CHAPTER XIII.

_In Which Captain Armine Finds Reason to Believe in the

Existence of Fairies._

IT IS difficult to describe the restlessness of Ferdinand Armine. His

solitary dinner was an excuse for quitting Glastonbury: but to eat is

as impossible as to sleep, for a man who is really in love. He took a

spoonful of soup, and then jumping up from his chair, he walked up and

down the room, thinking of Henrietta Temple. Then to-morrow occurred

to him, and that other lady that to-morrow was to bring. He drowned the

thought in a bumper of claret. Wine, mighty wine! thou best and surest

consolation! What care can withstand thy inspiring influence! from what

scrape canst thou not, for the moment, extricate the victim! Who can

deny that our spiritual nature in some degree depends upon our corporeal

condition? A man without breakfast is not a hero; a hero well fed is

full of audacious invention. Everything depends upon the circulation.

Let but the blood flow freely, and a man of imagination is never without

resources. A fine pulse is a talisman; a charmed life; a balance at

our bankers. It is good luck; it is eternity; it is wealth. Nothing can

withstand us; nothing injure us; it is inexhaustible riches. So felt

Ferdinand Armine, though on the verge of a moral precipice. To-morrow!

what of to-morrow? Did to-morrow daunt him? Not a jot. He would wrestle

with to-morrow, laden as it might be with curses, and dash it to the

earth. It should not be a day; he would blot it out of the calendar

of time; he would effect a moral eclipse of its influence. He loved

Henrietta Temple. She should be his. Who could prevent him? Was he not

an Armine? Was he not the near descendant of that bold man who passed

his whole life in the voluptuous indulgence of his unrestrained

volition! Bravo! he willed it, and it should be done. Everything yields

to determination. What a fool! what a miserable craven fool had he been

to have frightened himself with the flimsy shadows of petty worldly

cares! He was born to follow his own pleasure; it was supreme; it was

absolute; he was a despot; he set everything and everybody at defiance;

and, filling a huge tumbler to the health of the great Sir Ferdinand, he

retired, glorious as an emperor.

On the whole, Ferdinand had not committed so great an indiscretion as

the reader, of course shocked, might at first imagine. For the first

time for some days he slept, and slept soundly. Next to wine, a

renovating slumber perhaps puts us in the best humour with our destiny.

Ferdinand awoke refreshed and sanguine, full of inventive life, which

soon developed itself in a flow of improbable conclusions. His most

rational scheme, however, appeared to consist in winning Henrietta

Temple, and turning pirate, or engaging in the service of some distant

and disturbed state. Why might he not free Greece, or revolutionize

Spain, or conquer the Brazils? Others had embarked in these bold

enterprises; men not more desperate than himself, and not better

qualified for the career. Young, courageous, a warrior by profession,

with a name of traditionary glory throughout the courts of Christendom,

perhaps even remembered in Asia, he seemed just the individual to carve

out a glorious heritage with his sword. And as for his parents, they

were not in the vale of years; let them dream on in easy obscurity, and

maintain themselves at Armine until he returned to redeem his hereditary

domain. All that was requisite was the concurrence of his adored

mistress. Perhaps, after all his foolish fears and all his petty

anxiety, he might live to replace upon her brow the ancient coronet

of Tewkesbury! Why not? The world is strange; nothing happens that we

anticipate: when apparently stifled by the common-place, we are on the

brink of stepping into the adventurous. If he married Miss Grandison,

his career was closed: a most unnatural conclusion for one so young and

bold. It was evident that he must marry Henrietta Temple: and then? Why

then something would happen totally unexpected and unforeseen. Who could

doubt it? Not he!

He rose, he mounted his horse, and galloped over to Ducie Common. Its

very aspect melted his heart. He called at the cottages he had visited

two days before. Without enquiring after Miss Temple, he contrived

to hear a thousand circumstances relating to her which interested and

charmed him. In the distance rose the woods of Ducie; he gazed upon

them as if he could never withdraw his sight from their deep and silent

forms. Oh, that sweet bower! Why was there any other world but Ducie?

All his brave projects of war, and conquest, and imperial plunder,

seemed dull and vain now. He sickened at the thought of action. He

sighed to gather roses, to listen to songs sweeter than the nightingale,

and wander for ever in moon-lit groves.

He turned his horse’s head: slowly and sorrowfully he directed his

course to Armine. Had they arrived? The stern presence of reality was

too much for all his slight and glittering visions. What was he, after

all? This future conqueror was a young officer on leave, obscure except

in his immediate circle, with no inheritance, and very much in debt;

awaited with anxiety by his affectionate parents, and a young lady

whom he was about to marry for her fortune! Most impotent epilogue to a

magnificent reverie!

The post arrived at Armine in the afternoon. As Ferdinand, nervous as

a child returning to school, tardily regained home, he recognised the

approaching postman. Hah! a letter? What was its import? The blessing of

delay? or was it the herald of their instant arrival? Pale and sick at

heart, he tore open the hurried lines of Katherine. The maiden aunt had

stumbled while getting out of a pony phaeton, and experienced a serious

accident; their visit to Armine was necessarily postponed. He read

no more. The colour returned to his cheek, reinforced by his heart’s

liveliest blood. A thousand thoughts, a thousand wild hopes and wilder

plans, came over him. Here was, at least, one interposition in his

favour; others would occur. He felt fortunate. He rushed to the tower,

to tell the news to Glastonbury. His tutor ascribed his agitation to the

shock, and attempted to console him. In communicating the intelligence,

he was obliged to finish the letter; it expressed a hope that, if their

visit were postponed for more than a day or two, Katherine’s dearest

Ferdinand would return to Bath.

Ferdinand wandered forth into the park to enjoy his freedom. A burden

had suddenly fallen from his frame; a cloud that had haunted his vision

had vanished. To-day, that was so accursed, was to be marked now in his

calendar with red chalk. Even Armine pleased him; its sky was brighter,

its woods more vast and green. They had not arrived; they would not

arrive to-morrow, that was certain; the third day, too, was a day of

hope. Why! three days, three whole days of unexpected, unhoped-for

freedom, it was eternity! What might not happen in three days! For three

days he might fairly remain in expectation of fresh letters. It could

not be anticipated, it was not even desired, that he should instantly

repair to them. Come, he would forget this curse, he would be happy. The

past, the future, should be nothing; he would revel in the auspicious

present.

Thus communing with himself, he sauntered along, musing over Henrietta

Temple, and building bright castles in the air. A man engaged with his

ideas is insensible of fatigue. Ferdinand found himself at the Park

gate that led to Ducie; intending only a slight stroll, he had already

rambled half way to his beloved. It was a delicious afternoon: the heat

of the sun had long abated; the air was sweet and just beginning to

stir; not a sound was heard, except the last blow of the woodman’s

axe, or the occasional note of some joyous bird waking from its siesta.

Ferdinand passed the gate; he entered the winding road, the road that

Henrietta Temple had so admired; a beautiful green lane with banks

of flowers and hedges of tall trees. He strolled along, our happy

Ferdinand, indefinite of purpose, almost insensible whether he were

advancing or returning home. He plucked the wild flowers, and pressed

them to his lips, because she had admired them; rested on a bank,

lounged on a gate, cut a stick from the hedge, traced Henrietta Temple

in the road, and then turned the words into Henrietta Armine, and

so--and so--and so, he, at length, stared at finding himself on Ducie

Common.

Beautiful common! how he loved it! How familiar every tree and rustic

roof had become to him! Could he ever forget the morning he had bathed

in those fresh waters! What lake of Italy, what heroic wave of the

midland ocean, could rival in his imagination that simple basin! He drew

near to the woods of Ducie, glowing with the setting sun. Surely there

was no twilight like the twilight of this land! The woods of Ducie are

entered. He recognised the path over which she had glided; he knelt down

and kissed that sacred earth. As he approached the pleasure grounds, he

turned off into a side path that he might not be perceived; he caught,

through a vista, a distant glimpse of the mansion. The sight of that

roof wherein he had been so happy; of that roof that contained all that

he cared for or thought of in this world, overcame him. He leant against

a tree, and hid his face.

The twilight died away, the stars stole forth, and Ferdinand ventured in

the spreading gloom of night to approach the mansion. He threw himself

upon the turf, and watched the chamber where she lived. The windows

were open, there were lights within the room, but the thin curtains were

drawn, and concealed the inmates. Happy, happy chamber! All that was

bright and fair and sweet were concentrated in those charming walls!

The curtain is withdrawn; an arm, an arm which cannot be mistaken, pulls

back the drapery. Is she coming forth? No, she does not; but he sees,

distinctly he sees her. She sits in an old chair that he had often

praised; her head rests upon her arm, her brow seems pensive; and in her

other hand she holds a volume that she scarcely appears to read. Oh! may

he gaze upon her for ever! May this celestial scene, this seraphic

hour, never pass away. Bright stars! do not fade; thou summer wind that

playest upon his brow, perfumed by her flowers, refresh him for ever;

beautiful night be for ever the canopy of a scene so sweet and still;

let existence glide away in gazing on yon delicate and tender vision!

Dreams of fantastic love: the curtain closes; a ruder hand than hers has

shut her from his sight! It has all vanished; the stars seem dim, the

autumnal air is dank and harsh; and where he had gazed on heaven, a bat

flits wild and fleet. Poor Ferdinand, unhappy Ferdinand, how dull and

depressed our brave gallant has become! Was it her father who had closed

the curtain? Could he himself, thought Ferdinand, have been observed?

Hark! a voice softer and sweeter than the night breaks upon the air.

It is the voice of his beloved; and, indeed, with all her singular

and admirable qualities, there was not anything more remarkable about

Henrietta Temple than her voice. It was a rare voice; so that in

speaking, and in ordinary conversation, though there was no one whose

utterance was more natural and less unstudied, it forcibly affected you.

She could not give you a greeting, bid you an adieu, or make a routine

remark, without impressing you with her power and sweetness. It sounded

like a bell, sweet and clear and thrilling; it was astonishing what

influence a little word, uttered by this woman, without thought, would

have upon those she addressed. Of such fine clay is man made.

That beautiful voice recalled to Ferdinand all his fading visions; it

renewed the spell which had recently enchanted him; it conjured up again

all those sweet spirits that had a moment since hovered over him with

their auspicious pinions. He could not indeed see her; her form was

shrouded, but her voice reached him; a voice attuned to tenderness, even

to love; a voice that ravished his ear, melted his soul, and blended

with his whole existence. His heart fluttered, his pulse beat high,

he sprang up, he advanced to the window! Yes! a few paces alone divide

them: a single step and he will be at her side. His hand is outstretched

to clutch the curtain, his------, when suddenly the music ceased. His

courage vanished with its inspiration. For a moment he lingered, but his

heart misgave him, and he stole back to his solitude.

What a mystery is Love! All the necessities and habits of our life sink

before it. Food and sleep, that seem to divide our being as day and

night divide Time, lose all their influence over the lover. He is a

spiritualised being, fit only to live upon ambrosia, and slumber in an

imaginary paradise. The cares of the world do not touch him; its most

stirring events are to him but the dusty incidents of bygone annals. All

the fortune of the world without his mistress is misery; and with her

all its mischances a transient dream. Revolutions, earthquakes, the

change of governments, the fall of empires, are to him but childish

games, distasteful to a manly spirit. Men love in the plague, and forget

the pest, though it rages about them. They bear a charmed life, and

think not of destruction until it touches their idol, and then they die

without a pang, like zealots for their persecuted creed. A man in love

wanders in the world as a somnambulist, with eyes that seem open to

those that watch him, yet in fact view nothing but their own inward

fancies.

Oh! that night at Ducie, through whose long hours Ferdinand Armine, in a

tumult of enraptured passion, wandered in its lawns and groves, feeding

on the image of its enchanting mistress, watching the solitary light in

her chamber that was to him as the pharos to a mariner in a tumultuous

voyage! The morning, the grey cold morning, came at last; he had

outwatched the stars, and listened to the matins of the waking birds. It

was no longer possible to remain in the gardens unobserved; he regained

the common.

What should he do! whither should he wend his course? To Armine? Oh!

not to Armine; never could he return to Armine without the heart of

Henrietta Temple. Yes! on that great venture he had now resolved; on

that mighty hazard all should now be staked. Reckless of consequences,

one vast object now alone sustained him. Existence without her was

impossible! Ay! a day, a day, a single, a solitary day, should not

elapse without his breathing to her his passion, and seeking his fate

from her dark eyes.

He strolled along to the extremity of the common. It was a great table

land, from whose boundary you look down on small rich valleys; and into

one of these, winding his way through fields and pastures, of which

the fertile soil was testified by their vigorous hedgerows, he now

descended. A long, low farmhouse, with gable ends and ample porch,

an antique building that in old days might have been some manorial

residence, attracted his attention. Its picturesque form, its angles and

twisted chimneys, its porch covered with jessamine and eglantine, its

verdant homestead, and its orchard rich with ruddy fruit, its vast barns

and long lines of ample stacks, produced altogether a rural picture

complete and cheerful. Near it a stream, which Ferdinand followed, and

which, after a devious and rapid course, emptied itself into a deep

and capacious pool, touched by the early sunbeam, and grateful to the

swimmer’s eye. Here Ferdinand made his natural toilet; and afterwards

slowly returning to the farm-house, sought an agreeable refuge from the

sun in its fragrant porch.

The farmer’s wife, accompanied by a pretty daughter with downcast eyes,

came forth and invited him to enter. While he courteously refused her

offer, he sought her hospitality. The good wife brought a table and

placed it in the porch, and covered it with a napkin purer than snow.

Her viands were fresh eggs, milk warm from the cow, and bread she had

herself baked. Even a lover might feed on such sweet food. This happy

valley and this cheerful settlement wonderfully touched the fancy of

Ferdinand. The season was mild and sunny, the air scented by the flowers

that rustled in the breeze, the bees soon came to rifle their sweetness,

and flights of white and blue pigeons ever and anon skimmed along the

sky from the neighbouring gables that were their dovecotes. Ferdinand

made a salutary, if not a plenteous meal; and when the table

was removed, exhausted by the fatigue and excitement of the last

four-and-twenty hours, he stretched himself at full length in the porch,

and fell into a gentle and dreamless slumber.

Hours elapsed before he awoke, vigorous indeed, and wonderfully

refreshed; but the sun had already greatly declined. To his

astonishment, as he moved, there fell from his breast a beautiful

nosegay. He was charmed with this delicate attention from his hostess,

or perhaps from her pretty daughter with those downcast eyes. There

seemed a refinement about the gift, and the mode of its offering, which

scarcely could be expected from these kind yet simple rustics. The

flowers, too, were rare and choice; geraniums such as are found only in

lady’s bower, a cape jessamine, some musky carnations, and a rose that

seemed the sister of the one that he had borne from Ducie. They were

delicately bound together, too, by a bright blue riband, fastened by

a gold and turquoise pin. This was most strange; this was an adventure

more suitable to a Sicilian palace than an English farm-house; to the

gardens of a princess than the clustered porch of his kind hostess.

Ferdinand gazed at the bouquet with a glance of blended perplexity

and pleasure; then he entered the farmhouse and made enquiries of his

hostess, but they were fruitless. The pretty daughter with the downcast

eyes was there too; but her very admiration of the gift, so genuine and

unrestrained, proved, if testimony indeed were necessary, that she was

not his unknown benefactor: admirer, he would have said; but Ferdinand

was in love, and modest. All agreed no one, to their knowledge, had been

there; and so Ferdinand, cherishing his beautiful gift, was fain to quit

his new friends in as much perplexity as ever.