Frank was over it like a bird, ere the words were out of his admiring disciple"s mouth, and their conversation, as they walked on, turned upon feats of strength and agility, and those actions of enterprise and adventure which are ever most captivating to the fancy of the young.
Charles Kettering, we need scarcely say, entertained an extraordinary fondness for all bodily exercises. Intended for the army, and "waiting for his commission," as he expressed it, he looked forward to his future profession as a career of unalloyed happiness, in which he should win fame and distinction without the slightest mental exertion--an effort to which, in truth, Charlie was always rather averse. Like most young aspirants to military honours, he had yet to learn that study, reflection, memory, and, above all, common sense, are as indispensable to the soldier"s success as to that of any other professional man; and that, although physical courage and light spirits are very useful accessories in a campaign, a good deal more is required to const.i.tute an officer, since, even in a subordinate grade, the lives of his comrades and the safety of his division may depend on his una.s.sisted judgment alone. Charlie had good abilities, but it was a difficult matter to get him to apply them with anything like diligence; and his friend Hardingstone, whose appreciation of a favourite"s good qualities never made him blind to his faults, saw this defect, and did all in his power to remedy it, both by precept and example.
Mrs. Kettering"s misgivings as regarded her nephew"s duck-like propensities were founded on a thorough knowledge of his taste and habits. Another mile of walking brought the pair once more to the beach, where it curved away completely out of sight of St Swithin"s.
The heat was intense; Charlie took his coat off, sat down upon a stone, and gazed wistfully at the sea.
"Don"t it look cool?" said he; "and don"t I wish, on a day like this, that I was a "merman bold"? I say, Frank, I must have a dip--I shall bundle in."
"In with you," was the reply; "I haven"t had a swim since I breasted the Mediterranean last year; only we won"t stay in too long, for I promised your cousin to bring her some of that seaweed she spoke about;" and in another minute, in place of two well-dressed gentlemen standing on the beach, a couple of hats and a heap of clothes occupied the sh.o.r.e, whilst two white forms might be seen, ever and anon, gleaming through the blue waves as their owners dived, floated, turned upon their sides, kicked up their feet, and performed all those antics with which masterly swimmers signalise their enjoyment of their favourite element. We often hear people wishing they could fly. Now, we always think it must be exactly the same sensation as swimming; you are borne up with scarcely an effort--you seem to glide with the rapidity of a bird--you feel a consciousness of daring, and a proud superiority over nature, in thus mastering the instinctive fear man doubtless entertains of water, and bidding ocean bear you like a steed that knows its rider. The horizon appears so near that your ideas of distance become entirely confused, and the "few yards of uneven" water seem to your exulting senses like as many leagues. You dash your head beneath the green transparent wave, and shaking the salt drops from your brow, gallantly breast roller after roller as they come surging in, and with a wild, glad sense of freedom and adventure, you strike boldly out to sea. All this our two gentlemen bathers felt and enjoyed, but Frank, who had not followed this favourite diversion for a length of time, was even more delighted than his young companion with his aquatic amus.e.m.e.nts; and when the breeze freshened and the dark blue waters began to show a curl of white, he dashed away with long, vigorous strokes to such a distance from the sh.o.r.e as even Charlie, albeit of anything but nervous mood, thought over-venturous and enterprising. The latter was emerging from the water, when, on looking for his companion, it struck him that Frank, in the offing, was making signals of distress. Once he saw a tremendous splash, and he almost thought he heard a cry through the roar of the tide against the shingle. "By all that"s fearful, he"s in grief," was Charlie"s mental exclamation; and whilst he thought it the gallant boy was striking out for life and death to reach his friend. What a distance it seemed! and how his knees and thighs ached with the long, convulsive springs that shot him forward! Charlie never knew before what hard work swimming might be; and now he has reached the spot he aimed at--he raises himself in the water--what is this? Merciful Heaven! Hardingstone is down! but there is a swirling circle of green and white not ten yards before him, and the lad dives deep below the surface and comes up holding his friend"s motionless body by the hair; and now they are both down again, for Charlie is blown, and has not before practised the difficult feat of rescuing a man from drowning.
But he comes up once more, and shakes his head, and coughs and clutches tightly to the twining hair, that even in the water has a death-like clamminess in his fingers. He is frightfully blown now, and a wave takes him sideways and turns him over--he is under Hardingstone, and this time he only comes up for an instant to go under again, with a suffocating feeling at his chest, and a painful pressure on his ears. Now he gulps at the salt water that appears to fill body, and lungs, and head; and now he seems to be whirling round and round; everything is green and giddy--there is something crooked before his face--and a feeling of pleasing languor forbids him to grasp it. The Great Uncertainty is very near--a glare of white light dazzles his eyes, and the waters settle over him, as he holds on to Hardingstone"s hair with the clutch of a drowning man.
CHAPTER III
THE HANDSOME GOVERNESS
BLIND-MAN"S BUFF--AN UNCEREMONIOUS INTRODUCTION--THE MUSIC-MISTRESS--A CATHEDRAL TOWN--THE YOUNG LADIES"
SEMINARY--MARY DELAVAL AND HER ADMIRER--AN ATTACK REPULSED--THE MILITARY ROUTED--A PRECARIOUS LIVELIHOOD
Little, indeed, do one half the world know how the other half live.
Fortunate is it for us all, that we have neither the invisible cap, nor the shoes of swiftness, that did their owner such good service in the fairy tale. We might be astonished, not to say disgusted, could we follow our nearest and dearest for one short half-hour after they have left our sight; could we see them, when they think no mortal eye is upon their actions, we might smile or we might weep, according as our temperament bordered upon the sentimental or the cynical. Yet is there One that always watches. How comes it that when we hide ourselves from man, we think no shame to expose our follies to man"s Creator? Will a day come when everything shall be made known? when there will be no more hypocrisy--no more respectability--no more difference between vice on the house-top and vice in the corner? There will be some strange shifting of places when that day does come--much shrinking and wincing from the general Show-up--much scarlet shame, and livid remorse, when the brow can no more be covered, nor the past undone.
"Tis a pity we should think so little of payment till the bill comes due;--in the meantime we go blindly on, deceiving and deceived--we know but little of our neighbour, and we trust in heaven our neighbour knows nothing whatever about us; so we grope about in the dark, and call it Life.
Mrs. Kettering, on the sofa, knew nothing of what Blanche was thinking about, not six feet from her--knew nothing about Charlie, struggling convulsively for life half-a-mile out at sea--knew nothing about the woman she had left to take charge of her town-house--a pattern of respectability, sobriety, and trustworthiness, then reeling out of "The Feathers," as drunk as Chloe, to use an old Eton expression, highly derogatory to the character of Horace"s young and tender love, she who bounded from the bard"s cla.s.sical advances like a frightened kid. Our Chloe, meanwhile, was grasping a door-key, and calling for gin, regardless that she had left a tallow-candle flaring close to a heap of shavings in the back scullery, that "the airy-gate," as she called it, was "on the latch," and there was n.o.body to answer the front door. This last piece of carelessness was the means of inflicting an additional disappointment on one who had already in her short life known troubles and disappointments more than enough. Mary Delaval had walked up to the grim lion-headed knocker with a weary step and heavy heart; but when her summons was again and again unheeded, and the chance of finding out even Mrs. Kettering"s address became hopeless, she moved away with the heavy, listless air of one who has shot the last arrow from the quiver without attaining the mark, and begins to doubt if courage and energy are indeed qualities of the slightest advantage to our welfare, and whether blind fortune is not the controller of all here below.
The sun beat fiercely upon the pavement, and there was not a breath of air to refresh those arid gardens in the parched and dusty square--yet Mary put her thick, suffocating veil down before her face and quickened her pace as she went home from her hopeless errand; for to these inconveniences she was obliged to submit, because in the freest country in the world, and the most civilised capital in Europe, she was walking on foot, without a companion or a man-servant.
"Gad, that"s a good-looking woman!" said Captain Lacquers to his friend, Sir Ascot Uppercrust; "fine-ish goer, too, but tires over the pavement. If it was not so cursedly hot, "Uppy," we might cross over and get a look at her."
"Women rather bore me," replied Sir Ascot, who, being very young and a Body-guardsman, was of course _blase_; "but I don"t mind, to oblige you,--only promise you won"t let her speak to me." So, as Captain Lacquers turned up his moustaches, Sir Ascot went through the same pantomime, for practice against the time when his own should grow; and the couple sauntered carelessly on, and, by a dexterous manuvre, came "right across the bows" of Mary Delaval.
We may be asked what two such undeniable dandies as good-looking Lacquers, of the Lancers, and Sir Ascot Uppercrust, of the Body-guard, should be doing in London at this time of the year. We cannot tell; for love or money probably--a redundancy of the one and a deficiency of the other being the two causes that generally drive young gentlemen to the metropolis, when their confiding companions are all "faded and gone." Be it how it may, there they were, and Mary Delaval wished them anywhere else, as, following in her wake, they made sundry complimentary remarks upon her figure, ankles, and general appearance, which might have been gratifying if overheard casually, but which, under the circ.u.mstances, were doubtless extremely impertinent and reprehensible.
"I think I"ll get forward, and ask her if she"s going home," said Lacquers; and, curling his great black moustaches, he quickened his pace to add this crowning insult to an unprotected woman.
Mary"s blood boiled in her veins--she was a soldier"s daughter, and her father"s spirit swelled her heart till it felt as if it would choke her--she clenched her long slender hand, and thought, almost aloud: "Oh, if I were but a man to strike the coward to the earth!--oh, if I were but a man to shoot him as he stands!" In such a mood women have shed blood ere now, but the excitement cannot last--the reaction too surely arrives; and, alas for woman"s pride and woman"s weakness! Mary returned the bold insolent stare with the defiant glance and the lofty carriage of a queen, and then--she burst into tears. It was too much; fatigue, anxiety, and disappointment had overcome her nerves, and she could have killed herself for the weakness, but she sobbed like a child.
Lacquers was a good-natured man, and a good fellow, as it is called, at heart--he was pained and thoroughly ashamed of himself. He took his hat off as if she had been a d.u.c.h.ess, and with a readiness that argued this was not a first offence, and did more credit to his ingenuity than his candour, he begged her pardon, and a.s.sured her he thought she was "his cousin"--"Quite a mistake, ma"am, I a.s.sure you--pray forgive me--good-morning;" and so bowed himself off arm-in-arm with his companion, who had preserved an immovable stoicism, almost preternatural in one so young, during the whole interview.
As Mary Delaval walked on, and gradually recovered her composure, she reflected somewhat bitterly on her lot, and looked back upon her life with a feeling of discontent, that for a moment seemed almost to upbraid Providence that she had not had a fair chance. It was but for a moment--Mary had been schooled in adversity, and had profited by its lessons. In some situations of life such a temperament as hers might have been p.r.o.ne to grow fastidious and uncharitable. Her ideal of good would have been very high, and she would have looked down with contempt upon the grovelling spirits that const.i.tuted the ma.s.s of her fellow-creatures. But poverty and dependence had taught her many a lesson, hard to learn, but harder to forget. What had she to do with pride?--a question to be asked, if you contemplated her tall, graceful figure, with its majestic sweep and lofty gestures--her G.o.ddess-like head, set on as if the Greek had carved its proportions with his unerring chisel--her dark, deep-set grey eye, with its long lashes, veiling a world of penetration, reflection, ay, and sentiment, for the happy man who could bid it kindle into love--her faultless profile and firm determined mouth, her father"s legacy, with the courage it betokened--her low, lovable brow, with its ma.s.ses of thick, dark brown hair plainly braided on each side of that pale, haunting face, beautiful in the deep expression which arrives only with the maturity of womanhood; with all this she might have been a queen, yet what had she to do with pride?--a question not to be asked of a friendless, desolate woman, trudging along the streets in the dreary isolation of loneliness in London, wasting her beauty in the strife for bread, wearing her talents threadbare in the drudgery of a daily music-mistress. What a lot if there were nothing beyond! To rise early in that dingy atmosphere--to breakfast hurriedly on such a spare meal as the lady"s-maid next door would deem insufficient for her mistress"s poodle--to leave the dreary lodging for the scarce less dreary street; day after day to make the same round, waiting upon vulgar parents and stupid children--day after day to bend rebellious fingers over the soul-breathing chords--to dissect the harmony of heaven into "one--two--three--four," "one--two--three--four,"--and day after day to return, wearied out in body and mind, to the solitary room which cannot be called a home, and the rent of which, dear on account of _the situation_, swallows up the hard-earned coins that should decorate and supply its vacuity; with nothing to cheer, nothing to amuse, nothing to console, not even the consciousness of that beauty which is only a cause of annoyance and remark; and, above all, with nothing to love--what a lot would this be, were there not a something to look forward to--a humble hope that this is but a state of trial and probation--a humble confidence that the reward is sure to come at last!
And who was Mary Delaval? One of the many instances of a child suffering for the sins of its parents. We have said her father was a soldier, but, alas! her mother never was, properly speaking, Mrs.
Delaval. Poor woman, she committed her one fault, and dearly she atoned for it. She shut the door upon herself, and her s.e.x took good care that it should never again show a c.h.i.n.k open to let her in. Trust them for that! she was not a proper person to be visited, and she remained outside. Captain Delaval would have married her, had he thought such a sacrifice on his part would have improved her position, for he loved her dearly; but he knew it could be of no use, in a worldly point of view, the only one in which he considered the subject, so he put it off and put it off, till too late. She never complained of the injustice done her, but it broke her heart. Rich in beauty and accomplishments, she had run away with the handsome, young artillery officer rather than be forced into a match which she detested, by a step-mother she despised. She had but one child, and on that child, it is needless to say, she doted foolishly. Delaval was a curious fellow, easy-tempered to a fault, careless of the world"s opinion, and of everything but his own comfort and indulgences; a gallant soldier, notwithstanding, as brave as a lion, and a perfect authority in the code of honour adopted by his profession. Yet, for all this, he allowed the mother of his child to go upon the stage, under a feigned name, that he might live in luxury upon her earnings.
Fortunately, it may be, for all parties, the artillery officer caught cold out duck-shooting, and was honoured with a military funeral some ten days afterwards. He left all he had, a small pittance, to the woman he had so deeply injured, and she retired with her daughter into a humble cottage in the West of England, where, for a time, they lived as happy as the day is long. Her whole energies were devoted to the education of her child. She taught her all she had herself learned--no mean list of acquirements--and young Mary Delaval (for, by the deceased officer"s wish, they always bore his name) was skilled far beyond other girls of her age in the graceful accomplishments of womanhood, as well as in those deeper studies which strengthen the mind and form the character of youth. But Mary"s girlhood had an advantage, in which her mother"s was deficient. That mother, with the earnestness of one into whose soul the iron had deeply entered, impressed upon her daughter the lesson she had herself so painfully learned: "Put not your trust in man," was the substance of many a tearful entreaty, many a sage homily, from the repentant sinner to her innocent child; and, though the girl"s faith was sadly shaken in the integrity of the creature, it was anch.o.r.ed all the more firmly in reliance on his Creator. The mother"s health was but precarious. Often she thought, "What will become of Mary when I must leave her alone in the world?" and, having little else to bestow, she bequeathed to her darling that best legacy of all, the heritage of an immortal soul.
Poor thing! her own const.i.tution had been sadly broken by anxiety and disappointment, and the heart-wearing conviction that she had given up home, comfort, friends, good fame, everything, to fasten her young pure love on an unworthy object. Oh! the sickening misery of that moment, when first the idol"s shrine is found to be a blank! when first the dreary misgiving dawns upon us, that the being for whom we have sacrificed our earthly all, and offered it with a smile--whom we have endued with all the attributes for which our own heart yearns--whom we have clothed with the gorgeous colouring of fancy, and decked in the false glitter of our own imagination--whom we have raised upon a pedestal, to place our neck beneath its feet, is but a stock or a stone, after all! Poor idolaters! are we not rightly punished? Have we not exalted man to be our G.o.d? and shall we worship the thing of clay with impunity? No; the very crime is made to bear its own atonement. Better that we should bow down to the dust, with crushed and empty hearts, than live on in the vain mockery of a false worship, in the degradation of a soul"s homage to a mortal deity.
Poor Mrs. Delaval (for as such was the penitent lady known) bore her punishment without a murmur; but it was a sad task to leave Mary among strangers, when failing strength and wasting limbs warned her that she must soon depart. The girl was in the first lovely bloom of womanhood, bright and beautiful as if she had never known sorrow or self-denial; and must she leave her now, when most she wants a mother"s care? G.o.d"s will be done! There is a humble grave, in the corner of a retired churchyard, far away in the West, marked by a plain grey stone, and the initial letters of a name--nothing more; and there the spring daisies are growing over the head of one who loved not wisely--who erred, and was forgiven, but not here.
Mary Delaval was left to fight single-handed against the world. A hard battle it is for those who are not furnished with the sinews of war.
The small sum bequeathed to her by her mother"s care was invested in a savings bank, _which failed_. By the way, the failure was casually mentioned in the morning papers, and trustees of savings banks, as they sipped their coffee, remarked, "Ah! another of these concerns broke: gross rascality somewhere, no doubt." We hope it proved a warning to them, to look a little carefully into affairs which they had pledged themselves to superintend, and not to grudge half-an-hour"s labour, when such a trifling effort might ward off the direst calamities from their humble neighbours. What was Mary to do?
Besides her beauty and the mourning on her back, she had literally nothing. And yet the girl"s heart never sank for a moment; she was possessed of that invincible Anglo-Saxon resolution, for which there is no better name than the colloquial one of "pluck." Had she been a man, she would have distinguished herself; as it was, perhaps the humble part she had to play required more courage, self-command, and self-reliance than the career of many a hero. One advantage she had over many others equally indigent--her talents were brilliant, her education had been excellent, and the natural conclusion at which she arrived was, that she must be a governess or teacher in a school. The former situation there was much difficulty in attaining, qualities which are prized in a lady being considered great drawbacks to a governess; but youth and good looks are not so much out of place in the latter; and Mary, after considerable difficulty, and a voluminous correspondence, found herself installed as second a.s.sistant in one of those strongholds of innocence and propriety, termed a young ladies"
seminary.
How different the life on which the orphan now embarked from all her previous experience of the world! She had been a merry little girl, in barracks, petted by officers from every regiment in the service (soldiers are all fond of children), and spoilt by papa, who thought nothing in the world equal to his little pet. She had grown into womanhood in the closest retirement of a small out-of-the-way village, a.s.sociating only with her refined and cultivated mother, and preparing for a life of difficulty by study and reflection; and now she found herself the inmate of a house in which there were thirty pupils, and where she had not even a room of her own, to escape from the gossiping chatter of the girls, or the solemn plat.i.tudes of Miss Primrose, the venerable Calypso who presided over these isolated nymphs. There never was such a place for ladies" schools as the cathedral town of Bishops"-Baffler; but, as we believe all these repositories of beauty and education are conducted upon the same principles, it is needless to describe them. Health and morals are studiously attended to, and the use of the back-board inflexibly insisted on, the male s.e.x, of course, strictly prohibited, and the arts and sciences, giving the former the preference, impartially administered. Young ladies are likewise taught to lie perfectly flat on their backs for several hours, we may say, literally, on a stretch, though of the object and intention of this feat, whether it is viewed in the light of a dreary penance, an innocent recreation, or a time-honoured inst.i.tution, it does not become us, in our ignorance, to give an opinion.
But Bishops"-Baffler, with all its advantages of salubrious air, constant bell-ringing, and redundancy of ecclesiastics, has one considerable drawback to those who take upon themselves the responsible charge of young ladies in the vicinity of a cavalry barracks. The morals of a cathedral town are not very easily deteriorated; but an order from the Horse Guards, determining that a certain number of jaunty forage-caps, jingling spurs, and dyed moustaches, should be continually swaggering up and down the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares of any city, though it adds to the liveliness, is not supposed to conduce much to the general respectability of the place; and with all our terrors of invasion, and our admiration, as civilians, of the military character--particularly the mounted arm--we confess to a partiality for it chiefly when removed beyond flirting distance from our dwelling-house, and acknowledge with grief and shame that its vicinity, in our own experience, has invariably over-roasted our mutton, multiplied our cobwebs, and placed our female establishment generally at sixes and sevens. But if we, an independent bachelor, are thus fain to be removed from the insidious sounds of "stable-call" and "watch-setting," from the fascinating sights of "watering-order" and "guard-mounting," what must have been good Miss Primrose"s care and anxiety to preserve her tender fledgelings from the roving glances of those dashing serjeant-majors, far more brilliant warriors than the very lieutenants and captains of the sober foot regiment that preceded them; or the dangerous proximity of those good-looking officers in their braided frock-coats and their well-cultivated moustaches, which serve equally as an amus.e.m.e.nt to themselves and a terror to their foes--a defence in war and an occupation in peace? Miss Primrose was a large woman; but she ought to have been a giantess to cover her brood as she would have wished, when, walking two-and-two along the pavement, they were continually encountering "the Loyal Hussars," mounted and dismounted, or entangling in the very sheep-fold of their innocence some wolf in undress uniform, who would persist in taking the wrong side of the "trottoir," and then jingling his spurs together in feigned apologies; merely, Miss Primrose well knew, as a pretext for peeping under their parasols and "uglies" at the pretty faces, blushing not in anger beneath those defences.
But what made the princ.i.p.al of the establishment, as she called herself, more wrathful than anything else, was to perceive that the figure on whom these warlike glances rested with the greatest marks of approval and admiration was not one of the young ladies upon whom she "lavished a mother"s care, and conferred a gentlewoman"s education"
(see advertis.e.m.e.nt)--not one of the lady pupils for whom she felt, as she expressed it, "she was responsible, body and soul," but the majestic person, and the sweet, sad face, of the junior a.s.sistant, Mary Delaval! "Had it been myself, for instance," thought Miss Primrose, drawing up her ample frame with a proud consciousness that, twenty years ago, she, too, had a lover, "or even Miss Meagrim" (the senior a.s.sistant, a gaunt and forbidding damsel), "who certainly has a "genteel" figure, or little Miss Dashwood, or rosy Miss Wright, I could have understood it; but the idea of that dowdy thing, with her pale face and her shabby mourning! it only shows the extraordinary tastes men have, and the unaccountable creatures they are from beginning to end."
And so poor Miss Primrose fell to ruminating on certain pa.s.sages of her own early career, and a blight which nipped her young affections in the bud through the inconstancy of man.
"Have you served?" says a Frenchman to his acquaintance. "Have you suffered?" might women as well ask of each other; and there are few amongst them, we fancy, but at one time of their lives have gone through the freemasonry of sorrow.
Miss Primrose did not look like a heroine; yet she, too, had had her romance. Well, it had softened her character, for naturally she was a strong-minded woman; and the pretty gipsies over whom she presided little thought how much that austere lady sympathised with all the innocent "_espiegleries_" and girlish follies she thought it right to rebuke so severely.
Now, even Miss Primrose could not help remarking that, notwithstanding the open admiration Mary Delaval everywhere excited, no London beauty of half-a-dozen seasons could have accepted the homage due to her charms with greater coldness and carelessness than did the junior a.s.sistant. The girl seemed to live in a separate world of her own, apart from the common pleasures and foibles of her s.e.x. She was kind and courteous to all, but she made no confidences, and had no female friend. She continued to wear her mourning-dress for years after the usual term that filial affection imposes, and with that mourning she seemed to bear about with her the continual memory, almost the companionship, of her dead mother. Even Miss Meagrim, whom she nursed through the jaundice, and who, with returning health, and a fresh accession of hideousness, confessed she owed her life to Miss Delaval"s care, owned that she could not make her out; and truth to tell, both that inquisitive lady and the formidable Miss Primrose herself, were a little afraid of their stately a.s.sistant, with her cla.s.sical beauty and her calm, sad face.
Years rolled on, and Mary Delaval, now in the mature bloom of womanhood, was still junior a.s.sistant at Miss Primrose"s, and might have remained there till her glorious figure was bent, and her glossy braids were grey, had it not been for that order from the Horse Guards, mentioned above, which moved the head-quarters of the "Loyal Hussars" from Waterbridge to Bishops"-Baffler. Much commotion was there in the town when this regiment of "_Cupidons_" in pelisses marched in with all the honours of war; nor were the chaste retreats of our academical sanctuary entirely free from the excitement that pervaded the neighbourhood. Miss Primrose had her "front" freshly oiled, curled, and submitted to a process which, we believe, is termed "baking"; Miss Meagrim appeared with new ribbons in her cap, of a hue strangely unbecoming to her complexion; whilst a general feeling amongst the pupils in favour of "a walk," whenever the weather afforded an opportunity, argued that the attraction, whatever it might be, was decidedly out-of-doors. Mary Delaval alone seemed supremely indifferent to the movements of the military, and yet her destiny it was that the arrival of these gaudy warriors influenced in a manner she of all people could least have foreseen.
We have said that of the usual pleasures of her kind she was utterly careless; but there was one enjoyment of which Mary never wearied, and in which she lost no opportunity of indulging when she could do so without attracting observation. This was, listening to a military band. It reminded her of her childhood--it reminded her of her mother--and she could stand entranced by its sounds for hours. In the gardens where the band played there used to be a porter"s lodge kept by an old fruit-woman, much patronised by the Primrose establishment, and with this ancient Pomona Mary made interest to occupy her little secluded parlour, and listen to the music, whenever her school duties permitted the indulgence. Now it happened that one sunny afternoon, when Mary, in her usual sombre attire, was snugly enjoying from her hiding-place the harmonious efforts of "the Loyals," a certain wealthy manufacturer"s lady was seized with a _physical_ giddiness as she promenaded in the gardens, and Captain D"Orville, _the_ great card of the regiment, came clanking into the porter"s lodge to get a gla.s.s of water for the dame, upon whom he was in close attendance. Mary was eager to a.s.sist in a case of distress, and the Captain, an avowed admirer of beauty, was completely staggered by the apparition he encountered in place of the grimy old woman he had expected to find within. D"Orville was a gentleman of experience, and, as became a man of war, fertile in resources. He spilt half the tumbler of water over Mary"s black gown, which _coup-de-main_ gave him an opportunity of excusing himself at length for his awkwardness, and prolonging his interview with the beautiful woman he had so unexpectedly fallen in with. The next day came a magnificent dress, and a note full of apologies, couched in the most respectful language, and addressed _Mrs._ Delaval. "I wonder how he found me out," thought Mary, "and why he did not put _Miss_." There was no signature to the note, and it was impossible to send the dress back, so she folded it in her drawer, and wondered what she ought to do, and what her mother would have advised.
After this, wherever Mary went, there was Captain D"Orville; at church, in her school walks, when she went out with Miss Primrose--he seemed to have an intuitive knowledge of her movements, and never to lose an opportunity of gazing at her. Mary was a woman, after all; she thought it was "very disagreeable," yet was the excitement not altogether unpleasing. Gaston D"Orville was strikingly handsome; in fact, generally considered "the best-looking fellow in the Loyals,"
with a peculiar charm of manner, and a thorough knowledge of the whole art, method, and practice of war as carried on against the weaker s.e.x.
What chance had the friendless teacher"s heart against such a conqueror? This--there was no treachery in the citadel--there was no gratified vanity to be the enemy"s best auxiliary, no trifling pique nor unworthy jealousy to make a conquest valuable merely as a conquest. Mary was one of the few women who can see things as they are, and not through the gla.s.ses of their own imagination or prejudice; and when she came to know him better, she perceived the hollow selfishness of the hardened man of the world, with a perspicuity of which he would have supposed "the handsome governess"
totally incapable. That she _should_ know him better he took good care, but his advances were so well timed, so respectful, and in such thoroughly good taste, that it was impossible to take umbrage at them, and Mary found herself, she scarce knew how, meeting Captain D"Orville _by accident_, walking with him as far as the end of the street, amused by his conversation, and interested in his character, before she had time to think where or how she had made his acquaintance, and in what manner such an acquaintance was likely to end. And D"Orville himself was really in love, in his own way, with "the handsome governess."
"There is no fool like an old one," he confided to his friend Lacquers, of the Lancers, in an epistle addressed to that philosopher at Brussels. "If I were a "marrying man," which you well know I am _not_, I should spend the rest of my life, unjust as would be the monopoly, with this glorious Mrs. Delaval. I always call her by that matronly t.i.tle; it is so much more respectful, and must make her feel so much more independent. She is only a teacher, my dear fellow, a teacher in a girls" school; and yet, for dignity and grace, and real "high-bred" manner, she might be a d.u.c.h.ess. Such a foot and hand! I can take my oath she has good blood in her veins. Altogether, she reminds me of your old mare, Sultana--as beautiful as a star--and looks as if she would die rather than give in. I never in my life saw a woman I admired half so much; you know I am generally pretty hard-hearted, but upon my word I begin to fear I have a soft place in me somewhere. And then, my dear Lacquers, what makes the thing so exciting is this--I do not believe she cares one toss of a halfpenny for me after all, and that if I were fool enough to offer to marry her to-morrow, she would quietly balance the advantages and disadvantages of the plan, and accept, or very likely _refuse_ me, with her calm, condescending dignity, extremely unflattering as it is, and without moving a muscle of her beautiful, placid countenance. Don"t she wish she may have the chance? and yet, absurd as it sounds, I am horribly in love with her. You will laugh at me "consumedly," and sometimes I feel half inclined to laugh at myself, dodging about the stupidest of places, as deeply smitten as if I were a cornet, regretting I ever came here, and yet not man enough to leave and go on detachment, which I have the option of doing. I shall see her again this evening, and come to a decision one way or the other, for this can"t go on. In the meantime, don"t show me up to a soul, and believe me," etc.
That very evening, a tall, good-looking man, in undress uniform, might have been seen, as indeed he was seen, by Miss Primrose"s housemaid, walking a magnificent grey charger, with its bridle over his arm, close to the foot-pavement in Crozier Street, deep in what seemed an interesting conversation with a beautiful woman in black.
"So you don"t believe we unfortunates ever _are_ disinterested, Mrs.
Delaval? I am afraid you have a very bad opinion of the whole s.e.x,"
said the gentleman, with a slight tremor in his voice, extremely unusual to him, and contrasting strangely with the steady, measured tones of his companion. "I cannot give an opinion where I have so little knowledge, Captain D"Orville," was the reply; she began to know him well now, and liked to talk _out_ with him, as a woman never does with a man for whom she cares; "I can only judge by what I see. It appears to me that you all live wholly and entirely for yourselves.
If you are clever, you pervert your talents to get the better of your friends in every allowable species of dishonesty; if you are brave, your courage is but made subservient to your vanity and self-aggrandis.e.m.e.nt; if you are rich, your money is devoted to your own indulgence and your own purposes. I never hear, now-a-days, of anything n.o.ble, anything disinterested, such as I have read of. But I am talking great nonsense," said Mary, checking herself, and smiling at her own enthusiasm, unconscious of the burning admiration with which the hussar"s eyes were riveted on her face. Like all _fast_ reckless men, there was a spice of romance about D"Orville, and he liked to bring out the latent powers of a mind somewhat akin to his own daring intellect, more particularly when that mind belonged to such a person as his companion.
"I could prove that men _may_ be disinterested, even in the nineteenth century," said he, and again his voice trembled as it sank almost to a whisper--"that there _are_ men who would give up station, profession, ambition, everything,--the present they enjoy, and the future they look forward to,--for the sake of one whom they esteemed--admired--in short, whom they _loved_." She would not understand him, and the calm brow was as calm as ever while she answered, "I cannot think so. I have seen quite enough as a child, for you know I am half a soldier myself, to give me no inclination to prosecute my studies in human nature. And yet I have my ideal of a hero too, but in these days there is no such character as a Leonidas, a Curtius (you know, we governesses must not forget our history), a William Tell, or a Montrose."
"I"ll wear thy colours in my cap, thy picture next my heart," muttered D"Orville; and then, carried away by the impulse of the moment, and forgetful of all his worldly prudence and good resolutions, he hurried impetuously on--"Listen to me, Mrs. Delaval; I may be presumptuous to speak thus to you on such short acquaintance, but you must have seen my regard--my attention--my devotion; I cannot bear to see you wasted here, thrown away in such a place as this--you who are meant for society and brilliancy, and everything that is worth having in life.
Will you rely upon _me_? will you suffer me to rescue you from this obscure lot? will you consider?" Mary stopped dead short, drew herself up, and looked her admirer full in the face: "I am so unused to this sort of language, Captain D"Orville," she observed, without a vestige of emotion, "that I do not clearly understand you. If what you have to say is fit for me to hear, pray explain yourself; if not, I wish you a good evening;" and pausing for an instant while she kept him, as it were, "chained in her eye," she turned round, and walked calmly and deliberately straight home to Miss Primrose"s.
The hussar was completely taken aback by the simplicity with which his attack had been repulsed. There he stood, opposite the grey horse, utterly confounded, and not knowing whether to advance or retreat.
Should he laugh the thing off, and descend to the meanness of pretending he had been in jest? He could not--no, he _dared_ not meet that calm, contemptuous eye. What an eye it was, and how he felt its influence even now! Should he hurry after her, and make a _bona fide_ proposal of marriage, such as no woman could receive but as a compliment? Psha! what! marry a governess? What would the mess say, and Lacquers, and his brother profligates? No, the good grey horse was galloped back to barracks, and D"Orville was the life and soul of the supper-party, which he returned just in time to join. What a contrast it was, with its brilliant lights, flushed countenances, noise, excitement, and revelry, to the still summer evening, and the pure, sweet face of Mary Delaval.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "She turned round and walked calmly and deliberately home."