diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 9763.txt | 2341 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 9763.zip | bin | 0 -> 46616 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 2357 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/9763.txt b/9763.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26f09c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/9763.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2341 @@ +Project Gutenberg EBook, Alice, or The Mysteries, by Lytton, Book I +#203 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: Alice, or The Mysteries, Book I + +Author: Edward Bulwer Lytton + +Release Date: January 2006 [EBook #9763] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 15, 2003] + + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE, BY LYTTON, BOOK I *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; and by David Widger + + +Corrected and updated text and HTML PG Editions of the complete +11 volume set may be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774.txt + +https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774-h/9774-h.htm + + + + + + + ALICE; + + OR, + + THE MYSTERIES + + + BY + + EDWARD BULWER LYTTON + (LORD LYTTON) + + + +BOOK I. + + "Thee, hid the bowering vales amidst, I call." + --EURIPIDES: _Hel._ I. 1116. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Who art thou, fair one, who usurp'st the place + Of Blanch, the lady of the matchless grace?--LAMB. + +IT was towards the evening of a day in early April that two ladies were +seated by the open windows of a cottage in Devonshire. The lawn before +them was gay with evergreens, relieved by the first few flowers and fresh +turf of the reviving spring; and at a distance, through an opening +amongst the trees, the sea, blue and tranquil, bounded the view, and +contrasted the more confined and home-like features of the scene. It was +a spot remote, sequestered, shut out from the business and pleasures of +the world; as such it suited the tastes and character of the owner. + +That owner was the younger of the ladies seated by the window. You would +scarcely have guessed, from her appearance, that she was more than seven +or eight and twenty, though she exceeded by four or five years that +critical boundary in the life of beauty. Her form was slight and +delicate in its proportions, nor was her countenance the less lovely +because, from its gentleness and repose (not unmixed with a certain +sadness) the coarse and the gay might have thought it wanting in +expression. For there is a stillness in the aspect of those who have +felt deeply, which deceives the common eye,--as rivers are often alike +tranquil and profound, in proportion as they are remote from the springs +which agitated and swelled the commencement of their course, and by which +their waters are still, though invisibly, supplied. + +The elder lady, the guest of her companion, was past seventy; her gray +hair was drawn back from the forehead, and gathered under a stiff cap of +quaker-like simplicity; while her dress, rich but plain, and of no very +modern fashion, served to increase the venerable appearance of one who +seemed not ashamed of years. + +"My dear Mrs. Leslie," said the lady of the house, after a thoughtful +pause in the conversation that had been carried on for the last hour, "it +is very true; perhaps I was to blame in coming to this place; I ought not +to have been so selfish." + +"No, my dear friend," returned Mrs. Leslie, gently; "selfish is a word +that can never be applied to you; you acted as became you,--agreeably to +your own instinctive sense of what is best when at your age,--independent +in fortune and rank, and still so lovely,--you resigned all that would +have attracted others, and devoted yourself, in retirement, to a life of +quiet and unknown benevolence. You are in your sphere in this +village,--humble though it be,--consoling, relieving, healing the +wretched, the destitute, the infirm; and teaching your Evelyn insensibly +to imitate your modest and Christian virtues." The good old lady spoke +warmly, and with tears in her eyes; her companion placed her hand in Mrs. +Leslie's. + +"You cannot make me vain," said she, with a sweet and melancholy smile. +"I remember what I was when you first gave shelter to the poor, desolate +wanderer and her fatherless child; and I, who was then so poor and +destitute, what should I be, if I was deaf to the poverty and sorrows of +others,--others, too, who are better than I am. But now Evelyn, as you +say, is growing up; the time approaches when she must decide on accepting +or rejecting Lord Vargrave. And yet in this village how can she compare +him with others; how can she form a choice? What you say is very true; +and yet I did not think of it sufficiently. What shall I do? I am only +anxious, dear girl, to act so as may be best for her own happiness." + +"Of that I am sure," returned Mrs. Leslie; "and yet I know not how to +advise. On one hand, so much is due to the wishes of your late husband, +in every point of view, that if Lord Vargrave be worthy of Evelyn's +esteem and affection, it would be most desirable that she should prefer +him to all others. But if he be what I hear he is considered in the +world,--an artful, scheming, almost heartless man, of ambitious and hard +pursuits,--I tremble to think how completely the happiness of Evelyn's +whole life may be thrown away. She certainly is not in love with him, +and yet I fear she is one whose nature is but too susceptible of +affection. She ought now to see others,--to know her own mind, and not +to be hurried, blindfold and inexperienced, into a step that decides +existence. This is a duty we owe to her,--nay, even to the late Lord +Vargrave, anxious as he was for the marriage. His aim was surely her +happiness, and he would not have insisted upon means that time and +circumstances might show to be contrary to the end he had in view." + +"You are right," replied Lady Vargrave. "When my poor husband lay on his +bed of death, just before he summoned his nephew to receive his last +blessing, he said to me, 'Providence can counteract all our schemes. If +ever it should be for Evelyn's real happiness that my wish for her +marriage with Lumley Ferrers should not be fulfilled, to you I must leave +the right to decide on what I cannot foresee. All I ask is that no +obstacle shall be thrown in the way of my wish; and that the child shall +be trained up to consider Lumley as her future husband.' Among his +papers was a letter addressed to me to the same effect; and, indeed, in +other respects that letter left more to my judgment than I had any right +to expect. Oh, I am often unhappy to think that he did not marry one who +would have deserved his affection! and--but regret is useless now." + +"I wish you could really feel so," said Mrs. Leslie; "for regret of +another kind still seems to haunt you; and I do not think you have yet +forgotten your early sorrows." + +"Ah, how can I?" said Lady Vargrave, with a quivering lip. + +At that instant, a light shadow darkened the sunny lawn in front of the +casements, and a sweet, gay young voice was heard singing at a little +distance; a moment more, and a beautiful girl, in the first bloom of +youth, bounded lightly along the grass, and halted opposite the friends. + +It was a remarkable contrast,--the repose and quiet of the two persons we +have described, the age and gray hairs of one, the resigned and +melancholy gentleness written on the features of the other--with the +springing step and laughing eyes and radiant bloom of the new comer! As +she stood with the setting sun glowing full upon her rich fair hair, her +happy countenance and elastic form, it was a vision almost too bright for +this weary earth,--a thing of light and bliss, that the joyous Greek +might have placed among the forms of Heaven, and worshipped as an Aurora +or a Hebe. + +"Oh, how can you stay indoors this beautiful evening? Come, dearest Mrs. +Leslie; come, Mother, dear Mother, you know you promised you would,--you +said I was to call you; see, it will rain no more, and the shower has +left the myrtles and the violet-bank so fresh." + +"My dear Evelyn," said Mrs. Leslie, with a smile, "I am not so young as +you." + +"No; but you are just as gay when you are in good spirits--and who can be +out of spirits in such weather? Let me call for your chair; let me wheel +you--I am sure I can. Down, Sultan; so you have found me out, have you, +sir? Be quiet, sir, down!" + +This last exhortation was addressed to a splendid dog of the Newfoundland +breed, who now contrived wholly to occupy Evelyn's attention. + +The two friends looked at this beautiful girl, as with all the grace of +youth she shared while she rebuked the exuberant hilarity of her huge +playmate; and the elder of the two seemed the most to sympathize with her +mirth. Both gazed with fond affection upon an object dear to both. But +some memory or association touched Lady Vargrave, and she sighed as she +gazed. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Is stormy life preferred to this serene?---YOUNG: _Satires_. + +AND the windows were closed in, and night had succeeded to evening, and +the little party at the cottage were grouped together. Mrs. Leslie was +quietly seated at her tambour-frame; Lady Vargrave, leaning her cheek on +her hand, seemed absorbed in a volume before her, but her eyes were not +on the page; Evelyn was busily employed in turning over the contents of a +parcel of books and music which had just been brought from the lodge +where the London coach had deposited it. + +"Oh, dear Mamma!" cried Evelyn, "I am so glad; there is something you +will like,--some of the poetry that touched you so much set to music." + +Evelyn brought the songs to her mother, who roused herself from her +revery, and looked at them with interest. + +"It is very strange," said she, "that I should be so affected by all that +is written by this person: I, too" (she added, tenderly stroking down +Evelyn's luxuriant tresses), "who am not so fond of reading as you are!" + +"You are reading one of his books now," said Evelyn, glancing over the +open page on the table. "Ah, that beautiful passage upon 'Our First +Impressions.' Yet I do not like you, dear Mother, to read his books; +they always seem to make you sad." + +"There is a charm to me in their thoughts, their manner of expression," +said Lady Vargrave, "which sets me thinking, which reminds me of--of an +early friend, whom I could fancy I hear talking while I read. It was so +from the first time I opened by accident a book of his years ago." + +"Who is this author that pleases you so much?" asked Mrs. Leslie, with +some surprise; for Lady Vargrave had usually little pleasure in reading +even the greatest and most popular masterpieces of modern genius. + +"Maltravers," answered Evelyn; "and I think I almost share my mother's +enthusiasm." + +"Maltravers!" repeated Mrs. Leslie. "He is, perhaps, a dangerous writer +for one so young. At your age, dear girl, you have naturally romance and +feeling enough of your own without seeking them in books." + +"But, dear madam," said Evelyn, standing up for her favourite, "his +writings do not consist of romance and feeling only; they are not +exaggerated, they are so simple, so truthful." + +"Did you ever meet him?" asked Lady Vargrave. + +"Yes," returned Mrs. Leslie, "once, when he was a gay, fair-haired boy. +His father resided in the next county, and we met at a country-house. +Mr. Maltravers himself has an estate near my daughter in B-----shire, but +he does not live on it; he has been some years abroad,--a strange +character!" + +"Why does he write no more?" said Evelyn; "I have read his works so +often, and know his poetry so well by heart, that I should look forward +to something new from him as an event." + +"I have heard, my dear, that he has withdrawn much from the world and its +objects,--that he has lived greatly in the East. The death of a lady to +whom he was to have been married is said to have unsettled and changed +his character. Since that event he has not returned to England. Lord +Vargrave can tell you more of him than I." + +"Lord Vargrave thinks of nothing that is not always before the world," +said Evelyn. + +"I am sure you wrong him," said Mrs. Leslie, looking up and fixing her +eyes on Evelyn's countenance; "for _you_ are not before the world." + +Evelyn slightly--very slightly--pouted her pretty lip, but made no +answer. She took up the music, and seating herself at the piano, +practised the airs. Lady Vargrave listened with emotion; and as Evelyn +in a voice exquisitely sweet, though not powerful, sang the words, her +mother turned away her face, and half unconsciously, a few tears stole +silently down her cheek. + +When Evelyn ceased, herself affected,--for the lines were impressed with +a wild and melancholy depth of feeling,--she came again to her mother's +side, and seeing her emotion, kissed away the tears from the pensive +eyes. Her own gayety left her; she drew a stool to her mother's feet, +and nestling to her, and clasping her hand, did not leave that place till +they retired to rest. + +And the lady blessed Evelyn, and felt that, if bereaved, she was not +alone. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + BUT come, thou Goddess, fair and free, + In heaven yclept Euphrosyne! + + . . . . . . + + To hear the lark begin his flight, + And, singing, startle the dull night.--_L'Allegro_. + + But come, thou Goddess, sage and holy, + Come, divinest Melancholy! + + . . . . . . + + There held in holy passion still, + Forget thyself to marble.--_Il Penseroso_. + +THE early morn of early spring--what associations of freshness and hope +in that single sentence! And there a little after sunrise--there was +Evelyn, fresh and hopeful as the morning itself, bounding with the light +step of a light heart over the lawn. Alone, alone! no governess, with a +pinched nose and a sharp voice, to curb her graceful movements, and tell +her how young ladies ought to walk. How silently morning stole over the +earth! It was as if youth had the day and the world to itself. The +shutters of the cottage were still closed, and Evelyn cast a glance +upward, to assure herself that her mother, who also rose betimes, was not +yet stirring. So she tripped along, singing from very glee, to secure a +companion, and let out Sultan; and a few moments afterwards, they were +scouring over the grass, and descending the rude steps that wound down +the cliff to the smooth sea sands. Evelyn was still a child at heart, +yet somewhat more than a child in mind. In the majesty of-- + + "That hollow, sounding, and mysterious main,"-- + +in the silence broken but by the murmur of the billows, in the solitude +relieved but by the boats of the early fishermen, she felt those deep and +tranquillizing influences which belong to the Religion of Nature. +Unconsciously to herself, her sweet face grew more thoughtful, and her +step more slow. What a complex thing is education! How many +circumstances, that have no connection with books and tutors, contribute +to the rearing of the human mind! The earth and the sky and the ocean +were among the teachers of Evelyn Cameron; and beneath her simplicity of +thought was daily filled, from the turns of invisible spirits, the +fountain of the poetry of feeling. + +This was the hour when Evelyn most sensibly felt how little our real life +is chronicled by external events,--how much we live a second and a higher +life in our meditations and dreams. Brought up, not more by precept than +example, in the faith which unites creature and Creator, this was the +hour in which thought itself had something of the holiness of prayer; and +if (turning from dreams divine to earlier visions) this also was the hour +in which the heart painted and peopled its own fairyland below, of the +two ideal worlds that stretch beyond the inch of time on which we stand, +Imagination is perhaps holier than Memory. + +So now, as the day crept on, Evelyn returned in a more sober mood, and +then she joined her mother and Mrs. Leslie at breakfast; and then the +household cares--such as they were--devolved upon her, heiress though she +was; and, that duty done, once more the straw hat and Sultan were in +requisition; and opening a little gate at the back of the cottage, she +took the path along the village churchyard that led to the house of the +old curate. The burial-ground itself was surrounded and shut in with a +belt of trees. Save the small time-discoloured church and the roofs of +the cottage and the minister's house, no building--not even a cotter's +hut--was visible there. Beneath a dark and single yew-tree in the centre +of the ground was placed a rude seat; opposite to this seat was a grave, +distinguished from the rest by a slight palisade. As the young Evelyn +passed slowly by this spot, a glove on the long damp grass beside the +yew-tree caught her eye. She took it up and sighed,--it was her +mother's. She sighed, for she thought of the soft melancholy on that +mother's face which her caresses and her mirth never could wholly chase +away. She wondered why that melancholy was so fixed a habit, for the +young ever wonder why the experienced should be sad. + +And now Evelyn had passed the churchyard, and was on the green turf +before the minister's quaint, old-fashioned house. The old man himself +was at work in his garden; but he threw down his hoe as he saw Evelyn, +and came cheerfully up to greet her. + +It was easy to see how dear she was to him. + +"So you are come for your daily lesson, my young pupil?" + +"Yes; but Tasso can wait if the--" + +"If the tutor wants to play truant; no, my child; and, indeed, the lesson +must be longer than usual to-day, for I fear I shall have to leave you +to-morrow for some days." + +"Leave us! why?--leave Brook-Green--impossible!" + +"Not at all impossible; for we have now a new vicar, and I must turn +courtier in my old age, and ask him to leave me with my flock. He is at +Weymouth, and has written to me to visit him there. So, Miss Evelyn, I +must give you a holiday task to learn while I am away." + +Evelyn brushed the tears from her eyes--for when the heart is full of +affection the eyes easily run over--and clung mournfully to the old man, +as she gave utterance to all her half-childish, half-womanly grief at the +thought of parting so soon with him. And what, too, could her mother do +without him; and why could he not write to the vicar instead of going to +him? + +The curate, who was childless and a bachelor, was not insensible to the +fondness of his beautiful pupil, and perhaps he himself was a little more +_distrait_ than usual that morning, or else Evelyn was peculiarly +inattentive; for certain it is that she reaped very little benefit from +the lesson. + +Yet he was an admirable teacher, that old man! Aware of Evelyn's quick, +susceptible, and rather fanciful character of mind, he had sought less to +curb than to refine and elevate her imagination. Himself of no ordinary +abilities, which leisure had allowed him to cultivate, his piety was too +large and cheerful to exclude literature--Heaven's best gift--from the +pale of religion. And under his care Evelyn's mind had been duly stored +with the treasures of modern genius, and her judgment strengthened by the +criticisms of a graceful and generous taste. + +In that sequestered hamlet, the young heiress had been trained to adorn +her future station; to appreciate the arts and elegances that distinguish +(no matter what the rank) the refined from the low, better than if she +had been brought up under the hundred-handed Briareus of fashionable +education. Lady Vargrave, indeed, like most persons of modest +pretensions and imperfect cultivation, was rather inclined to overrate +the advantages to be derived from book-knowledge; and she was never +better pleased than when she saw Evelyn opening the monthly parcel from +London, and delightedly poring over volumes which Lady Vargrave +innocently believed to be reservoirs of inexhaustible wisdom. + +But this day Evelyn would not read, and the golden verses of Tasso lost +their music to her ear. So the curate gave up the lecture, and placed a +little programme of studies to be conned during his absence in her +reluctant hand; and Sultan, who had been wistfully licking his paws for +the last half-hour, sprang up and caracoled once more into the garden; +and the old priest and the young woman left the works of man for those of +Nature. + +"Do not fear, I will take such care of your garden while you are away," +said Evelyn; "and you must write and let us know what day you are to come +back." + +"My dear Evelyn, you are born to spoil every one--from Sultan to Aubrey." + +"And to be spoilt too, don't forget that," cried Evelyn, laughingly +shaking back her ringlets. "And now, before you go, will you tell me, as +you are so wise, what I can do to make--to make--my mother love me?" + +Evelyn's voice faltered as she spoke the last words, and Aubrey looked +surprised and moved. + +"Your mother love you, my dear Evelyn! What do you mean,--does she not +love you?" + +"Ah, not as I love her. She is kind and gentle, I know, for she is so to +all; but she does not confide in me, she does not trust me; she has some +sorrow at heart which I am never allowed to learn and soothe. Why does +she avoid all mention of her early days? She never talks to me as if +she, too, had once a mother! Why am I never to speak of her first +marriage, of my father? Why does she look reproachfully at me, and shun +me--yes, shun me, for days together--if--if I attempt to draw her to the +past? Is there a secret? If so, am I not old enough to know it?" + +Evelyn spoke quickly and nervously, and with quivering lips. Aubrey took +her hand, and pressing it, said, after a little pause,-- + +"Evelyn, this is the first time you have ever thus spoken to me. Has +anything chanced to arouse your--shall I call it curiosity, or shall I +call it the mortified pride of affection?" + +"And you, too, aye harsh; you blame me! No, it is true that I have not +thus spoken to you before; but I have long, long thought with grief that +I was insufficient to my mother's happiness,--I who love her so dearly. +And now, since Mrs. Leslie has been here, I find her conversing with this +comparative stranger so much more confidentially than with me. When I +come in unexpectedly, they cease their conference, as if I were not +worthy to share it; and--and oh, if I could but make you understand that +all I desire is that my mother should love me and know me and trust me--" + +"Evelyn," said the curate, coldly, "you love your mother, and justly; a +kinder and a gentler heart than hers does not beat in a human breast. +Her first wish in life is for your happiness and welfare. You ask for +confidence, but why not confide in her; why not believe her actuated by +the best and the tenderest motives; why not leave it to her discretion to +reveal to you any secret grief, if such there be, that preys upon her; +why add to that grief by any selfish indulgence of over-susceptibility in +yourself? My dear pupil, you are yet almost a child; and they who have +sorrowed may well be reluctant to sadden with a melancholy confidence +those to whom sorrow is yet unknown. This much, at least, I may tell +you,--for this much she does not seek to conceal,--that Lady Vargrave was +early inured to trials from which you, more happy, have been saved. She +speaks not to you of her relations, for she has none left on earth. And +after her marriage with your benefactor, Evelyn, perhaps it seemed to her +a matter of principle to banish all vain regret, all remembrance if +possible, of an earlier tie." + +"My poor, poor mother! Oh, yes, you are right; forgive me. She yet +mourns, perhaps, my father, whom I never saw, whom I feel, as it were, +tacitly forbid to name,--you did not know him?" + +"Him!--whom?" + +"My father, my mother's first husband." + +"No." + +"But I am sure I could not have loved him so well as my benefactor, my +real and second father, who is now dead and gone. Oh, how well I +remember him,--how fondly!" Here Evelyn stopped and burst into tears. + +"You do right to remember him thus; to love and revere his memory,--a +father indeed he was to you. But now, Evelyn, my own dear child, hear +me. Respect the silent heart of your mother; let her not think that her +misfortunes, whatever they may be, can cast a shadow over you,--you, her +last hope and blessing. Rather than seek to open the old wounds, suffer +them to heal, as they must, beneath the influences of religion and time; +and wait the hour when without, perhaps, too keen a grief, your mother +can go back with you into the past." + +"I will, I will! Oh, how wicked, how ungracious I have been! It was but +an excess of love, believe it, dear Mr. Aubrey, believe it." + +"I do believe it, my poor Evelyn; and now I know that I may trust in you. +Come, dry those bright eyes, or they will think I have been a hard +taskmaster, and let us go to the cottage." + +They walked slowly and silently across the humble garden into the +churchyard, and there, by the old yew-tree, they saw Lady Vargrave. +Evelyn, fearful that the traces of her tears were yet visible, drew back; +and Aubrey, aware of what passed within her, said,-- + +"Shall I join your mother, and tell her of my approaching departure? And +perhaps in the meanwhile you will call at our poor pensioner's in the +village,--Dame Newman is so anxious to see you; we will join you there +soon." + +Evelyn smiled her thanks, and kissing her hand to her mother with seeming +gayety, turned back and passed through the glebe into the little village. +Aubrey joined Lady Vargrave, and drew her arm in his. + +Meanwhile Evelyn thoughtfully pursued her way. Her heart was full, and +of self-reproach. Her mother had, then, known cause for sorrow; and +perhaps her reserve was but occasioned by her reluctance to pain her +child. Oh, how doubly anxious would Evelyn be hereafter to soothe, to +comfort, to wean that dear mother from the past! Though in this girl's +character there was something of the impetuosity and thoughtlessness of +her years, it was noble as well as soft; and now the woman's trustfulness +conquered all the woman's curiosity. + +She entered the cottage of the old bedridden crone whom Aubrey had +referred to. It was as a gleam of sunshine,--that sweet comforting face; +and here, seated by the old woman's side, with the Book of the Poor upon +her lap, Evelyn was found by Lady Vargrave. It was curious to observe +the different impressions upon the cottagers made by the mother and +daughter. Both were beloved with almost equal enthusiasm; but with the +first the poor felt more at home. They could talk to her more at ease: +she understood them so much more quickly; they had no need to beat about +the bush to tell the little peevish complaints that they were +half-ashamed to utter to Evelyn. What seemed so light to the young, +cheerful beauty, the mother listened to with so grave and sweet a +patience. When all went right, they rejoiced to see Evelyn; but in their +little difficulties and sorrows nobody was like "my good Lady!" + +So Dame Newman, the moment she saw the pale countenance and graceful +shape of Lady Vargrave at the threshold, uttered an exclamation of +delight. Now she could let out all that she did not like to trouble the +young lady with; now she could complain of east winds, and rheumatiz, and +the parish officers, and the bad tea they sold poor people at Mr. Hart's +shop, and the ungrateful grandson who was so well to do and who forgot he +had a grandmother alive! + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + TOWARDS the end of the week we received a card from the town + ladies. _Vicar of Wakefield_. + +THE curate was gone, and the lessons suspended; otherwise--as like each +to each as sunshine or cloud permitted--day followed day in the calm +retreat of Brook-Green,--when, one morning, Mrs. Leslie, with a letter in +her hand, sought Lady Vargrave, who was busied in tending the flowers of +a small conservatory which she had added to the cottage, when, from +various motives, and one in especial powerful and mysterious, she +exchanged for so sequestered a home the luxurious villa bequeathed to her +by her husband. + +To flowers--those charming children of Nature, in which our age can take +the same tranquil pleasure as our youth--Lady Vargrave devoted much of +her monotonous and unchequered time. She seemed to love them almost as +living things; and her memory associated them with hours as bright and as +fleeting as themselves. + +"My dear friend," said Mrs. Leslie, "I have news for you. My daughter, +Mrs. Merton, who has been in Cornwall on a visit to her husband's mother, +writes me word that she will visit us on her road home to the Rectory in +B-----shire. She will not put you much out of the way," added Mrs. +Leslie, smiling, "for Mr. Merton will not accompany her; she only brings +her daughter Caroline, a lively, handsome, intelligent girl, who will be +enchanted with Evelyn. All you will regret is, that she comes to +terminate my visit, and take me away with her. If you can forgive that +offence, you will have nothing else to pardon." + +Lady Vargrave replied with her usual simple kindness; but she was +evidently nervous at the visit of a stranger (for she had never yet seen +Mrs. Merton), and still more distressed at the thought of losing Mrs. +Leslie a week or two sooner than had been anticipated. However, Mrs. +Leslie hastened to reassure her. Mrs. Merton was so quiet and +good-natured, the wife of a country clergyman with simple tastes; and +after all, Mrs. Leslie's visit might last as long, if Lady Vargrave would +be contented to extend her hospitality to Mrs. Merton and Caroline. + +When the visit was announced to Evelyn, her young heart was susceptible +only of pleasure and curiosity. She had no friend of her own age; she +was sure she should like the grandchild of her dear Mrs. Leslie. + +Evelyn, who had learned betimes, from the affectionate solicitude of her +nature, to relieve her mother of such few domestic cares as a home so +quiet, with an establishment so regular, could afford, gayly busied +herself in a thousand little preparations. She filled the rooms of the +visitors with flowers (not dreaming that any one could fancy them +unwholesome), and spread the tables with her own favourite books, and had +the little cottage piano in her own dressing-room removed into +Caroline's--Caroline must be fond of music. She had some doubts of +transferring a cage with two canaries into Caroline's room also; but when +she approached the cage with that intention, the birds chirped so +merrily, and seemed so glad to see her, and so expectant of sugar, that +her heart smote her for her meditated desertion and ingratitude. No, she +could not give up the canaries; but the glass bowl with the goldfish--oh, +that would look so pretty on its stand just by the casement; and the +fish--dull things!--would not miss her. + +The morning, the noon, the probable hour of the important arrival came at +last; and after having three times within the last half-hour visited the +rooms, and settled and unsettled and settled again everything before +arranged, Evelyn retired to her own room to consult her wardrobe, and +Margaret,--once her nurse, now her abigail. Alas! the wardrobe of the +destined Lady Vargrave--the betrothed of a rising statesman, a new and +now an ostentatious peer; the heiress of the wealthy Templeton--was one +that many a tradesman's daughter would have disdained. Evelyn visited so +little; the clergyman of the place, and two old maids who lived most +respectably on a hundred and eighty pounds a year, in a cottage, with one +maidservant, two cats, and a footboy, bounded the circle of her +acquaintance. Her mother was so indifferent to dress; she herself had +found so many other ways of spending money!--but Evelyn was not now more +philosophical than others of her age. She turned from muslin to +muslin--from the coloured to the white, from the white to the +coloured--with pretty anxiety and sorrowful suspense. At last she +decided on the newest, and when it was on, and the single rose set in the +lustrous and beautiful hair, Carson herself could not have added a charm. +Happy age! Who wants the arts of the milliner at seventeen? + +"And here, miss; here's the fine necklace Lord Vargrave brought down when +my lord came last; it will look so grand!" + +The emeralds glittered in their case; Evelyn looked at them irresolutely; +then, as she looked, a shade came over her forehead, and she sighed, and +closed the lid. + +"No, Margaret, I do not want it; take it away." + +"Oh, dear, miss! what would my lord say if he were down! And they are so +beautiful! they will look so fine! Deary me, how they sparkle! But you +will wear much finer when you are my lady." + +"I hear Mamma's bell; go, Margaret, she wants you." + +Left alone, the young beauty sank down abstractedly, and though the +looking-glass was opposite, it did not arrest her eye; she forgot her +wardrobe, her muslin dress, her fears, and her guests. + +"Ah," she thought, "what a weight of dread I feel here when I think of +Lord Vargrave and this fatal engagement; and every day I feel it more and +more. To leave my dear, dear mother, the dear cottage--oh! I never can. +I used to like him when I was a child; now I shudder at his name. Why is +this? He is kind; he condescends to seek to please. It was the wish of +my poor father,--for father he really was to me; and yet--oh that he had +left me poor and free!" + +At this part of Evelyn's meditation the unusual sound of wheels was heard +on the gravel; she started up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and hurried +down to welcome the expected guests. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + TELL me, Sophy, my dear, what do you think of our new visitors? + _Vicar of Wakefield_. + +MRS. MERTON and her daughter were already in the middle drawing-room, +seated on either side of Mrs. Leslie,--the former a woman of quiet and +pleasing exterior, her face still handsome, and if not intelligent, at +least expressive of sober good-nature and habitual content; the latter a +fine dark-eyed girl, of decided countenance, and what is termed a showy +style of beauty,--tall, self-possessed, and dressed plainly indeed, but +after the approved fashion. The rich bonnet of the large shape then +worn; the Chantilly veil; the gay French _Cachemire_; the full sleeves, +at that time the unnatural rage; the expensive yet unassuming _robe de +soie_; the perfect _chaussure_; the air of society, the easy manner, the +tranquil but scrutinizing gaze,--all startled, discomposed, and +half-frightened Evelyn. + +Miss Merton herself, if more at her ease, was equally surprised by the +beauty and unconscious grace of the young fairy before her, and rose to +greet her with a well-bred cordiality, which at once made a conquest of +Evelyn's heart. + +Mrs. Merton kissed her cheek, and smiled kindly on her, but said little. +It was easy to see that she was a less conversable and more homely person +than Caroline. + +When Evelyn conducted them to their rooms, the mother and daughter +detected at a glance the care that had provided for their comforts; and +something eager and expectant in Evelyn's eyes taught the good-nature of +the one and the good breeding of the other to reward their young hostess +by various little exclamations of pleasure and satisfaction. + +"Dear, how nice! What a pretty writing-desk!" said one--"And the pretty +goldfish!" said the other--"And the piano, too, so well placed;" and +Caroline's fair fingers ran rapidly over the keys. Evelyn retired, +covered with smiles and blushes. And then Mrs. Merton permitted herself +to say to the well-dressed abigail,-- + +"Do take away those flowers, they make me quite faint." + +"And how low the room is,--so confined!" said Caroline, when the lady's +lady withdrew with the condemned flowers. "And I see no Pysche. +However, the poor people have done their best." + +"Sweet person, Lady Vargrave!" said Mrs. Merton,--"so interesting, so +beautiful; and how youthful in appearance!" + +"No _tournure_--not much the manner of the world," said Caroline. + +"No; but something better." + +"Hem!" said Caroline. "The girl is very pretty, though too small." + +"Such a smile, such eyes,--she is irresistible! and what a fortune! She +will be a charming friend for you, Caroline." + +"Yes, she maybe useful, if she marry Lord Vargrave; or, indeed, if she +make any brilliant match. What sort of a man is Lord Vargrave?" + +"I never saw him; they say, most fascinating." + +"Well, she is very happy," said Caroline, with a sigh. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + TWO lovely damsels cheer my lonely walk.--LAMB: _Album Verses_. + +AFTER dinner there was still light enough for the young people to stroll +through the garden. Mrs. Merton, who was afraid of the damp, preferred +staying within; and she was so quiet, and made herself so much at home, +that Lady Vargrave, to use Mrs. Leslie's phrase, was not the least "put +out" by her. Besides, she talked of Evelyn, and that was a theme very +dear to Lady Vargrave, who was both fond and proud of Evelyn. + +"This is very pretty indeed,--the view of the sea quite lovely!" said +Caroline. "You draw?" + +"Yes, a little." + +"From Nature?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"What, in Indian ink?" + +"Yes; and water-colours." + +"Oh! Why, who could have taught you in this little village; or, indeed, +in this most primitive county?" + +"We did not come to Brook-Green till I was nearly fifteen. My dear +mother, though very anxious to leave our villa at Fulham, would not do so +on my account, while masters could be of service to me; and as I knew she +had set her heart on this place, I worked doubly hard." + +"Then she knew this place before?" + +"Yes; she had been here many years ago, and took the place after my poor +father's death,--I always call the late Lord Vargrave my father. She +used to come here regularly once a year without me; and when she +returned, I thought her even more melancholy than before." + +"What makes the charm of the place to Lady Vargrave?" asked Caroline, +with some interest. + +"I don't know; unless it be its extreme quiet, or some early +association." + +"And who is your nearest neighbour?" + +"Mr. Aubrey, the curate. It is so unlucky, he is gone from home for a +short time. You can't think how kind and pleasant he is,--the most +amiable old man in the world; just such a man as Bernardin St. Pierre +would have loved to describe." + +"Agreeable, no doubt, but dull--good curates generally are." + +"Dull? not the least; cheerful even to playfulness, and full of +information. He has been so good to me about books; indeed, I have +learned a great deal from him." + +"I dare say he is an admirable judge of sermons." + +"But Mr. Aubrey is not severe," persisted Evelyn, earnestly; "he is very +fond of Italian literature, for instance; we are reading Tasso together." + +"Oh! pity he is old--I think you said he was old. Perhaps there is a +son, the image of the sire?" + +"Oh, no," said Evelyn, laughing innocently; "Mr. Aubrey never married." + +"And where does the old gentleman live?" + +"Come a little this way; there, you can just see the roof of his house, +close by the church." + +"I see; it is _tant soit peu triste_ to have the church so near you." + +"_Do_ you think so? Ah, but you have not seen it; it is the prettiest +church in the county; and the little burial-ground--so quiet, so shut in; +I feel better every time I pass it. Some places breathe of religion." + +"You are poetical, my dear little friend." + +Evelyn, who _had_ poetry in her nature, and therefore sometimes it broke +out in her simple language, coloured and felt half-ashamed. + +"It is a favourite walk with my mother," said she, apologetically; "she +often spends hours there alone: and so, perhaps, I think it a prettier +spot than others may. It does not seem to me to have anything of gloom +in it; when I die, I should like to be buried there." + +Caroline laughed slightly. "That is a strange wish; but perhaps you have +been crossed in love?" + +"I!--oh, you are laughing at me!" + +"You do not remember Mr. Cameron, your real father, I suppose?" + +"No; I believe he died before I was born." + +"Cameron is a Scotch name: to what tribe of Camerons do you belong?" + +"I don't know," said Evelyn, rather embarrassed; "indeed I know nothing +of my father's or mother's family. It is very odd, but I don't think we +have any relations. You know when I am of age that I am to take the name +of Templeton." + +"Ah, the name goes with the fortune; I understand. Dear Evelyn, how rich +you will be! I do so wish I were rich!" + +"And I that I were poor," said Evelyn, with an altered tone and +expression of countenance. + +"Strange girl! what can you mean?" + +Evelyn said nothing, and Caroline examined her curiously. + +"These notions come from living so much out of the world, my dear Evelyn. +How you must long to see more of life!" + +"I! not in the least. I should never like to leave this place,--I could +live and die here." + +"You will think otherwise when you are Lady Vargrave. Why do you look so +grave? Do you not love Lord Vargrave?" + +"What a question!" said Evelyn, turning away her head, and forcing a +laugh. + +"It is no matter whether you do or not: it is a brilliant position. He +has rank, reputation, high office; all he wants is money, and that you +will give him. Alas! I have no prospect so bright. I have no fortune, +and I fear my face will never buy a title, an opera-box, and a house in +Grosvenor Square. I wish I were the future Lady Vargrave." + +"I am sure I wish you were," said Evelyn, with great _naivete_; "you +would suit Lord Vargrave better than I should." + +Caroline laughed. + +"Why do you think so?" + +"Oh, his way of thinking is like yours; he never says anything I can +sympathize with." + +"A pretty compliment to me! Depend upon it, my dear, you will sympathize +with me when you have seen as much of the world. But Lord Vargrave--is +he too old?" + +"No, I don't think of his age; and indeed he looks younger than he is." + +"Is he handsome?" + +"He is what may be called handsome,--you would think so." + +"Well, if he comes here, I will do my best to win him from you; so look +to yourself." + +"Oh, I should be so grateful; I should like him so much, if he would fall +in love with you!" + +"I fear there is no chance of that." + +"But how," said Evelyn, hesitatingly, after a pause,--"how is it that you +have seen so much more of the world than I have? I thought Mr. Merton +lived a great deal in the country." + +"Yes, but my uncle, Sir John Merton, is member for the county; my +grandmother on my father's side--Lady Elizabeth, who has Tregony Castle +(which we have just left) for her jointure-house--goes to town almost +every season, and I have spent three seasons with her. She is a charming +old woman,--quite the _grand dame_. I am sorry to say she remains in +Cornwall this year. She has not been very well; the physicians forbid +late hours and London; but even in the country we are very gay. My uncle +lives near us, and though a widower, has his house full when down at +Merton Park; and Papa, too, is rich, very hospitable and popular, and +will, I hope, be a bishop one of these days--not at all like a mere +country parson; and so, somehow or other, I have learned to be +ambitious,--we are an ambitious family on Papa's side. But, alas! I have +not your cards to play. Young, beautiful, and an heiress! Ah, what +prospects! You should make your mamma take you to town." + +"To town! she would be wretched at the very idea. Oh, you don't know +us." + +"I can't help fancying, Miss Evelyn," said Caroline, archly, "that you +are not so blind to Lord Vargrave's perfections and so indifferent to +London, only from the pretty innocent way of thinking, that so prettily +and innocently you express. I dare say, if the truth were known, there +is some handsome young rector, besides the old curate, who plays the +flute, and preaches sentimental sermons in white kid gloves." + +Evelyn laughed merrily,--so merrily that Caroline's suspicions vanished. +They continued to walk and talk thus till the night came on, and then +they went in; and Evelyn showed Caroline her drawings, which astonished +that young lady, who was a good judge of accomplishments. Evelyn's +performance on the piano astonished her yet more; but Caroline consoled +herself on this point, for her voice was more powerful, and she sang +French songs with much more spirit. Caroline showed talent in all she +undertook; but Evelyn, despite her simplicity, had genius, though as yet +scarcely developed, for she had quickness, emotion, susceptibility, +imagination. And the difference between talent and genius lies rather in +the heart than the head. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + DOST thou feel + The solemn whispering influence of the scene + Oppressing thy young heart, that thou dost draw + More closely to my side?--F. HEMANS: _Wood Walk and Hymn_. + +CAROLINE and Evelyn, as was natural, became great friends. They were not +kindred to each other in disposition; but they were thrown together, and +friendship thus forced upon both. Unsuspecting and sanguine, it was +natural to Evelyn to admire; and Caroline was, to her inexperience, a +brilliant and imposing novelty. Sometimes Miss Merton's worldliness of +thought shocked Evelyn; but then Caroline had a way with her as if she +were not in earnest,--as if she were merely indulging an inclination +towards irony; nor was she without a certain vein of sentiment that +persons a little hackneyed in the world and young ladies a little +disappointed that they are not wives instead of maids, easily acquire. +Trite as this vein of sentiment was, poor Evelyn thought it beautiful and +most feeling. Then, Caroline was clever, entertaining, cordial, with all +that superficial superiority that a girl of twenty-three who knows London +readily exercises over a country girl of seventeen. On the other hand, +Caroline was kind and affectionate towards her. The clergyman's daughter +felt that she could not be always superior, even in fashion, to the +wealthy heiress. + +One evening, as Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Merton sat under the veranda of the +cottage, without their hostess, who had gone alone into the village, and +the young ladies were confidentially conversing on the lawn, Mrs. Leslie +said rather abruptly, "Is not Evelyn a delightful creature? How +unconscious of her beauty; how simple, and yet so naturally gifted!" + +"I have never seen one who interested me more," said Mrs. Merton, +settling her _pelerine_; "she is extremely pretty." + +"I am so anxious about her," resumed Mrs. Leslie, thoughtfully. "You +know the wish of the late Lord Vargrave that she should marry his nephew, +the present lord, when she reaches the age of eighteen. She only wants +nine or ten months of that time; she has seen nothing of the world: she +is not fit to decide for herself; and Lady Vargrave, the best of human +creatures, is still herself almost too inexperienced in the world to be a +guide for one so young placed in such peculiar circumstances, and of +prospects so brilliant. Lady Vargrave at heart is a child still, and +will be so even when as old as I am." + +"It is very true," said Mrs. Merton. "Don't you fear that the girls will +catch cold? The dew is falling, and the grass must be wet." + +"I have thought," continued Mrs. Leslie, without heeding the latter part +of Mrs. Merton's speech, "that it would be a kind thing to invite Evelyn +to stay with you a few months at the Rectory. To be sure, it is not like +London; but you see a great deal of the world. The society at your house +is well selected, and at times even brilliant; she will meet young people +of her own age, and young people fashion and form each other." + +"I was thinking myself that I should like to invite her," said Mrs. +Merton; "I will consult Caroline." + +"Caroline, I am sure, would be delighted; the difficulty lies rather in +Evelyn herself." + +"You surprise me! she must be moped to death here." + +"But will she leave her mother?" + +"Why, Caroline often leaves me," said Mrs. Merton. + +Mrs. Leslie was silent, and Evelyn and her new friend now joined the +mother and daughter. + +"I have been trying to persuade Evelyn to pay us a little visit," said +Caroline; "she could accompany us so nicely; and if she is still strange +with us, dear grandmamma goes too,--I am sure we can make her at home." + +"How odd!" said Mrs. Merton; "we were just saying the same thing. My +dear Miss Cameron, we should be so happy to have you." + +"And I should be so happy to go, if Mamma would but go too." + +As she spoke, the moon, just risen, showed the form of Lady Vargrave +slowly approaching the house. By the light, her features seemed more +pale than usual; and her slight and delicate form, with its gliding +motion and noiseless step, had in it something almost ethereal and +unearthly. + +Evelyn turned and saw her, and her heart smote her. Her mother, so +wedded to the dear cottage--and had this gay stranger rendered that dear +cottage less attractive,--she who had said she could live and die in its +humble precincts? Abruptly she left her new friend, hastened to her +mother, and threw her arms fondly round her. + +"You are pale; you have over-fatigued yourself. Where have you been? +Why did you not take me with you?" + +Lady Vargrave pressed Evelyn's hand affectionately. + +"You care for me too much," said she. "I am but a dull companion for +you; I was so glad to see you happy with one better suited to your gay +spirits. What can we do when she leaves us?" + +"Ah, I want no companion but my own, own mother. And have I not Sultan, +too?" added Evelyn, smiling away the tear that had started to her eyes. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + FRIEND after friend departs; + Who hath not lost a friend? + There is no union here of hearts + That finds not here an end.--J. MONTGOMERY. + +THAT night Mrs. Leslie sought Lady Vargrave in her own room. As she +entered gently she observed that, late as the hour was, Lady Vargrave was +stationed by the open window, and seemed intently gazing on the scene +below. Mrs. Leslie reached her side unperceived. The moonlight was +exceedingly bright; and just beyond the garden, from which it was +separated but by a slight fence, lay the solitary churchyard of the +hamlet, with the slender spire of the holy edifice rising high and +tapering into the shining air. It was a calm and tranquillizing scene; +and so intent was Lady Vargrave's abstracted gaze, that Mrs. Leslie was +unwilling to disturb her revery. + +At length Lady Vargrave turned; and there was that patient and pathetic +resignation written in her countenance which belongs to those whom the +world can deceive no more, and who have fixed their hearts in the life +beyond. + +Mrs. Leslie, whatever she thought or felt, said nothing, except in kindly +remonstrance on the indiscretion of braving the night air. The window +was closed; they sat down to confer. + +Mrs. Leslie repeated the invitation given to Evelyn, and urged the +advisability of accepting it. "It is cruel to separate you," said she; +"I feel it acutely. Why not, then, come with Evelyn? You shake your +head: why always avoid society? So young, yet you give yourself too much +to the past!" + +Lady Vargrave rose, and walked to a cabinet at the end of the room; she +unlocked it, and beckoned to Mrs. Leslie to approach. In a drawer lay +carefully folded articles of female dress,--rude, homely, ragged,--the +dress of a peasant girl. + +"Do these remind you of your first charity to me?" she said touchingly: +"they tell me that I have nothing to do with the world in which you and +yours, and Evelyn herself, should move." + +"Too tender conscience!--your errors were but those of circumstances, of +youth;--how have they been redeemed! none even suspect them. Your past +history is known but to the good old Aubrey and myself. No breath, even +of rumour, tarnishes the name of Lady Vargrave." + +"Mrs. Leslie," said Lady Vargrave, reclosing the cabinet, and again +seating herself, "my world lies around me; I cannot quit it. If I were +of use to Evelyn, then indeed I would sacrifice, brave all; but I only +cloud her spirits. I have no advice to give her, no instruction to +bestow. When she was a child I could watch over her; when she was sick, +I could nurse her; but now she requires an adviser, a guide; and I feel +too sensibly that this task is beyond my powers. I, a guide to youth and +innocence,--_I_! No, I have nothing to offer her, dear child! but my +love and my prayers. Let your daughter take her, then,--watch over her, +guide, advise her. For me--unkind, ungrateful as it may seem--were she +but happy, I could well bear to be alone!" + +"But she--how will she, who loves you so, submit to this separation?" + +"It will not be long; and," added Lady Vargrave, with a serious, yet +sweet smile, "she had better be prepared for that separation which must +come at last. As year by year I outlive my last hope,--that of once more +beholding _him_,--I feel that life becomes feebler and feebler, and I +look more on that quiet churchyard as a home to which I am soon +returning. At all events, Evelyn will be called upon to form new ties +that must estrange her from me; let her wean herself from one so useless +to her, to all the world,--now, and by degrees." + +"Speak not thus," said Mrs. Leslie, strongly affected; "you have many +years of happiness yet in store for you. The more you recede from youth, +the fairer life will become to you." + +"God is good to me," said the lady, raising her meek eyes; "and I have +already found it so. I am contented." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + THE greater part of them seemed to be charmed with his presence. + MACKENZIE: _The Man of the World_. + +IT was with the greatest difficulty that Evelyn could at last be +persuaded to consent to the separation from her mother; she wept bitterly +at the thought. But Lady Vargrave, though touched, was firm, and her +firmness was of that soft, imploring character which Evelyn never could +resist. The visit was to last some months, it is true, but she would +return to the cottage; she would escape, too--and this, perhaps, +unconsciously reconciled her more than aught else--the periodical visit +of Lord Vargrave. At the end of July, when the parliamentary session at +that unreformed era usually expired, he always came to Brook-Green for a +month. His last visits had been most unwelcome to Evelyn, and this next +visit she dreaded more than she had any of the former ones. It is +strange,--the repugnance with which she regarded the suit of her +affianced!--she, whose heart was yet virgin; who had never seen any one +who, in form, manner, and powers to please, could be compared to the gay +Lord Vargrave. And yet a sense of honour, of what was due to her dead +benefactor, her more than father,--all combated that repugnance, and left +her uncertain what course to pursue, uncalculating as to the future. In +the happy elasticity of her spirits, and with a carelessness almost +approaching to levity, which, to say truth, was natural to her, she did +not often recall the solemn engagement that must soon be ratified or +annulled; but when that thought did occur, it saddened her for hours, and +left her listless and despondent. The visit to Mrs. Merton was, then, +finally arranged, the day of departure fixed, when, one morning, came the +following letter from Lord Vargrave himself:-- + + +To the LADY VARGRAVE, etc. + +MY DEAR FRIEND,--I find that we have a week's holiday in our do-nothing +Chamber, and the weather is so delightful, that I long to share its +enjoyment with those I love best. You will, therefore, see me almost as +soon as you receive this; that is, I shall be with you at dinner on the +same day. What can I say to Evelyn? Will you, dearest Lady Vargrave, +make her accept all the homage which, when uttered by me, she seems half +inclined to reject? + + In haste, most affectionately yours, + + VARGRAVE. + + HAMILTON PLACE, April 30, 18--. + + +This letter was by no means welcome, either to Mrs. Leslie or to Evelyn. +The former feared that Lord Vargrave would disapprove of a visit, the +real objects of which could scarcely be owned to him; the latter was +reminded of all she desired to forget. But Lady Vargrave herself rather +rejoiced at the thought of Lumley's arrival. Hitherto, in the spirit of +her passive and gentle character, she had taken the engagement between +Evelyn and Lord Vargrave almost as a matter of course. The will and wish +of her late husband operated most powerfully on her mind; and while +Evelyn was yet in childhood, Lumley's visits had ever been acceptable, +and the playful girl liked the gay and good-humoured lord, who brought +her all sorts of presents, and appeared as fond of dogs as herself. But +Evelyn's recent change of manner, her frequent fits of dejection and +thought, once pointed out to Lady Vargrave by Mrs. Leslie, aroused all +the affectionate and maternal anxiety of the former. She was resolved to +watch, to examine, to scrutinize, not only Evelyn's reception of +Vargrave, but, as far as she could, the manner and disposition of +Vargrave himself. She felt how solemn a trust was the happiness of a +whole life; and she had that romance of heart, learned from Nature, not +in books, which made her believe that there could be no happiness in a +marriage without love. + +The whole family party were on the lawn, when, an hour earlier than he +was expected, the travelling carriage of Lord Vargrave was whirled along +the narrow sweep that conducted from the lodge to the house. Vargrave, +as he saw the party, kissed his hand from the window; and leaping from +the carriage, when it stopped at the porch, hastened to meet his hostess. + +"My dear Lady Vargrave, I am so glad to see you! You are looking +charmingly; and Evelyn?--oh, there she is; the dear coquette, how lovely +she is! how she has improved! But who [sinking his voice], who are those +ladies?" + +"Guests of ours,--Mrs. Leslie, whom you have often heard us speak of, but +never met--" + +"Yes; and the others?" + +"Her daughter and grandchild." + +"I shall be delighted to know them." + +A more popular manner than Lord Vargrave's it is impossible to conceive. +Frank and prepossessing, even when the poor and reckless Mr. Ferrers, +without rank or reputation, his smile, the tone of his voice, his +familiar courtesy,--apparently so inartificial and approaching almost to +a boyish bluntness of good-humour,--were irresistible in the rising +statesman and favoured courtier. + +Mrs. Merton was enchanted with him; Caroline thought him, at the first +glance, the most fascinating person she had ever seen; even Mrs. Leslie, +more grave, cautious, and penetrating, was almost equally pleased with +the first impression; and it was not till, in his occasional silence, his +features settled into their natural expression that she fancied she +detected in the quick suspicious eye and the close compression of the +lips the tokens of that wily, astute, and worldly character, which, in +proportion as he had risen in his career, even his own party reluctantly +and mysteriously assigned to one of their most prominent leaders. + +When Vargrave took Evelyn's hand, and raised it with meaning gallantry to +his lips, the girl first blushed deeply, and then turned pale as death; +nor did the colour thus chased away soon return to the transparent cheek. +Not noticing signs which might bear a twofold interpretation, Lumley, who +seemed in high spirits, rattled away on a thousand matters,--praising the +view, the weather, the journey, throwing out a joke here and a compliment +there, and completing his conquest over Mrs. Merton and Caroline. + +"You have left London in the very height of its gayety, Lord Vargrave," +said Caroline, as they sat conversing after dinner. + +"True, Miss Merton; but the country is in the height of its gayety too." + +"Are you so fond of the country, then?" + +"By fits and starts; my passion for it comes in with the early +strawberries, and goes out with the hautboys. I lead so artificial a +life; but then I hope it is a useful one. I want nothing but a home to +make it a happy one." + +"What is the latest news?--dear London! I am so sorry Grandmamma, Lady +Elizabeth, is not going there this year, so I am compelled to rusticate. +Is Lady Jane D----- to be married at last?" + +"Commend me to a young lady's idea of news,--always marriage! Lady Jane +D-----! yes, she is to be married, as you say--_at last_! While she was +a beauty, our cold sex was shy of her; but she has now faded into +plainness,--the proper colour for a wife." + +"Complimentary!" + +"Indeed it is--for you beautiful women we love too much for our own +happiness--heigho!--and a prudent marriage means friendly indifference, +not rapture and despair. But give me beauty and love; I never was +prudent: it is not my weakness." + +Though Caroline was his sole supporter in this dialogue, Lord Vargrave's +eyes attempted to converse with Evelyn, who was unusually silent and +abstracted. Suddenly Lord Vargrave seemed aware that he was scarcely +general enough in his talk for his hearers. He addressed himself to Mrs. +Leslie, and glided back, as it were, into a former generation. He spoke +of persons gone and things forgotten; he made the subject interesting +even to the young, by a succession of various and sparkling anecdotes. +No one could be more agreeable; even Evelyn now listened to him with +pleasure, for to all women wit and intellect have their charm. But still +there was a cold and sharp levity in the tone of the man of the world +that prevented the charm sinking below the surface. To Mrs. Leslie he +seemed unconsciously to betray a laxity of principle; to Evelyn, a want +of sentiment and heart. Lady Vargrave, who did not understand a +character of this description, listened attentively, and said to herself, +"Evelyn may admire, but I fear she cannot love him." Still, time passed +quickly in Lumley's presence, and Caroline thought she had never spent so +pleasant an evening. + +When Lord Vargrave retired to his room, he threw himself in his chair, +and yawned with exceeding fervour. His servant arranged his +dressing-robe, and placed his portfolios and letter-boxes on the table. + +"What o'clock is it?" said Lumley. + +"Very early, my lord; only eleven." + +"The devil! The country air is wonderfully exhausting. I am very +sleepy; you may go." + +"This little girl," said Lumley, stretching himself, "is preternaturally +shy. I must neglect her no longer--yet it is surely all safe? She has +grown monstrous pretty; but the other girl is more amusing, more to my +taste, and a much easier conquest, I fancy. Her great dark eyes seem +full of admiration for my lordship. Sensible young woman! she may be +useful in piquing Evelyn." + + + +CHAPTER X. + + _Julio_. Wilt thou have him?--_The Maid in the Mill_. + +LORD VARGRAVE heard the next morning, with secret distaste and +displeasure, of Evelyn's intended visit to the Mertons. He could +scarcely make any open objection to it; but he did not refrain from many +insinuations as to its impropriety. + +"My dear friend," said he to Lady Vargrave, "it is scarcely right in you +(pardon me for saying it) to commit Evelyn to the care of comparative +strangers. Mrs. Leslie, indeed, you know; but Mrs. Merton, you allow, +you have now seen for the first time. A most respectable person +doubtless; but still, recollect how young Evelyn is, how rich; what a +prize to any younger sons in the Merton family (if such there be). Miss +Merton herself is a shrewd, worldly girl; and if she were of our sex +would make a capital fortune-hunter. Don't think my fear is selfish; I +do not speak for myself. If I were Evelyn's brother, I should be yet +more earnest in my remonstrance." + +"But, Lord Vargrave, poor Evelyn is dull here; my spirits infect hers. +She ought to mix more with those of her own age, to see more of the world +before--before--" + +"Before her marriage with me? Forgive me, but is not that my affair? If +I am contented, nay, charmed with her innocence, if I prefer it to all +the arts which society could teach her, surely you would be acquitted for +leaving her in the beautiful simplicity that makes her chief fascination? +She will see enough of the world as Lady Vargrave." + +"But if she should resolve never to be Lady Vargrave--?" + +Lumley started, bit his lip, and frowned. Lady Vargrave had never before +seen on his countenance the dark expression it now wore. He recollected +and recovered himself, as he observed her eye fixed upon him, and said, +with a constrained smile,-- + +"Can you anticipate an event so fatal to my happiness, so unforeseen, so +opposed to all my poor uncle's wishes, as Evelyn's rejection of a suit +pursued for years, and so solemnly sanctioned in her very childhood?" + +"She must decide for herself," said Lady Vargrave. "Your uncle carefully +distinguished between a wish and a command. Her heart is as yet +untouched. If she can love you, may you deserve her affection." + +"It shall be my study to do so. But why this departure from your roof +just when we ought to see most of each other? It cannot be that you +would separate us?" + +"I fear, Lord Vargrave, that if Evelyn were to remain here, she would +decide against you. I fear if you press her now, such now may be her +premature decision. Perhaps this arises from too fond an attachment for +her home; perhaps even a short absence from her home--from me--may more +reconcile her to a permanent separation." + +Vargrave could say no more, for here they were joined by Caroline and +Mrs. Merton; but his manner was changed, nor could he recover the gayety +of the previous night. + +When, however, he found time for meditation, he contrived to reconcile +himself to the intended visit. He felt that it was easy to secure the +friendship of the whole of the Merton family; and that friendship might +be more useful to him than the neutral part adopted by Lady Vargrave. He +should, of course, be invited to the rectory; it was much nearer London +than Lady Vargrave's cottage, he could more often escape from public +cares to superintend his private interest. A country neighbourhood, +particularly at that season of the year, was not likely to abound in very +dangerous rivals. Evelyn would, he saw, be surrounded by a _worldly_ +family, and he thought that an advantage; it might serve to dissipate +Evelyn's romantic tendencies, and make her sensible of the pleasures of +the London life, the official rank, the gay society that her union with +him would offer as an equivalent for her fortune. In short, as was his +wont, he strove to make the best of the new turn affairs had taken. +Though guardian to Miss Cameron, and one of the trustees for the fortune +she was to receive on attaining her majority, he had not the right to +dictate as to her residence. The late lord's will had expressly and +pointedly corroborated the natural and lawful authority of Lady Vargrave +in all matters connected with Evelyn's education and home. It may be as +well, in this place, to add, that to Vargrave and the co-trustee, Mr. +Gustavus Douce, a banker of repute and eminence, the testator left large +discretionary powers as to the investment of the fortune. He had stated +it as his wish that from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty +thousand pounds should be invested in the purchase of a landed estate; +but he had left it to the discretion of the trustees to increase that +sum, even to the amount of the whole capital, should an estate of +adequate importance be in the market, while the selection of time and +purchase was unreservedly confided to the trustees. Vargrave had +hitherto objected to every purchase in the market,--not that he was +insensible to the importance and consideration of landed property, but +because, till he himself became the legal receiver of the income, he +thought it less trouble to suffer the money to lie in the Funds, than to +be pestered with all the onerous details in the management of an estate +that might never be his. He, however, with no less ardour than his +deceased relative, looked forward to the time when the title of Vargrave +should be based upon the venerable foundation of feudal manors and +seignorial acres. + +"Why did you not tell me Lord Vargrave was so charming?" said Caroline to +Evelyn, as the two girls were sauntering, in familiar _tete-a-tete_, +along the gardens. "You will be very happy with such a companion." + +Evelyn made no answer for a few moments, and then, turning abruptly round +to Caroline, and stopping short, she said, with a kind of tearful +eagerness, "Dear Caroline, you are so wise, so kind too; advise me, tell +me what is best. I am very unhappy." + +Miss Merton was moved and surprised by Evelyn's earnestness. + +"But what is it, my poor Evelyn," said she; "why are you unhappy?--you +whose fate seems to me so enviable." + +"I cannot love Lord Vargrave; I recoil from the idea of marrying him. +Ought I not fairly to tell him so? Ought I not to say that I cannot +fulfil the wish that--oh, there's the thought which leaves me so +irresolute!--His uncle bequeathed to me--me who have no claim of +relationship--the fortune that should have been Lord Vargrave's, in the +belief that my hand would restore it to him. It is almost a fraud to +refuse him. Am I not to be pitied?" + +"But why can you not love Lord Vargrave? If past the _premiere +jeunesse_, he is still handsome. He is more than handsome,--he has the +air of rank, an eye that fascinates, a smile that wins, the manners that +please, the abilities that command, the world! Handsome, clever, +admired, distinguished--what can woman desire more in her lover, her +husband? Have you ever formed some fancy, some ideal of the one you +could love, and how does Lord Vargrave fall short of the vision?" + +"Have I ever formed an ideal?--oh, yes!" said Evelyn, with a beautiful +enthusiasm that lighted up her eyes, blushed in her cheek, and heaved her +bosom beneath its robe; "something that in loving I could also revere,--a +mind that would elevate my own; a heart that could sympathize with my +weakness, my follies, my romance, if you will; and in which I could +treasure my whole soul." + +"You paint a schoolmaster, not a lover!" said Caroline. "You do not +care, then, whether this hero be handsome or young?" + +"Oh, yes, he should be both," said Evelyn, innocently; "and yet," she +added, after a pause, and with an infantine playfulness of manner and +countenance, "I know you will laugh at me, but I think I could be in love +with more than one at the same time!" + +"A common case, but a rare confession!" + +"Yes; for if I might ask for the youth and outward advantages that please +the eye, I could also love with a yet deeper love that which would speak +to my imagination,--Intellect, Genius, Fame! Ah, these have an immortal +youth and imperishable beauty of their own!" + +"You are a very strange girl." + +"But we are on a very strange subject--it is all an enigma!" said +Evelyn, shaking her wise little head with a pretty gravity, half mock, +half real. "Ah, if Lord Vargrave should love you--and you--oh, you +_would_ love him, and then I should be free, and so happy!" + +They were then on the lawn in sight of the cottage windows, and Lumley, +lifting his eyes from the newspaper, which had just arrived and been +seized with all a politician's avidity, saw them in the distance. He +threw down the paper, mused a moment or two, then took up his hat and +joined them; but before he did so, he surveyed himself in the glass. "I +think I look young enough still," thought he. + +"Two cherries on one stalk," said Lumley, gayly: "by the by, it is not a +complimentary simile. What young lady would be like a cherry?--such an +uninteresting, common, charity-boy sort of fruit. For my part, I always +associate cherries with the image of a young gentleman in corduroys and a +skeleton jacket, with one pocket full of marbles, and the other full of +worms for fishing, with three-halfpence in the left paw, and two cherries +on one stalk (Helena and Hermia) in the right." + +"How droll you are!" said Caroline, laughing. + +"Much obliged to you, and don't envy your discrimination, 'Melancholy +marks me for its own.' You ladies,--ah, yours is the life for gay spirits +and light hearts; to us are left business and politics, law, physic, and +murder, by way of professions; abuse, nicknamed fame; and the privilege +of seeing how universal a thing, among the great and the wealthy, is that +pleasant vice, beggary,--which privilege is proudly entitled 'patronage +and power.' Are we the things to be gay,--'droll,' as you say? Oh, no, +all our spirits are forced, believe me. Miss Cameron, did you ever know +that wretched species of hysterical affection called 'forced spirits'? +Never, I am sure; your ingenuous smile, your laughing eyes, are the index +to a happy and a sanguine heart." + +"And what of me?" asked Caroline, quickly, and with a slight blush. + +"You, Miss Merton? Ah, I have not yet read your character,--a fair page, +but an unknown letter. You, however, have seen the world, and know that +we must occasionally wear a mask." Lord Vargrave sighed as he spoke, and +relapsed into sudden silence; then looking up, his eyes encountered +Caroline's, which were fixed upon him. Their gaze flattered him; +Caroline turned away, and busied herself with a rose-bush. Lumley +gathered one of the flowers, and presented it to her. Evelyn was a few +steps in advance. + +"There is no thorn in this rose," said he; "may the offering be an omen. +You are now Evelyn's friend, oh, be mine; she is to be your guest. Do +not scorn to plead for me." + +"Can _you_ want a pleader?" said Caroline, with a slight tremor in her +voice. + +"Charming Miss Merton, love is diffident and fearful; but it must now +find a voice, to which may Evelyn benignly listen. What I leave +unsaid--would that my new friend's eloquence could supply." + +He bowed slightly, and joined Evelyn. Caroline understood the hint, and +returned alone and thoughtfully to the house. + +"Miss Cameron--Evelyn--ah, still let me call you so, as in the happy and +more familiar days of your childhood, I wish you could read my heart at +this moment. You are about to leave your home; new scenes will surround, +new faces smile on you; dare I hope that I may still be remembered?" + +He attempted to take her hand as he spoke; Evelyn withdrew it gently. + +"Ah, my lord," said she, in a very low voice, "if remembrance were all +that you asked of me--" + +"It is all,--favourable remembrance, remembrance of the love of the past, +remembrance of the bond to come." + +Evelyn shivered. "It is better to speak openly," said she. + +"Let me throw myself on your generosity. I am not insensible to your +brilliant qualities, to the honour of your attachment; but--but--as the +time approaches in which you will call for my decision, let me now say, +that I cannot feel for you--those--those sentiments, without which you +could not desire our union,--without which it were but a wrong to both of +us to form it. Nay, listen to me. I grieve bitterly at the tenor of +your too generous uncle's will; can I not atone to you? Willingly would +I sacrifice the fortune that, indeed, ought to be yours; accept it, and +remain my friend." + +"Cruel Evelyn! and can you suppose that it is your fortune I seek? It is +yourself. Heaven is my witness, that, had you no dowry but your hand and +heart, it were treasure enough to me. You think you cannot love me. +Evelyn, you do not yet know yourself. Alas! your retirement in this +distant village, my own unceasing avocations, which chain me, like a +slave, to the galley-oar of politics and power, have kept us separate. +You do not know me. I am willing to hazard the experiment of that +knowledge. To devote my life to you, to make you partaker of my +ambition, my career, to raise you to the highest eminence in the +matronage of England, to transfer pride from myself to you, to love and +to honour and to prize you,--all this will be my boast; and all this will +win love for me at last. Fear not, Evelyn,--fear not for your happiness; +with me you shall know no sorrow. Affection at home, splendour abroad, +await you. I have passed the rough and arduous part of my career; +sunshine lies on the summit to which I climb. No station in England is +too high for me to aspire to,--prospects, how bright with you, how dark +without you! Ah, Evelyn! be this hand mine--the heart shall follow!" + +Vargrave's words were artful and eloquent; the words were calculated to +win their way, but the manner, the tone of voice, wanted earnestness and +truth. This was his defect; this characterized all his attempts to +seduce or to lead others, in public or in private life. He had no heart, +no deep passion, in what he undertook. He could impress you with the +conviction of his ability, and leave the conviction imperfect, because he +could not convince you that he was sincere. That best gift of mental +power--_earnestness_--was wanting to him; and Lord Vargrave's deficiency +of heart was the true cause why he was not a great man. Still, Evelyn +was affected by his words; she suffered the hand he now once more took to +remain passively in his, and said timidly, "Why, with sentiments so +generous and confiding, why do you love me, who cannot return your +affection worthily? No, Lord Vargrave; there are many who must see you +with juster eyes than mine,--many fairer, and even wealthier. Indeed, +indeed, it cannot be. Do not be offended, but think that the fortune +left to me was on one condition I cannot, ought not to fulfil. Failing +that condition, in equity and honour it reverts to you." + +"Talk not thus, I implore you, Evelyn; do not imagine me the worldly +calculator that my enemies deem me. But, to remove at once from your +mind the possibility of such a compromise between your honour and +repugnance--repugnance! have I lived to say that word?--know that your +fortune is not at your own disposal. Save the small forfeit that awaits +your non-compliance with my uncle's dying prayer, the whole is settled +peremptorily on yourself and your children; it is entailed,--you cannot +alienate it. Thus, then, your generosity can never be evinced but to him +on whom you bestow your hand. Ah, let me recall that melancholy scene. +Your benefactor on his death-bed, your mother kneeling by his side, your +hand clasped in mine, and those lips, with their latest breath, uttering +at once a blessing and a command." + +"Ah, cease, cease, my lord!" said Evelyn, sobbing. + +"No; bid me not cease before you tell me you will be mine. Beloved +Evelyn, I may hope,--you will not resolve against me?" + +"No," said Evelyn, raising her eyes and struggling for composure; "I feel +too well what should be my duty; I will endeavor to perform it. Ask me +no more now. I will struggle to answer you as you wish hereafter." + +Lord Vargrave, resolved to push to the utmost the advantage he had +gained, was about to reply when he heard a step behind him; and turning +round, quickly and discomposed, beheld a venerable form approaching them. +The occasion was lost: Evelyn also turned; and seeing who was the +intruder, sprang towards him almost with a cry of joy. + +The new comer was a man who had passed his seventieth year; but his old +age was green, his step light, and on his healthful and benignant +countenance time had left but few furrows. He was clothed in black; and +his locks, which were white as snow, escaped from the broad hat, and +almost touched his shoulders. + +The old man smiled upon Evelyn, and kissed her forehead fondly. He then +turned to Lord Vargrave, who, recovering his customary self-possession, +advanced to meet him with extended hand. + +"My dear Mr. Aubrey, this is a welcome surprise. I heard you were not at +the vicarage, or I would have called on you." + +"Your lordship honours me," replied the curate. "For the first time for +thirty years I have been thus long absent from my cure; but I am now +returned, I hope, to end my days among my flock." + +"And what," asked Vargrave,--"what--if the question be not +presumptuous--occasioned your unwilling absence?" + +"My lord," replied the old man, with a gentle smile, "a new vicar has +been appointed. I went to him, to proffer an humble prayer that I might +remain amongst those whom I regarded as my children. I have buried one +generation, I have married another, I have baptized a third." + +"You should have had the vicarage itself; you should be better provided +for, my dear Mr. Aubrey; I will speak to the Lord Chancellor." + +Five times before had Lord Vargrave uttered the same promise, and the +curate smiled to hear the familiar words. + +"The vicarage, my lord, is a family living, and is now vested in a young +man who requires wealth more than I do. He has been kind to me, and +re-established me among my flock; I would not leave them for a bishopric. +My child," continued the curate, addressing Evelyn with great affection, +"you are surely unwell,--you are paler than when I left you." + +Evelyn clung fondly to his arm, and smiled--her old gay smile--as she +replied to him. They took the way towards the house. + +The curate remained with them for an hour. There was a mingled sweetness +and dignity in his manner which had in it something of the primitive +character we poetically ascribe to the pastors of the Church. Lady +Vargrave seemed to vie with Evelyn which should love him the most. When +he retired to his home, which was not many yards distant from the +cottage, Evelyn, pleading a headache, sought her chamber, and Lumley, to +soothe his mortification, turned to Caroline, who had seated herself by +his side. Her conversation amused him, and her evident admiration +flattered. While Lady Vargrave absented herself, in motherly anxiety, to +attend on Evelyn, while Mrs. Leslie was occupied at her frame, and Mrs. +Merton looked on, and talked indolently to the old lady of rheumatism and +sermons, of children's complaints and servants' misdemeanours,--the +conversation between Lord Vargrave and Caroline, at first gay and +animated, grew gradually more sentimental and subdued; their voices took +a lower tone, and Caroline sometimes turned away her head and blushed. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + THERE stands the Messenger of Truth--there stands + The Legate of the skies.--COWPER. + +FROM that night Lumley found no opportunity for private conversation with +Evelyn; she evidently shunned to meet with him alone. She was ever with +her mother or Mrs. Leslie or the good curate, who spent much of his time +at the cottage; for the old man had neither wife nor children, he was +alone at home, he had learned to make his home with the widow and her +daughter. With them he was an object of the tenderest affection, of the +deepest veneration. Their love delighted him, and he returned it with +the fondness of a parent and the benevolence of a pastor. He was a rare +character, that village priest! + +Born of humble parentage, Edward Aubrey had early displayed abilities +which attracted the notice of a wealthy proprietor, who was not +displeased to affect the patron. Young Aubrey was sent to school, and +thence to college as a sizar: he obtained several prizes, and took a high +degree. Aubrey was not without the ambition and the passions of youth: +he went into the world, ardent, inexperienced, and without a guide. He +drew back before errors grew into crimes, or folly became a habit. It +was nature and affection that reclaimed and saved him from either +alternative,--fame or ruin. His widowed mother was suddenly stricken +with disease. Blind and bedridden, her whole dependence was on her only +son. This affliction called forth a new character in Edward Aubrey. +This mother had stripped herself of so many comforts to provide for +him,--he devoted his youth to her in return. She was now old and +imbecile. With the mingled selfishness and sentiment of age, she would +not come to London,--she would not move from the village where her +husband lay buried, where her youth had been spent. In this village the +able and ambitious young man buried his hopes and his talents; by degrees +the quiet and tranquillity of the country life became dear to him. As +steps in a ladder, so piety leads to piety, and religion grew to him a +habit. He took orders and entered the Church. A disappointment in love +ensued; it left on his mind and heart a sober and resigned melancholy, +which at length mellowed into content. His profession and its sweet +duties became more and more dear to him; in the hopes of the next world +he forgot the ambition of the present. He did not seek to shine,-- + + "More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise." + +His own birth made the poor his brothers, and their dispositions and +wants familiar to him. His own early errors made him tolerant to the +faults of others,--few men are charitable who remember not that they have +sinned. In our faults lie the germs of virtues. Thus gradually and +serenely had worn away his life--obscure but useful, calm but active,--a +man whom "the great prizes" of the Church might have rendered an +ambitious schemer, to whom a modest confidence gave the true pastoral +power,--to conquer the world within himself, and to sympathize with the +wants of others. Yes, he was a rare character, that village priest! + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + TOUT notre raisonnement se reduit a ceder au sentiment.*--PASCAL. + + * "All our reasoning reduces itself to yielding to sentiment." + +LORD VARGRAVE, who had no desire to remain alone with the widow when the +guests were gone, arranged his departure for the same day as that fixed +for Mrs. Merton's; and as their road lay together for several miles, it +was settled that they should all dine at-----, whence Lord Vargrave would +proceed to London. Failing to procure a second chance-interview with +Evelyn, and afraid to demand a formal one--for he felt the insecurity of +the ground he stood on--Lord Vargrave, irritated and somewhat mortified, +sought, as was his habit, whatever amusement was in his reach. In the +conversation of Caroline Merton--shrewd, worldly, and ambitious--he found +the sort of plaything that he desired. They were thrown much together; +but to Vargrave, at least, there appeared no danger in the intercourse; +and perhaps his chief object was to pique Evelyn, as well as to gratify +his own spleen. + +It was the evening before Evelyn's departure; the little party had been +for the last hour dispersed; Mrs. Merton was in her own room, making to +herself gratuitous and unnecessary occupation in seeing her woman _pack +up_. It was just the kind of task that delighted her. To sit in a large +chair and see somebody else at work--to say languidly, "Don't crumple +that scarf, Jane; and where shall we put Miss Caroline's blue +bonnet?"--gave her a very comfortable notion of her own importance and +habits of business,--a sort of title to be the superintendent of a family +and the wife of a rector. Caroline had disappeared, so had Lord +Vargrave; but the first was supposed to be with Evelyn, the second, +employed in writing letters,--at least, it was so when they had been last +observed. Mrs. Leslie was alone in the drawing-room, and absorbed in +anxious and benevolent thoughts on the critical situation of her young +favourite, about to enter an age and a world the perils of which Mrs. +Leslie had not forgotten. + +It was at this time that Evelyn, forgetful of Lord Vargrave and his suit, +of every one, of everything but the grief of the approaching departure, +found herself alone in a little arbour that had been built upon the cliff +to command the view of the sea below. That day she had been restless, +perturbed; she had visited every spot consecrated by youthful +recollections; she had clung with fond regret to every place in which she +had held sweet converse with her mother. Of a disposition singularly +warm and affectionate, she had often, in her secret heart, pined for a +more yearning and enthusiastic love than it seemed in the subdued nature +of Lady Vargrave to bestow. In the affection of the latter, gentle and +never fluctuating as it was, there seemed to her a something wanting, +which she could not define. She had watched that beloved face all the +morning. She had hoped to see the tender eyes fixed upon her, and hear +the meek voice exclaim, "I cannot part with my child!" All the gay +pictures which the light-hearted Caroline drew of the scenes she was to +enter had vanished away--now that the hour approached when her mother was +to be left alone. Why was she to go? It seemed to her an unnecessary +cruelty. + +As she thus sat, she did not observe that Mr. Aubrey, who had seen her at +a distance, was now bending his way to her; and not till he had entered +the arbour, and taken her hand, did she waken from those reveries in +which youth, the Dreamer and the Desirer, so morbidly indulges. + +"Tears, my child?" said the curate. "Nay, be not ashamed of them; they +become you in this hour. How we shall miss you! and you, too, will not +forget us?" + +"Forget you! Ah, no, indeed! But why should I leave you? Why will you +not speak to my mother, implore her to let me remain? We were so happy +till these strangers came. We did not think there was any other +world,--_here_ there is world enough for me!" + +"My poor Evelyn," said Mr. Aubrey, gently, "I have spoken to your mother +and to Mrs. Leslie; they have confided to me all the reasons for your +departure, and I cannot but subscribe to their justice. You do not want +many months of the age when you will be called upon to decide whether +Lord Vargrave shall be your husband. Your mother shrinks from the +responsibility of influencing your decision; and here, my child, +inexperienced, and having seen so little of others, how can you know your +own heart?" + +"But, oh, Mr. Aubrey," said Evelyn, with an earnestness that overcame +embarrassment, "have I a choice left to me? Can I be ungrateful, +disobedient to him who was a father to me? Ought I not to sacrifice my +own happiness? And how willingly would I do so, if my mother would smile +on me approvingly!" + +"My child," said the curate, gravely, "an old man is a bad judge of the +affairs of youth; yet in this matter, I think your duty plain. Do not +resolutely set yourself against Lord Vargrave's claim; do not persuade +yourself that you must be unhappy in a union with him. Compose your +mind, think seriously upon the choice before you, refuse all decision at +the present moment; wait until the appointed time arrives, or, at least, +more nearly approaches. Meanwhile, I understand that Lord Vargrave is to +be a frequent visitor at Mrs. Merton's; there you will see him with +others, his character will show itself. Study his principles, his +disposition; examine whether he is one whom you can esteem and render +happy: there may be a love without enthusiasm, and yet sufficient for +domestic felicity, and for the employment of the affections. You will +insensibly, too, learn from other parts of his character which he does +not exhibit to us. If the result of time and examination be that you can +cheerfully obey the late lord's dying wish, unquestionably it will be the +happier decision. If not, if you still shrink from vows at which your +heart now rebels, as unquestionably you may, with an acquitted +conscience, become free. The best of us are imperfect judges of the +happiness of others. In the woe or weal of a whole life, we must decide +for ourselves. Your benefactor could not mean you to be wretched; and if +he now, with eyes purified from all worldly mists, look down upon you, +his spirit will approve your choice; for when we quit the world, all +worldly ambition dies with us. What now to the immortal soul can be the +title and the rank which on earth, with the desires of earth, your +benefactor hoped to secure to his adopted child? This is my advice. Look +on the bright side of things, and wait calmly for the hour when Lord +Vargrave can demand your decision." + +The words of the priest, which well defined her duty, inexpressibly +soothed and comforted Evelyn; and the advice upon other and higher +matters, which the good man pressed upon a mind so softened at that hour +to receive religious impressions, was received with gratitude and +respect. Subsequently their conversation fell upon Lady Vargrave,--a +theme dear to both of them. The old man was greatly touched by the poor +girl's unselfish anxiety for her mother's comfort, by her fears that she +might be missed, in those little attentions which filial love alone can +render; he was almost yet more touched when, with a less disinterested +feeling, Evelyn added mournfully,-- + +"Yet why, after all, should I fancy she will so miss me? Ah, though I +will not _dare_ complain of it, I feel still that she does not love me as +I love her." + +"Evelyn," said the curate, with mild reproach, "have I not said that your +mother has known sorrow? And though sorrow does not annihilate +affection, it subdues its expression, and moderates its outward signs." + +Evelyn sighed, and said no more. + +As the good old man and his young friend returned to the cottage, Lord +Vargrave and Caroline approached them, emerging from an opposite part of +the grounds. The former hastened to Evelyn with his usual gayety and +frank address; and there was so much charm in the manner of a man, whom +_apparently_ the world and its cares had never rendered artificial or +reserved, that the curate himself was impressed by it. He thought that +Evelyn might be happy with one amiable enough for a companion and wise +enough for a guide. But old as he was, he had loved, and he knew that +there are instincts in the heart which defy all our calculations. + +While Lumley was conversing, the little gate that made the communication +between the gardens and the neighbouring churchyard, through which was +the nearest access to the village, creaked on its hinges, and the quiet +and solitary figure of Lady Vargrave threw its shadow over the grass. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + AND I can listen to thee yet, + Can lie upon the plain; + And listen till I do beget + That golden time again.--WORDSWORTH. + +IT was past midnight--hostess and guests had retired to repose--when Lady +Vargrave's door opened gently. The lady herself was kneeling at the foot +of the bed; the moonlight came through the half-drawn curtains of the +casement, and by its ray her pale, calm features looked paler, and yet +more hushed. + +Evelyn, for she was the intruder, paused at the threshold till her mother +rose from her devotions, and then she threw herself on Lady Vargrave's +breast, sobbing as if her heart would break. Hers were the wild, +generous, irresistible emotions of youth. Lady Vargrave, perhaps, had +known them once; at least, she could sympathize with them now. + +She strained her child to her bosom; she stroked back her hair, and +kissed her fondly, and spoke to her soothingly. + +"Mother," sobbed Evelyn, "I could not sleep, I could not rest. Bless me +again, kiss me again; tell me that you love me--you cannot love me as I +do you; but tell me that I am dear to you; tell me you will regret me, +but not too much; tell me--" Here Evelyn paused, and could say no more. + +"My best, my kindest Evelyn," said Lady Vargrave, "there is nothing on +earth I love like you. Do not fancy I am ungrateful." + +"Why do you say ungrateful?--your own child,--your only child!" And +Evelyn covered her mother's face and hands with passionate tears and +kisses. + +At that moment, certain it is that Lady Vargrave's heart reproached her +with not having, indeed, loved this sweet girl as she deserved. True, no +mother was more mild, more attentive, more fostering, more anxious for a +daughter's welfare; but Evelyn was right. The gushing fondness, the +mysterious entering into every subtle thought and feeling, which should +have characterized the love of such a mother to such a child, had been to +outward appearance wanting. Even in this present parting there had been +a prudence, an exercise of reasoning, that savoured more of duty than +love. Lady Vargrave felt all this with remorse; she gave way to emotions +new to her,--at least to exhibit; she wept with Evelyn, and returned her +caresses with almost equal fervour. Perhaps, too, she thought at that +moment of what love that warm nature was susceptible; and she trembled +for her future fate. It was as a full reconciliation--that mournful +hour--between feelings on either side, which something mysterious seemed +to have checked before; and that last night the mother and the child did +not separate,--the same couch contained them: and when, worn out with +some emotions which she could not reveal, Lady Vargrave fell into the +sleep of exhaustion, Evelyn's arm was round her, and Evelyn's eyes +watched her with pious and anxious love as the gray morning dawned. + +She left her mother still sleeping, when the sun rose, and went silently +down into the dear room below, and again busied herself in a thousand +little provident cares, which she wondered she had forgot before. + +The carriages were at the door before the party had assembled at the +melancholy breakfast-table. Lord Vargrave was the last to appear. + +"I have been like all cowards," said he, seating himself,--"anxious to +defer an evil as long as possible; a bad policy, for it increases the +worst of all pains,--that of suspense." + +Mrs. Merton had undertaken the duties that appertain to the "hissing +urn." "You prefer coffee, Lord Vargrave? Caroline, my dear--" + +Caroline passed the cup to Lord Vargrave, who looked at her hand as he +took it--there was a ring on one of those slender fingers never observed +there before. Their eyes met, and Caroline coloured. Lord Vargrave +turned to Evelyn, who, pale as death, but tearless and speechless, sat +beside her mother; he attempted in vain to draw her into conversation. +Evelyn, who desired to restrain her feelings, would not trust herself to +speak. + +Mrs. Merton, ever undisturbed and placid, continued to talk on: to offer +congratulations on the weather,--it was such a lovely day; and they +should be off so early; it would be so well arranged,--they should be in +such good time to dine at-----, and then go three stages after dinner; +the moon would be up. + +"But," said Lord Vargrave, "as I am to go with you as far as-----, where +our roads separate, I hope I am not condemned to go alone, with my red +box, two old newspapers, and the blue devils. Have pity on me." + +"Perhaps you will take Grandmamma, then?" whispered Caroline, archly. + +Lumley shrugged his shoulders, and replied in the same tone,-- + +"Yes,--provided you keep to the proverb, 'Les extremes se touchent,' and +the lovely grandchild accompany the venerable grandmamma." + +"What would Evelyn say?" retorted Caroline. + +Lumley sighed, and made no answer. + +Mrs. Merton, who had hung fire while her daughter was carrying on this +"aside," now put in,-- + +"Suppose I and Caroline take your _britzka_, and you go in our old coach +with Evelyn and Mrs. Leslie?" + +Lumley looked delightedly at the speaker, and then glanced at Evelyn; but +Mrs. Leslie said very gravely, "No, _we_ shall feel too much in leaving +this dear place to be gay companions for Lord Vargrave. We shall all +meet at dinner; or," she added, after a pause, "if this be uncourteous to +Lord Vargrave, suppose Evelyn and myself take his carriage and, he +accompanies you?" + +"Agreed," said Mrs. Merton, quietly; "and now I will just go and see +about the strawberry-plants and slips--it was so kind in you, dear Lady +Vargrave, to think of them." + +An hour had elapsed, and Evelyn was gone! She had left her maiden home, +she had wept her last farewell on her mother's bosom, the sound of the +carriage-wheels had died away; but still Lady Vargrave lingered on the +threshold, still she gazed on the spot where the last glimpse of Evelyn +had been caught. A sense of dreariness and solitude passed into her +soul: the very sunlight, the spring, the songs of the birds, made +loneliness more desolate. + +Mechanically, at last, she moved away, and with slow steps and downcast +eyes passed through the favourite walk that led into the quiet +burial-ground. The gate closed upon her, and now the lawn, the gardens, +the haunts of Evelyn, were solitary as the desert itself; but the daisy +opened to the sun, and the bee murmured along the blossoms, not the less +blithely for the absence of all human life. In the bosom of Nature there +beats no heart for man! + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE BY LYTTON, BOOK I *** +By Edward Bulwer Lytton + +****** This file should be named 9763.txt or 9763.zip ******* + +Produced by Dagny; and 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/9763.zip b/9763.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2ea26a --- /dev/null +++ b/9763.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..e2c6a5b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #9763 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9763) |