"My dear young lady, I beg ten thousand pardons, but really at the moment you spoke I was just debating within myself whether you were a veritable fact or only an optical illusion. Having now satisfied myself on that head, I beg you will repeat your questions, which, unfortunately, in the excitement of the moment, I did not pay proper attention to, and any information regarding myself personally and privately, or concerning the world at large, that it lies in my power to offer you, I shall be only too happy to communicate."
And with this speech the young gentleman bowed once more, without rising, however, replaced his hat, and getting himself into a comfortable position, lay back on the sands, and supporting his head on his hands, composedly waited to be cross-examined.
"Humph!" said Georgia, regarding him doubtfully. "What is your name?"
"My name is Norval; on the Grampian hills--that is, it might have been Norval, only it happened to be Wildair--Charley Wildair, at your service, noted for nothing in particular but good-nature and idleness.
And now, having satisfied your natural and laudable curiosity on that point, may I humbly venture to ask the name of the fascinating young lady who at this particular moment honors me with her presence?"
"Well, you may. My name"s Georgia Darrell, and I live up there in that little cottage. Now, where do _you_ live?"
"Miss Darrell, allow me to observe that it affords me the most dreadful and excruciating happiness to make the acquaintance of so charming and accomplished a young lady as yourself, and also to observe, that in all my wanderings through this nether world, it has never been my good fortune before to behold so perfectly fascinating a cottage as that to which you refer. Regarding my own place of residence, I cannot inform you positively, being a--"in point of fact," as my cousin Feenix has it--a wanderer and vagabond on the face of the earth, with no fixed place of abode. My maternal ancestor resides in a place called Brooklyn, a younger sister of New York city, and when not doing up my education in the aforesaid city, I honor that venerable roof-tree with my presence.
At present, if you observe, I am vegetating in the flourishing and intensely slow town of Burnfield over yonder, with my respected and deeply venerated uncle, Mr. Robert Richmond, a gentleman chiefly remarkable for the length of his purse and the shortness of his temper."
"Squire Richmond"s nephews! I heard they had come. Are you them?"
inquired Georgia, stepping back a pace, and speaking in a slightly awed tone.
"Exactly, Miss Darrell. With your usual penetration and good genius, you have hit the right thing exactly in the middle; only, if you will allow me, I must insinuate that I am not his nephews--not being an editor, I have not the good fortune to be a plural individual; but with my Brother Richard we do, I am happy to inform you, const.i.tute the dutiful nephews of your Burnfield magnate, Squire Richmond."
"Hum-m-m!" said Georgia, looking at him with a puzzled expression, and not exactly liking his indolent look and intensely ceremonious tone.
"You ain"t laughing at me, are you?"
"Laughing at you! Miss Darrell, if you"ll just be kind enough to cast an eye on my countenance you"ll observe it"s considerably more serious than an undertaker"s, or that of a man with a sick wife when told she is likely to recover. Allow me to observe, Miss Darrell, that I suffered through the "principles of politeness" when I was an innocent and guileless little shaver, in checked pinafores, and I hope I know the proprieties better than to laugh at a lady. A fellow that would laugh at a young woman, Miss Darrell, deserves to be--to be--a--a mark for the finger of scorn to poke fun at! Yes, Miss Darrell, I repeat it, he deserves to be a--I don"t know what he doesn"t deserve to be!" said Mr.
Wildair, firmly.
"Well," said Georgia, rather mollified, "and what did you come up here for, anyway, eh?"
"Why, you see, Miss Darrell, the fact was, I was what you call expelled,--which being translated from the original Greek into plain slang, the chosen language of young America,--means I was politely requested to vamose."
"Oh," said Georgia, puckering up her lips as though she were going to whistle, "you mean they turned you out?"
"Pre-cisely! exactly! They couldn"t properly appreciate me, you know.
Genius never is appreciated, if you observe, but is always neglected, and snubbed, and put upon, in this world. Look at Shakespeare, and Oliver Goldsmith, and all those other old fellows that got up works of fiction, and see the hard times and tribulations they had of it."
"And how long are you going to stay here?" asked Georgia.
"That depends upon as long as I behave nicely, and don"t endeavor to corrupt the minds of the rising generation of Burnfield, I suppose. I"ve been a perfect angel since I came, and would be at all times if they didn"t aggravate me. My mother was very disagreeable."
"My mother was not--mamma never was disagreeable," said Georgia.
"Indeed! Wonderful old lady she must have been then! Is she living?"
"No: she"s dead," said Georgia, looking down with filling eyes.
"Ah! excuse me. I didn"t know," said the boy, hastily. "And your father?"
"Dead, too."
"Possible! With whom do you live?"
"Miss Jerusha."
"Miss Jerusha--who?"
"Skamp. She lives up in that cottage."
"Skamp! There"s a pretty name to talk about! Old-lady, is she?"
"Yes; old and ugly."
"Ah! I guess I sha"n"t mind an introduction, then. And what brings you down here, Miss Darrell? It"s my time to ask questions now."
"Why, I came down here to read; and now, look here, I wish you wouldn"t keep on calling me Miss Darrell; it sounds as if you were laughing at me. Say Georgia."
"With all my heart. Georgia be it--on one condition."
"Well, what is it?"
"That you call me Charley."
"Of course I"ll call you Charley," said Georgia, decidedly; "I intended to all along. You didn"t expect I"d say mister, did you?"
"Of course I didn"t; I never indulge in absurd expectations. And may I ask the name of the book so fortunate as to find favor in your eyes, Miss Georgia?"
"Well, it"s the "Pilgrim"s Progress." I don"t think much of it either--all about a man going on a journey, and getting into all sorts of sc.r.a.pes. I don"t believe it ever happened at all, for my part. And now, as you seem to like taking things easy, I guess I will too; so here we go!" said Georgia, as, shoving the book into her pocket, she made a spring forward, and by some mysterious sleight of hand, only understood by cats, monkeys, sailors, and depraved youths given to mischief, she clambered up the steep side of the high, smooth rock, and perched herself in triumph on the top, like a female Apollo on the apex of Mount Parna.s.sus.
The young gentleman on the sands lifted himself on his elbow and stared at the little girl in a sort of indolent wonder at this energetic proceeding.
"Eh, what? you"re up there, are you? May I ask, Miss Georgia, if it is your custom to perch yourself up there, like Patience on a monument, whenever you wish to appreciate the beauties of literature? Oh! the amount of unnecessary trouble people put themselves to in this world!
Now why--I simply ask as a matter of courtesy--what possible object can you have in risking your neck in order to be slightly elevated above your fellow-mortals, eh?"
"Just for fun," said Georgia, as standing on one toe she cut a pigeon-wing, at the imminent danger of tumbling off and breaking her neck.
"For fun! Well, it"s singular what perverted notions of amus.e.m.e.nt some people have. Now I--I"m about as fond of that sort of a thing, I may safely say, as any other youth; yet you"ll excuse me when I say I really cannot see the point of that joke at all."
"_You_ couldn"t do it," said Georgia, exultingly; "bet you any thing you could not."
"Well, now, I don"t know about that," said the youth, surveying the rock slowly with his large, indolent eyes; "of course, it"s not polite or proper to contradict a lady, or else I should beg leave to differ from you in that opinion. There are precious few things, Miss Georgia, that I ever attempted and failed to execute, though I say it. I"m what you may call a universal genius, you know, equal to a steep rock, or any other emergency, up to anything, ancient or modern, or, to use another favorite and expressive phrase of Young America, a cla.s.s to which I am proud to belong--I am, in every sense of the word, "up to snuff.""
"Bother!" exclaimed Georgia, to whom this homily, like all the lad"s speeches, was Greek, or thereabouts. "It"s all very fine to lie there like a lazy old porpoise, and talk such stuff, but you can"t climb this rock, say what you like--now then."
"Can"t I though!" exclaimed Master Charley, flinging away his cigar and springing up with more energy than might have been expected from his previous indolence, which, however, was more than half affected. "By Jove! then, here goes to try. Miss Georgia, if in my efforts in your service I turn out to be a case of "Accidentally killed," you"ll see that the coroner"s inquest is held properly, and that all my goods and chattels, consisting of a cigar-case, a clean shirt, and a jackknife, are promptly forwarded to my bereaved relative. Now then, here goes!
"_Dieu et mon droit!_""
So saying, the lad, with a great deal more skill and agility than Georgia had given him credit for, began climbing up the high rock. It was no easy task, however, for the sides were quite perpendicular and almost perfectly smooth, only suited to sailors and other aquatic monsters used to climbing impossible places.
Georgia clapped her hands and laughed her shrill elfish laugh at his desperate efforts, and, taunted by this, the boy made a sudden spring at the top, missed his footing, and tumbled off backward on the sands below.
With a sharp exclamation of alarm, Georgia, with one flying leap, sprang clear off the beetling rock, and alighted, cat-like, on her feet by his side. The lad lay perfectly still, and Georgia, terrified beyond measure, bent over and tried to raise him, and not succeeding in this, suddenly bethought herself of Miss Jerusha"s infallible plan for all distresses, mental and bodily, and, catching him by the shoulder, gave him a sound shaking.