“Take my word for it, when relations choose to be obliging, they’re
better friends than any a man can make for himself.”--_The Vagrant._
I had to change carriages at Canterbury in order to get to Updown,
which was twelve miles distant from that city. I felt as lonely as a
German who can’t speak a word of English, and who must either make
his way from Leicester Square to Mile End Gate, or starve. A guard
took me for a foreigner, perhaps a fire-worshipper, because I had to
get him to repeat a question three times before I had the faintest
idea of his meaning. I will put it to the most intelligent of my
readers--if a man with a face like the countenance of a skate, were
to thrust his head into a window and roar with a voice turbid with
hops, “F-r-sh-f-rd-s-r!” what would you think? Would you call for the
police; or fall back, and resignedly give yourself up for lost? What I
gathered after a bold and narrow cross-examination was, that the man,
who enjoyed his right senses, wanted an answer to this question: “Are
you for Ashford, sir?” Considering that I look as much an Englishman as
blue eyes, a fair complexion, and a yellow, or auburn, or red, or tawny
(take your choice; they all mean one colour) mustache can make a man;
and considering, moreover, that I could articulate the national dialect
in a manner Dr. Johnson himself--his immortal name, I am proud to say,
heads chapter one--would have held unimpeachable, I maintain that I had
a right to consider myself aggrieved, by being set down as a foreigner,
by a man who looked like a fish, and spoke like a Yahoo. Ever since
that day I have possessed, and I hope I shall always preserve, an
unaffected sympathy with foreigners travelling in England. No wonder
Alphonse Tassard, after a fortnight’s trip to Great Britain--he having
set out with the intention of returning in four days--swore with many
wild and awful imprecations, that he would rather travel round Dante’s
fearful circles, than make a tour in Albion. For, had not a London
cabman taken him to the North-Western Railway Station instead of to
the South-Eastern Railway Station; and had not a _sot_ put him into
a carriage that whirled him into the furnaces of the Black Country,
instead of to the southern port, whence he had hoped to embark for his
hair-dressing establishment in the Rue de Poitrine?
The train stopped at Updown station, and out I jumped, leaving behind
me, in my eagerness to escape from being carried any further, a new
silk umbrella with an ivory handle. (This is intended to meet the eye
of a melancholy looking man who sat opposite to me.) My portmanteau,
which might have been full of priceless Dresden ware for anything the
guard knew, was hurled out of the van on to the platform, where it gave
a bound and stood upright, the engine screeched, off went the train,
and I was left staring at a short man with a waistcoat that descended
considerably below his middle, who, on catching my eye, fell to poking
his forehead rapidly with his thumb.
“Mr. Hargrave, sir?” said he interrogatively.
“That’s my name,” I answered.
“I’m from your uncle, if you please, sir. The phaeton’s awaitin’
outside. Is that all your luggage, sir?”
“That’s all.”
The groom or coachman, or whatever he was, pounced upon the
portmanteau, hoisted it on to his shoulders, and led the way out of
the station into a green lane, where stood a neat little trap, into
which he bade me jump. I was not fond of jumping. All my traditions
were opposed to violent exercise. I clambered leisurely on to the front
seat, my companion seized the reins, and the smart chestnut mare,
lustrous with brass-mounted harness, started off at a quick trot.
“Where are you going to drive me to?” I asked.
“To Mr. Hargrave’s, sir,” replied the man.
“Do you know if he has procured any lodgings for me in the town?”
“I really can’t say, sir. Master ordered me to drive you to Grove End.
Them was my orders, sir.”
I wondered if it could be possible that my uncle had determined I
should live in his house? I was resolved that no tyranny of hospitality
should tame me into submission. I had made up my mind to live in
lodgings, and nothing human, I said to myself, shall induce me to
abandon that resolution. How was I to know the sort of treatment I
might have to submit to? Mightn’t the butler--if they kept one--sneer
at me from behind his master’s chair, and flatter himself that there
was no comparison between the respectability of his position as
a butler, and mine as a banker’s clerk? Mightn’t my aunt send me
upon menial errands, treat me as a kind of upper footman, and if I
remonstrated, inquire with a scowl what I thought her husband gave me a
hundred and fifty pounds a year for?
Meanwhile, I was being driven through a country so exceedingly pretty,
that in the face of it, my fretful and feverish fancies died away, and
I found myself incapable of more than admiration. Updown, the coachman
told me, was three miles from the station. We had driven a mile by
this time, but I could see nothing of the town. The country was hilly,
with ridges richly shagged with wood. It was a glorious May afternoon,
with a warm breeze that swept by, charged with indescribable aromas,
and with the most delicate blue sky that ever I saw, across which great
bright clouds were rolling, dimming the sun at intervals, and mellowing
and deepening with shadows the manifold colours of hills and plains. We
had long ago left the green lane and were now bowling along a very good
turnpike road, which rose and fell as far as the horizon behind us, but
which grew very devious and vanishing as we advanced. I was struck by
the air of cultivated beauty the country exhibited. I had never seen
anything like it about Longueville. I noticed the vivid green of the
grass, the sturdy and sheltering aspect of the trees, the cosiness and
permanency of the farm-houses and wayside buildings, and the rugged and
vigorous frames of the country people we overtook and passed. Presently
we rattled over a broad bridge, and I looked along a bright river with
so smooth a surface that the shores were as accurately mirrored in
it as if it had been a looking-glass. I thought of Izaak Walton and
hearty, cheerful Mr. Cotton, and wondered if they had ever thrown their
quills in that water; and as the “Compleat Angler” was a book I had
often read, and was passionately fond of, it is not surprising that
the rich and sweet description of Maudlin, and her syllabubs and song,
should come into my memory to gild the brief glimpse I had caught with
the radiance of an imperishable poem.
On coming to a bend of the road, I saw on my right the red roofs and
church spires and glittering vanes, and smoking chimneys of a town
built on the sloping sides of two hills.
“Is that Updown?” I asked. The coachman said it was. I gazed at it with
interest. Distance softened all rude and commonplace details, and, in
the silver sunshine, the town looked fairy-like. The central street,
which ran straight as a line through the heart of the valley, was made
wonderfully picturesque by a great archway. We branched off just as we
were getting near enough to see the houses distinctly, and, in about
ten minutes, drove through a gate, along a pleasant avenue, and stopped
before an exceedingly pretty house, with gleaming conservatories on
either side, and hedged about with a great profusion of shrubbery. I
saw a girl’s face at one of the windows, and, in a moment or two, the
door was thrown open, and forth stepped--my uncle: a spare, dry-faced
man, with very high shirt-collars, and a very shiny black satin cravat,
and dressed in a suit of shepherd’s plaid. Of course I had no idea who
he was, for there was no more resemblance between him and my father
than there was between his coachman and me. But the moment he smiled, I
knew he must be a Hargrave.
I got out of the phaeton, and he came up to me, and took my hand, and
held it without speaking, whilst he ran his eye over me.
“And _you_ are Charlie, are you?” cried he, not letting go my hand,
but, on the contrary, proceeding to shake it slowly and persistently.
“Good heaven! how old the world must be getting! Why, it was only the
other day that you came up to my knee, and now, egad! it seems as if I
only came up to yours! Do you remember me?”
“Very faintly,” said I. “You came to Longueville once, when I was at
school.”
“Yes--yes! and I got you a half-holiday, and you wheedled a half-crown
out of me! ha! ha! and how’s my brother, the major? Does he ever mean
to come and see me?... But what do _I_ mean by keeping you standing
here? Hi! James, carry Mr. Hargrave’s portmanteau into the hall.”
And catching me by the arm, he led me up the steps, and through the
hall into a drawing-room full of flowers and china--so it appeared to
me--calling “Conny! Conny!” loudly as we passed in.
Scarcely were we entered, when two ladies presented themselves. I felt
travel-worn and soiled, and wished my uncle had given me an opportunity
of making myself a little fresher-looking before introducing me to
his wife and daughter. I made a low bow and took my aunt’s hand; she
welcomed me in a very mild and pleasing manner. My cousin Conny then
came up to me and shook my hand, looking very shy and charming. _She_
was exceedingly pretty. Up to that time, I don’t think I had ever seen
her equal. As to Pauline Gautier--pshaw! There was no comparison to be
made. Pauline was brown; Conny had a skin of snow, and hair of gold,
and large, modest, dark blue eyes, and a sweet and saucy nose, and a
small mouth, and a transporting figure. I can’t describe the dress she
wore. No man but a shopkeeper ought to be able to describe a woman’s
costume. Shall I tell you why? because a woman’s style ought to be too
perfect for a man to notice details. Depend upon it, there is something
gross in that woman’s taste, whose dress, after leaving her, a man is
able to describe.
My aunt was a stout, healthy-looking woman, red-cheeked, with a most
amiable cast of countenance. I was impressed by the size of her cap,
and her walk, which was a waddle. My uncle pushed a chair forwards for
me to be seated; he and the ladies then ranged themselves round me,
and we began to converse.
“I was delighted to hear from my brother. How is he?”
“Very well indeed. He begged me to thank you heartily for the kindness
of your offer to me, and to convey his love to you and Mrs. Hargrave,
and your daughter.”
“What a time he has lived at Longueville! Isn’t he sick of the place?”
“No. We are both of us very fond of Longueville. I left it with great
regret, I assure you.”
“I wanted papa to take us there this summer,” said Conny, timidly, and
then starting; like Fear in Collins’ Ode, at the sound she herself had
made.
“I dread the water, Mr. Charles,” observed my aunt.
“And so does my father, or he would have been glad to accept your kind
invitation.”
“Is it long since you were in England?” asked Conny.
“I have not been in England since I was six years old.”
“Why, you must be a perfect Frenchman!” cried out my uncle and aunt in
a breath. And then said my uncle: “You’ll find French very useful to
you in business. How do you like the idea of being a banker?”
“I know nothing about it,” I answered.
I was proud of my ignorance. I believed it would impress Conny. I felt,
in short, like the West-end gentleman who asked a friend where the city
was.
“We’ll soon teach you,” said my uncle, cheerily. “I wish you had
made up your mind to live with us. I have taken lodgings for you in
the town, as you desired, but I am sure you would have been more
comfortable here.”
I felt disposed to agree with him. Certainly the house appeared a very
delightful one, and I must say that I had had no idea I owned such a
pretty cousin as Conny. But still I reflected that the habits of the
old people might be entirely opposed to mine; and it would be hideous
to have to submit to any kind of restraint, after the long years of
billiards, tobacco, and freedom I had enjoyed at Longueville.
“At all events,” said my aunt, “you can always come here if you don’t
find your quarters comfortable. Your landlady was recommended to me by
our laundress, who is a very respectable woman; Conny and I inspected
your rooms, before taking them, and they seem pretty comfortable. They
are very clean, which is a great thing in lodgings.”
I looked at Conny, who was watching me; her eyes fell when mine met
them. There seemed a little more keenness and slyness in their glance
than I should have thought such innocent, maidenly, tender, blue eyes
capable of. But oh, Eugenio! what is there more deceitful in life than
a pretty girl? Does thy heart bleed? Mine has bled. I have tried to
pick a rose, and have pulled away nothing but four fingers and a thumb
stuffed with thorns.
“You will dine with us to-day,” said my uncle. “Afterwards, James
shall drive you to your quarters. There is no need to go to work before
Monday. You can pass the rest of the week in looking about you, and
sending home your impressions to my brother, the major, who I daresay
will be anxious to know how you like the place.”
“Your kindness,” I answered, “will give me plenty to tell him about.”
“My dear boy, we promise to do our best to make you happy,” said my
uncle effusively. “I can assure you, it gives me great pleasure to
be of service to you and my brother. He ought to have applied to me
before. Had you begun this sort of work ten years ago, you might have
owned a bank of your own by this time. But it’s never too late to
begin, is it?” and here he smiled, and I smiled, and my aunt smiled,
and my sweet little cousin laughed a little harping treble, soft as
the notes of a flute heard on the water at midnight. “This is very
promising,” thought I.
My aunt then told her husband to take me upstairs; it was nearly five,
and dinner would soon be ready. So I followed my uncle to a bed-room,
and there, as I brushed my hair and curled my mustache, I wondered
what sort of an impression I had made on my relations. I thought of
my father’s advice, and wished I knew how to be as magnificent as he.
He had often told me that his brothers had a very high respect for
him, and considered him the prop and decoration of the family name. I
thought this quite likely. People in business _do_ respect professional
relations. Profit and purple are a fine combination; and if Mr.
Scrip knows that her ladyship would call upon Mrs. Scrip, were she
to hear that the Dean was Mrs. Scrip’s brother, why shouldn’t Scrip
brag of the parson, and combine social dignity with his remunerative
pursuits in Throgmorton Street? I lamented my inability to imitate my
father’s lordliness, for then I might have profited by my relations’
pride in him, and provoked deference, and even awe, by repeating in
myself those swelling qualities and overtopping characteristics which
rendered my father among his acquaintance an object of admiration and
reverence. It is an old saying, that the world will always take you
at your own price. Cast your eyes around you, Eugenio, and mark the
numbers who are buying paste for precious stones, and, albeit, by no
means destitute of the critical faculty, ostentatiously parading the
worthless make-believe in the sincere conviction that they are gems of
the purest ray serene. Any muff can make himself a considerable man, if
he will but shout long and loud enough to the populace to step up! step
up! and admire! “Behold me, gentlemen!” says the poet through himself
or through his friends. “I am not so great a man as Shakespeare, and I
have not Dante’s austere and morbid imagination. But it is universally
acknowledged that I combine the sweetness of Keats and the wisdom of
Wordsworth with the power of Byron and the ghastliness of Coleridge;
and give me leave to say that the man who can rival these acknowledged
geniuses _must_ be great?” “Hooroor!” yell the populace. They believe
him; they buy his quarto of nonsense; and lo! another muff is canonised.
So I maintain that my father was right when he exhorted me to treat
life as a court-dress affair. The world is so full of hero-worshippers,
that no man can think himself too important.