CECIL IS SMITTEN.
MY DEAR FRANK,
Your complaint respecting the omissions of my letter was not very
generous, considering the length of the aforesaid letter. However, I
will now tell you what I didn't tell you then--that there is endless
fishing and famous preserves; so you may cultivate Vyner with perfect
safety, though excuse me if I doubt your success.
The hall is, as I told you, formidably rococo, or rather _moyen age_;
but handsome of the kind, and spacious. The Italian terrace in front
of the house has the trim beauty of such things, but is spoiled by a
want of "keeping;" the balustrades are _griffinesque_, and yet there
are copies of the Greek statues in the garden!
A rich embowering shrubbery leads you down to the river, which brawls
through the property; beyond, on the other side, there is a lovely
wood, which skirts the banks of the river, and affords a most
romantic promenade. I should have certainly been most poetically
touched the first day I went there, had it not been for the saucy
merriment of that liveliest of girls, Rose; but she drove all
seriousness out of me. I could have kissed her ruddy lips to close
them, and put a stop to her merciless merriment. I have since
visited the wood alone, but one cannot be sentimental alone--at least
I cannot. The river runs through rich meadows, on which the sleek
cattle browse in philosophic calmness: it forms an endless source of
amusement. I have sat for hours in the boat gently dropping down the
stream, lulled by the soft ripple, and yielding myself to dreamy
listlessness. The broad leaves of the water-lily that float upon the
stream supporting the delicate-shaped yellow flower, and the rich
colours of the luxuriant loosestrife and other wild flowers, whose
names I know not, together with the windings of the river, and its
undulating meadows on one side, and many-tinted wood on the other,
make up a picture of which I cannot tire.
But the charms of this place are nothing to those of one of its
inmates, about whom I will now endeavour to convey my impressions.
If they are somewhat confused, attribute it to the effect of an
apparition, which has left me very little command over my ideas.
I told you that the youngest daughter was expected to arrive. I had
consented to prolong my stay another week, and was not sorry to have
an opportunity of judging for myself. It happened that one morning
before breakfast I was looking over the paper, waiting, with that
intolerance which only hungry men can appreciate, till the others
should descend; when in bounded a magnificent Scotch deer-hound, who
sprang over the chairs and sofas, in a riotous manner, and came up to
me, thrusting his shaggy head in my hand to be caressed.
"Down, Shot, down!" exclaimed a sweetly imperative voice.
I looked up, and surely never did mortal eyes behold a more
bewitching apparition. A young girl of more than ordinary height,
dressed in a blue riding-habit, which set off the budding beauty of a
graceful figure, stood before me. She wore a black straw hat, whose
broad brim sheltered her face from the sun, and which, with a simple
blue ribband, made a head-dress ten times more picturesque and
becoming than the odious man's hat which amazons put on; from under
it escaped ringlets of dark brown hair, tipped with a golden hue.
Her brow was low, but broad--perhaps too massive for beauty. Her
eyes large, long, almond-shaped, and inconceivably lustrous--the sort
of eye which _looks you down_, which, even if you meet its gaze in
passing, seems to project such indomitable will and energy, that
involuntarily you avert your glance. I am not easily stared out of
countenance, and am rather apt to look into women's eyes, but I find
myself unable to withstand Violet's gaze--for you must have already
divined that my apparition was Violet Vyner. Do not, however,
suppose that because all eyes droop beneath the intolerable lustre of
her glance, that she is otherwise than bewitching. Her eyes are not
fierce; though doubtless they could be. It is the astonishing energy
and imperious will which look out at you, and make you feel your
inferiority. And this effect is heightened by a certain impetuous
haughtiness of demeanour which I never observed before. Haughtiness
generally implies coldness, reserve, restraint. But in Violet,
although the haughtiness is unmistakeable, the fire and passion are
still more so. With the airs and carriage of the most imperial of
her sex, she unites an appearance of _abandon_, of impetuosity, of
lofty passion, which belongs more to the southern women than to any I
have before seen in England. To complete my feeble sketch, let me
add that her nose is a trifle too large and aquiline, her mouth also
too large, though handsomely cut, her complexion of that luminous
brown which Titian so well knew how to paint, and the form of her
face a perfect oval. Handsomer women may be seen every day in the
park, or at the opera; but a woman with more character in her face--a
woman more irresistibly fascinating, I never saw. Critically, there
are many defects; but, taken in the ensemble, they only seem to
heighten the one effect of a queenly beauty, half sad half voluptuous.
I rose as she entered, but was so absorbed by her beauty that I stood
gaping at her like a cockney at a covey of partridges, suddenly
whirring up before him.
She bowed quietly, I thought haughtily, and did not even pay me the
compliment of a little embarrassment. I recovered from my surprise,
and ventured on a commonplace about the weather. She had already
been out for a morning scamper; and we soon got upon the subject of
horses and hunting, which she understood a great deal better than I
did. Her attention was, however, soon diverted to her dog.
"Down, Shot; down, sir! Do you hear me? Down!" she said.
The hound was at this moment resting his front paws on the table, and
taking an inquiring survey of the books and flowers on it.
Disregarding the command of his mistress, he continued to twitch his
nose interrogatively, till a smart cut from the riding whip she held
in her hand, made him spring away with a howl; and then, obedient to
a gesture of command, he came and crouched at her feet.
This little incident disagreeably affected me. I am rather
tender-hearted, and particularly fond of dogs; so that to see one
beaten by anybody is extremely unpleasant to me, but by a woman, a
young and lovely woman, it is odious. Besides, I thought the
punishment needlessly severe. She seemed quite unconscious of having
done anything out of the way, and continued a lively conversation
with me on dogs and animals in general, all the time caressing Shot,
who remained at her side; and in this conversation displaying a love
for animals, which rendered her recent act of severity more wanton in
my eyes.
I have since found out that she is anything but cruel; but upon the
principle of spare the rod and spoil the dog, she exacts implicit
obedience. It gives her as much pain to correct her animals as it
does a mother to punish her children; but like a courageous mother,
she knows it is to save them from more pain and sorrow, and,
therefore, unhesitatingly punishes them.
To tell you that I am fast falling over head and ears in love with
this adorable creature, will be only to tell you what my description
must have betrayed. To tell you that she seems no less inclined to
follow my example will be more like news. We generally ride
together; we sing duets, and our voices harmonize charmingly; in a
word, young Lufton has begun to joke me about her.
Unfortunately my visit draws to a close, and unless I can make a
tolerably deep impression before I leave, she will have forgotten me
by next season. She is only sixteen; but to look at her you would
say she was twenty; and to talk to her you would say, much more. She
is one of the precocious, and has been bred up in a queer way.
Adieu! We shall meet at the club next week.
_P.S._--I open this to tell you that they will not part with me here,
and that I have promised to remain till the shooting begins, though I
told them I had no longer any pleasure in shooting. But I was too
happy for any excuse to remain under the same roof with the
enchanting Violet.