Part 38 (1/2)
”You had but to ask, and you kneould be here,” he said
She gave hie ring on it The quarrel was all over The year of grief and estrangement was passed They never had been separated His mistress had never been out of his mind all that time No, not once No, not in the prison; nor in the camp; nor on shore before the eneht; nor as he watched the glorious rising of the dawn: not even at the table, where he sat carousing with friends, or at the theatre yonder, where he tried to fancy that other eyes were brighter than hers Brighter eyes there ht be, and faces more beautiful, but none so dear--no voice so sweet as that of his belovedhis youth--Goddess now no ht, by suffering, and that experience it brings, was older now than she; but more fondly cherished as woman perhaps than ever she had been adored as divinity
What is it? Where lies it? the secret which makes one little hand the dearest of all? Who ever can unriddle that mystery? Here she was, her son by his side, his dear boy Here she eeping and happy She took his hand in both hers; he felt her tears It was a rapture of reconciliation
”And Harry's co home to supper Huzzay! huzzay!” cries my lord
”Mother, I shall run home and bid Beatrix put her ribbons on Beatrix is a maid of honor, Harry Such a fine set-up minx!”
”Your heart was never in the Church, Harry,” thesaid, in her sweet low tone, as they walked away together (Now, it seeain, as if they had been ages asunder) ”I always thought you had no vocation that way; and that 'twas a pity to shut you out from the world You would but have pined and chafed at Castlewood: and 'tis better you should make a name for yourself I often said so to my dear lord How he loved you! 'Twas my lord that made you stay with us”
”I asked no better than to stay near you always,” said Mr Eso was best, Harry When the world cannot give peace, you will knohere to find it; but one of your strong ier desires must try the world first before he tires of it 'Twas not to be thought of, or if it once was, it was only by my selfishness, that you should reentleman and tutor to a little boy You are of the blood of the Esmonds, kinsman; and that was alild in youth Look at Francis He is but fifteen, and I scarce can keep his to serve in the next cao the next Lord Marlborough has been good to us You kno kind they were in my misfortune And so was your--your father's
No one kno good the world is, till grief cooodness that Beatrix hath her place at Court; and Frank is under er lady, your father's , has promised to provide for you--has she not?”
Esmond said, ”Yes As far as present favor went, Lady Castleas very good to hiaily, ”as ladies' h to bear my own burden, and make my way soenius for that than I, but there are ood parts and education can get on in the world; and I am pretty sure, one way or other, of promotion!” Indeed, he had found patrons already in the arst persons very able to serve hi aspect of fortune They walked as though they had never been parted, sloith the grey twilight closing round the near to home,” she continued, ”I knew you would co spoken unjustly to you after that horrid--horrid rief then when I saw you And I kno--they have told me That wretch, whose name I can never mention, even has said it: how you tried to avert the quarrel, and would have taken it on yourself, my poor child: but it was God's will that I should be punished, and thaton his death-bed,” Esacy!”
”A his arm ”I knew it
Mr Atterbury, of St Bride's, as called to him, told me so And I thanked God, too, and in my prayers ever since reht, had you told me sooner,” Mr
Esmond said
”I know it, I know it,” she answered, in a tone of such sweet humility, as made Esmond repent that he should ever have dared to reproach her ”I knoicked my heart has been; and I have suffered too, my dear
But I knew you would come back--I own that And to-day, Henry, in the anthe it, 'When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion, ere like theht yes, like them that dream--them that dream And then it went, 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy; and he that goeth forth and weepeth, shall doubtless co his sheaves with him;' I looked up from the book and saw you I was not surprised when I saw you I knew you would coold sunshi+ne round your head”
She smiled an almost wild slittering keen in the frosty sky He could see, for the first time now clearly, her sweet careworn face
”Do you knohat day it is?” she continued ”It is the 29th day of December--it is your birthday! But last year we did not drink it--no, no My lord was cold, and my Harry was likely to die: and my brain was in a fever; and we had no wine But no you are co your sheaves with you,as she spoke; she laughed and sobbed on the youngyour sheaves with you--your sheaves with you!”
As he had soht into the boundless starlit depths overhead, in a rapture of devout wonder at that endless brightness and beauty--in some such a way now, the depth of this pure devotion quite s Gracious God, as he, weak and friendless creature, that such a love should be poured out upon him? Not in vain--not in vain has he lived--hard and thankless should he be to think so--that has such a treasure given him What is ambition compared to that, but selfish vanity? To be rich, to be famous? What do these profit a year hence, when other names sound louder than yours, when you lie hidden away under the ground, along with idle titles engraven on your coffin?
But only true love lives after you--follows your --or precedes you, and intercedes for you _Non o, I yet live in a tender heart or two; nor a, if a sainted departed soul still loves and prays for me
FOOTNOTES:
[N] _From ”The History of Henry Esmond, Esq, a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne Written by himself”_
The late Lord Castlewood had been killed in a duel, and young Esmond, who had lived in his house as a dependant (reputed to have been illegitimately related to a for hi man confession and proof that he, the supposed obscure orphan, was the true inheritor, and in justice ought to have been the possessor, of the Castlewood titles and estates But Esmond, for the love he had borne his patron, and from devotion to Lady Castlewood, who had much befriended hiiven hie, and ever afterwards kept his claim a secret After the duel, while Esmond was in prison, Lady Castlewood visited hirief for hersaved her lord's life, or avenged his death In the estrangeht his fortune abroad in war; but subsequently, desiring to learn of the welfare of his mistress and her family, whose happiness he prized land, and went to Winchester, near which was Walcote, Lady Castlewood's ho service in the cathedral, and there the reconciliation took place--Es of Walcote, but the vacancy occurring while the estrangeiven it to one Mr Tusher
LXIV THE ISLAND OF THE SCOTS
(DECEMBER, 1697)
WILLIAM EDMONDSTOUNE AYTOUN--1813-1865
The Rhine is running deep and red, the island lies before,-- ”Now is there one of all the host will dare to venture o'er?
For not alone the river's sweep ht make a brave man quail; The foe are on the further side, their shot comes fast as hail
God help us, if the middle isle we may not hope to win!
Now is there any of the host will dare to venture in?”
”The ford is deep, the banks are steep, the island-shore lies wide; Nor man nor horse could stem its force, or reach the further side