The Project Gutenberg EBook of The World's Greatest Books, Vol VIII
by Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.
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Title: The World's Greatest Books, Vol VIII
Author: Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.
Release Date: March 22, 2004 [EBook #11659]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS V.8. ***
Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy and PG Distributed Proofreaders
THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS
JOINT EDITORS
ARTHUR MEE Editor and Founder of the Book of Knowledge
J.A. HAMMERTON Editor of Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
VOL. VIII FICTION
MCMX
* * * * *
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SCOTT, SIR WALTER (_Continued_)
Quentin Durward
Rob Roy
Talisman
SHELLEY, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
Frankenstein
SIDNEY, SIR PHILIP
Arcadia
SMOLLET, TOBIAS
Roderick Random
Peregrine Pickle
STAËL, MME. DE
Corinne
STENDHAL (HENRI BEYLE)
Chartreuse of Parma
STERNE, LAURENCE
Tristram Shandy
STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER
Uncle Tom's Cabin
SUE, EUGÈNE
Mysteries of Paris
SWIFT, JONATHAN
Gulliver's Travels
THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE
Newcomes
Virginians
Vanity Fair
TOLSTOY, COUNT LYOF N.
Anna Karenina
TROLLOPE, ANTHONY
The Warden
Barchester Towers
TURGENEV, IVAN
Fathers and Sons
A Nest of Nobles
Smoke
VERNE, JULES
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
WALPOLE, HORACE
Castle of Otranto
ZOLA, ÉMILE
Drink
A Complete Index of THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS will be found at the end
of Volume XX.
* * * * *
SIR WALTER SCOTT
Quentin Durward
In mentioning "Quentin Durward" for the first time Scott
speaks of himself as having been ill, and "Peveril" as having
suffered through it. "I propose a good rally, however," he
says, "and hope it will have a powerful effect. My idea is a
Scotch archer in the French King's guard, _tempore_ Louis XI.,
the most picturesque of all times." The novel, which is by
many considered one of the best of Scott's works, was
published in June, 1823. It was coldly received by the British
public, though it eventually attained a marvellous popularity.
In Paris it created a tremendous sensation, similar to that
produced in Edinburgh by the appearance of "Waverley." It was
Scott's first venture on foreign ground, and the French were
delighted to find Louis XI. and Charles the Bold brought to
life again at the call of the Wizard of the North. The
delineations of these two characters are considered as fine as
any in fiction or history.
_I.--The Wanderer Meets Louis XI._
It was upon a delicious summer morning that a youth approached the ford
of a small river, near the Royal castle of Plessis-les-Tours, in ancient
Touraine.
The age of the young traveller might be about nineteen or twenty, and
his face and person were very prepossessing. His smart blue bonnet, with
sprig of holly and eagle's feather, was already recognised as the
Scottish headgear.
Two persons loitered on the opposite side of the small river and observed
the youth. "Hark, sir, he halloes to know whether the water be deep,"
said the younger of the two.
"Nothing like experience in this world," answered the other, "let him
try."
The young man receiving no hint to the contrary entered the stream, and
to one less alert in the exercise of swimming death had been certain,
for the brook was both deep and strong. As it was, he was carried but a
little way from the ordinary landing-place.
But the bonnie Scot turned wrathfully on the younger of the strangers
for not warning him of the stream, and only the reproof of the elder
prevented a violent quarrel.
"Fair son," he said, "you seem a stranger, and you should recollect your
dialect is not so easily comprehended by us."
"Well, father," answered the youth, "I do not care much about the
ducking I have had, provided you will direct me to some place where I
can have my clothes dried, for it is my only suit, and I must keep it
somewhat decent."
"For whom do you take us, fair son?" said the elder stranger.
"For substantial burgesses," said the youth. "You, master, may be a
money-broker or a corn-merchant."
"My business is to trade in as much money as I can," said the elder,
smiling. "As to your accommodation we will try to serve you. It is but a
short walk from hence to the village. Let me know your name, and follow
me."
"My true name when at home is Quentin Durward," said the youth.
Proceeding along a path they came in sight of the whole front of the
Castle of Plessis-les-Tours.
"I have some friend to see in this quarter," said Durward. "My mother's
own brother, Ludovic Lesly--an honest and noble name."
"And so it is I doubt not," said the old man. "But of three Leslies in
the Scottish Guard two are called Ludovic."
"They call my kinsman Ludovic with the Scar," said Quentin.
"The man you speak of we, I think, call Le Balafré; from that scar on
his face," answered his companion. "A proper man and a good soldier. Men
call me Maître Pierre--a plain man. I owe you a breakfast, Master Quentin,
for the wetting my mistake procured you."
While they were speaking they reached the entrance of the village of
Plessis, and presently approached the court-yard of an inn of unusual
magnitude.
Maître Pierre lifted the latch of the side door, and led the way into a
large room, where arrangements had been made for a substantial
breakfast. He whistled and the landlord entered, and bowed with
reverence.
Quentin Durward had eaten little for two days, and Maître Pierre seemed
delighted with the appetite of the young Scot, who indeed devoured an
enormous repast. When his appetite had been satisfied, and the old man
had put several questions, the door opened, and a girl, whose
countenance, so young and so lovely, was graver, Quentin thought, than
belongs to an early beauty, entered with a platter and a cup of delicate
workmanship.
"How now, Jacqueline?" said Maître Pierre. "Did I not desire that Dame
Perette should bring what I wanted? But I blame thee not, thou art too
young to be--what thou must be one day--a false and treacherous thing,
like the rest of thy giddy sex. Here is a Scottish cavalier will tell
you the same."
But Durward, with the feelings of youth, answered hastily, "That he
would throw down his gage to any antagonist, of equal rank and equal
age, who should presume to say such a countenance as that which he now
looked upon could be animated by other than the purest and the truest
mind."
The young woman grew deadly pale, and cast an apprehensive glance upon
Maître Pierre, in whom the bravado of the young gallant seemed only to
excite laughter.
Jacqueline vanished, and Maître Pierre, after filling a goblet with
silver pieces, and bidding Quentin Durward take it and remain in the
hostelry until he had seen his kinsman, Le Balafré, also left the
apartment.
Within a short time Ludovic Lesly, or Le Balafré (as he was generally
known), a robust hard-featured soldier upwards of six feet high, was
announced.
Quentin greeted his uncle, and the following day the as taken before
Lord Crawford, the commander of the Scottish Archers, the king's
bodyguard, and enrolled in that honourable corps as esquire to Le
Balafré.
_II.--The Scottish Archer_
Quentin, accompanying his uncle into the presence-chamber of Louis XI.,
started so suddenly that he almost dropped his weapon when he recognised
in the King of France the merchant, Maître Pierre. No less astonished
was he when the king, whose quick eye had at once discovered him, walked
straight to the place where he was posted, and addressing Le Balafré,
said: "Your kinsman is a fair youth, though fiery. We love to cherish
such spirits, and mean to make more than ever we did of the brave men
who are around us."
A boar-hunt, wherein the life of Louis was saved from imminent danger by
the courage and dexterity of Quentin Durward, brought the young Scot
still further into royal favour: "Thou hast begun thy wood-craft well,"
said the king; "and Maître Pierre owes thee as good an entertainment as
he gave thee in the village yonder. I like thee, and will do thee good.
Build on no man's favour but mine--not even on thine uncle's or Lord
Crawford's, and say nothing of thy timely aid in this matter of the
boar, for if a man makes boast that he has served a king in such a
pinch, he must take the braggart humour for its own recompense."
So Quentin kept silence discreetly, and was rewarded by a gold chain
from the king, by speedy promotion to the rank of free archer, and by
being employed to act as sentinel in the private gallery of Louis. And
here he once more beheld the young lady whom he had seen at his
memorable breakfast, and who had been called Jacqueline. She proved to
be the youthful Countess Isabelle, heiress of the rich earldom of Croye,
who had fled with her aunt, the Countess Hameline, from the overlordship
of the Duke of Burgundy. Had death been the penalty Durward must needs
have rendered to this beauty and her companion the same homage which he
paid to royalty. They received it as those who were accustomed to the
deference of inferiors; but he thought that the young lady coloured
slightly and seemed embarrassed.
Occupation and adventure now crowded upon Durward with the force of a
spring tide.
Louis, anxious to be on good terms with Burgundy, induced the ladies of
Croye to retreat from their concealment at the Court of France, and to
place themselves under the protection of the Prince Bishop of Liége.
Durward was delighted when the king told him that he was selected, with
four others under his command, to escort the Countess Isabelle and her
companion to the little court of their relative the bishop, in the
safest and most secret manner possible.
They set out at midnight, and Lady Hameline soon interrogated the
captain of her escort, and learnt that he was of noble birth.
"Methinks, my cousin," said the Lady Isabelle softly, "we must be safe
under this young gentleman's safeguard."
The journey was accomplished, not without perils and hazards, and then
four days after the arrival at the bishop's palace, the townsmen of
Liége rose in mad revolt, and, led by a ferocious noble, William de la
Marck, whom all men called the Wild Boar of Ardennes, overpowered the
bishop's guards, and seized the palace. The bishop himself was murdered
by De la Marck's orders, in his very dining hall; the Countess Isabelle
escaped under Durward's protection, while the Countess Hameline remained
to become the wife of the Wild Boar. The son of a burgher with whom
Durward had made friends undertook to guide the Countess Isabelle and
her companion to the frontiers of Burgundy.
"My resolution is taken," said the young lady; "I return to my native
country, to throw myself on the mercy of Charles, Duke of Burgundy."
"And you resolve to become the bride, then, of the Count of Campo-basso,
the unworthy favourite of Charles?" said Quentin, who had been told the
reason why refuge had been sought with Louis.
"No, Durward, no!" said the Lady Isabelle, "to that hated condition all
Burgundy's power shall not sink a daughter of the House of Croye. Burgundy
may seize on my lands and fiefs, he may imprison my person in a convent,
but that is the worst I have to expect; and worse than that I will
endure ere I give my hand to Campo-basso. Ah, Durward, were I your
sister, and could you promise me shelter in some of those mountain-glens
which you love to describe, where for charity, or for the few jewels I
have preserved, I might lead an unharassed life, and forget the lot I
was born to, that were indeed a prospect for which it were worth risk of
further censure to wander farther and wider!"
The tenderness of voice with which the Countess Isabelle made this
admission, at once filled Quentin with joy, and cut him to the very
heart.
"Lady," he said at last, "I should act foully against my honour did I
suffer you to think I have power in Scotland to afford you other
protection than that of the poor arm which is now by your side. Our
castle was stormed at midnight, and all were cut off that belonged to my
name. Even had the King of Scotland a desire to do me justice, he dared
not, for the sake of one poor individual, provoke a chief who rides with
five hundred horse."
"Alas!" said the Countess, "there is no corner of the world safe from
oppression! No more of Scotland, then; no more of Scotland!"
In the humour of mutual confidence, and forgetting the singularity of
their own situation, as well as the perils of the road, the travellers
pursued their journey for several hours.
The artificial distinction which divided the two lovers--for such we may
now term them--seemed dissolved by the circumstance in which they were
placed. For the present, the Countess was as poor as the youth, and for
her safety, honour, and life, she was exclusively indebted to his
presence of mind, valour, and devotion. They _spoke_ not, indeed, of
love, but the thoughts of it were on both sides unavoidable.
It was two hours after noon when a party of De la Marck's banditti
appeared, and shortly after a body of men-at-arms under a knight's
pennon. The former were soon put to rout by the superiority of the
latter, whose banner Countess Isabelle recognised as that of the Count
of Crèvecoeur, a noble Burgundian.
"Noble Count!" said Isabelle, as Crèvecoeur gazed on her with doubt and
uncertainty, "Isabelle of Croye, the daughter of your old companion in
arms, Count Reinold of Croye, renders herself, and asks protection from
your valour for her and hers."
"Thou shalt have it, fair kinswoman, were it against a host," said
Crèvecoeur. "This is a rough welcome to your home, my pretty cousin, but
you and your foolish match-making aunt have made such wild use of your
wings of late, that I fear you must be contented to fold them up in a
cage for a little while. For my part, my duty will be ended when I have
conducted you to the court of the Duke, at Peronne."
_III.--A Prize for Honour_
The king had ventured, with a small company of his Scottish archers, to
be his own ambassador to his troublesome subject the Duke of Burgundy,
and Louis and Charles were together at Peronne when the news of the
revolt at Liége was brought to them by Crèvecoeur, under whose escort
the Countess Isabelle returned to the protection of her suzerain.
The Countess was lodged in the Convent of the Ursulines, and with the
Lady Abbess and the Countess of Crèvecoeur attended the presence of the
Duke.
In vain Charles stormed and swore that she should marry whom he would.
"My lord," she replied, undismayed, "if you deprive me of my lands, you
take away all that your ancestors' generosity gave, and you break the
only bonds which attach us together. You cannot dispose the hand of any
gentlewoman by force."
The Duke, with a furious glance, turned to his secretary.
"Write," he said, "our doom of forfeiture and imprisonment against this
disobedient and insolent minion! She shall to the penitentiary, to herd
with those whose lives have rendered them her rivals in effrontery!"
There was a general murmur.
"My Lord Duke," said Crèvecoeur, "this must be better thought on. We,
your faithful vassals, cannot suffer dishonour to the nobility and
chivalry of Burgundy. If the Countess hath done amiss, let her be
punished--but in the manner that becomes her rank and ours, who stand
connected with her house."
The Duke paused for a moment, and looked full at his counsellor with the
stare of a bull. Prudence, however, prevailed over fury, he saw the
sentiment was general in his council, and, being rather of a coarse and
violent, than of a malignant temper--felt ashamed of his own
dishonourable proposal.
"You are right, Crèvecoeur," he said, "and I spoke hastily. Her fate
shall be determined according to the rules of chivalry. Her flight to
Liége hath given the signal for the bishop's murder. He that best
avenges that deed, and brings us the head of the Wild Boar of Ardennes,
shall claim her hand of us; and, if she denies his right, we can at
least grant him her lands, leaving it to his generosity to allow her
what means he will to retire into a convent."
"Nay!" said the Countess. "Think, I am the daughter of Count Reinold--of
your father's old, valiant, and faithful servant. Would you hold me out
as a prize to the best sword-player?"
"Your ancestress," said the Duke, "was won at a tourney--you shall be
fought for in real _melee_. Only thus far, for Count Reinold's sake, the
successful prizer shall be a gentleman of unimpeached birth, and
unstained bearings, but, be he such, and the poorest who ever drew the
strap of a sword-belt through the tongue of a buckle, he shall have at
least the proffer of your hand. I swear it by my ducal crown, and by the
order that I wear. Ha, messires," he added, turning to the nobles
present, "this at least is, I think, in conformity with the rules of
chivalry?"
Isabelle's remonstrances were drowned in a general and jubilant assent,
above which was heard the voice of old Lord Crawford, regretting the
weight of years that prevented his striking for so fair a prize.
Le Balafré dared not speak aloud in such a presence, but he muttered to
himself:
"Now, Saunders Souplejaw, hold thine own! Thou always saidst the fortune
of our house was to be won by marriage, and never had you such a chance to
keep your word with us."
The Countess of Crèvecoeur whispered to Isabelle, that perhaps the
successful competitor might prove one who should reconcile to obedience.
Love, like despair, catches at straws, and the tears of the Countess
Isabelle flowed more placidly while she dwelt upon the hope this
insinuation conveyed.
_IV.--The Winning of the Prize_
King Louis and his guards sallied from the gateway of Peronne, to join
the Burgundian army under Duke Charles, which commenced at the same time
its march against Liége. Ere the troops were fully on march Quentin
Durward received from an unknown hand a billet which Lady Hamelin had
sent to the Countess Isabelle, mentioning that her William--as she
called the Wild Boar--had determined, for purposes of policy, in the
first action to have others dressed in his coat-armour, and himself to
assume the arms of Orleans, with a bar sinister. Durward had also learnt
from other sources that the rebels of Liége hoped to scatter confusion
amongst the Burgundians by shouting _Vive la France!_
The battle began on the night of the arrival of the forces outside
Liége, when De la Marck boldly sallied out and attacked the invaders. It
was not till daybreak that the Burgundians began to show the qualities
which belong to superior discipline, and the great mass of Liégois were
compelled to retreat, and at length to fly. Soon the whole became a
confused tide of fighters, fliers, and pursuers, which rolled itself
towards the city walls, and at last poured into the undefended breach
through which the Liégois had sallied.
Quentin had seen the arms of Orleans, and made more than human exertions
to overtake the special object of his pursuit. Le Balafré, and several
of his comrades, were with him marvelling at the gallantry displayed by
so young a soldier. On the very brink of the breach, De la Marck--for it
was himself--succeeded in effecting a momentary stand. H mace of iron in
his hand, before which everything seemed to go down.
Quentin singled him out, and ascended the ruins to measure swords with
the Boar of Ardennes. A shout announced that the besiegers were entering
the city at another point, and De la Marck endeavoured to effect a
retreat, only to be prevented by Quentin, Le Balafré, and their
comrades. De la Marck found his retreat cut off, and bade his lieutenant
break through if he could, and escape. "With me it is over," he added.
"I am man enough now that I am brought to bay, to send some of these
vagabond Scots to hell before me." About six of De la Marck's best men
remained to perish with their master, and fronted the archers who were
not many more in number.
Quentin had but time to bid his uncle and comrades stand back, when De
la Marck sprang upon him with a bound; light of foot and quick of eye,
Quentin leaped aside.
They then closed like wolf and wolf-dog, their comrades on either side
remaining inactive spectators, for Le Balafré roared out for fair play.
The huge strength of the Boar of Ardennes began to give way to fatigue,
so wounded was he, but he fought on unabated in courage and ire, and
Quentin's victory seemed dubious and distant, when a female voice behind
him called him by his name, ejaculating, "Help! help! for the sake of
the blessed Virgin!"
Quentin turned his head and beheld a maiden, who with her family had
aided him to escape with Isabelle, dragged forcibly along by a French
soldier.
"Wait for me but one moment!" he exclaimed to De la Marck, and sprang to
extricate the girl from her dangerous situation.
"I wait no man's pleasure," said De la Marck, flourishing his mace and
beginning to retreat.
"You shall wait mine, though, by your leave," said Balafré; "I will not
have any nephew baulked." So saying, he instantly assaulted De la Marck
with his two-handed sword.
Quentin was obliged to take the defenceless maiden to her father's
house, and in the meantime the King and the Duke of Burgundy entered the
city on horseback, and ditched orders to stop the sack of the city. When
the terrified town was restored to some moderate degree of order, Louis
and Charles proceeded to hear the claims which respected the County of
Croye and its fair mistress. Doubt and mystery involved the several
pretensions of those who claimed the merit of having dispatched the
murderer of the bishop, for the rich reward promised brought death to
all who were arrayed in De la Marck's resemblance.
In the midst of conflicting claims Crawford pressed forward into the
circle, dragging Le Balafré after him. "Away with your hoofs and hides,
and painted iron!" cried Crawford. "No one, save he who slew the Boar,
can show the tusks!"
He flung on the floor the bloody head, easily known as that of De la
Marck, and which was instantly recognised by all who had seen him.
"Crawford," said Louis, "I trust it is one of my faithful Scots who has
won this prize?"
"It is Ludovic Lesly, Sire, whom we call Le Balafré," replied the old
soldier.
"But is he noble?" said the Duke. "Is he of gentle blood? Otherwise our
promise is void."
"I will warrant him a branch of the tree of Rother, as noble as any
house in France or Burgundy," said Crawford.
"There is then no help for it," said the Duke; "and the fairest and
richest heiress in Burgundy must be the wife of a rude mercenary
soldier."
"May it please your Majesty, and your grace," said Crawford. "I must
speak for my countryman and old comrade. He hath acted by my advice and
resigns his claim to him by whom the Wild Boar was actually brought to
bay, who is his maternal nephew, and is of the House of Durward,
descended from that Allan Durward who was High Steward of Scotland."
"Nay, if it be young Durward," said Crèvecoeur; "there is nothing more
to be said. I have much reason to believe your Grace will find her more
amenable to authority than on former occasions. But why should I grudge
this youth his preferment, since after all, it is sense, firmness, and
gallantry, which have put him in possession of wealth, rank, and
beauty!"
Rob Roy
The title of "Rob Roy" was suggested by Constable, the
publisher, who one day informed the novelist that the name of
the hero would be the best possible name for the book. "Nay,"
answered Scott, "never let me have to write up to a name. You
know well that I have generally adopted a title that told
nothing." But the bookseller persevered and in the end Sir
Walter's scruples gave way. "Rob Roy," by the author of
"Waverley," was published on December 31, 1817, and although
it is not among the greatest of Scott's novels, it certainly
figures among his next best. It is crowded with incident and
adventure, and the character of Rob Roy himself will last as
long as English literature. Diana Vernon, too, is perhaps the
most attractive and surely-drawn in all Scott's gallery of
portraits of distinguished women. "Rob Roy" was dramatised
shortly after its appearance in book form; Scott himself first
witnessed a performance of it at Edinburgh on February 15,
1819, the same company later appearing in it at Glasgow before
George IV.
_I.--I Meet Diana Vernon_
Early in the eighteenth century, when I, Frank Osbaldistone, was a youth
of twenty, I was hastily summoned from Bordeaux, where, in a mercantile
house, I was, as my father trusted, being initiated into the mysteries
of commerce. As a matter of fact, my principal attention had been
dedicated to literature and manly exercises.
In an evil hour, my father had received my letter, containing my
eloquent and detailed apology for declining a place in the firm, and I
was summoned home in all haste, his chief ambition being that I should
succeed, not merely to his fortune, but to the views and plans by which
he imagined he could extend and perpetuate that wealthy inheritance. I
did not understand how deeply my father's happiness was involved, and
with something of his own pertinacity, had formed a determination
precisely contrary, not conceiving that I should increase my own
happiness by augmenting a fortune which I believed already sufficient.
My father cut the matter short; when he was my age, his father had
turned him out, and settled his legal inheritance on his younger
brother; and one of that brother's sons should take my place, if I
crossed him any further.
At the end of the month he gave me to think the matter over, I found
myself on the road to York, on a reasonably good horse, with fifty
guineas in my pocket, travelling, as it would seem, for the purpose of
assisting in the adoption of a successor to myself in my father's house
and favour; he having decided that I should pay a visit to my uncle, and
stay at Osbaldistone Hall, till I should receive further instructions.
There had been such unexpected ease in the way in which my father had
slipt the knot usually esteemed the strongest that binds society
together, and let me depart as a sort of outcast from his family, that
strangely lessened my self-confidence. The Muse, too,--the very coquette
that had led me into this wilderness--deserted me, and I should have
been reduced to an uncomfortable state of dullness had it not been for
the conversation of strangers who chanced to pass the same way. One poor
man with whom I travelled a day and a half, and whose name was Morris,
afforded me most amusement. He had upon his pillion a very small, but
apparently a very weighty portmanteau, which he would never trust out of
his immediate care; and all his conversation was of unfortunate
travellers who had fallen among thieves. He wrought himself into a fever
of apprehension by the progress of his own narratives, and occasionally
eyed me with doubt and suspicion, too ludicrous to be offensive. I found
amusement in alternately exciting and lulling to sleep the causeless
fears of my timorous companion, who tried in vain to induce a Scotchman
with whom we dined in Darlington to ride with him, because the landlord
informed us "that for as peaceable a gentleman as Mr. Campbell was, he
was, moreover, as bold as a lion--seven highwaymen had he defeated with
his single arm, as he came from Whitson tryste."
"Thou art deceived, friend Jonathan," said Campbell, interrupting him.
"There were but barely two, and two cowardly loons as man could wish to
meet withal." My companion made up to him, and taking him aside seemed
to press his company upon him.
Mr. Campbell disengaged himself not very ceremoniously, and coming up to
me, observed, "Your friend, sir, is too communicative, considering the
nature of his trust."
I hastened to assure him that that gentleman was no friend of mine, and
that I knew nothing of him or his business, and we separated for the
night.
Next day I parted company with my timid companion, turning more westerly
in the direction of my uncle's seat. I had already had a distant view of
Osbaldistone Hall, when my horse, tired as he was, pricked up his ears
at the notes of a pack of hounds in full cry. The headmost hounds soon
burst out of the coppice, followed by three or four riders with reckless
haste, regardless of the broken and difficult nature of the ground. "My
cousins," thought I, as they swept past me: but a vision interrupted my
reflections. It was a young lady, the loveliness of whose very striking
features was enhanced by the animation of the chase, whose horse made an
irregular movement as she passed me, which served as an apology for me
to ride close up to her, as if to her assistance. There was no cause for
alarm, for she guided her horse with the most admirable address and
presence of mind. One of the young men soon reappeared, waving the brush
of the fox in triumph, and after a few words the lady rode back to me
and inquired, as she could not persuade "this cultivated young
gentleman" to do so, if I had heard anything of a friend of theirs, one
Mr. Francis Osbaldistone.
I was too happy to acknowledge myself to be the party enquired after,
and she then presented to me, "as his politeness seemed still to be
slumbering," my cousin, young Squire Thorncliff Osbaldistone, and "Die
Vernon, who has also the honour to be your accomplished cousin's poor
kinswoman."
After shaking hands with me, he left us to help couple up the hounds,
and Miss Vernon rode with me to Osbaldistone Hall, giving me, on the
way, a description of its inmates, of whom, she said, the only
conversible beings beside herself were the old priest and Rashleigh--Sir
Hildebrand's youngest son.
_II.--Rashleigh's Villainy_
Rashleigh Osbaldistone was a striking contrast to his young brothers,
all tall, stout, and comely, without pretence to accomplishment except
their dexterity in field sports. He welcomed me with the air of a man of
the world, and though his appearance was far from prepossessing, he was
possessed of a voice the most soft, mellow, and rich I ever heard. He
had been intended for a priest, but when my father's desire to have one
of Sir Hildebrand's sons in his counting-house was known, he had been
selected, as, indeed, the only one who could be considered at all
suitable.
The day after my arrival, Miss Vernon, as we were following the hounds,
showed me in the distance the hills of Scotland, and told me I could be
there in safety in two hours. To my dismay, she explained that my
timorous fellow-traveller had been robbed of money and dispatches, and
accused me. The magistrate had let my uncle know, and both he and Miss
Vernon, considering it a merit to distress a Hanoverian government in
every way, never doubted my guilt, and only showed the way of escape. On
my indignant denial, Miss Vernon rode with me to the magistrate's, where
we met Rashleigh, and after a hasty private talk with him, in which from
earnest she became angry and flung away from him, saying, "I will have
it so." Immediately after we heard his horse's hoofs in rapid motion;
and very shortly afterwards Mr. Campbell, the very Scotchman we had met
at Darlington, entered the Justice's room, and giving him a billet from
the Duke of Argyll to certify that he, Mr. Robert Campbell, was a person
of good fame and character, prevailed on the magistrate to discharge me,
for he had been with my late fellow-traveller at the time of the
robbery, and could swear that the robber was a very different person.
Morris was apparently more terrified than ever, but agreed to all Mr.
Campbell said, and left the house with him.
Miss Vernon made me promise to ask no questions, and I only entreated
her, if at any time my services could be useful to her, she would
command them without hesitation.
Before Rashleigh's departure, I had realised his real character, and
wrote to Owen, my father's old clerk, to hint that he should keep a
strict guard over my father's interests. Notwithstanding Miss Vernon had
charged Rashleigh with perfidious conduct towards herself, they had
several private interviews together, though their bearing did not seem
cordial; and he and I took up distant ground, each disposed to avoid all
pretext for collision.
I began to think it strange I had received no letter either from my
father or Owen, though I had now been several weeks at Osbaldistone
Hall--where the mode of life was too uniform to admit of description.
Diana Vernon and I enjoyed much of our time in our mutual studies;
although my vanity early discovered that I had given her an additional
reason for disliking the cloister, to which she was destined if she
would not marry any of Sir Hildebrand's sons, I could not confide in our
affection, which seemed completely subordinate to the mysteries of her
singular situation. She would not permit her love to overpower her sense
of duty or prudence, and one day proved this by advising me at once to
return to London--my father was in Holland, she said, and if Rashleigh
was allowed to manage his affairs long, he would be ruined. He would use
my father's revenues as a means of putting in motion his own ambitious
schemes.
I seized her hand and pressed it to my lips--the world could never
compensate for what I left behind me, if I left the Hall.
"This is folly! This is madness!" she cried, and my eyes, following the
direction of hers, I saw the tapestry shake, which covered the door of
the secret passage to Rashleigh's apartment. Prudence, and the necessity
of suppressing my passion and obeying Diana's reiterated command of
"Leave me! leave me!" came in time to prevent any rash action. I left
the apartment in a chaos of thoughts. Above all I was perplexed by the
manner in which Miss Vernon had received my tender of affection, and the
glance of fear rather than surprise with which she had watched the
motion of the tapestry. I resolved to clear up the mystery, and that
evening, at a time when I usually did not visit the library, I,
hesitating a moment with my hand on the latch, heard a suppressed
footstep within, opened the door, and found Miss Vernon alone.
I had determined to seek a complete explanation, but found she refused
it with indignant defiance, and avowed to my face the preference for a
rival. And yet, when I was about to leave her for ever, it cost her but
a change of look and tone to lead me back, her willing subject on her
own hard terms, agreeing that we could be nothing to each other but
friends now or henceforward. She then gave me a letter which she said
might never have reached my hands if it had not fallen into hers. It was
from my father's partner, Mr. Tresham, to tell me that Rashleigh had
gone to Scotland some time since to take up bills granted by my father,
and had not since been heard of, that Owen had been dispatched in search
of him, and I was entreated to go after him, and assist to save my
father's mercantile honour. Having read this, Diana left me for a
moment, and returned with a sheet of paper folded like a letter, but
without any address. "If I understand you rightly," she said, "the funds
in Rashleigh's possession must be recovered by a certain day. Take this
packet; do not open it till other means have failed; within ten days of
the fated day you may break the seal, and you will find directions that
may be useful to you. Adieu, Frank, we never meet more; but sometimes
think of your friend Die Vernon."
She extended her hand, but I clasped her to my bosom. She sighed and
escaped to her own apartment, and I saw her no more.
_III.--In the Highlands_
I had not been a day in Glasgow before, in obedience to a mysterious
summons, I met Mr. Campbell, and was by him guided to the prison where
my poor old friend Owen was confined. On his arrival two days before, he
had gone to one of my father's correspondents, trusting that they who
heretofore could not do too much to deserve the patronage of their good
friends in Crane Alley, would now give their counsel and assistance.
They met this with a counter-demand of instant security against ultimate
loss, and when this was refused as unjust to the other creditors of
Osbaldistone & Tresham, they had thrown him into prison, as he had a
small share in the firm. In the midst of our sorrowful explanation we
were disturbed by a loud knocking at the outer door of the prison. The
Highland turnkey, with as much delay as possible, undid the fastenings,
my guide sprang up the stair, and into Owen's apartment. He cast his
eyes around, and then said to me, "Lend me your pistols. Yet, no, I can
do without them. Whatever you see, take no heed, and do not mix your
hand in another man's feud. This gear's mine, and I must manage it as
best I can. I have been as hard bested and worse than I am even now." As
he spoke, he confronted the iron door, like a fine horse brought up to
the leaping-bar.
But instead of a guard with bayonets fixed, there entered a good-looking
young woman, ushering in a short, stout, important person--a magistrate.
"A bonny thing it is, and a beseeming, that I should be kept at the door
half-an-hour, Captain Stanchells," said he, addressing the principal
jailer, who now showed himself. "How's this? how's this? Strangers in
the jail after lock-up hours! I must see into this. But, first, I must
hae a crack with an auld acquaintance here. Mr. Owen, Mr. Owen, how's a'
wi' you man?"
"Pretty well in body, I thank you, Mr. Jarvie," drawled out poor Owen,
"but sore afflicted in spirit."
Mr. Jarvie was another correspondent of my father's whom Owen had had no
great belief in, largely because of his great opinion of himself. He now
showed himself kindly and sensible, and asked Owen to let him see some
papers he mentioned. While examining them, he observed my mysterious
guide make a slight movement, and said, "I say, look to the door,
Stanchells; shut it, and keep watch on the outside."
Mr. Jarvie soon showed himself master of what he had been considering,
and saying he could not see how Mr. Owen could arrange his affairs if he
were kept lying there, undertook to be his surety and to have him free
by breakfast time. He then took the light from the servant-maid's hand,
and advanced to my guide, who awaited his scrutiny with great calmness,
seated on the table. "Eh! oh! ah!" exclaimed the Bailie. "My conscience!
it's impossible! and yet, no! Conscience, it canna be. Ye robber! ye
cateran! born devil that ye are--can this be you?"
"E'en as ye see, Bailie," said he.
"Ye are a dauring villain, Rob," answered the Bailie; "and ye will be
hanged. But bluid's thicker than water. Whar's the gude thousand pounds
Scots than I lent ye, man, and when am I to see it again?"
"As to when you'll see it--why, just 'when the King enjoys his ain
again,' as the auld sang says."
"Worst of a', Robin," retorted the Bailie. "I mean ye disloyal
traitor--worst of a'! Ye had better stick to your auld trade o'
theft-boot and blackmail than ruining nations. And wha the deevil's
this?" he continued, turning to me.
Owen explained that I was young Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, the only child
of the head of the house, and the Bailie, Nicol Jarvie, having
undertaken Owen's release, took me home to sleep at his house.
I was astonished that Mr. Campbell should appear to Mr. Jarvie as the
head of a freebooting Highland clan, and dismayed to think that Diana's
fate could be involved in that of desperadoes of this man's description.
The packet which Diana Vernon had given me I had opened in the presence
of the Highlander, for the ten days had elapsed, and a sealed letter had
dropped out. This had at once been claimed by Mr. Campbell, or Rob
MacGregor, as Mr. Jarvie called him, and the address showed that it had
gone to its rightful owner.
Before we parted, MacGregor bade me visit him in the Highlands, and I
kept this appointment in company with the Bailie. Strange to say, in the
Highlands I met Diana Vernon, escorted by a single horseman, and from
her received papers which had been in Rashleigh's possession. There was
fighting in the Highlands, and the Bailie and I were both more than once
in peril of our lives.
_IV.--Rob Roy to the Rescue_
No sooner had we returned from our dangerous expedition than I sought
out Owen. He was not alone--my father was with him.
The first impulse was to preserve the dignity of his usual
equanimity--"Francis, I am glad to see you." The next was to embrace me
tenderly--"my dear, dear son!"
When the tumult of our joy was over, I learnt that my father had arrived
from Holland shortly after Owen had set off for Scotland. By his
extensive resources, with funds enlarged and credit fortified, he easily
put right what had befallen only, perhaps, through his absence, and set
out for Scotland to exact justice from Rashleigh Osbaldistone.
The full extent of my cousin Rashleigh's villainy I had yet to learn. In
the rebellion of 1715, when in an ill-omened hour the standard of the
Stuart was set up, to the ruin of many honourable families, Rashleigh,
with more than another Jacobite agent, revealed the plot to the
Government. My poor uncle, Sir Hildebrand, was easily persuaded to join
the standard of the Stuarts, and was soon taken and lodged in Newgate.
He died in prison, but before he died he spoke with great bitterness
against Rashleigh, now his only surviving child, and declared that
neither he nor his sons who had perished would have plunged into
political intrigue but for that very member of his family who had been
the first to desert them. By his will, Sir Hildebrand devised his
estates at Osbaldistone Hall to me as his next heir, cutting off
Rashleigh with a shilling.
Rashleigh had yet one more card to play. The villain was aware that
Diana's father, Sir Frederick Vernon, whose life had been forfeited for
earlier Jacobite plots, lived in hiding at Osbaldistone Hall, and this
had given him power over Miss Vernon.
Some time after I had returned to my father's office, I decided to visit
Osbaldistone and take possession. On my arrival, Diana met me in the
dining hall with her father.
"We are your suppliants, Mr. Osbaldistone," said the old knight; "we
claim the refuge and protection of your roof till we can pursue a
journey where dungeons and death gape for me at every step."
"Surely," I articulated, "Miss Vernon cannot suppose me capable of
betraying anyone, much less you?"
But scarcely had they retired to rest that night, when Rashleigh arrived
with officers of the law, and exhibited his warrant, not only against
Frederick Vernon, an attainted traitor, but also against Diana Vernon,
spinster, and Francis Osbaldistone, accused of connivance at treason. He
provided a coach for his prisoners, but in the park a number of
Highlanders had gathered.
"Claymore!" cried the leader of the Highlanders, as the coach appeared,
and a scuffle instantly commenced. The officers of the law, surprised at
so sudden an attack, conceived themselves surrounded, and galloped off
in different directions.
Rashleigh fell, mortally wounded by the leader of the band, who the next
instant was at the carriage door. It was Rob Roy, who handed out Miss
Vernon, and assisted her father and me to alight.
"Mr. Osbaldistone," he said, in a whisper, "you have nothing to fear; I
must look after those who have. Your friends will soon be in safety.
Farewell, and forget not the MacGregor."
He whistled; his band gathered round him, and, hurrying Diana and her
father along with him, they were almost instantly lost in the glades of
the forest.
The death of Rashleigh, who had threatened to challenge at law my right
to Osbaldistone Hall, left me access to my inheritance without
interference. It was at once admitted that the ridiculous charge of
connivance at treason was got up by an unscrupulous attorney on an
affidavit made with the sole purpose of favouring Rashleigh's views, and
removing me from Osbaldistone Hall.
I learnt subsequently that the opportune appearance of MacGregor and his
party was not fortuitous. The Scottish nobles and gentry engaged in the
insurrection of 1715 were particularly anxious to further the escape of
Sir Frederick Vernon, who, as an old and trusted agent of the house of
Stuart, was possessed of matter enough to have ruined half Scotland, and
Rob Roy was the person whom they pitched upon to assist his escape. Once
at large, they found horses prepared for them, and by MacGregor's
knowledge of the country were conducted to the western sea-coast, and
safely embarked for France. From the same source I also learnt that Sir
Frederick could not long survive a lingering disease, and that his
daughter was placed in a convent, although it was her father's wish she
should take the veil only on her own inclination.
When these news reached me, I frankly told the state of my affections to
my father. After a little hesitation he broke out with "I little thought
a son of mine should have been lord of Osbaldistone Manor, and far less
that he should go to a French convent for a spouse. But so dutiful a
daughter cannot but prove a good wife. You have worked at the desk to
please me, Frank, it is but fair you should wive to please yourself."
Long and happily I lived with Diana, and heavily I lamented her death.
Rob Roy died in old age and by a peaceful death some time about 1733,
and is still remembered in his country as the Robin Hood of Scotland.
* * * * *
The Talisman
"The Talisman," the most famous of Scott's "Tales of the
Crusaders," was written 1824-25, when the fortunes of its
author were already threatened. The building of Abbotsford was
finished, and the heavy financial losses which fell on Sir
Walter, and drove him to write at a speed fatal to his genius,
soon followed. "The Talisman" and "The Fair Maid of Perth,"
which appeared three years later, are the only two of the
Waverley Novels published in those later years which are
worthy of their author's fame. The Talisman itself has always
been deservedly popular. It is full of colour, mystery, plot,
and counterplot, and Sir Kenneth's performances in
withstanding the jealous enemies of Richard Coeur-de-Lion glow
with life. Conrade of Montserrat, Richard's opponent in the
armies of the Crusaders, was a well-known figure in the wars
against the Saracens, and when he perished at their hands, it
was said that Richard instigated his death.
_I.--The Knight of the Leopard_
The burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its highest point when a
Knight of the Red Cross was pacing slowly along the sandy deserts in the
vicinity of the Dead Sea. At noon he joyfully hailed the sight of two or
three palm trees, and his good horse, too, lifted up his head as if he
snuffed from afar off the living waters which marked the place of repose
and refreshment. But a distant form separated itself from the trees, and
advanced towards the knight at a speed which soon showed a Saracen
cavalier. The Crusader, whose arms were a couchant leopard, disengaged
his lance, and well acquainted with the customs of Eastern warriors,
made a dead halt, confident that his own weight would give him the
advantage if the enemy advanced to the actual shock; but the Saracen,
wheeling his horse with inimitable dexterity, rode round the Christian,
who, constantly turning, frustrated his attempts to attack him in an
unguarded point, until, desirous to terminate the elusory warfare, the
knight suddenly seized the mace which hung at his saddle-bow, and hurled
it at the head of the Emir, who, though beaten to the ground, instantly
sprang again into his seat and regained the advantage, enlarging his
circles, and discharging arrows. At the seventh, the Christian knight
dropped heavily to the ground, and the Saracen dismounting to examine
his fallen foe, suddenly found himself in his grasp. He unloosed the
sword belt in which the Knight of the Leopard had fixed his hold,
mounted, and again rode off. But the loss of his sword and quiver of
arrows seemed to incline the Muslim to a truce; he again approached the
Christian, but no longer menacingly.
"There is truce betwixt our nations," he said. "Let there be peace
betwixt us."
"I am well content," answered he of the couchant leopard, and the late
foes, without an angry look or a gesture of doubt, rode side by side to
the palm trees; where each relieved his horse from saddle, bit, and
rein, and permitted them to drink ere they refreshed themselves. As they
sat down together on the turf, and proceeded to their scanty meal, they
eyed each other with curiosity, and each was compelled to acknowledge
that had he fallen in the combat, it had been by a noble foe. The
warriors arose from their brief rest, and courteously aided each other
while they replaced the harness of their trusty steeds, and pursued
their way, the Saracen performing the part of guide, to the cavern of
the hermit, Theodorich of England, with whom Sir Kenneth was to pass the
night in penitence and prayer.
_II.--Richard Coeur-de-Lion_
The scene must change to the camp of King Richard of England, who,
afflicted with a slow and wasting fever, lay on his couch of sickness,
loathing it as much in mind as his illness made it irksome to his body.
"Hark, what trumpets are there?" he said, endeavouring to start up. "By
heaven! the Turks are in the camp, I hear their lelies!" Breathless and
exhausted he sank back. "Go, I pray thee, De Vaux, and bring me word
what strangers are in the camp." Sir Thomas de Vaux had not made many
steps from the royal pavilion when he met the Knight of the Leopard,
who, accosting him with formal courtesy, desired to see the king; he had
brought back with him a Moorish physician, who had undertaken to work a
cure. Sir Thomas answered haughtily that no leech should approach the
sick bed without his, the Baron of Gilsland's, consent, and turned
loftily away; but the Scot, though not without expressing his share of
pride, solemnly assured him that he desired but the safety of Richard,
and Saladin himself had sent thither this Muslim physician. Sir
Kenneth's squire had been suffering dangerously under the same fever,
and the leech, El Hakim, had ministered to him not two hours before, and
already he was in a refreshing sleep.
"May I see your sick squire, fair sir?" at length said the Englishman.
The Scottish knight hesitated and coloured, yet answered at last:
"Willingly, my lord of Gilsland, but I am poorly lodged," and led the
way to his temporary abode.
"This is a strange tale, Sir Thomas," said the king, when he had heard
the report. "Art thou sure that this Scottish man is a tall man and
true?"
"I cannot say, my lord," replied the jealous borderer; "I have ever
found the Scots fair and false, but the man's bearing is that of a true
man, and I warrant you have noted the manner in which he bears himself
as a knight. He hath been fully well spoken of."
"And justly, Thomas," said the king. "Yes, I have indeed marked the
manner in which this knight does his devoir, and he had ere now tasted
your bounty but that I have also marked his audacious presumption."
"My liege," said the Baron of Gilsland, "your majesty will pardon me to
remind you that I have by mine office right to grant liberty to men of
gentle blood, to keep a hound or two within the camp, and besides, it
were a sin to harm a thing so noble as this gentleman's dog, the most
perfect creature of heaven, of the noblest northern breed."
The king laughed.
"Well, thou hast given him leave to keep the hound, so there is an end
of it. But to this piece of learned heathenness--say'st thou the Scot
met him in the desert?"
"No, my liege, the Scot's tale runs thus: He was dispatched to the old
hermit of Engaddi--"
"'Sdeath and hell!" said Richard, starting up, "by whom dispatched, and
for what? Who would send anyone thither when our queen was in the
convent of Engaddi?"
"The Council of the Crusade sent him, my lord," the baron answered, "but
for what purpose he declined to account to me."
"Well, it shall be looked into," said Richard. "So this envoy met with a
wandering physician at Engaddi, ha!"
"Not so, my liege, but he met a Saracen Emir, who understood that
Saladin should send his own leech to you. He is attended as if he were a
prince, and brings with him letters of credence from Saladin."
Richard took the scroll and read.
"Hold, hold," he said. "I will have no more of this dog of a prophet.
Yes, I will put myself in charge of this Hakim--I will repay the noble
Soldan his generosity--I will meet him in the field as he proposes.
Haste, De Vaux, fetch the Hakim hither."
Scarcely had De Vaux left the royal pavilion when the king, to soothe
his impatience, sent a messenger to command the attendance of the Knight
of the Leopard, that he might obtain an account of the cause of his
absence from the camp.
"Hark thee, Sir Knight," said the king, "I require you to remember that,
as a principal member of the Christian League, I have a right to know
the negotiations of my confederates. Do me, therefore, the justice to
tell me the purport of thine errand."
"My lord," replied the Scot, "I will speak the truth. Be pleased,
therefore, to know my charge was to propose through the medium of the
hermit--a holy man, respected and protected by Saladin himself--the
establishment of a lasting peace, and the withdrawing of our armies from
Palestine."
"Saint George!" said Richard. "Ill as I have thought of them, I could
not have dreamed of such dishonour. On what conditions was this hopeful
peace to be contracted?"
"They were not entrusted to me, my lord," said Sir Kenneth. "I delivered
them sealed to the hermit. Might I so far presume, my lord king, this
discourse but heats your disease, the enemy from which Christendom
dreads more evil than from armed hosts of infidels."
"You can flatter, Sir Knight," said the king, "but you escape me not. Saw
you my royal consort at Engaddi?"
"To my knowledge, no, my lord," said Sir Kenneth in some perturbation.
"I beheld a choir of ladies do homage to a relic of the highest
sanctity, but I saw not their faces."
"I ask you," said Richard, raising himself on his elbow, "as a knight
and a gentleman, did you or did you not, know any lady amongst that band
of worshippers?"
"My lord," said Kenneth, not without much hesitation, "I might guess."
"And I also might guess," said the king, frowning sternly. "But it is
enough. Leopard as you are, Sir Knight, beware o' tempting the lion's
paw. Enough--begone!--speed to De Vaux and send him hither with the
Arabian physician."
Richard, when the physician, accompanied by the Grand Master of the
Templars, Montserrat, with De Vaux and the Knight of the Leopard,
entered his apartment, immediately exclaimed:
"So, ho, a goodly fellowship come to see Richard take his leap in the
dark. My noble allies, I greet you as the representatives of our
assembled league--De Vaux, lives he or dies he, thou hast the thanks of
thy prince--There is yet another--What, the bold Scot, who would climb
heaven without a ladder? He is welcome, too. Come, Sir Hakim, to the
work, to the work."
The physician now felt the king's pulse for a long time, then filled a
cup with water, and dipt in it a small red purse, which he took from his
bosom. He was about to offer it to the king, but he prevented him,
saying:
"Hold an instant, let me lay my finger on _thy_ pulse."
The Arabian yielded his hand without hesitation.
"His blood beats calm as an infant's; so throbs not theirs who poison
princes," said the king, "De Vaux, whether we live or die, dismiss this
Hakim with honour. Commend us, friend, to the noble Saladin."
He then took the cup, and turning to the Marquis of Montserrat and the
grand master: "Mark what I say. To the immortal honour of the first
Crusader who shall strike lance or sword on the gate of Jerusalem and to
the eternal infamy of whomsoever shall turn back from the plough on
which he hath laid his hand." He drained the cup and sank back as if
exhausted.
The hour had arrived when the royal patient might be awakened with
safety. The fever had entirely left him, and King Richard sitting up and
rubbing his eyes demanded what present store of money was in the royal
coffers.
"Be it greater or smaller," he said, "bestow it all on the learned leech
who hath given me back to the service of the Crusade."
"I sell not the wisdom with which Allah has endowed me," said the Arab.
"It is reward enough for me that so great a king as Melech Ric should
thus speak to his servant. But now let me pray you to compose yourself
again on the couch."
"I must obey thee, Hakim," said the king. "But what mean these shouts
and distant music in the camp?"
The Marquis of Montserrat at that moment entered.
"Honoured prince," he said, "I delight to see your majesty so far
recovered, and that is a long speech for me to make who has partaken of
the Duke of Austria's hospitality."
"What, you have been dining with the Teutonic wine skin!" said the
monarch. "And what frolic hath he found to cause all this disturbance?
Truly, Sir Conrade, I wonder at your quitting the revel."
"What the Archduke does," said Conrade de Montserrat, not heeding De
Vaux's sign, "is of little consequence to anyone; yet to say truth, this
is a gambol I should not like to share in, since he is pulling down the
banner of England, and displaying his own in its stead."
"_What_ say'st thou?" exclaimed Richard, springing from his couch and
casting on his clothes with marvellous speed. "Speak not to me--I
command thee, speak not a word to me--Hakim, be silent I charge thee!"
And with the last word he snatched his sword and rushed out. Conrade
held up his hands as if in astonishment. De Vaux pushed rudely past him
calling orders in haste to the equerries, which, imperfectly heard,
spread an alarm as general as the cause seemed vague, through the whole
British forces.
Without regarding the tumult, Richard pursued his way, followed only by
De Vaux and a few servants; but the Knight of the Leopard, as they
passed him, aware that danger must be afoot, snatched his sword and
shield, and hastened to share it. Richard burst his way through a crowd
of the Archduke's friends and retinue, pulled up the standard-spear,
threw the Austrian banner on the ground, and placed his foot upon it.
"Thus," said he, "I trample on the banner of Austria!"
A Hungarian nobleman struck at the king a blow that might have proved
fatal had not the Scot intercepted it, while Richard glanced round him
with an eye from which the angry nobles shrank appalled, until the King
of France, whose sagacity Richard much respected, came and remonstrated.
The duke at last said he would refer his quarrel to the General Council
of the Crusade.
Richard listened to Philip until his oratory seemed exhausted, then said
aloud:
"I am drowsy--this fever hangs upon me still. Brother of France, know,
at once, I will submit a matter touching the honour of England neither
to prince, pope, nor council. Here stands my banner--whatever pennon
shall be reared within three butts' length of it--shall be treated as
that dishonoured rag."
Philip answered calmly he would have no other strife between the Lions
of England and the Lilies of France than which should be carried deepest
into the ranks of the infidels. Richard stretched out his hand, with all
the frankness of his rash but generous disposition, and replied:
"It is a bargain, my royal brother! Here, Thomas of Gilsland, I give
thee charge of this standard--watch over the honour of England."
"Her safety is yet more dear to me," said De Vaux, "and the life of
Richard is the safety of England. I must have your highness back to your
tent without further tarriance."
"Thou art a rough and peremptory nurse, De Vaux," said the king, and
then addressing Sir Kenneth: "Valiant Scot, I owe thee a boon; and I
will repay it richly. There stands the banner of England! Watch it as a
novice doth his armour. Stir not from it three spears' lengths, and
defend it with thy body against injury or insult--Dost thou undertake
the charge?"
"Willingly," said Kenneth, "and will discharge it upon penalty of my
head. I will but arm me and return thither instantly."
Those whom the disturbance had assembled now drew off in various
directions, and the Marquis of Montserrat said to the Grand Master of
the Templars:
"Thou seest that subtle courses are more effective than violence. I have
unloosed the bonds which held together this bunch of sceptres and
lances--thou wilt see them shortly fall asunder."
_III.--Richard and Sir Kenneth_
It was about sunrise when a slow armed tread was heard approaching the
king's pavilion and De Vaux had time to do no more than arise when the
Knight of the Leopard entered, with deep gloom on his manly features.
Richard, awaking on the instant, exclaimed:
"Speak, Sir Scot, thou comest to tell me of a vigilant watch?"
"My watch hath been neither safe, vigilant, nor honourable," said Sir
Kenneth. "The banner of England has been carried off."
"And thou alive to tell it?" said Richard. "Away, it cannot be. There is
not even a scratch on thy face. It is ill jesting with a King--yet I
will forgive thee if thou hast lied."
"Lied, Sir King!" returned the knight with fierce emphasis. "But this
also must be endured. I have spoken the truth."
"By God and St. George!" said the king with fury. "De Vaux, go view the
spot. This cannot be. The man's courage is proof--it cannot be! Go
speedily--or send, if--"
The King was interrupted by Sir Henry Neville, who came, breathless, to
say the banner was gone, and there was a pool of blood where the
banner-spear lay.
"But whom do I see here?" said Neville, his eyes suddenly resting upon
Sir Kenneth.
"A traitor," said the king, seizing his curtal-axe, "whom thou shalt see
die a traitor's death." And he drew back the weapon as in act to strike.
Colourless, but firm as a marble statue, the Scot stood before him, his
head uncovered, his eyes cast down. The king stood for a moment prompt
to strike, then lowering the weapon, exclaimed:
"But there was blood, Neville--Hark thee, Sir Scot, brave thou wert
once, for I have seen thee fight. Say thou hast struck but one blow in
our behalf, and get thee out of the camp with thy life and thy infamy."
"There was no blood shed, my lord king," replied Kenneth, "save that of
a poor hound, which, more faithful than his master, defended the charge
he deserted."
"Now, by St. George," said Richard, again heaving up his arm, but De
Vaux threw himself between him and the object of his vengeance. There
was a pause.
"My lord," said Kenneth.
"Ha! hast thou found thy speech?" said Richard. "Ask grace from heaven,
but none from me. Wert thou my own and only brother, there is no pardon
for thy fault."
"I speak not to demand grace of mortal man," replied the Scot. "I
beseech your grace for one moment's opportunity to speak that which
highly concerns your fame as a Christian king. There is treason around
you."
"Treason that will injure thee more deeply than the loss of a hundred
banners. The--the--the Lady Edith--"
"Ha!" said the king, "what was she to do with this matter?"
"My lord," said the Scot, "there is a scheme on foot to disgrace your
royal lineage, by bestowing the hand of the Lady Edith on the Saracen
Soldan, and thereby to purchase a peace most dishonourable to
Christendom."
The mention of his relative's name renewed the King's recollection of
what he had considered extreme presumption in the Knight of the Leopard,
even while he stood high on the rolls of chivalry, and now appeared to
drive the fiery monarch into a frenzy of passion.
"Silence," he said, "infamous and audacious. By heaven, I will have thy
tongue torn out with hot pincers for mentioning the very name of a noble
damsel! With lips blistered with the confession of thine own
dishonour--that thou shouldest now dare--name her not--for an instant
think not of her."
"Not name--not think of her?" answered Sir Kenneth. "Now by the cross on
which I place my hope, her name shall be the last word in my mouth. Try
thy boasted strength on this bare brow, and see if thou canst prevent my
purpose."
"He will drive me mad," said Richard, once more staggered by the
dauntless determination of the criminal.
A bustle was heard and the arrival of the queen was announced.
"Detain her, Neville," cried the king. "Away with him, De Vaux; let him
have a ghostly father--and, hark thee, we will not have him dishonoured;
he shall die knight-like in his belt and spurs."
The entrance of Queen Berengaria was withstood by the chamberlain, and
she could hear the stern commands of the king from within to the
executioner. Edith could no longer remain silent:
"_I_ will make entrance for your grace," she said, putting aside the
chamberlain.
On their sudden entrance Richard flung himself hastily aside, turning
his back to them as if displeased.
"Thou seest, Edith," whispered the queen, "we shall but incense him."
"Be it so," said Edith, stepping forward. "I--your poor kinswoman, crave
you for justice rather than mercy, and to that cry the ear of a monarch
should be ever open."
"Ha! our cousin Edith!" said Richard, rising. "She speaks ever
king-like, and king-like I will answer her."
"My lord," she said, "this good knight whose blood you are about to
spill hath fallen from his duty through a snare set for him in idleness
and folly. A message sent to him in the name of one--why should I not
speak it?--it was in my own--induced him to leave his post."
"And you saw him then, cousin?" said the king, biting his lips to keep
down his passion. "Where?"
"In the tent of her majesty, the queen."
"Of your royal consort! Now, by my father's soul, Edith, thou shalt rue
this thy life long in a monastery."
"My liege," said Edith, "your greatness licences tyranny. My honour is
as little touched as yours, and my lady, the queen, can prove it if she
thinks fit. But I have not come here to excuse myself or inculpate
others--"
The king was about to answer with much anger, when a Carmelite monk
entered hastily, and flinging himself on his knees before the king,
conjured him to stop the execution. It was the hermit of Engaddi, and to
the king's fierce refusal to listen, he said with irritation:
"Thou art setting that mischief on foot thou wilt afterwards wish thou
hadst stopped, though it had cost thee a limb. Rash, blinded man,
forbear!"
"Away, away," cried the king, stamping. "The sun has risen on the
dishonour of England, and it is not yet avenged. Ladies and priests
withdraw, for by St. George, I swear--"
"Swear _not!_" said the voice of one who now entered--
"Ho! my learned Hakim," said the king, "come, I hope, to tax our
generosity."
"I come to request instant speech with you--instant."
"Retire then, Berengaria," said the monarch. "Nay, renew not thy
importunities--nay, this I give to thee--the execution shall not be till
high noon. Edith, go--if you are wise."
The females hurried from the tent, and El Hakim made his humble prayer
for the knight about to die. The king hardening himself as the leech
assumed a more lofty tone:
"Know, then," he said, "that through every court of Europe and Asia will
I denounce thee as thankless and ungenerous."
Richard turned fiercely from him.
"Hakim, thou hast chosen thy boon, and I may not, king-like, refuse
thee. Take this Scot, therefore, use him as thy bond-slave if thou wilt,
only let him beware how he comes before the eyes of Richard. Is there
aught else in which I may do thee pleasure?"
"Let me touch that victorious hand," said the sage, "in token that
should Adonbec El Hakim hereafter demand a boon of Richard of England,
he may do so."
"Thou hast hand and glove upon it, man," replied Richard.
"May thy days be multiplied," answered the Hakim.
"Strange pertinacity," said the King, gazing after him as he departed,
"in this Hakim to interfere between this Scot and the chastisement he
has merited so richly. Yet, let him live! there is one brave man the
more in the world."
_IV.--The Victory of Sir Kenneth_
Surrounded by his valiant knights, Coeur de Lion stood beside the banner
of England while the powers of the various Crusading Princes swept round
before him; their commanders, as they passed, making a signal of
courtesy "in sign of regard and amity," as the protocol of the ceremony
heedfully expressed it, "not of vassalage." By the king's side stood an
Ethiopian slave, recently sent to Richard by Saladin, holding a noble
dog in a leash, who watched the ranks with a sagacious look as they
passed. King Richard looked more than once at the Nubian and his dog,
and at last said:
"Thy success, my sable friend, will not place thee high in the list of
wizards."
But Conrade of Montserrat no sooner came within his ken than the noble
hound, uttering a furious yell (the Nubian at the same time slipping his
leash), leapt upon the noble charger, and seizing the marquis by the
throat, pulled him from the saddle.
The Ethiopian, though not without difficulty, disengaged the dog; while
the voice of Richard, loud and sonorous, was heard clear above all
others:
"He dies the death who injures the hound. Stand forward for a false
traitor, Conrade of Montserrat. I impeach thee of treason!"
When King Richard returned to his tent some hours later, he commanded
the Nubian to be brought before him, and his keen glance surveyed him
for some time in silence.
"Thou art about to return to the camp of the Soldan, bearing a letter
requiring of his country to appoint neutral ground for the deed of
chivalry, and should it consort with his pleasure to concur with us in
witnessing it. Now, we think thou might'st find in that camp some
cavalier, who, for the love of truth, will do battle with this same
traitor of Montserrat?"
The Nubian turned his eyes to the king with eager ardour, then to heaven
with solemn gratitude, then bent his head as affirming what Richard
desired.
"It is well," said the king; "I see thy desire to oblige me in this
matter; with thee to hear is to obey."
* * * * *
The two heroic monarchs embraced as brothers and equals, the pomp and
display on both sides attracted no further notice. No one saw aught but
Richard and Saladin. The looks with which Richard surveyed Saladin were
more curious than those which the Soldan fastened on him, and when later
Saladin exchanged his turban for a Tartar cap Richard gazed with
astonishment and exclaimed:
"A miracle--a miracle! That I should lose my learned Hakim and find him
again in my royal brother? It was by thy artifice the Knight of the
Leopard visited my camp in disguise? He will do battle on the morrow?"
"He is full of preparation and high in hope," said Saladin. "I have
furnished him with weapons and horse, thinking nobly of him from what I
have seen under various disguises."
* * * * *
Drum, clarion, trumpet and cymbal rung forth at once in honour of
England's champion!
"Brave Knight of the Leopard," said Coeur de Lion, "thou hast shown the
Ethiopian may change his skin, and the leopard his spots. I have more to
say to you when I have conducted you to the presence of the ladies. And
thou, princely Saladin, will also attend them."
Saladin bent his head gracefully, but declined.
"I must attend the wounded man," said he, "and further, Royal Richard,
he saith the sage who hath forfeited a treasure doth not wisely to turn
back to gaze on it."
"Come," said Richard, "we will to the pavilion, and lead our conqueror
thither in triumph."
The victor entered and knelt gracefully down before the queen, though
more than half the homage was silently rendered to Edith.
"Unarm him, my mistresses," said the king. "Let Beauty honour Chivalry.
Undo his spurs, Berengaria. Unlace his helmet, Edith--by this hand, thou
shalt. Here terminate his various disguises. The adventurous Knight
Kenneth, arises David, Earl of Huntington, Prince Royal of Scotland."
The next day saw Richard return to his own camp, and in a short space
afterwards the young Earl of Huntington was espoused by Edith
Plantagenet.
The Soldan sent, as a nuptial present on this occasion, the celebrated
talisman; but, though many cures were wrought with it in Europe, none
equalled in success and celebrity those which the Soldan achieved.
* * * * *
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY
Frankenstein
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the daughter of William Godwin
(see Vol. IV) and Mary Wollstonecraft, was born in London,
August 30, 1797, and married to the poet Shelley in 1816, on
the death of his first wife Harriet. Two years previous to
this she had eloped with Shelley (see Vol. XVIII) to
Switzerland, and they lived together in Italy till his death
in 1823, when Mrs. Shelley returned to England, and continued
her literary work. "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus,"
the first of Mary Shelley's books, was published in 1818, and
owed its origin to the summer spent by the Shelleys on the
shores of Geneva when Byron was their neighbour. It was "a
wet, ungenial summer," according to the account Mary Shelley
has left. "Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the
German into French, fell into our hands." Then one evening
Byron said, "we will each write a ghost story," and the
proposition was agreed to, and Mary Shelley's contribution was
developed till at length "Frankenstein" was written. The story
is at once a remarkable and impressive performance. The
influence of Mrs. Shelley's father is apparent throughout, but
probably the authoress was most influenced by the old German
tales of the supernatural. The theme of a mortal creating, by
the aid of natural science, a being in the shape of man, was
at the time a bold and daring innovation in English
literature. Mrs. Shelley died February 21, 1851.
_I.--Robert Walton's Letter_
August 5, 17--
My Dear Sister.--This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on
its homeward voyage from Archangel; more fortunate than I, who may not
see my native land, perhaps for many years. We have already reached a
very high latitude, and it is the height of summer; but last Monday,
July 31, we were nearly surrounded by ice which closed in the ship on
all sides. Our situation was somewhat dangerous, especially as we were
compassed round by a very thick fog. About two o'clock the mist cleared
away, and we beheld in every direction, vast and irregular plains of
ice. A strange sight suddenly attracted our attention. We perceived a
low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the
North: a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic
stature, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs. We watched the rapid
progress of the traveller until he was lost among the distant
inequalities of the ice. Before night the ice broke and freed our ship.
In the morning, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck, and found all
the sailors apparently talking to some one in the sea, it was, in fact,
a sledge, like that we had seen before, which had drifted towards us in
the night, on a large fragment of ice. Only one dog remained alive, but
there was a human being whom the sailors were persuading to enter the
vessel.
On perceiving me, the stranger addressed me in English. "Before I come
on board your vessel," said he, "will you have the kindness to inform me
whither you are bound?"
I replied that we were on a voyage of discovery towards the northern
pole.
Upon hearing this he consented to come on board. His limbs were nearly
frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated. I never saw a man in so
wretched a condition, and I often feel that his sufferings had deprived
him of understanding.
Once the lieutenant asked why he had come so far upon the ice in so
strange a vehicle. He replied, "To seek one who fled from me." "And did
the man whom you pursued travel in the same fashion?"
"Yes."
"Then I fancy we have seen him; for the day before we picked you up, we
saw some dogs drawing a sledge, with a man in it, across the ice."
From this time a new spirit of life animated the decaying frame of the
stranger. He manifested the greatest eagerness to be upon deck, to watch
for the sledge which had before appeared.
August 17, 17--
Yesterday the stranger said to me, "You may easily perceive, Capt.
Walton, that I have suffered great and unparallelled misfortunes. My
fate is nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I shall
repose in peace. Listen to my history, and you will perceive how
irrevocably my destiny is determined."
_II.--Frankenstein's Story_
I am by birth a Genevese; and my family is one of the most distinguished
of that republic. My father has filled several public situations with
honour and reputation. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied
by the affairs of his country, and it was not until the decline of life
that he became a husband and the father of a family.
When I was about five years old, my mother, whose benevolent disposition
often made her enter the cottages of the poor, brought to our house a
child fairer than pictured cherub, an orphan whom she found in a
peasant's hut; the infant daughter of a nobleman who had died fighting
for Italy. Thus Elizabeth became the inmate of my parents' house. Every
one loved her, and I looked upon Elizabeth as mine, to protect, love,
and cherish. We called each other familiarly by the name cousin, and
were brought up together. No human being could have passed a happier
childhood than myself.
When I had attained the age of seventeen, my parents resolved that I
should become a student at the University of Ingolstadt; I had hitherto
attended the schools, of Geneva.
Before the day of my departure arrived, the first misfortune of my life
occurred--an omen of my future misery. My mother attended Elizabeth in
an attack of scarlet fever. Elizabeth was saved, but my mother sickened
and died. On her deathbed she joined the hands of Elizabeth and
myself:--"My children," she said, "my firmest hopes of future happiness
were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be
the consolation of your father."
The day of my departure for Ingolstadt, deferred for some weeks by my
mother's death, at length arrived. I reached the town after a long and
fatiguing journey, delivered my letters of introduction, and paid a
visit to some of the principal professors.
M. Krempe, professor of Natural Philosophy, was an uncouth man. He asked
me several questions concerning my progress in different branches of
science, and informed me I must begin my studies entirely anew.
M. Waldman was very unlike his colleague. His voice was the sweetest I
had ever heard. Partly from curiosity, and partly from idleness, I
entered his lecture room, and his panegyric upon modern chemistry I
shall never forget:--"The ancient teachers of this science," said he,
"promised impossibilities, and performed nothing. The modern masters
promise very little, and have, indeed, performed miracles. They have
discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we
breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can
command the thunders of the heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock
the invisible world with its own shadows."
Such were the professor's words, words of fate enounced to destroy me.
As he went on, I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable
enemy. So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein. More,
far more, will I achieve: I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown
powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation. I
closed not my eyes that night; and from this time natural philosophy,
and particularly chemistry, became nearly my sole occupation. My
progress was rapid, and at the end of two years I made some discoveries
in the improvement of chemical instruments which procured me great
esteem at the University.
I became acquainted with the science of anatomy, and often asked myself,
Whence did the principle of life proceed? I observed the natural decay
of the human body, and saw how the fine form of man was degraded and
wasted. I examined and analysed all the minutiae of causation in the
change from life to death and death to life, until from the midst of
this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me. I became dizzy with the
immensity of the prospect, and surprised that among so many men of
genius I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret.
Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare
a frame for the reception of it remained a work of inconceivable
difficulty and labour. I collected bones from charnel houses, and the
dissecting room and the slaughter house furnished many of my materials.
Often my nature turned with loathing from my occupation, but the thought
that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter I might in process
of time renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to
corruption, supported my spirits.
In a solitary chamber at the top of the house I kept my workshop of
filthy creation. The summer months passed, but my eyes were insensible
to the charms of nature. Winter, spring, and summer passed away before
my work drew to a close, but now every day showed me how well I had
succeeded. But I had become a wreck, so engrossing was my occupation,
and nervous to a most painful degree. I shunned my fellow-creatures as
if I had been guilty of a crime.
_III.--Frankenstein's Creation_
It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of
my toil. With an anxiety that amounted to agony, I collected the
instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into
the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. I saw the dull yellow eye of the
creature open; it breathed hard; and a convulsive motion agitated its
limbs.
How can I delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I
had endeavoured to form? His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of
muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and
flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but his watery eyes seemed
almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were
set.
I had worked hard for nearly two years for the sole purpose of infusing
life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and
health. But now that I had finished, breathless horror and disgust
filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created,
I rushed out of the room. I tried to sleep, but disturbed by the wildest
dreams, I started up. By the dim and yellow light of the moon I beheld
the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtains of the
bed, and his eyes were fixed on me. He might have spoken, but I did not
hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped
and rushed downstairs.
No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. I had gazed on
him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and
joints were rendered capable of motion, no mummy could be so hideous. I
took refuge in the court-yard, and passed the night wretchedly.
For several months I was confined by a nervous fever, and on my recovery
was filled with a violent antipathy even to the name of Natural
Philosophy.
A letter from my father telling me that my youngest brother William had
been found murdered, and bidding me return and comfort Elizabeth, made
me decide to hasten home.
It was completely dark when I arrived in the environs of Geneva. The
gates of the town were shut, and I was obliged to pass the night at a
village outside. A storm was raging on the mountains, and I wandered out
to watch the tempest and resolved to visit the spot where my poor
William had been murdered.
Suddenly I perceived in the gloom a figure which stole from behind a
clump of trees near me; I could not be mistaken. A flash of lightning
illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me. Its
gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than
belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch to
whom I had given life. What did he there? Could he be the murderer of my
brother? No sooner did that idea cross my imagination than I became
convinced of its truth. The figure passed me quickly, and I lost it in
the gloom. I thought of pursuing, but it would have been in vain, for
another flash discovered him to me hanging among the rocks, and he soon
reached the summit and disappeared.
It was about five in the morning when I entered my father's house. It
was a house of mourning, and from that time I lived in daily fear lest
the monster I had created should perpetrate some new wickedness. I
wished to see him again that I might avenge the death of William.
My wish was soon gratified. I had wandered off alone up the valley of
Chamounix, and was resting on the side of the mountain, when I beheld
the figure of a man advancing towards me, over the crevices in the ice,
with superhuman speed. He approached: his countenance bespoke bitter
anguish--it was the wretch whom I had created.
"Devil," I exclaimed, "do you dare approach me? Begone, vile insect! Or,
rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust!"
"I expected this reception," said the monster. "All men hate the
wretched: how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living
things. You purpose to kill me. Do your duty towards me and I will do
mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my
conditions I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will
glut the maw of death with the blood of your remaining friends."
My rage was without bounds, but he easily eluded me and said:
"Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to increase my misery?
Remember that I am thy creature. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I
alone am excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. I
have assisted the labours of man, I have saved human beings from
destruction, and I have been stoned and shot at as a recompense. The
feelings of kindness and gentleness have given place to rage. Mankind
spurns and hates me. The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my
refuge, and the bleak sky is kinder to me than your fellow-beings. Shall
I not hate them who abhor me? Listen to me, Frankenstein. I have
wandered through these mountains consumed by a burning passion which you
alone can gratify. You must create a female for me with whom I can live.
I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as
deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me.
"What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate. It is true, we shall be
monstrous, cut off from all the world: but on that account we shall be
more attached to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they will
be harmless, and free from the misery I now feel. If you consent,
neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again: I will go
to the vast wilds of South America. We shall make our bed of dried
leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our foods. My
evil passion will have fled, for I shall meet with sympathy. My life
will flow quietly away, and in my dying moments I shall not curse my
maker."
His words had a strange effect on me. I compassionated him, and
concluded that the justest view both to him and my fellow-creatures
demanded of me that I should comply with his request.
"I consent to your demand," I said, "on your solemn oath to quit Europe
forever."
"I swear," he cried, "by the sun and by the fire of love which burns in
my heart that if you grant my prayer, while they exist you shall never
behold me again. Depart to your home, and commence your labours: I shall
watch their progress with unutterable anxiety."
Saying this, he suddenly quitted me, fearful, perhaps, of any change in
my sentiments.
_IV.--The Doom of Frankenstein_
I travelled to England with my friend Henry Clerval, and we parted in
Scotland. I had fixed on one of the remotest of the Orkneys as the scene
of my labours.
Three years before I was engaged in the same manner, and had created a
fiend whose barbarity had desolated my heart. I was now about to form
another being, of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant. He had sworn
to quit the neighbourhood of man, and hide himself in deserts, but she
had not. They might even hate each other, and she might quit him. Even
if they were to leave Europe, a race of devils would be propagated upon
the earth, who might make the very existence of man precarious and full
of terror.
I was alone on a solitary island, when looking up, the monster whom I
dreaded appeared. My mind was made up: I would never create another like
to him.
"Begone," I cried, "I break my promise. Never will I create your equal
in deformity and wickedness. Leave me; I am inexorable."
The monster saw my determination in my face, and gnashed his teeth in
anger. "Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for his bosom, and each
beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had feelings of affection, and
they were requited by detestation and scorn. Are you to be happy, while
I grovel in the intensity of my wretchedness? I go, but remember, I
shall be with you on your wedding night."
I started forward, but he quitted the house with precipitation. In a few
moments I saw him in his boat, which shot across the waters with an
arrowy swiftness.
The next day I set off to rejoin Clerval, and return home. But I never
saw my friend again. The monster murdered him, and for a time I lay in
prison on suspicion of the crime. On my release one duty remained to me.
It was necessary that I should hasten without delay to Geneva, there to
watch over the lives of those I loved, and to lie in wait for the
murderer.
Soon after my arrival, my father spoke of my long-contemplated marriage
with Elizabeth. I remembered the fiend's words, "I shall be with you on
your wedding night," and if I had thought what might be the devilish
intention of my adversary I would never have consented. But thinking it
was only my own death I was preparing I agreed with a cheerful
countenance.
Elizabeth seemed happy, and I was tranquil. In the meantime I took every
precaution, carrying pistols and dagger, lest the fiend should openly
attack me.
After the ceremony was performed, a large party assembled at my
father's; it was agreed that Elizabeth and I should proceed immediately
to the shores of Lake Como.
That night we stopped at an inn. I reflected how fearful a combat, which
I momentarily expected, would be to my wife, and earnestly entreated her
to retire. She left me, and I walked up and down the passages of the
house inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to my
adversary.
Suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream. It came from the room
into which Elizabeth had retired. I rushed in. There, lifeless and
inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down, and her pale
and distorted features half covered with her hair, was the purest
creature on earth, my love, my wife, so lately living, and so dear.
And at the open window I saw a figure the most hideous and abhorred. A
grin was on the face of the monster as with his fiendish finger he
pointed towards the corpse.
Drawing a pistol I fired; but he eluded me, and running with the
swiftness of lightning, plunged into the lake.
The report of the pistol brought a crowd into the room. I pointed to the
spot where he had disappeared, and we followed the track with boats.
Nets were cast, but in vain. On my return to Geneva, my father sank
under the tidings I bore, for Elizabeth had been to him more than a
daughter, and in a few days he died in my arms.
Then I decided to tell my story to a criminal judge in the town, and
beseech him to assert his whole authority for the apprehension of the
murderer. This Genevan magistrate endeavoured to soothe me as a nurse
does a child, and treated my tale as the effects of delirium. I broke
from the house angry and disturbed, and soon quitted Geneva, hurried
away by fury. Revenge has kept me alive; I dared not die and leave my
adversary in being.
For many months this has been my task. Guided by a slight clue, I
followed the windings of the Rhone, but vainly. The blue Mediterranean
appeared; and, by a strange chance, I saw the fiend hide himself in a
vessel bound for the Black Sea.
Amidst the wilds of Tartary and Russia, although he still evaded me, I
have ever followed in his track. Sometimes the peasants informed me of
his path; sometimes he himself left some mark to guide me. The snows
descended on my head, and I saw the print of his huge step on the white
plain.
My life, as it passed thus, was indeed hateful to me, and it was during
sleep alone that I could taste joy.
As I still pursued my journey to the northward, the snows thickened and
the cold increased in the degree almost too severe to support. I found
the fiend had pursued his journey across the frost-bound sea in a
direction that led to no land, and exchanging my land sledge for one
fashioned for the Frozen Ocean I followed him.
I cannot guess how many days have passed since then. I was about to sink
under the accumulation of distress when you took me on board. But I had
determined, if you were going southward, still to trust myself to the
mercy of the seas rather than abandon my purpose--for my task is
unfulfilled.
_V.--Walton's Letter, continued_
A week has passed away while I have listened to the strangest tale that
ever imagination formed.
The only joy that Frankenstein can now know will be when he composes his
shattered spirit to peace and death.
September 12
I am returning to England. I have lost my hopes of utility and glory.
September 9 the ice began to move, and we were in the most imminent
peril. I had promised the sailors that should a passage open to the
south, I would not continue my voyage, but would instantly direct my
course southward. On the 11th a breeze sprung from the west, and the
passage towards the south became perfectly free. Frankenstein bade me
farewell when he heard my decision, and died pressing my hand.
At midnight I heard the sound of a hoarse human voice in the cabin where
the remains of Frankenstein were lying. I entered, and there, over the
body, hung a form gigantic, but uncouth and distorted, and with a face
of appalling hideousness.
The monster uttered wild and incoherent self-reproaches. "He is dead who
called me into being," he cried, "and the remembrance of us both will
speedily vanish. Soon I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer
felt."
He sprang from the cabin window as he said this, upon the ice-raft which
lay close to the vessel, and was borne away by the waves, and lost in
darkness and distance.
* * * * *
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
Arcadia
Sir Philip Sidney, the finest type of gentleman of Elizabethan
days, was born on November 30, 1554, at Penshurst, Kent, the
eldest son of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord-Deputy in Ireland, and
grandson, on his mother's side, of the Duke of Northumberland,
who was beheaded for complicity in the Lady Jane Grey
conspiracy. Education at Oxford, travel abroad, diplomatic
service, a wise interest in literature, and a singular
graciousness of character made Sidney "a full man." He was
regarded, at home and abroad, as the ideal gentleman of his
time, and a heroic death, at the siege of Zutphen, on October
2, 1586, enhanced his fame. His body was brought home for a
national funeral in old St. Paul's. Sidney's claims as a
writer are based on both prose--"Arcadia" and "An Apologie for
Poetrie"--and verse--"Astrophel and Stella." The elaborate and
artificial romance "Arcadia" was written for his sister Mary,
Countess of Pembroke, probably between 1578-80. It was left
incomplete, and was not published until four years after his
death. It has been described as forming the earliest model for
the art of prose. In our epitome we have followed the central
thread of a story which has innumerable episodic extensions.
_I.--Lost and Found_
It was the time that the earth begins to put on her new apparel against
the approach of her lover, when the shepherd, Strephon, on the sands
which lie against the island of Cithera, called upon him his friendly
rival, Claius, and bewailed their hopeless wooing of the fair
shepherdess, Urania, whose beauty taught the beholders chastity. As they
were going on with their praises, they perceived the thing which floated
nearer and nearer to the shore, by the favourable working of the sea,
till it was cast up hard before them, and they fully saw it was a man.
So they fell to rub and chafe him, till they brought him to recover both
breath, the servant, and warmth, the companion of living. Whereupon,
without so much as thanking them for their pains, he got up and cried,
as he looked round to the uttermost limits of his sight, "What, shall
Musidorus live after Pyrocles's destruction?" Then they, hearing him
speak in Greek, which was their natural language, became the more
tender-hearted towards him.
"Since you take care of me," said he, "I pray you find some bark that
will go out of the haven, that it possible we may find the body of
Pyrocles." So Claius presently went to a fisherman, and having agreed
with him, and provided some apparel for the naked stranger, they
embarked, and were no sooner gone beyond the mouth of the haven than
they discerned the ship burning which had driven both Musidorus and his
friend, rather to commit themselves to the cold mercy of the sea, than
to abide the hot cruelty of the fire. And when they had bent their
course as near up to it as they could, they saw, but a little way off,
the mast, whose proud height now lay along, and upon it a young man who
sat as on horseback, holding a sword aloft which often he waved, which
when Musidorus saw he was ravished with joy. But now the sailors
described a galley which came with sails and oars directly in the chase
of them, and straight they perceived it was a well-known pirate, so
forthwith they set on all the canvas, and flew homeward, leaving in that
poor sort Pyrocles, so near to be rescued. And Musidorus, casting a long
look that way, saw the galley leave the pursuit of them, and turn to
take up the spoils of the wreck; and, lastly, he might well see them
lift up the young man. But the fishermen made such speed into the haven
that they absented his eyes from beholding the issue, and he could
procure neither them, nor any other, to put to sea again.
The honest shepherds, Strephon and Claius, seeing sickness grew
something upon their companion, offered to bring him into their own
country of Arcadia, upon the next confines whereof dwelt a gentleman, by
name Kalander, who for his hospitality was much haunted, and for his
upright dealing beloved of his neighbours. To this Musidorus gave easy
assent; and so they came to Arcadia, which welcomed Musidorus' eyes with
delightful prospects. These were hills garnished with stately trees,
humble valleys comforted with the refreshing of silver rivers, meadows
enameled with eye-pleasing flowers, pastures stored with sheep feeding
in sober security, here a young shepherdess knitting and singing withal,
and there a shepherd boy piping as though he should never be old.
As they came near the house, Claius asked to know something more of
Musidorus and the young man he lamented, that they might inform Kalander
how to proportion his entertainment. Musidorus, according to an
agreement between Pyrocles and himself to alter their names, answered
that he called himself Palladius, and his friend Diaphantus. And
Kalander, judging his guest was of no mean calling, and seeing him
possessed with an extreme burning fever, conveyed him to commodious
lodging in his house, and respectfully entertained him; and the young
shepherds went away, leaving Musidorus loath to part with them.
There Palladius continued some while with no great hope of life, but
youth at length got the victory of sickness. Palladius, having gotten
his health, Kalander, who found in him a piercing wit, void of
ostentation, high-erected thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy, and a
behaviour so noble as gave a majesty to adversity, and enamoured with a
fatherly love towards him, proceeded to tell him of Arcadia.
"Here dwelleth and reigneth Prince Basilius, who being already well
stricken in years married a young Princess, Gynecia, of notable beauty,
and of these two are brought to the world two daughters, the elder named
Pamela, the younger Philoclea, both beyond measure excellent in all the
gifts allotted to reasonable creatures. When I marked them, methought
there was more sweetness in Philoclea, but more majesty in Pamela;
methought Philoclea's beauty only persuaded, but so persuaded as all
hearts must yield; Pamela's beauty used violence, and such violence as
no heart could resist. Philoclea, so bashful as though her excellencies
had stolen into her before she was aware; Pamela of high thoughts, who
avoids pride by making it one of her excellencies to be void of pride.
Now Basilius hath retired himself, his wife, and children, into a forest
hereby, which he calleth his desert, having appointed a nobleman named
Philanax to be Prince Regent--and most worthy so to be--and this
Basilius doth, because he means not, while he breathes, that his
daughters shall have any husbands, but keep them solitary with him."
Some few days afterwards Palladius perceived by the behaviour of
Kalander, who had retired himself to his chamber, that an ill-pleasing
accident had fallen out. Whereupon he called to the steward and desired
the truth, who confessed that his master had received news that his son,
Clitophon, who was near the day of his marriage, had been made prisoner
at a battle between the Lacedæmon and the Helots, when going to deliver
a friend of his taken prisoner by the Helots; and every hour he was to
look for nothing but some cruel death, though he had offered great
ransom for his life, which death, hitherunto, had only been delayed by
the captain of the Helots, who seemed to have a heart of more manly pity
than the rest.
Hearing this, Palladius thanked the steward, and then, well bethinking
himself, called for armour, a horse, and guide, and armed all saving the
head, went to Kalander, who had banished food and sleep as enemies to
mourning, and said, "No more, no more of this, my Lord Kalander, let us
labour to find before we lament the loss." And with those words comfort
seemed to lighten in his eyes; and in his face and gesture was painted
victory.
Kalander's spirits were so revived that he himself guided Palladiu to
the place upon the frontiers where already were assembled several
thousand men all well disposed for Kalander's sake to abide any peril.
So Palladius marched on the town of Cardamila, where Clitophon was
captive, and having by a stratagem obtained entry, put the Helots to
flight, but ere the Arcadians could reach the prison, the captain of the
Helots, who had been absent, returned and rallied them. Then the fight
grew most sharp, and the encounters of cruel obstinacy, and such was the
overflowing of the valour of Palladius that the captain of the Helots
saw he alone was worth all the rest of the Arcadians; and disdaining to
fight any other sought only to join with him, which mind was no less in
Palladius. So they began a combat, surpassing in bravery, and, as it
were, delightful terribleness, till, both sides beginning to wax faint,
the captain of the Helots strake Palladius upon the side of the head,
and withal his helmet fell off. Other of the Arcadians were ready to
shield him from any harm which might rise of that nakedness; but little
needed it, for his chief enemy kneeled down, offering to deliver the
pommel of his sword, in token of yielding, withal saying aloud that he
thought it more liberty to be his prisoner than any other's general.
Palladius, standing upon himself, and misdoubting some craft, "What,"
said the Captain, "hath Palladius forgotten the voice of Diaphantus?"
And by that watchword Palladius knew it was his only friend Pyrocles,
whom he had lost upon the sea, and therefore both caused the retreat to
be sounded. And of the Arcadian side the good old Kalander striving more
than his old age could achieve, was taken prisoner, but being led
towards the captain of the Helots, whom should he see next the captain
but his son Clitophon! Then were Kalander and Clitophon delivered to the
Arcadians without ransom, for so the Helots agreed, being moved by the
authority of Diaphantus as much as persuaded by his reasons, and to
Palladius (for so he called Musidorus) he sent word by Clitophon that he
would himself repair to Arcadia, having dispatched himself of the
Helots. Also he assured them he would bring with him Clitophon's friend.
Araglus, till then kept in close prison, or he would die. And this he
did, and was received with loving joy by Kalander.
_II.--The Lovers' Quest_
The two friends having accounted their adventures to each other since
they parted, embraced and kissed each other, and then told Kalander the
whole story; and Palladius recounted also to Pyrocles the strange story
of Arcadia and its king. And so they lived for some days in great
contentment. But anon, it could not be hid from Palladius that
Diaphantus was grown weary of his abode in Arcadia, seeing the court
could not be visited, but was prohibited to all men save certain
shepherdish people. And one day, when Kalander had invited them to the
hunting of a goodly stag, Diaphantus was missed, after death had been
sent to the poor beast with a crossbow, and on returning to the house,
Palladius, greatly marvelling, lighted on a letter written by Pyrocles
before he went a-hunting, in which he said that violence of love led to
his absence. Then Palladius determined never to leave seeking him till
his search should be either by meeting accomplished, or by death ended.
So, in private guise, he directed his course to Laconia, and passed
through Achai, and Sycyonia, and returned after two months travail in
vain. Having already passed over the greater part of Arcadia, one day,
going to repose himself in a little wood, he saw a fair lady walking
with her side towards him, whose sword interested her to be an Amazon,
and following her warily to a fine close arbour, he heard her sing, with
a voice no less beautiful to his ears than her goodliness was full of
harmony to his sight. The ditty gave him suspicion, and the voice gave
him assurance who the singer was, and entering boldly he perceived it
was Pyrocles thus disguised.
Then Pyrocles told him he had been infected by love through a sight of
the picture of the king's daughter Philoclea, and by what he had heard
of her and, in the guise of an Amazon, and under the name of Zelmane,
had come forth to seek her.
As a supposed niece to the Queen of the Amazons he had been gently
received by King Basilius in his sylvan retirement, and introduced to
his Queen and daughters, with the effect that he was more than ever in
love with the Princess Philoclea, while old Basilius, deceived as to his
sex, showed signs of a doting admiration which choked him with its
tediousness.
So Musidorus returned to a village not far off, and Zelmane returned to
the part of the forest where the king kept his seclusion.
When Zelmane next returned to the arbour where she had met Musidorus she
saw, walking from herward, a man in shepherdish apparel, with a
sheephook in his right hand, and singing as he went a lamentable tune.
The voice made her hasten her pace to overtake him, for she plainly
perceived it was her dear friend Musidorus.
Then Musidorus recounted how sojourning in secret, and watching by the
arbour, he had observed and loved the Princess Pamela, and was now under
the name of Dorus, disguised as one of the shepherds who were allowed
the Princess' presence. And so it happened that when Basilius, the
better to breed Zelmane's liking, appointed a fair field for shepherdish
pastimes, Zelmane and Dorus were both of the company, Dorus still
keeping his eye on Pamela, and Zelmane setting the hand of Philoclea to
her lips, when suddenly there came out of a wood a monstrous lion, with
a she-bear not far from him, of little less fierceness. Philoclea no
sooner espied the lion than she lept up and ran lodge-ward, as fast as
her delicate legs could carry her, while Dorus drew Pamela behind a
tree, where she stood quaking like the partridge which the hawk is ready
to seize. The Zelmane, to whom danger was a cause of dreadlessness, slew
the lion and carried the head to Philoclea, while Pamela was seen
coming, and having in her hand the paw of the bear which the shepherd
Dorus had presented unto her. And while Philoclea applied precious balm
to a wound of no importance which Zelmane had received, Pamela's noble
heart would needs make known gratefully the valiant means of her safety.
And now the two friends sought to make known their true estate to
Philoclea and Pamela. So Dorus, feigning a love in attendance on Pamela,
told her, in the presence of her mistress, the story of the two friends,
Pyrocles and Musidorus, but in such words that Pamela understood who it
was that was speaking, and carried to Philoclea the news that her Dorus
had fallen out to be none other than the Prince Musidorus, famous over
all Asia for his heroical enterprises; and, later, Pyrocles, finding
himself in private conference with Philoclea, did avow himself Prince of
Macedon, and her true lover, and they passed the promise of marriage,
and she, to entertain him from a more straight parley, did entreat him
to tell the story of his life, and what he did until he came to the
shipwreck.
_III.--Through Perils to Peace_
By the mischievous device of Cecropia, aunt to the Princesses, both were
carried away, with Zelmane, and imprisoned in her castle in the hope
that Philoclea would favour the suit of her cousin Amphialus,
Crecropia's son. But Philoclea remained faithful to her love for
Pyrocles, and Pamela faithful to her love for Musidorus, who brought up
an army and stormed the castle, and rescued the prisoners.
The princes, becoming tired of inaction, and foreseeing no favourable
issue to their concealed suits, persuaded the Princesses to attempt an
escape with them to their own dominions; and such was the trust Pamela
placed in Musidorus and Philoclea in Pyrocles, that they became willing
companions in the flight. But when Musidorus and Pamela had escaped, and
Pyrocles sought Philoclea in her room to carry her away, he found she
was unable to undertake the fatigue of the journey; and Dametas, the
clownish guardian of the princess, discovering the presence of Pyrocles
in the room, locked the door on the inside, and raised an alarm.
Musidorus and Pamela too were surprised, secured, and brought back.
Now, by the laws of the Arcadians, both the princesses and their lovers
had forfeited their lives by their indiscretions, but King Basilius was
removed from the seat of judgement by drinking a potion of drugged wine,
which the Queen, not without warning to the King, had prepared for
Zelmane. It was left, therefore, to Philanax, the regent, to deal with
the difficulties that surrounded the administration of justice--the
offences of Musidorus and Pyrocles, of Philoclea and Pamela, who now
became heir to the throne, and the complicity of the Queen in the death
of the King. At this moment, Euarchus, King of Macedon, arrived with a
small escort, on a visit to his friend, King Basilius, and, by common
consent, was asked to deliver judgement on the several prisoners.
His decisions were, that the Queen should be buried quick with the body
of her husband; that Philoclea should be kept a prisoner as a vestal
nun; that Pyrocles should be thrown out of a high tower to receive his
death by his fall, and that Musidorus should be beheaded.
At this moment a stranger broke through the press and astonished the
multitude with his cries. Then falling at the feet of Euarchus, he told
him those whom he had judged were his own son, the comfort of Macedon,
and his nephew, the only stay of Thessalia, who, during their
wanderings, had grown out of the knowledge of their king.
Then Euarchus, after staying a good while upon himself like a valiant
man that should receive a good encounter, at length said, "O Arcadians,
that what this day I have said, hath been out of my assured persuasion
what justice itself, and your just laws require. Now, contrary to
expectation, I find the guilty to be my only son and nephew. But shall
justice halt? Or rather shall all my private respects give place to that
holy name? Let the remnant of my life be an inward and outward
desolation; but never, never let sacred rightfulness fall. Therefore, O
Philanax, see the judgement rightly performed."
But this pitiful matter was not entered into, for King Basilius, who had
been thought dead, awoke from the sleep into which the potion had cast
him, and there was much ado to make him understand what had fallen out.
Then, having weighed these things, he first sent with all honourable
pomp for his Queen, Gynecia, and told them how she had warned him to
take heed of the drink; and next, with princely entertainment to
Euarchus, and to his inestimable joy the marriage was concluded between
the peerless princes and princesses.
* * * * *
TOBIAS SMOLLETT
The Adventures of Roderick Random
Tobias George Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, Dumbartonshire,
Scotland, in 1721. He was apprenticed to a Glasgow apothecary,
came to London in 1739, much in the way described in "Roderick
Random," with a tragedy in his pocket, and very little else.
The play, "Regicide," he submitted in vain to various
theatrical managers, and, reduced almost to starvation, during
the same year accepted the post of surgeon's mate on board a
King's ship. In 1746 he returned to England, bent upon another
desperate effort to make a living by his pen. A period of
adverse fortune followed, broken, however, in 1748 by the
publication of "The Adventures of Roderick Random." Two years
later Smollett obtained his M.D. degree, and for a number of
years combined medical work with literature. In 1756 he was
made editor of the "Critical Review," a post which resulted in
a fine of £100 and three months' imprisonment for a libel on
Admiral Knowles. He died on October 21, 1771. Smollett wrote
altogether five novels and a number of historical works and
records of travel. It is impossible to overestimate his
influence on novel-writing. Most of the great Victorian
writers, especially Charles Dickens, owe much to his art.
_I.--My Birth, Parentage, and Childhood_
I was born in the northern part of this United Kingdom, in the house of
my grandfather, a gentleman of considerable fortune and influence, who
was remarkable for his abilities in the law, which he exercised with
great success in the station of a judge.
My father, his youngest son, falling in love with a poor relation, who
lived with the old gentleman in the quality of housekeeper, espoused her
privately; and I was the first fruit of that marriage. On my grandfather
telling my father one day, that he had provided a match for him, the
latter frankly owned what he had done. He added, that no exception could
be taken to his wife's virtue, birth, beauty, and good sense; and as for
fortune, it was beneath his care; he could be in no danger of wanting
while his father's tenderness remained, which he and his wife should
always cultivate with the utmost veneration. "Your brothers and
sisters," said my grandfather, "did not think it beneath them to consult
me in an affair of such importance as matrimony; neither, I suppose,
would you have omitted that piece of duty, had not you some secret fund
in reserve, to the comforts of which I leave you, with a desire that you
will this night seek out another habitation for yourself and wife. Sir,
you are a polite gentleman, I will send you an account of the expense I
have been at in your education--I wish you a great deal of joy, and am
your very humble servant."
So saying, he left my father in a situation easily imagined. However, he
did not long hesitate: for being perfectly well acquainted with my
grandfather's disposition, he knew it would be to no purpose to attempt
him by prayers and entreaties. So without any further application, he
betook himself with his disconsolate bedfellow to a farmhouse, where an
old servant of his mother dwelt. In this ill-adapted situation they
remained for some time, until my mother, hoping that her tears and
condition would move my grandfather to compassion, went, in disguise, to
the house, and implored his forgiveness. My grandfather told her that he
had already made a vow which put it out of his power to assist her; and
this said, he retired.
My mother was so afflicted by this that she was, at once, thrown into
violent pains. By the friendship of an old maidservant she was carried
up to a garret, where I was born. Three days later my grandfather sent a
peremptory order to her to be gone, and weakness, grief, and anxiety
soon put an end to her life. My father was so affected with her death,
that he remained six weeks deprived of his senses; during which time,
the people where he lodged carried the infant to the old man, who
relented so far as to send the child to nurse.
My father's delirium was succeeded by a profound melancholy. At length
he disappeared, and could not be heard of; and there were not wanting
some who suspected my uncles of being concerned in my father's fate, on
the supposition that they would all share in the patrimony destined for
him.
I grew apace; and the jealous enmity of my cousins quickly showed
itself; before I was six years of age their implacable hatred made them
blockade my grandfather, so that I never saw him but by stealth.
I was soon after sent to school at a village hard by, of which my
grandfather had been dictator time out of mind; but as he neither paid
for my board, nor supplied me with clothes, books, or other necessaries,
my condition was very ragged and contemptible; and the schoolmaster gave
himself no concern about the progress I made.
In spite of all this, I became a good proficient in the Latin tongue;
but the contempt which my appearance produced, the continual wants to
which I was exposed, and my own haughty disposition, involved me in a
thousand troubles and adventures. I was often inhumanly scourged for
crimes I did not commit; because having the character of a vagabond in
the village every piece of mischief whose author lay unknown, was
charged upon me. Far from being subdued by this infernal usage, my
indignation triumphed, and the more my years and knowledge increased,
the more I perceived the injustice and barbarity of the treatment I
received. By the help of our usher, I made a surprising progress in the
classics and arithmetic, so that before I was twelve years old I was
allowed by everybody to be the best scholar in the school.
Meanwhile, I took the advantage of every playday to present myself
before my grandfather, to whom I seldom found access, by reason of his
being closely besieged by a numerous family of his grandchildren, who,
though they perpetually quarrelled among themselves, never failed to
join against me, as the common enemy of all. His heir, who was about the
age of eighteen, minded nothing but fox-hunting, and never set eyes on
me, without uncoupling his beagles, and hunting me into some cottage or
other, whither I generally fled for shelter.
About this time, my mother's only brother, who had been long abroad,
lieutenant of a man of war, arrived in his own country; where, being
informed of my condition, he came to see me, and, out of his slender
finances, not only supplied me with what necessaries I wanted for the
present, but resolved not to leave the country until he had prevailed on
my grandfather to settle something handsome on me for the future. To
this end he set out with me for my grandfather's house, and after a few
minutes' pause he was admitted. When we came into the judge's presence
(through a lane of my relations), my uncle, after two or three sea bows,
expressed himself in this manner: "Your servant--your servant, what
cheer?--I suppose you don't know me--mayhap you don't. My name is Tom
Bowling; and this here boy--you look as if you did not know him neither,
'tis like you mayn't. 'Tis my nephew, d'ye see, Roderick Random--your
own flesh and blood; and, if you have any conscience at all, do
something for this poor boy, who has been used at a very un-Christian
rate. Come--consider, old gentleman, you are going in a short time to
give an account of your evil actions. Remember the wrongs you did his
father, and make all the satisfaction in your power before it be too
late. The least thing you can do is to settle his father's portion on
him."
The judge in reply told my uncle he had been very kind to the boy, whom
he had kept to school seven or eight years, although he was informed he
made no progress in his learning, but was addicted to all manner of
vice. However, he would see what the lad was fit for, and bind him
apprentice to some honest tradesman or other, provided he would behave
for the future as became him.
The honest tar answered my grandfather, that it was true he had sent me
to school, but it had cost him nothing; as to my making small progress,
he was well-informed as how Rory was the best scholar of his age in all
the country. "Thank you for your courteous offer of binding the lad
apprentice to a tradesman. I suppose you would make a tailor of him,
would you. I had rather see him hanged, d'ye see. Come along, Rory, I
perceive how the land lies, my boy; let's tack about--i'faith, while I
have a shilling, thou sha'n't want a sixpence. Bye, old gentleman,
you're bound for the other world, but damnably ill provided for the
voyage."
Thus ended our visit, and we returned to the village, my uncle muttering
curses all the way against the old shark and the young fry that
surrounded him.
_II.--I Arrive in London_
A few weeks after our first visit, we were informed that the old judge,
conscious of his approaching end, had made his will, and desired to see
all his descendants. So my uncle set out with me a second time, and when
we entered his chamber we found my grandfather in his last agonies. My
uncle approached him with these words: "How fare ye, old
gentleman?--Lord have mercy upon your poor sinful soul. Here's poor Rory
come to see you before you die, and receive your blessing. What, man!
Don't despair--you have been a great sinner, 'tis true. What then?
There's a righteous judge above--ain't there?--Yes, yes, he's agoing--He
minds me no more than a porpoise, the land crabs will have him, I see
that--his anchor's apeak, i'faith."
In a few minutes we were convinced of my grandfather's decease, by a
dismal yell uttered by the young ladies in his apartment.
It was not till after the funeral that the will was read, and the reader
can scarce conceive the astonishment and mortification that appeared,
when the attorney pronounced aloud, the young squire sole heir of all
his grandfather's estate, personal and real, and that there were no
legacies.
My uncle at once decided, though he could ill afford it, to give me
university education; and accordingly settled my board and other
expenses at a town not many miles distant, famous for its colleges,
whither we repaired in a short time.
In a few days after, my uncle set out for his ship, and I began to
consider my precarious situation; that my sole dependence was on the
generosity of one man.
I at once applied myself with great care to my studies, and in the space
of three years I understood Greek very well, and was pretty far advanced
in mathematics.
Then one day my landlady's husband put two letters in my hand, from my
uncle. The first was to my landlord, explaining that he had fought a
duel with his captain, and in consequence had been obliged to sheer off
from his ship.
The second was to me, assuring me that all would be well some day.
My landlord only shook his head and desired me to provide myself with
another lodging; which I promptly did, and for a time I took service
under a drunken surgeon named Crab. When I deemed myself sufficiently
master of my business, I decided to go to London. "You may easily get on
board of a King's ship in quality of a surgeon's mate," said Crab;
"where you will certainly see a great deal of practise, and stand a good
chance of getting prize money."
In a few weeks I set out for London, my whole fortune consisting of one
suit of clothes, half a dozen ruffled shirts, as many plain, four pair
of stockings, a case of pocket instruments, Wiseman's Surgery, and ten
guineas in cash, for which Crab took my bond.
At Newcastle-upon-Tyne I found an old schoolfellow, named Hugh Strap,
employed in a barber's shop, and we at once embraced cordially. Strap,
having saved sufficient money for the occasion, at once decided to go to
London with me, and we departed next morning by daybreak.
As we travelled mostly in wagons, it was a tedious journey, but at
length we entered the great city. Nothing but disappointment awaited us.
In vain I applied at the Navy Office. I had satisfied the board at
Surgeon's Hall, it seemed nothing but money could help me at the Navy
Office, and by that time I had not wherewithal to purchase a dinner.
Strap obtained employment and generously shared his purse with me,
otherwise I should have starved.
Instead of getting an appointment as surgeon's mate, I was seized, when
I was crossing Tower Wharf, by a press-gang; and on my resistance, was
disarmed, taken prisoner, and carried on board; where, after being
treated like a malefactor, I was thrust down into the hold among a
parcel of miserable wretches, the sight of whom well nigh distracted me.
After we had sailed, I was released from irons by the good offices of a
Surgeon's Mate whom I had met on land, and subsequently I was appointed
to assist the surgeon, and exempted from all other duties.
Our destination was the West Indies, and here I saw active service in
the war with Spain. When the time came to return to England the ship was
wrecked off the coast of Sussex. I got ashore, and in my distress was
glad to be hired by an elderly lady as her footman. I speedily acquired
the good opinion of my mistress, and fell in love with her niece
Narcissa, cursing the servile station that placed me so far beneath the
regard of this amiable and adorable being. I soon learnt that the
brother of my idol was a savage, fox-hunting squire, who had designed
the lovely Narcissa for Sir Timothy Thicket, a neighbouring foxhunter. I
cursed in my heart this man for his presumption, looking upon him as my
rival.
Eight months I remained in the station of footman, and then an accident
put an end to my servitude.
I was passing through a wood when I heard the cries of Narcissa, and
rushing to her assistance, rescued her from the brutal familiarities of
Sir Timothy. I struck his weapon out of his hand, and cudgelled him so
that he fell to the ground and lay senseless.
Narcissa thanked me with tender acknowledgements, but I was soon warned
that I should be apprehended and transported for assaulting a
magistrate. I escaped to France by the aid of smugglers, but before I
left I avowed my passion, and explained that I was an unfortunate
gentleman, and the story of my mishandling provoked a sympathetic
response.
_III.--I Recover My Father_
From the Marshalsea Prison, where I had been lodged for debt, some time
after my return from France, I was rescued by my generous uncle, Mr.
Bowling. He told me that he was now in command of a large merchant ship,
and proposed that I should sail with him in quality of his surgeon, with
a share in the profits. I accepted his offer, without hesitation, and
Strap, who had stood by me in so many troubles, at my desire was made
ship's steward by Captain Bowling.
Before we sailed I managed to achieve an interview with Narcissa; and
sure, lovers never parted with such sorrow and reluctance as we.
Our voyage was entirely successful, and while we were at anchor in that
part of South America which is called Buenos Ayres, I amused myself with
the transporting hopes of enjoying Narcissa on our return. I had money
and would marry his sister by stealth if the fox-hunting squire was
still as averse to me as ever.
We were very much caressed by the Spanish gentlemen of the country, and
made the acquaintance of a certain English signior, who had been settled
in those parts many years, and had acquired the love and esteem of the
whole province.
I had been struck with a profound veneration for this gentleman on first
seeing him; when he spoke I listened with reverence and attention. I
sympathised involuntarily with the melancholy which saddened the face of
Don Rodrigo--for so he was named.
Don Rodrigo, understanding we were his countrymen, desired our company
at his house, and seemed to show a particular regard for me. He made me
a present of a beautiful ring, saying at the same time that he was once
blessed with a son, who, had he lived, would have been nearly of my age.
This observation made my heart throb with violence, and a crowd of
confused ideas filled my imagination. My uncle, perceiving my absence of
thought, tapped me on the shoulder and said: "Odds! are you asleep,
Rory?"
Before I had time to reply, Don Rodrigo said eagerly, "Pray, captain,
what is the young gentleman's name?"
"His name," said my uncle, "is Roderick Random."
"Gracious Powers!" cried Don Rodrigo, starting up--"and his mother's?"
"His mother," answered the captain, amazed, "was called Charlotte
Bowling."
"O Bounteous Heaven!" exclaimed Don Rodrigo, clasping me in his arms,
"my son! my son! have I found thee again?" So saying, he fell upon my
neck and wept aloud for joy. The captain, wringing my father's hand,
cried, "Brother Random, I'm rejoiced to see you--God be praised for this
happy meeting." Don Rodrigo embraced him affectionately, saying, "Are
you my Charlotte's brother? Brother, you are truly welcome. This day is
a jubilee!"
My father decided to return with us to England, and having learnt from
me of my love for Narcissa, approved of my passion, and promised to
contribute all in his power towards its success. I stayed in his house,
and at his request recounted to him the passages of my life, and he
gratified me with the particulars of his story.
"Careless of life," he said, "and unable to live in a place where every
object recalled the memory of my dear Charlotte, I little suspected that
my father's unkindness would have descended to my innocent orphan, when
I set out for France. From Paris I accompanied a young nobleman as tutor
to the Court of Spain, and from Spain I came to South America, where for
sixteen years heaven has prospered my undertakings. Your fate I could
never learn, notwithstanding all my enquiries."
Presently Strap arrived, whom my father at once took by the hand,
saying, "Is this the honest man who befriended you so much in your
distress? I will soon put it in the power of my son to reward you for
your good offices in his behalf."
Shortly afterwards, Don Rodrigo, who had already remitted twenty
thousand pounds to Holland, settled his affairs, converted his effects
into silver and gold, visited and took leave of all his friends; and,
coming on board of my uncle's ship, with the first favourable wind we
sailed from the Rio de la Plata, and in three months after made the
Lizard.
It is impossible to express the joy I felt at the sight of English
ground! Don Rodrigo was not unmoved, and Strap shed tears of gladness.
My father and I went ashore immediately at Portsmouth, leaving Strap
with the captain to go round with the ship. I rode across country into
Sussex, where I learnt that Narcissa was in London, and that her brother
was married, and vowed his sister should lose her fortune if she married
without his consent.
_IV.--I Am Married_
No sooner was I in London than I sought my charmer in her lodgings. How
was my soul transported, when Narcissa broke in upon my view, in all the
bloom of ripened beauty! We flew into each other's arms. "O adorable
Narcissa," cried I; "never shall we part again."
In the evening I accompanied my father to her lodgings. He embraced her
tenderly, and told her he was proud of having a son who had engaged the
affections of such a fine lady.
Don Rodrigo was, quickly, as much charmed with her good sense as with
her appearance; and she was no less pleased with his understanding and
polite address.
The following was the squire's answer to a letter from my father,
promising handsome settlements on my marriage to Narcissa:
"Sir--Concerning a letter which I received, subscribed R. Random, this
is the answer. As for you, I know nothing of you. Your son, or pretended
son, I have seen--if he marries my sister, at his peril be it; I do
declare, that he shall have not one farthing of her fortune, which
becomes my property, if she takes a husband without my consent. Your
settlement, I do believe, is all a sham, and yourself no better than you
should be; but if you had all the wealth of the Indies, your son should
never match in our family, with the consent of
ORSON TOPEHALL."
My father was not much surprised at this polite letter, after having
heard the character of the author; and as for me, I was very pleased at
his refusal, because I now had an opportunity of showing my
disinterested love. I waited on my charmer; and having imparted the
contents of her brother's letter, the time of our marriage was fixed at
the distance of two days.
My uncle being by this time come to town, I introduced him to my bride,
and he was struck dumb with admiration at her beauty. After having
kissed and gazed at her for some time, he turned to me, saying, "Odds
Bobs, Rory! here's a notable prize, indeed, finely built and gloriously
rigged, i'faith! No offence, I hope, niece; you must not mind what I
say, being, as the saying is, a plain seafaring man."
Narcissa received him with great civility, and told him that she looked
upon him as her uncle, by which name she begged leave to call him for
the future.
The honest captain was transported at her courteous behaviour, and
insisted upon giving her away at the ceremony, swearing that he loved
her as well as if she was his own child.
Everything being prepared for the solemnisation of our nuptials, which
were to be performed privately at my father's house, the auspicious hour
arrived. In a little time the clergyman did his office, my uncle, at his
own request, acting the part of a father to my dear Narcissa.
* * * * *
My father, intending to revisit his native country, Narcissa and I
resolved to accompany him; while my uncle determined to try his fortune
once more at sea.
At Edinburgh, Don Rodrigo, having intelligence that the family estate
was to be exposed to sale by public auction, determined to make a
purchase, and actually bought all the land that once belonged to his
father.
In a few days after this bargain was made, we left Edinburgh, in order
to go and take possession; and, by the way, halted one night in that
town where I was educated. Upon inquiry, I found that Mr. Crab was dead;
whereupon I sent for his executor, paid the sum I owed, with interest,
and took up my bond. We proceeded to our estate, which lay about twenty
miles from this place, and were met by a prodigious number of poor
tenants, men, women, and children, who testified their joy by loud
acclamations; so that we were almost devoured by their affection. My
charming Narcissa was universally admired by all our neighbours who
called upon us; and she is so well pleased with the situation of the
place, and the company round, that she has not the least desire of
changing her habitation. If there be such a thing as true happiness on
earth, I enjoy it.
* * * * *
Peregrine Pickle
"The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle," published in 1751, is
the second of Smollett's novels. It was written under more
congenial circumstances than "Roderick Random," although it is
admitted that the hero is by no means a moral improvement on
his predecessor. Sir Walter Scott describes him as "the savage
and ferocious Pickle, who, besides his gross and base
brutality towards Emilia, besides his ingratitude towards his
uncle, and the savage propensity which he shows in the
pleasure he takes to torment others by practical jokes,
exhibits a low and un-gentlemanlike way of thinking, only one
degree higher than that of Roderick Random." But the real
interest of the story lies not so much in the adventures of
Peregrine, as in the character of the old Commodore Trunnion.
Thackeray declared Trunnion to be equal to Fielding's Squire
Weston. If in "Peregrine Pickle" Smollett occasionally
exhibits a tendency to secure variety by extravagant
caricature, it is certain that in none of his works, and in
none of those of any of his contemporaries, does a richer and
more various crowd of personalities appear--a crowd at once
quaint and amusing, disgusting and contemptible.
_I.--Peregrine's Parentage_
In a certain county of England, bounded on one side by the sea, and at
the distance of 100 miles from the metropolis, lived Gamaliel Pickle,
Esq., the son of a London merchant, who, from small beginnings, had
acquired a plentiful fortune. On the death of his father, Mr. Pickle
exerted all his capacity in business; but, encumbered by a certain
indolence and sluggishness that prevailed over every interested
consideration, he found himself at the end of fifteen years five
thousand pounds worse than he was when he first took possession of his
father's effects. Convinced by the admonitions of his only sister, Miss
Grizzle, then in the thirtieth year of her maidenhood, he withdrew his
money from the trade, and removed to a house in the country, which his
father built near the seaside.
Here, then, Mr. Pickle fixed his habitation for life in the six and
thirtieth year of his age; and before he had been three months settled,
the indefatigable zeal of Miss Grizzle had arranged a match for her
brother with a fair Miss Appleby, daughter of a gentleman who lived in
the next parish.
The following letter was transmitted to Miss Appleby by her brother:
MISS SALLY APPLEBY.
MADAME,--Understanding you have a parcel of heart, warranted sound, to
be disposed of, shall be willing to treat for said commodity on
reasonable terms; doubt not we shall agree for same; shall wait on you
for further information when and where you shall appoint. This the
needful from Yours etc.,
GAM. PICKLE.
This laconic epistle met with as cordial a reception as if it had been
couched in the terms of passion and genius. Mr. Appleby at once visited
Mr. Pickle, the marriage settlement was determined, and the day
appointed for the wedding,--to which everybody of any fashion in the
neighbourhood was invited. Among these were Commodore Trunnion and
Lieutenant Hatchway, two retired seamen, and the sole companions of the
bridegroom.
In due time a fine boy was born, who was christened by the name of
Peregrine, the Commodore assisting at the ceremony as godfather. On Mrs.
Pickle assuming the management of household affairs, Miss Grizzle
directed her operations upon the Commodore, whom she was resolved to
captivate and enslave, in spite of his well-known distrust of matrimony.
Mr. Pickle had early learnt the singular character of his neighbour
Trunnion from a loquacious publican at whose house he was accustomed to
call. "The Commodore and your worship," said he, "will in a short time
be hand in glove; he has a power of money and spends it like a prince;
though, to be sure, he is a little humoursome, and swears roundily,
though I'll be sworn he means no more harm than a sucking babe. Lord
have mercy upon us! he's been a great warrior in his time, and lost an
eye and a heel in the service. Then he does not live like any other
Christian landman; but keeps garrison in his house, as if he were in the
midst of his enemies, and makes his servants turn out in the night,
watch and watch, as he calls it, all the year round. His habitation is
defended by a ditch, over which he has laid a drawbridge, and planted
his court-yard with pateroes continually loaded with shot, under the
direction of one Mr. Hatchway, who had one of his legs shot away, while
he acted as lieutenant on board the Commodore's ship; and now being on
half pay, lives with him as his companion. The Lieutenant is a very
brave man, a great joker, and, as the saying is, hath got the length of
his commander's foot; though he has another favourite in the house,
called Tom Pipes, that was his boatswain's mate, and now keeps the
servants in order. Tom is a man of few words, but an excellent hand at a
song, concerning the boatswain's whistle, husslecap, and
chuck-farthing--there is not such another pipe in the country. So that
the Commodore lives very happy in his own manner; though he be sometimes
thrown into perilous passions and quandaries, and exceedingly afflicted
with goblins that disturb his rest. Bless your honour's soul, he is a
very oddish kind of a gentleman. I don't think he would marry the Queen
of Sheba. Lackaday! sir, he won't suffer his own maids to speak in the
garrison, but turns them into an outhouse before the watch is set."
However, Hatchway entered spiritedly into Miss Grizzle's cause by
working on the fears of the Commodore. He prevailed upon Pipes to get up
on the top of the chimney belonging to the Commodore's chamber at
midnight, and to hollow through a speaking-trumpet, "Trunnion! turn out
and be spliced, or lie still and be damned!" By this, and other
stratagems, Trunnion's obstinacy was overcome. He wiped the sweat from
his forehead, and heaving a piteous groan yielded to the remonstrances
of Hatchway in these words: "Well, since it must be so, I think we must
e'en grapple. But 'tis a hard case that a fellow of my years should be
compelled, d'ye see, to beat up to windward all the rest of his life,
against the current of his own inclination."
Things being brought to this bearing, Miss Grizzle's heart dilated with
joy; the parson was persuaded to perform the ceremony in the garrison,
which all that day was adorned with flags, and at night illuminated by
the direction of Hatchway.
_II.--The Commodore Takes Peregrine Under His Own Care_
Having no hopes of propagating his own name, the Commodore, through his
friendly intercourse with Mr. Gamaliel, contracted a liking for
Peregrine, who, by this time entered the third year of his age, was a
very handsome, healthy, and promising child, with a certain oddity of
disposition for which he had been remarkable even from his cradle.
Almost all his little childish satire was levelled against the
Commodore, but in this he might have been influenced by the example and
instruction of Mr. Hatchway, who delighted in superintending the first
essays of his genius.
One day when the Commodore had chastised the child by a gentle tap with
his cane, Peregrine fell flat on the floor as if he had been deprived of
all sense and motion, to the terror and amazement of the striker; and
having filled the whole house with confusion and dismay, opened his
eyes, and laughed heartily at the success of his own imposition.
A few years later, when Mrs. Pickle decided to send Peregrine to a
boarding-school, her husband not venturing to make the least objection,
the Commodore interested himself so much in behalf of his favourite, as
to fit him out at his own charge, and accompany him in person to the
place of his destination. In less than a twelvemonth the boy was
remarkable for the brightness of his parts, and the Commodore received
with transport an account of his proficiency, and forthwith communicated
the happy tidings to the parents.
Mr. Gamaliel Pickle heard them with a sort of phlegmatic satisfaction,
and the child's mother observed that the truth was always exaggerated by
schoolmasters. Mrs. Pickle being by this time blessed with a daughter,
her affection was otherwise engrossed.
A change of master at the school made the Commodore resolve to fetch the
boy away. He went directly to visit Mrs. Pickle, and desired she would
permit him to take his godson under his own care.
This lady, whose family was now increased by another son, had not seen
Perry during the course of four years, and with regard to him was
perfectly weaned of maternal fondness; she therefore consented to the
Commodore's request with great condescension, and a polite compliment on
the concern he had all along manifested for the welfare of the child.
Trunnion having obtained this permission, that very afternoon dispatched
the lieutenant in a postchaise to the school, from whence in two days he
returned with our young hero; who, being now in the eleventh year of his
age, was remarkable for the beauty of his person. His godfather was
transported with his arrival, and in the afternoon conducted him to the
house of his parents.
Strange to tell, no sooner was Peregrine presented to his mother, than
she eyed him with tokens of affliction and surprise, and bursting into
tears, exclaimed that her child was dead, and this was no other than an
impostor whom they brought to defraud her sorrow. Trunnion was
confounded at this unaccountable passion, which had no other foundation
than caprice and whim; and Gamaliel himself was so disconcerted and
unsettled in his own belief, which began to waver, that he knew not how
to behave towards the boy, whom his godfather immediately carried back
to the garrison, swearing all the way that Perry should never cross
their threshold again with his goodwill. Thus exiled from his father's
house, the young gentleman was left entirely to the disposal of the
Commodore, whose affection for him daily increased.
_III.--First Acquaintance with Miss Emilia Gauntlet_
At the age of twelve Peregrine was sent to Winchester School. A
clergyman named Jacob Jolter was engaged as tutor to superintend the
boy's education, and Tom Pipes, at his own petition, put into livery,
and appointed footman to the young squire. Mr. Pickle approved of the
plan, though he durst not venture to see the boy; so much was he
intimidated by his wife, whose aversion to her firstborn became every
day more inveterate and unaccountable. Her second son, Gam, now in the
fourth year of his age, had been rickety from the cradle, and as the
deformity increased, the mother's fondness was augmented. Though she no
longer retained the notion of Perry being an impostor, she would not
suffer him to approach his father's house, and broke off all commerce
with her sister-in-law and the Commodore because they favoured the poor
child.
Her malice, however, was frustrated by the love and generosity of
Trunnion, who, having adopted him as his own son, equipped him
accordingly.
At school, Peregrine, after two years of mischievous pranks, fixed his
view upon objects which he thought more worthy of his attention than
practical joking. Having contracted intimacies with several youths older
than himself, they, pleased with his address, introduced him into
parties of gallantry; and Peregrine soon found he was by nature
particularly adapted for succeeding in adventures of this kind.
Being one evening at the ball which is always given at the time of the
races, Peregrine was struck with admiration at the beauty of a young
lady, who seemed to be of his own age. He begged she would do him the
honour to walk a minuet with him, and she frankly complied with his
request. If he was charmed with her appearance, he was quite ravished
with her discourse, which was sensible, spirited, and gay. Her mother,
who was present, thanked him for his civility, and he received a
compliment of the same nature from the young lady's brother.
When the company broke up, Peregrine obtained permission to visit her at
her habitation about sixteen miles from Winchester, and was also
informed by her mother that her name was Miss Emilia Gauntlet. He
assured Mrs. Gauntlet that he should not neglect this invitation, and
having learned that his Emilia (for so he already called her) was the
only daughter of a deceased field officer, he set out early one morning
for the village where his charmer lived. He was received with
demonstrations of regard and affection by Emilia and her mother; but his
absence produced great disturbance at Winchester, and finally the
Commodore, having been informed of his nephew's disappearance,
dispatched Hatchway, who traced the truant to the village where he had
taken up his abode, and persuaded him to return to the school.
Shortly afterwards Peregrine was summoned to attend his uncle, and in a
few days arrived with Mr. Jolter and Pipes at the garrison, which he
filled with joy and satisfaction. From a comely boy he was now converted
into a most engaging youth, already taller than a middle-sized man. The
Commodore, who assumed justly the whole merit of his education, was as
proud of the youth's improvements as if he had actually been his own
offspring; but Peregrine could not help feeling the injury he suffered
from the caprice of his mother, and foreseeing the disagreeable
situation he would find himself in if any sudden accident should deprive
him of the Commodore, he therefore accompanied his uncle one evening to
the Club and presented himself to his father, begging pathetically to
know how he had incurred his displeasure.
Mr. Gamaliel was never so disconcerted as at this rencontre. His own
disposition was perfectly neutral, but he was so strongly impressed with
the terror of his wife, that he answered in a peevish strain, "Why, good
now, child, what would you have me to do? Your mother can't abide you."
"If my mother is so unkind, I hope you will not be so unjust," said
Peregrine, tears of indignation starting from his eyes. Before Mr.
Pickle could reply, the Commodore interposed, and Gamaliel at length
surrendered. He acquiesced in the justice of his friend's observations,
and, taking his son by the hand, promised to favour him for the future
with his love and fatherly protection.
But this laudable resolution did not last. Mrs. Pickle, having made him
disclose what had happened, he sustained a most severe rebuke for his
simplicity and indiscretion, and humbled himself so far as to promise to
annul the condescensions he had made, and for ever renounce the
ungracious object of her disgust. This undertaking was punctually
performed in a letter to the Commodore, which Mrs. Pickle herself
dictated: "Sir,--Whereas my good nature being last night imposed upon, I
was persuaded to promise I know not what to that vicious youth whose
parent I have the misfortune to be; I desire you will take notice that I
revoke all such promises, and shall never look upon that man as my
friend, who will henceforth in such a cause solicit,
Yours, etc., GAM. PICKLE."
Trunnion was incensed by this absurd renunciation, nor did Peregrine
bear with patience the injurious declaration.
Meanwhile preparations were made for the youth's departure to the
University, and in a few weeks Peregrine set out for Oxford in the
seventeenth year of his age, accompanied by Mr. Jolter and Pipes, the
same attendants who lived with him at Winchester.
_IV.--Peregrine is Left an Orphan and Marries_
From the University, Peregrine went on a grand tour in Europe, and was
only summoned home by a letter from Lieutenant Hatchway representing the
dangerous condition of the Commodore.
Our hero arrived at the garrison about four o'clock in the morning and
found his generous uncle in extremity. Though the Commodore's speech was
difficult, he still retained the use of his senses, and when Peregrine
approached, stretched out his hand with manifest signs of satisfaction.
In spite of all his endeavours, the tears gushed from the young man's
eyes, and the Commodore, perceiving his distress, made a last effort and
consoled him in these words:
"Swab the spray from your bowsprit, my good lad, and coil up your
spirits. Many a better man has foundered before he has made half my way;
though I trust, by the mercy of God, I shall be sure in port in a very
few glasses, and fast moored in a most blessed riding; for my good
friend Jolter hath overhauled the journal of my sins, and by the
observation he hath taken of the state of my soul, I hope I shall
happily conclude my voyage, and be brought up in the latitude of heaven.
Now while the sucker of my windpipe will go, I would willingly mention a
few things which I hope you will set down in the logbook of your
remembrance, d'ye see. There's your aunt sitting whimpering by the fire;
I desire you will keep her tight, warm, and easy in her old age. Jack
Hatchway, I believe she has a kindness for you; whereby, if you two will
grapple in the way of matrimony I do suppose that my godson for love of
me, will allow you to live in the garrison all the days of your life. I
need not talk of Pipes, because I know you will do for him without any
recommendation. But I hope you'll take care of the rest of my crew, and
not disrate them after I am dead in favour of new followers. As for that
young woman, Ned Gauntlet's daughter, I am informed as how she's an
excellent wench, and has a respect for you; whereby if you run her on
board in an unlawful way, I leave my curse upon you, and trust you will
never prosper in the voyage of life. But I believe you are more of an
honest man than to behave so much like a pirate. As soon as the breath
is out of my body, let minute guns be fired, till I am safe under
ground. Let my pistols, cutlass, and pocket compass be laid in the
coffin along with me. And now I have no more to say, but God in heaven
have mercy on my soul, and send you all fair weather, wheresoever you
may be bound."
The Commodore's voice sunk so low as not to be distinguished, and having
lain about an hour without moving he gave up the ghost with a groan.
Peregrine, having performed the will with a most pious punctuality,
examined the will, and being sole executor, took an account of the
estate to which he had succeeded, which amounted to £30,000.
His domestic affairs being settled, Hatchway remaining in command at the
garrison, Peregrine was visited by almost all the gentlemen in the
country, who endeavoured to effect a reconciliation betwixt his father
and him. Old Gamaliel, at their entreaties, seemed very well disposed to
any accommodation; but his favourable disposition was rendered
altogether ineffectual by his implacable wife, and our hero resigned all
expectations of being reunited to his father's house.
Peregrine, then took leave of all his friends, and repaired to London,
where he made a remarkable appearance among the people of fashion. His
own follies made Mrs. Gauntlet and Emilia hold aloof from him, and
landed him for a time in the Fleet Prison. From this place the good
offices of Emilia's brother, Godfrey Gauntlet, and Hatchway, released
him, and the news of his father's death, who had died without making a
will, hastened his departure. Peregrine, having thus succeeded to his
father's estate, set off at once for the country, and instead of
alighting at the garrison, rode straightway to his father's house,
accompanied by Hatchway and Pipes.
No servants appearing to receive him, Peregrine advanced into the hall
and made immediate application to a bell-rope. This brought two footmen
into his presence, and one of them, in reply to a stern reprimand, said
sullenly that they had been in the service of old Mr. Pickle, and now
that he was dead, thought themselves bound to obey nobody but their
lady, and her son Mr. Gamaliel. Our hero ordered them to decamp without
further preparation, and as they continued restive, they were kicked out
of doors by Hatchway. Young Gamaliel flew to the assistance of his
adherents, and discharged a pistol at his brother, who luckily escaped
the shot and turned him out into the court-yard, to the consolation of
his two dependents.
The noise of the pistol alarmed Mrs. Pickle, who, running down stairs,
would have assaulted our hero, had she not been restrained. The exercise
of her tongue not being hindered, she wagged against him with all the
virulence of malice. She asked if he was come to butcher his brother, to
insult his father's corpse, and triumph in her affliction? And bestowed
upon him the epithets of spendthrift, jail-bird, and unnatural ruffian.
Peregrine calmly replied, that if she did not quietly retire to her
chamber, he should insist upon her removing to another lodging; for he
was determined to be master in his own house.
Next morning the house was supplied with some servants from the
garrison, and preparations were made for the funeral of the deceased.
Gamaliel, having taken lodging in the neighbourhood, was speedily
followed by his mother, to whom Peregrine sent word that a regular
provision should be settled upon her.
No will having been made in favour of the second son, all Mr. Pickle's
property, amounting to more than £80,000, fell to Peregrine, the widow
being entitled to a jointure of £500 a year.
On Peregrine's return to London, Godfrey Gauntlet, knowing his sister's
affections still undiverted from her earliest love, arranged for his
friend to call for him at Emilia's lodgings.
Rushing into her presence, Peregrine was at first so dazzled with her
beauty, that his speech failed, and all his culties were absorbed in
admiration. Then he obeyed the impulse of his love, and circled the
charmer in his arms without suffering the least frown or symptom of
displeasure. Observing Mrs. Gauntlet, he asked pardon for his neglect,
and was forgiven in consideration of the long and unhappy exile which he
had suffered.
"I ought to punish you with the mortification of a twelve months'
trial," said Emilia, "but it is dangerous to tamper with an admirer of
your disposition, and therefore I think I must make sure of you while it
is in my power."
"You are willing, then, to take me for better, for worse, in presence of
heaven and these witnesses?" cried Peregrine, kneeling, and applying her
hand to his lips. She darted a side-glance, while her answer was,
"Why--heaven grant me patience to bear the humours of such a
yolk-fellow."
"And may the same powers," replied the youth, "grant me life and
opportunity to manifest the immensity of my love."
Matters being thus happily matured, the lover begged that immediate
recourse might be had to the church, and set out with Godfrey for Doctor
Commons for a license, having first agreed that the ceremony should be
performed in the lodgings of the bride.
Permission being obtained, they found a means to engage a clergyman, who
undertook to attend them at their own time and place.
The ceremony was performed without delay, Hatchway standing as godfather
to the bride.
Such another couple as Peregrine and Emilia were not to be found in the
whole United Kingdom.
* * * * *
MADAME DE STAËL
Corinne
Madame de Staël, the most famous and brilliant of the many
famous Frenchwomen of the Revolution and the Empire, was born,
like Bonaparte himself, of alien parents. Her father was
Necker, the eminent Swiss minister of finance under Louis XVI,
whose triumph and exile were among the startling events of the
opening stage of the Revolution; whilst her mother, also
Swiss, had been the lover of the historian Gion and now
presided over one of the most brilliant _salons_ in Paris.
Anne Marie Louise Germaine Necker was born at Paris on April
22, 1766. In 1787 she was married--unhappily--to Baron de
Staël-Holstein, Swedish Ambassador at Paris. She was in peril
during the Terror, but escaped to Switzerland. A few years
afterwards she showed keen political activity against
Napoleon, who respected her hostility so profoundly that he
would not suffer her to approach Paris. Madame de Staëls
"Corinne, or Italy," is accounted one of her two masterpieces,
the other one being "On Germany." (See Vol. XX.) It was
published in 1807, and was written at Coppet, in Switzerland,
her place of residence and exile during her many enforced
sojourns from Paris by order of the Emperor. "Corinne" not
only revealed for the first time to the Frenchmen of her day
the grandeur and mystery and charm of Italy, but also showed
the national characteristics of French and Englishmen for the
first time in their respective, and in a European light.
Moreover, as one European critic has pointed out, it is also
one of the first, and still one of the subtlest, studies in
the psychology of sex and emancipation of woman of the
nineteenth century. Madame de Staël's relations with the
clever and ambitious young statesman and writer, Benjamin
Constant, formed the chief source of her inspiration in
writing "Corinne," as it formed his in writing "Adolphe."
Madame de Staël died in Paris, July 14, 1817.
_I.--The Roman Poetess_
When Oswald, Lord Nevil, awoke on his first morning in Rome, he heard
church bells ringing and cannon firing, as if announcing some high
solemnity. He inquired the cause and learned that the most celebrated
woman in Italy would that morning be crowned at the capital--Corinne,
the poetess and improvisatrice, one of the loveliest women of Rome.
As he walked the streets, he heard her named every instant. Her family
name was unknown. She had won fame by her verses five years before,
under the simple name of Coe; and no one could tell where she had lived
nor what she had been, in her earlier days.
The, triumphal procession approached, heralded by a burst of melody.
First came a number of Roman nobles, then an antique car drawn by four
spotless steeds, escorted by white clad maidens. Not until he beheld the
woman in the car did Oswald lay aside his English reserve and yield to
the spirit of the scene. Corinne was tall, robust like a Greek statue,
and transcendently beautiful. Her attitude was noble and modest; while
it manifestly pleased her to be admired, yet a timid air blended with
her joy, and she seemed to ask pardon for her triumph.
She ascended to the capitol; the assembled Roman poets recited her
praises; Prince Castel Forte, the most honoured of Roman noblemen,
uttered a eulogy of her; and, ere she received the destined bays, she
took up her lyre and in accordance with custom gave a poetic
improvisation. The subject of her passionate chant was the glory of
Italy; and amid the impetuous applause that followed, Corinne, looking
round, observed Oswald. She saw him to be English; she was struck by his
melancholy, and by the mourning he wore. Taking up her lyre again, she
spoke some touching stanzas on death and consolation that went straight
to his heart.
The crown of bays and myrtle was placed on her head; she descended from
the Capitol amid a burst of triumphant music. As she passed Oswald, the
crown accidentally fell from her head. He quickly picked it up and
restored it to her, with a few words of homage in Italian. What was his
surprise when she thanked him in perfect English!
On the evening of the next day, Oswald was introduced to Corinne at her
own house by the Count d'Erfeuil, a Frenchman who had been his companion
in the journey into Italy. The Prince Castel Forte and all the other
guests paid her the most assiduous attention; Oswald gazed on her for
the most part in silence, wondering at the mingled sweetness and
vivacity of her conversation, realising that she possessed a grace that
he had never met before. Although she invited him to meet her again, he
did not go on the next evening; he was restrained by a kind of terror at
the feeling which excited him.
"Oh, my father," he sighed, "had you known Corinne, what would you have
thought of her?"
For the mourning that Oswald wore was for his father. A terrible event
in Oswald's life had drawn the two apart; his father had died ere he
could return to ask forgiveness. But his father had blessed him on his
deathbed, and it was Oswald's whole desire in the grief that preyed upon
him, to live in all things as his dead parent would have wished him to
live.
The attraction of Corinne's society soon drew him back to her presence,
and during the next fortnight she, at her own proposal, guided him in
his exploration of Rome. Together they wandered through the ruins, the
churches, the art galleries. Their opinions were seldom in agreement;
Corinne was characteristically and brightly Italian in her views, Oswald
characteristically and sombrely English. But each was conscious, none
the less, of keen intellectual sympathy with the other; and Oswald,
without speaking of the love of which he began to be conscious, made her
sensible of it every hour in the day. His proud retiring attachment shed
a new interest over her life. Accustomed as she was to the lively and
flattering tributes of the Italians, this outward coldness disguising
intense tenderness of heart captivated her imagination.
But one morning she received from him a note saying that indisposition
would confine him to his house for some days. Oswald had made up his
mind to avoid Corinne; he felt too strongly the power of her charms.
What would his father have said of this woman? Could she, the brilliant
poetess, be expected to possess the English domestic virtues which his
father valued above all things in a wife? Besides, there was a mystery
about her; she had not revealed her name and family even to him; nor had
he ever had an explanation of her perfect knowledge of English.
Corinne was terrified, on receiving the note, by the idea that he would
fly without bidding her adieu. Unable to rest in the house where Oswald
came not, she wandered in the gardens of Rome, hoping to meet him. As
she was seated in grief beside the Fount of Trevi, Oswald, who had
paused there at the same moment, saw her countenance reflected in the
water. He started, as if he had seen her phantom; but a moment later
Corinne had rushed forward and seized his arm--then, repenting of her
impetuosity, she blushed, and covered her face to hide her tears.
"Dear Corinne!" he cried, "has my absence pained you?"
"Yes," she replied, "you must have known it would. Why then inflict such
pangs on me? Have I deserved them?"
Her emotion greatly affected Oswald. "I will visit you again to-morrow,
Corinne," he said. "Swear it!" she exclaimed, eagerly. "I do."
_II.--The Living and the Dead_
Oswald's natural irresolution had been augmented by misfortune, and he
hesitated before entering upon an irrevocable engagement. Although he no
longer sought to disguise his affection for Corinne, he did not propose
marriage to her. She, on her part, was mortified by his silence. Often
he was on the point of breaking it; but the thought of his father
restrained him--and the thought of Lucy Edgarmond, the English girl whom
his father had wished him to marry, when she was old enough, and whom he
had not seen since she was a child of twelve. What, he asked himself,
again and again, was his duty?
One day, as he was visiting her at her house at Tivoli, she took her
harp and sang one of those simple Scotch ballads, the notes of which
seemed fit to be borne on the wailing breeze. Oswald's heart was touched
at the memories thus awakened of his own country; his eyes filled with
tears.
"Ah, Corinne," he cried, "does then my country affect your heart? Could
you go with me there, and be the partner of my life?"
"Surely I could," she answered, "for I love you."
"In love's name, then, tell me who you are, Corinne; have no more
secrets from me."
"Your will shall be obeyed, Oswald. I only ask that you require not my
story until the religious solemnities of Easter are over; is not the
support of heaven more than ever necessary at the moment which must
decide my fate?"
"Corinne," he said, "if thy fate depends on me, it shall no longer be a
sad one."
When Easter was over, Corinne set out for Naples, where she had many
friends and admirers; and Oswald accompanied her there. She still feared
to tell the story of her life.
"Who can tell," she said to Oswald, "if, when I have opened my heart to
you, you will remain the same? How can I help trembling beneath such
doubt?"
To encourage her, and to exchange confidences honourably with her, he
told her his own secret He had been skilfully drawn into an intrigue
with a scheming Frenchwoman, utterly against his father's wishes; when
he had escaped from the net that had been cast for him, and was hurrying
homeward, he heard the news that the being whom he loved and revered
most of all mankind was dead. He had knelt at his father's tomb and
sworn in atonement that he would never marry without his consent. But
how obtain the consent of one who was no more? Lucy Edgarmond--Corinne
started at the name--had been destined by his father for his bride. Was
the wish one that could be set aside? He had simply advised the match,
for Lucy was still a child with character unformed.
"Ere I met you," said Oswald, "I meant to fulfil his wish as an act of
expiation; but now," he went on passionately, "you have triumphed over
my whole being. My doubts are over, love; I am yours for ever. Would my
father have had it otherwise had he known you?"
"Hold," cried Corinne, "speak not thus to me yet!"
"Ah, tell me what you have to tell me!"
"Presently I shall; and I shall hear my sentence from your lips
unmurmuringly, even if it be cruel."
Ere she revealed her story, Corinne gave a fête, as if to enjoy one more
day of fame and happiness ere her lover pronounced her doom. It was held
on the cape of Micena. The lovely bay and its islands lay before the
party; Vesuvius frowned in the background. As the party embarked to
return in the glowing calm of the evening hour, Corinne put back her
tresses that she might better enjoy the sea air; Oswald had never seen
her look so beautiful.
"Oh, my love, oh, my love," he whispered, "can I ever forget this day?"
"Alas!" returned Corinne, "I hope not for such another day."
"Corinne!" he cried, "here is the ring my father gave his wife, let me
give it to you, and while you keep it, let me be no longer free."
"No, no! take it back," she answered in a stifled voice.
"I shall not," he replied; "I swear never to wed another till you send
back that ring."
"Perhaps when you have read my history, the dreadful word adieu--"
"Never," cried Oswald, "until my deathbed--fear not that word till
then."
"Alas!" said Corinne, "as I looked at the heavens a minute ago, the moon
was covered by a cloud of fatal aspect. A childish superstition came
back to my mind. To-night the sky condemns our love."
That evening Corinne's maid brought him the papers in which she had
written her story.
_III.--Corinne's Story_
"Oswald, I begin with the avowal that must determine my fate. Lord
Edgarmond was my father. I was born in Italy; his first wife was a Roman
lady; and Lucy, whom they intended for your bride, is my sister by my
father's second marriage.
"I lost my mother ere I was ten years old, and remained in the care of
an aunt at Florence until I was fifteen, when my father brought me to
his home in Northumberland. My stepmother was a cold, dignified, silent
woman, whose eyes could turn affectionately on her child Lucy, then
three years old; but she usually wore so positive an air that it seemed
impossible to make her understand a new idea.
"My tastes and talents had already been formed, and they were but
ill-suited to the dismal monotony of my life in Northumberland. I was
bidden to forget Italy; I was not allowed to converse on poetry or art;
I had no congenial friends. Even the sun, that might have reminded me of
Italy, was often hidden by fog. My only occupation was the education of
my half-sister; my only solace, the company of my father.
"'My dear child, he said to me once, it is not here as in Italy; our
women have no occupation save their domestic uses. Your talents may
beguile your solitude; but in a country town like this all that attracts
attention excites envy. One must not combat the habits of a place in
which one is established. It is better to bear a little ennui than to be
beset by wondering faces that every instant demand reasons for what you
do.'
"Lord Nevil was my father's intimate friend, and it was yourself of whom
he thought for my husband. Had we then met and loved, our fate would
have been cloudless. But when I was presented to Lord Nevil I desired,
perhaps too ardently, to please him; I displayed all my talents,
dancing, singing, and extemporising before him--I believe, though I am
not certain--that I appeared to Lord Nevil somewhat too wild; for
although he treated me very kindly, yet, when he left my father he said
that he thought his son too young for the marriage in question. Oswald,
what importance do you attach to this confession? I might suppress it,
but I will not. Is it possible that it will prove my condemnation?
"When my father died, my despair was uncontrollable. I found myself
without support. My only adult relation was my stepmother, who was as
frigid as ever towards me. I was attacked by that homesick yearning
which makes exile more terrible than death. All the country around me
was dull and sullen. I longed for the sunshine, the vine, the music, the
sweet language of Italy. At twenty-one I had a right to my mother's
fortune, and whatever my father had left me. Then did I first dream of
returning to Italy, and devoting my life to the arts.
"When I suggested the possibility of my doing so to Lady Edgarmond, she
replied, with dry indifference, 'You are of age, and the mistress of
your conduct; but if you take any step which would dishonour you in the
eyes of the world, you owe it to your family to change your name and be
reported dead.' This heartless scorn helped me to come to a decision. In
less than a week I had embarked on a vessel for Leghorn. I set forth
without warning my stepmother, but left a letter apprising her of my
plans.
"For a time I lived in Florence, whither Lady Edgarmond wrote me word of
her having spread the report that I had travelled southwards for my
health and had died on the voyage. During the following five years, as
you know, I won fame as Corinne the poetess.
"And now you know my history--I have concealed nothing. My happiness
depends entirely upon you. When you have read this, I would see you; my
impatience will bring me to your side, and I shall read my fate at a
glance; for grief is a rapid poison--and the heart, though weak, never
mistakes the signal of irrevocable destiny."
_IV.--Parting and Pursuit_
"Well," said Corinne, struggling to appear calm, when she went to Oswald
to learn her fate, "you have had time enough--speak! tell me what you
have resolved!"
"Corinne," answered Oswald, "my heart is unchanged. We will both live
for love. I will return."
"Return!" interrupted Corinne; "ah, you leave me then! How all is
changed since yesterday!"
"Dearest love," he replied, "be composed. It is necessary that I should
ascertain my father's reasons for opposing our union seven years ago. I
will hope for the best, Corinne; but if my father decides against you, I
will never be the husband of another, though I cannot be yours."
One night in Venice a few weeks later, when Corinne was leaving a scene
of festivity of which she had been the most brilliant ornament, Oswald
led her aside. She marked his paleness and agitation.
"What has happened?" she cried.
"I must start for England to-night. My regiment is about to embark for
the West Indies, and I am recalled to rejoin it."
"Ah!" moaned Corinne, "when I tell myself to-morrow 'I shall see him no
more,' the thought may kill me; happy am I if it does."
"Why do you fear? Is my solemn promise nothing?"
"Oh, I believe it; but listen--when you are in London, you will discover
that love promises bind not your honour. Will you find excuses in these
sophisms for inflicting a mortal wound on me? Cannot you at least pity
me for loving you thus?"
"Stay!" cried Oswald, seizing her in his arms, "this is too much.
Dearest, I cannot leave you!"
"Nay, you must," replied Corinne, recalled to herself by his words.
"My love," answered Oswald, trying to calm himself, "I shall strive
during my absence to restore to you your due rank in your father's
country. If I fail, I will return to Italy, and live or die at your
feet."
A light gleamed through the window, and the gondola that was to take
Oswald away stopped at the door.
"They are here--adieu--all is ended!" sobbed Corinne.
"Oh God! O my father!" he exclaimed, "what do ye exact of me?"
He flung himself once more into her arms and then, trembling and pale,
like one prepared for the torture, he passed from her sight.
On reaching England, he found that his regiment's departure had been
postponed, and, while waiting, he visited Northumberland, told Lady
Edgarmond of his affection for her stepdaughter, and demanded Corinne's
restoration to her rank. Lady Edgarmond unbendingly refused.
"I owe to your father's memory," she added, "my exertion to prevent your
union with her if I can. Your father's letter on the subject is in the
hands of his old friend, Mr. Dickson."
Oswald speedily set out for his ancestral estate in Scotland, anxious to
see Mr. Dickson and read the letter. In Northumberland he had seen
Lucy--a beautiful and sweetly innocent girl, one whom he could plainly
see to be a maiden after his father's own heart.
His father's letter confirmed his worst fears. He had wholly disapproved
of Oswald's union with the girl who afterwards became Corinne. He had
thought her wholly unfitted for domestic English life, and had feared
that she would destroy his son's English character and transform him
into an Italian. Oswald was to be acquainted with his wishes if
necessary; he knew he would respect them.
The irresolution and unhappiness into which Oswald was plunged was
increased by the fact that his letters to Corinne received no replies.
Had her love ceased when his presence was removed? His friends told him
of the fickleness of Italian women, and he began to believe that she had
deserted him. The truth was that Corinne was not in Italy to receive his
letters. She had come to England.
Desolated by his absence, and alarmed by the tone of the letters from
him that had reached her, she had resolved to follow him. On arriving in
London, she had been seized by an illness which prevented her from
seeing him. On her recovery the people with whom she was staying took
her to the theatre where Mrs. Siddons was playing. Oswald was at the
theatre with Lady Edgarmond and Lucy. Corinne observed with a sinking
heart the delicate attention which Oswald paid to her half-sister.
She saw him next at a review, where he appeared at the head of his
regiment. After the march past, he escorted Lucy in a ride on horseback.
Corinne noted his kind solicitude, his promptitude when Lucy was in
danger, the tenderness with which he supported her. What more did
Corinne need to convince her of his love for Lucy?
That evening she went to his door, and learnt that he had left for
Scotland an hour earlier. She felt that she must see him again; so she,
also, departed for Scotland.
Lady Edgarmond gave a ball on her Scottish estate, and among the guests
was Oswald, whose home was near at hand. In the grounds lurked Corinne,
seeking an opportunity of meeting her lover. In the midst of the
festivities, a white-clad figure hurried out alone; Corinne knew it to
be her half-sister. Lucy, believing that no eye was upon her, knelt down
in the grove where stood her father's tomb. "Pray for me, O my father!"
she said; "inspire him to choose me as the partner of his life! Oh God,
render me worthy of the love of Oswald!"
"Grant her prayer," whispered Corinne, "and give her sister a peaceful
grave."
She drew out the ring that Oswald had given her, and wrapped it in a
piece of paper on which she wrote the words, "You are free." She thrust
this into the hand of a man near the house with a request that he should
hand it to a servant to be delivered to Lord Nevil. She saw the man give
it to a servant. Then she fled.
_V.--The Clouded Moon_
To Oswald's assured knowledge of his father's wishes, and his fear that
Corinne had been untrue to him, had been added a third consideration,
Lady Edgarmond's health was rapidly declining, and when she died Lucy
would be unprotected in the world. Was it not his duty to protect her?
He resolved to undertake the duty, if he could only be free from his
promise to Corinne.
When his freedom came, with the mysterious return of the ring, all his
doubts were removed. Soon afterwards he married Lucy, and after a short
interval--during which he felt intense anxiety as to whether he had not
wronged Corinne--he went with his regiment to the West Indies.
Ere she had left Scotland, Corinne had heard the announcement of the
proposed marriage. She retired to Florence, and dwelt there in unending
misery. Her poetic faculty, her love of the arts, could not console her,
for they were utterly subjugated by her despair. Her whole soul had been
given to her love for Oswald. And when he had forsaken her, her life had
been broken by the blow.
It was four years ere Oswald returned to England, and soon afterwards he
and Lucy were summoned to the deathbed of Lady Edgarmond. He now had a
dangerous illness; in his delirium he cried for the southern sun. Lucy
heard him, and remembered Corinne. Oswald had striven to forget his
former passion, but could not help at times contrasting Corinne's warmth
of feeling with Lucy's coldness. Lucy had been taught by her mother that
it was immodest to avow affection even for a husband. She loved Oswald,
but her pride concealed her love.
Oswald was ordered to Italy by his physicians, and his wife and child
accompanied him. At Milan the earth was snow-covered; beyond there, the
rivers were in flood, and the land was covered by cold, damp fog.
"Where is your lovely Italy?" asked Lucy.
"I know not where or when I shall regain her," sadly answered Oswald. As
he approached Florence, where he had heard that Corinne was dwelling,
his heart became terribly agitated. He had learnt, through his old
friend d'Erfeuil, that Corinne had been faithful to him, that she had
followed him to England, and sought to see him, that he and not she was
the betrayer.
On arriving at Florence, Oswald met Prince Castel Forte, whose faithful,
unrewarded homage to Corinne was still unchanged. Corinne, the Prince
told him, was ill and growing weaker every day. Oswald's desertion, he
said plainly, had mortally wounded her.
Oswald, dismally repentant, handed Castel Forte a letter to Corinne in
which he begged permission to see her. In answer she declined the
permission, but asked to see his wife and child.
The little girl was taken to her; Lucy had resolved not to go, but was
struck with fear lest the child's affection should be won away from her.
She went at length, determined to reproach Corinne, but all her anger
vanished at the sight of the wasted woman on the sickbed. The sisters
embraced in tears.
Castel Forte had told Corinne of the reserve and coldness that separated
Lucy from her husband. Her last wish was to reconcile them, and thus aid
by means of another, the happiness of the man she loved.
"Pride not yourself in your perfections, dear sister," she said; "let
your charm consist in seeming to forget them; be Corinne and Lucy in
one; let not grace be injured by self-respect."
Lucy bore her words in mind; the barriers between herself and her
husband were gradually removed, and Oswald guessed who was removing
them.
At last the end came. Corinne lay on a sofa, where she could gaze upon
the sky. Castel Forte held her dying hand. Lucy entered; behind her came
Oswald. He fell at her feet. She would have spoken, but her voice
failed. She looked up--the moon was covered by just such a cloud as they
had seen at Naples. Corinne pointed to it--one sigh--and her hand sank
powerless in death.
* * * * *
STENDHAL (HENRI BEYLE)
The Chartreuse of Parma
Stendhal is the best-known pseudonym (for there were others)
of the refined, somewhat eccentric, and still distinguished
French author whose real name was C. Marie Henri Beyle. Born
at Grenoble on January 23, 1783, he found his way as a youth
to Milan, and fought with Bonaparte at Marengo. Afterwards he
followed various occupations at Paris and Marseilles; went
through the Russian campaign of 1812; and returned to Italy,
where he began to establish a reputation as a critic of music
and of painting. "La Chartreuse de Parme," his most successful
work of fiction, was written in the winter of 1830. Like his
other novels, it is discursive and formless; but is considered
remarkable alike for its keenness of analysis and its
exposition of the acid, materialistic philosophy of its
author. A friend of that other eclectic, Mérimée, Stendhal was
not much thought of in his own time until the profound praises
of Balzac drew all eyes upon him; and in much more recent
times interest in the best of his writings has revived on
account of his keen and impartial analysis of whatever subject
he touched upon. Beyle died on March 22, 1842.
_I. Fabrice del Dongo_
"Three members of your family," said Count Mosca to the Duchess of
Sanseverina, "have been Archbishops of Parma. Could a better career be
open to your nephew Fabrice?"
The Duchess disliked the notion; and indeed Fabrice del Dongo seemed a
person but little fitted for an ecclesiastical career. His ambitions
were military; his hero was Napoleon. The great escapade of his life had
been a secret journey into France to fight at Waterloo. His father, the
Marquis del Dongo, was loyal to the Austrian masters of Lombardy; and
during Fabrice's absence his elder brother Arcanio had laid an
information against him as a conspirator against Austrian rule.
Consequently Fabrice, on his return, found himself exposed to the risk
of ten years in an Austrian prison. By his own address and by the good
offices of his aunt, the Countess Pietravera, Fabrice was able to escape
from Milanese territory.
Immediately afterwards the Countess wedded the aged and wealthy Duke of
Sanseverina, and transferred her beauty and unbounded social talents
from Milan to the court of Prince Ranuce Ernest IV., absolute ruler of
Parma. The Duke had his ambitions gratified by an appointment as
Ambassador to a distant country; the Duchess, left behind at Parma, was
able to devote herself to the interests of Count Mosca, the Prince's
chief Minister, and to counteract the intrigues of the celebrated
Marchioness Raversi, head of the party that sought to overthrow him.
The welfare of her beloved nephew was the most cherished of all the
Duchess's aims, and she succeeded in inspiring Count Mosca with an equal
enthusiasm for the prosperity of that errant youth. But she hesitated
over the project of making him an Archbishop.
"You must understand," explained the Count, "that I do not intend to
make Fabrice an exemplary priest of the conventional kind. No, he will
above all remain a great noble; he may continue to be absolutely
ignorant if he so pleases, and will become a Bishop and an Archbishop
just the same--provided, of course, that I succeed in retaining the
Prince's confidence."
Ultimately the Duchess agreed, and undertook to persuade Fabrice to
enter the Church. The persuasion was not easy; but at length Fabrice,
having been convinced that the clerical yoke would bear but lightly upon
him, consented to the step, and as a preliminary spent three years in a
theological college at Naples.
When at the end of the three years Fabrice, now a Monsignore, returned
to Parma, matters there were at a crisis; the Raversi party were gaining
ground, and Count Mosca was in danger. Nor did the Prince's interview
with the young cleric improve matters. Ranuce Ernest IV. had two ruling
passions--an ambition to become ruler of united Italy, and a fear of
revolution. Count Mosca, the diplomatist, was the only man who could
further his hopes in the one direction; his fears in the other were
carefully kept alive by Rassi, the fiscal-general--to such an extent
that each night the Prince looked under his bed to see if by chance a
liberal were lurking there. Rassi was a man of low origin, who kept his
place partly by submitting good-humouredly to the abuse and even the
kicks of his master, and partly by rousing that master's alarms and
afterwards allaying them by hanging or imprisoning liberals, with the
ready assistance of a carefully corrupted judicial bench.
Towards this nervous Prince, Fabrice bore himself with an aristocratic
assurance, and a promptness and coolness in conversation that made a bad
impression. His political notions were correct enough, according to the
Prince's standard; but plainly, he was a man of spirit, and the Prince
did not like men of spirit; they were all cousins-germane of Voltaire
and Rousseau. He deemed Fabrice, in short, a potential if not an actual
liberal, and therefore dangerous.
Nevertheless Count Mosca carried the day against his rivals--a triumph
due less to his own efforts than to those of the Duchess, to whose
charms as the court's chief ornament the Prince was far from
insusceptible. The Count's success was Fabrice's; that youth found
himself established as co-adjutor to the Archbishop of Parma, with a
reversion to the Archbishopric on the demise of its worthy occupant.
On Fabrice's return from Naples, the Duchess had found him developed
from a boy into a young man, and the handsomest young man in Italy; her
affection for him became sisterly; she was nearly in love with him. She
had no cause for jealousy, for Fabrice, although prone to flirtation,
had no affairs of the heart. The word love, as yet, had no meaning for
him.
_II.--Giletti_
One of our hero's flirtations had consequences with a very pronounced
bearing on his after career. During a surreptitious visit to the theatre
he became captivated with the actress, Marietta Valserra. Stolen visits
of two minutes duration to Marietta's lodging on the fourth floor of an
old house behind the theatre were an agreeable variation of the monotony
of Fabrice's clerical duties, and of his visits among the most important
and least entertaining families in Parma. But the trifling little
intrigue came to the ears of Count Mosca, with the result that the
travelling company to which Marietta belonged received its passports and
was requested to move on.
In the affair, moreover, Fabrice had a rival. Giletti was the low
comedian of the company, and the ugliest member of it; he assumed
proprietorship over Marietta, who, although she did not love him, was at
any rate horribly afraid of him. Giletti several times threatened to
kill Fabrice; whereby Fabrice was not disturbed.
Count Mosca was passionately archaeological, and this taste he shared
with Fabrice, who had cultivated the hobby at Naples. It so happened
that the two were engaged in excavations near the bridge over the Po
where the main road passes into Austrian territory at Castel-Maggiore.
Early one morning Fabrice, after surveying the work that was going on in
the trenches, strolled away with a gun, intent upon lark-shooting. A
wounded bird dropped on the road; and as Fabrice followed it he
encountered a battered old carriage driving towards the frontier. In it
were Giletti, Marietta and an old woman who passed as Marietta's mother.
Giletti leapt to the conclusion that Fabrice had come there, gun in
hand, to insult him, and possibly to carry off Marietta. He leapt out of
the carriage.
"Brigand!" he yelled, "we are only a league from the frontier--now I can
finish you!"
Fabrice saw a pistol levelled at him at a distance of three feet; he
knocked it aside with the butt of his gun, and it went off harmlessly.
Giletti then clutched the gun; the two men wrestled for it, and it
exploded close to Giletti's ear. Staggered for an instant, he quickly
recovered himself; drawing from its sheath a "property" sword, he fell
once more upon Fabrice.
"Look out! he will kill you," came an agitated whisper from Marietta;
"take this!"
A sort of hunting knife was flung out of the carriage door. Fabrice
picked it up, and was nearly stunned forthwith by a blow from the handle
of the "property" sword. Happily Giletti was too near to use his
sword-point. Pulling himself together, Fabrice gave his enemy a gash on
the thigh. Giletti, swearing furiously, injured Fabrice on the cheek.
Blood poured down our hero's face. The thought, "I am disfigured for
life!" flashed through his mind. Enraged at the idea, he thrust the
hunting knife at Giletti's breast with all his force. Giletti fell and
lay motionless.
"He is dead!" said Fabrice to himself. Then, turning to the coach, he
asked, "Have you a looking-glass?"
His eyes and teeth were undamaged; he was not permanently disfigured.
Hastily, then, he turned to thoughts of escape. Marietta gave him
Giletti's passport; obviously his first business was to get across the
frontier. And yet the Austrian frontier was no safe one for him to
cross. Were he recognised, he might expect ten years in an Imperial
fortress. But this was the less immediate danger, and he determined to
risk it.
With considerable trepidation he walked across the bridge, and presented
Giletti's passport to the Austrian gendarme.
The gendarme looked at it, and rose, "You must wait, monsieur; there is
a difficulty," he said, and left the room. Fabrice was profoundly
uncomfortable; he was nearly for bolting, when he heard the gendarme say
to another, "I am done up with the heat; just go and put your visa on a
passport in there when you have finished your pipe; I'm going for some
coffee."
This gendarme, in fact, knew Giletti, and was quite well aware that the
man before him was not the actor. But, for all he could tell, Giletti
had lent the passport for reasons of his own. The easiest way out of the
difficulty was to get another gendarme to see to the visa. This man
affixed it as a matter of course, and Fabrice escaped danger number one.
The rest was very easy, thanks to Ludovico, an old servant of the
Duchess, whom Fabrice met at an eating-house where he had turned in for
some very necessary refreshment. With the aid of this excellent fellow
Fabrice had his wounds attended to, and was safely smuggled out of
Austrian territory into Bologna.
_III.--The Citadel_
The party opposed to Count Mosca hastened to take advantage of Fabrice's
offence. He was represented as a murderer; the workmen in the trenches
who had seen the affray, and knew that Fabrice had acted in
self-defence, were either bribed or got out of the way. Rassi accused
Fabrice of being a liberal; and since the Prince was ill-disposed
towards the young man, not all the endeavours of Count Mosca could save
him from a sentence of twenty years' imprisonment, should he be so
impudent as to venture upon the territory of Parma.
Just before the sentence was presented to the Prince for final
confirmation, the Prince learnt that the Duchess of Sanseverina sought
an audience with him. He rubbed his hands; the greatest beauty of his
court had come to beg mercy for her nephew; there would be tears and
frantic appeals. For a quarter of an hour the Prince gloated over the
prospect; then he ordered that the Duchess be admitted.
She entered--in travelling costume; never had she looked more charming,
never more cheerful. "I trust your Serene Highness will pardon my
unorthodox costume," she said, smiling archly; "but as I am about to
leave Parma for a very long time, I have felt it my duty to come and
thank you ere I go for all the kindnesses you have deigned to confer
upon me."
The Prince was astonished and profoundly chagrined. "Why are you going?"
he asked, as calmly as he could.
"I have had the project for some time," she replied, "and a little
insult paid to Monsignor del Dongo has hastened it."
The Prince was beside himself. What would his court be without the
Duchess? At all costs he must check her flight.
At this moment Count Mosca, pale with anxiety, begged admittance. He had
just heard of the Duchess's intention to leave Parma.
"Let me speak as a friend to friends," said the Prince, collecting
himself; "what can I do, Madame, to arrest your hasty resolution?"
"If your highness were to write a gracious letter revoking the unjust
sentence upon Fabrice del Dongo, I might re-consider my decision; and,
let me add, if the Marchioness Raversi were advised by you to retire to
the country early to-morrow morning for the benefit of her health--"
"Was there ever such a woman?" cried the Prince, stamping up and down
the room.
But he agreed. At his orders Count Mosca sat down and wrote the letter
required. The Prince objected to the phrase "unjust sentence," and Count
Mosca, courtier-like, abstained from using it. The Prince did not mind
the banishment of the Marchioness Raversi; he liked exiling people.
At seven o'clock next morning the Prince summoned Rassi, and dictated to
him another letter. The sentence of twenty years, upon the criminal del
Dongo was to be reduced by the Prince's clemency, at the supplication of
the Duchess Sanseverina, to twelve years; and the police were instructed
to do their utmost to arrest the offender.
The only difficulty was that of tempting Fabrice into the territory of
Parma. A hint to the Marchioness Raversi and her associates removed the
obstacle. A forged letter, purporting to be from the Duchess, reached
Fabrice at Bologna, telling him that there would be little danger in his
meeting her at Castelnovo, within the frontier. Fabrice repaired
joyfully to Castelnovo. That night he lay a prisoner in the citadel of
Parma; while the Duchess, alone in her room with locked door, sobbed her
heart out and raved helplessly against the treachery of princes.
"So long as her nephew is in the citadel," said the Prince to himself,
"the Duchess will be in Parma."
The citadel of Parma is a colossal building with a flat roof 180 feet
above the level of the ground. On this roof are erected two structures:
one, the governor's residence; the other, the Famese tower, a prison
specially erected for a recalcitrant prince of earlier days. In this
tower Fabrice, as a prisoner of importance, was confined; and as he
looked from the window on the evening of his arrival and beheld the
superb panorama of the distant Alps, he reflected pleasantly that he
might have found a worse dungeon.
On the next morning his attention was absorbed by something nearer at
hand. His window overlooked one belonging to the governor's palace; in
this window were many bird cages, and at eleven o'clock a maiden came to
feed the birds. Fabrice recognised her as Celia Conti, the governor's
daughter. He succeeded in attracting her attention; she blushed and
withdrew. But next day she came again at the same hour. On the third
day, however, a heavy wooden shutter was clapped upon the window.
Nothing daunted, Fabrice proceeded patiently to cut a peep-hole in the
shutter by aid of the mainspring of his watch. When he had succeeded in
removing a square piece of the wood, he looked with delight upon Clelia
gazing at his window with eyes of profound pity, unconscious that she
was observed.
Gradually he broke down the maiden's reserve. She discovered the secret
of the peep-hole; she consented to communicate with him; finally the two
conversed by a system of signals. Fabrice even dared to tell Clelia that
he loved her--and truly he was in love, for the first time in his life.
The worst of it was that these declarations were apt to bring the
conversation to an end; so Fabrice was sparing of them.
Clelia, meanwhile, was in sore perplexity. Her father, General Fabio
Conti the governor, was a political opponent of Count Mosca, and had
ambitions of office. These ambitions might be forwarded, he deemed, by
the successful marriage of his daughter. He did not desire that she
should remain a lovely recluse, feeding birds on the top of the citadel.
Accordingly he had presented to her an ultimatum; either she must marry
the Marquis Crescenzi, the wealthiest nobleman of Parma, who sought her
hand, or she must retire to a convent.
The signalled conversations with Fabrice, therefore, could not last
long. And yet she had beyond doubt fallen deeply in love with Fabrice.
She knew he was her father's prisoner, and belonged to the party hostile
to her father; she was ashamed, as a daughter, of her love for him. But
she admired him, and pitied him; she was well aware that he was a victim
of political intrigue, for why should a nobleman of Fabrice's standing
be thus punished for killing a mere actor? The stolen interviews with
the captive were as dear to her as to him; and so dear were they to him
that, after months of imprisonment he declared that he had never been so
happy in his life.
_IV.--The Escape_
One night, as Fabrice looked through his peep-hole, he became aware of a
light flashing from the town. Obviously some attempt was being made at
signalling. He observed the flashes, counting them in relation to the
order of the letters in the alphabet--one for A, two for B, and so on.
He discovered that the message was from the Duchess, and was directed to
himself. He replied, on the same system, by passing his lantern in front
of the peep-hole. The answer from the distance was important;
arrangements were being made for his escape. But he did not want to
escape.
Next day he told Clelia of his message, and of his unwillingness to
leave the prison. She gave no answer, but burst into tears. How could
she tell him that she herself must presently leave--for marriage or a
convent?
Next day, Fabrice, by his gaoler's connivance, received a long letter
from Clelia. She urged him to escape, declaring that at any time the
Prince might order his execution, and in addition that he was in danger
of death by poison. Straightway he sought an interview with Clelia, with
whom he had not hitherto conversed save by signals from their windows.
The gaoler arranged that they should meet when Fabrice was being
conducted from his cell to the roof of the Farnese tower, where he was
occasionally allowed to take exercise.
"I can speak but few words to you," she said trembling, with tears in
her eyes. "Swear that you will obey the Duchess, and escape when she
wishes and as she wishes."
"And condemn myself to live far away from her whom I love?"
"Swear it! for my sake, swear it!" she implored hint.
"Well then, I swear it!"
The preparations were quickly advanced. Three knotted ropes were
smuggled with Clelia's aid into Fabrice's cell--one for descending the
35 feet between his window and the roof of the citadel; another for
descending the tremendous wall of 180 feet between the roof and the
ramparts; a third for the 30 feet between the top of the ramparts and
the ground.
A feast-day, when the garrison of the citadel would presumably be drunk,
was chosen for the attempt. Fabrice spent the time of waiting in cutting
a hole in his shutter large enough to enable him to get through.
Fortunately, on the night of the feast-day a thick fog arose and
enveloped the citadel. The Duchess had seen to it that the garrison was
plentifully supplied with wine.
Fabrice attached one of the shorter ropes to his bed, and struggled
through the shutter--an ungainly figure, for round his body was wound
the immense rope necessary for the long descent. Once on the
roof-platform he made his way along the parapet until he came to a new
stove which he had been told marked the best spot for lowering the rope.
He could hear the soldiers talking near at hand, but the fog made him
invisible. Unrolling his rope, and fastening his rope to the parapet by
threading it through a water-duct, he flung it over; then, with a prayer
and a thought of Clelia, he began to descend.
At first he went down mechanically, as if doing the feat for a wager.
About half-way down, his arms seemed to lose their strength; he nearly
let go--he might have fallen had he not supported himself by clinging to
the vegetation on the wall. From time to time he felt horrible pain
between the shoulders. Birds hustled against him now and then; he feared
at the first contact with them that pursuers were coming down the rope
after him. But he reached the rampart undamaged save for bleeding hands.
He was quite exhausted; for a few minutes he slept. On waking and
realising the situation, he attached his third rope to a cannon, and
hurried down to the ground. Two men seized him just as he fainted at the
foot.
A few hours afterwards a carriage crossed the frontier with Ludovico on
the box, and within it the Duchess watching over the sleeping Fabrice.
The journey did not end until they had reached Locarno on Lake Maggiore.
_V.--Clelia's Vow_
To Locarno soon afterwards came die news that Ranuce Ernest IV. was
dead. Fabrice could now safely return, for the young Ranuce Ernest V.
was believed to be entirely under the influence of Count Mosca, and was
an honest youth without the tyrannical instincts of his father.
Nevertheless the Duchess returned first, to make certain of Fabrice's
security. She employed her whole influence to hasten forward the wedding
of Clelia with the Marquis Crescenzi; she was jealous of the ascendancy
the girl had gained over her beloved nephew.
Fabrice, on reaching Parma, was well received by the young Prince.
Witnesses, he was told, had been found who could prove that he had
killed Giletti in self-defence. He would spend a few days in a purely
nominal confinement in the city gaol, and then would be tried by
impartial judges and released.
Imagine the consternation of the Duchess when she learnt that Fabrice,
having to go to prison, had deliberately given himself up at the
citadel!
She saw the danger clearly. Fabrice was in the hands of Count Mosca's
political opponents, among whom General Conti was still a leading
spirit. They would not suffer him to escape this time. Fabrice would be
poisoned.
Clelia, too, knew that this would be his fate. When she saw him once
again at the old window, happily signalling to her, she was smitten with
panic terror. Her alarm was realised when she learnt of a plot between
Rassi and her father to poison the prisoner.
On the second day of his confinement Fabrice was about to eat his dinner
when Clelia, in desperate agitation, forced her way into his cell.
"Have you tasted it?" she cried, grasping his arm.
Fabrice guessed the state of affairs with delight. He seized her in his
arms and kissed her.
"Help me to die," he said.
"Oh, my beloved," she answered, "let me die with you."
"Let me not spoil our happiness with a lie," said he as he embraced her.
"I have not yet tasted."
For an instant Clelia looked at him in anger; then she fell again into
his arms.
At that instant there came a sound of men hurrying. There entered the
Prince's aide-de-camp, with order to remove Fabrice from the citadel and
to seize the poisoned food. The Duchess had heard of the plot, and had
persuaded the Prince to take instant action.
Clelia, when her father was in danger of death on account of the plot,
vowed before the Virgin Mary never again to look upon the face of
Fabrice. Her father escaped with a sentence of banishment; and Clelia,
to the profound satisfaction of the Duchess, was wedded to the Marquis
Crescenzi. The Duchess was now a widow, Count Mosca a widower. Their
long friendship, after Fabrice's triumphant acquittal, was cemented by
marriage.
The loss of Clelia left Fabrice inconsolable. He shunned society; he
lived a life of religious retirement, and gained a reputation for piety
that even inspired the jealousy of his good friend the Archbishop.
At length Fabrice emerged from his solitude; he came forth as a
preacher, and his success was unequalled. All Parma, gentle and simple,
flocked to hear the famous devotee--slender, ill-clad, so handsome and
yet so profoundly melancholy. And ere he began each sermon, Fabrice
looked earnestly round his congregation to see if Clelia was there.
But Clelia, adhering to her vow, stayed away. It was not until she was
told that a certain Anetta Marini was in love with the preacher, and
that gossip asserted that the preacher was smitten with Anetta Marini,
that she changed her mind.
One evening, as Fabrice stood in the pulpit, he saw Clelia before him.
Her eyes were filled with tears; he looked so pale, so thin, so worn.
But never had he preached as he preached that night.
After the sermon he received a note asking him to be at a small garden
door of the Crescenzi Palace at midnight on the next night. Eagerly he
obeyed; when he reached the door, a voice called him enter. The darkness
was intense; he could see nothing.
"I have asked you to come here," said the voice, "to say that I still
love you. But I have vowed to the Virgin never to see your face; that is
why I receive you in this darkness. And let me beg you--never preach
again before Anetta Marini.
"My angel," replied the enraptured Fabrice, "I shall never preach again
before anyone; it was only in the hope of seeing you that I preached at
all."
During the following three years the two often met in darkness. But
twice, by accident, Clelia again broke her vow by looking on Fabrice's
face. Her conscience preyed upon her; she wore away and died.
A few days afterwards Fabrice resigned his reversion to the
Archbishopric, and retired to the Chartreuse of Parma. He ended his days
in the monastery only a year afterwards.
* * * * *
LAURENCE STERNE
Tristram Shandy
A more uncanonical book than the Rev. Laurence Sterne's "Life
and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman," has never been
printed since the monk Rabelais gave to the world his
celebrated masterpiece. "Shandy" made its first appearance in
1757 at York, whose inhabitants were greatly shocked,
generally, at its audacious wit; and particularly at the
caricature of a local physician. But the success of "Shandy"
was pronounced: it spread to the southern counties and to
London, where a second edition was published in 1760. "Parson
Yorick," as he styles himself in the book, was continually
invited to add to it, with the result that between 1761 and
1767 eight more numbers were added to the original slim
volume. There are many imperfections in "Tristram Shandy,"
both from the standpoint of art and taste; yet withal it
remains one of the great classics in English literature, its
many passages of genuine humour and wit ensuring an
immortality for the wayward genius of Laurence Sterne.
(Sterne, biography: See Vol. XIX.)
_I_
On the fifth day of November, 1718, was I, Tristram Shandy, gentleman,
brought forth into this scurvy and disastrous world of ours. I wish I
had been born in the moon, or in any of the planets (except Jupiter or
Saturn), because I never could bear cold weather; for it could not well
have fared worse with me in any of them (though I will not answer for
Venus) than it has in this vile dirty planet of ours, which of my
conscience with reverence be it spoken I take to be made up of the
shreds and clippings of the rest; not but the planet is well enough,
provided a man could be born in it to a great title or to a great
estate, or could anyhow contrive to be called up to public charges and
employments of dignity and power; but that is not my case; and therefore
every man will speak of the fair as his own market has gone in it; for
which cause I affirm it over again to be one of the vilest worlds that
ever was made; for I can truly say, that from the first hour I drew
breath in it, to this--I can now scarce draw it at all, for an asthma I
got in skating against the wind in Flanders--I have been the continual
sport of what the world calls Fortune, and though I will not wrong her
by saying she has ever made me feel the weight of any great and signal
evil, yet with all the good temper in the world, I affirm it of her,
that in every stage of my life, and at every turn and corner where she
could get fairly at me, the ungracious duchess has pelted me with a set
of as pitiful misadventures and cross accidents as ever small hero
sustained.
_II_
"I wonder what's all that noise and running backwards and forwards for
above stairs?" quoth my father, addressing himself after an hour and a
half's silence to my Uncle Toby, who, you must know, was sitting on the
opposite side of the fire, smoking his pipe all the time in mute
contemplation of a new pair of black plush breeches which he had got on.
"What can they be doing, brother?" quoth my father; "We can scarce hear
ourselves talk."
"I think," replied my uncle Toby, taking his pipe from his mouth and
striking the head of it two or three times upon the nail of his left
thumb as he began his sentence; "I think," says he--but to enter rightly
into my Uncle Toby's sentiments upon this matter, you must be made to
enter just a little into his character.
_III_
The wound in my Uncle Toby's groin, which he received at the siege of
Namur, rendering him unfit for the service, it was thought expedient he
should return to England, in order, if possible, to be set to rights.
He was four years totally confined, partly to his bed and all of it to
his room; and in the course of his cure, which was all that time in
hand, suffered unspeakable misery.
My father at that time was just beginning business in London, and had
taken a house, and as the truest friendship and cordiality subsisted
between the two brothers, and as my father thought my Uncle Toby could
nowhere be so well nursed and taken care of as in his own house, he
assigned him the very best apartment in it. And what was a much more
sincere mark of his affection still, he would never suffer a friend or
acquaintance to step into the house, but he would take him by the hand,
and lead him upstairs to see his brother Toby, and chat an hour by his
bedside.
The history of a soldier's wound beguiles the pain of it--my uncle's
visitors at least thought so, and they would frequently turn the
discourse to that subject, and from that subject the discourse would
generally roll on to the siege itself.
_IV_
When my Uncle Toby got his map of Namur to his mind he began immediately
to apply himself, and with the utmost diligence, to the study of it. The
more my Uncle Toby pored over the map, the more he took a liking to it.
In the latter end of the third year my Uncle began to break in upon
daily regularity of a clean shirt, and to allow his surgeon scarce time
sufficient to dress his wound, concerning himself so little about it as
not to ask him once in seven times dressing how it went on, when, lo!
all of a sudden--for the change was as quick as lightning--he began to
sigh heavily for his recovery, complained to my father, grew impatient
with the surgeon; and one morning, as he heard his foot coming upstairs,
he shut up his books and thrust aside his instruments, in order to
expostulate with him upon the protraction of his cure, which he told him
might surely have been accomplished at least by that time.
Desire of life and health is implanted in man's nature; the love of
liberty and enlargement is a sister-passion to it. These my Uncle Toby
had in common with his species. But nothing wrought with our family
after the common way.
_V_
When a man gives himself up to the government of a ruling passion, or,
in other words, when his hobbyhorse grows headstrong, farewell cool
reason and fair discretion. My Uncle Toby's wound was near well; he
broiled with impatience to put his design in execution; and so, without
consulting further, with any soul living, which, by the way, I think is
right, when you are predetermined to take no one soul's advice, he
privately ordered Trim, his man, to pack up a bundle of lint and
dressings, and hire a chariot and four to be at the door exactly by
twelve o'clock that day, when he knew my father would be upon change.
So, leaving a banknote upon the table for the surgeon's care of him, and
a letter of tender thanks for his brother's, he packed up his maps, his
books of fortification, his instruments, and so forth, and by the help
of a crutch on one side and Trim on the other, my Uncle Toby embarked
for Shandy Hall.
The reason, or rather the rise, of this sudden demigration was as
follows:
The table in my Uncle Toby's room, being somewhat of the smallest, for
that infinity of great and small instruments of knowledge which usually
lay crowded upon it, he had the accident in reaching over for his
tobacco box to throw down his compasses, and in stooping to take the
compasses up, with his sleeve he threw down his case of instruments and
snuffers; and in his endeavouring to catch the snuffers in falling, he
thrust his books off the table. 'Twas to no purpose for a man, lame as
my Uncle Toby was, to think of redressing all these evils by himself; he
rung his bell for his man Trim,--"Trim," quoth my Uncle Toby, "prithee
see what confusion I have been making. I must have some better
contrivance, Trim."
I must here inform you that this servant of my Uncle Toby's, who went by
the name of Trim, had been a corporal in my Uncle's own company. His
real name was James Butter, but having got the nickname of Trim in the
regiment, my Uncle Toby, unless when he happened to be very angry with
him, would never call him by any other name.
The poor fellow had been disabled for the service by a wound on his left
knee by a musket bullet at the Battle of Landen, which was two years
before the affair of Namur; and as the fellow was well-beloved in the
regiment, and a handy fellow into the bargain, my Uncle Toby took him
for his servant, and of excellent use was he, attending my Uncle Toby in
the camp and in his quarters as valet, groom, barber, cook, sempster,
and nurse; and indeed, from first to last, waited upon him and served
him with great fidelity and affection.
My Uncle Toby loved the man in return, and what attached him more to him
still, was the similitude of their knowledge; for Corporal Trim by four
years occasional attention to his master's discourse upon fortified
towns had become no mean proficient in the science, and was thought by
the cook and chambermaid to know as much of the nature of strongholds as
my Uncle Toby himself.
"If I durst presume," said Trim, "to give your honour my advice, and
speak my opinion in this matter"--"Thou art welcome, Trim," quoth my
Uncle Toby. "Why then," replied Trim, pointing with his right hand
towards a map of Dunkirk: "I think with humble submission to your
honour's better judgement, that the ravelins, bastions, and curtains,
make but a poor, contemptible, fiddle-faddle piece of work of it here
upon paper, compared to what your honour and I could make of it were we
out in the country by ourselves, and had but a rood and a half of ground
to do what we pleased with. As summer is coming on," continued Trim,
"your honour might sit out of doors and give me the nography"--(call it
icnography, quoth my uncle)--"of the town or citadel your honour was
pleased to sit down before, and I will be shot by your honour upon the
glacis of it if I did not fortify it to your honour's mind."--"I dare
say thou wouldst, Trim," quoth my uncle. "I would throw out the earth,"
continued the corporal, "upon this hand towards the town for the scarp,
and on the right hand towards the campaign for the counterscarp."--"Very
right, Trim," quoth my Uncle Toby.--"And when I had sloped them to your
mind, an' please your honour, I would face the glacis, as the finest
fortifications are done in Flanders, with sods, and as your honour knows
they should be, and I would make the walls and parapets with sods
too."--"The best engineers call them gazons, Trim," said my Uncle Toby.
"Your honour understands these matters," replied corporal Trim, "better
than any officer in His Majesty's service; but would your honour please
but let us go into the country, I would work under your honour's
directions like a horse, and make fortifications for you something like
a Tansy with all their batteries, saps, ditches, and pallisadoes, that
it should be worth all the world to ride twenty miles to go and see it."
My Uncle Toby blushed as red as scarlet as Trim went on, but it was not
a blush of guilt, of modesty, or of anger--it was a blush of joy; he was
fired with Corporal Trim's project and description. "Trim," said my
Uncle Toby, "say no more; but go down, Trim, this moment, my lad, and
bring up my supper this instant."
Trim ran down and brought up his master's supper, to no purpose. Trim's
plan of operation ran so in my Uncle Toby's head, he could not taste it.
"Trim," quoth my Uncle Toby, "get me to bed." 'Twas all one. Corporal
Trim's description had fired his imagination. My Uncle Toby could not
shut his eyes. The more he considered it, the more bewitching the scene
appeared to him; so that two full hours before daylight he had come to a
final determination, and had concerted the whole plan of his and
Corporal Trim's decampment.
My Uncle Toby had a neat little country house of his own in the village
where my father's estate lay at Shandy. Behind this house was a kitchen
garden of about half an acre; and at the bottom of the garden, and cut
off from it by a tall yew hedge, was a bowling-green, containing just
about as much ground as Corporal Trim wished for. So that as Trim
uttered the words, "a rood and a half of ground, to do what they would
with," this identical bowling-green instantly presented itself upon the
retina of my Uncle Toby's fancy.
Never did lover post down to a beloved mistress with more heat and
expectation than my Uncle Toby did to enjoy this self-same thing in
private.
_VI_
"Then reach my breeches off the chair," said my father to
Susanah.--"There's not a moment's time to dress you, sir," cried
Susanah; "bless me, sir, the child's in a fit. Mr. Yorick's curate's in
the dressing room with the child upon his arm, waiting for the name; and
my mistress bid me run as fast as I could to know, as Captain Shandy is
the godfather, whether it should not be called after him."
"Were one sure," said my father to himself, scratching his eyebrow,
"that the child was expiring, one might as well compliment my brother
Toby as not, and 'twould be a pity in such a case to throw away so great
a name as Trismegistus upon him. But he may recover."
"No, no," said my father to Susanah, "I'll get up."--"There's no time,"
cried Susanah, "the child's as black as my shoe."--"Trismegistus," said
my father: "but stay; thou art a leaky vessel, Susanah; canst thou carry
Trismegistus in thy head the length of the gallery without
scattering?"--"Can I," cried Susanah, shutting the door in a huff.--"If
she can, I'll be shot," said my father, bouncing out of bed in the dark
and groping for his breeches.
Susanah ran with all speed along the gallery.
My father made all possible speed to find his breeches. Susanah got the
start and kept it. "'Tis Tris something," cried Susanah.--"There is no
Christian name in the world," said the curate, "beginning with Tris, but
Tristram."--"Then 'tis Tristram-gistus," quoth Susanah.
"There is no gistus to it, noodle; 'tis my own name," replied the
curate, dipping his hand as he spoke into the basin. "Tristram," said
he, etc., etc. So Tristram was I called, and Tristram shall I be to the
day of my death.
_VII.--The Story of Le Fevre_
It was some time in the summer of that year in which Dendermond was
taken by the Allies, which was about seven years after the time that my
Uncle Toby and Trim had privately decamped from my father's house in
town, in order to lay some of the finest sieges to some of the finest
cities in Europe, when my Uncle Toby was one evening getting his supper,
with Trim sitting behind him at a small sideboard, when the landlord of
a little inn in the village came into the parlour with an empty phial in
his hand, to beg a glass or two of sack: "'Tis for a poor gentleman, I
think, of the Army," said the landlord, "who has been taken ill at my
house four days ago, and has never held up his head since, or had a
desire to taste anything, till just now, that he has a fancy for a glass
of sack and a thin toast: 'I think,' says he, 'it would comfort me.' If
I could neither beg, borrow nor buy such a thing," added the landlord,
"I would almost steal it for the poor gentleman, he is so ill. I hope in
God he will still mend, we are all of us concerned for him."
"Thou art a good-natured soul, I will answer for thee," cried my Uncle
Toby, "and thou shalt drink the poor gentleman's health in a glass of
sack thyself, and take a couple of bottles with my service and tell him
he is heartily welcome to them, and to a dozen more if they will do him
good."
"Though I am persuaded," said my Uncle Toby, as the landlord shut the
door, "he is a very compassionate fellow, Trim, yet I cannot help
entertaining a high opinion of his guest too; there must be something
more than common in him, that in so short a time should win so much upon
the affections of his host."--"And of his whole family," added the
Corporal, "for they are all concerned for him."--"Step after him," said
my Uncle Toby; "do, Trim, ask if he knows his name."
"I have quite forgot it truly," said the landlord, coming back to the
parlour with the Corporal, "but I can ask his son again."--"Has he a son
with him, then?" said my Uncle Toby.--"A boy," replied the landlord, "of
about eleven or twelve years of age; but the poor creature has tasted
almost as little as his father; he does nothing but mourn and lament for
him night and day. He has not stirred from the bedside these two days."
My Uncle Toby lay down his knife and fork, and thrust his plate from
before him, as the landlord gave him the account; and Trim, without
being ordered, took it away without saying one word, and in a few
minutes after brought him his pipe and tobacco.
"Trim," said my Uncle Toby, after he had lighted his pipe and smoked
about a dozen whiffs; "I have a project in my head, as it is a bad
night, of wrapping myself up warm and paying a visit to this poor
gentleman." "Leave it, an' please your honour, to me," quoth the
Corporal; "I'll take my hat and stick and go to the house and
reconnoitre, and act accordingly; and I will bring your honour a full
account in an hour."
_VIII.--The Story of Le Fevre (continued)_
It was not till my Uncle Toby had knocked the ashes out of his third
pipe that Corporal Trim returned from the inn, and gave him the
following account.
"I despaired at first," said the Corporal, "of being able to bring back
any intelligence to your honour about the Lieutenant and his son; for
when I asked where his servant was, from whom I made myself sure of
knowing everything which was proper to be asked,"--("that's a right
distinction, Trim," said my Uncle Toby)--"I was answered, an' please
your honour, that he had no servant with him; that he had come to the
inn with hired horses, which, upon finding himself unable to proceed (to
join, I suppose the regiment) he had dismissed the morning after he
came. 'If I get better, my dear,' said he, as he gave his purse to his
son to pay the man, 'we can hire horses from hence'--'but, alas! the
poor gentleman will never get from hence,' said the landlady to me, 'for
I heard the deathwatch all night long; and when he dies, the youth, his
son, will certainly die with him, for he's broken-hearted already.' I
was hearing this account, when the youth came into the kitchen, to order
the thin toast the landlord spoke of. 'But I will do it for my father
myself,' said the youth.--'Pray let me save you the trouble, young
gentleman,' said I, taking up a fork for that purpose.--'I believe,
sir,' said he, very modestly, 'I can please him best myself.'--'I am
sure,' said I, 'his honour will not like the toast the worse for being
toasted by an old soldier,' The youth took hold of my hand and instantly
burst into tears." ("Poor youth," said my Uncle Toby, "he has been bred
up from an infant in the army, and the name of a soldier, Trim, sounded
in his ears like the name of a friend. I wish I had him here.")
"When I gave him the toast," continued the Corporal, "I thought it was
proper to tell him I was Captain Shandy's servant, and that your honour
(though a stranger) was extremely concerned for his father, and that if
there was anything in your house or cellar,"--("And thou mightest have
added my purse, too," said my Uncle Toby)--he was heartily welcome to
it. He made a very low bow (which was meant to your honour) but no
answer, for his heart was full; so he went upstairs with the toast. When
the lieutenant had taken his glass of sack and toast, he felt himself a
little revived, and sent down into the kitchen to let me know that he
should be glad if I would step upstairs. He did not offer to speak to me
till I had walked up close to his bedside. 'If you are Captain Shandy's
servant,' said he, 'you must present my thanks to your master, with my
little boy's thanks along with them, for his courtesy to me: if he was
of Leven's,' said the Lieutenant,--I told him your honour was. 'Then,'
said he, 'I served three campaigns with him in Flanders, and remember
him; but 'tis most likely that he remembers nothing of me. You will tell
him, however, that the person his good nature has laid under obligations
to him is one Le Fevre, a lieutenant in Angus'--'but he knows me not,'
said he a second time, musing. 'Possibly he may know my story,' added
he. 'Pray tell the Captain I was the ensign at Breda whose wife was most
unfortunately killed with musket-shot as she lay in my arms in my tent'"
"I remember," said my Uncle Toby, sighing, "the story of the ensign and
his wife. But finish the story thou art upon."--"'Tis finished already,"
said the Corporal, "for I could stay no longer, so wished his honour
good night; young Le Fevre rose from off the bed, and saw me to the
bottom of the stairs, and, as we went down, he told me they had come
from Ireland and were on their route to join the regiment in Flanders.
But, alas!" said the Corporal, "the lieutenant's last day's march is
over."
_IX.--The Story of Le Fevre (concluded)_
"Thou hast left this matter short," said my Uncle Toby to the Corporal,
as he was putting him to bed, "and I will tell thee in what, Trim. When
thou offeredst Le Fevre whatever was in my house, thou shouldst have
offered him my house, too. A sick brother officer should have the best
quarter's, Trim, and if we had him with us, we could tend and look to
him. Thou art an excellent nurse thyself, Trim, and what with thy care
of him, and the old woman's, and his boy's, and mine together, we might
recruit him again at once and set him upon his legs. In a fortnight or
three weeks he might march."
"He will never march, an' please your honour, in this world," said the
Corporal.--"He will march," said my Uncle Toby, rising up from the side
of the bed with one shoe off. "An' please your honour," said the
Corporal, "he will never march but to his grave."--"He shall march,"
cried my Uncle Toby, marching the foot which had a shoe on, though
without advancing an inch, "he shall march to his regiment." "He cannot
stand it," said the Corporal.--"He shall be supported," said my Uncle
Toby. "He'll drop at last," said the Corporal.--"He shall not drop,"
said my Uncle Toby, firmly.--"Ah, well-a-day, do what we can for him,"
said Trim, "the poor soul will die."--"He shall not die, by G----,"
cried my Uncle Toby.
The Accusing Spirit which flew up to Heaven's chancery with the oath,
blushed as he gave it in; and the Recording Angel, as he wrote it down,
dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.
* * * * *
The sun looked bright the morning after to every eye in the village but
Le Fevre's and his afflicted son's. My Uncle Toby, who had rose up an
hour before his wonted time, entered the lieutenant's room, and sat
himself down upon the chair by the bedside, and opened the curtain in
the manner an old friend and brother officer would have done it.
There was a frankness in my Uncle Toby--not the effect of familiarity,
but the cause of it--which let you at once into his soul, and showed you
the goodness of his nature. The blood and spirits of Le Fevre, which
were waxing cold and slow within him, and were retreating to the last
citadel, the heart, rallied back. The film forsook his eyes for a
moment. He looked up wistfully in my Uncle Toby's face, then cast a look
upon his boy. Nature instantly ebbed again. The film returned to its
place: the pulse fluttered, stopped, went on--throbbed, stopped
again--moved, stopped----.
My Uncle Toby, with young Le Fevre in his hand, attended the poor
lieutenant as chief mourners to his grave.
* * * * *
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
Uncle Tom's Cabin
When the authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Harriet Elizabeth
Beecher Stowe, visited the White House in 1863, President
Lincoln took her hand, and, looking down from his great
height, said, "Is this the little woman who brought on so
great a war?" But, strangely enough, the attitude of the
writer was thoroughly misunderstood. A terrible indictment
against the principle of slavery the story certainly is.
"Scenes, incidents, conversation, rushed upon her," says one
of her biographers, "with a vividness that would not be
denied. The book insisted upon getting itself into print." Yet
there is no trace of bitterness against those who inherited
slaves throughout the story. The most attractive personages
are Southerners, the most repulsive Northerners. No more
delightful a picture of conditions under slavery has ever been
drawn as that with which the book opens--on the Shelby estate
in Kentucky. Mrs. Stowe was born at Litchfield, Connecticut,
on June 14, 1812. Her father was the Rev. Lyman Beecher, her
brother Henry Ward Beecher. She died on July 1, 1896. "Uncle
Tom," published in book form in 1852, is one of the most
successful novels of modern times. In less than a week of its
appearance, 10,000 copies were sold, and before the end of the
year 300,000 copies had been supplied to the public. It was
almost at once translated into all European languages. Mrs.
Stowe wrote about forty other stories, but posterity will know
her as the authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" only.
_I.--Humane Dealing_
Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February two gentlemen were
sitting over their wine, in a well-furnished parlour in the town of
P---- in Kentucky in the midst of an earnest conversation.
"That is the way I should arrange the matter," said Mr. Shelby, the
owner of the place. "The fact is, Tom is an uncommon fellow; he is
certainly worth that sum anywhere; steady, honest, capable, manages my
farm like a clock. You ought to let him cover the whole of the debt; and
you would, Haley, if you'd got any conscience."
"Well, I've got just as much conscience as any man in business can
afford to keep," said Haley, "and I'm willing to do anything to 'blige
friends; but this yer, ye see, is too hard on a feller, it really is.
Haven't you a boy or gal you could thrown in with Tom?"
"Hum!--none that I could well spare; to tell the truth, it's only hard
necessity makes me sell at all." Here the door opened, and a small
quadroon boy, remarkably beautiful and engaging, entered with a comic
air of assurance which showed he was used to being petted and noticed by
his master. "Hulloa, Jim Crow," said Mr. Shelby, snapping a bunch of
raisins towards him, "pick that up, now!" The child scampered, with all
his little strength after the prize, while his master laughed. "Tell you
what," said Haley, "fling in that chap, and I'll settle the business, I
will."
At this moment a young woman, obviously the child's mother, came in
search of him, and Haley, as soon as she had carried him away, turned to
Mr. Shelby in admiration.
"By Jupiter!" said the trader, "there's an article now! You might make
your fortune on that one gal in Orleans, any way. What shall I say for
her? What'll you take?"
"Mr. Haley, she is not to be sold. I say no, and I mean no," said Mr.
Shelby, decidedly.
"Well, you'll let me have the boy, though."
"I would rather not sell him," said Mr. Shelby; "the fact is, I'm a
humane man, and I hate to take the boy from his mother, sir."
"Oh, you do? La, yes, I understand perfectly. It is mighty unpleasant
getting on with women sometimes. I al'ays hates these yer screechin'
times. As I manages business, I generally avoids 'em, sir. Now, what if
you get the gal off for a day or so? then the thing's done quietly. It's
always best to do the humane thing, sir; that's been my experience."
"I'd like to have been able to kick the fellow down the steps," said Mr.
Shelby to himself, when the trader had bowed himself out. "And Eliza's
child, too! I know I shall have some fuss with the wife about that, and
for that matter, about Tom, too! So much for being in debt, heigho!"
* * * * *
The prayer-meeting at Uncle Tom's Cabin had been protracted to a very
late hour, and Tom and his worthy helpmeet were not yet asleep, when
between twelve and one there was a light tap on the window pane.
"Good Lord! what's that?" said Aunt Chloe, starting up. "My sakes alive,
if it aint Lizzy! Get on your clothes, old man, quick. I'm gwine to open
the door." And suiting the action to the word, the door flew open, and
the light of the candle which Tom had hastily lighted, fell on the face
of Eliza. "I'm running away, Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe--carrying off my
child. Master sold him."
"Sold him?" echoed both, holding up their hands in dismay.
"Yes, sold him!" said Eliza firmly. "I crept into the closet by
mistress's door to-night, and I heard master tell missus that he had
sold my Harry and you, Uncle Tom, both to a trader, and that the man was
to take possession to-day."
Slowly, as the meaning of this speech came over Tom, he collapsed on his
old chair, and sunk his head on his knees.
"The good Lord have pity on us!" said Aunt Chloe. "What has he done that
mas'r should sell him?"
"He hasn't done anything--it isn't for that. I heard Master say there
was no choice between selling these two, and selling all, the man was
driving him so hard. Master said he was sorry; but, oh! missis! you
should have heard her talk! If she ain't a Christian and an angel, there
never was one. I'm a wicked girl to leave her so--but then I can't help
it, the Lord forgive me, for I can't help doing it."
"Well, old man," said Aunt Chloe, "why don't you go too? Will you wait
to be toted down river, where they kill niggers with hard work and
starving? There's time for ye; be off with Lizzy, you've got a pass to
come and go any time."
Tom slowly raised his head, and sorrowfully said, "No, no: I aint going.
Let Eliza go--it's her right. 'Tan't in _natur_ for her to stay, but you
heard what she said. If I must be sold, or all the people on the place
and everything to go to rack, why let me be sold. Mas'r aint to blame,
Chloe; and he'll take care of you and the poor--." Here he turned to the
rough trundle-bed full of little woolly heads and fairly broke down.
"And now," said Eliza, "do try, if you can, to get a word to my husband.
He told me this afternoon he was going to run away. Tell him why I went,
and tell him, I'm going to try and find Canada. Give my love to him, and
tell him, if I never see him again--tell him to be as good as he can,
and try and meet me in the kingdom of heaven."
A few last words and tears, a few simple adieus and blessings, and she
glided noiselessly away.
_II.--Eliza's Escape_
It is impossible to conceive of a human being more wholly desolate and
forlorn than Eliza as she left the only home she had ever known. Her
husband's sufferings and danger, and the danger of her child, all
blended in her mind, she trembled at every sound, and every quaking leaf
quickened her steps. She felt the weight of her boy as if it had been a
feather, he was old enough to have walked by her side, but now she
strained him to her bosom as she went rapidly forward; and every flutter
of fear seemed to increase the supernatural strength that bore her on,
while from her pale lips burst forth, in frequent ejaculations, "Lord
help me."
Still she went, leaving one familiar object after another, till
reddening daylight found her many a long mile, upon the open highway, on
the way to the village of T---- upon the Ohio river, when she
constrained herself to walk regularly and composedly, quickening the
speed of her child, by rolling an apple before him, when the boy would
run with all his might after it; this ruse often repeated carried them
over many a half-mile.
An hour before sunset she came in sight of the river, which lay between
her and liberty. Great cakes of floating ice were swinging heavily to
and fro in the turbid waters. Eliza turned into a small public house to
ask if there was no ferry boat.
"No, indeed," said the hostess, stopping her cooking as Eliza's sweet,
plaintive voice fell on her ear; "the boats has stopped running."
Eliza's look of dismay struck her and she said, "Maybe you're wanting to
get over? anybody sick? Ye seem mighty anxious."
"I've got a child that's very dangerous," said Eliza, "I never heard of
it till last night, and I've walked quite a piece to-day, in hopes to
get to the ferry."
"Well, now, that's unlucky" said the woman, her motherly sympathies
aroused; "I'm rilly concerned for ye. Solomon!" she called from the
window. "I say Sol, is that ar man going to tote them bar'ls over
to-night?"
"He said he should try, if 'twas any ways prudent," replied a man's
voice.
"There's a man going over to-night, if he durs' to; he'll be in to
supper, so you'd better sit down and wait. That's a sweet little fellow"
added the woman, offering him a cake.
But the child, wholly exhausted, cried with weariness.
"Take him into this room," said the woman opening into a small bedroom,
and Eliza laid the weary boy on the comfortable bed, and held his hands
till he was fast asleep. For her there was no rest, the thought of her
pursuers urged her on, and she gazed with longing eyes on the swaying
waters between her and liberty.
She was standing by the window as Haley and two of Mr. Shelby's servants
came riding by. Sam, the foremost, catching sight of her, contrived to
have his hat blown off, and uttered a loud and characteristic
ejaculation. She drew back and the whole train swept by to the front
door. A thousand lives were concentrated in that moment to Eliza. Her
room opened by a side door to the river. She caught her child and sprang
down the steps. The trader caught a glimpse of her as she disappeared
down the bank, and calling loudly to Sam and Andy, was after her like a
hound after a deer. Her feet scarce seemed to touch the ground, a moment
brought her to the water's edge. Right on behind they came, and nerved
with strength such as God gives only to the desperate, with one wild and
flying leap, she vaulted sheer over the current by the shore, on to the
raft of ice beyond. It was a desperate leap--impossible to anything but
madmen and despair. The huge green fragment of ice pitched and creaked
as her weight came on it, but she stayed there not a moment. With wild
cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake;
stumbling, leaping, slipping, springing upwards again. Her shoes were
gone--her stockings cut from her feet--while blood marked every step;
but she saw nothing, felt nothing, till dimly she saw the Ohio side, and
a man helping her up the bank.
"Yer a brave girl, now, whoever ye are!" said he. Eliza recognised a
farmer from near her old home. "Oh, Mr. Symmes! save me! do save me! do
hide me!" said Eliza.
"Why, what's this?" said the man, "why, if 'taint Shelby's gal!"
"My child!--this boy--he'd sold him! There is his mas'r," said she,
pointing to the Kentucky shore. "Oh, Mr. Symmes, you've got a little
boy."
"So I have," said the man, as he roughly but kindly helped her up the
bank. "Besides, you're a right brave gal. I'd be glad to do something
for you. The best thing I can do is to tell you to go _there_," pointing
to a large white house, standing by itself, "they're kind folks. There's
no kind o' danger but they'll help you--they're up to all that sort of
thing."
"The Lord bless you!" said Eliza earnestly, and folding her child to her
bosom, walked firmly away.
* * * * *
Late that night the fugitives were driven to the house of a man who had
once been a considerable shareholder in Kentucky; but, being possessed
of a great, honest, just heart, he had witnessed for years with
uneasiness the workings of a system equally bad for oppressors and
oppressed, and one day bought some land in Ohio, made out free passes
for all his people, and settled down to enjoy his conscience. He
conveyed Eliza to a Quaker settlement, where by the help of these good
friends she was joined by her husband and soon landed in Canada. Free!
_III.--The Property Is Carried Off_
An unceremonious kick pushed open the door of Uncle Tom's cabin, and Mr.
Haley stood there in very ill humour after his hard riding and ill
success.
"Come, ye nigger, ye'r ready. Servant, ma'am!" said he, taking off his
hat as he saw Mrs. Shelby, who detained him a few moments. Speaking in
an earnest manner, she made him promise to let her know to whom he sold
Tom; while Tom rose up meekly, and his wife took the baby in her arms,
her tears seeming suddenly turned to sparks of fire, to go with him to
the wagon: "Get in," said Haley, and Tom got in, when Haley made fast a
heavy pair of shackles round each ankle; a groan of indignation ran
round the crowd of servants gathered to bid Tom farewell. Mr. Shelby had
gone away on business, hoping all would be over before he returned.
"Give my love to Mas'r George," said Tom earnestly, as he was whirled
away, fixing a steady, mournful look to the last on the old place. Tom
insensibly won his way far into the confidence of such a man as Mr.
Haley, and on the steamboat was permitted to come and go freely where he
pleased. Among the passengers was a young gentleman of New Orleans whose
little daughter often and often walked mournfully round the place where
Haley's gang of men and women were chained. To Tom she appeared almost
divine; he half believed he saw one of the angels stepped out of his New
Testament, and they soon got on confidential terms. As the steamer drew
near New Orleans Mr. St. Clare, carelessly putting the tip of his finger
under Tom's chin, said good-humouredly, "Look up, Tom, and see how you
like your new master."
It was not in nature to look into that gay, handsome young face without
pleasure, and Tom said heartily, "God bless you, Mas'r."
Eva's fancy for him had led her to petition her father that Tom might be
her special attendant in her walks and rides. He was called coachman,
but his stable duties were a sinecure; struck with his good business
capacity, his master confided in him more and more, till gradually all
the providing for the family was entrusted to him. Tom regarded his airy
young master with an odd mixture of fealty, reverence and fatherly
solicitude, and his friendship with Eva grew with the child's growth;
but his home yearnings grew so strong that he tried to write a
letter--so unsuccessfully that St. Clare offered to write for him, and.
Tom had the joy of receiving an answer from Master George, stating that
Aunt Chloe had been hired out, at her own request, to a confectioner,
and was gaining vast sums of money, all of which was to be laid by for
Tom's redemption.
About two years after his coming, Eva began to fail rapidly, and even
her father could no longer deceive himself. Eva was about to leave him.
It was Tom's greatest joy to carry the frail little form in his arms, up
and down, into the veranda, and to him she talked, what she would not
distress her father with, of these mysterious intimations which the soul
feels ere it leaves its clay for ever. He lay, at last, all night in the
veranda ready to rouse at the least call, and at midnight came the
message. Earth was passed and earthly pain; so solemn was the triumphant
brightness of that face it checked even the sobs of sorrow. A glorious
smile, and she said, brokenly, "Oh--love--joy--peace" and passed from
death unto life.
Week after week glided by in the St. Clare mansion and the waves of life
settled back to their usual flow where that little bark had gone down.
St. Clare was in many respects another man; he read his little Eva's
Bible seriously and honestly; he thought soberly of his relations to his
servants, and he commenced the legal steps necessary to Tom's
emancipation as he had promised Eva he would do. But, one evening while
Tom was sitting thinking of his home, feeling the muscles of his brawny
arms with joy as he thought how he would work to buy his wife and boys;
his master was brought home dying. He had interfered in an affray in a
cafe and been stabbed.
He reached out and took Tom's hand; he closed his eyes, but still
retained his hold; for in the gates of eternity the black hand and the
white hold each other with an equal grasp, and softly murmured some
words he had been singing that evening--words of entreaty to Infinite
Pity.
_IV.--Freedom_
Mrs. St. Clare decided at once to sell the place and all the servants,
except her own personal property, and although she was told of her
husband's intention of freeing Tom, he was sold by auction with the
rest. His new master, Mr. Simon Legree, came round to review his
purchases as they sat in chains on the lower deck of a small mean boat,
on their way to his cotton plantation, on the Red River. "I say, all on
ye," he said, "look at me--look me right in the eye--straight, now!"
stamping his foot. "Now," said he, doubling his great heavy fist, "d'ye
see this fist? Heft it," he said, bringing it down on Tom's hand. "Look
at these yer bones! Well, I tell ye this yer fist has got as hard as
iron knocking down niggers. I don't keep none of yer cussed overseers; I
does my own overseeing and I tell ye things _is_ seen to. You won't find
no soft spot in me, nowhere. So, now, mind yourselves; for I don't show
no mercy!" The women drew in their breath; and the whole gang sat with
downcast, dejected faces. Trailing wearily behind a rude wagon, and over
a ruder road, Tom and his associates came to their new home. The whole
place looked desolate, everything told of coarse neglect and discomfort.
Three or four ferocious looking dogs rushed out and were with difficulty
restrained from laying hold of Tom and his companions.
"Ye see what ye'd get!" said Legree. "Ye see what ye'd get if you tried
to run off. They'd just as soon chaw one on ye up as eat their supper.
So mind yourself. How now, Sambo!" to a ragged fellow, who was officious
in his attentions, "How have things been goin' on?"
"Fust rate, mas'r."
"Quimbo," said Legree to another, "ye minded what I tell'd ye?"
"Guess I did, didn't I?"
Legree had trained these two men in savagery as systematically as he had
his bulldogs, and they were in admirable keeping with the vile character
of the whole place.
Tom's heart sank as he followed Sambo to the quarters. They had a
forlorn, brutal air. He had been comforting himself with the thought of
a cottage, rude indeed but one which he might keep neat and quiet and
read his Bible in out of his labouring hours. They were mere rude sheds
with no furniture but a heap of straw, foul with dirt. "Spec there's
room for another thar'," said Sambo, "thar's a pretty smart heap o'
niggers to each on 'em, now. Sure, I dunno what I's to do with more."
* * * * *
Tom looked in vain, as the weary occupants of the shanties came flocking
home, for a companionable face; he saw only sullen, embruted men and
feeble, discouraged women; or, those who, treated in every way like
brutes, had sunk to their level.
"Thar you!" said Quimbo throwing down a coarse bag containing a peck of
corn, "thar, nigger, grab, you won't get no more _dis_ yer week."
Tom was faint for want of food, but moved by the utter weariness of two
women, whom he saw trying to grind their corn, he ground for them; and
then set about getting his own supper. An expression of kindness came
over their hard faces--they mixed his cake for him, and tended the
baking, and Tom drew out his Bible by the light of the fire--for he had
need of comfort.
Tom saw enough of abuse and misery in his new life to make him sick and
weary; but he toiled on with religious patience, committing himself to
Him that judgeth righteously. Legree took silent note, and rating him as
a first-class hand, made up his mind that Tom must be hardened; he had
bought him with a view to making him a sort of overseer, so one night he
told him to flog one of the women. Tom begged him not to set him at
that. He could not do it, "no way possible." Legree struck him
repeatedly with a cowhide. "There," said he stopping to rest, "now will
ye tell me ye can't do it?"
"Yes, mas'r," said Tom, wiping the blood from his face. "I'm willin' to
work, night and day; but this yer thing I can't feel it right to do; and
mas'r, I never shall do it, never!"
Legree looked stupefied--Tom was so respectful--but at last burst forth:
"What, ye blasted black beast! tell _me_ ye don't think it right to do
what I tell ye. So ye pretend it's wrong to flog the girl?"
"I think so, mas'r," said Tom. "'Twould be downright cruel, the poor
critter's sick and feeble. Mas'r, if you mean to kill me, kill me; but
as to my raising my hand against anyone here, I never will--I'll die
first." Legree shook with anger. "Here, Sambo!--Quimbo!" he shouted,
"give this dog such a breakin' in as he won't get over this month."
The two seized Tom with fiendish exultation, and dragged him
unresistingly from the place.
* * * * *
For weeks and months Tom wrestled, in darkness and sorrow--crushing back
to his soul the bitter thought that God had forgotten him. One night he
sat like one stunned when everything around him seemed to fade, and a
vision rose of One crowned with thorns, buffeted and bleeding; and a
voice said, "He that overcometh shall sit down with Me on My throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father upon His
throne."
From this time an inviolable peace filled the lowly heart of the
oppressed one; life's uttermost woes fell from him unharming.
* * * * *
Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man
has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear.
Tom lay dying at last; not suffering, for every nerve was blunted and
destroyed; when George Shelby found him, and his voice reached his dying
ear.
"Oh, Mas'r George, he ain't done me any real harm: only opened the gate
of Heaven for me. Who--who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
and with a smile he fell asleep.
* * * * *
As George knelt by the grave of his poor friend, "Witness, eternal God,"
said he, "Oh, witness that, from this hour, I will do what one man can
to drive out the curse of slavery from my land!"
* * * * *
EUGÈNE SUE
Mysteries of Paris
Joseph Marie Sue, known as Eugène Sue, is the most notable
French exponent of the melodramatic style in fiction. Sue was
born in Paris on December 10, 1804 He was the son of a
physician in the household of Napoleon, and followed his
father's profession for a number of years. The death of his
father brought him a handsome fortune, upon the receipt of
which he devoted himself exclusively to literature. His first
novel, "Kernock, the Pirate," which appeared in 1830, was only
in a small measure successful. It was followed in quick
succession by four others, but with like results. His next
attempt was the quasi-historical "Jean Cavalier." About this
time Sue became imbued with the socialistic ideas that were
then spreading through France, and his attempt to express
these in fiction produced his most famous work, "The Mysteries
of Paris," which was published in 1842. The story first
appeared as a feuilleton in the "Journal des Débats." Its
success was remarkable, exceeded only by its tremendous
popularity in book form. "The Mysteries of Paris" is partly
melodrama; it has faults both in construction and in art; its
characters are mere puppets, dancing hither and thither at the
end of their creator's string. Yet withal the novel brought
about many legislative changes in Paris through the light
which it cast on existing legal abuses. Sue died on August 3,
1859.
_I_
One cold, rainy evening towards the end of October 1838, a man of
athletic build wearing an old straw hat and ragged serge shirt and
trousers dived into the City ward of Paris, a maze of dark, crooked
streets which spreads from the Palace of Justice Notre Dame. This
district is the Mint, the haunt of a great number of low malefactors who
swarm in the low drinking-dens.
The man we noticed slackened his pace, feeling that he was "on his own
ground." It was very dark and gusts of rain lashed the walls.
"Good arternoon, La Goualeuse (Sweet-Throat)" said he to one of a group
of girls sheltering under a projecting window. "You're the very girl to
stand some brandy."
"I'm out of money, Slasher," said the girl trembling; for the man was
the terror of the neighbourhood.
He grasped her arm, but she wrenched herself loose and fled down a dark
alley, pursued by the ruffian.
"I'll have you," he exclaimed after a few seconds as he seized in his
powerful hand one altogether as soft and slight.
"You shall dance for it," a masculine voice broke in, and under the soft
delicate skin of the hand the Slasher felt himself grasped by muscles of
iron. For some seconds nothing was heard save the sounds of a deadly
strife.
The struggle was short, for the ruffian, although of athletic make and
of first rate ability in rough and tumble fights, found he had met his
master; he measured his length on the ground.
Burning with rage the Slasher returned to the charge, whereupon the
defender of La Goualeuse showered upon the cut-throat's head a
succession of blows so weighty and crushing and so completely out of the
French mode of fighting that the Slasher was mentally as well as bodily
stunned by them and gave up, muttering, "I'm floored. Except the
Skeleton with his iron bones and the Schoolmaster, no one till now could
brag of having set his foot on my neck."
"Well, come and drink a glass and you shall know who I am," said the
Unknown. "Come, don't nurse a grudge against me."
"Bear malice? Not a bit of it! You're best man, make no mistake!"
The three, now upon the best terms, directed their steps towards a
tavern. As the Unknown followed his companions a charcoal-seller
approached him and whispered in German, "Be on your guard, _Your
Highness_!" The Unknown waved his hand carelessly and entered the
tavern.
Over their drinks the three related to each other their histories.
The Slasher was a man of tall stature, with light hair and enormous red
whiskers. Notwithstanding his terrible surname his features expressed
rather brutal hardihood and unconquerable boldness, than ferocity. In
his childhood he had strolled about with an old rag and bone picker, who
almost knocked the life out of him. He had never known his parents. His
first employment was to help knockers cut horses' throats at Montfauçon
till cutting and slashing became a rage with him and he was turned out
of the slaughter-house for spoiling the hides. Later he enlisted and
served three years. Then one day the bullying of the sergeant roused the
old rage and he turned on him and cut and slashed as if he had been in
the slaughter-house. That got him fifteen years in the hulks. Now he was
a lighterman on the Seine rafts.
Sweet-Throat was not over sixteen and a half. A forehead of the whitest
surmounted a face perfectly oval and of angelic expression, such as we
see in Raphael's beauties. She was also called "Fleur-de-Marie,"
doubtless on account of the maiden purity of her countenance. She, too,
had never known her parents. When she was about seven years of age she
lived with an old and one-eyed woman, called Screech-Owl because her
hooked nose and round green eye made her resemble an owl that had lost
its eye. She taunted the child with being picked up from the streets and
sent her out begging, rewarding her with beatings if she did not bring
her at least six pence at night, until at last she ran away from
Screech-Owl and hid in a wood-yard for the night. Next day she was
found, taken before a magistrate and sent to a reformatory as a vagrant
until she was sixteen. It was a perfect paradise compared to
Screech-Owl's miserable roost. But when she came out she fell into the
hands of the Ogress who kept the inn they were now in. The clothes she
stood in belonged to the Ogress, she owed her for board and lodgings and
could not stir from her or she must be taken up as a thief.
Rudolph (for so we shall call the defender of La Goualeuse) listened
with deep interest to her recital, made with touching frankness. Misery,
destitution, ignorance of the world, had destroyed this wretched girl,
cast alone and unprotected on the immensity of Paris. He involuntarily
thought of a beloved child whom he had lost, who had died at six, and
would have been, had she lived, like Fleur-de-Marie, sixteen and a half
years old.
Rudolph appeared to be about thirty-six, tall, graceful, of a
contemplative air, yet with a haughty and imperious carriage of the
head. In other respects he sported with ease the language and manners
which gave him a perfect resemblance to the Ogress's other guests. He
represented himself as a painter of fans.
Presently the Schoolmaster entered the inn, with a woman. He was a
powerful, fleshy fellow with a face mutilated and scarred in a most
horribly repugnant fashion. The woman was old and her green eye, hooked
nose, and countenance, at once reminded Rudolph of the horrible woman of
whom Goualeuse had been the victim. Suddenly seizing his arm, Goualeuse
whispered "Oh! The Owl! The one-eyed woman!"
At this moment the Schoolmaster approached the table and said to Rudolph
"If you don't hand the wench over to me, I'll smash you."
"For the love of heaven, defend me," cried Goualeuse to Rudolph.
He rose and was about to attack the Schoolmaster when the
charcoal-dealer rushed into the inn, and coming up to him whispered in
German, "Your Highness, the countess and her brother are at the end of
the street."
At these words, Rudolph threw a louis on the counter and hurried towards
the door. The Schoolmaster attempted to stop him but fell heavily under
two or three blows straight from the shoulder.
Soon after he had gone two strangers entered, one in a military
frock-coat, the other easily detected as a woman in male attire. She was
the Countess Sarah Macgregor. They ordered drinks and proceeded to make
inquiries after Rudolph. When they left, the Schoolmaster and the
Screech-Owl followed them and robbed them in a dark street. But they
suffered the robbery quietly and even offered the ruffian and his woman
more to lay a trap for M. Rudolph. They parted, but an invisible
witness--the Slasher--had been present. Alarmed at the perils which
threatened his new friend, he resolved to warn him.
_II_
On the morrow Rudolph again made his way to the tavern and met the
Ogress, with whom he had a short conversation which resulted in his
paying La Goualeuse's debts to the old hag and taking the girl for a
drive in the country. They spent the day roaming about the fields.
Towards evening the carriage stopped at a farm near a pretty village and
to her amazed delight Rudolph told Fleur-de-Marie that she might stay
there with Mrs. George, the mistress of the farm. He explained his
sympathy for her in the loss of the child who would have been her age.
Fleur-de-Marie could not reply. She seized his hand, and before he could
prevent her, raised it to her lips with an air of modest submission;
then she followed Mrs. George, who was to play the character of her
aunt.
Before he left, Rudolph said to Mrs. George, "Marie will at least find a
corner in your heart?"
"Yes, I shall devote my time to her as I should be giving it to _him_,"
she said with emotion.
"Come, do not be again discouraged. If our search has been unsuccessful
hitherto, perhaps--"
"May the good God help you, M. Rudolph. My son would now be twenty. His
father would never reveal whether he lives. Since he was condemned to
the galleys, entreaties, prayers and letters have all been unanswered."
The next day Rudolph heard from the Slasher of the plot against him and
arranged to meet the Schoolmaster on the pretext of having a profitable
business on hand. The prospect of gain overcame the Schoolmaster's
suspicions and he and Screech-Owl met Rudolph in an inn. Rudolph
unfolded his scheme of entering a house in the Allee des Veuves, the
residence of a doctor gone into the country. The Schoolmaster agreed,
but insisted on their remaining together till the evening. On leaving
the inn Rudolph dropped a note, which he saw picked up by the
pseudo-charcoal-dealer, now attired as a gentleman.
The three retired to an inn of evil appearance, while Screech-Owl went
out to reconnoitre the house and grounds. She returned to the inn with a
favourable report. Suddenly the Schoolmaster threw himself on Rudolph
and hurled him into the cellar, locking the door behind him.
Rudolph's efforts to free himself were in vain. For hours he lay there,
gasping for breath. Suddenly, when he was about to suffocate, the door
was broken open, and he found himself fainting in the arms of the
Slasher.
When Rudolph recovered consciousness he was in his house, attended by
his doctor, a negro and the Slasher.
The Schoolmaster and the Screech-Owl had come to enter the house. The
Screech-Owl had remained at the gate to watch, but the Slasher, who had
observed all, had silenced her with a blow. Following the Schoolmaster
in, he came upon him as he was overcoming one of Rudolph's men and
downed him with another blow. Then the two robbers, being bound, were
carried in.
"Order them to bring him here," said Rudolph calmly, and the
Schoolmaster was carried in, bound with ropes. Rudolph addressed him.
"Escaped from the hulks, to which you were sentenced for life, you are
the husband of Mrs. George. What have you done with her son?"
Believing his hour was come he trembled and whimpered "mercy." He
confessed all, even his crimes, his murders, speaking now in the
grammatical French of his guiltless days.
"He lived in the Rue du Temple, where he passed as François Germain. He
left there; now I do not know where he is."
"Good; your life shall be spared. But I will paralyse the strength you
have criminally abused. Doctor David, do as I have told you."
The Schoolmaster was seized by two servants and carried into another
room. A few minutes later he was brought back.
"You are free," said Rudolph. "Go and repent. Here are five thousand
francs. You are harmless."
The two men loosened the cords which bound him, then took a bandage from
his eyes. He sprang up in rage and terror; then falling back, cried in
agony and fury, "I am blind!"
_III_
Rudolph was the reigning Duke of the German State of Gerolstein. While
he was a boy a Scotch adventuress, Lady Sarah MacGregor, and her
brother, Sir Thomas Seyton, had appeared in the little German court and
begun an intrigue that resulted in a secret marriage between Sarah and
Rudolph. The old duke, then alive, on hearing of this annulled the
marriage. To his son he gave a letter from Sarah to her brother,
betraying her cold-blooded ambitions. The young prince's love had
frozen. Sarah gave birth to a child in England, whither she had fled. To
all Rudolph's appeals for this child she gave no answer. She had turned
it over to Jacques Ferrand, a notary in Paris. Six years later he
reported the child's death, and both parents believed their unhappy
daughter to be dead, though she was, in fact, the unfortunate
Fleur-de-Marie.
It was Sarah who now, having learned of Rudolph's presence in Paris, had
hurried hither to seek an interview with him, hoping to effect a
reconciliation, now that the old Grand Duke was dead and Rudolph
sovereign Prince of Gerolstein. Rudolph was known for his fondness for
strange adventures, and Lady Sarah had hoped to catch him during one of
his visits to the lower quarters of the city, seeking any aid, however
low.
Rudolph, grateful to the Slasher for saving his life, presented him with
an estate in Algiers; and the following day he set out for Algeria.
Rudolph was determined to find the son of Mrs. George, the unfortunate
wife of the Schoolmaster. He had saved her from starvation and he meant
to satisfy the great longing that still possessed her, but for some
while he had no real success.
Meanwhile, unknown to Rudolph, a misfortune had come to Fleur-de-Marie.
While on a visit to a neighbouring farm one evening she was suddenly
seized by Screech-Owl and the blind Schoolmaster and carried off to
Paris. They forced an oath of secrecy from her and liberated her near a
police station. Screech-Owl then informed the police that a vagrant had
passed down the street, and Fleur-de-Marie was arrested and sent to St
Lazare. A forged note was sent to Mrs. George, appearing to be signed by
Rudolph. Fleur-de-Marie's abduction had been caused by Sarah, who,
believing Rudolph too much interested in her, decided to rid herself of
a possible rival. Screech-Owl was her tool.
Rudolph learned of Germain's address through a second-hand dealer who
had bought his furniture. He was employed as cashier in the office of a
notary, Jacques Ferrand. Rudolph had heard evil reports of this man,
though he was highly respected and known as a pious man. When Rudolph
finally attempted to communicate with Germain he learned that the young
man had been accused of theft from notary Ferrand and imprisoned.
Screech-Owl conceived of a scheme to blackmail the notary Ferrand. His
housekeeper, ten years before, had turned over to her a child which she
was to care for in consideration of one thousand francs. She obtained an
interview with Ferrand, but he denied all knowledge of the child.
Ferrand was, in fact, thoroughly frightened. He learned that
Fleur-de-Marie was in St. Lazare, and determined to paralyse
Screech-Owl's threats by removing Fleur-de-Marie.
On an island in the Seine lived a criminal family, the Martials, who
throve by thieving and murder. With Nicholas Martial, Ferrand arranged
that Marie was to be conducted across the river and upset. His
housekeeper met the girl at the prison door after the notary had
procured her release and, pretending she had come from Mrs. George,
brought her down to the river.
Once on the shore, the old woman signalled, and two boats came from the
island. Fleur-de-Marie felt an instinctive uneasiness on beholding the
foul face of Nicholas Martial. But she seated herself in the boat with
the old woman, and they shot out into the stream.
Half an hour later two gentlemen strolling along the opposite river-bank
saw the body of a young girl floating by and rescued it. One was a
doctor. Discovering signs of life, he set to work and presently a faint
glow of vitality revived. Then she was carried to his home.
That same night Screech-Owl appeared at the home of Countess Sarah,
keeping an appointment. Lady Sarah took the creature into her private
room and locked the door, leaving open only the passage from the garden
whence they had entered.
"Listen," said the Countess, "I want you to find me a girl of about
seventeen, one who has lost her parents very early, of agreeable face,
and a sweet temper."
Screech-Owl showed her astonishment.
"My little lady, have you forgotten La Goualeuse?"
"I have nothing to do with her," said Lady Sarah impatiently.
"But listen a moment. Take La Goualeuse; she was only six years old when
Jacques Ferrand gave her to me, with a thousand francs, to get rid of
her."
"Jacques Ferrand!" cried Sarah, "the notary?"
"Yes, what of it?"
"Ten years ago? Fair? With blue eyes?
"Yes."
"Ah, Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!" cried Sarah, falling on her knees. Suddenly
she rose. Hastily opening a secretary, she took from it an ebony casket,
which she opened. She took from it diamond necklaces and bracelets,
throwing them on the table in her hurry to reach the bottom.
"Is this she?" she cried, producing a small miniature.
"Yes."
Sarah took out paper and pen and began writing.
"Come," she said, "as you dictate, so I write. A written declaration--"
She did not finish. Screech-Owl brought down her arm and her dagger
entered Sarah's back between the shoulder-blades. She threw out her
hands and fell forward on the table.
Hastily gathering the jewels, the murderess slipped through the door
into the garden and escaped into the dark streets.
That night the police made one of the most notable hauls of the year;
they captured a group of notorious criminals in the act of murdering a
diamond-agent in a low-class resort on the banks of the Seine, among
them all the Martial family. In the cellar they found the blind
Schoolmaster chained to a pillar. He had been confined there by his
former comrades, who feared that in his helpless state he might fall
under the care of honest people and reveal to them the habits of his
associates. He was mad; in his arms he gripped, almost crushed, the dead
and mangled body of Screech-Owl, who, seeking to escape down the cellar,
had stumbled within the captive's reach.
_IV_
For some days Jacques Ferrand's clerks noticed in the notary a curious
change. He denied admission to his clients, though they knew his
interests suffered heavily thereby. His face thinned, his temples
hollowed, his complexion became ghastly yellow. In constant company with
him was a red-bearded man, known as Brodamonte.
Then came the announcement that Germain had been freed from prison, the
charges against him being dropped. Also that Monsieur Ferrand gave a
million francs to found a workingmen's bank where the poor could borrow
without paying interest. Germain was to be cashier.
Ferrand's sufferings were intense. Brodamonte, discovered in a criminal
act by Rudolph, was now his slave, and acted as his agent. Both were
watched by a well-concealed circle of spies. Brodamonte forced Ferrand's
system of restitution, under Rudolph's directions, who had succeeded in
obtaining from the notary by a trick papers which proved his crimes and
guilt. This was his punishment. A miser, he must give; and, always a
pious fraud, he was now compelled to place all his money in trust with
the good, simple old abbé he had long deceived.
By chance Rudolph now learned of the absence of the girl and the
deception that had caused Madame George to make no inquiries. He
suspected truly that La Goualeuse's abduction had been instigated by
Sarah.
Suddenly an idea burst upon him. Looking over the papers taken from
Ferrand, he saw that the notary had reason to fear the existence of a
certain child he had turned over to Screech-Owl ten years previously.
These suspicions changed to conviction when e learned that on the day of
Marie's release a woman had been drowned in the Seine. So great was his
rage that he now determined to revenge himself doubly on the criminal
notary.
The Countess Sarah was recovering slowly. Rudolph, believing her to be
dying, consented to visit her. He found her dressed and decked in her
jewels, but pale and weak.
"Rudolph, I am dying," she said; "I have something of great importance
to tell you." Her agitation was intense.
"Our child is not dead!" burst from her suddenly.
"Our child!"
"I tell you, she lives!"
"Enough, madame, you cannot deceive me. I know your schemes."
"But listen, I have proof!" she cried eagerly. "I have told you the
truth. You remember I had left the child with my notary to superintend
her education. He was false to me. She had not died, but was disposed of
to a woman known as the Screech-Owl, and----"
"No! No! I do not believe you--I do not wish to believe you!"
"See," she continued, "here is her portrait."
He seized the miniature. Yes, in the child's face were recognizable the
blue eyes, the oval face, the fair hair, so familiar to him in
Fleur-de-Marie.
"God!" he cried, "you wretched woman! La Goualeuse our daughter! Found,
only to lose her again. Dead!"
"No, she lives, Rudolph. Pity! I die!"
"Your child is dead, murdered. May the knowledge curse your last
moments!" And he rushed from the house, leaving Sarah in a fainting
condition.
Meanwhile, the Marquise d'Harville, a friend of Rudolph's, learned by
chance of the presence of La Goualeuse in the house of the doctor who
had rescued her from the Seine. Knowing Rudolph's keen interest in La
Goualeuse, Madame d'Harville determined to take her with her in her
carriage to convey the good news to Rudolph in person.
Some days later she appeared at Rudolph's magnificent apartments and
announced to him that Fleur-de-Marie was below in the carriage. Rudolph
rose, pale, supporting himself by the table. Madame d'Harville's
surprise restrained him.
"Ah, Clemence," he murmured, "you do not know what you have done for me.
Fleur-de-Marie is--my daughter!"
"Your daughter, your Highness?"
Then suddenly she understood. Fleur-de-Marie was brought up, and it
required Clemence to restrain Rudolph so that he broke the news gently.
Fleur-de-Marie was even then overcome, for she had loved Rudolph as she
would have loved her god.
Sarah died soon afterward. Rudolph asked Clemence d'Harville to become
mother to Marie, now the Princess Amelia, and they returned to Germany.
On setting out they passed in their carriage through a crowd attending
an execution. Several criminals in the crowd, recognising Rudolph,
attempted to attack him. Suddenly a man sprang forward in his defence,
but was stabbed by one of the crowd and fell dying. It was the Slasher.
"I could not go to Algiers," he murmured. "I wished to be near you,
Monsieur Rudolph."
A noble prince sought the hand of the Princess Amelia, but she, feeling
her past degradation, retired to a convent, where she died, beloved by
all, mourned deeply by Rudolph and Clemence.
Ferrand, the notary, died in convulsions, killing Brodamonte with a
poisoned dagger. Germain, restored to his mother, married happily, his
wife's dowry coming from the prince.
* * * * *
JONATHAN SWIFT
Gulliver's Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World
Jonathan Swift, the greatest and most original satirist of his
own, or perhaps of any age, was born in Dublin, Ireland, of
English parents, November 30, 1667. His poverty and abject
dependence upon his relatives in his early youth may have
given the first impetus to that bitter resentment and haughty
spirit of pride which characterized him through life. After a
somewhat troubled career in Trinity College, Dublin, he
removed to England, where he entered the household of the
retired English statesman, Sir William Temple, whose literary
executor he became ten years later. The advertisement which
this connection, and the performance of its final office, gave
him, led to his appointment to a small living and certain
other church emoluments in Ireland. In the following years he
paid several protracted visits to London, where by the power
of his pen and his unrivalled genius as a satirist of the
politics of his time, he rapidly rose to a most formidable
position in the State,--the intimate of poets and of
statesmen. And yet, owing to the opposition which his claims
met with at court, he derived no higher preferment for himself
than the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1713. In time
Swift reconciled himself to this change by vehemently
espousing the cause of the Irish against their English rulers,
and by his writings made himself as famous in that country as
he had formerly done in England. Gradually the gloom of
cerebral decay descended upon his magnificent intellect, and
he died October 19, 1745. "To think of his ruin," said
Thackeray, "is like thinking of the ruin of an empire." No
more original work of genius than Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"
exists in the English language. For sheer intellectual power
it may not be equal to the "Tale of a Tub," but as it has more
variety, so it has more art. "Gulliver" was published in 1726,
at a period when life's disappointments had ceased to worry
Swift. It is probable, however, that the book was planned some
years previously, the keenness of the satire on courts and
statesmen suggesting that his frustrated aims still rankled in
his mind. Curious is it that so perfect an artist should
nevertheless have missed the main purpose which he set himself
in this book, namely, "to vex the world rather than divert
it." The world refused to be vexed, and was hugely diverted.
The real greatness of "Gulliver" lies in its teeming
imagination and implacable logic. Swift succeeded in endowing
the wildest improbabilities with an air of veracity rivalling
Defoe himself. (See also Vol. X, p. 282.)
_I.--A Voyage to Lilliput_
My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire, but the charge of
maintaining me at Cambridge being too great, after three years there I
was bound apprentice to an eminent surgeon in London; in my spare time I
studied navigation, and mathematics, useful to those who travel, as I
always believed, at some time, it would be my fortune to do.
After studying physics in Leyden for two years, I became surgeon to the
Swallow, and made a voyage or two in the Levant. I then settled in
London, married, but after some years, my business beginning to fail,
having consulted with my wife, I determined to go again to sea and made
several voyages to the East and West Indies, by which I got some
addition to my fortune.
In 1699, being on a voyage in the South Seas, we were driven on a rock,
and the ship immediately split. I conclude my companions were all lost;
for my part, I swam as fortune directed me, and being pushed forward by
wind and tide, found myself at last within my depth, and had to wade
near a mile before I got to shore. I was extremely tired, and lay down
on the grass and slept soundly until daylight. I attempted to rise, but
found myself strongly fastened to the ground, not able to turn even my
head. I felt something moving gently up my leg, and over my breast, when
bending my eyes downward, I perceived a human creature, not six inches
high, with a bow and arrows in his hand; and felt a number more
following him. I roared so loud, they all fell off in a fright, but soon
returned. I struggled, and broke the strings that fastened my left hand,
but the creatures ran off before I could seize them, and I felt about a
hundred arrows discharged into my left hand, which pricked like so many
needles. I lay still, groaning with grief and pain, till some of the
inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened my head, when turning
it a little I saw one, who seemed to be a person of quality, who made me
a long speech, of which I understood not one word; but in which I could
observe many periods of threatening, and others of pity and kindness.
I answered in the most submissive manner, and being famished with hunger
(perhaps against the strict rules of decency), put my finger in my
mouth, to signify I wanted food. He understood me very well. Several
ladders were applied to my sides, and a hundred of the inhabitants
mounted, laden with food and drink, and supplied me as fast as they
could, with marks of wonder at my bulk and appetite.
It seems that at the first moment I was discovered, the Emperor had
notice by an express, and it was determined in council that I should be
secured and fed, and at once conveyed to the capital city.
A sleepy potion having been mingled with my wine, I again slept. These
people have arrived to a great perfection in mechanics, and by means of
cords and pulleys, in less than three hours, I was raised and slung on
to the largest of their machines, used for the carriage of trees and
other great weights. Fifteen hundred of the largest horses, each about
four and a half inches high, were employed to draw me towards the
metropolis. The Emperor and all his Court came out to meet us. In the
largest temple in the kingdom, disused because polluted by a murder some
years before, I was to be lodged, secured by fourscore and eleven chains
locked to my left leg. They were about two yards long and being fixed
within four inches of the gate of the temple, allowed me to creep in and
lie on the ground at my full length.
The Emperor is taller, by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his
court, his features strong and masculine, and his deportment majestic.
He had reigned for seven years in great felicity, and generally
victorious. I lay on my side, for the better convenience of beholding
him, but I have had him many times since in my hand, and therefore
cannot be deceived in this description. He held his sword drawn in his
hand to defend himself, if I should happen to break loose, and spoke to
me many times, and I answered, but neither of us could understand a
syllable.
The Emperor had frequent councils to debate what course should be taken
with me; they apprehended I might break loose; or might cause a famine;
but my behaviour had made a favourable impression, and his Majesty made
provision for me out of his own Treasury, and coming frequently to see
me, I soon learnt to express my desire for liberty, which was after a
time granted on certain conditions.
I soon learnt, in spite of its flourishing appearance, this country
laboured under two evils; a violent faction at home, and the danger of
invasion, by a most potent enemy, from abroad. The two parties in the
kingdom were distinguished by the high or low heels of their shoes. The
high heels were most agreeable to their ancient constitution, but the
present Emperor was determined only to make use of low heels in the
administration of the government--but the heir apparent seemed to have
some tendency to high heels.
They were threatened with an invasion from the Island of Blefusco, which
had been engaged in an obstinate war with Lilliput for a long time, on a
question of a schism in religion. They had now prepared a numerous
fleet, and were about to descend upon us, and his Majesty, in his
confidence in my strength and valour, laid this account of his affairs
before me.
_II. I Depart from Blefusco_
Having ascertained the depth of the channel between the two countries,
and viewed the enemy's fleet through my perspective glass, I obtained a
great quantity of cable and bars of iron. I twisted the bars into hooks
which I fixed to fifty cables, and walked into the sea, wading with what
haste I could, swam about thirty yards in the middle, and arrived at the
fleet in about half an hour.
The enemy were so frightened when they saw me that they fled, and swam
to shore. I then took my tackling, fixed a hook to each vessel, and tied
all my cords together at the end; but not a ship would stir, they were
held too fast by their anchors. The enemy's arrows disturbed me much,
but I resolutely cut all the cables, and with the greatest ease drew
fifty of the largest men of war with me. The tide had now fallen, and I
waded safe to the royal port of Lilliput, where the Emperor received me
with the highest honour. So immeasurable is the ambition of princes,
that he thought now of nothing less than the complete submission of
Blefusco; but I plainly protested "that I would never be an instrument
of bringing a free and brave people into slavery"; and the wisest part
of the Council were of my opinion.
His Majesty never forgave me, and an intrigue began which had like to
have been my utter ruin; but a considerable person at Court informed me
of the schemes against me, and I resolved at once to pay a visit to
Blefusco, whose Emperor had sent a solemn embassy to Lilliput with
humble offers of peace, and who received me with the generosity suitable
to so great a Prince.
Three days after my arrival I observed a boat overturned on the coast,
which with great difficulty I managed to get to the royal port of
Blefusco; I told the Emperor that my good fortune had thrown this boat
in my way, to carry me towards my native country, and begged his orders
for materials to fit it up, together with his license to depart, which,
after some kind expostulation, he was pleased to grant.
His Majesty of Lilliput had sent an envoy, to ask his brother of
Blefusco to have me sent back to be punished as a traitor with the loss
of my eyes; so that I resolved to "venture myself on the ocean rather
than be an occasion of difference between two such mighty monarchs."
I stored the boat with the carcasses of sheep and oxen, and with bread
and drink proportionable, and as much ready-dressed meat as four-hundred
cooks could provide. I took with me cows and bulls, and rams and ewes,
intending to propagate the breed in my own country; and would gladly
have taken a dozen or two of the natives, but this his Majesty would not
permit. Besides making a diligent search in my pockets, his Majesty
engaged my honour "not to carry away any of his subjects, although by
their own desire."
I set sail, and on the third day descried a sail steering to the
south-east. I made all the sail I could, and in half an hour she espied
me and flung out her flag and fired a gun.
My heart leaped within me to see her English colours, and putting my
cows and sheep into my pockets, I soon got on board with all my
provisions.
The Captain, a very civil man, and an excellent sailor, treated me with
kindness, and we arrived in England with only one misfortune: the rats
carried off one of my sheep. The rest I got safely ashore, and made a
considerable profit in showing them to persons of quality, and before I
began my second voyage I sold them for six hundred pounds.
I stayed but two months with my wife and family, for my insatiable
desire of seeing foreign countries would suffer me to stay no longer. I
left fifteen hundred pounds with my wife; my uncle had left me a small
estate near Epping of about thirty pounds a year, and I had a long lease
of the Black Bull in Fetter Lane; so that I was in no danger of leaving
my wife and family upon the parish. My son Johnny was at the grammar
school, and a towardly child. My daughter Betty (who is now well
married) was then at her needlework.
I took leave of them with tears on both sides, and went on board the
Adventure, a merchant ship of 300 tons, bound for Surat.
_III.--A Voyage to Brobdingnag_
We made a good voyage, until we had passed the Straits of Madagascar,
when the southern monsoon set in, and we were driven many leagues out of
our course. Being in distress for water, and coming in sight of land,
some of us went on shore in search of it. I walked alone about a mile,
when, seeing nothing to satisfy my curiosity, I was returning when I saw
our men already in the boat, and rowing for life to the ship, with a
huge creature walking after them, the sea up his knees.
I ran off as fast as I could, up a hill, and along what I took for a
highroad, but could see little, on either side the corn rising at least
forty feet, until I came to a stone stile, which it was impossible for
me to climb. I was looking for a gap in the hedge, when I saw one of the
inhabitants in the next field. He seemed as high as an ordinary spire
steeple, and took about ten yards at each step. I ran to hide myself in
the corn, whence I saw him at the stile calling out in a voice which at
first I certainly took for thunder. Seven monsters like himself then
came, and began to reap the field where I lay. I made a shift to get
away, squeezing myself between the stalks, till I came to a part laid by
the rain and wind. It was impossible to advance a step, and I heard the
reapers not a hundred yards behind me. Being quite dispirited with toil,
I lay down and began to bemoan my widow and fatherless children, when
one of the reapers came quite near me, and I screamed as loud as I
could, fearing I should be squashed to death by his foot. He looked
about, and at last espying me, took me carefully behind, between his
finger and thumb, as I myself had done with a weasel in England.
I resolved not to struggle, but ventured to put my hands together in a
supplicating manner, and say some words in a humble, melancholy tone,
and letting him know by my gestures how grievously he pinched my sides.
He seemed to apprehend my meaning, and put me gently in the lapel of his
coat, and ran along to show me to his master, the substantial farmer I
had first seen in the field.
He placed me gently on all fours on the ground, but I immediately got
up, and walked slowly backwards and forwards to let those people see I
had no intent to run away. They all sat down in a circle round me, and
the farmer was soon convinced I was a rational creature, but we were
quite unintelligible to one another. He put me gently in his
handkerchief and took me to show to his wife. She at first screamed, as
women do at a toad, but seeing how well I observed the signs her husband
made, she, by degrees, grew extremely fond of me.
A servant brought in dinner, and the farmer put me on the table. The
wife minced some bread and meat and placed it before me. I made her a
low bow, took out my knife and fork, and fell to eating, which gave them
great delight. The farmer's youngest son, an arch boy of ten, took me up
by the legs and held me so high in the air, that I trembled in every
limb; but the farmer snatched me from him and gave him such a box on the
ear, as would have felled a European troop of horse to the earth.
I fell on my knees, and pointing to the boy made my master understand I
desired his son to be pardoned. The lad took his seat again and I went
and kissed his hand, which my master took and made him stroke me gently
with it.
When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with a child of a year
old in her arms, who at once began to squall to get me for a plaything.
The mother, out of pure indulgence, held me up to the child, who seized
me by the middle and got my head into his mouth, where I roared so loud,
the urchin was frightened, and let me drop, and I should have infallibly
broke my neck, if the mother had not held her apron underneath.
My mistress, perceiving I was very tired, put me on her own bed after
dinner, and covered me with a clean white handkerchief; I slept, and
dreamed I was at home with my wife and children, which aggravated my
sorrows when I awoke, to find myself alone in a bed twenty feet wide.
Two rats had crept up the curtains, and had the boldness to attack me,
but I had the good fortune to rip one up with my hanger, before he could
do me any mischief, and the other ran away; though not without one good
wound. These creatures were the size of a large mastiff, and infinitely
more nimble and fierce. My mistress was extremely rejoiced to find I was
not hurt, and with her little daughter fitted me up the baby's cradle
against night, which was then placed on a shelf for fear of rats.
The daughter, nine years old, and not above forty feet high, was very
good natured, became my schoolmistress, and called me Grildrig, which
imports in English, mannikin. To her I chiefly owe my preservation: I
called her Glumdalclitch, or Little Nurse, and I heartily wish it was in
my power to requite her care and affection as she deserves, instead of
being, as I have reason to fear, the innocent unhappy instrument of her
disgrace.
My master, being advised to show me as a sight in the next town, I was
carried there in a box by Glumdalclitch on a pillion behind her father,
who, after consulting the inn-keeper, hired the crier to give notice to
the town of a strange creature to be seen not six feet long, resembling
in every part a human creature, could speak several words, and perform a
hundred diverting tricks.
I was shown that day till I was half dead with weariness and vexation,
for those who had seen me made such wonderful reports that the people
were ready to break down the doors to come in.
My master, finding how profitable I was likely to be, showed me in all
the considerable towns in the kingdom, till observing that I was almost
reduced to a skeleton, concluded I must soon die, and sold me to the
Queen for a thousand pieces of gold. Her Majesty asked me "whether I
should be content to live at Court?" I bowed down to the table, and
humbly answered, "I should be proud to devote my life to her Majesty's
service," and begged the favour that Glumdalclitch might be admitted
into her service and continue to be my nurse and instructor.
_IV.--At the Court of Brobdingnag_
Her Majesty agreed, and easily got the farmer's consent, and the poor
girl herself was not able to hide her joy.
The Queen was surprised at so much wit and good sense in so small an
animal, and took me in her own hand to the King, who, though as learned
a person as any in his dominions, conceived I might be a piece of
clockwork, until he heard me speak. He sent for three great scholars,
who, after much debate, concluded that I was only _lusus naturae_; a
determination agreeable to the modern philosophy of Europe, whose
professors have invented this wonderful solution of all difficulties, to
the unspeakable advancement of human knowledge.
I entreated to be heard a word or two, and assured them that I came from
a country where everything was in proportion, and where, in consequence,
I might defend myself and find sustenance. To which they only replied,
with a smile of contempt, saying, "that the farmer had instructed me
very well in my lesson." The King, who had a much better understanding,
dismissed his learned men, and after some further examination, began to
think what we told him might be true. A convenient apartment was
provided for Glumdalclitch, a governess to attend to her education, a
maid to dress her, and two other servants; but the care of me was wholly
appropriated to herself. I soon became a great favourite with the King;
my little chair and table were placed at his left hand, before the
salt-cellar, and he took pleasure in conversing with me, inquiring into
the laws, government, and learning of Europe. He made very wise
observations upon all I said, but once when I had been a little too
copious in talking of my beloved country, he took me up in his hand, and
in a hearty fit of laughter asked me if I were a Whig or a Tory? Then,
turning to his first minister, observed how contemptible a thing was
human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as I.
But as I was not in a condition to resent injuries, so upon mature
thoughts I began to doubt whether I was injured or no. For after being
accustomed to the sight of these people for some time, I really began to
imagine myself dwindled many degrees below my usual size. My littleness
exposed me to many ridiculous and troublesome accidents, which
determined Glumdalclitch never to let me go abroad out of her sight. I
was, indeed, treated with much kindness, the favourite of the King and
Queen, and the delight of the whole Court. But I could never forget the
domestic pledges I had left behind me, and longed to be again with
people with whom I could converse on equal terms.
About the beginning of the third year of my stay in this country,
Glumdalclitch and I attended the King and Queen in a progress round the
south coast. I was carried as usual in my travelling box, a very
convenient closet about twelve feet wide. I longed to see the ocean,
which must be the only scene of my escape, and desired leave to take the
air of the sea with a page who sometimes took charge of me.
I shall never forget with what unwillingness Glumdalclitch consented; we
were both much tired with our journey, and the poor girl was so ill as
to be confined to her chamber. The boy took me out in my box towards the
seashore, when ordering him to set me down, I cast many a wistful glance
toward the sea.
I found myself not very well, and hoping a nap would do me good soon
fell asleep. I conjecture as I slept the page went off to look for
birds' eggs, for I was awakened by finding myself raised high in the air
and borne forward with prodigious speed. I called out, I looked out, but
could see nothing but clouds and sky. I heard a great flapping of
wings--they increased very fast, and my box was tossed up and down, and
I felt myself falling with incredible swiftness. My fall was stopped by
a terrible squash, I was quite in the dark for a minute, then I could
see light from the tops of my windows. I had fallen into the sea. I did
then, and do now, suppose that the eagle, that had flown away with me,
was pursued by two or three others, and forced to let me drop. I was for
four hours, under these circumstances, expecting, and, indeed, hoping,
every moment to be my last.
I heard a grating sound on the side of my box, and soon felt I was being
towed along the sea, and called for help until I was hoarse. In return I
heard a great shout, giving me transports of joy, and somebody called in
the English tongue that I was safe, for my box was fastened to their
ship. The carpenter came, in a few minutes, and sawed a hole, through
which I was taken into the ship in a very weak condition.
The Captain, a worthy Shropshire man, was returning to England, and we
came into the Downs on the 3rd of June, 1706, about nine months after my
escape.
When I came to my own house my wife protested I should never go to sea
any more.
* * * * *
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
The Newcomes
William Makepeace Thackeray was born on July 18, 1811, at
Calcutta, where his father was in the service of the East
India Company. He was educated at Charterhouse School, then
situated in Smithfield, and spent two years at Trinity
College, Cambridge. After travelling on the continent as an
artist, he returned to London, and wrote for the "Examiner"
and "Fraser's Magazine," subsequently joining the staff of
"Punch." "The Newcomes," finished by Thackeray at Paris in
1855, was the fourth of his great novels. Without being in any
real sense a sequel to "Pendennis," it reintroduces us to
several characters of the earlier work, and is told in the
first person by Arthur Pendennis himself. The Gray Friars
School is the Charterhouse where Thackeray was at school. In
1859 Thackeray started the "Cornhill Magazine," and on
December 23, 1863, he died at Kensington. Besides his five
great novels, a large number of shorter stories and sketches
came from Thackeray's pen.
_I.--The "Cave of Harmony"_
It was in the days of my youth, when, having been to the play with some
young fellows of my own age, we became naturally hungry at twelve
o'clock at night, and a desire for welsh-rarebits and good old glee
singing led us to the "Cave of Harmony," then kept by the celebrated
Hoskins, among whose friends we were proud to count.
It happened that there was a very small attendance at the "cave" that
night, and we were all more sociable and friendly because the company
was select. The songs were chiefly of the sentimental class; such
ditties were much in vogue at the time of which I speak.
There came into the "cave" a gentleman with a lean brown face and long
black mustachios, and evidently a stranger to the place. At least he had
not visited it for a long time. He was pointing out changes to a lad who
was in his company; and, calling for sherry-and-water, he listened to
the music and twirled his mustachios with great enthusiasm.
At the very first glimpse of me the boy jumped up from the table, ran to
me with his hands out, and, blushing, said, "Don't you know me?"
It was little Newcome, my schoolfellow, whom I had not seen for six
years, grown a fine tall young stripling now, with the same bright blue
eyes which I remembered when he was quite a little boy.
"What the deuce brings you here?" said I.
He laughed and looked roguish. "My father--that's my father--would come.
He's just come back from India. He says all the wits used to come here.
I told him your name, and that you used to be very kind to me when I
first went to Smithfield. I've left now: I'm to have a private tutor."
Here the whiskered gentleman, Newcome's father, strode across the room
to the table where we sat, and held out his hand to me.
"I have heard of your kindness, sir," says he, "to my boy. And whoever
is kind to him is kind to me. Will you allow me to sit down by you? and
may I beg of you to try my cheroots."
We were friends in a minute--young Newcome snuggling by my side, and his
father opposite.
It was worth a guinea to see the simple Colonel, and his delight at the
music. He became quite excited over his sherry-and-water. He joined in
all the choruses with an exceedingly sweet voice; and when Hoskins sang
(as he did admirably) "The Old English Gentleman," and described the
death of that venerable aristocrat, tears trickled down the honest
warrior's cheek.
And now Mr. Hoskins asking if any gentleman would volunteer a song, what
was our amazement when the simple Colonel offered to sing himself. Poor
Clive Newcome blushed as red as a peony, and I thought what my own
sensations would have been if, in that place, my own uncle Major
Pendennis had suddenly proposed to exert his lyrical powers.
The Colonel selected the ditty of "Wapping Old Stairs," and gave his
heart and soul to the simple ballad. When the song was over, Clive held
up his head too, and looked round with surprise and pleasure in his
eyes. The Colonel bowed and smiled with good nature at our plaudits. "I
learnt that song forty years ago," he said, turning round to his boy. "I
used to slip out from Grey Friars to hear it. Lord! Lord! how the time
passes!"
Whilst he was singing his ballad, there had reeled into the room my
friend Captain Costizan, in his usual condition at this hour of the
night.
"Captain Costizan, will you take something to drink?"
"Bedad I will," says the Captain, "and I'll sing ye a song too."
Having procured a glass of whisky and water, the unlucky wretch, who
scarcely knew what he was doing or saying, selected one of the most
outrageous of what he called his prime songs, and began his music. At
the end of the second verse, the Colonel started up, and looking as
ferocious as though he had been going to do battle with a Pindaree,
roared out "Silence!"
"Do you dare, sir," cries the Colonel, trembling with anger, "to call
yourself a gentleman, and to say that you hold the king's commission,
and to sit down amongst Christians and men of honour, and defile the
ears of young boys with this wicked balderdash?"
"Why do you bring young boys here, old man?" cries a malcontent.
"Why? Because I thought I was coming to a society of gentlemen. I never
could have believed that Englishmen could meet together and allow an old
man so to disgrace himself. For shame! Go home to your bed, you hoary
old sinner! And for my part, I'm not sorry that my son should see for
once in his life to what degradation, drunkenness, and whisky may bring
a man. Never mind the change, sir!" says the Colonel, to the amazed
waiter. "Keep it till you see me in this place again, which will be
never--by George, never!" And shouldering his stick, and scowling round
at the company, the indignant gentleman stalked away, his boy after him.
Clive seemed rather shamefaced; but I fear the rest of the company
looked still more foolish.
_II.--Clive Newman in Love_
The Colonel, in conjunction with an Indian friend of his, Mr. Binnie,
took a house in London, No. 120, Fitzroy Square, and there was fine
amusement for Clive and his father and Mr. Binnie in the purchase of
furniture for the new mansion. It was like nobody else's house. What
cosy pipes did we not smoke in the dining room, in the drawing room, or
where we would!
Clive had a tutor, whom we recommended to him, and with whom the young
gentleman did not fatigue his brains very much; but his great _forte_
decidedly lay in drawing. He sketched the horses, he drew the dogs. He
drew his father in all postures--asleep, on foot, on horseback; and
jolly little Mr. Binnie, with his plump legs on a chair, or jumping
briskly on the back of a cob which he rode.
"Oh," says Clive, if you talk to him now about those early days, "it was
a jolly time! I do not believe there was any young fellow in London so
happy." And there hangs up in his painting-room now a head, with hair
touched with grey, with a large moustache, and melancholy eyes. And
Clive shows that portrait of their grandfather to his children, and
tells them that the whole world never saw a nobler gentleman.
Of course our young man commenced as an historical painter, deeming that
the highest branch of art. He painted a prodigious battle-piece of
Assaye, and will it be believed that the Royal Academicians rejected
this masterpiece? Clive himself, after a month's trip to Paris with his
father, declared the thing was rubbish.
It was during this time, when Clive and his father were in Paris, that
Mr. Binnie, laid up with a wrenched ankle, was consoled by a visit from
his sister, Mrs. Mackenzie, a brisk, plump little widow, and her
daughter, Miss Rosey, a blue-eyed, fair-haired lass, with a very sweet
voice.
Of course the most hospitable and polite of colonels would not hear of
Mrs. Mackenzie and her daughter quitting his house when he returned to
it, after the pleasant sojourn in Paris; nor indeed, did his fair guest
show the least anxiety or intention to go away. Certainly, the house was
a great deal more cheerful for the presence of the two pleasant ladies.
Everybody liked them. Binnie received their caresses very
good-humouredly. The Colonel liked every woman under the sun. Clive
laughed and joked and waltzed alternately with Rosey and her mamma. None
of us could avoid seeing that Mrs. Mackenzie was, as the phrase is,
"setting her cap" openly at Clive; and Clive laughed at her simple
manoeuvres as merrily as the rest.
Some months after the arrival of Mr. Binnie's niece and sister in
Fitzroy Square, Mrs. Newcome, wife of Hobson Newcome, banker, the
Colonel's brother, gave a dinner party at her house in Bryanstone
Square. "It is quite a family party," whispered the happy Mrs. Newcome,
when we recognised Lady Ann Newcome's carriage, and saw her ladyship,
her mother--old Lady Kew, her daughter, Ethel, and her husband, Sir
Brian, (Hobson's twin brother and partner in the banking firm of Hobson
Brothers and Newcome), descend from the vehicle. The whole party from
St. Pancras were already assembled--Mr. Binnie, the Colonel and his son,
Mrs. Mackenzie and Miss Rosey.
Everybody was bent upon being happy and gracious. Miss Newcome ran up to
the Colonel with both hands out, and with no eyes for anyone else, until
Clive advancing, those bright eyes become brighter still with surprise
and pleasure as she beholds him. And, as she looks, Miss Ethel sees a
very handsome fellow, while the blushing youth casts down his eyes
before hers.
"Upon my word, my dear Colonel," says old Lady Kew, nodding her head
shrewdly, "I think we were right."
"No doubt right in everything your ladyship does, but in what
particularly?" asks the Colonel.
"Right to keep him out of the way. Ethel has been disposed of these ten
years. Did not Ann tell you? How foolish of her! But all mothers like to
have young men dying for their daughters. Your son is really the
handsomest boy in London. Ethel, my dear! Colonel Newcome must present
us to Mrs. Mackenzie and Miss Mackenzie;" and Ethel, giving a nod to
Clive, with whom she had talked for a minute or two, again puts her hand
into her uncle's and walks towards Mrs. Mackenzie.
Let the artist give us a likeness of Ethel. She is seventeen years old,
rather taller than the majority of women. Youth looks out of her bright
eyes and flashes scorn or denial, perhaps too readily, when she
encounters flattery or meanness. Her smile, when it lights up her face
and eyes, is as beautiful as spring sunshine. Her countenance somewhat
grave and haughty, on occasion brightens with humour or beams with
kindliness and affection.
That night in the drawing room we found the two young ladies engaged
over an album, containing a number of Clive's drawings made in the time
of his very early youth, and Miss Ethel seemed to be very much pleased
with these performances.
Old Major Pendennis, whom I met earlier in the day, made some
confidential remarks concerning Miss Ethel and her relatives, which I
set down here. "Your Indian Colonel," says he, "seems a worthy man. He
don't seem to know much of the world and we are not very intimate. They
say he wanted to marry your friend Clive to Lady Ann's daughter, an
exceedingly fine girl; one of the prettiest girls come out this season.
And that shows how monstrous ignorant of the world Colonel Newcome is.
His son could no more get that girl than he could marry one of the royal
princesses. These banker fellows are wild after grand marriages. Mark my
words, they intend Miss Newcome for some man of high rank. Old Lady Kew
is a monstrous clever woman. Nothing could show a more deplorable
ignorance of the world than poor Newcome supposing his son could make
such a match as that with his cousin. Is it true that he is going to
make his son an artist? I don't know what the deuce the world is coming
to. An artist! By Gad, in my time a fellow would as soon have thought of
making his son a hairdresser, or a pastrycook, by Gad."
Lady Kew carried off her granddaughter Ethel, the Colonel returned to
India, and Clive, endowed with a considerable annual sum from his
father, went abroad with an apparatus of easels and painting boxes.
Clive found Lady Ann, with Ethel and her other children, at Bount on
their way to Baden Baden, and the old Countess being away for the time,
it seemed to Clive that the barrier between himself and the family was
withdrawn. He was glad enough to go with his cousins, and travel in the
orbit of Ethel Newcome--who is now grown up and has been presented at
Court.
At Baden Baden was Lady Kew; and Clive learning that Ethel was about to
be betrothed, and that his suit was hopeless, retreated, with his paint
boxes across the Alps to Rome.
_III.--Clive is Married_
It was announced that Miss Newcome was engaged to the Marquis Fairntosh,
but for all that no marriage took place. First the death of Lady Kew
made an inevitable postponement, and then Ethel herself shrunk from the
loveless match, and, in spite of Lord Fairntosh's protests, dismissed
the noble marquis.
But the announcement drove Clive to marry pretty little Rose Mackenzie.
The Colonel was back in England again, and for good--a rich man, thanks
to the success of the Bundeleund Bank, Bengal, in which his savings were
invested, and heavily displeased with Ethel's treatment of his son.
Clive's marriage was performed in Brussels, where Mr. James Binnie, who
longed to see Rosey wedded, and his sister, whom we flippantly ventured
to call the Campaigner, had been staying that summer. After the marriage
they went off to Scotland, and the Colonel and his son and
daughter-in-law came to London--not to the old bachelor quarters in
Fitzroy Square, but to a sumptuous mansion in the Tyburnian
district--and one which became people of their station. To this house
came Mrs. Mackenzie when the baby was born, and there she stayed.
In a pique with the woman he loved, and from that generous weakness
which led him to acquiesce in most wishes of his good father, the young
man had gratified the darling wish of the Colonel's heart, and taken the
wife whom his old friends brought to him. Rosey, who was also of a very
obedient and docile nature, had acquiesced gladly enough in her mamma's
opinion, that she was in love with the rich and handsome young Clive,
and accepted him for better or worse.
If Clive was gloomy and discontented even when the honeymoon had scarce
waned, what was the young man's condition in poverty, when they had no
love along with a silent dinner of herbs; when his mother-in-law grudged
each morsel which his poor old father ate--when a vulgar, coarse-minded
woman--as Mrs. Mackenzie was--pursued with brutal sarcasm one of the
tenderest and noblest gentlemen in the world; when an ailing wife,
always under some one's domination, received him with helpless
hysterical cries and reproaches!
For a ghastly bankruptcy overwhelmed the Bundeleund Bank, and with its
failure went all Colonel Newcome's savings, and all Mrs. Mackenzie's
money and her daughter's. Even the Colonel's pension and annuities were
swallowed up in the general ruin, for the old man would pay every
shilling of his debts.
When I ventured to ask the Colonel why Mrs. Mackenzie should continue to
live with them--"She has a right to live in the house," he said, "it is
I who have no right in it. I am a poor old pensioner, don't you see,
subsisting on Rosey's bounty. We live on the hundred a year secured to
her at her marriage, and Mrs. Mackenzie has her forty pounds of pension
which she adds to the common stock. They put their little means
together, and they keep us--me and Clive. What can we do for a living?
Great God! What can we do?"
But Clive was getting on tolerably well, at his painting, and many
sitters came to him from amongst his old friends; he had work, scantily
paid it is true, but work sufficient. "I am pretty easy in my mind,
since I have become acquainted with a virtuous dealer," the painter
assured me one day. "I sell myself to him, body and soul, for some half
dozen pounds a week. I know I can get my money, and he is regularly
supplied with his pictures. But for Rosey's illness we might carry on
well enough."
Rosey's illness? I was sorry to hear of that; and poor Clive, entering
into particulars, told me how he had spent upon doctors rather more than
a fourth of his year's earnings.
_IV.--The Colonel Says "Adsum" When His Name is Called_
Mention has been made of the Grey Friars school--where the Colonel and
Clive and I had been brought up, an ancient foundation still subsisting
at Smithfield.
On the 12th of December, the Founder's Day, a goodly company of old
Cistercians is generally brought together, to hear a sermon in chapel;
after which we adjourn to a great dinner, where old condisciples meet,
and speeches are made. In the chapel sit some three-score old gentlemen
pensioners of the hospital, listening to the prayers and the psalms.
The service for Founder's Day is a special one, and we hear--
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in
his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord
upholdeth him with his hand.
I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.
As we came to this verse in the psalms I chanced to look up from my book
towards the black-coated pensioners, and amongst them--amongst them--sat
Thomas Newcome.
There was no mistaking him. He wore the black gown of the pensioners of
the Hospital of Grey Friars. The steps of this good man had been ordered
hither by heaven's decree to this alms-house!
The organ played us out of chapel, and I waited until the pensioners
took their turn to quit it. The wan face of my dear old friend flushed
up when he saw me, and his hand shook in mine, "I have found a home,
Arthur," said he. "My good friend Lord H., who is a Cistercian like
ourselves, and has just been appointed a governor, gave me his first
nomination. Don't be agitated, Arthur, my boy; I am very happy. I have
good quarters, good food, good light and fire, and good friends. Why,
sir, I am as happy as the day is long."
We walked through the courts of the building towards his room, which in
truth I found neat and comfortable, with a brisk fire on the hearth, a
little tea-table laid out, and over the mantelpiece a drawing of his
grandson by Clive.
"You may come and see me here, sir, whenever you like--but you must not
stay now. You must go back to your dinner."
Of course I came to him on the very next day, and I had the happiness of
bringing Clive and his little boy to Thomas Newcome that evening. Clive
thought his father was in Scotland with Lord H.
It was at Xmas that Miss Ethel found an old unposted letter of her
grandmother's, Mrs. Newcome, asking her lawyer to add a codicil to her
will leaving a legacy of £6000 to Clive. The letter, of course, had no
legal value, but Ethel was a rich woman, and insisted that the money
should be sent, as from the family.
The old Colonel seemed hardly to comprehend it, and when Clive told him
the story of the legacy, and said they could now pay Mrs. Mackenzie,
"Quite right, quite right; of course we shall pay her, Clivy, when we
can!" was all he said.
So it was, that when happier days seemed to be dawning for the good man,
that reprieve came too late. Grief and years, and humiliation and care,
had been too strong for him, and Thomas Newcome was stricken down. Our
Colonel was no more our friend of old days. After some days the fever
which had attacked him left him, but left him so weak and enfeebled that
he could only go from his bed to the chair by his fireside.
Two more days and I had to take two advertisements to the _Times_ on the
part of poor Clive. Among the announcements of births was printed, "On
the 28th in Howland street, Mrs. Clive Newcome of a son, still born."
And a little lower, in the third division of the same column, appeared
the words, "On the 29th, in Howland street, aged 26, Rosaline, wife of
Clive Newcome, Esq." So this poor little flower had bloomed for its
little day, and pined and withered.
The days went on, and our hopes for the Colonel's recovery, raised
sometimes, began to flicker and fail. One evening the Colonel left his
chair for his bed in pretty good spirits, but passed a disturbed night,
and the next morning was too weak to rise. Then he remained in his bed
and his friends visited him there.
Weeks passed away. Our old friend's mind was gone at intervals, but
would rally feebly; and with his consciousness returned his love, his
simplicity, his sweetness. The circumstances of Clive's legacy he never
understood, but Ethel was almost always with him.
One afternoon in early spring, Thomas Newcome began to wander more and
more. He talked louder; he gave the word of command, spoke Hindustanee
as if to his men. Ethel and Clive were with him, and presently his voice
sank into faint murmurs.
At the usual evening hour the chapel bell began to toll, and Thomas
Newcome's hands feebly beat time. And just as the last bell struck a
peculiar sweet smile shone over his face, and he lifted up his head a
little, and quickly said "Adsum!" and fell back. It was the word we used
at school, when names were called; and lo, he, whose heart was as that
of a little child, had answered his name, and stood in the presence of
The Master.
* * * * *
The Virginians
"The Virginians" was published in 1859, and ranks as one of
its author's five great novels. It contains some excellent
description of fashionable life in England in the middle of
the eighteenth century. The "Lamberts" rank among Thackeray's
best character sketches.
_I.--Harry Warrington Comes Home_
One summer morning in the year 1756, and in the reign of his Majesty
King George the Second, the _Young Rachel_, Virginian ship, Edward
Franks, master, came up the Avon river on her happy return from her
annual voyage to the Potomac. She proceeded to Bristol with the tide,
and moored in the stream as near as possible to Frail's wharf, and Mr.
Frail, her part owner, who could survey his ship from his counting-house
windows, straightway took boat and came up her side.
While the master was in conversation with Mr. Frail a young man of some
nineteen years of age came up the hatchway. He was dressed in deep
mourning and called out, "Gumbo, you idiot, why don't you fetch the
baggage out of the cabin? Well, shipmate, our journey is ended. I
thought yesterday the voyage would never be done, and now I am almost
sorry it is over."
"This is Mr. Warrington, Madam Esmond Warrington's son of Castlewood,"
said Captain Franks to Mr. Frail. The British merchant's hat was
instantly off his head, and its owner was bowing, as if a crown prince
were before him.
"Gracious powers, Mr. Warrington! This is a delight indeed! Let me
cordially and respectfully welcome you to England; let me shake your
hand as the son of my benefactress and patroness, Mrs. Esmond
Warrington, whose name is known and honoured on Bristol 'Change, I
warrant you, my dear Mr. George."
"My name is not George; my name is Henry," said the young man as he
turned his head away, and his eyes filled with tears.
"Gracious powers, what do you mean, sir? Are you not my lady's heir? and
is not George Esmond Warrington, Esq--"
"Hold your tongue, you fool!" cried Mr. Franks.
"Don't you see the young gentleman's black clothes? Mr. George is
there," pointing with his finger towards the topmast, or the sky beyond.
"He is dead a year sir, come next July. He would go out with General
Braddock, and he and a thousand more never came back again. Every man of
them was murdered as he fell. You know the Indian way, Mr. Frail?
Horrible! Ain't it, sir? He was a fine young man, the very picture of
this one; only his hair was black, which is now hanging in a bloody
Indian wigwam. He was often on board on the _Young Rachel_, with his
chest of books,--a shy and silent young gent, not like this one, which
was the merriest, wildest young fellow full of his songs and fun. He
took on dreadful at the news, but he's got better on the voyage; and, in
course, the young gentleman can't be for ever a-crying after a brother
who dies and leaves him a great fortune. Ever since we sighted Ireland
he has been quite gay and happy, only he would go off at times, when he
was most merry, saying, 'I wish my dearest Georgie could enjoy this here
sight along with me,' and when you mentioned t'other's name, you see, he
couldn't stand it."
Again and again Harry Warrington and his brother had poured over the
English map, and determined upon the course which they should take upon
arriving at Home. The sacred point in their pilgrimage was that old
Castlewood in Hampshire, the home of their family, whence had come their
grandparents. From Bristol to Bath, to Salisbury, to Winchester, to
_Home_; they had mapped the journey many and many a time. Without
stopping in Bristol, Harry Warrington was whirled away in a postchaise
and at last drew up at the rustic inn on Castlewood Green. Then with a
beating heart he walked towards the house where his grandsire Colonel
Esmond's youth had been passed.
The family was away, and the housekeeper was busy getting ready for my
lord and my lady who were expected that evening. Harry wrote down his
name on a paper from his own pocket and laid it on a table in the hall;
and then walked away, not caring to own how disappointed he was. No one
had known him. Had any of his relatives ridden up to his house in
Virginia, whether the master were present or absent, the guests would
have been made welcome. Harry felt terribly alone. The inn folks did not
know the name of Warrington. They told him before he went to bed that my
lord Castlewood and his sister Lady Maria, and their stepmother the
Countess, and her son Mr. William, had arrived at the Castle, and two
hours later the Baroness Bernstein, my lord's aunt. Harry remembered
that the Baroness Bernstein was his mother's half-sister, for Colonel
Esmond's wife was the mother of Beatrice Bernstein who had married a
German baron, after marrying Bishop Tusher.
The Castlewoods were for letting their young American kinsman stay at
his inn, but Madam Bernstein, of whom all the family stood in awe, at
once insisted that Harry Warrington should be sent for, and on his
arrival made much of him. As for the boy, he felt very grateful towards
the lady who had received him so warmly.
Within six months Harry had fallen in love with Lady Maria, who was over
forty. He was wealthy and, thanks to Gumbo, his servant, the extent of
his estate had been greatly magnified by that cheerfullest of negroes.
The Castlewoods professed themselves indifferent to the love-making that
seemed to be going on between Harry and Maria, but Madam Bernstein was
indignant.
"Do you remember," she cried, with energy, "who the poor boy is, and
what your house owes to its family? His grandfather gave up this estate,
this title, this very castle, that you and yours might profit by it. And
the reward for all this is that you talk of marrying him to a silly
elderly creature, who might be his mother. He _shan't_ marry her."
So Madam Bernstein, having tired of Castlewood, decided that Maria must
accompany her to Tunbridge Wells and Harry was invited to act as escort,
and to stay a day or two at the Wells. At the end of the first day's
travel, when they had just reached Farnham, poor Maria was ill, and her
cheeks were yellow when she retired for the night.
"That absurd Maria!" says Madam Bernstein, playing piquet with Harry.
"She never had a good constitution. I hope she intends to be well
to-morrow morning. She was forty-one years old. All her upper teeth are
false, and she can't eat with them. How clumsily you deal, child!"
The next morning Lady Maria's indisposition was over, but Harry was
wretched. Then in the evening the horse Harry was riding, in the matter
of which he had been cheated by his cousin Will, at Castlewood, came
down on his knees and sent the rider over his head. Mr. Harry was picked
up insensible and carried home into a house called Oakhurst that stood
hard by the road.
_II.--Samaritans_
That Mr. Warrington is still alive can be proved by the following
letter, sent from the lady into whose house he was taken after his fall
from Mr. Will's broken-kneed horse, to Mrs. Esmond Warrington. "If Mrs.
Esmond Warrington of Virginia can call to mind twenty-three years ago,
she may perhaps remember Miss Molly Benson, her classmate, at Kensington
boarding school. Yesterday evening, as we were at tea there came a great
ringing at our gate, and the servants, running out returned with the
news that a young gentleman was lying lifeless on the road. At this, my
dear husband, Colonel Lambert (who is sure the most Samaritan of men)
hastens away, and presently, with the aid of the servants, and followed
by two ladies,--one of whom is your cousin, Lady Maria Esmond and the
other Baroness of Bernstein,--brings into the house such a pale,
beautiful young man! The ladies went on to Tunbridge when Mr. Warrington
was restored to consciousness and this morning the patient is very
comfortable and the Colonel, who has had plenty of practice in accidents
of this nature during his campaigns, pronounces that in two days more
Mr. Warrington will be ready to take the road.
"Madam, Your affectionate, humble servant,
"MARY LAMBERT."
Harry Warrington's dislocated shoulder having been set, he was well
enough to rise the following day, and Colonel Lambert lead his young
guest into the parlour and introduced him to his two daughters, Miss
Hester and Miss Theo. Three days later Mr. Warrington's health was
entirely restored and he was out walking with Mrs. Lambert and the young
ladies. What business had he to be walking with anybody but Lady Maria
Esmond on the Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells? Why did he stay behind, unless
he was in love with either of the young ladies? (and we say he wasn't).
Could it be that he did not want to go? Only a week ago he was
whispering in Castlewood shrubberies, and was he now ashamed of the
nonsense he had talked there? What if his fell aunt's purpose is
answered, and if his late love is killed by her communications? Surely
kind hearts must pity Lady Maria, for she is having no very pleasant
time of it at Tunbridge Wells. There is no one to protect her. Madam
Beatrix has her all to herself. Lady Maria is poor, and hopes for money
for her aunt, and Lady Maria has a secret or two which the old woman
knows and brandishes over her.
Meanwhile Harry Warrington remained day after day contentedly at
Oakhurst, with each day finding the kindly folks who welcomed him more
to his liking. Never, since his grandfather's death, had he been in such
good company. His lot had lain among fox hunting Virginian squires, and
until he left his home he did not know how narrow and confined his life
had been there.
Here the lad found himself in the midst of a circle where everything
about him was incomparably gayer, brighter and more free. He was living
with a man and woman who had seen the world, though they lived retired
from it, and one of the benefits which Harry Warrington received from
this family was to begin to learn that he was a profoundly ignorant
young fellow. He admired his brother at home faithfully, of his kinsman
at Castlewood he had felt himself at least the equal. In Colonel Lambert
he found a man who had read far more books than Harry could pretend to
judge of, and who had goodness and honesty written on his face and
breathing from his lips.
As for the women, they were the kindest, merriest, most agreeable he had
ever known. Here was a tranquil, sunshiny day of a life that was to be
agitated and stormy. He was not in love, either with saucy Hetty or
generous Theodosia: but when the time came for going away, he fastened
on both their hands, and felt an immense regard for them.
"He is very kind and honest," said Theo gravely as they watched him and
their father riding away.
"I am glad he has got papa to ride with him to Westerham," said little
Hetty. "I don't like his going to those Castlewood people. I am sure
that Madam Bernstein is a wicked old woman. I expected to see her ride
away on her crooked stick. The other old woman seemed fond of him. She
looked very melancholy when she went away, but Madam Bernstein whisked
her off with her crutch, and she was obliged to go."
_III.--Harry Warrington is Disinherited_
Our young Virginian found himself after a few days at Tunbridge Wells by
far the most important personage in the place. The story of his wealth
had been magnified, and his winnings at play, which were considerable,
were told and calculated at every tea-table. The old aunt Bernstein
enjoyed his triumphs, and bade him pursue his enjoyments. As for Lady
Maria, though Harry Warrington knew she was as old as his mother, he had
given her his word to marry her at Castlewood, and, as he said, "A
Virginian Esmond has but his word!"
Madam Bernstein offered her niece £5,000 to free Mr. Warrington of his
engagement but the offer was declined, and a few weeks later Lady Maria
returned to Castlewood, while Harry went to London. He knew that his
mother, who was mistress for life of the Virginian property, would
refuse her consent to his marriage, and the thought of it was put off to
a late period. Meanwhile it hung like a weight round the young man's
neck.
No wonder that his spirits rose more gaily as he came near London. He
took lodgings in Bond Street and lived upon the fat of the land. His
title of Fortunate Youth, bestowed upon him because of his luck at
cards, was prettily recognised. But after a few weeks of lavish success,
the luck turned and he lost heavily: the last blow was after a private
game at piquet with his kinsman Lord Castlewood. Harry Warrington had
now drawn and spent all his patrimony, and one evening when he was
leaving the house of his uncle Sir Miles Warrington,--his dead father's
elder brother,--two bailiffs took him for a debt of £500 and the
Fortunate Youth was lodged in a sponging house in Chancery Lane.
Madam Bernstein was willing to pay her nephew's debts at once if he
would break off his engagement with Lady Maria, but this the
high-spirited youth declined to do.
Castlewood wrote frankly and said he had not got enough money for the
purpose, and Lady Warrington sent a tract and said Sir Miles was away
from home. But for his faithful servant Gumbo, Harry would have wanted
ready money for his food.
It was Colonel Lambert, of whom Harry had seen little since he left
Oakhurst, who came to his young friend's assistance. But the same night
which saw Colonel Lambert at the sponging house saw the reappearance of
his brother George.
"I am the brother whom you have heard of, sir," he said, addressing
Colonel Lambert; "and who was left for dead in Mr. Braddock's action:
and came to life again after eighteen months amongst the French; and
live to thank God, and thank you for your kindness to my Harry. I can
never forget that you helped my brother at his need."
While the two brothers were rejoicing over their meeting, "the whole
town" was soon busy talking over the news that Mr. Harry Warrington was
but a second son, and no longer the heir to a principality and untold
wealth.
George loved his brother too well to have any desire for the union with
Lady Maria, and lost no time in explaining to Lord Castlewood that Harry
had no resources save dependence,--"and I know no worse lot than to be
dependent on a self-willed woman like our mother. The means my brother
had to make himself respected at home he hath squandered away here."
To Harry himself George repeated these words and added:
"My dear, I think one day you will say I have done my duty."
That night after the two brothers had dined together Harry went out, and
did not return for three hours.
"It was shabby to say I would not aid him, and God help me, it was not
true. I won't leave him, though he marries a blackamoor," thought George
as he sat alone.
Presently Harry came in, looking ghastly pale. He came up and took his
brother's hand.
"Perhaps what you did was right," he said, "though I, for one, will
never believe that you would throw your brother off in distress. At
dinner I thought suddenly, I'll say to her, 'Maria, poor as I am, I am
yours to take or to leave. If you will have me, here I am: I will
enlist: I will work: I will try and make a livelihood for myself
somehow, and my bro--my relations will relent, and give us enough to
live on.' That's what I determined to tell her; and I did, George. I
found them all at dinner, all except Will; that is, I spoke out that
very moment to them all, sitting round the table over their wine.
'Maria,' says I, 'a poor fellow wants to redeem his promise which he
made when he fancied he was rich. Will you take him?' I found I had
plenty of words, and I ended by saying 'I would do my best and my duty
by her, so help me God!'
"When I had done, she came up to me quite kind. She took my hand, and
kissed it before the rest. 'My dear,' she said, 'I have long seen it was
only duty and a foolish promise made by a young man to an old woman,
that has held you to your engagement. To keep it would make you
miserable, and I absolve you from it, thanking you with all my heart for
your fidelity, and blessing my dear cousin always.' And she came up to
me and kissed me before them all, and went out of the room quite
stately, and without a single tear. Oh, George, isn't she a noble
creature?"
"Here's her health," cries George, filling a glass.
"Hip, hip, huzzay!" says Harry. He was wild with delight at being free.
Madame Bernstein was scarcely less pleased than her Virginian nephews at
the result of Harry's final interview with Lady Maria.
_IV.--From the Warrington MSS._
My brother Harry Warrington went to Canada to serve tinder General
Wolfe, and remained with the army after the death of his glorious
commander. And I, George Warrington, stayed in London, read law in the
Temple, and wrote plays which were performed at Covent Garden, and was
in love with Miss Theodosia Lambert. Madame Esmond Warrington, however,
refused her consent to the match, and Major General Lambert declared an
engagement impossible under the circumstances.
Then in 1760, when George II. was dead, and George III. was king,
General Lambert was appointed to be governor and commander-in-chief of
the Island of Jamaica. His speedy departure was announced, he would have
a frigate given him, and _take his family with him._ Merciful powers!
and were we to be parted?
At last, one day, almost the last of his stay, when the General's
preparations for departure were all made, the good man (His Excellency
we call him now) canoe home to his dinner and sighed out to his wife:
"I wish, Molly, George was here. I may go away and never see him again,
and take his foolish little sweetheart along with me. I suppose you will
write to each other, children? I can't prevent that, you know."
"George is in the drawing-room," says mamma, quietly.
"Is he? my dearest boy!" cries the general. "Come to me--come in!" And
when I entered he held me to his heart and kissed me.
"Always loved you as a son--haven't I, Molly?" he mutters hurriedly.
"Broke my heart nearly when I quarrelled with you about this
little--What, all down on your knees! In heaven's name, tell me what has
happened!"
What had happened was, that George Esmond Warrington and Theodosia
Lambert had been married in Southwark Church that morning.
I pass over the scenes of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of final
separation when the ship sailed away before us, leaving me and Theo on
the shore. And there is no need to recall her expressions of maternal
indignation when my mother was informed of the step I had taken. On the
pacification of Canada, my dear Harry dutifully paid a visit to
Virginia, and wrote describing his reception at home.
Many were the doubts and anxieties which, for my last play had been a
failure, now beset us, and plan after plan I tried for procuring work
and adding to our dwindling stock of money. By a hard day's labour at
translating from foreign languages for the booksellers, I could earn a
few shillings--so few that a week's work would hardly bring me a guinea.
Hard times were not over with us till some time after the Baroness
Bernstein's death (she left everything she had to her dear nephew, Henry
Esmond Warrington), when my uncle Sir Miles procured me a post as one of
his Majesty's commissioners for licensing hackney coaches. His only
child was dead, and I was now heir to the Baronetcy.
Then one morning, before almost I had heard of my uncle's illness, a
lawyer waits upon me at my lodgings in Bloomsbury, and salutes me by the
name of Sir George Warrington.
The records of a prosperous country life are easily told. Obedient
tenants bowed and curtsied as we went to church, and we drove to visit
our neighbours in the great family coach.
Shall I ever see the old mother again, I wonder! When Hal was in
England, we sent her pictures of both her sons painted by the admirable
Sir Joshua Reynolds. We never let Harry rest until he had asked Hetty in
marriage. He obeyed, and it was she who declined. "She had always," she
wrote, "the truest regard for him from the dear old time when they had
met almost children together. But she would never leave her father. When
it pleased God to take him, she hoped she would be too old to think of
bearing any other name but her own."
My brother Hal is still a young man, being little more than 50, and
Hetty is now a staid little lady. There are days when she looks
surprisingly young and blooming. Why should Theo and I have been so
happy, and thou so lonely?
* * * * *
Vanity Fair
"Vanity Fair" was published in 1848, and at once placed its
author in the front rank of novelists. It was followed by
"Pendennis" in 1850, "Esmond" in 1852, "The Newcomes" in 1855,
and "The Virginians" in 1859. Some critics profess to see
manifested in "Vanity Fair" a certain sharpness and sarcasm in
Thackeray's character which does not appear in his later
works, but however much the author may have mellowed in his
later novels, "Vanity Fair" continues to be his acknowledged
masterpiece, and of all the characters he drew, Becky Sharp is
the best known.
_I.--Miss Sharp Opens Her Campaign_
One sunshiny morning in June there drove up to the great iron gate of
Miss Pinkerton's academy for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall, a large
family coach with two fat horses in blazing harness.
"It is Mrs. Sedley's coach, sister," said Miss Jemima. The day of
departure had come, and Miss Amelia Sedley, an amiable young lady, was
glad to go home, and yet woefully sad at leaving school. Miss Rebecca
Sharp, whose father had been an artist, accompanied Amelia, to pass a
week with her friend in Russell Square before she entered upon her
duties as governess in Sir Pitt Crawley's family.
Thus the world began for these two young ladies. For Amelia it was quite
a new, fresh, brilliant world, with all the bloom upon it. It was not
quite a new one for Rebecca, who, before she came to the Mall, as a
governess-pupil, had turned many a dun away from her father's door. She
had never been a girl, she said: she had been a woman since she was
eight years old.
At Russell Square Rebecca saw the two magnificent Cashmere shawls which
Joseph Sedley of the East India Company's Civil Service had brought home
to his sister, said with perfect truth that it must be delightful to
have a brother, and easily got the pity of the tender-hearted Amelia for
being alone in the world. A series of queries, addressed to her friend,
brought Rebecca, who was but nineteen, to the following conclusion:--"As
Mr. Joseph Sedley is rich and unmarried, why should I not marry him? I
have only a fortnight, to be sure, but there is no harm in trying." I
don't think we have any right to blame her, if Rebecca did not set her
heart upon the conquest of this beau, for she had no kind parents to
arrange these delicate matters for her.
But Mr. Joseph Sedley, greedy, vain, and cowardly, would not be brought
up to the sticking point. Young George Osborne, Captain of the --th, old
Sedley's godson, and the accepted lover of Amelia, thought Joseph was a
milksop. He turned over in his mind, as the Sedleys did, the possibility
of marriage between Joseph and Rebecca, and was not over well pleased
that a member of a family into which he, George Osborne, was going to
marry, should make a mesalliance with a little nobody--a little upstart
governess. "Hang it, the family's low enough already without _her_,"
Osborne said to his friend Captain Dobbin. "A governess is all very
well, but I'd rather have a lady for my sister-in-law. I'm a liberal
man; but I've proper pride, and know my own station: let her know hers.
And I'll take down that hectoring Nabob, and prevent him from being made
a greater fool than he is. That's why I told him to look out, lest she
brought an action against him."
Joseph Sedley fled to Cheltenham, and Rebecca said in her heart, "It was
George Osborne who prevented my marriage." And she loved George Osborne
accordingly.
Miss Amelia would have been delighted that Joseph should carry back a
wife to India. Old Mr. Sedley was neutral. "Let Joseph marry whom he
likes," he said to his wife. "It's no affair of mine. This girl has no
fortune; no more had Mrs. Sedley. She seems good-humoured and clever,
and will keep him in order, perhaps. Better she, my dear, than a black
Mrs. Sedley, and a dozen of mahogany grandchildren. As I am perfectly
sure that if you and I and his sister were to die to-morrow, he would
say 'Good Gad!' and eat his dinner just as well as usual, I am not going
to make myself anxious about him. Let him marry whom he likes. It's no
affair of mine."
If he had had the courage, Joseph Sedley's bachelorhood would have been
at an end. He did not lie awake all night thinking whether or not he was
in love with Miss Sharp; the passion of love never interfered with the
appetite or the slumber of Mr. Joseph Sedley; but he thought to himself
how delightful it would be to hear such songs as Miss Sharp could sing
in India--what a _distinguée_ girl she was--how she could speak French
better than the governor-general's lady herself--and what a sensation
she would make at the Calcutta balls. "It's evident the poor devil's in
love with me" thought he. "She is just as rich as most of the girls who
come out to India. I might go further and fare worse, egad!"
Then came an evening at Vauxhall, on which occasion Dobbin, George
Osborne, and Joseph Sedley escorted Amelia and Rebecca, and the Indian
civilian got hopelessly tipsy on a bowl of rack punch. The next morning,
which Rebecca thought was to dawn upon her fortune, found Sedley
groaning in agonies, soothing the fever of his previous night's potation
with small beer--for soda water was not invented yet. George Osborne,
calling upon him, so frightened the unhappy Joseph with stories of his
overnight performance, that instead of proposing marriage Joseph Sedley
hastened away to Cheltenham that day, sending a note to Amelia praying
her to excuse him to Miss Sharp for his conduct.
It was now clear to every soul in the house, except poor Amelia, that
Rebecca should take her departure, and accordingly she set out for the
residence of Sir Pitt Crawley, Baronet, of Queen's Crawley, Hants. Sir
Pitt had two sons by his first wife, Pitt and Rawdon; and by his second
wife, two daughters,--for whose benefit Miss Rebecca Sharp was now
engaged as governess. It will be seen that the young lady was come into
a family of very genteel connections, and was about to move in a much
more distinguished circle than the one she had just quitted in Russell
Square.
_II.--Two Marriages_
Before Rebecca had been a year at Queen's Crawley she had quite won the
Baronet's confidence. She was almost mistress of the house when Mr.
Crawley was absent, but conducted herself in her new and exalted
situation with such circumspection and modesty as not to offend the
authorities of the kitchen and stable.
The elder and younger son of the house of Crawley hated each other
cordially, and Rawdon Crawley, who was in the heavy dragoons, seldom
came to the place except when Miss Crawley paid her annual visit. The
great good quality of this old lady was that she possessed seventy
thousand pounds, and had almost adopted Rawdon.
Both Miss Crawley and Rawdon were charmed with Rebecca, and on Lady
Crawley's death Sir Pitt said to his children's governess, "I can't get
on without you. Come and be my wife. You're as good a lady as ever I
see. Say yes, Becky. I'm good for twenty years. I'll make you happy, see
if I don't."
Rebecca started back a picture of consternation, "O Sir Pitt!" she
said--"O sir--I--I'm married already!"
* * * * *
"Suppose the old lady doesn't come round, eh, Becky?" Rawdon said to his
little wife, as they sat together in their snug Brompton lodgings, a few
weeks later.
"_I'll_ make your fortune," she said.
But old Miss Crawley did not come round, and Captain Rawdon Crawley and
Rebecca went to Brussels in June 1815 with the flower of the British
Army.
Another young married couple also went to Brussels at that time, Captain
George Osborne and Amelia his wife.
The landing of Napoleon at Cannes in March, 1815, brought, amongst other
things, ruin to the worthy old stockbroker John Sedley, and the most
determined and obstinate of his creditors was his old friend and
neighbour John Osborne--whom he had set up in life, and whose son was to
marry his daughter, and who consequently had the intolerable sense of
former benefit to goad and irritate him.
Joseph Sedley acted as a man of his disposition would; when the
announcement of the family misfortune reached him. He did not come to
London, but he wrote to his mother to draw upon his agents for whatever
money was wanted, so that his kind broken-spirited old parents had no
present poverty to fear. This done, Joseph went on at his boarding-house
at Cheltenham pretty much as before.
Amelia took the news very pale and calmly. A brutal letter from John
Osborne told her in a few curt lines that all engagements between the
families were at an end, and old Joseph Sedley spoke with almost equal
bitterness. No power on earth, he swore, would induce him to marry his
daughter to the son of such a villain, and he ordered Emmy to banish
George from her mind.
It was Captain William Dobbin, who, having made up his mind that Miss
Sedley would die of the disappointment, found himself the great promoter
of the match between George Osborne and Amelia.
To old Sedley's refusal Dobbin answered finally, "If you don't give your
daughter your consent it will be her duty to marry without it. What
better answer can there be to Osborne's attacks on you, than that his
son claims to enter your family and marry your daughter?"
George Osborne parted in anger from his father.
"I ain't going to have any of this damn sentimental nonsense here, sir,"
old Osborne cried out at the end of the interview. "There shall be no
beggar-marriages in my family." He pulled frantically at the cord to
summon the butler and, almost black in the face, ordered that
functionary to call a coach for Captain Osborne.
George told Dobbin what had passed between his father and himself.
"I'll marry her to-morrow," he said, with an oath. "I love her more
every day, Dobbin."
So on a gusty, raw day at the aid of April Captain Osborne and Captain
Dobbin drove down to a certain chapel near the Fulham Road.
"Here you are," said Joseph Sedley, coming forward. "What a day, eh?
You're five minutes late, George, my boy. Come along; my mother and Emmy
are in the vestry."
There was nobody in the church besides the officiating persons and a
small marriage party and their attendants. Old Sedley would not be
present. Joseph acted for his father giving away the bride, whilst
Captain Dobbin stepped up as groomsman to his friend George.
"God bless you, old Dobbin," George said, grasping him by the hand, when
they went into the vestry and signed the register. William replied only
by nodding his head; his heart was too full to say much.
Ten days after the above ceremony Dobbin came down to Brighton, where
not only Captain Osborne and Amelia, but also the Rawdon Crawleys were
enjoying themselves, with news. He had seen old Osborne, and tried to
reconcile him to his son's marriage, with the result that he left the
implacable old man in a fit. He had also learnt from his old Colonel
that in a day or two the army would get its marching orders, for
Belgium.
"It's my opinion, George," he said, "that the French Emperor will be
upon us before three weeks are over. But you need not say that to Mrs.
Osborne, you know, and Brussels is full of fine people and ladies of
fashion."
Little Amelia, it must be owned, had rather a mean opinion of her
husband's friend, Captain Dobbin. He was very plain and homely-looking,
and exceedingly awkward and ungainly. Not knowing him intimately as yet,
she made light of honest William; and he knew her opinions of him quite
well, and acquiesced in them very humbly. A time came when she knew him
better, and changed her notions regarding him; but that was distant as
yet.
As for Rebecca, Captain Dobbin had not been two hours in the ladies'
company before she understood his secret perfectly. She did not like
him, and feared him privately. He was so honest, that her arts did not
affect him, and he shrank from her with instinctive repugnance.
On May 8 George Osborne received a letter from his father's lawyer,
informing him that "in consequence of the marriage which he had been
pleased to contract Mr. Osborne ceases to consider him henceforth as a
member of his family. This determination is final and irrevocable."
Within a week of this epistle George Osborne and his wife, Dobbin,
Joseph Sedley, and the Rawdon Crawleys, were on their way to Brussels.
_III.--After Waterloo_
About three weeks after the 18th of June, Alderman Sir William Dobbin
called at Mr. Osborne's house in Russell Square, and insisted upon
seeing that gentleman. "My son," the Alderman said, with some
hesitation, "dispatched me a letter by an officer of the --th, who
arrived in town to-day. My son's letter contains one for you, Osborne."
The letter was in George's well-known bold handwriting. He had written
it before daybreak on the 16th of June, just before he took leave of
Amelia. The very seal that sealed it had been robbed from George's dead
body on the field of battle. The father knew nothing of this, but sat
and looked at the letter in terrified vacancy.
The poor boy's letter did not say much. He had been too proud to
acknowledge the tenderness which his heart felt. He only said that on
the eve of a great battle he wished to bid his father farewell, and
solemnly to implore his good offices for the wife--it might be for the
child--whom he had left behind. His English habit, pride, awkwardness,
perhaps, had prevented him from saying more. His father could not see
the kiss George had placed on the superscription of his letter. Mr.
Osborne dropped it with the bitterest, deadliest pang of balked
affection and revenge. His son was still beloved and unforgiven.
Two months afterwards an elaborate funeral monument to the memory of
Captain George Osborne appeared on the wall of the church which Mr.
Osborne attended, and in the autumn the old man went to Belgium.
George's widow was still in Brussels, and very many of the brave --th,
recovering of their wounds. The city was a vast military hospital for
months after the great battle.
Mr. Osborne made the journey of Waterloo and Quarter Bras soon after his
arrival, and his carriage, nearing the gates of the city at sunset, met
another open barouche by the side of which an officer was riding.
Osborne gave a start back, but Amelia, for it was she, though she stared
blank in his face did not know him. Her face was white and thin; her
eyes were fixed, and looked nowhere. Osborne saw who it was and hated
her--he did not know how much until he saw her there. Her carriage
passed on; a minute afterwards a horse came clattering over the pavement
behind Osborne's carriage, and Major Dobbin rode up.
"Mr. Osborne, Mr. Osborne!" cried Dobbin, while the other shouted to his
servant to drive on. "I will see you, sir; I have a message for you."
"From that woman?" said Osborne fiercely.
"No, from your son." At which Osborne fell back into his carriage and
Dobbin followed him to his hotel and up to his apartments.
"Make it short, sir," said Osborne, with an oath.
"I'm here as your son's closest friend," said the Major, "and the
executor of his will. Are you aware how small his means were, and of the
straitened circumstances of his widow? Do you know, sir, Mrs. Osborne's
condition? Her life and her reason almost have been shaken by the blow
which has fallen on her. She will be a mother soon. Will you visit the
parent's offence upon the child's head? Or will you forgive the child
for poor George's sake?"
Osborne broke into a rhapsody of self praise and imprecations. No father
in all England could have behaved more generously to a son who had
rebelled against him, and had died without even confessing he was wrong.
As for himself, he had sworn never to speak to that woman, or to
recognise her as his son's wife. "And that's what I will stick to till
the last day of my life," he concluded, with an oath.
There was no hope from that quarter then. The widow must live on her
slender pittance, or on such aid as Joseph could give her.
For six years Amelia did live on this pittance in shabby genteel poverty
with her boy and her parents in Fulham. Dobbin and Joseph Sedley were in
India now, and old Sedley, always speculating in bootless schemes, once
more brought ruin on his family.
Mr. Osborne had seen his grandson, and had formally offered to take the
boy and make him heir to the fortune intended for his father. He would
make Mrs. George Osborne an allowance, such as to assure her a decent
competency. But it must be understood that the child would live entirely
with his grandfather in Russell Square, and that he would be
occasionally permitted to see Mrs. George Osborne at her own residence.
At first Amelia rejected the offer with indignation. It was only on the
knowledge that her father, in his speculations, had made away with the
annuity from Joseph that poverty and misery made her capitulate. Her
own, pittance would barely enable her to support her parents, and would
not suffice for her son.
"What! Mrs. Pride has come down, has she?" old Osborne said when with a
tremulous, eager voice, Miss Osborne, the only unmarried daughter, read
him Amelia's letter.
"Regular starve out, hey? ha, ha! I knew she would." He tried to keep
his dignity, as he chuckled and swore to himself behind his paper.
"Get the room over mine--his room that was--ready. And you had better
send that woman some money," Mr. Osborne said before he went out. "She
shan't want for nothing. Send her a hundred pound. But she don't come in
here, mind. No, not for all the money in London."
A few days are past, and the great event of Amelia's life is
consummated. The child is sacrificed and offered up to fate, and the
widow is quite alone.
It was about this time when the Rawdon Crawleys, after contriving to
live well on nothing a year, for a considerable period, came to smash.
Rawdon retired to the Governorship of Coventry Island, a post procured
for him by the influence of that great nobleman the Marquis of Steyne,
and who cared what became of Becky? It was said she went to Naples.
Rawdon certainly declined to be reconciled to her, because of the money
she had received from Lord Steyne and which she had concealed from her
husband. "If she's not guilty, she's as bad as guilty; and I'll never
see her again--never," he said.
_IV.--Colonel Dobbin Leaves the Army_
Good fortune began to smile upon Amelia when Joseph Sedley, once more
came back to England, a rich man, and with him Major Dobbin. But the
round of decorous pleasure in which the Sedley family now indulged was
soon broken by Mrs. Sedley's death, and old Sedley was not long in
following his wife whither she had preceded him.
A change was coming over old Osborne's mind. He found that Major Dobbin
was a distinguished officer, and one day looking into his grandson's
accounts he learnt that it was out of William Dobbin's own pocket the
fund had been supplied upon which the poor widow and the child had
subsisted.
Then the pair shook hands, and after that the Major would often come and
dine at the gloomy old house in Russell Square. He tried to soften the
old man and reconcile him towards his son's memory, and more than once
Mr. Osborne asked him about Mrs. George Osborne. A reconciliation was
announced as speedy and inevitable, when one morning old Osborne was
found lying at the foot of his dressing-table in a fit. He never could
speak again and in four days he died.
When the will was opened, it was seen that half the property was left to
his grandson, George, and the remainder to two married daughters. An
annuity of £500 was left to "the widow of my beloved son, George
Osborne," who was to resume the guardianship of the boy, and "Major
William Dobbin, my beloved son's friend," was appointed executor.
That summer Major Dobbin and Joseph Sedley escorted the widow and her
boy to the Continent and at Pumpernickel, in a happy valley in Germany,
Joseph renewed acquaintance with Mrs. Rawdon Crawley, and after a long
and confidential talk was convinced that Becky was the most virtuous as
she was one of the most fascinating of women. Amelia was won over at the
tale of Becky's sufferings, but Major Dobbin was obdurate. Amelia
declined to give up Becky, and Major Dobbin said "good-bye."
Amelia didn't wish to marry him, but she wished to keep him, and his
departure left her broken and cast down. Becky bore Dobbin no rancour
for the part he had taken against her. It was an open move; she was in
the game and played fairly. She even admired him, and now that she was
in comfortable quarters, made no scruple of declaring her admiration for
the high-minded gentleman, and of telling Emmy that she had behaved most
cruelly regarding him.
From Pumpernickel Joseph and Amelia were persuaded to go to Ostend, and
here, while Becky was cut by scores of people, two ruffians, Major Loder
and Captain Rook, easily got an introduction to Mr. Joseph Sedley's
hospitable board.
Rebecca, to do her justice, never would let either of these men remain
alone with Amelia.
"Listen to me, Amelia," said Becky that same night; "you must go away
from here. You are no more fit to live in the world than a baby in arms.
You must marry or you and your precious boy will go to ruin. You must
have a husband, you fool; and one of the best gentlemen I ever saw has
offered you an hundred times, and you have ejected him, you silly,
heartless, ungrateful little creature!"
"I--I wrote to him this morning," Emmy said, blushing exceedingly.
Only George and his uncle were present at the marriage ceremony. Colonel
Dobbin quitted the service immediately after his marriage, and rented a
pretty little place in Hampshire, not far from Queen's Crawley.
His excellency Colonel Rawdon Crawley died of yellow fever at Coventry
Island, six weeks before the death of his brother Sir Pitt, who had
succeeded to the title.
Rebecca, Lady Crawley (so she called herself, though she never was
_Lady_ Crawley) has a liberal allowance, and chiefly hangs about Bath
and Cheltenham, where a very strong party of excellent people consider
her a most injured woman.
Ah! _Vanitas Vanitatum_! which of us is happy in this world?
* * * * *
COUNT LYOF N. TOLSTOY
Anna Karenina
Lyof (Lev or Leo) Tolstoy (who objects to his name being
transliterated Tolstoi) is generally recognised as the noblest
figure in modern Russia. He was born on the family estate at
Yasnaya Polyana, in the Government of Tula, about 100 miles
south of Moscow, on August 28 (new style September 9), 1828.
His father, Count N.I. Tolstoy, who retired from the army
about the time of his son's birth, had been among the
prisoners taken by Napoleon's invading forces in the war of
1812. He died suddenly in 1837. Young Tolstoy after three
years at Kazan University decided to abandon his college
studies without graduating, so repelled was he by the degraded
character of the average student. Retiring to his estate at
Yasnaya Polyana in 1847, he sought, though without success, to
ameliorate the condition of his serfs. The Imperial decree of
emancipation was not promulgated till 1861. In 1851 Count
Tolstoy joined the army in the Caucasus, and shortly
afterwards he participated in the defence of Sebastopol during
the great Crimean War. Since that period his life has been a
wonderful career of literary success. On his fine estate, with
his large family and his servants about him, he lives the life
of a simple peasant, advocating a form of socialism which he
considers to constitute a practical interpretation of the
Sermon on the Mount. In "Anna Karenina" Tolstoy manifestly
aims at furnishing an elaborate delineation of the
sociological ethics of high life in Russia. It is a lurid and
sombre recital, of the most realistic kind. It is not a story
of the masses, for no prominent characters from lower life
appear. Little is seen of the ways and doings of the poor. All
the real personages of this story are members of the
fashionable section of St. Petersburg and Moscow, or are great
landed proprietors, or high officials. In these pages appear
some of the noblest and some of the most profligate
characters, and all are perfectly typical. As in all the
writings of Tolstoy, wit and humour are entirely lacking, but
the emotionalism is intense, the psychological analysis is
masterly, and the fidelity to actual conditions is scrupulous.
The tale is a moral one, written with a purpose that is
consistently pursued throughout. Sin is displayed without a
mask, and its retribution is shown to be inevitable. There is
no attempt at varnishing or veneering the surface of a lax
moral order. The idea prevails among critics that Tolstoy
himself appears in this novel under the character of Levin.
(See also Vol. X, p. 291.)
_I_
The Oblonsky family was plunged into miserable confusion, for the wife,
through detecting a flirtation between her husband and the French
governess, declared she would no longer live with him. She remained in
her rooms, and the husband had not shown himself at home for three days.
Some of the servants quarrelled and others demanded their wages.
Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch (socially styled Stiva) had on returning one
evening from the theatre found his Dolly sitting with a letter in her
hand, and an expression of terror and despair on her countenance. "What
is this? This?" she asked. Instead of attempting a reply, Stepan smiled
good-humouredly and stupidly; and Dolly, after a flow of passionate
reproaches, rushed from the room.
Stepan had never imagined that any such discovery would have such an
effect on his wife. "How delightfully we were living till this
happened!" said he, as on the third morning after the outbreak he awoke
in his library, where he had rested on the lounge. "I never interfered
with Dolly, and she did as she pleased with the household and children.
What can be done?" He rose and put on his dressing gown and rang for his
valet, who came in response to the summons, followed by the barber. The
valet handed him a telegram, which announced that his loving sister,
Anna Arkadyevna, was coming on a visit. He was pleased to receive the
intelligence, for it might mean that she would effect a reconciliation.
Prince Stepan tranquilly partook of breakfast over his newspaper, and
became absorbed in thought. Suddenly two children's voices roused him
from his reverie. They were those of Grisha, his youngest boy, and
Tania, his eldest daughter. The little girl, his favourite, ran in and
laughingly and fondly embraced him. "What is mamma doing? Is she all
right?" he asked of the girl.
"I don't know," was the reply. "She told us we were not to have lessons
to-day but were to go to grandmamma's." He told the children to run
along, and then said to himself, "To go, or not to go--but it has to be
done, sooner or later," and straightening himself and lighting a
cigarette, he opened the door into his wife's room. She was standing in
the room removing the contents of a drawer, and turned her worn face on
Stepan with a look of terror. She had dreaded this moment, for though
she felt she could not stay, yet she knew she loved him and that it was
impossible to leave him.
"What do you want? Go away, go away," she cried. He broke into sobs and
began to beg forgiveness. "Dolly, think for the love of God of the
children. They are not to blame. I alone am to blame. Now, Dolly,
forgive me." But as the voice of one of the children was heard, she went
out from him and slammed the door.
_II_
Stepan Arkadyevitch was naturally idle, yet his natural gifts had
enabled him to do well at school, and he had gained an excellent
position at Moscow as _natchalnik_, or president of one of the courts,
through the influence of Aleksei Alexandrovitch Karenin, husband of his
sister Anna, one of the most important members of the ministry. In this
office Stepan enjoyed a salary of 6,000 roubles. Everyone who knew
Oblonsky liked him, for his amiability, honesty, and brilliance,
qualities which rendered him a most attractive character.
Going to his office after his unpleasant interview with his wife, he
attended to matters in the court for some time, and on suspending
business for lunch found his friend Levin waiting to see him--a
fair-complexioned, broad-shouldered man whom he often saw in Moscow.
Levin frequently came in from the country, full of enthusiasm about
great things he had been attempting, at the reports of which Stepan was
apt to smile in his good-humoured style. That Levin was in love with his
sister Kitty was well enough known to Stepan.
When Oblonsky on this occasion, after chatting over some rural concerns
in Levin's district, asked his friend what had specially brought him to
Moscow, Levin blushed and was vexed with himself for blushing. He could
not bring himself to reply that he had come to ask for the hand of
Stepan's sister-in-law Kitty, though that was really his errand. As a
student and a friend of the Shcherbatsky family, belonging like his own
to the old nobility of Moscow, Konstantin Levin at first thought himself
in love with Dolly, the eldest, but she married Oblonsky; then with
Natalie, who married Lyof, a diplomat; and finally his passion settled
on Kitty, who had been only a child when he left the University. He was
now thirty-two, was wealthy, would surely have been reckoned an
acceptable suitor, but had a most exalted opinion of Kitty, and to a
corresponding degree depreciated himself.
He feared that probably Kitty did not love him, and he knew that his
friends only looked upon him as a country proprietor, occupied with
farming, or amusing himself with hunting. He was not what is understood
as a society man. But he felt that he could no longer rest without
seeking to get the question settled whether she would or would not be
his wife.
_III_
Levin made his way to the gate of the Zoological Gardens and followed
the path to the ice-mountains, where he knew that he should find the
Shcherbatskys there, Kitty among them. He had seen their carriage at the
gate. It was a lovely day, and the gaily-clad fashionable people, the
Russian _izbas_ with their carved woodwork, the paths gleaming with
snow, and the old birch-trees, brilliant with icicles, combined to
render the whole scene one of fascination.
Drawing near the ice-mountains, where the sledges rushed down the
inclines, he soon discovered Kitty, who was on the opposite side,
standing in close conversation with a lady. For him her presence filled
the place with light and glory. He asked himself whether he was brave
enough to go and meet her on the ice. The spot where she was seemed to
him like a sanctuary, and all the persons privileged to be near her
seemed to be the elect of heaven. This day the ice was the common
meeting-ground for fashionable people, the masters in the art of skating
being among them. Nikolai Shcherbatsky, Kitty's cousin, catching sight
of Levin, exclaimed, "There is the best skater in Russia." Kitty
cordially invited Levin to skate with her. He did so, and the faster
they went together, the closer Kitty held his hand. And when after a
spin they rested, and she asked how long he was going to stay in St.
Petersburg, he astonished her by replying, "It depends on you." Either
she did not understand, or did not wish to understand, his words, for
she at once made an excuse to leave him.
At this moment Stepan came up and took Levin's arm, and the two went to
the restaurant. Here Levin opened his soul to Stepan, and Stepan assured
him that Kitty would become his wife. "But," said Levin, "it is shocking
that we who are already getting old dare not approach a pure and
innocent being. I look on my life with dismay, and mourn over it
bitterly."
Said Stepan, "You have not much cause for self-reproach. What can you
do? The world is thus constituted."
"There is only one comfort," replied Levin. "That is in the prayer I
have always delighted in: 'Pardon me not according to my deserts, but
according to Thy loving kindness.' Thus only can she forgive me."
_IV_
Kitty had another suitor, Count Vronsky, on whom she looked with the
favour that she could not accord to Levin. He was rich, intelligent, of
good birth, with a brilliant career before him in court and navy. He was
charming, and in him the Princess Shcherbatsky saw an admirable match
for her youngest daughter. Princess Kitty was now eighteen. She was the
favourite child of her father. It was manifest to both parents that she
was in love with Vronsky. Yet when at length Levin ventured on an actual
declaration of his love, she was deeply agitated. Lifting her sincere
glance to him, she said hastily, "This cannot be. Forgive me."
Anna Karenina arrived in the home of Stepan Arkadyevitch, where she was
received with cordial kisses by Dolly, who remembered that Stepan's
sister was not to blame, and that she was a _grande dame_ of St.
Petersburg, wife of one of the important personages of the city. She was
delighted to think that at last she could open her mind and tell her
troubles. And she was not disappointed, for in a lengthy and sympathetic
colloquy Dolly's heart was touched with the sentiment of forgiveness.
Anna was one of the most beautiful and graceful of women. And she was as
tactful as she was lovely. Before many hours she had successfully played
the part of peacemaker, and thanked God in her heart that she had been
able to effect complete reconciliation between Stepan and his wife. That
same evening Anna went to a grand ball with Kitty and her mother, where
the three were quickly saluted by Vronsky. It was a most brilliant
affair. But next morning Anna telegraphed to her husband that she was
leaving Moscow for home. It happened that Vronsky travelled by the same
train, and thus the two were thrown together for the long journey.
_V_
Aleksei Alexandrovitch, though he affectionately met his wife, found but
little time to spend with her. The next day several visitors came to
dine with the Karenins. Every moment of Aleksei's life was fully
occupied with his official duties, and he was forced to be strictly
regular and punctual in his arrangements. He was an excellent man, and
an intellectual one, delighting in art, poetry, and music, and loving to
talk of Shakespeare, Raphael, and Beethoven.
Society in St. Petersburg is very united, and Anna Karenina had very
friendly relations with the gay world of fashion, with its dinner
parties and balls. She met Vronsky at several of these brilliant
reunions. He, deeply impressed with her, notwithstanding his connection
with Kitty, went everywhere that he was likely to meet her, and her joy
at meeting him easily betrayed itself in her eyes and her smile. And he
did not refrain from actually making love to Anna on the occasions when
they were able to engage in tête-à-tête conversations. Nor was he
positively repelled. Soon the acquaintance became more and more
intimate. Meantime, Aleksei as usual would come home and, instead of
seeking his wife's society, would bury himself in his library amongst
his books. But suddenly the idea that his wife could form an attachment
to another man filled him with terror. He resolved to remonstrate with
her, but she received his expostulations with laughing and good-humoured
mockery, which entirely frustrated his purpose. He dropped the subject;
yet from that moment a new life began for the husband and wife. There
was no outward sign of the change. Anna continued to meet Vronsky, and
Aleksei felt himself powerless to intervene.
While Vronsky was thus entangling himself with Anna Karenina at St.
Petersburg, the Shcherbatskys at Moscow were growing anxious about the
health of Princess Kitty, their beautiful daughter who was so deeply in
love with him. She was ill, and after a consultation of physicians it
was decided that travelling abroad would be advisable. But the girl said
to herself that her trouble was one that they could not fathom, that her
supposed illness and the remedies she had to endure were nonsense. What
did they amount to? Nothing more than the gathering up of the fragments
of a broken vase to patch it up again. Her heart was broken, and could
it be healed by pills and powders?
_VI_
Absorbed by his passion, Vronsky yet proceeded in his regular manner of
life, sustaining as usual his social and military relations. He loved
his regiment and was very popular in it. Naturally, he spoke not a
syllable to anyone about his passion. He drank moderately, and not an
indiscreet word escaped him. But his mother was not a little disturbed
when she discovered that his infatuation for Madame Karenina had
impelled him to refuse an excellent promotion which would have
necessitated his removal from the metropolis. She feared that instead of
being a flirtation of which she might not disapprove, this passion might
develop into a Werther-like tragedy and lead her son to commit some
imprudence.
Many fashionable young ladies who were jealous of Anna and were weary of
hearing her praised, were malignantly pleased to hear rumours to her
disparagement and to feel justified in alluding scornfully to her.
Vronsky received a message from his mother in Moscow. She desired him to
come to her. His elder brother, though not himself by any means a
pattern of perfect propriety, strongly expressed his dissatisfaction,
because he felt that the unpleasant rumours would be likely to cause
displeasure in certain high quarters.
Early in the spring, Anna Karenina's husband went abroad, according to
his annual custom, to take the water-cure after the toils of winter.
Returning in July to St. Petersburg, he at once resumed his official
duties with the usual vigour. Anna had already gone into the country,
not far from the capital, to the summer _datcha_ at Peterhof. Since the
pair had failed to come to a mutual understanding coolness had existed,
but it was simply a cloud, not an actual alienation.
He resolved for the sake of appearances to visit his wife once a week.
To his astonishment, his doctor called voluntarily on him, to ask if he
might examine into the condition of his health. The secret reason of
this was that a kind friend, the Countess Lidia, had begged the doctor
to do so, as she had noticed that Aleksei did not look well. The medical
man after the diagnosis was perturbed with the result, for Aleksei's
liver was congested and his digestion was out of order. The waters had
not benefited him. He was ordered to take more physical exercise and to
undergo less mental strain, and above all to avoid all worry.
It was not with real pleasure, but with an affectation of cordiality
that Anna received her husband when he reached the _datcha_. She was gay
and animated. He was somewhat constrained, and the conversation was
without any special interest. But Anna afterwards could only recall it
with real pain. The crisis came on a racecourse. One of Vronsky's chief
pleasures was horse-racing, and at the brilliant races that season he
himself rode his own splendid horse. But the occasion was a most
disastrous one, for at the hurdle races more than half the riders were
thrown, Vronsky being one of them. He was picked up uninjured, but the
horse had its back broken.
Aleksei and his wife and several friends were amongst the gay crowd, and
he noted with deep displeasure that his wife turned pale when the
accident happened and was strangely excited throughout the occasion. In
the carriage, as the pair returned, he taxed her with her unseemly
demeanour, and a violent quarrel ensued, in which she exclaimed, "I love
him. I fear you. I hate you. Do as you please with me." And Anna flung
herself to the bottom of the carriage, covering her face with her hands
and sobbing convulsively.
Aleksei sat in silence during the rest of the journey home, but as they
came near the house he said, "I insist that from this moment appearances
be preserved for the sake of my honour, and I will communicate my
decision to you after I have considered what measures I shall take." He
assisted her to alight at the _datcha_, shook hands with her in the
presence of the servants, and returned to St. Petersburg.
"Thank God, it is all over between us," said Anna to herself. But,
notwithstanding this reflection, she had felt strangely impressed by the
aspect of deathlike rigidity in her husband's face, though he gave no
sign of inward agitation. As he rode off alone he felt a keen pain in
his heart. But, curiously enough, he also experienced a sensation of
deep relief of soul now that a vast load of doubt and jealousy had been
lifted from him.
"I always knew she was without either heart or religion," said he to
himself. "I made a mistake when I united my life with hers, but I should
not be unhappy, for my error was not my fault. Henceforth for me she
does not exist." He pondered over the problem whether he should
challenge Vronsky, but he soon decided against the idea of fighting a
duel. No one would expect it of him, so his reputation would not be
injured by abstaining from such a proceeding. At length he came to the
conclusion that an open separation would not be expedient and that the
_status quo_ alone was advisable, on the condition that Anna should obey
his will and break off her acquaintance with Vronsky.
"Only thus," thought Aleksei, "can I conform to the requirements of
religion. I give her another chance, and consecrate my powers to her
salvation." He wrote his wife a letter saying that for his own sake, for
her sake, and the sake of her son, their lives must remain unchanged,
the family must not be sacrificed, and as he was sure she felt penitent,
he hoped at their next interview to come to a complete understanding.
Though, when she received this communication, Anna felt her anger
rising, yet her heart told her that she was in a false position from
which she longed to escape. A new sensation had taken possession of her
soul, and she seemed to be a double kind of personality. At length,
after long agitation she wrote to her husband, telling him that she
could no longer remain in his house, but was going away, taking their
boy Serosha with her. "Be generous; let me have him," were the last
words in the letter. She wrote a little note to Vronsky, but her cheeks
burned as she wrote, and presently she tore the note to tatters. Then
she made her preparations for going to Moscow.
_VII_
Anna returned to the home in St. Petersburg. Husband and wife met with a
silent greeting, and the silence lasted some time. Then ensued an
interview in which each side coldly accused the other, but which ended
in Aleksei's demand that his wife should so comport herself that neither
the world nor the servants could accuse her, on which condition she
could enjoy the position and fulfil the duties of an honourable wife.
And so the Kareninas continued to live in the same house, to meet daily,
and yet to remain strangers to each other. Vronsky was never seen near
the place, yet Anna met him elsewhere and Aleksei knew it.
Meanwhile, a change was coming over the prospect for Kitty and Levin. He
had never renounced the hope of possessing the beautiful girl, and at
length she had come to understand his nobility of character and to feel
that she could reciprocate his affection. During a conversation with
her, he watched as she mechanically drew circles with chalk on the
table-cloth.
"I have waited for a long time to ask you a question," said he, looking
fondly at her.
"What is it?" said Kitty.
"This is it," said Levin, taking the chalk and writing the letters w, y,
s, i, i, i, w, i, i, t, o, a? The letters were the initials of the
words, "When you said 'It is impossible,' was it impossible then, or
always?"
Kitty studied the letters long and attentively, and at length took the
chalk and, blushing deeply, wrote the letters: t, I, c, n, a, d. Levin's
face soon beamed with joy. He comprehended that the reply was: "Then I
could not answer differently." Everything was settled. Kitty had
acknowledged her love for him, and Levin at last was happy.
_VIII_
Aleksei sat alone in his room, pondering events, when he was startled by
a telegram from his wife--"I am dying. I beg you to come; I shall die
easier if I have your forgiveness." He read the words with momentary
scorn, imagining that some scheme of deceit was being practised. But
presently he reflected that it might be true, and, if so, it would be
cruel and foolish to refuse to go, and besides, everybody would blame
him.
He travelled all night and arrived, tired and dusty, in the morning at
St. Petersburg. Reaching his house, he went into the drawing-room, and
the nurse quickly led him into the bedroom, saying, "Thank God, you have
come. She talks only of you."
"Bring ice at once," the doctor's voice was heard saying. Aleksei was
startled to see in the boudoir, seated on a low chair, Vronsky, weeping
with his hands over his face. And the latter was startled in turn as,
disturbed by the doctor's words, he looked up and caught sight of the
husband. He rose and seemed desiring to disappear, but with an evident
effort said, "She is dying and the doctors say there is no hope. I am in
your power, but allow me to stay and I will conform to your wishes."
Aleksei turned without replying and went to the door. Anna was talking
clearly and gaily. Her cheeks were bright and her eyes gleamed. Rattling
on incoherently, she suddenly recognised her husband, and looking
terrified, raised her hands as if to avert a blow; but she said the next
moment, "No, no, I am not afraid of him, I am afraid of dying. Aleksei,
I have but a few moments to live. Soon the fever will return and I shall
know nothing more, but now I understand everything. There is another
being in me, who loved him and hated you, but now I am my real self. But
no, you cannot forgive me. Go away, you are too good."
With one burning hand she pushed him away, with the other she held him.
Aleksei's emotion became uncontrollable. His soul was filled with love
and forgiveness. Kneeling by the bed, he sobbed like a child. The
doctors said that there was not one chance in a hundred of her living.
Vronsky returned to his home in an agony of soul. He tried in vain to
sleep. Visions of the faces of Aleksei and Anna rose before him.
Suddenly his brain seemed to receive a shock. He rose, paced the room,
went to the table, took from it a revolver, which he examined and
loaded. Presently he held it to his breast and without flinching pulled
the trigger. The blow knocked him down, but he had failed to kill
himself The valet, who had heard the report, ran in, but was so
frightened at the sight of his master lying on the floor wounded that he
rushed out again for help. In an hour came Varia, Vronsky's
sister-in-law, who sent for three doctors. They managed to put the
wounded man to bed, and Varia stayed to nurse him.
_IX_
Vronsky's wound, though the heart was not touched, was so dangerous that
for several days his life was in the balance. But gradually the crisis
passed, and as he recovered he felt calmed with the conviction that he
had now effected redemption from his faults. He accepted without
hesitation an appointment to a position in Tashkend. But the nearer the
time came, the more irrepressible grew the desire to see Anna for a
farewell. He sent her a message, and she waited for his coming. The
visit was fatal. Anna had made up her mind what to say, but the presence
of Vronsky instantly overcame her resolution, and when she could find
words she said, "Yes, you have conquered me. I am yours."
A month later Aleksei was left alone with his son, and Anna went abroad
with Vronsky.
The marriage of Levin and Kitty was a brilliant occasion. A difficulty
for Levin before the marriage was the necessity of attending confession.
Like the majority of his fellows in society, he cherished no decided
views on religion. He did not believe, nor did he positively disbelieve.
But there could be no wedding without a certificate of confession. To
the priest he frankly acknowledged his doubts, that doubt was his chief
sin, that he was nearly always in doubt. But the gentle and kindly
priest exhorted him to cultivate the practice of prayer, and then
pronounced the formula of absolution.
In presence of a great assembly the wedding took place. The same priest
who had heard the confession ministered for the marriage. He handed to
each of the couple a lighted candle decorated with flowers. The chanting
of an invisible choir resounded richly through the church, and when the
liturgy was finished, the solemn benediction was read over the bridal
pair. It was a great event in the fashionable world of Moscow.
_X_
Anna and Vronsky had been travelling for three months in Europe. As for
Anna, she had revelled in the exuberance of her freedom from a
disagreeable past, the events of which seemed like some frightful
nightmare. She appeased her conscience to some extent by saying to
herself: "I have done my husband an irreparable injury, but I also
suffer, and I shall suffer." The prediction was soon fulfilled. Vronsky
soon began to feel dissatisfied. He grew weary of lack of occupation in
foreign cities for sixteen hours a day. Life soon became intolerable in
little Italian cities, and Anna, though astonished at this speedy
disillusionment, agreed to return to Russia and to spend the summer on
his estate. They travelled home, but neither of them was happy. Vronsky
perceived that Anna was in a strange state of mind, evidently tormented
by something which she made no attempt to explain. By degrees she, on
her part, realized that Vronsky was willing to absent himself from her
society on various excuses. Quarrels became frequent, and at length
alienation was complete.
* * * * *
A tragedy happened on the railway. A woman went along the platform of
the station and walked off on to the line. Like a madman a short time
afterwards Vronsky rushed into the barracks where Anna's body had been
carried. Her head was untouched, with its heavy braids of hair and light
curls gathered about the temples. Her eyes were half closed and her lips
were slightly opened as if she was about to speak, and to repeat the
last words she had uttered to him: "You will repent."
The war with Turkey had broken out, and Vronsky, disgusted with his
whole life, left for Servia.
* * * * *
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
The Warden
Few English men of letters have had an unhappier childhood
than Anthony Trollope. Born in London on April 24, 1815, his
home was made sordid by his father's misfortunes, and at
Harrow and Winchester, where he was for nearly eleven years,
his mean appearance subjected him to many dire humiliations. A
final catastrophe in the fortunes of the elder Trollope drove
the family to Belgium, where Anthony for a time acted as usher
in a school at Brussels. But at the age of nineteen a
Post-office appointment brought him back to London. The
turning point in his career came in 1841, when he accepted the
position of a cleric to one of the surveyors in the West of
England. Here he developed an extraordinary energy and
ability, and it was during this time, in 1847, that he
published his first novel, "The Macdermots of Ballycloran."
"The Warden," published in 1855, was the first and in many
ways the best of the famous six Barsetshire series that caused
Trollope to attract the notice of the reading public. Henry
James says, "'The Warden' is simply the history of an old
man's conscience, and Trollope never did anything happier than
the picture of this sweet and serious little old gentleman."
The book is regarded as Trollope's masterpiece.
_I.--Hiram's Hospital_
The Rev. Septimus Harding was a beneficed clergyman residing in the
cathedral town of Barchester.
Mr. Harding had married early in life, and was the father of two
daughters. The elder, Susan, had been married some twelve years since to
the Rev. Dr. Theophilus Grantly, son of the bishop, archdeacon of
Barchester, and rector of Plumstead Episcopi, and a few months after her
marriage her father became precentor of Barchester Cathedral. The
younger daughter, Eleanor, was twenty-four years of age.
Now there are peculiar circumstances connected with the precentorship
which must be explained. In the year 1434 there died at Barchester one
John Hiram, who had made money in the town as a wool-stapler, and in his
will he left the house in which he died and certain meadows and closes
near the town for the support of twelve superannuated wool-carders; he
also appointed that an alms-house should be built for their abode, with
a fitting residence for a warden, which warden was also to receive a
certain sum annually out of the rents of the said meadows and closes.
He, moreover, willed that the precentor of the cathedral should have the
option of being also warden of the alms-house, if the bishop approved.
From that day to this the charity had gone on and prospered--at least,
the charity had gone on, and the estates had prospered. The bedesmen
received one shilling and fourpence a day and a comfortable lodging. The
stipend of the precentor was £80 a year. The income arising from the
wardenship of the hospital was £800, besides the value of the house.
Murmurs had been heard in Barchester--few indeed and far between--that
the proceeds of John Hiram's property had not been fairly divided; the
thing had been whispered, and Mr. Harding had heard it. And Mr. Harding,
being an open-handed, just-minded man, had, on his instalment, declared
his intention of adding twopence a day to each man's pittance.
Mr. Harding was a small man, now verging on sixty years. His warmest
admirers could not say that he had ever been an industrious man; the
circumstances of his life had not called on him to so; and yet he could
hardly be called an idler. He had greatly improved the choir of
Barchester, and taken something more than his fair share in the
cathedral services. He was generous to all, but especially to the twelve
old men who were under his care. With an income of £800 a year and only
one daughter, Mr. Harding should have been above the world, but he was
not above Archdeacon Grantly, and was always more or less in debt to his
son-in-law, who had to a certain extent assumed the management of the
precentor's pecuniary affairs.
Mr. Harding had been precentor of Barchester for ten years when the
murmurs respecting the proceeds of Hiram's estate again became audible.
He was aware that two of his old men had been heard to say that if
everyone had his own, they might each have their hundred pounds a year,
and live like gentlemen, instead of a beggarly one shilling and sixpence
a day. One of this discontented pair, Abel Handy, had been put into the
hospital by Mr. Harding himself; he had been a stonemason in Barchester,
and had broken his thigh by a fall from a scaffolding. (Dr. Grantly had
been very anxious to put into it instead an insufferable clerk of his at
Plumstead, who had lost all his teeth, and whom the archdeacon hardly
knew how to get rid of by other means.) There was living at Barchester a
young man, a surgeon, named John Bold, and both Mr. Harding and Dr.
Grantly were well aware that to him was owing the pestilent rebellious
feeling which had shown itself in the hospital; and the renewal, too, of
that disagreeable talk about Hiram's estates which was again prevalent
in Barchester. Nevertheless, Mr. Harding and Mr. Bold were acquainted
with each other, and were friends in spite of the great disparity in
their years; for John Bold--whose father had been a physician in London,
who had bought property in Barchester and retired to die there--was not
more than twenty-seven years old at this time.
John Bold was a clever man, but, having enough to live on since his
father's death, he had not been forced to work for bread. In three years
he had not taken three fees, but he frequently bound up the bruises and
set the limbs of such of the poorer classes as professed his way of
thinking. Bold was a strong reformer. His passion was the reform of all
abuses, and he was thoroughly sincere in his patriotic endeavours to
mend mankind. No wonder that Dr. Grantly regarded Bold as a firebrand
and a demagogue, and would have him avoided as the plague. But the old
Doctor and Mr. Harding had been fast friends and young Johnny Bold used
to play as a boy on Mr. Harding's lawn.
Eleanor Harding had not plighted her troth to John Bold, but she could
not endure that anyone should speak harshly of him; she cared little to
go to houses where she would not meet him, and, in fact, she was in
love. Nor was there any reason why Eleanor Harding should not love John
Bold. His character was in all respects good; he had sufficient income
to support a wife, and, above all, he was in love with her. Mr. Harding
himself saw no reason why his daughter should not love John Bold.
_II.--The Barchester Reformer_
Bold had often expressed his indignation at the misappropriation of
church funds in general, in the hearing of his friend the precentor, but
the conversation had never referred to anything at Barchester.
He heard from different quarters that Hiram's bedesmen were treated as
paupers, whereas the property to which they were, in effect, heirs, was
very large, and being looked on as the upholder of the rights of the
poor of Barchester, he was instigated by a lawyer, whom he had
previously employed, to call upon Mr. Chadwick, the steward of the
episcopal estates, for a statement as to the funds of the estate.
It was against Chadwick that his efforts were to be directed, but Bold
soon found that if he interfered with Mr. Chadwick as steward, he must
interfere with Mr. Harding as warden; and though he regretted the
situation in which this would place him, he was not the man to flinch
from his undertaking from personal motives.
Having got a copy of John Hiram's will, and mastered it, Bold next
ascertained the extent and value of the property, and then made out a
schedule of what he was informed was the present distribution of its
income. Armed with these particulars, he called on Mr. Chadwick, who
naturally declined to answer any questions and referred him to his
attorneys in London.
Bold at once repaired to the hospital. The day was now far advanced, but
he knew that Mr. Harding dined in the summer at four, that Eleanor was
accustomed to drive in the evening, and that he might therefore probably
find Mr. Harding alone. It was between seven and eight when he reached
the precentor's garden, and as he raised the latch he heard the notes of
Mr. Harding's violoncello; advancing before the house and across the
lawn, he found him playing, and not without an audience. The musician
was seated in a garden chair, and around sat, and lay, ten of the twelve
old men who dwelt with him beneath John Hiram's roof. Bold sat down on
the soft turf to listen, or rather to think how, after such harmony, he
might best introduce a theme of so much discord. He felt that he had a
somewhat difficult task, and he almost regretted the final leave-taking
of the last of the old men, slow as they were in going through their
adieus.
The precentor remarked on the friendliness of the visit. "One evening
call," said he, "is worth ten in the morning. It's all formality in the
morning; real social talk never begins till after dinner. That's why I
dine early, so as to get as much as I can of it."
"Quite true, Mr. Harding," said the other; "but I fear I've reversed the
order of things, and I owe you much apology for troubling you on
business at such an hour. I wish to speak to you about the hospital."
Mr. Harding looked blank and annoyed. But he only said, "Well, well,
anything I can tell you I shall be most happy--"
"It's about the accounts."
"Then, my dear fellow, I can tell you nothing, for I'm as ignorant as a
child. All I know is that they pay me £800 a year. Go t Chadwick; he
knows all about the accounts."
"But, Mr. Harding, I hope you won't object to discuss with me what I
have to say about the hospital."
Mr. Harding gave a deep, long-drawn sigh. He did object, very strongly
object, to discuss any such subject with John Bold, but he had not the
business tact of Mr. Chadwick, and did not know how to relieve himself
from the coming evil.
"I fear there is reason to think that John Hiram's will is not carried
out to the letter, Mr. Harding, and I have been asked to see into it."
"Very well, I've no objection on earth; and now we need not say another
word about it."
"Only one word more, Mr. Harding. Chadwick has referred me to lawyers.
In what I do I may appear to be interfering with you, and I hope you
will forgive me for doing so."
"Mr. Bold," said the other, speaking with some solemnity, "if you act
justly, say nothing in this matter but the truth, and use no unfair
weapons in carrying out your purposes, I shall have nothing to forgive.
I presume you think I am not entitled to the income I receive from the
hospital, and that others are entitled to it. Whatever some may do, I
shall never attribute to you base motives because you hold an opinion
opposed to my own and adverse to my interests; pray do what you consider
to be your duty; I can give you no assistance, neither will I offer you
any obstacle. Let me, however, suggest to you that you can in no wise
forward your views, nor I mine, by any discussion between us. Here comes
Eleanor and the ponies, and we'll go in to tea."
Bold felt that he could not sit down at ease with Mr. Harding and his
daughter after what had passed, and therefore excused himself with much
awkward apology; and, merely raising his hat and bowing as he passed
Eleanor and the pony chair, left her in disappointed amazement at his
departure.
_III.--Iphigenia_
The bedesmen heard a whisper that they were entitled to one hundred
pounds a year, and signed a petition, which Abel Handy drew up, to the
bishop as visitor, praying his lordship to see justice done to the legal
recipients of John Hiram's charity. John Bold was advised to institute
formal proceedings against Mr. Harding and Mr. Chadwick. Archdeacon
Grantly took up the cause of the warden, and obtained a legal opinion
from the attorney general, Sir Abraham Haphazard, that Mr. Harding and
Mr. Chadwick being only paid servants, the action should not have been
brought against them, but that the defendants should have been either
the corporation of Barchester, or possibly the dean and chapter, or the
bishop. That all-powerful organ of the press, the daily _Jupiter_,
launched a leading thunderbolt against the administration of Hiram's
Hospital, which made out the warden to be a man unjust, grasping--and
the responsibility for this attack rested upon John Bold's friend Tom
Towers, of the Temple.
Bold kept away from the warden's house, but he met Miss Harding one day
in the cathedral close. He tried to explain and apologised.
"Mr. Bold," said she, "you may be sure of one thing: I shall always
judge my father to be right, and those who oppose him I shall judge to
be wrong." And then, curtsying low, she sailed on, leaving her lover in
anything but a happy state of mind.
To her father Eleanor owned that she had loved John Bold once, but would
not, could not do so now, when he proved himself the enemy of her
father.
But the warden, wretched as he was at the attacks of the _Jupiter_,
declared that Bold was no enemy of his, and encouraged her love, and
then he spoke to her of happier days when their trials would all be
over.
That night Eleanor decided that she would extricate her father from his
misery; she would sacrifice herself as Iphigenia did for Agamemnon. She
would herself personally implore John Bold to desist from his
undertaking and stop the lawsuit; she would explain to him her father's
sorrows, and tell him how her father would die if he were thus dragged
before the public and exposed to such unmerited ignominy; she would
appeal to his old friendship, and, if need were, kneel to him for the
favour she would ask; but before she did this the idea of love must be
banished. There must be no bargain in the matter. She could not appeal
to his love, nor allow him to do so. Should he declare his passion he
must be rejected.
She rose refreshed in the morning, and after breakfast started out, and
arrived at Bold's door; where John's sister Mary greeted her warmly.
"John's out now, and will be for the next two hours, and he returns to
London by the mail train to-night."
"Mary, I must see your brother before he goes back, and beg from him a
great favour." Miss Harding spoke with a solemn air, and then went on
and opened to her friend all her plan for saving her father from a
sorrow which would, if it lasted, bring him to his grave.
While they were yet discussing the matter, Bold returned, and Eleanor
was forced into sudden action.
"Mr. Bold," said she, "I have come here to implore you to abandon this
proceeding, to implore you to spare my father."
"Eleanor, I will do anything; only let me tell you how I love you!"
"No, no, no," she almost screamed. "This is unmanly of you, Mr. Bold.
Will you leave my father to die in peace in his quiet home?" And seizing
him by his arm, she clung to him with fixed tenacity, and reiterated her
appeal with hysterical passion.
"Promise me, promise me!" said Eleanor; "say that my father is safe--one
word will do. I know how true you are; say one word, and I will let you
go."
"I will," said he, at length; "I do. All I can do I will do."
"Then may God Almighty bless you for ever and ever!" said Eleanor; and,
with her face in Mary Bold's lap, she wept and sobbed like a child.
In a while she was recovered, and got up to go; and Mary, under a
pretence of fetching her bonnet, left the two together in the room.
And now, with a volley of impassioned love, John Bold poured forth the
feelings of his heart; and Eleanor repeated with every shade of
vehemence, "No, no, no!" But let her be never so vehement, her vehemence
was not respected now; all her "No, no, noes" were met with counter
asseverations, and at last were overpowered. Her defences were
demolished, all her maiden barriers swept away, and Eleanor capitulated,
or rather marched out with the honours of war, vanquished evidently, but
still not reduced to the necessity of confessing it. Certainly she had
been victorious, certainly she had achieved her object, certainly she
was not unhappy. Eleanor as she returned home felt that she had now
nothing further to do but to add to the budget of news for her father
that John Bold was her accepted lover.
_IV.--The Warden Resigns_
When Eleanor informed her father of the end of the lawsuit the warden
did not express himself peculiarly gratified at the intelligence. His
own mind was already made up. A third article had appeared in the
_Jupiter_, calling on Mr. Harding to give an account of his stewardship,
and how it was that he consumed three-fifths of Hiram's charity. "I tell
you what, my dear," he said, while Eleanor stared at him as though she
scarcely understood the words he was speaking, "I can't dispute the
truth of these words. I do believe I have no right to be here. No right
to be warden with £800 a year; no right to spend in luxury money that
was intended for charity. I will go up to London, my dear, and see these
lawyers myself. There are some things which a man cannot bear--" and he
put his hand upon the newspaper.
And to London Mr. Harding went, stealing a march upon the archdeacon,
who with Mrs. Grantly pursued him twenty-four hours later. By that time
the warden had obtained an interview with the great Sir Abraham
Haphazard. "What I want you, Sir Abraham, to tell me is this," said Mr.
Harding. "Am I, as warden, legally and distinctly entitled to the
proceeds of the property after the due maintenance of the twelve
bedesmen?"
Sir Abraham declared that he couldn't exactly say in so many words that
Mr. Harding was legally entitled to, etc., etc., and ended in expressing
a strong opinion that, as the other side had given notice of withdrawing
the suit, it would be madness to raise any further question on the
matter.
"I can resign," said Mr. Harding, slowly.
"What! throw it up altogether?" said the attorney general. "Believe me,
it is sheer Quixotism."
But Mr. Harding's mind was made up. He knew that the attorney general
regarded him as a fool, but Eleanor, he was sure, would exult in what he
had done, and his old friend, the bishop, he trusted, would sympathise
with him. Back at his hotel in St. Paul's Churchyard Mr. Harding had to
face the archdeacon. In vain Dr. Grantly argued. "I shall certainly
resign this wardenship," said Mr. Harding. The letter of resignation was
posted to the bishop, and the warden returned home. The bishop at once
wrote to him full of affection, condolence, and praise, and besought him
to come and live at the palace.
It was hard for Mr. Harding to make the bishop understand that this
would not suit him, and that the only real favour he could confer was
the continuation of his independent friendship; but at last even this
was done. "At any rate," thought the bishop, "he will come and dine with
me from time to time, and if he be absolutely starving I shall see it."
It was settled that Mr. Harding should still be the precentor of the
cathedral, and a small living within the walls of the city was given to
him. It was the smallest possible parish, containing a part of the
cathedral close and a few old houses adjoining. The church was no bigger
than an ordinary room--perhaps twenty-seven feet long by eighteen
wide--but still it was a perfect church. Such was the living of St.
Cuthbert's at Barchester, of which Mr. Harding became rector, with a
clear income of £75 a year.
Mr. Harding allowed himself no rest till everything was prepared for his
departure from the hospital.
For his present use he took a lodging in Barchester, and thither were
conveyed such articles as he wanted for daily use. Mrs. Grantly had much
wished that her sister would reside at Plumstead, but Eleanor strongly
resisted this proposal. She had not desired that her father should give
up the hospital in order that she might live at Plumstead rectory and he
alone in his Barchester lodgings. So she got a little bedroom for
herself behind the sitting-room, and just over the little back parlour
of the chemist, with whom they were to lodge. There was somewhat of a
savour of senna softened by peppermint about the place; but, on the
whole, the lodgings were clean and comfortable.
Nothing could induce the bishop to fill up the vacancy at Hiram's
Hospital caused by Mr. Harding's retirement. It is now some years since
Mr. Harding left it, and the warden's house is tenantless and the
warden's garden a wretched wilderness.
Mr. Harding is neither a discontented nor an unhappy man; he still
inhabits the lodgings to which he went on leaving the hospital, but he
now has them to himself. Three months after that time Eleanor became
Mrs. Bold, and of course removed to her husband's house.
The archdeacon would not be persuaded to grace the marriage ceremony
with his presence, but he allowed his wife and children to be there. The
marriage took place at the palace, and the bishop himself officiated. It
was the last occasion on which he ever did so, and it is not probable
that he will ever do so again.
Mr. Harding's time is spent chiefly at his daughter's or at the palace,
but he keeps his lodgings.
Every other day a message is brought to him from the bishop. "The
bishop's compliments, and his lordship is not very well to-day, and he
hopes Mr. Harding will dine with him." This bulletin as to the old man's
health is a myth; for, though he is over eighty, he is never ill. Mr.
Harding does dine with him very often, which means going to the palace
at three and remaining till ten.
* * * * *
Barchester Towers
"Barchester Towers" shares with "The Warden" the distinction
of containing Trollope's most original, freshest, and best
work, and in the character of Mr. Proudie a new specimen was
added to English fiction. It was written for the most part in
pencil, while the author was travelling about the country
prosecuting his duties as a Post-office Surveyor, what was
done being afterwards copied by the novelist's wife. The
Barchester of the story has been identified as Winchester, and
scattered at random throughout the work are many references to
the neighbourhood of Hampshire's ancient capital.
_I.--The New Bishop_
In the latter days of July in the year 1805, a most important question
was hourly asked in the cathedral city of Barchester: Who was to be the
new bishop?
The death of old Dr. Grantly, who had for many years filled that chair
with meek authority, took place exactly as the ministry of Lord----was
going to give place to that of Lord----. The illness of the good old man
was long and lingering, and it became at last a matter of intense
interest to those concerned whether the new appointment should be made
by a Conservative or Liberal government.
It was pretty well understood that the outgoing premier had made his
selection, and that, if the question rested with him, the mitre would
descend on the head of Archdeacon Grantly, the old bishop's son, who had
long managed the affairs of the diocese.
A trying time was this for the archdeacon as he sat by his father's
dying bed. The ministry were to be out within five days: his father was
to be dead within--no, he rejected that view of the subject.
Presently Mr. Harding entered noiselessly.
"God bless you, my dears"--said the bishop with feeble voice--"God bless
you both." And so he died.
"It's a great relief, archdeacon," said Mr. Harding, "a great relief.
Dear, good, excellent old man. Oh, that our last moments may be as
innocent and as peaceful as his!"
The archdeacon's mind, however, had already travelled from the death
chamber to the study of the prime minister. It was already evening, and
nearly dark. It was most important that the prime minister should know
that night that the diocese was vacant. Everything might depend on it.
And so, in answer to Mr. Harding's further consolation, the archdeacon
suggested that a telegraph message should be immediately sent to London.
Mr. Harding got as far as the library door with the slip of paper
containing the message to the prime minister, when he turned back.
"I forgot to tell you," he said. "The ministry are out. Mr. Chadwick got
the news by telegraph, and left word at the palace door."
Thus terminated our unfortunate friend's chance of possessing the
glories of a bishopric.
The names of many divines were given in the papers as that of the bishop
elect. And then the _Jupiter_ declared that Dr. Proudie was to be the
man.
Dr. Proudie was the man. Just a month after the demise of the late
bishop, Dr. Proudie kissed the queen's hand as his successor elect, and
was consecrated bishop of Barchester.
Dr. Proudie was one among those who early in life adapted himself to the
views held by the Whigs on most theological and religious subjects.
Toleration became the basis on which he fought his battles, and at this
time he was found to be useful by the government. In person he was a
good-looking man, and it was no fault of his own if he had not a
commanding eye, for he studied hard for it.
Dr. Proudie may well be said to have been a fortunate man, for he had
not been born to wealth, and he was now bishop of Barchester with £5000
a year; but nevertheless he had his cares. He had a large family, of
whom the three eldest were daughters, now all grown up and all fitted
for fashionable life; and he had a wife.
Now, Mrs. Proudie was not satisfied with home dominion, but stretched
her power over all her husband's movements, and would not even abstain
from things spiritual. In fact, the bishop was henpecked. In her own way
the bishop's wife was a religious woman, and the form in which this
tendency showed itself in her was by a strict observance of Sabbatarian
rule. Dissipation and low dresses during the week were, under her
control, atoned for by three services, an evening sermon read by
herself, and a perfect abstinence from any cheering employment on the
Sunday. In these matters Mrs. Proudie allowed herself to be guided by
the Rev. Mr. Slope, the bishop's chaplain; and as Dr. Proudie was guided
by his wife, it necessarily followed that Mr. Slope had obtained a good
deal of control over Dr. Proudie in matters concerning religion. Mr.
Slope's only preferment hitherto had been that of reader and preacher in
a London district church; and on the consecration of his friend the new
bishop he readily gave this up to become domestic chaplain to his
lordship.
_II.--The Bishop's Chaplain_
When Mr. Slope sat himself down in the railway carriage, confronting the
bishop and Mrs. Proudie, as they started on their first journey to
Barchester, he began to form in his own mind a plan of his future life.
He knew well his patron's strong points, but he knew the weak ones as
well; and he rightly guessed that public life would better suit the
great man's taste than the small details of diocesan duty.
He, therefore--he, Mr. Slope--would in effect be bishop of Barchester.
Such was his resolve; and, to give Mr. Slope his due, he had both
courage and spirit to bear him out in his resolution. He knew that he
should have a hard battle to fight, for Mr. Proudie would also choose to
be bishop of Barchester. At first, doubtless, he must flatter and
cajole, and perhaps yield in some things; but he did not doubt of
ultimate triumph. If all other means failed, he could join the bishop
against his wife, inspire courage into the unhappy man, and emancipate
the husband.
Such were Mr. Slope's thoughts as he sat looking at the sleeping pair in
the railway carriage. He intended to lead, and to have followers; he
intended to hold the purse-strings of the diocese, and draw round him a
herd of his poor and hungry brethren. He had, however, a pawing, greasy
way with him, and he was not a man to make himself at once popular in
the circle of Barchester.
The second day after his arrival came Mr. Slope's first introduction to
the clergy of Barchester, when Archdeacon Grantly and Mr. Harding called
together at the palace to pay their respects to the bishop.
Our friends found Dr. Proudie sitting in the old bishop's chair, very
nice in his new apron; they found, too, Mr. Slope standing on the
hearth-rug, persuasive and eager; but on the sofa they found Mrs.
Proudie, an innovation for which no precedent could be found in all the
annals of Barchester. There she was, however, and they could only make
the best of her.
The introductions were gone through in much form. The archdeacon shook
hands with the bishop, and named Mr. Harding. His lordship then
presented them to his lady wife. After this Mr. Slope presented himself.
The bishop did mention his name, and so did Mrs. Proudie, too, in a
louder tone; but Mr. Slope took upon himself the chief burden of his own
introduction. He thrust out his hand, and, grasping that of the
archdeacon, bedewed it unmercifully. Dr. Grantly in return bowed, looked
stiff, contracted his eyebrows, and wiped his hand with his pocket
handkerchief. Nothing abashed, Mr. Slope then noticed the precentor, and
descended to the grade of the lower clergy.
There were four persons there, each of whom considered himself--or
herself, as Mrs. Proudie was one of them--the most important personage
in the diocese. The bishop himself actually wore the visible apron. The
archdeacon knew his subject, and really understood the business of
bishoping, which the others did not. Mrs. Proudie had her habit of
command. Mr. Slope had only his own courage and tact to depend on.
"I fear there is a great deal of Sabbath travelling here," said Mr.
Slope. "On looking at the 'Bradshaw,' I see that there are three trains
in and three out every Sabbath. Could nothing be done to induce the
company to withdraw them?"
"Not being a director, I really can't say. But if you can withdraw the
passengers, the company, I dare say, will withdraw the trains," said the
archdeacon. "It's merely a question of dividends."
"But surely, Dr. Grantly," said the lady, "surely we should look at it
differently. Don't you think so, Mr. Harding?"
Mr. Harding thought that all porters and stokers, guards and pointsmen
ought to have an opportunity of going to church, and he hoped that they
all had.
"But surely, surely!" continued Mrs. Proudie, "surely that is not
enough."
Come what might, Dr. Grantly was not to be forced into a dissertation on
a point of doctrine with Mrs. Proudie, nor yet with Mr. Slope; so he
turned his back upon the sofa, and hoped that Dr. Proudie had found the
palace repairs had been such as to meet his wishes.
At once Mr. Slope sidled over to the bishop's chair, and began a
catalogue of grievances concerning the stables and the out-houses. Mrs.
Proudie, while she lent her assistance in reciting the palatial
short-comings in the matter of gas, hot-water pipes, and the locks on
the doors of servants' bedrooms, did not give up her hold of Mr.
Harding. Over and over again she had thrown out her "Surely, surely!" at
Mr. Harding's devoted head, and ill had that gentleman been able to
parry the attack.
He had never before found himself subjected to such a nuisance, or been
so hard pressed in his life. Mrs. Proudie interrogated him, and then
lectured. "Neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man
servant, nor thy maid servant," said she, impressively, and more than
once, as though Mr. Harding had forgotten the words. She shook her
fingers at him as she quoted the law, as though menacing him with
punishment.
Mr. Harding felt that he ought to rebuke the lady for presuming so to
talk to a gentleman and a clergyman many years her senior; but he
recoiled from the idea of scolding the bishop's wife, in the bishop's
presence, on his first visit to the palace; moreover, to tell the truth,
he was somewhat afraid of her.
The archdeacon was now ready to depart, and he and the precentor, after
bowing low to the lady and shaking hands with my lord, made their escape
from Mr. Slope as best they could. It was not till they were well out of
the palace and on the gravel walk of the close that the archdeacon
allowed the wrath inspired by Mr. Slope to find expression.
"He is the most thoroughly bestial creature that ever I set my eyes
upon," said the archdeacon. "But what are we to do with him? Impudent
scoundrel! To have to cross-examine me about out-houses, and Sunday
travelling, too. I never in my life met his equal for sheer impudence.
Why, he must have thought we were two candidates for ordination!"
"I declare I thought Mrs. Proudie was the worst of the two." said Mr.
Harding.
_III.--Mrs. Proudie Gets a Fall_
An act of Parliament had decided that in future the warden of Hiram's
Hospital should receive £450 a year, and no one thought for a moment
that the new bishop would appoint any other than Mr. Harding.
Mr. Slope, however, had other plans. He saw from the first that he could
not conciliate Dr. Grantly, and decided on open battle against the
archdeacon and all his adherents. Only those came to call on Mr. Slope
who, like Mr. Quiverful, the rector of Puddingdale, had large families
and small incomes, and could not afford to neglect the loaves and fishes
of the diocese, even if a Mr. Slope had charge of the baskets.
So Mr. Harding received a note begging him to call on Mr. Slope at the
palace concerning the wardenship.
The result of this interview was so offensive to Mr. Harding that he
said:
"You may tell the bishop, Mr. Slope, that as I altogether disagree with
his views about the hospital, I shall decline the situation if I find
that any such conditions are attached to it as those you have
suggested." And so saying, he took his hat and went his way.
Mr. Slope was contented. He considered himself at liberty to accept Mr.
Harding's last speech as an absolute refusal of the appointment. At
least, he so represented it to the bishop and to Mrs. Proudie.
"I really am sorry for it," said the bishop.
"I don't know that there is much cause for sorrow," said the lady. "Mr.
Quiverful is a much more deserving man."
"I suppose I had better see Quiverful," said the chaplain.
"I suppose you had," said the bishop.
But no sooner had Mr. Slope promised Quiverful the wardenship, Mrs.
Proudie writing at the same time to her protégée, Mrs. Quiverful, than
he repented of the step he had taken.
Eleanor Bold, Mr. Harding's daughter, was a widow in prosperous
circumstances, and when Mr. Slope had made her acquaintance, and learnt
of her income, he decided that he would woo her. Mr. Harding at the
hospital, and placed there by his means, would be more inclined to
receive him as a son-in-law. Mr. Slope wanted a wife, and he wanted
money, but he wanted power more than either. He had fully realised that
sooner or later he must come to blows with Mrs. Proudie. He had no
desire to remain in Barchester as her chaplain; he had higher views of
his own destiny. Either he or Mrs. Proudie must go to the wall, and now
had come the time when he would try which it should be.
To that end, he rode over to Puddingdale and persuaded Mr. Quiverful to
give up all hope of the wardenship. Mrs. Quiverful, however, with
fourteen children, refused to yield without a struggle, and went off
there and then to Mrs. Proudie at the palace.
She told her tale, and Mrs. Proudie walked quickly into her husband's
room, and found him seated at his office table, with Mr. Slope opposite
to him.
"What is this, bishop, about Mr. Quiverful?" said she, coming to the end
of the table and standing there.
"I have been out to Puddingdale this morning, ma'am," replied Mr. Slope,
"and have seen Mr. Quiverful; and he has abandoned all claim to the
hospital. Under these circumstances I have strongly advised his lordship
to nominate Mr. Harding."
"Who desired you to go to Mr. Quiverful?" said Mrs. Proudie, now at the
top of her wrath--for it was plain to her the chaplain was taking too
much upon himself. "Did anyone send you, sir?"
There was a dead pause in the room. The bishop sat twiddling his thumbs.
How comfortable it would be, he thought, if they could fight it out
between them; fight it out so that one should kill the other utterly, as
far as diocesan life was concerned, so that he, the bishop, might know
clearly by whom he ought to be led. If he had a wish as to which might
prove victor, that wish was not antagonistic to Mr. Slope.
"Will you answer me, sir?" Mrs. Proudie repeated. "Who instructed you to
call on Mr. Quiverful?"
"Mrs. Proudie," said Mr. Slope, "I am quite aware how much I owe to your
kindness. But my duty in this matter is to his lordship. He has approved
of what I have done, and having that approval, and my own, I want none
other."
What horrid words were these which greeted the ear of Mrs. Proudie? Here
was premeditated mutiny in the camp. The bishop had not yet been twelve
months in the chair, and rebellion had already reared her hideous head
in the palace.
"Mr. Slope," said Mrs. Proudie, with slow and dignified voice, "I will
trouble you, if you please, to leave the apartment. I wish to speak to
my lord alone."
Mr. Slope felt that everything depended on the present interview. Should
the bishop now be repetticoated his thralldom would be complete and for
ever. Now was the moment for victory or rout. It was now that Mr. Slope
must make himself master of the diocese, or else resign his place and
begin his search for fortune elsewhere.
"His lordship has summoned me on most important diocesan business," said
Mr. Slope, glancing with uneasy eye at Dr. Proudie; "my leaving him at
the present moment is, I fear, impossible."
"Do you bandy words with me, you ungrateful man?" said the lady. "My
lord, is Mr. Slope to leave this room, or am I?"
His lordship twiddled his thumbs, and then proclaimed himself a
Slopeite.
"Why, my dear," said he, "Mr. Slope and I are very busy."
That was all. There was nothing more necessary. Mr. Slope saw at once
the full amount of his gain, and turned on the vanquished lady a look of
triumph which she never forgot and never forgave.
Mrs. Proudie without further parley left the room; and then followed a
close conference between the new allies. The chaplain told the bishop
that the world gave him credit for being under the governance of his
wife, and the bishop pledged himself with Mr. Slope's assistance to
change his courses.
_IV.--Mr. Slope Bids Farewell_
As it proved, however, Mr. Slope had not a chance against Mrs. Proudie.
Not only could she stun the poor bishop by her midnight anger when the
two were alone, but she could assuage him, if she so willed, by daily
indulgences.
On the death of Dr. Trefoil, the dean of Barchester, Mr. Slope had not
shrunk from urging the bishop to recommend his chaplain for the post.
"How could you think of making such a creature as that dean of
Barchester?" said Mrs. Proudie to her now submissive husband.
"Why, my dear," said he, "it appeared to me that you and Mr. Slope did
not get on as well as you used to do, and therefore I thought that if he
got this place, and so ceased to be my chaplain, you might be pleased at
such an arrangement."
Mrs. Proudie laughed aloud.
"Oh yes, my dear, of course he'll cease to be your chaplain," said she.
"After what has passed, that must be a matter of course. I couldn't for
a moment think of living in the same house with such a man. Dean,
indeed! The man has gone mad with arrogance."
The bishop said nothing further to excuse either himself or his family,
and having shown himself passive and docile was again taken into favour,
and spent the pleasantest evening he had had in his own house for a long
time.
Mr. Slope did not get the deanery, though for a week he was decidedly
the favourite--owing to the backing he received from the _Jupiter_. And
Mr. Quiverful was after all appointed to the hospital, with the complete
acquiescence of Mr. Harding.
Mr. Harding might have had the deanery, but he declined the office on
the ground of his age and his inability to fit himself into new duties.
In vain the archdeacon threatened, and in vain he coaxed; his
father-in-law could not be made to accept it.
To Mr. Harding's infinite relief, Mrs. Bold regarded Mr. Slope's
proposal with horror, and refused him with indignation. She had never
thought of him as a possible suitor, and when he addressed her as
"beautiful woman," and as "dearest Eleanor," and as "sweetest angel,"
and even contrived to pass his arm round her waist, it was more than she
could bear. Mrs. Bold raised her little hand and just dealt him a box on
the ear with such good will that it sounded among the trees--he had
followed her into the garden--like a miniature thunderclap.
The news that the deanery was not for him ended Mr. Slope's prospects in
Barchester. He was aware that as regarded the diocese Mrs. Proudie had
checkmated him. He had, for a moment, run her hard, but it was only for
a moment, and Mrs. Proudie had come forth victorious in the struggle.
Having received a formal command to wait upon the bishop, he went into
Dr. Proudie's study. There, as he had anticipated, he found Mrs. Proudie
together with her husband.
"Mr. Slope," began the bishop, "I think you had better look for some
other preferment. I do not think you are well suited for the situation
you have lately held. I will enclose you a cheque for any balance that
may be due to you; and under the present circumstances it will, of
course, be better for all parties that you should leave the palace at
the earliest possible moment."
"If, however, you wish to remain in the neighbourhood," said Mrs.
Proudie, "the bishop will mention your name to Mr. Quiverful, who now
wants a curate at Puddingdale, and the stipend is £50 a year, sufficient
for your requirements."
"May God forgive you, madam, for the manner in which you have treated
me," said Mr. Slope; "and remember this, madam, that you yourself may
still have a fall. As to the bishop, I pity him!"
Thus ended the intimacy of the bishop of Barchester with his first
confidential chaplain.
Mr. Slope returned to town, and promptly consoled the widow of a rich
sugar-refiner. He soon was settled with much comfort in Baker Street,
and is now possessed of a church in the New Road.
Mr. Harding is still precentor, and still pastor of the little church of
St. Cuthbert's. In spite of what he has often said, he is not even yet
an old man.
* * * * *
IVAN TURGENEV
Fathers and Sons
Among the great critics and great artists of every period,
Ivan Sergeyvitch Turgenev occupies a supreme position. He was
born at Oriel in the Government of the same name, on November
9, 1818, and died on September 3, 1883. His father was a
colonel in a cavalry regiment, and an ancestor was a James
Turgenev who was one of Peter the Great's jesters. Educated at
Moscow, St Petersburg, and Berlin, Ivan Turgenev began life in
a government office, but after a year retired into private
life. His early attempts at literature consisted chiefly of
poems and sketches, none of which attracted any degree of
attention; and it was not until about 1847, upon the
appearance of "A Sportsman's Sketches"--a series of stories
depicting with startling realism the condition of the Russian
peasant, that his name became known. About 1860 Ivan Turgenev,
in common with many of the Russian writers of the period,
found himself being carried away towards the study of social
reform. In 1861 he produced "Fathers and Sons" ("Otzi i
Dieti"), a story that stirred up a storm the suddenness of
which is difficult to imagine in the light of recent events.
Yet, curiously enough, Turgenev, ardent Liberal though he was,
had no political motive whatsoever in view in writing his
novel, his purpose simply being the delineation of certain
types which were then, for good or for bad, making themselves
a force in his country. The figure of Bazaroff, in regard to
whom Turgenev gave a new interpretation of the word
"nihilist," possesses few of the revolutionary ideas that are
now generally associated with his kind. Young Russia greatly
objected to the picture, and the author, who so far had been
hailed as a champion of liberty, was now looked on as a
reactionist. To the end, however, Turgenev persisted that
Bazaroff represented a type as he saw it, and the portrait was
neither a caricature nor entirely a product of the
imagination.
_I.--The Old and the New_
Arkady had come home, a full-blown graduate from the University at
Petersburg, and as his father, Nikolai Petrovitch pressed his lips to
his beardless, dusky, sunburnt cheek, he was beside himself with
delight. Even his uncle, Pavel Petrovitch--once a famous figure in
Russian society, and now, in spite of his dandy habits and dandy dress,
living with his brother on the latter's estate in the heart of the
country--showed some emotion. And Arkady, too, though he endeavoured to
stifle his feelings as became a superior young man who had risen above
the prejudices of the older generation, could not conceal the pleasure
he felt.
Arkady had brought back with him his great friend, Bazaroff, a tall man,
long and lean, with a broad forehead, a nose flat at the base and
sharper at the end, large greenish eyes, and drooping whiskers of a
sandy colour--a face which was lighted up by a tranquil smile and showed
self-confidence and intelligence. Bazaroff alone seemed supremely
indifferent to the atmosphere of pleasure which pervaded his friend's
home-coming. As the two young men left the room, Pavel Petrovitch turned
to his brother with a slightly questioning look on his clear-cut,
clean-shaved, refined face.
"Who is he?" he asked.
"A friend of Arkady's; according to him, a very clever fellow."
"Is he going to stay with us?"
"Yes."
"That unkempt creature?"
"Why, yes."
Pavel Petrovitch drummed with his finger-tips on the table. "I fancy
Arkady _s'est dégourdé_," he remarked. "I am glad he has come back."
"Your uncle's a queer fish," Bazaroff remarked to Arkady, in the
seclusion of their room; "only fancy such style in the country! His
nails, his nails--you ought to send them to an exhibition! And as to his
chin, it's shaved simply to perfection. Now, come, Arkady, isn't he
rather ridiculous?"
"Perhaps he is," replied Arkady; "but he's a splendid man, really."
"An antique survival! But your father's a capital fellow. He wastes his
time reading poetry, and doesn't know much about farming, but he's a
good-hearted fellow."
"My father's a man in a thousand."
"Did you notice how shy and nervous he is?"
Arkady shook his head, as though he himself were not shy and nervous.
"It's something astonishing," pursued Bazaroff, "these old idealists,
they develop their nervous systems till they break down... so balance is
lost.... In my room there's an English wash-stand, but the door won't
fasten. Anyway, that ought to be encouraged--an English wash-stand
stands for progress."
The antipathy between Pavel Petrovitch and Bazaroff became more
pronounced as the days went by. There were several passages of arms
between them--the one taking the old-fashioned view of life, the other
dismissing contemptuously his outlook as unprogressive. For himself,
Nikolai Petrovitch was too delighted at having his son with him to feel
any concern about Bazaroff.
"What is this Mr. Bazaroff--your friend?" Pavel asked one day, with a
drawl.
"Would you like me to tell you, uncle?" Arkady replied with a smile. "He
is a Nihilist, a man who accepts nothing, who regards everything from
the critical point of view--who does not take any principle on faith,
whatever reverence that principle may be enshrined in."
"Well, and is that good?"
"That depends, uncle. Some people it would do good to, but some people
would suffer for it."
"Indeed! Well, I see it's not in our line. We are old-fashioned people;
we imagine that without principles, taken as you say on faith, there is
no taking a step, no breathing. _Vous avez changé tout cela_, God give
you good health and the rank of a general, while we will be content to
look on and admire worthy... what was it?"
"Nihilist," Arkady said, speaking very distinctly.
So great was the silent, unvoiced antipathy between the two men that
Nikolai Petrovitch, even, breathed more freely when Arkady and Bazaroff
at the end of a fortnight announced their intention of visiting the
neighbouring town of X------.
At X------, the two friends made the acquaintance of Madame Odintsov, a
wealthy widow, who lived alone in her large, well-ordered establishment,
with her one daughter, Katya Sergyevna. Bazaroff was contemptuously
amused at the luxury and peace that pervaded the house. The excellent
arrangements of the establishment he made a subject for laughter, but,
none the less, he gladly prolonged his stay for a fortnight. The reason
was not far to seek. In spite of his avowed disbelief in love and
romance, the gracious charm, the refined intelligence and the beauty of
Madame Odintsov had won his heart. And Arkady, too, willingly accepted
his hostess's urgent invitation that they should stay for as long as
they pleased, because of his passion for Katya. Circumstances, however,
brought their visit to an abrupt conclusion.
One morning Madame Odintsov, when she was alone with Bazaroff, commented
upon his reticence and constraint. As she made this remark, Bazaroff got
up and went to the window.
"And would you like to know the reason for this reticence?" he queried.
"Would you like to know what is passing within me?"
"Yes," rejoined Madame Odintsov, with a sort of dread she did not at the
time understand.
"And you will not be angry?"
"No."
"No?" Bazaroff was standing with his back to her. "Let me tell you,
then, that I love you like a fool, like a madman.... There, you forced
it out of me."
He turned quickly, flung a searching look upon her, and, snatching both
her hands, he drew her suddenly to his breast.
She did not at once free herself from his embrace, but an instant later
she was in the seclusion of her own room, standing, her cheeks scarlet,
meditating on what had occurred.
"I am to blame," she decided, aloud, "that I could not have foreseen
this.... No, no.... God knows what it would lead to; he couldn't be
played with. Peace is, anyway, the best thing in the world."
She had come to a definite decision before she saw Bazaroff again. He
found an opportunity of speaking to her alone and hoarsely apologised
for what had taken place.
"I am sufficiently punished," he said, without raising his eyes to hers.
"My position, you will certainly agree, is most foolish. To-morrow I
shall be gone. There is no recalling the past, consequently I must go. I
can only conceive of one condition upon which I could remain; that
condition will never be. Excuse my impertinence, but you don't love me
and you never will love me, I suppose?"
Bazaroff's eyes glittered for an instant under their dark brows. Madame
Odintsov did not answer him. "I am afraid of this man," flashed through
her brain.
"Good-bye, then," said Bazaroff, as though he guessed her thought, and
he went back into the house.
_II--Bazaroff's Home-Coming_
From the scene of his discomfiture Bazaroff fled to his own house,
taking Arkady with him. Vassily Ivanovitch, his father, an old retired
army doctor, who had not seen his son for three years, was standing on
the steps of the little manor house as the coach in which they travelled
rolled up. He was a tall, thinnish man, with, dishevelled hair and a
thin hawk nose, dressed in an old military coat not buttoned up. He was
smoking a long pipe and screwing up his eyes to keep the sun out of
them. The horses stopped.
"Arrived at last," said Bazaroff's father, still going on smoking,
though the pipe was fairly dancing up and down between his fingers.
"Enyusha, Enyusha," was heard a trembling woman's voice. The door was
flung open and in the doorway was seen a plump, short little woman, in a
white cap and a short, striped jacket. She moaned, staggered, and would
certainly have fallen had not Bazaroff supported her. Her plump little
hands were instantly twined round his neck. "For what ages, my dear one,
my darling Enyusha!" she cried, her wrinkled face wet with tears. Old
Bazaroff breathed hard and screwed his eyes up more than ever.
"There, that's enough, that's enough, Arina; give over--please give
over."
His lips and eyebrows were twitching and his beard was quivering... but
he was obviously trying to control himself and appear almost
indifferent. But, like his wife, the old man was deeply moved at the
coming of his son. Only with difficulty could he keep his eyes off him.
The whole little house was turned upside down to provide him proper
entertainment. Arisha produced the most tempting dainties she could cook
and old Bazaroff brought out a bottle of wine, told some of the best of
his old stories, and, regardless of the snubs uttered occasionally by
Bazaroff, seemed to be filled with an ecstatic joy as long as he could
be near him. He took an early opportunity of questioning Arkady, and
when he heard the words of praise that fell from the latter's lips and
the expectation that was current at the University of the great future
for his son, he could stand it no longer. He bent down to Arkady and
kissed him on his shoulder.
"You have made me perfectly happy," he said, never ceasing to smile. "I
ought to tell you, I... idolise my son; my old wife I won't speak of--we
all know what mothers are!--but I dare not show my feelings before him,
because he doesn't like it. He is averse to every kind of demonstration
of feeling; many people even find fault with him for such firmness of
character, and regard it as a proof of pride or lack of feeling, but men
like him ought not to be judged by the common standard, ought they?"
One thing troubled old Bazaroff. How long was his son going to stay? He
dared not ask him, but he centred his hopes on three weeks, at least.
Bazaroff, however, was restless and unsatisfied. He had not succeeded in
effacing the memory of Madame Odintsov. On the third day he told Arkady
that he could stand it no longer.
"I am bored; I want to work, but I can't work here. I will come to your
place again; I have left all my apparatus there, too. In your house one
can, at any rate, shut oneself up; while here my father repeats to me,
'My study is at your disposal--nobody shall interfere with you,' and all
the time he himself is never a yard away. It's the same thing, too, with
mother. I hear her sighing the other side of the wall, and if one goes
in to her, one's nothing to say to her."
Vassily Ivanovitch was dumbfounded when he broke the news to him.
"Very good..." he faltered, "very good.... I had thought you were to be
with us... a little longer. Three days.... After three years, it's
rather little; rather little, Yevgeny!"
"But I tell you I'm coming back directly. It's necessary for me to go."
"Necessary.... Very good. Arina and I, of course, did not anticipate
this. She has just begged some flowers from a neighbour; she meant to
decorate the room for you. Liberty... is the great thing; that's my
rule.... I don't want to hamper you... not..."
He suddenly ceased and rushed from the room. He had to tell his old
wife; that was the trying task that lay before him. She was utterly
crushed, and only a two-hour exhortation from her husband enabled her to
control herself until her son's departure. When at last he was gone she
broke down. Vassily Ivanovitch bent his grey head against her grey head.
"There's no hope for it," she moaned. "Only I am left you, unchanged for
ever, as you for me."
_III.--The Duel_
The two friends journeyed as far as X---- together. There Arkady left
his companion in order to see Katya. Bazaroff, determined to cure
himself of his passion for Madame Odintsov, made the rest of the journey
alone, and took up his quarters once more in the house of Nicolai
Petrovitch.
The fact of Arkady's absence did not tend to improve matters between
Pavel Petrovitch and Bazaroff. After a week the aristocrat's antipathy
passed all bounds. That night he knocked at Bazaroff's door, and,
gaining admittance, begged in his most delicate manner for five minutes'
conversation.
"I want to hear your views on the subject of duelling," he said.
Bazaroff, for once, was taken by surprise.
"My view is," he said at last, "that I should not, in practice, allow
myself to be insulted without demanding satisfaction."
"Your words save me from rather a deplorable necessity. I have made up
my mind to fight you."
Bazaroff opened his eyes wide. "Me?"
"Undoubtedly."
"What for, pray?"
"I cannot endure you; to my idea your presence here is superfluous, I
despise you; and if that is not enough for you..."
Pavel Petrovitch's eyes glittered.... Bazaroff's, too, were flashing.
"Very good," he assented; "no need of further explanations. You've a
whim to try your chivalrous spirit upon me. I might refuse you this
pleasure, but--so be it!"
The details of the duel were arranged there and then, eight paces and
two shots each. The following morning they met at the place agreed upon,
and, having marked off the ground, they took up their stations. Bazaroff
watched Pavel Petrovitch take careful aim.... "He's aiming straight at
my nerves," he thought; "and doesn't he blink down it carefully, the
ruffian! Not an agreeable sensation, though! I'm going to look at his
watch-chain."
Something whizzed sharply by his ear, and at the same instant there was
the sound of a shot. Bazaroff, without taking aim, pressed the spring.
Pavel Petrovitch gave a slight start, and clutched at his thigh. A
stream of blood began to trickle down his white trousers. Bazaroff
became the doctor at once, and, flinging aside his pistol, fell on his
knees beside his late antagonist, and began with professional skill to
attend to his wound. At that moment Nicolai Petrovitch drove up.
"What does this mean?" he asked, rushing to the side of his brother.
"It is nothing," answered Pavel Petrovitch, faintly. "I had a little
dispute with Mr. Bazaroff, and I have had to pay for it a little. I am
the only person to blame in all this.... Mr. Bazaroff has behaved most
honourably."
After that incident Bazaroff's stay in the house any longer was an
impossibility. He left the same day, calling at Madame Odintsov's house
on his way home to see Arkady. He found his friend engaged to Katya and
in the seventh heaven of delight. Madame Odintsov would have had him
stay.
"Why should you not stay now?" she said. "Stay... it's exciting talking
to you... one seems walking on the edge of a precipice. At first one
feels timid, but one gains courage as one goes on. Do stay."
"Thanks for the suggestion," he retorted, "and for your flattering
opinion of my conversational talent. But I think I have already been
moving too long in a sphere which is not my own. Flying fishes can hold
out for a time in the air, but soon they must splash back into the
water; allow me, too, to paddle in my own element."
Madame Odintsov looked at Bazaroff. His pale face was twitching with a
bitter smile. "This man did love me!" she thought, and she felt pity for
him, and held out her hand to him with sympathy.
He, too, understood her. "No!" he said, stepping back a pace. "I am a
poor man, but I have never taken charity so far. Good-bye and good luck
to you."
"I am certain we are not seeing each other for the last time," she
declared, with an unconscious gesture.
"Anything may happen!" answered Bazaroff, and he bowed and went away.
_IV.--The Passing of Bazaroff_
Bazaroff's old parents were all the more overjoyed at their son's
arrival, as it was quite unexpected. His mother was greatly excited and
his father, touching his neck with his fingers, turned his head round as
though he were trying whether it were properly screwed on, and then, all
at once, he opened his wide mouth and went off into a perfectly
noiseless chuckle.
"I've come to you for six whole weeks, governor," Bazaroff said to him.
"I want to work, so please don't hinder me now."
But though his father and mother almost effaced themselves, scarcely
daring to ask him a question, even to discover what he would like for
dinner, the fever of work fell away. It was replaced by dreary boredom
or vague restlessness. He began to seek the society of his father and to
smoke with him in silence. Now and again he even assisted at some of the
medical operations which his father conducted as a charity. Once he
pulled a tooth out from a pedlar's head, and Vassily Ivanovitch never
ceased boasting about the extraordinary feat.
One day in a neighbouring village, the news was brought them that a
peasant had died of typhus. Three days later Bazaroff came into his
father's room and asked him if he had any caustic to burn a cut in his
finger.
"What sort of a cut? where is it?"
"Here, on my finger. I have been dissecting that peasant who died of
typhus fever."
Vassily Ivanovitch suddenly turned quite white. All that day he watched
his son's face stealthily. On the third day Bazaroff could not touch his
food.
"Have you no appetite? And your head?" he at last asked, timidly; "does
it ache?"
"Yes, of course it aches."
"Don't be angry, please," continued Vassily Ivanovitch. "Won't you let
me feel your pulse?"
Bazaroff got up. "I can tell you without feeling my pulse," he said. "I
am feverish."
"Has there been any shivering?"
"Yes, there's been shivering, too; I'll go and lie down."
Bazaroff did not get up again all day, and passed the whole night in
heavy, half-unconscious slumber. At one o'clock in the morning, opening
his eyes with an effort, he saw, by the light of a lamp, his father's
pale face bending over him, and told him to go away. The old man begged
his pardon, but he quickly came back on tiptoe, and, half hidden by the
cupboard door, he gazed persistently at his son. His wife did not go to
bed either, and, leaving the study door open a very little, she kept
coming up to it to listen "how Enyusha was breathing" and to look at
Vassily Ivanovitch. She could see nothing but his motionless bent back,
but even that afforded her some faint consolation.
In the morning Bazaroff spoke to his father in a slow, drowsy voice.
"Governor, I am in a bad way; I've got the infection, and in a few days
you will have to bury me."
Vassily Ivanovitch staggered back as if someone had aimed a blow at his
leg.
"God have mercy on you! What do you mean? You have only caught a cold.
I've sent for the doctor and you'll soon be cured."
"Come, that's humbug. I've got the typhus; you can see it in my arm. You
told me you'd sent for the doctor. You did that to comfort yourself...
comfort me, too; send a messenger to Madame Odintsov; she's a lady with
an estate... Do you know?" (Vassily Ivanovitch nodded.) "Yevgeny
Bazaroff, say, sends his greetings, and sends word he is dying. Will you
do that?"
"Yes, I will do it... But it is an impossible thing for you to die...
Think only! Where would divine justice be after that?"
"I know nothing about that; only you send the messenger."
He turned his face painfully to the wall, while Vassily Ivanovitch went
out of the study, and, struggling as far as his wife's bedroom, simply
dropped down on to his knees before the holy pictures.
"Pray, Arina, pray for us," he murmured. "Our son is dying."
Bazaroff got worse every hour. He was in the agonies of high fever. His
mother and father watched over him, combing his hair and giving him
gulps of tea. The old man was tormented by a special anguish. He wished
his son to take the sacrament, though, knowing his attitude towards
religion, he dared not ask him. At last he could keep back the words no
longer. As in a broken voice he begged his son to see a priest, a
strange look came over Bazaroff's face.
"I won't refuse if that can be any comfort to you, but I'll wait a
little."
There was the sound of carriage wheels outside. Vassily Ivanovitch
rushed to the door. A lady in a black veil and a black mantle,
accompanied by a little German doctor in spectacles, got out of the
carriage.
"I am Madame Odintsov," said the lady. "Your son is still living? I have
a doctor with me."
"Benefactress!" cried Vassily Ivanovitch, snatching her hand and placing
it convulsively to his lips. "Still living; my Yevgeny is living, and
now he will be saved! Wife! wife!... An angel from heaven has come to
us."
But when the doctor came out from examining his patient he breathed the
news that there was no hope, and Vassily Ivanovitch conducted Madame
Odintsov to his son's room. As she looked at Bazaroff she felt simply
dismayed, with a sort of cold and suffocating dismay; the thought that
she would not have felt like that if she had really loved him flashed
instantaneously through her brain.
"Thanks," said Bazaroff from the bed. "I did not expect this. It's a
deed of mercy. So we have seen each other again as you promised.... I
loved you! there was no sense in that even before, and less than ever
now. Love is a form, and my own form is already breaking up."
Madame Odintsov gave an involuntary shudder.
"Noble-hearted!" he whispered. "Oh, how young and fresh and pure... in
this loathsome room! Well, good-bye.... I thought I wouldn't die; I'd
break down so many things. I wouldn't die; why should I? There were
problems to solve, and I was a giant! And now all the problem for the
giant is how to die decently.... My father will tell you what a man
Russia is losing.... That's nonsense, but don't contradict the old man.
Whatever toy will comfort a child... you know. And be kind to mother.
People like them are not to be found in your great world.... I was
needed by Russia.... No, it's clear I wasn't needed. And who is needed?"
Bazaroff put his hand to his brow. Madame Odintsov bent down to him.
"Yevgeny Vassilyvitch, I am here...." He at once took his hand away and
raised himself.
"Good-bye," he said, with a sudden force, and his eyes gleamed with
their last light. "Good-bye.... Listen.... You know I didn't kiss you
then.... Breathe on the dying lamp, and let it go out...."
She put her lips on his forehead.
"Enough!" he murmured, and dropped back on to the pillow. "Now...
darkness...."
Madame Odintsov went softly out. "Well?" Vassily Ivanovitch asked her in
a whisper. "He has fallen asleep," she answered, hardly audible. But
Bazaroff was not fated to awaken. That night he breathed his last. A
universal lamentation arose in the house. Vassily Ivanovitch was seized
by a sudden frenzy.
"I said I should rebel," he shrieked hoarsely, his face inflamed and
distorted, shaking his fist in the air, as though threatening someone;
"and I rebel, I rebel!"
But his wife, all in tears, hung upon his neck, and both fell on their
faces together. "Side by side," said one of the servants afterwards,
"they drooped their poor heads like lambs at noonday...."
* * * * *
There is a little grave in the graveyard, surrounded by an iron railing;
two young fir-trees have been planted, one at each end. Yevgeny Bazaroff
is buried in this tomb. Often from the little village not far off two
quite feeble old people come to visit it--a husband and wife. At the
iron railing they fall down and remain on their knees, and long and
bitterly they weep and yearn and intently they gaze at the dumb stone
under which their son is lying.... Can it be that their prayers, their
tears are fruitless? Can it be that love, sacred, devoted love, is not
all-powerful?
Oh, no! however passionate, sinning, and rebellious the heart hidden in
the tomb, the flowers growing over it peep serenely at us with their
innocent eyes; they tell us not of eternal peace alone, that great peace
of "indifferent" nature; they tell us, too, of eternal reconciliation
and of life without end.
* * * * *
A Nest of Nobles
"A Nest of Nobles" ("Dvorianskoe Gniezdo"), published in 1858,
brought Turgenev a European reputation. Of all his novels, "A
Nest of Nobles" is probably the best. It has all the love of
detail that is peculiar to the Slavonic mind, a trait which is
largely responsible for that feeling of pessimism that
pervades the writings of all those who have listened to the
"still, sad music of humanity." Yet Turgenev is not typical of
that Russian school of novelists of which Tolstoy and Gorki
are distinguished examples; rather he belongs to the school of
Thackeray, George Eliot, and Dickens.
_I.--A Student's Marriage_
Fedor Ivanitch Lavretsky came of an ancient noble family. His father, a
strangely whimsical man, determined that his son should grow up a
Spartan. A gymnastic instructor was his principal teacher, although he
also studied natural science, mathematics, and international law. Music,
as a pursuit unworthy of a man, was discarded. The female sex he was
taught to hold in contempt, and all the gentler arts and emotions were
rigorously repressed. The boy was conscious of defects in his education,
and from his eighteenth year set himself to remedy them as far as he
could. His father died when he was twenty-two, and young Lavretsky
determined to go to Moscow, in the hope that diligent study might enable
him to regain the ground lost in youth.
The whole tendency of his education had been to make him into a shy man:
he could not get on with people; with an unquenchable thirst for love in
his heart, he had never yet dared to look a woman in the face. Robust,
rosy-cheeked, bearded, and taciturn, he produced a strange impression on
his companions, who did not suspect that this outwardly austere man was
inwardly almost a child. He appeared to them to be a queer kind of
pedant; they did not care for him, made no overtures to him, and he
avoided them. During the first two years he spent at the University he
only became fairly intimate with one student, Mihalevitch by name, for
he took lessons in Latin.
One day at the theatre he saw in a box in the front tier a young girl
leaning her elbow on the velvet of the box. The light of youth and life
played in every feature of her lovely dark oval face; subtle
intelligence was expressed in the splendid eyes which gazed softly and
attentively from under her fine brows, in the swift smile of her
sensitive lips, in the very poise of her head, her hands, her neck.
Suddenly the door of her box opened, and a man came in--it was
Mihalevitch. The appearance of this man, almost his only acquaintance in
Moscow, on the society of the girl who had suddenly absorbed his whole
attention, struck him as curious and significant. The performance ceased
to interest Lavretsky, and at one pathetic part he involuntarily looked
at his beauty: she was bending forward, her cheeks glowing. Under the
influence of his persistent gaze her eyes slowly turned and rested on
him.
All night he was haunted by those eyes. The skilfully constructed
barriers were broken down at last; he was in a shiver and a fever, and
the next day he went to Mihalevitch, from whom he learnt that her name
was Barbara Paulovna Korobyin. Mihalevitch offered to introduce him;
Lavretsky blushed, muttered something unintelligible, and ran away. For
five whole days he struggled with his timidity; on the sixth he got into
a new uniform and placed himself at Mihalevitch's disposal.
Paul Petrovitch Korobyin was a retired major-general. With the intention
of improving his pecuniary position, he devised a new method of
speculating with public funds--an excellent method in itself--but he
neglected to bribe in the right place. Information was laid against him,
and as a result of the subsequent inquiry he was advised to retire from
active service. In Moscow he lived the life of a retired general on 2750
roubles a year.
His daughter at this time was nineteen years old, and the general found
her expenses an ever-increasing tax upon his slender resources. He was
therefore glad to throw no obstacle in Lavretsky's way--having
discovered that he was wealthy--when, six months after their first
meeting, he proposed for his daughter's hand.
Barbara Paulovna had much practical sense, and a very great love of
comfort, together with a great faculty of obtaining it for herself. What
charming travelling knick-knacks appeared from various corners of the
luxurious carriage that she had purchased to convey them to Lavretsky's
country home! And how delightfully she herself made coffee in the
morning! Lavretsky, however, was not disposed to be observant at that
time: he was blissful, drunk with happiness; he gave himself up to it
like a child; indeed, he was as innocent as a child, this young
Hercules. Not in vain was the whole personality of his young wife
breathing with fascination; not in vain was her promise to the senses of
a mysterious luxury of untold bliss: her fulfilment was richer than her
promise.
Barbara Paulovna had no mind to establish herself permanently at
Lavriky. The idea of staying in that out-of-the-way corner of the
steppes never entered her head for an instant. In September she carried
her husband off to St. Petersburg, where they passed two winters; the
summer they spent at Tsarskoe Selo. They made many acquaintances, went
out, and entertained a good deal, and gave the most charming dances and
musical evenings. Barbara Paulovna attracted guests as fire attracts
moths.
Fedor Ivanitch did not altogether like such a frivolous life. He was
unwilling to enter the government service, as his wife suggested; still,
he remained in St. Petersburg for her pleasure. He soon discovered,
however, that no one hindered him from being alone; that it was not for
nothing that he had the quietest and most comfortable study in St.
Petersburg; that his tender wife was ever ready to aid him to be alone.
In the course of time a son was born to them, but the poor child did not
live long--it died in the spring, and in the summer Lavretsky took his
wife abroad. One summer and autumn they spent in Germany and
Switzerland, and for the winter they went to Paris.
In Paris Barbara Paulovna made herself a little nest as quickly and as
cleverly as in St. Petersburg. She soon drew round herself
acquaintances--at first only Russians, afterwards Frenchmen with very
excellent manners and fine-sounding names. All of them brought their
friends, and _la belle Mme. de Lavretsky_ was soon known from Chausée
d'Antin to Rue de Lille.
Fedor Ivanitch still busied himself with study, and set to work
translating a well-known treatise on irrigation. "I am not wasting my
time," he thought; "it is all of use; but next winter I must, without
fail, return to Russia and get to work." An unexpected incident broke up
his plans.
_II.--Separation_
Lavretsky had the most absolute confidence in his wife's every action
and thought. She was always as calm, affectionate, and confidential with
him as she had been from the first. It was therefore with a feeling of
stupefaction that, going one day into her boudoir during her absence, he
picked up from the floor a note that disclosed her infidelity. He read
it absent-mindedly, and did not understand what he had read. He read it
a second time--his head began to swim, the ground to sway under his
feet.
He had so blindly believed in her; the possibility of deception, of
treason, had never presented itself to his mind. He could not
understand. This young Frenchman, almost the most insignificant of all
his wife's acquaintances! The fear was borne in upon him that perhaps
she had never been worthy of the trust he had reposed in her. To
complete it all, he had been hoping in a few months to become a father.
All that night he wandered, half-distraught, about the streets of Paris
and in the open country beyond. In the morning he went to an hotel and
sent the incriminating note to his wife, with the following letter:
"The enclosed scraps of paper will explain everything to you. I cannot
see you again; I imagine that you, too, would hardly desire an interview
with me. I am assigning you fifteen thousand francs a year; I cannot
give more. Send your address to the office of the estate. Do what you
please. Live where you please. I wish you happiness!"
A long letter came back in reply: it put the finishing touch--his last
doubts vanished. She did not attempt to defend herself; her only desire
was to see him; she besought him not to condemn her irrevocably.
Three days later Lavretsky left Paris. For a time he followed his wife's
movements, as chronicled in Paris society papers. He learnt that a
daughter had been born to him. Finally a tragi-comic story was reported
with acclamation in all the papers; his wife played an unenviable part
in it. Barbara Paulovna had become a notoriety. He ceased to follow her
movements. Scepticism, half formed already by the experiences of his
life and by his education, took complete possession of his heart, and he
became indifferent to everything.
Four years passed by till he felt himself able to return to his own
country and to meet his own people. He went to the town of O----, where
lived his cousin, Marya Dmitrievna Kalitin, with her two daughters,
Elizabeth and Helena, and her aunt, Marfa Timofyevna Petrov.
_III.--A New Friendship_
Lavretsky stayed a few days in O---- before going to take up his
residence, as he proposed doing, at Vassilyevskoe, a small estate of his
some twenty miles distant. Mounting the steps of Kalitin's house to say
good-bye before departing, he met Elizabeth coming down.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To service. It is Sunday."
"Why do you go to church?"
Lisa looked at him in silent amazement.
"I beg your pardon; I did not mean to say that. I have come to say
good-bye to you; I am starting for my village in an hour."
"Well, mind you don't forget us," said Lisa, and went down the steps.
"And don't forget me. And listen," he added; "you are going to church;
while you are there, pray for me too."
Lisa stopped short and turned to face him. "Certainly," she said,
looking straight at him; "I will pray for you too. Good-bye."
In the drawing-room he found Marya Dmitrievna alone. She began to gossip
about a young man whom he had met the previous day, Vladimir Nikolaitch
Panshin.
"I will tell you a secret, my dear cousin: he is simply crazy about my
Lisa. Well, he is of good family, has a capital position, and is a
clever fellow; and if it is God's will, I for my part shall be well
pleased." She launched into a description of her cares and anxieties and
maternal sentiments. Lavretsky listened in silence, turning his hat in
his hands. Finally he rose, took his leave, and went upstairs to say
good-bye to Marfa Timofyevna.
"Tell me, please," he began; "Marya Dmitrievna has just been talking to
me about this--what's his name?--Panshin? What sort of man is he?"
"What a chatterbox she is, Lord save us! She told you, I suppose, as a
secret that he has turned up as a suitor, and so far, there's nothing to
tell, thank God! But already she's gossipping about him."
"Why thank God?"
"Because I don't like the fine young gentleman; and so what is there to
be glad of in it?
"Well, shall we see you again soon?" the old lady asked, as he rose to
depart.
"Very likely, aunt; it's not so far, you know."
"Well, go, then, and God be with you. And Lisa's not going to marry
Panshin; don't you trouble yourself--that's not the sort of husband she
deserves."
* * * * *
Lavretsky lived alone at Vassilyevskoe, and often rode into O------ to
see his cousins. He saw a good deal of Lisa's music-master, an old
German named Christopher Theodor Lemm, and, finding much in common with
him, invited him to stay for a few days.
"Maestro," said Lavretsky one morning at breakfast, "you will soon have
to compose a triumphal cantata."
"On what occasion?"
"On the nuptials of M. Panshin and Lisa. It seems to me things are in a
fair way with them already."
"That will never be," cried Lemm.
"Why?"
"Because it is impossible."
"What, then, do you find amiss with the match?"
"Everything is amiss, everything. At the age of nineteen Lisavetta is a
girl of high principles, serious, of lofty feelings, and he--he is a
dilettante, in a word."
"But suppose she loves him?"
"No, she does not love him; that is to say, she is very pure in heart,
and does not know herself what it means--love. Mme. de Kalitin tells her
that he is a fine young man, and she obeys because she is quite a child.
She can only love what is beautiful, and he is not--that is, his soul is
not beautiful...."
It sometimes happens that two people who are acquainted but not on
intimate terms all of a sudden grow more intimate in a few minutes. This
was exactly what came to pass with Lavretsky and Lisa. "So he is like
that," was her thought as she turned a friendly glance at him. "So you
are like that," he, too, was thinking. And thus he was not very much
surprised when she began to speak to him about his wife.
"You will forgive me--I ought not to dare to speak of it to you... but
how could you... why did you separate from her?"
Lavretsky shuddered. He looked at Lisa and sat down beside her. "My
child," he began, "do not touch on that woman; your hands are tender,
but it will hurt me just the same."
"I know," Lisa continued as though she had not heard. "I know she has
been to blame. I don't want to defend her; but what God has joined, how
can you put asunder? You must forgive, if you wish to be forgiven."
"She is perfectly contented with her position, I assure you. But her
name ought never to be uttered by you. You are too pure. You are not
capable of understanding such a creature."
"Then, if she is like that, why did you marry her?"
Lavretsky got up quickly from his seat. "Why did I marry her? I was
young and inexperienced; I was deceived, I was carried away by a
beautiful exterior. I knew no women, I knew nothing. God grant that you
may make a happier marriage."
At that moment Marya Dmitrievna came in. Lavretsky did not again succeed
in being alone with Lisa, but he looked at her in such a way that she
felt her heart at rest, and a little ashamed and sorry for him. Before
he left, he had obtained from his cousin a promise that she would come
over to Vassilyevskoe one day with her daughters.
When they came Lavretsky made further opportunities to talk with Lisa,
while the others were fishing. He led the conversation round to Panshin.
"Vladimir Nikolaitch has a good heart," said Lisa, "and he is clever;
mother likes him."
"And do you like him?"
"He is nice; why should I not like him?"
"Ah!" A half ironical, half mournful expression crossed his face. "Well,
may God grant them happiness," he muttered as though to himself.
Lisa flushed. "You are mistaken, Fedor Ivanitch. You are wrong in
thinking--but don't you like Vladimir Nikolaitch?"
"No, I don't."
"Why?"
"I think he has no heart."
"What makes you think he has no heart?"
"I may be mistaken--time will show, however."
Lisa grew thoughtful. Lavretsky began to talk to her about his daily
life at Vassilyevskoe. He felt a need to talk to her, to share with her
everything that was passing in his heart; she listened so sweetly, so
attentively. Her few replies and observations seemed to him so
intelligent....
_IV.--Love and Duty_
Glancing one day at a bundle of French newspapers that had been lying on
the table unopened for a fortnight, Lavretsky suddenly came upon a
paragraph announcing "Mournful intelligence: That charming, fascinating
Moscow lady, Mme. Lavretsky, died suddenly yesterday."
He hastened over to O----and communicated the news to Lisa, requesting
her to keep it secret for a time. They walked in the garden; Lavretsky
discussed his newly won freedom.
"Stop!" said Lisa, "don't talk like that. Of what use is your freedom to
you? You ought to be thinking of forgiveness."
"I forgave her long ago."
"You don't understand! You ought to be seeking to be forgiven."
"You are right," said Lavretsky after a pause; "what good is my freedom
to me?"
"When did you get that paper?" said Lisa without heeding his question.
"The day after your visit."
"And is it possible that you did not shed tears?"
"What is there to weep over now? Though, indeed, who knows? I might
perhaps have been more grieved a fortnight sooner."
"A fortnight?" said Lisa. "But what has happened, then, in the last
fortnight?"
Lavretsky made no reply, and suddenly Lisa flushed violently.
"Yes, yes! you guess why. In the course of this fortnight I have come to
know the value of a pure woman's heart. But I am glad I showed you that
paper," Lavretsky continued after a pause; "already I have grown used to
hiding nothing from you, and I hope that you will repay me with the same
confidence...."
Lavretsky was not a young man; he could not long delude himself as to
the nature of the feeling inspired in him by Lisa. He was brought that
day to the final conviction that he loved her.
"Have I really nothing better to do," he thought, "at the age of
thirty-five, than to put my soul into a woman's keeping again? But Lisa
is not like her; she would not demand degrading sacrifices from me; she
would not tempt me away from my duties; she would herself incite me to
hard, honest work, and we should walk hand in hand towards a noble aim.
That's all very fine," he concluded his reflections, "but the worst of
it is that she does not in the least wish to walk hand in hand with me.
But she doesn't in the least love Panshin either... a poor consolation!"
Painful days followed for Fedor Ivanitch. He found himself in a
continual fever. Every morning he made for the post and tore open
letters and papers; nowhere did he find confirmation or disproof of the
fateful news.
Late one night he found himself wandering aimlessly around the outskirts
of O----. Rambling over the dewy grass he came across a narrow path
leading to a little gate which he found open. Wandering in, he found, to
his amazement, that he was in the Kalitins' garden. In Lisa's room a
candle shone behind the white curtains; all else was dark. The light
vanished as he looked.
"Sleep well, my sweet girl," he whispered, sitting motionless, his eyes
fixed on the darkened window. Suddenly a light appeared in one of the
windows of the ground floor, then another. Who could it be? Lavretsky
rose... he caught a glimpse of a well-known face. Lisa entered the
drawing-room--she drew near the open door, and stood on the threshold, a
light, slender figure, all in white.
"Lisa!" broke hardly audibly from his lips. She started, and began to
gaze into the darkness. "Lisa!" he repeated louder, and came out of the
shadow.
She raised her head in alarm, and shrank back. "Is it you?" she said.
"You here?"
"I--I--listen to me," whispered Lavretsky, and seizing her hand he led
her to a seat. She followed him unresisting. Her pale face, her fixed
eyes, and all her gestures expressed an unutterable bewilderment.
Lavretsky stood before her. "I did not mean to come here," he began;
"something brought me. I--I love you," he uttered, in involuntary
terror. She tried to get up--she could not; she covered her face with
her hands.
"Lisa!" murmured Lavretsky. "Lisa," he repeated, and fell at her feet.
Her shoulders began to heave slightly.
"What is it?" he urged, and he heard a subdued sob. His heart stood
still... he knew the meaning of those tears. "Can it be that you love
me?" he whispered, and caressed her knees.
"Get up!" he heard her voice. "Get up, Fedor Ivanitch. What are we
doing?"
He got up and sat beside her on the seat.
"It frightens me; what we are doing?" she repeated.
"I love you," he said again. "I am ready to devote my whole life to
you."
She shuddered again as though something had stung her, and lifted her
eyes towards heaven.
"All that is in God's hands," she said.
"But you love me, Lisa? We shall be happy."
She dropped her eyes. He softly drew her to him, and her head sank on to
his shoulder--he bent his head a little and touched her pale lips....
On the following day Lavretsky drove over to Vassilyevskoe. The first
thing that struck him on entering was the scent of patchouli, always
distasteful to him. There were some travelling trunks in the hall. He
crossed the threshold of the drawing-room--a lady arose from the sofa,
made a step forward, and fell at his feet. He caught his breath... he
leaned against the wall for support.... It was Barbara Paulovna!
A torrent of words told him that, stricken by remorse, she had
determined to break every tie with her sins. A serious illness had given
rise to the rumour of her death. She had taken advantage of this to give
up everything. Would he not spare her for their little daughter's sake?
Lavretsky listened to the flood of eloquence in silence. He did not
believe one word of her protestations. His wrath choked him: this blow
had fallen so suddenly upon him.
* * * * *
Lisa bent forward in her chair and covered her face with her hands.
"This is how we were to meet again," he brought out at last. It was in
Marfa Timofyevna's room that they met once more. Lisa took her hands
from her face. "Yes!" she said faintly. "We were quickly punished."
"Punished!" said Lavretsky. "What had you done to be punished?" His
heart ached with pity and love. "Yes, all is over before it had begun."
"We must forget all that," she brought out at last. "It is left for us
to do our duty. You, Fedor Ivanitch, must be reconciled with your wife."
"Lisa!"
"I beg you to do so: by that alone can you expiate..."
"Lisa, for God's sake!--to be reconciled to her now!"
"I do not ask of you--do not live with her if you cannot. Remember your
little girl; do it for my sake."
"Very well," Lavretsky muttered between his clenched teeth; "I will do
that; in that I shall fulfil my duty. But you--what does your duty
consist in?"
"That I know myself."
Lavretsky started: "You cannot be making up your mind to marry Panshin?"
Lisa gave an almost imperceptible smile--"Oh, no!" she said.
"Now you see for yourself, Fedor Ivanitch, as I told you before, that
happiness does not depend on us, but on God."
* * * * *
Smoke
Considered simply as stories, "Fathers and Sons" and "Smoke"
are to all intents and purposes independent of each other, yet
in important particulars the latter is a sequel to the first.
Once on his arrival at St. Petersburg, Turgenev was met with
the words, "Just see what your Nihilists are doing! They have
almost gone so far as to burn the city." Thus again he took up
the question of social reform, and in "Smoke" ("Dim") he views
with apprehension the actions of the so-called
"intellectuals," who would make themselves responsible for the
shaping of future Russia. Charlatans among the leaders of the
new thought, and society dilettantism, both came under his
merciless lash. In his opinion the men and ideas in the two
camps are no more than smoke--dirty, evil-smelling smoke. The
entire atmosphere is gloomy, and throughout is only relieved
by the character of Irina, the most exquisite piece of
feminine psychology in the whole range of Turgenev's novels.
_I.--A Broken Idyll_
Early in the fifties there was living in Moscow, in very straitened
circumstances, almost in poverty, the numerous family of the Princes
Osinin. These were real princes--not Tartar-Georgians, but pure-blooded
descendants of Rurik. Time, however, had dealt hardly with them. They
had fallen under the ban of the Empire, and retained nothing but their
name and the pride of their nobility.
The family of Osinins consisted of a husband and wife and five children.
It was living near the dog's place, in a one-storied little wooden house
with a striped portico looking on to the street, green lions on the
gates, and all the other pretensions of nobility, though it could hardly
make both ends meet, was constantly in debt at the green-grocer's, and
often sitting without firewood or candles in the winter. Though their
pride kept them aloof from the society of their neighbours, their
straitened circumstances compelled them to receive certain people to
whom they were under obligations. Among the number of these was Grigory
Mihalovitch Litvinov, a young student of Moscow, the son of a retired
official of plebeian extraction, who had once lent the Osinins three
hundred roubles. Litvinov called frequently at the house, and fell
desperately in love with the eldest daughter, Irina.
Irina was only seventeen, and as beautiful as the dawn. Her thick fair
hair was mingled with darker tresses; the languid curves of her lovely
neck, and her smile--half indifferent, half weary--betrayed the nervous
temperament of a delicate girl; but in the lines of those fine, faintly
smiling lips there was something wilful and passionate, something
dangerous to herself and others. Her dark grey eyes, with shining lashes
and bold sweep of eyebrow, had a strange look in them; they seemed
looking out intently and thoughtfully--looking out from some unknown
depth and distance. Litvinov fell in love with Irina from the moment he
saw her (he was only three years older than she was), but for a long
while he failed to obtain not only a response, but even a hearing. She
treated him with hostility, and the more he showed his love, the greater
was her coldness, the more malignant her indifference. She tortured him
in this way for two months. Then everything was transformed in one day.
Worn out by this cold torture, Litvinov was one night about to depart in
despair. Without saying good-bye, he began to look for his hat. "Stay,"
sounded suddenly in a soft whisper. With throbbing heart he looked
round, hardly believing his ears. Before him he saw Irina, transformed.
"Stay," she repeated; "don't go. I want to be with you."
From that moment of the discovery of her love, Irina was changed. She,
who before had been proud and cruel, became at once as docile as a lamb,
as soft as silk, and boundlessly kind.
"Ah, love me, love me, my sweet, my saviour," she would whisper to him,
with her arms about his neck.
In this new dream of happiness the days flew, the weeks passed; the
future came ever nearer with the glorious hope of their happiness, and
then, suddenly, an event occurred which scattered all their dreams and
plans like light roadside dust. The Court came to Moscow, and the
Osinins, despite their poverty, determined to attend the customary great
ball in the Hall of Nobility. At first Irina resolutely refused to go,
and Litvinov was called in by the prince to use his persuasion.
"Very well, then, I will go," she said, when she had listened to his
arguments; "only remember, it is you yourself who desired it."
She spoke so strangely that he feared he had offended her.
"Irina, darling, you seem to be angry."
Irina laughed.
"Oh, no! I am not angry. Only, Grisha..." (She fastened her eyes on him,
and he thought he had never before seen such an expression in them.)
"Perhaps it must be," she added, in an undertone.
"But, Irina, you love me, dear?"
"I love you," she answered, with almost solemn gravity, and she clasped
his hand firmly like a man.
She went to the ball in a simple white dress, wearing a bunch of
heliotrope, the gift of her lover. When he called the following day,
Litvinov heard from the prince of the impression Irina had created; how
all the great noblemen from St. Petersburg, and even the Czar himself,
had commented upon her beauty. But Irina herself he did not see. She had
a bad headache, the prince explained. The following day he was again
denied a sight of her, and as he turned once more from the house he saw
a great personage drive up in a magnificent carriage. A dread foreboding
seized him. Dull stupefaction, and thoughts scurrying like mice, vague
terror, and the numbness of expectation and the weight of crushed tears
in his heavy-laden breast, on his lips the forced, empty smile, and a
meaningless prayer--addressed to no one....
As he walked down the street his servant touched him on the shoulder,
handing him a note. He recognised Irina's writing. He tore open the
envelope all at once. On a small sheet of notepaper were the following
lines:
"Forgive me, Grigory Mihalovitch. All is over between us; I am going
away to Petersburg. I am dreadfully unhappy, but the thing is done. It
seems my fate... but no, I do not want to justify myself. My
presentiments have been realised. Forgive me, forget me! I am not worthy
of you.--Irina. Be magnanimous: do not try to see me."
The blow almost broke Litvinov's heart. A rich cousin of the Princess
Osinin, struck by the impression created by the girl at the ball, had
taken her to Petersburg, to use her as a pawn in his struggle for power.
Utterly crushed, Litvinov threw up the University and went home to his
father in the country. He heard of her occasionally, encircled in
splendour. Her name was mentioned with curiosity, respect, and envy, and
at last came the news of her marriage to General Ratmirov.
_II--Temptation_
Ten years had passed--ten years during which much had happened to
Litvinov. He had served in the Crimea, and, after almost dying of
typhus, had been invalided home. Observation had shown him that his
father's management of their property was so old-fashioned that it did
not yield a tenth of the revenue it might yield in skillful hands. He
determined to go abroad to study agriculture and technology, so that he
might properly manage the estate. In various parts of Europe, in England
as well, he had travelled and studied, and now he found himself at
Baden, his work concluded, ready to take up his duties.
He was at Baden for two reasons: first, because he was espoused to his
cousin, Tatyana Petrovna Shestov, whom he had grown to dearly love, and
who had promised to be his comrade and friend "for better or worse," as
the English say. And he was at Baden, also, because Tatyana's aunt,
Kapitolina Markovna Shestov, an old unmarried lady of fifty-five, a
good-natured, honest, eccentric soul--a democrat, sworn opponent of
aristocracy and fashionable society--could not resist the temptation of
gazing for once on the aristocratic society which sunned itself in such
a fashionable place as Baden.
While he was expecting the arrival of his betrothed, Litvinov found
himself compelled to pass his time in the society of his
fellow-countrymen--ardent young Russian Liberals of both sexes, bubbling
over with new theories and enthusiasm, and ready to talk for hours
together on the political and social regeneration of their native
country. As far as possible, he avoided their society, and escaped into
the solitudes of the mountains. It was during one of these lonely
excursions that, feeling hungry, he made his way to the old castle, and,
seating himself at one of the little white-painted tables of the
restaurant, ordered a light breakfast. While he was seated there, there
was a loud tramping of horses, and a party of young Russian
generals--persons of the highest society, of weight and
importance--arrived, and with much noise and ostentation summoned the
obsequious waiters to attend to their wants. Litvinov made haste to
drink off his glass of milk, paid for it, and, putting his hat on, was
just making off past the party of generals...
"Grigory Mihalovitch," he heard a woman's voice, "don't you recognise
me?"
He stopped involuntarily. That voice... that voice had too often set his
heart beating in the past... He turned round and saw Irina.
Litvinov knew her at once, though she had changed since he saw her that
last time ten years ago, though she had been transformed from a girl
into a woman.
"Irina Pavlovna," he uttered, irresolutely.
"You know me? How glad I am! how glad--" She stopped, blushing. "Let me
introduce you to my husband."
One of the young generals, Ratmirov by name, almost the most elegant of
all, got up from his seat at the introduction, and bowed with a
dandified air. Litvinov would have escaped, but Irina insisted on his
sitting down. For a time he had to listen to the empty, meaningless talk
of the company, hardly able to say a word to Irina. At last his clean
plebeian pride revolted. He rose to his feet, somehow took leave of
Irina and her husband, and walked rapidly away, trying to brace and
soothe his nerves by violent exercise.
"Oh, Tatyana, Tatyana!" he cried passionately to himself. "You are my
guardian angel! you only my good genius! I love you only, and will love
you for ever, and I will not go to see her. Forget her altogether! Let
her amuse herself with her generals."
That very evening Irina sent him a message, asking him to come and see
her, and, in spite of all his determinations, he went. She saw him alone
in a room in one of the best hotels in Baden. "Grigory Mihalovitch," she
cried, as soon as he had closed the door behind him, "here we are alone
at last, and I can tell you how glad I am at our meeting, because it...
gives me a chance... of asking your forgiveness."
Litvinov started involuntarily at this unexpected reference to old
times.
"Forgiveness... for what?" he muttered.
"For what? I wronged you, though of course it was my fate, and I do not
regret it. You must tell me you forgive me, or else I shall imagine you
feel... _de la rancune_."
As he looked into her beautiful eyes, shining with tears, Litvinov's
senses seemed to swim.
"I will remember nothing," he managed to say; "nothing but the happy
moments for which I was once indebted to you."
Irina held out both hands to him; Litvinov clasped them warmly, and did
not at once let them go. Something that long had not been secretly
stirred in his heart at that soft contact.... They fell into
conversation, he learning from her something of her life, she extracting
from him in fragments the details of his career. General Ratmirov's
arrival put an end to their converse, and Litvinov rose to depart. At
the door Irina stopped him.
"You have told me everything," she said, "but the chief thing you have
concealed. You are going to be married, I am told."
Litvinov blushed up to his ears. As a fact, he had intentionally not
referred to Tatyana.
"Yes, I am going to be married," he said at last, and at once withdrew.
He came away, swearing to himself that he would never see her again.
Next day he met her on his way to the mountains, but pretended not to
see her. On his return he found her sitting alone on a bench in the
fashionable walk. She stopped him, insisting, with an unsteady voice, on
speaking to him. He tried to be frank with her, pointing out that their
paths lay far apart, that she belonged to a society which he did not
understand, that she was above him, beyond him. But her passionate
appeal that they should at least be friends melted his determination,
and he left her with a promise to call again that very night.
When he returned once more to his rooms, he made a desperate effort to
recover his senses. Taking out a picture of Tatyana, he placed it in
front of him, and stared at it long and eagerly. Suddenly he pushed it
gently away, and clutched his head in both hands.
"All is at an end," he whispered at last. "Irina! Irina!"
He realised in an instant that he was irrevocably, senselessly, in love
with her.
"But Tatyana, Tatyana, my guardian, Tatyana, Tatyana!" he repeated,
while Irina's shape, as he had seen her last, rose before his eyes with
a radiant calm of victory on her marble-white face.
Next day he told her of his love. For answer she threw her arms round
his neck and whispered in his ear, "I love you, too.... I love you...
and you know it."
"You must go," she went on suddenly, moving away from him and turning
impulsively toward the door. "It's dangerous, it's terrible....
Good-bye."
Litvinov stood, like a block of wood, at a distance. Once more she said,
"Good-bye, forget me," and, without looking round, rushed away.
As he left the hotel, like a man in a fog, he passed Ratmirov on the
stairs. The general lifted his hat unnecessarily high, and wished him a
very good day in a voice which was obviously ironical.
He hardly responded to Ratmirov's bow, but rushed back to his lodgings.
His head was turning round, and his heart vibrating like a harp-string.
He tried to pull himself together. He would fly from her. "If I die for
it," he muttered to himself. He packed his bag and trunk with furious
energy, determined to go that very night. As he was in the midst of his
preparations, a note was brought him from Irina.
"Sooner or later," she wrote, "it must have been. My life is in your
hands. If necessary, I will throw up everything and follow you to the
ends of the earth. We shall see each other to-morrow, of course. Your
Irina."
Two hours later he was sitting in his room on the sofa. His box stood in
the corner, open and empty.
_III--A Ruined Life_
Tatyana and her aunt arrived the following day at twelve o'clock.
Litvinov was at the station to meet them--a different Litvinov from the
one who a few days before had been so self-confident, so spiritual, so
calm and content. His whole appearance, his movements, the expression of
his face, had been transformed. Some sensation, unknown before, had
come, strong, sweet--and evil; the mysterious guest had made its way to
the innermost shrine, and taken possession and lain down in it in
silence, but, in all its magnitude, like the owner in a new house.
Litvinov was no longer ashamed, he was afraid; he had been vanquished,
vanquished suddenly... and what had become of his honesty? The first
look at Tatyana, the first look of Tatyana... that was what filled him
with terror, that was what he had to live through directly... and
afterwards?... afterwards?... Come what may come!
The train steamed in. Tatyana, standing near her aunt, smiled brightly
and held out her hand. He helped them to a fly and took a place in it
opposite them. He brought himself at last to look at Tatyana. His heart
throbbed with involuntary emotion; the serene expression of that honest,
candid face gave him a pang of bitter reproach. "So you are here, poor
girl," he thought. "You whom I have so longed for, so urged to come,
with whom I had hoped to spend my life to the end, you have come, you
believe in me... while I... while I..."
But Kapitolina Markoyna gave him no time for musing. She was full of
chatter, full of interest in everything that was going on, afire to see
all the fine aristocrats, though she abused them soundly.
After doing a round of the sights, Litvinov, his mind always on the
rack, led the ladies back to their hotel. As they entered a note was
handed to him. He tore open the envelope and read the words within,
scribbled in pencil: "Come to me this evening at seven, for one minute,
I entreat you. Irina."
After dinner Litvinov escorted the two ladies to their room, and, after
standing a little while at the window, with a scowl on his face, he
suddenly announced that he had to go out for a short time on business.
Tatyana said nothing; she turned pale and dropped her eyes. She was well
aware that Litvinov knew that her aunt took a nap after dinner; she had
expected him to take advantage of it to remain with her. He had not been
alone with her nor spoken frankly to her since her arrival. And now he
was going out! What was she to make of it? And, indeed, his whole
behaviour all along....
In a few minutes he was with Irina, holding her in his arms.
"I can't live without you, Irina," he whispered; "I am yours for ever
and always. I can only breathe at your feet."
He stooped down, all in a tremble, to kiss her hand. Irina gazed at his
bent head.
"Then let me say that I, too, am ready for anything; that I, too, will
consider no one and nothing. As you decide, so it shall be. I, too, am
for ever yours... yours."
He tore himself away with difficulty. He had turned his back on his
upright, well-organised, orderly future. The thing was done, but how was
he to face his judge? And if only his judge would come to meet him--an
angel with a flaming sword; that would be easier for a sinning heart...
instead of which, he had himself to plunge the knife in... infamous! but
to turn back, to abandon that other, to take advantage of the freedom
offered him, recognised as his... No, no! better to die! No, he would
have none of such loathsome freedom... but would humble himself in the
dust, and might those eyes look down on him with love.
Two hours later he was back again, trying to talk to the girl he
determined to deceive. He felt a continual gnawing of conscience;
whatever he said, it always seemed to him that he was telling lies, and
Tatyana was seeing through it. The girl was paler than usual, and,
replying to her aunt, she said she had a little headache.
"It's the journey," suggested Litvinov, and he positively blushed with
shame.
"Yes, the journey," repeated Tatyana, letting her eyes dwell for a
moment on his face.
In the night, at two o'clock, Kapitolina Markovna, who was sleeping in
the same room with her niece, suddenly lifted up her head and listened.
"Tatyana," she said, "you are crying?"
Tatyana did not at once answer.
"No, aunt," sounded her gentle voice; "I have caught cold."
In the course of that dreadful night Litvinov had arrived at a
resolution. He determined to tell Tatyana the truth, and in the morning
he steeled himself for the interview. He found her alone, and with an
effort stumbled out the introductory words of his confession. Tatyana
stopped him abruptly in the middle.
"Grigory Mihalovitch," she said in a measured voice, while a deathly
pallor overspread her whole face, "I will come to your assistance. You
no longer love me, and you don't know how to tell me so."
He flung himself on his knees before her.
"Tatyana," he cried, "could I dream that I should bring such a blow upon
you, my best friend, my guardian angel! I have come to tell you that
your friend is ruined, that he is falling into the pit, and would not
drag you down with him, but save me... no! even you cannot save me. I
should push you away; I am ruined, Tatyana, I am ruined past all help."
Tatyana's brow twitched. Her pale face darkened.
"Since you say yourself this passion is unalterable, it only remains for
me to give you back your word. I will ask you to leave me. I want to
collect myself a little.... Leave me alone... spare my pride."
Uttering these words, Tatyana hurriedly withdrew into an inner room.
He was free now, free to go to Irina! That day Tatyana and her aunt left
Baden. There were no barriers between him and his soul's desire. He
hastened to Irina's side. He found her turning over some lace in a
cardboard box.
"Don't be angry with me, dear one," she said, "for attending to this
trash at the present moment. I am obliged to go to a ball at a certain
lady's. These bits of finery have been sent me, and I must choose
to-day. Ah! I am awfully wretched," she cried suddenly, and she laid her
face down on the edge of the box. Tears began falling from her eyes...
she turned away; the tears might spoil the lace.
He was uneasy at her tears and tried to comfort her, and she, putting
her arms around him, cried to him that she would do whatever he wished.
They should be free people. "Let us be free," she said. "The day is
ours. A lifetime is ours."
Litvinov spent the next twenty-four hours in making all arrangements for
their flight together. He raised as much money as he could, even
stooping to try his luck at roulette to increase his hoard. The
appointed moment of their departure approached. As he waited impatiently
in the hotel hall, a letter was brought him. It was a letter from Irina
in French.
"My dear one," she wrote, "I cannot run away with you. I have not the
strength to do it. I cannot leave this life; I see the poison has gone
too deeply into me. Oh, my dear one, think me a weak, worthless woman,
despise, but don't abandon me, don't abandon your Irina.... To leave
this life I have not the courage, but live it without you I cannot
either. Come soon to me. I shall not have an instant's peace until I see
you. Yours, yours, yours--I."
The blood beat like a sledgehammer in Litvinov's head, then slowly and
painfully sank to his heart, and was chill as a stone. And so again,
again deceit; no, worse than deceit--lying and baseness... and life
shattered, everything torn up by its roots utterly, and the sole thing
which he could cling to, the last prop, in fragments too. In Litvinov's
soul rose, like sudden gusts of wind before a storm, momentary impulses
of fury.
He determined to leave Baden at once. Getting a carriage, he took his
box to the station. He was just taking his seat in the railway carriage.
"Grigory Mihalovitch... Grigory..." he heard a supplicating whisper
behind him.
He started to see Irina standing on the platform, her eyes crying to him
to come back--to come back.... He jumped into the carriage, and turning
round, he motioned her to a place beside him. She understood him. There
was still time. One step, one movement, and two lives made one for ever
would have been hurried away into the uncertain distance.... While she
wavered, a loud whistle sounded, and the train moved off.
_IV.--Love's Reward_
A year had passed--a year spent by Litvinov on his father's estate, a
year of hard work, a year of devoting the knowledge he had acquired
abroad to the betterment of the property. Another year, and his toil
began to show its fruit. A third year was beginning. An uncle, who
happened to be a cousin of Kapitolina Markovna, and had been recently
staying with her, paid them a visit. He brought Litvinov a great deal of
news about Tatyana. The next day, after his departure, Litvinov sent her
a letter, the first since their separation.
He begged for permission to renew her acquaintance, at least by
correspondence, and also desired to learn whether he must forever give
up all idea of some day seeing her. Not without emotion he awaited the
answer... the answer came at last. Tatyana responded cordially to his
overture. "If you are disposed to pay us a visit," she finished up, "we
hope you will come; you know the saying, 'even the sick are easier
together than apart.'"
With a new lightness of heart, Litvinov set off on his journey. The
horses would not go quick enough for him. At last the house was in
view... and on the steps Kapitolina Markovna was standing, and, beside
herself with joy, was clapping her hands, crying, "I heard him! I knew
him first! It's he! it's he! I knew him."
Litvinov dashed into the house... before him, all shamefaced, stood
Tatyana. She glanced at him with kind, caressing eyes and gave him her
hand. But he did not take her hand. He fell on his knees before her,
kissing the hem of her dress. The tears started into her eyes. She was
frightened, but her whole face beamed with delight.
"Tatyana," Litvinov cried, "Tatyana, you have forgiven me? Tatyana!"
"Aunt, aunt, what is this?" cried Tatyana, turning to Kapitolina
Markovna as she came in.
"Don't hinder him, Tatyana," answered the kind old lady; "you see the
sinner has repented."
* * * * *
JULES VERNE
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne was born in 1828. He studied law at Paris, but
turned to writing almost immediately after completing his
education, and brought out his first comedy in 1850. This was
followed by several comic operas. However, he is chiefly known
by his "scientific romances," of which the first, "Five Weeks
in a Balloon," appeared in 1863. "Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the Sea" is perhaps the best example of Verne's tales of
the marvels of invention, and we have to remember that when it
was written, in 1873, nobody had yet succeeded in making a
boat to travel under water. For that reason it was, in a way,
a prophetic book, shadowing forth the wonderful possibilities
of human ingenuity in exploring the ocean's unknown depths.
Jules Verne died March 24, 1905.
_I.--I Join a Strange Expedition_
In the year 1866 the whole seafaring world of Europe and America was
greatly disturbed by an ocean mystery which baffled the wits of
scientists and sailors alike. Several vessels, in widely different
regions of the seas, had met a long and rapidly moving object, much
larger than a whale, and capable of almost incredible speed. It had also
been seen at night, and was then phosphorescent, moving under the water
in a glow of light.
There was no doubt whatever as to the reality of this unknown terror of
the deep, for several vessels had been struck by it, and particularly
the Cunard steamer Scotia, homeward bound for Liverpool. It had pierced
a large triangular hole through the steel plates of the Scotia's hull,
and would certainly have sunk the vessel had it not been divided into
seven water-tight compartments, any one of which could stand injury
without danger to the vessel. It was three hundred miles off Cape Clear
that the Scotia encountered this mysterious monster. Arriving after some
days' delay at Liverpool, the vessel was put into dock, when the result
of the blow from the unknown was thoroughly investigated. So many
vessels having recently been lost from unknown causes, the narrow escape
of the Scotia directed fresh attention to this ocean mystery, and both
in Europe and America there was a strong public agitation for an
expedition to be sent out, prepared to do battle with, and if possible
destroy, this narwhal of monstrous growth, as many scientists believed
it to be.
Now I, Pierre Arronax, assistant professor in the Paris Museum of
Natural History, was at this time in America, where I had been engaged
on a scientific expedition into the disagreeable region of Nebraska. I
had arrived at New York in company of my faithful attendant, Conseil,
and was devoting my attention to classifying the numerous specimens I
had gathered for the Paris Museum. As I had already some reputation in
the scientific world from my book on "The Mysteries of the Great
Submarine Grounds," a number of people did me the honour of consulting
me concerning the one subject then exercising the minds of all
interested in ocean travel.
An expedition was also being fitted out by the United States government,
the fastest frigate of the navy, the Abraham Lincoln, under command of
Captain Farragut, being in active preparation, with the object of
hunting out this wandering monster which had last been seen three weeks
before by a San Francisco steamer in the North Pacific Ocean. I was
invited to join this expedition as a representative of France, and
immediately decided to do so. The faithful Conseil said he would go with
me wherever I went, and thus it came about that my sturdy Flemish
companion, who had accompanied me on scientific expeditions for ten
years was with me again on the eventful cruise which began when we
sailed from Brooklyn for the Pacific and the unknown.
The crew of the frigate and the various scientists on board were all
eagerness to meet the great cetacean, or sea-unicorn. My own opinion was
that it would be found to be a narwhal of monstrous growth, for these
creatures are armed with a kind of ivory sword, or tusk, as hard as
steel, and sometimes nearly seven feet long by fifteen inches in
diameter at the base. Supposing one to exist ten times as large as any
that had ever been captured, with its tusk proportionately powerful, it
was conceivable that such a gigantic creature, moving at a great rate,
could do all the damage that had been reported.
There was among our crew one Ned Land, a gigantic Canadian of forty, who
was considered to be the prince of harpooners. Many a whale had received
its deathblow from him, and he was eager to flesh his harpoon in this
redoubtable cetacean which had terrified the marine world.
Week after week passed without any sign that our quest would be
successful. Indeed, after nearly four months had gone, and we had
explored the whole of the Japanese and Chinese coasts, the captain
reached the point of deciding to return, when one night the voice of Ned
Land was heard calling:
"Look out there! The thing we are looking for on our weather-beam!"
At this cry the entire crew rushed towards the harpooner--captain,
officers, masters, sailors, and cabin-boys; even the engineers left
their engines, and the stokers their furnaces. The frigate was now
moving only by her own momentum, for the engines had been stopped.
My heart beat violently. I was sure the harpooner's eyes had not
deceived him. Soon we could all see, about two cables' length away, a
strange and luminous object, lying some fathoms below the surface, just
as described in many of the reports. One of the officers suggested that
it was merely an enormous mass of phosphorous particles, but I replied
with conviction that the light was electric. And even as I spoke the
strange thing began to move towards us!
The captain immediately reversed engines and put on full speed, but the
luminous monster gained on us and played round the frigate with
frightful rapidity. Its light would go out suddenly and reappear again
on the other side of the vessel. It was clearly too great a risk to
attack the thing in the dark, and by midnight it disappeared, dying out
like a huge glow-worm. It appeared again, about five miles to the
windward, at two in the morning, coming up to the surface as if to
breathe, and it seemed as though the air rushed into its huge lungs like
steam in the vast cylinders of a 2,000 horse-power engine.
"Hum!" said I. "A whale with the strength of a cavalry regiment would be
a pretty whale!"
_II.--The Attack and After_
Everything was in readiness to attack with the coming of the dawn, and
Ned Land was calmly sharpening his great harpoon, but by six in the
morning the thing had again disappeared, and a thick sea-fog made it
impossible to observe its further movements. At eight o'clock, however,
the mist had begun to clear, and then, as suddenly as on the night
before, Ned Land's voice was heard calling: "The thing on the
port-quarter!"
There it was, surely enough, a mile and a half away, now a large black
body showing above the waves, and leaving a track of dazzling white as
its great tail beat the water into foam.
Moving rapidly, it approached within twenty feet of the frigate. Ned
stood ready at the bow to hurl his harpoon, and the monster was now
shining again with that strange light which dazzled our eyes. All at
once he threw the harpoon. It struck on a hard body.
Instantly the light went out and two enormous water-spouts fell on our
deck. A frightful shock followed, and the next moment I found myself
struggling in the sea. Though a good swimmer, I kept afloat with some
difficulty, and great was my joy when I heard the voice of the faithful
Conseil, who had jumped in after me. Much stronger than myself, he
helped me to remove some of my clothes, and thus we kept afloat until I
fainted.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself on the top of what seemed
to be a floating island, and there was Ned Land as well as Conseil. We
were on the back of the mysterious monster, and it was made of metal!
Presently it began to move, and we were afraid it might go below the
surface.
Indeed, it seemed to be on the point of submerging, when Land hammered
loudly on the metal plates, and in a moment an opening was made and the
three of us were drawn inside by eight masked men. A door banged on us,
and for half an hour we lay in utter darkness. Then a brilliant electric
light flooded the cabin, a room of about twenty feet by ten, and two men
entered. One was tall, pale, and dark-eyed, but magnificently
proportioned.
Though we spoke to them in French, German, English, and Latin, they did
not seem to understand, while their own speech was unintelligible to us.
But they gave us clothes and food. After eating the food, which was
strange but delicious, we all lay down and slept the sleep of sheer
exhaustion.
Next day the tall man, whom I afterwards came to know as Captain Nemo,
master of his marvellous submarine boat, came to me, and, speaking in
French, said:
"I have been considering your case, and did not choose to speak till I
had weighed it well. You have pursued me to destroy me. I have done with
society for reasons of my own. I have decided. I give you choice of life
or death. If you grant me a passive obedience, and submit to my
consigning you to your cabin for some hours or days, as occasion calls,
you are safe. You, Monsieur Arronax, have least cause to complain, for
you have written on the life of the sea--I have your book in my library
here--and will benefit most when I show you its marvels. I love it. It
does not belong to despots."
Clearly we could do nothing but submit, and afterwards Captain Nemo
showed me his wondrous craft.
_III.--Our Life on the Nautilus_
It was indeed a thing of marvels; for, besides the dining-room, it
contained a large library of twelve thousand volumes, a drawing-room
measuring thirty feet by eighteen, and fifteen high. The walls of this
apartment were adorned with masterpieces of the great painters, and
beautiful marbles and bronzes. A large piano-organ stood in one corner,
and there were glass cases containing the rarest marine curiosities
which a naturalist could wish to see. A collection of enormous pearls in
a cabinet must have been worth millions, and Captain Nemo told me he had
rifled every sea to find them.
The room assigned to me was fitted up with every luxury, yet the
captain's own apartment was as simply furnished as a monastic cell, but
in it were contained all the ingenious instruments that controlled the
movements of the Nautilus, as his submarine was named. The electricity
was manufactured by a process of extracting chloride of sodium from the
sea-water, but the fresh air necessary for the life of the crew could
only be obtained by rising to the surface. The engine-room was
sixty-five feet long, and in it was the machinery for producing
electricity as well as that for applying the power to the propeller.
The Nautilus, Captain Nemo explained, was capable of a speed of fifty
miles an hour, and could be made to sink or rise with precision by
flooding or emptying a reservoir. In a box, raised somewhat above the
hull and fitted with glass ten inches thick, the steersman had his
place, and a powerful electric reflector behind him illumined the sea
for half a mile in front.
The submarine also carried a small torpedo-like boat, fitted in a groove
along the top, so that it could be entered from the Nautilus by opening
a panel, and, after that was closed, the boat could be detached from the
submarine, and would then bob upwards to the surface like a cork. The
importance of this and its bearing on my story will appear in due time.
It was on a desert island that Captain Nemo had carried out the building
of the Nautilus, and from many different places he had secured the
various parts of the hull and machinery, in order to maintain secrecy.
Deeply interested as I was in every detail of this extraordinary vessel,
and excited beyond measure at the wonders which awaited me in exploring
the world beneath the waves, I had still the feeling of a prisoner who
dared scarcely hope that liberty might some day be obtained. But when
the metal plates which covered the windows of the saloon were rolled
back as we sailed under the water, and on each hand I could see a
thronging army of many-coloured aquatic creatures swimming around us,
attracted by our light, I was in an ecstasy of wonder and delight.
Then days would pass without Captain Nemo putting in an appearance, and
none of the crew were ever to be seen. But the Nautilus kept on its
journey, which, I learned, took us to the Torres Strait, the Papuan
coast, through the Red Sea, through a subterranean strait, under the
Isthmus of Suez, to the island of Santorin, the Cretan Archipelago, to
the South Pole, on whose sterile wastes Captain Nemo reared his black
flag with a white "N" upon it, and through the Gulf Stream.
Of the wonders of the deep, those amazing and beautiful specimens of
unknown life that passed before my vision on this strange journey, never
before seen by the eye of any naturalist, I cannot here enter into
particulars. But it must not be supposed, prisoners though we were, that
we never emerged from the interior of the Nautilus.
One of my first surprises, indeed, was to be invited by Captain Nemo to
accompany him on a hunting expedition in the marine forest that grew
about the base of the little island of Crespo, in the North Pacific
Ocean. We were told to make a hearty breakfast, as the jaunt would be a
long one. This we did, for we had soon become accustomed to the strange
food, every item of which was produced by the sea.
For our submarine excursion we were furnished with diving dresses of
seamless india-rubber, fitted on the shoulders with a reservoir of
stored air, its tubes opening into the great copper helmet. We even had
powerful air-guns and electric bullets, which proved weapons of deadly
precision. When inside our diving dresses, we could not move our feet on
account of the enormous leaden soles, so that we had to be pushed into a
compartment at the bottom of the vessel, and the iron doors secured
behind us. Water was then pumped in, and we could feel it rising around
us, until the compartment was full, when an outer door opened and we
stepped on to the floor of the sea.
For some considerable distance we walked along sands of the most perfect
smoothness, and then had to make our way over slimy rocks and
treacherous masses of seaweed, before we reached the fairy-like forest
under the sea, where all the branches of the marvellous growths ascended
perpendicularly.
It was indeed a rare experience for me, who had written "The Mysteries
of the Great Submarine Grounds," thus to see, at first hand, the life
which I had only been able to speculate on before. We captured many rare
specimens, and shot a fine sea-otter, the only known quadruped that
inhabits the rocky depths of the Pacific. It was five feet long, and its
skin was worth a hundred pounds.
_IV.--Captain Nemo and the Avenger_
So constantly was I enchanted with the wonders of our journey that day
succeeded day without my taking note of them; but Captain Nemo, for all
his kindness, still remained as mysterious as the Sphinx. One day he
became violently agitated after looking through the glass at a point
indicated by his lieutenant, and I and my companions were immediately
imprisoned in darkness, as we had been when first taken into the
Nautilus. When I awoke next morning the captain took me to see a wounded
Englishman whose head had been shattered, and on my stating that the man
could not live for two hours, the dark eyes of the captain seemed to
fill with tears. I thought that night I heard sounds of a funeral hymn,
and next day I was taken to a submarine forest of coral, where they
buried the man. This was really a little cemetery beneath the sea, as I
gathered from the coral cross which had been erected there. Ned Land,
unlike me, was soon satisfied with what he had seen of the submarine
world, and had now but one thought of escape. We were sailing up the
eastern coast of South America, and by May 17 were some five hundred
miles from Heart's Content. There I saw, at a depth of more than fifteen
hundred fathoms, the great electric cable lying at the bottom of the
ocean. The restlessness of poor Ned Land was at its height when he had a
glimpse of the American shore; but Captain Nemo bent his course towards
Ireland, and then southward, passing within sight of Land's End on May
30.
All the next day the vessel seemed to be making a series of circular
movements, in some endeavour to locate a particular spot, and the
captain was gloomier than I had ever seen him, having no word for me.
The following day, which was beautifully clear, we could make out, some
eight miles to the eastward, a large steam vessel flying no flag.
Suddenly, after using his sextant, the captain exclaimed: "It is here!"
Presently the Nautilus sank to the bottom of the sea. When at rest the
lights were put out and the sliding panels opened. We could now see on
our starboard the remains of a sunken vessel, so encrusted with shells
that it must have lain there a great many years. As I stood there
wondering what might be Captain Nemo's reason for his manoeuvres, he
came to my side and, speaking slowly, said:
"That was the Marseillais, launched in 1772. It carried seventy-four
guns, and fought gallantly against the Preston, was in action again at
the siege of Granada, and in Chesapeake Bay. Then in 1794 the French
Republic changed the vessel's name, and it joined a squadron at Brest to
escort a cargo of corn coming from America. The squadron fell in with an
English man-o'-war, and seventy-two years ago to this very day, on this
very spot, after fighting heroically, until its masts were shot away,
its hold full of water, and a third of its crew disabled, this vessel
preferred sinking, with its 356 sailors, to surrendering. Nailing its
colours to the mast, it sank beneath the waves to the cry of 'Long live
the Republic!'"
"The Avenger!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, the Avenger. A good name!" said the captain, with a strange
seriousness, as he crossed his arms.
I was deeply impressed with his whole bearing while he recalled these
facts. It was clearly no common spite against his fellow-men that had
shut up Captain Nemo and his crew in the Nautilus.
Already we were ascending, fast leaving the grave of the old Avenger.
When we had reached the surface we could see the other vessel steaming
towards us. A low boom greeted the Nautilus as its upper part showed
above the water. Ned Land, aflame once more with hope of escape, made
out the vessel to be a two-decker ram, but she showed no flag at her
mizzen. It seemed for a moment there might just be some chance of escape
for us three prisoners, and Ned declared he would jump into the sea if
the man-o'-war came within a mile of us. Just then another gun boomed
out. She was firing at us.
It flashed across my mind at that moment that as those on board the
Abraham Lincoln, having once seen the effect of Ned Land's harpoon when
it struck the Nautilus, could not but have concluded their enemy was no
monster of the deep--though indeed a monster of man's contriving--the
warships of all nations would now be on the look-out for the Nautilus,
and we on board it could scarcely hope for mercy.
The shot rattled about us as we stood on the opened upper deck of the
submarine, and Ned Land, in a mad moment, waved his handkerchief to the
enemy, only to be instantly felled by the iron hand of Captain Nemo.
Then, frightfully pale, the captain turned towards the approaching
man-o'-war, and, in a voice terrible to hear, cried: "Ah, ship of an
accursed nation, you know who I am! I do not need to see your colours to
know you. Look, and see mine!"
So saying, he unfurled his black flag, and then sternly bade us go
below, just as a shell struck the Nautilus, and rebounded into the sea.
"You have seen the attack," he said calmly. "I shall sink yonder ship,
but not here--no, not here. Her ruins shall not mingle with those of the
Avenger."
_V.--The Doom of the Oppressor_
Having no choice but to obey, we all went below, and the propeller of
the Nautilus was soon lashing the water into creamy foam, taking us
beyond the range of fire. I held my peace for a time, but, after some
deliberation, ventured to go up in the hope of dissuading Captain Nemo
from more destruction. His vessel was now coursing round the other ship
like a wild beast manoeuvring to attack its prey, and I had scarcely
spoken when the captain turned on me fiercely, commanding silence.
"Here I am the law and the judge," he said, almost in a shriek. "There
is the oppressor. Through him I have lost all that I have loved,
cherished, and venerated--country, wife, children, father, and mother. I
saw all perish! All that I hate is represented by that ship! Not another
word!"
In the face of such fierce hatred it was useless to try persuasion. I
and my companions resolved to attempt escape when the Nautilus made the
attack. At six the next morning, being the second day of June, the two
vessels were less than a mile and a half apart. Suddenly, as the three
of us were preparing to rush on deck and jump overboard, the upper panel
closed sharply. Our chance was gone!
Next moment the noise of the water rushing into the reservoir indicated
that we were sinking, and in a moment more the machinery throbbed at its
greatest speed as the Nautilus shot forward under the sea. Then the
whole submarine trembled; there was a shock, and then a rending jar
above. The terror of the seas had cut its way through the other vessel
like a needle through sailcloth! Horror-stricken, I rushed into the
saloon and found Captain Nemo, mute and gloomy, standing by the port
panel, which had instantly been slid back, watching with a terrible
satisfaction the injured vessel sinking with all its crew beneath the
waves. The Nautilus sank with it, so that its terrible captain might
lose nothing of the fascinating horror presented by the spectacle of his
victims descending to their ocean grave. When we had seen all, he went
to his room, and, following him, I saw on the wall the portraits of a
woman, still young, and two little children. He looked at them, and as
he stretched his arms toward them the fierce expression of hate died
away from his face. He sank down on his knees, and burst into deep sobs.
I felt a strange horror for this man, who, though he might have suffered
terribly, had no right to exact so terrible a vengeance.
The Nautilus was now making its top speed, and the instruments indicated
a northerly direction. Whither was it flying? That night we covered two
hundred leagues of the Atlantic. Onward we kept our course, the speed
never lessening, and for fifteen or twenty days, during which we
prisoners never saw the captain or his lieutenant, this headlong race
continued.
_VI.--Our Escape from the Nautilus_
Poor Ned Land was in despair, and Conseil and I had to watch him
carefully lest he might kill himself. One morning he said to me:
"We are going to fly to-night. I have taken the reckoning, and make out
that twenty miles or so to the east is land. I have got a little food
and water, and Conseil and I will be near the opening into the small
boat at ten. Meet us there. If we do not escape, they sha'n't take me
alive."
"I will go with you," I said. "At least we can die together."
Wishing to verify the direction of the Nautilus, I went to the saloon.
We were going N.N.E. with frightful speed at a depth of twenty-five
fathoms. I took a last look at all the natural marvels and art treasures
collected in this strange museum, a collection doomed to perish in the
depths of the ocean with the man who had made it. Back in my own room I
donned my sea garments, and placed all my notes carefully about my
clothing. My heart was beating so loudly that I feared my agitation
might betray me if I met Captain Nemo. I decided it was best to lie down
on my bed in the hope of calming my nerves, and thus to pass the time
till the hour determined upon for our attempt. Ten o'clock was on the
point of striking, when I heard Captain Nemo playing a weird and sad
melody, and I was struck with the sudden terror of having to pass
through the saloon while he was there. I must make the attempt, and
softly I crept to the door of the saloon and softly opened it. Captain
Nemo was still playing his subdued melody; but the room was in darkness,
and slowly I made my way across it to the library door. I had almost
opened this when a sigh from him made me pause.
He had risen from the organ, and, as some rays of light were now
admitted from the library, I could see him coming toward me with folded
arms, gliding like a ghost rather than walking. His breast heaved with
sobs, and I heard him murmur these words, the last of his I heard:
"Enough! O God, enough!" Was it remorse escaping thus from the
conscience of this mysterious being?
Had I not seen it begin with the tears in his eyes at the death of the
Englishman whom he had buried in the coral cemetery, and who was
doubtless a victim of one of his acts of destruction?
Now rendered desperate, I rushed into the library, up the central
staircase, and so gained the opening to the boat where my companions
were awaiting me. Quickly the panel through which we went was shut and
bolted by means of a wrench which Ned Land had secured. The opening of
the boat was also quickly fastened after we had got inside, and the
harpooner had begun to undo from the inside the screws that still
fastened the boat to the Nautilus. Suddenly a great noise was heard
within the submarine. We thought we had been discovered, and were
prepared to die defending ourselves. Ned Land stopped his work for the
moment, and the noise grew louder. It was a terrible word, twenty times
repeated, that we heard. "The Maelstrom! The Maelstrom!" was what they
were crying. Was it to this, then, that the Nautilus had been driven, by
accident or design, with such headlong speed? We heard a roaring noise,
and could feel ourselves whirled in spiral circles. The steel muscles of
the submarine were cracking, and at times in the awful churning of the
whirlpool it seemed to stand on end. "We must hold on," cried Land, "and
we may be saved if we can stick to the Nautilus."
His anxiety now was to make fast the screws that bound the boat to the
submarine, but he had scarcely finished speaking when, with a great
crash, the bolts gave way, and the boat shot up, released from the
larger vessel, into the midst of the whirlpool. My head struck on its
iron framework and with the violent shock I lost all consciousness.
How we escaped from that hideous gulf, where even whales of mighty
strength have been tossed and battered to death, none of us will ever
know! But I was in a fisherman's hut on the Lofoden Isles when I
regained consciousness. My two companions were by my side, safe and
sound, and we all shook hands heartily. There we had to wait for the
steamer that runs twice a month to Cape North, and in the interval I
occupied myself revising this record of our incredible expedition in an
element previously considered inaccessible to man, but to which progress
will one day open up a way.
I may be believed or not, but I know that I have made a journey of
twenty thousand leagues under the sea.
Does the Nautilus still exist? Is Captain Nemo still alive? Was that
awful night in the Maelstrom his last, or is he still pursuing a
terrible vengeance? Will the confessions of his life, which he told me
he had written, and which the last survivor of his fellow-exiles was to
cast into the sea in an air-tight case, ever be found?
This I know, that only two men could have a right to answer the question
asked in the Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago: "That which is far
off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?" These two men are Captain
Nemo and I.
* * * * *
HORACE WALPOLE
Castle of Otranto
Horace Walpole, the third son of Sir Robert Walpole, was born
in 1717. After finishing his education at Eton and Cambridge,
he travelled abroad for some years, principally in Italy,
where he seems to have acquired those tastes for which he
afterwards became so well known. He returned to England in
1741, and took his seat in parliament, but he had no taste for
politics, and six years later he purchased a piece of ground
near Twickenham, and made the principal occupation of his life
the erection and decoration of his famous
mansion--"Strawberry. Hill." "The Castle of Otranto" appeared
in 1764. It was described as a "Gothic Story translated by
William Marshal Gent, from the original Italian of Onuphrio
Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto." But,
emboldened by the success of the work, Walpole in the second
edition acknowledged that he himself was the author. The theme
of the story was suggested to him by a dream, of which he
said, "All I could recover was that I thought myself in an
ancient castle, and that on the uppermost baluster of a great
staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the evening I
sat down and began to write without knowing in the least what
I intended to relate." The tale was the precursor of a whole
series of Gothic romances, and for fifty years afterwards
English readers were afforded an unfailing supply of the
supernatural and the horrible. A more important if less direct
achievement of Walpole's was that by "The Castle of Otranto"
he heralded the romantic revival that culminated in the
masterpieces of Scott. Walpole died on March 2, 1797.
_I.--The Helmet_
Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had contracted a marriage for his son Conrad
with the Marquis of Vicenza's daughter, Isabella. Young Conrad's
birthday was fixed for his espousal, and Manfred's impatience for this
ceremonial was marked by everyone. His tenants and subjects attributed
this haste to the Prince's dread of seeing accomplished an ancient
prophecy that _the Castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the
present family whenever the real owner should be grown too large to
inhabit it_. It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; yet
this mystery did not make the populace adhere the less to their opinion.
On the wedding-day, when the company was assembled in the chapel of the
castle, Conrad himself was missing. Manfred, impatient of the least
delay, sent an attendant to summon the young Prince. In less than a
minute the attendant came back breathless, in a frantic manner, and
foaming at the mouth. At last, after repeated questions, he cried out,
"Oh! the helmet! the helmet!" Manfred and most of the company ran out
into the court, from whence was heard a confused noise of shrieks,
horror, and surprise.
What a sight for a father's eyes! Manfred beheld his child dashed to
pieces, and almost buried under an enormous helmet, an hundred times
more large than any casque ever made for human being, and shaded with a
proportionable quantity of black feathers.
The horror of the spectacle, and the tremendous phenomenon before him,
took away the Prince's speech. Yet his silence lasted longer than even
grief could occasion; and when he spoke, it was observed that his first
words were, "Take care of the Lady Isabella."
Manfred then touched and examined the fatal casque, and inquired whether
any man knew from whence it could have come? Nobody could give him the
least information. At length, however, a young peasant from a
neighbouring village observed that the miraculous helmet was exactly
like that on the figure in black marble of Alfonso the Good, one of
their former Princes, in the Church of St. Nicholas.
"Villain!" cried Manfred in a tempest of rage, "how darest thou utter
such treason!"
At this moment there came news from the church that the helmet was
missing from Alfonso's statue. Manfred rushed frantically on the young
peasant, crying, "Sorcerer! 'tis thou hast done this!" Coming to
himself, he gravely declared that the young man was a necromancer, and
ordered that he should be kept prisoner under the helmet itself till the
church should take cognisance of the affair.
Conrad's mother, the Princess Hippolita, had been carried fainting to
her apartments, accompanied by her daughter Matilda, who smothered her
own grief in order to assist her afflicted parent, and by Isabella. To
his wife and daughter Manfred that day paid no attention; but as the
ladies sat together sorrowing at night, a servant of Manfred's arrived
and told Isabella that his lord demanded to speak with her.
"I sent for you on a matter of great moment," said he. "Isabella, the
line of Manfred calls for numerous supports; and since I cannot give you
my son, I offer you myself."
"Heavens!" cried Isabella. "You, my lord! the husband of the virtuous
and tender Hippolita!"
"Name not that woman to me!" said Manfred imperiously. "I shall divorce
her. My fate depends on having sons."
He seized the hand of Isabella, who shrieked and started from him. At
that instant the portrait of his grandfather, which hung in the
apartment, uttered a deep sigh and descended from its panel. Manfred in
his distraction released Isabella, who had not seen the portrait's
movement, and who made towards the door. The spectre marched sedately,
but dejectedly, into a chamber on the right hand. Manfred would have
followed; but the door was clapped to with violence, nor could he with
all his force re-open it.
As Isabella took flight, she recollected a subterraneous passage, which
led from the vaults of the castle to the church of St. Nicholas. She
determined, if no other means of deliverance offered, to shut herself up
forever among the holy virgins, whose convent was contiguous to the
cathedral. In this resolution, she seized a lamp that burned at the foot
of the staircase, and hurried towards the secret passage.
The lower part of the castle was hollowed into several intricate
cloisters, and it was not easy for one under so much anxiety to find the
door that opened into the cavern. When in that long labyrinth of
darkness a gust of wind extinguished her lamp, words cannot paint the
horror of her situation. It gave her a momentary relief to perceive a
ray of moonshine gleam from the roof of the vault, which seemed to be
fallen in; but as she advanced, she discerned a human form standing
close against the wall.
She shrieked, believing it to be the ghost of Conrad. But the figure
asked her, in a submissive voice, not to be alarmed. "Sir, whoever you
are," she replied, "assist me to escape from this fatal castle."
"Alas!" said the stranger, "what can I do to assist you?"
"Oh!" said Isabella, "help me but to find the trap-door that is
hereabout; it is the greatest service you can do me."
With a little searching they found the trap-door; the stranger lifted
it, and Isabella descended to some stone steps below. The stranger was
about to follow, when the voice of Manfred was heard in the distance.
"Make haste or we are ruined!" cried Isabella. But the door slipped out
of his hands and fell with a crash. Instantly Manfred, who had heard the
noise, hastened up, accompanied by servants with torches.
"It must be Isabella escaping by the subterraneous passage," he cried.
What was his astonishment when the light discovered to him the young
peasant whom he had thought confined under the helmet.
"Traitor, how camest thou here?" said Manfred.
"I am no traitor," replied the young man, "and that is how I came here."
He pointed upwards, and Manfred perceived that one of the cheeks of the
casque had broken through the pavement of the court, as his servants had
let it fall over the peasant, and had made a gap through which the young
man had escaped.
"And what noise was that which I heard?" asked Manfred.
"Providence led me to the trap-door," answered the peasant, "but I let
it fall."
Manfred removed him to confinement in the castle, and continued his vain
search for Isabella.
_II.--Father Jerome_
On the following morning Manfred went to Hippolita's apartment, to
inquire if she knew aught of Isabella. While he was questioning her,
word was brought that Father Jerome demanded to speak with him. Manfred
ordered him to be admitted.
"Is your business with me or the Princess?" asked Manfred.
"With both," replied the holy man. "The lady Isabella--"
"What of her?" interrupted Manfred eagerly.
--"Is at St. Nicholas altar," replied Jerome.
"That is no business of Hippolita," said Manfred with confusion; "let us
retire to my chamber."
"No, my lord," said Jerome firmly; "my commission is to both, and in the
presence of both I shall deliver it. But first I must interrogate the
Princess, whether she is acquainted with the cause of the lady
Isabella's flight."
"No, on my soul," said Hippolita.
"Father," interrupted Manfred, "I am the sovereign here, and will allow
no meddling priest to interfere in my domestic affairs."
"My lord," said the friar, "I know my duty, and am the minister of a
mightier Prince than Manfred."
Manfred trembled with rage and shame, but Hippolita intervened. "Holy
father," said she, "it is my duty to hear nothing that it pleases not my
lord I should hear. Attend the Prince to his chamber; I will retire to
my oratory."
"Excellent woman!" said the friar. "My lord, I attend your pleasure."
As soon as they had entered the Prince's apartments, Manfred began. "I
perceive that Isabella has acquainted you with my purpose. Now hear my
resolve. Urgent reasons of state demand that I should have a son. It is
in vain to expect an heir from Hippolita. I have made choice of
Isabella, and you must bring her back."
"Prince," replied Jerome, "the injuries of the virtuous Hippolita have
mounted to the throne of pity. By me thou art reprimanded for thy
intention of repudiating her; by me thou art warned not to pursue thy
wicked design on Isabella."
"Father, you mistake me," said the Prince. "You know not the bitterest
of my pangs. I have had scruples on the legality of our union; Hippolita
is related to me in the fourth degree. It is true, we had a
dispensation. But I have been informed that she had been contracted to
another. Ease my conscience of this burden by dissolving our marriage."
For some time the holy man remained absorbed in thought. At length,
conceiving some hopes from delay, he professed to be struck with the
Prince's scruples. Manfred was overjoyed at this apparent change.
"Since we now understand one another," resumed the Prince, "I expect
that you will satisfy me on one point. Who is the youth that I found in
the vault? He must have been privy to Isabella's flight. Is he her
lover?"
The friar conceived it might not be amiss to sow the seeds of jealousy
in Manfred's mind, so that he might be prejudiced against Isabella, or
have his attention diverted to a wrong scent. With this unhappy policy,
he answered in a manner to confirm Manfred's fears.
"I will fathom to the bottom of this intrigue," cried Manfred in a rage;
and, quitting Jerome abruptly, he hastened to the great hall, and
ordered the peasant to be brought before him.
The young man, finding that his share in Isabella's flight had been
discovered, boldly told the truth of his adventure in the vault.
"And on a silly girl's report," said Manfred, "thou didst hazard my
displeasure!"
"I fear no man's displeasure," said the peasant, "when a woman in
distress puts herself under my protection."
Matilda was passing through a latticed gallery at the upper end of the
hall, when her attention was drawn to the prisoner. The gallantry of his
last reply interested her in his favour. His person was noble, handsome,
and commanding; but his countenance soon engrossed her whole care.
"Heavens!" she said to herself softly, "is he not the exact resemblance
of Alfonso's picture?"
"Take him to the court-yard, and sever his head from his body!" was the
sentence of Manfred.
Matilda fainted. Father Jerome, horrified at the catastrophe his
imprudence had occasioned, begged for the prisoner's life. But the
undaunted youth received the sentence with courage and resignation. In
the court-yard he unbuttoned his collar, and knelt down to his prayers.
As he stooped, his shirt slipped down below his shoulder and disclosed
the mark of a bloody arrow.
"Gracious heavens!" cried Jerome, "it is my child! my Theodore!"
"What may this mean? how can it be thy son?" said Manfred.
"Spare him, good Prince! He is my lawful son, born to me when I was
Count of Falconara; Sicily can boast of few houses more ancient--is it
possible my lord can refuse a father the life of his long-lost child?"
"Return to thy convent," answered Manfred after a pause; "conduct the
Princess hither; obey me in what else thou knowest; and I promise thee
the life of thy son."
"Rather let me die a thousand deaths!" cried Theodore.
Ere Manfred could reply, a brazen trumpet, which hung without the gate
of the castle, was suddenly sounded.
_III.--The Knight of the Sword_
It was announced that a herald sought to speak with Manfred, who ordered
him to be admitted.
"I came," said the herald, "from the renowned and invincible Knight of
the Gigantic Sabre. In the name of his lord, Frederic, Marquis of
Vicenza, he demands the Lady Isabella, daughter of that Prince whom thou
hast barely got into thy power; and he requires thee to resign the
principality of Otranto, which thou hast usurped from the said Lord
Frederic, the nearest of blood to the last rightful lord, Alfonso the
Good. If thou dost not instantly comply with these just demands, he
defies thee to single combat to the last extremity."
Injurious as this challenge was, Manfred reflected that it was not his
interest to provoke the Marquis. He knew how well founded the claim of
Frederic was. Frederic's ancestors had assumed the style of Princes of
Otranto; but Manfred's family had been too powerful for the house of
Vicenza to dispossess them. Frederic had taken the cross and gone to the
Holy Land, where he was wounded, made prisoner, and reported to be dead.
Manfred had bribed Isabella's guardians to deliver her up to him as a
bride for Conrad, hoping to unite the claims of the two houses.
"Herald," said Manfred, "tell thy master that ere we liquidate our
differences with the sword, I would hold converse with him. Bid him
welcome to the castle."
In a few minutes the cavalcade arrived. Pages and trumpeters were
followed by foot-guards; then came knights with their squires; then an
hundred gentlemen bearing an enormous sword, and seeming to faint under
its weight; then the knight himself, in complete armour, his face
entirely concealed by his visor.
As the knight entered, the plumes on the enchanted helmet in the
court-yard were tempestuously agitated, and nodded thrice. The knight
gazed on the casque, dismounted, and kneeling down, seemed to pray
inwardly for some minutes.
Manfred, during the feast that followed, discoursed to his guests of his
claim to Otranto through the will of Alfonso bequeathing his estates to
Don Ricardo, Manfred's grandfather, in consideration of faithful
services; and he subtly suggested his plan of uniting the houses by
divorcing Hippolita and marrying Isabella. But the knight and his
companions would not reveal their countenances, and, although they
occasionally made gestures of dissent, they hardly ever spoke.
Manfred's discourse was interrupted by the news that Isabella had fled
from the convent. The knight was not less disturbed at this than Manfred
himself, and, rushing to the door, summoned his attendants to search for
her. Manfred also gave orders that she should be found, hoping to secure
her for himself and prevent her from falling into the hands of the
strangers.
When the company had quitted the castle, Matilda bethought herself of
Theodore, who had been placed hastily in confinement. His guards had
been by accident included in the general order that had been given by
Manfred for the pursuit of Isabella. Matilda stole to his prison, and
unbolted the door.
"Fly!" she said; "the doors of thy prison are open; and may the angels
of heaven direct thy course!"
"Thou art surely one of these angels!" said the enraptured Theodore.
"But dost thou not neglect thine own safety in setting me free?"
"Nay," she answered, "I am Manfred's daughter, but no dangers await me."
"Is it possible? can Manfred's blood feel holy pity?"
"Hasten; I tremble to see thee abide here." Matilda took him to the
armoury, and equipped him with a complete suit.
"Yonder behind that forest," she said, "is a chain of rocks, hollowed
into caverns that reach the sea-coast. Lie concealed there until thou
canst make signs to some vessel to take thee off."
Theodore flung himself at her feet, kissed her hand, vowed to get
himself knighted, and entreated her permission to swear himself her
knight. But Matilda bade him hasten away, and thus made end of an
interview in which both had tasted for the first time the passion of
love.
When Theodore had reached the caves and was roving amongst them, he
heard steps retreating before him and an imperfect rustling sound. He
gave pursuit, and caught a breathless woman who besought him not to
deliver her up to Manfred.
"No, Lady Isabella," cried he, "I have once already delivered thee from
his tyranny--"
"Art thou the generous unknown whom I met in the vault?" she
interrupted. "Surely thou art my guardian angel."
A cry was heard, "Isabella! what ho! Isabella!" The Knight of the Sword
approached, and Theodore bade him advance at his peril. Each took the
other for an emissary of Manfred; they rushed upon each other, and after
a furious combat the knight was wounded and disarmed.
Some of Manfred's domestics, running up, informed Theodore that the
knight was an enemy of Manfred; and Theodore, touched with compunction,
helped to staunch his wounds. When the knight recovered his speech, he
asked faintly for Isabella.
Theodore flew to her, told her of his mistake, and brought her to the
knight, who seemed to be dying.
"Isabella," said the knight, struggling for utterance, "thou--seest--thy
father!"
"Oh, amazement! horror!" cried Isabella. "My father!"
"Yes, I am Frederic, thy father--I came to deliver thee--it may not
be--"
He could say no more, and he was carried back to the castle, whither
Isabella accompanied him, Theodore vowing to protect her from Manfred.
_IV.--The Prophecy Fulfilled_
It was found by the surgeons that none of Frederic's wounds were mortal,
and when he was recovering he informed Hippolita of his story. While a
prisoner with the infidels he had dreamed that his daughter was in
danger of dreadful misfortunes, and that if he repaired to a wood near
Joppa he would learn more. On being ransomed he instantly set out for
the wood, where he found in a cave a hermit on the point of death, who
with his last words bade him dig under the seventh tree on the left of
the cave. When Frederic and his attendants dug according to the
direction, they found an enormous sabre--the very weapon that was now in
the court of the castle--with these lines written on the blade.
Where'er a casque that suits this sword is found,
With perils is thy daughter compass'd round;
Alfonso's blood alone can save the maid,
And quiet a long restless Prince's shade.
Hearing on his return that Isabella was at Otranto in the hands of
Manfred, Frederic had travelled thither, and on arriving had beheld the
miraculous casque that fulfilled the lines on the sword-blade.
Manfred, on entering the castle after the search, beheld Theodore in his
armour. He started in an agony of terror and amazement.
"Ha!" he cried, "thou dreadful spectre, what art thou?"
"My dearest lord," said Hippolita, clasping him in her arms, "what is it
you see?"
"What, is not that Alfonso? Dost thou not see him?"
"This, my lord," said Hippolita, "is Theodore."
"Theodore!" said Manfred, striking his forehead. "But how comes he
here?"
"I believe," answered Hippolita, "he went in search of Isabella."
"Isabella!" cried Manfred, relapsing into jealous rage. "Has this youth
been brought into my castle to insult me?"
"My lord," said Theodore, "is it insolence to surrender myself thus to
your highness's pleasure? Behold my bosom," he continued, laying his
sword at Manfred's feet. "Strike, my lord, if you suspect that a
disloyal thought is lodged there."
Even Manfred was touched by these words. "Rise," said he, "thy life is
not my present purpose."
Manfred now devised a scheme for uniting the two houses by proposing the
marriage of Matilda to Frederic, while he himself should divorce
Hippolita and marry Isabella. When he broke his purpose to Frederic,
that weak Prince, who had been struck with the charms of Matilda,
listened but too eagerly to the offer. But he wished to find the
disposition of Hippolita in the affair, and sought her apartments. He
found them empty; and concluding that she was in her oratory, he passed
on. On entering, he saw a person kneeling before the altar; not a woman,
but one in a long woollen weed, whose back was towards him.
"Reverend father," said Frederic, meaning to excuse his interruption, "I
sought the lady Hippolita."
"Hippolita!" replied a hollow voice; and then the figure, turning slowly
round, discovered to Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a
skeleton, wrapped in a hermit's cowl.
"Angels of grace, protect me!" cried Frederic, recoiling.
"Deserve their protection!" said the spectre. "Remember the wood of
Joppa!"
"Art thou that holy hermit?" asked Frederic, trembling. "What is thy
errand to me?"
"Forget Matilda!" said the apparition--and vanished.
For some minutes Frederic remained motionless, his blood frozen in his
veins. Then, falling before the altar, he besought the intercession of
every saint for pardon.
On that night Matilda, whose passion for Theodore had increased, and who
abhorred her father's purpose of marrying her to Frederic, had by chance
met her lover as he was kneeling at the tomb of Alfonso in the great
church. Manfred was told by the domestic that Theodore and some lady
from the castle were in private conference at the tomb. Concluding in
his jealousy that the lady was Isabella, he hastened secretly to the
church.
The first sounds he could distinguish in the darkness were, "Does it,
alas! depend on me? Manfred will never permit our union--"
"No, this shall prevent it!" cried the tyrant, plunging his dagger into
the bosom of the woman that spoke.
"Inhuman monster!" cried Theodore, rushing on him.
"Stop! stop!" cried Matilda, "it is my father!"
Manfred, waking as from a trance, beat his breast and twisted his hands
in his locks. Theodore's cries quickly drew some monks to his aid, among
them Father Jerome.
"Now, tyrant," said Jerome, "behold the completion of woe fulfilled on
thy impious head!"
"Cruel man!" cried Matilda, "to aggravate the woes of a parent!"
"Oh, Matilda," said Manfred, "I took thee for Isabella. Oh, canst thou
forgive the blindness of my rage?"
"I can, and do," answered Matilda, "and may heaven confirm it!"
Matilda was carried back to the castle; and Hippolita, when she saw the
afflicted procession, ran weeping to her daughter, whose hands the
agonized Theodore covered with a thousand kisses.
"I would say something more," said Matilda, struggling, "but it may not
be. Isabella--Theodore--for my sake--oh!" She expired.
A clap of thunder at that instant shook the castle to its foundations;
the earth rocked, and the clank of more than mortal armour was heard
behind. The walls of the castle were thrown down with a mighty force,
and the form of Alfonso, dilated to an immense magnitude, appeared in
the centre of the ruins. "Behold in Theodore the true heir of Alfonso!"
said the vision; and having pronounced these words, accompanied by a
clap of thunder, it ascended solemnly towards heaven, where, the clouds
parting asunder, the form of St. Nicholas was seen, and receiving
Alfonso's shade, they were soon wrapt from mortal eyes in a blaze of
glory.
The beholders fell prostrate on their faces, acknowledging the divine
will. Manfred at last spoke.
"My story has drawn down these judgements," he said; "let my confession
atone. Alfonso died by poison. A fictitious will declared my grandfather
Ricardo his heir. Ricardo's crimes have been visited upon my head. St.
Nicholas promised him in a dream that his posterity should reign in
Otranto until the rightful owner should be grown too large to inhabit
the castle, and as long as male descendants of Ricardo should live to
enjoy it. Alas! nor male nor female, except myself, remains of all his
wretched race! How this young man can be Alfonso's heir, I know not--yet
I do not doubt it."
"What remains, it is my part to declare," said Jerome. "When Alfonso was
journeying to the Holy Land, he loved and wedded a fair Sicilian maiden.
Deeming this incongruous with his holy vow of arms, he concealed their
nuptials. During his absence, his wife was delivered of a daughter; and
straightway afterwards she heard of her lord's death in the Holy Land
and Ricardo's succession. The daughter was married to me. My son
Theodore has told me that he was captured and enslaved by corsairs, and,
on his release, found that my castle was burnt to the ground, and that I
was retired into religion, but where no man could inform him. Destitute
and friendless, he wandered into this province, where he has supported
himself by the labour of his hands."
On the next morning Manfred signed his abdication of the principality,
with the approbation of Hippolita, and each took on them the habit of
religion. Frederic offered his daughter to the new Prince. But
Theodore's grief was too fresh to admit the thought of another love, and
it was not until after frequent discourses with Isabella of his dear
Matilda that he was persuaded he could know no happiness but in the
society of one with whom he could for ever indulge the melancholy that
had taken possession of his soul.
* * * * *
ÉMILE ZOLA
Drink
The early days of Émile Edouard Charles Antoine Zola were
sordid and unromantic. He was born at Paris, on April 2, 1840,
his father dying while the son was quite young, and leaving
his family no legacy except a lawsuit against the municipality
of the town of Aix. And it was at Aix, which figures in many
of his novels under the name of "Plassans," that Zola received
the first part of his education. Later he went to Paris and
Marseilles, but failed to get his degree. A period of terrible
poverty followed, Zola existing as best he might in a garret
at Paris, and employing his hours in writing. Towards the
beginning of 1862 he obtained a position as clerk in a
publishing house at a salary of a pound a week. Two years
after his first novel, "Contes à Ninon," appeared. The book
was only moderately successful, but attracted sufficient
attention to justify Zola in abandoning clerking, and taking
seriously to literature. There followed a long series of
powerful and realistic studies of social life, each of
unquestioned ability, but failing to win the popularity which
was later accorded to Zola's works. The turning-point came in
1877 with the publication of "Drink" ("L'Assommoir"). Its
success was extraordinary, and its author found himself the
most widely-read writer in France. The story belongs to the
"realistic" school, and, although objections may be raised
against its nauseating details, there is no mistaking its
graphic power and truth to a certain phase of life. Zola was
accidentally suffocated by charcoal fumes on September 29,
1902.
_I.--The Lodgers of the Hôtel Boncoeur_
Gervaise had waited up for Lantier until two in the morning, exposed in
a thin loose jacket to the night air at the window. Then, chilled and
drowsy, she had thrown herself across the bed, bathed in tears. For a
week he had not appeared till late, alleging that he had been in search
of work. This evening she thought she had seen him enter a dancing-hall
opposite, and, five or six paces behind, little Adèle, a burnisher.
Towards five o'clock Gervaise awoke, stiff and sore. Seated on the edge
of the bed, her eyes veiled in tears, she glanced round the wretched
room, furnished with a chest of drawers, three chairs and a little
greasy table on which stood a broken water-jug. On the mantelpiece was a
bundle of pawn tickets. It was the best room of the lodging house, the
Hôtel Boncoeur, in the Boulevard de la Chapelle.
The two children were sleeping side by side. Claude was eight years of
age, while Étienne was only four. The bedewed gaze of their mother
rested upon them and she burst into a fresh fit of sobbing. Then she
returned to the window and searched the distant pavements with her eyes.
About eight Lantier returned. He was a young fellow of twenty-six, a
short, dark, and handsome Provençal. He pushed her aside, and when she
upbraided him, shook her violently, and then sent her out to pawn a few
ragged, soiled garments. When she returned with a five-franc-piece he
slipped it into his pocket and lay down on the bed and appeared to fall
asleep. Reassured by his regular breathing, she gathered together a
bundle of dirty clothes and went out to a wash-house near by.
Madame Boche, the doorkeeper of the Hôtel Boncoeur, had kept a place for
her, and immediately started talking, without leaving off her work.
"No, we're not married" said Gervaise presently. "Lantier isn't so nice
that one should care to be his wife. We have lived together eight years.
In the country he was very good to me, but his mother died last year and
left him seventeen hundred francs. He would come to Paris, and since
then I don't know what to make of him. He's ambitious and a spendthrift,
and at the end of two months we came to the Hôtel Boncoeur."
The gossip continued and Gervaise had nearly finished when she
recognised, a few tubs away, the tall Virginie, her supposed rival in
the affections of Lantier, and the sister of Adèle. Suddenly some
laughter arose at the door of the wash-house and Claude and Etienne ran
to Gervaise through the puddles. Claude had the key of the room on his
finger, and he exclaimed in his clear voice, "Papa's gone. He jumped off
the bed, put all the things in the box and carried it down to a cab.
He's gone."
Gervaise rose to her feet, ghastly pale, unable to cry.
"Come, my dear," murmured Madame Boche.
"If you but knew," she said at length. "He sent me this morning to pawn
the last of my things so that he could pay the cab." And she burst out
crying. Then, seeing the tall Virginie, with other women, staring at
her, a mad rage seized her, and noticing a bucket of water, she threw
its contents with all her might. A fierce quarrel ensued, ending in a
hand-to-hand conflict with flowing blood and torn garments. When her
rival was driven to flight Gervaise returned to her deserted lodgings.
Her tears again took possession of her. Lantier had forgotten nothing.
Even a little hand-glass and the packet of pawn tickets were gone.
_II.--Gervaise and Coupeau_
About three weeks later, at half-past eleven one beautiful day of
sunshine, Gervaise and Coupeau, the zinc-worker, were partaking together
of plums preserved in brandy at the "Assommoir" kept by old Colombe.
Coupeau, who had been smoking a cigarette on the pavement, had prevailed
on her to go inside as she crossed the road returning from taking home a
customer's washing; and her large square laundress's basket was on the
floor beside her, behind the little zinc-covered table.
Coupeau was making a fresh cigarette. He was very clean in a cap and a
short blue linen blouse, laughing and showing his white teeth. With a
projecting under jaw, and slightly snub nose, he had yet handsome
chestnut eyes, and the face of a jolly dog, and a good fellow. His
coarse, curly hair stood erect. His skin still preserved the softness of
his twenty-six years. Opposite to him, Gervaise, in a frock of black
Orleans stuff, and bareheaded, was finishing her plum, which she held by
the stalk between the tips of her fingers.
The zinc-worker, having lit his cigarette, placed his elbows on the
table, and said, "Then it's to be 'No,' is it?"
"Oh, most decidedly 'No,' Monsieur Coupeau," she replied. "You'll find
someone else prettier than I am who won't have two monkeys to drag about
with her."
But she did not repulse him entirely, and as, in his urgency, Coupeau
made a point of offering marriage, little by little Gervaise gave way.
At last, after a month, she yielded.
"How you do tease me," she murmured. "Well, then, yes. Ah, we're perhaps
doing a very foolish thing."
During the following days Coupeau sought to get Gervaise to call on his
sister in the Rue de la Goutte d'Or, but the young woman showed a great
dread of this visit to the Lorilleux. Coupeau was in no wise dependent
on his sister, only the Lorilleux had the reputation of earning as much
as ten francs a day as gold chain makers, and on that ground they
exercised special authority. They lived on the sixth floor in a tenement
house crammed with tenants of every degree of squalor. They were so busy
that they could not cease their work, and welcomed their new relative
with but a few cold words. Her reception was very trying to Gervaise,
but the disappointment of herself and Coupeau was dispelled when the
Lorilleux agreed to attend the wedding and pay their share of the
wedding dinner.
Gervaise did not want to have guests at her wedding. What was the use of
spending money? Besides, it seemed quite unnecessary to show off her
marriage before the whole neighbourhood. But Coupeau exclaimed at this.
One could not be married without having a spread, and at length he got
her to consent.
They formed a party of twelve, including the Lorilleux and some of
Coupeau's comrades who frequented the "Assommoir." The day was
excessively hot. At the mayor's they had to wait their turn and thus
were late at the church. On the way the men had some beer and after the
religious ceremony they adjourned to a wine-shop. Then a heavy storm
preventing a proposed excursion into the country before dinner, they
went to the Louvre. The general opinion was that the pictures were quite
wonderful. Shut out of the galleries with still two hours to spare, the
party decided to take a short walk and filled up the interval in
climbing to the top of the Vendome monument.
Then the wedding party, feeling very lively, sat down to the
long-desired feast. The repast was pronounced fairly good. It was
accompanied by quantities of cheap wine and enlivened with much coarse
joking, becoming violent as the discussion turned on politics. Quiet
being obtained, there followed the settling-up squabble with the
landlord. Each paid his share and Coupeau found himself starting married
life on seven sous, the day's entertainment having cost him over forty
francs.
There were four years of hard work after this. Gervaise worked twelve
hours a day at Madame Fauconnier's, the laundress, and still found means
to keep their lodging clean and bright as a son. Coupeau never got drunk
and brought his wages home regularly from the zinc-works. During the
earlier days especially, they had to work slavishly to make ends meet.
The marriage had burdened them with a two-hundred-franc debt. Then, too,
they hated the Hôtel Boncoeur. It was a disgusting place and they
dreamed of a home of their own. Then there came a piece of good luck.
Claude was taken off their hands by an old gentleman who had been struck
by some of his sketches. Eight months later they were able to furnish a
room and a kitchen in a house nearly facing Madame Fauconnier's. There,
soon after, Nana was born. They had two good friends in Jean Goujet, a
blacksmith, and his mother. They went out nearly every Sunday with the
Goujes.
_III.--Starting on the Down Road_
No great change took place in their affairs until one day Coupeau fell
from the roof of a house and was laid up for three months. Lying idle so
long he lost the habit of work, and as he grew stronger again, he wasted
his time and Gervaise's earnings in drinking shops. But he slapped his
chest as he boasted that he never drank anything but wine, always wine,
never brandy. Money grew scarcer and Gervaise's one ambition--a laundry
of her own--seemed to fade away. But the Goujets came to her aid, and
lent her five hundred francs to begin business with. Engaging three
assistants, Gervaise was able, with her industry and beautiful work and
her cheerful face and manner, to obtain plenty of custom and to lay up
money again.
Never before had Gervaise shown so much complaisance. She was as quiet
as a lamb and as good as bread. In her slight gluttonous forgetfulness,
when she had lunched well and taken her coffee, she yielded to the
necessity for a general indulgence all round. Her common saying was "One
must forgive one another if one does not wish to live like savages."
When people talked of her kindness she laughed. It would never have
suited her to have been cruel. She protested, she said, no merit was due
to her for being kind. Had not all her dreams been realised? Had she any
other ambition in life?
It was to Coupeau especially that Gervaise behaved so well. Never an
angry word, never a complaint behind her husband's back. The zinc-worker
had at last resumed work, and as his employment was at the other side of
Paris, she gave him every morning forty sous for his luncheon, his drink
and his tobacco. Only two days out of every six Coupeau would stop on
the way, drink the forty sous with a friend, and return home to lunch
with some grand story or other. Once even he did not take the trouble to
go far, he treated himself and four others to a regular feast at the
"Capuchin," on the Barriere de la Chapelle. Then, as his forty sous were
not sufficient, he had sent the waiter to his wife with the bill, and to
say that he was under lock for the balance. She laughed and shrugged her
shoulders. Where was the harm if her good man amused himself a little
while? You must give men a long rein if you want to live peaceably at
home. Gracious powers! It was easy to understand. Coupeau still suffered
from his leg; besides, he was drawn in sometimes. He was obliged to do
as the others did, or else he would pass for a muff. It was really a
matter of no consequence. If he came home a little bit elevated, he went
to bed, and two hours afterwards he was all right again.
But Coupeau was becoming a continual drag on his wife. Most of his time
and few earnings were wasted in Colombe's "Assommoir." And Nana, between
her mother's toil and her father's shiftlessness, ran wild about the
streets.
Then one day Coupeau came in drunk. He almost smashed a pane of glass
with his shoulder as he missed the door. He was in a state of absolute
drunkenness, with his teeth clinched and his nose inflamed. And Gervaise
at once recognised the "vitriol" of the "Assommoir" in the poisoned
blood which made his skin quite pale. She tried to make fun and get him
to bed, as she had done on the days when the wine had made him merry,
but he pushed her aside, without opening his lips, and raised his fist
to her in passing as he went to bed of his own accord. Then she grew
cold. She thought of the men she knew--of her husband, of Goujet, of
Lantier--her heart breaking, despairing of ever being happy.
_IV.--Lantier's Return_
At this stage of Coupeau's affairs Virginie reappeared. She expressed
great joy in meeting her former foe, declaring that she retained no bad
feeling. She mentioned that Gervaise might be interested to know that
she had recently seen Lantier in the neighbourhood. Gervaise received
the news with apparent indifference. Then, on the evening of her _fête_
Lantier appeared and, strangely enough, it was the zinc-worker who,
heated with the festival drinking, welcomed him most warmly.
Gervaise, feeling meek and stupid, gazed at them one after the other. At
first when her husband pushed her old lover into the shop, she could not
believe it possible; the walls would fall in and crush the whole of
them. Then, seeing the two men seated together, and without so much as
the muslin curtains moving, she suddenly thought it the most natural
thing in the world.
On the following Saturday Coupeau brought Lantier home with him in the
evening. He remained standing and avoided looking at Gervaise.
Coupeau looked at them, and then spoke his mind very plainly. They were
not going to behave like a couple of geese, he hoped. The past was the
past, was it not? If people nursed grudges after nine and ten years, one
would end by no longer seeing anybody. No, no, he carried his heart in
his hand, he did. He knew who he had to deal with, a worthy woman and a
worthy man--in short, two friends.
"Oh! that's certain, quite certain," repeated Gervaise.
"She's a sister now--nothing but a sister," murmured Lantier.
From that evening Lantier frequently called at the Rue de la Goutte
d'Or. He came when the zinc-worker was there, inquiring after his health
the moment he passed the door, and affecting to have solely called for
him. Then, shaved, his hair nicely divided, and always wearing his
overcoat, he would take a seat by the window, and converse politely with
the manners of a man who had received a good education. Thus the
Coupeaus learnt little by little some particulars of his life.
During the last eight years he had for a while managed a hat factory;
and when they asked him why he had retired from it, he merely alluded to
the rascality of a partner. He was forever saying that he was on the
point of making a first-class arrangement; some wholesale manufacturers
were about to establish him in business and trust him with an enormous
stock. Meanwhile, he did nothing whatever but walk about like a
gentleman. In his effusiveness Coupeau suggested that Lantier become a
lodger, and overruled all objections. Nevertheless, Lantier showed no
intention for a long while of trespassing on the bibulous good nature of
Coupeau.
_V.--The Beginning of the End_
Coupeau was now becoming a confirmed drunkard and presently Lantier
ceased paying for his lodging, talking of clearing up everything as soon
as he had completed an agreement. Thus Gervaise had two men to support,
while her increasing indolence and gluttony continuously reduced her
earnings. Custom began to fall away faster and faster and soon they were
living almost entirely on credit. Then Madame Coupeau, who had come to
live with her son and Gervaise soon after the shop was opened, died. The
funeral was celebrated with pomp and feast greatly in excess of the
resources of the Coupeaus and helped considerably towards the final
ruin.
As they were sitting down to the funeral meal the landlord presented
himself, looking very grave, and wearing a broad decoration on his frock
coat. He bowed in silence, and went straight to the little room, where
he knelt down. He was very pious; he prayed in the accustomed manner of
a priest, then made the sign of the cross in the air, whilst he
sprinkled the body with the sprig of box. All the family leaving the
table, stood up, greatly moved. Mr. Marescot, having ended his
devotions, passed into the shop and said to the Coupeaus, "I have called
for the two quarters' rent which remain unpaid. Can you give it me?"
"No, sir, not quite," stammered Gervaise. "You will understand, with the
misfortune which has--"
"No doubt, but everyone has his troubles," resumed the landlord,
spreading out his immense fingers. "I am very sorry, but I cannot wait
any longer. If I am not paid by the morning after to-morrow, I shall be
forced to have recourse to expulsion."
Gervaise, struck dumb, imploringly clasped her hands, her eyes full of
tears. With an energetic shake of his big bony head, he gave her to
understand that all supplications were useless. Besides, the respect due
to the dead forbade all discussion. He discreetly retired, walking
backwards.
Gervaise was persuaded by the jealous Lorilleux to resign the lease of
her shop to Virginie and her husband. That evening when Gervaise found
herself at home again after the funeral she continued in a stupefied
state on a chair. It seemed to her that the rooms were very large and
deserted. Really, it would be a good riddance. But it was certainly not
only mother Coupeau that she missed. She missed, too, many other things,
very likely a part of her life, and her shop, and her pride of being an
employer, and other sentiments besides, which she had buried on that
day. Yes, the walls were bare, and her heart also; it was an absolute
deplenishment, a tumble into the pit.
It was the beginning of the end. She got employment with her old
employer, Madame Fauconnier, but presently she began to be looked upon
with disfavour. She was not nearly so expert; she did her work so
clumsily that the mistress had reduced her wages to forty sous a day,
the price paid to the stupidest. With all that she was very proud and
very susceptible, throwing at everybody's head her former position of a
person in business. Some days she never appeared at all, whilst on
others she would leave in the midst of her work through nothing but a
fit of temper. After these outbursts, she would be taken back out of
charity, which embittered her still more.
As for Coupeau, he did perhaps work, but in that case he certainly made
a present of his labour to the government; for Gervaise never saw his
money. She no longer looked in his hands when he returned home on
paydays. He arrived swinging his arms, his pockets empty, and often
without his handkerchief. Good gracious! Yes, he had lost his fogle, or
else some rascally comrade had sneaked it. At first he made excuses; he
invented all sorts of lies--ten francs for a subscription, twenty francs
fallen through a hole which he showed in his pocket, fifty francs
disbursed in paying off imaginary debts. After a little, he no longer
troubled himself to give any explanations. The money evaporated, that
was all!
Yes, it was their fault if they descended lower and lower every season.
But that is the sort of thing one never tells one self, especially when
one is down in the gutter. They accused their bad fortune; they
pretended that fate was against them. Their home had become a little
hell by this time. They bickered away the whole day. However, they had
not yet come to blows, with the exception of a few smacks which somehow
were given at the height of their disputes. The saddest thing was that
they had opened the cage of affection; the better feelings had all taken
flight like so many canaries. The loving warmth of father, mother, and
child, when united and wrapped up in each other, deserted them, and left
them shivering, each in his or her own corner. The whole three--Coupeau,
Gervaise, and Nana--were ever ready to seize one another by the hair,
biting each other for nothing at all, their eyes full of hatred. What
use was he, that drunkard? thought Gervaise. To make her weep, to eat up
all she possessed, to drive her to sin. Well, men so useless as he
should be thrown as quickly as possible into the hole, and the polka of
deliverance be danced over them.
_VI.--The Final Ruin_
Presently, Gervaise took to fuddling with her husband at the
"Assommoir." She sank lower than ever; she missed going to her work
oftener, gossipped for whole days, and became as soft as a rag whenever
she had any work to do. If a thing fell from her hands, it might remain
on the floor; it was certainly not she who would have bent down to pick
it up. She intended to save her bacon. She took her ease, and never
handled a broom except when the accumulation of filth almost upset her.
She could keep no work, and at last came to scrub out the shop and rooms
for Virginie. She came on Saturday morning with a pail and a scrubbing
brush, without appearing to suffer in the least at having to perform a
dirty, humble duty, a charwoman's work, in the home where she had
reigned as the beautiful, fair-haired mistress--for thirty sous. It was
a last humiliation, the end of her pride. Virginie must have enjoyed
herself, for a yellowish flame darted from her cat's eyes. At last she
was revenged for that thrashing she had received at the wash-house, and
which she had never forgotten.
Coupeau went from worse to worse. He was not sober once in six months.
Then he fell ill and had to go to the asylum, but when he came out
repaired he would begin to pull himself to bits again and need another
mending. In three years he went seven times to the asylum in this
fashion, until he died in the extremities of delirium.
Gervaise was next compelled to descend to begging of Lorilleux and his
wife. But they refused her a son or a crumb and laughed at her. It was
terrible. She remembered her ideal of former days; to work quietly,
always having bread to eat and a tidy home to sleep in, to bring up her
children not to be thrashed, and to die in her bed. No, really, it was
droll how all that was be? coming realised! She no longer worked, she no
longer ate, she slept on filth; all that was left for her to do was to
die on the pavement, and it would not take long if, on getting into her
room, she could only screw up enough courage to fling herself out of the
window. What increased her ugly laugh was the remembrance of her grand
hope of retiring into the country after twenty years spent in ironing.
Well! she was on her way to the country. She was about to have her green
corner in the Père-Lachaise cemetery.
Gervaise lasted in this state several months. She fell lower and lower
still, dying of starvation a little every day. As soon as she had four
sous, she drank and fought the walls. Her landlord had decided to turn
her out of her room on the sixth floor, but allowed her to turn into a
hole under the staircase. It was inside there, on some old straw, that
her teeth chattered, whilst her stomach was empty and her bones were
frozen. The earth would not have her evidently. She was becoming
idiotic; she did not even think of making an end of herself by jumping
out of the sixth floor window on to the pavement of the court-yard
beneath. Death was to take her little by little, bit by bit, dragging
her thus to the end through the accursed existence she had made for
herself. It was never even exactly known what she did die of. There was
some talk of a cold, but the truth was she died of privation, and of the
filth and hardship of her spoilt life. Over-gorging and dissoluteness
killed her, said the Lorilleux.
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