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diff --git a/9774.txt b/9774.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88a5d69 --- /dev/null +++ b/9774.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17078 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete, by +Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 17, 2009 [EBook #9774] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE, OR THE MYSTERIES, COMPLETE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger and Dagny + + + + + + + + +ALICE; + +OR, + +THE MYSTERIES + + +By Edward Bulwer 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 may be 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! + + + + +BOOK II. + + "The hour arrived--years having rolled away + When his return the Gods no more delay. + Lo! Ithaca the Fates award; and there + New trials meet the Wanderer." + HOMER: _Od._ lib. i, 16. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + THERE is continual spring and harvest here-- + Continual, both meeting at one time; + For both the boughs do laughing blossoms bear, + And with fresh colours deck the wanton prime; + And eke at once the heavy trees they climb, + Which seem to labour under their fruit's load. + + SPENSER: _The Garden of Adonis_. + + Vis boni + In ipsa inesset forma.*--TERENCE. + + * "Even in beauty there exists the power of virtue." + +BEAUTY, thou art twice blessed; thou blessest the gazer and the +possessor; often at once the effect and the cause of goodness! A sweet +disposition, a lovely soul, an affectionate nature, will speak in the +eyes, the lips, the brow, and become the cause of beauty. On the other +hand, they who have a gift that commands love, a key that opens all +hearts, are ordinarily inclined to look with happy eyes upon the +world,--to be cheerful and serene, to hope and to confide. There is more +wisdom than the vulgar dream of in our admiration of a fair face. + +Evelyn Cameron was beautiful,--a beauty that came from the heart, and +went to the heart; a beauty, the very spirit of which was love! Love +smiled on her dimpled lips, it reposed on her open brow, it played in +the profuse and careless ringlets of darkest yet sunniest auburn, which +a breeze could lift from her delicate and virgin cheek; Love, in all its +tenderness, in all its kindness, its unsuspecting truth,--Love coloured +every thought, murmured in her low melodious voice, in all its symmetry +and glorious womanhood. Love swelled the swan-like neck, and moulded the +rounded limb. + +She was just the kind of person that takes the judgment by storm: +whether gay or grave, there was so charming and irresistible a grace +about her. She seemed born, not only to captivate the giddy, but to turn +the heads of the sage. Roxalana was nothing to her. How, in the obscure +hamlet of Brook-Green, she had learned all the arts of pleasing it is +impossible to say. In her arch smile, the pretty toss of her head, the +half shyness, half freedom, of her winning ways, it was as if Nature had +made her to delight one heart, and torment all others. + +Without being learned, the mind of Evelyn was cultivated and well +informed. Her heart, perhaps, helped to instruct her understanding; for +by a kind of intuition she could appreciate all that was beautiful and +elevated. Her unvitiated and guileless taste had a logic of its own: no +schoolman had ever a quicker penetration into truth, no critic ever more +readily detected the meretricious and the false. The book that Evelyn +could admire was sure to be stamped with the impress of the noble, the +lovely, or the true! + +But Evelyn had faults,--the faults of her age; or, rather, she had +tendencies that might conduce to error. She was of so generous a nature +that the very thought of sacrificing her self for another had a charm. +She ever acted from impulse,--impulses pure and good, but often rash +and imprudent. She was yielding to weakness, persuaded into anything, +so sensitive, that even a cold look from one moderately liked cut her to +the heart; and by the sympathy that accompanies sensitiveness, no pain +to her was so great as the thought of giving pain to another. Hence it +was that Vargrave might form reasonable hopes of his ultimate success. +It was a dangerous constitution for happiness! How many chances must +combine to preserve to the mid-day of characters like this the sunshine +of their dawn! The butterfly that seems the child of the summer and the +flowers--what wind will not chill its mirth, what touch will not brush +away its hues? + + + +CHAPTER II. + + THESE, on a general survey, are the modes + Of pulpit oratory which agree + With no unlettered audience.--POLWHELE. + +MRS. LESLIE had returned from her visit to the rectory to her own home, +and Evelyn had now been some weeks at Mrs. Merton's. As was natural, +she had grown in some measure reconciled and resigned to her change of +abode. In fact, no sooner did she pass Mrs. Merton's threshold, than, +for the first time, she was made aware of her consequence in life. + +The Rev. Mr. Merton was a man of the nicest perception in all things +appertaining to worldly consideration. The second son of a very wealthy +baronet (who was the first commoner of his county) and of the daughter +of a rich and highly-descended peer, Mr. Merton had been brought near +enough to rank and power to appreciate all their advantages. In early +life he had been something of a "tuft-hunter;" but as his understanding +was good and his passions not very strong, he had soon perceived that +that vessel of clay, a young man with a moderate fortune, cannot long +sail down the same stream with the metal vessels of rich earls and +extravagant dandies. Besides, he was destined for the Church--because +there was one of the finest livings in England in the family. He +therefore took orders at six and twenty; married Mrs. Leslie's daughter, +who had thirty thousand pounds: and settled at the rectory of Merton, +within a mile of the family seat. He became a very respectable and +extremely popular man. He was singularly hospitable, and built a new +wing--containing a large dining-room and six capital bed-rooms--to the +rectory, which had now much more the appearance of a country villa +than a country parsonage. His brother, succeeding to the estates, and +residing chiefly in the neighbourhood, became, like his father before +him, member for the county, and was one of the country gentlemen most +looked up to in the House of Commons. A sensible and frequent, though +uncommonly prosy speaker, singularly independent (for he had a clear +fourteen thousand pounds a year, and did not desire office), and valuing +himself on not being a party man, so that his vote on critical questions +was often a matter of great doubt, and, therefore, of great moment, Sir +John Merton gave considerable importance to the Rev. Charles Merton. The +latter kept up all the more select of his old London acquaintances; and +few country houses, at certain seasons of the year, were filled more +aristocratically than the pleasant rectory-house. Mr. Merton, +indeed, contrived to make the Hall a reservoir for the parsonage, and +periodically drafted off the _elite_ of the visitors at the former to +spend a few days at the latter. This was the more easily done, as his +brother was a widower, and his conversation was all of one sort,--the +state of the nation and the agricultural interest. Mr. Merton was upon +very friendly terms with his brother, looked after the property in +the absence of Sir John, kept up the family interest, was an excellent +electioneerer, a good speaker at a pinch, an able magistrate,--a man, in +short, most useful in the county; on the whole, he was more popular than +his brother, and almost as much looked up to--perhaps, because he was +much less ostentatious. He had very good taste, had the Rev. Charles +Merton!--his table plentiful, but plain--his manners affable to the low, +though agreeably sycophantic to the high; and there was nothing about +him that ever wounded self-love. To add to the attractions of his house, +his wife, simple and good-tempered, could talk with anybody, take off +the bores, and leave people to be comfortable in their own way: while +he had a large family of fine children of all ages, that had long given +easy and constant excuse under the name of "little children's parties," +for getting up an impromptu dance or a gypsy dinner,--enlivening the +neighbourhood, in short. Caroline was the eldest; then came a son, +attached to a foreign ministry, and another, who, though only nineteen, +was a private secretary to one of our Indian satraps. The acquaintance +of these young gentlemen, thus engaged, it was therefore Evelyn's +misfortune to lose the advantage of cultivating,--a loss which both Mr. +and Mrs. Merton assured her was very much to be regretted. But to make +up to her for such a privation there were two lovely little girls, one +ten, and the other seven years old, who fell in love with Evelyn at +first sight. Caroline was one of the beauties of the county, clever +and conversable, "drew young men," and set the fashion to young +ladies, especially when she returned from spending the season with Lady +Elizabeth. + +It was a delightful family! + +In person, Mr. Merton was of the middle height; fair, and inclined to +stoutness, with small features, beautiful teeth, and great suavity of +address. Mindful still of the time when he had been "about town," he +was very particular in his dress: his black coat, neatly relieved in the +evening by a white underwaistcoat, and a shirt-front admirably plaited, +with plain studs of dark enamel, his well-cut trousers, and elaborately +polished shoes--he was good-humouredly vain of his feet and hands--won +for him the common praise of the dandies (who occasionally honoured him +with a visit to shoot his game, and flirt with his daughter), "That old +Merton was a most gentlemanlike fellow--so d-----d neat for a parson!" + +Such, mentally, morally, and physically, was the Rev. Charles Merton, +rector of Merton, brother of Sir John, and possessor of an income that, +what with his rich living, his wife's fortune, and his own, which was +not inconsiderable, amounted to between four and five thousand pounds a +year, which income, managed with judgment as well as liberality, could +not fail to secure to him all the good things of this world,--the +respect of his friends amongst the rest. Caroline was right when she +told Evelyn that her papa was very different from a mere country parson. + +Now this gentleman could not fail to see all the claims that Evelyn +might fairly advance upon the esteem, nay, the veneration of himself and +family: a young beauty, with a fortune of about a quarter of a million, +was a phenomenon that might fairly be called celestial. Her pretensions +were enhanced by her engagement to Lord Vargrave,--an engagement which +might be broken; so that, as he interpreted it, the _worst_ that could +happen to the young lady was to marry an able and rising Minister of +State,--a peer of the realm; but she was perfectly free to marry a still +greater man, if she could find him; and who knows but what perhaps the +_attache_, if he could get leave of absence? Mr. Merton was too sensible +to pursue that thought further for the present. + +The good man was greatly shocked at the too familiar manner in which +Mrs. Merton spoke to this high-fated heiress, at Evelyn's travelling so +far without her own maid, at her very primitive wardrobe--poor, ill-used +child! Mr. Merton was a connoisseur in ladies' dress. It was quite +painful to see that the unfortunate girl had been so neglected. Lady +Vargrave must be a very strange person. He inquired compassionately +whether she was allowed any pocket money; and finding, to his relief, +that in that respect Miss Cameron was munificently supplied, he +suggested that a proper abigail should be immediately engaged; that +proper orders to Madame Devy should be immediately transmitted to +London, with one of Evelyn's dresses, as a pattern for nothing but +length and breadth. He almost stamped with vexation when he heard +that Evelyn had been placed in one of the neat little rooms generally +appropriated to young lady visitors. + +"She is quite contented, my dear Mr. Merton; she is so simple; she has +not been brought up in the style you think for." + +"Mrs. Merton," said the rector, with great solemnity, "Miss Cameron may +know no better now; but what will she think of us hereafter? It is my +maxim to recollect what people will be, and show them that respect which +may leave pleasing impressions when they have it in their power to show +us civility in return." + +With many apologies, which quite overwhelmed poor Evelyn, she +was transferred from the little chamber, with its French bed and +bamboo-coloured washhand-stand, to an apartment with a buhl wardrobe and +a four-post bed with green silk curtains, usually appropriated to the +regular Christmas visitant, the Dowager Countess of Chipperton. A pretty +morning room communicated with the sleeping apartment, and thence a +private staircase conducted into the gardens. The whole family were duly +impressed and re-impressed with her importance. No queen could be made +more of. Evelyn mistook it all for pure kindness, and returned the +hospitality with an affection that extended to the whole family, but +particularly to the two little girls, and a beautiful black spaniel. Her +dresses came down from London; her abigail arrived; the buhl wardrobe +was duly filled,--and Evelyn at last learned that it is a fine thing +to be rich. An account of all these proceedings was forwarded to Lady +Vargrave, in a long and most complacent letter, by the rector himself. +The answer was short, but it contented the excellent clergyman; for it +approved of all he had done, and begged that Miss Cameron might have +everything that seemed proper to her station. + +By the same post came two letters to Evelyn herself,--one from Lady +Vargrave, one from the curate. They transported her from the fine room +and the buhl wardrobe to the cottage and the lawn; and the fine abigail, +when she came to dress her young lady's hair, found her weeping. + +It was a matter of great regret to the rector that it was that time of +year when--precisely because the country is most beautiful--every one +worth knowing is in town. Still, however, some stray guests found +their way to the rectory for a day or two, and still there were some +aristocratic old families in the neighbourhood, who never went up to +London: so that two days in the week the rector's wine flowed, the +whist-tables were set out, and the piano called into requisition. + +Evelyn--the object of universal attention and admiration--was put at her +ease by her station itself; for good manners come like an instinct to +those on whom the world smiles. Insensibly she acquired self-possession +and the smoothness of society; and if her child-like playfulness broke +out from all conventional restraint, it only made more charming and +brilliant the great heiress, whose delicate and fairy cast of beauty +so well became her graceful _abandon_ of manner, and who looked so +unequivocally ladylike to the eyes that rested on Madame Devy's blondes +and satins. + +Caroline was not so gay as she had been at the cottage. Something seemed +to weigh upon her spirits: she was often moody and thoughtful. She was +the only one in the family not good-tempered; and her peevish replies +to her parents, when no visitor imposed a check on the family circle, +inconceivably pained Evelyn, and greatly contrasted the flow of spirits +which distinguished her when she found somebody worth listening to. +Still Evelyn--who, where she once liked, found it difficult to withdraw +regard--sought to overlook Caroline's blemishes, and to persuade herself +of a thousand good qualities below the surface; and her generous nature +found constant opportunity of venting itself in costly gifts, selected +from the London parcels, with which the officious Mr. Merton relieved +the monotony of the rectory. These gifts Caroline could not refuse +without paining her young friend. She took them reluctantly, for, to do +her justice, Caroline, though ambitious, was not mean. + +Thus time passed in the rectory, in gay variety and constant +entertainment; and all things combined to spoil the heiress, if, indeed, +goodness ever is spoiled by kindness and prosperity. Is it to the frost +or to the sunshine that the flower opens its petals, or the fruit ripens +from the blossom? + + + +CHAPTER III. + + _Rod_. How sweet these solitary places are! + + ...... + + _Ped_. What strange musick + Was that we heard afar off? + + _Curio_. We've told you what he is, what time we've sought him, + His nature and his name. + + BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. _The Pilgrim_. + +ONE day, as the ladies were seated in Mrs. Merton's morning-room, +Evelyn, who had been stationed by the window hearing the little Cecilia +go through the French verbs, and had just finished that agreeable task, +exclaimed,-- + +"Do tell me to whom that old house belongs, with the picturesque +gable-end and Gothic turrets, there, just peeping through the trees,--I +have always forgot to ask you." + +"Oh, my dear Miss Cameron," said Mrs. Merton, "that is Burleigh; have +you not been there? How stupid in Caroline not to show it to you! It is +one of the lions of the place. It belongs to a man you have often heard +of,--Mr. Maltravers." + +"Indeed!" cried Evelyn; and she gazed with new interest on the gray +melancholy pile, as the sunshine brought it into strong contrast with +the dark pines around it. "And Mr. Maltravers himself--?" + +"Is still abroad, I believe; though I did hear the other day that he +was shortly expected at Burleigh. It is a curious old place, though much +neglected. I believe, indeed, it has not been furnished since the time +of Charles the First. (Cissy, my love, don't stoop so.) Very gloomy, +in my opinion; and not any fine room in the house, except the library, +which was once a chapel. However, people come miles to see it." + +"Will you go there to-day?" said Caroline, languidly; "it is a very +pleasant walk through the glebe-land and the wood,--not above half a +mile by the foot-path." + +"I should like it so much." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Merton, "and you had better go before he returns,--he +is so strange. He does not allow it to be seen when he is down. But, +indeed, he has only been once at the old place since he was of age. +(Sophy, you will tear Miss Cameron's scarf to pieces; do be quiet, +child.) That was before he was a great man; he was then very odd, saw +no society, only dined once with us, though Mr. Merton paid him every +attention. They show the room in which he wrote his books." + +"I remember him very well, though I was then but a child," said +Caroline,--"a handsome, thoughtful face." + +"Did you think so, my dear? Fine eyes and teeth, certainly, and a +commanding figure, but nothing more." + +"Well," said Caroline, "if you like to go, Evelyn, I am at your +service." + +"And--I--Evy, dear--I--may go," said Cecilia, clinging to Evelyn. + +"And me, too," lisped Sophia, the youngest hope,--"there's such a pretty +peacock." + +"Oh, yes, they may go, Mrs. Merton, we'll take such care of them." + +"Very well, my dear; Miss Cameron quite spoils you." + +Evelyn tripped away to put on her bonnet, and the children ran after +her, clapping their hands,--they could not bear to lose sight of her for +a moment. + +"Caroline," said Mrs. Merton, affectionately, "are you not well? You +have seemed pale lately, and not in your usual spirits." + +"Oh, yes, I'm well enough," answered Caroline, rather peevishly; "but +this place is so dull now; very provoking that Lady Elizabeth does not +go to London this year." + +"My dear, it will be gayer, I hope, in July, when the races at +Knaresdean begin; and Lord Vargrave has promised to come." + +"Has Lord Vargrave written to you lately?" + +"No, my dear." + +"Very odd." + +"Does Evelyn ever talk of him?" + +"Not much," said Caroline, rising and quitting the room. + +It was a most cheerful exhilarating day,--the close of sweet May; +the hedges were white with blossoms; a light breeze rustled the young +leaves; the butterflies had ventured forth, and the children chased them +over the grass, as Evelyn and Caroline, who walked much too slow for +her companion (Evelyn longed to run), followed them soberly towards +Burleigh. + +They passed the glebe-fields; and a little bridge, thrown over a +brawling rivulet, conducted them into a wood. + +"This stream," said Caroline, "forms the boundary between my uncle's +estates and those of Mr. Maltravers. It must be very unpleasant to so +proud a man as Mr. Maltravers is said to be, to have the land of another +proprietor so near his house. He could hear my uncle's gun from his very +drawing-room. However, Sir John takes care not to molest him. On the +other side, the Burleigh estates extend for some miles; indeed, Mr. +Maltravers is the next great proprietor to my uncle in this part of the +county. Very strange that he does not marry! There, now you can see the +house." + +The mansion lay somewhat low, with hanging woods in the rear: and the +old-fashioned fish-ponds gleaming in the sunshine and overshadowed by +gigantic trees increased the venerable stillness of its aspect. Ivy +and innumerable creepers covered one side of the house; and long weeds +cumbered the deserted road. + +"It is sadly neglected," said Caroline; "and was so, even in the last +owner's life. Mr. Maltravers inherits the place from his mother's uncle. +We may as well enter the house by the private way. The front entrance is +kept locked up." + +Winding by a path that conducted into a flower-garden, divided from the +park by a ha-ha, over which a plank and a small gate, rusting off its +hinges, were placed, Caroline led the way towards the building. At this +point of view it presented a large bay window that by a flight of four +steps led into the garden. On one side rose a square, narrow turret, +surmounted by a gilt dome and quaint weathercock, below the architrave +of which was a sun-dial, set in the stonework; and another dial stood in +the garden, with the common and beautiful motto,-- + + "Non numero horas, nisi serenas!"* + + * "I number not the hours, unless sunny." + +On the other side of the bay window a huge buttress cast its mass of +shadow. There was something in the appearance of the whole place that +invited to contemplation and repose,--something almost monastic. The +gayety of the teeming spring-time could not divest the spot of a certain +sadness, not displeasing, however, whether to the young, to whom there +is a luxury in the vague sentiment of melancholy, or to those who, +having known real griefs, seek for an anodyne in meditation and memory. +The low lead-coloured door, set deep in the turret, was locked, and the +bell beside it broken. Caroline turned impatiently away. "We must go +round to the other side," said she, "and try to make the deaf old man +hear us." + +"Oh, Carry!" cried Cecilia, "the great window is open;" and she ran up +the steps. + +"That is lucky," said Caroline; and the rest followed Cecilia. + +Evelyn now stood within the library of which Mrs. Merton had spoken. It +was a large room, about fifty feet in length, and proportionably wide; +somewhat dark, for the light came only from the one large window through +which they entered; and though the window rose to the cornice of the +ceiling, and took up one side of the apartment, the daylight was subdued +by the heaviness of the stonework in which the narrow panes were set, +and by the glass stained with armorial bearings in the upper part of the +casement. The bookcases, too, were of the dark oak which so much +absorbs the light; and the gilding, formerly meant to relieve them, was +discoloured by time. + +The room was almost disproportionably lofty; the ceiling, elaborately +coved, and richly carved with grotesque masks, preserved the Gothic +character of the age in which it had been devoted to a religious +purpose. Two fireplaces, with high chimney-pieces of oak, in which were +inserted two portraits, broke the symmetry of the tall bookcases. In one +of these fireplaces were half-burnt logs; and a huge armchair, with a +small reading-desk beside it, seemed to bespeak the recent occupation of +the room. On the fourth side, opposite the window, the wall was covered +with faded tapestry, representing the meeting of Solomon and the Queen +of Sheba; the arras was nailed over doors on either hand,--the chinks +between the door and the wall serving, in one instance, to cut off in +the middle his wise majesty, who was making a low bow; while in the +other it took the ground from under the wanton queen, just as she was +descending from her chariot. + +Near the window stood a grand piano, the only modern article in the +room, save one of the portraits, presently to be described. On all this +Evelyn gazed silently and devoutly: she had naturally that reverence for +genius which is common to the enthusiastic and young; and there is, +even to the dullest, a certain interest in the homes of those who have +implanted within us a new thought. But here there was, she imagined, +a rare and singular harmony between the place and the mental +characteristics of the owner. She fancied she now better understood the +shadowy and metaphysical repose of thought that had distinguished the +earlier writings of Maltravers,--the writings composed or planned in +this still retreat. + +But what particularly caught her attention was one of the two portraits +that adorned the mantelpieces. The further one was attired in the rich +and fanciful armour of the time of Elizabeth; the head bare, the helmet +on a table on which the hand rested. It was a handsome and striking +countenance; and an inscription announced it to be a Digby, an ancestor +of Maltravers. + +But the other was a beautiful girl of about eighteen, in the now almost +antiquated dress of forty years ago. The features were delicate, but +the colours somewhat faded, and there was something mournful in the +expression. A silk curtain, drawn on one side, seemed to denote how +carefully it was prized by the possessor. + +Evelyn turned for explanation to her cicerone. + +"This is the second time I have seen that picture," said Caroline; "for +it is only by great entreaty and as a mysterious favour that the old +housekeeper draws aside the veil. Some touch of sentiment in Maltravers +makes him regard it as sacred. It is the picture of his mother before +she married; she died in giving him birth." + +Evelyn sighed; how well she understood the sentiment which seemed to +Caroline so eccentric! The countenance fascinated her; the eye seemed to +follow her as she turned. + +"As a proper pendant to this picture," said Caroline, "he ought to have +dismissed the effigies of yon warlike gentleman, and replaced it by +one of poor Lady Florence Lascelles, for whose loss he is said to have +quitted his country: but, perhaps, it was the loss of her fortune." + +"How can you say so?--fie!" cried Evelyn, with a burst of generous +indignation. + +"Ah, my dear, you heiresses have a fellow-feeling with each other! +Nevertheless, clever men are less sentimental than we deem them. Heigho! +this quiet room gives me the spleen, I fancy." + +"Dearest Evy," whispered Cecilia, "I think you have a look of that +pretty picture, only you are much prettier. Do take off your bonnet; +your hair just falls down like hers." + +Evelyn shook her head gravely; but the spoiled child hastily untied the +ribbons and snatched away the hat, and Evelyn's sunny ringlets fell down +in beautiful disorder. There was no resemblance between Evelyn and the +portrait, except in the colour of the hair, and the careless fashion it +now by chance assumed. Yet Evelyn was pleased to think that a likeness +did exist, though Caroline declared it was a most unflattering +compliment. + +"I don't wonder," said the latter, changing the theme,--"I don't wonder +Mr. Maltravers lives so little in this 'Castle Dull;' yet it might be +much improved. French windows and plate-glass, for instance; and if +those lumbering bookshelves and horrid old chimney-pieces were removed +and the ceiling painted white and gold like that in my uncle's saloon, +and a rich, lively paper, instead of the tapestry, it would really make +a very fine ballroom." + +"Let us have a dance here now," cried Cecilia. "Come, stand up, Sophy;" +and the children began to practise a waltz step, tumbling over each +other, and laughing in full glee. + +"Hush, hush!" said Evelyn, softly. She had never before checked the +children's mirth, and she could not tell why she did so now. + +"I suppose the old butler has been entertaining the bailiff here," said +Caroline, pointing to the remains of the fire. + +"And is this the room he chiefly inhabited,--the room that you say they +show as his?" + +"No; that tapestry door to the right leads into a little study where he +wrote." So saying, Caroline tried to open the door, but it was locked +from within. She then opened the other door, which showed a long +wainscoted passage, hung with rusty pikes, and a few breastplates of +the time of the Parliamentary Wars. "This leads to the main body of the +House," said Caroline, "from which the room we are now in and the little +study are completely detached, having, as you know, been the chapel +in popish times. I have heard that Sir Kenelm Digby, an ancestral +connection of the present owner, first converted them into their present +use, and, in return, built the village church on the other side of the +park." + +Sir Kenelm Digby, the old cavalier philosopher!---a new name of interest +to consecrate the place! Evelyn could have lingered all day in the room; +and perhaps as an excuse for a longer sojourn, hastened to the piano--it +was open--she ran her fairy fingers over the keys, and the sound from +the untuned and neglected instrument thrilled wild and spiritlike +through the melancholy chamber. + +"Oh, do sing us something, Evy," cried Cecilia, running up to, and +drawing a chair to, the instrument. + +"Do, Evelyn," said Caroline, languidly; "it will serve to bring one of +the servants to us, and save us a journey to the offices." + +It was just what Evelyn wished. Some verses, which her mother especially +loved, verses written by Maltravers upon returning after absence to his +own home, had rushed into her mind as she had touched the keys. They +were appropriate to the place, and had been beautifully set to music. +So the children hushed themselves, and nestled at her feet; and after +a little prelude, keeping the accompaniment under, that the spoiled +instrument might not mar the sweet words and sweeter voice, she began +the song. + +Meanwhile in the adjoining room, the little study which Caroline had +spoken of, sat the owner of the house! He had returned suddenly and +unexpectedly the previous night. The old steward was in attendance +at the moment, full of apologies, congratulations, and gossip; and +Maltravers, grown a stern and haughty man, was already impatiently +turning away, when he heard the sudden sound of the children's laughter +and loud voices in the room beyond. Maltravers frowned. + +"What impertinence is this?" said he in a tone that, though very calm, +made the steward quake in his shoes. + +"I don't know, really, your honour; there be so many grand folks come to +see the house in the fine weather, that--" + +"And you permit your master's house to be a raree-show? You do well, +sir." + +"If your honour were more amongst us, there might be more discipline +like," said the steward, stoutly; "but no one in my time has cared so +little for the old place as those it belongs to." + +"Fewer words with me, sir," said Maltravers, haughtily; "and now go and +inform those people that I am returned, and wish for no guests but those +I invite myself." + +"Sir!" + +"Do you not hear me? Say that if it so please them, these old ruins are +my property, and are not to be jobbed out to the insolence of public +curiosity. Go, sir." + +"But--I beg pardon, your honour--if they be great folks?" + +"Great folks!--great! Ay, there it is. Why, if they be great folks, they +have great houses of their own, Mr. Justis." + +The steward stared. "Perhaps, your honour," he put in, deprecatingly, +"they be Mr. Merton's family: they come very often when the London +gentlemen are with them." + +"Merton!--oh, the cringing parson. Harkye! one word more with me, sir, +and you quit my service to-morrow." + +Mr. Justis lifted his eyes and hands to heaven; but there was something +in his master's voice and look which checked reply, and he turned slowly +to the door--when a voice of such heavenly sweetness was heard without +that it arrested his own step and made the stern Maltravers start in +his seat. He held up his hand to the steward to delay his errand, and +listened, charmed and spell-bound. His own words came on his ear,--words +long unfamiliar to him, and at first but imperfectly remembered; words +connected with the early and virgin years of poetry and aspiration; +words that were as the ghosts of thoughts now far too gentle for his +altered soul. He bowed down his head, and the dark shade left his brow. + +The song ceased. Maltravers moved with a sigh, and his eyes rested on +the form of the steward with his hand on the door. + +"Shall I give your honour's message?" said Mr. Justis, gravely. + +"No; take care for the future; leave me now." + +Mr. Justis made one leg, and then, well pleased, took to both. + +"Well," thought he, as he departed, "how foreign parts do spoil a +gentleman! so mild as he was once! I must botch up the accounts, I +see,--the squire has grown sharp." + +As Evelyn concluded her song, she--whose charm in singing was that she +sang from the heart--was so touched by the melancholy music of the air +and words, that her voice faltered, and the last line died inaudibly on +her lips. + +The children sprang up and kissed her. + +"Oh," cried Cecilia, "there is the beautiful peacock!" And there, +indeed, on the steps without--perhaps attracted by the music--stood the +picturesque bird. The children ran out to greet their old favourite, who +was extremely tame; and presently Cecilia returned. + +"Oh, Carry! do see what beautiful horses are coming up the park!" + +Caroline, who was a good rider, and fond of horses, and whose curiosity +was always aroused by things connected with show and station, suffered +the little girl to draw her into the garden. Two grooms, each mounted on +a horse of the pure Arabian breed, and each leading another, swathed and +bandaged, were riding slowly up the road; and Caroline was so attracted +by the novel appearance of the animals in a place so deserted that she +followed the children towards them, to learn who could possibly be their +enviable owner. Evelyn, forgotten for the moment, remained alone. She +was pleased at being so, and once more turned to the picture which had +so attracted her before. The mild eyes fixed on her, with an expression +that recalled to her mind her own mother. + +"And," thought she, as she gazed, "this fair creature did not live to +know the fame of her son, to rejoice in his success, or to soothe his +grief. And he, that son, a disappointed and solitary exile in distant +lands, while strangers stand within his deserted hall!" + +The images she had conjured up moved and absorbed her; and she continued +to stand before the picture, gazing upward with moistened eyes. It was +a beautiful vision as she thus stood, with her delicate bloom, her +luxuriant hair (for the hat was not yet replaced), her elastic form, +so full of youth and health and hope,--the living form beside the faded +canvas of the dead, once youthful, tender, lovely as herself! Evelyn +turned away with a sigh; the sigh was re-echoed yet more deeply. She +started: the door that led to the study was opened, and in the aperture +was the figure of a man in the prime of life. His hair, still luxuriant +as in his earliest youth, though darkened by the suns of the East, +curled over a forehead of majestic expanse. The high and proud features, +that well became a stature above the ordinary standard; the pale but +bronzed complexion; the large eyes of deepest blue, shaded by dark brows +and lashes; and more than all, that expression at once of passion and +repose which characterizes the old Italian portraits, and seems to +denote the inscrutable power that experience imparts to intellect, +constituted an _ensemble_ which, if not faultlessly handsome, was +eminently striking, and formed at once to interest and command. It was +a face, once seen, never to be forgotten; it was a face that had long, +half unconsciously, haunted Evelyn's young dreams; it was a face she +had seen before, though, then younger and milder and fairer, it wore a +different aspect. + +Evelyn stood rooted to the spot, feeling herself blush to her very +temples,--an enchanting picture of bashful confusion and innocent alarm. + +"Do not let me regret my return," said the stranger, approaching after a +short pause, and with much gentleness in his voice and smile; "and think +that the owner is doomed to scare away the fair spirits that haunted the +spot in his absence." + +"The owner!" repeated Evelyn, almost inaudibly, and in increased +embarrassment; "are you then the--the--" + +"Yes," courteously interrupted the stranger, seeing her confusion, "my +name is Maltravers; and I am to blame for not having informed you of my +sudden return, or for now trespassing on your presence. But you see +my excuse;" and he pointed to the instrument. "You have the magic that +draws even the serpent from his hole. But you are not alone?" + +"Oh, no! no, indeed! Miss Merton is with me. I know not where she is +gone. I will seek her." + +"Miss Merton! You are not then one of that family?" + +"No, only a guest. I will find her; she must apologize for us. We were +not aware that you were here,--indeed we were not." + +"That is a cruel excuse," said Maltravers, smiling at her eagerness: and +the smile and the look reminded her yet more forcibly of the time when +he had carried her in his arms and soothed her suffering and praised +her courage and pressed the kiss almost of a lover on her hand. At that +thought she blushed yet more deeply, and yet more eagerly turned to +escape. + +Maltravers did not seek to detain her, but silently followed her steps. +She had scarcely gained the window, before little Cecilia scampered in, +crying,-- + +"Only think! Mr. Maltravers has come back, and brought such beautiful +horses!" + +Cecilia stopped abruptly, as she caught sight of the stranger; and the +next moment Caroline herself appeared. Her worldly experience and quick +sense saw immediately what had chanced; and she hastened to apologize +to Maltravers, and congratulate him on his return, with an ease that +astonished poor Evelyn, and by no means seemed appreciated by Maltravers +himself. He replied with brief and haughty courtesy. + +"My father," continued Caroline, "will be so glad to hear you are come +back. He will hasten to pay you his respects, and apologize for his +truants. But I have not formally introduced you to my fellow-offender. +My dear, let me present to you one whom Fame has already made known to +you; Mr. Maltravers, Miss Cameron, step-daughter," she added in a lower +voice, "to the late Lord Vargrave." + +At the first part of this introduction Maltravers frowned; at the last +he forgot all displeasure. + +"Is it possible? I _thought_ I had seen you before, but in a dream. Ah, +then we are not quite strangers!" + +Evelyn's eye met his, and though she coloured and strove to look grave, +a half smile brought out the dimples that played round her arch lips. + +"But you do not remember me?" added Maltravers. + +"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Evelyn, with a sudden impulse; and then checked +herself. + +Caroline came to her friend's relief. + +"What is this? You surprise me; where did you ever see Mr. Maltravers +before?" + +"I can answer that question, Miss Merton. When Miss Cameron was but +a child, as high as my little friend here, an accident on the road +procured me her acquaintance; and the sweetness and fortitude she then +displayed left an impression on me not worn out even to this day. +And thus we meet again," added Maltravers, in a muttered voice, as to +himself. "How strange a thing life is!" + +"Well," said Miss Merton, "we must intrude on you no more,--you have +so much to do. I am so sorry Sir John is not down to welcome you; but I +hope we shall be good neighbours. _Au revoir_!" + +And, fancying herself most charming, Caroline bowed, smiled, and walked +off with her train. Maltravers paused irresolute. If Evelyn had looked +back, he would have accompanied them home; but Evelyn did not look +back,--and he stayed. + +Miss Merton rallied her young friend unmercifully, as they walked +homeward, and she extracted a very brief and imperfect history of the +adventure that had formed the first acquaintance, and of the interview +by which it had been renewed. But Evelyn did not heed her; and the +moment they arrived at the rectory, she hastened to shut herself in her +room, and write the account of her adventure to her mother. How +often, in her girlish reveries, had she thought of that incident, that +stranger! And now, by such a chance, and after so many years, to meet +the Unknown by his own hearth! and that Unknown to be Maltravers! It was +as if a dream had come true. While she was yet musing--and the letter +not yet begun--she heard the sound of joy-bells in the distance. At +once she divined the cause; it was the welcome of the wanderer to his +solitary home! + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + MAIS en connaissant votre condition naturelle, usez des moyens + qui lui sont propres, et ne pretendez pas regner par une autre + voie que par celle qui vous fait roi.*--PASCAL. + + * "But in understanding your natural condition, use the means + which are proper to it; and pretend not to govern by any other + way than by that which constitutes you governor." + +IN the heart as in the ocean, the great tides ebb and flow. The waves +which had once urged on the spirit of Ernest Maltravers to the rocks and +shoals of active life had long since receded back upon the calm depths, +and left the strand bare. With a melancholy and disappointed mind, he +had quitted the land of his birth; and new scenes, strange and wild, had +risen before his wandering gaze. Wearied with civilization, and sated +with many of the triumphs for which civilized men drudge and toil, +and disquiet themselves in vain, he had plunged amongst hordes, scarce +redeemed from primeval barbarism. The adventures through which he +had passed, and in which life itself could only be preserved by wary +vigilance and ready energies, had forced him, for a while, from the +indulgence of morbid contemplations. His heart, indeed, had been left +inactive; but his intellect and his physical powers had been kept in +hourly exercise. He returned to the world of his equals with a mind +laden with the treasures of a various and vast experience, and with much +of the same gloomy moral as that which, on emerging from the Catacombs, +assured the restless speculations of Rasselas of the vanity of human +life and the folly of moral aspirations. + +Ernest Maltravers, never a faultless or completed character, falling +short in practice of his own capacities, moral and intellectual, from +his very desire to overpass the limits of the Great and Good, was +seemingly as far as heretofore from the grand secret of life. It was not +so in reality; his mind had acquired what before it wanted,--_hardness_; +and we are nearer to true virtue and true happiness when we demand too +little from men than when we exact too much. + +Nevertheless, partly from the strange life that had thrown him amongst +men whom safety itself made it necessary to command despotically, +partly from the habit of power and disdain of the world, his nature was +incrusted with a stern imperiousness of manner, often approaching to the +harsh and morose, though beneath it lurked generosity and benevolence. + +Many of his younger feelings, more amiable and complex, had settled into +one predominant quality, which more or less had always characterized +him,--Pride! Self-esteem made inactive, and Ambition made discontented, +usually engender haughtiness. In Maltravers this quality, which, +properly controlled and duly softened, is the essence and life of +honour, was carried to a vice. He was perfectly conscious of its excess, +but he cherished it as a virtue. Pride had served to console him +in sorrow, and therefore it was a friend; it had supported him when +disgusted with fraud, or in resistance to violence, and therefore it +was a champion and a fortress. It was a pride of a peculiar sort: it +attached itself to no one point in especial,--not to talent, knowledge, +mental gifts, still less to the vulgar commonplaces of birth and +fortune; it rather resulted from a supreme and wholesale contempt of all +other men, and all their objects,--of ambition, of glory, of the hard +business of life. His favourite virtue was fortitude; it was on this +that he now mainly valued himself. He was proud of his struggles against +others, prouder still of conquests over his own passions. He looked upon +FATE as the arch enemy against whose attacks we should ever prepare. +He fancied that against fate he had thoroughly schooled himself. In the +arrogance of his heart he said, "I can defy the future." He believed in +the boast of the vain old sage,--"I am a world to myself!" In the wild +career through which his later manhood had passed, it is true that he +had not carried his philosophy into a rejection of the ordinary world. +The shock occasioned by the death of Florence yielded gradually to time +and change; and he had passed from the deserts of Africa and the East to +the brilliant cities of Europe. But neither his heart nor his reason had +ever again been enslaved by his passions. Never again had he known the +softness of affection. Had he done so, the ice had been thawed, and the +fountain had flowed once more into the great deeps. He had returned to +England,--he scarce knew wherefore, or with what intent, certainly not +with any idea of entering again upon the occupations of active life; +it was, perhaps, only the weariness of foreign scenes and unfamiliar +tongues, and the vague, unsettled desire of change, that brought him +back to the fatherland. But he did not allow so unphilosophical a cause +to himself: and, what was strange, he would not allow one much more +amiable, and which was, perhaps, the truer cause,--the increasing +age and infirmities of his old guardian, Cleveland, who prayed him +affectionately to return. Maltravers did not like to believe that his +heart was still so kind. Singular form of pride! No, he rather sought +to persuade himself that he intended to sell Burleigh, to arrange his +affairs finally, and then quit forever his native land. To prove to +himself that this was the case, he had intended at Dover to hurry at +once to Burleigh, and merely write to Cleveland that he was returned to +England. But his heart would not suffer him to enjoy this cruel luxury +of self-mortification, and his horses' heads were turned to Richmond +when within a stage of London. He had spent two days with the good old +man, and those two days had so warmed and softened his feelings that +he was quite appalled at his own dereliction from fixed principles! +However, he went before Cleveland had time to discover that he was +changed; and the old man had promised to visit him shortly. + +This, then, was the state of Ernest Maltravers at the age of +thirty-six,--an age in which frame and mind are in their fullest +perfection; an age in which men begin most keenly to feel that they are +citizens. With all his energies braced and strengthened; with his mind +stored with profusest gifts; in the vigour of a constitution to which a +hardy life had imparted a second and fresher youth; so trained by stern +experience as to redeem with an easy effort all the deficiencies and +faults which had once resulted from too sensitive an imagination and too +high a standard for human actions; formed to render to his race the most +brilliant and durable service, and to secure to himself the happiness +which results from sobered fancy, a generous heart, and an approving +conscience,--here was Ernest Maltravers, backed, too, by the appliances +and gifts of birth and fortune, perversely shutting up genius, life, +and soul in their own thorny leaves, and refusing to serve the fools and +rascals who were formed from the same clay, and gifted by the same God. +Morbid and morose philosophy, begot by a proud spirit on a lonely heart! + + + +CHAPTER V. + + LET such amongst us as are willing to be children again, if it be + only for an hour, resign ourselves to the sweet enchantment that + steals upon the spirit when it indulges in the memory of early + and innocent enjoyment. + D. L. RICHARDSON. + +AT dinner, Caroline's lively recital of their adventures was received +with much interest, not only by the Merton family, but by some of the +neighbouring gentry who shared the rector's hospitality. The sudden +return of any proprietor to his old hereditary seat after a prolonged +absence makes some sensation in a provincial neighbourhood. In this +case, where the proprietor was still young, unmarried, celebrated, and +handsome, the sensation was of course proportionably increased. Caroline +and Evelyn were beset by questions, to which the former alone gave +any distinct reply. Caroline's account was, on the whole, gracious and +favourable, and seemed complimentary to all but Evelyn, who thought that +Caroline was a very indifferent portrait-painter. + +It seldom happens that a man is a prophet in his own neighbourhood; but +Maltravers had been so little in the county, and in his former visit his +life had been so secluded, that he was regarded as a stranger. He had +neither outshone the establishments nor interfered with the sporting of +his fellow-squires; and on the whole, they made just allowance for his +habits of distant reserve. Time, and his retirement from the busy +scene, long enough to cause him to be missed, not long enough for +new favourites to supply his place, had greatly served to mellow and +consolidate his reputation, and his country was proud to claim him. Thus +(though Maltravers would not have believed it had an angel told him) he +was not spoken ill of behind his back: a thousand little anecdotes of +his personal habits, of his generosity, independence of spirit, and +eccentricity were told. Evelyn listened in rapt delight to all; she had +never passed so pleasant an evening; and she smiled almost gratefully on +the rector, who was a man that always followed the stream, when he said +with benign affability, "We must really show our distinguished neighbour +every attention,--we must be indulgent to his little oddities. His +politics are not mine, to be sure; but a man who has a stake in the +country has a right to his own opinion, that was always my maxim,--thank +Heaven, I am a very moderate man. We must draw him amongst us; it will +be our own fault, I am sure, if he is not quite domesticated at the +rectory." + +"With such attraction,--yes," said the thin curate, timidly bowing to +the ladies. + +"It would be a nice match for Miss Caroline," whispered an old lady; +Caroline overheard, and pouted her pretty lip. The whist-tables were now +set out, the music began, and Maltravers was left in peace. + +The next day Mr. Merton rode his pony over to Burleigh. Maltravers was +not at home. He left his card, and a note of friendly respect, begging +Mr. Maltravers to waive ceremony, and dine with them the next day. +Somewhat to the surprise of the rector, he found that the active spirit +of Maltravers was already at work. The long-deserted grounds were filled +with labourers; the carpenters were busy at the fences; the house +looked alive and stirring; the grooms were exercising the horses in the +park,--all betokened the return of the absentee. This seemed to denote +that Maltravers had come to reside; and the rector thought of Caroline, +and was pleased at the notion. + +The next day was Cecilia's birthday,--and birthdays were kept at Merton +Rectory; the neighbouring children were invited. They were to dine on +the lawn, in a large marquee, and to dance in the evening. The hothouses +yielded their early strawberries, and the cows, decorated with blue +ribbons, were to give syllabubs. The polite Caroline was not greatly +fascinated by pleasure of this kind; she graciously appeared at dinner, +kissed the prettiest of the children, helped them to soup, and then, +having done her duty, retired to her room to write letters. The children +were not sorry, for they were a little afraid of the grand Caroline; and +they laughed much more loudly, and made much more noise, when she was +gone--and the cake and strawberries appeared. + +Evelyn was in her element; she had, as a child, mixed so little with +children, she had so often yearned for playmates, she was still so +childlike. Besides, she was so fond of Cecilia, she had looked forward +with innocent delight to the day; and a week before had taken the +carriage to the neighbouring town to return with a carefully concealed +basket of toys,--dolls, sashes, and picture-books. But somehow or other, +she did not feel so childlike as usual that morning; her heart was away +from the pleasure before her, and her smile was at first languid. But +in children's mirth there is something so contagious to those who love +children; and now, as the party scattered themselves on the grass, and +Evelyn opened the basket, and bade them with much gravity keep quiet, +and be good children, she was the happiest of the whole group. But she +knew how to give pleasure: and the basket was presented to Cecilia, that +the little queen of the day might enjoy the luxury of being generous; +and to prevent jealousy, the notable expedient of a lottery was +suggested. + +"Then Evy shall be Fortune!" cried Cecilia; "nobody will be sorry to +get anything from Evy,--and if any one is discontented Evy sha'n't kiss +her." + +Mrs. Merton, whose motherly heart was completely won by Evelyn's +kindness to the children, forgot all her husband's lectures, and +willingly ticketed the prizes, and wrote the numbers of the lots on +slips of paper carefully folded. A large old Indian jar was dragged +from the drawing-room and constituted the fated urn; the tickets were +deposited therein, and Cecilia was tying the handkerchief round Evelyn's +eyes,--while Fortune struggled archly not to be as blind as she ought +to be,--and the children, seated in a circle, were in full joy and +expectation when there was a sudden pause. The laughter stopped; so did +Cissy's little hands. What could it be? Evelyn slipped the bandage, and +her eyes rested on Maltravers! + +"Well, really, my dear Miss Cameron," said the rector, who was by the +side of the intruder, and who, indeed, had just brought him to the spot, +"I don't know what these little folks will do to you next." + +"I ought rather to be their victim," said Maltravers, good-humouredly; +"the fairies always punish us grown-up mortals for trespassing on their +revels." + +While he spoke, his eyes--those eyes, the most eloquent in the +world--dwelt on Evelyn (as, to cover her blushes, she took Cecilia in +her arms, and appeared to attend to nothing else) with a look of such +admiration and delight as a mortal might well be supposed to cast on +some beautiful fairy. + +Sophy, a very bold child, ran up to him. "How do, sir?" she lisped, +putting up her face to be kissed; "how's the pretty peacock?" + +This opportune audacity served at once to renew the charm that had been +broken,--to unite the stranger with the children. Here was acquaintance +claimed and allowed in an instant. The next moment Maltravers was one +of the circle, on the turf with the rest, as gay, and almost as +noisy,--that hard, proud man, so disdainful of the trifles of the world! + +"But the gentleman must have a prize, too," said Sophy, proud of her +tall new friend. "What's your other name; why do you have such a long, +hard name?" + +"Call me Ernest," said Maltravers. + +"Why don't we begin?" cried the children. + +"Evy, come, be a good child, miss," said Sophy, as Evelyn, vexed and +ashamed, and half ready to cry, resisted the bandage. + +Mr. Merton interposed his authority; but the children clamoured, and +Evelyn hastily yielded. It was Fortune's duty to draw the tickets from +the urn, and give them to each claimant whose name was called; when it +came to the turn of Maltravers, the bandage did not conceal the blush +and smile of the enchanting goddess, and the hand of the aspirant +thrilled as it touched hers. + +The children burst into screams of laughter when Cecilia gravely awarded +to Maltravers the worst prize in the lot,--a blue ribbon,--which Sophy, +however, greedily insisted on having; but Maltravers would not yield it. + +Maltravers remained all day at the rectory, and shared in the +ball,--yes, he danced with Evelyn--he, Maltravers, who had never +been known to dance since he was twenty-two! The ice was fairly +broken,--Maltravers was at home with the Mertons. And when he took his +solitary walk to his solitary house--over the little bridge, and through +the shadowy wood--astonished, perhaps, with himself, every one of the +guests, from the oldest to the youngest, pronounced him delightful. +Caroline, perhaps, might have been piqued some months ago that he +did not dance with _her_; but now, her heart--such as it was--felt +preoccupied. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + L'ESPRIT de l'homme est plus penetrant que consequent, et embrasse + plus qu'il ne peat lier.*--VAUVENARGUES. + + * "The spirit of man is more penetrating than logical, and + gathers more than it can garner." + +AND now Maltravers was constantly with the Merton family; there was no +need of excuse for familiarity on his part. Mr. Merton, charmed to find +his advances not rejected, thrust intimacy upon him. + +One day they spent the afternoon at Burleigh, and Evelyn and Caroline +finished their survey of the house,--tapestry, and armour, pictures and +all. This led to a visit to the Arabian horses. Caroline observed that +she was very fond of riding, and went into ecstasies with one of the +animals,--the one, of course, with the longest tail. The next day +the horse was in the stables at the rectory, and a gallant epistle +apologized for the costly gift. + +Mr. Merton demurred, but Caroline always had her own way; and so the +horse remained (no doubt, in much amazement and disdain) with the +parson's pony, and the brown carriage horses. The gift naturally +conduced to parties on horseback--it was cruel entirely to separate the +Arab from his friends--and how was Evelyn to be left behind?--Evelyn, +who had never yet ridden anything more spirited than an old pony! A +beautiful little horse belonging to an elderly lady, now growing +too stout to ride, was to be sold hard by. Maltravers discovered the +treasure, and apprised Mr. Merton of it--he was too delicate to affect +liberality to the rich heiress. The horse was bought; nothing could go +quieter; Evelyn was not at all afraid. They made two or three little +excursions. Sometimes only Mr. Merton and Maltravers accompanied the +young ladies, sometimes the party was more numerous. Maltravers appeared +to pay equal attention to Caroline and her friend; still Evelyn's +inexperience in equestrian matters was an excuse for his being ever by +her side. They had a thousand opportunities to converse; and Evelyn +now felt more at home with him; her gentle gayety, her fanciful yet +chastened intellect, found a voice. Maltravers was not slow to +discover that beneath her simplicity there lurked sense, judgment, and +imagination. Insensibly his own conversation took a higher flight. With +the freedom which his mature years and reputation gave him, he mingled +eloquent instruction with lighter and more trifling subjects; he +directed her earnest and docile mind, not only to new fields of written +knowledge, but to many of the secrets of Nature, subtle or sublime. He +had a wide range of scientific as well as literary lore; the stars, the +flowers, the phenomena of the physical world, afforded themes on which +he descanted with the fervent love of a poet and the easy knowledge of a +sage. + +Mr. Merton, observing that little or nothing of sentiment mingled with +their familiar intercourse, felt perfectly at ease; and knowing that +Maltravers had been intimate with Lumley, he naturally concluded that +he was aware of the engagement between Evelyn and his friend. Meanwhile +Maltravers appeared unconscious that such a being as Lord Vargrave +existed. + +It is not to be wondered at that the daily presence, the delicate +flattery of attention from a man like Maltravers, should strongly +impress the imagination, if not the heart, of a susceptible girl. +Already prepossessed in his favour, and wholly unaccustomed to a society +which combined so many attractions, Evelyn regarded him with unspeakable +veneration; to the darker shades in his character she was blind,--to +her, indeed, they did not appear. True that once or twice in mixed +society his disdainful and imperious temper broke hastily and harshly +forth. To folly, to pretension, to presumption, he showed but slight +forbearance. The impatient smile, the biting sarcasm, the cold repulse, +that might gall, yet could scarce be openly resented, betrayed that he +was one who affected to free himself from the polished restraints of +social intercourse. He had once been too scrupulous in not wounding +vanity; he was now too indifferent to it. But if sometimes this +unamiable trait of character, as displayed to others, chilled or +startled Evelyn, the contrast of his manner towards herself was a +flattery too delicious not to efface all other recollections. To her ear +his voice always softened its tone; to her capacity of mind ever bent +as by sympathy, not condescension; to her--the young, the timid, the +half-informed--to her alone he did not disdain to exhibit all the stores +of his knowledge, all the best and brightest colours of his mind. She +modestly wondered at so strange a preference. Perhaps a sudden and blunt +compliment which Maltravers once addressed to her may explain it. One +day, when she had conversed more freely and more fully than usual, he +broke in upon her with this abrupt exclamation,-- + +"Miss Cameron, you must have associated from your childhood with +beautiful minds. I see already that from the world, vile as it is, you +have nothing of contagion to fear. I have heard you talk on the most +various matters, on many of which your knowledge is imperfect; but you +have never uttered one mean idea, or one false sentiment. Truth seems +intuitive to you." + +It was indeed this singular purity of heart which made to the +world-wearied man the chief charm in Evelyn Cameron. From this purity +came, as from the heart of a poet, a thousand new and heaven-taught +thoughts which had in them a wisdom of their own,--thoughts that often +brought the stern listener back to youth, and reconciled him with +life. The wise Maltravers learned more from Evelyn than Evelyn did from +Maltravers. + +There was, however, another trait--deeper than that of temper--in +Maltravers, and which was, unlike the latter, more manifest to her +than to others,--his contempt for all the things her young and fresh +enthusiasm had been taught to prize, the fame that endeared and hallowed +him to her eyes, the excitement of ambition, and its rewards. He spoke +with such bitter disdain of great names and great deeds. "Children of a +larger growth they were," said he, one day, in answer to her defence of +the luminaries of their kind, "allured by baubles as poor as the rattle +and the doll's house. How many have been made great, as the word is, +by their vices! Paltry craft won command to Themistocles; to escape his +duns, the profligate Caesar heads an army, and achieves his laurels; +Brutus, the aristocrat, stabs his patron, that patricians might again +trample on plebeians, and that posterity might talk of _him_. The love +of posthumous fame--what is it but as puerile a passion for notoriety as +that which made a Frenchman I once knew lay out two thousand pounds in +sugar-plums? To be talked of--how poor a desire! Does it matter whether +it be by the gossips of this age or the next? Some men are urged on to +fame by poverty--that is an excuse for their trouble; but there is no +more nobleness in the motive than in that which makes yon poor ploughman +sweat in the eye of Phoebus. In fact, the larger part of eminent men, +instead of being inspired by any lofty desire to benefit their species +or enrich the human mind, have acted or composed, without any definite +object beyond the satisfying a restless appetite for excitement, or +indulging the dreams of a selfish glory. And when nobler aspirations +have fired them, it has too often been but to wild fanaticism and +sanguinary crime. What dupes of glory ever were animated by a deeper +faith, a higher ambition, than the frantic followers of Mahomet,--taught +to believe that it was virtue to ravage the earth, and that they sprang +from the battle-field into paradise? Religion and liberty, love of +country, what splendid motives to action! Lo, the results, when the +motives are keen, the action once commenced! Behold the Inquisition, the +Days of Terror, the Council of Ten, and the Dungeons of Venice!" + +Evelyn was scarcely fit to wrestle with these melancholy fallacies; but +her instinct of truth suggested an answer. + +"What would society be if all men thought as you do, and acted up to the +theory? No literature, no art, no glory, no patriotism, no virtue, no +civilization! You analyze men's motives--how can you be sure you judge +rightly? Look to the results,--our benefit, our enlightenment! If the +results be great, Ambition is a virtue, no matter what motive awakened +it. Is it not so?" + +Evelyn spoke blushingly and timidly. Maltravers, despite his own tenets, +was delighted with her reply. + +"You reason well," said he, with a smile. "But how are we sure that the +results are such as you depict them? Civilization, enlightenment,--they +are vague terms, hollow sounds. Never fear that the world will reason as +I do. Action will never be stagnant while there are such things as gold +and power. The vessel will move on--let the galley-slaves have it to +themselves. What I have seen of life convinces me that progress is not +always improvement. Civilization has evils unknown to the savage +state; and _vice versa_. Men in all states seem to have much the same +proportion of happiness. We judge others with eyes accustomed to dwell +on our own circumstances. I have seen the slave, whom we commiserate, +enjoy his holiday with a rapture unknown to the grave freeman. I have +seen that slave made free, and enriched by the benevolence of his +master; and he has been gay no more. The masses of men in all countries +are much the same. If there are greater comforts in the hardy North, +Providence bestows a fertile earth and a glorious heaven, and a +mind susceptible to enjoyment as flowers to light, on the voluptuous +indulgence of the Italian, or the contented apathy of the Hindoo. In +the mighty organization of good and evil, what can we vain individuals +effect? They who labour most, how doubtful is their reputation! Who +shall say whether Voltaire or Napoleon, Cromwell or Caesar, Walpole or +Pitt, has done most good or most evil? It is a question casuists may +dispute on. Some of us think that poets have been the delight and the +lights of men; another school of philosophy has treated them as the +corrupters of the species,--panderers to the false glory of war, to +the effeminacies of taste, to the pampering of the passions above the +reason. Nay, even those who have effected inventions that change the +face of the earth--the printing-press, gunpowder, the steam-engine,--men +hailed as benefactors by the unthinking herd, or the would-be +sages,--have introduced ills unknown before, adulterating and often +counterbalancing the good. Each new improvement in machinery deprives +hundreds of food. Civilization is the eternal sacrifice of one +generation to the next. An awful sense of the impotence of human +agencies has crushed down the sublime aspirations for mankind which I +once indulged. For myself, I float on the great waters, without pilot or +rudder, and trust passively to the winds, that are the breath of God." + +This conversation left a deep impression upon Evelyn; it inspired her +with a new interest in one in whom so many noble qualities lay dulled +and torpid, by the indulgence of a self-sophistry, which, girl as she +was, she felt wholly unworthy of his powers. And it was this error in +Maltravers that, levelling his superiority, brought him nearer to her +heart. Ah, if she could restore him to his race! It was a dangerous +desire, but it intoxicated and absorbed her. + +Oh, how sweetly were those fair evenings spent,--the evenings of happy +June! And then, as Maltravers suffered the children to tease him into +talk about the wonders he had seen in the regions far away, how did the +soft and social hues of his character unfold themselves! There is in all +real genius so much latent playfulness of nature it almost seems as if +genius never could grow old. The inscriptions that youth writes upon +the tablets of an imaginative mind are, indeed, never wholly +obliterated,--they are as an invisible writing, which gradually becomes +clear in the light and warmth. Bring genius familiarly with the young, +and it is as young as they are. Evelyn did not yet, therefore, observe +the disparity of _years_ between herself and Maltravers. But the +disparity of knowledge and power served for the present to interdict +to her that sweet feeling of equality in commune, without which love is +rarely a very intense affection in women. It is not so with men. But by +degrees she grew more and more familiar with her stern friend; and in +that familiarity there was perilous fascination to Maltravers. She could +laugh him at any moment out of his most moody reveries; contradict with +a pretty wilfulness his most favourite dogmas; nay, even scold him, +with bewitching gravity, if he was not always at the command of her +wishes--or caprice. At this time it seemed certain that Maltravers would +fall in love with Evelyn; but it rested on more doubtful probabilities +whether Evelyn would fall in love with him. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + CONTRAHE vela, + Et te littoribus cymba propinqua vehat.*--SENECA. + + * "Furl your sails, and let the next boat carry you to the shore." + +"HAS not Miss Cameron a beautiful countenance?" said Mr. Merton to +Maltravers, as Evelyn, unconscious of the compliment, sat at a little +distance, bending down her eyes to Sophy, who was weaving daisy-chains +on a stool at her knee, and whom she was telling not to talk loud,--for +Merton had been giving Maltravers some useful information respecting the +management of his estate; and Evelyn was already interested in all that +could interest her friend. She had one excellent thing in woman, +had Evelyn Cameron: despite her sunny cheerfulness of temper she was +_quiet_; and she had insensibly acquired, under the roof of her musing +and silent mother, the habit of never disturbing others. What a blessed +secret is that in the intercourse of domestic life! + +"Has not Miss Cameron a beautiful countenance?" + +Maltravers started at the question,--it was a literal translation of his +own thought at that moment. He checked the enthusiasm that rose to his +lip, and calmly re-echoed the word,-- + +"Beautiful indeed!" + +"And so sweet-tempered and unaffected; she has been admirably brought +up. I believe Lady Vargrave is a most exemplary woman. Miss Cameron +will, indeed, be a treasure to her betrothed husband. He is to be +envied." + +"Her betrothed husband!" said Maltravers, turning very pale. + +"Yes; Lord Vargrave. Did you not know that she was engaged to him from +her childhood? It was the wish, nay, command, of the late lord, who +bequeathed her his vast fortune, if not on that condition, at least on +that understanding. Did you never hear of this before?" + +While Mr. Merton spoke, a sudden recollection returned to Maltravers. He +_had_ heard Lumley himself refer to the engagement, but it had been in +the sick chamber of Florence,--little heeded at the time, and swept +from his mind by a thousand after-thoughts and scenes. Mr. Merton +continued,-- + +"We expect Lord Vargrave down soon. He is an ardent lover, I conclude; +but public life chains him so much to London. He made an admirable +speech in the Lords last night; at least, our party appear to think so. +They are to be married when Miss Cameron attains the age of eighteen." + +Accustomed to endurance, and skilled in the proud art of concealing +emotion, Maltravers betrayed to the eye of Mr. Merton no symptom of +surprise or dismay at this intelligence. If the rector had conceived any +previous suspicion that Maltravers was touched beyond mere admiration +for beauty, the suspicion would have vanished as he heard his guest +coldly reply,-- + +"I trust Lord Vargrave may deserve his happiness. But, to return to Mr. +Justis; you corroborate my own opinion of that smooth-spoken gentleman." + +The conversation flowed back to business. At last, Maltravers rose to +depart. + +"Will you not dine with us to-day?" said the hospitable rector. + +"Many thanks,--no; I have much business to attend to at home for some +days to come." + +"Kiss Sophy, Mr. Ernest,--Sophy very good girl to-day. Let the pretty +butterfly go, because Evy said it was cruel to put it in a card-box; +kiss Sophy." + +Maltravers took the child (whose heart he had completely won) in his +arms, and kissed her tenderly; then advancing to Evelyn, he held out his +hand, while his eyes were fixed upon her with an expression of deep and +mournful interest, which she could not understand. + +"God bless you, Miss Cameron," he said, and his lip quivered. + +Days passed, and they saw no more of Maltravers. He excused himself +on pretence, now of business, now of other engagements, from all the +invitations of the rector. Mr. Merton unsuspectingly accepted the +excuse; for he knew that Maltravers was necessarily much occupied. + +His arrival had now spread throughout the country; and such of his +equals as were still in B-----shire hastened to offer congratulations, +and press hospitality. Perhaps it was the desire to make his excuses to +Merton valid which prompted the master of Burleigh to yield to the +other invitations that crowded on him. But this was not all,--Maltravers +acquired in the neighbourhood the reputation of a man of business. Mr. +Justis was abruptly dismissed; with the help of the bailiff Maltravers +became his own steward. His parting address to this personage was +characteristic of the mingled harshness and justice of Maltravers. + +"Sir," said he, as they closed their accounts, "I discharge you +because you are a rascal,--there can be no dispute about that; you have +plundered your owner, yet you have ground his tenants, and neglected +the poor. My villages are filled with paupers, my rent-roll is reduced +a fourth; and yet, while some of my tenants appear to pay nominal rents +(why, you best know),--others are screwed up higher than any man's in +the country. You are a rogue, Mr. Justis,--your own account-books show +it; and if I send them to a lawyer, you would have to refund a sum +that I could apply very advantageously to the rectification of your +blunders." + +"I hope, sir," said the steward, conscience-stricken and appalled,--"I +hope you will not ruin me; indeed, indeed, if I was called upon to +refund, I should go to jail." + +"Make yourself easy, sir. It is just that I should suffer as well as +you. My neglect of my own duties tempted you to roguery. You were honest +under the vigilant eye of Mr. Cleveland. Retire with your gains: if you +are quite hardened, no punishment can touch you; if you are not, it +is punishment enough to stand there gray-headed, with one foot in the +grave, and hear yourself called a rogue, and know that you cannot defend +yourself,--go!" + +Maltravers next occupied himself in all the affairs that a mismanaged +estate brought upon him. He got rid of some tenants, he made new +arrangements with others; he called labour into requisition by a variety +of improvements; he paid minute attention to the poor, not in the +weakness of careless and indiscriminate charity, by which popularity is +so cheaply purchased, and independence so easily degraded,--no, his +main care was to stimulate industry and raise hope. The ambition and +emulation that he so vainly denied in himself, he found his most useful +levers in the humble labourers whose characters he had studied, whose +condition he sought to make themselves desire to elevate. Unconsciously +his whole practice began to refute his theories. The abuses of the old +Poor Laws were rife in his neighbourhood; his quick penetration, and +perhaps his imperious habits of decision, suggested to him many of the +best provisions of the law now called into operation; but he was too +wise to be the Philosopher Square of a system. He did not attempt too +much; and he recognized one principle, which, as yet, the administrators +of the new Poor-Laws have not sufficiently discovered. One main object +of the new code was, by curbing public charity, to task the activity of +individual benevolence. If the proprietor or the clergyman find under +his own eye isolated instances of severity, oppression, or hardship in +a general and salutary law, instead of railing against the law, he ought +to attend to the individual instances; and private benevolence ought +to keep the balance of the scales even, and be the makeweight wherever +there is a just deficiency of national charity.* It was this which, in +the modified and discreet regulations that he sought to establish on +his estates, Maltravers especially and pointedly attended to. Age, +infirmity, temporary distress, unmerited destitution, found him a +steady, watchful, indefatigable friend. In these labours, commenced with +extraordinary promptitude, and the energy of a single purpose and +stern mind, Maltravers was necessarily brought into contact with +the neighbouring magistrates and gentry. He was combating evils and +advancing objects in which all were interested; and his vigorous sense, +and his past parliamentary reputation, joined with the respect which in +provinces always attaches to ancient birth, won unexpected and general +favour to his views. At the rectory they heard of him constantly, not +only through occasional visitors, but through Mr. Merton, who was ever +thrown in his way; but he continued to keep himself aloof from the +house. Every one (Mr. Merton excepted) missed him,--even Caroline, whose +able though worldly mind could appreciate his conversation; the children +mourned for their playmate, who was so much more affable than their own +stiff-neckclothed brothers; and Evelyn was at least more serious and +thoughtful than she had ever been before, and the talk of others seemed +to her wearisome, trite, and dull. + + * The object of parochial reform is not that of economy alone; + not merely to reduce poor-rates. The ratepayer ought to remember + that the more he wrests from the grip of the sturdy mendicant, + the more he ought to bestow on undeserved distress. Without the + mitigations of private virtue, every law that benevolists could + make would be harsh. + +Was Maltravers happy in his new pursuits? His state of mind at that time +it is not easy to read. His masculine spirit and haughty temper were +wrestling hard against a feeling that had been fast ripening into +passion; but at night, in his solitary and cheerless home, a vision, too +exquisite to indulge, would force itself upon him, till he started from +the revery, and said to his rebellious heart: "A few more years, and +thou wilt be still. What in this brief life is a pang more or less? +Better to have nothing to care for, so wilt thou defraud Fate, thy +deceitful foe! Be contented that thou art alone!" Fortunate was it, +then, for Maltravers, that he was in his native land, not in climes +where excitement is in the pursuit of pleasure rather than in the +exercise of duties. In the hardy air of the liberal England, he +was already, though unknown to himself, bracing and ennobling his +dispositions and desires. It is the boast of this island that the slave +whose foot touches the soil is free. The boast may be enlarged. Where so +much is left to the people, where the life of civilization, not locked +up in the tyranny of Central Despotism, spreads, vivifying, restless, +ardent, through every vein of the healthful body, the most distant +province, the obscurest village, has claims on our exertions, our +duties, and forces us into energy and citizenship. The spirit of +liberty, that strikes the chain from the slave, binds the freeman to +his brother. This is the Religion of Freedom. And hence it is that +the stormy struggles of free States have been blessed with results +of Virtue, of Wisdom, and of Genius by Him who bade us love one +another,--not only that love in itself is excellent, but that from +love, which in its widest sense is but the spiritual term for liberty, +whatever is worthiest of our solemn nature has its birth. + + + + +BOOK III. + + Harsh things he mitigates, and pride subdues. + _Ex._ SOLON: _Eleg._ + + + +CHAPTER I. + + YOU still are what you were, sir! + ...... + ... With most quick agility could turn + And return; make knots and undo them, + Give forked counsel.--_Volpone, or the Fox_. + +BEFORE a large table, covered with parliamentary papers, sat Lumley +Lord Vargrave. His complexion, though still healthy, had faded from the +freshness of hue which distinguished him in youth. His features, always +sharp, had grown yet more angular: his brows seemed to project more +broodingly over his eyes, which, though of undiminished brightness, +were sunk deep in their sockets, and had lost much of their quick +restlessness. The character of his mind had begun to stamp itself on +the physiognomy, especially on the mouth when in repose. It was, a face +striking for acute intelligence, for concentrated energy; but there was +a something written in it which said, "BEWARE!" It would have inspired +any one who had mixed much amongst men with a vague suspicion and +distrust. + +Lumley had been always careful, though plain, in dress; but there was +now a more evident attention bestowed on his person than he had +ever manifested in youth,--while there was something of the Roman's +celebrated foppery in the skill with which his hair was arranged on his +high forehead, so as either to conceal or relieve a partial baldness at +the temples. Perhaps, too, from the possession of high station, or the +habit of living only amongst the great, there was a certain dignity +insensibly diffused over his whole person that was not noticeable in +his earlier years, when a certain _ton de garnison_ was blended with +his ease of manners. Yet, even now, dignity was not his prevalent +characteristic; and in ordinary occasions, or mixed society, he still +found a familiar frankness a more useful species of simulation. At the +time we now treat of, Lord Vargrave was leaning his cheek on one hand, +while the other rested idly on the papers methodically arranged before +him. He appeared to have suspended his labours, and to be occupied +in thought. It was, in truth, a critical period in the career of Lord +Vargrave. + +From the date of his accession to the peerage, the rise of Lumley +Ferrers had been less rapid and progressive than he himself could have +foreseen. At first, all was sunshine before him; he had contrived to +make himself useful to his party; he had also made himself personally +popular. To the ease and cordiality of his happy address, he added the +seemingly careless candour so often mistaken for honesty; while, +as there was nothing showy or brilliant in his abilities or +oratory--nothing that aspired far above the pretensions of others, and +aroused envy by mortifying self-love--he created but little jealousy +even amongst the rivals before whom he obtained precedence. For +some time, therefore, he went smoothly on, continuing to rise in the +estimation of his party, and commanding a certain respect from the +neutral public, by acknowledged and eminent talents in the details of +business; for his quickness of penetration, and a logical habit of mind, +enabled him to grapple with and generalize the minutiae of official +labour or of legislative enactments with a masterly success. But as the +road became clearer to his steps, his ambition became more evident and +daring. Naturally dictatorial and presumptuous, his early suppleness to +superiors was now exchanged for a self-willed pertinacity, which often +displeased the more haughty leaders of his party, and often wounded the +more vain. His pretensions were scanned with eyes more jealous and less +tolerant than at first. Proud aristocrats began to recollect that a +mushroom peerage was supported but by a scanty fortune; the men of +more dazzling genius began to sneer at the red-tape minister as a mere +official manager of details; he lost much of the personal popularity +which had been one secret of his power. But what principally injured +him in the eyes of his party and the public were certain ambiguous and +obscure circumstances connected with a short period when himself and his +associates were thrown out of office. At this time, it was noticeable +that the journals of the Government that succeeded were peculiarly +polite to Lord Vargrave, while they covered all his coadjutors with +obloquy: and it was more than suspected that secret negotiations between +himself and the new ministry were going on, when suddenly the latter +broke up, and Lord Vargrave's proper party were reinstated. The vague +suspicions that attached to Vargrave were somewhat strengthened in the +opinion of the public by the fact that he was at first left out of the +restored administration; and when subsequently, after a speech +which showed that he could be mischievous if not propitiated, he was +readmitted, it was precisely to the same office he had held before,--an +office which did not admit him into the Cabinet. Lumley, burning with +resentment, longed to decline the offer; but, alas! he was poor, and, +what was worse, in debt; "his poverty, but not his will, consented." He +was reinstated; but though prodigiously improved as a debater, he felt +that he had not advanced as a public man. His ambition inflamed by his +discontent, he had, since his return to office, strained every nerve to +strengthen his position. He met the sarcasms on his poverty by greatly +increasing his expenditure, and by advertising everywhere his engagement +to an heiress whose fortune, great as it was, he easily contrived to +magnify. As his old house in Great George Street--well fitted for the +bustling commoner--was no longer suited to the official and fashionable +peer, he had, on his accession to the title, exchanged that respectable +residence for a large mansion in Hamilton Place; and his sober dinners +were succeeded by splendid banquets. Naturally, he had no taste for +such things; his mind was too nervous, and his temper too hard, to take +pleasure in luxury or ostentation. But now, as ever he _acted upon a +system_. Living in a country governed by the mightiest and wealthiest +aristocracy in the world, which, from the first class almost to +the lowest, ostentation pervades,--the very backbone and marrow of +society,--he felt that to fall far short of his rivals in display was to +give them an advantage which he could not compensate either by the power +of his connections or the surpassing loftiness of his character and +genius. Playing for a great game, and with his eyes open to all the +consequences, he cared not for involving his private fortunes in a +lottery in which a great prize might be drawn. To do Vargrave justice, +money with him had never been an object, but a means; he was grasping, +but not avaricious. If men much richer than Lord Vargrave find State +distinctions very expensive, and often ruinous, it is not to be supposed +that his salary, joined to so moderate a private fortune, could support +the style in which he lived. His income was already deeply mortgaged, +and debt accumulated upon debt. Nor had this man, so eminent for the +management of public business, any of that talent which springs from +_justice_, and makes its possessor a skilful manager of his own affairs. +Perpetually absorbed in intrigues and schemes, he was too much engaged +in cheating others on a large scale to have time to prevent being +himself cheated on a small one. He never looked into bills till he was +compelled to pay them; and he never calculated the amount of an expense +that seemed the least necessary to his purposes. But still Lord Vargrave +relied upon his marriage with the wealthy Evelyn to relieve him from +all his embarrassments; and if a doubt of the realization of that vision +ever occurred to him, still public life had splendid prizes. Nay, should +he fail with Miss Cameron, he even thought that, by good management, he +might ultimately make it worth while to his colleagues to purchase his +absence with the gorgeous bribe of the Governor-Generalship of India. + +As oratory is an art in which practice and the dignity of station +produce marvellous improvement, so Lumley had of late made effects in +the House of Lords of which he had once been judged incapable. It is +true that no practice and no station can give men qualities in which +they are wholly deficient; but these advantages can bring out in the +best light all the qualities they _do_ possess. The glow of a generous +imagination, the grasp of a profound statesmanship, the enthusiasm of +a noble nature,--these no practice could educe from the eloquence of +Lumley Lord Vargrave, for he had them not; but bold wit, fluent and +vigorous sentences, effective arrangement of parliamentary logic, +readiness of retort, plausibility of manner, aided by a delivery +peculiar for self-possession and ease, a clear and ringing voice (to the +only fault of which, shrillness without passion, the ear of the audience +had grown accustomed), and a countenance impressive from its courageous +intelligence,--all these had raised the promising speaker into the +matured excellence of a nervous and formidable debater. But precisely as +he rose in the display of his talents, did he awaken envies and enmities +hitherto dormant. And it must be added that, with all his craft and +coldness, Lord Vargrave was often a very dangerous and mischievous +speaker for the interests of his party. His colleagues had often cause +to tremble when he rose: nay, even when the cheers of his own faction +shook the old tapestried walls. A man who has no sympathy with the +public must commit many and fatal indiscretions when the public, as well +as his audience, is to be his judge. Lord Vargrave's utter incapacity +to comprehend political morality, his contempt for all the objects of +social benevolence, frequently led him into the avowal of doctrines, +which, if they did not startle the men of the world whom he addressed +(smoothed away, as such doctrines were, by speciousness of manner and +delivery), created deep disgust in those even of his own politics who +read their naked exposition in the daily papers. Never did Lord +Vargrave utter one of those generous sentiments which, no matter whether +propounded by Radical or Tory, sink deep into the heart of the people, +and do lasting service to the cause they adorn. But no man defended an +abuse, however glaring, with a more vigorous championship, or hurled +defiance upon a popular demand with a more courageous scorn. In some +times, when the anti-popular principle is strong; such a leader may +be useful; but at the moment of which we treat he was a most equivocal +auxiliary. A considerable proportion of the ministers, headed by the +premier himself, a man of wise views and unimpeachable honour, had +learned to view Lord Vargrave with dislike and distrust. They might have +sought to get rid of him; but he was not one whom slight mortifications +could induce to retire of his own accord, nor was the sarcastic and bold +debater a person whose resentment and opposition could be despised. +Lord Vargrave, moreover, had secured a party of his own,--a party +more formidable than himself. He went largely into society; he was the +special favourite of the female diplomats, whose voices at that time +were powerful suffrages, and with whom, by a thousand links of gallantry +and intrigue, the agreeable and courteous minister formed a close +alliance. All that _salons_ could do for him was done. Added to this, he +was personally liked by his royal master; and the Court gave him their +golden opinions; while the poorer, the corrupter, and the more bigoted +portion of the ministry regarded him with avowed admiration. + +In the House of Commons, too, and in the bureaucracy, he had no +inconsiderable strength; for Lumley never contracted the habits of +personal abruptness and discourtesy common to men in power who wish +to keep applicants aloof. He was bland and conciliating to all men of +ranks; his intellect and self-complacency raised him far above the petty +jealousies that great men feel for rising men. Did any tyro earn the +smallest distinction in parliament, no man sought his acquaintance so +eagerly as Lord Vargrave; no man complimented, encouraged, "brought on" +the new aspirants of his party with so hearty a good will. + +Such a minister could not fail of having devoted followers among the +able, the ambitious, and the vain. It must also be confessed that Lord +Vargrave neglected no baser and less justifiable means to cement his +power by placing it on the sure rock of self-interest. No jobbing was +too gross for him. He was shamefully corrupt in the disposition of his +patronage; and no rebuffs, no taunts from his official brethren, could +restrain him from urging the claims of any of his creatures upon the +public purse. His followers regarded this charitable selfishness as +the stanchness and zeal of friendship; and the ambition of hundreds was +wound up in the ambition of the unprincipled minister. + +But besides the notoriety of his public corruption, Lord Vargrave was +secretly suspected by some of personal dishonesty,--suspected of selling +his State information to stock-jobbers, of having pecuniary interests in +some of the claims he urged with so obstinate a pertinacity. And though +there was not the smallest evidence of such utter abandonment of honour, +though it was probably but a calumnious whisper, yet the mere suspicion +of such practices served to sharpen the aversion of his enemies, and +justify the disgust of his rivals. + +In this position now stood Lord Vargrave: supported by interested, but +able and powerful partisans; hated in the country, feared by some of +those with whom he served, despised by others, looked up to by the rest. +It was a situation that less daunted than delighted him; for it seemed +to render necessary and excuse the habits of scheming and manoeuvre +which were so genial to his crafty and plotting temper. Like an ancient +Greek, his spirit loved intrigue for intrigue's sake. Had it led to no +end, it would still have been sweet to him as a means. He rejoiced to +surround himself with the most complicated webs and meshes; to sit in +the centre of a million plots. He cared not how rash and wild some of +them were. He relied on his own ingenuity, promptitude, and habitual +good fortune to make every spring he handled conducive to the purpose of +the machine--SELF. + +His last visit to Lady Vargrave, and his conversation with Evelyn, had +left on his mind much dissatisfaction and fear. In the earlier years of +his intercourse with Evelyn, his good humour, gallantry, and presents +had not failed to attach the child to the agreeable and liberal visitor +she had been taught to regard as a relation. It was only as she grew up +to womanhood, and learned to comprehend the nature of the tie between +them, that she shrank from his familiarity; and then only had he learned +to doubt of the fulfilment of his uncle's wish. The last visit had +increased this doubt to a painful apprehension. He saw that he was not +loved; he saw that it required great address, and the absence of happier +rivals, to secure to him the hand of Evelyn; and he cursed the duties +and the schemes which necessarily kept him from her side. He had thought +of persuading Lady Vargrave to let her come to London, where he could be +ever at hand; and as the season was now set in, his representations on +this head would appear sensible and just. But then again this was to +incur greater dangers than those he would avoid. London!--a beauty and +an heiress, in her first _debut_ in London! What formidable admirers +would flock around her! Vargrave shuddered to think of the gay, +handsome, well-dressed, seductive young _elegans_, who might seem, to +a girl of seventeen, suitors far more fascinating than the middle-aged +politician. This was perilous; nor was this all: Lord Vargrave knew that +in London--gaudy, babbling, and remorseless London--all that he could +most wish to conceal from the young lady would be dragged to day. He had +been the lover, not of one, but of a dozen women, for whom he did not +care three straws, but whose favour had served to strengthen him in +society, or whose influence made up for his own want of hereditary +political connections. The manner in which he contrived to shake off +these various Ariadnes, whenever it was advisable, was not the least +striking proof of his diplomatic abilities. He never left them enemies. +According to his own solution of the mystery, he took care never to play +the gallant with Dulcineas under a certain age. "Middle-aged women," he +was wont to say, "are very little different from middle-aged men; they +see things sensibly, and take things coolly." Now Evelyn could not be +three weeks, perhaps three days, in London, without learning of one or +the other of these _liaisons_. What an excuse, if she sought one, to +break with him! Altogether, Lord Vargrave was sorely perplexed, but not +despondent. Evelyn's fortune was more than ever necessary to him, +and Evelyn he was resolved to obtain since to that fortune she was an +indispensable appendage. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + YOU shall be Horace, and Tibullus I.--POPE. + +LORD VARGRAVE was disturbed from his revery by the entrance of the Earl +of Saxingham. + +"You are welcome!" said Lumley, "welcome!--the very man I wished to +see." + +Lord Saxingham, who was scarcely altered since we met with him in the +last series of this work, except that he had grown somewhat paler and +thinner, and that his hair had changed from iron-gray to snow-white, +threw himself in the armchair beside Lumley, and replied,-- + +"Vargrave, it is really unpleasant, our finding ourselves always thus +controlled by our own partisans. I do not understand this new-fangled +policy, this squaring of measures to please the Opposition, and throwing +sops to that many-headed monster called Public Opinion. I am sure it +will end most mischievously." + +"I am satisfied of it," returned Lord Vargrave. "All vigour and union +seem to have left us; and if they carry the ----- question against us, I +know not what is to be done." + +"For my part, I shall resign," said Lord Saxingham, doggedly; "it is the +only alternative left to men of honour." + +"You are wrong; I know another alternative." + +"What is that?" + +"Make a Cabinet of our own. Look ye, my dear lord; you been ill-used; +your high character, your long experience, are treated with contempt. +It is an affront to you--the situation you hold. You, Privy Seal!--you +ought to be Premier; ay, and, if you are ruled by me, Premier you shall +be yet." + +Lord Saxingham coloured, and breathed hard. + +"You have often hinted at this before, Lumley; but you are so partial, +so friendly." + +"Not at all. You saw the leading article in the ----- to-day? That will +be followed up by two evening papers within five hours of this time. We +have strength with the Press, with the Commons, with the Court,--only +let us hold fast together. This ----- question, by which they hope to +get rid of us, shall destroy them. You shall be Prime Minister before +the year is over--by Heaven, you shall!--and then, I suppose, I too may +be admitted to the Cabinet!" + +"But how?--how, Lumley? You are too rash, too daring." + +"It has not been my fault hitherto,--but boldness is caution in our +circumstances. If they throw us out now, I see the inevitable march of +events,--we shall be out for years, perhaps for life. The Cabinet will +recede more and more from our principles, our party. Now is the time for +a determined stand; now can we make or mar ourselves. I will not +resign; the king is with us; our strength shall be known. These haughty +imbeciles shall fall into the trap they have dug for us." + +Lumley spoke warmly, and with the confidence of a mind firmly assured +of success. Lord Saxingham was moved; bright visions flashed across +him,--the premiership, a dukedom. Yet he was old and childless, and his +honours would die with the last lord of Saxingham! + +"See," continued Lumley, "I have calculated our resources as accurately +as an electioneering agent would cast up the list of voters. In the +Press, I have secured ----- and -----, and in the Commons we have the +subtle -----, and the vigour of -----, and the popular name of -----, +and all the boroughs of -----; in the Cabinet we have -----, and at +Court you know our strength. Let us choose our moment; a sudden _coup_, +an interview with the king, statement of our conscientious scruples to +this atrocious measure. I know the vain, stiff mind of the premier; _he_ +will lose temper, he will tender his resignation; to his astonishment, +it will be accepted. You will be sent for; we will dissolve parliament; +we will strain every nerve in the elections; we shall succeed, I know +we shall. But be silent in the meanwhile, be cautious: let not a word +escape you, let them think us beaten; lull suspicion asleep; let us +lament our weakness, and hint, only hint at our resignation, but with +assurances of continued support. I know how to blind them, if you leave +it to me." + +The weak mind of the old earl was as a puppet in the hands of his bold +kinsman. He feared one moment, hoped another; now his ambition was +flattered, now his sense of honour was alarmed. There was something in +Lumley's intrigue to oust the government with which he served that had +an appearance of cunning and baseness, of which Lord Saxingham, whose +personal character was high, by no means approved. But Vargrave talked +him over with consummate address, and when they parted, the earl carried +his head two inches higher,--he was preparing himself for his rise in +life. + +"That is well! that is well!" said Lumley, rubbing his hands when he was +left alone: "the old driveller will be my _locum tenens_, till years and +renown enable me to become his successor. Meanwhile, I shall be really +what he will be in name." + +Here Lord Vargrave's well-fed servant, now advanced to the dignity of +own gentleman and house-steward, entered the room with a letter; it +had a portentous look; it was wafered, the paper was blue, the hand +clerklike, there was no envelope; it bore its infernal origin on the +face of it,--IT WAS A DUN'S. + +Lumley opened the epistle with an impatient pshaw! The man, a +silversmith (Lumley's plate was much admired!) had applied for years +in vain; the amount was large, and execution was threatened! An +execution!--it is a trifle to a rich man; but no trifle to one suspected +of being poor, one straining at that very moment at so high an object, +one to whom public opinion was so necessary, one who knew that nothing +but his title, and scarcely that, saved him from the reputation of an +adventurer! He must again have recourse to the money-lenders,--his +small estate was long since too deeply mortgaged to afford new security. +Usury, usury, again!--he knew its price, and he sighed--but what was to +be done? + +"It is but for a few months, a few months, and Evelyn must be mine. +Saxingham has already lent me what he can; but he is embarrassed. This +d-----d office, what a tax it is! and the rascals say we are too well +paid! I, too, who could live happy in a garret, if this purse-proud +England would but allow one to exist within one's income. My +fellow-trustee, the banker, my uncle's old correspondent--all, well +thought of! He knows the conditions of the will; he knows that, at +the worst, I must have thirty thousand pounds, if I live a few months +longer. I will go to him." + + + +CHAPTER III. + + ANIMUM nunc hoc celerem, nunc dividit illuc.*--VIRGIL. + + * "Now this, now that, distracts the active mind." + +THE late Mr. Templeton had been a banker in a provincial town, which was +the centre of great commercial and agricultural activity and enterprise. +He had made the bulk of his fortune in the happy days of paper currency +and war. Besides his country bank he had a considerable share in a +metropolitan one of some eminence. At the time of his marriage with the +present Lady Vargrave he retired altogether from business, and never +returned to the place in which his wealth had been amassed. He had still +kept up a familiar acquaintance with the principal and senior partner +of the metropolitan bank I have referred to; for he was a man who always +loved to talk about money matters with those who understood them. +This gentleman, Mr. Gustavus Douce, had been named, with Lumley, joint +trustee to Evelyn's fortune. They had full powers to invest it in +whatever stock seemed most safe or advantageous. The trustees appeared +well chosen, as one, being destined to share the fortune, would have +the deepest interest in its security; and the other, from his habits and +profession, would be a most excellent adviser. + +Of Mr. Douce, Lord Vargrave had seen but little; they were not thrown +together. But Lord Vargrave, who thought every rich man might, some +time or other, become a desirable acquaintance, regularly asked him once +every year to dinner; and twice in return he had dined with Mr. Douce, +in one of the most splendid villas, and off some of the most splendid +plate it had ever been his fortune to witness and to envy!--so that +the little favour he was about to ask was but a slight return for Lord +Vargrave's condescension. + +He found the banker in his private sanctum, his carriage at the door; +for it was just four o'clock, an hour in which Mr. Douce regularly +departed to Caserta, as his aforesaid villa was somewhat affectedly +styled. + +Mr. Douce was a small man, a nervous man; he did not seem quite master +of his own limbs: when he bowed he seemed to be making you a present of +his legs; when he sat down, he twitched first on one side, then on the +other, thrust his hands into his pockets, then took them out, and looked +at them, as if in astonishment, then seized upon a pen, by which they +were luckily provided with incessant occupation. Meanwhile, there was +what might fairly be called a constant play of countenance: first he +smiled, then looked grave; now raised his eyebrows, till they rose like +rainbows, to the horizon of his pale, straw-coloured hair; and next +darted them down, like an avalanche, over the twinkling, restless, +fluttering, little blue eyes, which then became almost invisible. Mr. +Douce had, in fact, all the appearance of a painfully shy man, which +was the more strange, as he had the reputation of enterprise, and even +audacity, in the business of his profession, and was fond of the society +of the great. + +"I have called on you, my dear sir," said Lord Vargrave, after the +preliminary salutations, "to ask a little favour, which, if the least +inconvenient, have no hesitation in refusing. You know how I am situated +with regard to my ward, Miss Cameron; in a few months I hope she will be +Lady Vargrave." + +Mr. Douce showed three small teeth, which were all that, in the front of +his mouth, fate had left him; and then, as if alarmed at the indelicacy +of a smile upon such a subject, pushed back his chair, and twitched up +his blotting-paper-coloured trousers. + +"Yes, in a few months I hope she will be Lady Vargrave; and you know +then, Mr. Douce, that I shall be in no want of money." + +"I hope--that is to say, I am sure,--that--I trust that never will +be the ca-ca-case with your lordship," put in Mr. Douce, with timid +hesitation. Mr. Douce, in addition to his other good qualities, +stammered much in the delivery of his sentences. + +"You are very kind, but it is the case just at present; I have great +need of a few thousand pounds upon my personal security. My estate +is already a little mortgaged, and I don't wish to encumber it more; +besides, the loan would be merely temporary. You know that if at the age +of eighteen Miss Cameron refuses me (a supposition out of the question, +but in business we must calculate on improbabilities), I claim the +forfeit she incurs,--thirty thousand pounds; you remember." + +"Oh, yes--that--is--upon my word--I--I don't exactly--but--your +lord--l-l-l-lord-lordship knows best--I have been so--so busy--I forget +the exact--hem--hem!" + +"If you just turn to the will you will see it is as I say. Now, could +you conveniently place a few thousands to my account, just for a short +time? But I see you don't like it. Never mind, I can get it elsewhere; +only, as you were my poor uncle's friend--" + +"Your lord--l-l-l-lordship is quite mistaken," said Mr. Douce, with +trembling agitation; "upon my word, yes, a few thou-thou-thousands--to +be sure--to be sure. Your lordship's banker is--is--" + +"Drummond--disagreeable people--by no means obliging. I shall certainly +change to your house when my accounts are better worth keeping." + +"You do me great--great honour; I will just--step--step--step out for +a moment--and--and speak to Mr. Dobs;--not but what you may depend +on.--Excuse me! 'Morning Chron-chron-Chronicle,' my lord!" + +Mr. Douce rose, as if by galvanism, and ran out of the room, spinning +round as he ran, to declare, again and again, that he would not be gone +a moment. + +"Good little fellow, that--very like an electrified frog!" murmured +Vargrave, as he took up the "Morning Chronicle," so especially pointed +out to his notice; and turning to the leading article, read a very +eloquent attack on himself. Lumley was thick-skinned on such matters; he +liked to be attacked,--it showed that he was up in the world. + +Presently Mr. Douce returned. To Lord Vargrave's amazement and delight, +he was informed that 10,000 pounds would be immediately lodged with +Messrs. Drummond. His bill of promise to pay in three months--five per +cent interest--was quite sufficient. Three months was a short date; but +the bill could be renewed on the same terms, from quarter to quarter, +till quite convenient to his lordship to pay. "Would Lord Vargrave do +him the honour to dine with him at Caserta next Monday?" + +Lord Vargrave tried to affect apathy at his sudden accession of ready +money, but really it almost turned his head; he griped both Mr. Douce's +thin, little shivering hands, and was speechless with gratitude and +ecstasy. The sum, which doubled the utmost he expected, would relieve +him from all his immediate embarrassments. When he recovered his voice, +he thanked his dear Mr. Douce with a warmth that seemed to make the +little man shrink into a nutshell; and assured him that he would dine +with him every Monday in the year--if he was asked! He then longed to +depart; but he thought, justly, that to go as soon as he had got what he +wanted would look selfish. Accordingly, he reseated himself, and so did +Mr. Douce, and the conversation turned upon politics and news; but Mr. +Douce, who seemed to regard all things with a commercial eye, contrived, +Vargrave hardly knew how, to veer round from the change in the French +ministry to the state of the English money-market. + +"It really is, indeed, my lord--I say it, I am sure, with concern, a +very bad ti-ti-ti-ti-time for men in business,--indeed, for all men; +such poor interest in the English fu-fun-funds, and yet speculations are +so unsound. I recommended my friend Sir Giles Grimsby to--to invest some +money in the American canals; a most rare res-res-respons-reponsibility, +I may say, for me; I am cautious in--in recommending--but Sir Giles was +an old friend,--con-con-connection, I may say; but most providentially, +all turned out--that is--fell out--as I was sure it would,--thirty per +cent,--and the value of the sh-sh-sh-shares doubled. But such things are +very rare,--quite godsends, I may say!" + +"Well, Mr. Douce, whenever I have money to lay out, I must come and +consult you." + +"I shall be most happy at all times to--to advise your lordship; but it +is not a thing I'm very fond of. There's Miss Cameron's fortune quite +l-l-locked up,--three per cents and exchequer bills; why, it might have +been a mil-mil-million by this ti-ti-time, if the good old gentleman--I +beg pardon--old--old nobleman, my poor dear friend, had been now alive!" + +"Indeed!" said Lumley, greedily, and pricking up his ears; "he was a +good manager, my uncle!" + +"None better, none better. I may say a genius for busi--hem-hem! Miss +Cameron a young woman of bus-bus-business, my lord?" + +"Not much of that, I fear. A million, did you say?" + +"At least!--indeed, at least--money so scarce, speculation so sure +in America; great people the Americans, rising people, +gi-gi-giants--giants!" + +"I am wasting your whole morning,--too bad in me," said Vargrave, as the +clock struck five; "the Lords meet this evening,--important business; +once more a thousand thanks to you; good day." + +"A very good day to you, my lord; don't mention it; glad at any time to +ser-ser-serve you," said Mr. Douce, fidgeting, curveting, and prancing +round Lord Vargrave, as the latter walked through the outer office to +the carriage. + +"Not a step more; you will catch cold. Good-by--on Monday, then, seven +o'clock. The House of Lords." + +And Lumley threw himself back in his carriage in high spirits. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + OUBLIE de Tullie, et brave du Senat.* + VOLTAIRE: _Brutus_, Act ii. sc. 1. + + * "Forgotten by Tully and bullied by the Senate." + +IN the Lords that evening the discussion was animated and prolonged,--it +was the last party debate of the session. The astute Opposition did not +neglect to bring prominently, though incidentally, forward the question +on which it was whispered that there existed some growing difference in +the Cabinet. Lord Vargrave rose late. His temper was excited by the good +fortune of his day's negotiation; he felt himself of more importance +than usual, as a needy man is apt to do when he has got a large sum at +his banker's; moreover, he was exasperated by some personal allusions to +himself, which had been delivered by a dignified old lord who dated his +family from the ark, and was as rich as Croesus. Accordingly, Vargrave +spoke with more than his usual vigour. His first sentences were welcomed +with loud cheers; he warmed, he grew vehement, he uttered the most +positive and unalterable sentiments upon the question alluded to, he +greatly transgressed the discretion which the heads of his party were +desirous to maintain,--instead of conciliating without compromising, he +irritated, galled, _and_ compromised. The angry cheers of the opposite +party were loudly re-echoed by the cheers of the more hot-headed on his +own side. The premier and some of his colleagues observed, however, a +moody silence. The premier once took a note, and then reseated himself, +and drew his hat more closely over his brows. It was an ominous sign +for Lumley; but he was looking the Opposition in the face, and did not +observe it. He sat down in triumph; he had made a most effective and a +most mischievous speech,--a combination extremely common. The leader of +the Opposition replied to him with bitter calmness; and when citing some +of his sharp sentences, he turned to the premier, and asked, "Are these +opinions those also of the noble lord? I call for a reply,--I have a +right to demand a reply," Lumley was startled to hear the tone in which +his chief uttered the comprehensive and significant "_Hear, hear_!" + +At midnight the premier wound up the debate; his speech was short, and +characterized by moderation. He came to the question put to him. The +House was hushed,--you might have heard a pin drop; the Commoners +behind the throne pressed forward with anxiety and eagerness on their +countenances. + +"I am called upon," said the minister, "to declare if those sentiments, +uttered by my noble friend, are mine also, as the chief adviser of +the Crown. My lords, in the heat of debate every word is not to +be scrupulously weighed, and rigidly interpreted." ("Hear, hear," +ironically from the Opposition, approvingly from the Treasury benches.) +"My noble friend will doubtless be anxious to explain what he intended +to say. I hope, nay, I doubt not, that his explanation will be +satisfactory to the noble lord, to the House, and to the country; but +since I am called upon for a distinct reply to a distinct interrogatory, +I will say at once, that if those sentiments be rightly interpreted by +the noble lord who spoke last, those sentiments are not mine, and +will never animate the conduct of any cabinet of which I am a member." +(Long-continued cheering from the Opposition.) "At the same time, I am +convinced that my noble friend's meaning has not been rightly construed; +and till I hear from himself to the contrary, I will venture to state +what I think he designed to convey to your lordships." Here the premier, +with a tact that nobody could be duped by, but every one could admire, +stripped Lord Vargrave's unlucky sentences of every syllable that could +give offence to any one; and left the pointed epigrams and vehement +denunciations a most harmless arrangement of commonplace. + +The House was much excited; there was a call for Lord Vargrave, and Lord +Vargrave promptly rose. It was one of those dilemmas out of which Lumley +was just the man to extricate himself with address. There was so much +manly frankness in his manner, there was so much crafty subtlety in +his mind! He complained, with proud and honest bitterness, of the +construction that had been forced upon his words by the Opposition. +"If," he added (and no man knew better the rhetorical effect of the _tu +quoque_ form of argument),--"if every sentence uttered by the noble +lord opposite in his zeal for liberty had, in days now gone by, been +construed with equal rigour, or perverted with equal ingenuity, that +noble lord had long since been prosecuted as an incendiary, perhaps +executed as a traitor!" Vehement cheers from the ministerial benches; +cries of "Order!" from the Opposition. A military lord rose to order, +and appealed to the Woolsack. + +Lumley sat down as if chafed at the interruption; he had produced the +effect he had desired,--he had changed the public question at issue into +a private quarrel; a new excitement was created; dust was thrown into +the eyes of the House. Several speakers rose to accommodate matters; and +after half-an-hour of public time had been properly wasted, the noble +lord on the one side and the noble lord on the other duly explained, +paid each other the highest possible compliments, and Lumley was left to +conclude his vindication, which now seemed a comparatively flat matter +after the late explosion. He completed his task so as to satisfy, +apparently, all parties--for all parties were now tired of the thing, +and wanted to go to bed. But the next morning there were whispers about +the town, articles in the different papers, evidently by authority, +rejoicings among the Opposition, and a general feeling that though the +Government might keep together that session, its dissensions would break +out before the next meeting of parliament. + +As Lumley was wrapping himself in his cloak after this stormy debate, +the Marquess of Raby--a peer of large possessions, and one who entirely +agreed with Lumley's views--came up to him, and proposed that they +should go home together in Lord Raby's carriage. Vargrave willingly +consented, and dismissed his own servants. + +"You did that admirably, my dear Vargrave!" said Lord Raby, when they +were seated in the carriage. "I quite coincide in all your sentiments; +I declare my blood boiled when I heard ----- [the premier] appear half +inclined to throw you over. Your hit upon ----- was first-rate,--he will +not get over it for a month; and you extricated yourself well." + +"I am glad you approve my conduct,--it comforts me," said Vargrave, +feelingly; "at the same time I see all the consequences; but I can brave +all for the sake of character and conscience." + +"I feel just as you do!" replied Lord Raby, with some warmth; "and if I +thought that ----- meant to yield to this question, I should certainly +oppose his administration." + +Vargrave shook his head, and held his tongue, which gave Lord Raby a +high idea of his discretion. + +After a few more observations on political matters, Lord Raby invited +Lumley to pay him a visit at his country-seat. + +"I am going to Knaresdean next Monday; you know we have races in the +park, and really they are sometimes good sport; at all events, it is a +very pretty sight. There will be nothing in the Lords now,--the recess +is just at hand; and if you can spare the time, Lady Raby and myself +will be delighted to see you." + +"You may be sure, my dear lord, I cannot refuse your invitation; indeed, +I intended to visit your county next week. You know, perhaps, a Mr. +Merton." + +"Charles Merton?--to be sure; most respectable man, capital fellow, +the best parson in the county,--no cant, but thoroughly orthodox; he +certainly keeps in his brother, who, though a very active member, is +what I call a waverer on certain questions. Have you known Merton long?" + +"I don't know him at all as yet; my acquaintance is with his wife +and daughter,--a very fine girl, by the by. My ward, Miss Cameron, is +staying with them." + +"Miss Cameron! Cameron--ah, I understand. I think I have heard that--But +gossip does not always tell the truth!" + +Lumley smiled significantly, and the carriage now stopped at his door. + +"Perhaps you will take a seat in our carriage on Monday?" said Lord +Raby. + +"Monday? Unhappily I am engaged; but on Tuesday your lordship may expect +me." + +"Very well; the races begin on Wednesday: we shall have a full house. +Good-night." + + + +CHAPTER V. + + HOMUNCULI quanti sunt, cum recogito.*--PLAUTUS. + + * "When I reflect, how great your little men are in their own + consideration!" + +IT is obvious that for many reasons we must be brief upon the political +intrigue in which the scheming spirit of Lord Vargrave was employed. +It would, indeed, be scarcely possible to preserve the necessary medium +between too plain a revelation and too complex a disguise. It suffices, +therefore, very shortly to repeat what the reader has already gathered +from what has gone before; namely, that the question at issue was one +which has happened often enough in all governments,--one on which the +Cabinet was divided, and in which the weaker party was endeavouring to +out-trick the stronger. + +The malcontents, foreseeing that sooner or later the head of the +gathering must break, were again divided among themselves whether +to resign, or to stay in and strive to force a resignation on their +dissentient colleagues. The richer and the more honest were for the +former course; the poorer and the more dependent for the latter. We +have seen that the latter policy was that espoused and recommended by +Vargrave, who, though not in the Cabinet, always contrived somehow or +other to worm out its secrets. At the same time he by no means rejected +the other string to his bow. If it were possible so to arrange and +to strengthen his faction, that, by the _coup d'etat_ of a sudden +resignation in a formidable body, the whole Government might be broken +up, and a new one formed from among the resignees, it would obviously be +the best plan. But then Lord Vargrave was doubtful of his own strength, +and fearful to play into the hands of his colleagues, who might be able +to stand even better without himself and his allies, and by conciliating +the Opposition take a step onward in political movement,--which might +leave Vargrave placeless and powerless for years to come. + +He repented his own rashness in the recent debate, which was, indeed, a +premature boldness that had sprung out of momentary excitement--for the +craftiest orator must be indiscreet sometimes. He spent the next few +days in alternately seeking to explain away to one party, and to sound, +unite, and consolidate the other. His attempts in the one quarter were +received by the premier with the cold politeness of an offended but +careful statesman, who believed just as much as he chose, and preferred +taking his own opportunity for a breach with a subordinate to risking +any imprudence by the gratification of resentment. In the last quarter, +the penetrating adventurer saw that his ground was more insecure than +he had anticipated. He perceived in dismay and secret rage that many +of those most loud in his favour while he was with the Government would +desert him the soonest if thrown out. Liked as a subordinate minister, +he was viewed with very different eyes the moment it was a question +whether, instead of cheering his sentiments, men should trust themselves +to his guidance. Some did not wish to displease the Government; others +did not seek to weaken but to correct them. One of his stanchest +allies in the Commons was a candidate for a peerage; another suddenly +remembered that he was second cousin to the premier. Some laughed at +the idea of a puppet premier in Lord Saxingham; others insinuated to +Vargrave that he himself was not precisely of that standing in the +country which would command respect to a new party, of which, if not the +head, he would be the mouthpiece. For themselves they knew, admired, and +trusted him; but those d-----d country gentlemen--and the dull public! + +Alarmed, wearied, and disgusted, the schemer saw himself reduced to +submission, for the present at least; and more than ever he felt the +necessity of Evelyn's fortune to fall back upon, if the chance of +the cards should rob him of his salary. He was glad to escape for a +breathing-while from the vexations and harassments that beset him, +and looked forward with the eager interest of a sanguine and elastic +mind--always escaping from one scheme to another--to his excursion into +B-----shire. + +At the villa of Mr. Douce, Lord Vargrave met a young nobleman who had +just succeeded to a property not only large and unencumbered, but of a +nature to give him importance in the eyes of politicians. Situated in +a very small county, the estates of Lord Doltimore secured to his +nomination at least one of the representatives, while a little village +at the back of his pleasure-grounds constituted a borough, and returned +two members to parliament. Lord Doltimore, just returned from the +Continent, had not even taken his seat in the Lords; and though his +family connections, such as they were--and they were not very high, and +by no means in the fashion--were ministerial, his own opinions were as +yet unrevealed. + +To this young nobleman Lord Vargrave was singularly attentive. He +was well formed to attract men younger than himself, and he eminently +succeeded in his designs upon Lord Doltimore's affection. + +His lordship was a small, pale man, with a very limited share of +understanding, supercilious in manner, elaborate in dress, not +ill-natured _au fond_, and with much of the English gentleman in his +disposition,--that is, he was honourable in his ideas and actions, +whenever his natural dulness and neglected education enabled him clearly +to perceive (through the midst of prejudices, the delusions of others, +and the false lights of the dissipated society in which he had lived) +what was right and what wrong. But his leading characteristics were +vanity and conceit. He had lived much with younger sons, cleverer than +himself, who borrowed his money, sold him their horses, and won from +him at cards. In return they gave him all that species of flattery which +young men _can_ give with so hearty an appearance of cordial admiration. +"You certainly have the best horses in Paris. You are really a devilish +good fellow, Doltimore. Oh, do you know, Doltimore, what little Desire +says of you? You have certainly turned the girl's head." + +This sort of adulation from one sex was not corrected by any great +acerbity from the other. Lord Doltimore at the age of twenty-two was a +very good _parti_; and, whatever his other deficiencies, he had sense +enough to perceive that he received much greater attention--whether from +opera-dancers in search of a friend, or virtuous young ladies in search +of a husband--than any of the companions, good-looking though many of +them were, with whom he had habitually lived. + +"You will not long remain in town now the season is over?" said +Vargrave, as after dinner he found himself, by the departure of the +ladies, next to Lord Doltimore. + +"No, indeed; even in the season I don't much like London. Paris has +rather spoiled me for any other place." + +"Paris is certainly very charming; the ease of French life has a +fascination that our formal ostentation wants. Nevertheless, to a man +like you, London must have many attractions." + +"Why, I have a good many friends here; but still, after Ascot, it rather +bores me." + +"Have you any horses on the turf?" + +"Not yet; but Legard (you know Legard, perhaps,--a very good fellow) is +anxious that I should try my luck. I was very fortunate in the races at +Paris--you know we have established racing there. The French take to it +quite naturally." + +"Ah, indeed! It is so long since I have been in Paris--most exciting +amusement! _A propos_ of races, I am going down to Lord Raby's +to-morrow; I think I saw in one of the morning papers that you had very +largely backed a horse entered at Knaresdean." + +"Yes, Thunderer--I think of buying Thunderer. Legard--Colonel Legard (he +was in the Guards, but he sold out)--is a good judge, and recommends the +purchase. How very odd that you too should be going to Knaresdean!" + +"Odd, indeed, but most lucky! We can go together, if you are not better +engaged." + +Lord Doltimore coloured and hesitated. On the one hand he was a little +afraid of being alone with so clever a man; on the other hand, it was +an honour,--it was something for him to talk of to Legard. Nevertheless, +the shyness got the better of the vanity. He excused himself; he feared +he was engaged to take down Legard. + +Lumley smiled, and changed the conversation; and so agreeable did he +make himself, that when the party broke up, and Lumley had just shaken +hands with his host, Doltimore came to him, and said in a little +confusion,-- + +"I think I can put off Legard--if--if you--" + +"That's delightful! What time shall we start?--need not get down much +before dinner--one o'clock?" + +"Oh, yes! not too long before dinner; one o'clock will be a little too +early." + +"Two then. Where are you staying?" + +"At Fenton's." + +"I will call for you. Good-night! I long to see Thunderer!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + LA sante de l'ame n'est pas plus assuree que celle du corps; + et quoique l'on paraisse eloigne des passions, on n'est pas + moins en danger de s'y laisser emporter que de tomber malade + quand on se porte bien.*--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. + + * "The health of the soul is not more sure than that of the + body; and although we may appear free from passions, there + is not the less danger of their attack than of falling sick + at the moment we are well." + +IN spite of the efforts of Maltravers to shun all occasions of meeting +Evelyn, they were necessarily sometimes thrown together in the round +of provincial hospitalities; and certainly, if either Mr. Merton +or Caroline (the shrewder observer of the two) had ever formed any +suspicion that Evelyn had made a conquest of Maltravers, his manner at +such times effectually removed it. + +Maltravers was a man to feel deeply, but no longer a boy to yield to +every tempting impulse. I have said that FORTITUDE was his favourite +virtue, but fortitude is the virtue of great and rare occasions; there +was another, equally hard-favoured and unshowy, which he took as the +staple of active and every-day duties, and that virtue was JUSTICE. Now, +in earlier life, he had been enamoured of the conventional Florimel that +we call HONOUR,--a shifting and shadowy phantom, that is but the reflex +of the opinion of the time and clime. But justice has in it something +permanent and solid; and out of justice arises the real not the false +honour. + +"Honour!" said Maltravers,--"honour is to justice as the flower to the +plant,--its efflorescence, its bloom, its consummation! But honour +that does not spring from justice is but a piece of painted rag, an +artificial rose, which the men-milliners of society would palm upon us +as more natural than the true." + +This principle of justice Maltravers sought to carry out in all +things--not, perhaps, with constant success; for what practice can +always embody theory?--but still, at least his endeavour at success +was constant. This, perhaps, it was which had ever kept him from the +excesses to which exuberant and liberal natures are prone, from the +extravagances of pseudo-genius. + +"No man, for instance," he was wont to say, "can be embarrassed in +his own circumstances, and not cause embarrassment to others. Without +economy, who can be just? And what are charity, generosity, but the +poetry and the beauty of justice?" + +No man ever asked Maltravers twice for a just debt; and no man ever once +asked him to fulfil a promise. You felt that, come what would, you might +rely upon his word. To him might have been applied the witty eulogium +passed by Johnson upon a certain nobleman: "If he had promised you an +acorn, and the acorn season failed in England, he would have sent to +Norway for one!" + +It was not, therefore, the mere Norman and chivalrous spirit of honour, +which he had worshipped in youth as a part of the Beautiful and the +Becoming, but which in youth had yielded to temptation, as a _sentiment_ +ever must yield to a passion, but it was the more hard, stubborn, and +reflective _principle_, which was the later growth of deeper and nobler +wisdom, that regulated the conduct of Maltravers in this crisis of +his life. Certain it is, that he had never but once loved as he loved +Evelyn; and yet that he never yielded so little to the passion. + +"If engaged to another," thought he, "that engagement it is not for +a third person to attempt to dissolve. I am the last to form a right +judgment of the strength or weakness of the bonds which unite her to +Vargrave, for my emotions would prejudice me despite myself. I may fancy +that her betrothed is not worthy of her,--but that is for her to decide. +While the bond lasts, who can be justified in tempting her to break it?" + +Agreeably to these notions, which the world may, perhaps, consider +overstrained, whenever Maltravers met Evelyn, he intrenched himself in +a rigid and almost a chilling formality. How difficult this was with one +so simple and ingenuous! Poor Evelyn! she thought she had offended him; +she longed to ask him her offence,--perhaps, in her desire to rouse +his genius into exertion, she had touched some secret sore, some latent +wound of the memory? She recalled all their conversations again and +again. Ah, why could they not be renewed? Upon her fancy and her +thoughts Maltravers had made an impression not to be obliterated. +She wrote more frequently than ever to Lady Vargrave, and the name of +Maltravers was found in every page of her correspondence. + +One evening, at the house of a neighbour, Miss Cameron (with the +Mertons) entered the room almost in the same instant as Maltravers. The +party was small, and so few had yet arrived that it was impossible +for Maltravers, without marked rudeness, to avoid his friends from the +rectory; and Mrs. Merton, placing herself next to Evelyn, graciously +motioned to Maltravers to occupy the third vacant seat on the sofa, of +which she filled the centre. + +"We grudge all your improvements, Mr. Maltravers, since they cost us +your society. But we know that our dull circle must seem tame to one who +has seen so much. However, we expect to offer you an inducement soon in +Lord Vargrave. What a lively, agreeable person he is!" + +Maltravers raised his eyes to Evelyn, calmly and penetratingly, at the +latter part of this speech. He observed that she turned pale, and sighed +involuntarily. + +"He had great spirits when I knew him," said he; "and he had then less +cause to make him happy." + +Mrs. Merton smiled, and turned rather pointedly towards Evelyn. + +Maltravers continued, "I never met the late lord. He had none of the +vivacity of his nephew, I believe." + +"I have heard that he was very severe," said Mrs. Merton, lifting her +glass towards a party that had just entered. + +"Severe!" exclaimed Evelyn. "Ah, if you could have known him! the +kindest, the most indulgent--no one ever loved me as he did." She +paused, for she felt her lip quiver. + +"I beg your pardon, my dear," said Mrs. Merton, coolly. Mrs. Merton had +no idea of the pain inflicted by _treading upon a feeling_. Maltravers +was touched, and Mrs. Merton went on. "No wonder he was kind to you, +Evelyn,--a brute would be that; but he was generally considered a stern +man." + +"I never saw a stern look, I never heard a harsh word; nay, I do not +remember that he ever even used the word 'command,'" said Evelyn, almost +angrily. + +Mrs. Merton was about to reply, when suddenly seeing a lady whose little +girl had been ill of the measles, her motherly thoughts flowed into a +new channel, and she fluttered away in that sympathy which unites all +the heads of a growing family. Evelyn and Maltravers were left alone. + +"You do not remember your father, I believe?" said Maltravers. + +"No father but Lord Vargrave; while he lived, I never knew the loss of +one." + +"Does your mother resemble you?" + +"Ah, I wish I could think so; it is the sweetest countenance!" + +"Have you no picture of her?" + +"None; she would never consent to sit." + +"Your father was a Cameron; I have known some of that name." + +"No relation of ours: my mother says we have none living." + +"And have we no chance of seeing Lady Vargrave in B-----shire?" + +"She never leaves home; but I hope to return soon to Brook-Green." + +Maltravers sighed, and the conversation took a new turn. + +"I have to thank you for the books you so kindly sent; I ought to have +returned them ere this," said Evelyn. + +"I have no use for them. Poetry has lost its charm for me,--especially +that species of poetry which unites with the method and symmetry +something of the coldness of Art. How did you like Alfieri?" + +"His language is a kind of Spartan French," answered Evelyn, in one of +those happy expressions which every now and then showed the quickness of +her natural talent. + +"Yes," said Maltravers, smiling, "the criticism is acute. Poor Alfieri! +in his wild life and his stormy passions he threw out all the redundance +of his genius; and his poetry is but the representative of his thoughts, +not his emotions. Happier the man of genius who lives upon his reason, +and wastes feeling only on his verse!" + +"You do not think that we _waste_ feeling upon human beings?" said +Evelyn, with a pretty laugh. + +"Ask me that question when you have reached my years, and can look +upon fields on which you have lavished your warmest hopes, your noblest +aspirations, your tenderest affections, and see the soil all profitless +and barren. 'Set not your heart on the things of earth,' saith the +Preacher." + +Evelyn was affected by the tone, the words, and the melancholy +countenance of the speaker. "You, of all men, ought not to think thus," +said she, with a sweet eagerness; "you who have done so much to awaken +and to soften the heart in others; you--who--" she stopped short, and +added, more gravely. "Ah, Mr. Maltravers, I cannot reason with you, but +I can hope you will refute your own philosophy." + +"Were your wish fulfilled," answered Maltravers, almost with sternness, +and with an expression of great pain in his compressed lips, "I should +have to thank you for much misery." He rose abruptly, and turned away. + +"How have I offended him?" thought Evelyn, sorrowfully; "I never speak +but to wound him. What _have_ I done?" + +She could have wished, in her simple kindness, to follow him, and make +peace; but he was now in a coterie of strangers; and shortly afterwards +he left the room, and she did not see him again for weeks. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + NIHIL est aliud magnum quam multa minuta.*--VETUS. AUCTOR. + + * "There is nothing so great as the collection of the minute." + +AN anxious event disturbed the smooth current of cheerful life at Merton +Rectory. One morning when Evelyn came down, she missed little Sophy, +who had contrived to establish for herself the undisputed privilege of +a stool beside Miss Cameron at breakfast. Mrs. Merton appeared with +a graver face than usual. Sophy was unwell, was feverish; the scarlet +fever had been in the neighbourhood. Mrs. Merton was very uneasy. + +"It is the more unlucky, Caroline," added the mother, turning to Miss +Merton, "because to-morrow, you know, we were to have spent a few days +at Knaresdean to see the races. If poor Sophy does not get better, I +fear you and Miss Cameron must go without me. I can send to Mrs. Hare to +be your chaperon; she would be delighted." + +"Poor Sophy!" said Caroline; "I am very sorry to hear she is unwell; but +I think Taylor would take great care of her; you surely need not stay, +unless she is much worse." + +Mrs. Merton, who, tame as she seemed, was a fond and attentive mother, +shook her head and said nothing; but Sophy was much worse before noon. +The doctor was sent for, and pronounced it to be the scarlet fever. + +It was now necessary to guard against the infection. Caroline had had +the complaint, and she willingly shared in her mother's watch of love +for two or three hours. Mrs. Merton gave up the party. Mrs. Hare (the +wife of a rich squire in the neighbourhood) was written to, and that +lady willingly agreed to take charge of Caroline and her friend. + +Sophy had been left asleep. When Mrs. Merton returned to her bed, she +found Evelyn quietly stationed there. This alarmed her, for Evelyn had +never had the scarlet fever, and had been forbidden the sick-room. But +poor little Sophy had waked and querulously asked for her dear Evy; and +Evy, who had been hovering round the room, heard the inquiry from the +garrulous nurse, and come in she would; and the child gazed at her so +beseechingly, when Mrs. Merton entered, and said so piteously, "Don't +take Evy away," that Evelyn stoutly declared that she was not the least +afraid of infection, and stay she must. Nay, her share in the nursing +would be the more necessary since Caroline was to go to Knaresdean the +next day. + +"But you go too, my dear Miss Cameron?" + +"Indeed I could not. I don't care for races, I never wished to go, I +would much sooner have stayed; and I am sure Sophy will not get well +without me,--will you, dear?" + +"Oh, yes, yes; if I'm to keep you from the nice races, I should be worse +if I thought that." + +"But I don't like the nice races, Sophy, as your sister Carry does; she +must go,--they can't do without her; but nobody knows me, so I shall not +be missed." + +"I can't hear of such a thing," said Mrs. Merton, with tears in her +eyes; and Evelyn said no more then. But the next morning Sophy was +still worse, and the mother was too anxious and too sad to think more of +ceremony and politeness, so Evelyn stayed. + +A momentary pang shot across Evelyn's breast when all was settled; but +she suppressed the sigh which accompanied the thought that she had lost +the only opportunity she might have for weeks of seeing Maltravers. +To that chance she had indeed looked forward with interest and timid +pleasure. The chance was lost; but why should it vex her,--what was he +to her? + +Caroline's heart smote her, as she came into the room in her lilac +bonnet and new dress; and little Sophy, turning on her eyes which, +though languid, still expressed a child's pleasure at the sight of +finery, exclaimed, "How nice and pretty you look, Carry! Do take Evy +with you,--Evy looks pretty too!" + +Caroline kissed the child in silence, and paused irresolute; glanced at +her dress, and then at Evelyn, who smiled on her without a thought of +envy; and she had half a mind to stay too, when her mother entered +with a letter from Lord Vargrave. It was short: he should be at the +Knaresdean races, hoped to meet them there, and accompany them home. +This information re-decided Caroline, while it rewarded Evelyn. In a few +minutes more, Mrs. Hare arrived; and Caroline, glad to escape, perhaps, +her own compunction, hurried into the carriage, with a hasty "God bless +you all! Don't fret--I'm sure she will be well to-morrow; and mind, +Evelyn, you don't catch the fever!" Mr. Merton looked grave and sighed, +as he handed her into the carriage; but when, seated there, she +turned round and kissed her hand at him, she looked so handsome and +distinguished, that a sentiment of paternal pride smoothed down his +vexation at her want of feeling. He himself gave up the visit; but a +little time after, when Sophy fell into a tranquil sleep, he thought +he might venture to canter across the country to the race-ground, and +return to dinner. + + + +Days--nay, a whole week passed, the races were over, but Caroline had +not returned. Meanwhile, Sophy's fever left her; she could quit her bed, +her room; she could come downstairs now, and the family was happy. It +is astonishing how the least ailment in those little things stops the +wheels of domestic life! Evelyn fortunately had not caught the fever: +she was pale, and somewhat reduced by fatigue and confinement; but she +was amply repaid by the mother's swimming look of quiet gratitude, the +father's pressure of the hand, Sophy's recovery, and her own good heart. +They had heard twice from Caroline, putting off her return: Lady Raby +was so kind, she could not get away till the party broke up; she was so +glad to hear such an account of Sophy. + +Lord Vargrave had not yet arrived at the rectory to stay; but he had +twice ridden over, and remained there some hours. He exerted himself to +the utmost to please Evelyn; and she--who, deceived by his manners, and +influenced by the recollections of long and familiar acquaintance, was +blinded to his real character--reproached herself more bitterly than +ever for her repugnance to his suit and her ungrateful hesitation to +obey the wishes of her stepfather. + +To the Mertons, Lumley spoke with good-natured praise of Caroline; she +was so much admired; she was the beauty at Knaresdean. A certain young +friend of his, Lord Doltimore, was evidently smitten. The parents +thought much over the ideas conjured up by that last sentence. + +One morning, the garrulous Mrs. Hare, the gossip of the neighbourhood, +called at the rectory; she had returned, two days before, from +Knaresdean; and she, too, had her tale to tell of Caroline's conquests. + +"I assure you, my dear Mrs. Merton, if we had not all known that his +heart was pre-occupied, we should have thought that Lord Vargrave was +her warmest admirer. Most charming man, Lord Vargrave! but as for Lord +Doltimore, it was quite a flirtation. Excuse _me_: no scandal, you know, +ha, ha! a fine young man, but stiff and reserved,--not the fascination +of Lord Vargrave." + +"Does Lord Raby return to town, or is he now at Knaresdean for the +autumn?" + +"He goes on Friday, I believe: very few of the guests are left now. Lady +A. and Lord B., and Lord Vargrave and your daughter, and Mr. Legard and +Lord Doltimore, and Mrs. and the Misses Cipher; all the rest went the +same day I did." + +"Indeed!" said Mrs. Merton, in some surprise. + +"Ah, I read your thoughts: you wonder that Miss Caroline has not come +back,--is not that it? But perhaps Lord Doltimore--ha, ha!--no scandal +now--do excuse _me_!" + +"Was Mr. Maltravers at Knaresdean?" asked Mrs. Merton, anxious to change +the subject, and unprepared with any other question. Evelyn was cutting +out a paper horse for Sophy, who--all her high spirits flown--was lying +on the sofa, and wistfully following her fairy fingers. "Naughty Evy, +you have cut off the horse's head!" + +"Mr. Maltravers? No, I think not; no, he was not there. Lord Raby asked +him pointedly to come, and was, I know, much disappointed that he did +not. But _a propos_ of Mr. Maltravers: I met him not a quarter of an +hour ago, this morning, as I was coming to you. You know we have leave +to come through his park, and as I was in the park at the time, I +stopped the carriage to speak to him. I told him that I was coming +here, and that you had had the scarlet fever in the house, which was +the reason you had not gone to the races; and he turned quite pale, and +seemed so alarmed. I said we were all afraid that Miss Cameron should +catch it; and, excuse me--ah, ah!--no scandal, I hope--but--" + +"Mr. Maltravers," said the butler, throwing open the door. Maltravers +entered with a quick and even a hurried step. He stopped short when he +saw Evelyn; and his whole countenance was instantly lightened up by a +joyous expression, which as suddenly died away. + +"This is kind, indeed," said Mrs. Merton; "it is so long since we have +seen you." + +"I have been very much occupied," muttered Maltravers, almost inaudibly, +and seated himself next Evelyn. "I only just heard--that--that you had +sickness in the house. Miss Cameron, you look pale--you--you have not +suffered, I hope?" + +"No, I am quite well," said Evelyn, with a smile; and she felt happy +that her friend was kind to her once more. + +"It's only me, Mr. Ernest," said Sophy; "you have forgot me." + +Maltravers hastened to vindicate himself from the charge, and Sophy and +he were soon made excellent friends again. Mrs. Hare, whom surprise at +this sudden meeting had hitherto silenced, and who longed to shape into +elegant periphrasis the common adage, "Talk of," etc., now once more +opened her budget. She tattled on, first to one, then to the other, +then to all, till she had tattled herself out of breath; and then the +orthodox half-hour was expired, and the bell was rung, and the carriage +ordered, and Mrs. Hare rose to depart. + +"Do just come to the door, Mrs. Merton," said she, "and look at my +pony-phaeton, it is so pretty; Lady Raby admires it so much; you ought +to have just such another." As she spoke, she favoured Mrs. Merton with +a significant glance, that said, as plainly as glance could say, "I have +something to communicate." Mrs. Merton took the hint, and followed the +good lady out of the room. + +"Do you know, my dear Mrs. Merton," said Mrs. Hare, in a whisper, +when they were safe in the billiard-room, that interposed between the +apartment they had left and the hall; "do you know whether Lord Vargrave +and Mr. Maltravers are very good friends?" + +"No, indeed; why do you ask?" + +"Oh, because when I was speaking to Lord Vargrave about him, he shook +his head; and really I don't remember what his lordship said, but he +seemed to speak as if there was a little soreness. And then he inquired +very anxiously if Mr. Maltravers was much at the rectory; and looked +discomposed when he found you were such near neighbours. You'll excuse +me, you know--ha, ha! but we're such old friends!--and if Lord Vargrave +is coming to stay here, it might be unpleasant to meet--you'll excuse +_me_. I took the liberty to tell him he need not be jealous of Mr. +Maltravers--ha, ha!--not a marrying man at all. But I did think Miss +Caroline was the attraction--you'll excuse me--no scandal--ha, ha! But, +after all, Lord Doltimore must be the man. Well, good morning, I thought +I'd just give you this hint. Is not the phaeton pretty? Kind compliments +to Mr. Merton." + +And the lady drove off. + +During this confabulation, Maltravers and Evelyn were left alone with +Sophy. Maltravers had continued to lean over the child, and appeared +listening to her prattle; while Evelyn, having risen to shake hands with +Mrs. Hare, did not reseat herself, but went to the window, and busied +herself with a flower-stand in the recess. + +"Oh, very fine, Mr. Ernest," said Sophy--(always pronouncing that proper +name as if it ended in _th_), "you care very much for us to stay away so +long,--don't he, Evy? I've a great mind not to speak to you, sir, that I +have!" + +"That would be too heavy a punishment, Miss Sophy, only, +luckily, it would punish yourself; you could not live without +talking--talk--talk--talk!" + +"But I might never have talked more, Mr. Ernest, if Mamma and pretty Evy +had not been so kind to me;" and the child shook her head mournfully, as +if she had _pitie de soi-meme_. "But you won't stay away so long again, +will you? Sophy play to-morrow; come to-morrow, and swing Sophy; no nice +swinging since you've been gone." + +While Sophy spoke Evelyn turned half round, as if to hear Maltravers +answer; he hesitated, and Evelyn spoke. + +"You must not tease Mr. Maltravers so; Mr. Maltravers has too much to do +to come to us." + +Now this was a very pettish speech in Evelyn, and her cheek glowed while +she spoke; but an arch, provoking smile was on her lips. + +"It can be a privation only to me, Miss Cameron," said Maltravers, +rising, and attempting in vain to resist the impulse that drew him +towards the window. The reproach in her tone and words at once pained +and delighted him; and then this scene, the suffering child, brought +back to him his first interview with Evelyn herself. He forgot, for +the moment, the lapse of time, the new ties she had formed, his own +resolutions. + +"That is a bad compliment to us," answered Evelyn, ingenuously; "do +you think we are so little worthy your society as not to value it? +But, perhaps" (she added, sinking her voice) "perhaps you have been +offended--perhaps I--I--said--something that--that hurt you!" + +"You!" repeated Maltravers, with emotion. + +Sophy, who had been attentively listening, here put in, "Shake hands and +make it up with Evy--you've been quarrelling, naughty Ernest!" + +Evelyn laughed, and tossed back her sunny ringlets. "I think Sophy is +right," said she, with enchanting simplicity; "let us make it up," and +she held out her hand to Maltravers. + +Maltravers pressed the fair hand to his lips. "Alas!" said he, affected +with various feelings which gave a tremor to his deep voice, "your only +fault is that your society makes me discontented with my solitary home; +and as solitude must be my fate in life, I seek to inure myself to it +betimes." + +Here--whether opportunely or not, it is for the reader to decide--Mrs. +Merton returned to the room. + +She apologized for her absence, talked of Mrs. Hare and the little +Master Hares,--fine boys, but noisy; and then she asked Maltravers if +he had seen Lord Vargrave since his lordship had been in the county. +Maltravers replied, with coldness, that he had not had that honour: that +Vargrave had called on him in his way from the rectory the other day, +but that he was from home, and that he had not seen him for some years. + +"He is a person of most prepossessing manners," said Mrs. Merton. + +"Certainly,--most prepossessing." + +"And very clever." + +"He has great talents." + +"He seems most amiable." + +Maltravers bowed, and glanced towards Evelyn, whose face, however, was +turned from him. + +The turn the conversation had taken was painful to the visitor, and he +rose to depart. + +"Perhaps," said Mrs. Merton, "you will meet Lord Vargrave at dinner +to-morrow; he will stay with us a few days,--as long as he can be +spared." + +Maltravers meet Lord Vargrave! the happy Vargrave, the betrothed +to Evelyn! Maltravers witness the familiar rights, the enchanting +privileges, accorded to another! and that other one whom he could not +believe worthy of Evelyn! He writhed at the picture the invitation +conjured up. + +"You are very kind, my dear Mrs. Merton, but I expect a visitor at +Burleigh,--an old and dear friend, Mr. Cleveland." + +"Mr. Cleveland!--we shall be delighted to see him too. We knew him many +years ago, during your minority, when he used to visit Burleigh two or +three times a year." + +"He is changed since then; he is often an invalid. I fear I cannot +answer for him; but he will call as soon as he arrives, and apologize +for himself." + +Maltravers then hastily took his departure. He would not trust +himself to do more than bow distantly to Evelyn; she looked at him +reproachfully. So, then, it was really premeditated and resolved +upon--his absence from the rectory; and why? She was grieved, she was +offended--but more grieved than offended,--perhaps because esteem, +interest, admiration, are more tolerant and charitable than love. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + _Arethusa_. 'Tis well, my lord, your courting of ladies. + + ...... + + _Claremont_. Sure this lady has a good turn done her against + her will. + + PHILASTER. + +In the breakfast-room at Knaresdean, the same day, and almost at the +same hour, in which occurred the scene and conversation at the rectory +recorded in our last chapter, sat Lord Vargrave and Caroline alone. The +party had dispersed, as was usual, at noon. They heard at a distance the +sounds of the billiard-balls. Lord Doltimore was playing with Colonel +Legard, one of the best players in Europe, but who, fortunately for +Doltimore, had of late made it a rule never to play for money. Mrs. and +the Misses Cipher, and most of the guests, were in the billiard-room +looking on. Lady Raby was writing letters, and Lord Raby riding over +his home farm. Caroline and Lumley had been for some time in close and +earnest conversation. Miss Merton was seated in a large armchair, much +moved, with her handkerchief to her eyes. Lord Vargrave, with his back +to the chimney-piece, was bending down and speaking in a very low voice, +while his quick eye glanced, ever and anon, from the lady's countenance +to the windows, to the doors, to be prepared against any interruption. + +"No, my dear friend," said he, "believe me that I am sincere. My +feelings for you are, indeed, such as no words can paint." + +"Then why--" + +"Why wish you wedded to another; why wed another myself? Caroline, I +have often before explained to you that we are in this the victims of +an inevitable fate. It is absolutely necessary that I should wed Miss +Cameron. I never deceived you from the first. I should have loved +her,--my heart would have accompanied my hand, but for your too +seductive beauty, your superior mind!--yes, Caroline, your mind +attracted me more than your beauty. Your mind seemed kindred to my +own,--inspired with the proper and wise ambition which regards the fools +of the world as puppets, as counters, as chessmen. For myself, a very +angel from heaven could not make me give up the great game of life, +yield to my enemies, slip from the ladder, unravel the web I have +woven! Share my heart, my friendship, my schemes! this is the true and +dignified affection that should exist between minds like ours; all the +rest is the prejudice of children." + +"Vargrave, I am ambitious, worldly: I own it; but I could give up all +for you!" + +"You think so, for you do not know the sacrifice. You see me now +apparently rich, in power, courted; and this fate you are willing to +share; and this fate you _should_ share, were it the real one I could +bestow on you. But reverse the medal. Deprived of office, fortune gone, +debts pressing, destitution notorious, the ridicule of embarrassments, +the disrepute attached to poverty and defeated ambition, an exile +in some foreign town on the poor pension to which alone I should be +entitled, a mendicant on the public purse; and that, too, so eaten into +by demands and debts, that there is not a grocer in the next market-town +who would envy the income of the retired minister! Retire, fallen, +despised, in the prime of life, in the zenith of my hopes! Suppose that +I could bear this for myself, could I bear it for you? _You_, born to be +the ornament of courts! And you could you see me thus--life embittered, +career lost--and feel, generous as you are, that your love had entailed +on me, on us both, on our children, this miserable lot! Impossible, +Caroline! we are too wise for such romance. It is not because we love +too little, but because our love is worthy of each other, that we +disdain to make love a curse! We cannot wrestle against the world, but +we may shake hands with it, and worm the miser out of its treasures. My +heart must be ever yours; my hand must be Miss Cameron's. Money I +must have,--my whole career depends on it. It is literally with me +the highwayman's choice,--money or life." Vargrave paused, and took +Caroline's hand. + +"I cannot reason with you," said she; "you know the strange empire you +have obtained over me, and, certainly, in spite of all that has passed +(and Caroline turned pale) I could bear anything rather than that +you should hereafter reproach me for selfish disregard of your +interests,--your just ambition." + +"My noble friend! I do not say that I shall not feel a deep and sharp +pang at seeing you wed another; but I shall be consoled by the thought +that I have assisted to procure for you a station worthier of your +merits than that which I can offer. Lord Doltimore is rich,--you will +teach him to employ his riches well; he is weak,--your intellect will +govern him; he is in love,--your beauty will suffice to preserve his +regard. Ah, we shall be dear friends to the last!" + +More--but to the same effect--did this able and crafty villain continue +to address to Caroline, whom he alternately soothed, irritated, +flattered, and revolted. Love him she certainly did, as far as love in +her could extend; but perhaps his rank, his reputation, had served +to win her affection; and; not knowing his embarrassments, she had +encouraged a worldly hope that if Evelyn should reject his hand it +might be offered to her. Under this impression she had trifled, she had +coquetted, she had played with the serpent till it had coiled around +her; and she could not escape its fascination and its folds. She was +sincere,--she could have resigned much for Lord Vargrave; but his +picture startled and appalled her. For difficulties in a palace she +might be prepared; perhaps even for some privations in a _cottage +ornee_,--but certainly not for penury in a lodging-house! She listened +by degrees with more attention to Vargrave's description of the power +and homage that would be hers if she could secure Lord Doltimore; she +listened, and was in part consoled. But the thought of Evelyn again +crossed her; and perhaps with natural jealousy was mingled some +compunction at the fate to which Lord Vargrave thus coldly appeared to +condemn one so lovely and so innocent. + +"But do not, Vargrave," she said, "do not be too sanguine; Evelyn may +reject you. She does not see you with my eyes; it is only a sense of +honour that, as yet, forbids her openly to refuse the fulfilment of an +engagement from which I know that she shrinks; and if she does refuse, +and you be free,--and I another's--" + +"Even in that case," interrupted Vargrave, "I must turn to the Golden +Idol; my rank and name must buy me an heiress, if not so endowed as +Evelyn, wealthy enough, at least, to take from my wheels the drag-chain +of disreputable debt. But Evelyn--I will not doubt of her! her heart is +still unoccupied!" + +"True; as yet her affections are not engaged." + +"And this Maltravers--she is romantic, I fancy--did he seem captivated +by her beauty or her fortune?" + +"No, indeed, I think not; he has been very little with us of late. He +talked to her more as to a child,--there is a disparity of years." + +"I am many years older than Maltravers," muttered Vargrave, moodily. + +"You--but your _manner_ is livelier, and, therefore, younger!" + +"Fair flatterer! Maltravers does not love me: I fear his report of my +character--" + +"I never heard him speak of you, Vargrave; and I will do Evelyn the +justice to say, that precisely as she does not love she esteems and +respects you." + +"Esteems! respects! these are the feelings for a prudent Hymen," said +Vargrave, with a smile. "But, hark! I don't hear the billiard-balls; +they may find us here,--we had better separate." + + + +Lord Vargrave lounged into the billiard-room. The young men had just +finished playing, and were about to visit Thunderer, who had won the +race, and was now the property of Lord Doltimore. + +Vargrave accompanied them to the stables; and after concealing his +ignorance of horseflesh as well as he could, beneath a profusion of +compliments on fore-hand, hind-quarters, breeding, bone, substance, and +famous points, he contrived to draw Doltimore into the courtyard, while +Colonel Legard remained in converse high with the head groom. + +"Doltimore, I leave Knaresdean to-morrow; you go to London, I suppose? +Will you take a little packet for me to the Home Office?" + +"Certainly, when I go; but I think of staying a few days with Legard's +uncle--the old admiral; he has a hunting-box in the neighbourhood, and +has asked us both over." + +"Oh, I can detect the attraction; but certainly it is a fair one, the +handsomest girl in the county; pity she has no money." + +"I don't care for money," said Lord Doltimore, colouring, and settling +his chin in his neckcloth; "but you are mistaken; I have no thoughts +that way. Miss Merton is a very fine girl, but I doubt much if she cares +for me. I would never marry any woman who was not very much in love with +me." And Lord Doltimore laughed rather foolishly. + +"You are more modest than clear-sighted," said Vargrave, smiling; "but +mark my words,--I predict that the beauty of next season will be a +certain Caroline Lady Doltimore." + +The conversation dropped. + + + +"I think that will be settled well," said Vargrave to himself, as he was +dressing for dinner. "Caroline will manage Doltimore, and I shall manage +one vote in the Lords and three in the Commons. I have already talked +him into proper politics; a trifle all this, to be sure: but I had +nothing else to amuse me, and one must never lose an occasion. Besides, +Doltimore is rich, and rich friends are always useful. I have Caroline, +too, in my power, and she may be of service with respect to this Evelyn, +who, instead of loving, I half hate: she has crossed my path, robbed me +of wealth; and now, if she does refuse me--but no, I will not think of +_that_!" + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + OUT of our reach the gods have laid + Of time to come the event; + And laugh to see the fools afraid + Of what the knaves invent.--SEDLEY, _from Lycophron_. + +THE next day Caroline returned to the rectory in Lady Raby's carriage; +and two hours after her arrival came Lord Vargrave. Mr. Merton had +secured the principal persons in the neighbourhood to meet a guest so +distinguished, and Lord Vargrave, bent on shining in the eyes of Evelyn, +charmed all with his affability and wit. Evelyn, he thought, seemed +pale and dispirited. He pertinaciously devoted himself to her all the +evening. Her ripening understanding was better able than heretofore to +appreciate his abilities; yet, inwardly, she drew comparisons between +his conversation and that of Maltravers, not to the advantage of the +former. There was much that amused but nothing that interested in Lord +Vargrave's fluent ease. When he attempted sentiment, the vein was hard +and hollow; he was only at home on worldly topics. Caroline's spirits +were, as usual in society, high, but her laugh seemed forced, and her +eye absent. + +The next day, after breakfast, Lord Vargrave walked alone to Burleigh. +As he crossed the copse that bordered the park, a large Persian +greyhound sprang towards him, barking loudly; and, lifting his eyes, he +perceived the form of a man walking slowly along one of the paths that +intersected the wood. He recognized Maltravers. They had not till then +encountered since their meeting a few weeks before Florence's death; and +a pang of conscience came across the schemer's cold heart. Years rolled +away from the past; he recalled the young, generous, ardent man, whom, +ere the character or career of either had been developed, he had called +his friend. He remembered their wild adventures and gay follies, in +climes where they had been all in all to each other; and the beardless +boy, whose heart and purse were ever open to him, and to whose very +errors of youth and inexperienced passion he, the elder and the wiser, +had led and tempted, rose before him in contrast to the grave and +melancholy air of the battled and solitary man, who now slowly +approached him,--the man whose proud career he had served to thwart, +whose heart his schemes had prematurely soured, whose best years had +been consumed in exile,--a sacrifice to the grave which a selfish and +dishonourable villany had prepared! Cesarini, the inmate of a mad-house, +Florence in her shroud,--such were the visions the sight of Maltravers +conjured up. And to the soul which the unwonted and momentary remorse +awakened, a boding voice whispered, "And thinkest thou that thy schemes +shall prosper, and thy aspirations succeed?" For the first time in +his life, perhaps, the unimaginative Vargrave felt the mystery of a +presentiment of warning and of evil. + +The two men met, and with an emotion which seemed that of honest and +real feeling, Lumley silently held out his hand, and half turned away +his head. + +"Lord Vargrave!" said Maltravers, with an equal agitation, "it is long +since we have encountered." + +"Long,--very long," answered Lumley, striving hard to regain his +self-possession; "years have changed us both; but I trust it has still +left in you, as it has in me, the remembrance of our old friendship." + +Maltravers was silent, and Lord Vargrave continued,-- + +"You do not answer me, Maltravers. Can political differences, opposite +pursuits, or the mere lapse of time, have sufficed to create an +irrevocable gulf between us? Why may we not be friends again?" + +"Friends!" echoed Maltravers; "at our age that word is not so lightly +spoken, that tie is not so unthinkingly formed, as when we were younger +men." + +"But may not the old tie be renewed?" + +"Our ways in life are different; and were I to scan your motives and +career with the scrutinizing eyes of friendship, it might only serve to +separate us yet more. I am sick of the great juggle of ambition, and +I have no sympathy left for those who creep into the pint-bottle, or +swallow the naked sword." + +"If you despise the exhibition, why, then, let us laugh at it together, +for I am as cynical as yourself." + +"Ah," said Maltravers with a smile, half mournful, half bitter, "but are +you not one of the Impostors?" + +"Who ought better to judge of the Eleusiniana than one of the Initiated? +But seriously, why on earth should political differences part private +friendship? Thank Heaven! such has never been my maxim." + +"If the differences be the result of honest convictions on either +side,--no; but are you honest, Lumley?" + +"Faith, I have got into the habit of thinking so; and habit's a second +nature. However, I dare say we shall yet meet in the arena, so I must +not betray my weak points. How is it, Maltravers, that they see so +little of you at the rectory? You are a great favourite there. Have you +any living that Charley Merton could hold with his own? You shake your +head. And what think you of Miss Cameron, my intended?" + +"You speak lightly. Perhaps you--" + +"Feel deeply,--you were going to say. I do. In the hand of my ward, +Evelyn Cameron, I trust to obtain at once the domestic happiness to +which I have as yet been a stranger, and the wealth necessary to my +career." + +Lord Vargrave continued, after a short pause, "Though my avocations have +separated us so much, I have no doubt of her steady affection,--and, I +may add, of her sense of honour. She alone can repair to me what else +had been injustice in my uncle." He then proceeded to repeat the moral +obligations which the late lord had imposed on Evelyn,--obligations that +he greatly magnified. Maltravers listened attentively, and said little. + +"And these obligations being fairly considered," added Vargrave, with a +smile, "I think, even had I rivals, that they could scarcely in honour +attempt to break an existing engagement." + +"Not while the engagement lasted," answered Maltravers; "not till one or +the other had declined to fulfil it, and therefore left both free: but +I trust it will be an alliance in which all but affection will be +forgotten; that of honour alone would be but a harsh tie." + +"Assuredly," said Vargrave; and, as if satisfied with what had passed, +he turned the conversation,--praised Burleigh, spoke of county matters, +resumed his habitual gayety, though it was somewhat subdued, and +promising to call again soon, he at last took his leave. + +Maltravers pursued his solitary rambles, and his commune with himself +was stern and searching. + +"And so," thought he, "this prize is reserved for Vargrave! Why should +I deem him unworthy of the treasure? May he not be worthier, at all +events, than this soured temper and erring heart? And he is assured too +of her affection! Why this jealous pang? Why can the fountain within +never be exhausted? Why, through so many scenes and sufferings, have +I still retained the vain madness of my youth,--the haunting +susceptibility to love? This is my latest folly." + + + + +BOOK IV. + +"A virtuous woman is man's greatest pride."--SIMONIDES. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + ABROAD uneasy, nor content at home. + ...... + And Wisdom shows the ill without the cure. + + HAMMOND: _Elegies_. + +TWO or three days after the interview between Lord Vargrave and +Maltravers, the solitude of Burleigh was relieved by the arrival of Mr. +Cleveland. The good old gentleman, when free from attacks of the gout, +which were now somewhat more frequent than formerly, was the same +cheerful and intelligent person as ever. Amiable, urbane, accomplished, +and benevolent, there was just enough worldliness in Cleveland's nature +to make his views sensible as far as they went, but to bound their +scope. Everything he said was so rational; and yet, to an imaginative +person, his conversation was unsatisfactory, and his philosophy somewhat +chilling. + +"I cannot say how pleased and surprised I am at your care of the fine +old place," said he to Maltravers, as, leaning on his cane and his +_ci-devant_ pupil's arm, he loitered observantly through the grounds; "I +see everywhere the presence of the Master." + +And certainly the praise was deserved. The gardens were now in order, +the dilapidated fences were repaired, the weeds no longer encumbered +the walks. Nature was just assisted and relieved by Art, without being +oppressed by too officious a service from her handmaid. In the house +itself some suitable and appropriate repairs and decorations--with such +articles of furniture as combined modern comfort with the ancient and +picturesque shapes of a former fashion--had redeemed the mansion from +all appearance of dreariness and neglect; while still was left to +its quaint halls and chambers the character which belonged to their +architecture and associations. It was surprising how much a little +exercise of simple taste had effected. + +"I am glad you approve what I have done," said Maltravers. "I know +not how it was, but the desolation of the place when I returned to it +reproached me. We contract friendship with places as with human beings, +and fancy they have claims upon us; at least, that is my weakness." + +"And an amiable one it is, too,--I share it. As for me, I look upon +Temple Grove as a fond husband upon a fair wife. I am always anxious to +adorn it, and as proud of its beauty as if it could understand and thank +me for my partial admiration. When I leave you I intend going to Paris, +for the purpose of attending a sale of the pictures and effects of M. +de-----. These auctions are to me what a jeweller's shop is to a lover; +but then, Ernest, I am an old bachelor." + +"And I, too, am an Arcadian," said Maltravers, with a smile. + +"Ah, but you are not too old for repentance. Burleigh now requires +nothing but a mistress." + +"Perhaps it may soon receive that addition. I am yet undecided whether I +shall sell it." + +"Sell it! sell Burleigh!--the last memorial of your mother's ancestry! +the classic retreat of the graceful Digbys! Sell Burleigh!" + +"I had almost resolved to do so when I came hither; then I forswore the +intention: now again I sometimes sorrowfully return to the idea." + +"And in Heaven's name, why?" + +"My old restlessness returns. Busy myself as I will here, I find the +range of action monotonous and confined. I began too soon to draw around +me the large circumference of literature and action; and the small +provincial sphere seems to me a sad going back in life. Perhaps I +should not feel this, were my home less lonely; but as it is--no, +the wanderer's ban is on me, and I again turn towards the lands of +excitement and adventure." + +"I understand this, Ernest; but why is your home so solitary? You +are still at the age in which wise and congenial unions are the most +frequently formed; your temper is domestic; your easy fortune and +sobered ambition allow you to choose without reference to worldly +considerations. Look round the world, and mix with the world again, and +give Burleigh the mistress it requires." + +Maltravers shook his head, and sighed. + +"I do not say," continued Cleveland, wrapped in the glowing interest +of the theme, "that you should marry a mere girl, but an amiable woman, +who, like yourself, has seen something of life, and knows how to reckon +on its cares, and to be contented with its enjoyments." + +"You have said enough," said Maltravers, impatiently; "an experienced +woman of the world, whose freshness of hope and heart is gone! What +a picture! No, to me there is something inexpressibly beautiful in +innocence and youth. But you say justly,--my years are not those that +would make a union with youth desirable or well suited." + +"I do _not_ say that," said Cleveland, taking a pinch of snuff; "but you +should avoid great disparity of age,--not for the sake of that disparity +itself, but because with it is involved discord of temper, pursuits. A +_very_ young woman, new to the world, will not be contented with home +alone; you are at once too gentle to curb her wishes, and a little too +stern and reserved--pardon me for saying so--to be quite congenial to +very early and sanguine youth." + +"It is true," said Maltravers, with a tone of voice that showed he was +struck with the remark; "but how have we fallen on this subject? let +us change it. I have no idea of marriage,--the gloomy reminiscence of +Florence Lascelles chains me to the past." + +"Poor Florence, she might once have suited you; but now you are older, +and would require a calmer and more malleable temper." + +"Peace, I implore you!" + +The conversation was changed; and at noon Mr. Merton, who had heard of +Cleveland's arrival, called at Burleigh to renew an old acquaintance. He +invited them to pass the evening at the rectory; and Cleveland, hearing +that whist was a regular amusement, accepted the invitation for his +host and himself. But when the evening came, Maltravers pleaded +indisposition, and Cleveland was obliged to go alone. + +When the old gentleman returned about midnight, he found Maltravers +awaiting him in the library; and Cleveland, having won fourteen points, +was in a very gay, conversable humour. + +"You perverse hermit!" said he, "talk of solitude, indeed, with +so pleasant a family a hundred yards distant! You deserve to be +solitary,--I have no patience with you. They complain bitterly of your +desertion, and say you were, at first, the _enfant de la maison_." + +"So you like the Mertons? The clergyman is sensible, but commonplace." + +"A very agreeable man, despite your cynical definition, and plays a very +fair rubber. But Vargrave is a first-rate player." + +"Vargrave is there still?" + +"Yes, he breakfasts with us to-morrow,--he invited himself." + +"Humph!" + +"He played one rubber; the rest of the evening he devoted himself to the +prettiest girl I ever saw,--Miss Cameron. What a sweet face! so modest, +yet so intelligent! I talked with her a good deal during the deals in +which I cut out. I almost lost my heart to her." + +"So Lord Vargrave devoted himself to Miss Cameron?" + +"To be sure,--you know they are to be married soon. Merton told me so. +She is very rich. He is the luckiest fellow imaginable, that Vargrave! +But he is much too old for her: she seems to think so too. I can't +explain why I think it; but by her pretty reserved manner I saw that she +tried to keep the gay minister at a distance: but it would not do. Now, +if you were ten years younger, or Miss Cameron ten years older, you +might have had some chance of cutting out your old friend." + +"So you think I also am too old for a lover?" + +"For a lover of a girl of seventeen, certainly. You seem touchy on the +score of age, Ernest." + +"Not I;" and Maltravers laughed. + +"No? There was a young gentleman present, who, I think, Vargrave might +really find a dangerous rival,--a Colonel Legard,--one of the handsomest +men I ever saw in my life; just the style to turn a romantic young +lady's head; a mixture of the wild and the thoroughbred; black curls, +superb eyes, and the softest manners in the world. But, to be sure, +he has lived all his life in the best society. Not so his friend, Lord +Doltimore, who has a little too much of the green-room lounge and French +_cafe_ manner for my taste." + +"Doltimore, Legard, names new to me; I never met them at the rectory." + +"Possibly they are staying at Admiral Legard's, in the neighbourhood. +Miss Merton made their acquaintance at Knaresdean. A good old lady--the +most perfect Mrs. Grundy one would wish to meet with--who owns the +monosyllabic appellation of Hare (and who, being my partner, trumped +my king!) assured me that Lord Doltimore was desperately in love with +Caroline Merton. By the way, now, there is a young lady of a proper age +for you,--handsome and clever, too." + +"You talk of antidotes to matrimony; and so Miss Cameron--" + +"Oh, no more of Miss Cameron now, or I shall sit up all night; she +has half turned my head. I can't help pitying her,--married to one so +careless and worldly as Lord Vargrave, thrown so young into the whirl +of London. Poor thing! she had better have fallen in love with +Legard,--which I dare say she will do, after all. Well, good-night!" + + + +CHAPTER II. + + PASSION, as frequently is seen, + Subsiding, settles into spleen; + Hence, as the plague of happy life, + I ran away from party strife.--MATTHEW GREEN. + + Here nymphs from hollow oaks relate + The dark decrees and will of fate.--_Ibid._ + +ACCORDING to his engagement, Vargrave breakfasted the next morning +at Burleigh. Maltravers at first struggled to return his familiar +cordiality with equal graciousness. Condemning himself for former and +unfounded suspicions, he wrestled against feelings which he could not +or would not analyze, but which made Lumley an unwelcome visitor, and +connected him with painful associations, whether of the present or +the past. But there were points on which the penetration of Maltravers +served to justify his prepossessions. + +The conversation, chiefly sustained by Cleveland and Vargrave, fell +on public questions; and as one was opposed to the other, Vargrave's +exposition of views and motives had in them so much of the self-seeking +of the professional placeman, that they might well have offended any man +tinged by the lofty mania of political Quixotism. It was with a strange +mixture of feelings that Maltravers listened: at one moment he proudly +congratulated himself on having quitted a career where such opinions +seemed so well to prosper: at another, his better and juster sentiments +awoke the long-dormant combative faculty, and he almost longed for the +turbulent but sublime arena, in which truths are vindicated and mankind +advanced. + +The interview did not serve for that renewal of intimacy which Vargrave +appeared to seek, and Maltravers rejoiced when the placeman took his +departure. + +Lumley, who was about to pay a morning visit to Lord Doltimore, had +borrowed Mr. Merton's stanhope, as being better adapted than any +statelier vehicle to get rapidly through the cross-roads which led to +Admiral Legard's house; and as he settled himself in the seat, with his +servant by his side, he said laughingly, "I almost fancy myself naughty +master Lumley again in this young-man-kind of two-wheeled cockle-boat: +not dignified, but rapid, eh?" + +And Lumley's face, as he spoke, had in it so much of frank gayety, and +his manner was so simple, that Maltravers could with difficulty fancy +him the same man who, five minutes before, had been uttering sentiments +that might have become the oldest-hearted intriguer whom the hot-bed of +ambition ever reared. + +As soon as Lumley was gone, Maltravers left Cleveland alone to write +letters (Cleveland was an exemplary and voluminous correspondent) and +strolled with his dogs into the village. The effect which the presence +of Maltravers produced among his peasantry was one that seldom failed +to refresh and soothe his more bitter and disturbed thoughts. They +had gradually (for the poor are quick-sighted) become sensible of his +_justice_,--a finer quality than many that seem more amiable. They felt +that his real object was to make them better and happier; and they had +learned to see that the means he adopted generally advanced the end. +Besides, if sometimes stern, he was never capricious or unreasonable; +and then, too, he would listen patiently and advise kindly. They were +a little in awe of him, but the awe only served to make them more +industrious and orderly,--to stimulate the idle man, to reclaim +the drunkard. He was one of the favourers of the small-allotment +system,--not, indeed, as panacea, but as one excellent stimulant to +exertion and independence; and his chosen rewards for good conduct were +in such comforts as served to awaken amongst those hitherto passive, +dogged, and hopeless a desire to better and improve their condition. +Somehow or other, without direct alms, the goodwife found that the +little savings in the cracked teapot or the old stocking had greatly +increased since the squire's return, while her husband came home from +his moderate cups at the alehouse more sober and in better temper. +Having already saved something was a great reason why he should save +more. The new school, too, was so much better conducted than the old +one; the children actually liked going there; and now and then there +were little village feasts connected with the schoolroom; play and work +were joint associations. + +And Maltravers looked into his cottages, and looked at the +allotment-ground; and it was pleasant to him to say to himself, "I am +not altogether without use in life." But as he pursued his lonely walk, +and the glow of self-approval died away with the scenes that called it +forth, the cloud again settled on his brow; and again he felt that in +solitude the passions feed upon the heart. As he thus walked along the +green lane, and the insect life of summer rustled audibly among the +shadowy hedges and along the thick grass that sprang up on either side, +he came suddenly upon a little group that arrested all his attention. + +It was a woman, clad in rags, bleeding, and seemingly insensible, +supported by the overseer of the parish and a labourer. + +"What is the matter?" asked Maltravers. + +"A poor woman has been knocked down and run over by a gentleman in a +gig, your honour," replied the overseer. "He stopped, half an hour ago, +at my house to tell me that she was lying on the road; and he has given +me two sovereigns for her, your honour. But, poor cretur! she was too +heavy for me to carry her, and I was forced to leave her and call Tom to +help me." + +"The gentleman might have stayed to see what were the consequences +of his own act," muttered Maltravers, as he examined the wound in the +temple, whence the blood flowed copiously. + +"He said he was in a great hurry, your honour," said the village +official, overhearing Maltravers. "I think it was one of the grand folks +up at the parsonage; for I know it was Mr. Merton's bay horse,--he is a +hot 'un!" + +"Does the poor woman live in the neighbourhood? Do you know her?" asked +Maltravers, turning from the contemplation of this new instance of +Vargrave's selfishness of character. + +"No; the old body seems quite a stranger here,--a tramper, or beggar, I +think, sir. But it won't be a settlement if we take her in; and we can +carry her to the Chequers, up the village, your honour." + +"What is the nearest house,--your own?" + +"Yes; but we be so busy now!" + +"She shall not go to your house, and be neglected; and as for the +public-house, it is too noisy: we must move her to the Hall." + +"Your honour!" ejaculated the overseer, opening his eyes. + +"It is not very far; she is severely hurt. Get a hurdle, lay a mattress +on it. Make haste, both of you; I will wait here till you return." + +The poor woman was carefully placed on the grass by the road-side, +and Maltravers supported her head, while the men hastened to obey his +orders. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + ALSE from that forked hill, the boasted seat + Of studious Peace and mild Philosophy, + Indignant murmurs mote be heard to threat.--WEST. + +MR. CLEVELAND wanted to enrich one of his letters with a quotation from +Ariosto, which he but imperfectly remembered. He had seen the book he +wished to refer to in the little study the day before; and he quitted +the library to search for it. + +As he was tumbling over some volumes that lay piled on the +writing-table, he felt a student's curiosity to discover what now +constituted his host's favourite reading. He was surprised to observe +that the greater portion of the works that, by the doubled leaf and the +pencilled reference, seemed most frequently consulted, were not of a +literary nature,--they were chiefly scientific; and astronomy seemed the +chosen science. He then remembered that he had heard Maltravers speaking +to a builder, employed on the recent repairs, on the subject of an +observatory. "This is very strange," thought Cleveland; "he gives up +literature, the rewards of which are in his reach, and turns to science, +at an age too late to discipline his mind to its austere training." + +Alas! Cleveland did not understand that there are times in life when +imaginative minds seek to numb and to blunt imagination. Still less did +he feel that, when we perversely refuse to apply our active faculties to +the catholic interests of the world, they turn morbidly into channels of +research the least akin to their real genius. By the collision of +minds alone does each mind discover what is its proper product: left to +ourselves, our talents become but intellectual eccentricities. + +Some scattered papers, in the handwriting of Maltravers, fell from one +of the volumes. Of these, a few were but algebraical calculations, or +short scientific suggestions, the value of which Mr. Cleveland's studies +did not enable him to ascertain; but in others they were wild snatches +of mournful and impassioned verse, which showed that the old vein of +poetry still flowed, though no longer to the daylight. These verses +Cleveland thought himself justified in glancing over; they seemed to +portray a state of mind which deeply interested, and greatly saddened +him. They expressed, indeed, a firm determination to bear up against +both the memory and the fear of ill; but mysterious and hinted allusions +here and there served to denote some recent and yet existent struggle, +revealed by the heart only to the genius. In these partial and imperfect +self-communings and confessions, there was the evidence of the pining +affections, the wasted life, the desolate hearth of the lonely man. Yet +so calm was Maltravers himself, even to his early friend, that Cleveland +knew not what to think of the reality of the feelings painted. Had that +fervid and romantic spirit been again awakened by a living object? If +so, where was the object found? The dates affixed to the verses were +most recent. But whom had Maltravers seen? Cleveland's thoughts turned +to Caroline Merton, to Evelyn; but when he had spoken of both, nothing +in the countenance, the manner, of Maltravers had betrayed emotion. And +once the heart of Maltravers had so readily betrayed itself! Cleveland +knew not how pride, years, and suffering school the features, and +repress the outward signs of what pass within. While thus engaged, the +door of the study opened abruptly, and the servant announced Mr. Merton. + +"A thousand pardons," said the courteous rector. "I fear we disturb you; +but Admiral Legard and Lord Doltimore, who called on us this morning, +were so anxious to see Burleigh, I thought I might take the liberty. We +have come over quite in a large party,--taken the place by storm. Mr. +Maltravers is out, I hear; but you will let us see the house. My allies +are already in the hall, examining the armour." + +Cleveland, ever sociable and urbane, answered suitably, and went with +Mr. Merton into the hall, where Caroline, her little sisters, Evelyn, +Lord Doltimore, Admiral Legard, and his nephew were assembled. + +"Very proud to be my host's representative and your guide," said +Cleveland. "Your visit, Lord Doltimore, is indeed an agreeable surprise. +Lord Vargrave left us an hour or so since to call on you at Admiral +Legard's: we buy our pleasure with his disappointment." + +"It is very unfortunate," said the admiral, a bluff, harsh-looking old +gentleman; "but we were not aware, till we saw Mr. Merton, of the honour +Lord Vargrave has done us. I can't think how we missed him on the road." + +"My dear uncle," said Colonel Legard, in a peculiarly sweet and +agreeable tone of voice, "you forget we came three miles round by the +high road; and Mr. Merton says that Lord Vargrave took the short cut by +Langley End. My uncle, Mr. Cleveland, never feels in safety upon land, +unless the road is as wide as the British Channel, and the horses go +before the wind at the rapid pace of two knots and a half an hour!" + +"I just wish I had you at sea, Mr. Jackanapes," said the admiral, +looking grimly at his handsome nephew, while he shook his cane at him. + +The nephew smiled; and, falling back, conversed with Evelyn. + +The party were now shown over the house; and Lord Doltimore was loud in +its praises. It was like a chateau he had once hired in Normandy,--it +had a French character; those old chairs were in excellent taste,--quite +the style of Francis the First. + +"I know no man I respect more than Mr. Maltravers," quoth the admiral. +"Since he has been amongst us this time, he has been a pattern to us +country gentlemen. He would make an excellent colleague for Sir John. We +really must get him to stand against that young puppy who is member of +the House of Commons only because his father is a peer, and never votes +more than twice a session." + +Mr. Merton looked grave. + +"I wish to Heaven you could persuade him to stay amongst you," said +Cleveland. "He has half taken it into his head to part with Burleigh!" + +"Part with Burleigh!" exclaimed Evelyn, turning abruptly from the +handsome colonel, in whose conversation she had hitherto seemed +absorbed. + +"My very ejaculation when I heard him say so, my dear young lady." + +"I wish he would," said Lord Doltimore hastily, and glancing towards +Caroline. "I should much like to buy it. What do you think would be the +purchase-money?" + +"Don't talk so cold-bloodedly," said the admiral, letting the point of +his cane fall with great emphasis on the floor. "I can't bear to see old +families deserting their old places,--quite wicked. You buy Burleigh! +have not you got a country seat of your own, my lord? Go and live there, +and take Mr. Maltravers for your model,--you could not have a better." + +Lord Doltimore sneered, coloured, settled his neckcloth, and turning +round to Colonel Legard, whispered, "Legard, your good uncle is a bore." + +Legard looked a little offended, and made no reply. + +"But," said Caroline, coming to the relief of her admirer, "if Mr. +Maltravers will sell the place, surely he could not have a better +successor." + +"He sha'n't sell the place, ma'am, and that's poz!" cried the admiral. +"The whole county shall sign a round-robin to tell him it's a shame; and +if any one dares to buy it we'll send him to Coventry." + +Miss Merton laughed, but looked round the old wainscot walls with +unusual interest; she thought it would be a fine thing to be Lady of +Burleigh! + +"And what is that picture so carefully covered up?" said the admiral, as +they now stood in the library. + +"The late Mrs. Maltravers, Ernest's mother," replied Cleveland, slowly. +"He dislikes it to be shown--to strangers: the other is a Digby." + +Evelyn looked towards the veiled portrait, and thought of her first +interview with Maltravers; but the soft voice of Colonel Legard murmured +in her ear; and her revery was broken. + +Cleveland eyed the colonel, and muttered to himself, "Vargrave should +keep a sharp look-out." + +They had now finished their round of the show-apartments--which indeed +had little but their antiquity and old portraits to recommend them--and +were in a lobby at the back of the house, communicating with a +courtyard, two sides of which were occupied with the stables. The sight +of the stables reminded Caroline of the Arab horses; and at the word +"horses" Lord Doltimore seized Legard's arm and carried him off to +inspect the animals. Caroline, her father, and the admiral followed. Mr. +Cleveland happened not to have on his walking-shoes; and the flagstones +in the courtyard looked damp; and Mr. Cleveland, like most old +bachelors, was prudently afraid of cold; so he excused himself, and +stayed behind. He was talking to Evelyn about the Digbys, and full of +anecdotes about Sir Kenelm at the moment the rest departed so abruptly; +and Evelyn was interested, so she insisted on keeping him company. + +The old gentleman was flattered; he thought it excellent breeding +in Miss Cameron. The children ran out to renew acquaintance with the +peacock, who, perched on an old stirrup-stone, was sunning his gay +plumage in the noon-day. + +"It is astonishing," said Cleveland, "how certain family features are +transmitted from generation to generation! Maltravers has still +the forehead and eyebrows of the Digbys,--that peculiar, brooding, +thoughtful forehead, which you observed in the picture of Sir Kenelm. +Once, too, he had much the same dreaming character of mind, but he +has lost that, in some measure at least. He has fine qualities, Miss +Cameron,--I have known him since he was born. I trust his career is not +yet closed; could he but form ties that would bind him to England, I +should indulge in higher expectations than I did even when the wild boy +turned half the heads in Gottingen. + +"But we were talking of family portraits: there is one in the +entrance-hall, which perhaps you have not observed; it is half +obliterated by damp and time, yet it is of a remarkable personage, +connected with Maltravers by ancestral intermarriages,--Lord Falkland, +the Falkland of Clarendon; a man weak in character, but made most +interesting by history,--utterly unfitted for the severe ordeal of those +stormy times; sighing for peace when his whole soul should have been in +war; and repentant alike whether with the Parliament or the king, +but still a personage of elegant and endearing associations; a +student-soldier, with a high heart and a gallant spirit. Come and look +at his features,--homely and worn, but with a characteristic air of +refinement and melancholy thought." + +Thus running on, the agreeable old gentleman drew Evelyn into the outer +hall. Upon arriving there, through a small passage, which opened upon +the hall, they were surprised to find the old housekeeper and another +female servant standing by a rude kind of couch on which lay the form of +the poor woman described in the last chapter. Maltravers and two other +men were also there; and Maltravers himself was giving orders to his +servants, while he leaned over the sufferer, who was now conscious both +of pain and the service rendered to her. As Evelyn stopped abruptly, and +in surprise, opposite and almost at the foot of the homely litter, the +woman raised herself up on one arm, and gazed at her with a wild stare; +then muttering some incoherent words which appeared to betoken delirium, +she sank back, and was again insensible. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + HENCE oft to win some stubborn maid, + Still does the wanton god assume + The martial air, the gay cockade, + The sword, the shoulder-knot, and plume. + + MARRIOTT. + +THE hall was cleared, the sufferer had been removed, and Maltravers was +left alone with Cleveland and Evelyn. + +He simply and shortly narrated the adventure of the morning; but he did +not mention that Vargrave had been the cause of the injury his new guest +had sustained. Now this event had served to make a mutual and kindred +impression on Evelyn and Maltravers. The humanity of the latter, natural +and commonplace as it was, was an endearing recollection to Evelyn, +precisely as it showed that his cold theory of disdain towards the mass +did not affect his actual conduct towards individuals. On the other +hand, Maltravers had perhaps been yet more impressed with the prompt and +ingenuous sympathy which Evelyn had testified towards the sufferer: it +had so evidently been her first gracious and womanly impulse to hasten +to the side of this humble stranger. In that impulse, Maltravers himself +had been almost forgotten; and as the poor woman lay pale and lifeless, +and the young Evelyn bent over her in beautiful compassion, Maltravers +thought she had never seemed so lovely, so irresistible,--in fact, pity +in woman is a great beautifier. + +As Maltravers finished his short tale, Evelyn's eyes were fixed upon him +with such frank and yet such soft approval, that the look went +straight to his heart. He quickly turned away, and abruptly changed the +conversation. + +"But how long have you been here, Miss Cameron,--and your companions?" + +"We are again intruders; but this time it was not my fault." + +"No," said Cleveland, "for a wonder it was male, and not lady-like +curiosity that trespassed on Bluebeard's chamber. But, however, to +soften your resentment, know that Miss Cameron has brought you a +purchaser for Burleigh. Now, then, we can test the sincerity of your +wish to part with it. I assure you, meanwhile, that Miss Cameron was as +much shocked at the idea as I was. Were you not?" + +"But you surely have no intention of selling Burleigh?" said Evelyn, +anxiously. + +"I fear I do not know my own mind." + +"Well," said Cleveland, "here comes your tempter. Lord Doltimore, let me +introduce Mr. Maltravers." + +Lord Doltimore bowed. + +"Been admiring your horses, Mr. Maltravers. I never saw anything so +perfect as the black one; may I ask where you bought him?" + +"It was a present to me," answered Maltravers. + +"A present?" + +"Yes, from one who would not have sold that horse for a king's +ransom,--an old Arab chief, with whom I formed a kind of friendship in +the desert. A wound disabled him from riding, and he bestowed the horse +on me, with as much solemn tenderness for the gift as if he had given me +his daughter in marriage." + +"I think of travelling in the East," said Lord Doltimore, with much +gravity: "I suppose nothing will induce you to sell the black horse?" + +"Lord Doltimore!" said Maltravers, in a tone of lofty surprise. + +"I do not care for the price," continued the young nobleman, a little +disconcerted. + +"No; I never sell any horse that has once learned to know me. I would +as soon think of selling a friend. In the desert, one's horse is one's +friend. I am almost an Arab myself in these matters." + +"But talking of sale and barter reminds me of Burleigh," said Cleveland, +maliciously. "Lord Doltimore is a universal buyer. He covets all your +goods: he will take the house, if he can't have the stables." + +"I only mean," said Lord Doltimore, rather peevishly, "that if you wish +to part with Burleigh, I should like to have the option of purchase." + +"I will remember it, if I determine to sell the place," answered +Maltravers, smiling gravely; "at present I am undecided." + +He turned away towards Evelyn as he spoke, and almost started to observe +that she was joined by a stranger, whose approach he had not before +noticed,--and that stranger a man of such remarkable personal +advantages, that, had Maltravers been in Vargrave's position, he might +reasonably have experienced a pang of jealous apprehension. Slightly +above the common height; slender, yet strongly formed; set off by +every advantage of dress, of air, of the nameless tone and pervading +refinement that sometimes, though not always, springs from early and +habitual intercourse with the most polished female society,--Colonel +Legard, at the age of eight and twenty, had acquired a reputation for +beauty almost as popular and as well known as that which men usually +acquire by mental qualifications. Yet there was nothing effeminate in +his countenance, the symmetrical features of which were made masculine +and expressive by the rich olive of the complexion, and the close jetty +curls of the Antinous-like hair. + +They seemed, as they there stood--Evelyn and Legard--so well suited to +each other in personal advantages, their different styles so happily +contrasted; and Legard, at the moment, was regarding her with such +respectful admiration, and whispering compliment to her in so subdued +a tone, that the dullest observer might have ventured a prophecy by no +means agreeable to the hopes of Lumley Lord Vargrave. + +But a feeling or fear of this nature was not that which occurred to +Maltravers, or dictated his startled exclamation of surprise. + +Legard looked up as he heard the exclamation, and saw Maltravers, +whose back had hitherto been turned towards him. He, too, was evidently +surprised, and seemingly confused; the colour mounted to his cheek, and +then left it pale. + +"Colonel Legard," said Cleveland, "a thousand apologies for my neglect: +I really did not observe you enter,--you came round by the front door, I +suppose. Let me make you acquainted with Mr. Maltravers." + +Legard bowed low. + +"We have met before," said he, in embarrassed accents: "at Venice, I +think!" + +Maltravers inclined his head rather stiffly at first, but then, as if +moved by a second impulse, held out his hand cordially. + +"Oh, Mr. Ernest, here you are!" cried Sophy, bounding into the hall, +followed by Mr. Merton, the old admiral, Caroline, and Cecilia. + +The interruption seemed welcome and opportune. The admiral, with +blunt cordiality, expressed his pleasure at being made known to Mr. +Maltravers. + +The conversation grew general; refreshments were proffered and declined; +the visit drew to its close. + +It so happened that as the guests departed, Evelyn, from whose side +the constant colonel had insensibly melted away, lingered last,--save, +indeed, the admiral, who was discussing with Cleveland a new specific +for the gout. And as Maltravers stood on the steps, Evelyn turned to him +with all her beautiful _naivete_ of mingled timidity and kindness, and +said,-- + +"And are we really never to see you again; never to hear again your +tales of Egypt and Arabia; never to talk over Tasso and Dante? No books, +no talk, no disputes, no quarrels? What have we done? I thought we had +made it up,--and yet you are still unforgiving. Give me a good scold, +and be friends!" + +"Friends! you have no friend more anxious, more devoted than I am. +Young, rich, fascinating as you are, you will carve no impression on +human hearts deeper than that you have graven here!" + +Carried away by the charm of her childlike familiarity and enchanting +sweetness, Maltravers had said more than he intended; yet his eyes, his +emotion, said more than his words. + +Evelyn coloured deeply, and her whole manner changed. However, she +turned away, and saying, with a forced gayety, "Well, then, you will not +desert us; we shall see you once more?" hurried down the steps to join +her companions. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + SEE how the skilful lover spreads his toils.--STILLINGFLEET. + +THE party had not long returned to the rectory, and the admiral's +carriage was ordered, when Lord Vargrave made his appearance. He +descanted with gay good-humour on his long drive, the bad roads, and +his disappointment at the _contretemps_ that awaited him; then, drawing +aside Colonel Legard, who seemed unusually silent and abstracted, he +said to him,-- + +"My dear colonel, my visit this morning was rather to you than to +Doltimore. I confess that I should like to see your abilities enlisted +on the side of the Government; and knowing that the post of Storekeeper +to the Ordnance will be vacant in a day or two by the promotion of +Mr.-----, I wrote to secure the refusal. To-day's post brings me the +answer. I offer the place to you; and I trust, before long, to +procure you also a seat in parliament. But you must start for London +immediately." + +A week ago, and Legard's utmost ambition would have been amply gratified +by this post; he now hesitated. + +"My dear lord," said he, "I cannot say how grateful I feel for your +kindness; but--but--" + +"Enough; no thanks, my dear Legard. Can you go to town to-morrow?" + +"Indeed," said Legard, "I fear not; I must consult my uncle." + +"I can answer for him; I sounded him before I wrote. Reflect! You +are not rich, my dear Legard; it is an excellent opening: a seat in +parliament, too! Why, what can be your reason for hesitation?" + +There was something meaning and inquisitive in the tone of voice in +which this question was put that brought the colour to the colonel's +cheek. He knew not well what to reply; and he began, too, to think that +he ought not to refuse the appointment. Nay, would his uncle, on whom +he was dependent, consent to such a refusal? Lord Vargrave saw the +irresolution, and proceeded. He spent ten minutes in combating every +scruple, every objection: he placed all the advantages of the post, real +or imaginary, in every conceivable point of view before the colonel's +eyes; he sought to flatter, to wheedle, to coax, to weary him into +accepting it; and he at length partially succeeded. The colonel +petitioned for three days' consideration, which Vargrave reluctantly +acceded to; and Legard then stepped into his uncle's carriage, with the +air rather of a martyr than a maiden placeman. + +"Aha!" said Vargrave, chuckling to himself as he took a turn in the +grounds, "I have got rid of that handsome knave; and now I shall have +Evelyn all to myself!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + I AM forfeited to eternal disgrace if you do not commiserate. + ...... + Go to, then, raise, recover.--BEN JONSON: _Poetaster_. + +THE next morning Admiral Legard and his nephew were conversing in the +little cabin consecrated by the name of the admiral's "own room." + +"Yes," said the veteran, "it would be moonshine and madness not to +accept Vargrave's offer; though one can see through such a millstone as +that with half an eye. His lordship is jealous of such a fine, handsome +young fellow as you are,--and very justly. But as long as he is under +the same roof with Miss Cameron, you will have no opportunity to +pay your court; when he goes, you can always manage to be in her +neighbourhood; and then, you know--puppy that you are--her business will +be very soon settled." And the admiral eyed the handsome colonel with +grim fondness. + +Legard sighed. + +"Have you any commands at -----?" said he; "I am just going to canter +over there before Doltimore is up." + +"Sad lazy dog, your friend." + +"I shall be back by twelve." + +"What are you going to ----- for?" + +"Brookes, the farrier, has a little spaniel,--King Charles's breed. Miss +Cameron is fond of dogs. I can send it to her, with my compliments,--it +will be a sort of leave-taking." + +"Sly rogue; ha, ha, ha! d-----d sly; ha, ha!" and the admiral punched +the slender waist of his nephew, and laughed till the tears ran down his +cheeks. + +"Good-by, sir." + +"Stop, George; I forgot to ask you a question; you never told me you +knew Mr. Maltravers. Why don't you cultivate his acquaintance?" + +"We met at Venice accidentally. I did not know his name then; he left +just as I arrived. As you say, I ought to cultivate his acquaintance." + +"Fine character!" + +"Very!" said Legard, with energy, as he abruptly quitted the room. + +George Legard was an orphan. His father--the admiral's elder +brother--had been a spendthrift man of fashion, with a tolerably large +unentailed estate. He married a duke's daughter without a sixpence. +Estates are troublesome,--Mr. Legard's was sold. On the purchase-money +the happy pair lived for some years in great comfort, when Mr. Legard +died of a brain fever; and his disconsolate widow found herself alone +in the world with a beautiful little curly-headed boy, and an annuity +of one thousand a year, for which her settlement had been exchanged. +All the rest of the fortune was gone,--a discovery not made till Mr. +Legard's death. Lady Louisa did not long survive the loss of her husband +and her station in society; her income of course died with herself. Her +only child was brought up in the house of his grandfather, the duke, +till he was of age to hold the office of king's page; thence, as +is customary, he was promoted to a commission in the Guards. To the +munificent emoluments of his pay, the ducal family liberally added +an allowance of two hundred a year; upon which income Cornet Legard +contrived to get very handsomely in debt. The extraordinary beauty +of his person, his connections, and his manners obtained him all the +celebrity that fashion can bestow; but poverty is a bad thing. Luckily, +at this time, his uncle the admiral returned from sea, to settle for the +rest of his life in England. + +Hitherto, the admiral had taken no notice of George. He himself had +married a merchant's daughter with a fair portion; and had been blessed +with two children, who monopolized all his affection. But there seemed +some mortality in the Legard family; in one year after returning to +England and settling in B-----shire, the admiral found himself wifeless +and childless. He then turned to his orphan nephew; and soon became +fonder of him than he had ever been of his own children. The admiral, +though in easy circumstances, was not wealthy; nevertheless, he advanced +the money requisite for George's rise in the army, and doubled the +allowance bestowed by the duke. His grace heard of this generosity, and +discovered that he himself had a very large family growing up; that the +marquess was going to be married, and required an increase of income; +that he had already behaved most handsomely to his nephew; and the +result of this discovery was that the duke withdrew the two hundred a +year. Legard, however, who looked on his uncle as an exhaustless mine, +went on breaking hearts and making debts--till one morning he woke in +the Bench. The admiral was hastily summoned to London. He arrived; +paid off the duns--a kindness which seriously embarrassed him--swore, +scolded, and cried; and finally insisted that Legard should give up +that d-----d coxcomb regiment, in which he was now captain, retire on +half-pay, and learn economy and a change of habits on the Continent. + +The admiral, a rough but good-natured man on the whole, had two or three +little peculiarities. In the first place, he piqued himself on a sort of +John Bull independence; was a bit of a Radical (a strange anomaly in an +admiral)--which was owing, perhaps, to two or three young lords having +been put over his head in the earlier part of his career; and he made +it a point with his nephew (of whose affection he was jealous) to +break with those fine grand connections, who plunged him into a sea of +extravagance, and then never threw him a rope to save him from drowning. + +In the second place, without being stingy, the admiral had a good deal +of economy in his disposition. He was not a man to allow his nephew to +ruin him. He had an extraordinarily old-fashioned horror of gambling,--a +polite habit of George's; and he declared positively that his nephew +must, while a bachelor, learn to live upon seven hundred a year. +Thirdly, the admiral could be a very stern, stubborn, passionate old +brute; and when he coolly told George, "Harkye, you young puppy, if you +get into debt again--if you exceed the very handsome allowance I make +you--I shall just cut you off with a shilling," George was fully aware +that his uncle was one who would rigidly keep his word. + +However, it was something to be out of debt, and one of the handsomest +men of his age; and George Legard, whose rank in the Guards made him a +colonel in the line, left England tolerably contented with the state of +affairs. + +Despite the foibles of his youth, George Legard had many high and +generous qualities. Society had done its best to spoil a fine and candid +disposition, with abilities far above mediocrity; but society had only +partially succeeded. Still, unhappily, dissipation had grown a habit +with him; all his talents were of a nature that brought a ready return. +At his age, it was but natural that the praise of _salons_ should retain +all its sweetness. + +In addition to those qualities which please the softer sex, Legard was a +good whist player, superb at billiards, famous as a shot, unrivalled +as a horseman,--in fact, an accomplished man, "who did everything so +devilish well!" These accomplishments did not stand him in much stead +in Italy; and, though with reluctance and remorse, he took again to +gambling,--he really _had_ nothing else to do. + +In Venice there was, one year, established a society somewhat on the +principle of the _salon_ at Paris. Some rich Venetians belonged to it; +but it was chiefly for the convenience of foreigners,--French, English, +and Austrians. Here there was select gaming in one room, while another +apartment served the purposes of a club. Many who never played belonged +to this society; but still they were not the _habitues_. + +Legard played: he won at first, then he lost, then he won again; it was +a pleasant excitement. One night, after winning largely at _roulette_, +he sat down to play _ecarte_ with a Frenchman of high rank. Legard +played well at this, as at all scientific games; he thought he should +make a fortune out of the Frenchman. The game excited much interest; the +crowd gathered round the table; bets ran high; the vanity of Legard, +as well as his interest, was implicated in the conflict. It was soon +evident that the Frenchman played as well as the Englishman. The stakes, +at first tolerably high, were doubled. Legard betted freely. Cards went +against him; he lost much, lost all that he had, lost more than he had, +lost several hundreds, which he promised to pay the next morning. The +table was broken up, the spectators separated. Amongst the latter had +been one Englishman, introduced into the club for the first time that +night. He had neither played nor betted, but had observed the game with +a quiet and watchful interest. This Englishman lodged at the same hotel +as Legard. He was at Venice only for a day; the promised sight of a file +of English newspapers had drawn him to the club; the general excitement +around had attracted him to the table; and once there, the spectacle of +human emotions exercised its customary charm. + +On ascending the stairs that conducted to his apartment, the Englishman +heard a deep groan in a room the door of which was ajar. He paused, the +sound was repeated; he gently pushed open the door and saw Legard seated +by a table, while a glass on the opposite wall reflected his working and +convulsed countenance, with his hands trembling visibly, as they took a +brace of pistols from the case. + +The Englishman recognized the loser at the club; and at once divined the +act that his madness or his despair dictated. Legard twice took up one +of the pistols, and twice laid it down irresolute; the third time he +rose with a start, raised the weapon to his head, and the next moment it +was wrenched from his grasp. + +"Sit down, sir!" said the stranger, in a loud and commanding voice. + +Legard, astonished and abashed, sank once more into his seat, and stared +sullenly and half-unconsciously at his countryman. + +"You have lost your money," said the Englishman, after calmly replacing +the pistols in their case, which he locked, putting the key into his +pocket; "and that is misfortune enough for one night. If you had won, +and ruined your opponent, you would be excessively happy, and go to bed, +thinking Good Luck (which is the representative of Providence) watched +over you. For my part, I think you ought to be very thankful that you +are not the winner." + +"Sir," said Legard, recovering from his surprise, and beginning to feel +resentment, "I do not understand this intrusion in my apartments. You +have saved me, it is true, from death,--but life is a worse curse." + +"Young man, no! moments in life are agony, but life itself is a +blessing. Life is a mystery that defies all calculation. You can never +say, 'To-day is wretched, therefore to-morrow must be the same!' And for +the loss of a little gold you, in the full vigour of youth, with all the +future before you, will dare to rush into the chances of eternity! +You, who have never, perhaps, thought what eternity is! Yet," added +the stranger, in a soft and melancholy voice, "you are young and +beautiful,--perhaps the pride and hope of others! Have you no tie, no +affection, no kindred; are you lord of yourself?" + +Legard was moved by the tone of the stranger, as well as by the words. + +"It is not the loss of money," said he, gloomily,--"it is the loss of +honour. To-morrow I must go forth a shunned and despised man,--I, a +gentleman and a soldier! They may insult me--and I have no reply!" + +The Englishman seemed to muse, for his brow lowered, and he made no +answer. Legard threw himself back, overcome with his own excitement, +and wept like a child. The stranger, who imagined himself above the +indulgence of emotion (vain man!), woke from his revery at this burst +of passion. He gazed at first (I grieve to write) with a curl of the +haughty lip that had in it contempt; but it passed quickly away; and +the hard man remembered that he too had been young and weak, and his own +errors greater perhaps than those of the one he had ventured to despise. +He walked to and fro the room, still without speaking. At last he +approached the gamester, and took his hand. + +"What is your debt?" he asked gently. + +"What matters it?--more than I can pay." + +"If life is a trust, so is wealth: _you_ have the first in charge for +others, _I_ may have the last. What is the debt?" + +Legard started; it was a strong struggle between shame and hope. "If I +could borrow it, I could repay it hereafter,--I know I could; I would +not think of it otherwise." + +"Very well, so be it,--I will lend you the money on one condition. +Solemnly promise me, on your faith as a soldier and a gentleman, that +you will not, for ten years to come--even if you grow rich, and can ruin +others--touch card or dice-box. Promise me that you will shun all gaming +for gain, under whatever disguise, whatever appellation. I will take +your word as my bond." + +Legard, overjoyed, and scarcely trusting his senses, gave the promise. + +"Sleep then, to-night, in hope and assurance of the morrow," said the +Englishman: "let this event be an omen to you, that while there is a +future there is no despair. One word more,--I do not want your thanks! +it is easy to be generous at the expense of justice. Perhaps I have +been so now. This sum, which is to save your life--a life you so little +value--might have blessed fifty human beings,--better men than either +the giver or receiver. What is given to error may perhaps be a wrong +to virtue. When you would ask others to support a career of blind and +selfish extravagance, pause and think over the breadless lips this +wasted gold would have fed! the joyless hearts it would have comforted! +You talk of repaying me: if the occasion offer, do so; if not--if we +never meet again, and you have it in your power, pay it for me to the +Poor! And now, farewell." + +"Stay,--give me the name of my preserver! Mine is--" + +"Hush! what matter names? This is a sacrifice we have both made +to honour. You will sooner recover your self-esteem (and without +self-esteem there is neither faith nor honour), when you think that +your family, your connections, are spared all association with your own +error; that I may hear them spoken of, that I may mix with them without +fancying that they owe me gratitude." + +"Your own name then?" said Legard, deeply penetrated with the delicate +generosity of his benefactor. + +"Tush!" muttered the stranger impatiently as he closed the door. + +The next morning when he awoke Legard saw upon the table a small packet; +it contained a sum that exceeded the debt named. + +On the envelope was written, "Remember the bond." + +The stranger had already quitted Venice. He had not travelled through +the Italian cities under his own name, for he had just returned from the +solitudes of the East, and was not yet hardened to the publicity of the +gossip which in towns haunted by his countrymen attended a well-known +name; that given to Legard by the innkeeper, mutilated by Italian +pronunciation, the young man had never heard before, and soon forgot. He +paid his debts, and he scrupulously kept his word. The adventure of that +night went far, indeed, to reform and ennoble the mind and habits of +George Legard. Time passed, and he never met his benefactor, till in the +halls of Burleigh he recognized the stranger in Maltravers. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + WHY value, then, that strength of mind they boast, + As often varying, and as often lost? + + HAWKINS BROWNE (translated by SOAME JENYNS). + +MALTRAVERS was lying at length, with his dogs around him, under a +beech-tree that threw its arms over one of the calm still pieces of +water that relieved the groves of Burleigh, when Colonel Legard spied +him from the bridle-road which led through the park to the house. The +colonel dismounted, threw the rein over his arm; and at the sound of the +hoofs Maltravers turned, saw the visitor, and rose. He held out his hand +to Legard, and immediately began talking of indifferent matters. + +Legard was embarrassed; but his nature was not one to profit by the +silence of a benefactor. "Mr. Maltravers," said he, with graceful +emotion, "though you have not yet allowed me an opportunity to allude to +it, do not think I am ungrateful for the service you rendered me." + +Maltravers looked grave, but made no reply. Legard resumed, with a +heightened colour,-- + +"I cannot say how I regret that it is not yet in my power to discharge +my debt; but--" + +"When it is, you will do so. Pray think no more of it. Are you going to +the rectory?" + +"No, not this morning; in fact, I leave B-----shire tomorrow. Pleasant +family, the Mertons." + +"And Miss Cameron--" + +"Is certainly beautiful,--and very rich. How could she ever think of +marrying Lord Vargrave, so much older,--she who could have so many +admirers?" + +"Not, surely, while betrothed to another?" + +This was a refinement which Legard, though an honourable man as men go, +did not quite understand. "Oh," said he, "that was by some eccentric old +relation,--her father-in-law, I think. Do you think she is bound by such +an engagement?" + +Maltravers made no reply, but amused himself by throwing a stick into +the water, and sending one of his dogs after it. Legard looked on, and +his affectionate disposition yearned to make advances which something +distant in the manner of Maltravers chilled and repelled. + +When Legard was gone, Maltravers followed him with his eyes. "And this +is the man whom Cleveland thinks Evelyn could love! I could forgive her +marrying Vargrave. Independently of the conscientious feeling that may +belong to the engagement, Vargrave has wit, talent, intellect; and this +man has nothing but the skin of the panther. Was I wrong to save him? +No. Every human life, I suppose, has its uses. But Evelyn--I could +despise her if her heart was the fool of the eye!" + +These comments were most unjust to Legard; but they were just of that +kind of injustice which the man of talent often commits against the man +of external advantages, and which the latter still more often retaliates +on the man of talent. As Maltravers thus soliloquized, he was accosted +by Mr. Cleveland. + +"Come, Ernest, you must not cut these unfortunate Mertons any longer. +If you continue to do so, do you know what Mrs. Hare and the world will +say?" + +"No--what?" + +"That you have been refused by Miss Merton." + +"That _would_ be a calumny!" said Ernest, smiling. + +"Or that you are hopelessly in love with Miss Cameron." + +Maltravers started; his proud heart swelled; he pulled his hat over his +brows, and said, after a short pause,-- + +"Well, Mrs. Hare and the world must not have it all their own way; and +so, whenever you go to the rectory, take me with you." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + THE more he strove + To advance his suit, the farther from her love. + + DRYDEN: _Theodore and Honoria_. + +THE line of conduct which Vargrave now adopted with regard to Evelyn +was craftily conceived and carefully pursued. He did not hazard a single +syllable which might draw on him a rejection of his claims; but at the +same time no lover could be more constant, more devoted, in attentions. +In the presence of others, there was an air of familiar intimacy that +seemed to arrogate a right, which to her he scrupulously shunned to +assert. Nothing could be more respectful, nay, more timid, than his +language, or more calmly confident than his manner. Not having much +vanity, nor any very acute self-conceit, he did not delude himself into +the idea of winning Evelyn's affections; he rather sought to entangle +her judgment, to weave around her web upon web,--not the less dangerous +for being invisible. He took the compact as a matter of course, as +something not to be broken by any possible chance; her hand was to be +his as a right: it was her heart that he so anxiously sought to gain. +But this distinction was so delicately drawn, and insisted upon so +little in any tangible form, that, whatever Evelyn's wishes for an +understanding, a much more experienced woman would have been at a loss +to ripen one. + +Evelyn longed to confide in Caroline, to consult her; but Caroline, +though still kind, had grown distant. "I wish," said Evelyn, one night +as she sat in Caroline's dressing-room,--"I wish that I knew what tone +to take with Lord Vargrave. I feel more and more convinced that a union +between us is impossible; and yet, precisely because he does not press +it, am I unable to tell him so. I wish you could undertake that task; +you seem such friends with him." + +"I!" said Caroline, changing countenance. + +"Yes, you! Nay, do not blush, or I shall think you envy me. Could +you not save us both from the pain that otherwise must come sooner or +later?" + +"Lord Vargrave would not thank me for such an act of friendship. +Besides, Evelyn, consider,--it is scarcely possible to break off this +engagement _now_." + +"_Now_! and why now?" said Evelyn, astonished. + +"The world believes it so implicitly. Observe, whoever sits next you +rises if Lord Vargrave approaches; the neighbourhood talk of nothing +else but your marriage; and your fate, Evelyn, is not pitied." + +"I will leave this place! I will go back to the cottage! I cannot bear +this!" said Evelyn, passionately wringing her hands. + +"You do not love another, I am sure: not young Mr. Hare, with his +green coat and straw-coloured whiskers; or Sir Henry Foxglove, with his +how-d'ye-do like a view-halloo; perhaps, indeed, Colonel Legard,--he is +handsome. What! do you blush at his name? No; you say 'not Legard:' who +else is there?" + +"You are cruel; you trifle with me!" said Evelyn, in tearful reproach; +and she rose to go to her own room. + +"My dear girl!" said Caroline, touched by her evident pain; "learn from +me--if I may say so--that marriages are _not_ made in heaven! Yours will +be as fortunate as earth can bestow. A love-match is usually the least +happy of all. Our foolish sex demand so much in love; and love, after +all, is but one blessing among many. Wealth and rank remain when love +is but a heap of ashes. For my part, I have chosen my destiny and my +husband." + +"Your husband!" + +"Yes, you see him in Lord Doltimore. I dare say we shall be as happy +as any amorous Corydon and Phyllis." But there was irony in Caroline's +voice as she spoke; and she sighed heavily. Evelyn did not believe her +serious; and the friends parted for the night. + +"Mine is a strange fate!" said Caroline to herself; "I am asked by +the man whom I love, and who professes to love me, to bestow myself on +another, and to plead for him to a younger and fairer bride. Well, I +will obey him in the first; the last is a bitterer task, and I cannot +perform it earnestly. Yet Vargrave has a strange power over me; and +when I look round the world, I see that he is right. In these most +commonplace artifices, there is yet a wild majesty that charms and +fascinates me. It is something to rule the world: and his and mine are +natures formed to do so." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + A SMOKE raised with the fume of sighs. + + _Romeo and Juliet_. + +IT is certain that Evelyn experienced for Maltravers sentiments which, +if not love, might easily be mistaken for it. But whether it were that +master-passion, or merely its fanciful resemblance,--love in early +youth and innocent natures, if of sudden growth, is long before it makes +itself apparent. Evelyn had been prepared to feel an interest in her +solitary neighbour. His mind, as developed in his works, had half-formed +her own. Her childish adventure with the stranger had never been +forgotten. Her present knowledge of Maltravers was an union of dangerous +and often opposite associations,--the Ideal and the Real. + +Love, in its first dim and imperfect shape, is but imagination +concentrated on one object. It is a genius of the heart, resembling that +of the intellect; it appeals to, it stirs up, it evokes, the sentiments +and sympathies that lie most latent in our nature. Its sigh is the +spirit that moves over the ocean, and arouses the Anadyomene into life. +Therefore is it that MIND produces affections deeper than those of +external form; therefore it is that women are worshippers of glory, +which is the palpable and visible representative of a genius whose +operations they cannot always comprehend. Genius has so much in common +with love, the imagination that animates one is so much the property +of the other, that there is not a surer sign of the existence of genius +than the love that it creates and bequeaths. It penetrates deeper than +the reason, it binds a nobler captive than the fancy. As the sun upon +the dial, it gives to the human heart both its shadow and its light. +Nations are its worshippers and wooers; and Posterity learns from its +oracles to dream, to aspire, to adore! + +Had Maltravers declared the passion that consumed him, it is probable +that it would soon have kindled a return. But his frequent absence, his +sustained distance of manner, had served to repress the feelings that +in a young and virgin heart rarely flow with much force until they +are invited and aroused. _Le besoin d'aimer_ in girls, is, perhaps, in +itself powerful; but is fed by another want, _le besoin d'etre aime_! +_If_, therefore, Evelyn at present felt love for Maltravers, the love +had certainly not passed into the core of life: the tree had not so far +struck its roots but what it might have borne transplanting. There was +in her enough of the pride of sex to have recoiled from the thought +of giving love to one who had not asked the treasure. Capable of +attachment, more trustful and therefore, if less vehement, more +beautiful and durable than that which had animated the brief tragedy of +Florence Lascelles, she could not have been the unknown correspondent, +or revealed the soul, because the features wore a mask. + +It must also be allowed that, in some respects, Evelyn was too young and +inexperienced thoroughly to appreciate all that was most truly lovable +and attractive in Maltravers. At four and twenty she would, perhaps, +have felt no fear mingled with her respect for him; but seventeen and +six and thirty is a wide interval! She never felt that there was that +difference in years until she had met Legard, and then at once she +comprehended it. With Legard she had moved on equal terms; he was not +too wise, too high for her every-day thoughts. He less excited her +imagination, less attracted her reverence. But, somehow or other, that +voice which proclaimed her power, those eyes which never turned from +hers, went nearer to her heart. As Evelyn had once said to Caroline, "It +was a great enigma!"--her own feelings were a mystery to her, and she +reclined by the "Golden Waterfalls" without tracing her likeness in the +glass of the pool below. + +Maltravers appeared again at the rectory. He joined their parties by +day, and his evenings were spent with them as of old. In this I know not +precisely what were his motives--perhaps he did not know them himself. +It might be that his pride was roused; it might be that he could not +endure the notion that Lord Vargrave should guess his secret by an +absence almost otherwise unaccountable,--he could not patiently bear to +give Vargrave that triumph; it might be that, in the sternness of his +self-esteem, he imagined he had already conquered all save affectionate +interest in Evelyn's fate, and trusted too vainly to his own strength; +and it might be, also, that he could not resist the temptation of seeing +if Evelyn were contented with her lot, and if Vargrave were worthy of +the blessing that awaited him. Whether one of these or all united made +him resolve to brave his danger, or whether, after all, he yielded to a +weakness, or consented to what--invited by Evelyn herself--was almost a +social necessity, the reader and not the narrator shall decide. + +Legard was gone; but Doltimore remained in the neighbourhood, having +hired a hunting-box not far from Sir John Merton's manors, over which +he easily obtained permission to sport. When he did not dine elsewhere, +there was always a place for him at the parson's hospitable board,--and +that place was generally next to Caroline. Mr. and Mrs. Merton had +given up all hope of Mr. Maltravers for their eldest daughter; and, very +strangely, this conviction came upon their minds on the first day they +made the acquaintance of the young lord. + +"My dear," said the rector, as he was winding up his watch, preparatory +to entering the connubial couch,--"my dear, I don't think Mr. Maltravers +is a marrying man." + +"I was just going to make the same remark," said Mrs. Merton, drawing +the clothes over her. "Lord Doltimore is a very fine young man, his +estates unencumbered. I like him vastly, my love. He is evidently +smitten with Caroline: so Lord Vargrave and Mrs. Hare said." + +"Sensible, shrewd woman, Mrs. Hare. By the by, we'll send her a +pineapple. Caroline was made to be a woman of rank!" + +"Quite; so much self-possession!" + +"And if Mr. Maltravers would sell or let Burleigh--" + +"It would be so pleasant!" + +"Had you not better give Caroline a hint?" + +"My love, she is so sensible, let her go her own way." + +"You are right, my dear Betsy; I shall always say that no one has more +common-sense than you; you have brought up your children admirably!" + +"Dear Charles!" + +"It is coldish to-night, love," said the rector; and he put out the +candle. + +From that time, it was not the fault of Mr. and Mrs. Merton if Lord +Doltimore did not find their house the pleasantest in the county. + +One evening the rectory party were assembled together in the cheerful +drawing-room. Cleveland, Mr. Merton, Sir John, and Lord Vargrave, +reluctantly compelled to make up the fourth, were at the whist-table; +Evelyn, Caroline, and Lord Doltimore were seated round the fire, and +Mrs. Merton was working a footstool. The fire burned clear, the curtains +were down, the children in bed: it was a family picture of elegant +comfort. + +Mr. Maltravers was announced. + +"I am glad you are come at last," said Caroline, holding out her fair +hand. "Mr. Cleveland could not answer for you. We are all disputing as +to which mode of life is the happiest." + +"And your opinion?" asked Maltravers, seating himself in the vacant +chair,--it chanced to be next to Evelyn's. + +"My opinion is decidedly in favour of London. A metropolitan life, +with its perpetual and graceful excitements,--the best music, the best +companions, the best things in short. Provincial life is so dull, its +pleasures so tiresome; to talk over the last year's news, and wear out +one's last year's dresses, cultivate a conservatory, and play Pope Joan +with a young party,--dreadful!" + +"I agree with Miss Merton," said Lord Doltimore, solemnly; "not but +what I like the country for three or four months in the year, with good +shooting and hunting, and a large house properly filled, independent of +one's own neighbourhood: but if I am condemned to choose one place to +live in, give me Paris." + +"Ah, Paris; I never was in Paris. I should so like to travel!" said +Caroline. + +"But the inns abroad are so very bad," said Lord Doltimore; "how people +can rave about Italy, I can't think. I never suffered so much in my life +as I did in Calabria; and at Venice I was bit to death by mosquitoes. +Nothing like Paris, I assure you: don't you think so, Mr. Maltravers?" + +"Perhaps I shall be able to answer you better in a short time. I think +of accompanying Mr. Cleveland to Paris!" + +"Indeed!" said Caroline. "Well, I envy you; but is it a sudden +resolution?" + +"Not very." + +"Do you stay long?" asked Lord Doltimore. + +"My stay is uncertain." + +"And you won't let Burleigh in the meanwhile?" + +"_Let_ Burleigh? No; if it once pass from my hands it will be forever!" + +Maltravers spoke gravely, and the subject was changed. Lord Doltimore +challenged Caroline to chess. + +They sat down, and Lord Doltimore arranged the pieces. + +"Sensible man, Mr. Maltravers," said the young lord; "but I don't hit it +off with him: Vargrave is more agreeable. Don't you think so?" + +"Y-e-s." + +"Lord Vargrave is very kind to me,--I never remember any one being more +so; got Legard that appointment solely because it would please me,--very +friendly fellow! I mean to put myself under his wing next session!" + +"You could not do better, I'm sure," said Caroline; "he is so much +looked up to; I dare say he will be prime minister one of these days." + +"I take the bishop:--do you think so really?--you are rather a +politician?" + +"Oh, no; not much of that. But my father and my uncle are stanch +politicians; gentlemen know so much more than ladies. We should always +go by their opinions. I think I will take the queen's pawn--your +politics are the same as Lord Vargrave's?" + +"Yes, I fancy so: at least I shall leave my proxy with him. Glad you +don't like politics,--great bore." + +"Why, so young, so connected as you are--" Caroline stopped short, and +made a wrong move. + +"I wish we were going to Paris together, we should enjoy it so;" and +Lord Doltimore's knight checked the tower and queen. + +Caroline coughed, and stretched her hand quickly to move. + +"Pardon me, you will lose the game if you do so!" and Doltimore placed +his hand on hers, their eyes met, Caroline turned away, and Lord +Doltimore settled his right collar. + + + +"And is it true? are you really going to leave us?" said Evelyn, and she +felt very sad. But still the sadness might not be that of love,--she had +felt sad after Legard had gone. + +"I do not think I shall long stay away," said Maltravers, trying to +speak indifferently. "Burleigh has become more dear to me than it was in +earlier youth; perhaps because I have made myself duties there: and in +other places I am but an isolated and useless unit in the great mass." + +"You! everywhere, you must have occupations and resources,--everywhere, +you must find yourself not alone. But you will not go yet?" + +"Not yet--no. [Evelyn's spirits rose.] Have you read the book I sent +you?" (It was one of De Stael's.) + +"Yes; but it disappoints me." + +"And why? It is eloquent." + +"But is it true? Is there so much melancholy in life? Are the affections +so full of bitterness? For me, I am so happy when with those I love! +When I am with my mother, the air seems more fragrant, the skies more +blue: it is surely not affection, but the absence of it, that makes us +melancholy." + +"Perhaps so; but if we had never known affection, we might not miss it: +and the brilliant Frenchwoman speaks from memory, while you speak +from hope,--memory, which is the ghost of joy: yet surely, even in +the indulgence of affection, there is at times a certain melancholy, a +certain fear. Have you never felt it, even with--with your mother?" + +"Ah, yes! when she suffered, or when I have thought she loved me less +than I desired." + +"That must have been an idle and vain thought. Your mother! does she +resemble you?" + +"I wish I could think so. Oh, if you knew her! I have longed so often +that you were acquainted with each other! It was she who taught me to +sing your songs." + +"My dear Mrs. Hare, we may as well throw up our cards," said the keen +clear voice of Lord Vargrave: "you have played most admirably, and I +know that your last card will be the ace of trumps; still the luck is +against us." + +"No, no; pray play it out, my lord." + +"Quite useless, ma'am," said Sir John, showing two honours. "We have +only the trick to make." + +"Quite useless," echoed Lumley, tossing down his sovereigns, and rising +with a careless yawn. + +"How d'ye do, Maltravers?" + +Maltravers rose; and Vargrave turned to Evelyn, and addressed her in +a whisper. The proud Maltravers walked away, and suppressed a sigh; a +moment more, and he saw Lord Vargrave occupying the chair he had left +vacant. He laid his hand on Cleveland's shoulder. + +"The carriage is waiting,--are you ready?" + + + +CHAPTER X. + + OBSCURIS vera involvens.*--VIRGIL. + + * "Wrapping truth in obscurity." + +A DAY or two after the date of the last chapter, Evelyn and Caroline +were riding out with Lord Vargrave and Mr. Merton, and on returning home +they passed through the village of Burleigh. + +"Maltravers, I suppose, has an eye to the county one of these days," +said Lord Vargrave, who honestly fancied that a man's eyes were +always directed towards something for his own interest or advancement; +"otherwise he could not surely take all this trouble about workhouses +and paupers. Who could ever have imagined my romantic friend would sink +into a country squire?" + +"It is astonishing what talent and energy he throws into everything he +attempts," said the parson. "One could not, indeed, have supposed that a +man of genius could make a man of business." + +"Flattering to your humble servant--whom all the world allow to be +the last, and deny to be the first. But your remark shows what a sad +possession genius is: like the rest of the world, you fancy that it +cannot be of the least possible use. If a man is called a genius, it +means that he is to be thrust out of all the good things in this life. +He is not fit for anything but a garret! Put a _genius_ into office! +make a _genius_ a bishop! or a lord chancellor!--the world would be +turned topsy-turvy! You see that you are quite astonished that a genius +can be even a county magistrate, and know the difference between a spade +and a poker! In fact, a genius is supposed to be the most ignorant, +impracticable, good-for-nothing, do-nothing sort of thing that ever +walked upon two legs. Well, when I began life I took excellent care that +nobody should take _me_ for a genius; and it is only within the last +year or two that I ventured to emerge a little out of my shell. I have +not been the better for it; I was getting on faster while I was merely +a plodder. The world is so fond of that droll fable, the hare and the +tortoise,--it really believes because (I suppose the fable to be true!) +a tortoise _once_ beat a hare that all tortoises are much better runners +than hares possibly can be. Mediocre men have the monopoly of the loaves +and fishes; and even when talent does rise in life, it is a talent which +only differs from mediocrity by being more energetic and bustling." + +"You are bitter, Lord Vargrave," said Caroline, laughing; "yet surely +you have had no reason to complain of the non-appreciation of talent?" + +"Humph! if I had had a grain more talent I should have been crushed by +it. There is a subtle allegory in the story of the lean poet, who +put _lead_ in his pocket to prevent being blown away! 'Mais a nos +moutons,'--to return to Maltravers. Let us suppose that he was merely +clever, had not had a particle of what is called genius, been merely a +hardworking able gentleman, of good character and fortune, he might be +half-way up the hill by this time; whereas now, what is he? Less before +the public than he was at twenty-eight,--a discontented anchorite, a +meditative idler." + +"No, not that," said Evelyn, warmly, and then checked herself. + +Lord Vargrave looked at her sharply; but his knowledge of life told him +that Legard was a much more dangerous rival than Maltravers. Now and +then, it is true, a suspicion to the contrary crossed him; but it did +not take root and become a serious apprehension. Still, he did not quite +like the tone of voice in which Evelyn had put her abrupt negative, and +said, with a slight sneer,-- + +"If not that, what is he?" + +"One who purchased by the noblest exertions the right to be idle," said +Evelyn with spirit; "and whom genius itself will not suffer to be idle +long." + +"Besides," said Mr. Merton, "he has won a high reputation, which he +cannot lose merely by not seeking to increase it." + +"Reputation! Oh, yes! we give men like that--men of genius--a large +property in the clouds, in order to justify ourselves in pushing them +out of our way below. But if they are contented with fame, why, they +deserve their fate. Hang fame,--give me power." + +"And is there no power in genius?" said Evelyn, with deepening fervour; +"no power over the mind, and the heart, and the thought; no power over +its own time, over posterity, over nations yet uncivilized, races yet +unborn?" + +This burst from one so simple and young as Evelyn seemed to Vargrave so +surprising that he stared on her without saying a word. + +"You will laugh at my championship," she added, with a blush and a +smile; "but you provoked the encounter." + +"And you have won the battle," said Vargrave, with prompt gallantry. "My +charming ward, every day develops in you some new gift of nature!" + +Caroline, with a movement of impatience, put her horse into a canter. + +Just at this time, from a cross-road, emerged a horseman,--it was +Maltravers. The party halted, salutations were exchanged. + +"I suppose you have been enjoying the sweet business of squiredom," +said Vargrave, gayly: "Atticus and his farm,--classical associations! +Charming weather for the agriculturists, eh! What news about corn and +barley? I suppose our English habit of talking on the weather arose when +we were all a squirearchal farming, George-the-Third kind of people! +Weather is really a serious matter to gentlemen who are interested +in beans and vetches, wheat and hay. You hang your happiness upon the +changes of the moon!" + +"As you upon the smiles of a minister. The weather of a court is more +capricious than that of the skies,--at least we are better husbandmen +than you who sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." + +"Well retorted: and really, when I look round, I am half inclined to +envy you. Were I not Vargrave, I would be Maltravers." + +It was, indeed, a scene that seemed quiet and serene, with the English +union of the feudal and the pastoral life,--the village-green, with its +trim scattered cottages; the fields and pastures that spread beyond; the +turf of the park behind, broken by the shadows of the unequal grounds, +with its mounds and hollows and venerable groves, from which rose the +turrets of the old Hall, its mullion windows gleaming in the western +sun; a scene that preached tranquillity and content, and might have been +equally grateful to humble philosophy and hereditary pride. + +"I never saw any place so peculiar in its character as Burleigh," said +the rector; "the old seats left to us in England are chiefly those of +our great nobles. It is so rare to see one that does not aspire beyond +the residence of a private gentleman preserve all the relics of the +Tudor age." + +"I think," said Vargrave, turning to Evelyn, "that as by my uncle's will +your fortune is to be laid out in the purchase of land, we could not +find a better investment than Burleigh. So, whenever you are inclined +to sell, Maltravers, I think we must outbid Doltimore. What say you, my +fair ward?" + +"Leave Burleigh in peace, I beseech you!" said Maltravers, angrily. + +"That is said like a Digby," returned Vargrave. "_Allons_!--will you not +come home with us?" + +"I thank you,--not to-day." + +"We meet at Lord Raby's next Thursday. It is a ball given almost wholly +in honour of your return to Burleigh; we are all going,--it is my +young cousin's _debut_ at Knaresdean. We have all an interest in her +conquests." + +Now, as Maltravers looked up to answer, he caught Evelyn's glance, and +his voice faltered. + +"Yes," he said, "we shall meet--once again. Adieu!" He wheeled round his +horse, and they separated. + +"I can bear this no more," said Maltravers to himself; "I overrated my +strength. To see her thus, day after day, and to know her another's, +to writhe beneath his calm, unconscious assertion of his rights! Happy +Vargrave!--and yet, ah! will _she_ be happy? Oh, could I think so!" + +Thus soliloquizing, he suffered the rein to fall on the neck of his +horse, which paced slowly home through the village, till it stopped--as +if in the mechanism of custom--at the door of a cottage a stone's throw +from the lodge. At this door, indeed, for several successive days, had +Maltravers stopped regularly; it was now tenanted by the poor woman his +introduction to whom has been before narrated. She had recovered +from the immediate effects of the injury she had sustained; but her +constitution, greatly broken by previous suffering and exhaustion, had +received a mortal shock. She was hurt inwardly; and the surgeon informed +Maltravers that she had not many months to live. He had placed her under +the roof of one of his favourite cottagers, where she received all the +assistance and alleviation that careful nursing and medical advice could +give her. + +This poor woman, whose name was Sarah Elton, interested Maltravers +much. She had known better days: there was a certain propriety in her +expressions which denoted an education superior to her circumstances; +and what touched Maltravers most, she seemed far more to feel her +husband's death than her own sufferings,--which, somehow or other, is +not common with widows the other side of forty! We say that youth easily +consoles itself for the robberies of the grave,--middle age is a still +better self-comforter. When Mrs. Elton found herself installed in the +cottage, she looked round, and burst into tears. + +"And William is not here!" she said. "Friends--friends! if we had had +but one such friend before he died!" + +Maltravers was pleased that her first thought was rather that of sorrow +for the dead than of gratitude for the living. Yet Mrs. Elton was +grateful,--simply, honestly, deeply grateful; her manner, her voice, +betokened it. And she seemed so glad when her benefactor called to speak +kindly and inquire cordially, that Maltravers did so constantly; at +first from a compassionate and at last from a selfish motive--for who is +not pleased to give pleasure? And Maltravers had so few in the world to +care for him, that perhaps he was flattered by the grateful respect of +this humble stranger. + +When his horse stopped, the cottager's daughter opened the door and +courtesied,--it was an invitation to enter; and he threw his rein over +the paling and walked into the cottage. + +Mrs. Elton, who had been seated by the open casement, rose to receive +him. But Maltravers made her sit down, and soon put her at her ease. The +woman and her daughter who occupied the cottage retired into the garden, +and Mrs. Elton, watching them withdraw, then exclaimed abruptly,-- + +"Oh, sir, I have so longed to see you this morning! I so long to make +bold to ask you whether, indeed, I dreamed it--or did I, when you first +took me to your house--did I see--" She stopped abruptly; and though she +strove to suppress her emotion, it was too strong for her efforts,--she +sank back on her chair, pale as death, and almost gasped for breath. + +Maltravers waited in surprise for her recovery. + +"I beg pardon, sir,--I was thinking of days long past; and--but I wished +to ask whether, when I lay in your hall, almost insensible, any one +besides yourself and your servants were present?---or was it"--added the +woman, with a shudder--"was it the dead?" + +"I remember," said Maltravers, much struck and interested in her +question and manner, "that a lady was present." + +"It is so! it is so!" cried the woman, half rising and clasping her +hands. "And she passed by this cottage a little time ago; her veil was +thrown aside as she turned that fair young face towards the cottage. Her +name, sir,--oh, what is her name? It was the same--the same face that +shone across me in that hour of pain! I did not dream! I was not mad!" + +"Compose yourself; you could never, I think, have seen that lady before. +Her name is Cameron." + +"Cameron--Cameron!" The woman shook her head mournfully. "No; that name +is strange to me. And her mother, sir,--she is dead?" + +"No; her mother lives." + +A shade came over the face of the sufferer; and she said, after a +pause,-- + +"My eyes deceive me then, sir; and, indeed, I feel that my head is +touched, and I wander sometimes. But the likeness was so great; yet that +young lady is even lovelier!" + +"Likenesses are very deceitful and very capricious, and depend more on +fancy than reality. One person discovers a likeness between faces most +dissimilar,--a likeness invisible to others. But who does Miss Cameron +resemble?" + +"One now dead, sir; dead many years ago. But it is a long story, and one +that lies heavy on my conscience. Some day or other, if you will give me +leave, sir, I will unburden myself to you." + +"If I can assist you in anyway, command me. Meanwhile, have you no +friends, no relations, no children, whom you would wish to see?" + +"Children!--no, sir; I never had but one child of _my own_ (she laid an +emphasis on the last words), and that died in a foreign land." + +"And no other relatives?" + +"None, sir. My history is very short and simple. I was well brought +up,--an only child. My father was a small farmer; he died when I was +sixteen, and I went into service with a kind old lady and her daughter, +who treated me more as a companion than a servant. I was a vain, giddy +girl, then, sir. A young man, the son of a neighbouring farmer, courted +me, and I was much attached to him; but neither of us had money, and his +parents would not give their consent to our marrying. I was silly enough +to think that, if William loved me, he should have braved all; and his +prudence mortified me, so I married another whom I did not love. I was +rightly punished, for he ill-used me and took to drinking; I returned to +my old service to escape from him--for I was with child, and my life was +in danger from his violence. He died suddenly, and in debt. And then, +afterwards, a gentleman--a rich gentleman--to whom I rendered a service +(do not misunderstand me, sir, if I say the service was one of which I +repent), gave me money, and made me rich enough to marry my first lover; +and William and I went to America. We lived many years in New York upon +our little fortune comfortably; and I was a long while happy, for I had +always loved William dearly. My first affliction was the death of my +child by my first husband; but I was soon roused from my grief. William +schemed and speculated, as everybody does in America, and so we lost +all; and William was weakly and could not work. At length he got the +place of steward on board a vessel from New York to Liverpool, and I was +taken to assist in the cabin. We wanted to come to London; I thought my +old benefactor might do something for us, though he had never answered +the letters I sent to him. But poor William fell ill on board, and died +in sight of land." + +Mrs. Elton wept bitterly, but with the subdued grief of one to whom +tears have been familiar; and when she recovered, she soon brought +her humble tale to an end. She herself, incapacitated from all work by +sorrow and a breaking constitution, was left in the streets of Liverpool +without other means of subsistence than the charitable contributions of +the passengers and sailors on board the vessel. With this sum she had +gone to London, where she found her old patron had been long since dead, +and she had no claims on his family. She had, on quitting England, left +one relation settled in a town in the North; thither she now repaired, +to find her last hope wrecked; the relation also was dead and gone. +Her money was now spent, and she had begged her way along the road, or +through the lanes, she scarce knew whither, till the accident which, in +shortening her life, had raised up a friend for its close. + +"And such, sir," said she in conclusion, "such has been the story of +my life, except one part of it, which, if I get stronger, I can tell +better; but you will excuse that now." + +"And are you comfortable and contented, my poor friend? These people are +kind to you?" + +"Oh, so kind! And every night we all pray for you, sir; you ought to be +happy, if the blessings of the poor can avail the rich." + +Maltravers remounted his horse, and sought his home; and his heart was +lighter than before he entered that cottage. But at evening Cleveland +talked of Vargrave and Evelyn, and the good fortune of the one, and the +charms of the other; and the wound, so well concealed, bled afresh. + +"I heard from De Montaigne the other day," said Ernest, just as they +were retiring for the night, "and his letter decides my movements. If +you will accept me, then, as a travelling companion, I will go with you +to Paris. Have you made up your mind to leave Burleigh on Saturday?" + +"Yes; that gives us a day to recover from Lord Raby's ball. I am so +delighted at your offer! We need only stay a day or so in town. The +excursion will do you good,---your spirits, my dear Ernest, seem more +dejected than when you first returned to England: you live too much +alone here; you will enjoy Burleigh more on your return. And perhaps +then you will open the old house a little more to the neighbourhood, and +to your friends. They expect it: you are looked to for the county." + +"I have done with politics, and sicken but for peace." + +"Pick up a wife in Paris, and you will then know that peace is an +impossible possession," said the old bachelor, laughing. + + + + +BOOK V. + + "FOOLS blind to truth; nor know their erring soul + How much the half is better than the whole." + --HESIOD: _Op. et Dies_, 40. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Do as the Heavens have done; forget your evil; + With them, forgive yourself.--_The Winter's Tale_. + +... The sweet'st companion that e'er man Bred his hopes out of.--_Ibid._ + +THE curate of Brook-Green was sitting outside his door. The vicarage +which he inhabited was a straggling, irregular, but picturesque +building,--humble enough to suit the means of the curate, yet large +enough to accommodate the vicar. It had been built in an age when the +_indigentes et pauperes_ for whom universities were founded supplied, +more than they do now, the fountains of the Christian ministry, when +pastor and flock were more on an equality. + +From under a rude and arched porch, with an oaken settle on either side +for the poor visitor, the door opened at once upon the old-fashioned +parlour,--a homely but pleasant room, with one wide but low cottage +casement, beneath which stood the dark shining table that supported +the large Bible in its green baize cover; the Concordance, and the last +Sunday's sermon, in its jetty case. There by the fireplace stood the +bachelor's round elbow-chair, with a needlework cushion at the back; +a walnut-tree bureau, another table or two, half a dozen plain chairs, +constituted the rest of the furniture, saving some two or three hundred +volumes, ranged in neat shelves on the clean wainscoted walls. There +was another room, to which you ascended by two steps, communicating with +this parlour, smaller but finer, and inhabited only on festive days, +when Lady Vargrave, or some other quiet neighbour, came to drink tea +with the good curate. + +An old housekeeper and her grandson--a young fellow of about two and +twenty, who tended the garden, milked the cow, and did in fact what he +was wanted to do--composed the establishment of the humble minister. + +We have digressed from Mr. Aubrey himself. + +The curate was seated, then, one fine summer morning, on a bench at +the left of his porch, screened from the sun by the cool boughs of a +chestnut-tree, the shadow of which half covered the little lawn that +separated the precincts of the house from those of silent Death and +everlasting Hope; above the irregular and moss-grown paling rose +the village church; and, through openings in the trees, beyond the +burial-ground, partially gleamed the white walls of Lady Vargrave's +cottage, and were seen at a distance the sails on the-- + + "Mighty waters, rolling evermore." + +The old man was calmly enjoying the beauty of the morning, the freshness +of the air, the warmth of the dancing beam, and not least, perhaps, +his own peaceful thoughts,--the spontaneous children of a contemplative +spirit and a quiet conscience. His was the age when we most sensitively +enjoy the mere sense of existence,--when the face of Nature and a +passive conviction of the benevolence of our Great Father suffice to +create a serene and ineffable happiness, which rarely visits us till +we have done with the passions; till memories, if more alive than +heretofore, are yet mellowed in the hues of time, and Faith softens +into harmony all their asperities and harshness; till nothing within us +remains to cast a shadow over the things without; and on the verge of +life, the Angels are nearer to us than of yore. There is an old age +which has more youth of heart than youth itself! + +As the old man thus sat, the little gate through which, on Sabbath +days, he was wont to pass from the humble mansion to the house of God +noiselessly opened, and Lady Vargrave appeared. + +The curate rose when he perceived her; and the lady's fair features were +lighted up with a gentle pleasure, as she pressed his hand and returned +his salutation. + +There was a peculiarity in Lady Vargrave's countenance which I have +rarely seen in others. Her smile, which was singularly expressive, +came less from the lip than from the eyes; it was almost as if the brow +smiled; it was as the sudden and momentary vanishing of a light but +melancholy cloud that usually rested upon the features, placid as they +were. + +They sat down on the rustic bench, and the sea-breeze wantoned amongst +the quivering leaves of the chestnut-tree that overhung their seat. + +"I have come, as usual, to consult my kind friend," said Lady Vargrave; +"and, as usual also, it is about our absent Evelyn." + +"Have you heard again from her, this morning?" + +"Yes; and her letter increases the anxiety which your observation, so +much deeper than mine, first awakened." + +"Does she then write much of Lord Vargrave?" + +"Not a great deal; but the little she does say, betrays how much she +shrinks from the union my poor husband desired: more, indeed, than ever! +But this is not all, nor the worst; for you know that the late lord +had provided against that probability--he loved her so tenderly, his +ambition for her only came from his affection; and the letter he left +behind him pardons and releases her, if she revolts from the choice he +himself preferred." + +"Lord Vargrave is, perhaps, a generous, he certainly seems a candid, +man, and he must be sensible that his uncle has already done all that +justice required." + +"I think so. But this, as I said, is not all; I have brought the letter +to show you. It seems to me as you apprehended. This Mr. Maltravers has +wound himself about her thoughts more than she herself imagines; you +see how she dwells on all that concerns him, and how, after checking +herself, she returns again and again to the same subject." + +The curate put on his spectacles, and took the letter. It was a strange +thing, that old gray-haired minister evincing such grave interest in the +secrets of that young heart! But they who would take charge of the soul +must never be too wise to regard the heart! + +Lady Vargrave looked over his shoulder as he bent down to read, and at +times placed her finger on such passages as she wished him to note. The +old curate nodded as she did so; but neither spoke till the letter was +concluded. + +The curate then folded up the epistle, took off his spectacles, hemmed, +and looked grave. + +"Well," said Lady Vargrave, anxiously, "well?" + +"My dear friend, the letter requires consideration. In the first place, +it is clear to me that, in spite of Lord Vargrave's presence at the +rectory, his lordship so manages matters that the poor child is unable +of herself to bring that matter to a conclusion. And, indeed, to a mind +so sensitively delicate and honourable, it is no easy task." + +"Shall I write to Lord Vargrave?" + +"Let us think of it. In the meanwhile, this Mr. Maltravers--" + +"Ah, this Mr. Maltravers!" + +"The child shows us more of her heart than she thinks of; and yet I +myself am puzzled. If you observe, she has only once or twice spoken of +the Colonel Legard whom she has made acquaintance with; while she treats +at length of Mr. Maltravers, and confesses the effect he has produced +on her mind. Yet, do you know, I more dread the caution respecting the +first than all the candour that betrays the influence of the last? There +is a great difference between first fancy and first love." + +"Is there?" said the lady, abstractedly. + +"Again, neither of us is acquainted with this singular man,--I mean +Maltravers; his character, temper, and principles, of all of which +Evelyn is too young, too guileless, to judge for herself. One thing, +however, in her letter speaks in his favour." + +"What is that?" + +"He absents himself from her. This, if he has discovered her secret, or +if he himself is sensible of too great a charm in her presence, would be +the natural course that an honourable and a strong mind would pursue." + +"What!--if he love her?" + +"Yes; while he believes her hand is engaged to another." + +"True! What shall be done--if Evelyn should love, and love in vain? Ah, +it is the misery of a whole existence!" + +"Perhaps she had better return to us," said Mr. Aubrey; "and yet, if +already it be too late, and her affections are engaged, we should still +remain in ignorance respecting the motives and mind of the object of her +attachment; and he, too, might not know the true nature of the obstacle +connected with Lord Vargrave's claims." + +"Shall I, then, go to her? You know how I shrink from strangers; how I +fear curiosity, doubts, and questions; how [and Lady Vargrave's voice +faltered]--how unfitted I am for--for--" she stopped short, and a faint +blush overspread her cheeks. + +The curate understood her, and was moved. + +"Dear friend," said he, "will you intrust this charge to myself? You +know how Evelyn is endeared to me by certain recollections! Perhaps, +better than you, I may be enabled silently to examine if this man be +worthy of her, and one who could secure her happiness; perhaps, better +than you I may ascertain the exact nature of her own feelings towards +him; perhaps, too, better than you I may effect an understanding with +Lord Vargrave." + +"You are always my kindest friend," said the lady, with emotion; "how +much I already owe you! what hopes beyond the grave! what--" + +"Hush!" interrupted the curate, gently; "your own good heart and pure +intentions have worked out your own atonement--may I hope also your +own content? Let us return to our Evelyn. Poor child! how unlike this +despondent letter to her gay light spirits when with us! We acted for +the best; yet perhaps we did wrong to yield her up to strangers. And +this Maltravers--with her enthusiasm and quick susceptibilities to +genius, she was half prepared to imagine him all she depicts him to be. +He must have a spell in his works that I have not discovered, for at +times it seems to operate even on you." + +"Because," said Lady Vargrave, "they remind me of _his_ conversation, +_his_ habits of thought. If like _him_ in other things, Evelyn may +indeed be happy!" + +"And if," said the curate, curiously,--"if now that you are free, you +were ever to meet with him again, and his memory had been as faithful as +yours; and if he offered the sole atonement in his power, for all +that his early error cost you; if such a chance should happen in the +vicissitudes of life, you would--" + +The curate stopped short; for he was struck by the exceeding paleness of +his friend's cheek, and the tremor of her delicate frame. + +"If that were to happen," said she, in a very low voice; "if we were to +meet again, and if he were--as you and Mrs. Leslie seem to think--poor, +and, like myself, humbly born, if my fortune could assist him, if my +love could still--changed, altered as I am--ah! do not talk of it--I +cannot bear the thought of happiness! And yet, if before I die I _could_ +but see him again!" She clasped her hands fervently as she spoke, and +the blush that overspread her face threw over it so much of bloom and +freshness, that even Evelyn, at that moment, would scarcely have seemed +more young. "Enough!" she added, after a little while, as the glow died +away. "It is but a foolish hope; all earthly love is buried; and my +heart is there!"--she pointed to the heavens, and both were silent. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + QUIBUS otio vel magnifice, vel molliter, vivere copia era + incerta pro certis malebant.*--SALLUST. + + * "They who had the means to live at ease, either in splendour or + in luxury, preferred the uncertainty of change to their natural + security." + +LORD RABY--one of the wealthiest and most splendid noblemen in +England--was prouder, perhaps, of his provincial distinctions than +the eminence of his rank or the fashion of his wife. The magnificent +chateaux, the immense estates, of our English peers tend to preserve +to us in spite of the freedom, bustle, and commercial grandeur of our +people more of the Norman attributes of aristocracy than can be found in +other countries. In his county, the great noble is a petty prince; his +house is a court; his possessions and munificence are a boast to every +proprietor in his district. They are as fond of talking of _the_ earl's +or _the_ duke's movements and entertainments, as Dangeau was of the +gossip of the Tuileries and Versailles. + +Lord Raby, while affecting, as lieutenant of the county, to make no +political distinctions between squire and squire--hospitable and affable +to all--still, by that very absence of exclusiveness, gave a tone to the +politics of the whole county; and converted many who had once thought +differently on the respective virtues of Whigs and Tories. A great man +never loses so much as when he exhibits intolerance, or parades the +right of persecution. + +"My tenants shall vote exactly as they please," said Lord Raby; and +he was never known to have a tenant vote against his wishes! Keeping a +vigilant eye on all the interests, and conciliating all the proprietors, +in the county, he not only never lost a friend, but he kept together a +body of partisans that constantly added to its numbers. + +Sir John Merton's colleague, a young Lord Nelthorpe, who could not speak +three sentences if you took away his hat, and who, constant at Almack's, +was not only inaudible but invisible in parliament, had no chance of +being re-elected. Lord Nelthorpe's father, the Earl of Mainwaring, was +a new peer; and, next to Lord Raby, the richest nobleman in the county. +Now, though they were much of the same politics, Lord Raby hated Lord +Mainwaring. They were too near each other,--they clashed; they had the +jealousy of rival princes! + +Lord Raby was delighted at the notion of getting rid of Lord +Nelthorpe,--it would be so sensible a blow to the Mainwaring interest. +The party had been looking out for a new candidate, and Maltravers had +been much talked of. It is true that, when in parliament some years +before, the politics of Maltravers had differed from those of Lord Raby +and his set. But Maltravers had of late taken no share in politics, +had uttered no political opinions, was intimate with the electioneering +Mertons, was supposed to be a discontented man,--and politicians believe +in no discontent that is not political. Whispers were afloat that +Maltravers had grown wise, and changed his views: some remarks of his, +more theoretical than practical, were quoted in favour of this notion. +Parties, too, had much changed since Maltravers had appeared on the busy +scene,--new questions had arisen, and the old ones had died off. + +Lord Raby and his party thought that, if Maltravers could be secured to +them, no one would better suit their purpose. Political faction loves +converts better even than consistent adherents. A man's rise in life +generally dates from a well-timed _rat_. His high reputation, his +provincial rank as the representative of the oldest commoner's family +in the county, his age, which combined the energy of one period with +the experience of another,--all united to accord Maltravers a preference +over richer men. Lord Raby had been pointedly courteous and flattering +to the master of Burleigh; and he now contrived it so, that the +brilliant entertainment he was about to give might appear in compliment +to a distinguished neighbour, returned to fix his residence on his +patrimonial property, while in reality it might serve an electioneering +purpose,--serve to introduce Maltravers to the county, as if under his +lordship's own wing, and minister to political uses that went beyond the +mere representation of the county. + +Lord Vargrave had, during his stay at Merton Rectory, paid several +visits to Knaresdean, and held many private conversations with the +marquess: the result of these conversations was a close union of schemes +and interests between the two noblemen. Dissatisfied with the political +conduct of government, Lord Raby was also dissatisfied that, from +various party reasons, a nobleman beneath himself in rank, and as he +thought in influence, had obtained a preference in a recent vacancy +among the Knights of the Garter. And if Vargrave had a talent in the +world it was in discovering the weak points of men whom he sought to +gain, and making the vanities of others conduce to his own ambition. + +The festivities of Knaresdean gave occasion to Lord Raby to unite at his +house the more prominent of those who thought and acted in concert +with Lord Vargrave; and in this secret senate the operations for the +following session were to be seriously discussed and gravely determined. + +On the day which was to be concluded with the ball at Knaresdean, Lord +Vargrave went before the rest of the Merton party, for he was engaged to +dine with the marquess. + +On arriving at Knaresdean, Lumley found Lord Saxingham and some other +politicians, who had arrived the preceding day, closeted with Lord Raby; +and Vargrave, who shone to yet greater advantage in the diplomacy of +party management than in the arena of parliament, brought penetration, +energy, and decision to timid and fluctuating counsels. Lord Vargrave +lingered in the room after the first bell had summoned the other guests +to depart. + +"My dear lord," said he then, "though no one would be more glad than +myself to secure Maltravers to our side, I very much doubt whether +you will succeed in doing so. On the one hand, he appears altogether +disgusted with politics and parliament; and on the other hand, I fancy +that reports of his change of opinions are, if not wholly unfounded, +very unduly coloured. Moreover, to do him justice, I think that he is +not one to be blinded and flattered into the pale of a party; and your +bird will fly away after you have wasted a bucketful of salt on his +tail." + +"Very possibly," said Lord Raby, laughing,--"you know him better than I +do. But there are many purposes to serve in this matter,--purposes too +provincial to interest you. In the first place, we shall humble the +Nelthorpe interest, merely by showing that we _do_ think of a new +member; secondly, we shall get up a manifestation of feeling that would +be impossible, unless we were provided with a centre of attraction; +thirdly, we shall rouse a certain emulation among other county +gentlemen, and if Maltravers decline, we shall have many applicants; and +fourthly, suppose Maltravers has not changed his opinions, we shall make +him suspected by the party he really does belong to, and which would +be somewhat formidable if he were to head them. In fact, these are mere +county tactics that you can't be expected to understand." + +"I see you are quite right: meanwhile you will at least have an +opportunity (though I say it, who should not say it) to present to the +county one of the prettiest young ladies that ever graced the halls of +Knaresdean." + +"Ah, Miss Cameron! I have heard much of her beauty: you are a lucky +fellow, Vargrave! By the by, are we to say anything of the engagement?" + +"Why, indeed, my dear lord, it is now so publicly known, that it would +be false delicacy to affect concealment." + +"Very well; I understand." + +"How long I have detained you--a thousand pardons!--I have but just time +to dress. In four or five months I must remember to leave you a longer +time for your toilet." + +"Me--how?" + +"Oh, the Duke of ----- can't live long; and I always observe that when +a handsome man has the Garter, he takes a long time pulling up his +stockings." + +"Ha, ha! you are so droll, Vargrave." + +"Ha, ha! I must be off." + +"The more publicity is given to this arrangement, the more difficult for +Evelyn to shy at the leap," muttered Vargrave to himself as he closed +the door. "Thus do I make all things useful to myself!" + +The dinner party were assembled in the great drawing-room, when +Maltravers and Cleveland, also invited guests to the banquet, were +announced. Lord Raby received the former with marked _empressement_; +and the stately marchioness honoured him with her most gracious smile. +Formal presentations to the rest of the guests were interchanged; and +it was not till the circle was fully gone through that Maltravers +perceived, seated by himself in a corner, to which he had shrunk on +the entrance of Maltravers, a gray-haired solitary man,--it was Lord +Saxingham! The last time they had met was in the death-chamber of +Florence; and the old man forgot for the moment the anticipated dukedom, +and the dreamed-of premiership, and his heart flew back to the grave of +his only child! They saluted each other, and shook hands in silence. And +Vargrave--whose eye was on them--Vargrave, whose arts had made that old +man childless, felt not a pang of remorse! Living ever in the future, +Vargrave almost seemed to have lost his memory. He knew not what regret +was. It is a condition of life with men thoroughly worldly that they +never look behind! + +The signal was given: in due order the party were marshalled into the +great hall,--a spacious and lofty chamber, which had received its last +alteration from the hand of Inigo Jones; though the massive ceiling, +with its antique and grotesque masques, betrayed a much earlier date, +and contrasted with the Corinthian pilasters that adorned the walls, +and supported the music-gallery, from which waved the flags of modern +warfare and its mimicries,--the eagle of Napoleon, a token of the +services of Lord Raby's brother (a distinguished cavalry officer in +command at Waterloo), in juxtaposition with a much gayer and more +glittering banner, emblematic of the martial fame of Lord Raby himself, +as Colonel of the B-----shire volunteers! + +The music pealed from the gallery, the plate glittered on the board; the +ladies wore diamonds, and the gentlemen who had them wore stars. It was +a very fine sight, that banquet!--such as became the festive day of a +lord-lieutenant whose ancestors had now defied, and now intermarried, +with royalty. But there was very little talk, and no merriment. People +at the top of the table drank wine with those at the bottom; and +gentlemen and ladies seated next to each other whispered languidly in +monosyllabic commune. On one side, Maltravers was flanked by a Lady +Somebody Something, who was rather deaf, and very much frightened for +fear he should talk Greek; on the other side he was relieved by Sir John +Merton,--very civil, very pompous, and talking, at strictured intervals, +about county matters, in a measured intonation, savouring of the +House-of-Commons jerk at the end of the sentence. + +As the dinner advanced to its close, Sir John became a little more +diffuse, though his voice sank into a whisper. + +"I fear there will be a split in the Cabinet before parliament meets." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes; Vargrave and the premier cannot pull together very long. Clever +man, Vargrave! but he has not enough stake in the country for a leader!" + +"All men have public character to stake; and if that be good, I suppose +no stake can be better?" + +"Humph!--yes--very true; but still, when a man has land and money, his +opinions, in a country like this, very properly carry more weight with +them. If Vargrave, for instance, had Lord Raby's property, no man could +be more fit for a leader,--a prime minister. We might then be sure that +he would have no selfish interest to further: he would not play tricks +with his party--you understand?" + +"Perfectly." + +"I am not a party man, as you may remember; indeed, you and I have voted +alike on the same questions. Measures, not men,--that is my maxim; but +still I don't like to see men placed above their proper stations." + +"Maltravers, a glass of wine," said Lord Vargrave across the table. +"Will you join us, Sir John?" + +Sir John bowed. + +"Certainly," he resumed, "Vargrave is a pleasant man and a good speaker; +but still they say he is far from rich,--embarrassed, indeed. However, +when he marries Miss Cameron it may make a great difference,--give +him more respectability; do you know what her fortune is--something +immense?" + +"Yes, I believe so; I don't know." + +"My brother says that Vargrave is most amiable. The young lady is very +handsome, almost too handsome for a wife--don't you think so? Beauties +are all very well in a ballroom; but they are not calculated for +domestic life. I am sure you agree with me. I have heard, indeed, +that Miss Cameron is rather learned; but there is so much scandal in a +country neighbourhood,--people are so ill-natured. I dare say she is not +more learned than other young ladies, poor girl! What do you think?" + +"Miss Cameron is--is very accomplished, I believe. And so you think the +Government cannot stand?" + +"I don't say that,--very far from it; but I fear there must be a change. +However, if the country gentlemen hold together, I do not doubt but what +we shall weather the storm. The landed interest, Mr. Maltravers, is the +great stay of this country,--the sheet-anchor, I may say. I suppose Lord +Vargrave, who seems, I must say, to have right notions on this head, +will invest Miss Cameron's fortune in land. But though one may buy an +estate, one can't buy an old family, Mr. Maltravers!--you and I may +be thankful for that. By the way, who was Miss Cameron's mother, Lady +Vargrave?--something low, I fear; nobody knows." + +"I am not acquainted with Lady Vargrave; your sister-in-law speaks of +her most highly. And the daughter in herself is a sufficient guarantee +for the virtues of the mother." + +"Yes; and Vargrave on one side, at least, has himself nothing in the way +of family to boast of." + +The ladies left the hall, the gentlemen re-seated themselves. Lord Raby +made some remark on politics to Sir John Merton, and the whole round of +talkers immediately followed their leader. + +"It is a thousand pities, Sir John," said Lord Raby, "that you have not +a colleague more worthy of you; Nelthorpe never attends a committee, +does he?" + +"I cannot say that he is a very active member; but he is young, and we +must make allowances for him," said Sir John, discreetly; for he had +no desire to oust his colleague,--it was agreeable enough to be _the_ +efficient member. + +"In these times," said Lord Raby, loftily, "allowances are not to be +made for systematic neglect of duty; we shall have a stormy session; +the Opposition is no longer to be despised; perhaps a dissolution may +be nearer at hand than we think for. As for Nelthorpe, he cannot come in +again." + +"That I am quite sure of," said a fat country gentleman of great weight +in the county; "he not only was absent on the great Malt question, but +he never answered my letter respecting the Canal Company." + +"Not answered your letter!" said Lord Raby, lifting up his hands and +eyes in amaze and horror. "What conduct! Ah, Mr. Maltravers, you are the +man for us!" + +"Hear! hear!" cried the fat squire. + +"Hear!" echoed Vargrave; and the approving sound went round the table. + +Lord Raby rose. "Gentlemen, fill your glasses; a health to our +distinguished neighbour!" + +The company applauded; each in his turn smiled, nodded, and drank to +Maltravers, who, though taken by surprise, saw at once the course to +pursue. He returned thanks simply and shortly; and without pointedly +noticing the allusion in which Lord Raby had indulged, remarked, +incidentally, that he had retired, certainly for some years--perhaps +forever--from political life. + +Vargrave smiled significantly at Lord Raby, and hastened to lead the +conversation into party discussion. Wrapped in his proud disdain of what +he considered the contests of factions for toys and shadows, Maltravers +remained silent; and the party soon broke up, and adjourned to the +ballroom. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + LE plus grand defaut de la penetration n'est pas de n'aller + point jusqu'au but,--c'est de la passer.*--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. + + * "The greatest defect of penetration is not that of not going + just up to the point,--'tis the passing it." + +EVELYN had looked forward to the ball at Knaresdean with feelings deeper +than those which usually inflame the fancy of a girl proud of her dress +and confident of her beauty. Whether or not she _loved_ Maltravers, +in the true acceptation of the word "love," it is certain that he had +acquired a most powerful command over her mind and imagination. She felt +the warmest interest in his welfare, the most anxious desire for his +esteem, the deepest regret at the thought of their estrangement. At +Knaresdean she should meet Maltravers,--in crowds, it is true; but still +she should meet him; she should see him towering superior above the +herd; she should hear him praised; she should mark him, the observed +of all. But there was another and a deeper source of joy within her. +A letter had been that morning received from Aubrey, in which he had +announced his arrival for the next day. The letter, though affectionate, +was short. Evelyn had been some months absent,--Lady Vargrave was +anxious to make arrangements for her return; but it was to be at her +option whether she would accompany the curate home. Now, besides her +delight at seeing once more the dear old man, and hearing from his lips +that her mother was well and happy, Evelyn hailed in his arrival the +means of extricating herself from her position with Lord Vargrave. She +would confide in him her increased repugnance to that union, he would +confer with Lord Vargrave; and then--and then--did there come once more +the thought of Maltravers? No! I fear it was not Maltravers who called +forth that smile and that sigh! Strange girl, you know not your own +mind!--but few of us, at your age, do. + +In all the gayety of hope, in the pride of dress and half-conscious +loveliness, Evelyn went with a light step into Caroline's room. +Miss Merton had already dismissed her woman, and was seated by her +writing-table, leaning her cheek thoughtfully on her hand. + +"Is it time to go?" said she, looking up. "Well, we shall put Papa, and +the coachman, and the horses, too, in excellent humour. How well you +look! Really, Evelyn, you are indeed beautiful!" and Caroline gazed with +honest but not unenvious admiration at the fairy form so rounded and yet +so delicate, and the face that seemed to blush at its own charms. + +"I am sure I can return the flattery," said Evelyn, laughing bashfully. + +"Oh, as for me, I am well enough in my way: and hereafter, I dare say, +we may be rival beauties. I hope we shall remain good friends, and +rule the world with divided empire. Do you not long for the stir, and +excitement, and ambition of London?---for ambition is open to us as to +men!" + +"No, indeed," replied Evelyn, smiling; "I could be ambitious, indeed; +but it would not be for myself, but for--" + +"A husband, perhaps; well, you will have ample scope for such sympathy. +Lord Vargrave--" + +"Lord Vargrave again?" and Evelyn's smile vanished, and she turned away. + +"Ah," said Caroline, "I should have made Vargrave an excellent +wife--pity he does not think so! As it is, I must set up for myself and +become a _maitresse femme_. So you think I look well to-night? I am glad +of it--Lord Doltimore is one who will be guided by what other people +say." + +"You are not serious about Lord Doltimore?" + +"Most sadly serious." + +"Impossible! you could not speak so if you loved him." + +"Loved him! no! but I intend to marry him." + +Evelyn was revolted, but still incredulous. + +"And you, too, will marry one whom you do not love--'tis our fate--" + +"Never!" + +"We shall see." + +Evelyn's heart was damped, and her spirits fell. + +"Tell me now," said Caroline, pressing on the wrung withers, "do you not +think this excitement, partial and provincial though it be--the sense +of beauty, the hope of conquest, the consciousness of power--better than +the dull monotony of the Devonshire cottage? Be honest--" + +"No, no, indeed!" answered Evelyn, tearfully and passionately; "one hour +with my mother, one smile from her lips, were worth it all." + +"And in your visions of marriage, you think then of nothing but roses +and doves,--love in a cottage!" + +"Love _in a home_, no matter whether a palace or a cottage," returned +Evelyn. + +"Home!" repeated Caroline, bitterly; "home,--home is the English synonym +for the French _ennui_. But I hear Papa on the stairs." + +A ballroom--what a scene of commonplace! how hackneyed in novels! +how trite in ordinary life! and yet ballrooms have a character and a +sentiment of their own, for all tempers and all ages. Something in the +lights, the crowd, the music, conduces to stir up many of the thoughts +that belong to fancy and romance. It is a melancholy scene to men after +a certain age. It revives many of those lighter and more graceful images +connected with the wandering desires of youth,--shadows that crossed us, +and seemed love, but were not; having much of the grace and charm, but +none of the passion and the tragedy, of love. So many of our earliest +and gentlest recollections are connected with those chalked floors, and +that music painfully gay, and those quiet nooks and corners, where the +talk that hovers about the heart and does not touch it has been held. +Apart and unsympathizing in that austerer wisdom which comes to us after +deep passions have been excited, we see form after form chasing the +butterflies that dazzle us no longer among the flowers that have +evermore lost their fragrance. + +Somehow or other, it is one of the scenes that remind us most forcibly +of the loss of youth! We are brought so closely in contact with the +young and with the short-lived pleasures that once pleased us, and have +forfeited all bloom. Happy the man who turns from "the tinkling cymbal" +and "the gallery of pictures," and can think of some watchful eye and +some kind heart _at home_; but those who have no home--and they are a +numerous tribe--never feel lonelier hermits or sadder moralists than in +such a crowd. + +Maltravers leaned abstractedly against the wall, and some such +reflections, perhaps, passed within, as the plumes waved and the +diamonds glittered around him. Ever too proud to be vain, the _monstrari +digito_ had not flattered even in the commencement of his career. And +now he heeded not the eyes that sought his look, nor the admiring murmur +of lips anxious to be overheard. Affluent, well-born, unmarried, and +still in the prime of life,--in the small circles of a province, Ernest +Maltravers would in himself have been an object of interest to the +diplomacy of mothers and daughters; and the false glare of reputation +necessarily deepened curiosity, and widened the range of speculators and +observers. + +Suddenly, however, a new object of attention excited new interest; new +whispers ran through the crowd, and these awakened Maltravers from his +revery. He looked up, and beheld all eyes fixed upon one form! His own +eyes encountered those of Evelyn Cameron! + +It was the first time he had seen this beautiful young person in all the +_eclat_, pomp, and circumstance of her station, as the heiress of the +opulent Templeton,--the first time he had seen her the cynosure of +crowds, who, had her features been homely, would have admired the charms +of her fortune in her face. And now, as radiant with youth, and the +flush of excitement on her soft cheek, she met his eye, he said to +himself: "And could I have wished one so new to the world to have +united her lot with a man for whom all that to her is delight has grown +wearisome and stale? Could I have been justified in stealing her from +the admiration that, at her age and to her sex, has so sweet a flattery? +Or, on the other hand, could I have gone back to her years, and +sympathized with feelings that time has taught me to despise? Better as +it is." + +Influenced by these thoughts, the greeting of Maltravers disappointed +and saddened Evelyn, she knew not why; it was constrained and grave. + +"Does not Miss Cameron look well?" whispered Mrs. Merton, on whose arm +the heiress leaned. "You observe what a sensation she creates?" + +Evelyn overheard, and blushed as she stole a glance at Maltravers. There +was something mournful in the admiration which spoke in his deep earnest +eyes. + +"Everywhere," said he, calmly, and in the same tone, "everywhere Miss +Cameron appears, she must outshine all others." He turned to Evelyn, and +said with a smile, "You must learn to inure yourself to admiration; a +year or two hence, and you will not blush at your own gifts!" + +"And you, too, contribute to spoil me!--fie!" + +"Are you so easily spoiled? If I meet you hereafter, you will think my +compliments cold to the common language of others." + +"You do not know me,--perhaps you never will." + +"I am contented with the fair pages I have already read." + +"Where is Lady Raby?" asked Mrs. Merton. "Oh, I see; Evelyn, my love, we +must present ourselves to our hostess." + +The ladies moved on; and when Maltravers next caught a glance of Evelyn, +she was with Lady Raby, and Lord Vargrave also was by her side. + +The whispers round him had grown louder. + +"Very lovely indeed! so young, too! and she is really going to +be married to Lord Vargrave: so much older than she is,--quite a +sacrifice!" + +"Scarcely so. He is so agreeable, and still handsome. But are you sure +that the thing is settled?" + +"Oh, yes. Lord Raby himself told me so. It will take place very soon." + +"But do you know who her mother was? I cannot make out." + +"Nothing particular. You know the late Lord Vargrave was a man of low +birth. I believe she was a widow of his own rank; she lives quite in +seclusion." + +"How d'ye do, Mr. Maltravers? So glad to see you," said the quick, +shrill voice of Mrs. Hare. "Beautiful ball! Nobody does things like Lord +Raby; don't you dance?" + +"No, madam." + +"Oh, you young gentlemen are so _fine_ nowadays!" (Mrs. Hare, laying +stress on the word _young_, thought she had paid a very elegant +compliment, and ran on with increased complacency.) + +"You are going to let Burleigh, I hear, to Lord Doltimore,--is it +true? No! really now, what stories people do tell. Elegant man, +Lord Doltimore! Is it true, that Miss Caroline is going to marry his +lordship? Great match! No scandal, I hope; you'll excuse _me_! Two +weddings on the _tapis_,--quite stirring for our stupid county. Lady +Vargrave and Lady Doltimore, two new peeresses. Which do you think is +the handsomer? Miss Merton is the taller, but there is something fierce +in her eyes. Don't you think so? By the by, I wish you joy,--you'll +excuse _me_." + +"Wish me joy, madam?" + +"Oh, you are so close. Mr. Hare says he shall support you. You will +have all the ladies with you. Well, I declare, Lord Vargrave is going to +dance. How old is he, do you think?" + +Maltravers uttered an audible _pshaw_, and moved away; but his penance +was not over. Lord Vargrave, much as he disliked dancing, still thought +it wise to ask the fair hand of Evelyn; and Evelyn, also, could not +refuse. + +And now, as the crowd gathered round the red ropes, Maltravers had +to undergo new exclamations at Evelyn's beauty and Vargrave's luck. +Impatiently he turned from the spot, with that gnawing sickness of the +heart which none but the jealous know. He longed to depart, yet dreaded +to do so. It was the last time he should see Evelyn, perhaps for years; +the last time he should see her as Miss Cameron! + +He passed into another room, deserted by all save four old +gentlemen--Cleveland one of them--immersed in whist; and threw himself +upon an ottoman, placed in a recess by the oriel window. There, half +concealed by the draperies, he communed and reasoned with himself. His +heart was sad within him; he never felt before _how_ deeply and _how_ +passionately he loved Evelyn; how firmly that love had fastened upon the +very core of his heart! Strange, indeed, it was in a girl so young, of +whom he had seen but little,--and that little in positions of such quiet +and ordinary interest,--to excite a passion so intense in a man who +had gone through strong emotions and stern trials! But all love is +unaccountable. The solitude in which Maltravers had lived, the absence +of all other excitement, perhaps had contributed largely to fan the +flame. And his affections had so long slept, and after long sleep the +passions wake with such giant strength! He felt now too well that the +last rose of life had bloomed for him; it was blighted in its birth, but +it could never be replaced. Henceforth, indeed, he should be alone, the +hopes of home were gone forever; and the other occupations of mind and +soul--literature, pleasure, ambition--were already forsworn at the very +age in which by most men they are most indulged! + +O Youth! begin not thy career too soon, and let one passion succeed +in its due order to another; so that every season of life may have its +appropriate pursuit and charm! + +The hours waned; still Maltravers stirred not; nor were his meditations +disturbed, except by occasional ejaculations from the four old +gentlemen, as between each deal they moralized over the caprices of the +cards. + +At length, close beside him he heard that voice, the lightest sound +of which could send the blood rushing through his veins; and from his +retreat he saw Caroline and Evelyn, seated close by. + +"I beg pardon," said the former, in a low voice,--"I beg pardon, Evelyn, +for calling you away; but I longed to tell you. The die is cast. Lord +Doltimore has proposed, and I have accepted him! Alas, alas! I half wish +I could retract!" + +"Dearest Caroline!" said the silver voice of Evelyn, "for Heaven's +sake, do not thus wantonly resolve on your own unhappiness! You wrong +yourself, Caroline! you do, indeed! You are not the vain ambitious +character you affect to be! Ah, what is it you require? Wealth? Are you +not my friend; am I not rich enough for both? Rank? What can it give you +to compensate for the misery of a union without love? Pray, forgive +me for speaking thus. Do not think me presumptuous, or romantic; but, +indeed, indeed, I know from my own heart what yours must undergo!" + +Caroline pressed her friend's hand with emotion. + +"You are a bad comforter, Evelyn. My mother, my father, will preach a +very different doctrine. I am foolish, indeed, to be so sad in obtaining +the very object I have sought! Poor Doltimore! he little knows the +nature, the feelings of her whom he thinks he has made the happiest of +her sex; he little knows--" Caroline paused, turned pale as death, and +then went rapidly on, "but you, Evelyn, _you_ will meet the same fate; +we shall bear it together." + +"No! no! do not think so! Where I give my hand, there shall I give my +heart." + +At this time Maltravers half rose, and sighed audibly. + +"Hush!" said Caroline, in alarm. At the same moment, the whist-table +broke up, and Cleveland approached Maltravers. + +"I am at your service," said he; "I know you will not stay the supper. +You will find me in the next room; I am just going to speak to Lord +Saxingham." The gallant old gentleman then paid a compliment to the +young ladies, and walked away. + +"So you too are a deserter from the ballroom!" said Miss Merton to +Maltravers as she rose. + +"I am not very well; but do not let me frighten you away." + +"Oh, no! I hear the music; it is the last quadrille before supper: and +here is my fortunate partner looking for me." + +"I have been everywhere in search of you," said Lord Doltimore, in an +accent of tender reproach: "come, we are almost too late now." + +Caroline put her arm into Lord Doltimore's, who hurried her into the +ballroom. + +Miss Cameron looked irresolute whether or not to follow, when Maltravers +seated himself beside her; and the paleness of his brow, and something +that bespoke pain in the compressed lip, went at once to her heart. In +her childlike tenderness, she would have given worlds for the sister's +privilege of sympathy and soothing. The room was now deserted; they were +alone. + +The words that he had overheard from Evelyn's lips, "Where I shall give +my hand, there shall I give my heart," Maltravers interpreted but in one +sense,--"she loved her betrothed;" and strange as it may seem, at that +thought, which put the last seal upon his fate, selfish anguish was less +felt than deep compassion. So young, so courted, so tempted as she +must be--and with such a protector!--the cold, the unsympathizing, the +heartless Vargrave! She, too, whose feelings, so warm, ever trembled on +her lip and eye. Oh! when she awoke from her dream, and knew whom she +had loved, what might be her destiny, what her danger! + +"Miss Cameron," said Maltravers, "let me for one moment detain you; I +will not trespass long. May I once, and for the last time, assume the +austere rights of friendship? I have seen much of life, Miss Cameron, +and my experience has been purchased dearly; and harsh and hermit-like +as I may have grown, I have not outlived such feelings as you are well +formed to excite. Nay,"--and Maltravers smiled sadly--"I am not about to +compliment or flatter, I speak not to you as the young to the young; the +difference of our years, that takes away sweetness from flattery, +leaves still sincerity to friendship. You have inspired me with a deep +interest,--deeper than I thought that living beauty could ever rouse +in me again! It may be that something in the tone of your voice, your +manner, a nameless grace that I cannot define, reminds me of one whom +I knew in youth,--one who had not your advantages of education, wealth, +birth; but to whom Nature was more kind than Fortune." + +He paused a moment; and without looking towards Evelyn, thus renewed,-- + +"You are entering life under brilliant auspices. Ah, let me hope that +the noonday will keep the promise of the dawn! You are susceptible, +imaginative; do not demand too much, or dream too fondly. When you are +wedded, do not imagine that wedded life is exempt from its trials and +its cares; if you know yourself beloved--and beloved you must be--do not +ask from the busy and anxious spirit of man all which Romance promises +and Life but rarely yields. And oh!" continued Maltravers, with an +absorbing and earnest passion, that poured forth its language with +almost breathless rapidity,--"if ever your heart rebels, if ever it be +dissatisfied, fly the false sentiment as a sin! Thrown, as from your +rank you must be, on a world of a thousand perils, with no guide so +constant and so safe as your own innocence, make not that world too dear +a friend. Were it possible that your own home ever could be lonely or +unhappy, reflect that to woman the unhappiest home is happier than all +excitement abroad. You will have a thousand suitors hereafter: believe +that the asp lurks under the flatterer's tongue, and resolve, come what +may, to be contented with your lot. How many have I known, lovely and +pure as you, who have suffered the very affections--the very beauty of +their nature--to destroy them! Listen to me as a warner, as a brother, +as a pilot who has passed the seas on which your vessel is about to +launch. And ever, ever let me know, in whatever lands your name may +reach me, that one who has brought back to me all my faith in human +excellence, while the idol of our sex, is the glory of her own. Forgive +me this strange impertinence; my heart is full, and has overflowed. And +now, Miss Cameron--Evelyn Cameron--this is my last offence, and my last +farewell!" + +He held out his hand, and involuntarily, unknowingly, she clasped it, as +if to detain him till she could summon words to reply. Suddenly he heard +Lord Vargrave's voice behind. The spell was broken; the next moment +Evelyn was alone, and the throng swept into the room towards the +banquet, and laughter and gay voices were heard, and Lord Vargrave was +again by Evelyn's side! + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + To you + This journey is devoted. + _Lover's Progress_, Act iv. sc. 1. + +AS Cleveland and Maltravers returned homeward, the latter abruptly +checked the cheerful garrulity of his friend. "I have a favour, a great +favour to ask of you." + +"And what is that?" + +"Let us leave Burleigh tomorrow; I care not at what hour; we need go but +two or three stages if you are fatigued." + +"Most hospitable host! and why?" + +"It is torture, it is agony to me, to breathe the air of Burleigh," +cried Maltravers, wildly. "Can you not guess my secret? Have I then +concealed it so well? I love, I adore Evelyn Cameron, and she is +betrothed to--she loves--another!" + +Mr. Cleveland was breathless with amaze; Maltravers had indeed so well +concealed his secret, and now his emotion was so impetuous, that it +startled and alarmed the old man, who had never himself experienced a +passion, though he had indulged a sentiment. He sought to console +and soothe; but after the first burst of agony, Maltravers recovered +himself, and said gently,-- + +"Let us never return to this subject again: it is right that I should +conquer this madness, and conquer it I will! Now you know my weakness, +you will indulge it. My cure, cannot commence until I can no longer see +from my casements the very roof that shelters the affianced bride of +another." + +"Certainly, then, we will set off to-morrow: my friend! is it indeed--" + +"Ah, cease," interrupted the proud man; "no compassion, I implore: give +me but time and silence,--they are the only remedies." + +Before noon the next day, Burleigh was once more deserted by its lord. +As the carriage drove through the village, Mrs. Elton saw it from +her open window; but her patron, too absorbed at that hour even for +benevolence, forgot her existence and yet so complicated are the webs of +fate, that in the breast of that lowly stranger was locked a secret of +the most vital moment to Maltravers. + +"Where is he going; where is the squire going?" asked Mrs. Elton, +anxiously. + +"Dear heart!" said the cottager, "they do say he be going for a short +time to foren parts. But he will be back at Christmas." + +"And at Christmas I may be gone hence forever," muttered the invalid; +"but what will that matter to him--to any one?" + +At the first stage Maltravers and his friend were detained a short time +for the want of horses. Lord Raby's house had been filled with guests on +the preceding night, and the stables of this little inn, dignified with +the sign of the Raby Arms, and about two miles distant from the great +man's place, had been exhausted by numerous claimants returning homeward +from Knaresdean. It was a quiet, solitary post-house, and patience, till +some jaded horses should return, was the only remedy; the host, assuring +the travellers that he expected four horses every moment, invited them +within. The morning was cold, and the fire not unacceptable to Mr. +Cleveland; so they went into the little parlour. Here they found an +elderly gentleman of very prepossessing appearance, who was waiting +for the same object. He moved courteously from the fireplace as the +travellers entered, and pushed the "B-----shire Chronicle" towards +Cleveland: Cleveland bowed urbanely. "A cold day, sir; the autumn begins +to show itself." + +"It is true, sir," answered the old gentleman; "and I feel the cold the +more, having just quitted the genial atmosphere of the South." + +"Of Italy?" + +"No, of England only. I see by this paper (I am not much of a +politician) that there is a chance of a dissolution of parliament, and +that Mr. Maltravers is likely to come forward for this county; are you +acquainted with him, sir?" + +"A little," said Cleveland, smiling. + +"He is a man I am much interested in," said the old gentleman; "and I +hope soon to be honoured with his acquaintance." + +"Indeed! and you are going into his neighbourhood?" asked Cleveland, +looking more attentively at the stranger, and much pleased with a +certain simple candour in his countenance and manner. + +"Yes, to Merton Rectory." + +Maltravers, who had been hitherto stationed by the window, turned round. + +"To Merton Rectory?" repeated Cleveland. "You are acquainted with Mr. +Merton, then?" + +"Not yet; but I know some of his family. However, my visit is rather to +a young lady who is staying at the rectory,--Miss Cameron." + +Maltravers sighed heavily; and the old gentleman looked at him +curiously. "Perhaps, sir, if you know that neighbourhood, you may have +seen--" + +"Miss Cameron! Certainly; it is an honour not easily forgotten." + +The old gentleman looked pleased. + +"The dear child!" said he, with a burst of honest affection, and he +passed his hand over his eyes. Maltravers drew near to him. + +"You know Miss Cameron; you are to be envied, sir," said he. + +"I have known her since she was a child; Lady Vargrave is my dearest +friend." + +"Lady Vargrave must be worthy of such a daughter. Only under the light +of a sweet disposition and pure heart could that beautiful nature have +been trained and reared." + +Maltravers spoke with enthusiasm; and, as if fearful to trust himself +more, left the room. + +"That gentleman speaks not more warmly than justly," said the old man, +with some surprise. "He has a countenance which, if physiognomy be a +true science, declares his praise to be no common compliment; may I +inquire his name?" + +"Maltravers," replied Cleveland, a little vain of the effect his +ex-pupil's name was to produce. + +The curate--for it was he--started and changed countenance. + +"Maltravers! but he is not about to leave the county?" + +"Yes, for a few months." + +Here the host entered. Four horses, that had been only fourteen miles, +had just re-entered the yard. If Mr. Maltravers could spare two to that +gentleman, who had, indeed, pre-engaged them? + +"Certainly," said Cleveland; "but be quick." + +"And is Lord Vargrave still at Mr. Merton's?" asked the curate, +musingly. + +"Oh, yes, I believe so. Miss Cameron is to be married to him very +shortly,--is it not so?" + +"I cannot say," returned Aubrey, rather bewildered. "You know Lord +Vargrave, sir?" + +"Extremely well!" + +"And you think him worthy of Miss Cameron?" + +"That is a question for her to answer. But I see the horses are put to. +Good-day, sir! Will you tell your fair young friend that you have met an +old gentleman who wishes her all happiness; and if she ask you his name, +say Cleveland?" + +So saying, Mr. Cleveland bowed, and re-entered the carriage. But +Maltravers was yet missing. In fact, he returned to the house by the +back way, and went once more into the little parlour. It was something +to see again one who would so soon see Evelyn! + +"If I mistake not," said Maltravers, "you are that Mr. Aubrey on whose +virtues I have often heard Miss Cameron delight to linger? Will you +believe my regret that our acquaintance is now so brief?" + +As Maltravers spoke thus simply, there was in his countenance, his +voice, a melancholy sweetness, which greatly conciliated the good +curate; and as Aubrey gazed upon his noble features and lofty mien, he +no longer wondered at the fascination he had appeared to exercise over +the young Evelyn. + +"And may I not hope, Mr. Maltravers," said he, "that before long our +acquaintance may be renewed? Could not Miss Cameron," he added, with a +smile and a penetrating look, "tempt you into Devonshire?" + +Maltravers shook his head, and, muttering something not very audible, +quitted the room. The curate heard the whirl of the wheels, and the host +entered to inform him that his own carriage was now ready. + +"There is something in this," thought Aubrey, "which I do not +comprehend. His manner, his trembling voice, bespoke emotions he +struggled to conceal. Can Lord Vargrave have gained his point? Is +Evelyn, indeed, no longer free?" + + + +CHAPTER V. + + CERTES, c'est un grand cas, Icas, + Que toujours tracas ou fracas + Vous faites d'une ou d'autre sort; + C'est le diable qui vous emporte!*--VOITURE. + + * "Certes, it is the fact, Icas, that you are always engaged in + tricks or scrapes of some sort or other; it must be the devil + that bewitches you." + +LORD VARGRAVE had passed the night of the ball and the following morning +at Knaresdean. It was necessary to bring the counsels of the scheming +conclave to a full and definite conclusion; and this was at last +effected. Their strength numbered, friends and foes alike canvassed and +considered, and due account taken of the waverers to be won over, it +really did seem, even to the least sanguine, that the Saxingham or +Vargrave party was one that might well aspire either to dictate to, +or to break up, a government. Nothing now was left to consider but the +favourable hour for action. In high spirits, Lord Vargrave returned +about the middle of the day to the rectory. + +"So," thought he, as he reclined in his carriage,--"so, in politics, the +prospect clears as the sun breaks out. The party I have espoused is one +that must be the most durable, for it possesses the greatest property +and the most stubborn prejudice--what elements for Party! All that I now +require is a sufficient fortune to back my ambition. Nothing can clog +my way but these cursed debts, this disreputable want of gold. And yet +Evelyn alarms me! Were I younger, or had I not made my position too +soon, I would marry her by fraud or by force,--run off with her to +Gretna, and make Vulcan minister to Plutus. But this would never do at +my years, and with my reputation. A pretty story for the newspapers, +d-----n them! Well, nothing venture, nothing have; I will brave the +hazard! Meanwhile, Doltimore is mine; Caroline will rule him, and I rule +her. His vote and his boroughs are something,--his money will be +more immediately useful: I must do him the honour to borrow a few +thousands,--Caroline must manage that for me. The fool is miserly, +though a spendthrift; and looked black when I delicately hinted the +other day that I wanted a friend--_id est_, a loan! money and friendship +same thing,--distinction without a difference!" Thus cogitating, +Vargrave whiled away the minutes till his carriage stopped at Mr. +Merton's door. + +As he entered the hall he met Caroline, who had just quitted her own +room. + +"How lucky I am that you have on your bonnet! I long for a walk with you +round the lawn." + +"And I, too, am glad to see you, Lord Vargrave," said Caroline, putting +her arm in his. + +"Accept my best congratulations, my own sweet friend," said Vargrave, +when they were in the grounds. "You have no idea how happy Doltimore +is. He came to Knaresdean yesterday to communicate the news, and his +neckcloth was primmer than ever. C'est un bon enfant." + +"Ah, how can you talk thus? Do you feel no pain at the thought +that--that I am another's?" + +"Your heart will be ever mine,--and that is the true fidelity. What +else, too, could be done? As for Lord Doltimore, we will go shares +in him. Come, cheer thee, _m'amie_; I rattle on thus to keep up your +spirits. Do not fancy I am happy!" + +Caroline let fall a few tears; but beneath the influence of Vargrave's +sophistries and flatteries, she gradually recovered her usual hard and +worldly tone of mind. + +"And where is Evelyn?" asked Vargrave. "Do you know, the little witch +seemed to be half mad the night of the ball. Her head was turned; and +when she sat next me at supper, she not only answered every question +I put to her _a tort et a travers_, but I fancied every moment she was +going to burst out crying. Can you tell what was the matter with her?" + +"She was grieved to hear that I was to be married to the man I do not +love. Ah, Vargrave, she has more heart than you have!" + +"But she never fancies that you love me?" asked Lumley, in alarm. "You +women are so confoundedly confidential!" + +"No, she does not suspect our secret." + +"Then I scarcely think your approaching marriage was a sufficient cause +for so much distraction." + +"Perhaps she may have overheard some of the impertinent whispers +about her mother,--'Who was Lady Vargrave?' and 'What Cameron was +Lady Vargrave's first husband?' _I_ overheard a hundred such vulgar +questions; and provincial people whisper so loud." + +"Ah, that is a very probable solution of the mystery; and for my part, +I am almost as much puzzled as any one else can be to know who Lady +Vargrave was!" + +"Did not your uncle tell you?" + +"He told me that she was of no very elevated birth and station,--nothing +more; and she herself, with her quiet, say-nothing manner, slips through +all my careless questionings like an eel. She is still a beautiful +creature, more regularly handsome than even Evelyn; and old Templeton +had a very sweet tooth at the back of his head, though he never opened +his mouth wide enough to show it." + +"She must ever at least have been blameless, to judge by an air which, +even now, is more like that of a child than a matron." + +"Yes; she has not much of the widow about her, poor soul! But her +education, except in music, has not been very carefully attended to; +and she knows about as much of the world as the Bishop of Autun (better +known as Prince Talleyrand) knows of the Bible. If she were not so +simple, she would be silly; but silliness is never simple,--always +cunning; however, there is some cunning in her keeping her past +Cameronian Chronicles so close. Perhaps I may know more about her in a +short time, for I intend going to C-----, where my uncle once lived, +in order to see if I can revive under the rose--since peers are only +contraband electioneerers--his old parliamentary influence in that city: +and they may tell me more there than I now know." + +"Did the late lord marry at C-----?" + +"No; in Devonshire. I do not even know if Mrs. Cameron ever was at +C-----." + +"You must be curious to know who the father of your intended wife was?" + +"Her father! No; I have no curiosity in that quarter. And, to tell you +the truth, I am much too busy about the Present to be raking into +that heap of rubbish we call the Past. I fancy that both your good +grandmother and that comely old curate of Brook-Green know everything +about Lady Vargrave; and, as they esteem her so much, I take it for +granted she is _sans tache_." + +"How could I be so stupid! _A propos_ of the curate, I forgot to tell +you that he is here. He arrived about two hours ago, and has been +closeted with Evelyn ever since!" + +"The deuce! What brought the old man hither?" + +"That I know not. Papa received a letter from him yesterday morning, to +say that he would be here to-day. Perhaps Lady Vargrave thinks it time +for Evelyn to return home." + +"What am I to do?" said Vargrave, anxiously. "Dare I yet venture to +propose?" + +"I am sure it will be in vain, Vargrave. You must prepare for +disappointment." + +"And ruin," muttered Vargrave, gloomily. "Hark you, Caroline, she may +refuse me if she pleases. But I am not a man to be baffled. Have her I +will, by one means or another; revenge urges me to it almost as much as +ambition. That girl's thread of life has been the dark line in my woof; +she has robbed me of fortune, she now thwarts me in my career, she +humbles me in my vanity. But, like a hound that has tasted blood, I will +run her down, whatever winding she takes." + +"Vargrave, you terrify me! Reflect; we do not live in an age when +violence--" + +"Tush!" interrupted Lumley, with one of those dark looks which at times, +though very rarely, swept away all its customary character from that +smooth, shrewd countenance. "Tush! We live in an age as favourable to +intellect and to energy as ever was painted in romance. I have that +faith in fortune and myself that I tell you, with a prophet's voice, +that Evelyn shall fulfil the wish of my dying uncle. But the bell +summons us back." + +On returning to the house, Lord Vargrave's valet gave him a letter +which had arrived that morning. It was from Mr. Gustavus Douce, and ran +thus:-- + + + FLEET STREET, ----- 20, 18--. + +MY LORD,--It is with the greatest regret that I apprise you, for Self & +Co., that we shall not be able in the present state of the Money Market +to renew your Lordship's bill for 10,000 pounds, due the 28th instant. +Respectfully calling your Lordship's attention to the same, I have the +honour to be, for Self & Co., my Lord, + + Your Lordship's most obedient and most obliged humble servant, + GUSTAVUS DOUCE. + +To the Right Hon. LORD VARGRAVE, etc. + + +This letter sharpened Lord Vargrave's anxiety and resolve; nay, it +seemed almost to sharpen his sharp features as he muttered sundry +denunciations on Messrs. Douce and Co., while arranging his neckcloth at +the glass. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + _Sol._ Why, please your honourable lordship, we were talking + here and there,--this and that.--_The Stranger_. + +AUBREY had been closeted with Evelyn the whole morning; and, +simultaneous with his arrival, came to her the news of the departure of +Maltravers. It was an intelligence that greatly agitated and unnerved +her; and, coupling that event with his solemn words on the previous +night, Evelyn asked herself, in wonder, what sentiments she could have +inspired in Maltravers. Could he love her,--her, so young, so inferior, +so uninformed? Impossible! Alas! alas! for Maltravers! His genius, his +gifts, his towering qualities,--all that won the admiration, almost the +awe, of Evelyn,--placed him at a distance from her heart! When she asked +herself if he loved her, she did not ask, even in that hour, if she +loved him. But even the question she did ask, her judgment answered +erringly in the negative. Why should he love, and yet fly her? She +understood not his high-wrought scruples, his self-deluding belief. +Aubrey was more puzzled than enlightened by his conversation with his +pupil; only one thing seemed certain,--her delight to return to the +cottage and her mother. + +Evelyn could not sufficiently recover her composure to mix with the +party below; and Aubrey, at the sound of the second dinner-bell, left +her to her solitude, and bore her excuses to Mrs. Merton. + +"Dear me!" said that worthy lady; "I am so sorry. I thought Miss Cameron +looked fatigued at breakfast, and there was something hysterical in +her spirits; and I suppose the surprise of your arrival has upset her. +Caroline, my dear, you had better go and see what she would like to have +taken up to her room,--a little soup and the wing of a chicken." + +"My dear," said Mr. Merton, rather pompously, "I think it would be but a +proper respect to Miss Cameron, if you yourself accompanied Caroline." + +"I assure you," said the curate, alarmed at the avalanche of politeness +that threatened poor Evelyn,--"I assure you that Miss Cameron would +prefer being left alone at present; as you say, Mrs. Merton, her spirits +are rather agitated." + +But Mrs. Merton, with a sliding bow, had already quitted the room, and +Caroline with her. + +"Come back, Sophy! Cecilia, come back!" said Mr. Merton, settling his +_jabot_. + +"Oh, dear Evy! poor dear Evy!--Evy is ill!" said Sophy; "I may go to +Evy? I must go, Papa!" + +"No, my dear, you are too noisy; these children are quite spoiled, Mr. +Aubrey." + +The old man looked at them benevolently, and drew them to his knee; and, +while Cissy stroked his long white hair, and Sophy ran on about dear +Evy's prettiness and goodness, Lord Vargrave sauntered into the room. + +On seeing the curate, his frank face lighted up with surprise and +pleasure; he hastened to him, seized him by both hands, expressed the +most heartfelt delight at seeing him, inquired tenderly after Lady +Vargrave, and, not till he was out of breath, and Mrs. Merton and +Caroline returning apprised him of Miss Cameron's indisposition, did his +rapture vanish; and, as a moment before he was all joy, so now he was +all sorrow. + +The dinner passed off dully enough; the children, re-admitted to +dessert, made a little relief to all parties; and when they and the two +ladies went, Aubrey himself quickly rose to join Evelyn. + +"Are you going to Miss Cameron?" said Lord Vargrave; "pray say how +unhappy I feel at her illness. I think these grapes--they are very +fine--could not hurt her. May I ask you to present them with my +best--best and most anxious regards? I shall be so uneasy till you +return. Now, Merton (as the door closed on the curate), let's have +another bottle of this famous claret! Droll old fellow that,--quite a +character!" + +"He is a great favourite with Lady Vargrave and Miss Cameron, I +believe," said Mr. Merton. "A mere village priest, I suppose; no talent, +no energy--or he could not be a curate at that age." + +"Very true,--a shrewd remark. The Church is as good a profession as any +other for getting on, if a man has anything in him. I shall live to see +_you_ a bishop!" + +Mr. Merton shook his head. + +"Yes, I shall; though you have hitherto disdained to exhibit any one of +the three orthodox qualifications for a mitre." + +"And what are they, my lord?" + +"Editing a Greek play, writing a political pamphlet, and apostatizing at +the proper moment." + +"Ha, ha! your lordship is severe on us." + +"Not I; I often wish I had been brought up to the Church,--famous +profession, properly understood. By Jupiter, I should have been a +capital bishop!" + +In his capacity of parson, Mr. Merton tried to look grave; in his +capacity of a gentlemanlike, liberal fellow, he gave up the attempt, and +laughed pleasantly at the joke of the rising man. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + WILL nothing please you? + What do you think of the Court?--_The Plain Dealer_. + +ON one subject Aubrey found no difficulty in ascertaining Evelyn's +wishes and condition of mind. The experiment of her visit, so far as +Vargrave's hopes were concerned, had utterly failed; she could not +contemplate the prospect of his alliance, and she poured out to the +curate, frankly and fully, all her desire to effect a release from her +engagement. As it was now settled that she should return with Aubrey +to Brook-Green, it was indeed necessary to come to the long-delayed +understanding with her betrothed. Yet this was difficult, for he had so +little pressed, so distantly alluded to, their engagement, that it was +like a forwardness, an indelicacy in Evelyn to forestall the longed-for +yet dreaded explanation. This, however, Aubrey took upon himself; and +at this promise Evelyn felt as the slave may feel when the chain is +stricken off. + +At breakfast, Mr. Aubrey communicated to the Mertons Evelyn's intention +to return with him to Brook-Green on the following day. Lord Vargrave +started, bit his lip, but said nothing. + +Not so silent was Mr. Merton. + +"Return with you! my dear Mr. Aubrey, just consider; it is impossible! +You see Miss Cameron's rank of life, her position,--so very strange; no +servants of her own here but her woman,--no carriage even! You would not +have her travel in a post-chaise such a long journey! Lord Vargrave, you +can never consent to that, I am sure?" + +"Were it only as Miss Cameron's _guardian_," said Lord Vargrave, +pointedly, "I should certainly object to such a mode of performing such +a journey. Perhaps Mr. Aubrey means to perfect the project by taking two +outside places on the top of the coach?" + +"Pardon me," said the curate, mildly, "but I am not so ignorant of what +is due to Miss Cameron as you suppose. Lady Vargrave's carriage, which +brought me hither, will be no unsuitable vehicle for Lady Vargrave's +daughter; and Miss Cameron is not, I trust, quite so spoiled by all your +friendly attentions as to be unable to perform a journey of two days +with no other protector than myself." + +"I forgot Lady Vargrave's carriage,--or rather I was not aware that you +had used it, my dear sir," said Mr. Merton. "But you must not blame us, +if we are sorry to lose Miss Cameron so suddenly; I was in hopes that +_you_ too would stay at least a week with us." + +The curate bowed at the rector's condescending politeness; and just as +he was about to answer, Mrs. Merton put in,-- + +"And you see I had set my heart on her being Caroline's bridesmaid." + +Caroline turned pale, and glanced at Vargrave, who appeared solely +absorbed in breaking toast into his tea,--a delicacy he had never before +been known to favour. + +There was an awkward pause. The servant opportunely entered with a small +parcel of books, a note to Mr. Merton, and that most blessed of all +blessed things in the country,--the letter-bag. + +"What is this?" said the rector, opening his note, while Mrs. Merton +unlocked the bag and dispensed the contents: "Left Burleigh for +some months, a day or two sooner than he had expected; excuse French +leave-taking; return Miss Merton's books, much obliged; gamekeeper has +orders to place the Burleigh preserves at my disposal. So we have lost +our neighbour!" + +"Did you not know Mr. Maltravers was gone?" said Caroline. "I heard so +from Jenkins last night; he accompanies Mr. Cleveland to Paris." + +"Indeed!" said Mrs. Merton, opening her eyes. "What could take him to +Paris?" + +"Pleasure, I suppose," answered Caroline. "I'm sure I should rather have +wondered what could detain him at Burleigh." + +Vargrave was all this while breaking open seals and running his eyes +over sundry scrawls with the practised rapidity of the man of business; +he came to the last letter. His countenance brightened. + +"Royal invitation, or rather command, to Windsor," he cried. "I am +afraid I, too, must leave you, this very day." + +"Bless me!" exclaimed Mrs. Merton; "is that from the king? Do let me +see!" + +"Not exactly from the king; the same thing though:" and Lord Vargrave, +carelessly pushing the gracious communication towards the impatient hand +and loyal gaze of Mrs. Merton, carefully put the other letters in his +pocket, and walked musingly to the window. + +Aubrey seized the opportunity to approach him. "My lord, can I speak +with you a few moments?" + +"Me! certainly; will you come to my dressing-room?" + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + ... THERE was never + Poor gentleman had such a sudden fortune. + + BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: _The Captain_, Act v. sc. 5. + +"MY LORD," said the curate, as Vargrave, leaning back in his chair, +appeared to examine the shape of his boots, while in reality "his +sidelong looks;" not "of love," were fixed upon his companion,--"I need +scarcely refer to the wish of the late lord, your uncle, relative to +Miss Cameron and yourself; nor need I, to one of a generous spirit, +add that an engagement could be only so far binding as both the parties +whose happiness is concerned should be willing in proper time and season +to fulfil it." + +"Sir!" said Vargrave, impatiently waving his hand; and, in his irritable +surmise of what was to come, losing his habitual self-control, "I know +not what all this has to do with you; surely you trespass upon ground +sacred to Miss Cameron and myself? Whatever you have to say, let me beg +you to come at once to the point." + +"My lord, I will obey you. Miss Cameron--and, I may add, with Lady +Vargrave's consent--deputes me to say that, although she feels compelled +to decline the honour of your lordship's alliance, yet if in any +arrangement of the fortune bequeathed to her she could testify to +you, my lord, her respect and friendship, it would afford her the most +sincere gratification." + +Lord Vargrave started. + +"Sir," said he, "I know not if I am to thank you for this information, +the announcement of which so strangely coincides with your arrival. But +allow me to say that there needs no ambassador between Miss Cameron +and myself. It is due, sir, to my station, to my relationship, to +my character of guardian, to my long and faithful affection, to all +considerations which men of the world understand, which men of feeling +sympathize with, to receive from Miss Cameron alone the rejection of my +suit." + +"Unquestionably Miss Cameron will grant your lordship the interview you +have a right to seek; but pardon me, I thought it might save you both +much pain, if the meeting were prepared by a third person; and on any +matter of business, any atonement to your lordship--" + +"Atonement! what can atone to me?" exclaimed Vargrave, as he walked to +and fro the room in great disorder and excitement. "Can you give me back +years of hope and expectancy,--the manhood wasted in a vain dream? Had +I not been taught to look to this reward, should I have rejected all +occasion--while my youth was not yet all gone, while my heart was +not yet all occupied--to form a suitable alliance? Nay, should I have +indulged in a high and stirring career, for which my own fortune is by +no means qualified? Atonement! atonement! Talk of atonement to boys! +Sir, I stand before you a man whose private happiness is blighted, whose +public prospects are darkened, life wasted, fortunes ruined, the schemes +of an existence built upon one hope, which was lawfully indulged, +overthrown; and you talk to me of _atonement_!" + +Selfish as the nature of this complaint might be, Aubrey was struck with +its justice. + +"My lord," said he, a little embarrassed, "I cannot deny that there is +truth in much of what you say. Alas! it proves how vain it is for man +to calculate on the future; how unhappily your uncle erred in imposing +conditions, which the chances of life and the caprices of affection +could at any time dissolve! But this is blame that attaches only to the +dead: can you blame the living?" + +"Sir, I considered myself bound by my uncle's prayer to keep my hand +and heart disengaged, that this title--miserable and barren distinction +though it be!--might, as he so ardently desired, descend to Evelyn. I +had a right to expect similar honour upon her side!" + +"Surely, my lord, you, to whom the late lord on his death-bed confided +all the motives of his conduct and the secret of his life, cannot but +be aware that, while desirous of promoting your worldly welfare, and +uniting in one line his rank and his fortune, your uncle still had +Evelyn's happiness at heart as his warmest wish; you must know that, +if that happiness were forfeited by a marriage with you, the marriage +became but a secondary consideration. Lord Vargrave's will in itself was +a proof of this. He did not impose as an absolute condition upon Evelyn +her union with yourself; he did not make the forfeiture of her whole +wealth the penalty of her rejection of that alliance. By the definite +limit of the forfeit, he intimated a distinction between a command and +a desire. And surely, when you consider all circumstances, your lordship +must think that, what with that forfeit and the estate settled upon the +title, your uncle did all that in a worldly point of view equity and +even affection could exact from him." + +Vargrave smiled bitterly, but said nothing. + +"And if this be doubted, I have clearer proof of his intentions. Such +was his confidence in Lady Vargrave, that in the letter he addressed to +her before his death, and which I now submit to your lordship, you +will observe that he not only expressly leaves it to Lady Vargrave's +discretion to communicate to Evelyn that history of which she is at +present ignorant, but that he also clearly defines the line of conduct +he wished to be adopted with respect to Evelyn and yourself. Permit me +to point out the passage." + +Impatiently Lord Vargrave ran his eye over the letter placed in his +hand, till he came to these lines:-- + + +"And if, when she has arrived at the proper age to form a judgment, +Evelyn should decide against Lumley's claims, you know that on no +account would I sacrifice her happiness; that all I require is, that +fair play be given to his pretensions, due indulgence to the scheme I +have long had at heart. Let her be brought up to consider him her future +husband; let her not be prejudiced against him; let her fairly judge for +herself, when the time arrives." + + +"You see, my lord," said Mr. Aubrey, as he took back the letter, "that +this letter bears the same date as your uncle's will. What he desired +has been done. Be just, my lord, be just, and exonerate us all from +blame: who can dictate to the affections?" + +"And I am to understand that I have no chance, now or hereafter, of +obtaining the affections of Evelyn? Surely, at your age, Mr. Aubrey, you +cannot encourage the heated romance common to all girls of Evelyn's +age. Persons of our rank do not marry like the Corydon and Phyllis of a +pastoral. At my years, I never was fool enough to expect that I should +inspire a girl of seventeen with what is called a passionate attachment. +But happy marriages are based upon suitable circumstances, mutual +knowledge and indulgence, respect, esteem. Come, sir, let me hope +yet,--let me hope that, on the same day, I may congratulate you on your +preferment and you may congratulate me upon my marriage." + +Vargrave said this with a cheerful and easy smile; and the tone of +his voice was that of a man who wished to convey serious meaning in a +jesting accent. + +Mr. Aubrey, meek as he was, felt the insult of the hinted bribe, and +coloured with a resentment no sooner excited than checked. "Excuse me, +my lord, I have now said all; the rest had better be left to your ward +herself." + +"Be it so, sir. I will ask you, then, to convey my request to Evelyn to +honour me with a last and parting interview." + +Vargrave flung himself on his chair, and Aubrey left him. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + THUS airy Strephon tuned his lyre.--SHENSTONE. + +IN his meeting with Evelyn, Vargrave certainly exerted to the utmost all +his ability and all his art. He felt that violence, that sarcasm, that +selfish complaint would not avail in a man who was not loved,--though +they are often admirable cards in the hands of a man who is. As his +own heart was perfectly untouched in the matter, except by rage and +disappointment,--feelings which with him never lasted very long,--he +could play coolly his losing game. His keen and ready intellect taught +him that all he could now expect was to bequeath sentiments of generous +compassion and friendly interest; to create a favourable impression, +which he might hereafter improve; to reserve, in short, some spot of +vantage-ground in the country from which he was to affect to withdraw +all his forces. He had known, in his experience of women, which, whether +as an actor or a spectator, was large and various--though not among +very delicate and refined natures--that a lady often takes a fancy to +a suitor _after_ she has rejected him; that precisely _because_ she has +once rejected she ultimately accepts him. And even this chance was, in +circumstances so desperate, not to be neglected. He assumed, therefore, +the countenance, the postures, and the voice of heart-broken but +submissive despair; he affected a nobleness and magnanimity in his +grief, which touched Evelyn to the quick, and took her by surprise. + +"It is enough," said he, in sad and faltering accents; "quite enough for +me to know that you cannot love me,--that I should fail in rendering you +happy. Say no more, Evelyn, say no more! Let me spare you, at least, +the pain your generous nature must feel in my anguish. I resign all +pretensions to your hand; you are free!--may you be happy!" + +"Oh, Lord Vargrave! oh, Lumley!" said Evelyn, weeping, and moved by +a thousand recollections of early years. "If I could but prove in +any other way my grateful sense of your merits, your too partial +appreciation of me, my regard for my lost benefactor, then, indeed, nor +till then, could I be happy. Oh that this wealth, so little desired by +me, had been more at my disposal! but as it is, the day that sees me +in possession of it, shall see it placed under your disposition, your +control. This is but justice,--common justice to you; you were the +nearest relation of the departed. I had no claim on him,--none but +affection. Affection! and yet I disobey him!" + +There was much in all this that secretly pleased Vargrave; but it only +seemed to redouble his grief. + +"Talk not thus, my ward, my friend--ah, still my friend," said he, +putting his handkerchief to his eyes. "I repine not; I am more +than satisfied. Still let me preserve my privilege of guardian, of +adviser,--a privilege dearer to me than all the wealth of the Indies!" + +Lord Vargrave had some faint suspicion that Legard had created an +undue interest in Evelyn's heart; and on this point he delicately and +indirectly sought to sound her. Her replies convinced him that if Evelyn +had conceived any prepossession for Legard, there had not been time or +opportunity to ripen it into deep attachment. Of Maltravers he had no +fear. The habitual self-control of that reserved personage deceived him +partly; and his low opinion of mankind deceived him still more. For if +there had been any love between Maltravers and Evelyn, why should the +former not have stood his ground, and declared his suit? Lumley would +have "bah'd" and "pish'd" at the thought of any punctilious regard for +engagements so easily broken having power either to check passion for +beauty, or to restrain self-interest in the chase of an heiress. He had +known Maltravers ambitious; and with him, ambition and self-interest +meant the same. Thus, by the very _finesse_ of his character--while +Vargrave ever with the worldly was a keen and almost infallible +observer--with natures of a more refined, or a higher order, he always +missed the mark by overshooting. Besides, had a suspicion of Maltravers +ever crossed him, Caroline's communications would have dispelled it. +It was more strange that Caroline should have been blind; nor would +she have been so had she been less absorbed in her own schemes and +destinies. All her usual penetration had of late settled in self; and +an uneasy feeling--half arising from conscientious reluctance to aid +Vargrave's objects, half from jealous irritation at the thought of +Vargrave's marrying another--had prevented her from seeking any very +intimate or confidential communication with Evelyn herself. + +The dreaded conference was over; Evelyn parted from Vargrave with the +very feelings he had calculated on exciting,--the moment he ceased to be +her lover, her old childish regard for him recommenced. She pitied his +dejection, she respected his generosity, she was deeply grateful for his +forbearance. But still--still she was free; and her heart bounded within +her at the thought. + +Meanwhile, Vargrave, after his solemn farewell to Evelyn, retreated +again to his own room, where he remained till his post-horses arrived. +Then, descending into the drawing-room, he was pleased to find neither +Aubrey nor Evelyn there. He knew that much affectation would be thrown +away upon Mr. and Mrs. Merton; he thanked them for their hospitality, +with grave and brief cordiality, and then turned to Caroline, who stood +apart by the window. + +"All is up with me at present," he whispered. "I leave you, Caroline, in +anticipation of fortune, rank, and prosperity; that is some comfort. +For myself, I see only difficulties, embarrassment, and poverty in the +future; but I despond of nothing. Hereafter you may serve me, as I +have served you. Adieu!--I have been advising Caroline not to spoil +Doltimore, Mrs. Merton; he is conceited enough already. Good-by! God +bless you all! love to your little girls. Let me know if I can serve +you in any way, Merton,--good-by again!" And thus, sentence by +sentence, Vargrave talked himself into his carriage. As it drove by the +drawing-room windows, he saw Caroline standing motionless where he had +left her; he kissed his hand,--her eyes were fixed mournfully on his. +Hard, wayward, and worldly as Caroline Merton was, Vargrave was yet not +worthy of the affection he had inspired; for she could _feel_, and he +could not,--the distinction, perhaps, between the sexes. And there still +stood Caroline Merton, recalling the last tones of that indifferent +voice, till she felt her hand seized, and turned round to see Lord +Doltimore, and smile upon the happy lover, persuaded that he was adored! + + + + +BOOK VI. + + "I will bring fire to thee--I reek not of the place." + --EURIPIDES: _Andromache_, 214. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +... THIS ancient city, How wanton sits she amidst Nature's smiles! + +... Various nations meet, As in the sea, yet not confined in space, + But streaming freely through the spacious streets.--YOUNG. + +... His teeth he still did grind, + And grimly gnash, threatening revenge in vain.--SPENSER. + + +"PARIS is a delightful place,--that is allowed by all. It is delightful +to the young, to the gay, to the idle; to the literary lion, who likes +to be petted; to the wiser epicure, who indulges a more justifiable +appetite. It is delightful to ladies, who wish to live at their ease, +and buy beautiful caps; delightful to philanthropists, who wish for +listeners to schemes of colonizing the moon; delightful to the haunters +of balls and ballets, and little theatres and superb _cafes_, where men +with beards of all sizes and shapes scowl at the English, and involve +their intellects in the fascinating game of dominos. For these, and for +many others, Paris is delightful. I say nothing against it. But, for my +own part, I would rather live in a garret in London than in a palace in +the Chaussee d'Antin.--'Chacun a son mauvais gout.' + +"I don't like the streets, in which I cannot walk but in the kennel; I +don't like the shops, that contain nothing except what's at the window; +I don't like the houses, like prisons which look upon a courtyard; I +don't like the _beaux jardins_, which grow no plants save a Cupid in +plaster; I don't like the wood fires, which demand as many _petits +soins_ as the women, and which warm no part of one but one's eyelids, +I don't like the language, with its strong phrases about nothing, and +vibrating like a pendulum between 'rapture' and 'desolation;' I don't +like the accent, which one cannot get, without speaking through one's +nose; I don't like the eternal fuss and jabber about books without +nature, and revolutions without fruit; I have no sympathy with tales +that turn on a dead jackass, nor with constitutions that give the ballot +to the representatives, and withhold the suffrage from the people; +neither have I much faith in that enthusiasm for the _beaux arts_, which +shows its produce in execrable music, detestable pictures, abominable +sculpture, and a droll something that I believe the _French_ call +POETRY. Dancing and cookery,--these are the arts the French excel in, I +grant it; and excellent things they are; but oh, England! oh, Germany! +you need not be jealous of your rival!" + +These are not the author's remarks,--he disowns them; they were Mr. +Cleveland's. He was a prejudiced man; Maltravers was more liberal, but +then Maltravers did not pretend to be a wit. + +Maltravers had been several weeks in the city of cities, and now he had +his apartments in the gloomy but interesting Faubourg St. Germain, all +to himself. For Cleveland, having attended eight days at a sale, and +having moreover ransacked all the curiosity shops, and shipped off +bronzes and cabinets, and Genoese silks and _objets de vertu_, enough to +have half furnished Fonthill, had fulfilled his mission, and returned +to his villa. Before the old gentleman went, he flattered himself that +change of air and scene had already been serviceable to his friend; +and that time would work a complete cure upon that commonest of all +maladies,--an unrequited passion, or an ill-placed caprice. + +Maltravers, indeed, in the habit of conquering, as well as of concealing +emotion, vigorously and earnestly strove to dethrone the image that had +usurped his heart. Still vain of his self-command, and still worshipping +his favourite virtue of Fortitude and his delusive philosophy of the +calm Golden Mean, he would not weakly indulge the passion, while he so +sternly fled from its object. + +But yet the image of Evelyn pursued,--it haunted him; it came on him +unawares, in solitude, in crowds. That smile so cheering, yet so +soft, that ever had power to chase away the shadow from his soul; that +youthful and luxurious bloom of pure and eloquent thoughts, which was +as the blossom of genius before its fruit, bitter as well as sweet, is +born; that rare union of quick feeling and serene temper, which forms +the very ideal of what we dream of in the mistress, and exact from +the wife,--all, even more, far more, than the exquisite form and the +delicate graces of the less durable beauty, returned to him, after every +struggle with himself; and time only seemed to grave, in deeper if more +latent folds of his heart, the ineradicable impression. + +Maltravers renewed his acquaintance with some persons not unfamiliar to +the reader. + +Valerie de Ventadour--how many recollections of the fairer days of life +were connected with that name! Precisely as she had never reached to +his love, but only excited his fancy (the fancy of twenty-two), had her +image always retained a pleasant and grateful hue; it was blended with +no deep sorrow, no stern regret, no dark remorse, no haunting shame. + +They met again. Madame de Ventadour was still beautiful, and still +admired,--perhaps more admired than ever; for to the great, fashion and +celebrity bring a second and yet more popular youth. But Maltravers, if +rejoiced to see how gently Time had dealt with the fair Frenchwoman, +was yet more pleased to read in her fine features a more serene and +contented expression than they had formerly worn. Valerie de Ventadour +had preceded her younger admirer through the "MYSTERIES of LIFE;" she +had learned the real objects of being; she distinguished between the +Actual and the Visionary, the Shadow and the Substance; she had acquired +content for the present, and looked with quiet hope towards the future. +Her character was still spotless; or rather, every year of temptation +and trial had given it a fairer lustre. Love, that might have ruined, +being once subdued, preserved her from all after danger. The first +meeting between Maltravers and Valerie was, it is true, one of some +embarrassment and reserve: not so the second. They did but once, and +that slightly, recur to the past, and from that moment, as by a +tacit understanding, true friendship between them dated. Neither felt +mortified to see that an illusion had passed away,--they were no longer +the same in each other's eyes. Both might be improved, and were so; +but the Valerie and the Ernest of Naples were as things dead and gone! +Perhaps Valerie's heart was even more reconciled to the cure of its soft +and luxurious malady by the renewal of their acquaintance. The mature +and experienced reasoner, in whom enthusiasm had undergone its usual +change, with the calm brow and commanding aspect of sober manhood, was +a being so different from the romantic boy, new to the actual world +of civilized toils and pleasures, fresh from the adventures of Eastern +wanderings, and full of golden dreams of poetry before it settles +into authorship or action! She missed the brilliant errors, the daring +aspirations,--even the animated gestures and eager eloquence,--that had +interested and enamoured her in the loiterer by the shores of Baiae, or +amidst the tomb-like chambers of Pompeii. For the Maltravers now before +her--wiser, better, nobler, even handsomer than of yore (for he was one +whom manhood became better than youth)--the Frenchwoman could at any +period have felt friendship without danger. It seemed to her, not as it +really was, the natural _development_, but the very _contrast_, of the +ardent, variable, imaginative boy, by whose side she had gazed at night +on the moonlit waters and rosy skies of the soft Parthenope! How does +time, after long absence, bring to us such contrasts between the one we +remember and the one we see! And what a melancholy mockery does it seem +of our own vain hearts, dreaming of impressions never to be changed, and +affections that never can grow cool! + +And now, as they conversed with all the ease of cordial and guileless +friendship, how did Valerie rejoice in secret that upon that friendship +there rested no blot of shame! and that she had not forfeited those +consolations for a home without love, which had at last settled into +cheerful nor unhallowed resignation,--consolations only to be found in +the conscience and the pride! + +M. de Ventadour had not altered, except that his nose was longer, and +that he now wore a peruque in full curl instead of his own straight +hair. But somehow or other--perhaps by the mere charm of custom--he had +grown more pleasing in Valerie's eyes; habit had reconciled her to his +foibles, deficiencies, and faults; and, by comparison with others, +she could better appreciate his good qualities, such as they +were,--generosity, good-temper, good-nature, and unbounded indulgence +to herself. Husband and wife have so many interests in common, that when +they have jogged on through the ups and downs of life a sufficient +time, the leash which at first galled often grows easy and familiar; and +unless the _temper_, or rather the disposition and the heart, of +either be insufferable, what was once a grievous yoke becomes but a +companionable tie. And for the rest, Valerie, now that sentiment and +fancy were sobered down, could take pleasure in a thousand things which +her pining affections once, as it were, overlooked and overshot. She +could feel grateful for all the advantages her station and wealth +procured her; she could cull the roses in her reach, without sighing for +the amaranths of Elysium. + +If the great have more temptations than those of middle life, and if +their senses of enjoyment become more easily pampered into a sickly +apathy, so at least (if they can once outlive satiety) they have many +more resources at their command. There is a great deal of justice in +the old line, displeasing though it be to those who think of love in +a cottage, "'Tis best repenting in a coach and six!" If among the +Eupatrids, the Well Born, there is less love in wedlock, less quiet +happiness at home, still they are less chained each to each,--they have +more independence, both the woman and the man, and occupations and +the solace without can be so easily obtained! Madame de Ventadour, in +retiring from the mere frivolities of society--from crowded rooms, and +the inane talk and hollow smiles of mere acquaintanceship--became more +sensible of the pleasures that her refined and elegant intellect could +derive from art and talent, and the communion of friendship. She drew +around her the most cultivated minds of her time and country. Her +abilities, her wit, and her conversational graces enabled her not only +to mix on equal terms with the most eminent, but to amalgamate and +blend the varieties of talent into harmony. The same persons, when met +elsewhere, seemed to have lost their charm; under Valerie's roof every +one breathed a congenial atmosphere. And music and letters, and all that +can refine and embellish civilized life, contributed their resources to +this gifted and beautiful woman. And thus she found that the _mind_ has +excitement and occupation, as well as the heart; and, unlike the latter, +the culture we bestow upon the first ever yields us its return. We talk +of education for the poor, but we forget how much it is needed by +the rich. Valerie was a living instance of the advantages to women +of knowledge and intellectual resources. By them she had purified her +fancy, by them she had conquered discontent, by them she had grown +reconciled to life and to her lot! When the heavy heart weighed down the +one scale, it was the mind that restored the balance. + +The spells of Madame de Ventadour drew Maltravers into this charmed +circle of all that was highest, purest, and most gifted in the society +of Paris. There he did not meet, as were met in the times of the +old _regime_, sparkling abbes intent upon intrigues; or amorous old +dowagers, eloquent on Rousseau; or powdered courtiers, uttering epigrams +against kings and religions,--straws that foretold the whirlwind. Paul +Courier was right! Frenchmen are Frenchmen still; they are full of fine +phrases, and their thoughts smell of the theatre; they mistake foil +for diamonds, the Grotesque for the Natural, the Exaggerated for the +Sublime: but still I say, Paul Courier was right,--there is more honesty +now in a single _salon_ in Paris than there was in all France in the +days of Voltaire. Vast interests and solemn causes are no longer tossed +about like shuttlecocks on the battledores of empty tongues. In the +_bouleversement_ of Revolutions the French have fallen on their feet! + +Meeting men of all parties and all classes, Maltravers was struck with +the heightened tone of public morals, the earnest sincerity of feeling +which generally pervaded all, as compared with his first recollections +of the Parisians. He saw that true elements for national wisdom were +at work, though he saw also that there was no country in which their +operations would be more liable to disorder, more slow and irregular +in their results. The French are like the Israelites in the Wilderness, +when, according to a Hebrew tradition, every morning they seemed on the +verge of Pisgah, and every evening they were as far from it as ever. But +still time rolls on, the pilgrimage draws to its close, and the Canaan +must come at last! + +At Valerie's house, Maltravers once more met the De Montaignes. It was a +painful meeting, for they thought of Cesarini when they met. + +It is now time to return to that unhappy man. Cesarini had been removed +from England when Maltravers quitted it after Lady Florence's death; +and Maltravers had thought it best to acquaint De Montaigne with all the +circumstances that had led to his affliction. The pride and the honour +of the high-spirited Frenchman were deeply shocked by the tale of fraud +and guilt, softened as it was; but the sight of the criminal, his awful +punishment, merged every other feeling in compassion. Placed under +the care of the most skilful practitioners in Paris, great hopes of +Cesarini's recovery had been at first entertained. Nor was it long, +indeed, before he appeared entirely restored, so far as the external +and superficial tokens of sanity could indicate a cure. He testified +complete consciousness of the kindness of his relations, and clear +remembrance of the past: but to the incoherent ravings of delirium, an +intense melancholy, still more deplorable, succeeded. In this state, +however, he became once more the inmate of his brother-in-law's +house; and though avoiding all society, except that of Teresa, whose +affectionate nature never wearied of its cares, he resumed many of his +old occupations. Again he appeared to take delight in desultory and +unprofitable studies, and in the cultivation of that luxury of solitary +men, "the thankless muse." By shunning all topics connected with +the gloomy cause of his affliction, and talking rather of the sweet +recollections of Italy and childhood than of more recent events, his +sister was enabled to soothe the dark hour, and preserve some kind of +influence over the ill-fated man. One day, however, there fell into +his hands an English newspaper, which was full of the praises of Lord +Vargrave; and the article in lauding the peer referred to his services +as the commoner Lumley Ferrers. + +This incident, slight as it appeared, and perfectly untraceable by +his relations, produced a visible effect on Cesarini; and three days +afterwards he attempted his own life. The failure of the attempt was +followed by the fiercest paroxysms. His disease returned in all its +dread force: and it became necessary to place him under yet stricter +confinement than he had endured before. Again, about a year from the +date now entered upon, he had appeared to recover; and again he was +removed to De Montaigne's house. His relations were not aware of the +influence which Lord Vargrave's name exercised over Cesarini; in the +melancholy tale communicated to them by Maltravers, that name had not +been mentioned. If Maltravers had at one time entertained some vague +suspicions that Lumley had acted a treacherous part with regard +to Florence, those suspicions had long since died away for want of +confirmation; nor did he (nor did therefore the De Montaignes) connect +Lord Vargrave with the affliction of Cesarini. De Montaigne himself, +therefore, one day at dinner, alluding to a question of foreign politics +which had been debated that morning in the Chamber, and in which he +himself had taken an active part, happened to refer to a speech of +Vargrave upon the subject, which had made some sensation abroad, as +well as at home. Teresa asked innocently who Lord Vargrave was; and De +Montaigne, well acquainted with the biography of the principal English +statesmen, replied that he had commenced his career as Mr. Ferrers, +and reminded Teresa that they had once been introduced to him in Paris. +Cesarini suddenly rose and left the room; his absence was not noted, +for his comings and goings were ever strange and fitful. Teresa soon +afterwards quitted the apartment with her children, and De Montaigne, +who was rather fatigued by the exertions and excitement of the morning, +stretched himself in his chair to enjoy a short _siesta_. He was +suddenly awakened by a feeling of pain and suffocation,--awakened in +time to struggle against a strong grip that had fastened itself at his +throat. The room was darkened in the growing shades of the evening; and, +but for the glittering and savage eyes that were fixed on him, he could +scarcely discern his assailant. He at length succeeded, however, in +freeing himself, and casting the intended assassin on the ground. He +shouted for assistance; and the lights borne by the servants who rushed +into the room revealed to him the face of his brother-in-law. Cesarini, +though in strong convulsions, still uttered cries and imprecations of +revenge; he denounced De Montaigne as a traitor and a murderer! In the +dark confusion of his mind, he had mistaken the guardian for the distant +foe, whose name sufficed to conjure up the phantoms of the dead, and +plunge reason into fury. + +It was now clear that there was danger and death in Cesarini's disease. +His madness was pronounced to be capable of no certain and permanent +cure; he was placed at a new asylum (the superintendents of which +were celebrated for humanity as well as skill), a little distance from +Versailles, and there he still remained. Recently his lucid intervals +had become more frequent and prolonged; but trifles that sprang from his +own mind, and which no care could prevent or detect, sufficed to renew +his calamity in all its fierceness. At such times he required the +most unrelaxing vigilance, for his madness ever took an alarming and +ferocious character; and had he been left unshackled, the boldest and +stoutest of the keepers would have dreaded to enter his cell unarmed, or +alone. + +What made the disease of the mind appear more melancholy and confirmed +was, that all this time the frame seemed to increase in health and +strength. This is not an uncommon case in instances of mania--and it +is generally the worst symptom. In earlier youth, Cesarini had been +delicate even to effeminacy; but now his proportions were enlarged, his +form, though still lean and spare, muscular and vigorous,--as if in +the torpor which usually succeeded to his bursts of frenzy, the animal +portion gained by the repose or disorganization of the intellectual. +When in his better and calmer mood--in which indeed none but the +experienced could have detected his malady--books made his chief +delight. But then he complained bitterly, if briefly, of the confinement +he endured, of the injustice be suffered; and as, shunning all +companions, he walked gloomily amidst the grounds that surrounded that +House of Woe, his unseen guardians beheld him clenching his hands, as at +some visionary enemy, or overheard him accuse some phantom of his brain +of the torments he endured. + +Though the reader can detect in Lumley Ferrers the cause of the frenzy, +and the object of the imprecation, it was not so with the De Montaignes, +nor with the patient's keepers and physicians; for in his delirium he +seldom or never gave name to the shadows that he invoked,--not even to +that of Florence. It is, indeed, no unusual characteristic of madness to +shun, as by a kind of cunning, all mention of the names of those by whom +the madness has been caused. It is as if the unfortunates imagined that +the madness might be undiscovered if the images connected with it were +unbetrayed. + +Such, at this time, was the wretched state of the man, whose talents +had promised a fair and honourable career, had it not been the wretched +tendency of his mind, from boyhood upward, to pamper every unwholesome +and unhallowed feeling as a token of the exuberance of genius. De +Montaigne, though he touched as lightly as possible upon this dark +domestic calamity in his first communications with Maltravers, whose +conduct in that melancholy tale of crime and woe had, he conceived, been +stamped with generosity and feeling, still betrayed emotions that told +how much his peace had been embittered. + +"I seek to console Teresa," said he, turning away his manly head, "and +to point out all the blessings yet left to her; but that brother so +beloved, from whom so much was so vainly expected,--still ever and ever, +though she strives to conceal it from me, this affliction comes back to +her, and poisons every thought! Oh, better a thousand times that he +had died! When reason, sense, almost the soul, are dead, how dark and +fiend-like is the life that remains behind! And if it should be in the +blood--if Teresa's children--dreadful thought!" + +De Montaigne ceased, thoroughly overcome. + +"Do not, my dear friend, so fearfully exaggerate your misfortune, +great as it is; Cesarini's disease evidently arose from no physical +conformation,--it was but the crisis, the development, of a +long-contracted malady of mind, passions morbidly indulged, the +reasoning faculty obstinately neglected; and yet too he may recover. The +further memory recedes from the shock he has sustained, the better the +chance that his mind will regain its tone." + +De Montaigne wrung his friend's hand. + +"It is strange that from you should come sympathy and comfort!--you whom +he so injured; you whom his folly or his crime drove from your proud +career, and your native soil! But Providence will yet, I trust, redeem +the evil of its erring creature, and I shall yet live to see you +restored to hope and home, a happy husband, an honoured citizen. Till +then, I feel as if the curse lingered upon my race." + +"Speak not thus. Whatever my destiny, I have recovered from that wound; +and still, De Montaigne, I find in life that suffering succeeds to +suffering, and disappointment to disappointment, as wave to wave. To +endure is the only philosophy; to believe that we shall live again in a +brighter planet, is the only hope that our reason should accept from our +desires." + + + +CHAPTER II. + + MONSTRA evenerunt mihi: + Introit in aedes ater alienus canis, + Anguis per impluvium decidit de tegulis, + Gallina cecinit!*--TERENCE. + + * "Prodigies have occurred: a strange black dog came into the house; + a snake glided from the tiles, through the court; the hen crowed." + +WITH his constitutional strength of mind, and conformably with his +acquired theories, Maltravers continued to struggle against the latest +and strongest passion of his life. It might be seen in the paleness of +his brow, and that nameless expression of suffering which betrays +itself in the lines about the mouth, that his health was affected by the +conflict within him; and many a sudden fit of absence and abstraction, +many an impatient sigh, followed by a forced and unnatural gayety, told +the observant Valerie that he was the prey of a sorrow he was too proud +to disclose. He compelled himself, however, to take, or to affect, +an interest in the singular phenomena of the social state around +him,--phenomena that, in a happier or serener mood, would indeed have +suggested no ordinary food for conjecture and meditation. + +The state of _visible transition_ is the state of nearly all the +enlightened communities in Europe. But nowhere is it so pronounced as +in that country which may be called the Heart of European Civilization. +There, all to which the spirit of society attaches itself appears +broken, vague, and half developed,--the Antique in ruins, and the New +not formed. It is, perhaps, the only country in which the Constructive +principle has not kept pace with the Destructive. The Has Been is +blotted out; the To Be is as the shadow of a far land in a mighty and +perturbed sea.* + + * The reader will remember that these remarks were written long + before the last French Revolution, and when the dynasty of Louis + Philippe was generally considered most secure. + +Maltravers, who for several years had not examined the progress of +modern literature, looked with mingled feelings of surprise, distaste, +and occasional and most reluctant admiration, on the various works which +the successors of Voltaire and Rousseau have produced, and are pleased +to call the offspring of Truth united to Romance. + +Profoundly versed in the mechanism and elements of those masterpieces +of Germany and England, from which the French have borrowed so largely +while pretending to be original, Maltravers was shocked to see the +monsters which these Frankensteins had created from the relics and the +offal of the holiest sepulchres. The head of a giant on the limbs of +a dwarf, incongruous members jumbled together, parts fair and +beautiful,--the whole a hideous distortion! + +"It may be possible," said he to De Montaigne, "that these works are +admired and extolled; but how they can be vindicated by the examples +of Shakspeare and Goethe, or even of Byron, who redeemed poor and +melodramatic conceptions with a manly vigour of execution, an energy and +completeness of purpose, that Dryden himself never surpassed, is to me +utterly inconceivable." + +"I allow that there is a strange mixture of fustian and maudlin in all +these things," answered De Montaigne; "but they are but the windfalls of +trees that may bear rich fruit in due season; meanwhile, any new +school is better than eternal imitations of the old. As for critical +vindications of the works themselves, the age that produces the +phenomena is never the age to classify and analyze them. We have had a +deluge, and now new creatures spring from the new soil." + +"An excellent simile: they come forth from slime and mud,--fetid and +crawling, unformed and monstrous. I grant exceptions; and even in the +New School, as it is called, I can admire the real genius, the vital and +creative power of Victor Hugo. But oh, that a nation which has known a +Corneille should ever spawn forth a -----! And with these rickety and +drivelling abortions--all having followers and adulators--your Public +can still bear to be told that they have improved wonderfully on the +day when they gave laws and models to the literature of Europe; they can +bear to hear ----- proclaimed a sublime genius in the same circles which +sneer down Voltaire!" + +Voltaire is out of fashion in France, but Rousseau still maintains his +influence, and boasts his imitators. Rousseau was the worse man of the +two; perhaps he was also the more dangerous writer. But his reputation +is more durable, and sinks deeper into the heart of his nation; and +the danger of his unstable and capricious doctrines has passed away. +In Voltaire we behold the fate of all writers purely destructive; +their uses cease with the evils they denounce. But Rousseau sought to +construct as well as to destroy; and though nothing could well be more +absurd than his constructions, still man loves to look back and see even +delusive images--castles in the air--reared above the waste where +cities have been. Rather than leave even a burial-ground to solitude, we +populate it with ghosts. + +By degrees, however, as he mastered all the features of the French +literature, Maltravers become more tolerant of the present defects, +and more hopeful of the future results. He saw in one respect that that +literature carried with it its own ultimate redemption. + +Its general characteristic--contradistinguished from the literature of +the old French classic school--is to take the _heart_ for its study; to +bring the passions and feelings into action, and let the Within have its +record and history as well as the Without. In all this our contemplative +analyst began to allow that the French were not far wrong when they +contended that Shakspeare made the fountain of their inspiration,--a +fountain which the majority of our later English Fictionists have +neglected. It is not by a story woven of interesting incidents, relieved +by delineations of the externals and surface of character, humorous +phraseology, and every-day ethics, that Fiction achieves its grandest +ends. + +In the French literature, thus characterized, there is much false +morality, much depraved sentiment, and much hollow rant; but still it +carries within it the germ of an excellence, which, sooner or later, +must in the progress of national genius arrive at its full development. +Meanwhile, it is a consolation to know that nothing really immoral is +ever permanently popular, or ever, therefore, long deleterious; what is +dangerous in a work of genius cures itself in a few years. We can now +read "Werther," and instruct our hearts by its exposition of weakness +and passion, our taste by its exquisite and unrivalled simplicity of +construction and detail, without any fear that we shall shoot ourselves +in top-boots! We can feel ourselves elevated by the noble sentiments +of "The Robbers," and our penetration sharpened as to the wholesale +immorality of conventional cant and hypocrisy, without any danger +of turning banditti and becoming cutthroats from the love of virtue. +Providence, that has made the genius of the few in all times and +countries the guide and prophet of the many, and appointed Literature as +the sublime agent of Civilization, of Opinion, and of Law, has endowed +the elements it employs with a divine power of self-purification. The +stream settles of itself by rest and time; the impure particles fly +off, or are neutralized by the healthful. It is only fools that call the +works of a master-spirit immoral. There does not exist in the literature +of the world one _popular_ book that is immoral two centuries after it +is produced. For, in the heart of nations, the False does not live so +long; and the True is the Ethical to the end of time. + +From the literary Maltravers turned to the political state of France his +curious and thoughtful eye. He was struck by the resemblance which this +nation--so civilized, so thoroughly European--bears in one respect to +the despotisms of the East: the convulsions of the capital decide the +fate of the country; Paris is the tyrant of France. He saw in this +inflammable concentration of power, which must ever be pregnant with +great evils, one of the causes why the revolutions of that powerful and +polished people are so incomplete and unsatisfactory, why, like Cardinal +Fleury, system after system, and Government after Government-- + + ... "floruit sine fructu, + Defloruit sine luctu."* + + * "Flourished without fruit, and was destroyed without regret." + +Maltravers regarded it as a singular instance of perverse ratiocination, +that, unwarned by experience, the French should still persist in +perpetuating this political vice; that all their policy should still be +the policy of Centralization,--a principle which secures the momentary +strength, but ever ends in the abrupt destruction of States. It is, in +fact, the perilous tonic, which seems to brace the system, but +drives the blood to the head,--thus come apoplexy and madness. By +centralization the provinces are weakened, it is true,--but weak to +assist as well as to oppose a government, weak to withstand a mob. +Nowhere, nowadays, is a mob so powerful as in Paris: the political +history of Paris is the history of snobs. Centralization is an excellent +quackery for a despot who desires power to last only his own life, +and who has but a life-interest in the State; but to true liberty +and permanent order centralization is a deadly poison. The more the +provinces govern their own affairs, the more we find everything, even +to roads and post-horses, are left to the people; the more the Municipal +Spirit pervades every vein of the vast body, the more certain may we be +that reform and change must come from universal opinion, which is slow, +and constructs ere it destroys,--not from public clamour, which is +sudden, and not only pulls down the edifice but sells the bricks! + +Another peculiarity in the French Constitution struck and perplexed +Maltravers. This people so pervaded by the republican sentiment; this +people, who had sacrificed so much for Freedom; this people, who, in +the name of Freedom, had perpetrated so much crime with Robespierre, and +achieved so much glory with Napoleon,--this people were, as a people, +contented to be utterly excluded from all power and voice in the State! +Out of thirty-three millions of subjects, less than two hundred thousand +electors! Where was there ever an oligarchy equal to this? What a +strange infatuation, to demolish an aristocracy and yet to exclude a +people! What an anomaly in political architecture, to build an inverted +pyramid! Where was the safety-valve of governments, where the natural +vents of excitement in a population so inflammable? The people itself +were left a mob,--no stake in the State, no action in its affairs, no +legislative interest in its security.* + + * Has not all this proved prophetic? + +On the other hand, it was singular to see how--the aristocracy of birth +broken down--the aristocracy of letters had arisen. A Peerage, half +composed of journalists, philosophers, and authors! This was the +beau-ideal of Algernon Sidney's Aristocratic Republic, of the Helvetian +vision of what ought to be the dispensation of public distinctions; +yet was it, after all, a desirable aristocracy? Did society gain; did +literature lose? Was the priesthood of Genius made more sacred and more +pure by these worldly decorations and hollow titles; or was aristocracy +itself thus rendered a more disinterested, a more powerful, or a more +sagacious element in the administration of law, or the elevation of +opinion? These questions, not lightly to be answered, could not fail to +arouse the speculation and curiosity of a man who had been familiar with +the closet and the forum; and in proportion as he found his interest +excited in these problems to be solved by a foreign nation, did the +thoughtful Englishman feel the old instinct--which binds the citizen +to the fatherland--begin to stir once more earnestly and vividly within +him. + +"You, yourself individually, are passing like us," said De Montaigne one +day to Maltravers, "through a state of transition. You have forever left +the Ideal, and you are carrying your cargo of experience over to the +Practical. When you reach that haven, you will have completed the +development of your forces." + +"You mistake me,--I am but a spectator." + +"Yes; but you desire to go behind the scenes; and he who once grows +familiar with the green-room, longs to be an actor." + +With Madame de Ventadour and the De Montaignes Maltravers passed the +chief part of his time. They knew how to appreciate his nobler and +to love his gentler attributes and qualities; they united in a warm +interest for his future fate; they combated his Philosophy of Inaction; +and they felt that it was because he was not happy that he was not wise. +Experience was to him what ignorance had been to Alice. His faculties +were chilled and dormant. As affection to those who are unskilled in all +things, so is affection to those who despair of all things. The mind of +Maltravers was a world without a sun! + + + +CHAPTER III. + + COELEBS, quid agam?*--HORACE. + + * "What shall I do, a bachelor?" + +IN a room at Fenton's Hotel sat Lord Vargrave and Caroline Lady +Doltimore,--two months after the marriage of the latter. + +"Doltimore has positively fixed, then, to go abroad on your return from +Cornwall?" + +"Positively,--to Paris. You can join us at Christmas, I trust?" + +"I have no doubt of it; and before then I hope that I shall have +arranged certain public matters, which at present harass and absorb me +even more than my private affairs." + +"You have managed to obtain terms with Mr. Douce, and to delay the +repayment of your debt to him?" + +"Yes, I hope so, till I touch Miss Cameron's income; which will be mine, +I trust, by the time she is eighteen." + +"You mean the forfeit money of thirty thousand pounds?" + +"Not I; I mean what I said!" + +"Can you really imagine she will still accept your hand?" + +"With your aid, I do imagine it! Hear me. You must take Evelyn with you +to Paris. I have no doubt but that she will be delighted to accompany +you; nay, I have paved the way so far. For, of course, as a friend of +the family, and guardian to Evelyn, I have maintained a correspondence +with Lady Vargrave. She informs me that Evelyn has been unwell and +low-spirited; that she fears Brook-Green is dull for her, etc. I wrote, +in reply, to say that the more my ward saw of the world, prior to her +accession, when of age, to the position she would occupy in it, the more +she would fulfil my late uncle's wishes with respect to her education +and so forth. I added that as you were going to Paris, and as you loved +her so much, there could not be a better opportunity for her entrance +into life under the most favourable auspices. Lady Vargrave's answer +to this letter arrived this morning: she will consent to such an +arrangement should you propose it." + +"But what good will result to yourself in this project? At Paris you +will be sure of rivals, and--" + +"Caroline," interrupted Lord Vargrave, "I know very well what you would +say: I also know all the danger I must incur. But it is a choice of +evils, and I choose the least. You see that while she is at Brook-Green, +and under the eye of that sly old curate, I can effect nothing with her. +There, she is entirely removed from my influence: not so abroad; not +so under your roof. Listen to me still further. In this country, and +especially in the seclusion and shelter of Brook-Green, I have no scope +for any of those means which I shall be compelled to resort to, in +failure of all else." + +"What can you intend?" said Caroline, with a slight shudder. + +"I don't know what I intend yet. But this, at least, I can tell +you,--that Miss Cameron's fortune I must and will have. I am a desperate +man; and I can play a desperate game, if need be." + +"And do you think that _I_ will aid, will abet?" + +"Hush, not so loud! Yes, Caroline, you will, and you must aid and abet +me in any project I may form." + +"Must! Lord Vargrave?" + +"Ay," said Lumley, with a smile, and sinking his voice into a +whisper,--"ay! _you are in my power_!" + +"Traitor!--you cannot dare! you cannot mean--" + +"I mean nothing more than to remind you of the ties that exist between +us,--ties which ought to render us the firmest and most confidential of +friends. Come, Caroline, recollect all the benefit must not lie on one +side. I have obtained for you rank and wealth; I have procured you a +husband,--you must help me to a wife!" + +Caroline sank back, and covered her face with her hands. + +"I allow," continued Vargrave, coldly,--"I allow that your beauty +and talent were sufficient of themselves to charm a wiser man than +Doltimore; but had I not suppressed jealousy, sacrificed love, had +I dropped a hint to your liege lord,--nay, had I not fed his lap-dog +vanity by all the cream and sugar of flattering falsehoods,--you would +be Caroline Merton still!" + +"Oh, would that I were! Oh that I were anything but your tool, your +victim! Fool that I was! wretch that I am! I am rightly punished!" + +"Forgive me, forgive me, dearest," said Vargrave, soothingly; "I was to +blame, forgive me: but you irritated, you maddened me, by your seeming +indifference to my prosperity, my fate. I tell you again and again, +pride of my soul, I tell you, that you are the only being I love! and if +you will allow me, if you will rise superior, as I once fondly hoped, to +all the cant and prejudice of convention and education, the only woman +I could ever respect, as well as love. Oh, hereafter, when you see me at +that height to which I feel that I am born to climb, let me think that +to your generosity, your affection, your zeal, I owed the ascent. At +present I am on the precipice; without your hand I fall forever. My own +fortune is gone; the miserable forfeit due to me, if Evelyn continues to +reject my suit, when she has arrived at the age of eighteen, is deeply +mortgaged. I am engaged in vast and daring schemes, in which I may +either rise to the highest station or lose that which I now hold. In +either case, how necessary to me is wealth: in the one instance, to +maintain my advancement; in the other, to redeem my fall." + +"But did you not tell me," said Caroline, "that Evelyn proposed and +promised to place her fortune at your disposal, even while rejecting +your hand?" + +"Absurd mockery!" exclaimed Vargrave; "the foolish boast of a girl,--an +impulse liable to every caprice. Can you suppose that when she launches +into the extravagance natural to her age and necessary to her position, +she will not find a thousand demands upon her rent-roll not dreamed of +now; a thousand vanities and baubles that will soon erase my poor and +hollow claim from her recollection? Can you suppose that, if she marry +another, her husband will ever consent to a child's romance? And +even were all this possible, were it possible that girls were not +extravagant, and that husbands had no common-sense, is it for me, Lord +Vargrave, to be a mendicant upon reluctant bounty,--a poor cousin, a +pensioned led-captain? Heaven knows I have as little false pride as +any man, but still this is a degradation I cannot stoop to. Besides, +Caroline, I am no miser, no Harpagon: I do not want wealth for wealth's +sake, but for the advantages it bestows,--respect, honour, position; and +these I get as the husband of the great heiress. Should I get them as +her dependant? No: for more than six years I have built my schemes and +shaped my conduct according to one assured and definite object; and that +object I shall not now, at the eleventh hour, let slip from my hands. +Enough of this: you will pass Brook-Green in returning from Cornwall; +you will take Evelyn with you to Paris,--leave the rest to me. Fear no +folly, no violence, from my plans, whatever they may be: I work in +the dark. Nor do I despair that Evelyn will love, that Evelyn will +voluntarily accept me yet: my disposition is sanguine; I look to the +bright side of things; do the same!" + +Here their conference was interrupted by Lord Doltimore, who lounged +carelessly into the room, with his hat on one side. "Ah, Vargrave, how +are you? You will not forget the letters of introduction? Where are you +going, Caroline?" + +"Only to my own room, to put on my bonnet; the carriage will be here in +a few minutes." And Caroline escaped. + +"So you go to Cornwall to-morrow, Doltimore?" + +"Yes; cursed bore! but Lady Elizabeth insists on seeing us, and I don't +object to a week's good shooting. The old lady, too, has something to +leave, and Caroline had no dowry,--not that I care for it; but still +marriage is expensive." + +"By the by, you will want the five thousand pounds you lent me?" + +"Why, whenever it is convenient." + +"Say no more,--it shall be seen to. Doltimore, I am very anxious that +Lady Doltimore's _debut_ at Paris should be brilliant: everything +depends on falling into the right set. For myself, I don't care about +fashion, and never did; but if I were married, and an idle man like you, +it might be different." + +"Oh, you will be very useful to us when we return to London. Meanwhile, +you know, you have my proxy in the Lords. I dare say there will be some +sharp work the first week or two after the recess." + +"Very likely; and depend on one thing, my dear Doltimore, that when I am +in the Cabinet, a certain friend of mine shall be an earl. Adieu." + +"Good-by, my dear Vargrave, good-by; and, I say,--I say, don't distress +yourself about that trifle; a few months hence it will suit me just as +well." + +"Thanks. I will just look into my accounts, and use you without +ceremony. Well, I dare say we shall meet at Paris. Oh, I forgot,--I +observe that you have renewed your intimacy with Legard. Now, he is a +very good fellow, and I gave him that place to oblige you; still, as you +are no longer a _garcon_--but perhaps I shall offend you?" + +"Not at all. What is there against Legard?" + +"Nothing in the world,--but he is a bit of a boaster. I dare say his +ancestor was a Gascon, poor fellow!--and he affects to say that +you can't choose a coat, or buy a horse, without his approval and +advice,--that he can turn you round his finger. Now this hurts your +consequence in the world,--you don't get credit for your own excellent +sense and taste. Take my advice, avoid these young hangers-on of +fashion, these club-room lions. Having no importance of their own, they +steal the importance of their friends. _Verbum sap_." + +"You are very right,--Legard _is_ a coxcomb; and now I see why he talked +of joining us at Paris." + +"Don't let him do any such thing! He will be telling the Frenchmen that +her ladyship is in love with him, ha, ha!" + +"Ha, ha!--a very good joke--poor Caroline!--very good joke!" + +"Well, good-by, once more." And Vargrave closed the door. + +"Legard go to Paris--not if Evelyn goes there!" muttered Lumley. +"Besides, I want no partner in the little that one can screw out of this +blockhead." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + MR. BUMBLECASE, a word with you--I have a little business. + Farewell, the goodly Manor of Blackacre, with all its woods, + underwoods, and appurtenances whatever.--WYCHERLEY: _Plain Dealer_. + +IN quitting Fenton's Hotel, Lord Vargrave entered into one of the clubs +in St. James's Street: this was rather unusual with him, for he was not +a club man. It was not his system to spend his time for nothing. But it +was a wet December day; the House was not yet assembled, and he had done +his official business. Here, as he was munching a biscuit and reading an +article in one of the ministerial papers--the heads of which he himself +had supplied--Lord Saxingham joined and drew him to the window. + +"I have reason to think," said the earl, "that your visit to Windsor did +good." + +"Ah, indeed; so I fancied." + +"I do not think that a certain personage will ever consent to the +-----question; and the premier, whom I saw to-day, seems chafed and +irritated." + +"Nothing can be better; I know that we are in the right boat." + +"I hope it is not true, Lumley, that your marriage with Miss Cameron is +broken off; such was the _on dit_ in the club, just before you entered." + +"Contradict it, my dear lord,--contradict it. I hope by the spring to +introduce Lady Vargrave to you. But who broached the absurd report?" + +"Why, your _protege_, Legard, says he heard so from his uncle, who heard +it from Sir John Merton." + +"Legard is a puppy, and Sir John Merton a jackass. Legard had better +attend to his office, if he wants to get on; and I wish you'd tell him +so. I have heard somewhere that he talks of going to Paris,--you +can just hint to him that he must give up such idle habits. Public +functionaries are not now what they were,--people are expected to work +for the money they pocket; otherwise Legard is a cleverish fellow, and +deserves promotion. A word or two of caution from you will do him a vast +deal of good." + +"Be sure I will lecture him. Will you dine with me to-day, Lumley?" + +"No. I expect my co-trustee, Mr. Douce, on matters of business,--a +_tete-a-tete_ dinner." + +Lord Vargrave had, as he conceived, very cleverly talked over Mr. Douce +into letting his debt to that gentleman run on for the present; and in +the meanwhile, he had overwhelmed Mr. Douce with his condescensions. +That gentleman had twice dined with Lord Vargrave, and Lord Vargrave +had twice dined with him. The occasion of the present more familiar +entertainment was in a letter from Mr. Douce, begging to see Lord +Vargrave on particular business; and Vargrave, who by no means liked the +word _business_ from a gentleman to whom he owed money, thought that it +would go off more smoothly if sprinkled with champagne. + +Accordingly, he begged "My dear Mr. Douce" to excuse ceremony, and dine +with him on Thursday at seven o'clock,--he was really so busy all the +mornings. + +At seven o'clock, Mr. Douce came. The moment he entered Vargrave called +out, at the top of his voice, "Dinner immediately!" And as the little +man bowed and shuffled, and fidgeted and wriggled (while Vargrave shook +him by the hand), as if he thought he was going himself to be spitted, +his host said, "With your leave, we'll postpone the budget till after +dinner. It is the fashion nowadays to postpone budgets as long as we +can,--eh? Well, and how are all at home? Devilish cold; is it not? So +you go to your villa every day? That's what keeps you in such capital +health. You know I had a villa too,--though I never had time to go +there." + +"Ah, yes; I think, I remember, at Ful-Ful-Fulham!" gasped out Mr. Douce. +"Your poor uncle's--now Lady Var-Vargrave's jointure-house. So--so--" + +"She don't live there!" burst in Vargrave (far too impatient to be +polite). "Too cockneyfied for her,--gave it up to me; very pretty place, +but d-----d expensive. I could not afford it, never went there, and so +I have let it to my wine-merchant; the rent just pays his bill. You will +taste some of the sofas and tables to-day in his champagne. I don't +know how it is, I always fancy my sherry smells like my poor uncle's old +leather chair: very odd smell it had,--a kind of respectable smell! I +hope you're hungry,--dinner's ready." + +Vargrave thus rattled away in order to give the good banker to +understand that his affairs were in the most flourishing condition: and +he continued to keep up the ball all dinnertime, stopping Mr. Douce's +little, miserable, gasping, dacelike mouth, with "a glass of wine, +Douce?" or "by the by, Douce," whenever he saw that worthy gentleman +about to make the Aeschylean improvement of a second person in the +dialogue. + +At length, dinner being fairly over, and the servants withdrawn, Lord +Vargrave, knowing that sooner or later Douce would have his say, drew +his chair to the fire, put his feet on the fender, and cried, as he +tossed off his claret, "NOW, DOUCE, WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?" + +Mr. Douce opened his eyes to their full extent, and then as rapidly +closed them; and this operation he continued till, having snuffed them +so much that they could by no possibility burn any brighter, he was +convinced that he had not misunderstood his lordship. + +"Indeed, then," he began, in his most frightened manner, +"indeed--I--really, your lordship is very good--I--I wanted to speak to +you on business." + +"Well, what can I do for you,--some little favour, eh? Snug sinecure +for a favourite clerk, or a place in the Stamp-Office for your fat +footman--John, I think you call him? You know, my dear Douce, you may +command me." + +"Oh, indeed, you are all good-good-goodness--but--but--" + +Vargrave threw himself back, and shutting his eyes and pursing up +his mouth, resolutely suffered Mr. Douce to unbosom himself without +interruption. He was considerably relieved to find that the business +referred to related only to Miss Cameron. + +Mr. Douce having reminded Lord Vargrave, as he had often done before, +of the wishes of his uncle, that the greater portion of the money +bequeathed to Evelyn should be invested in land, proceeded to say that a +most excellent opportunity presented itself for just such a purchase as +would have rejoiced the heart of the late lord,--a superb place, in the +style of Blickling,--deer-park six miles round, ten thousand acres of +land, bringing in a clear eight thousand pounds a year, purchase money +only two hundred and forty thousand pounds. The whole estate was, +indeed, much larger,--eighteen thousand acres; but then the more distant +farms could be sold in different lots, in order to meet the exact sum +Miss Cameron's trustees were enabled to invest. + +"Well," said Vargrave, "and where is it? My poor uncle was after De +Clifford's estate, but the title was not good." + +"Oh! this--is much--much--much fi-fi-finer; famous investment--but +rather far off--in--in the north, Li-Li-Lisle Court." + +"Lisle Court! Why, does not that belong to Colonel Maltravers?" + +"Yes. It is, indeed, quite, I may say, a secret-yes--really--a +se-se-secret--not in the market yet--not at all--soon snapped up." + +"Humph! Has Colonel Maltravers been extravagant?" + +"No; but he does not--I hear--or rather Lady--Julia--so I'm told, yes, +indeed--does not li-like--going so far, and so they spend the winter in +Italy instead. Yes--very odd--very fine place." + +Lumley was slightly acquainted with the elder brother of his old +friend,--a man who possessed some of Ernest's faults,--very proud, and +very exacting, and very fastidious; but all these faults were developed +in the ordinary commonplace world, and were not the refined abstractions +of his younger brother. + +Colonel Maltravers had continued, since he entered the Guards, to be +thoroughly the man of fashion, and nothing more. But rich and well-born, +and highly connected, and thoroughly _a la mode_ as he was, his pride +made him uncomfortable in London, while his fastidiousness made him +uncomfortable in the country. He was _rather_ a great person, but he +wanted to be a _very_ great person. This he was at Lisle Court; but that +did not satisfy him. He wanted not only to be a very great person, but +a very great person among very great persons--and squires and parsons +bored him. Lady Julia, his wife, was a fine lady, inane and pretty, who +saw everything through her husband's eyes. He was quite master _chez +lui_, was Colonel Maltravers! He lived a great deal abroad; for on the +Continent his large income seemed princely, while his high character, +thorough breeding, and personal advantages, which were remarkable, +secured him a greater position in foreign courts than at his own. Two +things had greatly disgusted him with Lisle Court,--trifles they might +be with others, but they were not trifles to Cuthbert Maltravers; in the +first place, a man who had been his father's attorney, and who was +the very incarnation of coarse unrepellable familiarity, had bought an +estate close by the said Lisle Court, and had, _horresco referens_, +been made a baronet! Sir Gregory Gubbins took precedence of Colonel +Maltravers! He could not ride out but he met Sir Gregory; he could not +dine out but he had the pleasure of walking behind Sir Gregory's bright +blue coat with its bright brass buttons. In his last visit to Lisle +Court, which he had then crowded with all manner of fine people, he +had seen--the very first morning after his arrival--seen from the large +window of his state saloon, a great staring white, red, blue, and gilt +thing, at the end of the stately avenue planted by Sir Guy Maltravers +in honour of the victory over the Spanish armada. He looked in mute +surprise, and everybody else looked; and a polite German count, gazing +through his eye-glass, said, "Ah! dat is vat you call a vim in your +_pays_,--the vim of Colonel Maltravers!" + +This "vim" was the pagoda summer-house of Sir Gregory Gubbins, erected +in imitation of the Pavilion at Brighton. Colonel Maltravers was +miserable: the _vim_ haunted him; it seemed ubiquitous; he could not +escape it,--it was built on the highest spot in the county. Ride, walk, +sit where he would, the _vim_ stared at him; and he thought he saw +little mandarins shake their round little heads at him. This was one +of the great curses of Lisle Court; the other was yet more galling. The +owners of Lisle Court had for several generations possessed the dominant +interest in the county town. The colonel himself meddled little in +politics, and was too fine a gentleman for the drudgery of parliament. +He had offered the seat to Ernest, when the latter had commenced his +public career; but the result of a communication proved that their +political views were dissimilar, and the negotiation dropped without +ill-feeling on either side. Subsequently a vacancy occurred; and Lady +Julia's brother (just made a Lord of the Treasury) wished to come +into parliament, so the county town was offered to him. Now, the proud +commoner had married into the family of a peer as proud as himself, +and Colonel Maltravers was always glad whenever he could impress his +consequence on his connections by doing them a favour. He wrote to his +steward to see that the thing was properly settled, and came down on the +nomination-day "to share the triumph and partake the gale." Guess his +indignation, when he found the nephew of Sir Gregory Gubbins was already +in the field! The result of the election was that Mr. Augustus Gubbins +came in, and that Colonel Maltravers was pelted with cabbage-stalks, and +accused of attempting to sell the worthy and independent electors to a +government nominee! In shame and disgust, Colonel Maltravers broke +up his establishment at Lisle Court, and once more retired to the +Continent. + +About a week from the date now touched upon, Lady Julia and himself +had arrived in London from Vienna; and a new mortification awaited +the unfortunate owner of Lisle Court. A railroad company had been +established, of which Sir Gregory Gubbins was a principal shareholder; +and the speculator, Mr. Augustus Gubbins, one of the "most useful men in +the House," had undertaken to carry the bill through parliament. Colonel +Maltravers received a letter of portentous size, inclosing the map of +the places which this blessed railway was to bisect; and lo! just at +the bottom of his park ran a portentous line, which informed him of the +sacrifice he was expected to make for the public good,--especially for +the good of that very county town, the inhabitants of which had pelted +him with cabbage-stalks! + +Colonel Maltravers lost all patience. Unacquainted with our wise +legislative proceedings, he was not aware that a railway planned is +a very different thing from a railway made; and that parliamentary +committees are not by any means favourable to schemes for carrying the +public through a gentleman's park. + +"This country is not to be lived in," said he to Lady Julia; "it gets +worse and worse every year. I am sure I never had any comfort in Lisle +Court. I've a great mind to sell it." + +"Why, indeed, as we have no sons, only daughters, and Ernest is so well +provided for," said Lady Julia, "and the place is so far from London, +and the neighbourhood is so disagreeable, I think we could do very well +without it." + +Colonel Maltravers made no answer, but he revolved the pros and cons; +and then he began to think how much it cost him in gamekeepers and +carpenters and bailiffs and gardeners and Heaven knows whom besides; and +then the pagoda flashed across him; and then the cabbage-stalks, and at +last he went to his solicitor. + +"You may sell Lisle Court," said he, quietly. + +The solicitor dipped his pen in the ink. "The particulars, Colonel?" + +"Particulars of Lisle Court! everybody, that is, every gentleman, knows +Lisle Court!" + +"Price, sir?" + +"You know the rents; calculate accordingly. It will be too large +a purchase for one individual; sell the outlying woods and farms +separately from the rest." + +"We must draw up an advertisement, Colonel." + +"Advertise Lisle Court! out of the question, sir. I can have no +publicity given to my intention: mention it quietly to any capitalist; +but keep it out of the papers till it is all settled. In a week or two +you will find a purchaser,--the sooner the better." + +Besides his horror of newspaper comments and newspaper puffs, Colonel +Maltravers dreaded that his brother--then in Paris--should learn his +intention, and attempt to thwart it; and, somehow or other, the colonel +was a little in awe of Ernest, and a little ashamed of his resolution. +He did not know that, by a singular coincidence, Ernest himself had +thought of selling Burleigh. + +The solicitor was by no means pleased with this way of settling the +matter. However, he whispered it about that Lisle Court was in the +market; and as it really was one of the most celebrated places of +its kind in England, the whisper spread among bankers and brewers and +soap-boilers and other rich people--the Medici of the New Noblesse +rising up amongst us--till at last it reached the ears of Mr. Douce. + +Lord Vargrave, however bad a man he might be, had not many of those +vices of character which belong to what I may call the _personal class +of vices_,--that is, he had no ill-will to individuals. He was not, +ordinarily, a jealous man, nor a spiteful, nor a malignant, nor a +vindictive man: his vices arose from utter indifference to all men, +and all things--except as conducive to his own ends. He would not have +injured a worm if it did him no good; but he would have set any house +on fire if he had no other means of roasting his own eggs. Yet still, +if any feeling of personal rancour could harbour in his breast, it was, +first, towards Evelyn Cameron, and, secondly, towards Ernest Maltravers. +For the first time in his life, he did long for revenge,--revenge +against the one for stealing his patrimony, and refusing his hand; and +that revenge he hoped to gratify. + +As to the other, it was not so much dislike he felt, as an uneasy +sentiment of inferiority. However well he himself had got on in the +world, he yet grudged the reputation of a man whom he had remembered +a wayward, inexperienced boy: he did not love to hear any one praise +Maltravers. He fancied, too, that this feeling was reciprocal, and that +Maltravers was pained at hearing of any new step in his own career. +In fact, it was that sort of jealousy which men often feel for the +companions of their youth, whose characters are higher than their own, +and whose talents are of an order they do not quite comprehend. Now, it +certainly did seem at that moment to Lord Vargrave that it would be +a most splendid triumph over Mr. Maltravers of Burleigh to be lord of +Lisle Court, the hereditary seat of the elder branch of the family +to be, as it were, in the very shoes of Mr. Ernest Maltravers's elder +brother. He knew, too, that it was a property of great consequence. Lord +Vargrave of Lisle Court would hold a very different post in the peerage +from Lord Vargrave of -----, Fulham! Nobody would call the owner of +Lisle Court an adventurer; nobody would suspect such a man of caring +three straws about place and salary. And if he married Evelyn, and if +Evelyn bought Lisle Court, would not Lisle Court be his? He vaulted over +the _ifs_, stiff monosyllables though they were, with a single jump. +Besides, even should the thing come to nothing, there was the very +excuse he sought for joining Evelyn at Paris, for conversing with her, +consulting her. It was true that the will of the late lord left +it solely at the discretion of the trustees to select such landed +investment as seemed best to them; but still it was, if not legally +necessary, at least but a proper courtesy to consult Evelyn. And plans, +and drawings, and explanations, and rent-rolls, would justify him in +spending morning after morning alone with her. + +Thus cogitating, Lord Vargrave suffered Mr. Douce to stammer out +sentence upon sentence, till at length, as he rang for coffee, his +lordship stretched himself with the air of a man stretching himself into +self-complacency or a good thing, and said,-- + +"Mr. Douce, I will go down to Lisle Court as soon as I can; I will see +it; I will ascertain all about it; I will consider favourably of it. I +agree with you, I think it will do famously." + +"But," said Mr. Douce, who seemed singularly anxious about the matter, +"we must make haste, my lord; for really--yes, indeed--if--if--if Baron +Roths--Rothschild should--that is to say--" + +"Oh, yes, I understand; keep the thing close, my dear Douce; make +friends with the colonel's lawyer; play with him a little, till I can +run down." + +"Besides, you see, you are such a good man of business, my lord--that +you see, that--yes, really--there must be time to draw out the +purchase-money--sell out at a prop--prop--" + +"To be sure, to be sure! Bless me, how late it is! I am afraid my +carriage is ready. I must go to Madame de L-----'s." + +Mr. Douce, who seemed to have much more to say, was forced to keep it +for another time, and to take his leave. Lord Vargrave went to Madame +de L-----'s. His position in what is called Exclusive Society was rather +peculiar. By those who affected to be the best judges, the frankness of +his manner and the easy oddity of his conversation were pronounced at +variance with the tranquil serenity of thorough breeding. But still he +was a great favourite both with fine ladies and dandies. His handsome +keen countenance, his talents, his politics, his intrigues, and an +animated boldness in his bearing, compensated for his constant violation +of all the minutiae of orthodox conventionalism. + +At this house he met Colonel Maltravers, and took an opportunity to +renew his acquaintance with that gentleman. He then referred, in a +confidential whisper, to the communication he had received touching +Lisle Court. + +"Yes," said the colonel, "I suppose I must sell the place, if I can +do so quietly. To be sure, when I first spoke to my lawyer it was in a +moment of vexation, on hearing that the ----- railroad was to go through +the park, but I find that I overrated that danger. Still, if you will +do me the honour to go and look over the place, you will find very good +shooting; and when you come back, you can see if it will suit you. Don't +say anything about it when you are there; it is better not to publish my +intention all over the county. I shall have Sir Gregory Gubbins offering +to buy it if you do!" + +"You may depend on my discretion. Have you heard anything of your +brother lately?" + +"Yes; I fancy he is going to Switzerland. He would soon be in England, +if he heard I was going to part with Lisle Court!" + +"What, it would vex him so?" + +"I fear it would; but he has a nice old place of his own, not half so +large, and therefore not half so troublesome as Lisle Court." + +"Ay! and he _did_ talk of selling that nice old place." + +"Selling Burleigh! you surprise me. But really country places in England +_are_ a bore. I suppose he has his Gubbins as well as myself!" + +Here the chief minister of the government adorned by Lord Vargrave's +virtues passed by, and Lumley turned to greet him. + +The two ministers talked together most affectionately in a close +whisper,--so affectionately, that one might have seen, with half an eye, +that they hated each other like poison! + + + +CHAPTER V. + + INSPICERE tanquam in speculum, in vitas omnium + Jubeo.*--TERENCE. + + * "I bid you look into the lives of all men, as + it were into a mirror." + +ERNEST MALTRAVERS still lingered at Paris: he gave up all notion of +proceeding farther. He was, in fact, tired of travel. But there was +another reason that chained him to that "Navel of the Earth,"--there is +not anywhere a better sounding-board to London rumours than the English +_quartier_ between the Boulevard des Italiennes and the Tuileries; here, +at all events, he should soonest learn the worst: and every day, as he +took up the English newspapers, a sick feeling of apprehension and fear +came over him. No! till the seal was set upon the bond, till the Rubicon +was passed, till Miss Cameron was the wife of Lord Vargrave, he could +neither return to the home that was so eloquent with the recollections +of Evelyn, nor, by removing farther from England, delay the receipt of +an intelligence which he vainly told himself he was prepared to meet. + +He continued to seek such distractions from thought as were within +his reach; and as his heart was too occupied for pleasures which had, +indeed, long since palled, those distractions were of the grave and +noble character which it is a prerogative of the intellect to afford to +the passions. + +De Montaigne was neither a Doctrinaire nor a Republican,--and yet, +perhaps, he was a little of both. He was one who thought that the +tendency of all European States is towards Democracy; but he by no means +looked upon Democracy as a panacea for all legislative evils. He thought +that, while a writer should be in advance of his time, a statesman +should content himself with marching by its side; that a nation could +not be ripened, like an exotic, by artificial means; that it must +be developed only by natural influences. He believed that forms of +government are never universal in their effects. Thus, De Montaigne +conceived that we were wrong in attaching more importance to legislative +than to social reforms. He considered, for instance, that the surest +sign of our progressive civilization is in our growing distaste to +capital punishments. He believed, not in the ultimate _perfection_ of +mankind, but in their progressive _perfectibility_. He thought that +improvement was indefinite; but he did not place its advance more under +Republican than under Monarchical forms. "Provided," he was wont to say, +"all our checks to power are of the right kind, it matters little to +what hands the power itself is confided." + +"AEgina and Athens," said he, "were republics--commercial and +maritime--placed under the same sky, surrounded by the same neighbours, +and rent by the same struggles between Oligarchy and Democracy. Yet, +while one left the world an immortal heirloom of genius, where are the +poets, the philosophers, the statesmen of the other? Arrian tells us of +republics in India, still supposed to exist by modern investigators; +but they are not more productive of liberty of thought, or ferment of +intellect, than the principalities. In Italy there were commonwealths +as liberal as the Republic of Florence; but they did not produce a +Machiavelli or a Dante. What daring thought, what gigantic speculation, +what democracy of wisdom and genius, have sprung up amongst the +despotisms of Germany! You cannot educate two individuals so as to +produce the same results from both; you cannot, by similar constitutions +(which are the education of nations) produce the same results from +different communities. The proper object of statesmen should be to give +every facility to the people to develop themselves, and every facility +to philosophy to dispute and discuss as to the ultimate objects to be +obtained. But you cannot, as a practical legislator, place your country +under a melon-frame: it must grow of its own accord." + +I do not say whether or not De Montaigne was wrong! but Maltravers saw +at least that he was faithful to his theories; that all his motives were +sincere, all his practice pure. He could not but allow, too, that in +his occupations and labours, De Montaigne appeared to feel a sublime +enjoyment; that, in linking all the powers of his mind to active and +useful objects, De Montaigne was infinitely happier than the Philosophy +of Indifference, the scorn of ambition, had made Maltravers. The +influence exercised by the large-souled and practical Frenchman over the +fate and the history of Maltravers was very peculiar. + +De Montaigne had not, apparently and directly, operated upon his +friend's outward destinies; but he had done so indirectly, by operating +on his mind. Perhaps it was he who had consolidated the first wavering +and uncertain impulses of Maltravers towards literary exertion; it was +he who had consoled him for the mortifications at the earlier part of +his career; and now, perhaps he might serve, in the full vigour of his +intellect, permanently to reconcile the Englishman to the claims of +life. + +There were, indeed, certain conversations which Maltravers held with +De Montaigne, the germ and pith of which it is necessary that I should +place before the reader,--for I write the inner as well as the outer +history of a man; and the great incidents of life are not brought about +only by the dramatic agencies of others, but also by our own reasonings +and habits of thought. What I am now about to set down may be wearisome, +but it is not episodical; and I promise that it shall be the last +didactic conversation in the work. + +One day Maltravers was relating to De Montaigne all that he had been +planning at Burleigh for the improvement of his peasantry, and all his +theories respecting Labour-Schools and Poor-rates, when De Montaigne +abruptly turned round, and said,-- + +"You have, then, really found that in your own little village your +exertions--exertions not very arduous, not demanding a tenth part of +your time--have done practical good?" + +"Certainly I think so," replied Maltravers, in some surprise. + +"And yet it was but yesterday that you declared that all the labours of +Philosophy and Legislation were labours vain; their benefits equivocal +and uncertain; that as the sea, where it loses in one place, gains in +another, so civilization only partially profits us, stealing away one +virtue while it yields another, and leaving the large proportions of +good and evil eternally the same." + +"True; but I never said that man might not relieve individuals by +individual exertion: though he cannot by abstract theories--nay, even by +practical action in the wide circle--benefit the mass." + +"Do you not employ on behalf of individuals the same moral agencies that +wise legislation or sound philosophy would adopt towards the multitude? +For example, you find that the children of your village are happier, +more orderly, more obedient, promise to be wiser and better men in their +own station of life, from the new, and, I grant, excellent system of +school discipline and teaching that you have established. What you have +done in one village, why should not legislation do throughout a kingdom? +Again, you find that, by simply holding out hope and emulation to +industry, by making stern distinctions between the energetic and the +idle, the independent exertion and the pauper-mendicancy, you have found +a lever by which you have literally moved and shifted the little world +around you. But what is the difference here between the rules of a +village lord and the laws of a wise legislature? The moral feelings +you have appealed to exist universally, the moral remedies you have +practised are as open to legislation as to the individual proprietor." + +"Yes; but when you apply to a nation the same principles which +regenerate a village, new counterbalancing principles arise. If I give +education to my peasants, I send them into the world with advantages +_superior_ to their fellows,--advantages which, not being common to +their class, enable them to _outstrip_ their fellows. But if this +education were universal to the whole tribe, no man would have an +advantage superior to the others; the knowledge they would have acquired +being shared by all, would leave all as they now are, hewers of wood and +drawers of water: the principle of individual hope, which springs +from knowledge, would soon be baffled by the vast competition that +_universal_ knowledge would produce. Thus by the universal improvement +would be engendered a universal discontent. + +"Take a broader view of the subject. Advantages given to the _few_ +around me--superior wages, lighter toils, a greater sense of the +dignity of man--are not productive of any change in society. Give these +advantages to the _whole mass_ of the labouring classes, and what in +the small orbit is the desire of the _individual_ to rise becomes in +the large circumference the desire of the _class_ to rise; hence +social restlessness, social change, revolution, and its hazards. For +revolutions are produced but by the aspirations of one order, and the +resistance of the other. Consequently, legislative improvement differs +widely from individual amelioration; the same principle, the same +agency, that purifies the small body, becomes destructive when applied +to the large one. Apply the flame to the log on the hearth, or apply it +to the forest, is there no distinction in the result? The breeze that +freshens the fountain passes to the ocean, current impels current, wave +urges wave, and the breeze becomes the storm." + +"Were there truth in this train of argument," replied De Montaigne, "had +we ever abstained from communicating to the Multitude the enjoyments and +advantages of the Few, had we shrunk from the good, because the good is +a parent of the change and its partial ills, what now would be society? +Is there no difference in collective happiness and virtue between the +painted Picts and the Druid worship, and the glorious harmony, light, +and order of the great English nation?" + +"The question is popular," said Maltravers, with a smile; "and were +you my opponent in an election, would be cheered on any hustings in the +kingdom. But I have lived among savage tribes,--savage, perhaps, as the +race that resisted Caesar; and their happiness seems to me, not perhaps +the same as that of the few whose sources of enjoyment are numerous, +refined, and, save by their own passions, unalloyed; but equal to +that of the mass of men in States the most civilized and advanced. The +artisans, crowded together in the fetid air of factories, with physical +ills gnawing at the core of the constitution, from the cradle to the +grave; drudging on from dawn to sunset and flying for recreation to +the dread excitement of the dram-shop, or the wild and vain hopes of +political fanaticism,--are not in my eyes happier than the wild Indians +with hardy frames and calm tempers, seasoned to the privations for which +you pity them, and uncursed with desires of that better state never to +be theirs. The Arab in his desert has seen all the luxuries of the pasha +in his harem; but he envies them not. He is contented with his barb, his +tent, his desolate sands, and his spring of refreshing water. + +"Are we not daily told, do not our priests preach it from their pulpits, +that the cottage shelters happiness equal to that within the palace? Yet +what the distinction between the peasant and the prince, differing from +that between the peasant and the savage? There are more enjoyments and +more privations in the one than in the other; but if, in the latter +case, the enjoyments, though fewer, be more keenly felt,--if the +privations, though apparently sharper, fall upon duller sensibilities +and hardier frames,--your gauge of proportion loses all its value. Nay, +in civilization there is for the multitude an evil that exists not +in the savage state. The poor man sees daily and hourly all the vast +disparities produced by civilized society; and reversing the divine +parable, it is Lazarus who from afar, and from the despondent pit, +looks upon Dives in the lap of Paradise: therefore, his privations, +his sufferings, are made more keen by comparison with the luxuries +of others. Not so in the desert and the forest. There but small +distinctions, and those softened by immemorial and hereditary +usage--that has in it the sanctity of religion--separate the savage +from his chief. The fact is, that in civilization we behold a splendid +aggregate,--literature and science, wealth and luxury, commerce and +glory; but we see not the million victims crushed beneath the wheels +of the machine,--the health sacrificed, the board breadless, the jails +filled, the hospitals reeking, the human life poisoned in every spring, +and poured forth like water! Neither do we remember all the steps, +marked by desolation, crime, and bloodshed, by which this barren summit +has been reached. Take the history of any civilized state,--England, +France, Spain before she rotted back into second childhood, the Italian +Republics, the Greek Commonwealths, the Empress of the Seven Hills--what +struggles, what persecutions, what crimes, what massacres! Where, in +the page of history, shall we look back and say, 'Here improvement has +diminished the sum of evil'? Extend, too, your scope beyond the State +itself: each State has won its acquisitions by the woes of others. Spain +springs above the Old World on the blood-stained ruins of the New; and +the groans and the gold of Mexico produce the splendours of the Fifth +Charles! + +"Behold England, the wise, the liberal, the free England--through what +struggles she has passed; and is she yet contented? The sullen oligarchy +of the Normans; our own criminal invasions of Scotland and France; the +plundered people, the butchered kings; the persecutions of the Lollards; +the wars of Lancaster and York; the new dynasty of the Tudors, that at +once put back Liberty, and put forward Civilization! the Reformation, +cradled in the lap of a hideous despot, and nursed by violence and +rapine; the stakes and fires of Mary, and the craftier cruelties of +Elizabeth,--England, strengthened by the desolation of Ireland, the +Civil Wars, the reign of hypocrisy, followed by the reign of naked +vice; the nation that beheaded the graceful Charles gaping idly on the +scaffold of the lofty Sidney; the vain Revolution of 1688, which, if a +jubilee in England, was a massacre in Ireland; the bootless glories of +Marlborough; the organized corruption of Walpole, the frantic war with +our own American sons, the exhausting struggles with Napoleon! + +"Well, we close the page; we say, Lo! a thousand years of incessant +struggles and afflictions! millions have perished, but Art has +survived; our boors wear stockings, our women drink tea, our poets read +Shakspeare, and our astronomers improve on Newton! Are we now contented? +No! more restless than ever. New classes are called into power; new +forms of government insisted on. Still the same catchwords,--Liberty +here, Religion there; Order with one faction, Amelioration with the +other. Where is the goal, and what have we gained? Books are written, +silks are woven, palaces are built,--mighty acquisitions for the +few--but the peasant is a peasant still! The crowd are yet at the bottom +of the wheel; better off, you say. No, for they are not more contented! +The artisan is as anxious for change as ever the serf was; and the +steam-engine has its victims as well as the sword. + +"Talk of legislation: all isolated laws pave the way to wholesale +changes in the form of government! Emancipate Catholics, and you open +the door to democratic principle, that Opinion should be free. If free +with the sectarian, it should be free with the elector. The Ballot is a +corollary from the Catholic Relief-bill. Grant the Ballot, and the new +corollary of enlarged suffrage. Suffrage enlarged is divided but by +a yielding surface (a circle widening in the waters) from universal +suffrage. Universal suffrage is Democracy. Is Democracy better than the +aristocratic commonwealth? Look at the Greeks, who knew both forms; +are they agreed which is the best? Plato, Thucydides, Xenophon, +Aristophanes--the Dreamer, the Historian, the Philosophic Man of Action, +the penetrating Wit--have no ideals in Democracy. Algernon Sidney, the +martyr of liberty, allows no government to the multitude. Brutus died +for a republic, but a republic of Patricians! What form of government is +then the best? All dispute, the wisest cannot agree. The many still say +'a Republic;' yet, as you yourself will allow, Prussia, the Despotism, +does all that Republics do. Yes, but a good despot is a lucky accident; +true, but a just and benevolent Republic is as yet a monster equally +short-lived. When the People have no other tyrant, their own public +opinion becomes one. No secret espionage is more intolerable to a free +spirit than the broad glare of the American eye. + +"A rural republic is but a patriarchal tribe--no emulation, no glory; +peace and stagnation. What Englishman, what Frenchman, would wish to be +a Swiss? A commercial republic is but an admirable machine for making +money. Is man created for nothing nobler than freighting ships and +speculating on silk and sugar? In fact, there is no certain goal in +legislation; we go on colonizing Utopia, and fighting phantoms in the +clouds. Let us content ourselves with injuring no man, and doing good +only in our own little sphere. Let us leave States and senates to fill +the sieve of the Danaides, and roll up the stone of Sisyphus." + +"My dear friend," said De Montaigne, "you have certainly made the most +of an argument, which, if granted, would consign government to fools +and knaves, and plunge the communities of mankind into the Slough of +Despond. But a very commonplace view of the question might suffice to +shake your system. Is life, mere animal life, on the whole, a curse or a +blessing?" + +"The generality of men in all countries," answered Maltravers, "enjoy +existence, and apprehend death; were it otherwise, the world had been +made by a Fiend, and not a God!" + +"Well, then, observe how the progress of society cheats the grave! In +great cities, where the effect of civilization must be the most visible, +the diminution of mortality in a corresponding ratio with the increase +of civilization is most remarkable. In Berlin, from the year 1747 to +1755, the annual mortality was as one to twenty-eight; but from 1816 to +1822, it was as one to thirty-four! You ask what England has gained by +her progress in the arts? I will answer you by her bills of mortality. +In London, Birmingham, and Liverpool, deaths have decreased in less than +a century from one to twenty, to one to forty (precisely one-half!). +Again, whenever a community--nay, a single city, decreases in +civilization, and in its concomitants, activity and commerce, its +mortality instantly increases. But if civilization be favourable to +the prolongation of life, must it not be favourable to all that blesses +life,--to bodily health, to mental cheerfulness, to the capacities for +enjoyment? And how much more grand, how much more sublime, becomes the +prospect of gain, if we reflect that, to each life thus called forth, +there is a soul, a destiny beyond the grave, multiplied immortalities! +What an apology for the continued progress of States! But you say that, +however we advance, we continue impatient and dissatisfied: can you +really suppose that, because man in every state is discontented with +his lot, there is no difference in the _degree_ and _quality_ of his +discontent, no distinction between pining for bread and longing for the +moon? Desire is implanted within us, as the very principle of existence; +the physical desire fills the world, and the moral desire improves it. +Where there is desire, there must be discontent: if we are satisfied +with all things, desire is extinct. But a certain degree of discontent +is not incompatible with happiness, nay, it has happiness of its own; +what happiness like hope,--what is hope but desire? The European serf, +whose seigneur could command his life, or insist as a right on the +chastity of his daughter, desires to better his condition. God has +compassion on his state; Providence calls into action the ambition +of leaders, the contests of faction, the movement of men's aims and +passions: a change passes through society and legislation, and the serf +becomes free! He desires still, but what? No longer personal security, +no longer the privileges of life and health; but higher wages, greater +comforts, easier justice for diminished wrongs. Is there no difference +in the quality of that desire? Was one a greater torment than the other +is? Rise a scale higher: a new class is created--the Middle Class,--the +express creature of Civilization. Behold the burgher and the citizen, +and still struggling, still contending, still desiring, and therefore +still discontented. But the discontent does not prey upon the springs +of life: it is the discontent of _hope_, not _despair_; it calls forth +faculties, energies, and passions, in which there is more joy than +sorrow. It is this desire which makes the citizen in private life an +anxious father, a careful master, an _active_, and therefore not an +unhappy, man. You allow that individuals can effect individual good: +this very restlessness, this very discontent with the exact place +that he occupies, makes the citizen a benefactor in his narrow circle. +Commerce, better than Charity, feeds the hungry and clothes the naked. +Ambition, better than brute affection, gives education to our children, +and teaches them the love of industry, the pride of independence, the +respect for others and themselves! + +"In other words, a deference to such qualities as can best fit them to +get on in the world, and make the most money!" + +"Take that view if you will; but the wiser, the more civilized the +State, the worse chances for the rogue to get on! There may be some art, +some hypocrisy, some avarice,--nay, some hardness of heart,--in paternal +example and professional tuition. But what are such sober infirmities +to the vices that arise from defiance and despair? Your savage has his +virtues, but they are mostly physical,--fortitude, abstinence, patience: +mental and moral virtues must be numerous or few, in proportion to +the range of ideas and the exigencies of social life. With the savage, +therefore, they must be fewer than with civilized men; and they are +consequently limited to those simple and rude elements which the +safety of his state renders necessary to him. He is usually hospitable; +sometimes honest. But vices are necessary to his existence as well +as virtues: he is at war with a tribe that may destroy his own; and +treachery without scruple, cruelty without remorse, are essential +to him; he feels their necessity, and calls them _virtues_! Even +the half-civilized man, the Arab whom you praise, imagines he has a +necessity for your money; and his robberies become virtues to him. But +in civilized States, vices are at least not necessary to the existence +of the majority; they are not, therefore, worshipped as virtues. Society +unites against them; treachery, robbery, massacre, are not essential +to the strength or safety of the community: they exist, it is true, but +they are not cultivated, but punished. The thief in St. Giles's has the +virtues of your savage: he is true to his companions, he is brave in +danger, he is patient in privation; he practises the virtues necessary +to the bonds of his calling and the tacit laws of his vocation. He might +have made an admirable savage: but surely the mass of civilized men are +better than the thief?" + +Maltravers was struck, and paused a little before he replied; and then +he shifted his ground. "But at least all our laws, all our efforts, must +leave the multitude in every State condemned to a labour that deadens +intellect, and a poverty that embitters life." + +"Supposing this were true, still there are multitudes besides _the_ +multitude. In each State Civilization produces a middle class, more +numerous to-day than the whole peasantry of a thousand years ago. Would +Movement and Progress be without their divine uses, even if they limited +their effect to the production of such a class? Look also to the effect +of art, and refinement, and just laws, in the wealthier and higher +classes. See how their very habits of life tend to increase the sum +of enjoyment; see the mighty activity that their very luxury, the very +frivolity of their pursuits, create! Without an aristocracy, would there +have been a middle class? Without a middle class, would there ever have +been an interposition between lord and slave? Before commerce produces a +middle class, Religion creates one. The Priesthood, whatever its errors, +was the curb to Power. But, to return to the multitude,--you say that in +all times they are left the same. Is it so? I come to statistics again: +I find that not only civilization, but liberty, has a prodigious effect +upon human life. It is, as it were, by the instinct of self-preservation +that liberty is so passionately desired by the multitude. A negro slave, +for instance, dies annually as one to five or six, but a free African +in the English service only as one to thirty-five! Freedom is not, +therefore, a mere abstract dream, a beautiful name, a Platonic +aspiration: it is interwoven with the most practical of all +blessings,--life itself! And can you say fairly that by laws labour +cannot be lightened and poverty diminished? We have granted already that +since there are degrees in discontent, there is a difference between +the peasant and the serf: how know you what the peasant a thousand years +hence may be? Discontented, you will say,--still discontented. Yes; but +if he had not been discontented, he would have been a serf still! Far +from quelling this desire to better himself, we ought to hail it as +the source of his perpetual progress. That desire to him is often like +imagination to the poet, it transports him into the Future-- + + 'Crura sonant ferro, sed canit inter opus.' + +It is, indeed, the gradual transformation from the desire of Despair +to the desire of Hope, that makes the difference between man and man, +between misery and bliss." + +"And then comes the crisis. Hope ripens into deeds; the stormy +revolution, perhaps the armed despotism; the relapse into the second +infancy of States!" + +"Can we, with new agencies at our command, new morality, new wisdom, +predicate of the Future by the Past? In ancient States, the mass were +slaves; civilization and freedom rested with oligarchies; in Athens +twenty thousand citizens, four hundred thousand slaves! How easy +decline, degeneracy, overthrow in such States,--a handful of soldiers +and philosophers without a People! Now we have no longer barriers to +the circulation of the blood of States. The absence of slavery, the +existence of the Press; the healthful proportions of kingdoms, neither +too confined nor too vast, have created new hopes, which history cannot +destroy. As a proof, look to all late revolutions: in England the Civil +Wars, the Reformation,--in France her awful Saturnalia, her military +despotism! Has either nation fallen back? The deluge passes, and, +behold, the face of things more glorious than before! Compare the French +of to-day with the French of the old _regime_. You are silent; well, and +if in all States there is ever some danger of evil in their activity, is +that a reason why you are to lie down inactive; why you are to leave the +crew to battle for the helm? How much may individuals by the diffusion +of their own thoughts in letters or in action regulate the order of vast +events,--now prevent, now soften, now animate, now guide! And is a man +to whom Providence and Fortune have imparted such prerogatives to stand +aloof, because he can neither foresee the Future nor create Perfection? +And you talk of no certain and definite goal! How know we that there is +a certain and definite goal, even in heaven? How know we that excellence +may not be illimitable? Enough that we improve, that we proceed. Seeing +in the great design of earth that benevolence is an attribute of the +Designer, let us leave the rest to Posterity and to God." + +"You have disturbed many of my theories," said Maltravers, candidly; +"and I will reflect on our conversation; but, after all, is every man to +aspire to influence others; to throw his opinion into the great scales +in which human destinies are weighed? Private life is not criminal. It +is no virtue to write a book, or to make a speech. Perhaps, I should +be as well engaged in returning to my country village, looking at my +schools, and wrangling with the parish overseers--" + +"Ah," interrupted the Frenchman, laughing; "if I have driven you to this +point, I will go no further. Every state of life has its duties; every +man must be himself the judge of what he is most fit for. It is quite +enough that he desires to be active, and labours to be useful; that he +acknowledges the precept, 'Never to be weary in well-doing.' The divine +appetite once fostered, let it select its own food. But the man who, +after fair trial of his capacities, and with all opportunity for their +full development before him, is convinced that he has faculties which +private life cannot wholly absorb, must not repine that Human Nature +is not perfect, when he refuses even to exercise the gifts he himself +possesses." + +Now these arguments have been very tedious; in some places they have +been old and trite; in others they may appear too much to appertain to +the abstract theory of first principles. Yet from such arguments, _pro_ +and _con_, unless I greatly mistake, are to be derived corollaries +equally practical and sublime,--the virtue of Action, the obligations of +Genius, and the philosophy that teaches us to confide in the destinies, +and labour in the service, of mankind. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + I'LL tell you presently her very picture; + Stay--yes, it is so--Lelia. + _The Captain_, Act V. sc. I. + +MALTRAVERS had not shrunk into a system of false philosophy from wayward +and sickly dreams, from resolute self-delusion; on the contrary, his +errors rested on his convictions: the convictions disturbed, the errors +were rudely shaken. + +But when his mind began restlessly to turn once more towards the duties +of active life; when he recalled all the former drudgeries and toils +of political conflict, or the wearing fatigues of literature, with its +small enmities, its false friendships, and its meagre and capricious +rewards,--ah, then, indeed, he shrank in dismay from the thoughts of +the solitude at home! No lips to console in dejection, no heart to +sympathize in triumph, no love within to counterbalance the hate +without,--and the best of man, his household affections, left to wither +away, or to waste themselves on ideal images, or melancholy remembrance. + +It may, indeed, be generally remarked (contrary to a common notion), +that the men who are most happy at home are the most active abroad. The +animal spirits are necessary to healthful action; and dejection and the +sense of solitude will turn the stoutest into dreamers. The hermit is +the antipodes of the citizen; and no gods animate and inspire us like +the Lares. + +One evening, after an absence from Paris of nearly a fortnight, at De +Montaigne's villa, in the neighbourhood of St. Cloud, Maltravers, who, +though he no longer practised the art, was not less fond than heretofore +of music, was seated in Madame de Ventadour's box at the Italian Opera; +and Valerie, who was above all the woman's jealousy of beauty, was +expatiating with great warmth of eulogium upon the charms of a young +English lady whom she had met at Lady G-----'s the preceding evening. + +"She is just my beau-ideal of the true English beauty," said Valerie: +"it is not only the exquisite fairness of the complexion, nor the eyes +so purely blue,--which the dark lashes relieve from the coldness common +to the light eyes of the Scotch and German,--that are so beautifully +national, but the simplicity of manner, the unconsciousness of +admiration, the mingled modesty and sense of the expression. No, I have +seen women more beautiful, but I never saw one more lovely: you are +silent; I expected some burst of patriotism in return for my compliment +to your countrywoman!" + +"But I am so absorbed in that wonderful Pasta--" + +"You are no such thing; your thoughts are far away. But can you tell +me anything about my fair stranger and her friends? In the first place, +there is a Lord Doltimore, whom I knew before--you need say nothing +about him; in the next there is his new married bride, handsome, +dark--but you are not well!" + +"It was the draught from the door; go on, I beseech you, the young lady, +the friend, her name?" + +"Her name I do not remember; but she was engaged to be married to one of +your statesmen, Lord Vargrave; the marriage is broken off--I know not +if that be the cause of a certain melancholy in her countenance,--a +melancholy I am sure not natural to its Hebe-like expression. But who +have just entered the opposite box? Ah, Mr. Maltravers, do look, there +is the beautiful English girl!" + +And Maltravers raised his eyes, and once more beheld the countenance of +Evelyn Cameron! + + + + +BOOK VII. + + Words of dark import gave suspicion birth.--POTTER. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + _Luce_. Is the wind there? + That makes for me. + _Isab_. Come, I forget a business. + _Wit without Money_. + +LORD VARGRAVE'S travelling-carriage was at his door, and he himself was +putting on his greatcoat in his library, when Lord Saxingham entered. + +"What! you are going into the country?" + +"Yes; I wrote you word,--to see Lisle Court." + +"Ay, true; I had forgot. Somehow or other my memory is not so good as it +was. But, let me see, Lisle Court is in -----shire. Why, you will pass +within ten miles of C-----." + +"C-----! Shall I? I am not much versed in the geography of +England,--never learned it at school. As for Poland, Kamschatka, Mexico, +Madagascar, or any other place as to which knowledge would be _useful_, +I have every inch of the way at my finger's end. But _a propos_ of +C-----, it is the town in which my late uncle made his fortune." + +"Ah, so it is. I recollect you were to have stood for C-----, but gave +it up to Staunch; very handsome in you. Have you any interest there +still?" + +"I think my ward has some tenants,--a street or two,--one called Richard +Street, and the other Templeton Place. I had intended some weeks ago +to have gone down there, and seen what interest was still left to our +family; but Staunch himself told me that C----- was a sure card." + +"So he thought; but he has been with me this morning in great alarm: he +now thinks he shall be thrown out. A Mr. Winsley, who has a great deal +of interest there, and was a supporter of his, hangs back on account of +the ----- question. This is unlucky, as Staunch is quite with _us_; and +if he were to rat now it would be most unfortunate." + +"Winsley! Winsley!--my poor uncle's right-hand man. A great +brewer,--always chairman of the Templeton Committee. I know the name, +though I never saw the man." + +"If you could take C----- in your way?" + +"To be sure. Staunch must not be lost. We cannot throw away a single +vote, much more one of such weight,--eighteen stone at the least! I'll +stop at C----- on pretence of seeing after my ward's houses, and have +a quiet conference with Mr. Winsley. Hem! Peers must not interfere in +elections, eh? Well, good-by: take care of yourself. I shall be back in +a week, I hope,--perhaps less." + +In a minute more Lord Vargrave and Mr. George Frederick Augustus Howard, +a slim young gentleman of high birth and connections, but who, having, +as a portionless cadet, his own way to make in the world, condescended +to be his lordship's private secretary, were rattling over the streets +the first stage to C-----. + +It was late at night when Lord Vargrave arrived at the head inn of that +grave and respectable cathedral city, in which once Richard Templeton, +Esq.,--saint, banker, and politician,--had exercised his dictatorial +sway. "Sic transit gloria mundi!" As he warmed his hands by the fire in +the large wainscoted apartment into which he was shown, his eye met +a full length engraving of his uncle, with a roll of papers in his +hand,--meant for a parliamentary bill for the turnpike trusts in the +neighbourhood of C-----. The sight brought back his recollections +of that pious and saturnine relation, and insensibly the minister's +thoughts flew to his death-bed, and to the strange secret which in that +last hour he had revealed to Lumley,--a secret which had done much in +deepening Lord Vargrave's contempt for the forms and conventionalities +of decorous life. And here it may be mentioned--though in the course +of this volume a penetrating reader may have guessed as much--that, +whatever that secret, it did not refer expressly or exclusively to the +late lord's singular and ill-assorted marriage. Upon that point much was +still left obscure to arouse Lumley's curiosity, had he been a man whose +curiosity was very vivacious. But on this he felt but little interest. +He knew enough to believe that no further information could benefit +himself personally; why should he trouble his head with what never would +fill his pockets? + +An audible yawn from the slim secretary roused Lord Vargrave from his +revery. + +"I envy you, my young friend," said he, good-humouredly. "It is a +pleasure we lose as we grow older,--that of being sleepy. However, 'to +bed,' as Lady Macbeth says. Faith, I don't wonder the poor devil of a +thane was slow in going to bed with such a tigress. Good-night to you." + + + +CHAPTER II. + + MA fortune va prendre une face nouvelle.* + RACINE. _Androm_., Act i. sc. 1. + + * "My fortune is about to take a turn." + +THE next morning Vargrave inquired the way to Mr. Winsley's, and walked +alone to the house of the brewer. The slim secretary went to inspect the +cathedral. + +Mr. Winsley was a little, thickset man, with a civil but blunt +electioneering manner. He started when he heard Lord Vargrave's name, +and bowed with great stiffness. Vargrave saw at a glance that there was +some cause of grudge in the mind of the worthy man; nor did Mr. Winsley +long hesitate before he cleansed his bosom of its perilous stuff. + +"This is an unexpected honour, my lord: I don't know how to account for +it." + +"Why, Mr. Winsley, your friendship with my late uncle can, perhaps, +sufficiently explain and apologize for a visit from a nephew sincerely +attached to his memory." + +"Humph! I certainly did do all in my power to promote Mr. Templeton's +interests. No man, I may say, did more; and yet I don't think it was +much thought of the moment he turned his back upon the electors of +C-----. Not that I bear any malice; I am well to do, and value no man's +favour,--no man's, my lord!" + +"You amaze me! I always heard my poor uncle speak of you in the highest +terms." + +"Oh, well, it don't signify; pray say no more of it. Can I offer your +lordship a glass of wine?" + +"No, I am much obliged to you; but we really must set this little matter +right. You know that after his marriage my uncle never revisited C-----; +and that shortly before his death he sold the greater part of +his interest in this city. His young wife, I suppose, liked the +neighbourhood of London; and when elderly gentlemen _do_ marry, you +know they are no longer their own masters; but if you had ever come to +Fulham--ah! then, indeed, my uncle would have rejoiced to see his old +friend." + +"Your lordship thinks so," said Mr. Winsley with a sardonic smile. "You +are mistaken; I did call at Fulham; and though I sent in my card, Lord +Vargrave's servant (he was then My Lord) brought back word that his +lordship was not at home." + +"But that must have been true; he was out, you may depend on it." + +"I saw him at the window, my lord," said Mr. Winsley, taking a pinch of +snuff. + +"Oh, the deuce! I'm in for it," thought Lumley.--"Very strange, +indeed! but how can you account for it? Ah, perhaps the health of Lady +Vargrave--she was so very delicate then, and my poor uncle lived for +her--you know that he left all his fortune to Miss Cameron?" + +"Miss Cameron! Who is she, my lord?" + +"Why, his daughter-in-law; Lady Vargrave was a widow,--a Mrs. Cameron." + +"Mrs. Cam--I remember now,--they put Cameron in the newspapers; but I +thought it was a mistake. But, perhaps" (added Winsley, with a sneer of +peculiar malignity),--"perhaps, when your worthy uncle thought of being +a peer, he did not like to have it known that he married so much beneath +him." + +"You quite mistake, my dear sir; my uncle never denied that Mrs. Cameron +was a lady of no fortune or connections,--widow to some poor Scotch +gentleman, who died I think in India." + +"He left her very ill off, poor thing; but she had a great deal of +merit, and worked hard; she taught my girls to play--" + +"Your girls! did Mrs. Cameron ever reside in C-----?" + +"To be sure; but she was then called Mrs. Butler--just as pretty a name +to my fancy." + +"You must make a mistake: my uncle married this lady in Devonshire." + +"Very possibly," quoth the brewer, doggedly. "Mrs. Butler left the town +with her little girl some time before Mr. Templeton married." + +"Well, you are wiser than I am," said Lumley, forcing a smile. "But how +can you be sure that Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Cameron are one and the same +person? You did not go into the house, you could not have seen Lady +Vargrave" (and here Lumley shrewdly guessed--if the tale were true--at +the cause of his uncle's exclusion of his old acquaintance). + +"No! but I saw her ladyship on the lawn," said Mr. Winsley, with another +sardonic smile; "and I asked the porter at the lodge as I went out if +that was Lady Vargrave, and he said, 'yes.' However, my lord, bygones +are bygones,--I bear no malice; your uncle was a good man: and if he had +but said to me, 'Winsley, don't say a word about Mrs. Butler,' he might +have reckoned on me just as much as when in his elections he used to put +five thousand pounds in my hands, and say, 'Winsley, no bribery,--it is +wicked; let this be given in charity.' Did any one ever know how that +money went? Was your uncle ever accused of corruption? But, my lord, +surely you will take some refreshment?" + +"No, indeed; but if you will let me dine with you tomorrow, you'll +oblige me much; and, whatever my uncle's faults (and latterly, poor man, +he was hardly in his senses; what a will he made!) let not the nephew +suffer for them. Come, Mr. Winsley," and Lumley held out his hand with +enchanting frankness, "you know my motives are disinterested; I have +no parliamentary interest to serve, we have no constituents for our +Hospital of Incurables; and--oh! that's right,--we're friends, I see! +Now I must go and look after my ward's houses. Let me see, the agent's +name is--is--" + +"Perkins, I think, my lord," said Mr. Winsley, thoroughly softened by +the charm of Vargrave's words and manner. "Let me put on my hat, and +show you his house." + +"Will you? That's very kind; give me all the election news by the +way--you know I was once within an ace of being your member." + +Vargrave learned from his new friend some further particulars relative +to Mrs. Butler's humble habits and homely mode of life at C-----, which +served completely to explain to him why his proud and worldly uncle +had so carefully abstained from all intercourse with that city, and had +prevented the nephew from standing for its vacant representation. It +seemed, however, that Winsley--whose resentment was not of a very active +or violent kind--had not communicated the discovery he had made to his +fellow townspeople; but had contented himself with hints and aphorisms, +whenever he had heard the subject of Mr. Templeton's marriage discussed, +which had led the gossips of the place to imagine that he had made a +much worse selection than he really had. As to the accuracy of Winsley's +assertion, Vargrave, though surprised at first, had but little doubt +on consideration, especially when he heard that Mrs. Butler's principal +patroness had been the Mrs. Leslie, now the intimate friend of Lady +Vargrave. But what had been the career, what the earlier condition and +struggles of this simple and interesting creature? With her appearance +at C-----, commenced all that surmise could invent. Not greater was the +mystery that wrapped the apparition of Manco Capac by the lake Titiaca, +than that which shrouded the places and the trials whence the lowly +teacher of music had emerged amidst the streets of C------. + +Weary, and somewhat careless, of conjecture, Lord Vargrave, in dining +with Mr. Winsley, turned the conversation upon the business on which he +had principally undertaken his journey,--namely, the meditated purchase +of Lisle Court. + +"I myself am not a very good judge of landed property," said Vargrave; +"I wish I knew of an experienced surveyor to look over the farms and +timber: can you help me to such a one?" + +Mr. Winsley smiled, and glanced at a rosy-cheeked young lady, who +simpered and turned away. "I think my daughter could recommend one to +your lordship, if she dared." + +"Oh, Pa!" + +"I see. Well, Miss Winsley, I will take no recommendation but yours." + +Miss Winsley made an effort. + +"Indeed, my lord, I have always heard Mr. Robert Hobbs considered very +clever in his profession." + +"Mr. Robert Hobbs is my man! His good health--and a fair wife to him." + +Miss Winsley glanced at Mamma, and then at a younger sister; and then +there was a titter, and then a fluttering, and then a rising, and Mr. +Winsley, Lord Vargrave, and the slim secretary were left alone. + +"Really, my lord," said the host, resettling himself, and pushing the +wine, "though you have guessed our little family arrangement, and I have +some interest in the recommendation, since Margaret will be Mrs. Robert +Hobbs in a few weeks, yet I do not know a more acute, intelligent young +man anywhere. Highly respectable, with an independent fortune; his +father is lately dead, and made at least thirty thousand pounds in +trade. His brother Edward is also dead; so he has the bulk of the +property, and he follows his profession merely for amusement. He would +consider it a great honour." + +"And where does he live?" + +"Oh, not in this county,--a long way off; close to -----; but it is all +in your lordship's road. A very nice house he has, too. I have known his +family since I was a boy; it is astonishing how his father improved the +place,--it was a poor little lath-and-plaster cottage when the late Mr. +Hobbs bought it, and it is now a very excellent family house." + +"Well, you shall give me the address and a letter of introduction, +and so much for that matter. But to return to politics;" and here Lord +Vargrave ran eloquently on, till Mr. Winsley thought him the only man in +the world who could save the country from that utter annihilation, the +possibility of which he had never even suspected before. + +It may be as well to add, that, on wishing Lord Vargrave good-night, +Mr. Winsley whispered in his ear, "Your lordship's friend, Lord Staunch, +need be under no apprehension,--we are all right!" + + + +CHAPTER III. + + THIS is the house, sir.--_Love's Pilgrimage_, Act iv, sc. 2. + + Redeunt Saturnia regna.*--VIRGIL. + + * "A former state of things returns." + +THE next morning, Lumley and his slender companion were rolling rapidly +over the same road on which, sixteen years ago, way-worn and weary, +Alice Darvil had first met with Mrs. Leslie; they were talking about a +new opera-dancer as they whirled by the very spot. + +It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, the next day, when the +carriage stopped at a cast-iron gate, on which was inscribed this +epigraph, "Hobbs' lodge--Ring the Bell." + +"A snug place enough," said Lord Vargrave, as they were waiting the +arrival of the footman to unbar the gate. + +"Yes," said Mr. Howard. "If a retired Cit could be transformed into a +house, such is the house he would be." + +Poor Dale Cottage,--the home of Poetry and Passion! But change visits +the Commonplace as well as the Romantic. Since Alice had pressed to +that cold grating her wistful eyes, time had wrought his allotted +revolutions; the old had died, the young grown up. Of the children +playing on the lawn, death had claimed some, and marriage others,--and +the holiday of youth was gone for all. + +The servant opened the gate. Mr. Robert Hobbs was at home; he had +friends with him,--he was engaged; Lord Vargrave sent in his card, and +the introductory letter from Mr. Winsley. In two seconds, these missives +brought to the gate Mr. Robert Hobbs himself, a smart young man, with +a black stock, red whiskers, and an eye-glass pendant to a hair-chain +which was possibly _a gage d'amour_ from Miss Margaret Winsley. + +A profusion of bows, compliments, apologies, etc., the carriage drove up +the sweep, and Lord Vargrave descended, and was immediately ushered into +Mr. Hobbs's private room. The slim secretary followed, and sat silent, +melancholy, and upright, while the peer affably explained his wants and +wishes to the surveyor. + +Mr. Hobbs was well acquainted with the locality of Lisle Court, which +was little more than thirty miles distant, he should be proud to +accompany Lord Vargrave thither the next morning. But, might he venture, +might he dare, might he presume--a gentleman who lived at the town of +----- was to dine with him that day; a gentleman of the most profound +knowledge of agricultural affairs; a gentleman who knew every farm, +almost every acre, belonging to Colonel Maltravers; if his lordship +could be induced to waive ceremony, and dine with Mr. Hobbs; it might be +really useful to meet this gentleman. The slim secretary, who was very +hungry, and who thought he sniffed an uncommonly savoury smell, looked +up from his boots. Lord Vargrave smiled. + +"My young friend here is too great an admirer of Mrs. Hobbs--who is to +be--not to feel anxious to make the acquaintance of any member of the +family she is to enter." + +Mr. George Frederick Augustus Howard blushed indignant refutation of the +calumnious charge. Vargrave continued,--"As for me, I shall be +delighted to meet any friends of yours, and am greatly obliged for your +consideration. We may dismiss the postboys, Howard; and what time shall +we summon them,--ten o'clock?" + +"If your lordship would condescend to accept a bed, we can accommodate +your lordship and this gentleman, and start at any hour in the morning +that--" + +"So be it," interrupted Vargrave. "You speak like a man of business. +Howard, be so kind as to order the horses for six o'clock to-morrow. +We'll breakfast at Lisle Court." + +This matter settled, Lord Vargrave and Mr. Howard were shown into their +respective apartments. Travelling dresses were changed, the dinner put +back, and the fish over-boiled; but what mattered common fish, when Mr. +Hobbs had just caught such a big one? Of what consequence he should be +henceforth and ever! A peer, a minister, a stranger to the county,--to +come all this way to consult _him_! to be _his_ guest! to be shown off, +and patted, and trotted out before all the rest of the company! Mr. +Hobbs was a made man! Careless of all this, ever at home with any one, +and delighted, perhaps, to escape a _tete-a-tete_ with Mr. Howard in a +strange inn, Vargrave lounged into the drawing-room, and was formally +presented to the expectant family and the famishing guests. + +During the expiring bachelorship of Mr. Robert Hobbs, his sister, Mrs. +Tiddy (to whom the reader was first introduced as a bride gathering the +wisdom of economy and large joints from the frugal lips of her +mamma), officiated as lady of the house,--a comely matron, and +well-preserved,--except that she had lost a front tooth,--in a jaundiced +satinet gown, with a fall of British blonde, and a tucker of the same, +Mr. Tiddy being a starch man, and not willing that the luxuriant charms +of Mrs. T. should be too temptingly exposed! There was also Mr. Tiddy, +whom his wife had married for love, and who was now well to do,--a +fine-looking man, with large whiskers, and a Roman nose, a little awry. +Moreover, there was a Miss Biddy or Bridget Hobbs, a young lady of +four or five and twenty, who was considering whether she might ask Lord +Vargrave to write something in her album, and who cast a bashful look of +admiration at the slim secretary, as he now sauntered into the room, in +a black coat, black waistcoat, black trousers, and a black neckcloth, +with a black pin,--looking much like an ebony cane split half-way up. +Miss Biddy was a fair young lady, a _leetle_ faded, with uncommonly thin +arms and white satin shoes, on which the slim secretary cast his eyes +and--shuddered! + +In addition to the family group were the Rector of -----, an agreeable +man, who published sermons and poetry; also Sir William Jekyll, who was +employing Mr. Hobbs to make a map of an estate he had just purchased; +also two country squires and their two wives; moreover, the physician of +the neighbouring town,--a remarkably tall man, who wore spectacles and +told anecdotes; and, lastly, Mr. Onslow, the gentleman to whom Mr. Hobbs +had referred,--an elderly man of prepossessing exterior, of high repute +as the most efficient magistrate, the best farmer, and the most sensible +person in the neighbourhood. This made the party, to each individual +of which the great man bowed and smiled; and the great man's secretary +bent, condescendingly, three joints of his backbone. + +The bell was now rung, dinner announced. Sir William Jekyll led the way +with one of the she-squires, and Lord Vargrave offered his arm to the +portly Mrs. Tiddy. + +Vargrave, as usual, was the life of the feast. Mr. Howard, who sat next +to Miss Bridget, conversed with her between the courses, "in dumb show." +Mr. Onslow and the physician played second and third to Lord Vargrave. +When the dinner was over, and the ladies had retired, Vargrave found +himself seated next to Mr. Onslow, and discovered in his neighbour a +most agreeable companion. They talked principally about Lisle Court, and +from Colonel Maltravers the conversation turned naturally upon Ernest. +Vargrave proclaimed his early intimacy with the latter gentleman, +complained, feelingly, that politics had divided them of late, and told +two or three anecdotes of their youthful adventures in the East. Mr. +Onslow listened to him with much attention. + +"I made the acquaintance of Mr. Maltravers many years ago," said he, +"and upon a very delicate occasion. I was greatly interested in him; I +never saw one so young (for he was then but a boy) manifest feelings so +deep. By the dates you have referred to, your acquaintance with him must +have commenced very shortly after mine. Was he at that time cheerful, in +good spirits?" + +"No, indeed; hypochondriacal to the greatest degree." + +"Your lordship's intimacy with him, and the confidence that generally +exists between young men, induce me to suppose that he may have told you +a little romance connected with his early years." + +Lumley paused to consider; and this conversation, which had been carried +on apart, was suddenly broken into by the tall doctor, who wanted to +know whether his lordship had ever heard the anecdote about Lord Thurlow +and the late king. The anecdote was as long as the doctor himself; and +when it was over, the gentlemen adjourned to the drawing-room, and all +conversation was immediately drowned by "Row, brothers, row," which had +only been suspended till the arrival of Mr. Tiddy, who had a fine bass +voice. + +Alas! eighteen years ago, in that spot of earth, Alice Darvil had first +caught the soul of music from the lips of Genius and of Love! But better +as it is,--less romantic, but more proper,--as Hobbs' Lodge was less +pretty, but more safe from the winds and rains, than Dale Cottage. + +Miss Bridget ventured to ask the good-humoured Lord Vargrave if he sang. +"Not I, Miss Hobbs; but Howard, there!--ah, if you heard _him_!" The +consequence of this hint was, that the unhappy secretary, who, alone, in +a distant corner, was unconsciously refreshing his fancy with some cool +weak coffee, was instantly beset with applications from Miss Bridget, +Mrs. Tiddy, Mr. Tiddy, and the tall doctor, to favour the company with a +specimen of his talents. Mr. Howard could sing,--he could even play the +guitar. But to sing at Hobbs' Lodge, to sing to the accompaniment of +Mrs. Tiddy, to have his gentle tenor crushed to death in a glee by the +heavy splayfoot of Mr. Tiddy's manly bass--the thought was insufferable! +He faltered forth assurances of his ignorance, and hastened to bury +his resentment in the retirement of a remote sofa. Vargrave, who had +forgotten the significant question of Mr. Onslow, renewed in a +whisper his conversation with that gentleman relative to the meditated +investment, while Mr. and Mrs. Tiddy sang "Come dwell with me;" and +Onslow was so pleased with his new acquaintance, that he volunteered to +make a fourth in Lumley's carriage the next morning, and accompany him +to Lisle Court. This settled, the party soon afterwards broke up. +At midnight Lord Vargrave was fast asleep; and Mr. Howard, tossing +restlessly to and fro on his melancholy couch, was revolving all the +hardships that await a native of St. James's, who ventures forth among-- + + "The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads + Do grow beneath their shoulders!" + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + BUT how were these doubts to be changed into absolute certainty? + EDGAR HUNTLEY. + +THE next morning, while it was yet dark, Lord Vargrave's carriage +picked up Mr. Onslow at the door of a large old-fashioned house, at the +entrance of the manufacturing town of -----. The party were silent and +sleepy till they arrived at Lisle Court. The sun had then appeared, the +morning was clear, the air frosty and bracing; and as, after traversing +a noble park, a superb quadrangular pile of brick flanked by huge square +turrets coped with stone broke upon the gaze of Lord Vargrave, his +worldly heart swelled within him, and the image of Evelyn became +inexpressibly lovely and seductive. + +Though the housekeeper was not prepared for Vargrave's arrival at so +early an hour, yet he had been daily expected: the logs soon burned +bright in the ample hearth of the breakfast-room; the urn hissed, the +cutlets smoked; and while the rest of the party gathered round the fire, +and unmuffled themselves of cloaks and shawl-handkerchiefs, Vargrave +seized upon the housekeeper, traversed with delighted steps the +magnificent suite of rooms, gazed on the pictures, admired the state +bed-chambers, peeped into the offices, and recognized in all a mansion +worthy of a Peer of England,--but which a more prudent man would have +thought, with a sigh, required careful management of the rent-roll +raised from the property adequately to equip and maintain. Such an idea +did not cross the mind of Vargrave; he only thought how much he should +be honoured and envied, when, as Secretary of State, he should yearly +fill those feudal chambers with the pride and rank of England! It was +characteristic of the extraordinary sanguineness and self-confidence +of Vargrave, that he entirely overlooked one slight obstacle to this +prospect, in the determined refusal of Evelyn to accept that passionate +homage which he offered to--her fortune! + +When breakfast was over the steward was called in, and the party, +mounted upon ponies, set out to reconnoitre. After spending the short +day most agreeably in looking over the gardens, pleasure-grounds, park, +and home-farm, and settling to visit the more distant parts of the +property the next day, the party were returning home to dine, when +Vargrave's eye caught the glittering _whim_ of Sir Gregory Gubbins. + +He pointed it out to Mr. Onslow, and laughed much at hearing of the +annoyance it occasioned to Colonel Maltravers. "Thus," said Lumley, "do +we all crumple the rose-leaf under us, and quarrel with couches the most +luxuriant! As for me, I will wager, that were this property mine, or my +ward's, in three weeks we should have won the heart of Sir Gregory, made +him pull down his _whim_, and coaxed him out of his interest in the city +of -----. A good seat for you, Howard, some day or other." + +"Sir Gregory has prodigiously bad taste," said Mr. Hobbs. "For my +part, I think that there ought to be a certain modest simplicity in the +display of wealth got in business,--that was my poor father's maxim." + +"Ah!" said Vargrave, "Hobbs' Lodge is a specimen. Who was your +predecessor in that charming retreat?" + +"Why, the place--then called Dale Cottage--belonged to a Mr. Berners, a +rich bachelor in business, who was rich enough not to mind what people +said of him, and kept a lady there. She ran off from him, and he then +let it to some young man--a stranger, very eccentric, I hear--a Mr.--Mr. +Butler--and he, too, gave the cottage an unlawful attraction,--a most +beautiful girl, I have heard." + +"Butler!" echoed Vargrave,--"Butler! Butler!" Lumley recollected that +such had been the real name of Mrs. Cameron. + +Onslow looked hard at Vargrave. + +"You recognize the name, my lord," said he in a whisper, as Hobbs had +turned to address himself to Mr. Howard. "I thought you very discreet +when I asked you, last night, if you remembered the early follies +of your friend." A suspicion at once flashed upon the quick mind of +Vargrave: Butler was a name on the mother's side in the family of +Maltravers; the gloom of Ernest when he first knew him, the boy's hints +that the gloom was connected with the affections, the extraordinary and +single accomplishment of Lady Vargrave in that art of which Maltravers +was so consummate a master, the similarity of name,--all taken in +conjunction with the meaning question of Mr. Onslow, were enough to +suggest to Vargrave that he might be on the verge of a family secret, +the knowledge of which could be turned to advantage. He took care not to +confess his ignorance, but artfully proceeded to draw out Mr. Onslow's +communications. + +"Why, it is true," said he, "that Maltravers and I had no secrets. Ah, +we were wild fellows then! The name of Butler is in his family, eh?" + +"It is. I see you know all." + +"Yes; he told me the story, but it is eighteen years ago. Do refresh my +memory. Howard, my good fellow, just ride on and expedite dinner: Mr. +Hobbs, will you go with Mr. What's-his-name, the steward, and look over +the maps, out-goings, etc.? Now, Mr. Onslow--so Maltravers took the +cottage, and a lady with it?--ay, I remember." + +Mr. Onslow (who was in fact that magistrate to whom Ernest had confided +his name and committed the search after Alice, and who was really +anxious to know if any tidings of the poor girl had ever been +ascertained) here related that history with which the reader is +acquainted,--the robbery of the cottage, the disappearance of Alice, the +suspicions that connected that disappearance with her ruffian father, +the despair and search of Maltravers. He added that Ernest, both before +his departure from England, and on his return, had written to him to +learn if Alice had ever been heard of; the replies of the magistrate +were unsatisfactory. "And do you think, my lord, that Mr. Maltravers has +never to this day ascertained what became of the poor young woman?" + +"Why, let me see,--what was her name?" + +The magistrate thought a moment, and replied, "Alice Darvil." + +"Alice!" exclaimed Vargrave. "Alice!"--aware that such was the Christian +name of his uncle's wife, and now almost convinced of the truth of his +first vague suspicion. + +"You seem to know the name?" + +"Of Alice; yes--but not Darvil. No, no; I believe he has never heard of +the girl to this hour. Nor you either?" + +"I have not. One little circumstance related to me by Mr. Hobbs, your +surveyor's father, gave me some uneasiness. About two years after the +young woman disappeared, a girl, of very humble dress and appearance, +stopped at the gate of Hobbs' Lodge, and asked earnestly for Mr. Butler. +On hearing he was gone, she turned away, and was seen no more. It seems +that this girl had an infant in her arms--which rather shocked +the propriety of Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs. The old gentleman told me the +circumstance a few days after it happened, and I caused inquiry to be +made for the stranger; but she could not be discovered. I thought at +first this possibly might be the lost Alice; but I learned that, during +his stay at the cottage, your friend--despite his error, which we will +not stop to excuse--had exercised so generous and wide a charity amongst +the poor in the town and neighbourhood, that it was a more probable +supposition of the two that the girl belonged to some family he +had formerly relieved, and her visit was that of a mendicant, not a +mistress. Accordingly, after much consideration, I resolved not to +mention the circumstances to Mr. Maltravers, when he wrote to me on his +return from the Continent. A considerable time had then elapsed since +the girl had applied to Mr. Hobbs; all trace of her was lost; the +incident might open wounds that time must have nearly healed, might give +false hopes--or, what was worse, occasion a fresh and unfounded remorse +at the idea of Alice's destitution; it would, in fact, do no good, and +might occasion unnecessary pain. I therefore suppressed all mention of +it." + +"You did right: and so the poor girl had an infant in her arms?--humph! +What sort of looking person was this Alice Darvil,--pretty, of course?" + +"I never saw her; and none but the persons employed in the premises knew +her by sight; they described her as remarkably lovely." + +"Fair and slight, with blue eyes, I suppose?--those are the orthodox +requisites of a heroine." + +"Upon my word I forget; indeed I should never have remembered as much +as I do, if the celebrity of Mr. Maltravers, and the consequence of his +family in these parts, together with the sight of his own agony--the +most painful I ever witnessed--had not served to impress the whole +affair very deeply on my mind." + +"Was the girl who appeared at the gate of Hobbs' Lodge described to +you?" + +"No; they scarcely observed her countenance, except that her complexion +was too fair for a gypsy's; yet, now I think of it, Mrs. Tiddy, who was +with her father when he told me the adventure, dwelt particularly on her +having (as you so pleasantly conjecture) fair hair and blue eyes. Mrs. +Tiddy, being just married, was romantic at that day." + +"Well, it is an odd tale; but life is full of odd tales. Here we are at +the house; it really is a splendid old place!" + + + +CHAPTER V. + + PENDENT opera interrupta.*--VIRGIL. + + * "The things begun are interrupted and suspended." + +THE history Vargrave had heard he revolved much when he retired to rest. +He could not but allow that there was still little ground for more than +conjecture that Alice Darvil and Alice Lady Vargrave were one and the +same person. It might, however, be of great importance to him to trace +this conjecture to certainty. The knowledge of a secret of early sin and +degradation in one so pure, so spotless, as Lady Vargrave, might be of +immense service in giving him a power over her, which he could turn to +account with Evelyn. How could he best prosecute further inquiry,--by +repairing at once to Brook-Green, or--the thought struck him--by +visiting and "pumping" Mrs. Leslie, the patroness of Mrs. Butler, of +C-----, the friend of Lady Vargrave? It was worth trying the latter,--it +was little out of his way back to London. His success in picking the +brains of Mr. Onslow of a secret encouraged him in the hope of equal +success with Mrs. Leslie. He decided accordingly, and fell asleep +to dream of Christmas _battues_, royal visitors, the Cabinet, the +premiership! Well, no possession equals the dream of it! Sleep on, my +lord! you would be restless enough if you were to get all you want. + +For the next three days, Lord Vargrave was employed in examining the +general outlines of the estate; and the result of this survey satisfied +him as to the expediency of the purchase. On the third day, he was +several miles from the house when a heavy rain came on. Lord Vargrave +was constitutionally hardy, and not having been much exposed to +visitations of the weather of late years, was not practically aware that +when a man is past forty, he cannot endure with impunity all that falls +innocuously on the elasticity of twenty-six. He did not, therefore, +heed the rain that drenched him to the skin, and neglected to change +his dress till he had finished reading some letters and newspapers which +awaited his return at Lisle Court. The consequence of this imprudence +was, that the next morning when he woke, Lord Vargrave found himself, +for almost the first time in his life, seriously ill. His head ached +violently, cold shiverings shook his frame like an ague; the very +strength of the constitution on which the fever had begun to fasten +itself augmented its danger. Lumley--the last man in the world to think +of the possibility of dying--fought up against his own sensations, +ordered his post-horses, as his visit of survey was now over, and +scarcely even alluded to his indisposition. About an hour before he +set off, his letters arrived; one of these informed him that Caroline, +accompanied by Evelyn, had already arrived in Paris; the other was from +Colonel Legard, respectfully resigning his office, on the ground of +an accession of fortune by the sudden death of the admiral, and his +intention to spend the ensuing year in a Continental excursion. This +last letter occasioned Vargrave considerable alarm; he had always felt +a deep jealousy of the handsome ex-guardsman, and he at once suspected +that Legard was about to repair to Paris as his rival. He sighed, and +looked round the spacious apartment, and gazed on the wide prospects of +grove and turf that extended from the window, and said to himself, "Is +another to snatch these from my grasp?" His impatience to visit Mrs. +Leslie, to gain ascendency over Lady Vargrave, to repair to Paris, +to scheme, to manoeuvre, to triumph, accelerated the progress of the +disease that was now burning in his veins; and the hand that he held out +to Mr. Hobbs, as he stepped into his carriage, almost scorched the cold, +plump, moist fingers of the surveyor. Before six o'clock in the evening +Lord Vargrave confessed reluctantly to himself that he was too ill to +proceed much farther. "Howard," said he then, breaking a silence that +had lasted some hours, "don't be alarmed; I feel that I am about to have +a severe attack; I shall stop at M-----(naming a large town they were +approaching); I shall send for the best physician the place affords; +if I am delirious to-morrow, or unable to give my own orders, have the +kindness to send express for Dr. Holland,--but don't leave me yourself, +my good fellow. At my age, it is a hard thing to have no one in the +world to care for me in illness; d-----n affection when I am well!" + +After this strange burst, which very much frightened Mr. Howard, Lumley +relapsed into silence, not broken till he reached M-----. The best +physician was sent for; and the next morning, as he had half foreseen +and foretold, Lord Vargrave _was_ delirious! + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + NOUGHT under Heaven so strongly doth allure + The sense of man, and all his mind possess, + As Beauty's love-bait.--SPENSER. + +LEGARD was, as I have before intimated, a young man of generous and +excellent dispositions, though somewhat spoiled by the tenor of his +education, and the gay and reckless society which had administered +tonics to his vanity and opiates to his intellect. The effect which the +beauty, the grace, the innocence of Evelyn had produced upon him had +been most deep and most salutary. It had rendered dissipation tasteless +and insipid; it had made him look more deeply into his own heart, and +into the rules of life. Though, partly from irksomeness of dependence +upon an uncle at once generous and ungracious, partly from a diffident +and feeling sense of his own inadequate pretensions to the hand of +Miss Cameron, and partly from the prior and acknowledged claims of Lord +Vargrave, he had accepted, half in despair, the appointment offered to +him, he still found it impossible to banish that image which had been +the first to engrave upon ardent and fresh affections an indelible +impression. He secretly chafed at the thought that it was to a fortunate +rival that he owed the independence and the station he had acquired, and +resolved to seize an early opportunity to free himself from obligations +that he deeply regretted he had incurred. At length he learned that Lord +Vargrave had been refused,--that Evelyn was free; and within a few days +from that intelligence, the admiral was seized with apoplexy; and +Legard suddenly found himself possessed, if not of wealth, at least of +a competence sufficient to redeem his character as a suitor from the +suspicion attached to a fortune-hunter and adventurer. Despite the new +prospects opened to him by the death of his uncle, and despite the surly +caprice which had mingled with and alloyed the old admiral's kindness, +Legard was greatly shocked by his death; and his grateful and gentle +nature was at first only sensible to grief for the loss he had +sustained. But when, at last, recovering from his sorrow, he saw Evelyn +disengaged and free, and himself in a position honourably to contest her +hand, he could not resist the sweet and passionate hopes that broke upon +him. He resigned, as we have seen, his official appointment, and set out +for Paris. He reached that city a day or two after the arrival of Lord +and Lady Doltimore. He found the former, who had not forgotten the +cautions of Vargrave, at first cold and distant; but partly from the +indolent habit of submitting to Legard's dictates on matters of taste, +partly from a liking to his society, and principally from the popular +suffrages of fashion, which had always been accorded to Legard, and +which were nowadays diminished by the news of his accession of fortune, +Lord Doltimore, weak and vain, speedily yielded to the influences of his +old associate, and Legard became quietly installed as the _enfant de +la maison_. Caroline was not in this instance a very faithful ally +to Vargrave's views and policy. In his singular _liaison_ with Lady +Doltimore, the crafty manoeuvrer had committed the vulgar fault of +intriguers: he had over-refined and had overreached himself. At the +commencement of their strange and unprincipled intimacy, Vargrave had +had, perhaps, no other thought than that of piquing Evelyn, consoling +his vanity, amusing his _ennui_, and indulging rather his propensities +as a gallant than promoting his more serious objects as a man of the +world. By degrees, and especially at Knaresdean, Vargrave himself became +deeply entangled by an affair that he had never before contemplated as +more important than a passing diversion; instead of securing a friend +to assist him in his designs on Evelyn, he suddenly found that he had +obtained a mistress anxious for his love and jealous of his homage. With +his usual promptitude and self-confidence, he was led at once to deliver +himself of all the ill-consequences of his rashness,--to get rid of +Caroline as a mistress, and to retain her as a tool, by marrying her +to Lord Doltimore. By the great ascendancy which his character acquired +over her, and by her own worldly ambition, he succeeded in inducing her +to sacrifice all romance to a union that gave her rank and fortune; +and Vargrave then rested satisfied that the clever wife would not only +secure him a permanent power over the political influence and private +fortune of the weak husband, but also abet his designs in securing an +alliance equally desirable for himself. Here it was that Vargrave's +incapacity to understand the refinements and scruples of a woman's +affection and nature, however guilty the one, and however worldly the +other, foiled and deceived him. Caroline, though the wife of another, +could not contemplate without anguish a similar bondage for her lover; +and having something of the better qualities of her sex still left to +her, she recoiled from being an accomplice in arts that were to drive +the young, inexperienced, and guileless creature who called her "friend" +into the arms of a man who openly avowed the most mercenary motives, and +who took gods and men to witness that his heart was sacred to another. +Only in Vargrave's presence were these scruples overmastered; but the +moment he was gone they returned in full force. She had yielded, from +positive fear, to his commands that she should convey Evelyn to Paris; +but she trembled to think of the vague hints and dark menaces that +Vargrave had let fall as to ulterior proceedings, and was distracted at +the thought of being implicated in some villanous or rash design. +When, therefore, the man whose rivalry Vargrave most feared was almost +established at her house, she made but a feeble resistance; she thought +that, if Legard should become a welcome and accepted suitor before +Lumley arrived, the latter would be forced to forego whatever hopes +he yet cherished, and that she should be delivered from a dilemma, the +prospect of which daunted and appalled her. Added to this, Caroline +was now, alas! sensible that a fool is not so easily governed; her +resistance to an intimacy with Legard would have been of little avail: +Doltimore, in these matters, had an obstinate will of his own; and, +whatever might once have been Caroline's influence over her liege, +certain it is that such influence had been greatly impaired of late by +the indulgence of a temper, always irritable, and now daily more soured +by regret, remorse, contempt for her husband,--and the melancholy +discovery that fortune, youth, beauty, and station are no talismans +against misery. + +It was the gayest season of Paris; and to escape from herself, Caroline +plunged eagerly into the vortex of its dissipations. If Doltimore's +heart was disappointed, his vanity was pleased at the admiration +Caroline excited; and he himself was of an age and temper to share in +the pursuits and amusements of his wife. Into these gayeties, new to +their fascination, dazzled by their splendour, the young Evelyn entered +with her hostess; and ever by her side was the unequalled form of +Legard. Each of them in the bloom of youth, each of them at once formed +to please, and to be pleased by that fair Armida which we call the +World, there was, necessarily, a certain congeniality in their views and +sentiments, their occupations and their objects; nor was there, in all +that brilliant city, one more calculated to captivate the eye and +fancy than George Legard. But still, to a certain degree diffident and +fearful, Legard never yet spoke of love; nor did their intimacy at this +time ripen to that point in which Evelyn could have asked herself if +there were danger in the society of Legard, or serious meaning in his +obvious admiration. Whether that melancholy, to which Lady Vargrave had +alluded in her correspondence with Lumley, were occasioned by thoughts +connected with Maltravers, or unacknowledged recollections of Legard, it +remains for the acute reader himself to ascertain. + +The Doltimores had been about three weeks in Paris; and for a fortnight +of that time Legard had been their constant guest, and half the inmate +of their hotel, when, on that night which has been commemorated in our +last book, Maltravers suddenly once more beheld the face of Evelyn, and +in the same hour learned that she was free. He quitted Valerie's box; +with a burning pulse and a beating heart, joy and surprise and hope +sparkling in his eyes and brightening his whole aspect, he hastened to +Evelyn's side. + +It was at this time Legard, who sat behind Miss Cameron, unconscious of +the approach of a rival, happened by one of those chances which occur in +conversation to mention the name of Maltravers. He asked Evelyn if she +had yet met him. + +"What! is he, then, in Paris?" asked Evelyn, quickly. "I heard, indeed," +she continued, "that he left Burleigh for Paris, but imagined he had +gone on to Italy." + +"No, he is still here; but he goes, I believe, little into the society +Lady Doltimore chiefly visits. Is he one of your favourites, Miss +Cameron?" + +There was a slight increase of colour in Evelyn's beautiful cheek, as +she answered,-- + +"Is it possible not to admire and be interested in one so gifted?" + +"He has certainly noble and fine qualities," returned Legard; "but +I cannot feel at ease with him: a coldness, a _hauteur_, a measured +distance of manner, seem to forbid even esteem. Yet _I_ ought not to say +so," he added, with a pang of self-reproach. + +"No, indeed, you ought not to say so," said Evelyn, shaking her head +with a pretty affectation of anger; "for I know that you pretend to like +what I like, and admire what I admire; and I am an enthusiast in all +that relates to Mr. Maltravers!" + +"I know that I would wish to see all things in life through Miss +Cameron's eyes," whispered Legard, softly; and this was the most meaning +speech he had ever yet made. + +Evelyn turned away, and seemed absorbed in the opera; and at that +instant the door of the box opened, and Maltravers entered. + +In her open, undisguised, youthful delight at seeing him again, +Maltravers felt, indeed, "as if Paradise were opened in her face." In +his own agitated emotions, he scarcely noticed that Legard had risen and +resigned his seat to him; he availed himself of the civility, greeted +his old acquaintance with a smile and a bow, and in a few minutes he was +in deep converse with Evelyn. + +Never had he so successfully exerted the singular, the +master-fascination that he could command at will,--the more powerful +from its contrast to his ordinary coldness. In the very expression of +his eyes, the very tone of his voice, there was that in Maltravers, seen +at his happier moments, which irresistibly interested and absorbed your +attention: he could make you forget everything but himself, and the +rich, easy, yet earnest eloquence, which gave colour to his language and +melody to his voice. In that hour of renewed intercourse with one who +had at first awakened, if not her heart, at least her imagination and +her deeper thoughts, certain it is that even Legard was not missed. +As she smiled and listened, Evelyn dreamed not of the anguish she +inflicted. Leaning against the box, Legard surveyed the absorbed +attention of Evelyn, the adoring eyes of Maltravers, with that utter and +crushing wretchedness which no passion but jealousy, and that only while +it is yet a virgin agony, can bestow! He had never before even dreamed +of rivalry in such a quarter; but there was that ineffable instinct, +which lovers have, and which so seldom errs, that told him at once that +in Maltravers was the greatest obstacle his passion could encounter. He +waited in hopes that Evelyn would take the occasion to turn to him at +least--when the fourth act closed. She did not; and, unable to constrain +his emotions, and reply to the small-talk of Lord Doltimore, he abruptly +quitted the box. + +When the opera was over, Maltravers offered his arm to Evelyn; she +accepted it, and then she looked round for Legard. He was gone. + + + + +BOOK VIII. + + O Fate! O Heaven!--what have ye then decreed? + SOPHOCLES: _Oed. Tyr._ 738. + + "Insolent pride... +...... The topmost crag of the great precipice + Surmounts--to rush to ruin." + _Ibid._ 874. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +... SHE is young, wise, fair, In these to Nature she's immediate heir. +...... ... Honours best thrive When rather from our acts we them derive + Than our foregoers!--_All's Well that Ends Well_. + + +LETTER FROM ERNEST MALTRAVERS TO THE HON. FREDERICK CLEVELAND. + + +EVELYN is free; she is in Paris; I have seen her,--I see her daily! + +How true it is that we cannot make a philosophy of indifference! The +affections are stronger than all our reasonings. We must take them into +our alliance, or they will destroy all our theories of self-government. +Such fools of fate are we, passing from system to system, from scheme +to scheme, vainly seeking to shut out passion and sorrow-forgetting that +they are born within us--and return to the soul as the seasons to the +earth! Yet,--years, many years ago, when I first looked gravely into +my own nature and being here, when I first awakened to the dignity and +solemn responsibilities of human life, I had resolved to tame and curb +myself into a thing of rule and measure. Bearing within me the wound +scarred over but never healed, the consciousness of wrong to the heart +that had leaned upon me, haunted by the memory of my lost Alice, I +shuddered at new affections bequeathing new griefs. Wrapped in a haughty +egotism, I wished not to extend my empire over a wider circuit than my +own intellect and passions. I turned from the trader-covetousness of +bliss, that would freight the wealth of life upon barks exposed to every +wind upon the seas of Fate; I was contented with the hope to pass life +alone, honoured, though unloved. Slowly and reluctantly I yielded to +the fascinations of Florence Lascelles. The hour that sealed the compact +between us was one of regret and alarm. In vain I sought to deceive +myself,--I felt that I did not love. And then I imagined that Love was +no longer in my nature,--that I had exhausted its treasures before my +time, and left my heart a bankrupt. Not till the last--not till that +glorious soul broke out in all its brightness the nearer it approached +the source to which it has returned--did I feel of what tenderness she +was worthy and I was capable. She died, and the world was darkened! +Energy, ambition, my former aims and objects, were all sacrificed at her +tomb. But amidst ruins and through the darkness, my soul yet supported +me; I could no longer hope, but I could endure. I was resolved that +I would not be subdued, and that the world should not hear me groan. +Amidst strange and far-distant scenes, amidst hordes to whom my very +language was unknown, in wastes and forests, which the step of civilized +man, with his sorrows and his dreams, had never trodden, I wrestled with +my soul, as the patriarch of old wrestled with the angel,--and the angel +was at last the victor! You do not mistake me: you know that it was not +the death of Florence alone that worked in me that awful revolution; +but with that death the last glory fled from the face of things that +had seemed to me beautiful of old. Hers was a love that accompanied and +dignified the schemes and aspirations of manhood,--a love that was an +incarnation of ambition itself; and all the evils and disappointments +that belong to ambition seemed to crowd around my heart like vultures +to a feast allured and invited by the dead. But this at length was +over; the barbarous state restored me to the civilized. I returned to +my equals, prepared no more to be an actor in the strife, but a calm +spectator of the turbulent arena. I once more laid my head beneath the +roof of my fathers; and if without any clear and definite object, I +at least hoped to find amidst "my old hereditary trees" the charm +of contemplation and repose. And scarce--in the first hours of my +arrival--had I indulged that dream, when a fair face, a sweet voice, +that had once before left deep and unobliterated impressions on my +heart, scattered all my philosophy to the winds. I saw Evelyn! and if +ever there was love at first sight, it was that which I felt for her: I +lived in her presence, and forgot the Future! Or, rather, I was with +the Past,--in the bowers of my springtide of life and hope! It was an +after-birth of youth--my love for that young heart! + +It is, indeed, only in maturity that we know how lovely were our +earliest years! What depth of wisdom in the old Greek myth, that +allotted Hebe as the prize to the god who had been the arch-labourer of +life! and whom the satiety of all that results from experience had made +enamoured of all that belongs to the Hopeful and the New! + +This enchanting child, this delightful Evelyn, this ray of undreamed +of sunshine, smiled away all my palaces of ice. I loved, Cleveland,--I +loved more ardently, more passionately, more wildly than ever I did of +old! But suddenly I learned that she was affianced to another, and felt +that it was not for me to question, to seek the annulment of the bond. I +had been unworthy to love Evelyn if I had not loved honour more! I +fled from her presence, honestly and resolutely; I sought to conquer a +forbidden passion; I believed that I had not won affection in return; +I believed, from certain expressions that I overheard Evelyn utter to +another, that her heart as well as her hand was given to Vargrave. I +came hither; you know how sternly and resolutely I strove to eradicate +a weakness that seemed without even the justification of hope! If I +suffered, I betrayed it not. Suddenly Evelyn appeared again before +me!--and suddenly I learned that she was free! Oh, the rapture of that +moment! Could you have seen her bright face, her enchanting smile, when +we met again! Her ingenuous innocence did not conceal her gladness +at seeing me! What hopes broke upon me! Despite the difference of our +years, I think she loves me! that in that love I am about at last to +learn what blessings there are in life. + +Evelyn has the simplicity, the tenderness, of Alice, with the refinement +and culture of Florence herself; not the genius, not the daring spirit, +not the almost fearful brilliancy of that ill-fated being,--but with a +taste as true to the Beautiful, with a soul as sensitive to the Sublime! +In Evelyn's presence I feel a sense of peace, of security, of home! +Happy! thrice happy! he who will take her to his breast! Of late she has +assumed a new charm in my eyes,--a certain pensiveness and abstraction +have succeeded to her wonted gayety. Ah, Love is pensive,--is it not, +Cleveland? How often I ask myself that question! And yet, amidst all my +hopes, there are hours when I tremble and despond! How can that innocent +and joyous spirit sympathize with all that mine has endured and known? +How, even though her imagination be dazzled by some prestige around my +name, how can I believe that I have awakened her heart to that deep and +real love of which it is capable, and which youth excites in youth? When +we meet at her home, or amidst the quiet yet brilliant society which is +gathered round Madame de Ventadour or the Montaignes, with whom she is +an especial favourite; when we converse; when I sit by her, and her soft +eyes meet mine,--I feel not the disparity of years; my heart speaks +to her, and _that_ is youthful still! But in the more gay and crowded +haunts to which her presence allures me, when I see that fairy form +surrounded by those who have not outlived the pleasures that so +naturally dazzle and captivate her, then, indeed, I feel that my tastes, +my habits, my pursuits, belong to another season of life, and ask myself +anxiously if my nature and my years are those that can make _her_ happy? +Then, indeed, I recognize the wide interval that time and trial place +between one whom the world has wearied, and one for whom the world is +new. If she should discover hereafter that youth should love only youth, +my bitterest anguish would be that of remorse! I know how deeply I love +by knowing how immeasurably dearer her happiness is than my own! I will +wait, then, yet a while, I will examine, I will watch well that I do not +deceive myself. As yet I think that I have no rivals whom I need fear: +surrounded as she is by the youngest and the gayest, she still turns +with evident pleasure to me, whom she calls her friend. She will forego +the amusements she most loves for society in which we can converse more +at ease. You remember, for instance, young Legard? He is here; and, +before I met Evelyn, was much at Lady Doltimore's house. I cannot be +blind to his superior advantages of youth and person; and there is +something striking and prepossessing in the gentle yet manly frankness +of his manner,--and yet no fear of his rivalship ever haunts me. True, +that of late he has been little in Evelyn's society; nor do I think, +in the frivolity of his pursuits, he can have educated his mind to +appreciate Evelyn, or be possessed of those qualities which would render +him worthy of her. But there is something good in the young man, despite +his foibles,--something that wins upon me; and you will smile to learn, +that he has even surprised from _me_--usually so reserved on such +matters--the confession of my attachment and hopes! Evelyn often talks +to me of her mother, and describes her in colours so glowing that I feel +the greatest interest in one who has helped to form so beautiful and +pure a mind. Can you learn who Lady Vargrave was? There is evidently +some mystery thrown over her birth and connections; and, from what I +can hear, this arises from their lowliness. You know that, though I have +been accused of family pride, it is a pride of a peculiar sort. I +am proud, not of the length of a mouldering pedigree, but of some +historical quarterings in my escutcheon,--of some blood of scholars and +of heroes that rolls in my veins; it is the same kind of pride that +an Englishman may feel in belonging to a country that has produced +Shakspeare and Bacon. I have never, I hope, felt the vulgar pride that +disdains want of birth in others; and I care not three straws whether my +friend or my wife be descended from a king or a peasant. It is myself, +and not my connections, who alone can disgrace my lineage; therefore, +however humble Lady Vargrave's parentage, do not scruple to inform me, +should you learn any intelligence that bears upon it. + +I had a conversation last night with Evelyn that delighted me. By some +accident we spoke of Lord Vargrave; and she told me, with an enchanting +candour, of the position in which she stood with him, and the +conscientious and noble scruples she felt as to the enjoyment of a +fortune, which her benefactor and stepfather had evidently intended +to be shared with his nearest relative. In these scruples I cordially +concurred; and if I marry Evelyn, my first care will be to carry them +into effect,--by securing to Vargrave, as far as the law may permit, +the larger part of the income; I should like to say all,--at least till +Evelyn's children would have the right to claim it: a right not to be +enforced during her own, and, therefore, probably not during Vargrave's +life. I own that this would be no sacrifice, for I am proud enough to +recoil from the thought of being indebted for fortune to the woman I +love. It was that kind of pride which gave coldness and constraint to my +regard for Florence; and for the rest, my own property (much increased +by the simplicity of my habits of life for the last few years) will +suffice for all Evelyn or myself could require. Ah, madman that I am! +I calculate already on marriage, even while I have so much cause for +anxiety as to love. But my heart beats,--my heart has grown a dial that +keeps the account of time; by its movements I calculate the moments--in +an hour I shall see her! + +Oh, never, never, in my wildest and earliest visions, could I have +fancied that I should love as I love now! Adieu, my oldest and kindest +friend! If I am happy at last, it will be something to feel that at last +I shall have satisfied your expectations of my youth. + + Affectionately yours, + + E. MALTRAVERS. + + RUE DE -----, PARIS, + January --, 18--. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + IN her youth + There is a prone and speechless dialect-- + Such as moves men.--_Measure for Measure_. + + _Abbess_. Haply in private-) _Adriana_. + And in assemblies too.--_Comedy of Errors_. + +IT was true, as Maltravers had stated, that Legard had of late been +little at Lady Doltimore's, or in the same society as Evelyn. With the +vehemence of an ardent and passionate nature, he yielded to the jealous +rage and grief that devoured him. He saw too clearly, and from the +first, that Maltravers adored Evelyn; and in her familiar kindness of +manner towards him, in the unlimited veneration in which she appeared +to hold his gifts and qualities, he thought that that love might become +reciprocal. He became gloomy and almost morose; he shunned Evelyn, +he forbore to enter into the lists against his rival. Perhaps the +intellectual superiority of Maltravers, the extraordinary conversational +brilliancy that he could display when he pleased, the commanding dignity +of his manners, even the matured authority of his reputation and years, +might have served to awe the hopes, as well as to wound the vanity, of +a man accustomed himself to be the oracle of a circle. These might have +strongly influenced Legard in withdrawing himself from Evelyn's society; +but there was one circumstance, connected with motives much more +generous, that mainly determined his conduct. It happened that +Maltravers, shortly after his first interview with Evelyn, was riding +alone one day in the more sequestered part of the Bois de Boulogne, +when he encountered Legard, also alone, and on horseback. The latter, on +succeeding to his uncle's fortune, had taken care to repay his debt to +Maltravers; he had done so in a short but feeling and grateful letter, +which had been forwarded to Maltravers at Paris, and which pleased and +touched him. Since that time he had taken a liking to the young man, and +now, meeting him at Paris, he sought, to a certain extent, Legard's more +intimate acquaintance. Maltravers was in that happy mood when we are +inclined to be friends with all men. It is true, however, that, though +unknown to himself, that pride of bearing, which often gave to the very +virtues of Maltravers an unamiable aspect, occasionally irritated one +who felt he had incurred to him an obligation of honour and of +life never to be effaced; it made the sense of this obligation more +intolerable to Legard; it made him more desirous to acquit himself of +the charge. But on this day there was so much cordiality in the greeting +of Maltravers, and he pressed Legard in so friendly a manner to join +him in his ride, that the young man's heart was softened, and they rode +together, conversing familiarly on such topics as were in common between +them. At last the conversation fell on Lord and Lady Doltimore; and +thence Maltravers, whose soul was full of one thought, turned it +indirectly towards Evelyn. + +"Did you ever see Lady Vargrave?" + +"Never," replied Legard, looking another way; "but Lady Doltimore says +she is as beautiful as Evelyn herself, if that be possible; and still +so young in form and countenance, that she looks rather like her sister +than her mother!" + +"How I should like to know her!" said Maltravers, with a sudden energy. + +Legard changed the subject. He spoke of the Carnival, of balls, of +masquerades, of operas, of reigning beauties! + +"Ah," said Maltravers, with a half sigh, "yours is the age for those +dazzling pleasures; to me they are 'the twice-told tale.'" + +Maltravers meant it not, but this remark chafed Legard. He thought it +conveyed a sarcasm on the childishness of his own mind or the levity of +his pursuits; his colour mounted, as he replied,-- + +"It is not, I fear, the slight difference of years between us,--it is +the difference of intellect you would insinuate; but you should remember +all men have not your resources; all men cannot pretend to genius!" + +"My dear Legard," said Maltravers, kindly, "do not fancy that I could +have designed any insinuation half so presumptuous and impertinent. +Believe me, I envy you, sincerely and sadly, all those faculties of +enjoyment which I have worn away. Oh, how I envy you! for, were they +still mine, then--then, indeed, I might hope to mould myself into +greater congeniality with the beautiful and the young!" + +Maltravers paused a moment, and resumed, with a grave smile: "I trust, +Legard, that you will be wiser than I have been; that you will +gather your roses while it is yet May: and that you will not live to +thirty-six, pining for happiness and home, a disappointed and desolate +man; till, when your ideal is at last found, you shrink back appalled, +to discover that you have lost none of the tendencies to love, but many +of the graces by which love is to be allured!" + +There was so much serious and earnest feeling in these words that they +went home at once to Legard's sympathies. He felt irresistibly impelled +to learn the worst. + +"Maltravers," said he, in a hurried tone, "it would be an idle +compliment to say that you are not likely to love in vain; perhaps it +is indelicate in me to apply a general remark; and yet--yet I cannot +but fancy that I have discovered your secret, and that you are not +insensible to the charms of Miss Cameron!" + +"Legard!" said Maltravers,--and so strong was his fervent attachment +to Evelyn, that it swept away all his natural coldness and reserve,--"I +tell you plainly and frankly that in my love for Evelyn Cameron lie the +last hopes I have in life. I have no thought, no ambition, no sentiment +that is not vowed to her. If my love should be unreturned, I may strive +to endure the blow, I may mix with the world, I may seem to occupy +myself in the aims of others; but my heart will be broken! Let us talk +of this no more; you have surprised my secret, though it must have +betrayed itself. Learn from me how preternaturally strong, how generally +fatal is love deferred to that day when--in the stern growth of all the +feelings--love writes itself on granite!" + +Maltravers, as if impatient of his own weakness, put spurs to his horse, +and they rode on rapidly for some time without speaking. + +That silence was employed by Legard in meditating over all he had heard +and witnessed, in recalling all that he owed to Maltravers; and before +that silence was broken the young man nobly resolved not even to +attempt, not even to hope, a rivalry with Maltravers; to forego all the +expectations he had so fondly nursed, to absent himself from the company +of Evelyn, to requite faithfully and firmly that act of generosity +to which he owed the preservation of his life,--the redemption of his +honour. + +Agreeably to this determination, he abstained from visiting those haunts +in which Evelyn shone; and if accident brought them together, his +manner was embarrassed and abrupt. She wondered,--at last, perhaps she +resented,--it may be that she grieved; for certain it is that Maltravers +was right in thinking that her manner had lost the gayety that +distinguished it at Merton Rectory. But still it may be doubted whether +Evelyn had seen enough of Legard, and whether her fancy and romance were +still sufficiently free from the magical influences of the genius +that called them forth in the eloquent homage of Maltravers, to trace, +herself, to any causes connected with her younger lover the listless +melancholy that crept over her. In very young women--new alike to the +world and the knowledge of themselves--many vague and undefined feelings +herald the dawn of Love; shade after shade and light upon light succeeds +before the sun breaks forth, and the earth awakens to his presence. + +It was one evening that Legard had suffered himself to be led into a +party at the ----- ambassador's; and there, as he stood by the door, +he saw at a little distance Maltravers conversing with Evelyn. Again he +writhed beneath the tortures of his jealous anguish; and there, as he +gazed and suffered, he resolved (as Maltravers had done before him) to +fly from the place that had a little while ago seemed to him Elysium! +He would quit Paris, he would travel, he would not see Evelyn again till +the irrevocable barrier was passed, and she was the wife of Maltravers! +In the first heat of this determination, he turned towards some young +men standing near him, one of whom was about to visit Vienna. He gayly +proposed to join him,--a proposal readily accepted, and began conversing +on the journey, the city, its splendid and proud society, with all that +cruel exhilaration which the forced spirits of a stricken heart can +alone display, when Evelyn (whose conference with Maltravers was ended) +passed close by him. She was leaning on Lady Doltimore's arm, and the +admiring murmur of his companions caused Legard to turn suddenly round. + +"You are not dancing to-night, Colonel Legard," said Caroline, glancing +towards Evelyn. "The more the season for balls advances, the more +indolent you become." + +Legard muttered a confused reply, one half of which seemed petulant, +while the other half was inaudible. + +"Not so indolent as you suppose," said his friend. "Legard meditates an +excursion sufficient, I hope, to redeem his character in your eyes. It +is a long journey, and, what is worse, a very cold journey, to Vienna." + +"Vienna! do you think of going to Vienna?" cried Caroline. + +"Yes," said Legard. "I hate Paris; any place better than this odious +city!" and he moved away. + +Evelyn's eyes followed him sadly and gravely. She remained by Lady +Doltimore's side, abstracted and silent for several minutes. + +Meanwhile Caroline, turning to Lord Devonport (the friend who had +proposed the Viennese excursion), said, "It is cruel in you to go to +Vienna,--it is doubly cruel to rob Lord Doltimore of his best friend and +Paris of its best waltzer." + +"Oh, it is a voluntary offer of Legard's, Lady Doltimore,--believe me, I +have used no persuasive arts. But the fact is, that we have been talking +of a fair widow, the beauty of Austria, and as proud and as unassailable +as Ehrenbreitstein itself. Legard's vanity is piqued; and so--as a +professed lady-killer--he intends to see what can be effected by the +handsomest Englishman of his time." + +Caroline laughed, and new claimants on her notice succeeded to Lord +Devonport. It was not till the ladies were waiting their carriage in the +shawl-room that Lady Doltimore noticed the paleness and thoughtful brow +of Evelyn. + +"Are you fatigued or unwell, dear?" she said. + +"No," answered Evelyn, forcing a smile; and at that moment they were +joined by Maltravers, with the intelligence that it would be some +minutes before the carriage could draw up. Caroline amused herself in +the interval by shrewd criticisms on the dresses and characters of her +various friends. Caroline had grown an amazing prude in her judgment of +others! + +"What a turban!--prudent for Mrs. A----- to wear,--bright red; it puts +out her face, as the sun puts out the fire. Mr. Maltravers, do observe +Lady B----- with that _very_ young gentleman. After all her experience +in angling, it is odd that she should still only throw in for small +fish. Pray, why is the marriage between Lady C----- D----- and Mr. +F----- broken off? Is it true that he is so much in debt, and is so +very--very profligate? They say she is heartbroken." + +"Really, Lady Doltimore," said Maltravers, smiling, "I am but a bad +scandal-monger. But poor F----- is not, I believe, much worse than +others. How do we know whose fault it is when a marriage is broken off? +Lady C----- D----- heartbroken! what an idea! Nowadays there is never +any affection in compacts of that sort; and the chain that binds the +frivolous nature is but a gossamer thread! Fine gentlemen and fine +ladies, their loves and their marriages-- + + "'May flourish and may fade; + A breath can make them, as a breath has made.' + +"Never believe that a heart long accustomed to beat only in good society +can be broken,--it is rarely ever touched!" + +Evelyn listened attentively, and seemed struck. She sighed, and said +in a very low voice, as to herself, "It is true--how could I think +otherwise?" + +For the next few days Evelyn was unwell, and did not quit her room. +Maltravers was in despair. The flowers, the books, the music he sent; +his anxious inquiries, his earnest and respectful notes, touched with +that ineffable charm which Heart and Intellect breathe into the most +trifling coinage from their mint,--all affected Evelyn sensibly. Perhaps +she contrasted them with Legard's indifference and apparent caprice; +perhaps in that contrast Maltravers gained more than by all his +brilliant qualities. Meanwhile, without visit, without message, without +farewell,--unconscious, it is true, of Evelyn's illness,--Legard +departed for Vienna. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + A PLEASING land... + Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye, + And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, + Forever flashing round a summer sky.--THOMSON. + +DAILY, hourly, increased the influence of Evelyn over Maltravers. Oh, +what a dupe is a man's pride! what a fool his wisdom! That a girl, +a mere child, one who scarce knew her own heart, beautiful as it +was,--whose deeper feelings still lay coiled up in their sweet +buds,--that she should thus master this proud, wise man! But as +thou--our universal teacher--as thou, O Shakspeare! haply speaking from +the hints of thine own experience, hast declared-- + + "None are so truly caught, when they are catched, + As wit turned fool; folly in wisdom hatched, + Hath wisdom's warrant." + +Still, methinks that, in that surpassing and dangerously indulged +affection which levelled thee, Maltravers, with the weakest, which +overturned all thy fine philosophy of Stoicism, and made thee the +veriest slave of the "Rose Garden,"--still, Maltravers, thou mightest +at least have seen that thou hast lost forever all right to pride, +all privilege to disdain the herd! But thou wert proud of thine own +infirmity! And far sharper must be that lesson which can teach thee that +Pride--thine angel--is ever pre-doomed to fall. + +What a mistake to suppose that the passions are strongest in youth! The +passions are not stronger, but the control over them is weaker. They are +more easily excited, they are more violent and more apparent; but they +have less energy, less durability, less intense and concentrated power, +than in maturer life. In youth, passion succeeds to passion, and one +breaks upon the other, as waves upon a rock, till the heart frets itself +to repose. In manhood, the great deep flows on, more calm, but more +profound; its serenity is the proof of the might and terror of its +course, were the wind to blow and the storm to rise. + +A young man's ambition is but vanity,--it has no definite aim, it plays +with a thousand toys. As with one passion, so with the rest. In youth, +Love is ever on the wing, but, like the birds in April, it hath not yet +built its nest. With so long a career of summer and hope before it, the +disappointment of to-day is succeeded by the novelty of to-morrow, and +the sun that advances to the noon but dries up its fervent tears. But +when we have arrived at that epoch of life,--when, if the light fail us, +if the last rose wither, we feel that the loss cannot be retrieved, +and that the frost and the darkness are at hand, Love becomes to us +a treasure that we watch over and hoard with a miser's care. Our +youngest-born affection is our darling and our idol, the fondest pledge +of the Past, the most cherished of our hopes for the Future. A certain +melancholy that mingles with our joy at the possession only enhances its +charm. We feel ourselves so dependent on it for all that is yet to come. +Our other barks--our gay galleys of pleasure, our stately argosies of +pride--have been swallowed up by the remorseless wave. On this last +vessel we freight our all, to its frail tenement we commit ourselves. +The star that guides it is our guide, and in the tempest that menaces we +behold our own doom! + +Still Maltravers shrank from the confession that trembled on his lips; +still he adhered to the course he had prescribed to himself. If ever +(as he had implied in his letter to Cleveland)--if ever Evelyn should +discover they were not suited to each other! The possibility of such an +affliction impressed his judgment, the dread of it chilled his heart. +With all his pride, there was a certain humility in Maltravers that was +perhaps one cause of his reserve. He knew what a beautiful possession +is youth,--its sanguine hopes, its elastic spirit, its inexhaustible +resources! What to the eyes of woman were the acquisitions which manhood +had brought him,--the vast but the sad experience, the arid wisdom, the +philosophy based on disappointment? He might be loved but for the vain +glitter of name and reputation,--and love might vanish as custom dimmed +the illusion. Men of strong affections are jealous of their own genius. +They know how separate a thing from the household character genius +often is,--they fear lest they should be loved for a quality, not for +themselves. + +Thus communed he with himself; thus, as the path had become clear to his +hopes, did new fears arise; and thus did love bring, as it ever does, in +its burning wake,-- + + "The pang, the agony, the doubt!" + +Maltravers then confirmed himself in the resolution he had formed: +he would cautiously examine Evelyn and himself; he would weigh in the +balance every straw that the wind should turn up; he would not aspire to +the treasure, unless he could feel secure that the coffer could preserve +the gem. This was not only a prudent, it was a just and a generous +determination. It was one which we all ought to form if the fervour +of our passions will permit us. We have no right to sacrifice years to +moments, and to melt the pearl that has no price in a single draught! +But can Maltravers adhere to his wise precautions? The truth must be +spoken,--it was, perhaps, the first time in his life that Maltravers +had been really in love. As the reader will remember, he had not been in +love with the haughty Florence; admiration, gratitude,--the affection of +the head, not that of the feelings,--had been the links that bound him +to the enthusiastic correspondent revealed in the gifted beauty; and the +gloomy circumstances connected with her early fate had left deep furrows +in his memory. Time and vicissitude had effaced the wounds, and the +Light of the Beautiful dawned once more in the face of Evelyn. Valerie +de Ventadour had been but the fancy of a roving breast. Alice, the sweet +Alice!--her, indeed, in the first flower of youth, he had loved with +a boy's romance. He had loved her deeply, fondly,--but perhaps he +had never been in love with her; he had mourned her loss for +years,--insensibly to himself her loss had altered his character and +cast a melancholy gloom over all the colours of his life. But she whose +range of ideas was so confined, she who had but broke into knowledge, as +the chrysalis into the butterfly--how much in that prodigal and gifted +nature, bounding onwards into the broad plains of life, must the peasant +girl have failed to fill! They had had nothing in common but their youth +and their love. It was a dream that had hovered over the poet-boy in the +morning twilight,--a dream he had often wished to recall, a dream that +had haunted him in the noon-day,--but had, as all boyish visions ever +have done, left the heart unexhausted, and the passions unconsumed! +Years, long years, since then had rolled away, and yet, perhaps, one +unconscious attraction that drew Maltravers so suddenly towards Evelyn +was a something indistinct and undefinable that reminded him of Alice. +There was no similarity in their features; but at times a tone in +Evelyn's voice, a "trick of the manner," an air, a gesture, recalled +him, over the gulfs of Time, to Poetry, and Hope, and Alice. + +In the youth of each--the absent and the present one--there was +resemblance,--resemblance in their simplicity, their grace. Perhaps +Alice, of the two, had in her nature more real depth, more ardour of +feeling, more sublimity of sentiment, than Evelyn. But in her primitive +ignorance half her noblest qualities were embedded and unknown. And +Evelyn--his equal in rank; Evelyn, well cultivated; Evelyn, so long +courted, so deeply studied--had such advantages over the poor peasant +girl! Still the poor peasant girl often seemed to smile on him from that +fair face; and in Evelyn he half loved Alice again! + +So these two persons now met daily; their intercourse was even more +familiar than before, their several minds grew hourly more developed +and transparent to each other. But of love Maltravers still forbore to +speak; they were friends,--no more; such friends as the disparity of +their years and their experience might warrant them to be. And in that +young and innocent nature--with its rectitude, its enthusiasm, and its +pious and cheerful tendencies--Maltravers found freshness in the desert, +as the camel-driver lingering at the well. Insensibly his heart warmed +again to his kind; and as the harp of David to the ear of Saul, was the +soft voice that lulled remembrance and awakened hope in the lonely man. + +Meanwhile, what was the effect that the presence, the attentions, of +Maltravers produced on Evelyn? Perhaps it was of that kind which most +flatters us and most deceives. She never dreamed of comparing him with +others. To her thoughts he stood aloof and alone from all his kind. It +may seem a paradox, but it might be that she admired and venerated +him almost too much for love. Still her pleasure in his society was so +evident and unequivocal, her deference to his opinion so marked, she +sympathized in so many of his objects, she had so much blindness or +forbearance for his faults (and he never sought to mask them), that the +most diffident of men might have drawn from so many symptoms hopes the +most auspicious. Since the departure of Legard, the gayeties of Paris +lost their charm for Evelyn, and more than ever she could appreciate the +society of her friend. He thus gradually lost his earlier fears of her +forming too keen an attachment to the great world; and as nothing could +be more apparent than Evelyn's indifference to the crowd of flatterers +and suitors that hovered round her, Maltravers no longer dreaded a +rival. He began to feel assured that they had both gone through +the ordeal; and that he might ask for love without a doubt of its +immutability and faith. At this period they were both invited, with the +Doltimores, to spend a few days at the villa of De Montaigne, near St. +Cloud. And there it was that Maltravers determined to know his fate! + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + CHAOS of Thought and Passion all confused.--POPE. + +IT is to the contemplation of a very different scene that the course of +our story now conducts us. + +Between St. Cloud and Versailles there was at that time--perhaps +there still is--a lone and melancholy house, appropriated to the +insane,--melancholy, not from its site, but the purpose to which it +is devoted. Placed on an eminence, the windows of the mansion +command--beyond the gloomy walls that gird the garden ground--one of +those enchanting prospects which win for France her title to _La Belle_. +There the glorious Seine is seen in the distance, broad and winding +through the varied plains, and beside the gleaming villages and villas. +There, too, beneath the clear blue sky of France, the forest-lands of +Versailles and St. Germains stretch in dark luxuriance around and afar. +There you may see sleeping on the verge of the landscape the mighty +city,--crowned with the thousand spires from which, proud above the +rest, rises the eyry of Napoleon's eagle, the pinnacle of Notre Dame. + +Remote, sequestered, the place still commands the survey of the +turbulent world below; and Madness gazes upon prospects that might well +charm the thoughtful eyes of Imagination or of Wisdom! In one of the +rooms of this house sat Castruccio Cesarini. The apartment was furnished +even with elegance; a variety of books strewed the table; nothing for +comfort or for solace that the care and providence of affection could +dictate was omitted. Cesarini was alone: leaning his cheek upon his +hand, he gazed on the beautiful and tranquil view we have described. +"And am I never to set a free foot on that soil again?" he muttered +indignantly, as he broke from his revery. + +The door opened, and the keeper of the sad abode (a surgeon of humanity +and eminence) entered, followed by De Montaigne. Cesarini turned +round and scowled upon the latter; the surgeon, after a few words of +salutation, withdrew to a corner of the room, and appeared absorbed in +a book. De Montaigne approached his brother-in-law,--"I have brought +you some poems just published at Milan, my dear Castruccio,--they will +please you." + +"Give me my liberty!" cried Cesarini, clenching his hands. "Why am I +to be detained here? Why are my nights to be broken by the groans of +maniacs, and my days devoured in a solitude that loathes the aspect of +things around me? Am I mad? You know I am not! It is an old trick to +say that poets are mad,--you mistake our agonies for insanity. See, I +am calm; I can reason: give me any test of sound mind--no matter how +rigid--I will pass it; I am not mad,--I swear I am not!" + +"No, my dear Castruccio," said De Montaigne, soothingly; "but you are +still unwell,--you still have fever; when next I see you perhaps you +may be recovered sufficiently to dismiss the doctor and change the air. +Meanwhile is there anything you would have added or altered?" + +Cesarini had listened to this speech with a mocking sarcasm on his lip, +but an expression of such hopeless wretchedness in his eyes, as they +alone can comprehend who have witnessed madness in its lucid intervals. +He sank down, and his head drooped gloomily on his breast. "No," said +he; "I want nothing but free air or death,--no matter which." + +De Montaigne stayed some time with the unhappy man, and sought to soothe +him; but it was in vain. Yet when he rose to depart, Cesarini started +up, and fixing on him his large wistful eyes, exclaimed, "Ah! do not +leave me yet. It is so dreadful to be alone with the dead and the worse +than dead!" + +The Frenchman turned aside to wipe his eyes, and stifle the rising at +his heart; and again he sat, and again he sought to soothe. At length +Cesarini, seemingly more calm, gave him leave to depart. "Go," said he, +"go; tell Teresa I am better, that I love her tenderly, that I shall +live to tell her children not to be poets. Stay, you asked if there was +aught I wished changed: yes, this room; it is too still: I hear my own +pulse beat so loudly in the silence, it is horrible! There is a room +below, by the window of which there is a tree, and the winds rock its +boughs to and fro, and it sighs and groans like a living thing; it +will be pleasant to look at that tree, and see the birds come home to +it,--yet that tree is wintry and blasted too! It will be pleasant to +hear it fret and chafe in the stormy nights; it will be a friend to me, +that old tree! let me have that room. Nay, look not at each other,--it +is not so high as this; but the window is barred,--I cannot escape!" And +Cesarini smiled. + +"Certainly," said the surgeon, "if you prefer that room; but it has not +so fine a view." + +"I hate the view of the world that has cast me off. When may I change?" + +"This very evening." + +"Thank you; it will be a great revolution in my life." + +And Cesarini's eyes brightened, and he looked happy. De Montaigne, +thoroughly unmanned, tore himself away. + +The promise was kept, and Cesarini was transferred that night to the +chamber he had selected. + +As soon as it was deep night, the last visit of the keeper paid, and, +save now and then, by some sharp cry in the more distant quarter of the +house, all was still, Cesarini rose from his bed; a partial light came +from the stars that streamed through the frosty and keen air, and cast +a sickly gleam through the heavy bars of the casement. It was then +that Cesarini drew from under his pillow a long-cherished and +carefully-concealed treasure. Oh, with what rapture had he first +possessed himself of it! with what anxiety had it been watched and +guarded! how many cunning stratagems and profound inventions had +gone towards the baffling, the jealous search of the keeper and his +myrmidons! The abandoned and wandering mother never clasped her +child more fondly to her bosom, nor gazed upon his features with more +passionate visions for the future. And what had so enchanted the poor +prisoner, so deluded the poor maniac? A large nail! He had found +it accidentally in the garden; he had hoarded it for weeks,--it had +inspired him with the hope of liberty. Often, in the days far gone, he +had read of the wonders that had been effected, of the stones removed, +and the bars filed, by the self-same kind of implement. He remembered +that the most celebrated of those bold unfortunates who live a life +against the law, had said, "Choose my prison, and give me but a rusty +nail, and I laugh at your jailers and your walls!" He crept to the +window; he examined his relic by the dim starlight; he kissed it +passionately, and the tears stood in his eyes. + +Ah, who shall determine the worth of things? No king that night so +prized his crown as the madman prized that rusty inch of wire,--the +proper prey of the rubbish-cart and dunghill. Little didst thou think, +old blacksmith, when thou drewest the dull metal from the fire, of what +precious price it was to become! + +Cesarini, with the astuteness of his malady, had long marked out this +chamber for the scene of his operations; he had observed that the +framework in which the bars were set seemed old and worm-eaten; that the +window was but a few feet from the ground; that the noise made in the +winter nights by the sighing branches of the old tree without would +deaden the sound of the lone workman. Now, then, his hopes were to be +crowned. Poor fool! and even _thou_ hast hope still! All that night he +toiled and toiled, and sought to work his iron into a file; now he tried +the bars, and now the framework. Alas! he had not learned the skill in +such tools, possessed by his renowned model and inspirer; the flesh was +worn from his fingers, the cold drops stood on his brow; and morning +surprised him, advanced not a hair-breadth in his labour. + +He crept back to bed, and again hid the useless implement, and at last +he slept. + +And, night after night, the same task, the same results! But at length, +one day, when Cesarini returned from his moody walk in the gardens +(_pleasure_-grounds they were called by the owner), he found better +workmen than he at the window; they were repairing the framework, they +were strengthening the bars,--all hope was now gone! The unfortunate +said nothing; too cunning to show his despair he eyed them silently, +and cursed them; but the old tree was left still, and that was +something,--company and music. + +A day or two after this barbarous counterplot, Cesarini was walking in +the gardens towards the latter part of the afternoon (just when in the +short days the darkness begins to steal apace over the chill and western +sun), when he was accosted by a fellow-captive, who had often before +sought his acquaintance; for they try to have friends,--those poor +people! Even _we_ do the same; though _we_ say we are _not_ mad! This +man had been a warrior, had served with Napoleon, had received honours +and ribbons,--might, for aught we know, have dreamed of being a marshal! +But the demon smote him in the hour of his pride. It was his disease to +fancy himself a monarch. He believed, for he forgot chronology, that he +was at once the Iron Mask, and the true sovereign of France and Navarre, +confined in state by the usurpers of his crown. On other points he was +generally sane; a tall, strong man, with fierce features, and stern +lines, wherein could be read many a bloody tale of violence and wrong, +of lawless passions, of terrible excesses, to which madness might be +at once the consummation and the curse. This man had taken a fancy +to Cesarini; and, in some hours Cesarini had shunned him less than +others,--for they could alike rail against all living things. The +lunatic approached Cesarini with an air of dignity and condescension. + +"It is a cold night, sir,--and there will be no moon. Has it never +occurred to you that the winter is the season for escape?" + +Cesarini started; the ex-officer continued,-- + +"Ay, I see by your manner that you, too, chafe at our ignominious +confinement. I think that together we might brave the worst. You +probably are confined on some state offence. I give you full pardon, if +you assist me. For myself I have but to appear in my capital; old Louis +le Grand must be near his last hour." + +"This madman my best companion!" thought Cesarini, revolting at his own +infirmity, as Gulliver started from the Yahoo. "No matter, he talks of +escape. + +"And how think you," said the Italian, aloud,--"how think you, that we +have any chance of deliverance?" + +"Hush, speak lower," said the soldier. "In the inner garden, I have +observed for the last two days that a gardener is employed in nailing +some fig-trees and vines to the wall. Between that garden and these +grounds there is but a paling, which we can easily scale. He works +till dusk; at the latest hour we can, let us climb noiselessly over the +paling, and creep along the vegetable beds till we reach the man. He +uses a ladder for his purpose; the rest is clear,--we must fell and gag +him,--twist his neck if necessary,--I have twisted a neck before," quoth +the maniac, with a horrid smile. "The ladder will help us over the wall, +and the night soon grows dark at this season." + +Cesarini listened, and his heart beat quick. "Will it be too late to try +to-night?" said he in a whisper. + +"Perhaps not," said the soldier, who retained all his military +acuteness. "But are you prepared,--don't you require time to man +yourself?" + +"No--no,--I have had time enough!--I am ready." + +"Well, then,--hist!---we are watched--one of the jailers! Talk easily, +smile, laugh. This way." + +They passed by one of the watch of the place, and just as they were in +his hearing, the soldier turned to Cesarini, "Sir, will you favour me +with your snuff-box?" + +"I have none." + +"None? what a pity! My good friend," and he turned to the scout, "may +I request you to look in my room for my snuff-box? It is on the +chimney-piece,--it will not take you a minute." + +The soldier was one of those whose insanity was deemed most harmless, +and his relations, who were rich and wellborn, had requested every +indulgence to be shown to him. The watch suspected nothing, and repaired +to the house. As soon as the trees hid him,--"Now," said the soldier, +"stoop almost on all fours, and run quick." + +So saying the maniac crouched low, and glided along with a rapidity +which did not distance Cesarini. They reached the paling that separated +the vegetable garden from the pleasure-ground; the soldier vaulted over +it with ease, Cesarini with more difficulty followed. They crept along; +the herbs and vegetable beds, with their long bare stalks, concealed +their movements; the man was still on the ladder. "_La bonne +Esperance,_" said the soldier through his ground teeth, muttering some +old watchword of the wars, and (while Cesarini, below, held the ladder +steadfast) he rushed up the steps, and with a sudden effort of his +muscular arm, hurled the gardener to the ground. The man, surprised, +half stunned, and wholly terrified, did not attempt to wrestle with +the two madmen, he uttered loud cries for help! But help came too late; +these strange and fearful comrades had already scaled the wall, had +dropped on the other side, and were fast making across the dusky fields +to the neighbouring forest. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + HOPES and Fears + Start up alarmed, and o'er life's narrow verge + Look down: on what?--a fathomless abyss!--YOUNG. + +MIDNIGHT--and intense frost! There they were--houseless and +breadless--the two fugitives, in the heart of that beautiful forest +which has rung to the horns of many a royal chase. The soldier, whose +youth had been inured to hardships, and to the conquests which our +mother-wit wrings from the stepdame Nature, had made a fire by the +friction of two pieces of dry wood; such wood was hard to be found, for +the snow whitened the level ground, and lay deep in the hollows; and +when it was discovered, the fuel was slow to burn; however, the fire +blazed red at last. On a little mound, shaded by a semicircle of huge +trees, sat the Outlaws of Human Reason. They cowered over the blaze +opposite to each other, and the glare crimsoned their features. And each +in his heart longed to rid himself of his mad neighbour; and each felt +the awe of solitude,--the dread of sleep beside a comrade whose soul had +lost God's light! + +"Ho!" said the warrior, breaking a silence that had been long kept, +"this is cold work at the best, and hunger pinches me; I almost regret +the prison." + +"I do not feel the cold," said Cesarini, "and I do not care for hunger: +I am revelling only in the sense of liberty!" + +"Try and sleep," quoth the soldier, with a coaxing and, sinister +softness of voice; "we will take it by turns to watch." + +"I cannot sleep,--take you the first turn." + +"Hark ye, sir!" said the soldier sullenly; "I must not have my commands +disputed; now we are free, we are no longer equal: I am heir to the +crowns of France and Navarre. Sleep, I say!" + +"And what Prince or Potentate, King or Kaiser," cried Cesarini, catching +the quick contagion of the fit that had seized his comrade, "can dictate +to the monarch of Earth and Air, the Elements and the music-breathing +Stars? I am Cesarini the Bard! and the huntsman Orion halts in his chase +above to listen to my lyre! Be stilled, rude man!--thou scarest away the +angels, whose breath even now was rushing through my hair!" + +"It is too horrible!" cried the grim man of blood, shivering; "my +enemies are relentless, and give me a madman for a jailer!" + +"Ha! a madman!" exclaimed Cesarini, springing to his feet, and glaring +at the soldier with eyes that caught and rivalled the blaze of the fire. +"And who are you?--what devil from the deep hell, that art leagued with +my persecutors against me?" + +With the instinct of his old calling and valour, the soldier also rose +when he saw the movement of his companion; and his fierce features +worked with rage and fear. + +"Avaunt!" said he, waving his arm; "we banish thee from our presence! +This is our palace!--and our guards are at hand!" pointing to the still +and skeleton trees that grouped round in ghastly bareness. "Begone!" + +At that moment they heard at a distance the deep barking of a dog, and +each cried simultaneously, "They are after me!--betrayed!" The soldier +sprang at the throat of Cesarini; but the Italian, at the same instant, +caught a half-burned brand from the fire, and dashed the blazing end +in the face of his assailant. The soldier uttered a cry of pain, and +recoiled back, blinded and dismayed. Cesarini, whose madness, when +fairly roused, was of the most deadly nature, again raised his weapon, +and probably nothing but death could have separated the foes; but again +the bay of the dog was heard, and Cesarini, answering the sound by a +wild yell, threw down the brand, and fled away through the forest with +inconceivable swiftness. He hurried on through bush and dell,--and the +boughs tore his garments and mangled his flesh,--but stopped not his +progress till he fell at last on the ground, breathless and exhausted, +and heard from some far-off clock the second hour of morning. He had +left the forest; a farmhouse stood before him, and the whitened roofs of +scattered cottages sloped to the tranquil sky. The witness of man--the +social tranquil sky and the reasoning man--operated like a charm upon +the senses which recent excitement had more than usually disturbed. The +unhappy wretch gazed at the peaceful abodes, and sighed heavily; then, +rising from the earth, he crept into one of the sheds that adjoined the +farmhouse, and throwing himself on some straw, slept sound and quietly +till daylight, and the voices of peasants in the shed awakened him. + +He rose refreshed, calm, and, for ordinary purposes, sufficiently +sane to prevent suspicion of his disease. He approached the startled +peasants, and representing himself as a traveller who had lost his way +in the night and amidst the forest, begged for food and water. Though +his garments were torn, they were new and of good fashion; his voice was +mild; his whole appearance and address those of one of some station--and +the French peasant is a hospitable fellow. Cesarini refreshed and rested +himself an hour or two at the farm, and then resumed his wanderings; +he offered no money, for the rules of the asylum forbade money to its +inmates,--he had none with him; but none was expected from him, and they +bade him farewell as kindly as if he had bought their blessings. He +then began to consider where he was to take refuge, and how provide for +himself; the feeling of liberty braced, and for a time restored, his +intellect. + +Fortunately, he had on his person, besides some rings of trifling cost, +a watch of no inconsiderable value, the sale of which might support him, +in such obscure and humble quarter as he could alone venture to inhabit, +for several weeks, perhaps months. This thought made him cheerful and +elated; he walked lustily on, shunning the high road. The day was clear, +the sun bright, the air full of racy health. Oh, what soft raptures +swelled the heart of the wanderer, as he gazed around him! The Poet +and the Freeman alike stirred within his shattered heart! He paused to +contemplate the berries of the icy trees, to listen to the sharp glee of +the blackbird; and once--when he found beneath a hedge a cold, scentless +group of hardy violets--he laughed aloud in his joy. In that laughter +there was no madness, no danger; but when as he journeyed on, he passed +through a little hamlet, and saw the children at play upon the ground, +and heard from the open door of a cabin the sound of rustic music, then +indeed he paused abruptly; the past gathered over him: _he knew that +which he had been, that which he was now_!--an awful memory! a dread +revelation! And, covering his face with his hands, he wept aloud. In +those tears were the peril and method of madness. He woke from them +to think of his youth, his hopes, of Florence, of revenge! Lumley Lord +Vargrave! better, from that hour, to encounter the tiger in his lair +than find thyself alone with that miserable man! + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + IT seemed the laurel chaste and stubborn oak, + And all the gentle trees on earth that grew, + It seemed the land, the sea, and heaven above, + All breathed out fancy sweet, and sighed out love. + FAIRFAX'S _Tasso_. + +AT De Montaigne's villa, Evelyn, for the first time, gathered from the +looks, the manners, of Maltravers that she was beloved. It was no longer +possible to mistake the evidences of affection. Formerly, Maltravers +had availed himself of his advantage of years and experience, and would +warn, admonish, dispute, even reprove; formerly, there had been so much +of seeming caprice, of cold distance, of sudden and wayward haughtiness, +in his bearing; but now the whole man was changed,--the Mentor had +vanished in the Lover; he held his being on her breath. Her lightest +pleasure seemed to have grown his law, no coldness ever alternated the +deep devotion of his manner; an anxious, a timid, a watchful softness +replaced all his stately self-possession. Evelyn saw that she was loved; +and she then looked into her own heart. + +I have said before that Evelyn was gentle, even to _yieldingness_; that +her susceptibility made her shrink from the thought of pain to another: +and so thoroughly did she revere Maltravers, so grateful did she feel +for a love that could not but flatter pride, and raise her in her +self-esteem, that she felt it impossible that she could reject his suit. +"Then, do I love him as I dreamed I could love?" she asked herself; +and her heart gave no intelligible reply. "Yes, it must be so; in his +presence I feel a tranquil and eloquent charm; his praise delights me; +his esteem is my most high ambition;--and yet--and yet--" she sighed and +thought of Legard; "but _he_ loved me not!" and she turned restlessly +from that image. "He thinks but of the world, of pleasure; Maltravers is +right,--the spoiled children of society cannot love: why should I think +of him?" + +There were no guests at the villa, except Maltravers, Evelyn, and Lord +and Lady Doltimore. Evelyn was much captivated by the graceful vivacity +of Teresa, though that vivacity was not what it had been before her +brother's affliction; their children, some of whom had grown up, +constituted an amiable and intelligent family; and De Montaigne himself +was agreeable and winning, despite his sober manners and his love of +philosophical dispute. Evelyn often listened thoughtfully to Teresa's +praises of her husband,--to her account of the happiness she had known +in a marriage where there had been so great a disparity of years; Evelyn +began to question the truth of her early visions of romance. + +Caroline saw the unequivocal attachment of Maltravers with the same +indifference with which she had anticipated the suit of Legard. It was +the same to her what hand delivered Evelyn and herself from the +designs of Vargrave; but Vargrave occupied nearly all her thoughts. +The newspapers had reported him as seriously ill,--at one time in great +danger. He was now recovering, but still unable to quit his room. He had +written to her once, lamenting his ill-fortune, trusting soon to be at +Paris; and touching, with evident pleasure, upon Legard's departure for +Vienna, which he had seen in the "Morning Post." But he was afar--alone, +ill, untended; and though Caroline's guilty love had been much abated +by Vargrave's icy selfishness, by absence and remorse, still she had the +heart of a woman,--and Vargrave was the only one that had ever touched +it. She felt for him, and grieved in silence; she did not dare to utter +sympathy aloud, for Doltimore had already given evidence of a suspicious +and jealous temper. + +Evelyn was also deeply affected by the account of her guardian's +illness. As I before said, the moment he ceased to be her lover, her +childish affection for him returned. She even permitted herself to write +to him; and a tone of melancholy depression which artfully pervaded his +reply struck her with something like remorse. He told her in the letter +that he had much to say to her relative to an investment, in conformity +with her stepfather's wishes, and he should hasten to Paris, even before +the doctor would sanction his removal. Vargrave forbore to mention what +the meditated investment was. The last public accounts of the minister +had, however, been so favourable, that his arrival might be almost daily +expected; and both Caroline and Evelyn felt relieved. + +To De Montaigne, Maltravers confided his attachment, and both the +Frenchman and Teresa sanctioned and encouraged it. Evelyn enchanted +them; and they had passed that age when they could have imagined it +possible that the man they had known almost as a boy was separated by +years from the lively feelings and extreme youth of Evelyn. They could +not believe that the sentiments he had inspired were colder than those +that animated himself. + +One day, Maltravers had been absent for some hours on his solitary +rambles, and De Montaigne had not yet returned from Paris, which he +visited almost daily. It was so late in the noon as almost to border on +evening, when Maltravers; on his return, entered the grounds by a gate +that separated them from an extensive wood. He saw Evelyn, Teresa, and +two of her children walking on a terrace immediately before him. He +joined them; and, somehow or other, it soon chanced that Teresa and +himself loitered behind the rest, a little out of hearing. "Ah, Mr. +Maltravers," said the former, "we miss the soft skies of Italy and the +beautiful hues of Como." + +"And, for my part, I miss the youth that gave 'glory to the grass and +splendour to the flower.'" + +"Nay; we are happier now, believe me,--or at least I should be, if--But +I must not think of my poor brother. Ah, if his guilt deprived you of +one who was worthy of you, it would be some comfort to his sister to +think at last that the loss was repaired. And you still have scruples?" + +"Who that loves truly has not? How young, how lovely, how worthy of +lighter hearts and fairer forms than mine! Give me back the years that +have passed since we last met at Como, and I might hope!" + +"And this to me who have enjoyed such happiness with one older, when we +married, by ten years than you are now!" + +"But you, Teresa, were born to see life through the Claude glass." + +"Ah, you provoke me with these refinements; you turn from a happiness +you have but to demand." + +"Do not--do not raise my hopes too high," cried Maltravers, with great +emotion; "I have been schooling myself all day. But if I _am_ deceived!" + +"Trust me, you are not. See, even now she turns round to look for you; +she loves you,--loves you as you deserve. This difference of years that +you so lament does but deepen and elevate her attachment!" + +Teresa turned to Maltravers, surprised at his silence. How joyous +sat his heart upon his looks,--no gloom on his brow, no doubt in +his sparkling eyes! He was mortal, and he yielded to the delight of +believing himself beloved. He pressed Teresa's hand in silence, and, +quitting her abruptly, gained the side of Evelyn. Madame de Montaigne +comprehended all that passed within him; and as she followed, she soon +contrived to detach her children, and returned with them to the house on +a whispered pretence of seeing if their father had yet arrived. Evelyn +and Maltravers continued to walk on,--not aware, at first, that the rest +of the party were not close behind. + +The sun had set; and they were in a part of the grounds which, by way +of contrast to the rest, was laid out in the English fashion; the +walk wound, serpent-like, among a profusion of evergreens irregularly +planted; the scene was shut in and bounded, except where at a distance, +through an opening of the trees, you caught the spire of a distant +church, over which glimmered, faint and fair, the smile of the evening +star. + +"This reminds me of home," said Evelyn, gently. + +"And hereafter it will remind me of you," said Maltravers, in whispered +accents. He fixed his eyes on her as he spoke. Never had his look been +so true to his heart; never had his voice so undisguisedly expressed the +profound and passionate sentiment which had sprung up within him,--to +constitute, as he then believed, the latest bliss, or the crowning +misery, of his life! At that moment, it was a sort of instinct that told +him they were _alone_; for who has not felt--in those few and memorable +hours of life when love long suppressed overflows the fountain, and +seems to pervade the whole frame and the whole spirit--that there is +a magic around and within us that hath a keener intelligence than +intellect itself? Alone at such an hour with the one we love, the whole +world besides seems to vanish, and our feet to have entered the soil, +and our lips to have caught the air, of Fairyland. + +They were alone. And why did Evelyn tremble? Why did she feel that a +crisis of existence was at hand? + +"Miss Cameron--Evelyn," said Maltravers, after they had walked some +moments in silence, "hear me--and let your reason as well as your heart +reply. From the first moment we met, you became dear to me. Yes, even +when a child, your sweetness and your fortitude foretold so well +what you would be in womanhood; even then you left upon my memory a +delightful and mysterious shadow,--too prophetic of the light that now +hallows and wraps your image! We met again,--and the attraction that +had drawn me towards you years before was suddenly renewed. I love you, +Evelyn! I love you better than all words can tell! Your future fate, +your welfare, your happiness, contain and embody all the hopes left +to me in life! But our years are different, Evelyn; I have known +sorrows,--and the disappointments and the experience that have severed +me from the common world have robbed me of more than time itself hath +done. They have robbed me of that zest for the ordinary pleasures of our +race,--which may it be yours, sweet Evelyn, ever to retain! To me, the +time foretold by the Preacher as the lot of age has already arrived, +when the sun and the moon are darkened, and when, save in you and +through you, I have no pleasure in anything. Judge, if such a being you +can love! Judge, if my very confession does not revolt and chill, if it +does not present to you a gloomy and cheerless future, were it possible +that you could unite your lot to mine! Answer not from friendship or +from pity; the love I feel for you can have a reply from love alone, and +from that reasoning which love, in its enduring power, in its healthful +confidence, in its prophetic foresight, alone supplies! I can resign you +without a murmur; but I could not live with you and even fancy that you +had one care I could not soothe, though you might have happiness I +could not share. And fate does not present to me any vision so dark and +terrible--no, not your loss itself; no, not your indifference; no, not +your aversion--as your discovery, after time should make regret in vain, +that you had mistaken fancy or friendship for affection, a sentiment for +love. Evelyn, I have confided to you all,--all this wild heart, now and +evermore your own. My destiny is with you." + +Evelyn was silent; he took her hand, and her tears fell warm and fast +upon it. Alarmed and anxious, he drew her towards him and gazed upon her +face. + +"You fear to wound me," he said, with pale lips and trembling voice. +"Speak on,--I can bear all." + +"No, no," said Evelyn, falteringly; "I have no fear but not to deserve +you." + +"You love me, then,--you love me!" cried Maltravers wildly, and clasping +her to his heart. + +The moon rose at that instant, and the wintry sward and the dark trees +were bathed in the sudden light. The time--the light--so exquisite to +all, even in loneliness and in sorrow--how divine in such companionship! +in such overflowing and ineffable sense of bliss! There and then for the +first time did Maltravers press upon that modest and blushing cheek the +kiss of Love, of Hope,--the seal of a union he fondly hoped the grave +itself could not dissolve! + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + _Queen_. Whereon do you look? + _Hamlet_. On him, on him,--look you how pale he glares!--_Hamlet_. + +PERHAPS to Maltravers those few minutes which ensued, as they walked +slowly on, compensated for all the troubles and cares of years; for +natures like his feel joy even yet more intensely than sorrow. It might +be that the transport, the delirium of passionate and grateful thoughts +that he poured forth, when at last he could summon words, expressed +feelings the young Evelyn could not comprehend, and which less delighted +than terrified her with the new responsibility she had incurred. But +love so honest, so generous, so intense, dazzled and bewildered +and carried her whole soul away. Certainly at that hour she felt no +regret--no thought but that one in whom she had so long recognized +something nobler than is found in the common world was thus happy and +thus made happy by a word, a look from her! Such a thought is woman's +dearest triumph; and one so thoroughly unselfish, so yielding, and so +soft, could not be insensible to the rapture she had caused. + +"And oh!" said Maltravers, as he clasped again and again the hand that +he believed he had won forever, "now, at length, have I learned how +beautiful is life! For this--for this I have been reserved! Heaven is +merciful to me, and the waking world is brighter than all my dreams!" + +He ceased abruptly. At that instant they were once more on the terrace +where he had first joined Teresa, facing the wood, which was divided +by a slight and low palisade from the spot where they stood. He ceased +abruptly, for his eyes encountered a terrible and ominous apparition,--a +form connected with dreary associations of fate and woe. The figure had +raised itself upon a pile of firewood on the other side of the fence, +and hence it seemed almost gigantic in its stature. It gazed upon the +pair with eyes that burned with a preternatural blaze, and a voice which +Maltravers too well remembered shrieked out "Love! love! What! _thou_ +love again? Where is the Dead! Ha, ha! Where is the Dead?" + +Evelyn, startled by the words, looked up, and clung in speechless terror +to Maltravers. He remained rooted to the spot. + +"Unhappy man," said he, at length, and soothingly, "how came you hither? +Fly not, you are with friends." + +"Friends!" said the maniac, with a scornful laugh. "I know thee, Ernest +Maltravers,--I know thee: but it is not thou who hast locked me up in +darkness and in hell, side by side with the mocking fiend! Friends! ah, +but no Friends shall catch me now! I am free! I am free! Air and wave +are not more free!" And the madman laughed with horrible glee. "She +is fair--fair," he said, abruptly checking himself, and with a changed +voice, "but not so fair as the Dead. Faithless that thou art--and yet +she loved _thee_! Woe to thee! woe! Maltravers, the perfidious! Woe to +thee--and remorse--and shame!" + +"Fear not, Evelyn,--fear not," whispered Maltravers, gently, and placing +her behind him; "support your courage,--nothing shall harm you." + +Evelyn, though very pale, and trembling from head to foot, retained her +senses. Maltravers advanced towards the mad man. But no sooner did the +quick eye of the last perceive the movement, than, with the fear which +belongs to that dread disease,--the fear of losing liberty,--he turned, +and with a loud cry fled into the wood. Maltravers leaped over the +fence, and pursued him some way in vain. The thick copses of the wood +snatched every trace of the fugitive from his eye. + +Breathless and exhausted, Maltravers returned to the spot where he had +left Evelyn. As he reached it, he saw Teresa and her husband approaching +towards him, and Teresa's merry laugh sounded clear and musical in the +racy air. The sound appalled him; he hastened his steps to Evelyn. + +"Say nothing of what we have seen to Madame de Montaigne, I beseech +you," said he; "I will explain why hereafter." + +Evelyn, too overcome to speak, nodded her acquiescence. They joined the +De Montaignes, and Maltravers took the Frenchman aside. + +But before he could address him, De Montaigne said,-- + +"Hush! do not alarm my wife--she knows nothing; but I have just heard at +Paris, that--that he has escaped--you know whom I mean?" + +"I do; he is at hand; send in search of him! I have seen him. Once more +I have seen Castruccio Cesarini!" + + + + +BOOK IX. + + "Woe, woe: all things are clear."--SOPHOCLES: Oed. Tyr. 754. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + THE privilege that statesmen ever claim, + Who private interest never yet pursued, + But still pretended 'twas for others' good. +...... From hence on every humorous wind that veered + With shifted sails a several course you steered. + _Absalom and Achitophel_, Part ii. + +LORD VARGRAVE had for more than a fortnight remained at the inn at +M-----, too ill to be removed with safety in a season so severe. Even +when at last, by easy stages, he reached London, he was subjected to +a relapse; and his recovery was slow and gradual. Hitherto unused to +sickness, he bore his confinement with extreme impatience; and against +the commands of his physician insisted on continuing to transact +his official business, and consult with his political friends in his +sick-room; for Lumley knew well, that it is most pernicious to public +men to be considered failing in health,--turkeys are not more unfeeling +to a sick brother than politicians to an ailing statesman; they give out +that his head is touched, and see paralysis and epilepsy in every speech +and every despatch. The time, too, nearly ripe for his great schemes, +made it doubly necessary that he should exert himself, and prevent +being shelved with a plausible excuse of tender compassion for his +infirmities. As soon therefore as he learned that Legard had left Paris, +he thought himself safe for a while in that quarter, and surrendered +his thoughts wholly to his ambitious projects. Perhaps, too, with +the susceptible vanity of a middle-aged man, who has had his _bonnes +fortunes_, Lumley deemed, with Rousseau, that a lover, pale and +haggard--just raised from the bed of suffering--is more interesting to +friendship than attractive to love. He and Rousseau were, I believe, +both mistaken; but that is a matter of opinion: they both thought very +coarsely of women,--one from having no sentiment, and the other from +having a sentiment that was but a disease. At length, just as Lumley was +sufficiently recovered to quit his house, to appear at his office, and +declare that his illness had wonderfully improved his constitution, +intelligence from Paris, the more startling from being wholly +unexpected, reached him. From Caroline he learned that Maltravers had +proposed to Evelyn, and been accepted. From Maltravers himself he heard +the confirmation of the news. The last letter was short, but kind and +manly. He addressed Lord Vargrave as Evelyn's guardian; slightly alluded +to the scruples he had entertained till Lord Vargrave's suit was broken +off; and feeling the subject too delicate for a letter, expressed a +desire to confer with Lumley respecting Evelyn's wishes as to certain +arrangements in her property. + +And for this was it that Lumley had toiled! for this had he visited +Lisle Court! and for this had he been stricken down to the bed of pain! +Was it only to make his old rival the purchaser, if he so pleased it, of +the possessions of his own family? Lumley thought at that moment less of +Evelyn than of Lisle Court. As he woke from the stupor and the first +fit of rage into which these epistles cast him, the recollection of +the story he had heard from Mr. Onslow flashed across him. Were his +suspicions true, what a secret he would possess! How fate might yet +befriend him! Not a moment was to be lost. Weak, suffering as he still +was, he ordered his carriage, and hastened down to Mrs. Leslie. + +In the interview that took place, he was careful not to alarm her +into discretion. He managed the conference with his usual consummate +dexterity. He did not appear to believe that there had been any actual +connection between Alice and the supposed Butler. He began by simply +asking whether Alice had ever, in early life, been acquainted with a +person of that name, and when residing in the neighbourhood of -----. +The change of countenance, the surprised start of Mrs. Leslie, convinced +him that his suspicions were true. + +"And why do you ask, my lord?" said the old lady. "Is it to ascertain +this point that you have done me the honour to visit me?" + +"Not exactly, my dear madam," said Lumley, smiling. "But I am going to +C----- on business; and besides that I wished to give an account of your +health to Evelyn, whom I shall shortly see at Paris, I certainly did +desire to know whether it would be any gratification to Lady Vargrave, +for whom I have the deepest regard, to renew her acquaintance with the +said Mr. Butler." + +"What does your lordship know of him? What is he; who is he?" + +"Ah, my dear lady, you turn the tables on me, I see,--for my one +question you would give me fifty. But, seriously, before I answer you, +you must tell me whether Lady Vargrave does know a gentleman of that +name; yet, indeed, to save trouble, I may as well inform you, that I +know it was under that name that she resided at C-----, when my +poor uncle first made her acquaintance. What I ought to ask is +this,--supposing Mr. Butler be still alive, and a gentleman of character +and fortune, would it please Lady Vargrave to meet with him once more?" + +"I cannot tell you," said Mrs. Leslie, sinking back in her chair, much +embarrassed. + +"Enough, I shall not stir further in the matter. Glad to see you looking +so well. Fine place, beautiful trees. Any commands at C-----, or any +message for Evelyn?" + +Lumley rose to depart. + +"Stay," said Mrs. Leslie, recalling all the pining, restless, untiring +love that Lady Vargrave had manifested towards the lost, and feeling +that she ought not to sacrifice to slight scruples the chance of +happiness for her friend's future years,--"stay; I think this question +you should address to Lady Vargrave,--or shall I?" + +"As you will,--perhaps I had better write. Good-day," and Vargrave +hurried away. + +He had satisfied himself, but he had another yet to satisfy,--and that, +from certain reasons known but to himself, without bringing the third +person in contact with Lady Vargrave. On arriving at C----- he wrote, +therefore, to Lady Vargrave as follows:-- + + +MY DEAR FRIEND,--Do not think me impertinent or intrusive--but you know +me too well for that. A gentleman of the name of Butler is exceedingly +anxious to ascertain if you once lived near -----, in a pretty little +cottage,--Dove, or Dale, or Dell cottage (some such appellation),--and +if you remember a person of his name. Should you care to give a reply to +these queries, send me a line addressed to London, which I shall get on +my way to Paris. + + Yours most truly, + + VARGRAVE. + + +As soon as he had concluded, and despatched this letter, Vargrave wrote +to Mr. Winsley as follows:-- + + +MY DEAR SIR,--I am so unwell as to be unable to call on you, or even +to see any one, however agreeable (nay, the more agreeable the more +exciting!). I hope, however, to renew our personal acquaintance before +quitting C-----. Meanwhile, oblige me with a line to say if I did not +understand you to signify that you could, if necessary, prove that Lady +Vargrave once resided in this town as Mrs. Butler, a very short time +before she married my uncle, under the name of Cameron, in Devonshire; +and had she not also at that time a little girl,--an infant, or nearly +so,--who must necessarily be the young lady who is my uncle's heiress, +Miss Evelyn Cameron. My reason for thus troubling you is obvious. As +Miss Cameron's guardian, I have very shortly to wind up certain affairs +connected with my uncle's will; and, what is more, there is some +property bequeathed by the late Mr. Butler, which may make it necessary +to prove identity. + + Truly yours, + + VARGRAVE. + + +The answer to the latter communication ran thus:-- + + +"MY LORD,--I am very sorry to hear your lordship is so unwell, and will +pay my respects to-morrow. I certainly can swear that the present Lady +Vargrave was the Mrs. Butler who resided at C-----, and taught music. +And as the child with her was of the same sex, and about the same age +as Miss Cameron, there can, I should think, be no difficulty in +establishing the identity between that young lady and the child Lady +Vargrave had by her first husband, Mr. Butler; but of this, of course, I +cannot speak. + + "I have the honour, etc." + + +The next morning Vargrave despatched a note to Mr. Winsley, saying that +his health required him to return to town immediately,--and to town, in +fact, he hastened. The day after his arrival, he received, in a hurried +hand--strangely blurred and blotted, perhaps by tears--this short +letter:-- + + +For Heaven's sake, tell me what you mean! Yes, yes, I did once reside at +Dale Cottage, I did know one of the name of Butler! Has _he_ discovered +the name _I_ bear? Where is he? I implore you to write, or let me see +you before you leave England! + + ALICE VARGRAVE. + + +Lumley smiled triumphantly when he read and carefully put up this +letter. + +"I must now amuse and put her off--at all events for the present." + +In answer to Lady Vargrave's letter, he wrote a few lines to say that +he had only heard through a third person (a lawyer) of a Mr. Butler +residing somewhere abroad, who had wished these inquiries to be made; +that he believed it only related to some disposition of property; that, +_perhaps_, the Mr. Butler who made the inquiry was heir to the Mr. +Butler she had known; that he could learn nothing else at present, as +the purport of her reply must be sent abroad,--the lawyer would or could +say nothing more; that directly he received a further communication it +should be despatched to her, that he was most affectionately and most +truly hers. + +The rest of that morning Vargrave devoted to Lord Saxingham and his +allies; and declaring, and believing, that he should not be long absent +at Paris, he took an early dinner, and was about once more to commit +himself to the risks of travel, when, as he crossed the hall, Mr. Douce +came hastily upon him. + +"My lord--my lord--I must have a word with your l-l-lordship;--you are +going to--that is--" (and the little man looked frightened) "you intend +to--to go to--that is--ab-ab-ab--" + +"Not abscond, Mr. Douce; come into the library: I am in a great hurry, +but I have always time for _you_. What's the matter?" + +"Why, then, my lord,--I--I have heard nothing m-m-more from your +lordship about the pur-pur--" + +"Purchase?--I am going to Paris, to settle all particulars with Miss +Cameron; tell the lawyers so." + +"May--may--we draw out the money to--to--show--that--that we are in +earnest? Otherwise I fear--that is, I suspect--I mean I know, that +Colonel Maltravers will be off the bargain." + +"Why, Mr. Douce, really I must just see my ward first; but you shall +hear from me in a day or two;--and the ten thousand pounds I owe you!" + +"Yes, indeed, the ten--ten--ten!--my partner is very--" + +"Anxious for it, no doubt! My compliments to him. God bless you!--take +care of yourself,--must be off to save the packet;" and Vargrave hurried +away, muttering, "Heaven sends money, and the devil sends duns!" + +Douce gasped like a fish for breath, as his eyes followed the rapid +steps of Vargrave; and there was an angry scowl of disappointment on +his small features. Lumley, by this time, seated in his carriage, and +wrapped up in his cloak, had forgotten the creditor's existence, and +whispered to his aristocratic secretary, as he bent his head out of the +carriage window, "I have told Lord Saxingham to despatch you to me, if +there is any--the least--necessity for me in London. I leave you behind, +Howard, because your sister being at court, and your cousin with +our notable premier, you will find out every change in the wind--you +understand. And, I say, Howard, don't think I forget your kindness!--you +know that no man ever served me in vain! Oh, there's that horrid little +Douce behind you,--tell them to drive on!" + + + +CHAPTER II. + + HEARD you that? + What prodigy of horror is disclosing?--LILLO: _Fatal Curiosity_. + +THE unhappy companion of Cesarini's flight was soon discovered and +recaptured; but all search for Cesarini himself proved ineffectual, not +only in the neighbourhood of St. Cloud, but in the surrounding country +and in Paris. The only comfort was in thinking that his watch would at +least preserve him for some time from the horrors of want; and that by +the sale of the trinket, he might be traced. The police, too, were set +at work,--the vigilant police of Paris! Still day rolled on day, and no +tidings. The secret of the escape was carefully concealed from +Teresa; and public cares were a sufficient excuse for the gloom on De +Montaigne's brow. + +Evelyn heard from Maltravers with mingled emotions of compassion, grief, +and awe the gloomy tale connected with the history of the maniac. She +wept for the fate of Florence; she shuddered at the curse that had +fallen on Cesarini; and perhaps Maltravers grew dearer to her from the +thought that there was so much in the memories of the past that needed a +comforter and a soother. + +They returned to Paris, affianced and plighted lovers; and then it was +that Evelyn sought carefully and resolutely to banish from her mind all +recollection, all regret, of the absent Legard: she felt the solemnity +of the trust confided in her, and she resolved that no thought of hers +should ever be of a nature to gall the generous and tender spirit that +had confided its life of life to her care. The influence of Maltravers +over her increased in their new and more familiar position, and yet +still it partook too much of veneration, too little of passion; but +that might be her innocence and youth. He, at least, was sensible of no +want,--she had chosen him from the world; and fastidious as he deemed +himself, he reposed, without a doubt, on the security of her faith. None +of those presentiments which had haunted him when first betrothed +to Florence disturbed him now. The affection of one so young and so +guileless seemed to bring back to him all his own youth--we are ever +young while the young can love us! Suddenly, too, the world took to his +eyes a brighter and fairer aspect. Hope, born again, reconciled him to +his career and to his race! The more he listened to Evelyn, the more he +watched every evidence of her docile but generous nature, the more he +felt assured that he had found at last a heart suited to his own. Her +beautiful serenity of temper, cheerful, yet never fitful or unquiet, +gladdened him with its insensible contagion. To be with Evelyn was like +basking in the sunshine of some happy sky! It was an inexpressible +charm to one wearied with "the hack sights and sounds" of this jaded +world,--to watch the ever-fresh and sparkling the thoughts and fancies +which came from a soul so new to life! It enchanted one, painfully +fastidious in what relates to the true nobility of character, that, +however various the themes discussed, no low or mean thought ever +sullied those beautiful lips. It was not the mere innocence of +inexperience, but the moral incapability of guile, that charmed him +in the companion he had chosen on his path to Eternity! He was also +delighted to notice Evelyn's readiness of resources: she had that +faculty, without which woman has no independence from the world, no +pledge that domestic retirement will not soon languish into wearisome +monotony,--the faculty of making trifles contribute to occupation +or amusement; she was easily pleased, and yet she so soon reconciled +herself to disappointment. He felt, and chid his own dulness for not +feeling it before, that, young and surpassingly lovely as she was, she +required no stimulant from the heated pursuits and the hollow admiration +of the crowd. + +"Such," thought he, "are the natures that alone can preserve through +years the poetry of the first passionate illusion, that can alone render +wedlock the seal that confirms affection, and not the mocking ceremonial +that vainly consecrates its grave!" + +Maltravers, as we have seen, formally wrote to Lumley some days after +their return to Paris. He would have written also to Lady Vargrave, but +Evelyn thought it best to prepare her mother by a letter from herself. + +Miss Cameron now wanted but a few weeks to the age of eighteen, at which +she was to be the sole mistress of her own destiny. On arriving at that +age the marriage was to take place. Valerie heard with sincere delight +of the new engagement her friend had formed. She eagerly sought every +opportunity to increase her intimacy with Evelyn, who was completely won +by her graceful kindness; the result of Valerie's examination was, that +she did not wonder at the passionate love of Maltravers, but that her +deep knowledge of the human heart (that knowledge so remarkable in +the women of her country!) made her doubt how far it was adequately +returned, how far Evelyn deceived herself. Her first satisfaction became +mingled with anxiety, and she relied more for the future felicity of +her friend on Evelyn's purity of thought and general tenderness of heart +than on the exclusiveness and ardour of her love. Alas! few at eighteen +are not too young for the irrevocable step,--and Evelyn was younger than +her years! One evening at Madame de Ventadour's Maltravers asked Evelyn +if she had yet heard from Lady Vargrave. Evelyn expressed her surprise +that she had not, and the conversation fell, as was natural, upon +Lady Vargrave herself. "Is she as fond of music as you are?" asked +Maltravers. + +"Yes, indeed, I think so--and of the songs of a certain person in +particular; they always had for her an indescribable charm. Often have +I heard her say that to read your writings was like talking to an early +friend. Your name and genius seemed to make her solitary connection with +the great world. Nay--but you will not be angry--I half think it was +her enthusiasm, so strange and rare, that first taught me interest in +yourself." + +"I have a double reason, then, for loving your mother," said Maltravers, +much pleased and flattered. "And does she not like Italian music?" + +"Not much; she prefers some rather old-fashioned German airs, very +simple, but very touching." + +"My own early passion," said Maltravers, more and more interested. + +"But there are also one or two English songs which I have occasionally, +but very seldom, heard her sing. One in especial affects her so deeply, +even when she plays the air, that I have always attached to it a certain +mysterious sanctity. I should not like to sing it before a crowd, but +to-morrow, when you call on me, and we are alone--" + +"Ah, to-morrow I will not fail to remind you." + +Their conversation ceased; yet, somehow or other, that night when he +retired to rest the recollection of it haunted Maltravers. He felt a +vague, unaccountable curiosity respecting this secluded and solitary +mother; all concerning her early fate seemed so wrapped in mystery. +Cleveland, in reply to his letter, had informed him that all inquiries +respecting the birth and first marriage of Lady Vargrave had failed. +Evelyn evidently knew but little of either, and he felt a certain +delicacy in pressing questions which might be ascribed to the +inquisitiveness of a vulgar family pride. Moreover, lovers have so much +to say to each other, that he had not time to talk at length to Evelyn +about third persons. He slept ill that night,--dark and boding dreams +disturbed his slumber. He rose late and dejected by presentiments he +could not master: his morning meal was scarcely over, and he had already +taken his hat to go to Evelyn's for comfort and sunshine, when the door +opened, and he was surprised by the entrance of Lord Vargrave. + +Lumley seated himself with a formal gravity very unusual to him, and as +if anxious to waive unnecessary explanations, began as follows, with a +serious and impressive voice and aspect:-- + +"Maltravers, of late years we have been estranged from each other. I +do not presume to dictate to you your friendships or your dislikes. Why +this estrangement has happened you alone can determine. For my part I am +conscious of no offence; that which I was I am still. It is you who have +changed. Whether it be the difference of our political opinions, or any +other and more secret cause, I know not. I lament, but it is now too +late to attempt to remove it. If you suspect me of ever seeking, or even +wishing, to sow dissension between yourself and my ill-fated cousin, now +no more, you are mistaken. I ever sought the happiness and union of you +both. And yet, Maltravers, you then came between me and an early and +cherished dream. But I suffered in silence; my course was at least +disinterested, perhaps generous: let it pass. A second time you cross my +path,--you win from me a heart I had long learned to consider mine. You +have no scruple of early friendship, you have no forbearance towards +acknowledged and affianced ties. You are my rival with Evelyn Cameron, +and your suit has prospered." + +"Vargrave," said Maltravers, "you have spoken frankly; and I will reply +with an equal candour. A difference of tastes, tempers, and opinions led +us long since into opposite paths. I am one who cannot disunite public +morality from private virtue. From motives best known to you, but which +I say openly I hold to have been those of interest or ambition, you did +not change your opinions (there is no sin in that), but retaining them +in private, professed others in public, and played with the destinies of +mankind as if they were but counters to mark a mercenary game. This led +me to examine your character with more searching eyes; and I found it +one I could no longer trust. With respect to the Dead, let the pall drop +over that early grave,--I acquit you of all blame. He who sinned has +suffered more than would atone the crime! You charge me with my love to +Evelyn. Pardon me, but I seduced no affection, I have broken no tie. Not +till she was free in heart and in hand to choose between us, did I hint +at love. Let me think that a way may be found to soften one portion at +least of the disappointment you cannot but feel acutely." + +"Stay!" said Lord Vargrave (who, plunged in a gloomy revery, had +scarcely seemed to hear the last few sentences of his rival): "stay, +Maltravers. Speak not of love to Evelyn! A horrible foreboding tells me +that, a few hours hence, you would rather pluck out your tongue by the +roots than couple the words of love with the thought of that unfortunate +girl! Oh, if I were vindictive, what awful triumph would await me +now! What retaliation on your harsh judgment, your cold contempt, your +momentary and wretched victory over me! Heaven is my witness, that my +only sentiment is that of terror and woe! Maltravers, in your earliest +youth, did you form connection with one whom they called Alice Darvil?" + +"Alice! merciful Heaven! what of her?" + +"Did you never know that the Christian name of Evelyn's mother is +Alice?" + +"I never asked, I never knew; but it is a common name," faltered +Maltravers. + +"Listen to me," resumed Vargrave: "with Alice Darvil you lived in the +neighbourhood of -----, did you not?" + +"Go on, go on!" + +"You took the name of Butler; by that name Alice Darvil was afterwards +known in the town in which my uncle resided--there are gaps in the +history that I cannot of my own knowledge fill up,--she taught music; my +uncle became enamoured of her, but he was vain and worldly. She removed +into Devonshire, and he married her there, under the name of Cameron, by +which name he hoped to conceal from the world the lowness of her origin, +and the humble calling she had followed. Hold! do not interrupt me. +Alice had one daughter, as was supposed, by a former marriage; that +daughter was the offspring of him whose name she bore--yes, of the false +Butler!--that daughter is Evelyn Cameron!" + +"Liar! devil!" cried Maltravers, springing to his feet, as if a shot had +pierced his heart. "Proofs! proofs!" + +"Will these suffice?" said Vargrave, as he drew forth the letters of +Winsley and Lady Vargrave. Maltravers took them, but it was some moments +before he could dare to read. He supported himself with difficulty from +falling to the ground; there was a gurgle in his throat like the sound +of the death-rattle; at last he read, and dropped the letters from his +hand. + +"Wait me here," he said very faintly, and moved mechanically to the +door. + +"Hold!" said Lord Vargrave, laying his hand upon Ernest's arm. "Listen +to me for Evelyn's sake, for her mother's. You are about to seek +Evelyn,--be it so! I know that you possess the god-like gift of +self-control. You will not suffer her to learn that her mother has done +that which dishonours alike mother and child? You will not consummate +your wrong to Alice Darvil by robbing her of the fruit of a life +of penitence and remorse? You will not unveil her shame to her own +daughter? Convince yourself, and master yourself while you do so!" + +"Fear me not," said Maltravers, with a terrible smile; "I will not +afflict my conscience with a double curse. As I have sowed, so must I +reap. Wait me here!" + + + +CHAPTER III. + +... MISERY That gathers force each moment as it rolls, + And must, at last, o'erwhelm me.--LILLO: _Fatal Curiosity_. + +MALTRAVERS found Evelyn alone; she turned towards him with her usual +sweet smile of welcome; but the smile vanished at once, as her eyes met +his changed and working countenance; cold drops stood upon the rigid and +marble brow, the lips writhed as if in bodily torture, the muscles of +the face had fallen, and there was a wildness which appalled her in the +fixed and feverish brightness of the eyes. + +"You are ill, Ernest,--dear Ernest, you are ill,--your look freezes me!" + +"Nay, Evelyn," said Maltravers, recovering himself by one of those +efforts of which men who have _suffered without sympathy_ are alone +capable,--"nay, I am better now; I have been ill--very ill--but I am +better!" + +"Ill! and I not know of it?" She attempted to take his hand as she +spoke. Maltravers recoiled. + +"It is fire! it burns! Avaunt!" he cried, frantically. "O Heaven! spare +me, spare me!" + +Evelyn was not seriously alarmed; she gazed on him with the tenderest +compassion. Was this one of those moody and overwhelming paroxysms to +which it had been whispered abroad that he was subject? Strange as it +may seem, despite her terror, he was dearer to her in that hour--as she +believed, of gloom and darkness--than in all the glory of his majestic +intellect, or all the blandishments of his soft address. + +"What has happened to you?" she said, approaching him again; "have you +seen Lord Vargrave? I know that he has arrived, for his servant has been +here to say so; has he uttered anything to distress you? or has--" (she +added falteringly and timidly)--"has poor Evelyn offended you? Speak to +me,--only speak!" + +Maltravers turned, and his face was now calm and serene save by its +extreme and almost ghastly paleness, no trace of the hell within him +could be discovered. + +"Pardon me," said he, gently, "I know not this morning what I say or do; +think not of it, think not of me,--it will pass away when I hear your +voice." + +"Shall I sing to you the words I spoke of last night? See, I have them +ready; I know them by heart, but I thought you might like to read them, +they are so full of simple but deep feeling." + +Maltravers took the song from her hands, and bent over the paper; at +first, the letters seemed dim and indistinct, for there was a mist +before his eyes; but at last a chord of memory was struck,--he recalled +the words: they were some of those he had composed for Alice in the +first days of their delicious intercourse,--links of the golden chain, +in which he had sought to bind the spirit of knowledge to that of love. + +"And from whom," said he, in a faint voice, as he calmly put down the +verses,--"from whom did your mother learn these words?" + +"I know not; some dear friend, years ago, composed and gave them to +her. It must have been one very dear to her, to judge by the effect they +still produce." + +"Think you," said Maltravers, in a hollow voice, "think you IT WAS YOUR +FATHER?" + +"My father! She never speaks of him! I have been early taught to shun +all allusion to his memory. My father!--it is probable; yes, it may have +been my father; whom else could she have loved so fondly?" + +There was a long silence; Evelyn was the first to break it. + +"I have heard from my mother to-day, Ernest; her letter alarms me,--I +scarce know why!" + +"Ah! and how--" + +"It is hurried and incoherent,--almost wild: she says she has learned +some intelligence that has unsettled and unstrung her mind; she has +requested me to inquire if any one I am acquainted with has heard of, +or met abroad, some person of the name of Butler. You start!--have you +known one of that name?" + +"I!--did your mother never allude to that name before?" + +"Never!--and yet, once I remember--" + +"What?" + +"That I was reading an account in the papers of the sudden death of some +Mr. Butler; and her agitation made a powerful and strange impression +upon me,--in fact, she fainted, and seemed almost delirious when she +recovered; she would not rest till I had completed the account, and when +I came to the particulars of his age, etc. (he was old, I think) she +clasped her hands, and wept; but they seemed tears of joy. The name is +so common--whom of that name have you known?" + +"It is no matter. Is that your mother's letter; is that her +handwriting?" + +"Yes;" and Evelyn gave the letter to Maltravers. He glanced over the +characters; he had once or twice seen Lady Vargrave's handwriting +before, and had recognized no likeness between that handwriting and such +early specimens of Alice's art as he had witnessed so many years ago; +but now, "trifles light as air" had grown "confirmation strong as +proof of Holy Writ,"--he thought he detected Alice in every line of the +hurried and blotted scroll; and when his eye rested on the words, "Your +affectionate MOTHER, _Alice_!" his blood curdled in his veins. + +"It is strange!" said he, still struggling for self-composure; "strange +that I never thought of asking her name before! Alice! her name is +Alice?" + +"A sweet name, is it not? It accords so well with her simple +character--how you would love her!" + +As she said this, Evelyn turned to Maltravers with enthusiasm, and again +she was startled by his aspect; for again it was haggard, distorted, and +convulsed. + +"Oh, if you love me," she cried, "do send immediately for advice! And +yet; is it illness, Ernest, or is it some grief that you hide from me?" + +"It is illness, Evelyn," said Maltravers, rising: and his knees knocked +together. "I am not fit even for your companionship,--I will go home." + +"And send instantly for advice?" + +"Ay; it waits me there already." + +"Thank Heaven! and you will write to me one little word--to relieve me? +I am so uneasy!" + +"I will write to you." + +"This evening?" + +"Ay!" + +"Now go,--I will not detain you." + +He walked slowly to the door, but when he reached it he turned, and +catching her anxious gaze, he opened his arms; overpowered with strange +fear and affectionate sympathy, she burst into passionate tears; +and surprised out of the timidity and reserve which had hitherto +characterized her pure and meek attachment to him, she fell on his +breast, and sobbed aloud. Maltravers raised his hands, and, placing +them solemnly on her young head, his lips muttered as if in prayer. He +paused, and strained her to his heart; but he shunned that parting kiss, +which, hitherto, he had so fondly sought. That embrace was one of agony, +and not of rapture; and yet Evelyn dreamed not that he designed it for +the last! + + + +Maltravers re-entered the room in which he had left Lord Vargrave, who +still awaited his return. + +He walked up to Lumley, and held out his hand. "You have saved me from a +dreadful crime,--from an everlasting remorse. I thank you!" + +Hardened and frigid as his nature was, Lumley was touched; the movement +of Maltravers took him by surprise. "It has been a dreadful duty, +Ernest," said he, pressing the hand he held; "but to come, too, from +_me_,--your rival!" + +"Proceed, proceed, I pray you; explain all this--yet explanation! what +do I want to know? Evelyn is my daughter,--Alice's child! For Heaven's +sake, give me hope; say it is not so; say that she is Alice's child, +but not _mine_! Father! father!--and they call it a holy name--it is a +horrible one!" + +"Compose yourself, my dear friend: recollect what you have escaped! You +will recover this shock. Time, travel--" + +"Peace, man,--peace! Now then I am calm! When Alice left me she had no +child. I knew not that she bore within her the pledge of our ill-omened +and erring love. Verily, the sins of my youth have arisen against me; +and the curse has come home to roost!" + +"I cannot explain to you all details." + +"But why not have told me of this? Why not have warned me; why not have +said to me, when my heart could have been satisfied by so sweet a tie, +'Thou hast a daughter: thou art not desolate'? Why reserve the knowledge +of the blessing until it has turned to poison? Fiend that you are! you +have waited this hour to gloat over the agony from which a word from you +a year, nay, a month ago--a little month ago--might have saved me and +her!" + +Maltravers, as he spoke, approached Vargrave, with eyes sparkling with +fierce passion, his hand clenched, his form dilated, the veins on his +forehead swelled like cords. Lumley, brave as he was, recoiled. + +"I knew not of this secret," said he, deprecatingly, "till a few days +before I came hither; and I came hither at once to disclose it to you. +Will you listen to me? I knew that my uncle had married a person much +beneath him in rank; but he was guarded and cautious, and I knew +no more, except that by a first husband that lady had one +daughter,--Evelyn. A chain of accidents suddenly acquainted me with the +rest." + +Here Vargrave pretty faithfully repeated what he had learned from the +brewer at C-----, and from Mr. Onslow; but when he came to the tacit +confirmation of all his suspicions received from Mrs. Leslie, he greatly +exaggerated and greatly distorted the account. "Judge, then," concluded +Lumley, "of the horror with which I heard that you had declared an +attachment to Evelyn, and that it was returned. Ill as I was, I hastened +hither: you know the rest. Are you satisfied?" + +"I will go to Alice! I will learn from her own lips--yet, how can I meet +her again? How say to her, 'I have taken from thee thy last hope,--I +have broken thy child's heart'?" + +"Forgive me, but I should confess to you, that, from all I can learn +from Mrs. Leslie, Lady Vargrave has but one prayer, one hope in +life,--that she may never again meet with her betrayer. You may, indeed, +in her own letter perceive how much she is terrified by the thought of +your discovering her. She has, at length, recovered peace of mind and +tranquillity of conscience. She shrinks with dread from the prospect +of ever again encountering one once so dear, now associated in her +mind with recollections of guilt and sorrow. More than this, she is +sensitively alive to the fear of shame, to the dread of detection. +If ever her daughter were to know her sin, it would be to her as a +death-blow. Yet in her nervous state of health, her ever-quick and +uncontrollable feelings, if you were to meet her, she would disguise +nothing, conceal nothing. The veil would be torn aside: the menials in +her own house would tell the tale, and curiosity circulate, and scandal +blacken the story of her early errors. No, Maltravers, at least wait +awhile before you see her; wait till her mind can be prepared for such +an interview, till precautions can be taken, till you yourself are in a +calmer state of mind." + +Maltravers fixed his piercing eyes on Lumley while he thus spoke, and +listened in deep attention. + +"It matters not," said he, after a long pause, "whether these be your +real reasons for wishing to defer or prevent a meeting between Alice and +myself. The affliction that has come upon me bursts with too clear +and scorching a blaze of light for me to see any chance of escape or +mitigation. Even if Evelyn were the daughter of Alice by another, she +would be forever separated from me. The mother and the child! there is +a kind of incest even in that thought! But such an alleviation of my +anguish is forbidden to my reason. No, poor Alice, I will not disturb +the repose thou hast won at last! Thou shalt never have the grief to +know that our error has brought upon thy lover so black a doom! All is +over! the world never shall find me again. Nothing is left for me but +the desert and the grave!" + +"Speak not so, Ernest," said Lord Vargrave, soothingly; "a little while, +and you will recover this blow: your control over passion has, even +in youth, inspired me with admiration and surprise; and now, in calmer +years, and with such incentives to self-mastery, your triumph will come +sooner than you think. Evelyn, too, is so young; she has not known you +long; perhaps her love, after all, is that caused by some mystic, but +innocent working of nature, and she would rejoice to call you 'father.' +Happy years are yet in store for you." + +Maltravers did not listen to these vain and hollow consolations. With +his head drooping on his bosom, his whole form unnerved, the large +tears rolling unheeded down his cheeks, he seemed the very picture of a +broken-hearted man, whom fate never again could raise from despair. He, +who had, for years, so cased himself in pride, on whose very front was +engraved the victory over passion and misfortune, whose step had trod +the earth in the royalty of the conqueror; the veriest slave that crawls +bore not a spirit more humbled, fallen, or subdued! He who had looked +with haughty eyes on the infirmities of others, who had disdained +to serve his race because of their human follies and partial +frailties,--_he_, even _he_, the Pharisee of Genius,--had but escaped by +a chance, and by the hand of the man he suspected and despised, from +a crime at which nature herself recoils,--which all law, social and +divine, stigmatizes as inexpiable, which the sternest imagination of the +very heathen had invented as the gloomiest catastrophe that can befall +the wisdom and the pride of mortals! But one step farther, and the +fabulous Oedipus had not been more accursed! + +Such thoughts as these, unformed, confused, but strong enough to bow him +to the dust, passed through the mind of this wretched man. He had been +familiar with grief, he had been dull to enjoyment; sad and bitter +memories had consumed his manhood: but pride had been left him still; +and he had dared in his secret heart to say, "I can defy Fate!" Now the +bolt had fallen; Pride was shattered into fragments, Self-abasement was +his companion, Shame sat upon his prostrate soul. The Future had no hope +left in store. Nothing was left for him but to die! + +Lord Vargrave gazed at him in real pain, in sincere compassion; for his +nature, wily, deceitful, perfidious though it was, had cruelty only so +far as was necessary to the unrelenting execution of his schemes. No +pity could swerve him from a purpose; but he had enough of the man +within him to feel pity not the less, even for his own victim! At length +Maltravers lifted his head, and waved his hand gently to Lord Vargrave. + +"All is now explained," said he, in a feeble voice; "our interview +is over. I must be alone; I have yet to collect my reason, to commune +calmly and deliberately with myself; I have to write to her--to invent, +to lie,--I, who believed I could never, never utter, even to an enemy, +what was false! And I must not soften the blow to her. I must not utter +a word of love,--love, it is incest! I must endeavour brutally to crush +out the very affection I created! She must hate me!--oh, _teach_ her +to hate me! Blacken my name, traduce my motives,--let her believe them +levity or perfidy, what you will. So will she forget me the sooner; so +will she the easier bear the sorrow which the father brings upon the +child. And _she_ has not sinned! O Heaven, the sin was mine! Let my +punishment be a sacrifice that Thou wilt accept for her!" + +Lord Vargrave attempted again to console; but this time the words died +upon his lips. His arts failed him. Maltravers turned impatiently away +and pointed to the door. + +"I will see you again," said he, "before I quit Paris; leave your +address below." + +Vargrave was not, perhaps, unwilling to terminate a scene so painful: +he muttered a few incoherent words, and abruptly withdrew. He heard +the door locked behind him as he departed. Ernest Maltravers was +alone!--what a solitude! + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + PITY me not, but lend thy serious hearing + To what I shall unfold.--_Hamlet_. + + +LETTER FROM ERNEST MALTRAVERS TO EVELYN CAMERON. + + +EVELYN! + +All that you have read of faithlessness and perfidy will seem tame to +you when compared with that conduct which you are doomed to meet from +me. We must part, and for ever. We have seen each other for the last +time. It is bootless even to ask the cause. Believe that I am fickle, +false, heartless,--that a whim has changed me, if you will. My resolve +is unalterable. We meet no more even as friends. I do not ask you either +to forgive or to remember me. Look on me as one wholly unworthy even +of resentment! Do not think that I write this in madness or in fever or +excitement. Judge me not by my seeming illness this morning. I invent no +excuse, no extenuation, for my broken faith and perjured vows. Calmly, +coldly, and deliberately I write; and thus writing, I renounce your +love. + +This language is wanton cruelty,--it is fiendish insult,--is it not, +Evelyn? Am I not a villain? Are you not grateful for your escape? Do you +not look on the past with a shudder at the precipice on which you stood? + +I have done with this subject,--I turn to another. We are parted, +Evelyn, and forever. Do not fancy,--I repeat, do not fancy that there +is any error, any strange infatuation on my mind, that there is any +possibility that the sentence can be annulled. It were almost easier to +call the dead from the grave than bring us again together, as we were +and as we hoped to be. Now that you are convinced of that truth, learn, +as soon as you have recovered the first shock of knowing how much +wickedness there is on earth,--learn to turn to the future for happier +and more suitable ties than those you could have formed with me. You +are very young; in youth our first impressions are lively but +evanescent,--you will wonder hereafter at having fancied you loved me. +Another and a fairer image will replace mine. This is what I desire and +pray for. _As soon as I learn that you love another, that you are wedded +to another, I will re-appear in the world; till then, I am a wanderer +and an exile. Your hand alone can efface from my brow the brand of +Cain!_ When I am gone, Lord Vargrave will probably renew his suit. I +would rather you married one of your own years,--one whom you could love +fondly, one who would chase away every remembrance of the wretch who +now forsakes you. But perhaps I have mistaken Lord Vargrave's character; +perhaps he may be worthier of you than I deemed (_I_ who set up for +the censor of other men!); perhaps he may both win and deserve your +affection. + +Evelyn, farewell! God, who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, will +watch over you! + + ERNEST MALTRAVERS. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + OUR acts our angels are, or good or ill, + The fatal shadows that walk by us still.--JOHN FLETCHER. + +THE next morning came; the carriage was at the door of Maltravers, to +bear him away he cared not whither. Where could he fly from memory? He +had just despatched the letter to Evelyn,--a letter studiously written +for the object of destroying all the affection to which he had so fondly +looked as the last charm of life. He was now only waiting for Vargrave, +to whom he had sent, and who hastened to obey the summons. + +When Lumley arrived, he was shocked at the alteration which a single +night had effected in the appearance of Maltravers; but he was surprised +and relieved to find him calm and self-possessed. + +"Vargrave," said Maltravers, "whatever our past coldness, henceforth I +owe to you an eternal gratitude; and henceforth this awful secret makes +between us an indissoluble bond. If I have understood you rightly, +neither Alice nor other living being than yourself know that in me, +Ernest Maltravers, stands the guilty object of Alice's first love. Let +that secret still be kept; relieve Alice's mind from the apprehension of +learning that the man who betrayed her yet lives: he will not live +long! I leave time and method of explanation to your own judgment and +acuteness. Now for Evelyn." Here Maltravers stated generally the tone of +the letter he had written. Vargrave listened thoughtfully. + +"Maltravers," said he, "it is right to try first the effect of your +letter. But if it fail, if it only serve to inflame the imagination and +excite the interest, if Evelyn still continue to love you, if that love +preys upon her, if it should undermine health and spirit, if it should +destroy her?" + +Maltravers groaned. Lumley proceeded: "I say this not to wound you, +but to provide against all circumstances. I too have spent the night in +revolving what is best to be done in such a case; and this is the plan +I have formed. Let us, if need be, tell the truth to Evelyn, robbing +the truth only of its shame. Nay, nay, listen. Why not say that under a +borrowed name and in the romance of early youth you knew and loved Alice +(though in innocence and honour)? Your tender age, the difference of +rank, forbade your union. Her father, discovering your clandestine +correspondence, suddenly removed her from the country, and destroyed all +clew for your inquiries. You lost sight of each other,--each was taught +to believe the other dead. Alice was compelled by her father to marry +Mr. Cameron; and after his death, her poverty and her love for her only +child induced her to accept my uncle. You have now learned all,--have +learned that Evelyn is the daughter of your first love, the daughter +of one who adores you still, and whose life your remembrance has for so +many years embittered. Evelyn herself will at once comprehend all the +scruples of a delicate mind; Evelyn herself will recoil from the thought +of making the child the rival to the mother. She will understand why you +have flown from her; she will sympathize with your struggles; she will +recall the constant melancholy of Alice; she will hope that the ancient +love may be renewed, and efface all grief; Generosity and Duty alike +will urge her to conquer her own affection! And hereafter, when time +has restored you both, father and child may meet with such sentiments as +father and child may own!" + +Maltravers was silent for some minutes; at length he said abruptly, "And +you really loved her, Vargrave,--you love her still? Your dearest care +must be her welfare." + +"It is! indeed, it is!" + +"Then I must trust to your discretion; I can have no other confidant; +I myself am not fit to judge. My mind is darkened--you may be right--I +think so." + +"One word more,--she may discredit my tale, if unsupported. Will you +write one line to me to say that I am authorized to reveal the secret, +and that it is known only to me? I will not use it unless I should think +it absolutely required." + +Hastily and mechanically Maltravers wrote a few words to the effect of +what Lumley had suggested. "I will inform you," he said to Vargrave as +he gave him the paper, "of whatever spot may become my asylum; and you +can communicate to me all that I dread and long to hear; but let no man +know the refuge of despair!" + +There was positively a tear in Vargrave's cold eye,--the only tear that +had glistened there for many years; he paused irresolute, then advanced, +again halted, muttered to himself, and turned aside. + +"As for the world," Lumley resumed, after a pause, "your engagement has +been public,--some public account of its breach must be invented. You +have always been considered a proud man; we will say that it was +low birth on the side of both mother and father (the last only just +discovered) that broke off the alliance!" + +Vargrave was talking to the deaf; what cared Maltravers for the world? +He hastened from the room, threw himself into his carriage, and Vargrave +was left to plot, to hope, and to aspire. + + + + +BOOK X. + + "A dream!"--HOMER, I, 3. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + QUALIS ubi in lucem coluber +... Mala gramina pastus.*--VIRGIL. + + Pars minima est ipsa puella sui.**--OVID. + + * "As when a snake glides into light, having fed on pernicious + pastures." + + ** "The girl is the least part of himself." + +IT would be superfluous, and, perhaps, a sickening task, to detail at +length the mode and manner in which Vargrave coiled his snares round the +unfortunate girl whom his destiny had marked out for his prey. He was +right in foreseeing that, after the first amazement caused by the +letter of Maltravers, Evelyn would feel resentment crushed beneath her +certainty of his affection her incredulity at his self-accusations, +and her secret conviction that some reverse, some misfortune he was +unwilling she should share, was the occasion of his farewell and flight. +Vargrave therefore very soon communicated to Evelyn the tale he had +suggested to Maltravers. He reminded her of the habitual sorrow, the +evidence of which was so visible in Lady Vargrave; of her indifference +to the pleasures of the world; of her sensitive shrinking from all +recurrence to her early fate. "The secret of this," said he, "is in a +youthful and most fervent attachment; your mother loved a young stranger +above her in rank, who (his head being full of German romance) was then +roaming about the country on pedestrian and adventurous excursions, +under the assumed name of Butler. By him she was most ardently beloved +in return. Her father, perhaps, suspected the rank of her lover, and +was fearful of her honour being compromised. He was a strange man, that +father! and I know not his real character and motives; but he suddenly +withdrew his daughter from the suit and search of her lover,--they saw +each other no more; her lover mourned her as one dead. In process of +time your mother was constrained by her father to marry Mr. Cameron, +and was left a widow with an only child,--yourself: she was poor;--very +poor! and her love and anxiety for you at last induced her to listen to +the addresses of my late uncle; for your sake she married again; again +death dissolved the tie! But still, unceasingly and faithfully, she +recalled that first love, the memory of which darkened and embittered +all her life, and still she lived upon the hope to meet with the lost +again. At last, and most recently, it was my fate to discover that the +object of this unconquerable affection lived,--was still free in hand if +not in heart: you behold the lover of your mother in Ernest Maltravers! +It devolved on me (an invidious--a reluctant duty) to inform Maltravers +of the identity of Lady Vargrave with the Alice of his boyish passion; +to prove to him her suffering, patient, unsubdued affection; to convince +him that the sole hope left to her in life was that of one day or +other beholding him once again. You know Maltravers,--his high-wrought, +sensitive, noble character; he recoiled in terror from the thought of +making his love to the daughter the last and bitterest affliction to +the mother he had so loved; knowing too how completely that mother had +entwined herself round your affections, he shuddered at the pain and +self-reproach that would be yours when you should discover to whom you +had been the rival, and whose the fond hopes and dreams that your fatal +beauty had destroyed. Tortured, despairing, and half beside himself, he +has fled from this ill-omened passion, and in solitude he now seeks to +subdue that passion. Touched by the woe, the grief, of the Alice of +his youth, it is his intention, as soon as he can know you restored to +happiness and content, to hasten to your mother, and offer his future +devotion as the fulfilment of former vows. On you, and you alone, it +depends to restore Maltravers to the world,--on you alone it depends to +bless the remaining years of the mother who so dearly loves you!" + +It may be easily conceived with what sensations of wonder, compassion, +and dismay, Evelyn listened to this tale, the progress of which her +exclamations, her sobs, often interrupted. She would write instantly to +her mother, to Maltravers. Oh, how gladly she would relinquish his +suit: How cheerfully promise to rejoice in that desertion which brought +happiness to the mother she had so loved! + +"Nay," said Vargrave, "your mother must not know, till the intelligence +can be breathed by his lips, and softened by his protestations of +returning affection, that the mysterious object of her early romance is +that Maltravers whose vows have been so lately offered to her own child. +Would not such intelligence shock all pride, and destroy all hope? How +could she then consent to the sacrifice which Maltravers is prepared +to make? No! not till you are another's--not (to use the words of +Maltravers) till you are a happy and beloved wife--must your mother +receive the returning homage of Maltravers; not till then can she +know where that homage has been recently rendered; not till then can +Maltravers feel justified in the atonement he meditates. He is willing +to sacrifice himself; he trembles at the thought of sacrificing you! Say +nothing to your mother, till from her own lips she tells you that she +has learned all." + +Could Evelyn hesitate; could Evelyn doubt? To allay the fears, to fulfil +the prayers of the man whose conduct appeared so generous, to restore +him to peace and the world; above all, to pluck from the heart of that +beloved and gentle mother the rankling dart, to shed happiness over her +fate, to reunite her with the loved and lost,--what sacrifice too great +for this? + +Ah, why was Legard absent? Why did she believe him capricious, light, +and false? Why had she shut her softest thoughts from her soul? But +he--the true lover--was afar, and his true love unknown! and Vargrave, +the watchful serpent, was at hand. + +In a fatal hour, and in the transport of that enthusiasm which inspires +alike our more rash and our more sublime deeds, which makes us alike +dupes and martyrs,--the enthusiasm that tramples upon self, that +forfeits all things to a high-wrought zeal for others, Evelyn consented +to become the wife of Vargrave! Nor was she at first sensible of the +sacrifice,--sensible of anything but the glow of a noble spirit and +an approving conscience. Yes, thus, and thus alone, did she obey +both duties,--that, which she had well-nigh abandoned, to her dead +benefactor, and that to the living mother. Afterwards came a dread +reaction; and then, at last, that passive and sleep-like resignation, +which is Despair under a milder name. Yes,--such a lot had been +predestined from the first; in vain had she sought to fly it: Fate had +overtaken her, and she must submit to the decree! + +She was most anxious that the intelligence of the new bond might be +transmitted instantly to Maltravers. Vargrave promised, but took care +not to perform. He was too acute not to know that in so sudden a step +Evelyn's motives would be apparent, and his own suit indelicate and +ungenerous. He was desirous that Maltravers should learn nothing till +the vows had been spoken, and the indissoluble chain forged. Afraid +to leave Evelyn, even for a day, afraid to trust her in England to an +interview with her mother,--he remained at Paris, and hurried on all the +requisite preparations. He sent to Douce, who came in person, with the +deeds necessary for the transfer of the money for the purchase of Lisle +Court, which was now to be immediately completed. The money was to +be lodged in Mr. Douce's bank till the lawyers had completed their +operations; and in a few weeks, when Evelyn had attained the allotted +age, Vargrave trusted to see himself lord alike of the betrothed bride, +and the hereditary lands of the crushed Maltravers. He refrained from +stating to Evelyn who was the present proprietor of the estate to become +hers; he foresaw all the objections she would form;--and, indeed, she +was unable to think, to talk, of such matters. One favour she had asked, +and it had been granted,--that she was to be left unmolested to her +solitude till the fatal day. Shut up in her lonely room, condemned not +to confide her thoughts, to seek for sympathy even in her mother,--the +poor girl in vain endeavoured to keep up to the tenor of her first +enthusiasm, and reconcile herself to a step, which, however, she was +heroine enough not to retract or to repent, even while she recoiled from +its contemplation. + +Lady Doltimore, amazed at what had passed,--at the flight of Maltravers, +the success of Lumley,--unable to account for it, to extort explanation +from Vargrave or from Evelyn, was distracted by the fear of some +villanous deceit which she could not fathom. To escape herself she +plunged yet more eagerly into the gay vortex. Vargrave, suspicious, and +fearful of trusting to what she might say in her nervous and excited +temper if removed from his watchful eye, deemed himself compelled +to hover round her. His manner, his conduct, were most guarded; but +Caroline herself, jealous, irritated, unsettled, evinced at times a +right both to familiarity and anger, which drew upon her and himself the +sly vigilance of slander. Meanwhile Lord Doltimore, though too cold +and proud openly to notice what passed around him, seemed disturbed +and anxious. His manner to Vargrave was distant; he shunned all +_tete-a-tetes_ with his wife. Little, however, of this did Lumley heed. +A few weeks more, and all would be well and safe. Vargrave did not +publish his engagement with Evelyn: he sought carefully to conceal it +till the very day was near at hand; but it was whispered abroad; some +laughed, some believed. Evelyn herself was seen nowhere. De Montaigne +had, at first, been indignantly incredulous at the report that +Maltravers had broken off a connection he had so desired from a motive +so weak and unworthy as that of mere family pride. A letter from +Maltravers, who confided to him and Vargrave alone the secret of his +retreat, reluctantly convinced him that the wise are but pompous fools; +he was angry and disgusted; and still more so when Valerie and Teresa +(for female friends stand by us right or wrong) hinted at excuses, +or surmised that other causes lurked behind the one alleged. But his +thoughts were much drawn from this subject by increasing anxiety for +Cesarini, whose abode and fate still remained an alarming mystery. + +It so happened that Lord Doltimore, who had always had a taste for the +antique, and who was greatly displeased with his own family-seat +because it was comfortable and modern, fell, from _ennui_, into a +habit, fashionable enough in Paris, of buying curiosities and +cabinets,--high-back chairs and oak-carvings; and with this habit +returned the desire and the affection for Burleigh. Understanding from +Lumley that Maltravers had probably left his native land forever, he +imagined it extremely probable that the latter would now consent to +the sale, and he begged Vargrave to forward a letter from him to that +effect. + +Vargrave made some excuse, for he felt that nothing could be more +indelicate than such an application forwarded through his hands at such +a time; and Doltimore, who had accidentally heard De Montaigne confess +that he knew the address of Maltravers, quietly sent his letter to the +Frenchman, and, without mentioning its contents, begged him to forward +it. De Montaigne did so. Now it is very strange how slight men and +slight incidents bear on the great events of life; but that simple +letter was instrumental to a new revolution in the strange history of +Maltravers. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + QUID frustra simulacra fugacia captas?-- + Quod petis est nusquam.*--OVID: _Met._ iii. 432. + + * "Why, in vain, do you catch at fleeting shadows? + That which you seek is nowhere." + +TO no clime dedicated to the indulgence of majestic griefs or to the +soft melancholy of regret--not to thy glaciers, or thy dark-blue lakes, +beautiful Switzerland, mother of many exiles; nor to thy fairer earth +and gentler heaven, sweet Italy,--fled the agonized Maltravers. Once, +in his wanderings, he had chanced to pass by a landscape so steeped in +sullen and desolate gloom, that it had made a powerful and uneffaced +impression upon his mind: it was amidst those swamps and morasses that +formerly surrounded the castle of Gil de Retz, the ambitious Lord, the +dreaded Necromancer, who perished at the stake, after a career of such +power and splendour as seemed almost to justify the dark belief in his +preternatural agencies.* + + * See, for description of this scenery, and the fate of De Retz, + the high-wrought and glowing romance by Mr. Ritchie called + "The Magician." + +Here, in a lonely and wretched inn, remote from other habitations, +Maltravers fixed himself. In gentler griefs there is a sort of luxury +in bodily discomfort; in his inexorable and unmitigated anguish, bodily +discomfort was not felt. There is a kind of magnetism in extreme woe, +by which the body itself seems laid asleep, and knows no distinction +between the bed of Damiens and the rose-couch of the Sybarite. He left +his carriage and servants at a post-house some miles distant. He came +to this dreary abode alone; and in that wintry season, and that most +disconsolate scene, his gloomy soul found something congenial, something +that did not mock him, in the frowns of the haggard and dismal Nature. +Vain would it be to describe what he then felt, what he then endured. +Suffice it that, through all, the diviner strength of man was not +wholly crushed, and that daily, nightly, hourly, he prayed to the Great +Comforter to assist him in wrestling against a guilty love. No man +struggles so honestly, so ardently as he did, utterly in vain; for in +us all, if we would but cherish it, there is a spirit that must rise at +last--a crowned, if bleeding conqueror--over Fate and all the Demons! + +One day after a prolonged silence from Vargrave, whose letters all +breathed comfort and assurance in Evelyn's progressive recovery of +spirit and hope, his messenger returned from the post-town with a letter +in the hand of De Montaigne. It contained, in a blank envelope (De +Montaigne's silence told him how much he had lost in the esteem of his +friend), the communication of Lord Doltimore. It ran thus:-- + + +MY DEAR SIR,--As I hear that your plans are likely to make you a long +resident on the Continent, may I again inquire if you would be induced +to dispose of Burleigh? I am willing to give more than its real value, +and would raise a mortgage on my own property sufficient to pay off, at +once, the whole purchase-money. Perhaps you may be the more induced to +the sale from the circumstance of having an example in the head of your +family, Colonel Maltravers, as I learn through Lord Vargrave, having +resolved to dispose of Lisle Court. Waiting your answer, + + I am, dear Sir, truly yours, + + DOLTIMORE. + + +"Ay," said Maltravers, bitterly, crushing the letter in his hand, "let +our name be blotted out from the land, and our hearths pass to the +stranger. How could I ever visit the place where I first saw _her_?" + +He resolved at once,--he would write to England, and place the matter +in the hands of agents. This was but a short-lived diversion to his +thoughts, and their cloudy darkness soon gathered round him again. + +What I am now about to relate may appear, to a hasty criticism, to +savour of the Supernatural; but it is easily accounted for by ordinary +agencies, and it is strictly to the letter of the truth. + +In his sleep that night a dream appeared to Maltravers. He thought he +was alone in the old library at Burleigh, and gazing on the portrait +of his mother; as he so gazed, he fancied that a cold and awful tremor +seized upon him, that he in vain endeavoured to withdraw his eyes from +the canvas--his sight was chained there by an irresistible spell. Then +it seemed to him that the portrait gradually changed,--the features the +same, but the bloom vanished into a white and ghastly hue; the colours +of the dress faded, their fashion grew more large and flowing, but heavy +and rigid as if cut in stone,--the robes of the grave. But on the face +there was a soft and melancholy smile, that took from its livid aspect +the natural horror; the lips moved, and, it seemed as if without a +sound, the released soul spoke to that which the earth yet owned. + +"Return," it said, "to thy native land, and thine own home. Leave not +the last relic of her who bore and yet watches over thee to stranger +hands. Thy good Angel shall meet thee at thy hearth!" + +The voice ceased. With a violent effort Maltravers broke the spell that +had forbidden his utterance. He called aloud, and the dream vanished: he +was broad awake, his hair erect, the cold dews on his brow. The pallet, +rather than bed on which he lay, was opposite to the window, and the +wintry moonlight streamed wan and spectral into the cheerless room. But +between himself and the light there seemed to stand a shape, a shadow, +that into which the portrait had changed in his dream,--that which had +accosted and chilled his soul. He sprang forward, "My mother! even in +the grave canst thou bless thy wretched son! Oh, leave me not--say that +thou--" The delusion vanished, and Maltravers fell back insensible. + +It was long in vain, when, in the healthful light of day, he revolved +this memorable dream, that Maltravers sought to convince himself that +dreams need no ministers from heaven or hell to bring the gliding +falsehoods along the paths of sleep; that the effect of that dream +itself, on his shattered nerves, his excited fancy, was the real and +sole raiser of the spectre he had thought to behold on waking. Long was +it before his judgment could gain the victory, and reason disown the +empire of a turbulent imagination; and even when at length reluctantly +convinced, the dream still haunted him, and he could not shake it from +his breast. He longed anxiously for the next night; it came, but it +brought neither dreams nor sleep, and the rain beat, and the winds +howled, against the casement. Another night, and the moon was again +bright; and he fell into a deep sleep; no vision disturbed or hallowed +it. He woke ashamed of his own expectation. But the event, such as it +was, by giving a new turn to his thoughts, had roused and relieved his +spirit, and misery sat upon him with a lighter load. Perhaps, too, to +that still haunting recollection was mainly owing a change in his former +purpose. He would still sell the old Hall; but he would first return, +and remove that holy portrait, with pious hands; he would garner up and +save all that had belonged to her whose death had been his birth. Ah, +never had she known for what trials the infant had been reserved! + + + +CHAPTER III. + + THE weary hours steal on + And flaky darkness breaks.--_Richard III._ + +ONCE more, suddenly and unlooked for, the lord of Burleigh appeared at +the gates of his deserted hall! and again the old housekeeper and her +satellites were thrown into dismay and consternation. Amidst blank and +welcomeless faces, Maltravers passed into his study: and as soon as the +logs burned and the bustle was over, and he was left alone, he took up +the light and passed into the adjoining library. It was then about nine +o'clock in the evening; the air of the room felt damp and chill, and +the light but faintly struggled against the mournful gloom of the dark +book-lined walls and sombre tapestry. He placed the candle on the table, +and drawing aside the curtain that veiled the portrait, gazed with deep +emotion, not unmixed with awe, upon the beautiful face whose eyes seemed +fixed upon him with mournful sweetness. There is something mystical +about those painted ghosts of ourselves, that survive our very dust! +Who, gazing upon them long and wistfully, does not half fancy that they +seem not insensible to his gaze, as if we looked our own life into them, +and the eyes that followed us where we moved were animated by a stranger +art than the mere trick of the limner's colours? + +With folded arms, rapt and motionless, Maltravers contemplated the form +that, by the upward rays of the flickering light, seemed to bend down +towards the desolate son. How had he ever loved the memory of his +mother! how often in his childish years had he stolen away, and shed +wild tears for the loss of that dearest of earthly ties, never to be +compensated, never to be replaced! How had he respected, how sympathized +with the very repugnance which his father had at first testified towards +him, as the innocent cause of her untimely death! He had never seen +her,--never felt her passionate kiss; and yet it seemed to him, as he +gazed, as if he had known her for years. That strange kind of inner and +spiritual memory which often recalls to us places and persons we have +never seen before, and which Platonists would resolve to the unquenched +and struggling consciousness of a former life, stirred within him, and +seemed to whisper, "You were united in the old time." "Yes!" he said, +half aloud, "we will never part again. Blessed be the delusion of the +dream that recalled to my heart the remembrance of thee, which, at +least, I can cherish without a sin. 'My good angel shall meet me at my +hearth!' so didst thou say in the solemn vision. Ah, does thy soul watch +over me still? How long shall it be before the barrier is broken! how +long before we meet, but not in dreams!" + +The door opened, the housekeeper looked in. "I beg pardon, sir, but I +thought your honour would excuse the liberty, though I know it is very +bold to--" + +"What is the matter? What do you want?" + +"Why, sir, poor Mrs. Elton is dying,--they say she cannot get over the +night; and as the carriage drove by the cottage window, the nurse told +her that the squire was returned; and she has sent up the nurse to +entreat to see your honour before she dies. I am sure I was most loth to +disturb you, sir, with such a message; and says I, the squire has only +just come off a journey--" + +"Who is Mrs. Elton?" + +"Don't your honour remember the poor woman that was run over, and you +were so good to, and brought into the house the day Miss Cameron--" + +"I remember,--say I will be with her in a few minutes. About to die!" +muttered Maltravers; "she is to be envied,--the prisoner is let loose, +the bark leaves the desert isle!" + +He took his hat and walked across the park, dimly lighted by the stars, +to the cottage of the sufferer. He reached her bedside, and took her +hand kindly. She seemed to rally at the sight of him; the nurse was +dismissed, they were left alone. Before morning, the spirit had left +that humble clay; and the mists of dawn were heavy on the grass as +Maltravers returned home. There were then on his countenance the traces +of recent and strong emotion, and his step was elastic, and his cheek +flushed. Hope once more broke within him, but mingled with doubt, and +faintly combated by reason. In another hour Maltravers was on his way +to Brook-Green. Impatient, restless, fevered, he urged on the horses, +he sowed the road with gold; and at length the wheels stopped before +the door of the village inn. He descended, asked the way to the curate's +house; and crossing the burial-ground, and passing under the shadow of +the old yew-tree, entered Aubrey's garden. The curate was at home, and +the conference that ensued was of deep and breathless interest to the +visitor. + +It is now time to place before the reader, in due order and connection, +the incidents of that story, the knowledge of which, at that period, +broke in detached and fragmentary portions on Maltravers. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + I CANNA chuse, but ever will + Be luving to thy father still, + Whaireir he gae, whaireir he ryde, + My luve with him maun still abyde; + In weil or wae, whaireir he gae, + Mine heart can neir depart him frae. + Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament. + +IT may be remembered that in the earlier part of this continuation of +the history of Maltravers it was stated that Aubrey had in early life +met with the common lot of a disappointed affection. Eleanor Westbrook, +a young woman of his own humble rank, had won, and seemed to return, +his love; but of that love she was not worthy. Vain, volatile, and +ambitious, she forsook the poor student for a more brilliant marriage. +She accepted the hand of a merchant, who was caught by her beauty, and +who had the reputation of great wealth. They settled in London, and +Aubrey lost all traces of her. She gave birth to an only daughter: and +when that child had attained her fourteenth year, her husband suddenly, +and seemingly without cause, put an end to his existence. The cause, +however, was apparent before he was laid in his grave. He was involved +far beyond his fortune,--he had died to escape beggary and a jail. A +small annuity, not exceeding one hundred pounds, had been secured on the +widow. On this income she retired with her child into the country; and +chance, the vicinity of some distant connections, and the cheapness of +the place, concurred to fix her residence in the outskirts of the town +of C-----. Characters that in youth have been most volatile and most +worldly, often when bowed down and dejected by the adversity which they +are not fitted to encounter, become the most morbidly devout; they ever +require an excitement, and when earth denies, they seek it impatiently +from heaven. + +This was the case with Mrs. Westbrook; and this new turn of mind +brought her naturally into contact with the principal saint of the +neighbourhood, Mr. Richard Templeton. We have seen that that gentleman +was not happy in his first marriage; death had not then annulled the +bond. He was of an ardent and sensual temperament, and quietly, under +the broad cloak of his doctrines, he indulged his constitutional +tendencies. Perhaps in this respect he was not worse than nine men out +of ten. But then he professed to be better than nine hundred thousand +nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a million! To a fault of +temperament was added the craft of hypocrisy, and the vulgar error +became a dangerous vice. Upon Mary Westbrook, the widow's daughter, he +gazed with eyes that were far from being the eyes of the spirit. Even +at the age of fourteen she charmed him; but when, after watching +her ripening beauty expand, three years were added to that age, +Mr. Templeton was most deeply in love. Mary was indeed lovely,--her +disposition naturally good and gentle, but her education worse than +neglected. To the frivolities and meannesses of a second-rate fashion, +inculcated into her till her father's death, had now succeeded the +quackeries, the slavish subservience, the intolerant bigotries, of a +transcendental superstition. In a change so abrupt and violent, the +whole character of the poor girl was shaken; her principles unsettled, +vague, and unformed, and naturally of mediocre and even feeble +intellect, she clung to the first plank held out to her in "that wide +sea of wax" in which "she halted." Early taught to place the most +implicit faith in the dictates of Mr. Templeton, fastening her belief +round him as the vine winds its tendrils round the oak, yielding to his +ascendency, and pleased with his fostering and almost caressing manner, +no confessor in Papal Italy ever was more dangerous to village virtue +than Richard Templeton (who deemed himself the archetype of the only +pure Protestantism) to the morals and heart of Mary Westbrook. + +Mrs. Westbrook, whose constitution had been prematurely broken by long +participation in the excesses of London dissipation and by the reverse +of fortune which still preyed upon a spirit it had rather soured than +humbled, died when Mary was eighteen. Templeton became the sole friend, +comforter, and supporter of the daughter. + +In an evil hour (let us trust not from premeditated villany),--an hour +when the heart of one was softened by grief and gratitude, and the +conscience of the other laid asleep by passion, the virtue of Mary +Westbrook was betrayed. Her sorrow and remorse, his own fears of +detection and awakened self-reproach, occasioned Templeton the most +anxious and poignant regret. There had been a young woman in Mrs. +Westbrook's service, who had left it a short time before the widow died, +in consequence of her marriage. Her husband ill-used her; and glad to +escape from him and prove her gratitude to her employer's daughter, of +whom she had been extremely fond, she had returned to Miss Westbrook +after the funeral of her mother. The name of this woman was Sarah Miles. +Templeton saw that Sarah more than suspected his connection with Mary; +it was necessary to make a confidant,--he selected her. Miss Westbrook +was removed to a distant part of the country, and Templeton visited her +cautiously and rarely. Four months afterwards, Mrs. Templeton died, and +the husband was free to repair his wrong. Oh, how he then repented of +what had passed! but four months' delay, and all this sin and sorrow +might have been saved! He was now racked with perplexity and doubt: his +unfortunate victim was advanced in her pregnancy. It was necessary, +if he wished his child to be legitimate--still more if he wished to +preserve the honour of its mother--that he should not hesitate long in +the reparation to which duty and conscience urged him. But on the other +hand, he, the saint, the oracle, the immaculate example for all forms, +proprieties, and decorums, to scandalize the world by so rapid and +premature a hymen-- + + "Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears + Had left the flushing in his galled eyes, + To marry." + +No! he could not brave the sneer of the gossips, the triumph of his +foes, the dejection of his disciples, by so rank and rash a folly. +But still Mary pined so, he feared for her health--for his own unborn +offspring. There was a middle path,--a compromise between duty and +the world; he grasped at it as most men similarly situated would have +done,--they were married, but privately, and under feigned names: the +secret was kept close. Sarah Miles was the only witness acquainted with +the real condition and names of the parties. + +Reconciled to herself, the bride recovered health and spirits, Templeton +formed the most sanguine hopes. He resolved, as soon as the confinement +was over, to go abroad; Mary should follow; in a foreign land they +should be publicly married; they would remain some years on the +Continent; when he returned, his child's age could be put back a year. +Oh, nothing could be more clear and easy! + +Death shivered into atoms all the plans of Mr. Templeton. Mary suffered +most severely in childbirth, and died a few weeks afterwards. Templeton +at first was inconsolable, but worldly thoughts were great comforters. +He had done all that conscience could do to atone a sin, and he was +freed from a most embarrassing dilemma, and from a temporary banishment +utterly uncongenial and unpalatable to his habits and ideas. But now he +had a child,--a legitimate child, successor to his name, his wealth; a +first-born child,--the only one ever sprung from him, the prop and +hope of advancing years! On this child he doted with all that paternal +passion which the hardest and coldest men often feel the most for their +own flesh and blood--for fatherly love is sometimes but a transfer of +self-love from one fund to another. + +Yet this child--this darling that he longed to show to the whole +world--it was absolutely necessary, for the present, that he should +conceal and disown. It had happened that Sarah's husband died of his own +excesses a few weeks before the birth of Templeton's child, she having +herself just recovered from her confinement; Sarah was therefore free +forever from her husband's vigilance and control. To her care the +destined heiress was committed, and her own child put out to nurse. And +this was the woman and this the child who had excited so much benevolent +curiosity in the breasts of the worthy clergyman and the three old maids +of C-----.* Alarmed at Sarah's account of the scrutiny of the parson, +and at his own rencontre with that hawk-eyed pastor, Templeton lost no +time in changing the abode of the nurse; and to her new residence had +the banker bent his way, with rod and angle, on that evening which +witnessed his adventure with Luke Darvil.** When Mr. Templeton first +met Alice, his own child was only about thirteen or fourteen months +old,--but little older than Alice's. If the beauty of Mrs. Leslie's +_protege_ first excited his coarser nature, her maternal tenderness, +her anxious care for her little one, struck a congenial chord in the +father's heart. It connected him with her by a mute and unceasing +sympathy. Templeton had felt so deeply the alarm and pain of illicit +love, he had been (as he profanely believed) saved from the brink of +public shame by so signal an interference of grace, that he resolved no +more to hazard his good name and his peace of mind upon such perilous +rocks. The dearest desire at his heart was to have his daughter under +his roof,--to fondle, to play with her, to watch her growth, to win +her affection. This, at present, seemed impossible. But if he were to +marry,--marry a widow, to whom he might confide all, or a portion, of +the truth; if that child could be passed off as hers--ah, that was the +best plan! And Templeton wanted a wife! Years were creeping on him, and +the day would come when a wife would be useful as a nurse. But Alice was +supposed to be a widow; and Alice was so meek, so docile, so motherly. +If she could be induced to remove from C-----, either part with her own +child or call it her niece,--and adopt his. Such, from time to time, +were Templeton's thoughts, as he visited Alice, and found, with every +visit, fresh evidence of her tender and beautiful disposition; such +the objects which, in the First Part of this work, we intimated were +different from those of mere admiration for her beauty.*** But again, +worldly doubts and fears--the dislike of so unsuitable an alliance, the +worse than lowness of Alice's origin, the dread of discovery for her +early error--held him back, wavering and irresolute. To say truth, too, +her innocence and purity of thought kept him at a certain distance. +He was acute enough to see that he--even he, the great Richard +Templeton--might be refused by the faithful Alice. + + * See "Ernest Maltravers," book iv., p. 164. + + ** "Ernest Maltravers," book iv., p. 181. + + *** "Our banker always seemed more struck by Alice's moral + feelings than even by her physical beauty. Her love for her + child, for instance, impressed him powerfully," etc. "His + feelings altogether for Alice, the designs he entertained + towards her, were of a very complicated nature, and it will + be long, perhaps, before the reader can thoroughly comprehend + them."--See "Ernest Maltravers," book iv., p. 178. + +At last Darvil was dead; he breathed more freely, he revolved more +seriously his projects; and at this time, Sarah, wooed by her first +lover, wished to marry again; his secret would pass from her breast to +her second husband's, and thence how far would it travel? Added to this, +Sarah's conscience grew uneasy; the brand ought to be effaced from the +memory of the dead mother, the legitimacy of the child proclaimed; +she became importunate, she wearied and she alarmed the pious man. He +therefore resolved to rid himself of the only witness to his marriage +whose testimony he had cause to fear,--of the presence of the only +one acquainted with his sin and the real name of the husband of Mary +Westbrook. He consented to Sarah's marriage with William Elton, and +offered a liberal dowry on the condition that she should yield to the +wish of Elton himself, an adventurous young man, who desired to try his +fortunes in the New World. His daughter he must remove elsewhere. + +While this was going on, Alice's child, long delicate and drooping, +became seriously ill. Symptoms of decline appeared; the physician +recommended a milder air, and Devonshire was suggested. Nothing could +equal the generous, the fatherly kindness which Templeton evinced on +this most painful occasion. He insisted on providing Alice with the +means to undertake the journey with ease and comfort; and poor Alice, +with a heart heavy with gratitude and sorrow, consented for her child's +sake to all he offered. + +Now the banker began to perceive that all his hopes and wishes were in +good train. He foresaw that the child of Alice was doomed!--that was one +obstacle out of the way. Alice herself was to be removed from the sphere +of her humble calling. In a distant county she might appear of better +station, and under another name. Conformably to these views, he +suggested to her that, in proportion to the seeming wealth and +respectability of patients, did doctors attend to their complaints. He +proposed that Alice should depart privately to a town many miles off; +that there he would provide for her a carriage, and engage a servant; +that he would do this for her as for a relation, and that she should +take that relation's name. To this, Alice rapt in her child, and +submissive to all that might be for the child's benefit, passively +consented. It was arranged then as proposed, and under the name of +Cameron, which, as at once a common yet a well-sounding name, occurred +to his invention, Alice departed with her sick charge and a female +attendant (who knew nothing of her previous calling or story), on the +road to Devonshire. Templeton himself resolved to follow her thither in +a few days; and it was fixed that they should meet at Exeter. + +It was on this melancholy journey that occurred that memorable day when +Alice once more beheld Maltravers; and, as she believed, uttering the +vows of love to another.* The indisposition of her child had delayed her +some hours at the inn: the poor sufferer had fallen asleep; and Alice +had stolen from its couch for a little while, when her eyes rested on +the father. Oh, how then she longed, she burned to tell him of the new +sanctity, that, by a human life, had been added to their early love! And +when, crushed and sick at heart, she turned away, and believed herself +forgotten and replaced, it was the pride of the mother rather than of +the mistress that supported her. She, meek creature, felt not the +injury to herself; but _his_ child,--the sufferer, perhaps the dying +one,--_there_, _there_ was the wrong! No! she would not hazard the +chance of a cold--great Heaven! perchance an _incredulous_--look upon +the hushed, pale face above. But little time was left for thought, for +explanation, for discovery. She saw him--unconscious of the ties so +near, and thus lost--depart as a stranger from the spot; and henceforth +was gone the sweet hope of living for the future. Nothing was left +her but the pledge of that which had been. Mournful, despondent, half +broken-hearted, she resumed her journey. At Exeter she was joined, as +agreed, by Mr. Templeton; and with him came a fair, a blooming, and +healthful girl to contrast her own drooping charge. Though but a few +weeks older, you would have supposed the little stranger by a year the +senior of Alice's child: the one was so well grown, so advanced; the +other so backward, so nipped in the sickly bud. + + * See "Ernest Maltravers," book v., p. 221. + +"You can repay me for all, for more than I have done; more than I +ever can do for you and yours," said Templeton, "by taking this young +stranger also under your care. It is the child of one dear, most dear +to me; an orphan; I know not with whom else to place it. Let it for the +present be supposed your own,--the elder child." + +Alice could refuse nothing to her benefactor; but her heart did not open +at first to the beautiful girl, whose sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks +mocked the languid looks and faded hues of her own darling. But the +sufferer seemed to hail a playmate; it smiled, it put forth its poor, +thin hands; it uttered its inarticulate cry of pleasure, and Alice burst +into tears, and clasped them _both_ to her heart. + +Mr. Templeton took care not to rest under the same roof with her he +now seriously intended to make his wife; but he followed Alice to the +seaside, and visited her daily. Her infant rallied; it was tenacious +of the upper air; it clung to life so fondly; poor child, it could not +foresee what a bitter thing to some of us life is! And now it was that +Templeton, learning from Alice her adventure with her absent lover, +learning that all hope in that quarter was gone, seized the occasion, +and pressed his suit. Alice at the hour was overflowing with gratitude; +in her child's reviving looks she read all her obligations to her +benefactor. But still, at the word _love_, at the name of _marriage_, +her heart recoiled; and the lost, the faithless, came back to his fatal +throne. In choked and broken accents, she startled the banker with the +refusal--the faltering, tearful, but resolute refusal--of his suit. + +But Templeton brought new engines to work: he wooed her through her +child; he painted all the brilliant prospects that would open to the +infant by her marriage with him. He would cherish, rear, provide for it +as his own. This shook her resolves; but this did not prevail. He had +recourse to a more generous appeal: he told her so much of his +history with Mary Westbrook as commenced with his hasty and indecorous +marriage,--attributing the haste to love! made her comprehend his +scruples in owning the child of a union the world would be certain to +ridicule or condemn; he expatiated on the inestimable blessings +she could afford him, by delivering him from all embarrassment, and +restoring his daughter, though under a borrowed name, to her father's +roof. At this Alice mused; at this she seemed irresolute. She had long +seen how inexpressibly dear to Templeton was the child confided to her +care; how he grew pale if the slightest ailment reached her; how he +chafed at the very wind if it visited her cheek too roughly; and she now +said to him simply,-- + +"Is your child, in truth, your dearest object in life? Is it with her, +and her alone, that your dearest hopes are connected?" + +"It is,--it is indeed!" said the banker, honestly surprised out of his +gallantry; "at least," he added, recovering his self-possession, "as +much so as is compatible with my affection for you." + +"And only if I marry you, and adopt her as my own, do you think that +your secret may be safely kept, and all your wishes with respect to her +be fulfilled?" + +"Only so." + +"And for that reason, chiefly, nay entirely, you condescend to forget +what I have been, and seek my hand? Well, if that were all, I owe you +too much; my poor babe tells me too loudly what I owe you to draw back +from anything that can give you so blessed an enjoyment. Ah, one's +child! one's own child, under one's own roof, it _is_ such a blessing! +But then, if I marry you, it can be only to secure to you that object; +to be as a mother to your child; but wife only in name to you! I am not +so lost as to despise myself. I know now, though I knew it not at first, +that I have been guilty; nothing can excuse that guilt but fidelity to +_him_! Oh, yes! I never, never can be unfaithful to my babe's father! +As for all else, dispose of me as you will." And Alice, who from very +innocence had uttered all this without a blush, now clasped her hands +passionately, and left Templeton speechless with mortification and +surprise. + +When he recovered himself, he affected not to understand her; but Alice +was not satisfied, and all further conversation ceased. He began slowly, +and at last, and after repeated conferences and urgings, to comprehend +how strange and stubborn in some points was the humble creature whom his +proposals so highly honoured. Though his daughter was indeed his first +object in life; though for her he was willing to make a _mesalliance_, +the extent of which it would be incumbent on him studiously to +conceal,--yet still, the beauty of Alice awoke an earthlier sentiment +that he was not disposed to conquer. He was quite willing to make +promises, and talk generously; but when it came to an oath,--a solemn, a +binding oath--and this Alice rigidly exacted,--he was startled, and +drew back. Though hypocritical, he was, as we have before said, a +most sincere believer. He might creep through a promise with unbruised +conscience; but he was not one who could have dared to violate an oath, +and lay the load of perjury on his soul. Perhaps, after all, the union +never would have taken place, but Templeton fell ill; that soft and +relaxing air did not agree with him; a low but dangerous fever seized +him, and the worldly man trembled at the aspect of Death. It was in this +illness that Alice nursed him with a daughter's vigilance and care; +and when at length he recovered, impressed with her zeal and kindness, +softened by illness, afraid of the approach of solitary age,--and +feeling more than ever his duties to his motherless child, he threw +himself at Alice's feet, and solemnly vowed all that she required. + +It was during this residence in Devonshire, and especially during his +illness, that Templeton made and cultivated the acquaintance of Mr. +Aubrey. The good clergyman prayed with him by his sick-bed; and +when Templeton's danger was at its height, he sought to relieve his +conscience by a confession of his wrongs to Mary Westbrook. The name +startled Aubrey; and when he learned that the lovely child who had so +often sat on his knee, and smiled in his face, was the granddaughter +of his first and only love, he had a new interest in her welfare, a +new reason to urge Templeton to reparation, a new motive to desire to +procure for the infant years of Eleanor's grandchild the gentle care of +the young mother, whose own bereavement he sorrowfully foretold. Perhaps +the advice and exhortations of Aubrey went far towards assisting the +conscience of Mr. Templeton, and reconciling him to the sacrifice he +made to his affection for his daughter. Be that as it may, he married +Alice, and Aubrey solemnized and blessed the chill and barren union. + +But now came a new and inexpressible affliction; the child of Alice had +rallied but for a time. The dread disease had but dallied with its prey; +it came on with rapid and sudden force; and within a month from the day +that saw Alice the bride of Templeton, the last hope was gone, and the +mother was bereft and childless! + +The blow that stunned Alice was not, after the first natural shock of +sympathy, an unwelcome event to the banker. Now _his_ child would be +Alice's sole care; now there could be no gossip, no suspicion why, in +life and after death, he should prefer one child, supposed not his own, +to the other. + +He hastened to remove Alice from the scene of her affliction. He +dismissed the solitary attendant who had accompanied her on her journey; +he bore his wife to London, and finally settled, as we have seen, at a +villa in its vicinity. And there, more and more, day by day, centred his +love upon the supposed daughter of Mrs. Templeton, his darling and his +heiress, the beautiful Evelyn Cameron. + +For the first year or two, Templeton evinced some alarming disposition +to escape from the oath he had imposed upon himself; but on the +slightest hint there was a sternness in the wife, in all else so +respectful, so submissive, that repressed and awed him. She even +threatened--and at one time was with difficulty prevented carrying +the threat into effect--to leave his roof forever, if there were the +slightest question of the sanctity of his vow. Templeton trembled; such +a separation would excite gossip, curiosity, scandal, a noise in the +world, public talk, possible discovery. Besides, Alice was necessary +to Evelyn, necessary to his own comfort; something to scold in health, +something to rely upon in illness. Gradually then, but sullenly, he +reconciled himself to his lot; and as years and infirmities grew upon +him, he was contented at least to have secured a faithful friend and +an anxious nurse. Still a marriage of this sort was not blessed: +Templeton's vanity was wounded; his temper, always harsh, was soured; +he avenged his affront by a thousand petty tyrannies; and, without a +murmur, Alice perhaps in those years of rank and opulence suffered more +than in all her wanderings, with love at her heart and her infant in her +arms. + +Evelyn was to be the heiress to the wealth of the banker. But the +_title_ of the new peer!--if he could unite wealth and title, and set +the coronet on that young brow! This had led him to seek the alliance +with Lumley. And on his death-bed, it was not the secret of Alice, but +that of Mary Westbrook and his daughter, which he had revealed to his +dismayed and astonished nephew, in excuse for the apparently unjust +alienation of his property, and as the cause of the alliance he had +sought. + +While her husband, if husband he might be called, lived, Alice had +seemed to bury in her bosom her regret--deep, mighty, passionate, as it +was--for her lost child, the child of the unforgotten lover, to whom, +through such trials, and amid such new ties, she had been faithful from +first to last. But when once more free, her heart flew back to the +far and lowly grave. Hence her yearly visits to Brook-Green; hence her +purchase of the cottage, hallowed by memories of the dead. There, on +that lawn, had she borne forth the fragile form, to breathe the soft +noontide air; there, in that chamber, had she watched and hoped, and +prayed and despaired; there, in that quiet burial-ground, rested the +beloved dust! But Alice, even in her holiest feelings, was not selfish: +she forbore to gratify the first wish of her heart till Evelyn's +education was sufficiently advanced to enable her to quit the +neighbourhood; and then, to the delight of Aubrey (who saw in Evelyn a +fairer, and nobler, and purer Eleanor), she came to the solitary spot, +which, in all the earth, was the _least_ solitary to her! + +And now the image of the lover of her youth--which during her marriage +she had _sought_, at least, to banish--returned to her, and at times +inspired her with the only hopes that the grave had not yet transferred +to heaven! In relating her tale to Aubrey or in conversing with Mrs. +Leslie, whose friendship she still maintained, she found that both +concurred in thinking that this obscure and wandering Butler, so skilled +in an art in which eminence in man is generally professional, must be of +mediocre or perhaps humble station. Ah! now that she was free and rich, +if she were to meet him again, and his love was not all gone, and he +would believe in _her_ strange and constant truth; now, _his_ infidelity +could be forgiven,--forgotten in the benefits it might be hers to +bestow! And how, poor Alice, in that remote village, was chance to throw +him in your way? She knew not: but something often whispered to her, +"Again you shall meet those eyes; again you shall hear that voice; and +you shall tell him, weeping on his breast, how you loved his child!" +And would he not have forgotten her; would he not have formed new +ties?--could he read the loveliness of unchangeable affection in that +pale and pensive face! Alas, when we love intensely, it is difficult to +make us fancy that there is no love in return! + +The reader is acquainted with the adventures of Mrs. Elton, the sole +confidant of the secret union of Templeton and Evelyn's mother. By a +singular fatality, it was the selfish and characteristic recklessness +of Vargrave that had, in fixing her home at Burleigh, ministered to the +revelation of his own villanous deceit. On returning to England she had +inquired for Mr. Templeton; she had learned that he had married again, +had been raised to the peerage under the title of Lord Vargrave, and was +gathered to his fathers. She had no claim on his widow or his family. +But the unfortunate child who should have inherited his property, she +could only suppose her dead. + +When she first saw Evelyn, she was startled by her likeness to her +unfortunate mother. But the unfamiliar name of Cameron, the intelligence +received from Maltravers that Evelyn's mother still lived, dispelled her +suspicions; and though at times the resemblance haunted her, she doubted +and inquired no more. In fact, her own infirmities grew upon her, and +pain usurped her thoughts. + +Now it so happened that the news of the engagement of Maltravers to +Miss Cameron became known to the county but a little time before +he arrived,--for news travels slow from the Continent to our +provinces,--and, of course, excited all the comment of the villagers. +Her nurse repeated the tale to Mrs. Elton, who instantly remembered the +name, and recalled the resemblance of Miss Cameron to the unfortunate +Mary Westbrook. + +"And," said the gossiping nurse, "she was engaged, they say, to a great +lord, and gave him up for the squire,--a great lord in the court, who +had been staying at Parson Merton's, Lord Vargrave!" + +"Lord Vargrave!" exclaimed Mrs. Elton, remembering the title to which +Mr. Templeton had been raised. + +"Yes; they do say as how the late lord left Miss Cameron all his +money--such a heap of it--though she was not his child, over the head of +his nevy, the present lord, on the understanding like that they were to +be married when she came of age. But she would not take to him after she +had seen the squire. And, to be sure, the squire is the finest-looking +gentleman in the county." + +"Stop! stop!" said Mrs. Elton, feebly; "the late lord left all +his fortune to Miss Cameron,--not his child! I guess the riddle! I +understand it all! my foster-child!" she murmured, turning away; "how +could I have mistaken that likeness?" + +The agitation of the discovery she supposed she had made, her joy at the +thought that the child she had loved as her own was alive and possessed +of its rights, expedited the progress of Mrs. Elton's disease; and +Maltravers arrived just in time to learn her confession (which she +naturally wished to make to one who was at once her benefactor, and +supposed to be the destined husband of her foster-child), and to be +agitated with hope, with joy, at her solemn conviction of the truth of +her surmises. If Evelyn were not his daughter--even if not to be his +bride--what a weight from his soul! He hastened to Brook-Green; and +dreading to rush at once to the presence of Alice, he recalled Aubrey to +his recollection. In the interview he sought, all, or at least much, was +cleared up. He saw at once the premeditated and well-planned villany +of Vargrave. And Alice, her tale--her sufferings--her indomitable +love!--how should he meet _her_? + + + +CHAPTER V. + + YET once more, O ye laurels! and once more, + Ye myrtles!--LYCIDAS. + +WHILE Maltravers was yet agitated and excited by the disclosures of the +curate, to whom, as a matter of course, he had divulged his own identity +with the mysterious Butler, Aubrey, turning his eyes to the casement, +saw the form of Lady Vargrave slowly approaching towards the house. + +"Will you withdraw to the inner room?" said he; "she is coming; you are +not yet prepared to meet her!--nay, would it be well?" + +"Yes, yes; I am prepared. We must be alone. I will await her here." + +"But--" + +"Nay, I implore you!" + +The curate, without another word, retired into the inner apartment, and +Maltravers sinking in a chair breathlessly awaited the entrance of Lady +Vargrave. He soon heard the light step without; the door, which opened +at once on the old-fashioned parlour, was gently unclosed, and Lady +Vargrave was in the room! In the position he had taken, only the outline +of Ernest's form was seen by Alice, and the daylight came dim through +the cottage casement; and seeing some one seated in the curate's +accustomed chair, she could but believe that it was Aubrey himself. + +"Do not let me interrupt you," said that sweet, low voice, whose music +had been dumb for so many years to Maltravers, "but I have a letter from +France, from a stranger. It alarms me so; it is about Evelyn;" and, +as if to imply that she meditated a longer visit than ordinary, Lady +Vargrave removed her bonnet, and placed it on the table. Surprised that +the curate had not answered, had not come forward to welcome her, she +then approached; Maltravers rose, and they stood before each other face +to face. And how lovely still was Alice! lovelier he thought even than +of old! And those eyes, so divinely blue, so dovelike and soft, yet with +some spiritual and unfathomable mystery in their clear depth, were once +more fixed upon him. Alice seemed turned to stone; she moved not, +she spoke not, she scarcely breathed; she gazed spellbound, as if her +senses--as if life itself--had deserted her. + +"Alice!" murmured Maltravers,--"Alice, we meet at last!" + +His voice restored memory, consciousness, youth, at once to her! +She uttered a loud cry of unspeakable joy, of rapture! She sprang +forward--reserve, fear, time, change, all forgotten; she threw herself +into his arms, she clasped him to her heart again and again!--the +faithful dog that has found its master expresses not his transport more +uncontrollably, more wildly. It was something fearful--the excess of her +ecstasy! She kissed his hands, his clothes; she laughed, she wept; +and at last, as words came, she laid her head on his breast, and said +passionately, "I have been true to thee! I have been true to thee!--or +this hour would have killed me!" Then, as if alarmed by his silence, she +looked up into his face, and as his burning tears fell upon her +cheek, she said again and with more hurried vehemence, "I _have_ been +faithful,--do you not believe me?" + +"I do, I do, noble, unequalled Alice! Why, why were you so long lost to +me? Why now does your love so shame my own?" + +At these words, Alice appeared to awaken from her first oblivion of all +that had chanced since they met; she blushed deeply, and drew herself +gently and bashfully from his embrace. "Ah," she said, in altered and +humbled accents, "you have loved another! Perhaps you have no love left +for me! Is it so; is it? No, no; those eyes--you love me--you love me +still!" + +And again she clung to him, as if it were heaven to believe all things, +and death to doubt. Then, after a pause, she drew him gently with both +her hands towards the light, and gazed upon him fondly, proudly, as if +to trace, line by line, and feature by feature, the countenance which +had been to her sweet thoughts as the sunlight to the flowers. "Changed, +changed," she muttered; "but still the same,--still beautiful, still +divine!" She stopped. A sudden thought struck her: his garments were +worn and soiled by travel, and that princely crest, fallen and dejected, +no longer towered in proud defiance above the sons of men. "You are not +rich," she exclaimed eagerly,--"say you are not rich! I am rich enough +for both; it is all yours,--all yours; I did not betray you for it; +there is no shame in it. Oh, we shall be so happy! Thou art come back to +thy poor Alice! thou knowest how she loved thee!" + +There was in Alice's manner, her wild joy, something so different from +her ordinary self, that none who could have seen her--quiet, pensive, +subdued--would have fancied her the same being. All that Society and +its woes had taught were gone; and Nature once more claimed her fairest +child. The very years seemed to have fallen from her brow, and she +looked scarcely older than when she had stood with him beneath the +moonlight by the violet banks far away. Suddenly, her colour faded; the +smile passed from the dimpled lips; a sad and solemn aspect succeeded +to that expression of passionate joy. "Come," she said, in a whisper, +"come, follow;" and still clasping his hand, she drew him to the door. +Silent and wonderingly he followed her across the lawn, through the +moss-grown gate, and into the lonely burial-ground. She moved on with +a noiseless and gliding step,--so pale, so hushed, so breathless, that +even in the noonday you might have half fancied the fair shape was not +owned by earth. She paused where the yew-tree cast its gloomy shadow; +and the small and tombless mound, separated from the rest, was before +them. She pointed to it, and falling on her knees beside it, murmured, +"Hush, it sleeps below,--thy child!" She covered her face with both her +hands, and her form shook convulsively. + +Beside that form and before that grave knelt Maltravers. There +vanished the last remnant of his stoic pride; and there--Evelyn herself +forgotten--there did he pray to Heaven for pardon to himself, and +blessings on the heart he had betrayed. There solemnly did he vow, the +remainder of his years, to guard from all future ill the faithful and +childless mother. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + WILL Fortune never come with both hands full, + But write her fair words still in foulest letters? + _Henry IV._ Part ii. + +I PASS over those explanations, that record of Alice's eventful history, +which Maltravers learned from her own lips, to confirm and add to the +narrative of the curate, the purport of which is already known to the +reader. + +It was many hours before Alice was sufficiently composed to remember the +object for which she had sought the curate. But she had laid the letter +which she had brought, and which explained all, on the table at the +vicarage; and when Maltravers, having at last induced Alice, who seemed +afraid to lose sight of him for an instant, to retire to her room, and +seek some short repose, returned towards the vicarage, he met Aubrey in +the garden. The old man had taken the friend's acknowledged license to +read the letter evidently meant for his eye; and, alarmed and anxious, +he now eagerly sought a consultation with Maltravers. The letter, +written in English, as familiar to the writer as her own tongue, was +from Madame de Ventadour. It had been evidently dictated by the kindest +feelings. After apologizing briefly for her interference, she stated +that Lord Vargrave's marriage with Miss Cameron was now a matter of +public notoriety; that it would take place in a few days; that it was +observed with suspicion that Miss Cameron appeared nowhere; that she +seemed almost a prisoner in her room; that certain expressions which had +dropped from Lady Doltimore had alarmed her greatly. According to these +expressions, it would seem that Lady Vargrave was not apprised of the +approaching event; that, considering Miss Cameron's recent engagement to +Mr. Maltravers suddenly (and, as Valerie thought, unaccountably) broken +off on the arrival of Lord Vargrave; considering her extreme youth, +her brilliant fortune; and, Madame de Ventadour delicately hinted, +considering also Lord Vargrave's character for unscrupulous +determination in the furtherance of any object on which he was +bent,--considering all this, Madame de Ventadour had ventured to address +Miss Cameron's mother, and to guard her against the possibility of +design or deceit. Her best apology for her intrusion must be her deep +interest in Miss Cameron, and her long friendship for one to whom Miss +Cameron had been so lately betrothed. If Lady Vargrave were aware of +the new engagement, and had sanctioned it, of course her intrusion was +unseasonable and superfluous; but if ascribed to its real motive, would +not be the less forgiven. + +It was easy for Maltravers to see in this letter how generous and +zealous had been that friendship for himself which could have induced +the woman of the world to undertake so officious a task. But of this +he thought not, as he hurried over the lines, and shuddered at Evelyn's +urgent danger. + +"This intelligence," said Aubrey, "must be, indeed, a surprise to Lady +Vargrave. For we have not heard a word from Evelyn or Lord Vargrave to +announce such a marriage; and she (and myself till this day) believed +that the engagement between Evelyn and Mr. -----, I mean," said Aubrey +with confusion,--"I mean yourself, was still in force. Lord Vargrave's +villany is apparent; we must act immediately. What is to be done?" + +"I will return to Paris to-morrow; I will defeat his machination, expose +his falsehood!" + +"You may need a proxy for Lady Vargrave, an authority for Evelyn; one +whom Lord Vargrave knows to possess the secret of her birth, her rights: +I will go with you. We must speak to Lady Vargrave." + +Maltravers turned sharply round. "And Alice knows not who I am; that +I--I am, or was, a few weeks ago, the suitor of another; and that other +the child she has reared as her own! Unhappy Alice! in the very hour of +her joy at my return, is she to writhe beneath this new affliction?" + +"Shall I break it to her?" said Aubrey, pityingly. + +"No, no; these lips must inflict the last wrong!" Maltravers walked +away, and the curate saw him no more till night. + +In the interval, and late in the evening, Maltravers rejoined Alice. + +The fire burned clear on the hearth, the curtains were drawn, the +pleasant but simple drawing-room of the cottage smiled its welcome as +Maltravers entered, and Alice sprang up to greet him! It was as if the +old days of the music-lesson and the meerschaum had come back. + +"This is yours," said Alice, tenderly, as he looked round the apartment. +"Now--now I know what a blessed thing riches are! Ah, you are looking on +that picture; it is of her who supplied your daughter's place,--she +is so beautiful, so good, you will love her as a daughter. Oh, +that letter--that--that letter--I forgot it till now--it is at the +vicarage--I must go there immediately, and you will come too,--you will +advise us." + +"Alice, I have read the letter,--I know all. Alice, sit down and hear +me,--it is you who have to learn from me. In our young days I was +accustomed to tell you stories in winter nights like these,--stories +of love like our own, of sorrows which, at that time, we only knew by +hearsay. I have one now for your ear, truer and sadder than they were. +Two children, for they were then little more--children in ignorance +of the world, children in freshness of heart, children almost in +years--were thrown together by strange vicissitudes, more than eighteen +years ago. They were of different sexes,--they loved and they erred. But +the error was solely with the boy; for what was innocence in her was but +passion in him. He loved her dearly; but at that age her qualities were +half developed. He knew her beautiful, simple, tender; but he knew not +all the virtue, the faith, and the nobleness that Heaven had planted in +her soul. They parted,--they knew not each other's fate. He sought her +anxiously, but in vain; and sorrow and remorse long consumed him, and +her memory threw a shadow over his existence. But again--for his love +had not the exalted holiness of hers (_she_ was true!)--he sought to +renew in others the charm he had lost with her. In vain,--long, long in +vain. Alice, you know to whom the tale refers. Nay, listen yet. I have +heard from the old man yonder that you were witness to a scene many +years ago which deceived you into the belief that you beheld a rival. It +was not so: that lady yet lives,--then, as now, a friend to me; nothing +more. I grant that, at one time, my fancy allured me to her, but my +heart was still true to thee." + +"Bless you for those words!" murmured Alice; and she crept more closely +to him. + +He went on. "Circumstances, which at some calmer occasion you shall +hear, again nearly connected my fate by marriage to another. I had then +seen you at a distance, unseen by you,--seen you apparently surrounded +by respectability and opulence; and I blessed Heaven that your lot, at +least, was not that of penury and want." (Here Maltravers related where +he had caught that brief glimpse of Alice,*--how he had sought for her +again and again in vain.) "From that hour," he continued, "seeing you +in circumstances of which I could not have dared to dream, I felt +more reconciled to the past; yet, when on the verge of marriage with +another--beautiful, gifted, generous as she was--a thought, a memory +half acknowledged, dimly traced, chained back my sentiments; and +admiration, esteem, and gratitude were not love! Death--a death +melancholy and tragic--forbade this union; and I went forth in the +world, a pilgrim and a wanderer. Years rolled away, and I thought I had +conquered the desire for love,--a desire that had haunted me since +I lost thee. But, suddenly and recently, a being, beautiful as +yourself--sweet, guileless, and young as you were when we met--woke in +me a new and a strange sentiment. I will not conceal it from you: Alice, +at last I loved another! Yet, singular as it may seem to you, it was a +certain resemblance to yourself, not in feature, but in the tones of the +voice, the nameless grace of gesture and manner, the very music of your +once happy laugh,--those traits of resemblance which I can now account +for, and which children catch not from their parents only, but from +those they most see, and, loving most, most imitate in their tender +years,--all these, I say, made perhaps a chief attraction, that drew +me towards--Alice, are you prepared for it?--drew me towards Evelyn +Cameron. Know me in my real character, by my true name: I am that +Maltravers to whom the hand of Evelyn was a few weeks ago betrothed!" + + * See "Ernest Maltravers," book v., p. 228. + +He paused, and ventured to look up at Alice; she was exceedingly pale, +and her hands were tightly clasped together, but she neither wept nor +spoke. The worst was over; he continued more rapidly, and with less +constrained an effort: "By the art, the duplicity, the falsehood of Lord +Vargrave, I was taught in a sudden hour to believe that Evelyn was our +daughter, that you recoiled from the prospect of beholding once more the +author of so many miseries. I need not tell you, Alice, of the horror +that succeeded to love. I pass over the tortures I endured. By a train +of incidents to be related to you hereafter, I was led to suspect the +truth of Vargrave's tale. I came hither; I have learned all from Aubrey. +I regret no more the falsehood that so racked me for the time; I regret +no more the rupture of my bond with Evelyn; I regret nothing that brings +me at last free and unshackled to thy feet, and acquaints me with thy +sublime faith and ineffable love. Here then--here beneath your own +roof--here he, at once your earliest friend and foe, kneels to you +for pardon and for hope! He woos you as his wife, his companion to the +grave! Forget all his errors, and be to him, under a holier name, all +that you were to him of old!" + +"And you are then Evelyn's suitor,--you are he whom she loves? I see it +all--all!" Alice rose, and, before he was even aware of her purpose, or +conscious of what she felt, she had vanished from the room. + +Long, and with the bitterest feelings, he awaited her return; she came +not. At last he wrote a hurried note, imploring her to join him again, +to relieve his suspense; to believe his sincerity; to accept his vows. +He sent it to her own room, to which she had hastened to bury her +emotions. In a few minutes there came to him this answer, written in +pencil, blotted with tears. + + +"I thank you, I understand your heart; but forgive me--I cannot see you +yet. She is so beautiful and good, she is worthy of you. I shall soon be +reconciled. God bless you,--bless you both!" + + +The door of the vicarage was opened abruptly, and Maltravers entered +with a hasty but heavy tread. + +"Go to her, go to that angel; go, I beseech you! Tell her that she +wrongs me, if she thinks I can ever wed another, ever have an object in +life, but to atone to, to merit her. Go, plead for me." + +Aubrey, who soon gathered from Maltravers what had passed, departed to +the cottage. It was near midnight before he returned. Maltravers met him +in the churchyard, beside the yew-tree. "Well, well, what message do you +bring?" + +"She wishes that we should both set off for Paris to-morrow. Not a day +is to be lost,--we must save Evelyn from this snare." + +"Evelyn! Yes, Evelyn shall be saved; but the rest--the rest--why do you +turn away?" + +"'You are not the poor artist, the wandering adventurer; you are the +high-born, the wealthy, the renowned Maltravers: Alice has nothing to +confer on you. You have won the love of Evelyn,--Alice cannot doom +the child confided to her care to hopeless affection; you love +Evelyn,--Alice cannot compare herself to the young and educated and +beautiful creature, whose love is a priceless treasure. Alice prays +you not to grieve for her; she will soon be content and happy in your +happiness.' This is the message." + +"And what said you,--did you not tell her such words would break my +heart?" + +"No matter what I said; I mistrust myself when I advise her. Her +feelings are truer than all our wisdom!" + +Maltravers made no answer, and the curate saw him gliding rapidly away +by the starlit graves towards the village. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + THINK you I can a resolution fetch + From flowery tenderness?--_Measure for Measure_. + +THEY were on the road to Dover. Maltravers leaned back in the corner of +the carriage with his hat over his brows, though the morning was yet too +dark for the curate to perceive more than the outline of his features. +Milestone after milestone glided by the wheels, and neither of the +travellers broke the silence. It was a cold, raw morning, and the mists +rose sullenly from the dank hedges and comfortless fields. + +Stern and self-accusing was the scrutiny of Maltravers into the recesses +of his conscience, and the blotted pages of the Past. That pale and +solitary mother, mourning over the grave of her--of his own--child, rose +again before his eyes, and seemed silently to ask him for an account +of the heart he had made barren, and of the youth to which his love had +brought the joylessness of age. With the image of Alice,--afar, alone, +whether in her wanderings, a beggar and an outcast, or in that hollow +prosperity, in which the very ease of the frame allowed more leisure +to the pinings of the heart,--with that image, pure, sorrowing, and +faithful from first to last, he compared his own wild and wasted youth, +his resort to fancy and to passion for excitement. He contrasted with +her patient resignation his own arrogant rebellion against the trials, +the bitterness of which his proud spirit had exaggerated; his contempt +for the pursuits and aims of others; the imperious indolence of his +later life, and his forgetfulness of the duties which Providence had +fitted him to discharge. His mind, once so rudely hurled from that +complacent pedestal, from which it had so long looked down on men, +and said, "I am wiser and better than you," became even too acutely +sensitive to its own infirmities; and that desire for Virtue, which +he had ever deeply entertained, made itself more distinctly and loudly +heard amidst the ruins and the silence of his pride. + +From the contemplation of the Past, he roused himself to face the +Future. Alice had refused his hand, Alice herself had ratified and +blessed his union with another! Evelyn, so madly loved,--Evelyn might +still be his! No law--from the violation of which, even in thought, +Human Nature recoils appalled and horror-stricken--forbade him to +reclaim her hand, to snatch her from the grasp of Vargrave, to woo +again, and again to win her! But did Maltravers welcome, did he embrace +that thought? Let us do him justice: he did not. He felt that Alice's +resolution, in the first hour of mortified affection, was not to be +considered final; and even if it were so, he felt yet more deeply that +her love--the love that had withstood so many trials--never could be +subdued. Was he to make her nobleness a curse? Was he to say, "Thou hast +passed away in thy generation, and I leave thee again to thy solitude +for her whom thou hast cherished as a child?" He started in dismay from +the thought of this new and last blow upon the shattered spirit; and +then fresh and equally sacred obstacles between Evelyn and himself +broke slowly on his view. Could Templeton rise from his grave, with what +resentment, with what just repugnance, would he have regarded in the +betrayer of his wife (even though wife but in name) the suitor to his +child! + +These thoughts came in fast and fearful force upon Maltravers, and +served to strengthen his honour and his conscience. He felt that though, +in law, there was no shadow of connection between Evelyn and himself, +yet his tie with Alice had been of a nature that ought to separate him +from one who had regarded Alice as a mother. The load of horror, the +agony of shame, were indeed gone; but still a voice whispered as before, +"Evelyn is lost to thee forever!" But so shaken had already been her +image in the late storms and convulsion of his soul, that this thought +was preferable to the thought of sacrificing Alice. If _that_ were +all--but Evelyn might still love him; and justice to Alice might be +misery to her! He started from his revery with a vehement gesture, and +groaned audibly. + +The curate turned to address to him some words of inquiry and surprise; +but the words were unheard, and he perceived, by the advancing daylight, +that the countenance of Maltravers was that of a man utterly rapt and +absorbed by some mastering and irresistible thought. Wisely, therefore, +he left his companion in peace, and returned to his own anxious and +engrossing meditations. + +The travellers did not rest till they arrived at Dover. The vessel +started early the following morning, and Aubrey, who was much fatigued, +retired to rest. Maltravers glanced at the clock upon the mantelpiece; +it was the hour of nine. For him there was no hope of sleep; and the +prospect of the slow night was that of dreary suspense and torturing +self-commune. + +As he turned restlessly in his seat, the waiter entered to say that +there was a gentleman who had caught a glimpse of him below on his +arrival, and who was anxious to speak with him. Before Maltravers could +answer, the gentleman himself entered, and Maltravers recognized Legard. + +"I beg your pardon," said the latter, in a tone of great agitation, "but +I was most anxious to see you for a few moments. I have just returned +to England--all places alike hateful to me! I read in the papers--an--an +announcement--which--which occasions me the greatest--I know not what I +would say,--but is it true? Read this paragraph;" and Legard placed "The +Courier" before Maltravers. + +The passage was as follows: + + +"It is whispered that Lord Vargrave, who is now at Paris, is to be +married in a few days to the beautiful and wealthy Miss Cameron, to whom +he has been long engaged." + + +"Is it possible?" exclaimed Legard, following the eyes of Maltravers, as +he glanced over the paragraph. "Were not _you_ the lover,--the accepted, +the happy lover of Miss Cameron? Speak, tell me, I implore you!--that it +was for you, who saved my life and redeemed my honour, and not for that +cold schemer, that I renounced all my hopes of earthly happiness, and +surrendered the dream of winning the heart and hand of the only woman I +ever loved!" + +A deep shade fell over the features of Maltravers. He gazed earnestly +and long upon the working countenance of Legard, and said, after a +pause,-- + +"You, too, loved her, then? I never knew it,--never guessed it; or, if +once I suspected, it was but for a moment; and--" + +"Yes," interrupted Legard, passionately, "Heaven is my witness how +fervently and truly I did love--I do still love Evelyn Cameron! But when +you confessed to me your affection--your hopes--I felt all that I +owed you; I felt that I never ought to become your rival. I left Paris +abruptly. What I have suffered I will not say; but it was some comfort +to think that I had acted as became one who owed you a debt never to +be cancelled nor repaid. I travelled from place to place, each equally +hateful and wearisome; at last, I scarce know why, I returned to +England. I have arrived this day; and now--but tell me, is it true?" + +"I believe it true," said Maltravers, in a hollow voice, "that Evelyn is +at this moment engaged to Lord Vargrave. I believe it equally true +that that engagement, founded upon false impressions, never will be +fulfilled. With that hope and that belief, I am on my road to Paris." + +"And she will be yours, still?" said Legard, turning away his face: +"well, that I can bear. May you be happy, sir!" + +"Stay, Legard," said Maltravers, in a voice of great feeling: "let us +understand each other better; you have renounced your passion to your +sense of honour." Maltravers paused thoughtfully. "It was noble in you, +it was more than just to me; I thank you and respect you. But, Legard, +was there aught in the manner, the bearing of Evelyn Cameron, that could +lead you to suppose that she would have returned your affection? True, +had we started on equal terms, I am not vain enough to be blind to your +advantages of youth and person; but I believed that the affections of +Evelyn were already mine, before we met at Paris." + +"It might be so," said Legard, gloomily; "nor is it for me to say that a +heart so pure and generous as Evelyn's could deceive yourself or me. +Yet I _had_ fancied, I _had_ hoped, while you stood aloof, that the +partiality with which she regarded you was that of admiration more than +love; that you had dazzled her imagination rather than won her heart. +I had hoped that I should win, that I was winning, my way to her +affection! But let this pass; I drop the subject forever--only, +Maltravers, only do me justice. You are a proud man, and your pride has +often irritated and stung me, in spite of my gratitude. Be more lenient +to me than you have been; think that, though I have my errors and my +follies, I am still capable of some conquests over myself. And most +sincerely do I now wish that Evelyn's love may be to you that blessing +it would have been to me!" + +This was, indeed, a new triumph over the pride of Maltravers,--a new +humiliation. He had looked with a cold contempt on this man, because he +affected not to be above the herd; and this man had preceded him in the +very sacrifice he himself meditated. + +"Legard," said Maltravers, and a faint blush overspread his face, "you +rebuke me justly. I acknowledge my fault, and I ask you to forgive +it. From this night, whatever happens, I shall hold it an honour to be +admitted to your friendship; from this night, George Legard never shall +find in me the offences of arrogance and harshness." + +Legard wrung the hand held out to him warmly, but made no answer; his +heart was full, and he would not trust himself to speak. + +"You think, then," resumed Maltravers, in a more thoughtful tone,--"you +think that Evelyn could have loved you, had my pretensions not crossed +your own? And you think, also--pardon me, dear Legard--that you could +have acquired the steadiness of character, the firmness of purpose, +which one so fair, so young, so inexperienced and susceptible, so +surrounded by a thousand temptations, would need in a guardian and +protector?" + +"Oh, do not judge of me by what I have been. I feel that Evelyn could +have reformed errors worse than mine; that her love would have elevated +dispositions yet more light and commonplace. You do not know what +miracles love works! But now, what is there left for me? What matters it +how frivolous and poor the occupations which can distract my thoughts, +and bring me forgetfulness? Forgive me; I have no right to obtrude all +this egotism on you." + +"Do not despond, Legard," said Maltravers, kindly; "there may be better +fortunes in store for you than you yet anticipate. I cannot say more +now; but will you remain at Dover a few days longer? Within a week you +shall hear from me. I will not raise hopes that it may not be mine to +realize. But if it be as you think it was, why little, indeed, would +rest with me. Nay, look not on me so wistfully," added Maltravers, with +a mournful smile; "and let the subject close for the present. You will +stay at Dover?" + +"I will; but--" + +"No buts, Legard; it is so settled." + + + + +BOOK XI. + + "Man is born to be a doer of good."--MARCUS ANTONINUS, lib. iii. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + His teeth he still did grind, + And grimly gnash, threatening revenge in vain.--SPENSER. + +IT is now time to return to Lord Vargrave. His most sanguine hopes were +realized; all things seemed to prosper. The hand of Evelyn Cameron was +pledged to him, the wedding-day was fixed. In less than a week she was +to confer upon the ruined peer a splendid dowry, that would smooth all +obstacles in the ascent of his ambition. From Mr. Douce he learned that +the deeds, which were to transfer to himself the baronial possessions of +the head of the house of Maltravers, were nearly completed; and on his +wedding-day he hoped to be able to announce that the happy pair had +set out for their princely mansion of Lisle Court. In politics; though +nothing could be finally settled till his return, letters from Lord +Saxingham assured him that all was auspicious: the court and the heads +of the aristocracy daily growing more alienated from the premier, and +more prepared for a Cabinet revolution. And Vargrave, perhaps, like +most needy men, overrated the advantages he should derive from, and the +servile opinions he should conciliate in, his new character of landed +proprietor and wealthy peer. He was not insensible to the silent anguish +that Evelyn seemed to endure, nor to the bitter gloom that hung on +the brow of Lady Doltimore. But these were clouds that foretold no +storm,--light shadows that obscured not the serenity of the favouring +sky. He continued to seem unconscious to either; to take the coming +event as a matter of course, and to Evelyn he evinced so gentle, +unfamiliar, respectful, and delicate an attachment, that he left no +opening, either for confidence or complaint. Poor Evelyn! her gayety, +her enchanting levity, her sweet and infantine playfulness of manner, +were indeed vanished. Pale, wan, passive, and smileless, she was the +ghost of her former self! But days rolled on, and the evil one drew +near; she recoiled, but she never dreamed of resisting. How many equal +victims of her age and sex does the altar witness! + +One day, at early noon, Lord Vargrave took his way to Evelyn's. He had +been to pay a political visit in the Faubourg St. Germain, and he was +now slowly crossing the more quiet and solitary part of the gardens of +the Tuileries, his hands clasped behind him, after his old, unaltered +habit, and his eyes downcast,--when suddenly a man, who was seated alone +beneath one of the trees, and who had for some moments watched his steps +with an anxious and wild aspect, rose and approached him. Lord Vargrave +was not conscious of the intrusion, till the man laid his hand on +Vargrave's arm, and exclaimed,-- + +"It is he! it is! Lumley Ferrers, we meet again!" + +Lord Vargrave started and changed colour, as he gazed on the intruder. + +"Ferrers," continued Cesarini (for it was he), and he wound his arm +firmly into Lord Vargrave's as he spoke, "you have not changed; your +step is light, your cheek healthful; and yet I--you can scarcely +recognize me. Oh, I have suffered so horribly since we parted! Why is +this? Why have I been so heavily visited, and why have you gone free? +Heaven is not just!" + +Castruccio was in one of his lucid intervals; but there was that in his +uncertain eye, and strange unnatural voice, which showed that a breath +might dissolve the avalanche. Lord Vargrave looked anxiously round; none +were near: but he knew that the more public parts of the garden +were thronged, and through the trees he saw many forms moving in the +distance. He felt that the sound of his voice could summon assistance in +an instant, and his assurance returned to him. + +"My poor friend," said he soothingly, as he quickened his pace, "it +grieves me to the heart to see you look ill; do not think so much of +what is past." + +"There is no past!" replied Cesarini, gloomily. "The Past is my Present! +And I have thought and thought, in darkness and in chains, over all that +I have endured, and a light has broken on me in the hours when they told +me I was mad! Lumley Ferrers, it was not for my sake that you led me, +devil as you are, into the lowest hell! You had some object of your +own to serve in separating _her_ from Maltravers. You made me your +instrument. What was I to you that you should have sinned for _my_ sake? +Answer me, and truly, if those lips can utter truth!" + +"Cesarini," returned Vargrave, in his blandest accents, "another time +we will converse on what has been; believe me, my only object was your +happiness, combined, it may be, with my hatred of your rival." + +"Liar!" shouted Cesarini, grasping Vargrave's arm with the strength of +growing madness, while his burning eyes were fixed upon his tempter's +changing countenance. "You, too, loved Florence; you, too, sought her +hand; _you_ were my real rival!" + +"Hush! my friend, hush!" said Vargrave, seeking to shake off the grip +of the maniac, and becoming seriously alarmed; "we are approaching the +crowded part of the gardens, we shall be observed." + +"And why are men made my foes? Why is my own sister become my +persecutor? Why should she give me up to the torturer and the dungeon? +Why are serpents and fiends my comrades? Why is there fire in my brain +and heart; and why do you go free and enjoy liberty and life? Observed! +What care _you_ for observation? All men search for _me_!" + +"Then why so openly expose yourself to their notice; why--" + +"Hear me!" interrupted Cesarini. "When I escaped from the horrible +prison into which I was plunged; when I scented the fresh air, and +bounded over the grass; when I was again free in limbs and spirit,--a +sudden strain of music from a village came on my ear, and I stopped +short, and crouched down, and held my breath to listen. It ceased; and I +thought I had been with Florence, and I wept bitterly! When I recovered, +memory came back to me distinct and clear; and I heard a voice say to +me, 'Avenge her and thyself!' From that hour the voice has been heard +again, morning and night! Lumley Ferrers, I hear it now! it speaks to +my heart, it warms my blood, it nerves my hand! On whom should vengeance +fall? Speak to me!" + +Lumley strode rapidly on. They were now without the grove; a gay throng +was before them. "All is safe," thought the Englishman. He turned +abruptly and haughtily on Cesarini, and waved his hand; "Begone, +madman!" said he, in a loud and stern voice,--"begone! vex me no more, +or I give you into custody. Begone, I say!" + +Cesarini halted, amazed and awed for the moment; and then, with a dark +scowl and a low cry, threw himself on Vargrave. The eye and hand of the +latter were vigilant and prepared; he grasped the uplifted arm of the +maniac, and shouted for help. But the madman was now in his full fury; +he hurled Vargrave to the ground with a force for which the peer was not +prepared, and Lumley might never have risen a living man from that spot, +if two soldiers, seated close by, had not hastened to his assistance. +Cesarini was already kneeling on his breast, and his long bony fingers +were fastening upon the throat of his intended victim. Torn from his +hold, he glared fiercely on his new assailants; and after a fierce but +momentary struggle, wrested himself from their grip. Then, turning round +to Vargrave, who had with some effort risen from the ground, he +shrieked out, "I shall have thee yet!" and fled through the trees and +disappeared. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + AH, who is nigh? Come to me, friend or foe! + My parks, my walks, my manors that I had, + Ev'n now forsake me.--_HENRY VI_. Part iii. + +LORD VARGRAVE, bold as he was by nature, in vain endeavoured to banish +from his mind the gloomy impression which the startling interview with +Cesarini had bequeathed. The face, the voice of the maniac, haunted him, +as the shape of the warning wraith haunts the mountaineer. He returned +at once to his hotel, unable for some hours to collect himself +sufficiently to pay his customary visit to Miss Cameron. Inly resolving +not to hazard a second meeting with the Italian during the rest of his +sojourn at Paris by venturing in the streets on foot, he ordered +his carriage towards evening; dined at the Cafe de Paris; and then +re-entered his carriage to proceed to Lady Doltimore's house. + +"I beg your pardon, my lord," said his servant, as he closed the +carriage-door, "but I forgot to say that, a short time after you +returned this morning, a strange gentleman asked at the porter's lodge +if Mr. Ferrers was not staying at the hotel. The porter said there was +no Mr. Ferrers, but the gentleman insisted upon it that he had seen +Mr. Ferrers enter. I was in the lodge at the moment, my lord, and I +explained--" + +"That Mr. Ferrers and Lord Vargrave are one and the same? What sort of +looking person?" + +"Thin and dark, my lord,--evidently a foreigner. When I said that you +were now Lord Vargrave, he stared a moment, and said very abruptly that +he recollected it perfectly, and then he laughed and walked away." + +"Did he not ask to see me?" + +"No, my lord; he said he should take another opportunity. He was a +strange-looking gentleman, and his clothes were threadbare." + +"Ah, some troublesome petitioner. Perhaps a Pole in distress! Remember I +am never at home when he calls. Shut the door. To Lady Doltimore's." + +Lumley's heart beat as he threw himself back,--he again felt the grip of +the madman at his throat. He saw, at once, that Cesarini had dogged him; +he resolved the next morning to change his hotel, and to apply to the +police. It was strange how sudden and keen a fear had entered the breast +of this callous and resolute man! + +On arriving at Lady Doltimore's, he found Caroline alone in the +drawing-room. It was a _tete-a-tete_ that he by no means desired. + +"Lord Vargrave," said Caroline, coldly, "I wished a short conversation +with you; and finding you did not come in the morning, I sent you a note +an hour ago. Did you receive it?" + +"No; I have been from home since six o'clock,--it is now nine." + +"Well, then, Vargrave," said Caroline, with a compressed and writhing +lip, and turning very pale, "I tremble to tell you that I fear Doltimore +suspects. He looked at me sternly this morning, and said, 'You seem +unhappy, madam; this marriage of Lord Vargrave's distresses you!'" + +"I warned you how it would be,--your own selfishness will betray and +ruin you." + +"Do not reproach me, man!" said Lady Doltimore, with great vehemence. +"From you at least I have a right to pity, to forbearance, to succour. I +will not bear reproach from _you_." + +"I reproach you for your own sake, for the faults you commit against +yourself; and I must say, Caroline, that after I had generously +conquered all selfish feeling, and assisted you to so desirable and +even brilliant a position, it is neither just nor high-minded in you to +evince so ungracious a reluctance to my taking the only step which can +save me from actual ruin. But what does Doltimore suspect? What ground +has he for suspicion, beyond that want of command of countenance which +it is easy to explain,--and which it is yet easier for a woman and a +great lady [here Lumley sneered] to acquire?" + +"I know not; it has been put into his head. Paris is so full of slander. +But, Vargrave--Lumley--I tremble, I shudder with terror, if ever +Doltimore should discover--" + +"Pooh! pooh! Our conduct at Paris has been most guarded, most discreet. +Doltimore is Self-conceit personified,--and Self-conceit is horn-eyed. +I am about to leave Paris,--about to marry, from under your own roof; a +little prudence, a little self-control, a smiling face, when you wish +us happiness, and so forth, and all is safe. Tush! think of it no more! +Fate has cut and shuffled the cards for you; the game is yours, unless +you revoke. Pardon my metaphor; it is a favourite one,--I have worn +it threadbare; but human life _is_ so like a rubber at whist. Where is +Evelyn?" + +"In her own room. Have you no pity for her?" + +"She will be very happy when she is Lady Vargrave; and for the rest, I +shall neither be a stern nor a jealous husband. She might not have given +the same character to the magnificent Maltravers." + +Here Evelyn entered; and Vargrave hastened to press her hand, to whisper +tender salutations and compliments, to draw the easy-chair to the +fire, to place the footstool,--to lavish the _petits soins_ that are so +agreeable, when they are the small moralities of love. + +Evelyn was more than usually pale,--more than usually abstracted. There +was no lustre in her eye, no life in her step; she seemed unconscious +of the crisis to which she approached. As the myrrh and hyssop which +drugged the malefactors of old into forgetfulness of their doom, +so there are griefs which stupefy before their last and crowning +consummation! + +Vargrave conversed lightly on the weather, the news, the last book. +Evelyn answered but in monosyllables; and Caroline, with a hand-screen +before her face, preserved an unbroken silence. Thus gloomy and joyless +were two of the party, thus gay and animated the third, when the clock +on the mantelpiece struck ten; and as the last stroke died, and Evelyn +sighed heavily,--for it was an hour nearer to the fatal day,--the door +was suddenly thrown open, and pushing aside the servant, two gentlemen +entered the room. + +Caroline, the first to perceive them, started from her seat with a faint +exclamation of surprise. Vargrave turned abruptly, and saw before him +the stern countenance of Maltravers. + +"My child! my Evelyn!" exclaimed a familiar voice; and Evelyn had +already flown into the arms of Aubrey. + +The sight of the curate in company with Maltravers explained all at +once to Vargrave. He saw that the mask was torn from his face, the prize +snatched from his grasp, his falsehood known, his plot counterworked, +his villany baffled! He struggled in vain for self-composure; all his +resources of courage and craft seemed drained and exhausted. Livid, +speechless, almost trembling, he cowered beneath the eyes of Maltravers. + +Evelyn, not as yet aware of the presence of her former lover, was the +first to break the silence. She lifted her face in alarm from the bosom +of the good curate. "My mother--she is well--she lives--what brings you +hither?" + +"Your mother is well, my child. I have come hither at her earnest +request to save you from a marriage with that unworthy man!" + +Lord Vargrave smiled a ghastly smile, but made no answer. + +"Lord Vargrave," said Maltravers, "you will feel at once that you have +no further business under this roof. Let us withdraw,--I have much to +thank you for." + +"I will not stir!" exclaimed Vargrave, passionately, and stamping on +the floor. "Miss Cameron, the guest of Lady Doltimore, whose house and +presence you thus rudely profane, is my affianced bride,--affianced with +her own consent. Evelyn, beloved Evelyn! mine you are yet; you alone can +cancel the bond. Sir, I know not what you have to say, what mystery in +your immaculate life to disclose; but unless Lady Doltimore, whom your +violence appalls and terrifies, orders me to quit her roof, it is not +I,--it is yourself, who are the intruder! Lady Doltimore, with your +permission, I will direct your servants to conduct this gentleman to his +carriage!" + +"Lady Doltimore, pardon me," said Maltravers, coldly; "I will not be +urged to any failure of respect to you. My lord, if the most abject +cowardice be not added to your other vices, you will not make this room +the theatre for our altercation. I invite you, in those terms which no +gentleman ever yet refused, to withdraw with me." + +The tone and manner of Maltravers exercised a strange control over +Vargrave; he endeavoured in vain to keep alive the passion into which he +had sought to work himself; his voice faltered, his head sank upon his +breast. Between these two personages, none interfered; around them, all +present grouped in breathless silence,--Caroline, turning her eyes from +one to the other in wonder and dismay; Evelyn, believing all a dream, +yet alive only to the thought that, by some merciful interposition of +Providence, she should escape the consequences of her own rashness, +clinging to Aubrey, with her gaze riveted on Maltravers; and Aubrey, +whose gentle character was borne down and silenced by the powerful and +tempestuous passions that now met in collision and conflict, withheld +by his abhorrence of Vargrave's treachery from his natural desire to +propitiate, and yet appalled by the apprehension of bloodshed, that for +the first time crossed him. + +There was a moment of dead silence, in which Vargrave seemed to be +nerving and collecting himself for such course as might be best to +pursue, when again the door opened, and the name of Mr. Howard was +announced. + +Hurried and agitated, the young secretary, scarcely noticing the rest of +the party, rushed to Lord Vargrave. + +"My lord! a thousand pardons for interrupting you,--business of such +importance! I am so fortunate to find you!" + +"What is the matter, sir?" + +"These letters, my lord; I have so much to say!" + +Any interruption, even an earthquake, at that moment must have been +welcome to Vargrave. He bent his head, with a polite smile, linked his +arm into his secretary's, and withdrew to the recess of the farthest +window. Not a minute elapsed before he turned away with a look of +scornful exultation. "Mr. Howard," said he, "go and refresh yourself, +and come to me at twelve o'clock to-night; I shall be at home then." The +secretary bowed, and withdrew. + +"Now, sir," said Vargrave, to Maltravers, "I am willing to leave you in +possession of the field. Miss Cameron, it will be, I fear, impossible +for me to entertain any longer the bright hopes I had once formed; my +cruel fate compels me to seek wealth in any matrimonial engagement. I +regret to inform you that you are no longer the great heiress; the whole +of your capital was placed in the hands of Mr. Douce for the completion +of the purchase of Lisle Court. Mr. Douce is a bankrupt; he has fled to +America. This letter is an express from my lawyer; the house has closed +its payments! Perhaps we may hope to obtain sixpence in the pound. I +am a loser also; the forfeit money bequeathed to me is gone. I know +not whether, as your trustee, I am not accountable for the loss of your +fortune (drawn out on my responsibility); probably so. But as I have not +now a shilling in the world, I doubt whether Mr. Maltravers will advise +you to institute proceedings against me. Mr. Maltravers, to-morrow, +at nine o'clock, I will listen to what you have to say. I wish you all +good-night." He bowed, seized his hat, and vanished. + +"Evelyn," said Aubrey, "can you require to learn more; do you not +already feel you are released from union with a man without heart and +honour?" + +"Yes, yes! I am so happy!" cried Evelyn, bursting into tears. "This +hated wealth,--I feel not its loss; I am released from all duty to my +benefactor. I am free!" + +The last tie that had yet united the guilty Caroline to Vargrave was +broken,--a woman forgives sin in her lover, but never meanness. The +degrading, the abject position in which she had seen one whom she had +served as a slave (though, as yet, all his worst villanies were unknown +to her), filled her with shame, horror, and disgust. She rose abruptly, +and quitted the room. They did not miss her. + +Maltravers approached Evelyn; he took her hand, and pressed it to his +lips and heart. + +"Evelyn," said he, mournfully, "you require an explanation,--to-morrow +I will give and seek it. To-night we are both too unnerved for such +communications. I can only now feel joy at your escape, and hope that I +may still minister to your future happiness." + +"But," said Aubrey, "can we believe this new and astounding statement? +Can this loss be so irremediable; may we not yet take precaution, and +save, at least, some wrecks of this noble fortune?" + +"I thank you for recalling me to the world," said Maltravers, eagerly. +"I will see to it this instant; and tomorrow, Evelyn, after my interview +with you, I will hasten to London, and act in that capacity still left +to me,--your guardian, your friend." + +He turned away his face, and hurried to the door. + +Evelyn clung more closely to Aubrey. "But you will not leave me +to-night? You can stay? We can find you accommodation; do not leave me." + +"Leave you, my child! no; we have a thousand things to say to each +other. I will not," he added in a whisper, turning to Maltravers, +"forestall your communications." + + + +CHAPTER III. + + ALACK, 'tis he. Why, he was met even now + As mad as the vexed sea.--_Lear_. + +IN the Rue de la Paix there resided an English lawyer of eminence, with +whom Maltravers had had previous dealings; to this gentleman he now +drove. He acquainted him with the news he had just heard, respecting the +bankruptcy of Mr. Douce; and commissioned him to leave Paris, the first +moment he could obtain a passport, and to proceed to London. + +At all events, he would arrive there some hours before Maltravers; and +those hours were something gained. This done, he drove to the nearest +hotel, which chanced to be the Hotel de M-----, where, though he knew it +not, it so happened that Lord Vargrave himself lodged. As his carriage +stopped without, while the porter unclosed the gates, a man, who had +been loitering under the lamps, darted forward, and prying into the +carriage-window, regarded Maltravers earnestly. The latter, pre-occupied +and absorbed, did not notice him; but when the carriage drove into the +courtyard it was followed by the stranger, who was muffled in a worn and +tattered cloak, and whose movements were unheeded amidst the bustle of +the arrival. The porter's wife led the way to a second-floor, just +left vacant, and the waiter began to arrange the fire. Maltravers threw +himself abstractedly upon the sofa, insensible to all around him, when, +lifting his eyes, he saw before him the countenance of Cesarini! The +Italian (supposed, perhaps, by the persons of the hotel to be one of +the newcomers) was leaning over the back of a chair, supporting his +face with his hand, and fixing his eyes with an earnest and sorrowful +expression upon the features of his ancient rival. When he perceived +that he was recognized, he approached Maltravers, and said in Italian, +and in a low voice, "You are the man of all others, whom, save one, I +most desired to see. I have much to say to you, and my time is short. +Spare me a few minutes." + +The tone and manner of Cesarini were so calm and rational that they +changed the first impulse of Maltravers, which was that of securing a +maniac; while the Italian's emaciated countenance, his squalid +garments, the air of penury and want diffused over his whole appearance, +irresistibly invited compassion. With all the more anxious and pressing +thoughts that weighed upon him, Maltravers could not refuse the +conference thus demanded. He dismissed the attendants, and motioned +Cesarini to be seated. + +The Italian drew near to the fire, which now blazed brightly and +cheerily, and, spreading his thin hands to the flame, seemed to enjoy +the physical luxury of the warmth. "Cold, cold," he said piteously, as +to himself; "Nature is a very bitter protector. But frost and famine +are, at least, more merciful than slavery and darkness." + +At this moment Ernest's servant entered to know if his master would not +take refreshments, for he had scarcely touched food upon the road. And +as he spoke, Cesarini turned keenly and wistfully round. There was no +mistaking the appeal. Wine and cold meat were ordered: and when the +servant vanished, Cesarini turned to Maltravers with a strange smile, +and said, "You see what the love of liberty brings men to! They found +me plenty in the jail! But I have read of men who feasted merrily before +execution--have not you?--and my hour is at hand. All this day I have +felt chained by an irresistible destiny to this house. But it was not +you I sought; no matter, in the crisis of our doom all its agents meet +together. It is the last act of a dreary play!" + +The Italian turned again to the fire, and bent over it, muttering to +himself. + +Maltravers remained silent and thoughtful. Now was the moment once more +to place the maniac under the kindly vigilance of his family, to snatch +him from the horrors, perhaps, of starvation itself, to which his escape +condemned him: if he could detain Cesarini till De Montaigne could +arrive! + +Agreeably to this thought, he quietly drew towards him the portfolio +which had been laid on the table, and, Cesarini's back still turned to +him, wrote a hasty line to De Montaigne. When his servant re-entered +with the wine and viands, Maltravers followed him out of the room, and +bade him see the note sent immediately. On returning, he found Cesarini +devouring the food before him with all the voracity of famine. It was +a dreadful sight!--the intellect ruined, the mind darkened, the wild, +fierce animal alone left! + +When Cesarini had appeased his hunger, he drew near to Maltravers, and +thus accosted him,-- + +"I must lead you back to the past. I sinned against you and the dead; +but Heaven has avenged you, and me you can pity and forgive. Maltravers, +there is another more guilty than I,--but proud, prosperous, and great. +_His_ crime Heaven has left to the revenge of man! I bound myself by an +oath not to reveal his villany. I cancel the oath now, for the knowledge +of it should survive his life and mine. And, mad though they deem me, +the mad are prophets, and a solemn conviction, a voice not of earth, +tells me that he and I are already in the Shadow of Death." + +Here Cesarini, with a calm and precise accuracy of self-possession,--a +minuteness of circumstance and detail, that, coming from one whose very +eyes betrayed his terrible disease, was infinitely thrilling in its +effect,--related the counsels, the persuasions, the stratagems of +Lumley. Slowly and distinctly he forced into the heart of Maltravers +that sickening record of cold fraud calculating on vehement passion as +its tool; and thus he concluded his narration,-- + +"Now wonder no longer why I have lived till this hour; why I have +clung to freedom, through want and hunger, amidst beggars, felons, and +outcasts! In that freedom was my last hope,--the hope of revenge!" + +Maltravers returned no answer for some moments. At length he said +calmly, "Cesarini, there are injuries so great that they defy revenge. +Let us alike, since we are alike injured, trust our cause to Him who +reads all hearts, and, better than we can do, measures both crime and +its excuses. You think that our enemy has not suffered,--that he has +gone free. We know not his internal history; prosperity and power are no +signs of happiness, they bring no exemption from care. Be soothed and +be ruled, Cesarini. Let the stone once more close over the solemn grave. +Turn with me to the future; and let us rather seek to be the judges of +ourselves, than the executioners of another." + +Cesarini listened gloomily, and was about to answer, when-- + +But here we must return to Lord Vargrave. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + MY noble lord, + Your worthy friends do lack you.--_Macbeth_. + + He is about it; + The doors are open.--_Ibid._ + +ON quitting Lady Doltimore's house, Lumley drove to his hotel. His +secretary had been the bearer of other communications, with the +nature of which he had not yet acquainted himself; but he saw by the +superscriptions that they were of great importance. Still, however, +even in the solitude and privacy of his own chamber, it was not on the +instant that he could divert his thoughts from the ruin of his fortunes: +the loss not only of Evelyn's property, but his own claims upon it (for +the whole capital had been placed in Douce's hands), the total wreck of +his grand scheme, the triumph he had afforded to Maltravers! He ground +his teeth in impotent rage, and groaned aloud, as he traversed his room +with hasty and uneven strides. At last he paused and muttered: "Well, +the spider toils on even when its very power of weaving fresh webs is +exhausted; it lies in wait,--it forces itself into the webs of others. +Brave insect, thou art my model! While I have breath in my body, the +world and all its crosses, Fortune and all her malignity, shall not +prevail against me! What man ever yet failed until he himself grew +craven, and sold his soul to the arch fiend, Despair! 'Tis but a girl +and a fortune lost,--they were gallantly fought for, that is some +comfort. Now to what is yet left to me!" + +The first letter Lumley opened was from Lord Saxingham. It filled him +with dismay. The question at issue had been formally, but abruptly, +decided in the Cabinet against Vargrave and his manoeuvres. Some hasty +expressions of Lord Saxingham had been instantly caught at by the +premier, and a resignation, rather hinted at than declared, had been +peremptorily accepted. Lord Saxingham and Lumley's adherents in the +Government were to a man dismissed; and at the time Lord Saxingham wrote +the premier was with the king. + +"Curse their folly!--the puppets! the dolts!" exclaimed Lumley, crushing +the letter in his hand. "The moment I leave them, they run their heads +against the wall. Curse them! curse myself! curse the man who weaves +ropes with sand! Nothing--nothing left for me but exile or suicide! +Stay, what is this?" His eye fell on the well-known hand writing of the +premier. He tore the envelope, impatient to know the worst. His +eyes sparkled as he proceeded. The letter was most courteous, most +complimentary, most wooing. The minister was a man consummately versed +in the arts that increase, as well as those which purge, a party. +Saxingham and his friends were imbeciles, incapables, mostly men who had +outlived their day. But Lord Vargrave, in the prime of life--versatile, +accomplished, vigorous, bitter, unscrupulous--Vargrave was of another +mould, Vargrave was to be dreaded; and therefore, if possible, to be +retained. His powers of mischief were unquestionably increased by the +universal talk of London that he was about soon to wed so wealthy a +lady. The minister knew his man. In terms of affected regret, he +alluded to the loss the Government would sustain in the services of Lord +Saxingham, etc.; he rejoiced that Lord Vargrave's absence from London +had prevented his being prematurely mixed up, by false scruples of +honour, in secessions which his judgment must condemn. He treated of +the question in dispute with the most delicate address,--confessed the +reasonableness of Lord Vargrave's former opposition to it; but contended +that it was now, if not wise, inevitable. He said nothing of the +_justice_ of the measure he proposed to adopt, but much on the +_expediency_. He concluded by offering to Vargrave, in the most cordial +and flattering terms, the very seat in the Cabinet which Lord Saxingham +had vacated, with an apology for its inadequacy to his lordship's +merits, and a distinct and definite promise of the refusal of the +gorgeous viceroyalty of India, which would be vacant next year by the +return of the present governor-general. + +Unprincipled as Vargrave was, it is not, perhaps, judging him too mildly +to say that, had he succeeded in obtaining Evelyn's hand and fortune, +he would have shrunk from the baseness he now meditated. To step coldly +into the very post of which he, and he alone, had been the cause of +depriving his earliest patron and nearest relative; to profit by the +betrayal of his own party; to damn himself eternally in the eyes of +his ancient friends; to pass down the stream of history as a mercenary +apostate,--from all this Vargrave must have shrunk, had he seen one spot +of honest ground on which to maintain his footing. But now the waters of +the abyss were closing over his head; he would have caught at a straw; +how much more consent to be picked up by the vessel of an enemy! All +objection, all scruple, vanished at once. And the "barbaric gold" "of +Ormus and of Ind" glittered before the greedy eyes of the penniless +adventurer! Not a day was now to be lost. How fortunate that a written +proposition, from which it was impossible to recede, had been made to +him before the failure of his matrimonial projects had become known! +Too happy to quit Paris, he would set off on the morrow, and conclude +in person the negotiation. Vargrave glanced towards the clock; it was +scarcely past eleven. What revolutions are worked in moments! Within an +hour he had lost a wife, a noble fortune, changed the politics of his +whole life, stepped into a Cabinet office, and was already calculating +how much a governor-general of India could lay by in five years! But it +was only eleven o'clock. He had put off Mr. Howard's visit till twelve; +he wished so much to see him, and learn all the London gossip connected +with the recent events. Poor Mr. Douce! Vargrave had already forgotten +_his_ existence!--he rang his bell hastily. It was some time before his +servant answered. + +Promptitude and readiness were virtues that Lord Vargrave peremptorily +demanded in a servant; and as he paid the best price for the +articles--less in wages than in plunder--he was generally sure to obtain +them. + +"Where the deuce have you been? This is the third time I have rung! you +ought to be in the anteroom!" + +"I beg your lordship's pardon; but I was helping Mr. Maltravers's valet +to find a key which he dropped in the courtyard." + +"Mr. Maltravers! Is he at this hotel?" + +"Yes, my lord; his rooms are just overhead." + +"Humph! Has Mr. Howard engaged a lodging here?" + +"No, my lord. He left word that he was gone to his aunt, Lady Jane." + +"Ah, Lady Jane--lives at Paris--so she does; Rue Chaussee d'Antin--you +know the House? Go immediately--go yourself; don't trust to a +messenger--and beg Mr. Howard to return with you. I want to see him +instantly." + +"Yes, my lord." + +The servant went. Lumley was in a mood in which solitude was +intolerable. He was greatly excited; and some natural compunctions at +the course on which he had decided made him long to escape from thought. +So Maltravers was under the same roof! He had promised to give him an +interview next day; but next day he wished to be on the road to London. +Why not have it over to-night? But could Maltravers meditate any hostile +proceedings? Impossible! Whatever his causes of complaint, they were +of too delicate and secret a nature for seconds, bullets, and newspaper +paragraphs! Vargrave might feel secure that he should not be delayed by +any Bois de Boulogne assignation; but it was necessary to _his honour_ +(!) that he should not seem to shun the man he had deceived and wronged. +He would go up to him at once,--a new excitement would distract his +thoughts. Agreeably to this resolution, Lord Vargrave quitted his room, +and was about to close the outer door, when he recollected that perhaps +his servant might not meet with Howard; that the secretary might +probably arrive before the time fixed,--it would be as well to leave his +door open. He accordingly stopped, and writing upon a piece of paper, +"Dear Howard, send up for me the moment you arrive: I shall be with Mr. +Maltravers _au second_"--Vargrave wafered the _affiche_ to the door, +which he then left ajar, and the lamp in the landing-place fell clear +and full on the paper. + +It was the voice of Vargrave, in the little stone-paved antechamber +without, inquiring of the servant if Mr. Maltravers was at home, which +had startled and interrupted Cesarini as he was about to reply to +Ernest. Each recognized that sharp clear voice; each glanced at the +other. + +"I will not see him," said Maltravers, hastily moving towards the door; +"you are not fit to--" + +"Meet him? no!" said Cesarini, with a furtive and sinister glance, which +a man versed in his disease would have understood, but which Maltravers +did not even observe; "I will retire into your bedroom; my eyes are +heavy. I could sleep." + +He opened the inner door as he spoke, and had scarcely reclosed it +before Vargrave entered. + +"Your servant said you were engaged; but I thought you might see an old +friend:" and Vargrave coolly seated himself. + +Maltravers drew the bolt across the door that separated them from +Cesarini; and the two men, whose characters and lives were so strongly +contrasted, were now alone. + +"You wished an interview,--an explanation," said Lumley; "I shrink +from neither. Let me forestall inquiry and complaint. I deceived you +knowingly and deliberately, it is quite true,--all stratagems are fair +in love and war. The prize was vast! I believed my career depended on +it: I could not resist the temptation. I knew that before long you would +learn that Evelyn was not your daughter; that the first communication +between yourself and Lady Vargrave would betray me; but it was worth +trying a _coup de main_. You have foiled me, and conquered: be it so; +I congratulate you. You are tolerably rich, and the loss of Evelyn's +fortune will not vex you as it would have done me." + +"Lord Vargrave, it is but poor affectation to treat thus lightly the +dark falsehood you conceived, the awful curse you inflicted upon me. +Your sight is now so painful to me, it so stirs the passions that I +would seek to suppress, that the sooner our interview is terminated the +better. I have to charge you, also, with a crime,--not, perhaps, baser +than the one you so calmly own, but the consequences of which were more +fatal: you understand me?" + +"I do not." + +"Do not tempt me! do not lie!" said Maltravers, still in a calm voice, +though his passions, naturally so strong, shook his whole frame. "To +your arts I owe the exile of years that should have been better spent; +to those arts Cesarini owes the wreck of his reason, and Florence +Lascelles her early grave! Ah, you are pale now; your tongue cleaves to +your mouth! And think you these crimes will go forever unrequited; think +you that there is no justice in the thunderbolts of God?" + +"Sir," said Vargrave, starting to his feet, "I know not what you +suspect, I care not what you believe! But I am accountable to man, and +that account I am willing to render. You threatened me in the presence +of my ward; you spoke of cowardice, and hinted at danger. Whatever my +faults, want of courage is not one. Stand by your threats,--I am ready +to brave them!" + +"A year, perhaps a short month, ago," replied Maltravers, "and I would +have arrogated justice to my own mortal hand; nay, this very night, had +the hazard of either of our lives been necessary to save Evelyn from +your persecution, I would have incurred all things for her sake! But +that is past; from me you have nothing to fear. The proofs of your +earlier guilt, with its dreadful results, would alone suffice to warn +me from the solemn responsibility of human vengeance. Great Heaven! +what hand could dare to send a criminal so long hardened, so black with +crime, unatoning, unrepentant, and unprepared, before the judgment-seat +of the ALL JUST? Go, unhappy man! may life long be spared to you! Awake! +awake from this world, before your feet pass the irrevocable boundary of +the next!" + +"I came not here to listen to homilies, and the cant of the +conventicle," said Vargrave, vainly struggling for a haughtiness of mien +that his conscience-stricken aspect terribly belied; "not I; but this +wrong world is to be blamed, if deeds that strict morality may not +justify, but the effects of which I, no prophet, could not foresee, were +necessary for success in life. I have been but as all other men have +been who struggle against fortune to be rich and great: ambition must +make use of foul ladders." + +"Oh," said Maltravers, earnestly, touched involuntarily, and in spite +of his abhorrence of the criminal, by the relenting that this miserable +attempt at self-justification seemed to denote,--"oh, be warned, while +it is yet time; wrap not yourself in these paltry sophistries; look back +to your past career; see to what heights you might have climbed, if with +those rare gifts and energies, with that subtle sagacity and indomitable +courage--your ambition had but chosen the straight, not the crooked, +path. Pause! many years may yet, in the course of nature, afford you +time to retrace your steps, to atone to thousands the injuries you have +inflicted on the few. I know not why I thus address you: but something +diviner than indignation urges me; something tells me that you are +already on the brink of the abyss!" + +Lord Vargrave changed colour, nor did he speak for some moments; then +raising his head, with a faint smile, he said, "Maltravers, you are a +false soothsayer. At this moment my paths, crooked though they be, have +led me far towards the summit of my proudest hopes; the straight path +would have left me at the foot of the mountain. You yourself are a +beacon against the course you advise. Let us contrast each other. You +took the straight path, I the crooked. You, my superior in fortune; you, +infinitely above me in genius; you, born to command and never to crouch: +how do we stand now, each in the prime of life? You, with a barren and +profitless reputation; without rank, without power, almost without the +hope of power. I--but you know not my new dignity--I, in the Cabinet +of England's ministry, vast fortunes opening to my gaze, the proudest +station not too high for my reasonable ambition! You, wedding yourself +to some grand chimera of an object, aimless when it eludes your grasp. +I, swinging, squirrel-like, from scheme to scheme; no matter if one +breaks, another is at hand! Some men would have cut their throats +in despair, an hour ago, in losing the object of a seven years' +chase,--Beauty and Wealth, both! I open a letter, and find success in +one quarter to counterbalance failure in another. Bah! bah! each to his +_metier_, Maltravers! For you, honour, melancholy, and, if it please +you, repentance also! For me, the onward, rushing life, never looking +back to the Past, never balancing the stepping-stones to the Future. +Let us not envy each other; if you were not Diogenes, you would be +Alexander. Adieu! our interview is over. Will you forget and forgive, +and shake hands once more? You draw back, you frown! well, perhaps you +are right. If we meet again--" + +"It will be as strangers." + +"No rash vows! you may return to politics, you may want office. I am of +your way of thinking now: and--ha! ha!--poor Lumley Ferrers could make +you a Lord of the Treasury; smooth travelling and cheap turnpikes on +crooked paths, believe me. Farewell!" + + + +On entering the room into which Cesarini had retired, Maltravers found +him flown. His servant said that the gentleman had gone away shortly +after Lord Vargrave's arrival. Ernest reproached himself bitterly for +neglecting to secure the door that conducted to the ante-chamber; but +still it was probable that Cesarini would return in the morning. + +The messenger who had taken the letter to De Montaigne brought back word +that the latter was at his villa, but expected at Paris early the next +day. Maltravers hoped to see him before his departure; meanwhile +he threw himself on his bed, and despite all the anxieties that yet +oppressed him, the fatigues and excitements he had undergone exhausted +even the endurance of that iron frame, and he fell into a profound +slumber. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + BY eight to-morrow + Thou shalt be made immortal. + _Measure for Measure_. + +LORD VARGRAVE returned to his apartment to find Mr. Howard, who had but +just that instant arrived, warming his white and well-ringed hands by +the fire. He conversed with him for half an hour on all the topics on +which the secretary could give him information, and then dismissed him +once more to the roof of Lady Jane. + +As he slowly undressed himself, he saw on his writing-table the note +which Lady Doltimore had referred to, and which he had not yet opened. +He lazily broke the seal, ran his eye carelessly over its few blotted +words of remorse and alarm, and threw it down again with a contemptuous +"pshaw!" Thus unequally are the sorrows of a guilty tie felt by the man +of the world and the woman of society! + +As his servant placed before him his wine and water, Vargrave told him +to see early to the preparations for departure, and to call him at nine +o'clock. + +"Shall I shut that door, my lord?" said the valet, pointing to one that +communicated with one of those large closets, or _armoires_, that are +common appendages to French bedrooms, and in which wood and sundry other +matters are kept. + +"No," said Lord Vargrave, petulantly; "you servants are so fond of +excluding every breath of air. I should never have a window open, if +I did not open it myself. Leave the door as it is, and do not be later +than nine to-morrow." + +The servant, who slept in a kind of kennel that communicated with the +anteroom, did as he was bid; and Vargrave put out his candle, betook +himself to bed, and, after drowsily gazing some minutes on the dying +embers of the fire, which threw a dim ghastly light over the chamber, +fell fast asleep. The clock struck the first hour of morning, and in +that house all seemed still. + +The next morning, Maltravers was disturbed from his slumber by De +Montaigne, who, arriving, as was often his wont, at an early hour from +his villa, had found Ernest's note of the previous evening. + +Maltravers rose and dressed himself; and while De Montaigne was yet +listening to the account which his friend gave of his adventure with +Cesarini, and the unhappy man's accusation of his accomplice, Ernest's +servant entered the room very abruptly. + +"Sir," said he, "I thought you might like to know. What is to be done? +The whole hotel is in confusion, Mr. Howard has been sent for, and Lord +Doltimore. So very strange, so sudden!" + +"What is the matter? Speak plain." + +"Lord Vargrave, sir,--poor Lord Vargrave--" + +"Lord Vargrave!" + +"Yes, sir; the master of the hotel, hearing you knew his lordship, would +be so glad if you would come down. Lord Vargrave, sir, is dead,--found +dead in his bed!" + +Maltravers was rooted to the spot with amaze and horror. Dead! and but +last night so full of life and schemes and hope and ambition. + +As soon as he recovered himself, he hurried to the spot, and De +Montaigne followed. The latter, as they descended the stairs, laid his +hand on Ernest's arm and detained him. + +"Did you say that Castruccio left the apartment while Vargrave was +with you, and almost immediately after his narrative of Vargrave's +instigation to his crime?" + +"Yes." + +The eyes of the friends met; a terrible suspicion possessed both. "No; +it is impossible!" exclaimed Maltravers. "How could he obtain entrance, +how pass Lord Vargrave's servants? No, no; think of it not!" + +They hurried down the stairs; they reached the other door of Vargrave's +apartment. The notice to Howard, with the name of Vargrave underscored, +was still on the panels. De Montaigne saw and shuddered. + +They were in the room by the bedside. A group were collected round; they +gave way as the Englishman and his friend approached; and the eyes +of Maltravers suddenly rested on the face of Lord Vargrave, which was +locked, rigid, and convulsed. + +There was a buzz of voices which had ceased at the entrance of +Maltravers; it was now renewed. A surgeon had been summoned--the nearest +surgeon,--a young Englishman of no great repute or name. He was making +inquiries as he bent over the corpse. + +"Yes, sir," said Lord Vargrave's servant, "his lordship told me to call +him at nine o'clock. I came in at that hour, but his lordship did not +move nor answer me. I then looked to see if he were very sound asleep, +and I saw that the pillows had got somehow over his face, and his head +seemed to lie very low; so I moved the pillows, and I saw that his +lordship was dead." + +"Sir," said the surgeon, turning to Maltravers, "you were a friend +of his lordship, I hear. I have already sent for Mr. Howard and Lord +Doltimore. Shall I speak with you a minute?" + +Maltravers nodded assent. The surgeon cleared the room of all but +himself, De Montaigne, and Maltravers. + +"Has that servant lived long with Lord Vargrave?" asked the surgeon. + +"I believe so,--yes; I recollect his face. Why?" + +"And you think him safe and honest?" + +"I don't know; I know nothing of him." + +"Look here, sir,"--and the surgeon pointed to a slight discoloration +on one side the throat of the dead man. "This may be accidental--purely +natural; his lordship may have died in a fit; there are no certain marks +of outward violence, but murder by suffocation might still--" + +"But who besides the servant could gain admission? Was the outer door +closed?" + +"The servant can take oath that he shut the door before going to bed, +and that no one was with his lordship, or in the rooms, when Lord +Vargrave retired to rest. Entrance from the windows is impossible. Mind, +sir, I do not think I have any right to suspect any one. His lordship +had been in very ill health a short time before; had had, I hear, a +rush of blood to the head. Certainly, if the servant be innocent, we +can suspect no one else. You had better send for more experienced +practitioners." + +De Montaigne, who had hitherto said nothing, now looked with a hurried +glance around the room: he perceived the closet-door, which was ajar, +and rushed to it, as by an involuntary impulse. The closet was large, +but a considerable pile of wood, and some lumber of odd chairs and +tables, took up a great part of the space. De Montaigne searched behind +and amidst this litter with trembling haste,--no trace of secreted +murder was visible. He returned to the bedroom with a satisfied and +relieved expression of countenance. He then compelled himself to +approach the body, from which he had hitherto recoiled. + +"Sir," said he, almost harshly, as he turned to the surgeon, "what idle +doubts are these? Cannot men die in their beds, of sudden death, no +blood to stain their pillows, no loop-hole for crime to pass through, +but we must have science itself startling us with silly terrors? As +for the servant, I will answer for his innocence; his manner, his voice +attest it." The surgeon drew back, abashed and humbled, and began to +apologize, to qualify, when Lord Doltimore abruptly entered. + +"Good heavens!" said he, "what is this? What do I hear? Is it possible? +Dead! So suddenly!" He cast a hurried glance at the body, shivered, and +sickened, and threw himself into a chair, as if to recover the shock. +When again he removed his hand from his face, he saw lying before him on +the table an open note. The character was familiar; his own name struck +his eye,--it was the note which Caroline had sent the day before. As +no one heeded him, Lord Doltimore read on, and possessed himself of the +proof of his wife's guilt unseen. + +The surgeon, now turning from De Montaigne, who had been rating him +soundly for the last few moments, addressed himself to Lord Doltimore. +"Your lordship," said he, "was, I hear, Lord Vargrave's most intimate +friend at Paris." + +"I _his_ intimate friend?" said Doltimore, colouring highly, and in a +disdainful accent. "Sir, you are misinformed." + +"Have you no orders to give, then, my lord?" + +"None, sir. My presence here is quite useless. Good-day to you, +gentlemen." + +"With whom, then, do the last duties rest?" said the surgeon, turning to +Maltravers and De Montaigne. "With the late lord's secretary?--I expect +him every moment; and here he is, I suppose,"--as Mr. Howard, pale, and +evidently overcome by his agitation, entered the apartment. Perhaps, of +all the human beings whom the ambitious spirit of that senseless clay +had drawn around it by the webs of interest, affection, or intrigue, +that young man, whom it had never been a temptation to Vargrave to +deceive or injure, and who missed only the gracious and familiar patron, +mourned most his memory, and defended most his character. The grief of +the poor secretary was now indeed overmastering. He sobbed and wept like +a child. + +When Maltravers retired from the chamber of death, De Montaigne +accompanied him; but soon quitting him again, as Ernest bent his way +to Evelyn, he quietly rejoined Mr. Howard, who readily grasped at his +offers of aid in the last melancholy duties and directions. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + IF we do meet again, why, we shall smile.--_Julius Caesar_. + +THE interview with Evelyn was long and painful. It was reserved +for Maltravers to break to her the news of the sudden death of Lord +Vargrave, which shocked her unspeakably; and this, which made their +first topic, removed much constraint and deadened much excitement in +those which followed. + +Vargrave's death served also to relieve Maltravers from a most anxious +embarrassment. He need no longer fear that Alice would be degraded in +the eyes of Evelyn. Henceforth the secret that identified the erring +Alice Darvil with the spotless Lady Vargrave was safe, known only to +Mrs. Leslie and to Aubrey. In the course of nature, all chance of its +disclosure must soon die with them; and should Alice at last become +his wife, and should Cleveland suspect (which was not probable) that +Maltravers had returned to his first love, he knew that he might depend +on the inviolable secrecy of his earliest friend. + +The tale that Vargrave had told to Evelyn of his early--but, according +to that tale, guiltless--passion for Alice, he tacitly confirmed; and +he allowed that the recollection of her virtues, and the intelligence of +her sorrows and unextinguishable affection, had made him recoil from +a marriage with her supposed daughter. He then proceeded to amaze his +young listener with the account of the mode in which he had discovered +her real parentage, of which the banker had left it to Alice's +discretion to inform her, after she had attained the age of eighteen. +And then, simply, but with manly and ill-controlled emotion, he touched +upon the joy of Alice at beholding him again, upon the endurance and +fervour of her love, upon her revulsion of feeling at learning that, +in her unforgotten lover, she beheld the recent suitor of her adopted +child. + +"And now," said Maltravers, in conclusion, "the path to both of us +remains the same. To Alice is our first duty. The discovery I have made +of your real parentage does not diminish the claims which Alice has +on me, does not lessen the grateful affection that is due to her from +yourself. Yes, Evelyn, we are not the less separated forever. But when +I learned the wilful falsehood which the unhappy man, now hurried to +his last account, to whom your birth was known, had imposed upon +me,--namely, that you were the child of Alice,--and when I learned also +that you had been hurried into accepting his hand, I trembled at your +union with one so false and base. I came hither resolved to frustrate +his schemes and to save you from an alliance, the motives of which I +foresaw, and to which my own letter, my own desertion, had perhaps urged +you. New villanies on the part of this most perverted man came to my +ear: but he is dead; let us spare his memory. For you--oh, still let me +deem myself your friend,--your more than brother; let me hope now that +I have planted no thorn in that breast, and that your affection does not +shrink from the cold word of friendship." + +"Of all the wonders that you have told me," answered Evelyn, as soon as +she could recover the power of words, "my most poignant sorrow is, that +I have no rightful claim to give a daughter's love to her whom I shall +ever idolize as my mother. Oh, now I see why I thought her affection +measured and lukewarm. And have I--I destroyed her joy at seeing you +again? But you--you will hasten to console, to reassure her! She loves +you still,--she will be happy at last; and that--that thought--oh, that +thought compensates for all!" + +There was so much warmth and simplicity in Evelyn's artless manner, it +was so evident that her love for him had not been of that ardent nature +which would at first have superseded every other thought in the anguish +of losing him forever, that the scale fell from the eyes of Maltravers, +and he saw at once that his own love had blinded him to the true +character of hers. He was human; and a sharp pang shot across his +breast. He remained silent for some moments; and then resumed, +compelling himself as he spoke to fix his eyes steadfastly on hers. + +"And now, Evelyn--still may I so call you?--I have a duty to discharge +to another. You are loved"--and he smiled, but the smile was sad--"by +a younger and more suitable lover than I am. From noble and generous +motives he suppressed that love,--he left you to a rival; the rival +removed, dare he venture to explain to you his own conduct, and plead +his own motives? George Legard--" Maltravers paused. The cheek on which +he gazed was tinged with a soft blush, Evelyn's eyes were downcast, +there was a slight heaving beneath the robe. + +Maltravers suppressed a sigh and continued. He narrated his interview +with Legard at Dover; and, passing lightly over what had chanced at +Venice, dwelt with generous eloquence on the magnanimity with which his +rival's gratitude had been displayed. Evelyn's eyes sparkled, and the +smile just visited the rosy lips and vanished again. The worst because +it was the least selfish fear of Maltravers was gone, and no vain doubt +of Evelyn's too keen regret remained to chill his conscience in obeying +its earliest and strongest duties. + +"Farewell!" he said, as he rose to depart; "I will at once return to +London, and assist in the effort to save your fortune from this general +wreck: LIFE calls us back to its cares and business--farewell, Evelyn! +Aubrey will, I trust, remain with you still." + +"Remain! Can I not return then to my--to her--yes, let me call her +_mother_ still?" + +"Evelyn," said Maltravers, in a very low voice, "spare me, spare her +that pain! Are we yet fit to--" He paused; Evelyn comprehended him, and +hiding her face with her hands, burst into tears. + +When Maltravers left the room, he was met by Aubrey, who, drawing him +aside, told him that Lord Doltimore had just informed him that it was +not his intention to remain at Paris, and had more than delicately +hinted at a wish for the departure of Miss Cameron. In this emergency, +Maltravers bethought himself of Madame de Ventadour. + +No house in Paris was a more eligible refuge, no friend more zealous; +no protector would be more kind, no adviser more sincere. To her then +he hastened. He briefly informed her of Vargrave's sudden death; and +suggested that for Evelyn to return at once to a sequestered village in +England might be a severe trial to spirits already broken; and declared +truly, that though his marriage with Evelyn was broken off, her welfare +was no less dear to him than heretofore. At his first hint, Valerie, +who took a cordial interest in Evelyn for her own sake, ordered her +carriage, and drove at once to Lady Doltimore's. His lordship was out, +her ladyship was ill, in her own room, could see no one, not even her +guest. Evelyn in vain sent up to request an interview; and at last, +contenting herself with an affectionate note of farewell, accompanied +Aubrey to the home of her new hostess. + +Gratified at least to know her with one who would be sure to win her +affection and soothe her spirits, Maltravers set out on his solitary +return to England. + +Whatever suspicious circumstances might or might not have attended the +death of Lord Vargrave, certain it is that no evidence confirmed and no +popular rumour circulated them. His late illness, added to the supposed +shock of the loss of the fortune he had anticipated with Miss Cameron, +aided by the simultaneous intelligence of the defeat of the party with +whom it was believed he had indissolubly entwined his ambition, sufficed +to account satisfactorily enough for the melancholy event. De Montaigne, +who had been long, though not intimately, acquainted with the deceased, +took upon himself all the necessary arrangements, and superintended the +funeral; after which ceremony, Howard returned to London; and in Paris, +as in the grave, all things are forgotten! But still in De Montaigne's +breast there dwelt a horrible fear. As soon as he had learned from +Maltravers the charge the maniac brought against Vargrave, there came +upon him the recollection of that day when Cesarini had attempted +De Montaigne's life, evidently mistaking him in his delirium for +another,--and the sullen, cunning, and ferocious character which the +insanity had ever afterwards assumed. He had learned from Howard +that the outer door had been left ajar when Lord Vargrave was with +Maltravers. The writing on the panel, the name of Vargrave, would have +struck Castruccio's eye as he descended the stairs; the servant was +from home, the apartments deserted; he might have won his way into the +bedchamber, concealed himself in the _armoire_, and in the dead of the +night, and in the deep and helpless sleep of his victim, have done the +deed. What need of weapons--the suffocating pillows would stop speech +and life. What so easy as escape,--to pass into the anteroom; to unbolt +the door; to descend into the courtyard; to give the signal to the +porter in his lodge, who, without seeing him, would pull the _cordon_, +and give him egress unobserved? + +All this was so possible, so probable. + +De Montaigne now withdrew all inquiry for the unfortunate; he trembled +at the thought of discovering him, of verifying his awful suspicions, of +beholding a murderer in the brother of his wife! But he was not doomed +long to entertain fear for Cesarini; he was not fated ever to change +suspicion into certainty. A few days after Lord Vargrave's burial, a +corpse was drawn from the Seine. Some tablets in the pockets, scrawled +over with wild, incoherent verses, gave a clew to the discovery of the +dead man's friends: and, exposed at the Morgue, in that bleached +and altered clay, De Montaigne recognized the remains of Castruccio +Cesarini. "He died and made no sign!" + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + SINGULA quaeque locum teneant sortita.*--HORACE: _Ars Poetica_. + + * "To each lot its appropriate place." + +MALTRAVERS and the lawyers were enabled to save from the insolvent bank +but a very scanty portion of that wealth in which Richard Templeton had +rested so much of pride. The title extinct, the fortune gone--so +does Fate laugh at our posthumous ambition! Meanwhile Mr. Douce, with +considerable plunder, had made his way to America: the bank owed nearly +half a million; the purchase money for Lisle Court, which Mr. Douce had +been so anxious to get into his clutches, had not sufficed to stave off +the ruin,--but a great part of it sufficed to procure competence for +himself. How inferior in wit, in acuteness, in stratagem, was Douce +to Vargrave; and yet Douce had gulled him like a child! Well said the +shrewd small philosopher of France--"On peut etre plus fin qu'un autre, +mais pas plus fin que tous les autres."* + + * One may be more sharp than one's neighbour, but one can't be + sharper than all one's neighbours.--ROCHEFOUCAULD. + +To Legard, whom Maltravers had again encountered at Dover, the latter +related the downfall of Evelyn's fortunes; and Maltravers loved him when +he saw that, far from changing his affection, the loss of wealth seemed +rather to raise his hopes. They parted; and Legard set out for Paris. + +But was Maltravers all the while forgetful of Alice? He had not been +twelve hours in London before he committed to a long and truthful letter +all his thoughts, his hopes, his admiring and profound gratitude. Again, +and with solemn earnestness, he implored her to accept his hand, and to +confirm at the altar the tale which had been told to Evelyn. Truly he +said that the shock which his first belief in Vargrave's falsehood had +occasioned, his passionate determination to subdue all trace of a +love then associated with crime and horror, followed so close by his +discovery of Alice's enduring faith and affection, had removed the +image of Evelyn from the throne it had hitherto held in his desires and +thoughts; truly he said that he was now convinced that Evelyn would soon +be consoled for his loss by another, with whom she would be happier +than with him; truly and solemnly he declared that if Alice rejected +him still, if even Alice were no more, his suit to Evelyn never could be +renewed, and Alice's memory would usurp the place of all living love! + +Her answer came: it pierced him to the heart. It was so humble, so +grateful, so tender still. Unknown to herself, love yet coloured every +word; but it was love pained, galled, crushed, and trampled on; it was +love, proud from its very depth and purity. His offer was refused. + +Months passed away. Maltravers yet trusted to time. The curate had +returned to Brook-Green, and his letters fed Ernest's hopes and assured +his doubts. The more leisure there was left him for reflection, the +fainter became those dazzling and rainbow hues in which Evelyn had been +robed and surrounded, and the brighter the halo that surrounded his +earliest love. The more he pondered on Alice's past history, and the +singular beauty of her faithful attachment, the more he was impressed +with wonder and admiration, the more anxious to secure to his side one +to whom Nature had been so bountiful in all the gifts that make woman +the angel and star of life. + +Months passed. From Paris the news that Maltravers received confirmed +all his expectations,--the suit of Legard had replaced his own. It was +then that Maltravers began to consider how far the fortune of Evelyn +and her destined husband was such as to preclude all anxiety for their +future lot. Fortune is so indeterminate in its gauge and measurement. +Money, the most elastic of materials, falls short or exceeds, according +to the extent of our wants and desires. With all Legard's good qualities +he was constitutionally careless and extravagant; and Evelyn was too +inexperienced, and too gentle, perhaps, to correct his tendencies. +Maltravers learned that Legard's income was one that required an economy +which he feared that, in spite of all his reformation, Legard might not +have the self-denial to enforce. After some consideration, he resolved +to add secretly to the remains of Evelyn's fortune such a sum as might, +being properly secured to herself and children, lessen whatever danger +could arise from the possible improvidence of her husband, and guard +against the chance of those embarrassments which are among the worst +disturbers of domestic peace. He was enabled to effect this generosity +unknown to both of them, as if the sum bestowed were collected from the +wrecks of Evelyn's own wealth and the profits of the sale of the houses +in C-----, which of course had not been involved in Douce's bankruptcy. +And then if Alice were ever his, her jointure, which had been secured +on the property appertaining to the villa at Fulham, would devolve upon +Evelyn. Maltravers could never accept what Alice owed to another. Poor +Alice! No! not that modest wealth which you had looked upon complacently +as one day or other to be his. + +Lord Doltimore is travelling in the East,--Lady Doltimore, less +adventurous, has fixed her residence in Rome. She has grown thin, and +taken to antiquities and rouge. Her spirits are remarkably high--not an +uncommon effect of laudanum. + + + +CHAPTER THE LAST. + + ARRIVED at last + Unto the wished haven.--SHAKSPEARE. + +IN the August of that eventful year a bridal party were assembled at +the cottage of Lady Vargrave. The ceremony had just been performed, and +Ernest Maltravers had bestowed upon George Legard the hand of Evelyn +Templeton. + +If upon the countenance of him who thus officiated as a father to her he +had once wooed as a bride an observant eye might have noted the trace of +mental struggles, it was the trace of struggles past; and the calm had +once more settled over the silent deeps. He saw from the casement the +carriage that was to bear away the bride to the home of another,--the +gay faces of the village group, whose intrusion was not forbidden, and +to whom that solemn ceremonial was but a joyous pageant; and when he +turned once more to those within the chamber, he felt his hand clasped +in Legard's. + +"You have been the preserver of my life, you have been the dispenser of +my earthly happiness; all now left to me to wish for is, that you may +receive from Heaven the blessings you have given to others!" + +"Legard, never let her know a sorrow that you can guard her from; and +believe that the husband of Evelyn will be dear to me as a brother!" + +And as a brother blesses some younger and orphan sister bequeathed and +intrusted to a care that should replace a father's, so Maltravers laid +his hand lightly on Evelyn's golden tresses, and his lips moved in +prayer. He ceased; he pressed his last kiss upon her forehead, and +placed her hand in that of her young husband. There was silence; and +when to the ear of Maltravers it was broken, it was by the wheels of the +carriage that bore away the wife of George Legard! + +The spell was dissolved forever. And there stood before the lonely man +the idol of his early youth, Alice,--still, perhaps, as fair, and once +young and passionate, as Evelyn; pale, changed, but lovelier than of +old, if heavenly patience and holy thought, and the trials that purify +and exalt, can shed over human features something more beautiful than +bloom. + +The good curate alone was present, besides these two survivors of the +error and the love that make the rapture and the misery of so many of +our kind; and the old man, after contemplating them a moment, stole +unperceived away. + +"Alice," said Maltravers, and his voice trembled, "hitherto, from +motives too pure and too noble for the practical affections and ties of +life, you have rejected the hand of the lover of your youth. Here again +I implore you to be mine! Give to my conscience the balm of believing +that I can repair to you the evils and the sorrows I have brought upon +you. Nay, weep not; turn not away. Each of us stands alone; each of us +needs the other. In your heart is locked up all my fondest associations, +my brightest memories. In you I see the mirror of what I was when the +world was new, ere I had found how Pleasure palls upon us, and Ambition +deceives! And me, Alice--ah, you love me still! Time and absence have +but strengthened the chain that binds us. By the memory of our early +love, by the grave of our lost child that, had it lived, would have +united its parents, I implore you to be mine!" + +"Too generous!" said Alice, almost sinking beneath the emotions that +shook that gentle spirit and fragile form, "how can I suffer your +_compassion_--for it is but compassion--to deceive yourself? You are +of another station than I believed you. How can you raise the child +of destitution and guilt to your own rank? And shall I--I--who, Heaven +knows! would save you from all regret--bring to you now, when years have +so changed and broken the little charm I could ever have possessed, this +blighted heart and weary spirit? Oh, no, no!" and Alice paused abruptly, +and the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +"Be it as you will," said Maltravers, mournfully; "but, at least, ground +your refusal upon better motives. Say that now, independent in fortune, +and attached to the habits you have formed, you would not hazard your +happiness in my keeping,--perhaps you are right. To _my_ happiness you +would indeed contribute; your sweet voice might charm away many a memory +and many a thought of the baffled years that have intervened since we +parted; your image might dissipate the solitude which is closing round +the Future of a disappointed and anxious life. With you, and with you +alone, I might yet find a home, a comforter, a charitable and soothing +friend. This you could give to me; and with a heart and a form alike +faithful to a love that deserved not so enduring a devotion. But I--what +can I bestow on you? Your station is equal to my own; your fortune +satisfies your simple wants. 'Tis true the exchange is not equal, Alice. +Adieu!" + +"Cruel!" said Alice, approaching him with timid steps. "If I could--I, +so untutored, so unworthy--if I could comfort you in a single care!" + +She said no more, but she had said enough; and Maltravers, clasping her +to his bosom, felt once more that heart which never, even in thought, +had swerved from its early worship, beating against his own! + +He drew her gently into the open air. The ripe and mellow noonday of the +last month of summer glowed upon the odorous flowers, and the broad sea, +that stretched beyond and afar, wore upon its solemn waves a golden and +happy smile. + +"And ah," murmured Alice, softly, as she looked up from his breast, +"I ask not if you have loved others since we parted--man's faith is so +different from ours--I only ask if you love me now?" + +"More! oh, immeasurably more, than in our youngest days!" cried +Maltravers, with fervent passion. "More fondly, more reverently, more +trustfully, than I ever loved living being!--even her, in whose youth +and innocence I adored the memory of thee! Here have I found that which +shames and bankrupts the Ideal! Here have I found a virtue, that, coming +at once from God and Nature, has been wiser than all my false philosophy +and firmer than all my pride! You, cradled by misfortune,--your +childhood reared amidst scenes of fear and vice, which, while they +seared back the intellect, had no pollution for the soul,--your very +parent your tempter and your foe; you, only not a miracle and an angel +by the stain of one soft and unconscious error,--you, alike through the +equal trials of poverty and wealth, have been destined to rise above all +triumphant; the example of the sublime moral that teaches us with what +mysterious beauty and immortal holiness the Creator has endowed our +human nature when hallowed by our human affections! You alone suffice +to shatter into dust the haughty creeds of the Misanthrope and Pharisee! +And your fidelity to my erring self has taught me ever to love, to +serve, to compassionate, to respect the community of God's creatures to +which--noble and elevated though you are--you yet belong!" + +He ceased, overpowered with the rush of his own thoughts. And Alice was +too blessed for words. But in the murmur of the sunlit leaves, in the +breath of the summer air, in the song of the exulting birds, and the +deep and distant music of the heaven-surrounded seas, there went a +melodious voice that seemed as if Nature echoed to his words, and blest +the reunion of her children. + +Maltravers once more entered upon the career so long suspended. He +entered with an energy more practical and steadfast than the fitful +enthusiasm of former years; and it was noticeable amongst those who +knew him well, that while the firmness of his mind was not impaired, the +haughtiness of his temper was subdued. No longer despising Man as he +is, and no longer exacting from all things the ideal of a visionary +standard, he was more fitted to mix in the living World, and to minister +usefully to the great objects that refine and elevate our race. His +sentiments were, perhaps, less lofty, but his actions were infinitely +more excellent, and his theories infinitely more wise. + +Stage after stage we have proceeded with him through the MYSTERIES OF +LIFE. The Eleusinia are closed, and the crowning libation poured. + +And Alice!--Will the world blame us if you are left happy at the +last? We are daily banishing from our law-books the statutes that +disproportion punishment to crime. Daily we preach the doctrine that we +demoralize wherever we strain justice into cruelty. It is time that we +should apply to the Social Code the Wisdom we recognize in Legislation! +It is time that we should do away with the punishment of death for +inadequate offences, even in books; it is time that we should allow the +morality of atonement, and permit to Error the right to hope, as the +reward of submission to its suffering. Nor let it be thought that the +close to Alice's career can offer temptation to the offence of its +commencement. Eighteen years of sadness, a youth consumed in silent +sorrow over the grave of Joy, have images that throw over these pages a +dark and warning shadow that will haunt the young long after they turn +from the tale that is about to close! If Alice had died of a broken +heart, if her punishment had been more than she could bear, _then_, as +in real life, you would have justly condemned my moral; and the human +heart, in its pity for the victim, would have lost all recollection of +the error.--My tale is done. + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete, by +Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALICE, OR THE MYSTERIES, COMPLETE *** + +***** This file should be named 9774.txt or 9774.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/7/7/9774/ + +Produced by David Widger and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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