Two winters shed their snows, two summers spread their blooms round
Enderby; and old Time, who gives and takes so much, turned his
hour-glass, and the sands ran on. Beauty, hoar hairs, the feeble tired
heart of age, the fresh and throbbing heart of youth, all bend to
the death-sweep of his sickle. But his loans to the living are rich
and rare; though he scaths and saddens, he seldom fails to beautify
and bless. Each life, in early dawn, wins from the old graybeard's
hands hope and love and joy in very showers; youth is so beautiful,
youth is so hopeful, youth is so bright! Old Time gives more than he
ever takes away, for he gives days replete with life and strength and
gemmed with golden hours; but when he asks them back, they are shrunken
and worthless, mere empty shells, from which man has extracted the
sweetness and the goodness to his own vitality or destruction. Old Time
is merciful; if he wounds with that keen scythe of his, he as often
cures with healing balm. More often he spares from cruel hurts the aged
and the young. The young spring joyously over his scythe, and he pelts
them with flowers, and loves them for their daring and content; they
fear him not. Strong manhood rushes at him, wrestles with him, strives
to wrest from him more than he will ever give; so perchance he throws
that strong man, or pitilessly severs a limb. But the aged he loves,
because they are like to him; their bleeding wounds he numbs, their
failing hands he takes within his own, and leads them gently on the
way; then filling their poor hearts with blessed memories of youth and
spring, draws his scythe around them, and lays them gently down to rest.
The Rose of Enderby was favoured by old Time, who called Dame Nature
to him, and bade her paint her darling with colours rich and rare;
to filch somewhat from the red beauty of the bud; to subdue it to a
fainter softer hue; to darken the gold tints in the amber hair; to
deepen the lustre in the laughing eyes; to whisper to the heart of
the rose, so that the sweet voice of Nature might flutter that maiden
heart, and raise the maiden blush, that fairest gem in maiden's dower.
Deborah Fleming was a very proud maiden. She heard those whispers;
she felt those fairy knockings at her heart, but she barred the door
against them. She had grown so beautiful in her flush of dawn and grace
of womanhood, that if all eyes had not told her she was beautiful,
she must still have known it; and a proud happy consciousness took
possession of her and made her fairer. Yet these were dark days for
Enderby. You might not have thought it, to hear Deborah's songs and
laughter, and to see the father and daughter together; but how often
it is so--ruin is laid away like an ugly dream, not to be realised,
not to be believed in, till the inevitable end. Then there was hope,
hope that never dies out but with life, and Deborah threw hope round
her two darlings; but she _did_ suffer for them as much as her wild
buoyant spirit and hopeful heart would let her. She did pray for them
sometimes, not often. Deborah had well-nigh forgotten her mother's
prayers, and learned no new ones. Heaven help her! But in those days
Deborah's noble heart kept her true to God and man, so that she did not
stray far away in her wild and wilful youth. She did strive to lead
her darlings right, the old man and the young. She was their one link
to good. Her woman's eloquence and woman's love had sometimes saved
them. She knew their danger; she saw the dark cloud that gathered and
ever deepened over Enderby. With her feeble hands she strove to avert
it, and yet looked and laughed with undaunted brow, feeling the joy
and gladness in her heart, that outshone all else, and broke out in
uncontrollable sunshine over all. 'Oh, Charlie was young; he must sow
his "wild oats" like other men.'--'Oh, that rich old uncle who had gone
to America, and made fabulous wealth, and been no more heard of, would
come home and die, and leave father all his fortune, to build up the
fortunes of Enderby.'--'There were joyful days to come!'
Meantime Kingston Fleming was travelling abroad as a tutor, having
carried off high honours from Granta. Deborah had not seen him for
more than two years. Betrothed, folks said, to Beatrix Blancheflower,
and they would marry soon. Charlie had left Granta, nor was he very
often seen at Enderby. May's grandmother was dead, and May was an
heiress, living in Italy with a stern old guardian, and sometimes
dreaming of going again to Enderby, and sometimes writing a long, long
letter to Deborah. 'Mistress Dinnage' lived at home, and kept her
father's house, and dismissed all rustic lovers. Deborah now used the
grand saloon at Enderby, long uninhabited. You approached it by the
picture-gallery, which was lighted on one side at regular intervals
by high windows; while on the opposite wall hung faded portraits of
Flemings innumerable, knight and lady. The guests (what guests there
were) were ushered along this gallery by grim old Marjory, and so into
the presence of the beautiful Deborah Fleming; or if Deborah were not
there, her spirit would seem to pervade the place. The roses blooming
about in careless gay luxuriance; the curtains thrown back; the sun
streaming in brightness through the great semicircular window, lighting
up even the gloomy walls, and bringing out in curious distinctness the
grotesque figures woven in the ancient tapestry; the work and flowers
scattered about; the little white fluffs of kitlings disporting on the
rug; the flowery perfumed atmosphere--all breathed of Deborah Fleming
and summer-time.
We don't know if the stately old guest whom Dame Marjory ushered in
that morning was insensible to the charm or no. He walked to the window
and sniffed at scent of the roses, looking, as he did so, blind and
grim. He was an old man, but still a straight and stately one; his
features were strongly marked, and intersected by deep lines of passion
and craft; but he looked a thorough-bred old gentleman, so clean, so
calm, so placid--and all evil passions seemed to be at rest. There was
something even pathetic in the dim gray eyes and expression of gloomy
weariness. He had not the appearance of a formidable foe, or of being
full of cruel passions either, as he stood in the morning sun. It might
be that the dark tales and rumours of old Adam Sinclair were all false;
it might be envy, it might be jealousy, that made men talk thus of the
wifeless and childless master of Lincoln Castle, who was the owner of
lands so broad and brave. At all events he proved a friend in need to
Sir Vincent Fleming, and therefore Sir Vincent gave no credit to those
tales.
Now Adam Sinclair had thrice seen Deborah Fleming--once as a laughing
mischievous child, grimacing at him unheeded from behind her father's
chair. Again, riding with a gay cavalcade in the streets of Granta,
when a young fop whispered Deborah, and she laughed (was it at _him_?);
and he did not forget the girl on the black horse. Again he met her in
the hall late one night at Enderby--he met her face to face, and Sir
Vincent introduced him, under circumstances which we shall here relate.
Sir Vincent and his boon companions had been drinking deeply that
night. From a far-away chamber Deborah heard the sounds of song and
laughter and loud voices. She knew too that there was something more
than drinking going on, that fortunes perhaps were being lost and won.
She sat on and listened, looking stern and grave for her, and the
great clock struck the hours two, three, four! Deborah had got it into
her head that those men were all pitted against her father, and were
laughing at his ruin. She walked restlessly to and fro; her cheeks
began to fire and her wild eyes to flash. Suddenly her father, looking
pale and unsteady, and leaning on the arm of a tall angular old man,
entered the hall. Both started as if they saw a ghost; Sir Vincent
grasped Adam Sinclair's arm, and so Deborah Fleming faced them in all
her beauty.
'Child,' muttered Sir Vincent huskily, 'my old friend. Shake Master
Sinclair by the hand. He's your father's good friend.'
Adam Sinclair smiled suavely, and bowed well-nigh to his knees; _he_
was quite sober, and now beheld the superb figure he had seen on
horseback at Granta, and a face of exquisite loveliness and disdain.
But when he extended his long lean palm, Deborah put her right hand
behind her back, laid the other on her father's arm, and knitted her
dark brows at Sinclair with the glance of a tigress. So passed that
formal introduction.
* * * * *
Merriment, disdain, angry passion--he remembered all, and still Deborah
Fleming stood before him as she had stood on the night of his repulse.
He _must_ see her again and talk with her. Twice he called in vain at
Enderby, and still those falcon eyes pursued him. Day and night, he
pictured some man, young and handsome, kneeling at Deborah Fleming's
feet, and then he shook with the maddening thought. Then he bethought
him of his own broad lands and his grand old castle, and he had hopes
of he knew not what. But trembling, he rode again to Enderby. Sir
Vincent was not at home; 'Mistress Fleming' was. Thus he stood, waiting
for Mistress Fleming's step: he was not deaf, when it came; he counted
each light reluctant footfall, and his heart beat violently, like a
boy's. So the courtier and the country maiden met for the first time,
alone. Master Sinclair apologised again, as he had done by Marjory,
for the intrusion, but begged the favour of a few moments' interview
with Mistress Fleming. Mistress Fleming bowed in proud silence, and a
faint colour tinged her cheeks, at the thought of her former reception
of this grave old man; she thought in her heart she had been rude and
unmaidenly, perhaps unjust to him; still an unconquerable dislike and
shrinking made her sit as far away from him as might be. He staid a
long half hour, and he paid her delicate and courtly compliments; he
shewed by his looks and conversation that he thought her not only a
beautiful girl but a thoughtful intellectual woman. Deborah was half
charmed against her own heart; and he found her so sweet and gentle,
that the next day he rode over again, trembling with eagerness, wild
hopes, and sore anxiety, and had asked to see Sir Vincent Fleming.
Deborah was out. She returned from a ride in one of her mad fits of joy
and animal spirits, and with loosened hair and flying step, entered the
hall where Sir Vincent was alone. It was a fair spring evening; the old
baronet was smoking his pipe, and striding thoughtfully to and fro, but
somehow Deborah stopped on her way to his arms; she knew by his face
that something unusual had happened.
'Come hither, Rose of Enderby,' said Sir Vincent, and threw down
his pipe, and gathered his little daughter in his arms. 'Let me
congratulate thee on thy first conquest.'
'What do you mean, father?' asked Deborah, blushing as red as any rose.
'Why, a fellow has been here this morning asking ye of me--asking ye in
marriage--no less than Master Adam Sinclair, of Lincoln Castle!'
What a flood of colour rushed into Deborah's face, dyeing her very
brow! She was startled, she was shamed, she was half proud, she was
disdainful. 'Does _that_ old man want to wed me, father?'
'Ay; that old man, the greatest man in the county.'
'In riches, father.'
'And in land: he has a goodly home. He has done your father good
service, Deb. And he is charmed with Mistress Fleming.'
'Well, let him be charmed. I find no charms in _him_. Nay; shake not
your head, good father. Not only do I find nought to charm me, but my
heart rebels against the smooth-tongued old man who calls himself my
father's friend. Father, I love him not. Not for twenty castles, would
I be Master Sinclair's wife!'
'Wrong, wrong, Deb; too rash by half. Think it over, child; ask
yourself if ye are not hot-headed, blind, and prejudiced; and if it
were not better to wait and know Master Sinclair better, before
casting from ye the prize that has been for many years the vain desire
of every maid and matron round. Wait, Deb, and let me have your sober
answer to-morrow, or later still.'
Deborah grew very pale. 'Father,' she said, 'd'ye really, truly love
and respect this Adam Sinclair in your heart? Is he so dear to you--and
can ye trust him _so well_, that after a few hours' thought ye are
ready and willing to give up your one daughter to him for _life_? For
life, father--_for life_--and no love to bear me up.'
'He is an old man, Deb.'
'Yes; and he will die soon, you would say, and leave Lincoln Castle
to me! But first, I would sell my soul, father, and drag on through
days of unutterable horror, as Adam Sinclair's wife, before I could be
released. And God might judge me, by taking me the first. O father,
father! Say thou lovest me. Do not break my heart. Say thou hast some
great and secret reason for liking this old man. Say thou'rt in a
grievous strait, to need this help of me. Or only say, sweet father,
that it wrings thine heart to ask me to part from thee. Anything,
but that thou'rt willing to be rid of Deb! Ah me! Thou art cool,
father--thou art indifferent, while my soul aches for sorrow at the
very thought of parting from thee! Ah, but thou wilt have thy darling
still--thy Charlie; while Deb, poor Deb would languish as Mistress
Sinclair, with no more hope in life. _I_ should have nought but memory,
and memory would be like to drive me mad!'
Sir Vincent was fairly taken by storm, by Deborah's burst of fiery
feeling; he grew pale as herself, he folded her to his breast; for
indeed under his exterior coolness, he had been sore pressed, and
feeling deeply; his heart had been loudly crying out on him, for this
temptation to give away his young and only daughter to a man more
than double her years, and such a man as Adam Sinclair. 'Deb, Deb,'
he faltered, 'thou hast vanquished me! _Love_ thee, child--love thee,
little sweet blossom! Thy mother's living image, my hope, my _stay_!
Nay; keep in my heart, and shelter here! It is all I have to offer
thee. Don't unman me, love, by these tears. 'Twas sore temptation
tempted me to give thee up--to have thee the greatest lady in the
county, instead of nought but the daughter of a beggared and a ruined
man.'
Deborah dashed aside her tears; all her heart spoke in her brave bright
upward smile upon his breast: 'Nay, father, nay--not beggared, not
ruined. These are strong words. And thy love is greater treasure to
me than all the wealth of Master Sinclair. Put thine arms round me.
There; I am as happy and hopeful as a queen; so thou wilt be happy too.
And who knows but Deborah Fleming may do great things yet? Why, if
Master Sinclair finds something in this poor Deborah Fleming to love,
a greater and grander may. I am not so modest but that I know my worth
either.'
'Ah, thou'lt make many a heart ache, Deb, before thy day is done.
Meantime, be kind and friendly to Adam Sinclair, for my sake, if he
will be friends. I tell ye he will not give up hope. I know Adam.
Repulse him not, Deb; let him hope on; it will sun Adam's declining
days.'
'I will give him no false hopes, father. Tell him from me that I can
never be his wife; thus he may be looking elsewhere. Then if it pleases
him to come to Enderby for my friendship's sake, he can. But father,
does he not _darken_ Enderby?'