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    1120 THE LEADEB. [Saturday,. _ - -¦ - ^ ...

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    {Ldmrgaa ®Pa ^&®Ab©{H®* Xl February, 29,...

    that will not destroy life in work without end . They thmk many things , as they tell me , and whisper to each other ; but they pretend to think differently in public ; and many a man who will disown an " infidel" friend , or a " republican , " or a freethinker in morals , goes to church only to endure a form , while he thinks of anything but the " humbug" around him ; reverences neither his sovereign nor even his own escocheon , and ends his days in places which he would resent to hear talked about . That they call freedom . That , and trade , they call greatness . And for their humanity—I will give you the specimen which has awakened these thoughts .

    I came down to fulfil my promise to Fanny Chetham , whom I found very much harassed by terror , and the dread that I had forgotten her . I never shall forget how her lips clung to my hand , with the yearning of gratitude " because I had remembered her . " But I will tell you . Her child had a father , whom she has newer named . She has never heard from him . I think that her fidelity is caused by nothing else but the blind instinct of love between man and woman—an honourableness dictated by the vvisdom of the body ; for she has more of the original strength than he has , miserable cripple that he has become under the regimen of civilization . But after I had talked with her , I discovered a cousin that she

    had , who is well off , and whom she had asked to help her . She had known him always , although his successes , and her lowly servitude , had led them quite to different conditions . To her asking for help , he answered , that he had attained fortune by his own exertions and his father ' s , while she had forfeited it by her own deliberate choice ; that if he were to give some of his means , as he always does to the extent of ten per cent ., it would be to " a more deserving object ; " and that he recognized no claim in her merely because their mothers had been cousins . She wrote again , telling him that she -wanted none of his ten per cent ., but that he had carpets , and other luxuries , and that he must spare her some of that ,

    his own ease , in her hard necessity . The girl was angry , and I doubt not , she wrote well . He replied , — " My dear Fanny "—and then went on , telling her that he had chosen carpets , & c , she had chosen no carpets , & c . ; and so they each had what they had chosen . He said he owed her " no ill will , " but that " he must adhere to principle . " Now , who was that ? It was Markham . ' Another person , however , sent Fanny twenty pounds for her help . Who ? " It is a woman , " said Fanny , " by the writing ; and I do not know any woman who would send to me , unless it were one who had been wronged ; and therefore I think I know who it is . " " Who ? " I asked .

    • ' Mark ' s housekeeper , as he calls her . And there is the money . Send it her hack , for she will want it sorely , some day ; and do for me what you can , for you will not grudge it . " And Fanny , tossing the packet of money carelessly into my hands , leaned back , and shut her eyes . Who , then , is this rude girl , who thus nobly refuses help from one who may want it worse ; who upbraids the accomplished Markham , wiser in her

    rudeness than all his philosophy ; who understands what you and I have so often talked of in our most earnest talk , and of which she , I believe , cannot even think ? She is but a rude girl , after all ; but it is that she is a girl . Why liad she " fallen V Because the miserable , half-instructed William had appealed to her affection and to her instinct . Why had she destroyed her child ? Because society condemned that which had guided her—her instinct—and had taught her nothing instead .

    Why did she trust me ? Because I did not mean to deceive her . She welcomes my fellowship , more than my help ; and now that she is secure of some support , she ceases to dread her fate . " I deserve it , " she says ; " but I do not deserve to be abandoned . I killed the dear little thing , because—I did not know what to do ; but I did not leave it . He abandoned me ; but I have never forgotten—what we said to each other . And yet I never gave myself up to him as I do to you , if I were only worth giving ; for " - —and she looked at me abruptly , with a peremptory , flushed countenance , as though she fiercely insisted on saying what I might forbid if I pleased— " 1 love you . " The murderess ! But the instinct of woman is ever true : where she is sustained , where she finds help and courage , where the truth , there , if she bt ! free , she loves . Past events , prison grates , anxieties , terrors , could not alter or pervert the due course of nature . Fanny is still young , still has a trace of rosy blood in her young cheek , and as she hud grown , so did she unfold . A feeling of respect , und tenderness , such as you can imagine , made me veil lier crime from the gaze even of my own eyes , and soothe the terror of remorse ; and if she bad been a sister , I could not have rejoiced more to see her restored to a gentler fortitude * She cannot talk , she cannot think , with any educated method ; but under adversity and tender reflection , a rapid education is converting the rude wench into a ludy , whose discrimination between the noble and the base might shame iruiiiy of those that woidd readily enough cast stones at her . Werneth joins me heartily . We have engaged the best of counsel on the circuit , and there are some hopes of a lenient consideration of her case . And I wrote a letter ' to Mnrkham , brief and savage ; which he lias answered by sending to poor Fanny a letter that made her weep with kind gratitude ; and to me , for her use , a blank chuck , anil a letter of the noblest , simplest , and directest confession of " error in reasoning . " Markham is a noble fellow ; though be hud a monstrous aspect in my

    eyes more than once . The approving glances of the attorney , on his brief Napoleonic dictations in the meeting at Johnson ' s , made me suspect him His hard headed philosophy was repulsive ; and his correspondence with poor Fanny Chetham amounted to depravity . But the stuff of the man has not been perverted , and he has strength to cast off the disease William is the wretched wreck of a stunted nature ; but even he is not so offensive as a creature whom I have found in Audley's house . I do not know much of the race , but for anything that appears on the surface you might suppose him the type of a class common enough . You remember that when Fanny Chetham fainted at the sight of me on the stairs , at night , I was conscious of an inexplicable turmoil , more than

    seemed necessary for the occasion : this new discovery of mine was at the bottom of it . It is a fine gentleman , a man well enough to look at ; tall better endowed with chest and whiskers than the average of his countrymenj well dressed , well practised in the usages of society : trained to the deportment which is received in the highest circles ; familiar with the use of all the implements that appear at table ; versed in all the dishes of all the countries that a gentleman ' s cook can produce ; piactised in biensfances , and , in short , a perfect gentleman . If there is a fault to find with him , it is that he is too well appointed ; has a neckcloth too much of the last cut , a perfectionated model of the clergyman or waiter ; appears in a variety of waistcoats too refined in their taste ; is too clean in every grain , as if he

    had but that instant escaped from the washing basm j is too irreproachable in the neatness of his utterance , blameless in the management of his finger ends , and altogether , externally , a kind of spotless perfect gentleman . " He is an excellent politician ; thoroughly acquainted with all public men , and with their relations amongst each other ; knows all their marriages and intermarriages , all the seats for which they have sat , all the questions on which they have voted ; and can discuss the merits of these questions with singular intelligence , polished language , and thorough information . If there is a fault to he found with his conversation it is that it is rather too

    like the leading article of a newspaper ; one has a faint reminiscence of the smell of the Times newspaper while he talks . Only he is not prejudiced like the journals ; for he is a perfect gentleman , and a perfect gentleman never is the slave of prejudice . He is an excellent boatman , the best rower in the party ; he is a good horseman , not so good as some that I have seen , but altogether he sits the saddle in excellent style . This man is the tutor of Audley ' s family ; himself a man of good birth , a cadet with " a little independency , " amounting to , I do . not know what . Perhaps it pays his tailor ' s bills ; or suffices to keep up his tailor ' s credit . He has a good

    name , a good education , a " little economy" in some bank or other ; for he sports a cheque-book , as every perfect gentleman should ; and he teaches the masculine Audleys of the rising generation how to behave as gentlemen . Audley himself is rather shy . He is self-possessed at the head of his table , and good in the exercise of hospitality ; but there is a kind of diffidence about the man which makes him shrink from an assertion of his own undoubted capacity ; and on such occasions , my well-waistcoated friend comes to the rescue , " draws out his host , " and then retires into conversation with some forgotten neighbour , in an ostentatious modesty and " sense of his position" altogether admirable . King is master of

    the situation , whatever it may be , and he knows it . There is a supercilious indifference and absence of self-assertion in all that he does , characteristic of a man reposing on conscious greatness . To-day Werneth and Audley were absent in the town . Werneth had gone to complete certain legal arrangements , and Audley had taken the opportunity to transact some business and help Werneth . Conway , who is down here , had gone with them , and they were not to be back till teatime . King had done me the honour to treat me with great familiarity and confidence ; and in the absence of the master of the house , he permitted himself quietly , and with accustomed taste , to assume rather more ladies all rctirc

    than the ordinary amount of ease and command . The ^ Mrs . Audley stopping , naturally enough , to say a few last words t 0 quasi host . Easy indifference , a half carelessness of listening betray < m ; i y his audible whisper , inspired me with a feeling of dislike . I did not i ¦ what passed , except the words , " My dearest creature , " utte ™ w * \ air of remonstrance at once condescending and assuring . Mrs . ^ w ^ J left the room rather abruptly , with an angry fling ; and KlII £ ' C ^ lessly throwing the napkin that he had been dangling over the back o ^ chair , threw himself into another , with a charming little air of w * " ' / and he lay back for a few moments , bis head resting on the I )'"' '

    elbows on the arms , and the tips of bis fingers meeting . . 1 do not remember all our conversation , but I do remember t ; m ^^ began with some platitudes about the exaetingness of women ; «¦«< ^ ^ with a grave and friendly candour , King began to let out eon '' ! SSI ° " . various little responsibilities that encumbered him . I endeavoured ° ^^ it , by turning the conversation ; but it was of no use * My evasions j ! Jj ( in |> cs > for misconceptions , and only served as the pretexts for new con ^ ^^ The poor fellow confessed , with an air of solemn concern not ^ V ^ ing his self-possession , that in point of fact he had permitted li" - ^ ^ become responsible to almost all the : ladies in the bouse ! 1 » i ^^ state this fact in English society at large , because , although ^ ^ whether it . is so exceptional as it looks , everybody would 1 ' ™ ^^ i ,, ,, a believe me ; and yet it is a very simple fact , and not so " ' wt | 1 ( lVc it looks . Audley , I suppose , once loved and won his wife , who . ^ _ been a very sprightly and handsome girl ; but he is now a m « t »

    1120 The Leadeb. [Saturday,. _ - -¦ - ^ ...

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1852, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20111852/page/20/