The Gipsy: A Tale (Vols I & II). G. P. R. James
at once amusing and admirable. He is, at the same time, the most skilful and indefatigable hunter that the world, perhaps, ever produced,--an accomplishment which renders him still more venerable in the eyes of the Indians, who, on account of all these qualities, have named him 'The White Father.'"[2]
"Delightful creature!" exclaimed Miss Falkland, with her beautiful eyes sparkling like diamonds; "but tell me, Colonel Manners, tell me, what is he like? Mamma, if you have no objection, I will go out and marry him."
"None in the world, my love!" answered Mrs. Falkland; "but, perhaps, it may be better, first, to send over and ask whether he will marry you."
"That he will of course," answered she: "but, Colonel Manners, you have not told me what he is like--in person I mean."
"Oh, he is fresh and hale as a life of exercise and a heart at rest can make him," replied Manners. "Indeed, he is as handsome a man as ever I saw."
"Oh, that will do exactly!" cried Miss Falkland, laughing. Colonel Manners smiled too; but there was a tinge of melancholy in his smile; for, however much he might have made up his mind to the fact, that personal beauty is an indispensable requisite to obtain woman's love, yet every little trait which served to confirm that opinion touched a gloomy chord in his bosom, which again called forth the tone of many a harmonizing feeling, and made somewhat sad music within.
"And pray, Colonel Manners," said Lord Dewry, with the cold, if not supercilious tone which he generally employed, "what may be the name of the wonderful person who does all these wonderful things?"
"The name, my lord," replied Colonel Manners coolly, "the name of the gentleman who went two hundred miles into the Indian country to save your son, Captain de Vaux from the tomahawk, without ever having seen him, is one known throughout the greater part of America,--Sir William Ryder."
Lord Dewry turned suddenly still paler than he was before; and then as red as fire. Whether it was that some feelings had been excited by that name with which he did not choose to trust his lips, or whether his emotion proceeded from temporary illness, did not appear; but he replied nothing; and Colonel Manners, by whom the peer's agitation had not been totally unmarked, went on. "If I remember right," he said, "I heard Sir William Ryder ask after your lordship's health from De Vaux, and say that he had known you many years ago in England."
"I once knew, sir," replied Lord Dewry, drawing himself up, "I once knew an unworthy blackguard of that name, who is now I believe, in America; but he has no right to claim acquaintance with me."
De Vaux looked at his father with astonishment, and then turned his eyes towards Manners, as if to pray him patience; but his friend was perfectly calm, and replied:--"Your lordship must allude to some different person, as the description does not at all correspond with him of whom I speak."
"No, no, sir," answered the baron, reddening, "I speak of the same person,--there can be no doubt of it,--a gambling beggar!"
"If you do speak of the same person, Lord Dewry," replied Colonel Manners, quite calmly, "I must beg of you to remember, that you speak of my friend; and in the presence of one who does not like to hear his friend's character assailed."
"Indeed, sir, indeed!" exclaimed Lord Dewry, rising; "do you kindly wish to dictate to me, in my sister's house, what I am to say of a person, who it seems, has formed an unfortunate intimacy with my own son; and is, as I said, a gambling beggar?"
Manners paused a moment. He and De Vaux were alike under deep obligations to the man of whom Lord Dewry spoke; and he felt that the language used by the peer was not only a gross personal insult to both of them, but especially to himself, who had been the means of introducing him to his companion, and who had the moment before bestowed such high and unqualified praise on the very person whom he now heard reviled. He remembered Lord Dewry's age and situation, however, and his own particular position, and endeavoured to moderate his reply as much as possible; though to pass the matter over in silence, or to leave the charges of the peer without direct contradiction, he felt to be impossible, as an officer, a man of honour, or the friend of Sir William Ryder.
"Your personal opinion, my lord," he answered, "you may, of course, express to your own son, or your own family whenever you like, provided it be not injurious to any friend of mine. In which last case I shall, as before, beg your lordship to refrain in my presence, for I am not a man to hear a friend calumniated in silence."
"Calumniated, sir! calumniated!" exclaimed Lord Dewry.
"Yes, sir, such was the word I made use of," replied Colonel Manners, "because the expressions you applied to Sir William Ryder were calumnious, if applied to my friend, whom a long life of noble actions raises above suspicion; but I trust and believe we are speaking of different persons."
"'Tis well, sir; 'tis very well!" replied Lord Dewry, appearing to grow somewhat cooler; "'tis extremely well!--I trust it is as you say. Give me a glass of soda-water. Maria, I shall now retire to rest; I am somewhat fatigued: my apartments are, I think, opposite the drawing-room. Good-night!--Colonel Manners, I wish you good-night!" And, bowing with low and bitter courtesy, he left the room.
Colonel Manners, whatever might be his feelings, and whatever might be his intentions, took no notice of what had passed after Lord Dewry left the room, although he could not but feel that he had been insulted by a man whose age protected him; but both Mrs. Falkland and De Vaux spoke upon the subject, after a moment's painful pause. The first apologized with dignified mildness for the occurrence, and assuring her visiter that something strange and extraordinary must have irritated her brother during the course of the day, or that he would not so far have forgot his usual bienséance; and the latter pressed his friend with kindly earnestness to forget what had occurred, and not to suffer it to affect his conduct, or abridge his stay.
Colonel Manners smiled, and suffered himself to be overcome: "You know, De Vaux, that I am not one to be driven from my position by the first fire," he said; "and as I suppose that Lord Dewry and myself will not meet very frequently after the present time, we shall have but few opportunities of being as agreeable to each other as we have been to-night."
Thus ended the conversation, and soon after the party separated, each grieving not a little that the harmony of the evening had been so unfortunately interrupted, when there was no reason to expect such an event.
The mind of man is a curious thing, in some respects not at all unlike an old Gothic castle, full of turnings and windings, long dark passages, spiral staircases, and secret corners. Among all these architectural involutions, too, the ideas go wandering about, generally very much at random, often get astray, often go into a wrong room and fancy it their own; and often, too, it happens that, when one of them is tripping along quite quietly, thinking that all is right, open flies a door; out comes another, and turns the first back again--sometimes rudely, blowing her candle out, and leaving her in the dark,--and sometimes taking her delicately by the tips of the fingers, and leading her to the very spot whence she set out at first.
Colonel Manners, retiring to his bedchamber, though he seldom, if ever, indulged in reveries of happiness which were never to be realized, could not help sitting down to think over the events of the evening, and the circle to which he had been introduced. In the first place, he took great care to turn the idea of Lord Dewry and his rudeness out of the castle, being a great economizer of pleasant thoughts; and then, with somewhat of a sigh (the sort of semi-singultus which people give to something irremediable in their own fate, while contemplating the state of another), he thought, "De Vaux is a very happy man! and yet," he continued, "though she is very beautiful, too, and evidently has deeper feelings beneath that calm exterior, yet, had I had to choose between the two cousins, I would have fixed upon the other." As he thus went on thinking, Colonel Manners began to remember that his thoughts might be treading upon dangerous ground: he did