Part 21 (1/2)
Lady Amabel! I see her now--graceful, handsome, and so kind--awaiting our arrival in a large, luxuriant drawing-room at Government House.
It was night when I met her for the first time. Tired with a voyage of many days along the coast, I received her cordial embrace with a comparatively cold return, as she came forward in the hall. A gong was sounding in the garden. Through an open door, we beheld a vista of rooms, and servants lighting them. Lady Amabel desired her maid to conduct me to my apartment. She had contrived many little elegancies of dress for me, and my toilette was soon made. I was late, and had to descend the wide staircase alone. My feet trembled as I heard some one following, and a young man, in the dress of an aide-de-camp, came clattering past me; he had the grace to wait at the foot of the stairs and bow.
His face was as honest in its expression as yours. He apologised for ”rattling by me,” with the most graceful air of humility. He was quite sure I _must_ be Miss Daveney--he _hoped_ so--we were to be inmates of the same house; for he was the Governor's nephew, Clarence Fairfax.
Would I take his arm? I should be the best apology in the world if any guests had arrived. He was the Aide-de-Camp in Waiting; it was his duty to receive the visitors, and there were two great officials expected--a Governor-General from India, and a foreign Prince in command of a squadron of the navy.
I put my arm through his without answering. I was completely frightened at the idea of the gay crowd I was to encounter. The hall was brilliantly lighted, and filled with servants. A door was thrown open before us. I shook from head to foot with nervous agitation. Clarence Fairfax pressed my arm, to rea.s.sure me; he declared his alarm lest I should fall. I own I was dazzled. The chandeliers, blazing with the light of myriads of wax candles, the tall mirrors reflecting them again and again; the variety of uniforms--staff, infantry, cavalry, engineers, artillery; officers in the costume of the French, Spanish, American, and Portuguese navies; the magnificent-looking General from India, his empty sleeve looped at his breast, that breast covered with orders; the young, bashful, sailor-Prince, fair-haired, blus.h.i.+ng like a girl, yet with a certain lofty consciousness of rank about him that would have marked him from the rest of the officers had he been without the ribbon and the star; the buzz of voices of various nations; the ladies in brilliant dresses; the air redolent of perfumes, breathing through the windows opening to the garden;--all appeared to me beautiful, but unreal, after my desert life. I felt as Cinderella must have done when she found herself transported by the fairy into the lighted palace; and truly he, on whose arm I rested trembling, was like a prince of fairy tale to me!
A tall, slight figure, in the uniform of a general officer, with many decorations, advanced. His piercing eye flashed for an instant on his nephew, who had delayed his appearance beyond the hour of reception; but the expression changed on seeing me. He took me from Clarence, observing, with a slight asperity of tone, that he was, ”as usual, very late;” and led me to Lady Amabel, who stood in the centre of the apartment, the blaze of the chandelier illuminating her elegant form robed in white, her graceful head encircled with an emerald wreath of shamrock-leaves.
To add to the illusion of the scene, the music of an exquisite band came, blended with the perfume of roses, through the open windows. A beautiful arm was extended to me; Lady Amabel pressed my palm between her soft jewelled fingers; and Clarence Fairfax came up with clasped hands, and in mock despair at his uncle's reprimand, at being ”late, as usual.”
There was a little stir, a rustle of silks and plumes, and I, in my innocence, was looking about, longing to see my father, that I might be near him at the dinner-table. The sailor-Prince advanced, and gave, his arm to Lady Amabel; she looked round ere dropping mine; a spur was entangled in my dress; there was a little laugh; Clarence Fairfax disengaged himself from ”my tails,” he said, and then, with a somewhat saucy ease of manner for first acquaintances.h.i.+p, he drew my hand under his arm, and led me after the crowd, already half way through the ante-room.
”So, Lady Amabel is a relation of Mr Daveney's!” said he--”that is charming--there is a kind of cousins.h.i.+p between us. Nay, don't look so demure, you chill me, and I intend that we shall be the best friends in the world. Let us make that bargain.”
He was so tall, he had to bend low to look into my face, which was covered with confusion; for I was unaccustomed to such familiarity. It took me by surprise; but, ah! the fatal air which men a.s.sume when they would please--those earnest looks, those low-pleading whispers. I forgot to look for my father, and seated myself on Clarence's right hand at the foot of the table. A magnificent bouquet of flowers almost hid Lady Amabel from my view, my eyes were bewildered with the blaze of candelabra and silver covers, and the uniforms of scarlet, and gold, and blue, mingled with the lighter hues of women's dresses; but, at length, I met the eye of Lady Amabel: she smiled, nodded, indicated by a gesture to my father that I was in my proper place, and by one to me that she was satisfied; and, indeed, so was I.
Sir Adrian Fairfax's attention was thus called to us--he looked at his nephew and laughed; we were the last to be seated. ”Incorrigible Clarence,” cried the General, shaking his head; ”lingering behind--again late. Too bad, too bad.”
”Do you see that showy woman opposite my uncle?” whispered Clarence Fairfax to me.
I glanced across the table, and replied in the affirmative.
”She is the wife of an official, and falls to my lot generally. I escaped her to-night. See, my uncle is smiling; he knows why I lingered; he excuses me, of course. You are my apology.”
”I must take Major Fairfax's part,” said the Indian Governor: ”he may be late for dinner, General, but he is always first in the field, you know.”
”And the last,” replied Sir Adrian, laughing; ”you see I have the best of the argument after all. Fairfax, the soup will be cold.”
Everything that pa.s.sed at the dinner-table on that memorable day is noted in my diary. I have not looked over it for three years. I need scarcely do so now; for, as I write, the tide of memory swells high, and trifles rise to the surface.
There was a ball that evening at Government House. Sir Adrian brought the young sailor-Prince to me. Clarence Fairfax stepped aside with a look of despair, which I took to be real. The first dance over, he came to claim me in right of ”cousins.h.i.+p,” he said. His countenance was radiant with smiles as he led me away. We whirled off in a valse, talking gaily all the time; he looking down into my eyes, and I forgetful of the crowd around me, till I heard some one remark, ”What a perfect dancer! so airy--so unstudied!” ”A relation of Lady Amabel's?”--”Yes.” ”From England?”--”Oh, no!--an officer's daughter.”
”Not pretty, is she?”--”Rather.” ”Good gracious, do you think so?”--”Interesting--Fairfax is taken.” Giddy with the exercise, I stopped unwittingly close to the speakers--two or three showy girls and their partners. The band changed the air to a rapid measure, and I was again borne off as on wings. Breathless and exhilarated, we reached the door of an ante-room; Clarence thought it was unoccupied, and led me in.
Ah, conscience! The bloom of a youthful heart once touched, it sees evil in what it once deemed innocent!
I was accustomed to dance, to valse, to be a.s.sociated occasionally with gentlemen, so why did my heart bound as I met my father and Lady Amabel?--and why was it relieved on seeing them pa.s.s by with only a smile of pleased recognition?
The Governor from India fell into conversation at the doorway; Lady Amabel looked back, and said, ”Take care, Clarence, of the draught from that window;” and left us sitting on a couch alone. Her shawl was thrown across it. Fairfax drew it round me.
I had been prepared to admire this gallant young soldier--”first and last in battle.” He had lately been wounded in a pirate fight while cruising with naval friends off the western coast of Africa; his sleeve, open from the wrist to the shoulder, showed that his sword-arm had been disabled. It was a stirring tale--a young captain struck down; the next in command weakened by fever; the s.h.i.+ps lashed yard-arm and yard-arm; a swarm of frantic beings, who knew that to yield was to die; and a band of British sailors with a boy lieutenant at their head.
The rover's crew cheered the boarders as they advanced, the boy lieutenant fell, but Clarence sprang into his place, and led the sailors on. He had observed the battened hatchways, had heard the yells of the miserable captives in the forecastle of the brig, and whilst the battle raged, had directed the carpenter how to release the crowd of victims.
His coolness turned the fortune of the day; the hatchway burst open, the wretched slaves, emaciated, starving as they were, mingled with the English crew, and, elated with, the hope of liberty, sprang upon the pirates, and cast them into the sea. The victory was decided in a moment. Clarence Fairfax shared the honours of the day, and gave his prize-money to the rescued slaves.
I begged him to tell me this tale himself. He did so, with apparent reluctance; but the relation dazzled and enchanted me. I was bewildered with his beauty, his air, his charmed words.
While thus happily engaged, he talking and I listening, the servants entered, and throwing open a large window, an exquisite _coup-d'oeil_ was presented. A marquee, lined with brilliant flags, and lighted with transparent lamps, stretched away into the s.p.a.cious gardens. Tables were scattered about covered with refreshments, all arranged with exquisite taste; tropical fruits and flowers decorating the feast in elegant profusion and variety. He started up. ”I am forgetting my duty,” said he, ”in lingering so pleasantly with you. Ah! here comes your father. See, he is following Sir Adrian and Lady Westerhaven, and is escorting the official lady who always falls to my lot. You have yet to learn, you sweet innocent lily of the desert, that the conventional forms of colonial society are even more absurd than those of England.