John's recovery, though continuous and satisfactory, was but slow;
and it was not until Easter, which fell early, that his health was
pronounced to be entirely re-established. The last few weeks of his
convalescence had proved to all of us a time of thankful and tranquil
enjoyment. If I may judge from my own experience, there are few epochs
in our life more favourable to the growth of sentiments of affection
and piety, or more full of pleasurable content, than is the period of
gradual recovery from serious illness. The chastening effect of our
recent sickness has not yet passed away, and we are at once grateful to
our Creator for preserving us, and to our friends for the countless acts
of watchful kindness which it is the peculiar property of illness to
evoke.
No mother ever nursed a son more tenderly than did Mrs. Temple nurse
my brother, and before his restoration to health was complete the
attachment between him and Constance had ripened into a formal
betrothal. Such an alliance was, as I have before explained,
particularly suitable, and its prospect afforded the most lively
pleasure to all those concerned. The month of March had been unusually
mild, and Royston being situated in a valley, as is the case with most
houses of that date, was well sheltered from cold winds. It had,
moreover, a south aspect, and as my brother gradually gathered strength,
Constance and he and I would often sit out of doors in the soft spring
mornings. We put an easy-chair with many cushions for him on the gravel
by the front door, where the warmth of the sun was reflected from the
red brick walls, and he would at times read aloud to us while we were
engaged with our crochet-work. Mr. Tennyson had just published
anonymously a first volume of poems, and the sober dignity of his verse
well suited our frame of mind at that time. The memory of those pleasant
spring mornings, my dear Edward, has not yet passed away, and I can
still smell the sweet moist scent of the violets, and see the bright
colours of the crocus-flowers in the parterres in front of us.
John's mind seemed to be gathering strength with his body. He had
apparently flung off the cloud which had overshadowed him before his
illness, and avoided entirely any reference to those unpleasant events
which had been previously so constantly in his thoughts. I had, indeed,
taken an early opportunity of telling him of my discovery of the picture
of Adrian Temple, as I thought it would tend to show him that at least
the last appearance of this ghostly form admitted of a rational
explanation. He seemed glad to hear of this, but did not exhibit the
same interest in the matter that I had expected, and allowed it at once
to drop. Whether through lack of interest, or from a lingering dislike
to revisit the spot where he was seized with illness, he did not, I
believe, once enter the picture-gallery before he left Royston.
I cannot say as much for myself. The picture of Adrian Temple exerted
a curious fascination over me, and I constantly took an opportunity of
studying it. It was, indeed, a beautiful work; and perhaps because
John's recovery gave a more cheerful tone to my thoughts, or perhaps
from the power of custom to dull even the keenest antipathies, I
gradually got to lose much of the feeling of aversion which it had at
first inspired. In time the unpleasant look grew less unpleasing, and
I noticed more the beautiful oval of the face, the brown eyes, and the
fine chiselling of the features. Sometimes, too, I felt a deep pity for
so clever a gentleman who had died young, and whose life, were it ever
so wicked, must often have been also lonely and bitter. More than once
I had been discovered by Mrs. Temple or Constance sitting looking at the
picture, and they had gently laughed at me, saying that I had fallen in
love with Adrian Temple.
One morning in early April, when the sun was streaming brightly through
the oriel, and the picture received a fuller light than usual, it
occurred to me to examine closely the scroll of music painted as hanging
over the top of the pedestal on which the figure leant. I had hitherto
thought that the signs depicted on it were merely such as painters might
conventionally use to represent a piece of musical notation. This has
generally been the case, I think, in such pictures as I have ever seen
in which a piece of music has been introduced. I mean that while the
painting gives a general representation of the musical staves, no
attempt is ever made to paint any definite notes such as would enable an
actual piece to be identified. Though, as I write this, I do remember
that on the monument to Handel in Westminster Abbey there is represented
a musical scroll similar to that in Adrian Temple's picture, but
actually sculptured with the opening phrase of the majestic melody,
"I know that my Redeemer liveth."
On this morning, then, at Royston I thought I perceived that there were
painted on the scroll actual musical staves, bars, and notes; and my
interest being excited, I stood upon a chair so as better to examine
them. Though time had somewhat obscured this portion of the picture as
with a veil or film, yet I made out that the painter had intended to
depict some definite piece of music. In another moment I saw that the
air represented consisted of the opening bars of the _Gagliarda_ in the
suite by Graziani with which my brother and I were so well acquainted.
Though I believe that I had not seen the volume of music in which that
piece was contained more than twice, yet the melody was very familiar
to me, and I had no difficulty whatever in making myself sure that I had
here before me the air of the _Gagliarda_ and none other. It was true
that it was only roughly painted, but to one who knew the tune there was
no room left for doubt.
Here was a new cause, I will not say for surprise, but for reflection.
It might, of course, have been merely a coincidence that the artist
should have chosen to paint in this picture this particular piece of
music; but it seemed more probable that it had actually been a favourite
air of Adrian Temple, and that he had chosen deliberately to have it
represented with him. This discovery I kept entirely to myself, not
thinking it wise to communicate it to my brother, lest by doing so I
might reawaken his interest in a subject which I hoped he had finally
dismissed from his thoughts.
In the second week of April the happy party at Royston was dispersed,
John returning to Oxford for the summer term, Mrs. Temple making a short
visit to Scotland, and Constance coming to Worth Maltravers to keep me
company for a time.
It was John's last term at Oxford. He expected to take his degree in
June, and his marriage with Constance Temple had been provisionally
arranged for the September following. He returned to Magdalen Hall
in the best of spirits, and found his rooms looking cheerful with
well-filled flower-boxes in the windows. I shall not detain you with any
long narration of the events of the term, as they have no relation to
the present history. I will only say that I believe my brother applied
himself diligently to his studies, and took his amusement mostly on
horseback, riding two horses which he had had sent to him from Worth
Maltravers.
About the second week after his return he received a letter from Mr.
George Smart to the effect that the Stradivarius violin was now in
complete order. Subsequent examination, Mr. Smart wrote, and the
unanimous verdict of connoisseurs whom he had consulted, had merely
confirmed the views he had at first expressed--namely, that the violin
was of the finest quality, and that my brother had in his possession a
unique and intact example of Stradivarius's best period. He had had it
properly strung; and as the bass-bar had never been moved, and was of
a stronger nature than that usual at the period of its manufacture, he
had considered it unnecessary to replace it. If any signs should become
visible of its being inadequate to support the tension of modern
stringing, another could be easily substituted for it at a later date.
He had allowed a young German _virtuoso_ to play on it, and though this
gentleman was one of the first living performers, and had had an
opportunity of handling many splendid instruments, he assured Mr. Smart
that he had never performed on one that could in any way compare with
this. My brother wrote in reply thanking him, and begging that the
violin might be sent to Magdalen Hall.
The pleasant musical evenings, however, which John had formerly
been used to spend in the company of Mr. Gaskell were now entirely
pretermitted. For though there was no cause for any diminution of
friendship between them, and though on Mr. Gaskell's part there was an
ardent desire to maintain their former intimacy, yet the two young men
saw less and less of one another, until their intercourse was confined
to an accidental greeting in the street. I believe that during all this
time my brother played very frequently on the Stradivarius violin,
but always alone. Its very possession seemed to have engendered from
the first in his mind a secretive tendency which, as I have already
observed, was entirely alien to his real disposition. As he had
concealed its discovery from his sister, so he had also from his friend,
and Mr. Gaskell remained in complete ignorance of the existence of such
an instrument.
On the evening of its arrival from London, John seems to have carefully
unpacked the violin and tried it with a new bow of Tourte's make which
he had purchased of Mr. Smart. He had shut the heavy outside door of his
room before beginning to play, so that no one might enter unawares; and
he told me afterwards that though he had naturally expected from the
instrument a very fine tone, yet its actual merits so far exceeded his
anticipations as entirely to overwhelm him. The sound issued from it
in a volume of such depth and purity as to give an impression of the
passages being chorded, or even of another violin being played at the
same time. He had had, of course, no opportunity of practising during
his illness, and so expected to find his skill with the bow somewhat
diminished; but he perceived, on the contrary, that his performance was
greatly improved, and that he was playing with a mastery and feeling
of which he had never before been conscious. While attributing this
improvement very largely to the beauty of the instrument on which he was
performing, yet he could not but believe that by his illness, or in some
other unexplained way, he had actually acquired a greater freedom of
wrist and fluency of expression, with which reflection he was not a
little elated. He had had a lock fixed on the cupboard in which he had
originally found the violin, and here he carefully deposited it on each
occasion after playing, before he opened the outer door of his room.
So the summer term passed away. The examinations had come in their due
time, and were now over. Both the young men had submitted themselves
to the ordeal, and while neither would of course have admitted as
much to anyone else, both felt secretly that they had no reason to be
dissatisfied with their performance. The results would not be published
for some weeks to come. The last night of the term had arrived, the last
night too of John's Oxford career. It was near nine o'clock, but still
quite light, and the rich orange glow of sunset had not yet left the
sky. The air was warm and sultry, as on that eventful evening when just
a year ago he had for the first time seen the figure or the illusion
of the figure of Adrian Temple. Since that time he had played the
"Areopagita" many, many times; but there had never been any reappearance
of that form, nor even had the once familiar creaking of the wicker
chair ever made itself heard. As he sat alone in his room, thinking with
a natural melancholy that he had seen the sun set for the last time on
his student life, and reflecting on the possibilities of the future
and perhaps on opportunities wasted in the past, the memory of that
evening last June recurred strongly to his imagination, and he felt an
irresistible impulse to play once more the "Areopagita." He unlocked
the now familiar cupboard and took out the violin, and never had the
exquisite gradations of colour in its varnish appeared to greater
advantage than in the soft mellow light of the fading day. As he began
the _Gagliarda_ he looked at the wicker chair, half expecting to see a
form he well knew seated in it; but nothing of the kind ensued, and he
concluded the "Areopagita" without the occurrence of any unusual
phenomenon.
It was just at its close that he heard some one knocking at the outer
door. He hurriedly locked away the violin and opened the "oak." It was
Mr. Gaskell. He came in rather awkwardly, as though not sure whether he
would be welcomed.
"Johnnie," he began, and stopped.
The force of ancient habit sometimes, dear nephew, leads us unwittingly
to accost those who were once our friends by a familiar or nick-name
long after the intimacy that formerly justified it has vanished. But
sometimes we intentionally revert to the use of such a name, not wishing
to proclaim openly, as it were, by a more formal address that we are no
longer the friends we once were. I think this latter was the case with
Mr. Gaskell as he repeated the familiar name.
"Johnnie, I was passing down New College Lane, and heard the violin from
your open windows. You were playing the 'Areopagita,' and it all sounded
so familiar to me that I thought I must come up. I am not interrupting
you, am I?"
"No, not at all," John answered.
"It is the last night of our undergraduate life, the last night we shall
meet in Oxford as students. To-morrow we make our bow to youth and
become men. We have not seen much of each other this term at any rate,
and I daresay that is my fault. But at least let us part as friends.
Surely our friends are not so many that we can afford to fling them
lightly away."
He held out his hand frankly, and his voice trembled a little as he
spoke--partly perhaps from real emotion, but more probably from the
feeling of reluctance which I have noticed men always exhibit to
discovering any sentiment deeper than those usually deemed conventional
in correct society. My brother was moved by his obvious wish to renew
their former friendship, and grasped the proffered hand.
There was a minute's pause, and then the conversation was resumed, a
little stiffly at first, but more freely afterwards. They spoke on many
indifferent subjects, and Mr. Gaskell congratulated John on the prospect
of his marriage, of which he had heard. As he at length rose up to take
his departure, he said, "You must have practised the violin diligently
of late, for I never knew anyone make so rapid progress with it as you
have done. As I came along I was spellbound by your music. I never
before heard you bring from the instrument so exquisite a tone: the
chorded passages were so powerful that I believed there had been
another person playing with you. Your Pressenda is certainly a finer
instrument than I ever imagined."
My brother was pleased with Mr. Gaskell's compliment, and the latter
continued, "Let me enjoy the pleasure of playing with you once more in
Oxford; let us play the 'Areopagita.'"
And so saying he opened the pianoforte and sat down.
John was turning to take out the Stradivarius when he remembered that he
had never even revealed its existence to Mr. Gaskell, and that if he now
produced it an explanation must follow. In a moment his mood changed,
and with less geniality he excused himself, somewhat awkwardly, from
complying with the request, saying that he was fatigued.
Mr. Gaskell was evidently hurt at his friend's altered manner, and
without renewing his petition rose at once from the pianoforte, and
after a little forced conversation took his departure. On leaving he
shook my brother by the hand, wished him all prosperity in his marriage
and after-life, and said, "Do not entirely forget your old comrade, and
remember that if at any time you should stand in need of a true friend,
you know where to find him!"
John heard his footsteps echoing down the passage and made a
half-involuntary motion towards the door as if to call him back, but did
not do so, though he thought over his last words then and on a
subsequent occasion.