_A scene in a lady's chamber.--Before the Elopement, and after
it.--Arrival at Charnwood, and who was found there._
When our friend, Roger, first observed the change in his sister's
spirits more particularly alluded to above, he regarded it as an omen
so much more to be relied upon for its real significance than any words,
that thereupon he wrote to Colin at the place where he was waiting
in expectation,--stating the circumstances that had occurred, at full
length; and insinuating that if Colin felt inclined to adopt a bold
course and prepare everything in readiness for the expedition, he would
engage, without any further delay, to persuade his sister to fly with
them about day-break on a certain morning which he named. Mr. Clink,
as may well be imagined, most eagerly seized upon the opportunity. His
heart was on fire. Now was everything to be risked, and everything to be
won. After the receipt of that letter he could not sleep nor rest until
the arrival of the eventful morning.
Roger had already contrived to get Jane's maid into his favour, and
to her was to be confided the duty of awakening her mistress and
communicating to her the first intelligence of the arrival of a carriage
at the gate; while, with his own hand, during the previous night, he not
only secured all the members of the family fast in their rooms, by
tying the doors outside, but also crippled the bell-wires in a manner so
effectually, that an alarm of the servants by those means was rendered
impossible.
At the latest possible hour he communicated to his sister the fact that
everything was in readiness, and that Colin would be near the house
before sunrise on the following morning to set off with her and himself
on their journey to the house of Mr. Woodruff; that gentleman having
already been communicated with on the subject, and his consent
obtained;--partly, because he could refuse nothing to Colin, and partly,
because his own daughter had used her influence in persuading him
there could not possibly be any harm in affording such a refuge to the
fugitives. This announcement, together with the prospect it held out to
her, made Jane tremble all over and look full of fears; but Roger would
not allow her to protest anything against it, as he stopped her as
the first words escaped her lips, with the remark that nothing
could possibly be said about it now,--the time was come--the thing
settled--all arrangements made,--and she could not now do anything but
prepare herself for compliance at the perilous moment when she should
be summoned in the morning. So saying, he bade her good night, with an
additional declaration that he could not hear a word of denial.
If the truth were told, I should tell how all that night poor Jane's
heart throbbed incessantly, and sometimes, in correspondence with her
thoughts, leaped suddenly as if it would go out of its place, I should
tell how she never slept a single wink;--how earnestly she said her
prayers, and how long! How, after many hesitations, and at last with
many tears, she eventually put her trembling hand to the reluctant, yet
loving, task of putting up such trinkets and jewellery as could not be
dispensed with,--while her maid, as busy and as pleased as a summer bee,
employed herself in a similar task with her dresses. And then, when
all was over, how she stood silent awhile, looking on those places and
around that room, which to-morrow her mother should find empty, and
which now for the last time beheld her who had tenanted and adorned it
from her childhood. That glass might never look upon her face again,
which had seen her beauty grow up from pretty girlishness to perfect
womanhood. That window would never more have the same eyes through it
that had become familiar there--nor those leaves any more be put aside
by the fingers that had so often saved them unbruised, when the little
casement was closed for the night. I should tell how, as these and
similar thoughts passed rapidly through her mind, the tears stole
silently down her cheeks until she sank upon her chair, and declared,
while she did so, that she should never have the heart to go!
But the heart has a way of its own sometimes, and sudden courage on
occasion which it has not resolutions to contemplate beforehand.
So, after the night had worn away, and when the time came for
flight,--before yet the stars were gone, or any light more than a first
dim gleam on a black ground, was seen in the east,--she plucked up
resolution to be firm, but lost it again immediately, for the sound of a
carriage wheels--_the_ carriage that was to whirl her away from her old
home to a new life in a new place--faintly but distinctly came upon her
ear.
“'Tis he!” she exclaimed.
“Truly, ma'am, I hope so,” replied the maid, “for I want to see you safe
off and happy.”
“Hush!” said Jane, in a whisper; “listen, listen!”
In the next minute her brother Roger gently tapped at the door. It was
true. She must go, and no delay be made--not a moment's waiting. And
go she did; but in such a way, that when half an hour after she found
herself sitting beside her maid, with Roger and Colin opposite,
and being driven at a tremendous pace on the north road, out of the
metropolis, she could not remember how she had got down stairs, or
walked to the carriage, or who had helped her, or whether she had done
so without any assistance at all. But there she was, and of little
else did she seem conscious. With her lover matters were considerably
different. Full of self-possession, and elated in the highest degree, he
felt then as though but one idea existed to him in the world, and that
one which may best be expressed in the exclamation of one of Moore's
angels--
“'Tis done, 'tis done!
The gate is passed, and heaven is won!”
Before we proceed to inquire how the fugitives sped after their arrival
at the end of their journey, it may interest the reader to be informed,
that they very narrowly escaped detection and pursuit, in consequence
of an odd accident, that happened through their very precautions to be
safe; and which, had it unfortunately occurred some hour or two earlier,
would inevitably have frustrated their design.
Very early in the morning, and before the family had arisen, the
house-dogs began barking most furiously, which, from some unknown cause,
rang an alarm from cellar to garret, of the whole establishment. Both
servants and master were soon in motion, anxious to discover the cause
of this unusual hurly-burly. The latter looked first out of his window;
but discovering nothing, then attempted to ring his bell; whereupon the
wire dropped down into his hands, as it had very cleverly been unhooked
by his son Roger, from the crank outside, in preparation for any
contingency of the kind which now arose. He next tried his door, and
was still more astonished to find it secured outside, so that all egress
was, for the present, prevented. While this was going on, various others
of the household were going through similar operations, and discovering
themselves placed in similar predicaments until, at length, it became
generally believed throughout the house, that a gang of thieves must
have entered it, and converted the place into a temporary prison, in
order the better to effect their nefarious designs.
When, however, fortune had so far favoured them as to allow of an
escape, a search was instantly instituted; but still the cause of the
disturbance remained as unexplained as before.
By the time that every person under the roof had arisen and assembled,
under feelings of the most anxious inquiry, it was remarked by one or
two of the more sagacious and reflecting amongst them, that neither
Miss Jane nor Mr. Roger appeared to have been aroused by the same noise,
which had put themselves into such an extraordinary consternation. This
fact appeared unaccountable, for the rooms of both commanded as audible
hearing of any external commotion as any rooms on the premises. Some
of them cleverly imagined that the pair alluded to must have slept
uncommonly sound, and assigned as good reason for that belief, the fact
of Jane's previous ill health, and Roger's well known activity in
all sorts of laborious exercises; but while these last mentioned were
speculating upon probabilities, Mr. Calvert himself had hastened off
to Roger's room, and his eldest daughter to that of Jane, in order to
ascertain from those two individuals themselves the actual and _bona
fide_ state of the case. What was their amazement to find both nests
cold, and the birds flown! Mr. Calvert felt so amazed at this discovery,
that he was obliged to sit down on the stairs a few minutes in order to
recover himself; while his daughter, with the natural feeling and action
of a woman so circumstanced, flew back again, the moment she discovered
the deficiency alluded to, screaming all the way she went, that Jane had
been stolen away.
A good guess at the real truth instantly flashed across the mind of
every one present. A conspiracy, to which nobody but themselves were
privy, had evidently been entered into and executed by Jane and Colin,
aided by Roger, and all agreed, in their own minds, that, instead of
ever seeing _Jane_ again, they should be, somehow or other, introduced
to Mrs. Colin Clink.
Mr. Calvert, at first, took the thing in uncommon dudgeon, and ordered
his horses out to pursue the flying trio, but, by the time every saddle
and harness were got ready, it luckily chanced to be discovered that
nobody knew whether to prefer the east, west, north, or south quarters,
in the proposed search after them. Not the remotest clue could be
obtained as to which road they had taken. Probabilities, however,
being in favour of Kiddal Hall, Mr. Calvert and his son very shortly
afterwards set out together on a hurried expedition to that residence,
in hopes of arriving there and learning tidings of the runaways, in time
to prevent that marriage which, under his present feelings, Mr. Calvert
felt determined never to sanction, in any shape.
In the mean time Colin and his friend were making the best use of their
time, by a series of civil forced marches along the road, and beguiling
the hours thus occupied, by forming all sorts of ludicrous conjectures
as to the progress of events at the house from which they had so ably
effected their escape; thus endeavouring to rally Jane's spirits.
It was in the course of the following day that our little party had the
pleasure of beholding the walls within which they were to be made secure
of future happiness; secure, at least, so far as mutual affection, well
tried, and an earnest heart for each other's welfare, may be considered
capable of effecting that end. Thus felt Colin and his pretty companion,
while Roger regarded his first view of the house with remarkable
interest, since it also contained her who was everything to him, and
with whom it had long since been decided he should eventually join his
fortunes, for better and for worse.
Mr. Woodruff's residence was situated in one of the pleasantest portions
of Leicestershire.
It was one of those old, large, and substantial brick buildings, so
characteristic of a particular period of our domestic architecture, but
which can scarcely be better described, with their ornamental brickwork,
cornices, and mouldings, than by simply saying they convey an idea of
comfort, stability, and even of substantial well-doing, on the part of
the occupant, which is in vain sought for in any other class of either
old or modern erections. Its grounds were full of old and stately trees,
which almost seemed to speak their own dignity, and declare to the
passer-by, that beneath their branches had flourished some generations
of the true old English gentleman.
To this place were they most heartily welcomed by Mr. Woodruff and his
daughter, on their arrival.
It was on this occasion Colin learned, to his astonishment, from the
lips of Fanny, that her father and herself, on paying their first visit
of inspection to their newly-recovered property, found it occupied by
the family of that identical Miss Wintlebury whom he and she had so
strangely met in London, and of whom they both had reason to think so
well. At the mention of that name, Colin blushed so deeply that Jane
felt sudden misgivings as to his perfect fidelity, and, in a manner half
joke, half earnest, charged him with deception, either towards herself,
or, perhaps, to some now far less happy creature; an observation to
which Colin could not in any manner so well reply as by giving a brief
statement of that short story respecting Miss Wintlebury, with which the
reader is already acquainted, and which he did in a manner at once so
frank, open, and considerate, as instantly raised his general character
very highly in Jane's esteem. His own goodness of heart could not but
shine through his narrative, tinging even his errors, if such there
were, with that warm feeling of generosity as rendered them, if not
amiable, at least certainly not criminal.
Respecting Miss Wintlebury herself, Colin was happy to be informed that
she had materially improved in health; since, not only her residence in
the country, but likewise the widely altered circumstances in which
her father had placed her, assisted to throw in her way almost every
possible advantage that one in her situation could require. She
still remembered Colin's conduct with the most grateful feelings, and
testified them by entertaining his friends, Fanny and her father, in the
best manner their house could afford. Besides which, on Mr. Wintlebury
being farther informed of the particulars of their story in connexion
with Doctor Rowel, of which already he had heard much from common fame,
he volunteered at once to quit the premises he occupied and give Mr.
Woodruff as early possession of his own again as circumstances rendered
possible.
Accordingly, a short time afterwards he left it, and took a farm hard
by; after which the house and gardens were re-arranged in accordance
with the views of the proprietor, and he and his daughter entered upon
its enjoyment.