Books: Hardscrabble
J >>
John Richardson >> Hardscrabble
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 | 10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14
"There was nothing like braving it," answered the other
evasively; "but I say, Elmsley, I am devilish hungry,
that breakfast you invited me to last night is over long
ago, of course." This last sentence was uttered in a mock
piteous tone.
"Just what I was going to speak about, my dear boy. We
have had number ONE, but before half an hour, we shall
be seated at number TWO. When your sergeant has relieved
his sentries, come over and you will find a piping hot
breakfast."
"Will it be quite consistent with military prudence to
leave my guard so soon, after the lecture I have had?"
remarked the ensign, with a smile--"but, ah! I had nearly
forgotten. Elmsley, I must say a few words to you before
I go in, and a better opportunity cannot be afforded than
while we are walking from this to your place. Just go
then, and order the breakfast as you propose, and return
here. I shall have completed the arrangements of the
guard by that time, and all that I have to ask of you,
can be answered as we go along."
"I hope it is no great secret you have to impart," returned
the lieutenant, "for I am a sad hand at the mysterious,
and shall be sure to tell my wife, if I do not tell Maria."
"Not you--you will tell neither, but au revoir."
CHAPTER X.
At the moment when Ensign Ronayne removed his sword, with
the intention of handing it to his commanding officer,
in anticipation of the arrest which he expected, Maria
Heywood, little conversant with those military formalities,
and apprehending from the previous high tone of her lover,
that something fearful was about to occur, had not
absolutely fainted, but become so agitated, that Mrs.
Elmsley was induced to take her back to the sofa, on
which she had previously been reclining. As she was
leaving her chair, Mrs. Headley, whose attention had also
been arrested by the loud and angry voice of her husband,
came from her own door and joined the little group,
anxiously inquiring the cause of the disturbance without.
In a few brief sentences, and as correctly as she was
able, Mrs. Elmsley explained to her the circumstances,
and although her attentive auditor offered no very pointed
remark, it was evident from her manner that she deeply
deplored that strict military punctilio, which had led
the husband whom she both loved and esteemed, to place
himself in a false position with his own force--for that
it was a false position in some degree, to provoke
insubordination, and yet be without the power to punish
it, she had too much good sense not to perceive. She felt
the more annoyed, because she had on more than one
occasion, observed that there was not that unanimity
between her husband and Lieutenant Elmsley, which she
conceived ought to exist between parties so circumstanced
--a commander of a remote post, and his second in command,
on whose mutual good understanding, not only the personal
security of all might depend, but the existence of those
social relations, without which, their isolated position
involved all the unpleasantness of a voluntary banishment.
This had ever been to her a source of regret, and she
had on several occasions, although in the most delicate
and unobtrusive manner, hinted at the fact; but the man
who doated upon her, and to whom, in all other respects,
her desire was law, evinced so much inflexibility in all
that appertained to military etiquette, that she had
never ventured to carry her allusions beyond the light
commentary induced by casual reference to the subject.
If then she lamented that unfortunate coolness, if not
absolute estrangement, which existed between Lieutenant
Elmsley and her husband, bow much more acutely did she
feel the difficulty of the position now, when the only
other responsible officer of the garrison--and that a
young man of high feeling and accomplishment, whom she
had ever liked and admired--was fast being led into the
same antagonism. Nay, what rendered the matter more
painful to her, was the fact of the latter being the
lover, or perhaps the affianced of a girl, whom she
regarded with a fervor not often felt by one woman for
another, and for whose interests she could have made
every sacrifice, not affecting those of her husband.
Such were the women who were now seated on the ottoman,
engaged more in their own reflections, than in conversation,
when Lieutenant Elmsley entered the room, announcing that
the truant would shortly be in for breakfast, which, he
requested, might be instantly prepared in the usual
manner, only adding thereto a couple of bottles of claret.
"Ah! pardon me, Mrs. Headley," he added, somewhat stiffly,
as his wife left the room to issue the necessary orders,
"I did not see you, or I should have been rather more
ceremonious in my domestic communications."
Mrs. Headley slightly colored. She was sensible that
pique towards her husband, and a belief that she wholly
shared his sentiments, had induced this rather sarcastic
speech.
"By no means, Mr. Elmsley. I trust you will not put ME
down as a stranger, whatever your disposition to others."
There was a significance in the manner in which this was
said, that deeply touched the lieutenant, and his tone
immediately changed.
"Then, I take you at your word," he said. "It is a long
time since I have had the pleasure of seeing you here,
and you must positively join our second breakfast. I know
Captain Headley is engaged with Winnebeg, whom he purposes
sending off this evening with despatches, so that you
will not be missed for at least an hour. There, look at
Miss Heywood's imploring look--she pleads with her eyes
in my favor, although there is no chance, it appears, of
getting a word from her lips."
"Nay," remarked the other, who had rallied from her late
despondency, on hearing the object of the breakfast; "you
are very unreasonable, Mr. Elmsley. You do not deserve
that I should speak to you to-day, and I am not quite
sure that I shall."
"And pray, fair lady, why not? Wherein have I had the
misfortune to offend?"
"Ah! do you forget? You promised to bring me a certain
report of certain occurrences, and yet instead of that,
not a word have you condescended to address to me until
this moment."
"I plead guilty," he answered deprecatingly, "but pray
for a suspension of sentence, until the return of one
through whose influence I hope to obtain your pardon! I
go now," he whispered, "to lead him to your feet."
"Well, what is the great question you have to put to me?"
said the lieutenant to his friend, whom he had rejoined,
and with whom he now returned slowly towards the house--"one
involving a case of life and death it might be imagined,
from the long face you put on when alluding to the matter."
"Nay, not exactly that, but still involving a good deal.
Tell me frankly, Elmsley, has Miss Heywood heard any
further account of the events at the farm-house?"
"She has heard the report brought in by Nixon and the
rest of the fishing-party."
"And what was that, I pray you?" eagerly returned the
ensign.
"That Mr. Heywood had been carried off by the Indians."
"From whom did she hear it?"
"It was I who told her, on the strength of what the
corporal reported, not only to myself, but to Captain
Headley."
"You are a considerate fellow, Elmsley," said his friend,
warmly pressing his hand. "I thank you for that, and now
that the great question, as you term it, is answered, I
am quite ready for the promised breakfast. Did these
fellows bring home any fish? I have a great fancy for
fish this morning."
"No; they brought home dead men," and the lieutenant
looked searchingly into the face of his companion, dwelling
on every word, moreover, as if he would convey that he
(Ronayne), knew perfectly well what freight the boat had
brought to the Fort.
Further remark was prevented by their arrival at their
destination--the front-door being open, and revealing
the little party within. The first upon, whom the young
officer's eye fell, was Mrs. Headley, of whose intended
presence, his friend had not thought of apprising him.
Still smarting under a keen sense of the severity of
reproof of his commanding officer, and falling into the
common error of involving the wife in the unamiability
of the husband, Ronayne would have retired, even at the
risk of losing his breakfast, and, what was of far more
moment to him, of delaying his meeting with her to whom
his every thought was devoted. But when Mrs. Headley,
who had remarked the movement, came forward to the door,
and gave him her hand with all the warmth and candor of
her noble nature, the pique vanished from his mind, and
in an instant, he, like Elmsley, evinced that devotion
and regard for her, which her fascinating manner could
not fail to inspire.
The sense of constraint being thus banished by the only
one whose presence had occasioned it, the party, after
a few minutes low conversation between the lovers, sat
down gaily to a meal--half-break fast, half-luncheon, at
which the most conspicuous actor was the lately reprimanded
ensign.
"Really, Mr. Ronayne, you must have met with a perfect
chapter of adventures during your absence last night.
You have devoured the last four fresh eggs, my cook says,
there were in the house--three limbs of a prairie fowl,
and nearly the half of a young bear ham. Do, pray, tell
us where you have been to gain such an appetite? Indeed
you must--I am dying to know."
"My dear Mrs. Elmsley," he replied, coloring, "where
should I have been but in the Fort?"
"True! where SHOULD you have been, indeed; but this is
not the point, my hungry gentleman. Where WERE you? If
I was, I KNOW WHO," she added, significantly, "I should
have my suspicions, unless, indeed, you have already
confessed within the few minutes you have been in the
room."
"Nay, do not imagine I have so much influence over the
truant, as to compel him to the confessional," said Maria
Heywood. "I assure you I am quite as much in the dark as
any one present."
"Come, Mr. Ronayne, recount your adventures," added Mrs.
Headley. "Recollect you are not on parade now, or exactly
before the sternest Court of Inquiry in the world, and
should therefore, entertain no dread of punishment on
your self-conviction."
"Thus urged and encouraged," said the ensign, during one
of the short pauses of his knife and fork, which, in
truth, he had handled as much to study what he should
say, as to satisfy his hunger; "who could resist such
pleading, were there really any thing to communicate;
but I am quite at a loss to conceive why so general an
opinion seems to prevail that I have been out of the
Fort, and in quest of adventure. Why not rather ascribe
my tardiness at parade to some less flattering cause--a
head-ache--fatigue from night-watching--indolence, or
even a little entetement, arising from the denial of a
very imprudent request I made to Captain Headley last
evening, to allow me the command of a detachment for a
particular purpose. Pardon me, I have made quite a speech,
but indeed you compel me."
"Let us drown this inquisition in a bumper of claret,"
interposed Elmsley, coming to the assistance of his
friend, whose motive for thus parrying inquiry into his
conduct, he thought he could divine. "I say, my dear
fellow, you may wish yourself a head-ache--fatigue--
indolence, or even a little entetement every morning of
your life, if it is to be cured in this manner. This is
some of the most splendid Lafayette that ever found its
way into these western wilds. Look well at it. It is of
the clearest, the purest blood of the grape--taste it
again. A bottle of it will do you no harm if you had
twenty guards in charge."
As he had desired and expected, the introduction of his
remarks on the wine proved not only a means of changing
the conversation, but of causing the ladies to withdraw
from the table, round which they had been sitting, rather
to keep the young officer company, than to participate
in the repast themselves. Mrs. Headley was the first to
move.
"Give me your arm, and see me home," she said carelessly,
to Ronayne, who now having finished his breakfast, had
also risen. "Do not be jealous, my dear Miss Heywood,
but you will later know, if you do not know already, that
the wife of the commanding officer always appropriates
to herself, the handsomest unmarried young officer of
the regiment."
Both Ronayne and his betrothed were too quick of
apprehension not to perceive, under this light gaiety,
a deep interest, and a desire to convey to them both,
that, if unhappily, there did not exist a cordial
understanding between her husband and the former, in
matters purely military, and in relation to subjects
which should have no influence over private life, she
was by no means, a party to the disunion.
"Not very difficult to choose between the handsomest and
the cleverest of the unmarried officers of the garrison
of Chicago," replied Maria Heywood with an effort at
cheerfulness; "therefore, Mr. Ronayne, I advise you not
to be too much elated by Mrs. Headley's compliment. After
that caution, I think you may be trusted with her."
"What a noble creature, and what a pity she has so cold
and pompous a husband," remarked Lieutenant Elmsley, as
Mrs. Headley disappeared from the door-way. "I never knew
her so well as this morning, and upon my word, Margaret,
were both HE and YOU out of the way, I should be greatly
tempted to fall in love with her."
"You would act wisely if you did, George; I have always
thought most highly of her. She is, it is true, a little
reserved in manner, but that I am sure comes wholly from
a certain restraint, imposed upon her by her husband's
formality of character. I say I am sure of this, for
there have been occasions when I have seen her exhibit
a warmth of address, as different from her general
demeanor, as light is from shadow."
"Perhaps Headley has systematically drilled her into the
particular bearing that ought to be assumed by the wife
of the commandant of a garrison."
"Nay, George! that is not generous, but I know you are
not serious in what you say. You judge Mrs. Headley
better, and that she is not a woman to be so drilled.
She has too much good sense, despite all her partiality
for her husband, to allow herself to be improperly
influenced, where her judgment condemns; and although,
as his wife, she must necessarily act in concert with
him, it by no means follows that she approves unreservedly,
all that he does."
"You are a dear, noble creature yourself!" exclaimed the
gratified Elmsley, as he fondly embraced his wife. "There
is nothing I love so much as to see one woman warm in
the defence of another--one so seldom meets with that
sort of thing. What, Maria, tears?"
"Yes--tears of pleasure!" she answered earnestly, as she
held her handkerchief to her eyes--"tears of joy to see
so much generosity of feeling among those whom I have so
much reason to esteem and admire. You are right," she
pursued, addressing Mrs. Elmsley, "she is indeed a noble
woman. Perhaps I may justly be accused of a little
partiality, for I never can forget the frank and cordial
proffers of friendship with which she received me on the
first night of my appearance here."
"Ha! Von Vottenberg to the rescue!" exclaimed Elmsley,
with sudden animation, as the stout figure of the former
shaded the door-way. "Well, doctor, have you passed away
in the evaporation produced by fright, the violent
head-ache you were suffering from this morning? If not,
try that claret. It is capital stuff, and a tumbler of
it will make up for the breakfast you have lost."
"Faith, and there is no breakfast lost, that I can
perceive," chuckled the doctor, seating himself
unceremoniously at the table, and commencing upon the
remains of the bear ham, and prairie hen.
"I fear the tea and coffee are cold," said Mrs. Elmsley;
"let me get some hot for you?"
"By no means, my dear Mrs. Elmsley, I could not think of
such slops with generous claret at my elbow. Nay, do not
look offended. Your tea and coffee are always of the
best, but they do not just now, suit my taste. Miss
Heywood, how do you do this morning? How is your gentle
mother? I have called expressly to see her. Elmsley,
where is that runaway, Ronayne?"
And where indeed was he? They had not walked more than
three or four paces, when Mrs. Headley, after some little
hesitation, addressed him thus:--
"Mr. Ronayne, notwithstanding your evident desire to
conceal the fact, I can plainly see that you were not
within the Fort last night. I can fully comprehend that
your motive for absenting yourself, has been praiseworthy,
but you must also admit that the reproof you met with
this morning, was not altogether undeserved. Pray do not
start or look grave, for, believe me, I am speaking to
you only as a friend--indeed it was to have the opportunity
of convincing you that I am such, that I asked you to
escort me."
"Really, Mrs. Headley," interrupted the young officer,
little divining to what all this was to tend, and feeling
not altogether at his ease, from the abruptness with
which the subject had been introduced, "I feel as I ought,
the interest you profess to take in me, but how is that
connected either with my asserted absence, or the reproof
it entailed?"
"It is so far connected with it, that I wish to point
out the means by which any unpleasant result may be
avoided!"
"Unpleasant result! Mrs. Headley?"
"Yes, unpleasant result, for I have too good an opinion
of you not to believe that any thing tending to destroy
the harmony of our very limited society, would be considered
such by you."
"I am all attention, Madam. Pray, proceed."
"The pithiness of your manner does not afford me much
encouragement yet I will not be diverted from my purpose,
even by that. You have had the Commandant's lecture,"
she continued, with an attempt at pleasantry, "and now
you must prepare yourself for (pardon the coinage of the
term) that of the Commandantess."
"The plot thickens," said the ensign, somewhat sharply--
"both the husband and the wife. Jupiter Tonans and Juno
the Superb in judgment upon poor me in succession. Ah!
that is too bad. But seriously, Mrs. Headley, I shall
receive with all due humility, whatever castigation you
may choose to inflict."
"No castigation I assure you, Ronayne, but wholesome
advice from one, who, recollect, is nearly old enough to
be your mother. However, you shall hear and then decide
for yourself."
"Although," she pursued, after a short pause, "we women
are supposed to know nothing of those matters, it would
be difficult, in a small place like this, to be ignorant
of what is going on. Hence it is that I have long since
remarked, with pain and sorrow, the little animosity
which exists between Headley and yourself--(I will not
introduce Mr. Elmsley's name, because what I have to say
has no immediate reference to him), and the almost daily
widening breach. Now, Ronayne, I would appeal to your
reason. Place yourself for a moment in my husband's
position. Consider his years, nearly double your own--his
great responsibility and the peculiar school of discipline
in which he has been brought up. Place yourself, I repeat,
in his position, and decide what would be your sentiments
if, in the conscientious discharge of your duty, you
thought yourself thwarted by those very men--much your
juniors both in years and military experience--on whose
co-operation you had every fair reason to rely."
"You have, my dear Mrs. Headley, put the case forcibly
yet simply." returned the ensign, who had listened with
marked deference to the whole of her remonstrance. "In
such a case I should feel no slight annoyance, but why
imagine that I have sought to thwart Captain Headley?"
"Was it not apparently to thwart him--bear in mind I
speak to you dispassionately and as a friend--to refuse
in the presence of the whole garrison this morning to
account for your absence of last night, which might have
been easily explained, had you been so disposed?"
"But, my dear Mrs. Headley, why is it persisted in, that
I was absent--and even if such were the case, might not
I have had a good reason for refusing to commit myself
by the avowal."
"Admitting this, could you have maintained your position
without, in a measure, setting his authority at defiance
--thus encouraging the men to do the same. Was this right,
I ask? Was this officer-like?"
"Well, no, perhaps not. I blush not to make the admission
to YOU, for indeed, there is no resisting so bewitching
a master in petticoats. Yet, what would you have me do?"
"Ah, now, I begin to entertain some hope of you," she
replied, in a gayer tone, placing her hand at the same
time familiarly on his shoulder and looking approvingly
in his face. "Ronayne, you are engaged--perhaps will
shortly become the husband of the noble girl, whom I love
even as though she were my own daughter--yes," she repeated
energetically, as she felt his grateful pressure of her
hand, "even as though she were my own daughter--nay,
you know I like yourself for your open, although rather
too impetuous character. Do you then think that feeling
this it can be any other than a source of deep pain and
vexation to me, to see those in whom I feel so much
interest, alienated from each other--in some degree even
mutually hating and hated?"
"Yet, what would you have me to do, my dear Mrs. Headley?
Some concession I suppose, must be made. Any thing in
honor and in reason will I do for your sake," returned
the young officer, deeply touched by her manner and
language.
"This I wish you to do, Ronayne. Take the first favorable
opportunity, either while on guard to-day, or when relieved
to-morrow, to see Headley privately, and by such language
as you well know how to use, remove the unfavorable
impression you have left on his mind--depend upon it,
although extremely cold and inflexible when apparently
braved, my husband has a warm and generous--aye, a noble
heart, and will freely grant what is frankly solicited.
Bear in mind, moreover, Ronayne, that it is no humiliation
to admit error when conscious of having committed it;
and if this be so in the social relations of life, how
much less derogatory is it in a military sense."
"Say no more, dearest Mrs. Headley, since it is your
wish, I will go, no matter what the reception I encounter;
and any further rebuke I may meet with, I will cheerfully
endure for your sake."
"Now then, Ronayne, you are once more yourself, the
generous, high-minded boy, in whom I delighted, even as
a mother would delight in her son, when you first arrived
here about three years ago. Yet, recollect that not only
_I_ shall be gratified and benefitted by this, but YOU
and YOURS. Let but this unhappy discord terminate, and
we shall then be what soldiers and those connected with
them, ought ever to be--one undivided family. And now,
for the present, farewell."
"God bless you!" fervently exclaimed the ensign, as he
took his leave of the graceful and noble wife of the
commanding officer, with emotions that fully testified
the effect produced upon him by her generous confidence
and candor.
From the frequent reference made by Mrs. Headley to her
own riper years, one might have been induced to consider
her rather in the decline of life; but such was not the
case. Her splendid and matronly figure might indeed have
impressed the superficial observer with the belief that
she had numbered more than forty summers, but the unchained
and luxuriant hair--the white, even and perfect teeth--
the rich, full lip, and unwrinkled brow, and smooth and
brilliant cheek, would not have permitted the woman most
jealous of her charms, could such have been found, to
pronounce her more than six-and-thirty, which was, indeed,
her age. It was a source of gratification to her to
consider and represent herself as older than she really
was; and if she had any peculiarity--a weakness it could
not be called--it was that of loving to look upon those
younger persons who claimed a place in her friendship
and esteem, as though she actually stood in the maternal
relation to them. This may have, in some degree, arisen
from the fact of her having ever been childless herself.
As Ronayne approached Elmsley's house on his return, a
remarkably handsome and noble-looking Indian--quite a
youth--was leaning against the frame of the door, and
according to the simple habit of his race, indulging his
curiosity by looking at, and admiring all that he beheld
within. Elmsley himself had gone out, but Von Vottenberg,
still seated at the breakfast-table, was discussing, with
its remains, the now nearly finished claret, while Mrs.
Elmsley and Maria Heywood were seated on the sofa opposite
to the door, passing their whispered remarks on the
Indian, whose softened dark glances occasionally fell
with intense admiration on the former, when he fancied
the act unseen, but as instantly were withdrawn, when he
perceived that it was observed.
Mrs. Elmsley was endeavoring to dissipate the dejection
of her friend by rallying her, as the young officer came
to the door, on the evidently new conquest she had made.
The Indian turned to look at the intruder upon his pleasant
musings, when a "wah!" expressive of deep satisfaction
escaped him, and at the same moment, Ronayne grasped,
and cordially shook his hand.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 | 10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14