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[-109-]
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE DREAM.
THREE weeks passed away in a most agreeable manner, and Richard frequently
expressed his gratitude to Armstrong for the pleasure he had procured him by
this visit.
The more he saw of Count Alteroni's daughter, the more he was
compelled to admire her personal and mental qualifications. But he felt somewhat
annoyed when he discovered that Captain Smilax Dapper was paying his addresses
to her: for he was interested in so charming a young lady, and would have
regretted to see her throw herself away on such a coxcomb. He did not however
find that Isabella gave the captain any encouragement: on the contrary he had
frequently seen an erratic smile of contempt upon her lips when the military
aspirant to her hand uttered an absurdity or indulged in an air of affectation.
By the constant and unvaried respect, and the absence of all
familiarity on the part of Dapper towards the lovely Italian, Markham also
argued that he had not as yet declared his sentiments, because had he been a
favoured suitor, the truth would have betrayed itself in some trifling manner or
another. Moreover, as Isabella conducted herself in only just the same friendly
way towards Captain Dapper as she manifested towards her lather's other guests,
Richard saw no reason to believe that this passion was reciprocal.
Markham was thrown much in the signora's society during his
visit at her father's house. He soon perceived that she preferred a conversation
upon edifying and intellectual subjects to the frivolous chit-chat of Sir Cherry
Bounce and Captain Dapper; and he frequently found himself carrying an a
lengthened discourse upon music, poetry, painting and Italian literature, while
the others were amusing themselves in the billiard or smoking. rooms. But Isabel
was no blue-stocking; she was full of vivacity and life, and her conversation
was sprightly and agreeable, even when turning upon those serious subjects.
In a few days after Richard's arrival, it was always [-110-]
he who turned the leaves of Isabella's music-book, "because Captain
Dapper didn't know when ;" she always took his arm when they walked round
the shrubbery and garden after breakfast, "because Captain Dapper was
constantly leaving her to play Sir Cherry some trick ;" and somehow or
another at meal-times, Richard and Isabella were invariably seated next to each
other.
Such was the state of things at the expiration of three
weeks, to which extent, although contrary to the original proposal of Armstrong,
the visit had already extended; and Captain Smilax Dapper more than once fancied
that he saw a rival in Richard Markham. At length he determined to communicate
his suspicions to his friend Sir Cherry Bounce - a resolution which he carried
into effect in the following manner.
"Cherry, my dear fellow," said he, one morning,
taking the effeminate young baronet with him into the garden, up the gravel
walks of which he walked in a very excited state; " Cherry, my dear fellow,
I have something upon my mind, strike me! and I wish to unburden myself to
you."
"Do you, Thmilackth? What can pothibly be the matter?
" demanded the youth, turning very pale. "Ith it veway terwible?
becauth if it ith, I had better call the count, and he will bwing hith
blunderbuth."
"Strike me an idiot, Cherry, if you ain't a fool with
your counts and blunderbusses. Now listen to me! I love Isabella, and have been
doing the agreeable to her —"
" On my thoul I never could thee it!"
"I dare say not! strike me, if I didn't keep it so precious
snug and quiet! However I love the girl ; and curse me if I don't have her too -
that's more ! She shall be Mrs. Smilax Dapper, as sure as she a born, and I
hope the mother of a whole regiment of little Smilaxes. And then Cherry, you
shall stay a month or six weeks with us at a time, and fondle the little ones
on your knees, you shall, and everything will go on comfortable and
smooth."
"Oh! veway thmooth!" cried Sir Cherry Bounce, making a slight
grimace at the pleasing prospect of fondling the little Dappers upon his knees.
"And I suppose I am not presumptuous in aspiring to the
hand of Isabella? My father is a peer - and my uncle is a peer - and I have three thousand a-year
of
my own, beside expectations. Strike me, if I'm a man to be sneezed at!"
"Who thinkth of thneething at you?"
I don't know exactly. And then I am not such a very bad
looking fellow either. You are not ugly, Cherry, you are not - that is, not
particularly ugly, although you have got pink eyes and white lashes, and a pug
nose ;- but I'm more athletic, strike me!"
"I'm thure I don't dithpute what you thay."
"Well then - acknowledging all this, proceeded the
captain, " how should I treat a fellow who endeavours to cut me out?"
"Thallenge him to fight with thword and pithtol,"
answered Sir Cherry. " But who ith he?"
"That upstart fellow, Markham, who was brought here by
that odious, republican, seditious, disloyal scoundrel Armstrong, and who talks
all day about poetry and music, and God knows what. However, can't say I
admire that plan of yours," continued the hussar; "swords and pistols, you
know are so very dangerous; and - and —"
"And what elth?"
"Why, you re a fool, Cherry. I thought you would have hit upon some plan to enable
me to secure the
prize."
"Well then - thuppothing we carwy the girl off to
Wochethter for inthanth."
"Deuce take Rochester! my regiment is quartered at
Chatham."
"Well - to Canterbuwy then? "
"Yes - that will do - strike me blind if it won't! "
ejaculated the captain. "But if I could only get rid of this Markham
somehow or another, I should prefer it. The fellow —"
Captain Smilax Dapper stopped short: for at that moment, as
he and his companion were turning the angle of a summer-house, they ran against
Richard Markham.
"It wath'nt me - it wath'nt me who thpoke!" ejaculated Sir
Cherry Bounce ; and having uttered these words, he very fairly took to his
heels, leaving his friend the captain to settle matters as beat he might.
" Who was taking a most unwarrantable liberty with my
name ?" demanded Richard, walking straight up to Captain Smilax Dapper.
"I
certainly made an observation," answered the captain, turning mighty pale,
"and I
do not hesitate to say, sir —"
"What, sir?"
"Why, sir - that - I feel, sir - that strike me, sir!"
"Yes, sir - I shall strike you," very coolly answered
Markham; "and that will teach you not to speak lightly of one, who is a
comparative stranger to you, on another occasion."
As he uttered these words, he seized the captain by the
collar, and gave him a couple of boxes on the ears. Dapper endeavoured to pluck
up a spirit and resist; but the ceremony was performed before he could release
himself from his assailant's clutches and he then returned to the house,
muttering threats of vengeance.
That same afternoon Markham took leave of his new friends.
On his return home, he found his dwelling more lonely and
cheerless than ever. He felt that he was isolated in the world ; and his heart
seemed to be pierced with a red-hot iron when the remembrance of all his
wrongs returned to his imagination.
Oh! if we would but study the alphabet of fate, and remember
that each leaf which falls, each flower that dies, is but the emblem of man's
kindred doom, how much of the coldness, the selfishness, the viciousness of life
would be swept away, and earth would be but a proof-sheet of heaven's fairer
volume - with errors and imperfections, it it true, but still susceptible of
correction and amendment, ere its pages be unfolded before the High Chancery
of heaven!
Spring now asserted its tranquil reign once more; and May
strewed the earth with flowers, and covered the trees with foliage.
One evening Richard sate in his library reading until a very
late hour. Night came, and found him at his studies; and the morning dawned ere
he thought of retiring to slumber.
He hastened to his bed-room, with the intention of seeking
his couch ; but he felt no inclination to sleep. He walked up to the window,
drew aside the curtain, and gazed forth into the open air. The partial obscurity
seemed to hang like a dusky veil against the windows: but by degrees the
darkness
yielded to the grey light of the dawn.
He glanced in the direction of the hill upon the summit of
which stood the two trees; and he thought of his brother. He wondered, for the
thousandth time whether the appointment would be eventually
[-111-] kept, and why Eugene came not to revisit the home at his
birth.
He was in the midst of cogitations like these, when his eyes
were suddenly struck by an object which seemed to be moving between the trees
upon the top of the hill. A superstitious fear seized upon Richard's mind. In
the first moment of his surprise he imagined that the apparition of his brother
had been led back to the trysting-place by those leafy banners that proclaimed
the covenant of the heart. But he speedily divested himself of that momentary
alarm, and smiled at his folly in believing it to be extraordinary that any one
should visit the hill at that early hour.
The object was still there - it was a human being - and, as the
morning gradually grew brighter, he was enabled to distinguish that it was a
man.
But that was the hour at which labourers went to their daily
toils:- still, why should one of those peasants linger upon the top of the hill,
to reach which he must have gone out of his way?
Markham felt an indescribable curiosity to repair to the hill
;-but he was ashamed to yield to the superstitious impulse under the influence
of which he still more or less laboured ;- and the sudden disappearance of the
object of his anxiety from tine hill confirmed him in his resolution to remain
in his chamber. He accordingly closed the blind, and retired to his couch, where
he shortly sank into a deep slumber.
Markham was now plunged into the aerial world of dreams.
First he saw himself walking by the side of Isabella in a cool and shady grove,
where the birds were singing cheerily in the trees; and it seemed to him that
there reigned a certain understanding between himself and his fair companion
which allowed him to indulge in the most delightful and tender hopes. He pressed
her hand - she returned the token of affection and love. Suddenly this scene was
rudely interrupted. From a deep recess in the grove appeared a wretch, covered
with rags, dirty and revolting in appearance, with matted hair, parched and
cracked lips, wild and ferocious eyes, and a demoniac expression of countenance.
Isabella screamed: the wretch advanced, grasped Richard's hand, gave utterance
to a horrible laugh, and claimed his friendship - the friendship of Newgate! It
seemed to Richard that he made a desperate effort to withdraw his band from that
rude grasp ;- and the attempt instantly awoke him.
He opened his eyes ;- but the horror experienced In his dream
was now prolonged, for a human countenance was bending over him!
It was not, however, the distorted, hideous, and fearful one
which he had seen in his vision - but a countenance handsome, though very pale,
and whose features were instantly familiar to him.
"Eugene, my brother - Eugene, dearest Eugene!" ejaculated
Richard; and he stretched out his arms to embrace him whom he thus adjured.
But scarcely had his eyes opened upon that countenance, when
it was instantly withdrawn; and Richard remained for a few moments in his bed,
deprived of all power of motion, and endeavouring to assure himself whether he
was awake or in a vision.
A sudden impulse roused him from his lethargy;- he sprang from his couch, rushed towards the door, and
called aloud for his brother.
The door was closed when he reached it; and no trace seemed
to denote that any visitor had been in that chamber.
He threw on a dreesing-gown, hurried down stairs, and found
all the doors fast closed and 1ocked as usual at that hour. He opened the
front-door and looked forth, - but no
one was to be seen. Bewildered and alarmed, he returned to his bed-chamber, and
once more sought his couch. He again fell asleep, in the midst of numerous and
conflicting conjectures relative to the incident which had just occurred; and
when he awoke two hours afterwards, be was fain to persuade himself that it was
all a dream.
He dressed himself, and walked towards the hill. On his
arrival at the top, he instinctively cast his eyes upon the name and date carved
in the bark of his brother's tree. But how great was his surprise - how
ineffable his joy, when he beheld fresh traces of the same hand imprinted on
that tree. Beneath the former memento - and still fresh and green, as if they bad
only been engraved a few hours - were the words -
EUGENE.
May 17th, 1838.
"My God!" exclaimed Richard, " it was then
no dream!"
He threw himself upon the seat between the two trees and wept
abundantly.
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