THE COLONEL AT WHITTLECUP.
Whilst the gentlemen were still in the dining-room, Mr. Blunting saw a
horse pass the window--a riderless, yet harnessed horse--followed by
another horse in an unaccustomed manner; and then came a lofty vehicle,
drawn by the latter animal. I have described this equipage as it
appeared to Mr. Blunting; but the experienced reader will perceive that
it was a tandem, and by the association of ideas will expect to see
Fyser and the Colonel.
Colonel Stanburne came into the dining-room, and soon made himself at
home there. He had never happened to meet Joseph Anison or Mr. Stedman,
but he knew the incumbent of Sootythorn slightly, and the other two men
were his own officers, though he had as yet seen very little of either
of them. The Stanburnes of Wenderholme held a position in all that part
of the country so far above that to which their mere wealth would have
entitled them (for there were manufacturers far richer than the
Colonel), that Joseph Anison felt it an honor that the head of that
family should have entered his gates. "He's only calling on young
Stanburne," thought Joseph Anison; "he isn't calling upon us."
"I came to thank you and Mrs. Anison," said the Colonel, "for having so
kindly taken care of our young friend here. He seems to be getting on
uncommonly well; and no wonder, when he's in such good quarters."
"Captain Stanburne is gaining strength, I am glad to say," replied the
master of the house. "He rather alarmed us when he came here, he seemed
so weak; but he has come round wonderfully."
"I am very much better, certainly," said the patient himself.
The commanding officer hoped he would be fit for duty again at an early
date, but Captain Stanburne declared that he did not feel strong enough
yet to be equal to the march and the drill; that he was subject to
frequent sensations of giddiness, which would make him most
uncomfortable, if not useless, on the parade-ground; and that, in a
word, he was best for the present where he was. This declaration was
accompanied by due expressions of regret for the way in which he abused
the kind hospitality of the Anisons--expressions which, of course, drew
forth from the good host a cordial renewal of his lease.
"And what have you done with the Irishman who nearly killed him?" asked
Mr. Anison of the Colonel. "I've heard nothing about him. If you'd had
him shot, we should have heard of it."
"It was a perplexing case. If you consider the man a soldier, the
punishment is most severe--in fact it is death, even if he did not mean
to kill. But we hardly could consider him a soldier--he had had no
military experience--a raw Irish laborer, who had never worn a uniform.
I have been unwilling to bring the man before a court-martial. He is in
prison still."
"He has been punished enough," said Philip. "Pray consider him simply as
having been drunk. Irishmen are always combative when they are drunk. It
was not a deliberate attack upon me as his officer. The man was
temporarily out of his senses, and struck blindly about him."
It having been settled that the Irishman was to be pardoned on the
intercession of Captain Stanburne, the Colonel begged to be presented to
Mrs. Anison. "He had not much time," he said, looking at his watch; "he
had to be back in Sootythorn in time for mess, and he was anxious to
pay his respects to the lady of the house."
So they all went into the drawing-room. After the introductory bows, the
Colonel perceived our friend, little Jacob (who had retreated with the
ladies); but as he had not quite finished his little speech to Mrs.
Anison about her successful nursing, he did not as yet take any direct
notice of him. When the duties of politeness had been fully performed,
the Colonel beckoned for little Jacob, and when he came to him, laid
both hands on his shoulders.
"And so you're here, too, are you, young man? I thought you were at
Shayton with your grandmamma."
Lieutenant Ogden came up at this instant to excuse himself. "My mother
only came to Whittlecup yesterday, Colonel, and she brought my little
boy with her." Mrs. Ogden approached the group.
"I'm little Jacob's grandmother," she said, "and I'm mother to this
great lad here" (pointing to the Lieutenant), "and it's as much as ever
I can do to take care of him. What did you send him by himself to
Whittlecup for? You should have known better nor that; sending a
drunkard like him to stop by hisself in a public-house. If he's a
back-slider now, it's 'long o' them as turned him into temptation, same
as a cow into a clover-field. I wish he'd never come into th' malicious
(militia)--I do so."
The Colonel was little accustomed to be spoken to with that unrestrained
frankness which characterizes the inhabitants of Shayton, and felt a
temporary embarrassment under Mrs. Ogden's onslaught. "Well, Mrs. Ogden,
let us hope that Mr. Isaac will be safe now under your protection."
"Safe? Ay, he is safe now, I reckon, when he's getten his mother to take
care of him; and there's more on ye as wants your mothers to take care
on ye, by all accounts."
"Mother," said the Lieutenant, "you shouldn't talk so to the Colonel.
You should bear in mind how he kept little Jacob at Wenderholme Hall."
Mrs. Ogden was pacified immediately, and held out her hand. "I thank you
for that," she said, "you were very kind to th' childt; and I've been
doin' a piece of needlework ever since for your wife, but it willn't be
finished while Christmas."
"Mother, you shouldn't say 'your wife'--you should say 'her ladyship,'"
observed the Lieutenant, in a low tone.
"My wife will be greatly obliged to you, Mrs. Ogden. I hope you will
make her acquaintance before you leave the regiment; for I may say that
you belong to the regiment now, since you have come to be Lieutenant
Ogden's commanding officer."
Mrs. Anison had been first an astonished and then an amused auditor of
this colloquy, but she ended it by offering Mrs. Ogden a cup of tea.
Then the Colonel began to talk to Mrs. Anison. He had that hearty and
frank enjoyment of the society of ladies which is not only perfectly
compatible with morality, but especially belongs to it as one of its
best attributes and privileges. Good women liked the Colonel, and the
Colonel liked good women; he liked them none the less when they were
handsome, as Mrs. Anison was, and when they could talk well and easily,
as she did. Some women are distinguished by nature; and though Mrs.
Anison had seen little of the great world, and the Colonel had seen a
good deal of it, the difference of experience did not place a
perceptible barrier between them. The time seemed to have passed rapidly
for both when the visitor took his leave.