Part 19 (1/2)
Do you remember those old lines:
”'A little I'me hurt but not yett slaine, I'le but lye down and bleed awhile, And then I'le rise and fight againe!'”
”Oh, heaven help me,” thought poor Rose, ”what _can_ I say now? There is nothing in the world to say.” She fell to crying bitterly, as she safely could under cover of the snow and the darkness; but after a minute she controlled herself, and was, to outward appearance, tranquil and buoyant as before.
They had reached the house. He stepped inside the warmly-lighted hall just for a moment, as Rose, with a gesture of dismay, threw off her wraps, and disclosed an inappropriately elaborate little gown, partially soaked by the storm. ”I suppose I need not have put on anything so fine as this to go out in on a wet day, but I am fond of dressing, not for others, but for myself. I prefer feeling effects to producing them. Do you think me very selfish?”
”Oh, yes; everything that is hard, unfeeling, and unlike your sweet little self.”
She had already mounted a few steps of the stairway, as he had said he could not stay. His outstretched hand held hers in a last good-by, but instead of going he touched a fold of the damp edge of her gown. ”It is very wet,” he said. ”You are shockingly careless.” And then, without daring to meet the divine eyes bent upon him, he lifted her hand reverently to his lips, and so went forth into the night and the storm.
”Rose,” said the Commodore, interrupting her at the head of the stairs, ”who is it that has just gone?”
”Mr. Dunlop,” said his daughter hesitatingly; ”he overtook--he met--I met him on my way home, and he came with me.” The young girl's face was a flame, and her heart was a song. She felt that she was aggressively, barbarously happy, and tried to modify the unruly emotion out of deference to her father's antic.i.p.ated anger. He looked extremely annoyed.
”I am sorry to seem arbitrary,” he said, ”but in future, my dear, it will greatly oblige me if you will so conduct yourself towards that young man as to discourage him from meeting or overtaking you, or accompanying you home.”
”Very well, Papa.” Not a ray of light faded from her eyes, not a particle of warmth from her smile. She had heard him make similar remarks before, and they affected her the same as if he had said: ”It is yet winter; don't be deceived into supposing that spring-time is coming.” Ah! but under the snows of winter, what power can hinder the countless delicate roots of spring flowers from thrilling into life?
CHAPTER XV.
POLITICS AT THE CAPITAL.
But more was destined to burgeon into blossom than the flowers of spring. Allan Dunlop's fame as a politician had grown concurrently with the growth of his love. In the Legislature he had won for himself a prominent position, and was known as a sagacious counsellor, a persuasive speaker, a ready and effective debater, and a good steady worker on Committees. No name carried more weight in Parliament than his, and his influence in the country was as marked as was his influence in the House. This was as readily conceded by his political opponents as it was claimed by his friends. He had, moreover, a prepossessing manner, a comely presence, and a countenance which, when animated, was not wanting in expression or fire. He was, withal, the most modest and lovable of men; and had he not sat on the Opposition benches he would have been courted by the Tory supporters of the Government and been fawned upon by the leading members of ”The Family Compact.”
Allan Dunlop had, however, entered the House as a radical, but of a moderate type; and though he dealt the Executive many trenchant blows, and did yeoman service in advancing the cause of Reform, he was too loyal a man to rank with the ”heated enthusiasts” who were threatening to overturn the Const.i.tution and make a republic out of the colony, and too judicious and right-minded to affirm that the Administration of the Province was wholly evil and corrupt. On the contrary, while he insisted that the Executive should pay more deference to the voice of the Parliamentary majority, and so avoid the ever-cropping-up conflicts between the Administration and the popular Chamber, he recognized the fact that the evils complained of had their origin in defects in the Act which gave the Province its Const.i.tution; and being engrained in the paternal system of government that had long been in vogue could not possibly be at once and satisfactorily remedied.
It was true that in none of the other Provinces was power so firmly centralized in the hands of a dominant and exclusive cla.s.s, as was the case in Upper Canada. But this state of things, Allan Dunlop conceded, was a legacy from the period of military rule which followed the Conquest, and the natural consequence of appointing members to seats in the Executive and Legislative Councils _for life_. Dunlop was also well aware that the social condition of the Province, at that early period, tended to centre power and authority of necessity in the hands of a few leading men. All the public offices were in their gift; and the entire public domain, including the Crown and Clergy Land reserves, was also in their hands. Hence it was that through the patronage at their disposal the ”Family Compact” were enabled to fill the Lower House with their supporters and adherents, and, in large measure, to shape the Provincial Legislation, so as to maintain their hold of office and perpetuate a monopoly of power. That the ruling oligarchy used their positions autocratically, and kept a heavy hand upon the turbulent and disaffected, was true; but their respect for British inst.i.tutions, and their staunch loyalty to the Crown, at a time when republican sentiments were dangerously prevalent, were virtues which might well offset innumerable misdeeds, and square the account in any unprejudiced arraignment.
But though Allan Dunlop possessed a mind eminently fair and judicial, and, Reformer as he was, could dispa.s.sionately discuss the ”burning questions” of the time, there were abuses connected with the mode of governing which he stoutly strove to remedy, and injustice done to loyal settlers in the iniquitous land system that prevailed which roused his indignation and called forth many a bitter phillipic in the House. These trenchant attacks of the young land-surveyor were greatly feared by the Executive, and were the cause of much trepidation and uneasiness in the Legislative Council.
For a time Commodore Macleod, who had now returned to his accustomed duties in the Upper House, took pleasure in replying to Dunlop's attacks in the Lower Chamber; but the young Parliamentarian, though he treated his opponent with courtly deference, had so effective a way of demolis.h.i.+ng the Commodore's arguments and of genially turning the shafts of his invective upon his adversary, that he soon abandoned the attempt to break a lance with his young and able antagonist. Dunlop's temper was habitually sweet and always under command, and this gave him a great advantage over his sometimes irascible opponents. His manner, however, was at times fiery--especially when exposing cases of hards.h.i.+p and injustice, when his arraignment of the Executive was vehement and uncompromising. But the ”Family Compact” was at the period too firmly entrenched and b.u.t.tressed about by patronage for Allan Dunlop to effect much reform in the system of government, though his a.s.saults were keenly felt in the Upper House, and they made a powerful impression in the country, which heartily endorsed the young land-surveyor's strenuous appeals for the redress of long-existing abuses, and the concession of Responsible Government.
”What a n.o.ble fellow that young Dunlop is!” said Lady Sarah Maitland to her escort in the House, as the youthful tribune closed an impa.s.sioned appeal on behalf of settlers from the United States, who had been subjected to great hards.h.i.+ps and outrage by the tools of the Government.
”A pestilent rascal!” was the testy rejoinder of the old Commodore, who, with his daughter Rose, had accompanied her Ladys.h.i.+p on the day in question to the House of a.s.sembly.
”Nay! you shall not say that of him, Commodore, for I mean to invite him to accompany us to Stamford Cottage at the close of the Session, if he will give me that pleasure,” said Lady Sarah, warmly.
”Sir Peregrine will have something to say to that, Madame,” was the Commodore's blunt reply, ”and Mr. Attorney-General, here,” he added, ”ought to arrest you for wis.h.i.+ng to consort with seditious agitators and evil-disposed persons.”
”I think I ought to take you both into custody,” interposed Attorney-General Robinson, ”for spoiling with your quarrel the effect of young Dunlop's speech. It was admirable, both in tone and matter, and I shall at once look into the grievances he complained of. Don't you think, Miss Macleod, that your father is unreasonably prejudiced against the member for your section of the Home District?”
”I think him everything harsh and unpaternal when politics is the subject of conversation,” replied that young lady guardedly.
”Ah! politics is an unclean game,” observed the courtly leader of the House; ”but it would be vastly sweeter and cleaner were all our politicians of the type of Dunlop. I think him a grand fellow--but, I agree with you, Commodore, that he should be on the other side.”
”Or we should be on _his_ side, Mr. Attorney-General,” said Lady Sarah, with a meaning glance at Rose Macleod.
At this juncture, the Attorney-General, having to address the House, took leave of the ladies, and the Government House party rose and left the Chamber.