Part 18 (2/2)
”But how did people unknown at home work themselves into such a position?”
”They did not work themselves into it all--they took it at once, by the only right which Americans have to any position abroad--the right of their own fitness for it. Mr. Grahame, besides his high attainments in science, and his skill in mechanics, which first introduced him to the Emperor, is a man of fine appearance, of very extensive information, and very agreeable manners, and Mrs. Grahame is one of the most beautiful and cultivated women I know. I repeat, you cannot enter society here under better auspices than theirs.”
And thus the long-severed friends met in reversed positions; and if something of triumph did flash from Lilian's eyes, as she saw her husband, day after day, procuring from the Emperor's favor, privileges for Mr. and Mrs. Walker, not often enjoyed by strangers, her triumph was for him, and may be excused.
After eight years spent in Russia, during which he had acquired fortune as well as fame, Michael Grahame returned to America, with his wife and three lovely children, and retired to a beautiful country seat within a mile of Mossgiel, purchased and furnished for him during his absence.
His father still cultivates his garden, though he has ceased to sell its produce, and through those flowery walks Lilian and her husband still delight to wander, recalling the happy memories with which they are linked, with grateful and adoring hearts.
”I shall never object again to any woman in whom I am interested, marrying the man of her choice, because he is only a mechanic,” said Mrs. Trevanion to her husband, as they were returning one day from a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Grahame.
”There, my dear, in those words, _only a mechanic_, lies our mistake, the world's mistake, in such matters. No man is _only_ what his trade, his profession, or his position in life makes him. Every man is something besides this, something by force of his own inherent personal qualities. By these the true man is formed, and by these he should be judged.”
CHAPTER XII.
Again we were all a.s.sembled in the parlor in which so many of our cheerful evenings had been spent, but a shadow seemed to have fallen on our little circle. The New-Year was now close in its approach, and immediately after the commencement of the New-Year we must separate. Mr.
and Mrs. Dudley, with their children, and Mr. and Mrs. Seagrove, with theirs, and Mr. Arlington and I, must all leave within a day or two of each other, and a year, with all its chances and changes, will probably intervene before we meet again. The very thought, as I have said, threw a shadow upon us; but Col. Donaldson, who is a most inveterate foe to sadness, would not suffer us to yield unresistingly to its influence. If our time was short, the greater the necessity for crowding enjoyment into its every moment, he said: we could spare none of it for lamentations.
”Now, Aunt Nancy,” he continued, ”if I am not mistaken, you can match Mr. Arlington's story with one quite as romantic, of an extraordinary marriage in high life. Do you remember Lady Houstoun and her son Edward Houstoun--”
”Oh, yes!” I cried, interrupting him, ”and the beautiful Lucy Watson too.”
”Then I am sure you must have their story somewhere in your bundle of romances.”
”I believe I have,” I replied, as opening my desk I drew out package after package, the amus.e.m.e.nt of many an hour, which but for such a resource might have been sad in its loneliness. Some were looking fresh and new, and others yellow from age. Among the latter was that for which I was searching, and which Annie insists that I shall give to the reader, under the t.i.tle of
LOVE AND PRIDE.
A proud and stately dame was Lady Houstoun, as she continued to be called after the independence of America had rendered such t.i.tles valueless in our land. Sir Edward Houstoun was an English baronet, whose estates had once been a fit support to his ancient t.i.tle, but whose family had suffered deeply, both in purse and person, by their loyalty to Charles the First, and yet more by their obstinate adherence to his bigot son, James II. By a marriage with Louisa Vivian, an American heiress possessed of broad lands and a large amount of ready money, Sir Edward acquired the power of supporting his rank with all the splendor that had belonged to his family in the olden time; but circ.u.mstances connected with the poverty of his early years had given the young baronet a disgust to his own circle, which was not alleviated by the rapid changes effected by his newly-acquired wealth, and he preferred returning to America with his young bride, and adopting her country as his own. Here wealth sufficient for their most extravagant desires was theirs--houses in New-York, and fertile acres stretching far away from the city, now sweeping for many a rood the banks of the fair Hudson, and now reaching back into the rich lands that lie east of that river. When the separation of this country from England came, the representative of her most loyal family, whose motto was ”_Dieu et mon Roi_” was found in the ranks of republican America. ”He could not,” he said, ”recognize a divine right in the House of Hanover to the throne of the Stuarts, or justify by any human reason the blind subservience of Americans to the ruinous enactments of an English parliament, controlled by a rash and headstrong minister and a wayward king.” Ten years after the proclamation of peace Sir Edward died, leaving one son who had just entered his twentieth year.
Young as Edward Houstoun was, he had a man's decision of character; and when the question of his a.s.suming his father's t.i.tle, and claiming the estates attached to it in England, was submitted to him, he replied that ”his proudest t.i.tle was that of an American citizen, and he would not forfeit that t.i.tle to become a royal duke.” He could therefore inherit only his father's personal property, consisting princ.i.p.ally of plate, jewels and paintings. The property thus received was all which the young Edward Houstoun could call his own. All else was his mother's, and though it would doubtless be his at her death, the Lady Houstoun was not one to relinquish the reins of government before that inevitable hour should wrest them from her hand. She made her son a very handsome allowance, however, and, with a higher degree of generosity than any pecuniary grant could evince, she never attempted to control his actions, suffering him to enjoy his sports in the country and amus.e.m.e.nts in the city without constraint. The Lady Houstoun was a wise woman, as well as an affectionate mother. She saw well that her son's independent and proud nature might be attracted by kindness to move whither she would, while the very appearance of constraint would drive him in an opposite direction. On one subject he greatly tried her forbearance--the unbecoming levity, as she esteemed it, with which he regarded the big-wigged gentlemen and hooped and farthingaled ladies whose portraits ornamented their picture gallery. For only one of these did Edward profess the slightest consideration. This was that of the simple soldier whose gallantry under William the Conqueror had laid the foundation of his family fortunes and honors.
”Dear mother,” said he one day, ”what proof have we that those other fine gentlemen and ladies deserved the wealth and station which, through his n.o.ble qualities, they obtained?”
”Sir James Houstoun, my son, who devoted life and fortune to his king--”
”Pardon me, n.o.ble Sir James,” interrupted Edward, bowing low and with mock gravity to the portrait, ”I will place you and your stern-looking son there at your side next in my veneration to our first ancestor. Yet you showed that, like me, you had little value for wealth or station.”
”Edward!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lady Houstoun, in an accent of displeasure, ”that we are willing to sacrifice a possession at the call of duty does not prove us insensible of its value.”
”Nay, mother mine, speak not so gravely, but acknowledge that you would be prouder of your boy if you saw him by his own energies winning his way to distinction from earth's lowliest station, than you can be of him now--idler as he is.”
”There is no less merit, Edward, in using aright the gifts which we inherit, than in acquiring them. There is as much energy, I can a.s.sure you, demanded in the proper management of large estates, and the right direction of the influence derived from station--ay, often more energy, the exercise of higher powers, than those by which a fortunate soldier, in time of war, may often spring in a day from nameless poverty to wealth and rank.”
The Lady Houstoun's still fine figure was elevated to its utmost height as she spoke, and her dark eye flashed out from beneath the shadow of the deep borders of her widow's cap. A stranger would have gazed on her with admiration, but her son turned away with a slight shrug of the shoulders and a curling lip, as he said to himself, ”My mother may feel all this, for she manages the estates, and she bestows the influence--while I _amuse myself_. Mother,” he added aloud, ”they say there is fine sport in the neighborhood of the Glen, and I should like to see the place. I will take a party thither next week, if you will write to your farmer to prepare the house for us.”
”I will, Edward, certainly, if you desire it, but it has been so long since any of us were there, that I fear you will find the house very uncomfortable.”
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