Before proceeding further it is necessary to inform the reader who Clara
and Charles Holstrom were; and, also, to narrate the varied and
complicated circumstances of several years preceding this eventful
night.
Charles Holstrom was the youngest son of a London tradesman. He had
attended school with Frederick, and was now working in the same shop and
at the same business with him. He was possessed of a robust physical
appearance, somewhat coarsely featured;--of a bold, but humorous
disposition--at times impertinent, and even repulsive in his manner.
Frederick had really never considered him as a confidential friend; but
their long acquaintance with each other, and the many associations of
their united course in life had induced him to consider Charles as a
respected friend rather than a fellow companion; and from these
circumstances alone the Charlstons had received him as an occasional
visitor to their house.
Clara Hazledon was the only daughter of a poor but respectable widow
with whom the Charlston family had been long acquainted. Previous to
their removal to Fleet street they were next door neighbors. Mr.
Charlston and Clara's father had been early companions of each other.
Their children had grown up together, and had been associates at the
same school, and although now in unequal circumstances, still looked
upon each other as very familiar friends. After the death of Mr.
Hazledon, he having died when the family was young, his wife struggled
hard against adversity to bring up her little ones. But five years after
the death of her first husband she married another, who, unfortunately
turned out to be only a worthless and degraded fellow. Clara, by her
expertness at needlework, had procured a good situation in a millinery
shop. Her brothers, all younger than herself, were also respectably
employed.
Frederick and Clara had been passionately fond of each other when
children, and as they grew older their affection became more matured;
and at length the sympathies of their love were more firmly united by a
marriage engagement, the consummation of which was purposed to take
place as soon as circumstances would render it favorably convenient. But
the basis of life's future prospects, however substantial it may be, is
often undermined by some casual innovation; and there is no earthly
hope, however bright its radiance may appear, but is liable to be
darkened by some event that may suddenly loom up from the horizon of
life. Such was the case amid the quietude of their affections. By some
inadvertent impulse of human nature their chastity was sacrificed, and
Frederick and Clara became parents before they had sanctified their
affections upon the altar of matrimony.
The event threw a shadow into the homes of both families, and served as
food for the tongues of idle gossips among their acquaintances.
Mrs. Charlston and her daughters paid a respectful visit to the house of
Mrs. Hazledon--or Mrs. Collins as she was then named,--and with whom
Clara was then staying. They carried with them presents of various
sorts; and even Mr. Charlston himself, although chagrined at the event,
evinced a charitable spirit by placing twenty guineas in the hand of
Clara, as a present in behalf of his grandson.
Frederick stole his visits under the secret shades of evening, and
showed every expression of sympathy and affection for Clara and the
little one; at the same time promising the consummation of their union
as soon as circumstances would conveniently permit. A few weeks after
the birth of the child, in December of 1868, Frederick made a tour into
Devonshire for the purpose of visiting an uncle residing in the town of
Exeter, and also discovering some thriving village or town where he
might find ready employment, with the view of eventually establishing
himself in business to his own advantage. He at length selected Tiverton
as his place of residence, where he procured work at favorable wages.
Elated with success he immediately wrote to his parents, and also penned
a lengthy epistle to Clara, describing the place and people in very
flattering words, flourishing off with a few epithets expressive of his
undying affection for herself and the child; and hoping that in a few
months he would have the pleasure of introducing her to a comfortable
home, under the happy title of Mrs. Frederick Charlston.
Winter passed slowly along, during which time letters were frequently
sent and received. The first day of May at length came, but no house was
apparently provided for Clara and her child. Shortly afterwards
Frederick returned home, and made known the intelligence that he had
given up the idea of settling in Tiverton as he had decided upon making
his future home in Canada, which place had been described by an emigrant
agent who had lectured several nights in the town, as one of the finest
countries in the world for the workingmen of England; that millions of
acres of land were there to be given away, and every actual settler
received 100 acres _gratis_. A river one hundred times larger than all
the rivers of England put together, ran the whole length of the country,
1500 miles long. There were lakes there so large that even into the
smallest of them the whole island of Great Britain might be thrown, and
sink beyond recovery. In fact, said he, "it possessed all the facilities
and improvements of the 19th century;--equality, independence and wealth
awaiting every industrious man who went thither;--it was, indeed, the
workshop of the tradesman, the emporium of the trader, and above all,
blessed be the fact, _it was the poor man's paradise upon earth_."
Frederick soon discovered that the big bubble he had blown up was likely
to be blown down. His mother and sisters strongly objected to his
purpose, and begged of him not to bury himself out of the world as long
as he had an opportunity of living in it.
"Why, Frederick," exclaimed his father, "were you to go to Canada you
would repent of it but once, and that will be as long as you live. You
talk of free-lands; why, of what use would they be to you? They might be
of service to those who have been long accustomed to outside labor. But
for you to go into the dense forests amidst mountains of almost
perpetual snow, to chop out for yourself a fortune, or even a
livelihood, would be a thousand times worse than banishment to the icy
deserts of Siberia. For my sake, and for the love you owe to all that
are dear to you in England, I beseech of you to relinquish, at least for
the present, your design. Get married at once, and settle down quietly
and industriously to work, either at Tiverton or in London, and I will
assist in the furnishing of a house for you and Clara."
Frederick made no satisfactory reply.
On the second evening after he had come home, Charlie Holstrom, having
heard of his return, called to see him.
"A thousand welcomes back, old lad," exclaimed H., heartily shaking the
hand of his old associate. "Why, my dear fellow, I've come over to bid
you good bye, as I heard to-day that you are going to the Cannibal
Islands."
Mr. Charlston and the others laughed heartily at the expression.
"It is only to Canada that I intend to ship myself," replied Frederick
somewhat shyly.
"Worse, and worse!" retorted H. "Why, what do you expect to get there?"
"Get a farm for nothing, and make a fortune in five years," said
Frederick.
"If the farm is to be given away for nothing I may venture to say, _it
will be worth nothing_," replied H., and continued, "I had an
acquaintance who went to Canada a few years ago with L500; and having
lived three years upon one of those 'nothing farms' or rather, living
upon his money during that time, he returned to England utterly worth
_nothing_. Why, Fred! such farms may be suitable enough for men of iron
muscles and wooden stomachs, and who can work whether they eat or
not;--men who have nothing to lose except their life, and would even
sacrifice that for a small amount. But for either you or I to go there
in search of a living, or anything else, except death and horror, would
be worse for us than hanging; it would eventually result in
strangulation by starvation. And besides, as my acquaintance informed
me, the woods are infested with wild animals; and if a fellow attempted
to venture out at night very possibly his carcass would be very soon
deposited in the inside of a dozen of wolves. He further told me that
the trees during summer rained down myriads of mosquitoes as large as
beetles, with stings like hornets and in the shape of a tube, by which
means a dozen of them could suck up a fellow's blood in a night; and
were by far a greater plague than the grasshoppers of Egypt. To prevent
them from settling upon himself he covered his head and neck with a mask
made from deer-skin, in which he cut holes to inhale air and see
through; but despite of such precautions they would sometimes force
their way through these orifices, and one dart, said he, into a fellow's
eye was sufficient to cause a myriad of stars to fly from his winker."
"Well, but that is really horrifying," exclaimed Mrs. Charlston.
"Awful, awful!" shouted Amelia.
"'Tis really so indeed," added Eliza.
"Oh! it is all bosh," ejaculated Fred.
"_Bosh!_ d'ye say!" exclaimed H. "Indeed, I have only told you the least
objectionable part. I assure you, he related things that would make a
fellow's blood to curdle into vinegar, and perspire from every pore of
the body. I credit everything he told me, for his word is as much to be
depended upon as the 'Law of Moses.'"
"That'll do for the present," said Amelia.
"Go on," cried George.
"What did he say about the climate?" inquired Mr. C.
"He told me, sir, that it was so hot during the dog-days in summer, that
the people had to lie upon deer-skins filled with water to prevent their
bodies from being totally dissolved into vapor, and, that at the end of
that terrible season they appeared only as living skeletons, as slender,
indeed, as to be incapable of producing even a shadow."
"Oh! but that is awfully horrible!" exclaimed Mrs. C. Mr. Charlston and
George laughed heartily. The girls shrugged up their shoulders,
expressive of nervous twitchings.
"And in winter," continued H., "it is so intensely cold that every river
to its foundation is frozen into ice. It snows sometimes for weeks
without ceasing; it is then generally followed by fierce winds which
drift the snow into heaps like mountains, frequently burying houses and
their inhabitants a hundred feet deep."
"Horrible! horrible!" ejaculated Mrs. C.
"The air is sometimes so intensely cold that the mercury in the
thermometer is congealed into ice at 150 degrees below zero; and it
frequently occurs during those frosty periods that travellers, with
their horses and vehicles, are found petrified into ice, so hard that
they never can be thawed out again. Hundreds of such groups are
preserved in the Canadian museums, and shown as curiosities to foreign
travellers."
"Oh! Charlie, for pity's sake, don't horrify us so!" shouted Mrs. C.
"Do stop, Charlie, you'll frighten us to death," exclaimed the girls,
fearfully excited.
Mr. Charlston and George laughed heartily. Fred muttered out something
condemnatory; while George cried out, "Go on Charlie, tell the whole
story."
"I haven't told you the one-half yet; but this will do for the
present;--only I might merely add,--that if Fred goes out for a
free-farm he will get a free wife into the bargain. The forests are
infested with a more dangerous class of animals than wolves. They are
savages in human shape, and are designated by the name of Indians. Every
foreigner who takes a farm is compelled to take a young squaw--a she
Indian--as a wife to himself. The males in return kidnap white women for
themselves; but should a man refuse to comply with their wishes, he is
immediately seized upon by those savages and flayed at once. His skin is
afterwards tanned, and made into tobacco-pouches. These are sold to
traders and imported to England. What say you, Fred, to this? Should you
go to Canada, I may yet have a pouch made out of your pelt. So good
night to all," ejaculated Holstrom, and abruptly made his exit, amidst
an uproar of exclamations and laughter.