Part 4 (1/2)
There is a funeral and c.r.a.pe and weeping, and ”callings to inquire,”
then the intelligence gets abroad amongst mere acquaintances and utter strangers, a line in the _Times_ proclaims our decease to the world.
Ere it has reached the colonies we are well-nigh forgotten at home.
Mrs. Kettering was at rest in her grave; the General was full of his arrangements and his responsibilities; Charlie was back amongst his mathematics and his cricket and his Greek and Latin; the servants were looking out for fresh places; and the life that had disappeared from the surface was forgotten by all. By all save one; for still Blanche was gazing on the waters and mourning for her mother.
CHAPTER V
UNCLE BALDWIN
NEWTON-HOLLOWS AND ITS GROUNDS--BACHELORS' BILLETS--THE HEIRESS AND HER COMPANION--GENERAL BOUNCE--A GENTLEMAN FARMER--THE LADIES' CLUB--A WOMAN'S IDEAL
In an unpretending corner of the ”Guyville Guide and Midland Counties'
Directory” a few lines are devoted to inform the tourist that ”Newton-Hollows, post-town Guyville, in the Hundred of Cow-capers, is the seat of Major-General Bounce, etc., etc., etc. The lover of the picturesque obtains, from the neighbourhood of this mansion, a magnificent view, comprising no less than seventeen churches, a vast expanse of wood and meadow-land, the distant spires of Bubbleton, and the imposing outline of the famous Castle Guy.” Doubtless all these beauties might have been conspicuous had the adventurous tourist chosen to climb one of the lofty elms with which the house was surrounded; but from the alt.i.tude of his own stature he was obliged to content himself with a far less extensive landscape, seeing that the country was closely wooded, and as flat as his hand. But Newton-Hollows was one of those sweet little places, self-contained and compact, that require no distant views, no s.h.a.ggy scenery, no ”rough heath and rugged wood,” to enhance their charm. Magnificent old timber, ”the oak and the ash, and the bonny ivy tree,” to say nothing of elms and chestnuts, dotted the meadows and pastures in which the mansion was snugly ensconced. People driving up, or rather along, the level approach, were at a loss to make out where the farms ended and the park began. Well-kept lawns, that looked as if they were fresh mown every morning, swept up to the drawing-room windows, opening to the ground; not a leaf was strewn on sward or gravel; not a weed, nor even a daisy, permitted to show its modest head above the surface; and as for a rake, roller, or a gardener's hat being left in a place where such instruments have no business, why, the General would have made the unfortunate delinquent eat it--rake, roller, or ”wide-a-awake”--and discharged him besides on the spot. No wonder the flower-garden adjoining the conservatory, which again opened into the drawing-room, looked so trim and well-kept: ”Master's” hobby was a garden, and, though utterly ignorant of the names, natures, and treatment of plants, he liked to see every variety in his possession, and spared no expense on their cultivation; and so a head gardener and five subalterns carried off all the prizes at the Bubbleton and Guyville horticulturals; and the General complained that he could never get a nosegay for his table, nor a bit of fruit for his dessert fit to eat. Yet were there worse ”billets” in this working world than Newton-Hollows. The Bubbleton ”swells” and county dignitaries found it often ”suit their hunting arrangements” to go, over-night, and dine with ”old Bounce.” He would always ”put up a hack for you,” than which no effort of hospitality makes a man more deservedly popular in a hunting country; and his dinners, his Indian dishes, his hot pickles, his dry champagne, his wonderful claret (”not a headache in a hogshead, sir,” the General would say, with a frown of defiance), were all in keeping with the snug, comfortable appearance of his dwelling, and the luxurious style which men who have served long in the army, and often been obliged to ”rough it,” know so well how to enjoy. Then there was no pretension about the thing whatever. The house, though it ranged over a considerable extent of ground, particularly towards the offices, was only two storeys high--”a mere cottage,” its owner called it; but a cottage in which the apartments were all roomy and well-proportioned, in which enough ”married couples could be put up”
to furnish a very good-sized dinner-table, and the bachelors (we like to put in a word for our fellow-sufferers) were as comfortably accommodated as their more fortunate a.s.sociates, who travelled with wives, imperials, cap-boxes, and ladies'-maids.
It is a bad plan to accustom unmarried gentlemen to think they can do without their comforts; it makes them hardy and independent, and altogether averse to the coddling and care and confinement with which they expect to find matrimony abound. As we go through the world, in our desolate celibacy, we see the net spread in sight of many a bird, and we generally remark, that the meshes which most surely entangle the game are those of self-indulgence and self-applause. You _must_ gild the wires, and pop a lump of sugar between them too, if you would have the captive flutter willingly into the cage. When young Coelebs comes home from hunting or shooting, and has to divest himself of his clammy leathers or dirt-enc.u.mbered gaiters in a room without a fire and with a cracked pane in the window, he takes no pleasure in his adornment, but hurries over his toilet, or perhaps begins to smoke.
This should be avoided: we have known a quiet cigar do away with the whole effect of a bran-new pink bonnet. But if, on the contrary, he finds a warm, luxurious room, plenty of hot water, wax candles on the dressing-table, and a becoming looking-gla.s.s, the quarry lingers over the tie of its neckcloth with a pleasing conviction that that is not half a bad-looking fellow grinning opposite, and moreover that there is a ”deuced _lovable_ girl” down-stairs, who seems to be of the same opinion. So the thing works: vows are exchanged, _trousseaux_ got ready, settlements drawn out, the lawyers thrive, and fools are multiplied. Had Newton-Hollows belonged to a designing matron, instead of an unmarried general officer, it might have become a perfect mart for the exchanges of beauty and valour. Hunting men are pretty usually a marrying race; whether it be from daily habits of recklessness, a bold disregard of the adage which advises ”to look before you leap,”
or a general thick-headedness and want of circ.u.mspection, the red-coated Nimrod falls an easy prey to any fair enslaver who may think him worth the trouble of subjection; and for one alliance that has been negotiated in the stifling atmosphere of a London ball-room, twenty owe their existence to the fresh breezes, the haphazard events, and surrounding excitement of the hunting-field.
General Bounce's guests, as was natural in the country where he resided, were mostly men like mad Tom,
”Whose chiefest care Was horse to ride and weapon wear;”
nor, like him, would they have objected to place gloves in their caps or carry any other favours which might demonstrate their own powers of fascination, and their rank in the good graces of the heiress. Yes, there was an heiress now at Newton-Hollows. Popular as had always been the General's hospitality, he was now besieged with hints, and advances, and innuendoes, having for their object an invitation to his house. What a choice of scamps might he have had, all ready and willing to marry his niece--all anxious, if possible, to obtain even a peep ”of that little Miss Kettering, not yet out of the school-room, who is to have ever so many hundred thousand pounds, and over whom old Bounce keeps watch and ward like a fiery dragon.”
But the pa.s.sing years have little altered Blanche's sweet and simple character, though they have rounded her figure and added to her beauty. She is to ”come out” next spring, and already the world is talking of her charms and her expectations. A pretty picture is so much prettier in a gilt frame, and she will probably begin life with the ball at her foot; yet is there the same soft, artless expression in her countenance that it wore at St. Swithin's ere her mother's death--the same _essence_ of beauty, independent of colouring and features, which may be traced in really charming people from the cradle to the grave, which made Blanche a willing child, is now enhancing the loveliness of her womanhood, and will probably leave her a very pleasant-looking old lady.
”And Charlie comes home to-morrow,” says Blanche, tripping along the gravel walk that winds through those well-kept shrubberies. ”I wonder if he's at all the sort of person you fancy, and whether you will think him as perfect as I do?”
”Probably not, my dear,” replied her companion, whose stately gait contrasted amusingly with Blanche's light and playful gestures.
”People seldom come up to one's ideas of them; and I am sure it is not your fault if I do not expect to meet a perfect hero of romance in your cousin.” We ought to know those low thrilling tones; we ought to recognise the majestic figure--the dark sweeping dress--the braided hair and cla.s.sical features of that pale, serious face. Mary Delaval is still the handsome governess; and Blanche would rather part with her beauty or her bullfinch, or any of her most prized earthly possessions, than that dear duenna, who, having finished her education, is now residing with her in the dubious capacity of part chaperon, part teacher, and part friend.
”Well, dear, he _is_ a hero,” replied Blanche, who always warmed on _that_ subject. ”Let me see which of my heroes he's most like: Prince Rupert--only he's younger and better-looking” (Blanche, though a staunch little cavalier, could not help a.s.sociating mature age and gravity with the flowing wigs in which most of her favourites of that period were depicted); ”Claverhouse, only not so cruel,--he _is_ like Claverhouse in the face, I think, Mrs. Delaval; or 'bonnie Prince Charlie'; or Ivanhoe,--yes, Ivanhoe, that's the one; he's as brave and as gentle; and Mr. Hardingstone, whose life he saved, you know, says he rides most beautifully, and will make a capital officer.”
”And which of the heroes is Mr. Hardingstone, Blanche?” said her friend, in her usual measured tones. Blanche blushed.
”Oh, I can't understand Mr. Hardingstone,” said she; ”I think he's odd-_ish_, and quite unlike other people; then he looks through one so. Mrs. Delaval, I think it's quite rude to stare at people as if you thought they were not telling the truth. But he's good-looking, too,”
added the young lady, reflectively; ”only not to be compared with Charlie.”
”Of course not,” rejoined her friend; ”but it is fortunate that we are to enjoy the society of this Paladin till he joins his regiment--Lancers, are they not? Well, we must hope, Blanche, to use the language of your favourites of the middle ages, that he may prove a lamb among ladies, as he is doubtless a lion among lancers.”
”Dear Charlie! how he will enjoy his winter. He is so fond of hunting; and he is to have Hyacinth, and Haphazard, and Mayfly to ride for his own--so kind of Uncle Baldwin; but I must be off to put some flowers in his room,” quoth Blanche, skipping along the walk as young ladies will, when un.o.bserved by masculine eyes; ”he may arrive at any moment, he's such an uncertain boy.”
”Zounds! you've broke it, you fiddle-headed brute!” exclaimed a choleric voice from the further side of a thick laurel hedge, startling the ladies most unceremoniously, and preparing them for the spectacle of a st.u.r.dy black cob trotting rebelliously down the farm road, with a fragment of his bridle dangling from his head, the remaining portion being firmly secured to a gate-post, at which the self-willed animal had been tied up in vain. Another instant brought the owner of the voice and late master of the cob into the presence of Mrs. Delaval and his niece. It was no less a person than General Bounce.
”Uncle Baldwin, Uncle Baldwin,” exclaimed Blanche, who turned him round her finger as she did the rest of the establishment, ”where have you been all day? You promised to drive me out--you know you did, you wicked, hard-hearted man.”