diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 7609.txt | 5366 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 7609.zip | bin | 0 -> 115191 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 5382 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/7609.txt b/7609.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10df0f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/7609.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5366 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Eugene Aram, Book 1, by Bulwer-Lytton +#37 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Eugene Aram, Book 1. + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7609] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 29, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EUGENE ARAM, BOOK 1, BY LYTTON *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + + + + EUGENE ARAM + + A TALE + + BY EDWARD BULWER LYTTON + + + +TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART., ETC. + +SIR,--It has long been my ambition to add some humble tribute to the +offerings laid upon the shrine of your genius. At each succeeding book +that I have given to the world, I have paused to consider if it were +worthy to be inscribed with your great name, and at each I have played +the procrastinator, and hoped for that morrow of better desert which +never came. But 'defluat amnis',--the time runs on; and I am tired of +waiting for the ford which the tides refuse. I seize, then, the present +opportunity, not as the best, but as the only one I can he sure of +commanding, to express that affectionate admiration with which you have +inspired me in common with all your contemporaries, and which a French +writer has not ungracefully termed "the happiest prerogative of genius." +As a Poet and as a Novelist your fame has attained to that height in +which praise has become superfluous; but in the character of the writer +there seems to me a yet higher claim to veneration than in that of the +writings. The example your genius sets us, who can emulate? The example +your moderation bequeaths to us, who shall forget? That nature must +indeed be gentle which has conciliated the envy that pursues intellectual +greatness, and left without an enemy a man who has no living equal in +renown. + +You have gone for a while from the scenes you have immortalized, to +regain, we trust, the health which has been impaired by your noble labors +or by the manly struggles with adverse fortunes which have not found the +frame as indomitable as the mind. Take with you the prayers of all whom +your genius, with playful art, has soothed in sickness, or has +strengthened, with generous precepts, against the calamities of life. + + [Written at the time of Sir W. Scott's visit to Italy, after the + great blow to his health and fortunes.] + + "Navis quae, tibi creditum + Debes Virgilium . . . + Reddas incolumem!" + + "O ship, thou owest to us Virgil! Restore in + safety him whom we intrusted to thee." + +You, I feel assured, will not deem it presumptuous in one who, to that +bright and undying flame which now streams from the gray hills of +Scotland,--the last halo with which you have crowned her literary +glories,--has turned from his first childhood with a deep and unrelaxing +devotion; you, I feel assured, will not deem it presumptuous in him to +inscribe an idle work with your illustrious name,--a work which, however +worthless in itself, assumes something of value in his eyes when thus +rendered a tribute of respect to you. + +THE AUTHOR OF "EUGENE ARAM." + +LONDON, December 22, 1831. + + + + + PREFACE + + TO THE EDITION OF 1831. + + +Since, dear Reader, I last addressed thee, in "Paul Clifford," nearly two +years have elapsed, and somewhat more than four years since, in "Pelham," +our familiarity first began. The Tale which I now submit to thee differs +equally from the last as from the first of those works; for of the two +evils, perhaps it is even better to disappoint thee in a new style than +to weary thee with an old. With the facts on which the tale of "Eugene +Aram" is founded, I have exercised the common and fair license of writers +of fiction it is chiefly the more homely parts of the real story that +have been altered; and for what I have added, and what omitted, I have +the sanction of all established authorities, who have taken greater +liberties with characters yet more recent, and far more protected by +historical recollections. The book was, for the most part, written in the +early part of the year, when the interest which the task created in the +Author was undivided by other subjects of excitement, and he had leisure +enough not only to be 'nescio quid meditans nugarum,' but also to be +'totes in illis.' + + ["Not only to be meditating I know not what of trifles, but also to + be wholly engaged on them."] + +I originally intended to adapt the story of Eugene Aram to the Stage. +That design was abandoned when more than half completed; but I wished to +impart to this Romance something of the nature of Tragedy,--something of +the more transferable of its qualities. Enough of this: it is not the +Author's wishes, but the Author's books that the world will judge him by. +Perhaps, then (with this I conclude), in the dull monotony of public +affairs, and in these long winter evenings, when we gather round the +fire, prepared for the gossip's tale, willing to indulge the fear and to +believe the legend, perhaps, dear Reader, thou mayest turn, not +reluctantly, even to these pages, for at least a newer excitement than +the Cholera, or for momentary relief from the everlasting discussion on +"the Bill." [The year of the Reform Bill.] + +LONDON, December 22, 1831. + + + + + PREFACE + + TO THE EDITION OF 1840. + +The strange history of Eugene Aram had excited my interest and wonder +long before the present work was composed or conceived. It so happened +that during Aram's residence at Lynn his reputation for learning had +attracted the notice of my grandfather,--a country gentleman living in +the same county, and of more intelligence and accomplishments than, at +that day, usually characterized his class. Aram frequently visited at +Heydon (my grandfather's house), and gave lessons--probably in no very +elevated branches of erudition--to the younger members of the family. +This I chanced to hear when I was on a visit in Norfolk some two years +before this novel was published; and it tended to increase the interest +with which I had previously speculated on the phenomena of a trial which, +take it altogether, is perhaps the most remarkable in the register of +English crime. I endeavored to collect such anecdotes of Aram's life and +manners as tradition and hearsay still kept afloat. These anecdotes were +so far uniform that they all concurred in representing him as a person +who, till the detection of the crime for which he was sentenced, had +appeared of the mildest character and the most unexceptionable morals. An +invariable gentleness and patience in his mode of tuition--qualities then +very uncommon at school--had made him so beloved by his pupils at Lynn +that, in after life, there was scarcely one of them who did not persist +in the belief of his innocence. + +His personal and moral peculiarities, as described in these pages, are +such as were related to me by persons who had heard him described by his +contemporaries, the calm, benign countenance; the delicate health; the +thoughtful stoop; the noiseless step; the custom, not uncommon with +scholars and absent men, of muttering to himself; a singular eloquence +in conversation, when once roused from silence; an active tenderness and +charity to the poor, with whom he was always ready to share his own +scanty means; an apparent disregard for money, except when employed in +the purchase of books; an utter indifference to the ambition usually +accompanying self-taught talent, whether to better the condition or to +increase the repute: these, and other traits of the character portrayed +in the novel, are, as far as I can rely on my information, faithful to +the features of the original. + +That a man thus described--so benevolent that he would rob his own +necessities to administer to those of another, so humane that he would +turn aside from the worm in his path--should have been guilty of the +foulest of human crimes, namely, murder for the sake of gain; that a +crime thus committed should have been so episodical and apart from the +rest of his career that, however it might rankle in his conscience, it +should never have hardened his nature; that through a life of some +duration, none of the errors, none of the vices, which would seem +essentially to belong to a character capable of a deed so black, from +motives apparently so sordid, should have been discovered or suspected,-- +all this presents all anomaly in human conduct so rare and surprising +that it would be difficult to find any subject more adapted for that +metaphysical speculation and analysis, in order to indulge which, +Fiction, whether in the drama or the higher class of romance, seeks its +materials and grounds its lessons in the chronicles of passion and crime. + + [For I put wholly out of question the excuse of jealousy, as + unsupported by any evidence, never hinted at by Aram himself + (at least on any sufficient authority), and at variance with the + only fact which the trial establishes; namely, that the robbery was + the crime planned, and the cause, whether accidental or otherwise, + of the murder.] + +The guilt of Eugene Aram is not that of a vulgar ruffian; it leads to +views and considerations vitally and wholly distinct from those with +which profligate knavery and brutal cruelty revolt and displease us in +the literature of Newgate and the hulks. His crime does, in fact, belong +to those startling paradoxes which the poetry of all countries, and +especially of our own, has always delighted to contemplate and examine. +Whenever crime appears the aberration and monstrous product of a great +intellect or of a nature ordinarily virtuous, it becomes not only the +subject for genius, which deals with passions, to describe, but a problem +for philosophy, which deals with actions, to investigate and solve; hence +the Macbeths and Richards, the Iagos and Othellos. My regret, therefore, +is not that I chose a subject unworthy of elevated fiction, but that such +a subject did not occur to some one capable of treating it as it +deserves; and I never felt this more strongly than when the late Mr. +Godwin (in conversing with me after the publication of this romance) +observed that he had always thought the story of Eugene Aram peculiarly +adapted for fiction, and that he had more than once entertained the +notion of making it the foundation of a novel. I can well conceive what +depth and power that gloomy record would have taken from the dark and +inquiring genius of the author of "Caleb Williams." In fact, the crime +and trial of Eugene Aram arrested the attention and engaged the +conjectures of many of the most eminent men of his own time. His guilt or +innocence was the matter of strong contest; and so keen and so enduring +was the sensation created by an event thus completely distinct from the +ordinary annals of human crime that even History turned aside from the +sonorous narrative of the struggles of parties and the feuds of kings to +commemorate the learning and the guilt of the humble schoolmaster of +Lynn. Did I want any other answer to the animadversions of commonplace +criticism, it might be sufficient to say that what the historian relates +the novelist has little right to disdain. + +Before entering on this romance, I examined with some care the +probabilities of Aram's guilt; for I need scarcely perhaps observe that +the legal evidence against him is extremely deficient,--furnished almost +entirely by one (Houseman) confessedly an accomplice of the crime and a +partner in the booty, and that in the present day a man tried upon +evidence so scanty and suspicious would unquestionably escape conviction. +Nevertheless, I must frankly own that the moral evidence appeared to me +more convincing than the legal; and though not without some doubt, which, +in common with many, I still entertain of the real facts of the murder, I +adopted that view which, at all events, was the best suited to the higher +purposes of fiction. On the whole, I still think that if the crime were +committed by Aram, the motive was not very far removed from one which led +recently to a remarkable murder in Spain. A priest in that country, +wholly absorbed in learned pursuits, and apparently of spotless life, +confessed that, being debarred by extreme poverty from prosecuting a +study which had become the sole passion of his existence, he had reasoned +himself into the belief that it would be admissible to rob a very +dissolute, worthless man if he applied the money so obtained to the +acquisition of a knowledge which he could not otherwise acquire, and +which he held to be profitable to mankind. Unfortunately, the dissolute +rich man was not willing to be robbed for so excellent a purpose; he was +armed and he resisted. A struggle ensued, and the crime of homicide was +added to that of robbery. The robbery was premeditated; the murder was +accidental. But he who would accept some similar interpretation of Aram's +crime must, to comprehend fully the lessons which belong to so terrible a +picture of frenzy and guilt, consider also the physical circumstances and +condition of the criminal at the time,--severe illness, intense labor of +the brain, poverty bordering upon famine, the mind preternaturally at +work devising schemes and excuses to arrive at the means for ends +ardently desired. And all this duly considered, the reader may see the +crime bodying itself out from the shades and chimeras of a horrible +hallucination,--the awful dream of a brief but delirious and convulsed +disease. It is thus only that we can account for the contradiction of one +deed at war with a whole life,--blasting, indeed, forever the happiness, +but making little revolution in the pursuits and disposition of the +character. No one who has examined with care and thoughtfulness the +aspects of Life and Nature but must allow that in the contemplation of +such a spectacle, great and most moral truths must force themselves on +the notice and sink deep into the heart. The entanglements of human +reasoning; the influence of circumstance upon deeds; the perversion that +may be made, by one self-palter with the Fiend, of elements the most +glorious; the secret effect of conscience in frustrating all for which +the crime was done, leaving genius without hope, knowledge without fruit, +deadening benevolence into mechanism, tainting love itself with terror +and suspicion,--such reflections (leading, with subtler minds, to many +more vast and complicated theorems in the consideration of our nature, +social and individual) arise out of the tragic moral which the story of +Eugene Aram (were it but adequately treated) could not fail to convey. + +BRUSSELS, August, 1840. + + + + + PREFACE + + TO THE PRESENT EDITION. + +If none of my prose works have been so attacked as "Eugene Aram," none +have so completely triumphed over attack. It is true that, whether from +real or affected inorance of the true morality of fiction, a few critics +may still reiterate the old commonplace charges of "selecting heroes from +Newgate," or "investing murderers with interest;" but the firm hold which +the work has established in the opinion of the general public, and the +favor it has received in every country where English literature is known, +suffice to prove that, whatever its faults, it belongs to that legitimate +class of fiction which illustrates life and truth, and only deals with +crime as the recognized agency of pity and terror in the conduct of +tragic narrative. All that I would say further on this score has been +said in the general defence of my writings which I put forth two years +ago; and I ask the indulgence of the reader if I repeat myself:-- + + "Here, unlike the milder guilt of Paul Clifford, the author was not + to imply reform to society, nor open in this world atonement and + pardon to the criminal. As it would have been wholly in vain to + disguise, by mean tamperings with art and truth, the ordinary habits + of life and attributes of character which all record and remembrance + ascribed to Eugene Aram; as it would have defeated every end of the + moral inculcated by his guilt, to portray, in the caricature of the + murderer of melodrama, a man immersed in study, of whom it was noted + that he turned aside from the worm in his path,--so I have allowed + to him whatever contrasts with his inexpiable crime have been + recorded on sufficient authority. But I have invariably taken care + that the crime itself should stand stripped of every sophistry, and + hideous to the perpetrator as well as to the world. Allowing all by + which attention to his biography may explain the tremendous paradox + of fearful guilt in a man aspiring after knowledge, and not + generally inhumane; allowing that the crime came upon him in the + partial insanity produced by the combining circumstances of a brain + overwrought by intense study, disturbed by an excited imagination + and the fumes of a momentary disease of the reasoning faculty, + consumed by the desire of knowledge, unwholesome and morbid, because + coveted as an end, not a means, added to the other physical causes + of mental aberration to be found in loneliness, and want verging + upon famine,--all these, which a biographer may suppose to have + conspired to his crime, have never been used by the novelist as + excuses for its enormity, nor indeed, lest they should seem as + excuses, have they ever been clearly presented to the view. The + moral consisted in showing more than the mere legal punishment at + the close. It was to show how the consciousness of the deed was to + exclude whatever humanity of character preceded and belied it from + all active exercise, all social confidence; how the knowledge of the + bar between the minds of others and his own deprived the criminal of + all motive to ambition, and blighted knowledge of all fruit. + Miserable in his affections, barren in his intellect; clinging to + solitude, yet accursed in it; dreading as a danger the fame he had + once coveted; obscure in spite of learning, hopeless in spite of + love, fruitless and joyless in his life, calamitous and shameful in + his end,--surely such is no palliative of crime, no dalliance and + toying with the grimness of evil! And surely to any ordinary + comprehension and candid mind such is the moral conveyed by the + fiction of 'Eugene Aram.'"--[A word to the Public, 1847] + +In point of composition "Eugene Aram" is, I think, entitled to rank +amongst the best of my fictions. It somewhat humiliates me to acknowledge +that neither practice nor study has enabled me to surpass a work written +at a very early age, in the skilful construction and patient development +of plot; and though I have since sought to call forth higher and more +subtle passions, I doubt if I have ever excited the two elementary +passions of tragedy,--namely, pity and terror,--to the same degree. In +mere style, too, "Eugene Aram," in spite of certain verbal oversights, +and defects in youthful taste (some of which I have endeavored to remove +from the present edition), appears to me unexcelled by any of my later +writings,--at least in what I have always studied as the main essential +of style in narrative; namely, its harmony with the subject selected and +the passions to be moved,--while it exceeds them all in the minuteness +and fidelity of its descriptions of external nature. This indeed it ought +to do, since the study of external nature is made a peculiar attribute of +the prin cipal character, whose fate colors the narrative. I do not know +whether it has been observed that the time occupied by the events of the +story is conveyed through the medium of such descriptions. Each +description is introduced, not for its own sake, but to serve as a +calendar marking the gradual changes of the seasons as they bear on to +his doom the guilty worshipper of Nature. And in this conception, and in +the care with which it has been followed out, I recognize one of my +earliest but most successful attempts at the subtler principles of +narrative art. + +In this edition I have made one alteration somewhat more important than +mere verbal correction. On going, with maturer judgment, over all the +evidences on which Aram was condemned, I have convinced myself that +though an accomplice in the robbery of Clarke, he was free both from the +premeditated design and the actual deed of murder. The crime, indeed, +would still rest on his conscience and insure his punishment, as +necessarily incidental to the robbery in which he was an accomplice, with +Houseman; but finding my convictions, that in the murder itself he had no +share, borne out by the opinion of many eminent lawyers by whom I have +heard the subject discussed, I have accordingly so shaped his confession +to Walter. + +Perhaps it will not be without interest to the reader if I append to this +preface an authentic specimen of Eugene Aram's composition, for which I +am indebted to the courtesy of a gentleman by whose grandfather it was +received, with other papers (especially a remarkable "Outline of a New +Lexicon"), during Aram's confinement in York prison. The essay I select +is, indeed, not without value in itself as a very curious and learned +illustration of Popular Antiquities, and it serves also to show not only +the comprehensive nature of Aram's studies and the inquisitive eagerness +of his mind, but also the fact that he was completely self-taught; for in +contrast to much philological erudition, and to passages that evince +considerable mastery in the higher resources of language, we may +occasionally notice those lesser inaccuracies from which the writings of +men solely self-educated are rarely free,--indeed Aram himself, in +sending to a gentleman an elegy on Sir John Armitage, which shows much, +but undisciplined, power of versification, says, "I send this elegy, +which, indeed, if you had not had the curiosity to desire, I could not +have had the assurance to offer, scarce believing I, who was hardly +taught to read, have any abilities to write." + + + THE MELSUPPER AND SHOUTING THE CHURN. + +These rural entertainments and usages were formerly more general all +over England than they are at present, being become by time, necessity, +or avarice, complex, confined, and altered. They are commonly insisted +upon by the reapers as customary things, and a part of their due for the +toils of the harvest, and complied with by their masters perhaps more +through regards of interest than inclination; for should they refuse them +the pleasures of this much-expected time, this festal night, the youth +especially, of both sexes would decline serving them for the future, and +employ their labors for others, who would promise them the rustic joys of +the harvest-supper, mirth and music, dance and song. These feasts appear +to be the relics of Pagan ceremonies or of Judaism, it is hard to say +which, and carry in them more meaning and are of far higher antiquity +than is generally apprehended. It is true the subject is more curious +than important, and I believe altogether untouched; and as it seems to +be little understood, has been as little adverted to. I do not remember +it to have been so much as the subject of a conversation. Let us make, +then, a little excursion into this field, for the same reason men +sometimes take a walk. Its traces are discoverable at a very great +distance of time from ours,--nay, seem as old as a sense of joy for the +benefit of plentiful harvests and human gratitude to the eternal Creator +for His munificence to men. We hear it under various names in different +counties, and often in the same county; as, "melsupper," "churn-supper," +"harvest-supper," "harvesthome," "feast of in-gathering," etc. And +perhaps this feast had been long observed, and by different tribes of +people, before it became preceptive with the Jews. However, let that be +as it will, the custom very lucidly appears from the following passages +of S. S., Exod. xxiii. 16, "And the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of +thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field." And its institution as a +sacred rite is commanded in Levit. xxiii. 39: "When ye have gathered in +the fruit of the land ye shall keep a feast to the Lord." + +The Jews then, as is evident from hence, celebrated the feast of harvest, +and that by precept; and though no vestiges of any such feast either are +or can be produced before these, yet the oblation of the Primitae, of +which this feast was a consequence, is met with prior to this, for we +find that "Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the +Lord" (Gen. iv. 3). + +Yet this offering of the first-fruits, it may well be supposed was not +peculiar to the Jews either at the time of, or after, its establishment +by their legislator; neither the feast in consequence of it. Many other +nations, either in imitation of the Jews, or rather by tradition from +their several patriarchs, observed the rite of offering their Primitiae, +and of solemnizing a festival after it, in religious acknowledgment for +the blessing of harvest, though that acknowledgment was ignorantly +misapplied in being directed to a secondary, not the primary, fountain of +this benefit,--namely to Apollo, or the Sun. + +For Callimachus affirms that these Primitiae were sent by the people of +every nation to the temple of Apollo in Delos, the most distant that +enjoyed the happiness of corn and harvest, even by the Hyperboreans in +particular,--Hymn to Apol., "Bring the sacred sheafs and the mystic +offerings." + +Herodotus also mentions this annual custom of the Hyperboreans, remarking +that those of Delos talk of "Holy things tied up in sheaf of wheat +conveyed from the Hyperboreans." And the Jews, by the command of their +law, offered also a sheaf: "And shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye +shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest unto the priest." + +This is not introduced in proof of any feast observed by the people who +had harvests, but to show the universality of the custom of offering the +Primitiae, which preceded this feast. But yet it maybe looked upon as +equivalent to a proof; for as the offering and the feast appear to have +been always and intimately connected in countries affording records, so +it is more than probable they were connected too in countries which had +none, or none that ever survived to our times. An entertainment and +gayety were still the concomitants of these rites, which with the vulgar, +one may pretty truly suppose, were esteemed the most acceptable and +material part of them, and a great reason of their having subsisted +through such a length of ages, when both the populace and many of the +learned too have lost sight of the object to which they had been +originally directed. This, among many other ceremonies of the heathen +worship, became disused in some places and retained in others, but still +continued declining after the promulgation of the Gospel. In short, there +seems great reason to conclude that this feast, which was once sacred to +Apollo, was constantly maintained, when a far less valuable +circumstance,--i.e., "shouting the churn,"--is observed to this day by +the reapers, and from so old an era; for we read of this exclamation, +Isa. xvi. 9: "For the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest +is fallen;" and again, ver. 10: "And in the vineyards there shall be no +singing, their shouting shall be no shouting." Hence then, or from some +of the Phoenician colonies, is our traditionary "shouting the churn." +But it seems these Orientals shouted both for joy of their harvest of +grapes and of corn. We have no quantity of the first to occasion so much +joy as does our plenty of the last; and I do not remember to have heard +whether their vintages abroad are attended with this custom. Bread or +cakes compose part of the Hebrew offering (Levit. xxiii. 13), and a cake +thrown upon the head of the victim was also part of the Greek offering to +Apollo (see Hom., Il., a), whose worship was formerly celebrated in +Britain, where the May-pole yet continues one remain of it. This they +adorned with garlands on May-day, to welcome the approach of Apollo, or +the Sun, towards the North, and to signify that those flowers were the +product of his presence and influence. But upon the progress of +Christianity, as was observed above, Apollo lost his divinity again, and +the adoration of his deity subsided by degrees. Yet so permanent is +custom that this rite of the harvest-supper, together with that of the +May-pole (of which last see Voss. de Orig. and Prag. Idolatr., 1, 2), +have been preserved in Britain; and what had been anciently offered to +the god, the reapers as prudently ate up themselves. + +At last the use of the meal of the new corn was neglected, and the +supper, so far as meal was concerned, was made indifferently of old or +new corn, as was most agreeable to the founder. And here the usage itself +accounts for the name of "Melsupper" (where mel signifies meal, or else +the instrument called with us a "Mell," wherewith antiquity reduced their +corn to meal in a mortar, which still amounts to the same thing); for +provisions of meal, or of corn in furmety, etc., composed by far the +greatest part in these elder and country entertainments, perfectly +conformable to the simplicity of those times, places, and persons, +however meanly they may now be looked upon. And as the harvest was last +concluded with several preparations of meal, or brought to be ready for +the "mell," this term became, in a translated signification, to mean the +last of other things; as, when a horse comes last in the race, they often +say in the North, "He has got the mell." + +All the other names of this country festivity sufficiently explain +themselves, except "Churn-supper;" and this is entirely different from +"Melsupper:" but they generally happen so near together that they are +frequently confounded. The "Churn-supper" was always provided when all +was shorn, but the "Melsupper" after all was got in. And it was called +the "Churn-supper" because, from immemorial times, it was customary to +produce in a churn a great quantity of cream, and to circulate it by +dishfuls to each of the rustic company, to be eaten with bread. And here +sometimes very extraordinary execution has been done upon cream. And +though this custom has been disused in many places, and agreeably +commuted for by ale, yet it survives still, and that about Whitby and +Scarborough in the East, and round about Gisburn, etc., in Craven, in the +West. But perhaps a century or two more will put an end to it, and both +the thing and name shall die. Vicarious ale is now more approved, and the +tankard almost everywhere politely preferred to the Churn. + +This Churn (in our provincial pronunciation Kern) is the Hebrew Kern, +or Keren, from its being circular, like most horns; and it is the Latin +'corona',--named so either from 'radii', resembling horns, as on some +very ancient coins, or from its encircling the head: so a ring of people +is called corona. Also the Celtic Koren, Keren, or corn, which continues +according to its old pronunciation in Cornwall, etc., and our modern word +horn is no more than this; the ancient hard sound of k in corn being +softened into the aspirate h, as has been done in numberless instances. + +The Irish Celtae also called a round stone 'clogh crene', where the +variation is merely dialectic. Hence, too, our crane-berries,--i.e., +round berries,--from this Celtic adjective 'crene', round. + + +The quotations from Scripture in Aram's original MS. were both in the +Hebrew character, and their value in English sounds. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + BOOK I. + +CHAPTER I. +THE VILLAGE.--ITS INHABITANTS.--AN OLD MANORHOUSE: AND AN ENGLISH FAMILY; +THEIR HISTORY, INVOLVING A MYSTERIOUS EVENT. + +CHAPTER II. +A PUBLICAN, A SINNER, AND A STRANGER + +CHAPTER III. +A DIALOGUE AND AN ALARM.--A STUDENT'S HOUSE. + +CHAPTER IV. +THE SOLILOQUY, AND THE CHARACTER, OF A RECLUSE.--THE INTERRUPTION. + +CHAPTER V. +A DINNER AT THE SQUIRE'S HALL.--A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO RETIRED MEN +WITH DIFFERENT OBJECTS IN RETIREMENT.--DISTURBANCE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO +A PEACEFUL FAMILY. + +CHAPTER VI. +THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE STUDENT.--A SUMMER SCENE--ARAM'S CONVERSATION WITH +WALTER, AND SUBSEQUENT COLLOQUY WITH HIMSELF. + +CHAPTER VII. +THE POWER OF LOVE OVER THE RESOLUTION OF THE STUDENT.--ARAM BECOMES A +FREQUENT GUEST AT THE MANOR-HOUSE.--A WALK.--CONVERSATION WITH DAME +DARKMANS.--HER HISTORY.--POVERTY AND ITS EFFECTS. + +CHAPTER VII. +THE PRIVILEGE OF GENIUS.--LESTER'S SATISFACTION AT THE ASPECT OF EVENTS. +--HIS CONVERSATION WITH WALTER.--A DISCOVERY. + +CHAPTER IX. +THE STATE OF WALTER'S MIND.--AN ANGLER AND A MAN OF THE WORLD.--A +COMPANION FOUND FOR WALTER. + +CHAPTER X. +THE LOVERS.--THE ENCOUNTER AND QUARREL OF THE RIVALS. + +CHAPTER XI. +THE FAMILY SUPPER.--THE TWO SISTERS IN THEIR CHAMBER.--A MISUNDERSTANDING +FOLLOWED BY A CONFESSION.--WALTER'S APPROACHING DEPARTURE AND THE +CORPORAL'S BEHAVIOUR THEREON.--THE CORPORAL'S FAVOURITE INTRODUCED TO THE +READER.--THE CORPORAL PROVES HIMSELF A SUBTLE DIPLOMATIST. + +CHAPTER XII. +A STRANGE HABIT.--WALTER'S INTERVIEW WITH MADELINE.--HER GENEROUS AND +CONFIDING DISPOSITION.--WALTER'S ANGER.--THE PARTING MEAL.--CONVERSATION +BETWEEN THE UNCLE AND NEPHEW.--WALTER ALONE.--SLEEP THE BLESSING OF THE +YOUNG. + + + + BOOK II. + +CHAPTER I. +THE MARRIAGE SETTLED.--LESTER'S HOPES AND SCHEMES.--GAIETY OF TEMPER A +GOOD SPECULATION.--THE TRUTH AND FERVOUR OF ARAM'S LOVE. + +CHAPTER II. +A FAVOURABLE SPECIMEN OF A NOBLEMAN AND A COURTIER.--A MAN OF SOME FAULTS +AND MANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS. + +CHAPTER III. +WHEREIN THE EARL AND THE STUDENT CONVERSE ON GRAVE BUT DELIGHTFUL +MATTERS.--THE STUDENT'S NOTION OF THE ONLY EARTHLY HAPPINESS. + +CHAPTER IV. +A DEEPER EXAMINATION INTO THE STUDENT'S HEART.--THE VISIT TO THE CASTLE.- +-PHILOSOPHY PUT TO THE TRIAL. + +CHAPTER V. +IN WHICH THE STORY RETURNS TO WALTER AND THE CORPORAL.--THE RENCONTRE +WITH A STRANGER, AND HOW THE STRANGER PROVES TO BE NOT ALTOGETHER A +STRANGER. + +CHAPTER VI. +SIR PETER DISPLAYED.--ONE MAN OF THE WORLD SUFFERS FROM ANOTHER.--THE +INCIDENT OF THE BRIDLE BEGETS THE INCIDENT OF THE SADDLE; THE INCIDENT OF +THE SADDLE BEGETS THE INCIDENT OF THE WHIP; THE INCIDENT OF THE WHIP +BEGETS WHAT THE READER MUST READ TO SEE. + +CHAPTER VII. +WALTER VISITS ANOTHER OF HIS UNCLE'S FRIENDS.--MR. COURTLAND'S STRANGE +COMPLAINT.--WALTER LEARNS NEWS OF HIS FATHER, WHICH SURPRISES HIM.--THE +CHANGE IN HIS DESTINATION. + +CHAPTER VIII. +WALTER'S MEDITATIONS.--THE CORPORAL'S GRIEF AND ANGER.--THE CORPORAL +PERSONALLY DESCRIBED.--AN EXPLANATION WITH HIS MASTER.--THE CORPORAL +OPENS HIMSELF TO THE YOUNG TRAVELLER.--HIS OPINIONS ON LOVE;--ON THE +WORLD;--ON THE PLEASURE AND RESPECTABILITY OF CHEATING;--ON LADIES--AND A +PARTICULAR CLASS OF LADIES;--ON AUTHORS;--ON THE VALUE OF WORDS;--ON +FIGHTING;--WITH SUNDRY OTHER MATTERS OF EQUAL DELECTATION AND +IMPROVEMENT.--AN UNEXPECTED EVENT. + + + + BOOK III. + +CHAPTER I. +FRAUD AND VIOLENCE ENTER EVEN GRASSDALE.--PETER'S NEWS.--THE LOVERS' +WALK.--THE REAPPEARANCE. + +CHAPTER II. +THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN ARAM AND THE STRANGER. + +CHAPTER III. +FRESH ALARM IN THE VILLAGE.--LESTER'S VISIT TO ARAM.--A TRAIT OF DELICATE +KINDNESS IN THE STUDENT.--MADELINE.--HER PRONENESS TO CONFIDE.--THE +CONVERSATION BETWEEN LESTER AND ARAM.--THE PERSONS BY WHOM IT IS +INTERRUPTED. + +CHAPTER IV. +MILITARY PREPARATIONS.--THE COMMANDER AND HIS MAN.--ARAM IS PERSUADED TO +PASS THE NIGHT AT THE MANOR-HOUSE. + +CHAPTER V. +THE SISTERS ALONE.--THE GOSSIP OF LOVE.--AN ALARM--AND AN EVENT. + +CHAPTER VI. +ARAM ALONE AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.--HIS SOLILOQUY AND PROJECT.--SCENE +BETWEEN HIMSELF AND MADELINE. + +CHAPTER VII. +ARAM'S SECRET EXPEDITION.--A SCENE WORTHY THE ACTORS.--ARAM'S ADDRESS AND +POWERS OF PERSUASION OR HYPOCRISY.--THEIR RESULT.--A FEARFUL NIGHT.-- +ARAM'S SOLITARY RIDE HOMEWARD.--WHOM HE MEETS BY THE WAY, AND WHAT HE +SEES. + + + BOOK IV. + +CHAPTER I. +IN WHICH WE RETURN TO WALTER.--HIS DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO MR. PERTINAX +FILLGRAVE.--THE CORPORAL'S ADVICE, AND THE CORPORAL'S VICTORY. + +CHAPTER II. +NEW TRACES OF THE FATE OF GEOFFREY LESTER.--WALTER AND THE CORPORAL +PROCEED ON A FRESH EXPEDITION.--THE CORPORAL IS ESPECIALLY SAGACIOUS ON +THE OLD TOPIC OF THE WORLD.--HIS OPINIONS ON THE MEN WHO CLAIM 'KNOWLEDGE +THEREOF.--ON THE ADVANTAGES ENJOYED BY A VALET.--ON THE SCIENCE OF +SUCCESSFUL LOVE.--ON VIRTUE AND THE CONSTITUTION.--ON QUALITIES TO BE +DESIRED IN A MISTRESS, ETC.--A LANDSCAPE. + +CHAPTER III. +A SCHOLAR, BUT OF A DIFFERENT MOULD FROM THE STUDENT OF GRASSDALE.--NEW +PARTICULARS CONCERNING GEOFFREY LESTER.--THE JOURNEY RECOMMENCED. + +CHAPTER IV. +ARAM'S DEPARTURE.--MADELINE.--EXAGGERATION OF SENTIMENT NATURAL IN LOVE.- +-MADELINE'S LETTER.--WALTER'S.--THE WALK.--TWO VERY DIFFERENT PERSONS, +YET BOTH INMATES OF THE SAME COUNTRY VILLAGE.--THE HUMOURS OF LIFE, AND +ITS DARK PASSIONS, ARE FOUND IN JUXTA-POSITION EVERYWHERE. + +CHAPTER V. +A REFLECTION NEW AND STRANGE.--THE STREETS OF LONDON.--A GREAT MAN'S +LIBRARY.--A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE STUDENT AND AN ACQUAINTANCE OF THE +READER'S.--ITS RESULT. + +CHAPTER VI. +THE THAMES AT NIGHT.--A THOUGHT.--THE STUDENT RE-SEEKS THE RUFFIAN.--A +HUMAN FEELING EVEN IN THE WORST SOIL. + +CHAPTER VII. +MADELINE, HER HOPES.--A MILD AUTUMN CHARACTERISED.--A LANDSCAPE. +--A RETURN. + +CHAPTER VIII. +AFFECTION: ITS GODLIKE NATURE.--THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN ARAM AND +MADELINE.--THE FATALIST FORGETS FATE. + +CHAPTER IX. +WALTER AND THE CORPORAL ON THE ROAD.--THE EVENING SETS IN.--THE GIPSEY +TENTS.--ADVENTURE WITH THE HORSEMAN.--THE CORPORAL DISCOMFITED, AND THE +ARRIVAL AT KNARESBOROUGH. + +CHAPTER X. +WALTER'S REFLECTIONS.--MINE HOST.--A GENTLE CHARACTER AND A GREEN OLD +AGE.--THE GARDEN, AND THAT WHICH IT TEACHETH.--A DIALOGUE, WHEREIN NEW +HINTS TOWARDS THE WISHED FOR DISCOVERY ARE SUGGESTED.--THE CURATE.--A +VISIT TO A SPOT OF DEEP INTEREST TO THE ADVENTURER. + +CHAPTER XI. +GRIEF IN A RUFFIAN.--THE CHAMBER OF EARLY DEATH.--A HOMELY YET MOMENTOUS +CONFESSION.--THE EARTH'S SECRETS.--THE CAVERN.--THE ACCUSATION. + + + + BOOK V. + +CHAPTER I. +GRASSDALE.--THE MORNING OF THE MARRIAGE.--THE CRONES' GOSSIP. +THE BRIDE AT HER TOILET.--THE ARRIVAL. + +CHAPTER II. +THE STUDENT ALONE IN HIS CHAMBER.--THE INTERRUPTION.--FAITHFUL + +LOVE. + +CHAPTER III. +THE JUSTICE.--THE DEPARTURE.--THE EQUANIMITY OF THE CORPORAL IN BEARING +THE MISFORTUNES OF OTHER PEOPLE.--THE EXAMINATION; ITS RESULT.--ARAM'S +CONDUCT IN PRISON.--THE ELASTICITY OF OUR HUMAN NATURE.--A VISIT FROM THE +EARL.--WALTER'S DETERMINATION.--MADELINE. + +CHAPTER IV. +THE EVENING BEFORE THE TRIAL.--THE COUSINS.--THE CHANGE IN MADELINE. +--THE FAMILY OF GRASSDALE MEET ONCE MORE BENEATH ONE ROOF. + +CHAPTER V. +THE TRIAL + +CHAPTER VI. +THE DEATH.--THE PRISON.--AN INTERVIEW.--ITS RESULT + +CHAPTER VII. +THE CONFESSION; AND THE FATE + +CHAPTER VIII AND LAST. +THE TRAVELLER'S RETURN.--THE COUNTRY VILLAGE ONCE MORE VISITED. +--ITS INHABITANTS.--THE REMEMBERED BROOK.--THE DESERTED MANOR-HOUSE. +--THE CHURCH-YARD.--THE TRAVELLER RESUMES HIS JOURNEY.--THE COUNTRY TOWN. +--A MEETING OF TWO LOVERS AFTER LONG ABSENCE AND MUCH SORROW. +--CONCLUSION. + + + + + EUGENE ARAM + + + BOOK I. + + CHAPTER I. + +THE VILLAGE.--ITS INHABITANTS.--AN OLD MANORHOUSE: AND AN ENGLISH FAMILY; + THEIR HISTORY, INVOLVING A MYSTERIOUS EVENT. + +"Protected by the divinity they adored, supported by the earth which they +cultivated, and at peace with themselves, they enjoyed the sweets of +life, without dreading or desiring dissolution." Numa Pompilius. + +In the country of--there is a sequestered hamlet, which I have often +sought occasion to pass, and which I have never left without a certain +reluctance and regret. It is not only (though this has a remarkable spell +over my imagination) that it is the sanctuary, as it were, of a story +which appears to me of a singular and fearful interest; but the scene +itself is one which requires no legend to arrest the traveller's +attention. I know not in any part of the world, which it has been my lot +to visit, a landscape so entirely lovely and picturesque, as that which +on every side of the village I speak of, you may survey. The hamlet to +which I shall here give the name of Grassdale, is situated in a valley, +which for about the length of a mile winds among gardens and orchards, +laden with fruit, between two chains of gentle and fertile hills. + +Here, singly or in pairs, are scattered cottages, which bespeak a comfort +and a rural luxury, less often than our poets have described the +characteristics of the English peasantry. It has been observed, and there +is a world of homely, ay, and of legislative knowledge in the +observation, that wherever you see a flower in a cottage garden, or a +bird-cage at the window, you may feel sure that the cottagers are better +and wiser than their neighbours; and such humble tokens of attention to +something beyond the sterile labour of life, were (we must now revert to +the past,) to be remarked in almost every one of the lowly abodes at +Grassdale. The jasmine here, there the vine clustered over the threshold, +not so wildly as to testify negligence; but rather to sweeten the air +than to exclude it from the inmates. Each of the cottages possessed at +its rear its plot of ground, apportioned to the more useful and +nutritious product of nature; while the greater part of them fenced also +from the unfrequented road a little spot for the lupin, the sweet pea, or +the many tribes of the English rose. And it is not unworthy of remark, +that the bees came in greater clusters to Grassdale than to any other +part of that rich and cultivated district. A small piece of waste land, +which was intersected by a brook, fringed with ozier and dwarf and +fantastic pollards, afforded pasture for a few cows, and the only +carrier's solitary horse. The stream itself was of no ignoble repute +among the gentle craft of the Angle, the brotherhood whom our +associations defend in the spite of our mercy; and this repute drew +welcome and periodical itinerants to the village, who furnished it with +its scanty news of the great world without, and maintained in a decorous +custom the little and single hostelry of the place. Not that Peter +Dealtry, the proprietor of the "Spotted Dog," was altogether contented to +subsist upon the gains of his hospitable profession; he joined thereto +the light cares of a small farm, held under a wealthy and an easy +landlord; and being moreover honoured with the dignity of clerk to the +parish, he was deemed by his neighbours a person of no small +accomplishment, and no insignificant distinction. He was a little, dry, +thin man, of a turn rather sentimental than jocose; a memory well stored +with fag-ends of psalms, and hymns which, being less familiar than the +psalms to the ears of the villagers, were more than suspected to be his +own composition; often gave a poetic and semi-religious colouring to his +conversation, which accorded rather with his dignity in the church, than +his post at the Spotted Dog. Yet he disliked not his joke, though it was +subtle and delicate of nature; nor did he disdain to bear companionship +over his own liquor, with guests less gifted and refined. + +In the centre of the village you chanced upon a cottage which had been +lately white-washed, where a certain preciseness in the owner might be +detected in the clipped hedge, and the exact and newly mended style by +which you approached the habitation; herein dwelt the beau and bachelor +of the village, somewhat antiquated it is true, but still an object of +great attention and some hope to the elder damsels in the vicinity, and +of a respectful popularity, that did not however prohibit a joke, to the +younger part of the sisterhood. Jacob Bunting, so was this gentleman +called, had been for many years in the king's service, in which he had +risen to the rank of corporal, and had saved and pinched together a +certain small independence upon which he now rented his cottage and +enjoyed his leisure. He had seen a good deal of the world, and profited +in shrewdness by his experience; he had rubbed off, however, all +superfluous devotion as he rubbed off his prejudices, and though he drank +more often than any one else with the landlord of the Spotted Dog, he +also quarrelled with him the oftenest, and testified the least +forbearance at the publican's segments of psalmody. Jacob was a tall, +comely, and perpendicular personage; his threadbare coat was scrupulously +brushed, and his hair punctiliously plastered at the sides into two stiff +obstinate-looking curls, and at the top into what he was pleased to call +a feather, though it was much more like a tile. His conversation had in +it something peculiar; generally it assumed a quick, short, abrupt turn, +that, retrenching all superfluities of pronoun and conjunction, and +marching at once upon the meaning of the sentence, had in it a military +and Spartan significance, which betrayed how difficult it often is for a +man to forget that he has been a corporal. Occasionally indeed, for where +but in farces is the phraseology of the humorist always the same? he +escaped into a more enlarged and christianlike method of dealing with the +king's English, but that was chiefly noticeable, when from conversation +he launched himself into lecture, a luxury the worthy soldier loved +greatly to indulge, for much had he seen and somewhat had he reflected; +and valuing himself, which was odd in a corporal, more on his knowledge +of the world than his knowledge even of war, he rarely missed any +occasion of edifying a patient listener with the result of his +observations. + +After you had sauntered by the veteran's door, beside which you +generally, if the evening were fine, or he was not drinking with +neighbour Dealtry--or taking his tea with gossip this or master that--or +teaching some emulous urchins the broadsword exercise--or snaring trout +in the stream--or, in short, otherwise engaged; beside which, I say, you +not unfrequently beheld him sitting on a rude bench, and enjoying with +half-shut eyes, crossed legs, but still unindulgently erect posture, the +luxury of his pipe; you ventured over a little wooden bridge; beneath +which, clear and shallow, ran the rivulet we have before honorably +mentioned; and a walk of a few minutes brought you to a moderately sized +and old-fashioned mansion--the manor-house of the parish. It stood at the +very foot of the hill; behind, a rich, ancient, and hanging wood, brought +into relief--the exceeding freshness and verdure of the patch of green +meadow immediately in front. On one side, the garden was bounded by the +village churchyard, with its simple mounds, and its few scattered and +humble tombs. The church was of great antiquity; and it was only in one +point of view that you caught more than a glimpse of its grey tower and +graceful spire, so thickly and so darkly grouped the yew tree and the +larch around the edifice. Opposite the gate by which you gained the +house, the view was not extended, but rich with wood and pasture, backed +by a hill, which; less verdant than its fellows, was covered with sheep: +while you saw hard by the rivulet darkening and stealing away; till your +sight, though not your ear, lost it among the woodland. + +Trained up the embrowned paling on either side of the gate, were bushes +of rustic fruit, and fruit and flowers (through plots of which green and +winding alleys had been cut with no untasteful hand) testified by their +thriving and healthful looks, the care bestowed upon them. The main +boasts of the garden were, on one side, a huge horse-chesnut tree--the +largest in the village; and on the other, an arbour covered without with +honeysuckles, and tapestried within by moss. The house, a grey and quaint +building of the time of James I. with stone copings and gable roof, could +scarcely in these days have been deemed a fitting residence for the lord +of the manor. Nearly the whole of the centre was occupied by the hall, in +which the meals of the family were commonly held--only two other +sitting-rooms of very moderate dimensions had been reserved by the +architect for the convenience or ostentation of the proprietor. An ample +porch jutted from the main building, and this was covered with ivy, as +the windows were with jasmine and honeysuckle; while seats were ranged +inside the porch covered with many a rude initial and long-past date. + +The owner of this mansion bore the name of Rowland Lester. His +forefathers, without pretending to high antiquity of family, had held the +dignity of squires of Grassdale for some two centuries; and Rowland +Lester was perhaps the first of the race who had stirred above fifty +miles from the house in which each successive lord had received his +birth, or the green churchyard in which was yet chronicled his death. The +present proprietor was a man of cultivated tastes; and abilities, +naturally not much above mediocrity, had been improved by travel as well +as study. Himself and one younger brother had been early left masters of +their fate and their several portions. The younger, Geoffrey, testified a +roving and dissipated turn. Bold, licentious, extravagant, unprincipled, +--his career soon outstripped the slender fortunes of a cadet in the +family of a country squire. He was early thrown into difficulties, but, +by some means or other they never seemed to overwhelm him; an unexpected +turn--a lucky adventure--presented itself at the very moment when Fortune +appeared the most utterly to have deserted him. + +Among these more propitious fluctuations in the tide of affairs, was, at +about the age of forty, a sudden marriage with a young lady of what might +be termed (for Geoffrey Lester's rank of life, and the rational expenses +of that day) a very competent and respectable fortune. Unhappily, +however, the lady was neither handsome in feature nor gentle in temper; +and, after a few years of quarrel and contest, the faithless husband, one +bright morning, having collected in his proper person whatever remained +of their fortune, absconded from the conjugal hearth without either +warning or farewell. He left nothing to his wife but his house, his +debts, and his only child, a son. From that time to the present little +had been known, though much had been conjectured, concerning the +deserter. For the first few years they traced, however, so far of his +fate as to learn that he had been seen once in India; and that previously +he had been met in England by a relation, under the disguise of assumed +names: a proof that whatever his occupations, they could scarcely be very +respectable. But, of late, nothing whatsoever relating to the wanderer +had transpired. By some he was imagined dead; by most he was forgotten. +Those more immediately connected with him--his brother in especial, +cherished a secret belief, that wherever Geoffrey Lester should chance to +alight, the manner of alighting would (to use the significant and homely +metaphor) be always on his legs; and coupling the wonted luck of the +scapegrace with the fact of his having been seen in India, Rowland, in +his heart, not only hoped, but fully expected, that the lost one would, +some day or other, return home laden with the spoils of the East, and +eager to shower upon his relatives, in recompense of long desertion, + +"With richest hand ... barbaric pearl and gold." + +But we must return to the forsaken spouse.--Left in this abrupt +destitution and distress, Mrs. Lester had only the resource of applying +to her brother-in-law, whom indeed the fugitive had before seized many +opportunities of not leaving wholly unprepared for such an application. +Rowland promptly and generously obeyed the summons: he took the child and +the wife to his own home,--he freed the latter from the persecution of +all legal claimants,--and, after selling such effects as remained, he +devoted the whole proceeds to the forsaken family, without regarding his +own expenses on their behalf, ill as he was able to afford the luxury of +that self-neglect. The wife did not long need the asylum of his hearth,-- +she, poor lady, died of a slow fever produced by irritation and +disappointment, a few months after Geoffrey's desertion. She had no need +to recommend her children to their kindhearted uncle's care. And now we +must glance over the elder brother's domestic fortunes. + +In Rowland, the wild dispositions of his brother were so far tamed, that +they assumed only the character of a buoyant temper and a gay spirit. He +had strong principles as well as warm feelings, and a fine and resolute +sense of honour utterly impervious to attack. It was impossible to be in +his company an hour and not see that he was a man to be respected. It was +equally impossible to live with him a week and not see that he was a man +to be beloved. He also had married, and about a year after that era in +the life of his brother, but not for the same advantage of fortune. He +had formed an attachment to the portionlesss daughter of a man in his own +neighbourhood and of his own rank. He wooed and won her, and for a few +years he enjoyed that greatest happiness which the world is capable of +bestowing--the society and the love of one in whom we could wish for no +change, and beyond whom we have no desire. But what Evil cannot corrupt +Fate seldom spares. A few months after the birth of a second daughter the +young wife of Rowland Lester died. It was to a widowed hearth that the +wife and child of his brother came for shelter. Rowland was a man of an +affectionate and warm heart: if the blow did not crush, at least it +changed him. Naturally of a cheerful and ardent disposition, his mood now +became soberized and sedate. He shrunk from the rural gaieties and +companionship he had before courted and enlivened, and, for the first +time in his life, the mourner felt the holiness of solitude. As his +nephew and his motherless daughters grew up, they gave an object to his +seclusion and a relief to his reflections. He found a pure and unfailing +delight in watching the growth of their young minds, and guiding their +differing dispositions; and, as time at length enabled the to return his +affection, and appreciate his cares, he became once more sensible that he +had a HOME. + +The elder of his daughters, Madeline, at the time our story opens, had +attained the age of eighteen. She was the beauty and the boast of the +whole country. Above the ordinary height, her figure was richly and +exquisitely formed. So translucently pure and soft was her complexion, +that it might have seemed the token of delicate health, but for the dewy +and exceeding redness of her lips, and the freshness of teeth whiter than +pearls. Her eyes of a deep blue, wore a thoughtful and serene expression, +and her forehead, higher and broader than it usually is in women, gave +promise of a certain nobleness of intellect, and added dignity, but a +feminine dignity, to the more tender characteristics of her beauty. And +indeed, the peculiar tone of Madeline's mind fulfilled the indication of +her features, and was eminently thoughtful and high-wrought. She had +early testified a remarkable love for study, and not only a desire for +knowledge, but a veneration for those who possessed it. The remote corner +of the county in which they lived, and the rarely broken seclusion which +Lester habitually preserved from the intercourse of their few and +scattered neighbours, had naturally cast each member of the little circle +upon his or her own resources. An accident, some five years ago, had +confined Madeline for several weeks or rather months to the house; and as +the old hall possessed a very respectable share of books, she had then +matured and confirmed that love to reading and reflection, which she had +at a yet earlier period prematurely evinced. The woman's tendency to +romance naturally tinctured her meditations, and thus, while they +dignified, they also softened her mind. Her sister Ellinor, younger by +two years, was of a character equally gentle, but less elevated. She +looked up to her sister as a superior being. She felt pride without a +shadow of envy, at her superior and surpassing beauty; and was +unconsciously guided in her pursuits and predilections, by a mind she +cheerfully acknowledged to be loftier than her own. And yet Ellinor had +also her pretensions to personal loveliness, and pretensions perhaps that +would be less reluctantly acknowledged by her own sex than those of her +sister. The sunlight of a happy and innocent heart sparkled on her face, +and gave a beam it gladdened you to behold, to her quick hazel eye, and a +smile that broke out from a thousand dimples. She did not possess the +height of Madeline, and though not so slender as to be curtailed of the +roundness and feminine luxuriance of beauty, her shape was slighter, +feebler, and less rich in its symmetry than her sister's. And this the +tendency of the physical frame to require elsewhere support, nor to feel +secure of strength, influenced perhaps her mind, and made love, and the +dependence of love, more necessary to her than to the thoughtful and +lofty Madeline. The latter might pass through life, and never see the one +to whom her heart could give itself away. But every village might possess +a hero whom the imagination of Ellinor could clothe with unreal graces, +and to whom the lovingness of her disposition might bias her affections. +Both, however, eminently possessed that earnestness and purity of heart, +which would have made them, perhaps in an equal degree, constant and +devoted to the object of an attachment, once formed, in defiance of +change and to the brink of death. + +Their cousin Walter, Geoffrey Lester's son, was now in his twenty-first +year; tall and strong of person, and with a face, if not regularly +handsome, striking enough to be generally deemed so. High-spirited, bold, +fiery, impatient; jealous of the affections of those he loved; cheerful +to outward seeming, but restless, fond of change, and subject to the +melancholy and pining mood common to young and ardent minds: such was the +character of Walter Lester. The estates of Lester were settled in the +male line, and devolved therefore upon him. Yet there were moments when +he keenly felt his orphan and deserted situation; and sighed to think, +that while his father perhaps yet lived, he was a dependent for +affection, if not for maintenance, on the kindness of others. This +reflection sometimes gave an air of sullenness or petulance to his +character, that did not really belong to it. For what in the world makes +a man of just pride appear so unamiable as the sense of dependence? + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + A PUBLICAN, A SINNER, AND A STRANGER + +"Ah, Don Alphonso, is it you? Agreeable accident! Chance presents you to +my eyes where you were least expected." Gil Blas. + +It was an evening in the beginning of summer, and Peter Dealtry and the +ci-devant Corporal sate beneath the sign of The Spotted Dog (as it hung +motionless from the bough of a friendly elm), quaffing a cup of boon +companionship. The reader will imagine the two men very different from +each other in form and aspect; the one short, dry, fragile, and betraying +a love of ease in his unbuttoned vest, and a certain lolling, see-sawing +method of balancing his body upon his chair; the other, erect and solemn, +and as steady on his seat as if he were nailed to it. It was a fine, +tranquil balmy evening; the sun had just set, and the clouds still +retained the rosy tints which they had caught from his parting ray. Here +and there, at scattered intervals, you might see the cottages peeping +from the trees around them; or mark the smoke that rose from their roofs- +-roofs green with mosses and house-leek,--in graceful and spiral curls +against the clear soft air. It was an English scene, and the two men, the +dog at their feet, (for Peter Dealtry favoured a wirey stone-coloured +cur, which he called a terrier,) and just at the door of the little inn, +two old gossips, loitering on the threshold in familiar chat with the +landlady, in cap and kerchief,--all together made a groupe equally +English, and somewhat picturesque, though homely enough, in effect. + +"Well, now," said Peter Dealtry, as he pushed the brown jug towards the +Corporal, "this is what I call pleasant; it puts me in mind--" + +"Of what?" quoth the Corporal. + +"Of those nice lines in the hymn, Master Bunting. + + 'How fair ye are, ye little hills, + Ye little fields also; + Ye murmuring streams that sweetly run; + Ye willows in a row!' + +"There is something very comfortable in sacred verses, Master Bunting; but +you're a scoffer." + +"Psha, man!" said the Corporal, throwing out his right leg and leaning +back, with his eyes half-shut, and his chin protruded, as he took an +unusually long inhalation from his pipe; "Psha, man!--send verses to the +right-about--fit for girls going to school of a Sunday; full-grown men +more up to snuff. I've seen the world, Master Dealtry;--the world, and be +damned to you!--augh!" + +"Fie, neighbour, fie! What's the good of profaneness, evil speaking and +slandering?-- + + 'Oaths are the debts your spendthrift soul must pay; + All scores are chalked against the reckoning day.' + Just wait a bit, neighbour; wait till I light my pipe." + + +"Tell you what," said the Corporal, after he had communicated from his +own pipe the friendly flame to his comrade's; "tell you what--talk +nonsense; the commander-in-chief's no Martinet--if we're all right in +action, he'll wink at a slip word or two. Come, no humbug--hold jaw. D'ye +think God would sooner have snivelling fellow like you in his regiment, +than a man like me, clean limbed, straight as a dart, six feet one +without his shoes!--baugh!" + +This notion of the Corporal's, by which he would have likened the +dominion of Heaven to the King of Prussia's body-guard, and only admitted +the elect on account of their inches, so tickled mine host's fancy, that +he leaned back in his chair, and indulged in a long, dry, obstreperous +cachinnation. This irreverence mightily displeased the Corporal. He +looked at the little man very sourly, and said in his least smooth +accentuation:-- + +"What--devil--cackling at?--always grin, grin, grin--giggle, giggle, +giggle--psha!" + +"Why really, neighbour," said Peter, composing himself, "you must let a +man laugh now and then." + +"Man!" said the Corporal; "man's a noble animal! Man's a musquet, primed, +loaded, ready to supply a friend or kill a foe--charge not to be wasted +on every tom-tit. But you! not a musquet, but a cracker! noisy, +harmless,--can't touch you, but off you go, whizz, pop, bang in one's +face!--baugh!" + +"Well!" said the good-humoured landlord, "I should think Master Aram, the +great scholar who lives down the vale yonder, a man quite after your own +heart. He is grave enough to suit you. He does not laugh very easily, I +fancy." + +"After my heart? Stoops like a bow!" + +"Indeed he does look on the ground as he walks; when I think, I do the +same. But what a marvellous man it is! I hear, that he reads the Psalms +in Hebrew. He's very affable and meek-like for such a scholard." + +"Tell you what. Seen the world, Master Dealtry, and know a thing or two. +Your shy dog is always a deep one. Give me a man who looks me in the face +as he would a cannon!" + +"Or a lass," said Peter knowingly. + +The grim Corporal smiled. + +"Talking of lasses," said the soldier, re-filling his pipe, "what +creature Miss Lester is! Such eyes!--such nose! Fit for a colonel, by +God! ay, or a major-general!" + +"For my part, I think Miss Ellinor almost as handsome; not so grand-like, +but more lovesome!" + +"Nice little thing!" said the Corporal, condescendingly. "But, zooks! +whom have we here?" + +This last question was applied to a man who was slowly turning from the +road towards the inn. The stranger, for such he was, was stout, thick- +set, and of middle height. His dress was not without pretension to a rank +higher than the lowest; but it was threadbare and worn, and soiled with +dust and travel. His appearance was by no means prepossessing; small +sunken eyes of a light hazel and a restless and rather fierce expression, +a thick flat nose, high cheekbones, a large bony jaw, from which the +flesh receded, and a bull throat indicative of great strength, +constituted his claims to personal attraction. The stately Corporal, +without moving, kept a vigilant and suspicious eye upon the new comer, +muttering to Peter,--"Customer for you; rum customer too--by Gad!" + +The stranger now reached the little table, and halting short, took up the +brown jug, without ceremony or preface, and emptied it at a draught. + +The Corporal stared--the Corporal frowned; but before--for he was +somewhat slow of speech--he had time to vent his displeasure, the +stranger, wiping his mouth across his sleeve, said, in rather a civil and +apologetic tone, + +"I beg pardon, gentlemen. I have had a long march of it, and very tired I +am." + +"Humph! march," said the Corporal a little appeased, "Not in his +Majesty's service--eh?" + +"Not now," answered the Traveller; then, turning round to Dealtry, he +said: "Are you landlord here?" + +"At your service," said Peter, with the indifference of a man well to do, +and not ambitious of halfpence. + +"Come, then, quick--budge," said the Traveller, tapping him on the back: +"bring more glasses--another jug of the October; and any thing or every +thing your larder is able to produce--d'ye hear?" + +Peter, by no means pleased with the briskness of this address, eyed the +dusty and way-worn pedestrian from head to foot; then, looking over his +shoulder towards the door, he said, as he ensconced himself yet more +firmly on his seat-- + +"There's my wife by the door, friend; go, tell her what you want." + +"Do you know," said the Traveller, in a slow and measured accent--"Do you +know, master Shrivel-face, that I have more than half a mind to break +your head for impertinence. You a landlord!--you keep an inn, indeed! +Come, Sir, make off, or--" + +"Corporal!--Corporal!" cried Peter, retreating hastily from his seat as +the brawny Traveller approached menacingly towards him--"You won't see +the peace broken. Have a care, friend--have a care I'm clerk to the +parish--clerk to the parish, Sir--and I'll indict you for sacrilege." + +The wooden features of Bunting relaxed into a sort of grin at the alarm +of his friend. He puffed away, without making any reply; meanwhile the +Traveller, taking advantage of Peter's hasty abandonment of his +cathedrarian accommodation, seized the vacant chair, and drawing it yet +closer to the table, flung himself upon it, and placing his hat on the +table, wiped his brows with the air of a man about to make himself +thoroughly at home. + +Peter Dealtry was assuredly a personage of peaceable disposition; but +then he had the proper pride of a host and a clerk. His feeling were +exceedingly wounded at this cavalier treatment--before the very eyes of +his wife too--what an example! He thrust his hands deep into his breeches +pockets, and strutting with a ferocious swagger towards the Traveller, he +said:-- + +"Harkye, sirrah! This is not the way folks are treated in this country: +and I'd have you to know, that I'm a man what has a brother a constable." + +"Well, Sir!" + +"Well, Sir, indeed! Well!--Sir, it's not well, by no manner of means; and +if you don't pay for the ale you drank, and go quietly about your +business, I'll have you put in the stocks for a vagrant." + +This, the most menacing speech Peter Dealtry was ever known to deliver, +was uttered with so much spirit, that the Corporal, who had hitherto +preserved silence--for he was too strict a disciplinarian to thrust +himself unnecessarily into brawls,--turned approvingly round, and +nodding as well as his stock would suffer him at the indignant Peter, he +said: "Well done! 'fegs--you've a soul, man!--a soul fit for the forty- +second! augh!--A soul above the inches of five feet two!" + +There was something bitter and sneering in the Traveller's aspect as he +now, regarding Dealtry, repeated-- + +"Vagrant--humph! And pray what is a vagrant?" + +"What is a vagrant?" echoed Peter, a little puzzled. + +"Yes! answer me that." + +"Why, a vagrant is a man what wanders, and what has no money." + +"Truly," said the stranger smiling, but the smile by no means improved +his physiognomy, "an excellent definition, but one which, I will convince +you, does not apply to me." So saying, he drew from his pocket a handful +of silver coins, and, throwing them on the table, added: "Come, let's +have no more of this. You see I can pay for what I order; and now, do +recollect that I am a weary and hungry man." + +No sooner did Peter behold the money, than a sudden placidity stole over +his ruffled spirit:--nay, a certain benevolent commiseration for the +fatigue and wants of the Traveller replaced at once, and as by a spell, +the angry feelings that had previously roused him. + +"Weary and hungry," said he; "why did not you say that before? That would +have been quite enough for Peter Dealtry. Thank God! I am a man what can +feel for my neighbours. I have bowels--yes, I have bowels. Weary and +hungry!--you shall be served in an instant. I may be a little hasty or +so, but I'm a good Christian at bottom--ask the Corporal. And what says +the Psalmist, Psalm 147?-- + + 'By Him, the beasts that loosely range + With timely food are fed: + He speaks the word--and what He wills + Is done as soon as said.'" + + +Animating his kindly emotions by this apt quotation, Peter turned to the +house. The Corporal now broke silence: the sight of the money had not +been without an effect upon him as well as the landlord. + +"Warm day, Sir:--your health. Oh! forgot you emptied jug--baugh! You said +you were not now in his Majesty's service: beg pardon--were you ever?" + +"Why, once I was; many years ago." + +"Ah!--and what regiment? I was in the forty-second. Heard of the forty- +second? Colonel's name, Dysart; captain's, Trotter; corporal's, Bunting, +at your service." + +"I am much obliged by your confidence," said the Traveller drily. "I dare +say you have seen much service." + +"Service! Ah! may well say that;--twenty-three years' hard work: and not +the better for it! A man that loves his country is 'titled to a pension-- +that's my mind!--but the world don't smile upon corporals--augh!" + +Here Peter re-appeared with a fresh supply of the October, and an +assurance that the cold meat would speedily follow. + +"I hope yourself and this gentleman will bear me company," said the +Traveller, passing the jug to the Corporal; and in a few moments, so well +pleased grew the trio with each other, that the sound of their laughter +came loud and frequent to the ears of the good housewife within. + +The traveller now seemed to the Corporal and mine host a right jolly, +good-humoured fellow. Not, however, that he bore a fair share in the +conversation--he rather promoted the hilarity of his new acquaintances +than led it. He laughed heartily at Peter's jests, and the Corporal's +repartees; and the latter, by degrees, assuming the usual sway he bore in +the circle of the village, contrived, before the viands were on the +table, to monopolize the whole conversation. + +The Traveller found in the repast a new excuse for silence. He ate with a +most prodigious and most contagious appetite; and in a few seconds the +knife and fork of the Corporal were as busily engaged as if he had only +three minutes to spare between a march and a dinner. + +"This is a pretty, retired spot," quoth the Traveller, as at length he +finished his repast, and threw himself back on his chair--a very pretty +spot. Whose neat old-fashioned house was that I passed on the green, with +the gable-ends and the flower-plots in front? + +"Oh, the Squire's," answered Peter; "Squire Lester's an excellent +gentleman." + +"A rich man, I should think, for these parts; the best house I have seen +for some miles," said the Stranger carelessly. + +"Rich--yes, he's well to do; he does not live so as not to have money to +lay by." + +"Any family?" + +"Two daughters and a nephew." + +"And the nephew does not ruin him. Happy uncle! Mine was not so lucky," +said the Traveller. + +"Sad fellows we soldiers in our young days!" observed the Corporal with a +wink. "No, Squire Walter's a good young man, a pride to his uncle!" + +"So," said the pedestrian, "they are not forced to keep up a large +establishment and ruin themselves by a retinue of servants?--Corporal, +the jug." + +"Nay!" said Peter, "Squire Lester's gate is always open to the poor; but +as for shew, he leaves that to my lord at the castle." + +"The castle, where's that?" + +"About six miles off, you've heard of my Lord--, I'll swear." + +"Ah, to be sure, a courtier. But who else lives about here? I mean, who +are the principal persons, barring the Corporal and yourself, Mr. Eelpry- +-I think our friend here calls you." + +"Dealtry, Peter Dealtry, Sir, is my name.--Why the most noticeable man, +you must know, is a great scholard, a wonderfully learned man; there +yonder, you may just catch a glimpse of the tall what-d'ye-call-it he has +built out on the top of his house, that he may get nearer to the stars. +He has got glasses by which I've heard that you may see the people in the +moon walking on their heads; but I can't say as I believe all I hear." + +"You are too sensible for that, I'm sure. But this scholar, I suppose, is +not very rich; learning does not clothe men now-a-days--eh, Corporal?" + +"And why should it? Zounds! can it teach a man how to defend his country? +Old England wants soldiers, and be d--d to them! But the man's well +enough, I must own, civil, modest--" + +"And not by no means a beggar," added Peter; "he gave as much to the poor +last winter as the Squire himself." + +"Indeed!" said the Stranger, "this scholar is rich then?" + +"So, so; neither one nor t'other. But if he were as rich as my lord, he +could not be more respected; the greatest folks in the country come in +their carriages and four to see him. Lord bless you, there is not a name +more talked on in the whole county than Eugene Aram." + +"What!" cried the Traveller, his countenance changing as he sprung from +his seat; "what!--Aram!--did you say Aram? Great God! how strange!" + +Peter, not a little startled by the abruptness and vehemence of his +guest, stared at him with open mouth, and even the Corporal took his pipe +involuntarily from his lips. + +"What!" said the former, "you know him, do you? you've heard of him, eh?" + +The Stranger did not reply, he seemed lost in a reverie; he muttered +inaudible words between his teeth; now he strode two steps forward, +clenching his hands; now smiled grimly; and then returning to his seat, +threw himself on it, still in silence. The soldier and the clerk +exchanged looks, and now outspake the Corporal. + +"Rum tantrums! What the devil, did the man eat your grandmother?" + +Roused perhaps by so pertinent and sensible a question, the Stranger +lifted his head from his breast, and said with a forced smile, "You have +done me, without knowing it, a great kindness, my friend. Eugene Aram was +an early and intimate acquaintance of mine: we have not met for many +years. I never guessed that he lived in these parts: indeed I did not +know where he resided. I am truly glad to think I have lighted upon him +thus unexpectedly." + +"What! you did not know where he lived? Well! I thought all the world +knew that! Why, men from the univarsities have come all the way, merely +to look at the spot." + +"Very likely," returned the Stranger; "but I am not a learned man myself, +and what is celebrity in one set is obscurity in another. Besides, I have +never been in this part of the world before!" + +Peter was about to reply, when he heard the shrill voice of his wife +behind. + +"Why don't you rise, Mr. Lazyboots? Where are your eyes? Don't you see +the young ladies." + +Dealtry's hat was off in an instant,--the stiff Corporal rose like a +musquet; the Stranger would have kept his seat, but Dealtry gave him an +admonitory tug by the collar; accordingly he rose, muttering a hasty +oath, which certainly died on his lips when he saw the cause which had +thus constrained him into courtesy. + +Through a little gate close by Peter's house Madeline and her sister had +just passed on their evening walk, and with the kind familiarity for +which they were both noted, they had stopped to salute the landlady of +the Spotted Dog, as she now, her labours done, sat by the threshold, +within hearing of the convivial group, and plaiting straw. The whole +family of Lester were so beloved, that we question whether my Lord +himself, as the great nobleman of the place was always called, (as if +there were only one lord in the peerage,) would have obtained the same +degree of respect that was always lavished upon them. + +"Don't let us disturb you, good people," said Ellinor, as they now moved +towards the boon companions, when her eye suddenly falling on the +Stranger, she stopped short. There was something in his appearance, and +especially in the expression of his countenance at that moment, which no +one could have marked for the first time without apprehension and +distrust: and it was so seldom that, in that retired spot, the young +ladies encountered even one unfamiliar face, that the effect the +stranger's appearance might have produced on any one, might well be +increased for them to a startling and painful degree. The Traveller saw +at once the sensation he had created: his brow lowered; and the same +unpleasing smile, or rather sneer, that we have noted before, distorted +his lip, as he made with affected humility his obeisance. + +"How!--a stranger!" said Madeline, sharing, though in a less degree, the +feelings of her sister; and then, after a pause, she said, as she glanced +over his garb, "not in distress, I hope." + +"No, Madam!" said the stranger, "if by distress is meant beggary. I am in +all respects perhaps better than I seem." + +There was a general titter from the Corporal, my host, and his wife, at +the Traveller's semi-jest at his own unprepossessing appearance: but +Madeline, a little disconcerted, bowed hastily, and drew her sister away. + +"A proud quean!" said the Stranger, as he re-seated himself, and watched +the sisters gliding across the green. + +All mouths were opened against him immediately. He found it no easy +matter to make his peace; and before he had quite done it, he called for +his bill, and rose to depart. + +"Well!" said he, as he tendered his hand to the Corporal, "we may meet +again, and enjoy together some more of your good stories. Meanwhile, +which is my way to this--this--this famous scholar's--Ehem?" + +"Why," quoth Peter, "you saw the direction in which the young ladies +went; you must take the same. Cross the stile you will find at the right +--wind along the foot of the hill for about three parts of a mile, and +you will then see in the middle of a broad plain, a lonely grey house +with a thingumebob at the top; a servatory they call it. That's Master +Aram's." + +"Thank you." + +"And a very pretty walk it is too," said the Dame, "the prettiest +hereabouts to my liking, till you get to the house at least; and so the +young ladies think, for it's their usual walk every evening!" + +"Humph,--then I may meet them." + +"Well, and if you do, make yourself look as Christian-like as you can," +retorted the hostess. + +There was a second grin at the ill-favoured Traveller's expense, amidst +which he went his way. + +"An odd chap!" said Peter, looking after the sturdy form of the +Traveller. "I wonder what he is; he seems well edicated--makes use of +good words." + +"What sinnifies?" said the Corporal, who felt a sort of fellow-feeling +for his new acquaintance's brusquerie of manner;--"what sinnifies what he +is. Served his country,--that's enough;--never told me, by the by, his +regiment;--set me a talking, and let out nothing himself;--old soldier +every inch of him!" + +"He can take care of number one," said Peter. "How he emptied the jug; +and my stars! what an appetite!" + +"Tush," said the Corporal, "hold jaw. Man of the world--man of the +world,--that's clear." + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + A DIALOGUE AND AN ALARM.--A STUDENT'S HOUSE. + + "A fellow by the hand of Nature marked, + Quoted, and signed, to do a deed of shame." + --Shakspeare.--King John. + + + "He is a scholar, if a man may trust + The liberal voice of Fame, in her report. + Myself was once a student, and indeed + Fed with the self-same humour he is now." + --Ben Jonson.--Every Man in his Humour. + +The two sisters pursued their walk along a scene which might well be +favoured by their selection. No sooner had they crossed the stile, than +the village seemed vanished into earth; so quiet, so lonely, so far from +the evidence of life was the landscape through which they passed. On +their right, sloped a green and silent hill, shutting out all view beyond +itself, save the deepening and twilight sky; to the left, and immediately +along their road lay fragments of stone, covered with moss, or shadowed +by wild shrubs, that here and there, gathered into copses, or breaking +abruptly away from the rich sod, left frequent spaces through which you +caught long vistas of forestland, or the brooklet gliding in a noisy and +rocky course, and breaking into a thousand tiny waterfalls, or mimic +eddies. So secluded was the scene, and so unwitnessing of cultivation, +that you would not have believed that a human habitation could be at +hand, and this air of perfect solitude and quiet gave an additional charm +to the spot. + +"But I assure you," said Ellinor, earnestly continuing a conversation +they had begun, "I assure you I was not mistaken, I saw it as plainly as +I see you." + +"What, in the breast pocket?" + +"Yes, as he drew out his handkerchief, I saw the barrel of the pistol +quite distinctly." + +"Indeed, I think we had better tell my father as soon as we get home; it +may be as well to be on our guard, though robbery, I believe, has not +been heard of in Grassdale for these twenty years." + +"Yet for what purpose, save that of evil, could he in these peaceable +times and this peaceable country, carry fire arms about him. And what a +countenance! Did you note the shy, and yet ferocious eye, like that of +some animal, that longs, yet fears to spring upon you." + +"Upon my word, Ellinor," said Madeline, smiling, "you are not very +merciful to strangers. After all, the man might have provided himself +with the pistol which you saw as a natural precaution; reflect that, as a +stranger, he may well not know how safe this district usually is, and he +may have come from London, in the neighbourhood of which they say +robberies have been frequent of late. As to his looks, they are I own +unpardonable; for so much ugliness there can be no excuse. Had the man +been as handsome as our cousin Walter, you would not perhaps have been so +uncharitable in your fears at the pistol." + +"Nonsense, Madeline," said Ellinor, blushing, and turning away her face;- +-there was a moment's pause, which the younger sister broke. + +"We do not seem," said she, "to make much progress in the friendship of +our singular neighbour. I never knew my father court any one so much as +he has courted Mr. Aram, and yet, you see how seldom he calls upon us; +nay, I often think that he seeks to shun us; no great compliment to our +attractions, Madeline." + +"I regret his want of sociability, for his own sake," said Madeline, "for +he seems melancholy as well as thoughtful, and he leads so secluded a +life, that I cannot but think my father's conversation and society, if he +would but encourage it, might afford some relief to his solitude." + +"And he always seems," observed Ellinor, "to take pleasure in my father's +conversation, as who would not? how his countenance lights up when he +converses! it is a pleasure to watch it. I think him positively handsome +when he speaks." + +"Oh, more than handsome!" said Madeline, with enthusiasm, "with that +high, pale brow, and those deep, unfathomable eyes!" + +Ellinor smiled, and it was now Madeline's turn to blush. + +"Well," said the former, "there is something about him that fills one +with an indescribable interest; and his manner, if cold at times, is yet +always so gentle." + +"And to hear him converse," said Madeline, "it is like music. His +thoughts, his very words, seem so different from the language and ideas +of others. What a pity that he should ever be silent!" + +"There is one peculiarity about his gloom, it never inspires one with +distrust," said Ellinor; "if I had observed him in the same circumstances +as that ill-omened traveller, I should have had no apprehension." + +"Ah! that traveller still runs in your head. If we were to meet him in +this spot." + +"Heaven forbid!" cried Ellinor, turning hastily round in alarm--and, lo! +as if her sister had been a prophet, she saw the very person in question +at some little distance behind them, and walking on with rapid strides. + +She uttered a faint shriek of surprise and terror, and Madeline, looking +back at the sound, immediately participated in her alarm. The spot looked +so desolate and lonely, and the imagination of both had been already so +worked upon by Ellinor's fears, and their conjectures respecting the ill- +boding weapon she had witnessed, that a thousand apprehensions of outrage +and murder crowded at once upon the minds of the two sisters. Without, +however, giving vent in words to their alarm, they, as by an involuntary +and simultaneous suggestion, quickened their pace, every moment stealing +a glance behind, to watch the progress of the suspected robber. They +thought that he also seemed to accelerate his movements; and this +observation increased their terror, and would appear indeed to give it +some more rational ground. At length, as by a sudden turn of the road +they lost sight of the dreaded stranger, their alarm suggested to them +but one resolution, and they fairly fled on as fast as the fear which +actuated, would allow, them. The nearest, and indeed the only house in +that direction, was Aram's, but they both imagined if they could come +within sight of that, they should be safe. They looked back at every +interval; now they did not see their fancied pursuer--now he emerged +again into view--now--yes--he also was running. + +"Faster, faster, Madeline, for God's sake! he is gaining upon us!" cried +Ellinor: the path grew more wild, and the trees more thick and frequent; +at every cluster that marked their progress they saw the Stranger closer +and closer; at length, a sudden break,--a sudden turn in the landscape;-- +a broad plain burst upon them, and in the midst of it the Student's +solitary abode! + +"Thank God, we are safe!" cried Madeline. She turned once more to look +for the Stranger; in so doing, her foot struck against a fragment of +stone, and she fell with great violence to the ground. She endeavoured to +rise, but found herself, at first, unable to stir from the spot. In this +state she looked, however, back, and saw the Traveller at some little +distance. But he also halted, and after a moment's seeming deliberation, +turned aside, and was lost among the bushes. + +With great difficulty Ellinor now assisted Madeline to rise; her ancle +was violently sprained, and she could not put her foot to the ground; but +though she had evinced so much dread at the apparition of the stranger, +she now testified an almost equal degree of fortitude in bearing pain. + +"I am not much hurt, Ellinor," she said, faintly smiling, to encourage +her sister, who supported her in speechless alarm: "but what is to be +done? I cannot use this foot; how shall we get home?" + +"Thank God, if you are not much hurt!" said poor Ellinor, almost crying, +"lean on me--heavier--pray. Only try and reach the house, and we can +then stay there till Mr. Aram sends home for the carriage." + +"But what will he think? how strange it will seem!" said Madeline, the +colour once more visiting her cheek, which a moment since had been +blanched as pale as death. + +"Is this a time for scruples and ceremony?" said Ellinor. "Come! I +entreat you, come; if you linger thus, the man may take courage and +attack us yet. There! that's right! Is the pain very great?" + +"I do not mind the pain," murmered Madeline; "but if he should think we +intrude? His habits are so reserved--so secluded; indeed I fear--" + +"Intrude!" interrupted Ellinor. "Do you think so ill of him?--Do you +suppose that, hermit as he is, he has lost common humanity? But lean more +on me, dearest; you do not know how strong I am!" + +Thus alternately chiding, caressing, and encouraging her sister, Ellinor +led on the sufferer, till they had crossed the plain, though with +slowness and labour, and stood before the porch of the Recluse's house. +They had looked back from time to time, but the cause of so much alarm +appeared no more. This they deemed a sufficient evidence of the justice +of their apprehensions. + +Madeline would even now fain have detained her sister's hand from the +bell that hung without the porch half imbedded in ivy; but Ellinor, out +of patience--as she well might be--with her sister's unseasonable +prudence, refused any longer delay. So singularly still and solitary was +the plain around the house, that the sound of the bell breaking the +silence, had in it something startling, and appeared in its sudden and +shrill voice, a profanation to the deep tranquillity of the spot. They +did not wait long--a step was heard within--the door was slowly unbarred, +and the Student himself stood before them. + +He was a man who might, perhaps, have numbered some five and thirty +years; but at a hasty glance, he would have seemed considerably younger. +He was above the ordinary stature; though a gentle, and not ungraceful +bend in the neck rather than the shoulders, somewhat curtailed his proper +advantages of height. His frame was thin and slender, but well knit and +fair proportioned. Nature had originally cast his form in an athletic +mould; but sedentary habits, and the wear of mind, seemed somewhat to +have impaired her gifts. His cheek was pale and delicate; yet it was +rather the delicacy of thought than of weak health. His hair, which was +long, and of a rich and deep brown, was worn back from his face and +temples, and left a broad high majestic forehead utterly unrelieved and +bare; and on the brow there was not a single wrinkle, it was as smooth as +it might have been some fifteen years ago. There was a singular calmness, +and, so to speak, profundity, of thought, eloquent upon its clear +expanse, which suggested the idea of one who had passed his life rather +in contemplation than emotion. It was a face that a physiognomist would +have loved to look upon, so much did it speak both of the refinement and +the dignity of intellect. + +Such was the person--if pictures convey a faithful resemblance--of a man, +certainly the most eminent in his day for various and profound learning, +and a genius wholly self-taught, yet never contented to repose upon the +wonderful stores it had laboriously accumulated. + +He now stood before the two girls, silent, and evidently surprised; and +it would scarce have been an unworthy subject for a picture--that ivied +porch--that still spot--Madeline's reclining and subdued form and +downcast eyes--the eager face of Ellinor, about to narrate the nature and +cause of their intrusion--and the pale Student himself, thus suddenly +aroused from his solitary meditations, and converted into the protector +of beauty. + +No sooner did Aram gather from Ellinor the outline of their story, and of +Madeline's accident, than his countenance and manner testified the +liveliest and most eager sympathy. Madeline was inexpressibly touched and +surprised at the kindly and respectful earnestness with which this +recluse scholar--usually so cold and abstracted in mood--assisted and led +her into the house: the sympathy he expressed for her pain--the sincerity +of his tone--the compassion of his eyes--and as those dark--and to use +her own thought--unfathomable orbs bent admiringly and yet so gently upon +her, Madeline, even in spite of her pain, felt an indescribable, a +delicious thrill at her heart, which in the presence of no one else had +she ever experienced before. + +Aram now summoned the only domestic his house possessed, who appeared in +the form of an old woman, whom he seemed to have selected from the whole +neighbourhood as the person most in keeping with the rigid seclusion he +preserved. She was exceedingly deaf, and was a proverb in the village for +her extreme taciturnity. Poor old Margaret; she was a widow, and had lost +ten children by early deaths. There was a time when her gaiety had been +as noticeable as her reserve was now. In spite of her infirmity, she was +not slow in comprehending the accident Madeline had met with; and she +busied herself with a promptness that shewed her misfortunes had not +deadened her natural kindness of disposition, in preparing fomentations +and bandages for the wounded foot. + +Meanwhile Aram, having no person to send in his stead, undertook to seek +the manor-house, and bring back the old family coach, which had dozed +inactively in its shelter for the last six months, to convey the sufferer +home. + +"No, Mr. Aram," said Madeline, colouring; "pray do not go yourself: +consider, the man may still be loitering on the road. He is armed--good +Heavens, if he should meet you!" + +"Fear not, Madam," said Aram, with a faint smile. "I also keep arms, even +in this obscure and safe retreat; and to satisfy you, I will not neglect +to carry them with me." + +"As he spoke, he took from the wainscoat, from which they hung, a brace +of large horse pistols, slung them round him by a leather belt, and +flinging over his person, to conceal weapons so alarming to any less +dangerous passenger he might encounter, the long cloak then usually worn +in inclement seasons, as an outer garment, he turned to depart. + +"But are they loaded?" asked Ellinor. + +Aram answered briefly, in the affirmative. It was somewhat singular, but +the sisters did not then remark it, that a man so peaceable in his +pursuits, and seemingly possessed of no valuables that could tempt +cupidity, should in that spot, where crime was never heard of, use such +habitual precaution. + +When the door closed upon him, and while the old woman, relieved with a +light hand and soothing lotions, which she had shewn some skill in +preparing, the anguish of the sprain, Madeline cast glances of interest +and curiosity around the apartment into which she had had the rare good +fortune to obtain admittance. + +The house had belonged to a family of some note, whose heirs had +outstripped their fortunes. It had been long deserted and uninhabited; +and when Aram settled in those parts, the proprietor was too glad to get +rid of the incumbrance of an empty house, at a nominal rent. The solitude +of the place had been the main attraction to Aram; and as he possessed +what would be considered a very extensive assortment of books, even for a +library of these days, he required a larger apartment than he would have +been able to obtain in an abode more compact and more suitable to his +fortunes and mode of living. + +The room in which the sisters now found themselves was the most spacious +in the house, and was indeed of considerable dimensions. It contained in +front one large window, jutting from the wall. Opposite was an antique +and high mantelpiece of black oak. The rest of the room was walled from +the floor to the roof with books; volumes of all languages, and it might +even be said, without much exaggeration, upon all sciences, were strewed +around, on the chairs, the tables, or the floor. By the window stood the +Student's desk, and a large old-fashioned chair of oak. A few papers, +filled with astronomical calculations, lay on the desk, and these were +all the witnesses of the result of study. Indeed Aram does not appear to +have been a man much inclined to reproduce the learning he acquired;-- +what he wrote was in very small proportion to what he had read. + +So high and grave was the reputation he had acquired, that the retreat +and sanctum of so many learned hours would have been interesting, even to +one who could not appreciate learning; but to Madeline, with her peculiar +disposition and traits of mind, we may readily conceive that the room +presented a powerful and pleasing charm. As the elder sister looked round +in silence, Ellinor attempted to draw the old woman into conversation. +She would fain have elicited some particulars of the habits and daily +life of the recluse; but the deafness of their attendant was so obstinate +and hopeless, that she was forced to give up the attempt in despair. "I +fear," said she at last, her goodnature so far overcome by impatience as +not to forbid a slight yawn; "I fear we shall have a dull time of it till +my father arrives. Just consider, the fat black mares, never too fast, +can only creep along that broken path,--for road there is none: it will +be quite night before the coach arrives." + +"I am sorry, dear Ellinor, my awkwardness should occasion you so stupid +an evening," answered Madeline. + +"Oh," cried Ellinor, throwing her arms around her sister's neck, "it is +not for myself I spoke; and indeed I am delighted to think we have got +into this wizard's den, and seen the instruments of his art. But I do so +trust Mr. Aram will not meet that terrible man." + +"Nay," said the prouder Madeline, "he is armed, and it is but one man. I +feel too high a respect for him to allow myself much fear." + +"But these bookmen are not often heroes," remarked Ellinor, laughing. + +"For shame," said Madeline, the colour mounting to her forehead. "Do you +not remember how, last summer, Eugene Aram rescued Dame Grenfeld's child +from the bull, though at the literal peril of his own life? And who but +Eugene Aram, when the floods in the year before swept along the low lands +by Fairleigh, went day after day to rescue the persons, or even to save +the goods of those poor people; at a time too, when the boldest villagers +would not hazard themselves across the waters?--But bless me, Ellinor, +what is the matter? you turn pale, you tremble.' + +"Hush!" said Ellinor under her breath, and, putting her finger to her +mouth, she rose and stole lightly to the window; she had observed the +figure of a man pass by, and now, as she gained the window, she saw him +halt by the porch, and recognised the formidable Stranger. Presently the +bell sounded, and the old woman, familiar with its shrill sound, rose +from her kneeling position beside the sufferer to attend to the summons. +Ellinor sprang forward and detained her: the poor old woman stared at her +in amazement, wholly unable to comprehend her abrupt gestures and her +rapid language. It was with considerable difficulty and after repeated +efforts, that she at length impressed the dulled sense of the crone with +the nature of their alarm, and the expediency of refusing admittance to +the Stranger. Meanwhile, the bell had rung again,--again, and the third +time with a prolonged violence which testified the impatience of the +applicant. As soon as the good dame had satisfied herself as to Ellinor's +meaning, she could no longer be accused of unreasonable taciturnity; she +wrung her hands and poured forth a volley of lamentations and fears, +which effectually relieved Ellinor from the dread of her unheeding the +admonition. Satisfied at having done thus much, Ellinor now herself +hastened to the door and secured the ingress with an additional bolt, and +then, as the thought flashed upon her, returned to the old woman and made +her, with an easier effort than before, now that her senses were +sharpened by fear, comprehend the necessity of securing the back entrance +also; both hastened away to effect this precaution, and Madeline, who +herself desired Ellinor to accompany the old woman, was left alone. She +kept her eyes fixed on the window with a strange sentiment of dread at +being thus left in so helpless a situation; and though a door of no +ordinary dimensions and doubly locked interposed between herself and the +intruder, she expected in breathless terror, every instant, to see the +form of the ruffian burst into the apartment. As she thus sat and looked, +she shudderingly saw the man, tired perhaps of repeating a summons so +ineffectual, come to the window and look pryingly within: their eyes met; +Madeline had not the power to shriek. Would he break through the window? +that was her only idea, and it deprived her of words, almost of sense. He +gazed upon her evident terror for a moment with a grim smile of contempt; +he then knocked at the window, and his voice broke harshly on a silence +yet more dreadful than the interruption. + +"Ho, ho! so there is some life stirring! I beg pardon, Madam, is Mr. +Aram--Eugene Aram, within?" + +"No," said Madeline faintly, and then, sensible that her voice did not +reach him, she reiterated the answer in a louder tone. The man, as if +satisfied, made a rude inclination of his head and withdrew from the +window. Ellinor now returned, and with difficulty Madeline found words to +explain to her what had passed. It will be conceived that the two young +ladies watched the arrival of their father with no lukewarm expectation; +the stranger however appeared no more; and in about an hour, to their +inexpressible joy, they heard the rumbling sound of the old coach as it +rolled towards the house. This time there was no delay in unbarring the +door. + + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE SOLILOQUY, AND THE CHARACTER, OF A RECLUSE.--THE + INTERRUPTION. + + + + "Or let my lamp at midnight hour + Be seen in some high lonely tower, + Where I may oft outwatch the Bear, + Or thrice-great Hermes, and unsphere + The spirit of Plato." + --Milton.--Il Penseroso. + +As Aram assisted the beautiful Madeline into the carriage--as he listened +to her sweet voice--as he marked the grateful expression of her soft eyes +--as he felt the slight yet warm pressure of her fairy hand, that vague +sensation of delight which preludes love, for the first time, in his +sterile and solitary life, agitated his breast. Lester held out his hand +to him with a frank cordiality which the scholar could not resist. + +"Do not let us be strangers, Mr. Aram," said he warmly. "It is not often +that I press for companionship out of my own circle; but in your company +I should find pleasure as well as instruction. Let us break the ice +boldly, and at once. Come and dine with me to-morrow, and Ellinor shall +sing to us in the evening." + +The excuse died upon Aram's lips. Another glance at Madeline conquered +the remains of his reserve: he accepted the invitation, and he could not +but mark, with an unfamiliar emotion of the heart, that the eyes of +Madeline sparkled as he did so. + +With an abstracted air, and arms folded across his breast, he gazed after +the carriage till the winding of the valley snatched it from his view. He +then, waking from his reverie with a start, turned into the house, and +carefully closing and barring the door, mounted with slow steps to the +lofty chamber with which, the better to indulge his astronomical +researches, he had crested his lonely abode. + +It was now night. The Heavens broadened round him in all the loving yet +august tranquillity of the season and the hour; the stars bathed the +living atmosphere with a solemn light; and above--about--around-- + +"The holy time was quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration." He looked +forth upon the deep and ineffable stillness of the night, and indulged +the reflections that it suggested. + +"Ye mystic lights," said he soliloquizing: "worlds upon worlds--infinite- +-incalculable.--Bright defiers of rest and change, rolling for ever above +our petty sea of mortality, as, wave after wave, we fret forth our little +life, and sink into the black abyss;--can we look upon you, note your +appointed order, and your unvarying course, and not feel that we are +indeed the poorest puppets of an all-pervading and resistless destiny? +Shall we see throughout creation each marvel fulfilling its pre-ordered +fate--no wandering from its orbit--no variation in its seasons--and yet +imagine that the Arch-ordainer will hold back the tides He has sent from +their unseen source, at our miserable bidding? Shall we think that our +prayers can avert a doom woven with the skein of events? To change a +particle of our fate, might change the destiny of millions! Shall the +link forsake the chain, and yet the chain be unbroken? Away, then, with +our vague repinings, and our blind demands. All must walk onward to their +goal, be he the wisest who looks not one step behind. The colours of our +existence were doomed before our birth--our sorrows and our crimes;-- +millions of ages back, when this hoary earth was peopled by other kinds, +yea! ere its atoms had formed one layer of its present soil, the Eternal +and the all-seeing Ruler of the universe, Destiny, or God, had here fixed +the moment of our birth and the limits of our career. What then is +crime?--Fate! What life?--Submission!" + +Such were the strange and dark thoughts which, constituting a part indeed +of his established creed, broke over Aram's mind. He sought for a fairer +subject for meditation, and Madeline Lester rose before him. + +Eugene Aram was a man whose whole life seemed to have been one sacrifice +to knowledge. What is termed pleasure had no attraction for him. From the +mature manhood at which he had arrived, he looked back along his youth, +and recognized no youthful folly. Love he had hitherto regarded with a +cold though not an incurious eye: intemperance had never lured him to a +momentary self-abandonment. Even the innocent relaxations with which the +austerest minds relieve their accustomed toils, had had no power to draw +him from his beloved researches. The delight monstrari digito; the +gratification of triumphant wisdom; the whispers of an elevated vanity; +existed not for his self-dependent and solitary heart. He was one of +those earnest and highwrought enthusiasts who now are almost extinct upon +earth, and whom Romance has not hitherto attempted to pourtray; men not +uncommon in the last century, who were devoted to knowledge, yet +disdainful of its fame; who lived for nothing else than to learn. From +store to store, from treasure to treasure, they proceeded in exulting +labour, and having accumulated all, they bestowed nought; they were the +arch-misers of the wealth of letters. Wrapped in obscurity, in some +sheltered nook, remote from the great stir of men, they passed a life at +once unprofitable and glorious; the least part of what they ransacked +would appal the industry of a modern student, yet the most superficial of +modern students might effect more for mankind. They lived among oracles, +but they gave none forth. And yet, even in this very barrenness, there +seems something high; it was a rare and great spectacle--Men, living +aloof from the roar and strife of the passions that raged below, devoting +themselves to the knowledge which is our purification and our immortality +on earth, and yet deaf and blind to the allurements of the vanity which +generally accompanies research; refusing the ignorant homage of their +kind, making their sublime motive their only meed, adoring Wisdom for her +sole sake, and set apart in the populous universe, like stars, luminous +with their own light, but too remote from the earth on which they looked, +to shed over its inmates the lustre with which they glowed. + +From his youth to the present period, Aram had dwelt little in cities +though he had visited many, yet he could scarcely be called ignorant of +mankind; there seems something intuitive in the science which teaches us +the knowledge of our race. Some men emerge from their seclusion, and +find, all at once, a power to dart into the minds and drag forth the +motives of those they see; it is a sort of second sight, born with them, +not acquired. And Aram, it may be, rendered yet more acute by his +profound and habitual investigations of our metaphysical frame, never +quitted his solitude to mix with others, without penetrating into the +broad traits or prevalent infirmities their characters possessed. In +this, indeed, he differed from the scholar tribe, and even in abstraction +was mechanically vigilant and observant. Much in his nature would, had +early circumstances given it a different bias, have fitted him for +worldly superiority and command. A resistless energy, an unbroken +perseverance, a profound and scheming and subtle thought, a genius +fertile in resources, a tongue clothed with eloquence, all, had his +ambition so chosen, might have given him the same empire over the +physical, that he had now attained over the intellectual world. It could +not be said that Aram wanted benevolence, but it was dashed, and mixed +with a certain scorn: the benevolence was the offspring of his nature; +the scorn seemed the result of his pursuits. He would feed the birds from +his window, he would tread aside to avoid the worm on his path; were one +of his own tribe in danger, he would save him at the hazard of his life:- +-yet in his heart he despised men, and believed them beyond amelioration. +Unlike the present race of schoolmen, who incline to the consoling hope +of human perfectibility, he saw in the gloomy past but a dark prophecy of +the future. As Napoleon wept over one wounded soldier in the field of +battle, yet ordered without emotion, thousands to a certain death; so +Aram would have sacrificed himself for an individual, but would not have +sacrificed a momentary gratification for his race. And this sentiment +towards men, at once of high disdain and profound despondency, was +perhaps the cause why he rioted in indolence upon his extraordinary +mental wealth, and could not be persuaded either to dazzle the world or +to serve it. But by little and little his fame had broke forth from the +limits with which he would have walled it: a man who had taught himself, +under singular difficulties, nearly all the languages of the civilized +earth; the profound mathematician, the elaborate antiquarian, the +abstruse philologist, uniting with his graver lore the more florid +accomplishments of science, from the scholastic trifling of heraldry to +the gentle learning of herbs and flowers, could scarcely hope for utter +obscurity in that day when all intellectual acquirement was held in high +honour, and its possessors were drawn together into a sort of brotherhood +by the fellowship of their pursuits. And though Aram gave little or +nothing to the world himself, he was ever willing to communicate to +others any benefit or honour derivable from his researches. On the altar +of science he kindled no light, but the fragrant oil in the lamps of his +more pious brethren was largely borrowed from his stores. From almost +every college in Europe came to his obscure abode letters of +acknowledgement or inquiry; and few foreign cultivators of learning +visited this country without seeking an interview with Aram. He received +them with all the modesty and the courtesy that characterized his +demeanour; but it was noticeable that he never allowed these +interruptions to be more than temporary. He proffered no hospitality, and +shrunk back from all offers of friendship; the interview lasted its hour, +and was seldom renewed. Patronage was not less distasteful to him than +sociality. Some occasional visits and condescensions of the great, he had +received with a stern haughtiness, rather than his wonted and subdued +urbanity. The precise amount of his fortune was not known; his wants were +so few, that what would have been poverty to others might easily have +been competence to him; and the only evidence he manifested of the +command of money, was in his extended and various library. + +He had now been about two years settled in his present retreat. Unsocial +as he was, every one in the neighbourhood loved him; even the reserve of +a man so eminent, arising as it was supposed to do from a painful +modesty, had in it something winning; and he had been known to evince on +great occasions, a charity and a courage in the service of others which +removed from the seclusion of his habits the semblance of misanthropy and +of avarice. The peasant drew aside with a kindness mingled with his +respect, as in his homeward walk he encountered the pale and thoughtful +Student, with the folded arms and downeast eyes, which characterised the +abstraction of his mood; and the village maiden, as she curtsied by him, +stole a glance at his handsome but melancholy countenance; and told her +sweetheart she was certain the poor scholar had been crossed in love. + +And thus passed the Student's life; perhaps its monotony and dullness +required less compassion than they received; no man can judge of the +happiness of another. As the Moon plays upon the waves, and seems to our +eyes to favour with a peculiar beam one long track amidst the waters, +leaving the rest in comparative obscurity; yet all the while, she is no +niggard in her lustre--for though the rays that meet not our eyes seem to +us as though they were not, yet she with an equal and unfavouring +loveliness, mirrors herself on every wave: even so, perhaps, Happiness +falls with the same brightness and power over the whole expanse of Life, +though to our limited eyes she seems only to rest on those billows from +which the ray is reflected back upon our sight. + +From his contemplations, of whatsoever nature, Aram was now aroused by a +loud summons at the door;--the clock had gone eleven. Who could at that +late hour, when the whole village was buried in sleep, demand admittance? +He recollected that Madeline had said the Stranger who had so alarmed +them had inquired for him, at that recollection his cheek suddenly +blanched, but again, that stranger was surely only some poor traveller +who had heard of his wonted charity, and had called to solicit relief, +for he had not met the Stranger on the road to Lester's house; and he had +naturally set down the apprehensions of his fair visitants to a mere +female timidity. Who could this be? no humble wayfarer would at that hour +crave assistance;--some disaster perhaps in the village. From his lofty +chamber he looked forth and saw the stars watch quietly over the +scattered cottages and the dark foliage that slept breathlessly around. +All was still as death, but it seemed the stillness of innocence and +security: again! the bell again! He thought he heard his name shouted +without; he strode once or twice irresolutely to and fro the chamber; and +then his step grew firm, and his native courage returned. His pistols +were still girded round him; he looked to the priming, and muttered some +incoherent words; he then descended the stairs, and slowly unbarred the +door. Without the porch, the moonlight full upon his harsh features and +sturdy frame, stood the ill-omened Traveller. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + A DINNER AT THE SQUIRE'S HALL.--A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO + RETIRED MEN WITH DIFFERENT OBJECTS IN RETIREMENT.--DISTURBANCE + FIRST INTRODUCED INTO A PEACEFUL FAMILY. + + "Can he not be sociable?" + --Troilus and Cressida. + + + "Subit quippe etiam ipsius inertiae dulcedo; + et invisa primo desidia postremo amatur." + --Tacitus. + + "How use doth breed a habit in a man! + This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, + I better brook than flourishing people towns." + --Winter's Tale. + +The next day, faithful to his appointment, Aram arrived at Lester's. The +good Squire received him with a warm cordiality, and Madeline with a +blush and a smile that ought to have been more grateful to him than +acknowledgements. She was still a prisoner to the sofa, but in compliment +to Aram, the sofa was wheeled into the hall where they dined, so that she +was not absent from the repast. It was a pleasant room, that old hall! +Though it was summer--more for cheerfulness than warmth, the log burnt on +the spacious hearth: but at the same time the latticed windows were +thrown open, and the fresh yet sunny air stole in, rich from the embrace +of the woodbine and clematis, which clung around the casement. + +A few old pictures were pannelled in the oaken wainscot; and here and +there the horns of the mighty stag adorned the walls, and united with the +cheeriness of comfort associations of that of enterprise. The good old +board was crowded with the luxuries meet for a country Squire. The +speckled trout, fresh from the stream, and the four-year-old mutton +modestly disclaiming its own excellent merits, by affecting the shape and +assuming the adjuncts of venison. Then for the confectionery,--it was +worthy of Ellinor, to whom that department generally fell; and we should +scarcely be surprised to find, though we venture not to affirm, that its +delicate fabrication owed more to her than superintendence. Then the ale, +and the cyder with rosemary in the bowl, were incomparable potations; and +to the gooseberry wine, which would have filled Mrs. Primrose with envy, +was added the more generous warmth of port which, in the Squire's younger +days, had been the talk of the country, and which had now lost none of +its attributes, save "the original brightness" of its colour. + +But (the wine excepted) these various dainties met with slight honour +from their abstemious guest; and, for though habitually reserved he was +rarely gloomy, they remarked that he seemed unusually fitful and sombre +in his mood. Something appeared to rest upon his mind, from which, by the +excitement of wine and occasional bursts of eloquence more animated than +ordinary, he seemed striving to escape; and at length, he apparently +succeeded. Naturally enough, the conversation turned upon the curiosities +and scenery of the country round; and here Aram shone with a peculiar +grace. Vividly alive to the influences of Nature, and minutely acquainted +with its varieties, he invested every hill and glade to which remark +recurred with the poetry of his descriptions; and from his research he +gave even scenes the most familiar, a charm and interest which had been +strange to them till then. To this stream some romantic legend had once +attached itself, long forgotten and now revived;--that moor, so barren to +an ordinary eye, was yet productive of some rare and curious herb, whose +properties afforded scope for lively description;--that old mound was yet +rife in attraction to one versed in antiquities, and able to explain its +origin, and from such explanation deduce a thousand classic or celtic +episodes. + +No subject was so homely or so trite but the knowledge that had neglected +nothing, was able to render it luminous and new. And as he spoke, the +scholar's countenance brightened, and his voice, at first hesitating and +low, compelled the attention to its earnest and winning music. Lester +himself, a man who, in his long retirement, had not forgotten the +attractions of intellectual society, nor even neglected a certain +cultivation of intellectual pursuits, enjoyed a pleasure that he had not +experienced for years. The gay Ellinor was fascinated into admiration; +and Madeline, the most silent of the groupe, drank in every word, +unsconcious of the sweet poison she imbibed. Walter alone seemed not +carried away by the eloquence of their guest. He preserved an unadmiring +and sullen demeanour, and every now and then regarded Aram with looks of +suspicion and dislike. This was more remarkable when the men were left +alone; and Lester, in surprise and anger, darted significant and +admonitory looks towards his nephew, which at length seemed to rouse him +into a more hospitable bearing. As the cool of the evening now came on, +Lester proposed to Aram to enjoy it without, previous to returning to the +parlour, to which the ladies had retired. Walter excused himself from +joining them. The host and the guest accordingly strolled forth alone. + +"Your solitude," said Lester, smiling, "is far deeper and less broken +than mine: do you never find it irksome?" + +"Can Humanity be at all times contented?" said Aram. "No stream, +howsoever secret or subterranean, glides on in eternal tranquillity." + +"You allow, then, that you feel some occasional desire for a more active +and animated life?" + +"Nay," answered Aram; "that is scarcely a fair corollary from my remark. +I may, at times, feel the weariness of existence--the tedium vitae; but I +know well that the cause is not to be remedied by a change from +tranquillity to agitation. The objects of the great world are to be +pursued only by the excitement of the passions. The passions are at once +our masters and our deceivers;--they urge us onward, yet present no limit +to our progress. The farther we proceed, the more dim and shadowy grows +the goal. It is impossible for a man who leads the life of the world, the +life of the passions, ever to experience content. For the life of the +passions is that of a perpetual desire; but a state of content is the +absence of all desire. Thus philosophy has become another name for mental +quietude; and all wisdom points to a life of intellectual indifference, +as the happiest which earth can bestow." + +"This may be true enough," said Lester, reluctantly; "but--" + +"But what?" + +"A something at our hearts--a secret voice--an involuntary impulse-- +rebels against it, and points to action--action, as the true sphere of +man." + +A slight smile curved the lip of the Student; he avoided, however, the +argument, and remarked, + +"Yet, if you think so, the world lies before you; why not return to it?" + +"Because constant habit is stronger than occasional impulse; and my +seclusion, after all, has its sphere of action--has its object." + +"All seclusion has." + +"All? Scarcely so; for me, I have my object of interest in my children." + +"And mine is in my books." + +"And engaged in your object, does not the whisper of Fame ever animate +you with the desire to go forth into the world, and receive the homage +that would await you?" + +"Listen to me," replied Aram. "When I was a boy, I went once to a +theatre. The tragedy of Hamlet was performed: a play full of the noblest +thoughts, the subtlest morality, that exists upon the stage. The audience +listened with attention, with admiration, with applause. I said to +myself, when the curtain fell, 'It must be a glorious thing to obtain +this empire over men's intellects and emotions.' But now an Italian +mountebank appeared on the stage,--a man of extraordinary personal +strength and slight of hand. He performed a variety of juggling tricks, +and distorted his body into a thousand surprising and unnatural postures. +The audience were transported beyond themselves: if they had felt delight +in Hamlet, they glowed with rapture at the mountebank: they had listened +with attention to the lofty thought, but they were snatched from +themselves by the marvel of the strange posture. 'Enough,' said I; 'I +correct my former notion. Where is the glory of ruling men's minds, and +commanding their admiration, when a greater enthusiasm is excited by mere +bodily agility, than was kindled by the most wonderful emanations of a +genius little less than divine?' I have never forgotten the impression of +that evening." + +Lester attempted to combat the truth of the illustration, and thus +conversing, they passed on through the village green, when the gaunt form +of Corporal Bunting arrested their progress. + +"Beg pardon, Squire," said he, with a military salute; "beg pardon, your +honour," bowing to Aram; "but I wanted to speak to you, Squire, 'bout the +rent of the bit cot yonder; times very hard--pay scarce--Michaelmas close +at hand--and--" + +"You desire a little delay, Bunting, eh?--Well, well, we'll see about it, +look up at the Hall to-morrow; Mr. Walter, I know wants to consult you +about letting the water from the great pond, and you must give us your +opinion of the new brewing." + +"Thank your honour, thank you; much obliged I'm sure. I hope your honour +liked the trout I sent up. Beg pardon, Master Aram, mayhap you would +condescend to accept a few fish now and then; they're very fine in these +streams, as you probably know; if you please to let me, I'll send some up +by the old 'oman to-morrow, that is if the day's cloudy a bit." + +The Scholar thanked the good Bunting, and would have proceeded onward, +but the Corporal was in a familiar mood. + +"Beg pardon, beg pardon, but strange-looking dog here last evening--asked +after you--said you were old friend of his--trotted off in your direction +--hope all was right, Master?--augh!" + +"All right!" repeated Aram, fixing his eyes on the Corporal, who had +concluded his speech with a significant wink, and pausing a full moment +before he continued, then as if satisfied with his survey, he added: + +"Ay, ay, I know whom you mean; he had known me some years ago. So you saw +him! What said he to you of me?" + +"Augh! little enough, Master Aram, he seemed to think only of satisfying +his own appetite; said he'd been a soldier." + +"A soldier, humph!" + +"Never told me the regiment, though,--shy--did he ever desert, pray, your +honour?" + +"I don't know;" answered Aram, turning away. "I know little, very little, +about him!" He was going away, but stopped to add: "The man called on me +last night for assistance; the lateness of the hour a little alarmed me. +I gave him what I could afford, and he has now proceeded on his journey." + +"Oh, then, he won't take up his quarters hereabouts, your honour?" said +the Corporal, inquiringly. + +"No, no; good evening." + +"What! this singular stranger, who so frightened my poor girls, is really +known to you;" said Lester, in surprise: "pray is he as formidable as he +seemed to them?" + +"Scarcely," said Aram, with great composure; "he has been a wild roving +fellow all his life, but--but there is little real harm in him. He is +certainly ill-favoured enough to--" here, interrupting himself, and +breaking into a new sentence, Aram added: "but at all events he will +frighten your nieces no more--he has proceeded on his journey northward. +And now, yonder lies my way home. Good evening." The abruptness of this +farewell did indeed take Lester by surprise. + +"Why, you will not leave me yet? The young ladies expect your return to +them for an hour or so! What will they think of such desertion? No, no, +come back, my good friend, and suffer me by and by to walk some part of +the way home with you." + +"Pardon me," said Aram, "I must leave you now. As to the ladies," he +added, with a faint smile, half in melancholy, half in scorn, "I am not +one whom they could miss;--forgive me if I seem unceremonious. Adieu." + +Lester at first felt a little offended, but when he recalled the peculiar +habits of the Scholar, he saw that the only way to hope for a continuance +of that society which had so pleased him, was to indulge Aram at first in +his unsocial inclinations, rather than annoy him by a troublesome +hospitality; he therefore, without further discourse, shook hands with +him, and they parted. + +When Lester regained the little parlour, he found his nephew sitting, +silent and discontented, by the window. Madeline had taken up a book, and +Ellinor, in an opposite corner, was plying her needle with an air of +earnestness and quiet, very unlike her usual playful and cheerful +vivacity. There was evidently a cloud over the groupe; the good Lester +regarded them with a searching, yet kindly eye. + +"And what has happened?" said he, "something of mighty import, I am sure, +or I should have heard my pretty Ellinor's merry laugh long before I +crossed the threshold." + +Ellinor coloured and sighed, and worked faster than ever. Walter threw +open the window, and whistled a favourite air quite out of tune. Lester +smiled, and seated himself by his nephew. + +"Well, Walter," said he, "I feel, for the first time in these ten years, +I have a right to scold you. What on earth could make you so inhospitable +to your uncle's guest? You eyed the poor student, as if you wished him +among the books of Alexandria!" + +"I would he were burnt with them!" answered Walter, sharply. "He seems to +have added the black art to his other accomplishments, and bewitched my +fair cousins here into a forgetfulness of all but himself." + +"Not me!" said Ellinor eagerly, and looking up. + +"No, not you, that's true enough; you are too just, too kind;--it is a +pity that Madeline is not more like you." + +"My dear Walter," said Madeline, "what is the matter? You accuse me of +what? being attentive to a man whom it is impossible to hear without +attention!" + +"There!" cried Walter passionately; "you confess it; and so for a +stranger,--a cold, vain, pedantic egotist, you can shut your ears and +heart to those who have known and loved you all your life; and--and--" + +"Vain!" interrupted Madeline, unheeding the latter part of Walter's +address. + +"Pedantic!" repeated her father. + +"Yes! I say vain, pedantic!" cried Walter, working himself into a +passion. What on earth but the love of display could make him monopolize +the whole conversation?--What but pedantry could make him bring out those +anecdotes and allusions, and descriptions, or whatever you call them, +respecting every old wall or stupid plant in the country? + +"I never thought you guilty of meanness before," said Lester gravely. + +"Meanness!" + +"Yes! for is it not mean to be jealous of superior acquirements, instead +of admiring them?" + +"What has been the use of those acquirements? Has he benefited mankind by +them? Shew me the poet--the historian--the orator, and I will vield to +none of you; no, not to Madeline herself in homage of their genius: but +the mere creature of books--the dry and sterile collector of other men's +learning--no--no. What should I admire in such a machine of literature, +except a waste of perseverance?--And Madeline calls him handsome too!" + +At this sudden turn from declamation to reproach, Lester laughed +outright; and his nephew, in high anger, rose and left the room. + +"Who could have thought Walter so foolish?" said Madeline. + +"Nay," observed Ellinor gently, "it is the folly of a kind heart, after +all. He feels sore at our seeming to prefer another--I mean another's +conversation--to his!" + +Lester turned round in his chair, and regarded with a serious look, the +faces of both sisters. + +"My dear Ellinor," said he, when he had finished his survey, "you are a +kind girl--come and kiss me!" + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE STUDENT.--A SUMMER SCENE--ARAM'S + CONVERSATION WITH WALTER, AND SUBSEQUENT COLLOQUY WITH + HIMSELF. + + "The soft season, the firmament serene, + The loun illuminate air, and firth amene + The silver-scalit fishes on the grete + O'er-thwart clear streams sprinkillond for the heat," + --Gawin Douglas. + + + + "Ilia subter + Caecum vulnus habes; sed lato balteus auro + Praetegit." + --Persius. + +Several days elapsed before the family of the manor-house encountered +Aram again. The old woman came once or twice to present the inquiries of +her master as to Miss Lester's accident; but Aram himself did not appear. +This want to interest certainly offended Madeline, although she still +drew upon herself Walter's displeasure, by disputing and resenting the +unfavourable strictures on the scholar, in which that young gentleman +delighted to indulge. By degrees, however, as the days passed without +maturing the acquaintance which Walter had disapproved, the youth relaxed +in his attacks, and seemed to yield to the remonstrances of his uncle. +Lester had, indeed, conceived an especial inclination towards the +recluse. Any man of reflection, who has lived for some time alone, and +who suddenly meets with one who calls forth in him, and without labour or +contradiction, the thoughts which have sprung up in his solitude, +scarcely felt in their growth, will comprehend the new zest, the +awakening, as it were, of the mind, which Lester found in the +conversation of Eugene Aram. His solitary walk (for his nephew had the +separate pursuits of youth) appeared to him more dull than before; and he +longed to renew an intercourse which had given to the monotony of his +life both variety and relief. He called twice upon Aram, but the student +was, or affected to be, from home; and an invitation he sent him, though +couched in friendly terms, was, but with great semblance of kindness, +refused. + +"See, Walter," said Lester, disconcerted, as he finished reading the +refusal--"see what your rudeness has effected. I am quite convinced that +Aram (evidently a man of susceptible as well as retired mind) observed +the coldness of your manner towards him, and that thus you have deprived +me of the only society which, in this country of boors and savages, gave +me any gratification." + +Walter replied apologetically, but his uncle turned away with a greater +appearance of anger than his placid features were wont to exhibit; and +Walter, cursing the innocent cause of his uncle's displeasure towards +him, took up his fishing-rod and went out alone, in no happy or +exhilarated mood. + +It was waxing towards eve--an hour especially lovely in the month of +June, and not without reason favoured by the angler. Walter sauntered +across the rich and fragrant fields, and came soon into a sheltered +valley, through which the brooklet wound its shadowy way. Along the +margin the grass sprung up long and matted, and profuse with a thousand +weeds and flowers--the children of the teeming June. Here the ivy-leaved +bell-flower, and not far from it the common enchanter's night-shade, the +silver weed, and the water-aven; and by the hedges that now and then +neared the water, the guelder-rose, and the white briony, overrunning the +thicket with its emerald leaves and luxuriant flowers. And here and +there, silvering the bushes, the elder offered its snowy tribute to the +summer. All the insect youth were abroad, with their bright wings and +glancing motion; and from the lower depths of the bushes the blackbird +darted across, or higher and unseen the first cuckoo of the eve began its +continuous and mellow note. All this cheeriness and gloss of life, which +enamour us with the few bright days of the English summer, make the +poetry in an angler's life, and convert every idler at heart into a +moralist, and not a gloomy one, for the time. + +Softened by the quiet beauty and voluptuousness around him, Walter's +thoughts assumed a more gentle dye, and he broke out into the old lines: + +"Sweet day, so soft, so calm, so bright; The bridal of the earth and +sky," as he dipped his line into the current, and drew it across the +shadowy hollows beneath the bank. The river-gods were not, however, in a +favourable mood, and after waiting in vain for some time, in a spot in +which he was usually successful, he proceeded slowly along the margin of +the brooklet, crushing the reeds at every step, into that fresh and +delicious odour, which furnished Bacon with one of his most beautiful +comparisons. + +He thought, as he proceeded, that beneath a tree that overhung the waters +in the narrowest part of their channel, he heard a voice, and as he +approached he recognised it as Aram's; a curve in the stream brought him +close by the spot, and he saw the student half reclined beneath the tree, +and muttering, but at broken intervals, to himself. + +The words were so scattered, that Walter did not trace their clue; but +involuntarily he stopped short, within a few feet of the soliloquist: and +Aram, suddenly turning round, beheld him. A fierce and abrupt change +broke over the scholar's countenance; his cheek grew now pale, now +flushed; and his brows knit over his flashing and dark eyes with an +intent anger, that was the more withering, from its contrast to the usual +calmness of his features. Walter drew back, but Aram stalking directly up +to him, gazed into his face, as if he would read his very soul. + +"What! eaves-dropping?" said he, with a ghastly smile. "You overheard me, +did you? Well, well, what said I?--what said I?" Then pausing, and noting +that Walter did not reply, he stamped his foot violently, and grinding +his teeth, repeated in a smothered tone "Boy! what said I?" + +"Mr. Aram," said Walter, "you forget yourself; I am not one to play the +listener, more especially to the learned ravings of a man who can conceal +nothing I care to know. Accident brought me hither." + +"What! surely--surely I spoke aloud, did I not?--did I not?" + +"You did, but so incoherently and indistinctly, that I did not profit by +your indiscretion. I cannot plagiarise, I assure you, from any scholastic +designs you might have been giving vent to." + +Aram looked on him for a moment, and then breathing heavily, turned away. + +"Pardon me," he said; "I am a poor half-crazed man; much study has +unnerved me; I should never live but with my own thoughts; forgive me, +Sir, I pray you." + +Touched by the sudden contrition of Aram's manner, Walter forgot, not +only his present displeasure, but his general dislike; he stretched forth +his hand to the Student, and hastened to assure him of his ready +forgiveness. Aram sighed deeply as he pressed the young man's hand, and +Walter saw, with surprise and emotion, that his eyes were filled with +tears. + +"Ah!" said Aram, gently shaking his head, "it is a hard life we bookmen +lead. Not for us is the bright face of noon-day or the smile of woman, +the gay unbending of the heart, the neighing steed, and the shrill trump; +the pride, pomp, and circumstance of life. Our enjoyments are few and +calm; our labour constant; but that is it not, Sir?--that is it not? the +body avenges its own neglect. We grow old before our time; we wither up; +the sap of youth shrinks from our veins; there is no bound in our step. +We look about us with dimmed eyes, and our breath grows short and thick, +and pains and coughs, and shooting aches come upon us at night; it is a +bitter life--a bitter life--a joyless life. I would I had never +commenced it. And yet the harsh world scowls upon us: our nerves are +broken, and they wonder we are querulous; our blood curdles, and they ask +why we are not gay; our brain grows dizzy and indistinct, (as with me +just now,) and, shrugging their shoulders, they whisper their neighbours +that we are mad. I wish I had worked at the plough, and known sleep, and +loved mirth--and--and not been what I am." + +As the Student uttered the last sentence, he bowed down his head, and a +few tears stole silently down his cheek. Walter was greatly affected--it +took him by surprise; nothing in Aram's ordinary demeanour betrayed any +facility to emotion; and he conveyed to all the idea of a man, if not +proud, at least cold. + +"You do not suffer bodily pain, I trust?" asked Walter, soothingly. + +"Pain does not conquer me," said Aram, slowly recovering himself. "I am +not melted by that which I would fain despise. Young man, I wronged you-- +you have forgiven me. Well, well, we will say no more on that head; it is +past and pardoned. Your father has been kind to me, and I have not +returned his advances; you shall tell him why. I have lived thirteen +years by myself, and I have contracted strange ways and many humours not +common to the world--you have seen an example of this. Judge for yourself +if I be fit for the smoothness, and confidence, and ease of social +intercourse; I am not fit, I feel it! I am doomed to be alone--tell your +father this--tell him to suffer me to live so! I am grateful for his +goodness--I know his motives--but have a certain pride of mind; I cannot +bear sufferance--I loath indulgence. Nay, interrupt me not, I beseech +you. Look round on Nature--behold the only company that humbles me not-- +except the dead whose souls speak to us from the immortality of books. +These herbs at your feet, I know their secrets--I watch the mechanism of +their life; the winds--they have taught me their language; the stars--I +have unravelled their mysteries; and these, the creatures and ministers +of God--these I offend not by my mood--to them I utter my thoughts, and +break forth into my dreams, without reserve and without fear. But men +disturb me--I have nothing to learn from them--I have no wish to confide +in them; they cripple the wild liberty which has become to me a second +nature. What its shell is to the tortoise, solitude has become to me--my +protection; nay, my life!" + +"But," said Walter, "with us, at least, you would not have to dread +restraint; you might come when you would; be silent or converse, +according to your will." + +Aram smiled faintly, but made no immediate reply. + +"So, you have been angling!" he said, after a short pause, and as if +willing to change the thread of conversation. "Fie! It is a treacherous +pursuit; it encourages man's worst propensities--cruelty and deceit." + +"I should have thought a lover of Nature would have been more indulgent +to a pastime which introduces us to her most quiet retreats." + +"And cannot Nature alone tempt you without need of such allurements? +What! that crisped and winding stream, with flowers on its very tide-- +the water-violet and the water-lily--these silent brakes--the cool of the +gathering evening--the still and luxuriance of the universal life around +you; are not these enough of themselves to tempt you forth? if not, go +to--your excuse is hypocrisy." + +"I am used to these scenes," replied Walter; "I am weary of the thoughts +they produce in me, and long for any diversion or excitement." + +"Ay, ay, young man! The mind is restless at your age--have a care. +Perhaps you long to visit the world--to quit these obscure haunts which +you are fatigued in admiring?" + +"It may be so," said Walter, with a slight sigh. "I should at least like +to visit our great capital, and note the contrast; I should come back, I +imagine, with a greater zest to these scenes." + +Aram laughed. "My friend," said he, "when men have once plunged into the +great sea of human toil and passion, they soon wash away all love and +zest for innocent enjoyments. What once was a soft retirement, will +become the most intolerable monotony; the gaming of social existence-- +the feverish and desperate chances of honour and wealth, upon which the +men of cities set their hearts, render all pursuits less exciting, +utterly insipid and dull. The brook and the angle--ha!--ha!--these are +not occupations for men who have once battled with the world." + +"I can forego them, then, without regret;" said Walter, with the +sanguineness of his years. Aram looked upon him wistfully; the bright +eye, the healthy cheek, and vigorous frame of the youth, suited with his +desire to seek the conflict of his kind, and gave a naturalness to his +ambition, which was not without interest, even to the recluse. + +"Poor boy!" said he, mournfully, "how gallantly the ship leaves the port; +how worn and battered it will return!" + +When they parted, Walter returned slowly homewards, filled with pity +towards the singular man whom he had seen so strangely overpowered; and +wondering how suddenly his mind had lost its former rancour to the +Student. Yet there mingled even with these kindly feelings, a little +displeasure at the superior tone which Aram had unconsciously adopted +towards him; and to which, from any one, the high spirit of the young man +was not readily willing to submit. + +Meanwhile, the Student continued his path along the water side, and as, +with his gliding step and musing air, he roamed onward, it was impossible +to imagine a form more suited to the deep tranquillity of the scene. Even +the wild birds seemed to feel, by a sort of instinct, that in him there +was no cause for fear; and did not stir from the turf that neighboured, +or the spray that overhung, his path. + +"So," said he, soliloquizing, but not without casting frequent and +jealous glances round him, and in a murmur so indistinct as would have +been inaudible even to a listener--"so, I was not overheard,--well, I +must cure myself of this habit; our thoughts, like nuns, ought not to go +abroad without a veil. Ay, this tone will not betray me, I will preserve +its tenor, for I can scarcely altogether renounce my sole confidant-- +SELF; and thought seems more clear when uttered even thus. 'Tis a fine +youth! full of the impulse and daring of his years; I was never so young +at heart. I was--nay, what matters it? Who is answerable for his nature? +Who can say, "I controlled all the circumstances which made me what I +am?" Madeline,--Heavens! did I bring on myself this temptation? Have I +not fenced it from me throughout all my youth, when my brain did at +moments forsake me, and the veins did bound? And now, when the yellow +hastens on the green of life; now, for the first time, this emotion--this +weakness--and for whom? One I have lived with--known--beneath whose eyes +I have passed through all the fine gradations, from liking to love, from +love to passion? No;--one, whom I have seen but little; who, it is true, +arrested my eye at the first glance it caught of her two years since, but +with whom till within the last few weeks I have scarcely spoken! Her +voice rings on my ear, her look dwells on my heart; when I sleep, she is +with me; when I wake, I am haunted by her image. Strange, strange! Is +love then, after all, the sudden passion which in every age poetry has +termed it, though till now my reason has disbelieved the notion? ... And +now, what is the question? To resist, or to yield. Her father invites me, +courts me; and I stand aloof! Will this strength, this forbearance, +last?--Shall I encourage my mind to this decision?" Here Aram paused +abruptly, and then renewed: "It is true! I ought to weave my lot with +none. Memory sets me apart and alone in the world; it seems unnatural to +me, a thought of dread--to bring another being to my solitude, to set an +everlasting watch on my uprisings and my downsittings; to invite eyes to +my face when I sleep at nights, and ears to every word that may start +unbidden from my lips. But if the watch be the watch of love--away! does +love endure for ever? He who trusts to woman, trusts to the type of +change. Affection may turn to hatred, fondness to loathing, anxiety to +dread; and, at the best, woman is weak, she is the minion to her +impulses. Enough, I will steel my soul,--shut up the avenues of sense,-- +brand with the scathing-iron these yet green and soft emotions of +lingering youth,--and freeze and chain and curdle up feeling, and heart, +and manhood, into ice and age!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE POWER OF LOVE OVER THE RESOLUTION OF THE STUDENT.--ARAM + BECOMES A FREQUENT GUEST AT THE MANOR-HOUSE.--A WALK.-- + CONVERSATION WITH DAME DARKMANS.--HER HISTORY.--POVERTY AND + ITS EFFECTS. + + + MAD. "Then, as Time won thee frequent to our hearth, + + Didst thou not breathe, like dreams, into my soul + + Nature's more gentle secrets, the sweet lore + + Of the green herb and the bee-worshipp'd flower? + + And when deep Night did o'er the nether Earth + + Diffuse meek quiet, and the Heart of Heaven + + With love grew breathless--didst thou not unrol + + The volume of the weird chaldean stars, + + And of the winds, the clouds, the invisible air, + + Make eloquent discourse, until, methought, + + No human lip, but some diviner spirit + + Alone, could preach such truths of things divine? + + And so--and so--" + + + ARAM. "From Heaven we turned to Earth, + + And Wisdom fathered Passion." + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + + ARAM. "Wise men have praised the Peasant's thoughtless lot, + + And learned Pride hath envied humble Toil; + + If they were right, why let us burn our books, + + And sit us down, and play the fool with Time, + + Mocking the prophet Wisdom's high decrees, + + And walling this trite Present with dark clouds, + + 'Till Night becomes our Nature; and the ray + + Ev'n of the stars, but meteors that withdraw + + The wandering spirit from the sluggish rest + + Which makes its proper bliss. I will accost + + This denizen of toil." + + --From Eugene Aram, a MS. Tragedy. + + + + "A wicked hag, and envy's self excelling + + In mischiefe, for herself she only vext, + + But this same, both herself and others eke perplext." + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + + "Who then can strive with strong necessity, + + That holds the world in his still changing state, + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + + Then do no further go, no further stray, + + But here lie down, and to thy rest betake." + + --Spenser. + +Few men perhaps could boast of so masculine and firm a mind, as, despite +his eccentricities, Aram assuredly possessed. His habits of solitude had +strengthened its natural hardihood; for, accustomed to make all the +sources of happiness flow solely from himself, his thoughts the only +companion--his genius the only vivifier--of his retreat; the tone and +faculty of his spirit could not but assume that austere and vigorous +energy which the habit of self-dependence almost invariably produces; and +yet, the reader, if he be young, will scarcely feel surprise that the +resolution of the Student, to battle against incipient love, from +whatever reasons it might be formed, gradually and reluctantly melted +away. It may be noted, that the enthusiasts of learning and reverie have, +at one time or another in their lives, been, of all the tribes of men, +the most keenly susceptible to love; their solitude feeds their passion; +and deprived, as they usually are, of the more hurried and vehement +occupations of life, when love is once admitted to their hearts, there is +no counter-check to its emotions, and no escape from its excitation. +Aram, too, had just arrived at that age when a man usually feels a sort +of revulsion in the current of his desires. At that age, those who have +hitherto pursued love, begin to grow alive to ambition; those who have +been slaves to the pleasures of life, awaken from the dream, and direct +their desire to its interests. And in the same proportion, they who till +then have wasted the prodigal fervours of youth upon a sterile soil; who +have served Ambition, or, like Aram, devoted their hearts to Wisdom; +relax from their ardour, look back on the departed years with regret, and +commence, in their manhood, the fiery pleasures and delirious follies +which are only pardonable in youth. In short, as in every human pursuit +there is a certain vanity, and as every acquisition contains within +itself the seed of disappointment, so there is a period of life when we +pause from the pursuit, and are discontented with the acquisition. We +then look around us for something new--again follow--and are again +deceived. Few men throughout life are the servants to one desire. When we +gain the middle of the bridge of our mortality, different objects from +those which attracted us upward almost invariably lure us to the descent. +Happy they who exhaust in the former part of the journey all the foibles +of existence! But how different is the crude and evanescent love of that +age when thought has not given intensity and power to the passions, from +the love which is felt, for the first time, in maturer but still youthful +years! As the flame burns the brighter in proportion to the resistance +which it conquers, this later love is the more glowing in proportion to +the length of time in which it has overcome temptation: all the solid +and, concentred faculties ripened to their full height, are no longer +capable of the infinite distractions, the numberless caprices of youth; +the rays of the heart, not rendered weak by diversion, collect into one +burning focus; + + [Love is of the nature of a burning glass, which kept + still in one place, fireth; changed often it doth nothing!" + --Letters by Sir John Suckling.] + +the same earnestness and unity of purpose which render what we +undertake in manhood so far more successful than what we would effect in +youth, are equally visible and equally triumphant, whether directed to +interest or to love. But then, as in Aram, the feelings must be fresh as +well as matured; they must not have been frittered away by previous +indulgence; the love must be the first produce of the soil, not the +languid after-growth. + +The reader will remark, that the first time in which our narrative has +brought Madeline and Aram together, was not the first time they had met; +Aram had long noted with admiration a beauty which he had never seen +paralleled, and certain vague and unsettled feelings had preluded the +deeper emotion that her image now excited within him. But the main cause +of his present and growing attachment, had been in the evident sentiment +of kindness which he could not but feel Madeline bore towards him. So +retiring a nature as his, might never have harboured love, if the love +bore the character of presumption; but that one so beautiful beyond his +dreams as Madeline Lester, should deign to exercise towards him a +tenderness, that might suffer him to hope, was a thought, that when he +caught her eye unconsciously fixed upon him, and noted that her voice +grew softer and more tremulous when she addressed him, forced itself upon +his heart, and woke there a strange and irresistible emotion, which +solitude and the brooding reflection that solitude produces--a reflection +so much more intense in proportion to the paucity of living images it +dwells upon--soon ripened into love. Perhaps even, he would not have +resisted the impulse as he now did, had not at this time certain thoughts +connected with past events, been more forcibly than of late years +obtruded upon him, and thus in some measure divided his heart. By +degrees, however, those thoughts receded from their vividness, into the +habitual deep, but not oblivious, shade beneath which his commanding mind +had formerly driven them to repose; and as they thus receded, Madeline's +image grew more undisturbedly present, and his resolution to avoid its +power more fluctuating and feeble. Fate seemed bent upon bringing +together these two persons, already so attracted towards each other. +After the conversation recorded in our last chapter, between Walter and +the Student, the former, touched and softened as we have seen, in spite +of himself, had cheerfully forborne (what before he had done reluctantly) +the expressions of dislike which he had once lavished so profusely upon +Aram; and Lester, who, forward as he had seemed, had nevertheless been +hitherto a little checked in his advances to his neighbour by the +hostility of his son, now felt no scruple to deter him from urging them +with a pertinacity that almost forbade refusal. It was Aram's constant +habit, in all seasons, to wander abroad at certain times of the day, +especially towards the evening; and if Lester failed to win entrance to +his house, he was thus enabled to meet the Student in his frequent +rambles, and with a seeming freedom from design. Actuated by his great +benevolence of character, Lester earnestly desired to win his solitary +and unfriended neighbour from a mood and habit which he naturally +imagined must engender a growing melancholy of mind; and since Walter had +detailed to him the particulars of his meeting with Aram, this desire had +been considerably increased. There is not perhaps a stronger feeling in +the world than pity, when united with admiration. When one man is +resolved to know another, it is almost impossible to prevent him: we see +daily the most remarkable instances of perseverance on one side +conquering distaste on the other. By degrees, then, Aram relaxed from his +insociability; he seemed to surrender himself to a kindness, the +sincerity of which he was compelled to acknowledge; if he for a long time +refused to accept the hospitality of his neighbour, he did not reject his +society when they met, and this intercourse by little and little +progressed, until ultimately the recluse yielded to solicitation, and +became the guest as well as companion. This, at first accident, grew, +though not without many interruptions, into habit; and at length few +evenings were passed by the inmates of the Manor-house without the +society of the Student. As his reserve wore off, his conversation mingled +with its attractions a tender and affectionate tone. He seemed grateful +for the pains which had been taken to allure him to a scene in which, at +last, he acknowledged he found a happiness that he never experienced +before: and those who had hitherto admired him for his genius, admired +him now yet more for his susceptibility to the affections. + +There was not in Aram any thing that savoured of the harshness of +pedantry, or the petty vanities of dogmatism: his voice was soft and low, +and his manner always remarkable for its singular gentleness, and a +certain dignified humility. His language did indeed, at times, assume a +tone of calm and patriarchal command; but it was only the command arising +from an intimate persuasion of the truth of what he uttered. Moralizing +upon our nature, or mourning over the delusions of the world, a grave and +solemn strain breathed throughout his lofty words and the profound +melancholy of his wisdom; but it touched, not offended--elevated, not +humbled--the lesser intellect of his listeners; and even this air of +unconscious superiority vanished when he was invited to teach or explain. +That task which so few do gracefully, that an accurate and shrewd thinker +has said: "It is always safe to learn, even from our enemies; seldom safe +to instruct even our friends," [Note: Lacon.] Aram performed with a +meekness and simplicity that charmed the vanity, even while it corrected +the ignorance, of the applicant; and so various and minute was the +information of this accomplished man, that there scarcely existed any +branch even of that knowledge usually called practical, to which he could +not impart from his stores something valuable and new. The agriculturist +was astonished at the success of his suggestions; and the mechanic was +indebted to him for the device which abridged his labour in improving its +result. + +It happened that the study of botany was not, at that day, so favourite +and common a diversion with young ladies as it is now, and Ellinor, +captivated by the notion of a science that gave a life and a history to +the loveliest of earth's offspring, besought Aram to teach her its +principles. + +As Madeline, though she did not second the request, could scarcely absent +herself from sharing the lesson, this pursuit brought the pair--already +lovers--closer and closer together. It associated them not only at home, +but in their rambles throughout that enchanting country; and there is a +mysterious influence in Nature, which renders us, in her loveliest +scenes, the most susceptible to love! Then, too, how often in their +occupation their hands and eyes met:--how often, by the shady wood or the +soft water-side, they found themselves alone. In all times, how dangerous +the connexion, when of different sexes, between the scholar and the +teacher! Under how many pretences, in that connexion, the heart finds the +opportunity to speak out. + +Yet it was not with ease and complacency that Aram delivered himself to +the intoxication of his deepening attachment. Sometimes he was studiously +cold, or evidently wrestling with the powerful passion that mastered his +reason. It was not without many throes, and desperate resistance, that +love at length overwhelmed and subdued him; and these alternations of his +mood, if they sometimes offended Madeline and sometimes wounded, still +rather increased than lessened the spell which bound her to him. The +doubt and the fear--the caprice and the change, which agitate the +surface, swell also the tides, of passion. Woman, too, whose love is so +much the creature of her imagination, always asks something of mystery +and conjecture in the object of her affection. It is a luxury to her to +perplex herself with a thousand apprehensions; and the more restlessly +her lover occupies her mind, the more deeply he enthrals it. + +Mingling with her pure and tender attachment to Aram, a high and +unswerving veneration, she saw in his fitfulness, and occasional +abstraction and contradiction of manner, a confirmation of the modest +sentiment that most weighed upon her fears; and imagined that at those +times he thought her, as she deemed herself, unworthy of his love. And +this was the only struggle which she conceived to pass between the +affection he evidently bore her, and the feelings which had as yet +restrained him from its open avowal. + +One evening, Lester and the two sisters were walking with the Student +along the valley that led to the house of the latter, when they saw an +old woman engaged in collecting firewood among the bushes, and a little +girl holding out her apron to receive the sticks with which the crone's +skinny arms unsparingly filled it. The child trembled, and seemed half- +crying; while the old woman, in a harsh, grating croak, was muttering +forth mingled objurgation and complaint. + +There was something in the appearance of the latter at once impressive +and displeasing; a dark, withered, furrowed skin was drawn like parchment +over harsh and aquiline features; the eyes, through the rheum of age, +glittered forth black and malignant; and even her stooping posture did +not conceal a height greatly above the common stature, though gaunt and +shrivelled with years and poverty. It was a form and face that might have +recalled at once the celebrated description of Otway, on a part of which +we have already unconsciously encroached, and the remaining part of which +we shall wholly borrow. + +"--On her crooked shoulders had she wrapped The tattered remnants of an +old stript hanging, That served to keep her carcase from the cold, So +there was nothing of a piece about her. Her lower weeds were all o'er +coarsely patched With different coloured rags, black, red, white, yellow, +And seemed to speak variety of wretchedness." + +"See," said Lester, "one of the eyesores of our village, (I might say) +the only discontented person." + +"What! Dame Darkmans!" said Ellinor, quickly. "Ah! let us turn back. I +hate to encounter that old woman; there is something so evil and savage +in her manner of talk--and look, how she rates that poor girl, whom she +has dragged or decoyed to assist her!" + +Aram looked curiously on the old hag. "Poverty," said he, "makes some +humble, but more malignant; is it not want that grafts the devil on this +poor woman's nature? Come, let us accost her--I like conferring with +distress." + +"It is hard labour this?" said the Student gently. + +The old woman looked up askant--the music of the voice that addressed her +sounded harsh on her ear. + +"Ay, ay!" she answered. "You fine gentlefolks can know what the poor +suffer; ye talk and ye talk, but ye never assist." + +"Say not so, Dame," said Lester; "did I not send you but yesterday bread +and money? and when do you ever look up at the Hall without obtaining +relief?" + +"But the bread was as dry as a stick," growled the hag: "and the money, +what was it? will it last a week? Oh, yes! Ye think as much of your doits +and mites, as if ye stripped yourselves of a comfort to give it to us. +Did ye have a dish less--a 'tato less, the day ye sent me--your charity I +'spose ye calls it? Och! fie! But the Bible's the poor cretur's comfort." + +"I am glad to hear you say that, Dame," said the good-natured Lester; +"and I forgive every thing else you have said, on account of that one +sentence." + +The old woman dropped the sticks she had just gathered, and glowered at +the speaker's benevolent countenance with a malicious meaning in her dark +eyes. + +"An' ye do? Well, I'm glad I please ye there. Och! yes! the Bible's a +mighty comfort; for it says as much that the rich man shall not inter the +kingdom of Heaven! There's a truth for you, that makes the poor folk's +heart chirp like a cricket--ho! ho! I sits by the imbers of a night, and +I thinks and thinks as how I shall see you all burning; and ye'll ask me +for a drop o' water, and I shall laugh thin from my pleasant seat with +the angels. Och--it's a book for the poor that!" + +The sisters shuddered. "And you think then that with envy, malice, and +all uncharitableness at your heart, you are certain of Heaven? For shame! +Pluck the mote from your own eye!" + +"What sinnifies praching? Did not the Blessed Saviour come for the poor? +Them as has rags and dry bread here will be ixalted in the nixt world; +an' if we poor folk have malice as ye calls it, whose fault's that? What +do ye tache us? Eh?--answer me that. Ye keeps all the larning an' all the +other fine things to yoursel', and then ye scould, and thritten, and hang +us, 'cause we are not as wise as you. Och! there is no jistice in the +Lamb, if Heaven is not made for us; and the iverlasting Hell, with its +brimstone and fire, and its gnawing an' gnashing of teeth, an' its +theirst, an' its torture, and its worm that niver dies, for the like o' +you." + +"Come! come away," said Ellinor, pulling her father's arm. + +"And if," said Aram, pausing, "if I were to say to you,--name your want +and it shall be fulfilled, would you have no charity for me also?" + +"Umph," returned the hag, "ye are the great scolard; and they say ye +knows what no one else do. Till me now," and she approached, and +familiarly, laid her bony finger on the student's arm; "till me,--have ye +iver, among other fine things, known poverty?" + +"I have, woman!" said Aram, sternly. + +"Och ye have thin! And did ye not sit and gloat, and eat up your oun +heart, an' curse the sun that looked so gay, an' the winged things that +played so blithe-like, an' scowl at the rich folk that niver wasted a +thought on ye? till me now, your honour, till me!" + +And the crone curtesied with a mock air of beseeching humility. + +"I never forgot, even in want, the love due to my fellow-sufferers; for, +woman, we all suffer,--the rich and the poor: there are worse pangs than +those of want!" + +"Ye think there be, do ye? that's a comfort, umph! Well, I'll till ye +now, I feel a rispict for you, that I don't for the rest on 'em; for your +face does not insult me with being cheary like their's yonder; an' I have +noted ye walk in the dusk with your eyes down and your arms crossed; an' +I have said,--that man I do not hate, somehow, for he has something dark +at his heart like me!" + +"The lot of earth is woe," answered Aram calmly, yet shrinking back from +the crone's touch; "judge we charitably, and act we kindly to each other. +There--this money is not much, but it will light your hearth and heap +your table without toil, for some days at least!" + +"Thank your honour: an' what think you I'll do with the money?" + +"What?" + +"Drink, drink, drink!" cried the hag fiercely; "there's nothing like +drink for the poor, for thin we fancy oursels what we wish, and," sinking +her voice into a whisper, "I thinks thin that I have my foot on the +billies of the rich folks, and my hands twisted about their intrails, and +I hear them shriek, and--thin I'm happy!" + +"Go home!" said Aram, turning away, "and open the Book of life with other +thoughts." + +The little party proceeded, and, looking back, Lester saw the old woman +gaze after them, till a turn in the winding valley hid her from his +sight. + +"That is a strange person, Aram; scarcely a favourable specimen of the +happy English peasant;" said Lester, smiling. + +"Yet they say," added Madeline, "that she was not always the same +perverse and hateful creature she is now." + +"Ay," said Aram, "and what then is her history?" + +"Why," replied Madeline, slightly blushing to find herself made the +narrator of a story, "some forty years ago this woman, so gaunt and +hideous now, was the beauty of the village. She married an Irish soldier +whose regiment passed through Grassdale, and was heard of no more till +about ten years back, when she returned to her native place, the +discontented, envious, altered being you now see her." + +"She is not reserved in regard to her past life, said Lester. "She is too +happy to seize the attention of any one to whom she can pour forth her +dark and angry confidence. She saw her husband, who was afterwards +dismissed the service, a strong, powerful man, a giant of his tribe, pine +and waste, inch by inch, from mere physical want, and at last literally +die from hunger. It happened that they had settled in the country in +which her husband was born, and in that county, those frequent famines +which are the scourge of Ireland were for two years especially severe. +You may note, that the old woman has a strong vein of coarse eloquence at +her command, perhaps acquired in (for it partakes of the natural +character of) the country in which she lived so long; and it would +literally thrill you with horror to hear her descriptions of the misery +and destitution that she witnessed, and amidst which her husband breathed +his last. Out of four children, not one survives. One, an infant, died +within a week of the father; two sons were executed, one at the age of +sixteen, one a year older, for robbery committed under aggravated +circumstances; and the fourth, a daughter, died in the hospitals of +London. The old woman became a wanderer and a vagrant, and was at length +passed to her native parish, where she has since dwelt. These are the +misfortunes which have turned her blood to gall; and these are the causes +which fill her with so bitter a hatred against those whom wealth has +preserved from sharing or witnessing a fate similar to hers." + +"Oh!" said Aram, in a low, but deep tone, "when--when will these hideous +disparities be banished from the world? How many noble natures--how many +glorious hopes--how much of the seraph's intellect, have been crushed +into the mire, or blasted into guilt, by the mere force of physical want? +What are the temptations of the rich to those of the poor? Yet see how +lenient we are to the crimes of the one,--how relentless to those of the +other! It is a bad world; it makes a man's heart sick to look around him. +The consciousness of how little individual genius can do to relieve the +mass, grinds out, as with a stone, all that is generous in ambition; and +to aspire from the level of life is but to be more graspingly selfish." + +"Can legislators, or the moralists that instruct legislators, do so +little, then, towards universal good?" said Lester, doubtingly. + +"Why? what can they do but forward civilization? And what is +civilization, but an increase of human disparities? The more the luxury +of the few, the more startling the wants, and the more galling the sense, +of poverty. Even the dreams of the philanthropist only tend towards +equality; and where is equality to be found, but in the state of the +savage? No; I thought otherwise once; but I now regard the vast lazar- +house around us without hope of relief:--Death is the sole Physician!" + +"Ah, no!" said the high-souled Madeline, eagerly; "do not take away from +us the best feeling and the highest desire we can cherish. How poor, even +in this beautiful world, with the warm sun and fresh air about us, that +alone are sufficient to make us glad, would be life, if we could not make +the happiness of others!" + +Aram looked at the beautiful speaker with a soft and half-mournful smile. +There is one very peculiar pleasure that we feel as we grow older,--it +is to see embodied in another and a more lovely shape the thoughts and +sentiments we once nursed ourselves; it is as if we viewed before us the +incarnation of our own youth; and it is no wonder that we are warmed +towards the object, that thus seems the living apparition of all that was +brightest in ourselves! It was with this sentiment that Aram now gazed on +Madeline. She felt the gaze, and her heart beat delightedly, but she sunk +at once into a silence, which she did not break during the rest of their +walk. + +"I do not say," said Aram, after a pause, "that we are not able to make +the happiness of those immediately around us. I speak only of what we can +effect for the mass. And it is a deadening thought to mental ambition, +that the circle of happiness we can create is formed more by our moral +than our mental qualities. A warm heart, though accompanied but by a +mediocre understanding, is even more likely to promote the happiness of +those around, than are the absorbed and abstract, though kindly powers of +a more elevated genius; but (observing Lester about to interrupt him), +let us turn from this topic,--let us turn from man's weakness to the +glories of the mother-nature, from which he sprung." + +And kindling, as he ever did, the moment he approached a subject so dear +to his studies, Aram now spoke of the stars, which began to sparkle +forth,--of the vast, illimitable career which recent science had opened +to the imagination,--and of the old, bewildering, yet eloquent theories, +which from age to age had at once misled and elevated the conjecture of +past sages. All this was a theme which his listeners loved to listen to, +and Madeline not the least. Youth, beauty, pomp, what are these, in point +of attraction, to a woman's heart, when compared to eloquence?--the magic +of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells! + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE PRIVILEGE OF GENIUS.--LESTER'S SATISFACTION AT THE ASPECT + OF EVENTS.--HIS CONVERSATION WITH WALTER.--A DISCOVERY. + + "Alc.--I am for Lidian: + This accident no doubt will draw him from his hermit's life! + + "Lis.--Spare my grief, and apprehend + What I should speak." + --Beaumont and Fletcher.--The Lovers' Progress. + +In the course of the various conversations our family of Grassdale +enjoyed with their singular neighbour, it appeared that his knowledge had +not been confined to the closet; at times, he dropped remarks which +shewed that he had been much among cities, and travelled with the design, +or at least with the vigilance, of the observer; but he did not love to +be drawn into any detailed accounts of what he had seen, or whither he +had been; an habitual though a gentle reserve, kept watch over the past-- +not indeed that character of reserve which excites the doubt, but which +inspires the interest. His most gloomy moods were rather abrupt and +fitful than morose, and his usual bearing was calm, soft, and even +tender. + +There is a certain charm about great superiority of intellect, that winds +into deep affections which a much more constant and even amiability of +manners in lesser men, often fails to reach. Genius makes many enemies, +but it makes sure friends--friends who forgive much, who endure long, who +exact little; they partake of the character of disciples as well as +friends. There lingers about the human heart a strong inclination to look +upward--to revere: in this inclination lies the source of religion, of +loyalty, and also of the worship and immortality which are rendered so +cheerfully to the great of old. And in truth, it is a divine pleasure to +admire! admiration seems in some measure to appropriate to ourselves the +qualities it honours in others. We wed,--we root ourselves to the natures +we so love to contemplate, and their life grows a part of our own. Thus, +when a great man, who has engrossed our thoughts, our conjectures, our +homage, dies, a gap seems suddenly left in the world; a wheel in the +mechanism of our own being appears abruptly stilled; a portion of +ourselves, and not our worst portion, for how many pure, high, generous +sentiments it contains, dies with him! Yes! it is this love, so rare, so +exalted, and so denied to all ordinary men, which is the especial +privilege of greatness, whether that greatness be shewn in wisdom, in +enterprise, in virtue, or even, till the world learns better, in the more +daring and lofty order of crime. A Socrates may claim it to-day--a +Napoleon to-morrow; nay, a brigand chief, illustrious in the circle in +which he lives, may call it forth no less powerfully than the generous +failings of a Byron, or the sublime excellence of the greater Milton. + +Lester saw with evident complacency the passion growing up between his +friend and his daughter; he looked upon it as a tie that would +permanently reconcile Aram to the hearth of social and domestic life; a +tie that would constitute the happiness of his daughter, and secure to +himself a relation in the man he felt most inclined, of all he knew, to +honour and esteem. He remarked in the gentleness and calm temper of Aram +much that was calculated to ensure domestic peace, and knowing the +peculiar disposition of Madeline, he felt that she was exactly the +person, not only to bear with the peculiarities of the Student, but to +venerate their source. In short, the more he contemplated the idea of +this alliance, the more he was charmed with its probability. + +Musing on this subject, the good Squire was one day walking in his +garden, when he perceived his nephew at some distance, and remarked that +Walter, on seeing him, was about, instead of coming forward to meet him, +to turn down an alley in an opposite direction. + +A little pained at this, and remembering that Walter had of late seemed +estranged from himself, and greatly altered from the high and cheerful +spirits natural to his temper, Lester called to his nephew; and Walter, +reluctantly and slowly changing his purpose of avoidance, advanced and +met him. + +"Why, Walter!" said the uncle, taking his arm; "this is somewhat unkind, +to shun me; are you engaged in any pursuit that requires secrecy or +haste?" + +"No, indeed, Sir!" said Walter, with some embarrassment; "but I thought +you seemed wrapped in reflection, and would naturally dislike being +disturbed." + +"Hem! as to that, I have no reflections I wish concealed from you, +Walter, or which might not be benefited by your advice." The youth +pressed his uncle's hand, but made no reply; and Lester, after a pause, +continued:-- + +"You seem, Walter, I am most delighted to think, entirely to have +overcome the little unfavourable prepossession which at first you +testified towards our excellent neighbour. And for my part, I think he +appears to be especially attracted towards yourself, he seeks your +company; and to me he always speaks of you in terms, which, coming from +such a quarter, give me the most lively gratification." + +Walter bowed his head, but not in the delighted vanity with which a young +man generally receives the assurance of another's praise. + +"I own," renewed Lester, "that I consider our friendship with Aram one of +the most fortunate occurrences in my life; at least," added he with a +sigh, "of late years. I doubt not but you must have observed the +partiality with which our dear Madeline evidently regards him; and yet +more, the attachment to her, which breaks forth from Aram, in spite of +his habitual reserve and self-control. You have surely noted this, +Walter?" + +"I have," said Walter, in a low tone, and turning away his head. + +"And doubtless you share my satisfaction. It happens fortunately now, +that Madeline early contracted that studious and thoughtful turn, which I +must own at one time gave me some uneasiness and vexation. It has taught +her to appreciate the value of a mind like Aram's. Formerly, my dear boy, +I hoped that at one time or another, she and yourself might form a dearer +connection than that of cousins. But I was disappointed, and I am now +consoled. And indeed I think there is that in Ellinor which might be yet +more calculated to render you happy; that is, if the bias of your mind +should ever lean that way." + +"You are very good," said Walter, bitterly. "I own I am not flattered by +your selection; nor do I see why the plainest and least brilliant of the +two sisters must necessarily be the fittest for me." + +"Nay," replied Lester, piqued, and justly angry, "I do not think, even if +Madeline have the advantage of her sister, that you can find any fault +with the personal or mental attractions of Ellinor. But indeed this is +not a matter in which relations should interfere. I am far from any wish +to prevent you from choosing throughout the world any one whom you may +prefer. All I hope is, that your future wife will be like Ellinor in +kindness of heart and sweetness of temper." + +"From choosing throughout the world!" repeated Walter; "and how in this +nook am I to see the world?" + +"Walter! your voice is reproachful!--do I deserve it?" + +Walter was silent. + +"I have of late observed," continued Lester, "and with wounded feelings, +that you do not give me the same confidence, or meet me with the same +affection, that you once delighted me by manifesting towards me. I know +of no cause for this change. Do not let us, my son, for I may so call +you--do not let us, as we grow older, grow also more apart. Time divides +with a sufficient demarcation the young from the old; why deepen the +necessary line? You know well, that I have never from your childhood +insisted heavily on a guardian's authority. I have always loved to +contribute to your enjoyments, and shewn you how devoted I am to your +interests, by the very frankness with which I have consulted you on my +own. If there be now on your mind any secret grievance, or any secret +wish, speak it, Walter:--you are alone with the friend on earth who loves +you best!" + +Walter was wholly overcome by this address: he pressed his good uncle's +hand to his lips, and it was some moments before he mustered self- +composure sufficient to reply. + +"You have ever, ever been to me all that the kindest parent, the +tenderest friend could have been:--believe me, I am not ungrateful. If of +late I have been altered, the cause is not in you. Let me speak freely: +you encourage me to do so. I am young, my temper is restless; I have a +love of enterprise and adventure: is it not natural that I should long to +see the world? This is the cause of my late abstraction of mind. I have +now told you all: it is for you to decide." + +Lester looked wistfully on his nephew's countenance before he replied-- + +"It is as I gathered," said he, "from various remarks which you have +lately let fall. I cannot blame your wish to leave us; it is certainly +natural: nor can I oppose it. Go, Walter, when you will!" + +The young man turned round with a lighted eye and flushed cheek. + +"And why, Walter?" said Lester, interrupting his thanks, "why this +surprise? why this long doubt of my affection? Could you believe I should +refuse a wish that, at your age, I should have expressed myself? You have +wronged me; you might have saved a world of pain to us both by +acquainting me with your desire when it was first formed; but, enough. I +see Madeline and Aram approach,--let us join them now, and to-morrow we +will arrange the time and method of your departure. + +"Forgive me, Sir," said Walter, stopping abruptly as the glow faded from +his cheek, "I have not yet recovered myself; I am not fit for other +society than yours. Excuse my joining my cousin, and--" + +"Walter!" said Lester, also stopping short and looking full on his +nephew, "a painful thought flashes upon me! Would to heaven I may be +wrong!--Have you ever felt for Madeline more tenderly than for her +sister?" + +Walter literally trembled as he stood. The tears rushed into Lester's +eyes:--he grasped his nephew's hand warmly-- + +"God comfort thee, my poor boy!" said he, with great emotion; "I never +dreamt of this." + +Walter felt now that he was understood. He gratefully returned the +pressure of his uncle's hand, and then, withdrawing his own, darted down +one of the intersecting walks, and was almost instantly out of sight. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE STATE OF WALTER'S MIND.--AN ANGLER AND A MAN OF THE + WORLD.--A COMPANION FOUND FOR WALTER. + + "This great disease for love I dre, + There is no tongue can tell the wo; + I love the love that loves not me, + I may not mend, but mourning mo." + --The Mourning Maiden. + + + + "I in these flowery meads would be, + These crystal streams should solace me, + To whose harmonious bubbling voice + + I with my angle would rejoice." + --Izaac Walton. + +When Walter left his uncle, he hurried, scarcely conscious of his steps, +towards his favourite haunt by the water-side. From a child, he had +singled out that scene as the witness of his early sorrows or boyish +schemes; and still, the solitude of the place cherished the habit of his +boyhood. + +Long had he, unknown to himself, nourished an attachment to his beautiful +cousin; nor did he awaken to the secret of his heart, until, with an +agonizing jealousy, he penetrated the secret at her own. The reader has, +doubtless, already perceived that it was this jealousy which at the first +occasioned Walter's dislike to Aram: the consolation of that dislike was +forbid him now. The gentleness and forbearance of the Student's +deportment had taken away all ground of offence; and Walter had +sufficient generosity to acknowledge his merits, while tortured by their +effect. Silently, till this day, he had gnawed his heart, and found for +its despair no confidant and no comfort. The only wish that he cherished +was a feverish and gloomy desire to leave the scene which witnessed the +triumph of his rival. Every thing around had become hateful to his eyes, +and a curse had lighted upon the face of Home. He thought now, with a +bitter satisfaction, that his escape was at hand: in a few days he might +be rid of the gall and the pang, which every moment of his stay at +Grassdale inflicted upon him. The sweet voice of Madeline he should hear +no more, subduing its silver sound for his rival's ear:--no more he +should watch apart, and himself unheeded, how timidly her glance roved in +search of another, or how vividly her cheek flushed when the step of that +happier one approached. Many miles would at least shut out this picture +from his view; and in absence, was it not possible that he might teach +himself to forget? Thus meditating, he arrived at the banks of the little +brooklet, and was awakened from his reverie by the sound of his own name. +He started, and saw the old Corporal seated on the stump of a tree, and +busily employed in fixing to his line the mimic likeness of what anglers, +and, for aught we know, the rest of the world, call the "violet fly." + +"Ha! master,--at my day's work, you see:--fit for nothing else now. When +a musquet's halfworn out, schoolboys buy it--pop it at sparrows. I be +like the musket: but never mind--have not seen the world for nothing. We +get reconciled to all things: that's my way--augh! Now, Sir, you shall +watch me catch the finest trout you have seen this summer: know where he +lies--under the bush yonder. Whi--sh! Sir, whi--sh!" + +The Corporal now gave his warrior soul up to the due guidance of the +violet-fly: now he shipped it lightly on the wave; now he slid it +coquettishly along the surface; now it floated, like an unconscious +beauty, carelessly with the tide; and now, like an artful prude, it +affected to loiter by the way, or to steal into designing obscurity under +the shade of some overhanging bank. But none of these manoeuvres +captivated the wary old trout on whose acquisition the Corporal had set +his heart; and what was especially provoking, the angler could see +distinctly the dark outline of the intended victim, as it lay at the +bottom,--like some well-regulated bachelor who eyes from afar the charms +he has discreetly resolved to neglect. + +The Corporal waited till he could no longer blind himself to the +displeasing fact, that the violet-fly was wholly inefficacious; he then +drew up his line, and replaced the contemned beauty of the violet-fly, +with the novel attractions of the yellow-dun. + +"Now, Sir!" whispered he, lifting up his finger, and nodding sagaciously +to Walter. Softly dropped the yellow-dun upon the water, and swiftly did +it glide before the gaze of the latent trout; and now the trout seemed +aroused from his apathy, behold he moved forward, balancing himself on +his fins; now he slowly ascended towards the surface; you might see all +the speckles of his coat;--the Corporal's heart stood still--he is now at +a convenient distance from the yellow-dun; lo, he surveys it steadfastly; +he ponders, he see-saws himself to and fro. The yellow-dun sails away in +affected indifference, that indifference whets the appetite of the +hesitating gazer, he darts forward; he is opposite the yellow-dun,--he +pushes his nose against it with an eager rudeness,--he--no, he does not +bite, he recoils, he gazes again with surprise and suspicion on the +little charmer; he fades back slowly into the deeper water, and then +suddenly turning his tail towards the disappointed bait, he makes off as +fast as he can,--yonder,--yonder, and disappears! No, that's he leaping +yonder from the wave; Jupiter! what a noble fellow! What leaps he at?--a +real fly--"Damn his eyes!" growled the Corporal. + +"You might have caught him with a minnow," said Walter, speaking for the +first time. + +"Minnow!" repeated the Corporal gruffly, "ask your honour's pardon. +Minnow!--I have fished with the yellow-dun these twenty years, and never +knew it fail before. Minnow!--baugh! But ask pardon; your honour is very +welcome to fish with a minnow if you please it." + +"Thank you, Bunting. And pray what sport have you had to-day?" + +"Oh,--good, good," quoth the Corporal, snatching up his basket and +closing the cover, lest the young Squire should pry into it. No man is +more tenacious of his secrets than your true angler. "Sent the best home +two hours ago; one weighed three pounds, on the faith of a man; indeed, +I'm satisfied now; time to give up;" and the Corporal began to disjoint +his rod. + +"Ah, Sir!" said he, with a half sigh, "a pretty river this, don't mean to +say it is not; but the river Lea for my money. You know the Lea?--not a +morning's walk from Lunnun. Mary Gibson, my first sweetheart, lived by +the bridge,--caught such a trout there by the by!--had beautiful eyes-- +black, round as a cherry--five feet eight without shoes--might have +listed in the forty-second." + +"Who, Bunting!" said Walter smiling, "the lady or the trout?" + +"Augh!--baugh!--what? Oh, laughing at me, your honour, you're welcome, +Sir. Love's a silly thing--know the world now--have not fallen in love +these ten years. I doubt--no offence, Sir, no offence--I doubt whether +your honour and Miss Ellinor can say as much." + +"I and Miss Ellinor!--you forge yourself strangely, Bunting," said +Walter, colouring with anger. + +"Beg pardon, Sir, beg pardon--rough soldier--lived away from the world so +long, words slipped out of my mouth--absent without leave." + +"But why," said Walter, smothering or conquering his vexation,--"why +couple me with Miss Ellinor? Did you imagine that we,--we were in love +with each other?" + +"Indeed, Sir, and if I did, 'tis no more than my neighbours imagine too." + +"Humph! your neighbours are very silly, then, and very wrong." + +"Beg pardon, Sir, again--always getting askew. Indeed some did say it was +Miss Madeline, but I says,--says I,--'No! I'm a man of the world--see +through a millstone; Miss Madeline's too easy like; Miss Nelly blushes +when he speaks;'scarlet is love's regimentals--it was ours in the forty- +second, edged with yellow--pepper and salt pantaloons! For my part I +think,--but I've no business to think, howsomever--baugh!" + +"Pray what do you think, Mr. Bunting? Why do you hesitate?" + +"'Fraid of offence--but I do think that Master Aram--your honour +understands--howsomever Squire's daughter too great a match for such as +he!" + +Walter did not answer; and the garrulous old soldier, who had been the +young man's playmate and companion since Walter was a boy; and was +therefore accustomed to the familiarity with which he now spoke, +continued, mingling with his abrupt prolixity an occasional shrewdness of +observation, which shewed that he was no inattentive commentator on the +little and quiet world around him. + +"Free to confess, Squire Walter, that I don't quite like this larned man, +as much as the rest of 'em--something queer about him--can't see to the +bottom of him--don't think he's quite so meek and lamb-like as he seems:- +-once saw a calm dead pool in foren parts--peered down into it--by little +and little, my eye got used to it--saw something dark at the bottom-- +stared and stared--by Jupiter--a great big alligator!--walked off +immediately--never liked quiet pools since--augh, no!" + +"An argument against quiet pools, perhaps, Bunting; but scarcely against +quiet people." + +"Don't know as to that, your honour--much of a muchness. I have seen +Master Aram, demure as he looks, start, and bite his lip, and change +colour, and frown--he has an ugly frown, I can tell ye--when he thought +no one nigh. A man who gets in a passion with himself may be soon out of +temper with others. Free to confess, I should not like to see him married +to that stately beautiful young lady--but they do gossip about it in the +village. If it is not true, better put the Squire on his guard--false +rumours often beget truths--beg pardon, your honour--no business of mine- +-baugh! But I'm a lone man, who have seen the world, and I thinks on the +things around me, and I turns over the quid--now on this side, now on the +other--'tis my way, Sir--and--but I offend your honour." + +"Not at all; I know you are an honest man, Bunting, and well affected to +our family; at the same time it is neither prudent nor charitable to +speak harshly of our neighbours without sufficient cause. And really you +seem to me to be a little hasty in your judgment of a man so inoffensive +in his habits and so justly and generally esteemed as Mr. Aram." + +"May be, Sir--may be,--very right what you say. But I thinks what I +thinks all the same; and indeed, it is a thing that puzzles me, how that +strange-looking vagabond, as frighted the ladies so, and who, Miss Nelly +told me, for she saw them in his pocket, carried pistols about him, as if +he had been among cannibals and hottentots, instead of the peaceablest +county that man ever set foot in, should boast of his friendship with +this larned schollard, and pass a whole night in his house. Birds of a +feather flock together--augh!--Sir!" + +"A man cannot surely be answerable for the respectability of all his +acquaintances, even though he feel obliged to offer them the +accommodation of a night's shelter." + +"Baugh!" grunted the Corporal. "Seen the world, Sir--seen the world-- +young gentlemen are always so good-natured; 'tis a pity, that the more +one sees the more suspicious one grows. One does not have gumption till +one has been properly cheated--one must be made a fool very often in +order not to be fooled at last!" + +"Well, Corporal, I shall now have opportunities enough of profiting by +experience. I am going to leave Grassdale in a few days, and learn +suspicion and wisdom in the great world." + +"Augh! baugh!--what?" cried the Corporal, starting from the contemplative +air which he had hitherto assumed. "The great world?--how?--when?--going +away;--who goes with your honour?" + +"My honour's self; I have no companion, unless you like to attend me;" +said Walter, jestingly--but the Corporal affected, with his natural +shrewdness, to take the proposition in earnest. + +"I! your honour's too good; and indeed, though I say it, Sir, you might +do worse; not but what I should be sorry to leave nice snug home here, +and this stream, though the trout have been shy lately,--ah! that was a +mistake of yours, Sir, recommending the minnow; and neighbour Dealtry, +though his ale's not so good at 'twas last year; and--and--but, in short, +I always loved your honour--dandled you on my knees;--You recollect the +broadsword exercise?--one, two, three--augh! baugh!--and if your honour +really is going, why rather than you should want a proper person who +knows the world, to brush your coat, polish your shoes, give you good +advice--on the faith of a man, I'll go with you myself!" + +This alacrity on the part of the Corporal was far from displeasing to +Walter. The proposal he had at first made unthinkingly, he now seriously +thought advisable; and at length it was settled that the Corporal should +call the next morning at the manor-house, and receive instructions as to +the time and method of their departure. Not forgetting, as the sagacious +Bunting delicately insinuated, "the wee settlements as to wages, and +board wages, more a matter of form, like, than any thing else--augh!" + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + THE LOVERS.--THE ENCOUNTER AND QUARREL OF THE RIVALS. + + Two such I saw, what time the laboured ox + In his loose traces from the furrow came. + --Comus. + + Pedro. Now do me noble right. + Rod. I'll satisfy you; + But not by the sword. + --Beaumont and Fletcher.--The Pilgrim. + +While Walter and the Corporal enjoyed the above conversation, Madeline +and Aram, whom Lester soon left to themselves, were pursuing their walk +along the solitary fields. Their love had passed from the eye to the lip, +and now found expression in words. + +"Observe," said he, as the light touch of one who he felt loved him +entirely rested on his arm,--"Observe, as the later summer now begins to +breathe a more various and mellow glory into the landscape, how +singularly pure and lucid the atmosphere becomes. When, two months ago, +in the full flush of June, I walked through these fields, a grey mist hid +yon distant hills and the far forest from my view. Now, with what a +transparent stillness the whole expanse of scenery spreads itself before +us. And such, Madeline, is the change that has come over myself since +that time. Then, if I looked beyond the limited present, all was dim and +indistinct. Now, the mist had faded away--the broad future extends before +me, calm and bright with the hope which is borrowed from your love!" + +We will not tax the patience of the reader, who seldom enters with keen +interest into the mere dialogue of love, with the blushing Madeline's +reply, or with all the soft vows and tender confessions which the rich +poetry of Aram's mind made yet more delicious to the ear of his dreaming +and devoted mistress. + +"There is one circumstance," said Aram, "which casts a momentary shade on +the happiness I enjoy--my Madeline probably guesses its nature. I regret +to see that the blessing of your love must be purchased by the misery of +another, and that other, the nephew of my kind friend. You have doubtless +observed the melancholy of Walter Lester, and have long since known its +origin." + +"Indeed, Eugene," answered Madeline, "it has given me great pain to note +what you refer to, for it would be a false delicacy in me to deny that I +have observed it. But Walter is young and high-spirited; nor do I think +he is of a nature to love long where there is no return!" + +"And what," said Aram, sorrowfully,--"what deduction from reason can ever +apply to love? Love is a very contradiction of all the elements of our +ordinary nature,--it makes the proud man meek,--the cheerful, sad,--the +high-spirited, tame; our strongest resolutions, our hardiest energy fail +before it. Believe me, you cannot prophesy of its future effect in a man +from any knowledge of his past character. I grieve to think that the blow +falls upon one in early youth, ere the world's disappointments have +blunted the heart, or the world's numerous interests have multiplied its +resources. Men's minds have been turned when they have not well sifted +the cause themselves, and their fortunes marred, by one stroke on the +affections of their youth. So at least have I read, Madeline, and so +marked in others. For myself, I knew nothing of love in its reality till +I knew you. But who can know you, and not sympathise with him who has +lost you?" + +"Ah, Eugene! you at least overrate the influence which love produces on +men. A little resentment and a little absence will soon cure my cousin of +an ill-placed and ill-requited attachment. You do not think how easy it +is to forget." + +"Forget!" said Aram, stopping abruptly; "Ay, forget--it is a strange +truth! we do forget! the summer passes over the furrow, and the corn +springs up; the sod forgets the flower of the past year; the battle-field +forgets the blood that has been spilt upon its turf; the sky forgets the +storm; and the water the noon-day sun that slept upon its bosom. All +Nature preaches forgetfulness. Its very order is the progress of +oblivion. And I--I--give me your hand, Madeline,--I, ha! ha! I forget +too!" + +As Aram spoke thus wildly, his countenance worked; but his voice was +slow, and scarcely audible; he seemed rather conferring with himself, +than addressing Madeline. But when his words ceased, and he felt the soft +hand of his betrothed, and turning, saw her anxious and wistful eyes +fixed in alarm, yet in all unsuspecting confidence, on his face; his +features relaxed into their usual serenity, and kissing the hand he +clasped, he continued, in a collected and steady tone, + +"Forgive me, my sweetest Madeline. These fitful and strange moods +sometimes come upon me yet. I have been so long in the habit of pursuing +any train of thought, however wild, that presents itself to my mind, that +I cannot easily break it, even in your presence. All studious men--the +twilight Eremites of books and closets, contract this ungraceful custom +of soliloquy. You know our abstraction is a common jest and proverb: you +must laugh me out of it. But stay, dearest!--there is a rare herb at +your feet, let me gather it. So, do you note its leaves--this bending and +silver flower? Let us rest on this bank, and I will tell you of its +qualities. Beautiful as it is, it has a poison." + +The place in which the lovers rested, is one which the villagers to this +day call "The Lady's-seat;" for Madeline, whose history is fondly +preserved in that district, was afterwards wont constantly to repair to +that bank (during a short absence of her lover, hereafter to be noted), +and subsequent events stamped with interest every spot she was known to +have favoured with resort. And when the flower had been duly conned, and +the study dismissed, Aram, to whom all the signs of the seasons were +familiar, pointed to her the thousand symptoms of the month which are +unheeded by less observant eyes; not forgetting, as they thus reclined, +their hands clasped together, to couple each remark with some allusion to +his love or some deduction which heightened compliment into poetry. He +bade her mark the light gossamer as it floated on the air; now soaring +high--high into the translucent atmosphere; now suddenly stooping, and +sailing away beneath the boughs, which ever and anon it hung with a +silken web, that by the next morn, would glitter with a thousand dew +drops. "And, so," said he fancifully, "does Love lead forth its +numberless creations, making the air its path and empire; ascending aloof +at its wild will, hanging its meshes on every bough, and bidding the +common grass break into a fairy lustre at the beam of the daily sun!" + +He pointed to her the spot, where, in the silent brake, the harebells, +now waxing rare and few, yet lingered--or where the mystic ring on the +soft turf conjured up the associations of Oberon and his train. That +superstition gave licence and play to his full memory and glowing fancy; +and Shakspeare--Spenser--Ariosto--the magic of each mighty master of +Fairy Realm--he evoked, and poured into her transported ear. It was +precisely such arts, which to a gayer and more worldly nature than +Madeline's might have seemed but wearisome, that arrested and won her +imaginative and high-wrought mind. And thus he, who to another might have +proved but the retired and moody Student, became to her the very being of +whom her "Maiden meditation" had dreamed--the master and magician of her +fate. + +Aram did not return to the house with Madeline; he accompanied her to the +garden gate, and then taking leave of her, bent his way homeward. He had +gained the entrance of the little valley that led to his abode, when he +saw Walter cross his path at a short distance. His heart, naturally +susceptible to kindly emotion, smote him as he remarked the moody +listlessness of the young man's step, and recalled the buoyant lightness +it was once wont habitually to wear. He quickened his pace, and joined +Walter before the latter was aware of his presence. + +"Good evening," said he, mildly; "if you are going my way, give me the +benefit of your company." + +"My path lies yonder," replied Walter, somewhat sullenly; "I regret that +it is different from yours." + +"In that case," said Aram, "I can delay my return home, and will, with +your leave, intrude my society upon you for some few minutes." + +Walter bowed his head in reluctant assent. They walked on for some +moments without speaking, the one unwilling, the other seeking an +occasion, to break the silence. + +"This to my mind," said Aram at length, "is the most pleasing landscape +in the whole country; observe the bashful water stealing away among the +woodlands. Methinks the wave is endowed with an instinctive wisdom, that +it thus shuns the world." + +"Rather," said Walter, "with the love for change which exists everywhere +in nature, it does not seek the shade until it has passed by 'towered +cities,'and 'the busy hum of men.'" + +"I admire the shrewdness of your reply," rejoined Aram; "but note how far +more pure and lovely are its waters in these retreats, than when washing +the walls of the reeking town, receiving into its breast the taint of a +thousand pollutions, vexed by the sound, and stench, and unholy +perturbation of men's dwelling-place. Now it glasses only what is high or +beautiful in nature--the stars or the leafy banks. The wind that ruffles +it, is clothed with perfumes; the rivulet that swells it, descends from +the everlasting mountains, or is formed by the rains of Heaven. Believe +me, it is the type of a life that glides into solitude, from the +weariness and fretful turmoil of the world. + +'No flattery, hate, or envy lodgeth there, There no suspicion walled in +proved steel, Yet fearful of the arms herself doth wear, Pride is not +there; no tyrant there we feel!'" [Phineas Fletcher.] + +"I will not cope with you in simile, or in poetry," said Walter, as his +lip curved; "it is enough for me to think that life should be spent in +action. I hasten to prove if my judgment be erroneous." + +"Are you, then, about to leave us?" inquired Aram. + +"Yes, within a few days." + +"Indeed, I regret to hear it." + +The answer sounded jarringly on the irritated nerves of the disappointed +rival. + +"You do me more honour than I desire," said he, "in interesting yourself, +however lightly, in my schemes or fortune!" + +"Young man," replied Aram, coldly, "I never see the impetuous and +yearning spirit of youth without a certain, and it may be, a painful +interest. How feeble is the chance, that its hopes will be fulfilled! +Enough, if it lose not all its loftier aspirings, as well as its brighter +expectations." + +Nothing more aroused the proud and fiery temper of Walter Lester than the +tone of superior wisdom and superior age, which his rival assumed towards +him. More and more displeased with his present companion, he answered, in +no conciliatory tone, "I cannot but consider the warning and the fears of +one, neither my relation nor my friend, in the light of a gratuitous +affront." + +Aram smiled as he answered, + +"There is no occasion for resentment. Preserve this hot spirit, and high +self-confidence, till you return again to these scenes, and I shall be at +once satisfied and corrected." + +"Sir," said Walter, colouring, and irritated more by the smile than the +words of his rival, "I am not aware by what right or on what ground you +assume towards me the superiority, not only of admonition but reproof. My +uncle's preference towards you gives you no authority over me. That +preference I do not pretend to share."--He paused for a moment, thinking +Aram might hasten to reply; but as the Student walked on with his usual +calmness of demeanour, he added, stung by the indifference which he +attributed, not altogether without truth, to disdain, "And since you have +taken upon yourself to caution me, and to forebode my inability to resist +the contamination, as you would term it, of the world, I tell you, that +it may be happy for you to bear so clear a conscience, so untouched a +spirit as that which I now boast, and with which I trust in God and my +own soul I shall return to my birth-place. It is not the holy only that +love solitude; and men may shun the world from another motive than that +of philosophy." + +It was now Aram's turn to feel resentment, and this was indeed an +insinuation not only unwarrantable in itself, but one which a man of so +peaceable and guileless a life, affecting even an extreme and rigid +austerity of morals, might well be tempted to repel with scorn and +indignation; and Aram, however meek and forbearing in general, testified +in this instance that his wonted gentleness arose from no lack of man's +natural spirit. He laid his hand commandingly on young Lester's shoulder, +and surveyed his countenance with a dark and menacing frown. + +"Boy!" said he, "were there meaning in your words, I should (mark me!) +avenge the insult;--as it is, I despise it. Go!" + +So high and lofty was Aram's manner--so majestic was the sternness of his +rebuke, and the dignity of his bearing, as he now waving his hand turned +away, that Walter lost his self-possession and stood fixed to the spot, +absorbed, and humbled from his late anger. It was not till Aram had moved +with a slow step several paces backward towards his home, that the bold +and haughty temper of the young man returned to his aid. Ashamed of +himself for the momentary weakness he had betrayed, and burning to redeem +it, he hastened after the stately form of his rival, and planting himself +full in his path, said, in a voice half choked with contending emotions, + +"Hold!--you have given me the opportunity I have long desired; you +yourself have now broken that peace which existed between us, and which +to me was more bitter than wormwood. You have dared,--yes, dared to use +threatening language towards me. I call on you to fulfil your threat. I +tell you that I meant, I designed, I thirsted to affront you. Now resent +my purposed--premeditated affront as you will and can!" + +There was something remarkable in the contrasted figures of the rivals, +as they now stood fronting each other. The elastic and vigorous form of +Walter Lester, his sparkling eyes, his sunburnt and glowing cheek, his +clenched hands, and his whole frame, alive and eloquent with the energy, +the heat, the hasty courage, and fiery spirit of youth; on the other +hand,--the bending frame of the student, gradually rising into the +dignity of its full height--his pale cheek, in which the wan hues neither +deepened nor waned, his large eye raised to meet Walter's bright, steady, +and yet how calm! Nothing weak, nothing irresolute could be traced in +that form--or that lofty countenance; yet all resentment had vanished +from his aspect. He seemed at once tranquil and prepared. + +"You designed to affront me!" said he; "it is well--it is a noble +confession;--and wherefore? What do you propose to gain by it?--a man +whose whole life is peace, you would provoke to outrage? Would there be +triumph in this, or disgrace?--A man whom your uncle honours and loves, +you would insult without cause--you would waylay--you would, after +watching and creating your opportunity, entrap into defending himself. Is +this worthy of that high spirit of which you boasted?--is this worthy a +generous anger, or a noble hatred? Away! you malign yourself. I shrink +from no quarrel--why should I? I have nothing to fear: my nerves are +firm--my heart is faithful to my will; my habits may have diminished my +strength, but it is yet equal to that of most men. As to the weapons of +the world--they fall not to my use. I might be excused by the most +punctilious, for rejecting what becomes neither my station nor my habits +of life; but I learnt this much from books long since, 'hold thyself +prepared for all things:'--I am so prepared. And as I can command the +spirit, I lack not the skill, to defend myself, or return the hostility +of another." As Aram thus said, he drew a pistol from his bosom; and +pointed it leisurely towards a tree, at the distance of some paces. + +"Look," said he, "you note that small discoloured and white stain in the +bark--you can but just observe it;--he who can send a bullet through that +spot, need not fear to meet the quarrel which he seeks to avoid." + +Walter turned mechanically, and indignant, though silent, towards the +tree. Aram fired, and the ball penetrated the centre of the stain. He +then replaced the pistol in his bosom, and said:-- + +"Early in life I had many enemies, and I taught myself these arts. From +habit, I still bear about me the weapons I trust and pray I may never +have occasion to use. But to return.--I have offended you--I have +incurred your hatred--why? What are my sins?" + +"Do you ask the cause?" said Walter, speaking between his ground teeth. +"Have you not traversed my views--blighted my hopes--charmed away from me +the affections which were more to me than the world, and driven me to +wander from my home with a crushed spirit, and a cheerless heart. Are +these no cause for hate?" + +"Have I done this?" said Aram, recoiling, and evidently and powerfully +affected. "Have I so injured you?--It is true! I know it--I perceive it-- +I read your heart; and--bear witness Heaven!--I felt for the wound that +I, but with no guilty hand, inflict upon you. Yet be just:--ask yourself, +have I done aught that you, in my case, would have left undone? Have I +been insolent in triumph, or haughty in success? if so, hate me, nay, +spurn me now." + +Walter turned his head irresolutely away. + +"If it please you, that I accuse myself, in that I, a man seared and lone +at heart, presumed to come within the pale of human affections;--that I +exposed myself to cross another's better and brighter hopes, or dared to +soften my fate with the tender and endearing ties that are meet alone for +a more genial and youthful nature;--if it please you that I accuse and +curse myself for this--that I yielded to it with pain and with self- +reproach--that I shall think hereafter of what I unconsciously cost you +with remorse--then be consoled!" + +"It is enough," said Walter; "let us part. I leave you with more soreness +at my late haste than I will acknowledge, let that content you; for +myself, I ask for no apology or--." + +"But you shall have it amply," interrupted Aram, advancing with a cordial +openness of mien not usual to him. "I was all to blame; I should have +remembered you were an injured man, and suffered you to have said all you +would. Words at best are but a poor vent for a wronged and burning heart. +It shall be so in future, speak your will, attack, upbraid, taunt me, I +will bear it all. And indeed, even to myself there seems some witchcraft, +some glamoury in what has chanced. What! I favoured where you love? Is it +possible? It might teach the vainest to forswear vanity. You, the young, +the buoyant, the fresh, the beautiful?--And I, who have passed the glory +and zest of life between dusty walls; I who--well, well, fate laughs at +probabilities!" + +Aram now seemed relapsing into one of his more abstracted moods; he +ceased to speak aloud, but his lips moved, and his eyes grew fixed in +reverie on the ground. Walter gazed at him for some moments with mixed +and contending sensations. Once more, resentment and the bitter wrath of +jealousy had faded back into the remoter depths of his mind, and a +certain interest for his singular rival, despite of himself, crept into +his breast. But this mysterious and fitful nature, was it one in which +the devoted Madeline would certainly find happiness and repose?--would +she never regret her choice? This question obtruded itself upon him, and +while he sought to answer it, Aram, regaining his composure, turned +abruptly and offered him his hand. Walter did not accept it, he bowed +with a cold respect. "I cannot give my hand without my heart," said he; +"we were foes just now; we are not friends yet. I am unreasonable in +this, I know, but--" + +"Be it so," interrupted Aram; "I understand you. I press my good will on +you no more. When this pang is forgotten, when this wound is healed, and +when you will have learned more of him who is now your rival, we may meet +again with other feelings on your side." + +Thus they parted, and the solitary lamp which for weeks past had been +quenched at the wholesome hour in the Student's home, streamed from the +casement throughout the whole of that night; was it a witness of the calm +and learned vigil, or of the unresting heart? + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE FAMILY SUPPER.--THE TWO SISTERS IN THEIR CHAMBER. + --A MISUNDERSTANDING FOLLOWED BY A CONFESSION.--WALTER'S + APPROACHING DEPARTURE AND THE CORPORAL'S BEHAVIOUR THEREON.-- + THE CORPORAL'S FAVOURITE INTRODUCED TO THE READER.--THE + CORPORAL PROVES HIMSELF A SUBTLE DIPLOMATIST. + + So we grew together + Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, + But yet an union in partition. + --Midsummer Night's Dream. + + + The Corporal had not taken his measures so badly + in this stroke of artilleryship.--Tristram Shandy. + +It was late that evening when Walter returned home, the little family +were assembled at the last and lightest meal of the day; Ellinor silently +made room for her cousin beside herself, and that little kindness touched +Walter. "Why did I not love her?" thought he, and he spoke to her in a +tone so affectionate, that it made her heart thrill with delight. Lester +was, on the whole, the most pensive of the group, but the old and young +man exchanged looks of restored confidence, which, on the part of the +former, were softened by a pitying tenderness. + +When the cloth was removed, and the servants gone, Lester took it on +himself to break to the sisters the intended departure of their cousin. +Madeline received the news with painful blushes, and a certain self- +reproach; for even where a woman has no cause to blame herself, she, in +these cases, feels a sort of remorse at the unhappiness she occasions. +But Ellinor rose suddenly and left the room. + +"And now," said Lester, "London will, I suppose, be your first +destination. I can furnish you with letters to some of my old friends +there: merry fellows they were once: you must take care of the +prodigality of their wine. There's John Courtland--ah! a seductive dog +to drink with. Be sure and let me know how honest John looks, and what he +says of me. I recollect him as if it were yesterday; a roguish eye, with +a moisture in it; full cheeks; a straight nose; black curled hair; and +teeth as even as dies:--honest John shewed his teeth pretty often, too: +ha, ha! how the dog loved a laugh. Well, and Peter Hales--Sir Peter now, +has his uncle's baronetcy--a generous, open-hearted fellow as ever lived- +-will ask you very often to dinner--nay, offer you money if you want it: +but take care he does not lead you into extravagances: out of debt, out +of danger, Walter. It would have been well for poor Peter Hales, had he +remembered that maxim. Often and often have I been to see him in the +Marshalsea; but he was the heir to good fortunes, though his relations +kept him close; so I suppose he is well off now. His estates lie in-- +shire, on your road to London; so, if he is at his country-seat, you can +beat up his quarters, and spend a month or so with him: a most hospitable +fellow." + +With these little sketches of his cotemporaries, the good Squire +endeavoured to while the time; taking, it is true, some pleasure in the +youthful reminiscences they excited, but chiefly designing to enliven the +melancholy of his nephew. When, however, Madeline had retired, and they +were alone, he drew his chair closer to Walter's, and changed the +conversation into a more serious and anxious strain. The guardian and the +ward sate up late that night; and when Walter retired to rest, it was +with a heart more touched by his uncle's kindness, than his own sorrows. + +But we are not about to close the day without a glance at the chamber +which the two sisters held in common. The night was serene and starlit, +and Madeline sate by the open window, leaning her face upon her hand, and +gazing on the lone house of her lover, which might be seen afar across +the landscape, the trees sleeping around it, and one pale and steady +light gleaming from its lofty casement like a star. + +"He has broken faith," said Madeline: "I shall chide him for this to- +morrow. He promised me the light should be ever quenched before this +hour." + +"Nay," said Ellinor in a tone somewhat sharpened from its native +sweetness, and who now sate up in the bed, the curtain of which was half- +drawn aside, and the soft light of the skies rested full upon her rounded +neck and youthful countenance--"nay, Madeline, do not loiter there any +longer; the air grows sharp and cold, and the clock struck one several +minutes since. Come, sister, come!" + +"I cannot sleep," replied Madeline, sighing, "and think that yon light +streams upon those studies which steal the healthful hues from his cheek, +and the very life from his heart." + +"You are infatuated--you are bewitched by that man," said Ellinor, +peevishly. + +"And have I not cause--ample cause?" returned Madeline, with all a girl's +beautiful enthusiasm, as the colour mantled her cheek, and gave it the +only additional loveliness it could receive. "When he speaks, is it not +like music?--or rather, what music so arrests and touches the heart? +Methinks it is Heaven only to gaze upon him--to note the changes of that +majestic countenance--to set down as food for memory every look and every +movement. But when the look turns to me--when the voice utters my name, +ah! Ellinor, then it is not a wonder that I love him thus much: but that +any others should think they have known love, and yet not loved him! And, +indeed, I feel assured that what the world calls love is not my love. Are +there more Eugenes in the world than one? Who but Eugene could be loved +as I love?" + +"What! are there none as worthy?" said Ellinor, half smiling. + +"Can you ask it?" answered Madeline, with a simple wonder in her voice; +"Whom would you compare--compare! nay, place within a hundred grades of +the height which Eugene Aram holds in this little world?" + +"This is folly--dotage;" said Ellinor, indignantly: "Surely there are +others, as brave, as gentle, as kind, and if not so wise, yet more fitted +for the world." + +"You mock me," replied Madeline, incredulously; "whom could you select?" + +Ellinor blushed deeply--blushed from her snowy temples to her yet whiter +bosom, as she answered, + +"If I said Walter Lester, could you deny it?" + +"Walter!" repeated Madeline, "the equal to Eugene Aram!" + +"Ay, and more than equal," said Ellinor, with spirit, and a warm and +angry tone. "And indeed, Madeline," she continued, after a pause, "I lose +something of that respect, which, passing a sister's love, I have always +borne towards you, when I see the unthinking and lavish idolatry you +manifest to one, who, but for a silver tongue and florid words, would +rather want attractions than be the wonder you esteem him. Fie, Madeline! +I blush for you when you speak, it is unmaidenly so to love any one!" + +Madeline rose from the window, but the angry word died on her lips when +she saw that Ellinor, who had worked her mind beyond her self-control, +had thrown herself back on the pillow, and now sobbed aloud. + +The natural temper of the elder sister had always been much more calm and +even than that of the younger, who united with her vivacity something of +the passionate caprice and fitfulness of her sex. And Madeline's +affection for her had been tinged by that character of forbearance and +soothing, which a superior nature often manifests to one more imperfect, +and which in this instance did not desert her. She gently closed the +window, and, gliding to the bed, threw her arms round her sister's neck, +and kissed away her tears with a caressing fondness, that, if Ellinor +resisted for one moment, she returned with equal tenderness the next. + +"Indeed, dearest," said Madeline, gently, "I cannot guess how I hurt you, +and still less, how Eugene has offended you?" + +"He has offended me in nothing," replied Ellinor, still weeping, "if he +has not stolen away all your affection from me. But I was a foolish girl, +forgive me, as you always do; and at this time I need your kindness, for +I am very--very unhappy." + +"Unhappy, dearest Nell, and why?" + +Ellinor wept on without answering. + +Madeline persisted in pressing for a reply; and at length her sister +sobbed out: + +"I know that--that--Walter only has eyes for you, and a heart for you, +who neglect, who despise his love; and I--I--but no matter, he is going +to leave us, and of me--poor me, he will think no more!" + +Ellinor's attachment to their cousin, Madeline had long half suspected, +and she had often rallied her sister upon it; indeed it might have been +this suspicion which made her at the first steel her breast against +Walter's evident preference to herself. But Ellinor had never till now +seriously confessed how much her heart was affected; and Madeline, in the +natural engrossment of her own ardent and devoted love, had not of late +spared much observation to the tokens of her sister's. She was therefore +dismayed, if not surprised, as she now perceived the cause of the +peevishness Ellinor had just manifested, and by the nature of the love +she felt herself, she judged, and perhaps somewhat overrated, the anguish +that Ellinor endured. + +She strove to comfort her by all the arguments which the fertile +ingenuity of kindness could invent; she prophesied Walter's speedy +return, with his boyish disappointment forgotten, and with eyes no longer +blinded to the attractions of one sister, by a bootless fancy for +another. And though Ellinor interrupted her from time to time with +assertions, now of Walter's eternal constancy to his present idol; now, +with yet more vehement declarations of the certainty of his finding new +objects for his affections in new scenes; she yet admitted, by little and +little, the persuasive power of Madeline to creep into her heart, and +brighten away its griefs with hope, till at last, with the tears yet wet +on her cheek, she fell asleep in her sister's arms. + +And Madeline, though she would not stir from her post lest the movement +should awaken her sister, was yet prevented from closing her eyes in a +similar repose; ever and anon she breathlessly and gently raised herself +to steal a glimpse of that solitary light afar; and ever, as she looked, +the ray greeted her eyes with an unswerving and melancholy stillness, +till the dawn crept greyly over the heavens, and that speck of light, +holier to her than the stars, faded also with them beneath the broader +lustre of the day. + +The next week was passed in preparations for Walter's departure. At that +time, and in that distant part of the country, it was greatly the fashion +among the younger travellers to perform their excursions on horseback, +and it was this method of conveyance that Walter preferred. The best +steed in the squire's stables was therefore appropriated to his service, +and a strong black horse with a Roman nose and a long tail, was consigned +to the mastery of Corporal Bunting. The Squire was delighted that his +nephew had secured such an attendant. For the soldier, though odd and +selfish, was a man of some sense and experience, and Lester thought such +qualities might not be without their use to a young master, new to the +common frauds and daily usages of the world he was about to enter. + +As for Bunting himself, he covered his secret exultation at the prospect +of change, and board-wages, with the cool semblance of a man sacrificing +his wishes to his affections. He made it his peculiar study to impress +upon the Squire's mind the extent of the sacrifice he was about to make. +The bit cot had been just white-washed, the pet cat just lain in; then +too, who would dig, and gather seeds, in the garden, defend the plants, +(plants! the Corporal could scarce count a dozen, and nine out of them +were cabbages!) from the impending frosts? It was exactly, too, the time +of year when the rheumatism paid flying visits to the bones and loins of +the worthy Corporal; and to think of his "galavanting about the country," +when he ought to be guarding against that sly foe the lumbago, in the +fortress of his chimney corner! + +To all these murmurs and insinuations the good Lester seriously inclined, +not with the less sympathy, in that they invariably ended in the +Corporal's slapping his manly thigh, and swearing that he loved Master +Walter like gunpowder, and that were it twenty times as much, he would +cheerfully do it for the sake of his handsome young honour. Ever at this +peroration, the eyes of the Squire began to twinkle, and new thanks were +given to the veteran for his disinterested affection, and new promises +pledged him in inadequate return. + +The pious Dealtry felt a little jealousy at the trust imparted to his +friend. He halted, on his return from his farm, by the spruce stile which +led to the demesne of the Corporal, and eyed the warrior somewhat sourly, +as he now, in the cool of the evening, sate without his door, arranging +his fishing-tackle and flies, in various little papers, which he +carefully labelled by the help of a stunted pen which had seen at least +as much service as himself. + +"Well, neighbour Bunting," said the little landlord, leaning over the +stile, but not passing its boundary, "and when do you go?--you will have +wet weather of it (looking up to the skies)--you must take care of the +rumatiz. At your age it's no trifle, eh--hem." + +"My age! should like to know--what mean by that! my age indeed!--augh!-- +bother!" grunted Bunting, looking up from his occupation. Peter chuckled +inly at the Corporal's displeasure, and continued, as in an apologetic +tone, + +"Oh, I ax your pardon, neighbour. I don't mean to say you are too old to +travel. Why there was Hal Whittol, eighty-two come next Michaelmas, took +a trip to Lunnun last year-- + +"For young and old, the stout--the poorly,--The eye of God be on them +surely." + +"Bother!" said the Corporal, turning round on his seat. + +"And what do you intend doing with the brindled cat? put'un up in the +saddle-bags? You won't surely have the heart to leave'un." + +"As to that," quoth the Corporal, sighing, "the poor dumb animal makes me +sad to think on't." And putting down his fish-hooks, he stroked the sides +of an enormous cat, who now, with tail on end, and back bowed up, and +uttering her lenes susurros--anglicae, purr;--rubbed herself to and fro, +athwart the Corporal's legs. + +"What staring there for? won't ye step in, man? Can climb the stile I +suppose?--augh!" + +"No thank'ye, neighbour. I do very well here, that is, if you can hear +me; your deafness is not so troublesome as it was last win--" + +"Bother!" interrupted the Corporal, in a voice that made the little +landlord start bolt upright from the easy confidence of his position. +Nothing on earth so offended the perpendicular Jacob Bunting, as any +insinuation of increasing years or growing infirmities; but at this +moment, as he meditated putting Dealtry to some use, he prudently +conquered the gathering anger, and added, like the man of the world he +justly plumed himself on being--in a voice gentle as a dying howl, "What +'fraid on? come in, there's good fellow, want to speak to ye. Come do--a- +u-g-h!" the last sound being prolonged into one of unutterable +coaxingness, and accompanied with a beck of the hand and a wheedling +wink. + +These allurements the good Peter could not resist--he clambered the +stile, and seated himself on the bench beside the Corporal. + +"There now, fine fellow, fit for the forty-second;" said Bunting, +clapping him on the back. "Well, and--a--nd--a beautiful cat, isn't her?" + +"Ah!" said Peter very shortly--for though a remarkably mild man, Peter +did not love cats: moreover, we must now inform the reader, that the cat +of Jacob Bunting was one more feared than respected throughout the +village. The Corporal was a cunning teacher of all animals: he could +learn goldfinches the use of the musket; dogs, the art of the broadsword; +horses, to dance hornpipes and pick pockets; and he had relieved the +ennui of his solitary moments by imparting sundry accomplishments to the +ductile genius of his cat. Under his tuition, Puss had learned to fetch +and carry; to turn over head and tail, like a tumbler; to run up your +shoulder when you least expected it; to fly, as if she were mad, at any +one upon whom the Corporal thought fit to set her; and, above all, to rob +larders, shelves, and tables, and bring the produce to the Corporal, who +never failed to consider such stray waifs lawful manorial acquisitions. +These little feline cultivations of talent, however delightful to the +Corporal, and creditable to his powers of teaching the young idea how to +shoot, had nevertheless, since the truth must be told, rendered the +Corporal's cat a proverb and byeword throughout the neighbourhood. Never +was cat in such bad odour: and the dislike in which it was held was +wonderfully increased by terror; for the creature was singularly large +and robust, and withal of so courageous a temper, that if you attempted +to resist its invasion of your property, it forthwith set up its back, +put down its ears, opened its mouth, and bade you fully comprehend that +what it feloniously seized it could gallantly defend. More than one +gossip in the village had this notable cat hurried into premature +parturition, as, on descending at day-break into her kitchen, the dame +would descry the animal perched on the dresser, having entered, God knows +how, and gleaming upon her with its great green eyes, and a malignant, +brownie expression of countenance. + +Various deputations had indeed, from time to time, arrived at the +Corporal's cottage, requesting the death, expulsion, or perpetual +imprisonment of the favourite. But the stout Corporal received them +grimly, and dismissed them gruffly; and the cat still went on waxing in +size and wickedness, and baffling, as if inspired by the devil, the +various gins and traps set for its destruction. But never, perhaps, was +there a greater disturbance and perturbation in the little hamlet, than +when, some three weeks since, the Corporal's cat was known to be brought +to bed, and safely delivered of a numerous offspring. The village saw +itself overrun with a race and a perpetuity of Corporal's cats! Perhaps, +too, their teacher growing more expert by practice, the descendants might +attain to even greater accomplishment than their nefarious progenitor. No +longer did the faint hope of being delivered from their tormentor by an +untimely or even natural death, occur to the harassed Grassdalians. Death +was an incident natural to one cat, however vivacious, but here was a +dynasty of cats! Principes mortales, respublica eterna! + +Now the Corporal loved this creature better, yes better than any thing in +the world, except travelling and board-wages; and he was sorely perplexed +in his mind how he should be able to dispose of her safely in his +absence. He was aware of the general enmity she had inspired, and +trembled to anticipate its probable result, when he was no longer by to +afford her shelter and protection. The Squire had, indeed, offered her an +asylum at the manor-house; but the Squire's cook was the cat's most +embittered enemy; and who can answer for the peaceable behaviour of his +cook? The Corporal, therefore, with a reluctant sigh, renounced the +friendly offer, and after lying awake three nights, and turning over in +his own mind the characters, consciences, and capabilities of all his +neighbours, he came at last to the conviction that there was no one with +whom he could so safely entrust his cat as Peter Dealtry. It is true, as +we said before, that Peter was no lover of cats, and the task of +persuading him to afford board and lodging to a cat, of all cats the most +odious and malignant, was therefore no easy matter. But to a man of the +world, what intrigue is impossible? + +The finest diplomatist in Europe might have taken a lesson from the +Corporal, as he now proceeded earnestly towards the accomplishment of his +project. + +He took the cat, which by the by we forgot to say that he had thought fit +to christen after himself, and to honour with a name, somewhat lengthy +for a cat, (but indeed this was no ordinary cat!) viz. Jacobina. He took +Jacobina then, we say, upon his lap, and stroking her brindled sides with +great tenderness, he bade Dealtry remark how singularly quiet the animal +was in its manners. Nay, he was not contented until Peter himself had +patted her with a timorous hand, and had reluctantly submitted the said +hand to the honour of being licked by the cat in return. Jacobina, who, +to do her justice, was always meek enough in the presence, and at the +will, of her master, was, fortunately this day, on her very best +behaviour. + +"Them dumb animals be mighty grateful," quoth the Corporal. + +"Ah!" rejoined Peter, wiping his hand with his pocket handkerchief. + +"But, Lord! what scandal there be in the world!" + +"'Though slander's breath may raise a storm, It quickly does decay!'" +muttered Peter. + +"Very well, very true; sensible verses those," said the Corporal, +approvingly; "and yet mischief's often done before the amends come. Body +o' me, it makes a man sick of his kind, ashamed to belong to the race of +men, to see the envy that abounds in this here sublunary wale of tears!" +said the Corporal, lifting up his eyes. + +Peter stared at him with open mouth; the hypocritical rascal continued, +after a pause,-- + +"Now there's Jacobina, 'cause she's a good cat, a faithful servant, the +whole village is against her: such lies as they tell on her, such +wappers, you'd think she was the devil in garnet! I grant, I grant," +added the Corporal, in a tone of apologetic candour, "that she's wild, +saucy, knows her friends from her foes, steals Goody Solomon's butter; +but what then? Goody Solomon's d--d b--h! Goody Solomon sold beer in +opposition to you, set up a public;--you do not like Goody Solomons, +Peter Dealtry?" + +"If that were all Jacobina had done!" said the landlord, grinning. + +"All! what else did she do? Why she eat up John Tomkins's canary-bird; +and did not John Tomkins, saucy rascal, say you could not sing better nor +a raven?" + +"I have nothing to say against the poor creature for that," said Peter, +stroking the cat of his own accord. "Cats will eat birds, 'tis the +'spensation of Providence. But what! Corporal!" and Peter hastily +withdrawing his hand, hurried it into his breeches pocket--"but what! did +not she scratch Joe Webster's little boy's hand into ribbons, because the +boy tried to prevent her running off with a ball of string?" + +"And well," grunted the Corporal, "that was not Jacobina's doing, that +was my doing. I wanted the string--offered to pay a penny for it--think +of that!" + +"It was priced three pence ha'penny," said Peter. + +"Augh--baugh! you would not pay Joe Webster all he asks! What's the use +of being a man of the world, unless one makes one's tradesmen bate a bit? +Bargaining is not cheating, I hope?" + +"God forbid!" said Peter. + +"But as to the bit string, Jacobina took it solely for your sake. Ah, she +did not think you were to turn against her!" + +So saying, the Corporal, got up, walked into his house, and presently +came back with a little net in his hand. + +"There, Peter, net for you, to hold lemons. Thank Jacobina for that; she +got the string. Says I to her one day, as I was sitting, as I might be +now, without the door, 'Jacobina, Peter Dealtry's a good fellow, and he +keeps his lemons in a bag: bad habit,--get mouldy,--we'll make him a net: +and Jacobina purred, (stroke the poor creature, Peter!)--so Jacobina and +I took a walk, and when we came to Joe Webster's I pointed out the ball +o'twine to her. So, for your sake, Peter, she got into this here scrape-- +augh." + +"Ah!" quoth Peter laughing, "poor Puss! poor Pussy! poor little Pussy!" + +"And now, Peter," said the Corporal, taking his friend's hand, "I am +going to prove friendship to you--going to do you great favour." + +"Aha!" said Peter, "my good friend, I'm very much obliged to you. I know +your kind heart, but I really don't want any"-- + +"Bother!" cried the Corporal, "I'm not the man as makes much of doing a +friend a kindness. Hold jaw! tell you what,--tell you what: am going away +on Wednesday at day-break, and in my absence you shall--" + +"What? my good Corporal." + +"Take charge of Jacobina!" + +"Take charge of the devil!" cried Peter. + +"Augh!--baugh!--what words are those? Listen to me." + +"I won't!" + +"You shall!" + +"I'll be d--d if I do!" quoth Peter sturdily. It was the first time he +had been known to swear since he was parish clerk. + +"Very well, very well!" said the Corporal chucking up his chin, "Jacobina +can take care of herself! Jacobina knows her friends and her foes as well +as her master! Jacobina never injures her friends, never forgives foes. +Look to yourself! look to yourself! insult my cat, insult me! Swear at +Jacobina, indeed!" + +"If she steals my cream!" cried Peter-- + +"Did she ever steal your cream?" + +"No! but, if--" + +"Did she ever steal your cream?" + +"I can't say she ever did." + +"Or any thing else of yours?" + +"Not that I know of; but--" + +"Never too late to mend." + +"If--" + +"Will you listen to me, or not?" + +"Well." + +"You'll listen?" + +"Yes." + +"Know then, that I wanted to do you kindness." + +"Humph!" + +"Hold jaw! I taught Jacobina all she knows." + +"More's the pity!" + +"Hold jaw! I taught her to respect her friends,--never to commit herself +in doors--never to steal at home--never to fly at home--never to scratch +at home--to kill mice and rats--to bring all she catches to her master-- +to do what he tells her--and to defend his house as well as a mastiff: +and this invaluable creature I was going to lend you:--won't now, d--d if +I do!" + +"Humph." + +"Hold jaw! When I'm gone, Jacobina will have no one to feed her. She'll +feed herself--will go to every larder, every house in the place--your's +best larder, best house;--will come to you oftenest. If your wife +attempts to drive her away, scratch her eyes out; if you disturb her, +serve you worse than Joe Webster's little boy:--wanted to prevent this-- +won't now, d--d if I do!" + +"But, Corporal, how would it mend the matter to take the devil in-doors?" + +"Devil!" Don't call names. Did not I tell you, only one Jacobina does not +hurt is her master?--make you her master: now d'ye see?" + +"It is very hard," said Peter grumblingly, "that the only way I can +defend myself from this villainous creature is to take her into my +house." + +"Villainous! You ought to be proud of her affection. She returns good for +evil--she always loved you; see how she rubs herself against you--and +that's the reason why I selected you from the whole village, to take care +of her; but you at once injure yourself and refuse to do your friend a +service. Howsomever, you know I shall be with young Squire, and he'll be +master here one of these days, and I shall have an influence over him-- +you'll see--you'll see. Look that there's not another "Spotted Dog" set +up--augh!--bother!" + +"But what would my wife say, if I took the cat? she can't abide its +name." + +"Let me alone to talk to your wife. What would she say if I bring her +from Lunnun Town a fine silk gown, or a neat shawl, with a blue border-- +blue becomes her; or a tay-chest--that will do for you both, and would +set off the little back parlour. Mahogany tay-chest--inlaid at top-- +initials in silver--J. B. to D. and P. D.--two boxes for tay, and a bowl +for sugar in the middle.--Ah! ah! Love me, love my cat! When was Jacob +Bunting ungrateful?--augh!" + +"Well, well! will you talk to Dorothy about it?" + +"I shall have your consent, then? Thanks, my dear, dear Peter; 'pon my +soul you're a fine fellow! you see, you're great man of the parish. If +you protect her, none dare injure; if you scout her, all set upon her. +For as you said, or rather sung, t'other Sunday--capital voice you were +in too-- + +"The mighty tyrants without cause Conspire her blood to shed!" + +"I did not think you had so good a memory, Corporal," said Peter +smiling;--the cat was now curling itself up in his lap: "after all, +Jacobina--what a deuce of a name--seems gentle enough." + +"Gentle as a lamb--soft as butter--kind as cream--and such a mouser!" + +"But I don't think Dorothy--" + +"I'll settle Dorothy." + +"Well, when will you look up?" + +"Come and take a dish of tay with you in half an hour;--you want a new +tay-chest; something new and genteel." + +"I think we do," said Peter, rising and gently depositing the cat on the +ground. + +"Aha! we'll see to it!--we'll see! Good b'ye for the present--in half an +hour be with you!" + +The Corporal left alone with Jacobina, eyed her intently, and burst into +the following pathetic address. + +"Well, Jacobina! you little know the pains I takes to serve you--the lies +I tells for you--endangered my precious soul for your sake, you jade! Ah! +may well rub your sides against me. Jacobina! Jacobina! you be the only +thing in the world that cares a button for me. I have neither kith nor +kin. You are daughter--friend--wife to me: if any thing happened to you, +I should not have the heart to love any thing else. Any body o' me, but +you be as kind as any mistress, and much more tractable than any wife; +but the world gives you a bad name, Jacobina. Why? Is it that you do +worse than the world do? You has no morality in you, Jacobina; well, but +has the world?--no! But it has humbug--you have no humbug, Jacobina. On +the faith of a man, Jacobina, you be better than the world!--baugh! You +takes care of your own interest, but you takes care of your master's +too!--You loves me as well as yourself. Few cats can say the same, +Jacobina! and no gossip that flings a stone at your pretty brindled skin, +can say half as much. We must not forget your kittens, Jacobina;--you +have four left--they must be provided for. Why not a cat's children as +well as a courtier's? I have got you a comfortable home, Jacobina--take +care of yourself, and don't fall in love with every Tomcat in the place. +Be sober, and lead a single life till my return. Come, Jacobina, we will +lock up the house, and go and see the quarters I have provided for you.-- +Heigho!" + +As he finished his harangue, the Corporal locked the door of his cottage, +and Jacobina trotting by his side, he stalked with his usual stateliness +to the Spotted Dog. + +Dame Dorothy Dealtry received him with a clouded brow, but the man of the +world knew whom he had to deal with. On Wednesday morning Jacobina was +inducted into the comforts of the hearth of mine host;--and her four +little kittens mewed hard by, from the sinecure of a basket lined with +flannel. + +Reader. Here is wisdom in this chapter: it is not every man who knows how +to dispose of his cat! + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + A STRANGE HABIT.--WALTER'S INTERVIEW WITH MADELINE.--HER + GENEROUS AND CONFIDING DISPOSITION.--WALTER'S ANGER.--THE + PARTING MEAL.--CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE UNCLE AND NEPHEW.-- + WALTER ALONE.--SLEEP THE BLESSING OF THE YOUNG. + + Fall. Out, out, unworthy to speak where he breatheth.... + + Punt. Well now, my whole venture is forth, I will resolve + to depart. + --Ben Jonson.--Every Man out of his Humour. + +It was now the eve before Walter's departure, and on returning home from +a farewell walk among his favourite haunts, he found Aram, whose visit +had been made during Walter's absence, now standing on the threshold of +the door, and taking leave of Madeline and her father. Aram and Walter +had only met twice before since the interview we recorded, and each time +Walter had taken care that the meeting should be but of short duration. +In these brief encounters, Aram's manner had been even more gentle than +heretofore; that of Walter's, more cold and distant. And now, as they +thus unexpectedly met at the door, Aram, looking at him earnestly, said: + +"Farewell, Sir! You are to leave us for some time, I hear. Heaven speed +you!" Then he added in a lower tone, "Will you take my hand, now, in +parting?" + +As he said, he put forth his hand,--it was the left. + +"Let it be the right hand," observed the elder Lester, smiling: "it is a +luckier omen." + +"I think not," said Aram, drily. And Walter noted that he had never +remembered him to give his right hand to any one, even to Madeline; the +peculiarity of this habit might, however, arise from an awkward early +habit, it was certainly scarce worth observing, and Walter had already +coldly touched the hand extended to him: when Lester carelessly renewed +the subject. + +"Is there any superstition," said he gaily, "that makes you think, as +some of the ancients did, the left hand luckier than the right?" + +"Yes," replied Aram; "a superstition. Adieu." + +The Student departed; Madeline slowly walked up one of the garden alleys, +and thither Walter, after whispering to his uncle, followed her. + +There is something in those bitter feelings, which are the offspring of +disappointed love; something in the intolerable anguish of well-founded +jealousy, that when the first shock is over, often hardens, and perhaps +elevates the character. The sterner powers that we arouse within us to +combat a passion that can no longer be worthily indulged, are never +afterwards wholly allayed. Like the allies which a nation summons to its +bosom to defend it from its foes, they expel the enemy only to find a +settlement for themselves. The mind of every man who conquers an +unfortunate attachment, becomes stronger than before; it may be for evil, +it may be for good, but the capacities for either are more vigorous and +collected. + +The last few weeks had done more for Walter's character than years of +ordinary, even of happy emotion, might have effected. He had passed from +youth to manhood, and with the sadness, had acquired also something of +the dignity, of experience. Not that we would say that he had subdued his +love, but he had made the first step towards it; he had resolved that at +all hazards it should be subdued. + +As he now joined Madeline, and she perceived him by her side, her +embarrassment was more evident than his. She feared some avowal, and from +his temper, perhaps some violence on his part. However, she was the first +to speak: women, in such cases, always are. + +"It is a beautiful evening," said she, "and the sun set in promise of a +fine day for your journey to-morrow." + +Walter walked on silently; his heart was full. "Madeline," he said at +length, "dear Madeline, give me your hand. Nay, do not fear me; I know +what you think, and you are right; I loved--I still love you! but I know +well that I can have no hope in making this confession; and when I ask +you for your hand, Madeline, it is only to convince you that I have no +suit to press; had I, I would not dare to touch that hand." + +Madeline, wondering and embarrassed, gave him her hand; he held it for a +moment with a trembling clasp, pressed it to his lips, and then resigned +it. + +"Yes, Madeline, my cousin, my sweet cousin; I have loved you deeply, but +silently, long before my heart could unravel the mystery of the feelings +with which it glowed. But this--all this--it were now idle to repeat. I +know that I have no hope of return; that the heart whose possession would +have made my whole life a dream, a transport, is given to another. I have +not sought you now, Madeline, to repine at this, or to vex you by the +tale of any suffering I may endure: I am come only to give you the +parting wishes, the parting blessing, of one, who, wherever he goes, or +whatever befall him, will always think of you as the brightest and +loveliest of human beings. May you be happy, yes even with another!" + +"Oh, Walter!" said Madeline, affected to tears, "if I ever encouraged--if +I ever led you to hope for more than the warm, the sisterly affection I +bear you, how bitterly I should reproach myself!" + +"You never did, dear Madeline; I asked for no inducement to love you,--I +never dreamed of seeking a motive, or inquiring if I had cause to hope. +But as I am now about to quit you, and as you confess you feel for me a +sister's affection, will you give me leave to speak to you as a brother +might?" + +Madeline held her hand to him in frank cordiality: "Yes!" said she, +"speak!" + +"Then," said Walter, turning away his head in a spirit of delicacy that +did him honour, "is it yet all too late for me to say one word of caution +as relates to--Eugene Aram?" + +"Of caution! you alarm me, Walter; speak, has aught happened to him? I +saw him as lately as yourself. Does aught threaten him? Speak, I implore +you,--quick?" + +"I know of no danger to him!" replied Walter, stung to perceive the +breathless anxiety with which Madeline spoke; "but pause, my cousin, may +there be no danger to you from this man?" + +"Walter!" + +"I grant him wise, learned, gentle,--nay, more than all, bearing about +him a spell, a fascination, by which he softens, or awes at will, and +which even I cannot resist. But yet his abstracted mood, his gloomy life, +certain words that have broken from him unawares,--certain tell-tale +emotions, which words of mine, heedlessly said, have fiercely aroused, +all united, inspire me,--shall I say it,--with fear and distrust. I +cannot think him altogether the calm and pure being he appears. Madeline, +I have asked myself again and again, is this suspicion the effect of +jealousy? do I scan his bearing with the jaundiced eye of disappointed +rivalship? And I have satisfied my conscience that my judgment is not +thus biassed. Stay! listen yet a little while! You have a high--a +thoughtful mind. Exert it now. Consider your whole happiness rests on one +step! Pause, examine, compare! Remember, you have not of Aram, as of +those whom you have hitherto mixed with, the eye-witness of a life! You +can know but little of his real temper, his secret qualities; still less +of the tenor of his former life. I only ask of you, for your own sake, +for my sake, your sister's sake, and your good father's, not to judge too +rashly! Love him, if you will; but observe him!" + +"Have you done?" said Madeline, who had hitherto with difficulty +contained herself; "then hear me. Was it I? was it Madeline Lester whom +you asked to play the watch, to enact the spy upon the man whom she +exults in loving? Was it not enough that you should descend to mark down +each incautious look--to chronicle every heedless word--to draw dark +deductions from the unsuspecting confidence of my father's friend--to lie +in wait--to hang with a foe's malignity upon the unbendings of familiar +intercourse--to extort anger from gentleness itself, that you might +wrest the anger into crime! Shame, shame upon you, for the meanness! And +must you also suppose that I, to whose trust he has given his noble +heart, will receive it only to play the eavesdropper to its secrets? +Away!" + +The generous blood crimsoned the cheek and brow of this high-spirited +girl as she uttered her galling reproof; her eyes sparkled, her lip +quivered, her whole frame seemed to have grown larger with the majesty of +indignant love. + +"Cruel, unjust, ungrateful!" ejaculated Walter, pale with rage, and +trembling under the conflict of his roused and wounded feelings. "Is it +thus you answer the warning of too disinterested and self-forgetful a +love?" + +"Love!" exclaimed Madeline. "Grant me patience!--Love! It was but now I +thought myself honoured by the affection you said you bore me. At this +instant, I blush to have called forth a single sentiment in one who knows +so little what love is! Love!--methought that word denoted all that was +high and noble in human nature--confidence, hope, devotion, sacrifice of +all thought of self! but you would make it the type and concentration of +all that lowers and debases!--suspicion--cavil--fear--selfishness in all +its shapes! Out on you--love!" + +"Enough, enough! Say no more, Madeline, say no more. We part not as I had +hoped; but be it so. You are changed indeed, if your conscience smite you +not hereafter for this injustice. Farewell, and may you never regret, not +only the heart you have rejected, but the friendship you have belied." +With these words, and choked by his emotions, Walter hastily strode away. + +He hurried into the house, and into a little room adjoining the chamber +in which he slept, and which had been also appropriated solely to his +use. It was now spread with boxes and trunks, some half packed, some +corded, and inscribed with the address to which they were to be sent in +London. All these mute tokens of his approaching departure struck upon +his excited feelings with a suddenness that overpowered him. + +"And it is thus--thus," said he aloud, "that I am to leave, for the first +time, my childhood's home." + +He threw himself on his chair, and covering his face with his hands, +burst, fairly subdued and unmanned, into a paroxysm of tears. + +When this emotion was over, he felt as if his love for Madeline had also +disappeared; a sore and insulted feeling was all that her image now +recalled to him. This idea gave him some consolation. "Thank God!" he +muttered, "thank God, I am cured at last!" + +The thanksgiving was scarcely over, before the door opened softly, and +Ellinor, not perceiving him where he sat, entered the room, and laid on +the table a purse which she had long promised to knit him, and which +seemed now designed as a parting gift. + +She sighed heavily as she laid it down, and he observed that her eyes +seemed red as with weeping. + +He did not move, and Ellinor left the room without discovering him; but +he remained there till dark, musing on her apparition, and before he went +down-stairs, he took up the little purse, kissed it, and put it carefully +into his bosom. + +He sate next to Ellinor at supper that evening, and though he did not say +much, his last words were more to her than words had ever been before. +When he took leave of her for the night, he whispered, as he kissed her +cheek; "God bless you, dearest Ellinor, and till I return, take care of +yourself, for the sake of one, who loves you now, better than any thing +on earth." + +Lester had just left the room to write some letters for Walter; and +Madeline, who had hitherto sat absorbed and silent by the window, now +approached Walter, and offered him her hand. + +"Forgive me, my dear cousin," she said, in her softest voice. "I feel +that I was hasty, and to blame. Believe me, I am now at least grateful, +warmly grateful, for the kindness of your motives." + +"Not so," said Walter, bitterly, "the advice of a friend is only +meanness." + +"Come, come, forgive me; pray, do not let us part unkindly. When did we +ever quarrel before? I was wrong, grievously wrong--I will perform any +penance you may enjoin." + +"Agreed then, follow my admonitions." + +"Ah! any thing else," said Madeline, gravely, and colouring deeply. + +Walter said no more; he pressed her hand lightly and turned away. + +"Is all forgiven?" said she, in so bewitching a tone, and with so bright +a smile, that Walter, against his conscience, answered, "Yes." + +The sisters left the room. I know not which of the two received his last +glance. + +Lester now returned with the letters. "There is one charge, my dear boy," +said he, in concluding the moral injunctions and experienced suggestions +with which the young generally leave the ancestral home (whether +practically benefited or not by the legacy, may be matter of question)-- +"there is one charge which I need not entrust to your ingenuity and zeal. +You know my strong conviction, that your father, my poor brother, still +lives. Is it necessary for me to tell you to exert yourself by all ways +and in all means to discover some clue to his fate? Who knows," added +Lester, with a smile, "but that you may find him a rich nabob. I confess +that I should feel but little surprise if it were so; but at all events +you will make every possible inquiry. I have written down in this paper +the few particulars concerning him which I have been enabled to glean +since he left his home; the places where he was last seen, the false +names he assumed, I shall watch with great anxiety for any fuller success +to your researches." + +"You needed not, my dear uncle," said Walter seriously, "to have spoken +to me on this subject. No one, not even yourself, can have felt what I +have; can have cherished the same anxiety, nursed the same hope, indulged +the same conjecture. I have not, it is true, often of late years spoken +to you on a matter so near to us both, but I have spent whole hours in +guesses at my father's fate, and in dreams that for me was reserved the +proud task to discover it. I will not say indeed that it makes at this +moment the chief motive for my desire to travel, but in travel it will +become my chief object. Perhaps I may find him not only rich,--that for +my part is but a minor wish,--but sobered and reformed from the errors +and wildness of his earlier manhood. Oh, what should be his gratitude to +you for all the care with which you have supplied to the forsaken child +the father's place; and not the least, that you have, in softening the +colours of his conduct, taught me still to prize and seek for a father's +love!" + +"You have a kind heart, Walter," said the good old man, pressing his +nephew's hand, "and that has more than repaid me for the little I have +done for you; it is better to sow a good heart with kindness, than a +field with corn, for the heart's harvest is perpetual." + +Many, keen, and earnest were that night the meditations of Walter Lester. +He was about to quit the home in which youth had been passed, in which +first love had been formed and blighted: the world was before him; but +there was something more grave than pleasure, more steady than +enterprise, that beckoned him to its paths. The deep mystery that for so +many years had hung over the fate of his parent, it might indeed be his +lot to pierce; and with a common waywardness in our nature, the restless +son felt his interest in that parent the livelier from the very +circumstance of remembering nothing of his person. Affection had been +nursed by curiosity and imagination, and the bad father was thus more +fortunate in winning the heart of the son, than had he perhaps, by the +tenderness of years, deserved that affection. + +Oppressed and feverish, Walter opened the lattice of his room, and looked +forth on the night. The broad harvest-moon was in the heavens, and filled +the air as with a softer and holier day. At a distance its light just +gave the dark outline of Aram's house, and beneath the window it lay +bright and steady on the green, still church-yard that adjoined the +house. The air and the light allayed the fitfulness at the young man's +heart, but served to solemnize the project and desire with which it beat. +Still leaning from the casement, with his eyes fixed upon the tranquil +scene below, he poured forth a prayer, that to his hands might the +discovery of his lost sire be granted. The prayer seemed to lift the +oppression from his breast; he felt cheerful and relieved, and flinging +himself on his bed, soon fell into the sound and healthful sleep of +youth. And oh! let Youth cherish that happiest of earthly boons while yet +it is at its command;--for there cometh the day to all, when "neither the +voice of the lute or the birds" + + [Quotation from Horace] + +shall bring back the sweet slumbers that fell on their young eyes, as +unbidden as the dews. It is a dark epoch in a man's life when Sleep +forsakes him; when he tosses to and fro, and Thought will not be +silenced; when the drug and draught are the courters of stupefaction, not +sleep; when the down pillow is as a knotted log; when the eyelids close +but with an effort, and there is a drag and a weight, and a dizziness in +the eyes at morn. Desire and Grief, and Love, these are the young man's +torments, but they are the creatures of Time; Time removes them as it +brings, and the vigils we keep, "while the evil days come not," if weary, +are brief and few. But Memory, and Care, and Ambition, and Avarice, these +are the demon-gods that defy the Time that fathered them. The worldlier +passions are the growth of mature years, and their grave is dug but in +our own. As the dark Spirits in the Northern tale, that watch against the +coming of one of a brighter and holier race, lest if he seize them +unawares, he bind them prisoners in his chain, they keep ward at night +over the entrance of that deep cave--the human heart--and scare away the +angel Sleep! + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EUGENE ARAM, BOOK 1, BY LYTTON *** + +********* This file should be named 7609.txt or 7609.zip ********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* diff --git a/7609.zip b/7609.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bad3b05 --- /dev/null +++ b/7609.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..fc6d004 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #7609 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7609) |