He left the quiet town--crossed the bridge above the swift-flowing river, and wandered far away, slowly, as his partially-renewed strength alone would admit, and resting often, but still as if he breathed more freely the farther and farther he felt himself proceeding from the haunts of men; whilst at every step he took, beauty and magnificence, decking that bright spring morning in their best array, met his enchanted view; and the sense of enjoyment seemed to return, and that of loneliness to be--removed.
For the young man"s mood was one of those most sensitively to realise the idea, that "high mountains are a feeling, but the hum of human cities torture."
Thus he wandered on, till a hamlet, crowned by the woods of one or two gentlemen"s seats, came in view; and he was forced by his weakness to stop, and crave a cup of milk at a quiet farm in its outskirts, its simple inmates also inviting him to sit down and rest; and then he found that time had pa.s.sed much swifter than he thought, for it was long past noon.
Whilst he was lingering still, the church bells here too began to ring; and Eustace Trevor (for he it was) felt that he could not escape from the voice which seemed to cry unto his soul: "Let us go up into the house of the Lord."
The little church appeared to be almost empty, when he first entered; but an old lady and gentleman came in at the same time, and seeing the stranger, immediately offered him a seat in their large square pew; and he, though far from willingly, could not but accept the civility.
Other members were added to the congregation, and then a clergyman of infirm appearance entered the reading-desk, awaiting but that the noise of the school-children"s feet mounting to the little gallery should cease, to commence in a feeble voice the service.
Inattentive the ear--insensible the heart of that man who, having suffered deeply, finds himself unaffected, when first, after some period of cessation, prayer after prayer, clause after clause of our beautiful Liturgy breathes upon his ear.
Eustace Trevor was not that man; and fervent were the emotions inspired in a breast which long had yielded itself to a kind of morbid gloomy insensibility; and it was, perhaps, only the presence of strangers which rendered him able to restrain them from their more open demonstration.
Not, however, was it until the wild voices of the mountain children, enriched by notes of less untamed beauty, were raised in songs of praise, that any outward object diverted the absorption of his rapt spirit.
Then Eustace Trevor lifted up his eyes, and could not fail to remark three young ladies also in the gallery, who stood side by side, mingling their voices with the humble choir; and their appearance at once fixed his attention, not so much for any personal beauty they might possess, as for the goodness, innocence, and unaffected devotion shining so clearly on each upturned face. In proof of which it might have been observed, that after the first general glance over the group, it was not so much on the elder of the sisters, lovely in a most striking degree, neither upon the blooming Hebe of fifteen, as upon that pale, and gentle-looking girl, who stood between the two, on whom the stranger"s eye more especially lingered--and loved her, even as he gazed.
For there was something in the pensive sweetness of those eyes--the open purity of the brow--the meek and quiet, yet high-toned spirit, which shone from every feature of the young girl"s face, that went directly to his heart. His excited fancy even travelled so far, as to behold in her a likeness to that being who had pa.s.sed into the heavens; and once--only once, when her voice in sweet but timid accents swelled singly in the choir, he held his breath to catch each low, yet thrilling tone, "for it sounds to him like his mother"s voice singing in Paradise."
Eustace Trevor returned to the inn, but more than once during the following week did the stranger turn his pony"s head towards the valley of Ll---- (we will spare our readers a name they perhaps would not be able to read aright); and on Sunday afternoon, he did not fail again to seek the village church, expecting that it would be for the last time--for he purposed departing on the morrow--it not suiting his intentions to remain in any one place so long as to draw down upon himself remark or inquiry.
And perhaps a few weeks more, had he carried out his designs, might have found him a wanderer on a foreign sh.o.r.e. But who can tell what a day may bring forth?
It was early when he arrived at the church, the bells even had not began; and on repairing to a retired part of the church-yard, where a lovely view was to be obtained, he suddenly came in contact with the clergyman who had officiated the previous Sunday.
He bowed to Eustace--who returned the salutation--and pa.s.sed on with feeble steps, having regarded the stranger somewhat curiously; but scarcely had the latter reached his destined resting-place, when he heard a footstep approaching, and looking round saw the clergyman had returned, and immediately accosted him.
"Sir," speaking with evident difficulty, "I must beg you to excuse the liberty I am taking in thus addressing you; but may I ask--I scarcely dare to hope it to be the case--may I ask," glancing at Eustace"s black garb, and the deep c.r.a.pe round his hat, "whether by any chance you are a clergyman?"
Eustace was taken by surprise, but a melancholy smile crossed his features, as he looked and murmured an affirmative.
The inquirer"s countenance evidently brightened.
"I conclude, Sir, that you are a stranger in these parts," he rejoined.
"I think I saw you here last Sunday--I scarcely know whether you will not think me very bold, when I ask you whether you would be so very obliging as to a.s.sist me in the service this afternoon? A friend whom I expected has failed me at the last moment; and you will hear, by my voice, that if I am able to get through a ten minutes" sermon, it will be as much as I can manage."
Eustace Trevor thought so indeed--but the sudden demand upon his services almost bewildered him, and for a moment he was silent. The clergyman looked a little surprised at the apparent hesitation, a perception of which recalled Eustace to recollection.
What right had he to refuse--what excuse could he offer?
He looked upon the evidently suffering man, and said he should be happy to lend him the a.s.sistance he required.
The clergyman thanked him warmly, and they walked together to the vestry.
Eustace Trevor, with strange feelings, found himself thus called to enter upon the duties of the profession, it had become almost like a dream to him ever to have embraced.
CHAPTER XXII.
This man Is of no common order, as his front And presence here denote.
BYRON.
"Oh Lord correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing."
Not an eye perhaps amongst that little congregation that was not lifted up, when, in thrilling strains, like the rich deep notes of an organ, the stranger"s voice swept through the low arches of the simple temple, in that opening sentence of the service.
Not one amongst them, the most simple and illiterate, who did not hold their breath as he proceeded, lest they should lose one note of a voice
"Most musical, most melancholy,"
which gave such new magic to each familiar word of prayer, or praise, or exhortation he offered up.
"Who could that be? who read the prayers, Mary?" said Selina Seaham to her sister, when they left the church. "It is the same stranger who sat in our pew last Sunday."
"What a beautiful voice!" was the answer.
"Most beautiful; but more than that, Mary, I never saw a more striking looking person."
"I did not look at him," was the quiet reply; "I only _felt_ that the prayers and lessons were read as _we_ seldom hear them."
"Poor Mr. Wynne! it was painful to listen to him afterwards. It is really cruel that he cannot get a more regular a.s.sistant: Sir Hugh should really manage it for him. Mary, do use your influence over the worthy Baronet when he returns," the sister added slyly.
Mary blushed, and shook her head. She had a short time ago yielded up all claims upon the influence she might so largely have possessed; but ere the following Sunday came round, the wishes of the young ladies, in this respect, had been satisfied beyond their most sanguine expectations.
Eustace Trevor had not been able to escape from the church, at the close of the service, without a renewal of the clergyman"s thanks for the services he had so obligingly rendered him. Indeed, even then he did not seem at all inclined to part from his stranger friend; and after a little more conversation respecting the beauties of the neighbourhood, he offered--seeing that Eustace also had his horse in readiness--to conduct him a little _en detour_ from the route back to ----, in order to show him the view from his own house, most romantically situated amidst the woods on the high ground flanking the valley. Eustace could not well decline the offer, and they rode on together.
His companion had soon shown himself to be a man of higher birth and education, than are usually found amongst ministers of such remote districts of the Princ.i.p.ality. He had been settled for many years in this living, and was enthusiastic in his love and admiration of the country; so much so, that it seemed not even his failing health could induce him to relinquish his post; although, as it had been the case this afternoon, both himself and congregation often ran the risk of being put to great inconvenience and extremity: the asthmatic complaint under which he laboured being of a most uncertain and capricious character, and the English service being entirely dependant on his powers.
All this the good man communicated to Eustace on the way. His frank and simple confidence on every subject connected with himself and his concerns, without the least demonstration of curiosity respecting his companion, winning gradually on Eustace"s sensations of security and ease, he accepted the clergyman"s invitation to enter his abode; the beauty and romantic seclusion of whose situation excited his deep admiration and envy.
The original, but amiable and intelligent conversation of its possessor, won more and more on his favour and confidence; the other, on his part, evidently felt himself to be in the society of a being to whom some more than common degree of interest attached. His keen observant eye saw imprinted upon that striking countenance more than any mere bodily illness, from which the stranger reported himself to have but lately recovered. The snares of death might have encompa.s.sed him round about, and the pains of h.e.l.l got hold of him; but they were those sorrows and pains such as the Psalmist himself had gained such deep experience of, rather than any physical affliction which had engraven those strong signs there.
It was truly, as a great writer of the day has expressed himself, "the mournfulest face that ever was seen--an altogether tragic, heart-affecting face. There was in it, as foundation, the softness, tenderness, gentle affection, as of a child; but all this, as it were, congealed into sharp, isolated, hopeless pain; a silent pain--silent and scornful. The lip curled, as it were, in a kind of G.o.d-like disdain of the thing that is eating out his heart; as if he whom it had power to torture were greater than the cause."
"The eye, too, that dark earnest eye, looking out as in a kind of surprise, a kind of inquiry, why the world was of that sort!"
Mr. Wynne had many questions put to him concerning the remarkable looking stranger, from the ladies of Glan Pennant, when they met the next day. All he could tell them was, that the stranger was perfectly unknown to him, that he had no idea even of his name; that he now talked of leaving the neighbourhood early that week, but Mr. Wynne added, he was to call at the inn at ----, and hoped to find that he was able to persuade his new acquaintance to remain and explore a little longer the beauties of the vicinity, and at the same time, he slyly added, "give them a second benefit of his beautiful voice." The young ladies as slyly hoped their worthy friend might have his hopes crowned with success. And their desire was not ungratified. The following Sunday the beautiful voice once more made itself heard.
A great deal had taken place to change the tenor of Eustace Trevor"s views and purposes during that one short week. Only too readily had he yielded to the parting persuasions of Mr. Wynne, that he would at least extend his stay beyond the day he had mentioned as having been fixed for his departure. Nay, even as he turned his horse"s head back towards ----, had the yearning desire diffused itself through his heart, that instead of that hopeless, homeless, outcast fate to which he had devoted himself, it could have been his lot to find a little spot of earth like that in which this day he had first performed the duties of a profession he had once thought to commence under such different circ.u.mstances--a spot, from the spirit of beauty, innocence, purity and peace, seeming to breathe around, as contrasted with that world--that _home_, from which he had been driven, appeared to his imagination scarcely less than a little heaven upon earth, a different sphere to any in which he had yet existed.
But this was but an imaginary suggestion--a dream-like fancy which vaguely flitted across his mind, ill accordant with his dark and bitter destiny. The very next day his new friend called. They rode out again together, and one or two such meetings only served to strengthen between these two men, of such different ages, characters and circ.u.mstances, that strange and sudden liking which is often found to spring up between two pa.s.sing strangers of to-day, as necessarily as flowers expand from bud to blossom in the course of a few sunny and dewy hours of one vernal morning. As much then was elicited from Eustace, as revealed pretty clearly to the other the purposeless circ.u.mstances of his present position--