\ . . 3u****l? ^^CU^u^J^Z. J- \^t?l ' HB3? a; . J £ K^ x u /° 1 r ■ HARRY COVERDALE'S COURTSHIP, AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. FRANK E. SMEDLEY, AUTHOR OF "FRANK FAIRLEGH," "LEWIS ARUNDEL," "THE FORTUNES OF THE COLYTLLE FAMILY,' ETC, ETC. " Those false alarms of strife, Between the husband and the wife, And little quarrels, often prove To be but new recruits of love ; And tho' some fit of small contest Sometime fall out among the best, That makes no breach of faith and love, But rather (sometimes) serves t' improve." Butler. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY "PHIZ/' LONDON" : VIRTUE, HALL, AND VIRTUE, 25, PATERNOSTEK ROW. MAIM LIsriAfty h ■ 12 PREFACE. This Tale of " Harry Coverdale's Courtship" has been a kind of enfant terrible — a thankless child — to its Author. It was originally begun as a short story, but the characters grew and expanded upon his hands, until they forced him to allow them wider proportions than he had originally intended. Then the Magazine in which the tale had been com- menced changed owners, and the new proprietor, not being inclined to agree to the arrangements of his prede- cessor, saw fit to end the story himself, after a much more vivacious and dashing fashion than that of the present " lame and impotent conclusion." These and other mishaps, qua nunc perscribere longum est, as dear Dr. Valpy's Latin Grammar has it, have occasioned the story to be written — a plusieurs reprises, to use the "correct" phrase. The conclusion of the tale has been perpetrated at a time when, on account of severe nervous headaches, the 696 iv rREFACE. Author was under strict medical orders not to write a line upon any consideration ; and it is with the fear of the doctor before his eyes that he is penning these " few last words." They are not written in the " forlorn hope " of disarming hostile criticism, but simply to assure those friends who have hitherto looked with an indulgent eye upon his writings, that if " Harry Coverdale's Courtship " does not come up to any expectations they may have formed from the perusal of his previous works, it is rather the misfortune than the fault, of their grateful and obedient servant, THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. Chapter I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. \ xvm. XXIX. XXX. PAGE Treats of the Philosophy of Life 1 Affords a Specimen of Harry's "Quiet Manner" with his Tenantry 6 Hazlehurst pleads his Cause and wins it 13 Contains, among other "Exquisite" Sketches, a Portrait of a Puppy (not by Landseer) 19 Proves the Advisability of looking before you leap .... 25 Jest and Earnest 33 Wherein Symptoms of Harry's Courtship begin to appear on a stormy Horizon , . . . . 40 Harry condescends to play the Agreeable ....... 47 Contains little else save Moonshine 55 Equo ne Credite Teucri. — Virgil 65 Post equitem sedet Atra Cura. — Horace 69 Harry puts his Foot in it 76 " Deeper and deeper still " 82 Decidedly Embarrassing 89 Relates the unexpected Benevolence of Horace D'Almayne . 97 Treats of Things in general 103 Plotting and Counter-plotting 112 Alice's First Introduction to her Husband's " Quiet Manner " 116 A Comedy of Errors 129 The Morning of the First of September 133 The Evening of the same Day 137 Kate sows the Wind 143 Advice Gratis 148 A Storm brewing 153 The Storm bursts 161 The Atmosphere remains Cloudy 165 The Pleasures of Keeping up the Game 172 Alice Succours the Distressed 1S4 How to make Home happy 193 Introduces a Lordly Gallant 198 VI CONTENTS. Chapter page XXXI. Spiders and Flies 205 XXXII. A Glimpse at the Green-eyed Monster 220 XXXIII. Telemachus and Mentor 225 XXXIV. Circe 235 XXXV. Flowers and Thorns 244 XXXVI. Arcadia in the Nineteenth Century 250 XXXVII. A Concession, and a Partie Quarree 257 XXXVIII. Some of the Joys of our Dancing Days 266 XXXIX. Arabella 278 XL. Deeper and deeper still 289 XLI. Advice Gratis 297 XLII. L'Embarras des Kichesses 304 XLIII. Eating Whitebait 313 XLIV. Lord Alfred Courtland sows a few Wild Oats 321 XLV. The Overture to Don Pasquale 329 XLVI. Kate begins to reap the Whirlwind 335 XLVIL A Glimpse at the Cloven Foot 345 XLVIII. Magnanimity 353 XLIX. Alice perceives the Error of her Ways 357 L. The Letter 361 LI. Othello visits Cassio 372 LIT. A Gleam of Light 381 LILT. After the Manner of " Bell's Life " 385 LIV. Settling Preliminaries 396 LV. The Race 402' LVL The Catastrophe 407 LVII. An Anonymous Letter 412 LVIII. Diamond cut Diamond 417 LIX. Horace weathers the Storm 425 LX. Anxiety 432 LXI. Alice appoints her Successor 441 LXII. Mrs. Coverdale thinks better of it 449 LX1II. Lord Alfred severs his Leading Strings 456 LXIV. D'Almayne plays his Last Card LXV. Settles Everybody and Everything 471 HARRY COVERDALE'S COURTSHIP, AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. CHAPTER I. TREATS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE. Harry Coverdale stood six feet one in or ont of his stock- ings, rode something over eleven stone, was unusually good, or, as young ladies term it, interesting-looking, numbered six-and- twenty years last grass, and lived at Coverdale Park when he was at home, with five thousand a-year to pay for his housekeeping, of which he spent about two. At the happy moment in which we have the pleasure of introducing him to our readers, he was not at home, at least not literally, though figuratively he appeared to be making himself so very decidedly. He had arrived in London that morning, and had dined at his club, and strolled down to the Temple afterwards, where, finding that his friend, Arthur Hazlehurst, was expected to return every minute, he had taken possession of his vacant chambers, lighted a cigar, laid hands on a number of The Sporting Magazine, and flinging himself at full-length on the sofa (sofas do occasionally appear in the chambers of the briefless) looked, and was, especially comfortable. He was not, however, allowed to enjoy his position long in peace; for scarcely had he established himself, when a man's footstep was heard running hastily up the interminable staircase, while a quick eager voice, addressing the small boy who did duty for clerk, exclaimed, " Eh! a gentleman whom you don't know lying on my sofa and smoking my last cigar ! that's coming to the point and no mistake ; cool though — I wonder who the deuce it can be — not a client, of course. — Ah ! Harry, my dear old boy, this is an B 2 HARRY COVERDALE S COURTSHIP, unexpected pleasure ; why I'm as glad to see you as if you were a client almost. I thought you were in the Red Sea, man, dredging for defunct Egyptians, or chipping old blocks with Layard, or some such slow thing; when did you return?" Arthur Hazlehurst, the originator of the foregoing speech, was an old college chum of Coverdale's, who, when his friend had taken his degree (a highly respectable one) and started on an enlarged edition of the grand tour, had gone to read with a special pleader. Having by a special slice of luck contrived to acquire a knowledge of the law from that process, instead of the more usual result of learning how to spend five hundred per annum out of an allowance of two, and possessing, moreover, an acute intellect, and a fair portion of industry, Arthur Hazlehurst was looked upon as a rising young man. In appearance he was, for a fair man, rather handsome than otherwise, but if his talent for rising could have been exercised bodily, as well as profession- ally, it would have been as well for him, for his friend had the advantage of him in stature by some three inches ; his manner and way of speaking were quick and eager, and he had altogether a wide-awake look about him, as though he regarded society at large as perpetually in a witness-box, and was always prepared to cross-examine and be down upon it. " I returned to England some three weeks since," replied Coverdale, abstracting the cigar from his mouth, and lazily flipping off the ashes from the lighted end with his finger; "but I went quietly down to the Park, and have been plodding over accounts with the agent ever since. Shocking bad tobacco they make you put up with here ; you shall try the glorious stuff I've brought back from Constantinople — your Turk is the boy to smoke. So you've become learned in the law, I hear, since I went abroad." " Eh ! Yes, I believe I've picked up a thing or two," returned Hazlehurst modestly; " I've found out the great secret of life; the next move is to make the knowledge pay, and that's not so easy." " I didn't know there was a great secret to find out," observed Coverdale, stroking his curly black whiskers, " the rule of life seems easy enough to me — make up your mind what you want to do, and then quietly do it — that's my recipe." " A very good one for you, my dear fellow, you've only to put your hand in your pocket, and, as your money rattles, difficulties AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 3 disappear ; but we're not all born to £5000 a-year, worse luck ; fathers have flinty hearts, and even the amenities of the nineteenth century have failed to macadamise them — 'I've given you an ex- pensive education, sir, and I expect to see you turn it to account.' That's about the style of blessing we inherit now-a-day ; however, my secret of life is this : everything has a culminating point, and the dodge is to hit upon it yourself, and bring others to it, with the least delay possible ; in these four words — come to the point, is embodied the whole philosophy of existence." " "Well, yes, I dare say there is something in it," returned Coverdale, meditatively, " it never exactly struck me before, but there's a beautiful simplicity about it that I rather admire — a little too railroadish, perhaps, unless a man's in an awful hurry ; you lose the bright sunny peeps and the jolly old road-side ale- houses of life, by rushing so straight to your object." " Sunny nonsenses," was the uncourteous rejoinder — " none of your old slow-coaching days for me; life's not long enough for dreaming — Parr's life pills are a swindle, and Methusaleh died without leaving his recipe behind him; — so come to the point say I." " Though I won't promise to adopt your philosophy for a per- manency, I'll act upon it for once, at all events," replied Coverdale, smiling (and a nice, genial, pleasant smile it was too, showing a white, even row of teeth, and lighting up a pair of large, dark, intelligent eyes, and making the "smiler" look particularly hand- some). " So to come to the point, I'm here to enlist you in my service for what the women call a 'day's shopping' to-morrow: I've no clothes to my back, no horses to ride, no dog-cart to knock about in — in fact, none of the necessaries of life ; — then, having benefited by your advice and experience, I mean to carry you off to Coverdale for a crack at the rabbits ; thank goodness ! they've got the game up and the poachers down, since I've been abroad : that was the only thing I made a row about when I came into the property. "Why, there are no preserves like the Coverdale woods in the county, and yet my poor uncle never had a pheasant on his table. Things are rather different now, my boy, and my only real sorrow at the present moment is, that there are two whole months to be got rid of before the first of September : well ! what do you say to my proposal?" " Done, along with you," replied Hazlehurst; "but on one condition only, viz., that when we've polished off the rabbits, b2 4 HARKV COVERDALE S COTLRTSHir, you'll come with me to the Grange, and make acquaintance with those members of the worthy family of Hazlehurst, whose virtues are as yet unknown to you." " You're very kind ; but you've a lot of sisters, or she- cousins, or some creatures of that dangerous nature, haven't you? Of course I mean no disparagement to the ladies of your family in particular ; but 'pon my word, my dear fellow, I cannot stand women : in Turkey they shut 'em up, you know, so that I'm not accustomed to them ; I've given up flirting and dangling, and all the rest of it, long ago; it's very well for green boys, but at my time of life a man has something better to think about :" and, as he spoke, Coverdale flung the end of his cigar into the empty fire- place, pitched The Sporting Magazine unceremoniously on the table, and, looking at his watch, continued, "It's eight o'clock; I took a couple of stalls for the 'Prophete' this morning, on the chance of catching you; so jump into a pair of black trousers and let us be off." " Not a bad move," replied his companion, " I'll adorn and be with you in " " Einem augenMick," suggested the grand tourist, philologically. " If that's German for the twinkling of a bed-post, yes!" was the rejoinder, and in less than ten minutes the friends descended the staircase arm-in-arm, Hazlehurst leaving strict directions with the small clerk to inform any one who might ask for him, that he was summoned to attend a very important consultation. The next day was devoted to the purchase of Coverdale's neces- saries of life. Owing to Hazlehurst's perseverance in bringing all the tradesmen to the point, a vast deal of business was transacted, and before nightfall Harry was the fortunate possessor of a spicy dog-cart, a blood mare to run in it, who could trot fourteen miles an hour, and really did perform ten miles in that space of time, equally to her own satisfaction and to that of her new master — two showy saddle-horses, the best being up to fifteen stone with any hounds — a double-barrelled gun, by a famous maker — a brace of thorough-bred pointers — and a whole host of the minor " neces- saries" animate and inanimate, all of which, put together, made a considerable hole in a thousand pounds ; but, as Harry sapiently observed, " a man could not live in the country without them, so where was the use of bothering." On the following morning, the two young men and all the purchases, horses included, started by the Midland Counties AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 5 Railway, and dinner-time found them safely deposited at Cover- dale Park, a fine old place, which, with its picturesque mansion, beautiful view, and goodly extent of wood and water, field and fell, was as desirable a property as any English gentleman need wish to possess. After dinner the gamekeeper was summoned : he was a sturdy, good-looking fellow, who had filled the post of under-keeper in the time of Admiral Coverdale (Harry's deceased uncle, an old bachelor, to whose invincible hatred of matrimony his nephew was indebted for his present position). Harry, before he went abroad, had discovered the head-keeper to be in league with a gang of poachers, receiving a per centage on all the game they sold ; he had accordingly dismissed him, and elected his subordinate to fill the vacant situation — an experiment which had proved eminently successful. " Take a glass of wine, Markum ; this is my friend, Mr. Hazle- hurst. We mean to have a slap at the rabbits to-morrow ; so be here at eight o'clock, and then we shall get a good long day : any more poachers since we caught those last fellows?" And, as Coverdale spoke, he filled a large claret-glass to the brim with splendid old port, and handed it to the keeper, who, received it bashfully, and then, scraping with his foot and ducking his head twice with an expression of countenance as of a sheep about to butt, replied, " Your 'ealth, Mr. Coverdale, sir — your 'ealth, gents both," tossed it off at a draught — "there aint been no reglur poarchin a-goin on, sir," he continued, setting down his glass as if it burned his fingers, and then jibbing away from the table as though he had shyed at it; "but that 'are young Styles has been a shooting rabids on Wild Acre farm, and seems to say as he considers he's a right so to do." " Styles? who is he?" inquired Harry, quickly. " Well, he's the son of old Parmer Styles, and he used to shoot just when and where he liked in the Admiral's time, and that's how he fancies he's got a sort of right, do ye see, Mr. 'Enry — that is, Mr. Coverdale, sir." " Rabbits are not game, so you can't touch him on the score of poaching, Harry; but, to come to the point, if he's on your land without your permission, he's trespassing, and that's where you can be down upon him," interrupted Hazlehurst, sententiously. " Then I shall have the law o' my side in pitching into him, I suppose, sir?" inquired Markum eagerly. 6 HARRY COVERDALe's COURTSHIP, " No, no, my good fellow; I don't wish to quarrel with any of my tenantry, about here," exclaimed Coverdale hastily, " they'll be breaking pheasants' eggs, and playing up all sorts of mischief, — no : we must have nothing of that kind — I'll speak to the young man myself; there's a quiet way of doing these things, as I must teach you all. Good night; remember eight o'clock to- morrow : " and Markum, looking sheepish and rebuked, quitted the room, to tell the tale in the kitchen with the following re- flection appended, " And if that 'are young Styles happens to be as cheeky to master as he is to other folks, it strikes me the quiet dodge won't pay." CHAPTER II. AFFORDS A SPECIMEN OF HARRY'S " QUIET MANNER" WITH HIS TENANTRY. By two o'clock next day, Coverdale and Hazlehurst had walked for some six hours, and conjointly taken the lives of seven couple of rabbits, ten unfortunates having fallen victims to the new double-barrel, while Hazlehurst had disposed of the remaining four. A sumptuous luncheon, with unlimited pale ale and brown stout, awaited them at the gamekeeper's cottage, to which repast they did ample justice. " I tell you what it is, Harry," exclaimed Hazlehurst, setting down an empty tumbler, "if I eat any more luncheon, you will have to send me home in a wheelbarrow, for to walk I shall not be able — as it is, I feel like an alderman after a city feast." " In that case, you'd require a very capacious wheelbarrow, and I should pity the individual who had to trundle it. Come ! finish the bottle — you won't ? then I will — and now we'll be off — it strikes me, fatigue has something to do with it, as well as the luncheon; you've been smoke-drying in London, young man, till you're out of condition," returned Coverdale, laughing, as he remarked the stiff manner in which his friend rose and walked across the cottage. Another hour's striding through high grass and fern proved the correctness of this assertion; for Hazlehurst, unaccustomed to such severe exercise, began to show unmistakable symptoms of AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. knocking up. His friend observed him with attention — " You really are tired, Arthur," he said, good naturedly, " you'll be fit for nothing to-morrow, if you walk much farther. Go back, Markum, and send one of your boys for the shooting pony; let him bring it to us at the bridge foot — I am going over Wild Acre farm next : I shall try through the spinney and round the large meadow, so you can cut across and join us again in half-an-hour — and Markum — wait one moment: — "What sort of person is this man Styles ? How should I know him if I should happen to run against him ?" " Well, he be a tall, broad-shouldered, roughish-looking chap, rather an orkard customer for to tackle, Mr. Coverdale, sir, and he generally have a sort of cross-bred, lurcher-like dog along with him, if you please Mr. 'Enry, that is, Mr. Coverdale, sir" — and so saying, Markum started at a swinging trot to execute his master's wishes. " The fellow looks as if he could go on at that pace for a fort- night without turning a hair," observed Hazlehurst, pausing to wipe his brow; " I never saw such a cast-iron animal." " He's at it every day, and that keeps him in good order," replied Coverdale ; " but I've walked him down before now, and should not wonder if I were to do so to-day — I'm just getting what the jockeys call my ' second wind,' and am good for the next four hours at least — ha ! there's a rabbit sitting, pull at it when I clap my hands." " It's too long a shot for me," replied Hazlehurst, " bag him yourself." Thus urged, Coverdale brought his gun to his shoulder and drew the trigger, but the cap was a bad one, and would not go off, and his second barrel being loaded with small shot, in the hope of picking up a landrail (of which Markum had reported the probable whereabouts), the rabbit skipped away uninjured. It had not proceeded ten paces, however, when it sprang into the air, and rolled over dead — at the same moment the report of a gun rang out from behind some low bushes, and a lurcher dog dashed forward, and picked up the defunct rabbit. Coverdale' s face flushed with anger ; and hastily exchanging the defective per- cussion cap for a sound one, he raised his gun with the intention of shooting the dog ; but, though quick-tempered, Harry was a thoroughly kind-hearted fellow, and a moment's reflection caused him to relinquish his purpose ; recovering his gun, he muttered — 8 HARRY CO VERD ALE'S COURTSHIP, " Poor brute, why should I kill it ? — it's not his fault, but his master's." As he spoke a tall figure rose from behind the bushes, whence the shot had proceeded, and whistling to the dog, took the rabbit from him, and put it in the pocket of a volumino as- skirted shooting-jacket. " That's the redoubtable Mr. Styles, in propria persona, I imagine," observed Hazlehurst. " And a cool hand he seems too," returned Coverdale, scowling at the delinquent, who stood quietly reloading his gun, as though he were " monarch of all he surveyed," — " however, I'm not going to lose my temper about it; it's a great object with me, just now, to conciliate all the neighbouring farmers." " Then are you going to give him carte blanche to spiflicate rabbits when and where he likes?" inquired his friend. " Not a bit of it !" was the reply, " I mean to put a stop once for all to such practices ; but there is a quiet way of managing these matters quite as effectual as putting oneself into a rage." " Don't be a week about it, that's all — come to the point at once, there's a good fellow, for I want to knock over another rabbit or two before my Bucephalus arrives," rejoined Hazlehurst. Thus urged, Coverdale advanced towards the stranger, and slightly raising his wide-awake as he approached him, said with an air of Grandisonian politeness — " Mr. Styles I presume ?" " Yes, young man, my name's Styles. What's yourn?" was the unceremonious reply. He does not know me, thought Harry: now for astonishing him — rather! " My name, sir, is — ahem! — Henry Coverdale, of Coverdale Park, at your service." He paused to watch the effect of this announcement. Ha ! I thought so, he trembles, he is — why, confound the scoundrel ! I do believe he's grinning — he can't have understood me — " My name is Coverdale, I say, sir." " Well then, Mr. Coverdale, if that's your name, the sooner you take yourself back to Coverdale Park the better I shall be pleased, for I'm a shooting rabbits, and your jabbering scares the creeturs," was the astounding rejoinder. Coverdale could scarcely believe his ears; however, he con- trived by a strong effort to subdue his rising passion, as he answered; "If, as I imagine, you are the son of old Farmer Styles, of Wild Acre, you must be aware, sir, that the farm your father rents is my property, and that the rabbits you are shooting AXD ALL THAT CAME OF IT. V» are my rabbits ; I must, therefore, trouble you to hand over the one you have just killed, and to abstain from shooting entirely, except on any occasion when I may invite you to join me, or otherwise give you permission." " I knows this, that father and I have got a thirty years' lease to run, and that when I wants a day's rabbiting, I means to take it, whether you likes it, or whether you doesn't. Why, the old Admiral never said a word agen it ; but he was something like a gentleman, Tie was!" was the surly answer. Harry's eyes flashed fire. " Do you mean to insinuate that / am not one then, fellow ?" he asked in a voice that trembled with passion. " And suppose I does, what then ? feller ! " returned the other insolently. " This!" was the reply, as springing hastily forward, Cover- dale struck Styles so violent a blow on the cheek with the back of his open hand, that he staggered and nearly fell ; — recovering himself with difficulty, and holding one hand to his injured jaw, he muttered with an oath, "If it wasn't for the confounded guns, I'd give you the heartiest thrashing ever you had in your life." " Or get one yourself," replied Harry, now thoroughly roused; " but, if you're at all inclined that way, don't disturb yourself about the guns ; if you will discharge yours, I and my friend will do the same by ours, it's only wasting a charge or two of powder" — and, as he spoke, he fired both barrels in the air. Styles paused a moment, to assure himself that no stratagem was contemplated, and then discharged his gun also, while Hazlehurst having glanced at his friend with an expression of the deepest astonishment, hastened to follow their example. At this moment the clatter of a horse's hoofs was heard, and Markum, the keeper, cantered up on the shooting pony. " Ah ! that's right ! " exclaimed Coverdale, who appeared suddenly to have regained his good temper — " tie the pony up to a tree and come here. Hazlehurst, you will pick me up if I require it, and 3Iarkum will do the same kind office by Mr. Styles, and I don't intend him to have a sinecure either," he added, sotto voce. " You don't mean seriously you're going to fight the fellow?" inquired Hazlehurst. " Indeed, I do, and, what's more, nobody shall prevent me, unless he shows the white feather," was the positive answer. 10 HAEEY COVEEDALE's COUETSTIIT, " But — but you'll get knocked about so : besides, the brute's a bigger, heavier man than you, and as strong as an elephant. Suppose he should injure you," remonstrated Hazlehurst. " He may if he can," was the confident reply; " why Arthur, you're as nervous as a girl ; this is not the first time you've seen me use my fists, and I've taken lessons from Ben Caunt since the old Eton days." "fio in and win, then, if you will make a fool of yourself," rejoined Hazlehurst moodily, as he helped his friend to divest himself of his shooting-jacket and waistcoat. " Now, Mr. Styles, I'm at your service," remarked Coverdale, addressing his antagonist politely. " So you mean fighting do you?" inquired Styles, half incre- dulously. " I mean to try and give you the thrashing with which you have threatened me," was the reply. " And if you do, I'll promise never to shoot another rabbit without your permission ; but if I'm best man, blest if I don't smash 'em when and where I likes," was the rejoinder. " It's a bargain," returned Coverdale, "so come on." — As his antagonist bared his brawny arms and muscular throat, Harry felt that, if his skill were at all commensurate with his strength, he had cut himself out a somewhat troublesome task, and he began to own, in his secret soul, that Hazlehurst was right, and that he was about to do a very foolish thing. However, he had great confidence in his own skill and activity, and to these qualities did he trust to relieve him from his difficulties. If those amiable philanthropists, whose ranks, once numbering a large majority of the aristocracy and gentry of the land, have, as civilisation has spread, grown " small by degrees and beautifully less" (we allude to the " Patrons of the Ring,") — if these humane and enlightened individuals expect a detailed account, d la JBett's Life, of the "stunning mill between the Coverdale Cove and the Stylish Farmer," they must be doomed to the pangs of disappointment ; for unfortunately neither our taste, nor our talent, lies in that direction. Suffice it then to relate, that Mr. Styles' science proving an article of the very roughest country manufacture, while his antagonist went to work with the skill and composure of a finished artist, Coverdale soon perceived that he had only to stop or avoid his opponent's blows, to keep cool and to abide his time, in order to insure him an easy victory — and the event AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 11 justified his expectations. After six rounds — in the course of which the farmer acquired two beautiful black eyes, while Cover- dale had not got a scratch — time was called, and the seventh round commenced. Styles, smarting from the punishment he had re- ceived, and irritated to the highest degree by his adversary's coolness, rushed on so furiously, and hailed such a shower of blows upon his opponent, that Coverdale found it would be im- possible entirely to ward them off, and, hot wishing to be dis- figured by a black eye or flattened nose, was forced to exert himself in real earnest to endeavour to bring the battle to a conclusion ; — watching his opportunity, therefore, he drew back, stopped a terrific hit cleverly with his left hand, and then flinging out his right arm straight from the shoulder, and bounding for- ward at the same moment, he struck his antagonist a crashing blow, which, catching him full on the side of the head, sent him down like a shot. " That has terminated the case for the defendant, I expect," observed Hazlehurst, sententiously, as, breathless and with bleeding knuckles, his friend seated himself on his extended knee — "he had had nearly enongh before, and he has got rather too much now. You hit him an awful crack !" " It was his own fault," returned Coverdale. " I did not want to hurt the man if he would have fought quietly, and like a civilised Christian, instead of a raging lunatic; — but he's only stunned — see he's reviving already. Confound the fellow, his head is as hard as a cannon-ball, to which fact my knuckles bear witness." So saying, Coverdale rose, and resuming his coat and waistcoat, approached his fallen foe, who, with his head leaning against Markum's shoulder, was staring vacantly at the sky. " He's as nnconscionable as a hinfant, Mr. Coverdale, sir : you've been and knocked his hintellects slap out of him, which only sarves him right, and is what all poachers 'andsomely desarves," remarked the gamekeeper cheerfully. " I know what will be the medicine to cure him," exclaimed Hazlehurst, producing a pocket-flask, and applying it to the lips of the vanquished Styles. At first the patient seemed inclined to resist ; but as soon as he tasted the flavour of the contents of the pocket-pistol, he raised his hand, and pushing aside Hazlehurst' s fingers, drained it to the bottom. "Gently, my friend," remonstrated the young barrister; 11 that's Kinahan's best whisky — fortunately I supplied the 12 harry coverdale' s corRTsnir, vacuum created at luncheon with spring water. Ah, I thought as much, that's the true elixir vita;," he continued, as Styles, re- linquishing the flask, sat up and began to stare wildly about him. " Styles, my good fellow ; how do you feel now ? You were stunned, you know ; but I shall be very sorry if I've hurt you," observed Coverdale, good-naturedly. As he spoke, Styles turned and regarded him attentively, measuring his tall, active figure with his glance from top to toe. At length he muttered, "Well, I didn't think he had it in him, that I didn't;" he then rubbed his head, with a look of thorough perplexity, once more fixing his eyes on his late opponent, as if he were some strange monster wonderful to behold : having, apparently, satisfied himself that he was a real flesh and blood man, and not some newfangled, cast- iron boxing -machine, he turned to the gamekeeper, observing, "Markuin, lend us a fin, old man, for I feels precious staggery- like, I can tell you. Your guv'nor hits hard." On obtaining the required assistance, he rose, not without difficulty, approached Coverdale, and holding out a hand somewhat smaller than a shoulder of mutton, said, " Shake hands, sir, you're a gentleman, and what's far more in my eyes, you're a man every inch of you, and I humbly begs your pardon for insulting of you." " Say no more about it, my good friend," returned Coverdale, heartily shaking his proffered hand, " we did not understand each other before, but we do now, and shall get on capitally for the future I don't doubt." " I shan't disturb your rabbits again, sir," continued the peni- tent Styles, entirely subdued by Coverdale' s hearty manner, "and if the creeturs should do any damage to the crops, why I know a gentleman like you will bear it in mind on the rent-day." " Certainly," was the eager reply; "my object now is to get up the game, and no tenant who assists me in this will find me a hard landlord." And so, after an amicable colloquy, they parted the best friends imaginable; Styles observing, as he turned to go, "I did not think there was a man living who could have sewn me up in ten minutes like that; but you are unaccountable quick with your fists, to be sure, Mustur Coverdale." " Pray Harry, is this to be considered a specimen of your 1 quiet manner' with your tenantry ?" inquired Hazlehurst dryly, as he bestrode the broad back of his shooting pony. AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 13 His friend coloured as he replied with a forced laugh, " "Well, I must confess that for once in my life I a little lost temper; — but you see, old boy," he continued, bringing his hand down upon Hazlchurst's knee with a smack which caused that delicate youth to spring up in his saddle — " but you see i" managed to conciliate him after all" CHAPTER III. HAZLEHTTEST PLEADS HIS CAUSE AND WINS IT. "And the worst of it is the fellow's right — what a bore life is — confound everything! — " As he gave utterance to this sweeping anathema, Harry Coverdale lifted a shaggy Scotch terrier by the ears out of an easy chair wherein it was reposing, and flinging himself on the seat thus made vacant, waited dis- consolately till Hazlehurst should have finished a letter, which, with unwontedly grave brow he was perusing. Having continued his occupation till his friend's small stock of patience was becoming well-nigh exhausted, Hazlehurst closed the epistle, muttering to himself — "Well! they know best, I suppose — but I don't admire the scheme, all the same — " then, turning towards his companion, he continued aloud — " I beg your pardon, my dear fellow ! but the governor's letter contains a budget of family politics, which is, of course, more or less in- teresting to me, especially as, in the event of certain contingencies, he talks of increasing my allowance. But you're looking senti- mental — what's the matter?" "Oh! nothing," was the reply, "only that fellow Markum has been boring about the rabbits ; he says we've worked them quite enough, and that the foxes will be pitching into the pheasants if they can't get plenty of rabbits to eat, and that so much shooting will make the birds wild before the 1st. — I know it all as well as he does — there ought not to be another gun fired on the property till the 1st of September. But then what is a fellow to do with himself? I might go to Paris — but I've been there and done it all — besides I hate their dissipation, it bores me to death ; London is empty, and if it wasn't, it's worse than Paris — more smoke and less fun. I'd start to America, and do 14 HAKKY COYERDALE's COUHTSHIP, Niagara, and all the other picturesque dodges, only, if the wind were to turn restive, or anything go wrong in the boiler-bursting line, I might be delayed and miss the first day of partridge- shooting, so it would not do to risk it." "By no means," rejoined Hazlehurst, shaking his head with an air of mock solemnity — "but luckily I've a better plan to propose ; I must make my way home at once — you shall come with me, and stay till we are all mutually tired of each other." " But your father and mother?" urged Coverdale. " Are more anxious than I am on the subject. Read that, you unbelieving Jew !" So saying, Hazlehurst turned down a portion of his letter, and handed it to Coverdale; it ran thus — "Mind you bring your friend with you ; independently of our desire to become acquainted with one who has shown you such unvarying kindness, Mr. Coverdale is just the person to make up the party." " Yes, they're very kind," began Coverdale, returning the letter, "very kind, but — " "But what, man," rejoined Hazlehurst quickly, "we want you to come to us ; you have not only no other engagement, but actually don't know what to do with yourself, and yet you hesi- tate. However, to come to the point at once, I ask you plainly, and expect a plain answer — where' s the hitch ?" " Well done, most learned counsel, that is the way to brow- beat a witness, and no mistake," replied Coverdale, laughing at his friend's vehemence; "however, I won't provoke anj- farther display of your forensic talents by attempting to prevaricate. The fact is, I know you've a bevy of sisters, she cousins, and what not, very charming girls, I dare say ; but you see I'm not fit for women's society, and that's the truth of it — I've chosen my line — I know what suits me best — and I dare say I shall live and die a bachelor, as the old Admiral did before me. I know what women are, and what they expect of one ; if a fellow happens to be a little bit rough and ready, they call him a bear, and vow he's got no soul; 'gad, that's what the Turks say of them, by- the-bye ! — Poetical justice ; eh ? " " My dear boy, you'll excuse my saying so, but you really are talking great nonsense," interrupted Hazlehurst; "You're a thorough gentleman in mind, manners, and appearance, if I know the meaning of the term, and neither my sisters, nor my cousii? (there is but one), have such bad taste as to prefer a finical fop AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 15 to a fine manly fellow like yourself — no, they're more likely to fall into the other extreme." "And that would be the worst of the two by long odds," ex- claimed Harry aghast; " only fancy me with a wife in the shoot- ing-season — bothering me to stay at home with her, or to drive her out in a four-wheeled arm-chair with a pair of little hopping rats of ponies, that the best whip in the three kingdoms could not screw above six miles an hour out of, if he were to flog their hides off; or, worse still, to take me boxed up in a close carriage to call upon somebody's grandmother, and I breaking my heart all the time to be blazing away at the partridges. I know what it is — I was staying down in Leicestershire, before I went abroad, with poor Phil Anderton, as stanch a sportsman, and as thoroughly good a fellow, as ever drew trigger, before he married Lady Mirvinia Bluebas. Well, they hadn't been coupled six months before she'd got him so tight in hand that he daren't smoke a cigar without a special licence. The first season, she let him shoot Wednesdays and Fridays, and hunt Thursdays and Saturdays. The next year she made him sell off his guns, dogs, and horses, and carried him over to the Continent. What was the result? — why, the poor fellow became so bored and miserable, that he took to gambling, lost every farthing he had in the world at roulette, and — didn't blow his brains out ; so my lady has the pleasure of keeping him, and living herself, upon five hundred a-year pin-money." "Verdict, served her right" — observed Hazlehurst judicially ; "but you forget, my dear boy, that Anderton, though a good fellow enough in his way, was made of such yielding materials, that anybody could do what they liked with him — rather soft here," he continued, tapping his forehead; "now you have got sterner stuff in you, and if a woman were to try it on with you in that style, it strikes me she'd find her master." "Ah! I don't know," sighed Coverdale reflectively; "its easier to talk about managing women than to do it — they've got a way with 'em, at least the pleasant ones have, of coming over a fellow somehow, and making him fancy for the moment (it doesn't last, mind you — and there's the nuisance of it), that he'd rather do what they wish him, than what he wants to do himself. Then again, if a man offends you, you can quietly knock him down, and if he feels aggrieved, he can have you out (not that I admire duelling) ; but if you quarrel with a woman, there's no dernier 16 II AERY COVEEDALE S COURTSHIP, resort, you can't knock her down, poor weak thing, and so you're reduced to growl like a dog, and she to spit like a cat, and you leave off as you began, without having attained any definite result." " I have heard of such a thing as moral force," suggested Hazlehurst ironically. " That's one's only chance," returned Coverdale, "though it is one that, to speak seriously and sensibly, I've tolerably strong faith in. A fellow must be wanting in manliness of character, if he cannot contrive to manage a woman by moral force, as you call it; there's a quiet way of doing that as well as everything else, only it's such a confoundedly slow process." "No making 'em to come to the point, ehr" rejoined Hazle- hurst; ""Well, I have my own ideas about it; how they would work, remains to be proved ; but as you've such splendid theories on the subject, don't pretend you're unfitted for woman's society. AVhy, man, you're equal to a whole seminary of young ladies — your 'quiet manner' would prove as irresistible with them as it did with the redoubtable Mr. Styles." By way of reply to this impertinent allusion, Coverdale shook his clenched fist (which still bore traces of his late encounter) in his friend's face with a pseudo-threatening gesture. Hazlehurst sprang back in pretended alarm, with so sudden a movement as to arouse the Scotch terrier from his nap, who, waking up in a fright, immediately recurred to his leading idea that there were thieves in the house, and rushed to the door barking furiously. When the laughter, which this little incident excited, had in some degree abated, Hazlehurst resumed — " But seriously, Harry, I want you to come home with me, and I'll tell you in confidence why. You and I have known each other from the time we were schoolboys together, and though, as in re Styles, you act a little hastily sometimes, there is no man on whose clear judgment and high principle I've greater reliance than on yours. I've received a letter from home this morning, which has annoyed me more than I can tell you. To come to the point at once, the case stands thus : — My father's pet weakness (rather a creditable one) is family pride; now the Grange has belonged to the Hazlohursts for the last three hundred years, but in my great-grandfather's time the estate became woefully dimi- nished — the old scamp was a regular wild one, and not only made ducks and drakes of everything he could lay his hands on, but as AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 17 soon as my grandfather came of age, induced him to cut off the entail, and sold the best half of the family property ; some of this my grandfather contrived to redeem in his lifetime, and my Governor has been scheming and screwing all his days in order to buy back the rest. In an evil hour he was induced to invest his savings in a railroad, hoping to attain his object sooner; of course it paid beautifully at first ; of course in due time a crash came, and the Pater not only lost all his savings, but was forced to sell a farm of five hundred acres, dear to him as the apple of his eye. The individual who purchased it, and who owns the property my great-grandfather sold, is a certain millionaire cotton spinner, as rich as Croesus ; the fellow is said to have £20,000 a-year. "Well, since the railroad affair, a jolly old aunt has died, and left the Governor some tin, and he's breaking his heart to buy back the farm, but cotton spinner refuses to sell. JNow at the last Hunt Ball, my eldest sister, came out — she is very pretty, and a nice, taking sort of girl in society — and said cotton spinner came, saw, and was conquered ! so much so, that having offered serious in- tentions ever since, he has ended by offering himself. Thereupon arose a difference of opinion between Alice and the Governor — Alice pleading that she didn't love cotton spinner one bit, and didn't expect she ever should do so, and Governor declaring that it was all sentimental bosh, and that if she married the man, as much love as it was at all proper for a young lady to feel, would come afterwards. At last, they made a compromise — Alice was to consent to see more of Mr. Crane, and do her best to like him, in which case, said Crane would allow her to postpone her decision till a future period : to this Alice was fain to consent, and now the suitor is coming to the Grange, on approval, and the Governor's asked a party of people to meet him." " And how do you stand affected towards the proposed alli- ance ?" inquired Coverdale, lifting the Skye terrier into his lap by the nape of its neck, and then curling it up like a fried whiting. "Not over favourably," returned Hazlehurst, "which, by the way, is very disinterested of me ; for if the affair comes off, and the Governor buys his farm back again — which of course is what he is looking to — he promises to settle the residue of the aunt's legacy upon me, by which I should be some £200 a-year the better; but it would not be a match to please me. I'm very fond of Alice ; she is a dear good girl as ever lived, and I don't admire the cotton spinner : in the first place, he's nearly, or quite c 18 harey coveedale's cottetship, forty, while she was nineteen last term ; in the second place, he's a slow coach, good-natured enough, and all that, but nothing in him." "No soul" — suggested Harry. "Not enough to animate a kitten, I should imagine," was the reply; — "not that the man's a fool — indeed, in his own line he is said to be clever. He invented some dodge to simplify his machinery, by which he nearly doubled his fortune." " That was decidedly clever" — remarked Harry, busily engaged in dressing the "Skye" in a muslin "anti-macassar," placed clean upon the sofa that morning. " To come to the point, however," continued Hazlehurst — " I want you to see the man, and try and find out what he's made of." " Fool's-flesh probably" — suggested Coverdale sotto voce. " I wish you would try and be serious for five minutes," re- turned Hazlehurst testily; "nothing is more provoking than small attempts at wit, when one wants a man to give his attention sensibly to that which one is saying." " I stand, or more properly sit, corrected : so continue, most sapient and surly brother!" — was the mocking answer. Hazlehurst tried to look angry and dignified, but a glance at his friend's handsome, merry, and, withal, slightly impudent face, disarmed his wrath, and muttering — " Confound you for a stupid, provoking, old humbug" — he burst into a fit of laughter. As soon as he had recovered his gravity, he resumed: "As I said before, I want you to come and make your observations on the cotton spinner, and if your opinion agrees with mine, you must back me up in making a serious remonstrance with the Governor. I know the old gentleman well, and am sure he'll think twice as much of what I say when he finds that you, a man of the world and a large landed proprietor (that'll tell with him immensely) look upon the matter in the same light. And now you know my reasons, what do you say?" " Say ! what can I say but that I — ahem ! — respect the sacred call of friendship, and am prepared to sacrifice myself upon its altar: that's the correct phraseology, isn't it? I tell you what, though," continued Harry gravely, "I make one condition, with- out which I don't stir a peg: I'm at your service and that of the cotton spinner, as much as you please; but beyond the re- quirements of society, I'm not to be expected to concern myself AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 19 about the women — I'm not to be forced into tete-a-tete drives in pony- chaises, or set to turn over music-books at the piano — I know what all that sort of thing leads to well: is it a bargain ?" " Of course it is," returned Hazlehurst eagerly ; come to please me, and I leave you to please yourself when you get there." " Then, as Sam "Weller says, ' You may take down the bill, for I'm let to a single gentleman,' " was Coverdale's reply — and so the affair was settled. CHAPTER IV. CONTAINS, AMONG OTHER " EXQUISITE " SKETCHES, A PORTRAIT OF A TUPPY (not by landseer). Hazlehurst Grange was a picturesque old mansion, modernised out of all resemblance to its moated namesake which Tennyson has immortalised, by the addition of gay flower-beds, closely- shaven lawns, judiciously-planted shrubberies, and other appli- ances of landscape gardening. It was situated about eighteen miles from Coverdale Park, a distance which Harry's trotting mare, who had grown plump and saucy upon rest and good keep, accomplished, to her owner's intense satisfaction, in less than five minutes over the hour and a-half. " Pretty fair travelling that, eh, Master Arthur," he observed, replacing his watch in his waistcoat pocket, "and what I par- ticularly like about it is, that the mare did it all willingly and of her own accord, took well to collar at starting, and kept it up steadily, and in a business-like manner, till her work was done." " In fact, behaved as utterly unlike a female throughout the whole affair, as if she had belonged to the nobler sex," returned Hazlehurst, sarcastically. " Infandum renovare dolor em! — why will you remind me of my coming trials, and not suffer me to enjoy the pleasures of forget- fulness while I may?" was Coverdale's desponding rejoinder. " Simply because, unless I am greatly mistaken, they literally are coming trials," was the reply. "Look through that belt of trees on the left; don't you see the flutter of something white ?" "Muslin, by all that's flimsy, frivolous, and feminine!" ex- c 2 20 HAKKY" COVEEDALe's COURTSHIP, claimed Harry, aghast: "I say, Arthur, can't we turn off some- where?" " By all means, if you wish it; there's a gravel-pit on the right-hand, and a precipitous bank sloping down to the river on the left, which will you prefer?" was the obliging rejoinder. As he spoke, a turn in the road disclosed to their view a group of three figures, slowly advancing in the same direction as that in which they were themselves proceeding. " My cousin, Kate Marsden, my sister Alice, and a gent, name unknown," observed Hazlehurst, as his eyes fell upon the trio. ''Why, surely it is — no, it can't be — yes it is, Horace D'Al- mayne." " Allowing, merely for the sake of argument, that it is the in- dividual you mention, who may he happen to be?" inquired Harry, taking up the whip which had hitherto reposed inno- cuously between them, and performing rash feats with it over the ears of "My old Aunt Sally" — (for so in honour of the Ethiopian Serenaders, then in the zenith of their popularity, had Harry named his new favourite). " My dear fellow, you don't mean to say that you never heard of him ? Not to know Horace D'Almayne argues yourself un- known; why, man, he is a noted wit, a successful poet, the greatest dandy, and the most incorrigible male flirt about town : knows everybody, has been everywhere, and done every- thing." " What is he like across a stiff line of country, and how many brace can he bag to his own gun ?" inquired Harry drily. "Not knowing can't say," Was the rejoinder, "but that's not at all in his way ; he affects, if it is affectation, the man of senti- ment; however, just now he is believed in to the fullest extent, and considered a regular lion." " A regular tiger, I should have fancied rather," was the cynical reply. "Why, the brute actually wears moustaches." " He has served in the Austrian army, and sports the mouse- tails on the strength of his military pretensions," was the reply. After a minute's pause, Coverdale observed, inquiringly, "I suppose we must needs pull up and do the civil by these good people." " Why, considering that I have not seen my sister for the last five months, family affection (to say nothing of the duties of society) demands the sacrifice," returned Hazlehurst. /l/W AND ALL THAT CAMK OP IT. 21 " Cut it short then, there's a good fellow, the mare's too hot to be allowed to stand long, and I would not have anything go wrong with her after the splendid manner in which she has brought us to-day, for three times the money I gave for her." As he spoke, Harry again impatiently flirted the whip over the ears of " My old Aunt Sally," an indignity which excited the fiery disposition of that highly-descended quadruped, who, throwing up her head and tail, flinging out her fore feet, as though she were sparring with the distance her speed must over- come, and altogether looking her very handsomest, dashed up to the group of pedestrians so suddenly as to cause the two ladies to draw back in alarm ; while even the redoubtable Horace himself sprang out of the way with a degree of alacrity which evinced a stronger regard for his personal safety than might have been ex- pected from so heroic a character. For this sacrifice of dignity to the first law of nature, self-preservation, he endeavoured to com- pensate himself by stroking his moustaches, and staring super- ciliously at the new comers. While Hazlehurst, who sprang down the moment the dog-cart stopped, was exchanging greetings with his cousin and sister, Harry was left undisturbed to make his observations on the trio to whom he was about to be introduced. The elder of the two young ladies, who responded to the definition, " My cousin, Miss Kate Marsden," was above the middle height, and of a sin- gularly graceful figure ; her features were delicately formed and regular, her complexion pale, but clear, her hair and eyes dark, the latter being large and expressive, her hands and feet small, and her whole bearing and appearance refined and aristocratic in the extreme ; but her features bore a look of proud reserve, which interfered with the effect which her beauty would otherwise have produced — an inscrutable look, which seemed to say, "I have a peculiar and decided character, but I defy you to read it." It is of no use to attempt to describe Alice Hazlehurst, for the simple reason that no description could convey an adequate idea of her. Not that she was anything particularly wonderful ; she was not even a miracle ot beauty — she was only about the best thing this fallen world of ours contains — a bright, high-spirited, pure, simple, true-hearted, lovely, and loveable young girl, just emerging into graceful womanhood ; very shy, slightly romantic, full of kindly sympathies and generous impulses, which she con- cealed as carefully as bad men hide unpopular vices, and with all 22 HARRY COYEEDALE's COURTSHIP the deep and noble qualities of her woman's nature, as well as, alas ! its faults and foibles, lying dormant within her, either to be deYeloped in their full completeness, or dwarfed into comparative insignificance, as the hands into which she might fall should prove fitted or unfitted to the great, yet enviable, responsibility of forming her character. As Hazlehurst leapt down, she sprang forward to meet him ; then drew back from his hearty embrace with a smile and a blush, which very unnecessarily made her appear prettier than before, to acknowledge, with a bow, her in- troduction to her brother's friend. The third member of the party, Horace D'Almayne, had been well fitted by nature to sustain the character of " exquisite" — tall, and with a graceful, slender figure, his well-formed and regular features, soft dark hair, and brilliant complexion, gave him an undoubted right to the epithet handsome, although it was in a style suited rather to a woman than to a man. The expression of his face, cynical and supercilious when in repose, or when he spoke to one of his own sex, relaxed into a smile of sentimental self-confidence when he addressed a woman. He appeared very young, probably not above two or three and twenty, and was dressed up to the ne plus ultra of refined dandyism. "Why, D'Almayne," exclaimed Hazlehurst, "how is it that we come to be honoured by your company ? I was not even aware that my father possessed the pleasure of your acquaintance." "]STor did he a week ago; but the matter came about thus," was the reply. "During the London season I was introduced at one of the Duke of D 's parties, to an opulent individual of the name of Crane, learned his opinion prospective and retrospective in regard to the weather, bowed adieu, and straightway forgot him. About a month since, being in a cafe at Baden-Baden, my attention was attracted by an awful charivari; and on attempting to investigate the cause thereof, discovered Friend Crane lamenting himself pathetically in bad French and worse German, and sur- rounded by a mob of foreigners. Having in some degree appeased his polyglot passion, I soon contrived to make out, that his pocket having been picked by A., ho Lad accused innocent B., and de- nounced unoffending C. — a vicarious system of reprisals which those victimised individuals appeared, not unnaturally, inclined to resent. Understanding somewhat better than our irascible friend the language and customs of the natives, I contrived to extricate him from the dilemma; for which act of good Samaritanism AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 23 I have been, from that time forward, more or less the victim of his indefatigable gratitude. Your worthy father finding me a few days since located in the Chateau Crane, politely included me in his invitation. I arrived this morning, and under the able tuition of your cousin and sister, was rapidly becoming acquainted with the beauties of Hazlehurst, when you drove up." As he insinuated this skilfully- veiled compliment, the exquisite Horace pointed its application by favouring Alice with a lan- guishing ceillade, which was certainly not without effect ; for it excited in the breast of Harry Coverdale a sudden, intense, and unreasonable desire then and there heartily to kick the talented originator of the compliment. This impulse he was only enabled to check by a powerful effort, which caused him to twitch the reins so suddenly, as painfully to compress the delicate mouth of "My Aunt Sally," to an extent which justified that outraged quadruped in converting herself for the time being into a biped, by standing erect on her hind legs, and pawing the air with her fore feet. " Soho, girl ! gently, gently !" exclaimed Hazlehurst, who, not having perceived the exciting cause of the manoeuvre, attributed the mare's unmannerly behaviour to an outbreak of inherent viciousness. "Why, Harry, what on earth is the matter with the creature?" " Probably nothing more than a reasonless caprice natural to her sex," was Harry's ungallant reply. "Possibly she may have the bad taste to prefer the creature comforts of a cool stable and a good feed of corn, to remaining in the broiling sunshine, even with the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the beauties of Hazlehurst ; " and as he made this sarcastic remark, Harry glanced carelessly round over wood and field, so that any one not well ac- quainted with the play of his features would have been puzzled to decide whether he was himself aware of the full meaning of his words. " A pretty broad hint that I am not to keep the mare standing any longer," returned Hazlehurst, turning to his cousin and sister. "That fellow cares for nothing in the world but his horses, except his dogs and his double-barrel. Well, I suppose you girls will be coming home soon." " Quite as soon as we are wanted, if your amiable and compli- mentary friend has any voice in the matter," returned Alice, sotto voce. 24 uaery coveedale's couetship, " Nonsense," was the reply in the same tone; "you know nothing about him, you silly child. Harry is the kindest-hearted, best- tempered fellow in the world, as you'll find out before long." Alice's only reply was an incredulous toss of her pretty head, and the parties separated. " Of all the puppies I ever beheld, that creature D'Almayne is the most insufferable — the very sight of him irritates me. What business has he to pay his absurd compliments to your sister, when he has only known her for a few hours ? If I were you, I should not stand it." " At all events, his compliments are of a more civil nature than yours," returned Hazlehurst with a smile ; " why, Harry, you are becoming as peppery a character as your namesake Hotspur himself." " I am like him in one particular, at all events," was the reply, "for I cannot abide a coxcomb." " It strikes me, that is not the only point in which you re- semble the ' gunpowder Percy,' as old Falstaff calls him. By the way," he continued, "what in the world was the matter with 'Aunt Sally,' a minute ago? she seems to go quietly enough now." " I rather fancy something must have hurt her mouth," replied Harry, turning away his head to conceal a smile. As he spoke, they drove round the gravel sweep leading to the hall door of Hazlehurst Grange. Beneath the porch stood two gentlemen — in one of whom, corpulent and elderly, Coverdale had little trouble in recognising, from his likeness to his friend, Mr. Hazlehurst senior; while the other, tall, thin, and cadaverous-looking, he rightly conjectured to be the opulent and amorous cotton spinner, Jedediah Crane. AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 25 CHAPTER Y. PROVES THE ADVISABILITY OF LOOKING BEFORE YOU LEAP. Nearly a week had elapsed since Harry Coverdale had first become an inmate of Hazlehurst Grange, during which period he had contrived to win the good opinion of the elders of the party, pique the young ladies by his Irusquerie and neglect, annoy Hazle- hurst by his insensibility and determination not to make himself agreeable, and finally to have provoked the enmity of the fasci- nating Horace D'Almayne, which last piece of delinquency was a source of unmitigated satisfaction to its perpetrator. The day on which we resume the thread of our narrative, was to be devoted to a picnic party, the object being to devour unlimited cold lamb and pigeon-pie amongst the ruins of an old abbey, some eight miles from the Grange. The morning was lovely, every one ap- peared in high spirits, and the expedition promised to be a pros- perous one. "Now, then, good people," exclaimed Arthur Hazlehurst, "what are the arrangements — who rides, who drives, who goes with who? — come to the point and settle something, for the tempos is fugit-mg at a most alarming pace." " I am desirous," observed Mr. Crane slowly and solemnly, " of soliciting the honour of driving Miss Hazlehurst in my phaeton, if I may venture to hope such an arrangement will not be dis- agreeable to that lady:" and as he spoke, the cotton spinner, whose tall, ungainly figure, clad in a dust-coloured wrapper, white trousers, and white hat, gave him the appearance of a superannuated baker's boy run very decidedly to seed, bowed appealingly to Alice, who, perceiving her father's eye upon her, was forced unwillingly to consent. "Mr. Coverdale, will you drive a lady in the pony-chaise?" inquired Hazlehurst pkre. "My niece will be happy to accom- pany you, or my saucy little Emily here," he continued, gazing with paternal fondness on his younger daughter, a pretty but slightly pert girl of sixteen. " I should have much pleasure," muttered Harry; "but — but — I contrived to hurt my right hand a few days ago, and — ar — not being used to the ponies, I should scarcely feel justified in undertaking the charge." 20 HARRY COYERDALE S COURTSHIP, "Indeed," was the rejoinder; "I noticed you always wore a glove — how did the accident happen, pray?" " I hit — that is — I struck my hand against something very hard," stammered Harry, actually colouring like a girl, as he caught Hazlehurst's suppressed chuckle, and observed Alice's bright eyes fixed upon him inquisitively. " Kate, if nobody else will drive you, I suppose I must take compassion on you myself," remarked Arthur, sotto voce, to his cousin. " Ah ! but here comes somebody who intends to relieve you of the trouble," was the reply, in the same low tone ; "do not make any objection," she continued, quickly, "you will only annoy my uncle to no purpose; he would not have even a feather of the Crane's tail ruffied on any account." As she spoke, she glanced meaningly towards Horace D'Al- mayne, at that moment engaged in drawing on a pair of kid gloves too small even for his delicate hands. Coming forward, he languidly, and in an absent manner, volunteered to drive Miss Marsden — an offer which that young lady quietly accepted, either not perceiving, or disregarding, the look of annoyance with which her cousin turned and left the spot. "Oh, you are going to ride, Mr. Coverdale; here comes Sir Lancelot, looking like a picture," exclaimed Tom Hazlehurst, a fine, handsome lad, anno cetatis fourteen, an Etonian, and (need we add ?) a pickle — " Oh ! do let me go with you ; Alice will lend me her pony — won't you, Alice? I'll take such care of it, and you don't want it yourself, you know — ask her to lend it to me, Mr. Coverdale, do please." If Harry had a weakness, it was that he could never say no, when his good nature was appealed to in any matter in which another's pleasure was involved. Tom, moreover, had conceived for him one of those violent friendships which boys feel towards men a few years older than themselves who realise their beau ideal of perfection ; and Harry, pleased with his undisguised admira- tion, responded to it by indulging the young scapegrace in all his vagaries. " I'm afraid my voice is not so potential as you imagine, Tom," was his reply ; " but if my assurance that I will use my best en- deavours to keep you and the pony in good order, will have any weight with Miss Hazlehurst, I am perfectly willing to give it." " If papa has no objection, Tom, you have my consent," replied AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 27 Alice, blushing and smiling, while, at the bottom, of her heart she wished both Mr. Crane and Harry safely located at Coventry, Jericho, or any other refuge for bores, that might be suitable for putting those who are in the way out of the way ; in which case she would herself have enjoyed a canter with Master Tom. " Oh, the Governor won't say no — will you Daddy?" was Tom's confident reply ; and Mr. Hazlehurst, who, being a dreadful autocrat to his elder children, made up for it by weakly indulging his youngest born, having signified his consent, the calvacade proceeded to start — a close carriage and a barouche conveying the remaining juveniles, and all the elders of the party, with the exception of Mrs. Hazlehurst, who, being a confirmed invalid, remained at home, in company with a weather-wise old maid, proprietress of a meteorological corn, which having given warning that a change was at hand, led her to mistrust the brilliant sun- shine. " Can't we find our way across the fields somehow, Tom, without riding along the dusty road the whole distance?" inquired Harry. " To be sure we can," was the reply; "don't I know a way, that's all? Turn down the next lane to the right, and then there are lots of jolly grass fields and a wide common, so that we can gallop as much as we like, and get there before them — won't they be surprised to see us just? "What a lark !" Tom's topographical knowledge proving correct, they cantered away merrily over field and common, till they had ridden some five or six miles. " You really have an uncommonly good seat, Tom," observed his friend; "only remember to turn your toes in, and keep your bridle hand low, and you'll do — you've plenty of pluck, and when you've acquired a little more judgment and experience, you'll be able to ' hold your own' across a country with some of the best of 'em." " Ah, shouldn't I like to go out hunting, that's all?" exclaimed the boy eagerly. "Have you never done so," inquired his friend. " Eo ; I tried it on last winter, but the Governor cut up rough, and wouldn't stand it." " Can you sit a leap ?" asked Harry. " I believe you, rayther, just a very few," was the confident reply. 23 HAKJIY COVEItDALE's COEETSniP, " Well, you must come to Coverdale, in the Christmas holidays, and I'll mount you and take you out with me ; I mean to get up a stud, and hunt regularly this season," observed Harry. " Won't that be jolly, just? — I'll come whether they'll let me or not, depend upon it; but now this is the last grass field, let's have a race for a wind up." So saying, Master Tom laid his whip smartly across his pony's shoulder, .and dashed off, while Coverdale, gradually giving his spirited but perfectly broken horse the rein, soon overtook him. A brushing gallop of five minutes brought them to the border of the field, which was sur- rounded by a ditch and bank, with a sufficiently high rail at top to constitute an awkward leap. " How are we going to find our way out r" inquired Harry. " Get off, pull down a rail, and then jump it," was the reply. " Yes, that will be the best way for you and the pony to get over," returned Coverdale, "but I'll take it as it stands. I've never yet had a chance of trying Lancelot at a stiff fence, and I want to see how he'll act : don't you attempt to follow me ; as soon as I am over, I'll dismount and pull down the rail for you." As he spoke Harry put his horse in motion, cantered him up to the fence, and faced him at it. Sir Lancelot did not belie the character that had been given of him. As he approached the bank he quickened his pace of his own accord, gathered his legs well under him, and then rising to the leap, sprang over with a motion so easy and elastic that his rider appeared scarcely to move in his saddle. The descent on the farther side was steeper than Harry had expected, and the leap altogether might be con- sidered a difficult one. Delighted with his horse's performance, Harry pulled up, and turned, with the intention of alighting, in order to remove a rail of the fence, and thus facilitate the transit of Tom and the pony ; when, to his alarm and vexation, he per- ceived that the boy, deceived by the apparent ease with which he had accomplished the task (a delusive appearance, produced as much by the coolness and address of the rider as by the power and excellent training of the horse), had determined to display his prowess by following him; nor could Harry interfere to prevent him, for at the moment he turned, Tom was in the act of gallop- ing up to the fence : all that remained for him, therefore, was to shout, " Give the pony his head, and hold tight with your knees," and to await the result. The pony, excited by seeing its com- AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 29 panion on the other side, faced the leap boldly, and cleared tie ditch and bank, but catching its hoofs against the rail, fell, pitching its rider over its head into the field beyond, where he lay as if stunned. In an instant Harry had sprung from his saddle and lifted him in his arms. " Thank Heaven!" he ex- claimed as the boy opened his eyes, and, perceiving Coverdale bending over him, smiled to evince his gratitude. " You don't feel as if you were seriously hurt anywhere, do you?" "All right!" was the reply. "I feel a little bit shaky and confused ; rather as if somebody had gone and kicked me into the middle of next week, that's all." " Then you've escaped more easily than you had any right to expect, you heedless, impetuous young monkey," returned Cover - dale, sharply. "You must have been mad to suppose that a half-bred, thick-headed beast like that pony, would carry you over such a fence as that. Why, I know men, who call them- selves good riders, who would refuse it, unless they were very well mounted." " If the pony did not carry me over, he shot me over, and that did just as well," was the careless reply. "But I say, alt. Coverdale, only look at his knees ? Oh ! shan't we get into a jolly scrape just." Thus appealed to, Harry turned to examine the pony, which, in his anxiety for the safety of the boy, he had hitherto for- gotten. The result of his scrutiny was by no means satis- factory. "He has broken both knees!" he exclaimed; "the right one is cut severely, and however favourably it may go on, there will always remain a scar ; you've knocked ten pounds off the pony's price by that exploit of yours, Master Tom, besides rendering the animal unsafe for your sister to ride." " You've put your foot in it as well as I, alt. Coverdale," re- turned the young imp, grinning. "You promised Alice you would do your best to keep me, and the pony too, in proper order, you know !" " Why, you ungrateful young scamp, I'm sure I told you not to attempt the leap," replied Hany, restraining a strong inclina- tion to lay his horsewhip across the young pickle's shoulders. " Yes ; and then you and Lancelot went flying over it as lightly as if he had wings, like that fabulous humbug Pegasus, 30 HAKEY CO VEED AXE'S COUETSHIP, that old Buzwig is always bothering us about. The copy-book says, ' Practice before precept,' and so say I. Why, you did not expect I was going to be such a muff as to stay behind, did you ?" "I was a fool if I did, at ark events," muttered Harry, sotto voce; then turning good-naturedly to the boy, he continued, " The copy-book also says, ' What can't be cured must be endured,' does it not, Tom? So we must get out of the scrape as best we can. "We'll leave the pony at the nearest farm-house, and I'll send my groom to doctor him — so lead him by the rein and come along." Of course, when they joined the rest of the party and told their misdeeds, Alice lamented over the pony's troubles after the usual fashion of tender-hearted young ladies. Of course, Hazlehurst senior, discerning a long farrier's bill in prospective, with the possibility of being coaxed out of a new pony as a not unlikely contingent result, was grumpy, as Governors usually are when they foresee a strain upon their purse strings; and of course, although these lamentations and threatenings were launched at the curly head of Master Tom, they yet glanced off that unimpres- sible substance, only to fall upon and overwhelm with shame and confusion Harry Coverdale, who began mentally to curse the day when, false to his own presentiments, he had yielded to his friend's importunities, and suffered himself to become an inmate of Hazlehurst Grange. Bent on avoiding young ladies, and having no taste for the society of old ones, Harry wandered about disconsolately, until, attracted by a dark archway and a worm-eaten winding staircase, which, as Master Tom expressed it, looked "jolly queer and ghostified;" he made his way up the mouldering steps until he found himself at the top of a battlemented tower, where he was repaid for the trouble of the ascent, by a beautiful and widely- extending view. Having contrived to get rid of the voluble and restless Etonian, Coverdale seated himself on a projecting frag- ment of masonry, and glancing round to see that he was not observed or observable, lit a cigar, and, his ruffled feelings being soothed by its mollifying influence, remained lazily watching the movements of the pleasure -seekers — his reflections running some- what after the following fashion : — " There's old Crane maundering about after Alice as usual — don't think he gets on with her though, rather t'other way — de- cided case of jibbing I should say. She looked awfully bored and frightened too, up in that phaeton with him ; and no wonder AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 31 either, for the old boy is nothing of a whip — I should be sorry to trust a cat of mine to his driving. Ah ! she's given him the slip, and that Miss Marsden has taken him in tow. I can't make that woman out — she is so civil to him ; perhaps she thinks the affair with Alice may miss fire, and she is looking out for the reversion of the cotton spinner herself. Arthur says she's very poor, and that there are a large family of them ; if so, it's not a bad dodge, and, supposing she plays her cards well, one by no means un- likely to succeed. There's that confounded puppy D'Almayne swaggering up to Alice, stroking his stupid moustaches — yes, and she smiles and takes his arm, of course — believes all his lies, and thinks him a hero, I dare say. Oh ! the poor silly fools of women that can't distinguish a man from a jackanapes — I should have fancied Alice had more sense ; but they're all alike. Look at the idiot simpering; that's only to show his white teeth now: the brute has no idea of a real joke — hasn't got it in him. Well, thank goodness, it's no concern of mine : but if I were Crane, I'd interfere with his flirting rather. The fellow talks as if he were a dreadful fire-eater — I should like to try what he's made of: but I expect it's all talk and nothing else — I wish I could coax him into putting on the gloves with me some day — I'd astonish his moustaches for him. "Well, he has walked her off at all events. I wonder where they're going to. Are they? Yes — no — yes, by Jove, if he isn't going to take her across that field which Tom and I rode through, where the bull was grazing — the brute is mischievous, too, or I am much mistaken — confound the fool, he'll go and frighten the poor girl out of her senses, and, perhaps, get her hurt into the bargain ; for, if the bull really is vicious, ten to one Moustaches loses pluck, and bolts, or something ridiculous. I've a great mind to follow them, it can do no harm, and may do some good — 'gad I will too. Alice is far too pretty to be gored by a bull; besides, for Arthur's sake, one is bound to take care of her — luckily, I've just finished the cigar, so off we go." Having arrived at this point in his meditations, Harry rose from his seat, ran lightly down the stairs till he reached a ruined window about six feet from the ground, through which he leaped, then settling into a long swinging trot, he ran, at a pace with which few could have kept up, in the direction taken by Alice and D'Almayne; they had, however, obtained so greatly the start of him, that they had already entered the field occupied by the dangerous bull, ere he had overtaken them. 32 HAF.RY COVEKDALE S COURTSHir, It was a remarkably warm day — the field in which pastured the alarming bull was distant from the abbey ruins half- a- mile at the very least. Now, to jump through a window six feet or thereabouts from the ground, run at the top of one's speed half- a-mile, leaping recklessly over two gates and a stile in the course of it ; and to do all this in a state of anxious excitement on a day when the thermometer stands at 70° in the shade, naturally tends to make a man not only hot, but (if his temper be not semi- angelic) cross also. At all events, Harry Coverdale was in the former, if not the latter, condition, when, panting and breathless, he overtook Alice Hazlehurst and Horace D'Almayne, half-way across the dangerous field. AND ALL THAT CAME Of IT. 83 CHAPTER VI. JEST AND EARNEST. " Mk. Coverdale, is anything the matter ? — why, you are quit s out of breath with running!" exclaimed Alice, starting as she beheld him. " Uncomfortably warm, too, I should say," drawled D'Almayne, glancing significantly at Harry's glowing cheeks, which wer certainly too red to be romantic; "really now, do you consider it judicious to overheat yourself so ? — of course, I merely ask as a matter of curiosity." Harry magnanimously repressed a strong inclination to knock him down; but he felt that to answer him coolly was both literally and metaphorically out of his power, so he confined his reply to Alice's question. "There is nothing the matter, Miss Hazlehurst," he said; "but seeing you take this direction, and thinking that Mr. D'Al- mayne might not be aware a bull was grazing in this meadow, I thought it advisable to follow and put you on your guard, even at the risk of making myself unbecomingly hot;" and as he pro- nounced the last two words, he looked at D'Almayne as though he wished he had been the bull, and would oblige him by evincing an inclination to attack them. " How very kind and thoughtful of you !" returned Alice, be- stowing on him one of her brightest smiles; "but is there any danger? — what had we better do?" " Eh, really, danger ! not the slightest ; am not I with you ?" interposed D'Almayne, majestically bending over her. "A bull did you say, Mr. Coverdale ? — ar — really, I don't perceive such a creature. — Are you quite sure he exists anywhere but in your vivid and poetical imagination ?" Harry's reply, if reply it can be called, to this impertinent question, was made by grasping D'Almayne's elbow so tightly as to cause that delicate young gentleman to wince under the pressure. Having thus attracted his attention at a moment when Alice's head was turned in an opposite direction, he pointed towards a group of trees, under the shadow whereof might be discerned a large brindled individual of the bovine species, who stood attentively regarding the trio with a sin- D 3 1 HARRY COVERDALE's COURTSHIP, gularly unamiable, not to say vicious expression of countenance. Placing his finger on his lips as a hint to D'Almayne to keep the knowledge thus acquired to himself, Harry answered Alice's inquiry by saying — " It is always the safest policy to mistrust a bull ; so I would advise you to turn and make the best of your way towards the stile over which I came ; walk as quickly as you please, but do not run, as that would only tempt the animal to follow you." " Yes, really, Miss Hazlehurst, we must not risk the chance of frightening you merely because we men enjoy the excitement of a little danger — take my arm," hastily rejoined Horace D'Al- mayne, and suiting the action to the word, he drew Alice's arm within his own, and marched her off at a pace with which she found considerable difficulty in keeping up. Harry, ere he fol- lowed them, remained stationary for a minute or so, to reconnoitre the movements of the bull. That animal, having apparently satisfied his curiosity in regard to the intruders on his domain, was now assiduously working himself up into a rage, preparatory, no doubt, to instituting vigorous measures for their expulsion. The way in which he signified this intention, was by tossing his head up and down, tearing up the turf with his fore-feet, and uttering from time to time a low angry roar, like the rumbling of distant thunder. When Harry turned to leave the spot, the animal immediately followed him, though onty at a walk. As soon as he became aware of this disagreeable fact, Coverdale paused, and faced his undesirable attendant; which manoeuvre, as he expected, caused the bull to stop also, though it was evident it had the effect of increasing the creature's rage. In spite of this discovery, Harry waited till his companions had reached the stile, and .D'Almayne had assisted Alice to get ovei it — a piece of chivalry by which he very materially lessened his own chances of safety, as the bull's small stock of patience being exhausted, it became evident he was preparing for a rush. Trusting to his swiftness of foot, Harry was about to make an attempt to reach the stile before the bull should overtake him, when suddenly the yelping of a dog was heard, and a terrier be- longing to Arthur Hazlehurst, which had followed them unob- served, ran forward and distracted the bull's attention by barking- round him, taking especial care to keep out of the reach of the animal's horns. This diversion in his favour enabled Coverdale to rejoin his companions unmolested. And all that caaik of it. 35 " Oh, Mr. Coverdale, what a savage-looking creature ! T was so afraid it was going to attack you. I do not know how to thank you properly for having saved me from at least a terrible fright," exclaimed Alice as Harry ran up to them. " Ar — from alarm possibly; but really I don't conceive there was the slightest danger ; the animal was a very mild specimen of his class; even a little dog, you see, was sufficient to turn him," observed D'Almayne slightingly. " I'll bet you fifty pounds to one you don't walk across that field while the bull remains there," exclaimed Harry eagerly — " Miss Hazlehurst shall be umpire, and I'll promise to come and do my best to help you if you get into any scrape — what do you say, is it a bet?" " I never bet, and — ar — never do useless and unreasonable things on a hot day, in order to establish a fast reputation. Such little excitements may be all very well for a sporting character like yourself, my dear Coverdale ; but — ar — a man who has shot bison on the American prairies does not need them; so really you must hold me excused. Shall we rejoin the rest of the party, Miss Hazlehurst? they seem assembling for luncheon. Let me recollect, we were talking of that charming soul-creation of Tennyson, Locksley Hall, I think, before this absurd interruption occurred ; what an unrivalled picture does it not present of the spirit-torture of a proud despair?" — and chat- tering on in the same pseudo-romantic and grandiloquent strain, the man of sentiment fairly walked Alice off, leaving Coverdale in the unenviable position popularly ascribed to virtue, viz., that of being its own reward. Having waited till the pair were out of sight, he flung himself down at the foot of an old beech-tree, and indulged in the following mental soliloquy : — " Well, Master Harry ! you've been and done something clever — you have, certainly; run like an insane creature more than half-a-mile, on by far the hottest day we've had this summer, and placed yourself in a situation where nothing but a lucky accident saved you from being run at, and possibly gored, by rather a mad bull than otherwise, only to be pooh- poohed by an insolent coxcomb, and have a cold-hearted un- grateful girl lisp out a missish inquiry, ' whether there was any danger,' forsooth ! 'gad, I almost wish I'd left her and her swain to find out for themselves." He paused, removed his hat to allow a slight breeze which n ii 36 HARRY COYERDALE'S COURTSHIP, had sprung up to cool his heated forehead, and then stretching himself resumed : — " I hope I'm not really becoming morose and ill-tempered, as Arthur hinted the other day. I must take care, or I shall be growing a saYage old brute, and have everybody hate me. It's all that puppy D'Almayne; he keeps me in a constant state of suppressed irritation with his affected airs of superiority; — but puppies will exist on the face of the earth, I suppose, whether I like it or not, and must be endured ; so we'll endeavour to look upon him as an appointed trial, and see if we can turn him to good account in that way. There's always the possibility of horse- whipping him as a dernier ressort, that's one consolation. JSTow I'll go to luncheon, and try whether I can put some of my good intentions into practice. Heigho ! life's hard work, and no mis- take; particularly in warm weather." Thus cogitating, Ham- slowly gathered himself up, and betook himself to join the luncheon party, actuated thereunto, amongst other reasons, by the discovery of a serious attack of appetite. In the meantime, a scene of a very different character was being enacted between two others of our dramatis persona. Arthur Hazlehurst, foiled in his attempt to secure a Ute-a-tete drive with his cousin, Kate Marsden, having, after his usual habit, bustled about, settled everything for everybody, and made himself very generally useful and agreeable, had contrived on arriving at the ruins to withdraw himself from the rest of the party, and having watched the proceedings of his cousin and Mr. Crane, waited until she separated from that gentleman, when he joined her, and induced her to stroll with him along a shady, serpentine, romantic-looking pathway leading through a wood. Agreeable as were external circumstances, however, neither the lady nor the gentleman appeared to be in a sympa- thetic frame of mind; for a cloud hung on Arthur's brow, while his cousin's features wore a cold, uncompromising look of defiance. They proceeded for some little distance in silence; Hazlehurst was the first to speak. "You found your companion amusing, I hope; pray what might he be talking about so earnestly?" "Do you really care to know?" was the reply; "he was making me his confidante in regard to Alice. The poor man is at his wits' end — if a quality which he does not possess can be said to have an end ; at all events, he is an desespoir. Even his AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. ;)7 obtuseness cannot be blind to the fact that Bhe dislikes him, and the worthy soul is now beginning to grow mildly jealous of D'Almayne." "And what advice did you give him?" inquired her cousid ; sternly; "tell me the truth." As he spoke the girl's eyes flashed, and a slight colour burned for a moment in her pale cheeks. "How dare you say such a thing to me!" was her indignant rejoinder; " have I ever attempted to deceive you ? — you know 1 have not ; but let it pass. You ask me what advice I gave him : T told him to persevere, reminded him that a faint heart never won a fair lady, which I believe he took to be an entirely original remark on my part, and gently insinuated that no girl in her senses could refuse him." Arthur fixed his piercing glance upon her, as he replied — "And why did you say this? Do you believe, indeed, that Alice will eventually be prevailed upon to marry him ? — or did you say it to deceive him for a purpose of your own?" " I gave him good sound advice," was the answer; "I do not believe Alice will marry him ; but that is no reason why he should not use his best endeavours to obtain what he wishes, or fancies he wishes. I shall advise him to prosecute his suit, and at the right moment to offer to her in person." " In order that she may irritate him, and offend my father, by a refusal. Kate, you are playing some deep game in all this, and one of which you know I should disapprove, or else you would not so studiously conceal it from me," returned Hazlehurst, gloomily. There was a moment's pause ere the young lady replied — " Let events unravel themselves, my worthy cousin ; the result will appear all in good time." They walked on in silence, till a turn in the path brought them before a smooth moss-grown bank, on which the gnarled roots of an old pollard-oak formed a natural rustic seat. "Let us rest here, and enjoy the sunshine while we may ; there is not too much of it in the world," observed Kate, in a gentler tone than she had hitherto used. There was a touch of sadness in her voice which Arthur could not hear unmoved, and merely waiting till she had seated herself, he placed himself on a root of the tree at her feet. For some minutes neither of them spoke, till as it were unconsciously, Kate allowed her hand to 38 HAKKY COVERDALE's COURTSHIP, rest on his head, while her fingers played with a lock of his rich chesmit hair. As he felt her soft touch upon his brow, he raised his eyes to her countenance — the stern, hard expression had vanished, and in its place appeared that look which, once seen, the recollection dies only with memory itself — the fond, wistful, tender gaze a loving woman turns on him she loves. For a minute he remained silent and motionless, subdued by the power of her rare beauty ; then springing to his feet, he exclaimed — " You shall trifle with me thus no longer; I am no petulant boy, to be repulsed one hour, and caressed into good humour the next. What is the meaning of this estrangement which you have chosen shall spring up between us ? "Why do you ? — but such questions are useless — this shall decide the point — once and for ever : — Do you love me, or do you not?" For a moment she was silent ; then turning her head to avoid his eager scrutinizing glance, she murmured — "Have we not known each other from childhood, and loved each other always ?" "That is no answer; you only seek to evade my question," was the angry reply. He stood for a moment, his lips quivering with emotion, and his hands clenched so tightly that the blood receded from the points of his fingers, leaving them cold and colourless as marble. His companion did not speak, but continued to regard him with a look half-pitying, half-imploring pity. As their eyes met, his mood appeared suddenly to change, and springing to her side, he exclaimed in a voice tremulous with emotion — " Kate, dearest, why will you thus torture yourself and me ? Hear me, dear one ; you know I love you better than any created thing — better than my own soul. You say truly, that I have loved you always — with the tender unconscious love of the child, with the happy romantic love of the boy, and, lastly, with the deep, earnest, absorbing passion of mature manhood ; and you, Kate, you must — nay, you do love me!" As he spoke, he drew her gently towards him, and unrepulsed pressed a kiss upon her soft lips. She did not resist or respond to his caress, but suffered her head to rest passively against his shoulder, as he continued — " I do not inquire — I heed not — what mad schemes you may have dreamed of; but I ask — nay, I implore you, by all you hold sacred to put them away from you, and to wait patiently for a s\r- AND ALL THAT CAME 01" IT. 30 few, a very few short years, until I can claim you for my beloved, my honoured wife. Kate, you will do as I desire ? — speak to me, my own love !" Unheeding his appeal, she remained for a minute silent, while a few tears stole unchecked down her pale cheeks, then rousing herself by an effort, she wiped away the traces of her late emotion, gently removed her cousin's arm, which still encircled her waist, and drawing herself up, exclaimed — " This is weakness — folly; I never intended it should have come to this; but I was taken by surprise — unprepared ' She paused, struggling to regain self-possession, then in a calmer voice resumed : — " My poor Arthur ! I do, indeed, appreciate your noble, generous self-sacrifice, and were I alone concerned, would desire no happier fate than to share and aid you in your struggle with the world ; but it may not be so ; others have claims upon me — my father's health is failing — the cares of that bitter curse, poverty, are wearing out my mother's little remaining strength, and blighting the talents and crushing the youth and spirits of the children. Dear Arthur, forgive me the pain I cost you when I tell you — I can never be your wife !" "But, Kate," interrupted her cousin, eagerly, "listen to me, dear one; you do not suppose that I had forgotten all this; only agree to my proposal, and I will be a son to your mother, a father — if, as you fear, my uncle's health is breaking — to her children. My practice is increasing every day ; I shall soon be in the receipt of a good income ; Coverdale is rich, and loves me as a brother ; he will advance me money ; I will work day and night to repay him." "My husband destroy his health to support my family! — is this the prospect of happiness you would offer me ? — are these the arguments you would bring forward to induce me to agree?" was the reply. " No, Arthur, I can never be your wife ; you must from this moment forget that such an idea has crossed your mind." " But, Kate, only hear me ! " he exclaimed passionately. " I have already heard too much for your happiness, or for my own," was the mournful reply ; then, by a powerful effort resuming her usual manner, she exclaimed, " Come, no more of this folly, our paths in life lie separate ; it is inevitable — therefore repining becomes worse than useless ; we are not boy and girl, to 40 HARRY COVERDALe's COURTSHIP, stand rehearsing romantic love-scenes together; let us rejoin the others." For a moment Hazlehurst remained silently gazing on the cold, immovable expression of her features ; then, coming close to her, he said in a low, hoarse whisper, " I read your heart, and perceive the wickedness, for such it is, you contemplate. I will give you till to-morrow morning to reflect on what has passed between us ; if then you adhere to your determination, I leave you to the fate you have chosen ! " and as he uttered the last words, he turned and quitted her. Kate Marsden gazed after him with the same cold expression of defiance on her features till his retreating figure became no longer visible, then, sinking back upon the rustic bench, she covered her face with her hands and wept bitterly. CHAPTER VII. WHEREIN SYMPTOMS OF HARRY'S COURTSHIP BEGIN TO APPEAR ON A STORMY HORIZON. The humours of a picnic have been too often described to need repetition ; suffice it to say, that the picnic in question was decidedly a favourable specimen of its class. Of course every- body voted it to be the summit of human felicity, to sit in an uncomfortable position upon something never intended for a seat, beside a table-cloth spread upon the grass, which, being elastic and uneven, caused everything that should have remained perpendicular to assume a horizontal attitude. Of course, when the inevitable frog hopped across the table-cloth, and, losing its presence of mind on finding itself so unexpectedly launched into fashionable life, sought refuge in the pigeon-pie, the ladies screamed little picturesque screams, which were in- creased twentyfold when Tom Hazlehurst fished it out with a table-spoon, and surreptitiously immersed it in the jug of beer, which liquid he artfully incited Mr. Crane to pour out, thereby landing the frog, decidedly inebriated and most uncomfortably sticky, upon the elaborately embroidered shirt-front of Horace D'Almayne. Of course the salt and the sugar had fraternized, and the cayenne had elicited new and striking effects by mingling AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 11 indiscriminately with things in general, and the sweets in par- ticular; and of course all these shocking disasters irritated the few and delighted the many, and added immensely to the liveli- ness and hilarity of the party. " Tom, you're drinking too much champagne !" exclaimed an elderly maiden sister of Mr. Hazlehurst, decidedly like a hippo- potamus in face and figure. " Mr. D'Almayne, may I trouble you to hand me his glass, the boy will make himself poorly." Thus appealed to, D'Almayne languidly extended his arm in the necessary direction, but the Etonian was not to be so easily despoiled of his beverage. "Mille pardons, mounseer!" he exclaimed, mimicking the affected half-foreign accent with which the exquisite Horace usually spoke; " mais c'est tout a fait — out of the question; ne souhaitez-vous pas que vous pouvez Vobtenir? — don't you wish you may get it ? Equally obliged to you, but I'd rather do my own drinking myself. Why, my dear Aunt Betsy, how dreadfully ungrateful of you, just when I was going to propose your health, too ! Silence, gentlemen, for a toast ! Come, Oovernor (to his father, who, delighted with the young pickle's ready wit, was vainly endeavouring to preserve an appearance of majestic dis- approval), fill up ; D'Almayne, my boy, no heeltaps; are you all charged ? ' My Aunt Betsy, and the rest of her lovely sex ! — hip ! hip ! hip ! hurrah ! ' " So saying, and with a knowing wink at Coverdale, who, if the truth must be told, encouraged him in his inclination to be impertinent to D'Almayne, Master Tom tossed down his glass of champagne amidst a general chorus of laughter. And thus the dejeuner passed off to all appearance merrily enough ; though in two, if not more, of the company a smiling exterior hid an aching heart. " Have you seen the rabbit warren yet, Mr. Coverdale ? Do come, there are such a lot of the beggars jumping about ! I found my way there before luncheon, and it won't take long," exclaimed Tom Hazlehurst, grasping Harry's arm imploringly. " It strikes me I shall be considered especially rude if I again absent myself," was the reply. " Who by ? — the women ? " inquired Tom, scornfully. " Never mind them — poor, weak-minded, fickle things ; there is nothing I consider a greater nuisance than to have a pack of silly girls dangling about one, that won't leave a fellow alone ; there, you needn't toss your head and turn up your nose about it, Emily, 42 HARRY COVERDALE S COURTSHIP, beneficent Nature's done that for you sufficiently already. Now will you come, Mr. Coverdale? there are some black rabbits mong them, such rum shavers!" " Are there !" exclaimed Harry, eagerly. " I wonder whether I could contrive to buy a few couples of them ; I want to get some black rabbits at the park excessively : come along, for our time is growing short, I expect." And as he spoke, Coverdale strode off, entirely forgetful of the pretty Emily, with whom, on the strength of her juvenility, he had considered he might safely allow himself to laugh and talk, and to whom he had, therefore, been unconsciously rendering himself very agreeable. The warren was further than he had expected it would be, and the black rabbits were so long before they chose to show them- selves, that Harry began to grew sceptical as to their existence ; even when they did appear, a gamekeeper had to be routed out, and terms for the transfer of ten couples to Coverdale Park agreed upon ; so that by the time Tom and his companion rejoined the pleasure- seekers, there were but few left to rejoin. These few consisted of the old maiden aunt ; a time-honoured female friend of the same — older, uglier, still more like a hippopotamus, and with a double portion of the vinegar of inhuman unkindncss in her nature ; and, lastly, a plain young lady, the daughter of nobody in particular, who lived with the time-honoured friend as companion, in a state of chronic martyrdom, for which perpetual sacrifice she received thirty pounds a-year, and permission to cry herself to sleep every night, in misty wonderment why so sad a creature as she was, should ever have been born into the world. Besides this uncomfortable trio, who composed the cargo of a brougham, and were rather a tight fit, there remained Mr. Crane and Alice, who, it seemed, were waiting for the phaeton, which had not yet made its appearance. " Upon my word, Miss Hazlehurst," began the sour friend, addressing the acidulated aunt, "this is very provoking, ma'am; it's six o'clock, and it's growing cold, and it will be quite dusk be- fore we get home ; and I really believe Miss Cornetoe was right this morning, and that we shall have a wet night after all." . " Shall I ran down to the inn and see what causes the delay ? I must go there to get my horse," inquired Coverdale, good- naturedly. " If you would be so kind, we really should be extremely obliged to you," returned Miss Hazlehurst senior, with her most AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 43 gracious and least hippopotamic smile ; and thus urged, Cover- dale hurried off. In the meantime poor Alice, who by no means admired the position of affairs, and had moreover been considerably alarmed in the morning by Mr. Crane's unskilful driving, whispered a pathetic appeal to her aunt to be allowed to accompany the brougham party, — " she could sit on the box, Wilson, the coach- man, was so inconceivably respectable, and she was almost sure it would not rain;" — but her aunt was a strong-minded woman, and a warm advocate of the Crane alliance, and she would not hear of such a change of plan. As soon as Coverdale arrived within sight of the inn, he perceived the missing phaeton standing in front of the doorway, the horses ready harnessed, and the groom seated on the driving- seat ; accordingly he made signs to him to come on, of which, for some unaccountable reason, the man took not the slightest notice. Surprised at this, Harry made the best of his way to the spot, and on reaching it discovered, from the swollen, heated look of the fellow's features, and the stupid, obstinate expression which characterized them, that he had been drinking to excess. " Why the man is intoxicated !" exclaimed Coverdale, turning to the ostler, who, with one or two hulking village lads, stood staring at the coachman with a grin of amusement on their vacant faces; "why did not you make him get down, and bring the carriage yourself?" "A did troy, but a woldn't budge a inch — a be proper /y drunk to be zure! " " Oh, he would not, eh?" inquired Coverdale; then, turning to the groom, he continued, " Get down directly, my friend, I want particularly to speak to you." To this the groom contrived to stammer out an insolent refusal, accompanied by a recommendation to Coverdale to mind his own business, and give orders to his own servants. " My business just at present is to make you get down from that phaeton," returned Harry, his eyes flashing. " Oh ! it is, is it ? — I should like to see you do it, that's all !" rejoined the other, with a gesture of drunken defiance. " You shall," was the concise reply, as, directing the ostler to stand by the horses' heads, Coverdale, ere the fellow was aware of his intention, or could take measures to prevent him, sprang lightly up, forced the reins from his uncertain grasp, 44 HARRY COVERDALE's COURTSHir, twisted hiin suddenly round, then placing his hands under his arms lifted him by sheer strength, and dropped him to the ground. Having performed this feat with the neatness and celerity of some harlequinade trick, he glanced round to see that the fellow had fallen clear of the wheels, and taking the reins, drove off. While this little affair had been proceeding, the sky had become overcast, and a few large drops of rain came pattering heavily to the ground ; alarmed by these symptoms, the brougham party no sooner perceived the phaeton approaching, than they scrambled into their vehicle and started. As their road lay in a direction opposite to that by which Coverdale was advancing, they were nearly out of sight by the time he reached the spot where Alice and Mr. Crane awaited him. Jumping down with the reins in his hand, he was explaining to the owner of the phaeton the plight in which he had found his servant, when a faint flash of lightning glanced across the sky, followed after an interval by a clap of distant thunder, at which the horses, which were young and spirited, began to prick up their ears, and evince such unmistakable signs of alarm, that their master, fearing they were about to dash off, ran to lay hold of their heads. Misfortune often brings about strange associations. If any one had that morning told Alice Hazlehurst that before the day should be over she would have appealed for protection to, and confided in, " Arthur's cross, disagreeable friend," she would have utterly disbelieved the statement — and yet so it was to be. The moment Mr. Crane left her side, she turned to Harry exclaiming — " Oh, Mr. Coverdale, I am so frightened ! He will never be able to manage those horses : he could scarcely hold them in this morning, and the groom was forced to get down to them twice — he does not know how to drive one bit !" Poor little Alice ! she was trembling from head to foot, and looked so pretty and interesting in her alarm, that Harry felt peculiar, he didn't exactly know how, about it. " I'll speak to Mr. Crane, and persuade him to let me drive you home," he replied eagerly. (He would have knocked him down without the smallest hesitation, if Alice had in the slightest degree preferred it.) "I've been accustomed to horses all my life, and have not a doubt of being able to manage these, even if the thunder should startle them ; so please don't look so frightened." And as Harry said this with his very brightest, kindest smile, AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 45 Alice wondered she had never before noticed hoAv handsonn he was, and began to think he could not be so very cross after all. When Harry urged his request, Mr. Crane was considerably embarrassed as to the nature of his reply. In his secret soul he was delighted to be relieved from the danger and responsibility of driving Alice and himself home through a thunder-storm ; but, on the other hand, he could not disguise the fact, that by allowing himself to be so relieved, he should detract from the heroic style of character he wished Alice to impute to him. Had it been D'Alinayne instead of Coverdale who sought to become his sub- stitute, he would probably, at the hazard of breaking his own neck and that of his lady-love, have refused to permit him ; but he had observed, as indeed he must have been blind if he had not done, Harry's marked avoidance of the young lady, and trusting to these his mysogynistic principles he, with many excuses and much circumlocution, agreed to Harry's proposal that he should ride his horse, and allow him to drive the phaeton. " Ahem ! — if the storm should come on violently," observed the cotton- spinner, as a second growl of thunder became audible, "I shall wait till it has subsided; so don't let them expect me till they see me : getting wet always gives me cold." " All right, sir," returned Harry, as he wrapped Alice carefully up in his own Macintosh; "take care of yourself by all means — good people are scarce. We shall see nothing more of friend Crane to-night," he continued, as he drove off; "the old gentleman is very decidedly alarmed — that is, I suppose I ought not to call him an old gentleman," he stammered, suddenly recollecting with whom he was conversing. " Why should you not when he is so?" returned Alice, inno- cently. Harry turned his head away to conceal a smile which the naivete of the reply had called forth, muttering to himself as he did so, "Poor Crane!" After a few minutes' silence, Alice began abruptly, and apolo- getically, — " I'm sure I ought to feel very much obliged to you, Mr. Coverdale — and indeed I do ; this is the second really good- natured thing you've done by me to-day." The tone in which she spoke so completely betrayed thai surprise was the feeling uppermost in her mind, that Harry, slightly piqued, could not help replying — 46 HASRY COVF.RDALe's COURTSHIP, " You did not, then, give me credit for possessing the least particle of good-nature ? " Alice smiled as she answered — " If I had had a proper degree of faith in Arthur's representa- tions, I need not have felt surprise." The delicate irony of this reply was not lost upon Coverdale ; but he knew that he had deserved it, and, with the ready frank- ness which was one of his best characteristics, he hastened to acknowledge it. " I certainly have done little towards practically vindicating the character your brother's partiality has bestowed upon me," he said; "but I must be allowed to plead in justification, that I am quite aware of my own deficiencies, and told Arthur that I had been roughing it abroad so long, that I was totally unfitted for ladies' society. He would not admit the excuse ; but it was a full, true, and sufficient one, nevertheless." As he uttered the last words, a dazzling flash of lightning ap- peared almost to envelop them, followed instantaneous!}- by a deafening peal of thunder. Half blinded by the blaze of light, the frightened horses stopped abruptly, then, terrified at the pro- longed thunder, tried to turn short round ; foiled in this attempt by the skill and promptitude of their driver, they began rearing and plunging in a way which threatened every moment to over- turn the phaeton. Fortunately the road happened to be unusually wide at this point, and Harry, who never throughout the affair in the slightest degree lost his presence of mind, deciding that whatever might most effectually frighten the horses, would create the impulse they would eventually obey, determined to try the effect of a little judicious discipline. Accordingly, standing up, he began to administer the whip to their sleek sides witli an amount of strength and determination which, from the contrast it afforded to the mild and timid driving to which they were accustomed, so astonished the animals, that bounding forward with a snatch which tried the soundness of their harness, they dashed off at a furious gallop ; at the same moment, a second peal of thunder, even louder than the preceding one, increased their alarm to such a degree, that Coverdale, despite his utmost efforts, found it completely beyond his power to hold them in. AND ALL TITAT CAME OF IT. <\ f CHAPTER YIII. HAEEY CONDESCENDS TO PLAY THE AGEEEABLE. " Miss IIazleheest ! — Alice ! are 5-011 mad ? Only sit still, don't go and scream or anything, and all will come right." Thus appealed to, or rather commanded — for the tone of the speaker's voice was unmistakably imperative — Alice, who when the horses bolted had half risen from her scat, and in an agony of terror glanced round, as though she meditated an attempt to jump out, shrank down again, and covering her eyes with her hands, remained perfectly still and motionless, thus enabling Coverdale to devote his whole attention to the horses. The terrified animals, after gallopping nearly a mile, their fears being kept alive by repeated flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, while a perfect deluge of rain converted the dusty road beneath their feet into a morass, at length began to relax their speed. As soon as Harry perceived this to be the case, he turned to his companion, saying, "There, Miss Hazlehurst, I have got them in hand again, they're quite under command now, and the worst of the storm is over too, so you needn't be frightened any longer; you have behaved like a" — (regular brick was the simile that rose to his lips, but he refrained, and substituted) — " complete heroine, since you overcame that slightly insane impulse to commit suicide by jumping out." Reassured by his manner, Alice ventured to open her eyes, and the first use she made of them was to fix them upon the coun- tenance of her companion, striving to read therein whether the hopes with which he sought to inspire her were true or false. But Harry's was a face about which there could be no mistake; truth and honesty were written in every feature so legibly, that the veriest tyro in physiognomy could not fail at once to perceive them. " How fortunate it was that you were driving, and not Mr. Crane!" were the first words Alice uttered; "we should have been overturned to a certainty if the horses had behaved so this morning. I'll take good care not to let him drive me again. How cleverly you managed the creatures when they were plunging and rearing! I should never have dared to whip them while they were in that furious state, but it answered capitally." 48 harry coverdale's courtship, " You observed that, did you?" inquired Harry in a tone of surprise. Alice favoured him with a quick glance, as she replied, half archly, half petulantly, "Of course I did; what a stupid silly little thing you seem to consider me ! " Harry paused for a minute ere he rejoined, laughingly, " You know nothing about what I consider you, Miss Hazlehurst, aDd therefore I advise you not to form any theories whatsoever on the subject, as they are tolerably certain to be wrong ones." " I dare say you have never given yourself the trouble to reflect at all on so frivolous a topic," returned Alice; "I know your heterodox notions in regard to our sex ; you consider us all simpletons." " I'm sure I never told you so," was all the denial Harry's conscience permitted him to make. " Not viva voce, perhaps," replied Alice; "but I have heard it second-hand from Master Tom: the boy was uncomplimentary enough before you came, but he has been fifty times worse since you've been here to encourage him in his impertinence." "A young cub!" muttered Harry aside, "I'll twist his neck if he tells tales out of school in this way;" turning to Alice, he continued, "it is never too late to mend, is it? If I confess my sins, promise never to do so any more, and throw myself on the mercy of the court, is there any chance of my obtaining forgive- ness?" "As far as I am concerned, yes," was the reply; "in con- sideration of your services this afternoon, I graciously accord you a free pardon for all past offences, and for the future we will try and be friends." As she spoke she half playfully, half in earnest, held out her hand. Harry took it in his own, and shook it — even in a glove it was a nice, warm, soft little hand, a kind of hand that it was impossible to relinquish without giving it a squeeze, at least such was Harry's impression, and he acted upon it, although to do so was by no means in accordance with his principles ; but he did not happen to be thinking about his principles just then. By this time the storm, which had pretty well exhausted itself by its violence, resigned in favour of a lovely sunset; and the horses having come to the conclusion that they had thoroughly disgraced themselves, and behaved with an equal disregard of principle and propriety, trotted steadily along under Coverdale's skilful guidance, like a pair of four-logged penitents, AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT 49 anxious to retrieve their character. And Harry and Alice suddenly found a great deal to talk about, and were quite surprised when they perceived themselves to be in sight of the Grange; and the gentleman felt moved by a sudden impulse to declare that, despite its unpropitious commencement, he did not know when he had had such a delightful drive, to which the lady replied that it certainly had been very agreeable, an admission which she endeavoured to qualify by attributing her pleasurable sensations to the influence of the setting sun and the delicious coolness of the evening air — a transparent attempt at deception that only rendered the truth more obvious. The next morning a groom brought back Sir Lancelot, together with a note from Mr. Crane, saying that he had contrived to get wet through on his way to the inn, that he feared he had taken cold, and therefore considered it most prudent to return home for a day or two ; adding that he should hope to be sufficiently con- valescent to rejoin the party at the Grange that day week, when a dinner was to be given by Mr. Hazlehurst to some of the county magnates. His note wound up with an elaborate inquiry as to whether Alice had experienced any ill- effects from the " atmospheric inclemency," as he was pleased to style the thunder-storm, accompanied by an infallible specific against all sore-throats, colds, hoarsenesses, and rheumatic affections, which that young lady straightway committed to the waste-paper basket. There was also a note for Horace D'Almayne, from which dropped an inclosure that, as the exquisite stooped to pick it up, looked marvellously like a cheque. " A — really I find I must go to town — a — business of im- portance — can I execute any little commissions for you, Miss Hazlehurst? I've excellent taste in ribands, I assure you." " There, do you hear that!" observed Tom sotto voce to Cover- dale. "I always thought he'd been a counter-jumper!" "Kate, must I accompany him?" inquired Arthur of his cousin, sotto voce ; "remember, if you send me from you now, we meet again as strangers!" There was a moment's struggle, and her colour went and came — then in a cold, hard voice she answered, "Yes, go!" Arthur looked at \\er ; her features might have been sculptured in marble, so fixed and immovable was their expression. That look decided him ; and with set teeth and lowering brow he rose and quitted the room. E 50 HARRY COVERDALE's COURTSHIP, In less than half-an-hour he returned, prepared for a journey ; and beckoning Coverdale aside, began, " Harry, I have a favour to ask of you. I am obliged to go to town suddenly, in con- sequence of an affair which has caused me some annoyance ; but I shall come back for the dinner-party on the — th. Crane will also return then ; and from what I can make out, Alice's affair will be definitely settled one way or other. The more I see of Crane, the more I perceive how thoroughly he and Alice are unsuited ; but my father appears obstinately bent on the match : and if Alice is to refuse him, she will require all the support that can be given her. My poor mother's health is, as you are aware, so delicate, that although she is as much averse to the match as any of us, we cannot expect her to exert herself; indeed, our chief anxiety is to prevent her attempting to do so. The whole thing will, therefore, fall upon me : and your support and assistance will be invaluable. My father has taken a great fancy to you ; and your opinion weighs with him more than you will believe. I am sorry to perceive that you are bored to death here ; but I trust to your friendship to remain till after my return. Am I taxing your kind feeling too far?" " My dear boy, don't make pretty speeches ; for I can stand anything but that," was the reply. "As to staying here, I had no thought of going away till you had done with me. In regard to being bored, I'm getting over that beautifully. Your family are charming people. I'm becoming used to women's society, and, in fact, find it's not by any means as bad as imagination painted it ; and when D'Almayne is fairly out of the house, I really shall not care how long I remain in it ; so will that satisfv you?" " My dear fellow," rejoined Hazlehurst, warmly, " there's no- body like you in the world ! I've always said so, from the day that I first set eyes on you at Eton, when you thrashed the bully of the form for striking me, and then boxed my ears because T took a blow from a boy less than myself, without returning it. I shall never quite turn misanthrope while I've you for a friend." "Misanthrope! no, why should you?" was the surprised rejoinder. "What ails you, man? — you look ill and unhappy. It's nothing in the money way, is it ? I've got a few odd thou- sands lying idle at my bankers, that I should really be obliged to you to make use of." Hazlehurst shook his friend's hand heartily. " God bless you, AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 5 I old fellow ! I know you would," he said ; " but money can't help me : I must fight it out alone. I shall be myself again by the time I return — till then, good-by," and wringing Coverdale's hand once more, he turned and was gone. "Alice, here's a treat! everybody's going away except that horrid Harry Coverdale !" exclaimed Emily, in a tone of despair; "we shall have him on our hands, talking stable, and wishing we were dogs and horses, for a whole week ! What are we to do with the creature?" Alice turned her head to hide her heightened colour, as she replied, in a tone of voice that was almost cross, " Really, Emily, you should be careful not to carry that absurd habit of yours of laughing at everybody too far. People will begin to call you flippant. Mr. Coverdale is so good-natured that he is the easiest person in the world to entertain. Surely, Arthur has a right to ask his friend to remain here without consulting you or me on the subject." "Phew!" whistled Emily, and a droll little parody of a whistle it was ; " the wind has changed, has it ? I suppose that was the thunder-storm yesterday ; not to mention a certain tete- a-tete drive. Take care, Ally: recollect that sweet bird the Crane! what does the song say?" and popping herself down at the pianoforte, she ran her fingers lightly over the keys, as she sansr with mischievous archness : lis good to be merry and wise, 'Tis good to be bonest and true, "lis good to be off witb tbe old love Before you are on witb tbe new." The party which sat down to dinner at Hazlehurst Grange on that day was a very select one. Mr. Hazlehurst had driven over to the neighbouring town on justice business, and having sen- tenced certain deer-stealers to undergo divers unpleasantnesses in the way of oakum-picking, solitary confinement, and other such amenities of prison discipline, had stayed to reward virtue by dining with his brother-magistrates upon orthodoxly-slaughtered venison. Accordingly, Mrs. Hazlehurst and the three young ladies, Harry Coverdale and Master Tom, sat down to what Mrs. Malaprop would have termed "quite a tete-a-tete dinner" together ; — a tame and docile curate, invited on the spur of the moment to counterbalance Harry, having missed fire, owing to tbe untimely repentance of a perverse old female parishioner, who 52 HARRY COVEEDALe's COURTSHIP, being taken poorly and penitent simultaneously, had sent her imperative compliments to the Eev. B. A. A. Lambkin, and she would feel obliged by his coming to convert her at his very earliest possible convenience ; to which serious call he felt obliged to respond. Coverdale had found himself in an unueual and peculiar frame of mind all day ; for perhaps the first time in his life he had felt disinclined to active exertion ; and had positively gone the length of abstracting from the library a volume of Byron, and spent the afternoon lying under a tree, reading the Bride of Abydos. Now his peculiarity took a new turn ; and, freed from his incubus, D'Almayne, a sense of the domestic and sociable suddenly sprang up within him, and throwing off all reserve, he appeared for the first time during his visit in his true colours — that is, unaffected, courteous, kind-hearted, amusing, and well-informed. In con- sequence possibly of this change, the dinner went off most agree- ably; and the absence of the Reverend Lambkin was mentally decreed to be a subject of thanksgiving, by more than one member of the party. In the evening there were certain wasps' -nests to be destroyed, about which Harry had expressed much interest ; but now he discovered that he had blistered his heel on the previous day, by running in a tight boot ; and Tom, mightily discontented at his defection, was forced to invade the enemy's country without the assistance of his ally. "When Coverdale rejoined the ladies, Emily was reading Tennyson's Prinoess aloud, and the moment he appeared, she declared she was tired, and handed the book to him, begging him to proceed ; her mischievous intention being thereby to overwhelm him with confusion, and derive amusement from his consequent mistakes. But she met her match for once, as Harry, coolly replying that he should have much pleasure, took the book and began reading in a deep rich voice, with so much taste and feeling, that her surprise soon changed to admiration. After tea, music was proposed, and the moment Alice began to sing Cover- dale, for the first time since he had been in the house, approached the piano, and actually turned over the leaves for her ! "That lovely La ci daremf Ah, Alice! if we had but a gentleman's voice to take the second ! Why don't you sing, Mr. Coverdale ?" exclaimed Emily, turning over the pages of the duet. " I'll try what I can do if you wish it," was Coverdale's quiet reply. AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. .',.) Alice, to whom he spoke, glanced at him in speechless surprise ; but Emily, at once making up her mind that he was attempting a hoax, and eager to turn the tables upon him, resumed — " Bravo ! give me your seat, Alice, I'll play the accompaniment for you both." Now the truth was, that Harry had been gifted by nature with a rich powerful voice and excellent ear, qualities which the ad- miration of his " set" at Cambridge had induced him to cultivate. When he first started on his grand tour, he encountered at Florence the mother and sisters of an old college friend, and those being the days before he had foresworn young ladies' society, he was let in for a mild flirtation with one of the daughters. The " emphatic she" happened to be fanatica per la musica. Accordingly for three months Harry took lessons of the best master in the place, and sang duets morning, noon, and night ; at the end of which period the "loved one" bolted with a black-bearded native, who called himself a count, and was a courier. Since which episode, Harry, disgusted with the whole affair, and all connected with it, had chiefly confined his singing to lyrical declarations that he would "not go home till morning." It will therefore be less a matter of surprise to the reader, than it was to his audience at the Grange, that Coverdale performed his part in the duet with equal taste and skill, and very much better than Alice did hers — that young lady pronouncing her Italian with rather a mid- land-county accent than otherwise, although her sweet, fresh, young voice, in great measure atoned for this little peculiarity. " Why, Mr. Coverdale, what a charming voice you have, and how beautifully you sing!" exclaimed Emily, looking at him as if she could not even yet believe that it was possible he should have so distinguished himself. " I thought you were hoaxing us, and I sat down to play the duet for the amiable purpose of ex- posing your ignorance." "How did you acquire such a pure Italian accent?" asked Mrs. Hazlehurst ; "it will be of the greatest advantage to my girls to sing with you." " I learned of an Italian fellow when I was at Florence, and I suppose he taught me to do the business all right," was the care- less reply. " And you have been here more than a week," continued Mrs. Hazlehurst, " and allowed Mr. D'Almayne to monopolise both the reading and singing department, though he cannot fill either one 54 HAREY COVEEDALE's COUETSHIP, quarter as efficiently as you are able to do. You really are too diffident." " I don't imagine diffidence to have had very much to do with it," observed Kate Marsden, quietly raising her eyes from her work (a crochet purse with steel beads), and fixing them on Coverdale. Harry laughed slightly as with heightened colour he replied, " You are too clever, Miss Marsden. I by no means approve of being subjected to such subtle clairvoyance; however, I may as well honestly confess that you are right, and that a feeling more akin to pride than to humility has prevented my seeking to rival Mr. D'Almayne." " We have found you out at last though," returned Emily, "and I for one will do my best to punish you for your idleness, by making you sing every song I can think of. I don't believe it was either pride or humility which kept you silent — it was nothing but sheer idleness." "Judging of her principles from her practice, I can readily believe Miss Emily Hazlehurst must consider silence to result from some reprehensible cause," replied Coverdale, with a mean- ing smile. Of course Emily made a pert rejoinder, and of course Coverdale was forced to sing half-a-dozen more songs, which, as he had by this time got up the steam considerably, he did in a style which won him fresh laurels ; but it was a remarkable fact, that from the moment in which Harry began to read aloud, Alice, although her attention had never flagged, had scarcely uttered a single word — perhaps it was because she thought the more. AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 55 CHAPTER IX. CONTAINS LITTLE ELSE SAVE MOONSHINE. Mrs. Hazlertjrst was so confirmed an invalid as to be unable to walk, even so short a distance as from the drawing-room to her own bed-room, whither she was usually carried by either her husband or her son. She was in the habit of retiring at nine o'clock, but on the evening referred to in the last chapter the clock chimed the half-hour after nine, and Mr. Hazlehurst had not returned. " Mamma, dear, you are looking tired — you ought not to sit up so late !" exclaimed Alice, who had been observing her mother attentively for some minutes. "Do allow Evans to carry you up : papa is sometimes kept till eleven o'clock at these magistrates' meetings, you know." One great charm which Alice possessed in Harry's eyes was her devotion to her mother, for whom she entertained an affection which was, perhaps, one of the strongest feelings of her nature. "I had rather wait, dear," was the patient reply: — "the worthy Evans is growing fat and old, and I am always afraid of his falling ; and James is very willing, poor lad, but he is so awkward that he rubs me against all the corners we pass, and only escapes knocking my brains out by a succession of miracles." " If you would allow me to assist you, Mrs. Hazlehurst," began Coverdale, in a hesitating voice, as though he were about to ask rather than to confer a favour — "I am sure I could carry you safely; I have observed exactly how Arthur holds you, and it would give me so much pleasure to be of use to you." " You are very kind," returned Mrs. Hazlehurst, while a glow of grateful surprise coloured her pale cheeks ; " but I cannot bear to give you the trouble — you do not know how heavy I am." " You do not know how strong I am, my dear madam," was the good-natured rejoinder; "allow me — that I think is right," and raising the light form of the invalid in his powerful arms he carried her, as easily and tenderly as a mother would her child, to her room, where, carefully depositing her in an easy-chair, he wished her good night, and left her, without waiting to receive her thanks. 56 HAEEY CO VEED ALE'S COTJETSETP, " Alice, love, Emily will stay and read to me — go down and tell Mr. Coverdale how much obliged I am ; he carried me as comfortably as if he had been in the constant habit of doing so for years. The kindness of heart, and delicacy of feeling with which he made the offer, have gratified me exceedingly ; depend upon it he is an unusually amiable, excellent young man." "He certainly appears in a new character to-night," returned Emily, laughing ; " hitherto he has performed the modern Timon most naturally and successfully. I wonder what made the crea- ture take it into his head to act the man — or rather the woman — hater! You'd better ask him, Alice, perhaps he will tell you! — What gone already ! " she continued, glancing round the room. "Well then, mamma dear, as there seems to be no more fun forthcoming, let me give you your dose of Jeremy Taylor ; that is our present good book, I believe." A reproof for the levity with which Emily spoke rose to her mother's lips ; but Mrs. Hazlehurst was a sensible woman as well as a good one, and so, being able to distinguish between the exuberance of high spirits, and a scoffing turn of mind, she only murmured, " Silly child," and shook her head, with a reproving smile. When Alice returned to the drawing-room she at first imagined it to be tenantless; but on looking more attentively she perceived the tall figure of Harry Coverdale standing with folded arms in the recess of one of the windows. So noiselessly did she enter that Harry, whose face was turned away from the door, was not aware of her approach until she was within a few yards of him. As with a sudden start he looked round, she was surprised to observe the traces of deep emotion visible on his features, which were usually characterised by an expression of so completely opposite a nature. With a murmured apology for in- truding on him, Alice was about to withdraw, when Coverdale hastened to prevent her. "Do not run away," he said quickly, then continued, "You are surprised to see me look sad ; I think I should like, if you will permit me, to tell you the cause. It is so seldom I meet with anybody to whom I can talk about such things — people in general would not understand me, but I feel an instinctive cer- tainty that you will. It is such a lovely night, would you object to come out? Your cousin, Miss Marsden, is already enjoying the moonlight." As he spoke, he pointed to a white figure AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. 57 pacing, with bent head and measured steps, along a terrace- walk on the further side of the lawn. Throwing a shawl over her head to protect herself from the night dew, Alice signified her consent, and opening one of the French windows, they descended into the garden. For some minutes they strolled on side by side without speaking ; the silence at length becoming embarrassing, Alice broke it by observing — " I must not forget to deliver mamma's thanks for your kind- ness. You carried her so easily and carefully, she says, she could almost imagine you must have been accustomed to such an occupation before." Harry smiled a melancholy smile. " That was what I was going to tell you about," he said, "only when it came to the point, I felt as if it were impossible to begin. Carrying Mrs. Hazlehurst to-night brought back such a flood of recollections!" He paused, then in a low tone continued: "For many months before her death my own poor mother became perfectly helpless, and I used to carry her like a child from room to room. I was only seventeen when I lost her, and, except your brother, I have never had any one to love since ; and though Arthur is as good a fellow as ever breathed, and all that one can wish a friend to be, yet somehow, whether it is the difference between a man's mind and a woman's, or what, I cannot tell, but there are things I've never talked about with anybody since my mother died, because I've felt that nobody else could understand me. Perhaps, if she had lived, I might have been more what I sometimes wish I were — less rough, and — but I do not know why I should bore you with what must be singularly uninteresting to you." "Pray go on," replied Alice; "I have heard so much of you from Arthur, that I always hoped I should some day know you myself, and that we might become friends; but — " here she stopped, apparently embarrassed how to proceed. Harry came to her assistance — "But when I did appear, I made myself so disagreeable that you naturally repented ever having wasted' a thought upon such an unamiable savage. Is not that what you would have said ? Well, you are quite right, I deserve that it should be so." There was a degree of regretful earnestness in his voice and manner which touched Alice's gentle heart, and she hastened to reply :— " Nay, it was only that you did not know us ; and — I think 58 HARRY COVERDALE's COURTSHIP, that silly Mr. D'Almayne annoyed you with his airs and affecta- tion; but I am sure you will never be so — so — " " Brutish !" suggested Harry. " So unjust to yourself again," resumed Alice. " You are very kind — kinder than I deserve by far," replied Coverdale. He paused, then continued, "I don't think I was naturally such a bear ; but from childhood I have had to battle with the world on my own behalf. Did Arthur ever tell you any of my earlier history ? " "No; he often alluded to it as curious, but said we ought to see you first, and then we should understand you better and care more to hear it," was the simple reply. Harry smiled. "The only romantic episode in my career occurred when I was a very young boy," he said, "so young, that if I had not heard the story over and over again from the mouth of my late uncle, the old Admiral, I should scarcely have remembered it. To enable you to comprehend the situation properly, I must trouble you with a few family details. My grandfather had two sons — the Admiral the elder, and my father the younger. My father, when a lieutenant in a march- ing regiment, fell in love with a very pretty, amiable but portion- less girl ; my grandfather desired him to marry an heiress ; my father refused, and urged his affection for another; my grand- father grew imperative, my father recusant; my grandfather stormed, my father persisted ; and the affair ended by my father marrying his lady-love, and my grandfather disinheriting him for so doing. The natural consequences ensued: my grandfather devoted his fortune and influence to my uncle's advancement, and at the age of fifty he became an admiral; at the same age my father found himself a captain, existing on half-pay, with a microscopic pension and an incurable wound in his side, as rewards for having served his country. ' England expects every man to do his duty,' and occasionally recompenses him for it with honourable starvation. As my father's health decreased his expenses increased, unpaid doctors' bills stared him in the face, and butchers and bakers grew uncivil and importunate. " At my grandfather's death he left every farthing he possessed to his eldest son. Angry at the injustice, my father refused his brother's offer of an allowance, and unwisely determined to dispute the will. Accordingly, he not only lost his cause, but irritated my uncle to such a degree, that all communication ceased AND ALL THAT CAME OF IT. />9 between them. "When I was approaching the august age of ten years, and affairs seemed to be coming to a crisis, by some chance I, playing with and apparently absorbed by a regiment of tin soldiers, happened to be present at a family committee of ways and means. During this colloquy, the unfortunate disagree- ment between the brothers was talked over and lamented by my mother ; who exerted all her eloquence to persuade my father to write to the Admiral and inform him of his failing health and ruined fortunes, and trust to his generosity to forgive and forget the past. But my father's pride stood in the way. He would wil- lingly have been reconciled to his brother, if he had not required pecuniary assistance at his hands ; but the consciousness of this necessity rendered him inexorable. So finding his wife's argu- ments unanswerable, he adopted the usual resource in such cases — viz., he talked himself into a rage, and flinging out of the room, slammed the door behind him, leaving my mother and me tete-a- tete. "After a minute's silence, I surprised her by asking, 'Papa's very poor, and my uncle's very rich ; and papa would ask uncle to give him some money, only they quarrelled when grandpapa stopped papa's pocket-money : isn't that it, mamma ? ' "'Yes, my dear,' was the reply; 'but you must not talk about it to anybody remember.' "I nodded assent, then resumed, 'Uncle's a good, kind man, isn't her' " ' Yes, my love; a good man I know him to be, and he was kind once,' was the reply. " ' Then why don't you go and tell him that papa's very sorry he was naughty, and wants to make friends again ; and if uncle is good and kind, he will say yes ; and when they are friends again, uncle will be sure to give him some of his pocket-money without being asked, because they are brothers. "Won't that do, mamma v " My mother rose with tears in her eyes, stroked the hair back from my forehead, imprinted a kiss on it, and murmuring, ' Your papa would never allow me to do so, darling,' quitted the room. "Well, I sat and cogitated the matter: even as a child I was of a feartess nature, and confident in my own resources ; and at last a plan occurred to me. At that time we lived in London, and I attended a public school as a day-scholar. At this school I had a friend — a boy some two or three years older than myself. To 60 HARRY COVERDALE S COURTSHIP, him, in strict confidence, I imparted my scheme, which he was pleased graciously to approve of, and in which he volunteered to aid me. Accordingly, on the following morning, when my parents imagined I was declining hie, hcec, hoc, I was, under the able guidance of my school-fellow, making my way to the office of a coach which passed within half a mile of Coverdale Park. Having seen me set off in high health and spirits, my friend after school-hours left the following note at our house : — " ' Dear Mamma, — I have gone to see my uncle Coverdale, as you could not do it. Papa never told me not to — so he won't be angry with me. Thompson saw me off, and will leave this, so no more at present, " ' From your dutiful son, "