, neither to +man nor to misfortune. Stolen! How stolen? It is false; you jest, +you mean that you yourself have stolen her,—have stolen her heart; +you know I lately caught you in the act;—but, for her person, she +would not, could not, give it you without my leave. Montigny, you +have not stolen together to the church?—but this is in the street; +come in.” +</p> + +<p> +Claude tied his courser to a young maple that grew near the door; +and, whilst he was doing so, the advocate retired within, murmuring: +“Montigny, Seigneur Montigny, this is your work, and yet may prove +the dearest piece of petty larceny that ever man committed; as dear +as would have been to have furnished the dower you refused me. No;” +he continued musing, “trouble does not spring from out of the +ground. Then whence comes this? Who hates me?” he continued sharply; +“Covets her? Whom would her absence serve? who, except the father +of you boy, the Sieur Montigny?” and he had scarcely finished his +soliloquy when he was rejoined by Claude, who, straightway in the +obscurity of the library, related to him the adventure of the night. +</p> + +<p> +The old man listened in silence, but his bosom heaved, and when +Claude had ceased, he grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Montigny, we are bound together in that girl, the outrage upon whom +has made us rivals in the task to find and rescue her. Yet are you +sure the voice you heard was her's? You did not see her carried +off; you only heard, or thought you heard, her cry. You may have +been deceived. Hasten back to Stillyside. She may be there now +sleeping between the unruffled sheets, making them sweeter than +the perfuming lavender;—if she be not—why then—alas! what then?” +And he struck his palm against his brow, holding it there, perplexed, +revolving. +</p> + +<p> +“You say you heard your name pronounced?” he enquired at length. +</p> + +<p> +“I did,” said Claude, unhesitatingly; and this seemed to satisfy +the lawyer's doubts, and, rising, he said, shaking his companion +by the hand: “Montigny, go. Beat up the bush at Stillyside; and if +she be not there,—why all the country side shall be roused to find +and bring her back. But, Claude, she is safe. Yet hie you thither; +mount again your horse, and bring me word before the day breaks: +begone.” And in a few moments Claude was scouring back to Stillyside, +and the advocate ruminating alone amidst the shadows of his library. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“This noble gentleman, Lord Titus here,</p> +<p>Is in opinion, and in honor, wronged;</p> +<p>That in the rescue of Lavinia,</p> +<p>With his own hand did slay his youngest son”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Titus Andronicus.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +The elder Montigny, wrathful and irresolute, and like a beast in +the toils, had yesterday again visited the advocate on the same +errand as before, and with a like unsatisfactory result. But instead +of returning to Mainville he had proceeded to the Duchatel Manor +House; partly for counsel, but chiefly to ascertain whether its +owner—who, he deemed, had an equal interest with himself in the +removal of Amanda—would join with him in furnishing the demanded +dower. The subject was broached privately to the shrewd and worldly +André, who on hearing it propounded swore indignantly at the +advocate's audacity, and roundly refused to accede to any such +appropriation of his substance: so after fierce denunciations of +the insolence of upstart English adventurers, and censure of the +infatuation of young fellows in affairs of the heart, the theme +was dropped for the present, and the remainder of the day spent in +looking over the estate, and in those attentions that are usually +bestowed on a visitor, be he ever so familiar a one, much more when +he is both distinguished and in prospective relationship. The next +day the topic was resumed, but this time in the presence of Samson +Duchatel, as he sat yawning between asleep and awake, but who, on +hearing the conversation, aroused himself, and bade Montigny be +easy, and not dream of endowing the foreigner, since he, Samson, +had already secured the troublesome fair one. Montigny took little +notice of this, thinking it to be but the jest or toast, or, at +furthest, merely the loose announcement of the intention of the +unscrupulous giant; who soon afterwards invited him to walk abroad. +The company of Samson was not coveted by the more refined and +anxious Seigneur, but the former pressed him, and he thought that +locomotion might divert his mind from the contemplation of the +coming degradation and folly of his son. He consented, and issuing +from the ancient and flower-festooned porch of the Manor House, +they walked along in mid-morning of late September, the drowsy +charms of the summer's faded foliage just awakening to a resurrection +in the glorified beauty of Autumn; and, almost in silence, they +proceeded along the road or lane, till they came to the dubious +dwelling where, some hours before. Amanda was left a prisoner. The +sullen and sloven-looking female who had received her was now +dressed in gaudy attire, and saluted them as they entered, at the +same time casting a look of enquiry and surprise into the face of +Samson, and of suspicion on the Seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Bring up the body of your prisoner;” growled the former, loudly, +as he threw his huge frame into an arm-chair. “Come, habeas corpus, +habeas corpus. Now, if we had Alphonse here,” he continued, “he +could repeat the whole writ in Latin. Habeas corpus, habeas corpus,” +muttered the puzzled savage, fumbling in his brains for the context, +“habeas corpus, habeas corpus;—” then, relinquishing the vain +search, and addressing himself to the woman, at the same time +elevating his voice, he vociferated: “Hillo, come, lady sheriff, +bring up the body of your prisoner, I say;” when, as if in obedience +to the call of a magician, a door opened, and from an inner room, +with face flushed, brow dark and fretted with indignation, lips +pouting, breast heaving, and her eyes overflowing with tears, in +bounded his sister, Seraphine Duchatel, exclaiming: “And is this +the creature that has stood between me and Claude? and brought +here, too, to flout me to my face! I'll not endure it;” and she +burst into a fresh torrent of tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Who has stood between you, girl?” enquired the brother, half +teasingly, half tenderly: “if there be a stump between here and +Mainville that hinders you from driving your carriage thither, tell +me, and we'll pull it up as quickly as Doctor Lanctot would pull +you a tooth out.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have done well, indeed,” continued the angry girl, weeping, +and not minding his clumsy badinage, “you have done well indeed, +to bring her here to answer me, to scorn me, to defy me, to parade +herself before me, to stand in my presence as proud as any +peacock,—only not half so beautiful.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fine feathers make fine birds, Phin,” drily retorted her brother. +</p> + +<p> +“She is not fine, and if she be, she shall be plucked of her finery;” +exclaimed the sister: “I'll tear her eyes out; what business has +she to look at <i>me</i>, and speak so insolently? I'll have her face +flayed; her hair, shall be plucked up by the roots;” and she stamped +with her little foot. +</p> + +<p> +“We'll have her scalped, girl!” condoled her brother. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, this is the way you always think to manage me; by laughing +at me,” cried the spoiled child, in renewed agony of tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, what is the matter?” demanded the Seigneur, wondering, and +startled by these threatening allusions: “What is the meaning of +all this, Samson?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh,” answered the latter, striving to perpetrate a pun, “Only that +we have brought Phin a handmaiden, and she finds her handsomer than +is agreeable;—but there is many a servant comelier than the +mistress.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let me behold this Paragon,” said the Seigneur, at the same time +rising, and moving towards the door of the inner room, that had +been left ajar by the rude Seraphine, in her indignant exit. Pushing +it slowly open, he beheld Amanda, with half-averted form, seated +upon a chair, her head bowed, but her face wearing an expression +of proud serenity mixed with grief. His first impulse was to retire; +but pity, respect, admiration, and even awe, bound him to the spot, +and he remained gazing till curiosity and commiseration alike +combined to induce him to address a figure so incongruous with that +mean place, and whose majestic sorrow seemed too sacred for +interruption. +</p> + +<p> +“Young lady, by your leave; pray pardon me; but can a stranger be +of service to you?” he at length enquired. +</p> + +<p> +Amanda looked upward. “Oh, if you are, as you seem to be, a gentleman. +do not leave me;” she exclaimed beseechingly, as she slowly rose +and approached him: “do not leave me, but convey me back to +Stillyside, from whence I have been stolen by that man. Oh, sir, +you do not know with what a load of thanks its owner will repay +you, should you rescue me from this base durance.” +</p> + +<p> +The seigneur looked enquiringly at Samson, but the latter seemed +more disposed to wait to see how the seigneur regarded the appeal, +than to reply to the tacit question. +</p> + +<p> +“Why have you been brought hither, and against your will?” resumed +the seigneur, respectfully. +</p> + +<p> +“I am as yet ignorant of the cause;” she answered: “I do not know, +I cannot divine, why I am here a prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +“She does know;” fiercely interrupted the sobbing Seraphine, “She +does, she does,” she reiterated, and seemed disposed to fly at her +tooth and nail. “She knows she is a bold and wicked creature,—she, +she, she; she is a, a,—I don't know what she is;” she cried, spurting +out the last words in a paroxysm of sorrow and vexation, and flung +herself into a chair sobbing hysterically, with toilet and temper +alike disordered. +</p> + +<p> +“Calm yourself, Seraphine,” said the Seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, calm thyself, girl.” echoed the ponderous Samson. “Why, what +a wild duck thou art, sister, flapping and quacking because an +unshotted barrel has been fired at thee. She is an unshotted gun, +she has no name; and what is a thing without a name? nothing: for +if it were something it would have been called something. What +thing is there—that is a thing—that has not got what a pudding +has? a name,” and he laughed till his sides shook, and drawing a +pouch from his pocket, took thence a quid of tobacco, and put it +into his cheek, at the same time playfully offering another to the +outraged Seraphine, who petulently dashed it from his fingers, and +affected to bridle at the insult. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the Seigneur, who had +been watching her during the heartless flirtation between the +brother and sister, advanced one pace into the room, and said: “I +know your story, and have reason to be angry, not so much with you +as with my son, whom, I believe, you are acquainted with, one Claude +Montigny.” Amanda turned away her face and blushed. +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0119-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0119-small.jpg" + alt="Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the +Seigneur advanced one pace into the room."/></a> + +<p> +“You do know him I perceive,” the Seigneur continued, “and if by +chance he has happened to know you I do not blame him, much less +can I blame yourself: but, lady, remember,” and the proud Montigny +advanced and bending over her whilst his voice fell, as if it were +intended for her ear alone, said “remember, we are not all of the +same degree, though Heaven has fashioned all of the same clay. The +proudest and the wealthiest in Canada might hail you as a daughter; +but old prescription, antecedents, prospects, all combine to render +impossible your union with my son.” +</p> + +<p> +Amanda blushed yet deeper, and both of them stood for awhile +embarrassed, but at length she said falteringly, and glowing like +a crimson poppy in her confusion: +</p> + +<p> +“I own it just that you should urge these large considerations; +yet, believe me, sir, I have been passive in this matter, and have +not sought your son's acquaintance; neither, indeed, has he, if he +be rightly judged, (and you would not wrong your son), perhaps, +sought mine; for it would seem there are amities that Providence +provides for us, without our will or knowledge. It was accident +that brought us face to face; as we observe the sun and moon—that +are separate in their seasons, and withal so different in their +glory's given degree—brought monthly, and as if fortuitously, +though, in reality, by eternal, fixed design, into conjunctive +presence amidst the sky. Yet who shall blame the sun and moon for +that? +</p> + +<p> +“None,” said the Seigneur. +</p> + +<p> +“Then let no one blame your son and me,” continued Amanda, “if +Heaven, perhaps to try us, has ordained that our paths should cross +each other, as might two strange and diverse celestial bodies pass +apparently too hazardously near each other in their appointed +orbits. For the rest, forgive me, sir, and may He who best knows +what is for the benefit of his creatures, and who sometimes for +their good, sees it right that they should suffer wrongfully, assist +me. Since this has pleased Him, I bow, and bear it the best I may, +and trust too, that He will, in His good pleasure, deliver me from +this that He has permitted to fall upon me, my present sad and +dangerous estate of a poor prisoner here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven will indeed rescue you from this infamous restraint, and +I will gladly be its minister,” returned the Seigneur, melted almost +to love with pity, and dropping a tear; “none shall detain you +here; you are safe. Let me, myself—if thereby to some extent may +be atoned to you the wrong you have sustained in being hurried +hither—conduct you to your guardian.” +</p> + +<p> +“And raise the devil!—ay, and bring him here: her guardian is +his half brother,” suddenly roared Samson in surprise and terror. +“No. Montigny, she has given too much trouble in the catching to +be so lightly released. Besides, is she to be still allowed to +stand between her betters. Leave her with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, leave her with Samson,” cried the sulking Seraphine, starting +up in her chair. “He has known better girls, and handsomer, +too;—umph! how much men can be mistaken. It is wonderful that +Claude should covet her. Take her to her guardian! fie, Monsieur +Montigny,” and half turning away in her seat with scorn and disgust, +she cast a look of ineffable hatred and disdain at the suppliant +Amanda, whilst the woman of the house fixed her jealousy-filled +eyes on Samson as he murmurred: “She shall not go: she is my +prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +“She must return with me, sir,” said the Seigneur, quietly but +firmly. “Are you not aware how great is the penalty that you have +incurred by this disgraceful scandal? Think it fortunate if you +shall be able in any way to compound for it with the lady's guardian. +Seraphine, mollify your indignation towards one who has not meant +to thwart you. Return to the hall with your brother, whilst I +conduct this injured lady to the parsonage, to remain there until +I can escort her home, and (as I hope) with the aid of her +intercession, obtain the pardon of her cruel abductors.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is you that is cruel:” cried the weeping Seraphine: “it is +Claude that is cruel. Not meant to thwart me! she <i>has</i> thwarted +me, and you encourage her, you justify her, Monsieur Montigny.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will crucify her,” cried Samson. +</p> + +<p> +“Say no more,” commanded the seigneur: “you are both of you ignorant +of the heinous nature of what you have done. Her guardian has the +power to punish you. Tremble lest he should exercise it.” And, with +these words, he gave his arm to Amanda, and, passing amidst the +scowling trio, led her from the place. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Confess the truth.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Measure for Measure.</i> +</span></p> +<br/> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“You would pluck out the heart of my mystery.”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Hamlet.</i> +</span></p> + +<p> +Claude Montigny rode to Stillyside and back, and was again with +the advocate within the hour. To conceive the terror and outcry in +that quiet dwelling, when its inmates ascertained that Amanda was +missing, let the reader recall the commotion in the castle of +Macbeth, when on the morning following his fatal entrance beneath +its battlements, it is discovered that the royal Duncan has been +murdered. As vehement and as wild as when the distracted Macduff, +in frantic tones and with wringing hands, declares to the assembling +sons and thanes of the ill-starred monarch, that, “confusion now +has made its masterpiece, most sacrilegeous murder has broken open +the Lord's anointed temple, and stolen hence the life o' the +building,” was the outcry and disorder on the discovery of Amanda's +absence; and the wail and lamentation rung in Claude's ear as he +rode away from the gate to return to Montreal, where, still pacing +the library, the advocate anxiously awaited him. By the ratiocination, +as well as by the intuition, of the old man, the seigneur of +Mainville was reasonably to be suspected of being at least an +accessory to the stealing of Amanda. Claude, too, was not unvisited +by suspicions of his father's complicity; but thrust the dishonoring +doubts from him, as might a suffering saint dismiss hard thoughts +of the dealings of Providence towards himself. Each thought more +than he expressed to the other, but at length the advocate +communicated to Claude his injurious suspicions, acquainting him +with the fact and nature of his father's visits to his office; when +Claude, in turn, informed the advocate of the long cherished project +of an alliance between the houses of Duchatel and Montigny. This +information not only confirmed, but widened the field of the +advocate's fears. He was aware also of the lawless character of +Duchatel's sons; and recollected to have heard that the youngest +was a comrade of Narcisse, who, he likewise knew, entertained a +covert spite against Amanda, and, for his mother's sake, a rankling +dislike of Mona Macdonald. Against both of these his umbrage might +be supposed to have been heated by his recent ignominious expulsion +from Stillyside; and to gratify this resentment he might now be +executing some scheme of revenge, wherein, from his intimacy with +the young Duchatel, he could know that that family had cause to be +ready to assist him. Here was a clue to the recovery of his ward:—in +legal parlance, here was a prima facie case; and it but remained +to find and prosecute the criminals. To seize his son, and, by +threats or promises, extract a confession from him was the first +idea. But where was the errant and suspected Narcisse to be found? +His father knew he was absent, so the mother was summoned. She +came, but advanced no further than the threshold of the room, and +fell a trembling with fear, behaviour that she would fain have +dissembled to be from cold, for, with the divination with which +guilt endows its subject, she at once knew that the stranger was +the young Montigny, and herself had been cited in order to suffer +a searching cross-examination. +</p> + +<p> +“Woman,” said the advocate sternly, and wheeling his arm-chair +round so as to face her, “Woman, where is your son?” +</p> + +<p> +“Helas!” she exclaimed, and shrugged her shoulders, as much as to +say, “I don't know where he is;” and smiled a rueful smile. +</p> + +<p> +“No grinning now,” cried the lawyer, raising his finger and shaking +it at her, and frowning as he was wont to do when he wished to +intimidate a witness, “no grinning now, madam. Will you pretend to +say you know nothing of where he was last night, where he is at +present?” +</p> + +<p> +“Helas!” again exclaimed the affrighted Babet: “sir you forget +yourself. Last night? Why it is yet night. Open the shutters and +put out the lamp, and you will still be in darkness. Let me return +to bed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Babet Blais, many a better woman than you have I wished bedridden,” +the advocate cried with bitterness. “Beshrew me, but your answer. +Remember I am flint if you are steel, hence the less often we are +smitten together in this enquiry, the fewer may be the revealing +sparks. Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, whereon +your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon your +guilty face, as grimly as the lurid East that brews a rainy day, +to you the type of tears.” +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0128-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0128-small.jpg" + alt="Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, +whereon your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon +your guilty face."/></a> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” demanded the half mystified and still dissembling +woman, in terror. +</p> + +<p> +“What do I mean? I mean that you shall tell me where your son was +during the last night, and where he is now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where he is <i>now</i>?” echoed Babet, “Last night? it is now night, +or only just near dawning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, we are near the dawning,” mocked the old man, with loud, +relentless equivoque. “Madam, shed here the sunbeams of your highest +intelligence; clear the dull atmosphere of your soul from fog; and +let us see and hear respecting this occurrence, all that yourself +have seen, and heard, and known.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master, I know nothing,” said she, “what affair?” enquired the +woman, fitfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Is Narcisse at home?” bellowed the advocate, quivering with +excitement, and red to the roots of his white hair with wrath. +“Evil betide me that he should have ever made here his home;” he +continued. “Who called him hither? I? No, no; I called for aught +that might see fit to come, conditioned that it came in human guise; +but yonder frothy fool, yon swarthy pigmy, I did not summon him. +I called for any thing of earth, but Heaven (to punish me) straight +passed the unhallowed call to hell, that sent me up a demon.” The +apartment resounded with the last word, and still the old man's +voice was heard like the departing rumble of a thunder peal, as he +continued, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, whilst his +countenance assumed an air of singular elevation, passionately +exclaiming: “Oh, that a man who could have entertained the gods +with high conceits and philosophic parle,—could have communed with +spirits of the skies, should be assailed and pestered from the +pit!—Go on, woman, we will exorcise you, we will purge you, though +you be fouler than the Augean stable, that had been left uncleaned +for thirty years; ay, though you be as foul as is the stall that +holds the grimy company of the lost, and which goes uncleaned for +ever. Proceed, I charge thee!” and the fierce-eyed lawyer sat +dilated and erect in his chair, glaring upon her like a serpent +rearing its crest from amidst its coils, as he waited for an answer. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot, I know no further,” she said at length with meek +doggedness. +</p> + +<p> +“What say you?” exclaimed the advocate, almost screaming with +astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“I know no further; I know nothing,” she replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Assist me, patience, to confound this creature! Nothing! you know +all;” he shouted. “All, I say, all; for never had such a mother +such a son, but he did pour out all his purposes, all the infernal +cornucopia, into her breast from his. You have no secrets between +you; you, his mother, know all his course; his thoughts, intents, +conspiracies and plots; his loves, his hates, his loose, irregular +life; his merry moments, and his moods of malice. I charge thee, +tell us where he was last night, where yesterday, where he is now, +and where he will be to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur, I know no more, know nothing,” cried the woman, appealing +to Claude. “My master is mad,” and, bursting into tears, began: +“Here have I been his housekeeper twenty years—” +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty years too long,” vociferated the advocate. “One half the +period that heaven was vexed with a stiff-necked generation have +I endured you, Babet. Housekeeper! eh? Keeper of the King's +conscience next, a she Lord Chancellor,—but continue: call yourself +Keeper of the Seals, and mistress—or master either—of the Rolls, +so you unroll your secret. Tell all you may; empty your flask of +falsehood, then at the bottom we may find some sediment of truth. +Commence; don't count upon concealment. I will wring the truth from +you, though it shall ooze out drop by drop, and each, drop be a +portion of your life.” +</p> + +<p> +Babet was still silent, but the lawyer pursued: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, toad, ugly and venomous, you have a precious jewel in your +head; deliver it; discover to myself and to this gentleman all that +you know about your son's late conduct. Speak, or you shall have +your closed lips forced apart, or there shall be found and set you +such tormenting penance, that you shall sue with speed to make +confession. What! still silent? Bathe no longer that face with +tears. Out on thee, crocodile! Oh, that those trite tears were +scales, falling, to leave you bare and vulnerable to arrows of +adjurement; then, with patience I could see them fall as fast as +flakes of snow in winter, till thou wert as white as Judge's ermine +with them! Creature, hast thou nothing plausible, nothing for us, +nothing for him, nor me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing for you, nor for this gentleman,” she answered quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not imagine him to be so gentle, neither. Though he dwells +staid and silent, he is a roaring lion, that should I let slip may +soon devour thee, Babet. Overweening woman, you do not know how +much you and yours have wronged him,” said the advocate. +</p> + +<p> +Claude had heard all this without speaking, but now he interposed, +to try persuasion. +</p> + +<p> +“Good Babet,” said he, soothingly, “if you are aware of anything +untoward of Monsieur's ward, and will declare it, I guarantee to +you, not only a condonation for your son, if he have in any shape +conspired against her, but a reward so weighty for yourself, that +you shall bless the hour that you were awoke so early to be scolded. +What do you know of the lost lady of Stillyside?” +</p> + +<p> +At these words a smile covered her face, as if of satisfaction at +good news; then, shrugging her shoulders, she languidly asked: “Is +she missing?” and added, “Helas! then others have an absent child, +as well as I,” and shook her head; and, with another shrug, continued, +as if subsiding into herself, and in a tone of combined decision +and sadness: “I know nothing of the lady, nothing of my boy. Heaven +grant my son is safe, my poor Narcisse, and that he may not return +and meet his cruel father, who so hates him;” and she brushed away +a tear from her cheek. +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven grant indeed we do not meet at present!” ejaculated the +foiled advocate; “for if we did, I might so far exceed a parent's +punitory privilege, that I should win but blame from the blind +world instead of sympathy. Begone, vampire,” and she vanished like +a ghost at cockcrow. +</p> + +<p> +That smile of her's at the mention of Amanda missing, had been +caught by, the advocate's keen eye, and convinced him that she and +her son were accessories to the felony of the night. Brief +consultation now sufficed between him and Claude, who also felt +convinced of her complicity. Light began to glimmer amidst the +darkness of the situation, and, as it kindled into a dreary dawn, +as might a new scene amongst dissolving views, shadowy and sinistrous +amidst it seemed to loom the figures of the Duchatels; and, before +the sun had risen, Claude, winged equally with hope and indignation, +was posting towards Montboeuf. The advocate threw himself upon a +couch, and he would fain have thrown up his brief of that day, but +it was for a case involving capital punishment, and, at the eleventh +hour, to have deserted his client would have brought upon himself, +not only professional dishonor, but guilt. Hence, with heavy heart +and unwilling faculties he bent his attention to the study of the +important case, whilst at intervals he swallowed a portion of the +morning's meal, that at the usual hour was silently placed before +him; and at last, with an inexpressible sadness and boding, he left +the stillness of his home for the walls of the busy and exciting +arena of the criminal court. +</p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Hamlet.</i> +</span></p> +<br/> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>“Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye”</p> +<br/> +</div></div> +<p class="poem"><span class="i6"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</span></p> + + +<p> +The Court had been opened, and was crowded with lawyers, petit +jurors, witnesses, and excited spectators. A criminal trial of +such interest as the present one had not occurred there for years; +and the business in the Civil Courts had virtually been adjourned, +so great was the determination of the pleaders therein to be present, +and witness the conducting of a case so calculated to call forth +the powers of the renowned and venerable advocate. All conspired +to show that an extraordinary scene was to be enacted there that +day. The Judge was more than usually grave, attentive and deliberate; +the Crown Prosecutor wary, and complete in his preparations; the +legal, technical, and clerical grounds of exception and demur, +before the Crown was allowed to take up the burden of proof, were +entered and explored by the advocate, as one who reconnoitres before +committing his feet to dark and dangerous precincts, where any one +of his advancing steps may prove to be fatal. +</p> + +<p> +And now the case had been laid before the jury, and the witnesses +for the prosecution, each as he testified touching the fearful +crime laid to the charge of the prisoner at the bar, were being +subjected to the terrible ordeal of a cross-examination by the +advocate; who all eye all ear appeared, as in his earlier days; +quick to detect, prompt to demand, stern to insist, at watch and +ward at every point; so that his client seemed to have found in +him an irresistible champion, and the crowd, to all of whom he was +familiar, considered his success as certain, just as the veteran +soldiery anticipate a triumph from the General, who has so often +led them to victory that they deem him to have become invincible. +But to the thoughtful and more observant, at times he showed signs +of preoccupation, strangely at variance with his present undoubted +supremely master mood; and as the trial proceeded these fits of +wandering from the point increased in duration and intensity. An +anxious expression settled on his countenance; his usually energetic +but measured movements when he was thus engaged became irregular +and nervous; and he frequently cast glances towards the entrance, +as if expecting the arrival of some one; and twice in the midst of +withering cross-examinations, stopped short at the sight of +individuals elbowing their way through the crowd; gazing upon them +enquiringly and with an air of expectation, until, passing, they +became embedded in the serried mass of spectators; when, with a +look of disappointment, he resumed his task, and again with consummate +talent and characteristic vigor, did battle for his client, whose +dark distinction in the dock went nigh unnoticed, from the settled +attention bestowed on his defender, just as the prominently exhibited +prize is sometimes overlooked and temporarily forgotten, in the +observation compelled to the rare skill shown by the competing +players. +</p> + +<p> +But whilst the father was thus tasking every power of his trained +intellect, and crowning his career with forensic fires, that now, +in the evening of his genius, burned even more signally, than they +had done in the midst of its meridian splendors;—whilst thus +calling upon his great gifts, that, like to antique jewels brightened +by abrasion in the wearing, shone yet the more from the polish of +experience; and while lending a legal learning that, as a rapier +which, ever ready and ever in requisition, has acquired no rust, +was the more available from long practice combined with intuitive +tact;—whilst all this was passing in high and public court, the +ignoble son was awaking in a low lodging; weary and stiff after +the raid of the past night, anxious and timid from a sense of guilt, +and fearful of a future calling to account. His first wish was to +discover whether his sire was yet informed of the disappearance of +his ward. He knew that his father was retained in the trial which +had been fixed for that day, and had there been any whom he could +conveniently have sent to ascertain whether or not the advocate +was in court, he would have despatched one thither, but he could +prevail upon none about him to go for love, and money he had none +to offer. His mother, alarmed at her master's discovery of the +participation by Narcisse in their successful conspiracy, and not +knowing where to find the latter, had despatched a messenger to +the lodging of their bold and insolent accomplice, Alphonse Duchatel, +requesting him to warn her son to avoid his father during that day. +But the messenger failed to find him, and Narcisse at last arose, +dressed, and, prompted by a curiosity that overcame his apprehensions, +approached the Court House. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the advocate, tortured by increasing alarm, and with his +imagination filling with tragic touches the picture of the possible +fate of Amanda, had lost both recollection and temper; and for the +first time when conducting a cross-examination, had been not merely +baffled, but successfully bearded and insulted by an irritated +witness, to relieve himself from whom, he was obliged abruptly to +bid him leave the box. The occurrence stung him to the quick, though +he strove to hide his chagrin;—no wonder. Taken at disadvantage, +and in a moment of weakness, the old pleader was obliged to perceive +that the wager of mental duel between himself and the witness had +been decided against him; and to feel that, in an unsought encounter +and fair affray, he had been publicly worsted. To add to his +mortification, the witness walked from the box with the air of a +conqueror, and cast an insolent look of triumph around the court +and upon his antagonist, whose discomfiture was so signal as to be +evident to judge, jurors, witnesses, spectators, all. Still more +to increase the advocate's perturbation, the heat of the court had +become excessive, and the rebuff—which, at an earlier period of +his career, and with an unwounded heart, would have provoked only +such a grim and threatening smile as a powerful wrestler might +wear, when, in the careless security of proud contempt, he had been +thrown by a boy—now, in the self-esteem of age and the anguish +of bereavement, moved him almost to madness. Seizing his gown, he +half cast it from his form, regardless of decorum, and stood the +picture of misery, rage, and scorn. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the court arose for a brief recess. Glad to breathe for +a moment the fresher air, the spectators retired, the jury returned +into their room, the sheriff and the crown prosecutor sauntered to +their respective offices, the panel of petit jurors escaped in a +body, the prisoner withdrew from the front of the dock, and sat +unseen, pondering his chances between the gallows and an +acquittal;—even the criers of the court abandoned their posts, +and the younger members of the bar, who usually gathered round the +advocate on these occasions, greeting him with pleasant compliments, +and polite and reverent attentions, seeing him thus moody, drifted +to the lobby, and in it paid court to some other, and secondary +legal luminary who was there holding his levee. For awhile the +advocate was left alone; then, emerging through the large folding +doors into the corridor or lobby, now cumbered with the gossipping +groups, through which he passed, solitary and in his gown, like +Caesar in his robe passing through the midst of the conspirators, +he proceeded past the doors of the offices occupied by the various +crown officials. None spoke to the old man, he spoke to none, but +his breast burned in agony, and a cloud was on his brow, like the +smoke that wreathes around the crater of a volcano. His eyes seemed +to shoot forth sparks, and his lips were muttering. Anger and sorrow +were upon his face, but, turning a corner in the building, he was +now hidden from the view of the multitude, and strode along the +main corridor towards the huge double staircase that, midway therein, +wound down to the dim entrance hall, that was divided by ponderous +doors from the esplanade between the building and the busy street. +A low, massive balustrade guarded the bridge-like portion of the +corridor that hung between the heads of the twin flights of stairs, +and whence, on looking down, was seen the paved abyss below. +Approaching this part, what did he behold but the truant Narcisse, +unconscious of his presence, ascending one of these flights of +stairs. At the sight of him the gloomy elements of his soul seemed +to flash within him and explode, rending all resolution of restraint, +and leaving him a puppet of some destructive power, as he stood +eyeing his son's approach, as the cat eyes that of the marauding +mouse, motionless, allowing the culprit to draw near, until, +detected, he stood, too nigh, to retreat, too terrified to advance, +and, as the fascinated bird drops into the open jaws of the serpent, +fell resistless into the grasp of the advocate's extended hand. +Then, as the firedamp when met by the miner's candle must explode, +or as the liberated lightning must rend the cloud, though the latter +be near Jove's throne, so the frenzied father, regardless, nay, +forgetful, of the place, the time, the occasion, of himself and +natural ties, assailed the scared Narcisse, clutching him by the +throat with the strength of a maniac, and pushing him backwards +against the balustrade, and holding him there transfixed, while, +with eyes seething with wrath beneath the blanched, and big, +umbrageous brows, and showing like a sudden opening of the infernal +pit, he cried: “Demon, degenerate dog, where bast thou been walking +to and fro in the earth? whom helping to devour? Ah, son of Satan, +ah! Aroint thee, Imp, Abortion.” +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0141-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0141-small.jpg" + alt="Demon! degenerate dog! where hast thou been walking +to and fro on the earth?"/></a> + +<p> +The astonished wretch strove to reply, but terror and strangulation +forbade him; and the enraged parent, like an incarnate storm, at +arm's-length shook him, as the dog shakes the rat which it has +caught, or the lion its prey; and each moment the shuddering youth, +hearing his father's deep curses, and stiffening with horror, was +urged further and yet further over the abyss, and still with aimless, +outstretched arms, and disparted, claw-like fingers, strove to +clutch the advocate's gown; while with upturned and beseeching eyes +starting from their sockets, and still half on the balustrade and +half in air, with nothing but the grasp of his adversary retaining +him, he hung, while the arm that held him quivered, and surged +uneasily from side to side, as if irresolute whether to plunge him +or to draw him back; until a growl of satisfaction, followed by an +execration, gurgling in the advocate's throat, announced the coming +climax: the arm was jerked outwards, the clenched fingers unclutched +themselves, like an automaton's, and the miserable mannikin tumbled +with a yell down to the stones beneath. An instant all was silent, +then a faint groan rose from the bruised form, that the next moment +lay on the bloody flags a senseless corpse. Drawing a loud sigh +of indescribable relief, after his fearful and protracted agitation, +the advocate—and now murderer—stood glaring downwards with fixed +eyes and yet clenched teeth; then, sickening at the horrid sight +which loomed beneath, turned and leaned for support against the +balustrade over which he had cast his child. Hearing the noise of +the scuffle, some stragglers from the mixed crowd on the lobby came +running to the spot, and one enquired of the advocate if he were +seized with a sudden sickness. But he only pointed downwards to +where lay his ill-fated victim; and shook his head, looking all +woebegone, in mad, mute misery. Astonished, some descended, and +bearing the body up the stairs, laid it on a bench that stood +against the wall, and opposite its destroyer; while a still increasing +and motley multitude, including jurors, witnesses, constables, +criers, counsellors, clerks of the court, crown prosecutor, sheriff, +and lastly, the judge himself, hurrying, gathered round the scene +of the catastrophe. A surgeon who happened to have been subpoened +upon the current trial, opened a vein, but the blood refused to +flow; and a barrister, stripping himself of his gown, threw it over +the body as a pall. No one dared enquire the origin of what he saw, +until the judge arriving, demanded: “Who has done this?” +</p> + +<p> +“I,” feebly answered the advocate, ghastly pale, and yet leaning +for support on the fatal balustrade. Alas! what a change! His +countenance was grown haggard, and his white hair hung dishrevelled +about his collapsed visage, like icicles round the pinched countenance +of Winter. Despair was in his look, and he uttered the name of +Amanda, and gazed bewildered around him, as if awaking from a +sorrowful dream; and now began to whimper, to gaze upon the pall-like +gown, and now to call upon the spirit that had flown—as a scared +bird from a bush—forth from the body that lay beneath it. +</p> + +<p> +“Narcisse,” he feebly cried, “Narcisse, my son,—for thou wert +yet my son,—Narcisse, Narcisse,” he reiterated piteously; and the +Sheriff advanced in his purple gown, and girt with his golden hilted +sword, laid his hand on the shoulder of the old man, the lately +proud advocate, but now wretched culprit, as a sign of his being +put under arrest. But none else moved; the Sheriff himself shrinking +from ordering the constable to give effect to the signal. All seemed +transfixed with pain or chained with horror, as in tremulous tones +of touching tenderness the slayer continued to call upon the dead. +</p> + +<p> +“Narcisse, my son, my son.” he cried in agony; “Oh, I have killed +thee, child; oh, thou art dead, dead, dead.—But thou didst steal +thy sister; yes, I know thou didst; ay, that thou didst, and hast +delivered her to dishonor, therefore have I killed thee. Come, +Amanda, come hither, dearest, and behold thy brother; behold thy +father, see what he has done, and all for thee. Yes, I did it, all +you curious crowd Amanda, oh, where art thou? let me see thee ere +I die: Amanda dear, Amanda;” and at the words, Amanda, leaning on +the arm of Claude, and followed by the elder Montigny and André +Duchatel, appeared upon the corridor, a sweet smile playing upon +her features, and hastening forwards she fell upon the neck of her +guardian, who was still leaning against the balustrade, pale, +haggard and forlorn. Her companions, restrained by astonishment +and fear, gazed aloof and mute, whilst the wretched criminal, eyeing +them with a look of misery and suspicion, in a tone of inexpressible +sadness at length exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Come you to see me, then, before I die; do you come to triumph +over me, Seigneur Montigny? Look, see there, but do not touch it, +for it is abhorred, abominable, a foul spirit, a black imp of hell. +Amanda, art thou found?—Do not tremble, girl, do not weep; my +daughter, child, for, without a figure, thou art my daughter; art, +to the very letter, love, my child. Oh, we have much to tell each +other; see what I have done—but hear me, then condemn me. Oh, +Amanda, it is bliss to see, to feel thee here;—but here, here in +this breast is sadness. I have been a rash and hasty fool, a madman, +if you will, but no, no murderer; we kill mere vermin, we exterminate +rats, roaches; and what worse than that is this which I have done. +Pshaw, he was a reptile, a black beetle that came flying against +me. He, my son! Oh, slander, where wilt thou not cast thy slime? +the thing that the deceitful, wily woman palmed upon me, he my son, +thy brother? preposterous conception. Yet sad has been the creature's +end; and sad, sad, sad, I felt this morning when I left my home, +with a presentiment which seemed to say, that I should never enter +it again; and that presentiment is now fulfilled. Fate urged me +on. Unnatural hate has pushed me to the ledge, and now I sink to +lose myself in the abyss. Oh, foul fate! this deed foul, foul! +Fair, fair Amanda, close thine eyes on this enormity; or be content +to see it, yet not understand it, for knowledge here would surely +drive thee mad.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sir, am I not mad, delirious?” enquired Amanda: “Oh, my kind +guardian, my good angel, more than father, friend. What have you +done? you have done nothing evil!” and she sobbed upon his bosom, +and Claude stood transfixed and silent, until his eyes meeting +those of the advocate, he demanded passionately: +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, what may this mean; what horrible allusions drop like venom +from your tongue; whence comes this change; tell me, I charge you, +sir, why are you now so shaken, so wandering in your noble intellect, +even mad; you whom I left this morning, sad indeed, yet sane?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know whether I was sane or not when I did what I have +done, or whether I am so just now; but for this scene, which must +appear most strange to you, see there what shall explain it all,” +replied the advocate; and the gown was partially withdrawn from +the corpse by one of the spectators, and Claude with his male +companions gazed upon it aghast, whilst Amanda turning away in +terror and uttering a feeble moan, hid her face in the old man's +breast. +</p> + +<p> +“How has this happened?” Claude demanded at last with a voice hoarse +and guttural with abhorrence; and the advocate shrugging his +shoulders cynically replied: +</p> + +<p> +“A bruise, a fatal fall; strange that he should have died of it. +It has been said, the lower in the scale of being, the higher the +tenacity of life. Yet here is an inferior intelligence dies of as +little corporeal damage, as might a poet or a philosopher. There +is no certainty in speculation, for by this experiment it has been +proved, that the bulls-eye in the stable window, in falling is as +fragile as the palace's clearest pane of crystal. Who would have +thought it? A dunce, that no one would have branded for having +brains, has from a mere tumble given up the ghost. Bury him, bury +him; I am sorry for it, but cannot howl,” and at these last words +a howl was heard from below, and soon Babet Blais came rushing +along the corridor, wringing her hands, and frantically demanding: +“Where is he, where is my boy, my sweet Narcisse?” and threw herself +upon the corpse of her son. The advocate looked on with a bitter +smile, and when he beheld her covering with kisses the cold, coarse +features, exclaimed: “How these things love each other!—but when +he was alive she would give him the food out of her mouth, draw +for him the blood from her veins, sacrifice the immortal soul in +her body with lies and patent perjury and crookedest excuses, if +so was that she might screen him and his faults, deceiving +me.—Beshrew thee, woman!—but wherefore should I curse thee? thou +art what thou wert made to be, even as I am that which I was made +to be, a desolation and a miserable man:” and when he ceased Babet +started from her knees, and, looking on him with new born fierceness, +cried: “Monster, not master; man killer, son killer,—oh, you have +killed my own, my dear Narcisse! murdered my son, my boy, my child, +my only joy:” and she again cast herself upon the body, and, with +her face nestling in the dead bosom, sobbed and wept aloud. +</p> + +<p> +The advocate seemed softened, and, looking at Claude, demanded: +“Who is there that shall not fulfil his fate? for this I was born, +and for it I shall die.” The sheriff again essayed to remove him, +but he sank at his touch, as the dust of an ancient corpse falls +before the breath of the outer atmosphere, and with mortality +moulding his visage: “Stay,” he said, “let me die here; death has +arrested me, he needs no warrant.” A spasm passed over his face, +his frame slightly quivered; and looking beseechingly at Claude, +the latter bent tenderly over him, and he thus began: “It were +foolish in me to suppose that you have not heard of my irregularities. +You will not be astonished, then, when I call this girl my child, +no longer my mere ward, but mine own child, so late acknowledged. +Amanda, child,”—and his voice faltered, while he spoke with +increasing difficulty,—“will you acknowledge me in this disgrace, +receiving with the name of father that of felon? Mona Macdonald is +your mother, to whom I have promised marriage till my way down to +perdition is paved with broken oaths, as false as her love was +true, and as hot as was the fire which fell from heaven, when Elijah +strove with Baal's prophets, and that licked up the water in the +trench, as did those burning oaths of mine so often dry up her +tears. Give me your hand, Claude; Seigneur Montigny, give me yours. +I see a change within you towards this lady. Stand not between her +and your son, as you would wish no sin to stand betwixt yourself +and Heaven at Judgment.” Then in a low tone meant only for Claude's +ear, he whispered, gasping: +</p> + +<a href="images/picture0151-large.jpg"> + <img src="images/picture0151-small.jpg" + alt="Quick, I am dying: bend over me: let me perceive +your breath, for I am blind."/></a> + +<p> +“Think all I would have said, if there were time, and we were +happier. Farewell for ever; I cannot tarry, neither would I do it +now. I have outlived myself by near an hour, for I was not myself +when I performed this deed.” And again a spasm passed over his +frame, his eyes grew fixed and glazed, and he earnestly exclaimed: +“Gather near me all who love me, and all to love whom is my duty. +Quick, quick; for a film overspreads my eyes, the throes of death +are tearing down this frame. Quick, I am dying. Bend over me; let +me perceive your breath, for I am blind. Bend, bend;—stoop yet +lower; I cannot feel you, for each sense grows dull; stoop lower +yet.—Oh, soul, why all this haste? Amanda, Claude, poor, missing +Mona, I have somewhat more to say to you; quick, listen, listen, +or it will be too late. Pshaw! pshaw! it <i>is</i> too late, too late, +too late!” And his head fell backwards, and with his arms clasped +convulsively around the necks of Claude and Amanda, the advocate, +like his son, was a corpse. On the following day both of them were +laid in the English burying ground, but no stone marks the spot, +and in vain the stranger seeks to discover it. None are able, or +care, to point it out, restrained by a superstitious awe. A few +octogenarians still remember him, and look grave and shake the +head, when questioned as to the story and fate of the talented and +terrible Advocate of Montreal. +</p> + +<p> +[End of <i>The Advocate</i> by Charles Heavysege] +</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + +***** This file should be named 31212-h.htm or 31212-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31212/ + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan + +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 +http://gutenberg.net/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.net + +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.net), +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 F3. 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 MERCHANTIBILITY 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 web page at http://www.pglaf.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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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 +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +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 http://pglaf.org + +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 including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty 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: + + http://www.gutenberg.net + +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. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/20100207-31212.txt b/old/20100207-31212.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a3dfce --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20100207-31212.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3862 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +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.net + + +Title: The Advocate + +Author: Charles Heavysege + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31212] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + + + + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan + + + + + +THE +ADVOCATE + +A NOVEL + +BY +CHARLES HEAVYSEGE, +Author of "Saul," "Jephthah's Daughter." +&c., &c., &c. + +ILLUSTRATED BY J. ALLAN. +(engraved by John Henry Walker after illustrations by J. Allan) + +MONTREAL +RICHARD WORTHINGTON, +GREAT ST. JAMES STREET. + +1865. + +M. LONGMOORE & CO., PRINTERS. + + + + +[Illustration: Stillyside] + + + + +THE ADVOCATE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Take, oh take those lips away, + That so sweetly were forsworn; + And those eyes, the break of day, + Lights that do mislead the morn: + But my kisses bring again, + bring again + Seals of love, but sealed in vain, + seal'd in vain." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + +On a bright day during the month of September, of the year 1800, +two persons were in earnest conversation in a lawyer's office in +the city of Montreal. One of them was the most distinguished +advocate of that place; a man of some three score years, and of a +commanding yet wild and singular aspect. His companion was a +well-dressed female of middle age, and comely, though mournful +countenance. Some disagreeable topic seemed to have just ruffled +both of their tempers, for her face was moist with tears, and +darkened with an expression of disappointment. His own was slightly +marked with annoyance, and, suddenly ceasing to arrange some folded +law papers that he held in his hands, and had gathered up from the +table at which he was standing, he exclaimed in tones of mingled +surprise and asperity: "Still at the old song! still harping, +harping, harping! Peace, no more of it. Heaven would be insufferable +with but one hymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl, earth +uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety, what a charm hast +thou!" + +"Is this, then, all your answer?" enquired the female, sorrowfully. + +"Is it not decisive?" he demanded sharply. "Woman, away: am I not +busy? Is not this the very Passion week of preparation before the +Easter of the Assizes?" Then with an upward leer of his eyes, that +were now filled with frolicksome humour, whilst at the corners of +his mouth flickered a grim smile, he continued: "Mona Macdonald, +I am neither selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not +prone to be provoked to marriage; though Satan in your shape has +for so many years tempted me thereto, I have still remained in the +bachelors' Eden, in spite of you and the Serpent. Marry you! Do I +look in the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough to commit +the unpardonable sin? No, a man may put himself beyond the reach +of mercy by other means than that." + +Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued: "What more is marriage +than mere desert sands, in which life's current is lost until it +reappears in a parcel of bubbles called babies. What is it but the +fool's end, the knave's means; a warning to the wise, a snare to +the simple; the wantonness of youth, the weakness of years; a +pillory wherein to exercise patience; what is it but the Church's +stocks for the wayward feet of women. Marry you! To marry is to +commit two souls to the prison of one body; to put two pigs into +one poke; two legs into one boot, two arms into one sleeve, two +heads into one hat, two necks into one noose, two corpses into one +coffin, and this into a wet grave, for marriage is a perennial +spring of tears. Marry! Why should I bind myself with a vow that +I must break, not being by nature continent and loving? Marry you! +Yes, when I hate you. Have I a sinistrous look to meditate such +mischief? Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom? Pish! I am +ashamed to be so importuned." + +[Illustration: "Do I seem old enough to be a bridegroom?"] + +This badinage was uttered with the fire of youth, combined with +the authority of age, accustomed to be obeyed, and the listener +offered no rejoinder; but the speaker, having approached, gazed +into her eyes with a twinkling smile of mirth, that gradually +changed to one of fondness and pity; and kissing her respectfully, +he added in a soft tone: "Come, come, how is the maid Amanda, how +fares our charming foundling?" + +"Well," was quietly replied. + +"Mona, I love that girl," he continued, assuming a tone of deep +sincerity, "for along with the whole web of your goodness, nature +has interwoven into the fine fabric of her form a thread of my +evil--not in the grosser sense,--no, no; still, look after her; +the breath of passion must be stirring in her, and at her years +most maids are tinder to love's dropping sparks. Remember, there +never yet was a nun but once had tender thoughts. Love comes unto +all that live, and with not less certainty than death's advances +--nay, even the cold, bony frame of death itself, at last comes +wooing, and elopes with life. Now, home and cheer your charge." +And he playfully pushed her from the room, then, throwing himself +into his chair, resumed the interrupted study of his briefs. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "A seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone." + + _All's Well That Ends Well._ + +The advocate was by birth an Englishman, and a cadet of an ancient +family, who, after having spent a dissolute youth and early manhood, +had come to Canada. Here he became acquainted with an old, half-pay +Highland officer of Wolfe's Army, who for his signal services +rendered during the operations of the British force before Quebec, +had been rewarded with a grant of land in that vicinity. Like others +of his countrymen, the Highlander had settled in the Province, and +married into a French Canadian family. But, soon, after their +union, his wife died in giving birth to a daughter, which he reared +to womanhood with all the strength of an undivided affection. The +Englishman's frank bearing and singular mental powers won the +admiration of the old soldier, and, at the same time, dazzled and +captivated his comely and unsophisticated daughter, to whom the +stranger was soon understood to stand in the light of a lover. But +Macdonald--for such was the name of the warm-hearted clansman--was +not destined to see his dearest wishes realized in the union of +the two. A sudden sickness laid low his hardy frame, and, dying, +he called the pair to his bedside, and joined their hands in +anticipation of the rite of wedlock. The father dead, the lover +betook himself to the study of the law, and with an extraordinary +aptitude and diligence, not only mastered the details of legal +practice, but comprehended, beyond others, the great principles +both of English and of French jurisprudence as practised in Lower +Canada. Ambitious of excellence, he resolved to complete his studies +of the latter in France itself. Of means he had little, but she, +confiding in his honor, consented that the estate left to her by +her father should be sold, to furnish him with the necessary funds +for his maintenance in Paris. In that gay capital--whilst taking +advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels +of the French Bar,--he associated with gamesters and courtezans, +and was at length left with resources barely sufficient to enable +him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary +acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile +eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque +humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his +fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible +scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence, +and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist +with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite +counsel for the defence. Extensive practice, and its concomitant, +a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving +him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with +it she had given him herself, day by day looked for the nuptial +tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become +a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer +in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her his long plighted +vows, he sent her to a lonely dwelling on the then unpeopled Ottawa +to hide her shame, There she remained till the scandal of their +connection was forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female +child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called +Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind +the bluff known as Mount Royal, or popularly the "mountain," that +lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City +of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious +in his profession, he continued to indulge his vein for pleasure; +not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-secrecy +of his home; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure +from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in those days, +the province was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials, +and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself;--men +of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion, +language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association, +whereof his house became one of the centres of reunion. There, +aware of his gentle descent, and impressed with his transcendent +abilities; charmed with his conversation--as pithy as it was apt +to be impure--his wit, his taste, his information, his judgment; +sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines, and luxuriance of +his table, around which military officer and civil servant, merchant +and judge, were accustomed to assemble, rank and office were +forgotten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour. +Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them, however disguised; +and, secure in that close conclave, where no pure female presence +was found to check the bacchanalian song, or forbid the ribald +jest, all sat to listen to and applaud, their host's inimitable +stories, his grotesque descriptions, his wayward thoughts and +fantastic images; to hearken to his close analysis, his robust +reasoning, his wondrous pathos, his sublime exaggeration; and, as +the wine circulated, to observe yet more his chameleon aspect and +Protean character unfold itself; now grovelling like the Paradisal +toad, wherein, at the ear of Eve, was hidden the form of Lucifer; +now, touched by the Ithuriel spear of some keen conception, suddenly +soaring, like to the bright expanded shape of the surprised and +fallen Archangel, till the guests themselves, like the startled +Ithuriel recoiling from the instant apparition of the fiend, drew +back in amazement, or, as if at the jests of another Yorick, raised +over the table a long, eruptive roar. Nor was that all. For a moment +he would assume the moralist, the theologian, or,--leaving both +revelation, and the pandects,--become the philosopher, pacing the +universe for occult truth; or the metaphysician, tracking the region +of the supersensuous; and, over every theme, flying on mocking +mental pinions, seeming an intellectual satan, passing through the +region of vain questionings and doubtful disquisition, dim out to +the abyss. And thus he lived, using, and abusing, his rare gifts; +no virtuous and accomplished wife presiding at these feasts, ever +degenerating into orgies, or giving sanctity to these walls; within +which were gathered the brightest, gayest, noblest, most powerful +--often most dissolute--of the land. But now the guests were thinned +in numbers by death, by marriage, by worn out passions; and many +a fierce spirit had been tamed by adversity, till the mirth had +grown to be half moody, and the saturnalia gross rather in intention +than in fact. + +[Illustration "As if at the jests of another Yorick, raised over +the table a long, eruptive roar."] + +Yet ever amidst these distracting pleasures his heart reverted, +first, to the woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to the sylvan +shades of Stillyside, which latter he still took delight to visit +and adorn; cherishing its mistress, and watching over and nurturing +her child, the fruit of her fondness and of his falsehood;--but +commonly known and publicly acknowledged, only as her foster +daughter, and, in his own prouder circle, as his ward. For himself, +he never occupied other than a handsome suburban residence, situated +between the city and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona +Macdonald seldom entered; and when she did so, it was to be scowled +upon by its menial mistress, a French Canadian, named Babet Blais, +who viewed the melancholy visitor with angry and jealous eyes. Into +this house many comely Abigails had come and gone; but Babet Blais +remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, acquired a wife's +settlement and privileges, by virtue of the presence of a dwarfish, +swarthy creature, half oaf, half imp, their mutual offspring. This +strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb, +was named Narcisse, and flitted about the house rather than made +it his home; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence, +and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and +indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him. +Reckless, stupid, savage; ignoble and stubborn; with thick, black, +stubby hair, and dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes +filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like live coals; +deep-chested, and with shoulders raised and rounded, giving him an +air of pugnacity; snarl written upon his countenance, and pride in +the pose of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient, +he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman, +reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to +her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him; +wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so +severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged +him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the +more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming +his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper, +in one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His +father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon +relinquished the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled him +to a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to take him +into his office. But, instead of applying himself there, he spent +most of his time in idleness and debauchery; by night frequenting +the abodes of vice and infamy, and by day, haunting the doors and +corridors of the court-house, in the latter always instinctively +seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sullen and offended parent. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Haply despair hath seized her." + + _Cymbeline._ + +It was now evening, and the landscape lay steeped in yellow sunshine; +when Mona Macdonald rode slowly homewards, silent and buried in +gloom. Her way lay around the base of the mountain. But neither +its adjacent and majestic sides on the one hand, nor the placid, +mellow-tinted, and sky-bounded plain on the other were regarded by +her. Her thoughts were still with the advocate in his office, or +with her departed father in her native home below Quebec, as he +and she had lived and loved each other there, nearly twenty years +before. Thus preoccupied, she lent no heed to the landscape, although +before her was the broad, descending sun, and behind her was the +mighty Saint Lawrence basking in burnished gold; and soon another +stream, a branch of the Ottawa, appeared in the distance, the two +clasping between them as in a zone the Island of Montreal. But +neither the note of birds, the lowing of cattle, the barking, of +dogs, the churr of the bullfrog, the distant human voices coming +faintly over the lea, nor yet the elysean landscape were seen or +heard; and not until the carriage drew up at Stillyside, and the +bark of a lap-dog, on the top of the distant steps, that led to +the verandah in front of the house, struck her ear, did she fully +awake from her mournful reverie. Then, alighting, she passed +through a postern that hung at the side of folding gates, and, +winding her way up a walk bordered with shrubs and flowers, approached +the dwelling, that stood upon a knoll. At that moment the sound +of a cowbell in the contiguous mountain coppice told the slow +approach of a dappled dairy, in charge of a swarthy French Canadian +youth. All else was quiet about the place, that seemed to be lying +in a sort of listless, half dreamy tranquillity and halcyon repose. +The mansion itself was spacious, and built of the grey limestone +of the district. Woodbine and hop, clematis and the Virginia creeper +half concealed; its rugged exterior, and clothed in tangled luxuriance +the verandah that extended along the front. The roof was covered +with shingles, painted red; and in it were a number of dormer +windows, which, like all the other windows, were hidden with closed +green blinds or shutters. Swallows were darting about the eaves, +and wheeling around a fountain and jet d'eau in front, that were +fed by a mountain spring behind the house; whilst from one of the +rather numerous chimneys a frail wreath of blue smoke crept, and +lingered lazily about the lightning rod, before it rose and melted +away into the pure evening sky. But by this time the lap-dog had +come forwards to meet her, and now ran in advance, emitting a fitful +and joyous bark; and as she ascended the steps the door was opened +by a servant, who, having admitted her, closed it again; but not +before a stranger might, from without, have witnessed a fair and +youthful female figure swiftly descend the stairs into the hall, +and, throwing her arms around the neck of the returned traveller, +greet her with an affectionate salute. A large, grey mastiff now +appeared from the rear of the building, and, while the driver was +removing sundry parcels from the carriage, took a few slow and +solemn turns about the knoll, then, on the departure of man and +vehicle, retired for the night to his kennel, leaving the scene as +quiet as before. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Ungracious wretch, + Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves + Where manners ne'er were preached! Out of my sight." + + _Twelfth Night._ + +On the morning of the following day, Mona Macdonald sat at breakfast +in a room at Stillyside. She was plainly and neatly dressed; and +with her sat a figure more lady-like, and still in her teens, +attired simply, but with negligent taste. Both seemed abstracted, +and, as they silently sipped their tea, appeared to be brooding +over some recent, sad subject of conversation. The weather, too, +without, was as sombre as the mood within. A canopy of cold, grey +clouds covered the sky; the air was chilly, and the wind swayed +the trees to and fro, betokening rain. From time to time the cat, +with arched back, and tail erect, came loudly purring, and rubbing +its sleek sides against the skirts of its mistresses; the lap-dog +was restless; and upon the hearthrug a drowsy spaniel lay with his +nose between his paws, and whined fitfully in a dog's day-dream; +whilst the females, at length altogether ceasing to eat, sat +self-absorbed. On the face of the elder was an expression of sorrow +tempered with patience, but on that of the younger, an air of +melancholy was mingled with resentment, that heightened almost into +majesty a form and countenance of extraordinary and statuesque +beauty. From time to time her companion regarded her with a look +of anxiety and tenderness; and at length, seeing her still abstaining +from the suspended meal, exclaimed: + +"Eat, child, eat: fasting is bad for the young." + +"I have no appetite, except for information," was mournfully replied; +and the elder again regarded her affectionately; then with subdued +earnestness, and in an expostulatory tone, rejoined: + +"Be pacified, Amanda; for curiosity often brings us care. Let well +alone, and it will continue to be well with you; but why should +you thus persist to peer into the bottom of your past; as it were, +asking the fashion of your swaddling clothes? Fie! you are too +impatient; too importunate. Pray, no longer question me against my +will, making enquiries that may not be answered. Live without asking +why you live. No more of this. Does not your guardian love you as +though you were his child; and is he not wiser than yourself; to +judge of what knowledge is for your welfare? You ask me, why this +mystery about your birth. Amanda, we move midst mystery from birth +to death, and they who seek to solve it seek for sorrow." + +"These words disturb me more than your past silence," exclaimed +the younger. "What horror is there to reveal touching my origin, +that you yet dare not shew me?" + +"I dare not break your guardian's command," replied the elder, +firmly. + +"Neither can I control a natural desire to know what so nearly +concerns me," retorted the other. "I beg of you to solve this +mystery of my birth. It is my right, my birthright, to know who +gave me birth. It is said that I was found--where was I found? by +whom? how have I been confided to your care? by whose appointment +have I had given to me this guardian? and why is he so kind, and +wherefore are you so faithful? Tell me, nurse, why has he caused +me to be educated with such care; from what motive has he caused +me to be furnished with accomplishments that seem to reach beyond +the bounds of my prospective sphere? Nurse, I charge you,--if you +indeed have nursed me from my birth, as you declare you have +done,--tell me, I pray you tell me: it is not much to ask: the very +poorest child yet knows its parentage; the meanest beggar knows +whether his father once asked alms or not; but I know nothing of +my progenitors; whether they were of a proud or of a humble station, +whether good or vicious; whether they be yet living or be long +since dead. I do not know even whether my guardian knew them, nor +how he has come to be my guardian, my kind supporter, friend: +nothing do I know of these, whose all I ought to know. What is the +reason of this singular secrecy? Nurse, tell me all you know,--for +well I know you know,--tell me, I say, about my parentage; declare, +again I charge you, and now most solemnly, if you really love me, +who gave me to your care and to his kind tutelage: Nurse, Mona, +foster-mother, speak; how have I become the ward, nay, like the +very child, of that eccentric, wise, gay, good old man?" + +"More gay than good, and not so wise as wicked," muttered Mona, +and, not giving her companion time to reply, continued: + +"Amanda, do not importune me further, I conjure you. Enough for +you to know your guardian loves you, cherishes you even as if you +were his child. Let us arise from table since our meal seems +done;--what is it that alarms you?" Ah! And at that moment the +report of a gun, the crashing of a window pane, the sound of shot +hurtling past, its striking the opposite wall of the apartment, +and dropping, along with falling plaster, on to the floor, burst +upon them; followed, without, by the expostulating tones of a +man-servant, that were soon overpowered by a loud guffaw, and, +before the interlocutors had recovered from their astonishment and +terror, Narcisse, followed by several men carrying fowling pieces, +rushed, swearing, into the vestibule Amanda saw him, and, rising +to her feet, regarded him through the doorway with a look of scorn +and anger akin to that cast by the Belviderean Apollo upon the +wounded Python. But his dull temperament was invulnerable to the +arrows that shot from her eyes, and, undaunted, he swept forward +into the room, and with coarse familiarity attempted to salute her. +He was unsuccessful, for Mona, advancing between them, hindered +the nearer approach of the intruding mannikin, who, baffled, and +with the eyes of Amanda still fixed upon him, and yet beaming +ineffable contempt and disdain, at length stood before her with +downcast look, like one detected in some act of guilt. His companions +one by one slunk back to the lawn, whither in the dumb disgrace of +his discomfiture, he followed them. There, meeting with the domestic +already mentioned, and who had now been joined by a fellow-servant; +first an altercation, then a scuffle ensued, in which latter the +mastiff took an effective part, in maintaining the equality of the +house against what otherwise would have been overwhelming odds; +but he was at last disabled by a blow with the butt of a +fowling-piece, whilst the lap-dog, as it stood barking on the +borders of the fray, was shot dead by the cowardly and vindictive +Narcisse. This was too much to be borne, and, indignant, the ladies +descended to the lawn. At the same moment, three female domestics +appeared upon the scene, and changed the character of the encounter. +Three brawny ruffians seized each an Abigail, and attempted to tear +her off, as of old the treacherous Roman bachelors carried the +Sabine maids. Screams filled the air, mingled with oaths and +laughter; and the affair that had been, begun in vulgar, aimless, +frolic, might have ended in serious outrage, but just then a horseman +appeared at the gate, dismounted, and, rushing in, riding-whip in +hand, plied it with such vigor, that in a few seconds all the rude +gang had fled except Narcisse, who, having stumbled, was seized by +the collar, hurried forward, and spurned through the gateway into +the road, leaving his fowling-piece behind him. + +The stranger now for the first time seemed to observe the ladies, +and bowing to them respectfully, for a moment appeared to hesitate +whether to approach and address them. They, too, stood silent, but +it was with mixed astonishment and agitation, and he still stood +regarding the younger with an expression of deep admiration; till, +as if suddenly recollecting himself, and bowing yet more profoundly +than before, accompanied with an apologetic smile, enhancing the +beauty of his young and noble countenance, he gracefully retired +to his steed, vaulted into the saddle, and, galloping away, was +soon hidden from their view by a turn in the road. + +"Oh, nurse, Mona, we have been rude indeed!" then exclaimed the +younger: "We have committed the most odious of all sins, ingratitude; +and," she added half archly, "we have seen the noblest of all forms, +Mona, a gentleman. Nay, but to have let the chivalrous stranger, +our deliverer, depart without a word of grateful recognition;--who +will champion us the next time, good Mona." + +"May we never again require such timely help, child," replied her +mentor: "But let us go within and ascertain the damage that has +been done there by these vagabonds from the city;" and, so saying, +she took up the dead lap-dog and carried it tenderly in upon her +arm, viewing it with a wistful expression of grief and pity, whilst +Amanda stooped to caress the wounded mastiff, then followed with +an air of pensive majesty, not without looking in the direction in +which the gallant stranger, had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own." + + _As You Like It._ + +It was near mid-day, and the advocate was engaged in his office, +when the notary with whom Narcisse had been placed, suddenly +entering, angrily demanded: + +"Where is Narcisse, where is your son, sir? Here I am wanting his +assistance, now, and he is missing, he is gone, no one knows where, +nor where he has stowed those papers. Where is he, sir; where is +the boy, I say; where is your son?" + +The advocate looked up at this sudden disturbance, and, drawing a +deep sigh, exclaimed with bitter emphasis: + +"I would he were nowhere; that he were erased from the book of +being; I would he were in heaven,--or else--in your office, Monsieur +Veuillot. Is that a bad wish for either?" + +"But he is not in my office," said Veuillot. + +"Nor in heaven neither, I fear," rejoined the advocate. + +"Where is he, then?" demanded the excited notary: "where is your +son?" + +"Such a son!" murmured the advocate, shrugging his shoulders. "Do +you wish to be pleasant with me, Monsieur Veuillot? my evil genius +call him. Son! I own I feed him, as I do other vermin that infest +my house." + +"But where is he?" reiterated the notary with growing impatience, +and seeming resolved to take no denial. + +"Where is he?" echoed the advocate: "ask his mother; yes, sir, ask +his dam. Oh, Monsieur Veuillot, is there not deep damnation in thus +having an idiot for one's child? Here is your purgatory:--purgatory? +no: for purgatory is a kind of half-way house to heaven, but this +son of mine is to me a slippery stepping-stone to perdition. Sir, +a child should be a cherub to lift its parents' spirit to the skies; +but mine, oh!"--and a spasm of agony passed over the old man's +visage, succeeded by a forced expression of calmness, as he continued: + +"Veuillot, you have heard of Solomon. He speaks of the foolish son +of a wise father. He was himself the father of a fool, that rent +the kingdom,--Rehoboam. I mean,--and he kept concubines, too; so +I suppose he waxed fruitful in fools. I have but one fool, therefore +I am thankful;--but then he is a thorough fool, a most unmitigated, +and unmitigatable fool; the fool of fools, a finished fool, the +pink of fools; a most preposterous, backwards-going, crab-like +fool; a filthy fool; an idiot, sir, without either parts or particle +of ambition; an ape, an owl that flits about by day; a bat, and a +bad bat, that flits from tavern to sty; chief of the devil's +nightingales; a raven that, roving to foul roosts, goes beating +the bosom of the night; a soul that loves the darkness; a mole, +sir, a blind mole; a piece of animated perversity, a creature +that persists to go astray." + +"Where has he strayed to now?" demanded the notary. + +"Into the hands of justice, perhaps;" was the fierce reply: "into +the grip of the law; up to the foot of the gallows; on to the hill +of my extreme disgrace." + +"Where is he, where can I find him? tell me only where," cried +Veuillot. + +"Where! let echo answer,--would you wish to hunt him?" said the +advocate, mocking. "Did you ever gallop, sir, after a hedgehog? have +you assisted to draw a badger? I am badgered by him, and will blame +him, ay, ban him, for he is my curse, my bane; why should I not +curse him as Noah cursed that foul whelp Canaan? Beshrew him for +a block head, a little black-browed beetle, a blot of ink, a shifting +shadow, a roving rat, a mouse, yes, sir, a very mouse, that creeps +in and out of its hole when the old cat is away. Away, Mr. Notary, +away; go, good Monsieur Veuillot. There are more conceptions in +man than he has yet expressed either in statutes or in testaments. +Go; you are a deed-drawer; I'll be a deed doer: I'll do, I'll do,--I +do not know what I'll do, but something shall be done. He shall be +shaken over perdition; sent to grind in the prison house; sold into +slavery:--fool! he shall be banished to Caughnawaga, or to +Loretto;--the further the better; he shall be sent to the Lake of +the Two Mountains, sir, or to Saint Regis to learn the war-whoop +and gallant the squaws. You smile:--but to your errand, Veuillot; +it is not known where my son is: I saw him last night, may I never +see him again! Then, dying, my old age, perhaps, may close in +peace: not else, not else." + +The notary departed, but the exasperated lawyer still conversed +with himself. "I cannot decently die," he said, "any more than I +can devoutly live, pricked through the very reins and kidneys with +that skewer. Alas! he is my goad, my thorn in the flesh, the +messenger of satan sent to buffet me. He is the mosquitto that +stings my knuckles; the little, black, abominable fly that will +insist to assail my nose; he is my bruise, my blain, my blister, +my settled, ceaseless source, of irritation: the cause, the cause--of +what is he the cause? Alas! that I should ever have been the cause +of such a foul effect! But let it be so; the whitest skins have +moles, the sun has spots; he is my mole, my spot; and I, I am the +father of the fool, Narcisse." + +Narcisse was that moment at a tavern in the beautiful village of +Cote des Neiges, adjacent to Stillyside, and much resorted to by +pleasure seekers from Montreal. His companions, too, were there, +bewailing the loss of one of their fowling-pieces, and devising +means for revenge on their interrupter and successful assailant. +There they remained, and, instead of spending the day, as was their +first intention, on the side of the mountain, in popping at small +birds they passed many of its hours in quaffing large potations, +the effects of which they in some degree slept off by a long +afternoon nap. It was now nightfall, and they were returning +homewards, conversing in loud and angry tones on the humiliation +of the morning, and threatening retribution against its cause, the +gallant stranger, Narcisse, with the litigiousness of his maternal +race, and prompted by his inkling of law, was for launching an +action for assault and battery against their assailant's purse, +whilst the others, pot-valiant, declared their anxiety to meet him +in bodily conflict on another field; and thus discoursing in the +deepening gloom, the party arrived opposite the mansion at Stillyside. +For a few moments they halted, undetermined whether to approach, +and demand the delivery of the captured weapon; but at last agreed +to waive the requisition, chiefly at the instance of Narcisse, who +authoritatively ruled, that to demand and accept of the feloniously +acquired gun, would be to compound a felony. Hereupon, being +somewhat more at ease in their minds, they proceeded, and now less +noisily, continuing on their way with only occasional bursts of +abuse, and the firing off of fag ends of French songs, accompanied +with a fitful fusilade of low, horselaughter; and thus, mollified +and maudlin, unsteadily continued their straggling march, until +they halted at a gate on the roadside, and some distance behind +which, loomed a large, dingy and deserted-looking dwelling, half +concealed by tall trees. No light was to be seen, but, after a +brief consultation, the party swung open the gate, entered, and +having reached the house, one of the number gave a peculiar tapping +at a window, followed by a low whistle or call, that was immediately +answered by a corresponding sound from within, and this again by +a counter signal, which was repeated like the faintly returning +tone of an echo; and, after some delay, the door slowly opened, +the voices of men and women, mingling in boisterous mirth, burst +forth like the roar of a suddenly opened furnace, the party entered, +and the door was closed again. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?" + + _Macbeth._ + +At the same hour that Narcisse and his companions entered the sombre +and suspicious looking dwelling, the advocate returned to his home +in the upper environs of the city, wearied in mind and frame, from +an application broken only by the entrance of Monsieur Veuillot, +and the arrival of a messenger from Stillyside, who, hot and excited +from the violent scene whereof it had been the theatre, painted +the outrage in deepened colors, and exaggerated form. Auger and +shame contended in the old lawyer's bosom as he heard the story; +the former sentiment urging for the punishment of the delinquents, +the latter pleading for forbearance; for amongst the transgressors +was his illegitimate son, whose share in the offence, if brought +into the light of the tribunal, would thence cast back a shadow +upon the father, and point, publicly and anew, to their disreputable +relationship. Others also, whose reputation was far dearer to him +than his own, must be dragged, either as witnesses or as prosecutrix, +to public gaze, and thus be made to furnish matter for the tongue +of scandal. Perhaps, too, some latent paternal tenderness inclined +the incensed advocate to mercy; and, giving the messenger a hastily +written note, sympathizing with the tenants of Stillyside, he +despatched him thither, along with a noble Newfoundland dog, then +lying in the office, and which he meant should replace the disabled +mastiff. Afterwards, his thoughts, occupied with the important +professional business of the day, scarcely reverted to the vexatious +occurrence of the morning; but now, at eve, the tide of attention, +that had been so long dammed back, came flowing over his spirit +with increasing depth and force; and, in spite of his unwillingness +and the necessity for recruiting his wasted energies, for the +performance of the onerous public duties of the morrow, he fell to +brooding over the new misdeed of the already too obnoxious Narcisse. +From the son, his musings reverted to the menial mother, and, by +contrast, from her to the fair tenants at Stillyside; till, tossed +by the contrary and vexed tides of thought and feeling, he arose, +perturbed from the lounge, went to the window, and, drawing aside +the curtains, beheld in the east the full moon climbing the clear, +blue heavens, amidst a multitude of marble clouds. Struck with +sudden admiration and oblivious pleasure, he opened the folding +frames and stepped into the garden. The air was balmy; and, soothed +by the change, he returned within, reassumed the habiliments of +the day, took a stout, ivory-headed walking cane from its corner, +and, calling a domestic, announced that he should for some time be +absent. His first impulse was to cross a contiguous, half-reclaimed +tract, sprinkled with vast boulders of the glacial period, and +reach the turnpike road that led around the mountain. But before +he turned to commence his stroll he paused to gaze down on the +outstretched city, that, lying as asleep on the arm of the St. +Lawrence, with tin-covered domes, spires, cupolas, minarets, and +radiant roofs, showing like molten silver in the moonbeams, +contrasting with the dark shingles covering most of the houses, +presented an enchanted-looking scene of glory and of gloom. On the +left, and oldest of its class, was the Bonsecours Church, with its +high-pitched roof, and airy, but inelegant, campanile, refulgent +as if cut from some rock of diamond. Nearer, was the Court House, +and, beneath it, the Jail; and, behind them both, the dusky expanse +of the poplar-planted Champ de Mars. In the midst of the city rose +the tin-mailed tower and spire of the French Cathedral, and, at +its rear, loomed the neighboring, wall-girt, solemn Seminary of +Saint Sulpice. The bright, precipitous roof of the Church of the +Recollets, and the spangled canopy of the vast foundation of the +Grey Nuns reposed resplendent; and, within its ample enclosure, +luminous as a moon-lit lake, the quadrangled and cloistered College +of Montreal. Beyond these, in the midst of the shining river, +duskily slumbered the little, fortified and wooded Island of Sainte +Helene; and up the stream, apast the petty promontory of Pointe +Saint Charles, stretched the low, umbrageous lapse of Nuns Island, +whence the eye followed the bending flood, that trended towards +where, with eternal toil and sullen roar, agonize for ever the +hoary rapids of Lachine. In the other direction the eye roved +downwards over Hochelaga and Longueuil, Longue Pointe and Pointe +aux Trembles, towards where lay the islet-strewn shallows of +Boucherville, and, lower yet, the village of Varennes. The mountains +of Boucherville, Beloeil, Chambly, and Vermont shadowy bounded the +horizon; and, turning from these, abrupt before him rose the awful +and spectral presence of Mount Royal. Skirting its foot he now +proceeded, brushing away the shining dew, disturbing the lazy lizard +and the serenading grasshopper, and hearing below him the harsh +croaking of the bullfrog in the pool; whilst, ever and anon, the +gust awoke, with a huge sigh, the dreaming maples, poplars, and +dark, penitential pines. From the remote, secluded farms came the +faint bark of dogs; and amidst such sights and sounds he at length +emerged upon the winding road, that, if followed, would lead him +past Stillyside. Slowly and without special aim he continued to +walk, ruminating and still drawn onwards, lured by the time and +scene, until the sound alike of mastiff and of cur had ceased, the +grasshopper refused to pipe upon the dusty road, and the too distant +bullfrog was no longer heard gurgling to its mates, but all was +silent, lying as in a trance, both heaven and earth. And then he +paused, and lapsing into meditation, stood unconscious of surrounding +things, till the tolling of the clock in the distant tower of the +cathedral of Notre Dame awoke him, and, starting from his reverie +and listening, he counted the hours to the full score of midnight. +Struck, then, by the weird aspect of the scene and singular silence, +a vague sense of horror stole through him, and he exclaimed hoarsely: +"This is the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn +and spirits walk abroad!" and scarcely had the words escaped his +lips when a wild tumult rose near him, and he perceived a bacchanalian +and disorderly troop of both sexes sallying into the moonlight; +wherein with uncouth antics and inviting pose, they disported +towards a group of trees, encircling which, and in the chequered +beams beneath their boughs, he beheld them in Harlequin and +Columbine-like appeals of passion, or already mated and forming +for the meditated measure; appearing the very gang of Circe;--and +in their midst he now observed his son, the brutish looking, cunning, +and sensual Narcisse, wine-flushed and loud, and seeming to be the +mimic Comus of the crew. As with the power of divination, he at +once comprehended the spectacle. He had arrived opposite the +equivocal building wherein Narcisse and his companions had disappeared +some hours before, and the door of which had just been suddenly +flung open, and kindling with wrath he at once advanced upon the +bacchants in the midst of their orgies. At the same instant, from +the direction of the city and unseen by him, a tall rider on a +lofty steed, cloak flying to the breeze, swept by like an apparition; +greeted only with a comical yell of astonishment and derision from +one of the females, as like a spectre it swept by. But the hilarious +band before him was too much preoccupied with the performance of +its mockeries to have observed anything, and the advocate, with +eyes gleaming and fixed upon his son, who now perceiving him stood +terror stricken, approached the revellers, who subsided before him, +as, with grey hair fluttering in the wind, he came beneath the +extending boughs, like some denouncing Druid amidst the sacred +oaks, his countenance inflamed, his whole frame seeming to shake +as if in throes to eject some foul possession; or, rather, as if +he were himself a fierce, incarnate, and unfriendly spirit; and, +at length, addressing his son, who was now leaning against a tree, +both for support and concealment, he burst forth: "Miscreant!"--and +the word was echoed from the side of a huge, dilapidated barn, +--"Wretches," he hollowed; and the guilty crowd, fearing both +individual recognition and personal contact, again began to retire. + +"Stay," he commanded, imperiously, "you are known, and flight shall +put the worst construction on your case;--halt, brawlers and bullies, +spendthrifts and bankrupts, breakers of the peace; sons of afflicted +parents, husbands of weeping wives, brothers of sisters both ashamed +and grieved; outlaws; the city's scum, the country's scourge, the +harvest that shall yet be reaped for the jail, and leave gleanings +for the gallows; abandoned creatures, linger;" and suddenly grasping +Narcisse: "Sirrah," he cried, "here is your nightly haunt, these +are your companions,--come with me, sir, come,--ah, will you resist +your--" father he was about to say, but he recoiled from the word +as from an adder, and, casting upon his son a look of unspeakable +disdain, he shook the writhing criminal, who the next moment escaped +from his hold, and slunk away, still looking backward over his +shoulder and muttering curses upon his begetter. The advocate stood +watching him in silence, as, withdrawing along with the others, +the distance dimmed his form, and drowned his maledictions; then, +drawing a deep sigh, a dark, vindictive scowl gathered upon his +visage, until its expression became diabolical, and these words +rolled from his heaving chest in deep, irregular murmurs: + +"Thou son of a wicked and rebellious woman, do I not know that thou +hast set my friends against me, and caused mine enemies to hold me +in derision! But thou shall suffer, thou shalt bend, or I will +break thee, yea, dash thee into pieces. May not the potter do what +he wills with the cup his own hands have, fashioned? Away with +thee, misshapen reptile; may soon the Saint Lawrence hide thee, or +may'st thou soon be laid in the burial field of thy mother's race. +Away, thou vessel of dishonor; grant Heaven that I may not yet make +of thee a vessel of wrath!" and the old man's countenance worked +convulsively, as he seemed to be revolving some terrible idea; but +at last growing calmer he exclaimed; "Down, down, ye cruel thoughts, +ye horrible conceptions; hence, busiest suggestions of the fiend; +be silent at my ears, ye visionary lips; ye perilous and importunate +prompters, peace!" But scarcely had he uttered these words, when +a report of firearms sounded amongst the trees, and a shot rattled +through the boughs, scattering the leaves upon his head; and the +replicated echoes had hardly ceased, when a peal of triumphant +laughter rose, and continued to be renewed till the spot appeared +a field for the sport of a hundred goblins of mischief. + +"Come in," at length said a voice, and, turning, he beheld a woman +standing in the doorway. + +"Who are you?" he enquired. + +"Enter, and learn;" she answered: "I would not have you murdered +in your old, age. Do you not know me?" and seizing him rudely she +drew him towards her until his face almost touched her own emaciated +countenance, on which played a sardonic smile as she turned it +towards the moonlight, and he strove to free himself, exclaiming: + +"Witch, hag, loose me:" and gazed upon her with a look of mingled +amazement and abhorrence. + +"Am I then so changed?" she demanded, with a gloomy smile; "am I +become a leper; am I grown loathsome now, whom you once declared +to be so lovely? Follow me, false man; you did not once require +solicitation." And again the sound of firearms startled the night, +and once more the leaves fell fluttering on his head, and the beldam +angrily exclaimed: "Come in, old fool," and laid hands on him a +second time, as, in a voice thick and hurried with dislike and +terror, he replied: "You are remembered by me, woman; give me +shelter for a moment," and hastily stepping with her over the +threshhold, she closed the door after them. Another burst of +triumphant laughter rose from the retiring revellers, and again +moonlight and returning silence rested on the scene. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "It is my lady: oh, it is my love!" + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + +The agitation of the morning at Stillyside had subsided as the day +wore, but the mind of Amanda Macdonald (for such was the name of +the younger and fairer denizen of that sequestered abode) remained +pensive and preoccupied; and when at her usual hour she had ascended +to her chamber, instead of retiring to rest, she took up a tale of +the troubadours, and read; nor did she lay down the volume till +the sudden flickering of the candle in the socket and the simultaneous +tolling from the distant belfry of the church of the village of +Saint Laurent warned her that it was midnight. Then, feeling +oppressed, alike with the heaviness of the atmosphere of her room, +and a strange weight at her heart, analogous to the lassitude that +is sometimes felt in the beginning of sickness, she arose, drew +aside the curtains, and throwing open the folding window, stepped +on to the verandah. A clear Canadian night, appearing a new and +chaster version of the day, greeted her. The moon, at night's +meridian, hung high in the fulness of its autumnal splendor, tranquil +in the solitude of the sky, a solitude unbroken, save by a few +small stars that were twinkling in the azure, and a fleet of low, +dappled clouds that were coasting the horizon. Awhile her eves +dwelt abstractedly on the sight, then, falling, they wandered +listlessly over the broad and shining expanse of landscape before +her; where Nature, unrobed, seemed as in a bath; for in front, the +grass, steeped in descending dews, glittered as a lake. Woods +confined the view in one direction, and the gleamy wave of the +Ottawa, amidst filmy obscurity, bounded it, yet further off, in +another. Unseen but felt, like the unperceived Genius of the +landscape, towered close behind her the sombre-sided mountain; and, +touched by the solemn scene, she advanced, and, leaning upon the +balustrade, heaved a deep sigh; then lapsed into a reverie so +profound, that she failed to hear the tramp of a horse now rapidly +approaching, and to note the change to sudden silence, caused by +its stopping at the postern. But there, transfixed with wonder and +admiration, and looking like a bronze equestrian statue at the +gate, now, mounted, sat gazing the lately flying horseman of the +road, the champion of the morning on those grounds, and contemplated +the figure on the verandah; then, dismounting, tied his steed, and +vaulting over the fence, swiftly approached across the lawn; till, +as if suddenly aware of being on holy ground, he paused, and stood +with reverential aspect and clasped hands, eagerly bending towards +her as if in adoration. Thus engaged, as stands in ecstasy some +newly arrived pilgrim before a shrine, he stood enrapt; whilst she +remained as moveless as a carved angel leaning over a cathedral +aisle, and, with her eyes fixed on vacancy, at length mournfully +exclaimed: "Sad, sad, so sad!--yet why am I so sad? No denser +grows the mystery around my birth; and if knight errants yet live, +rescuing maids, or he is a wandering god, and here is Arcadia, why +should that make me grieve? It is true that he is handsome--and +yet what of that?--most men are handsome in the eyes of maids. But +he appears the paragon of men. Is he indeed not all a man should +be? Where were the blemish, the exception; who shall challenge +nature, saying, in his form, that here she has given too little, +there too much?--Ah, me! I am not happy, yet I should be so." + +"Can have heard aright, or do I dream?" gasped out the stranger. + +"A knight, a god;" she continued, yet musing; "oh, he came hither +like a knight of old, or as an angry angel sent to scatter +fiends;--or, rather, like the lightning he arrived, out of the +storm cloud of I know not where. Where is he now? whence was he? +who is he? what? Alas, I know nothing of where, nor who, nor what, +nor whence he is; all that I know is, I am strangely sad; and that +such perfection was not made for me." + +"Is this not Stillyside?" enquired the listener, "or do I wander +in some spirit-land; lost, lost;--oh, so luxuriously lost! She, +too, seems lost--lost in a reverie, and all forlorn. I'll speak to +her;--and yet I fear to speak, I fear to breathe, lest the undulating +air should burst this, and prove it to be but a bubble. Yet she +breathes, she spoke, and oh, such words! Words, be at my command; +I will address her, for this is not fancy: could fancy shew a moving +soul of sorrow? See how the passion plays upon that face, as she +thus stands with sad-eyed earnestness, maintaining converse with +the hollow sky. Looked ever aught so fair yet so forlorn? Methinks +there is a tear upon her cheek. Why comes it from the Eden of her +eye? I must speak to her;" and with mixed fear and fervour he +exclaimed: "May Heaven keep you from grave cause of sorrow, lady! +Forgive me, oh, forgive me, lady, or vision, for, by these dazzled +eyes, and, as I fear, by your offended form, I Scarcely can divine +whether you are of earth or air; pardon me if I have appeared here +by night, as unpremeditatedly as I came by day. Bid me begone, +--and yet permit me to remain, for, by my life, and the deep +admiration with which you have inspired me, I cannot leave you till +I learn your grief, and with it, peradventure, my own doom. Whom +did you speak of even now, fair form?" + +"Who asks of me that question; who is it that thus listens when I +thought myself alone?" she demanded haughtily, looking downwards +from the verandah. "Sir, just now I spoke, and said--I know not +what. What you have overheard me say I fear was foolish; do not, +then, regard it. I know you now. You are the stranger who, this +morning, drove those violent intruders from these grounds. Ah, +who would have thought you would return by night, and thus, sir, +play the eaves-dropper! Oh, for shame! Nay, you are not the one I +took you for. Sir, it is mean to overlisten; mean, very mean; nay, +it is base, unmanly, to listen to a maid, when she commits her +vagaries to the moon." + +"Scourge me, for I deserve it, with your tongue;" rejoined the +stranger--"but, lady, you were not alone, though I were absent; +no; you cannot be alone. Such excellence must draw hither elves +and midnight troops of fairies; by day, by night, each moment must +array around you the good wishes of the world. No, not alone; the +very sky is filled with watchers and the ground covered with +invisible feet, that have come here to do you homage; then why not +I found here to pay you mine? Are you still angry?" + +"You have offended me," she answered;--"and yet perhaps I am too +severe with you. I fear I am ungrateful. 'Mean,' did I say? It was +mean in me to say so, and most forgetful of the favor conferred +here by you this morning. No, I vow it was not mean--at least in +_you_. And yet it was mean, it was very mean in you, sir, thus to +overstep the golden mean of manners. Scourge you? Ah, I fear you +well deserve it;--and yet if I could, I would put to scourging that +word, 'mean,' that has just escaped from out of my petulent lips, +as sometimes a froward, disobedient child runs into danger; breaking +away from out of the nurse's arms. But you should not have played +the bold intruder, and joined in these vain vigils;--nay, begone, +or I must, myself, withdraw. I do entreat you, stay no longer; come +some other time,--but go to-night; make no excuse for staying, or +you may yet compel me to be angry with you. Indeed, I fear that I +am too forgiving. Go, I pardon you,--but go at once, or I may yet +repent to have condoned what it, in truth, were hard to justify." + +"Heaven pardons heavier sins," observed the stranger. + +"Yes, when its pardon is sought for;" was rejoined; "but I pardon +you without your craving it; and, remember, Heaven's pardon is not +granted to us simply for the asking; neither do we receive it +because our hearts are penitent; but for the sake of Him who died +for us upon the cross; hence you are now forgiven by me, not for +your prayers' sake, nor for your regret, but rather because +beforehand, the night's offence has been cancelled by the morning's +favor. For the rest, retire, sir: what you have heard, you have +heard. You have heard my words, yet give no heed to them. If I +to-night have walked forth in my sleep, and dreamed on this +verandah;--why, then, it was but a dream. Let it be thus esteemed, +and so we part. Good night." + +"Stay!" exclaimed the stranger, as, smiling with ineffable sweetness, +and deeply curtsying, she drew backwards towards the window: "Stay; +how can those part whom destiny hath joined; how be divided whom +their fates make one? Stay, lady, and let love, young love, plead +his own cause. Oh, I would yet charm you with my tongue, even as +your own detected tongue has just declared that this morning I +charmed you with my deed. Stay. If, in truth, you did admire, +what, at the moment of its execution, I thought nothing of, and +value now only as it has relation to yourself, hear my appeal." + +"What does this mean?" she asked, startled at his earnestness: "I +do not know you; go, oh, go; I say again, I do not know you, sir." + +"I never knew myself till now," he cried with bitter pathos. + +"I say, I do not know you; you do not know _me;_" she reiterated. + +"Know me to be irrevocably yours;" rejoined the stranger, "for you +have bound my heart in such fast thraldom, that even yourself could +not deliver it." + +"And, perhaps, I would not, if I could,--unless you asked it:" she +answered: "and yet, sir, possibly you jest. Oh, sir, forbear; +begone, nor longer fool here a surprised, lone girl. What is your +purpose? who, and whence, are you? On your honor, answer me truly." + +"I am the seigneur Montigny's only son: my purpose and my thoughts +towards you are all honorable:" he replied. And she rejoined: "Oh, +if your intentions are dishonorable, and you have not the spirit, +as you have the aspect, of a gentleman, yet keep this secret, as +you are a man." + +"What shall be said to reassure you?" demanded Montigny. "Witness, +Heaven, if I assume to act, or intend anything injurious towards +you. Believe me. I am the heir to a proud seigniory: you are,--I +know not what; enough for me to know, you are the fairest figure +that has yet filled mine eyes, and surely as good as fair. Will +you be mine, as I am yours for ever? Speak, why are you silent?" + +"Hist," she said, listening. + +"What is the matter?" he enquired. + +"Nothing, perhaps nothing:" she continued, whilst her voice +faltered:--"but go, oh, go, and come again to-morrow, or next +week, or when you will. I'll think on what you have said; but go; +I tremble so; stay here no longer; think, should we be observed. +I am ashamed to think of it. I am ashamed to look the moon in the +face, ashamed to look into yours. Oh, sir, what have I done? What +have you said? How have I answered? for I am perplexed. Away, yet +come again; come fifty times; but stay no longer now; begone;--return +though when you choose; do not wait for an invitation.--Listen, +I hear it again; begone, begone; did you not hear something?--it +was nothing, perhaps, but yet begone." + +"Never without your love pledge will I leave you," replied Montigny +firmly. + +"And would you force me to avow myself?" she asked. "May Heaven +absolve me if I err herein! No, give me leisure to reflect: this +were too sudden. These passion-hurried vows were too much like +those vapors, that, igniting, rush like to unorbed stars across +the night, then, vanished, leave it blacker. Do not tempt me. To +act in haste is to repent at leisure; and quickliest lighted coals +grow soonest cool. Even now I feel my cheek aglow with shame, that +burns its passage to my rooted hair. Away: if you should not forget +me, why, you are as though you were still present; for your thought, +which is your truest self, remains with me. If you should grow +oblivious--why, it is I that shall suffer, and not you." + +"Oh, waste of words on what can never be!" Exclaimed Montigny: +"cease to doubt me. Forget you! Love's memories are immortal. Love +writes the lineaments of the beloved in rock, not sand.' + +"Yet rocks may lose their effigies, the pyramids their inscriptions, +the strong-clamped monument may tumble, and the marble bust, by +time, may let the salient features fall into one indistinguishable +round," she answered doubtingly. + +"They may;" rejoined Montigny: "but neither flowing time nor chafing +circumstance can erase affection from the constant mind. Mind is +more obdurate than steel; and love, the tenderest of the train of +passions, is, in its memory, as indestructible as gold;--gold that +resists the all-corroding fire. No; the fire may melt the impress +from the seal, the sun the angles from the stony ice; the jagged +rocks may from encounter with the wind and rain grow smooth; this +hilly globe may grow at length to be as level as is the sea, and +every jutting headland of the shore may crumble and disappear; but +your bright image must to the eventide of life's cogitation, stay, +like a sacred peak whose lofty brow stands ever gilded in the +setting sun. Forget you! little hazard: he whose heart is impressed +with the absent's form, needs wear no miniature upon the breast; +the scholar who knows his task by rote, needs not retain his eye +upon the book." + +"Hearts may prove false," she answered solemnly, "and tasks to +treacherous memory committed may be forgotten; but will you forget +these weighty words: will you be constant, oh, will you prove true; +for did I give you all I have, my love, what were there left me +should you throw it away?" + +"Injurious and incredulous one," returned Montigny, "save Lucifer, +who ever threw from him heaven?" + +"Forgive me," she replied, "it is but a timid girl that speaks. +She did not doubt you, though she sought to prove you. Yet are you +sure you love her? Ask your heart, then render me its reply, as +one might do, who having listened for me to the murmuring shell, +should bring me tidings of the storm-vexed sea. Vow not, but listen." + +Montigny seemed for awhile to listen to his heart; then, looking +at her, replied: + +"Surer than is assurance itself I am yours. Say that you are mine, +and every further word shall seem only to be redundant and +apochryphal; for when love's lips have made their revelation, what +more is wanting to complete the canon." + +"Believe that I have said it," she half whispered; then, starting, +and changing color, "hist, hist," she added, "once more I hear it: +heard _you_ nothing?" + +"I nothing heard but you." replied Montigny: "Proceed; for your +voice is sweeter to me than plashing fountain's, or than Saint +Laurent's chimes, or than would be--could we hear it--the fabulous +music of those night-hung spheres, coming harmonious to our listening +ears, borne on the shoulders of the cherub winds. Why are you +silent?" + +"Listen," she said, looking still more alarmed. + +"I do," he answered. + +"Yet heard you nothing?" + +"Nothing but ourselves." + +"Nothing besides?" + +"What further should I hear?" he asked. + +"And yet it seemed as if I heard another," she continued. "Are we +watched? speak, tell me," she demanded,--"I hear it again; listen." + +Montigny listened a moment, then replied soothingly: + +"Dismiss these pale-cheeked panics, for you hear nothing; or if +you do it is but the common voices of the night. It is merely the +hoarse bullfrog croaking in the swamp; and the green grasshopper +a chirrupping in the meadow; for, saving these, all nature with +myself is listening to you. Be reassured: there is nothing, but +what your own excited fancy has conjured: even the wind has ceased +to sigh amongst the leaves; the moon stands still, and her arrested +beam no longer draws the shadow on the dreamy dial. Then, proceed, +my love, for when you speak you fill my ears with heaven, but when +you pause then opens the abyss." + +"Yet listen; I hear it again:" she said; "it was not fancy; no." + +"What else? what can befall you, love, whilst I am here?" he +murmured. + +"Nothing. I hope," she answered, falteringly. + +"Then nothing dread." + +"I dread to say it, yet I must: Good night." + +"Already?" he demanded. + +"All too long!" cried an imperious voice; and the advocate stood +before them. + +"Amanda, ah, Amanda, Miss Macdonald," he continued, "is it thus you +fool us? Go, bird, into your cage. Nurse, take my lady in." And +Amanda beheld behind her the melancholy Mona, half shrouded in a +cloak covering her night attire. + +[Illustration: "Amanda, oh! Amanda, is it thus you fool us?"] + +Silently they both of them withdrew, and the stranger was left +alone with the advocate, who, laying his hand detectingly on the +other's shoulder, thus addressed him: + +"Claude Montigny, I do not ask of you what brings you here, for I +have something overheard, and in that something, all. Given the +arc, the eye completes the perfect circle; furnished the angle and +the object's distance, and we can tell the dizzy altitude. Mark +me, sir. We climb with risk, but there is greater danger in +descending. Young sir seigneur, you have ascended to a height you +may not safely stoop from. As sportive and adventurous schoolboys +sometimes ascend a scaffolding in the absence of the builders, and +continue to scale from tier to tier, until they pause for breath; +so, I fear, that you this night, in her protector's absence, have +soared in the affections of my ward. Beware, beware: I would not +threaten you--a gentleman neither needs nor brooks a threat--but, +by my life and the strength that yet is left me, woe to the man +that shall fool me in yonder girl! Seek not to trifle with me, +Claude Montigny. Tell me your purpose; inform me how your acquaintance +with my ward began; how it was fostered; how it has been concealed; +and how it thus has ripened into this secret, midnight interview. +Speak; what do you say, sir, in arrest of judgment? Be seated, and +recount to me the story of your love, if you do love my ward--as +you have told her that you do--and to that love be attached a story, +long or brief; or if this passion--which you have propounded most +passionately to her--be of a mere mushroom growth, born of to-night, +sown by the hand of moonlight in a girl's dark eyes; or in her +heart, perhaps, by the fairies that you spoke of, and producing +some form of feeling or forced fruit of fancy; coeval with, and +meant to be as transient, as is the present fungi of these fields. +Sit down by me, and let your tongue a true deliverance make between +yourself, me, and my foster-daughter." And seating himself heavily +on a garden bench, and leaning with both hands clasped over the top +of his gold-headed cane, he looked enquiringly up into the face of +the young man, and added: "Come, plead before me to this charge of +heart-stealing, as touching which you have been taken in the act." + +"Sir," then said the stranger with dignity, whilst he slowly seated +himself; "sir, you are justified in thus misdoubting me; for though +a gentleman should, like the wife of Caesar, be above suspicion, +never yet knew chivalry a time but there were recreant knights. +Moreover, I can perceive that circumstances now must shadow, and, +as with refracting influence, distort me, so that I may well stand +here seeming to be deformed, although my soul, if you could see +it, would show wanting no part of honour's fair proportions. Hear +me, then, patiently, for I plead less for my own defence than for +her vindication who has just retired beneath your frown." + +And the ingenuous but compromised Montigny sketched the brief +history of his passion, and when he had done, the advocate, looking +into his countenance keenly, but confidingly, rejoined: + +"You speak the truth, I know it by your eye, wherein no falsehood +might harbour for a moment; yet, young seigneur, you have entered +on a perilous path; dare you walk in it? It is the way of honor, +and will prove to be the way of safety; but, beshrew me, if I do +not fear that it may prove to you a way of pain. Whatever may be +the ways of wisdom, the ways of honour are not always ways of +pleasantness, nor is the path of duty always one of peace. If you +would wear the rose you must grasp it as it grows amidst the thorns. +And now, farewell--yet, hold. I hold you to your bond. The forfeit +were the forfeit of your word, which you have pledged to me and +mine. Remember, not only have you offered love unto my ward, but +you have been accepted." + +"Even so:" exclaimed Montigny; "and may--" + +"Call nothing down that might become your harm," said the advocate +admonishingly: "Rain has before now become transformed to hailstones, +and done much damage; and dews descending so benignly, have once, +it is said, in form of rain, swelled to a deluge that has drowned +the world. May the skies be still propitious to you, Claude Montigny. +Although temptation burn as fiercely as dogdays, do not fall beneath +it, for less hurtful were a hundred sunstrokes to the body, than +to the soul is one temptation that hath overcome it. Again farewell." +And he pressed Claude's hand convulsively, then tossed it from him +half disdainfully, and both departed from the grounds. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "Think no more of this night's accidents." + + _Midsummer Night's Dream._ + +From Stillyside Claude Montigny rode towards the western extremity +of the island; his thoughts steeped in bliss, and the country, as +it slumbered in the moonlight, seeming to him the land of Elysium. +At the ferry of Pointe Saint Claire he engaged a bateau in which +he was rowed over the confluence of the rivers Ottawa and Saint +Lawrence by four boatmen who, from time to time, in a low tone, as +if afraid of awakening the dawn, chaunted, now an old song of +Normandy, and now a ballad upon the fate of some lost voyageur. +The moon was yet shining, and he was in the mood to enjoy such +minstrelsy; but when they neared the opposite shore, a feeling of +sadness and apprehension stole over him, as he thought of meeting +his father, to whom he knew he must either communicate distasteful +tidings, or what was worse to his ingenuous mind, practice a culpable +concealment. Thus musing, as day broke he leaped on shore, and +again mounting his horse rode thoughtful through forest and farm; +now reburied in the darkness of night, which yet lingered amidst +the foliage, and now emerging into the light of the clearing; until, +as the sun was rising over the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, +he entered the manorial gates of Mainville, and passing through +the park-like grounds, was once more in the proud home of the +Montignys. + +Meantime, Amanda Macdonald had not slept. Shame, joy, fear, hope +possessed her; but fear chiefly, for she dreaded the coming morrow, +when she must meet her foster-mother, and--what to her was yet more +terrible--her, as she supposed, deeply offended guardian; and it +was not till the birds began to chirp and flit about her window, +that she fell into a deep, refreshing slumber that lasted long into +the day, and was at length broken by the voice of Mona bidding her +arise. + +The advocate, on the other hand, who had at once returned to town, +arose at his usual hour, and repairing to his office, began the +business of the day; whilst at a later period, the dissipated +Narcisse again found his boon companions, and with them renewed +the debauch of yesterday. + +During the day the anxious Mona did not fail to question her charge +touching the interrupted interview; and the latter at length related +how it had befallen, confessed to her sudden passion for the gallant +Montigny, revealed his plighted vows, and confiding herself to the +bosom where she had always found advice and comfort, deprecated +the displeasure of her guardian. But the betrayed Mona could give +her only slight encouragement, in what was now yet nearer to her +than even her guardian's favor, her lover's truth. + +"Child," said Mona to her emphatically and in a warning tone, after +musing, "Child, hope not too much; fear everything, for man is +naturally false towards woman. Ah, you have yet learned but little +of man, and may you never learn too much. Beware, beware, beware, +Amanda, Happy the ignorant, happy is the woman whom no false man +has taught to distrust his sex! Man's love to woman is as evanescent +as is the presence of the summer-morning mist, that, for an hour +or so, hugs lovingly the lea, then vanishes for ever. What are his +vows but vapour? Poor, rash girl, why, without warning me, have +you opened the horn-book of love, and spelled at such a speed, +that, in a day's time, you have read as far as warier maids dare +con in years?" And Amanda looked both abashed and amazed; but at +length enquired in wonder: + +"What may you mean by these strange utterances? Nay, nay, dear +Mona: you slander your own father by this language." + +"Thou canst not say, child, that I slander thine," responded Mona, +tartly; and her countenance darkened with an equivocal expression +new to Amanda, who, catching at the inuendo, earnestly demanded, + +"Who was my father? tell me, for you know; I myself know, I feel, +(and not untrustworthy is this intuition) that I am not here a mere +fortuitous foundling. Who was my mother? I charge you to inform +me." + +"Girl, had not man been false, you had not needed to have so often +asked of me that question," Mona replied with a cynical expression, +and hoarse, sepulchral voice, that, whilst it seemed to vindicate +herself, reproved her fellow, on whose face an air of horror now +mantled, as she excitedly exclaimed: + +"Say more, or else unsay what you have already uttered. What must +be understood from this alarming language? Although there hangs a +mystery over my birth, surely there rests upon it no dishonor. +Acquaint me, then, once more I charge you, and now by the love and +kindness that you have always shown to me, declare, for you know--I +say I feel you know; whose child am I, where was I born, how have +I been committed to your care, adopted, cherished; I, who have no +filial claims upon you; adjudged to be an orphan, perhaps the child +of charity; how have I been divided between you and my guardian, +or held as if I were your mutual bond? Inform me, Mona, my good +Mona, foster-mother, nurse, you who have been to me as a true mother +might be, say whose I am; whether, and where, my parents live; and, +if they live, why they have thus abandoned me," and she burst into +a flood of tears. + +"Quiet yourself, my fond one," answered Mona, moved also to tears +by this appeal; "your birth on one side is as high as any that this +country boasts, therefore is as high as Claude Montigny's. Your +mother is descended from a warlike Scottish line, your father's +father was an English peer. Your parents are yet living; but their +union, which was in many points unequal, was, alas! rendered the +more unequal by a gulf-like disproportion in the passion that +provoked it;--a gulf, too, that was undiscovered, till, too late, +your mother saw it. Thence, their lives, their loves, so call it, +their mutual progress (save on the course of fondness towards +yourself, their child, whereon they journey equal side by side) +has for years kept, and yet keeps, a still disparting pace; and, +oh, Amanda, excuse these tears, for well I know your mother, and +pity her, having many a time listened to her fruitless complaints; +but until your father, who is the laggard one of this most +misappointed pair, shall, either underneath the whip of a castigating +conscience, or prompted by the spur of your poor mother's sharp +appeals, come up abreast, and fill a certain chasm of omission by +an indemnifying deed, which has been by him most selfishly left +undone, but whose performance is essential to the full fruition by +you of your fortune, you must remain, as you have hitherto done, +my foster-child, and your grim guardian's ward; a waif we hold +waiting for its claimants; and until they arrive, let me beseech +you, as though I were the mother I have spoken of, to think no +further of young Claude Montigny." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: + I am sick in displeasure to him; and whatsoever comes athwart + his affection, ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross + this marriage?" + + _Much ado about nothing._ + +A few days after the conversation detailed in the preceding chapter, +there was ushered into the office of the advocate at Montreal a +"gentleman, who announced himself as Montigny, Seigneur of Mainville. +He was tall, and of a distinguished aspect, and had scarcely accepted +of the advocate's invitation to be seated, when, like a man impatient +to be done with a disagreeable business, he began: + +"I have a son, sir, and you, as I believe, a ward, an orphan girl;" +pronouncing with a mixture of pity and contempt the last two words. + +The advocate observed this depreciatory intonation, and throwing +himself backwards in his large easy chair, repeated: "An orphan +girl," at the same time putting a half angry, half comical expression +into his countenance, and perpetrating a pun in what followed: +"Yes, many of your Canadian noblesse would bless themselves to have +been her father. The poor fellow, it is well he is not here to have +overheard you. An orphan girl: true, as you say, I have an orphan +girl,--or one that passes for such; a girl I love, a ward, a +charming child, yonder at Stillyside. Were I disposed to praise +her I might say she is the Mountain's maid; the Dryad of its woods, +a grace, a goddess, fairer than Diana, and far purer, for one may +guess the fool Diana made of that poor boy, Endymion. But what +concerning my ward, sir, my most immaculate lady?" + +"Would you forbid my son access to her?" enquired the seigneur. + +"Ah! you wish for an injunction;" said the advocate; "show me cause. +I have, sir--as you seem aware--a ward dwelling yonder at my seat +at Stillyside;--a place I sometimes visit; a sort of shrine, a kind +of hermitage or chapel, wherein two devotees, two nun-like, holy +women consume the hours; leading there, pious, penitential lives, +making each day a sort of hallowed tide, and every eve a vigil." + +"You are humorous," replied the seigneur. "Excuse me, I am sorry, +but it were best that I should speak plainly. I would not wish to +see your ward dishonored." + +"Dishonored! not a seigneur, nor a seigneur's son dare dream of +such a consummation, nor, daring so to dream, could compass it," +cried the advocate, growing crimson. "Yet this is kind of you;" he +added, bowing as if deeply grateful;--"and yet," he continued, +"there can be no fear of an offence: is not your son a clergyman? +for, if he be, and they confess to him anything worse than to have +admitted him to their confidence--why, sir, he shall be allowed to +enter, and shrive them when he chooses;" and after a momentary +silence, "Fie! fie!" he resumed, rolling in his chair; "'the fool +hath said in his heart there is no God,' and the wise man of +Mainville, who has been all his life looking for purity in a +petticoat, says 'there is no virtue in woman.' But I say, both +these oracles are in the wrong; there is not only a Divinity, but +there are women too who are virtuous. This is a clumsy jest, sir. +My ward be dishonored by your son? Yes, when the diamond can be +cut with a feather. Monsieur Montigny, a tempest is as harmless as +a breath, when that tempest is being hurled against the rock; a +breath is even as effectual as is a tempest, when that breath is +puffed against the dust. So buzzing blandishments of sighing fops, +may blow the frail flowerets from weak, wanton natures; whilst +vehement vows of otherwise most honorable men, though urged as +strongly as the northern blast, are in vain against the marble +front of virtue. I am marble to your wishes." + +"You weigh your danger as little as you do your language," observed +the seigneur. "Will you permit a trespasser, a tempter within your +grounds; a wolf, a fox, a bear within your fold?" + +The advocate shrugged his shoulders and replied: "No, heaven +forbid;--and Stillyside is to me as an outer court of heaven, +wherein my ward dwells as a sort of semi-solitary angel." + +"Yet angels fell, and so may she fall," interjected the seigneur +quickly. + +"They did, and without a tempter, too, Monsieur Montigny," returned +the advocate, quietly; then added: "the height of heaven turned +the heads of the angels giddy." + +"Girls are giddy." remarked the seigneur gravely. + +"Boys are more frequently foolish," drily retorted the advocate: +"and often coming to girls for kisses, go away with cuffs. I hope +your son has neither sought for the one nor yet received the other. +But what is this son, Monsieur Montigny, that you would have me +believe to be so formidable? Is he another Lucifer, couched at my +Ward's ear, as his dark prototype once squatted at that of Eve? Or +is he Lothario alive again? Is he Leander, and are the Ottawa's +jaws a western Hellespont, with my ward and Stillyside, for Hero +and her tower?" + +"Your verandah," remarked the seigneur, "is not higher than was +Hero's tower, although, I trust, your ward's virtue may be more +exalted than was Hero's. But are you aware, sir, that already my +son has had her company, alone, at midnight, on your grounds; all +others retired; she alone watching, with Claude Montigny and the +broad, full moon?" + +"An actionable moon," exclaimed the lawyer, "and a decided case of +lunacy against the lovers. But, alas, sir, in this respect we have +all been sinners in our youth, and all grown wondrous righteous +with our years. Have we not ourselves, when we were young,--ay, +and upon inclement winter nights too, courted brown peasant girls +beneath both stars and moon? What if the nights were cold, the +blood was warm; and now with these volcanic veins of ours grown +cool, why, we may walk on the quenched crater of concupiscence, +and who dares challenge us, and say, ha, ha! smut clings to you, +gentlemen; you have the smell of fire upon you. No, sir, no: we +are fumigated, ventilated, scented, powdered, purged as with hyssop. +Pish! he must be truly an Ethiop, whom time cannot whiten; a very +leopard, who will not part with his spots, since the sun himself +shall lose _his_ some day, purged in his own fires." + +"I repeat, sir, your ward is in danger," said the seigneur doggedly. + +"Not at all. Is the diamond in danger when it is put into the +crucible; is the gold deteriorated when it is being deterged from +dross?" was responded. + +"Infatuated man, would you open the door to the seducer?" asked +the seigneur, growing angry with the contumelious lawyer. + +"Seducer!" said the advocate, affecting to be shocked: "that is a +huge stone to throw at your own son: and remember; is not every +man's frame a glass house, whereat the soul that inhabits it should +invite no stone throwing from the little red catapult of a neighbour's +tongue? Beware, beware; have mercy, Monsieur Montigny. 'All flesh +is grass,' the Prophet proclaims; but I assert. 'All flesh is +glass.'" + +"A woman's reputation is as brittle," was the seigneur's ready +repartee; "therefore warn off my son from Stillyside." + +"But should he not regard me, sir, what then?" + +"Brandish the law over him, your chosen weapon," answered the +seigneur. + +The lawyer suddenly looked grave, and, affecting to be offended, +demanded sternly: "Monsieur Montigny, am I a mere mechanic to do +your bidding? Brandish the law indeed! Is, then, the law but an +ordinary cudgel, to thwack the shoulders with or beat the brains +out? The law, sir, is a sacred weapon, not to be lightly taken up, +neither to be profanely applied to paltry uses, any more than we +would take the tempered razor to pick a bone, or pare our cheese +with. Brandish the law! The man that can talk of brandishing the +law would brandish a piece of the true cross, sir, if he had it; +he would drink, sir, from his mother's skull, and with his father's +thigh-bones play at shinty. What is the law? What less is it than +the will and force of all employed for one; the savage sense of +justice, disciplined and drilled till it can move in regular array, +invincibly, to conquer wrong; surely too vast an engine to be +employed on trifles. Who wants a wheel to break a butterfly upon; +or, to crush a worm who calls for a pavior's rammer? Monsieur +Montigny, listen. Mercy is Heaven's first attribute, and the +executioner is the State's meanest, as well as last, servant; shall +I, then, stoop to this, who may aspire to that? Shall I wield a +whip of legal scorpions before your son, should he seek to re-enter +Stillyside? Would you have me, as once Heaven's cherubim stood at +the gates of Paradise, with fiery swords turning all ways, to hinder +its ejected tenants from breaking back into the garden,--would you +have me, I say, stand at my gates at Stillyside, and, meeting young +Montigny, flourish in his face a fist full of fasces, in the form +of threatened pains and penalties? No; your suit, sir, is denied: +you take nothing by your motion." + +"Dare you deny," retorted the seigneur, loudly, and with a look of +coming triumph; "dare you deny that you are privy to their intimacy; +will you assert that you--yourself unseen--have not witnessed my +son in secret, midnight conversation with your ward at Stillyside; +there overheard them interchanging vows of endless love, and dealing +declarations of devotedness unto each other;--I ask you; did you +not hear and see these doings, and, even when you did at length +surprise the pair, did you not by failing to condemn their folly, +give it your silent sanction?" + +"Something of this I did," said the advocate coolly, "for I remembered +some rather liberal breathings of my own when I was young,--and +youth will have its fling,--nay, do not bite your lip, but listen. +Monsieur Montigny, thus far we have met guile with guile. Just like +two wily fencers, both of us, waiting to spy our advantage, have +still witheld the lunge, until, at last, you, having grown desperate, +have rushed into the close. Yet, do not let your anger overbear +discretion. The heated iron hisses when it is plunged into the +trough, but shall we hiss at each other like geese or serpents? +Shall we quarrel, deny the undeniable, try to undo the accomplished +deed? What is done is done, and not Omnipotence itself, sir, could +undo it." + +"But we may hinder further evil," observed the seigneur. + +"Ay? Would you keep out the lightning by high builded walls?" +demanded the advocate, "for you are as likely to accomplish that, +as to keep lovers from each other. No, let them alone, for they +are as climbing Titans towards their wishes' skies; despising +guardians' gates and fathers' fences, just as much as did Briareus +and his crew disdain its rugged sides, and risk their necks up +steep Olympus, when they were making war on Jove. You cannot bar +them. The sun may be debarred from attics, and frost may be kept +out of cellars, but, Monsieur Montigny, the mutually enamoured can +never be permanently parted. Sir, no more." + +"Enamoured he, and she at length dishonoured," cried the seigneur, +disregarding the injunction. + +"Her honour is its own sufficient guardian," was responded. + +"Have regard, sir, to your future peace," was urged. + +"Peace, sir, like silence, never comes for calling for," rejoined +the advocate. + +"Impracticable man, have you no fear?" demanded the foiled Montigny +upbraidingly. + +"None for my ward; I hope you have as little for your son," said, +the lawyer sarcastically. + +"Your ward invites my son, by sitting upon the verandah at midnight, +to attract him when he passes by, as the Hebrew woman, Tamar, once +sat to decoy the foolish Judah. Do you deny this? I have learned +all, all," outburst the indignant seigneur. + +"Do I deny it?" cried the advocate, the blood, in anger, rushing +to his face. "Dare you affirm it? Monsieur, if you mean seriously +to asperse my ward, I say, prepare;--not for the action of the +law,--no, no, I hate the law, when it is cited for myself,--but +for the action of an old man's arm. Sir, I have been a swordsman +in my youth, and though the lank skeleton of my skill at fence is +buried in disuse, it moves now in the grave of this right hand, +that so long has wielded only the quiet quill. I do not bid you +quail; not I,--but, by the angry devil of the duel, you answer me, +either sword point to sword point; or from the pointing pistol, +that shall speak both sharp and decisive, and the dotting bullet, +perhaps, put a period to your proud life's scrawl. But no; I am +grown too old to have recourse to violence. Away, go, go; but, mind +you, do not breathe this calumny into a human ear,--no, not into +the air. Shame, shame! you are no noble minded man, to villify my +ward and your own son; whom, if I accounted to be as strangely base +as you have shown yourself to be, and have depicted him, I would +forbid to tread within my gates, and hound him from my door at +Stillyside." + +"Words only anger you," said the astonished and half daunted +seigneur. + +"Such words as yours have been:" was replied. "What! do you expect +to strike upon a bank where bees have settled, yet not be stung; +or dream to be allowed to draw the bare hand, clasping down a sword, +but not be wounded?" + +"What shall I say, yet not offend you?" soothingly enquired Montigny. + +"Say what you will," the advocate continued: "what can be worse +than what you have said already?" + +"Hear me," said the seigneur, in the manner of one who is going to +make, a confidential proposal: "Either remove your ward, and +receive a compensation for her absence, or quickly marry her, and +I will provide her with a dower." + +"Now you are indeed a generous gentleman," said the advocate, +smiling; "You must have built churches, surely, or founded hospitals, +and always have dealt out dollars liberally to the deserving. But +you are wealthy, and can do these things without being impoverished. +It is fortunate that you are wealthy, for I shall accept of no +paltry sum. Only imagine, to have to banish her; to quench, or to +remove, the very beam that fills my life with light. You must be +liberal, if you would have me exile her Come, sign me a bond for +what I shall demand." + +"You are in haste," observed the seigneur, somewhat startled at +the advocate catching so readily at the bait; but the latter was +ready with his reply: + +"Because your son may now be at Stillyside, and, whilst we are +haggling, may carry off my ward,--or I might change my mind," he +answered. + +"And I, too, may change mine," was the rejoinder. + +"Why, then, we are quits;" observed the advocate carelessly, and +as if all parley were at an end; "we are as we were, and, for the +young ones, they are as they were; but if I know the force of +youthful blood, you, with all your endeavours, will not be able +long to keep them apart." + +"What is your price for her expatriation?" demanded the seigneur +sullenly, as if coming to terms; and the advocate replied: + +"No, marry her, marry her; we will have her married. We either +marry her or do nothing in this business, sir, which, after all, +were, perhaps, best left to those who have most interest in it;--but +if you think differently, be it yours to find the money, I will +find the match:--and let it be understood, that you find her a +dowry which would be fitting for a seigneur's daughter; or else, +without a dowry, I shall not scruple to give her to a seigneur's +son. Why are you silent?" + +The proud, perplexed parent made no answer, but secretly, groaned +in his dilemma, and at length exclaimed: "Insatiate old man, have +you no son, the thought of which may teach you to be just towards +me and mine? What do I ask of you? Little,--or what would cost you +little, yet you ask a fortune of me; and to enrich, too, one, whom, +as a punishment, I have reason rather to desire should always be +poor. Do not deny it; she has ensnared my son. It is impossible, +that he who has roamed over half the world, and has yet come home +uncaptivated, though in his travels he has met the fairest and the +richest, can have been caught at the mere passing by your farm of +Stillyside, can at a glance have been so smitten as to meditate +this marriage. No, he has been decoyed, seduced. You might as well +declare that a young eagle would not return to its nest, but plunge +into some casually discovered coop, and roost there, as aver that, +without some irregular influence, Claude Montigny would seek your +ward in marriage. If she marry him, she will marry a beggar: not +an acre of mine shall he inherit, not a dollar of mine will he +receive. Give her a dowry? Give her a dukedom. No, sir; I will +not buy brass from you at the price of gold; will not subsidize +you to avoid your ward." And, with the words, he bowed himself out +of the room, and the advocate, casting himself backwards in his +easy chair, laughing, exclaimed: "Was ever such a proposition +started?--started! yes; and shall eventually be carried. It is not +what we do, but it is the motive that induced the deed, that gives +the color to it. She shall be Madam Montigny, in spite of old +Montigny's self; and for her dowry, (which I asked Montigny to +provide, only that it might be returned to him through his son), +I'll mortgage my old brains to procure it for her." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + While you here do snoring lie + Open-ey'd conspiracy + His time doth take: + If of life you keep a care. + Shake off slumber, and beware: + Awake! Awake! + + _The Tempest._ + +Amongst the seigniories contiguous to the eastern extremity of the +island of Montreal, lies that of Montboeuf. Its present owner was +Andre Duchatel, a descendent of the Sieur Duchatel, a cadet of an +ancient French noble family, to whom the seigniory was granted by +royal letters patent, about the middle of the seventeenth century. +But if any nobility of soul, or refinement of aspect existed in +the first of the Canadian dynasty of Duchatel, it had not been +transmitted to the living representative of the line. As the long +hung-up sword or unused ploughshare, lose their brightness and edge +from want of use, perhaps these qualities of mind and body had +disappeared for want of a fitter field for their display. Andre +Duchatel, seigneur of Montboeuf, was a vulgar looking, short, +broad-set, florid figure, of fifty years or so; material in his +tastes, in disposition obstinate and narrow-minded, unenlarged by +education; shy with strangers, yet fond of good fellowship with +his acquaintance, and, with much reason, accounted to be rich. He +was a widower, but lived in a kind of surly, patriarchal state, in +the midst of three sons and a daughter: the former being dissipated +and sensual, the latter of a showy person, but in character, +superficial, vain, vindictive, proud. + +An intimacy had long existed between the houses of Montigny and +Duchatel, which, in spite of their different genius, had for +generations continued as it were to shake hands across the island. +The latter family, though equal to the former in wealth and pedigree, +secretly acknowledged it as the superior, and with a view to an +alliance between the two, Seraphine Duchatel, even when a child, +was a frequent visitor at Mainville; her relations hoping that +thereby, she and Claude Montigny might become inspired with a mutual +liking, the prelude to their desired union. + +This union, it was understood, was to be cemented on the part of +Duchatel, by the gift, as her marriage portion, of a tract of land +adjoining the seigniory of Mainville, and at present the property +of Andre Duchatel; but which, at the nuptials, would be added to +the Montigny manor, as a sort of arriere fief, and so gratify the +craving of the elder Montigny for territorial aggrandizement. The +splendid person of Claude had long ago caught the slight affections +of Seraphine, who in her visits to Mainville, would hang upon him, +much to his distaste, and persist to make him her reluctant cavalier, +though neither her blandishments nor his father's wishes could +induce him to return these visits, or appear to reciprocate her +preference. Nor would a closer and wider acquaintance with the +Duchatels have lessened his reluctance. The eldest son, Samson, +was a colossal bully, dividing his time between field sports, +intemperance, and intrigues with the daughters of the censitors on +his father's seigniory; or in yet lower illicit amours with the +peasant girls of the manorial village; varied by occasional journeys, +made more for debauchery than business, to the city of Montreal. +The second scion of the house, Pierre, was a good-enough looking, +and Hot ill-disposed youth; whom his father, as if willing to offer +up his choicest lamb for the sins of the family fold, had intended +for the church. But the former had far other intentions towards +the fair than absolving them from their peccadilloes, and entertained, +other ideas of foreign travel than that of going on distant Indian +missions; whilst the youngest brother, Alphonse, was an unbroken +colt and madcap, articled to one of the principal legal firms in +the city. Although in years he was but ancle deep, he was already +in potations full five fathoms; a worthy graduate of the +licentiousness of the town, and boon companion of the dissolute +Narcisse; whom, in a giddy moment he had made acquainted with the +family matrimonial design on young Montigny. Narcisse, in his turn, +had a domestic story, that instinct, revenge, and a mother's command +impelled him to relate, and which he told to the rollicking, but +now attentive Alphonse, with a wicked glee, raised by the prospect +of mischief. A discovery had been made by his brooding and despised +parent. Chance had thrown in her way an opportunity for which she +had watched for years. Mona Macdonald had visited the advocate at +his dwelling, and her presence had stirred not only the womanly +curiosity of the lynx-eyed Babet Blais, but her malicious jealousy +of one whom she could never but regard as a hateful and favored +rival. So, overhearing them in earnest conversation in the library, +she, with the unrestrained enjoyment of a low, untutored nature, +stole to the door, that was slightly ajar, and there, with her ear +applied to the interstice, learned the circumstance of the discovered +interview between Claude and Amanda at Stillyside, with their +plighted troth, not disapproved of by the advocate. Swelling with +envy and anger, and recollecting what Narcisse had told her of the +predilection, and hopes of Alphonse Duchatel's sister in regard to +Claude Montigny, she, with an intent to dash the proud prospect +which seemed to be opening before the child of an odious--and as +she deemed, unlawful competitor for the advocate's favors, conceived +the spiteful idea of informing the Duchatels of what she had just +discovered. Further to instigate her, all the real and all the +fancied wrongs that her son had suffered from his father rose up +before her, magnified by her imagination, and prompting her to the +gratification of her unreasoning spleen. Her purpose was soon put +into execution. That night Narcisse came home sober; and giving +him some warm supper, followed by a delicacy that she had set aside +for him as a dessert, and which, with a half human, half animal +affection, she watched him devour, she broke the subject to him. +He grinned with an infantile delight, as he heard the important +secret, and discussed with her the project that might hinder the +good fortune of the haughty foundling, whose disdain had long +chagrined him, and under the recollection of whose scorn during +the recent raid on Stillyside, he was yet smarting. With heightened +pleasure she beheld his joyful interest, and, warming with his +sympathy, whilst she gloated over the anticipated revenge, she +exclaimed, as her face assumed a dark, prophetic aspect: "Yes, we +will humble that mongrel, and her proud, petted child. What better +are they than we, what nearer to thy father? See how I toil, and +do his drudgery; keep him a home, who, but for me, would have no +home, and no one to care for him. Yet no fine country house for +me, fine clothes, rich presents; no fine gifts for thee, my child, +no endless schooling, no sending _thee_ to travel; no allowance, +no expense to help to make of thee a gentleman, like his endeavours +to make her child a lady; no fine lady sought for thee to be thy +wife, Narcisse; no closetings for me, who, but for her, had been +thy father's wife, and not his servant. But God and the virgin have +at last heard our prayers. Narcisse, my darling, tell Alphonse +Duchatel all that I have told thyself. Bid him quickly inform his +father, brothers, sister; and if they have French blood in their +veins they will balk this half-breed and her daughter brat." + +Never was there an apter pupil than Narcisse proved now; never a +willinger. Scarcely could he refrain from at once rushing forth to +find his friend, Alphonse; and he did at length arise with the +blessing and Godspeed of his mother, intending to inform him, +touching the rival who had so far and so suddenly outstripped his +sister on the road of Claude's regard, when the voice of the advocate +was heard calling upon his son to attend him in the room above. +Narcisse obeyed; but filled with a sentiment of rising rebellion +and new-born insolence, as of one who intends no longer to lie +checked, nor submit to unmerited harshness and tyranny. There the +two had an altercation, provoked by the old grudges, and aggravated +by Narcisse's recent dissipation, escapade, and neglect of duty, +and still more sharpened by his present pertness and contumacy. +Anger rose high between parent and child, and the latter, in +unconcealed dudgeon flung from the room, and left the house, his +breast charged with a spiteful purpose: and going straight to the +lodgings of Alphonse Duchatel, he told all--and more than all--that +he had learned respecting the menaced alliance between the children +of Mainville and Montboeuf. + +Burning with the information, the young and impetuous Alphonse +scarcely slept that night, and in the morning, haying obtained +leave of absence, rode swiftly to his paternal home, and, in sudden, +solemn family council, declared what he had learned of danger to +the connubial scheme that had long been planned for his sister and +the distinction of their house. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell." + + _Romeo and Juliet._ + + "Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes." + + _Othello._ + +Whilst the news that Claude Montigny had given, to a girl of dubious +birth and uncertain social position, the heart, for the possession +of which the supercillious Seraphine Duchatel had so long striven +in vain, was disturbing the souls of the Montboeuf Manorhouse, the +seigneur of Mainville, ill at ease, and apprehensive of a hasty +and irremediable matrimonial step on the part of his son, started +for Montreal again to visit the intractable advocate. + +Later in the same day, Claude also took horse, and rode towards +the banks of the Ottawa, where he arrived at dusk, and crossing at +the ferry from the main to Sainte Anne, he thence, solitary, and +filled with checquered thoughts, continued his way, whilst the +ground grew dimmer and yet dimmer, and star after star stole out; +till, as the moon rose slowly in the glimmering air, he reached +the neighbourhood of dim Mount Royal. + +At the same hour that the large bateau was heaving its way over +the vexed flood of the meeting waters of the Saint Lawrence and +the Ottawa, four horsemen crossed a rustic bridge, that led from +the mainland to the opposite, or eastern extremity of the Island +of Montreal. One of the riders was of gigantic stature, and another +of diminutive proportions; and all were clad in the coarse grey +frieze suit of the country, and wore upon their heads the common +blue cap or tuque. Pursuing their way, they kept to the least +frequented paths; endeavouring to avoid recognition; until the +coming night concealed them, and they journeyed beneath the decrescent +and feebly shining moon. + +And now, whilst such was transpiring at the extremities of the +Island, at Stillyside, its centre, the curtains had been drawn, +and the lighted lamp, with its frosted glass globe, shone serene +and silvery, like a minor and domestic moon. Mona Macdonald sat +sewing near a table, whilst Amanda read aloud. On a sofa a lazy +lapdog dreamed, the parrot slept on its swing, and the bullfinch +on the perch in its cage, and in the pauses of Amanda's voice, the +drowsy cat was heard purring in its evening doze. Nothing was heard +without, except the fitful bark of the Newfoundland dog at some +stray passer by; and, at length, even that had ceased; Mona's needle +was laid aside, the domestics, obedient to the early habits of +country life, were abed, Mona herself had now retired, and Amanda +being left alone, nothing was heard but the measured ticking of +the old clock on the corner of the stairs. The lamp had been taken +away by the departing Mona, and in the obscurity, the moonbeams +fell in grey streaks adown the damask curtains; and after a brief +meditation on the subject of her reading, Amanda rose, noiselessly +ascended the carpeted stairs to her room, approached the window, +drew aside the drapery, and gazed towards Mainville. Thus had she +done each night since the memorable interview with Claude Montigny; +and now not less long did she linger there, but longer; nor thought +of retiring, till, startled at the approaching sound of horses, +she hastily re-closed the curtains; the sound ceased, and she began +slowly to undress. But her thoughts were elsewhere; and, falling +into a reverie, she sat with her raised fingers still upon her +dress, that she was about to withdraw from before her snowy bosom, +when again she heard the sound of hoofs on the road, and soon a +shaking of reins near the gate, and champing of the bit, mingled +with the smothered growl of the awakened Newfoundlander. Divining +the cause, and seized with trembling, she arose, again threw aside +the curtains, and beheld in the moonlight a figure advancing up +the lawn. A moment she gazed upon the apparition; then, scarcely +knowing what she did, opened the folding window, and half within +and half without her chamber, leaning forward into the night, +demanded in a piercing whisper of enquiry and alarm: "Who comes +there? Speak, is it Claude Montigny?" + +"It is I, my love, for by what name shall you be called, yet dearer, +worthier than love?" responded the subdued, yet full, clear voice +of Claude. Then, drawing nearer, he continued in an enraptured +tone: + +"Oh, my lady, oh, my heart, my love, my life; my mistress now, my +wife that is to be: my breath, my soul; my hope, my happiness, my +all in all; fair presence--but in vain my tongue seeks for the word +that shall embody you, and, like the hunted hare returning to its +form, so does my soul return to that word, love. My love, then, be +it, for you are my love, you are my life henceforward; nor shall +the hereafter part us, for wherever you are there unto me will +still he heaven. Oh, my love, is it not kind of fortune thus to +call you forth? a favorable omen of the issue of this night. Oh, +come forth, my love; come forth, and make a hallowed aisle of the +verandah." + +"Alas!" exclaimed Amanda, stepping to the verandah, "why have you +ventured here again so soon,--or, rather, why so late? for are +there not ruffian robbers on the road, and all the secret perils +of the night?" + +"No peril equals that of absence from yourself," said Claude, "for +passion has greater perils than the road. Cupid's arrows are more +terrible to him whose breast is bared by the absence of its mistress, +than would be at the traveller's throat the armed and threatening +hands of fifty ruthless robbers. But how have you fared since we +were so rudely parted?" + +Amanda sighed. "But so so;" she murmured mournfully, "it is a slight +burn that does not smart a little when the scorched part is snatched +away from the fire:" and hanging down her head bashfully, repeated, +"But so so:--I have felt an unaccustomed care--of little +consequence,--but, oh, tell me, Montigny, how your father, the +proud, rich seigneur takes this matter, for I know you would inform +him of it. Is he not incensed, not angry; does he not upbraid you, +and call me evil, and perhaps deserved, hard names?" + +"He has expostulated with me;" Claude responded; "yet not with too +much earnestness, knowing love's fires are blown by opposition. +How seems your guardian?" + +"How shall I dare to meet him!" murmured Amanda musing. + +"Do not fear him;" Claude rejoined: "he will not chide you;--besides, +you shall be gone to-morrow. I come to-night, a Jason for the golden +fleece, and may not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and +my desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and will not, +returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless they shall be freighted +with your form. Mine own one, do not stand transfixed like death +in life, but live here no longer; leave it, and live with me for +ever, for from where you are my feet shall never stray. Do not +misdoubt me: though man were as faithless as it is said that woman +is fickle, yet I were loyal towards _you_, whom I implore to be my +affianced to-night, my bride to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!--Oh, so soon," exclaimed Amanda, starting. + +"It will be a thousand years till then;" interposed Montigny; "and +yet it will be the glad millenium, since you shall reign amidst my +meditations, and towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints. +This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed you mine by +the great sacrament of marriage will be glory, such as the saved +soul experiences when, in Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure, +and proof against the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent. +Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate? Amanda, be +immediately mine. What are your thoughts? What are you that transports +me with impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being, and +become one with yourself in history and fate? Our fate commands; +let us obey it, since, what is fate's behest, but Heaven's directing +voice; what is our destiny, but the deed which we perceive may not +be left undone." + +"Rash man, forbear;" pronounced Amanda, her face darkening with +displeasure; "you counsel me to evil. Though I would esteem you as +I would some annunciating angel, beyond impeachment of veracity, +and bent on a generous errand, you seem as a fallen spirit now; +tempting me, not enlightening. No, Montigny, no. Shall I deceive +my guardian so kind, shall I defraud your house, your father, you? +I, who have no fortune, nor--as is your lot--upon my name, neither +the rime and hoar of silver, new renown, nor golden rust of brown +antiquity,--the dust of ages in heroic deeds, lying on your +escutcheon, dyeing it as the dust that dapples the bright insect's +wings;--shall I, I say, come and lie like to a bar sinister across +it? for what else should I be considered by your indignant friends, +except, indeed, a shadow on your brightness, a shame across your +honour?" and she hung her head in despairing sadness, whilst Montigny +thus replied: + +"Oh, shame on me, to hear you so self-slandered! Friends! mistaken +friends. And what although my father and the world esteemed you my +inferior; what were their estimation unto me; and, compared with +you, what is the value of heraldic honours and traditionary glory +heaped upon the dead, which is, in truth, too often only as the +phosphorescent glimmer that hangs upon decay: what are these gauds +to me, who count you to be far above the worth of monumental effigy, +or marble mask, my living love; whom I will set,--not in the tomb +of cold, pale porphyry, nor in a sable, slabbed sarcophagus, but +breathing, and enshrined in fortune's framing gold. Fastidious +girl, and prouder than the proud Montignys, listen to me, listen. +We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the +lonely sea;--we are as two ships that, being long from port, have, +sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed +and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. Have +you not given me yours? If you have not, why, then, return me mine." + +"Then were I poor indeed," replied Amanda. + +"Yet I were poorer without yours," retorted Claude, "poorer than +he who begs his bread. I wish I had to beg my bread for you, then +richly should you fare; for who, when I should crave for love of +you, (as mendicants ask alms for love of heaven), could then refuse +me? Oh, refuse no longer my request. Estimate not my fortune, but +appraise myself; and whatsoever you may deem to be my value, account +your own worth as being ten thousand times that sum. Still take +me, a mere miserable doit; an earnest, an instalment towards the +payment of the debt of love and loyalty, that shall require a life +to liquidate, then leave me bankrupt in untold arrears." + +"I should forgive the debt, even before you could have asked +forgiveness." replied Amanda, smiling, though much moved; "and yet +I would not leave you perfectly absolved, but still retain you by +some small reminder, some power of execution over you--not to be +exercised towards you to your hurt--far from it, but I would be +absolute that I might shew you mercy; even as noblest kings have +been despotic, and in their day have delighted in dispensing pardon. +So would I be towards you;--or even as the King of Kings--to speak +it reverently--who, of His boundless goodness and, free grace, +remits the debts and manifold trespasses of us, his poor, defaulting +creatures." + +"Go on, for it is bliss to hear you," murmured Claude. + +"Nay, I have done;--what have I said?" she quietly enquired of him. + +"Would you unsay it?" he demanded eagerly. + +"Only to say it again," she answered blushing,--"yet I fear I have +babbled strangely;--but, remember, I was never wooed before, nor +answered wooer; so, being a novice in love's archery, it may be +that the gust of a too ardent breath has caught my words, and from +my meaning wafted them awry." + +"And can a fountain yield both bitter and sweet?" demanded Claude: +"or are you as changeful as is yon waning moon?" he asked half +chidingly. + +"Rather consider me to be as is the sun, that knows no change of +aspect throughout the livelong year; or, if it vary, swells its +orb in winter," she observed, "even as I would now appear to you +with fuller favor, amidst this young acquaintance's chilly prospect." + +"Chilly! it is summer wherever lovers cast their eyes, the bright +Bermudas. Do not libel love, nor our sweet fortunes." cried Claude +impetuously: "For me, there never will be winter where you are; +and why, when I am with you, should you thus seem to shiver, as it +were, in the shadow of November?" + +"I am no casuist," she said, "and yet it would appear to be too +selfish in me, too much like to fraud, should I accept all that +you offer me, such vast and personal advantage, and for which I +bring you no equivalent, no dower, no estate; nothing to counterpoise +the wide possessions that you will inherit;--nothing that may +conciliate your family, rich in material things and heaped with +honors,--save my poor love;--and what were that?" + +"More than them all," ejaculated Claude, "but why these scruples? +In human hearts love is not placed against love, as in the scales +the commodity is placed against the weight; neither is it exchanged +for land, or bartered for position; but it is always given, and is +the donor's whole, unmeasured and immeasurable. It is infinite, +growing whilst it is being given, even as the horizon grows upon +the eye of him who travels towards it. It is because _it must_ be; +it is unselfish; nay, unto itself it is unjust; often giving the +most where it receives the least; possessing nothing, yet possessing +all, if it possesses but all its object's heart. It is towards its +object as is the encircling and cloud-breeding sea unto the verdant +island, encompassing, and in soft showers, shedding itself over +it. As the sea sheds itself in soft showers upon the island, so do +I shed my fondness, and would shed my fortune, over you, and in +return seek for yourself,--no more, for what more could you give, +what more could I receive, who count all else as worthless dross. +What hinders then our marriage?" + +"Your father," was replied. + +"He would not consent unto our nuptials though I should pray him +on my bended knees, so obstinate and unyielding is his pride," +asseverated Claude. + +"My guardian, too, is proud," answered Amanda. + +"Let us not wait, but wed without, and not against their leave, +then;" Montigny urged adroitly:--"but your guardian will consent: +he has avowed as much unto me privately; so, mark; when morning +brings the daylight to the east, be ready. Meet me beyond these +grounds; when we will hasten to the village of Saint Laurent, and +there be married. The deed being thus achieved, none will oppose, +for before the irrevocable all rebuke is dumb." + +"And so am I to this," was replied with dignity. + +"Yet let me speak:" Montigny urged with desperate eagerness, "let +me persuade you, for to this pass it must come; then let it come +at once, since each day will cause the path thereunto to grow more +rugged. My father's storm of threats, my mother's deluge of tears, +will make the way impassable and past repair. You falter; your +silence speaks consent; you are convinced, and yield to the necessity +for this ungracious consummation. Good night. To-morrow early, meet +me at the church of Saint Laurent, all shall be ready,--pray offer +no remonstrance;--meet me there at ten,--the priest is my fast +friend;--nay, do not grieve, but say good night; to-morrow you +shall smile:--goodnight, good night;" and kissing his hand to her, +before she could reply, the impetuous lover reached the postern, +and, vaulting into the saddle, vanished. + +Paralyzed with amazement and apprehension, Amanda stood motionless +and dumb. She would have called on Claude to return, but dare not, +lest she should alarm the slumbering inmates of the house, and she +was still standing irresolute and helpless, when something was +suddenly thrown over her face, shrouding her in darkness, and before +she could resist she was lifted from her feet, hurried across the +lawn in a diverse direction from that taken by Claude, and on +arriving on the road, swung into a lofty saddle. A huge arm from +some one seated behind received her, passing around her waist, and +feeling like the coil of a boa-constrictor; and, amidst the sound +of several persons mounting in haste, spurs were struck into the +sides of the large animal, that reared with a vast bound which +nearly dismounted its riders; and at once, as it seemed, a troop +were flying with her at the top of their speed along the road. Half +fainting from terror, and stifling in the folds of some coarse +envelopment, she was unable to utter a cry for help, and the +cavalcade scoured along its way. One seemed to ride before them, +and the rest behind. No one spoke, but her companion on the crupper +grasped her tightly, like a relentless fate, and onwards they still +bounded, and the deeply spurred steeds in agony of exertion stretched +themselves to the task, and still they flew, and still Amanda strove +to recover her voice; till as the dumb, in some moment of mortal +terror, are said to have found speech, she, with accents, that, +bursting through the thick veil, rung amidst the night, shrieked +out the name of Claude Montigny. A low, chuckling laugh arose around +her, followed by a curse, and a hoarse threat of violence from the +figure that rode on the crupper, who at the same time again dug +spurs into the flanks of the courser, that once more, with its +huge, responding bound nearly dismounted its riders; and prompted +is it seemed by fear of a rescue, the rate accelerated till the +troop was scouring over the ground with the flight of a tempest. +Confused with terror, and alarmed at the threats of her powerful +keeper, she remained silent, unable to divine in what direction +they were hurrying; but felt that her captor and custodian kept +looking behind, as if afraid of some one in pursuit; and the killing +pace appeared to rise yet higher, and the animals to quiver in +quick bounds like mortal throes, as the spurs were plied up to the +rowels, and the creatures seemed to swallow the ground, until again +overall burst, as might the shriek of an imprisoned gnome, from +beneath her envelopment, the cry of Amanda calling upon the name +of Claude Montigny. + +"Forward! faster, yet faster!" cried a voice in rage and apprehension; +and with renewed application of whip and spur, the party tore along +the road, shaking it as the prairie is shaken when it is swept over +by a herd of buffaloes. + +[Illustration: "The party tore along the road, shaking it as the +prairie shakes when it is swept over by a herd of buffaloes."] + +"Claude, Claude!" she again shrieked, and now in addition to the +thick cowl, a huge hand was placed upon her mouth, a threat of +instant death came from the terrible voice behind her, the grip +tightened round her form, and, making her darkness yet darker, at +that moment the clouds, that had been lately gathering, covered +the moon. Soon the way divided before them. To the left it meandered +half hidden with trees, to the right it loomed straight and open, +leading to Montreal, and the motion of the horses, now abreast and +flinging foam from their bits, seemed like the tossing of the +boiling rapids, and amidst the thunder of the hoofs the hoarse +voice of him who rode behind her, hissing with earnestness and fear +like an excited Python, exclaimed: + +"Brother, and you, master Imp, make for the city; away!" And soon, +from the diminished sound, she knew that they had parted company +with a portion of her convoy. She could hear, too, that the remaining +horseman of the four, for that had been the number, had now fallen +into the rear, and, soon, she thought she heard through her mufflings +a voice crying as if commanding them to stay; and again she heard +it, but it had grown fainter, and wider from the track they were +pursuing, and now nothing was heard but the sound of their impetuous +course through the wood. This was soon cleared, when their speed +seemed to relax, and the hard breathing of the overstrained beasts, +proclaimed how much the chase had told upon them; and at last the +veil was slightly raised, a large, coarse visage peered under it, +and the hoarse voice enquired mockingly: "How fares my bird? We +will let a little light into its cage, if it will promise to sing +no more. What says my hooded crow?" and a titanic and convulsive +hug followed, causing her to shrink with pain, and revolt in disgust +and horror; feelings which changed to mortal apprehension, when +the same lascivious looking ruffian bade his now sole male companion +ride on before. The latter made no answer, but dashed up alongside, +and gazed into the face of Amanda as he passed, with an air of +curiosity mingled with admiration and respect. There was in him a +likeness to the sinistrous countenanced ogre behind her; yet he +was a rather handsome young fellow; and as the wind, caused by +their rapid course, blew backward his long, curly hair, he exhibited +a cast of honesty and openness in his aspect. The other seemed to +be impatient at his lingering, and growled: "Don't hang glowering +here; forwards, and warn me if any one approaches, that I may cover +up this toy." And whilst the monster readjusted the cowl to the +face of Amanda, his comrade again pricked the panting sides of his +own horse, that being lightlier laden than its fellow, easily shot +ahead. And thus they swept along the road, whilst the rising breeze +still drove the clouds over the face of the moon, and the race +seemed to have its fantastic counterpart in the wrack of the sky. +And now they silently journeyed, avoiding village and hamlet, by +making wide detours; but, in spite of their precautions, arousing +the bark of many a solitary cur, as they swept by each homestead +like an apparition. Even these incidents, and possible chances for +her rescue at length ceased, and the despairing Amanda, too proud +to vainly beg for her release from her stubborn captors, drew the +hood again over her face, and in the double darkness called upon +Heaven to be her protector and deliverer. That Claude had heard +her cries she felt assured; that he had pursued a portion of her +abductors towards Montreal, and would continue his efforts, with +those of her guardian and the inmates of Stillyside, to find and +recover her she did not doubt; but in the meantime what might she +not have to endure? And shrinking from the contemplation of the +uncertain gulf before her, she was at length recalled to a sense +of external things, by a sudden change of sound, from that of the +clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road, to one like the roll +of a distant peal of thunder, and telling her they were crossing +a rude wooden bridge, that led from the Island to the main. Then +for the first time the riders permanently abated their speed, and +their prisoner enquired of them whither they were carrying her. + +"Never mind that, my pretty passenger pigeon," replied the elder +with a ghoul-like grin; "you will not require to find your way hack +this year." And the foaming, exhausted animals, relieved from the +trying gallop, dropped into a feeble trot or lazy canter, whilst +Amanda gazed wistfully around to discover, some glimpse of dawn. +No certain sign of it, however, could she perceive on the circle +of the horizon, though all around there showed the whitened eaves +of the roof of gloomy clouds. Her companions, too, casting jealous +glances at each other in the obscurity, had become more mutually +taciturn; and the wind, that during the previous part of their +flight had risen, as if to be in keeping with the current violence, +had now fallen to a calm; and, proceeding thus, she continued to +tell the terrors of her situation, as they alternately glided +through the gloom of the clearing, or plunged into the denser +darkness of the forest; till at last she was startled by something +leaping against her feet, followed by the pleased but stifled +barking of a huge hound close by her, and at the same instant she +saw a woman bearing a lighted candle in her hand, emerge from a +hovel on the road side. The next moment the party were halted before +it, and the woman, holding up her light, shed its beams upon the +face and form of Amanda, whose arrival she seemed to have been +expecting; and after having fixed her eyes searchingly upon her, +turned them with a familiar and significant look on the still seated +ruffian. The light illuminated her own countenance as much as that +of Amanda, who, repelled by her manners and appearance, sat +motionless, and checked the appeal that was rising to her lips. +The redoubtable rider dismounted awkwardly from behind her, half +dragged her from the tall beast, and hurried her into the house. +The woman followed, and having closed the door, placed the candle +on a table, and sat down by the fire; when Amanda, still standing +in the midst of the miserable room, began: + +"Woman, what place is this? Where am I, and why have I been brought +hither?" then bursting into passionate grief: "Oh, woman, woman, +whosoever you are, save me, I implore you, from this man," find +with the words she sprang towards the door; but the churlish giant, +guessing her intention, intercepted, and bore her back, saying +"Keep quiet, gentle lady; have patience, bashful, beauty; sit down, +sit down; come pet, come." And he made as if to approach her; when, +forgetting the hazard of her position, and inspired with returning +native courage, with her heart swelling with womanly indignation, +and looking the vast figure in the face, she cried with an utterance +tremulous from grief and scorn: "Whither have you brought me, +villain, and for what end? Sirrah, come no nearer me: I am polluted +by your touch. Out, shameless wretch!" and again she rushed towards +the door, but found it resist her utmost efforts: and, baffled, +turning within, she once more addressed herself to the female, who +was now carelessly warming herself before some embers on the hearth. + +"Woman," she said, "for that you are one your form and garb assure +me, though your behaviour gives your exterior the lie; woman, if +you be one, save me. Charge this man--for you have influence with +him--to liberate me; oh! charge him to release me. Turn me into +the lane, into the field, or where you will; but let me leave this +house without delay." + +The female, with a grim smile, bade her recompose herself; whilst +the burly brute doggedly hinted to her that she would have to remain +some time in those parts, and might as well sit down and be content. +Perplexed at this second announcement of her intended restriction, +Amanda stood mute in fear and horror. To arouse the creature in +whose power she was might be immediately dangerous, but, for a +moment, to seem resigned to her abduction was impossible. Trembling +with dismay and sickening with apprehension, her limbs would scarcely +sustain her; and as she mentally revolved, looking wistfully around, +as if to spy any nook or cranny for escape, she at last exclaimed: + +"Again, I ask, why am I brought hither? Outlaw, who are you? wherein +have I wronged you, that you should drag me to I know not where? +What place is this, and why have you come with men as heartless as +yourself, stealing me from my home to bring me hither, and cast me +into this den?" and her bosom filled as she ended; but her hearer, +knowing no compunction, only answered with a sneer: "To clip your +wings, madam," then gave a low laugh, as if of self-applause at +his quickness of repartee, or the prospect of her humiliation, and +added: "Pray, miss, retire; you have not been abed to-night, and +watching is not good for English ladies' eyes." + +"Shameless!" she cried, looking upon him with unmitigable disdain, +"how dare you hint at rest within these walls? Return me to the +spot whence you have taken me; render me to my home, so desecrated, +so invaded by such felonious feet as yours. Felon, convey me to +my home at Stillyside, and there reinstate me; if indeed you have +the heart, as you have the outward semblance, of a man;" and, in +spite of her resentment, she burst into a flood of tears. + +But not even woman's tears could move his stolid disposition, or +melt his stony heart; and, looking at her with an expression akin +to contempt, he demanded: "What, take the bird back to the bush +where we have caught it? No, Besides at present you have taken a +long-enough ride, and when next you journey it must be further in +the same direction. You shall see the world, and learn how wide it +is; you shall have most excellent French society." + +"Oh, keep me, heaven, from such society as yours," she +ejaculated:--"base man!--but do you know to what you have exposed +yourself? Beware; I am not without friends both subtle and strong, +and one of whom will not be slow to punish you for this outrage. +Release me, stranger, or you shall be visited with his vengeance, +not to be trifled with, not to be risked with safety." + +"Ah, the old advocate," exclaimed the giant, with more bitterness +than he had hitherto manifested; "Outrage! he has himself outraged +too many of our race." + +"Ay, that he has;" the woman chimed in, whilst her eyes suddenly +glared dilating, and she looked menacingly at Amanda; "there is +Robitaille, and Lamoureux, and Paille, and myself, and Babet Blais, +--poor Babet! but her boy, _his_ boy, his own son, has paid him +down with sorrow, _he_ has punished him;--ha! ha!" and both she +and her Gorgon-like guest laughed a meaning and triumphant laugh, +whilst Amanda yet stood there to be baited by the brutish man and +the lost, revengeful woman, the latter of whom thus continued to +vent her spleen: "Mistress, what are you but an English interloper? +Girl, how can we endure you? Do you not despise us? Do you not +insult, despoil, dishonor us? Do you not covet our lands, do you +not reap the taxes, take the trade? Would you not all be Seigneurs? +What shall we give you that you have not already taken! Ah, out +upon you, my young mistress! Think it well if you should not receive +what I shall not now name to you,--your guardian's gift to many a +maiden--and worse;" she added between her teeth; "death, death," +and turned away scowling. + +"Return me to my home, or worse than death awaits you;" cried +Amanda; "endless infamy; hated of our race, despised of yours, +disowned by both." + +But the woman by this time had begun to busy herself in piling new +logs upon the fire, and the colossus, her companion, after having +scanned the apartment, seemingly to ascertain whether it was to be +trusted to retain the prisoner, at length, satisfied with the result +of his scrutiny, unlocked the door with the key which he drew from +his pocket, and bestowing a bow of mock respect upon Amanda, who +affected not to perceive it, departed; and she, without vouchsafing +a look upon her feminine but callous jailor, sank upon a chair in +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "Ring the alarm bell." + + _Macbeth._ + +The abductors of Amanda were no other than the three sons of Andre +Duchatel, along with the vindictive Narcisse acting as their guide. +He and Alphonse Duchatel, at the branching of the road, had parted +company with the others, and so drawn upon themselves the pursuer, +Claude Montigny, who being magnificently mounted gained fast upon +them, till fearing to be overtaken they leaped from their horses, +and taking to their heels concealed, themselves amongst the trees +that covered the side of the mountain, and where no rider could +follow. Claude then saw that he had been the dupe of a stratagem; +and after galloping across the country, struck the road that he +had been decoyed from following; then urging his horse in the +direction which he supposed the principal abductors had pursued, +he at length in despair left it, and again clearing fence and brook, +held his course towards the city of Montreal, where he arrived +betwixt midnight and dawn, and with the butt of his riding-whip +knocked at the advocate's door. + +The old man was dreaming of the apparently fair fortune of Amanda; +of the ingenuous Claude, and of his father, the importunate and +imperious Seigneur, when the clang rung through the mansion, and +rudely dispelled his visions. At first he was doubtful as to the +reality of the alarm, and was dropping again to sleep, when once +more the riding-whip sent the startling summons, and leaping from +his bed, he threw open the window, and putting his head out, gruffly +demanded, who was there. + +"Claude Montigny," was answered from beneath. + +"And what wants Claude Montigny at this hour?" asked the advocate, +who now perceived the figures of steed and dismounted rider beneath +him in the obscurity. + +"Dress instantly, and quick come down," was the reply. The window +closed, and in a few minutes the advocate, with his morning gown +thrown over him, opened the door. + +"Why how is this?" he demanded in astonishment, as he beheld Claude +on the footwalk, whip in one hand, and with the other holding his +horse by the bridle. + +Claude stood silent. + +"How is this?" reiterated the advocate: "Out with it, man. Is your +father wild? does he threaten to disinherit you?" + +"Not that, but worse:" Claude answered "worse than your worst +suspicions, and it may be worse than the death of one you much +regard." + +"Has any thing evil happened to my ward?" asked the advocate, +exhibiting alarm. "Why do you pause? Inform me quickly." + +"Too quickly, perhaps, I shall inform you," replied Claude, +deprecatingly. "Something evil has happened to your ward. Arm +yourself now with firmness, and be calm; be cool in judgment, prompt +in execution; you who can counsel others, now prepare to be the +best counsellor to yourself." + +"What act shall follow this preamble?" said the lawyer, raising +his thick, white, shaggy eyebrows in enquiring wonder: "Go on, go +on;" he commanded in a short, gasping utterance; "declare the pains +and penalties. She lives? Amanda lives? Has she proved false? You +have not lost her?" + +"Lost her! oh!" exclaimed Claude, unable to curb his emotion. + +"Nay, confess it; announce the worst; the broadest misfortune; my +ears are open for it," pursued the other. + +"But I have no heart, no tongue to fill them with my dire news," +Claude stammered, and the advocate resumed, growing impatient: + +"Of my ward what can you tell me that is untoward? Of myself say +anything: foretell disaster, prophecy my death;--but what of +her?--you say she lives?" + +"She does." + +"Is well?" + +Claude shook his head, and remained silent. + +"Sir, let your lips pronounce my doom at once," said the advocate, +striving to be calm, yet alarmed and irritated; "Proceed:--I am +ashamed to say it, but I tremble. What has befallen my ward, what +trouble has alighted on my child?--for so I call her. Claude +Montigny, what is it brings you here betwixt night and day, with +tidings that you falter to deliver?" + +"Calm yourself;" counselled Claude in a warning tone. + +"I will;" answered the advocate; "I do;--resolve me quickly." + +"I fear to do so," Montigny uttered pathetically, as if his resolution +had suddenly given way. + +"Let me hear it, torture me no longer:" cried the advocate +imperatively: "Perfect knowledge, perhaps, may stun me; but far +worse to bear than were a shower of vitriol poured on a green wound, +are these distilled, dire drops of apprehension. Sir, are you guilty +that you thus stand dumb? What have you done injurious towards my +ward, that you so linger upon the street, and to my queries but +gaze like one demented? Sir, I charge you, tell me without more +reserve or hesitation, lest at last I listen to you with less of +fear than of anger. You have been--" + +"The innocent accessory, I fear, to others' villany," Claude +interrupted; "still, hear me," he continued, "and forgive me if I +bring you tidings that shall hang as heavy on your soul as lead; +yet have given me the leaden bullet's swiftness, or that of the +blast, to waft them hither, blasting, to yourself.--Sir, you have +been robbed, bereaved; the star of Stillyside is set,--or, worse, +plucked from its firmament; my life, my lady, oh, my new-made love, +your peerless ward is stolen." + +"Stolen!" the advocate echoed. + +"Stolen; even from my very arms is plucked," continued Claude. + +"Ill-freighted messenger," groaned the old lawyer; "stolen! oh, +Montigny, you have stolen half the strength from these old limbs, +and strained the sinews that have never bent before, neither to +man nor to misfortune. Stolen! How stolen? It is false; you jest, +you mean that you yourself have stolen her,--have stolen her heart; +you know I lately caught you in the act;--but, for her person, she +would not, could not, give it you without my leave. Montigny, you +have not stolen together to the church?--but this is in the street; +come in." + +Claude tied his courser to a young maple that grew near the door; +and, whilst he was doing so, the advocate retired within, murmuring: +"Montigny, Seigneur Montigny, this is your work, and yet may prove +the dearest piece of petty larceny that ever man committed; as dear +as would have been to have furnished the dower you refused me. No;" +he continued musing, "trouble does not spring from out of the +ground. Then whence comes this? Who hates me?" he continued sharply; +"Covets her? Whom would her absence serve? who, except the father +of you boy, the Sieur Montigny?" and he had scarcely finished his +soliloquy when he was rejoined by Claude, who, straightway in the +obscurity of the library, related to him the adventure of the night. + +The old man listened in silence, but his bosom heaved, and when +Claude had ceased, he grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: + +"Montigny, we are bound together in that girl, the outrage upon whom +has made us rivals in the task to find and rescue her. Yet are you +sure the voice you heard was her's? You did not see her carried +off; you only heard, or thought you heard, her cry. You may have +been deceived. Hasten back to Stillyside. She may be there now +sleeping between the unruffled sheets, making them sweeter than +the perfuming lavender;--if she be not--why then--alas! what then?" +And he struck his palm against his brow, holding it there, perplexed, +revolving. + +"You say you heard your name pronounced?" he enquired at length. + +"I did," said Claude, unhesitatingly; and this seemed to satisfy +the lawyer's doubts, and, rising, he said, shaking his companion +by the hand: "Montigny, go. Beat up the bush at Stillyside; and if +she be not there,--why all the country side shall be roused to find +and bring her back. But, Claude, she is safe. Yet hie you thither; +mount again your horse, and bring me word before the day breaks: +begone." And in a few moments Claude was scouring back to Stillyside, +and the advocate ruminating alone amidst the shadows of his library. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "This noble gentleman, Lord Titus here, + Is in opinion, and in honor, wronged; + That in the rescue of Lavinia, + With his own hand did slay his youngest son" + + _Titus Andronicus._ + +The elder Montigny, wrathful and irresolute, and like a beast in +the toils, had yesterday again visited the advocate on the same +errand as before, and with a like unsatisfactory result. But instead +of returning to Mainville he had proceeded to the Duchatel Manor +House; partly for counsel, but chiefly to ascertain whether its +owner--who, he deemed, had an equal interest with himself in the +removal of Amanda--would join with him in furnishing the demanded +dower. The subject was broached privately to the shrewd and worldly +Andre, who on hearing it propounded swore indignantly at the +advocate's audacity, and roundly refused to accede to any such +appropriation of his substance: so after fierce denunciations of +the insolence of upstart English adventurers, and censure of the +infatuation of young fellows in affairs of the heart, the theme +was dropped for the present, and the remainder of the day spent in +looking over the estate, and in those attentions that are usually +bestowed on a visitor, be he ever so familiar a one, much more when +he is both distinguished and in prospective relationship. The next +day the topic was resumed, but this time in the presence of Samson +Duchatel, as he sat yawning between asleep and awake, but who, on +hearing the conversation, aroused himself, and bade Montigny be +easy, and not dream of endowing the foreigner, since he, Samson, +had already secured the troublesome fair one. Montigny took little +notice of this, thinking it to be but the jest or toast, or, at +furthest, merely the loose announcement of the intention of the +unscrupulous giant; who soon afterwards invited him to walk abroad. +The company of Samson was not coveted by the more refined and +anxious Seigneur, but the former pressed him, and he thought that +locomotion might divert his mind from the contemplation of the +coming degradation and folly of his son. He consented, and issuing +from the ancient and flower-festooned porch of the Manor House, +they walked along in mid-morning of late September, the drowsy +charms of the summer's faded foliage just awakening to a resurrection +in the glorified beauty of Autumn; and, almost in silence, they +proceeded along the road or lane, till they came to the dubious +dwelling where, some hours before. Amanda was left a prisoner. The +sullen and sloven-looking female who had received her was now +dressed in gaudy attire, and saluted them as they entered, at the +same time casting a look of enquiry and surprise into the face of +Samson, and of suspicion on the Seigneur. + +"Bring up the body of your prisoner;" growled the former, loudly, +as he threw his huge frame into an arm-chair. "Come, habeas corpus, +habeas corpus. Now, if we had Alphonse here," he continued, "he +could repeat the whole writ in Latin. Habeas corpus, habeas corpus," +muttered the puzzled savage, fumbling in his brains for the context, +"habeas corpus, habeas corpus;--" then, relinquishing the vain +search, and addressing himself to the woman, at the same time +elevating his voice, he vociferated: "Hillo, come, lady sheriff, +bring up the body of your prisoner, I say;" when, as if in obedience +to the call of a magician, a door opened, and from an inner room, +with face flushed, brow dark and fretted with indignation, lips +pouting, breast heaving, and her eyes overflowing with tears, in +bounded his sister, Seraphine Duchatel, exclaiming: "And is this +the creature that has stood between me and Claude? and brought +here, too, to flout me to my face! I'll not endure it;" and she +burst into a fresh torrent of tears. + +"Who has stood between you, girl?" enquired the brother, half +teasingly, half tenderly: "if there be a stump between here and +Mainville that hinders you from driving your carriage thither, tell +me, and we'll pull it up as quickly as Doctor Lanctot would pull +you a tooth out." + +"You have done well, indeed," continued the angry girl, weeping, +and not minding his clumsy badinage, "you have done well indeed, +to bring her here to answer me, to scorn me, to defy me, to parade +herself before me, to stand in my presence as proud as any +peacock,--only not half so beautiful." + +"Fine feathers make fine birds, Phin," drily retorted her brother. + +"She is not fine, and if she be, she shall be plucked of her finery;" +exclaimed the sister: "I'll tear her eyes out; what business has +she to look at _me_, and speak so insolently? I'll have her face +flayed; her hair, shall be plucked up by the roots;" and she stamped +with her little foot. + +"We'll have her scalped, girl!" condoled her brother. + +"Yes, this is the way you always think to manage me; by laughing +at me," cried the spoiled child, in renewed agony of tears. + +"Why, what is the matter?" demanded the Seigneur, wondering, and +startled by these threatening allusions: "What is the meaning of +all this, Samson?" + +"Oh," answered the latter, striving to perpetrate a pun, "Only that +we have brought Phin a handmaiden, and she finds her handsomer than +is agreeable;--but there is many a servant comelier than the +mistress." + +"Let me behold this Paragon," said the Seigneur, at the same time +rising, and moving towards the door of the inner room, that had +been left ajar by the rude Seraphine, in her indignant exit. Pushing +it slowly open, he beheld Amanda, with half-averted form, seated +upon a chair, her head bowed, but her face wearing an expression +of proud serenity mixed with grief. His first impulse was to retire; +but pity, respect, admiration, and even awe, bound him to the spot, +and he remained gazing till curiosity and commiseration alike +combined to induce him to address a figure so incongruous with that +mean place, and whose majestic sorrow seemed too sacred for +interruption. + +"Young lady, by your leave; pray pardon me; but can a stranger be +of service to you?" he at length enquired. + +Amanda looked upward. "Oh, if you are, as you seem to be, a gentleman. +do not leave me;" she exclaimed beseechingly, as she slowly rose +and approached him: "do not leave me, but convey me back to +Stillyside, from whence I have been stolen by that man. Oh, sir, +you do not know with what a load of thanks its owner will repay +you, should you rescue me from this base durance." + +The seigneur looked enquiringly at Samson, but the latter seemed +more disposed to wait to see how the seigneur regarded the appeal, +than to reply to the tacit question. + +"Why have you been brought hither, and against your will?" resumed +the seigneur, respectfully. + +"I am as yet ignorant of the cause;" she answered: "I do not know, +I cannot divine, why I am here a prisoner." + +"She does know;" fiercely interrupted the sobbing Seraphine, "She +does, she does," she reiterated, and seemed disposed to fly at her +tooth and nail. "She knows she is a bold and wicked creature,--she, +she, she; she is a, a,--I don't know what she is;" she cried, spurting +out the last words in a paroxysm of sorrow and vexation, and flung +herself into a chair sobbing hysterically, with toilet and temper +alike disordered. + +"Calm yourself, Seraphine," said the Seigneur. + +"Yes, calm thyself, girl." echoed the ponderous Samson. "Why, what +a wild duck thou art, sister, flapping and quacking because an +unshotted barrel has been fired at thee. She is an unshotted gun, +she has no name; and what is a thing without a name? nothing: for +if it were something it would have been called something. What +thing is there--that is a thing--that has not got what a pudding +has? a name," and he laughed till his sides shook, and drawing a +pouch from his pocket, took thence a quid of tobacco, and put it +into his cheek, at the same time playfully offering another to the +outraged Seraphine, who petulently dashed it from his fingers, and +affected to bridle at the insult. + +Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the Seigneur, who had +been watching her during the heartless flirtation between the +brother and sister, advanced one pace into the room, and said: "I +know your story, and have reason to be angry, not so much with you +as with my son, whom, I believe, you are acquainted with, one Claude +Montigny." Amanda turned away her face and blushed. + +[Illustration: "Meantime Amanda stood in silent sadness, and the +Seigneur advanced one pace into the room."] + +"You do know him I perceive," the Seigneur continued, "and if by +chance he has happened to know you I do not blame him, much less +can I blame yourself: but, lady, remember," and the proud Montigny +advanced and bending over her whilst his voice fell, as if it were +intended for her ear alone, said "remember, we are not all of the +same degree, though Heaven has fashioned all of the same clay. The +proudest and the wealthiest in Canada might hail you as a daughter; +but old prescription, antecedents, prospects, all combine to render +impossible your union with my son." + +Amanda blushed yet deeper, and both of them stood for awhile +embarrassed, but at length she said falteringly, and glowing like +a crimson poppy in her confusion: + +"I own it just that you should urge these large considerations; +yet, believe me, sir, I have been passive in this matter, and have +not sought your son's acquaintance; neither, indeed, has he, if he +be rightly judged, (and you would not wrong your son), perhaps, +sought mine; for it would seem there are amities that Providence +provides for us, without our will or knowledge. It was accident +that brought us face to face; as we observe the sun and moon--that +are separate in their seasons, and withal so different in their +glory's given degree--brought monthly, and as if fortuitously, +though, in reality, by eternal, fixed design, into conjunctive +presence amidst the sky. Yet who shall blame the sun and moon for +that? + +"None," said the Seigneur. + +"Then let no one blame your son and me," continued Amanda, "if +Heaven, perhaps to try us, has ordained that our paths should cross +each other, as might two strange and diverse celestial bodies pass +apparently too hazardously near each other in their appointed +orbits. For the rest, forgive me, sir, and may He who best knows +what is for the benefit of his creatures, and who sometimes for +their good, sees it right that they should suffer wrongfully, assist +me. Since this has pleased Him, I bow, and bear it the best I may, +and trust too, that He will, in His good pleasure, deliver me from +this that He has permitted to fall upon me, my present sad and +dangerous estate of a poor prisoner here." + +"Heaven will indeed rescue you from this infamous restraint, and +I will gladly be its minister," returned the Seigneur, melted almost +to love with pity, and dropping a tear; "none shall detain you +here; you are safe. Let me, myself--if thereby to some extent may +be atoned to you the wrong you have sustained in being hurried +hither--conduct you to your guardian." + +"And raise the devil!--ay, and bring him here: her guardian is +his half brother," suddenly roared Samson in surprise and terror. +"No. Montigny, she has given too much trouble in the catching to +be so lightly released. Besides, is she to be still allowed to +stand between her betters. Leave her with me." + +"Yes, leave her with Samson," cried the sulking Seraphine, starting +up in her chair. "He has known better girls, and handsomer, +too;--umph! how much men can be mistaken. It is wonderful that +Claude should covet her. Take her to her guardian! fie, Monsieur +Montigny," and half turning away in her seat with scorn and disgust, +she cast a look of ineffable hatred and disdain at the suppliant +Amanda, whilst the woman of the house fixed her jealousy-filled +eyes on Samson as he murmurred: "She shall not go: she is my +prisoner." + +"She must return with me, sir," said the Seigneur, quietly but +firmly. "Are you not aware how great is the penalty that you have +incurred by this disgraceful scandal? Think it fortunate if you +shall be able in any way to compound for it with the lady's guardian. +Seraphine, mollify your indignation towards one who has not meant +to thwart you. Return to the hall with your brother, whilst I +conduct this injured lady to the parsonage, to remain there until +I can escort her home, and (as I hope) with the aid of her +intercession, obtain the pardon of her cruel abductors." + +"It is you that is cruel:" cried the weeping Seraphine: "it is +Claude that is cruel. Not meant to thwart me! she _has_ thwarted +me, and you encourage her, you justify her, Monsieur Montigny." + +"We will crucify her," cried Samson. + +"Say no more," commanded the seigneur: "you are both of you ignorant +of the heinous nature of what you have done. Her guardian has the +power to punish you. Tremble lest he should exercise it." And, with +these words, he gave his arm to Amanda, and, passing amidst the +scowling trio, led her from the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "Confess the truth." + + _Measure for Measure._ + + "You would pluck out the heart of my mystery." + + _Hamlet._ + +Claude Montigny rode to Stillyside and back, and was again with +the advocate within the hour. To conceive the terror and outcry in +that quiet dwelling, when its inmates ascertained that Amanda was +missing, let the reader recall the commotion in the castle of +Macbeth, when on the morning following his fatal entrance beneath +its battlements, it is discovered that the royal Duncan has been +murdered. As vehement and as wild as when the distracted Macduff, +in frantic tones and with wringing hands, declares to the assembling +sons and thanes of the ill-starred monarch, that, "confusion now +has made its masterpiece, most sacrilegeous murder has broken open +the Lord's anointed temple, and stolen hence the life o' the +building," was the outcry and disorder on the discovery of Amanda's +absence; and the wail and lamentation rung in Claude's ear as he +rode away from the gate to return to Montreal, where, still pacing +the library, the advocate anxiously awaited him. By the ratiocination, +as well as by the intuition, of the old man, the seigneur of +Mainville was reasonably to be suspected of being at least an +accessory to the stealing of Amanda. Claude, too, was not unvisited +by suspicions of his father's complicity; but thrust the dishonoring +doubts from him, as might a suffering saint dismiss hard thoughts +of the dealings of Providence towards himself. Each thought more +than he expressed to the other, but at length the advocate +communicated to Claude his injurious suspicions, acquainting him +with the fact and nature of his father's visits to his office; when +Claude, in turn, informed the advocate of the long cherished project +of an alliance between the houses of Duchatel and Montigny. This +information not only confirmed, but widened the field of the +advocate's fears. He was aware also of the lawless character of +Duchatel's sons; and recollected to have heard that the youngest +was a comrade of Narcisse, who, he likewise knew, entertained a +covert spite against Amanda, and, for his mother's sake, a rankling +dislike of Mona Macdonald. Against both of these his umbrage might +be supposed to have been heated by his recent ignominious expulsion +from Stillyside; and to gratify this resentment he might now be +executing some scheme of revenge, wherein, from his intimacy with +the young Duchatel, he could know that that family had cause to be +ready to assist him. Here was a clue to the recovery of his ward:--in +legal parlance, here was a prima facie case; and it but remained +to find and prosecute the criminals. To seize his son, and, by +threats or promises, extract a confession from him was the first +idea. But where was the errant and suspected Narcisse to be found? +His father knew he was absent, so the mother was summoned. She +came, but advanced no further than the threshold of the room, and +fell a trembling with fear, behaviour that she would fain have +dissembled to be from cold, for, with the divination with which +guilt endows its subject, she at once knew that the stranger was +the young Montigny, and herself had been cited in order to suffer +a searching cross-examination. + +"Woman," said the advocate sternly, and wheeling his arm-chair +round so as to face her, "Woman, where is your son?" + +"Helas!" she exclaimed, and shrugged her shoulders, as much as to +say, "I don't know where he is;" and smiled a rueful smile. + +"No grinning now," cried the lawyer, raising his finger and shaking +it at her, and frowning as he was wont to do when he wished to +intimidate a witness, "no grinning now, madam. Will you pretend to +say you know nothing of where he was last night, where he is at +present?" + +"Helas!" again exclaimed the affrighted Babet: "sir you forget +yourself. Last night? Why it is yet night. Open the shutters and +put out the lamp, and you will still be in darkness. Let me return +to bed." + +"Babet Blais, many a better woman than you have I wished bedridden," +the advocate cried with bitterness. "Beshrew me, but your answer. +Remember I am flint if you are steel, hence the less often we are +smitten together in this enquiry, the fewer may be the revealing +sparks. Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, whereon +your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon your +guilty face, as grimly as the lurid East that brews a rainy day, +to you the type of tears." + +[Illustration: "Babet Blais, here is an affair of blackest tinder, +whereon your bated breath has blown already, until it glows upon +your guilty face."] + +"What do you mean?" demanded the half mystified and still dissembling +woman, in terror. + +"What do I mean? I mean that you shall tell me where your son was +during the last night, and where he is now." + +"Where he is _now_?" echoed Babet, "Last night? it is now night, +or only just near dawning." + +"Yes, we are near the dawning," mocked the old man, with loud, +relentless equivoque. "Madam, shed here the sunbeams of your highest +intelligence; clear the dull atmosphere of your soul from fog; and +let us see and hear respecting this occurrence, all that yourself +have seen, and heard, and known." + +"Master, I know nothing," said she, "what affair?" enquired the +woman, fitfully. + +"Is Narcisse at home?" bellowed the advocate, quivering with +excitement, and red to the roots of his white hair with wrath. +"Evil betide me that he should have ever made here his home;" he +continued. "Who called him hither? I? No, no; I called for aught +that might see fit to come, conditioned that it came in human guise; +but yonder frothy fool, yon swarthy pigmy, I did not summon him. +I called for any thing of earth, but Heaven (to punish me) straight +passed the unhallowed call to hell, that sent me up a demon." The +apartment resounded with the last word, and still the old man's +voice was heard like the departing rumble of a thunder peal, as he +continued, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, whilst his +countenance assumed an air of singular elevation, passionately +exclaiming: "Oh, that a man who could have entertained the gods +with high conceits and philosophic parle,--could have communed with +spirits of the skies, should be assailed and pestered from the +pit!--Go on, woman, we will exorcise you, we will purge you, though +you be fouler than the Augean stable, that had been left uncleaned +for thirty years; ay, though you be as foul as is the stall that +holds the grimy company of the lost, and which goes uncleaned for +ever. Proceed, I charge thee!" and the fierce-eyed lawyer sat +dilated and erect in his chair, glaring upon her like a serpent +rearing its crest from amidst its coils, as he waited for an answer. + +"I cannot, I know no further," she said at length with meek +doggedness. + +"What say you?" exclaimed the advocate, almost screaming with +astonishment. + +"I know no further; I know nothing," she replied. + +"Assist me, patience, to confound this creature! Nothing! you know +all;" he shouted. "All, I say, all; for never had such a mother +such a son, but he did pour out all his purposes, all the infernal +cornucopia, into her breast from his. You have no secrets between +you; you, his mother, know all his course; his thoughts, intents, +conspiracies and plots; his loves, his hates, his loose, irregular +life; his merry moments, and his moods of malice. I charge thee, +tell us where he was last night, where yesterday, where he is now, +and where he will be to-morrow." + +"Monsieur, I know no more, know nothing," cried the woman, appealing +to Claude. "My master is mad," and, bursting into tears, began: +"Here have I been his housekeeper twenty years--" + +"Twenty years too long," vociferated the advocate. "One half the +period that heaven was vexed with a stiff-necked generation have +I endured you, Babet. Housekeeper! eh? Keeper of the King's +conscience next, a she Lord Chancellor,--but continue: call yourself +Keeper of the Seals, and mistress--or master either--of the Rolls, +so you unroll your secret. Tell all you may; empty your flask of +falsehood, then at the bottom we may find some sediment of truth. +Commence; don't count upon concealment. I will wring the truth from +you, though it shall ooze out drop by drop, and each, drop be a +portion of your life." + +Babet was still silent, but the lawyer pursued: + +"Oh, toad, ugly and venomous, you have a precious jewel in your +head; deliver it; discover to myself and to this gentleman all that +you know about your son's late conduct. Speak, or you shall have +your closed lips forced apart, or there shall be found and set you +such tormenting penance, that you shall sue with speed to make +confession. What! still silent? Bathe no longer that face with +tears. Out on thee, crocodile! Oh, that those trite tears were +scales, falling, to leave you bare and vulnerable to arrows of +adjurement; then, with patience I could see them fall as fast as +flakes of snow in winter, till thou wert as white as Judge's ermine +with them! Creature, hast thou nothing plausible, nothing for us, +nothing for him, nor me?" + +"Nothing for you, nor for this gentleman," she answered quietly. + +"Do not imagine him to be so gentle, neither. Though he dwells +staid and silent, he is a roaring lion, that should I let slip may +soon devour thee, Babet. Overweening woman, you do not know how +much you and yours have wronged him," said the advocate. + +Claude had heard all this without speaking, but now he interposed, +to try persuasion. + +"Good Babet," said he, soothingly, "if you are aware of anything +untoward of Monsieur's ward, and will declare it, I guarantee to +you, not only a condonation for your son, if he have in any shape +conspired against her, but a reward so weighty for yourself, that +you shall bless the hour that you were awoke so early to be scolded. +What do you know of the lost lady of Stillyside?" + +At these words a smile covered her face, as if of satisfaction at +good news; then, shrugging her shoulders, she languidly asked: "Is +she missing?" and added, "Helas! then others have an absent child, +as well as I," and shook her head; and, with another shrug, continued, +as if subsiding into herself, and in a tone of combined decision +and sadness: "I know nothing of the lady, nothing of my boy. Heaven +grant my son is safe, my poor Narcisse, and that he may not return +and meet his cruel father, who so hates him;" and she brushed away +a tear from her cheek. + +"Heaven grant indeed we do not meet at present!" ejaculated the +foiled advocate; "for if we did, I might so far exceed a parent's +punitory privilege, that I should win but blame from the blind +world instead of sympathy. Begone, vampire," and she vanished like +a ghost at cockcrow. + +That smile of her's at the mention of Amanda missing, had been +caught by, the advocate's keen eye, and convinced him that she and +her son were accessories to the felony of the night. Brief +consultation now sufficed between him and Claude, who also felt +convinced of her complicity. Light began to glimmer amidst the +darkness of the situation, and, as it kindled into a dreary dawn, +as might a new scene amongst dissolving views, shadowy and sinistrous +amidst it seemed to loom the figures of the Duchatels; and, before +the sun had risen, Claude, winged equally with hope and indignation, +was posting towards Montboeuf. The advocate threw himself upon a +couch, and he would fain have thrown up his brief of that day, but +it was for a case involving capital punishment, and, at the eleventh +hour, to have deserted his client would have brought upon himself, +not only professional dishonor, but guilt. Hence, with heavy heart +and unwilling faculties he bent his attention to the study of the +important case, whilst at intervals he swallowed a portion of the +morning's meal, that at the usual hour was silently placed before +him; and at last, with an inexpressible sadness and boding, he left +the stillness of his home for the walls of the busy and exciting +arena of the criminal court. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!" + + _Hamlet._ + + "Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye" + + _Macbeth._ + +The Court had been opened, and was crowded with lawyers, petit +jurors, witnesses, and excited spectators. A criminal trial of +such interest as the present one had not occurred there for years; +and the business in the Civil Courts had virtually been adjourned, +so great was the determination of the pleaders therein to be present, +and witness the conducting of a case so calculated to call forth +the powers of the renowned and venerable advocate. All conspired +to show that an extraordinary scene was to be enacted there that +day. The Judge was more than usually grave, attentive and deliberate; +the Crown Prosecutor wary, and complete in his preparations; the +legal, technical, and clerical grounds of exception and demur, +before the Crown was allowed to take up the burden of proof, were +entered and explored by the advocate, as one who reconnoitres before +committing his feet to dark and dangerous precincts, where any one +of his advancing steps may prove to be fatal. + +And now the case had been laid before the jury, and the witnesses +for the prosecution, each as he testified touching the fearful +crime laid to the charge of the prisoner at the bar, were being +subjected to the terrible ordeal of a cross-examination by the +advocate; who all eye all ear appeared, as in his earlier days; +quick to detect, prompt to demand, stern to insist, at watch and +ward at every point; so that his client seemed to have found in +him an irresistible champion, and the crowd, to all of whom he was +familiar, considered his success as certain, just as the veteran +soldiery anticipate a triumph from the General, who has so often +led them to victory that they deem him to have become invincible. +But to the thoughtful and more observant, at times he showed signs +of preoccupation, strangely at variance with his present undoubted +supremely master mood; and as the trial proceeded these fits of +wandering from the point increased in duration and intensity. An +anxious expression settled on his countenance; his usually energetic +but measured movements when he was thus engaged became irregular +and nervous; and he frequently cast glances towards the entrance, +as if expecting the arrival of some one; and twice in the midst of +withering cross-examinations, stopped short at the sight of +individuals elbowing their way through the crowd; gazing upon them +enquiringly and with an air of expectation, until, passing, they +became embedded in the serried mass of spectators; when, with a +look of disappointment, he resumed his task, and again with consummate +talent and characteristic vigor, did battle for his client, whose +dark distinction in the dock went nigh unnoticed, from the settled +attention bestowed on his defender, just as the prominently exhibited +prize is sometimes overlooked and temporarily forgotten, in the +observation compelled to the rare skill shown by the competing +players. + +But whilst the father was thus tasking every power of his trained +intellect, and crowning his career with forensic fires, that now, +in the evening of his genius, burned even more signally, than they +had done in the midst of its meridian splendors;--whilst thus +calling upon his great gifts, that, like to antique jewels brightened +by abrasion in the wearing, shone yet the more from the polish of +experience; and while lending a legal learning that, as a rapier +which, ever ready and ever in requisition, has acquired no rust, +was the more available from long practice combined with intuitive +tact;--whilst all this was passing in high and public court, the +ignoble son was awaking in a low lodging; weary and stiff after +the raid of the past night, anxious and timid from a sense of guilt, +and fearful of a future calling to account. His first wish was to +discover whether his sire was yet informed of the disappearance of +his ward. He knew that his father was retained in the trial which +had been fixed for that day, and had there been any whom he could +conveniently have sent to ascertain whether or not the advocate +was in court, he would have despatched one thither, but he could +prevail upon none about him to go for love, and money he had none +to offer. His mother, alarmed at her master's discovery of the +participation by Narcisse in their successful conspiracy, and not +knowing where to find the latter, had despatched a messenger to +the lodging of their bold and insolent accomplice, Alphonse Duchatel, +requesting him to warn her son to avoid his father during that day. +But the messenger failed to find him, and Narcisse at last arose, +dressed, and, prompted by a curiosity that overcame his apprehensions, +approached the Court House. + +Meantime the advocate, tortured by increasing alarm, and with his +imagination filling with tragic touches the picture of the possible +fate of Amanda, had lost both recollection and temper; and for the +first time when conducting a cross-examination, had been not merely +baffled, but successfully bearded and insulted by an irritated +witness, to relieve himself from whom, he was obliged abruptly to +bid him leave the box. The occurrence stung him to the quick, though +he strove to hide his chagrin;--no wonder. Taken at disadvantage, +and in a moment of weakness, the old pleader was obliged to perceive +that the wager of mental duel between himself and the witness had +been decided against him; and to feel that, in an unsought encounter +and fair affray, he had been publicly worsted. To add to his +mortification, the witness walked from the box with the air of a +conqueror, and cast an insolent look of triumph around the court +and upon his antagonist, whose discomfiture was so signal as to be +evident to judge, jurors, witnesses, spectators, all. Still more +to increase the advocate's perturbation, the heat of the court had +become excessive, and the rebuff--which, at an earlier period of +his career, and with an unwounded heart, would have provoked only +such a grim and threatening smile as a powerful wrestler might +wear, when, in the careless security of proud contempt, he had been +thrown by a boy--now, in the self-esteem of age and the anguish +of bereavement, moved him almost to madness. Seizing his gown, he +half cast it from his form, regardless of decorum, and stood the +picture of misery, rage, and scorn. + +Just then the court arose for a brief recess. Glad to breathe for +a moment the fresher air, the spectators retired, the jury returned +into their room, the sheriff and the crown prosecutor sauntered to +their respective offices, the panel of petit jurors escaped in a +body, the prisoner withdrew from the front of the dock, and sat +unseen, pondering his chances between the gallows and an +acquittal;--even the criers of the court abandoned their posts, +and the younger members of the bar, who usually gathered round the +advocate on these occasions, greeting him with pleasant compliments, +and polite and reverent attentions, seeing him thus moody, drifted +to the lobby, and in it paid court to some other, and secondary +legal luminary who was there holding his levee. For awhile the +advocate was left alone; then, emerging through the large folding +doors into the corridor or lobby, now cumbered with the gossipping +groups, through which he passed, solitary and in his gown, like +Caesar in his robe passing through the midst of the conspirators, +he proceeded past the doors of the offices occupied by the various +crown officials. None spoke to the old man, he spoke to none, but +his breast burned in agony, and a cloud was on his brow, like the +smoke that wreathes around the crater of a volcano. His eyes seemed +to shoot forth sparks, and his lips were muttering. Anger and sorrow +were upon his face, but, turning a corner in the building, he was +now hidden from the view of the multitude, and strode along the +main corridor towards the huge double staircase that, midway therein, +wound down to the dim entrance hall, that was divided by ponderous +doors from the esplanade between the building and the busy street. +A low, massive balustrade guarded the bridge-like portion of the +corridor that hung between the heads of the twin flights of stairs, +and whence, on looking down, was seen the paved abyss below. +Approaching this part, what did he behold but the truant Narcisse, +unconscious of his presence, ascending one of these flights of +stairs. At the sight of him the gloomy elements of his soul seemed +to flash within him and explode, rending all resolution of restraint, +and leaving him a puppet of some destructive power, as he stood +eyeing his son's approach, as the cat eyes that of the marauding +mouse, motionless, allowing the culprit to draw near, until, +detected, he stood, too nigh, to retreat, too terrified to advance, +and, as the fascinated bird drops into the open jaws of the serpent, +fell resistless into the grasp of the advocate's extended hand. +Then, as the firedamp when met by the miner's candle must explode, +or as the liberated lightning must rend the cloud, though the latter +be near Jove's throne, so the frenzied father, regardless, nay, +forgetful, of the place, the time, the occasion, of himself and +natural ties, assailed the scared Narcisse, clutching him by the +throat with the strength of a maniac, and pushing him backwards +against the balustrade, and holding him there transfixed, while, +with eyes seething with wrath beneath the blanched, and big, +umbrageous brows, and showing like a sudden opening of the infernal +pit, he cried: "Demon, degenerate dog, where bast thou been walking +to and fro in the earth? whom helping to devour? Ah, son of Satan, +ah! Aroint thee, Imp, Abortion." + +[Illustration: "Demon! degenerate dog! where hast thou been walking +to and fro on the earth?"] + +The astonished wretch strove to reply, but terror and strangulation +forbade him; and the enraged parent, like an incarnate storm, at +arm's-length shook him, as the dog shakes the rat which it has +caught, or the lion its prey; and each moment the shuddering youth, +hearing his father's deep curses, and stiffening with horror, was +urged further and yet further over the abyss, and still with aimless, +outstretched arms, and disparted, claw-like fingers, strove to +clutch the advocate's gown; while with upturned and beseeching eyes +starting from their sockets, and still half on the balustrade and +half in air, with nothing but the grasp of his adversary retaining +him, he hung, while the arm that held him quivered, and surged +uneasily from side to side, as if irresolute whether to plunge him +or to draw him back; until a growl of satisfaction, followed by an +execration, gurgling in the advocate's throat, announced the coming +climax: the arm was jerked outwards, the clenched fingers unclutched +themselves, like an automaton's, and the miserable mannikin tumbled +with a yell down to the stones beneath. An instant all was silent, +then a faint groan rose from the bruised form, that the next moment +lay on the bloody flags a senseless corpse. Drawing a loud sigh +of indescribable relief, after his fearful and protracted agitation, +the advocate--and now murderer--stood glaring downwards with fixed +eyes and yet clenched teeth; then, sickening at the horrid sight +which loomed beneath, turned and leaned for support against the +balustrade over which he had cast his child. Hearing the noise of +the scuffle, some stragglers from the mixed crowd on the lobby came +running to the spot, and one enquired of the advocate if he were +seized with a sudden sickness. But he only pointed downwards to +where lay his ill-fated victim; and shook his head, looking all +woebegone, in mad, mute misery. Astonished, some descended, and +bearing the body up the stairs, laid it on a bench that stood +against the wall, and opposite its destroyer; while a still increasing +and motley multitude, including jurors, witnesses, constables, +criers, counsellors, clerks of the court, crown prosecutor, sheriff, +and lastly, the judge himself, hurrying, gathered round the scene +of the catastrophe. A surgeon who happened to have been subpoened +upon the current trial, opened a vein, but the blood refused to +flow; and a barrister, stripping himself of his gown, threw it over +the body as a pall. No one dared enquire the origin of what he saw, +until the judge arriving, demanded: "Who has done this?" + +"I," feebly answered the advocate, ghastly pale, and yet leaning +for support on the fatal balustrade. Alas! what a change! His +countenance was grown haggard, and his white hair hung dishrevelled +about his collapsed visage, like icicles round the pinched countenance +of Winter. Despair was in his look, and he uttered the name of +Amanda, and gazed bewildered around him, as if awaking from a +sorrowful dream; and now began to whimper, to gaze upon the pall-like +gown, and now to call upon the spirit that had flown--as a scared +bird from a bush--forth from the body that lay beneath it. + +"Narcisse," he feebly cried, "Narcisse, my son,--for thou wert +yet my son,--Narcisse, Narcisse," he reiterated piteously; and the +Sheriff advanced in his purple gown, and girt with his golden hilted +sword, laid his hand on the shoulder of the old man, the lately +proud advocate, but now wretched culprit, as a sign of his being +put under arrest. But none else moved; the Sheriff himself shrinking +from ordering the constable to give effect to the signal. All seemed +transfixed with pain or chained with horror, as in tremulous tones +of touching tenderness the slayer continued to call upon the dead. + +"Narcisse, my son, my son." he cried in agony; "Oh, I have killed +thee, child; oh, thou art dead, dead, dead.--But thou didst steal +thy sister; yes, I know thou didst; ay, that thou didst, and hast +delivered her to dishonor, therefore have I killed thee. Come, +Amanda, come hither, dearest, and behold thy brother; behold thy +father, see what he has done, and all for thee. Yes, I did it, all +you curious crowd Amanda, oh, where art thou? let me see thee ere +I die: Amanda dear, Amanda;" and at the words, Amanda, leaning on +the arm of Claude, and followed by the elder Montigny and Andre +Duchatel, appeared upon the corridor, a sweet smile playing upon +her features, and hastening forwards she fell upon the neck of her +guardian, who was still leaning against the balustrade, pale, +haggard and forlorn. Her companions, restrained by astonishment +and fear, gazed aloof and mute, whilst the wretched criminal, eyeing +them with a look of misery and suspicion, in a tone of inexpressible +sadness at length exclaimed: + +"Come you to see me, then, before I die; do you come to triumph +over me, Seigneur Montigny? Look, see there, but do not touch it, +for it is abhorred, abominable, a foul spirit, a black imp of hell. +Amanda, art thou found?--Do not tremble, girl, do not weep; my +daughter, child, for, without a figure, thou art my daughter; art, +to the very letter, love, my child. Oh, we have much to tell each +other; see what I have done--but hear me, then condemn me. Oh, +Amanda, it is bliss to see, to feel thee here;--but here, here in +this breast is sadness. I have been a rash and hasty fool, a madman, +if you will, but no, no murderer; we kill mere vermin, we exterminate +rats, roaches; and what worse than that is this which I have done. +Pshaw, he was a reptile, a black beetle that came flying against +me. He, my son! Oh, slander, where wilt thou not cast thy slime? +the thing that the deceitful, wily woman palmed upon me, he my son, +thy brother? preposterous conception. Yet sad has been the creature's +end; and sad, sad, sad, I felt this morning when I left my home, +with a presentiment which seemed to say, that I should never enter +it again; and that presentiment is now fulfilled. Fate urged me +on. Unnatural hate has pushed me to the ledge, and now I sink to +lose myself in the abyss. Oh, foul fate! this deed foul, foul! +Fair, fair Amanda, close thine eyes on this enormity; or be content +to see it, yet not understand it, for knowledge here would surely +drive thee mad." + +"Oh, sir, am I not mad, delirious?" enquired Amanda: "Oh, my kind +guardian, my good angel, more than father, friend. What have you +done? you have done nothing evil!" and she sobbed upon his bosom, +and Claude stood transfixed and silent, until his eyes meeting +those of the advocate, he demanded passionately: + +"Sir, what may this mean; what horrible allusions drop like venom +from your tongue; whence comes this change; tell me, I charge you, +sir, why are you now so shaken, so wandering in your noble intellect, +even mad; you whom I left this morning, sad indeed, yet sane?" + +"I do not know whether I was sane or not when I did what I have +done, or whether I am so just now; but for this scene, which must +appear most strange to you, see there what shall explain it all," +replied the advocate; and the gown was partially withdrawn from +the corpse by one of the spectators, and Claude with his male +companions gazed upon it aghast, whilst Amanda turning away in +terror and uttering a feeble moan, hid her face in the old man's +breast. + +"How has this happened?" Claude demanded at last with a voice hoarse +and guttural with abhorrence; and the advocate shrugging his +shoulders cynically replied: + +"A bruise, a fatal fall; strange that he should have died of it. +It has been said, the lower in the scale of being, the higher the +tenacity of life. Yet here is an inferior intelligence dies of as +little corporeal damage, as might a poet or a philosopher. There +is no certainty in speculation, for by this experiment it has been +proved, that the bulls-eye in the stable window, in falling is as +fragile as the palace's clearest pane of crystal. Who would have +thought it? A dunce, that no one would have branded for having +brains, has from a mere tumble given up the ghost. Bury him, bury +him; I am sorry for it, but cannot howl," and at these last words +a howl was heard from below, and soon Babet Blais came rushing +along the corridor, wringing her hands, and frantically demanding: +"Where is he, where is my boy, my sweet Narcisse?" and threw herself +upon the corpse of her son. The advocate looked on with a bitter +smile, and when he beheld her covering with kisses the cold, coarse +features, exclaimed: "How these things love each other!--but when +he was alive she would give him the food out of her mouth, draw +for him the blood from her veins, sacrifice the immortal soul in +her body with lies and patent perjury and crookedest excuses, if +so was that she might screen him and his faults, deceiving +me.--Beshrew thee, woman!--but wherefore should I curse thee? thou +art what thou wert made to be, even as I am that which I was made +to be, a desolation and a miserable man:" and when he ceased Babet +started from her knees, and, looking on him with new born fierceness, +cried: "Monster, not master; man killer, son killer,--oh, you have +killed my own, my dear Narcisse! murdered my son, my boy, my child, +my only joy:" and she again cast herself upon the body, and, with +her face nestling in the dead bosom, sobbed and wept aloud. + +The advocate seemed softened, and, looking at Claude, demanded: +"Who is there that shall not fulfil his fate? for this I was born, +and for it I shall die." The sheriff again essayed to remove him, +but he sank at his touch, as the dust of an ancient corpse falls +before the breath of the outer atmosphere, and with mortality +moulding his visage: "Stay," he said, "let me die here; death has +arrested me, he needs no warrant." A spasm passed over his face, +his frame slightly quivered; and looking beseechingly at Claude, +the latter bent tenderly over him, and he thus began: "It were +foolish in me to suppose that you have not heard of my irregularities. +You will not be astonished, then, when I call this girl my child, +no longer my mere ward, but mine own child, so late acknowledged. +Amanda, child,"--and his voice faltered, while he spoke with +increasing difficulty,--"will you acknowledge me in this disgrace, +receiving with the name of father that of felon? Mona Macdonald is +your mother, to whom I have promised marriage till my way down to +perdition is paved with broken oaths, as false as her love was +true, and as hot as was the fire which fell from heaven, when Elijah +strove with Baal's prophets, and that licked up the water in the +trench, as did those burning oaths of mine so often dry up her +tears. Give me your hand, Claude; Seigneur Montigny, give me yours. +I see a change within you towards this lady. Stand not between her +and your son, as you would wish no sin to stand betwixt yourself +and Heaven at Judgment." Then in a low tone meant only for Claude's +ear, he whispered, gasping: + +[Illustration: "Quick, I am dying: bend over me: let me perceive +your breath, for I am blind."] + +"Think all I would have said, if there were time, and we were +happier. Farewell for ever; I cannot tarry, neither would I do it +now. I have outlived myself by near an hour, for I was not myself +when I performed this deed." And again a spasm passed over his +frame, his eyes grew fixed and glazed, and he earnestly exclaimed: +"Gather near me all who love me, and all to love whom is my duty. +Quick, quick; for a film overspreads my eyes, the throes of death +are tearing down this frame. Quick, I am dying. Bend over me; let +me perceive your breath, for I am blind. Bend, bend;--stoop yet +lower; I cannot feel you, for each sense grows dull; stoop lower +yet.--Oh, soul, why all this haste? Amanda, Claude, poor, missing +Mona, I have somewhat more to say to you; quick, listen, listen, +or it will be too late. Pshaw! pshaw! it _is_ too late, too late, +too late!" And his head fell backwards, and with his arms clasped +convulsively around the necks of Claude and Amanda, the advocate, +like his son, was a corpse. On the following day both of them were +laid in the English burying ground, but no stone marks the spot, +and in vain the stranger seeks to discover it. None are able, or +care, to point it out, restrained by a superstitious awe. A few +octogenarians still remember him, and look grave and shake the +head, when questioned as to the story and fate of the talented and +terrible Advocate of Montreal. + + +END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Advocate, by Charles Heavysege + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVOCATE *** + +***** This file should be named 31212.txt or 31212.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31212/ + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan + +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 +http://gutenberg.net/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.net + +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.net), +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 F3. 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 MERCHANTIBILITY 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 web page at http://www.pglaf.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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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 +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +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 http://pglaf.org + +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 including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty 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: + + http://www.gutenberg.net + +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. diff --git a/old/20100207-31212.zip b/old/20100207-31212.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3cfcee --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20100207-31212.zip |
