Part 5 (1/2)
”And who is Rashleigh, for Heaven's sake?”
”Rashleigh is one ould fain have every one like hiest son--about your own age, but not so--not well looking, in short But nature has given him a mouthful of co; he is e call a very clever man in this country, where clever men are scarce Bred to the church, but in no hurry to take orders”
”To the Catholic Church?”
”The Catholic Church? what Church else?” said the young lady ”But I forgot--they told me you are a heretic Is that true, Mr Osbaldistone?”
”I e”
”And yet you have been abroad, and in Catholic countries?”
”For nearly four years”
”You have seen convents?”
”Often; but I have not seen ion”
”Are not the inhabitants happy?”
”Some are unquestionably so, whom either a profound sense of devotion, or an experience of the persecutions and misfortunes of the world, or a natural apathy of temper, has led into retirement Those who have adopted a life of seclusion from sudden and overstrained enthusiasm, or in hasty resentment of some disappointment or mortification, are very miserable The quickness of sensation soon returns, and like the wilder anierie, they are restless under confineer dimensions than theirs”
”And what,” continued Miss Vernon, ”becomes of those victims who are condemned to a convent by the will of others? what do they resemble? especially, what do they reses?”
”They are like i-birds,” replied I, ”condemned to wear out their lives in confineuile by the exercise of accomplishments which would have adorned society had they been left at large”
”I shall be,” returned Miss Vernon--”that is,” said she, correcting herself--”I should be rather like the wild haho, barred the free exercise of his soar through heaven, will dash hie But to return to Rashleigh,” said she, in a more lively tone, ”you will think him the pleasantest man you ever saw in your life, Mr Osbaldistone,--that is, for a week at least If he could find out a blind mistress, never man would be so secure of conquest; but the eye breaks the spell that enchants the ear--But here we are in the court of the old hall, which looks as wild and old-fashi+oned as any of its inreat toilette kept at Osbaldistone Hall, you s, they are so unpleasantly warm,--and the hat hurtsit off, and shaking down a profusion of sable ringlets, which, half laughing, half blushi+ng, she separated with her white slender fingers, in order to clear the hazel eyes If there was any coquetry in the action, it ell disguised by the careless indifference of herof the family from what I saw, I should suppose the toilette a very unnecessary care”
”That's very politely said--though, perhaps, I ought not to understand in what sense it was y for a little negligence when you st, whose forms no toilette could i, or rather clank, in a few minutes--it cracked of its own accord on the day of the landing of King Willie, andits prophetic talent, would never permit it to be ht, until I send soe”
She threw me the rein as if we had been acquainted from our childhood, jumped from her saddle, tripped across the courtyard, and entered at a side-door, leaving me in admiration of her beauty, and astonished with the over-frankness of her manners, which seemed the more extraordinary at a ti from the court of the Grand Monarque Louis XIV, prescribed to the fair sex an unusual severity of decoruh stationed in the centre of the court of the old hall,another inafforded little to interest a stranger, had I been disposed to consider it attentively; the sides of the quadrangle were of various architecture, and with their stone-shafted latticed s, projecting turrets, and massive architraves, resembled the inside of a convent, or of one of the older and less splendid colleges of Oxford I called for a domestic, but was for so, as I could perceive I was the object of curiosity to several servants, both , who popped out their heads and withdrew them, like rabbits in a warren, before I could make a direct appeal to the attention of any individual The return of the huntsmen and hounds relieved ot one down to relieve uide me to the presence of Sir Hildebrand This service he perforood-will, as a peasant who is couide to a hostile patrol; and in the sa es which conducted to ”Stun Hall,” as he called it, where I was to be introduced to the gracious presence ofvaulted rooe of oaken tables, of a weight and size too massive ever to be moved aside, were already covered for dinner This venerable apartenerations of the Osbaldistone fae antlers of deer, whichof Chevy Chace, were ranged around the walls, interspersed with the stuffed skins of badgers, otters, martins, and other animals of the chase Amidst soainst the Scotch, hung the uns of various device and construction, nets, fishi+ng-rods, otter-spears, hunting-poles, withgame A few old pictures, di on the walls, representing knights and ladies, honoured, doubtless, and renowned in their day; those frowning fearfully frohtfully with all their ht at the roses which they brandished in their hands
I had just tilance at these matters, when about twelve blue-coated servants burst into the hall withhis coht blocks and billets to the fire, which roared, blazed, and ascended, half in s wide enough to accommodate a stone seat within its ample vault, and which was fronted, by way of chie piece of heavy architecture, where the monsters of heraldry, erinned and ramped in red free-stone, now japanned by the s- dishes, loaded with substantial fare; others brought in cups, flagons, bottles, yea barrels of liquor All tra as little service with as th, while the dinner was, after various efforts, in the act of being arranged upon the board, ”the cla of whips, calculated for the intih, steps which, impressed by the heavy-heeled boots of the period, clattered like those in the statue of the Festin de Pierre, announced the arrival of those for whose benefit the preparations werethe servants rather increased than diminished as this crisis approached Some called to make haste,--others to take time,--some exhorted to stand out of the way, andsquires,--some to close round the table and be in the way,--so-doors which divided the hall fro-room, fitted up with black wainscot Opened the doors were at length, and in rushed curs and e doctor, my six cousins, and my uncle
CHAPTER SIXTH
The rude hall rocks--they come, they come,-- The din of voices shakes the do hty step--all proudly shake the crest Penrose
If Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone was in no hurry to greet his nephew, of whose arrival he must have been infore in excuse ”Had seen thee sooner, lad,” he exclaih shake of the hand, and a hearty welcome to Osbaldistone Hall, ”but had to see the hounds kennelled first Thou art welcome to the Hall, lad--here is thy cousin Percie, thy cousin Thornie, and thy cousin John--your cousin dick, your cousin Wilfred, and--stay, where's Rashleigh?--ay, here's Rashleigh--take thy long body aside Thornie, and let's see thy brother a bit--your cousin Rashleigh So, thy father has thought on the old Hall, and old Sir Hildebrand at last--better late than never--Thou art welcoh Where's my little Die?--ay, here she cohter--the prettiest girl in our dales, be the other who she ain soe, you ed about sixty, in a hunting suit which had once been richly laced, but whose splendour had been tarnished by many a Nove the abruptness of his present manner, had, at one period of his life, known courts and camps; had held a commission in the army which encamped on Hounslow Heath previous to the Revolution--and, recohted about the same period by the unfortunate and ill-advised Jaht's dreams of further preferment, if he ever entertained any, had died away at the crisis which drove his patron from the throne, and since that period he had spent a sequestered life upon his native do his rusticity, however, Sir Hildebrand retainedhis sons as the reroith ht have looked, if contrasted with the rough unhewn e, or any other Druidical temple The sons were, indeed, heavy unadorned blocks as the eye would desire to look upon Tall, stout, and comely, all and each of the five eldest seemed to want alike the Prorace and manner, which, in the polished world, sometimes supply mental deficiency Their ood-humour and content which was expressed in their heavy features, and their only pretence to accomplishment was their dexterity in field sports, for which alone they lived The strong Gyas, and the strong Cloanthus, are not less distinguished by the poet, than the strong Percival, the strong Thorncliff, the strong John, Richard, and Wilfred Osbaldistones, were by outward appearance
But, as if to indemnify herself for a uniformity so uncoh Osbaldistone a striking contrast in person and manner, and, as I afterwards learned, in temper and talents, not only to his brothers, but to most men whom I had hitherto met with When Percie, Thornie, and Co had respectively nodded, grinned, and presented their shoulder rather than their hand, as their father nah stepped forward, and welcomed me to Osbaldistone Hall, with the air and manner of a man of the world His appearance was not in itself prepossessing He was of low stature, whereas all his brethren seemed to be descendants of Anak; and while they were handso in person, was bull-necked and cross-made, and froait, so ed that it for orders; the Church of Ro none to the clerical profession who labours under any personal deforhtly defect to a mere aard habit, and contended that it did not amount to a personal disqualification froh were such, as, having looked upon, we in vain wish to banish from our memory, to which they recur as objects of painful curiosity, although ell upon theust It was not the actual plainness of his face, taken separately fro iular, but they were by no y eyebrows, redeeliness But there was in these eyes an expression of art and design, and, on provocation, a ferocity tempered by caution, which nature had noiven the rattle to the poisonous snake As if to coh Osbaldistone was possessed of a voice the most soft, mellow, and rich in its tones that I ever heard, and was at no loss for language of every sort suited to so fine an organ His first sentence of welcoreed with Miss Vernon, that my new kinsman would make an instant conquest of a e his cause He was about to place himself beside me at dinner, but Miss Vernon, who, as the only fe to her own pleasure, contrived that I should sit betwixt Thorncliff and herself; and it can scarce be doubted that I favoured this ement
”I want to speak with you,” she said, ”and I have placed honest Thornie betwixt Rashleigh and you on purpose He will be like-- Feather-bed 'twixt castle wall And heavy brunt of cannon ball, while I, your earliest acquaintance in this intellectual family, ask of you how you like us all?”
”A very co how short while I have been at Osbaldistone Hall”
”Oh, the philosophy of our fauishi+ng the individuals, which require the eye of an intelligent observer; but the species, as naturalists I believe call it, uished and characterized at once”
”My five elder cousins, then, are I presume of pretty nearly the same character”
”Yes, they foramekeeper, bully, horse-jockey, and fool; but as they say there cannot be found two leaves on the saled in soreeable variety for those who like to study character”
”Give me a sketch, if you please, Miss Vernon”
”You shall have theth--the favour is too easily granted to be refused Percie, the son and heir, has amekeeper, bully, horse-jockey, or fool--My precious Thornie is ast the hills, has amekeeper--The jockey is powerful with dickon, who rides two hundred ht and sold at a horse-race--And the fool predominates so much over Wilfred's other qualities, that he oodly collection, Miss Vernon, and the individual varieties belong to aspecies But is there no room on the canvas for Sir Hildebrand?”
”I love my uncle,” was her reply: ”I owe him some kindness (such it was meant for at least), and I will leave you to draw his picture yourself, when you know hilad there is some forbearance After all, ould have looked for such bitter satire fro, and so exquisitely beautiful?”
”You are thinking ofher dark eyes on h my very soul
”I certainly was,” I replied, with some embarrassment at the deterive a complimentary turn to my frank avowal--”How is it possible I should think of anything else, seated as I have the happiness to be?”
She shtiness as she alone could have thrown into her countenance ”I must inform you at once, Mr Osbaldistone, that compliments are entirely lost upon s--they serve fine gentlemen who travel in the country, instead of the toys, beads, and bracelets, which navigators carry to propitiate the savage inhabitants of newly-discovered lands Do not exhaust your stock in trade;--you will find natives in Northus will recommend you--on me they would be utterly throay, for I happen to know their real value”
I was silenced and confounded
”You re her lively and indifferent manner, ”of the fairy tale, where the man finds all the ed into pieces of slate I have cried down and ruined your whole stock of complimentary discourse by one unlucky observation But come, never mind it--You are belied, Mr Osbaldistone, unless you have entleed to recite to an unfortunate girl, auze, while he wears superfine cloth with eht say, are far preferable to your coet my unlucky sex; call me Tom Vernon, if you have a mind, but speak to me as you would to a friend and companion; you have no idea how much I shall like you”
”That would be a bribe indeed,” returned I
”Again!” replied Miss Vernon, holding up her finger; ”I told you I would not bear the shadow of a coed my uncle, who threatens you hat he calls a brimmer, I will tell you what you think of ed by eneral intercourse of the table having taken place, the continued and business-like clang of knives and forks, and the devotion of cousin Thorncliff on ht hand, and cousin dickon, who sate on Miss Vernon's left, to the huge quantities of meat hich they heaped their plates,us fro us to our tete-a-tete ”And now,” said I, ”give me leave to ask you frankly, Miss Vernon, what you suppose I a of you!--I could tell you what I really do think, but you have interdicted praise”
”I do not want your assistance I ahts without it You need not open the casee bold girl, half coquette, half ro attention by the freedom of her norant of what the Spectator calls the softer graces of the sex; and perhaps you think I have so you into admiration I should be sorry to shock your self-opinion, but you were never more mistaken All the confidence I have reposed in you, I would have given as readily to your father, if I thought he could have understood ent listeners as Sancho in the Sierra Morena, and when opportunity offers, I must speak or die I assure you I would not have told you a word of all this curious intelligence, had I cared a pin who knew it or knew it not”
”It is very cruel in you, Miss Vernon, to take away all particular marks of favour from your communications, but I must receive theh Osbaldistone in your doht, at this remark, and hastily answered, in a h! His ears are so acute when his selfishness is interested, that the sounds would reach hih the mass of Thorncliff's person, stuffed as it is with beef, venison-pasty, and pudding”
”Yes,” I replied; ”but peeping past the living screen which divides us, before I put the question, I perceived that Mr Rashleigh's chair was empty--he has left the table”