THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 P. ^ennox Tierney
 
 BEATRICE HALLAM. 
 
 NotieL 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "SURRY OF EAGLES NEST," "MOHUN," "HILT 
 TO HILT," ETC., ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1892, BT 
 
 G. W. Dillingham, Publisher^ 
 
 SUCCESSOR TO G. W. CARLETON & Co. 
 MDCCCXCII.
 
 BEATRICE HALLAM. 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 THE memories of men are full of old romances : but thej 
 will not speak our skalds. King Arthur lies still woundee 
 grievously, in the far island valley of Avilyon : Lord OdiL. 
 in the misty death realm : Balder the Beautiful, sought long 
 by great Herrnoder, lives beyond Hela's portals, and will 
 bless his people some day when he comes. But when? 
 King Arthur ever is to come : Odin will one day wind his 
 horn and clash his wild barbaric cymbals through the Nord- 
 land pines as he returns, but not in our generation : Balder 
 will rise from sleep and shine again the white sun god on 
 his world. But always these things will be : Arthur and 
 the rest are meanwhile sleeping. 
 
 Romance is history : the illustration may be lame the 
 truth is melancholy. Because the men whose memories 
 hold this history will not speak, it dies away with them : the 
 great past goes deeper and deeper into mist : becomes finally 
 a dying strain of music, and is no more remembered forever. 
 
 Thinking these thoughts I have thought it well to set 
 down here some incidents which took place on Virginia soil 
 and in which an ancestor of my family had no small part 
 to write my family romance in a single word, uad alsc t 
 though following a connecting thread, a leading idea, to 
 speak briefly of the period to which these memories, as I may 
 call them, do attach. 
 
 That period was very picturesque : illustrated and 
 adorned, as it surely was, by such figures as one seldom sees 
 now on the earth. Often in my evening reveries, assisted 
 by the partial gloom resulting from the struggles of the 
 darkness and the dying firelight, I endeavor, and not wholly 
 without success, to summon from their sleep these stalwart
 
 16 AN INTERIOR WITH PORTRAITS. 
 
 cavaliers, and tender, graceful dames of the far past. They 
 rise before me and glide onward manly faces, with clear 
 eyes and lofty brows, and firm lips covered with the knightly 
 fringe : soft, tender faces, with bright eyes and gracious 
 smiles and winning gestures ; all the life and splendor of the 
 past again becomes incarnate ! How plain the embroidered 
 doublet, and the sword-belt, and the powdered hair, and hat 
 adorned with its wide floating feather ! How real are the 
 ruffled breasts and hands, the long-flapped waistcoats, and 
 the buckled shoes ! And then the fairer forms : they come 
 as plainly with their looped-back gowns all glittering with 
 gold and silver flowers, and on their heads great masses of 
 curls with pearls interwoven ! See the gracious smiles and 
 musical movement all the graces which made those dead 
 dames so attractive to the outward eye as their pure faith 
 ful natures made them priceless to the eyes of the heart. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 AN DPTESIOB WITH PORTRAITS, 
 
 ON a splendid October afternoon, in the year of our 
 Lord 1763, two persons who will appear frequently in this 
 history were seated in the great dining-room of EfEngham 
 Hall. 
 
 But let us first Ray a few words of this old mansion. 
 Effingham Hall was a stately edifice not far from Williams- 
 burg, which, as every body knows, was at that period the capi 
 tal city of the colony of Virginia. The hall was constructed of 
 elegant brick brought over from England : and from the 
 great portico in front of the building a beautiful rolling 
 country of hills and valleys, field and forest, spread itself 
 pleasantly before the eye, bounded far off along the circling 
 belt of woods by the bright waters of the noble river. 
 
 Entering the large hall of the old house, you had before 
 you, walls covered with deers' antlers, fishing-rods, and guw : 
 portraits of cavaliers, and dames and children : even carefu 
 ly painted pictures of celebrated race-horses, on whose spe 
 and bottom many thousands of pounds had been staked an 
 lost and won in their day and generation.
 
 AN INTERIOR WITH PORTRAITS. IT 
 
 On one side of the hall a broad staircase with taken ba 
 lustrade led to the numerous apartments above : and on the 
 opposite side, a door gave entrance into the great dining 
 room. 
 
 The dining-room was decorated with great elegance : 
 the carved oak wainscot extending above the mantelpiece in 
 an unbroken expanse of fruits and flowers, hideous laughing 
 faces, and long foamy surges to the cornice. The furniture 
 was in the Louis Quatorze style, which the reader is familiar 
 with, from its reproduction in our own day ; and the chairs 
 were the same low- seated affairs, with high carved backs, 
 which are now seen. There were Chelsea figures, and a side 
 board full of plate, and a Japan cabinet, and a Kiddermin 
 ster carpet, and huge andirons. On the andirons crackled a 
 few twigs lost in the great country fireplace. 
 
 On the wall hung a dozen pictures of gay gallants, brave 
 warriors, and dames, whose eyes outshone their diamonds : 
 and more than one ancestor looked grimly down, clad in cui 
 rass and armlets, and holding in his mailed hand the sword 
 which had done bloody service in its time. The lady por 
 traits, as an invariable rule, were decorated with sunset 
 clouds of yellow lace the bright locks were powdered, and 
 many little black patches set off the dazzling fairness of the 
 rounded chins. Lapdogs nestled on the satin laps : and not 
 one of the gay dames but seemed to be smiling, with her head 
 bent sidewise fascinatingly on the courtly or warlike figures 
 ranged with them in a long glittering line. 
 
 These portraits are worth looking up to, but those which 
 we promised the reader are real. 
 
 In one of the carved chairs, if any thing more uncom 
 fortable than all the rest, sits, or rather lounges, a young 
 man of about twenty-five. He is very richly clad, and in a 
 costume which would be apt to attract a large share of at 
 tention in our own day, when dress seems to have become a 
 mere covering, and the prosaic tendencies of the age are to 
 despise every thing but what ministers to actual material 
 pleasure. 
 
 The gentleman before us lives fortunately one hundred 
 years before our day : and suffers from an opposite tenden 
 cy in costume. His head is covered with a long flowing pe 
 ruke, heavy with powder, and the drop curls hang down OB
 
 18 AW TNTBRIOE WITH PORTRAITS. 
 
 his cheeks ambrosially : his cheeks are delicately rouged, 
 and two patches, arranged with matchless art, complete the 
 distinguished tout ensemble of the handsome face. At 
 breast, a cloud of lace reposes on the rich embroidery of his 
 figured satin waistcoat, reaching to his knees : this lace is 
 voint de Venise and white, that fashion having come in just 
 one month since. The sleeves of his rich doublet are turned 
 back to his elbows, and are as large as a bushel the opening 
 being filled up, however, with long ruffles, which reach down 
 over the delicate jewelled hand. He wears silk stockings of 
 spotless white, and his feet are cased in slippers of Spanish 
 leather, adorned with diamond buckles. Add velvet garters 
 below the knee : a little muff of leopard skin reposing near 
 at hand upon a chair not omitting a snuff-box peeping from 
 the pocket, and Mr. Champ Effingham, just from Oxford and 
 his grand tour, is before you with his various surroundings. 
 
 He is reading the work which some time since attained 
 to such extreme popularity, Mr. Joseph Addison's serial, 
 " The Spectator," collected now for its great merits, into 
 bound volumes. Mr. Effingham reads with a languid air, 
 just as he sits, and turns over the leaves with an ivory paper 
 cutter, which he brought from Venice with the plate glass 
 yonder on the sideboard near the silver baskets and pitch 
 ers. This languor is too perfect to be wholly affected, and 
 when he yawns, as he does frequently, Mr. Effingham applies 
 himself to that task very earnestly. 
 
 In one of these paroxysms of weariness the volume slips 
 from his hand to the floor. 
 
 " My book," he says to a negro boy, who has just brought 
 in some dishes. The boy hastens respectfully to obey 
 crossing the whole width of the room for that purpose. Mr. 
 Effingham then continues reading. 
 
 Now for the other occupant of the apartment. She sits near 
 the open window, looking out upon the lawn and breathing 
 the pure delicious air of October as she works. She is clad 
 in the usual child's costume of the period (she is only eleven 
 or twelve), namely, a sort of half coat, half frock, reaching 
 carcely below the knees ; an embroidered undervest ; scar 
 let silk stockings with golden clocks, and little resetted shoes 
 with high red heels. Her hair is unpowdered, and hangs in 
 juris upon her neck and bare shoulders. Her little fingeri 

 
 A SERIES OF CATASTROPHES. 19 
 
 we busily at work upon a piece of embroidery which repre 
 sents or is to represent a white water dog upon an intensely 
 emeraid back-ground, and she addresses herself to this occu 
 pation with a business air which is irresistibly amusing, and 
 no less pleasant to behold. There is about the child, in her 
 movements, attitude, expression, every thing, a freshness and 
 innocence which is only possessed by children. This is Miss 
 Kate Effingham, whose parents died in her infancy, for which 
 reason the little sunbeam was taken by the squire, her father's 
 brother. 
 
 Kate seems delighted with the progress she has made in 
 Jelineating Carlo, as she calls him, and pauses a moment to 
 survey her brilliant handiwork. She then opens her ivory 
 decorated work-box to select another shade of silk, holding 
 it on her lap by the low-silled open window. 
 
 But disastrous event ! Just as she had found what she 
 wanted, just as she had procured the exact shade for Carlo's 
 ears, just as she closed the pretty box, full of all manner of 
 little elegant instruments of needle-work she heard an im 
 patient exclamation of weariness and disdain, something flut 
 tered through the air, and this something striking the hand 
 some box delicately balanced on Kate's knees, precipitated 
 it, with its whole contents, through the window to the lawn 
 beneath. 
 
 The explanation of this sudden event is, that Mr. Effing- 
 ham has become tired of the " Spectator," hurled it sidewise 
 from him without looking ; and thus the volume has, after 
 its habit, produced a decided sensation, throwing the work- 
 box upon the lawn, and Kate into utter despair. 
 
 * 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A SERIES OF OATA8TEOPHE8, ENDING IN A FAMILY TABLEAU. 
 
 KATE, spite of her great age and near approach to woman* 
 hood, is almost ready to cry: 
 
 " Oh cousin Chamo 1 " she says, ' 'now could you 1 "
 
 20 A SERIES OP CAlASTROPHES. 
 
 Mr. Effingham yawns. 
 
 " Did you speak to me, Katy ? " he says languidly. 
 
 " Yes I" 
 
 " Why, what's the matter ? " 
 
 " You've ruined my work-box 1 " 
 
 I ! " 
 
 " Yes, you knocked it out of the window with your book 
 and I think it was not kind," Kate says, pouting, and 
 leaning out of the window to gaze at the prostrate work-box. 
 
 Mr. Effingham sees the catastrophe at a glance, and ap 
 parently smitten with remorse, tries to ascertain the extent 
 of the injury. But the morning seems an unlucky one for 
 him. As he places his heel upon the carpet, he unfortunately 
 treads with his whole weight upon the long silky ear of his 
 sister's favorite lapdog Orauge, who is about the size of the 
 fruit from which he takes his name. 
 
 Orange utters a yell sufficiently loud to arouse from 
 their sleep the seven champions of Christendom. 
 
 Drawn by his successive yells, a lady appears at the door 
 and enters the apartment hurriedly. 
 
 Miss Alethea, only sister of Mr. Effingham, is a lady of 
 about thirty, with a clear complexion, serene eyes, her hair 
 trained back into a tower ; and with an extremely stately 
 and dignified expression. She looks like the president of a 
 benevolent society, and the very sight of her erect head, the 
 very rustle of her black silk dress has been known to strike 
 terror into evil-doers. 
 
 " Who has hurt Orange ? " she says, severely ; " here, poor 
 fellow ! some one has hurt him I " 
 
 Orange yells much louder, seeing his defender. 
 
 " V'hat in the world is the matter with him, Champ ? " 
 he Bays ; " please answer me 1 " 
 
 Mr. Effingham regales his nostrils with a pinch of snuff, 
 and replies indifferently : 
 
 " Probably Orange has an indigestion, or perhaps he is 
 uttering those horrible sounds because I stepped upon his 
 ear." 
 
 " Stepped on his ear ! " 
 
 Mr. Effingham nods serenely. 
 
 " Keally, you are too careless !" Miss Alethea exclaims, 
 and her black silk rustling, she goes to Orange and take 
 him in her arms.
 
 A SERIES OP CATASTROPHES. 2 1 
 
 But in brushing by Mr. Effingham her ample sleeve 
 chances to strike that gentleman's snuff-box, and the contents 
 of the useful article are discharged over little Kate, who 
 coughing, sneezing, crying and laughing, perfects the scene. 
 
 " See what you have done, Alethea !" says Mr. Effingham, 
 reproachfully, and yawning as he speaks ; " you have thrown 
 my snuff upon Kate." 
 
 And turning to the child : 
 
 " Never mind, Kate ! " he says, " it's excellent snuff. It 
 won't hurt you now don't " 
 
 With such observations Mr. Effingham is quieting the 
 child, when another addition is made to the company. 
 
 This is in the person of a young gentleman of thirteen 
 or fourteen Master Willie Effingham, Mr. Champ's brother, 
 aad a devoted admirer of Kate. 
 
 Will, seeing his sweetheart in tears, bustles up, upon his 
 little resetted shoes, flirting his little round-skirted coat, and 
 fiercely demands of the company at large : 
 
 " Who made Kate cry ! " 
 
 " Oh, the snuff ! the snuff ! " says Kate, crying and 
 laughing. 
 
 " Whose snuff! " says Will, indignantly. 
 
 " Mine," replies Mr. Effingham ; " there are no excuses 
 to be made ; arrange the terms of the combat." 
 
 " For shame, Champ ! " says Miss Alethea, with stately 
 dignity ; " you jest at Willie, but I think his behavior very 
 honorable." 
 
 " Ah 1 " you are an advocate of duelling, then, my dear 
 madam ? " drawls Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " No, I am not ; but your snuff made Kate cry." 
 
 " Deign to recall the slight circumstance that your sleeve 
 discharged it from my hand." 
 
 " Never mind, I think Will right." 
 
 Will raises his head proudly. 
 
 " Kate is his favorite and playmate " 
 
 " As Orange is yours," says Mr. Effingham, languidly, 
 the lapdog having uttered an expiring howl. " Well, well s 
 don't let us argue ; I am ready to make the amende to my 
 little Kate we are all dear to each other so here is my 
 lace handkerchief, ma mignonette, to wipe away the snuff 1 ' 
 
 Kate laughs.
 
 22 A SERIES Of CATASTROPHES. 
 
 ' And here's a kiss, to make friends for the snuff and tha 
 work box." 
 
 Kate wrung her hands, and says, laughing and pouting 
 " Oh my box ! my box 1" 
 
 " Your box 1 " says Will, who has been looking daggers 
 at Mr. Effingham for kissing the child. 
 
 " Yes ! my poor box 1 " 
 
 " Never mind, Katy," says Mr. Effingham, smiling as 
 he passes his hand caressingly over the little head ; " I un 
 fortunately broke it, but you shall have one twice as hand 
 some ; I saw one in Williamsburg yesterday, which I thought 
 of getting for Clare Lee but you shall have it." 
 
 " Oh, thankee ! " cries Kate, " but I oughtn't to take 
 cousin Clare's, you know 1 And there's papa 1 he's got my 
 box I" 
 
 Kate springs forward to meet the squire the head ef 
 the house who enters at the door. 
 
 The squire is a gentleman of fifty-five or sixty, with an 
 open frank face, clear, honest eyes, and his carriage is bold, 
 free, and somewhat pompous. He is clad much more simply 
 than his eldest son, his. coat having upon it not a particle of 
 embroidery, and his long plain waistcoat buttoning up to the 
 chin : below which a white cravat and an indication only 
 of frill are visible. His limbs are cased in thick, strong and 
 comfortable cloth, and woollen, and he wears boots, very 
 large and serviceable, to which strong spurs are attached. 
 His broad, fine brow, full of intelligence and grace, is covered 
 by an old cocked hat, which, having lost the loops which 
 held it in the three-cornered shape, is now rolled up upon 
 each side ; and his manner in walking, speaking, arguing, 
 reading, is much after the description of his costume plain, 
 straightforward, and though somewhat pompous, destitute of 
 finery and ornament. He is the head of a princely establish 
 ment, he has thousands of acres, and hundreds of negroes, 
 he is a justice, and has sat often in the House of Burgesses : 
 he is rich, a dignitary, every body knows it, why should 
 he strive to ape elegancies, and trouble himself about the 
 impression he produces ? He is simple and plain, as he con 
 ceives, because he is a great proprietor and can afford to 
 wear rough clothes, and talk plainly. 
 
 His pomposity is not obtrusive, and it is tempered with
 
 A SERIES OF CATASTROPHES. 23 
 
 Bo much good breeding and benevolence that it does not de 
 tract from the pleasant impression produced by his honest 
 face. As he enters now that face is brown and red with ex 
 ercise upon his plantation and he comes in with cheerful 
 smiles ; his rotund person, and long queue gathered by a 
 ribbon smiling no less than his eyes. 
 
 In his hand is the unfortunate work-box, which has not, 
 however, sustained any injury. 
 
 " Here 'tis, puss 1 " says the squire, " nothing hurt I 
 picked up the scissors and the vest : and the grass was as 
 soft as a cushion." 
 
 With which words the worthy squire sits down and wipes 
 his brow. 
 
 " Oh, thank'ee. papa," says Kate this is the child's name 
 for him : and she runs and takes his hat, and then climbs on 
 his lap, and laughingly explains how cousin Champ hadn't 
 meant to throw the box out " because you know me and cou 
 sin Champ are great favorites of each other's : and I am his 
 pet." 
 
 Having achieved this speech, which she utters with a 
 rush of laughter in her voice, Kate hugs her box, and returns 
 to Carlo. 
 
 " Well, Champ," says the planter, " whither go you this 
 afternoon any where ? " 
 
 " I believe not," says Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Still enamored of your ease, you jolly dog 1 " 
 
 " The Epicurean philosophy is greatly to my taste," saya 
 Mr. Effingham, " riding wearies me." 
 
 " Every thing does." 
 
 "Ah?" 
 
 " Yes, sir : you are the finest fine gentleman in the 
 Colony." 
 
 This half compliment produces no effect upon Mr. Ef- 
 dngham, who yawns. 
 
 " Why not go and see Clare Lee ? Clary's the most be 
 witching little creature in the world," says the squire, unfold 
 ing a copy of the " Virginia Gazette," which he draws from 
 his pocket. 
 
 " Clare Lee ? " says Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Yes, sir : she's a little beauty." 
 
 11 Well, so she is."
 
 24 80METHINO LIKE AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 " And as good as an angeL" 
 
 " Hazardous, that, sir." 
 
 " No, sir 1 " exclaims the squire, " it is true ! Zounds 1 
 she's too good for any mortal man." 
 
 " Consequently, as I am a mortal man I draw the infer 
 ence," says Mr. Effinghara. 
 
 " Well, she's too good for you, sir : you had better go 
 and see her : it may improve you." 
 
 Mr. Effingham relents. 
 
 " I think that is very desirable, sir," he says, " and on my 
 word, I'll go. Please ring that bell." 
 
 The squire without protest takes up the small silver 
 bell and rings it. Mr. Effingham orders his horse descends 
 soon in boots and riding gloves, and mounting, sets forth to 
 wards the abode of the angel Miss Clare Lee. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOMETHING LIKE AN ADVENTURE, 
 
 LEAVING the group which we have seen assemble in the 
 drawing-room of Effingham Hall, let us follow the worthy 
 whose misdeeds in connection with the work-box and lapdog 
 caused the dramatic assemblage. 
 
 Mr. Effingham, elegantly clad in a riding costume, perfect 
 in its appointment, and mounted on a splendid courser which 
 he had appropriated from his father's stud, took his way 
 through the fresh woods towards Riverhead, the residence. 
 of Mr. Lee and his two daughters, Henrietta and Clare. 
 But Mr. Effingham was much too sensible a gentleman to 
 bore himself, as we say to-day, with the fine scenery of Octo 
 ber the fair blue skies, with their snowy clouds floating on 
 like ships towards the clear horizon the variegated woods 
 Cull of singing birds the streams dancing in the sun and 
 all the myriad attractions of an autumn afternoon. Hia 
 taste had been phaped iu London, and the glare of lights,
 
 SOMETHING LIKE AN ADVENTURE. 25 
 
 the noise of revelry, and gay encounter of bright wits and 
 beauty, had long since deprived him of the faculty of admir 
 ing such an insipid thing as simple nature. There was little 
 affectation about the worthy gentleman in reality : he wag 
 really and truly worn out. Accustomed for some length of 
 time to evry species of dissipation, his character had been 
 seriously injured his freshness was gone, and he sought 
 DOW for nothing so much as emotions. We shall see if he 
 was fortunate in his search. 
 
 At times, as he went along, Mr. Effingham indulged in a 
 gort of silent, well-bred laughter, at the scene he had just 
 witnessed at the Hall. 
 
 ' What a farce the world is," he said, philosophically, 
 " we all run after something one has his literary ambition, 
 another political aspiration : this young lady wishes to marry 
 a lord : that young gentleman's highest hope in life is, that 
 his comedy may not be damned for its want of freedom the 
 polite word now I understand. It's all weariness : I really 
 begin to think that little Katy and Alethea, with their em 
 broidery and lapdogs, are the most sensible after all. Em 
 broidery and lapdogs cost less, and " 
 
 Mr. Effingham drew up suddenly so suddenly, that his 
 horse rose on his haunches, and tossed his head aloft. 
 
 The meaning of this movement was simply that he saw 
 before him in the centre of the road he was following, a lady, 
 who apparently awaited his approach. 
 
 The lady was mounted upon a tall white horse, which 
 stood perfectly quiet in the middle of the road, and seemed 
 to be docility itself, though the fiery eyes contradicted this 
 first impression. Rather would one acquainted with the sin 
 gular character of horses have said that this animal was 
 subdued by the gentle hand of his rider, and so laid aside 
 from pure affection / all his waywardness. 
 
 This rider was a young girl about eighteen, and of rare 
 and extraordinary beauty. Her hair so much as was visi 
 ble beneath her hood seemed to be dark chestnut, and her 
 complexion was dazzling. The eyes were large, full, and 
 dark instinct with fire and softness, feminine modesty, and 
 collected firmness the firmness, however, predominating. 
 But the lips were different. They were the lips of a child 
 soft, guileless, tender, confiding : they were purity and VB
 
 26 SOMETHING LIKE AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 nocence itself, and seemed to say, that however much the 
 brain might become hard and worldly, the heart of this ycung 
 woman never could be other than the tender and delicately 
 sensitive heart of a child. 
 
 She was clad in a riding dress of pearl color and from 
 the uniformity of this tint, it seemed to be a favorite with her. 
 The hood was of silk, and the delicately gloved hand held a 
 little ivory-handled riding whip, which now dangled at her 
 side. The other gloved hand supported her cheek ; and in 
 this position the unknown lady calmly awaited Mr. Effing- 
 ham's approach still nearer, though he was already nearly 
 touching her. 
 
 Mr. Effingham took off his hat and bowed with elegant 
 courtesy. The lady returned this inclination by a graceful 
 movement of her head. 
 
 " Would you be kind enough to point out the road to the 
 town of Williamsburg, sir ? " she said, in a calm and clear 
 voice. 
 
 " With great pleasure, madam," replied Mr. Effingham, 
 "you have lost your way 1 " 
 
 " Yes, sir, very strangely, and as evening drew on, was 
 afraid of being benighted." 
 
 " You have but to follow this road until you reach 
 Effingham Hall, madam," he said " the house in the dis 
 tance yonder : then turn to the left, and you are in the 
 highway to town." 
 
 " Thanks, sir," the young girl said, with another calm 
 inclination of her head: and she touched her horse with 
 the whip. 
 
 " But cannot I accompany you ? " asked Mr. Effingham, 
 whose curiosity was greatly aroused, and found his eyes, he 
 knew not why, riveted to the rare beauty of his companion's 
 face, " do you not need me as a guide ? " 
 
 " Indeed, I think not, sir," she said, with the same calm 
 ness, your direction is very plain, and I am accustomed to 
 ride by myself." 
 
 " But really," began Mr. Effingham, somewhat piqued, 
 a I know it is intrusive I know I have not the honor " 
 
 She interrupted him with her immovable calmness. 
 
 " You would say you do not know me, and that your offer 
 b intrusive, I believe sir. I do not consider it so it is verj
 
 SOMETHING LIKE AN ADVENTURE, '<i7 
 
 kind : bat I am not a fearful girl, and need not trouble 
 you at all." 
 
 And she bowed. 
 
 " One moment, madam," said Mr. Effingham; " I am real 
 ly dying with curiosity to know you. 'Tis very rude to say 
 so, of course but I am acquainted with every lady in the 
 neighborhood, and I do not recall any former occasion upon 
 which I had the pleasure " 
 
 " It is very easily explained, sir," the young girl said. 
 
 " Madam?" 
 
 " I do not live in the neighborhood " 
 
 "Ah? no?" 
 
 " And I am not a lady, sir : does not that explain it ?" 
 
 Mr. Effingham scarcely believed his ears : these astound 
 ing words were uttered with such perfect calmness that there 
 was no possible room to suppose that they were meant for 
 a jest. What then ? He could not speak : he only looked 
 at her. 
 
 "You are surprised, sir," the young girl said, quite 
 simply and gravely. 
 
 " Upon my word, madam never have I really-* 
 
 " Your surprise will not last long, sir." 
 
 " How, madam ?" 
 
 " Do you ever visit the town of Williamsburg ? M 
 
 " Frequently." 
 
 " Well, sir, I think you will see me again. Now I must 
 continue my way, having returned you my very sincere thanks 
 for your kindness." 
 
 With which words words uttered in that wondrous voice 
 of immovable calmness the young girl again inclined her 
 sumptuous head, touched her white horse with the whip, and 
 slowly rode out of sight. 
 
 Mr. Effingham remained for several moments motionless, 
 in the middle of the road, gazing with wide and astonished 
 eyes after the beautiful equestrian. He was endeavoring 
 by a tremendous mental exertion to solve the astounding 
 problem of her identity. Vain was all his pondering noth 
 ing came of all his thought, his knit brows, his lip gnawed 
 ferociously, as he mused. Mr. Effingham was confident that 
 he knew, at least by sight, every young lady at Williamsburg, 
 and within a circuit of twenty miles, but this face was whoi-
 
 28 THE ROSE AND THE VIOLET. 
 
 ly unknown to him. He had certainly never seen her before 
 and then the strange fact of her riding out alone : her self- 
 possession : " she was accustomed to ride alone " " she waa 
 not a lady " " they should probably meet again " what in 
 the name of Fate, was the meaning of all this ? 
 
 " May the fiend seize me, if the days of wandering 
 Knights and forlorn damsels, haunted castles and giants have 
 not returned ! " exclaimed Mr. Effingham, emphatically. And 
 having thus disburdened his mind, he rode on but still his 
 mind dwelt on the strange lady, and her more singular 
 words. 
 
 Not a lady ! " what could she mean ? was there ever 
 since the days of the Sphinx so complete a puzzle i In face, 
 person, dress, and carriage she was every inch a lady why 
 then utter that astounding observation, enunciate that start 
 ling intelligence ? who could she be. however ? Mr. Effing- 
 ham ran over in his mind, the whole of his friends and ac 
 quaintances, and could recollect no one whose face bore the 
 slightest resemblance to that of the unknown lady. He gave 
 ap in despair, finally, and struck his spurs into the noble ani* 
 mal he rode, with unusual vigor. The horse started forward, 
 and in half an hour he had reached Riverhead. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BOSE AND THE YIOLET. 
 
 Two young ladies were walking upon the smooth-shaven 
 lawn, which stretched unbroken save by a few noble oaks and 
 clumps of shrubbery, from the fine old mansion to the wood 
 land on each side and the enclosure in front. 
 
 One of the ladies was tall and brilliant : her superb figure 
 undulating with every movement would have graced a palace, 
 and her bright eyes and merry lips were full of life and fire. 
 She was clad with extreme richness, and the fine silks and 
 Telvets which she wore shone brilliantly in the clear October
 
 THE ROSE AND THE VIOLET. 29 
 
 aunlight as she moved. This sheen of silk seemed her ap 
 propriate accompaniment, and the diamond necklace which 
 she wore was not observed. Her eyes and brilliant expres 
 sion threw the silk and velvet and all jewels in the back 
 ground. She looked the incarnation of aristocracy, using 
 that term in its colloquial sense, and seemed to brim with 
 mirth and merry witticisms from a pure sentiment of life 
 and superiority to every one. 
 
 Her companion was smaller in stature, and plainly 
 younger apparently about nineteen. Her figure was more 
 delicate, her beauty more pensive and aerial. The squire's 
 criticism, or abandonment of all criticism, did not seem at 
 all extravagant. A profusion of golden hair, blue eyes full 
 of deep tenderness and instinct with a species of quiet happy 
 pensiveness these, added to a complexion as fair as a lily 
 and as transparent as a fresh stream, made up a countenance 
 of exquisite beauty. 
 
 The first lady was Miss Henrietta Lee : the second was 
 her sister, Miss Clare Lee, between whom and Mr. Effing- 
 ham a sort of undeveloped courtship existed. 
 
 Mr. Effingham approached the ladies, trailing the feather 
 of his hat upon the grass. 
 
 " Ah 1 Mr. Effingham ! " cried Henrietta, with a merry 
 laugh, " and as weary-looking as ever 1 " 
 
 " Still jesting, Miss Henrietta or cousin Henrietta, as 
 you agree I may in future call you ; have I presumed, and 
 may I address you by that pleasant name ? " 
 
 " Certainly you may," said the laughing girl, " though I 
 believe the cousinship is rather distant." 
 
 " To my regret." 
 
 " Your regret ? truly ? ' 
 
 " In sober truth," replied Mr. Effingham, languidly twirl 
 ing his cocked hat : " near cousins, you know, have many 
 agreeable privileges. Have they not, Miss Clare ? " 
 
 Clare turned her soft, frank eyes on the young man and 
 
 II / / O 
 
 railed. 
 
 " That is enough," continued Mr. Effingham, " when a 
 lady smiles she always means yes." 
 
 " A hasty conclusion ! " said Henrietta, " many a gay 
 cavalier on his knees before a lady has been laughed at." 
 
 " True, true : though I am most happy to say that 1
 
 30 THE ROSE AND THE VIOLET. 
 
 have never had the bad fortune to verify the t.rath of youi 
 observation." 
 
 And smoothing gently the ruffles at his breast, Mr. 
 Effingham yawned. Henrietta burst into laughter, and her 
 brilliant eyes flashed mischievously. 
 
 Mr. Effingham looked round in apparent astonishment. 
 
 " If I may be permitted to inquire, Miss Henrietta, or 
 cousin Henrietta, as I shall beg leave henceforth to call 
 you 
 
 " Oh, certainly 1 " 
 
 " What were you laughing at, pray ? " 
 
 " Shall I tell you ? ' 
 
 " If you please." 
 
 " At you, then ! " 
 
 " At me ? " 
 
 " At you." 
 
 " I am glad to find my company BO agreeably entertain 
 ing : true, I am in unusually excellent spirits." 
 
 " Spirits 1 you ? Why you yawned most portentouslj 
 this moment 1 " 
 
 "All habit a bad habit, I confess : and to prove that I 
 am not weary, I have an adventure to relate." 
 
 " An adventure ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 And Mr. Effingham, in an elegant, petit maitre manner, 
 narrated his adventure, as he was pleased to call it, with the 
 unknown horsewoman. 
 
 " Who could it have been ? " said Clare. 
 
 " Who, indeed ! " echoed Henrietta. 
 
 " Upon my soul, I don't know. Some wandering queen, 
 or fairy, I suppose this Virginia is ths land of romance 
 and magic. I think it very fortunate that she did not bid me 
 dismount, seat myself behind her, and go off thus to fairy 
 land with her. In which case," continued Mr. Effingham, 
 gallantly, " I should not have experienced the happiness of 
 gazing at your pleasant and beautiful countenances, cousins 
 Henrietta and Clare." 
 
 " You are too kind 1 " laughed Henrietta. 
 
 " And not very sincere," said Clare, smiling. 
 
 " Not sincere ? " 
 
 And Mr. Effingham's glance dwelt for a moment almost
 
 THE ROSE AND THE VIOLET. 3 1 
 
 tenderly on the face of Clare, who looked like a pure angel, 
 in the bright crimson light of sunset. 
 
 " If you thought us so pleasant you would come oftt>tier," 
 she said, with a flitting blush. 
 
 " My poor society would ovly weary you, I fear," he said, 
 ostensibly addressing both of the sisters, but looking at 
 Clare, " I am a poor visitor." 
 
 Clare turned away and puiled a rose. 
 
 " It is not so far," she murmured, refusing plainly tc 
 accept the excuse, and speaking in so low a tone that Hen 
 rietta, who had taken some steps to meet her approaching 
 father, did not hear the words. 
 
 " And if I came ? " whispered Mr. Effingham. 
 
 Clare turned away to hide her confusion. 
 
 " Could I hope, dear cousin Ciare dearest Clare 1 " 
 
 Mr. Effingham was getting on. But Henrietta and Mr 
 Lee approached. 
 
 " That you could could " 
 
 " Good evening, Champ," said Mr. Lee, a fine portly old 
 gentleman, coming up arm in arm with Henrietta, " glad to 
 see you." 
 
 Mr. Effingham bowed, and Clare bent down to examine, 
 with profound curiosity, the rosebud which she held in her 
 little hand. 
 
 " The evening was so fine, that I thought I could not 
 spend it more agreeably than in a ride to Riverhead, sir/' 
 said Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Delightful 1 these August days are excellent for the 
 corn ; what news ? " 
 
 " Nothing, sir I have not seen the ' Gazette.'" 
 
 " Oh, the ' Gazette' never contains any intelligence : 
 sometimes, it is true, we hear what is goiog on in Parliament, 
 but it never condescends to afford UP any news from Vir 
 ginia. The tobacco on the south side may be all gone to 
 the devil for any thing you read in the ' Gazette.' Here it 
 is an abominable sheet I Ah 1 I see we are to have a the 
 atrical performance in Williamsburg next week," added th 
 old gentleman, glancing over the paper, " Mr. Hallam and 
 his ' Virginia Company of Comedians ' very politic, that 
 addition of ' Virginia 1 * are to perform The Merchant of 
 Venice, by perir-iiuion of his worship the Major, at the Old 
 Theatre near the Capitol, he announces. Truly we are im-
 
 12 THE ROSE AND THE VIOLET. 
 
 proving : really becoming civilized, in this barbarous term 
 incognita. 
 
 Mr. Effingham winced ; be bad more than once expressed 
 a similar opinion of Virginia in good faith not ironically 
 and the old gentleman's words seemed directed at himself. 
 A moment's reflection, however, persuaded him that this 
 could not be the case ; he had not visited Kiverhead a dozen 
 times since his return from Oxford and London and on 
 those occasions had never touched upon the subject of Vir 
 ginia and its dreadful deficiencies. 
 
 " A play ? " he said, " that is really good news : but the 
 ' Merchant of Venice ' is not one of my acquaintances." 
 
 " Ah, you young men are wrong in giving up Will 
 Shakespeare for the Steeles, Addisons, and Vanbrughs. 
 Mr. Addison's essays are very pleasant and entertaining 
 reading, and sure, there never was a finer gentleman than 
 Sir Roger ; but in the drama, Will Shakespeare distances 
 him all to nothing." 
 
 " Let us go to see the play, papa," said Henrietta. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Clare. 
 
 The old gentleman tenderly smoothed the bright golden 
 hair. 
 
 " Certainly, if you wish it," he said. 
 
 " And may I request permission to accompany the party, 
 ladies ? " said Mr. Effingham, languidly. 
 
 "How modest!" said Henrietta, laughing ; "certainly 
 you may go, sir. You will tell us when to hiss or applaud, 
 you know, as you are just from London 1 " 
 
 " What a quick tongue she has I " said Mr. Lee, fondly ; 
 " well, we will all go, and see what the ' Virginia Company 
 of Comedians ' is like : not much, I fear." 
 
 " Oh, we'll have a delightful time," cried Clare, glanc 
 ing at Mr. Effingham softly and frankly. 
 
 That young gentleman's languor melted like snow iu 
 the sunshine, and as he placed the little hand upon his arm 
 to lead its owner in to supper, he pressed it tenderly, and 
 whispered : 
 
 " I know I shall, for you will be with me, dearest Clare : 
 don't be offended, for you know " 
 
 The whisper of the leaves around them, drowned the 
 end of the sentence, but the red sunset lighting up Clare'* 
 K>ft warm cheek might very well have spared its crimscn 1
 
 POLITICS AND COURTSHIP. &3 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 POLTH08 AND OOUBTBHIP. 
 
 " WE cannot rationally doubt it, sir," said the squire, admir 
 ing the excellent glass of claret which he held between hi 
 eye and the window ; " there must be classes, scales of re 
 finement, culture and authority : to state the proposition 
 proves it." 
 
 The squire uttered these oracular words at his dinner- 
 table on the day after Mr. Champ Effingham's visit to River- 
 head. That gentleman was seated in a lounging attitude, 
 ever and anon moistening his lips with a glass of wine. In 
 one corner of the room Miss Alethea prosecuted some dar 
 ling household work, her favorite Orange lying comfortably 
 coiled up in her lap : in another, Master Willie and little 
 Kate were having a true-love quarrel as to the proper shade of 
 silk to be used on Carlo's nose in the famous embroidery. 
 But we have omitted in this catalogue of personages a gen 
 tleman sitting at the table on the squire's right hand, and 
 whom we now beg leave to briefly introduce to the reader 
 as Mr. Tag, the parson of the parish. The parson was a 
 rosy, puffy-looking individual of some fifty years, and in 
 his person, carriage, and tone of voice betrayed a mingled 
 effrontery and awkwardness : having formerly served as a 
 common soldier, then lived by his wits, as an adventurer, 
 he had finally, perforce of the influence of a noble patron 
 for whom he had performed some secret seivice, been pre 
 sented to a benefice in the colony of Virginia. We cannot 
 dwell on the worthy gentleman's character, and can only 
 add here that he was a regular visitor at Efl&ngham Hall 
 about dinner time, and that he had no religious scruples 
 against taking a hand at ticta< or other games of chance, 
 any more than he was opposed to the good old English 
 divertisement of fox-hunting. 
 
 To the squire's oracular dogma laying down the laws of so 
 cial organization, the parson replied between two gulps of 
 elaret : 
 
 " Certainly oh certainly."
 
 34 folifics 
 
 " The men of education and lineage not only must alwayi 
 rule," continues his host, "but ought to ; to trust the reins 
 of power in the hands of common men, who have compar 
 atively no stake in the community, no property, no family, 
 is absurd a doctrine too monstrous to require refutation." 
 
 The parson shook his head. 
 
 " I very much fear, squire, that these good old sentiments 
 are becoming obsolete. We men of position and rank in so 
 ciety, born in high social station, will have to yield, I fear. 
 They are seriously talking, I understand, of giving every 
 man in the colony a vote." 
 
 " Every man a vote 1 who speaks of it ? who Droaches 
 such an absurdity ?" 
 
 "'A parcel of hair-brained young men, who will yet get 
 themselves into trouble. As a minister of the Established 
 Church, I hold it my duty to warn them, and after that have 
 no further concern with them. I have pointed them out to 
 the authorities, and I now call your worship's attention to 
 the subject" 
 
 " Who are they ?" 
 
 " First and foremost, a young man called Waters son of 
 the fisherman on the river there near Williamsburg. He had 
 the audacity to intrude upon a conversation I was holding 
 with some gentlemen of my parish in town a day or two 
 since, and he uttered opinions over and above what I have 
 called to your attention, which will bring him to the gallows 
 if he does not beware." 
 
 " Other opinions ?" 
 
 " He spoke of the oppressions of the Home Government, 
 said that Virginians would not always be slaves, and actually 
 broached a plan for thoroughly educating the lower classes." 
 
 " A statesman in short clothes," said the squire, with a 
 sneer " the wine stays with you, sir a colonial patriot ! 
 faugh ! Educate the lower classes 1 Educate my indented 
 servant, and the common tradesman and farmer, and have 
 the knave talking to me of the ' rights of men,' and all the 
 wretched stuff and foolery of Utopian castle-builders I you 
 are right, sir, that young man mtut be watched. Good hea 
 vens 1 how has the Home Government oppressed us ? I grant 
 you, there are some laws I would have altered and others 
 refused us, passed but is this oppression ? Damn my
 
 POLITICS AND COURTSHIP. 35 
 
 blood I" added the squire, with great indignation, " I now feel 
 the truth of Will Shakespeare's words, that 'the age is grown 
 BO picked, the toe of the peasant comes near the heel of the 
 courtier and galls his kibe,' or to that effect. The direct 
 consequence of these fooleries is to abolish our rank follow 
 these doctrines, and where will be our gentlemen ?" 
 
 " Where, indeed ? 
 
 " Even the very parsons will go to the devil," here in 
 terposed Mr. Champ Effingham, with an evident desire U 
 yawn. 
 
 The squire greeted this sally of his son with a laugh. 
 
 " You are irreverent, young sir," the parson said, making 
 an effort to look dignified. 
 
 " I irreverent ! " replied Mr. Effingham, coolly ; " by no 
 means, most reverend sir. I think my respect for you is 
 sufficiently shown by attending church punctually every 
 Sunday, and respectably going to sleep under the effect of 
 your admirable homilies." 
 
 " You jest at my homilies " 
 
 " Oh, no." 
 
 " But you should understand, young man, that a minister 
 of the Church of England is not a public haranguer " 
 
 " Precisely." 
 
 " And dishonors his high place and position by appealing 
 to the passions and feelings of his hearers instead of giving 
 them good wholesome doctrine." 
 
 And Parson Tag drew himself up, with a hauteur which 
 badly assorted with his puffy face and figure. 
 
 " You are right," replied Mr. Effingham, with languid 
 indifference ; " nothing is so disagreeable as these appeals to 
 the feelings which you speak of, most reverend sir. How 
 could you bend your excellent mind to ombre and tictac 
 after such performances ; or, exhausted by such unnecessary 
 exertion as a ' rousing appeal ' demands, join in the delight 
 ful pursuit of a grey fox on the following Monday ? " 
 
 The squire laughed again, at the crestfallen parson, and 
 said: 
 
 " Come, no tongue-fencing at the dinner-table ; we have 
 wandered from the subject which we commenced with." 
 
 " What was the subject ? " asked Mr. Effingham, lau 
 guidly.
 
 86 POLITICS AND COURTSHIP. 
 
 " What 1 was all the parson's eloquence thrown away on 
 you ? " 
 
 " Perfectly ; I was not listening, with the exception of a 
 moment, when you closed your address." 
 
 " We were speaking of classes, and the necessity which 
 avery gentleman is under to preserve his rank." 
 
 " I suppose it's true ; but I never busy myself with 
 these matters." 
 
 " You should, sir ; the estate of Effingham falls to you 
 as eldest son." 
 
 " I trust, respected sir, that I shall worthily comport 
 myself in that station in life to which it hath pleased Heaven 
 to call me," drawled Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Never jest with the forms of the Established Church, 
 sir," said his father, with some asperity ; for however willing 
 the squire was to applaud a jest at the parson's expense, 
 one directed at the church itself was a very different 
 matter. " I hold every thing connected with the Liturgj 
 of the Holy Church as sacred." 
 
 Mr. Effingham assented, with a careless inclination of his 
 head. 
 
 " This spirit of free speaking and thinking is worse than 
 the other," continued the planter ; " those abominable New 
 Lights 1 " 
 
 " Wretched, misguided fools," chimed in the parson, 
 whose equanimity several glasses of wine had restored by 
 this time perfectly. 
 
 " I cordially hate and despise them," said the planter, 
 " and consider it my duty to do so. I hope the representa 
 tive of my family will share my sentiments." 
 
 This observation being directed at Mr. Effingham, that 
 gentleman replied indifferently : 
 
 " Of course of course." 
 
 " Champ," said the old planter, " you are really becom 
 ing worse than ever. Where will your indifference to every 
 thing end, I should like much to know ? You seem to 
 have no aim in life, no thought of advancement, no opinions, 
 even." 
 
 " True, sir ; that is a pretty fair statement of the truth. 
 This subject of rank and classes, gentlemen and commoner** 
 advancement, ambition, and all that, never troubles me."
 
 POLITICS AND COtJRTSHIK 37 
 
 "Sunt quos curriculo pulvorem Olympicum, 
 Collegisse juvat metaque fervidis 
 Evitata rotis," 
 
 or something of that sort. It's Horace, I believe, and the 
 scanning strikes me as correct. I mean, respected sir, that 
 I am not ambitious, and have no very fervid desire to get 
 dusty in the arena, or race-course, I should more properly 
 say dust soils the ruffles so abominably." 
 
 The squire always ended by laughing at his son's peti 
 maitre airs, though he had sagacity enough to perceive that 
 there was little real affectation in the young gentleman's 
 weariness and indifference. He argued, however, that this 
 would disappear in time, and knowing that any argument 
 would be useless on the present occasion, turned the conver 
 sation by taking wine with the parson. 
 
 Let us see what the youthful members of the company 
 were saying now. Human nature, under all guises, and in 
 every possible degree of development, is worthy of atten 
 tion. Master Will, who had been making assiduous love to 
 Kate, engaged now on Carlo's nose, caught Mr. Effingham's 
 Latin, and betook himself to a sotto voce criticism on the 
 speaker. 
 
 " Just listen to brother Champ, how learned he is 1 He's 
 
 just from Oxford, and thinks that Latin mighty fine to 
 
 be kissing you the other day I " added this young scion of 
 the house of Efimgham, thus betraying the disinterested and 
 impartial character of his criticism. 
 
 " Why, I didn't care I like to kiss cousin Champ," says 
 Kate, with a coquettish little twinkle of the eye, " he's al 
 ways so nice, you know." 
 
 "Nice! he nice?" 
 
 "Why, yes.' 1 
 
 " He aint ! " 
 
 " That's your gallantry : to contradict a lady," aayi 
 Kate, with the air of a duchess. 
 
 " I'm nicer than he is," says Will, eluding like a skilful 
 debater the charge of want of gallantry. u I don't stuff my 
 nose full of snuff and sneeze all the powder off my hair." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! " laughs Kate. 
 
 " What are you laughing at ? ' 
 
 " You hav'n't any powder 1 "
 
 38 POLITICS AND COURTSHIP. 
 
 " Never mind : I mean to." 
 
 " When ? 
 
 " Never mind 1 " 
 
 " Why you'd look ridiculous, Willie." 
 
 " Ridiculous i me ridiculous 1 Hav'n't I aigh-heeled 
 *hoes " 
 
 " So have I I'm a girl" 
 
 M And silk stockings." 
 So have I, sir." 
 
 And ruffles, and sword, and all' 
 
 " Oh, what a fine cavalier." 
 
 Master Will looks mortified. 
 
 " Now, Willie," says Kate, " don't pout, for you know I 
 was only jesting." 
 
 " Give me a kiss, then." 
 
 " A young lady kiss a gentleman ? Indeed ! " 
 
 The flattering word " gentleman " completely restores 
 
 Master Will's good humor: and essaying to conquer a 
 
 'salute," as they said in those honest courteous old times, 
 
 Kate's needle pricks his finger, which circumstance causes 
 
 the youthful cavalier to utter a shrill cry of pain. 
 
 " What's the matter, Will ? " asks the squire, breaking 
 off in the middle of a sentence addressed to the parson. 
 
 " Nothing much," says Mr. Champ Efliingham, who has 
 watched the assault of his younger brother with philoso 
 phic interest, " merely an illustration of the truth of my 
 views." 
 
 " Your views what views ?" 
 
 " Will was ambitious to ' collect the Olympic dust ' in 
 other words to kiss Katy, and the needle ran into hit 
 finger. So much for ambition. Moral : never meddle with 
 the ladies." 
 
 Master Will listens to this languidly-uttered speech 
 with many indications of dissatisfaction uttering more than 
 one expressive " humph ! " that little monosyllable which 
 onveys so much. At Mr. Emngham's " moral," however, he 
 boiled over. 
 
 " Never meddle with ladies, indeed ! " he said, " that's 
 pretty, coming from you, brother Champ, when old June from 
 Kiverhead says he saw you yesterday courting cousin 
 Clare 1 "--old June having, indeed, retailed to Cato that
 
 POLITICS ANt) COBRTSfllf. 39 
 
 evening, in Master Will's hearing, the fact that he " sped 
 they'd be a marridgin somewheres 'fore long 'sidering how 
 Mas' Champ Efnum and Mis' Clary was agwyin' on I ' 
 
 The squire burst into a hearty laugh, and rallied Mr. 
 Effingham without mercy. That gentleman, though for a 
 moment disconcerted, quickly regained his nonchalance, and 
 raising his glass languidly, said with a delightful drawl, an 
 exaggeration of his usual languor : 
 
 " Of course it's all true, sir ; but why laugh at me foi 
 following your respectable advice ? " 
 
 " Clare's much too good for you, Champ," eaid Miss 
 Alethea, taking a pin from her mouth and affixing there 
 with some indescribable garment to her knee, the better to 
 set to work on it. 
 
 " Ah 1 " said Mr. Effingham, indifferently, " well, I think 
 so too." 
 
 " A thousand times," said Master Will. 
 
 " Come, Will, recollect Champ is your elder brother,' 
 said the old planter, laughing merrily. 
 
 " Brother Champ laughed at me," said Master Will. 
 
 " True, I did, and am justly punished but correct the 
 word, Will : say I philosophized upon the result of your as 
 sault to steal the kiss. I never laugh." 
 
 " There's no harm in my kissing Kate," says Master 
 Will, with great dignity. 
 
 " None none 1 " 
 
 " Because we are engaged," adds Will, with the air of an 
 emperor. 
 
 Kate suddenly fires up at these words, and exclaims in 
 dignantly : 
 
 " My goodness ! aint you ashamed, Willie ? " 
 
 " Not engaged ! " cries Will. 
 
 " No never," says Kate, with a charming little pout 
 i( and if we were, do you think I would acknowledge it, and 
 have the servants talking about me like cousin Clare ? " 
 
 At which speech the whole company burst into laughter 
 and a smile is even observed to wander over Mr. Effing 
 ham's face. 
 
 " I see," says that gentleman, " that Miss Clare is given 
 to me by universal consent : I forgive you, Katy " 
 
 " Oh, cousin Champ, I didn't mean " commences Kate, 
 emorsefully.
 
 40 HOW THEY WENT TO THE PLAY. 
 
 " No matter," concludes Mr. Effinghara, yawning, " I have 
 only to observe that I am willing to take Miss Clare or any 
 other agreeable young lady for my wedded wife : and now, 
 as I feel drowsy, I beg leave of you, parson, a*hd you, le 
 spected sir, to excuse me ; I am going to take a nap." 
 
 With which words Mr. Effingham saunters through tke 
 door, and slowly ascends the broad stairs to ais chamber. 
 Miss Alethea continues to sew : the children to play . the 
 parson and his host to converse over their wine. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW THEY WENT TO THE PLAY. 
 
 THE reader will recollect that Mr. Lee had promised hii 
 daughters to go with them to Williamsburg, to witness the 
 performance of the " Merchant of Venice" by those newly- 
 arrived Virginia Comedians, of whom every one was talking. 
 Mr. Champ Effingham had asked permission to be one of the 
 party, it will be remembered, and that permission had been 
 granted by Miss Henrietta with the merry speech we have 
 recorded. 
 
 So on the appointed day, Mr. Effingham, in his most be 
 coming riding suit, and mounted on his handsomest courser, 
 made his appearance at Rivet-head. 
 
 The young ladies came down to him, already dressed for 
 their excursion to town as Williamsburg was called, just 
 as they called London " the Town" in England and Miss 
 Henrietta commenced immediately her accustomed amust 
 ment of bantering their visitor. She was radiant in a dress 
 of surpassing elegance flowered satin, yellow lace, jewels, 
 powdered hair, pearl pendants, and rich furbelows and the 
 bright beauty of her laughing face well assorted with her 
 flashing and glittering costume. As for Clare, her dresa 
 was much more subdued, just as her manner was more quiet, 
 than that of her sister. But Mr. Effingham, gazing at her 
 Buietly, with little care for Miss Henrietta's sky-rockets,
 
 HOW THEY WEN.T TO THE PL4Y. 41 
 
 thought he had never seen a more enchantingly beautiful 
 face ; so soft and tender was it, with the bright hair gathered 
 back from the temples, and strewed all over with its pearly 
 powder ; so warm and red were the girlish lips ; so clear 
 and mild the large melting eyes. Mr. Effingham began t 
 think seriously of having in future a distinct aim in life to 
 make his own this fairy creature, who had thus moved his 
 worn-out heart, making him feel once more some of the light 
 and joy and enthusiasm of his boyhood that time passed 
 from him, it really seemed, long ages ago. 
 
 Clare did not return his gaze, but busied herself in turn 
 ing over the leaves of a new book from England, with an 
 affectation of interest which was the merest failure. 
 
 Really all my wit is thrown away upon Mr. Effingham," 
 said Henrietta suddenly, with a beautiful pout ; " he has 
 not done me the honor to listen, I believe my last question 
 waiting a reply from him." 
 
 Mr. Effingham waked up, so to speak, and turned round. 
 
 " What did you say, my dear cousin ? " he asked indif 
 ferently. 
 
 " I say that my cousin, Mr. Effingham, is the most affected 
 personage I have ever known." 
 
 " I affected ! You have made that charge once before. 
 But what was your question ? " 
 
 " I asked where you procured that ridiculous little muff 
 there on the settee, which you threw down so carelessly OD 
 entering." 
 
 " In London," said Mr. Effingham, concisely. 
 
 " And are the London gallants such apers of the ladies 
 as to wear them ? " 
 
 " I don't know; they are used." 
 
 " And you imitate them ? " 
 
 " I imitate nobody, my dear cousin Henrietta ; it is too 
 troublesome. I do not wear a coat, or powder my hair, or 
 use ruffles from a desire to imitate any one." 
 
 " I don't think you do ; for I never saw such prepos 
 terous ruffles in my life." 
 
 " Eh ? " said Mr. Effingham, with languid indifferuece. 
 
 " Or such red cheeks." 
 
 " What of them ? " 
 
 " They are as rosy as a girl's."
 
 f HOW THEY WENT TO THE PLAT. 
 
 " Your own are more so, and I think cousin Clare's mor\ 
 BO still," returned Mr. Effingham ; " but let us dismiss the 
 subject of ruffles and roses, and come to the play. Do you 
 anticipate much pleasure ? " 
 
 " Oh, it will be delightful ! " exclaimed Miss Henrietta, 
 always ready to run off upon any subject which afforded her 
 an opportunity to pour out her spirits and gayety. 
 
 " And you, cousin Clare do you think these Virginia 
 Comedians, as they call themselves, will afford you a very 
 pleasant entertainment ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes I'm sure I shall be pleased, you know I have 
 never seen a play." 
 
 " But read a plenty ? " 
 
 " Oh yes : and I like the ' Merchant of Venice ' very 
 much. The character of Portia is so delicate and noble." 
 
 " Quite true an excellent criticism : better than any 
 thing in Congreve, I think, though I should hesitate to ad 
 vance such an opinion in London." 
 
 " Who will act Portia ? " 
 
 " I don't know : but can tell you without much difficulty. 
 Here is a play-bill which I sent to town for yesterday." 
 
 And Mr. Effingham drew daintily from his coat pocket a 
 small roughly-printed handbill, which he spread out before 
 the eyes of Clare. 
 
 " ' Virginia Company of Comedians,' " he read, " ' by 
 permission of his worship the Mayor in the Old Theatre 
 near the Capitol, Thursday evening a tragedy called " The 
 Merchant of Venice," by Mr. William Shakespeare boxes 
 seven shillings sixpence vivat Rex et Kegina ' here it is : 
 ' Shylock, Mr. Pugsby Portia, Miss Beatrice Hallam : ' 
 The part of Portia is to be performed by Miss Beatrice Hal- 
 lam I have never seen or heard of her." 
 
 " Which means," said Henrietta, laughing, " that Miss 
 Beatrice cannot be very well worth going to see, as Mr. 
 Champ Effingham, just from London, and conversant with 
 all the celebrities there, ha& never heard of her existence." 
 
 " My dear cousin Henrietta," said Mr. Effingham, lan 
 guidly, " you really seem to sit in judgment on my wearisome 
 conversation. I do not profess to know any thing about cele 
 brities : true, I very frequently lounged into the theatres iu 
 IiQndon, but I assure you, took very little interest iu the playi
 
 HOW THEY WENT TO THE PLAT. 4fl 
 
 or performers. Life itself is enough of a comedy for me, and 
 I want nothing more. I know nothing of Miss Hallam 
 she may be a new witch of Endor, or as beautiful as Cleo 
 patra, queen of Egypt, for all that I know. That I have 
 not heard of her proves nothing the best actors and ac 
 tresses are often treated with neglect and indifference." 
 
 " Well," said Clare, smiling, " we shall soon see for our 
 selves, for there is papa corning, all ready dressed to go, and 
 I hear the wheels of the chariot." 
 
 Mr. Emngham took up his muff. 
 
 " Oh," cried Henrietta, " how do you carry that funny 
 little thing while riding ? it's smaller than mine." 
 
 " I swing it on my arm," replied Mr. Effingham, indif 
 ferently. 
 
 " Let me relieve you of it all the girls will then be 
 admiring my new London muff." 
 
 " No, thank you. I will not trouble you." 
 
 " Oh, here is papa," said Clare. Mr. Lee entered. 
 
 " Good morning, Champ," he said, in his strong, hearty 
 voice, " how is your good father ? have you dined ? Yes ? 
 Then let us get on to town. We have no time to lose, as the 
 play commences, I am informed, at seven." 
 
 With which words the worthy gentleman led the way to 
 the door, where the large chariot, with its four pawing horses 
 and liveried coachman, awaited them. Mr. Emngham assist 
 ed the ladies in with great elegance and gallantry. After 
 performing this social duty, he made a slight bow, and waa 
 going toward his horse. 
 
 " Come, take a place in the chariot," said Mr. Lee. 
 
 " Oh, yes," cried the lively Henrietta, " don't go prancing 
 along out there, where I can't get at you to tease you. 
 There's room enough for a dozen in here." 
 
 " No, no, my horse would get impatient." 
 
 Mr. Emngham was waiting for Clare to invite him to 
 enter, and no one who looked at his face, and witnessed his 
 tell-tale gaze could doubt it. Clare stole a glance at him, 
 and said, with a slight blush, 
 
 " There's plenty of room." 
 
 Mr. Effingham took two steps toward the chariot 
 
 u But my horse," he said. 
 
 Mr. Lee called to a servant, and ordered him to take tb
 
 44 THE OLD THEATRE NEAR THE CAPITOL. 
 
 animal to the stable. Mr. Effinghara then yielded he only 
 wanted the excuse, indeed and entering the chariot, waa 
 about to sit down by the old gentleman, opposite the young 
 girls. 
 
 "Ah ! take care !" cried Mr. Lee, with a hearty and sudden 
 laugh, " my glasses are on the seat 1 " 
 
 Henrietta laughed too, and said, moving near to her side 
 of the carriage, and making room, 
 
 " Come ! you may ride between us mayn't he, Clary ? 
 there's plenty of room for a bodkin." 
 
 Mr. Effingham plainly had no objection, and, as before, in 
 the matter of riding within or without, waited for Clare's 
 manifesto on the subject. This time he would have been sa 
 tisfied with a simple glance granting him permission so very 
 reasonable was this gentleman at bottom but unfortunately 
 Clare did not invite him, either with her lips or eyes. The 
 consequence was that Mr. Effingham refused Henrietta's in 
 vitation, with a graceful wave of his muff-ornamented arm, 
 and the glasses of the old gentleman having been transferred 
 from the seat to his nose, gently subsided into the softly- 
 cushioned space left free for him, smoothing his ruffles, and 
 arranging delicately the drop-curls of his powdered peruke. 
 
 The chariot rolled on, then, with dignified slowness, to 
 ward " Town " that is to say, the imperial metropolis of 
 Virginia, then, and now, known as Williamsburg. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE OLD THEATRE NEAR THE CAPITOL, 
 
 THE " old Theatre near the Capitol," discoursed of in the 
 manifesto issued by Mr. Manager Hallam, was so far old, 
 that the walls were well-browned by time, and the shutters 
 to the windows of a pleasant neutral tint between rust and 
 dust color. The building had no doubt been used for the 
 present purpose in bygone times, before the days of the 
 ." Virgieia Gazette," which is our authority for many of the
 
 THE OLD THEATRE NEAR THE CAPITOL. 45 
 
 facts here stated, and in relation to the " Virginia Company 
 of Comedians " but of the former companies of " players,' 
 as my lord Hamlet calls them, and their successes or 
 misfortunes, printed words tell us nothing, as far as the 
 researches of the present Chronicle extend. That there 
 had been such companies before, however, we repeat, there 
 is some reason to believe ; else why that addition " old " 
 applied to the " Theatre near the Capitol." The question 
 is submitted to the future social historians of the Old Do 
 minion. 
 
 Within, the play-house presented a somewhat more 
 attractive appearance. There was " box," " pit," and * gal 
 lery." as in our own day ; and the relative prices were ar 
 ranged in much the same manner. The common mortals 
 gentlemen and ladies were forced to occupy the boxes 
 raised slightly above the level of the stage, and hemmed in 
 by velvet-cushioned railings, in front, a flower-decorated 
 panel, extending all around the house, and for this posi 
 tion were moreover compelled to pay an admission fee of 
 seven shillings and sixpence. The demigods so to speak 
 occupied a more eligible position in the " pit," from which 
 they could procure a highly excellent view of the actors' 
 feet and ankles, just on a level with their noses : to concili 
 ate the demigods, this superior advantage had been offered, 
 and the price for them was, further still, reduced to five 
 shillings. But " the gods " in truth were the real favorites 
 of the maaager. To attract them, he arranged the high 
 upper " gallery " and left it untouched, unincumbered by 
 railing or velvet cushions, or any other device : all was free 
 space, and liberal as the air : there were no troublesome 
 seats for " the gods," and three shillings and nine pence was 
 all that the managers would demand. The honor of their 
 presence was enough. 
 
 From the boxes a stairway led down to the stage, and 
 some rude scenes, visible at the edges of the green curtain, 
 completed the outline. 
 
 When Mr. Lee and his daughters entered the box which 
 had been reserved for them, next to the stage, the house 
 was nearly full, and the neatness of the edifice was lost sight 
 of in the sea of brilliant ladies' faces, and strong forms of 
 cavaliers, which extended Uk a line of glistening foam
 
 46 THB OLD THEATEK NEAR THE CAPITOL. 
 
 around the semicircle of the boxes. The pit was occupied 
 by well-dressed men of the lower class, as the times had it, 
 and from the gallery proceeded hoarse murmurs and the un- 
 forgotten slang of London. 
 
 Many smiles and bows were interchanged between the 
 parties in the different boxes ; and the young gallants, follow 
 ing the fashion of the day, gathered at each end of the 
 stage, and often walked across, to exchange some polite 
 speech with the smiling dames in the boxes nearest. 
 
 Mr. Champ Effingham was. upon the whole, much the 
 most notable fop present ; and his elegant, languid, petit 
 maitrc air, as he strolled across the stage, attracted many 
 remarks, not invariably favorable. It was observed, how 
 ever, that when the Virginia-bred youths, with honest plain 
 ness, called him " ridiculous," the young ladies, their com 
 panions, took Mr. Effingham's part, and defended him with 
 great enthusiasm. Only when they returned home, Mr. 
 Effin^ham was more unmercifully criticised than he would 
 otherwise have been. 
 
 A little bell rang, and the orchestra, represented by three 
 or four foreign-looking gentlemen, bearded and moustached, 
 entered with trumpet and violin. The trumpets made the 
 roof shake, indifferently, in honor of the Prince of Morocco, 
 or King Richard, or any other worthy whose entrance was 
 marked in the play-book " with a flourish." But before the 
 orchestra ravished the ears of every one, the manager came 
 forward, in the costume of Bassanio, and made a low bow. 
 Mr. Hallam was a fat little man, of fifty or fifty-five, with a 
 rubicund and somewhat sensual face, and he expressed 
 extraordinary delight at meeting so many of the " noble 
 aristocracy of the great and noble colony of Virginia," 
 assembled to witness his very humble representation. It 
 would be the chief end and sole ambition of his life, he said, 
 to please the gentry, who so kindly patronized their servants 
 himself and his associates and then the smiling worthy 
 concluded by bowing lower than before. Much applaust 
 from the pit and gallery, and murmurs of approbation from 
 the well-bred boxes, greeted this address, and, the orchestra 
 having struck up, the curtain slowly rolled aloft. The young 
 gallants scattered to the corners of the stage seating them 
 selves oo stools or chairs, or standing, and the
 
 IN THE SQUIRE'S BOX. 47 
 
 of Venice " commenced. Bassanio having assumed a digni 
 fied and lofty port, criticised Gratiano with courteous and 
 lordly wit : his friend Antonio offered him his fortune with 
 grand magnanimity, in a loud singing voice, worthy the 
 utmost commendation, and the first act proceeded on its way 
 in triumph. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 IN THE SQUIBE'S BOX. 
 
 THE first act ended without the appearance of Portia or 
 Nerissa ; the scene in which they hold their confidential 
 though public and explanatory interview having been omit 
 ted. The audience seemed to be much pleased, and the 
 actors received a grateful guerdon of applause. 
 
 In the box opposite that one occupied by Mr. Lee and 
 his daughters, sat the squire, Will, and Kate, and proh 
 pudor ! no less a personage than Parson Tag. Let us not 
 criticise the worthy parson's appearance in a play-house, too 
 severely, however. Those times were not our times, nor 
 those men, the men of to-day. If parsons drank deep then, 
 and hunted Reynard, and not unwillingly took a hand at 
 cards, and they did all this and more why should they 
 not also go and see the " good old English drama ? " Cer 
 tain are we, that when the squire proposed to the parson a 
 visit to town, for the purpose of witnessing the performance 
 of the " Merchant of Venice," that worthy made no sort 
 of objection : though it must be said, in justice to him, also, 
 that he expressed some fears of finding his time thrown away. 
 He now sat on the front seat beside the squire, with solemn 
 gravity, and rubicund nose, surveying from his respectable 
 position the agitated pit. Miss Alethea had remained at 
 home : but, beside the squire, Will and Kate were exchang 
 ing criticisms on the splendid novelty they had just witness 
 ed. They remembered it for years afterwards this, thjj 
 oeautiful, glittering, glorious, magical first play 1
 
 48 IN THE SQUIRE'S BOX. 
 
 " Not so bad as you predicted eh, parson ? " said thf 
 squire. " I don't think that fellow Antonio acts so badly/ 
 
 " Very well very well," replied the parson, who was in 
 the habit of echoing the squire's opinions. 
 
 " And the audience seem delighted. Look at that 
 scamp of a son of mine, strutting up to friend Lee's box, 
 and smoothing those enormous ruffles like a turkey-cock." 
 
 "Harmless devices of youth, sir." 
 
 " Yes, and innocent, at least : he'll reform in time, sir, 1 
 tell you." 
 
 " Beyond all doubt" 
 
 " There's good in Champ." 
 
 " A most amiable young man." 
 
 " Who abused your homilies," laughed the squire. 
 
 " Oh ! that is forgotten, my respected friend a mere 
 youthful jest the words of a thoughtless youth." 
 
 The parson was evidently in a most Christian state of 
 mind, and had plainly left his usual severity at home. The 
 fact was, that the worthy man felt no little complaisance 
 at being seen the honored companion of " one of the aris 
 tocracy," as Mr. Hallam would have said, in that public 
 place. It flattered him he thought he heard the gallery 
 say to the pit, " Who is that fine-looking gentleman in Squire 
 Effingham's box ? " and the pit audibly replied, " That 
 is the Reverend Mr. Tag, the distinguished clergyman." 
 
 The parson was, therefore, in a forgiving state of mind, 
 and at that moment would not have refused to agree with 
 the squire if that gentleman had stated his opinion that 
 Mr. Efnngham's natural genius and moral purity were sub* 
 lime. 
 
 Suddenly, however, the parson's face clouded over, and 
 catching hold of the squire's arm, he said : 
 
 " There, sir ! look there ! That is the young man I spoke 
 of Charles Waters below us 1 " 
 
 " What of him ? " 
 
 " Have you forgotten, sir ? " 
 
 " Perfectly," said the good-humored squire. " Oh, yes 1 
 now I recollect, the young man who^" 
 
 " Has been propagating those treasonable opinions, sir 
 one of the lower classes turned statesman, as you very 
 eloquently observed 1 What business has he to be there ?
 
 m THE SQUIRE'S BOX. 49 
 
 the gallery is his plac*, among the servants and laborers. 
 I wonder he is not in the boxes, by us gentlemen ! " 
 
 The squire followed the indignant finger of the parson, 
 and saw beneath them in the pit a young man clad in gray 
 cloth, and gazing with a thoughtful and fixed look upon 
 the curtain. Plainly, however, he was unconscious of thus 
 staring out of countenance the poor curtain his own 
 thoughts, it was evident, pre-occupied his mind. He was ap 
 parently twenty-two or three, and his countenance was full 
 :>f truth and nobility : the hair short, 'chestnut-colored and 
 unpowdered the eyes large and clear, the mouth firm, but 
 somewhat sorrowful. Altogether, the face of this young 
 man would have attracted much attention from close ob 
 servers of character ; and it was not without its effect on the 
 generous mind of the squire. 
 
 " You may say what you please of young Waters, par 
 son," he said, " but he's no fool ; you may see that in his 
 countenance." 
 
 " I fear he is much more knave than fool, honored sir," 
 said his companion. 
 
 " If what you said of him is true, he's both," said the 
 bluff squire, suddenly recollecting the young man's alleged 
 opinions on education, " but let him go we came here to 
 be amused and I shall not talk politics. Come, let us ques 
 tion the juveniles here. How did you like the play, Kate, 
 was it pretty ? " 
 
 Kate clapped her hands, and said : 
 
 " Oh, lovely, papa ! " 
 
 "And you, Will?" 
 
 " Pretty good," said Master Will, endeavoring to smooth 
 his modest ruffles after the manner of his brother Champ, 
 whom he secretly admired and venerated as the model of a 
 gentleman and cavalier. " I think it's pretty well, sir but 
 not up to my anticipations hum ! " 
 
 " My goodness, Willie ! " cried Kate, in the midst of the 
 squire's laughter at this magniloquent speech, " you just said 
 to me a minute ago that you were delighted." 
 
 " I said so to satisfy you," said Master Will, grandly. 
 
 " To satisfy me, indeed ! " 
 
 " Yes. I never argue with women." 
 
 The squire seemed much delighted with this ppeeoh, and 
 3
 
 BO Hi THE SQUIRE'S BOX. 
 
 endeavoring to command his risible muscles, asked Kate 
 " what she had to reply to that ? " 
 
 " He says he never argues with women !" answered Kate, 
 pouting and shaking her little fresh-looking head up and 
 down, " never mind 1 I'll catch him at it before long. Never 
 argues with women 1 " adds Kate, " as if he was not arguing 
 with me all the time 'most ! " 
 
 " Let us dismiss the subject," says Will, gently caressing 
 his upper lip as Mr. Champ was doing opposite, " if that's 
 the way you're going on when we are married, I'll have a 
 time of it." 
 
 " I won't marry you ! " says Kate, " to be quarrelling all 
 the time " 
 
 " I quarrel ! " 
 
 " Yes ! " pouts Kate, wiping her eyes. 
 
 " Well, I won't any more," says Will, descending from his 
 heroics, and endeavoring to make friends j '' don't cry, Kate. 
 You know how devoted I am to you " 
 
 " I won't be friends 1 " 
 
 " Now, Kate ! " 
 
 " You needn't be squeezing my hand." 
 
 " I'll get you the silk for Carlo's foot" 
 
 " Will you ? " 
 
 ' Yes, from cousin Clare." 
 
 " To-morrow ? " 
 
 " This very night." 
 
 " Then," says Kate, smiling, " I won't quarrel : and you 
 niusn't." 
 
 "I? never!" 
 
 " How pretty Carlo will be I " 
 
 " Lovely and we're engaged ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " says Kate, absorbed in the imaginary con 
 templation of Carlo's foot, " but hush ! Willie, they are go 
 ing on with the play, and you m jsn't be making love to me, 
 you know, where every body can hear you ! " 
 
 " Never 1 " says Will, with Roman dignity and firmness. 
 
 The audience utter a prolonged " Sh-h-h-h 1 " and the 
 curtain rises.
 
 m MR. LEE'S aox. 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 IN MR LEE'S 
 
 LET us return for a moment to the box occupied by Mr. Lee 
 and his daughters. At the end of the first act Mr. Effing- 
 ham left his companions, with whom he had been interchang 
 ing remarks during the performance, to the great disgust of 
 the pit, and sauntered to the side of Miss Clare Lee, who 
 sat nearest the stage. Clare was radiant with pleasure : she 
 had never seen a play before, and it was therefore as much 
 of a novelty to her as to little Kate. Never had she looked 
 more beautiful, with her bright eyes and soft rosy cheeks 
 and this fact probably occurred to Mr. Effingham : for his 
 gaze betrayed unmistakable admiration. No one, however, 
 would have discovered it from his manner, which was as full 
 of languor as ever. 
 
 " How does my fair cousin relish the performance ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh ! I was never more pleased with any thing," said 
 Clare, " and how do you like it ? " 
 
 " Tolerably : but I never had a very great relish for these 
 things " 
 
 " Because, to wit, life itself is a comedy," said Henrietta, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Effingham, " and a very brilliant one it 
 would be, if all the world were Miss Henriettas. I hope, 
 my dear cousin, that compliment is sufficiently broad." 
 
 " T.hank you, sir I know how to take your fine speeches : 
 don't think they deceive me." 
 
 " There ! you have it, Champ," said Mr. Lee, who turned 
 round to greet a neighbor who had just entered. 
 
 '* I'm rather a poor hand at compliments," replied Mr. 
 Effingham, " but really it is hard to do you the injustice, my 
 fair cousin, of withholding them. Come ! no reply, for I 
 see cousin Clare is going to say something more flattering 
 than what you are about to utter." 
 
 Clare laughed, and said, blushing slightly :
 
 52 IN MB.. LEE'S BOX. 
 
 " Oh, no 1 I was going to say only that Shylock realty 
 frightened me." 
 
 " It was very well done, much like Shuter at Castle Gar 
 den," said Mr. Effingham, "how did you like it, cousin Hen 
 rietta ? Come, your criticism." 
 
 " Oh, what could you expect from a mere country girl 
 like me ? Besides, there is Mr. Hamilton, my devoted ad 
 mirer, coming to speak to me." 
 
 Mr. Hamilton, the fox-hunter, entered and took his seat, 
 and Henrietta was now engaged in a laughing and animated 
 conversation. 
 
 " How I envy them," said Mr. Effingham, applying to 
 his nostrils, with a listless air, a delicate pinch of snuff, 
 " they are so gay." 
 
 " Why are you not gay, cousin Champ ? " said Clare, in a 
 timid voice, " you have no reason to be sad." 
 
 " No I do not say I have any reason. But I am out 
 of sorts." 
 
 " Why are you ? " 
 
 Mr. Effingham leaning over the velvet cushion, and 
 speaking in a tone audible to no one besides himself and 
 Clare, replied : 
 
 " I am out of sorts, because I am rusting." 
 
 " Busting ! " 
 
 C( Yes, more than rusting. I take interest in scarcely 
 any thing I am wearied to death with every thing what is 
 life worth ? Here are some hundreds of persons, and they 
 all seem delighted with this play, which tires me to death 
 I take no interest in it. Shylock and Antonio strut and 
 spout without amusing me I am already weary, and every 
 body else seems to be impatient for the reappearance of 
 those wonders. Why are they so much amused ? For my 
 part, I am sick of all this, and only stay," Mr. Effingham 
 added, lowering his voice, " because you stay. The nearest 
 approach to happiness I make, is in your presence." 
 
 Clare blushed this time in earnest, and yet, gathering 
 self-possession, looked into Mr. Effingham's face and smiled. 
 
 '" How beautiful you are 1 " he said with profound ear 
 nestness. 
 
 " Oh," said Clare, the co?or of a peoviy, " you are jesting 
 with me."
 
 IN MR. LEE'S BO*. SS 
 
 " I am not jesting." 
 
 " Well, don't say any thing to make m feel so a^ain I 
 feel as if my face was as red as fire." 
 
 There was so much childlike frankness in the tone with 
 which these words were uttered, that Mr. Effingham felt his 
 heart leaving him, and going quickly into the possession of 
 the owner of the red cheeks. Yet strange to say, he felt no 
 pain, but rather pleasure. 
 
 " I really believe I am growing less tired of the play, and 
 all, " he said to himself, with a smile : then added aloud : 
 
 " I really think you could charm away my misanthropy 
 and melancholy, if you desired, cousin." 
 
 "How, pray?" 
 
 " By smiling at me." 
 
 Clare smiled : 
 
 " There," she said, " be merry, then. Indeed, cousin, you 
 could become gay again, if you chose. Do not determine to 
 find fault with every thing and think every thing weari 
 some. Seek novelty : you say that all here seem to take 
 pleasure in the play, while you do not. They are pleased 
 because it is new to them. I have never seen a play, and I 
 am highly pleased. If you have been often to theatres, there 
 is nothing strange in your thinking this poor one excellent 
 though it seems beautiful to me. But you will find no 
 velty and interest in other things. Try it, now, and see if my 
 philosophy is not true." 
 
 The softness and earnestness in the tender voice of the 
 young girl, and the interest in himself betrayed by her tone, 
 was so plain that Mr. Effingham felt his languid heart beat 
 
 " I know but one means," he said. 
 
 " What is that ? " 
 
 " To have a companion." 
 
 " A companion ? " 
 
 His meaning suddenly flashed upor her, and she turned 
 away her head. 
 
 " To have the philosopher always near me" said Mr. 
 Effingham, imprisoning in his own the hand which rested on 
 the railing. 
 
 The head was turned further away. 
 
 " Clare ! dearest Clare 1 " he whispered, ' if you taka 
 Buh a tender interest in my welfare why not "
 
 M ACTRESS AND GENTLEMAN. 
 
 " Sh h h h I " came in a long murmur from the atfc 
 dience. 
 
 " True," muttered Mr. Emngham, turning away, " how 
 ridiculous, here in the theatre 1 " 
 
 Suddenly his eyes fell upon one of the actresses, and he 
 almost uttered an exclamation. It was the unknown lady 
 of the wood. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ACTRESS AND GENTLEMAN. 
 
 THE unknown lady was no gentle Virginia maiden, no "lady,' 
 as she had said, with perfect calmness, at their meeting in the 
 wood only one of the company of Comedians. Her singular 
 expression when she uttered the words, " I think you will see 
 me again," occurred to the young man, and he wondered that 
 this easy solution of the riddle had not occurred to him at once. 
 
 What was her name ? Mr. Effingham drew forth his 
 bill, and saw opposite the name of Portia, Miss Beatrice 
 Hallam. 
 
 " Ah, yes," he said, carelessly, " the same we were spe 
 culating upon, this morning. Let us see how Portia looks, 
 and what change the foot-lights work in her face." 
 
 He sat down in the corner of the stage upon a wicker 
 chair, and scanned Portia critically. Her costume was 
 faultless. It consisted of a gown and underskirt of^-fewn- 
 colored silk, trimmed with silver, and a single band of gold 
 encircled each wrist, clearly relieved against the white, 
 finely-rounded arm. Her hair, which was a beautiful chest 
 nut, had been carried back from the temples and powdered, 
 after the fashion of the time, and around her beautiful, 
 Bwan-like neck, the young woman wore a necklace of pearls 
 of rare brilliance. Thus the costume of the character defied 
 criticism, and Mr. Effingham passed en to the face and 
 figure. These we have already described. The countenance 
 of Beatrice Hallam wore the same simple, yet firm and 
 collected expression, which Mr. Effingham had observed in
 
 ACTRESS AND GENTLEMAN. 55 
 
 their first interview, and her figure had the same indefinable 
 grace and beauty. Every movement which she made might 
 have suited a royal palace, and in her large brilliant eyea 
 Mr. Effingham in vain sought the least trace of confusion. 
 She surveyed the audience, while the Prince of Morocco 
 was uttering his speech, with perfect simplicity, but her eyes 
 not for a single moment rested on the young men collected 
 at the corners of the stage. For her they seemed to have 
 no existence, and she turned to the Prince again. Thai 
 gentleman having uttered his prescribed number of lines, 
 Portia advanced graciously toward him, and addressed him. 
 Her carelessness was gone ; she no longer displayed either 
 indifference or coldness. She was the actress, with her role 
 to sustain. She commenced in a voice of noble and queen- 
 like courtesy, a voice of pure music, and clear utterance, so 
 to speak, such as few lips possess the power of giving forth. 
 Every word rang and told ; there was no hurry, no slurring, 
 no hesitation ; it was not an actress delivering a set speech, 
 but the noble Portia doing the honors of her beautiful 
 palace of Belmont. The scene ended with great applause 
 the young woman had evidently produced a most favorable 
 impression on the audience. But she seemed wholly un 
 conscious of this compliment, and made her exit quite 
 calmly. 
 
 A buzz ran through the theatre : the audience were dis 
 cussing the merits of Portia. On the stage, too, she was the 
 subject of many comments ; and this continued until Lance 
 lot made his appearance and went through his speech. 
 Then Portia's reappearance with the Prince was greeted with 
 great "applause. 
 
 Mr. Effingham leaned forward and touched the young 
 woman's sleeve. 
 
 " Come," he said, with easy carelessness, and scarcely 
 moderating his voice, "come, fair Portia, while that tire 
 some fellow is making his speech, talk to me a little. We 
 are old acquaintances and you are indebted to me for direct 
 ing you home." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Beatrice, turning her head slightly, 
 " but pardon me I have my part to attend to." 
 
 " I don't care." 
 
 " Excuse me, sir but I do."
 
 89 4CTRESS AND GENTLEMAN. 
 
 " Reaily, madam, you are very stiff for an actress. Is 
 it so very unusual a thing to ask a moment's conversation ? " 
 
 " I know that it is the fashion in London and elsewhere, 
 ir, but I dislike it. It destroys my conception of the char 
 acter," she said, calmly. 
 
 Mr. Emngham laughed. 
 
 " Come here and talk to me," he said, " did you not say 
 we should meet again ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. And I also said that I was not a lady." 
 
 " Well what is the meaning of that addition?" 
 
 " It means, sir, that being an actress, I am not at liberty 
 to amuse myself here as I might were I a lady in a drawing- 
 room. Pardon me, sir," she added calmly, " I am neglect 
 ing what I have engaged to do, play Portia." 
 
 And the young woman quietly disengaging her sleeve 
 from Mr. Effingham's fingers, moved away to another por 
 tion of the stage. 
 
 " Here is a pretty affair," said Mr. Emngham to him 
 self, as he fell back, languidly, into the chair, from which, 
 however, he had not deigned to rise wholly when addressing 
 the young actress, " what are things coming to when an 
 actress treats a gentleman in this manner. I really believe 
 the girl thinks I am not good enough for her : ' Pardon me, 
 sir ! ' was there ever such insufferable prudery and affecta 
 tion ! No doubt she wishes to catch me, and commences 
 with this piquant piece of acting. Or perhaps," added the 
 elegant young gentleman, smoothing his frill, " she fell iu 
 love with me the other day, when we met, and is afraid she 
 will betray herself. Not talk when I desire to talk with 
 her, indeed and yonder all those people have seen her 
 cavalier treatment of me, and are laughing at me. For 
 tunately I am proof against their jeers come, come, let 
 us see if Miss Portia will treat me as badly next time." 
 
 Portia entered next with the Prince of Arragon, and 
 while that gentleman was addressing the caskets, Mr. 
 Emngham again applied himself to the task of forcing the 
 young woman to converse with him. 
 
 " Why did you treat me so, just now ? " he said, with 
 abrupt carelessness. 
 
 " How, sir ? " 
 
 " You refused to talk to me."
 
 ACTRESS AND GENTLEMAN. 57 
 
 " I had my part to perform." 
 
 " That is no excuse." 
 
 " Besides, sir," added the young woman, surveying Mr 
 Effingham with an indifferent glance, " I know you only 
 very slightly." 
 
 " Know me only slightly," cried Mr. Effingham, affecting 
 surprise. 
 
 " A chance meeting is very slight acquaintance, sir ; 
 but I offer this as no apology for refusing to do what I 
 am now doing converse with you on the stage." 
 
 " Really, one would say you were a queen speaking to a 
 subject, instead of an actress " 
 
 " Honored with the attentions of a gentleman, you would 
 add, sir," she interrupted, quite calmly. 
 
 " As you please." 
 
 " Pray, speak to me no more, sir I forget my part. 
 And the audience are looking at you." 
 
 " Let them." 
 
 " I see some angry faces," said the young woman, look 
 ing at Charles Waters, " they do not understand the fashions 
 of London, sir." 
 
 " What care I." 
 
 " Please release my sleeve, sir that is my line." 
 
 The gallery uttered a prolonged hiss as Portia disen 
 gaged her arm. Mr. Effingharn turned round disdainfully, 
 and looked up to the gallery from which the hiss came 
 This glance of haughty defiance might have provoked an 
 other exhibition of the same sort, but Portia at that moment 
 commenced her speech. 
 
 Thereafter the young woman came no more near Mr. 
 Effingham, and treated that gentleman's moody glances with 
 supreme disregard. What was going on in Mr. Effingham's 
 mind, and why did he lose some of his careless listlessness 
 when, clasping her beautiful hands, the lovely girl, raising hei 
 eyes to heaven, like one of the old Italian pictures, uttered 
 that sublime discourse on the " quality of mercy " ? and 
 how did it happen that, when she sobbed, almost, in that ten 
 der, magical voice, 
 
 " But mercy is above this sceptered sway, 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings * 
 It is an attribute of God himself 1 "
 
 58 ACTRESS AND GENTLEMAN. 
 
 how did it chance that Mr. Effingham led the enthusiasts 
 applause, and absolutely rose erect in the excess of his en 
 thusiasm ? 
 
 As she passed him in going out, he made her a low bow, 
 and said, " Pardon me 1 you are a great actress ! " A single 
 glance, and a calm movement of the head, were the only 
 reply to this speech ; and with this Mr. Effingham was com 
 pelled to remain content. 
 
 He returned to the side of Clare, thoughtful and pre 
 occupied. 
 
 " What were they hissing for ? " asked Clare, from whom 
 the scene we have related had been concealed by the projec 
 tion of the wall, and the group of young men. Indeed, 
 scarcely any portion of the audience had witnessed it, the 
 gallery excepted, which overlooked the whole stage from its 
 great height 
 
 " Some folly which deserved hissing, probably," returned 
 Mr. Effingham, wondering at his own words as he spoke ; 
 " but here are the actors again." 
 
 The play proceeded, and ended amid universal applause. 
 Mr. Hallam led out Portia, in response to uproarious calls, 
 and thanked the audience for their kindness to his daughter. 
 Beatrice received all the applause with her habitual calm 
 ness ; and, inclining her head slightly, disappeared. 
 
 Mr. Effingham's eyes dwelt upon her to the last, and even 
 Clare spoke to him in vain. 
 
 " Bah ! she's a mere scheming jade 1 " he said, at last, 
 disdainfully, and almost aloud ; " come, cousin Clare, the 
 chariot is ready at the door. Take my arm." 
 
 And so the audience separated, rolling, well pleased, to 
 their homes. But why did Mr. Effingham preserve such 
 inexplicable silence in the chariot? Why did Henrietta 
 tell him that the performance must have made him sleepy ? 
 Why did he push his horse angrily as he galloped back from 
 Biverhead to Effingham Hall ? Was he thinking of that 
 strange Portia ?
 
 MR. EFF1NOHAM CRIT. JISES THE COMEDY 59 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ME. EFFmGHAM OEITICI8ES THE COMEDY, BETRAYING GREAT 
 CONSISTENCY. 
 
 THAT night Mr. Effingham paced his room for more than 
 an hour in moody thought, troubled and out of humor, it 
 seemed, at something which had recently occurred. He kicked 
 out of his way every obstacle, and betrayed other unmista 
 kable evidences of ill-humor. At last, this annoyed state 
 of mind took to itself words and he muttered : 
 
 " An actress, forsooth, to so treat a gentleman ! making 
 him the laughing-stock of every body by her insolent airs 
 of superiority ! As if it were not a high compliment for 
 me to address her at all a common Comedienne! One 
 would really say that it was presumption in me to speak 
 to one so much my superior. ' Pardon me, sir I have my 
 part to attend to ! ' and then those stupid country bumpkins 
 around me tittering ! Let 'em ! I thank heaven that their 
 mirth does not affect me how insolent it was ! And that 
 hiss from the knaves in the gallery. Presume to hiss a gen 
 tleman ! And who caused all this ? By heaven ! she shall 
 repent her insulting hauteur. Who is this woman who con 
 ducts herself in such a manner toward a gentleman ? Some low 
 woman, the daughter of that vulgar fellow Hallam : no lady, 
 a common actress 1 Suppose she did act well, and I don't 
 mean to say or think she is not a superior artist. Common 
 justice requires me to acknowledge her genius. But what of 
 that ? Her attitude in the trial scene was fine ! " continued Mr. 
 Effingham, thoughtfully, forgetting for a moment his indigna 
 tion, and returning in thought to the theatre. " How tender and 
 noble her countenance ! what music in her voice ! Never 
 have I seen such purity and truth upon the stage. By hea 
 ven ! she's no common actress 1 and I had to tell her so a 
 she went out ! But how did she receive my high compliment," 
 he said, returning to his grievances, " how did that respectful 
 address, ' You are a great actress,' affect her ? She looked at 
 me as carelessly and indifferently as if I had said ' good morn 
 ing,' and inclined her head with the eoldness of a
 
 60 MR. EFFINGHAM CRITICISES THE COMEDY. 
 
 speaking to her subject. Damn my blood ! " said Mr. Effing 
 ham, with unusual vehemence, " I'll make her repent it, and 
 she shall suffer for causing me this annoyance. It is ridicu 
 lous, pitiable, silly : I, Mr. Champ Effingham, of Effing- 
 ham Hall, to annoy myself about a common actress to b 
 treated with contemptuous indifference by a woman of hei 
 grade 1 " 
 
 And Mr. Champ Effingham, of Effingham Hall, sent an 
 unfortunate cricket which stood in his path, flying across the 
 room. The cricket struck against a table which supported a 
 tall silver candlestick, and all came down with a crash. The 
 incident served the purpose of a partial vent to the young 
 man's irritation, and after some more growling and impreca 
 tions he went to bed. 
 
 He made his appearance at the breakfast-table on the 
 next morning two hours after the squire had left it, and 
 received a remonstrance from Miss Alethea on his late 
 rising, with great indifference. Entering the library there 
 after, he found the squire, who had just returned, reading 
 the " Virginia Gazette." 
 
 " Good morning, Champ, lazy as usual, I see," said the 
 squire, good-humoredly ; " but you were late returning from 
 Riverhead, which is a good excuse. How did you like the 
 play ? we have not met, you know, since." 
 
 " I was charmed with it," said Mr. Effingham, "all but 
 Portia acted their parts excellently, I thought." 
 
 "All but Portia /" 
 
 Mr. Effingham nodded. 
 
 " Why," continued the squire, " I thought her acting 
 excellent." 
 
 " Poor, sir poor very." 
 
 " What fault did you find come, Mr. London critic ?" 
 
 " It was overacted." 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 " It took up too much room in the piece." 
 
 " Why Portia is a chief character in the play." 
 
 " Yes but not the only one." 
 
 " You are very critical." 
 
 " I always was." 
 
 " And what other fault did you find ? Was Miss Hallana
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM CRITICISES THE OOMEDT. 61 
 
 " No not ugly, exactly but dreadfully affected and 
 stiff." 
 
 " I do not agree with you." 
 
 " You liked her, then ? " 
 
 " Exceedingly," said the honest squire ; " I thought 
 her a young woman of rare beauty ' 
 
 " Bah ! 
 
 " And great talents." 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Effingham, " tastes proverbially dif 
 fer. I thought her abominable." 
 
 " Were you not speaking to her at one time ?" 
 
 "Speaking to Portia?" 
 
 " Yes. I could not see very well through the group 
 around her, but thought I saw her speaking to you." 
 
 " She did speak to me " 
 
 " Do you know her ?" 
 
 " At least she says we are not acquainted." 
 
 " Here's a mystery 1" 
 
 " Not at all. I met her some days since riding out. 
 She had lost her way, and I directed her to Williamsburg." 
 
 " I hope you treated her with courtesy." 
 
 " As courteously as a subject could a queen, and got 
 snubbed last night for my pains," said Mr. Effingham, with 
 a bad affectation of indifference. 
 
 The squire laughed, which caused Mr. Effingham to 
 frown. 
 
 " Most insulting treatment," he said. 
 
 " Come, come your ideas are too English and not 
 sufficiently Virginian," said the squire. " This young wo 
 man is not degraded by her profession ; and though not 
 exactly a lady, is worthy of respect if she conducts herself 
 properly. For my part, I was vastly pleased with her, and 
 I believe every one but yourself who witnessed her acting 
 thought as I did." 
 
 " Well, sir," said Mr. Effingham, " I am sorry to find 
 we disagree. In my eyes, her acting, costume, voice, and 
 general style were inappropriate, stilted, and in bad taste." 
 
 " You are offended at her refusal to converse with you," 
 laughed the squire, " and so are a prejudiced witness. 
 Hey 1 " he added, looking through the window, " there's the 
 person come vr t dine."
 
 62 MR. EFFINGHAM CRITICISES THE COMEDT. 
 
 Mr. Effingham was glad to be thus relieved frjm th 
 dilemma into which he had fallen, and he greeted the parson 
 with a bow, due to him as deliverer. 
 
 " A fine morning, squire," said Parson Tag ; " how 
 does your worship find yourself after the lato sitting last 
 night?" 
 
 " Quite fresh sit down. How did you like the acting ? " 
 Every body is asking that question now." 
 
 " Well, well," said the parson, dubiously. " It was toler 
 ably good, but much of it was overdone overdone, sir, much 
 overdone." 
 
 " WhaJ; part ? But excuse me for a moment. I have a 
 word to say to Alethea, and must have your horse taken : 
 you will stay to dinner ? " 
 
 " No, I think not. I have an engagement but perhaps 
 well, I suppose " 
 
 The squire, well accustomed to this formula, was already 
 out of the room, and the first thing he did was to order the 
 parson's animal to be led away, as he would spend the re 
 maining portion of the day at the Hall. 
 
 " You said the play was overdone, I believe ? " said Mr, 
 Effingham, lounging in an easy chair, and drawling out his 
 words. " What part, please inform me, reverend sir ? I re 
 peat my respected governor's question." 
 
 " All was overdone especially the part of that young wo 
 man, the daughter of the manager." 
 
 Miss Hallain ? " 
 
 " Yes, young sir." 
 
 " Who acted Partia ? " 
 
 " Precisely. I never saw a greater failure it was 
 wretched." 
 
 " What do you know of acting ? " said Mr. Emngham, 
 with indignant disdain, which expression did not escape Mr. 
 Tag. 
 
 " You are somewhat abrupt, sir," he said ; " but, never 
 theless, I will answer you. In my former worldly days, I 
 frequented playhouses much, and have thus some knowledge 
 of thsm." 
 
 " And you think Portia's part was overdone ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And wretched ? "
 
 MR. EFF1NGHAM 3RTI CISES THE COMEDY. 63 
 
 " Exactly." 
 
 " And a failure ? " 
 
 " Perfect." 
 
 " Then, reverend sir," said Mr. Effingham, with insulting 
 carelessness, " I beg leave to inform you, that you know noth 
 ing about acting. I have never seen a more beautiful ren 
 dering of the character. Miss Hallam whom I highly 
 esteem, sir, and should be sorry to hear any one insult ! ia 
 an artist of rare genius ! Her conception and execution are 
 alike uncommon and admirable. If there are persons who 
 are ignorant of what acting exacts, and who do not know 
 when it is of a superior order, so much the worse for them ! 
 I repeat, sir, that any competent critic would have approved 
 unconditionally of Miss Hallam's acting last night in the 
 part of Portia, and I feel some surprise at hearing from 
 you a criticism such as you have uttered. The acting of this 
 young lady and she is a lady in every sense of the word ; 
 for do not think that I am of the prejudiced way of thinking 
 which the gentlemen so-called of this colony take pride in 
 Miss Hallam's acting is of an order superior to any I have 
 ever witnessed. Her costume, style, voice, and whole ren 
 dering were worthy of the first comedians of the English 
 stage. And permit me to say, that your former drilling in 
 theatrical criticism, which you have alluded to, must have 
 been very slight and incomplete, if, after attending the per 
 formance with which every one was delighted last night, you 
 failed to perceive that this young girl of eighteen she is 
 not more, sir is destined to take a rank inferior to no artist 
 who now adorns with her genius or decorates with her beauty 
 and accomplishments that department of art, the histrionit 
 profession ! " 
 
 Mr. Tag was fairly overwhelmed. His feelings, while 
 this storm of words was being poured out on his devoted 
 head, might have been compared to those of a man whv-rse 
 eyes are dazzled and his ears deafened by lightning uid 
 thunders issuing from a cloudless sky. He could mustei no 
 reply words failed him. He essayed once or twice to mus 
 ter some appropriate indignation, but failed lamentably. 
 The worthy gentleman was accustomed to bully as we now 
 gay others, not to be bullied ; and Mr. Effingham having 
 " stolen his art^' that art now failed him.
 
 64 MR. EFFLNGHAM CRITICISES THE COMEDY. 
 
 " Yes, sir," continued the animated and consistent en 
 tic, " I shall make it my business to call upon Miss Hallam, 
 and assure her of my high appreciation aud admiration of 
 her brilliant genius. I know what acting is, sir ! and when 
 we, the gentlemen of Virginia, are so fortunate as to secure 
 a great comedienne, it becomes us to offer her the tribute of 
 our applause ! Miss Hallam deserves it for I again repeat, 
 that in style, dress, voice, and conception, she is far before 
 any actress with whom, in my various experience, I have 
 been thrown in contact." 
 
 " Why, Champ 1 " cried the voice of the squire, at the 
 door, " you are the most consistent of critics, and the most 
 impartial of admirers ! You praise and abuse in the same 
 breath." 
 
 Mr. Effingham betrayed some slight embarrassment, upon 
 finding that his enthusiastic tribute to Miss Hallam had 
 thus been overheard, by one to whom he had spoken of her 
 so disparagingly. But this soon disappeared, and the versa 
 tile young gentleman replied with great coolness. 
 
 " All chivalry, sir pure chivalry. I thought it my 
 duty to espouse Miss Hallam's cause, when she was attack 
 ed by so rough a tilter as the reverend gentleman here. Was 
 I wrong, and would you not have done the same ? " 
 
 This was very adroit in Mr. Effingham, as it diverted at 
 tention from himself to the views of the parson. 
 
 " The parson attack Portia 1 " said the squire ; " how 
 so?" 
 
 " I did nothing of the sort, your worship," said the 
 crest-fallen parson, u I only expressed some dissatisfaction 
 with a portion of her acting : for which crime, Mr. Effing 
 ham has been for some minutes pouring out upon my head 
 the vials of wrath." 
 
 " Well, let us say no more," returned Mr. Effingharc, 
 subsiding into indifference again ; " I'm tired of the subject, 
 and will no longer afflict your reverence. Bring me some 
 Jamaica," he added, to a servant who was passing through 
 the hall : then to the parson, " we'll bury all differences in 
 a flagon," he said, " 1*111 as thirsty as a fish." 
 
 The parson brightened up, and, when he had emptied a 
 fair cup of excellent Jamaica, was ready to forgive Mr. Ef 
 fingham and all the world even think well of Portia. In
 
 THE OLD RALEIGH f AVEfcN. 65 
 
 due time, that is to say, about noon, dinner was announced 
 and discussed honestly by all, except Mr. Effingham. That 
 gentleman soon rose and ordered his horse, announcing hia 
 intention of riding to Williamsburg, where he would proba 
 bly spend the night. 
 
 " Don't sit up for me, Alethea," he added, with a yawn. 
 
 " Indeed, I won't," Miss Alethea replied. 
 
 Mr. Effingham nodded indifferently, and sauntered from 
 the room. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 THE OLD EALEIGH TAVERN. 
 
 THE " Raleigh Tavern " in Williamsburg had been se 
 lected for a residence by Mr. Hallam and his company of 
 comedians, chiefly on the ground that there was no other 
 hostelry of any size in the good city at the period : and be 
 fore the Raleigh Mr. Effingham drew rein. A negro took 
 his horse, and, entering the broad doorway, the young man 
 found himself opposite to the manager himself. 
 
 " Give me some Jamaica," he said to the portly land 
 lord, who bowed low to his well-known and richly-clad guest, 
 " and you, Mr. Hallam, come here and empty a cup with 
 me. I came to see Madam Portia. Where is she at the 
 present moment? I wish to pay her my respects." 
 
 So far from displaying any ill-humor at these cavalier 
 words, the red-faced manager bowed as low as the landloi 1, 
 and expressed his perfect willingness to drink with Mr. 
 Effingham ; which, judging from his voice and appearance, 
 he had performed in company with himself a number of 
 times already. He marched up, accordingly, to the side 
 board in those simple times the bottles were set out freely 
 without any obstructing " bar " and pouring out an abund 
 ant supply of the heady rum, swallowed it at a gulp. Mr. 
 Effingham drank his own more leisurely, talking about the 
 performance on the preceding night. 
 
 " A fine house, sir 1 a most enlightened and intellectual
 
 66 IHE OLD RALEIGH TAVERN. 
 
 audience, such as I expected to find in this noble colony/ 
 Bald Mr. Hallam. 
 
 " What receipts ? " asked Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Nearly a hundred pounds, sir ; as much as the great 
 Congreve's ' Love for Love ' ever brought me." 
 
 " I should have thought the amount larger, cursed 
 dust 1 I believe it has strangled me ! " 
 
 " I saw you, sir, and your honorable party." 
 
 " The devil you did ! that's strange, for Shylock natu 
 rally took up your whole attention." 
 
 " Shylock was too drunk," said Hallam, quite naturally 
 " there he is, in the corner, now." 
 
 " Let him stay there, then. You have not answered my 
 question." 
 
 " Your question ? " 
 
 " I asked where Portia was. M 
 
 " Oh, Beatrice 1 she is somewhere about." 
 
 " I met and directed her on her way to town the othei 
 day. Send up, and say that Mr. Effingham wishes to see 
 her." 
 
 " Certainly, sir." 
 
 A messenger was dispatched to Miss Hallam's room, 
 and in a moment returned with the reply, that she was busy 
 studying her part. 
 
 "She can see you, though," said Hallam, laughing; 
 " follow me, sir." 
 
 Mr. Effingham followed the fat manager, and a flight of 
 stairs brought them to a door, which Hallam knocked at, 
 and a voice bidding him come in, he threw it open. It 
 afforded entrance to a small, neat room, the simple ornaments 
 of which were in perfect taste ; the window of this room waf 
 open, and at it sat the young girl, whom we have seen twic* 
 before ; once, in the bright autumn woods, and again on 
 the stage, in the character of Portia. Beatrice was clad 
 in a handsome morning dress of dove color, and her fine 
 hair was secured behind her statue-like head by a bow of 
 scarlet riband. She leaned one hand upon her book, the 
 other supported her fair brow, and her classic profile was 
 clearly defined against the rich fall forest, visible through 
 the window. 
 
 At the noise made by the opening door she railed her
 
 THE OLD RALEIGH TAVERM. 67 
 
 eyes, and for a moment gazed in silence upon the intruders 
 Then apparently resigning herself to her fate, she closed the 
 book and rose. 
 
 " I told the servant to say that I was engaged upon my 
 part, father," she said, calmly, to Hallam. " I shall be badly 
 prepared if I am interrupted, sir." 
 
 <( Oh, plenty of time and with your genius, child, you 
 can do any thing. She is as quick as lightning, Mr. Effing- 
 ham," added the manager, discussing the young girl's 
 talents in her hearing without a thought of any indelicacy 
 in such a proceeding, " and when she catches hold of a role 
 it's done." 
 
 Beatrice was silent. 
 
 " Come, now, talk with Mr. Effingham for a quarter of 
 an hour, since he is an acquaintance," continued the man 
 ager, smiling, " in that time you will lose nothing," And 
 passing through the door, he descended into the lower part 
 of the tavern. 
 
 For a moment the two personages thus left alone sur 
 veyed each other in silence. Before Mr. Effingham's bold 
 and careless glance, Beatrice's eyes did not lower for an 
 instant. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Effingham," she said, at length, quite calm 
 ly, " what would you have ? " 
 
 " Simply, a little conversation with you, my charming 
 Beatrice," said Mr. Effingham, carelessly. 
 
 " I am busy, sir, very. I act Juliet to-night, and am 
 now studying." 
 
 " Oh, you can give me a few moments " 
 
 " Well, sir," she said, sitting down and pointing to a 
 hair. 
 
 " Especially," continued her visitor, " as you refused 
 to say any thing to me last night." 
 
 " That is a reproach, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " It is unjust, as you know. " 
 
 " Now, sfte the difference of opinion," said Mr. Effing 
 ham, smoothing his ruffles, daintily, " I think that nothing 
 could be more just. I reproach you justly, because you 
 have nothing but prudery to allege as an excuse for youi 
 refusal."
 
 OB THE OLD RALEIGH TAVERN. 
 
 " I told you, sir, then, as I now do, tlat conversation on 
 the stage destroys my conception of the character I ain 
 representing." 
 
 " Bah ! all theory." 
 
 The young girl seemed to he somewhat irritated by the 
 disdainful expression of Mr. Effingham's voice. 
 
 " Mr. Effingham," she said, " be pleased not to treat 
 me like your servant. I am no common attach 6 of the 
 stage, sir, such as you have met with, doubtless, in London 
 frequently. I say this, sir, in no spirit of self-approval, but 
 because it is true." 
 
 " Why, Beatrice, you are really about to bowstring me, 
 or put me to some horrible death, I believe." 
 
 " See, sir," said the young girl, with noble calmness, 
 " we are very nearly perfect strangers, and you address me 
 as ' Beatrice,' as familiarly as my own father." 
 
 " May the devil take it you quarrel with a mere habit. :l 
 
 " Mr. Effingham," said the young woman, rising, and 
 speaking in a tone of perfect calmness, " I quarrel neither 
 with you nor any one; above all, I do not presume to 
 criticise your habits, except when those habits, as in the 
 present instance, concern myself." 
 
 " Bah ! " repeated Mr. Effingharm with a laugh, " how, 
 pray?" 
 
 " You seem to think, sir, that it is my place to be thank 
 ful when you address me intimately, and familiarly, as you 
 have done." 
 
 " What harm is there ? " 
 
 " That question is an insult, sir ! " 
 
 " May the devil take me, but you are fruitful in imagi 
 nary offences, and insults offered you." 
 
 " No, sir I do not exercise my imagination at all Your 
 tone to me is disagreeable." 
 
 " There it is again you are really going to bite me, I 
 believe. Let us leave the subject, and discuss last night's 
 performance. Your acting was really not bad." 
 
 The proud lip of the young woman moved slightly. 
 
 " Ah ! ah ! " said Mr. Effingham, laughing, " I see what 
 you mean by that scornful look. I am a poor critic, you 
 would say." 
 
 " I say ittkimg, sir
 
 THE OLD RALEIGH TAVERN. 69 
 
 " I have no taste, you would say : though I fceg you to 
 observe, that inasmuch as I have praised your acting, that is 
 a false step in you." 
 
 Beatrice repressed her rising anger, and bowed coldly. 
 
 Mr. Effingham received this exhibition of hauteur witk. 
 careless nonchalance, and picking up the volume which tho 
 young girl had laid down on his entrance, said : 
 
 " You act Juliet to-night? " 
 
 " I do, sir." 
 
 " I shall come." 
 
 Beatrice made no reply. 
 
 " I beg, now," continued Mr. Effingham, arranging one 
 of his ambrosial drop-curls daintily upon his cheek, " I beg 
 you will not put any of that ferocious feeling you now exhibit 
 into Juliet. The character is essentially tender and poeti 
 cal, and ranting would kill it." 
 
 " I never rant, sir," said Beatrice, apparently resigning 
 herself to the presence of her insulting visitor, and speaking 
 in a tone of utter coldness. 
 
 " That's right," replied Mr. Effingham, indifferently ; 
 " be subdued, quiet, but intense, and all that. Juliet is 
 deeply in love with Komeo, recollect, and love does not 
 express itself by tirade. Do you think it suits you ? Come, 
 answer me." 
 
 " I have played it before, sir." 
 
 " That is no answer." 
 
 " Please leave me to study my part, sir time is pass 
 ing." 
 
 " Not before giving my views, Beatrice. I don't think 
 you will act Juliet well. It requires a tender, loving na 
 ture ; and you are minus the heart, it is plain ; and you will 
 butcher the part." 
 
 " Thanks for your compliment, sir." 
 
 " Oh ! I never compliment, or any thing of the sort." 
 
 * I am losing time, sir." 
 
 ' Conversing with me, you mean ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " The conversation, then, is very distasteful to you, pay 
 charming Beatrice ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir 1 " she said. 
 
 M You hate me, perhaps ? ' '
 
 70 THE OLD EALE1GH TAVERH. 
 
 The young girl made no reply. 
 
 " Or, perhaps, your ladyship despises me ? " added M/. 
 Effinghain, betraying some irritation. 
 
 " I do neither, sir you are indifferent to me." 
 
 These words were uttered with so much coldness, that 
 Mr. Effingham's amour-propre was deeply wounded. He 
 began to get angry. A 
 
 " You are really a very amiable young lady," he said. 
 ' Here I ride all the way from the country for the sole pur 
 pose of seeing you." 
 
 " And insulting me, sir, add." 
 
 " And you receive me," continued Mr. Effingham, taking 
 no notice of the interruption, "as if I were a common 
 clodhopper, instead of a gentleman, paying you a friendly 
 visit." 
 
 ' Your friendly visits do not please me, sir." 
 
 " I see they do not." 
 
 " I am an actress, sir, and not of your class." 
 
 " Bah ! who speaks of classes ? " 
 
 " You yourself this moment, sir ! " 
 
 " You choose to misunderstand me. I said that my 
 visit was the friendly one of a well-bred man, not the imper 
 tinent intrusion of a country bumpkin, like those knaves who 
 hissed me in the gallery, or that clodhopper who presumed 
 to bend his angry glances on me from the pit Mr. Charles 
 Waters, I know him well the young reformer, forsooth ! " 
 
 Beatrice's face flushed. 
 
 " I saw no nobler countenance, sir," she said, coldly, 
 " among all your aristocratic friends." 
 
 " Ah I your cavalier, I perceive 1 " said Mr. Effingham, 
 bitterly ; " really, I shall become jealous." 
 
 " I do not know him, even, sir your scoff is unjust." 
 
 " Your true knight, who wished to run a tilt with me for 
 touching your arm ! Perhaps he has but now left you, and 
 before going, devoted my humble self to the infernal gods for 
 daring to address you." 
 
 " I repeat," said Beatrice, indignantly, " that I have 
 seen him but once, and on the occasion you allude to." 
 
 " Well, I believe you. But let such impertinent bump 
 kins beware how they criticise my actions in future, even by 
 their looks."
 
 THE OLD RALElGtt TAV0RN. 71 
 
 Beatrice sat down, with a mixture of weariness and scorn 
 on her beautiful countenance, and, taking up the book which 
 the young man had laid down, began to study her part. 
 This calmness seemed to enrage Mr. Effingham not a little, 
 and he put on his cocked hat with a flirt of irritation. 
 
 " Very well," he said ; " that means that you are weary 
 of me I am not good enough for Miss Hallam she is too 
 immaculate for me." 
 
 " I have my part to study, sir." 
 
 And she began to con her character in silence. 
 
 Mr. Effingham swung his short sword round angrily 
 and without further words went hurriedly out of the room. 
 He brushed by Mr. Hallam, who was talking with Shylock, 
 and, mounting his horse, galloped from the town towards 
 the Hall, 
 
 The manager's good-humored greeting as he passed had 
 been completely disregarded ; and thinking rightly that 
 something bad happened to cause this abrupt departure, ha 
 went up to his daughter's room. 
 
 " Why did the young man go so abruptly, my, child ? " 
 he said. 
 
 " Because I would not return him my thanks for visiting 
 me," said Beatrice, bitterly. 
 
 " Oh," said the manager, laughing, " you are too prudish, 
 Beatrice. You should not complain of these visits, which 
 are customary, and not strange, when you are acquainted 
 as you are with Mr. Effingham, he says. Your aim in life, 
 as you say you hate the stage so much, should be to marry 
 well and I much misunderstand this young fellow, if he 
 would not marry you in the face of the world, if he 
 fancied." 
 
 " I do not wish to marry him, or any one like him I " 
 said Beatrice, her face flushing, and her beautiful eyes filling 
 with angry tears. 
 
 " You are mad ! he is, the landlord tells me, of one of 
 the best and wealthiest families in the colony." 
 
 " And because he is," said Beatrice, wiping her eyes, 
 " he thinks he has the right to intrude upon me, and speak 
 in any tone he chooses. Father ! " she added, passionately, 
 " I am sick of this eternal persecution in London here 
 ev*ry where. I shall go mad if I remain upon the stag?,
 
 79 THE OLD RALEIGH TAVERN. 
 
 exposed to this class of persons all my life my head is hot 
 and burning now, my eyes feel like fire oh ! I wish I was 
 dead ! " 
 
 Passionate tears followed these words, and Beatrice 
 covered her face with her hands, bending down and sobbing. 
 The good-hearted old fellow, who really had his daughter's 
 good at heart in all things, betrayed some feeling at this ex 
 plosion of grief ; and betook himself to soothing the young 
 girl, with gentle words, and caresses, and assurances of his 
 own unchangeable love. 
 
 " Come, come," he said, much affected, " I can't bear to 
 see you so much moved. Don't think too hardly of this young 
 man. He is thoughtless, perhaps, but does not mean any 
 offence. There now ! " he said, caressing her disorderd hair, 
 " don't cry, Beatrice. You shall forget all this to-morrow, 
 when, as there will be no performance, we can go and have 
 the sail upon James River, which you said you would like 
 so much will you go ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Beatrice, growing calmer, " oh yes ! I 
 want to get away from all this tormenting excitement, and 
 breathe the fresh river air. I am happiest in the woods, or 
 on the water. I won't cry any more, sir, and don't fear I 
 will not act my part well. I don't like acting, and at times 
 I feel a weariness and disgust which I cannot subdue : but 
 I will not let any of my bad feelings interfere with your 
 wishes. Indeed, I'll act very well, sir." 
 
 " And don't be too angry at the young man he meant 
 nothing, I know." 
 
 " I have forgotten him, sir," said the young girl, with 
 noble calmness. 
 
 " A mere thoughtless youth, who admires you highly I 
 aw that well, when you were speaking in the trial scene last 
 night. Now I will leave you. Good-bye." 
 
 " Good-bye, father kiss me, before you go." 
 
 And Mr. Manager Hallam having retired, the young girl 
 growing gradually calm, again applied herself once more to 
 the study of her part,
 
 A LOYKK. FOX-HUNTER. AND IAMOK. 70 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A LOVEK, FOX-HUNTEB, AND PABSON. 
 
 OUT of Williamsburg into the forest through the forest 
 and so into the open highway sped Mr. Effingham, as if au 
 avenging Nemesis were behind him, and nothing but the 
 headlong speed he was pushing his noble bay to, could pre 
 serve him from the clutches of the pursuer. He made 
 furious gestures, uttered more furious words. The ordinary 
 languor and nonchalance of this gentleman seemed to have 
 passed from him wholly, and a fiery, passionate man, taken 
 the petit maitre's place. 
 
 Going at this headlong speed, he very nearly ran over, be 
 fore he was aware of their proximity, a party of gentlemen 
 nf his acquaintance, who were riding leisurely toward the 
 bachelor establishment of Mr. Hamilton, visible a few hun 
 dred yards ahead. Mr. Hamilton rode in front of the 
 glittering cortege, and became aware of Mr. Effingham'a 
 presence, by having his horse nearly driven from beneath 
 him. 
 
 " What, the devil ! " cried jolly Jack Hamilton. 
 
 " It's Effingham, racing for life 1 " rose in chorus, from 
 the laughing horsemen 
 
 " The devil, Champ ! what's the matter ?" asked Hamil 
 ton, " have you made a bet that you will ride over us, horse, 
 foot and dragoons ? " 
 
 " Excuse me," said Mr. Effingham, regaining a portion 
 of his habitual calmness, " but the fact is, Hamilton, I am 
 angry enough to gallop to the devil, whom you have twice 
 apostrophized so emphatically." 
 
 " What's the matter ? " 
 
 " lam mad." 
 
 " Intellectually, or do you mean that you are merely out 
 of temper ? " 
 
 " Both, I believe." 
 
 " Then, come and sleep with me, and have a 
 with us in the morning." 
 
 " No." 
 4
 
 74 A LOVER, FOX-HUNTER, AMD PARSON. 
 
 " Come, now." 
 
 " I cannot." 
 
 " Well, at least, let us have the cause of your fury." 
 
 Mr. Effingham hesitated, but at last, overcome with raga, 
 eaid: 
 
 " That young actress has been assuming her airs ttwardi 
 me, and has made me as you find me. There it is 1 I con 
 fess I am out of temper." 
 
 " What a confession it is I " cried Hamilton, laughing 
 u I thought you never suffered yourself to be ruffled." 
 
 " I seldom do." 
 
 " And she offended you ? " 
 
 " Snubbed me nothing less. It is really humiliating." 
 
 And Mr. Effingham looked as if he believed what he 
 naid : his face was flushed, and he looked gloomy. 
 
 " How was it ? " asked the company. 
 
 " Why, just thus. I went to pay her a visit, and com 
 plimented her performance in Portia, highly. What reply 
 did I receive, sir ? " said Mr. Effingham, indignantly, " why, 
 an insult ! ' Please leave me I must study my part ! ' 
 that was her reply. And when I declined to avail myself of 
 the privilege, she went on studying, as calmly as if I was 
 not present." 
 
 " A perfect she-dragon, by George ! " said Hamilton, 
 " but really, that was bad treatment." 
 
 " Abominable ! " said the chorus. 
 
 " She could not have treated a country clown more harsh 
 ly," added Hamilton ; " how could she be guilty of such 
 rudeness. She don't look like it I thought her very lady 
 like." 
 
 " All acting 1 " said Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Plainly." 
 
 " She shall repent it," blurted out Mr. Effingham, " the 
 insulting girl 1 I never saw greater rudeness and hauteur. 
 A mere London commedienne of no talents, and bringing 
 her stilted affectations to the colony." 
 
 " Come, my dear Effingham, don't be angry. Here we 
 are at the Trap my respectable bachelor residence : come 
 in, and cool off in some Jamaica " 
 
 " No, thank you I must get on. I am bad company. ' 
 
 And, leaving the fox-hunters, Mr. Effingham rode on 
 toward the Hall. A quarter of a mile from the house he
 
 A LOVER, FOX-HUNTER, AND PARSON. 7& 
 
 met Parson Tag, jogging on his cob from the Hall home 
 ward, with broad-brimmed hat, and knees and elbows pain 
 fully angular. 
 
 " Good evening, sir," said the parson, " you return soon : 
 the dews of evening are scarce falling." 
 
 " I thought you were at the Hall, sir, for the evening." 
 
 "Why so?" 
 
 " Because I was absent," said Mr. Effingham coldly. 
 u We quarrel, I believe, always, and I thought you would re 
 main, as I was away." 
 
 Mr. Effingham's irritation and ill-humor must plead his 
 excuse for this irreverent speech. 
 
 " The quarrelling is on your side, not on mine, sir," said 
 the parson, endeavoring to be dignified; "lam a man of 
 peace." 
 
 " Carrying out which character, you this morning attacked 
 Miss Hallam, sir ! " 
 
 " Really, you seem to have espoused that young lady's 
 cause against all comers," said the indignant parson. " Tak^i 
 care, young sir ; as the parson of your parish, it is my duty 
 to warn you against the snares of Satan. This Jezebel will 
 be your ruin." 
 
 " Be pleased to speak respectfully of Miss Hallam, sir," 
 said Mr. Effingham, threateningly, " when you address me 
 on the subject of her character. Though not her knight, I 
 hold myself ready to ' espouse her cause,' as you say, sir, 
 even against the ' parson of my parish ! ' " 
 
 " Here's a pretty mess," returned the pompous gentleman, 
 descending to the vulgate : " you threaten me, forsooth ! " 
 
 " No, sir : I acknowledge the folly of my words. You 
 wear no sword, and are not responsible for thus slandering 
 my friends yes, my friends, sir 1 I say again, that Miss Hal 
 lam is one of my friends, and a young lady who has thus far 
 conducted herself with immaculate propriety. Now, go sir, 
 and laugh at me. I value your derision as I value your 
 praise as nothing." 
 
 And Mr. Effingham rode on as furiously as before, with 
 out reflecting for an instant on the strange inconsistency of 
 his conduct. Might not a small modicum of self-kaowledge 
 have explained to him the truth of the matter ? But he was 
 blinded by those dazzling eyes, and saw no inconsistency in 
 his words.
 
 76 HOW MR. E. STAINED HIS RUFFLES WITH BLOOD. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HOW MR. EFFINOHAM STAINED HIS RUFFLES WITH BLOOD. 
 
 TEN minutes' ride brought him to Emngham Hall, and, throw 
 ing his bridle to a negro who ran forward to take it, he en 
 tered the hall. Supper was soon served, and Mr. Emngham 
 was plied with questions as to his abrupt return, and moody 
 state of mind. These questions were received with very little 
 good-humor by the young man, who was in a furious ill- 
 humor, and he was soon left to himself. The squire was not 
 present, having some writing to do in the library, whither a 
 cup of chocolate was sent him. 
 
 After supper Mr. Emngham sat down moodily, resting 
 his feet on the huge grim-headed andirons, which shone 
 brightly in the cheerful light thrown out by some blazing 
 splinters, for the October evenings were becoming chilly. 
 Miss Alethea, who sat sewing busily, after pouring out tea, 
 endeavored in vain to extract a word from him. 
 
 Little Kate, who sat in the corner near Mr. Emngham, 
 on her own little cricket, paused in the midst of her work 
 Carlo was going on bravely now to ask cousin Champ what 
 made him feel bad, and was he sick ? The child was Mr. 
 Effingham's favorite, and he was always ready to play with 
 her ; but on the present occasion he replied that he was not 
 sick, and did not wish to be annoyed. 
 
 Kate looked much hurt, and Master Willie, who was 
 pouring over a wonderful book of travels at the table, mani 
 fested some disapprobation, on hearing his future wife thus 
 rudely addressed. 
 
 " You are not mad with me, cousin Champ ? " said little 
 Kate, piteously. 
 
 " No no ! I am angry with nobody," said Mr. Effing- 
 bam, with some impatience, but more softly than before. 
 
 Kate, encouraged by these words, laid Carlo down, and 
 pouring some perfume from a bottle into her hand, stole up 
 to Mr. Emngham, and said : 
 
 " Oh, I know you've got a headache, cousin Champ I 
 Let me put this on your forehead." 
 
 He would have refused, but the little face was so tender, 
 %nd the small hand so soft, that he could not.
 
 HOW MR. E. STAINED HIS RUFFLES WITH BLOOD. 7? 
 
 " I have no headache, Katy," he said, " I am only an 
 noyed no, I believe I am not even annoyed." 
 
 And rising abruptly, he said to a servant : 
 
 " Order my horse ! " 
 
 The negro hastened out. 
 
 " Why, where in the world can you be going at this 
 hour ? " said Miss Alethea, writing busily. 
 
 Mr. Effingham either did not hear this question, or deign 
 ed to take no notice of it : a circumstance which caused 
 Miss Alethea to toss her head, and preserve a dignified 
 silence. 
 
 " Well ! my horse ? " he said, as the servant re-entered. 
 
 " Be round directly, sir, I told Dick to be quick." 
 
 Kate stole up and took his hand. 
 
 " Cousin Champ," she said, " it is getting cold. Won't 
 you wear my white comfort ? I'll bring it in a minute." 
 
 " No, no ! I don't need it." 
 
 Kate tip-toed, and whispered in his ear : 
 
 " I won't like cousin Clare, if she treats you badly." 
 
 " Foolish child ! for heaven's sake let me alone ! " 
 
 Then, seeing that the little face looked hurt and morti 
 fied , he added gloomily : 
 
 "I am not treated badly by any one, Kate : you attach 
 too much importance to my moods. There : I had no inten 
 tion of hurting your feelings, and I am not going to see any 
 body in particular." 
 
 " Did anybody ever ! " said Miss Alethea, raising her 
 hands. " Apologise to a child, when my questions are met 
 with insult." 
 
 Mr. Effingham treated this apostrophe to the unknown 
 personage, who finds himself called upon to express his sen 
 timents on such astounding occasions, with profound dis 
 regard, and went out into the night. A servant held his 
 horse, and he vaulted into the saddle, and set forward at a 
 gallop toward Williamsburg. 
 
 " That woman will be my fate !" he muttered, between 
 his clenched teeth ; and with a reckless laugh, " I see the 
 abyss before me, and the mocking glances of the world are 
 plain to me. I, a gentleman, to trouble myself about an 
 actress 1 I suppose I will end by offering her my hand, and 
 then comes the storm ! Married to an actress 1 for, by
 
 78 HOW UK. E. STAINED HIS RUFFLES WITH BLOOD. 
 
 heaven, if I wish to do so, I will do so in spite of fire and 
 tempest ! They'll laugh when they read of my wedding 
 I see them now, leering and smiling, and giggling : the well- 
 bred gentlemen wondering how I could throw myself away 
 BO, the eligible young ladies intensely indignant, at what? 
 why, at the loss of a visitor and prospective husband. They 
 would scout the idea, truly ! but I defy them to deny it a 
 score of them. Marry an actress ! I am stamped with 
 degradation for ever by it. Well, I'm not fool enough for 
 that, quite yet ; but every bound of this horse is a step in my 
 fate. Let it be ! " 
 
 And digging his spurs into the animal's sides, he fled on 
 through the darkness like the wild huntsman ; as furious 
 and fast. The lights of the town soon rose on his sight, 
 and clattering to the " Raleigh," he gave his horse in charge 
 of an ostler, and repaired without brushing the dust from 
 his clothes, or wiping the perspiration from his brow, to the 
 theatre. 
 
 The play had commenced nearly an hour before, and it 
 was with great difficulty that the young man pushing by a 
 number of ladies, his acquaintances could reach the stage, 
 upon which some dozen or more gentlemen were standing or 
 seated. In the middle box, his excellency, the Governor, 
 and his household, glittered in silk, embroidery and gold. 
 
 Just as he reached the stage, Juliet made her appear 
 ance in the garden. Beatrice was the very impersonation 
 of the poet's conception so tender, yet passionate ; bold, 
 yet fearful, were her looks and tones, her gestures, and whole 
 rendering of the part. Her dewy eyes burned with a steady 
 and yet changeable flame ; were now veiled with thought, 
 then radiant with passionate love, and like two moons, new 
 risen, swayed the quick currents of the blood. The audience 
 greeted her with enthusiastic applause, and Mr. Eflingham 
 saw that the favorable impression she had made on the pre 
 vious night had now been much heightened. 
 
 In truth, nothing could be more splendid than her coun 
 tenance, as she hastened to meet tin nurse, bringing her news 
 of her lover : and Mr. Effinghaui, spite of his agitation and 
 gloom, could not help hanging on her words and glances, 
 drinking in the music of her rare and wonderful voice with 
 greedy ears. A bitter smile distorted his features, how
 
 HOW MR. E. STAINED HIS RUFFLES WITH J5LOOD. 7 r J 
 
 ever ; for with every burst of applause and no opportunity 
 was allowed by the audience to escape them he felt more 
 and more how insignificant he was to this young girl, ap 
 plauded, caressed, overwhelmed with the intoxicating praise 
 lavished on her from a thousand hands the incense ascend 
 ing in her honor there before him. 
 
 " What does she care for me ! " he said, bitterly ; " every 
 body praises her all are delighted those fools, there, ar 
 devouring her with their eyes, and think her an angel of 
 genius and beauty from the skies. I tear my heart in vain.' 
 
 And with passionate anger Mr. Effingham grasped his 
 breast, and dug his nails into the flesh, until they were 
 stained with blood. The rich lace ruffle, rumpled and torn, 
 revealed in its crimson stain the excess of his rage. 
 
 He made no reply to the laughing words addressed to 
 him by his companions, and taking up a position almost 
 behind the scenes, arrested Beatrice in her passage as she 
 went out. 
 
 " You do not see me ! " he said, abruptly. 
 
 " Good evening, sir," said Beatrice, calmly ; " I was ab 
 sorbed in my part." 
 
 And she endeavored to pass on. 
 
 " Stop," said Mr. Effingham, with a sneering laugh, " you 
 are really too much in a hurry." 
 
 " I must look at my next speech, sir I should have 
 known it but for your interruption this morning." 
 
 " You hate me do you not ? " he said, clasping her arm 
 
 " No, sir please release me." 
 
 " Ah ! you have merely contempt for me, madam." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham," said Beatrice, raising her head with 
 oold dignity, " I despise no one. Your words are probably 
 ironical, as you ask me, an actress, if I despise you, a 
 wealthy gentleman ; but I reply to you aa if you were in 
 earnest. Now, sir, I must go." 
 
 " Not until I have told you that you ar a heartless and 
 unfeeling woman a nature of stone a coL.\ and unimpress- 
 ible automaton ! " 
 
 The young girl looked strangely at him. 
 
 " You have despised the honestly-offer* <J courtesy of a 
 man against whom you know nothing. Stoj , madam ! You 
 have tormented me ; yes, tormented me ' *-oe humiliating
 
 80 THE SAIL-BOAT " NANCY.** 
 
 truth will out! -tormented me by your coldness and con 
 tempt destroyed my temper; since seeing you I am 
 another man, and a worse one. Look, my ruffle is rumpled 
 and bloody your nails tore my flesh ! " 
 
 " Oh, sir ! " cried the young girl, starting back in horror, 
 " how could you " 
 
 " A mere scratch, madam," said Mr. Effingham, bitterly, 
 " and I used a mere figure of speech in saying that your 
 hand inflicted it. You only caused it 1 " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, you frighten me. I must go." 
 
 " You shall hear me." 
 
 " I must go, sir ; listen, the audience are becoming im 
 patient. Release my sleeve, sir," she said, coldly and 
 firmly, again ; and leaving him, she issued forth upon the 
 stage, and with a voice as firm and steady as ever so won 
 derful was her self-control continued her character. As 
 she passed out after the scene, Mr. Effingham in vain 
 attempted to address her. Failing in this, he ground his 
 teeth, and clutching a second time the unfortunate lace at 
 his bosom, tore it into shreds. He turned, and almost 
 rushed from the theatre. As he brushed through the box, 
 he heard a little cry of astonishment, and a soft voice full of 
 surprise said, " Mr. Effingham ! " He turned, and his eyes 
 met those of Clare, fixed on him with trouble and aston 
 ishment. 
 
 He bowed, said hurriedly something about regretting the 
 necessity of his departure, and left the theatre just as the 
 audience greeted the re-entrance of Beatrice with a burst of 
 applause. He hastened to the " Raleigh," mounted his 
 horse, and fled out into the dark night like a phantom, full 
 of rage and despair, that joyous applause still ringing in 
 his ears. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE SAIL-BOAT "NANCY." 
 
 " HAVE you never, friend, who now readest these un 
 worthy lines, abandoned for a time your city life, with its noise 
 nd bustle, and eternal striving, and locking up with your
 
 THE SAIL-BOAT "NANCY." 81. 
 
 ledgers, or your lawbooks, all thoughts of business, gone 
 into that bright lowland, which the James flows proudly 
 through, a band of silver wavering across a field of emerald ? 
 Have you never sought a sensation finer, emotions fresher, 
 than city triumphs and delights and, leaving for a time 
 your absorbing cares and aspirations, trusted yourself to the 
 current, like a bark, which takes no prescribed course, stops 
 at no stated place, but suffers the wind and the stream to 
 bear it whithersoever they will, well knowing that the wind 
 cannot waft it, the tide cannot bear it, where the blue sky 
 will not arch above, the fresh, waving woods will not mirror 
 their tall trunks and fine foliage in the serene surface ? 
 Have you never sailed along that majestic river, with its 
 sentinel pines, and wood-embowered mansions, and bright 
 ripples breaking into foam, when the west wind, blowing 
 freshly, strikes against the tide, surging for ever from the 
 sea ? Go, on an October day, when the white clouds are 
 shattered by the breezes of the Atlantic those breezes still 
 redolent with the perfumes of the tropics, and telling of 
 their long travel over lands of unimagined beauty and un 
 dreamed-of splendor go on one of those clear, sunny days 
 of the early autumn, when the waters ripple like molten sil 
 ver agitated by the breath of the Deity; when trees ar* 
 crimson, and blue, and golden, like the myriad silken 
 banners which erewhile flouted the deep heaven before 
 Tamerlane ; when the wave laps upon the shore, and silences 
 *he whisper of the pines with its monotonous and dreamy 
 music ; where the water-fowl sleep upon the surge, or extend 
 their broad wings above the glittering foam, to strike the 
 :juick- darting prey their keen eyes have descried ; go on 
 some day when the white sail of some sea-bound bark bellies 
 in the wind, and her prow cuts the silver, dashing into foam 
 the bright sunlit waters ; or when glorying in the fine sea 
 son, and in his momadic, careless lot, the fisherman spreads 
 his small lateen sail, and feels his bark bound beneath him 
 like a sea-gull tossed upon the waves when, trusting to Pro 
 vidence to guide his course, he drops the paddle he has been 
 plying, carelessly, and with closed eyes, dreams in the broad 
 sunlight of the past and future. Go, on one of these days, ana 
 gliding over the swaying billows of the great stream, see if 
 there is not yet some fresh delight in this our human life
 
 82 THE SAIL-BOAT " NANCY." 
 
 ft poetry and romance unstifled in the heart ! On such a 
 day did Beatrice Hallam leave the town of Williamsburg, 
 with her father, and bend her steps toward the stream." 
 
 Thus far, the author of the MS., in that rhetorical and 
 enthusiastic style which every where characterizes his works. 
 Let us descend from the heights of apostrophe and declama 
 tion to the prose of simple narrative. 
 
 Beatrice had received the assurance of her father, that 
 she should spend a day upon the waters, with a delight 
 which may readily be imagined. She was a pure child of 
 the wilderness, in spite of the eternal claims which an arti 
 ficial civilization, an inexorable convention, laid to her time 
 and thoughts. She rejoiced in the forest, and on the hills : 
 we have seen her riding out fearlessly, to drink in the 
 fresh splendor of the autumn now she anticipated a delight 
 ful day upon the river. Mr. Effingham would not be there, 
 with his insulting advances, his intolerable drawl, his irritat 
 ing airs of superiority and patronage. She would have the 
 whole day to herself. She had no performance to neglect; 
 no rehearsal to go to. She was free for the day wholly. 
 
 Beatrice was an excellent rider, and she chose this mode 
 of reaching the river, in preference to the light calash, 
 which the manager suggested The good-humored old fel 
 low yielded at once, and mounting a stout cob, instead of 
 installing his corpulent person in the comfortable vehicle, 
 they set forth the young girl riding her favorite white 
 horse. They reached the bank of the stream without in 
 cident, and found the boatman, to whom a message had been 
 sent on the night before, ready to receive them. He gather 
 ed up his fishing lines with the ease of a practised hand, 
 placed in the pocket of his pea jacket the inseparable black 
 flask of rum, and led the way to his little vessel. It was 
 one of those light and airy barks, which obey the hand of 
 the helmsman, as the body of the seabird runs with the 
 movement of the wings, or turns obedient to the red, webbed 
 feet; and soon it was gliding over the water, borne onward 
 by a fresh wind, which filled the small triangular sail, toward 
 the fishing ground. 
 
 Beatrice, with clasped hands and dancing eyes, drank in 
 the splendor of the beautiful day. Her cheeks filled with 
 blood, her parted lips assumed an inexpressible softness and
 
 THfc SAIL-BOAT "NANCY." 83 
 
 delight she was free as the bright water, and rejoiced like 
 au Indian once more in his native wilds ! never had she 
 looked more beautiful, more fascinating. She laughed, ran 
 on with childlike merriment in her voice and eyes ; dipped 
 her fingers with affected shivering in the foam before the 
 prow, and startled the wild sea-gulls with her cries and 
 laughter. She was a child again, and the manager said as 
 much to her. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the young girl, her whole countenam 
 radiant with joy aud pleasure, " you can't think, father, how 
 happy I feel out here on the water ! " I'm nothing but a 
 child, you know, and I always shall be. Look at that bird 
 with the white wings ; how he darts over the waves 1 " 
 
 The manager smiled. 
 
 " It's a shame to keep you where there are any houses, 
 child," he said, " you are never half as happy as this in 
 London, or any where." 
 
 "I can't be, sir." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Oh, I feel so cramped where people are. They stare 
 at me, and make me feel badly ; and often when I pass, I 
 hear them say who I am, and laugh." 
 
 " That's because you act well." 
 
 " Oh, don't talk about acting now, father, please. I don't 
 want to think of it. I'm so happy 1 Look at the pretty 
 foam ! " 
 
 " Yes you love the water." 
 
 " Oh, dearly ! you didn't know how I spent the evenings 
 on the ocean, while you were playing ombre with Captain 
 Fellowes." 
 
 " Commander of the merchant-vessel ' Charming Sally,' " 
 laughed the manager ; " but how about your evenings ? " 
 
 " Oh, I used to go and lean over the what are they 
 called ? " 
 
 " Bulwarks." 
 
 " Yes, the bulwarks. I used to lean over, and look at 
 the foam, and the great fish tumbling about in the moonlight 
 for hours. It was delightful ! " 
 
 The fresh face lit up with a childlike delight, as the 
 young girl spoke. 
 
 " Very romantic," said Mr. Hallam, smiling.
 
 84 THE SAIL-BOAT "NANCY.** 
 
 " Oh, I'm not romantic, sir, I'm the most matter-of-fact 
 person in the world, but I couldn't help liking the foam." 
 
 " You are right but we old fellows like tictac better 
 than moonlight thinking." 
 
 " Yes I used to think : I recollect I did think." 
 
 "What of?" 
 
 " Of the beautiful land we were coming to Virginia : 
 the Virgin Land, they called it. How pretty that 
 sounds ! " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " A fresh, bright land, where the wind was always blow 
 ing, the trees always full of leaves and flowers, and no cold 
 winter to chill one." 
 
 " A young poet ! " 
 
 " No, no, father I must have been born in the south, 
 though. Oh, tell me where I was born. You never told me." 
 
 The manager looked somewhat embarrassed, and replied, 
 after a moment's silence : " We were at Malta, then, I be 
 lieve. But how did you find Virginia in reality ? " 
 
 The young girl's face assumed a sorrowful expression, 
 and she replied : " Not very different from England, sir ; 
 but it is pretty, the forest and all, and this river. Oh ! " 
 she cried suddenly, " look at that bird carrying off the fish 
 in his talons stop, sir, stop 1" 
 
 Mr. Hallam laughed heartily. " What would they say 
 if they heard Juliet calling after a sea-bird so. Mr. Effing- 
 ham would not believe the account." 
 
 " Oh, father ! " said Beatrice, returning to her sorrowful 
 expression, " do not talk to me of playing to-day, I feel so 
 happy now, sir ; and don't speak of that wild young man ; 
 I shall get angry, and then be sorry, and cry and you 
 know, father, that would spoil our day. Don't speak of 
 Mr. Effingham ; he looked at me so, last night, with his 
 eyes on fire, and his frill crumpled and torn I thought it 
 was stained with blood." 
 
 " With blood ! " 
 
 " He became angry with me for not attending to him on 
 the stage, in the last act, and clutched his breast with his 
 nails. Oh, don't speak of him," she added, growing gloomy, 
 " I do not like that man." 
 
 " Well, well," said the manager, " don't think too hard
 
 TflE SAIL-BOAT "NANCY." 85 
 
 df him ; he is young, and means nothing. I wish you to 
 marry well, much as I will lose in you ; and you may find 
 a mate in Virginia. There, don't look so distressed.'' 
 
 " I don't want to marry 1" said Beatrice, her face 
 clouded over. 
 
 " You don't like playing ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! but I have you, father, and I don't wish to 
 part from you. I can'bear all." 
 
 " There now, dear, don't lose your bright smiles, and 
 spoil th* day. We will talk no more of these matters. 
 Sink the theatre ! " added the manager good-humoredly, 
 " we came out to fish." 
 
 " At the ground, squire," said the boatman. " Go it, 
 I'll keep the craft straight." 
 
 And soon the bright fish were being drawn up from the 
 water in numbers which would have afforded delight to 
 Isaac Walton, much as that worthy gentleman dwelt upon 
 brook-sides and art in snaring the solitary trout. They 
 spent the greater part of the morning thus, and Beatrice 
 forgot her gloom completely. 
 
 About noon the wind began to grow fresher, and large 
 clouds rolled themselves up from the western horizon, and 
 spread their dark curtain over the sun. The boatman 
 looked at them with an experienced eye, then turning to the 
 manager, said : " Look here, squire ; seems to me we'ro 
 goin' to have a storm. Them clouds look like it ; and hear 
 the wind ! " 
 
 In fact the forest on each side of the river began to toss 
 its boughs and roll aloft that wild, surging sound which the 
 wind wakea up in its passage through tall trees. The pines 
 waved in tho chill blast, and roared like great organs ; and 
 in addition to these threatening sounds, the waves began to 
 roll higher, tossing the little bark like a nutshell, and 
 sprinkling the white lateen sail with snowy foam. 
 
 " I believe you are right, and we had better get to 
 shore." 
 
 " We're a mile from the cabin, squire, but this west 
 wind will carry us down like a flash. Must I tie the sail ? " 
 
 " Oh, let's wait a little, father," cried Beatrice, w:th 
 animated looks and bright eyes, " the wind is so grand. 
 Oh, don't tie the sail yet !"
 
 86 TJtE SAIL-BOAT " NANCY.'* 
 
 " The wind'll tear it to tatters if it keeps crackin' it so 
 miss," said the boatman ; " but I'm willin', for I'm goin 1 
 to do all I'm wanted to do. I ain't goin' to deny youi 
 pretty face any thing." 
 
 With which words the honest boatman laid down tran 
 quilly in the stern of the bark, and first taking a pull at 
 his black flask applied himself to the task of keeping the 
 craft before the wind. Mr. Hallam had yielded to this 
 arrangement, but was plainly desirous of returning imme 
 diately. He opened his mouth to say as much, but Beatrice 
 interrupted him before he could speak. 
 
 " Oh, listen, father ! " she cried, starting up and steady 
 ing herself by clinging to the slight mast ; " listen to the 
 woods ! The wind roars through them like the cannon we 
 heard at Dover ! How sublime it sounds ! And look at 
 the waves ; they are beginning to grow black, I believe, and 
 they toss us about like a cork ! Oh, how the wind sobs and 
 rolls along ! It makes me so happy ! " 
 
 " Take care, miss! " said the boatman; "that mast ia 
 unsteady." 
 
 " Oh, don't be afraid for me." 
 
 " Come, let us get to shore at once," said Mr. Hallam, 
 becoming really alarmed. 
 
 " That's easy, sir," said the boatman ; " with the sail up 
 the wind'll carry us down in a jiffy. Don't be afraid of up 
 setting. The Nancy never served me such a trick, and 
 won't now, though there is a wind, squire ; it's coming worse, 
 too, but there's no danger." 
 
 And he caught the rope, which the wind was cracking as 
 a man cracks a whip, and, with a vigorous hand, secured it 
 to the gunwale. The effect was instantaneous. The little 
 bark, which before had merely danced about on the waves, 
 now shot down the stream like lightning, cleaving the wavea 
 which struck it, and shipping clouds of foam. 
 
 Beatrice hailed this accession of speed with delight. 
 Her ardent and impressible nature rejoiced in the hurly- 
 burly of the wind, the speed of the bark, the foam of the 
 high waves wetting her at every instant. 
 
 " Oh, it's delightful, father ! " she cried. " I could 
 shout for joy ! Look at that little boat, there, with the man 
 m it so quiet and easy it jumps about like a dry leaf 1 "
 
 ffiE SAIL-BOAT " NANCY.*' 8? 
 
 The boat, indeed, which the young girl was looking at, 
 did seem to be of no more strength than a leaf. It was a 
 frail little canoe, scarcely large enough it seemed to hold a 
 child, and beautifully built. The sides were painted with 
 great taste, and the prow ran up in a curving point, which 
 dashed aside the foaming water like a steel blade In the 
 stern of the canoe a young man was seated, holding in his 
 hand a paddle, with which he both propelled and guided the 
 skiff on its path toward the shore. The young man seemed 
 to be no stranger to such storms as the present, and, without 
 paying any attention to the foam which broke over him, looked 
 intently at the sail-boat. 
 
 " Oh, how it darts ! " cried Beatrice ; " look, the wind 
 struck it then, and it jumped out of the water ! " 
 
 " Take care, miss 1 " cried the boatman ; " if she veers 
 you'll fall overboard ! " 
 
 " Take care, my daughter ! " echoed Mr. Hallam; "there 
 is a tremendous gust of wind coming right down. Get 
 down ! " 
 
 " Steady ! " cried the boatman ; " this is a roarer ; take 
 care of the mast, miss ! Sit down 1 " 
 
 It was too late. Beatrice made a movement to obey, but 
 before she had regained her seat, and while she yet clung to 
 the mast, the frail pole bent beneath the powerful blast, the 
 sail almost doubled up, and the spar snapping like a reed, 
 precipitated the young girl into the stream. A huge wave 
 bore her ten feet from the bark in an instant, and, passing 
 over her, swallowed the fair form in its gloomy depths. 
 The fat manager was struck motionless with horror, and the 
 boatman, dropping his paddle, leaped into the stream. But 
 another saviour was before him. The young man in the 
 skiff had approached within a stone's throw of the sail-boat, 
 when the gust struck her, and his canoe was darting directly 
 across the wake of the bark when the mast snapped. At the 
 same moment he seemed to have recognized the young wo 
 man and, uttering an exclamation which was drowned in 
 the shrill blast, threw himself into the waves, and catching 
 her half-submerged form as she rose, struck out with the 
 ease of a practised swimmer. 
 
 Beatrice was a dead weight on his arm, and he soon felt 
 that exhaustion which the strongest swimmer experiences,
 
 8R SEQUEL TO THE ADVEJTTUtlE. 
 
 itruck every moment in the face by surges strong enough to 
 ingulf a giant. The boatman, swimming with the wind 
 and foam blinding him, could not come to his assistance 
 the two forms struggled with the devouring waves in vain 
 a huge billow passed over the young man's head, and he 
 sank, clasping to his heart the chill form of the girl. As he 
 rose for the last time, one of those providences which watch 
 over us, giving the lie to chance, was the means of his salva 
 tion. His shoulder struck against the boat, which had been 
 swept to the spot by the wind ; and, as he caught its gun 
 wale, he felt the body of the young girl weigh less upon 
 him. He was taken into the sail-boat, he knew not how 
 he saw a woman whom he had saved lying lifeless before 
 him a rude boatman chafing her temples a corpulent 
 man weeping and still grasping a billet of wood with which 
 he had plunged into the waves and then he fell exhausted, 
 overcome. 
 
 The first words which he heard when he came to himself, 
 were : 
 
 " Well, squire, she's all right now : only a little wetting. 
 Here we are at neighbour Waters', and that's his son, that 
 saved the young woman." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SEQUEL TO THE ADVENTURE. 
 
 THE fat manager did not know whether to laugh or weep. 
 She was saved! that was all he was conscious of; and he 
 scarcely knew how he got on shore. Beatrice, who had by 
 this time revived wholly, though she still shivered with cold 
 and terror, was borne to dry land by the strong boatman ; 
 and the rest following, the whole party was safe from the 
 storm, which raged more furiously still, at thus being forced 
 to give up its prey. 
 
 Before them rose a rough but comfortable cottage, which 
 from its bluff, overlooked the river up and down for miles. 
 A walk of ten minutes brought them to the door, and within 
 a cheerful fire was burning, apparently made necessary by 
 the high and exposed situation of the house. The boatman
 
 SEQUEL TO THE ADVENTURE. 89 
 
 deposited, we may almost say, the young girl on a comfort 
 able chair. She had been supported from the landing be 
 tween the honest fellow and her father the young man 
 walking iu silence before. 
 
 After thus getting rid of his charge, the boatman turned 
 to greet the owner of the mansion, saying : 
 
 " Well, neighbour Waters, here's a mess ! the young 
 lady's been overboard and nigh gone." 
 
 The host was an old man of sixty-five or more : in every 
 thing about him, the simplicity of his nature was manifest. 
 His open features were almost constantly lit up by a cheer 
 ful smile, and his eyes were full of kindness and good-humor. 
 He was clad as the humbler class were almost universally at 
 that day in a broad-skirted coat of drab cloth, with plain 
 cuffs, but turned back after the fashion of the time : his 
 stockings were of wool, and his waistcoat was of plain serge, 
 with large pockets, and reaching almost to the knees. On 
 his feet he wore heavy, thick-soled shoes ; and his gray hair, 
 gathered in a club behind, was free from powder. 
 
 To the boatman's address, he replied, cheerily : 
 
 " Overboard ! how so, neighbor Townes ? and in your 
 craft ? I never hearn tell of such a thing bappenin' to you 
 before. The pretty bird ! we must see how to fix her. Sit 
 down, sir : sit down your daughter, I reckon. Well, well, 
 this is a bad day to be on the water. How does the young 
 lady feel now ? " 
 
 Beatrice had profited by the cheering blaze, and replied 
 quietly, though with a slight shiver : 
 
 " I am a great deal better than I was, sir : I owe you 
 many thanks for your kindness," 
 
 " No kindness in the world," said the old man, " I'm 
 poor and sin pie, but you're heartily welcome." 
 
 " Poor aud simple as you say you are, neighbor," here 
 broke in the boatman, " there ain't a squire about here equal 
 to you : and I've been knowin' you this thirty years : and 
 Charley," here he looked at the young man, who had taken 
 his seat in silence, " Charley is a chip of the old block. Ef 
 it hadn't been for him, the young lady'd a been at Davy 
 Jones' locker by now." 
 
 "Why, did Charley?" 
 
 " Yes, he did so, neighbor; he saved the young 'ooman.
 
 JO SEQUEL TO THE ADVENTURE. 
 
 A.8 for me, I'm most nigh 'shamed to say it, but the wind and 
 foam blinded me. " 
 
 " Well, well it's what Charley ought 'a done, and there's 
 an end on it. Now we'll see to a room for you, miss," he said 
 to Beatrice ; " you musn't move to-day. I don't know you, 
 but you're welcome to any thing old John Waters owns." 
 
 " You are very kind, Mr. Waters," said the fat maua- 
 ger, who had been looking around him, " but we had better 
 get back to town. Our horses are down at your house, 
 friend," he added, to the boatman ; " couldn't you bring 'em 
 here ? " 
 
 " Easiest thing in life. Jest give me time to swallow 
 a drop ; and that puts me in mind, won't you take somethin' 
 yourself, 'squire, and the young lady ? Neighbor Waters 
 drinks nothing but water he don't." 
 
 Mr. Manager Hallam received this proposal with extreme 
 satisfaction, and no doubt reflecting that it was just " what 
 the great Congreve " would have done a favorite authority 
 with him emptied nearly half a pint. Beatrice, however, 
 refused the rum, with a shake of her head. 
 
 " Now, I'll take Sam, neighbor," said the boatman, " and 
 jog down. There's Lanky onhitchin' him. 'Seems to me 
 the sooner I am back the better." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; and there's a pistole," said Mr. Hallam. 
 
 The boatman received the money doubtfully, hesitated, 
 then pocketed it ; finally, mounting Sam, a rough-looking 
 cart-horse, harness and all. clattered off through the whirling 
 leaves of the forest toward his cabin. 
 
 " But you ain't goin' to take the young lady away so 
 soon," said old John Waters ; " she'll catcb the agy, friend. 
 We'll have a room for her the little place up there fixed 
 in no time. Lanky's just come from town, and will make a 
 blazing fire." 
 
 " I think we had better get back," said Hallam, un 
 easily ; " eh, daughter ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir; I feel quite strong now, and would like to 
 ride. I never can thank you, sir, and and your son, 
 enough for what you have done. He saved my life." 
 
 " Oh," laughed the old fisherman, " that's his place 
 you're a weak little thing, and couldn't "be expected to take 
 keer of yourself not a strong woman, either ; only a little 
 easy-iiviu' lady."
 
 SEQUEL TO THE ADVENTURE. ft 
 
 " Oh no, sir," said Beatrice, with her lip twitching, " I am 
 only an actress." 
 
 u An actress ! what's that ? Oh" 
 
 " My name is Beatrice Hallam," said the young g j-1, re 
 gaining her calmness. 
 
 " Well ! did any one ever ! " said the old man, " the young 
 lady that played ! I heard all about you, the other day, and 
 made Charley go to see the playin' : and he said a heap in 
 your favor. Charley, you know," said the old fellow, with a 
 smile, " aint much given to these things and I 'most fear he 
 hurts his health over his books look through the door, there 
 what a parcel ! He works hard, too, in the field, and helps 
 me with the seine, but he's been studyin' too much lately 
 I told him so : and says I, ' Charley, you'd better go to town 
 and take some rest : go and see the players.' At first he 
 wouldn't hear of it ; but he went, and praised you a heap, I 
 can tell you, Miss ; though I'm bound to say he didn't say 
 much in favor of young Squire Effin'ham." 
 
 Beatrice flushed to her forehead, and stole a glance at 
 the young man. He rose, and seeming to banish with an ef 
 fort the thoughts which preoccupied his mind, said, in a grave 
 and serious voice : 
 
 " I confess, Miss Hallam, that your acting was faultless, 
 as far as I could judge of it ; and my father has not misun 
 derstood my opinion of Mr. Effingham's very unworthy con 
 duct toward yourself. But let us dismiss all these matters 
 you must be greatly fatigued, and not much disposed to 
 listen to conversation. We are very poor, here, as you see, 
 but can give you, and you also, Mr. Hallam, shelter for th 
 night. Remain." 
 
 Beatrice gazed a moment furtively at the noble and 
 thoughtful face, allowed the last sound of the clear voice to 
 die away, then replied : 
 
 " We had better return, sir indeed, we should not refuse 
 your kindness, I know : but " 
 
 " Yes, we must return : you have not dried your own 
 clothes even, sir," said the manager, " and we are under suffi 
 cient obligation for one day. You saved my daughter's life, 
 sir God reward you." 
 
 " I did nothing but what I should have done, Mr. Hal 
 lam. My father has told yott that it was my simple duty,
 
 92 SEQIEL TO THE ADVESTOBB. 
 
 and there was little risk. Had there been real risk, I trust 
 I should still have done my duty." 
 
 " I know you would, Charley," said the old man proud 
 ly, " you'd throw your life away for a child : and I rather 
 think Mr. Emngham would a had a hard time, if you had 
 met after the play ! " 
 
 " Come come, father," said the young man, gravely, " do 
 not repeat my follies. I have repented it. Harsh words do 
 no good." 
 
 " If what you said was true, he deserved 'em and more," 
 naid old Waters : " you can't deny it ! " 
 
 " Well, yes ! he deserved harsh comment 1 you are 
 right ! " said the youug man, his face flushing, " for he in 
 sulted and annoyed a woman. We cannot go far wrong in 
 saying that the man who annoys a woman or a child, must 
 have a bad heart, and ungenerous and narrow soul ! " 
 
 The young man's voice, ordinarily grave and simple, 
 changed, as he uttered these words : and his flushed face 
 positively overawed the fat manager, who, feeling his own 
 character of paterfamilias indirectly called in question, was 
 about to speak, and ask Beatrice the particulars of Mr. 
 Effingham's conduct. His tone was so firm and proud his 
 eye so clear and full of disdain his attitude so erect and 
 noble, as he uttered these words, that the wide apartment, 
 with its fishing-nets, and rough chairs and tables, seemed to 
 grow brilliant and imposing mind penetrating matter, and 
 transforming it to its own likeness. 
 
 Beatrice Hallam felt her face fill with blood, her heart 
 throb : for the first time in her life she had found the nature 
 which heaven had moulded in the form of her own, and when 
 the young man, apparently regretting his excitement, mo 
 mentary as it was, returned in silence to his seat, her lus 
 trous glances, brilliant as light itself, but dimmed by a haze 
 of emotion, followed him, and could not withdraw themselves 
 from him. 
 
 A few moments afterwards, the boatman returned with 
 the horses, and the manager, who began to feel some embar 
 rassment, rose to go. 
 
 " We've treated you very bad considerin'," said -he old 
 man, " but the fire here was about the best thing for you, I 
 thought, after the wettiu'. Lanky's makiii' the fire now for
 
 SEQUEL TO THE ADVENTURE. 93 
 
 the young lady : but 'sides that, we had in the way o' clothea 
 nothin' much better 'n a peajacket to offer her, and you said 
 the rum was the best thing for you after the wettin'." 
 
 " All I wanted all I wanted, sir," said the manager, 
 with a good-humored laugh. 
 
 " And I am nearly quite dry now, sir," said Beatrice, 
 with a timid smile ; " I shall never forget your kindness to 
 me, Mr. Waters." 
 
 And she pressed with her small fingers the huge, hearty 
 hand of the old fisherman, and then held out the same little 
 hand to his son, who pressed it with a sensation at his heart 
 which he could not understand. 
 
 " Strange ! " he said, as they turned away, " I seem to 
 have met this young girl in some other world well, well, the 
 common fancy ! ' 
 
 And following Beatrice to the door, he assisted her to 
 mount which operation was somewhat embarrassed by the 
 long riding dress, brought with the horses from the boat' 
 man's cabin after which the guests set forward toward 
 Williamsburg. 
 
 " Waters Waters ? I seem to have heard that name be 
 fore, father," said Beatrice, " and really seem to have known 
 Mr. Charles." 
 
 " It's a very common name," replied the manager, " and 
 we often find these resemblances. How the evening has 
 cleared off. I don't think any rain has fallen ; the storm 
 must have passed off to the southward." 
 
 Whether Mr. Manager Hallam wished to turn the con- 
 veisation or not, remains a mystery: but if such was his 
 design, it succeeded perfectly, and Beatrice began to talk 
 about the adventures through which they had passed. Soon 
 the houses of the town came in sight, and they passed 
 along, and drew up before the " Raleigh." 
 
 Beatrice changed her wet garments, and felt no bad 
 effects from her accident beyond a slight chill. One would 
 have said that the warmth at her heart vivified her person, 
 and defied the chilly waters of the river. All that evening, 
 while the fat manager was relating the adventures of the 
 day, she sat studying, apparently ; but merely her dreamy 
 eyes were fixed upon the page. 
 
 Of what was she thinking, and why that flush upon thf 
 face, that light in the veiled eyes ?
 
 64 ME.. EFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDLY CALL. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MB. EFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDLY CALL. 
 
 ON the next morning, just as Beatrice was binding up her 
 hair before the single mirror of her small sitting-room, she 
 heard a knock at the door, and answering, " Come in," she 
 saw through the open door Mr. Champ Effingham, who en 
 tered the apartment with a smile. 
 
 " Ah, good morning, charming Miss Beatrice ! " he said, 
 with a pleased air, too elaborate indeed not to be somewhat 
 affected ; " how is your ladyship to-day ? " 
 
 Beatrice uttered a sigh of despair, with which no little 
 irritation was commingled. She, however, remembered the 
 wish her father had expressed, that she should not receive 
 her visitor harshly, and this consideration silenced the 
 haughty reply which rose to her lips, though it could not 
 subdue the flash in her proud, brilliant eye. 
 
 " I am very well, sir," she said. 
 
 " For which reason," replied Mr. Effingham, playing 
 with his ruffle, and sitting down languidly, " you receive mo 
 very ill." 
 
 " No, sir ; my reception is neither the one nor the other ; 
 but you have mo right to expect a very friendly reception." 
 
 " Why not friendly ? " 
 
 " Can you ask, sir 1 " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " I have nothing to reply, then, sir." 
 
 " Ah, ah ! " said Mr. Effingham, first smoothing the 
 feather in his cocked hat, then negligently playing with the 
 bright hilt of his short sword ; " ah, you are thinking about 
 my naughty behavior in the theatre the other evening." 
 
 " I have forgotten all, sir." she said calmly. 
 
 " Well, well, I have come to-day to ask your ladyship 
 to pardon these various exhibitions of ill-humor. My un 
 fortunate ruffle, which you, no doubt, observed, had suffered 
 somewhat in the melee, proved to me the next morning that 
 I must have been rather violent. The fact is, 1 was in a 
 bad humor out of temper a most mortifying acknow 
 ledgment for a star of fashion and nonchalance like myself 
 but skill true."
 
 ME. EFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDLY CALL. 99 
 
 Beatrice made no reply. 
 
 " Granted ! I was out of sorts nervous, in a bad 
 humor ; but, this morning, I am in a delightful state of 
 mind. I feel as if I could embrace the whole world, your 
 self included with the most fraternal and enthusiastic 
 regard. Am I not in an enviable state of mind ? But 
 this is nothing to you. Ah 1 you take very little interest 
 in my welfare, I am really afraid, and have not forgiven, as 
 such a lovely saint should, what I have been guilty of. 
 Come, my charming Miss Beatrice, exert your amiability, 
 and pardon all." 
 
 Beatrice, with her quick eye, easily discerned the painful 
 emotion beneath this raillery the fire concealed beneath 
 the ashes. For a moment she hesitated, then said : 
 
 " I am not revengeful or unforgiving, sir, and the painful 
 ordeal you subjected me to in the theatre is already forgot 
 ten. Now, sir, I must go to rehearsal." 
 
 " Bah ! don't be in a hurry, Beatrice, and, above all, 
 don't pity me ; I am not a man to be pitied ; and, as to 
 rehearsal, that can wait a little, while we have a short con 
 versation. You have a charming voice, and this morning I 
 am really wearied to death. Come, amuse me." 
 
 " I have no time to converse, sir ; I must leave you." 
 
 " Come, come : don't be so unamiable you may go di 
 rectly ! " 
 
 Beatrice sat down, with a sigh of resignation, instead ot 
 leaving the room, as she felt tempted to do. Her father's 
 wish made her patient. 
 
 " Where were you yesterday ? " 
 
 " We went to the river, sir, for a saiL" 
 
 ' To the James ? " 
 
 1 Yes, sir." 
 
 ' Why did you not send me word ? " 
 
 ' Send you word why, sir ?" 
 
 ' Why, my new sailboat is just launched, and we might 
 have had a delightful day in her." 
 
 " We had a very good one." 
 
 " Any adventures ? " 
 
 " I fell into the river, sir." 
 
 " The devil ! And how did you get to land ? " 
 
 " A gentleman rescued me."
 
 96 MR. EFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDLY CALL. 
 
 " A gentleman who, in heaven's name ? 
 
 Beatrice felt her face flush, half with embarassment 
 half with anger, at this persevering cross-examination. For a 
 moment she hesitated; but her frank and fearless nature 
 made her reply almost instantly, 
 
 " Mr. Charles Waters, sir." 
 
 " Charles Waters ! " cried Mr. Effingham, with a sudden 
 pallor, and a flash of the eye, which revealed the volcano 
 beneath his affected carelessness. 
 
 " Mr. Charles Waters," said Beatrice, calmly and firm 
 ly, "to him I am indebted for my existence, at this moment." 
 
 A flush of hatred passed over Mr. Effingham 's brow, 
 and he said, with a sneer: 
 
 " Ah, your cavalier 1 I had forgotten, Madam." 
 
 Beatrice felt her heart throb with anger, and a scornful 
 answer arose to her lips : but she repressed these evidences 
 of feeling, and said coldly : 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, I will not exchange another word with 
 you, if I am to be insulted thus. Mr. Waters is, as you well 
 know, almost a perfect stranger to me, and I am nothing to 
 him : " with which the lip trembled : " he saved my life 
 yesterday, at the peril of his own, and I owe to him deep 
 gratitude. For this reason, sir, you will understand that 
 I am not the proper sympathizer with your dissatisfaction. 
 Now, sir, I must go." 
 
 Mr. Effingham made a powerful effort over himself, and 
 burst into a laugh which was painful to hear. 
 
 " Well, well," he said, in a voice which he in vain en 
 deavored to render careless and easy, " we won't quarrel 
 about the Chevalier Waters. I'm sure I am very much 
 obliged to him for restoring to the community so charming 
 an actress ; though, as I always had a partiality for heroism, 
 especially being heroic myself, when nothing was to be lost 
 by it, I regret that the present grand effort was not made 
 by myself. Come 1 don't burn me with your eyes." 
 
 " I must go, sir." 
 
 " Without pardoning my naughty treatment of you in 
 the theatre ? Wasn't it horrible f " 
 
 " Yes, sir I " said Beatrice, flushing ; " it was unmanly." 
 
 " Striking coincidence of opinion, at least. Yes, it was 
 dreadful ; and do you know what occurred when I was mak-
 
 Mt. EFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDL? CALL. 9? 
 
 Ing my exit, right of centre ? that is the phrase, I believe 
 why, I very nearly ran over a young lady with whom I 
 am dead in love." 
 
 Beatrice looked at the young man with a strange expres 
 sion. Had she met with a real life actor superior to her 
 self ? 
 
 " Just so," continued Mr. Effingham, bursting into laugh 
 ter ; " my chre amie, you know one of the most beautiful, 
 highborn, and wealthy young girls in the colony; pretty, 
 fair hair, blue eyes, and all that just opposed to your style. 
 Did you see her ? " 
 
 " No, sir," said Beatrice. 
 
 " Well, you might have done so. I'm certain she saw 
 you, and possibly had a view of the attack upon my ruffles, 
 when I accidentally scratched myself, you know. In going 
 out, I placed my foot upon her dress, and nearly tore a fur 
 below away. What horrible awkwardness 1 I shall never 
 forgive myself." 
 
 " Your tone is bitter, sir." 
 
 " Bitter ? Not at all ! I am ready to laugh now, re 
 flecting on the melodrama. After the affair of the furbelow, 
 the hero made his exit myself, that is to say and then I 
 rode quietly away, accomplishing the first ten miles in fifteen 
 minutes, I believe." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, you seem to me to be laboring under 
 gome bitter emotion ; you shock me. If you love a lady, do 
 not, sir, do not abandon her for me. I know not what I say, 
 sir, I only know that you banish all sunshine from my life. 
 I have not enough to spare, sir. For heaven's sake, leave me." 
 
 " You are right," said Mr. Effingham, losing his forced 
 gayety, " I am carried away by my infatuation I love you." 
 
 " Sir ! you must not " 
 
 " Bah ! " he said, gloomily ; " don't let us mince matters." 
 
 " I must go, sir." 
 
 " Not before giving me one word not altogether harsh." 
 
 " I must go, sir " 
 
 " Beatrice Hallam, you are the most bitter and unrea 
 sonable of women. You choose to despise me, because I 
 seek you ; you are not only unreasonable, you are a woman 
 without heart ! " 
 
 Beatrice suppressed her emotion, and said : 
 5
 
 93 JtR. BFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDLY CALL. 
 
 " No, sir ; that is unjust. I am not a woman without 
 heart I have feelings, deep feelings.' 
 
 " I have never discovered them." 
 
 " You do not know me, sir." 
 
 " Ah, you mistake, madam ; I know you welL" 
 
 " For heaven's sake, go, sir." 
 
 " I prefer remaining." 
 
 " I must then leave you, sir." 
 
 Mr. Emngham rose with a threatening gesture; but, 
 collecting himself, sat down again. 
 
 " Ah, madam," he said, with gloomy bitterness ; " you 
 are very prudish : you hate me Mr. Charles Waters takea 
 you in his arms I cannot approach you." 
 
 " Sir ! " said Beatrice, indignantly, " I avoid you, be 
 cause I feel that you are not a proper companion for me. No, 
 sir ! I am not prudish I am no silly girl. My life has 
 been hard and changeable my fate adverse. I have em 
 braced the profession of the stage from necessity. My father 
 was an actor. I am an actress because I am his daughter. 
 As an actress, I know that I am exposed to a thousand 
 temptations, and a thousand insults. I know very well that 
 we are considered the bond slaves of the public, especially 
 of the aristocratic portion. But I will not accept the ques 
 tionable attentions of yourself, or any other young gentle 
 man, who is trained to look upon me, and upon persons 
 of my profession as infinitely beneath him as so many 
 slaves. No, sir ! I have chosen to go and exhibit myself 
 in public, that the bread I eat may be honestly procured. 
 After the theatre, I am a woman, and I will not have my 
 name tossed from mouth to mouth unworthily remember, 
 sir." 
 
 The young girl looked so lovely at that moment her 
 beautiful eyes flashed such vivid lightning her rosy face 
 was so eloquent with indignation, that Mr. Emngham found 
 words fail him lost in, overwhelmed as he was by, her 
 splendid and fiery beauty. 
 
 " You are a strange actress," he said at length, in a low, 
 deep-toned voice, " and certainly unlike any other I have 
 ever seen. Yes, I have seen many actresses, in France, 
 Italy, England, every where, and I find in you nothing like 
 khem. Well: you say you are no common comedienne, and
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDLY CALL. 99 
 
 you see that I agree with you. You hint that I would be 
 apt to abuse any friendship you granted me I do not say 
 you are wrong there. There is some truth in your views, and 
 I find no fault with you. But, at least, I should not scoff 
 at you : I might bless you, or only mention your name with 
 a curse upon my lip but I do not think I could do aught 
 else. For you are not indifferent to me. You smile : you 
 think I am very inconsistent. But when I say that I can 
 never treat your name as that of an indifferent woman, I 
 mean this : I mean that from our first meeting in the forest, 
 near the Hall yonder, your image has dwelt in my mind and 
 heart or if not quite in my heart, to be frank, at least in 
 my memory. At the theatre we met again, and I treated 
 you as gentlemen are accustomed to treat actresses ; for I 
 laughed at my feelings. You received that treatment as be 
 came you you are a noble girl and I went away cursing 
 and loving you almost. I spent a bad night after the play, 
 and worse since I came here to-day to jeer at you. In 
 place of further jeering, I bow to you, and offer you respect 
 and admiration, if not love, and ask your friendship in 
 return." 
 
 Beatrice betrayed some feeling at these earnest words, 
 and no longer looked at the young man so disdainfully. 
 
 " I have listened to you, sir," she said, " and I request 
 you to pardon any harshness in what I have but now said. 
 But, let me here say, what you will feel to be true, and no 
 less true than unchangeable that there can be nothing in 
 common between us. You cannot be my friend visiting 
 and talking unreservedly with me as friends may without 
 causing a scandal in the Colony : a scandal which will be 
 as injurious to yourself as to me. Now, sir, you had better 
 leave me. We may meet again indeed, I have it not in 
 my power to refuse to meet you in the theatre. This is 
 not an invitation, for I say again, there cannot and must not 
 be any thing in common between an actress, like myself, and 
 Mr. Eflinghain. Good evening, sir." 
 
 Mr. Effmgham stood looking at the young woman in 
 silence, with an expression upon his countenance which she 
 could not understand At last he said, with a pale lip, and 
 very abruptly : 
 
 " A.re you acting ? "
 
 100 MR. EFFINGHAM MAKES A FRIENDLY CALL. 
 
 " No, sir ! " said the young girl, indignantly. 
 
 " Then you are a prodigy of truth and nobleness," In 
 eaid, with a lightning-like glance. " Come, come, let me 
 throw aside all this sophistry with which I am trying to de 
 ceive myself. I love you ! " he said, gloomily. 
 
 The young girl drew back. 
 
 ' You shall love me in return ! " he said. 
 
 And there was so much haughtiness in his tone that her 
 cheek flushed. 
 
 " 5Tou are consistent, sir," she said; "just now, your re 
 gard for me was slight, you said at least, I thought so." 
 
 " As you please I do not know whether I love you or 
 not, and am sure I love another. But what I do know is, 
 that there is something about you, which tears me from all 
 else toward you, my beautiful diabolical syren ! " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, you really seem to have grown mad : 
 let our interview end here." 
 
 " I am mad, and it is you who have driven me urazy. 
 Beatrice ! mine is a family of fiery traits we love or hate 
 strongly, and do nothing by halves. I am not unlike my 
 ancestors. Look at me ! I am a petit maitre exhausting 
 my life in idleness and ease. Why ? Because I need some 
 great passion. Now I have opened my breast to you, and I 
 add, that you will be my passion." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, dismiss all thought of me. I am an 
 actress, sir an actress : my associates are players, those 
 who are now waiting for me yonder, sir no other persons : 
 a barrier is raised between me and the world, by my profes 
 sion. For the hundredth time, I say we can have nothing in 
 common. Even now your presence is causing discussion in 
 the room below, and rude lips jeer me. Oh, sir ! leave me, 
 for heaven's sake ! If you have any regard for me, go, and 
 end this trying interview ! " 
 
 He gazed at her for a moment in silence, and then, putting 
 his hat on, left the room, full of gloomy rage, but with a 
 sneering lip Ten minutes afterwards he left the town.
 
 THE KAN IN THE RED CLOAK. .01 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE MAN IN THE EED CLOAK. 
 
 JUST as Mr. Champ Effingham left Williamsburg, by the 
 western road his splendid animal careering at full gallop in 
 obedience to his rider's spur a young man entered the 
 town from the south on foot, and directed his steps toward 
 the Raleigh Tavern. He soon reached the long platform in 
 front of the inn, and entered the ordinary. 
 
 He was about to address some question to the portly 
 landlord, when turning his eyes to the opposite side of the 
 room, he saw seated in one of the large leathern chairs, a 
 man whose face seemed to excite some slumbering thought 
 in his mind, for he passed his hand over his brow, and seem 
 ed to question his memory. This man, who was reading the 
 last issue of the " Virginia Gazette " with some interest, 
 seemed to be verging on thirty, and did not appear to be 
 above the rank of what then were called yeomen. His 
 crisp hair was curled up beneath the ears, outwardly: his 
 mouth had in it a world of character, though it was rather 
 stern : and his forehead, very broad and high, was tanned 
 and freckled. He was clad in coarse leather breeches, leg 
 gings, a long fustian waistcoat, and coat of shaggy cloth, 
 without a particle of ornament, then almost universal in the 
 costume of gentlemen. Over his shoulders was hung loosely 
 an old red cloak, and his slouch hat lay by him on the rude 
 pine table. 
 
 The new comer took in all these details with a single 
 glance, and was about to turn away, when, raising his eyes, 
 the stranger saw him looking at him. 
 
 He rose, and extended a hard, brown hand, saying . 
 
 " Ah, sir ! good -day, I believe we are acquaintances, 
 though I fear you have forgotten me." 
 
 " No sir," said the new comer, " I recognized you at 
 once." 
 
 " Because you found me an agitator of ideas, like your 
 self on our last meeting which I believe was also our first. 
 You will recollect we met some days since near the Capitol, 
 when Parson Tag took politely from your hand the * Ga*
 
 102 TfiE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK. 
 
 zette,' you had just purchased ' to look at it,' he said : 
 in return for which courtesy you ga~e him some original 
 ideas." 
 
 " I did not obtrude them," said his companion, calmly 
 " he questioned me, and I replied." 
 
 " Yes, and he treated your crudities, as he called them, 
 with well-bred contempt, when he found an opportunity to 
 turn his back on you." 
 
 " I was not offended, sir. He had a perfect right to 
 turn to those gentlemen who bowed to him." 
 
 " Offended ! I should say that would be a loss of time 
 with a parson, not to mention the deadly sin." As he ut 
 tered these words, a grim curl of the lip betrayed the irony 
 of the speaker. 
 
 " The fact is," he added, " you gave him, as I said, 
 some original views on the subject of education ; and he did 
 not seem to relish them from a gentleman clad, like your 
 self, in drab and fustian." 
 
 " Well, well, sir," said the other, " perhaps he was 
 right. Men of my class are not generally worth listening 
 to on matters of policy, as I feel I am not he is a culti 
 vated scholar." 
 
 " Bah ! " said the man in the red cloak, good-humor- 
 edly, " mind is mind, sir, and it matters little whether the 
 frame be covered with fustian or cut velvet, the head with 
 a gold-laced hat or a slouch, like mine there ; the man, 
 weak or strong, remains." 
 
 His companion felt again the strange influence of that 
 voice, at once careless and earnest, laughing and grave ; a 
 singular sympathy seemed to have already sprung up be 
 tween these two men, spite of their acquaintance of yesterday. 
 
 " Now," said the stranger, wrapping his old cloak about 
 his shoulders, " I find in you a thinking man you scarcely 
 reflect about classes and dresses, I venture to say. You 
 have walked far this morning ? " he added. 
 
 " Yes, that is, some miles," replied the young man 
 somewhat at a loss to understand this abrupt question. 
 " You are dusty.'' 
 
 " Yes ; the sand is dry." 
 
 " Well, did you think of that dust as you came along ?' 
 
 " I believe not, my thoughts were elsewhere."
 
 TfiE JUAN IN THE RED CLOAK. 103 
 
 " Good, that is what I mean. The squire riding in his 
 coach has his hook, or takes his nap ; you can't read or 
 nap walking the consequence ? why you must think." 
 
 The young man sat down to rest ; that coarse yet musi 
 cal voice drew him in spite of himself. 
 
 " It remains to tell me what you were thinking of as 
 you came along, friend," added the stranger ; " come, let 
 us talk unreservedly. Let us clash our minds together, and 
 see if some sparks do not spring forth. What were you 
 thinking of?" 
 
 " Well, I can tell you easily," said his companion ; " I 
 was reflecting upon the system of education we spoke of 
 some days since." 
 
 " Oh, I recollect. Your free school ideas ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Broached to the parson ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " They were striking, I confess, but wholly out of the 
 question." 
 
 "Out of the question?" 
 
 " Certainly ; is it possible that a man of your clearness 
 of head let us speak like friends, and as roughly and honestly 
 as we can is it possible that you could for a moment be in 
 favor of such a doctrine as you stated, that the men of property 
 should put their hands into their pockets to take out money 
 for people they know nothing of, to support free schools ; 
 to give a premium for idleness ? That, I think, is what you 
 said they were bound to do, the other day." 
 
 " Well, sir," said the young man, looking at his interlo 
 cutor with some surprise, " I am still of that opinion." 
 
 "It is Utopian 1" 
 
 " Utopian ? " 
 
 " Yes, as impossible as it is unjust," said the stranger. 
 
 " You are then of the past, instead of the future," said 
 his companion, with noble simplicity, " I am sorry that 1 
 misunderstood you so completely." 
 
 " Of the future? Oh, yes, I understand you. Well, I 
 did take your part, as was natural : " the speaker pronounced 
 this word, natural, " but my only end was to draw out tha 
 parson. Do not think that, on that account, I a am reformer, 
 as you are, sir."
 
 104 THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK. 
 
 " Yes, sir : had I the power to make my words felt 1 
 would be a reformer." 
 
 " Take care, reform is often merely change : and change 
 for the worse. You would reform, what ? " 
 
 " Nearly every thing ; but originate more." 
 
 " Ah, we return to the question of education." 
 
 " A paramount question." 
 
 " Your darling Utopia above all the rest." 
 
 " My thought always yes." 
 
 Nothing was ever more visionary," said the man in th 
 red cloak, " excuse my plainness : but I do not even see any 
 necessity for such a system, leaving the possibility of found 
 ing it entirely out of the question." 
 
 " No necessity, sir ! " 
 
 " There is very little popular ignorance in Virginia " 
 
 " Very little ! " interrupted the other with animated 
 looks, " you deceive yourself ! It is immense ! From the 
 indented servant who drives his master's coach, to the yeo 
 man who toils with the sweat running from his brow, all is 
 ignorance, darkness and gloom. The children grow up like 
 wild beasts, the animal cultivated in place of the soul the 
 man is but the larger child as ignorant and more danger 
 ous." 
 
 " Dangerous, did you say ? " 
 
 " Yes, dangerous 1 dangerous as a wild animal is danger 
 ous to approach : dangerous as a marsh is to tread upon ! 
 This mind, which holds so much of richness and God-given, 
 inherent capability of improvement, is a mere morass ; tread 
 on it, it will ingulf you ! a morass covered with poisonous 
 flowers, festering with decayed vegetation, lit up only by 
 dancing fires a dance of death ! But, clear this morass : 
 drain it, expose it to light, and it will fecundate. Light, light 
 is what it wants, what it cries for despairingly ; and no answer 
 is vouchsafed to it." 
 
 " You wish government to answer it, eh ? " 
 
 " Yes, I would have government to change the animal in 
 to a human being, the wolf into a civilized man." 
 
 " Now you make us all wolves," said the man in the red 
 cloak, " how are men animals, sir ? " 
 
 " Why, who that has opened the * ecords of the world, for 
 in instai t even, could controvert it * The normal condition
 
 THE HAN IN THE RED CLOAK. 105 
 
 is animal the spirit is there, God be thanked ! but it flick 
 ers, glimmers, burns faintly in the poisonous miasma. Still 
 environed by a thousand foes it lives on. Encourage it nev 
 er so little and it flames aloft in clear heavenly radiance ! 
 what a noble field for those who love the race, and have the 
 power to benefit these souls steeped in gloom. For this 
 poor feeble existence is a soul it will never die ! the re 
 sponsibility of leaving that soul to struggle alone and unaid 
 ed against its foes seems to me dreadful, sir ! It seems to 
 me that God will some day ask of those men who had the 
 power and did not use it, what he asked of Cain : 'Where is 
 thy brother ? ' If they have not struck the blow themselves, 
 they have allowed the better part of men to be overcome 
 within them, and this spiritual murder will lie at their doors. 
 That better part moans and mutters its inarticulate despair, 
 the very life-blood arrested in the veins by this nightmare of 
 ignorance and darkness, which, squatting upon its breast, 
 makes it writhe and groan and toss, in the deep darkness. 
 The more I reflect upon this thing, the more dreadful does it 
 seem to me. There are thousands who have never known 
 the means of salvation pagans in this Virginia of to-day. 
 Christ has wept tears of blood for them in vain : his hands 
 were not pierced for them, they never heard of him mere 
 heathen men there within a stone's throw of us. Is it not 
 dreadful ? " 
 
 The thinker carried away by his excitement, had risen 
 from his seat, and now stood erect before the man in the red 
 cloak, who seemed to regard him with that philosophic in 
 terest which a naturalist takes in a new species of animal. 
 
 " Well, well," he said, " there is much truth in your 
 views, but they do not convince me Governments, my 
 friend, are rather selfish, it seems to me ; and though we 
 common people here discussing them, pride ourselves upon 
 our fine and noble views, I fancy we should act much after 
 the same fashion were we in power. Good policy would keep 
 us from testing these elevated ideas. 
 
 " No, never ! " said his companion ; " I cannot agree 
 with you. Rather is it a most false and narrow policy to 
 trample thus on the low." 
 
 " Why, pray ? " said the stranger, who seemed to hav 
 no end beyond making the other talk.
 
 106 THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK. 
 
 " Because ignorance is the most fatal of all curses to 
 rulers. The ignorant soul is the prey of demagogues and 
 false leaders it is a sea which any wind will la.sh into foam. 
 The little history which I have read has been read in vain, 
 if it has not shown me that an ignorant and uncultivated 
 people are the most dangerous of all. You see the great 
 mass every day, and do not look at it from your elevation 
 you are ruler ! Well, sir, some day, that great ocean will 
 be agitated by some popular grievance, it will rise in its 
 might as strong as it is ignorant and, with its world of 
 fury, it will burst your vain dykes, and bury you and your 
 government for ever." 
 
 The stranger looked at the speaker with the same curious 
 expression. 
 
 " You have thought much upon this subject, sir," he said. 
 
 " Yes," said the other, " often and deeply. I must have 
 wearied you, and I shall now permit you to return to your 
 paper, sir. Free schools the form in which I would have 
 this vast evil attacked are not, to all, the absorbing subject 
 of thought which they are to myself." 
 
 " Oh, no ; you have given me thoughts. I have listened 
 with attention," said the stranger ; " I do not live in Wil- 
 liamsburg, and am thankful for the time and society you 
 give me. I am one of the people myself, and, though I 
 have a smattering of Latin, and some reading, feel, in my 
 own person, the truth of many of your remarks." 
 
 " I did not mean, believe me " 
 
 " Come, come, don't let us interchange any compliments," 
 said the stranger, with a laugh ; " we understand each 
 other there is something like sympathy I etwceii us." 
 
 "Yes, from our first meeting I have felt it." 
 
 " You are more of a student than myself, doubtless,' 
 said the stranger ; " I recognize in you the patient worker. 
 For myself, I am very indolent, and wrnld rather play the 
 violin, or hunt, or fish, than study. '' 
 
 " But you think reflect." 
 
 " Yes," said the stranger, " much. 
 
 And his wandering, careless eye became steadfast, and 
 full of steady strength. There was wond rful clearness in it, 
 and that proud and lofty glance peculiar to men born to 
 lead and rule, did not escape the attention of his companion.
 
 BEATRICE AND HER SECOND VISITOR. 107 
 
 It was the eye of the eagle looking down from the clouds 
 apon men and things, the past and present ; old things and 
 new; the glance of fire, which, rejecting petty details, and 
 piercing the heaviest mist, caught the central idea, the living 
 fact, then turned to renew itself at the great source of light. 
 The thinker felt that the stranger was greater than he 
 seemed, greater than he even knew himself. He felt that 
 this ungainly man, clad so rudely, and speaking with such 
 clownish accent, was a born leader of men a thinker of 
 new thoughts. 
 
 " Yes," the stranger added, " I reflect much, and my 
 conclusions would, perhaps, astound the parsons more than 
 your own idftas have done, sir. At a more opportune mo 
 ment, I hope to interchange thoughts with you upon some 
 of the vital questions which affect this age and country now. 
 I recognize in you a spirit which sympathizes with my own 
 a nature like my own for I am a man of the people. 
 You shall give me your ideas I will give you my own. 
 Who knows that from this collision of thought fire may not 
 dart. You do not know me by name or condition, sir ; I 
 know as little of yourself : still, mind speaks to mind, and 
 recognizes its co-worker. And if, in future, occasions shall 
 arise, whic 1 require bold hearts and hands, I shall come to 
 you, and claim your aid, without fear of refusal, as without 
 dread of the result." 
 
 With which words the man in the red cloak put on his 
 old slouch hat, made an awkward bow, and with a gait, which 
 was half stride, half shamble, went out of the Raleigh, and 
 disappeared. Charles Waters stood, for some moments, 
 looking thoughtfully after him : then, arousing himself, turn 
 ed to the landlord, and asked for Miss Hallam. The land 
 lord pointed through the door : the young girl was just going 
 up stairs, having returned from rehearsal, and her visitor fol 
 lowed her. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 BEATRICE AND HER SECOND VI8ITOB. 
 
 HE knocked at the door which he saw close behind her, and, 
 being bid to come in, opened it and entered. The youu
 
 108 BEATRICE AND HER SECOND VISITOR. 
 
 was standing in front of the window, which was open, and 
 did not seem to be in a very amiable mood. Her brow was 
 knit, and her firmly closed lips appeared to indicate the ex 
 pectation on the part of their mistress, of an unwelcome 
 visitor. 
 
 No sooner had she caught sight of the young man, how 
 ever, than this expression of annoyance and ill-humor van 
 ished like magic : and, running forward, with the abandon and 
 fresh grace of a child, she held out her hands, saying : 
 
 " Oh, I am very glad to see you ! " 
 
 Her beautiful face was, at that moment, lit up with such 
 joy, the eyes were so bright and happy looking, the parted 
 lips radiant with a smile of such tenderness and child-like 
 simplicity, that her companion stood, for a full minute, look 
 ing at her in silent surprise. She had taken his hand, and 
 pressed it so warmly that, spite of himself, spite of the pre 
 occupation, caused by the interview which he had just pass 
 ed, he felt his heart throb with a new and delightful emotion. 
 
 " Oh ! " said Beatrice, " this is very kind to come and see 
 us : have I kept you waiting ? " 
 
 " No, madam," he said, " and I am very happy to find 
 you so well. You are right in supposing that my visit was 
 to you and your father. We were all desirous of knowing 
 whether you had suffered any bad effects from your accident." 
 
 " I am very well, sir, I believe," replied Beatrice, be 
 coming more calm, " and I only have a slight cough which 
 will go off, I am sure : sit down, sir." 
 
 He was on the point of saying that he only called to 
 usk the simple question to which she had just replied : but. 
 in spite of himself, he was swayed by the bright, tender 
 glance of the young girl, and sat down. 
 
 " I am afraid I interrupt you," he said, "you are busy." 
 
 " Oh no, sir : I have just returned from from rehear 
 sal. You know I am an actress, sir," she added, with t 
 light blush ; but, at once calling her pride to her assistance 
 this blush disappeared, and she said calmly, " I have to play 
 to-night." 
 
 He saw the blush, and perfectly well understood it. 
 
 " You said, ' I am an actress,' with some hesitation," he 
 teplied. " I do not find in that fact any thing that you 
 should be ashamed of. It is an honest and worthy employ-
 
 BEATRICE AND HER SECOND VISITOR. 109 
 
 aient, when it is pursued worthily, as you pursue it, Miss 
 Hallam." 
 
 " All do not think so, sir." 
 
 " At least, I do ; and do not expect to find in me the 
 mode of thinking which characterizes the wealthier classes of 
 the day. Nothing is derogatory which is undertaken in a 
 pure and elevated spirit which is honest. It would take 
 much to persuade me that the ' player,' to use the phrase of 
 Shakspeare, who labors honestly and nobly in his vocation, 
 should not rank above the idle gentleman, who consumes 
 merely, without producing any thing. I do not say this in 
 a fault-finding or bitter spirit : it seems simply true to me ; 
 and thus I cannot understand why you should hesitate to 
 avow your profession." 
 
 " I do not, sir," said Beatrice softly ; " but spite of my 
 self, I am affected by the popular opinion of my class, and 
 find all my pride necessary to combat it. Oh yes, sir 1 it is 
 unjust indeed it is ! " added the young girl, earnestly ; 
 " and though I do not like acting, and dread the approach 
 of every night, I cannot think the gentlemen are right in de 
 spising us ! " 
 
 " I am sure they do not think so of you," he said; "and 
 though Mr. Effingham has behaved toward you in a man 
 ner most unworthy of an honorable man, I cannot think he 
 meant a deliberate insult to a young girl. That were too 
 base," he added, with the latent flash of the eye which char 
 acterized him. 
 
 " Ah, sir 1 " said Beatrice, with the same cloud upon her 
 face, which had warned the manager upon the river, " do 
 not let us speak of Mr. Effingham he does not treat me as 
 a gentleman should treat all persons, however much beneath 
 him. I feel that I am not beneath him, and I can forget the 
 suffering he causes me. Come ! I won't talk of him any 
 more. I see your face becoming gloomy, and your anger 
 rising. Do let us leave all this, and not talk about it any 
 more." 
 
 " Well, madam, you teach me a lofty lesson. If I am 
 indignant, I had the right to be ; but there is something 
 greater than anger, that is forgiveness. Let this young 
 man, then, be no longer the subject of our thoughts ; he is 
 beneath you far enough I say it with no scofling, much leu 
 to flatter far enough for you to pardon him."
 
 110 BEATRICE AND HER SECOND VISITOR. 
 
 The face of the young girl flushed with feeling, and hd 
 eyes filled. 
 
 " Oh ! how different from the other," she murmured, 
 turning away ; " these words are a balm to me : they make 
 me happy, though I do not deserve his opinion." 
 
 And looking at him with happy eyes, bathed in theii 
 tender mist, she said softly : 
 
 " You are very kind to me, sir ; you must have a noble 
 nature to speak thus to a poor young girl like myself." 
 
 Never had he seen a more winning countenance so much 
 purity and simple truth in human eyes. He began to look 
 at her more closely, surveying in tuin the noble brow, the soft, 
 melting eyes, the tender, childlike mouth, the maidenly at 
 titude, so full of modesty and grace. She had just called 
 herself a poor girl, and he found himself looking upon her 
 as a princess. 
 
 " I am a poor man, too," he said, " much poorer than 
 yourself. You have many things which I have not. How 
 grateful must the applause your genius excites sound to 
 yon 1 I have no such pleasure," he said with a smile at hii 
 own sophistry. 
 
 " Ah ! but you have liberty." 
 
 " Have not you ? " 
 
 " No that is, I mean not your liberty." 
 
 " What is mine ? " 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Beatrice ; " you have the forest, the river, 
 and the clouds. Don't smile at me, sir ; when I think of 
 them, I am a child again, and forget all my worry and every 
 thing." 
 
 " And you love the woods ? " 
 
 " Oh, dearly ! " 
 
 " And the water." 
 
 " More still" 
 
 " Strange that your career has not made these simple 
 things distasteful," he said, regarding her with more and 
 more attention. 
 
 " Never could any thing make me dislike them," said 
 Beatrice, with a lovely rose-color in her beautiful cheek 
 " I must have been born in the country I never heard from 
 father, and I only recollect London for it makes me happy 
 to get away among the leaves and flowers. I like autumn
 
 BEATRICE AND HER SECOND VISITOR. 1 1 1 
 
 especially, and, I believe, I could listen to the woods sighing 
 in the wind for whole days. I have often thought the great 
 trees were men with grand souls, sheltering all that come 
 beneath them, and raising their heads to heaven without 
 fearing the lightning or storms ! " 
 
 He had not taken his eyes from the animated face. 
 
 " And then on the river," added Beatrice, with a happy 
 light in her eyes, "on the water I feel freer than ever. I 
 feel like dancing sometimes, aud father was laughing at in 
 for calling after the waterfowl the other day when you 
 saved me, you know," she said, with a look which went to his 
 heart. He made a movement with his hand. 
 
 " I love the water," she said, " and the clouds and waves, 
 and all the sunlight makes me deeply joyful. I could 
 never have felt it again," she added in a subdued voice. " but 
 for you and who knows who knows " 
 
 The impulsive young girl passing, as was her wont, from 
 excitement to quiet, from joy to melancholy, paused, hanging 
 down her head. 
 
 " Who knows you would say ? " he asked, taking the 
 little hand which hung at her side, with scarcely a conscious 
 ness of doing so. 
 
 " I am not fit to die," said Beatrice, with tears in her 
 eyes, and turning away. There was a silence more eloquent 
 than any words. Her hand remained in his, and neither 
 spoke, but once their glances met, and then were withdrawn. 
 
 " God alone knows who is prepared for that voyage to 
 eternity," her companion said at length, in a grave, serious 
 voice, releasing her hand as he spoke ; " we are mere instru 
 ments as I was in his hand : mere wood and metal, which 
 cannot see or know any thing which are wielded by the 
 right hand of the Deity. But I am trespassing on your 
 time, Miss Hallam, and must go." 
 
 " Oh no, sir no." 
 
 " Do not rate my service to you too highly," he said, 
 taking no notice of this ; interruption, and rising; " if you sus 
 tain no inconvenience, I need not say I shall be most happy 
 as I am happy to have been near you when you fell ; any 
 debt you owed me has been more than repaid by the pleasure 
 I have felt in this friendly conversation, and now I must go 
 I fear that I have trespassed too much upon your time." 
 
 *' Oh no please sit down : I am not busy " said Bea-
 
 112 BEATRICE AND HER SECOND VISITOR. 
 
 trice, with all the simplicity of a child, " you know I hav 
 been to rehearsal." 
 
 " You play to-night ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir : but will you do me a great favor ? " 
 
 " Is it very great ? " he said, gazing with a soft smile 
 upon the tender face. Beatrice caught the expression, and 
 her own countenance became so radiant and winning, so full 
 of happiness and tender feeling, that he felt his breast heave . 
 ' What is the favor ? " he added. 
 
 " To promise me not to come," said Beatrice. 
 
 " To see you ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " At the theatre ? " 
 
 " To-night yes, sir : I would rather you would not 
 ;ome, to-night or ever." 
 
 " Tell me why : we are friends, are we not enough for 
 that ? " 
 
 " Oh, you please me more than I can tell you, by saying 
 that," said Beatrice ; " indeed I wish you to have no worse 
 one than myself. But I cannot tell you why I do not wish 
 to see you ever at the theatre. I hope you will not come to 
 see me." 
 
 " Well, I will not," he said with a softness which was 
 uncommon with him, " at least to-night, but I may come and 
 see you here again ? " 
 
 u Oh, will you?" 
 
 " Indeed if you will permit me." 
 
 " Oh, always I so love to hear you talk." 
 
 Beatrice seemed to be carried away by her feelings, and 
 afterwards blamed herself severely for acting in so childlike 
 a manner. Her companion said, as he exchanged a pressure 
 of the hand at parting, 
 
 " I will certainly come as often as I can you have no 
 better friend than myself, believe me." 
 
 And with these simple and sincere words, he took his 
 departure, thinking of the bright, fresh face, which seemed 
 to have risen for the first time, like a harvest moon, upon 
 his sight. As for Beatrice, she sat still for half an hour, 
 with her head bent down, pensively, and her eyes veiled with 
 their long lashes. At the end of that time she raised her 
 face, and said, with deep tenderness, and eyes that swam io 
 happy tears, " He is so good and noble ! "
 
 THE EXPLOSION: SCENE, EFFINGHAM HALL. ill 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE EXPLOSION : SCENE, EFFINGHAM HALL. 
 
 1 WHEN an individual of violent temperament adopts a man 
 ner of ease and unconcern, sedulously avoiding every thing 
 calculated to arouse his latent passion, the effect, after a 
 series of years, is undoubtedly beneficial. The character 
 takes the color of its nutriment in a great degree ; and if it 
 is nourished upon strong emotions, and critical sensations, 
 will become more and more violent : if upon quiet plea 
 sures, and moderate delights, the result will be just the re 
 verse. Still, there is this to be observed in such cases. The 
 mind of man is not unlike a river ; it may be directed into 
 a new channel, but scarcely arrested wholly in its course. 
 Build a dam of convention across it bid it curb its waves, 
 arrest its current, and it will sweep all before it. The higher 
 you build the obstruction, the more violent the rush of the 
 waters, when once they have broken loose. This was the re 
 sult with my respected ancestor, Mr. Champ Effingham. 
 True, he declared often and believed, that he needed strong 
 emotion novelty passion, for his existence ; but this was 
 a mistake. His passions were naturally strong enough, and 
 emotion was dangerous to himself and others. The quiet 
 life of his native country had allowed these passions to sleep 
 for a long time, and he fancied that he had none. He was, 
 as I have already declared, very greatly mistaken. 
 
 " The first view of young Miss Hallam had stirred up a 
 hurly-burly in his breast ; not because she was so much 
 more beautiful than Miss Clare Lee, for whom, as the reader 
 of these pages has perceived, my respected ancestor had 
 begun to have something more than a friendly regard : 
 not that she was one of those fiery phenomena, who, like 
 Cleopatra or Aspasia, dazzle the eyes, and set the brain and 
 heart on fire. The effect produced upon Mr. Effingham by 
 the young woman was attributable to the novelty and 
 freshness of her character, and the state of his own mind, 
 ripe for some great passion, and dissatisfied with the tran 
 quil affection of the little beauty at Riverhead. Miss Hal- 
 lam's reception of his advances had blown the vague and
 
 114 THE EXPLOSION: SCENE, EFFINGHAM HALL. 
 
 dubious spark into a blaze her favorable smiles would in 
 all probability have extinguished it at once : and no one 
 who has read the human heart attentively, more especially 
 that strange chapter dedicated to love, will fail to under 
 stand this simple fact. Love, I am convinced, is a mere 
 thing of the imagination at first : the heart seeks something 
 new and strange something to ponder upon and treasure 
 up, and spend its passionate yearnings upon : tranquil, quiet, 
 unostentatious affection succeeds, and this is love indeed, but 
 the storrn precedes the calm. 
 
 " These few words will explain what I mean when I add 
 that Mr. Effingham was not, properly speaking, in love with 
 Miss Hallam. He experienced for her a violent, passionate 
 emotion, which had ripened in a few days to full size and 
 vigor, and though many persons may say if, indeed many 
 read these pages that his love was ' love at first sight,' 
 and genuine, still I must be permitted to doubt it; and I 
 hope to show conclusively, before ending this narrative, that 
 those views I have stated are correct. I am convinced that 
 it was a sort of infatuation, like that of the drunkard for the 
 draught of fire : if he comes near it, he seizes and swallows 
 it. Miss Hallam declined being swallowed ; if I may be 
 permitted to make a very poor witticism ; she was offended, 
 and I think very justly, at the manner in which Mr. Effing- 
 liam uniformly addressed her, and she did not take the 
 trouble to conceal her feelings. She showed him plainly 
 that she did not desire him to visit her, and the conse 
 quence was a vast increase of Mr. Effingham's passion. We 
 have seen how inconsistently this violent emotion led him to 
 speak and behave : now praising, then scoffing at the object 
 of his passion : at one time almost cursing her, as he said, 
 then blessing her, and declaring that she was a noble, high- 
 souled girl. The last interview he had with Miss Hallam, 
 at which the reader has been present, was the capstone to all 
 these passionate interviews ; and the state of Mr. Effingham's 
 mind may very correctly be inferred from his mingled mock 
 ery and earnestness, sincerity and sarcasm in Miss Hallam's 
 presence. After leaving her he left Williamsburg just 
 when Mr. Waters entered it as we know and launched him 
 self, like a flash of lightning, toward the Hall, overwhelmed 
 with rage and despair."
 
 THE EXPLOSION : SCENE, EFUNGHAM HALL. . 15 
 
 Thus far the writer of the MS., to whom we shall recur 
 whenever his narrative commentary on the events of this 
 narrative elucidates the posture of affairs, or the emotions 
 of the various personages. 
 
 Mr. Champ Effingham soon reached Effingham Hall, 
 and, throwing his bridle loose, hurried to his room. He did 
 not make his appearance again that day, sending word in 
 reply to the various messages dispatched to him, that he 
 was unwell, and wished to be left in quiet. The result of 
 two replies of this description to Miss Alethea's messenger, 
 was the desired quiet. The young gentleman made his ap 
 pearance on the next morning, at the breakfast-table, a'fter the 
 squire's departure to ride over his farm, looking very much 
 out of sorts. The sallow rings beneath his eyes were darker 
 than ever, and he seemed to have spent a bad night, if in 
 deed he had slept at all before morning. Miss Alethea de 
 clared her opinion, that he had not slumbered : and asked 
 an explanation of the stamping and striding over her head 
 the noise of flying chairs, and rattling swords, hurled ap 
 parently for amusement on the floor. She worded these 
 questions in such a manner, that the impression left upon all 
 ininds, was to the effect that Mr. Champ Effingham was a 
 naughty boy, who had been behaving badly, and deserved a 
 scolding. 
 
 The reader will no doubt imagine, without any explana 
 tion upon our part, the manner in which Mr. Effingham re 
 ceived these observations. He looked at Miss Alethea, as a 
 mastiff does at a lapdog who is worrying him, and went on 
 with his breakfast. Miss Alethea was a lady of excellent 
 sense, and did not meddle with him any more during the 
 whole day. Mr. Effingham spent the day in gloomy thought 
 varying this monotonous amusement, by hurling from his 
 path every thing which stood in his way. Orange, Miss 
 Alethea's lapdog, chanced to obstruct his steps, as he was 
 passing through the hall, and this unfortunate scion of a 
 royal race, found himself kicked twenty feet across the pas 
 sage, into the embraces of an astonished tortoise-shell cat, 
 his inveterate enemy. Orange was so completely astounded, 
 and overawed by this summary treatment on the enemy's 
 part, that he did not utter so much as a single whine. He 
 was cowed.
 
 16 T&E EXPLOSION: SCENE, EFFINGHAM HALL. 
 
 Mr. Effingham spent several days in this manner, scarcely 
 eating any thing, but sitting long after dinner, drinking 
 claret. The squire could extract nothing from him; and 
 soon little Kate, his favorite, was repulsed, to her sorrow 
 and mortification. The child prayed earnestly that night 
 for cousin Champ, and could not get her geography the 
 next day for sorrowing about him. As for Master Will, 
 that young gentleman preserved a rigid silence, and a re 
 spectful distance from the irate Achilles, whose sombre mood 
 he regarded with astonishment and awe. He saw with dumb 
 astonishment that Mr. Effingham's hair had remained un- 
 powdered for a whole week, and that his ruffle was torn re 
 gularly every evening. 
 
 One morning, Mr. Effingham was observed to sit with 
 his head bent down for more than an hour, in gloomy 
 thought ; at the end of that time, he rose and ordered his 
 horse. Mounting, he directed his way, with a strange ex 
 pression on his lips, toward Riverhead. At the stream, 
 which ran across the road, a quarter of a mile from the house, 
 his new cocked-hat, with its magnificent feather, blew off into 
 the water, and was all muddied and draggled ; and when, 
 after picking it up, he again mounted, he found that his 
 horse had by some means become suddenly lame. 
 
 " Well," he said, bitterly, " fate is against my seeing 
 her. I will not go." And returning to the Hall, he shut 
 himself up in his room, and did not issue forth again until 
 evening. It was the seventh day after the interview with 
 Beatrice Hallam ; but it brought him no rest from hi 
 harassing and gloomy thoughts. He was growing reckless ; 
 burnt up by his complicated emotions, he began to regard 
 things in a mysterious and fateful light. Was this young 
 woman to be his curse, appointed by Heaven to ruin him 
 here in this world, for some dreadful sin he had committed ? 
 He felt no penitence, shrank not, but with the same mock 
 ing, reckless smile, entered the supper-room, where Misa 
 Alethea was preparing chocolate. He sat down in moody 
 silence, but was not long left to himself. 
 
 "Champ!" said Miss Alethea, as she finished the ar 
 rangement of the table to her satisfaction, " you really muit 
 have something on your mind." 
 
 No reply.
 
 THE EXPLOSION: scEfrE, EFFINGKAM HALL. lit 
 
 " What has made you so moody for several days ? I 
 never saw you more disagreeable." 
 
 The same silence. 
 
 " Have you addressed Clare Lee and been discarded ? " 
 
 Mr. Effingham's face flushed, and he turned with an 
 irritated look toward Miss Alethea, which that lady under 
 stood perfectly. 
 
 " Oh, well, sir ! " she said. " If you are going to eat 
 me, I will not presume to speak. I should like to know 
 what there was so insulting in my question ? " she added, 
 oblivious of her intention not to address the young man fur 
 ther, on any consideration. 
 
 " It is no insult," said Mr. Effingbam, gloomily, " and 
 I have not seen Miss Clare Lee for a moment since the play, 
 more than a week ago. But I do not desire to have my 
 affairs meddled with." 
 
 " Indeed ! " replied Miss Alethea, indignant at the tone 
 Df the young man, " perhaps they are better not meddled 
 with, they may not bear examination. I believe that that 
 young play-girl has something to do with the matter ; and 
 Clare told me the other day, that some gentleman had told 
 her that you had met him in a distracted state of mind, 
 galloping from town. You had better take care, they are 
 already talking about you." 
 
 Mr. Effingham's rage on hearing this intelligence, may 
 be better conceived than described. Clare Lee to know of 
 his infatuation ! to hear of his acquaintance with Beatrice 
 Hallam ! to be told of his violent, infatuated conduct ! And 
 .hat impudent fellow who had dared to meddle with his 
 affairs ! Mr. Effingham ground his teeth, and grasped his 
 sword-hilt with ominous meaning. This, then, was what he 
 was coming to be ; the gossip of the country side. Clare 
 Lee, even, was one of the laughers, and pitied him, no doubt, 
 if she did not despise him. Pity or contempt ! Mr. Effing 
 ham's lip curled, and his brow contracted ; then his face 
 resumed its gloomy look again, and he said : " Woe to those 
 who busy themselves with me. Who spoke of me to Misa 
 Clare Lee ? Come, tell me, madam." 
 
 Miss Alethea, though somewhat awed by his manner, re 
 plied, that she did not consider herself called upon to crosa- 
 exaorine Clare. The fact was bad eneugh.
 
 I 1 8 THE EXPLOSION : SCENE, EFFING&AM HALL. 
 
 " What fact ?" Mr. Effingham said, rudely. 
 
 " That you, my brother, sir," replied Miss Alethea, bri 
 dling up, " should make yourself the talk of every one : in 
 \ove with a common actress ! " 
 
 " Madam 1 " said Mr. Effingham, with a flash of the eye 
 
 " You may scowl upon me as much as you choose, sir," 
 said Miss Alethea, now thoroughly aroused, " but I say it is 
 disgraceful." 
 
 Mr. Effingham bit his lip until it bled. 
 
 " Yes, disgraceful ! " continued Miss Alethea, " for you 
 to be making yourself ridiculous and not only yourself, but 
 me and all by your infatuation for this woman, who would 
 not be permitted to enter a respectable house. Yes, sir ! 
 you imagine because you have been to Europe, that you are 
 at liberty to do just as you choose, and to act without refer 
 ence to any one's pleasure but your own. Don't think to 
 awe me, Champ, for you cannot. I say it's a shame a 
 burning shame ! and you ought to be ashamed to treat Clare 
 so. You know it will break her heart, but this has no 
 weight with you. / don't mean to submit to your scowling 
 and growling, though," added Miss Alethea, " I can tell 
 you, sir." 
 
 Mr. Effingham rose and said to a servant who was going 
 out 
 
 " Pack my portmanteau, and order my horse." 
 
 And without further words he left the room, and was 
 seen by that lady no more. She half regretted her vehe 
 mence, for she ' was a woman of excellent heart at bottom, 
 but her strong religious feelings, made her intolerant of con 
 duct like that attributed to Mr. Effingham ; and the result 
 of an argument held with her conscience, was, that she had 
 not said a word too much. 
 
 Those words had put the capstone upon Mr. Effingham's 
 feelings, and he went to his room, paJe, and with a sueer upon 
 his lip, which boded no good. Thenceforth he was perfectly 
 reckless.
 
 CHAMP EFPINGHAM, ESQ., COMEDIAN. 1 19 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 CHAMP EFFINGHAM, ESQ., COMEDIAN. 
 
 ON the next morning Mr. Champ Effingham made his ap 
 peal ance in Williamsburg, accompanied by a mounted ser 
 vant, and the two horsemen drew up before the door of the 
 Raleigh Tavern. The portly landlord came forth, cap in 
 hand, to welcome him. 
 
 " Well, Master B;niface," said Mr. Effingham, with ele 
 gant pleasantry, " is the room my servant engaged No. 6 
 ready ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir quite ready, sir." 
 
 " Carry up my portmanteau," said Mr. Effingham to the 
 negro, who had brought that article behind him, " and then 
 return. Answer no foolish questions asked you do not 
 hear." 
 
 " No, Massa Champ," said Tom, with the grin of intelli 
 gence peculiar to his race, " not by no means, sir." 
 
 " And tell no lies either : if you do, I'll amputate your 
 ears." 
 
 Having given this caution, and made this unmistakable 
 promise, which the negro received with a broader grin, as he 
 turned away, Mr. Effingham lounged into the ordinary. 
 
 " Where's Hallam ? " he asked, sitting down carelessly. 
 
 " He's out somewhere, sir at the theatre, I should say : 
 but this is nearly his rum hour," laughed the landlord. 
 
 " Bring me a cup," said Mr. Effingham ; " or no, I'll 
 have some claret." 
 
 The landlord hastened to bring the wine, and placed the 
 bottle at Mr. Effingham's elbow. 
 
 " A cracker ! " 
 
 The cracker was brought with the same respectful rapidi 
 ty, or rather a basket of those edibles, placed generally at 
 hand, then as now, to refresh the company. Mr. Effingham 
 then betook himself to the agreeable employment of sipping 
 his claret, one leg being thrown carelessly over the arm of 
 his leather-bottomed chair : and when tired of this monotony, 
 he varied it by d-pping a cracker in his wine-glass, and 
 throwing his leg over the other arm. The young gentleataa
 
 120 CHAMt EFFINGHAM, ESQ., COMEDIAN. 
 
 was more than usually splendid : his coat of crimson cut 
 velvet, was ornamented with a mass of the richest embroid 
 ery, and had chased gold buttons : his waistcoat was of 
 yellow silk, with flowers worked in silver thread, and his new 
 cocked hat, just from London, was resplendent with its 
 sweeping feather. At his side dangled the finest of his 
 short swords, and, altogether, Mr. Champ Effingham seemed, 
 to judge from his " outward accoutrement," the very pet of 
 fortune. His manner was not unsuited to his dress : it was, 
 if possible, more nonchalant and indifferent than ever ; but 
 any one who would have taken the trouble to scan the hand- 
 Borne face closely, would have perceived a dark shadow un 
 der the eyes, which betokened sleepless nights, and a reck 
 less, mocking expression upon the lips, very much at variance 
 with the petit maitre airs assumed by the young gentleman. 
 
 Half an hour passed, and Mr. Effingham was visibly be 
 coming very impatient, when the entrance of the manager 
 caused him to lay down the " stupid gazette " he had been 
 reading and maligning for the last fifteen minutes. 
 
 " Ah ! there you are at last, Hallam," he said, " what the 
 devil kept you so long ? " 
 
 The fat manager received this address with great good- 
 humor, and replied, that they had been getting up a play of 
 the " great Congreve " for that night's performance. 
 
 " You had better let Congreve alone, and stick to Shake 
 speare," said Mr. Effingham, " he won't take here among 
 these barbarous Virginians. But come here, and drink 
 some claret with me I'm tired of it myself: bring me 
 some rum ! " 
 
 The rum came, and Mr. Manager Hallam sat down. 
 
 " Good ? " Paid Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Very excellent indeed, sir," said Hallam, smacking 
 his lips. 
 
 " Well, now, let us come to the matter 1 am thinking 
 about. Hallam, I am going to join the company." 
 
 " The company, sir 1 " 
 
 " Yes your company : what, the devil 1 Is there any 
 thing so astounding in that ? " 
 
 " Really, sir really now you take me quite aback 1 
 You join the company ? " 
 
 " Yea ! The ' Virginia Company of Comedians. 1 IB
 
 CHAMP EFFINGHAM, ESQ., COMEDIAN. 12 
 
 there any thing strange in a Virginian belonging to that ex- 
 cellent association of his Majesty's, or his Excellency^ 
 players ? " 
 
 " Upon my word, sir," said the manager, laboring under 
 great astonishment, " never in my life " 
 
 " Why, what surprises you ? " 
 
 " That a gentleman of your wealth and standing should 
 join us." 
 
 " Curse my wealth and standing 1 That is not youi 
 look out." 
 
 " But it is yours, sir," said the manager, with a troubled 
 look, " if you knew about these things your family, sir 
 really a most extraordinary proposal " 
 
 " Come, no humbug ! Let us look at the matter. I am 
 a gentleman, you say, and I have a family to affect. That 
 is a mistake any thing I do will not affect my family: and 
 if it does, I am a free man. Now, on the other side I 
 rather natter myself your house would be filled, when Champ 
 Effinghain, Esq., was announced in some thrilling and over 
 whelming part. What do you say to that ? Drink there ! 
 give me another cup." 
 
 " You would really play, sir ? " said the manager, sur 
 veying his position with a hurried glance, " you would real 
 ly appear ? " 
 
 " Bah 1 you don't know me. Of course I would : and 
 the fact would appear to you too, in adding up your re 
 ceipts. I needn't tell you that when a gentleman takes to 
 the stage, something more is due him than what your com 
 mon fellow gets ' a beggarly account of empty benches.' " 
 
 Hallam hesitated; evidently troubled. 
 
 " I would, you know, sir, be more than pleased it would 
 make my fortune, sir I feel, sir, that I ought not to hesi 
 tate" 
 
 " Bah 1 don't hesitate, then. Can't you understand 
 that I would make a better Romeo, a better any thing, act 
 ing with Beatrice, than that stupid fellow Pugsby ? " 
 
 A light dawned on the muddy brain of Mr. Manager 
 Ilallam. Here was the exciting cause : Beatrice was the 
 engine which had produced this extraordinary convulsion in 
 the heart of Mr. Effingham. And with the thought in his 
 mind, the course he ought to pursue became plainer One 
 6
 
 122 CHAMP EFFINGHAM, ESQ., COMEDIAN. 
 
 of the darling projects of Mr. Manager Hallam was to 
 marry his accomplished and beautiful daughter to some 
 wealthy and high-born youth : once married, Beatrice 
 would, of course, abandon the stage : that was the loss to 
 him but the advantages of such connection would vastly 
 outweigh this. The manager was growing old, and getting 
 tired of his nomadic, restless life ; tossed from inn to inn, 
 from country to country : and he wished to settle down. 
 Now, if Beatrice married, of course, her husband would not 
 separate the daughter from the father : the consequence ? 
 " I would live in clover all the rest of my life, in a fine 
 house, with plenty to drink, tictac every night, and nothing 
 to do but eat, drink, and sleep," he said to himself. To eat, 
 drink, and sleep was the height of this worthy gentleman's 
 ambition, and he had already conceived the intention of per 
 forming those agreeable ceremonies, for the rest of his days, 
 at Effingham Hall, if that were possible in the nature of 
 things. 
 
 The reader will now be able to understand the effect pro 
 duced upon the worthy manager by the mention of Beatrice's 
 name. That explained all. Mr. Effingham was desperately 
 enamored of her his family no doubt scoffed at the con 
 nection he came to join the company time would do the 
 rest; and, once married, a few dramatic scenes of father's 
 weeping and relenting daughter-in-law kneeling in tears 
 son promising to be immaculate in future, would make all 
 well again. He trusted to his theatrical experience to ar 
 range these little matters, and already dreamed of ending 
 his days tranquilly, in what he seemed to consider the place 
 of happiness in " clover." 
 
 So, when Mr. Effingham had repeated his disdainful ques 
 tion, " Would he not make a better companion for Beatrice, 
 in every thing, than that stupid fellow, Pugsby ? " Mr. 
 Manager Hallam melted from his doubtful state of mind 
 into increasing conviction, and said, that " He really felt 
 hum he must certainly acknowledge hum Pugsby was 
 certainly not what he had been ; and, if Mr. Effingham was 
 bent on joining them, he did not feel himself at liberty to 
 refuse his most flattering proposal. As the great Congreve 
 had said to him, on one occasion, such common players as 
 himself could not feel too much flattered when gentlemen
 
 CHAMP EFFINGHAM, ESQ., COMEDIAN. 123 
 
 condescended to associate with them on terms of equality ; 
 and nothing was more reasonable. He could not refuse Mr. 
 Effingham, whom he was proud to call his friend ; he had 
 many such distinguished friends ; among the most so, the 
 great Congreve. Therefore, if Mr. Effingham was still of 
 the same mind, he would be most proud, most flattered to 
 have him. He would find them a plain, honest set ; and the 
 only drawback was on the delicate subject of his remunera 
 tion. For, as to salary, he feared " 
 
 " Curse the salary ! " said Mr. Effingham, with disdain 
 ful carelessness he had listened to the above tirade with 
 perfect indifference " I don't want your money, Hallam. 
 You don't think that I would join your set for a few pis 
 toles, do you ? No, sir ! I have quite sufficient ; but what 
 I want is excitement, novelty,, jovial society. I'm sick of 
 she well-bred insipidity of good society, and the ' repose ' 
 they consider the summum bonum and great desideratum 
 of human existence. I'm done with it tired of it. I am 
 going to pick out a piece to act this very day. Go, and put 
 ' Champ Effingham, Esq.,' on your roll of comedians." 
 
 And Champ Effingham, Esq., rising from his seat, went 
 out, and stood at the door of the Raleigh, yawning and 
 frowning, and scowling on such members of that insipid good 
 society as passed in their coaches. . He did not take the 
 trouble to return the nods of the gentlemen, or the smiles 
 of the ladies. He felt perfectly reckless, and cared, at that 
 moment, for no human being on earth. Yes, there was one 
 whom he loved and hated, blessed and cursed ; and she 
 passed him, coming from the theatre, with a quick step, and 
 an averted face. Why, else, did the frown become deeper, 
 and the glance of the eye grow more gloomy and reckless ? 
 
 Beatrice hurried up to her room, and Mr. Effingham re- 
 entered, and began again to converse again with the manager, 
 a?er a second bottle of claret.
 
 124 THK BOOH OF THK "OAZETIE" OFT 1C*. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE DOOE OF THE " GAZETTE " OFFICE. 
 
 AFTER his interview with Beatrice, Charles Waters re- 
 turned homeward, lost in thought. Was he pondering again 
 upon his system of education, or upon any of his novel 
 political ideas, such as Parson Tag had " called to the atten 
 tion " of the squire, for their absurd and treasonable cha 
 racter ? Was he admiring the beautiful autumn woods, all 
 yellow, and gold, and crimson, through which the fresh fall 
 breezes laughed and sang, from the far surging ocean ? 
 None of these things occupied his thoughts ; ideas of na 
 tional politics were as far from his mind as the forest, which 
 his dreamy eye took no note of. 
 
 He was thinking of that young girl he had just left ; so 
 womanly, yet childlike ; so beautiful and attractive in the 
 richness of her great loveliness ; yet so like a girl who has 
 never thought to bind up the careless waves of her hair. 
 What an anomaly was here ! And was there not food for 
 thought ? He had seen her on the stage, and, spite of his 
 total ignorance of what acting was, felt perfectly convinced 
 that she was a great genius ; and now this splendid woman, 
 whose magical voice had interpreted every change and phase 
 of passion, glancing from the highest to the lowest tones, 
 with lightning-like rapidity and marvellous ease ; whose 
 attitudes were so grand, whose very walk rivetted the atten 
 tion, and hushed the crowd ; this great interpreter of the 
 greatest of human intellects, with whose name the whole 
 colony was ringing, had thrown aside in his presence all this 
 intellect and strength, to take his hand, and laugh merrily, 
 and talk with rapture of the fresh beauty of the river and 
 the forest, and, like a child, plead for another visit from 
 him ! Was the scene real or imaginary ? 
 
 He passed over the whole distance between Williams- 
 burg and his home in a dream, and all that day, and for 
 more than a week thereafter, was plainly busy with some 
 problem that he could not explain to his satisfaction. He 
 would go and work in the field ; and, before he knew it, find 
 himself leaning on his spade and murmuring, " Could she
 
 THE DOOR OF THE (t GAZETTE " OFFICE. 125 
 
 have acted all this ? " He pored over his books hour after 
 hour, and found he had made no progress; for her image 
 rose in all its fresh and tender beauty between him and the 
 page. Then he became conscious of his preoccupation, and 
 determined to banish it. She was nothing to him he had 
 other ends in life, and other duties than idle visits. This 
 young woman was, no doubt, very original and striking in 
 every point of view, and he felt a strange sympathy with 
 her a strange sensation of having seen and known her else 
 where, perhaps in another world but that was nothing to 
 him. Realities were his food, not fancies henceforth he 
 would drive from his mind this fit of dreaming. 
 
 And he succeeded. This young man had a mind of rare 
 vigor and resolution ; he had trained his mind like a courser 
 to obey the bridle, and now he found the effect of this mental 
 discipline. By degrees the young girl's image no longer 
 made his eye brighter, his lip wreath into a tender smile; 
 he returned to his grave, patient labor, and his thoughts on 
 the great questions which absorbed him. 
 
 On the day after Mr. Eflmgham's instalment at the 
 Raleigh, Charles Waters visited Williamsburg again. Hill 
 business was to procure some little articles for his father 
 who seldom went to the town Lanky, the lad we have seen 
 on the day of the river adventure, attending to the sale of 
 fish and other things which old Waters sent to market. 
 Having dispatched his errand, he went to the office of the 
 " Virginia Gazette " to purchase a copy. 
 
 As he was coining out with the paper in his had, he felt 
 a touch upon his arm, and turning round, perceived his friend 
 with the red cloak, who had come for the same purpose, it 
 seemed, as he had a copy of the Gazette under his arm. 
 
 " We are well met, friend," said the man in the red cloak, 
 " and at a place which is -not extraordinary. We might 
 have expected to find each other here." 
 
 " How so ? " asked Charles Waters, gravely extending 
 his hand, but betraying evident pleasure at the meeting. 
 
 " Why," replied his companion, " we are both thinkers." 
 
 " Yes, but" 
 
 " And as thinkers must have food for thought," added 
 the man in the red cloak, " we both decided, some moments 
 lince, to ccme and purchase the ' Gazette.' Is it fitt so ? " 
 
 " With roeyea."
 
 126 1HK DOOR OF THE "GAZETTE" OFF1CJ. 
 
 " Something new is as much your passion, or I greatly 
 mistake, as it is my own. What is new in facts, what is new 
 in ideas ? " 
 
 " You will search long in this paper for the latter novelty,' 
 eaid the other ; " there is generally, however, a good budget 
 of news from Norfolk, York, and when a vessel arrives 
 from England." 
 
 " Good 1 That is what we want more than comments on 
 facts. Give me the food I can myself digest it. I beg 
 leave to decline taking any writer's opinion on the eternal 
 legislation in Parliament on Virginia affairs the said opinion 
 being invariably favorable to government. I ask for the 
 new act of Parliament I will light my pipe with the com 
 mentary." 
 
 " Still the two things might be combined in a gazette." 
 
 " Yes, when thought is free." 
 
 " It will be, some day." 
 
 "Well, I think so, too," said the man in the red cloak. 
 " I hope I shall live to see the day when the public journal 
 will be the great speaker of the time though I could never 
 express my own ideas with a pen ; it freezes me I dream 
 sometimes of this mingled chronicle and essay you mention 
 a great daily volume, containing intelligence from every 
 quarter of the world, news upon every subject, comment free 
 from partisan falsehood ; and this great organ of thought I 
 sometimes think will, in future, be scattered over the land 
 like the leaves of that antumn forest yonder. When the 
 time comes, mankind will take a great stride onward." 
 
 " I scarcely hope to liw- so Isng," said his companion. 
 
 " Why ? The new era comes slowly, but still comes." 
 
 " This paper I hold in my hand is a bad commencement 
 of your grand dream, liberty ! Yos, liberty will come but 
 will it be in our day ? " 
 
 " What do you mean by liberty ? " said the stranger, 
 bending his keen eye on his companion ; " are men fit for 
 such a thing ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Let us see, now but here we are at the Raleigh 
 Tavern, accompany me to my room, and we will talk ; or if 
 not talk, I will play you a tune on the violin, and before you 
 go ahow you something I have written."
 
 A THINKER OF THE YEAR OF GRACE, 1763. 127 
 
 Charles Waters willingly complied, and, passing Beatrice's 
 4oor, which he merely glanced at, they entered the apart 
 ment of the stranger. It was, like most rooms in Virginia 
 taverns, of considerable extent, and of a rather bare appear 
 ance. In one corner, a neat bed covered with a white coun 
 terpane, stood, with its tall, slender posts ; and the rest of 
 the furniture consisted of a rude oaken table and some 
 leather-bottomed chairs. On the table lay a violin and bow, 
 and beneath it an open book. The fire-place had two square 
 stones in place of andirons, and these stones now supported 
 an armful of twigs, which were crackling and blazing plea 
 santly. The day was not cold, but the stranger seemed to 
 be one of those men who rightly consider a cheerful blaze 
 always pleasant, and he sat down before it, resting his 
 rudely-shod feet on the iron fender. His companion sat 
 down opposite, and for a moment there was silence. It was 
 first broken by the man in the red cloak, who said : 
 
 " We are now separated from the outer world; this inn 
 is our castle, and before I amuse you, as my guest, by play 
 ing the violin, let us have a few words upon the subject we 
 were speaking of but now." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A THINKEB OF THE YEAE OF GBACE, 1T68. 
 
 CHARLES Waters sat down, and resting his elbow on the 
 table, leaned his head upon his hand; he seemed to be think 
 ing ; but scarcely upon the subject they had adverted to, if 
 one might have formed any opinion from the compression 
 of the lips and the troubled expression of the eyes. The 
 man in the red cloak, whose keen eye nothing seemed to 
 escape, observed this expression, and determined to try the 
 effect of music. The reader will have already perceived, 
 that one of the peculiarities of this strange man, was great 
 curiosity as to the working of the human heart, and the 
 means of affecting men through their feelings. He took up 
 the violin, which was an old battered instrument of littlq
 
 128 A THINKER OF THE YEAR OF GRACE, 1763. 
 
 value, but not without much sweetness of tone, and drew 
 the bow across the strings. 
 
 " What shall I play ? " he said. His companion raised 
 his head at the sound of the stranger's voice, and looked at 
 him inquiringly. 
 
 The man in the red cloak repeated his question with a 
 slight smile. 
 
 " Any thing," said the other, relapsing into reverie again ; 
 he was subject to these fits of thinking, and the stranger 
 seemed to understand the fact ; for he commenced playing 
 without taking any notice of his auditor's preoccupation and 
 indifference. His bowing was firm and strong, and playing 
 evidently from his ear wholly, he executed a minuet with 
 great delicacy and force. His whole soul seemed to be ab 
 sorbed in the grand floating strain, which, with its crescen- 
 dos and cadences, sweeping onward in full flood, or dying 
 like sinking winds, filled the whole chamber with a gush of 
 harmony. But still his eye was fixed curiously upon his 
 companion, and he noted with great care every change of 
 expression in the lips, the brow, and the eyes veiled with 
 their long dusky lashes. He finished with a vigorous flou 
 rish, and Charles Waters raised his head. 
 
 " Do you like it ? " asked his companion. 
 
 " Yes ; you are a fine player, sir," he said indifferently. 
 
 " Perhaps you would prefer a Virginia reel ? " 
 
 " No, I prefer the other, which is a minuet, I believe." 
 
 " Yes ; but listen to this." 
 
 And, first tuning a rebellious string, the stranger struc* 
 up, with a vigorous and masculine movement of the elbow, 
 one of those merry and enlivening tunes, which seem to fill 
 the air with joy and mirth. His fingers played upon the 
 strings like lightning, the bow rose, and fell, and darted 
 backward and forward ; and, throwing his whole heart into 
 the piece, the stranger seemed to imagine himself in the 
 midst of some scene of festivity and laughter, to be sur 
 rounded by a crowd of bright forms and merriest faces, run 
 ning through the dance, and moving in obedience to hi* 
 magical bow. He wound up with a tumultuous, deafening 
 roar, his eyes flashing, his crisp hair seeming to more with 
 the music : and then, stopping suddenly, laid down the in 
 strument. Charles Waters raised his head, waked, so to 
 epeak, by the silence.
 
 A THINKER OF THE TEAK 5f GRACE, 1763. 109 
 
 " f ou play excellently well, sir," he said ; " but I am BO 
 wholly ignorant of music, that my praise, doubtless, is of 
 little value." 
 
 This seemed to afford the stranger much satisfaction : 
 he evidently prided himself upon his proficiency on the in 
 strument. 
 
 " It is a very enviable accomplishment," his companion 
 added, " for it affords you the means of easily contributing 
 to harmless enjoyment. Music is a great educator, too. Dan 
 cing is one of the most healthful and innocent of pastimes, 1 
 am convinced ; and the violin is, I believe, the best instru 
 ment to dance to." 
 
 " Yes yes : none other is comparable to it, and I con 
 fess I do feel satisfaction in knowing that I perform tolera 
 bly on this great' instrument. There is but one other supe 
 rior to it." 
 
 " What is that ?" 
 
 " The human voice." 
 
 " Yes yes, I understand." 
 
 " That is, after all, the great master-instrument, con 
 structed by the Deity. The violin is merry and joyous, or 
 mournful and sombre, but the voice is all this, and all else, 
 in a degree ten thousand times more powerful. To move, 
 to agitate, to sway, to bend ; what is like it. Ah ! my Livy, 
 there, upon the table, gives me the words ; but who shall fill 
 my ear with the magical voices, dead and silent! Who 
 shall 'speak the speech,' as Virginius did, when fronting the 
 tyrant Appius, he plunged the dagger into his child ? Would 
 I had been there ! " added the stranger, with one of those 
 brilliant flashes which seemed, at times, to convert his eyes 
 into flame. But before his companion could reply, this ex 
 pression had disappeared, and the man in the red cloak took 
 up the open volume of Livy, and, turning over the leaves, 
 carelessly, seemed to have forgotten Virginius and his mis 
 fortune, in a moment. 
 
 " After all," he said, with one of his adroit turns, and 
 apparently desiring to make the other talk, " after all, I 
 don't know whether Appius was so much worse than other 
 despots : and men have in all ages required to be ruled strong 
 ly, and often tyrannically. Despots are disagreeable, but 
 necessary."
 
 130 A THINKER OP TtiE YEAR OF GRA.E, 1763. 
 
 Waters looked at bis companion with astonishment : he 
 th mght he must be jesting : but there was not the least in 
 dication of any such thing : his countenance that index oi 
 the mind, ordinarily betrayed nothing of the sort. Appa 
 rently the stranger had spoken these words in perfect good 
 faith. 
 
 " Could I have understood you, sir," said the thinker, 
 " and did you really mean that men required despotic rulers?' 
 
 " Yes : certainly." 
 
 "This, from yew?" 
 
 " Come, come you may have taken up a "wrong impres 
 sion in regard to my opinions ; let us not break into excla 
 mations, companion ; rather let us sift opinions and compare 
 ideas. Is it not undeniable that men in all ages have been 
 weak and faltering, preferring rather the bad and false to 
 the great and good ? and if this is true, does it not follow that 
 despots are a necessity of the world's being ? " 
 
 "Ah ! " said his companion, " but that is not true it is 
 false, permit me to say honestly, and with no desire to offend 
 you " 
 
 " Not at all not at all : go on." 
 
 " I deny your maxim totally, sir it is not true." 
 
 " Have not the records of the world proved it ? Are they 
 not darkened every where by deeds which prove the truth of 
 the Bible, saying, that mankind are prone to deceit and des 
 perately wicked V have not the annals of all lands and gov 
 ernments shown conclusively, that truth and grandeur and 
 purity have ever attracted to themselves envy and hatred, 
 malice, and all uncharitableneps ? Come I let me hear you 
 deny that men are radically hateful, false, unworthy of trust, 
 as they are of respect : come, let me hear you deny that they 
 are swine before whom it is the merest boyish folly to throw 
 that brilliant pearl called liberty. You cannot deny the 
 truth of this view : men have always been radically false 
 and unworthy." 
 
 " I do deny it, sir," said Waters, his brow flushing and 
 his eyes suddenly growing brilliant with the fires of enthusi 
 asm. " Never was any philosophy so weak, so wholly based 
 on sand I It is a dreadful, an awfal philosophy, that which 
 scoffs at and seeks to overthrow all that is pure and worthy 
 in our fellow-men all that is brilliant and imposing for it*
 
 A THINKER OF THE YEAR OF GRACE, 1763. 131 
 
 truth and beauty in the annals of the race ! I cannot beliera 
 that you speak seriously, for I have seen that in your eyes 
 and your spoken words which is opposed to this terrible phi 
 losophy utterly. No, sir I men are not by nature destitute 
 of truth and love, nobility and purity the annals of the 
 world show how untrue it is. Go back as far as you may, 
 penetrate the gloom which wraps the overthrown columns of 
 the Syrian desert, the Egyptian plains, and you will find in 
 the midst of crime and falsehood the light of heaven ; among 
 those monsters whom God, for His own wise purposes, sent 
 upon the earth, flowers of majesty and honor ; in the moral 
 desert those oases of verdure and pure limpid waters, which 
 prove that beneath this burning sand the eternal springs 
 exist, the germ remains. No ; I do not deny that men have 
 in all ages fallen and sinned yes, they have hated and 
 despised, blasphemed and cursed, dyed their right arms in 
 blood, and revelled in the foul, the false, the unnatural. 
 None can dispute it. I acknowledge it. But what is equally 
 true is this that every where the instincts of humanity, 
 planted by God in it, have revolted against this abnormal 
 state ; love has effaced hatred, justice the spirit of wrong ; 
 heaven has opened and the abyss has closed ! 
 
 " Go into this Golgotha of nations, this Jehosaphat of 
 extinct generations, and question those dry bones which once 
 supported living frames such as our own here now. They 
 will make you but one reply a reply which embraces 
 the history of humanity ' I sinned, I repented ; I wa? 
 human, I endeavored to grow divine.' Look at Greece. 
 Rome, Modern Europe embrace at a glance the whole sur 
 face of three distinct civilizations, three diverse ages, from 
 horizon to horizon, from their dawning in the East, fresh, 
 rosy, and pure, to their sad and sorrowful decline sorrowful 
 and sad because the soul ever doubted ever was afraid to 
 hope for the new dawn 1 In Greece, art overthrowing rude 
 ness, beauty driving away deformity the good and beauti 
 ful passionately yearned for by all classes of men eternally 
 sought ! The childlike and poetical nature filling the streams 
 with naiads, the woods with dryads, the mountains with the 
 oreads and the graces every where the false, which is the 
 deformed, overthrown to make way for the true, which is the 
 beautiful Arcadian temples glittering in the forests, alUri
 
 132 A THINKER OP THE TEAR iP GRACE, 1763. 
 
 of white marble crowniiig the blue mountains. Phidias and 
 Apelles, famous in all countries for their incarnations of 
 grace and beauty, rather than their incarnation of the Gre 
 cian idea I And not in sculpture and painting only did the 
 true and beautiful conquer the false and deformed. In liter 
 ature, Sophocles and Euripides purified the heart by pity 
 and terror Aristophanes lashed with his satire the un 
 worthy and despicable Homer embodied in his heroes grace 
 and strength, as in Achilles nobility and tenderness, as in 
 Hector in Ulysses, the dignity of suffering and misfortune. 
 Socrates taught immortality Plato penetrated the mists 
 of prejudice nd ignorance with that glance of lightning 
 given him by God. Every where mind overcame matter, 
 the moral conquered the brutal ; and such was the force of 
 their teachings, the vitality of their dogmas, that all the 
 nations of the world turned their eyes to Greece as toward 
 the dawn of civilization. 
 
 u The cry, ' Great Pan is, dead ! ' was only heard when the 
 Roman Colossus had strangled in his arms this nascent civili 
 zation, this pure ray of the dawn. Pan had taught men hus 
 bandry, and tranquil country happiness, and that wars should 
 be no more. When he died, that cry told the nations that 
 the glory of Greece had disappeared, and with it the only 
 civilization which surpassed the ripe majesty of Rome. But 
 that civilization was not altogether lost ; Juvenal was greater 
 than Aristophanes, as Cato and Cicero rose in moral height 
 above the statesmen of Athens. You know well the history 
 of that empire, stretching its vast roads through every land, 
 and drawing to the great centre, the imperial city, towards 
 which those vast highways converged the silks, and gold, and 
 pearls of every land the captives of all nations. 
 
 " I know that you would say that human depravity cul 
 minated in those emperors and that they had fit subjects. 
 Yes; God had given that race dominion, permitted it to 
 conquer every land, and then cursed it with rottenness and 
 decay. Men felt the divine curse, and shook their clenched 
 hands at the gods in impotent wrath. See how every thing 
 reveals the despair which fell upon the men of Rome ; see 
 how the race, blind, staggering, rioting in an eternal orgy, 
 still knew their foulness, gnashing their teeth with rage at 
 )keir wm depravity ; see kow every thing became vernal
 
 A THINKER OF THE YEAR OF GRiiE, . 763 133 
 
 female honor, the arms of men, the suffrages of the legions. 
 The commander who could glut the revelling multitude with 
 the greatest shows was emperor Messalina was queen. The 
 race was staggering, despairing ; they saw the night coming, 
 and the lurid glare of burning cities lighting on their way 
 to Rome those ' hammers of God,' Alaric and Q-enseric. 
 They felt that the impending fate was the just punishment 
 of the unspeakable corruption reigning in the land, and they 
 sought to drown conscience in those moral stimulants which 
 now horrify the world. They clamored for wild beast shows ;, 
 they rolled on the seats of the Amphitheatre in convulsive 
 laughter, when the slave was torn to pieces in the arena by 
 the lion or tiger ; they intoxicated themselves with blood 
 to drown despair, and, drunk with horror, staggered and fell 
 into the welcome grave dug for them by war, or pestilence, 
 or famine. 
 
 " Then, on this worn-out world this chaos of darkness 
 and corruption, rose the sun of Christianity, blessing and 
 healing. God took pity on the race, and would not over 
 whelm it with a new deluge ; and men cast off their foulness, 
 abjured their heathen gods, and and knelt like children at 
 the foot of the cross. 
 
 " But I weary you, sir. Every where the annals of the 
 world show the god-given instincts of the race, leading then; 
 to seek the true and beautiful to embrace love in place of 
 hatred. See how the northern nations worshipped their hero 
 souls, as the Anglo-Saxons almost did their brave King Ar 
 thur. They still yearn for them, and say they will return to 
 bless the nations. The precursor of the returning god is still 
 looked for in the northern solitudes by the rude islanders and 
 Arthur, the middle age believed, would come again, his sword 
 excalibur turned to the shepherd's crook, and with him peace, 
 love, and happiness. Look at all nations. In France, see how 
 the convulsions of a thousand years have proved the yearn 
 ings of the race for something better, truer, nobler than 
 their effete royalty, their nobility, exhausted by Duguesclin 
 and Bayard. See England, grand and piteous spectacle ! > 
 heart of the modern world, as she was the torch, whose light 
 glared on the crumbling props of old imperial Rome the 
 Btar of the new era. See England, groaning through all her 
 history with the fatal incubus of a privileged class, sucking
 
 134 A TS1NKER OF THE YEAR Of GRACE, 1763. 
 
 np all offices of profit or distinction ; a king, whose person il 
 sacred who can do no wrong. Sec her still seeking for the 
 true, the pure, the just; see those men of England plunging into 
 war and blood to find the jewel beheading the king in the 
 name of justice- embracing puritanism, because it clad itself 
 in the robes of truth and purity returning to their king, 
 when puritanism became bigotry love, hatred justice, a 
 scoff and only to find in that son of the man they had be 
 headed a worse curse than any yet ! For Charles II cursed 
 the rising generation with corruption, unbelief, despair ; no 
 longer levying tonnage like his father only destroying the 
 honor of families ; no longer holding down the nation with 
 a rod of iron only inaugurating that horrible comedy of the 
 Restoration, which made all that is good contemptible the 
 honor of men, the fidelity of wives, the faith of humanity in 
 God. The poor, struggling nation bargained for liberty and 
 toleration they received bigotry and licentiousness. Yes, 
 yes, sir 1 this is the truth of that great revolution, and the 
 English people therein embodied the history of humanity in 
 all ages, every where. Yes, yes ! if any thing is true, this 
 is true that men are not false and hateful, black from the 
 cradle, foul from their first breath ! On this conviction 
 alone do I base my hopes for the future of the race in' 
 Europe, America, every where. That this land we live in 
 will prove mankind able to think, to act, to rule, above all, 
 to love, I have a conviction which nothing can deprive me of. 
 The old world totters ; she is diseased, and though this dis 
 ease may demand two hundred years to eat its way to the 
 heart, yet it will finally attack the vital part, and all will 
 crumble into dust. The new world lies bathed in the fresh 
 light of the new age : here will the heart of man vindicate 
 its purity; here the tiger will lie down, the serpent no 
 longer hiss ; here, I feel that God will accomplish the po 
 litical regeneration of humanity, proving the eternal truth 
 of these poor words I have uttered I " 
 
 The thinker paused, and leaning his brows on his hand, 
 seemed to be buried in thought. The stranger was also 
 silent, either from conviction or in order that he might mar- 
 hal t'S thoughts for the struggle of intellects. But if 
 this last were the reason of his silence, he was dcomed to dis 
 appointment.
 
 WARLIKE PROCLAMATION PROM THE SQUIRE. . 35 
 
 His companion rose and said : 
 
 " I fear I have wearied you, sir, and fear still more that 
 you will think it discourteous in me to leave you, after thus 
 taking up our whole interview in talking myself. But I 
 have just recalled a business engagement at this hour the 
 clock has just struck." 
 
 " Well, well," said the man in the red cloak, who did 
 not seem greatly put out by these words, " I cannot think 
 hard of that. Your ideas, sir, have found in me an atten 
 tive listener, and if I led you to suppose that I believed 
 nothing good could come out of human nature, I miscon- 
 veyed my meaning. Let us part, then, for the present we 
 shall meet again, as my stay here will be prolonged for a 
 week or two longer, and I count upon seeing you again. I 
 do not fear a disappointment. We shall come together often 
 in the future, I feel a conviction." 
 
 His companion bowed his head in token of willingness 
 and assent, and looking at the door, said : 
 
 " Your room is No. 7, is it not? " 
 
 " Yes that one opposite is occupied by a young gentle 
 man from the neighborhood ; and that one next to me by the 
 young actress, Beatrice Hallam, I believe. Mr. Effingham 
 seems to be her very good friend." 
 
 " Effingham ! " exclaimed his companion. 
 
 " Yes, he has been an inmate of this tavern for two or 
 three days don't mistake and enter his room for mine." 
 
 Charles Waters could only bow his head : and turning 
 away from the man in the red cloak, he went in silence down 
 the stairs. The house seemed to stifle him ; and when he 
 reached the open air he seemed suddenly to revive, for his 
 face was suffused with blood. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 WARLIKE PROCLAMATION FEOM THE SQUIML 
 
 JUST as Charles Waters left the door of the inn, and while 
 the stranger was still looking after him, with a curious ex 
 pression upon his finely-moulded lips, the door of No. 7
 
 . 36 WARLIKE PROCLAMATION FROM TflE SQU1H*. 
 
 opened, and Mr. Champ Effinghara issued from it. Th 
 young gentleman, who had just been refreshing himself 
 with a cup of chocolate, served to him in bed was clad with 
 his usual elegance and richness, and for a moment his eye 
 dwelt on the coarsely-dressed stranger, who stood with the 
 knob of the door in his hand, gazing, as we have said, after 
 Charles Waters. The man in the red cloak surveyed him 
 with great calmness, and some curiosity. An imaginative 
 spectator might have fancied them the representatives of the 
 old world and the new the past and the future the court 
 and the backwoods. Mr. Effingham looked every inch the 
 gentleman and courtier. The drop curls of his powdered 
 peruke reposed ambrosially on his clear pale cheek, his lace 
 ruffles at bosom and wrist were of spotless purity, his sur- 
 coat of cut velvet, with its chased gold buttons, just lifted 
 up the point of his richly ornamented sword, and his waist 
 coat, silk stockings, cocked-hat, and jewelled hands, com 
 pleted the vivid and perfect contrast between himself and 
 the rude-looking, coarsely clad stranger. Plainly the court 
 and the wilds, Europe and America stood face to face. 
 
 The man in the red cloak having apparently satisfied 
 his curiosity, made a slight and very awkward bow, which 
 Mr. Effingham returned with negligent carelessness, and 
 then re-entered his chamber, with a smile on his grim fea 
 tures. Mr. Effingham descended. 
 
 The reader will recollect that he had been at the tavern 
 now for some days : the manager had regularly enrolled 
 him as a member of the " Virginia Company of Comedians,' 1 
 and availing himself of the privileges of his membership, 
 Mr. Effingham had met Beatrice daily, in the theatre, in 
 the tavern, every where. He was no longer a chance visitor, 
 an occasional torment to be borne with, and endured patient 
 ly, in consideration of his going away soon ; he was now her 
 shadow, and in the young girl's own words, he " drove away 
 all the sunshine from her life." At rehearsal she had seen 
 daily his reckless and mockiug smile, glittering and gloomy, 
 follow her every movement at the inn, when he condescend 
 ed to appear at the common table, she had been transfixed 
 by his burning glances in all places and at all times he 
 had obtruded himself with his ironical and yet sombre 
 mile ; a smile which seemed to say audibly, " You defied
 
 WARLIKE PROCLAMATION FROM THE SQUIK.B. 137 
 
 me, scorned me, thought yourself more than a match for me 
 and I have foiled you and conquered you, by superior will 
 and reckless carelessness." 
 
 Whether Mr. Manager Hallam was conscious of Bea 
 trice's unhappiness of Mr. Effingham's treatment of his 
 daughter we are not able to say. At least, he took no 
 notice of it, and was always ready to echo the young man's 
 jests, and drink with him as long, and as deeply as he 
 desired. 
 
 " At the Hall the storm was rising, and ere long it was 
 destined to fall upon the devoted head of Mr. Effingham. 
 Miss Alethea had deeply regretted her violence, and earnest 
 ly prayed for him, and that he might return to them again. 
 She saw too late that her injudicious words had driven him 
 away, and this she confessed to her father, with tears ; but 
 that bluff gentleman had pish'd and pshaw'd, and told hei 
 that she was too soft-hearted, and that she was not to blame 
 he would see to the matter 1 The rest of the household 
 soon found out the dreadful fact that Mr. Champ Effingham 
 had abandoned his home for the young actress, and the very 
 negroes, following the wont of Africans in all years, discussed 
 and commented on " Master Champ's " wild conduct. Will 
 reflected upon the matter, with a dreadful feeling of alarm, 
 and fear, and admiration, for the rebel and Kate sorrowed 
 in quiet, wiping her eyes frequently, as she bent over Carlo, 
 and sometimes getting up from the table, and hurrying out, 
 with no imaginable cause for going away, unless she had 
 tears to hide. She loved Mr. Champ Effingham dearly 
 much more fondly, I am compelled to add, than my respected 
 ancestor deserved and wept for him, and every night and 
 morning joined her hands together and asked God to bless 
 him, wetting the pillow all the time with her tears. As 1 
 have said, this was by no means the spirit of the squire : he 
 was indignant, he felt outraged, he knew now all about the 
 matter, and felt excessive dissatisfaction at Mr. Effingham's 
 conduct, as he called it. It never occurred to him that his 
 own youthful career had been by no means immaculate, and 
 without regard to Mr. Champ's peculiarities of mental 
 organization, he determined to bring the rebel to subjection." 
 
 Thus far, the MS. from which those events were drawn ; 
 the extract may serve to explain the appearance of a mounted 
 fervant at the door of the Raleigh, where Mr. Effingham
 
 138 
 
 descended, after his meeting with the stranger. It was Tom, 
 who, with many smiles, presented to his master a missive, 
 directed, in a large, firm hand : 
 
 " To Mr. Champ Effingham, at the Raleigh Tavern 
 Williamsburg." 
 
 Mr. Effingham frowned, tore open the letter, and read it, 
 with a flush upon his brow, which froze the smiles of the 
 shining African. Having gone through it, he crumpled it 
 furiously in his hand, scowled upon the negro, hesitated, in 
 evident doubt as to what course he should pursue, then 
 bidding the servant wait, hurried to his room. 
 
 The letter was in these words : 
 
 u EffingJiam Hall, Thursday Forenoon. 
 " MY DEAR CHAMP I have heard of your conduct, sir, 
 and have no intention of being made the laughing-stock of 
 my neighbors, as the father of a fool. No, sir ! ^ I decline 
 being advised and pitied, and talked about and 'to by the 
 country on your account. I know why you have left the 
 Hall, sir, and taken up your residence in town. Alethea 
 has told me how you insulted her, and flouted her well-meant 
 advice, and because she entreated you, as your sister, not to 
 go near that young woman again, tossed from her, and fell 
 into your present courses. I tell you again, sir, that I will 
 not endure your conduct. I won't have the parson condol 
 ing, and shaking his head, and sighing, and, when he comes 
 in the Litany to pray for deliverance from all inordinate and 
 sinful affections from all the deceits of the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil have him looking at the Hall pew, 
 and groaning, until every body understands his meaning. 
 No, sir 1 If you make yourself a fool about that common 
 actress, you shall not drag us into it. And Clare Lee ! 
 have you no regard for her feelings ? Damn my blood, sir ! 
 I am ashamed of you. Come away directly. If you are 
 guilty of any thing unworthy toward that young woman, I 
 will strike your name from the family Bible, and never look 
 upon your face again. Remember, sir; and you won't be 
 fool enough to marry her, I hope. Try it, sir, and see the 
 consequence. Pah ! a common actress for my daughter 
 the wife of the representative of the house of Effingham, 
 after my death. 'Sdeah, sir 1 it is intolerable, abominable ; 
 ad I command you to return at once, and never look upon
 
 WARLIKE PROCLAMATION FROM THE SQUIRE. 139 
 
 that young woman again. For shame, sir. Am I, at my 
 age, to be made a laughing-stock of, to be jeered at by the 
 common people, at the county court, as the father of the 
 young man that played the fool with the actress ? No, sir. 
 Leave that place, and come and do what you are expected to 
 do, called on to do take Clare Lee to the Governor's ball. 
 I inclose your invitation. Leave that woman and her artful 
 seductions. Reflect, sir, and do your duty to Clare, like a 
 gentleman. If it is necessary, I repeat, sir, I command you 
 to return, and never see that girl again. 
 
 " EFFINGHAM." 
 
 Mr. Champ Effingham read this letter with those mani 
 festations of wrath and indignation which we have described, 
 and as we have said, hurried to his apartment, bidding the 
 servant wait. 
 
 Once by himself, he tore his unfortunate frill furiously, 
 and shook his clenched fist at the representation of himself 
 in the mirror. 
 
 " Dictation ! I am a child ! " he said. " I am to be 
 whipped in, like a hound, because I choose to come and 
 spend a few days in town here, and to be ordered about, as 
 if I were a negro. I am, forsooth, to come back to the Hall, 
 and humbly beg Alethea's pardon, for leaving her so ab 
 ruptly, and hear the servants tittering behind me, and go, 
 like a milk-and-water girl, to escort Miss Clare Lee to the 
 Governor's ball 1 Curse me, if I will submit to be lashed 
 into obedieno -. like a dog, and Miss Clare Lee may find 
 some other escort. I will go to that ball with Beatrice Hal- 
 lam, and I will act next week." 
 
 With which words, he sat down and wrote : 
 
 " I have received your letter, sir, and decline returning 
 to Effingham Hall, or being dictated to. I have passed iny 
 majority, and am my own master. No one on earth shall 
 make a slave of me. I have the honor to be, 
 
 " CHAMP EFFINGHAM." 
 
 Mr. Effingham read this note over, folded it, sealed it 
 deliberately, stamping the wax with his coat of arms, and 
 summoning a servant, ordered him to deliver it to the negro 
 at the door. Then rising, with a mocking laugh, he went 
 toward Beatrice's room-
 
 140 MR. EFF1NGHAM WISHES TO ESCORT 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 MB. EFFINGHAM BEQUESTS THAT HE MAT HAVE THE PLEASUB1 
 OF ESCORTING MI38 HALLAM TO THE BALL. 
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM knocked at the door of the young girl'a 
 apartment, but being in doubt whether he heard her voice, 
 was about to retire. He decided, however, after a moment's 
 reflection, to enter, and opening the door, which yielded to 
 his push, found himself in presence of Beatrice. She was 
 sitting at the window, and leaned her head upon her hand, 
 which lay upon the sill. She did not move when Mr. Effing- 
 ham entered, and a second glance proved to him that she 
 was asleep. 
 
 For a moment, Mr. Effingham gazed at the beautiful 
 head bent down, the forehead moist with the dews of sleep, 
 the small hand hanging down, from which the volume of 
 Shakspeare, she had been reading, had fallen to the floor. 
 None of these things escaped him, and for a moment he 
 paused, silent, motionless, his eyes becoming softer, his 
 brow less gloomy. Then the shadow returned ; thought, 
 like a hound, again struck the trail, for a moment lost, and 
 the eye of the young man assumed its habitual fire, his lips 
 their curl of scornful and gloomy listlessness. 
 
 Beatrice stirred in her sleep and awoke ; it might have 
 been supposed that the glittering eye fixed on her face, bad 
 not permitted the sleeper to continue insensible to the pre 
 sence of the visitor. She opened her eyes and sat up, 
 placing her hand, with an instinctive movement, on her dis 
 ordered hair. 
 
 Mr. Eflingham approached her. " I knocked," he said, 
 negligently, " but was uncertain whether you answered or 
 not, so I entered. How is Miss Beatrice to-day ? " 
 
 " I am not well, sir," she said, resigning herself to he* 
 fate. 
 
 "Not well?" 
 
 " I am worn out, sir." 
 
 " Worn out ?" 
 
 " Yea, sir ; the exceedingly late hours I have kept IaU 
 ty, have injured m. M
 
 MISS HALL AM TO THE BALL. 14 1 
 
 " All imaginary ; you are accustomed to them." 
 
 Beatrice made no reply to these words, which Mr. Effing- 
 ham uttered with careless indifference as he sat down. 
 
 " Have you been to the theatre, this morning ?" he added. 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Rehearsal ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Well, that wore you out. That fellow, Pugsby, is 
 enough to put any one to sleep, he's so somniferous." 
 
 " He did not come." 
 
 " And so after rehearsal, you came here ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And went to sleep ?" 
 
 " I tried to study, but could not." 
 
 " True ; there is your Shakspeare on the floor." 
 
 Mr. Effingham picked the volume up with a yawn, and 
 politely restored it to the young girl. 
 
 " By the by," he said, " when shall we appear together ?" 
 
 " I don't know, sir." 
 
 " Come, now ; wouldn't you prefer me as your vis-a-vis 
 in acting to Pugsby ? " 
 
 " It is perfectly indifferent to me whom I play with, sir." 
 
 " Amiable, at least ! But we are going to play together 
 soon." 
 
 " Are we, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes, madam, the duchess 1 By heaven, you must 
 have been born in a court, or you never could have caught 
 the imperial air so perfectly 1 ' Are we, sir ? ' " continued 
 Mr. Effingham, mimicking the frigid tones of the young 
 girl's voice ; " the devil 1 you carry acting into private 
 life ! " 
 
 " No, sir ; I am not sufficiently fond of it." 
 
 " You hate it ? " 
 
 " I do not like playing." 
 
 " You would prefer quiet domestic happiness, eh ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Then, marry me," said Mr. Effingham, with perfect 
 coolness, " I have half ruined myself for you." 
 
 Beatrice looked at him fixedly. 
 
 " Your great pleasure in life is to scoff at me, Mr. Ef 
 fingham," she said, calmly.
 
 142 MR. EFFINGHAM WISHES TO ESCORT 
 
 " No, by heaven 1 There's my hand. Take it. I am 
 just in the mood to-day to follow any whim which seizes 
 me." 
 
 Beatrice was silent. 
 
 " You won't accept me, then ? " said Mr. Effingham. 
 " Well, that is wrong in you. Effingham Hall yonder comes 
 to me, and you might indulge your dreams of rank and sta 
 tion to any extent, as we are of tolerably good family." 
 
 " I have no such dreams, sir." 
 
 " Well, then, your dreams of domestic happiness, but 
 now discoursed of." 
 
 Beatrice was again silent ; and Mr. Effingham burst into 
 a harsh laugh. 
 
 " Ah, ah 1 " he said, " you don't reply, but I know very 
 well what the expression of your ladyship's face signifies. 
 You mean, Madam Beatrice, that you would have very little 
 domestic happiness as the wife of reprobate Mr. Champ 
 Effingham ! Hey ? Come, now, let us chat like tender 
 friends, as we are. Is not that your thought ? " 
 
 " I do not think we should be happy together, sir ? " 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " We are not congenial." 
 
 " Bah I we were cut out for each other." 
 
 " No, sir ; indeed we were not." 
 
 " We were I Come, now, I'll prove it We are both 
 hypocritical " 
 
 " Sir 1 " 
 
 " Both exceedingly worldly and unamiable " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham ! " 
 
 " And we love each other devotedly. Could better 
 matches be found ? " 
 
 " You are in a bitter humor this morning, sir," said 
 Beatrice. 
 
 " I ? Not in the least, as I believe I have replied to 
 similar charges on previous occasions. I never was in more 
 charming spirits. I have just had a little correspondence 
 which raised my spirits amazingly. Just fancy my respected 
 father writing me word that if I did not give you up, never 
 Bee you again, the paternal malediction would descend. 
 Think of it." 
 
 " Oh, sir ! did your father write that about me ? " said 
 Beatrice, suddenly losin^ her frigid indifference.
 
 MISS HALLAM TO THE BilX. 143 
 
 Yes. 
 
 '* Advising you to come away from this place ? " 
 
 " Advising ? not in the least ! commanding me." 
 
 " Oh, sir 1 then obey that command ! Kecollect he is 
 your father ! Remember that you will cause yourself to be 
 talked about, and I shall be the cause of all this ! I shall 
 be the means of distressing your father ! Oh, sir, abandon 
 me; leave the company which you have so rashly united 
 yourself to ; do not cause me the misery of standing between 
 father and son ! Be reconciled, sir I Oh, do not stay here, 
 sir ! " 
 
 Beatrice had risen, in the excess of her emotion, and 
 stood before the young man now pleading for mercy mercy 
 for himself! Her eyes were full of earnestness and emo 
 tion, her words impassioned and tearful, her hands clasped 
 before her in an attitude of what seemed irresistible entreaty. 
 
 Mr. Effiugham leaned back, and looked at her with a 
 mocking smile. 
 
 " You are really exceedingly handsome," he said, " and 
 upon my word the gentlemen, and even the ladies of the 
 colony, might show some cause for not liking you, and think 
 ing it very naughty in me to come near you. Talk about 
 me ! you think my infatuation for you will make me talked 
 about ! My dear Miss Beatrice, don't be hypocritical. You 
 know well that I am at present the most interesting topic of 
 conversation in the colony of Virginia. I fancy I can hear the 
 tittering the delightful gossip about my unworthy self, every 
 where here, in the upper country, south side, every where. 
 Didn't you see how they stared at me, night after night, in 
 the theatre ? And some of the moral and irreproachable 
 young ladies would no longer return my bows, if their re 
 spected parents would permit them to quarrel with so illus 
 trious a nobleman as myself. Talked about ? Bah 1 let us 
 be easy, madam ; we are both the scoff of Virginia ! " 
 
 " But your family, sir," cried Beatrice, " much as you 
 affect to despise general opinion " 
 
 " My family will not care much for me a little worry, 
 and when the matter ends in some diabolical way, some an 
 noyance : that is all ! Come, don't talk of my family 01 
 of any of these matters. Let us speak of acting." 
 
 " Oh, sir ! I am sick. You have made me feel so badlj 
 by what you have said."
 
 144 MR. EFFINGHAM WISHES TO ESCORT, ETC. 
 
 Mr. Effingham's laugh was the perfection of recklessness 
 and scorn. 
 
 " Bah ! " he said, <; let us talk of business matters. I 
 am going to act Benedick soon, and you shall play the par* 
 of your namesake. Can you act it ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir but I do not wish to again," said Beatrice, 
 sitting down, overcome with emotion. . 
 
 " You must not have a voice in the matter it suiis me, 
 madam, and with all possible respect, I shall make my debut 
 in ' Much Ado about Nothing.' What an exceedingly 
 apposite piece to appear in ! It will be a practical epigram 
 upon public sentiment the very title 1 " 
 
 " Will you really act, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes : that will I ! nothing can prevent me." 
 
 " Then I am the most unhappy of created beings," said 
 Beatrice, tearfully. " Oh ! to be the occasion of this alter 
 cation between father and son ! " 
 
 " That is all arranged : and all will go on well now. We 
 will have a delightful time at the ball." 
 
 " What ball, sir ? " 
 
 " Have you not heard ? Why, the Governor's. I am 
 going to take you. You will then have an opportunity of 
 seeing all the gentry of this noble colony." 
 
 Beatrice looked at the young man with astonished eyes. 
 
 " You would escort me, then, sir ? " she asked coldly. 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " You must not, sir." 
 
 " I will." 
 
 " Oh, no, I will not go ! I cannot go, sir I am not in 
 vited, sir." 
 
 " Pshaw ! I am, and of course I can bring any lady I 
 fancy." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham ! " said Beatrice, wildly, " I am not a 
 lady ! I will not accompany you, and be the occasion of a 
 new and more distressing sorrow to your family. No, no, 
 sir I will not ! " and the young girl's face flushed. 
 
 " Well here's my respected friend and manager : good 
 morning, Hallam," he added carelessly, as that gentleman 
 entered, smiling and rosy ; " here, I have been talking to 
 Madam Beatrice about the ball." 
 
 " At the Governor's, sir ? "
 
 IN WHICH A PISTOL FIGURES. 145 
 
 Yes." 
 
 " He wants me to go, father, and I must not," said Bea 
 trice, covering her face. 
 
 Hallam stared ; and his incredulous glance asked the 
 young man if he really thought of such a thing. This mean 
 ing was so plain, that Mr. Effingham burst into laughter, 
 and said : 
 
 " Yes, Hallam ! I am going to escort Madam to the ball, 
 and be her most devoted cavalier. Now talk to her about it, 
 and remove her scruples I must go and take a look at the 
 streets of this great town." 
 
 And bowing, he went out. 
 
 The scene which ensued between the manager and his 
 daughter is not one of those which we take pleasure in de 
 scribing. Art cannot compass all things. Hallam saw the 
 means of attaching the young man to Beatrice for ever by 
 this ball, for his appearance there with her would be regarded 
 as his public defiance of all the powers of society : and this 
 social prejudice, he felt convinced, was all which prevented 
 Mr. Effingham from marrying Beatrice. It was necessary 
 thus to overcome her scruples, and he did overcome them. 
 Beatrice, at the end of an hour of passionate pleading, fell 
 back, weak, nerveless, overcome. She had consented to go to 
 the ball. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 IN WHICH A PISTOL FIGURES. 
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM passed the whole of the day succeeding this 
 interview in a state of mind more easily imagined than de 
 scribed. The reader will not have failed to perceive that his 
 reckless, and scornful indifference, his mocking laughter, were 
 but the mask which concealed a profound emotion rf pain 
 and depression. Proud, headstrong, and passionate, he had 
 nevertheless experienced a sinking of the heart even in the 
 midst of his violent passion, on reading the bluff gentleman's 
 letter and ill-advised as that letter undoubtedly was, he 
 already bitterly regretted the tone of his reply. The conse 
 quence of these conflicting emotions was frightful : he tossed 
 about, gesticulated, astounded the members of the Virginia 
 7
 
 146 IK WHICH A PISTOL FIGURES. 
 
 company of Comedians by replying to the simplest observa 
 tions with insult, and betrayed every indication of a mind ill 
 at ease, and charged with 
 
 " that perilous stuff 
 Which weighs upon the heart." 
 
 His brow was gloomy, his eye fiery, his walk hasty and 
 by starts. So the day passed, and the morning of the next. 
 
 In the afternoon he went to his apartment, and sitting 
 down, leaned his head gloomily on his hand. Where would 
 all this end ? That abyss he had imagined to be awaiting 
 him, after the first interview he had passed through with 
 the young woman, now seemed to open visibly before him. 
 He had left his home defied his friends abandoned all 
 that made life tranquil and happy for what, for whom ? 
 For a woman who scorned him, and did not take the trouble 
 to conceal that scorn ; for a beautiful demon, who met all 
 bis advances with indifference or disdain, and, strong in her 
 weakness, defied him with looks and words. If he had 
 abandoned all that happy life for some angel of love and 
 purity, whose heart was a treasure grand enough to console 
 him for all the blasts of obloquy or the winds of scorn, there 
 might have existed some reason which would have calmed 
 him. But no! she hated him scorned him could not 
 bear his presence 1 
 
 He rose, and with clenched hands stood looking at his 
 sneering and unhappy visage in the mirror over the fireplace. 
 There he stood, young, handsome, graceful; clad in the 
 costume appertaining to his rank of gentleman; the brow 
 untanned by sun or wind, the hand white and jewelled, not 
 brown, and hard and knotty with rude toil ; every thing in 
 the image reflected from the mirror betrayed the enviable 
 position in the world which the young man sustained. The 
 plain gold ring upon his finger was the gift of Clare years 
 ago, when tt ey were sweethearts ; the beautiful cravat he 
 wore, with its gold and silver flowers, was worked by the 
 child at the Hall ; the diamond pin in his bosom was a birth 
 day present from his father lastly, the snuffbox peeping 
 from his waistcoat pocket had been given him by Lord 
 Botetourt when he had admired it one day in England. 
 
 All this flashed through the young man's mind ; and 
 then, with a mental effort as rapid and comprehensive, he
 
 IN WHICH A PISTOL P..: URES. 147 
 
 surveyed his future. What would that future be ? Young, 
 high born, wealthy, heir to the estate of Effingham and re 
 presentative of that stately house, all honors and pleasures 
 were open to him, did he but sit down and wait quietly. No 
 exertion was necessary the future was assured. Would 
 that be his future ? Would he go on in life surrounded by 
 friends and tender relatives gladdened by the smiles of 
 true-souled companions, the tender love of gentle woman 
 and so passing his early youth, arrive at a middle age of in 
 fluence and honor ; his old age finally to come to him, bright 
 with all that makes it fair and attractive " as honor, love, 
 obedience, troops of friends ? " Would he keep up the 
 honors of his ancient house be a worthy representative of 
 his honorable name ; would he find in that gentle girl whom 
 every one loved, the companion of his joys and sorrows, the 
 light illuminating his existence to its close ? 
 
 Was this his future, he asked himself, with a bitter curl 
 of the distorted lip could this be his destiny in life ? No ! 
 that was not for him ; he had made his election thrown 
 away the goblet of limpid and healthful water, to grasp the 
 bowl foaming with its fiery and poisonous draught. The 
 Circe had taken him captive he was no longer human ; no 
 longer had any power over his will; felt that he wo aid not, 
 if he could, abandon the shore upon which he had cast him 
 self away. No ! that bright and happy future was not for 
 him he had forfeited it. Effingham Hall was closed to 
 him Clare despised or pitied him friends had deserted 
 him he had stopped at the Siren isles, and never would 
 sail forth again for ever. The name of Effingham would 
 die if he had to uphold it he would be stricken from the 
 annals of his house nothing remaining of his name and 
 life but a sad and shameful recollection 1 
 
 Again he gazed steadily at his sneering and unhappy 
 image in the mirror upon his pale cheeks, fallen away so 
 quickly, upon his bloodshot eyes, his colorless, mocking lips, 
 and the point to which his thoughts had carried him, was 
 reflected in his visage so faithfully that a groan issued from 
 his inmost heart. Then his eye fell upon a pistol, lying on 
 the table, and he took it up and gazed gloomily at it : a 
 harsher, more mocking smile, wreathed his proud lip, and, 
 cocking the weapon, he murmured the first words of th 
 soliloquy in Hamlet.
 
 148 IN WHICH A PISTOL FIGURES.. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I know, now, what my lord Hamlet 
 meant, when he asked that question of his soul : 
 
 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
 The stings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 
 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
 And by opposing end them 1 ' " 
 
 Then, looking with gloomy curiosity upon the murderous 
 instrument, he said, with a sigh which resembled a groan : 
 " Yes, now I understand those words : 
 
 " To die ! to sleep I 
 
 No more! and by a sleep to say we end 
 The heartache and the thousand natural shocks 
 That flesh is heir to ? ' Tis a consummation 
 Devoutly to be wished 1 
 
 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
 The pangs of despised love 1 ' " 
 
 There he stopped, with an expression painfully affecting ; 
 and, sitting down, he covered his face with his hand, and was 
 silent for a time. Then, the hand was taken away, and the 
 head rose again and on the lips the same mocking smile 
 played with terrible meaning. He looked again at the pistol, 
 and, with a sneer, placed the muzzle to his forehead. 
 
 " It is plain that I am a comedian," he said, bitterly ; "I 
 go for authority to plays ! Well, now, if I were to play the 
 tragedy to the end imitate the Moor ! Is it not easy ? 
 This little instrument ends all, at once ! " and his finger 
 touched the trigger. 
 
 Suddenly a tap at the door startled him, and hastily un 
 cocking the pistol, he thrust it into his bosom, and said, 
 harshly and gloomily, " Come in ! " 
 
 The door opened softly, a light step was heard, and little 
 Kate Emngham entered the apartment. Kate, smiling and 
 fond ; her fair hair falling on her shoulders in long girlish curls ; 
 a tender, loving light in her mild, soft blue eyes ; the little 
 hands stretched out to greet him ; her face, and form, and 
 smile, and very dress redolent of home, and that happiness 
 which the weary heart but now looked back upon, as the wrecked 
 mariner clinging to the floating mast, about to be ingulfed in 
 the dark waves, launches a last thought back to the sunshine 
 and pure joy of his far inland home 1
 
 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM'S ROOM WAS ILLUMINATED. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 HOW IE. EFFINGHAira ROOM AT THE RALEIGH TAVERN WAS 
 ILLUMINATED. 
 
 IN a moment the child was in his arms, clasped to his heart. 
 The fresh, bright-eyed little face though now those eyes 
 were bathed in dews of happiness lay on his bosom, and 
 two hot tears from the dry, weary eyes of the young man, 
 rolled down, and fell upon the child's hand. For some 
 minutes no word was uttered. Kate spoke first, and said, 
 earnestly : 
 
 u Oh ! I'm so glad to see you, cousin Champ indeed, 
 indeed, I am." 
 
 " And I am as glad to see you, Katy," he said, turning 
 away ; but no longer with that painful expression of mock 
 ery ; " you came in like a sunbeam ! I was so gloomy." 
 
 And again the poor, weary eyes were bathed in moisture, 
 and the man's tears mingled with the child's. 
 
 " Come," he said, at length, " how is it possible you are 
 here?" 
 
 And as he spoke, the young man caressed fondly the 
 bright locks of the little head. 
 
 " Oh ! " said Kate ; " I just came by myself. I was so 
 sorry, cousin Champ, when you went away, and have been 
 crying about it often since I couldn't help it. For you 
 know you have always been so good to me. I couldn't help 
 loving you dearly, and crying when you left us. Then papa 
 got angry, and told cousin Alethea you had not done right ; 
 and then, when the parson came, he abused you, and papa 
 quarrelled with him, and he's going away. Papa said no one 
 should abuse you, and that you were not half as much to 
 blame as they chose to say ; and then went away to the 
 library, and didn't come back to tea." 
 
 " But, Katy," said Mr. Effingham, turning away, " this 
 does not explain how you " 
 
 " Oh 1 I am coming to that at once, cousin Champ. You 
 know I love you dearly and I couldn't bear to think you 
 were here all by yourself, and not happy. So as cousie
 
 150 HOW MJl. EFFINGHAM: S ROOM WAS ILLtJBHNAll>. 
 
 Alethea was coming to town in the chariot, me and Willie 
 thought we'd come, too, and cousin Alethea said we might." 
 
 " Is Alethea in town ? " 
 
 " Yes, cousin Champ ; she's down at the store, buying a 
 cake mould, and Willie was looking for a new whip. So I 
 just slipped out and ran up here, and asked if you were here, 
 of a gentleman though I don't know if he is a real gentle 
 man wearing such a funny red cloak. He laughed, and 
 was very good, and said you had just gone up to ' number 
 6,' and I came up, and saw the figure on your door, and 
 tapped." 
 
 " Heaven sent you, Katy," said Mr. Effingham, pressing 
 his tremulous lips to the child's forehead. " God knows 
 what might have happened," he added, in a murmur. 
 
 " What did you say, cousin Champ ? " 
 
 " Nothing, dear." 
 
 " What is this hard thing under your lace ? " said the 
 child, whose arm had struck against the concealed weapon. 
 
 " Nothing, nothing 1 " he said, hastily. And rising sud 
 denly, he went to the open window, and hurled the pistol to 
 the distance of fifty feet. Then returning, after seeing it 
 fall into a pile of rubbish in the yard of the tavern, he took 
 the child in his arms again, and leaned his weary head upon 
 her shoulder. 
 
 " "Sou don't seem to me well, cousin Champ," said Kate, 
 tenderly, and endeavoring with the tact of a grown woman, 
 to come to the subject which she wished to reach, without 
 offending Mr. Effingham. " I don't think you are well, in 
 deed I don't, and they can't take very good care of you in 
 this place. I don't like it it don't seem clean and nice. 
 And then I'm sure you haven't got any body who can bathe 
 your forehead as nicely as I can. Please come and go back 
 with us, cousin," added the child, earnestly. " You can't 
 think how happy it would make me, and all indeed I would 
 cry for joy." 
 
 " I can't make you cry, dear," said Mr. Effingham, with 
 a fond look. 
 
 " Well, then, I'll laugh." 
 
 " I can't go now." 
 
 " But you are sick." 
 
 " No, no."
 
 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM'S ROOM WAS ILLUMINAIKD. 151 
 
 " Indeed indeed, you're not well." 
 
 " Perfectly, dear Katy but I am as glad to see you as 
 if I wanted you to bathe my forehead." 
 
 " You don't seem to think that, cousin," said Kate, sigh 
 ing, and looking wistfully at him, " or you would not leave 
 us so long." 
 
 " Why, I have not been here a week." 
 
 " That's a long time a long, long time indeed 1 " 
 
 Mr. Effingham softly smoothed the bright head. 
 
 " I was much longer away, when I went to England,'* 
 he said, " and you did not write me a word to return, dear. 
 You did send me enough of love, however." 
 
 " Yes, but I love you more now : you didn't take much 
 notice of me when I was a little chicken, running about 
 the Hall and then, and then, cousin " 
 
 " What ? 
 
 " You know, you had to go England " 
 
 " You mean " 
 
 " Yes, dear cousin Champ," said Kate, with a tremulous 
 but earnest voice, " I mean that you needn't have come here. 
 Don't be angry with me, please." 
 
 " Angry with you ! " 
 
 " For I love you so much. I don't think you ought to 
 stay here now, indeed, you would be better at the Hall. 
 Come now," she said, with an earnest pleading look, which 
 made the little face inexpressibly lovely, " go back with me ! 
 won't you ? Oh 1 I'll be so good if you'll go back ; and so will 
 Willie for I will make him. Think how happy we would 
 be, dear cousin Champ indeed we can't be happy at all, 
 while you are away. I can't." 
 
 And the little head drooped, the fair curls falling down, 
 and veiling the child's cheeks. Mr. Effingham was silent, 
 but he unconsciously clasped the small hand lying on his 
 own more tightly, as if some invisible and hostile force were 
 pulling him the other way, and in the child lay his only hope 
 of resistance. 
 
 " You can't think how your being away has made me 
 feel indeed, you can't," continued the child, in a low voice, 
 and glancing at his face with wistful, dewy eyes ; " you know 
 I never liked any body I loved to go away, and after papa, 
 I love you better than any body in the world. Ever since
 
 152 HOW MR. EFFINOHAM'S ROOM WAS ILLUMINATED. 
 
 you went, and papa got angry, I have felt as if I was going 
 to fall sick I was so sorry ! Papa didn't look like he waa 
 well either, and sometimes I think I saw cousin Alethea 
 looking sorry. When Tom was packing up your portman 
 teau, I thought you were going away, and put in it " 
 
 " Did you put that Bible ' 
 
 " Yes, cousin Champ for I knew you would like to read 
 out of my little Bible." 
 
 Mr. Effingham rose, and going to his dressing-table, took 
 the small volume from his portmanteau. 
 
 " Hero Katy," he said, turning aside his head as he 
 spoke, " I have not time to read it now." 
 
 " Oh, but keep it ! " 
 
 " No I don't wish to." 
 
 " Not when I ask you to, cousin Champ ? " 
 
 " No no not now," said Mr. Effingham, with a shadow 
 on his face. 
 
 Kate looked inexpressibly hurt, and two tears which she 
 could not restrain, rolled down her cheeks. Mr. Effingham 
 strode up and down the apartment passed his hand wearily 
 over his forehead, gazed wistfully at the child, and the book 
 she held, and then away from her again. He stopped finally 
 before the window, and looked out. Then he felt a little 
 hand, warm and soft, take his own ; and turning round, the 
 child was again in his arms, pressed to his heart. 
 
 " Katy," he said, with a troubled voice, " I cannot 
 keep your Bible now I have not time to read it and some 
 one coming in here might take it." 
 
 Mr. Effingham's face clouded. The thought had oc 
 curred to him that some one of the rude, jeering actors 
 might touch it and at that moment he felt as if he would 
 preserve it from such profanity at the hazard of his life. 
 
 " Keep it, dear," he added, tenderly, " I will read it if 
 I ever when, I mean, I come back to the Hall. Now, 
 don't ask me to take it back any more, Katy indeed, I 
 cannot." 
 
 The child put the volume into the pocket of her frock, 
 with an expression of quiet, uncomplaining sorrow, which was 
 very touching. 
 
 " I'll promise to read it every day, when I get back, 
 dear," said Mr. Effingham, " now don't feel badly."
 
 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM'S ROOM WAS ILLUMINATED. 153 
 
 " Oh ! if you would only come back," she said, hiding 
 her head in his bosom, and crying, " Oh ! cousin Champ 1 
 if you would only come back ! Oh, please do please leave 
 this place, and don't be angry with papa any more. They 
 said you came to see to see a lady, cousin Champ 
 You know you've seen her now, and if she is good, and I 
 know you would not like her if she was bad if she is good 
 she wouldn't have you to distress us to come and see her ! 
 Oh, where is she ? I'll go and tell her myself, if you'll let 
 me, how much we want you to come back to us, and I knoM 
 you will not think I am presuming. Now, do let me go >-- 
 I'm sure she will not be angry with a little child like me 
 where is she, cousin Champ ? " 
 
 Mr. Effingham held the child upon his lap, overcome 
 with gloomy and yet hopeful thoughts. She looked into his 
 face, and saw the troubled expression. 
 
 " Oh, come come ! " she said, in an earnest, pleading 
 voice, " indeed you are not well. Oh, cousin Champ, you 
 will not refuse me your pet please come now cousin 
 Champ we'll all go back so nicely in the chariot and 
 won't you ? " 
 
 He looked at her for some minutes in silence, and said : 
 
 " Katy, do you believe in guardian angels ? " 
 
 " I don't know if you mean " 
 
 " Then, do you believe in angels ? " 
 
 " Yes ! oh, yes ! " 
 
 " And in heaven ? " 
 
 " Yes : mamma is in heaven, and papa," she said. 
 
 " What do you think it is like?" he continued, gazing 
 on the tender face, " a great city of pearls, and diamonds, 
 and gold ? Come, don't be surprised at my speaking so 
 abruptly. Do you think there is really a heaven, and 
 angels ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, cousin Champ and I'm sure it is not made 
 of gold and diamonds I mean I don't think it is. I think 
 it's a place where we all love each other more than we can 
 on earth and God, too." 
 
 " Can we love more than we do on earth ? " he said, 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " Oh, yes I believe we can and then we will not have 
 any thing in heaven to make us sorry. We won't be sick,
 
 .54 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM S ROOM WAS ILLUMINATED. 
 
 and grieved, and all, but be happy, and love God for evoi 
 and ever." 
 
 Mr. Effingham made no reply ; he only murmured to him 
 self. 
 
 " Angels are good like little children before they gel 
 bad," added Kate, earnestly ; " there's a verse about ' the 
 Kingdom of Heaven,' and it's being filled with good people, 
 like little children.. Must I show it to you ?" 
 
 fa No, no I believe not," said Mr. Effingham, " I don't 
 know that reading the Bible would do me any good. I be 
 lieve what that verse says already, dear," he added, looking 
 with moist eyes at the child, " and I meant that when I 
 asked you about heaven ; ' Suffer little children to come 
 unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of 
 heaven.' Is not that the verse ? I knew it was. Well, I 
 wish I had died at your age." 
 
 " Oh 1 " said Kate, in a low voice, " I am not good 
 enough I'm very bad." 
 
 " You are heavenly in comparison with me." 
 
 " Oh, cousin Champ ! " 
 
 " I am well, well," he said, suddenly checking himself: 
 and he murmured, " Why should I deprive myself of this 
 child's heart." 
 
 " Indeed, indeed, you are not well," said Kate, gazing 
 with a long, sad look, on the troubled and gloomy face, " and 
 I think something has grieved you," 
 
 " No, no" 
 
 " Let me read a little to you, please I know you'll 
 like" 
 
 " No, no ; I'm not fit to hear reading now, dear," he 
 said, but more softly, and with less decision in his tone. 
 
 Kate noted this change, with that marvellous quicknesd 
 of children, and said : 
 
 " Oh, yes ; let me read you just a little about heaven. 
 When I read it, I never feel sorry afterwards ; and, if I am 
 lick, it makes me feel almost well and happy. Sometimes I 
 think about my being a little child, without any father or 
 mother any real father, I mean, though papa is my father 
 and I feel like crying ; but I read a little in my Bible, 
 and think that papa and mamma are in heaven, and that, if 
 I am good, I'll go to heaven, too ; and, then, I feel as if it
 
 MOW MR. EFFINGHAM'S ROOM WAS ILLUMINATED. 155 
 
 wasn't much matter whether I felt sick and badly or not, so 
 I kept myself good ; for I will see them in heaven, if I 
 obey God." 
 
 The weary and storm-tossed soul listened to these simple 
 words, and felt a strange emotion at his heart, as if that 
 heart had been frozen, and was slowly melting. 
 
 " For you know," Kate went on, earnestly, " this world ia 
 not a good place, and we can't be very happy here, though 
 some things are very sweet and pleasant. We have to suffer 
 a great deal here, and we must get mighty tired. But we 
 ought not to cohaplain when we have heaven to think of, 
 where all will be happiness and joy. We feel wrong towards 
 people very often, at least I do, and people behave badly to 
 us, and make us suffer ; but we ought to bear all this, when 
 we think of living and loving dearly in heaven, for ever and 
 for ever. Oh 1 let me read what St. John says about lov 
 ing each other and God : I always loved to read what he 
 says." 
 
 And, without waiting for a reply, the child opened her 
 little Bible, and read, in a low, subdued, earnest voice, some 
 verses, which the young man listened to in silence. Kate 
 closed the book, and leaning her head on his shoulder, said : 
 
 " That sounds to me so sweet, that it makes me happy." 
 
 " Yes, yes," murmured Mr. Effingham, covering his eyes 
 
 " Do you like to hear me read ? " she asked, wistfully. 
 
 " Yes," he murmured again. 
 
 " Then," said Kate, with an expression of entreaty, 
 which lit up her tender little face, like a light from heaven, 
 and putting her arm round his neck as she spoke " then 
 come and go back 1 Oh, please come and go back, and I'll 
 read to you whenever you want to hear me ; and, oh ! we'll 
 be so happy, cousin Champ ! I can't be happy while you are 
 here, and I think that you are not well, may be, and haven't 
 any body to do little things for you. Don't stay in this place, 
 and be all by yourself. I'm sure cousin Alethea's sorry if 
 she said any thing to make you angry; indoed, I know she is 
 for she said to papa that she ought not to have said something 
 to you. Papa is dreadfully distressed at your going away, 
 and, indeed indeed " (here the child's voice faltered) " I 
 shall be so unhappy so so Oh, cousin Champ,do come and 
 go with me ! Oh, please don't stay ! You can't find any body
 
 156 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM'S ROOM WAS ILLUMINATED., 
 
 to love you as much as we do, and till you come back the 
 Hall will look dark to me." 
 
 The little arm around his neck drew him toward the 
 door; the beseeching voice went to his heart, and melted all 
 his pride, and hardness, and stubborn coldness; the half jest 
 he had uttered about his guardian angel, seemed to become 
 a heavenly reality to be there in the person of that child, 
 entreating him to go away with her. 
 
 " Oh, come 1 " cried Kate, clinging closer and closer to 
 him, and turning her moist, tender eyes upon his own ; 
 " come with me, cousin Champ come back with us oh ! 
 you are coming. I knew you would. You wouldn't refuse 
 me, I know." 
 
 And she placed one hand on the door to open it. 
 
 Before she could touch the knob the door opened, and a 
 servant appeared on the threshold. 
 
 " A gentleman to see you, sir ; ask him up, sir ? " he 
 said, bowing. 
 
 Mr. Effingharn hesitated, and was silent. It might have 
 been imagined that he feared to leave the child to go be 
 yond the reach of her voice, the brightness of her eyes. 
 
 " Well, well," he said, after a moment's silence, " who 
 ever it is I will see him. Stay here, dear wait till I come 
 back I will return directly. Say I will be down immedi 
 ately," he added, to the servant. 
 
 Then stooping, and pressing his lips to the child's fore 
 head, he said, tenderly and softly : 
 
 " Stay till I return, Katy ; I will soon send this gentle 
 man off, whoever he may be. I cannot lose you so soon, and 
 I think, before you go if I do not go with you you may 
 read me some more." 
 
 Kate looked inexpressibly delighted, and this expression 
 of joy seemed to touch and please Mr. Effingham extremely. 
 He threw a last fond glance on the child, and saying again 
 that he would be back in a moment, went out and closed tho 
 door. Kate sat down overcome with joy and pride : her 
 smile seemed to illuminate the whole apartment, dimming 
 the very radiance of the sunlight. 
 
 Ten minutes passed thus, when suddenly a knock at the 
 door made her heart throb ; and rising quickly to her feet, 
 she said, before she was aware of it, " Come in 1 "
 
 ENTER SHYLOCK, AND HIS SHADOW. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 ENTEB 8HYLOCK, AND HIS SHADOW. 
 
 THE door opened, and two men made their appearance. We 
 say men : it would be sacrificing too much to courtesy to call 
 them gentlemen ; for neither in their dress, features, nor ex 
 pression, was there any thing whatsoever remotely entitling 
 them to that distinction. He who came first was that wor 
 thy who had acted Shylock on the opening night, at the 
 theatre near the capitol ; and the reader may possibly recol 
 lect Mr. Manager Hallam's criticism of his performance, 
 delivered in the presence of the worthy himself, on the next 
 morning, at the Raleigh. His present state was not materi 
 ally an improvement upon his condition that night, and 
 having dined not very long before, his spirits were naturally 
 in an elevated and generous condition. When Mr. Pugsby 
 had emptied his pint of rum or his bottle of port a delicacy 
 which he did not usually indulge in, however he felt at peace 
 with all the world, and ready to embrace the whole of mankind. 
 His companion was a lean, cadaverous gentleman, whose 
 favorite characters were " Shallow," " Slender " the apothe 
 cary in " Romeo and Juliet," he had been assisting Mr. 
 Pugsby in emptying his last bottle. 
 
 Kate beheld the entrance of these worthies with great 
 alarm ; though her womanly little air of dignity did not de 
 sert her. Perhaps it was rather distaste than alarm which 
 she felt, child as she was, for certainly no contrast could have 
 been imagined less to the advantage of the stage worthies. 
 Kate, clad in her rich and tasteful little costume of silk and 
 velvet with her bright eyes and rosy face, looked like a 
 flower, a picture, something beautiful, rich and rare, to be 
 approached with reverence, and regarded with love and ad 
 miration : she seemed out of place in the rough apartment, 
 as some masterpiece of Titian, framed in gold, would look 
 hung up in a wide garret, with a ceiling of dirty rafters. 
 She had the beauty and tenderness of childhood : purity and 
 gentleness enveloped her like a oloud. None of these things 
 appertained to the worthies who now entered, inasmuch ai
 
 158 ENTER SHYLOCX, AND HIS SHADOW. 
 
 they were extremely rough and common specimens of human 
 ity, with bloated faces, and unsteady gait, and sleepy-look 
 ing eyes, which rolled, and winked, and leered, as authentic 
 tradition relates of the ancient worthy Silenus. 
 
 Shylock hesitated for a moment on the threshold, and 
 exhibited a species of inane surprise, at finding a child, in 
 stead of his brother-comedian, Mr. Effingham, in the apart 
 ment. 
 
 " Hum ! " said Shylock, by way of signifying that he 
 was about to speak. This expressive monosyllable wag 
 echoed by Shallow, who, to save himself the trouble of 
 thinking, generally repeated or coincided in, the observations 
 of his friend. 
 
 " Stand and unfold thyself," continued Shylock, striking 
 an attitude, and facetiously pretending to consider Kate a 
 ghost. 
 
 " Unfold yes, unfold," echoed Shallow, stretching out 
 his cadaverous hand as his friend did. 
 
 " Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned ? thou 
 comest in such a questionable shape, I'll speak to thee ! " 
 continued Shylock, " hey ? come, speak ! " 
 
 Kate felt as if she should sink into the floor, and was so 
 frightened that she could scarcely restrain her tears or com 
 mand her voice. 
 
 " Come, come, pretty damsel 1 " exclaimed Shylock, with 
 some impatience, and descending into prose, " come, why 
 don't you answer? Who are you? Why are you here, 
 instead of that jolly minion of the moon, that lad of metal, 
 hight Childe Effingham ? " 
 
 " Oh, sir ! " said Kate, with a trembling voice, and re 
 treating as the leering tragedian approached her, " Oh, sir, 
 I am Mr. Effingham I mean, he is just gone, sir." 
 
 " That is no answer." 
 
 " No answer," echoed Shallow. 
 
 " A subterfuge." 
 
 " Perfect." 
 
 " And subterfuges are a deadly sin," said Shylock, whose 
 words unconsciously flowed into a metrical shape. 
 
 " An awful sin," said Shallow. 
 
 " So now perpend, young damsel," continued Shylock, 
 approaching the child, who shrank back, " either thou dje't
 
 ENTER SllXLOCK, AND HIS SHADOW. 155 
 
 presently, or do'st relate to me the marvel strange, why thou 
 art here all armed in complete no, thou hast no steel ! 
 Speak ! what art thou ? And if thou do'st conceal the least 
 small thing " Shylock drew out the knife which he was 
 accustomed to whet upon his shoe, when Antonio was to be 
 sacrificed, and flourished it with deadly meaning. Kate 
 shrank further back and turned pale. 
 
 " Oh, sir, you frighten me 1 " she said. 
 
 " I'll eat thee whole ere the leviathan hath swum a 
 league " 
 
 Kate fell into a chair. 
 
 " Come," said Shylock, putting up his knife, " I'll be 
 merciful, if I am a Hebrew vile, and thou, fair lass, a Chris 
 tian." 
 
 " We'll be merciful," said Shallow. 
 
 " Therefore, unfold unfold, I say ! " continued Shylock, 
 " art thou base, common, and popular ; or, high and mighty, 
 like Prince Hal ? discourse. Whence art thou ? " 
 
 Kate murmured, with a throbbing heart : " From the 
 Hall, sir." 
 
 " What is thy name ? " 
 
 " Catherine, sir ! " 
 
 " Well, Catherine, listen : thou shalt go below, and bid 
 the tapster draw a measure of rum, which thou shalt bring 
 to us. We are noble gentlemen, come hither to see Prince 
 Hal, that noble bully. Do'st thou understand ? " 
 
 " Oh, sir, I cannot 1 I don't know " 
 
 " Do'st thou reply ? " 
 
 " Oh, sir, don't come near me, I do not like you 1 " 
 
 " Not like me ? Well, I will be calm I Go bid them 
 draw the ale ; do'st hear, thou varlet vile ? " 
 
 Kate's indignation began to conquer her fear, and, child 
 as she was, in the midst of such persons, her face flushed 
 with anger, at the word vile. " I can't go, sir," she said. 
 
 " Cannot ! sayest thou ? Why, ' cannot' ? " 
 
 " I do not know any body here, sir," she replied ; 
 " please let me pass out." 
 
 " Never ! thou shalt pass over my dead body, rather." 
 
 " And mine," said Shallow. 
 
 " Oh, I must pass ! " cried Kate, endeavoring to leave 
 (he room.
 
 160 KATE AND BEATRICE. 
 
 " Stand back ! ill met by moonlight, proud Titama . 
 But thou shalt not go hence." 
 
 " I must, sir ! " said Kate, endeavoring to pass again, and 
 nearly crying from fear and indignation. 
 
 " By heaven, thou diest ! " And uttering these words, 
 Shylock moved with unsteady gait to shut the door. But 
 Kate was too quick for the worthy, and ran through, brush 
 ing against him as she passed. Shylock made a grasp at 
 her, and caught the ribbon of her little hat, tearing the 
 covering from her head. The next moment he would have 
 reached her and brought her back by main force, but just 
 as she was about to fall upon her knees, in despair, the door 
 opposite opened, and a young woman, evidently attracted by 
 the noise, appeared upon the threshold. 
 
 " What is this ? " she said. 
 
 " Oh, ma'am ! that man won't let me go ! " cried Kate, 
 " he has frightened me nearly to death. Oh, don't let him 
 take me from you 1 " And clinging to the dress of Beatrice, 
 she shrunk from the infuriated Shylock. Beatrice, with a 
 single word and a look, closed the door in the face of that 
 worthy, and she and the child were alone together. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 KATE AND BEATRICE. 
 
 FOR a moment the young girl and the child were silent ; 
 Beatrice knew not what to think of the scene, and Kate was 
 indulging in a hearty cry. At last she dried her eyes, and 
 stopped sobbing by degrees, and looking at Beatrice, said : 
 " Oh, ma'am, I'm so thankful that you saved me from that 
 horrid man I " 
 
 " How did he come to annoy you, my child ? " said 
 Beatrice, looking affectionately at the sweet little face. 
 
 " Oh, he came in, and and because I wouldn't go and 
 get him something for I couldn't, you know. Oh, he 
 frightened me so ! " and Kate began to sob again. 
 
 Beatrice wiped the child's eyes and got her a glass of 
 water, all the time soothing her with kind words.
 
 161 
 
 " Don't speak if it makes you cry," she said, softly. 
 
 " Oh, I am not frightened, now ! " 
 
 " You are quite safe here." 
 
 " Am I quite ? " 
 
 " Yes, that rude man will not presume to come into this 
 room, and were he to do so, I would send him from it with a 
 single word." 
 
 And Beatrice, with a disdainful motion of her hand, seem 
 ed to wish to dismiss so insignificant a subject. Kate look 
 ed at her attentively, for the first time, and said ; 
 
 " Do you know him ? I think you are too pretty and good 
 to know that rude man." 
 
 Beatrice turned away. 
 
 " I am sorry that I am obliged to know him," she said 
 in a low tone, " but how did you come to be pursued by 
 him ? It was disgraceful ! " added Beatrice, with a generous 
 flash of her proud, brilliant eye. 
 
 " I was waiting a minute for cousiu, who had gone down 
 *o see a gentleman. He left me in his room, and I was so 
 frightened when those rude men came in. I am not used to 
 such people, you know ; papa don't have any visitors like 
 them, and the gentlemen that come to the Hall are always 
 kind to me. Oh, he drew out such an ugly sharp knife, and 
 threatened to kill me 1 " added Kate, very nearly beginning 
 to cry again. Beatrice looked at her attentively : some re 
 collection seemed to be struggling in her mind. 
 
 " Strange 1 " she said, " I seem to have seen this child be 
 fore somewhere- where was it ? " 
 
 And she pressed her forehead, and seemed to be buried in 
 thought. Kate looked at her, and said, timidly: 
 
 ' I am afraid ma'am, that you were busy when I came 
 in." 
 
 " Yes, I was my child but that is nothing." 
 
 " Were you sewing ? what a pretty handkerchief I " 
 
 And remembering the scene she had just passed through, 
 Kate used the embroidered handkerchief she had taken up to 
 admire, for the purpose of drying a rebellious tear. 
 
 " I was not sewing," said Beatrice, with a look of weari 
 ness, " I was studying. But you have not told me, my child, 
 how you came to be in the Raleigh." 
 
 " Oh, cousin Alethea, and Willie, and me, can^e to town 
 and"
 
 162 KATE AND BEATRICE. 
 
 " Then you do not live here : but I forget you spoke of 
 the Hall, and there are no halls here." 
 
 " Oh, no : a hall is a house in the country." 
 
 " And you came to see your cousin a gentleman who 
 wears a red cloak ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! he's not my cousin " 
 
 " Ah ! " said Beatrice, her eyes suddenly dazzled with a 
 rapid lightning-like thought, " your cousin what is his name 
 the Hall ? " 
 
 " Cousin Champ is his name, and we all live at Effing- 
 ham Hall. My name is Catherine Effingham but papa is 
 not my father." 
 
 Beatrice sat down, murmuring. 
 
 " Effingham ! Effingham always Effingham 1 Yes 
 at the theatre ! " 
 
 Kate misunderstood these half-audible words, and said . 
 
 " Did you ask if Effingham was our name, ma'am ? Yes ; 
 and I know papa will be mighty thankful to you and cousin 
 Champ too. He's a dear good fellow, and I love him dearly." 
 
 Beatrice remained silent, and turned away her face in 
 order that the child might not see the painful and gloomy 
 expression which dimmed the eyes, and took the tender 
 smile from the lips. 
 
 " And you were in yon in Mr. Effingham's room were 
 you, my child ? " she murmured, at last. 
 
 " Yes ; and cousin Champ had just gone down to see a 
 gentleman. He told me to wait till he came back." 
 
 " Is he fond of you ? " asked Beatrice, why she scarcely 
 knew. 
 
 " I know he is 1 " exclaimed Kate, with a bright smile 
 shining through her moist eyes. 
 
 " And you love him ? " 
 
 " Oh, dearly ! he is so kind and good 1 " 
 
 They were almost the very words which had escaped 
 from the lips of Beatrice after her interview with Charles ; 
 and the recollection of that interview now came to efface the 
 bitter expression which followed little Kate's words. The 
 bitter smile only glanced, then flew away. 
 
 " Did your father bring you to town, my child ? " she 
 asked, pressing her hand upon her heart to still its throbbing. 
 
 " Oh, no 1 " said Kate, " papa is not pleased with cousin
 
 KATE AND BEATRICE. 163 
 
 Champ." Then regretting this speech, she added " that 
 is I mean, ma'am cousin Champ went away from the Hall, 
 and hasn't been back." 
 
 Beatrice could not look at the child. 
 
 " And is he angry ? " she said. 
 
 Who ? papa ? " 
 
 " Yes," murmured Beatrice. 
 
 " No, I don't think papa is much angry ; but he don't 
 like cousin Champ to be here." 
 
 " Why ? " said Beatrice, in a low voice, and like a despair 
 ing soldier turning the weapon in the wound. 
 
 " He came to see some lady here, and papa and cousin 
 Alethea do not like " 
 
 " No, no not a lady " 
 
 There the young girl stopped, overcome, panting, avoid 
 ing the child's look, her head drooping, her forehead burning. 
 
 " I don't know who it is," said Kate, " but I think cousin 
 Alethea said it was that young actress we saw act in the 
 ' Merchant of Venice.' " 
 
 " Do you not recollect her? " murmured Beatrice. 
 
 " Who Miss Hallam ? Oh, yes 1 She wore a lovely 
 fawn-colored silk, and was very pretty." 
 
 " I did not know I was so completely changed," said the 
 young girl, turning away and smiling painfully. Then she 
 said aloud : 
 
 " And so Mr. Effingham your cousin came to see the 
 actress, and his family are displeased ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, we all want dear cousin Champ to come 
 back. I don't think he ought to come here to see an actress 
 She is not good enough for him, and oughtn't to distress us. 
 
 " Oh, it is an unjust punishment ! it is unjust 1 " mur 
 mured Beatrice, with tears in her eyes : but Kate neither 
 saw the tears nor heard these bitter words. 
 
 " I came to tell cousin Champ to-day he was too good 
 for her but I didn't like to," continued Kate, not observing 
 the change in the countenance of Beatrice ; " we read some in 
 the Bible, though, and cousin Champ 'u. ?st promised to go 
 back with me " 
 
 " Did he 1 " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 Oh, take him back 1"
 
 164 KATE AN3 BEATRICE. 
 
 Kate was somewhat surprised at these venement woidfl ( 
 but said : 
 
 " I think he is going with us. I don't think he would 
 leave us, all who love him so, for a common playing girl." 
 
 " Oh, it is unjust it is unjust I " repeated Beatrice, in 
 an inaudible voice. " I have not deserved it ! " 
 
 " She's very pretty for I believe it is Miss Hallam," 
 continued Kate, " but she is not good enough to marry cousin 
 Champ, you know." 
 
 Beatrice rose wildly, and said, with passionate tears in 
 her eyes : 
 
 " She would not marry him ! she does not wish to ! I 
 am that actress 1 I am Beatrice Hallam ! He has made 
 my life miserable and wretched ; he follows me, persecutes 
 me, and will not leave me ! Oh, I am not to blame I am 
 not ! I do not deserve so much unjust blame no, no 1 It 
 is cruel in you to make me suffer so ! oh, it is cruel ! " 
 
 And hiding her face in her hands, the young girl trem 
 bled and shook with passionate sobs. Kate was so much 
 startled and alarmed by these passionate words that she 
 stood for a moment motionless with surprise and astonish 
 ment. Then her tender little heart overcame every thing, 
 and running up to the beautiful girl who had been so kind 
 to her, she took her hand, and, sobbing, said : 
 
 " Don't cry ! please, don't cry 1 I didn't mean to be so 
 rude indeed, I am ashamed and sorry oh ! please don't 
 cry I " 
 
 And Kate herself cried, as if her heart would break. 
 Beatrice suffered the little hand to imprison her own, and 
 slowly raised her head again her eyes full of tears. 
 
 " Pardon me, my child," she said, with noble dignity and 
 calmness, " I did not mean to blame you I could not help 
 speaking abruptly and shedding some tears for indeed I 
 am not to blame. My lot is very unhappy, for I cannot even 
 ask a little child like you to love me." 
 
 And her humid eyes dwelt with great softr ess and ten 
 derness on Kate's fresh little countenance, over which large 
 tears were chasing each other. 
 
 " I am glad I was near to save you from that rude man,' 
 continued Beatrice, rising, " and that is my only reward- 
 my own feelings. I ask no other "
 
 SHOWING HOW A LOAF Of BAEAD MAY BE USED. 166 
 
 Kate would have fallen into the tender arms, for very 
 weakness and emotion. 
 
 " No,'* said Beatrice, gently repulsing her, " I am an 
 actress. Come ! " 
 
 And she went toward the door. At the same moment 
 it opened violently, and Mr. Effingham stood before them. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 SHOWING TO WHAT USE A LOAF OF BKEAD MAT BE PUT. 
 
 THE young man entered grasping his sword which he had 
 drawn half from the scabbard. 
 
 " Ah ! " he said, with a deep sigh of relief: then turning 
 upon Beatrice, he said : " I have to thank you, madam, for 
 robbing me of my visitor ! " 
 
 And his haughty eye flashed, as' he put his arm round 
 Kate, and drew her away. Beatrice made no reply but 
 Kate cried out. 
 
 " Oh ! cousin Champ ! Don't speak so to her 1 She 
 was so good to me." 
 
 " Good to you, Kate ! What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Those horrid men ! Oh, they frightened me so I " 
 
 Mr. Effingham looked from one to the other, to ask an 
 explanation. 
 
 " What men ? " he said. 
 
 " The men that came into your room." 
 
 " Men in my room ! Who ? " 
 
 " I don't know, indeed, cousin Champ, but they behaved 
 very badly to me." 
 
 " Behaved badly to you ! " said Mr. Effingham, his brow 
 flushing with haughty fire. 
 
 " Oh, it was nothing," said the child, becoming alarmed 
 at the storm she had aroused, " they only frightened me a 
 little 1 " 
 
 Suddenly Mr. Effingham looked at the child's hair still 
 disordered and rumpled for the worthy Shylock, in pulling 
 away her hat, had naturally dragged the well-brushed hair 
 from its place. Mr. Effingham observed this at a glance, 
 and said, with a flashing eye :
 
 166 
 
 " Where is your hat, Kate ? " 
 
 Beatrice rose. 
 
 " I can tell you what has taken place in a moment, sir,' 
 she said, calmly ; " it is nothing more than happens almost 
 every day only disgraceful, you know, sir. Mr. Pugsby 
 annoyed your young relative, and the child came to my apart 
 ment for refuge. I gave it to her, that is all ; and now, 
 sir " 
 
 Mr. Effingham did not wait to hear the end of the sen 
 tence. His eye burned fiercely, and hurrying out with the 
 child, he said, hastily: 
 
 ;< Come, Katy, let us go to the carriage : I must put 
 you in : I can't go to-day to the Hall. Ah, when you are 
 once safe, we'll have a settlement " 
 
 " But my hat, cousin Champ ? " said Kate. Mr. Effing- 
 ham's teeth ground audibly, but before he could make a 
 reply, a voice behind him, loud and familiar, said : 
 
 " Here's your beauty's hat where the devil are you 
 going " 
 
 It was Shylock, who came along the passage behind, and 
 turning, Mr. Effingham saw the child's hat in his hand. A 
 flash as of lightning blazed from the young man's eye, and 
 to abandon Kate's hand, throw himself upon the leering 
 worthy, clutch him by the throat, and hurl him headlong 
 from the landing-place to the bottom of the stairs, was 
 the agreeable employment of a single moment. But this 
 did not satisfy Mr. Effingham's rage; and motioning the 
 child to remain behind, he sprung down the steps, and ar 
 riving at the bottom just as Shylock, in a violent rage, rose 
 up, he shouted wrathfully : 
 
 " Draw, you dog 1 draw ! you wear a sword 1 Damn my 
 blood, I'll have your heart's blood !' 
 
 And drawing his sword, the young man would have plung 
 ed it into Shylock's breast, had not the jolly host thrown him 
 self between the combatants and received the thrust in a huge 
 loaf of bread h* was lugging into his larder. This incident 
 BO far delayed further employment of the weapon, which had 
 completely passed through it to the hilt. The crowd then 
 oarted the infuriated combatants, and this consummation was 
 one for which Shylock seemed devoutly grateful. Having 
 Wily frightened the child for fun, as that worthy said, after-
 
 SHOWING HOW A LOAF 3f BREAD MAt BE USED. 167 
 
 wards, Mr. Effingham's sudden attack upon him had taken 
 him completely by surprise : and his blood had scarcely 
 time to rise. So it was they were parted, and Shylock, mut 
 tering curses and threats of vengeance, retreated to his apart 
 ment. Mr. Effingham, with insulting disdain, called after him 
 that he should have an opportunity to right his wrongs at 
 the sword's point, though he might be excused from match 
 ing himself against such a cowardly villain ; and so this little 
 interlude ended. 
 
 Kate, sobbing and agitated, had put on her little hat, 
 and now, with Mr. Effingham's hand in her own, left the 
 inn. At the threshold they ran against Master Will, who, 
 breathless, his face flushed, his mouth open, was running to 
 ask if any one at the Raleigh had seen Kate. 
 
 " Here I am, Willie," said the child ; " I'm not crying, 
 you know only laughing." 
 
 And Kate, after this abortive effort to show that nothing 
 had happened, burst into a passion of tears. Mr. Effingham, 
 with a short and curt greeting to Will, went on to the place 
 where the carriage stood, and placed the child in it. Miss 
 Alethea had felt much less anxiety about Kate than Will, 
 and was still making her purchases. Will ran in to tell her 
 that Kate was found. 
 
 Mr. Effingham was going away in silence, after pressing 
 the child's hand, when, sobbing, she said : 
 
 " Oh, won't you kiss me ? you are not angry with me, 
 cousin Champ ! " 
 
 And tears choked the tender, distressed voice deep 
 sighs shook the little frame of the child. Mr. Effingham 
 jent over toward her, but, suddenly resuming his erect 
 attitude, said, gloomily : 
 
 " No, no, Katy ; I cannot kiss you. No ; do not think 
 of me in future ; and never come near the Raleigh again 
 Have you your Bible ? " 
 
 " I believe so," sobbed Kate. 
 
 " Good," he said, in the same quiet, gloomy voice ; " I 
 will love you dearly as long as I live, but I can see you no 
 more. Good-bye," and, turning away, he muttered, 
 
 " The die is cast ! "
 
 163 . WHAT MR. EFFINGHAM MEANT, WHEN 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 WHAT ME. EFFINGHAM MEANT WHEN HE SAID THAT THE DH 
 WAS CAST. 
 
 LET us now endeavor to explain why Mr. Effingham acted so 
 strangely toward the child, refusing to kiss her at parting, 
 and exhibiting that singular solicitude about her Bible's 
 safety, in the little pocket. The explanation of these mat 
 ters will be found in that interview with the nameless gen 
 tleman, whom Mr. Effingham left Kate to go and see. 
 
 When the young man descended, he saw, seated in the 
 ordinary, waiting for him, his friend, Jack Hamilton, the 
 fox-hunter. A family tradition, supported by the family 
 Bible, averred that this gentleman's name had originally 
 been John, but this was not generally credited, so com 
 pletely had the sobriquet by which he was almost universally 
 addressed, come to be regarded as the name given to him by 
 his sponsors in baptism. The face which Mr. Hamilton re 
 joiced in, was, perhaps, remotely responsible for this altera 
 tion in his patronymic ; and it seemed almost impossible to 
 feel that he should be addressed by any other name than a 
 nickname. He was a hearty, laughing, honest-looking fellow, 
 with frank, open eyes ; a nose, which seemed to be everlast 
 ingly engaged in snuffing up the odors of broils and roasts, 
 or critically testing wines ; a voice, which greeted all, high 
 and low, with nearly equal friendliness, cordiality, and 
 heartiness. Mr. Hamilton was richly clad, but down his 
 velvet pantaloons ran a long red stain, the blood of a fox he 
 had followed to the death on the preceding day. 
 
 Mr. Effingham greeted him with unusual cordiality, and 
 his languid, indifferent, petit maitre manner seemed to have 
 entirely disappeared at least, this was the observation 
 made by his friend. 
 
 " You were busy, were yob not ? " said Hamilton ; " any 
 friends ? " 
 
 " No, no ; I'm very glad to see you, my dear fellow." 
 
 " Well, that's understood, or, it would be understood," 
 eaid honest Jack Hamilton, ' if my visit was a mere drop- 
 ping-in, as I passed by, to use the new slang which is be-
 
 HE SAID THAT THE DIE WAS CAST. 169 
 
 coming fashionable ; but I came to say something to you, 
 Champ. Come, let's take a stroll." 
 
 " I would but really " 
 
 And Mr. Effingham thought of Kate. 
 
 " Oh, you need not fear being detained any time, scarcely. 
 Come, we cannot talk here." 
 
 And, putting his arm through Mr. Effingham's, the fox- 
 hunter led him away. 
 
 " Well, well," said the young man to himself, " Katy 
 can amuse herself for a few minutes, until I return ; and I 
 must know what brings Hamilton to see me. He evidently 
 has something on his mind." 
 
 They strolled out into the square, in the centre of the 
 town, and found themselves thus insulated from the ears, if 
 not from the eyes, of the community. Hamilton stopped, 
 and said : 
 
 " I came to talk about this ball, Champ." 
 
 " What ? at the Governor's ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Well, my dear fellow?" 
 
 "These actors, here, and the people at the tavern, are 
 saying " 
 
 " That I am going to it ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " With Beatrice Hallam? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, they had the right to say so I announced my 
 intention to do so," said Mr. Effingham, in a gloomy and 
 hesitating voice. 
 
 " The people at the tavern have been talking through 
 the town about it," continued Hamilton, " and so it got to 
 the gentlemen in the neighborhood, and created quite a 
 sensation." 
 
 " It seems that every thing I do creates something of that 
 description," said Mr. Effingham, gloomily. 
 
 " But, really, you must confess that this " 
 
 " Deserves to create a sensation, you would say : is it 
 not so ? " 
 
 ' Well, Champ, I'll be honest with you, and say that I 
 think it does." 
 
 Mr. Effingham passed his hand thoughtfully and wearily 
 8
 
 170 WHAT MR. EFFINGHAM MEANT, WHEN 
 
 acrose his brow. A struggle seemed to be going on in h t 
 mind. " If I fancy going with this young woman, I will 
 go," he said, at length. 
 
 " You have not determined, then ? " said Hamilton, dis 
 playing great satisfaction at these words. 
 
 Mr. Effingham mused. " I had determined," he replied, 
 " but I do not know now if I shall go I think not." 
 
 " Delighted to hear it ! really now, Champ, you must 
 permit me to say that you are too good a fellow to throw 
 yourself away upon that young girl, though I grant you she 
 is pretty. I suppose, though, you are running after her as 
 we run a fox, for the glorious excitement of the chase. Up 
 and away 1 ride all day and night ! no matter if you break 
 your neck, you gain the excitement and glory ! " 
 
 Mr. Effingham's countenance displayed still the struggle 
 going on in his mind. Then a bright light cleared away the 
 gloom and doubt, and his features became serene and soft 
 once more. He had thought of Kate, and now said : " Jack, 
 I don't think I will go. No, I will not 1 " 
 
 " By George, I'm delighted to hear it 1 " 
 
 " You're a good friend ! " 
 
 " I hope so ; we have run many a fox together." 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " 
 
 " Don't you remember the gray rascal we ran from 
 Cote's to the ford ? what a day we had and Tom Lane has 
 not got over his dislocated shoulder to this day." 
 
 " Those were fine times, fine times ! " said Mr. Effing- 
 barn, cheerily. 
 
 " And you remember, by George ! " said Hamilton, 
 laughing heartily, " I recollect it as if it was yesterday 1 
 You remember when we swept by the Hall like a parcel of 
 wild devils, Tom Lane came near running over your little 
 cousin what was her name ? I think it was Kate ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes I " said Mr. Effingham, with a soft smile. 
 
 " A lovely little creature, and as good as she's pretty ; 
 I saw her at the Hall the other day, when I went to see my 
 good friend, Miss Alethea think of a bachelor, confirmed 
 and obdurate like myself, having lady friends 1 the child 
 took my eye mightily, and I do believe she recollected the 
 old times before you went to England 1 " 
 
 " Happy times, happy times 1 " said Mr. Effingham
 
 HE SAID THAT THE DIE WAS {AST. 171 
 
 returning to his youth again, as the fox-hunter brought tha 
 past back to him with his familiar, honest voice, his frank 
 eyes, and laughing reminiscences. 
 
 u Yes, they were happy enough," said Hamilton, " and 
 you thought so then, I know, judging from the foolish things 
 you were guilty of about Clare Lee. By George, she was a 
 perfect little angel, and is yet ! " 
 
 Mr. Effingham's head drooped. 
 
 " I remember when we all used to go to gather applefl. 
 I was a young man, then, but just as young as the youngest, 
 and your favorite practice was to hold up the corners of her 
 silk apron, until that black monkey, Joe, threw down enough 
 to fill it" 
 
 Mr. Emngham smiled. 
 
 " And as the little apron slowly got full, it weighed 
 down more and more, and naturally you came closer to pretty 
 Clare ; and somehow your face struck against her own, the 
 lower portions thereof 1 and ah, Champ, my boy, you were 
 a wild fellow then ! " And Mr. Hamilton laughed heartily. 
 His companion smiled, with dreamy eyes and tender lips, 
 thinking of his boyhood and of Clare. 
 
 " After that, you took it into your head to go to Eng 
 land, and came back the perfect dandy you are," continued 
 honest Jack Hamilton, with refreshing frankness. 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " said Mr. Effingham, smiling. 
 
 " And snubbed us." 
 
 " No, no I " 
 
 " And swaggered about like a lord, and talked literature 
 like a wit what a wearisome thing literature is ! And you 
 altogether deteriorated ! Come, now, deny it ? " 
 
 " I'm afraid I cannot," said Mr. Emugham, thinking of 
 Clare. 
 
 " Still our family we are distant kin, you know our 
 family comes of too good a stock to degenerate, and I don't 
 thiuk your foreign journeyings, have hurt you much. The 
 folks all about stand up for you, and have one eternal ob 
 servation, which makes me yawn, about your ' sowing your 
 wild oats.' They always shake their heads when my name 
 is mentioned, and hiut that my crop is always being put in, 
 and never reaped and disposed of." 
 
 " You're better than X am, Jack," said his friend
 
 172 WHAT MR. EFFINGHAM MKANT, WHKN 
 
 " The devil ! no compliments ! If some folks heaid thai, 
 they would dissent most emphatically 1 " 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " All sorts of people, even down to that little chick we 
 were talking of, Kate. By George, sir, you should have 
 heard the eulogy she pronounced in your honor, on the visit 
 I mentioned I made to the Hall ! " 
 
 " What ! little Kate praised" 
 
 " Yes, I should think so : the private impression of any 
 stranger who had heard her, would have been that her illus 
 trious cousin united in his single person all the graces, attrac 
 tions, and virtues of the greatest sages and heroes of modern 
 and ancient times. Of course such extravagance couldn't 
 deceive one who knew you as well as I did 1 " 
 
 Mr. Effingham found himself laughing delightedly, and 
 murmuring, " Darling Kate ! " 
 
 " Well, now, I'm glad to see that my well-meant advice 
 is not needed," continued Hamilton. " You will not go to 
 the ball with Beatrice Hallam ? " 
 
 " No no ; I think I shall go back to the Hall to-day." 
 
 " Good ! Take a seat in my turn-out ! I'm glad you 
 are not going there for there would have come no good 
 from it. Those fellows are very hotbrained." 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " Oh, I was just thinking of what a party of fellows were 
 saying of it," said Hamilton, not reflecting upon his words, 
 or being at all conscious how injudicious they were. " They 
 talked so that I thought I would co'ine and see you." 
 
 " What did they say ? " Mr. Effingham asked, with an 
 imperceptible clouding of the brow. 
 
 " Oh, don't mind them. They got to talking, and said 
 nothing but what was foolish they said that your going 
 with Miss Hallam was out of the question and I agree 
 with them." 
 
 " How out of the question ? " 
 
 " Why, ridiculous. ' 
 
 " Ridiculous ? " 
 
 " Come 1 my dear fellow, don't think of them." 
 
 " But what did they say ? who were they 1 " asked 
 Mr. Effingham, feeling his anger rise at what he regarded aa 
 an impertinent piece of interference with his private affairs
 
 HE SAID THAT THE DIE WAS CAST. 173 
 
 " I will not tell their names," said Hamilton. 
 
 " Well their words, then." 
 
 " Their words ? " 
 
 " Yes ; what did they say of my going to the ball 
 Come, tell me, Hamilton." 
 
 " Well, as I came to tell you, I will," his friend replied 
 thoughtlessly ; " they said it was wrong." 
 
 " Wrong ! " 
 
 " Yes, and ridiculous." 
 
 " Is that all ? " asked Mr. Effingham, with a curling lip. 
 
 " No ! " said Hamilton ; " they got to saying after the 
 third bottle, that they would not permit it by George ! 
 There it is out, fool that I am ! But when did I ever fail 
 to make a fool of myself ! " 
 
 And conscious, too late, of his indiscretion, Mr. Jack 
 Hamilton regarded his own conduct with profound contempt 
 and indignation. He was not far wrong, if this were on the 
 score of discretion : for his last words completely aroused 
 the devil of pride and obstinate wilfulness, which had been 
 put to sleep by those familiar reminiscences of youth and 
 home, and Clare's tenderness Kate's, too. 
 
 " Not permit me to attend the ball with Beatrice Hal 
 lam ! " said Mr. Effingham, with disdainful pride. " By 
 heaven ! I will know who dared to say that 1 " 
 
 " I will not tell you," said Jack Hamilton, stoutly. Mr. 
 Effingham's hand grasped the hilt of his sword. 
 
 " I have been insulted 1 " he said, 
 
 " None was meant." 
 
 " None meant!" 
 
 " I tell you, Champ ; they had all been drinking, and did 
 not know what they said." 
 
 " No man shall insult me, and say he was intoxicated ! 
 I will not take such a lame excuse, 'Hamilton." 
 
 " Come, now challenge me," said his friend, coolly. 
 
 " No ; I shall apply to the proper parties for redress." 
 
 " Of course, I am responsible, Champ. Come, run your 
 short sword through me, and let out the foolish mind which 
 has made me act so childishly ! " 
 
 " Hamilton, you have acted as a real friend," said Mr. 
 Effingham, with a frown. " I hold that no friend should 
 hear another spoken of in such terms, without informing him 
 of the assault upon his honor "
 
 IT4 WHAT MR. EFFINCJH.iM MEANT, WHEN 
 
 ' What assault is there here, in the devil's name ? " 
 
 " They said that my conduct was ridiculous " 
 
 " A mere joke ! " 
 
 " And they the paladins of respectability and chbalry 
 they would not permit me to go to the Governor's ball- 
 to escort Miss Hallam thither. By heaven ! I'll make them 
 repent it." 
 
 " Champ, you are as furious as a Spanish bull you see 
 red at a moment's warning ! Come, moderate your anger.' 
 
 " I am not angry ! " said Mr. Effingham, furiously. 
 
 " Not angry ! " 
 
 " No I am indignant, though ; and I will show these 
 excellent gentlemen that my actions or intentions are not 
 such as concern themselves. I shall find the paladins 1 " 
 
 " How will you ? " 
 
 " Why, I will go to that ball with Miss Hallam, and if 
 any gentleman in the room looks sideways at her or at me, I 
 will call him to account for it. Your bottle critics will not 
 fail to expose themselves ! " 
 
 And Mr. Effingham's lip curled with anger and scorn. 
 
 " Presume to criticise my affairs thus ! " he continued, 
 indignantly, " I am then a child who is to ask permission of 
 these worthy gentlemen these potent, grave, and reverend 
 signers if I chance to feel a wish to escort a lady to a ball ! 
 Yes, a lady, Hamilton ! for by heaven ! I tell you, that Bea 
 trice Hallam is as pure and high-souled as the noblest lady 
 in the land 1 I know her well, and to my cost ; and I tell 
 you that she is the pearl of honor, delicacy, and truth. You 
 may smile, and I know well what causes your mirth. You 
 are thinking of my wild words, that day when I met you 
 going out of town. Well, I was angry that day, because 
 Miss Hallam had received my familiar addresses with proper 
 coldness had repulsed me. She was right and I honor 
 her for it If she scorns me again, I may hate her, and taunt 
 her ; bat at the bottom I respect and honor her. You look 
 at me ironically 1 well, say I do love her say I am infatu 
 ated about her better men have made fools of themselves ! 
 whether that be true or not, one thing is certain, I shall 
 allow no man to make a fool of me ! " 
 
 And Mr. Effingham put his cocked hat on with a move 
 ment which betravcd his anger arrd indignation: he had
 
 HE SAII "5HAT THE DIE WAS OAST. 175 
 
 taken it off during this speech to wipe his brow, moist with 
 perspiration. 
 
 For a moment Hamilton said nothing. 
 
 " Well, Champ," he replied, at length, " I repeat that I 
 was a great fool to tell you this, and I still hope you will re 
 gard these hasty words I have reported to you I did it in 
 the most friendly spirit in the light they should be re 
 garded as the mere idle talk of young men. Come, dis 
 miss your anger, and go back with me. Forget what I have 
 said, and let the matter end." 
 
 Mr. Effingham shook his head, with a frown. 
 
 " It will end otherwise," he said 
 
 " You will not go to the ball ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will." 
 
 " With Miss Hallam ? " 
 
 " With Miss Hallam." 
 
 " It will be a dreadful thing for you : you will be 
 laughed at all over the colony." 
 
 " Let them laugh ! " said Mr. Effingham, dsidainfully. 
 
 " You may even get a dozen duels on your hands." 
 
 " Oh, very well ! very well ! I wish some little excite 
 ment. I have a good deal of time on my hands. I think it 
 highly probable that some chevalier will espouse the cause 
 of outraged society, and avenge its accumulated wrongs upon 
 my insignificant person if I do not give an account of the 
 chivalrous gentleman myself! " added Mr. Effingham, with a 
 scornful pride., Hamilton saw that he had raised a storm 
 beyond his power to quell, and with mingled sorrow, and 
 self-upbraiding, very unusual with him, led the way back to 
 the tavern in silence. 
 
 " Well," he said, as they reached the door, " I have used 
 my best efforts to persuade you to give this up, Champ : you 
 are determined, I see, and I know it is useless to say any 
 more. I have only to add, that as you are alone, and the 
 enemy is numerous, I shall hold myself prepared to espouse 
 your side in any thing which may arise of a hostile character. 
 Good day." 
 
 And the honest fox-hunter, refusing to receive Mr. Effing- 
 ham's assurances of regret, for any thing that he might have 
 said, and declining to enter the tavern, parted from him, with 
 a shake of the hand, full of cordiality and friendship. Mr. 
 Emngham for a moment looked after him with friendly rv
 
 ) 76 IN WHICH PARSON TAG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS. 
 
 gard, then the old gloomy expression usurped its former 
 place upon his visage, and he ascended to his chamber. 
 Kate was not there, and he hurried out to look around for 
 her. He heard voices in Beatrice's room Kate's, he 
 thought; and hastening to the door, opened it just as they 
 were issuing forth as we have seen. What ensued thereon, 
 we have related. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 IN WHICH PARSON TAG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS. 
 
 " IN former pages of this true history, I had occasion to set 
 down a few reflections upon the feelings of my worthy an 
 cestor, Mr. Effingham, when, having been repulsed by the 
 young actress, he rode back to the hall. I come now to say 
 a few brief words of Mr. Charles Waters, another of the 
 characters whose mental development it is my duty to ad 
 vert to. Charles Waters was, as the reader will have per 
 ceived, by nature a student and thinker. Unused from his 
 very childhood to the amusements and employments of his 
 associates, his character had assumed a peculiar mould. To 
 strong feelings he united a cool and self-possessed intellect, 
 and this intellect he had trained by bard study, and long 
 and profound thought. Accustomed to live thus in the past 
 and future, not in the present or if at all in the present, 
 only so far as to examine its bearing on that future he had 
 grown up without experiencing any of those sensations which 
 men generally become acquainted with when they are thrown 
 in contact with the fairer sex. In other words, he had passed 
 his majority without experiencing what is universally known 
 by the name of love. His character had thus become serious, 
 and his countenance habitually wore an expression of thought 
 ful quiet. He seldom laughed, and scarcely ever joined in 
 the rough, jovial converse of his father's guests the boatman 
 Townes and others and though he was greatly beloved by 
 this class of persons, and respected also, this personal popu 
 larity was rather to be attributed to his well-known good 
 ness and nobility of character than his social traits. He
 
 IN WHICH PARSON TAG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS. 177 
 
 had visited the theatre, as we have seen, on the opening 
 night, in compliance with his father's request, not from any 
 motion of his own. His father had imagined that his cheek 
 was pale, his eye mournful, his health injured, by those in 
 cessant explorations into the ruins of systems and nations ; 
 the play, he thought, would be of service to him ; and he 
 had gone, and admired Beatrice Hallam, and felt some in 
 dignation when Mr. Effingham annoyed her and nothing 
 more. Then he had preserved that young woman's life, and 
 there is much of significance in this fact. We experience 
 warm regard toward those we have greatly served a young 
 girl is never afterwards wholly indifferent to the man who 
 has preserved her life. He had felt the truth of this, and 
 required no urging on his father's part to go and inquire 
 how Miss Hallam had borne her accident. We were pre 
 sent at that interview, and were witnesses of the pleased 
 surprise he betrayed at the exhibition by Beatrice of such 
 fresh and virgin innocence and childlike enthusiasm. Ho 
 came away, as we have seen, thinking of her, and thereafter 
 for many days neglected his books, and felt at his heart the 
 new and strange emotion I have spoken of. Then impelled 
 by the desire to see again that enchanting face, hear again 
 the fresh voice, so pure, and loving, and musical, he had 
 gone to town persuading himself that business required his 
 attention there, and at the office of the ' Gazette' encoun 
 tered his friend, who, at the conclusion of their interview, 
 had conveyed to him the intelligence that number seven was 
 occupied by Mr. Effingham. We have seen how his face 
 flushed and his breast labored as in a close atmosphere. He 
 had intended to visit the young girl, but business called him 
 away, and when he had dispatched it, the evening began to 
 draw on, and he was obliged to return homeward. He re 
 turned, then, with that one thought in his brain that one 
 sensation in his heart. Persecuted for this was plainly 
 persecution on Mr. Effinghain's part loved and followed, 
 for this, too, was as plain Beatrice became more dear to 
 him than ever. His breast heaved, his eye flashed, his 
 haughty lip trembled, and he passed a sleepless night think 
 ing of her. Then for th,e first time he started at his own 
 feelings, and he felt his heart throb. He would be her pro 
 tector from that man, who had, on the first evening of her
 
 178 IN WHICH PARSON TAG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS. 
 
 Appearance, annoyed and insulted her ; he would watch over 
 her, find if he really persecuted her yes, and if necessary, 
 avenge her ! Then he stopped, like a horse at full speed 
 suddenly checked by his rider. Where had his imagination 
 borne him what was he dreaming of? What interest had 
 he in this young girl ? say that he had preserved her life, 
 would not any courageous man have done the same ? She 
 was grateful to him for that, there the matter ended ; the 
 service rendered, the thanks returned, what were they fur 
 ther but strangers ? What was he to the young actress ? 
 The young actress ! What could she be to him ? She waM 
 a bird of passage with gorgeous wings, and magical singing, 
 caressed, applauded, swaying all hearts and he, what was 
 he? An obscure man, without name, or wealth, or birth; 
 his station repelled her, as her profession repelled him. 
 
 A thousand thoughts like these chased each other 
 through his mind during the two or three days which fol 
 lowed his interview with the stranger; and then, drawn as 
 by a magical influence he sought Williamsburg again he 
 had an object, too, as will be seen. 
 
 Thus, the writer of the MS. : Charles Waters entered 
 Williamsburg, and, thoughtful and absent, took his way along 
 the main street toward the Raleigh. Suddenly, as he walked 
 on rapidly, he found himself stopped by an obstruction. He 
 raised his head, and found himself in the presence of the man 
 in the red cloak. That gentleman was conversing with no 
 less a personage than Parson Tag ; and when Charles Waters 
 joined them, the parson was about to pass on. He scowled 
 upon the homely-clad man, bowed with patronizing conde 
 scension to the stranger, and with head borne magisterially 
 erect, went down the street. 
 
 " There goes one of the lights of the age one of the 
 pillars of the church," said the stranger, with his habitual 
 coolness, but smiling as he spoke, " the good Parson Tag I 
 The worthy gentleman is indignant to-day, having, from his 
 own account, just quarrelled with his wealthiest parishioner 
 Squire Effingham." 
 
 His companion raised his head at this name : and this 
 movement did not escape the stranger's keen eye. 
 
 " Yes," he added, " there seems to have been some little 
 private matter in tb" busine&s. The squire has a son, my
 
 IN WHICH PARSON TAG APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS. 179 
 
 neighbor at the tavern No. 7, you know and this son, 
 it appears, has been making himself the subject of discussion, 
 for presuming to experience an honest friendship for the 
 young actress, Miss Hallam." 
 
 The stranger did not fail to note the troubled and gloomy 
 look of his listener, as they walked on toward the Raleigh. 
 
 "Well," he continued, "the parson took the liberty of 
 condoling with the worthy squire on thereprobacy of his son 
 and, thereby, excited the rage of his parishioner. High word 
 followed the squire declared, indignantly, that he would 
 permit no one to insult his son in his presence that it was 
 a mere youthful freak on his part and that the Christian 
 religion made it incumbent on all men, especially parsons, 
 to exercise a little of the spirit of forgiveness, or affect the 
 same, if they had it not. Tolerably plain, you observe, that 
 intimation of his excellency, the squire. The interview ended 
 by the parson's getting enraged, and declaring he would no 
 longer live in a parish which was cursed with so unreason 
 able a member and by the squire's replying, with a bow, 
 that his holiness should be called elsewhere, as the parish 
 had long desired. These are pretty nearly the facts of the 
 interview, I suppose sifted from the rubbish and now, it 
 seems to be understood that the good Parson Tag goes to 
 the Piedmont region, and a Mr. Christian an excellent 
 name takes his place. ' A mere milk-and-water family 
 visitor,' says Parson Tag. Ah, these parsons, these parsons ! " 
 
 And the stranger shook his head, in a way which signi 
 fied that the representatives of the established church were 
 far from occupying a distinguished place in his regards. 
 Charles Waters had listened to this account with a troubled 
 expression, which did not escape the stranger. The name 
 of Effingham evidently excited some painful emotion and 
 he remained silent, until they reached the Raleigh. He 
 inquired for Miss Hallam. She was not at the tavern, but 
 would probably come in soon. He turned away. 
 
 He was diverted from his absorbing thought, by feeling 
 the arm of the stranger in his own. 
 
 " Come," said his companion, " as I suppose you will 
 wait, in view of the fact, that a lady is in the question let 
 us sit down here on the porch, the sun is warm and pleasant. 
 Perhaps we may wile away a tedious moment. I leave thil 
 place to-day, and may not see you again for years."
 
 180 IN WHICH PARSON TAG APPBAS.S AND DISAPPEARS. 
 
 Charles Waters sat down by the stranger. 
 
 " What a singular race these parsons are," said the man in 
 the red cloak ; " come, dismiss your meditations, companion, 
 and listen to me. What do you think of them ? " 
 
 " There are many worthy, not a few unworthy," said his 
 companion, absently. 
 
 " True : but as they are an important element of our 
 society, it seems to me that the proportion of the unworthy 
 is too great." 
 
 " Yes, sir : they are a very influential class," said the 
 other, endeavoring to banish his thoughts. 
 
 " And wealthy." 
 
 " Many I believe are." 
 
 " They love their tobacco salary but after all we can 
 not complain of them. They are necessary, just as it is 
 necessary to have a class that rules and a class which 
 obeys." 
 
 " That is true in a very limited sense, sir." 
 
 " Why, we of the lower orders must look up to the 
 gentlemen : fustian cannot rub against velvet. The wealthy 
 gentleman and the poor laborer cannot associate with each 
 other. One rolls in his chariot, the other digs in the field, 
 and admires the grand machine rolling on with its liveried 
 coachman, and glossy four-in-hand. The necessity of the 
 thing is as plain as the fact, that we envy these lords of 
 creation." 
 
 " We should not, sir." 
 
 " Pshaw ! whether we should or not, we always will 
 envy and hate them. We are poor and obscure ; they are 
 distinguished and wealthy. Could a clearer case be made 
 out ? " 
 
 Charles Waters looked at his interlocutor with the same 
 expression, as on a former occasion, when the stranger had 
 Baid, " All men are false." 
 
 " To envy those fortunate possessors of wealth and ease, 
 sir, is neither liberal nor true philosophy," he said. " True, 
 there are classes, and must ever be, in some form ; but 
 the poor are not, and should not be the enemies of the rich 
 beyond all, they should not base such enmity upon the 
 ground that the gifts of fortune are unequally divided. 
 What a world we should have if that ^vere so ! We havo
 
 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK CAUGHT. 181 
 
 here in Virginia all grades of wealth and rank, from that negro 
 yonder rubbing down his horse, to Governor Fauquier in his 
 palace. We have first, the rude ignorant servant indented 
 for a term of years, and almost an appendage of the glebe 
 almost as much a slave as the negro. Then the coarse 
 overseer, scarcely better. Then the small merchant, factor, 
 and the yeoman, plain in manners, often very ignorant but 
 a step higher. Then the well-to-do farmer. Lastly, the 
 great landed proprietors, with thousands of acres and negroes, 
 wearing velvet and riding in chariots, as you say. Well, 
 now sir, apply your philosophy ! Let the well-to-do farmer 
 hate the great wealthy gentleman the common yeoman hate 
 the farmer and the gentleman the overseer hate all three 
 and the indented servant, following the example of his bet 
 ters, hate all four of them, where would the clashing of these 
 complex hatreds, these inimical and bitter envyings, have 
 their termination? No, sir," said Charles Waters, raising 
 his noble head, and speaking in that earnest and persuasive 
 voice, which it was hard to resist being moved and convinced 
 by even by its very intonation " No, sir : believe me- - 
 these harsh and bitter feelings retard the advance of our 
 race, rather than forward its destiny. No sir no 1 hatred 
 is not the element of progress, as envy and uncharitableness 
 are not the precursors of liberty 1 " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 HOW THE MAN IN THE BED CLOAK THREW HIS NET, AND WHAT 
 HE CAUGHT. 
 
 THE stranger was silent for some moments, then, drawing his 
 old red cloak around him, he said : 
 
 " Liberty ! Well, that is a great word ; but, unfortu 
 nately, it is also one of those nobly-sounding terms which 
 fill the ears only, never jonveying to the brain much more 
 than a vague and doubtful meaning. What is liberty ? 
 True, I ask you to answer a hard question ; but you have 
 drawn it upon yourself, companion, by your anomalous and 
 contradictory statement* "
 
 .82 WHAT THE iAtt IN THE RED CLOAK CAUGHT. 
 
 " How contradictory, sir ? " said his companion, losing 
 his absent-mindedness, and looking earnestly at the stranger. 
 
 " Why," replied the man in the red cloak, coolly, 
 " nothing could well be more paradoxical than your views. 
 You agree that there are classes here, and elsewhere, sepa 
 rated by unreasonable distinctions, holding, as regards each 
 other, unjust positions. You do not deny that we we, the 
 common people are the mere hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water for our masters, and, when I chance to say what ia 
 perfectly reasonable and natural, namely, that we must hate 
 and envy these dons, why. you answer, ' No, no ; envy and 
 hatred are not the elements of progress, the forerunners of 
 liberty.' I say, they rule us ! the wealthy gentlemen, the 
 house of burgesses, the English parliament why not hate 
 and envy, and, if necessary, match ourselves force for force 
 against them, and see if we cannot achieve this noble end 
 you speak of liberty ! " 
 
 u Because force the blind force of envy and hatred, 
 striking in the dark, and without thought is the mere 
 movement of the brute, who closes his eyes, and tears, with 
 out seeing, whatever comes beneath his paws. No, sir ! 
 before we can overturn parliaments, and dictate laws, we 
 must mould public opinion." 
 
 " Public opinion ? What is that ? " 
 
 " It is the great unseen power which governs the world." 
 
 " Oh yes ; the opinion of kings and autocrats. Now I 
 understand." 
 
 " No, not of kings and autocrats of common men, the 
 masses ! The calm, just judgment, formed in silence, and 
 without prejudice, of those men and things which figure on 
 the great stage of life. Not the mere impulses of envy and 
 hatred, any more than the jealousy of rank, but the cool, 
 deliberate weighing of events and personages in the scales 
 of eternal justice." 
 
 " Fine words. Well, then, you would not overthiow the 
 present state of things ; or, perhaps, you are well content 
 with the social organization of this colony. We must not 
 hate, we must not envy all is for the best 1 " 
 
 " No, sir, all is not for the best ; far from it." 
 
 " It seems to me that we are wandering in our ideas, and 
 liable to misunderstand each other. Let us see, now explain.
 
 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAfc CAUGHT. 183 
 
 You are more or less dissatisfied with the present position 
 of things ; but you like the gentry, the Established Church, 
 you admire the traditions of feudalism, and revere his gra 
 cious majesty King George. Eh? Come, let us know if 
 you do not ? " 
 
 " We must have misunderstood each other, indeed, sir. 
 I would overthrow or, at least, materially change all that 
 you have mentioned." 
 
 " What, the gentry the church the king ? Treason ! ' 
 
 " That cry does not daunt me, sir." 
 
 " Beware ; I shall inform on you, and his majesty will 
 send for you to come and visit his handsome residence, called 
 the Tower." 
 
 " Let me explain, briefly, what I mean, and meant," said 
 his companion, too gloomy to relish these pleasantries of the 
 stranger. " You have misunderstood me wholly you would 
 say that I am an advocate of the present, with all its injus 
 tice, its wrong, its oppression ; and, that, because I am not 
 willing to go and turn out proprietors of great landed estates, 
 at the point of the bayonet ; shatter those splendid mirrors, 
 which reflect gold, and velvet, and embroidery, with a pistol's 
 muzzle ; organize the lower class, with bludgeons, hay-forks, 
 cleavers, knives, and scythes, against the gentlemen, who roll 
 in coaches, and eat from gold and silver plate you would 
 say, that, because these revolutionary proceedings, the off 
 spring of envy and hatred, are not to my taste, I am an ad 
 vocate of those oppressions, those bitter wrongs, inflicted on 
 the commons by the gentry. No, sir ! I am not an advo 
 cate of them; I know them too well. I have studied, as 
 far as possible, with a calm mind, an unbiassed judgment, 
 this vestige of feudalism which curses us, and I have found, 
 every where, as in the old feudal system, wrong, oppres 
 sion, a haughty and unchristian pride of rank, and birth, 
 and wealth " 
 
 " Good, good," said the stranger, no longer interrupting 
 his companion. 
 
 " An unjustifiable pride ! an unchristian arrogance, 
 scorning charity, humility, all that Christ inculcated, as so 
 much weakness ! " continued the thinker, in his noble and 
 earnest voice ; " I find it here, as I find it in the history of 
 England, of France, of Germany, of the whole feudal world ;
 
 !4 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK CAUGHT. 
 
 among the gentry of to-day, as the nobles of the middle age ? 
 Q-o back to that middle age see the great lord passing in 
 his splendid armor, and surcoat of cloth of gold, on his glos 
 sy charger, followed by his squires, his men-at-arms, while 
 the battlements of his great castle ring with trumpets, greet 
 ing his return : see the serf there in the shadow of the wall, 
 with the ring around his neck, with his wooden shoes, his 
 goatskin covering swarthy, with his shaggy beard, his brow 
 covered with perspiration, as becomes the villein, his cere 
 bral conformation, as he takes off his greasy cap to lout low 
 to his master, like the head of the wolf, the jackall, the 
 hyena. That serf is no longer a man he is a wild beast, 
 with strong muscles and sinews like rope, who will fight well 
 in the field, and be cut to pieces cheerfully, while his master 
 reaps undying renown, covered by his proof armor of Milan 
 yes, he will fight and toil, and go home and kiss his chil 
 dren in their mud hovel but he is not a man : his lord is a 
 man how can he be of the same race as that splendid and 
 haughty chevalier, honored by kings and emperors for his 
 deeds of chivalry, smiled on by fair ladies every where, like 
 the noble dame who reigns in yonder castle with him. True, 
 the serf has legs and arms, and his blood, strange to say, is 
 much the color of the great seigneur's but they do not be 
 long to the same race of animals. They both feel it are 
 convinced of it. When my lord passes, see the back bent 
 down ; the eyes abased, as in the presence of the God of 
 Day the dog-like submission, when harsh words are uttered 
 by the seigneur to his animal. The serf does not dream of 
 there being any impropriety in all this it is a part of the 
 order of things that he should be a wild beast, his lord a 
 splendid, noble chevalier, glittering with stars, and clad in 
 soft silk and velvet. He always submits : he is a part of 
 the glebe, the stock like the horse, the hound, the hawk. 
 Does the seigneur wish some amusement for his noble 
 guests ? the boor comes, and with another of his class 
 cudgels away in the court-yard, until he is covered with 
 bruises, and falls or conquers : and the noble lords and 
 ladies, glittering like stars in the balcony, throw largesse to 
 the knaves, who lout humbly, and go down to their proper 
 place the kitchen. " There is the past, sir ! look at it ! "
 
 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK CAUGHT. 185 
 
 The stranger nodded. 
 
 fi You don't like feudalism," he said. 
 
 " It makes me shudder, sir." 
 
 " How ? why it's dead ! " 
 
 " No : it is alive." 
 
 " Alive, say you ? " 
 
 " To this very day and hour." 
 
 " What ? in full force ? " 
 
 " No, sir not in full force : far from it. But in a de 
 gree, at least, it exists." 
 
 " Hum ! you are a metaphysician." 
 
 " No, sir, I am practical." 
 
 " You are a dreamer 1 " 
 
 Waters sighed. 
 
 " I thought you dreamed as I did," he said. 
 
 " Perhaps I do who knows ? " 
 
 Waters was silent. 
 
 " Define your idea," said the stranger. " I understand 
 you to say and we won't discuss the subject that this 
 thing we call feudalism which has come in for so much 
 abuse from you, still exists in a degree ? Come ! let us see 
 how it looks in Virginia." 
 
 " We have but the shadow thank God, the edifice has 
 crumbled in part : but the flanking towers remain, and that 
 shadow still lies like gloom upon the land. See how human 
 thought is still warped and darkened by it how rank and 
 unwholesome weeds possess the earth ! " 
 
 " Hoot out these weeds, then begin ! Hurl down these 
 towers which shut out the sunlight, your historical reading 
 must have told you of the Jacquerie ! " 
 
 " Yes, sir ! and I have seen -how that rising led to worse 
 evils than before, for hatred was added to contempt. No, 
 to attack this still vigorous remnant of feudalism, something 
 besides hammers and pickaxes are necessary ; gunpowder, 
 even, will not blow it into atoms 1 " 
 
 " What, then ? " 
 
 The winds of Heaven ! God will strike it ; he has 
 thrown down the donjon keep, where captives gnashed their 
 teeth and cursed and blasphemed in darkness ; he will alsc
 
 86 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK CAUGHT. 
 
 level with the ground what remains of the great blot upoi 
 the landscape 1 " 
 
 " Figures, figures 1 " said the stranger ; " come, let us 
 have ideas 1 " 
 
 " By the winds of Heaven the breath of God I mean 
 those eternally progressive steps of mind, which go from 
 doubt to certainty, from certainty to indignation, from indig 
 nation to revolution ! " 
 
 " Very well ; now we get on firm ground again. We 
 meet and shake hands over that toast, ' Revolution ! ' " 
 
 " Understand me ; revolution is not a slight thing. It 
 levels many valuable things, as the hurricane and the tem 
 pest of rain sweeps away much more than the accumulated 
 rubbish. Revolution, sir, is the last thing of all the tor 
 nado which clears the poisonous atmosphere, cannot be 
 loosed every day or year, for the land is strewed with ruins 
 by it. The slow steps of public opinion must be hastened, 
 the soil prepared for the seed, the distance made plain, the 
 body armed then, if it is necessary, the conflict." 
 
 " Ah, you come back to your ideas upon education, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I would unfetter the mind." 
 
 " Enlighten it ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I would teach the great mass of the people, 
 that God made this world, not man ; that wrong and oppres 
 sion is not the normal state of human things ; I would point 
 out all th> falseness, I would point to the lash-marks on the 
 back ; I would, if necessary, pour brine into those bleeding 
 furrows ! " 
 
 " Yes, and drive to madness to what you deprecate, 
 mad violence 1 " 
 
 " No 1 for minds would be enlightened, men would see 
 and seeing, they would wait. I would have them know 
 when to strike ; I would organize in their minds an oppo 
 sition, quiet, stubborn, unbending, never-sleeping ; a confi 
 dence in time, faith in the ultimate intervention of God 
 using them as his instruments." 
 
 " You generalize too much," said the stranger ; " let us 
 come now to Virginia, at this day and hour. Let us see 
 what are the great abuses. Speak 1 " 
 
 " First, an established church, which dictates religious 
 opinion forces itself upon all the community, armed with 
 the terrors of the law-"
 
 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLCAK CAUGHT. 187 
 
 " Yes, that is just ; and I promise you something will 
 l*e said soon about the twopenny-act. Well, the church I 
 What else ? " 
 
 " The offspring of that feudalism I have spoken of 
 aristocracy I " 
 
 " Yes, ' power of the best ; ' that is, the wealthiest. 
 What next ? " 
 
 " Laws, without representation ! " said his companion, 
 compressing in these short words the great popular griev 
 ance of the age. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the stranger, with a grim smile, " there is 
 something in that, too. What more ? " 
 
 " What more ? Is it not enough, sir, for the Established 
 Church to wring from you, whether you conform or not, 
 support for its ministers to stuff itself and its tenets down 
 your throat ? is it not bad enough for the house of bur 
 gesses to legislate for the great landed proprietors alone, 
 who form the body, ignoring the very existence of the com 
 mon man, who has no vote ? is any thing more needed to 
 make us slaves, than laws passed in the English parliament, 
 crushing our trade, our very lives, without representatives 
 of us there in council ? " 
 
 " I confess that seems to me quite enough," said the 
 stranger ; " and this great, oppressive, intolerant church 
 this haughty arrogance of rank lastly, that English law 
 lessness, seem to me to constitute a case of mortification 
 gangrene to be burnt out by the hot iron of revolution ! " 
 
 " No ! it has not gone far enough yet ; let us advance 
 step by step. At present we contemplate that great, intole 
 rant, bigoted establishment with respect and awe ; we bow 
 to the grand chariot, doffing our caps ; we search in our 
 minds for what will justify that oppression of Parliament J 
 we are not convinced that this great triple wrong is a wrong. 
 We doubt ; let us scan the matter calmly dispassionately 
 investigate the nature of things ; let us educate our minds, we 
 common people, and with the calm, unobscured eyes of truth, 
 test the error. We will not say to the parsons, ' Off with 
 you, you are the vermin of a rotten system, you shall not 
 tyrannize over us 1 ' No, let us, with the Bible in our hands, 
 and God in our hearts, say, ' We come to try you, we coma 
 to know whether you are false and bigoted, or true au4
 
 188 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK CAUGHT. 
 
 " Yes," said the stranger, " and those worthy gentle 
 men, who procured benefices by marrying the cast-off mis 
 tresses of lords, will, with one voice, for about the space pf 
 two hours, cry, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians 1 W 
 are holy, pure, and immaculate ! ' What, then ? " 
 
 " Reason ! the light of education still ! flooding the whole 
 system, lighting up every hidden crypt ! " 
 
 " Good ! And you would apply these fine ideas to the 
 aristocracy, too ?" 
 
 " Yes. I would have men scan that system also ; not 
 strike it blindly ; I would have them come with the law of 
 nature in their hands, the evangel of truth and justice, and 
 say, ' Show us what you are. Show us if you are really 
 our natural and rightful superiors. Show us whether those 
 titles you derive from kings, are like the authority of those 
 kings, derived, as they say, from God, and so, just and right. 
 Show us if you are really superior beings, because you de 
 scend from the knights of the middle age we inferior to 
 you, your born slaves, because we draw our blood from 
 the serf who tilled the glebe below your grandsire's castle 
 walls. Show us if this mysterious sentiment of awe we feel 
 in your presence, is direct from the Deity, planted thus in 
 us to make us keep our places ; or, whether it is the mere 
 tradition of the past, the echo of injustice, the shadow of 
 that monstrous oppression of the dark ages, yet lying on our 
 souls ? " 
 
 " Very well and what then ? " said the stranger. 
 " Why, these worthy gentlemen would reply, ; Friends, the 
 distinction of classes is absolutely necessary; some must 
 rule, others obey ; some wear fustian, others velvet ; some 
 must ride in coaches, and eat from gold plate, others jog along 
 in the dust of the highway, eat their brown bread and swill 
 their muddy ale. Order is heaven's first law. Come, now, 
 and listen to this splendid passage from Shakspeare, about 
 degrees in a state ; it is there, in that volume with a gilt 
 back iu the gothic book-case don't muddy the carpet with 
 your dirty brogues, or stumble over that damask chair in 
 reaching it. Very welL Now, listen ! Can any thing be 
 more just than these views ? Some must be great, others 
 small ; one must vote, another be denied that privilege. We 
 are gentlemen, you commouors. Can any thing be plainer,
 
 WHAT THE MAN IN THE RED CLOAK CAUGHT. 189 
 
 than that we should have the offices and honors, live easily, 
 and sustain our proper rank, while you till the glehe, and 
 leave your interests in our hands ? ' That is what they would 
 say what then ? " 
 
 " Reason, again 1 " said his companion ; " reason, turning 
 away from the dazzling pageant, stopping the ears to shut 
 out the rumbling of the coach and six, forgetting the past 
 and questioning that great evangel of right open in their 
 hands reason, which should weigh and test, and try the 
 whole system by the rules of a stern, inexorable logic." 
 
 " I admire your logic ! and you think that it would ap 
 ply to English legislation on Virginia matters ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I would remonstrate, petition, debate with Par 
 liament; I would exhaust every means of testing and over 
 throwing this cruel and bitter wrong ; I would ask for light 
 ask nothing but that right should be made manifest I 
 would go to the foot of the throne, and say, ( Justice, justice, 
 nothing but justice, as a British subject as one laboring 
 under wrong 1 ' " 
 
 The stranger's lip curled. 
 
 " Well, your system is now tolerably plain," he said. 
 " You would go and ask the parsons to tell you if they are 
 in truth, pure and immaculate you would ask the gentry if 
 they really are the distinguished gentlemen they pretend to 
 be you would fall at the feet of King George, and sue for 
 leave to argue the matter of taxation with his gracious Ma 
 jesty ! Very well. Now, suppose it is a very extrava 
 gant supposition, I know, and springs, no doubt, from my 
 irreverent, incredulous, and obstinate prejudices suppose, I 
 say, that the worthy parsons thus adjured, as to their purity, 
 were to tell you that they were the salt of the earth, and 
 that your question was an impertinence ; suppose if you can 
 suppose such an incredible thing that the wealthy gentle 
 man tells you that he is your born lord, and that he will 
 commit you in his quality of justice of the peace, for misde 
 meanor, should you intrude upon him again with your 
 wretched folly ; suppose his gracious Majesty were to re 
 move your humble petition with his royal foot, bidding 
 you begone, and learn that when money was wanted to sup 
 port his splendor, you were to sweat and pay it, and be 
 silent on pain of being whipped in by armed soldiers ; sup-
 
 190 IN WHICH BEATRICE A.ETURN8. 
 
 pose these disagreeable incidents greeted your philanthrope 
 exertions what then ? " 
 
 " Then, revolution ! revolution, if that revolution waded 
 in blood ! " cried his companion, carried away by his fiery 
 thoughts, and losing all his calmness and self-control ; " revo 
 lution, with God for our judge ! history for our vindication 
 If, after all their sufferings, all their wrongs, all the injusticft 
 of long years, of centuries, the prayers of humanity were 
 thus answered revolution ! A conflict, bitter, desperate, 
 unyielding, to the death ! A conflict which should root out 
 these foul and monstrous wrongs, or exterminate us ! A 
 revolution, which should attack and overwhelm for ever, or 
 be itself overwhelmed ! That is the hurricane I spoke of, 
 sir 1 If God decrees it, let it come 1 " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 IN WHICH BEATRICE RETURNS. 
 
 WITH head erect, brows flushed, eyes clear and fiery, lips 
 still agitated by the tumult of thought, the speaker was 
 silent. His eyes then turned toward the stranger. 
 
 A singular alteration seemed to have taken place in his 
 features, and the expression of grandeur and majesty which 
 illuminated the rugged features, usually so cold, was start 
 ling. 
 
 The stranger's expression was so noble, his eye so bright 
 and proud, his whole manner so completely changed, that 
 his companion found himself gazing at him with an astonish 
 ment which he could not suppress. 
 
 " Pardon me, sir," said the man in the red cloak, in a 
 voice of noble courtesy, strongly in contrast with his habitual 
 roughness ; " pardon me for the manner in which I have 
 seemed to sift your opinions, and provoke a collision of your 
 ideas with my own, in this and our former interviews. It ia 
 one of the bad habits which I acquired in a country store, 
 and I find myself now its slave since the temptation to 
 open and study that grand volume, human nature, wherever 
 I find it, has become irresistible. In your case, I have been
 
 IN WHICH BEATRICE RETURNS. 191 
 
 instructed and interested ; and though I say with a frank 
 ness which you may consider rude, that I have thought most 
 of your thoughts before still, sir, permit me to return you 
 my thanks for an honor and a pleasure." 
 
 The haughtiest nobleman in the world would not have 
 found in these words, uttered by the coarsely-clad stranger 
 on the rude tavern porch, to a man of the people like him 
 self, any thing to cater to his laughter or amusement ; for 
 the man in the red cloak seemed no longer to be coarsely 
 dressed ; his pronunciation no longer appeared vicious and 
 incorrect ; the very porch of the tavern seemed to be trans 
 formed by his magical voice and look into a palace portico. 
 
 " In all your views I concur," continued the stranger, 
 " and your ideas are mine. God himself placed us in the 
 condition we both find ourselves in, that mind might speak 
 to mind, freely, sympathetically, with that frankness and 
 plainness from which Truth springs, armed, ready for the 
 conflict." 
 
 " Yes, sir," continued the stranger, with that high and 
 proud look which his companion had observed once in a 
 former interview. " Yes, sir! this Virginia of 1763 is in 
 an unhappy state ! Social organization to-day, with the in 
 fluences that environ it, is one of those phenomena which 
 occur but once in a century. On all sides murmurs, mut- 
 terings as of an approaching storm ! Men doubtful of the 
 ground they walk on new ideas dazzling them old institu 
 tions crumbling the hand upon the wall tracing, in fiery 
 letters, the mysterious future that future crammed with 
 storms groaning like a womb which holds the destiny of 
 humanity ! The heavens are dark, the ways we tread 
 devious and full of hidden snares. England, our tender 
 mother, might say, who planted them ? For England, from 
 whose loins we sprung, has cursed us ! like a stepmother, 
 she has struck, with a bitter and remorseless hatred, those 
 who would be her children 1 She cursed us with this race 
 of Africans who are eating us up and ruining us, and some 
 day, in the blind convulsions of her rage, she will taunt us 
 bitterly for asking what we do not grant ourselves for de 
 manding freedom, when our arms are holding down a race 
 human as ourselves ! Let her gnash her teeth in impotent 
 and irrational complaint ! let her complain, we will not ;
 
 192 a* WHICH BEATRICE RETURNS. 
 
 for God decreed that she herself, black with crime and in 
 justice, should be the means of bringing hither this race, 
 that in the future Christianity should dawn on that vast con 
 tinent of Africa that land where the very air seems tainted 
 with paganism where the very palms which wave their long 
 plumes on the ocean breeze seem celebrating some horrible 
 rite ! No ; this is not the head and front of the accusation 
 which, in the name of justice and humanity, we bring against 
 England. She has thrust upon us her despotic regulations. 
 She has contracted suffrage. She has given to Lord Cul- 
 peper the whole territory from the mouth of the Rappa- 
 hannock to the sources of the Potomac enthroned him a 
 prince and king over us ! She has crushed our commerce 
 by navigation laws which are so odious and unrighteous that 
 jhe very instruments of her tyranny shrink from enforcing 
 them ! With a blind, remorseless hatred a policy destitute 
 of reason as it is foul with injustice and wrong she has 
 bound on this poor laboring brute, Virginia, burdens which 
 crush her, under which she staggers, groaning, and tearing 
 herself with rage, terror, and despair ! She has made for 
 herself a gospel whose commandments are ' Thou shalt 
 steal ' ' Thou shalt bear false witness against thy neigh 
 bor' 'Thou sbalt have no other god but George II I.' She 
 has gone on from wrong to wrong, from injustice to injustice, 
 until like those unhappy creatures whom the gods intend to 
 strike, she has grown mad, lost her brain, her reason, braced 
 herself to rush upon an obstacle which will hurl her back, as 
 a wave of the ocean is hurled back from the cliff of eternal 
 stone ! Yes, sir, that empire rushes upon what will tame 
 her 1 Already she speaks of an act decreeing that a stamp 
 shall be placed upon every instrument written or printed of 
 human affairs. Journals, deeds, conveyances pleadings in 
 law, bills of lading on the marriage contract, and the bill 
 for the headstone nothing to be operative without that 
 stamp ! Well, sir, that act will make the cup filled with the 
 bittor and poisonous draught run over that law will make 
 the infuriated animal, thrown on her knees, rise up, and 
 then, sir, God alone knows where things will end 1 You wish 
 to wait and let the old world pass away by virtue of its in 
 herent decay, its immemorial rottenness you would have 
 the crumbling monument of wrong fall slowly, stone by
 
 tN WHICH BEATRICE RETURNS. 193 
 
 tone, as the winds and rain descend upon it year after year ! 
 Such will not be the event, sir ! The tornado you spoke of 
 will bring down that godless monument, at one blow, with 
 a crash that will startle nations ! And do not think that 
 this is not as legitimately God's act as the slow ruin you 
 advocate. That Great Being unlooses the hurricane of re 
 volution as easily as he sends the zephyr to cool the cheek, 
 each in its place ! the hurricane here ! You may even now 
 scent the odor of the storm ! " 
 
 And the stranger rose with such grandeur in his visage, 
 such majesty in his attitude, such a clear fire in his proud 
 eyes, which seemed to plunge into the mysterious future, and 
 see with the vision of a prophet all which that future was to 
 bring, that his companion felt himself overwhelmed, he knew 
 not how, carried away in spite of himself. 
 
 " It is coming ! " continued he, with indescribable gran 
 deur in voice and countenance and attitude ; " the storm which 
 will topple down the edifice of fraud and lies, which has so 
 long shamed the sunlight ! in that storm old things shall 
 pass away, and behold ! all things shall become new. The old 
 world is decayed, she totters on the brink of the abyss pre 
 pared for her : she rushes on, blindly, full of curses, and 
 hatred the gulf yawns let her foot trip, she is swallowed 
 up for ever ! " 
 
 And the brilliant eye seemed to grow brighter still, the 
 voice became more clear and strong. The rude visage of the 
 speaker glowed as if the light of a great conflagration stream 
 ed upon it. His stature seemed almost to grow before his 
 companion's eyes, and become gigantic, his two hands to be 
 filled with thunderbolts ! 
 
 " Yes, sir ! yes ! " he exclaimed, " the storm comes ! 
 the tocsin of a revolution is already being sounded ! Ere 
 long the clash of arms will fall upon our ears, the sound of 
 firearms and the roar of cannon. War and storm, tempest 
 and hurricane, are waiting, like hounds held back by the leash, 
 to burst upon this land. Let it come ! let the storm roar, 
 the lightning flash, the waves roll mountain high God still 
 directs that storm, and will fight for us ! Let the bloody 
 dogs of war be loosed, let them dye their sharp fangs in 
 blood, they shall not daunt u\ I repeat it, sir, let it come ! 
 
 9
 
 194 HOW BEATRICE PRAYED FOR STRENGTH 
 
 I, for one, will grapple with the monster, and strangle or b 
 strangled by him I Liberty or death 1 " 
 
 And the man in the red cloak, with a gesture of over 
 whelming grandeur, stood silent, motionless, his eyes on fire, 
 his hands clenched as though the struggle depicted by his 
 brilliant and fiery imagination were about to begin. Charles 
 Waters, carried away by his tremendous passion could make 
 no reply, and they both remained silent. 
 
 The stranger wiped his brow, and drew his cloak around 
 him : then gazing on his companion with an expression of 
 nobility and pride, which glowed in his eyes and filled them 
 with light, said : 
 
 " And now, sir, we must part. I go hence to day, hav 
 ing yesterday been retained in an important cause in Hano 
 ver county, Drought by the Reverend Mr. Maury against 
 the collector. I am for the defendant, and must prepare 
 myself for a hard struggle. Permit me again to thank you, 
 sir, for many hours of your company. I repeat, that you 
 have done me a pleasure, and an honor : for I find in you a 
 mind clear and strong, competent to test, to sift, to grasp, 
 to wield those new ideas which will change the world. Do 
 not dream that we will pass through the years, directly fol 
 lowing this, without convulsions and a conflict, such as the 
 world has never seen. Prepare yourself, put on your armor, 
 get ready ! For my part, I ask in that inevitable conflict, 
 no better companion. These are no idle words, sir. I shall 
 call upon you, and am well convinced, that my call will not 
 be in vain ! " 
 
 And bowing with lofty courtesy, the stranger entered the 
 tavern. At the same moment the footfall of a horse at 
 tracted the attention of Charles Waters, and looking up, he 
 saw Beatrice Hallam, who had stopped before the inu, 
 mounted as usual on her tall white horse. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 HOW BEATRICE PEATED FOR STRENGTH TO RESIST HERSELF. 
 
 HE rose and went toward the young girl, walking as in * 
 dream. Those magical accents of the stranger's voice were
 
 TO RESIST HERSELF. 195 
 
 gtill ringing in his ears he almost thought he heard the 
 roar of thunder, and the crashing of the sea the air almost 
 seemed alive with lightning flashes. For thunder, lightning, 
 and a stormy ocean, seemed to be the elements of that grand, 
 fiery oratory. 
 
 But he soon found this preoccupation put to rout by 
 something more powerful than the grandest eloquence, the 
 most overpowering oratory a young girl's eyes. Slowly, 
 his great thoughts fled away from his mind the fate of Vir 
 ginia was forgotten mind beat an ignominious retreat, and 
 the heart knew of but one object in the universe, a fresh, 
 bright face that smiled upon him, a mild, tender pair of 
 eyes, that filled with happy light when they fell upon him. 
 He assisted the young girl to the ground quietly : neither 
 spoke, but their eyes were more eloquent than any words 
 could have been. On their last meeting, Beatrice had has 
 tened forward, exclaiming, " I am very glad to see you ! " 
 and now, when day after day, and night after night, she had 
 thought of him with inexpressible tenderness, and come to 
 feel, indeed, that her life was illuminated by a new, unim- 
 agined glory now she did not assure him that she was glad 
 to see him. The human heart in 1 763 was much the same 
 as at present, the reader will perceive. 
 
 So without speaking, she passed in and he followed her, 
 with no need of invitation in words : her eyes said all and 
 they entered the little apartment which had witnessed so 
 many memorable scenes. Then for the first time Beatrice 
 taking off her little hat, and throwing back her beautifu. 
 hair, which had become loose, said : 
 
 "Oh, you have been away so long ! You promised to 
 come often I " 
 
 How could he resist that earnest tender voice how feel 
 any more sorrow or disquiet how prevent his heart from 
 beating more rapidly, as these soft words sank into it. 
 
 " Indeed, I have not kept my promise," he said, with 
 that gentleness and softness, which at times characterized 
 his voice, " but fate has seemed to decree that we should not 
 meet." 
 
 " That was very naughty in fate ! " said Beatrice, with 
 a winning little smile, " because we are good friends, yoi 
 knaw."
 
 16 HOW BEATRICE PRAYED FOR STRENGTH 
 
 And the soft voice trembled with its depth of meaning. 
 
 " Indeed, I can answer for myself," he said, sitting 
 down. 
 
 " And I do not think I need say any thing for my part," 
 answered Beatrice; "you saved my life." 
 
 And again, the tender eyes dwelt <or a moment on his 
 face, and were cast down. 
 
 " You have not forgotten that yet ? " 
 
 " No how could I ? " 
 
 " Well, well, pray do not speak of it again. Has you! 
 wetting caused you any inconvenience ? I hope not." 
 
 " Only a little cough but I have not coughed a bit to 
 day." 
 
 With which, as if to improve the portion still remaining, 
 the young girl began to cough, but with no violence. 
 
 " You see I began just because I boasted," she said, 
 smiling. " Is Mr. Waters well ? " 
 
 " Yes, very well." 
 
 " He was very kind to me," said Beatrice, gratefully , 
 " please give him my best love." 
 
 And, without being conscious of any reason for it, she 
 blushed, and turned away. It is probable that something 
 similar to what was passing in her mind, passed in the heart 
 of her companion also, for his countenance brightened, and 
 grew very tender. 
 
 " My father sent you his best regards," he said, " and I 
 came for the purpose of bringing them. I must confess, 
 however, that I was somewhat selfish " 
 
 Selfish ? " 
 
 " Yes ; since I promised myself the pleasure of seeing 
 you." 
 
 " Oh," said Beatrice, " please, don't let us make any 
 polite speeches to each other." 
 
 " But, indeed, that is not mere courtesy ; it is the truth," 
 he replied. " I had such a quiet, friendly talk, when I was 
 here before, that I wished to keep my promise, to visit you 
 every day." 
 
 He had paused slightly before the word " friendly," and, 
 conscious of the reason, avoided the frank, tender eyes. 
 
 " Why did you stay away so long, then ? " she said ; " in- 
 deed, I kav longed to see yu."
 
 TO RESIST HERSELF. 19? 
 
 These words were uttered with great simplicity, and with 
 that childlike frankness, which was one of the young girl's 
 most striking traits of character. One would have said 
 that she was so innocent and truthful, that she could not 
 school herself with forms ; and such, indeed, was the case. 
 Beatrice was no longer the actress, in his society ; she was 
 the young, girlish being we have seen shouting after the sea 
 gulls, and said, " Indeed, I have longed to see you," without 
 a thought of any impropriety. 
 
 " Fate would not let me come, as I said," he replied, 
 smiling ; " but, now I have conquered destiny, and bring 
 you, not only my father's regards, and my own good wishes, 
 but a trinket, which, I fancy, must belong to you. The ini 
 tials upon it must be those of your mother." 
 
 Beatrice rose quickly, and ran up to him. 
 
 " Oh, have you got it ? " she cried. 
 
 He smiled, and taking from his pocket a small locket of 
 gold, attached to a narrow blue ribbon, handed it to her. 
 Beatrice took it quickly, and with an eagerness which be 
 trayed the importance she attached to it. 
 
 "Oh, I am so glad!" she said; "I am so glad you 
 found it ! " 
 
 " It is yours, then ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " 
 
 " You must have dropped it, on the day of your saiL" 
 
 " Yes, I must have." 
 
 " It was picked up, upon the river's bank, by my father, 
 and, from the letters B. W. upon it, he fancied that it be 
 longed to you." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; I have worn it a long time, and I believe it 
 was my mother's. But I don't know," added the young 
 girl, with some sadness ; " I never saw my mother, I 
 believe," 
 
 " Did your father give you the locket ? " 
 
 " No, I believe not. I do not remember. I think I 
 wore it around my neck when I was a little child ; at least 
 I have worn it as long as I could remember." 
 
 " I am glad to have been able to restore it ; though the 
 merit really belongs to my father. ' 
 
 " Please say I thank him very much," said Beatrice ; 
 K indeed, it is very dear to me. I had been to look for H," 
 
 "What! this morning?"
 
 i8 HOW BEATRICE PRAYED *OR STRENGTH 
 
 " Oh, yes ; you know I am a great rider. So I thought 
 I would just put on my skirt, and go to the river, where Mr. 
 Townes lives you know it was his boat we sailed in and 
 ask him if I had dropped it there, or in the boat." 
 
 " You had, then, been to the river ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; and I had a delightful ride. Mr. Townea 
 was very kind to me," she said, laughing, like a child, " and 
 was good enough to praise my cheeks, and bless my eyes 
 and, I think he said he would drag the river, or something 
 for my locket. Oh, he praised you so ! " 
 
 " Townes is an excellent and worthy man, and loves my 
 father and myself very much, I believe." 
 
 " I will like him more than ever, hereafter ; for you are 
 my friends, you know," said Beatrice, with the most charming 
 simplicity ; " indeed, I like him very much already, for his 
 kindness to me on the day we sailed." 
 
 " He really saved you," said her companion. 
 
 " No, no 1 " cried Beatrice ; " indeed I owe my life 
 to you." 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 " I was very strong once," he said, " but have been of 
 late devoured by a thirst for study I was nearly exhausted 
 when Townes came. But let us dismiss the subject. I am 
 very glad your locket is safe." 
 
 And he gazed, with a look of great softness, upon her 
 bright face. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, I value it highly," said Beatrice ; " see 
 how prettily 'tis chased." 
 
 He took and examined it. 
 
 " Here are the letters I observed," he said ; " but they 
 are nearly worn away. Still, as you see, they are distinct. 
 There they are ' B. W.' The B. stands for for your 
 first name, I suppose." 
 
 " My mother's name was Beatrice, I imagine. Strange," 
 the young girl added, half to herself, " that father has never 
 talked to me about mother." 
 
 And she sighed, and looked very thoughtful. He sat 
 gazing on the tender, gentle face, the veiled eyes, and girlish 
 lips ; thinking he had never seen any one more beautiful 
 never, among those fair maidens who passed in their 
 Chariots like lovely princesses, enveloped in clouds of
 
 fO RESIST HERSELF. l&j 
 
 rith bright diamond-like eyes, and snowy hands nung out 
 against the cushion of the door. The features of Beatrice 
 were always striking for their purity and elegance, but the 
 eloquent expression was the great charm of her face. 
 
 " I suppose it was my mother's," she added, " but I do 
 not know what the ' W.' stands for. I'll ask father." 
 
 " Would it not be singular if it stood for Waters ? " he 
 said, smiling. 
 
 She started. 
 
 " Waters ! Oh ! how singular ! " 
 
 " Beatrice Waters ? " he added. 
 
 She did not reply. 
 
 " How strange ! " she said, at length, buried in thought ; 
 " it is very strange ! " 
 
 " What ? " he said. 
 
 " The coincidence Beatrice Waters," she added, after 
 a pause. 
 
 And her soft eyes met those of her companion, who look 
 ed at her with so much unconscious meaning, that she turned 
 away, blushing. 
 
 " I am afraid we are not related," he said. 
 
 " I fear not," she murmured. 
 
 " Even if your mother's maiden name had been the same 
 with my own, it would not follow that we were connected. 
 There are many persons named Waters." 
 
 " Yes I do not think, however, that the { W.' stands 
 for that." 
 
 " What then ? " 
 
 " I do not know." 
 
 " It might." 
 
 " Yes," she said, with the same thoughtful look, " but I 
 had a brother who died he did not live with us somewhere 
 abroad -I never knew him but his name was Wesley. I 
 suppose that was my mother's name." 
 
 " Oh, you are determined that I shall not have the 
 satisfaction of being your kinsman." 
 
 The tender face clouded. 
 
 " Would that be a satisfaction ? " she said, softly. 
 
 " Ah, yes 1 " he muttered. 
 
 " I am an actress," said Beatrice, softly, and in a low 
 tone, casting down her eyes as she spoke, " I had forgofr 
 ten it."
 
 200 HOW BEATRICE PRATED FOR STRENGTH 
 
 And a moisture which she could not drive back made 
 her eyes swim, and gathered on the long dusky lashes. Those 
 swimming eyes went straight to his heart, an irnpressiblo 
 gush of tenderness made his brow flush, and taking the little 
 hand, he pressed it between his own, with a tenderness which 
 made Beatrice burst into tears : for his meaning could not 
 be misunderstood. 
 
 " Oh 1 " she sobbed, turning away and hiding her face 
 with the other hand, " you are so good and noble ! I 
 felt it when you left me before, and more than ever now ! 
 It is so good in you to treat a poor young girl like me so 
 kindly! a poor actress, that other people took upon with 
 contempt ! Oh 1 how can I ever thank you 1 I can only 
 only bless you ! and never forget you ! Oh I never never 
 will forget how kind you were ! " 
 
 And bending lower still, the young girl sobbed and 
 sighed ; and then gently drawing away her hand, took from 
 her pocket a handkerchief, with which she attempted to dry 
 her eyes from which a flood of tears were gushing. That 
 last word which she had uttered had jarred upon his heart 
 strangely. " How kind you were ! " Then she was soon 
 to leave him they were to be separated this brief glimpse 
 of happiness and joy was to disappear like a sift of blue be 
 tween driving thunder clouds 1 "I will never forget how 
 kind you were I " Then, she would be lost to him ! she 
 would pass on like a bird of the tropics, brilliant and 
 beautiful, attracting all eyes and hearts, but sailing far away 
 to other skies 1 He would see her no more ! Her pure, 
 tender face would never smile on him again ! those large 
 melting eyes would no more flood his heart with unspeakable 
 happiness that voice of marvellous sweetness and earnest 
 ness, so full of joy and softness and music, would no longer 
 greet him those small hands would no longer press his 
 own, sending the warm blood to his heart, and filling his 
 soul, his being, with a delicious tranquility, a pure delight ! 
 This enchanting form now before him, would, before many 
 days at most a few months had elapsed, be to him but a 
 memory, a picture for the eyes of the heart ! She would 
 leave him 1 that one thought gathered into a burning focus 
 all the scattered rays of tenderness in his heart, and that 
 heart now throbbed passionately. 
 
 We have said that Charlei Waters was a man of strong
 
 TO RESIST HERSELT. 20. 
 
 passions, spite of his ordinary quietness a quietness whicb 
 eprung from self-control. Under that mild exterior he con 
 cealed a heart of powerful impulses, and he proved it on this 
 occasion. Unable to bear the thoughts which the young girl'f 
 unconscious allusion to her departure had aroused, he yielded, 
 giving himself up unresistingly to the flood of emotion. 
 
 " Oh 1 " he cried, seizing the young girl's hand and cov 
 ering it with passionate kisses ; " Oh, Beatrice 1 you wound 
 me to the heart ! do not speak thus to me again! I cannot 
 bear it ! No, you are not a mere actress no ! you are the 
 pearl of purity and honor 1 Never wound me again with such 
 words, for they pierce my heart! But you will have no 
 occasion, perhaps, you are going to leave us ! to leave me ! 
 No ! I cannot endure the thought ! for I love you passion 
 ately, devotedly ! I love you with my heart and soul, and would 
 ask no greater satisfaction than to pour out my blood for you. 
 You think I am cold because my face is calm : undeceive 
 yourself : few men have so much fire in them such a danger 
 ous and fatal temperament when aroused. No, I am not cold, 
 and I love you, Beatrice, with a love which has grown and 
 increased in a short time to the height of a violent passion. 
 Oh, no ! you shall not go you must be my wife you must 
 love me at last, because I almost worship you ! " 
 
 No words can describe the brilliant expression which 
 flushed the young girl's face, then left it pale. That flush 
 was the evidence of an emotion of unspeakable happiness. 
 The pallor was from the thought which darted through her 
 brain like lightning. She saw all the future spread out be 
 fore her like a sunny landscape, all the happiness within her 
 grasp ; she felt his arm approach her and drew back with 
 a start, a cry. 
 
 Her face was bathed in tears : her eyes swam ; her lips 
 trembled ; all the nerves of the weak woman's form rebelled 
 and shook but the great heart remained. 
 
 " No," she said, with a passionate sob, which seemed to 
 tear its way from her heart " No 1 no ! I cannot . . . ! It 
 breaks my heart to say it God pity me ! but no, no, I can 
 not 1 Oh, God will accept this agony I am suffering as an 
 expiation ILr all sin I have committed ! no no ! do not tempt 
 me ! my heart failed me for a moment, but is now strong 
 yet do not tempt me I "
 
 202 HOW BEATRICE PRAYED FOR STRENGTH 
 
 And she covered her face, over which her hair fell 
 and sobbed as if indeed her heert were about to break ; scarce 
 ly hearing his entreaties, his prayers, his passionate assur 
 ances of love. 
 
 " I cannot be your wife," she said, at length, with more 
 calmness ; " God has not permitted me to be, and I submit ! 
 I am an actress, do not interrupt me ! for I have scarcely 
 strength now to think or speak. I am a poor playing girl, 
 with nothing in the wide world but my self-respect ! I will 
 not make your father blush for an unworthy daughter ! Oh 
 let me go on ! I cannot take advantage of your noble devo 
 tion I cannot weigh down and darken your life for pity's 
 sake, do not look at me so ! do not ! I cannot oh, no ! I 
 cannot ! God has no pity on me it is not my fault that I 
 am such as I am but I must suffer Oh ! it is a bitter suf 
 fering 1" 
 
 She stopped for a moment, choked by her sobs ; then 
 went on : 
 
 " Your eye flashes ! and I know well what you mean. 
 Yes, you are noble and courageous you would trample on 
 this unjust prejudice love me more for that ; I know it, it 
 is the bitterest of all but " 
 
 " Oh, I would die for you ! give my life, oh, how wil 
 lingly, for ah ! let them dare ! " 
 
 And his eye flashed, his breast heaved tumultuously. 
 
 " Why do you speak of that ! Beatrice, I love you 
 love you so devotedly, so passionately, that I could ask no 
 greater happiness than to dare the world's scorn for you 
 go down to death with you 1 But there is no scorn 1 What 
 is there in our positions I am poor and obscure, you are 
 the admiration of all ! They shall not deprive me of you ! 
 No, no ! I cannot exist without you now you are my soul, 
 my life, my blood, my heart ! I die without you 1 " 
 
 The young girl felt her heart yielding her brain swam 
 overcome, exhausted, faint, she sobbed, and shook, and 
 struggled with her rebellious heart. He saw the hesitation. 
 
 " Oh, be my own, Beatrice ! " he cried, overwhelming her 
 hand with kisses ; " be my wife ! the sunlight of my exist- 
 tence ! make my life happy come, my Beatrice, my beau 
 tiful, noble girl 1 " 
 
 And opening his arms, be would have clasped her to his
 
 TO RESIST HERSELF. 208 
 
 heart. Overcome, powerless, another moment and his arm 
 would have encircled her, her head lain on his bosom ; but 
 suddenly her hand fell on the locket, and she started back 
 with a cry, and burst into an agony of tears. 
 
 " Oh, mother ! give me strength, if you look down on me 
 from heaven ! " she cried, ' give me strength against myself, 
 against my own heart ! Oh, I am so weak ! I know what is 
 right, and am tempted to do wrong ! Mother ! mother ! give 
 me strength ! Oh," she continued, looking at him and sob 
 bing violently, " do not tempt me longer ! Do not make me 
 yield, and suffer remorse for ever while I live for this mo 
 ment's weakness ! I cannot be your wife ! You tempt me 
 in vain. I am broken-hearted, but you cannot move me 
 now ! I am weak exhausted but God has heard me ! 
 I have conquered myself! " 
 
 And falling into a chair, she fainted. Ten minutes after 
 wards she was stretched weak and exhausted on her couch, 
 and Charles Waters was hurrying with a pale brow from the 
 town. 
 
 Yes, she had conquered herself! she had drawn back 
 from those arms opened wide to receive her, clasp her like a 
 poor dove beaten by storms to the true breast her refuge 
 She had evercome that passionate yearning to fall upon his 
 bosom, and given up to love and tenderness weep away 
 all her unhappiness in those strong arms ; she had closed 
 her eyes to that seducing picture of such calm and lifelong 
 happiness as his wife she had resolutely bidden her heart 
 lie still she had by a sublime effort of devotion drawn back 
 from that tranquil future to be passed with him ; but she 
 was firm. Yes, the weak body had succumbed, the nerves 
 given way her strength had failed her, but not her soul. 
 
 The struggle, however, was not over. Stretched upon 
 the little couch to which he had carried her in his arms, the 
 conflict was renewed with her returning strength. Oh, bow 
 unhappy she was ! What a poor, lonely, wretched thing she 
 was ! How heaven had cursed her when it made her destiny 
 so miserable ! How terrible that trial ! on one side love, 
 with open arms and smiling lips, and eyes full of tenderness, 
 saying to her, " Come, weary heart 1 come, poor unhappy 
 child ! here is a future of full, quiet happiness, a nature 
 which your heart yearns for both are yours come 1 " and,
 
 204 EFFINGHAM HALL '. SLUMBERS. 
 
 on the other side, stern, inexorable duty, saying, with a 
 frown, " Come away ! preserve your self-respect close your 
 eyes to this. Self-respect is all you have, retain your trea 
 sure ! " Was it not bitter, she sobbed, was it not too much 
 agony for one poor heart ! and for a moment heaven seemed 
 black to her truth a mere lie her moral sense was being 
 deadened. 
 
 Suddenly her bare arm struck against something on the 
 couch ; she looked at this object and saw that it was a small 
 Bible. She opened it and read on the fly leaf " Catherine 
 Effingham, from dear papa" and would have closed it again, 
 but her good angel held her hand. 
 
 " The child dropped it when she sat here, doubtless," 
 she murmured, faintly. 
 
 And her eyes fell upon the open page, where she read, 
 through tears : 
 
 " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest. 
 
 " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me : for I am 
 meek and lowly of heart : and ye shall find rest unto your 
 souls. 
 
 " For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 
 
 As she closed the book, her eyes expanded with wonder 
 and solemn thought ; her brow was overshadowed, then 
 bright ; then all this passed, and clasping the volume to her 
 bosom, she sobbed, and prayed, and slowly grew more calm. 
 A voice had spoken to her which she had not heard before. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 EFFINGHAM HALL SLUMBERS. 
 
 WHILE these events were occurring at Williamsburg theeo 
 rarious and conflicting passions, writhing, bubbling, boiling, 
 and exploding while the town began to thrill, and buzz, and 
 rouse itself, and make preparation for the meeting of the 
 burgesses, and the great opening day all this while pro 
 found quiet reigned at Effingham Hall. Embowered in its 
 lofty oaks, which only sighed and rustled mournfully in the
 
 EFFINGHAM HALL: SLUMBERS. 205 
 
 sad autumn days, it seemed to sleep, looking, with its sunset 
 illumined windows, like great eyes, on the broad woodlands 
 and champaign, and the far river flowing solemnly to the great 
 ocean. One might have fancied, without any violent effort 
 of the imagination, that the great manor-house was a living 
 thing, which mourned for something which had happened not 
 long since. The casements rattled gloomily in the chill au 
 tumn evening, and the mourning winds, scattering the varie 
 gated leaves, sighed round the gables like an invisible host 
 of mourners, then died away with sobs in the dim forest. 
 The sun came up, but did not shine with cheerfulness and 
 warmth something seemed to have dimmed his light, and 
 the rainy mist drooped long above the fields before his 
 struggling beams could pierce and overthrow it. He went 
 down in a pomp of golden clouds, indeed : but even they 
 looked sad for it was like a great monarch dying on his 
 purple couch of state, and taking with him to the far undis 
 covered land beyond the immense horizon, all that blessed 
 and cheered the hearts of nations. In the long nights, the 
 breezes of the ocean sighed, and sobbed, and murmured to 
 each other round the antique chimneys, and a sombre desola 
 tion, uncheered by any light but the great struggling blood- 
 red moon's, appeared to brood over the broad domain of 
 Effingham and the thoughtful, silent Hall. 
 
 Within, there was scarcely more cheerfulness than with 
 out. The. servants moved about with quiet steps and sub 
 dued voices ; for they felt that the echoes should not be 
 aroused. The cloud on their master's brow awed them, and 
 instinctively they spoke in whispers, and tipped in and out , 
 and when a silver cup or salver chanced to fall, they started 
 and held their breath, and looked round fearfully. Little 
 was said by any member of the household ; days, it seemed, 
 passed sometimes without a word being uttered by any one. 
 That gloom upon the old squire's brow repelled any advances 
 silenced any attempts at social intercourse. The meals 
 passed in silence, with their array of almost motionless black 
 servants, standing behind the chairs, and moving noiselessly 
 in obedience to signs. All countenances were clouded, and, 
 when the old gentleman had swallowed his chocolate, or 
 eaten something with an obvious effort, he passsed in silence 
 to the library, and was seen no more for hours.
 
 206 EFF1NGHAM HALL: SLUAlBKltb. 
 
 Miss Alethea had grown unusually good-tempered , she 
 did not scold, or rate the servants, or fill the house with 
 clatter in her housekeeping, as her wont had been : she 
 looked sad, and spoke little passing her time in assiduous 
 sewing on household articles a dress for Kate, or else a frill 
 for Willie, or maybe a neckcloth for her father. Orange 
 was no longer in high favor, and would come and wag his 
 tail, and look up wistfully, and whine, and then, finding that 
 no notice was taken of him, would go and lie down on the 
 rug, and, resting his chin upon his paws, gaze into tho 
 singing fire, hour after hour, in silence. Willie was, ho 
 knew not why, in low spirits ; he often thought of Champ, 
 now, and regretted all those hasty words he had uttered 
 lately. His whip no longer waked the echoes of the old 
 portrait-decorated hall ; his halloos to the fox-hounds drag 
 ging their heavy blocks and baying hoarsely, were never 
 heard now startling the silent lawn ; the gallop of his poney 
 never sounded on the gravelled road winding through the 
 rich grounds up to the door. Little Kate had not had a 
 ride behind him now for weeks Willie had lost his relish 
 for the amusement, and for all else, it seemed he vent 
 slowly singing about the house, in a low, melancholy tone, 
 and seemed to be looking for something which he could not 
 find. 
 
 And what of little Kate ? She was, perhaps, the s?.d- 
 dest of them all. Her tender, sensitive heart had received 
 a wound from that which had occasioned all this gloom in 
 them. She loved him so dearly ! as she had said, with her 
 simple, childish truth they had been so happy all those days 
 and years before and since his return ! How could she mi^s 
 his presence and not grieve ? They had such quiet, smiling 
 talks together in the evenings, when stretched upon the sofa 
 with his head upon her lap she had sung for him her little 
 songs " The Flowers of the Forest," " Birks of Invermay/' 
 or " Roslin Castle," in the clear sunny voice, instinct with so 
 much marvellous sweetness, he had said, one day. They had 
 walked together, hand in hand, far into the deep woods, aiid 
 he had never complained of the pebbles hurting his feet 
 through the frail Spanish leather slippers, as he had done 
 in her hearing to grown ladies; they had looked upon the 
 Betting sun from the hi^gh hill westward from the Hall ari
 
 EPFINGHAM HALL: SLUMBERS. 207 
 
 then, turning round, seen the tall windows all in flame : he 
 had taken such good care upon those rides that she should 
 sit easily, and pressed the little hand clasped round his 
 waist with such smiling goodness. She remembered so well 
 his voice, and looks, and smiles other people said they were 
 affected or sarcastic smiles, but they were very bright when 
 they shone on her ; and now, when she no longer saw them, 
 she missed their light, and sat down in her little corner, and 
 wetted the silk of which Carlos was composed with silent 
 tears. After one of these quiet, uncomplaining cries, she 
 felt that she must see him, and she did, as we know, at the 
 Raleigh. She came back from that interview with a greater 
 weight than ever on her heart. She could not understand 
 those gloomy words he uttered, but she heard him say, they 
 could not meet again, and that he could not go back with 
 her and all the way back to the Hall, the child sobbed and 
 shook, and hid her face, making no reply to Miss Alethea's 
 questions. What could have changed him so at the tavern 
 so suddenly 1 She knew she had half persuaded him when 
 he left her and then the child shrunk and trembled, think 
 ing of those scenes which followed. She sat down in her 
 corner again, and mourned, and cried, and went on with her 
 work, or said her lessons, with a dumb sorrow, which it was 
 a cruel sight to see; at night, though, she was calmer 
 having read her Bible and prayed for him. 
 
 One day the parson came to see his parishioner and con 
 dole with him. He performed this parish duty by endeavor 
 ing to prove that the prodigal was not worthy to be his father's 
 son, and that his " conduct " could not in any manner affect 
 the squire : he wound up with a reiteration of his argument 
 proving the young man's unworthiness, and then, to his hor 
 ror, saw the squire rise, and flush to his brows with passion. 
 High words followed Champ should not be abused in his 
 father's house, the squire said, by any person in Christen 
 dom ! This was all the thanks he got, the parson said, with 
 indignation : and proceeding thus from irritation on both 
 sides, to rage, the interview had ended, as the pardon had rela 
 ted to the stranger, Kate to her cousin. Parson Tag had 
 drank his last glass of port at the Hall, and before many days 
 had accepted a call from the Piedmont region, and so shaken 
 the dust of the parish from his feet for ever.
 
 208 WILLIAMSBURG : EXCESSIVE WAKEFULNES8. 
 
 Visitors talked about the weather, when they came to 
 the Hall, and of the crops, the news from England, the ap 
 proaching speech of his excellency, Governor Fauquier, at 
 the opening of the House of Burgesses, and indeed of every 
 thing but that one subject. Mr. Effingham's doings were, 
 indeed, the talk of the colony, as he had said, with such dis 
 dainful indifference, but none of the colonists introduced the 
 subject at the Hall. One day Mr. Lee and his family dined 
 there, and Willie asked Clare, in the middle of a profound 
 silence, if she was going to the governor's ball with brother 
 Champ. Clare had colored, and her lip had trembled slightly, 
 as she had answered that she did not think of going to the 
 ball. Whereupon the squire had struck the table, and 
 sworn that he would go and take her and he had looked so 
 mournful after his outburst, that Clare had said nothing. 
 It was half understood that she and Henrietta would go 
 with the Effingham party, or accompanied by their cava 
 liers. 
 
 So the days passed, and Effingham Hall seemed to be 
 come more and more sad and still : its inmates conversed 
 less, and a deeper quiet seemed to reign. The winds that 
 sobbed across the lonely autumn fields, and swayed backward 
 and forward all the haughty oaks, seemed only to increase 
 the stillness. So the Hall slept its sleep. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 WILLIAMSBUEG: EXCESSIVE WAKEFULNESS. 
 
 WHILE Effingham Hall was falling asleep more and more 
 deeply, Williamsburg having passed through its night that 
 is to say, the period of time elapsing between the adjourn 
 ment and the re- assemblage of the House of Burgesses, 
 that galaxy of brilliant suns which periodically shone upon 
 it Williamsburg woke up from its long slumber, laughing, 
 merry, full of activity and expectation. Already the grate 
 ful chinking of merry-faced pistoles were heard, as they rose 
 and fell in jovial planters' pockets, while the owner pon 
 dered how to lay them out to the best advantage already,
 
 WILLIAMSBURG : EXCESSIVE WAREFCT.NESS. 209 
 
 though the meeting of the House was three days off, the 
 t^wn was filling fast ; and on every hand jests and laughter, 
 hearty greetings, the slamming of doors, the rattle of car 
 riages, the clatter of hoofs, the jingle of spurs, and the neighs 
 of horses, gave abundant proof that the joyous season had 
 arrived. The taverns were filling rapidly, and mine host of 
 the Raleigh was in full activity running, that is to say 
 toddling ; bowing, that is to say ducking his fat head ; laugh 
 ing, that is to say shaking the windows, in honor of the 
 jolly patrons of his establishment clapping him on the back 
 asking about his health facetiously, and calling for his rum. 
 claret, and strong waters. 
 
 Whips cracked ; the streets were full of sound ; the men 
 roared over their cups ; the ladies filled the stores, running 
 the clerks mad with orders ; every thing said very plainly 
 that the great gala day of the middle class had come : the 
 class who visited the town but once a year with their wives 
 and daughters, and were so determined to suck joy from every 
 thing. 
 
 Through this laughing, jesting crowd some lordly equi 
 page would pass from time to time, with its glossy four-in- 
 hand, its liveried coachman and small footman on the board 
 behind ; and, through the window plainly seen, the lovely face 
 of some young beauty, smiling in her silk and velvet, like the 
 countrymen in their fustian ; or else some fat, pursy squire, 
 with puffy cheeks, and formal look, set off by his good wife 
 in plain black silk and diamonds. 
 
 Young gallants, pranced by on their splendid horses ; coun 
 try carts toiled slowly on, laden with vegetables and drawn 
 by diminutive, shaggy, solemn-looking animals ; a thousand 
 bright-faced, grinning negroes illuminating like black suns 
 the buzzing, restless, laughing, jovial, hearty, shouting up 
 roar and behold ! A drum comes from the distance, quick 
 ly rolling, trumpets blare aloud and split the ears, and mount 
 ed on his car of state a cart fixed with a platform and pull 
 ed by three mules the great Hallam rides in state above 
 the tuneful throng. The drums deafen all ; the trumpets 
 shatter all tympana with a gush of sound, flowing from beard 
 ed lips, blowing for life ; and high above the whole the noble 
 Shylock rears a pine sapling with a placard beauteous. 
 
 That placard says, that at the old theatre, near the cap-
 
 210 WILLIAMSBURG : 2li ESSIVE WAKEFULNES9. 
 
 itol, and by permission of his worship the mayor of Williamj- 
 burg, the company will that night enact the tragedy of Ham 
 let, written by Mr. William Shakespeare. Hamlet, the prince, 
 by the great tragedian, Pugsby ; Ophelia, by Miss Beatrice 
 Hallam, the delight of the noble aristocracy and the wonder 
 of the universal world. This information is conveyed in let 
 ters half a foot long, and with a profusion of exclamation 
 points. 
 
 Such is the placard, gazed on wonderingly by those bar 
 barous country people, who had never delighted their eyes 
 with the sight of the great tragedian Mr. Pugsby, nor of 
 Miss Hallam, the delight of the whole aristocracy and the 
 wonder of the universal world ; perhaps, indeed, had been 
 so sunk in barbarism as never to have done aught but read 
 the great drama written by the glorious Mr. William Shake 
 speare ! But to-night they will go and have their ignorance 
 of play-acting turned into grand illumination on the subject. 
 Yes ! they will go and see the play, the actors, and the noble 
 aristocracy ! Their pockets are well filled five shillings 
 nothing ! And shouts sound louder, the great trumpet blares 
 more shatteringly, the drum wakes the thunder, and the splen 
 did pageant passes onward ; Hallam and Shylock proud, 
 and full of dignity and state. At the Raleigh as on Glou 
 cester-street and everywhere life is jubilant, and men con 
 sider drinking, with every friend they recognize, a duty. And 
 rum and claret, port and Rhenish, flow in streams, and doors 
 bang, windows rattle, heavy shoes clump, merry lips laugh : 
 Williamsburg scents the coming banquet of mind, spread by 
 his excellency and the burghers the boasted flow of reason 
 and the soul and, full of joyful anticipation, empties count 
 less flagons at the Raleigh, kicks its chairs, plays cards upon 
 its tables, and erects it into a great jolly temple a temple 
 where, at most reasonable charges, as mine host avers, they 
 may worship Bacchus, Momus, and all the heathen gods.
 
 IN WHICH THE TALK IS OP COSTUME. 211 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
 
 IN WHICH THE TALK IS OF COSTUME. 
 
 LET us now descend from generalities to particular scenes, 
 jtnd in order to make this descent, ascend to Mr. Efhngham's 
 apartment in the "Raleigh." Aloof from all the bustle, con 
 fusion and laughter of the crowd, indifferent to it, or despis 
 ing it, the young man sat thinking in silence, and glancing at 
 times with a scornful smile on the merry groups, seen through 
 the window, passing up and down the street. His lips wore 
 that same bitter weary expression we have so often noted ; 
 his cheek was more sallow, his eyes more gloomy. He was 
 clad as usual in the richest and most elegant manner, but 
 the gayety of his toilette the lace, the embroidery, the feather 
 in his cocked hat, which lay beside him on the floor was a 
 mockery, contrasted thus with the moody and exhausted 
 face. 
 
 The young man's lips moved, and he muttered, bit 
 terly : 
 
 " Yes, now the die is really cast ! While it rattled, I 
 might have drawn back now the throw has been made, it 
 is but to raise the box, and the future is decided for the 
 player he is a beggar ! Yes, I am mad ; I feel that this 
 infatuation amounts to madness ! this girl will ruin me ! 
 I love her, and hate her ! She is an angel, and a devil 1 
 So pure and innocent in face, with such a bitter and scornful 
 heart. By heaven, I'll conquer her she shall be mine 1 
 And yet and yet," he murmured, looking down, " why not 
 draw back ? There is time ! And Kate ! how I distressed 
 the tender child, who loves me so much, more than I de 
 serve who, perhaps, saved me ! I thought a ray of sun 
 light fell upon me when she came. She would have per 
 suaded me ; I feel it, I know it, I could not have resisted 
 dear child ! " and the poor, weary eyes were softened, the 
 mocking smile disappeared ; ' ; thank God, she loves me still. 
 Why should I not go back now ? But Beatrice ! Aye, 
 those chivalric gentlemen, who would display their courage 
 at my expense. Ah ! " he continued, smiling bitterly again, 
 " they will not permit me to av-J as seems proper to me. By 
 heaven, we shall see ' "
 
 212 IN WHICH THE TALK IS OF COS1.ME. 
 
 And his reckless, dare-devil eyes flashed haughtily. At 
 the same moment, the drums and trumpets of the cortege we 
 have seen, attracted his attention, and he gazed through the 
 window. There stood the noble Shylock, on the platform, 
 moving slowly, holding in his hand the banner, on which 
 was inscribed the words we have seen. The letters were 
 enormous, and Mr. Emngham read, without difficuly, " Miss 
 Beatrice Hallam, the delight of the noble aristocracy and 
 the wonder of the universal world." 
 
 " Yes," he said, smiling grimly, as the procession passed 
 slowly on ; " yes, she is the delight of the noble aristoc 
 racy ! I am one of that noble aristocracy, I believe, and 
 she is my delight. Ah, Madam Beatrice ! you go on now in 
 pride and happiness, scorning me, and all who are not your 
 abject slaves ; but wait ! You go to affect to-night, in the 
 character of Ophelia, griefs you have never known, sufferings 
 you can only imagine. Some day you will suffer really, and 
 I shall be avenged." 
 
 He was not present at that interview with Charles 
 Waters, and had not heard those prayers, and sobs, and 
 despairing murmurs, or he would never have uttered that 
 bitter taunt. For a long time he sat thinking of her, and 
 would mutter curses and blessings in the same breath. He 
 had estimated justly his passion it was not so much love 
 as infatuation. He did hate and love, respect and despise 
 her ; at one moment he thought her a devil, at the next he 
 was convinced she was an angel. But, by degrees, these 
 conflicting emotions settled down into a collected reckless 
 ness, so to speak a careless, bitter, mocking unconcern, and 
 he rose up, with a sneer. 
 
 At the same moment the door opened, and Mr. Manager 
 Hallam made his appearance, jovial and smiling. Mr. 
 Emngham sat down again. 
 
 " What the devil puts you in such a good humor, Hal 
 lam ? " he said, with scornful carelessness. 
 
 " I am laughing at the people, sir." 
 
 The people ? " 
 
 " Yes, their folly." 
 
 What folly ? " 
 
 " At their surprise and wonder on seeing my placard.'* 
 
 " Yes; that was foolish enough."
 
 Itt WHICH THE TALK S )F COSTUME. 21 S 
 
 " They absolutely looked all eyes, as the grea. Congreve 
 was accustomed to say." 
 
 " Did they ? " 
 
 " And the negroes I " 
 
 " What of them ? " 
 
 " They looked like charcoal, with two lumps of fire 
 in it." 
 
 " Eh ? their eyes, you mean ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " They are a facetious race." 
 
 " Oh, sir, they would make great comedians, I assure 
 you. Now, there was one monkey-like boy, who went along, 
 blowing the trumpet through his hands, beating two stones 
 together for the drum, and at times sawing his left arm for 
 the fiddle really, now, in a way indicating lofty talent." 
 
 " In the low comedy ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "The buffoon?'' 
 
 " Well, low comedy requires something like that. How 
 would a company of negro actors take here ? " 
 
 "Take?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ; would it attract ? " 
 
 " Strongly the attention of messieurs the justices. But 
 come, let us estimate the receipts to-night." 
 
 " Impossible, sir." 
 
 " Come, think." 
 
 " Really can't say, sir." 
 
 " As much, think you, as on the night I perform ? " said 
 Mr. Effingham, with his usual disdainful coolness. 
 
 " Why, really now I should say not, sir. I calculate 
 that you would draw a large crowd." 
 
 " There is but one obstacle to my acting." 
 
 " And that, sir ? " 
 
 " Miss Beatrice Hallam." 
 
 " Beatrice ! " 
 
 Mr. Effingham shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Yes," he said. 
 
 " How is it possible? " began Hallam, with some indig 
 nation. 
 
 " Come, no exploding," said Mr. Effingham, with cool 
 disdain ; " do not affect astonishment. You know she does 
 not wish to appear with me."
 
 214 IN WHICH THE TALK IS OF COSTUMfi. 
 
 " Not wish, sir 1 " 
 
 Yes." 
 
 " Oh, you must be mistaken." 
 
 " No, I am not," said Mr. Effingham, gloomily. 
 
 " She is young, sir." 
 
 " Well, what does that mean ? " 
 
 And diffident." 
 
 " Bah 1 " 
 
 " She would prefer acting with her associates. But, 
 throw any obstacles in the way I would soon Stop that, 
 sir ! " 
 
 " There is a virtuous father for you ! You would conj- 
 mand your child to do what she wishes not to do ? " 
 
 " She is full of whims, sir." 
 
 " One of which whims is a contempt for the name of 
 Effingham ; is it not ? " said the young man, with a curl 
 ing lip. 
 
 " Oh, never, sir." 
 
 " Come, now, deny " 
 
 " She honors, and looks up to you, sir." 
 
 " She has a queer way of showing it," he said, with 
 gloomy scorn. " What makes her hate me so ? I am really 
 curious to know." 
 
 " On my word, sir, you astonish me, as the great Con- 
 greve used to say : Beatrice, I am sure " 
 
 " Well, no more protests, and curse the great Congreve ! 
 Is the agreeable Shylock still determined to eat me for kick 
 ing him down stairs ? " 
 
 " No no. He is a reasonable fellow, and will take no 
 more notice of the matter. I told him, sir, my opinion of 
 his disgraceful conduct to your fair young relative, and he 
 incerely regrets it." 
 
 " Very well : I will take no further note of the knave. 
 Only, on the next occasion, I shall pin him to the wall with 
 out warning, like an enormous beetle my sword for the pin. 
 He would be a striking object. Now, let us talk of my 
 first appearance." 
 
 " Willingly with pleasure, sir." 
 
 " The town is full ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And more coming ? n
 
 IN WHICH THE TALK IS OP COSTtiME. 215 
 
 " Yes : they are pouring in." 
 
 " Well, if it is now full, and they are pouring in, by the 
 day of opening the House of Burgesses, that is in two days, 
 they will be sleeping in th streets." 
 
 " Quite likely, sir." 
 
 " And hence it follows," continued Mr. Effingham, " that 
 there is no danger of having a thin house to greet me." 
 
 " Oh, sir 1 " 
 
 " I understand you " 
 
 " How could" 
 
 " Yes ! how could the fashionable Mr. Champ Effingham, 
 of Effingham Hall, turning comedian, fail of a crowded house ? 
 You would say that ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir : it is impossible." 
 
 " Well perhaps you are right. But I choose to wait, 
 and I have fixed upon the day after the opening of the 
 House, for my debut. I shall appear in ' Much Ado about 
 Nothing.'" 
 
 " As you say, sir. Well, we can easily get it up. The 
 honor " 
 
 " Bah : let us have no foolery ! It's no honor to either 
 party. Now for the dress the costume : I have none that 
 would suit the character." 
 
 " I think I can serve you, sir though my best military 
 dresses are still at Yorktown, in the sea trunks. I have not 
 needed them yet." 
 
 " A military dress rough soldier's costume, is indispen 
 sable : you know very well that Benedick is just from the 
 wars." 
 
 " Indispensable, as you say, sir." 
 
 " Have you one here ? " 
 
 " Let me see " 
 
 And Mr. Manager Hallam, placing his fat finger upon his 
 puffy brow, repeated : 
 
 " I think there is such a costume in my private trunk, 
 in my room. Will you go see, sir ? " 
 
 "Yes: I'll follow." 
 
 And the two worthies went out, and closing the door, 
 bent their way to Mr. Manager Hallajn's sleeping apartment 
 ituatod on the same floor.
 
 216 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM BECAME THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 HOW MB. EFFINQHAM BECAME THE INSTRUMENT OF PROVIDENCE 1 
 
 THE apartment occupied by Mr. Manager Hallam was an 
 odd place, and we regret that, from its want of importance to 
 the present narrative, we cannot give a description of it. It 
 is sufficient to say, that the bed was covered with heteroge 
 neous costumes, of all ages and nations the table with 
 prompt-books and rolls of paper containing " parts " the 
 floor with shoes, buskins, and sandals, which had trodden 
 many stages in their day. 
 
 In one corner a large trunk, with heavy iron binding, and 
 knobs, contained the manager's finer costumes. This trunk 
 he approached, and unlocked with a key which he took from 
 the breast-pocket of his doublet. 
 
 " Now, sir," he said, raising the lid, " I think I shall 
 find what we want." 
 
 " Good," said Mr. Effingham, leaning over his shoulders. 
 
 The manager took out several parcels. 
 
 " Those are the fops," he said. 
 
 " Of course, they would not suit me," said Mr. Effingham, 
 with his usual disdainful indifference. 
 
 " Oh, no, sir." 
 
 " Certainly not," said Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " These are the first class costumes for the heroes," 
 Baid the manager, unrolling another parcel. 
 
 " That would suit me as little," replied Mr. Effingham. 
 
 " Yes, sir I mean " 
 
 Luckily Mr. Manager Hallam was relieved from his lame 
 apology. A servant entered, and said : 
 
 " There's a gentleman, sir Mr. Joyce, sir to see you 
 to get a private box at the theatre, sir." 
 
 Hallam rose quickly, which possibly might be owing to 
 a slight love of money. 
 
 " Say I am coming," he replied to the servant : then 
 turning to Mr. Effingham, he added, "just wait for me, sir 
 I'll be back in a minute. These business matters must be 
 attended to." 
 
 And with these words he hurried out of the room, puff-
 
 INSTRUMENT OF PROVIDENCE. 217 
 
 ing and red in the face. Mr. Effingham had received thi 
 speech with extreme indifference, and gazed with great dis 
 dain on the half-emptied trunk : then he seemed to change 
 his mind, and stooping down he turned over and tossed the 
 costumes about, carelessly. Suddenly his eye fell upon one 
 which seemed to suit perfectly his purpose. It was a dark 
 military coat, with heavy embossed buttons, and an embroi 
 dered collar. He took it up, and said aloud : 
 
 " Well, here is what will answer my purpose, I suppose 
 a pretty heavy bundle ! Come, let us try it on." 
 
 Had he done so, the whole course of this narrative, 
 thereafter, would have been different how different no one 
 can tell. But he changed his mind before unrolling it, and 
 added : 
 
 " Bah 1 I cannot judge ! let us go to Madam Beatrice, 
 and ask her opinion. Doubtless she will afford me her valu 
 able advice most willingly and sweetly. Of course she 
 will." 
 
 And leaving the trunk open, he walked carelessly along 
 the passage, and scarcely taking the trouble to knock, entered 
 Beatrice's apartment. 
 
 The young girl was engaged as usual, in studying, and 
 looked completely exhausted. Her eyes were heavy and 
 red, her cheeks pale and thin ; in her very attitude there was 
 an indescribable air of weariness and sorrow which was 
 painful to behold. The round shoulders drooped, the head 
 inclined toward one side seemed to be bent down by some 
 ever-present grief: the bosom labored and heaved: she 
 seemed to draw breath with difficulty. For a moment Mr. 
 Effingham stood looking at this eloquent picture, returning 
 her silent and cold gaze. 
 
 " Ah," he said, at length, " studying as usual, I see 1 
 Keally, madam, you will injure your health, which, as you 
 know, is very dear to me." 
 
 There was great bitterness in these words : but Beatrice 
 made no reply. 
 
 " You do not answer," he said, still more bitterly ; " per 
 haps I am not worth answering, madam." 
 
 Beatrice raised her cold, heavy eyes, and looked at him 
 fixedly. 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, I am in no humor to converse thii 
 morning," she replied, coldlj 
 10
 
 218 HOW JtR. EFF1NGHAM BECAME THE 
 
 " With me : you never are, madam." 
 
 " With no one, sir." 
 
 " Are you sure, madam ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Perhaps your dear friend is an exception." 
 
 " What friend, sir ? " 
 
 w The Chevalier Waters," replied Mr. Effinghaa with a 
 sneer. 
 
 A flush of pain and wretchedness threw a lurid glow 
 upon the young girl's brow, and she trembled. 
 
 " Come, now, madam, get angry if you please. That is 
 your favorite amusement when I chance to address you." 
 
 She bent down and made no reply : and this seemed to 
 irritate her visitor more than any words. 
 
 " Really your ladyship is in a charming mood to-day," 
 he said, with a scornful curl of the lip ; " you have chosen a 
 new and brilliant means of insulting me." 
 
 " Mr. Emngbara," said Beatrice, raising her head with 
 cold solemnity, and speaking in a voice hoarse with sorrow, 
 " I insult no one, sir. I have said that I was not disposed 
 to converse to-day. I am not well, sir." 
 
 " You are always sick when I visit you," said the young 
 man, pitilessly : his passion had changed his whole charac 
 ter : " you hate my very face, I believe. My presence is 
 a discord. I have given up every thing for you, and you 
 scorn me 1 Beware, Beatrice Hallain 1 God will punish 
 youl" 
 
 Her lip quivered, and she looked strangely at him. 
 
 " Have you come to make me more unwell than I am, 
 sir ? " she said, pressing her hand upon her breast. 
 
 " No, madam," he said, with his former bitterness. " I 
 came on business, strictly professional." 
 
 " What is that, sir ? " 
 
 " To ask your most respectable opinion of my costume, 
 in the character of Benedick. Having determined to ruin 
 myself, I wish to do it handsomely with the best bow I 
 have and in the most appropriate costume I " 
 
 " Well, sir," said Beatrice, taking no notice of his terri 
 ble irony, " I listen." 
 
 And she closed her book. 
 
 " This, which I hold in my hand, madam, appears to mf 
 to be very suitable for the character of Benedick."
 
 INSTRUMENT OF PROVIDENCE. 219 
 
 I do not know, sir." 
 He was a gentleman, you know, madam." 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Ruined." 
 
 " I do not remember, sir." 
 
 " Yes, ruined in the wars like myself, by this infatua 
 tion I have for you : wounded and scarred as I am by your 
 scorn." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, we waste time." 
 
 " Oh, pardon me, madam, my grief and agony are nothing 
 to you I had forgotten." 
 
 " My own occupy my whole thoughts, sir." 
 
 " Really ! then you have griefs too." 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Agony perhaps." 
 
 " Overpowering agony, sir," she said, hoarsely, and with 
 a trembling lip. He looked at her in silence, and said, with 
 some feeling, 
 
 " Then, you really suffer ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 Deeply ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Then have some pity on my own," he said, in a voice 
 of anguish, which was most affecting. " I love you, you scorn 
 me ! Do you know what that means ? It means days and 
 nights of agony hours of despair, such as the bitterest 
 foe would not inflict on his worst enemy sleepless hours in 
 the dim night, when the rain pours, and the winds groan, and 
 your own groans reply. Have you no pity, Beatrice ? " 
 
 He stopped, overcome with so many conflicting and ter 
 rible emotions, bending down his head and groaning. 
 
 " Did you only know what it is to love, and know that 
 love can never solace your life ! " he continued, passionately ; 
 " to see the paradise open and then close upon you ! to love 
 madly, and feel the cold hand of fate pushing you back in 
 exorably ! " 
 
 These broken words painted her own condition with such 
 truth that Beatrice uttered a moan. 
 
 " I know it," she said, hoarsely. 
 
 " Then pity me 1 " 
 
 " I do, sir, from my heart 1 "
 
 220 HOW MF. EFFINGHAM BECAME THE 
 
 His face flushed. 
 
 " And nothing more ? " he said, in a low tone. 
 
 " No, sir no, no 1 " she said, shrinking back. 
 
 " Ah, you despise me you hate me ! " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "T. ruin myself for you, and you meet me with a con 
 temptuous smile." 
 
 " I do not, sir." 
 
 " You will not love me." 
 
 " I cannot, sir I " 
 
 " You love another, perhaps, madam already you have 
 selected your future husband ! " he said, becoming again 
 bitter and scornful as before. 
 
 Beatrice turned pale. 
 
 " I shall never marry," she replied, in a low voice. 
 
 " I am not good enough for you, I make no doubt, 
 madam ! " 
 
 " You taunt me, sir." 
 
 " I do not I offer you my hand 1 " 
 
 " I cannot accept it." 
 
 * Never ? " 
 
 Never ! " 
 
 " Then we shall see," said Mr. Effingham, with that 
 bitter and reckless laugh which at times issued from his lips, 
 " /orce against force ! " 
 
 Beatrice colored, and said, coldly : 
 
 " That is a defiance, sir." 
 
 " Yes to the death." 
 
 " I despise it," she answered, with haughty coldness : 
 then murmured, turning away, " God pardon me ! " 
 
 " Ah, that is not singular ; contempt for the person ne 
 cessarily comprehends as much for all he can effect." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, I am weary I have my part to study." 
 
 " Well, madam, permit me to trespass upon your kind 
 patience for a moment still. I came to ask of your great 
 experience if this coat will suit my part." 
 
 u You may see at a glance, sir," she said, frigidly, " that 
 it is moth-eaten, and unsuitable." 
 
 ' Ah I I had not perceived that. Pray what shall \ 
 wear?" 
 
 " I do not know, sir."
 
 INSTRUMENT OF PROVIDENCE. 22'i 
 
 " You act Beatrice in the comedy, I believe or do some 
 of those delightful characters your father has picked up here 
 in the colony, and trained to murder dramas, take the part?" 
 
 " I know nothing of the matter, Mr. Effingham," she 
 said, coldly. 
 
 " But Beatrice is young ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Brilliant ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And very scornful ? " 
 
 " I believe so, sir." 
 
 " Then it will suit you admirably. Young, brilliant, 
 and scornful 1 Could the description answer more perfectly 1 
 Shakespeare must have known you ! " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, your great pleasure in life seems to lie 
 in insulting me." 
 
 " Insulting ? Really you are very unreasonable, ma 
 dam" 
 
 "What, sir is not ?" 
 
 " No, madam, let me say, even at the expense of polite 
 ness for I know how ill-bred it is to interrupt you no, it 
 is not an insult, only the truth ! It is very amusing, very 
 laughable, but it is true that you really scorn me. As tc 
 the young and brilliant, that is undeniable in your lady 
 ship's presence." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, I am exhausted your voice agitates 
 me pray leave me, sir " 
 
 Mr. Effingham listened to these coldly-uttered words of 
 dismissal with an internal rage, which broke forth and dis 
 played itself in a mocking and harsh laugh. 
 
 " Ah ! you are very lofty, madam ! " he said, with a sneer ; 
 " you bring your queenly airs from the stage for me ! No 
 thing that I say, nothing that I do, provokes any thing but 
 scorn and contempt from you ! I have not sacrificed enough 
 to you, perhaps ! Do you know what trifling things mere 
 trifles, madam I have left to follow your diabolical eyes 1 
 I have only forfeited the affection of my family, only lost 
 my position in society, only struck cruelly a pure young 
 girl's heart, who loves me 1 I have only left peace and hap 
 piness for agony and rage ! only abandoned love and ten 
 derness for scorn and contempt only given up loving faces
 
 222 MR. E. THE INSTRUMENT OF PROVIDENCE. 
 
 and caressing hands for a woman who hates me and repulses 
 me ! These are mere trifles, madam ! they are nothing I 
 What is the love of Clare Lee that is her name to me, 
 compared to your overwhelming tenderness and affection ? 
 True, we have loved each other, I may say, I think, for 
 years ; true, we were bred together, and have always felt a 
 tenderness toward each other deeper than words could utter 
 or the eyes speak ! True, her face filled with sunshine when 
 she saw me, as my heart overflowed with joy at her innocent 
 smiles! But what of that? You are all this to me and 
 more ! Your love is a treasure greater than her own ; what 
 matter if her heart is broken ; what if she gazes from bar 
 father's window on the Hall which she once thought she 
 would enter as my wife, and sobs and moans, and feela that 
 henceforth life is dark to her as I feel it is to me ? Your 
 tender heart, your loving nature, your mild, angelic soul, 
 your overwhelming love for me will more than make me 
 forget her. What matters it if the poor girl dies broken 
 hearted, are you not all my own ? " 
 
 And overpowered by rage, and remorse, and agony, his 
 brow wet with perspiration, his lips trembling, all his form 
 shaking with the terrible war of emotions so profound and 
 bitter, the unhappy young man, waiting for no reply, rushed 
 from the room. Beatrice rose from her seat, trembling with 
 excitement, and bursting into tears of agony, cried : 
 
 " Oh, is this really true ! Is this a horrible dream, or 
 not 1 God has cursed me ! all that I approach is ruined. 
 Oh, can I be the cause of this dreadful suffering, which I 
 feel myself, in the heart of a pure, young girl ? God pity 
 me 1 But no, it shall not be 1 " she cried; " my life ia lost 
 and ruined my very soul is giving way ! But this stain 
 shall not rest upon my memory no, no ! Oh, her name 1 
 I heard it near his father's house I will go there tell 
 her all God give me strength ! " 
 
 And hastening out, she ordered her horse, made her pre 
 parations quickly, and was soon upon her way to River-head 
 galloping feverishly. 
 
 So feverish had been her emotion, that she had not ob 
 served the presence of an object, which Mr. Efiingham had 
 dropped upon the floor of her apartment.
 
 BEAT1UCE HALLAM AND CLARE LEE. 223 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 BEATRICE HALLAM AND CLAEE LEE. 
 
 SHE reached Riverhead in an incredibly short space of time ; 
 and, dismounting at the gate, hastened to the door, and 
 trembling, shuddering, followed the astonished servant into 
 the reception-room, where she fell into a chair, exhausted, 
 overcome, and shedding torrents of tears. 
 
 A light step startled her, and she rose, trembling, from 
 her seat. The young girl she had asked for, stood before 
 her. 
 
 " Did you ask forme Clare ? " said the young girl, won- 
 deringly. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! for you ! " cried poor Beatrice, clasping her 
 hands and sobbing: "I could not breathe until I saw you! 
 I came to tell you that I am not the miserable creature that 
 you think me 1 that I am not so abandoned as to wrong you 
 so!" 
 
 Suddenly Clare recognized her rival, whose features had 
 been hidden by the partial darkness of the room. She drew 
 back with a sudden faintness. 
 
 " Yes ! you shrink from me ! " cried Beatrice, with in 
 expressible anguish in her voice ; " and perhaps you are not 
 wrong you have heard so much falsehood of me 1 But 
 you wrong me bitterly my heart is bursting with this load 
 of unjust scorn I cannot bear it 1 It is cruel oh, it is 
 unjust I " 
 
 And she covered her face with her hands, and sobbed 
 passionately. Clare felt as if she were about to faint; but 
 indignation, and the bitterness of wounded love and pride 
 sustained her. She looked at Beatrice with scorn, and 
 shrunk from her as she approached. 
 
 " Do not do not touch me 1 " she said, alternately flush 
 ing and turning pale. 
 
 " Oh, you are cruel 1 " cried Beatrice, wringing her hands; 
 ' you are cruel and unjust ! He told me you were tender 
 and that every body loved you and I find you with a heart 
 harder than stone 1 You have no pity on me you scorn
 
 224 BEATRICE HALLAM AND CLARE LEE. 
 
 me my very presence is loathsome to you ! Oh, madam, 
 it is unjust ! it is a bitter and unmerited punishment 1 I 
 never could have come had I really expected this though 
 what more had I the right to expect ? But he told me you 
 were so good that your heart was so pure that you were 
 in such distress how could I live with the thought thai 
 you despised and scorned me ! " 
 
 Clare shrunk further back and trembled. Then she had 
 been the topic of careless conversation between this unworthy 
 creature and her lover ! Her name, and her love for him, 
 even, had been bandied in tavern purlieus with scoffs, and 
 rude jests, perhaps ! He had said she was " so good " 
 doubtless, deriding her soft, tender manner, so tame, com 
 pared with the fiery and brilliant carriage of this shameless 
 creature ! her " heart so pure " no doubt contrasting de 
 risively her simple truth with the scoffing boldness of this 
 woman ! Then, to crown the whole, he had told this woman 
 that she, Clare, was " distressed " that she was pining for 
 him ! that she envied, hated, would give life to hold the 
 position of that rival in his affections ! This last bitter 
 thought put the finishing touch to Clare's agony, and she 
 rose. 
 
 " I can listen to no more, madam ! " she said, hoarsely, 
 and with inexpressible anguish and indignation in her altered 
 voice. " You are deceived Mr. Effingham if you refer to 
 him Mr. Effingham is nothing to me ! " 
 
 And, shuddering from head to foot, she looked at Bea 
 trice with an expression of sick and scornful aversion, which 
 pierced the poor girl's heart like a dagger. 
 
 " Oh, no no ! do not look at me so ! " she cried, clasp 
 ing her hands, and sobbing as if her heart would break ; " do 
 not look at me so 1 I am not the unworthy creature you 
 think me I I am innocent 1 He sought me has persecuted 
 me with attentions I abhor he has made my life, dark 
 enough, God knows, already, darker still by his eternal per 
 secution. Oh 1 madam, you have no right to scorn me I 
 You have no right however much you may hate me 1 I 
 am innocent before God of any thing done to give you pain 
 this rash young man has done all 1 Do you think I am his 
 paramour, madam ? I see your cheek flush and your eyes 
 flash ! Poubtless your maiden purity is shocked by the
 
 BEATRICE SALLAM AND CLARE LEE. 225 
 
 very word. But we, madam, we poor actresses have to look 
 at and bear things coarsely, and call them by their names. 
 God forgive you, if you thought that of me ! I am a poor, 
 unhappy girl, with no defence but my self-respect ; but I 
 am innocent innocent as a child, in thought as in deed ! " 
 
 And sobbing, moaning, shedding floods of tears, Beatrice 
 stood before the young girl like an angel pleading for a word 
 of love, of charity. Her fair hair had fallen, from the vio 
 lence of her emotion, her snowy arms had let the cloak cover 
 ing them fall down, her face was eloquent with a sorrow and 
 despair which sublimated its tender beauty, and would have 
 touched, indeed, any but a heart of stone. 
 
 Clare's was that heart ; she only saw how lovely this 
 young girl was ; she only saw in her a triumphant rival, 
 darkening her life, and taking from her him she loved. 
 What did it concern her whether this woman was innocent 
 or not? And the frigid, sick, and scornful look remained. 
 She pointed to the door, and, unable to say more than 
 "this interview must end!" hoarsely and almost in- 
 audibly. 
 
 " No, no ! it shall not end," cried Beatrice, wringing her 
 hands, and sobbing, and speaking with passionate grief; "it 
 shall not end until you have heard me ! I am innocent 
 Oh ! I am innocent before God ! your distress is not upon 
 my hands ! He came and addressed me on. the stage, the 
 first night I appeared in this country I drew back and en 
 deavored to avoid him ! He came to see me the next day. 
 I tried to deny him any converse with me ; he staid, he 
 came again and again he has made my life wretched ! I 
 shrink when I see his face, or hear his voice ! Ah, I am in 
 nocent of wounding you, as God hears me, I am innocent ! " 
 
 And falling on her knees, Beatrice hid her face in her 
 hands, and shook with passionate weeping. She seemed so 
 broken and overwhelmed by her sorrow, her accents were so 
 profoundly miserable, she resembled so much some tender 
 bird, wounded mortally and about to fall and die, that Clare, ' 
 with all her pride and love, and hatred and indignation, 
 melted. She struggled with herself, echoed the sobs of Bea 
 trice, and then turning from her, murmured : 
 
 "Leave nn I cannot speak I pardon you God 
 Will-"
 
 226 BEATRICE HALLAM AND OLARE LEE. 
 
 There she stopped, overcome by emotion. Beatrice rais 
 ed her head. 
 
 " Oh, I have done nothing to ask pardon for ! " she cried, 
 in a voice of bitter anguish. " God is iny witness, that I have 
 acted as a loyal and pure woman ! I saw your scorn of me 
 was unjust, and it is it is ! for I am innocent I had no 
 part in inflicting this wound upon you ; you have reason to 
 hate me but you cannot no ! no ! you cannot scorn me ! " 
 
 " I do not," muttered poor Clare, sobbing and turning 
 away. 
 
 " Oh, thank you 1 We poor girls are not like you ladies, 
 protected and surrounded by every comfort, able to choose 
 our associates," continued Beatrice, weeping, but betraying 
 great feeling at these words from Clare. " God exposes us 
 to every persecution and temptation ! We are met with in 
 toxicating applause upon the stage a dangerous and fatal 
 thing ! and there we fancy that we are really something 
 more than human ! Alas ! we go out in the sunlight, and 
 those hands, which applauded us, repulse us ; those smiles 
 are turned to frowns ! The commonest woman that toils in 
 the meanest employment, is more worthy. Contempt is our 
 portion for what are we but abandoned playing girls ! Or, 
 if not contempt, what is more dreadful oh ! so dreadful, 
 madam, that you in your pure home here cannot imagine it. 
 The temptation which a strong man offers to a defenceless 
 girl, without a thought of that avenging God who looks down 
 on this world ! I will not speak of it I shudder to think 
 of it ! my brain burns, and my temples throb ! God decreed 
 that I should fill the position I do, and I know its terrors and 
 its snares. Oh, do not undervalue them, madam ! if a poor 
 weak girl comes from that furnace of fire, still pure in all 
 things, she is not fit for scorn I " 
 
 And the poor agitated breast labored and heaved, the 
 cheeks were bathed in tears, the childlike hands trembled 
 and could not arrange the hair, falling around the face so 
 eloquent and pure. 
 
 And Clare felt her true woman's heart moved with that 
 high truth and worth which the reader will find she possess 
 ed from future pages of this narrative. She violently sup 
 pressed her sorrow and wounded love ; she saw only a poor 
 broken-spirited girl before her a inera child she seemed j
 
 BEATRICE HALL AM AND CLARE LEE. 227 
 
 praying and sobbing, and entreating mercy or rather justice, 
 but simple justice. 
 
 " I have listened to you and pity you and do not, 
 cannot scorn you or h.ate you " she said, in a broken 
 and agitated voice, shedding tears as she spoke. " If I have 
 been unjust to you, I pray for your pardon 1 We are all 
 weak and poor ; God does not permit us to scorn each 
 other ! " 
 
 And covering her face with one hand, she felt as if eartl 
 was dark for ever for her from that day heaven only left. 
 
 Beatrice heard these words with passionate delight, and 
 burst into an agony of tears. 
 
 " Oh, you are too good 1 " she cried, seizing the hand 
 of the young girl, which hung down, and covering it with 
 kisses ; " you are too good and noble, to speak so kindly to a 
 poor, weak child like me I Oh, Q-od will reward you ! God 
 sent me to you, to hear these blessed words from you to 
 know that my existence was not wholly cursed ! God had 
 pity on me, and inspired me with the thought ! Oh, say 
 again that you will not hate or scorn me ; forget that I am 
 a common actress, one of a proscribed and branded class 
 one who has cruelly wronged you, however innocently ; 
 forget that I am so much your inferior in goodness, forget 
 that my life has been thrown in contact with so much that is 
 vile 1 See before you, at your feet, only a poor weak girl, 
 who prays you not to scorn her ! See in me a feeble creature, 
 like all mortals, weak and stumbling and sinful, like all the 
 world, but with good impulses and pure feelings like the 
 purest ! Oh, bless me again with the sound of your kind 
 voice I am so helpless ! so broken-hearted so overborne 
 by agony and suffering ! " she continued, strangling a pas 
 sionate sob at the thought of Charles ; " so wretched ah ! 
 so miserable ! Speak to me ! one more kind word, before 
 I leave you Oh, for pity's sake ! " 
 
 And covering the hand she held with kisses, she hall 
 rose in an agony of weeping. And that hand she held was 
 no more drawn away. The trembling forms approached 
 each other with a last shudder, and the two women were in 
 each other's arms : the bitter rivals, the wronged and she 
 who had wronged her, the actress and the lady ! Sobbing
 
 228 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM RODE FORTH, AND BEFORE 
 
 upon each other's shoulders, trembling like a single agitated 
 form, they wept in silence. 
 
 A quarter of an hour afterwards Beatrice was on her way 
 back to Williamsburg. God had spoken: her tears wera 
 happy tears. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 HOW MB. EFFINGHAM BODE FORTH, AND BEFORE MIDNIGHT BE- 
 APPEABED EN MILITAIRE. 
 
 AFTBR uttering that mad, passionate speech, so crammed 
 with bitter and scornful irony, Mr. Effingham, as we have 
 seen, flung from the young girl's room, in an access of rage, 
 which tore him like a vulture's talons. He had passed 
 through many of these fiery interviews lately, and had many 
 such pale rages, which tore his heart for a time, then slowly 
 subsided, like a storm muttering away into the distance. 
 On this occasion he found himself, as usual, grow somewhat 
 calmer, when her cold and inexorable face was removed 
 from him ; and soon his bitter, reckless smile returned, and 
 mockery replaced anger. 
 
 He went back to the manager's room, and threw the 
 costume disdainfully into the trunk; then, scarcely con 
 scious of what he was doing, proceeded to restore the various 
 bundles to their places. Fate still directed him, for who 
 knows what would have occurred if that fit of absence had 
 not seized him, and he had left those dresses where they 
 lay throwing down carelessly the one he had brought back 
 upon them ? He had just slammed down the lid of the 
 trunk violently, when Mr. Manager Hallam returned. 
 
 " Ah, sir," he said, with a smile, " you are tired of the 
 search ; are you ? " 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, I think there was little good in it. My military 
 costumes are still at Yorktown." 
 
 " Are they 9 " said Mr. Eflingham, coldly. 
 
 " Yes, sir, as I informed you." 
 
 " Did you ? ' 
 
 " Ha, ha 1 don't you recollect, air ? "
 
 MIDNIGHT REAP! EARED EN M.'LITAIRE. 229 
 
 " How tan I ? I have just had such a charming inter 
 view with your amiable daughter." 
 
 " Ah ! have you, sir ? " said Mr. Manager Hallam 
 anxiously; for hia matrimonial project never left hia 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Yes," returned Mr. Effingham, with scornful careless 
 ness ; " I think she is beginning to like me." 
 
 " I am sure of it, sir," said the delighted worthy. 
 
 " She seemed to brighten up, when I entered." 
 
 " Did she, indeed ? " 
 
 " Of course she did ! She seemed delighted to see me ! " 
 
 " She is the most truthful and sincere girl in the world 
 a gold mine would not make her smile, if she did not 
 choose to,' ? said Hallam, with real fraternal pride. 
 
 " Quite true," replied Mr. Effingham ; " she is perfectly 
 sincere." 
 
 " Indeed she is, sir." 
 
 " And plain-spoken." 
 
 " Oh, remarkably ! " 
 
 " And we spent half an hour delightfully." 
 
 " You are gaining on her, sir." 
 
 " You think she don't hate me, then ? " 
 
 " Oh, sir ! " 
 
 " Come, answer." 
 
 " Hate you, sir ? Never, sir 1 " 
 
 " How then ? Does she love me ? " 
 
 This somewhat embarrassed Mr. Manager Hallam ; for 
 the young girl's demeanor to Mr. Effingham, when he had 
 observed it lately, was exceedingly far from supporting an 
 answer in the affirmative. But he replied, at once : 
 
 " I think she will in time, sir." 
 
 " In time ! " 
 
 " Very soon, sir." 
 
 " Really ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I have observed little things of late which 
 prove to me that you are acquiring her affection ; and she no 
 longer " 
 
 " You are right I understand she no longer scorns, 
 and insults, and hates me " 
 
 "Oh, sir 1" 
 
 " She no longer tells me that she will never look at me
 
 230 HOW MR. BFFlNGflAM IlObE FORTfi, AND BfiFORB 
 
 but with hatred and aversion. In our interviews now sh 
 smiles, and presses my hands tenderly, and seems to pity my 
 pale cheeks, and languid eyes my health is dear to her 
 or becoming dear she is beginning to love me. Yes, as 
 you very justly say, sir, I am ' beginning to acquire her 
 affection'!" 
 
 And the young man laughed, with terrible irony a 
 laugh which jarred upon Manager Hallam's ears, and dis 
 pelled, unpleasantly, the agreeable impression the words 
 were calculated to produce. 
 
 "Bah!" continued -Mr. Effingham ; "let us leave love 
 matters, and come to business. You have no Benedick cos 
 tume here ? " 
 
 " Really I believe not, sir ; but " 
 
 " Have you at Yorktown ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, sir." 
 
 " In trunks ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Where are they ? " 
 
 " Stored in the warehouse." 
 
 " Good ; then you have a complete Benedick dress at 
 Yorktown in trunks, stored in the warehouse ? " said Mr 
 Effingham, summing up with disdainful nonchalance. 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Give me the key." 
 
 " The key, sir? " 
 
 " I am going to get the dress. 
 
 " You, sir ! " 
 
 " Certainly ; what the devil are you staring at ? ' 
 
 Why really, sir" 
 
 " Give me the key 1 " 
 
 " Of course, sir ; here it is," said the manager, taking a 
 huge iron key from a drawer of the table. 
 
 " Is there but one trunk ? " 
 
 " Three, sir." 
 
 Well, the dress" 
 
 " Is in the green one, bound with brass hoops." 
 
 " Very well. They know me there ; and when I assure 
 them further that I am a member of the company, there will 
 be small difficulty. Order my horse," he added to a ser 
 yant passing through the passage.
 
 MIDNIGHT REAPPEARED EN MILIAIRE. 23 
 
 And the young man, without taking the trouble to say 
 good-bye to Hallam, went out, and going along the passage, 
 entered his own room, leaving the worthy manager in a state 
 of stupor, staring after him. 
 
 " Well, really," said Manager Hallam, at length, " that 
 young man is an extraordinary character. I don't know how 
 to deal with him. He snubs me ; I feel he is continually 
 a-roasting me, and I don't know how to answer. He has 
 such lordly airs- -worse than the great Congreve. Well, ha 
 is going to act, and go to the ball with Beatrice ; and then 
 I'll have him. He is not good enough for her, I know, 
 except that he is so rich. Effingham Hall comes to him, I 
 understand ; and that is enough." 
 
 With which Mr. Manager Hallam began to dream of 
 the clover-enveloped life which he desired so ardently. 
 
 An hour or two afterwards Mr. Effingham issued forth, 
 clad as before in his rich foppish costume only that his 
 slippers were replaced by elegant riding buskins reaching 
 a little above the ankle and ornamented with rosettes : he 
 seldom wore boots, then rapidly becoming the fashion among 
 all classes. In his hand he carried an elegant gold-orna 
 mented riding whip and so he mounted, and, as the evening 
 closed in stormily, set forth toward Yorktown. 
 
 Half an hour afterwards it began to rain heavily, and 
 this circumstance distressed Mr. Manager Hallam exceed 
 ingly; without reason, however, for the theatre was cram 
 med from pit to dome, and Beatrice had never been more 
 completely overwhelmed with applause, or had acted with 
 such overpowering splendor. They could not know what 
 gave that supernatural power to the young girl's voice, that 
 marvellous reality to the expression of her lips and eyes 
 but they saw the wonderful genius, and rose up with a 
 shout that drowned the thunder rolling through the sky 
 without. 
 
 Long before midnight the storm cleared away, and in 
 the now silent streets the stroke of a horse's hoof was heard, 
 and this horse stopped before the Raleigh. Mr. Effingham 
 dismounted, and summoning the sleepy servant, gave his ani 
 mal into his hands. 
 
 The horse was covered with sweat, and his mouth drop 
 ping foam.
 
 232 WHAT MR. EFFINGHAM HAD DROlPED. 
 
 Mr. Effingham was clad in a complete military suit- 
 huge boots, curved heavy sword, broad belt, and Flanders 
 hat. Mr. Manager Hallam had no such costume in his re 
 pertory, and indeed, Mr. Effingham had not visited the good 
 town of York, at all 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. , 
 
 WHAT MR. EFFINGHAM HAD DBOPPED. 
 
 BEATRICE had reached Williamsburg just as the theatre was 
 about to commence, and was compelled, without losing a mo 
 ment, to hurry away to her painful duty. We may fancy 
 that she felt little disposition to appear that evening : but 
 one of the lessons of her hard life, was an unhesitating sacri 
 fice of private feelings to her duty, and she repaired to the 
 theatre, without even tasting a morsel. Indeed, she could 
 not have eaten any thing her heart was too much overcome 
 by the thousand conflicting emotions she had experienced 
 throughout the day ; and she did not feel weak. Something 
 sustained her, and she began her part with strange calmness. 
 Never had she acted better, as we have seen but those tu 
 multuous plaudits fell upon unheeding ears : they were now 
 painful to her as that profession, which a cruel destiny 
 forced her to pursue, was revolting and a cruel trial. She 
 made her concluding bow with the same coldness which had 
 characterized her, when, on her entrance, she had been greeted 
 with thunders of applause ; and then calmly returned to tho 
 Raleigh. She wished to be alone with her grief to shed 
 tears without being subjected to the wondering questions of 
 any person : she Wished, after delighting the crowded au 
 dience, and sending them away thinking how rapturous her 
 happiness and pride must be at such intoxicating praises 
 Bhe wished to go and sob her heart into calmness, in the 
 stillness of her chamber. 
 
 Bidding her father good night with a kiss at the door or 
 her little room from which another door led to her bed 
 chamber the young girl entered and lighted a taper. Then 
 she observed for the first time, on the floor, that object which
 
 WHAT MR. EFFINGHAM HAD DROPPED. 233 
 
 Mr Effingham had dropped, when he rushed from the room, 
 and which in the tumult of her feelings she had lost sight 
 completely of. 
 
 It was a little frock, such as were worn by very young 
 children ; and so slight was it, that Mr. Effingham had 
 doubtless not observed that it had escaped from the bundle 
 which he held in his hand. Beatrice picked it up, and ex 
 amined it wonderingly, completely at a loss to understand 
 how such a thing had gotten into her room. Why does she 
 start so why does her cheek flush, then grow pale again ? 
 On the collar of the little frock, is written in distinct though 
 faded letters, " Beatrice Waters ! " 
 
 Beatrice sat down, feeling too weak to stand : a sudden 
 faintuess invaded her heart, and her temples throbbed. 
 " Beatrice Waters ! Beatrice Waters ! " What did this 
 mean ? Whence could the frock have come who brought 
 it thither ? Beatrice Waters ? Had Charles then guessed 
 correctly, and did the letters " B. W.," on the locket really 
 mean this ? She felt her mind whirl her face flush and 
 turn white again some indefinable presentiment seemed to 
 seize upon her, and the frock fell from her hand to the floor. 
 For some minutes the young girl remained motionless 
 then she picked the dress up again. Suddenly she felt 
 something in the pocket, and drew it out. It was a letter 
 faded and discolored, and worn at the edges. She tore it 
 open and run her eyes eagerly over it trembling coloring 
 growing pale breathing with difficulty. Then it fell from 
 her hand, arid pressing the other hand upon her heart, she 
 leaned back overcome, as though she were about to faint. 
 
 The letter was in these words words traced in faded 
 yellow ink. 
 
 " A man about to die, calls on the only Englishman he 
 knows in this place, to do a deed of charity. Hallam, we 
 were friends a long time since, in Kent, Old England, and 
 to you I make this appeal, which you will read when I will 
 be cold and stiff. You know we were rivals Jane chose 
 to marry me 1 I usftd no underhand acts, but fought it fairly 
 and like an honest soldier and won her. You know it, and 
 are too honest a man to bear me any grudge now. I mar 
 ried her, and we went away to foreign countries, and I be-
 
 234 WHAT MR. EFFINGHAM HAD DROPPED. 
 
 came a soldier of fortune now here now there : it rnni 
 in the family, for my father was covered with wounds. She 
 stuck to me sharing all my trials my suffering as she 
 shared my fortunate days. She was my only hope on earth 
 my blessing : but one day God took her from me. She 
 died, Hallam, but she left herself behind in a little daughter 
 I called her Beatrice, at the request of her mother. The 
 locket around the child's neck, is her mother's gift to her : 
 preserve it. Well: we travelled I grew sick I came to 
 Malta, here I am dying. Already I feel the cold mounting 
 from my feet to my heart my eyes are growing hazy, as 
 my hand staggers along my last battle's come, comrade ! 
 Take the child, and carry her to my brother John Waters, 
 who lives in London somewhere find where he is, and tell 
 him, that Ralph Waters sends his baby to him to take care 
 of: she is yonder playing on the floor while I am dying. I 
 ask you to do this, because you are an honest man, and be 
 cause you loved Jane once. I have no money all I had is 
 gone for doctor's stuff and that: he couldn't stand up 
 against death ! Keep my military coat to remember me by 
 it is all I have got. As you loved her who was my wife, 
 now up in heaven, take care of the child of an English sol 
 dier ; and God reward you. 
 
 "RALPH WATERS. 
 "Malta, March, 1743." 
 
 The last words were written hurriedly, and were exceed 
 ingly indistinct ; as though the writer had been warned of 
 his approaching death by a chill hand covering his eyes , 
 but Beatrice ran over them like lightning, as by inspiration. 
 
 We may now understand why she leaned back faintly, drop 
 ping the letter from her nerveless hand. Here was the 
 mystery illuminated suddenly by a flash, which made plain 
 every recess, the most gloomy depths. All was as plain as 
 light now ! She was not Hallam's daughter ! that locket 
 was the gift of her dying mother that coat in Mr. Effing- 
 ham's hand the soldier's that little frock was the garment 
 she had worn, a poor little baby, while her brave father, 
 Stretched upon his couch, was struggling with the cold hand 
 of death, and dedicating his last moments to her own safety 
 and restoration.
 
 WHAT MR. EJFINGHAM HAD DROPPED. 235 
 
 Her powerful and vivid imagination painted the scene 
 with lifelike reality. The brave soldier dying the poor 
 apartment the trembling hand contending with the dread 
 angel those dim eyes herself a little child unconscious of 
 all this and the glazing eyes fixed on her as she laughed and 
 prattled and the last sigh of the stalwart breast a prayer 
 for her 1 The scene was so real that she burst into a passion 
 of tears, and sobbed until she was completely exhausted. 
 Oh, that dear father dying there alone ! his brow covered 
 with the sweat of the death agony, far away from frienda 
 and home, in a foreign land I That strong frame fighting 
 with the destroyer that face, which dawned on her memory 
 now like a dim dream, convulsed with pain and dread for 
 her after fate ! 
 
 How could she bear to think of this and not feel her 
 very soul overwhelmed with an agony like that which he had 
 suffered ? And she wept and sobbed, and shook with the 
 tempest of her feelings; and then slowly grew more calm. 
 
 Why had she not been restored to her friends. Was not 
 that old man, whose son had s;A'ed her, her uncle Charles 
 her cousin ? And this thought dazzled her mind, for a mo 
 ment darkened by that scene of death, plain through so 
 many misty years. Yes, yes 1 she had heard the boatman 
 Townes call him " Old John Waters." Thousands in the 
 colony had come from England to retrieve their fortunes, 
 and this must be her uncle ! 
 
 Overwhelmed with this new weight of thought bewil 
 dered by this new light streaming upon her mind, she felt 
 her brain for a moment totter, and pressed it with her hand. 
 The uiher hand was laid on her breast, through which shot 
 an acute pain ; that hand fell upon the locket her mother's 
 locket and drawing it forth, she pressed it passionately to 
 her lips, and again burst into a flood of tears. 
 
 Her mother 1 her poor mother, who had loved her dear 
 father so much, and been his good angel until she died, away 
 from her home and friends, as he didl This was her 
 mother's, and she pressed it convulsively to her lips, and 
 wept herself faint and quiet. The taper died away and 
 flickered, but she heeded it not ; for that whole scene again 
 Was passing through her mind, and she was far away in the 
 bright south that south which she had rightly dreamed she
 
 236 WHAT MR. EFINGHAM HAD DROPPEL. 
 
 had been born in. Scenes now came to her which had been 
 long buried in oblivion ah ! so long ; kind faces, rude bivou 
 acs, the implements of war and orange groves ! That far 
 dim past enveloped her with its marvellous breath, and from 
 it rose dear faces, tender smiles, rough, rude caresses of 
 great bearded faces, and the sound of trumpets. Those 
 trumpets echoed faintly through the air, and died away like 
 an enchanting harmony like the clear voices of gondoliers 
 singing the wondrous lays of Tasso, under the starry skies 
 of Italian nights. The far muttering of cannon then rose 
 to her memory, and this, too, died away; and then izas 
 beautiful rosy headlands, orange trees, and waves of gold 
 rolling their molten fire to the great wide horizon in the 
 sunset. Then her thoughts rushed backward to her after 
 life the English scenes, the theatres, the rough city life, 
 the loud applause, the nights of study, the days of weariness 
 and patient grief. Virginia rose on her last, and all she 
 had suffered Mr. Eflingham's persecutions, the scorn and 
 forgiveness of that young girl who loved him lastly, the 
 love and unhappiness of Charles. That thought made her cheek 
 flush, she knew not why 1 Would not this change every thing 
 would she not leave the stage would they not take her 
 to their hearts, their long-lost child ? Why had her father 
 not obeyed that dying request of her real father ? Was it 
 because he could not find her uncle, or because self-interest 
 was too strong for him foreseeing her proficiency in his art ? 
 If the latter, was it not cruel in him ? If the former, did 
 she not owe him deepest love for his long years of tenderness 
 and care ? 
 
 Then these tumultuous thoughts disappeared, aud that 
 far dreamy land rose on her mind again and with her eyes 
 closed she saw it plainly ah, how very plainly ! She saw 
 again those scenes which had but now come back to her with 
 a reality more real than the outward world a charm more 
 marvellous and grand than she dreamed possible. Again, 
 those strong bearded faces shone on her and uttered tender 
 words aud one was far more tender than them all 1 Again, 
 she heard those trumpets sounding like liquid gold, shat 
 tered and sprinkled in the deep blue air ; again that faint 
 and solemn murmur of the distant cannon rolled upon her, 
 aud spoke to her with its grand, eloquent voice, of a great
 
 FROM THE MS. 237 
 
 Conflict and the clash of arms ! She heard them now dis 
 tinctly no longer dying away farther and farther into the 
 dim past but real, audible as reality, and instinct with a 
 heavenly harmony which wrapped her heart in ecstasy and 
 delight. 
 
 And then again she saw that wondrous southern land, where 
 the blue skies drooped down upon a marvellous horizon 
 where the warm seas, covered with white-sailed ships, were 
 ruffled by soft winds, laden with the rich perfume of orange 
 trees and flowers perfumes that set her dreaming, breezes 
 that soothed her agitation and anxiety, like winds from hea 
 ven. Again, the vast wide sea rolled its great liquid gold, 
 its billows crested with a fiery foam in the red sunset, gra 
 dually fading : and above the whole, grand in its softness, 
 beautiful for its light, rose the dear father's face smiling 
 upon his child ! 
 
 The taper flickered and went out she did not heed it, 
 dreaming of the bright southern home and of his face. She 
 leaned her head upon the window-sill, and dreamed and 
 dreamed : sleeping, those wondrous memories clung to her, 
 and when the full sunlight streamed upon the tender, gentle 
 face, waking her, she almost thought it was her father's kiss. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 FROM THE Ma 
 
 " LET us pause here a moment," says the author of the MS., 
 " and observe how events march onward obedient to the 
 great Chief of heaven ; how personages of all ages and con 
 ditions are but blind puppets in the hands of an all-seeing, 
 all-wise Providence. Heaven decreed that this young wo 
 man should, in Virginia, be subjected to a persecution, more 
 systematic than she had ever experienced in any other land 
 before and this persecution proceeded from one of that 
 class which social feeling then separated from her own by 
 barriers as striking and impassable as those existing between 
 the peasant and the great lord. This persecution was to be 
 a daily and systematic one, a trial of the temper and the
 
 238 FROM THE MS. 
 
 heart a test of the young girl's patience and her strength 
 It was to come to her at the theatre, in the street, in her apart* 
 ment every where. It was to insult, to worry, to irritate, 
 to wound the subject of its enmity. It was to try the cha 
 racter of the young woman to the utmost, as the spur inces 
 santly plunged into the quivering side tests the endurance 
 of the noblest animal. 
 
 " Then, not satisfied with this systematic, chain-like train 
 of wounds and insults, Providence one day sent a child of 
 the same race as her arch-persecutor to her presence : and 
 from that child's lips came words which wounded, mortified, 
 humiliated the already overburdened heart so cruelly, that 
 the poor heart had cried out passionately against the injus 
 tice, and the bitter, cruel, terrible wrong. 
 
 " Then, having tried the young woman with such apparent 
 harshness, that same Providence began to unroll the chain 
 of circumstance that chain formed of such a myriad of in 
 visible links, links which by the short-sighted are called 
 ' small events ' and ' trifles,' but which hold the universe 
 together. The instruments of all this persecution were to 
 hasten the light upon its way to brighten Beatrice's life 
 and to do this, spite of themselves, not knowing what they 
 did. All things were to work harmoniously to that end, 
 nothing was to fall short, or occupy its wrong position. The 
 trunks containing that much-coveted costume were at York 
 hence the two men were led to open that other one, 
 wherein the secret of a life was shut up. The only obstacle 
 to the revelation, was the man who knew it he was called 
 away. That this secret should dawn upon the proper person 
 first, the coat is not unrolled the young man goes to ask 
 her advice. He becomes agitated, and in his agitation drops 
 the child's garment then he returns, and instead of throw 
 ing down the coat carelessly, replaces it with all the rest in 
 the trunk : the time has not arrived for the manager to know 
 that all is known. Thrown thus at her very feet, the young 
 girl does not see the frock, until having ~nade her peace with 
 Clare, she returns to the stillness of her chamber. Then 
 she knows the whole, and all is clear to her. But she haa 
 no harsh thoughts of the man she had called her father for 
 so long sbe does not cry out in bitterness against the cruel 
 concealment which has made her so unhappy which hai
 
 THE GHOST OF MR. EFFINGHAM. 239 
 
 placed her in that position which renders acceptance of the 
 hand of Charles impossible. Why ? Because the second 
 chain of circumstance had been unrolled also. A child had 
 been brought to the place by the presence there of him who 
 had persecuted her : a coarse ruffian had frightened her : 
 she had fled in her terror to the young girl's room : there 
 she had left her Bible that Bible which was to affect the 
 spirit of Beatrice, as the accident the world would call it of 
 the child's frock affected her life. That Bible was to make 
 her meek, to give her strength to bear the sneers and mock 
 ery and reproaches she was to be subjected to in that fiery 
 interview. That Bible was to give her strength to hold fast 
 to the victory she had won over herself, when Charles went 
 from her in despair the thought of which nearly bent hex 
 resolution, broke her remaining strength. 
 
 " Those two personages, man and child, whose words had 
 wounded her more cruelly than all else, were thus fated to 
 become the instruments of Providence the one to reveal 
 her far southern birth, the other to be the direct agent of 
 her purification spiritual birth. There was the chain no 
 link of it defective bearing up the weight of a whole life , 
 shaped link by link by Providence, and slowly, certainly un 
 wound by hands which thought themselves at other work. 
 Is there no overruling Providence ? " 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 HOW THE GHOST OF ME. EFFINGHAM ARRIVED AT THE "BALEIGH," 
 AND CALLED FOR SOME VINO D'OBO. 
 
 THE manuscript from which this veracious history is taken, 
 contains many passages similar to that which we have just 
 transcribed. The writer, indeed, seems very fond of tracing 
 thus the secret steps of Providence making plain the won 
 drous ways of that invisible Power which guides the uni 
 verse in its onward course directing men and events as it 
 rolls the great globe through the realms of space, around 
 the central sun of Eternal Law. The reader would, how 
 ever, be apt to complain were we to transcribe many such
 
 240 THE GHOST OF MR. EFFINGHAM. 
 
 pages ; for this narrative is much more a development of 
 events and characters than a bundle of essays. The worda 
 which men and women utter are far more powerful interpret 
 ers of what they think and feel than any mere comment on 
 their thoughts and feelings by an indifferent person; and, 
 acting upon this conviction, we shall proceed to deal again, 
 directly, with the personages of the history. 
 
 We have seen how Mr. Effingham, with that blind and 
 obstinate wilfulness, had clung to his determination to ap 
 pear upon the stage, and how he had ridden forth to procure 
 the necessary costume. We have also seen how he returned 
 to the " Raleigh," a few hours afterwards, equipped in a com 
 plete military costume perfectly adapted to the character which 
 he designed to represent. Busy with other and more im 
 portant events, we could not follow him on his night ride ; 
 but we now proceed to show in what manner he became pos 
 sessed of the costume a costume which no less a personage 
 than Mr. Manager Hallam himself had declared wonderfully 
 appropriate, not without many exclamations and interroga 
 tories, which were left unanswered. 
 
 Mr. Effingham, on the next morning, had just repaired 
 to his room, after languidly conversing at the door of the 
 " Raleigh" with half a dozen of the wild hangers-on of the 
 dramatic company, to whose society he had learned to stoop 
 in gracious condescension, when a singular circumstance at 
 tracted the attention of the worthies who surrounded the 
 door. This circumstance was the arrival of a traveller, 
 who, pushing his way through the crowd, halted at the door 
 of the " Raleigh." This event, it is perfectly plain, was not 
 in itself very remarkable, inasmuch as travellers were accus 
 tomed to come and go in Virginia at that period to and 
 from Williamsburg and the " Raleigh" as at present. The 
 observable circumstance about the foreign-looking gentle 
 man, who now drew up and called in a loud, hearty voice for 
 the ostler, was that, in his outward appearance, he presented 
 a perfect counterpart of no less a person than Mr. Champ 
 Effingham. His broad, muscular shoulders were clad in a 
 rich velvet coat, which was stretched across them as tightly aa 
 the skin upon a drum; his waistcoat was of embroidered silk, 
 and not more than three of the buttons had yielded and 
 given way ; his vigorous libs were moulded on a scale en-
 
 THE GHOST OF MR. EFFINGHAM. 241 
 
 tirely too large for the velvet knee-breeches and silk stock 
 ings, which fitted so tightly as to define every swelling muscle 
 with the utmost distinctness. The "osettes had burst off 
 from his shoes his hands were saffron-colored, and you 
 only found, upon close inspection, that he wore gloves fitting 
 as closely as the cuticle in one of these remarkable hands 
 he carried a gold handled riding whip. As he dismounted, 
 the other hand arranged conveniently the hilt of a small, 
 highly- decorated sword, and then raised from its owner's 
 brows his feather-ornamented hat of the last London fashion. 
 The head thus bared was that of a man of about thirty 
 or thirty-two, whose profession was evidently arms. The 
 bright martial eye, black and full, could not be mistaken; 
 the straight form, which indeed almost bent backward, so 
 erect was it, plainly indicated the profession of the worthy. 
 The face was an excellent one, not because it was very hand 
 some, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, but for its 
 frank and bold carelessness its sunshine ; in the open fea 
 tures mental and physical health fairly shone. The hair was 
 dark and somewhat grizzled; the brow broad, and darkened 
 by sun and wind ; the eye, as we have said, black and bril 
 liant ; the nose prominent, the chin and under lip full of re 
 solution and character. We say the chin and under lip, be 
 cause the stranger wore a long and very heavy moustache, 
 as black as jet, under which his white teeth sparkled when 
 he laughed very frequently, that is. For the traveller's 
 face seemed to be made for laughing it was so bold, so 
 careless, he seemed to enjoy life so much that laughter more 
 or less loud was a necessity to him, and he reminded the 
 >bserver irresistibly of Hamlet's friend, Horatio. But a 
 dingle glance was needed to perceive that this was 
 
 " A man that fortune's buffets and rewards 
 Had ta'en with equal thanks : ' 
 
 a soldier who had been tossed upon the surges of war, until 
 he had grown quite indifferent to storms, and, in the gloomi 
 est weather, still saw the sunshine through the clouds ; who, 
 losing once, rattled the dice again ; who took the world 
 easily, and pushed his way, aud laughed and drank, and 
 slept and fought, contented, endeavoring still through all to 
 do his soldier's duty." 
 11
 
 THE GHOST OF MR. EFFINGHAM. 
 
 This is a brief and Lurried sketch of the martial gentl 
 man who, stopping at the " Raleigh" tavern that bright 
 morning, delivered into the hands of the astounded ostler 
 the bridle of his cob. Ned, the ostler, rubbed his eyes and 
 gazed at the stranger precisely as the worthies on the por 
 tico were doing. 
 
 " Well, well, my friend," said the traveller, in a strong, 
 hearty voice, " what detains you ? my horse is weary." 
 
 " Yes, your honor yes, sir " 
 
 And Ned the ostler led away the animal, with his eyes 
 still fixed upon the stranger, to the serious inconvenience of 
 his neck, twisted until the blood covered his face. 
 
 The stranger entered the " Raleigh," politely giving the 
 good-day to those gentlemen who, after staring at him with 
 a curious look, made way for him. 
 
 Mine host stopped in the middle of a sentence, which he 
 was addressing to one of his numerous patrons a crowd of 
 whom filled the ordinary and the look which accompanied 
 this sudden silence was more eloquent than any words. 
 Then, suddenly recollecting himself, he bowed low, and said . 
 
 " Your honor is looking for me, the landlord ? " 
 
 " Yes, parbleu" said the stranger ; " my horse has 
 ^one to the stable, where they will, doubtless, take good care 
 of him ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, sir the best ostlers, sir " 
 
 " And now, mine host," continued the stranger, twirling 
 his mustache, " now a stall for me." 
 
 " A stall ! oh, your honor, sir " 
 
 " Perpend, man ami a room, I mean." 
 
 " Oh yes, sir I understand, sir. I have an excellent 
 room, just given up by Farmer Williamson number 8, sir 
 just up there, sir." 
 
 And mine host pointed to the stairs. 
 
 " Bon" replied his guest, " and send me a bottle of wine. 
 I'm as thirsty as a fish." 
 
 " What will your honor have ? " asked the landlord, still 
 riveting his eyes upon the extraordinary counterpart of Mr. 
 Effingham. 
 
 " Val de Penas my favorite vintage." 
 
 " I'm really afraid, sir " 
 
 M Haven't the blood of Spain ! " interrupted the stranger,
 
 THE GHOST OP MR. EFFINtiHAM. 243 
 
 who exhibited some disappointment at mine host's apologetic 
 grimace. 
 
 " We are just out, sir exceedingly sorry, sir but Mr. 
 Williamson " 
 
 " Well, well ; give me a flask of vino cToro. I must l 
 satisfied. 
 
 Mine host made a second grimace, which was more 
 eloquent than words. 
 
 " What ! none of the vino d'oro ! " cried the stranger, 
 who seemed to understand perfectly well what the expres 
 sive features of the landlord indicated ; " none of the bottled 
 sunset, as one of my friends calls it ! I really am afraid, 
 mine host," continued the traveller, shaking his head, " that 
 this hostelry of yours is not a place for an honest and Chris 
 tian soldier to tarry in ; none of the wine of Lebanon ? " 
 
 " Oh, sir ! the most unfortunate thing, I know but 
 really, now my last bottle has just been sent up to Squire 
 Wilton." 
 
 " I should like very much to engage in single combat 
 against your Farmer Williamson and Squire Wilton ! Most 
 unjustifiable in them to be drinking up my favorite wines in 
 this way 1 " 
 
 "We have some excellent claret, Madeira, .and some 
 Rhenish, sir, which I think your honor " 
 
 " Bon ! I choose the Rhenish. Send it to my room." 
 
 " Yes, sir j directly, sir. Would your honor give me 
 your name to write in my book ? I wish to keep that book, 
 sir for my family, sir that they may know the distin 
 guished gentlemen I have had the great pleasure to enter 
 tain, sir." 
 
 The stranger's mustache curled, and his white teeth 
 shone under the black fringe. 
 
 " My name ? Ah, very well," he said ; " that is easy." 
 
 And raising up the hilt of his sword, the stranger care 
 fully scanned some letters cut into the gold. 
 
 " My name is Effingham," he said. " Parbleu, I had 
 forgotten it; as nothing is more troublesome to recollect 
 than names." 
 
 And, leaving the landlord in a state of semi-stupefaction, 
 the stranger pushed his way through the crowd, who drew 
 back for him, and went up the stairs. The worthies who
 
 244 BEATRICE REVEALS HER SECRET. 
 
 had witnessed his arrival, also, were present at the scene be 
 tween the traveller and mine host ; and now they crowded 
 round the landlord, to give vent to their astonishment. We 
 need not take the trouble to report their sage opinions. The 
 general conviction was, that Mr. Effingham had a ghost, who, 
 unlike himself, wore a mustache, and they waited for the re 
 appearance of the spectre. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 BEATRICE REVEALS HER SECRET. 
 
 " IT is not a trifling thing, when some soul, the noblest and 
 purest ever sent by God to bless us, is torn from us by the 
 hand of what seems a blind and pitiless destiny. This is, 
 perhaps, the hardest trial of poor, feeble human patience, and, 
 if the very soul succumbs, and the heart grows sour and bit 
 ter, is there any room for wonder ? Under one of these 
 overwhelming strokes, the head bows down and faints, as the 
 knight of the middle age, struck by some gigantic battle-axe, 
 lost his firm place upon the saddle, and was hurled to earth. 
 All suddenly is gone all that made life desirable the 
 sunshine and the blue skies in place of them, darkness, 
 despair. 
 
 " At such moments, poor humanity doubts its God ; 
 that God who does all things for the best, but does not 
 deign to anticipate the future for his justification. It 
 is maddened. Its faith, and purity, and trust in God are 
 gone ; and the blood lingers in the veins, frozen, yet fiery ; 
 the eyes, by turns, glare and are glazed. Ere long this 
 passes, however, and, if the mercy of God is not manifest, 
 still the heart forces itself to believe to trust in that mercy, 
 and then, with the slowly-dragging hours, some of the bit 
 terness passes ; the day is not so dark ; and if the sunshine 
 cannot lie with such a glory on the earth again, at least we 
 know and feel it is not wholly gone away for ever, but is 
 there behind the lurid cloud, from which crashed the great 
 thunderbolt which struck us. 
 
 " These trite sentences may indicate, in some measure,
 
 BEATR-CE REVEALS HER SECRET. Al 
 
 the feelings of Charles Waters, when, leaving Beatrice ifter 
 that interview, in which, overwhelmed by her agitatio i, she 
 had fainted he left Williamsburgh pale and despairing." 
 
 Thus writes the author of the MS. 
 
 For days his soul was the prey of bitter and conflicting 
 passions. For the first time he felt how completely she had 
 grown to be a portion of himself. He never knew how much 
 he loved her until he lost her. And now, when all the 
 powers of his being were subdued to an unutterable tender 
 ness for that bright, gentle creature when he could not 
 think, or read, or study, or see any thing around him, for 
 her ever-present image now, when he loved her passion 
 ately, with the full force of his affluent and large nature 
 now he felt an impassable barrier rise up between them 
 a huge wall, more durable than adamant more lofty than 
 the stars a barrier which defied his utmost efforts, which 
 must separate her eternally from him. He raved and tore 
 his hair ; he felt his heart growing sour all those great and 
 noble thoughts, which were wont to tenant the palace of his 
 mind, like a troop of radiant angels, fled away ; and if he 
 again attempted to gather hope or tranquillity from the pure, 
 veiled brows, they changed and gibbered at him like a troop 
 of imps, and jeered and fled away with horrible mocking 
 laughter ! 
 
 So days passed nights, almost sleepless : calm suc 
 ceeded. 
 
 He began to feel the dignity of suffering : he rose 
 grander from his despair, and saw the sunlight through the 
 clouds the light of heaven. With his brow resting on his 
 clasped hands, the strong man prayed, and went forth in the 
 quiet evening, and was comforted. Nature looked on him 
 with her soft, luminous eyes, and the bright river, and the 
 autumn forest, spoke to him. He now saw what his duty 
 was plainly. She was immovable ; he knew, he felt, that she 
 was lost to him : that she might passionately yearn to fall 
 upon his bosom, but not yield. She might love him far 
 more deeply than she had done still, he felt well convinced 
 that she would be equal to the struggle with herself. She 
 could not turn his life into splendor, be his dear wife : he 
 had no claim upon her, would not ask to have any. But he
 
 246 BEATRICE ?.EVEALS HER SEIRBT. 
 
 eould watch over her protect her if necessary, match hii 
 own heart and arm against that insulting annoyer. 
 
 Yes, all was lost to him but she had gained, at least : 
 and so he returned to his labors in the field, and having 
 finished his work, entered the house where his old father 
 dreamed in the chimney corner, to prepare himself for 
 another visit to the town. The old man and his son ex 
 changed a tender greeting as he passed into his small apart 
 ment, and taking off his blanket coat, he donned his usual 
 doublet of coarse drab. As he was putting on his hat, he 
 heard voices in the next room, and going thither found him 
 self in the presence of a servant whom he had seen frequent 
 ly at the " Raleigh." The servant delivered to him a note, 
 directed succinctly " to Mr. Charles Waters." 
 
 He opened it with a flush upon his brow, and read : 
 
 " Please come to me. BEATRICE." 
 
 A sudden paleness chased away the crimson flush, and 
 the young man turned away and fell into a chair. 
 
 " Answer, sir ? " said the negro boy. He made a move 
 ment of his head, and muttered : 
 
 " I will come say to Miss Hallam that I shall come 
 at once." 
 
 And again he read the simple words which had aroused 
 such a tumult in his heart. Her hand had rested on this 
 
 paper ; she had traced those words she was lost to him ! 
 
 Those were the thoughts which made him again breathe 
 heavily and close his eyes. 
 
 Telling the old man that he would return very soon, he 
 left the house, and took his way towards Williamsburg. 
 Why had she sent for him ? To rend his heart by the sight 
 of that paradise for ever closed to him ? To trv herself, and 
 show him that her life was not wholly dark ? To say " you 
 think that I am wretched, that I suffer pain because you 
 suffer see 1 I am calm ? " No 1 none of these thoughts 
 dwelt for a moment on his mind : his clouded brow plainly 
 rejected all of them. Suddenly, a light like the flush of 
 dawn broke over those gloomy eyes, and his face brightened 
 like a midnight sky, illuminated by some great soaring confla 
 gration. Could it be ? Could she have sent for him to say 
 " my strength has failed me I cannot resist myself I am
 
 BEATRICE REVEALS fiER SECRET. 247 
 
 too weak my heart, my life, are yours ! " Had she relented, 
 banished that stern resolution, given herself up to what her 
 heart called out for ? No ! and the light changed to gloom 
 again. He recollected too well that last faint cry of love 
 and grief, of passion and despair, of weakness and strength. 
 " You cannot move me now I have conquered myself 1 ' 
 No, no ! that woman's resolution was adamant he felt that 
 all he loved her for was against him in the strife her noble 
 disinterested devotion, and strength of purpose to continue 
 in the right ! could she have called upon him to protect 
 her ! had Mr. Effingham dared to persecute her in reality ! 
 and with the thought his hand clenched, his breast heaved, 
 his brows were curved into a haughty frown ; his pace, already 
 rapid, became the walk of a race-horse. He would soon 
 know, for there was Williamsburg : he is in the streets : he 
 passes through the noisy, laughing, bustling throng : he en 
 ters the inn : he knocks and goes into her room she is 
 there before him ! 
 
 Beatrice rose, with such an expression of mingled anxiety 
 and joy, that he remained for a moment without advancing, 
 gazing at her in silence. 
 
 Beatrice broke that silence : 
 
 " Oh ! this was very kind," she said, with that simplicity 
 and tenderness, which at times made her voice pure music, 
 " I could not have expected you so soon." 
 
 And her voice trembled slightly, as she placed her hand 
 in his, with fond and confiding affection. A tremor passed 
 over his frame as he took it. 
 
 " Do you need me has any one annoyed you ? " he said, 
 coming with a bound to his absorbing thought. 
 
 " Oh no ! " said Beatrice. 
 
 He breathed more freely, and sat down, passing his hand 
 over his throbbing brow. 
 
 For a moment they both remained silent, scarcely daring 
 to look at each other. 
 
 " You sent for me ? " he murmured, with his face turned 
 from her. 
 
 " Yes," said Beatrice, in the same low tone, " I WM 
 troubled, and unhappy no, not unhappy " 
 
 And her voice faltered. 
 
 " Unhappy ? " he said, not feeling himself strong enough
 
 248 BEATRICE REVEALS HER SECRET. 
 
 to encounter her gaze: "what could have made you uiv 
 happy ? " 
 
 The tone of these words plainly indicated that his mean 
 ing was, " / am the wretched and unhappy person your 
 suitor for a priceless boon denied to me / have a right to 
 feel miserable, you have not." Beatrice felt her heart throb, 
 and her throat fill with tears. 
 
 " I have much to make me unhappy ! " she said, in 
 a broken and faltering voice, " very much." 
 
 " Yes, yes, we all have we are mortal," he replied, in 
 a low voice, " I have had much myself." 
 
 " Oh, do not speak of that," cried Beatrice, bursting into 
 tears, " I cannot speak if you do." 
 
 " I will not," he murmured, his large shadowy eyes 
 turning to her own for a moment, then averting their gaze. 
 
 " I am so weak now, that I don't think I could endure 
 another such " and the tears choked her. 
 
 He suppressed his emotion by a powerful effort, and tak 
 ing her hand, said, sorrowfully : 
 
 " You shall not be agitated again by any thing I say ; let 
 us not touch upon that subject then. Tell me frankly, 
 Beatrice, what you wished me to visit you for you cannot 
 have a more devoted brother ! " 
 
 Beatrice looked at him, with inexpressible affection, and 
 murmured, " that might be nearly true." 
 
 " What ? " he said. 
 
 She trembled. 
 
 " I do not think, father Mr. Hallam is my father," 
 she said, greatly agitated. 
 
 " Not your father 1 " he exclaimed, raising his head 
 quickly. 
 
 " It is so strange 1 " she murmured again, half to her 
 self. 
 ' " Not your father !" 
 
 " I am certain that heaven has the wildest fiction 
 could not " 
 
 She stopped, overcome by agitation. 
 
 " Beatrice 1 " he exclaimed, rising erect, " something 
 strange has happened : you tremble : you send for me : 
 gpeak ! What is this in my brain, my soul ! What is that 
 so strangely familiar in your features I my brain strug 
 gles "
 
 THE RIVALS AND THE GHOST. 249 
 
 " Charles ! I am Beatrice Waters your Uncle Ralph's 
 daughter ! I feel it ! Oh, heaven has removed my doubts ! 
 I d ) not need your assurance ! You are my cousin ! " 
 
 F )r an instant, the two hearts beat fast the two frames 
 felt a tremor run through them. 
 
 " Yes ! heaven tells me, I am that little child ! the 
 child of a father who died in that foreign land ! but speak 1 
 Had you not an uncle Ralph ? " 
 
 " Yes," he murmured, looking at her as in a dream. 
 
 " Your father's name is John 1 " 
 
 " Yes ! " 
 
 " You lived in Kent once 1 " 
 
 " Yes ! " 
 
 " In London next ! " 
 
 " Yes ! " 
 
 " Your uncle died in " 
 
 " In Malta, twenty years ago ! " he said, scarcely con 
 scious of what he was saying, scarcely able to speak from 
 agitation wonder an overwhelming, undreamed of delight, 
 which paralyzed his limbs, it seemed, arresting the very blood 
 in his veins, making a lifeless statue of him. 
 
 Beatrice was almost as much agitated as her companion, 
 and had uttered these hurried interrogatories with a trem 
 bling voice, a heaving bosom, a brow flushing and growing 
 pale by turns. But when his last reply came when he 
 said, " In Malta, twenty years ago : " then her remaining 
 doubt became a dazzling certainty ; all mists swept away, 
 and, covering her face with her hands, she murmured : 
 
 " I am his daughter ! God directed the orphan's steps ! 
 I am his child ! " 
 
 Her knees bent under her, and overcome, exhausted, she 
 would in another second have fallen upon his bosom : when 
 suddenly the door was thrown open, and Mr. Effingham en 
 tered the apartment. 
 
 C HAPTER XLVI. 
 
 THE RIVALS AND THE GHOST. 
 
 THI rivals stood face to face, and surveyed eah thei, with 
 glances which flashed and crossed like lightning.
 
 THE RIVALS AND THE GHOST. 
 
 They were both strong men : for one had the strength 
 of passion, the other the strength of resolute courage, and 
 great self-control. 
 
 How the singular interview would have commenced, it ig 
 impossible to say for all at once, the wheezy voice of Mr. 
 Manager Hallam was heard at the door, saying : 
 
 " Ah, Mr. Effingham ! Mr. Effingham ! I called after 
 you, and you have made me lose my breath, puffing after 
 you up the stairs. But here is metal more attractive, you 
 would say, after the great Congreve or, rather, the grand 
 Shakspeare." 
 
 With which words, the voice took to itself the sem 
 blance of a puffy, red-faced gentleman, who entered smiling. 
 
 At sight of Charles Waters, however, the manager's face 
 fell. 
 
 " Good morrow, sir," said Waters, calm and self- 
 collected, spite of the various emotions he still experi 
 enced. 
 
 " Welcome, sir," said the manager, with some constraint. 
 " We have a very fine day, sir hum I" 
 
 And Mr. Manager Hallam cleared his throat. 
 
 " We do not see you so often as our friend Mr. Effing 
 ham," he added, for the sake of saying something. 
 
 " Which is probably attributable to the fact that I live 
 here," replied Mr. Effingham, coldly. 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " You look agitated, Beatrice," continued the manager, 
 turning to his daughter with a constraint which was Tery 
 observable. 
 
 Beatrice turned away her head, and murmured, 
 
 " No, sir 1 " 
 I u Are you sick ? " 
 
 " Oh no, sir." 
 
 " Mr. Waters left his father well, I trust?" he continued 
 turning to the silent man. 
 
 " Perfectly, sir," was the calm reply. 
 
 " Commend me to him when you return I feel as if 
 we had met before," the manager said, with some hesita 
 tion. 
 
 His constraint was so plain, that Charles Waters deter 
 mined to remove it, by taking his departure. His presence
 
 THE RIVALS AND THE GHOST. 25 1 
 
 evidently caused it ; and it was not pleasant to benold. Th 
 strange and mysterious revelation made to him by Beatrice 
 a revelation which his mind still struggled in vain to real 
 ize had moved him, as we need not say, profoundly ; and 
 the sight of the man who, beyond all doubt, knew and had 
 been the chief actor in the hidden drama, then threw him 
 into unwonted agitation. He wished for solitude and quiet 
 to collect his scattered thoughts, and with a few common 
 place words took his departure. 
 
 He had reached the top of the stairway, and was on the 
 point of descending, when he felt a hand upon his shoulder. 
 
 He turned round ; Mr. Effingham stood before him. 
 
 " A moment, sir ! " said that gentleman, haughtily. 
 
 " Well, sir," said his opponent as coldly. 
 
 " Mr. Waters, I believe, who saved Miss Hallam'a 
 life ? " 
 
 " My name is Waters, sir." 
 
 " And mine Emngham." 
 
 His opponent inclined his head coldly. 
 
 " Ah ! " said Mr. Effingham, haughtily ; " you will not 
 understand; you are a marble statue. One would really 
 say that my name had struck upon your ears for the first 
 time." 
 
 " No, sir ; I have heard it before." 
 
 " From Miss Hallam, doubtless ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Coupled with a highly favorable opinion, I suppose ? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Ah ! ah ! now we approach the point." 
 
 " What point, sir ? It is impossible for me to under* 
 stand your meaning." 
 
 These cold words seemed to irritate Mr. Emngham more 
 and more. 
 
 " I mean, sir," he said, " that you and Miss Beatrice 
 Hallam have been making me the subject of criticism you 
 have been indulging in abusive words relating to myself." 
 
 " You are mistaken, sir." 
 
 " Ah ! indeed ! " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; but as you have thrust this conversation on 
 me, I will add, that I have at different times spoken of 
 yourself not abusively for that is a species of converse
 
 252 7HB RIVALS AND THE GHOST. 
 
 tion which I do net indulge in but critically . -hat, iir, I 
 confess." 
 
 " Very well, sir. It only remains for you to repeat those 
 critical observations." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham," said his opponent, " look at my fao.' 
 
 " Well, sir ! " 
 
 " If you have ordinary acuteness, you must perceive that 
 I adopt this tone of calmness by a violent effort." 
 
 " Well, sir ; permit me to request that you will deign to 
 look at me. If I spoke my true feelings plainly, they would 
 cut as the edge of a sword cuts." 
 
 "A sword, sir?" 
 
 " Yes ; have you one at home, sir ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Ah 1 I had forgotten you do not wear this description 
 of weapon." 
 
 His adversary's face flushed, and forgetting all his self- 
 control, he said: 
 
 " If I do not wear, I use the sword, sir." 
 
 Mr. Eflingham's eye flashed. 
 
 " Good ! good 1 " he cried ; " when shall we meet ? " 
 
 " Meet, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " 
 
 " Do you purpose defying me to mortal combat ? " 
 
 " Precisely, sir." 
 
 " The reason ? " 
 
 " I am not aware that a gentleman need give another any 
 reason I wish it. Is not that enough, sir ? " 
 
 " I asked your reason, because it seemed to me, sir, that 
 if this challenge should be given at all, it should proceed 
 from me." 
 
 " From you I " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And, pray, why, sir," asked Mr. Effingham, haughtily. 
 
 " Because I am the aggrieved party." 
 
 " You 1 " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " How, if it j lease you, sir ? " 
 
 "I regret that 'tis not possible for me to explain and 
 this I should have reflected upon before speaking." 
 
 " Well, sir," said Mr. Eflingham, coldly, but cold only 
 by a violent effort, " it is a matter of little importance from
 
 THE RIVALS AND THE GHOST. 255 
 
 which party the defiance comes. If from you, I accept ; H 
 you do not send it, I will. There, sir ! Is that plain ? " 
 
 " Perfectly, sir," said his opponent, turning pale with 
 anger at the disdainful coldness of Mr. Effingham's tone, and 
 losing, at lastj all his self control. 
 
 " Well, your answer ? I waive all discussions of rank." 
 
 His adversary's brow flushed. 
 
 " Yes, yes, sir ! " he said, " you are very courteous, and 
 I trust your lesson in the sword exercise will be more worthy 
 of attention than the present one you give me in politeness.' 
 
 " Politeness, sir ! " 
 
 " I mean, sir, that you adopt towards me a tone which 
 is most insulting and unworthy." 
 
 " Sir I " 
 
 " Yes, most unworthy. You will waive all discussions 
 of rank ! By heaven, sir ! I think the waiver should be on 
 my side. Yes, sir, you have overcome my self-control by 
 pure force of continued insult driven me to anger. Well, 
 sir, you shall hear my thoughts now. You have thrown to the 
 winds all courtesy, you throw my station in society in my 
 teeth, you think me a peasant a mere boor who should 
 be whipped back to his place when be attempts to make his 
 breast the barrier between a strong, passionate man, and a 
 weak, feeble girl ! For that is your real cause of quarrel, 
 sir ; you hate me because I stand between yourself and that 
 young girl, yonder ! Yes, sir, you hate me, and you ima 
 gine that I will yield to you that your sword will pass 
 through my heart, and that you will be left free to persecute 
 that child, as you have done already, without hindrance. 
 Undeceive yourself ! I am no child 1 I promise you some 
 thing more than a weak struggle the struggle of a girl en 
 deavoring to escape your approaches. Yes, sir ! you shall 
 have a fair field, and my heart's blood if you can take it 1 
 But guard well your own ! " 
 
 Mr. Effingham was carried away by his rage his eyes 
 filled with blood and, grinding his teeth, he drew his sword. 
 
 Furious, blind, mad with passion, no one knows what he 
 might have done, when, suddenly, a loud " Diable ! " was 
 heard, and Mr. Effingham found his sword knocked up by 
 the scabbard of another perfectly similar to it. 
 
 It was the ghost, who, coming (ut of his roc m, had heard 
 the altercation, and arrived just in time.
 
 254 THE GHOST EXPLAINS WHAT HAD TAKEN ILAOl 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 THE GHOST EXPLAINS TV HAT HAD TAKEN PLACE AT THE BAOCtH 
 ABMa 
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM turned abruptly, and saw his counterpart 
 the exact fac-simile of himself, as far as dress went, be it 
 understood. 
 
 "Ah, it is you, is it, sir? " he said, coldly, as he sheathed 
 his sword. 
 
 " Yea, and parbleu ! you are my friend of the Bacon 
 Arms ! Why, bonjour, man ami ! " 
 
 " Good day, sir ; you came just in time. I was on the 
 point of committing a very foolish and unworthy action, 
 which, no doubt, would have displeased this gentleman." 
 
 " Morbleu ! quite likely 1 " cried the stranger, twirling 
 his moustache. " I do not consider the circumstance by any 
 means extraordinary. Displease him ? I believe you. It 
 is calculated to displease a man to have a good short sword 
 run through his midriff without even the satisfaction of mak 
 ing his own sword say click 1 against the invading weapon ! " 
 
 And, without a moment's hesitation, the stranger turned 
 to Charles Waters, and, bowing to him, drew the sword from 
 the scabbard he held in his hand, took it by the point, and 
 presented the hilt to the unarmed man. 
 
 " If we must have fighting and I regard it as the natu 
 ral state of human things at least, let us have fair play 
 my friends," he said. 
 
 But Charles Waters drew back. 
 
 " Thanks, sir," he replied, " but we will settle our differ 
 ences elsewhere." 
 
 " A duel ? " said the stranger. " Well, I am not fond 
 of duels it is a villanous mode of settling the said differ 
 ences. Hilf himmel 1 could any thing be more unreasonable 
 than such a cold-blooded proceeding ! Strike, strike, com 
 panion, while the blood is warm ; strike, and so fall : or, if 
 you stand, shake hands and go away with a quiet conscience 1 
 Drink, and be friends ! I abominate your duels, though I 
 have fought many." 
 
 " Well, sir," said Mr. Effingham, with his reckless 
 ** oome to-morrow and see another."
 
 AT THE BACON ARMS. 255 
 
 " Why, with pleasure 1 " returned the stranger; "are the 
 arrangements made ? " 
 
 " Not quite, the cause of strife having just arisen-" 
 
 " Ah, ah ! a pretty girl is in the affair ! Morbleu, com 
 rade, I'll see you in your sword exercise with pleasure, 
 though you were going on contrary to the rules just now. 
 A pretty girl, my life on itl Perhaps that charming little 
 comedienne, Miss Hallam, whom I have seen in London, and 
 who is here ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 The stranger shook his head. 
 
 " Never fight about a woman," he said, sagely ; " one 
 always regrets it always, comrade." 
 
 " Permit me to say that I consider nothing more ap 
 propriate." 
 
 " Appropriate ! See how opinions differ. Perpend, 
 compagnon : if you fight about the turn of H card, the 
 rattle of a dice-box there is some philosophy in it they 
 are worth it it is rational. But about a pair of eyes a 
 woman ! never 1 " 
 
 " Well, sir, I still hold to my opinion." 
 
 " And are going to fight ? " 
 
 Yes." 
 
 " Have you a friend ? " 
 
 "Not yet." 
 
 " Let me act for you ; and don't think I bear you any 
 ill-will for the affair out yonder. We can easily cross 
 swords on that, if necessary, afterwards," said the stranger, 
 with the utmost calmness and good-humor. 
 
 " Thanks, sir," said Mr Effingham ; " your offer relieves 
 me from much trouble, and I accept it." 
 
 " Who is my principal ? in other words, comrade, let me 
 have your name Effingham, is it not ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " My own is hum well, I am called La Riviere 
 sometimes Captain La Riviere not unfrequently the Che 
 valier La Riviere. Now for your opponent," added the 
 stranger, looking keenly at Charles Waters. 
 
 ' My name is Waters, sir," he said, " but I really do not 
 Bee the necessity of " 
 
 " Waters 1" cried the stranger: "tonnerel is it DOB- 
 ibje 1 "
 
 256 THE GHOST EXPLAINS WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACB 
 
 And dropping his band to his sword hilt, he looked long 
 and fixedly, with a strange expression, at the silent man. 
 
 " What surprises you, sir ? " asked Waters. 
 
 The stranger made no reply ; he seemed to have sud 
 denly grown dumb ; then he murmured, 
 
 " Waters ! Waters ! did you say Waters ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; Charles Waters." 
 
 The stranger, with his eyes still fixed with the samf 
 curious expression on the other, said to Mr. Effingham : 
 
 " I regret that I shall have to withdraw my offer to offi 
 ciate as your second." 
 
 " Why, sir ? " said Mr. Effingham, abruptly, and with 
 some irritation. 
 
 " Come, come, comrade ; because it pleases me. I can't 
 give a reason at the sword's point," said the stranger, coolly 
 
 " Pardon my abruptness, sir. " 
 
 " Certainly, certainly," returned the stranger, with great 
 good-nature ; " and I will state that I think I was well ac 
 quainted with a relative of Mr. Waters, in the Seven 
 Years' War." 
 
 " With my brother, sir 1 " 
 
 " Was he your brother, mon ami ? A certain Captain 
 Ilalph ; was that his name ? " 
 
 u Yes, yes ; did you " 
 
 " Know him ? Oh, perfectly well Morbleu, we were 
 inseparable 1 Excellent friendsdevoted to each other 
 eating out of the same platter drinking out of the same 
 glass loving the same damsels marching together sleep 
 ing together defending each other really inseparable, on 
 the honor of a soldier ! " 
 
 And the captain laughed, until his moustaches curled up 
 to his eyes. 
 
 " I never can think of that man without laughing," he 
 said ; " he was such a ridiculous character had been through 
 so many odd adventures, which he was eternally relating n 
 
 u Yes, yes ; I recognize the portrait," said Charles Wa 
 ters, hanging on the stranger's words. 
 
 " Faith, do you ? " said the captain ; " well, I should 
 recognize him in the dark. You know, now ? sir," he added, 
 turning to Mr. Emngham, " why it is not proper that I 
 should act as your second in a duel with the brother of mj 
 dearest friend."
 
 AT TttE BACON ARMS. 257 
 
 "Well, sir, as you choose," said Mr. Effingham ; "you 
 are at liberty to act as pleases you, of course." 
 
 " Of course ; and, therefore, I transfer my offer to Mr. 
 Waters, here." 
 
 " Very well, sir." 
 
 " You are very kind, sir," said Charles Waters, calmly. 
 
 " Not at all, not at all ; I owe that much to Ralph ; but 
 parbleu, I can't go on the field a perfect counterpart of your 
 opponent," said the stranger, laughing. 
 
 " I have been wondering, sir, at the perfect similarity." 
 
 The stranger laughed heartily. 
 
 " The plainest thing in the world," he said ; " a real case 
 of highway robbery at an inn, and to this moment I myself 
 am as completely in the dark as to what it means." 
 
 " It means that I wanted your soldier's dress," said Mr. 
 Effingham, coolly, "and took it." 
 
 " Leaving your own. Good ! good ! " laughed the 
 stranger. " Don't think I am going to quarrel, or find 
 fault. Nothing astonishes me in this world, and few things 
 make me angry. Faith 1 I admired your strategy. Figure 
 to yourself, as the French say," continued the stranger, 
 turning to Charles Waters, and curling his black moustache ; 
 " imagine me stopping at the tavern called the ' Bacon Arms,' 
 half way between this place and York, the port at which I 
 landed. I am seated in the ordinary, amusing myself by 
 tracing figures on the sanded floor, with my sword's point ; I 
 wait for the end of the storm and rain, knowing the value of 
 a good hostelry, when, suddenly, my friend here enters, 
 having outrun the wind, and desirous, like myself, of saving 
 himself a wetting. He looks at me he admires my cos 
 tume, and faith ! he had reason, for the great Frederic him 
 self always regarded it with a smile of approbation. We 
 drink there I am never at a loss, morbleu we converse 
 we abuse the storm we become excellent friends. Now 
 mark the sequel. At eleven at night the storm still rages ; 
 we agree to retire. Mine host has but one bed-room vacant, 
 with two beds. We go to sleep I wake up in the morning 
 and when I come to -ook for my proper habiliments, 
 diable 1 they are gone. My good friend, too, has vanished, 
 leaving, however, his own dress 1 What a comedy I Better 
 than Closter Zeven 1 I take up the coat I regard th
 
 258 THE GHOSf EXPLAINS WHAT HAL TAKEN FLAGS 
 
 breeches I put them on, and turn myself in admiring 
 them. But faith, they were too tight ! My shoulders 
 ached my breast felt as if I was cased in armor faith, it 
 feels so now ! " 
 
 And the soldier drew a long breath, which sent flying 
 from the rich waistcoat the two remaining buttons; at which 
 amusing circumstance he laughed again. 
 
 " And now, man ami" he said, to Mr. Effingham, " take 
 pity on a poor defeated comrade, who has got the worst of 
 it, who came along groaning over his defeat, who, in conclu 
 sion, will cheerfully debate the right of property in the 
 said costume, at the sword's point 1 Come now, be mag 
 nanimous; let us have a bout 1 " 
 
 " That is not necessary, sir," said Mr. Effingham, who 
 had listened to the stranger with haughty indifference ; " I 
 have no need of the dress at present, as the occasion for 
 which I took it in exchange for my own is deferred some 
 days." 
 
 " Oh, you are welcome then, to it, comrade," replied the 
 stranger, who, still looking abstractedly at Charles Waters, 
 had not noticed the cold accent of Mr. Effingham's voice ; 
 " when you wish me to unsbell myself, you have but to speak, 
 and I will cheerfully do so. I will even place my whole 
 travelling wardrobe, at York yonder, at your disposal." 
 
 " Thanks, sir : will you come now and resume your 
 dress ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, at once for theso elegant velvets worry 
 <ne." 
 
 " First, however, let me restore to you this bundle of 
 Bank of England notes," said Mr. Effingham, taking from 
 his purse the money, " I found them in the pocket of your 
 coat ten notes of ten pounds each." 
 
 " Good good I had forgotten them completely," said 
 the soldier, thrusting them into his pocket without looking 
 at them ; " and now let us proceed to your apartment, mon 
 compagnon. It is understool that this little affair takes 
 place " 
 
 " Day after to-morrow, if that is agreeable to Mr. Wa 
 ters," said Mr. Effingham, with his disdainful coldness ; " I 
 have indispensable engagements." 
 
 " What say you, sir ? " the soldier said to the other, ' I 
 act for you."
 
 AT THE BACON ARMS. 259 
 
 u When you please, sir," was the calm reply. 
 
 " Well, well now : that is arranged. We shall ta.k over 
 scatters in the course of the day." 
 
 And leaving Charles Waters, the two copies of each 
 other entered Mr. Effingham's apartment the one augh- 
 ing, joyous, talking loudly; the other cold, silent, and with 
 a weary, reckless look, which made the contrast perfect. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 HOW HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR FAUQUIEB, GAVE A GREAT 
 BALL, AND WHO WERE PRESENT. 
 
 THE day for the meeting of the House of Burgesses had ar 
 rived : indeed, the scene which we have just related took 
 place on the afternoon preceding it. 
 
 We have already expended some words upon the appear 
 ance of the town for days before this important occasion, and 
 can now only add, that the bustle was vastly greater, the 
 laughter louder, the crowd larger, and the general excitement 
 a thousand-fold increased on this, the long-expected morning. 
 We have no space to enter into a full description of the 
 appearance which the borough presented : indeed, this nar 
 rative is not the proper place for such historic disquisitions, 
 dealing as it does with the fortunes of a few personages, who 
 pursued their various careers, and laughed and wept, and 
 loved and hated, almost wholly without the " aid of govern 
 ment." It was scarcely very important to Beatrice, for 
 instance, that his Excellency Governor Fauquier set out 
 from the palace to the sound of cannon, and drawn slowly in 
 his splendid chariot with its six glossy snow-white horses, 
 and its body-guard of cavalry, went to the capitol, and so 
 delivered there his gracious and vice-regal greeting to the 
 Burgesses, listening in respectful, thoughtful silence. The 
 crowd could not drive away the poor girl's various disquieting 
 thoughts ; the smile which his Excellency threw towards the 
 Raleigh, and its throng of lookers-on, scarcely shed any light 
 upon her anxious and fearful heart : she only felt that 
 to-night the crowd at the theatre would be noisier, and iuor
 
 260 . GOVERNOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 
 
 dense ; her duty only more repulsive toh'er finally, that aft 
 this bustle and confusion was to terminate in a ball, at 
 which she was to pass through a fiery ordeal of frowns and 
 comments ; even through worse, perhaps more dreadful 
 trials. She had not dared, that morning, when her father 
 told her he should expect her to keep her promise, and ac 
 company the young man, after the theatre, to the ball the 
 poor girl had not dared to speak of her secret, or to resist. 
 Then she had promised that was the terrible truth ; and 
 so she had only entreated, and cried, and besought her 
 father to have mercy on her : and these entreaties, prayers, 
 and sobs, having had no effect, had yielded ; and gone into 
 her bed-chamber, and upon her knees, with Kate's little 
 Bible open before her, asked the great heavenly Father to 
 take care of her. 
 
 All this splendid pageant all this roar of cannon, blare 
 of trumpets, rumbling thunder of the incessant drums, could 
 not make her heart any lighter ; her face was still dark. 
 And the spectacle had as little effect upon the other person 
 ages of the narrative. Mr. Effingham, seated in his room, 
 smiled scornfully, as the music and the people's shouts came 
 to him. He felt that all that noisy and joyous world was 
 alien to him cared nothing fur him was perfectly indiffer 
 ent whether he suffered or was happy. He despised the 
 empty fools in his heart, without reflecting that the jar and 
 discord was not in the music and the voices but in himself. 
 And this was the audience he would have to see him play 
 Benedick ! these plebeian voices would have liberty to ap 
 plaud or hiss him ! the thought nearly opened his eyes to 
 the true character of the step he was about to take. What 
 was he about to do ? that night he was going to the palace 
 of the Governor with an actress leaning on his arm there 
 to defy the whole Colony of Virginia, in effect to say to 
 them " Look ! you laugh at me I show you that I 
 scorn you ! " then in a day or two his name would be pub 
 lished in a placard, " The part of Benedick, by Champ 
 Effingham, Esq." to be made the subject of satirical and 
 insulting comment by the very boors and overseers. Thesa 
 two things he was about to do, and he drew back for a mo 
 ment for an instant hesitated. But suddenly, the interview 
 fee had with Hamilton came back to him, and his lip was
 
 ttOVERNOR FAUQOTER'S LALL. 26 1 
 
 Wreathed with his reckless sneer again. They would not 
 permit him, forsooth ! his appearance at the ball with Misa 
 Hallam, would be regarded as a general insult, and a dozen 
 duels spring out of it ! he would do well to avoid the 
 place ! to sneak, to skulk, to swallow all his fine promises 
 and boasts ! 
 
 " No I " he said, aloud, with his teeth clenched ; " by 
 heaven 1 I go there, and I act ! I love her and I hate her 
 more than ever, and, if necessary, will fight a hundred duels 
 for her, with these chivalric gentlemen ! " 
 
 So the day passed, and evening drew on slowly, and the 
 might came. Let us leave the bustling crowd hurrying to 
 ward the theatre leave the taverns overflowing with revel 
 lers let us traverse Gloucester-street, and enter the grounds, 
 through which a fine white gravelled walk leads to the 
 palace. On each side of this walk a row of linden trees 
 are ornamented with variegated lanterns, and ere long these 
 lanterns light up lovely figures of fair dames and gallant 
 gentlemen, walking daintily from the carriage portal to the 
 palace. Let us enter. Before us have passed many guests, 
 and the large apartments, with their globe lamps and chan- 
 deliers, and portraits of the king and queen, and Chelsea 
 figures, and red damask chairs, and numerous card-tables, 
 are already filling with the beauty and grace of that former 
 brilliant and imposing society. 
 
 See this group of lovely young girls, with powdered hair 
 brushed back from their tender temples, and snowy necks 
 and shoulders glittering with diamond necklaces ; see the 
 queer patches on their chins close by the dimples ; see their 
 large falling sleeves, and yellow lace, and bodices with their 
 silken network ; see their gowns, looped back from the satin 
 underskirt, ornamented with flowers in golden thread ; their 
 trains and fans, and high red-heeled shoes, and all their puff's 
 and furbelows, and flounces ; see, above all, their gracious 
 smiles, as they flirt their fans and dart their fatal glances at 
 the magnificently-clad gentlemen in huge ruffles and silk 
 stockings, and long, broad-flapped waistcoats and embroidered 
 coats, with sleeves turned back to the elbow and profusely 
 laced ; see how they ogle, and speak with dainty softuesa 
 under their breath, and sigh and smile, and ever continue 
 playing on the hapless cavaliers the dangerous artillery of 
 their brilliant eyes.
 
 62 OONEE.NOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 
 
 Or, see this group of young country gentlemen, followeft 
 of the fox, with their ruddy faces and laughing voices ; theii 
 queues secured by plain black ribbon ; their strong hands, 
 accustomed to heavy buckskin riding-gloves; their talk of 
 hunting, crops, the breed of sheep and cattle, and the blood 
 of horses. 
 
 Or, pause a moment near that group of dignified gentle 
 men, with dresses plain though rich ; and lordly brows and 
 clear bright eyes, strong enough to look upon the sun of 
 royalty, and, undazzled, see the spots disfiguring it. Hear 
 them converse calmly, simply, like giants knowing their 
 strength ; how slow and clear and courteous their tones ; 
 how plain their manners i 
 
 Lastly, see the motley throng of the humbler planters, 
 some of the tradesmen, factors as they were called, mingled 
 with the yeomen ; see their wives and daughters, fair and 
 attractive, but so wholly outshone by the little powdered 
 damsels ; last of all, though not least, see his bland Excel 
 lency Governor Fauquier gliding among the various groups, 
 and smiling on every body. 
 
 Let us endeavor to catch some of the words uttered by 
 these various personages, now so long withdrawn from us in 
 the far past that silent, stern, inexorable past, which swal 
 lows up so many noble forms, and golden voices, and high 
 deeds ; and which in turn will obliterate us and our little 
 or great actions, as it has effaced though Heaven be thanked, 
 not wholly ! what illustrated and adorned those times which 
 we are now trying to depict. And first let us listen to this 
 group of quiet, calm-looking men fame has spoken loudly 
 of them all 
 
 " Your reverend opponent really got the better of you, 
 1 think, sir," says a quiet, plain, simple gentleman, with a 
 fine face and eye. "'The Twopenny- Act' made out too 
 clear a case, in mere point of law, to need the after-clap." 
 
 " True, sir," his friend replies, smiling so pleasantly, 
 that his very name seemed to indicate his character, " but I 
 would willingly be unhorsed again by the Reverend Mr. 
 Camm, in a cause so good. Every thing concerning Vir 
 ginia, you know, is dear to me. I believe some of my friends 
 consider me demented on the subject or at least call m 
 the ' Virginia Antiquary.' "
 
 UOVBB.NOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 263 
 
 " I consider it a very worthy designation, sir ; and in 
 spite of my opinion, that ' The Colonel's Dismounted' is an 
 appropriate title I cannot be otherwise than frank ever 
 I am fully convinced that equity was with you. BufrTiere 
 comes our noble Roman." 
 
 As he speaks, a tall, fine-looking gentleman approaches, 
 with an eagle eye, a statuesque head, inclined forward as 
 though listening courteously, a smile upon his lips, his right 
 hand covered with a black bandage. 
 
 " What news from Westmoreland, pray, seigneur of 
 Chantilly ?" asks the opponent of the Reverend Mr. Camm. 
 " Do they think of testing the Twopenny- Act by suits for 
 damages ? " 
 
 " No, sir," says the newcomer, very courteously ; " I 
 believe, however, that in Hanover county the Reverend Mr. 
 Maury has brought suit against the collector." 
 
 " Ah, then we shall get some information from our friend 
 from Caroline 1 See, here he is. Good day, sir 1 " 
 
 He who now approaches has the same calm, benignant 
 expression as the rest an expression, indeed, which seems 
 to have dwelt always on those serene noble faces of that 
 period, so full of stirring events and strong natures. The face 
 was not unlike that which we fancy Joseph Addison's must 
 have been a quiet, serene smile, full of courtesy and sweet 
 ness, illuminated it, attracting people of all ages and condi 
 tions. When he speaks, it is in the vox argentea of Cicero, 
 a gentle stream of sound, rippling in the sunlight. 
 
 " What from Caroline, pray ? " asks the ' dismounted 
 Colonel,' pressing the hand held out to him with great 
 warmth. " Do the clergy speak of bringing suit to recover 
 damages at once, for the acts of '55 and '58 ? " 
 
 " i believe not," the gentleman from Caroline replies, 
 courteously, in his soft voice; " but have you not heard the 
 news from Hanover ?" 
 
 " No, sir ; pray let us hear " 
 
 " In the action brought by the Reverend Mr. Maury 
 against the collector, a young man of that con nty has pro 
 cured a triumphant verdict for the collector." 
 
 " For the collector ? " 
 
 " Yes!" 
 
 " Against the clergy ? '*
 
 264 GOVERNOR FAUQCIER'S BALI. 
 
 Yes ! 
 
 " You said a triumphant verdict ? " 
 
 " One penny damages." 
 
 An expression of extreme delight diffuses itself over th 
 face of the gentleman receiving this reply. 
 
 " And what is the name of the young man who has 
 worked this wonder ? " 
 
 " Mr. Patrick Henry." 
 
 " I have no acquaintance with him." 
 
 " I think you will have, however, sir. His speech is 
 said to have been something wonderful ; the people carried 
 him on their shoulders, the parsons fled from the bench I 
 found the county, as I passed through, completely crazy 
 with delight. But what is that small volume, peeping from 
 your pocket, sir ? " adds the speaker, with a smile at the 
 abstracted and delighted expression of his interlocutor. 
 
 " An Anacreon, from Glasgow, sir," says the other, al 
 most forgetting his delight at the issue of the parsons' cause, 
 as he takes the book from his pocket and opens it It is a 
 small thin volume, with an embossed back, covered with 
 odd gilt figures ; and the Greek type is of great size, and 
 very black and heavy. 
 
 " Greek ? " says the gentleman from Caroline, smiling 
 serenely. " Ah, I fear it is Hebrew to me 1 I may say, 
 however, that from what I have heard, this young Mr. Henry 
 is a fair match for > former orator of that language De 
 mosthenes 1 " 
 
 " Well, sir," says the Roman, " if he is Demosthenes, 
 yonder is our valiant Alexander ! " 
 
 "Who is he?" 
 
 " Is that fine face not familiar ? " 
 
 " Ah, CoL Washington ! I know him but slightly ; yet, 
 assuredly, his countenance gives promise of a noble nature ; 
 he has certainly already done great service to the govern 
 ment, and I wonder his Majesty has not promoted him. His 
 promotion will, however, await further services, I fancy." 
 
 " Ah, gentlemen, you are welcome 1 " says a courteous 
 voice ; " Mr. Wythe, Colonel Bland, Mr. Lee, Mr. Pendle- 
 ton, I rejoice to see you all : welcome, welcome ! " And 
 his Excellency Governor Fauquier, with courtly urbanity 
 presses the hands of his guests.
 
 GOVERNOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 
 
 " You will find card-tables in the next room, should you 
 fancy joining in the fascinating amusements of tictao and 
 spadille," he adds, blandly smiling as he passes on. 
 
 The next group which we approach is quite large, and 
 all talk at once, with hearty laughter and rough frankness ; 
 and this talk concerns itself with plantation matters the 
 blood of horses, breeds of cattle, and the chase. Let us 
 listen, even if, in the uproar, we can catch nothing very con 
 nected, and at the risk of finding ourselves puzzled by the 
 jumble of questions and replies. 
 
 " The three field system, I think, sir, has the advantage 
 over all others of " 
 
 " Oh, excellent, sir ! I never saw a finer leaf, and when 
 we cut it " 
 
 " Suddenly the blood rushed over his frill, and we found 
 he had broken his collar bone ! " 
 
 " The finest pack, I think, in all Prince George " 
 
 " By George ! " 
 
 " He's a fine fellow, and has, I think, cause to congratu 
 late himself on his luck. His wife is the loveliest girl I 
 ever saw, and " 
 
 " Trots like lightning 1 " 
 
 " Well, well, nothing astonishes me 1 The world must 
 be coming to an end " 
 
 " On Monday forenoon " 
 
 " On the night before " 
 
 " They say the races near Jamestown will be more 
 crowded this year than ever. I announced" 
 
 " The devil ! " 
 
 " Good evening, sir ; I hope your mare will be in good 
 condition for the race " 
 
 " To destruction, sir I tell you such a black act would 
 ruin the ministry even Granville " 
 
 " Loves his pipe " 
 
 " The races" 
 
 " Hedges" 
 
 " Distanced " 
 
 " I know his pedigree ; you are mistaken by Sir Arohy 
 dam " 
 
 " The )dds ? I close with you. Indeed, I think J 
 could afford " 
 
 I? '
 
 266 GOVERNOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 
 
 " Ah, gentlemen ! " a courteous voice interposes, amid 
 the uproar, " talking of races ? Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Lane, 
 welcome to my poor house ! You will find card-tables in 
 the adjoining room." And his bland Excellency passes on. 
 
 Space fails us or we might set down for the reader's 
 amusement some of the quiet and pleasant talk of the well- 
 to-do factors and humbler planters, and their beautiful wives 
 and daughters. We must pass on ; but let us pause a mo 
 ment yet, to hear what this group of magnificently-dressed 
 young dames, and their gay gallants, are saying. 
 
 " Really, Mr. Alston, your compliments surpass any 
 which I have received for a very long time," says a fasci 
 nating little beauty, in a multiplicity of furbelows, and with 
 a small snow storm on her head, flirting her fan, all 
 covered with Corydons and Chloes, as she speaks ; " what 
 verses did you allude to, when you said that ' Laura was the 
 very image of myself ? ' I am dying with curiosity to know 1 " 
 
 " Those written by our new poet yonder : have you not 
 heard them ? " 
 
 " No, sir, upon my word ! But the author is " 
 
 " The Earl of Dorset, yonder." 
 
 " The Earl of Dorset ! " 
 
 " Ah, charming Miss Laura ! permit the muse to deco 
 rate herself with a coronet, and promenade, in powdered wig 
 and ruffles, without questioning her pedigree." 
 
 A little laugh greets these petit maitre words. 
 
 " Well, sir, the verses," says Laura, with a fatal glance. 
 
 The gallant bows low, and draws from his pocket a 
 MS., secured with blue ribbon, and elegantly written in the 
 round, honest-looking characters of the day. 
 
 " Here it is," he says. 
 
 And all the beautiful girls who have listened to the 
 colloquy gather around the reader, to drink in the fascinat 
 ing rhymes of the muse, in an earl's coronet and powder. 
 
 " First comes the prologue, as I may say," the reader 
 commences ; " it is an address to his pen : 
 
 M Wilt thou, adrent'rous pen, describe 
 The gay, delightful silken tribe, 
 
 That maddens all our city ; 
 Nor dread lest while you foolish claim 
 A near approach to beauty's flame, 
 
 Icarus' fate may hit ye 1 "
 
 GOVERNOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 267 
 
 The speaker pauses, and a great fluttering of fans ensues, 
 with many admiring comments on the magnificent simile of 
 Icarus. 
 
 The reader continues, daintily arranging his snowy frill 
 " Mark the fate of the bard," he says, and reads : 
 
 " "With singe'd pinions tumbling down. 
 The scorn and laughter of the town 
 
 Thoul't rue thy daring flight. 
 While every Miss, with cool contempt, 
 Affronted by the bold attempt, 
 
 Will, tittering, view thy plight." 
 
 " Tittering observe the expressive phrase," says the 
 reader. 
 
 They all cry out at this. 
 
 " Tittering ! " 
 
 " Ladies do not titter 1 " 
 
 " Really ! " 
 
 " Tittering ! " 
 
 The serene reader raises his hand, and, adjusting his wig, 
 
 " Mere poetic license, ladies ; merely imagination ; not 
 fact. True, very true 1 ladies never titter an abominable 
 imputation. But, listen." 
 
 And he continues : 
 
 "Myrtillaa Deatities who can paint, 
 The well-turned form, the glowing teiut, 
 
 May deck a common creature ; 
 But who can make th* expressive soul, 
 With lively sense inform the whole, 
 And light up evwy feature ? " 
 
 " A bad rhyme * teint,' and a somewhat aristocratic allu 
 sion to ' common creatures,' " says the reader. 
 
 " Oh, it is beautiful 1 " says a pretty little damsel, enthu 
 siastically. 
 
 " I am glad you like your portrait, my dear madam," 
 says the gallant, " I assure you that Myrtilla was designed 
 for you." 
 
 " Oh ! " murmurs Myrtilla, covering her face with her 
 fan. 
 
 The reader continues ;
 
 268 GOVERNOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 
 
 "See Laura, sprightly nymph, advance 
 Through nil the mazes of the dance, 
 
 With light fantastic toe; 
 See laughter sj nrkle in her eyes 
 At her approach new joys arise. 
 
 New fires within us glowf 
 
 "Such sweetness in her look is seen. 
 Such brilliant elegance of mien, 
 
 So jauntie and so airy: 
 Her image in our fancy reigns, 
 All night she gallops through our veins, 
 
 Like little Mab the fairy 1 " 
 
 Laura covers her face to hide her delight, in the midst 
 of universal applause. 
 
 The reader helps himself daintily to a pinch of snuff 
 from a golden box, and continues : 
 
 " Shall sprightly Isadora yield 
 To Laura the distinguished field 
 
 Amidst the vernal throng ; 
 Or shall Aspasia's frolic lays 
 From Leonella snatch the bays, 
 
 The tribute of the song J " 
 
 And as the gallant gentleman reads, he pauses at " Isa 
 dora," " Aspasia," and " Leonella," and, raising his head, 
 reveals the hidden meaning of the verse by gazing at those 
 beauties, who utter little cries of delight, and go into rap 
 tures. 
 
 He continues : 
 
 " Like hers I ween, the blushing rose 
 On Sylvia's polished cheek that glows ; 
 
 And hers the velvet lip 
 To which the cherry yields its hue, 
 Its plumpness and ambrosial dew, 
 
 Which even gods might sip 1 " 
 
 Isadora and Sylvia cover their faces, and feel conscioui 
 f having made a host of enemies. 
 The reader reads on : 
 
 " What giddy raptures fill the brain, 
 When tripping o'er the verdant plain, 
 
 Florella joins the throng, 
 Her looks each throbbing pain beguiles, 
 Beneath her footsteps nature smileo, 
 
 And joins the pot's sons'."
 
 GOVERNOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 269 
 
 Then there is a pause. 
 
 " Who is Florella ? " they ask. 
 
 " Florella, ladies, I regret to say, is not present," the 
 reader replies, embracing the brilliant and undulating throng 
 with a glance. 
 
 " But who is it ? " 
 
 " Are you really desirous of knowing ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes.' 
 
 " I have been told that curiosity was not one of the foi 
 bles of the divine sex " 
 
 " Come come, Mr. Alston," says Laura, " on pain of 
 my displeasure ! " 
 
 " That is far too dreadful to endure," says the gallant, 
 smoothing his frill with a jewelled hand, and bowing low, 
 " Florella, ladies, is Miss Henrietta Lee." 
 
 " Exactly like her excellent," comes from all sides. 
 
 Some more verses are read, and they are received with a 
 variety of comment. 
 
 " Listen now, to the last," says the engaging reader. 
 
 " With pensive look and head reclined, 
 Sweet emblem of the purest mind, 
 
 Lo 1 where Cordelia sits I 
 On Dion's image dwells the fair 
 Dion, the thunderbolt of war 
 The prince of modern wits 1 
 
 "At length fatigued with beauty's blaze^ 
 The feeble muse no more essays, 
 
 Her picture to complete. 
 The promised charms of younger girls, 
 When nature the gay scene unfurls, 
 
 Some happier bard shall treat I " 
 
 There is a silence for some moments after these words 
 the MS. having passed from the gallant's hands to anothei 
 group. 
 
 <: Who is Cordelia ? let me think," says Laura, knitting 
 her brows, and raising to her lips a fairy hand covered with 
 diamonds, absently. 
 
 " And Dion who can he be ? " says Isodora, twisting 
 her satin sleeve between her fingers abstractedly. 
 
 " It is ! no, it is not 1 " 
 
 " I know, now ! but that don't suit 1 " 
 
 " Permit me to end your perplexity, ladies," says the
 
 270 GOVERNOR FAUQUtER S BALL. 
 
 oracle, " Cordelia, is Miss Clare Lee, and Dion, is Mr. Champ 
 Effingham ! 
 
 A general exclamation of surprise, from all the ladies. 
 They say : 
 
 " It suits him, possibly, but " 
 
 " He may be the prince of wits ; still it does not fol 
 low" 
 
 " Certainly not, that" 
 
 " Clare is not such a little saint ! " 
 
 " Let me defend her," says a gentleman, smiling ; " I grant 
 you that 'tis extravagant to call Mr. Effingham a thun 
 derbolt" 
 
 " Laughable." 
 
 " Amusing," say the gentlemen. 
 
 " Or the prince of modern wits," continues the counsel 
 for the defence. 
 
 " Preposterous ! " 
 
 " Unjust 1 " they add. 
 
 " But I must be permitted to say," goes on the chivalrio 
 defender of the absent, " that Miss Clare Lee fully deserves 
 her character : the comparison of that lovely girl, ladies, to 
 Cordelia, Cordelia, the sweetest of all Shakespeare's charac 
 ters seems to me nothing more than justice." 
 
 The gentlemen greet this with enthusiastic applause, for 
 our little, long-lost sight of heroine, had subdued all hearts. 
 
 " As regards Mr. Effingham," adds Clare's knight, " I 
 shall be pardoned for not saying any thing, since he is not 
 present." 
 
 " Then I will say something " here interposes a small 
 gentleman, with a waistcoat reaching to his knees, and pro 
 fusely laced, like all the rest of his clothes indeed, the 
 richness of his costume was distressing " but I will say, sir, 
 that Mr. Effingham's treatment of that divine creature, Miss 
 Clare Lee, is shameful." 
 
 " How ? " ask the ladies, agitating their fans, and 
 scenting a delicious bit of scandal. 
 
 " Why," says the gentleman in the long waistcoat, squar 
 ing himself, so to speak, and greatly delighted at the sudden 
 accession to his importance the general opinion being that 
 he was somewhat insignificant, " why, ladies, he has been 
 running afHr that little jade, Miss Hallam 1 "
 
 FAUQUIER'S BALL. 271 
 
 u Miss Hallam ! " cry the ladies, in virtuous ignorance 
 though nothing was more notorious than the goings-on of 
 our friend Mr. Effingham, " Miss Hallam ! " 
 
 " Precisely, ladies." 
 
 " The actress ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " A playing girl ! " exclaims a lady, of say thirty, and 
 covering her face as she spoke. 
 
 " Falling in love with her ! " 
 
 " Possible ? " 
 
 " Haven't you heard all about it ? " 
 
 This home question causes a flutter and a silence. 
 
 " I'll tell you, then," continues the gentleman in the long 
 waistcoat, " I'll tell you all about the doings of ' Dion, the 
 thunderbolt of war, and prince of modern wits.' He, the 
 thunderbolt of war ? preposterous ! He, the prince cf 
 wits ? ludicrous ! He may be the king of coxcombs, the 
 coryphaeus of dandies but that is all." 
 
 The gentlemen standing around listen to these words, 
 with some amusement and more disgust. It is plain that 
 some secret spite actuates the gentleman in the long waist 
 coat. 
 
 " Well, let us hear Mr. Effingham's crimes," says Laura, 
 
 " By all means," adds Isadora. 
 
 " Of course," says Myrtilla. 
 
 " He has been making himself ridiculous about that ac 
 tress," continues the chronicler, " and I have even heard, 
 designs to marry her." 
 
 The ladies make a movement, to express surprise and 
 indignation, but after a moment's reflection, suppress this 
 somewhat ambiguous exhibition of their feelings. 
 
 " He's been at the ' Raleigh Tavern,' making love to 
 her for a mouth," continues the narrator. 
 
 " At the tavern ? " 
 
 " Yes, in town here." 
 
 " Did any one ever ! " says the lady of unceitain age. 
 
 " Never ! never 1 " chime in the virtuous little damsels, 
 shaking their heads solemnly. 
 
 " He has left his family," the gentleman in the long 
 waistcoat goes on, indignantly, " and they are dying of 
 grief"
 
 279 GOVERNOR FAUQ JIER'S BALL. 
 
 "Oh, can it be!" 
 
 " Certainly, madam. Why are they not her to-night ? M 
 
 " Very true." 
 
 " Why is Clare Lee, the victim of his insincerity, away, 
 pray tell me I They are not here they are not coming, 
 madam." 
 
 At the same moment, the usher announces the squire, 
 Miss Alethea, and Miss Clare Lee Master Willie and 
 Kate being too small to be seen, which the squire had warned 
 them of. The squire is as bluff as ever, and makes his salu 
 tation to his Excellency with great cordiality Clare is pale 
 and absent, presenting thus a singular contrast to Henrietta, 
 who enters a moment afterwards, brilliant, imposing, and 
 smiling, like a queen receiving the homage of the nobility 
 around her throne. She sweeps on, leaning on the arm of 
 honest Jack Hamilton, and the party are swallowed in the 
 crowd. 
 
 Let us return to the group, whose conversation the new 
 arrivals had interrupted. 
 
 " Well, I was mistaken," says the gentleman in the long 
 waistcoat, " but any one may see that Clare Lee is dying 
 slowly ! " 
 
 At which affecting observation, the young ladies sigh and 
 shake their heads. 
 
 " And just think what that man has thrown this divine 
 creature away for," continues the censor inorum, " for a com 
 mon actress ! an ordinary playing girl tolerably pretty 
 she may be, but vastly overrated a mere thing of stage 
 paint and pearl powder, strutting through her parts and rant 
 ing like an Amazon 1 " 
 
 " I think her quite pretty," says Laura, " but it is too 
 bad." 
 
 " Dreadful 1 
 
 " Awful 1 
 
 " Horrible 1 " 
 
 " Shocking 1 " 
 
 These are some of the comments on Mr. Effingham'a 
 conduct, from the elegant little dames. 
 
 " He is ashamed to show himself any where," continues 
 the gentleman in the long waistcoat, " and only yesterday 
 met me on the street, and in passing, turned away his head,
 
 GOVERNOR FAUQUIER'S BALL. 273 
 
 plainly afraid that I would not speak in return, had Ke ad 
 dressed me ! " 
 
 At which words the gentlemen are observed to smile 
 knowing as they do, something of Mr. Champ Effingham'a 
 personal character and habits. 
 
 " He actually was afraid to look at me," says the censor, 
 " and I am told keeps his room all day, or passes his time 
 in the society of that Circe, yes, that siren who is only too 
 fond of him, I am afraid and I predict will make him marry 
 her at last." 
 
 The ladies sigh, and agitate their fans with diamond- 
 sparkling hands. They feel themselves very far above this 
 shameless creature attempting to catch as we now say 
 Mr. Emngham : they pity her, for such a thing never has 
 occurred to them no gentleman has ever been attractive 
 enough for them to have designs upon his heart. And so 
 they pity and despise Beatrice, for wishing to run away with 
 her admirer. 
 
 " He is heartily ashamed of his infatuation, and I saw 
 him last night in the theatre, positively afraid to look at the 
 audience but staring all the time at her," continues the 
 small gentleman. 
 
 " But that is easy to understand, as he is in love," says 
 Myrtilla, with a strong inclination to take the part of the 
 reprobate against his enemy. 
 
 " No, no, madam," exclaims the censor, " he was really 
 ashamed to look at the people, and took not the least notice 
 of their frowns : he does not visit any where : he knows he 
 would not be received he is afraid to show his face." 
 
 It seemed that the gentleman in the long waistcoat was 
 doomed to have all his prophecies falsified ; for at that mo 
 ment, the usher announced in a loud voice, which attracted 
 the attention of the whole company : 
 
 " Mr. Emngham and Miss Hallam ! '
 
 274 BOW MR. EFFINGHAM AND BEATRICE DANCED 
 
 CHAPTER XL IX. 
 
 HOW MK. EFFING1IAM AND BEATRICE DANCED A MINUET AT TH1 
 BALL. 
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM entered under the full light of the central 
 chandelier, with Beatrice on his arm. He carried his head 
 proudly erect, his eye was clear and steady, his lip calm and 
 only slightly sarcastic : his whole carriage displayed per 
 fect and unaffected self-possession. The thousand eyes bent 
 on him vainly sought in his eyes, or lips, any thing going to 
 show that he felt conscious of the dreadful, the awful social 
 enormity, which he was committing 
 
 Mr. Effingham was dressed with extraordinary richness. 
 He was always elegant in his costume, on that night he was 
 splendid. His coat of rich cut velvet, was covered with 
 embroidery, and sparkled with a myriad of chased gold but 
 tons; his lace ruffles at breast and wrist were point-de-venise, 
 his fingers were brilliant with rings, and his powdered hair 
 waved from his clear pale temples like a stream of silver 
 dust. He looked like a courtier of the days of Louis XIV., 
 dressed for a royal reception. 
 
 And how did Beatrice compare with this brilliant star 
 of fashion this thunderbolt of war, and prince of modern 
 wits, as the muse in powdered hair and ruffles had charac 
 terized him. Poor Beatrice was quite eclipsed by her cava 
 lier. Her simple, unassuming dress, of pearl color, looped 
 back with plain ribbon, and without a single flower, or any 
 ornament whatever, looked strangely out of place, thrown in 
 contrast with the brilliant silks, and velvets, and gold but 
 tons, and diamonds of her companion : her modest, tender 
 face, and drooping head, with its unpretending coiffure, 
 looked quite insignificant beside the bold, defiant counte 
 nance of Mr. Effingham, which returned look for look, and 
 gaze for gaze, with an insulting nonchalance and easy hau 
 teur. We know how reluctantly Beatrice had come thither 
 rather how bitter a trial it was to her, and we may under 
 stand why she looked pale and troubled, and spite of the 
 fact that she had just encountered the gaze of a curious and 
 laughing audience, without any emotion now felt her spirit
 
 4 MINUE1 AT THE BALU 275 
 
 die within her. It was not because she shrunk from com 
 ment, half so much, as from the fact that each moment she 
 expected to see opposite to her the cold, pale face, and sick, 
 reproachful eyes of Clare Lee of Clare, who had thrown 
 aside the prejudices of class, even forgot the jealousy of a 
 wronged and wretched rival, to press in her arma the riva* 
 who had made all her woe, and that rival a common actresa 
 It was the dread of her eye which made poor Beatrice trem 
 ble this alone made her lip quiver and her brow droop. 
 
 His excellency Governor Fauquier came forward to wel 
 come his guests, but started at the sight of Beatrice, and 
 almost uttered an exclamation. For a moment he was stag 
 gered, and said nothing. This soon passed, however, and 
 by the time Mr. Effingham had accomplished his easy bow, 
 the governor was himself again, and like the elegant gentle 
 man he was, made a low inclination before Beatrice. Then 
 he made a pleasant allusion to the weather that mucb 
 abused subject, which has extricated so many perishing con 
 versations and so, smiling agreeably, passed on. 
 
 Mr. Effingham advanced through the opening, on each 
 side of which extended a row of brilliant forms, sparkling 
 with lace and jewels, without any apparent consciousness 
 that he and his companion were the observed of all observers 
 without being conscious, one would have said, of those 
 murmured comments which greeted, on every side, the 
 strange and novel scene. His manner to Beatrice, as he 
 bent down to speak to her, was full of respectful and chi- 
 valric feeling ; his eye was soft, his lip smiling ; the highest 
 lady of the land might well have felt an emotion of pleasure 
 in so elegant and noble an exhibition of regard. And this 
 was not affected by Mr. Effinghara. By no means. We 
 have failed to convey a truthful impression of this young 
 gentleman's character, if the reader has not, before this 
 time, perceived that, with all his woful faults and failings, 
 Mr. Champ Effingham had much in his character of the 
 bold gentleman the ancient knight. With those thousand 
 satirical or scornful eyes bent on her, Beatrice was dearer to 
 him than she had ever been before. Those elegant ladies 
 and gallant gentlemen were saying, with disdain, " a common 
 actress ! " Well, he would espouse the cause of that girl 
 they scorned against them all, and treat her like a queen 1
 
 276 HOW MR. EFFINGHAM AND BEATRICE DANCED 
 
 Never had she had more complete possession of his heart- 
 never had his heart thrilled so deliciously at the contact of 
 her hand, resting upon his arm. 
 
 As we have said, all drew back from the new comers, 
 and they entered through an open space, like a king leading 
 in his queen. Mr. Effinghain looked round, with a cool and 
 easy smile, and led the young girl to a seat, near some 
 elderly dowagers, in turbans and diamonds, who had en 
 throned themselves in state, to watch their daughters, and 
 Bee that those inexperienced creatures did not give too much 
 encouragement to ineligible personages. As Beatrice sank 
 into one of the red damask chairs, the surrounding chairs 
 suddenly retreated on their rollers, and the turbans agitated 
 themselves indignantly. Mr. Effingham smiled, with his 
 easy, mocking expression, and observing that one of the 
 diamond-decorated dowagers had dropped her fan, picked it 
 up, and presented it to her, with a bow. The indignant lady 
 turned away her head, with a frown. 
 
 " Ah," said Mr. Effingham, politely, " I was mistaken." 
 
 And fanning himself for a moment negligently, he placed 
 the richly feathered instrument in the hand of Beatrice. 
 
 " My fan, if you please, sir," said the owner, suddenly 
 flushing with indignant fire. 
 
 " Your fan, madam ? " asked Mr. Effingham, with polite 
 surprise. 
 
 " Yes, sir 1 you picked it up, sir ! " 
 
 " A thousand pardons ! " returned the young gentleman, 
 with a courteous smile ; " did I ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir 1 that is it, sir ! In the hands of that " 
 
 " Oh, I understand," returned Mr. Effingham ; and with 
 a low inclination to Beatrice, he said, holding out his hand, 
 " Will you permit me ? " 
 
 The fan was restored by the young girl, just as she had 
 taken it unconsciously ; and the dowager received it with 
 the tips of her fingers, as if it had been contaminated. At 
 the same moment, the band struck up a minuet, and two 
 couples began to dance. 
 
 " How graceful the costume of our young ladies is be 
 coming," said Mr. Effingham, bending down courteously to 
 Beatrice, on the back of whose chair he leaned. 
 
 Beatrice murmured, " Yes."
 
 A MINUET AT THE BALu. Ail 
 
 " Much prettier, I think, than that of fifty years ago," 
 continued Mr. Effingham, smiling, and glancing respectfully 
 at the elderly and indignant ladies, who were listening. 
 
 The fans waved furiously. 
 
 " There is a fitness about the fresh, new style," he con 
 tinued, " and it suits youth. I do not quarrel, however, 
 with the former costume turbans, and all that it is also 
 suitable for elderly ladies." 
 
 And Mr. Effingham, smiling meekly, seemed perfectly 
 unconscious of the storm muttering around him. As he 
 spoke, honest Jack Hamilton, who had left the Riverhead 
 and Effingham party in the other room, approached, and 
 with a movement of his head, asked to be presented to 
 Beatrice. 
 
 , The young girl could hardly return his bow ; she felt 
 such anxiety, that the power of movement seemed almost 
 gone from her. 
 
 " Mr. Hamilton is one of my best friends, Miss Hal- 
 lam," said the young man, who had rewarded honest Jack 
 with a bright smile ; " but I shall claim your hand for tho 
 first minuet." 
 
 " Oh no," murmured Beatrice ; " I do not wish to dance. 
 Oh, sir ! do not ask me to dance ! " 
 
 And she stopped, overcome by her emotion. 
 
 " Oh, I insist upon it ! " said Mr. Effingham, smiling ; 
 " it seems to me that that minuet there is abominably per 
 formed, and the music is shockingly fast." 
 
 " Hallo, Brother Champ ! " here said a voice, at his 
 elbow ; " ain't I glad to see you ! " 
 
 And turning round, Mr. Effingham found himself in front 
 of Master Will ; but Master Will was so metamorphosed 
 that he scarcely recognized him. Willie had carried out his 
 threat to Kate, and had donned a complete cavalier's cos 
 tume. His hair was powdered, and gallantly tied into a 
 queue behind; his coat was embroidered and heavy cuffed ; 
 his waistcoat nearly down to his knees ; his frill irreproach 
 able ; his stockings of most approved scarlet iilk ; and his 
 shoes rosetted with ribbon, and with such high red heels, 
 that the young gentleman walked as it were on tiptoe. Al 
 together, with his long queue, and quick-moving little feet, 
 Will resembled a large rat, decked out with ribbons, and
 
 278 HOW MK. EFFINGHAM AND BEATRICE DANSED 
 
 conscious of his frill and the good society he moved in, 
 on his best behavior. 
 
 " I'm delighted to see you," added Will, holding out his 
 hand. 
 
 Mr. Effingham shook hands. 
 
 " 'Say," whispered Will, " is that the girl you're in love 
 with?" 
 
 Will started back before the tremendous frown of his 
 brother ; for Beatrice heard the words, and turned away her 
 head. Mr. Effingham raised his finger, and was about to 
 say something that would have annihilated the youthful 
 cavalier, when suddenly he felt a soft, warm, little hand take 
 his own, and turning round, he saw little Kate's bright, 
 smiling face. 
 
 " Oh 1 I wanted to come before, but couldn't," she said, 
 leaning her bright little head against his side ; " I'm so glad 
 to see you." 
 
 And she pressed the hand she held harder. 
 
 Mr. Effingham's cynical smile became soft, his head 
 drooped toward the child ; but suddenly Kate recognized 
 Beatrice, who had been concealed from her by Jack Hamil 
 ton, motionless, coughing, trying to converse ; there was 
 the lady of the tavern the actress the person who had 
 caused them so much grief. She drew back sorrowfully, 
 and her little face was covered with a shadow. Mr. Effing 
 ham saw it divined the reason and his face too was over 
 shadowed. He was about to speak, when the first dance 
 having terminated some moments before a second minuet 
 was commenced by the band. 
 
 " Come ! " said he to Beatrice ; and taking her hand, he 
 raised her, and led her forward. 
 
 " Not so fast," he said, with a gesture of his hand, to 
 the musicians ; " I cannot dance a minuet to a gavotte tune." 
 
 And he entered into the broad, open space with Beatrice 
 the mark of a thousand eyes. 
 
 The group which we have paid some attention to already 
 that group which had expressed such delight at the verses 
 of the accomplished (colonial) Earl of Dorset, and who had 
 uttered such a variety of comment on Dion, Cordelia, and 
 Beatrice the group of which Myrtilla, Isadora, and th
 
 A MlNUfiT AT THE BALL. 79 
 
 Long waistcoat, were the shining stars now gazed in horror 
 at the presumption and effrontery of Mr. Effingham. 
 
 "Just look! "said Sylvia; "he is positively going to 
 dance the second minuet ! " 
 
 " With that actress 1 " said Isadora. 
 
 " The playing girl ! " echoed Leonella, horrified. 
 
 " While we must wait 1 " added Myrtilla, with som 
 show of reason. 
 
 " It is presumptuous ! " 
 
 " It is shocking ! " 
 
 " It is insulting ! " 
 
 " It is outrageous ! " 
 
 " I will not stand it ! " here interposed the gentleman in 
 the long waistcoat, boiling with indignation. 
 
 " Just look ! " said Sylvia ; " did anybody ever see such 
 ridiculous respect and ceremony in a gentleman before ? " 
 
 " You would think that she was a queen, and he a sub 
 ject ! " 
 
 " What a bow ! " 
 
 " See how he takes her hand, bending to her waist 1 " 
 
 " Ridiculous ! " 
 
 " But he is very graceful," hazarded Myrtilla, who, aa 
 we know, defended faintly Mr. Effingham's character, when 
 it had been attacked by the censor. 
 
 " Well, suppose he does bow elegantly," said Isadora, 
 spitefully, envying Beatrice her cavalier. 
 
 " True : we do not wish to have him for a partner," said 
 Myrtilla, who was something of a wit. 
 
 " There, look at her 1 " 
 
 " Theatrical 1 " 
 
 Affected 1 " 
 
 " Stiff! " 
 
 " Frightened 1 " 
 
 " She looks as if she was going to cry." 
 
 " Poor thing ! " said Myrtilla ; " I think she does not 
 want to dance." 
 
 "Does not want to?" 
 
 Pshaw 1 " 
 
 " She is too artful for that 1 " 
 
 " But look ! her eyes are moist, as she curtseys, and they 
 seem to beseech him for something," said Myrtilla.
 
 280 HOW MR. EFFINGRAM A3ID BEATRi.B DANCED 
 
 " What odious artfulness ! " cried Sylvia', " she pretend* 
 to look as if she was not dying for joy at being the partnei 
 of the fascinating Mr. Effingham." 
 
 " I suppose she would not ally herself with his family ; 
 they are too low," said Isadora, spitefully j " may be she has 
 refused his hand." 
 
 " Quite probable ! " 
 
 " Oh, of course ! " 
 
 "Doubtless!" 
 
 And the pretty little damsels curled their handsome 
 little lips ironically. 
 
 ' She is an odious-looking creature," said Leonella ; " did 
 any one ever see such evidences of low birth ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am sure you are wrong ! " cried Myrtilla, too 
 generous to keep silent ; " I think she is very sweet." 
 
 " Well, she is not so bad, but " 
 
 " Tolerable, but" 
 
 " A pretty arm, but " 
 
 " Fine eyes, still " 
 
 " Graceful, yet" 
 
 " I think she is an odious, artful, designing creature, but 
 not at all too bad for her partner," here interposed the gen 
 tleman in the long waistcoat ; and so the colloquy went on. 
 
 Almost every group in the room was uttering something 
 similar to that which we have just listened to. The en 
 trance of Mr. Effingham into the open space, to dance the 
 second minuet of the evening, had caused an awful sensa 
 tion As he glided through the stately dance to the slow 
 rolling music, bowing profoundly, with his tender, lordly 
 smile, touching the young girl's hand with chivalric respect, 
 pressing his cocked hat to his heart at each inclination of 
 his handsome and brilliant head, all eyes had been bent 
 upon him, all tongues busy with him. And these eyes and 
 tongues had taken equal note of Beatrice. The young girl 
 moved through the old stately dance with that exquisite 
 grace and ease with which she performed every evolution, 
 and her tender, agitated face, as we have seen, tempered the 
 wrath of many an indignant damsel. After the first burst 
 of surprise and anger, the gentlemen, too, began to take tho 
 part as Virginia gentlemen always have done, and always 
 will do of the louely girl environed by so manv hostile
 
 A MINUET AT THE BALL. 281 
 
 eyes and slighting comments. They forgot the preposses 
 sions of rank, the prejudices of class no longer remem 
 bered that the young actress occupied upon the floor a posi 
 tion to which she was not entitled ; they only saw a woman 
 who had all the rest against her ; and their sympathy was 
 nearly powerful enough to make them lose sight of Mr. 
 Effingham's defiance. 
 
 A murmur rose as the music stopped, and he led her to 
 a seat; and then a species of undulation in the crowd, near 
 the entrance into the next room, attracted attention. Mr. 
 Effingham had his back turned, however, and did not ob 
 serve this incident. He was talking to Beatrice in a low 
 tone. 
 
 " You see," he said, with his calm, nonchalant voice 
 " you see, Beatrice, that this superb society, which you 
 fancied you would find yourself so much out of place in, is 
 not so very extraordinary after all. I think that I hazard 
 nothing in saying that the second minuet was better than 
 the first ; you are, indeed, far more beautiful than that little 
 dame, whose ancestors, I believe, came over with the con 
 queror Captain Smith." 
 
 And his cynical smile grew soft, as he gazed on the ten 
 der, anxious face. 
 
 " It was not so dreadful an ordeal," he added, " though 
 I must say we were the subject of much curiosity. I ob 
 served a group, criticising me, which pleased me. There 
 was a fiery young gentleman in a long waistcoat, whom I of 
 fended by not returning his bow some months since and I 
 believe he was the orator of the occasion." 
 
 With which words, Mr. Efiingham's lip curled. 
 
 " See ! the very same group every body, in fact, is gazing 
 at us. Let them ! you are lovelier than them all." 
 
 And Mr. Effingham raised his head proudly and looked 
 around like an emperor. But Beatrice felt her heart die within 
 her : that minuet had exhausted her strength ; each moment 
 she expected to see the pale cold face of Clare looking at her. 
 Mr. Effingham observed how faint she was, and leaning over 
 took a smelling-bottle from the hand of the old dowager, who 
 had dropped the fan bowing and smiling. 
 
 He presented it to Beatrice, but she put it away with 
 the back of her hand : whereupon Mr. Effiiigham, with a 
 eecond bow, restored it to the dowager, who, aghast at hia
 
 282 HOW MR. B. AND BEATRICE DANCED, ETC. 
 
 impudence, beaten by his superior coolness, and overwhelmed 
 with rage, took it without knowing what she did. Mr. 
 Effingham thereupon turned, smiling, to Beatrice again : 
 
 " There seems to be something going on yonder," he said, 
 leaning on her chair, and directing the young girl's attention 
 to the flashing waves of the crowd, which moved to and fro 
 like foaming billows, in the light of the brilliant chandeliers. 
 Beatrice felt an indefinable and vague fear take possession 
 of her heart At the same moment, Master Willie came 
 pushing and elbowing through the crowd. 
 
 " Cousin Clare is sick 1 " he said, " you'd better go and 
 see her, brother Champ. She liked to fainted just now 1 " 
 
 Beatrice understood all. 
 
 " Oh, sir ! let me go 1 " she cried, " go out with me 1 I 
 shall die here ! oh, I cannot that dance nearly killed me 
 and now I Oh, sir, have pity, give me your arm 1 " 
 
 And rising with a hurried movement, she placed her 
 hand on Mr. Effingham's arm. That gentleman smiled bit 
 terly. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " this is the tragedy after the comedy I 
 I understand this fainting." 
 
 " Oh, sir, have pity I must go 1 " cried Beatrice, " I 
 will go alone ! " 
 
 Mr. Effingham held her back, and hesitated. At last 
 he said : 
 
 " Well, madam as you please I have had a pleasant 
 minuet I will go." 
 
 And with the same cold, defiant ease, he led the young 
 girl across the room, and issued forth into the open air. 
 
 Without speaking they traversed the walk, with its lin 
 dens and variegated lanterns, passed through the crowd of 
 grooms and coachmen, who made way respectfully, and en 
 tered the carriage which had brought them. In ten minutes 
 it stopped at the Raleigh, and Mr. Effingham, with a strange 
 throbbing of the heart, handed the young girl out. At that 
 moment ne loved her so madly, so defiantly, that he would 
 have given the universe to clasp her io his bosom. 
 
 He knew how such a proceeding would be received, how 
 ever, and led her in silence to her room, where Mr. Manager 
 Hallam was sitting by the fire, toasting his enormous feet. 
 
 Then with a bow he closed the door ? and returned to th 
 governor's palace.
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM RETURNS TO THE BALL. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 ICE. EFFINGHAM EETUEN8 TO THE BALL AND DISCOURSES ON THE 
 SUBJECT OF WAISTCOATS. 
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM made his re-entrance into the ball-room, 
 with the same disdainful calmness which had characterized 
 him at first. If as many eyes were not turned toward him, 
 that was because he was no longer accompanied by the young 
 actress was a single cavalier. 
 
 Near the door he encountered that group, which we have 
 twice listened to ; and he approached with his satirical and 
 careless smile. 
 
 " Ah, really, " he said, to Sylvia, " I am charmed to see 
 you ! Why, how adorably you are looking 1 " 
 
 And turning round before Miss Sylvia could reply, he 
 added to Leonella, 
 
 " Your coiffure is charming ! " 
 
 The expression upon the faces of Miss Sylvia and Leo 
 nella was so ludicrous, that Myrtilla burst out laughing. 
 
 " Ah 1 " said Mr. Effingham, in his most petit maitre 
 tones, " how could I have so long neglected to place my 
 homage at the feet of the queen of beauty 1 " 
 
 Myrtilla laughed at this languid and elegant address to 
 her. 
 
 " I cannot pardon myself," continued Mr. Effingham, 
 arranging his drop curls ; " if Phillis scorns her Corydon, 
 and beats him with her crook, he cannot complain ; his 
 humbled eyes dare not rise higher than the ribbons fluttering 
 on the bodice of his pastoral princess." 
 
 The fashion of the time, must plead Mr. Effinghain's 
 excuse for this extraordinary speech. Our lovely fore- 
 mothers relished these rural allusions, and started with 
 delight at the mention of Chloes, Phillises and crooks. And 
 so Myrtilla made a laughing courtesey : and Mr. Effingham 
 turned away. He found himself face to face with the small 
 gentleman who had criticised him so pleasantly, and whose 
 criticism his quick eye had seen reflected m his face, as the 
 young man had danced opposite to Beatrice. 
 
 " Oh ! really a great pleasure ! " said he, now, to thii 
 gentleman, " are you here too ? "
 
 284 MR. EFFINGHAM RETURNS TO THE BALL. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said the small gentleman, sullenly. 
 
 w And with as long a waistcoat as ever," continued Mr 
 Effingham, smiling. 
 
 " Sir 1 " 
 
 " Yes, a pleasant ball but the society is somewhat 
 mixed," said Mr. Effingham, with courteous smiles, " things 
 are becoming changed. Is it not so, ladies ? Gay, adorable 
 shepherdesses, clad in the bloom and freshness of the spring 
 am I not right ? " 
 
 " Yes, you are right, sir," said Sylvia, tossing her little 
 head : a manoauver which Mr. Effingham rightly attributed 
 to the fact that the damsel meant to allude to Beatrice. 
 
 " Why, nothing could be plainer," he continued. 
 
 " Nothing, sir I " here interposed the small gentleman, 
 with a frown. Mr. Effingham slightly turned round, as 
 much as to say " did you presume to reply to me, sir ? " and 
 went on superciliously. 
 
 "Very mixed shockingly," he said; "every body is 
 beginning to mingle in society, and we now see all descrip 
 tions of costume. I do not complain of the simple dress of 
 the lower class, yonder I like it. What I allude to is dif 
 ferent. I refer to those individuals who endeavor to make 
 up by splendor what they lack in good-breeding, and who 
 load their dress with all manner of remarkable and extraor 
 dinary ornament " 
 
 Myrtilla began to laugh, mischievously glancing at the 
 small gentleman, who winced. 
 
 " Shocking taste, and shows their condition," added Mr. 
 Effingham ; " they even persist in wearing those abominable 
 waistcoats, as brilliant as the rainbow, and nearly as long 
 invariable indication of the parvenu." 
 
 And Mr. Effingham smiled amiably at the gentleman in 
 the long waistcoat, who was furious raised his hand with an 
 air inexpressibly foppish, to the ladies, and moved on. 
 
 He encountered Jack Hamilton, who, in the midst of a 
 group of foxhunters like himself, was laughing and talking 
 at the top of his voice. 
 
 " Oh, here is Effingham I " said Hamilton, " where is 
 Miss Hallam ? " 
 
 Mr. Effingham replied, calmly : 
 
 "She got tired, and I returned with her. You see,
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM RETURNS TO THE BALL. 288 
 
 however, that I have made my appearance again my friends, 
 I fear, had not an opportunity to speak to me." 
 
 And his cold eye told Hamilton very plainly what he 
 meant. Honest Jack laughed. 
 
 " By George ! I believe they are all your very excellent 
 friends by this time," he said ; " they calculated without 
 their Virginia blood, when they spoke of resenting Miss 
 Hallam's appearance. They forgot that they were a dozen 
 men matched against one woman." 
 
 " And a sword, Hamilton." 
 
 " Come, come," said Hamilton, " forget that, and don't 
 tet the fellows here, who are jolly boys, as you know, into 
 our little secrets. They are waiting to be recognized by 
 Monseigneur." 
 
 This was true ; and when Mr. Effingham held out his 
 hand to the party, who were all slightly acquainted with him, 
 it was taken with hearty warmth, and not a few rough and 
 sincere compliments paid to Beatrice, though they did not 
 scruple to say as plainly that there " was no use in bringing 
 her." 
 
 In consideration of their good feeling, our hero pardoned 
 this : and then leaning on Hamilton's arm, passed on. Ten 
 steps brought him in front of his Excellency and that gen 
 tleman, no longer checkmated by the presence of Beatrice, 
 turned away with great hauteur. Mr. Effingham only 
 smiled, and passed on, leaving Jack Hamilton behind. 
 
 He went through the room with his cold, disdainful smile, 
 seeking his adversaries : strange to say, however, they 
 seemed to be far from those ferocious personages described 
 by Mr. Hamilton. He could find nothing to take umbrage 
 at, and so he returned towards the door. The simple fact 
 was, that, proud and disdainful as Mr. Effingham was, he 
 feared to encounter the eye of his father, or of Henrietta, or 
 Alethea, or Clare. He had understood the cause of the 
 young girl's sudden faintness perfectly well. She had enter 
 ed from the second room, and seen him dancing a minuet 
 with that rival, whom she had so generously forgiven, and 
 clasped to her pure, tender heart and though Mr. Effing 
 ham was ignorant of the fact of the interview, he wai at no 
 loss to understand Clare's emotion. 
 
 This was the reason why he feared to meet her and yet
 
 286 BEATRICE AND THE MANAGLR 
 
 with that dread was mingled a strange desire ; as if be wish 
 ed to stand before her and give her look for look, and break 
 her heart and his own. Mr. Effingham began to feel a dis 
 eased craving for excitement he had become accustomed to 
 acute and painful emotions; he fed on them as his daily 
 bread. 
 
 Fortunately this insane desire was doomed to disappoint 
 ment. Clare had left the ball almost at the same moment 
 with himself and Beatrice : had entered the Effingham cha 
 riot with the squire and his party just as his own carriage 
 drove off. 
 
 Once, as Mr. Effingham drew near the door, he encoun 
 tered the gaze of Henrietta, who had chosen to remain with 
 Hamilton : and with rage in his heart he made her a low 
 and exaggerated bow. Then passing by the gentleman in 
 the long waistcoat, with a meaning look full of disdain and 
 menace, he struck his hat upon his head, and rushed, almost, 
 from the room. 
 
 His infatuation for Beatrice had never so closely ap 
 proached madness as at that moment 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 BEATEICE AND THE MANAGES. 
 
 HAVING thus briefly related the manner in which Mr. 
 Effingham returned to the ball, and sought for adventures 
 there like a second Don Quixote, though without the good 
 fortune of the noble gentleman of La Mancha, we shall now 
 go back to the moment when Beatrice re-entered her room, 
 after the trying ordeal she had passed through. 
 
 As we have said, Mr. Manager Hallam was sitting pla 
 cidly by the fire, which was far from uncomfortable at that 
 advanced season of the autumn. Upon Beatrice's entrance he 
 turned round, smiling. Beatrice was in tears, and sobbing. 
 
 " What in heaven's name is all this crying about ? " asked 
 the manager, who, having emptied his nightly two bottles, 
 was in a most contented state of mind; "you are a) way* 
 crying, Beatrice ! "
 
 BEATRICE AND THE MANAGER. 287 
 
 " Oh, father 1 " she said, and then stopped. 
 
 " Well, well," he said, impatiently, " speak." 
 
 "I am not well." 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 " It was killing to me." 
 
 " Bah ! every thing kills you, but you always amtinue 
 alive, as I recollect hearing the great Congreve say, once on 
 a time." 
 
 " I am really sick, sir." 
 
 "Was the ball brilliant?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Was Mr. Effingham attentive ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Did the set up women treat you badly f " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " You were treated politely ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And danced ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " The governor bowed to you ? " 
 
 " Very politely, sir." 
 
 " Then in the name of all the fiends what are you crying 
 about, daughter 1 You are really a very extraordinary girl 
 You go to a brilliant ball, with a handsome and attentive 
 cavalier ; you are not treated badly by the fine ladies, but 
 very kindly ; you danced among the best, the governor of 
 Virginia made you a polite bow, and after all this, which 
 would turn the head of any common girl with joy, you come 
 back crying, instead of laughing, sorrowful instead of happy. 
 Basta ! as the great Congreve was wont to say, you are 
 foolish ! " 
 
 Beatrice sat down, wiping her eyes, and murmuring the 
 words she had read in Kate's Bible, before going " Oh, 
 Lord, my strength and my Redeemer ! " 
 
 " What is that you say ? " asked Hallam, stretching his 
 feet luxuriously on the fender, and looking with muddy eyes 
 at the ceiling. 
 
 " Nothing, sir," said the young girl, trying to command 
 her voice. 
 
 " Beatrice," said Hallam, " you are perfectly ridiculous 
 you are throwing away, by your folly and obstinacy, th0
 
 288 BEATRICE AND THE MANAGER. 
 
 mosf excellent offer I say it without hesitation which wai 
 ever made to an actress. One would really think that you 
 were a duchess, with your rent-roll and estates, instead of 
 the daughter of an actor, like myself." 
 
 Beatrice listened with a strange feeling to these words. 
 Again that martial face rose for her from the far southern 
 land ; again she saw the soldier dying, and her tears flowed 
 afresh. 
 
 " Instead of acting as you should do," continued Hal- 
 lam, working himself into anger, " instead of being to this 
 young man the brilliant and fascinating woman which you 
 are instead of managing him, and spurring him on, aud 
 attracting him instead of giving him hope, and you know 
 his intentions are perfectly honorable instead of this, what 
 are you doing ? You are making your eyes and face thin 
 with weeping, you are growing ugly from grief at having a 
 splendid position in society thrust on you- you are defying 
 my wishes, madam ! You know I wish you to marry this 
 young fellow. Answer ; are you not disobedient ? " and the 
 manager pushed back his chair, angrily. 
 
 " Oh, father, father ! " she cried, carried away by her 
 feelings, " I do not wish to be disobedient. I will do all 
 you wish me to do, but that 1 I will work day and night, 
 and never complain but do not, do not ask me to marry, 
 or encourage this man 1 I do not like him, I shudder when 
 he approaches ; all my good traits of character and, indeed, 
 I have some become changed to bad in his presence. He 
 repels me ; something tells me that he will be my curse yet 1 
 Oh, I cannot do as you command I cannot smile and make 
 myself attractive, and show him that I like him for I do 
 not 1 I should be the most miserable person living, were I 
 his wife 1 " 
 
 " Really ! " cried the manager. " Truly, madam, the 
 countess is in her tantrums 1 You would be the most mis 
 erable creature alive, as his wife ? " 
 
 " Oh, miserable, sir I " 
 
 " He repels your ladyship 1 " 
 
 " I tremble when he comes near me 1 " she cried, weeping. 
 
 " You would not marry him ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ; for it would break the heart of a pure girl, 
 who loves him, aud would have been his wife, if I had never 
 seen him I "
 
 BEATRICE AND TfiE MANAGER. 2$9 
 
 " Really, you are very magnanimous I Pray, who is that 
 ?rl ? " 
 
 " Miss Lee, his cousin." 
 
 " What does her fate concern you, pray, madam ? " 
 
 " She forgave me, and took me in her arms, and kissed 
 me. Oh, God is my witness, that I would rather cut off my 
 right hand than make her suffer again ! " 
 
 " Where the devil did you enact that fine drama ? " said 
 the manager, frowning. 
 
 " I went to see her." 
 
 " You ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; at her home, near Mr. Effingham's." 
 
 " And, no doubt, told her how much you hated him ; 
 that you were not to blame if her lover was infatuated about 
 you ; that you had repulsed him, insulted him, asked him 
 to leave you, exhausted every means to make him abandon 
 his unworthy project, of marrying you " 
 
 " Yes, sir I did" 
 
 "You did 'Yes, sir I did!' sneered the manager; 
 " you had the boldness to go and say that to a person, who 
 will tell him every thing " 
 
 " Oh, no, sir 1 for" 
 
 " In future, madam," said Hallam, angrily, " you do 
 not ride out without an escort. You might be guilty of 
 worse things than this audacious proceeding." 
 
 At this unworthy insinuation, Beatrice felt the blood 
 rush to her face, and her heart begin to throb with bitter 
 and rebellious thoughts. 
 
 " Oh, father ! " she cried, bursting into tears, " how can 
 you be so cruel ? " 
 
 " Well," he said, " I was wrong ; but your conduct ia 
 bad enough, madam. I suppose this child was at the ball 
 his sweetheart ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. Miss Lee was preset* " 
 
 " How did he treat her ? " 
 
 " He did not see her." 
 
 " Where is he now ? " 
 
 " He went back, I believe." 
 
 " To see her 1 " cried the manager ; " your prospects are 
 ruined 1 Beatrice, from this moment- if it is not. too late 
 you act just as I bid you ! T will have none of your dis- 
 13
 
 290 BEATRICE AND THE MANAGE* 
 
 obedience in future, madam ! You shall not beard me with 
 your cryings, and entreaties, and childish tears. You shall 
 not ruin your own and my fortune in life. I command you, 
 madam, to behave yourself in future, better. Take caro ! " 
 
 Beatrice felt her rebellious heart grow more bitter ; sh 
 no longer thought of little Kate's Bible. 
 
 " I will have no nonsense, madam ! " continued her father, 
 in a rage. " I will not have a child like you, setting at 
 naught all my wishes, and overturning all my plans in life, 
 by your ridiculous folly. In future, you take no more rides 
 to meet your lovers, or your lovers' sweethearts. Under 
 stand me I will not be dictated to by my own child I As 
 your father, I" command you, in future, to give encourage- 
 ment to this young man. Don't frown and look rebellious 
 at me I will not submit to any folly I If you choose to 
 act as you have done, I choose to tell you the truth. You 
 have ridden, Heaven knows where, to see, Heaven knows 
 who. You have nearly ruined your prospects ; he is now 
 gone back, and if what you say about your interview with 
 her is true, she will tell him all, and he will never look at 
 you again 1 Madam ! " cried the manager in a fury, " I 
 shall not endure this 1 As your father, I command you to 
 obey me 1 Take care you have some silly religious feel 
 ing, and that feeling will tell you, that if you dare to dis 
 obey your father, God will take his account of you. I am 
 that father see that you obey me ! " 
 
 The young girl's feelings were worked up to the avowal, 
 her heart was agitated by rebellious and obstinate anger, 
 but she could not throw off, all at once, her habit of affec 
 tion and obedience. Still she could not remain silent, and 
 she cried, with passionate tears : " Oh, you are not my 
 father ! God has revealed to me my real father. Mr. 
 Emngham brought here this frock 1 " And with a quick 
 movement, she drew from a drawer the child's garment 
 " That God, you speak of, revealed my birth to me 1 " she 
 continued ; " this letter has told me all. My father was 
 Ralph Waters ; my name is Beatrice Waters 1 " And over 
 whelmed with her emotion, the young girl sunk into a seat, 
 almost fainting. 
 
 The manager snatched the frock and the letter from her 
 iu a violent rage The truth all at once flashed on him ht
 
 BEATHICE AND THE MANAGER. 291 
 
 had no one to blame but himself, and with a furious hand he 
 tore his hair. 
 
 " Yes 1 " he cried, in a violent rage, " yes 1 you have 
 dared to read that letter 1 you have dared to pry into what 
 was my secret ! " 
 
 " Oh, it was mine ! " murmured Beatrice, bitterly. 
 
 * { You have dared ! " 
 
 And Mr. Manager Hallam again tore his hair. 
 
 " I could not help it, father ! " cried Beatrice, calling on 
 God to calm her wicked feeling of rebellion, as she spoke ; 
 " I felt compelled to read that letter ! I did not mean " 
 
 And she stopped, choked by her sobs. The manager 
 sank into the chair from which he had risen in the excess of 
 his rage. 
 
 " Oh, do not be angry with me, father ! " cried Beatrice, 
 burying her head in his bosom. " I did not mean to do 
 wrong ! I am your daughter still. Do not frown at me." 
 
 The manager slowly became calmer. 
 
 " I love you as much as ever," said Beatrice. " I felt 
 wrong just now, when you spoke such harsh words so un 
 just ! but now I am calm again ! " 
 
 The manager began to cry doubtless, like the great Con- 
 greve. 
 
 " Oh, father ! I am so wretched ! " exclaimed Beatrice. 
 " I did not mean to make you suffer ! " 
 
 " To be defied by one whom I have always loved ! " ejacu 
 lated Hallam, half seriously, half from policy, giving way 
 afresh to his emotion; " whom I raised from infancy, trying 
 to find her family defied by her ! " 
 
 " Oh, I did not mean to defy you ! indeed I did not ! 
 forgive me, father ! I am your daughter still 1 " 
 
 " I am a poor, childless old man ! " muttered the manager, 
 with his favorite choking cry. 
 
 " I will be your child ! " cried Beatrice, weeping pas 
 sionately. " I will love you as dearly as I always have done, 
 you know, father you have been so good to me 1 What 
 matter if I am not your daughter in reality. What mat 
 ter if I am the daughter of Ralph Waters the brother of 
 Charles's father." He started, but not with surprise; he 
 had felt that John Waters must be Beatrice's uncle, for 
 some days. " Why should I leave you, who have been so
 
 TWO WATER-DOGS. 
 
 kind to me, because I was born in Malta, where my father 
 died, and am not your daughter? You are my real father- 
 God sent you ! My real name is Beatrice Waters ; but I will 
 be Beatrice Hallam still. Oh, do not cry you break my 
 heart ! " 
 
 She again buried her face in his bosom ; but, hearing a 
 noise, raised it again. Mr. Effingham stood before her, and 
 had plainly heard the words she had just uttered. 
 
 The scene which followed was one of those which are best 
 left to the reader's imagination. The pen can only describe 
 passions, or trace utterances to a certain point beyond that 
 it yields the field to the painter, who alone can make the 
 highest passions, the most conflicting emotions, eloquent. 
 We may imagine the feelings of Mr. Effingham, on hearing 
 from the gloomy and agitated manager, that his own act had 
 revealed to Beatrice the secret of her birth ; we may com 
 prehend the rage of the young man on finding that, by his 
 own agency, Beatrice had come to know that Charles Waters 
 was her cousin, his uncle her father ; we may further under 
 stand the despair of Hallam, the terrible agitation of Bea 
 trice we cannot describe them. 
 
 When Mr. Effingham went away to his room that night, 
 he was a prey to one of his silent and sombre rages ; he had 
 raised this new barrier himself. The instrument of fate, and 
 unknown to himself, his hand had opened that sealed book ; 
 and what the young girl had read had for ever separated her 
 from him. That rival bitterly hated before, now far more 
 bitterly would be her lawful protector; and whether in 
 their duel he fell or conquered, nothing would be gained. A 
 thousand tumultuous thoughts like these chased themselves 
 through his mind we cannot trace them it is a repulsiv* 
 subject, and we pass on. 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 TWO WATEB-DOGS, 
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM spent a sleepless night, and rose more agi 
 tated than ever. With a mind supernaturally active from
 
 TWO WATER-DOGS. 293 
 
 feverous emotion, he embraced at a glance all his latter life. 
 He followed the history of his infatuation for Beatrice from 
 his first meeting with her in the forest, near Effingham HalL 
 through the scenes at the theatre, at her apartment, in the 
 street, at the ball, to this last final denouement, which had 
 cfcme like the blast of the trumpet and the roar of the drum, 
 to finish all before the curtain fell upon the drama. 
 
 He surveyed with a lightning-like glance his present posi 
 tion the state of his mind and life. He felt more than ever 
 that he must conquer that diabolical angel who had scorned 
 him, or die. She must yield to him, or he would yield to 
 her, and pass from the earth. He raved and tore his hair, 
 and revolved in his gloomy and agitated mind a thousand 
 plans. All were rejected after a moment's reflection, if 
 that word could be applied to the operations of the young 
 man's mind. 
 
 He rose in despair, and the room seemed too close to 
 breathe in. He went out, gloomy, and breathing heavily. 
 Suddenly, as he entered the passage, a loud, hearty voice 
 made the windows jar, and, turning round, he found himself 
 opposite to the stranger. 
 
 " Good day, comrade," cried the soldier. " What 1 
 gloomy on such a morning ? " 
 
 " I am not well, sir," said Mr. Effingham, coldly. 
 
 " Come, drink a cup of this abominable Rhenish they 
 vend at this hostelry," said the soldier, laughing. " You see 
 me in excellent spirits. I am myself again ! " 
 
 Indeed, the soldier was no longer cabined, cribbed, and 
 confined in the tight, foppish suit he had originally worn, but 
 was clad in the elegant military suit which we have seen 
 Mr. Effiugham return in, on the night he left Williamsburg 
 for York. The costume seemed infinitely more appropriate 
 for the stranger's vigorous and martial figure ; the heavily- 
 laced but dark uniform set of his person to great advantage, 
 and his fine face, with its keen, dark eye and long black 
 moustache, appeared to far more advantage beneath the rich 
 Flanders hat. The stranger, in his present proper costume, 
 was the model of a soldier. 
 
 To his merry observation, that he felt in excellent spirits, 
 Mr. Effingham made no reply. 
 
 " Why, see now, you are moody, comrade 1 That is not
 
 the philosophic state of a bon soldat, whether Jn the ranks, 
 or in life, which, parbleu ! seems to me as much a battle as 
 Lissa, Grlatz, or Minden. Come ! hold your head up I I 
 have good news for you ! " 
 
 "What news, sir?" said Mr. Effingham, still cold and 
 gloomy. 
 
 " Why, I am just about to go and arrange the details of 
 our little affair: that is to say, I am going to see Mr. 
 Waters brother of Ralph : an honest straightforward fel 
 low was Ralph, though I say it, parbleu ! " 
 
 " Well, sir ! " said Mr. Effingham, already tired of his 
 companion. 
 
 " Arrange, is not precisely the word, companion," con 
 tinued the soldier, caressing the black fringe on his lip ; " I 
 believe the day after to-morrow is fixed upon though the 
 time, as all else, should have been left to us, the wheel-horses 
 
 the seconds. Your friend is Mr. , you omitted to tell 
 
 me, comrade, in the multitude of affairs we had to arrange : 
 you will recollect that you omitted it." 
 
 " Sty at once, sir, that having a duel forced on me, I had 
 not fixed every thing. Well, sir, I now say further, that I 
 must defer the whole affair for a day or two longer. Cir 
 cumstances," and Mr. Effingbam's lip curled, " render mo 
 somewhat cooler in the quarrel." 
 
 The soldier looked keenly at the young man but a 
 single glance convinced him, that this delay did not spring 
 from backwardness to match himself in combat against an 
 adversary. There was the unmistakable fire in the eye; 
 and fighting was a satisfaction to such a man, he felt. 
 
 " Perhaps you object to your antagonist," said the sol 
 dier, coolly. 
 
 " No, sir ! I do not 1 " 
 
 " Come," said the stranger, " suppose we have a little 
 bout here on the staircase. You really seem desirous of try 
 ing my ferrara, comrade." 
 
 " I have no such desire, sir," replied Mr. Effingham 
 coldly, " and if my tone is harsh, it is because I am in no 
 humor to answer questions, or converse. I am not well, 
 sir arrange this matter as you choose. Mr. John Hamil 
 ton will act for me but I repeat, that I will not meet Mr. 
 Waters for three days or more."
 
 TWO WATER-DOGS. 29$ 
 
 " Well, well, companion, I can arrange that. By heaven 
 you must have something on your mind, but that is not my 
 affair. I'll empty a cup of Jamaica I'm done with the 
 Rhenish and get into my saddle. Bon jour au revoir." 
 
 And the soldier, curling his moustache, and humming a 
 rude song, took his way down the staircase, his huge sword 
 rattling against the banisters, and making with the jingle 
 of his heavily-rowelled spurs, a martial sort of music elo 
 quent of camps. 
 
 Mr. Effingham, gazing moodily after him, observed tha* 
 he stopped suddenly at the foot of the stairs. A gentleman 
 dressed in black had struck against him, owing to the fact 
 that the said gentleman refused to yield one inch of the 
 way. Then Mr. Effingham heard the important and pom 
 pously-uttered words : 
 
 " You should have more respect for the clergy, sir." 
 
 And no less a personage than Parson Tag came up, and 
 with a cold bow passed into the apartment, next to his own 
 that one in which we have heard the man in the red cloak 
 play his violin. The young man gazed after him moodily, 
 and with a bitter smile ; and hesitated whether he should re 
 turn to his room, or descend. A glance at the bright sun 
 shine of the clear cold autumn day decided him, and to 
 escape its brilliance, he went into his apartment again, with 
 a mocking and gloomy face painful to behold. 
 
 Then he sat down, as he had done on that day when 
 little Kate had come to see him, and again embraced at a 
 single glance, the sad and gloomy horizon of his life, where 
 no sun shone, no birds sang. Again he went over the path 
 which he had trodden revived those bitter joys, those deli 
 cious agonies he had suffered. Full of gloomy wonder, he 
 weighed all that had taken place in his acquaintance with 
 Beatrice, and as before, that fatal, unavoidable question came 
 to him, where would all this end ? He had now defied so 
 ciety for her, and he was convinced that he stood lower in 
 her regard than ever he had given up all for her, she dis 
 dained him the more for his sacrifice. As his love increased, 
 she grew colder he was rushing toward the abyss 1 And 
 that revelation which he had been the instrument of I 
 Charles Waters was her cousin, and she loved him, perhaps! 
 He had given that man the right to watch over her, to defend
 
 296 TWO WATER-DOGS. 
 
 ker. Thenceforward there was a new and more irritating 
 obstacle. 
 
 " Woe to him, if he crosses my path before we stand 
 face to face, sword in hand 1 " he muttered, with a sombre 
 and threatening flash of his proud eyes. 
 
 As he spoke, a tap came at his door, and a servant en 
 tered. 
 
 " Well ? " said the young man, raising his head with a 
 movement which frightened the negro nearly out of his 
 wits, " what now ? " 
 
 "Two boatmen, Mas' Effnum say they want to see 
 you." 
 
 " To the devil with them 1 " he said : but suddenly he 
 paused a light shone from his eyes. Already his mind 
 had conceived the outline of a strange, desperate, and auda 
 cious project. 
 
 " About my sail-boat ? Yes ; go and bring them here 
 
 go I 11 
 
 And he motioned the negro feverishly toward the door. 
 In two minutes the door opened again, and the rough-looking 
 watermen entered, and with their caps in their hands, louted 
 to the young man, standing respectfully on the threshold. 
 
 " Close the door and come in 1 " he said, gloomily : the 
 door was shut, and obedient to a sign from Mr. EflmghaiE. 
 the watermen approached. 
 
 " About my sail-boat, I suppose ? " he said, curtly. 
 
 " Yes, your honor," replied the water-dog, who seemed to 
 be spoKe&man. 
 
 " Where is ahe ? " 
 
 " Down at the landing, by Townes', your honor." 
 
 " You got up to-day ? " 
 
 " Jest so, your honor and she's as tight a little craft / 
 as ever walked the water swifter'n a waterfowl." 
 
 Mr. Effingham looked strangely at the rough watermen, 
 who turned their tarpaulins in their hands, and coughed re- 
 Bpeotfully behind them. 
 
 " Is she fully equipped ? " he said. 
 
 " Out and out, your honor. I never see a jollier craft; 
 and she carries sail enough for a merchantman. I was a 
 sayin' to mate hero only jest now, 'at I never hearn o' such 
 a thing afore."
 
 TWO WATER-DOO8. 291 
 
 " And she is down there ? " 
 
 " At Townes', your honor." 
 
 " All ready ? " 
 
 " Ready as a squall, when the rags are taut." 
 
 Mr. Effingham looked at the water-dogs again with the 
 ume strange expression. 
 
 " Your name is Junks, is it not ? " he said, motioning to 
 the man to approach. 
 
 " Yes, your honor, and mate's name is Jackson," 
 
 " Very well you are poor ? " 
 
 " Poor as a lean cat, sir." 
 
 " "Would you like to make fifty pistoles ? " 
 
 The water-dogs opened their eyes. 
 
 " I'd sell myself to the devil for it," said the spokesman, 
 laughing. 
 
 " No ; I wish you to sell yourself to me," said Mr. 
 Effingham, with haughty coldness. " Is this weather too 
 cold for a night run down the river ? " 
 
 " Your honor is jokin' it ain't warm, but ta'int nothin' 
 to the likes o' us." 
 
 " Whoever I brought, then, you are willing to shut your 
 eyes ? " 
 
 " Oh, your honor's got a frolic on hand ? That suits me 
 to a circumstance." 
 
 " And me, too, your honor," said mate, in a mumbling 
 voice from behind his thick woollen comfort. 
 
 Mr. Effingham, looking keenly at these men, saw that 
 they were such as could be bought for much less than fifty 
 pistoles. Then he was silent. A struggle seemed to be 
 going on in his mind his brow flushed, then grew pale, and 
 his cheeks were covered with a cold sweat. The w&ter-dogs 
 looked at him wonderingly, for his eyes were not a pleasant 
 sight they were like lurid lightning. 
 
 " Wait here," he said, suddenly, as he heard a door open 
 and close without. " Don't stir until I return." 
 
 And hastily putting on his hat, he went out, closed the 
 door, and crossing the oassage, entered the room of Bea 
 trice.
 
 298 THE LAST INTERVIEW BETWEEN 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 THE LABT INTERVIEW BETWEEN BEATRICE AND MR EiyiNOHAM. 
 
 BEATRICE had just come in, and was sitting in front of the 
 fire, gazing sadly and thoughtfully into the blaze, when Mr. 
 Effingham's entrance caused her to turn round. For a mo 
 ment these two persons who sustained toward each other 
 such strange and anomalous relations, maintained perfect 
 silence. 
 
 At last Mr. Effingham, pale and gloomy, yet gazing at 
 the young girl with passionate love, said abruptly, and in a 
 low tone 
 
 " We meet again ; I trust you are well after the ball." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Beatrice, in a tone of quiet, uncomplain 
 ing sorrow; " I do not think I feel worse than usual." 
 
 " You do not ask me how I am," he said, with painful 
 earnestness. 
 
 " Pardon me, sir," she said, in the same low, sad tones. 
 " I hope you are well." 
 
 " No ; I am far from it I feel as if my brain was 
 bursting." 
 
 " I am sorry, sir sincerely." 
 
 " You are so cold," he said, leaning on the mantelpiece, 
 and gazing at her with fixed, stony eyes. " You have n 
 pity on me." 
 
 " /pity you, Mr. Effingham ! " 
 
 " Oh, you know what I mean," he said. " We know 
 each other now. I mean that you meet all my love with 
 coldness a freezing coldness ; or, if not, wi'<ii cold indiffer 
 ence with contempt 1 I mean that you do not cast your 
 proud eyes down on the man who suffers, kneeling at your 
 feet, because you despise him and his love. I mean that 
 you have nothing but scorn for me, when I have nothing but 
 passionate, devouring love for you. I mean that I love you 
 love you with all the power of my soul, with all my 
 strength, with my whole being, and that you disdain to speak 
 to me 1 " 
 
 " Indeed I do not, BIT oh, no 1 If I have been harsh 
 or cruel, or unwomanly, I beg you to pardon it. I believe
 
 BE4TR..CE AND MR. EFF1NGHAM. 299 
 
 that I have spoken harsh words to you sometimes -I regret 
 them. I have no right to scorn any human being, sir. 
 God does not approve of such feelings. Pardon me 1 " 
 
 The earnest, low-toned voice went to his poor, bruised 
 heart her soft, sorrowful face took away all his anger. 
 
 " Oh, why will you not love me ?" he said, with painful 
 earnestness. " Why does your heart still remain closed to 
 me? See me here at your feet, Beatrice, with my pride 
 broken, my wilfulness all gone, seeing you only in the uni 
 verse ! You are to me the sole light which shines on the 
 dark waters of my life you know it, why so indifferent to 
 me ? Oh, I love you so passionately I so purely 1 I follow 
 you with yearning eyes I live in you and through you 1 
 Why still despise me ? " 
 
 " I do not, sir I must not feel so toward any human 
 being." 
 
 " I have been criminally harsh I have repented of it in 
 the long hours of the gloomy night repented bitterly." 
 
 " I have forgotten it, sir," said Beatrice. 
 
 " Then, for pity's sake, do not look at me so coldly 1 " 
 
 " I am not well to-day, sir." 
 
 He looked at her with inexpressible love, and said : 
 
 " Did you only know how much I suffer when you 
 suffer 1 " 
 
 " I do not complain, sir. 
 
 " You must have had a trying ordeal last night *" 
 
 " Yes ; very trying." 
 
 " You were the queenliest of them all," he said, gazing 
 on her with passionate love and pride. " Why should you 
 not give me the right to lead you forth in the eyes of the 
 world, as I did before that assembly ? " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, I cannot be your wife," she said. " We 
 have said much upon this subject. It only distresses me." 
 
 " Why, Beatrice ? Give me some reason for my wretch 
 edness." 
 
 A deep flush covered the young girl's sad pale brow, a 
 she thought of Charles Waters. 
 
 " We are not suited to each other," she said. 
 
 He saw the blush, and his own brow flushed. His super- 
 naturally active mind discerned the hidden reason left un 
 expressed and a pang shot through his heart.
 
 300 THE LAST INTERVIEW BETWEEN 
 
 " That is not the real reason," ho said a shadow passing 
 over his face. 
 
 " I can give no other," she said, with a deeper blush than 
 before. 
 
 Anger began to invade the young man's heart like a bit 
 ter and poisonous vapor. 
 
 " The true reason is, that you lore another," he said, with 
 a cruel groan. 
 
 " Mr. Effingham I " 
 
 " Yes, yes ; my rudeness is insulting my plainness re 
 pulsive, I know it 1 " he said, bitterly. " But how can I 
 feel my heart breaking, and not speak? You love that 
 man ! " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, you must know " she murmured, suf 
 fering painfully " this is obtrusive, sir I " 
 
 " Oh, do not deny it, madam ! " he said, giving way to 
 his bitter and feverish emotion. " You scorn me and my 
 love you refuse my hand, because your heart could not go 
 with it ! " 
 
 " You agitate me, sir I " she said, " I am not well 1 
 These conversations can lead to nothing 1 " 
 
 " You mistake, madam 1 " he replied, with his old, gloomy 
 bitterness, " they lead to despair, for I love you." 
 
 " I cannot prevent your suffering, sir I cannot com 
 mand you to leave me if I could " 
 
 " You would," he interposed, " you need not assure me 
 of that, madam. You hate me you scorn me because you 
 love that man who insulted me in your presence, here. Wo 
 to him 1 " 
 
 And Mr. Effingham's brows grew darker, his eyes flashed 
 with hatred. 
 
 " Remember he is my relative, sir," said Beatrice, flush 
 ing crimson. 
 
 " And your lover 1 " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham 1 " 
 
 " Oh, madam, do not cry out according to your wont. I 
 have ruined myself for you, and naturally feel some objec 
 tion to being robbed of you by a common boor." 
 
 " Sir 1 " 
 
 " Yes, I offend you 1 make you hate me more bitterly : 
 but for that same reason that I am lost from seeing your
 
 BEATRICE AND MR. EFFINGHAM. 35 1 
 
 fatal beauty, and have defied all the powers of this society, 
 I should be allowed to speak plainly, to throw aside the con 
 ventional rules which I have trampled on for your sake." 
 
 " I did not wish to go to that ball it was a cruel trial," 
 she said, coldly, and pressing her hand upon her heart as she 
 Bpoke, " my father exacted it." 
 
 " You did not like your escort, I know," he replied, bit 
 terly ; " you were too good for him, as the vulgar expression 
 goes." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, this is unworthy ! " 
 
 " Yes, madam ! it is 1 I know it ! But I cannot feel the 
 poisoned arrow in my side, like St. Sebastian, and be silent 
 not cry out not utter a groan ! - Oh, may you never know 
 what it is to love, and that hopelessly ! to turn and toss on 
 your sleepless couch through the long, weary hours of the 
 gloomy night to rave and curse and weep to utter prayers 
 and blessings, maledictions and blasphemies ! may you never 
 suffer this cruel agony, which leaves the heart torn, the cheek 
 pale, the eyes heavy, the brain oppressed with a bitter and 
 poisonous mist ! may you never love, and feel that love is 
 hopeless ! " 
 
 And, overwhelmed with sour and gloomy emotion, he 
 turned away. His words went to her heart, but it was 
 almost her own situation which he painted, and this made 
 her flush and tremble. But by a great effort she became 
 calm again. 
 
 " You know not what you say," she murmured, " you 
 know your own sufferings, not mine, sir." 
 
 " Yours 1 you have suffered this " 
 
 " I have suffered much, sir." 
 
 " You have felt those pangs of despised love ? " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, you agitate me ! you have no right to 
 intrude upon my privacy thus : I am not well, sir my suf 
 ferings do not concern yourself : pray leave me." 
 
 " Whom do they concern, then, madam ? " 
 
 Mr. Effingham 1 " 
 
 " Perhaps your chivalric cousin, Mr. Waters ! " 
 
 " You make me unwell, sir 1 " said the young girl, flush 
 ing. The young man understood what this exhibition of 
 emotion sprung from, and gnawed his lip until it bled. 
 
 " You might pardon that, if you had a little charity," h
 
 302 THE LAST INTERVIEW BETWEEN 
 
 said, bitterly ; " I believe that I was the instrument in r* 
 vealingyour secret." 
 
 " Yes, sir unconsciously." 
 
 " By which you mean, that no thanks are due me. ' 
 
 " I mean nothing, sir." 
 
 " Well, you are right, madam. I would have cut off my 
 right hand before I would have had any agency in revealing 
 that" 
 
 " You are truly very friendly." 
 
 I do not pretend to be, where my love and despair are 
 concerned," he said, gloomily ; u I had some claim upon Bea 
 trice Hallam, the actress I have much less on Miss Wa 
 ters." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham I cannot bear this much longer 1 " 
 
 " You will leave the stage ? " he went on, pitilessly. 
 
 " I do not know, sir." 
 
 " You hope to ? " 
 
 " I do, sir." 
 
 " What a delightful time you will have with that noble 
 gentleman, your cavalier I " he said, with sombre irony. 
 " In future, I see that I shall not be allowed to kiss your 
 hand, or approach you, even." 
 
 " Oh, leave me, sir ! " 
 
 " In future, my days must be without even your frowns 
 and insults." 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, I am suffering ! " 
 
 " You suffering 1 " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " I thought, madam, that I monopolized the despair and 
 agony of the whole world." 
 
 " You do not, sir." 
 
 " And because you suffer, you consider that you have the 
 right to tear my heart. I am despised, because you suffer ! 
 I admire your logic, madam 1 " 
 
 " No, sir," she said, growing indignant at his insulting 
 tone, " though much of that suffering has been caused by 
 you." 
 
 " Because I have told you my love." 
 
 " No, sir not that only." 
 
 " What have I done ? " 
 
 " Every thing to persecute me : but I say again, that I
 
 BEATRICE AND MR. EFFINOHAM. 303 
 
 do not wish to remember that. I had forgotten it. Pray 
 leave me I am not well, and cannot bear any more agita 
 tion." 
 
 He gazed at her long and fixedly, with eyes burning yet 
 stony, cold yet fiery. 
 
 "Beatrice," he said, in a gloomy and sombre voice, " this 
 is the crisis of my life. This moment makes or mars me. 
 I have given up all for you left behind all that makes life 
 happy to follow the ignis-fatuus of your love. If you cast 
 me off, I am ruined reflect." 
 
 " You make me suffer cruelly," said poor Beatrice, 
 turning away, " but oh, I cannot, will not marry you, sir ! 
 I cannot ! " 
 
 " For the last time ! " he said, taking a step toward 
 her, with clenched hands, and grinding his teeth; "you 
 refuse ? " 
 
 " Mr. Effingham, I" 
 
 " You spurn my love despise me and every thing con 
 nected with me still scorn me ? Reflect, madam ! " 
 
 " I cannot marry you, sir. This interview is killing me 
 My breast is " 
 
 " For the last time yes or no ? " 
 
 " No ! then, sir : no ! " cried Beatrice, rising, with her 
 hand upon her heart ; " I cannot, will not 1 " 
 
 With one hand he tore his breast, until his nails were 
 stained with blood the other opened and clenched, as 
 though in his fury he was grasping some deadly weapon. 
 He looked at her for a moment, with rage, despair, and 
 menace, shook from head to foot, and muttering, " Breast to 
 breast, then ! force against force ! " rushed wildly from the 
 room, and passed into his own, the door of which closed 
 with a crash. A quarter of an hour afterwards the boat 
 men came out and went away ; and in ten minutes Mr. 
 Eflingham made his appearance, pale, and covered with 
 perspiration. 
 
 He held in his moist and nervous hand a Bank of Eng 
 land note of large value ; and muttering, " That, too, can 
 be arranged ! " went toward the room occupied by the parson.
 
 304 JEGRl SOMN1A. 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 2BGEI 8OMNIA. 
 
 EVENTS Lurry on. As the passions and complicated more- 
 ments of the drama develope themselves, the task of the 
 chronicler becomes more and more difficult. We must pro 
 ceed, however, to narrate, as clearly as possible, what fol 
 lowed the final outburst of the young man's fiery passion 
 rejected finally, as we have seen, by the object of his love. 
 
 Night drew on, cold and stormy. It was one of those 
 evenings which succeed late autumn days, when the sun 
 seems to set in blood, and the vast clouds reposing on the 
 far horizon are tinged with that lurid light which resembles 
 the glare of a great conflagration. The wind rose, and 
 moaned, and died away, and came again, ever becoming 
 chiller and more mournful. The moon rose like a great 
 wheel of fire rolled up the sky, over which dark clouds 
 drifted, driven by the wind ; and the almost leafless forests 
 seemed to be murmuring to themselves, and whispering 
 some mysterious secret. The tall, gloomy pines waved like 
 solemn giants, in the fitful moonlight, and the oaks ground 
 their boughs together, or parted with their last rattling 
 leaves, in the stormy gusts, which ever and anon swept over 
 them, clattering their dry, hard branches. 
 
 In the town, every living thing soon housed itself from 
 the chill wind and the gloomy, fitfully-illuminated night 
 and not the cold, cheerless air alone drove them to their 
 firesides. Those were the times when men believed in 
 witchcraft and every species of diablerie ; and many per 
 sons in the town could make oath that they had seen horri 
 ble, uncouth figures, celebrating awful and mysterious rites 
 on the wild, lonely common, near ; where the pine bushes 
 waved like deformed spectres, trowing long shadows over 
 the dangerous ground. It was a night for fiends to be 
 abroad in, holding their wild revels beneath the frosty light 
 of the great solemn moon; and none cared to brave it, 
 when a good fire and a cup of foaming ale awaited them. 
 They looked round fearfully when the gust moaned by the 
 gables ; and told tales which d-?alt in terrible mysteries in
 
 JEGUI SOMNlA. 309 
 
 hidden treasure in fiends, and black dogs guarding it and 
 how the witches, who had tormented honest Christians, had 
 been burned, not long before, for an example to all evil 
 doers. It was a night to believe in such things, and they 
 trembled at every sound at the very grating of the 
 branches against the window. 
 
 All that day Beatrice had been in a state of agitation 
 and nervous fear. The interview with her father on the 
 night before, had succeeded the trying ordeal of the ball, 
 and then the interview with Mr. Effingham had crowned all. 
 That interview had affected her cruelly never had she seen 
 the young man so torn by passion, so completely overwhelmed 
 with emotion never had she known him to utter such de 
 spairing cries of agony and torture. It had made her suffer 
 deeply, and shocked her nervous system dreadfully. In 
 addition, she had not slept for more than forty-eight hours, 
 and nothing so prostrates the nerves as this. We cannot 
 wonder, therefore, that the young girl was exhausted in mind 
 and body, by these various and complicated moral and phy 
 sical trials subject to a nervous trepidation, which made 
 her start at every noise. 
 
 She went through the duties of the day, walking as in a 
 dream, with fixed eyes, and heaving bosom ; her agitation 
 was so striking, that every body observed it, and questioned 
 her about it. She made no reply to these questions she 
 seemed not to have heard them. Her mind was laboring 
 with its burden of fear and agitation. 
 
 As the night drew on, she felt an indefinable dread. 
 Seated in her room, alone, she started at every gust which 
 sobbed around the inn, and trembled at every noise. The 
 moonlight now streamed through the window like a flood of 
 dark, fiery gold, then disappeared, swallowed up in the 
 gloomy and threatening clouds, which swept over the sky 
 toward the far, freezing ocean. 
 
 As the night passed on, and midnight approached, she fell 
 into a sort of trance of thought. With a dreamy eye she 
 ran over her whole life, since she had arrived in Virginia 
 she thought of those persecutions, of ihe adventure on the 
 river, of her rescue, of that noble face, of those persecution 
 again, of the ball, of tbj strange revelation which had BO 
 changed her life.
 
 306 jEGRI SOMNtA. 
 
 As she thought of that strange cor junction of circunv 
 stances, her eye fell upon the volume of Shakespeare, open, 
 from habit, on her lap. She read : 
 
 "And pity, like a naked, new-born babe, 
 Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hora'd 
 Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 
 Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, 
 That tears shall drown the wind 1 " 
 
 The words seemed to apply strangely to her own case. 
 Truly, that deed had been blown in every eye, by an acci 
 dent which was plainly from heaven. With dreamy eyes, 
 she read on, and came to the passage where the usurper sees 
 the air-drawn dagger, and feels the cold sweat of horror 
 bathe his brow, as he attempts to clutch it. She saw him, 
 with his stealthy tread, gliding slowly, the murderous weapon 
 in his hand, toward the apartment where the murder was to 
 be committed she heard his low breathing saw his fiery 
 eyes almost thought that his awful invocation to the firm 
 earth not to hear his stealthy steps, was really uttered that 
 she saw the tiger stealing toward his victim with deadly 
 caution. The scene was so clear in her marvellously vivid 
 imagination, that she trembled ; and when a bird flew against 
 the window, started up in an agony of fright. 
 
 She sat down again, endeavoring to calm herself; the fire 
 was burning fitfully, and she tried to make it brighter. The 
 last sticks, however, were burning out, and the trembling 
 blue flame licked, and struggled, and clung to the whitening 
 embers, and went out. She did not observe it, however 
 she was again buried in thought ; and those thoughts fled to 
 the far southern land, enveloped in such mysterious and 
 dreamy interest. It seemed to her that the life she novr 
 embraced, with a drowsy and unsteady eye, must have been 
 in another world a strange, far world, which she could 
 never go to any more forever 1 
 
 Gradually her eyes closed, her head drooped on her 
 breast, then she would start up, trembling at some noise ; 
 and then her head would droop again, the wild stormy gust 
 would lull her, and the fitful weird light of the great, sol 
 emn moon, would envelope her gentle Madonna-like head in 
 flood of glory. At last, all her thoughts flowed into each
 
 THE FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 307 
 
 other, merged their outlines, lost themselves in dreams, and 
 overcome by exhaustion, the young girl slept ; her head 
 drooping on one shoulder, her long dusky lashes lying on 
 her cheeks, her hair waving in profuse curls round the still 
 agitated countenance. 
 
 She had a strange dream. She thought, as the second 
 or third hour after midnight struck, or rather murmured 
 through the silent inn she thought that her window opened, 
 and a man, enveloped in a cloak, stepped into the room 
 through the opening. The dream was so real, that she 
 thought she felt a gust of chill air blow on her. Then, this 
 man approached her slowly, enveloped as before, in his long 
 cloak and wide drooping hat ; took her languid form in his 
 strong arms, raising her without effort ; and passing through 
 the window, bore her, she knew not how, to the ground. 
 A horse stood waiting, and the man mounted, holding her 
 still in his arms. Then they set off like the wind ; and 
 shaken by the quick movement, uttering a scream, as the 
 chill air raised by the horse's gallop struck her person, she 
 awoke, and found her dream a reality 1 What she had re 
 garded as the mere conjuration of her excited fancy, was a 
 terrible fact ! what she had considered a mere freak of the 
 imagination, was real, as the gloomy night through which 
 the furious and neighing animal darted, obedient to the spur 
 of his desperate rider ! She was in the arms of a man, who 
 wrapped her in his cloak with one hand, while he clasped 
 her waist with the other the bridle lying on the neck of his 
 flying animal. In five minutes they had left the town and 
 entered the gloomy forest. 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 THE FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 
 
 THROUGH the gloom as through the moonlight, under the 
 drooping boughs of the dark pine forest, as across the lonely 
 tracts of bare, waste ground *he furious animal, driven 
 pitilessly by his rider's spur, fled on. 
 
 Clouds of foam flew from l.is reeking jaws, his glossy
 
 308 THE FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. 
 
 coat became as wet as though he had just issued from a 
 river ; still he went on, his speed unabated. 
 
 The trees flew by the moon came out and flooded the 
 flying animal and his burden with its chill light, then swept 
 beneath the clouds again ; the cold wind moaned and sobbed, 
 still on ! 
 
 The silent cavalier only drew his hat further over his 
 eyes, clasped the young girl's waist more securely, wrapped 
 more carefully in the thick cloak the tender body, which 
 shuddered with cold in its thin dress. 
 
 That shudder passed over his own person, too, as if they 
 were but one had all feelings in common but the horse 
 man betrayed no other evidences of emotion, of life. 
 
 Once, his dark fiery eyes, glowing like coals, under his 
 slouched hat, met her own ; once his warm breath, almost 
 his kiss, touched her cheek ; but he did not kiss the cheek. 
 It was only to see if her arm was rubbed against the pistols 
 in his girdle, or the hilt of his sword. 
 
 Still on ! The blast blew chiller, the wind seemed to 
 sob, and moan, and laugh in cruel glee at her ; the stars 
 soaring out, looked at her with their pitiless and sorrowfully 
 twinkling eyes, then were obscured again still on ! 
 
 She seemed still to be in a dream ; the whole affair had 
 occurred so suddenly, that the young girl could scarcely 
 collect her senses. When she attempted to reason calmly, 
 the dreadful position she occupied deadened her brain, and 
 her mind wandered. Was this not all a mere dream still ? 
 Could it be real ? Was it not the mere fancy of her excited 
 and agitated mind ? Could she not wake from such a hor 
 rible nightmare, and sit up ? 
 
 As the thought passed through her mind, she felt the 
 arm around her waist cling tighter, and suddenly the animal 
 reared, made a desperate leap, fell upon his knees, sprung 
 up again, trembling, and fled onward faster than before. 
 She looked back, and saw a stream, with high banks ; the 
 current, of great width, glittered in the moon. It was a 
 desperate leap, even for a phantom. 
 
 But she began now to collect her thoughts ; and sud 
 denly finding her voice, said, in trembling and agitated tones : 
 " You frighten me 1 you hurt me ! Is this a dream or a 
 dreadful reality ? You are killing me 1 "
 
 THE FLIGHT A .VD PURSUIT. 
 
 The cavalier made no reply. Beatrice burst into tears, 
 and struggled to release herself from his arms those arms 
 only held her tighter. She said, moaning, that her position 
 hurt her ; the cavalier dropped the bridle on his horse's neck, 
 and with both arms raised her, laid her, so to speak, on his 
 breast ; and thus carrying her, like a child, again plunged 
 his spurs into the quivering side? of the flying animal, and 
 fled faster. 
 
 The ocean breeze grew colder, the odor of water began 
 to fill the wild, wandering air ; the night grew darker and 
 more dismal. 
 
 Nothing was heard but the quick smiting of the horse's 
 hoofs the far, mournful cry of a whippoorwill, and the low 
 sighing of the wind through the solemn pines, under whose 
 boughs the animal passed, like some phantom steed of the 
 German mythology. 
 
 She shrunk as the boughs bent down toward her for 
 they seemed to be gigantic hands of fiends, stretched out 
 to grasp and carry her away ; she sobbed, and wept, and 
 entreated, but in vain still on ! 
 
 The flying animal issued from the forest, and entere^ 
 upon a wild waste, from which the James River was visible 
 in the distance, glittering like a silver mirror in the fitful 
 moonlight. 
 
 As the young girl caught the flash of the far waters, she 
 suddenly felt the animal arrested by an obstacle, which 
 threw him to one side ; a loud voice came to her ears a 
 voice which sent a thrill through her brain the cavalier 
 only wrapped her closer in his cloak, and with a muttered 
 curse, fled on. The animal seemed to scent the water, to 
 know that it was his bourne, and with incredible speed 
 darted on, and disappeared in a hollow, thick with pines. 
 
 That obstacle which had arrested the animal, was the 
 body of a man ; and this man had grasped the bridle, been 
 rolled on the ground by the chest of the flying horse, and then 
 rising, seen the whole disappear like a phantom. It was 
 Charles Waters, and spite of the cloak, the disguise, he had 
 recognized Beatrice and Mr. Effingham. 
 
 For a moment the young man stood motionless in the 
 moonlight, overwhelmed with horror ; then clenching his 
 bands, he fled after them with the rapidity of a race-horse.
 
 310 THE FLIGHT AND PURStflf. 
 
 He now felt the advantage of his country train ing- hii 
 days and nights spent in hunting ; his speed was scarcely 
 less than that of the flying horse. 
 
 As he fled onward, a thousand mad thoughts passed 
 through his mind ; curses were on his lips, fire was in bis 
 heart. 
 
 He blessed God for that strange feeling he had experi 
 enced all day, that Beatrice was in danger a feeling which 
 had accompanied him in sleep, had waked him while night 
 still lay upon the earth : which had driven him forth toward 
 the town which had led him there to rescue her I 
 
 But could he ? That animal was going faster than any 
 mortal man could. He would be too late 1 
 
 Whither were they flying ? 
 
 That sail-boat he had seen coming up the river, on the 
 day before ! 
 
 He clenched his hands, and his eyes glared. Still he 
 sped on. 
 
 Yes 1 that was the base scheme of that coward ! Yes 1 
 he had kidknapped a defenceless girll She was in his 
 power 1 
 
 A flame seemed to pass before his eyes; he felt hia 
 brain totter : no matter on ! 
 
 The river suddenly bu/st upon his view : he ran on 
 with staggering steps, heaving bosom : he saw figures mov 
 ing on the shore in the moonlight, heard the faint neigh of a 
 horse. He felt the eyes filling with blood his heart throb- 
 bed with the desperate exertion, like an engine still on ! 
 
 The moon shone suddenly on the white sails of a boat, 
 as she veered round the water danced in the moon, and 
 against the silver mirror ; he plainly saw the figures of three 
 men, who carried by main force, some object in their arms 
 toward th'e boat. 
 
 With fiery eyes, eyes which saw nothing clearly, but 
 through a flame, it seemed, he still sped on. His strength 
 was exhausted he tottered as he ran : he staggered, still 
 on! 
 
 They reach the boat they embark she is gone ! Ha 
 tore his hair, and uttered a sob of rage and despair. 
 
 Suddenly a dark object interposed itself between the 
 worn-out, exhausted, overwhelmed pursuer, and the bright
 
 ON THE RIVER. 311 
 
 Water illuminated by the moon. This object was the hut of 
 Townes the boatman, and a despairing hope flashed through 
 his breast. 
 
 He staggered toward it seeing flame breathing fire, he 
 thought. A light was burning in the window a shadow 
 passed to and fro. 
 
 He tottered, gasping, to the door fell against it burst 
 it open caught the boatman by the shoulder, and said, al 
 most inarticulately : 
 
 " Come ! you must ! I must have ! look there ! they 
 are carrying her off Miss Hallam, who sailed in your boat I 
 she is my cousin ! mercy 1 " 
 
 And staggering he would have fallen, had not the boat 
 man caught him in his arms. 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 ON THE EIVEE. 
 
 THE boatman Townes was one of those men who understand 
 perfectly at a single word, and act quickly. The broken ex 
 clamations of Charles Waters, told him plainly all that had 
 occurred he understood in an instant. 
 
 " Blast my eyes ! " he cried, cramming his tarpaulin on 
 his head, " I knowed somethin' was a-goiii' on ! But I 
 didn't dream o' this ! I heard them horse's hoofs, but the 
 devil himself couldn't a' dreamed this ! I'll have the craft 
 ready in a minute 1 Stay here, and catch your breath, 
 Charley, and we'll live or die together ! " 
 
 With which words the boatman grasped a heavy stick, 
 threw down another before Waters, who was nearly fainting, 
 and rushed from the hut. 
 
 With two bounds he was at his boat, and slung off the 
 chain which held the bark to the shore. Then with a rapid 
 and experienced hand he caught, and tore open the sail 
 tied it to the gunwale, and seized his oars. Charles Waters 
 was at his side panting, his eyes on fire, his looks fixed upon 
 the other boat. 
 
 Obedient to oar and sail, the " Nancy " darted from the
 
 312 ON THE RIVER. 
 
 shore, and plunged her cutwater into the silver expanse 
 raising clouds of cold spray. 
 
 The other boat was much of the same description : her 
 size was greater she was more ornate that was all. 
 
 On fire with his terrible emotion, his eyes burning, his 
 body trembling, Charles Waters bent to his oar like a giant : 
 it was as much as the boatman could do to keep the craft 
 from whirling round, so tremendous were these strokes. The 
 boat flew. 
 
 " Look ! " cried the boatman, " I can see him 1 It is 
 young Mr. Eflingham ! " 
 
 Yes ! don't stop ! " 
 
 " Him ! " cried the boatman, wonderingly. 
 
 " Yes ! ' you would live and die with me 1 ' row 1 " 
 
 " That will I ! " 
 
 And plunging his oar into the water, the powerful boat 
 man sent the craft twenty feet. 
 
 The men in the other boat, plainly saw that they were 
 pursued, and bent to their oars. 
 
 The bark groaned with its enormous mass of sail, and 
 careened dangerously. Standing in the bow, with one arm 
 around Beatrice, Mr. Eflingham looked on gloomily. He 
 knew very well that a deadly encounter was imminent this 
 encounter he both desired and dreaded : dreaded because 
 Charles Waters was her cousin. 
 
 The young girl tried to shrink from him. 
 
 " Oh, for pity's sake, do not carry me away 1 " she cried. 
 
 He only gazed bitterly at her. 
 
 " Oh, it is cruel ! " she cried. 
 
 " You were cruel to me ! " he muttered, hoarsely. 
 
 " They are pursuing us they will rescue me 1 " 
 
 " Yes, when I am dead." 
 
 " Oh, it is Charles ! " she cried. 
 
 " Yes, your excellent cousin : we shall meet soon I see 
 they are gaining on us ! " 
 
 And Mr. Effingham drew a pistoL 
 
 " Oh, for mercy's sake ! mercy ! do not fire 1 " exclaimed 
 Beatrice, clinging to his arm. 
 
 " Be easy, madam," said Mr. Eflingham, gloomily, " I 
 only meant to try the lock : the sword will settle it. Row, 
 there, row 1 "
 
 ON THE RIVER. ?13 
 
 And seizing an oar himself, he bent to nis task with des 
 perate energy. He dreaded the encounter more than he 
 would acknowledge. 
 
 Beatrice kneeling and watching the boat which was 
 pursuing them, could only pray. 
 
 That boat fled toward them like a seagull. It seemed to 
 dart rather than move. Every stroke of the large oars 
 whirled it onward through the foamy surges, and the mast 
 groaned. 
 
 " We are gaining ! ' cried the boatman, " look 1 " 
 
 And he raised his hand, to indicate the position of the 
 two vessels. 
 
 " Row ! row ! " cried Waters, hoarsely. 
 
 The boatman bent to his oar again. The little bark flew 
 over the water, leaving a long track of foam, which glittered 
 in the moonlight. Her triangular sail bent in the wind her 
 mast groaned she bore on like a living thing. 
 
 The excitement of Charles Waters was terrible. His 
 brain was on fire, his heart felt as if ice were pressed to it. 
 That woman whom he loved more than all the world, was 
 being torn from him by his insolent rival who had plainly 
 compassed her abduction by some skilful trick ! she was 
 being borne away before his eyes ! And uttering a groan of 
 rage, he threw in a strength in his oar-strokes which seemed 
 almost supernatural. 
 
 The boats neared but the greater surface of sail on the 
 foremost still made escape probable. The strength of the 
 rowers must soon wear out at the rate they were going 
 then the foremost boat would leave her pursuers behind. 
 She was already flying before the wind, and, as we have said, 
 careening perilously. 
 
 " Oh, they will escape ! I am wearing out 1 " cried 
 Waters, with a despairing groan. 
 
 " Cheerly, cheerly ! " answered the boatman, "we'll give 
 em a whack yet." 
 
 And he rowed more powerfully. 
 
 " I will throw myself into the water and die there, but 
 I will overtake them ! " 
 
 " Look 1 " shouted the boatman, " her mast's snapped ! 
 hurrah ! " 
 
 It was true the boat could not carry the press of sail, 
 14
 
 314 ON THE 1UVER. 
 
 and too well built to capsize easily, the frail mast had Broken 
 under the press, and fallen over the side with all its mass 
 of canvas. 
 
 The craft was no longer any thing but a wreck : like & 
 wounded sea-bird, whose wing has been broken by the hunts 
 man, she paused in her course, verred round and threatened 
 to go down with every wave. 
 
 The pursuers darted toward her like lightning they were 
 now not ten yards off. 
 
 Again the foiled and infuriated young man drew his pis 
 tol, and this time it seemed with deadly intentions. 
 
 The barrel glittered in the moonlight as he levelled it. 
 Then again he replaced it with a curse, and with one arm 
 round Beatrice, as though he would die with her, awaited 
 the approach of his pursuers. 
 
 They were but two men yet he knew they were desper 
 ate. 
 
 The boat darted toward him the sides of the small ves 
 sels crushed together : Charles Waters and the boatman, 
 armed with their heavy clubs, threw themselves from their 
 own into Mr. Effingham's craft. 
 
 " You come to your death ! " cried the furious young 
 man, rushing toward Charles Waters, " woe to you ! " 
 
 His foot caught in the sail which cumbered the gunwale, 
 and he half fell. 
 
 Beatrice rushed toward her cousin, and he caught her in 
 his arms. At the same moment Townes levelled the fore 
 most waterman with his club : the other grappled with him, 
 and endeavored to plunge a knife into his side. 
 
 Mr. Effingham rose overwhelmed with fury. His blood 
 boiled with rage he was in one of his madnesses of passion. 
 
 He saw only that one sight before him Beatrice clasped 
 in the arms of his hated, abhorred rival. He only under 
 stood that that rival had defeated him, despised him. 
 
 The blood rushed to his head he staggered, and draw 
 ing his pistol, levelled it at Charles Waters' breast, and 
 fired. 
 
 A sudden careening of the boat deranged his aim, and 
 the ball, drawing blood from Beatrice's shoulder, struck the 
 waterman Junks, just as he had nearly strangled Townes, 
 and had lifted his knife to stab him.
 
 THE FATHER AND SON 815 
 
 That sudden careening of the boat, saved the ufe of 
 Charles Waters and his friend. 
 
 " Oh ! you've got it ! blast you ! " cried Townee, as his 
 adversary fell. 
 
 Mr. Effingham saw all : he saw his two companions dis 
 abled he saw himself left alone to contend against his ene 
 mies he saw that all was lost. 
 
 One thing remained revenge ! And as Charles Waters 
 seeing him rise sword in hand, raised his arm, protecting 
 Beatrice with the other, the infuriated young man plunged 
 the weapon into his breast. 
 
 Waters fell backward, dragging down Beatrice who had 
 fainted. The sword snapped off in his body within six inches 
 of the hilt only the hilt and the stump remained in Mr. 
 Effingham's hand. 
 
 With a wild cry the boatman, Townes, threw himself on 
 his knees beside his friend, and, crying like a child, sought 
 to stanch the blood. 
 
 " No do not mind me ! " said Charles Waters, faintly, 
 and turning deadly pale as he spoke, " attend to Bea 
 trice ! " 
 
 And drawing the blade from his breast with a desperate 
 effort he fell back. 
 
 The boatman tore his hair with both hands, and wept 
 until he was worn out. Suddenly he started up woe ! to 
 that man ! He was alone on the boat, with the wounded 
 and dying. 
 
 A hundred yards from the boat, he saw the young man 
 swimming desperately toward the shore. Exhausted, over 
 whelmed with horror, the boatman sunk back and fell, his 
 head striking heavily against the side of the boat. 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 THE FATHER AND BON. 
 
 MR. EFFINGHAM, uttering a wild curse, had thrown himself 
 into the water as Charles Waters fell, and still holding the 
 stump of the bloody sword, had struck out toward the shore
 
 316 THE FATHER AND SON. 
 
 At one moment he determined to make no effort to reach 
 the shore, to let the dark waves ingulf him but nature 
 prevailed. Still grasping madly the weapon, he swam toward 
 the bank, and issued from the water near the point from 
 which he had started. 
 
 His horse was grazing where he had left him, and came 
 whinnying to him. 
 
 He mounted, and plunging the broken sword into the 
 scabbard, looked over his shoulder. 
 
 There was the bark upon which the mortal encounter 
 had just taken place a dark object upon the silvery ex 
 panse. 
 
 He turned from it gloomily. 
 
 Where should he go ? 
 
 He looked around him from side to side, and shook his 
 head. That was a hard question. But one thing he knew 
 that he would not stay there to be devoured with rage 
 and despair. 
 
 Motion ! motion I and striking his spur into the animal's 
 side so cruelly, that it neighed with pain, he set forward 
 furiously, his hair streaming in the wind his lips writhing 
 his eyes glaring with despair. 
 
 All was thenceforth lost to him he was lost ! his infat 
 uation for that diabolical angel had ended, as he predicted, 
 in a terrible crash, which shook the props of his whole life ! 
 But at least he had no longer that rival. 
 
 Every noise startled him he trembled at the moan 
 ing of the wind shook at the fitful shadows : the moon 
 seemed to grow pale, the stars to fade. Still the wild ani 
 mal fled on the bridle on his neck his sides reeking with 
 sweat. 
 
 The young man knew nothing of the road he was tak 
 ing : he did not see that the animal, with a strange instinct, 
 had followed the road to the hall, avoiding the town. 
 
 Still on ! more desperately, still he urged the flying 
 horse with his spur he tried to outrun his thoughts in vain. 
 They pursued him like ferocious bloodhounds, and caught 
 him with their sharp teeth, and tore him 1 
 
 The sobbing, panting animal bounded onward wildly 
 passed mile after mile, and entered the forest stretching 
 around the hall, just as the first streak of dawn reddened 
 in the east.
 
 THE FATHER AND SON. 317 
 
 The young man raised his head and looked around. 
 
 " This place is familiar to me," he muttered, " it is 
 home ! " 
 
 And he groaned. 
 
 The poor moaning animal halted in front of the great 
 portico ; and, panting, covered with sweat, foaming at the 
 mouth, stood still. Mr. Effingham dismounted and passed 
 his hand over his neck the affection of that animal was 
 grateful. 
 
 Suddenly a voice startled him and he turned round. It 
 was a negro just risen, and his face expressed the greatest 
 delight at seeing his master back. Mr. Effingham gave him 
 his hand ordered him to attend to his horse and then> 
 scarcely knowing what he did, entered the hall, sombre, and 
 moving slowly. 
 
 He sat down in the library, where a fire had just been 
 kindled, for the squire was accustomed to rise very early : 
 and looking round, took note of all the familiar household 
 objects, which he had not seen for so long years, it seemed 
 to him. 
 
 There was the squire's writing-table covered with papers, 
 and ears of corn, and specimen apples, and large heads of 
 wheat. There was the plain leather-bottomed chair with 
 the marks of powder on the carved back, where the old gen 
 tleman's head had rested. There was the book-case half 
 open the " Gazette " lay on a chair Willie's new whip 
 was on the floor. There was his mother's portrait over the 
 fire-place : he turned from it with a groan. There was lit 
 tle Kate's embroidery now finished, and converted into a 
 screen : he looked away from that too. And the shadow 
 on his brow grew deeper : his pale lips writhed. 
 
 A step behind him, startled him, and he rose. The 
 squire stood before him. 
 
 The old gentleman's pride was all broken in his heart, 
 by the sight of his long lost son ; and he would have grasped 
 his hand hard : but Mr. Effingham drew back. 
 
 " No sir," he said, hoarsely, " do not touch that hand : 
 there is blood on it 1 " 
 
 " Blood 1 " echoed the horrified squire, with wide dis 
 tended eyes. 
 
 " Blood I the blood of a man : perhaps that of a w( man 
 too/'
 
 318 THE FATHER AND SON. 
 
 And the shadow in the dark eyes grew deeper. 
 
 The squire fell into a chair overwhelmed with this an 
 nouncement : he could not speak at first. At last he re 
 gained his voice, and said, with a gasp : 
 
 " Blood ? whose blood ? " 
 
 " A rival's." 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " Mr. Charles Waters." 
 
 The old man groaned. 
 
 " That woman ! that woman I " he said, in a low voice, 
 which trembled piteously. 
 
 " Yes, sir, that woman ! " replied his son, with eyes which 
 resembled nothing human, " you were right in warning me 
 against her. She has ruined me I am lost 1 " 
 
 The squire could not reply : 
 
 " I have committed a murder, sir," continued Mr. Effing- 
 ham, " see, my sword is still bloody, I believe " 
 
 And drawing from the scabbard the stump of the wea 
 pon, on which some drops of clotted blood still hung, he 
 threw it on the floor before the old man. 
 
 " A murder ? " cried the squire, turning deadly pale. 
 
 " Well, sir no : not an assassination, for his arm was 
 raised to strike me, and he was not alone " 
 
 " Thank God ! I am spared that ' " groaned the old 
 man. 
 
 " But it is scarcely better," said the young man, in the 
 same tone of gloomy calmness, " I carried off a woman, sir : 
 that woman, whom you rightly dreaded so : yes, she has 
 been my evil genius my fate ! I loved and hated her I 
 was mad 1 But this is from the purpose. I carried her off 
 was pursued first on land then on the water we were 
 attacked my associates in the diabolical affair were both dis 
 abled, one of them by myself, one by his adversary then I 
 plunged my sword into my enemy's heart, having first tried 
 to kill him with my pistol, thinking, from a stumble I made, 
 that he would strike me unprepared. That is it, sir." 
 
 And looking at the squire with lurid eyes, the young 
 man paused. 
 
 " I believe the ball wounded the woman," he added, 
 hoarsely. 
 
 " But thank Grod, you did not kill in cold blood 1 " cried
 
 THE FATHER AND SON. 319 
 
 his father, " it was while your blood was hot, and in a strug. 
 gle. My poor son ! how fatally this has ended 1" 
 
 And the squire covered his face. 
 
 " Yes, sir ruin has been the end for me : henceforth, 
 I am lost. As I shall probably be wanted by the officer! 
 of the law some time to-day, I think that we had better 
 decide upon something." 
 
 " Yes yes ! " cried the squire, starting up, " you art 
 right ! The officers of the law arrest you ! my son ! " 
 
 And the old man, with some of his youthful heat, flushed 
 to the temples. 
 
 " The middle age is past," said Mr. Effingham, with the 
 same sombre calmness ; " we cannot drop the portcullis, and 
 from our castle bid defiance to all foes." 
 
 The squire fell into his seat again. 
 
 " There is one way which ends all, and well ends it," 
 continued the young man, with the calmness of incipient 
 madness ; " I have another pistol if the water has not wet 
 ted the powder." 
 
 And he drew it from his belt. The squire wrested it y 
 with a groan, from his hand. 
 
 " Well, sir you are right. I feel that this is the act 
 of a coward. I have no intention of committing suicide : 
 what remains ? " 
 
 " To the continent ! Oh, you can go to Europe." 
 
 " I'm tired of it, sir." 
 
 " But Virginia you cannot remain in Virginia." 
 
 " True." 
 
 " The paper, there ! see what vesse) sails, and when 
 Perhaps one goes from York, or Noil'olk, this very week." 
 
 And the squire seized the paper : the first words he read, 
 were : 
 
 " On Saturday, the 21st, will s*il from the port of York, 
 for Amsterdam, via Liverpool, the bark CHARMING SALLY, 
 Capt. Fellowes " 
 
 " That is to-morrow ! Oh, go in this vessel ! " cried the 
 agitated squire, losing all his pride, and melting at the sight 
 of the pale and disfigured features of his son. 
 
 " Well, sir that will suit me as well as any thing 
 else." 
 
 " I will send off a servant to engage your passage in th
 
 320 THE FATHER AND SON. 
 
 ship, instantly Cato will understand : he is as secret as 
 night : instantly ! " 
 
 And the squire hastened out. 
 
 Mr. Effingham sat down again with the same stony calm 
 ness : that calmness would not have pleased a physician. 
 He was in that state of despair which deadens the nerves. 
 
 Suddenly a light step came down the stairs Kate en 
 tered saw him ran to him, and with a face radiant with 
 joy, threw her arms round his neck, and pressed her cheek 
 to his own. Then, as a sequel to all this, she burst out cry 
 ing, from pure delight. 
 
 Mr. Effingham removed the arms, and rose : she shrunk 
 back, frightened at his expression it was terrible. 
 
 " Oh, cousin, Champ 1 " she cried, " you won't drive me 
 from you ! " 
 
 He was silent. 
 
 " Oh ! you are not angry at me, for , oh 1 you make 
 
 me feel so badly 1 " 
 
 And she sobbed. 
 
 " I cannot talk to you now I cannot kiss you I am 
 not angry with you " he said. 
 
 And muttering to himself, he went his way to the cham 
 ber, which he had occupied before leaving the hall, and dis 
 appeared at the turn of the great staircase from Kate's eyes. 
 The child sat down, and wept piteously. 
 
 The day drew on, and still the young man remained in 
 his chamber. Miss Alethea passed in and out, making pre 
 parations for him, and her face was observed to be bathed 
 in tears. The squire shut himself up in his library, and 
 only once came out to ascend to Mr. Effingham's chamber. 
 
 About noon a visitor in a military dress, and with a coun 
 tenance convulsed with passion, came to the Hall, and was 
 closeted for an hour with the old man in the library, from 
 which were heard high voices, " parbleus ! " and exclama 
 tions. Finally the voices moderated, and the visitor, still 
 much moved, but more calm, came out and rode away. 
 
 The squire went to the young man's room, and told him 
 that the brother of Charles Waters Captain Ralph Waters, 
 had just come and informed him, that his brother was not 
 dead though he was despaired of and the young woman 
 scarcely at all injured. A flush greeted this information 
 a sombre frown,
 
 THE FATHER AND son. $2* 
 
 " Was there no challenge left for me," he asked. 
 
 By Captain Waters ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 "None." 
 
 And the squire, to avoid further embarrassing questions, 
 went j)ut. The Captain had come to take Mr. Effingham's 
 life in return for his brother's simply and purely and he 
 would have " left a challenge," had the squire not made him 
 change his mind. How this was effected must remain a 
 mystery. 
 
 The night drew on cold and gloomy, and Mr. Effingham 
 was to set out for York soon after midnight. He and the 
 squire sat up talking, for neither could sleep. No persons 
 were present but themselves, and we know nothing of that 
 conversation. 
 
 About two o'clock, when a chill wind had arisen and 
 moaned round the gables, Cato came and reported the horses 
 ready, and took his master's baggage. 
 
 Mr. Effingham then wrapped himself in his cloak ; buck 
 led on a new sword, calmly, and went out. 
 
 As he entered the passage he was approached by a small 
 figure clad in white. This was Kate, who was in her night- 
 clothes, and who pressed with her bare feet the chill polished 
 oak of the floor. 
 
 " Oh, cousin Champ 1 " she sobbed, " please don't go 
 without kissing me ! They, made me go to bed, but I 
 couldn't sleep, for you were going. Oh, don't go away feel 
 ing angry with me. Please kiss me ! " 
 
 The hard heart was overcome : he stooped down and 
 took the child in his arms, and pressing her to his breast, 
 two large bitter tears rolled down his pale thin cheeks. 
 Then hastily kissing her, he again wrapped his cloak around 
 him and passed on. 
 
 In fifteen minutes he was in the saddle. 
 
 The wild wandering wind sobbed mournfully around the 
 lofty gables and through the pines. 
 
 This was the sound which greeted Mr. Effingham as he 
 turned his back upon the Hall, and rode forth into the cold, 
 gloomy night.
 
 32 THE AUTHOR OF THE MS. SPEAKS. 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII 
 
 THE AUTHOR OP THE MS. SPEAKS. 
 
 " HERE let us pause," says the author of the manuscript 
 from which these scenes are taken, " and looking back on 
 the current of events which we have seen flow on through 
 light and shadow, endeavor to extract briefly their signifi 
 cance. 
 
 " In the history of my respected ancestor, Champ Effing- 
 ham, Esq., I think I discern something which reminds me 
 of an Eastern fable I have met with. The enemy of Hu 
 manity, the tale relates, came and found the first man sleep 
 ing calmly under the palois of paradise : and gazing long at 
 him, endeavoured to find some weak point of attack. But 
 the lordly face of the sleeper made him groan with rage 
 and disappointment. He saw the brows made to conceive 
 pure and noble thoughts the chiselled lips shaped to express 
 those thoughts, and utter prayer. He saw the strong arm, 
 with its iron muscles, moulded wondrously to strike and 
 overthrow wrong, should wrong trench upon the fair fields 
 it cultivated : all repelled the enemy. At last he observed 
 the movement of the sleeper's heart, and kneeling down, 
 tapped upon it with his finger. It sounded hollow, and the 
 enemy smiled, as only fiends smile. 
 
 " ' Here is a cavity 1 ' he muttered ; ' I will fill it with 
 passions ! ' 
 
 " And, leaving the sleeper writhing in his slumbers, the 
 enemy of souls disappeared. 
 
 " My worthy ancestor, Mr. Effingham, seems to have 
 afforded proof that this fable is not wholly fanciful. His 
 passions were so strong that he was led by them to the com 
 mission of actions which he often regarded with wondering 
 disgust in after years : that infatuated young man whose 
 acts he recollected, scarcely seemed to be himself. His mad 
 passion for the young girl had changed his whole character. 
 Chivalrous and noble, it made him persecute a woman, and 
 exhaust the depths of bitterness and weakness. Sweet-tem 
 pered and affectionate, under all his languid and satirical in 
 difference, if the phrase may be used, his character WM
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE MS. SPEAKS. 323 
 
 changed by that infatuation into one of sour and bittei scoff 
 ing and mocking sarcasm. Careless of the prejudices of 
 rank, and disposed to treat all men with cordiality and kind 
 ness, it made him taunt with low birth the rival who sup 
 planted him. Venerating his father, it led him to write to 
 that father a letter of cold defiance and lastly, it made 
 him commit an action which madness alone excuses the 
 forcible abduction of an unoffending girl : and his wild, tur 
 bulent, mad career, was wound up by an attempt to take th 
 life of a man whose only crime was love for that woman 
 who had driven him mad. 
 
 " Mr. Effingham was a true descendant of the man 
 tempted by the fiend, and filled with passion. 
 
 " But then we may observe in this career equal proof of 
 what Mr. Charles Waters had said to the man in the red 
 cloak that the human heart is not radically false and hate 
 ful, but suffers for the crimes it is led by passion to commit, 
 cruelly; and ever strives to disentangle itself from the 
 meshes of that fiery net which is bound around it by fate. 
 
 " In the midst of all his delinquency when he was per 
 secuting the young woman defying society and his family, 
 uttering unworthy and insulting words to his rival carry 
 ing off Beatrice striking at the heart of her defender : all 
 this time, remorse and sombre rage with himself burned in 
 his agitated heart like fire. We have traced some of the 
 scenes in his lonely chamber, in which these stormy emotions 
 were bared to his own consciousness, even in words and we 
 have seen on one occasion, that the fury of his suffering and 
 remorse nearly led him to self-destruction. We have seen 
 how on that occasion he caught the child to his heart, and 
 called her his guardian angel and blessed her : at that mo 
 ment his good impulses were strong, and had not the words 
 of his friend revived the slumbering passion in his heart, 
 many of the events herein narrated would never have oc 
 curred. 
 
 " Even in the midst of his most furious rages when ho 
 tried to persuade himself that he was the victim of cruel in 
 justice and unjustifiable scorn, his heart still whispered to 
 him that he was the wrong-doer ; and in that night and day 
 after the river-fight, his remorse grew to a climax. We have 
 peeu how he was touched by the affection of an animal, how
 
 324 TWO SCENES ON A WINTER NIGHT. 
 
 he mingled his tears with those of the child when she bade 
 him farewell. Those tears were not unmanly ones, and are 
 pleasanter to think of now, to me at least, than all his fear 
 less acts, his scornful defiances cast in the teeth of tho uni 
 verse. 
 
 " I have not space to speak further of those other per 
 sonages who were grouped around my ancestor, the central 
 figure of them all, and attracting to his splendid and fiery 
 graces, his wild passions, every eye : Beatrice pure and 
 lovely creature ! whose portrait I have vainly striven to de 
 lineate, must be passed by : and Charles Waters, too ; the 
 pure thinker. In after pages of this history I shall endeav 
 our to develop further those feelings which, so much mo^e 
 than mere events, enter into the lives of my personages." 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 TWO SCENES ON A WINTEB NIGHT. 
 
 THE writer, after these moral reflections, which we have 
 transcribed for the benefit of our readers, goes on to narrate 
 how, after the fight upon the river, the two watermen leaped 
 into the " Nancy," and without exchanging compliments, 
 excuses, or regrets, ran off with that craft ; even Junks with 
 a bad wound in his arm, rowing as if the officers of the law 
 were already on his track : further, he goes on to tell how 
 Charles Waters, by his own request, was borne to his father's : 
 how Beatrice, stanching her bleeding arm, would not 
 leave him : how the old man wept and sobbed as he met 
 his dying son : how the Chevalier La Riviere, otherwise 
 Captain Ralph Waters, uttered furious " morbleus ! " and 
 threats, and tore his moustache : and how, day by day, 
 nursed by the tender hand of Beatrice, the young man's 
 wound in the shoulder-blade grew gradually better, and his 
 deadly pallor changed more and more to the hue of health : 
 all this is related by the worthy writer of the MS., at 
 considerable length. 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell upon these scenes : the reader, 
 BO doubt, will be able to understand all that is necessary
 
 TWO SCENES ON A WINTER NIGHT. 32 
 
 without the aid of the chronicler. Let us pass over a 
 month, and on a winter night enter the plain and simple, but 
 cheerful and comfortable mansion of the old fisherman, and 
 see what the inmates are engaged in. 
 
 The apartment is the one which we have already entered 
 several times, and a cheerful fire is burning in the wide, 
 rude fireplace. Two stones serve the purpose of andirons, 
 and a hook stands out prominently from the great cross 
 beam. The light of the fire fills the room, bathing in its 
 full rich flood of warmth and brightness the nets, the fish 
 ing rods, the brown rafters overhead with their strings of 
 onions and bacon flitches ; and these humble objects take a 
 glory from the brilliant light, and seem to laugh and move 
 about as the flame rises and falls, in a sort of ecstasy. 
 
 In one corner of the great chimney sits old John Wa 
 ters with his venerable gray head bent down, his face bright 
 with its habitual smile of simple good-nature and kindliness. 
 The old man occupies the chair of state, which is woven 
 into a species of basket-work and softly cushioned the work 
 of Charles. He wears his ordinary dress of fustian; his 
 stockings are of woollen, and his huge shoes are decorated 
 with huge buckles. His gray hair is tied in a queue behind, 
 and in his hard, bony hand the old man holds a corn-cot 
 pipe, which he replenishes from time to time by inserting 
 his fingers into the ample pocket of his long waistcoat, and 
 then thrusting the bowl into the ashes, from which it re 
 appears crowned with a burning coal, and sending up clouds 
 of fragrant smoke. 
 
 Opposite, and crouching on his stool, sits Lanky, the cart- 
 boy, who seems to be eternally protesting against something, 
 for he shakes his head from north-east to south-west inces 
 santly, and gazes into the fire with a profundity which would 
 have delighted Newton. Lanky is clad in a pair of orna 
 mental woollen stockings, and has enormous feet, which oc 
 casionally are stretched out toward the blaze, then with 
 drawn, as the warmth penetrates too feelingly into his shins : 
 his short clothes are of leather, and are much soiled hia 
 waistcoat is tattered and torn, and the pockets are stuffed 
 with whip-lashes, nails, and iron rings, apparently the debria 
 or some defunct harness; his coat has lost a portion of 
 the skirt. Lanky has been working all day has ben with
 
 326 TWO SCENES ON A WINTER NIGHT. 
 
 the cart of fish and vegetables to Williamsburg ; and now 
 like an honest fellow with an excellent conscience takes his 
 ease on his stool, and munches when the hunger fit seizes 
 him, his bread and bacon, and, as we have said, carries on 
 that silent protest against something or somebody, with his 
 head, which closely resembles a pine knot. 
 
 Immediately in front of the cheerful fire, and seated 
 close to the rude pine table, Townes, the boatman, and the 
 Chevalier La Riviere or, dropping this nom-de-guerre, Cap 
 tain Ralph Waters occupying themselves with a sheet of 
 paper, lying on the rough board, on which the Captain has 
 traced a diagram, the lines of which are something less than 
 an inch in breadth. Townes is clad in his usual dress, half 
 sailor, half farmer, whole boatman. The Captain is re 
 splendent in the fine military suit which we have seen Mr. 
 Effingham dressed in, and his long sword lies by him on a 
 settee. His moustaches are longer and blacker than ever ; 
 his eye more laughing, his voice louder, his " parbleus ! " 
 more emphatic, as he explains the diagram of the battle of 
 Rosbach to the boatman. 
 
 " Faith ! there it is ! " says the Captain, twirling his 
 moustache, and making a dig at the paper with his broad- 
 nibbed goosequill, " there is the river Saal these dots here 
 represent Marshal Soubise's forces, opposite the head-quar 
 ters of the great Frederic ; and here, at this line, Prince 
 Hildbourghausen had posted himself." 
 
 " Hill who ? " asks Townes, scratching his head, " talk 
 it out plainer, Captain." 
 
 " Hildbourghausen ! " says the soldier, laughing ; " faith 1 
 that is nothing to some of the jaw-breakers I have been 
 compelled, for my sins, to pronounce, man ami!" 
 
 " Hell bug housen," says the boatman, in a low, med 
 itative tone, " now I've got it ! " 
 
 " Well, here was the river we crossed on the 5th of 
 November, all colors flying a glorious day, and a glorious 
 set of devils to fight it out though I say it. I ean't go 
 over the battle but fifty thousand mounseers bit the dust, 
 or were taken: see, here was my share." 
 
 And opening his coat, the soldier showed a deep s :ar on 
 his breast. 
 
 " A bayonet did it but I ran the follow through for it,
 
 tWO SCENES ON A WINTER NIGHT. 327 
 
 and the great Frederic made me a captain. What a beast 
 he was ! And morbleu ! what a leader ! " 
 
 " Well, now, seems to me," says Townes, " them things 
 don't pay. Is scars all you get in the wars, Captain 
 Ralph ? 
 
 " No, I'm indifferent rich." 
 
 " Really, now." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " How did you get the pistoles together ? " 
 
 " They were not pistoles, mon arm they were florins and 
 guilders," says the Captain, with a strange, wistful smile 
 which is a pleasant sight to look upon. 
 
 " Guilders ? I have seen some of that com," gays old 
 John Waters, cheerfully, " come tell us, my son, something 
 more of your doin's than you have done." 
 
 The Captain pauses for a moment, and passes his hand 
 over his eyes dreamily : then he raises his fine head, and 
 says, manfully : 
 
 " Very well, bon pre : ten words, more or less, will do 
 that. You know that when I was eighteen, and had an in 
 different smooth face, I ran away half with your knowledge, 
 half without" 
 
 " You were not a bad son," says the old man, pleasantly. 
 
 " No, I believe not. Well, I got to Europe, found that 
 I must starve or enlist, and having a natural turn for eating 
 heartily, and an intense aversion to starving, at once accepted 
 his gracious and serene majesty's shilling. We were shipped 
 at once to the Continent, and under the Great Frederic, the 
 Protestant champion, as we called him, fought like a parcel 
 of honest English dogs, every time we could meet with the 
 mounseers, who were equally the enemies of Prussia and 
 England. 
 
 " Very well, I knocked about got a wound at Rosbach, 
 also my Captaincy had a public compliment paid me after 
 Lissa a devil of a fight, comrade ! and at Glatz had the 
 misfortune to be taken prisoner, as I was about to run my 
 hanger through a fellow all bedizened with lace a Colonel, 
 at the very least. I mention the great pitched battles the 
 skirmishes, countermarches, night-encounters, here, there, 
 every where, are understood. Well, I was taken after Glats 
 Glats was in '59, mark you to a little town in the int-
 
 328 TWO SCENES ON A WINTER NIGHT. 
 
 rior, where a fort was held by the troops of his Gracious 
 Majesty, the King of France in the Rhine-land. There I 
 became no longer a bachelor." 
 
 With which words, the wistful expression again passed 
 over the soldier's face. 
 
 " She was a soft, bright-eyed girl I don't know how 1 
 ever came to love her," he murmured; " she was a good wife 
 to me, and having sold my commission at her earnest request, 
 I lived in that little town for two whole years or there 
 abouts. She was a tender heart my poor Katrina." 
 
 And the Captain frowns, to conceal his emotion. 
 
 " Married, my son you ain't a-tellin' me you were mar 
 ried ? " says the old man. 
 
 " Yes, yes," says the soldier, raising his martial face 
 with a sigh. " I married and lost my wife all within two 
 short years." 
 
 There is a silence. 
 
 " Poor thing : she loved me devotedly, and left her whole 
 fortune to me. What did I want with it, when she was 
 gone ? well, well, the money amounted to some fifteen or 
 twenty thousand pounds English coin, and that is what I 
 have." 
 
 " Twenty thousand pounds 1 " ejaculates Townes, with 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Yes, yes," adds the soldier, " but in spite of the fine 
 fortune a great fortune for a poor soldier, her death nearly 
 unmanned me ! She was a good girl ! " 
 
 And with dreamy eyes the Captain twirls his moustache, 
 and sighs. His auditors are silent. 
 
 " After that," he continues, " I found myself no longer 
 fit for peace the void in my heart, friends, called for war. 
 How could I live there, looking on all those objects she had 
 looked at with me ? No, no ! I could not, and I buckled on 
 my sword again. Ah, man ami ! ah, bon pere ! vous ne 
 tavez bah I English is the best 1 Well, well ! I went back 
 again to the camp, did my duty, they said got some more 
 wounds and slowly my good spirits came back to me 1 She 
 was a good wife ! she is in heaven ! " 
 
 " And you came away when the war ended, Captain ? " 
 ays Townes, " for I hearn tell somethin' 'bout the pea o 
 Fontybulll"
 
 SWO S.ilNES ON A WINTER NIOHT. 32ft 
 
 " F >ntainbleau, man ami yes, I threw up my commis- 
 then turned my back on camps, and as my heart 
 began to grow strong again, it turned toward old Virginia 
 here. I got into the first ship, leaving my gold in London 
 there and came over. The sea voyage set me up again 
 that, with the fighting, and here I am as fresh and hearty as 
 a lion." 
 
 With which words the Captain looks with great affection 
 at old Waters, and seeing that Lanky is nodding, stirs that 
 gentleman up with his foot. Lanky starts and looks around 
 in utter and profound astonishment at which comical ex 
 pression the boatman laughs, and Captain Ralph goes on 
 with his adventures. 
 
 Let us now pass through the door directly in the rear of 
 the astonished Lanky, and look around us. The apartment 
 is wholly different from the one which we have just left : it 
 is smaller and neater. The fireplace is surmounted by a 
 tall mantel-piece, upon which are ranged a number of old 
 volumes, and in the recess to the right, some neatly-con 
 structed shelves are covered with more books, and a great 
 number of papers chiefly old copies of the " Virginia Ga 
 zette." Immediately beneath this bookcase, if we may call 
 it such, stands a small table covered with sheets of paper, 
 some of which have been written upon, while others contain 
 geometrical diagrams. A little window, with very small 
 panes of thick, bluish glass, opens on the river, sleeping in 
 the chill winter moon. In one corner of the room, a low 
 narrow bed is seen in the corner opposite, a partition juts 
 out, indicating that a narrow staircase leads from without, 
 to the two small rooms above. 
 
 Before the fire, which sings and murmurs cheerfully, are 
 seated Charles Waters, and on another, but lower chair, 
 Beatrice. He is very pale, and his cheeks are thinner than 
 their wont ; but his clear eye is as full as ever of frank truth ; 
 his sad smile as sweet. 
 
 Beatrice is radiant with that tender and childlike beauty 
 which characterizes her ; and as she sews and talks in a low 
 tone, when he is not reading to her, she raises her large 
 melting eyes to his face, with a look exquisitely soft iid Ipy- 
 ing. Both are clad very simply.
 
 330 TWO SCENES ON A WINTER NIGHT. 
 
 There is for a time silence in the small cheerful room, 
 which, with its homespun carpet, and rude shelves and ruder 
 rafters, is yet extremely neat and cheerful, and home-like. 
 The voices of the interlocutors in the next room come to 
 them indistinctly. 
 
 The words, " She was a good wife ! " however, are heard 
 plainly : and Beatrice raises her tender eyes. 
 
 He smiles faintly. 
 
 " Ralph is telling some of his adventures," he says, 
 " but they cannot be more singular than those which we 
 have passed through." 
 
 And his eye dwells with great tenderness on the gentle, 
 girlish face. 
 
 " Oh ! how strange yes, how very strange ! " she mur 
 murs, gazing into the fire : " it seems to me almost like a 
 dream." 
 
 " It is a bright reality, which has restored you to us," 
 he replies, taking the little hand. 
 
 Yes yes." 
 
 And her head droops, quietly. The round rosy neck is 
 half illuminated, half shadowed, hjf the fitful firelight ; and 
 the curls seem to nestle closer : the face is plain, and a dewy 
 glance trembles from the eyes. 
 
 " After so many wanderings, so many singular experi 
 ences, such rude contact with the world, and all sorts of 
 people ah ! to see you here at last, it is strange indeed." 
 
 " Yes yes but he was very kind to me : " she mur 
 murs. 
 
 " He was a kind-hearted man, and loved you, Beatrice : 
 I do not know whether he made any exertion or not to find 
 us and restore you and I do not attach very great blame 
 to him. Ah ! had I found you, I should have hesitated long 
 before parting with you." 
 
 And the thin hand plays gently with her own. 
 
 " He was very kind to me," she repeats, in a low 
 tone, " and that last interview with him in this room was 
 very trying. You remember, Charles, how bitterly he com 
 plained, at first, that I would not return to Europe with 
 him" 
 
 " You could not." 
 
 " No, I could uot 1 and yet I felt very deeply the sepa-
 
 TWO SCENES CTN A WINTER NIGHT. 33 \ 
 
 ration : I told him so, you know, and thanked him for all 
 his fondness and kindness, to poor Beatrice Hallam, his 
 daughter for so long : and so you know he relented, and 
 shed some tears, and took me in his arms, and said he did not 
 blame me that I was right that blood was the strongest, 
 after all : and so he blessed me and kissed me, and now 
 he is far away on the sea, sailing for the old world." 
 
 With which words Beatrice droops lower, her hair covers 
 her face, she weeps in silence. 
 
 He looks at her with inexpressible affection, and caresses 
 with his pale hand the tender head. She raises her face, 
 and he sees the tears. 
 
 " Weeping, dear ! " he says. 
 
 " I cannot help crying a little, thinking of him," she 
 murmurs. 
 
 " But, they are not bitter tears." 
 
 " Oh, no ! " 
 
 " You do not regret your determination ? " 
 
 Oh, no no ! " 
 
 And she looks at him with so much love, that his heart 
 throbs, and his pale cheek is for a moment reddened, as if 
 the flush of some golden autumn sunset bathed it. 
 
 " You do not complain of having to leave all that bril 
 liant life ? " he says. 
 
 " I thank G-OO!, that I was permitted to abandon it." 
 
 " For our poor house, here ah, it is very poor." 
 
 " But I have you and uncle and " 
 
 The weak voice gives way. 
 
 " And we have you " he murmurs, holding out his 
 arms with an expression of pride and joy, which illuminates 
 his countenance like a glory. 
 
 In a moment she is in his arms pressed to his breast, 
 sobbing and weeping, and nestling close to his bosom. She 
 will be his dear wife, she says she has promised that she 
 will forgjt all for him in future never grieve she is not 
 grieving now, her tears are tears of joy, she feels that God 
 has been very good to her, and she is happy. 
 
 And the red firelight lingers lovingly upon them, heart 
 to heart, cheek pressed to cheek : the moonlight struggles 
 to come in and share their joy : the room is still and holy. 
 And from the adjoining room, come cheerful voices soon,
 
 332 TWO SCENES ON A WINTER NIGHT. 
 
 and merry laughter, and the loud camp-expletives of Cap 
 tain Ralph. Then the voices moderate, the soldier's tone 
 is lower, he has gone back to his happy days : and as they 
 listen, the gentle head resting confidingly on his bosom, thoM 
 low words are heard again, and echo in their hearts : 
 " Yes, comrade a good wife I "
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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