Three years had elapsed, and the half-brothers were again home from
college. They had both passed beyond the boundaries of boyhood. Nigel
was of age, and Henry full grown.
Nigel had become noted for sedateness of conduct, economy in
expenditure, and close application to his studies.
Henry, on the other hand, had won a very different character. If not
considered an absolute scapegrace, he was looted upon as a young
gentleman of somewhat loose habits,--hating books, loving all sorts of
jollity, and scorning economy, as if, instead of a virtue, it were the
curse of life.
In reality, Nigel was only restrained by an astute, secretive, and
selfish, nature; while Henry, with a heart of more generous inclinings,
gave way to the seductions of pleasure, with a freedom that would be
tempered by time. The General, however satisfied with the conduct of
his elder son, was not pleased with the proclivities of the younger;
more especially as his heart, like Jacob's, had a yearning for his last
born.
Although struggling against any preference, he could not help thinking
at times, how much happier it would have made him if Henry would but
imitate the conduct of Nigel--even though their _roles_ should be
reversed! But it seemed as if this desire was not to be gratified.
During their sojourn within college walls, the rumours of _diableries_,
of which his younger son had been the hero, were scarce compensated by
the reports of scholastic triumphs on the part of the elder.
It is true that Nigel himself had been habitually the herald to proclaim
these mingled insinuations and successes, for Henry was but an
indifferent correspondent. His letters, when they did come, were but
too confirmatory of the contents of those written by his brother, being
generally solicitations for a little more cash. The _ci-devant_
soldier, himself generous to a fault, had never failed to forward the
cheque, caring less for the money than the way in which it was spent.
The education of the Harding youths was now considered complete. They
were enjoying that pleasant interval of idleness, when the chrysalis of
the school or college is about to burst forth into a butterfly, and wing
its way through the world.
If the old rancour existed it showed no outward sign. A stranger would
have seen nothing between the half-brothers beyond a fair fraternal
friendship. Henry was frank and outspoken, Nigel reserved and taciturn;
but this was their natural disposition, and no one remarked upon it. In
all matters of parental respect, the elder brother was the more noticed.
He was implicit in his obedience to the wishes of his father; while
Henry, on the other hand, was prone to neglect this duty--though only in
matters of minor consequence, such as keeping late hours, lavish
expenditure, and the like. Still, by such acts the father's heart was
often sorely grieved, and his affection terribly tested.
At length came a cause that tried the temper of the half-brothers
towards one another--one before which the strongest fraternal affection
has oft changed into bitter hostility. It was love. Both fell in love,
and with the same woman--Belle Mainwaring.
Miss Belle Mainwaring was a young lady, whose fair face and fascinating
manners might have turned wiser heads than those of the two
ex-collegians. She was older than either; but if not in its first
blush, she was still in the bloom of her beauty. Like her baptismal
name, she was a belle in her own county, which was that inhabited by the
Hardings. She was the daughter of an Indian officer, a poor colonel,
who, less fortunate than the General, had left his bones in the Punjaub,
and his widow just sufficient to maintain her in a simple cottage
residence that stood outside, and not far from, the palings of Beechwood
Park.
It was a dangerous proximity for two youths just entering on manhood,
and with very little business before them beyond making love, and
afterwards settling down with a wife. Both would be amply provided for
without troubling their heads about a profession. The paternal estate,
under the hammer, would any day have realised a clear hundred thousand;
and he who cannot live upon half of this is not likely to increase it by
a calling.
That the property would be equally divided there was no reason to doubt.
There was no entail; and General Harding was not the man from whom an
act of partiality might be expected. The old soldier was not without
traits of eccentricity; not exactly crotchets or caprices, but a certain
dogmatism of design, and an unwillingness to be thwarted in his ways,
derived no doubt from his long exercise of military authority. This,
however, was not likely to influence him in matters of a paternal
character; and, unless some terrible provocation should arise, his sons,
at his death, would no doubt have an equal share in the earnings of his
life.
So thought the social circle in which the Hardings moved, or such part
of it as took this much interest in their movements. With such fair
presumption of being provided for, what could the young Hardings do but
look out for something to love, and, in looking out, upon whom should
the eyes of both become fixed but on Belle Mainwaring? They did, with
all the ardent admiration of youth; and as she returned their respective
glances with that speaking reciprocity which only a coquette can give,
both fell in love with her. The inspiration came on the same day, the
same hour, perhaps in the same instant.
It was at a grand archery _fete_, given by the General himself, to which
Miss Mainwaring and her mother had been invited. The archer god was
also present at the entertainment, and pierced the hearts of General
Harding's two sons with a single arrow.
There was a remarkable difference in their way of showing it. To Miss
Mainwaring, Henry was all assiduity, lavish of little attentions, ran to
recover her arrows, handed her her bow, held her sunshade while she bent
it, and stood ready to fling himself at her feet. Nigel, on the other
hand, kept himself aloof, affected indifference to her presence, tried
to pique her by showing partiality to others, with many like manoeuvres
suggested by a calculating and crafty spirit. In one thing the elder
brother succeeded--in concealing his new-sprung passion from the
spectators.
The younger was not so fortunate. Before the archery practice was over,
every guest upon the ground could tell that, at least, one arrow had
been shot home to the mark, and that mark was the heart of young Henry
Harding.