Marion's sister, Agnes, five years older than herself, after being
distinguished as the best musician, best sketcher, best linguist, best
everything, at Mrs. Penfold's, had left school with no real knowledge,
except of the most frivolous kind, accidentally gathered in
conversation, and repeated again in society like a parrot. Formed to
excite the most rapturous admiration, by the gorgeous magnificence of
her almost regal beauty, art had acted the part of the Fairy Bountiful
in forming Agnes, while nature had showered her choicest gifts on
Marion.
Agnes was brilliant without being interesting, and dazzling without
being attractive, for her mind seemed irremediably and incorrigibly
vulgar, selfish, and vain. A good actress, an inimitable mimic, and
incomparable in a tableau, she assumed generally a queen-like dignity
of manner, "stalking through life," as Sir Arthur said, "with an
assured and stately step, as if practising for her appearance as a
Duchess at the next coronation."
Admiration seemed to Agnes the only pleasure of life, and amusement
its only business; while, if ever she had possessed any sensibility,
it was frittered away on the fictitious sorrows of the Adelines and
Julias in the volumes which she read with surpassing diligence from a
circulating library; though, in all other respects, Agnes wasted her
time amidst such listless idleness, that she might have let her nails
grow, like those of a Chinese mandarin, to testify how literally she
did nothing.
No one, certainly, could excel Agnes in turning up her hands and eyes
at the faults of others; but those who trace nothing except evil in
their companions, have seldom much good in themselves. Marion found it
one of the most important and pleasing studies in the world, to
comprehend the character and temper of her friends and connexions,
besides her own, with a wish to render herself suitable to them, as
her mind, pliable without weakness, was bent on constantly yielding
her own wishes to those she loved; but this unobtrusive generosity was
only a subject of satirical remark to her sister, who could neither
understand nor believe in Marion's utter singleness of heart and
disinterestedness; her own sole aim being selfish indulgence, and her
sole rule to obtain it in the easiest possible way.
Self-love was the ruling passion of Agnes; love of others the
quickening principle, or rather impulse with Marion, who would have
zealously planted flowers for even strangers to enjoy; but Agnes would
have plucked all those of her friends, and scarcely taken the trouble
to rear any even for her own use. Agnes, cold, vain, heartless, and
self-sufficient, thought she was made only for this world, and this
world for her, and for such as herself, young, gay, rich, and lovely,
while all others were mere intruders on the creation. But Marion, on
the contrary, followed the dictates of her own heart, in wishing to do
good of every kind to every person, while still she had learned to aim
above nature, to that high standard of Christian perfection, so
exalted, that those who have gained the most elevated human attainment
in virtue and excellence, must still consider the structure of their
minds, however beautifully decorated with generous sympathies and kind
emotions, as being only begun, while they perseveringly aspire
upwards, even to the measurement of that Divine Being who left us an
example that we should follow his steps.
Agnes had now been, for three seasons, the reigning beauty of
Edinburgh! There it is the privilege of every tolerable-looking girl
to be considered in her own set pre-eminent, during the first winter
after she is introduced; but though the public eye usually grows weary
of the same features, however perfect, during a second campaign, Agnes
had apparently taken out a diploma of beauty, the reputation for which
seemed confirmed to others by her own thorough conviction of being
completely unrivalled, and by the exulting consciousness she displayed
of her own supreme loveliness. Three seasons of tumultuous joy,
triumph, and conquest, had already succeeded each other, during which
Agnes was, to use her own expression, "fiercely gay," yet still no
younger rival had appeared to eclipse the dazzling array of her
charms; and not a whisper was heard that the freshness of her
Raphael-like beauty was at all impaired; nor were any ladies ever
heard to "wonder" what gentlemen could possibly see to admire in Agnes
Dunbar, as not a dissenting voice had yet ventured to make itself
audible on that subject.
Agnes began life with that perfect confidence in her own knowledge of
the world, universally felt by young ladies under twenty, especially
when they have seen very little of it, and with a thousand schemes and
projects of perfect happiness. Though one after another her castles of
cards fell to the ground, still, in the exercise of persevering
energy, she rebuilt the edifice again with new materials, and on what
she imagined a better construction, but still in every instance, to
her own unutterable astonishment, she found that most unaccountably,
"hope told a flattering tale!"
Considering every officer she danced with as a hero, and every
gentleman who paid her a compliment as a lover, Agnes wasted her first
season, as most young ladies do, in flirting with scarlet uniforms,
the inhabitants of which were generally so much alike in ideas and
conversation, that if blindfolded, she might have found it difficult
or impossible to distinguish which of her countless red and gold
admirers happened at the moment to be "doing the agreeable."
All her military victims were dying to know what Agnes thought of their
brother officers; whether she intended to adorn the next ball by her
presence, or the next concert; how she liked their military band; if
she proposed patronising their night at the theatre; whether she
preferred a _galope_ fast or slow; how she thought the colonel's
daughter looked on horseback; whether she did not think it barbarously
tyrannical of the commander-in-chief to insist on their all wearing
uniforms; how she liked the new regulation jacket; and above all,
whether she thought the order for their wearing mustachios an
improvement or not!
To all these subjects, and many more of similar import, Agnes lent her
very profound attention, not only during the discussion, but in many a
solitary hour, while her whole head, heart, and understanding were
crowded with the recollection of epaulettes, mustachios, spurs, and
gold lace, and she privately believed that the supreme felicity of
earth,--all the most refined sensibilities of life, and all its
brightest joys, were to be found at Piershill Barracks.
Sir Patrick laughingly alleged that Agnes had rehearsed a set of
prepared conversations suited to every different occasion,--a musical
conversation for amateurs, full of crotchets and quavers--a hunting
conversation about foxes, dogs, and steeple-chases,--a Court of
Session conversation for the lawyers,--and a dragoon conversation,
discussing at great length whether officers should dance with spurs or
without them, and in which she had been known to enumerate correctly,
the facings of every regiment in Her Majesty's service.
Her brother often and loudly declared that nothing is more perfectly
hopeless, than for any young lady to expect a serious attachment from
an officer actually quartered with his regiment, as it was against all
rule, and contrary to all nature or custom, for Cupid to attack the
army. The mess-table, he assured her, invariably sets its face against
matrimony, and the mess-table conversation was an ordeal, through
which he protested that few young ladies could wish their names to
pass; but nevertheless, Agnes, full of groundless expectations and
lively vanity, continued to endure a succession of heart-rending and
unaccountable disappointments, from very promising military admirers,
who had stolen her bouquets, listened to her music, and drunk Sir
Patrick's claret month after month; but no sooner did marching
orders come for Dublin, Leeds, or Canada, than these interesting
affairs came to an untimely end with a P.P.C. card, or a sort of
never-expect-to-meet-again bow, and Agnes was left with the army-list
in her hand, wondering what regiment would come next, and whether
there were many unmarried officers in it.
"How amusing it is," said Agnes, in a confidential mood, one day to
Clara and Caroline, "when I walk about with Captain De Crespigny at
the promenades or balls, and see all the other beaux looking angry or
disappointed!"
"Nothing on earth is so charming, I suppose, as to be a beauty!"
exclaimed Caroline, with a good-humored sigh, and a look of comic
humility, "I would sacrifice ten years of my life to be admired for
one! To hear people saying, 'Have you seen the lovely Miss Smythe? Is
Miss Smythe to show herself at Lady Towercliffe's party?' and then,
like you, Agnes, to have all the beaux dying for me!"
"I would rather be married for any attraction in the world, than mere
beauty," said Clara, earnestly; "even money is a more tolerable
motive. How insufferable it would be to live with a person whose
affection depended on whether your hair were well dressed, or your
shoes well made!"
"That is the very thing I should like!" exclaimed Agnes, "to see it
considered of the greatest consequence whether I wore pink or blue,
and whether it were one of my well-looking days or not!"
"But then, Agnes, your well-looking days would occur seldomer and
seldomer, while during the very periods of illness and depression,
when attention and kindness are most needed, a fastidious husband
would feel injured if your complexion were not at its best," replied
Clara, laughing. "No! no! give me the happiness that will, as my
milliner says, 'wash and wear well!'--good fire-side domestic
comfort."
"Comfort! I hate comfort!" said Agnes, indignantly, "a stupid,
detestable word, as opposite to real happiness as night is to day! I
shall be satisfied with nothing short of felicity."
"But felicity can last only a day, while peace and comfort may be
enjoyed for life," replied Clara. "In talking of marriage, you seem to
think of nothing beyond the honey-moon, and to forget the hours, days,
and years of actual life that must follow!"
"It is absolute nonsense looking so far out to sea as you do, Clara,"
said Agnes, impatiently. "How I shall enjoy, next winter, perhaps,
chaperoning you both to parties if I can find any fascinating victim,
tall, thin, and handsome enough to please me."
"But surely you would not, for any consideration, marry yet!"
exclaimed Caroline. "Lady Towercliffe says that the holiday of a
girl's life is from the time she leaves school till the day she
marries, and you should enjoy ten years at least, Agnes, before you
are tempted to begin the cares of life."
"Cares!" exclaimed Agnes, with a contemptuous laugh, "I do not mean
ever to take any cares upon myself! but, as Captain De Crespigny very
sensibly observed yesterday, the husband worthy of me should be made
on purpose. In the first place, he must be rich, for I have a scruple
of conscience in ever witnessing a poor marriage, where, after the
wedding-cake has been eaten, there is nothing else left. In
everything,--even in the mere choice of a ribbon,--I am fastidious,
and would rather not have a thing at all, than dispense with getting
precisely what I like. My intended, then, must have been educated at
Eton, for I do think the ugliest bit of human nature on earth is a
Scotch school-boy of about fourteen. He must have such a foot! so
small! oh! no foot at all. He must employ Buckmaster the tailor, get
his shoes from Paris, and never wear the same gloves twice. He
must----"
"My dear Agnes! this should be all put into the contract!" said Clara,
laughing. "It perfectly ruins me to hear you talk so extravagantly;
and, besides, pray be warned in time of your own probable fate, that
the beauty of a family, or the beauty of a winter, is said always to
make a poor marriage. I never could understand the reason of that; but
Lady Towercliffe says, men are perverse beings, who like to criticise
and undervalue a professed beauty, while, in the mean time, they are
taken by surprise, and fall in love unexpectedly with some obscure
girl, whose charms they discover, or fancy for themselves, and whom,
probably, not another man living ever thought tolerable."
"For my part," said Caroline, "I shall wait till a person can be found
as handsome as Sir Patrick, as agreeable as you tell me Captain De
Crespigny is, as clever as Mr. Granville, as merry as young De
Lancey----"
"And as rich as Lord Doncaster!" interrupted Agnes.
"No! no!--, a hundred times no!" replied Caroline, coloring, speaking
in a singular tone of asperity, "I hate and abhor money as a
consideration in marrying! I wish money had never been invented! It
becomes a misery for those who have too much, as well as for those who
have too little."
"Well! give me money," said Agnes, laughing. "And let me tell you,
Caroline, that even if you have eight or ten thousand pounds, which is
probably the utmost, you will find it no great inconvenience during
the long run of life. Money has its merits, and I should be afraid to
marry any man, even the most romantic of my lovers, if it involved the
necessity for his sacrificing one of his usual comforts;--if it
obliged him to drink his bottle of sherry instead of claret every day,
I am not quite sure that he would never begin to grumble! They tell me
it should be considered a man does not wish himself twice every day
unmarried again. No, no money, is no bad thing, and if you have any to
spare, pray let me have the surplus."
"Who, and what are Mrs. and Miss Smythe?" was a frequent question of
Agnes to herself, never apparently to obtain a satisfactory answer. On
Caroline leaving school, her aunt had taken a villa at Portobello,
where the two English strangers excited extreme attention, more from
their evident desire to avoid it, than from any thing very remarkable
in their appearance or manner, though Mrs. Smythe was certainly of that
_genus_ old maid so common in England, with a handsome independence, a
suite of servants, a pony-carriage, most splendid dress, and some
pretensions still to youth and beauty, as any fragment of good looks
that yet remained she most liberally displayed; while her manner had a
flirting tone of coquetry most unsuitable to her apparent age, forming
a singular contrast to the quaker-like simplicity of Caroline's dress.
There was a singular contrast between the gravity of costume affected
by Miss Smythe, and the keen festivity of spirit with which she
entered into every scheme of amusement, or even, it might be said, of
mischief. Her vivacity was occasionally almost overpowering, her fancy
lively beyond example, while with her brilliant, yet interesting
animation, there was mingled a rare acuteness of mind, a swift
comprehension, and an innate passion for all that was amiable and
beautiful, which gave liveliness and vigor to what she said, though
the rapidity of her mind sometimes led Caroline to a false estimate of
persons and circumstances, as she always judged or acted from
instantaneous impulse; yet there was a generous frankness in her
disposition, which captivated those who knew her, and a graceful
simplicity in all she did, which gave it interest; for, without
intention, there was something in all her thoughts and actions
striking and peculiar.
Her features, though irregular, attracted and enchained the eye, from
the magical variety of their expression, and though an amateur of mere
beauty might have been surprised and perplexed to divine why her light
grey eyes, pale cheeks, and chestnut hair could beguile his attention
away from the more perfect contour of others, the amateur of
physiognomy was delighted to find there an ever-varying source of
interest in watching the bright emanations of thought, feeling, and
vivacity, which glittered or sparkled in her eye, or played about her
mouth.
When Mrs. Smythe first settled at Portobello, scarcely a week of
gossiping, wonder, and conjecture had elapsed, in the little community
around, when she requested to have an interview with Sir Arthur alone,
which took place immediately, and must have excited much interest in
his mind, as the Admiral remained silent and abstracted during the
whole subsequent evening, while he strolled slowly up and down the
drawing-room, "pacing the quarter-deck," as he called it, for a length
of time; and, after being closeted some hours the following day with
Mrs. Smythe and his confidential agent, they proceeded to a
magistrate's house together, with whom they requested a private
conference, the purport of which did not transpire.
From that day, an intimacy, amounting to friendship, was established
between Sir Arthur and the two ladies, who seemed on all occasions to
look to him for advice and protection, and in whose house they spent a
part of every day, to the unspeakable delight of Henry De Lancey, who
was charmed, on his return from college, to find so agreeable an
addition to the small circle at Seabeach Cottage.
"Years rush by us like the wind;" and how rapid seems the transition
from boyhood to mature years! Henry had early attained an
extraordinary development of mind and appearance, a strength of
intellect and a decision of purpose which seemed to Sir Arthur almost
precocious, while every day discovered some new talent, or enlarged
those he already possessed, for his mind seemed ever on the wing and
full of energy. "Either he is nobly born, or nature has a nobility of
her own," thought the Admiral, when viewing the character of his young
protege, as it gradually arose to personal and intellectual supremacy.
His mind was ardent, courageous, and deeply contemplative, full of
generous impulses, but apt to view all that happened to himself
through an exaggerated medium. His mysterious history, and the
fascination of his manner and appearance cast a spell over the
interest and affections of all who beheld his countenance, or heard
the sound of his harmonious voice. With a strikingly handsome person,
he had already acquired a decided air of fashion and refinement, while
a bright vein of almost chivalrous romance which enlivened his mind
was subdued by a poetical temperament, inclining him to dwell much on
melancholy musings, relating to the strange circumstances of his own
early history. Keenly sensitive to kindness or neglect, his love and
gratitude to Sir Arthur were without bounds, and his brotherly
affection for Marion was tinged with the natural enthusiasm of his
disposition, but before long the warmest and deepest feelings of his
nature were secretly concentrated on the gay, giddy, and fascinating
Caroline Smythe. Every scrap of paper that came in his way became
covered with sketches of her buoyant figure and graceful profile, in a
variety of animated attitudes; or, on other occasions, verses in Latin
or English, little better certainly than the nonsense verses at
school, immortalised her charms.
Young as he was, however, Henry's spirit recoiled already from the
danger of loving too well, or being beloved by any, when he was
taught, in hours of solitary reflection, to remember that principle
and honor must forbid him to seek a mutual attachment, while his name
and station remained unknown, and, perhaps, disgraceful. There was a
bewildering power in Caroline's society, which chained him to her side
wherever they met, while, contrary to his resolutions and wishes, his
every look, smile, word, and action became steeped in love. Often and
severely did he upbraid himself for this vain and dangerous
indulgence, but he seemed spell-bound and unable to remember, in her
presence, any thing but the delight of listening to her gay sallies
and her delicious laugh; though the mirth of her young eyes became
veiled often by a look of care as sudden as it was to him
unaccountable, being so foreign to the sparkling, almost mischievous
gaiety of her nature.
Henry's devoted, and nearly boyish attachment, raised in his heart
many a high aspiration after future distinction, many a bright hope of
honor, promotion, and usefulness. The model for his imitation in every
thing noble and distinguished was Sir Arthur, and he resolved to
sacrifice love itself, till he had attained, like him, a name and a
station for himself. The very sound of Sir Arthur's step, the very
tones of his voice, were dear to him; and, casting aside every softer
emotion connected with his romantic reveries respecting Caroline, he
became impatient to face the bitter blasts of the world's trials,
taking his beloved benefactor for his example, and the Holy Scriptures
as his guide.
"Perhaps," thought he, allowing his young mind to wander away from the
dull inexorable realities of life, while a rapturous smile of
anticipated joy lighted up his countenance. "Perhaps, when honor and
distinction have at last crowned my efforts, I may yet be acknowledged
in the face of the world, by those connexions who have now so
mysteriously cast me off. Perhaps Caroline herself may at last be
proud to return that fervent attachment, of which she has not yet even
a suspicion! The old proverb says, 'all men know what they are, but
none know what they shall be!' I know neither the one nor the other;
but I must not be satisfied with vaguely coveting learning, honor, or
usefulness hereafter, contemplating like a mere child the end without
the way, but seek them energetically. Nothing is impossible to those
who persevere! This may and must be a rough world of difficulty to me,
but amidst a thousand buffetings and humiliations to come, I feel an
undying hope of success, while even in this scene of hard and trying
discipline, my best comfort and encouragement shall ever be drawn from
the august truths of religion, in all their awfulness and solemn
obligations."
Knowledge is power, and knowledge of character is the greatest power
of all; but Henry, in general very penetrating, was perplexed by the
flirting, light-headed manner of Mrs. Smythe, whenever she was in the
society of gentlemen her own contemporaries in age, and the grave,
deferential manner she adopted towards her young companion, whom she
seemed to treat almost inadvertently as her superior, though the
slightest indication of her doing so usually brought the color of
Caroline in vivid flashes to her cheek, and caused an appearance of
mutual embarrassment between the aunt and niece, which surprised and
puzzled him. Their extraordinary munificence to the poor and public
charities also astonished him, as that appeared so widely
disproportioned to their visible means and usual expenditure, though
it seemed only to please without surprising Sir Arthur, who was
accustomed to give so liberally himself, that Henry sometimes feared
he encouraged his newly-found friends in a degree of lavish
extravagance inconsistent with the ordinary means of single ladies;
yet all was given with a graceful negligent indifference to the vulgar
subject of pounds, shillings, and pence, quite unprecedented.
Subscriptions to church extension, missionaries, schools, Bibles,
blankets, food, clothing, coals, money, and medicine, were scattered
around them with unsparing profusion, though it appeared to Henry,
that, in the case of Mrs. Smythe herself, whose name always appeared
ostensibly on the list as the larger contributor, there was less
alacrity in giving, than in Caroline, who seemed to be purse-bearer
for both, and always defrayed the whole amount.
Among the many things which surprised Henry in Mrs. and Miss Smythe,
nothing had that effect more than the keen, intense, and rather
satirical interest with which both ladies gathered up every particular
relating to the manners, flirtations and adventures of Captain De
Crespigny, though it was evident, that while both ladies could relate
every particular of his former history and character, neither knew him
by sight. Mrs. Smythe mentioned rather contemptuously some vague
recollections of him formerly, as a pert, awkward school-boy, while,
to Henry's increasing perplexity, the young lady's color visibly rose
to carnation whenever he was unexpectedly named, and her eyes usually
glittered with a suppressed smile, if any anecdote or description in
Sir Arthur's conversation related to him, till at length the curiosity
which had so long been evidently fermenting in the minds of Mrs. and
Miss Smythe, exploded one day in the form of an eager request, that
Sir Arthur would invite Captain De Crespigny to meet them at dinner.
Marion and Henry were amused at the laughing alacrity with which Sir
Arthur at once consented, and they observed, after the note was
despatched, that many a whispered consultation took place, and many a
lively jest passed among the lively trio, to which they were not made
a party; while the two ladies appeared evidently in extacies of
amusement at their anticipated introduction. Marion would have given
worlds to witness the scene; but her furlough from Mrs. Penfold's had
expired on the very day of Sir Arthur's party, and she was most
unwillingly deposited in a carriage with her baggage, at the moment
when Captain De Crespigny alighted, in full huzzar uniform, out of the
minibus which had conveyed him from Piershill.
The Admiral's party was exceedingly small and select; but the guests
appeared all in gay, buoyant spirits; while Captain De Crespigny,
seeing but one young lady in the room, looked upon himself as her
natural property, and handed her to dinner, though no formal
presentation had taken place.
With Caroline he was, before long, flirting to the top of his bent,
while she assumed a charming look of consciousness when he addressed
her, receiving the whole artillery of his small talk and civilities
with the most interesting expression of naivete, though once Henry
observed in her smile so odd a mixture of mirth and malice, while, at
the same time, a look of covert humor lurked in her eye, and quivered
on her lip, that he could not but wonder at the grave, demure look
which she affected.
Nothing was ever more enchanting to Captain De Crespigny than the
blushing, averted looks with which Caroline listened to all his
insinuated admiration; while now and then she nodded and smiled with
the prettiest air of incredulity imaginable, if he professed it more
openly. Occasionally, however, Captain De Crespigny was almost put
out of countenance by her unexpected replies, or very mal-apropos
questions, which gradually led him on, he scarcely knew how, into
flirting perfectly _a'loutrance_, while opportunities seemed purposely
afforded him with a degree of tact perfectly incredible in one so
young, and apparently unsophisticated, to say even more than he ever
said before. With a gay, laughing animation, almost amounting to
silliness, the young lady archly doubted his sincerity, admired his
wit, and slyly misunderstood all his compliments, till he was obliged
to repeat his meaning and explain his insinuations, making his
professions and speeches all so exceedingly plain and undisguised,
that, to his own astonishment, he found himself positively making love,
on a very few hours' acquaintance, with a degree of explicitness which
had never occurred to him in the whole course of his practice before.
In the evening, Caroline was, after many entreaties, prevailed on to
favor Captain De Crespigny with a song; and never had he been so
completely perplexed as by those with which the young lady, preserving
a look of most imperturbable gravity, proceeded to favor him. She
seemed to have a dozen different voices, and half-a-dozen different
styles of performance, but had evidently been well taught, and
displayed occasionally some beautiful notes. At first her tones were
clear and sharp, accompanied by the strangest flourishes and cadences
that Captain De Crespigny had ever heard or imagined. In the next
song, her voice was low and husky, while her eyes were most
sentimentally elevated to the ceiling, with a sort of St. Cecilia
expression, rather partaking, however, of the ludicrous, and in her
voice another like a mouse in a cupboard. At one time her tone
reminded him of a well-known singer at Vauxhall; at another, he felt
persuaded she was taking off Clara Novello; occasionally there was so
considerable a tinge of the brogue, that he became convinced she must
be Irish, and she ended by singing "The Dog's Meat Man," in a tone
out-screaming a peacock, but adopting the air and attitude of a
Catalani, and concluded with looking exultingly round in expectation
of rapturous applause, which Sir Arthur bestowed in abundance, and
Captain De Crespigny in comparative moderation, being, for the first
time in his life, at a loss to know whether he were treated on this
occasion in jest or in earnest.
Repeated subsequent visits at Seabeach Cottage continued the intimacy
which Captain De Crespigny had so oddly begun, and his curiosity
became more and more piqued by the singularity of Miss Smythe's manner
and conversation. She displayed, along with a most extravagant love of
amusement, a genius for satire and mimicry quite unprecedented, and in
which she most freely indulged. Many a scene was acted over by her,
and supported by Henry, with astonishing talent and vivacity; for both
seemed to have a similar propensity, being able, after an hour's
intercourse with any individual, to imitate his whole peculiarities
with almost magical precision--to follow, in an imaginary
conversation, the very train of his ideas, and to represent every
little trick or habitual expression, every turn of the head, and every
tone of the voice, with a gay look of mockery which would have made
their fortunes on the stage.
One evening, Sir Arthur having delivered up to his young friends the
key of an old chest, filled with velvet coats and brocaded silk
dresses, formerly worn by his bye-gone ancestors, Caroline, Henry, and
Captain De Crespigny amused themselves by grouping some beautiful
tableaux, and by acting charades. At one time, both the gentlemen
appeared in similar costumes, as Shakespeare's two Dominos in the
Comedy of Errors, when Sir Arthur suddenly exclaimed, as if he had
made some great discovery, "How very strange that I never before
observed the likeness between you two good-looking young fellows! I
declare it is quite remarkable! If you were brothers in reality as
well as in pretence, it could scarcely be more striking! Do pray
Captain De Crespigny, turn your profile more towards Mrs. Smythe, that
she may see what I mean!"
Henry laughingly received these remarks as an undoubted compliment,
and bowed with good-humored grace to Sir Arthur, who observed with
astonishment that Captain De Crespigny's color rushed to his very
temples, and receded again, leaving his countenance pale and almost
ghastly, while he suddenly broke off the entertainment, and strode up
to the fire-place, where for some minutes he stood, with his back to
the company, in evident agitation, while a dead silence ensued.
"Well!" whispered Sir Arthur to Caroline, "I have often been told that
people are never pleased with a likeness, but certainly Louis De
Crespigny is the most conceited of men to feel so intolerably angry at
being compared to my young friend here. There are certainly
worse-looking people in the world than Henry!" added the Admiral, with
a look of partial affection. "And it was no such insult as De
Crespigny seems to think, when I paid him the compliment, to say that
he resembled my boy, who is in every respect the pride of my heart."
"I wish the Captain may never meet with a greater mortification,"
replied Caroline, laughing; "and I am sure he would be much the better
of a few pretty severe ones to keep him in his senses!"
Henry meantime had observed with good-humored surprise, and no small
degree of perplexity, the excitement, so disproportioned to the
occasion, into which Captain De Crespigny had been thrown by Sir
Arthur's remark, but with boyish frankness he instantly went up to
him, saying, in a lively and rallying tone,
"I am sure Sir Arthur did not mean anything personal, Captain De
Crespigny; but his remark only proves my uncommon skill in assuming a
likeness to any one I please. My success in disguising myself at
college, was often beyond my intentions or utmost hopes. You would not
know me yourself, if I represented an old man, or a French
hair-dresser, as I have sometimes done!"
"Indeed!" replied Captain De Crespigny, trying to recover himself, "I
should think there was not the dress upon earth in which I would not
know you again!"
"Well! some day perhaps, as a beggar, I may, with your leave, beguile
you of half-a-crown."
"It would be a clever beggar who succeeded in that! but I defy you
there. Half-a-crown! why! I have only as much as that to keep me till
midsummer! You have my free leave to try me at any time, or in any way
you please, and my pardon for all your success!"
"I can only say," interposed Sir Arthur, "that the impudent rascal
brought real tears into my eyes, not long ago, by a story he trumped
up at my door, which would have deceived the whole Medicity Society.
He can make himself appear as old as myself,--and I declare one day he
looked not very unlike your uncle, Lord Doncaster!"
A vivid flush passed over the whole forehead and features of Captain
De Crespigny at these words; but assuming a sudden tone of liveliness
and vivacity, he summoned Henry to continue their entertainments for
the evening, which were to be concluded by acting a proverb of which
Sir Arthur and his guests were to discover the design. Miss Smythe,
dressed in cottage costume, seated herself pensively on a stool, after
which Captain De Crespigny, equipped with a bow in his hand, and
carrying on his back a quiver filled with all the old pens in the
house, to represent arrows, entered in the character of Love, and was
about to aim his darts at the peasant girl, when Henry, disguised in a
tattered old cloak, to personate Poverty, limped slowly into the room.
On seeing this beggarly apparition, Cupid, pushing his hair up till it
stood on end, assumed an expression of comic horror, and with a shriek
of dismay, rushed to the window, as if about to jump out.
The whole party laughed heartily, and declared that the _denouement_ of
this piece contained a most salutary lesson against a mere love-match;
and Sir Arthur said, for his own part he would attend to the
warning,--that all portionless young ladies might consider the case
hopeless with him, and he trusted every one present intended to be
equally prudent!
"Yes! most assuredly!" exclaimed Captain De Crespigny, "I am almost
tempted how to take my uncle's advice, and propose to my cousin, Miss
Howard, the heiress, though love flies out of the window whenever I
think of her. She was a little, pert, red-fingered, flaxen-haired
child, when we parted last! The memory of that girl often haunts me
like a night-mare since; for my poor mother, on her death-bed, got a
promise made about our being married, or something of that kind. I
never heard the particulars; but I believe we were to be made
acquainted, and refuse one another, before either of us could accept
any one else; but I should think there could be little chance of
anything that depended on my being refused."
Captain De Crespigny was bowing himself off late in the evening, and
taking a very particular leave of Miss Smythe, having called up all
his most fascinating graces for the occasion, while he felt inwardly
gratified by the pleasing conviction that another had been added to
the list of young ladies whom he had made miserable for life, when he
was surprised to observe her mouth perfectly quivering with suppressed
laughter, and an arch, satirical gleam in her eye for which he could
not account, though it made him feel somewhat uncomfortable and
dissatisfied. If it were possible that any one could be laughing at
him, she certainly was! A world of most intolerable ridicule appeared
in her expression--an air almost of contempt! and he turned to leave
the room with a feeling of mortification and anger which he was
ashamed to allow even to himself.
When Captain De Crespigny hurriedly opened the drawing-room door, near
which he and Caroline had been standing, he was surprised to see a
person lurking close behind it, who darted instantly away, and
disappeared; but before the intruder was out of sight, an exclamation
of terror and dismay escaped from the lips of Caroline, who rushed
towards Sir Arthur, exclaiming, in accents of almost frantic alarm,
"He is there! he is there! Oh! save me, Sir Arthur! he is there! That
horrid, dreadful man! he is there! Stop him! stop him!"
Captain De Crespigny instinctively ran in pursuit of the retreating
figure, and eagerly attempted to seize him; but the fugitive
instantaneously opened the house door, and escaped in the darkness,
while, apparently to intimidate his pursuer, he fired a pistol in the
air, and waved another above his head with frantic gestures of rage
and violence.
"It is beyond all measure extraordinary how he got into the house!"
exclaimed Sir Arthur, in discussing the event with an aspect of grave
perplexity. "My doors are most systematically locked after dusk, and
not a window is unbarred, yet the locks are unbroken and the bars
untouched!"
"There is something next to supernatural in the way he invariably
finds us out, and gets access everywhere," said Mrs. Smythe, in almost
breathless agitation. "One would imagine he had some unearthly
accomplice to discover where we are concealed, and to assist him in
escaping the vigilance of the police. Night and day we have been
liable to his incursions. In town or country--in the drawing-room, or
beside our carriage--in church, or going to a party--there he is,
lurking secretly near us, or terrifying Caroline by his sudden
disappearance, and gliding away like a shadow. He baffles every
attempt to overtake or arrest him, but seems for ever on the watch!
Sometimes he used to make his presence known by throwing a stone at
our windows; often at midnight, by singing hoarsely beneath them, and
even occasionally by firing a pistol in the air; but I did hope in
this remote corner we might have enjoyed peace and safety. How are we
ever to venture home?"
"I shall escort you with the whole party in close phalanx," replied
Sir Arthur, trying to assume a rallying tone. "Old Martin and myself
are quite invulnerable, and I only wish my secretary were here also,
as he would be a host in himself; but he is absent on a month's leave,
and for the first time in my life I miss him."
The night being impenetrably dark, and not a sound to be heard but the
echo of their footsteps on the gravel, when Mrs. Smythe alighted from
the carriage to walk across the garden leading towards her house. Sir
Arthur immediately desired the servants to bring out lights, when one
of the candles having flared up suddenly near Caroline, she thought
she perceived the madman close beside her, lurking behind the stem of
a large tree. The dark shadows concealed all but his face, in which
there gleamed a look of maniacal triumph and malignity, while rushing
close up to Captain De Crespigny, he said, in a threatening tone, low
and distinct, "He who crosses my path shall die!" and instantly
disappeared through the hedge. When Miss Smythe, on hearing his voice,
with a stifled scream of terror fled into the house, again that loud
and fiendish laugh, which she had already heard once, arose behind
her, and rung through the night air in tones of high delirium, causing
a cold shudder to thrill through the hearts of even the boldest among
her companions, while they hastily followed her, and having placed the
trembling girl in apparent safety, soon after took leave, charging the
servants to chain and double-lock the door.
It was some hours before Caroline could sufficiently compose her mind
to retire; but after the house was sufficiently quiet, and the
servants in bed, she sat up reading, with the hope that her nerves
might become less painfully agitated. The slightest noise caused her
heart to beat almost audibly, and she was conscious that a mouse
rattling in the wainscot would have caused her to faint. Mrs. Smythe
could scarcely be prevailed upon to leave her alone; but as they both
slept on the drawing-room floor, only divided by a thin partition,
Caroline induced her, at a late hour, to withdraw, while not a sound
now disturbed the deep repose of nature, but "the wailing sorrows of
some midnight bird."
The moon had arisen, shining with softened radiance into her
apartment, when Miss Smythe arose from her devotions, and she could
not but think at the moment what a bright emblem of her divine Saviour
that glorious luminary presented to the mind, not glowing, like the
sun, with a radiance which no human eye can gaze upon, but reflecting
upon the darkened earth a mild, subdued refulgence, perfectly suited
for the steady contemplation of those whom it had arisen to benefit
and cheer.
Nature was hush'd, as if her works ador'd
The night-felt presence of creation's Lord.
Pleased with such thoughts, a gradual composure stole over her senses,
and Caroline, at length, seeing her candle nearly burned out,
consequently determined to retire for the night. Not a sound was to be
heard in the house, but her own light step, as she moved about the
room,--the very opening of a drawer, or the shutting of her book,
sounded unnaturally loud, jarring upon her nerves with a startling
effect,--the shadows in the more distant part of the room looked
darker than usual, and the least moan of the wind increased the
painful tension of her nerves to agony. Scarcely had she begun to
undress, when a sudden noise not far off caused her to start with
convulsive terror; her heart became chilled with apprehension, the
candlestick which she carried in her hand fell to the ground, the
light was extinguished, and she stood trembling and alone in total,
impenetrable darkness.
Caroline tried to persuade herself that the sound must have been
produced by her own fancy,--she looked around, and all was quiet,--she
listened, and all was perfectly still,--she reasoned with herself, and
became resolute to try whether sleep might not plunge her into
forgetfulness and peace, when her attention was accidentally attracted
towards one of the windows, where the bright moonbeams rested on an
object which seemed to blast her eyes with horror, and paralyzed her
at once in a speechless agony of fear. The top of a ladder rested on
the window-sill, upon the summit of which stood the dark figure of a
man, his face plastered so close upon the glass, that his nose was
perfectly flattened against it, and his hands raised in a menacing
attitude towards her. The instant he saw, by Caroline's look of
frantic alarm, that she had seen him, he dashed in the window-frame by
a single stroke of his powerful arm, and seemed about to make a
forcible entrance, when Miss Smythe, with the energy of despair, threw
open the door, and fled, calling aloud, in the sharp, shrill accents
of desperation, for help.
The servants were speedily assembled around her, and the instant she
felt herself in comparative safety, nature could sustain no more, but,
convulsed in every nerve, and throwing herself into the arms of Mrs.
Smythe, with a cry of thankfulness and agitation, she fainted.
An instant alarm was given in the neighborhood, a diligent search was
made, and the police for several days exerted their utmost activity to
detect the miscreant, but in vain. Not a trace remained to convince
Caroline that the whole had not been a hideous dream, except that the
ladder had been left standing at her window, and turned out to have
been stolen from a neighboring garden. The window-frame exhibited a
frightful picture of devastation, being literally broken to fragments,
and at some distance in the garden a loaded pistol was discovered,
perfectly new, which it was hoped might lead to a discovery, by the
police tracing out the maker and purchaser, seeing that it had been so
recently obtained.