CHAPTER I.
Ā Ā INTRODUCTORY.
Ā Ā THE other day, in looking over my papers, I found in
my desk the following copy of a letter, sent by me a year since to
an old school acquaintance: -
Ā Ā "DEAR CHARLES, "I think when you and I were at Eton
together, we were neither of us what could be called popular
characters: you were a sarcastic, observant, shrewd, cold-blooded
creature; my own portrait I will not attempt to draw, but I cannot
recollect that it was a strikingly attractive one - can you? What
animal magnetism drew thee and me together I know not; certainly I
never experienced anything of the Pylades and Orestes sentiment for
you, and I have reason to believe that you, on your part, were
equally free from all romantic regard to me. Still, out of school
hours we walked and talked continually together; when the theme of
conversation was our companions or our masters we understood each
other, and when I recurred to some sentiment of affection, some
vague love of an excellent or beautiful object, whether in animate
or inanimate nature, your sardonic coldness did not move me. I felt
myself superior to that check THEN as I do NOW.
Ā Ā "It is a long time since I wrote to you, and a still
longer time since I saw you. Chancing to take up a newspaper of
your county the other day, my eye fell upon your name. I began to
think of old times; to run over the events which have transpired
since we separated; and I sat down and commenced this letter. What
you have been doing I know not; but you shall hear, if you choose
to listen, how the world has wagged with me.
Ā Ā "First, after leaving Eton, I had an interview with
my maternal uncles, Lord Tynedale and the Hon. John Seacombe. They
asked me if I would enter the Church, and my uncle the nobleman
offered me the living of Seacombe, which is in his gift, if I
would; then my other uncle, Mr. Seacombe, hinted that when I became
rector of Seacombe-cum-Scaife, I might perhaps be allowed to take,
as mistress of my house and head of my parish, one of my six
cousins, his daughters, all of whom I greatly dislike.
Ā Ā "I declined both the Church and matrimony. A good
clergyman is a good thing, but I should have made a very bad one.
As to the wife - oh how like a night-mare is the thought of being
bound for life to one of my cousins! No doubt they are accomplished
and pretty; but not an accomplishment, not a charm of theirs,
touches a chord in my bosom. To think of passing the winter
evenings by the parlour fire-side of Seacombe Rectory alone with
one of them - for instance, the large and well-modelled statue,
Sarah - no; I should be a bad husband, under such circumstances, as
well as a bad clergyman.
Ā Ā "When I had declined my uncles' offers they asked me
'what I intended to do?' I said I should reflect. They reminded me
that I had no fortune, and no expectation of any, and, after a
considerable pause, Lord Tynedale demanded sternly, 'Whether I had
thoughts of following my father's steps and engaging in trade?'
Now, I had had no thoughts of the sort. I do not think that my turn
of mind qualifies me to make a good tradesman; my taste, my
ambition does not lie in that way; but such was the scorn expressed
in Lord Tynedale's countenance as he pronounced the word TRADE -
such the contemptuous sarcasm of his tone - that I was instantly
decided. My father was but a name to me, yet that name I did not
like to hear mentioned with a sneer to my very face. I answered
then, with haste and warmth, 'I cannot do better than follow in my
father's steps; yes, I will be a tradesman.' My uncles did not
remonstrate; they and I parted with mutual disgust. In reviewing
this transaction, I find that I was quite right to shake off the
burden of Tynedale's patronage, but a fool to offer my shoulders
instantly for the reception of another burden - one which might be
more intolerable, and which certainly was yet untried.
Ā Ā "I wrote instantly to Edward - you know Edward - my
only brother, ten years my senior, married to a rich mill-owner's
daughter, and now possessor of the mill and business which was my
father's before he failed. You are aware that my father-once
reckoned a Croesus of wealth - became bankrupt a short time
previous to his death, and that my mother lived in destitution for
some six months after him, unhelped by her aristocratical brothers,
whom she had mortally offended by her union with Crimsworth, the -
- shire manufacturer. At the end of the six months she brought me
into the world, and then herself left it without, I should think,
much regret, as it contained little hope or comfort for her.
Ā Ā "My father's relations took charge of Edward, as
they did of me, till I was nine years old. At that period it
chanced that the representation of an important borough in our
county fell vacant; Mr. Seacombe stood for it. My uncle Crimsworth,
an astute mercantile man, took the opportunity of writing a fierce
letter to the candidate, stating that if he and Lord Tynedale did
not consent to do something towards the support of their sister's
orphan children, he would expose their relentless and malignant
conduct towards that sister, and do his best to turn the
circumstances against Mr. Seacombe's election. That gentleman and
Lord T. knew well enough that the Crimsworths were an unscrupulous
and determined race; they knew also that they had influence in the
borough of X - - ; and, making a virtue of necessity, they
consented to defray the expenses of my education. I was sent to
Eton, where I remained ten years, during which space of time Edward
and I never met. He, when he grew up, entered into trade, and
pursued his calling with such diligence, ability, and success, that
now, in his thirtieth year, he was fast making a fortune. Of this I
was apprised by the occasional short letters I received from him,
some three or four times a year; which said letters never concluded
without some expression of determined enmity against the house of
Seacombe, and some reproach to me for living, as he said, on the
bounty of that house. At first, while still in boyhood, I could not
understand why, as I had no parents, I should not be indebted to my
uncles Tynedale and Seacombe for my education; but as I grew up,
and heard by degrees of the persevering hostility, the hatred till
death evinced by them against my father - of the sufferings of my
mother - of all the wrongs, in short, of our house - then did I
conceive shame of the dependence in which I lived, and form a
resolution no more to take bread from hands which had refused to
minister to the necessities of my dying mother. It was by these
feelings I was influenced when I refused the Rectory of Seacombe,
and the union with one of my patrician cousins.
Ā Ā "An irreparable breach thus being effected between
my uncles and myself, I wrote to Edward; told him what had
occurred, and informed him of my intention to follow his steps and
be a tradesman. I asked, moreover, if he could give me employment.
His answer expressed no approbation of my conduct, but he said I
might come down to - - shire, if I liked, and he would 'see what
could be done in the way of furnishing me with work.' I repressed
all - even mental comment on his note - packed my trunk and
carpet-bag, and started for the North directly.
Ā Ā "After two days' travelling (railroads were not then
in existence) I arrived, one wet October afternoon, in the town of
X - -. I had always understood that Edward lived in this town, but
on inquiry I found that it was only Mr. Crimsworth's mill and
warehouse which were situated in the smoky atmosphere of Bigben
Close; his RESIDENCE lay four miles out, in the country.
Ā Ā "It was late in the evening when I alighted at the
gates of the habitation designated to me as my brother's. As I
advanced up the avenue, I could see through the shades of twilight,
and the dark gloomy mists which deepened those shades, that the
house was large, and the grounds surrounding it sufficiently
spacious. I paused a moment on the lawn in front, and leaning my
back against a tall tree which rose in the centre, I gazed with
interest on the exterior of Crimsworth Hall.
Ā Ā "Edward is rich," thought I to myself. 'I believed
him to be doing well - but I did not know he was master of a
mansion like this.' Cutting short all marvelling; speculation,
conjecture, and c., I advanced to the front door and rang. A
man-servant opened it - I announced myself - he relieved me of my
wet cloak and carpet-bag, and ushered me into a room furnished as a
library, where there was a bright fire and candles burning on the
table; he informed me that his master was not yet returned from X -
- market, but that he would certainly be at home in the course of
half an hour.
Ā Ā "Being left to myself, I took the stuffed easy
chair, covered with red morocco, which stood by the fireside, and
while my eyes watched the flames dart from the glowing coals, and
the cinders fall at intervals on the hearth, my mind busied itself
in conjectures concerning the meeting about to take place. Amidst
much that was doubtful in the subject of these conjectures, there
was one thing tolerably certain - I was in no danger of
encountering severe disappointment; from this, the moderation of my
expectations guaranteed me. I anticipated no overflowings of
fraternal tenderness; Edward's letters had always been such as to
prevent the engendering or harbouring of delusions of this sort.
Still, as I sat awaiting his arrival, I felt eager - very eager - I
cannot tell you why; my hand, so utterly a stranger to the grasp of
a kindred hand, clenched itself to repress the tremor with which
impatience would fain have shaken it.
Ā Ā "I thought of my uncles; and as I was engaged in
wondering whether Edward's indifference would equal the cold
disdain I had always experienced from them, I heard the avenue
gates open: wheels approached the house; Mr. Crimsworth was
arrived; and after the lapse of some minutes, and a brief dialogue
between himself and his servant in the hall, his tread drew near
the library door - that tread alone announced the master of the
house.
Ā Ā "I still retained some confused recollection of
Edward as he was ten years ago - a tall, wiry, raw youth; NOW, as I
rose from my seat and turned towards the library door, I saw a
fine-looking and powerful man, light-complexioned, well-made, and
of athletic proportions; the first glance made me aware of an air
of promptitude and sharpness, shown as well in his movements as in
his port, his eye, and the general expression of his face. He
greeted me with brevity, and, in the moment of shaking hands,
scanned me from head to foot; he took his seat in the morocco
covered arm-chair, and motioned me to another sent.
Ā Ā "'I expected you would have called at the
counting-house in the Close,' said he; and his voice, I noticed,
had an abrupt accent, probably habitual to him; he spoke also with
a guttural northern tone, which sounded harsh in my ears,
accustomed to the silvery utterance of the South.
Ā Ā "'The landlord of the inn, where the coach stopped,
directed me here,' said I. 'I doubted at first the accuracy of his
information, not being aware that you had such a residence as
this.'
Ā Ā "'Oh, it is all right!' he replied, 'only I was kept
half an hour behind time, waiting for you - that is all. I thought
you must be coming by the eight o'clock coach.'
Ā Ā "I expressed regret that he had had to wait; he made
no answer, but stirred the fire, as if to cover a movement of
impatience; then he scanned me again.
Ā Ā "I felt an inward satisfaction that I had not, in
the first moment of meeting, betrayed any warmth, any enthusiasm;
that I had saluted this man with a quiet and steady phlegm.
Ā Ā "'Have you quite broken with Tynedale and Seacombe?'
he asked hastily.
Ā Ā "'I do not think I shall have any further
communication with them; my refusal of their proposals will, I
fancy, operate as a barrier against all future intercourse.'
Ā Ā "'Why,' said he, 'I may as well remind you at the
very outset of our connection, that "no man can serve two masters."
Acquaintance with Lord Tynedale will be incompatible with
assistance from me.' There was a kind of gratuitous menace in his
eye as he looked at me in finishing this observation.
Ā Ā "Feeling no disposition to reply to him, I contented
myself with an inward speculation on the differences which exist in
the constitution of men's minds. I do not know what inference Mr.
Crimsworth drew from my silence - whether he considered it a
symptom of contumacity or an evidence of my being cowed by his
peremptory manner. After a long and hard stare at me, he rose
sharply from his seat.
Ā Ā "'To-morrow,' said he, 'I shall call your attention
to some other points; but now it is supper time, and Mrs.
Crimsworth is probably waiting; will you come?'
Ā Ā "He strode from the room, and I followed. In
crossing the hall, I wondered what Mrs. Crimsworth might be. 'Is
she,' thought I, 'as alien to what I like as Tynedale, Seacombe,
the Misses Seacombe - as the affectionate relative now striding
before me? or is she better than these? Shall I, in conversing with
her, feel free to show something of my real nature; or - ' Further
conjectures were arrested by my entrance into the dining-room.
Ā Ā "A lamp, burning under a shade of ground-glass,
showed a handsome apartment, wainscoted with oak; supper was laid
on the table; by the fire-place, standing as if waiting our
entrance, appeared a lady; she was young, tall, and well shaped;
her dress was handsome and fashionable: so much my first glance
sufficed to ascertain. A gay salutation passed between her and Mr.
Crimsworth; she chid him, half playfully, half poutingly, for being
late; her voice (I always take voices into the account in judging
of character) was lively - it indicated, I thought, good animal
spirits. Mr. Crimsworth soon checked her animated scolding with a
kiss - a kiss that still told of the bridegroom (they had not yet
been married a year); she took her seat at the supper-table in
first-rate spirits. Perceiving me, she begged my pardon for not
noticing me before, and then shook hands with me, as ladies do when
a flow of good-humour disposes them to be cheerful to all, even the
most indifferent of their acquaintance. It was now further obvious
to me that she had a good complexion, and features sufficiently
marked but agreeable; her hair was red - quite red. She and Edward
talked much, always in a vein of playful contention; she was vexed,
or pretended to be vexed, that he had that day driven a vicious
horse in the gig, and he made light of her fears. Sometimes she
appealed to me.
Ā Ā "'Now, Mr. William, isn't it absurd in Edward to
talk so? He says he will drive Jack, and no other horse, and the
brute has thrown him twice already.
Ā Ā "She spoke with a kind of lisp, not disagreeable,
but childish. I soon saw also that there was more than girlish - a
somewhat infantine expression in her by no means small features;
this lisp and expression were, I have no doubt, a charm in Edward's
eyes, and would be so to those: of most men, but they were not to
mine. I sought her eye, desirous to read there the intelligence
which I could not discern in her face or hear in her conversation;
it was merry, rather small; by turns I saw vivacity, vanity,
coquetry, look out through its irid, but I watched in vain for a
glimpse of soul. I am no Oriental; white necks, carmine lips and
cheeks, clusters of bright curls, do not suffice for me without
that Promethean spark which will live after the roses and lilies
are faded, the burnished hair grown grey. In sunshine, in
prosperity, the flowers are very well; but how many wet days are
there in life - November seasons of disaster, when a man's hearth
and home would be cold indeed, without the clear, cheering gleam of
intellect.
Ā Ā "Having perused the fair page of Mrs. Crimsworth's
face, a deep, involuntary sigh announced my disappointment; she
took it as a homage to her beauty, and Edward, who was evidently
proud of his rich and handsome young wife, threw on me a glance -
half ridicule, half ire.
Ā Ā "I turned from them both, and gazing wearily round
the room, I saw two pictures set in the oak panelling - one on each
side the mantel-piece. Ceasing to take part in the bantering
conversation that flowed on between Mr. and Mrs. Crimsworth, I bent
my thoughts to the examination of these pictures. They were
portraits - a lady and a gentleman, both costumed in the fashion of
twenty years ago. The gentleman was in the shade. I could not see
him well. The lady had the benefit of a full beam from the softly
shaded lamp. I presently recognised her; I had seen this picture
before in childhood; it was my mother; that and the companion
picture being the only heir-looms saved out of the sale of my
father's property.
Ā Ā "The face, I remembered, had pleased me as a boy,
but then I did not understand it; now I knew how rare that class of
face is in the world, and I appreciated keenly its thoughtful, yet
gentle expression. The serious grey eye possessed for me a strong
charm, as did certain lines in the features indicative of most true
and tender feeling. I was sorry it was only a picture.
Ā Ā "I soon left Mr. and Mrs. Crimsworth to themselves;
a servant conducted me to my bed-room; in closing my chamber-door,
I shut out all intruders - you, Charles, as well as the rest.
Ā Ā "Good-bye for the present, "WILLIAM CRIMSWORTH."
Ā Ā To this letter I never got an answer; before my old
friend received it, he had accepted a Government appointment in one
of the colonies, and was already on his way to the scene of his
official labours. What has become of him since, I know not.
Ā Ā The leisure time I have at command, and which I
intended to employ for his private benefit, I shall now dedicate to
that of the public at large. My narrative is not exciting, and
above all, not marvellous; but it may interest some individuals,
who, having toiled in the same vocation as myself, will find in my
experience frequent reflections of their own. The above letter will
serve as an introduction. I now proceed.
CHAPTER II.
A FINE October morning succeeded to the foggy evening that had witnessed my first introduction to Crimsworth Hall. I was early up and walking in the large park-like meadow surrounding the house. The autumn sun, rising over the - - shire hills, disclosed a pleasant country; woods brown and mellow varied the fields from which the harvest had been lately carried; a river, gliding between the woods, caught on its surface the somewhat cold gleam of the October sun and sky; at frequent intervals along the banks of the river, tall, cylindrical chimneys, almost like slender round towers, indicated the factories which the trees half concealed; here and there mansions, similar to Crimsworth Hall, occupied agreeable sites on the hill-side; the country wore, on the whole, a cheerful, active, fertile look. Steam, trade, machinery had long banished from it all romance and seclusion. At a distance of five miles, a valley, opening between the low hills, held in its cups the great town of X - -. A dense, permanent vapour brooded over this locality - there lay Edward's "Concern."
I forced my eye to scrutinize this prospect, I forced my mind to dwell on it for a time, and when I found that it communicated no pleasurable emotion to my heart - that it stirred in me none of the hopes a man ought to feel, when he sees laid before him the scene of his life's career - I said to myself, "William, you are a rebel against circumstances; you are a fool, and know not what you want; you have chosen trade and you shall be a tradesman. Look!" I continued mentally - "Look at the sooty smoke in that hollow, and know that there is your post! There you cannot dream, you cannot speculate and theorize - there you shall out and work!"
Thus self-schooled, I returned to the house. My ...