Alice, or the Mysteries — Complete
flame. And his affections had so long slept, and after long sleep the
passions wake with such giant strength! He felt now too well that the
last rose of life had bloomed for him; it was blighted in its birth, but
it could never be replaced. Henceforth, indeed, he should be alone, the
hopes of home were gone forever; and the other occupations of mind and
soul--literature, pleasure, ambition--were already forsworn at the very
age in which by most men they are most indulged!
O Youth! begin not thy career too soon, and let one passion succeed
in its due order to another; so that every season of life may have its
appropriate pursuit and charm!
The hours waned; still Maltravers stirred not; nor were his meditations
disturbed, except by occasional ejaculations from the four old
gentlemen, as between each deal they moralized over the caprices of the
cards.
At length, close beside him he heard that voice, the lightest sound
of which could send the blood rushing through his veins; and from his
retreat he saw Caroline and Evelyn, seated close by.
"I beg pardon," said the former, in a low voice,--"I beg pardon, Evelyn,
for calling you away; but I longed to tell you. The die is cast. Lord
Doltimore has proposed, and I have accepted him! Alas, alas! I half wish
I could retract!"
"Dearest Caroline!" said the silver voice of Evelyn, "for Heaven's
sake, do not thus wantonly resolve on your own unhappiness! You wrong
yourself, Caroline! you do, indeed! You are not the vain ambitious
character you affect to be! Ah, what is it you require? Wealth? Are you
not my friend; am I not rich enough for both? Rank? What can it give you
to compensate for the misery of a union without love? Pray, forgive
me for speaking thus. Do not think me presumptuous, or romantic; but,
indeed, indeed, I know from my own heart what yours must undergo!"
Caroline pressed her friend's hand with emotion.
"You are a bad comforter, Evelyn. My mother, my father, will preach a
very different doctrine. I am foolish, indeed, to be so sad in obtaining
the very object I have sought! Poor Doltimore! he little knows the
nature, the feelings of her whom he thinks he has made the happiest of
her sex; he little knows--" Caroline paused, turned pale as death, and
then went rapidly on, "but you, Evelyn, _you_ will meet the same fate;
we shall bear it together."
"No! no! do not think so! Where I give my hand, there shall I give my
heart."
At this time Maltravers half rose, and sighed audibly.
"Hush!" said Caroline, in alarm. At the same moment, the whist-table
broke up, and Cleveland approached Maltravers.
"I am at your service," said he; "I know you will not stay the supper.
You will find me in the next room; I am just going to speak to Lord
Saxingham." The gallant old gentleman then paid a compliment to the
young ladies, and walked away.
"So you too are a deserter from the ballroom!" said Miss Merton to
Maltravers as she rose.
"I am not very well; but do not let me frighten you away."
"Oh, no! I hear the music; it is the last quadrille before supper: and
here is my fortunate partner looking for me."
"I have been everywhere in search of you," said Lord Doltimore, in an
accent of tender reproach: "come, we are almost too late now."
Caroline put her arm into Lord Doltimore's, who hurried her into the
ballroom.
Miss Cameron looked irresolute whether or not to follow, when Maltravers
seated himself beside her; and the paleness of his brow, and something
that bespoke pain in the compressed lip, went at once to her heart. In
her childlike tenderness, she would have given worlds for the sister's
privilege of sympathy and soothing. The room was now deserted; they were
alone.
The words that he had overheard from Evelyn's lips, "Where I shall give
my hand, there shall I give my heart," Maltravers interpreted but in one
sense,--"she loved her betrothed;" and strange as it may seem, at that
thought, which put the last seal upon his fate, selfish anguish was less
felt than deep compassion. So young, so courted, so tempted as she
must be--and with such a protector!--the cold, the unsympathizing, the
heartless Vargrave! She, too, whose feelings, so warm, ever trembled on
her lip and eye. Oh! when she awoke from her dream, and knew whom she
had loved, what might be her destiny, what her danger!
"Miss Cameron," said Maltravers, "let me for one moment detain you; I
will not trespass long. May I once, and for the last time, assume the
austere rights of friendship? I have seen much of life, Miss Cameron,
and my experience has been purchased dearly; and harsh and hermit-like
as I may have grown, I have not outlived such feelings as you are well
formed to excite. Nay,"--and Maltravers smiled sadly--"I am not about to
compliment or flatter, I speak not to you as the young to the young; the
difference of our years, that takes away sweetness from flattery,
leaves still sincerity to friendship. You have inspired me with a deep
interest,--deeper than I thought that living beauty could ever rouse
in me again! It may be that something in the tone of your voice, your
manner, a nameless grace that I cannot define, reminds me of one whom
I knew in youth,--one who had not your advantages of education, wealth,
birth; but to whom Nature was more kind than Fortune."
He paused a moment; and without looking towards Evelyn, thus renewed,--
"You are entering life under brilliant auspices. Ah, let me hope that
the noonday will keep the promise of the dawn! You are susceptible,
imaginative; do not demand too much, or dream too fondly. When you are
wedded, do not imagine that wedded life is exempt from its trials and
its cares; if you know yourself beloved--and beloved you must be--do not
ask from the busy and anxious spirit of man all which Romance promises
and Life but rarely yields. And oh!" continued Maltravers, with an
absorbing and earnest passion, that poured forth its language with
almost breathless rapidity,--"if ever your heart rebels, if ever it be
dissatisfied, fly the false sentiment as a sin! Thrown, as from your
rank you must be, on a world of a thousand perils, with no guide so
constant and so safe as your own innocence, make not that world too dear
a friend. Were it possible that your own home ever could be lonely or
unhappy, reflect that to woman the unhappiest home is happier than all
excitement abroad. You will have a thousand suitors hereafter: believe
that the asp lurks under the flatterer's tongue, and resolve, come what
may, to be contented with your lot. How many have I known, lovely and
pure as you, who have suffered the very affections--the very beauty of
their nature--to destroy them! Listen to me as a warner, as a brother,
as a pilot who has passed the seas on which your vessel is about to
launch. And ever, ever let me know, in whatever lands your name may
reach me, that one who has brought back to me all my faith in human
excellence, while the idol of our sex, is the glory of her own. Forgive
me this strange impertinence; my heart is full, and has overflowed. And
now, Miss Cameron--Evelyn Cameron--this is my last offence, and my last
farewell!"
He held out his hand, and involuntarily, unknowingly, she clasped it, as
if to detain him till she could summon words to reply. Suddenly he heard
Lord Vargrave's voice behind. The spell was broken; the next moment
Evelyn was alone, and the throng swept into the room towards the
banquet, and laughter and gay voices were heard, and Lord Vargrave was
again by Evelyn's side!
CHAPTER IV.
To you
This journey is devoted.
_Lover's Progress_, Act iv. sc. 1.
AS Cleveland and Maltravers returned homeward, the latter abruptly
checked the cheerful garrulity of his friend. "I have a favour, a great
favour to ask of you."
"And what is that?"
"Let us leave Burleigh tomorrow; I care not at what hour; we need go but
two or three stages if you are fatigued."
"Most hospitable host! and why?"
"It is torture, it is agony to me, to breathe the air of Burleigh,"
cried Maltravers, wildly. "Can you not guess my secret? Have I then
concealed it so well? I love, I adore Evelyn Cameron, and she is
betrothed to--she loves--another!"
Mr. Cleveland was breathless with amaze; Maltravers had indeed so well
concealed his secret, and now his emotion was so impetuous, that it
startled and alarmed the old man, who had never himself experienced a
passion, though he had indulged a sentiment. He sought to console
and soothe; but after the first burst of agony, Maltravers recovered
himself, and said gently,--
"Let us never return to this subject again: it is right that I should
conquer this madness, and conquer it I will! Now you know my weakness,
you will indulge it. My cure, cannot commence until I can no longer see
from my casements the very roof that shelters the affianced bride of
another."
"Certainly, then, we will set off to-morrow: my friend! is it indeed--"
"Ah, cease," interrupted the proud man; "no compassion, I implore: give
me but time and silence,--they are the only remedies."
Before noon the next day, Burleigh was once more deserted by its lord.
As the carriage drove through the village, Mrs. Elton saw it from
her open window; but her patron, too absorbed at that hour even for
benevolence, forgot her existence and yet so complicated are the webs of
fate, that in the breast of that lowly stranger was locked a secret of
the most vital moment to Maltravers.
"Where is he going; where is the squire going?" asked Mrs. Elton,
anxiously.
"Dear heart!" said the cottager, "they do say he be going for a short
time to foren parts. But he will be back at Christmas."
"And at Christmas I may be gone hence forever," muttered the invalid;
"but what will that matter to him--to any one?"
At the first stage Maltravers and his friend were detained a short time
for the want of horses. Lord Raby's house had been filled with guests on
the preceding night, and the stables of this little inn, dignified with
the sign of the Raby Arms, and about two miles distant from the great
man's place, had been exhausted by numerous claimants returning homeward
from Knaresdean. It was a quiet, solitary post-house, and patience, till
some jaded horses should return, was the only remedy; the host, assuring
the travellers that he expected four horses every moment, invited them
within. The morning was cold, and the fire not unacceptable to Mr.
Cleveland; so they went into the little parlour. Here they found an
elderly gentleman of very prepossessing appearance, who was waiting
for the same object. He moved courteously from the fireplace as the
travellers entered, and pushed the "B-----shire Chronicle" towards
Cleveland: Cleveland bowed urbanely. "A cold day, sir; the autumn begins
to show itself."
"It is true, sir," answered the old gentleman; "and I feel the cold the
more, having just quitted the genial atmosphere of the South."
"Of Italy?"
"No, of England only. I see by this paper (I am not much of a
politician) that there is a chance of a dissolution of parliament, and
that Mr. Maltravers is likely to come forward for this county; are you
acquainted with him, sir?"
"A little," said Cleveland, smiling.
"He is a man I am much interested in," said the old gentleman; "and I
hope soon to be honoured with his acquaintance."
"Indeed! and you are going into his neighbourhood?" asked Cleveland,
looking more attentively at the stranger, and much pleased with a
certain simple candour in his countenance and manner.
"Yes, to Merton Rectory."
Maltravers, who had been hitherto stationed by the window, turned round.
"To Merton Rectory?" repeated Cleveland. "You are acquainted with Mr.
Merton, then?"
"Not yet; but I know some of his family. However, my visit is rather to