A WEDDING DAY.
The marriage took place so speedily after the report of the engagement
as to take every one by surprise; for everywhere a wedding is expected
to be much discussed and prepared for beforehand. In the case of Fox and
Bessie, all was over almost as soon as it was known to be in the air.
No great ceremony was made of it. Indeed, there was not time to make
great preparations; nor did Squire Cleverdon care for display, or, on
this occasion, for expense. His one desire was to have it over, and Fox
settled in his house, for his affairs were causing him the utmost
alarm--they were gathering to a crisis. It was with them but a matter of
days; and, unless Fox were married to Bessie before the crisis arrived
and became known, it was possible that the engagement, on which now all
his hopes for the salvation of the property hung, might be broken off.
The licence was obtained, and almost simultaneously came the grant from
the Garter King of Arms, and Clarenceaux King of Arms, "of the South,
East, and West parts of England, from the River Trent southwards," to
the effect that "whereas His Majesty, by warrant under his Royal Signet
and Sign Manual, had signified to the Most Noble the Earl Marshal that
he had been graciously pleased to give and to grant unto Anthony
Crymes, Gent., son and heir apparent to Fernando Crymes, Esquire," the
licence to bear henceforth the arms and name of Cleverdon, in lieu of
that of Crymes; that therefore a patent to this effect was issued, etc.
Consequently, Anthony Crymes was married, not in his paternal name, but
in that which he had acquired.
The day was grey and sunless, with a raw northeast wind blowing.
Bessie returned, after the marriage, to the house where she had been
born, and Fox came with her. She went to her old room, and there laid
aside her wedding-dress, and then came quietly down the stairs into her
father's chamber, where she patiently awaited him.
The old man had been giving orders without, and she heard his voice in
the passage. She had not long to wait before he came in.
He looked at her with lifted eyebrows, and took off his hat, and asked
what she wanted there.
"One word with you, dear father," said she, gently.
"Very well; make haste--I am busy. There is much to see to to-day. Where
is Fox?"
He threw himself into his armchair, and crossed his feet.
"Father," said Bessie, "I have done what you desired, and with this day
a new life begins with me. I have come to ask your pardon for any grief,
annoyance, or trouble I may have at any time caused you. I also ask you
to forgive me for having opposed your wishes at first when you wanted me
to marry Fox. I did not then understand your reasons. But it has been a
hard thing for me to submit. I dare say, dear father, you can have no
idea how hard it has been for me. Now I have sworn to love Fox, and I
will try my best to do so."
"Oh, love! love!" said the old man; "that is a mere word. You will get
accustomed to each other, as I am to this chair."
"That may be. And yet--there is love--love that is more than a word. I
suppose you loved my mother."
The old man made a deprecatory motion with his hand.
"Oh! father, without love in the house, how sad life is! I ought to know
that, for I have had but little love shown me by you. Do not think I
reproach you," she said, hastily, a little colour mounting into her
pale face; "but I have felt the want of what, perhaps, I was not worthy
to receive."
"Come--come!" said the old man; "I have no time for such talk that leads
to nothing."
"But it must lead to something," urged Bessie; "for that very reason
have I come here. You know, my dear father, that you made me a promise
when I gave my consent, and I come now to remind you of it."
"I made no promise," said the old man, impatiently.
"Indeed, father, you did; and on the strength of that promise I found
the force to conquer my own heart, and make the sacrifice you required
of me."
"Oh, sacrifice! sacrifice!" sneered Squire Cleverdon. "I have been a
cruel father, to be sure; I have required you to offer yourself up as a
victim! Pshaw! You keep your home--it becomes doubly yours--you get a
husband, and retain your own name of Cleverdon. What more do you
require? It is a sacrifice to become heiress of Hall! Good faith! Your
brother would give his ears for such a sacrifice as this. Go and get
ready for the guests."
"I cannot go from you, father," answered Elizabeth, with gentleness, and
yet, withal, with firmness. "I should be doing an injustice to myself,
to my brother, and to you, were I not now to speak out. There was a
compact made between us. I promised to take him whom you had determined
on for me because it was your wish, and because it was necessary for the
saving of the estate. I suppose Fox made it a condition. He would not
help you out of your difficulties unless I gave him my hand."
"Fox knows nothing about them."
"What!" Bessie turned the colour of chalk. "Father! you do not mean what
you say? He has been told all. He is aware that the mortgage is called
in, and must be paid."
The old man fidgetted in his chair; he could not look his daughter in
the face. He growled forth:
"You wenches! what do you understand of business--of money
concerns--mortgages, and the like? Say what you have to say and be gone,
but leave these money-matters on one side."
"I cannot, father," exclaimed Bessie, with fluttering heart; "I cannot,
indeed, father. Is it so that Fox has been drawn on to take me without
any knowledge of how matters stand with regard to the property?"
"All properties are burdened more or less with debts. He knows that. He
does not keep his wits in his pocket. I have told him nothing, but he
must know that there are mortgages. Show me the estate without them. But
there, I will not speak of this matter with you; if you will not leave
the room, I shall." He half rose in his seat.
"Very well, father, no more of that now. Time will show whether he was
aware of, or suspected the condition Hall is in; and I trust that he may
not then have to reproach you or me. That is not what I desired to speak
of when I came here. I came about Anthony."
"I know but one Anthony Cleverdon, and he is your husband."
"I came in behalf of my brother and your very flesh and blood, which Fox
is not. Father, you must--you must indeed suffer me to pour out my heart
before you."
He growled and turned uneasily in his chair, and began to scrape the
floor with his heel. His brows were knit, and his lips close set.
"Father," said Bessie, with her clear, steady eyes on him, "you speak of
love as empty air, but it is not so. What but love induced me to submit
myself to your will? I love you. To me Hall is nothing; a cottage with
love in it, where I might sit at your feet and kiss your hand, were a
thousand times dearer to me than this new, cold house, where all is
hard, and love does not settle to live." She drew a long breath. "I love
you, therefore I have bowed myself before you; and I love Anthony, and
for his sake I have made the greatest sacrifice any mortal can make. I
have given my life up to another, whom as yet I can neither love nor
respect, that I might by so doing obtain from you pardon for my
brother."
"A fine pattern of love Anthony has shown!"
"Father, there is great sorrow and sickness in his house, and he is far
away, venturing his life for a cause that he thinks right. He may never
return. His babe is dead, his wife ill. See what misery there is hanging
over him! Nothing but my love for my brother, my desire to see him again
in your arms, has kept me here. When I was plagued about Fox--that is
to say, when I first heard about him as seeking me--I had resolved never
to marry him, and rather than marry him, I would have run away to
Anthony; he would have taken me in. But I thought of you alone in this
house, deserted by both your children, and I thought that by staying
here I might do something for Anthony, find a proper time for speaking
in his favour, and so I stayed; and then, father, when you told me in
what peril the property stood, when I saw what agony of mind was yours,
when I thought that with the break down of the whole ambition of your
life, your grey hairs would certainly be bowed to the dust--then I
conquered myself and gave up my will to yours. There is love that is
more than a mere word, it is a mighty force, and oh! father, I would
that you knew more of it! Father, you--your own self--have suffered most
of all through your lack of love. I have seen how the consequences of
your harshness towards Anthony have fallen on you, and you have
suffered. I dare say you may have loved him, but I think, as you say
love is nought but a word, that you can have had only pride in him, and
not love--for love suffereth long and is kind. He rebelled against you
because you showed him pride--not love. He offended your ambition
because you had set your heart on his taking Julian and winning with her
Kilworthy; he embittered your heart because he married the daughter of a
man that was your enemy. What has been wounded in you has been ambition,
not love. Well, Anthony has done wrong. He ought to have considered you.
He has ill repaid you all that was lavished upon him from infancy. But,
father, if you had given him love, instead of setting your ambition on
him, it would not have been so light a matter for him to resist your
will. I feel his conduct more than do you. It is because of him that I
have married Fox. I have loved and cared for him since he was an infant,
as though I were his mother as well as his sister. I promised my mother
and his to be his guardian angel, and I have been what I could to him,
and now, dutiful to my promise to her and my love of him, and my desire
for your own happiness, I have given up myself. So now, father, accept
the sacrifice I have made, and forgive Anthony his inconsiderate offence
against you."
The old man felt rather than saw that she was nearing him with extended
hands, with tearful eyes fixed entreatingly on him. He thought how he
had almost gone on his knees to her to obtain her consent to marry Fox,
and he was ashamed of his temporary weakness, the outcome of his
distress; now he thought he must compensate for this weakness by
obstinate perseverance in his old course.
"Now, Bess," said he, roughly, "no more of this. What I did promise that
I will keep. I did not undertake to forgive Anthony. I never--no, not
for one instant--gave way to your intercession for that girl--that
Urith. Her I will never forgive!"
"What, father! Not if she dies?"
"No, never! not if she dies!"
"Then how can you expect forgiveness for your transgressions? Father,
consider that it was not her will to marry Anthony. It was his. You
taught him to be headstrong, self-willed, imperious. You taught him to
deny himself nothing that he wished. He acted on the teaching you gave,
and yourself is answerable for the result."
The old man drew back in his armchair and clenched his hands on the arm
of the seat, so that the tendons stood out as taut strings, and the dark
veins were puffed with blood.
"Father! You have now a son-in-law, taking the place in the house that
should have been--that was--Anthony's. He takes his place, occupies his
seat, wears his very name. Compare the two. Which is the most worthy
representative of the Cleverdons, of whom you are so proud? Which is the
finest man--the tall, strong, splendidly-built Tony, your own son, with
his handsome face and honest eyes, or this other Anthony--this Fox who
has stolen into his lair? Which is the better in heart? Tony, with all
his faults, has a thousand good qualities. He has been vain,
self-willed, and self-indulgent, but all this came on him from outside;
you and I, and all who had to do with him, nurtured these evil
qualities. But in his inner heart he is sound, and true, and good. What
is Fox? What good do we know of Fox? Will anything make of him a
generous and open-hearted man?"
It seemed to Bessie as though the hands of her father that clenched the
chair-arms were trembling. He moved his fingers restlessly; and for a
moment she caught his eye, and thought she saw in it a tender look. She
threw her arms about him, and, stooping, kissed the backs of his hands.
It was the first time she had dared to kiss him. He thrust her from him.
"Pshaw!" said he. "Do you suppose I am to be cajoled against my
judgment?"
"Is that all you have to say?" asked Bessie, drawing back. "No, father,
you shall not put me off. I will not be put off. I have won a right to
insist on what I ask being heard and granted."
"Indeed!" He looked up at her with recovered hardness in his eye, and
with his hands nerved to the same icy grip. "Indeed! You have acquired a
right over me?"
"I have, father. I will be heard!"
"Very well; I hold to what I promised. Perhaps," he laughed bitterly,
"perhaps I may think of the possibility of Anthony obtaining my
forgiveness. Yes," said he, as a sudden access of better feeling rushed
over him, as in his mind's eye the form of his handsome son rose up
before him; "yes, let him come to me as the prodigal son, and speak like
the prodigal, and desert his swine-husks, and then I will kill the
fatted calf and bring forth the ring."
Still the same. He could see no fault in himself--no error in his
treatment of his son.
Bessie would have answered, but that the door was thrust open, and in
came Fox, agitated, angry, alarmed.
"What is the meaning of this?" he shouted, addressing the Squire,
regardless of the presence of Bessie. "What is this about? Here is that
fellow--that man from Exeter--here again at the door, with two
others--and----"
"And what?"
"He says they are bailiffs, come to take possession."
"What! to-day! Then, son-in-law, you must pay them off. I cannot. Save
Hall for yourself."