If the few weeks preceding the fall of Detroit, had been
characterized by much bustle and excitement, those which
immediately succeeded, were no less remarkable for their
utter inactivity and repose. With the surrender of the
fortress vanished every vestige of hostility in that
remote territory, enabling the sinews of watchfulness to
undergo a relaxation, nor longer requiring the sacrifice
of private interests to the public good. Scarcely had
the American prisoners been despatched to their several
destinations, when General Brock, whose activity and
decision, were subject of universal remark, quitted his
new conquest and again hastened to resume the command on
the Niagara frontier, which he had only left to accomplish
what had been so happily achieved. The Indians, too,
finding their services no longer in immediate demand,
dispersed over the country, or gave themselves up to the
amusement of the chase, ready however to come forward
whenever they should be re-summoned to the conflict;
while the Canadians, who had cheerfully abandoned their
homes to assist in the operations of the war, returned
once more to the cultivation of that soil they had so
recently looked upon as wrested from them for ever.
Throughout the whole line of Detroit, on either shore,
the utmost quietude prevailed; and although many of the
inhabitants of the conquered town, looked with an eye of
national jealousy on the English flag that waved in
security above the Fort, they submitted uncomplainingly
to the change, indulging only in secret, yet without
bitterness, in the hope of a not far distant reaction of
fortune, when their own National Stars should once more
be in the ascendant.
The garrison left at Detroit consisted merely of two
companies-those of Captains Granville and Molineux, which
included among their officers, Middlemore, Villiers and
Henry Grantham. After the first excitement produced in
the minds of the townspeople, by their change of rulers,
had passed away, these young men desirous of society,
sought to renew their intimacy with such of the more
respectable families as they had been in the habit of
associating with prior to hostilities; but although in
most instances they were successful, their reception was
so different from what it had formerly been, (a change
originating not so much in design perhaps as resulting
from a certain irrepressible sense of humiliation, which
gave an air of gene to all their words and actions,) that
they were glad to withdraw themselves altogether within
the rude resources of their own walls. It happened however
about this period that Colonel D'Egville had received a
command to transfer the head of his department from
Amherstburg to Detroit, and, with a view to his own
residence on the spot, the large and commodious mansion
of the late Governor was selected for the abode of his
family. With the daughters of that officer, the D'Egvilles
had long been intimate, and as the former were to continue
under the same roof until their final departure from
Detroit, it was with a mutual satisfaction the friends
found themselves thus closely reunited--Added to this
party were Major Montgomery, (already fast recovering
from the effect of his wound,) and his niece, both of
whom only awaited the entire restoration of the former,
to embark immediately for the nearest American port.
At Colonel D'Egville's, it will therefore be supposed
the officers passed nearly all their leisure hours;
Molineux and Villiers flirting with the fair American
sisters, until they had nearly been held fast by the
chains with which they dallied, and Middlemore uttering
his execrable puns with a coolness of premeditation that
excited the laughter of the fair part of his auditors,
while his companions, on the contrary, expressed their
unmitigated abhorrence in a variety of ways. As for the
somewhat staid Captain Granville, he sought to carry his
homage to the feet of Miss Montgomerie, but the severe
and repellant manner in which she received all his
advances, and the look which almost petrified where it
fell, not only awed him effectually into distance, but
drew down upon him the sarcastic felicitations of his
watchful brother officers. There was one, however, on
whose attentions her disapprobation fell not, and Henry
Grantham, who played the part of an anxious observer,
remarked with pain that HE had been fascinated by her
beauty, in a manner which showed her conquest to be
complete.
The cousins of Gerald Grantham had been in error in
supposing him to be the officer in command of the vessel
on board which the lover of Julia had embarked. His
transfer from the gun boat had taken place, but in
consideration of the fatigue he had undergone during the
three successive days in which he had been employed at
the batteries, the Commodore had directed another officer
to take command of the vessel in question, and charge
himself with the custody of the prisoners on board.
Finding himself at liberty, until the return of the
flotilla from this duty, the first care of Gerald was to
establish himself in lodgings at Detroit, whence he daily
sallied forth to the apartments in the Governor's house,
occupied by the unfortunate Major Montgomerie, in whose
situation he felt an interest so much the more deep and
lively as he knew his confinement to have been in some
degree the work of his own hands. All that attention and
kindness could effect was experienced by the respectable
Major, who, in return found himself growing more and more
attached to his youthful and generous captor. These
constant visits to the uncle naturally brought our hero
more immediately into the society of the niece, but
although he had never been able to banish from his memory
the recollection of one look which she had bestowed upon
him on a former occasion, in almost every interview of
the sort now, she preserved the same cold reserve and
distance which was peculiar to her.
A week had elapsed in this manner, when it chanced that
as they both sat one evening, about dusk, near the couch
of the invalid, the latter, after complaining of extreme
weakness and unusual suffering, expressed his anxiety at
the possibility of his niece being left alone and
unprotected in a strange country.
It was with a beating pulse and a glowing cheek that
Gerald looked up to observe the effect of this observation
on his companion. He was surprised, nay, hurt, to remark
that an expression of almost contemptuous loathing sat
upon her pale but beautiful countenance. He closed his
eyes for a moment in bitterness of disappointment--and
when they again opened and fell upon that countenance,
he scarcely could believe the evidence of his senses.
Every feature had undergone a change. With her face half
turned away, as if to avoid the observation of her uncle,
she now exhibited a cheek flushed with the expression of
passionate excitement, while from her eye beamed that
same unfathomable expression which bad carried intoxication
once before to the inmost soul of the youth. Almost wild
with his feelings, it was with difficulty he restrained
the impulse that would have urged him to her feet; but
even while he hesitated, her countenance had again
undergone a change, and she sat cold and reserved and
colorless as before.
That look sealed, that night, the destiny of Gerald
Grantham. The coldness of the general demeanour of Matilda,
was forgotten in the ardor of character which had escaped
from beneath the evident and habitual disguise; and the
enthusiastic sailor could think of nothing but the witchery
of that look. To his surprise and joy, the following day,
and ever afterwards, he found that the manner of the
American, although reserved as usual with others, had
undergone a complete change towards himself. Whenever he
appeared alone a smile was his welcome, and if others
were present she always contrived to indemnify him for
a coldness he now knew to be assumed, by conveying
unobserved one of those seductive glances the power of
which she seemed so fully to understand.
Such was the state of things when the D'Egvilles arrived.
Exposed to the observations of more than one anxious
friend, it was not likely that a youth of Gerald's open
nature, could be long in concealing his prepossession;
and as Matilda, although usually guarded in her general
manner, was observed sometimes to fix her eyes upon him
with the expression of one immersed in deep and speculative
thought, the suspicion acquired a character of greater
certainty.
To Harry Grantham, who doated upon his brother, this
attachment was a source of infinite disquiet, for, from
the very commencement, Miss Montgomerie had unfavorably
impressed him; why he knew not, yet impelled by a feeling
he was unable to analyze, he deeply lamented that they
had ever become acquainted, infatuated as Gerald appeared
by her attractions. There was another, too, who saw with
regret the attachment of Gerald to his fair prisoner. It
was Gertrude D'Egville, but her uncomplaining voice spoke
not, even to her beloved sister, of the anguish she
endured--she loved her cousin, but he knew it not--and
although she felt that she was fast consuming with the
disappointment that preyed upon her peace, she had obtained
of her sister the promise that the secret should never
reach the ear of its object.
In this manner passed the months of August and September.
October had just commenced, and with it, that beautiful
but brief season which is well known in Canada as the
Indian summer. Anxious to set out on his return to that
home to which his mutilation must confine him for the
future, Major Montgomerie, now sufficiently recovered to
admit of his travelling by water, expressed a desire to
avail himself of the loveliness of the weather, and embark
forthwith on his return.
By the officers whom the hospitality of Colonel D'Egville
almost daily assembled beneath his roof, this announcement
was received with dismay, and especially by Molineux,
and Villiers who had so suffered themselves to be fascinated
by the amiable daughters of General Hull, as to have
found it necessary to hold a consultation (decided however
in the negative.) whether they should, or should not
tempt them to remain, by making an offer of their hands.
It was also observed that these young ladies, who at
first, had been ail anxiety to rejoin their parent,
evinced no particular satisfaction in the intimation of
speedy departure thus given to them. Miss Montgomerie on
the contrary, whose anxiety throughout, to quit Detroit,
had been no less remarkable than her former impatience
to reach it, manifested a pleasure that amounted almost
to exultation: and yet it was observed that by a strange
apparent contradiction, her preference for Gerald from
that moment became more and more divested of disguise.
There are few spots in the world, perhaps, that unite so
many inducements to the formation of those sociable little
reunions which come under the denomination of pic-nics,
as the small islands adorning most of the American rivers.
Owing to the difficulty of procuring summer carriages,
and in some decree to the rudeness of the soil, in the
Upper Province especially, boats are in much more general
use; and excursions on the water, are as common to that
class "whose only toil is pleasure." as cockney trips to
Richmond, or to any other of the thousand and one places
of resort, which have sprung into existence, within twenty
miles of the Metropolis of England. Not confined, however,
to picking daisies for their doxies, as these said cockneys
do, or carving their vulgar names on every magnificent
tree, that spreads its gorgeous arms to afford them the
temporary shelter of a home, the men severally devote
themselves, for a period of the day, to manlier exercises.
The woods, abounding with game, and the rivers with fish
of the most delicate flavor--the address of the hunter
and the fisher, is equally called into action; since upon
their exertions, primarily depend the party for the fish
and fowl portion of their rural dinner. Guns and rods
are, therefore, as indispensable part of the freightage,
as the dried venison and bear hams, huge turkies, pasties,
&c. which together with wines, spirits, and cider ad
libitum, form the mass of alimentary matter; not to forget
the some half dozen old novels, constituting the several
libraries of the females of the party, and collected
together for general amusement on these occasions. Bands,
it is true, they possess not, but they have the music of
their own, and boatmen's voices, and the rippling of the
current over the pebbly shallow, or the impetuous dashing
of some distant waterfall--while on every side the eye
is arrested by images of grandeur, which dispose the
heart to benevolence, towards man, and the soul to
adoration towards the Creator. Here is to be heard,
neither the impertinent coxcombry, of the European self
styled exclusive, nor the unmeaning twaddle of the daughter
of false fashion, spoiled by the example of the said
exclusive, and almost become a dowager in silliness,
before she has attained the first years of womanhood. No
lack-a-daisical voice, the sex of which it is difficult
to distinguish, is attempted to be raised in depreciation
of the party to which it had been esteemed too great an
happiness to be invited, the evening before; nor is the
bride of last week heard boastingly to deplore, the
enormous sums lost within the last week, at the private
gaming table of her dear friend, the Duchess of this, or
the Countess of that. One half of the party address not
the other in doled accents of fashionable friendship, in
one key, and abuse them piteously in another. No sarcastic
allusion seeks to stamp with ridicule, the amusement in
which the utterer is embarked, as if a sense of shame
attached to the idea of being amused, by that which
affords amusement to his associates; nor is the manner
of the actors, that, of people suffering an infliction
rather than participating in a pleasure. The sneer of
contempt--the laugh of derision--is no where to be heard;
neither is the pallid brow, and sunken cheek, the fruit
of late hours and forced excitement to be seen. Content
is in each heart, the flow of health upon each face. All
appear eager to be happy, pleased with each other, and
at ease with themselves. Not that theirs is the enjoyment
of the mere holiday mind, which grasps with undiscerning
avidity, at whatever offers to its gratification, but
that of those, on whom education, acting on innate good
breeding, has imposed a due sense of the courtesies of
life, and on whom fashion has not superseded the kindlier
emotions of nature. These at least WERE traits of
simplicity, peculiar to Upper Canada, at an early period
of its settlement. What they are now, we pretend not to
determine.
Several of these pic-nics had taken place among the party
at Detroit, confined, with one or two exceptions, to the
officers of the garrison, and the family of Colonel
D'Egville, with their American inmates; and it was proposed
by the former, that a final one should be given a few
days prior to the embarkation in Gerald Grantham's new
command, which lay waiting in the river for the purpose.
The Major remaining as hitherto at home, under the
guardianship of the benevolent Mrs. D'Egville, whose
habits of retirement disinclined her to out door amusement.
Hitherto their excursions had been principally directed
to some of the smaller islands, which abound in the river
nearer Amherstburgh, and where game being found in greater
abundance, the skill of the officers had more immediate
opportunity for display; but in this excursion, at the
casual suggestion of Miss Montgomerie, Hog Island was
selected, as the scene of their day's amusement. Thither,
therefore the boat which contained the party now proceeded,
the ladies costumed in a manner to thread the mazes of
the wood, and the gentlemen in equally appropriate gear,
as sportsmen, their guns and fishing rods, being by no
means omitted in the catalogue of orders entrusted to
their servants. In the stern of the boat, the trustworthy
coxswain on this occasion--sat old Sambo, whose skill in
the conduct of a helm, was acknowledged to be little
inferior to his dexterity in the use of a paddle, and
whose authoritative voice, as he issued his commands in
broken English to the boatmen, added in no small degree,
to the exhilaration of the party,
To reach Hog Island, it was necessary to pass by the
tannery and cottage already described, which, latter, it
will be remembered, had been the scene of a singular
adventure to our hero, and his servant on the night of
their reconnoitring the coast, in obedience to the order
of the Commodore. By the extraordinary and almost romantic
incidents of that night, the imagination of Gerald had
been deeply impressed, and on retiring to his rude couch
within the battery he had fully made up his mind to
explore further into the mysterious affair, with as little
delay as possible after the expected fall of the American
fortress. In the hurry, confusion, and excitement, of
that event however, his original intention was forgotten;
or, rather so far delayed, that it was not until the
third or fourth day of his establishment in the town,
that it occurred to him to institute inquiry. He had
accordingly repaired thither, but finding the house
carefully shut up, and totally uninhabited, had contented
himself with questioning the tanner and his family, in
regard to its late inmates, reserving to a future
opportunity the attempt to make himself personally
acquainted with all that it contained. From this man he
learnt, that, the house had once been the property of an
aged Canadian, at whose death (supposed to have been
occasioned by violence,) it had passed into the hands of
an American, who led a roving and adventurous life, being
frequently away for months together, and then returning
with a canoe, but never continuing for more than a night
or two. That latterly it had been wholly deserted by its
owner, in consequence of which it had been taken possession
of, and used as quarters by the officers of the American
guard, stationed at this part of the town, for the
protection of the boats, and as a check upon the incursions
of the Indians. In all this statement, there was every
appearance of truth, but in no part of it did Gerald find
wherewith to elucidate what he himself had witnessed. He
described the costume, and questioned of the mysterious
figure, but the only reply he obtained from the independent
tanner, when he admitted to him that he had been so near
a visitor on that occasion, and had seen what he described,
was an expressed regret that he had not been "wide awake
when any Brittainer ventured to set foot upon his grounds,
otherwise, tarnation seize him with all due respect, if
he wouldn't a stuck an ounce o' lead in the region of
his bread-basket, as quickly as he would tan a hide," a
patriotic sentiment in which it may be supposed our hero
in no way coincided. With the tanners assurance, however,
that no living thing was there at this moment, Gerald
was fain to content himself for the present, fully
resolving to return at another time with Sambo, and effect
a forcible entrance into a place, with which were connected
such striking recollections. He had, however, been too
much interested and occupied elsewhere, to find time to
devote to the purpose.