L'Estrange and his sister were on their way to Italy. The curate had
been appointed to the church at Albano, and he was proceeding to his
destination with as much happiness as is permitted to a man who, with a
very humble opinion of himself, feels called on to assume a position of
some importance.
Wishing, partly from motives of enjoyment, partly from economy, to avoid
the route most frequented by travellers, they had taken the road through
Zurich and the valley of the Upper Rhine, and had now reached the little
village of Dornbirn in the Vorarlberg--a spot of singular beauty, in
the midst of a completely pastoral country. High mountains, snow-capped
above, pine-clad lower down, descended by grassy slopes into rich
pasture-lands, traversed by innumerable streams, and dotted over with
those cottages of framed wood, which, with their ornamented gables and
quaint galleries, are the most picturesque peasant houses in existence.
Beautiful cattle covered the hills, their tinkling bells ringing out
in the clear air, and blending their tones with the ceaseless flow of
falling water, imparting just that amount of sound that relieved the
solemn character of the scene, and gave it vitality.
Day after day found our two travellers still lingering here. There was a
charm in the spot, which each felt, without confessing it to the other,
and it was already the fourth evening of their sojourn as they were
sitting by the side of a little rivulet, watching the dipping flies
along the stream, that Julia said suddenly,--
“You'd like to live your life here, George; isn't that so?”
“What makes you think so, Julia?” said he, coloring slightly as he
spoke.
“First tell me if I have not read you aright? You like this quiet,
dreamy landscape. You want no other changes than in the varying effects
of cloud, and shadow, and mist; and you 'd like to think this a little
haven against the storms and shipwrecks of life?”
“And if I really did think all this, would my choice of an existence be
a very bad one, Julia?”
“No. Not if one could insure the same frame of mind in which first he
tasted the enjoyment. I, for instance, like what is called the world
very much. I like society, life, and gayety. I like the attentions, I
like the flatteries one meets with, but if I could be always as happy,
always as tranquil as we have felt since we came here, I 'd be quite
willing to sign a bond to live and die here.”
“So that you mean our present enjoyment of the place could not last.”
“I am sure it could not. I am sure a great deal of the pleasure we now
feel is in the relief of escaping from the turmoil and bustle of a world
that we don't belong to. The first sense of this relief is repose, the
next would be ennui.”
“I don't agree with you, Julia. There is a calm acceptance of a humble
lot in life, quite apart from ennui.”
“Don't believe it. There is no such philosophy. A great part of your
happiness here is in fact that you can afford to live here. Oh, hold up
your hands, and be horrified. It is very shocking to have a sister who
will say such vulgar things, but I watched you, George, after you paid
the bill this morning, and I marked the delighted smile in which you
pointed out some effect of light on the 'Sentis,' and I said to myself,
'It is the landlord has touched up the landscape.'”
“I declare, Julia, you make me angry. Why will you say such things?”
“Why are we so poor, George? Tell me that, brother mine. Why are we so
poor?”
“There are hundreds as poor; thousands poorer.”
“Perhaps they don't care, don't fret about it, don't dwell on all the
things they are debarred from, don't want this or that appliance to make
life easier. Now look there! what a difference in one's existence to
travel that way.”
As she spoke, she pointed to a travelling-carriage which swept over the
bridge, with all the speed of four posters, and, with all the clatter of
cracking whips and sounding horns, made for the inn of the village.
“How few travel with post now, in these days of railroad,” said he, not
sorry to turn the conversation into another channel.
“I hope they are going on. I trust they 'll not stop here. We have been
the great folk of the place up to this, but you 'll see how completely
the courier or the _femme de chambre_ will eclipse us now,” said she,
rising. “Let us go back, or perhaps they 'll give our very rooms away.”
“How can you be so silly, Julia?”
“All because we are poor, George. Let me be rich, and you 'll be
surprised, not only how generous I shall be, but how disposed to think
well of every one. Poverty is the very mother of distrust.”
“I never heard you rail at our narrow fortune like this before.”
“Don't be angry with me, dear George, and I'll make a confession to you.
I was not thinking of ourselves, nor of our humble lot all this while;
it was a letter I got this morning from Nelly Bramleigh was running in
my mind. It has never been out of my thoughts since I received it.”
“You never told me of this.”
“No. She begged of me not to speak of it; and I meant to have obeyed
her, but my temper has betrayed me. What Nelly said was, 'Don't tell
your brother about these things till he can hear the whole story, which
Augustus will write to him as soon as he is able.'”
“What does she allude to?”
“They are ruined--actually ruined.”
“The Bramleighs--the rich Bramleighs?”
“Just so. They were worth millions--at least they thought so--a few
weeks back, and now they have next to nothing.”
“This has come of over speculation.”
“No. Nothing of the kind. It is a claimant to the estate has arisen,
an heir whose rights take precedence of their father's; in fact, the
grandfather had been privately married early in life, and had a son of
whom nothing was heard for years, but who married and left a boy, who,
on attaining manhood, preferred his claim to the property. All this
mysterious claim was well known to Colonel Bramleigh; indeed, it would
appear that for years he was engaged in negotiations with this man's
lawyers, sometimes defiantly challenging an appeal to the law, and
sometimes entertaining projects of compromise. The correspondence was
very lengthy, and, from its nature, must have weighed heavily on the
Colonel's mind and spirits, and ended, as Nelly suspects, by breaking up
his health.
“It was almost the very first news that met Augustus on his accession
to his fortune, and so stunned was he that he wrote to Mr. Sedley to
say, 'I have such perfect reliance on both your integrity and ability,
that if you assure me this claim is well founded and this demand a just
one, I will not contest it.' He added--'I am not afraid of poverty, but
a public shame and a scandal would be my death.'”
“Just what I should expect from him. What did Sedley say?”
“He did n't say he was exactly a fool, but something very like it;
and he told him, too, that though he might make very light of his own
rights, he could not presume to barter away those of others; and, last
of all, he added, what he knew would have its weight with Augustus,
that, had his father lived he meant to have compromised this claim. Not
that he regarded it either as well founded or formidable, but simply as
a means of avoiding a very unpleasant publicity. This last intimation
had its effect, and Augustus permitted Sedley to treat. Sedley at once
addressed himself to Temple--Jack was not to be found--and to Lord
Culduff, to learn what share they were disposed to take in such an
arrangement. As Augustus offered to bind himself never to marry, and
to make a will dividing the estate equally amongst his brothers and
sisters, Lord Culduff and Temple quite approved of this determination,
but held that they were not called upon to take any portion of the
burden of the compromise.
“Augustus would seem to have been so indignant at this conduct, that
he wrote to Sedley to put him at once in direct communication with
the claimant. Sedley saw by the terms of the letter how much of it was
dictated by passion and offended pride, evaded the demand, and pretended
that an arrangement was actually pending, and, if uninterfered with,
sure to be completed. To this Augustus replied--for Nelly has sent me
a copy of his very words--'Be it so. Make such a settlement as you, in
your capacity of my lawyer, deem best for my interests. For my own
part, I will not live in a house, nor receive the rents of an estate, my
rights to which the law may possibly decide against me. Till, then,
the matter be determined either way, I and my sister Eleanor, who is
like-minded with me in this affair, will go where we can live at least
cost, decided, as soon as may be, to have this issue determined, and
Castello become the possession of him who rightfully owns it.'
“On the evening of the day he wrote this they left Castello. They only
stopped a night in Dublin, and left next morning for the Continent.
Nelly's letter is dated from Ostend. She says she does not know where
they are going, and is averse to anything like importuning her brother
by even a question. She promises to write soon again, however, and tell
me all about their plans. They are travelling without a servant, and,
so far as she knows, with very little money. Poor Nelly! she bears up
nobly, but the terrible reverse of condition, and the privations she is
hourly confronted with, are clearly preying upon her.”
“What a change! Just to think of them a few months back! It was a
princely household.”
“Just what Nelly says. 'It is complete overthrow; and if I am not
stunned by the reverse, it is because all my sympathies are engaged
for poor Gusty, who is doing his best to bear up well. As for myself, I
never knew how helpless I was till I tried to pack my trunk. I suppose
time will soften down many things that are now somewhat hard to bear;
but for the moment I am impatient and irritable; and it is only the
sight of my dear brother--so calm, so manly, and so dignified in his
sorrow--that obliges me to forget my selfish grief and compose myself as
I ought.'”
As they thus talked, they arrived at the door of the inn, where the
landlord met them, with the request that the two gentlemen who had
arrived by extra-post, and who could not find horses to proceed on their
journey, might be permitted to share the one sitting-room the house
contained, and which was at present occupied by the L'Estranges.
“Let us sup in your room, George,” whispered Julia, and passed on into
the house. L'Estrange gave orders to send the supper to his room, and
told the landlord that the salon was at his guests' disposal.
About two hours later, as the curate and his sister sat at the open
window, silently enjoying the delicious softness of a starry night, they
were startled by the loud talking of persons so near as to seem almost
in the room with them.
“English--I'll be sworn they are!” said one. “That instinctive dread
of a stranger pertains only to our people. How could it have interfered
with their comfort, that we sat and ate our meal in this corner?”
“The landlord says they are young, and the woman pretty. That may
explain something. Your countrymen, Philip, are the most jealous race in
Europe.”
L'Estrange coughed here three or four times, to apprise his neighbors
that they were within earshot of others.
“Listen to that cough,” cried the first speaker. “That was palpably
feigned. It was meant to say, 'Don't talk so loud.'”
“I always grow more indiscreet under such provocation,” said the other,
whose words were slightly tinged with a foreign accent.
A merry laugh burst from Julia at this speech, which the others joined
in by very impulse.
“I suspect,” said the first speaker, “we might as well have occupied the
same room, seeing in what close proximity we stand to each other.”
“I think it would be as well to go to your room, Julia,” said George, in
a low voice. “It is getting late, besides.”
“I believe you are right, George. I will say good-night.”
The last words appeared to have caught the ears of the strangers, who
exclaimed together, “Good-night, goodnight;” and he with the foreign
accent began to hum, in a very sweet tenor voice, “Buona sera, buona
notte, buona sera;” which Julia would fain have listened to, but George
hurried her away, and closed the door.
“There is the end of that episode,” said the foreign voice. “Le mari
jaloux has had enough of us. Your women in England are taught never to
play with fire.”
“I might reply that yours are all pyrotechnists,” said the other, with a
laugh.
The clatter of plates and the jingle of glasses, as the waiter laid
the table for supper, drowned their voices, and L'Estrange dropped off
asleep soon after. A hearty burst of laughter at last aroused him. It
came from the adjoining room, where the strangers were still at table,
though it was now nigh daybreak.
“Yes,” said he of the foreign accent, “I must confess it. I never
made a lucky hit in my life without the ungrateful thought of how much
luckier it might have been.”
“It is your Italian blood has given you that temperament.”
“I knew you 'd say so, Philip; before my speech was well out, I felt
the reply you 'd make me. But let me tell you that you English are not
a whit more thankful to fortune than we are; but in your matter-of-fact
way you accept a benefit as your just due, while we, more conscious of
our deservings, always feel that no recompense fully equalled what we
merited. And so it is that ever since that morning at Furnival's Inn, I
keep on asking myself, Why twenty thousand? Why not forty--why not twice
forty?”
“I was quite prepared for all this. I think I saw the reaction beginning
as you signed the paper.”
“No, there you wrong me, Philip. I wrote boldly, like a man who felt
that he was making a great resolve, and could stand by it. You 'll never
guess when what you have called 'the reaction' set in.”
“I am curious to know when that was.”
“I 'll tell you. You remember our visit to Castello. You thought it
a strange caprice of mine to ask the lawyer whether, now that all
was finally settled between us, I might be permitted to see the
house--which, as the family had left, could be done without any
unpleasantness. I believe my request amused _him_ as much as it did
_you_; he thought it a strange caprice, but he saw no reason to
refuse it, and I saw he smiled as he sat down to write the note to the
housekeeper. I have no doubt that he thought, 'It is a gambler's whim;'
he wants to see the stake he played for, and what he might perhaps have
won had he had courage to play out the game.' _You_ certainly took that
view of it.”
The other muttered something like a half assent, and the former speaker
continued, “And you were both of you wrong. I wanted to see the finished
picture of which I possessed the sketch--the beautiful Flora--whose
original was my grandmother. I cannot tell you the intense longing I had
to see the features that pertained to one who belonged to me; a man must
be as utterly desolate as I am, to comprehend the craving I felt to have
something--anything that might stand to me in place of family. It was
this led me to Castello, and it was this that made me, when I crossed
the threshold, indifferent to all the splendors of the place, and only
occupied with one thought, one wish--to see the fresco in the Octagon
Tower--poor old Giacomo's great work--the picture of his beautiful
daughter. And was she not beautiful? I ask you, Philip, had Raphael
himself ever such a model for sweetness of expression? Come, come. You
were just as wild as myself in your enthusiasm as you stood before her;
and it was only by a silly jest that you could repress the agitation you
were so ashamed of.”
“I remember I told you that the family had terribly degenerated since
her day.”
“And yet you tried to trace a likeness between us.”
“You won't say that I succeeded,” said he, with a laugh.
“It was then as I stood there gazing on her, thinking of her sad story,
that I bethought me what an ignoble part it was I played to compromise
the rights that she had won, and how unworthy I was to be the descendant
of the beautiful Enrichetta.”
“You are about the only man I ever met who was in love with his
grandmother.”
“Call it how you like, her lovely face has never left me since I saw it
there.”
“And yet your regret implies that you are only sorry not to have made a
better bargain.”
“No, Philip: my regret is not to have stood out for terms that must
have been refused to me; I wish I had asked for the 'impossible.' I
tried to make a laughing matter of it when I began, but I cannot--I
cannot. I have got the feeling that I have been selling my birthright.”
“And you regret that the mess of pottage has not been bigger.”
“There's the impossibility in making a friend of an Englishman! It is
the sordid side of everything he will insist on turning uppermost. Had
I told a Frenchman what I have told you, he would have lent me his whole
heart in sympathy.”
“To be sure he would. He would have accepted all that stupid
sentimentality about your grandmother as refined feeling, and you 'd
have been blubbering over each other this half-hour.”
“If you only knew the sublime project I had. I dare not tell you of it
in your miserable spirit of depreciating all that is high in feeling and
noble in aspiration. You would ridicule it. Yes, _mon cher_, you would
have seen nothing in my plan, save what you could turn into absurdity.”
“Let me hear it. I promise you to receive the information with the most
distinguished consideration.”
“You could not. You could not elevate your mind even to comprehend my
motives. What would you have said, if I had gone to this Mr. Bramleigh,
and said, Cousin--”
“He is not your cousin, to begin with.”
“No matter; one calls every undefined relation cousin. Cousin, I would
have said, this house that you live in, these horses that you drive,
this plate that you dine off, these spreading lawns and shady woods that
lie around, are mine; I am their lawful owner; I am the true heir to
them; and you are nothing--nobody--the son of an illegitimate--”
“I 'd say he 'd have pitched you out of the window.”
“Wait a while; not so fast. Nevertheless, I would have said, Yours is
the prescription and the habit. These things have pertained to you
since your birth: they are part of you, and you of them. You cannot live
without them, because you know no other life than where they enter and
mingle; while I, poor and an adventurer, have never tasted luxury, nor
had any experiences but of trouble and difficulty. Let us each keep the
station to which habit and time have accustomed him. Do you live, as you
have ever lived, grand seigneur as you are--rich, honored, and regarded.
I will never dispute your possession nor assail your right. I only ask
that you accept me as your relation--a cousin, who has been long absent
in remote lands; a traveller, an 'eccentric,' who likes a life of
savagery and adventure, and who has come back, after years of exile, to
see his family and be with his own. Imagine yourself for an instant to
be Bramleigh, and what you would have said to this? Had I simply
asked to be one of them, to call them by their Christian names, to be
presented to their friends as Cousin Anatole--I ask you now--seriously,
what you would have replied to such a noble appeal?”
“I don't know exactly what I should have said, but I think I can tell
you what I would have done.”
“Well, out with it.”
“I 'd have sent for the police, and handed you over to the authorities
for either a rogue or a madman.”
“Bon soir. I wish you a good-night--pleasant dreams, too, if that be
possible.”
“Don't go. Sit down. The dawn is just breaking, and you know I ordered
the horses for the first light.”
“I must go into the air then. I must go where I can breathe.”
“Take a cigar, and let us talk of something else.”
“That is easy enough for _you_; you who treat everything as a mere
passing incident, and would make life a series of unconnected episodes.
You turn from this to that, just as you taste of this dish and that at
dinner; but I, who want to live a life--_entends-tu?_--to live a life:
to be to-morrow the successor of myself to-day, to carry with me an
identity--how am I to practise your philosophy?”
“Here come the horses; and I must say I am for once grateful to their
jingling bells, helping as they do to drown more nonsense than even you
usually give way to.”
“How did we ever become friends? Can you explain that to me?”
“I suppose it must have been in one of your lucid moments, Anatole--for
you have them at times.”
“Ah, I have! But if you 're getting complimentary, I 'd better be off.
Will you look to the bill? And I'll take charge of the baggage.”