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(Harvard University)
THE CONVICT.
A Tale.
BY
G. P. R. JAMES
LONDON:
SIMMS AND M'INTYRE,
PATERNOSTER ROW; AND DONEGALL ST. BELFAST.
1851.
THE CONVICT.
CHAPTER I.
It may be very well in most cases to plunge, according to the rule of
the Latin poet, into the middle of things. It may be very well even,
according to the recommendation of Count Antoine Hamilton, to 'begin
with the beginning.' But there are other cases where there may be
antecedents to the actual story, which require to be known before the
tale itself is rightly comprehended. With this view, then, I will give
one short scene not strictly attached to that which is to follow, ere
I proceed with my history.
In a small high room of the oldest part of St. John's College,
Cambridge, in a warm and glowing day of the early spring, and at about
seven o'clock in the morning, there sat a young man with his cheek
leaning on his hand, and his eyes fixed upon the page of an open book.
There were many others closed and unclosed upon the table around him,
as well as various pieces of paper, traced with every sort of curious
figure which geometrical science ever discovered or measured. The
page, too, on which his eyes were bent, was well nigh as full of
ciphers as of words, and it was evident, from everything around, that
the studies of the tenant of that chamber were of a very abstruse
character.
And yet to gaze at him as he sits there, and to consider attentively
the lines of the face, and the development of the organs of the head,
the physiognomist or phrenologist would, at once pronounce that,
although by no means wanting in any of the powers of mind, that young
man was by nature disposed to seek the pleasures of imagination rather
than the dry and less exciting, though more satisfactory, results of
science. There were some slight indications, too, about his room, of
such tastes and propensities. In a wine-glass, half filled with water,
were some early flowers, so arranged that every hue gained additional
beauty from that with which it was contrasted; a flute and some music
lay upon a distant table; one window, which looked towards the
gardens, and through which came the song of birds and the fragrant
breath of the fresh fields, was thrown wide open; while another, which
looked towards courts and buildings, was closed, and had the curtains
drawn. Nevertheless, had any eye watched him since he rose, it would
have found that from the hour of five he had remained intent upon the
problems before him, suffering not a thought to wander, neither rising
from the table, nor turning his eyes even for a moment to the
worshipped beauty of external nature. The air came in gently from
without, and fanned his cheek, and waved the curls of his dark hair;
the smell of the flowers was wafted to the sense; the song of the bird
sounded melodious in his ear; but not the breeze, nor the odour, nor
the lay called off his attention from the dry and heavy task before
him. His cheek was pale with thought, his fine eyes looked oppressed
with study, though still bright; and the broad expansive brow ached
with the weary labours of many a day and night: labours to which he
saw no end, from which he hardly hoped to obtain any very great
result. Tall and manly in person, with limbs apparently formed for
robust exercises, and a mind fitted for the enjoyment of every refined
and graceful pleasure, he had chained down the body and, I may almost
add, the spirit, to the hard captivity of intense study, in the hope
some day of making himself a great name, and recovering from the grasp
of fortune that wealth and station which had been the inheritance of
his ancestors.
Still he felt weary and sick at heart; still hopeless despondency
would hold him enthralled; and though, with, an unflinching
perseverance, for many a long year he had pursued the same weary
round, he felt that he was fitted for other things, and regretted that
the energies of his nature were doomed to struggle with objects the
most repulsive to his tastes.
There was a knock at the door; not a light and timid tap, but strong
and familiar. Without raising his eyes, however, he said, "Come in,"
and the next instant a gentleman entered, in a black gown and cap. He
was an elderly man, with a somewhat florid and jovial, but upon the
whole, benevolent countenance. His forehead was high, and very broad
over the brows, and there were lines of thought upon it which mingled
somewhat curiously with the cheerful and almost jocular expression of
the lips and eyes. Indeed, he was a man of great eminence in science
and in literature, who, having in early life conquered all the
difficulties of very arduous pursuits, found no longer any trouble in
those tasks which would have startled or overpowered many another man.
and who consequently walked lightly under burdens which had become
familiar, and which had in reality no weight for him, because he had
become accustomed to bear them.
"Well, Edward," he said--the young man was a distant relation of his
own--"still poring and plodding! My dear lad, you must not carry this
too far. You have already done much, very much, and you must take some
thought of health."
The young man rose with a faint smile, and placed a chair for his old
relation. "I have both your example and your precept, my dear sir," he
replied, "for pursuing the course before me without relaxation. You
told me, some four years ago, that before you were as old as I was
then, you had taken high honours at this university. I could only do
so last year; and you have often said that unremitting study in youth
is the only means of winning a title in after years to repose and
enjoyment. Besides, I must study hard to recover lost time, and to fit
myself for the course before me."
"True, true, very true!" rejoined the elder man; "but you have studied
hard for nearly six years now. There was the great fault. You did not
begin early enough; your father should have sent you here full two
years before you came. Let me see: you are now six-and-twenty, and for
any man destined to fight his way in one of the learned professions,
it is never too early to begin to labour."
"But neither my poor father nor myself," replied the young gentleman,
"were at all aware that I should ever have, as you so justly call it,
to fight my way in one of the learned professions, I was then the heir
of six or seven thousand a year; I have now only the income of a
fellowship; and that I could not have obtained had I not been
supported here by your bounty."
"Say nothing of that Edward," replied the other; "neither let us look
back. You have done enough for the present. You have distinguished
yourself here; after the long vacation you will be called to the bar,
and eminence, doubtless, is before you; but still there are a few hard
steps to be taken, which require strength of body as well as powers of
mind, and in your case both mind and body will suffer if you pursue
this course any farther. Come, I have something to propose which I
think will be gratifying to you, and which I know will be good for
you. The friends of a young nobleman, whose father I knew well, have
written to request that I would recommend to them some competent
person to accompany their relation upon a short tour which he is about
immediately to make upon the continent. The terms they propose are
very liberal; the expedition will be a pleasant one; and if you choose
to undertake the task, it will refresh and invigorate you, both
mentally and corporeally. The young man will be of age in the autumn,
and will return about the very time when you are to be called to the
bar. The connexion is a very good one, and few men get on in life
without powerful friends. By both information and character you are
fitted to do justice to the trust reposed in you, and my advice is to
accept the offer without hesitation. You know I would not recommend
anything to you without due consideration of all the circumstances."
The young man paused thoughtfully ere he replied. The temptation was
too strong to be resisted. At the time when all his prospects in life
were blighted he had been preparing to set out, with all the resources
of wealth at his command, upon such a tour as that in which he was now
desired to share. Very different were the circumstances, it is true,
but still the pleasures which he had then anticipated had nought to do
with wealth, except as a means. He had formed no schemes of display,
of luxury, or splendour: he had only thought of visiting scenes rich
in natural beauty and historic recollections; of treading where great
men had trod; of dwelling for a time where great deeds had been
performed; of seeing the face of earth in its most beautiful and its
grandest aspects; and all that was now before him. But yet there was a
certain repugnance to the idea of dependence, to the thought of
linking himself, even for a time, to a being of whose character,
conduct, and views, he knew nothing, and his first reply was doubtful.
"Who is this young lord, my dear sir?" he asked. "I should be very
willing to go, as you judge it right, for, to say the truth, I am very
weary of this life, which only the strong impulse of necessity has
made me follow; but you can easily conceive I should not like the task
of guiding every young man through Europe;" and he added, with a
melancholy smile, "I am not fitted for bear-leading, as you know, and
in this world there are many bears in high places."
"True," replied his relation, with a slightly sarcastic smile, and a
touch of that unextinguishable jealousy which exists between St.
John's and another great college--"true; we see that every day at
Trinity; but this young man is not a bear, nor a bear's cub; or, at
all events, he is well licked. It is young Lord Hadley, whom you must
have seen."
"Oh! I know him well," replied the student, with a well-satisfied
look. "Though not perfection, he is very much better than most young
men of the present day; a little rash, a little given to dissipation,
perhaps, but right at heart, kind and well feeling; too easily led,
but yet, I do believe, always preferring right to wrong."
"As to rashness," replied his companion, "you are rash enough, Ned,
yourself; and as to his being easily led, that will be an advantage
while he is with you. You have that decision of character which he
wants; and will, I am sure, have power to restrain his habits of
dissipation, and supply that firmness, for the time at least, of which
he is destitute. I can see by your face that you are willing to
undertake the task, and, therefore, I shall write in that sense."
Thus saying, he was turning towards the door; but he stopped, after
taking a step or two, and coming back to the table, laid down upon it
a piece of paper, which, with one of those curious tricks whereof most
men have some, he had been twisting first round one finger and then
round another, during the whole time that the conversation lasted.
"You will want a supply for your preparations, my dear lad," he said;
"there is a cheque for a couple of hundred pounds. You can repay me
when you are a judge."
"Indeed I do not want it," answered the other, with a slight glow
coming into his face; "I have quite enough."
"Pooh! nonsense," said the old man; "if you have enough without it,
buy oranges with it." And without waiting for farther discussion, he
left the room.