"No danger but I shall, sir," said the boy rather proudly.
"I fear, Charles, that half the fault of your obstinacy is thrown upon my shoulders," said Elinor. "Those Lives of the Painters were an unfortunate present; they seem quite to have turned your head; I am afraid Miss Patsey will not soon forgive me."
{"Lives of the Painters" = probably Giorgio Vasari (Italian writer, 1511-1574), "Lives of the Most Excellent Architects, Painters and Sculptors" (1550, rev. 1568), a famous and often reprinted series of biographies of Italian artists, also frequently cited as "Lives of the Artists."}
"I can"t thank you enough for them, Miss Elinor--you don"t know what pleasure I have had with them."
CHAPTER II.
"We"ll measure them a measure, and begone."
{William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet", I.iv.10}
The arrival of guests again called the ladies away; they were followed by others, until the drawing-room was half-filled with the young people of the neighbourhood, and their parents. Mrs.
Stanley was soon talking with Patsey Hubbard, whom she liked particularly. The tall and thin Mrs. Bernard, and her friend, the short and fat Mrs. Van Horne, were regretting with Mrs. George Wyllys, that she should think the air of Longbridge did not agree with her children; and lamenting that she should not remain at Wyllys-Roof until November, according to her first intention.
Charlie was deep in a volume of fine engravings. Young Taylor was standing; in a corner, looking handsome, but awkward, and out of place. Mr. Taylor, the father, was aiming at making himself "affable" to everybody he knew; he liked to be called the "affable" Mr. Taylor. The last of the party to arrive, were Mr.
and Mrs. Clapp; a couple, who were by no means equally liked by their hosts. The husband was a Longbridge lawyer, whose views and manners were not much admired at Wyllys-Roof; and he would probably never have found his way there, had he not married one of their old friends and favourites, Kate Hubbard, a younger sister of Miss Patsey"s--one who from childhood had always been welcome among them. William Ca.s.sius Clapp had curly hair, bright black eyes, and pink cheeks--and, consequently, was generally thought an Adonis: his wife was a diminutive little creature, quite pretty, and very amiable; a sort of mixture of Miss Patsey and Charlie, without the more striking qualities of either. Some of her friends had thought her thrown away upon Clapp; but she seemed perfectly satisfied after five years" experience, and evidently believed her husband superior in every way to the common run of men. Holding it to be gross injustice towards the individuals whom we bring before the reader, to excite a prejudice against them in the very first chapter, we shall leave all the party to speak and act for themselves; merely endeavouring to fill the part of a "faithful chronicler,"
ourselves.
Mr. Taylor had been looking, with a mixed expression of surprise and curiosity, at the person he had heard addressed as Miss Patsey Hubbard, when the lady remarked his manner, and, smiling quietly, she bowed to him. The bow was returned; and Mr. Taylor crossed the room, to renew an acquaintance with the woman, who, three-and-twenty years before, had refused to become his wife.
Mr. Pompey Taylor had, however, risen too much in the world, since then--according to his own estimation, at least--he had become too rich and too prosperous, not to look back with great equanimity, on what he now considered as a very trifling occurrence. While he was addressing Miss Patsey in his most polished manner, just marked with an extra-touch of "affability,"
for her especial benefit, he could not but wonder that her countenance should still wear the same placid, contented air as of old; it seemed, indeed, as if this expression had only been confirmed by time and trials. He began to think the accounts he had occasionally heard, of his old flame, must have been incorrect; it was scarcely possible she should look so calm, and even cheerful, if her father, the Presbyterian minister, had actually left her not only penniless, but burdened with the support of a bed-ridden step-mother, and a house full of younger brothers and sisters. We leave him to satisfy his curiosity as well as he could.
When was there ever an evening too warm for young people to dance! Elinor"s friends had not been in the room half an hour, before they discovered that they were just the right number to make a quadrille agreeable. They were enough to form a double set; and, while they were dancing, the elder part of the company were sitting in groups near the windows, to catch the evening air, and talking over neighbourly matters, or looking on at their young friends.
"Don"t you think Elinor very graceful?" exclaimed Mrs. Van Horne to her friend, Mrs. Bernard. "I like to watch her, while she is dancing; her movements are all so pleasing and easy, never, in the least, exaggerated--but, it is in her very nature; she has always been the same, from a little creature."
"Yes," replied Mrs. Bernard; "but it is a pity her face should be so ugly; for she has rather a pretty figure--"
"Do you think her really ugly? She does not strike me, as so very plain--there is nothing repulsive in her face. I have known girls called pretty, who had something far nearer coa.r.s.eness in their features. It is true, I have been accustomed to see her from the time she was four years old; and, I know, she is always thought very plain by strangers."
"Why, my dear Mrs. Van Horne, she has not one feature that can be called good; and her eye-brows are so heavy, and her complexion is so thick and dark, too!"
"Yes, it is true, she is very dark; and that is a pity; if she were only fairer, her features would appear to greater advantage."
"Just look at her now," said Mrs. Bernard, "as she is standing by her cousin, Jane Graham, who is dancing with your son. Was there ever a greater contrast?"
"But Jane is so remarkably pretty--"
"Certainly, she is a perfect little beauty; and that is one reason, perhaps, why Elinor strikes us as so plain; she is so much with her cousin--"
"Well," said Mrs. Van Horne, "if you are going to quarrel so much, with my little friend"s face, we had better find something else to talk about; for she is a very great favourite of mine."
"And justly--I dare say.--But, I am a great admirer of beauty, you know; and I cannot keep my eyes off Jane"s lovely face."
The conversation then turned upon the Hubbards.
"Charlie, it seems, is actually going to be a painter," observed Mrs. Bernard. "Miss Patsey tells me, he is so bent on it, that she thinks there is no use in opposing it any longer; though, Mr.
Clapp says, it is a wretched plan."
"I hope Charles may succeed; he is a fine boy; and I shall be very sorry, for Patsey"s sake, if he turns out badly. She is very anxious about him, I know."
"They have been so fortunate, with the rest of the family, that, I hope, they will be able to keep Charlie straight. I see Miss Patsey is talking to Mrs. Taylor; they are old friends, perhaps.
Do you know anything about these Taylors?"
"Nothing but what my husband told me. He is a merchant in New York, and very rich;--made his money quite lately; and the business-men think a good deal of him."
"He seems to have a great deal to say for himself. Have you called on Mrs. Taylor?"
"We were there yesterday. She is a quiet, plain woman. The young man is good-looking, but very shy and awkward. The daughter seems very lively."
"Yes, and she is quite pretty, too. She will be a belle, I dare say."
"I hope Mrs. Taylor will send her younger children to Patsey"s school."
"I wish she may; it will be a good thing for Miss Patsey, and make up her dozen. You know, she will not take more than twelve, as she keeps the largest room in the house for her mother."
"How kind and faithful Patsey has been to her step-mother! Just as she is, though, to everybody else; and she does it all in such a quiet, consistent way. I am glad to see her here to-night--she enjoys a little society, once in a while; and yet no one can persuade her to go out, except Miss Wyllys."
"She has come in honour of her pupil"s birthday, I suppose. You know, Elinor Wyllys was her first scholar. By-the-bye, do you know what I heard, the other day? They say, in Longbridge, that Mr. Hazlehurst is engaged to one of the young ladies here; though, to which, my informant did not say."
"There is no truth in it, you may be sure--they are too much like brother and sister, to think of it. Besides, Mr. Hazlehurst is going abroad, shortly."
"I did not know that. Where is he going?"
"He told my son, yesterday, that he was going to Europe, for two years, to take care of his brother, Mr. Robert Hazlehurst, who has never recovered from the fall he had last winter; and the physicians have ordered him to travel."
At that moment the ladies were joined by Miss Agnes.
"I hear, Miss Wyllys," said Mrs. Bernard, "that Mr. Hazlehurst is going to Europe. He will be very much missed, at Longbridge."
"Yes, we shall miss him, here, very much," replied Miss Wyllys; "Harry has been with us more than ever, this summer. But, his brother is not in a state to travel alone, nor fit to take care of his wife and children, who go with him; and, although the plan is a sudden one, and interferes with Harry"s law-studies, yet his friends all think a visit to Europe may be a great advantage to him."
The ladies agreed that it was a very good arrangement, and some inquiries were made as to Mr. Robert Hazlehurst"s health; and a discussion of bruises and falls, nerves and dyspepsia, followed.
Soon after, the quadrille broke up.
"Well, Miss Jane," cried Mrs. Bernard, as several young people drew near, "I hear that your sister, Mrs. Robert Hazlehurst, is going to Europe; if I were you, I would not be left behind."
"I should like to go very well," said the beauty, in a languid tone; "but, I shall be at school, in New York, next winter."
"Oh, that is a pity! I am sure, you could learn all you want to know, much better, in Paris. Don"t you think she ought to go, Mr.
Hazlehurst?"
"Certainly, ma"am; everybody should go to Paris, if they have a chance."
"Miss Jane would be such a charming addition to your party.--Two young people together, you would enjoy yourselves more, and make it pleasanter for your friends."