"What, actually engaged? I have been quite exercised about all your doings over here, this summer; you must have had a lively time, three or four flirtations all going on at once. But, do you know I am bent on spiting Mr. Ellsworth this morning. He meant to have a tete-a-tete, I know, and only asked YOU just to get rid of ME. But he shan"t have a moment"s peace to pay for it; let"s turn round and go back again at full speed."
Bob de Vaux had not the least objections; he liked motion and mischief almost as much as did the lively belle; they both enjoyed the joke exceedingly, and succeeded in provoking Mr.
Ellsworth not a little. Miss Emma and her companion were in high glee at their success; they would first ride half a mile by the side of the others, then gallop off to a distance, and at a signal from the young lady, suddenly facing about they would return, just in time, as Miss Emma thought, to cut short any tender speech.
"That young lady seems to have gone twice over every foot of the road," innocently observed Mr. Wyllys, little aware of her object.
"What a restless creature it is!" replied Mrs. Creighton; "she must worry her horse as much as she annoys her rational companions."
"Miss Taylor is a perfect rattle," remarked Mr. Ellsworth. "Quite inferior to her sister, Mrs. Hunter, I should say."
{"a rattle" = a chatterbox}
"Her excess of spirits will wear itself out one of these days, I dare say," replied Elinor.
"It is to be hoped so," said the gentleman, drily.
When they reached the lake they dismounted, and pa.s.sed half an hour at a farm-house, to rest, and lunch upon iced milk and dew-berries, which the farmer"s wife kindly offered them. Mrs.
Creighton professed herself rather disappointed with Chewattan Lake; the sh.o.r.es were quite low, there was only one good hill, and one pretty, projecting point, with a fine group of elms standing in graceful relief against the sky; she thought Mr.
Hubbard"s painting had flattered nature. Mr. Ellsworth would not allow that Charlie ever flattered; but remarked that it was his peculiar merit, to throw a charm about the simplest water scene; and his last view of Chewattan Lake was certainly one of his happiest pictures.
{"dew-berries" = blackberries; "happiest" = most successful}
On their way home, Miss Emma and her companion again commenced their quizzing system. Towards the end of the ride, however, the young lady relaxed a little in her vigilance; when they reached a turnpike-gate, about two miles from Wyllys-Roof, she suddenly proposed to Bob de Vaux to run a race with Elinor and Mr.
Ellsworth.
"What do you say to it, Miss Wyllys?"
"Excuse me; I had much rather not."
"Oh, but you don"t know what I mean. Now, you and Mr. Ellsworth go cantering and trotting along, in such a sober, Darby and Joan fashion, that I am sure Mr. de Vaux and I can turn off here, take this by-road, which you know comes in nearly opposite your gate, and although it is twice as far round, I bet you a pair of gloves we are at Wyllys-Roof before you."
{"Darby and Joan fashion" = like an old married couple}
"Done!" exclaimed Mr. Ellsworth, delighted with the idea; and off the young lady gallopped {sic} with her companion.
It is not to be supposed that the gentleman allowed the half-hour that followed to pa.s.s unimproved. He could speak at last, and he admired Elinor too sincerely, not to express himself in terms both warm and respectful. Although Elinor had been for some time fully prepared for this declaration, yet she did not receive it without betraying feeling and embarra.s.sment. Emotion in woman, at such moments, or in connexion with similar subjects, is generally traced to one cause alone; and yet half the time it should rather be attributed to some other source. Anxiety, modesty, mere nervousness, or even vexation at this very misinterpretation, often raise the colour, and make the voice falter. Elinor had fully made up her mind, and she felt that a frank explanation was due to Mr. Ellsworth, but her regard for him was too sincere not to make the moment a painful one to her. He was rejected; but rejected with so much consideration, so much modesty and feeling, so much good sense, that the very act only increased his regret.
He was much disappointed, for he had been a hopeful suitor.
Elinor had always liked him, and he had thought her manner encouraging; Mr. Wyllys and Miss Agnes had not concealed their approbation; and Mrs. Creighton had often told him she had no doubt of his success. He was more than mortified, however, by the refusal, he was pained. Elinor repeated a.s.surances of respect and friendship, and regret that she felt herself unable to return his regard as it deserved. She even alluded to his generosity in overlooking her want of personal attractions; she said she had, on that account, been slow to believe that he had any serious object in view. At the time he had first proposed, through her grandfather, she herself had wished to prevent his going any farther, but her friends had desired her to defer the answer; he himself had begged her to do so, and named the time fixed--she had reluctantly consented to this arrangement; and, although the more she knew of Mr. Ellsworth, the more highly she esteemed and respected him, yet the result had been what she first foresaw; she could not conscientiously offer him the full attachment he had a right to expect from a wife.
Mr. Ellsworth rode on in silence for a moment.
"Is it then true, Miss Wyllys, that I must give up all idea of obtaining a more indulgent hearing, at some future day?"
"Judge for yourself if I am capricious, Mr. Ellsworth. Do not imagine that I have lightly rejected the regard of a man whom I esteem so highly as yourself. I could scarcely name another in my whole acquaintance, for whom I should have hesitated so long; but--" Elinor paused, suddenly became very red, and then deadly pale.
"But--what would you say, Miss Wyllys?--go on, I entreat!"
exclaimed Mr. Ellsworth.
It was a moment before Elinor rallied. She then continued, in a low voice, and in an agitated, hesitating manner:
"Mr. Ellsworth, I shall speak with perfect frankness; your kindness and forbearance deserve it. When I consented to wait so long before giving you a final answer, it was chiefly that I might discover if I could regain entire command over feelings which have not always been my own. I am afraid you are not aware of this. The feeling itself to which I allude is changed; but be it weakness or not, it has left traces for life. I was willing to make an experiment in favour of one who deserved the full confidence of my friends and myself; but the trial has not succeeded; if I know myself, it can never succeed--I shall never marry."
And then after a moment"s silence she gently continued, in a calmer tone:
"But you will soon forget all this, I trust. You will find elsewhere some one more worthy of you; one who can better repay your kindness."
Mr. Ellsworth chafed a little under this suggestion; though not so much as a more pa.s.sionate man might have done.
"To forget one of so much womanly excellence as yourself, Miss Wyllys, is not the easy task you seem to suppose."
Elinor could have sighed and smiled as the thought recurred to her, that Harry had not found it very difficult to forget her.
They had now reached the gate, on their way home, and turning towards her companion as they entered, she said:
"I hope, indeed, you will always remember that you have very sincere friends at Wyllys-Roof, Mr. Ellsworth; believe me, friends capable of appreciating your merits, and aware of what is their due."
Mr. Ellsworth thanked her, but he looked very evidently disturbed. When they reached the piazza he helped Elinor from her horse, perhaps more carefully than usual; Miss Emma Taylor and her cavalier had already arrived; and the young lady immediately attacked Mr. Ellsworth, bidding him remember his bet. When Mrs.
Creighton stepped from the chair, she looked for her brother and Elinor, a little curious to discover if anything decisive had pa.s.sed, but both had already entered the house.
Mr. Wyllys learned in the course of the day, from Ellsworth himself, that he had been rejected; he was very much disappointed, and more disposed to find fault with Elinor than he had ever been before.
"I am afraid you have not acted wisely, Elinor," said her grandfather; words more like a reproof than any that Elinor could remember to have heard fall from his lips, addressed to herself.
Miss Agnes also evidently regretted her niece"s decision; but she said nothing on the subject. As for Mrs. Creighton, she thought it all easy to be understood.
"You may say what you please, Frank, about Miss Wyllys, but you will never persuade me she is not a coquette."
But this Mr. Ellsworth would by no means allow.
Elinor laid her head on her pillow that night with the unpleasant reflection, that four persons under the same roof were reproaching her for the step she had taken that day. But she herself knew that she had acted conscientiously.
CHAPTER XXI. {XLIV}
"Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold."
Henry IV. {sic}
{William Shakespeare, "Richard III", II.iv.39}
THE Petrel was a very pretty little schooner, p.r.o.nounced a crack craft by the knowing ones. She sat so buoyantly on the water when motionless, and glided along so gracefully when under way, that even landsmen and landswomen must have admired her. Let it not be supposed that the word landswomen is here used unadvisedly: although the Navy Department is decidedly ungallant in its general character, and seldom allows ladies to appear on board ship, excepting at a collation or a ball, yet it is well known that in some of the smaller sea-port towns, the female portion of the population are so much interested in nautical matters, and give so much time and attention to the subject, that they are looked upon as very good judges of spars and rigging; and it is even affirmed, that some of these charming young "salts" are quite capable of examining a midshipman on points of seamanship.
If fame has not belied them, such are the accomplishments of the belles of Norfolk and Pensacola; while the wives and daughters of the whalers at Nantucket, are said to have also a critical eye for the cut of a jib and the shape of a hull. Hubert de Vaux hoped they had, for he thought it a pity that the Petrel"s beauties should be thrown away.
On the morning they sailed, when Elinor had watched the boat as she lay in the river, they had been waiting for Bruno. Harry wished to carry the dog with him; but after following Hazlehurst to the boat, he had returned home again; he was, however, enticed on board, and they hoisted sail, and slowly moved out of sight.
In spite of some little delay, the Petrel made a very good day"s work. That night and the following the party slept on board, and seemed very well satisfied with their quarters; they intended to run out of sight of land before the end of their cruise, but as yet they had landed every few hours for fresh water, vegetables, milk, &c.; as it did not enter at all into their calculations to be put on a short allowance of anything desirable. On the afternoon of the third day, the Petrel reached the wharf of a country place on Long-Island, where the party landed, according to a previous invitation, and joined some friends for a couple of days" shooting, which proved a pleasant variety in the excursion; the sport was p.r.o.nounced good, and the gentlemen made the most of it. Mr. Stryker, however, complained that the pomp and circ.u.mstance of sporting was wanted in this country.
"So long as we have the important items of good guns, good marksmen, and real wild-game, we need not find fault," said Harry.