On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    exacting patients who cannot quite release him , even on a Sunday . From what cause I do not know , but Edwardes ' s manner has evidently altered to me lately , insomuch that nothing but my perfect trust in his thoroughly honest and generous nature would prevent my thinking that I had " worn out my welcome . " I can hardly describe to you the change ; but perhaps its most manifest sign lies in a more studied hospitality , quite different from his matter-of-course welcome at first . It is some passing , humour . And I am wrong to complain of that which suggested the thought this moment , because I must confess that he always does things in a princely style . It is the reward he takes out for his hard work . For our journey

    to-day he made Yseult a present of a carriage—a plain , convenient , handsome " Clarence , " " thoroughly English , " as Giorgio would call it . This ¦ was left to Yseult , Margaret , Stanhope , and myself ; Edwardes himself riding on his own familiar hackney , with Conway on a borrowed horse . How was it , that when Edwardes showed Yseult her new carriage out of the window , a flush , which might have been one of pleasure , deepened on her cheek into the settled glow of pain . How was it , that when the carriage door was closed , and Edwardes had mounted , his willing and obedient brute was made to wince and caper under the needless infliction of the spur ? I cannot guess ; but I know that the cold sunny wind soon blew away all traces of an angry home , and that the drive round by the road was infinitely better than the railway .

    It was a fine specimen of an English Winter day—clear , sunny , sharp : the torn veil of clouds dashed in rags before the noisy wind ; the sun shooting his icy ray point blank with the wind , seemed to redouble the sharpness ; the fretwork of branches on the bared trees danced against the blue sky ; the sense of life and motion everywhere forbad the numbing cold , and called forth a healthful glow on Yseult ' s cheek as she faced the panting air . " I never meet the wind careering in this way from the far distance , " she said , " without being made conscious of the extent to which our being is allied with things remote . Here is the wind , which was not long since tossing the spray on the waves of the mid Atlantic , now drying up the meadows , and visiting us poor mortals in mid land with unadulterated breath . Many a frail ship of human hands may be broken up and cast away ; but how many more lives does it strengthen and continue !"

    Margaret sat silent , for she seemed to be enjoying existence too much for active thought ; but she looked her gratitude to the friend who could think so well for her . Stanhope , who sat opposite to Yseult , bent his face outward , to share her thought . " Now , Stanhope , " said Edwardes ' s voice from the other window , " for your sketch-book : that is an effect which you ought not to miss . " " My note-book , poor savant ! " cried Stanhope . " No ; I am not in

    such bondage to the pencil that I cannot escape from it for a day . He who is always making notes puts his mind upon a strain which unfits it for seeing or knowing many tilings most needful . The artist must know what it is to be , without acting or commentating . " " Nulla dies sine lined , " rejoined Edwardes . " It was a pedant who said it , and his pictures are never free from the note-book . "

    " Stanhope appears to me , " said Conway , his placid voice breaking in , " to reason better for an artist than for a savant . Science and Art " The controversy dropped astern with the horsemen , as the road narrowed ; and the on-coming darkness cast its shadow of silence over our party in the carriage . I was conscious that the couple on the front seat had gradually drawn closer together ; and their stillness became like that of a mountain , whose heavy outline stands unchanging against the dim light . I asked Yseult if she did not feel the cold , for the wind came in at her window , but she only shook her head . I leaned back in my own corner , wondering what thoughts could be working in a heart so close to me , and

    as yet so little seen . 1 derived I know not what solace from thinking that the warm atmosphere which lay about the carriage , defying the invading wind to drive it out—the warmth- which helped us to defy the cold , was a Mi' common to us both . With the cold and the silence , my thoughts soon turned to dreams ; and when I awoke , with a burst of cheerful voices and light from ji cottage door , I found , by a shawl spread over me , that I had been the only sleeper . For there had been no thought of me on the opposite sent ; and Yseult ' s voice had no traces of sleep in it as she answere d to the welcomes which eiune , with outstretched hands , right into the dark carnage .

    I ' . 'uniliju- as 1 have become with " comfort , " which abounds in the house oi tlmt prosperous and materialist philosopher , Edwardes , I assure you that ' never relished it so thoroughly us on passing from the cold dark night air to the glowing room , bright with lire , lights , n well-laid dinner table , ! l "d kind fares . " Just in time ! " cried Bedford , our host , radiant with Sll'islaetion . Mdvvurdes hud threatened " to bring a friend or two ; " but vv hen six of us poured like u little army into tlmt little room , already well Peopled , it wns charming to see Bedford ' s inexhaustible heartiness of welco me—his unfeigned and increasing delight at each new intruder . By souk ; wonderful skill and adaptation , we were soon packed round the principal ' '> le , with a colony of young people at another . Come , Mr . Conway , we are waiting for grace , " « ai ( l Bedford .

    I beg your pardon , " answered Conway , with a start , as if to obey ; but Ik ; reseated himself , and said—¦ " No , do not remind me of my profusion out of school . Let me have the pleasure of witnessing your own usage in your own way . "

    Bedford looked puzzled ; but too polite to raise a controversy , he only said , " Amy , my dear ! " And Amy repeated the usual form of English consecration at dinner , with a tone and manner equally free from pretence or indifference . Why did Conway refuse ? Perhaps , because the whole scene around him was too genuine for his conformity not to jar upon his own conscience . I hail these traces of piety in our sceptical chaplain . Conway has a heart of truth , fit even to redeem the treachery of his hired , lips . The roast beef was disappearing by rapid degrees under the masterly hand of Bedford ; and wine began to sparkle prematurely in a glass of welcome after the cold . This is a model of an English family . There is ease and comfort , with that absolute exclusion of ceremony or form which I have never met with except among the English of the best stamp . Bedford is a clerk , high in the confidence of a wealthy bank ; lie has been careful , but could not be niggardly ; in his calling he has obeyed commercial principles without any need of truckling to the baser practices of trade ; for the legitimate trader has not yet introduced adulteration of money . He is happily married ; he has a young family of half-a-dozen children , mostly girls , of whom the two elder are charming young women , modest , frank , blushing rather with happiness than shyness , or only with so much of shyness as lends to their frank manners a delightful grace of softness k Admirable order , and the total absence of effort , were charms combined in the general aspect of the home . While the process of cutting the viands was going on , and the Bedfords were exchanging friendly news , I had leisure to survey the scene I had described , and to note the curious glances which the children threw at the two " foreigners . " Stanhope , indeed , was known already , and he really looks , at least to my eyes , less of a naturalized Englishman than I do . If the new friends glanced at us , I could not help reconnoitring them .. Remembering what I did as to the falsity of"appearances , I could not help asking myself , is this all real ? I have already seen enough to know that if you are in a room full of people , you must not presume that the apparent relations of any one are what they seem—you must not take it for

    granted that Mr . and Mrs . So-and-so , are husband and wife , nor that " old maids" are not matrons , nor that apparent strangers are not spouses , nor that apparent spouses are anything but friendly strangers , independent of each other . Is it so here ? I asked myself : is this comely , buxom , unaffected lady , a Castlemain behind the scenes ? is Bedford an usurer and a profligate ? are those young girls—but I will not pursue my conjectural questions . They were soon answered—by the countenances around me . Mistrust a face that thinks . But these people thought not—except when they might be at their studies , or their household calculations , or the Christinas games at which we played after dinner .

    Some friends joined us—one or two from London , and a family from the neighbourhood ; and English society was seen in its most genial and happy mood . There was a bunch of misletoe in the room , by favour of which the English have inherited certain privileges from the ancient Druids , now resolved into the single one of kissing under it , without offence or scandal I thought indeed that a glance of delight from the two elder girls followed certain kisses from two very well-grown young fellows of the native family ; and there was a certain tacit pleasantry , an ostentatious making way for the approach of those licensed cavaliers , which at once distressed and pleased the young ladies . Happiness in future was recognised by the happy parental eye ; and the affections , in genial moderation , had free scope in that snug parlour . Tell Giorgio , dear Helen , what the word means—if you can make it intelligible to the master of our wide house .

    The other guests had gone , after a supper full of good viands and laughter ; the younger people had retired , with affectionate caresses to Yseult , as though she had been one of themselves , and we had drawn round the fire , while Bedford and Edwardes played a final duett on two glasses of brandy-and-water ; when our host suddenly cried out— " Bless my soul , where shall we put you all ? " No apologies , no roundabout devices ; honest Bedford was fairly perplexed by his plethora of guests , and so perfectly had he made us '' at home , " that he did not hesitate to let us share the

    dilemma . It was soon settled in bis autocratic way ; regretting that he must enforce workhouse classifications , be announced that men and women must part ; Yseult and Margaret should find room , somehow , with the girls ; the men must manage with the sofa , or the floor in the parlour . The little difficulty only added to our enjoyment , by bringing us closer together in hardship , and we sate up long after , chatting , talking ,

    disputing agreeably , on many topics , none of much importance ; but in such fashion of perfectly open utterance to the feelings that all of us grew to be fast friends . Yseult , who had given a loose to exuberant spirits in which I had never seen her , dressed up Amy Bedford in holly and inisletoe , made Edwardes kiss her , and threatened to inflame George Ilartnell with jealousy ; but all in so guileless a spirit of frolic , that Amy offered no other rebuke except to kiss her dear tormentor .

    At last we got , deliciously tired , into our beds on sofa and floor ; and , I lay awake , thinking of the day ' s uneventful pleasantnesses . Could I be content with such life ? Am 1 very lawless to say , No' ( And yet it is not to be des pised . Such people as the Bedfords are not intended to lead the world , nor to undergo great events , but to fill up the level of a quiet country ' s life with a level play of the emotions and actions of life ; and well would it be if all tho quiet country could bo all of auch a staple .

    Untitled Article

    Se ^ eMber 25 , 1852 . ] tHE t E A D k k _ 8 & 9

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1852, page 929, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1953/page/21/