The friend whom Middlemas expected to meet at the Swan, was a person
already mentioned in this history by the name of Tom Hillary, bred an
attorney's clerk in the ancient town of Novum Castrum--_doctus utriusque
juris_, as far as a few months in the service of Mr. Lawford, Town-clerk
of Middlemas, could render him so. The last mention that we made of this
gentleman, was when his gold-laced hat veiled its splendour before the
fresher mounted beavers of the 'prentices of Dr. Gray. That was now
about five years since, and it was within six months that he had made
his appearance in Middlemas, a very different sort of personage from
that which he seemed at his departure.
He was now called Captain; his dress was regimental, and his language
martial. He appeared to have plenty of cash, for he not only, to the
great surprise of the parties, paid certain old debts, which he had left
unsettled behind him, and that notwithstanding his having, as his old
practice told him, a good defence of prescription, but even sent the
minister a guinea, to the assistance of the parish poor. These acts of
justice and benevolence were bruited abroad greatly to the honour of
one, who, so long absent, had neither forgotten his just debts, nor
hardened his heart against the cries of the needy. His merits were
thought the higher, when it was understood he had served the Honourable
East India Company--that wonderful company of merchants, who may indeed,
with the strictest propriety, be termed princes. It was about the middle
of the eighteenth century, and the directors in Leadenhall Street were
silently laying the foundation of that immense empire, which afterwards
rose like an exhalation, and now astonishes Europe, as well as Asia,
with its formidable extent, and stupendous strength. Britain had now
begun to lend a wondering ear to the account of battles fought, and
cities won, in the East; and was surprised by the return of individuals
who had left their native country as adventurers, but now reappeared
there surrounded by Oriental wealth and Oriental luxury, which dimmed
even the splendour of the most wealthy of the British nobility. In this
new-found El Dorada, Hillary had, it seems, been a labourer, and, if he
told truth, to some purpose, though he was far from having completed
the harvest which he meditated. He spoke, indeed, of making investments,
and, as a mere matter of fancy, he consulted his old master, Clerk
Lawford, concerning the purchase of a moorland farm of three thousand
acres, for which he would be content to give three or four thousand
guineas, providing the game was plenty, and the trouting in the brook
such as had been represented by advertisement. But he did not wish to
make any extensive landed purchase at present. It was necessary to keep
up his interest in Leadenhall Street; and in that view, it would be
impolitic to part with his India stock and India bonds. In short, it was
folly to think of settling on a poor thousand or twelve hundred a year,
when one was in the prime of life, and had no liver complaint; and so
he was determined to double the Cape once again, ere he retired to the
chimney corner for life. All he wished was, to pick up a few clever
fellows for his regiment, or rather for his own company; and as in all
his travels he had never seen finer fellows than about Middlemas, he was
willing to give them the preference in completing his levy. In fact, it
was making men of them at once, for a few white faces never failed to
strike terror into these black rascals; and then, not to mention
the good things that were going at the storming of a Pettah, or the
plundering of a Pagoda, most of these tawny dogs carried so much
treasure about their persons, that a won battle was equal to a mine of
gold to the victors.
The natives of Middlemas listened to the noble Captain's marvels with
different feelings, as their temperaments were saturnine or sanguine.
But none could deny that such things had been; and, as the narrator
was known to be a bold dashing fellow, possessed of some abilities,
and according to the general opinion, not likely to be withheld by any
peculiar scruples of conscience, there was no giving any good reason why
Hillary should not have been as successful as others in the field, which
India, agitated as it was by war and intestine disorders, seemed to
offer to every enterprising adventurer. He was accordingly received by
his old acquaintances at Middlemas rather with the respect due to his
supposed wealth, than in a manner corresponding with his former humble
pretensions.
Some of the notables of the village did indeed keep aloof. Among these,
the chief was Dr. Gray, who was an enemy to every thing that approached
to fanfaronade, and knew enough of the world to lay it down as a sort
of general rule, that he who talks a great deal of fighting is seldom
a brave soldier, and he who always speaks about wealth is seldom a
rich man at bottom. Clerk Lawford was also shy, notwithstanding his
_communings_ with Hillary upon the subject of his intended purchase. The
coolness of the Captain's old employer towards him was by some supposed
to arise out of certain circumstances attending their former connexion;
but as the Clerk himself never explained what these were, it is
unnecessary to make any conjectures upon the subject.
Richard Middlemas very naturally renewed his intimacy with his former
comrade, and it was from Hillary's conversation, that he had adopted
the enthusiasm respecting India, which we have heard him express. It was
indeed impossible for a youth, at once inexperienced in the world, and
possessed of a most sanguine disposition, to listen without sympathy
to the glowing descriptions of Hillary, who, though only a recruiting
captain, had all the eloquence of a recruiting sergeant. Palaces rose
like mushrooms in his descriptions; groves of lofty trees, and aromatic
shrubs unknown to the chilly soils of Europe, were tenanted by every
object of the chase, from the royal tiger down to the jackal.
The luxuries of a natch, and the peculiar Oriental beauty of the
enchantresses who perfumed their voluptuous Eastern domes, for the
pleasure of the haughty English conquerors, were no less attractive than
the battles and sieges on which the Captain at other times expatiated.
Not a stream did he mention but flowed over sands of gold, and not a
palace that was inferior to those of the celebrated Fata Morgana. His
descriptions seemed steeped in odours, and his every phrase perfumed in
ottar of roses. The interviews at which these descriptions took place,
often ended in a bottle of choicer wine than the Swan Inn afforded,
with some other appendages of the table, which the Captain, who was
a _bon-vivant_, had procured from Edinburgh. From this good cheer
Middlemas was doomed to retire to the homely evening meal of his master,
where not all the simple beauties of Menie were able to overcome his
disgust at the coarseness of the provisions, or his unwillingness to
answer questions concerning the diseases of the wretched peasants who
were subjected to his inspection.
Richard's hopes of being acknowledged by his father had long since
vanished, and the rough repulse and subsequent neglect on the part of
Moncada, had satisfied him that his grandfather was inexorable, and that
neither then, nor at any future time, did he mean to realize the
visions which Nurse Jamieson's splendid figments had encouraged him to
entertain. Ambition, however, was not lulled to sleep, though it was no
longer nourished by the same hopes which had at first awakened it. The
Indian Captain's lavish oratory supplied the themes which had been
at first derived from the legends of the nursery; the exploits of
a Lawrence and a Clive, as well as the magnificent opportunities of
acquiring wealth to which these exploits opened the road, disturbed the
slumbers of the young adventurer. There was nothing to counteract these
except his love for Menie Gray, and the engagements into which it
had led him. But his addresses had been paid to Menie as much for
the gratification of his vanity, as from any decided passion for that
innocent and guileless being. He was desirous of carrying off the prize,
for which Hartley, whom he never loved, had the courage to contend
with him. Then Menie Gray had been beheld with admiration by men his
superiors in rank and fortune, but with whom his ambition incited him to
dispute the prize. No doubt, though urged to play the gallant at first
rather from vanity than any other cause, the frankness and modesty with
which his suit was admitted, made their natural impression on his
heart. He was grateful to the beautiful creature, who acknowledged the
superiority of his person and accomplishments, and fancied himself as
devotedly attached to her, as her personal charms and mental merits
would have rendered any one who was less vain or selfish than her lover.
Still his passion for the surgeon's daughter ought not, he prudentially
determined, to bear more than its due weight in a case so very important
as the determining his line of life; and this he smoothed over to
his conscience, by repeating to himself, that Menie's interest was as
essentially concerned as his own, in postponing their marriage to the
establishment of his fortune. How many young couples had been ruined by
a premature union!
The contemptuous conduct of Hartley in their last interview, had
done something to shake his comrade's confidence in the truth of this
reasoning, and to lead him to suspect that he was playing a very sordid
and unmanly part, in trifling with the happiness of this amiable and
unfortunate young woman. It was in this doubtful humour that he repaired
to the Swan Inn, where he was anxiously expected by his friend the
Captain.
When they were comfortably seated over a bottle of Paxarete, Middlemas
began, with characteristical caution, to sound his friend about the
ease or difficulty with which an individual, desirous of entering the
Company's service, might have an opportunity of getting a commission. If
Hillary had answered truly, he would have replied, that it was extremely
easy; for, at that time, the East India service presented no charms to
that superior class of people who have since struggled for admittance
under its banners. But the worthy Captain replied, that though, in
the general case, it might be difficult for a young man to obtain a
commission, without serving for some years as a cadet, yet, under his
own protection, a young man entering his regiment, and fitted for such
a situation, might be sure of an ensigncy, if not a lieutenancy, as soon
as ever they set foot in India. “If you, my dear fellow,” continued he,
extending his hand to Middlemas, “would think of changing sheep-head
broth and haggis for mulagatawny and curry, I can only say, that though
it is indispensable that you should enter the service at first simply as
a cadet, yet, by----; you should live like a brother on the passage with
me; and no sooner were we through the surf at Madras, than I would put
you in the way of acquiring both wealth and glory. You have, I think,
some trifle of money--a couple of thousands or so?”
“About a thousand or twelve hundred,” said Richard, affecting the
indifference of his companion, but feeling privately humbled by the
scantiness of his resources.
“It is quite as much as you will find necessary for the outfit and
passage,” said his adviser; “and, indeed, if you had not a farthing, it
would be the same thing; for if I once say to a friend, I'll help you,
Tom Hillary is not the man to start for fear of the cowries. However, it
is as well you have something of a capital of your own to begin upon.”
“Yes,” replied the proselyte. “I should not like to be a burden on any
one. I have some thoughts, to tell you the truth, to marry before I
leave Britain; and in that case, you know, cash will be necessary,
whether my wife goes out with us, or remains behind, till she hear how
luck goes with me. So, after all, I may have to borrow a few hundreds of
you.”
“What the devil is that you say, Dick, about marrying and giving in
marriage?” replied his friend. “What can put it into the head of a
gallant young fellow like you, just rising twenty-one, and six feet high
on your stocking-soles, to make a slave of yourself for life? No, no,
Dick, that will never do. Remember the old song,
'Bachelor Bluff, bachelor Bluff,
Hey for a heart that is rugged and tough!'”
“Ay, ay, that sounds very well,” replied Middlemas; “but then one must
shake off a number of old recollections.”
“The sooner the better, Dick; old recollections are like old clothes,
and should be sent off by wholesale; they only take up room in one's
wardrobe, and it would be old-fashioned to wear them. But you look grave
upon it. Who the devil is it that has made such a hole in your heart?”
“Pshaw!” answered Middlemas, “I'm sure you must remember--Menie--my
master's daughter.”
“What, Miss Green, the old pottercarrier's daughter?--a likely girl
enough, I think.”
“My master is a surgeon,” said Richard, “not an apothecary, and his name
is Gray.”
“Ay, ay, Green or Gray--what does it signify? He sells his own drugs, I
think, which we in the south call being a pottercarrier. The girl is a
likely girl enough for a Scottish ball-room. But is she up to any thing?
Has she any _nouz?_”
“Why, she is a sensible girl, save in loving me,” answered Richard; “and
that, as Benedict says, is no proof of her wisdom, and no great argument
of her folly.”
“But has she spirit--spunk--dash--a spice of the devil about her?”
“Not a penny-weight--the kindest, simplest, and most manageable of human
beings,” answered the lover.
“She won't do then,” said the monitor, in a decisive tone. “I am sorry
for it, Dick: but she will never do. There are some women in the world
that can bear their share in the bustling life we live in India--ay,
and I have known some of them drag forward husbands that would otherwise
have stuck fast in the mud till the day of judgment. Heaven knows how
they paid the turnpikes they pushed them through! But these were none
of your simple Susans, that think their eyes are good for nothing but to
look at their husbands, or their fingers but to sew baby-clothes. Depend
on it, you must give up your matrimony, or your views of preferment.
If you wilfully tie a clog round your throat, never think of running a
race; but do not suppose that your breaking off with the lass will make
any very terrible catastrophe. A scene there may be at parting; but you
will soon forget her among the native girls, and she will fall in love
with Mr. Tapeitout, the minister's assistant and successor. She is not
goods for the Indian market, I assure you.”
Among the capricious weaknesses of humanity, that one is particularly
remarkable which inclines us to esteem persons and things not by their
real value, or even by our own judgment, so much as by the opinion of
others, who are often very incompetent judges. Dick Middlemas had been
urged forward, in his suit to Menie Gray, by his observing how much
her partner, a booby laird, had been captivated by her; and she was
now lowered in his esteem, because an impudent low-lived coxcomb had
presumed to talk of her with disparagement. Either of these worthy
gentlemen would have been as capable of enjoying the beauties of Homer,
as judging of the merits of Menie Gray.
Indeed the ascendency which this bold-talking, promise-making soldier
had acquired over Dick Middlemas, wilful as he was in general, was of
a despotic nature; because the Captain, though greatly inferior in
information and talent to the youth whose opinions he swayed, had
skill in suggesting those tempting views of rank and wealth, to which
Richard's imagination had been from childhood most accessible. One
promise he exacted from Middlemas, as a condition of the services which
he was to render him--It was absolute silence on the subject of his
destination for India, and the views upon which it took place. “My
recruits,” said the Captain, “have been all marched off for the depot at
the Isle of Wight; and I want to leave Scotland, and particularly this
little burgh, without being worried to death, of which I must despair,
should it come to be known that I can provide young griffins, as we call
them, with commissions. Gad, I should carry off all the first-born of
Middlemas as cadets, and none are so scrupulous as I am about making
promises. I am as trusty as a Trojan for that; and you know I cannot do
that for every one which I would for an old friend like Dick Middlemas.”
Dick promised secrecy, and it was agreed that the two friends should
not even leave the burgh in company, but that the Captain should set
off first, and his recruit should join him at Edinburgh, where his
enlistment might be attested; and then they were to travel together to
town, and arrange matters for their Indian voyage.
Notwithstanding the definitive arrangement which was thus made for his
departure, Middlemas thought from time to time with anxiety and regret
about quitting Menie Gray, after the engagement which had passed between
them. The resolution was taken, however; the blow was necessarily to be
struck; and her ungrateful lover, long since determined against the life
of domestic happiness, which he might have enjoyed had his views
been better regulated, was now occupied with the means, not indeed of
breaking off with her entirely, but of postponing all thoughts of their
union until the success of his expedition to India.
He might have spared himself all anxiety on this last subject. The
wealth of that India to which he was bound would not have bribed Menie
Gray to have left her father's roof against her father's commands; still
less when, deprived of his two assistants, he must be reduced to the
necessity of continued exertion in his declining life, and therefore
might have accounted himself altogether deserted, had his daughter
departed from him at the same time. But though it would have been her
unalterable determination not to accept any proposal of an immediate
union of their fortunes, Menie could not, with all a lover's power
of self-deception, succeed in persuading herself to be satisfied with
Richard's conduct towards her. Modesty, and a becoming pride, prevented
her from seeming to notice, but could not prevent her from bitterly
feeling, that her lover was preferring the pursuits of ambition to
the humble lot which he might have shared with her, and which promised
content at least, if not wealth.
“If he had loved me as he pretended,” such was the unwilling conviction
that rose on her mind, “my father would surely not have ultimately
refused him the same terms which he held out to Hartley. His objections
would have given way to my happiness, nay, to Richard's importunities,
which would have removed his suspicions of the unsettled cast of
his disposition. But I fear--I fear Richard hardly thought the terms
proposed were worthy of his acceptance. Would it not have been natural
too, that he should have asked me, engaged as we stand to each other,
to have united our faith before his quitting Europe, when I might either
have remained here with my father, or accompanied him to India, in quest
of that fortune which he is so eagerly pushing for? It would have been
wrong--very wrong--in me to have consented to such a proposal, unless
my father had authorised it; but surely it would have been natural that
Richard should have offered it? Alas! men do not know how to love like
women! Their attachment is only one of a thousand other passions and
predilections,--they are daily engaged in pleasures which blunt their
feelings, and in business which distracts them. We--we sit at home to
weep, and to think how coldly our affections are repaid!”
The time was now arrived at which Richard Middlemas had a right to
demand the property vested in the hands of the Town-clerk and Doctor
Gray. He did so, and received it accordingly. His late guardian
naturally enquired what views he had formed in entering on life? The
imagination, of the ambitious aspirant saw in this simple question a
desire, on the part of the worthy man, to offer, and perhaps press
upon him, the same proposal which he had made to Hartley. He hastened,
therefore, to answer dryly, that he had some hopes held out to him which
he was not at liberty to communicate; but that the instant he reached
London, he would write to the guardian of his youth, and acquaint him
with the nature of his prospects, which he was happy to say were rather
of a pleasing character.
Gideon, who supposed that at this critical period of his life, the
father, or grandfather, of the young man might perhaps have intimated a
disposition to open some intercourse with him, only replied,--“You have
been the child of mystery, Richard; and as you came to me, so you leave
me. Then, I was ignorant from whence you came, and now, I know not
whither you are, going. It is not, perhaps, a very favourable point in
your horoscope, that every thing connected with you is a secret. But as
I shall always think with kindness on him whom I have known so long, so
when you remember the old man, you ought not to forget that he has done
his duty to you, to the extent of his means and power, and taught you
that noble profession, by means of which, wherever your lot casts you,
you may always gain your bread, and alleviate at the same time, the
distresses of your fellow creatures.” Middlemas was excited by the
simple kindness of his master, and poured forth his thanks with the
greater profusion, that he was free from the terror of the emblematical
collar and chain, which a moment before seemed to glisten in the hand of
his guardian, and gape to enclose his neck.
“One word more,” said Mr. Gray, producing a small ring-case. “This
valuable ring was forced upon me by your unfortunate mother. I have no
right to it, having been amply paid for my services; and I only accepted
it with the purpose of keeping it for you till this moment should
arrive. It may be useful, perhaps, should there occur any question about
your identity.”
“Thanks, once more, my more than father, for this precious relic, which,
may indeed be useful. You shall be repaid, if India has diamonds left.”
“India, and diamonds!” said Gray. “Is your head turned, child?”
“I mean,” stammered Middlemas, “if London has any Indian diamonds.”
“Pooh! you foolish lad,” answered Gray, “how should you buy diamonds,
or what should I do with them, if you gave me ever so many? Get you gone
with you while I am angry.”--The tears were glistening in the old man's
eyes--“If I get pleased with you again, I shall not know how to part
with you.”
The parting of Middlemas with poor Menie was yet more affecting. Her
sorrow revived in his mind all the liveliness of a first love, and he
redeemed his character for sincere attachment, by not only imploring an
instant union, but even going so far as to propose renouncing his more
splendid prospects, and sharing Mr. Gray's humble toil, if by doing so
he could secure his daughter's hand. But though there was consolation in
this testimony of her lover's faith, Menie Gray was not so unwise as to
accept of sacrifices which might afterwards have been repented of.
“No, Richard,” she said, “it seldom ends happily when people alter, in
a moment of agitated feeling, plans which might have been adopted under
mature deliberation. I have long seen that your views were extended
far beyond so humble a station as this place affords promise of. It is
natural they should do so, considering that the circumstances of your
birth seemed connected with riches and with rank. Go, then, seek that
riches and rank. It is possible your mind may be changed in the
pursuit, and if so, think no more about Menie Gray. But if it should be
otherwise, we may meet again, and do not believe for a moment that there
can be a change in Menie Gray's feelings towards you.”
At this interview, much more was said than it is necessary to repeat,
much more thought than was actually said. Nurse Jamieson, in whose
chamber it took place, folded her _bairns_, as she called them, in her
arms, and declared that Heaven had made them for each other, and that
she would not ask of Heaven to live beyond the day when she should see
them bridegroom and bride.
At length it became necessary that the parting scene should end; and
Richard Middlemas, mounting a horse which he had hired for the journey,
set off for Edinburgh, to which metropolis he had already forwarded his
heavy baggage. Upon the road the idea more than once occurred to
him, that even, yet he had better return to Middlemas, and secure
his happiness by uniting himself at once to Menie Gray, and to humble
competence. But from the moment that he rejoined his friend Hillary at
their appointed place of rendezvous, he became ashamed even to hint at
any change of purpose; and his late excited feelings were forgotten,
unless in so far as they confirmed his resolution, that as soon as he
had attained a certain portion of wealth and consequence, he would haste
to share them with Menie Gray. Yet his gratitude to her father did
not appear to have slumbered, if we may judge from the gift of a very
handsome cornelian seal, set in gold, and bearing engraved upon
it Gules, a lion rampant within a bordure Or, which was carefully
despatched to Stevenlaw's Land, Middlemas, with a suitable letter. Menie
knew the hand-writing and watched her father's looks as he read it,
thinking, perhaps, that it had turned on a different topic. Her father
pshawed and poohed a good deal when he had finished the billet, and
examined the seal.
“Dick Middlemas,” he said, “is but a fool after all, Menie. I am sure
I am not like to forget him, that he should send me a token of
remembrance; add if he would be so absurd, could he not have sent me
the improved lithotomical apparatus? And what have I, Gideon Gray, to do
with the arms of my Lord Gray?--No, no,--my old silver stamp, with the
double G upon it, will serve my turn--But put the bonnie dye [Footnote:
“Pretty Toy”] away, Menie, my dear--it was kindly meant at any rate.”
The reader cannot doubt that the seal was safely and carefully
preserved.