THE ECLIPSE.
The demeanour of Mr. Trevor's two sons, when they met at the
dinner-table on that evening, was in strong contrast to each other.
Bruce looked grave and stern, and had the appearance of one who is pale
and weary from too close attention to study. Vibert, on the contrary,
was in the highest spirits.
"Bruce, you look as the moon will look to-night under an eclipse!" cried
Vibert; "you mean to tack to your name M.A. or D.L. or A.S.S., or some
other mystical letters of the alphabet, and the shadow of coming
distinction is falling on you already!"
"Is this the night of the eclipse?" asked Emmie, interposing, as was her
wont, some indifferent remark to prevent any interchange of bitter words
between her brothers.
"Yes; had you forgotten it?" said Vibert. "It is to be an almost total
eclipse. We can hardly see it from any window in the house, the place is
so smothered with trees; but there is a spot on the lawn from which we
can get a very good view."
"I wish that we had a telescope here," observed Mr. Trevor.
"That's just what I said to my friend Standish," cried Vibert; "for, as
you know, I'm desperately eager in pursuit of scientific knowledge.
'I'll lend you mine,' said the colonel; 'it has prodigious magnifying
power. It was my travelling companion when I journeyed northward, in a
sledge, with only an Eskimo guide, and reached the high latitude of'--I
really don't remember the latitude that Standish mentioned, but it was
something that would make our Arctic explorers stare."
"Perhaps it was degree one hundred and one," said Bruce sarcastically.
"I suspect that the colonel's telescope is not with him the only
instrument that has high magnifying power."
"You are always sneering at Standish," cried Vibert angrily; "you give
him credit for nothing, simply, I believe, because he has chosen me for
his friend. But others appreciate him better," continued the youth,
addressing his conversation to Emmie. "Standish had grand news to-day
from Washington; he has only been waiting at S---- till he should know
how his suit in America has prospered."
"A law-suit?" inquired Mr. Trevor.
"Oh no; a suit more interesting by far than any regarding
field-boundaries or dye-works!" laughed Vibert. "Standish is an
illustration of the proverb, 'None but the brave deserve the fair.' He
has wooed and won the greatest belle in the West, a cousin of the
president of the United States, a lady with a dowry of half a million of
dollars!" Vibert glanced triumphantly at Bruce, and raising a glass of
claret, pledged the health of the colonel's destined bride.
"I suppose that as the lady is in Washington, the colonel will not
remain long in Wiltshire," observed Mr. Trevor, who had no wish for his
longer stay.
"That's the worst part of the business,--at least for me," replied
Vibert, setting down the glass, which he had drained. "Standish leaves
England almost directly. He has already secured his passage in an
American steamer, and has only now to get what he wants to take with
him, amongst other things wedding-gifts for his bride. Standish is
prodigiously liberal as well as enormously rich; so the fair lady will
have her caskets of diamonds and 'ropes of pearl,' such as a duchess
might envy. The colonel asked me to-day what London jeweller I would
recommend," continued the youth with a self-complacency which made his
auditors smile, "and I told him that our family had dealt for twenty
years with Messrs. Golding. I showed Standish the watch, studs, and
signet-ring which I had bought at their shop, and he declared that he
had never seen anything in the jewellery line more tasteful." It was
evident that the boy's vanity had been tickled by his being consulted on
such a matter by one who was the accepted suitor of a president's
cousin. "But here am I talking about these sublunary affairs, when the
eclipse will be beginning," cried Vibert. "It is quarter past seven
now,"--he glanced at his watch as he spoke; "the night is splendid, not
a breath of wind is stirring, while moonlight is silvering the snow. Who
will come out with me and look at the queen of night under a shadow?
Emmie, you will certainly make one of the party; we all know your taste
for the beautiful and sublime."
"My girl must be well wrapped up if she venture out in the snow,"
observed Mr. Trevor.
"We'll case her in fur like a squirrel!" cried Vibert. "Come, Emmie, or
we shall be late."
Emmie rose from her seat at table; her life at Myst Court afforded so
little variety, that the sight of an eclipse on a clear wintry night was
not one that she would willingly miss.
"I suppose that you, Bruce, will go too," said his father. "For my part,
I have seen so many lunar eclipses already, that I shall return to my
desk. I want to finish the perusal of that paper sent by my lawyer which
I was showing to you when the dinner-gong sounded."
"I should like to look over the paper with you," said Bruce. "I do not
care to go out to-night."
The young man was feeling ill, though he did not complain.
"We'll leave them to their musty-fusty law; as for us, we prefer
meditation and moonlight!" said Vibert playfully, as a few minutes
afterwards he stood in the hall with Emmie, assisting his sister to
mantle her slight form in her fur-lined mantilla. "I don't see why papa
should bother himself with Bullen and his horrible dyes; the stream is
clear enough where it flows through our woods. If Bullen had poisoned
our coffee, or killed our trout, the matter might have required a
lawyer. There now, just let me throw this pretty little scarlet shawl
over your head, to be a complete defence against the night air! I
declare that it makes you look like an opening rose-bud; I never saw a
headdress more picturesque and becoming!"
Emmie smiled, and the brother and sister quitted the house together,
sauntering down the steps which led from the door to the carriage-drive.
"We can see nothing here," observed Vibert; "we must go right round to
the back of the house, and make our way over the lawn, till we get just
beyond the group of yew-trees. There we shall have a clear view of the
moon."
The first touch of shadow was dimming the round disc of the moon when
the brother and sister stepped forth on the snow. But the orb was hidden
from them, first by the house, and then by the trees around it, until
they should reach the spot indicated by Vibert. The short quick walk was
not a silent one; Vibert's thoughts were engrossed by a subject much
more interesting to him than the moon.
"Emmie, I must be off to London to-morrow," said he.
"To London!" echoed Emmie in surprise. "What has put such a sudden
flight into your mind?"
"I've many reasons for wishing to go up to town. Patti is to sing
to-morrow night at a grand concert; I am dying to hear her again, and
Standish--kind fellow!--has given me a ticket of admittance. Then I've
shopping and business to transact which I cannot possibly put off. I
shall only stay for one night in London, and I will not go to a hotel.
Aunt Mary told me, you know, that she could always offer me a room in
Grosvenor Square."
"Papa will not like the needless expense," began Emmie.
"Expense! how I hate the very word! But you have smoothed that matter
for me, darling," said Vibert, pressing the arm that was locked in his
own. "Papa shall not have a shilling to pay."
"But you would miss two days of study."
"No great loss, if one may judge of what they would have been by those
that have gone before them," laughed Vibert. "I have not fatigued myself
lately by any overwhelming amount of hard work."
"I fear not indeed," said his sister.
"But I'll work double when once I've had my full swing of pleasure,"
cried Vibert. "I can pass Bruce, at least in classics, if I make an
effort to do so. I know that I've been an idle fellow ever since we came
to Myst Court; but when Standish goes I'll have nothing to do but to
study, and I'll be bound I'll astonish you all with my learning."
"We have only been here for a month," observed Emmie; "it is too early
for you to think of returning to London. You had better far put off
going for a while."
"I told you that I could not put off!" cried Vibert impatiently. "My
concert ticket will not keep, nor my business neither. You might as well
tell yon moon to put off her eclipse!"
By this time the Trevors had reached the spot beyond the yew-trees,
where nothing obstructed their view of the radiant orb. The dark shadow
of earth was slowly cutting its sharply-defined outline on her disc, and
each minute her clear light was becoming more and more sensibly
obscured. There is something very solemn in the sight of that natural
phenomenon which science can foretell, but which all created powers
combined can neither prevent nor for one single moment delay. Even the
light gossip of Vibert was silenced as he gazed. Nothing appeared to be
moving on the snow-covered earth, or through the still air, save when a
bat, with its peculiar flickering motion, darted between the moon and
those who stood with upraised eyes, silently watching the deepening
eclipse. Behind the trees rose Myst Court, showing, not its broad
stately front, but the back offices, which were irregular in
construction, and some of them built at a later date than other parts of
the mansion. This side of the house possessed no beauty whatever by day,
save what climbing ivy might give; but by moonlight its very
irregularity gave to it a picturesque charm which was wanting to the
more handsome but flatter front of the dwelling. Emmie turned round to
glance at a part of her new home with which she was very imperfectly
acquainted, as she had never entered the mansion at that eastern side.
She admired the effect of moonlight on the snow-covered ivy which
mantled the walls--silver gleams which threw into strong contrast the
deep black shadows which fell from projecting gable or overhanging roof.
Even the chimneys seemed transformed into twisted columns of ebony and
silver.
"I never thought that Myst Court could look so romantic," said Emmie;
"it was worth while coming out at night to see it as we see it now. But
the air is chilly," she added, and, to draw her scarlet shawl closer
over her braided hair, the maiden for a moment drew her arm from that of
her brother.
"Ha! I had forgotten the telescope!" exclaimed Vibert; and with that
want of thought for others which with him was a branch from the root of
selfishness, the youth darted off to bring the glass, leaving his sister
alone beside the shadowy yew-trees.
Emmie had not thought of fear so long as she had leaned on her brother's
arm, so long as the lively Vibert was close beside her; but his
departure--so sudden, that she had no time to cry "Do not go!" before
he was gone--awoke her dormant terrors. To find herself in utter
solitude, standing on the snowy lawn beside the gloomy yews, within
bow-shot of a dwelling said to be haunted, whilst the very moon was
suffering eclipse, was a position which might have tried stronger nerves
than those of Emmie. All the horrible tales that she had heard on the
night of her first arrival, the colonel's ghastly legends, Jael's
stories of apparitions seen in that very house which now dimly loomed
before the eyes of the maiden, the dark hints of dangers thrown out by
Harper--all rushed at once on the mind of the timid girl. She made a few
quick steps in pursuit of Vibert; but he had vanished from her sight
round the corner of the house. Emmie was afraid to skirt half of the
spacious mansion alone, yet equally afraid to remain in such dreary
solitude, to await her brother's return. A breeze stirred the branches
of neighbouring trees; Emmie started at the sound of the rustle. The
tall bushes in their shrouds of snow began to her excited imagination to
assume the form of spectres; Emmie almost fancied that they began to
move towards her! And now--it is not imagination--a dark figure is
slowly moving along the gravel-path, whitened by snow, which divides the
lawn on which Emmie is standing from that back part of Myst Court to
which her gaze is directed! Emmie's first emotion is that of terror,
her next is that of relief. She recognizes the sound of a short dry
cough, which has nothing unearthly about it; and by the faint light of
the half-eclipsed moon sees the outline of a familiar form most unlike
the shape in which a spectre might be supposed to appear. Emmie feels no
longer alone. There is Mrs. Jessel, coming at no unwonted hour, with
basket on arm, doubtless to carry away what may remain of the evening's
repast.
Never before had Emmie so welcomed the appearance of Mrs. Myer's late
attendant, the obsequious, voluble Jael. Lightly the young-lady tripped
over the soft white snow, whilst Mrs. Jessel was engaged in opening some
back-door which lay in the deepest shadow behind a projecting part of
the building. Emmie's step was noiseless as that of a fairy, and her
form was unseen by Mrs. Jessel, whose back was turned towards her. Jael
turned a key, pushed open a door, and entered the house, leaving the
door ajar. Emmie followed the woman into the dwelling, guided by the
sound of her creaking boots and her short dry cough. The passage which
the two had entered was dark, but Emmie naturally expected that some
inner door would quickly be opened, and that she should find herself in
the light and warmth of her own kitchen, for whose cheerful interior
Mrs. Jessel of course was bound. How welcome to the ears of Emmie would
be even the coarse loud tones of Hannah! The young lady was somewhat
surprised when the footsteps which she was following led up a narrow
staircase, instead of turning towards what she supposed to be the
direction of the kitchen. Still, as it was certain that Jael, after
living for years in the mansion, must be acquainted with its every turn
and winding, and as it was equally certain that she must be going to
some lighted part, Miss Trevor went on, feeling her way by the iron
railing up the narrow stone stair, listening to the creak of the boots
and the occasional cough, which told that her guide was in front. Emmie
felt a strange repugnance to address Mrs. Jessel in the darkness,
therefore groped on her way in silence, expecting every moment to be
ushered into the light. Here we leave her for the present, and go for a
while to the study of Mr. Trevor, where he and his elder son are quietly
engaged with the lawyer's papers.