The topographical chart of the property and its environs was completed.
It was executed on a considerable scale; the character of the particular
localities was made intelligible by various colors; and by means of a
trigonometrical survey the Captain had been able to arrive at a very
fair exactness of measurement. He had been rapid in his work. There was
scarcely ever any one who could do with less sleep than this most
laborious man; and, as his day was always devoted to an immediate
purpose, every evening something had been done.
"Let us now," he said to his friend, "go on to what remains for us, to
the statistics of the estate. We shall have a good deal of work to get
through at the beginning, and afterward we shall come to the farm
estimates, and much else which will naturally arise out of them. Only we
must have one thing distinctly settled and adhered to. Everything which
is properly _business_ we must keep carefully separate from life.
Business requires earnestness and method; _life_ must have a freer
handling. Business demands the utmost stringency and sequence; in life,
inconsecutiveness is frequently necessary, indeed, is charming and
graceful. If you are firm in the first, you can afford yourself more
liberty in the second; while if you mix them, you will find the free
interfering with and breaking in upon the fixed."
In these sentiments Edward felt a slight reflection upon himself. Though
not naturally disorderly, he could never bring himself to arrange his
papers in their proper places. What he had to do in connection with
others, was not kept separate from what depended only on himself.
Business got mixed up with amusement, and serious work with recreation.
Now, however, it was easy for him, with the help of a friend who would
take the trouble upon himself; and a second "I" worked out the
separation, to which the single "I" was always unequal.
In the Captain's wing, they contrived a depository for what concerned
the present, and an archive for the past. Here they brought all the
documents, papers, and notes from their various hiding-places, rooms,
drawers, and boxes, with the utmost speed. Harmony and order were
introduced into the wilderness, and the different packets were marked
and registered in their several pigeon-holes. They found all they wanted
in greater completeness even than they had expected; and here an old
clerk was found of no slight service, who for the whole day and part of
the night never left his desk, and with whom, till then, Edward had been
always dissatisfied.
"I should not know him again," he said to his friend, "the man is so
handy and useful."
"That," replied the Captain, "is because we give him nothing fresh to do
till he has finished, at his convenience, what he has already; and so,
as you perceive, he gets through a great deal. If you disturb him, he
becomes useless at once."
Spending their days together in this way, in the evenings they never
neglected their regular visits to Charlotte. If there was no party from
the neighborhood, as was often the case, they read and talked,
principally on subjects connected with the improvement of the condition
and comfort of social life.
Charlotte, always accustomed to make the most of opportunities, not only
saw her husband pleased, but found personal advantages for herself.
Various domestic arrangements, which she had long wished to make, but
which she did not know exactly how to set about, were managed for her
through the contrivance of the Captain. Her domestic medicine-chest,
hitherto but poorly furnished, was enlarged and enriched, and Charlotte
herself, with the help of good books and personal instruction, was put
in the way of being able to exercise her disposition to be of practical
assistance more frequently and more efficiently than before.
In providing against accidents, which, though common, yet only too often
find us unprepared, they thought it especially necessary to have at hand
whatever is required for the recovery of drowning men--accidents of this
kind, from the number of canals, reservoirs, and waterworks in the
neighborhood, being of frequent occurrence. This department the Captain
took expressly into his own hands; and the observation escaped Edward,
that a case of this kind had made a very singular epoch in the life of
his friend. The latter made no reply, but seemed to be trying to escape
from a painful recollection. Edward immediately stopped; and Charlotte,
who, as well as he, had a general knowledge of the story, took no notice
of the expression.
"These preparations are all exceedingly valuable," said the Captain, one
evening. "Now, however, we have not got the one thing which is most
essential--a sensible man who understands how to manage it all. I know
an army surgeon, whom I could exactly recommend for the place. You might
get him at this moment, on easy terms. He is highly distinguished in his
profession, and has frequently done more for me, in the treatment even
of violent inward disorders, than celebrated physicians. Help upon the
spot, is the thing you often most want in the country."
He was written for at once; and Edward and Charlotte were rejoiced to
have found so good and necessary an object on which to expend so much of
the money which they set apart for such accidental demands upon them.
Thus Charlotte, too, found means of making use, for her purposes, of the
Captain's knowledge and practical skill; and she began to be quite
reconciled to his presence, and to feel easy about any consequences
which might ensue. She commonly prepared questions to ask him; among
other things, it was one of her anxieties to provide against whatever
was prejudicial to health and comfort, against poisons and such like.
The lead-glazing on the china, the verdigris which formed about her
copper and bronze vessels, etc., had long been a trouble to her. She got
him to tell her about these, and, naturally, they often had to fall back
on the first elements of medicine and chemistry.
An accidental, but welcome occasion for entertainment of this kind, was
given by an inclination of Edward to read aloud. He had a particularly
clear, deep voice, and earlier in life had earned himself a pleasant
reputation for his feeling and lively recitations of works of poetry and
oratory. At this time he was occupied with other subjects, and the books
which, for some time past, he had been reading, were either chemical or
on some other branch of natural or technical science.
One of his especial peculiarities--which, by-the-by, he very likely
shares with a number of his fellow-creatures--was, that he could not
bear to have any one looking over him when he was reading. In early
life, when he used to read poems, plays, or stories, this had been the
natural consequence of the desire which the reader feels, like the poet,
or the actor, or the story-teller, to make surprises, to pause, to
excite expectation; and this sort of effect was naturally defeated when
a third person's eyes could run on before him, and see what was coming.
On such occasions, therefore, he was accustomed to place himself in such
a position that no one could get behind him. With a party of only three,
this was unnecessary; and as with the present subject there was no
opportunity for exciting feelings or giving the imagination a surprise,
he did not take any particular pains to protect himself.
One evening he had placed himself carelessly, and Charlotte happened by
accident to cast her eyes upon the page. His old impatience was aroused;
he turned to her, and said, almost unkindly:
[Illustration: EDWARD READING ALOUD TO CHARLOTTE AND THE CAPTAIN]
"I do wish, once for all, you would leave off doing a thing so out of
taste and so disagreeable. When I read aloud to a person, is it not
the same as if I was telling him something by word of mouth? The
written, the printed word, is in the place of my own thoughts, of my own
heart. If a window were broken into my brain or into my heart, and if
the man to whom I am counting out my thoughts, or delivering my
sentiments, one by one, knew beforehand exactly what was to come out of
me, should I take the trouble to put them into words? When anybody looks
over my book, I always feel as if I were being torn in two."
Charlotte's tact, in whatever circle she might be, large or small, was
remarkable, and she was able to set aside disagreeable or excited
expressions without appearing to notice them. When a conversation grew
tedious, she knew how to interrupt it; when it halted, she could set it
going. And this time her good gift did not forsake her.
"I am sure you will forgive me my fault," she said, when I tell you what
it was this moment which came over me. I heard you reading something
about Affinities, and I thought directly of some relations of mine, two
of whom are just now occupying me a great deal. Then my attention went
back to the book. I found it was not about living things at all, and I
looked over to get the thread of it right again."
"It was the comparison which led you wrong and confused you," said
Edward. "The subject is nothing but earths and minerals. But man is a
true Narcissus; he delights to see his own image everywhere; and he
spreads himself underneath the universe, like the amalgam behind the
glass."
"Quite true," continued the Captain. "That is the way in which he treats
everything external to himself. His wisdom and his folly, his will and
his caprice, he attributes alike to the animal, the plant, the elements,
and the gods."
"Would you," said Charlotte, "if it is not taking you away too much from
the immediate subject, tell me briefly what is meant here by
Affinities?"
"I shall be very glad indeed," replied the Captain, to whom Charlotte
had addressed herself. "That is, I will tell you as well as I can. My
ideas on the subject date ten years back; whether the scientific world
continues to think the same about it, I cannot tell."
"It is most disagreeable," cried Edward, "that one cannot now-a-days
learn a thing once for all, and have done with it. Our forefathers could
keep to what they were taught when they were young; but we have, every
five years, to make revolutions with them, if we do not wish to drop
altogether out of fashion."
"We women need not be so particular," said Charlotte; "and, to speak the
truth, I only want to know the meaning of the word. There is nothing
more ridiculous in society than to misuse a strange technical word; and
I only wish you to tell me in what sense the expression is made use of
in connection with these things. What its scientific application is I am
quite contented to leave to the learned; who, by-the-by, as far as I
have been able to observe, do not find it easy to agree among
themselves."
"Whereabouts shall we begin," said Edward, after a pause, to the
Captain, "to come most quickly to the point?"
The latter, after thinking as little while, replied shortly:
"You must let me make what will seem a wide sweep; we shall be on our
subject almost immediately."
Charlotte settled her work at her side, promising the fullest attention.
The Captain began:
"In all natural objects with which we are acquainted, we observe
immediately that they have a certain relation to themselves. It may
sound ridiculous to be asserting what is obvious to every one; but it is
only by coming to a clear understanding together about what we know,
that we can advance to what we do not know."
"I think," interrupted Edward, "we can make the thing more clear to her,
and to ourselves, with examples; conceive water, or oil, or quicksilver;
among these you will see a certain oneness, a certain connection of
their parts; and this oneness is never lost, except through force or
some other determining cause. Let the cause cease to operate, and at
once the parts unite again."
"Unquestionably," said Charlotte, "that is plain; rain-drops readily
unite and form streams; and when we were children, it was our delight to
play with quicksilver, and wonder at the little globules splitting and
parting and running into one another."
"And here," said the Captain, "let me just cursorily mention one
remarkable thing--I mean, that the full, complete correlation of parts
which the fluid state makes possible, shows itself distinctly and
universally in the globular form. The falling water-drop is round; you
yourself spoke of the globules of quicksilver; and a drop of melted lead
let fall, if it has time to harden before it reaches the ground, is
found at the bottom in the shape of a ball."
"Let me try and see," said Charlotte, "whether I can understand where
you are bringing me. As everything has a reference to itself, so it must
have some relation to others."
"And that," interrupted Edward, "will be different according to the
natural differences of the things themselves. Sometimes they will meet
like friends and old acquaintances; they will come rapidly together, and
unite without either having to alter itself at all--as wine mixes with
water. Others, again, will remain as strangers side by side, and no
amount of mechanical mixing or forcing will succeed in combining them.
Oil and water may be shaken up together, and the next moment they are
separate again, each by itself."
"One can almost fancy," said Charlotte, "that in these simple forms one
sees people that one is acquainted with; one has met with just such
things in the societies amongst which one has lived; and the strangest
likenesses of all with these soulless creatures are in the masses in
which men stand divided one against the other, in their classes and
professions; the nobility and the third estate, for instance, or
soldiers and civilians."
"Then again," replied Edward, "as these are united under common laws and
customs, so there are intermediate members in our chemical world which
will combine elements that are mutually repulsive."
"Oil, for instance," said the Captain, "we make combine with water with
the help of alkalis----"
"Do not go on too fast with your lesson," said Charlotte. "Let me see
that I keep step with you. Are we not here arrived among the
affinities?"
"Exactly," replied the Captain; "we are on the point of apprehending
them in all their power and distinctness; such natures as, when they
come in contact, at once lay hold of each other, each mutually affecting
the other, we speak of as having an affinity one for the other. With the
alkalis and acids, for instance, the affinities are strikingly marked.
They are of opposite natures; very likely their being of opposite
natures is the secret of their inter-relational effect--each reaches out
eagerly for its companion, they lay hold of each other, modify each
other's character, and form in connection an entirely new substance.
There is lime, you remember, which shows the strongest inclination for
all sorts of acids--a distinct desire of combining with them. As soon as
our chemical chest arrives, we can show you a number of entertaining
experiments which will give you a clearer idea than words, and names,
and technical expressions."
"It appears to me," said Charlotte, "that, if you choose to call these
strange creatures of yours related, the relationship is not so much a
relationship of blood as of soul or of spirit. It is the way in which we
see all really deep friendship arise among men, opposite peculiarities
of disposition being what best makes internal union possible. But I will
wait to see what you can really show me of these mysterious proceedings;
and for the present," she added, turning to Edward, "I will promise not
to disturb you any more in your reading. You have taught me enough of
what it is about to enable me to attend to it."
"No, no," replied Edward, "now that you have once stirred the thing, you
shall not get off so easily. It is just the most complicated cases which
are the most interesting. In these you come first to see the degrees of
the affinities, to watch them as their power of attraction is weaker or
stronger, nearer or more remote. Affinities begin really to interest
only when they bring about separations."
"What!" cried Charlotte, "is that miserable word, which unhappily we
hear so often now-a-days in the world; is that to be found in nature's
lessons too?"
"Most certainly," answered Edward; "the title with which chemists were
supposed to be most honorably distinguished was, artists of separation."
"It is not so any more," replied Charlotte; "and it is well that it is
not. It is a higher art, and it is a higher merit, to unite. An artist
of union is what we should welcome in every province of the universe.
However, as we are on the subject again, give me an instance or two of
what you mean."
"We had better keep," said the Captain, "to the same instances of which
we have already been speaking. Thus, what we call limestone is a more or
less pure calcareous earth in combination with a delicate acid, which is
familiar to us in the form of a gas. Now, if we place a piece of this
stone in diluted sulphuric acid, this will take possession of the lime,
and appear with it in the form of gypsum, the gaseous acid at the same
time going off in vapor. Here is a case of separation; a combination
arises, and we believe ourselves now justified in applying to it the
words 'Elective Affinity;' it really looks as if one relation had been
deliberately chosen in preference to another.
"Forgive me," said Charlotte, "as I forgive the natural philosopher. I
cannot see any choice in this; I see a natural necessity rather, and
scarcely that. After all, it is perhaps merely a case of opportunity.
Opportunity makes relations as it makes thieves; and as long as the
talk is only of natural substances, the choice to me appears to be
altogether in the hands of the chemist who brings the creatures
together. Once, however, let them be brought together, and then God have
mercy on them. In the present case, I cannot help being sorry for the
poor acid gas, which is driven out up and down infinity again."
"The acid's business," answered the Captain, "is now to get connected
with water, and so serve as a mineral fountain for the refreshing of
sound or disordered mankind."
"That is very well for the gypsum to say," said Charlotte. "The gypsum
is all right, is a body, is provided for. The other poor, desolate
creature may have trouble enough to go through before it can find a
second home for itself."
"I am much mistaken," said Edward, smiling, "if there be not some little
_arrière pensée_ behind this. Confess your wickedness! You mean me by
your lime; the lime is laid hold of by the Captain, in the form of
sulphuric acid, torn away from your agreeable society, and metamorphosed
into a refractory gypsum."
"If your conscience prompts you to make such a reflection," replied
Charlotte, "I certainly need not distress myself. These comparisons are
pleasant and entertaining; and who is there that does not like playing
with analogies? But man is raised very many steps above these elements;
and if he has been somewhat liberal with such fine words as Election and
Elective Affinities, he will do well to turn back again into himself,
and take the opportunity of considering carefully the value and meaning
of such expressions. Unhappily, we know cases enough where a connection
apparently indissoluble between two persons, has, by the accidental
introduction of a third, been utterly destroyed, and one or the other of
the once happily united pair been driven out into the wilderness."
"Then you see how much more gallant the chemists are," said Edward.
"They at once add a fourth, that neither may go away empty."
"Quite so," replied the Captain. "And those are the cases which are
really most important and remarkable--cases where this attraction, this
affinity, this separating and combining, can be exhibited, the two pairs
severally crossing each other; where four creatures, connected
previously, as two and two, are brought into contact, and at once
forsake their first combination to form into a second. In this forsaking
and embracing, this seeking and flying, we believe that we are indeed
observing the effects of some higher determination; we attribute a sort
of will and choice to such creatures, and feel really justified in using
technical words, and speaking of 'Elective Affinities.'"
"Give me an instance of this," said Charlotte.
"One should not spoil such things with words," replied the Captain. "As
I said before, as soon as I can show you the experiment, I can make it
all intelligible and pleasant for you. For the present, I can give you
nothing but horrible scientific expressions, which at the same time will
give you no idea about the matter. You ought yourself to see these
creatures, which seem so dead, and which are yet so full of inward
energy and force, at work before your eyes. You should observe them with
a real personal interest. Now they seek each other out, attract each
other, seize, crush, devour, destroy each other, and then suddenly
reappear again out of their combinations, and come forward in fresh,
renovated, unexpected form; thus you will comprehend how we attribute to
them a sort of immortality--how we speak of them as having sense and
understanding; because we feel our own senses to be insufficient to
observe them adequately, and our reason too weak to follow them."
"I quite agree," said Edward, "that the strange scientific nomenclature,
to persons who have not been reconciled to it by a direct acquaintance
with or understanding of its object, must seem unpleasant, even
ridiculous; but we can easily, just for once, contrive with symbols to
illustrate what we are speaking of."
"If you do not think it looks pedantic," answered the Captain, "I can
put my meaning together with letters. Suppose an A connected so closely
with a B, that all sorts of means, even violence, have been made use of
to separate them, without effect. Then suppose a C in exactly the same
position with respect to D. Bring the two pairs into contact; A will
fling himself on D, C on B, without its being possible to say which had
first left its first connection, or made the first move toward the
second."
"Now then," interposed Edward, "till we see all this with our eyes, we
will look upon the formula as an analogy, out of which we can devise a
lesson for immediate use. You stand for A, Charlotte, and I am your B;
really and truly I cling to you, I depend on you, and follow you, just
as B does with A. C is obviously the Captain, who at present is in some
degree withdrawing me from you. So now it is only just that if you are
not to be left to solitude a D should be found for you, and that is
unquestionably the amiable little lady, Ottilie. You will not hesitate
any longer to send and fetch her."
"Good," replied Charlotte; "although the example does not, in my
opinion, exactly fit our case. However, we have been fortunate, at any
rate, in today for once having met all together; and these natural or
elective affinities have served to unite us more intimately. I will tell
you, that since this afternoon I have made up my mind to send for
Ottilie. My faithful housekeeper, on whom I have hitherto depended for
everything, is going to leave me shortly, to be married. (It was done at
my own suggestion, I believe, to please me.) What it is which has
decided me about Ottilie, you shall read to me. I will not look over the
pages again. Indeed, the contents of them are already known to me. Only
read, read!"
With these words, she produced a letter, and handed it to Edward.