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CHAPTER I. *< Take, oh take those lip3 away, That 80 sweetly were forsworn ; And those eyes, the break of day, Lights that do mislead the morn : But my kisses bring again, bring again Seals of love, but sealed in vain, scal'd in vain." Mtoiurtfor Mtasuie. On a bright day during the month of September, of the year 1800, two persons were in earnest conver- sation in a hiwyer's office in the city of Montreal. One of them was the most distinguished advocate of that place ; a man of some three score years, and of a commanding yet wild and singular aspect. His com- panion was a well-dressed fe'Jiale of middle age, and comely, though mournful ccUitenance. Some disa- greeable topic seemed to have just ruffled both of their tempers, for her face was moist with tears, and darkened with an expression of disappointment. His own was slightly marked with annoyance, and, sud- denly ceasing to arrange some folded law papers that he held in his hands, and had gathered up from the table at which he was standing, he exclaimed in tones of mingled surprise and asperity : " Still at the old song ! still harping, harping, harping ! Peace, no more of it. Heaven would be insufferable with but THE ADVOCATK. k tt lymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl, uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety, a charm hast thou !" Is this, then, all your answer ?" enquired the female, sorrowfully. " Ih it not decisive ?" he demanded shnrply. " Woman, away : am I not busy ? Is not this the very Passion week of preparation before the Easter of the Assizes ?" Then with an upward leer of his eyes, that were now filled with frolicksome humour, whilst at the corners of his mouth flickered a grim smile, he continued : " Mona Macdonald, I am neither selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not prone to be provoked to marriage ; though Satan in your shape has for so many years tempted me thereto, I have still remained in the bachelors' Eden, in spite of you and the Serpent. Marry you ! Do I look in the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough to commit the unpardonable sin ? No, a man may put himself beyond the reach of mercy by other means than that." Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued : ** What more is marriage than mere desert sands, in which life's current is lost until it reappears in a parcel of bubbles called babies. What is it but the fool's end, the knave's means ; a warning to the wise, a snare to the simple ; the wantonness of youth, the weakness of years ; a pillory wherein to exercise patience ; what is it but the Church's stocks for the wayward feet of women. Marry you ! To marry is to commit two souls to the prison of one body ; to put two pigs into one poke ; two legs into one boot, two arms into one sleeve, two heads into one hat, two '\;, (''^ /^^?^, i^*' j; ! -A '','■■ \ i ■) r VV 1 . tlj? .n** '•%y 1 • >r <> •t*, .^ fcf;r» **'- 1«<''? S I a s .-ft •* >,>^. ii " f ^4»»1l' ,.l-,-,^ ^-|ft>l<^, >«► ' -'V *' .■ t '•/•■' > ::^\ ^',"-^►4 • .'•".*• * ' #^ %, c ■^^•:»^- J- ' *^fi . 'ii', two corpHOH into one coffin, ami this into a wet grav(», I'or marriage is a perennial spring of tears. Marry ! Why sliould I bind niys^eH' with a vow that I niiiHt break, not being by nature continent and loving? Marry you! Yes, when I hate you. Have I a sinistrous look to meditate such mischief? Do 1 seem old etiougii to be a bridegroom ? Pish ! I am ashamed to be so importuned." This ))adinage was uttered with the lire of youth, combined with the authority of age, accustomed to be obeyed, and tlie listener offered no rejoinder; but the speaker, having approliciied, gazed into her eyes with i» twinkling smile of mirth, that gradually changed to one of fondness and pity ; and kissing her respectfully, he addetl in a soft tone: " Come, come, how is the maid Anuinda, how fares our charming foundling ?" " WelV' was quietly replied. " Mona, I love that girl," he continued, assuming a tone of deep sincerity, *♦ for along with tlie whole web of your goodness, nature has interwoven into the fine fabric of her form a thread of my evil — not in the grosser sense, — no, no; still, look after her; the breath of passion must bo stirring in her, and at • her years most niaids are tinder to love's dropping sparks. Remember, tliere never yet was a nun but once had tender thouglits. Love comes unto all that live, and with not less ci'rtainty than death's advances — nay, even the cold, bony frame of death itself, at last comes wooing, and elopes with life. Now, home and cheer your charge." And he ])liiyfully pushed her from the room, then, tiirowing himself into his chair, resuuied the interrupted study of his briefs. , 6 THE ADVOCATE. i CHAPTER II. " A seducer flourishes, and a iioor maid is undone. AU't Well That Eiuh \\\ll. i i The advocate was by birth an Englishman, and a cadet of an ancient family, who, after having spent a dissolute youth and early manhood, had come to Canada. Here he became acquainted with an old, half-pay Highland officer of Wolfe's Army, who for his signal services rendered during the operations of the British force before Quebec, had been rewarded with a grant of land in that vicinity. Like others of his countrymen, the Highlander had settled in the Province, and married into a French Canadian family. But, soon after their union, his wife died in giving birth to a daughter, which he reared to womanhood with all the strength of an undivided alfection. The Englishman's frank l)earing and singular mental powers won the adnuration of the old soldier, and, at the same time, dazzled and captivated his comely and unsophisticated daughter, to whom the stranger was soon understood to stand in the light of a lover. But Miicdonald — for such was the name of the Avarni- hcarted clansman — was not destined to see his dearest wishes realized in the union of the two. A sudden sickness laid low his hardy frame, and, dying, he called the pair to his bedside, and joined their hands in anticipation of the rite of wedlock. The father dead, tlu» lover ))etook himsolf to the study of the THE ADVOCATE. law, and with an extraordinary aptitude and dili- gence, not only mastered the details of legal ])ractice, but comprehended, beyond others, the great principles lK)th of English and of French jurisprudence as prac- tised in Lower Canada. Ambitious of excellence, he resolved to complete his studies of tlic latter in France itself. Of means he had little, but she, confiding in his honor, consented that the estate left to her by her father should be sold, to furnish him with the neces- sary funds for his maintenance in Paris. In that gay capital — whilst taking advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels of the French Bar, — he associated with gamesters and courtezans, and was at length left w^ith resources barely sufficient to enable him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence, and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite counsel for the defence. Extensive prac- tice, and its concomitant, a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with it she had given him herself, day hy day looked for the nuptial tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her 8 THE ADVOCATE. liis lon«^ plifrhted vows, he sent her to a lonel}' dwol- liiif? on the then unpeopled Ottawa to hide her shame. There she remained till the scandal of their connec- tion way forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind the bluft" known as Mount Royal, or popularly the "mountain," that lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious in his profession, he con- tinued to indulge his vein for pleasure ; not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi- secrecy of his home ; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in thosedays, the province W51S, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials, and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself; — men of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion, language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association, whereof his house became one of the centres of re- union. There, aware of his gentlo descent, and im- pressed with his transcendent abilities ; charmed with his conversation — as pithy as it was apt to be impure— his wit, his taste, his information, his judg- ment ; sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines, and luxuriance of his table, around which military officer and civil servant, merchant and judge, were accustomed to assemble, rank and office were forgot- ten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour. Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them, however disguised ; and, secure in that close conclave. A, "V •V.- t, 'V V- vT'V^ ■i.'.*' . ' • ; if..' ' V ,.; .f. :(;* -'.•=5 ■ »:.-^*' • iC' ^^' *-■ ..^-^v •**--^:2 '' f a a e ■3 ^■i.vfV n''> Mii< **iftvt*** ^ o •3 I •c i/ttlt£,l uirr^.-'Aft - <•*»»> »j .kf-tlie •'tAv'i-:-,. !.!«*;.,/;,/'* over tlu- ':-'•• i ' •'* ilu- tiieolvv '.»i^* - "■■■ ^m's« for « » -. *» •♦ijr ihu iTi;'. ' 'f - ' # r . ». .v» -V»i«»-. ' •>' :_ ' M ' , » 'f*' «->1 ■■'¥ .<^^*. y» ^■ ■"; >« ^-. .V, ^•'S v.' ?i ijj^- 1 4't^x,,; .!«^-^i»<' - ,. «■• '•ifc-sf,;-::. ;. ^ - jsh. .™~.. Pj-^ ->5B**-' ^^ ■.?y. V / THE ADVOCATK. where no pure female presence wns found to check the bncchanulian song, or forbid the rihahl jest, all Mit to listen to and applaud their host's ininiitahle stories, his grotesque descriptions, his wayward thoughts and fantastic images; to hearken to his close analysis, his robust reasoning, his wondrous pa- thos, his sublime exaggeration ; and, as the wine cir- culated, to observe yet more his chameleon aspec' and Protean character unfold itself; now grovelling like the Paradisal toad, wherein, at the ear of Eve, was hidden the form of Lucifer ; now, touched by the Ithuriel spear of some keen conception, suddenly soaring, like to the bright expanded shape of the surprised and fallen Archangel, till the guests them- selves, like the startled Ithuriel recoiling from the instant apparition of the fiend, drew back in amaze- ment, or, as if at the jests of another Yorick, raised over the table a long, eruptive roar. Nor was that all. For a moment he would assume the moralist, the theologian, or, — leaving both revelation and the pandects, — become the philosopher, pacing the uni- verse for occult truth ; or the metaphysician, track- ing the region of the supersensuous ; and, over every theme, flying on mocking mental pinions, seeming an intellectual satan, passing through >the region of vain questionings and doubtful disquisition, dim out to the abyss. And thus he lived, using, and abusing, his rare gifts ; no virtuous and accomplished wife presid- ing at these feasts, ever degenerating into orgies, or giving sanctity to these walls; within which were gathered the brightest, gayest, noblest, most power- ful — often most dissolute — of the land. But now the guests were thinned in numbers by death, by 10 THE AI)VO( ATK. marria^'c, by worn out paHnioiiH; and many a fierce H|)irit liad been tamed by adversity, till tbe mirth bad f^rown to bo ball' moody, and tbe Haturnalia gross ratber in intention tban in I'aet. Yet ever amidst tbesc distraoti«g pleasures bis beart reverted, lirst, to tbe woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to tbe sylvan sbades of Stillyside, wbieb latter be still took deligbt to visit and adorn; cberisbing its mistress, and watcbing over and nur- taring ber cbild, tbe fruit of ber fondness and of bis falsebood ; — but commonly known and publicly ac- knowledged, only as ber foster daughter, and, in bis own prouder circle, as bis ward. For bimself, be never occupied otber tban a handsome suburban re- sidence, situated between tbe chy and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona Macdonald sel- dom entered ; and when she did so, it was to be scowled upon by its menial mistress, a French Cana- dian, named BabetBlais, Avbo viewed tiie melancholy visitor with angry and jeah>us eyes. Into this house many comely Al)igails had come and gone ; but Babet Blais remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, accjuired a wife's settlement and privileges, by virtue of tbe presence of a dwarfish, swarthy creature, half oai'f half imp, their nmtual offspring. This strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb, was named Narcisse, and flitted a))Out the house rather than made it his home ; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence, and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him. Reckless, stupid, savage ; ignoble and stubborn ; with thick, black, stubby hair, and ! TIIK ADVrtTATE. 11 (lark, buMhy, beetling brows; bis protiibrriiiit eyes tilled witb cunning, and burning witli u lustre like live cuals; deep-ebested, and witb slmidders raised and rounded, giving bim an air of iiugniicity ; snarl written upon bis countenance, and pride in tbe pose of bis pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobe- dient, he was, nevertbeless, tbe i(b)l <»f bis niotber. Sbe, poor woman, reverenced, almost worshipped, bim, as being sometbing superior to ber plel)eitin self, by reason of tbe father's part that was in bim; won- dering how his wire should be s«) blind to bis merits, and so severe upon bis alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged him in bis irregularities since others rebuked them, and was tbe more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint ; deeming his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper, iii one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon relin((uisbed the distasteful and hopeless task, and articled bim to a Notary, who, for a tempting premium, consented to take him into bis ofiice. But, instead of applying himself there, he spent most of his time in idleness and debauchery ; by night freciuenting the abodes of vice and infamy, and by day, haunting tbe doors and corridors of the court-house, in tbe latter always in- stinctively seeking to avoid a rencontre with his sul- len and offended parent. 12 THE ADVOCVTF. CHAPTER III. "Ilaply (Icipalr hath leiml her.* ( jfmbiUiu, It WHS now cvt'iiiiig, and the IiiikIhcuih; lav Htec'pe.: licard ; ;.a not until the carriage drew up at Stillyside, and the bark of a lap-dog, on the top of the distant steps, that led to the verandah in front of the house, struck her ear, did she fully awake from her mournful re- Y . iio. Tiien, alighting, ehe passed through a postern TIIK \I»V«M\TK. l:l that liuiifT at tlu» nidi' of iMldiiij; jruffM, \\u]. wiiuliiii; her way up .i v ilk IwrdiTod with slunh?* anil rl(»w«>r^, appruachfi] the (hvi>l(in^, that stcHxl u|M)ii a knoll. At that iijt iiioiit th«' souiul <<\' a cowhcll in tlic on- ti^iious inoiiiitaiii nippicc told the .•. dappled dairy, in char^ic id" a sw.nfliv Fn-nch <'tin» dian youth. All idsc was (iui( i ahont tlu' placf, that Hounied to he lyinj; in a sort uf lintless, hall" dreamy tran