-,_"Mim Peyton relapsed into the tramcelcntaL"                                                          [a.c6




GRI FFITH GAUNT;
OR,
JEALOUSY.
BY
CHARLES READE,
AUTHOR OF'HARD CASH," "PEG WOFFINGTON," "CHRISTIE JOHNSTONE," "NEVER TOO LATE
TO MEND," "LOVE ME LITTLE, LOVE ME LONG," &c.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW  YO R K:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
I 8 73.




CHARLES READE'S NOVELS.
POPULAR EDITIOX
A SIMPLETON.  (Now in course ofpublication in HARPER'S MAGAZINE.)
THE WANDERING HEIR. Illustrated. 8vo, Paper, 25 cents; Cloth, 60o cents.
A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. Illustrated. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.
PUT  YOURSELF  IN  HIS  PLACE.  Illustrated.  8vo, Paper, 75 cents; Cloth, $I 25
I2mo, Cloth, $i oo.
HARD CASH. A Matter-of-Fact Romance. Illustrated. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.
GRIFFITH GAUNT; or, Jealousy. Illustrated. 8vo, Paper, 25 cents.
NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.
LOVE ME LITTLE, LOVE ME LONG. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.
FOUL PLAY. 8vo, Paper, 25 cents.
WHITE LIES. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.
CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH; or, Maid, Wife, and Widow. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.
PEG WOFFINGTON, CHRISTIE JOHNSTONE, and Other Stories. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents,
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
D     Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the trice.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
CHAPTER I.                  acter, that this sport which more or less unsexes
most women, had no perceptible effect on her
"THEN I say, once for all, that priest shall mind, nor even on her manners. The scarlet
never darken my doors again."             riding-habit and little purple cap, and the great
" Then I say they are my doors, and not white, bony horse she rode, were often seen in a
yours, and that holy man shall brighten them  good place at the end of a long run; but, for all
whenever he will."                        that, the lady was a most ungenial fox-huntress.
The gentleman and lady who faced each oth- She never spoke a word but to her acquaintances,
er pale and furious, and interchanged this bitter and wore a settled air of dreamy indifference, exdefiance, were man and wife, and had loved each cept when the hounds happened to be in full
other well.                               cry, and she galloping at their heels. Worse
Miss Catharine Peyton was a young lady of than that, when the dogs were running into the
ancient family in Cumberland, and the most fox, and his fate certain, she had been known to
striking, but least popular, beauty in the coun- rein in her struggling horse, and pace thoughtty. She was very tall and straight, and carried fully home, instead of coming in at the death,
herself a little too imperiously; yet she would and claiming the brush.
sometimes relax and all but dissolve that haughty   One day, being complimented at the end of a
figure, and hang sweetly drooping over her fa- hard run by the gentleman who kept the hounds,
vorites; then the contrast was delicious, and the she turned her celestial orbs on him, and said,
woman fascinating.                          "Nay, Sir Ralph, I love, to gallop; and this
Her hair was golden and glossy, her eyes a sorry business gives me an excuse."
lovely gray; and she had a way of turning them    It was full a hundred years ago. The counon slowly and full, so that their victim could not try teemed with foxes; but it abounded in stiff
fail to observe two things:- first, that they were coverts, and a knowing fox was sure to run from
grand and beautiful orbs; secondly, that they one to another; and then came wearisome efwere thoughtfully overlooking him, instead of forts to dislodge him; and then Miss Peyton's
looking at him.                           gray eyes used to explore vacancy, and ignore
So contemplated by glorious eyes, a man feels her companions, biped and quadruped.
small and bitter.                           But one day they drew Yewtree Brow, and
Catharine was apt to receive the blunt compli- found a stray fox. At Gaylad's first note he
ments of the Cumberland squires with this sweet, broke cover, and went away for home across the
celestial, superior gaze, and for this and other im- open country. A hedger saw him steal out, and
perial charms was more admired than liked.    gave a view halloo; the riders came round helThe family estate was entailed on her brother; ter-skelter; the dogs in cover one by one threw
her father spent every farthing he could; so she up their noses and voices; the horns blew, the
had no money, and no expectations, except from  canine music swelled to a strong chorus, and
a distant cousin —Mr. Charlton, of Hernshaw  away they swept across country-dogs, horses,
Castle and Bolton Hall.                   men; and the Deuse take the hindmost!
Even these soon dwindled. Mr. Charlton took   It was a gallant chase, and our dreamy virgin's
a fancy to his late wife's relation, Griffith Gaunt, blood got up. Erect, but lithe and vigorous, and
and had him into his house, and treated him as one with her great white gelding, she came flyhis heir. This disheartened two admirers who ing behind the foremost riders, and took leap for
had hitherto sustained Catharine Peyton's gaze, leap with them. One glossy, golden curl streamand they retired. Comely girls, girls long-nosed, ed back in the rushing air; her gray eyes glowbut rich, girls snub-nosed, but winning, married ed with earthly fire; and two red spots on the
on all sides of her; but the imperial beauty re- upper part of her cheeks showed she was much
mained Miss Peyton at two-and-twenty.     excited, without a grain of fear. Yet in the first
She was rather kind to the poor; would give ten minutes one gentleman was unhorsed before
them money out of her slender purse, and would her eyes, and one. came to grief along with his
even make clothes for the women, and sometimes animal, and a thorough-bred chestnut was gallopread to them: very few of them could read to ing and snorting beside her with empty saddle.
themselves in that day. All she required in re- Presently young Featherstone, who led her by
turn was that they should be Roman Catholics about fifteen yards, crashed through a high hedge,
like herself, or at least pretend they might be and was seen no more, but heard wallowing in the
brought to that faith by little and little.  deep, unsuspected ditch beyond. There was no
She was a high-minded girl, and could be a time to draw bridle. "Lie still, sir,ifyou please,"
womanly one-whenever she chose.           said Catharine, with cool civility; then up rein,
She hunted about twice a week in the season, in spur, and she cleared the ditch and its muddy
and was at home in the saddle, for she had rid- contents, alive and dead, and away without lookden from a child; but so ingrained was her char- ing behind her.




6                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
On, on, on, till all the pinks and buckskins, and found him in this gallant attitude, and suserst so smart, were splashed with clay and dirt pected the truth, but, observing the rider's tranof every hue, and all the horses' late glossy coats quil position, thought the fox had only popped
were bathed with sweat and lathered with foam, out and then in again. However, he fell in withn
and their gaping nostrils blowing and glowing the huntsman, and told nim Miss Peyton's gray
red; and then it was that Harrowden Brook, had seen something. The hounds appeared puzswollen wide and deep by the late rains, came zled; and so the huntsmaL rode round to Miss
right between the fox and Dogmore Underwood, Peyton, and, touching his cap, asked her if she
for which he was making.                   had seen nothing of the fox.
The hunt sweeping down a hill-side caught   She looked him dreamily in the face.
sight of Reynard running for the brook. They   "The fox?" she said; "he broke cover ten
made sure of him now. But he lapped a drop, minutes ago."
and then slipped in, and soon crawled out on the   The man blew his horn lustily, and then asked
other side, and made feebly for the covert, weight- her reproachfully why she had not tally-hoed
ed with wet fur,                           him, or winded her horn: with that he blew his
At sight of him the hunt hallooed and trump- own impatiently.
eted, and came tearing on with fresh vigor.  Miss Peyton replied, very slowly and pensiveBut when they came near the brook, lo, it was ly, that the fox had come out soiled and fatigued,
twenty feet wide, and running fast and brown. and trailing his brush. "I looked at him,"said
Some riders skirted it, looking for a narrow part. she, " and I pitied him. He was one, and we
Two horses, being spurred at it, came to the bank, are many; he was so little, and we are so big;
and then went rearing round on their heels, de- he had given us a good gallop, and so I made
positing one hat and another rider in the current. up my mind he should live to run another day. "
One gallant steed planted his feet like a tower,   The huntsman stared stupidly at her for a moand snorted down at the water. One flopped ment, then burst into a torrent of oaths, then
gravely in, and had to swim, and be dragged out. blew his horn till it was hoarse, then cursed and
Another leaped, and landed with his feet on the swore till he was hoarse himself, then to his horn
other bank, his haunches in the water, and his again, and dogs and men came rushing to the
rider curled round his neck, and glaring out be- sound.
tween his retroverted ears.                  "Couple up, and go home to supper," said
But Miss Peyton encouraged her horse with Miss Peyton, quietly.  " The fox is half way to
spur and voice, set her teeth, turned rather pale Gallowstree Gorse; and you won't get him out
this time, and went at the brook with a rush, of that this afternoon, I promise you."
and cleared it like a deer. She and the hunts-   As she said this, she touched her horse with
man were almost alone together on the other the spur, leaped the low hedge in front of her,
side, and were as close to the dogs as the dogs and cantered slowly home across the country.
were to poor Pug, when he slipped through a She was one that seldom troubled the hard road,
run in a quickset hedge, and, reducing the dogs go where she would.
to single file, glided into Dogmore Underwood,   She had ridden about a mile, when she heard
a stiff hazel coppice of five years' growth.  a horse's feet behind her. She smiled, and ler
The other riders soon straggled up, and then color rose a little; but she cantered on.
the thing was to get him out again. There were        Halt, in the king's name!" shouted a mela few narrow roads cut in the underwood; and low voice; and a gentleman galloped up to her
up and down these the huntsman and whipper- side, and reined in his mare.
in went trotting, and encouraged the stanch   "What! have they killed?" inquired Cathhounds, and whipped the skulkers back into coy- arine, demurely.
ert. Others galloped uselessly about, pounding   " Not they; he is in the middle of Gallowstree
the earth, for daisy-cutters were few in those Gorse by now."
days; and Miss Peyton relapsed into the tran-   "And this is the way to Gallowstree Gorse?"
scendental. She sat in one place, with her elbow    " Nay, mistress," said the young man; "but
on her knee, and her fair chin supported by two when the fox heads one way and the deer anfingers, as undisturbed by the fracas of horns other, what is a poor hunter to do?"
and voices as an equestrian statue of Diana.  "Follow the slower, it seems."
She sat so still and so long at a corner of the   "Say the lovelier and the dearer, sweet ]Kate. "
underwood that at last the harassed fox stole out   "Now, Griffith, you know I hate flattery,"
close to her with lolling tongue and eye askant, said Kate; and the next moment came a soft
and took the open field again. She thrilled at smile, and belied this unsocial sentiment.
first sight of him, and her cheeks burned; but   "Flattery?' said the lover. " I have no
her quick eye took in all the signs of his distress, tongue to speak half your praises. I think the
and she sat quiet, and watched him coolly. Not people in this country are as blind as bats, or
so her horse. He plunged, and then trembled they'd-"
all over, and planted his fore feet together at this   "All except Mr. Griffith Gaunt; he has found
angle \, and parted his hind legs a little, and so a paragon, where wiser people see a wayward,
stood quivering, with cocked ears, and peeped capricious girl."
over a low paling at the retiring quadruped, and   "Then he is the man for yvou. Don't you see
fretted and sweated in anticipation of the gallop that, mistress?"
his long head told him was to follow. lie looked   " No, I don't quite see that," said the lady,
a deal more statuesque than any three statues in dryly.
England, and all about a creature not up to his   This cavalier reply caused a dismay the speakknee. And, by-the-by, the gentlemen who carve er never intended. The fact is, Mr. George Nehorses in our native isle, did they ever see one- ville, young, handsome, and rich, had lately setout of an omnibus? The whipper-in came by, tied in the neighborhood, and had been greatly




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                7
smitten with Kate. The county was talking mine. Any thing sooner than be parted in this
about it, and Griffith had been secretly on thorns world or the next."
for some days past. And now he could hide his   She looked at him in silence; and it was in a
uneasiness no longer; he cried out, in a sharp, faint, half apologetic tone she objected that all
trembling voice,                           her kinsfolk were set against it.
"Why, Kate, my dear Kate! what! could you   "It is not their business-it is outs," was the
love any man but me?  Could you be so cruel? prompt reply.
could you? There, let me get off my horse, and    "Well, then," said Catharine, sadly, "I sup-.
lie down on this stubble, and you ride over me, pose I must'tell you the true reason: I feel I
and trample me to death. I would rather have should not make you happy; I do not love you
you trample on my ribs than on' my heart, with quite as you want to be loved-as you deserve to
loving any one but me."                    be loved. You need not look so; nothing in
" Why, what now?" said Catharine, drawing flesh and blood is your rival. But my heart
herself up; "I must scold you handsomely;" bleeds for the Church; I think of her ancient
and she drew rein and turned full upon him; but glory in this kingdom, and, when I see her presby this means she saw his face was full of real ent condition, I long to devote myself to her
distress; so, instead of reprimanding him, she service. I am very fit to be an abbess or a nun
said, gently, " Why, Griffith, what is to do? -most unfit to be a wife. No, no-I must not,
Are you not my servant? Do not I send you ought not, dare not, marry a Protestant. Take
word whenever I dine from home?"          the advice of one who esteems you dearly; leave
"Yes, dearest; and then I call at that house, me-fly from me-forget me-do every thing
and stick there till they guess what I would be but hate me. Nay, do not hate me; you little
at, and ask me too."                       know the struggle in my mind. Farewell; the
Catharine smiled, and proceeded to remind saints, whom you scorn, watch over and protect
him that thrice a week she permitted him to you!  Farewell!"
ride over fiom Bolton (a distance of fifteen miles)   And with this she sighed, and struck her spur
to see her.                                into the gray, and he darted off at a gallop.
"Yes," replied Griffith, " and I must say you   Griffith, little able to cope with such a charalways come, wet or drl, to the shrubbery-gate, acter as this, sat petrified, and would have been
and put your hand in mine a minute. And, rooted to the spot if he had happened to be on
Kate," said he, piteously, "at the bare thought foot. But his mare set off after her companion,
of your putting that same dear hand in another and a chase of a novel kind commenced. Cathman's, my heart turns sick within me, and my arine's horse was fresher than Griffith's mare,
akin burns and trembles on me."            and the latter, not being urged by her petrified
"But you have no cause," said Catharine, master, lost ground.
soothingly.  " Nobody, except yourself, doubts   But when she drew near to her father's gate,
my affection for you. You are often throvn in Catharine relaxed her speed, and Griffith rejoinmy teeth, Griffith-and" (clenching her own) " I ed her.
like you all the better, of course."          She'had already half relented, and only wantGriffith replied with a burst of gratitude; and ed a warm and resolute wooer to bring her
then, as men will, proceeded to encroach.  round.  But Griffith was too sore, and too little
"' Ah!" said he, "if you would but pluck up versed in woman. Full of suspicion and bittercourage, and take the matrimonial fence with ness, he paced gloomy and silent by her side till
me at once."                               they reached the great avenue that led to her faMiss Peyton sighed at that, and drooped a lit- ther's house.
tle upon her saddle. After a pause, she enumer-   And while ha rides alongside the capricious
ated the "just impediments."  She reminded creature in sulky silence, I may as well reveal a
him that neither of them had means to marry certain foible in his own character.
on.                                          This Griffith Gaunt was by no means deficient
lie made light of that; he should have plen- in physical courage; but he was instinctively
ty; Mr. Charlton has as good as told him he disposed to run away from mental pain the mowas to have Bolton Hall and Grange: "Six ment he lost hope' of driving it away from him.
hundred acres, Kate, besides the park and pad- For instance, if Catharine had been ill and her
docks."                                    life in danger, he would have ridden day and
In his warmth he forgot that Catharine was to night to save her-would have beggared himself
have been Mr. Charlton's heir, Catharine was to save her; but if she had died, he would eitoo high-minded to bear Griffith any grudge; ther have killed himself, or else fled the country,
but she colored a little, and said she was averse and so escaped the sight of every object that was
to come to him a penniless bride.          associated with her and could agonize him. I
" Why, what matters it which of us has the do not think he could have attended the funeral
dross, so that there is enough for both?" said of one he loved.
Griffith, with an air of astonishment.       The mind, as well as the body, has its selfCatharine smiled approbation, and tacitly protecting instincts. This of Griffith's was, aftyielded that point. But then she objected the er all, an instinct of that class, and, under certain
difference in their faith.                 circumstances, is true wisdom. But Griffith, I
"Oh, honest folk get to heaven by different think, carried the instinot to excess; and that
roads," said Griffith, carelessly.         is whv I call it his foible.
"I have been taught otherwise," replied Cath-   " Catharine," said he, resolutely, "let me ride
arine, gravely.                            by your side to the house for once; for I read
" Then give me your hand and I'll give you your advice my own way, and I mean to follow
my soul," said Griffith Gaunt, impetuously. it: after to-day you will be troubled with me no
"I'll go to heaven your way, if you can't go more. I have loved you these three years, I




8                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
have courted you these two years, and I am    Catharine blushed, and said, deprecatingly,
none the nearer; I see I am not the man you   " You were not there, Griffith, or to be sure I
mean to marry; so I shall do as my father did, had not danced with him."
ride down to the coast, and sell my horse, and   "And he toasts you by name, wherever he
ship for foreign parts."                  goes."
" Oh, as you will, " said Catharine, haughtily:   " Can I help that? Wait till I toast him, beshe quite forgot she had just recommended him  fore you make yourself ridiculous, and me very
to do something of this very kind.        angry-about nothing."
Presently she stole a look. His fine ruddy   Griffith, sticking to his one idea, replied, dogcheek was pale; his manly brown eyes were gedly,
moist; yet a gloomy and resolute expression on   "Mistress Alice Peyton shilly-shallied with
his tight-drawn lips. She looked at him side- her true lover for years, till Richard Hilton came,
long, and thought how often he had ridden thir- that was not fit to tie his shoes; and then-"
ty miles on that very mare to get a word with   Catharine cut him short,
her at the shrubbery-gate. And now the mare   "Affront me, if nothing less will serve; but
to be sold! The man to go broken-hearted to spare my sister in her grave."
sea-perhaps to his death! Her good heart be-   She began the sentence angrily, but concluded
gan to yearn.                              it in a broken voice. Griffith was half disarm" Griffith," said she, softly, " it is not as if I ed; but only half. He answered, sullenly,
were going to wed any body else. Is it nothing   " She did not die till she had jilted an honest
to be preferred by her you say you love? If I gentleman and broken his heart, and married a
were you, I would do nothing rash. Why not sot, to her cost. And you are of her breed.
give me a little time? In truth, I hardly know  when all is done; and now that young coxcomb
my own mind about it two days together."   has come, like Dick Hilton, between you and
"Kate," said the young man, firmly, " I am  me."
courting you this two years. If I wait two   "But I do not encourage him."
years more, it will be but to see the right man   "You do not discourage him," retorted Grifcome and carry you in a month; for so girls are fith, "or he would not be so hot after you. Were
won, when they are won at all. Your sister that you ever the woman to say,'I have a servant alis married and dead, she held Josh Pitt in hand ready that loves me dear?' That one frank word
for years; and what is the upshot? Why, he had sent him packing."
wears the willow for her to this day; and her   Miss Peyton colored, and the water came into
husband married again, before her grave was her eyes.
green. Nay, I have done all an honest man can   "I may have been imprudent, " she murmured.
to woo you; so take me now, or let me go."    "The young gentleman made me smile with his
At this, Kate began to waver secretly, and extravagance. I never thought to be misunderask herself whether it would not be better to stood by him, far less by you." Then, suddenly,
yield, since he was so abominably resolute.  as bold as brass, " It's all your fault; if he had
But the unlucky fellow did not leave well the power to make you uneasy, why did you not
alone. He went on to say,                 check me before?"
" Once out of sight of this place, I may cure   " Ay, forsooth, and have it cast in my teeth I
myself of my fancy. Here I never could."   was a jealous monster, and played the tyrant be"Oh," said Catharine, directly, "if you are so fore my time. A poor fellow scarce knows what
bent on being cured, it would not become me to to be at that loves a coquette."
say nay."                                    " Coquette I am none," replied the lady, briGriffith Gaunt bit his lip and hung his head, dling magnificently.
and made no reply.                           Griffith took no notice of this interruption. He
The patience with which he received her hard proceeded to say that he had hitherto endured
speech was more apparent than real; but it told. this intrusion of a rival in silence, though with a
Catharine, receiving no fresh provocation, re- sore heart, hoping his patience might touch her,
aented again of her own accord, and, after a con- or the fire go out of itself. But at last, unable to
siderable silence, whispered, softly,      bear it any longer in silence, he had shown his
" Think how we should all miss you."    wound to one he knew could feel for him, his
Here was an overture to reconciliation. But, poor friend Pitt. Pitt had then let him know
unfortunately, it brought out what had long been that his own mistake had been over-confidence
rankling in Griffith's mind, and was, in fact, the in Alice Peyton's constancy.
real cause of the misunderstanding.       "I  Ie said to me,' Watch your Kate close, and,
"Oh," said he, "those I care for will soon at the first blush of a rival, say you to her, Part
find another to take my place! Soon? quotha. with him, or part with me.' "
They have not waited till I was gone for that."    Catharine pinned him directly.
" Ali, indeed!" said Catharine, with some sur-   "And this is how you take Joshua Pitt's adprise; then, like the quick-witted girl she was, vice-by offering to run away from this sorry
"so this is what all the coil is about."  rival."
She then, with a charming smile, begged him    The shrewd reply, and a curl of the lip, half
to inform her who was his destined successor in arch, half contemptuous, that accompanied the
her esteem. - Griffith colored purple at her cool thrust, staggered the less ready Griffith. He got
hypocrisy (for such he considered it), and re- puzzled, and showed it.
plied, almost fiercely,                      "Well, but," stammered he at last, "your
"Who but that young black-a-vised George spirit is high; I was mostly afeard to put it so
Neville, that you have been coquetting with this plump to you. So I thought I would go about
month past-and danced all night with him at a bit. However, it comes to the same thing; for
Lady Munster's ball, you did."            this I do know-that, if you refuse me your hand




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 9
this day, it is to give it to a new acquaintance, as      CHAPTER II.
vour Alice did before you. And if it is to be so,'tis best for me to be gone: best for him, and best   Miss PEYTON drew herself up and back by one
for you. You don't know me, Kate; for, as clev- motion, like a queen at bay; but still she eyed
er as you are, at the thought of your playing me him with a certain respect, and was careful now
false, after all these years, and marrying that not to provoke nor pain him needlessly.
George Neville, my heart turns to ice, and then    "I prefer you-though you speak harshly to
to fire, and my head seems ready to burst, and me sir," said she, with gentle dignity.
my hands to do mad and bloody acts. Ay, I feel   "Then give me your hand, with that man in
I should kill him, or you, or both, at the church- sight, and end my torments; promise to marry
porch. Ah!"                                 me this very week. Ah! Kate, have pity on
He suddenly griped her arm, and at the same your poor, faithful servant, who has loved you so
time involuntarily checked his mare.        long!"
Both horses stopped.                        "I do, Griffith, I do," said she, sweetly; "but
She raised her head with an inquiring look, I shall never marry now. Only set your mind
and saw her lover's face discolored with passion, at rest about Mr. Neville there. He has never
and so strangely convulsed that she feared at asked me, for one thing."
first he was in a fit, or stricken with death or   "He soon will, then."
palsy.                                        "No, no; I declare I will be very cool to him,
She uttered a cry of alarm, and stretched forth after what you have said to me. But I can not
her hand toward him.                        marry you, neither. I dare not. Listen to me,
But the next moment she drew it back from  and do, pray, govern your temper, as I am doing
him; for, following his eye, she discerned the mine. I have often read of men with a passion
cause of his ghastly look. Her father's house for jealousy-I mean, men whose jealousy feeds
stood at the end of the avenue they had just en- upon air, and defies reason. I know you now
tered; but there was another approach to it, for such a man. Marriage would not cure this
namely, by a bridle-road at right angles to the madness; for wives do not escape admiration
avenue or main entrance, and up that bridle-road any more than maids. Something tells me you
a gentleman was walking his horse, and bid fair would be jealous of every fool that paid me some
to meet them at the hall door.              stale compliment, jealous of my female friends,
It was young Neville. There was no mistak- and jealous of my relations, and perhaps jealous
ing his piebald charger for any other animal in of your own children; and of that holy, persethat county.                                cuted Church which must still have a large share
of my heart. No, no; your face and your words
Kate Peyton glanced from lover to lover, and have shown me a precipice. I tremble and draw
shuddered at Griffith. She was familiar with back, and now I never will marry at all: from
petty jealousy; she had even detected it pinch- this day I give myself to the Church."
ing or coloring many a pretty face that tried very   Griffith did not believe one word of all this.
hard to hide it all the time. But that was noth-   "That is your answer to me," said he, bitterly.
ing to what she saw now: hitherto she had but " When the right man puts the question (and he
beheld the feeling of jealousy; but now she wit- is not far off) you will tell another tale. You
nessed the livid passion of jealousy writhing in take me for a fool, and you mock me; you are
every lineament of a human face. That terrible not the lass to die an old maid, and men are
passion had transfigured its victim in a moment: not the fools to let you. With faces like yours,
the ruddy, genial, kindly Griffith, with his soft the new servant comes before the old one is gone.
brown eye, was gone, and in his place lowered a Well, I have got my answer. County Cumberface older, and discolored, and convulsed, and al- land, you are no place for me! The ways and
most demoniacal.                            the fields we two have ridden together-oh, how
Women (wiser, perhaps, in this than men) take could I bear their sight without my dear? Why,
their strongest impressions by the eye, not ear. what a poor-spirited fool I am to stay and whine!
Catharine, I say, looked at him she had hitherto  Come, mistress, your lover waits you there, and
thought she knew-looked and feared him. And your discarded servant knows good-breeding: he
even while she looked and shuddered, Griffith leaves the country not to spoil your sport."
spurred his mare sharply, and then drew her   Catharine panted heavily.
head across the gray gelding's path. It was an    "Well, sir," said she, "then it is your doing,
instinctive impulse to bar the lady he loved from  not mine. Will you not even shake hands with
taking another step toward the place where his me, Griffith?"
rival awaited her.                            "I were a brute else," sighed the jealous one,
"I cannotbear it,"he gasped. "Choose you with a sudden revulsion of feeling.  "I have
now, once for all, between that puppy there and spent the happiest hours of my life beside you.
me:" and he pointed with his riding-whip at his If I loved thee less, I had never-left thee. "
rival, and waited with his teeth clenched for her   He clung a little while to her hands, more
decision.                                   like a drowning man than any thing else, then
The movement was rapid, the gesture large let them go, and suddenly shook his clenched
and commanding, and the words manly; for what fist in the direction of George Neville, and cried
says the fighting poet?                    out with a savage yell,
"He either fears his fate too much,    " My curse on him that parts us twain! And
Or his deserts are small,         you, Kate, may God bless you single, and curse
Who fears to put it to the touch,  you married! and that is my last word ii CumTo win or lose it all." 
berland."
"Amen!" said Catharine, resignedly.
And even with this they wheeled their horses




10                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
apart, and rode away from each other: she very   As she passed through the hall, she heard
pale, but erect with wounded pride; he reeling George Neville and her father in animated conin his saddle like a drunken man.           versation.  She mounted the stairs softly, and
And so Griffith Gaunt, stung mad by jeal- went into a little boudoir of her own on the first
ousy, affronted his sweetheart, the proudest girl floor, and sat down. The house stood high,
in Cumberland, and, yielding to his foible, fled and there was a very expansive and beautiful
from his pain.                              view of the country from this window. She sat
Our foibles are our manias.               down by it and drooped, and looked wistfully
through the window, and thought of the past,
and fell into a sad reverie.  Pity began to soften
her pride and anger, and presently two gentle
tears dimmed her glorious eyes a moment, then
MIss PEYTTON was shocked and grieved; but stole down her delicate cheeks.
she was affronted and wounded. Now anger   While she sat thus lost in the past, jovial
seems to have some fine buoyant quality, which voices and creaking boots broke suddenly upon
makes it rise and come uppermost in an agitated her ear, and came up the stairs; they jarred
mind. She rode proudly into the court-yard of upon her; so she cast one last glance out of the
her father's house, and would not look once be- window, and rose to get out of their way, if poshind to see the last of her perverse lover.  sible. But it was too late; a heavy step came
The old groom, Joe, who had taught her to to the door, and a ruddy, Port-drinking face
ride when she was six years old, saw her com- peeped in. It was her father.
ing, and hobbled out to hold her horse while she   " See-ho!" roared the jovial squire.  "I've
alighted.                                   found the hare on her form; bide thou outside
"Mistress Kate," said he, "have you seen a moment."
Master Griffith Gaunt any wheres?"           And he entered the room; but he had no
The young lady colored at this question.  sooner closed the door than his whole manner
"Why?" said she.                          changed from loud and jovial to agitated and
" Why?" repeated Old Joe, a little contemp- subdued.
tuouslv.  "Why, where have you been not to    " lKate, my girl," said he, piteously, "I have
know the country is out after un?  First comed been a bad father to thee. I have spent all the
Jock Dennet, with his horse all in a lather, to money that should have been thine; thy poor
say old Mr. Charlton was took ill, and had father can scarce look thee in the face. So now
asked for Master Griffith.  I told him to go to I bring thee a good husband; be a good child
Dogmore Copse:'Our Kate is a-hunting to- now, and a dutiful. Neville's Court is his, and
(lay,' says I;'and your Griffith, he is sure not Neville's Cross will be, by the entail; and so
to be far from her gelding's tail;' a sticks in his will the baronetcy. I shall see my girl Lady
spurs and away a goes. What, ha'n't you seen Neville."
Jock, neither?".        "Never, papa, never!" cried Kate.
"No, no," replied Miss Peyton, impatiently.    "Hush! hush!" said the squire, and put up
"What, is there any thing the matter?"     his hand to her in great agitation and alarm;
"The matter, quo' she!  Why, Jock hadn't "hush, or he will hear ye. Kate," he whisbeen gone an hour when in rides the new foot- pered, "are you mad?  Little I thought, when
man all in a lather, and brings a letter for Mas- lie asked to see me, it was to offer marriage.
ter Griffith from  the old gentleman's house- Be a good girl now; don't you quarrel with
keeper.'You leave the letter with me, in good luck. You are not fit to be poor; and
case,' says I, and I sends him  a-field after you have made enemies: do but think how they
t'other. Here be the letter."               will flout you when I die, and Bill's jade of a
I-le took off his cap and produced the letter.   wife puts you to the door, as she will. And
Catharine started at the sight of it.     now yon can triumph over them all, my Lady
"'Alack!" said she, "this is a heavy day. Neville-and make your poor father happy, my
Look, Joe; sealed with black. Poor Cousin Lady Neville. Enough said, for I promised
Charlton! I doubt he is no more."          you; so don't go and make a fool of me, and
Joe shook his head expressively, and told her yourself into the bargain. And-and-a word
the butcher had come from that part not ten in your ear: he hath lent me a hundred pounds."
minutes ago, with word that the blinds were all   At this climax the father hung his head; the
down at Bolton Hall.                        daughter winced and moaned out, "Papa, how
Poor human nature!  A gleam of joy shot could you?"
through Catharine's heart; this sad news would   Mr. Peyton had gradually descended to that
compel Griffith to stay at home and bury his intermediate stage of degradation, when the subbenefactor; and that delayv would give him time stance of dignity is all gone, but its shadow,
to reflect; and, somehow or other, she felt sure shame, remains.  He stamped impatiently on
it would end in his not going at all.       the ground, and cut his humiliation short by
But these thoughts had no sooner passed rushing out of the room.
through her than she was ashamed of them and    "Here, try your own luck, youngster," he
of herself. What! welcome that poor old man's cried at the door.  " She knows my mind."
death because it would keep her cross-grained   He trampled down the stairs, and young
lover at home? Her cheeks burned with shame; George Neville knocked respectfully at the door,
and, with a superfluous exercise of self-defense, though it was half open, and caine in with
she retired from Old Joe, lest he should divine youth's light foot, and a handsome face flushed
what was passing in her mind.               into beauty by love and hope.
But she was so rapt in thought that she car-   Miss Peyton's eye just swept him as he enried the letter away with her unconsciously.    i tered, and with the same movement she turned




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              11
away her fair head and blushing cheek toward Mistress Kate, I love you as these country boors
the window; yet-must I own it?-she quietly can never be taught to love. I lay my heart, my
moulded the letter that lay in her lap, so that name, my substance, at your feet; you shall not
the address was no longer visible to the new- be loved —you shall be worshiped. Ah! turn
comer.                                    those eyes, brimful of soul, on me again, and let
(Small secrecy verging on deceit, you are me try and read in them that one day, no matter
bred in woman's bones!)                   how distant, the delight of my eyes, the joy of all
This blushing and averted cheek is one of my senses, the pride of Cumberland, the pearl of
those equivocal receptions that have puzzled England, the flower of womankind, the rival of
many a sensible man. It is a sign of coy love; the angels, the darling of George Neville's heart,
it is a sign of gentle aversion; our mode of in- will be George Neville's wife.'
terpreting it is simple and judicious: whichever   Fire and water were in his eyes, passion in
it happens to be, we go and take it for the other. every tone; his manly hand grasped hers and
The brisk, bold wooer that now engaged Kate trembled, and drew her gently toward him.
Peyton was not the man to be dashed by a   Her bosom heaved; his passionate male voice
woman's coyness. Handsome, daring, good-hu- and touch electrified her, and made her flutter.
mored, and vain, he had every thing in his favor   "Spare me this pain," she faltered; and she
but his novelty.                          looked through the window and thought, "Poor
Griffith was right, after all, and I was wrong.
Look at Kate! her eye lingers wistfully on He had cause for jealousy, and CAUSE fOR
that disconsolate horseman whose every step FEAR."
takes him farther from her; but George has her   And then she pitied him who panted at her
ear, and draws closer and closer to it, and pours side, and then she was sorry for him who rode
love's mellow murmurs into it.             away disconsolate, still lessening to her eye; and
He told her he had made the grand tour, and what with this conflict and the emotion her quars en the beauties of every land, but none like rel with Griffith had already caused her, she
her; other ladies had certainly pleased his eye leaned her head back against the shutter, and
for a moment, but she alone had conquered his began to sob low, but almost hysterically.
heart. He said many charming things to her,   Now Mr. George Neville was neither a fool
such as Griffith Gaunt had never said. Among nor a novice; if he had never been downright in
the rest, he assured her the beauty of her person love before (which I crave permission to doubt),
would not alone have fascinated him so deeply; he had gone far enough on that road to make
but he had seen the beauty of her mind in those one Italian lady, two French, one Austrian, and
eyes of hers, that seemed not eyes, but souls; one Creole, in love with him; and each of these
and, begging her pardon for his presumption, he love-affairs had given him fresh insight into the
aspired to wed her mind.                   ways of woman. Enlightened by so many bitterSuch ideas had often risen in Kate's own sweet experiences, he saw at once that there was
mind, but to hear them from a man was new. something more goink on inside Kate's heaving
She looked askant through the window at the bosom than he could have caused by offering her
lessening Griffith, and thought " how the grand his hand. He rose from his knees and leaned
tour improves a man!" and said, as coldly as she against the opposite shutter, and fixed his eyes a
could, "I esteem you, sir, and can not but be little sadly, but very observantly, on her, as she
flattered by sentiments so superior to those I am  leaned back against the shutter, sobbing low, but
used to hear; but let this go no farther. I shall hysterically, and quivering all over.
never marry now."                            "There's some other man at the bottom of
Instead of being angry at this, or telling her this," thought George Neville.
she wanted to marry somebody else, as the inju-   "Mistress Kate," said he, gently, " I do not
dicious Griffith had done, young Neville had the come here to make you weep. I love you like a
address to treat it as an excellent jest, and drew  gentleman. If you love another, take courage,
such comical pictures of all the old maids in the tell me so, and don't let your father constrain
neighborhood that she could not help smiling.   your inclinations. Dearly as I love you, I would
But the moment she smiled, the inflammable not wed your person, and your heart another's:
George made hot love to her again. Then she that would be too cruel to you, and" (drawing
besought him to leave her, piteously. Then he himself up with sudden majesty) " too unjust to
said, cheerfully, he would leave her as soon as myself."
ever she had-promised to be his. At that she   Kate looked up at him through her tears, and
turned sullen and haughty, and looked through admired this man, who could love ardently, yet
the window and took no notice of him whatever. be proud and just. And if this appeal to her
Then, instead of being discouraged or mortified, candor had been made yesterday, she would have
he showed imperturbable confidence and good- said, frankly, "There is one I-esteem."  But,
humor, and begged archly to know what inter- since the quarrel, she would not own to herself,
esting object was in sight from that window. far less to another, that she loved a man who
On this she blushed and withdrew her eyes from  had turned his back upon her. So she parried.
the window, and so they met his. On that he   "There is no one I love enough to wed, " said
threw himself on his knees (custom of the day), she.  " I am a cold-hearted girl, born to give
and wooed her with such a burst of passionate pain to my betters. But I shall do something
and tearful eloquence that she began to pity desperate to end all this."
him, and said, lifting her lovely eyes,      "All what?" said he, keenly.
"Alas! I was born to make all those I esteem    "The whole thing: my unprofitable life."
unhappy!" and she sighed deeply.            "Mistress Kate," said Neville, "I asked you,
"Not a bit of it," said he; "you were born, was there another man. If you had answered
like the sun, to bless all you shine upon. Sweet me,'In truth there is, but he is poor and my




12                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
father is averse or the like,' then I would have   But suddenly she dissolved this feminine atti.
secretly sought that man, and, as I am very rich, tude, rose to her feet, and interrupted her wooer
you should have been happy. "              civilly.
" Oh, Mr. Neville, that is very generous, but   " Excuse me," said she, " but can you tell me
how meanly you must think of me!"         which way that road on the hill leads to?"
"And what a bungler you must think me! I   Her companion stared a little at so sudden a
tell you, you should never have known. But let turn in the conversation, but replied by asking
that pass; you have answered my question; and her, with perfect good- humor, what road she
you say there is no man you love. Then I say meant.
you shall be Dame Neville."                  " The one that gentleman on horseback has just
"What, whether I will or no?"          taken. Surely," she continued, "that road does
" Yes; whether you think you will or no."   not take to Bolton Hall."
Catharine turned her dreamy eyes on him.   "Certainly not," said George, following the
"You have had a good master. Why did you direction of her finger.  " Bolton Hall liesJ to
not come to me sooner?"                  the right. That road takes to the sea-coast by
She was thinking more of him than of herself, Otterbury and Stanhope."
and, in fact, paying too little heed to her words.   " I thought so," said Kate.  " How unfortuBut she had no sooner uttered this inadvertent nate! He can not know; but, indeed, how should
speech than she felt she had said too much. he?"
She blushed rosy red, and hid her face in her   " Who can not know? and what? You speak
hands in the most charming confusion.      in riddles, mistress. And how pale you are!
"' Sweetest, it is not an hour too late, as you Are you ill?"
do not love another," was stout George Neville's   " No, not ill, sir," faltered Kate, " but you see
reply.                                     me much discomposed. SMy cousin Charlton
But nevertheless the cunning rogue thought it died this day, and the news met me at the very
safest to temporize, and put his coy mistress off door." She could say no more.
her guard. So he ceased to alarm her by press-   Mr. Neville, on hearing this news, began to
ing the question of marriage, but seduced her make many excuses for having inadvertently ininto a charming talk, where the topics were not truded himself upon her on such a day; but, in
so personal, and only the tones of his voice and the midst of his apologies, she suddenly looked
the glances of his expressive eyes were caress- him full in the face, and said, with nervous abing. IIe was on his mettle to please her by ruptness,
hook or by crook, and was delightful, irresisti-   "You talk like a preux chevalier. I wonder
ble. He set her at ease, and she began to listen whether you would ride five or six miles to do
more, and even to smile faintly, and to look me a service."
through the window a little less perseveringly.  " Ay, a thousand!" said the young man, gloSuddenly the spell was broken for a while.   ing with pleasure.  " What is to do?"
And by whom?                              Kate pointed through the window.
By the other.                              " You see that gentleman on horseback. Well,
Ay, you may well stare. It sounds strange, I happen to know that he is leaving the country;
but it is true, that the poor forlorn horseman, he thinks that he-that I-that Mr. Charlton
hanging like a broken man, as he was, over his has many years to live. He must be told Mr.
tired horse, and wending his solitary way from  Charlton is dead, and his presence is required at
her he loved, and resigning the field, like a Bolton HIall. I should like somebody to gallop
goose, to the very rival he feared, did yet (like after him, and give him this letter; but my own
the retiring Parthian) shoot an arrow into that horse is tired, and I am tired; and, to be frank,
pretty boudoir and hit both his sweetheart and there is a little coolness between the gentleman
his rival-hit them hard enough to spoil their himself and me. Oh, I wish him no ill, but
sport, and make a little mischief between them  really I am not upon terms-I do not feel com-for that afternoon, at all events.        plaisant enough to carry a letter after him; yet
The arrow came into the room after this fash- I do feel that he must have it. Do not you think
ion.                                       it would be malicious and unworthy in me to
Kate was sitting in a very feminine attitude..keep the news from him, when I know it is so?"
When a man wants to look in any direction, he   Young Neville smiled.
turns his body and his eye the same way, and   " Nay, mistress, why so many words? Give
does it; but women love to cast oblique regards; me your letter, and I will soon overtake the gen.
and this their instinct is a fruitful source of their tleman: he seems in no great hurry."
graceful and characteristic postures.        Kate thanked him, and made a polite apology
Kate Peyton was at this moment a statue of for giving him so much trouble, and handed him
her sex. Her fair head leaned gently back the letter. When it came to that, she held it
against the comer of the window-shutter; her out to him rather irresolutely; but he took it
pretty feet and fair person in general were oppo- promptly, and bowed low, after the fashion of
site George Neville, who sat facing the window, the day. She courtesied; he marched off with
but in the middle of the room; her arms, half alacrity. She sat down again, and put her head
pendent, halfextended, went listlessly aslant her, in her hand to think it all over, and a chill
and somewhat to the right of her knees, yet, by thought ran through her. Was her conduct
an exquisite turn of the neck, her gray eyes con- wise.? What would Griffith think at her emtrived to be looking dreamily out of the window ploying his rival? Would he not infer Neville
to her left. Still, in this figure, that pointed one had entered her service in more senses than one?
way and looked another, there was no distortion; Perhaps he would throw the letter in the dirt in
all was easy, and full of that subtile grace we a rage, and never read it.
artists call repose.                        Steps came rapidly, the door opened, and there




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                13
was George Neville again, but not the same   "Nay, do not weep so, Mistress Kate," said
George Neville that went out but thirty seconds he, hurriedly. " Come, take courage. I am not
before. IIe stood in the door looking very black, jealous of Mr. Gaunt-a man that hath been two
and with a sardonic smile on his lips.      years dangling after you, and could not win you.
" An excellent jest, mistress!" said he, ironi- I look but to my own self-respect in the matter.
cally.                                      I know your sex better than you know your"Why, what is the matter?" said the lady, selves. Were I to carry that letter, you would
stoutly; but her red cheeks belied her assump- thank me now, but by-and-by despise me. Now,
tion of innocence.                          as I mean you to be my wife, I will not risk
"Oh, not much," said George, with a bitter your contempt. Why not take my horse, put
sneer.  "It is an old story; only I thought you whom you like upon him, and so convey the letwere nobler than the rest of your sex. This let- ter to Mr. Gaunt?"
ter is to Mr. Griffith Gaunt."                 Now this was all the fair mourner wanted; so
"Well, sir!" said Kate, with a face of serene she said,
and candid innocence.                          " No, no, she would not be beholden to him
"And Mr. Griffith Gaunt is a suitor of yours." for any thing; he had spoken harshly to her, and
"Say was. He is so no longer. He and I misjudged her cruelly, cruelly-oh! oh! oh!"
are out. But for that, think you I had even   Then he implored her to grant him this small
listened to —what you have been saying to me favor; then she cleared up, and said, "Well,
this ever so long?"                        sooner than bear malice, she would." He thank"Oh, that alters the case," said George. ed her for granting him that favor. She went
" But stay!" and he knitted his brows and re- off with the letter, saying,
flected.                                       "I will be back anon."
Up to a moment ago, the loftiness of Catha-   But once she got clear, she opened the door
rine Peyton's demeanor, and the celestial some- again, and peeped in at him gayly, and said she,
thing in her soul-like, dreamy eyes, had con-   "Why not ask me who wrote the letter, bevinced him she was a creature free from the fore you compared me to that French coquette?"
small dishonesty and lubricity he had noted in and, with this, made him an arch courtesy and
so many women otherwise amiable and good. tripped away.
But this business of thesletter had shaken the il-   Mr. George Neville opened his eyes with aslusion.                                     tonishment.  This arch question, and Kate's
" Stay!" said he, stiffly. "You say Mr. Gaunt manner of putting it, convinced him the obnoxand you are out?"                          ious missive was not a love-letter at all. He was
Catharine assented by a movement of her fair sorry now, and vexed with himself for having
head.                                       called her a coquette, and made her cry. After
" And he is leaving the country.  Perhaps all, what was the mighty favor she had asked of
this letter is to keep him from leaving the coun- him?  To carry a sealed letter from somebody
try.".   or other to a person who, to be sure, had been
"' Only until he has buried his benefactor," her lover, but was so no longer-a simple act of
murmured Kate, in deprecating accents.      charity and civility; and he had refused it in
George wore a bitter sneer at this.       injurious terms.
" Mistress Kate," said he, after a significant   He was glad lie had lent his horse, and alpause, " do you read Moliere?"             most sorry he had not taken the letter himself.
She bridled a little, and would not reply. She   To these chivalrous self-reproaches succeeded
knew Moliere quite well enough not to want his an uneasy feeling that perhaps the lady might
wit leveled at her head.                    retaliate somehow. It struck him, on reflection,
" Do you admire the character of Cdlimene?"' that the arch query she had let fly at him was
No reply.                                 accompanied with a certain sparkle of the laugh" You do not. How can you? She was too ing eye, such as ere now had, in his experience,
much your inferior. She never sent one of her preceded a stroke of the feminine claw.
lovers with a letter to the other to stop his flight.   As he walked up and down, uneasy, awaiting
Well, you may eclipse Cdlimene; but permit me the fair one's return, her father came up, and
to remind you that I am George Neville, and not asked him to dine and sleep. What made the
Georges Dandin."                            invitation more welcome was, that it in reality
Miss Peyton rose from her seat with eyes that came from Kate.
literally flashed fire; and-the horrible truth    "She tells me she has borrowed your horse,"
must be told-her first wild impulse was to reply said the squire; " so, says she, I am bound to
to all this Moliere with one cut of her little riding- take care of you till daylight; and, indeed, our
whip. But she had a swift mind, and two reflec- ways are perilous at night."
tions entered it together: first, that this would    " She is an angel!" cried the lover, all his arbe unlike a gentlewoman; secondly, that if she dor revived by this unexpected trait. "My horse,
whipped Mr. Neville, however inefficaciously, he my house, my hand, and my heart are all at her
would not lend her his piebald horse.  So she service, by night and day."
took stronger measures; she just sank down   Mr. Pevton, to while away the time before dinagain, and faltered,                        ner, invited him to walk out and see-a hog,
"I do not understand these bitter words. I deadly fat, as times went. But Neville denied
have no lover at all; I never will have one again. himself that satisfaction, on the plea that he had
But it is hard to think I can not make a friend his orders to await Miss Peyton's return where
nor keep a friend"-and so lifted up her hands, he was. The squire was amused at his excessand began to cry piteously.                 ive docility, and winked, as much as to say, "I
Then the stout George was taken aback, and have been once upon a time in your plight," and
made to think himself a ruffian.            so went and gloried in his hog alone.




14                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
The lover fell into a delicious reverie. He en- past that brow, he could see Peyton Hall no more.
joyed, by anticipation, the novel pleasure of an He turned slowly and cast a sorrowful look at it.
evening passed all alone with this charming girl.   It was winter, but the afternoon sun had come
The father, being friendly to his suit, would go out bright.  The horizontal beams struck full
to sleep after dinner; and then, by the subdued upon the house, and all the western panes shone
light of a wood fire, he would murmur his love like burnished gold. Her very abode, how glointo that sweet ear for hours, until the averted rious it looked! And he was to see it no more.
head should come round by degrees, and the de-   He gazed and gazed at the bright house till
licious lips yield a coy assent.  Ile resolved the love and sorrow dimmed his eyes, and he could
night should not close till he had surprised, over- see the beloved place no more. Then his dogpowered, and secured his lovely bride.      ged will prevailed and carried him away toward
These soft meditations reconciled him for a the sea, but crying like a woman now, and hangwhile to the prolonged absence of their object.  ing all dislocated over his horse's mane.
Lil the midst of them, he happened to glance   Now about half a mile farther on, as he crept
through the window; and he saw a sight that along on a vile and narrow road, all woe-begone
took his very breath away, and rooted him in and broken, he heard a mighty scurry of horse's
amazement to the spot. About a mile from the feet in the field to his left; he looked languidly
house, a lady in a scarlet habit was galloping up; and the first thing he saw was a great pieacross country as the crow flies. Hedge, ditch, bald horse's head and neck in the act of rising in
or brook, nothing stopped her an instant; and the air, and doubling his fore legs under him, to
as for the pace,                            leap the low hedge a yard or two in front of him.
"She seemed in running to devour the way."  He did leap, and landed just in front of GrifIt was Kate Pegyton on his piebald horse.  fith; his rider curbed him so keenly that he went
back almost on his haunches, and then stood mo-e-<>                  tionless all across the road, with quivering tail.
CHAPTER IV.                   A lady in a scarlet riding-habit and purple cap
sat himl as if he had been a throne instead of a
GRIFFITH GAUNT, unknown to himself, had horse, and, without moving her body, turned her
lost temper as well as heart before he took the head swift as a snake, and fixed her great gray
desperate step of leaving the country. Now his eyes full and searching upon Griffith Gaunt.
temper was naturally good; and, ere he had rid-   He uttered a little shout of joy and amazeden two miles, he recovered it. To his cost; ment; his mare reared and plunged, and then
for the sustaining force of anger being gone, he was quiet. And thus Kate Peyton and he met
was alone with his grief. He drew the rein half -at right angles-and so close that it looked as
mechanically, and from a spirited canter declined if she had meant to ride him down.
to a walk.                                    How he stared at her! How more than morAnd the slower he went, the chillier grew his tal fair she shone, returning to those bereaved
heart, till it lay half ice, half lead, in his bosom. eyes of his, as if she had really dropped from
Parted! oh, word pregnant with misery!    heaven!
Never to see those heavenly eyes again, nor   His clasped hands, his haggard face channeled
hear that silver voice!  Never again to watch by tears, showed the keen girl she was strong
that peerless form walk the minuet, nor see it where she had thought herself weak, and she
lift the gray horse over a fence with the grace comported herself accordingly, and in one moand spirit that seemed inseparable from it!  ment took a much higher tone than she had inDesolation streamed over him at the thought. tended as she came along.
And next his forlorn mind began to cling even    "I am afraid," said she, very coldly, " you
to the inanimate objects that were dotted about will have to postpone your journey a day or two.
the place which held her. He passed a little I am grieved to tell you that poor Mr. Charlton
farm-house into which Kate and he had once is dead."
been driven by a storm, and had sat together   Griffith uttered an exclamation.
by the kitchen fire; and the farmer's wife had    "He asked for you; and messengers are out
smiled on them for sweethearts, and made them  after you on every side. You must go to Bolton
drink rum and milk, and stay till the sun was at once."
fairly out.                                   " Well-a-day!" said Griffith, "has he left me,
"Ah! good-by, little farm!" he sighed; "when too? Good, kind old man, on any other day I
shall I ever see you again?"               had found tears for thee! But now, methinks,
He passed a brook where they had often stop- happy are the dead. Alas! sweet mistress, I
ped together and given their panting horses just hoped you came to tell me you had-I mighta mouthful after a run with the harriers.   what signifies what I hoped?-when I saw you
"Good-by, little brook!" said he; "you will had deigned to ride after me. Why should I go
ripple on as before, and warble as you go; but I to Bolton, after all?"
shall never drink at your water more, nor hear   "Because you will be an ungrateful wretch
your pleasant murmur with her I love."      else. What! leave others to carry your kinsman
He sighed and crept away, still making for and benefactor to his grave, while you turn your
the sea.                                    back on him, and inherit his estate? For shame,
In the icy depression of his heart his body and sir! for shame!"
his senses were half paralyzed, and none would   Griffith expostulated, humbly.
have known the accomplished huntsman in this   " How hardly you judge me! What are Bolbroken man, who hung anyhow over his mare's ton Hall and Park to me now?  They were to
neck, and went to and fro in the saddle.    have been yours, you know. And yours they
When he had gone about five miles he came shall be. I came between and robbed you. To
to the crest of a hill; he remembered that, once be sure, the old man knew my mind.  He said




GRIFFITIH' GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                             13
to himself,' Griffith or Kate, what matters it   Rate easily appeased the good-natured squire,
who has the land? They will live together on and then asked what had become of Mr. Neville.
it.' But all that is changed now; you will never   "Oh, he is gone long ago!  Remembered, all
share it with me; and so I do feel I have no of a sudden, he had promised to dine with a
right to the place. Kate, my own Kate, I have neighbor."
heard them sneer at you for being poor, and it   Kate shook her head skeptically, but said nothmade my heart ache. I'll stop that, any way. ing. But a good minute after, she inquired,
Go you in my place to the funeral; he that is   " How did he go-on foot?'
dead will forgive me; his spirit knows now what I   The squire did not know.
endure; and I'll send you a writing, all sealed and   After dinner old Joe sought an interview, and
signed, shall make Bolton Hall and Park yours; was admitted into the dining-room.
and when you are happy with some one you can   " Be it all right about the gray horse, mraslove, as well as I love you, think sometimes of ter?"
poor jealous Griffith, that loved you dear and    "What of him?" asked Kate.
grudged you nothing; but," grinding his teeth    " He be gone to Neville Court, mistress. But
and turning white, "I can't live in Cumberland, I suppose" (with a horrid leer) " it is all right.
and see you in another man's arms."        Muster Neville told me all about it. He said,
Then Catharine trembled, and could not speak says he,
a while; but at last she faltered out, " You will   "' Some do break a kine or the likes on these
make me hate you."                         here j'yful occasions; other some do exchange
"' God forbid!" said simple Griffith.   goold rings. Your young mistress and me, we
" Well, then, don't thwart me, and provoke exchange nags. She takes my pieball, I take
me so, but just turn your horse's head and go her gray,' says he.'Saddle him for me, Joe,'
quietly to Bolton Hall, and do your duty to the says he,'and wish me j'y.'
dead and the living. You can't go this way, for   "So I clapped Muster Neville's saddle on the
me and my horse."  Then, seeing him waver, gray, and a gave me a goolden guinea, a did;
this virago faltered out, "And I have been so and I was so struck of a heap I let un go without
tried to-diay, first by one, then by another, surely wishing on him j'y; but I hollered it arter un,
you might have some pity on me. Oh! oh! oh! as hard as I could. How you looks! It be all
loh~!"                                    right, bain't it?"
"Nay, nay," cried Griffith, all in a flutter,   Squire Peyton laughed heartily,,and said he
"I'll go without more words; as I am a gentle- concluded it was all right.
man, I will sleep at Bolton this night, and will   " The piebald," said he, "is rising five, and
do my duty to the dead and the living.  Don't I've had the gray ten years. We have got the
you cry, sweetest; I'll give in. I find I have no sunny side of that bargain, Joe."
will but yours."                              He gave Joe a glass of wine aInd sent him off,
The next moment they were cantering side by inflated with having done a good stroke in horseside, and never drew rein till they reached the flesh.
cross-roads.                                  As for Kate, she was red as fire, and kept her
"Now tell me one thing," stammered Grif- lips close as wax; not a word could be got out of
fith, with a most ghastly attempt at cheerful in- her. The less she said, the.more she thought.
difference. " tow-do you-happen to be-on  She was thoroughly vexed, and sore perplexed
George NTeville's horse?"                 how to get her gray horse back from such a man
Kate had been expecting this question for as George Neville; and yet she could not help
some time, yet she colored high when it did laughing at the trick, and secretly admiring this
come. However, she had her answer pat. The chevalier, who had kept his mortification to himhorse was in the stable-yard, and fresh; her own self, and parried an affront so gallantly.
was tired.                                    "The good-humored wretch! " said she to her"What was I to do, Griffith?  And now," self.  "If Griffith ever goes away again, he will
added she, hastily, "the sun will soon set, and have me, whether I like or no. No lady could
the roads are bad; be careful. I wish I could resist the monster long without some other man
ask you to sleep at our house; but-there are close at hand to help her."
reasons-"
She hesitated; she could not well tell him
George Neville was to dine and sleep there.
Griffith assured her there was no danger; his
mare knew every foot of the way.              As, when a camel drops in the desert, vulThey parted: Griffith rode to Bolton, and tures, hitherto unseen, come flying fiom the hoKate rode home.                            rizon, so Mr. Charlton had no sooner succumbed
It was past dinner-time.  She ran up stairs, than the air darkened with undertakers, flocking
and hurried on her best gown and her diamond to Bolton for a lugubrious job. They rode up
comb; for she began to quake now at the prank on black steeds, they crunched the gravel in gray
she had played with her guest's horse; and Na- gigs, and sent in black-edged cards to Griffith,
ture taught her that the best way to soften cen- and lowered their voices. and bridled their brisksure is-to be beautiful.                   ness, and tried hard, poor souls! to be sad; and' On pardonne tout aux belles."    were horribly complacent beneath that thin japan
of venal sympathy.
And certainly she was passing fair, and queenly   Griffith selected his Raven, and then sat down
with her diamond comb.                     to issue numerous invitations.
She came down stairs and was received by her   The idea of eschewing funereal pomp had not
father. He grumbled at being kept waiting for yet arisen. A gentleman of that day liked his
dinner.                                    very remains to make a stir, and did not see the




16                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
fun of stealing into his grave like a rabbit slip-   And this is how he poisoned him.
ping aground. Mr. Charlton had even left be-   "Oh," said he, " Neville has bought the gray
hind him a sealed letter containing a list of the nag; and cost him dear, it did."
persons he wished to follow him to the grave and   Griffith gave a sigh of relief; for he at once
attend the reading of his will. These were thir- concluded old Peyton had sold his daughter's
ty-four, and among them three known to fame, very horse. He resolved to buy her a better one
namely, George Neville, Esq., Edward Pevton, next week with Mr. Charlton's money.
EIsq., and Miss Catharine Peyton.            But Galton, who was only playing with him,
To all and each of the thirty-four young went on to explain that Neville had paid a
Gaunt wrote a formal letter, inviting them to double price for the nag: he had given Miss
pay respect to their deceased friend, and to honor Peyton his piebald horse in exchange, and his
himself, by coruing to Bolton Hall at nigh noon troth into the bargain.  In short, he lent the
on Saturday nsxt. These letters, in compliance matter so adroit a turn, that the exchange of
with another crustom of the time and place, were horses seemed to be Kate's act as much as
all sent by mounted messengers, and the answers Neville's, and the inference inevitable.
came on horseback too; so that there was much   "It is a falsehood!" gasped Griffith.
clattering of hoofs coming and going, and much   "Nay," said Galton, "I had it on the best
roasting, baking, 4drinking of ale, and bustling, authority; but you shall not quarrel with me
all along of him who lay so still in an upper about it'; the lady is naught to me, and I but
chamber.                                   tell the tale as'twas told to me."
And every man and woman came to Mr.   "Then who told it you?" said Gaunt, sternly.
Gaunt to ask his will and advice, however sim-   " Why, it is all over the country, for that
ple the matter; and the servants turned very matter."
obsequious, and laid themselves out to please the   "No subterfuges, sir! I am the lady's sernew master, and retain their old places.   vant, and you know it: this report, it slanders
And, what with the sense of authority, and her, and insults me: give me the author, or I'll
the occupation, and growing ambition, love-sick lay my hunting-whip on your bones."
Griffith grew another man, and began to forget   " Two can play at that game," said Galton;
that two days ago he was leaving the country but he turned pale at the prospect of the pasand going to give up the whole game.      time.'Ie found time to send Kate a loving letter,   Griffith strode toward him, black with ire.
but no talk of marriage in it. He remembered   Then Galton stammered out,
she had asked him to give her time. Well, he   "It was Neville himself told me."
would take her advice.                       "Ah!" said Griffith, "I thought so. He is a
It wanted just three days to the funeral, when liar, and a coward."
Mr. Charlton's own carriage, long unused, was   "I would not advise you to tell him so," said
found to be out of repair. Griffith had it sent the other, maliciously.  " He has killed his man
to the nearest town, and followed it on that and in France-spitted him like a lark."
other business. Now it happened to be what   Griffith replied by a smile of contempt.
the country folk called " justicing day;" and who    " Where is the man?" said he, after a pause.
should ride into the yard of the " Roebuck" but   "How should I know?" asked Galton, innothe new magistrate, Mr. Neville? He alighted cently.
off a great bony gray horse before Griffith's very    "Where did you leave him five minutes ago?"
nose, and sauntered into a private room.     Galton was dumbfoundered at this stroke, and
Griffith looked, and looked, and, scarcely able could find nothing to say.
to believe his senses, followed Neville's horse to   And now, as often happens, the matter took a
the stable, and examined him all round.    turn not in the least anticipated by the conspitGriffith was sore perplexed, and stood at the ators.
stable-door glaring at the horse; and sick mis-   " You must come with me, sir, if you please,"
givings troubled him. He forgot the business said Griffith, quietly; and he took Galton's arm.
lie came about, and went and hung about the    "Oh, with all my heart," said the other.
bar, and tried to pick up a clew to this mystery. "But, Mr. Gaunt, do not you take these idle
The poor wretch put on a miserable assumption reports to heart —never do. What the devilof indifference, and asked one or two of the mag- where are you carrying me to? For heaven's
istrates if that was not Mr. Peyton's gray horse sake, let this foolish business go no farther."
young Neville had ridden in upon.            For he found Griffith was taking him to the
Now among these gentlemen was a young very room where Neville was.
squire Miss Peyton had refused, and galled him.   Griffith deigned no reply; he just opened the
He had long owed Gaunt a grudge for seeming door of the room in question, and walked the
to succeed where he had notably failed, and tale-bearer into the presence of the tale-maker.
now, hearing him talk so much about the gray, George Neville rose and confronted the pair with
he smelt a rat. He stepped into the parlor and a vast appearance of civility, but under it a sneer
told Neville Gaunt was fuming about the gray was just discernible.
horse, and questioning every body.  Neville,   The rivals measured each other from head to
though he put so bold a face on his recent adven- foot, and then Neville inquired to what he owed
ture at Peyton Hall, was secretly smarting, and the honor of this visit.
quite disposed to sting Gaunt in return. He   Griffith replied, "He tells me you told him
saw a tool in this treacherous young squire-his Miss Peyton has exchanged horses with you."
name was Galton-and used him accordingly.    "Oh, you indiscreet person!" said George,
Galton, thoroughly primed by Neville, slipped shaking his finger playfully at Galton.
back, and, choosing his opportunity, poisoned   "And, by the same token, has plighted her
(iriffith Gaunt.                           troth to you."




GRIFFITH GAUNT.; OR, JEALOUSY.                              17
"Worse and worse," said George.  "Galton, on that day he was always at his place of busiI'll never trust you with any secrets again. Be- ness. Indeed, a client was with him when Grifsides, you exaggerate."                    fith called, and the young gentleman had to wait
" Come, sir, " said Griffith, sternly, "this Ned in the outer office for full ten minutes.
Galton was but your tool and your mouth-piece,   Then a door opened and the client in question
and therefore I bring him here to witness my came out, looking mortified and anxious. It was
reply to you: Mr. George Neville, you are a liar Squire Peyton. At sight of Gaunt,:who had
and a scoundrel."                          risen to take his vacant place, Kate's father gave
George Neville bounded to his feet like a him a stiff nod and an unfriendly glance, then
tiger.                                     hurried away.
"I'll have your life for those two words," he   Griffith was hurt at his manner. IIe knew
cried.                                     very well Mr. Peyton looked higher for his daughThen he suddenly governed himself by a great ter than Griffith Gaunt; but, for all that, the old
effort.                                    gentleman had never shown him any personal
"It is not for me to bandy words with a dislike or incivility until this moment.
Cumberland savage," said he. "Name your   So Griffith could not but fear that Neville was
time and place."                           somehow at the bottom of this, and that the com"I will. Ned Galton, you may go. I wish bination was very strong against him. Now in
to say a few words in private to Mr. Neville."  thus interpreting Mr. Peyton's manner he fell
Galton hesitated.                        into a very common error and fruitful cause of
" No violence, gentlemen: consider."     misunderstanding. We go and fancy that Every" Nonsense!" said Neville.  "Mr. Gaunt and body is thinking of itus. But he is not; he is like
I are going to fight: we are not going to brawl. us; he is thinking for himself.
Be so good as to leave us."                  " Well, well," thought Griffith, "if I am not
"Ay," said Griffith; "and if you repeat a to have her, what better place for me than the
word of all this, woe be to your skin!"   grave?"
As soon as he was- gone, Griffith Gaunt turn-   He entered Mr. Houseman's private room and
ed very grave and calm, and said to George Ne- opened his business at once.
ville, "The Cumberland savage has been better   But a singular concurrence of circumstances
taught. than to expose the lady he loves to gos- induced Lawyer Houseman to confide to a third
siping tongues."                           party the substance of what passed between this
Neville colored up to the eyes at this thrust.  young gentleman and himself. So, to avoid repGriffith continued,'" The least you can do is etition, the best way will be to let IIouseman tell
to avoid fresh scandal."                   this part of my tale instead of me, and I only
" I shall be happy to co-operate with you so hope his communication, when it comes, may be
far," said Neville, stiffly. " I undertake to keep half as interesting to my reader as it was to his
Galton silent; and for the rest, we have only to hearer.
name an early hour for meeting, and confide it   Suffice it for me to say that lawyer and client
to but one discreet friend apiece who will attend were closeted a. good hour, and were still conus to the field. Then there will be no gossip, versing together when a card was handed in to
and no bumpkins, nor constables breaking in: Mr. Hiouseman'that seemed to cause him both
such things have happened in this country, I surprise and pleasure.
hear."                                        "In five minutes," said he to the clerk. GrifIt was Wednesday. They settled to meet on fith took the hint, and bade him good-by directly.
Friday, at noon, on a hill-side between Bolton   As he went out, the gentleman who had sent
and Neville's Court. The spot was exposed, but in his card rose from a seat in the outer office to
so wild and unfrequented that no interruption go in.
was to be feared. Mr. Neville being a practiced   It was Mr. George Neville.
swordsman, Gaunt chose pistols-a weapon at   Griffith Gaunt and he saluted and scanned
which the combatants were supposed to be pret- each other curiously. They little thought to
ty equal. To this Neville very handsomely con- meet again so soon. The clerks saw nothing
sented.                                    more than two polite gentlemen passing each
By this time a stiff and elaborate civility had other.
taken tl* place of their heat, and at parting they   The more Griffith thought of the approaching
bowed both long and low to each other.     duel, the less he liked it. He was an impulsive
Griffith left the inn and went into the street; man, for one thing; and with such, a cold fit natand as soon as he got there, he began to realize urally succeeds a hot one. And, besides, as his
what he had done, and that in a day or two he heat abated, Reason and Reflection made themmight very probably be a dead man. The first selves heard, and told him that in a contest with
thing he did was to go with sorrowful face and a formidable rival he was throwing away an adheavy step to Mr. Houseman's office.       vantage. After all, Kate, had shown him great
Mr. Houseman was a highly respectable solic- favor; she had ridden Neville's horse after him,
itor. His late father and he had long enjoyed and made him resign his purpose of leaving her;
the confidence of the gentry, and this enabled surely, then, she preferred him, on the whole, to
him to avoid litigious business, and confine him- Neville; yet he must go and risk his chance of
self pretty much to the more agreeable and lu- possessing her. upon a personal encounter, in
crative occupation of drawing wills, settlements, which Neville was at least as likely to kill him as
and conveyances, and effecting loans, sales, and he to kill Neville. He, saw too late that he was
transfers. He visited the landed proprietors, and playing his rival's game. lHe felt cold and dedined with them; and was a great favorite in the spondent, and more and more convinced that he
country.                                   should never marry Kate, but that she would
"Justicing day" brought him many visits; so very likely bury him.
B




leS                     GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
With all this he was too game to recoil, and, fication, and humiliation deeply marked on his
indeed, he hated his rival too deeply.  So, like features, usually. so handsome and jolly, the lawmany a man before him, he was going doggedly *yer felt sorry and ashamed-and did Inot show it.
to the field against his judgment, with little to   But it rankled in him; and the very next day
win and all to lose.                        he took advantage of a little business he had to
His deeper'and more solemn anxieties were do in Mr. Peyton's neighborhood, and drove to
diversified by a lighter one. A few days ago he Peyton Hall, and asked for Mistress Kate.
had invited half the county to bury Mr. Charlton   Ihis was a curious errand. Indeed, I think it
on Saturday, the 19th of February. But now  would not be easy to find a parallel to it.
he had gone and fixed Friday, the 18th, for a   For here was an attorney calling upon a beauduel. A fine thing if he should be himself a tiful girl-to do what?
corpse on Friday afternoon! Who was to re-   To soften her.
ceive the guests? who conduct the funeral?  On a daughter-to do what?
The man, with all his faults, had a grateful   To persuade her to permit him to lend her faheart; and Mr. Charlton was his benefactor, and ther ~100 on insufficient security.
he felt he had no right to go and get himself   Well, he reminded her of his ancient obligakilled until he had paid the last rites to his best tions to her family, and assured her he could
friend.                                     well afford to risk a hundred or even a thousand
The difficulty admits, of course, of a comic pounds.  He then told her that her father had
view, and smells Hibernian; but these things shown great pain at his refusal, and that he himseem any thing but droll to those whose lives self was human, and could not divest himself of
and feelings are at stake; and, indeed, there was gratitude, and pity, and good-nature - all for
something chivalrous and touching in Griffith's ~100.
vexation at the possibility of his benefactor being    "In a word," said he, " I have brought the
buried without due honors, owing to his own in- money; and you must give in for this once, and
temperate haste to be killed. HIe resolved to let me lend it him without more ado."
provide against that contingency; so, on the   Miss Peyton was gratified and affected, and a
Thursday, he wrote an urgent letter to Mr. tear trembled a moment in her eye, but went inHouseman, telling him he must come early to doors again, and left her firm as a rock sprinkled
the funeral, and be prepared to conduct it.  with dew. She told him she could quite underThis letter was carried to Mr. Houseman's of- stand his feeling, and thanked him for it; but
fice at three o'clock on Thursday afternoon.  she had long and seriously weighed the matter,
Mr. Houseman was not at home.  He was and could not release him from his promise.
gone to a country-house nine miles distant. But   " No more of this base borrowing," said she,
Griffith's servant was well mounted, and had per- and clenched her white teeth indomitably.
emptory orders; so he rode after Mr. House-   He attacked her with a good many weapons,
man, and found him  at Mr. Peyton's house, but she parried them all so gently, yet so nobly,
NNV;ftT,iyn nszplez, wze tn NuN  osn \N;m.    wm sV suzessamwih,  t    vt be AdAWa n me m ale
In the first place, you must know that the real than ever.
reason why Mr. Peyton looked so savage, com-   Still, lawyers fight hard, and die very hard.
ing out of Mr. Houseman's office, was this: Ne- Houseman got warm in his cause, and cross-exville had said no more about the hundred pounds, amined this defendant, and asked her whether
and, indeed, had not visited the house since; so sh]e would refuse to lend her father ~100 out of a
Peyton, who had now begun to reckon on this full purse.
sum, went to Houseman to borrow  it. But   This question was answered only by a flash
Houseman politely declined to lend it him, and of her glorious eyes, and a magnificent look of
gave excellent reasons. All this was natural disdain at the doubt implied.
enough, common enough; but the, real reason    "Well, then," said HIouseman, "be your fawhy Houseman declined was a truly singular ther's surety for repayment, with interest at six
one. The- fact is, Catharine. Peyton had made per centum, and then there will be nothing in
him promise to refuse.                      the business to wound your dignity. I have
Between that young lady and the IHousemans, many hundreds out at six per centum."
husband and wife, there was a sincere friend-   "Excuse me; that would be dishonorable,"
ship, founded on mutual esteem, and Catharine said Kate; "I have no money to rctay you
could do almost what she liked with either of with."
them.  Now, whatever might have been her   "But you have expectations."
faults, she was a proud girl, and an intelligent   "Nay, not I."
one' it mortified her pride to see her father bor-   "I beg your pardon."
rowing here, and borrowing there, and unable to    "Methinks I should know, sir. What expecrepay; and she had also observed that he always tations have I? and from whom?"
celebrated a new loan by a new extravagance,   Houseman fidgeted on his seat, and then, with
and so was never-a penny the richer for borrowed some hesitation, replied, "Well, from two that I
money. He had inadvertently let fall that he know of."
should apply to Houseman.  She raised no open    " You are jesting, methinks, good Mr. IIouseobjection, but just mounted Piebald, and rode off man," said she, reproachfully.
to Houseman, and made him solemnly promise   "Nay, dear Mistress Kate, I wish you too
her not to lend her father a shilling.      well to jest on such a theme."
Houseman kept his word; but his refusal cost   The lawyer then fidgeted again on his seat in
him more pain than he had calculated on when silence —sign of an irnward struggle —during
he made the promise.  Squire Peyton had paid which Kate's eye watched him with some curihim thousands, first and last; and when he left osity. At last his wavering balance inclined toHouseman's room. with disappointment, morti- ward revealing something or other.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                19
"Mistress Kate," said he, "my wife and I are receive my obeisance, but addressed me abruptboth your faithful friends and humble admirers. ly and said as follows:'Mr. Houseman, I am
We often say you would grace a coronet, and come to make my will."'
wish you were as rich as you are good and beau-   (" Dear me!" said Kate: then blushed, and
tiful."                                      was more on her guard.)
Kate turned her lovely head away, and gave    "I seated the young gentleman, and then rehim her hand. That incongruous movement, so
full of womanly grace and feeling, and the soft     that his resolution aforesai d did him credpressure of her white hand, completed her vic- it, the young being as mortal as the old. I said
tory, and the remains of Houseman's  reserve farther that many disasters had happened, in my
toryd andy.                              experience, owing to the obstinacy with which
melted away.                                 men in the days of their strength shut their
"Yes, my dear young lady," said he, warmly, men, in the days of their strength, shut their
" I have good news for you; only mind, not a eyes to the precarious tenure under which all
living soul must ever know it from your lips. sons of Adam hold existence; and so, many a
Why, I am going to do for you what I never did worthy gentleman dies in his sins-and, what is
in my life before-going to tell you something worse, dies intestate.
that passed yesterday in my office. But then I    "But the said Griffith interrupted me with
know you; you are a young lady out of a thou- some signs of impatience, and asked me bluntly,
sand; I can trust you to be discreet and silent would I draw his will, and have it executed on
-can I not?"                                the spot.
"As the grave."                              "I assented generally; but I requested him,
"Well, then, my young mistress-in truth it    I assented generally; but I requested i,
by way of needful preliminary to obtain for me
was like a play, though the scene was but a law- by way of needful preliminary, to obtain for me
yer's office-"                               a copy of Mr. Charlton's will, under which, as I
" Was it?" cried Kate.  " Then you set me have always understood, the said Griffith inherall of a flutter; you must sup here, and sleep its whatever real estate he hath to bequeath.
here. Nay, nay," said she, her eyes sparkling    " Mr. Griffith Gaunt then replied to me that
with animation, " I'll take no denial.  My fa- Mr. Charlton's will was in London, and the exther dines abroad: we shall have the house to act terms of it could not be known until after,ourselves."                                 the funeral-that is to say, upon the nineteenth
Her interest was keenly excited; but she was instant.
a true woman, and must coquette with her very    Thereupon I explained to Mr. Gaunt that I
curiosity; so she ran off to see with her own must see and know what properties were devised
eyes that sheets were aired, and a roasting fire in the will aforesaid, by the said Charlton, to
lighted in the blue bedroom for her guest.   Gaunt aforesaid, and how devised and described.
While she was away a servant brought in Without this, I said, I could not correctly and
Griffith Gaunt's letter, and a sheet of paper had sufficiently describe the same in the instrument I
to be borrowed to answer it.
to be borrowed toane.         was now requested to prepare.
The answer was hardly written and sent out
to Griffith's servant when supper and the fair   "Mr. Gaunt did not directly reply to this cbhostess came in almost together.             jection. But he pondered a little while, and then
After supper fresh logs were heaped on the asked me if it were not possible for him, by means
fire, and the lawyer sat in a cozy arm-chair, and of general terms, to convey to a sole legatee whattook out his diary and several papers as method- ever lands, goods, chattels, etc., Mr. Charlton
ically as if he was going to lay the case by coun- might hereafter prove to have devised to. him,
sel before a judge of assize.                the said Griffith Gaunt.
Kate sat opposite him with her gray eyes      I admitted this was possible, but objected
beaming.on him all the time, and searching for that it was dangerous.  I let him know that in
the hidden- meaning of every thing he told her, matters of law general terms are a fruitful source
During the recital which follows, her color often of dispute and I said I was one of those who
came and vent, hut those wonderful eyes never hold it a duty to avert litigation from our clients.
left the narrator's face a moment.
They put the attorney on his mettle, and he    "Thereupon Mr. Gaunt drew out of his bosom
elaborated the matter more than I should have a pocket-book.
done: he articulated his topics; marked each    "The said pocket-hook was shown to me by
salient fact by a long pause.  In short, he told the said Gaunt, and I say it contained a para
his story like an attorney, and not like a roman- graph from a newspaper, which I believe to have
cist. I can not help that, you know; I'm not been cut out of the said newspaper with a knife
or a pair of scissors, or some trenchant instru,
MR. IiHOSEMAN S LITTLE NARRATIVE.       ment; and the said paragraph purported to contain an exact copy of a certain will and testament
WEDNESDAY, the seventeenth day of Febru- under which (as is, indeed, matter of public notoary, at about one of the clock, called on me at riety) one Dame Butcher hath inherited and now
my place of business Mr. Griffith Gaunt, whom I enjoys the lands, goods, and chattels of a certain
need not here describe, inasmuch as his person merry parson late deceased in these parts, and,
and place of residence are well known to the I believe, little missed.
court-what am I saying?-I mean, well known    "Mr. Gaunt would have me read the will and
to yourself, Mistress Kate.                    " Mr. Gant would ha e me read the will and
to yourself, Mistress Kate.  testament aforesaid, and I read it accordingly;
" The said Griffith, on entering my room, and inasmuch as bad things are best rememberseemed moved, and I might say distempered, ed, the said will and testament did, by its singuand did not give himself time to salute me and larity and profaneness, fix itself forthwith in my




20                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
memory, so that I can by no means dislodge it   (" Now that was Griffith all over," cried Cath.
thence, do what I may.                      arine, merrily.)
" The said document, to the best of my mem-   "I objected stoutly to this.  I took leave to
ory and belief, runneth after this fashion:
"'I, John Raymond, clerk, at present residing remind the young gentleman that, when a Chrisat Whitbeck, in the County of Cumberland, be- tian man makes his last will and testament, be
ing a man sound in body, mind, and judgment, should think of the grave and of the place being a man sound in body, mind, and judgment,
do deliver this as my last will and testament:    ond, whither we may carry our affections, but
"'I give and bequeath all my real property, must leave the bundle of our hates behind, the
and all m  personal property, and all the proper- gate being narrow. I even went so far as to
and all m     or personal property, and all the proper- doubt whether such a proviso could stand in law;
ty, whether real or personal, I may hereafter pos- and I also put a practical query: what was to
7ess or become entitled to, to my housekeeper, and I also put a practical query: what was to
sess or become entitled to, to my housekeeper, hinder the legatee from selling the property and
"' And I appoint Janet Butcher.  my sole ediverting the funds, and then marrying whom
"'And I appoint Janet Butcher my sole ex- she liked?
ecutrix, and I make Janet Butcher my sole residuary legatee; save and except that I leave   "Mr. Gaunt was deaf to reason. He bade
my solemn curse to any knave who hereafter me remember that he was neither saint nor aposshall at any time pretend that he does not un- tle, but a poor gentleman of Cumberland, who
derstand the meaning of this my will and testa- saw a stranger come between him and his lover
ment.'"                                     dear: with that he was much moved, and did
(Catharine smiled a little at this last bequest.) not conclude his argument at all, but broke off,
"Mr. Gaunt then solemnly appealed to me as and was fain to hide his face with both hands a
an honest man to tell him whether the aforesaid while. In truth, this touched me; and I looked
document was bad, or good, in law.          another way, and began to ask myself; why should
I interfere, who, after all, know not your heart in
" I was fain to admit that it was sufficient in the matter; and, to be brief, I withstood him
law; but I qualified, and said I thought it might and Parson's law no more, but sent his draught
be attacked on the score of the hussy's undue in- will to the clerks, the which they copied fair in
fluence, and the testator's apparent insanity. a trice, and the duplicates were signed and witNevertheless, I concluded candidly that neither nessed in red-hot haste-as most of men's follies
objection would prevail in our courts, owing to are done, for that matter.
the sturdy prejudice in the breasts of English
jurymen, whose ground of faith it is that every    "The paper writing now produced and shown
man has a right to do what he will with his own, to me-tush! what am I saying?-I mean the
and even to do it how he likes.             paper writing I now produce and show to you is
the draught of the will aforesaid, in the hand" Mir. Gaunt did speedily abuse this my can- writing of the testator."
dor. He urged me to lose no time, but to draw
his will according to the form and precedent in   And with this he handed Kate Peyton Grifthat case made and provided by this mad parson; fith Gaunt's will, and took a long and satirical
and my clerks, forsooth, were to be the witnesses pinch of snuff while she examined it.
thereof.                                      Miss Peyton took the will in her white hands
and read it. But, in reading it, she held it up
"I refused, with some heat, to sully my office and turned it so that her friend could not see her
by allowing such an instrument to issue there- face while she read it, but only her white hands,
from; and I asked the said Gaunt, in high dud- in which the document rustled a little.
geon, for what he took me.                    It ran thus:
"Mr. Gaunt then offered, In reply, two sug-   "I, Griffith Gaunt, late of the Eyrie, and now
gestions that shook me. Inpribnis, he told me residing at Bolton Hall, in the County of Cumthe person to whom he now desired to leave his berland, being sound in body and mind, do deall was Mistress Catharine Peyton."  (An ejac- liver this as my last will and testament. I give
ulation from Kate.) " Secundo, he said he would and bequeath all the property, real or personal,
go straight from me to that coxcomb Harrison, which I now possess or may hereafter become
were I to refuse to serve him in the matter.  entitled to, to my dear friend and mistress, Catharine Peyton, daughter of Edward Peyton, Es"On this, having regard to your interest and quire, of Peyton Hall; provided always that the
my own, I temporized: I offered to let him draw  said Catharine Peyton shall at no time within the
a will after his parson's precedent, and I agreed next ten years marry George Neville, of Neville's
it should be witnessed in my office; only I stip- Court, in this county. But should the said Cathulated that next week a proper document should arine marry the said George within ten years of
be drawn up by myself, with due particulars, on this day, then I leave all my said property, in
two sheets of paper, and afterward engrossed and possession, remainder, or reversion, to my heirwitnessed; and to this Mr. Gaunt assented, and at-law."
immediately drew his will according to newspaThe fair legatee read this extraordinary  testaper Iprecedent.                             ment more than once. At last she handed it
~"IBut when I came to examine his master- back to Mr. Houseman without a word. But
piece, I found he had taken advantage of my pli- her cheek was red, and her eyes glistening.
ability to attach an unreasonable condition, to   Mr. Houseman was surprised at her silence;
wit:. that the said Catharine should forfeit all and as he was curious to know her heart, he
interest under this will in case she should ever sounded her-asked her what she thought of that
marry a certain party therein nominated, speci- part of his story. But she evaded him with all
flied, and described."                      the tact of her sex.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                21
"What! that is not all, then?" said she,   Mr. Houseman undertook the office of interquickly.                                    preter.
Houseman replied that it was barely half.   "Means? Why, that he has left you one of
"Then tell me all —pray tell me all," said the snuggest estates in the county.'Tis not
Kate, earnestly.                            quite so large as Bolton, but lies sunnier, and
" I am here to that end," said Houseman, and the land richer. Well, mistress, was I right?
recommenced his narrative.                  Are you not good for a thousand pounds?"
Kate, still manifestly thinking of something
cTi  though not to mine, we fell int'o so- else, let fall, as it were, out of her mouth, that
isfaction, though not to mine, we fell into some Mr. Gaunt and Mr. Neville were both men in the
friendly talk; but in the midst of it my clerk flower of their youth, and how was she the richer
Thomas brought me in the card of a gentleman for their folly?
whom I was very desirous to secure as a client.    " Why," said Houseman, " you will not have
" Mr. Gaunt, I think, read my mind, for lie to wait for the death of these testators-Heaven
took leave of me forthwith. I attended him to forbid! But what does all this making of wills
the door, and then welcomed the gentleman show me?  That both these gentlemen are deep
aforesaid. It was no other than Mr. George in love with you, and you can pick and choose;
Neville.                                    I say, you can wed with Bolton Hall or Neville's
Mr. Neville, after such gracious civilities as Court to-morrow; so, prithee, let the squire have
" Mr. Nevill, after such gracious civlities as his hundred pounds, and do you repay me at your
his native breeding and foreign travel have taught leisure."
him, came to business, and requested me - to   Miss Peyton made no reply, but leaned her ex"draw  his will."                         quisite head upon her hand and pondered.
("La!" said Kate.)                          She did not knit her brows, nor labor visibly
" I was a little startled, but hid it and took his at the mental oar; yet a certain reposeful graviinstructions. This done, I requested to see the ty and a fixity of the thoughtful eye showed she
title-deeds of his estates, with a view to describ- was applying all the powers of her mind.
ing them, and he went himself to his banker's   Mr. Houseman was not surprised at that: his
for them and placed them in my hands.       own wife had but little intellect, yet had he seen
her weigh two rival bonnets in mortal silence, and' I then promised to have the will ready in a with all the seeming profundity of a judge on the
week or ten days. But Mr. Neville, with many bench. And now this young lady was doubtless
polite regrets for hurrying me, told me upon his weighing farms with similar gravity, care, and
honor he could give me but twenty-four hours. intelligence.'After that,' said he,'it might be too late.'"  But as this continued, and still she did not
("Ah!" said Miss Peyton.)                communicate her decision, he asked her point"Determined to retain my new client, I set blank which of the two she settled to wed, Nemy clerks to work, and this very day was en- ville's Court or Bolton Grange.
grossed, signed, and witnessed the last will and   Thus appealed to, Miss Peyton turned her
testament of George Neville, Esquire, of Neville's great eye on him, without really looking at him,
Court, in the County of Cumberland, and Leices- and replied,'" You have made me very uneasy."
ter Square, London, where he hath a noble man-   He stared. She relapsed into thought a mosion.                                       ment, and then, turning to Houseman, asked him
Now as to the general disposition of his landshow he accounted for those two gentlemen mak"Now as to the general disposition of his lands, ing their wills. They were very young to make
manorial rights, messuages, tenements, goods, their wills all of a sudden.
chattels, etc., and his special legacies to divers   "Why," said Houseman, "Mr. Neville is a
ladies and gentlemen and domestic servants, these man of sense, and every man of sense makes his
I will not reveal even to you.              will; and as for Mr. Gaunt, he has just come into
" The paper I now produce is a copy of that prospect of an estate; that's why."
particular bequest which I have decided to com-   "Ah! but why could not Griffith wait till aftmunicate to you in strict and sacred confidence." er the funeral?"
And he handed her an extract from George    "Oh, clients are always in a hurry."
Neville's will.                               "So you see nothing in it-nothing alarming,
Miss Peyton then read what follows:       I mean?"
"And I give and bequeath to Mistress Catha-   " Nothing very alarming. Two landed prorine Peyton, of Peyton Hall, in the said County prietors in love with you-that is all."
of Cumberland, in token of my respecand re-   "But, dear Mr. Houseman, that is what makes
gard, all that my freehold estate called Moniton me uneasy; at this rate, they must look on one
Grange, with the messuage or tenement standing another as-as-rivals; and you know rivals are
and being thereon, and the farm-yard buildings sometimes enemies."
and appurtenances belonging thereto, containing  Oh, I see now," said IHouseman: "you apby estimation three hundred and seventy-six acres prehend a quarrel between the gentlemen. Of
three roods and five perches, be the same little course, there is no love lost between them; but
more or less, to hold to her the said Catharine they met in my office and saluted each other with
Peyton, her heirs and assigns, forever."    perfect civility. I saw them with my own eyes."'
"Indeed! I am glad to hear that-very glad.
The legatee laid down the paper, and leaned I hope it was only a coincidence, then, their both
her head softly on her fair hand, and her eyes making their wills."
explored vacancy.                             " Nothing more, you may depend: neither of
"What means all this?" said she, aloud, but them knows from me what the other has done,
to herself.                                 nor ever will."




22                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
" That is true," said Kate, and seemed consid-   "What care these young bloods for alln old aterably relieved.                            torney?  I should fare ill came I between their
To ease her mind entirely, Houseman went on rapiers.  To be sure, I might bind them over to
to say that, as to the report that high words had keep the peace. But, Mistress Kate, now be
passed between the clients in question at the frank with me, then I can serve yvou better.  You
"Roebuck," he had no doubt it was exaggerated. love one of these two, that is clear. Which is
"Besides," said he, "that was not about a the man?-that I may know what I am about."
lady: I'm told it was about a horse-some bet,   For all her agitation, Kate was on her guard
belike."                                   in some things.
Catharine uttered a faint cry.              " Nay," she faltered," I love neither-not to
"About a horse?" said she. "Not about a say love them; but I pity him so!"
gray horse?"                                 " Which?"
"Nay, that is more than I know."            " Both."
"High words about a horse," said Catharine-   "Ay, mistress; but which do you pity most?"
"and they are making their wills. Oh! my mind asked the shrewd lawyer.
misgave me from the first. " And she turned pale.   " Whichever shall come to harm for my sake,"
Presently she clasped her hands together-" Mr. replied the simple girl.
Houseman!" she cried, "what shallI do? What!   " You could not go to them  to-night, and
do you not see that both their lives are in danger, bring them to reason?" asked she; piteously.
and that is why they make their wills? And how    She went to the window to see what sort of a
should both their lives be in danger but from each night it was. She drew the heavy crimson curother? Madmen! they have quarreled; they are tains and opened the window. In rushed a bitgoing to fight-fight to the death; and I fear it ter blast laden with flying snow. The windowis about me-me, who love neither of them, you ledges, too, were clogged with snow, and all the
know."                                      ground was white.
" In that case, let them fight," said her legal   Houseman shuddered, and drew nearer to the
adviser, dispassionately.  "Whichever fool gets blazing logs. Kate closed the window with a
killed, you will be none the poorer."  And the groan.
dog wore a sober complacency.                 "It is not to be thought of," said she, "at
Catharine turned her large eyes on him with your age, and not a road to be seen for snow.
horror and amazement, but said nothing.     What shall I do?"
As for the lawyer, he was more struck with    "Wait till to-morrow," said Mr. Ilouseman.
her sagacity than with any thing. He somewhat   (Procrastination was his daily work, being an
overrated it, not being aware of the private rea- attorney.)
sons for thinking that her two testators were en-   "To-morrow!" cried Catharine. "Perhaps
emies to the death.                         to-morrow will be too late. Perhaps even now
"I almost think you are right," said he, " for they have met, and he lies a corpse."
I got a curious missive from Mr. Gaunt scarce    "Who?"
an hour agone, and he says-let me see what he   "Whichever it is, I shall end my days in a
says-"                                      convent praying for his soul."
" Nay, let me see," said Kate.              She wrung her hands while she said this, and
On that he handed her Griffith's note. It ran still there was no catching her.
thus:                                         Little did the lawyer think to rouse such a
" It is possible I ma not be able to conduct storm with his good news. And now he made
the funeral. Should this be so, I appoint you to a feeble and vain attempt to soothe her, and endact for me. -So, then, good Mr. Houseman, let ed by promising to start the first thing in the
act -for me. So, then, good Mr. Houseman, let morning and get both her testators bound over
me count on you to be here at nine of the clock. morning and get bo th her testators resolution
For Heaven's sakve fail me not.             to keep the peace by noon. With this resolution
For Heaven's sake fail me not.
"' Your humble servant,     G. G."   he went to bed early.
She was glad to be alone, at all events.
This note left no doubt in Kate's mind.     Now, mind you, there were plenty of vain and
"' Now, first of all," said she, "what answer vulgar, yet respectable girls in Cumberland, who
made you to this?"                         would have been delighted to be fought about,
"What answer should I make? I pledged even though bloodshed were to be the result. But
my word to be at Bolton at nine of the clock."  this young lady was not vain, but proud. She
" Oh, blind!" sighed Kate.  "And I must be was sensitive, too, and troubled with a oonout of the room! What shall I do? My dear science. It reproached her bitterly: it told her
friend, forgive me: I am a wretched girl. I am  she had permitted the addresses of two gentleto blame. I ought to have dismissed them both, men, and so mischief had somehow arisen-out
or else decided between them. But who would of her levity. Now her life had been uneventful
have thought it would go this length? I did not and innocent: this was the very first time she
think Griffith was brave enough. Have pity on ha; been connected with any thing like a crime,
me, and help me. Stop this fearful fighting." and her remorse was great; so was her grief;
And now the young creature clung to the man but her fears were greater still. The terrible
of business, and prayed and prayed him earnest- look Griffith had cast at his rival flashed on her,
ly to avert bloodshed.                      so did his sinister words. She felt that, if he
Mr. Houseman was staggered by this passion- and Neville met, nothing less than Neville's death
ate appeal from one  who so rarely lost her self- or his own would separate them.  Suppose that
command. He soothed her as well as he could, even now one of them lay a corpse, cold and
and said he would do his best; but added, which ghastly as the snow that now covered Nature's
was very true, that he thought her interference face!
would be more effective than his own.         The agitation of her mind was such that her




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               23
body could not be still. Now she walked the her, till it overpowered even the diffidence of her
room in violent distress, wringing her hands; sex; and then up started her individual characnow she kneeled and prayed fervently for both ter; and now nothing could hold her. For, lanthose lives she had endangered; often she flew to guid and dreamy in the common things of. life,
the window and looked eagerly out, writhing and this Catharine Peyton was one of those who rise
rebelling against the network of female custom  into rare ardor and activity in such great crises
that entangled her and would not let her fly out as seem to benumb the habitually brisk, and they
of her cage even to do a good action-to avert a turn tame and passive.
catastrophe by her prayers, or her tears, or her   She had seen at a glance that Houseman was
good sense.                                  too slow and apathetic for such an emergency.
And all ended in her realizing that she was a She resolved to act herself. She washed her face,
woman-a poor, impotent being, born to lie quiet'l and neck, and arms, and hands in cold water,
and let things go: at that she wept helplessly.   and was refreshed and invigorated.  She put on
So wore away the first night of agony this her riding-habit and her little gold spur (Griffith
young creature ever knew.                    Gaunt had given it her), and hurried into the
Toward morning, exhausted by her inward stable-yard.
struggles, she fell asleep upon a sofa.        Old Joe and his boy had gone away to breakBut her trouble followed her.  She dreamed fast: he lived in the village.
she was on a horse, hurried along with prodig-   This was unlucky; Catharine must wait his
ious rapidity, in a darkened atmosphere, a sort return and lose time, or else saddle the horse herof dry fog: she knew somehow she was being self.  She chose the latter.  The piebald was a
taken to see some awful, mysterious thing. By- good horse, but a fidgety one; so she saddled and
and-by the haze cleared, and she came out upon bridled him at his stall. She then led him out
pleasant, open, sunny fields, that almost dazzledl, to the stone steps in the stable-yard, and tried to
her. She passed gates, and hedges too, all clear, mount him. But he sidled away; she had nodistinct, and individual.  Presently a voice by body to square him; and she could get nothing
her side said, "This way!" and her horse seemed to mount but his head. She coaxed him, she
to turn of his own accord through a gap, and in tickled him on the other side with her whip. It
one moment she came upon a group of gentle- was all in vain.
men. It was Griffith Gaunt and two strangers.   It was absurd, butheart-sickening. She stared
Then she spoke and said, " But Mr. Neville?"   at him with wonder that he could be so cruel as
No answer was made her; but the group open- to play the fool when every minute might be life
ed in solemn silence, and there lay George Neville or death.  She spoke to him, she implored him
on the snow, stark and stiff, with blood issuing piteously, she patted him. All was in vain.
from his temple, and trickling along the snow.    As a last resource, she walked him back to the
She saw distinctly all his well-known features; stable, and gave him a sieveful of oats, and set
but they were pinched and sharpened now. And it down by the corn-bin for him, and took an ophis dark olive skin was turned to bluish white. portunity to mount the bin softly.
It was his corpse. And now her horse thrust   He ate the oats, but with retroverted eye
out his nose and snorted like a demon.  She watched her.  She kept quiet and affected nonlooked down, and ah! the blood was running at (cbalance till he became less cautious, then sudher preternaturally fast along the snow.  She denly sprang on him, and taught him to set his
screamed, her horse reared high, and she was wit against a woman's. My lord wheeled round
falling on the blood-stained snow.  She awoke, directly, ere she could get her leg over the pomscrealing; and the sunlight seemed to rush in mel, and made for the stable-door.  She lowered
at the window.                               her head to his mane, and just scraped out withHIer joy that it was only a dream overpowered out injury-not an inch to spare. He set off at
every other feeling at first.  She kneeled and once; but, luckily for her, she had often ridden
thanked God for that.                        a bare-backed horse.~ She sat him for the first
The next thing was, she thought it might be a few yards by balance, then reined him in quietly,
revelation of what had actually occurred.    and soon whipped her left foot into the stirrup
But this chilling fear did not affect her long. and her right leg over the pommel, and then the
Nothing could shake her conviction that a duel piebald nag had to pay for his pranks: the roads
was on foot-and, indeed, the intelligent of her were clogged with snow, but she fanned him along
sex do sometimes put this and that together, and without mercy, and never drew bridle till she
spring to a just but obvious inference in a way pulled him  up, drenched and steaming like a
that looks to a slower and safer reasoner like wash-tub, at Netley Cross-roads.
divination; but then she knew that yesterday    Here she halted irresolute. The road to the
evening both parties were alive.  Coupling this right led to Bolton, distant two miles and a half.
with Griffith's broad hint that after the funeral The road in front led to Neville's Court, distant
might be too late to make his will, she felt sure three miles.'Which should she take? She had
that it was this very day the combatants were to asked herself this a dozen times upon the road,
meet. Yes, and this very morning; for she knfew  yet could never decide until she got to the place
that gentlemen always fought in the morning.   and alust. The question was, With which of
If her dream was false as to the past, it might them had she most influence? She hardly knew.
be true as to what was at hand. Was it not a But Griffith Gaunt was her old sweetheart; it
supernatural warning, sent to her in mercy? The seemed somewhat less strange and indelicate to
history of her Church abounded in such dreams go to him than to the new one. So she turned
and visions; and, indeed, the time and place she her horse's head toward Bolton; but she no
lived in were rife with stories of the kind-one, longer went quite so fast as she had gone before
in particular, of recent date.               she felt going to either in particular. Such is the
This thought took hold of her, and grew on female mind.




24                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
She reached Bolton at -half past eleven, and,   Kate took the letter and opened it- all in a -flutnow she was there, put a bold face on it, rode up ter. It ran thus:
to the door, and, leaning forward on her horse,   "SWEET MISTRESS,-When this reaches you,
A footman came to th e bedoor.            I shall be no more here to trouble you with my
A footman-came to the door.
jealousy. This Neville set it abroad that you
she told him she desired to speak for a moment had changed horses with him, as much as to say
to Mr. Griffith Gaunt. He asked her would she you had plighted troth with him. He is a liar,
and I told him so to his teeth. We are to meet
be pleased to alight; and it was clear by his man- at noon this day, and one must die. Methinks I
ner. no calamity had yet fallen.            at noon this day, and one- must die. Methinks I
ner no "alaity had aet f allen.   tohimhere." shall be the one. But, come what may, I have
"No, no, "said Kate, let me speak to him here."
The servant went in to tell his maken care of thee; ask Jack Houseman else.
The servant went in to tell his master. Kate But, oh dear Kate, think of all that hath passed
sat quiet, with. her heart still beating, but glowing ut, oh dearo not wed think of all that hath passed
now  between us, and do not wed this Neville, or I
now with joy. She was in time, then, thanks to could not rest in my grave.  Sweetheart, many
her good horse. She patted him, and made the a letter have I written the, but none so sad as
prettiest excuses alu to hm fr r g h a letter have I written thee, but none so sad as
prettiest excuses aloud to him for riding him so this. Let the grave hide my faults from thy
The footman came back to say that Mr. Gaunt memory; think only that I loved thee well. I
leave thee my substance-would it were ten
had gone out.                               times more!-and the last thought of my heart.
" Gone out? Whither? On horseback?"   So no more in this world from him that is thy
The footman did not know, but would ask true lover and humble servant till death,
wt~ithin.                                                        L"GRIFFITH GAUNT."
While he was gone to inquire, Catharine lost
patience, and rode into the stable-yard, and asked   There seems to be room in the mind for only
a young lout who was lounging there whether his one violent emotion at one instant of time. This
master was gone out on horseback.           touching letter did not just then draw a tear
The lounging youth took the trouble to call from her, who now received it some hours soonout the grooim, and asked him.              er than the writer intended. Its first effect was
The groom said "No," and that Mr. Gaunt to paralyze her.  She sat white and trembling,
was. somewhere about the grounds, he thought.  and her great eyes filled with horror.  Then she
But, in the midst of this colloquy, one of the began to scream wildly for help. The men and
maids, curious to see the lady, came out by the women came round her.
kitchen do9r, and courtesied to Kate, and told   "Murder! murder!" she shrieked.  "Tell
her Mr. Gaunt was gone out walking with two me where to find him, ye wretches, or may his
other gentlemen. In the midst of her discourse blood be upon your heads!"
she recognized the visitor, and, having somehow    The Scamp bounded from his lounging posiimbibed the notion that Miss Peyton was likely tion, and stood before her straight as an arrow.
to be Mrs. Gaunt, and govern Bolton Hall, de-   " Follow me!" he shouted.
cided to curry favor with her; so she called her   Her gray eyes and the Scamp's black ones'My Lady'" and was very communicative. She flashed into one another directly.  He dashed
said one of the gentlemen was strange to her, but out of the yard without another word.
the other was Doctor Islip, from Stanhope town.   And she spurred her horse, and clattered out
She knew him well; he had taken off her own after him.
brother's leg in a jiffy.                     He ran as fast as her horse could canter, and
"But, dear heart, mistress," said she, " how  soon took her all round the house; and while he
pale you be! Do come in, and have a morsel of ran, his black gipsy eyes Here glancing in every
meat and a horn of ale."                    direction.
"Nay, my good girl, " said Kate, "I could not   When they got to the lawn at the back of the
eat; but bring me a mug of new milk, if you house, he halted a moment, and said quietly,
will. I have not broken my fast this day."  " Here they be."
The maid bustled in, and Catharine asked the   He pointed to some enormous footsteps in the
groom if there were no means of knowing where snow, and bade her notice that they commenced
Mr. Gaunt was. The groom and the boy scratch- at a certain glass door belonging to the house,
ed their heads, and looked puzzled. The loung- and that they all pointed outward. The lawn
ing lout looked at their perplexity, and grinned was covered with such marks, but the Scamp folsatirically;                               lowed those his intelligence had selected, and
This youth was Tom Leicester, born in wed- they took him through a gate, and down a long
lock, and therefore, in the law's eve, son of old walk, and into the park. Here no other feet had
Simon Leicester; but gossips said his true father trodden that morning except those Tom Leiceswas the late Captain Gaunt. Tom ran with the ter was following.
hounds for his own sport-went out shooting    "This is our game," said he.  "See, there be
with gentlemen, and belabored the briers for six footsteps; and, now I look, this here track is
them at twopence per day and his dinner-and Squire Gaunt's. I know his foot in the snow
abhorred all that sober men call work.      among a hundred. Bless your heart, I've often
By trade a Beater; profession, a Scamp.   been out shooting with Squire Gaunt, and lost
Two maids came out together now, one with him in the woods, and found him again by trackthe milk and a roll, the other with a letter. ing him on dead leaves, let alone snow. I say,
Catharine drank the milk, but could not eat. wasn't they useless idiots? Couldn't tell ye how
Then says the other maid,                   to run into a man, and snow on the ground!
"If so be you are Mistress Peyton, why, this Why, you can track a hare to her form, and a
letter is-for you. Master left it on his table in rat to his hole-let alone such big game as this,
his bedroom."                               with a hoof like a frying-pan-in the snow."




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                25
"'Oh, do nottalk; let us make haste,"panted Nob: you can see ten miles all round from
Kate.                                       there. "
"Canter away!" replied the Scamp.          At this information Kate uttered an ejaculaShe cantered on, and he ran by her side.  tion, and urged her horse forward.
"Shall I not tire you?" said she.          The first part of this hill, which stood between
The mauvais siujet laughed at her.        her and those whose tracks she followed, was
"Tire met?  Not over this ground. Why, I grass; then came a strip of turnips; then, on
run with the hounds, and mostly always in at the bleak top, a broad piece of heather. She
the death; but that is not altogether speed; ye soon cantered over the grass, and left Tom so far
see I know Pug's mind. What.! don't you know  behind he could not quite catch her in the turme?.I'm Tom Leicester.  Why, I know you: nips. She entered the heather, but here she
I say, you are a good-hearted one, you are."    was much retarded by the snow-drifts and the
"Oh, no! no!" sighed Kate.                ups and downs of the rough place. But she,
"Nay, but you are," said Tom.  "I saw you struggled on bravely, still leading.
take Harrowden Brook that day, when the rest   She fixed her eyes earnestly on the ridge,,
turned tail; and that is what I call having a whence she could cry to the combatants, howevgood heart. Gently, mistress, here-this is full er distant, and stop the combat.
of rabbit-holes. I seen Sir IRalph's sorrel mare   Now, as she struggled on, and Tom came aftbreak her leg in a moment in one of these. Shot er, panting a little for the first time, suddenly
her dead that afternoon, a did, and then b'iled there rose from the crest of the hill two columns
her for the hounds. She'd often follow at their of smoke, and the next moment two sharp retails; next hunting-day she ran inside their bel- ports ran through the frosty air.
lies. Ha! ha! ha!"                            Kate stopped, and looked round to Tom with
" Oh, don't laugh! I am in agony!"      a scared, inquiring air.
"Why, what is up, mistress?" asked the   "Pistols!" yelled Tom behind her.
young savage, lowering his voice.  "'Murder,'   At that the woman overpowered the heroine,
says you; but that means naught.  The lasses and Kate hid her face and fell to trembling and
they cry murder if you do but kiss'em."    wailing. Her wearied horse came down to a
"Oh, Tom Leicester, it is murder!  It's a walk.
duel, a fight to the death, unless we are in time   Presently up comes Tom.
to prevent them."                              "Don't lose your stomach for that," he pant" A jewel I" cried Master Leicester, his eyes ed out. " Gentlefolks do pop at one another all
glittering with delight.  "I never saw a jewel. day sometimes, and no harm done."
Don't you hold him in for me, mistress: gallop    "Oh, bless you!" cried Kate, "I may yet be
down this slope as hard as you can pelt; it is in time."
grass under foot, and ye can't lose the tracks,   She spurred her horse on. He did his best,
and I shall be sure to catch ye in the next but, ere he had gone twenty yards, he plunged
field."                                     into a cavity hidden by the snow.
The young savage was now as anxious to be   While he was floundering there, crack went a
in at the death as Kate was to save life. As he single pistol, and the smoke rose and drifted over
spoke, he gave her horse a whack on the quarter the hill-top.
with his stick, and away she went full gallop,   "Who-op!" muttered Tom, with horrible
and soon put a hundred yards between her and sang-froid. "There's one done for this time.
Tom.                                        Couldn't shoot back, ye see."
The next field was a deep fallow, and the   At this horrible explanation Kate sank forhard furrows reduced her to a trot; and before ward on her horse's mane as if she herself had
she got out of it Tom was by her side.      been killed, and the smoke from the pistol came
" Didn't I tell you?" said he.  "I'd run you floating thinner and thinner, and eddied high
to Peyton Hall for a pot o' beer."          over her head.
" Oh, you good, brave, clever boy!" said Kate,   Tom spoke rude words of encouragement to
"' how fortunate I am to have you! I think we her. She did not even seem  to hear them.
shall be in time."                          Then he lost all patience.at her. and clutched
Tom was flattered.                        her arm to make her hear him. But at that it
"Why, you see, I am none of Daddy Leices- seemed as if some of his nature passte into her
ter's breed," said he.  "I'm  a gentleman's by- down his arm, for she turned wild directly, and
blow, if you know what that is."            urged her horse fiercely up the crest. Her prog"I can't say I do," said Kate; "but I know  ress was slow at first; but the sun had melted
you are very bold and handsome, and swift of the snow on the Nob or extreme summit. She
foot; and I know. my patron saint has sent you tore her way through the last of the snow on to
to me in my misery. And oh, my lad, if we are the clear piece; then, white as ashes, spurred
in time-what can I do for you? Are you fond and lashed her horse over the ridge, and dashed
of money, Tom?"                            in among them on the other side. For there
"That I be-when I can get it."           thev were.
"Then you shall have all I have got in the   What was the sight that met her eyes?
world if you get me there in time to hinder mis-   That belongs to the male branch of my story,
chief."                                     and shall be told forthwith, but in its proper se"Come on!" shouted Tom, excited in his quence.
turn, and took the lead; and not a word more
passed till they came to the foot of a long hill.
Then said Tom,                                            CHAPTER VI.
" Once we are at top of this, they can't fight   THE two combatants came to the field in a
without our seeing'em. That is Scutchemsee very different spirit. Neville had already fought




26                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
two duels, and been successful in both. He had    Griffith looked at the gray horse, and ground
confidence in his skill and in his luck.  His con- his teeth. The sight of the animal in Neville's
science, too, was tolerably clear, for he was the possession stirred up his hate, and helped to steel
insulted person; and if a bullet should remove his heart. He stood apart, still, pale, and gloomv.
this dangerous rival from his path, why, all the   The seconds stepped out fifteen paces, and
better for him, and all the worse for the fool who placed the men. Then they loaded two pair of
had brought the matter to a bloody issue, though pistols, and put a pistol in each man's hand.
the balance of the lady's heart inclined his way.   Major Rickards took that opportunity to adHe came in high spirits, and rode upon Kate vise his principal.
Peyton's gray, to sting his adversary, and show    "Stand sharp.  Keep your arm close to your
his contempt of him.                         side. Don't fire too high.  How do you feel?"
Not so Griffith Gaunt.  His heart was heavy,    " Like a man who must die, but will try to die
and foreboded ill. It was his first duel, and he in company."
expected to be killed.  He had played a fool's   The seconds now withdrew to their places, and
game, and he saw it.                         the rivals held their pistols lowered, but fixed
The night before the duel he tried hard to their deadly eyes on each other.
sleep; he knew it was not giving his nerves fair   The eye, in such a circumstance, is a terrible
play to lie thinking all night. But coy sleep, as thing: it is literally a weapon of destruction, for
usual when most wanted, refused to come.  At it directs the deadly hand that guides the deaddaybreak the restless man gave it up in despair, ly bullet.  Moreover, the longer and the more
and rose and dressed himself.  He wrote that steadily the duelist fixes his eye on his adversary,
letter to Catharine, little thinking it would fall the less likely he is to miss.
into her hands while he lived.  He ate a little    Griffith was very pale, but dogged.  Neville
toast, and drank a pint of Burgundy, and then was serious, but firm. Both eyed each other
wandered listlessly about till Major Rickards, his unflinchingly.
second, arrived.                               "Gentlemen, are you ready?" asked Neville's
That experienced gentleman brought a surgeon second.
with him-Mr. Islip.                               "' Yes."
Major Rickards deposited a shallow wooden      "Yes."
box in the hall, and'the two gentlemen sat down    "Then," said Major Rickards, "you will fire
to a hearty breakfast.                       when I let fall this handkerchief, and not before.
Griffith took care of his guests, but beyond that Mark me, gentlemen: to prevent mistakes, I
spoke scarcely a word; and the surgeon, after a shall say' One-two-three!' and then drop the
ghastly attempt at commonplaces, was silent too. handkerchief.  Now, then, once more, are you
Major Rickards satisfied his appetite first, and quite ready?"
then, finding his companions dumb, set to work   6" Yes."
to keep up their spirits.  He entertained them   "Yes."
with a narrative of the personal encounters he    "One-two-three!"
had witnessed, and especially of one in which his   He dropped the handkerchief, and both genprincipal had fallen on his face at the first fire, tlemen fired simultaneously.  Mr. Neville's hat
and the antagonist had sprung into the air, and spun into the air; Griffith stood untouched.
both had lain dead as door-nails, andnever moved,   The bullet had passed through Neville's hat,
nor even winked, after that single discharge.    and had actually cut a lane through his magnifGriffith sat under this chilling talk for more icent hair.
than an hour.                                  The seconds now consulted, and it was intiAt last he rose gloomily, and said it was time mated to Griffith that a word of apology would
to go.                                       be accepted by his antagonist.  Griffith declined
"' Got your tools, doctor?" inquired the major. to utter a syllable of apology.
The surgeon nodded slightly.  He was more   Two more pistols were given to the men
discreet than his friend.                      "Aim lower," said Rickards.
When they had walked nearly a mile in the    "I mean to," said Griffith.
snow, the major began to complain.             The seconds withdrew, and the men eyed each
"The devil!" said he; "this is queer walking. other-Griffith dogged and pale as before, NeMy boot& are full of water. I shall catch my ville not nearly so self-assured: Griffith's bullet,
death."                                     in grazing him, had produced the effect of a
The surgeon smiled satirically, comparing si- sharp, cold current of air no wider than a knife.
lent Griffith's peril with his second's.     It was like Death's icy forefinger laid on his head,
Griffith took no notice. He went like Forti- to mark him for the next shot-as men mark a
tude plodding to Execution.                  tree, then come again and fell it.
Major Rickards fell behind, and whispered Mr.
Islip, "Don't like his looks; doesn't march like    "One-two-three!"
a winner. A job for you or the sexton, you   And Griffith's pistol missed fire; but Neville's
mark my words."                              went off, and Griffith's arm sank powerless, and
his pistol rolled out of his hand. Ile felt a sharp
They toiled up Scutchemsee Nob, and when twinge, and then something trickled down his
they reached the top, they sa-v Neville and his arm.
second, Mr. Hammersley, riding toward them.   The surgeon and both seconds ran to him.
The pair had halters as well as bridles, and, dis-   "Nay, it is nothing," said he; " I shoot far
mounting, made their nags fast to a large black- better with my left hand than my right.  Give
thorn that grew there.  The seconds then step- me another pistol, and let me have fair play. He
ped forward, and saluted each other with formal has hit me, and now I'll hit him."
civility.                                      Both seconds agreed this was impossible.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 27
" It is the chance of war," said Major Rick- ly forward like a broken lily, and in another moe
ards; "you can not be allowed to take a cool ment she lay fainting on the snow beside her
shot at Mr. Neville. If you fire again, so must steaming horse.
he."                                           He never moved, he was so dead beat too.
"The affair may very well end here," said Mr.   Oh lame and impotent conclusion of a vigor.
Hammersley.  "I understand there was some ous exploit! Masculine up to the crowning
provocation on our side; and, on behalf of the point, and then to go and spoil all with " wornparty insulted, I am content to let the matter an's weakness!"
end, Mr. Gaunt being wounded."                 " N. B. -This is rote sarcasticul," as Artemus
i' I demand my second shot to his third," said the Delicious says. Woman's weakness! If
Griffith, sternly; "lihe will not decline, unless he Solomon had planned and Samson executed,
is a poltroon, as well as-what I called him."   they could not have served her turn better than
The nature of this reply was communicated to this most seasonable swooning did; for, lo! at
Neville, and the seconds, with considerable re- her fall, the doughty combatants uttered a yell
luctance, loaded two more pistols; and during of dismay, and there was an indiscriminate rush
the process Major Rickards glanced at the com- toward the fair sufferer.
batants.                                       But the surgeon claimed his rights.
Griffith, exasperated by his wound and his   "This is my business," said he, authoritativejealousy, was wearing out the chivalrous cour- ly.  "]Do not crowd on her, gentlemen; give
age of his adversary, and the major saw it. His her air."
keen eye noticed that Neville was getting rest-   Whereupon the duelists and seconds stood reless, and looking confounded at his despised ri- spectfully aloof, in a mixed group, and watched
val's pertinacity, and that Gaunt was more dog- with eager interest and pity.
ged and more deadly.                           The surgeon made a hole in the snow, and laid
"My man will kill yours this time," said he, his fair patient's head low.
quietly, to Neville's second; " I can see it in his   "Don't be alarmed," said he; "she has
eye. Hie is hungry; t'other has had his bellyful." swooned; that is all."
Once more the men were armed, and the see-   It was all mighty fine to say "Don't Ibe
onds withdrew to their places, intimating that alarmed."  But her face was ashy, and her lips
this was the last shot they wolrld allow under any the color of lead; and she was so like death, they
circumstances whatever.                      could not help being terribly alarmed; and now,
"Are you both ready?"                    for the first time, the duelists felt culpritss; and
5" Yes."                                 as for fighting, every idea of such a thing went
" Yes."                                  out of their heads. The rivals now were but riA faint wail seemed to echo the response.  val nurses; and never did a lot of women make
All heard it, and in that superstitious age be- more fuss over a child than all these blood-thir3ty
lieved it to be some mysterious herald of death.  men did over this Amazon manauqee. They proIt suspended even Major Rickards's voice a duced their legendary lore. One's grandmother
minute.  He recovered himself, however, and had told him burnt feathers were the thing;
once more his soldier-like tones rang in the keen another, from an equally venerable source, had
air:                                         gathered that those pink palms must be profane" One-"                                    ly slapped by the horny hand of man - for at
There was a great rushing, and a pounding of no less a price could resuscitation be obtained.
the hard ground, and a scarlet Amazon galloped The surgeon scorning all their legends, Griffith
in, and drew up in the middle, right between and Neville made hasty rushes with brandy and
the leveled pistols.                         usquebaugh; but whether to be taken internally
Every eye had been so bent on the combatants or externally they did not say, nor, indeed, know,
that Kate Peyton and her horse seemed to have but only thrust their flasks wildly on the doctor,
sprung out of the very earth. And there she and he declined them loftily. He melted snow
sat, pale as ashes, on the steaming piebald, and in his hand, and dashed it hard in her face, and
glanced from pistol to pistol.               put salts close to her pretty little nostrils. And
The duelists stared in utter amazement, and this he repeated many times without effect.
instinctively lowered their weapons, for she had   But at last her lips began to turn from lead
put herself right in their line of fire witl a reck- color to white, and then from white to*,ink, and
lessness that contrasted nobly with her fear for her heavenly eyes to open again, and her mouth
others.  In short, this apparition literally petri- to murmur things pitiably small and not bearing
fled them all, seconds as well as combatants.    on the matter in hand.
And while they stood open-mouthed, yet dumb,   Her cheek was still colorless when her conin came the Scamp, and, with a brisk assumption sciousness came back, and she found she was lyof delegated authority, took Griffith's weapon out ing on the ground with ever so many gentlemen
of his now unresisting hand, then marched to looking at her.
Neville.  Ile instantly saluted Catharine, and   At that, Modesty, alarmed, sent the blood at
then handed his pistol to her seeming agent, with once rushing to her pale cheek.
a high-bred and inimitable air of utter noncha-   A lovely lily seemed turning to a lovely rose
lance.                                       before their eves.
Kate, seeing them, to her surprise, so easily   The next thing was, she hid that blushing face
disarmed, raised her hands and her lovely eyes in her hands, and began to whimper.
to heaven, and, in a feeble voice, thanked God   The surgeon encouraged her: "Nay, we are
and Saint Nescioquis.                        all friends," he whispered, paternally.
But very soon that faint voice quavered away   She half parted her fingers and peered through
to nothing, and her fair head was seen to'droop, them at Neville and Gaunt.  Then she rememand her eyes to close,- then her body sank slowv- bered all, and began to cry hysterically.




28                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
New dismay of the unprofessionals!        |"Don't you know?" whispered the other in
"Now, gentlemen, if you will lend me your return.  "Why, Mistress Peyton herself."
flasks," said Mr. Islip, mighty calmly.        "What! the girl it is all about?  Well, I
Griffith and Neville were instantly at his side, never heard of such a thing: the causa belli to
each with a flask.                           come galloping and swooniny on the field of batThe surgeon administered snow and brandy. tle, and so stop the fighting! What will our laBu   t when it came to sipping  randied sno er   Shedoesn'tlookateitherofthem."
eye off her, he beckoned Mr. Hammersley apart, than any body knows."
and whispered, "Who the deuse is it?"         "Bet you a guinea she knows, and lets it out
Bu we   i cm   t  ipin  radedsnwwodrSh  oent oo  t ihe o  he.
an  rin   ofotbyMjr  ikrd' ix- "h!  ad h    enlmn,  ht smr
et gvepac t crosty          itou tkngii  ta   Iknw  mrethnNeile  nws mr
ey  f  e, ebcoedM.Hmerlyaatta  n bd   nw.
an   hsprd "h  hedue si?"Btyj     une  h kos adltsi  u




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              25
before she leaves the field," said Major Rick-   The gentlemen all sided loudly with her on
ards.                                      this appeal, except Neville, who held his tongue,
Mr. Hammersley objected to an even bet, but and smiled at her plausibility, and Griffith, who
said he would venture one to three she did not. hung his head at her siding with Neville.
It was an age of bets.                       At last he spoke, and said, sorrowfully, " I
"Done!" said the major.                you did exchange horses with him, of course I
By this time Kate had risen, with Mr. Islip's have only to ask his pardon-and go."
assistance, and was now standing with her hand   Catharine reflected a moment before she reupon the piebald's mane. She saw Rickards and plied.
Hammersley were whispering about her, and she   " Well," said she,:' I did exchange, and I did
felt very uneasy; so she told Mr. Islip, timidly, not. Why quarrel about a word?  Certainly he
she desired to explain her conduct to all the gen- took my horse, and I took his, but it was only
tlemen present, and avert false reports.  for the nonce. Mr. Neville is foreign bred, and
They were soon all about her, and she began, an example to us all: he knows his piebald is
with the most engaging embarrassment, by mak- worth two of my gray, and so he was too fine a
ing excuses for her weakness. She said she had gentleman to send me back my old hunter and
ridden all the way from home fasting; that was ask for his young charger. He waited for me to
what had upset her. The gentlemen took the do that; and if any body deserves to be shot, it
cue directly, and vowed eagerly and unanimous- must be Me. But, dear heart, I did not foresee
ly it was enough to upset a porter.       all this fuss; I said to myself,'La! Mr. Neville
"But, indeed," resumed Kate, blushing, " I will be sure to call on my father or me some day,
did not come here to make a fuss, and be troub- or else I shall be out on the piebald and meet
lesome, but to prevent mischief, and clear up the him on the gray, and then we can each take our
strangest misunderstanding between two worthy own again.' Was I so far out in my reckoning?
gentlemen, that are, both of them, my good Is not that my Rosinante yonder?  Here, Tom
friends."                                  Leicester, you put my side-saddle on that gray
She paused, and there was a chilling silence: horse, and the man's saddle on the piebald there.
every body felt she was getting on ticklish ground And now, Griffith Gaunt, it is your turn: you
now. She knew that well enough herself. But she must withdraw your injurious terms, and end
had a good rudder to steer by, called Mother-wit. this superlative folly."
Says she with inimitable coolness,         Griffith hesitated.
"Mr. Gaunt is an old friend of mine, and a   "Come,." said Kate, "consider: Mr. Neville
little too sensitive where I am concerned. Some is esteemed by all the county; you are the only
chatterbox has been and told him Mr. Neville gentleman in it who has ever uttered a disparashould say I have changed horses with him; and ging word against him. Are you sure you are
on that the gossips put their own construction. more free from passion and prejudice, and wiser
Mr. Gaunt hears all this, and applies insulting than all the county? Oblige me and do what is
terms to Mr. Neville. Nay, do not deny it, Mr. right. Come, Griffith Gaunt, let your reason unGaunt, for I have it here in your own hand- say the barbarous words your passion hath utwriting.                                  tered against a worthy gentleman whom we all
"As for Mr. Neville, he merely defends his esteem."
honor, and is little to blame. But now I shall  Hler habitual influence, and these last words,
tell the true story about these horses, and make spoken with gentle and persuasive dignity, turnyou all ashamed of this sorry quarrel.     ed the scale. Griffith turned to Neville, and said
" Gentlemen, thus it is. A few days ago Mr. in a low voice that he began to fear he had been
Gaunt bade me farewell, and started for foreign hasty, and used harsher words than the occasion
parts. IIe had not been long gone when word justified: he was going to stammer out somecame from Bolton that Mr. Charlton was no thing more, but Neville interrupted him with a
more. You know how sudden it was. Consid- noble gesture.
er, gentlemen: him dead, and his heir riding off   "That is enough, Mr. Gaunt," said he.  "I
to the Continent in ignorance. So I thought, do not feel quite blameless in the matter, and'Oh, what shall I do?' Just then Mr. Neville have no wish to mortify an honorable adversary
visited me, and I told him. On that he offered unnecessarily."
me his piebald horse to carry the news after Mr.   " Very handsomely said," put in Major RickGaunt, because my gray was too tired: it was ards; "and now let me have a word. I say that
the day we drew Yew-tree Brow, and crossed both gentlemen have conducted themselves like
Harrowden Brook, you know —"               men-under fire; and that honor is satisfied, and
Griffith interrupted her.               the misunderstanding at an end. As for my prin" Stay a bit," said he: " this is news to me. cipal here, he has shown he can fight, and now
You never told me he had lent you the piebald he has shown he can hea' reason against himself,
nag to do me a good turn."                 when the lips of beauty utter it. I approve his
"Did I not?" said Kate, mighty innocently. conduct from first to last, and am ready to deW' WNrI, but I tta yy u nemy. Ask him  ie  -fen   it im al commnies, and in the field shlould
not deny it. As for the rest, it was all done in it ever be impugned."
a hurry. Mr. Neville had no horse now to ride   Kate colored with pleasure, and gave her hand
home with; he did me the justice to think I eloquently to the major. He bowed over it, and
should be very ill pleased were he to trudge home kissed the tips of her fingers.
afoot and suffer for his courtesy, so he borrowed   " Oh, sir," she said, looking on him now as a
my gray to keep him out of the mire; and, in- friend, " I dreamed I saw Mr. Neville lying dead
deed, the ways were fouler than usual, with the upon the snow, with the blood trickling from his
rains. Was there any ill in all this? HONI SOIT temple."
QUI MAL Y PENSE! say I."                   At this, Neville's dark cheek glowed with pleas



30                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
ure. So! it was her anxiety on his account had she should be pulled to pieces, and live in hot
brought her here.                            water, and be " the talk of the county."
Griffith heard too, and sighed patiently.    There were but two ways out: she must marry
Assured by Major Rickards that there neither one of them, and petition the other not to shoot
could nor should be any more fighting, Kate him; or else she must take the veil, and so esmade her adieus, mounted her gray horse, and cape them both.
rode off, discreetly declining all attendance. She   She preferred the latter alternative.  She was
beckoned Tom Leicester, however. But he pre- more enthusiastic in religion than in any earthly
tended not to see the signal, and let her go alone. thing; and now the angry passions of men thrust
His motive for lingering behind was characteris- her the same road that her own devout mind
tic, and will transpire shortly.             had always drawn her.
As soon as she was gone, Griffith Gaunt quiet-   As soon as she got home, she sent a message
ly reminded the surgeon that there was a bullet to Father Francis, who drove her conscience,
in his arm all this time.                    and begged him to come and advise her.
"Bless my soul!" said Mr. Islip, "I forgot   After that she did the wisest thing, perhaps,
that, I was so taken up with the lady."      she had done all day-went to bed.
Griffith's coat was now taken off, and the bullet searched for: it had entered the fleshy part                -
of his arm below the elbow, and, passing round            CHAPTER VII
the bone, projected just under the skin. The
surgeon made a slight incision, and then, press-   THE sun was just setting when Catharine-s
ing with his finger and thumb, out it rolled. maid came into her room and told her Father
Griffith put it in his pocket.               Francis was below. She sent down to say she
Neville had remained out of civility, and now  counted on his sleeping at Peyton Hall, and she
congratulated his late antagonist and himself that would come down to him in half an hour. She
it was no worse.                            then ordered a refection to be prepared fcr hiln
The last words that passed between the rivals in her boudoir, and made her toilet with all reaon this occasion were worth recording, and char- sonable speed, not to keep him waiting. Her
acteristic of the time.                      face beamed with quiet complacency now, for
Neville addressed Gaunt with elaborate cour- the holy man's very presence in the house was a
tesy, and to this effect:                    comfort to her.
"'I find myself in a difficulty, sir. You did   Father Francis was a very stout, muscular
me the honor to invite me to Mr. Charlton's fu- man, with a ruddy countenance; he never wore
neral, and I accepted; but now I fear to intrude gloves, and you saw at once he was not a gena guest, the sight of whom may be disagreeable tleman by birth. He had a fine voice: it was
to you. And, on the other hand, my absence deep, mellow, and, when he chose, sonorous.
might be misconstrued as a mark of disrespect, This, and his person, ample, but not obese, gave
or of a petty hostility I am far from feeling. Be him great weight, especially with his female pupleased, therefore, to dispose of me entirely in pils. If he was not quite so much reverenced by
this matter."                                the men, yet he was both respected and liked; in
Griffith reflected.                        fact, he had qualities that make men welcome in
" Si," said he, " there is an old saying,'Let every situation -good humor, good sense, and
every tub stand on its own bottom.' The de- tact. A good son of his Church, and early
ceased wished you to follow him to the grave, trained to let no occasion slip of advancing her
and therefore I would on no account have you interests.
absent. Besides, now I think of it, there will be   I wish my readers could have seen the meetless gossip about this unfortunate business if our ing between Catharine Peyton and this burly
neighbors see you under my roof, and treated ecclesiastic.  She came into the drawing-room
with due consideration there, as you will be."    with that imperious air and carriage which had
"I do not doubt that, sir, from so manly an made her so unpopular with her own sex, and at
adversary; and I shall do myself the honor to the bare sight of Father Francis, drooped and
come."                                       bent in a moment as she walked, and her whole
Such was Neville's reply. The rivals then sa- body indicated a submissiveness, graceful, but
luted each other profoundly, and parted.     rather abject: it was as if a young poplar should
Hammersley and Rickarcls lingered behind turn to a weeping willow in half a moment.
their principals to settle their little bet about Thus metamorphosed, the Beauty of CumberKate's affections; and, by-the-by, they were in- land glided up to Francis, and sank slowly on
discreet enough to discuss this delicate matter her knees before him, crossed her hands on her
within a dozen yards of Tom Leicester: they bosom, lowered her lovely head, and awaited his
forgot that "little pitchers have long ears."  benediction.
The father laid two big, coarse hands, with
Catharine Peyton rode slowly home, and enormous fingers, on that thorough-bred head
thought it all over as she went, and worried and golden hair, and blessed her business-like.
herself finely. She was one that winced at no- "The hand of less employment hath the daintier
toriety, and she could not hope to escape it now.  seuse."-Shekspeare.
How the gossips would talk about her! They   Father Francis blessed so many of these pretwould say the gentlemen had fought about her, ty creatures every week that he had long outand she had parted them for love of one of them. grown your fine, romantic way of blessing a
And then the gentlemen themselves! The strict body. (We manage these things better in the
neutrality she had endeavored to maintain on theatre.)  Then he lent her his hand to rise,
Scutchemsee Nob, in order to make peace, would and asked her in what she required his direction
it not keep them both her suitors? She foresaw  at present.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               31
"In that which shall decide my whole life," said,'Get you gone out of the room!' and' 
said she.                                   hated the sight of her!' And the poor girl went
Francis responded by a look of paternal inter- from me, crying, without a word, being a better
est.                                        Christian than her mistress. Mea cllpa! mlea
"But first," murmured she, "let me confess culpa!"
to you, and obtain absolution, if I may. Ah! fa-' Did you slap her?"
ther, my sins have been many since last confes-   "Nay, father, not so bad as that."
sion."                                         "Are you quite sure you did not. slap her?"
"Be it so," said Father Francis, resignedly. asked Francis, quietly.
"Confession is the best preface to Direction."   "Nay.  But I had a mind to.  My heart
And be seated himself with a certain change of slapped her, if my hand forbore. Alas!"
manner, an easy assumption of authority.       "Had she hurt you?"
" Nay, ather," suggested the lady," we shall   " That she did-but only my head. I hurt
be more private in my room."                 her heart; for the poor wench loves me dear,
" As you will, Mistress Catharine Peyton," the Lord knows for what."
said the priest, returning to his usual manner.  " Humph! proceed to pride."
So then the fair penitent led her spiritual judge    " Yes, father. I do confess that I was greatly
captive up another flight of stairs, and into her puffed up with the praises of men. I was proud
little boudoir. A cheerful wood fire crackled of the sorriest tilings: of jumping a brook, when
and flamed up the chimney, and a cloth had been'twas my horse jumped it, and had jumped it betlaid on a side-table: cold turkey and chine graced ter with a fly on his back than the poor worm
the board, and a huge glass magnum of purple Me; of my good looks, forgetting that God gave
Burgundy glowed and shone in the rays of the them me; and, besides, I am no beauty, when all
cheery fire.                                 is done; it is all their flattery. And at my Lady
Father Francis felt cozy at the sight, and at Munster's dinner I pridefully walked out before
once accepted Kate's invitation to take some Mistress Davies, the rich cheesemonger's wife.
nourishment before entering on the labor of lis- that is as proud of her money as I of my old
tening to the catalogue of her crimes. " I fasted blood (God forgive two fools!), which I had no
yesterday," he muttered; and the zeal with which right to do-a maid to walk before a wife; and
he attacked the viands rendered the statement oh, father, I whispered the gentleman who led me
highly credible.                             out-it was Mr. Neville-"
He invited Kate to join' him, but she declined.   Here the penitent put one hand before her
He returned more than once to the succulent face, and hesitated.
meats, and washed all down with a pint of the    " Well, daughter, half confession is no confesfine old Burgundy, perfumed and purple. Mean- sion. You said to Mr. Neville-"
time she of the laity sat looking into the fire   "I said.'Nothing comes after cheese. "
with heavenly-minded eyes.                     This revelation was made most dolefully.
At last, with a gentle sigh of content, the    "It was pert and unbecoming," said Father
ghostly father installed himself in an arm-chair Francis, gravely, though a twinkle in his eye
by the fire, and invited his penitent to begin.. showed that he was not so profoundly shocked as
She took a footstool and brought it to his side, his penitent appeared to be.  " But go to graver
so that, in confessing her blacker vices, she might matters. Immodesty, said you? I shall be very
be able to whisper them in his very ear.. She sorry if this is so. You did not use to be imkneeled on her little footstool, put her hands modest."
across her breast, and in this lowly attitude mur-   "Well, father, I hope I have not altogether
mured softly after this fashion, with a contrite laid aside modesty, otherwise it would be time
voice:                                       for me to die, let alone to confess; but sure it
" I have to accuse myself of many vices. can not be modest of me to ride after a gentleAlas! in one short fortnight I have accumulated man and take him a letter. And then that was
the wickedness of a life. I have committed the not enough: I heard of a duel, and what did 1
seven deadly sins. I have been guilty of Pride, do but ride to Scutchemsee Nob, and interfere?
Wrath, Envy, Disobedience, Immodesty, Vanity, What gentlewoman ever was so bold? I was not
Concupiscence, Fibs-"                        their wife, you know-neither of them's. "
" Gently, daughter," said the priest, quietly;   " Humph!" said the priest, "I have already
" these terms are too general: give me instan- heard a whisper of this, but told to your credit.
ces. Let us begin with Wrath: ah! we are all Beati ]macifici: Blessed are the peacemakers.
prone to that."                              You had better lay that matter before me by-andThe fair penitent sighed and said,        by, as your director. As Vour confessor, tell nle
" Especially me. Example: I was angry be- why you accuse yourself of concupiscence."
yond reason with my maid, Ruth. (She does   "Alas!" said the young lady, "scarce a day
comb my hair so uncouthly!) So, then, the passes that I do not offend in that respect. Exother night, when I was in trouble, and most ample: last Friday, dining abroad, the cooks sent
needed soothing by being combed womanly, she up a dish of collops.  Oh, father, they smelt so
gets thinking of Harry, that helps in the stable, nice! and I had been a-hbunting.  First I smelt
and she tears away at my hair. I started up and them, and that I couldn't help.; but then I forscreamed out,'Oh, you clumsy thing! go curry- got eustodia oculorum, and I eyed them; and the
comb my horse, and send that oaf your head is next thing was, presently-somehow-two of'em
running on t6 handle my hair.' And I told her were on my plate."
my grandam would have whipped her well for it,   "Very wrong," said Francis; " but that is a
but nowadays mistresses were the only sufferers: harsher term than I should have applied to this
we had lost the use of our hands, we are grown longing of a hungry woman for collops o' Friday.
so squeamish. And I stamped like a fury, and Pray, what do you understand by that big word?"




32                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
" Why, you explained it yourself in your last herself does-and by making converts to - the
sermon. It means' unruly and inordinate de- faith. You could hardly serve her worse than by
sires.' Example: Edith Hammersley told me I going into a convent; for our convents are poor,
was mad to ride in scarlet, and me so fair and and you have no means; you would be a charge.
my hair so light.'Green or purple is your No, daughter, we want no poor nuns; we have
color,' savs she; and soon after this didn't I see enough of them. If you are, as I think, a true
in Stanhope town the loveliest piece of purple and zealous daughter of the Church, you must
broadcloth?  Oh, father, it had a gloss like vel- marry, and instill the true faith, with all a mothvet, and the sun did so shine on it as it lay in the er's art, a mother's tenderness, int( your children.
shop-window; it was fit for a king or a bishop; Then the heir to your husband's estates will be
and I stood and gloated on it, and pined for it, a Catholic, and so the true faith get rooted in the
and died for it, and down went the Tenth Com- soil."
mandment. "                                   "Alas!" said Catharine, "are we to look but
"Ah!" said Francis, "the hearts of women to the worldly interests of the Church?"
are set on vanity! But tell me-these unruly   "They are inseparable from her spiritual inaffections of yours, are they ever fixed on per- terests here on earth;; our souls are not more
sons of the other sex?".               bound to our bodies."
The fair sinner reflected.                  Catharine was deeply mortified.
"On gentlemen?" said she.  "Why, they    "So the Church rejects me because I am
come pestering of their own accord. No, no-I poor," said she, with a sigh.
could do without them very well. ~ What I sinful-   "The Church rejects you not, but only the
ly pine for is meat on a Friday assure as ever convent. No place is less fit for you. You have
the day comes round, and high-couraged horses a high spirit, and high religious sentiments; both
to ride, and fine clothes to wear every day in the would be mortified and shocked in a nunnery.
week. Mlea culpa! nlea culpa!"            Think you that convent-walls can shut out temptSuch being the dismal state of things, Francis ation? I know them better than you: they are
slyly requested her to leave the seven deadly sins strong-holds of vanity, folly, tittle-tattle, and all
in peace, and go to her small offenses; for he the meanest vices of your sex. Nay, I forbid
argued, shrewdly enough, that, since her sins you to think of it: show me now your faith by
were peccadilloes, perhaps some of her peccadil- your obedience."
loes might turn out to be sins.               " You are harsh to me, father," said Catharine,
" Small!" cried the culprit, turning red, " they piteously.
are none of them small."                    "I I am firm. You are one that needs a tight
-I really think she was jealous of her reputation hand, mistress.  Come, now, humility and obeas a sinner of high degree.                 dience, these are the. Christian graces that best
However, she complied, and, putting up her become your youth.  Say, can the  Church,
month, murmured a miscellaneous confession through me, its minister, count on these from
without end. The accents were soft and music- you? or" (suddenly letting loose his diapason)
al, like a babbling brook; and the sins, such as " did you send for me. to ask advice,, and yet go
they were, poor things! rippled on in endless ro- your own way, hiding a high stomach and a willtation.                                     ful heart under a show of humility?".
Now nothing tends more to repose than a purl-   Catharine looked at Father Francis with dising brook, and ere long something sonorous let may. This was the first time that easy-going
the fair culprit know she had lulled her confessor priest had shown her how impressive he could
asleep.                                     be. She was downright frightened, and said she
She stopped, indignant.  But at that he in- hoped she knew better than to defy her director;
stantly awoke (sublatd causa, tollitur effectus), and she laid her will at his feet, and would obey him
addressed her thus, with sudden dignity, "My like a child, as was her duty.
daughter, you will fast on Monday next, and say    "Now I know my daughter again," said he,
two Aves and a Credo. Absolvo te."          and gave her his horrible paw, the which she
"And now," said he, "as I am a practical kissed very humbly, and that matter was settled
man, let us get back from the imaginary world to her entire dissatisfaction.
into the real. Speak to me at present as your   Soon after that thev were both summoned to
director; and mind, you must be serious now, supper; but as they went down, Kate's maid
and call things by their right names."      drew her aside and told her a young man wantUpon this Kate took a seat, and told her story, ed to speak to her.
and showed him the difficulty she was in.     "A young man?" screamed Kate.  "Hang
She then reminded him that, notwithstanding young men! They have got me a fine scolding
her unfortunate itch for the seven deadly sins, just now! Which is it, pray?"
she was- a good Catholic, a zealous daughter of   "He is a stranger to me."
the Church; and she let him know her desire to   "Perhaps he comes with a message from
retire from both lovers into a convent, and so, some fool. You may bring him.to me in the
freed from the world and its temptations, yield hall, and stay with us: it may be: a thief, for
up her soul entire to celestial peace and divine aught I know."
contemplation.                                The maid soon reappeared, followed by Mr.
" Not so fast," said the priest. " Even zeal is Thomas Leicester.
naught without obedience. If you could serve   That young worthy had lingered on Scutchthe Church better than by going into a convent, emsee Nob to extract the last dtop of enjoywould you be willful?"                      ment from the situation by setting up his hat
" Oh no, father! But how can I serve the at ten paces, and firing the gentlemen's pistols
Church better than by renouncing the world?"  at it. I despair of conveying to any rational
"'Perhaps by remaining in the world, as she reader the satisfaction, keen, though Srief this




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                33
afforded him; it was a new sensation: gentle- remember any of their nonsense?-not that it
men's guns he had fired many, but dueling-pis- is worth remembering, I'll be bound."
tols not one, till that bright hour.          "Let me see. Well, Squire Hammersley, he
He was now come to remind Catharine of his said you owned to dreaming of Squire Neville,
pecuniary claims. Luckily for him, she was one and that was a sign of love, said he; and, bewho did not need to be reminded of her prom- sides, you sided with him against t'other. But
ises.                                       the old soger, he said you called Squire Gaunt
"Oh, it is you, child!" said she.  " Well, I'll'Griffith;' and he built on that. Oh, and a said
be as good as my word."                     you changed the horses back to please our squire.
She then dismissed her maid, and went up Says he,
stairs, and soon returned with two guineas, a   "' You must look to what the lady did; never
crown piece, and three shillings in her hand.    heed what she said. Why, their sweet lips was
" There," said she, smiling, " I am sorry for only made to kiss us, and deceive us,' says that
you, but that is all the money I have in the there old soger."
world."                                       "I'll-I'll —  And what did you say, sir?The boy's eyes glittered at sight of the coin: for I suppose your tongue was not idle."
he rammed the silver into his pocket with hun-   "Oh, me? I never let'em know I was hearkgry rapidity, but he shook his head about the ncuing, or they'd have'greed in a moment for to
gold.                                       give me a hiding. Besides, I had no need to
"I'm afeard o' these," said he, and eyed them  cudgel my brains; I'd only to ask you plump.
mistrustfully in his palm.  "These be the You'll tell 7me, I know. Which is it, mistress?
friends that get you your throat cut o' dark I'm  for Gaunt, you know, in course. Alack,
nights. Mistress, please you keep'em for me, mistress," gabbled this voluble youth, " sure you
and let me have a shilling now and then when won't be so hard as sack my squire, and him got
I'm dry."                                   a bullet in his carcass, for love of you, this day."
"Nay," said Kate, " but are you not afraid I   Kate started, and looked at him in surprise.
shall spend your money, now I have none left of   " Oh," said she, "a bullet! Did they fight
my own?"                                    again the moment they saw my back was turnTom seemed quite struck with the reasonable- ed?  The cowards!"
ness of this observation, and hesitated. Howev-   And she began to tremble.
er, he concluded to risk it.  ~" No, no," said Tom, " that was done before
" You don't look one of the sort to wrong a ever you came up. Don't ye remember that
poor fellow," said he; "and, besides, you'll have single shot while we were climbing the Nob?
brass to spare of your own before long, I know." Well,'twas Squire Gaunt got it in the arm that
Kate opened her eves.                    time."
" Oh, indeed!" said she; " and, pray, how do'Oh!"
vou know that?"                              "But, I say, wasn't our man game? Never
Mr. Leicester favored her with a kinowring let out he was hit while you was there; but as
wink. He gave her a moment to digest this, soon as ever you was gone, they cut the bullet
and then said, almost in a whisper, "IIHearkened out of him, and I seen it."
the gentlefolks on Scutchemsee Nob after you   "Ah! ah!"
was gone home, mistress."                     " Doctor takes out his knife-precious sharp
Kate was annoyed.                         and shiny'twas! —cuts into his arm with no
" What! they must be prating as soon as more ado than if he was carving a pullet-out
one's back is turned! Talk of women's tongues! squirts the blood, a good un."
Now what did they say, I should like to know?" "Oh, no more! no more! You cruel boy!
" It was about the bet, ye know."         how could you bear to look?" And Kate hid
"A bet?  Oh, that is no affair of mine."  her own face with both hands.
" Ay, but it is. Why,'twas you they were   "Why,'twasn't nmy skin as was cut into.
betting on. Seems that old soger and Squire Squire Gaunt, he never hollered; a winced,
Hammersley had laid three guineas to one that though, and ground his teeth; but'twas over in
you should let out which was your fancy of them  a minute, and the bullet in his hand.
two."'That is for my wife,' says he,'if ever I
Kate's cheeks were red as fire now; but her have one,' and puts it in his pocket.
delicacy overpoweied her curiosity, and she   " Why, mistress, you be as white as your
would not put any more questions. To be sure, smock!"
young Hopeful needed none; he was naturally a   "No, no! Did he faint, poor soul?"
chatterbox, and he proceeded to tell her that, as   "Not he! What was there to faint about?"
soon as ever she was gone, Squire Hammersley    "Then why do I feel so sick, even to hear of
took a guinea and offered it to the old soger, it?"
andA told him he had won, and the old soger   "Because you ha'n't got no stomach," said
pocketed it. But after that, somehow, Squire the bov, contemptuously.  "Your courage is
Hammersley let drop that Mr. Neville was the skin-deep, I'm  thinking. However, I'm  glad
favorite.                                   you feel for our squire about the bullet; so now
"Then," continued Mr. Leicester, "what does I hope you will wed with hidm, and sack Squire
the old soger do but pull out guinea again, and Neville. Then you and I shall be kind o' kin:
says he, "' You must have this back; bet is not Squire Gaunt's feyther was my feyther. That
won; for you do think'tis Neville; now I do makes you stare, mistress. Why, all the folk do
think'tis Gaunt.'                          know it. Look at this here little mole on my
"So then they fell to argufving and talking a forehead. Squire Gaunt have got the fellow to
lot o' stuff."                              that."
"No doubt, the insolent meddlers! Can you   At this crisis of his argument he suddenly
C




84                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
caught a glimpse of his personal interest; in- old age, I would love to end my own days, at
stantly he ceased his advocacy of Squire Gaunt, peace with Heaven and with all mankind."
and became ludicrously, impartial.             Kate was much moved by this picture, and
"Well, mistress, wed whichever you like," her clasped hands and glistening eyes showed
said he, with sublime indifference; "only which- the glory and delight it would be to her to build
ever you do wed, prithee speak a word to the a convent on so lovely a spot. But her words
gentleman, and get me to be his gamekeeper. were vague.  "How sweet! how sweet!" was
I'd liever be your goodman's gamekeeper than all she committed herself to. For, after what
King of England."                            Tom Leicester had just told her, she hardly
He was proceeding with vast volubility to knew what to say, or what to think, or what to
enumerate his qualifications for that confidential do; she felt she had become a mere puppet, first
post, when the lady cut him short, and told him  drawn one way, then another.
to go and get his supper in the kitchen, for she   One thing appeared pretty clear to her now:
was wanted elsewhere.  He made a scrape, and Father Francis did not mean her to choose beclattered away with his hobnailed shoes.     tween her two lovers; he was good enough to
Kate went to the hall window and opened it, relieve her of that difficulty by choosing for her.
and let the cold air blow over her face.     She was to marry Neville.
Her heart was touched, and her bosom filled   She retired to rest directly after supper, for
with pity for her old sweetheart.            she was thoroughly worn out. And the moHow hard she had been! She had sided with ment she rose to go, her father bounced up, and
Neville against the wounded man.  And she lighted the bed-candle for her with novel fervor,
thought how sadly and patiently he had submit- and kissed her on the cheek, and said in her ear,
ted to her decision-and a bullet in his poor arm  " Good-night, my Lady Neville!"
all the time.
The gentle bosom heaved and heaved, and the                     *
tears began to run.                                       CHAPTER VIII.
She entered the dining-room timidly, expect-   WHAT with the day's excitement, and a sweet,
ing some comment on her discourteous absence. secluded convent in her soul, and a bullet in her
Instead of that, both her father and her director bosom, and a ringing in her ear, that sounded
rose respectfully, and received her with kind and mighty like " Lady Neville! Lady Neville! Lady
affectionate looks. They then pressed her to eat Neville!" Kate spent a restless night, and woke
this and that, and were remarkably attentive and with a bad headache.
kind.  She could see she was deep in their good   She sent her maid to excuse her, on this score,
books. This pleased her; but she watched qui- from going to Bolton Hall. But she was inetly, after the manner of her sex, to learn what it formed in reply that the carriage had'been got
was all about. Nor was she left long in the dark. ready expressly for her, so she must be good
Remarks were made that hit her, though they enough to shake off disease and go; the air
were none of them addressed to her.          would do her a deal more good than lying abed.
Father Francis delivered quite a little homily   Thereupon she dressed herself in her black
on Obedience, and said how happy a thing it was silk gown and came down, looking pale and lanwhen zeal, a virtue none too common in these de- guid, but still quite lovely enough to discharge
generate days, was found tempered by humility, what in this age of cant I suppose we should call
and subservient to ghostly counsel and authority. "her mission;" videlicet, to set honest men by
Mr. Peyton dealt in no general topics of that the ears.
kind; his discourse was secular: it ran upon   At half past eight o'clock the carriage came
Neville's Cross, Neville's Court, and the Baronet- round to the front door. Its body, all glorious
cy; and he showed Francis how and why this ti- with the Peyton armorials and with patches of
tie must sooner or later come to George Neville rusty gilding, swung exceedingly loose on long
and the heirs of his body.                   leathern straps instead of springs; and the fore
Francis joined in this topic for a while, but wheels were a mile from the hind wheels, more
speedily diverged into what might be called a or less. A pretentious and horrible enginecollateral theme.  He described to Kate a de- drawn by four horses —only two of them being
lightful spot on the Neville estate where a nun- ponies impaired the symmetry and majestic
nery might be built and endowed by any good beauty of the pageant.  Old Joe drove the
Catholic lady having zeal, and influence with the wheelers; his boy rode the leaders, and every
owner of the estate, and with the lord lieutenant now and then got off and kicked them in the pits
of the county.                               of their stomachs, or pierced them with hedge"It is three parts an island (for the River stakes, to rouse their mettle.  Thus encouraged
Wey curls round it lovingly), but backed by and stimulated, they effected an average of four
wooded slopes that keep off the north and east miles and a half per hour, notwithstanding the
winds: a hidden and balmy place, such as the snow, and reached Bolton just in time. At the
forefathers of the Church did use to choose for lodge, Francis got out and lay in ambush-but
their rustic abbeys, whose ruins still survive to only for a time. He did not think it orthodox
remind us of the pious aud glorious days gone to be present at a religious ceremony of his Protby. Trout and salmon come swimming to the estant friends, nor common-sense-o-dox to turn
door; hawthorn and woodbine are as rife there his back upon their dinner.
as weeds be in some parts; two broad oaks stand   The carriage drew up at the hall door. It
on turf like velvet, and ring with song-birds. A  was wide open, and the hall lined with servants,
spot by nature sweet, calm, and holy-good for male and female, in black.  In the midst; bepious exercises and heavenly contemplation: tween these two rows, stood Griffith Gaunt,
there, methinks, if it be God's will I should see bareheaded, to welcome the guests. His arm




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              3b
was in a sling. He had received all the others   "Neither of us is worth all that," suggested
in the middle of the hall, but he came to the Neville, with an accent of conviction.
threshold to meet Kate and her father. lie   "That is certain," replied the lady, dryly;
bowed low and respectfully, then gave his left " so please not to do it."
hand to Kate to conduct her, after the formal   He bade her set her mind at ease: they had
fashion of the day. The sight of his arm in a both agreed to try and win her by peaceful arts.
sling startled and affected heri and with him    "Then a pretty life mine will be!"
giving her his hand almost at the same moment,   "Well, I think it will, till you decide."
she pressed it, or indeed squeezed it nervously,   "I could easily decide, if it were not for givand it was in her heart to say something kind ing pain to-somebody."
and womanly; but her father was close behind,   "Oh, you can't help that. My sweet mistress,
and she was afraid of saying something too kind, you are not the first that has had to choose beif she said any thing at all, so Griffith only got a tween two worthy men. For, in sooth, I have
little gentle nervous pinch. But that was more nothing to say against my rival neither. I know
than he expected, and sent a thrill of delight him better than I did: he is a very worthy genthrough him; his brown eyes replied with a vol- tleman, though he is damnably in my way."
ume, and holding her hand up in the air as high   "And you are a very noble one to say so."
as her ear, and keeping at an incredible distance,   " And you are one of those that make a man
he led her solemnly to a room where the other noble: I feel that petty arts are not the way to
ladies were, and left her there with a profound win you, and I scorn them.  Sweet Mistress
bow.                                       Kate, I adore you! You are the best and noThe Peytons were nearly the last persons ex- blest, as well as the loveliest of women!"
pected, and soon after their arrival the runeral   "Oh, hush, Mr. Neville! I am a creature of
procession formed. This part was entirely ar- clay-and you are another-and both of us comranged by the undertaker. The monstrous cus- ing home from a funeral. Do think of that."
tom of forbidding ladies to follow their dead had   Here they were interrupted by Mr. Peyton
not yet occurred even to the idiots of the nation, asking Kate to lend him a shilling for the groom.
and Mr. Peyton and his daughter were placed in Kate replied aloud that she had left her purse at
the second carriage. The first contained Grif- home, then whispered in his ear that she had not
fith Gaunt alone, as head mourner. But the a shilling in the world; and this was strictly
Peytons were not alone: no other relation of true, for her little all was Tom Leicester's now.
the deceased being present, the undertaker put With this they reached the IHall, and the coy
Mr. Neville with the Peytons, because he was Kate gave both Neville and Gaunt the slip, and
heir to a baronetcy.                       got among her mates. There her tongue went
Kate was much startled and astonished to see as fast as her neighbors', though she had just
him come out into the hall. But when he en- come back from a funeral.
tered the carriage she welcomed him warmly.   But soon the ladies and gentlemen were all in" Oh, I am so glad to see you here!" said she.  vited to the reading of the will.' Guess by that what my delight at meeting   And now chance, which had hitherto befriendyou must be," said he.                     ed Neville by throwing him into one carriage
She blushed and turned it off. " I mean, that with Kate, gave Gaunt a turn. He found her a
your coming here gives me good hopes there moment alone and near the embrasure of a winwill be no more mischief. " She then lowered her dow. He seized the opportunity, and asked her
voice, and begged him on no account to tell her might he say a word in her ear. " What a
papa of her ride to Scutchemsee Nob.       question!" said she, gayly; and the next moment
" Not a word," said George. He knew the they had the embrasure to themselves.
advantage of sharing a secret with a fair lady.   "Kate," said he, hurriedly, "in a few minutes,
He proceeded to whisper something very warm  I suppose, I shall be master of this place. Now
in her ear: she listened to some of it, but then you told me once you would rather be an abbess
remonstrated, and said, " Are you not ashamed or a nun than marry me."
to go on so at a funeral?  Oh, do pray leave   "Did I?" said Kate. " What a sensible speech!
compliments a moment, and think of your latter But the worst of it is, I'm never in the same
end."                                      mind long."
He took this suggestion, as indeed he did   "Well," replied Griffith, "I think of all that
every thing from her, in good part, and com- falls from your lips, and your will is mine; only,
posed his visage into a decent gravity.    for pity's sake, do not wed any man but me.
Soon after this they reached the church, and You have known me so long-why, you know
buried the deceased in his family vault.  the worst of me by this time, and you have only
seen the outside of him."
People who are not bereaved by the death are   " Detraction! is that what you wanted to say
always inclined to chatter coming home from a to me?" asked Kate, freezing suddenly.
funeral. Kate now talked to Neville of her own   "Nay, nay, it was about the abbey. I find
accord, and asked him if he had spoken to his you can be an abbess without going and shutting
host. He said yes, and, more than that, had yourself up and breaking one's heart. The way,
come to a clear understanding with him. " We is, you build a convent in Ireland, and endow it;
agreed that it was no use fighting for you. I and then you send a nun over to govern it under
said, if either of us two was to kill the other, it you. Bless your heart, you can do any thing
did not follow you would wed the survivor."  with money. and I shall have money enough be"Me wed the wretch!" said Kate. "I should fore the day is over. To be sure, I did intend to
abhor him, and go into a convent in spite of you build a kennel and keep harriers, and you know
all, and end my days praying for the murdered that costs a good penny; but we couldn't manman's soul."                               age a kennel and an abbey too; so now down




36                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
goes the English kennel, and up goes the Irish land, her heirs, executors, administrators, anti
abbey."                                     assigns, forever."
" But you are a Protestant gentleman. You
could not found a nunnery."                  VWhen the lawyer read out this unexpected
"But my wife could. Whose business is it blow, the whole company turned in their seats
what she does with her money?"             and looked amazed at her who in a second and
" With your money, you mean."             a sentence was turned before their eyes from the
"Nay, with hers, when I give it her with all poorest girl in Cumberland to an heiress in her
my heart."                                  own right, and proprietor of the house they sat
"Well, you astonish me,"said Kate, thought- in, the chairs they sat on, and the lawn they
fully.  "Tell me, now, who put it into your looked out at.
head to bribe a poor girl in this abominable   Ay, we turn to the rising sun. Very few lookway?"                                      ed at Griffith Gaunt to see how he took his mis"Who put it into my head?" said Griffith, tress's good fortune, that was his calamity; yet
looking rather puzzled; "why, I suppose my his face was a book full of strange matter. At
heart put it into my head."                 first a flash of loving joy crossed his countenance;
Kate smiled very sweetly at this answer, and but this gave way immediately to a haggard look,
a wild hope thrilled through Griffith that per- and that to a glare of despair.
haps she might be brought to terms.           As for thelady, she cast one deprecating glance,
But at this crisis the lawyer from London was swifter than lightning, at him she had disinherannounced, and Griffith, as master of the house, ited, and then she turned her face to marble. In
was obliged to seat the company. He looked vain did curious looks explore her to detect the
bitterly disappointed at the interruption, but put delight such a stroke of fortune would have given
a good face on it, and had more chairs in, and to themselves. Faulty, but great of soul, and on
saw them all seated, beginning with Kate and her guard against the piercing eyes of her own
the other ladies.                           sex, she sat sedate, and received her change of
The room was spacious, and the entire com- fortune with every appearance of cool composure
pany sat in the form of a horse-shoe.       and exalted indifference; and as for her dreamy
The London solicitor was introduced by Grif- eyes, they seemed thinking of heaven, or somefith, and bowed in a short, business-like way; thing almost as many miles away from money
seated himself in the horse-shoe aforesaid, and and land.
began to read the will aloud.                 But the lawyer had not stopped a moment to
It was a lengthy document, and there is noth- see how people took it; he had gone steadily on
ing to be gained by repeating every line of it. I through the usual formal clauses; and now he
pick out a clause here and there.           brought his monotonous voice to an end, and add" I, Septimus Charlton, of 1-ernshaw Castle ed, in the same breath, but in a natural and cheerand Bolton Grange, in the Ctone, "Grdam, I wish you joy. "
land, Esquire, being of sound mind, memory, and   This operated like a signal. The company exunderstanding-thanks be to God-do make this ploded in a body; and then they all came about
my last will and testament as follos  First, I the heiress, and congratulated her in turn. She
my last will and testament as follows: First, I courtesied politely, though somewhat coldly, but
commit my soul to God who gave it, and my said not a word in reply till the disappointed one
body to the earth from which it came. I desire
my executors to discharge my funeral and testa- spoke to her.
mentary expenses, my just debts, and the lega-  e hung back at first.  To understand his
cies hereinafter bequeathed, out of my personal feelings, it must be remembered that, in his view
estate."                                    of things, Kate gained nothing by this bequest
compared with what he lost. As his wife, she
Then followed several legacies of fifty and one would have been mistress of Bolton Hall, etc.
hundred guineas; then several small legacies, But now she was placed too far above him. Sick
such as the following:                      at heart, he stood aloof while they all paid their
"'To my friend Edward Peyton, of Peyton court to her. But by-and-by he felt it would
Hall, Esquire, ten guineas to buy a mourning look base and hostile if he alone said nothing, so
ring.                                       he came forward, struggling visibly for compos" To the worshipful gentlemen and ladies who ure and manly fortitude.
shall follow my body to the grave, ten guineas   The situation was piquant, and the ladies'
each, to buy a mourning ring."              tongues stopped in a moment, and they were all
"To my wife's cousin, Griffith Gaunt, I give eyes and ears.
and bequeath the sum of two thousand pounds,
the same to be paid to him within one calendar
month from the date of my decease.
" And as to all my messuages, or tenements,
farms, lands, hereditaments, and real estate, of   GRIFFITHI, with an effort he had not the skill
what nature or what kind soever, and whereso- to hide, stammered out, " Mistress Kate, I do
ever situate, together with all my moneys, mort- wish you joy."  Then, with sudden and touchgages, chattels, furniture, plate, pictures, wine, ing earnestness, "Never did good fortune light
liquors, horses, carriages, stock, and all the rest, on one so worthy of it."
residue, and remainder of my personal estate and    " Thank you, Griffith," replied Kate, softly.
effects whatsoever (after the payment of the debts (She had called him " Mr. Gaunt" in public till
and legacies hereinbefore mentioned), I give, de- now.) " But money and lands do not always
vise, and bequeath the same to my cousin, Cath- bring content. I think I was happier a minute
arine Peyton, daughter of Edward Peyton, Es- ago than I feel now," said she, quietly.
quire, of Peyton Hall, in the County of Cumber-   The blood rushed into Griffith's face at this,




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 37
for a minute ago might mean when he and she   In short, she had a good long, hearty, multiwere talking almost like lovers about to wed. form cry, and it relieved her swelling heart so
lie was so overcome by this, he turned on his far that she felt able to go down now, and hide
heel, and retreated hastily to hide his emotion, her feelings, one and all, from friend and foe, to
and regain, if possible, composure to play his do which was unfortunately a part of her nature.
part of host in the house that was his no longer.   She rose and plunged her face into cold water,
Kate herself soon after retired, nominally to and then smoothed her hair.
make her toilet before dinner, but really to es-   Now, as she stood at the glass, two familiar
cape the public and think it all over.       voices came in through the open window, and arThe news of her advancement had spread like rested her attention directly.  It was her father
wildfire; she was waylaid at the very door by conversing with Griffith Gaunt.  Kate pricked
the housekeeper, who insisted on showing her up her quick ears and listened, with her back
her house. "Nayv, never mind the house," said hair in her hand.  She caught the subject of
Kate; "just show me one room where I can their talk, only now and then she missed a word
wash my face and do my hair. "               or two.
Mrs. Hill conducted her to the best bedroom;   Mr. Peyton was speaking rather kindly to
it was lined with tapestry, and all the colors Griffith, and telling him he was as sorry for his
flown; the curtains were a deadish yellow.   disappointment as any father could be whose
"Luid! here's a colored room to show me daughter had just come into a fortune. But
into," said the blonde Kate; " and a black grate, then he went on and rather spoiled this by asktoo. Why not take me out o' doors and bid me ing Griffith bluntly what on earth had ever made
wash in the snow?"                          him think Mr. Charlton intended to leave him
"Alack! mistress," said the woman, feeling Bolton and Hernshaw.
very uneasy, "we had no orders from Mr. Gaunt   Griffith replied, with manifest agitation, that
to light fires up) stairs."                  Mr. Charlton had repeatedly told him he was
"Oh, if you wait for gentlemen's orders to to be his heir. "Not," said Griffith, "that he
make your house fit to live in! You knew there meant to wrong Mistress Kate neither: poor old
were a dozen ladies coming, yet you were not man, he always thought she and I should be,
woman enough to light them fires.  Come, take one."
me to your own bedroom."                       "Ah! well," said Squire Peyton, coolly, "there
The woman turned red. "Mine is hbut a small is an end of all that now."
room, my lady," she stammered.                 At this observation Kate glided to the win" Bult there's a   fire in it," said Kate, spiteful- dow, and laid her cheek on the sill to listen more
ly. "You servants don't wait for gentlemen's closely.
orders to take care of yourselves."            But Griffith made no reply.
Mrs. Hill said to herself, " I'm to leave, that's   Mr. Peyton seemed dissatisfied at his silence,
flat." However, she led the way down a passage, and being a person who, notwithstanding a cerand opened the door of a pleasant little room in train superficial good-nature, saw his own side of
a square turret; a large bay window occupied a question very big, and his neighbor's vely litone whole side of the room, and made it inex- tle, he was harder than perhaps he intended to be.
pressibly bright and cheerful, though rather hot   "Why, Master Gaunt," said he, "surely you
and stuffy; a clear coal fire burned in the grate. would not follow my daughter now —to feed upon
"Ah!" said Kate, "how nice!  Please open a woman's bread. Come, be a man; and, if vou
those-little windows, every one. I suppose you are the girl's friend, don't stand in her light.
have sworn never to let wholesome air into a You know she can wed your betters, and claproom. Thank you: now go and forget every Bolton Hall on to Neville's Court. No doubt it
cross word I have said to you-I am out of sorts, is a disappointment to you; but what can't be
and nervous, and irritable.  There, run away, cured must be endured; pluck up a bit of courmy good soul, and light fires in every room; and age, and turn your heart another way, and then
don't you let a creature come near me, or you I shall always be a good fiiend to you, and my
and I shall quarrel downright."              doors open to you, come when you will."
Mrs. Ilill beat a hasty retreat.  Kate locked   Griffith made no reply. Kate strained her
the door and threw herself backward on the bed ears, but could not hear a syllable. A tremor
with such a weary recklessness and abandon as ran through her.  She was in distance farther
if she was throwing herself into the sea to end fiom Griffith than her father was, but superior
all her trouble, and burst out crying.       intelligence provided her with a bridge from her
It was one thing to refuse to marry her old window to her old servant's mind. And now she
sweetheart, it was another to take his property felt that this great silence was the silence of deand reduce him to poverty. But here she was spair.
doing both, and going to be persuaded to marry   But the squire pressed him for a definite anNeville, and swell his wealth with the very pos- swer, and finally insisted on one.  "Come, don't
sessions she had taken from Griffith; and him  b:e so sulky," said he; "I'm her father: give me
wounded into the bargain for love of her. It an answer, ay or no."
was really too cruel. It was an accumulation    Then Kate heard a violent sigh, and out rushof different cruelties. IHer bosom revolted; she ed a torrent of words that each seemed tinged
was agitated, perplexed, irritated, unhappy, and with blood from the unfortunate speaker's heart.
all in a tumult; and although she had but one "Old man," he almost shrieked, " what did I
fit of crying-to the naked eye —yet a person of ever do to you, that you torment me so?  Sure
her own sex would have seen that at one mo- you were born without bowels. Beggared but
ment she was crying from agitated nerves, at an hour agone, and now you must come and tell
another from worry, and at the next from pity, me I have lost her by losing house and lands!
and then from grief.                         D'ye think I need to be told it?  She was too far




38                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
above me before, and now she is gone quite out the ladies with curiosity, to see how she would
of my reach. But why come and fling it in my comport herself in her new situation. She enface?  Can't you give a poor undone man one tered, made a formal courtesy, and was conducthour to draw his breath in trouble? And when ed to her seat by Mr. Gaunt. lie placed her in
you know I have got to play the host this bitter the middle of the table.  "II play the host for
day, and smile, and smirk, and make you all mer- this one day," said he, with some dignity, and
ry, with my heart breaking! 0 Christ, look down took the bottom of the table himself.
and pity me, for men are made of stone. Well,   Mir. Hammersley was to have sat on Kate's
then. no; I will not, I can not say the word to left, but the sly Neville persuaded him to change,
give her up. She will discharge ue, and then and so got next to his inamorata: opposite to
1'11 fly the country and never trouble you more. her sat her father, Major Rickards, and others
And to think that one little hour ago she was so unknown to fame.
kind, and I was so happy! Ah! sir, if you were   Neville was in high spirits. lie had the good
born of a woman, have a little pity, and don't taste to try and hide his satisfaction at the fatal
speak to me of her at all, one way or other. blow his rival had received, and he entirely avoidWhat are you afraid of? I am a gentleman and ed the topic; but Kate saw at once, by his dea man, though sore my trouble: I shall not run mure complacency, he was delighted at the turn
after the lady of Bolton Hall. AWhy, sir, I have things had taken, and he gained nothing by it:
ordered the servants to set her chair in the mid- he found her a changed girl. Cold monosylladle of the table, where I shall not be able to speak bles were all he could extract from her. He reto her, or even see her. Indeed I dare not look turned to the charge a hundred times with indomat her, for I must be merry.  Merry! My arm  itable gallantry, but it was no use. Cold, haughit worries me, my head it aches, my heart is sick ty, sullen!
to death. Man! man! show me some little grace,   Her other neighbor fared little better; and, in
and do not torture me more than flesh and blood short, the lady of the house made a vile imprescan bear."                                  sion. She was an iceberg-a beautiful kill-joy"You are mad, young sir," said the squire, a wet blanket of charming texture.
sternly, " and want locking up on bread and wa-   And presently Nature began to co-operate with
ter for a month."                           her: long before sunset it grew prodigiously dark,
"I ani almost mad," said Griffith, humbly. and the cause was soon revealed by a fall of snow
"But if you would only let me alone, and not in flakes as large as a biscuit. A shiver ran
tear my heart out of my body, I could hide my through the people; and old Peyton blurted out,
agony from the whole pack of ye, and go through " I shall not go home to-night. " Then he bawlmy part like a man. I wish I was lying where ed across the table to his daughter: " Y1ou are
I laid my only friend this afternoon."      at home. We will stay and take possession."
"Oh, I don't want to speak to you," said Pey-'"Oh papa!" said Kate, reddening with disgust.
ton, angrily; "'and, by the same token, don't you   But, if dullness reigned around the lady of the
speak to my daughter any more."             house, it was not so every where. Loud bursts
" Well, sir, if she speaks to me, I shall be sure of merriment were heard at the bottom of the tato speak to her, without asking your leave or any ble. Kate glanced that way in some surprise,
man's. But I will not force myself upon the lady and found it was Griffith making the company
of Bolton Hall; don't you think it. Only, for merry-Griffith, of all people.
God's sake, let me alone. I want to be by my-   The laughter broke out at short intervals, and
self."  And with this lie hurried away, unable to by-and-by became uproarious and constant.  At
bear it any more.                           last she looked at Neville inquiringly.
Peyton gave a hostile and contemptuous snort,   "Our worthy host is setting us an example of
and also turned on.his heel, and went off in the conviviality," said lie.  "He is getting drunk."
opposite direction.                           " Oh, I hope not," said Kate.  " Has he no
The effect of this dialogue on the listener was friend to tell him not to make a fool of himself?"
not to melt, but exasperate her. Perhaps she had    "You take a great interest in him," said N'e
just cried away her stock of tenderness. At any ville, bitterly.
rate, she rose from her ambush a very basilisk;   "Of course I do. Pray, do you desert your
her eyes, usually so languid, flashed fire, and her friends when ill luck falls on them?"
forehead was red with indignation.  She bit her   "Nay, Mistress Kate, I hope not."
lip, and clenched her hands, and her little foot   "You only triumph over the misfortunes of
beat the ground swiftly.                   your enemies, eh?" said the stinging beauty.
She was still in this state when a timid tap    "Not even that. And as for Mr. Gaunt, I am
came to the door, and Mrs. Hill asked her par- not his enemy."
don, but dinner was ready, and the ladies and    "Oh no, of course not. You are his best
gentlemen all a waiting for her to sit down.  friend. Witness his arm at this moment."
This reminded Kate she was the mistress of   "I am his rival, but not his enemy. I'll give
the house. She answered civilly she would be you a proof."  Then he lowered his voice, and
down immediately. She then took a last look in said in her ear, "You are grieved at his losing
the glass, and her own face startled her.  Bolton; and, as your are very generous and no"lNo," she thought, " they shall none of them  ble-minded, you are all the more grieved because
know nor guess what I feel."  And she stood be- his loss is your gain."  (Kate blushed at this
fore the glass and deliberately extracted all emo- shrewd hit.) Neville went on: " You don't like
tion from her countenance, and, by way of prep- him well enough to marry him; and, since you
aration, screwed on a spiteful smile.      can not make him happy, it hurts your good heart
When she had got her face to her mind, she to make him poor."
went down stairs.                            "It is you for reading a lady's heart," said
The gentlemen awaited her with impatience, Kate, ironically.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              3'
George proceeded steadily. " I'll show you an   So now, for the first time, he became silent and
easy way out of this dilemma."            reserved by her side. The change was noticed by
"Thank you," said Kate, rather insolently.   Father Francis, and he fixed a grave, remonstrat" Give Mr. Gaunt Bolton and Hernshaw, and ing glance on Kate. She received it, understood
give me-your band."                       it, affected not to notice it, and acted upon it.
Kate turned and looked at him with surprise;   Drive a donkey too hard, it kicks.
she saw by his eye it was no jest. For all that,   Drive a man too hard, it hits.
she affected to take it as one. " That would be   Drive a woman too hard, it cajoles.
long and short division," said She; but her voice   Now among them they had driven Kate Peyfaltered in saying it.                    ton too hard; so she secretly formed a bold reso"So it would," replied George, coolly; " for lution, and, this done, her whole manner changed
Bolton and Hernshaw both are not worth one fin- for the better. She turned to Nleville, and fiatger of that hand I ask of you. But the value of tered and fascinated him. The most feline of
things lies in the mind that weighs'em. Mr. her sex could scarcely equal her calinerie on this
Gaunt, you see, values Bolton and Hernshaw  occasion. But she did not confine her fascinavery highly; why, he is in despair at losing tion to him. She broke out, pro bono publico,
them. Look at him; he is getting rid of his like the sun in April, with quips, and cranks,
reason before your very eyes, to drown his disap- and dimpled smiles, and made every body near
pointment."                                her quite forget her late hauteur and coldness,
"Oh! that is it, is it?" And, strange to say, and bask in this sunny, sweet hostess. When
she looked rather relieved.               the charm was at its height, the siren cast a
"That is it, believe me: it is a way we men seeming merry glance at Griffith, and said to a
have. But, as I was saying, I don't care one lady opposite, " Methinks some of the gentlemen
straw for Bolton and Ilernshaw. It is you I will be glad to be rid of us," and so carried the
love-not your land nor your house, but your ladies off to the drawing-room.
sweet self; so give me that, and let the lawyers   There her first act was to dismiss her smiles
make over this famous house and lands to Mr. without ceremony, and her second was to sit
Gaunt. HIis antagonist I have been in the field, down and write four lines to the gentleman at
and his rival I am and must be, but not his ene- the head of the dining-table.
my, you see, and not his ill-wisher."        And he was as drunk as a fiddler.
Kate was softened a little. " This is all mighty
romantic," said she, " and very like a preux chevalier, as you are; but you know very well he
would fling land and house in your face if you
offered them him on these terms."            GRIFFITH's friends laughed heartily with him
"Ay, in my face if I offered them, but not in while he was getting drunk; and when he had
yours if you."                             got drunk, they laughed still louder, onlj at l.im.
" I am sure he would, all the same."      They "knocked him down" for a song; and
"Try him."                              he sang a rather Anacreontic one very melodi" What is the use?"                    ously, and so loud that certain of the servants,
" Try him."                             listening outside, derived great delectation from
Kate showed showed symptoms of uneasiness. it; and Neville applauded ironically.
" Well, I will," said she, stoutly-.  "No, that I   Soon after, they " knocked him down" for a
will not. You begin by bribing me, and then you story; and as it requires more brains to tell a
would set me to bribe him. "               story than to sing a song, the poor butt made an
" It is the only way to make two honest men ass of himself. He maundered and wandered,
happy."                                   and stopped, and went on, and lost one thread
"If I thought that-"                    and took up another, and got into a perfect maze.' You know it. Try him."                And while he was thus entangled, a servant came
"And suppose he says nay?"             in and brought him a note; and put it in his
" Then we shall be no worse than we are."   hand. The unhappy narrator received it with a
" And suppose he says ay?"             sapient nod, but was too polite, or else too stupid,
"Then he will wed Bolton Hall and Hern- to open it, so closed his fingers on it, and went
shaw, and the pearl of England will wed me."   maundering on till his story trickled into the
"I have a great mind to take you at your sand of the desert, and somehow ceased; for it
word," said Kate; "but no; it is really too in- could not be said to end, being a thing without
delicate. "                               head or tail.
George Neville fixed his eyes on her.  " Are   He sat down amid derisive cheers. About five
you not deceiving yourself?" said he. " Do you minutes afterward, in some intermittent flash of
not like Mr. Gaunt better than you think? I reason, he found he had got hold of something.
begin to fear you dare not put him to this test: He opened his hand, and lo, a note! On this
you fear his love would not stand it?"    he chuckled unreasonably, and distributed sage,
Kate colored high, and tossed her head proud- cunning winks around, as if he, by special ingely. "How shrewd you gentlemen are!" she nuity, had caught a nightingale, or the like;
said. " Much you know of a lady's heart. Now  then, with sudden hauteur and gravity, proceedthe truth is, I don't know what might not hap- ed to examine his prize.
pen were I to do what you bid me. Nay, I'm    But he knew the handwriting at once, and it
wiser than you would have me; and I'll pity Mr. gave him a galvanic shock that half sobered him
Gaunt at a safe distance, if you please, sir."    for the moment.
Neville bowed gravely. He felt sure this was   He opened the note, and spelled it with great
a plausible evasion, and that she really was afraid difficulty. It was beautifully written, in long, clear
to apply his test to his rival's love.    letters; but then those letters kept dancing so!




40                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
"I much desire to speak to you before'tis too feet, and had given him a heavy head, but let
late, but can think of no way save one. I lie in him his sick heart.
the turreted room; come under my window at   He stood and puzzled his drowsy faculties
nine of the clock; and prithee come sober, if why Kate had sent for him. W~as it to bid him
you respect yourself, or         KATE."   good-by forever, or to lessen his misery by telling him she would not marry another? He soon
Griffith put the note in his pocket, and tried gave up cudgeling his enfeebled brains. Kate
to think; but he could not think to much pur- was a superior being to him, and often said
pose.  Then this made him  suspect he was things, and did things, that surprised him. She
drunk. Then he tried to be sober, but he found had sent for him, and that was enough. He
he could not. He sat in a sort of stupid agony, should see her and speak to her once more, at
with Love and Drink battling for his brain. It all events. He stood, alternately nodding and
was piteous to see the poor fool's struggles to re- looking up at her glowing room, and longing for
gain the reason he had so madly parted with. its owner to appear. But as Bacchus had inHe could not do it; and when he found that, he spired him to mistake eight o'clock for nine, and
took up a finger-glass, and gravely poured the as she was not a votary of Bacchus, she did not
contents upon his head.                    appear, and he stood there till he began to shiver.
At this there was a burst of laughter.     The shadow of a female passed along the wall,
This irritated Mr. Gaunt; and, with that rap- and Griffith gave a great start. Then he heard
id change of sentiments which marks the sober the fire poked. Soon after he saw the shadow
savage and the drunken European, he offered to again, but it had a large servant's cap on: so his
fight a gentleman that he had been hitherto hold- heart had beaten high for Mary or Susan. lIe
ing up to the company as his best friend. But hung his head disappointed, and, holding on by
his best friend (a very distant acquaintance) was the ivy, fell a nodding again.
by this time as tipsy as himself, and offered a   By- and- by one of the little casements was
piteous disclaimer, mingled with tears; and opened softly. Hie looked up, and there was the
these maudlin drops so affected Griffith that he right face peering out.
flung his one available arm round his best friend's   Oh, what a picture she was in the moonlight
head, and wept in turn, and down went both and the firelight!  They both fought for that
their lachrymose, empty noddles on the table. fair head, and each got a share of it: the full
Griffith's remained there; but his best friend moon's silvery beams shone on her rose-like
extricated himself, and, shaking his skull, said, cheeks and liified them a shade, and lit her
dolefully, i "He is very drunk."  This notable great gray eyes and made them gleam astounddiscovery, coming from such a quarter, caused ingly; but the ruby firelight rushed at her from
considerable merriment.                    behind, and flowed over her golden hair, and
"[Let him alone," said an old toper; and Grif- reddened and glorified it till it seemed more
fith remained a good hour with his head on the than mortal. And all this in a very picturetable. Meantime the other gentlemen soon put frame of snow.
it out of their power to ridicule him on the score   Imagine, then, how sweet and glorious she
of intoxication.                           glowed on him who loved her, and who looked at
Griffith, keeping quiet, got a little better, and her perhaps for the last time.
suddenly started up with a notion he was to go   The sight did wonders to clear his head; he
to Kate this very moment. He muttered an ex- stood open - mouthed, with his heart beating.
cuse, and staggered to a glass door that led to She looked him all over a moment.  "Ah!"
the lawn. He opened this door, and rushed out said she. Then, quietly, "I am so glad you are
into the open air. He thought it would set him  come."  Then, kindly and regretfully, "HIow
all right; but, instead of that, it made him so pale you look! you are unhappy."
much worse that presently his legs came to a   This greeting, so gentle and kind, overpowermisunderstanding, and he measured his length ed Griffith. His heart was too full to speak.
on the ground, and could not get up again, but   Kate waited a moment; and then, as he did
kept slipping down.                        not reply to her, she began to plead to him.
Upon this he groaned and lay quiet.      "I hope you are not angry with mie," she said.
Now there was a foot of snow on the ground, "I did not want him to leave me your estates.
and it melted about Griffith's hot temples and I would not rob you of them for the world, if I
flushed face, and mightily refreshed and revived had my way."
him.                                          "Anglr with you!" said- Griffith.  "I'm not
He sat up and kissed Kate's letter, and such a villain. Mr. Charlton did the right thing,
Love began to get the upper hand of Liquor a and-"  He could say no more.
little.                                     "II do not think so, " said Kate. "But don't
Finally he got up and half strutted, half stag- you fret: all shall be settled to your satisfaction.
gered to the turret, and stood under Kate's I can not quite love you, but I have a sincere afwindow.                                    fection for you, and so I ought. Cheer up, dear
-The turret was covered with luxuriant ivy, Griffith; don't you be down-hearted about what
and that ivy with snow. So the glass of the has happened to-day."
window was set in a massive frame of winter;   Griffith smiled.  "I don't feel unhappy," he
but a bright fire burned inside the room, and said; "I did feel as if my heart was broken.
this set the panes all aflame. It was cheery and But then you seemed parted from me. Now we
glorious to see the window glow like a sheet of are together, I feel as happy as ever. Mistress,
transparent fire in its deep frame of snow; but don't you ever shut that window and leave me in
Griffith could not appreciate all that. He stood the dark again. Let me stand and look at your
there a sorrowful man. The wine he had taken sweet face all night, and I shall be the happiest
to drown his despair had lost its stimulating ef- man in Cumberland."




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              41
"Ay," said Kate, blushing at his ardor; "hap-   "They?  Who is they?"
py for a single night; but when I go away you   " No matter. Whoever it was, they will gain
will be in the dumps again, and perhaps get tip- nothing by it, and you will lose nothing. Ah!
sy; as if that could mend matters! Nay, I Griffith, I am  so ashamed of myself-and so
must set your happiness on stronger legs than proud of you."
that. Do you know I have got permission to   " They?" repeated Griffith, suspiciously. "Who
undo this cruel will, and let you have Bolton is this they?"
Hall and Hernshaw again?"                   "What does that matter, so long as it was not
Griffith looked pleased, but rather puzzled.   Me? Are you going to be jealous again? Let
Kate went on, but not so glibly now. " How- us talk of you and me, and never mind who them
ever," said she, a little nervously, " there is one is. You have rejected my proposal with just
condition to it that will cost us both some pain. scorn, so now let me hear yours, for we must
If you consent to accept these two estates from  agree on something this very night. Tell me,
me, who don't value them one straw, why then-" now, what can I say or do to make you happy?"
she hesitated.                             Griffith was sore puzzled.  "Alas! sweet
"Well, what?" he gasped.                Kate," said he, "I don't know what you can do
"Why then, my poor Griffith, we shall be for me now, except stay single for my sake."
bound in honor-you and I-not to meet for   "I should like nothing better," replied Kate,
some months, perhaps for a whole year: in one warmly; "but, unfortunately, they won't let me
word-do not hate me-not till you can bear to do that. Father Francis will be at me to-morsee me-another-man's-wife."                row, and insist on my marrying Mr. Neville."
The murder being out, she hid her face in her   " But you will refuse."
hands directly, and in that attitude awaited his   "I would, if I could but find a good exreply.                                     cuse. "
Griffith stood petrified a moment, and I don't   "Excuse? why, say you don't love him."
think his intellects were even quite clear enough   "Oh, they won't allow that for a reason."
to take it all in at once. But at last he did com-   "Then I am undone," sighed Griffith.
prehend it, and when he did, he just uttered a   "INo, no, you are not; if I could be brought
loud cry of agony, and then turned his back on to pretend to love somebody else. And really,
her without a word.                        if 1 don't quite love you, I like you too well to
let you be unhappy. Besides, I can not bear to
Man does not speak by words alone. A mute rob you of these unlucky farms: I think there is
glance of reproach has ere now pierced the heart nothing I would not do rather than that. I think
a tirade would have left untouched, and even an -I would rather-do-something very silly ininarticulate cry nvay utter volumes.       deed. But I suppose you don't want me to do
Such an eloquent cry was that with which that now?  Why don't you answer me?  Why
Griffith Gaunt turned his back upon the angeli- don't you say something?  Are you drunk, sir,
cal face he adored, and the soft, persuasive as they pretend? or are you asleep? Oh, I can't
tongue. There was agony, there was shame, speak any plainer: this is intolerable.  Mr.
there was wrath, all in that one ejaculation.  Gaunt, I'm going to shut the window."
It frightened Kate. She called him back.   Griffith got alarmed, and it sharpened his wits.
" Don't leave me so," she said.  "I know I "Kate, Kate!" he cried, "what do you mean?
have affronted you, but I meant all for the best. Am I in a dream? Would you marry poor me
Do not let us part in anger."             after all?"
At this Griffith returned in violent agitation.   " How on earth can I tell till I am asked?"
" It is your fault for making me speak," he cried. inquired Kate, with an air of childlike innocence,
" I was going away without a word, as a man and inspecting the stars attentively.
should that is insulted by a woman. You heart-   "K late, will you marry me?" said Griffith, all
less girl! What! you bid me sell you to that in a flutter.
man for two dirty farms! Oh, well you know    " Of course I will-if you will let me," replied
Bolton and Hernshaw were but the steps by Kate, coolly, but rather tenderly, too.
which I hoped to climb to you; and now you   Griffith burst into raptures. Kate listened to
tell me to part with you, and take those miser- them with a complacent smile, then delivered
able acres instead of my darling. Ah! mistress, herself after this fashion: " You have very little
you have never loved, or you would hate yourself to thank me for, dear Griffith. I don't exactly
and despise yourself for what you have done. downright love you, but I could not rob you of
Love! if you had known what that word means, those unlucky farms, and you refuse to take them
you couldn't look in my face and stab me to the back any way but this; so what can I do? And
heart like this. God forgive you! And sure I then, for all I don't love you, I find I am alAways
hope he will, for, after all, it is not your fault that unhappy if you are unhappy, and happy when
you were born without a heart.  VVHYx, KATE, yOU are happy; so it comes pretty much to the
YOU ARE CRYING."                          same thing. I declare I am sick of giving you
pain, and a little sick of crying in consequence.
-                      There, I have cried more in the last fortnight
CHAPTER XI.                 than in all my life before, and you know nothing
spoils one's beauty like crying. And then you
"CItY:ING!" said Kate. "I could cry my eyes are so good, and kind, and true, and brave; and
out to think what I have done; but it is not my every body is so unjust and so unkind to you,
fault: they egged me on. I knew you would papa and all. You were quite in the right about
fling those two miserable things in my face if I the duel, dear. He is an impudent puppy; and
did, and I said so; but they would be wiser than I threw dust in your eyes, and made you own
mne, and insist on my putting you to the proof. " you were in the wrong, and it was a great shame




42                     GRIFFITI GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
of me, but it was because I liked you best. I Then she gave him her largest ring, and had to
could take liberties with you, dear. And you are put it on his little finger for him.
wounded for me, and now I have disinherited   "You are making a very forward girl of me,"
you. Oh, I can't bear it, and I won't. My heart said she, pouting exquisitely.
yearns for you-bleeds for you. I would rather  IIe kissed her hand while she was doing it.
die than you should be unhappy; I would rather   "Don't you be so silly," said she; " and, you
follow you in rags round the world than marry a horrid creature, how you smell of wine! The
prince and make you wretched. Yes, dear, I am  bullet, please."
yours. Make me your wife, and then some day   "The bullet!" exclaimed Griffith.''What
I dare say I shall love you as I ought."   bullet?"
She had never showed her heart to him like   "The bullet. The one you were wounded
this before, and now it overpowered him. So, with for my sake. I am told you put it in your
being also a little under vinous influence, he pocket; and I see something bulge in your waiststammered out something, and then fairly blub- coat. That bullet belongs to me now."
bered for joy. Then what does Kate do but cry   "I think you are a witch," said he.  " I do
for company.                               carry it about next my heart. Take it out of my
Presently, to her surprise, he was half way up waistcoat, if you will be so good."
the turret, coming to her.                   She blushed and declined, and, with the re"Oh, take care! take care!" she cried. " You'll fusal on her very lips, fished it out with her tabreak your neck."                          per fingers. She eyed it with a sort of tender
"Nay," cried he, " I must come at you, if I horror. The sight of it made her feel faint a
die for it."                               moment. She told him so, and that she would
The turret was ornamented from top to bot- keep it to her dying day. Presently her delicate
tom with short ledges consisting of half bricks. finger found something was written on it. She
This ledge, shallow as it was, gave a slight foot- did not ask him what it was, but withdrew, and
hold, insufficient in itself; but he grasped the examined it by her candle. Griffith had enstrong branches of the ivy with a powerful hand, graved it with these words:
and so between the two contrived to get up and        "  LOVE KATE."
hang himself out close to her.
" Sweet mistress," said he," put out your hand   He looked through the window, and saw her
to me, for I can't take it against your will this examine it by the candle. As she read the intime. I have got but one arm."            scription, her face, glorified by the light, assumed
But this she declined.  "No, no," said she; a celestial tenderness he had never seen it wear
"you do nothing but torment and terrify me-  before.
there."  And so gave it him; and he mum-   She came back and leaned eloquently out as if
bled it.                                   she would fly to him. " Ah, Griffith! Griffith!"
This last feat won her quite. She thought no she murmured, and somehow or other their lips
other man could have got to her there with two met, in spite of all the difficulties, and grew toarms, and Griffith had done it with one. She gether in a long and tender embrace.
said to herself, "How he loves me!-more than   It was the first time she had ever given him
his own neck."  And then she thought, "I shall more than her hand to kiss, and the rapture rebe wife to a strong man; that is one comfort."  paid him for all.
In this softened mood, she asked him demure-   But as soon as she had made this great adly would he take a friend's advice.        vance, virginal instinct suggested a proportion"If that friend is you, ay."             ate retreat.
"Then," said she, "I'll do a downright brazen   "You must go to bed," she said, austerely;
thing, now my hand is in. I declare I'll tell you "you will catch your death of cold out here."
how to secure me. You make me plight my   He remonstrated; she insisted. He held out;
troth with you this minute, and exchange rings she smiled sweetly in his face, and shut the winwith you, whiether Ilike or not; engage my honor dow in it pretty sharply, and disappeared. IIe
in this foolish business, and if you do that, I went disconsolately down his ivy ladder. As
really do think you will have me in spite of soon as he was at the bottom, she opened the
them all. But there-la! —am I worth all this window again, and asked him demurely if he
trouble?"                                 would do something to oblige her.
Griffith did not share this chilling doubt. He   He replied like a lover; he was ready to be
poured forth his gratitude, and then told her he cut in pieces, drawn asunder with wild horses,
had got his mother's ring in his pocket. "I meant and so on.
to ask you to wear it," said he.             "Oh, I know you would do any thing stupid
"And why didn't you?"                  for me," said she; "but will you do something
" Because you became an heiress all of a sud- clever for a poor girl that is in a fright at what
den."                                     she is going to do for you?"
"Well, what signifies which of us has the   "Give your orders, mistress," said Griffith,
dross, so that there is enough for both?"  " and don't talk to me of obliging you. I feel
" That is true," said Griffith, approving his quite ashamed to hear you talk so-to-night esown sentiment, but not recognizing his own pecially."
words. " Here's my mother's ring on my little   " Well, then," said Kate, " first and foremost,
finger, sweet mistress. But I must ask you to I want you to throw yourself on Father Francis's
draw it off, for I have but one hand."    neck."
Kate made a wry face.  " Well, that is my   "I'll throw myself on Father Francis's neck,"
fault," said she, "or I would not take it from said Griffith, stoutly. "Is that all?"
you so."                                     " No, nor half. Once upon his neck, you must
She drew off his ring, and put it on her finger. say something.  Then I had better settle the




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 43
very words, or perhaps you will make a mess of wine; so he sang the young lady's praises in vinit. Say after me now: Oh Father Francis,'tis ous terms, and of course immortalized the very
to you I owe her."                           exploit she most desired to consign to oblivion:
"Oh Father Francis,'tis to you I owe her."  Arma viraginemque canebat. He sang the duel,
"You and I are friends for life."         and in a style which I could not, consistently
"You and I are friends for life."         with the interests of literature, reproduce on a
"And, mind, there is always a bed in our home large scale. Hasten we to the concluding versifor you, and a plate at our table, and a right wel- cles of his song.
come, come when you will."                     " So then, sir, we placed our men for the third
Griffith repeated this line correctly, but, when time, and, you may take my word for it, one or
requested to say the whole, broke down. Kate both of these heroes would have bit the dust at
had to repeat the oration a dozen times; and he that discharge.  But, by Jove, sir, just as they
said it after her, like a Sunday-school scholar, were going to pull trigger, in galloped your adortill he had it pat.                          able daughter, and swooned off her foaming horse
The task achieved, he inquired of her what in the middle of us-disarmed us, sir, in a moFather Francis was to say in reply.          ment, melted our valor, bewitched our senses,
At this question Kate showed considerable and the great god of war had to retreat before
alarm.                                       little Cupid and the charms of beauty in dis"Gracious eavens!" she cried, "you must tress."
not stop talking to him; he will turn you inside    "Little idiot!" observed the tender parent;
out, and I shall be undone. Nay, you must gab- and was much distempered.
ble these words out, and then run away as hard    He said no more about it to Major Rickards;
as you can gallop."                          but when they all retired for the night, he un"But is it true?" asked Griffith. "Is he so dertook to show Father Francis his room, and
much my friend?"                            sat in it with him a good half hour talking about
" Hum!" said Kate, "it is quite true, and he Kate.
is not at all your friend. There, don't you puz-   "Here's a pretty scandal," said he. "I must
zle yourself, and pester me; but do as you are marry the silly girl out of hand before this gets
bid, or we are both undone."                 wind, and you must help me."
Quelled by a menace so mysterious, Griffith   In a word, the result of the conference was
promised blind obedience; and Kate thanked that Kate should be publicly engaged to Neville
him, and bade him good-night, and ordered him  to-morrow, and married to him as soon as her
peremptorily to bed.                         month's mourning should be over.
Ie went.                                    The conduct of the affair was confided to FaShe beckoned him back.                    ther Francis, as having unbounded influence with
He came.                                   her.
She leaned out, and inquired, in a soft, delicious whisper, as follows: "Are you happy, dearest?"
"Ay, Kate, the happiest of the happy."                  CHAPTER XIII.
"Then so am I," she murmured.                NEXT morning Mr. Peyton was up betimes in
And now she slowly closed the window, and his character of host, and ordered the servants
gradually retired from the eyes of her enraptured about, and was in high spirits; only they gave
lover.                                       place to amazement when Griffith Gaunt came
down, and played the host, and was in high
spirits.
CHAPTER XII.                     Neville too watched his rival, and was puzzled
at his radiancy.
BUT, while Griffith was thus sweetly employ-   So breakfast passed in general mystification.
ed, his neglected guests were dispersing, not Kate, who could have thrown a light, did not
without satirical comments on their truant host. come down to breakfast.  She was on her deTwo or three, however, remained, and slept in fense.
the house, upon special invitation. And that in-   She made her first appearance out of doors.
vitation came from Squire Peyton. He chose to   Very early in the morning, Mr. Peyton, in his
conclude that Griffith, disappointed by the will, quality of master, had ordered the gardener to
had vacated the premises in disgust, and left him  cut and sweep the snow off the gravel walk that
in charge of them; accordingly, lie assumed the went round the lawn; and on this path Miss
master -with alacrity, and ordered beds for Ne- Peyton was seen walking briskly to and fro in
ville, and Father Francis, and Major Rickards, the frosty but sunny air.                a
and another. The weather was inclement, and   Griffith saw her first, and ran out to bid her
the roads heavy; so the gentlemen thus distin- good-morning.
guished accepted Mr. Peyton's offer cordially.  Her reception of him was a farce.  She made
There were a great many things sung and said him a staid courtesy for the benefit of the three
at the festive board in the course of the evening, faces glued against the panes, but her words were
but very few of them would amuse or interest the incongruous.  "You wretch," said she, "don't
reader as they did the hearers. One thing, how- come here.  Hide about, dearest, till you see
ever, must not be passed by, as it had its conse- me with Father Francis.  I'll raise my hand so
quences. Major Rickards drank bumpers apiece when you are to cuddle him, and fib. There,
to the King, the Prince, Church and State, the make me a low bow, and retire."
Army, the Navy, and Kate Peyton. By the time   He obeyed, and the whole thing looked mighty
he got to her, two thirds of his discretion had formal and ceremonious from the breakfast-room.
oozed away in loyalty, esprit du corps, and port   "With your good leave, gentlemen," said Fa



44                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
ther Francis, dryly, "I will be the next to pay   "That you never did, I'll be sworn," said
my respects to her."  With this he opened the Kate.
window and stepped out.                      Father Francis reflected.
Kate saw him, and felt very nervous. She met   " Not in so many words, perhaps, but I said
him with apparent delight.                 enough to show you."
lie bestowed his morning benediction on her,   " Oh!" said Kate, " such a matter was too seand then they walked silently side by side on the rious for hints and innuendoes; if you wanted me
gravel; and from the dining-room window it to jilt my old servant and wed an acquaintance
looked like any thing but what it was-a fenc- of yesterday, why not say so plainly? I dare
ing match.                                 say I should have obeyed you, and been unhappy,
Father Francis was the first to break silence. for life; but now my honor is solemnly engaged;
Ile congratulated her on her good fortune, and on my faith is plighted; and were even you to urge
the advantage it might prove to the true Church. me to break faith and behave dishonorably, I
Kate waited quietly till he had quite done, and should resist. I would liever take poison, and
then said, "What, I may go into a convent now  die."
that I can bribe the door open?"            Father Francis looked at her steadily, and she
The scratch was feline, feminine, sudden, and colored to the brow.
sharp. But, alas! Father Francis only smiled    "You are a very apt young lady," said he;
at it. Though not what we call spiritually-mind- "you have outwitted your director. That may
ed, he was a man of a Christian temper.  " Not be my fault as much as yours; so I advise you
with my good-will, my daughter," said he;' I am  to provide yourself with another director whom
of the same mind still, and more than ever. You you will be unable or unwilling to outwit. "
must marry forthwith, and rear children in the   Kate's high spirit fell before this: she turned
true faith."                               her eyes, full of tears, on him. " Oh, do not de-' VWhat a hurry you are in."             sert me, now that I shall need you more than
" Your own conduct has made it necessary. "  ever, to guide me in my new duties. Forgive
" Why, what have I done now?"           me; I did not know my own heart-quite.  I'll
" No harm. It was a good and humane ac- go into a convent now, if I must, but I can't martion to prevent bloodshed, but the world is not ry any man but poor Griffith. Ah! father, he is
always worthy of good actions. People are be- more generous than any of us. Would you beginning to make free with your name for your lieve it? when he thought Bolton and IIernshaw
interfering in the duel."                  were coming to him, he said if I married him I
Kate fired up. " Why can't people mind their should have the money to build a convent with.
own business?"                            I-Ie knows how fond I am of a convent."
" 1 do not exactly know," said the priest, cool-   " tle was jesting; his religion would not allow
ly, "nor is it worth inquiring. We must take it."
human nature as it is; and do for the best. You   " His religion!" cried Kate. Then, lifting her
must marry him, and stop their tongues.".  eyes to heaven, and looking just like an angel,
Kate pretended to reflect. " I believe you are " Love is his religion!" said she, warmly.:ight," said she, at last; "and, indeed, I must   " Then his religion is heathenism," said the
do as you would have me; for, to tell the truth, priest, grimly.
in an unguarded moment, I pitied him so that I   "Nay, there is too much charity in it for that,"
half promised I would."                    retorted Kate, keenly.
" Indeed!" said Father Francis. " This is the   Then she looked down, like a cunning, guilty
first I have heard of it."                 thing, and murmured, " One of the things I esKate replied that was no wonder, for it was teem him for is he always speaks well of you.
only last night she had so committed herself.    To be sure, just nolv the poor soul thinks you are
"'Last night!" said Father Francis; " how  his best friend with me. But that is my fault;
can that be? He was never out of my sight till I as good as told him so; and it is true, after a
we went to bed."                           fashion, for you kept me out of the convent that
" Oh, there I beg to differ," said the lady. was his only real rival. Why, here 1I.  eomes.
" While you were all tippling in the dining-room, Oh, father, now don't you go and tell -l::'na
he was better employed-making love by moon- side with Mr. Neville."
light. And oh, what a terrible thing opportunity   At this crisis Griffith, who, to tell the truth,
is, and the moon another! There! what with had received a signal from Kate, rushed at Fathe moonlight, and my pitying him so, and all he ther Francis, and fell upon his neck, and said
has suffered for me, and my being rich now, and with great rapidity, "Oh, Father Francis,'tis to
having something to give him, we two are en- you I owe her-you and I are fiiends for life.
gaged. See, else: this was his mother's ring, So long as we have a house there is a bed in it
and he has mine."                          for you, and while we have a table to sit down
Mr. Neville?"                          to there's a plate at it for you, and a welcome,
" Mr. Neville?  No. My old servant, to be come when you will."
sure. What! do you think I would go and mar-   Having gabbled these words, he winked at
ry for wealth, when I have enough and to spare Kate, and fled swiftly.
of my own? Oh, what an opinion you must   Father Francis was taken aback a little bvy this
have of me!"                              sudden burst of affection. First he stared —then
Father Francis was staggered by this adroit he knitted his brows-then he pondered.
thrust. HIowever, after a considerable silence   Kate stole a look at him, and her eyes sought
he recovered himself, and inquired gravely why the ground.
she had given him no hint of all this the other   " That is the gentleman you arranged matters
night, when he had diverted her from a convent, with last night?" said he, dryly.
and advised her to marry Neville.             "Yes," replied Kate, faintly.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               45
"Was this scene part of the business?"  like a puppet, and a parrot to boot, I never saw.
"Oh, father!"'Twas done so timely, too. He ran in upon our
"Why I ask, he did it so unnatural. Mr. discourse.  Let me see your hand, mistress.
Gaunt is a worthy, hospitable gentleman; he  Why, where is the string with which you pulled
and I are very good friends; and really I never yonder machine in so pat upon the word?"
/ll:'              J
doubted that I should be welcome in his house-   "Spare me!" muttered Kate, faintly.
until this moment."                           "Then do you drop deceit and the silly cun"And can you doubt it now?"             ning of your sex, and speak to me from your
"Almost; his manner just now was so hollow, heart, or not at all."  (Diapason.)
so forced; not a word of all that came from his   At this Kate began to whimper.  "Father,"
heart, you know."                          she said, "show me some mercy." Then, sud"Then his heart is changed very lately."  denly clasping her hands, "HAVE PITY ON RmI,
The priest shook his head. "Any thing more AND ON ME."




4aJ                     GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
This time Nature herself seemed to speak, and   Neville read it, and his lip trembled; but he
the eloquent cry went clean through the priest's said nothing, and presently went out into the
heart.  "Ah!" said he- and his own voice hall and put on his hat, for he saw his nag at the
trembled a little-" now you are as strong as door.
your cunning was weak.  Come, I see how it is   Father Francis followed him, and said, sorrowwith you; and I am  human, and have been fully, "What, not one word in reply to so humyoung, and a lover into the bargain, before I ble a request?"
was a priest.  There, dry thy eyes, child, and go    " Well, here's my reply," said George, grindto thy room; he thou couldst not trust shall bear ing his teeth.  " She knows French, though sle
the brunt for thee this once."               pretends not.
Then Kate bowed her fair hea(d and kissed the' Le bruit est pour le fat, la plainte est pour le sot,
horrid paw of him that had administered so se-  L'honn te hommne tromp6 s'eloigne et ne dit mot."'
vere but salutary a pat.  She hurried away up And with this he galloped furiously away.
stairs, right joyful at the unexpected turn things   lie buried himself at Neville's Cross for severhad taken.                                   al days, and would neither see nor speak to a
Father Francis, thus converted to her side, soul. His heart was sick, his pride lacerated.
lost no time; he walked into the dining-room  lie even shed some scalding tears in secret;
and told Neville he had bad news for him. though, to look at him, that seemed impossible.
" Summon all your courage, my young friend,"   So passed a bitter week; and in the course of
said he, with feeling, " and remember that this it he bethought him of the tears he made a true
world is full of disappointments."           Italian lady shed, and never pitied her a grain
Neville said nothing, but rose and stood rather till now.
pale, waiting like a man for the blow. Its na-   IIe was going abroad: on his desk lay a little
ture he more than half guessed.: he had been at crumpled paper.  It was Kate's entreaty for forthe window.                                  giveness.  He had ground it in his hand, and
ridden away with it.
It fell.                                     Now he was going away, he resolved to an"She is engaged to Gaunt since last night; swer her.
and she loves him."                           lHe wrote a letter full of bitter reproaches;
"The double-faced jade!" cried Peyton, with read it over, and tore it up.
an oath.                                       He wrote a satirical and cutting letter; read
" The heartless coquette!" groaned Neville.  it, and tore it up.
Father Francis made excuses for her: "Nay,   Ie wrote her a mawkish letter; read it, and
nay, she is not the first of her sex that did not tore it up.
know her own mind all at once. Besides, we   The priest's words, scorned at first, had sunk
men are blind in matters of love; perhaps a into him a little.
woman would have read her from the first. Aft-  lie walked about the room, and tried to see it
er all, she was not bound to give us the eyes to all like a by-stander.
read a female heart."                          He examined her writing closely: the pen had
HTe next reminded N'eville that Gaunt had scarcely marked the paper.  They were the timbeen her servant for years.  " You knew that," idest strokes.  The writer seemed to kneel to
said he, " yet you came between them-at your him. lie summoned all his manhood, his fortiperil. Put yourself in his place: say you had tude, his generosity, and, above all, his highsucceeded: would not his wrong be greater than breeding, and produced the following letter, and
vours is now? Come, be brave; be generous; this one he sent:
he is wounded, he is disinherited; only his love
is left him:'tis the poor man's lamb, and would    " MISTRESS KATE, —I leave  England to-day
you takeit?"                               for your sake, and shall never return unless the
"Oh, I have not a word to say against the day shall cine when I can look on you but as a
man," said George, with a mighty effort.    friend. Thd love that ends in hate, that is too
" And what use quarreling with a woman," sorry a thing to come betwixt you and me.
suggested the practical priest.                " If you have used me ill, your punishment is
" None whatever," said George, sullenly. Aft- this; you have given me the right to say to you
er a moment's silence he rang the bell feverish- -I forgive you.    GEORGE NEVILLE."
ly.  "Order my horse round directly," said he.   And he went straight to Italy.
Then he sat down, and buried his face in his
hands, and did not, and could not, listen to the   Kate laid his note upon her knee, and sighed
voice of consolation.                        deeply, and said, " Poor fellow! How noble of
Now the house was full of spies in petticoats, hlim! What can such men as this see in any
amateur spies, that ran and told the mistress ev- woman to go and fall in love with her?"
ery thing of their own accord, to curry favor.  Griffith found her with a tear in her eve. Ite
And this, no doubt, was the cause that, just as took her out walking, and laid all his radiant
the groom walked the piebald out of the stable plans of wedded life before her. She came back
toward the hall door, a maid came to Father flushed, and beaming with complacency and
Francis with a little note: he opened it, and beauty.
found these words written faintly, in a fine Ital-   Old Peyton was brought to consent to the
ian hand:                                    marriage.  Only he attached one condition, that
"I scarce knew my own heart till I saw him  Bolton and hIerushaw should be settled on Kate
wounded and poor, and myself rich at his ex-for her separate use.
pense.  Entreat a Mr. Neville to forgive me."  To this Griffith assented readily; but Kate
refused plump.  "What, give him m7yself, and
lie handed the note to Neville without a word. then grudge him my estates!" said she, with a




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 47
look of lofty and beautiful scorn at her male ad- her a moment's uneasiness. He was constancy
visers.                                      and fidelity in person.
But Father Francis, having regard to the tem-   Sobriety had not yet been invented. But Grifporal interests of his Church, exerted his strength fith was not so intemperate as most squires; he
and pertinacity, and tired her out; so those es- could always mount the stairs to tea, and genertates were put into trustees' hands, and tied up ally withoqt staggering.
tight as wax.                                 iHe was uxorious, and it used to come out aftThis done, Griffith Gaunt and Kate Peyton er his wine. This Mrs. Gaunt permitted at first,
were married, and made the finest pair that wed- but by-and-by says she, expanding her delicate
ded in the county that year.                nostrils, "You may be as affectionate as you
As the bells burst into a merry peal, and they please, dear, and you may smell of wine if you
walked out of church man and wife, their path will, but please not to smell of wine and be affecacross the church-yard was strewed thick with tionate at the same moment.  I value your afflowers, emblematic, no doubt, of the path of life fection too highly to let you disgust me with it."
that lay before so handsome a couple.          And the model husband yielded to this severe
They spent the honeymoon in London, and restriction; and, as it never occurred to him to
tasted earthly felicity.                     give up his wine, he forbore to be affectionate in
Yet did not quarrel after it, but subsided into his cups.
the quiet complacency of wedded life.          One great fear Mrs. Gaunt had entertained before marriage ceased to haunt her. Now and
then her quick eye saw Griffith writhe at the
CHAPTER XIV.                    great influence her director had with her; but he
never spoke out to offend her, and she, like a
MR. and Mrs. Gaunt lived happily together -  good wife, saw, smiled, and adroitly, tenderly
as times went.                               soothed; and this was nothing compared to what
A fine girl and boy were born to them; and she had feared.
need I say how their hearts expanded and exult-   Griffith saw his wife admired by other men,
ed, and seemed to grow twice as large?      yet never chid nor chafed. The merit of this
The little boy was taken from them at three belonged in a high degree to herself.  The fact
years old; and how can I convey to any but a is, that Kate Peyton, even before marriage, was
parent the anguish of that first bereavement?    not a coquette at heart, though her conduct
Well, they suffered it together, and that poig- might easily bear that construction; and she was
nant grief was one tie more between them.    now an experienced matron, and knew how to be
For many years they did not furnish any ex- as charming as ever, yet check or parry all apciting or even interesting matter to this narrator. proaches to gallantry on the part of her admirAnd all the better for them: without these hap- ers. Then Griffith observed how delicate and
py periods of dullness our lives would be hell, and prudent his lovely wife was, without ostentatious
our hearts eternally bubbling and boiling in a prudery, and his heart was at peace.
huge pot made hot with thorns.                 He was the happier of the two, for he looked
In the absence of striking incidents, it may be up to his wife as well as loved her, whereas she
well to notice the progress of character, and note was troubled at times with a sense of superiority
the tiny seeds of events to come.            to her husband. She was amiable enough, and
Neither the intellectual nor the moral charac- wise enough, to try and shut her eyes to it, and
ter of any person stands stock-still: a man im- often succeeded, but not always.
proves, or he declines.  Mrs. Gaunt had a great   Upon the whole, they were a contented couple,
taste for reading; Mr. Gaunt had not: what was though the lady's dreamy eyes seemed still to be
the consequence? At the end of seven years the exploring earth and sky in search of something
ladyv's understanding had made great strides; they had not yet found, even in wedded life.
the gentleman's had apparently retrograded.    They lived at Hemrnshaw.  A letter had been
Now we all need a little excitement, and we found among Mr. Charlton's papers explaining
all seek it, and get it by hook or by crook. The his will. He counted on their marrying, and
girl who satisfies that natural craving with what begged them to live at the castle. He had left
the canting dunces of the day call a "sensation- it on his wife's death; it reminded him too keenal" novel, and the girl who does it by waltzing ly of happier days; but, as he drew near his end,
till daybreak, are sisters; only one obtains the and must leave all earthly things, he remembered
result intellectually, and the other obtains it like the old house with tenderness, and put out his
a young animal, and a pain in her empty head dying hand to save it from falling into decay.
next day.                                      Unfortunately, considerable repairs were needMrs. Gaunt could enjoy company, but was ed; and, as Kate's property was tied up so tight,
never dull with a good book. Mr. Gaunt was a Griffith's two thousand pounds went in repairing
pleasant companion, but dull out of company. the house, lawn, park palings, and walled garSo, rather than not have it, he would go to the dens; went, every penny, and left the bridge
parlor of the " Red Lion," and chat and sing over the lake still in a battered, rotten, and, in a
with the yeomen and rollicking young squires word, picturesque condition.
that resorted thither; and this was matter of   This lake was by the older inhabitants somegrief and astonishment to Mrs. Gaunt.       times called the "mere," and sometimes "the
It was balanced by good qualities she knew  fish-pools;" it resembled an hour-glass in shape,
how to appreciate.  Morals were much looser only curved like a crescent.
then than now, and more than one wife of her   In meditval times it had no doubt been a
acquaintance had a rival in the village, or even main defense of the place. It was very deep in
among her own domestics; but Griffith had no parts, especially at the waist or narrow that was
loose inclinations of that kind, and never gave spanned by the decayed bridge. There were




48                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
hundreds of carp and tench in it older than any At night it was shunned religiously, on accouns.
He in Cumberland, and also enormous pike and of the ghosts. Even by daylight it was little freeels; and fish from one to five pounds' weight by quented, except by one person-and she took to it
the million.  The water literally teemed from  amazingly. That personwas Mrs. Gaunt. There
end to end; and this was a great comfort to so seems to be, even in educated women, a singular.
good a Catholic as Mrs. Gaunt. When she was instinctive love of twilight; and here was twilight
seized with a desire to fast, and that was pretty at high noon. The place, too, suited her dreamy,
often, the gardener just went down to the lake meditative nature.  Hither, then, she often reand flung a casting-net in some favorite hole, and tired for peace and religious contemplation, and
drew out half a bushel the first cast; or planted moved slowly in and out among the tall stems,
a flue-net round a patch of weeds, then belabored or sat still, with her thoughtful brow leaned on
the weeds with a long pole, and a score of fine her white hand, till the cool, umbrageous retreat
fish were sure to run out into the meshes.   got tobe called, among the servants, "' The )Dame's
The "mere" was clear as plate glass, and Haunt."
came to the edge of the shaven lawn, and reflect-   This, I think, is all that needs be told about
ed flowers, turf, and overhanging shrubs deli- the mere place, where the Gaunts lived comfortciously.                                     ably many years, and little dreamed of the strange
Yet an ill name brooded over its seductive events in store for them-little knew the passions
waters, for two persons had been drowned in it that slumbered in their own bosoms, and, like othduring the last hundred years, and the last one er volcanoes, bided their time.
was the parson of the parish, returning from the
squire's dinner in the normal condition of a
guest, A.D. 1740-50.  But what most affected
the popular mind was, not the jovial soul hurried
into eternity, but the material circumstance that   ONE day, at dinner, Father Francis let them
the greedy pike had cleared the flesh off his bones know that he was ordered to another part of the
in a single night, so that little more than a skel- county, and should no longer be able to enjoy
eton, with here and there a black rag hanging to their hospitality.  "I am sorry for it," said Grifit, had been recovered next morning.         fith, heartily; and Mrs. Gaunt echoed him out of
This ghastly detail being stoutly maintained politeness; but, when husband and wife came to
and constantly repeated by two ancient eye-wit- talk it over in private, she let out all of a sudden,
nesses, whose one melodramatic incident and and for the first time, that the spiritual coldness
treasure it was, the rustic mind saw no beauty of her governor had been a great misfortune to
whatever in those pellucid and delicious waters, her all these years.  " His mind," said she, " is
where flowers did glass themselves.          set on earthly things. Instead of helping the anAs for the women of the village, they looked gels to raise my thoughts to heaven and heavenly
on this sheet of water as a trap for their poor things, he drags me down to earth.  Oh, that
bodies and those of their children, and spoke of mnan's soul was born without wings."
it as a singular hardship in their lot that Hern-   Griffith ventured to suggest that Francis was,
shaw Mere had not been filled up threescore nevertheless, an honest man, and no mischiefyears agone.                                 maker.
The castle itself was no castle, nor had it been   Mrs. Gaunt soon disposed of this. " Oh, there
for centuries. It was just a house with battle- are plenty of honest men in the world," said she;
ments; but attached to the stable was an old " but in one's spiritual director one needs somesquare tower, that really had formed part of the thing more than that, and I have pined for it like
medieval castle.                             a thirsty soul in the desert all these years. Poor
However, that unsubstantial shadow, a name, good man, I love him dearly; but, thank heaven,
is often more durable than the thing, especially he is going."
in rural parts; but, indeed, what is there in a   The next time Francis came, Mrs. Gaunt took
name for Time's teeth to catch hold of?      an opportunity to inquire, but in the most delicate
Though no castle, it was a delightful abode. way, who was to be his successor.
The drawing-room  and dining-room  had both    "Well," said he, "I fear you will have no one
spacious bay windows, opening on to the lawn for the present-I mean no one very fit to direct
that sloped very gradually down to the pellucid you in practical matters; but in all that tends dilake, and there was mirrored.  On this sweet rectly to the welfare of the soul, you will have
lawn the inmates and guests walked for sun and one young in years, but old in good works, and
mellow air, and often played bowls at eventide.  very much my superior in piety."
On the other side was the drive up to the house    "I think you do yourself injustice, father,"
door, and a sweep, or small oval plot of turf, sur- said Mrs. Gaunt, sweetly.  She was always porounded by gravel; and a gate at the corner of lite; and, to be always polite, you must be somethis sweep opened into a grove of the grandest times insincere.
old spruce-firs in the island.                 " No, my daughter," said Father Francis, quiThis grove, dismal in winter and awful at etly, "thank God, I know my own defects, and
night, was deliciously cool and sombre in the they teach me a little humility.  I discharge my
dog-days. The trees were spires; and their great religious duties punctually, and find them wholestems stood serried like infantry in column, and some and composing; but I lack that holy uneflung a grand canopy of sombre plumes overhead. tion, that spiritual imagination, by which moro
A strange, antique, and classic grove-nulli pen- favored Christians have fitted themselves to conetrabilis astro.                             verse with angels.  I have too much body, I supThis retreat was inclosed on three sides by a pose, and too little soul. I own to you that I
wall, and on the east side came nearly to the can not look forward to the hour of death as a
house. A few laurel bushes Separated the two. I happy release from the burden of the flesh. Lif




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.,
Is pleasant to me; immortality tempts me not; ing to her woman's nature if Leonard himself
the pure in heart delight me; but in the senti- had appeared less conscious of it, and had shown
mental part of religion I feel myself dry and bar- ever so little approval of herself; but, impressed
ren. I fear God, and desire to do IHis will; but upon her too sharply, it piqued and mortified her.
I can not love Him as the saints have done; my However, like a gallant champion, she awaited
spirit is too dull-too gross. I have often been another encounter. She so rarely failed to please,
unable to keep pace with you in your pious and she could not accept defeat.
lofty aspirations, and this softens my regret at   Father Francis departed.
quitting you, for you will be in better hands, my   Mrs. Gaunt soon found that she really missed
daughter. "                                  him.  She had got into a habit of running to her
Mrs. Gaunt was touched by her old friend's hu- confessor twice a week, and to her director nearmility, and gave him both hands, with the tears ly every day that he did not come of his own acin her eyes. But she said nothing; the subject cord to her.
waa, delicate; and, really, she could not honestly   Her good sense showed her at once she must
contradict him.                              not take up Brother Leonard's time in this way.
A day or two afterward he brought his success- She went a long while, for her, without confesor to the house-a man so remarkable that Mrs. sion: at last she sent a line to Leonard asking
Gaunt almost started at first sight of him. Born him when it would be convenient to him to conof an Italian mother, his skin was dark, and his fess her. Leonard wrote back to say that he reeyes coal-black; yet his ample but symmetrical ceived penitents in the chapel for two hours after
forehead was singularly white and delicate. Very matins every Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday.
tall and spare, and both face and figure were of   This implied first come, first served, and was
that exalted kind which make ordinary beauty rather galling to Mrs. Gaunt.
seem dross. In short; he was one of those ethe-   However, she rode one morning, with her
real priests the Roman Catholic Church produces groom behind her, and had to wait until an old
every now and then by way of incredible contrast woman in a red cloak and black bonnet was first
to the thickset peasants in black that form her disposed of. She confessed a heap. And presstaple. This Brother Leonard looked and moved ently the soft but chill tones of Brother Leonard
like a being who had come down from some high- broke in with these freezing words: " My daugher sphere to pay the world a very little visit, and ter, excuse me; but confession is one thing, gosbe veiy kind and patient with it all the time.    sip about ourselves is another."
He was presented to Mrs. Gaunt, and bowed   This distinction was fine, but fatal. The next
calmly, coldly, and with a certain mixture of hu- minute the fair penitent was in her carriage, her
mility and superiority, and gave her but one eyes filled with tears of mortification.
tranquil glance, then turned his eyes inward as   " The man is a spiritual machine," said she;
before.                                      and her pride was mortified to the core.
Mrs. Gaunt, on the contrary, was almost flut-  In these happy days she used to open her heart
tered at being presented so suddenly to one who to her husband, and she went so flr as to say
seemed to her Religion embodied. She blushed, some bitter little feminine things of her new conand looked timidly at him, and was anxious not fessor before him.
to make an unfavorable impression.            IHe took no notice at first; but at last he said
She found it, however, very difficult to make one day, "Well, I am of your mind; he is very
any impression at all. Leonard had no small poor company, compared with that jovial old
talk, and met her advances in that line with blade, Francis. But why so many words, Kate?
courteous monosyllables; and when she, upon You don't use to bite twice at a cherry: if the
this, turned and chatted with Father Francis, he milksop is not to your taste, give him the sack
did not wait for an opening to strike in, but and be hanged to him:"  And with this homely
sought a shelter from her commonplaces in his advice Squire Gaunt dismissed the matter, and
own thoughts.                                went to the stable to give his mare a ball.
Then Mrs. Gaunt yielded to her genuine im-   So, you see, Mrs. Gaunt was discontented with
pulse, and began to talk about the prospects of Francis for not being an enthusiast, and, nettled
the Church, and what might be done to recon- with Leonard for being one.
vert the British Isles to the true faith. Her   The very next Sunday morning she went and
check flushed, and her eye shone with the theme, heard Leonard preach. His first sermon was an
and Francis smiled paternally; but the young era in her life. After twenty years of pulpit
priest drew back: Mrs. Gaunt saw in a moment prosers, there suddenly rose before her a sacred
that he disapproved of a woman meddling with orator-an orator born-blessed with that diso high a matter uninvited. If he had said so vine and thrilling eloquence that no heart can
she had spirit enough to have resisted; but the really resist. He prepared his great theme with
cold, lofty look of polite but grave disapproval art at first; but, once warm, it carried him away,
dashed her courage and reduced her to silence.  and his hearers went with him like so many
She soon recovered so far as to be piqued. She straws on the flood. And in the exercise of this
gave her whole attention to Francis, and, on great gift the whole man seemed transfigured;
parting with her guests, she courtesied coldly to abroad, he was a languid, rather slouching priest,
Leonard, and said to Francis, "Ah! my dear who crept about, a picture of delicate humility,
friend, I foresee I shall miss you terribly."  but with a shade of meanness; for, religious prejI am afraid this pretty speech was intended as udice apart, it is ignoble to sweep the wall in
a side cut at Leonard.                      passing as he did, and eye the ground; but, once
"But on the impassive ice the lightnings play."   in the pulpit, his figure rose and swelled majesin the pulpit, his figure rose and swelled majestically, and seemed to fly over them all like a
Her new confessor retired, and left her with a guardian angel's: his sallow cheek burned, his
asnse of inferiority, which would have been pleas- great Italian eye shot black lightning at the imD




50                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
penitent, and melted ineffably when he soothed never separate himself from her favorite topic,
the sorrowful.                               when she loves him well enough to try and share
Observe that great, mean, brown bird in the it with him.
Zoological Gardens, which sits so tame on its   Mrs. Gaunt, however, though her feelings were
perch, and droops and slouches like a drowsy quick, was not cursed with a sickly or irritable
duck.  That is' the great and soaring eagle. sensibility; nor, on the other hand, was she one
Who would believe it, to look at him? Yet all of those lovely little bores who can not keep their
he wants is to be put in his right place instead tongues off their favorite theme.  She quietly
of his wrong. He is not himself in man's cages, let the subject drop for a whole week; but the
belonging to God's sky. Even so Leonard was next Sunday morning she asked her husband if
abroad in the world, but at home in the pulpit; he would do her a little favor.
and so he somewhat crept and slouched about the    "I'm  more likely to say ay than nay," was
parish, but soared like an eagle in his native air. the cheerful reply.
Mrs. Gaunt sat thrilled, enraptured, melted.   " It is just to go to chapel with me, aind then
She hung upon his words; and when they ceased, you can judge for yourself."
she still sat motionless, spell-bound-loth to be-   Griffith looked rather sheepish at this proposlieve that accents so divine could really come to al, and said he could not very well do that.
an end.                                       "I Why not, dearest, just for once?"
Even while all the rest were dispersing she sat   "Well, you see, parties run so high in this
quite still and closed her eyes. For her soul was parish, and every thing one does is noted. Why,
too high-strung now to endure the chit-chat she if I was to go to chapel, they'd say directly,' Look
knew would attack her on the road home-chit- at Griffith Gaunt: he is so tied to his wife's
chat that had been welcome enough coming home apron he is going to give up the faith of his anfrom other preachers.                        cestors.'"
And by this means she came hot an d undiluted    "The faith of your ancestors! That is a good
to her husband; she laid her white hand on his jest.  The faith of your grandfather at the outshoulder, and said, "Oh, Griffith, I have heard side: the faith of your ancestors was the faith of
the voice of God."                           mine and me."
Griffith looked alarmed, and rather shocked    "Well, don't let us differ about a word," said
than elated.                                 Griffith; " you know what I mean. Did ever I
Mrs. Gaunt observed that, and tacked on, ask you to go to church with me? and, if I were' Speaking by the lips of his servant." But she to ask you, would you go?"
fired again the next moment, and said, " The   Mrs. Gaunt colored, but would not give in.
grave hath given us back St. Paul in the Church's " That is not the same thing," said she.  "I do
need, and I have heard him this day."        profess religion; you do not. You scarce think
" Good heavens! where?"                 of God on week days, and, indeed, never mention
"At St. Mary's Chapel."                   his name except in the way of swearing; and on
Then Griffith looked very incredulous.  Then Sunday you go to church-for what? to doze
she gushed out with, " What, because it is a before dinner-you know you do. Come, now,
small chapel, you think a great saint can not be with you'tis no question of religion, but just of
in it? Why, our Savior was born in a stable, if nap or no nap; for Brother Leonard won't let
ycu go to that."                             you sleep, I warn you fairly."
" Well, but, my dear, consider," said Griffithll;    Griffith shook his head.  "You are too hard
"who ever heard of comparing a living man to on me, wife. I know I am not so good as you
St. Paul for preaching?  Why, he was an apos- are, and never shall be; but that is not the fault
tle, for one thing, and there are no apostles now- of the Protestant faith, which hath reared so
adays. He made Felix tremble on his throne, many holy men; and some of'em our ancestors
and almost persuaded Whatsename, another hea- burnt alive, and will burn in hell themselves for
then gentleman, to be a Christian."         the deed. But, look you, sweetheart, if I'm not
"That is true," said the lady, thoughtfully; a saint I'm at gentleman, and, say I wear my
" but he sent one man that we know of to sleep. faith loose, I won't drag it in the dirt none the
Catch Brother Leonard sending any man to more for that.  So you must excuse me."
sleep! And then nobody will ever say of him    Mrs. Gaunt was staggered; and, if Griffith
that he was long preaching."                 had said no more, I think she would have with"Why, I do say it," replied Griffith.  "By drawn her request, and so the matter ended.
the same token, I have been waiting dinner for But persons unversed in argument can seldom
you this half hour, along of his preaching."  let well alone, and this simple squire must needs
" Ah! that's because you did not hear him," go on to say, " Besides, Kate, it would come to
retorted Mrs. Gaunt: " if you had, it would have the parson's ears, and he is a friend of mine, you
seemed too short, and you would have forgotten know. Why, I shall be sure to meet him toall about your dinner for once."            morrow. "
Griffith made no reply.  He even looked vex-   " Ay," retorted the lady, " by the cover-side.
ed at her enthusiastic admiration. She saw, and Well, when you do, tell him you refused your
said no more. But after dinner she retired to wife your company for fear of offending the rethe grove, and thought of the sermon and the ligious views of a fox-hunting parson."
preacher-thought of them all the more that she   "Nay, Kate," said Griffith, "this is not to,ras discouraged from enlarging on them. And ask thy man to go with thee:'tis to say go he
it would have been kinder, and also wiser, of must, willy nilly."  With that he rose and rang
Griffith, if he had encouraged her to let out her the bell.  " Order the chariot," said he; " I am
heart to him on this subject, although it did not to go with our dame."
happen to interest him. A husband should not   Mrs. Gaunt's face beamed with gratified pride
chill an enthusiastic wife, and, above all, should and affection.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                51
The chariot came round, and Griffith handed was more like a bird pecking than a Christian
his dame in. He then gave an involuntary sigh, eating of a Sunday.
and followed her with a hang-dog look.         " No matter, child," said she, "so long as my
She heard the sigh, and saw the look, and laid soul is filled with the bread of Heaven."
her hand quickly on his shoulder, and said, gen-   Leonard's eloquence suffered no diminution
tly but coldly, "Stay you at home, my dear. either in quantity or quality, and, after a while,
We shall meet at dinner."                   Gaunt gave up his rule of never dining abroad
" As you will," said he, cheerfully; and they on the Sunday. If his wife was not punctual,
ient their several ways. He congratulated him- his stomach was, and he had not the same temptpelf on her clemency and his own escape. She ation to dine at home he used to have.
went along, sorrowful at having to drink so great   And, indeed, by degrees, instead of quietly ena bliss alone, and thought it unkind and stupid joying his wife's company on that sweet day, he
of Griffith not to yield with a good grace if he got to see less of her than on the week days.
could yield at all; and, indeed, women seem
cleverer than men in this, that, when they resign their wills, they do it graciously and not by        CHAPTE
halves. Perhaps they are more accustomed to
knock under; and you know practice makes   Your mechanical preacher flings his words
perfect.                                     out happy-go-lucky, but the pulpit orator, like
But every smaller feeling was swept away by every other orator, feels his people's pulse as he
the preacher, and Mrs. Gaunt came home full of speaks, and vibrates with them, and they with
pious and lofty thoughts.                    him.
She found her husband seated at the dinner-   So Leonard soon discovered he had a great
table, with one turnip before him, and even that listener in Mrs. Gaunt: she was always there
was not comestible, for it was his grandfather's whenever he preached, and her rapt attention
watch, with a face about the size of a new-born never flagged. Her gray eyes never left his face,
child's.  "Forty-five minutes past one, Kate," and, being upturned, the full orbs came out in all
said he, ruefully.                          their grandeur, and seemed an angel's come
"Well, why not bid them serve the dinner?" down from heaven to hear him; for, indeed, to a
said she, with an air of consummate indiffer- very dark man, as Leonard was, the gentle radience.                                        ance of a true Saxon beauty seems always more
"What! dine alone o' Sunday?  Why, you or less angelic.
know I couldn't eat a morsel without you, set   By degrees this face became a help to the oraopposite."                                  tor. In preaching he looked sometimes to it for
Mrs. Gaunt smiled affectionately.  "Well, sympathy, and, lo! it was sure to be melting with
then, my dear, we had better order dinner an sympathy. Was he led on to higher or deeper
hour later next Sunday. "                    thoughts than most of his congregation could un"But that will upset the servants, and spoil derstand, he looked to this face to understand
their Sunday."                               him, and, lo! it had quite understood him, and
"And am I to be their slave?" said Mrs. was beaming with intelligence.
Gaunt, getting a little warm.  " Dinner! din-   From a help and an encouragement it became
ner! What! shall I starve my soul by hurry- a comfort and a delight to him.
ing away from the oracles of God to a sirloin?   On leaving the pulpit and cooling, he rememOh, these gross appetites, how they deaden the bered its owner was no angel, but a woman of
immortal half, and wall out heaven's music! the world, and had put to him frivolous quesFor my part, I wish there was no such thing as tions.;ating and drinking;'tis like falling from heaven   The illusion, however, was so beautiful that
cown into the mud, to come back from such di- Leonard, being an imaginative man, was unwilvine discourse and be greeted with'dinner! din- ling to dispel it by coming into familiar contact
ner! dinner!'"                               with Mrs. Gaunt. So he used to make his asThe next Sunday, after waiting half an hour sistant visit her, and receive her when she came
for her, Griffith began his dinner without her.  to confess, which was very rarely; for she was
And this time, on her arrival, instead of re- discouraged by her first reception.
monstrating  with  her, he excused himself.   Brother Leonard lived in a sort of dwarf mon"Nothing," said he, " upsets a man's temper astery, consisting of two cottages, an oratory, and
like waiting for his dinner."                a sepulchre.  The two latter were old, but the
"Well, but you have not waited."          cottages had been built expressly for him and
"Yes I did, a good half hour-till I could another seminary priest who had been invited
wait no longer."                            from France. Inside, these cottages were little
"Well, dear, if I were you I would not have more than cells; only the bigger had a kitchen,
waited at all, or else waited till your wife came which was a glorious place compared with the
home. "                                      parlor; for it was illuminated with bright pewter
"Ah! dame, that is all very well for you to plates, copper vessels, brass candlesticks, and a
say. You could live on hearing of sermons and nice clean woman, with a plain gown kilted over
smelling to rosebuds.  You don't know what'tis a quilted silk petticoat-Betty Scarf, an old servto be a hungry man."                         ant of Mrs. Gaunt's, who had married, and was
The next Sunday he sat sadly down, and fin- now the widow Gough.
ished his dinner without her; and she came home   She stood at the gate one day as Mrs. Gaunt
and sat down to half-empty dishes, and ate much drove by, and courtesied, all beaming.
less than she used when she had him to keep her   Mrs. Gaunt stopped the carriage, and made
company in it.                              some kind and patronizing inquiries about her;
Griffith, looking on disconsolate. told her she and it ended in Betty asking her to come in and




I:2                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
see hen place. Mrs. Gaunt looked a little shy at not come amiss; I've only this for Sundays and
that, and did hot move. "Nay, they are both all. No, my lady, not a soul but me and you;
abroad till supper-time," said Betty, reading her I'm not one as tells tales out of doors; but I
in a moment by the light of sex. Then Mrs. don't mind you, dame; you are my old mistress,
Gaunt smiled and got out of her carriage. Betty and a discreet woman.'Twill go no farther than
took her in and showed her every thing in doors your ear."
and out. Mrs. Gaunt looked mighty demure and   Mrs. Gaunt told her she might rely on that.
dignified, but scanned every thing closely, only The widow then inquired after Mrs. Gaunt's litwithout seeming too curious.                tle girl, and admired her dress, and described her
The cold gloom of the parlor struck her. She own ailments, and poured out a continuous stream
shuddered and said, " This would give me the of topics bearing no affinity to each other except
vapors. But, doubtless, angels come and bright- that they were all of them not worth mentionen it for him."                             ing; and all the while she thus discoursed, Mrs.
" Not always," said Betty.  "I do see him  Gaunt's thoughtful eyes looked straight over the
with his head in his hand by the hour, and hear chatterbox's white cap, and explored vacancy;
him sigh ever so loud as I pass the door. Why, and by-and-by she broke the current of twaddle
one day he was fain to have me and my spinning- with the air of a camelopard marching across a
wheel aside him. Says he,'Let me hear thy running gutter.
busy wheel, and see thee ply it.''And welcome,'   "Betsy Gough," said she, " I am thinking. "
says I. So I sat in his room, and span, and he   Mrs. Gough was struck dumb by an announcesat a gloating of me as if he had never seen a ment so singular.
woman spin hemp afore (he is a very simple   "I have heard, and I have read, that great,
man); and presently says he-but what signifies and pious, and learned men are often to seek in
-what he said?"                            little simple things, such as plain bodies have at
"Nay, Betty, if you please. I am much in- their fingers' ends. So now, if you and I could
terested in him.  He preaches so divinely."  only teach him something for all he has taught
" Ay," said Betty, " that's his gift. But a us. And, to be sure, we ought to be kind to him
poor trencher-man; and I declare I'm ashamed if we can; for oh! Betty, my woman,'tis a poor
to eat all the vittels that are eaten here, and me vanity to go and despise the great, and the learnbut a woman."                               ed, and the sainted, because, forsooth, we find
"But what did he say to you that time?" them out in some one little weakness, we that
asked Mrs. Gaunt, a little impatiently.     are all made up of weaknesses and defects. So,
Betty cudgeled her memory. " Well, says he, now, I sit me down in this very chair-so. And
M' y daughter' (the poor soul always calls me his sit you there. Now let us, you and me, look at his
daughter, and me old enough to be his mother room quietly all over, and see what is wanting. "
mostly), says he,'how comes it that you are   "First and foremost, methinks this window
never wearied nor cast down, and yet you but should be filled with geraniums and jessamine,
serve a sinner like yourself; but I do often droop and so forth. With all his learning, perhaps he
in my Master's service, and He is the lord of has to be taught, the color of flowers and golden
heaven and earth?' Says I,'I'll tell ye, sir-be- green leaves, with the sun shining through, how
cause ye don't eat enough o' vittels.'"     it soothes the eye and relieves the spirits! yet
" What an answer!"                       every woman born knows that. Then do but see
"Why,'tis the truth, dame. And says I,' If this bare table! a purple cloth on that, I say."
I was to be always fasting, like as you be, d'ye   " Which he will fling it out of the window, I
think I should have the heart to work from morn say."
till night?' Now, wasn't I right?"          "Nay, for I'll embroider a cross in the mid"I don't know till I hear what answer he dle with gold braid. Then a rose-colored blind
made," said Mrs. Gaunt, with mean caution.    would not be amiss; and there must be a good
" Oh, he shook his head, and said he ate mor- mirror facing the window; but, indeed, if I had
tal food enow (poor simple body!), but drank too my way, I'd paint these horrid walls the first
little of grace divine. That was his word."    thing."
Mrs. Gaunt was a good deal struck and af-   "How you run on, dame! Bless your heart,
fected by this revelation, and astonished at the you'd turn his den into a palace: he won't suffer
slighting tone Betty took in speaking of so re- that; he's all for self-mortification, poor simple
markable a man. The saying that " No man is soul."
a hero to his valet" was not yet current, or per-   " Oh, not all at once, I did not mean," said
haps she would have been less surprised at that. Mrs. Gaunt; " but by little and little, you know.
"Alas! poor man," said she, "and is it so? We must begin with the flowers: God made
To hear him, I thought his soul was borne up them; and so, to be sure, he will not spurn them."
night and day by angels' pinions —"           Betty began to enter into the plot. " Ay, ay,"
The widow interrupted her. "Ay, you hear said she; "the flowers first, and so creep on.
him preach, and it is like God's trumpet mostly, But naught will avail to make a man of him so
and so much I say for him in all companies. long as he eats but of eggs and garden-stuff, like
But I see him directly after; he totters into this the beasts of the field,' that to-day are, and tovery room, and sits him down pale and panting, morrow are cast into the oven."'
and one time like to swoon, and another all for   Mrs. Gaunt smiled at this ambitious attempt
crying, and then he is ever so dull and sad for of the widow to apply Scripture. Then she said,
the whole afternoon."                      rather timidly, " Could you make his eggs into
" And nobody knows this but you? You have omelets, and so pound in a little meat with your
got my old petticoat still, I see. I must look you small herbs? I dare say he would be none the
up another."                                wiser, and he so bent on high and heavenlythings."
"You are very good, dame, I am sure.'Twill   "You may take your oath of that."




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 53
"Well, then. And I shall send you some   "Divine,then," saidBetty,roughly. "Which
stock from the castle, and you can cook his veg- I suppose you means'guess.'"
etables in good strong gravy, unbeknown."      "Nay, but let me be quiet a while," said he,
The widow Gough chuckled aloud.            imploringly; "let me sit down and fancy that I
"But stay," said Mrs. Gaunt; "for us to play am a holy man, and some angel hath turned my
the woman so, and delude a saint for his mere cave into a Paradise."
bodily weal-will it not be a sin, and a sacrilege    " No more an angel than I am," said the practo boot?"                                   tical widow.  " But, now I think on't, y'are not
" Let that flea stick in the wall," said Betty, to know who'twas.  Them as sent them they
contemptuously.  "Find you the meat, and I'll bade me hold my tongue."
find the deceit; for he is as poor as a rat into   This was not true; but Betty, being herself
the bargain. Nay, nay, God Almighty will never given to unwise revelations and superfluous sehave the heart to burn us two. for such a trifle. crecy, chose suddenly to assume that this busiWhy,'tis no more than cheating a froward child ness was to be clandestine.
taking's physic."                             The priest turned his eye inward and meditaMrs. Gaunt got into her carriage and went ted.  "I see who it is," said he, with an air of
home, thinking all the way. What she had heard absolute conviction.  " It must be the lady who
filled her with feelings strangely but sweetly com- comes always when I preach, and her face like
posed of veneration and pity. In that Leonard none other; it beams with divine intelligence. I
was a great orator and a high-minded priest, she will make her all the return we poor priests can
revered him; in that he was solitary and sad, she make to our benefactors. I will pray for her soul
pitied him; in that he wanted common sense, here among the flowers God has made, and she
she felt like a mother, and must take him under has given his servant to glorify his dwelling. My
her wing. All true women love to protect; per- daughter, you may retire."
haps it is a part of the great maternal element;   This last with surprising, gentle dignity: so
but to protect a man, and yet look up to him, Betty went off rather abashed, and avenged herthis is delicious.                           self by adulterating the holy man's innutritious
Leonard, in truth, was one of those high-strung food with Mrs. Gaunt's good gravy, while he praymen who pay for their periods of religious rap- ed fervently for her eternal weal among the flowture by hours of melaricholy.  This oscillation ers she had given him.
of the spirits in extraordinary men appears to be   Now Mrs. Gaunt, after eight years of married
more or less a law of nature, and this the widow  life, was too sensible and dignified a woman to
Gough was not aware of.                      make a romantic mystery out of nothing.  She
The very next Sunday, while he was preach- concealed the gravy, because there secrecy was
ing, she and Mrs. Gaunt's gardener were filling necessary, but she never dreamed of hiding that
his bow window with flower-pots, the flowers in she had sent her spiritual adviser a load of flowfull bloom and leaf. The said window was large, ers. She did not tell her neighbors, for she was
and had a broad sill outside, and, inside, one of not ostentatious, but she told her husband, who
the old-fashioned high window-seats that follow  grunted, but did not object.
the shape of the window. Mrs. Gaunt, who did   But Betty's nonsense lent an air of romance
nothing by halves, sent up a cartload of flower- and mystery that was well adapted to captivate
pots, and Betty and the gardener arranged at the imagination of a young, ardent, and solitary
least eighty of them, small and great, inside and spirit like Leonard.
outside the window.                            He would have called on the lady he suspectWhen Leonard returned from preaching, Bet- ed, and thanked her for her kindness. But this
ty was at the door to watch. He came past the he feared would be unwelcome, since she chose
window with his hands on his breast, and his to be his unknown benefactress.  It would be ill
eyes on the ground, and never saw the flowers in taste in him to tell her he had found her out: it
his own window. Betty was disgusted.  How- might offend her sensibility, and then she would
ever, she followed him stealthily as he went to draw in.
his room, and she heard a profound " Ah!" burst   lie kept his gratitude, therefore, to himself,
from him.                                    and did not cool it by utterance.  He often sat
She bustled in and found him standing in a among the flowers in a sweet reverie, enjoying
rapture, with the blood mantling in his pale their color and fragrance; and sometimes he
cheeks, and his dark eyes glowing.           would shut his eyes, and call up the angelical face
" Now blessed be the heart that hath conceived with great celestial up-turned orbs, and fancy it
this thing, and the hand that hath done it," said among her own flowers,and the queen of them all.
he.  "My poor room is a bower of roses, all   These day-dreams did not at that time interbeauty and fragrance."  And he sat down, in- fere with his religious duties.  They only took
haling them and looking at them; and a dreamy, the place of those occasional hours, when, partly
tender complacency crept over his heart, and soft- by the reaction consequent on great religious ferened his noble features exquisitely.         vor, partly through exhaustion of the body weakWidow Gough, red with gratified pride, stood ened by fasts, partly by the natural delicacy of
watching him and admiring him; but, indeed, his fibre and the tenderness of his disposition, his
she often admired him, though she had got into soul used to be sad.
a way of decrying him.                         By-and-by these languid hours, sad no longer,
But at last she lost patience at his want of cu- became sweet and dear to him.  He had someriosity, that being a defect she was free from her- thing so interesting to think of, to dream about.
self.  "Ye don't ask me who sent them," said He had a Madonna that cared for him in secret.
she, reproachfully.                            She was human, but good, beautiful, and wise.
"Nay, nay," said he, "prithee do not tell me; She came to his sermons, and understood every
let me div-ile."                             word.




54                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
"And she knows me better than I know my-   It was a hot summer day, and the grove was
self," said he: "since I had these flowers from  delicious. It was also a place well suited to the
her hand I am another man."                 imaginative and religious mind of the Italian.
One day he came into his room and found two   He walked slowly to and fro, in religious medwcatering-pots there.  One was large, and had a itation.  Indeed, he had nearly thought out his
rose to it; the other small, and with a plain next sermon, when his meditative eye happened
spout.                                      to fall on a terrestrial object that startled and
"Ah!" said he; and colored with delight. He thrilled him. Yet it was only a lady's glove. It
called Betty, and asked her who had brought lay at the foot of a rude wooden seat beneath a
them.                                        gigantic pine.
"How should I know?" said she, roughly. "I   He stooped and picked it up. He opened the
dare say they dropped from heaven.  See, there little fingers, and called up in fancy the white
is a cross painted on'em in gold letters."  and tapering hand that glove could fit. Ile laid
"And so there is!" said Leonard, and crossed the glove softly on his own palm, and eyed it
himself.                                     with dreamy tenderness. "So this is the hand
"That means nobody is to use them but you, that hath solaced my loneliness," said he: " a
I trow," said Betty, rather crossly.         hand fair as that angelic face, and sweet as the
The priest's cheek colored high.  "I will use kind heart that doeth good by stealth."
them this instant," said he.  "I will revive my   Then, forgetting for a moment, as lofty spirits
drooping children, as they have revived me." will, the difference between meum and tuum, he
And he caught up a watering-pot with ardor.    put the little glove in his bosom, and paced
"What, with the sun hot upon'em?" scream- thoughtfully home through the woods, that were
ed Betty.  "Well, saving your presence, you are separated from the grove only by one meadow;
a simple man."                               and so he missed the owner of the glove, for she
"Why, good Betty,'tis the sun that makes had returned home while he was meditating in
them faint, " objected the priest, timidly, and with her favorite haunt.
the utmost humility of manner, though Betty's
tone would have irritated a smaller mind.      Leonard, among his other accomplishments,
"Well, well," said she, softening; "but ye see could draw and paint with no mean skill. In
it never rains with a hot sun, and the flowers they one of those hours that used to be of melancholy,
know that, and look to be watered after Nature, but now were hours of dreamy complacency, he
or else they take it amiss.  You, and all your took out his pencils and endeavored to sketch
sort, sir, you think to be stronger than Nature; the inspired face that he had learned to preach
you do fast and pray all day, and won't look a to, and now to dwell on with gratitude.
woman in the face like other men; and now you   Clearly as he saw it before him, he could not
wants to water the very flowers at noon."    reproduce it to his own satisfaction.
"Betty," said Leonard, smiling, "I yield to   After many failures, he got very near the mark;
thy superior wisdom, and I will water them at yet still something was wanting.
morn and eve. In truth we have all much to   Then, as a last resource, he actually took his
learn: let us try and teach one another as kindly sketch to church with him, and in preaching
as we can. "                                 made certain pauses, and, with a very few touch"I wish you'd teach me to be as humble as es, perfected the likeness; then, on his return
you be, " blurted out Betty, with something very home, threw himself on his knees and prayed forlike a sob; "and more respectful to my betters," giveness of God with many sighs and tears, and
added she, angrily.                          hid the sacrilegious drawing out of his own sight.
Watering the flowers she had given him be-   Two days after he was at work coloring it,
came a solace and a delight to the solitary priest: and the hours flew by like minutes as he laid
he always watered them with his own hands, and the mellow, melting tints on with infinite care
felt quite paternal over them.               and delicacy. Labor ipse voluptas.
One evening Mrs. Gaunt rode by with Griffith
and saw him watering them. His tall figure,   Mrs. Gaunt heard Leonard had called on her
graceful, though inclined to stoop, bent over them  in person. She was pleased at that,- and it enwith feminine delicacy, and the simple act, which couraged her to carry out her whole design.
would have been nothing in vulgar hands, seemed   Accordingly, one afternoon, when she knew
to Mrs. Gaunt so earnest, tender, and delicate in Leonard would be at vespers, she sent on a load.him, that- her eyes filled, and she murmured, ed pony-cart, and followed it on horseback.
"Poor Brother Leonard."                        Then it was all hurry-scurry with Betty and
"Why, what's wrong with him now?" asked her to get their dark deeds done before their
Griffith, a little peevishly.                victim's return.
"That was him watering his flowers."        These good creatures set the mirror opposite
"Oh, is that all?" said Griffith, carelessly.   the flowery window, and so made the room a
very bower. They fixed a magnificent crucifix
Leonard said to himself, "I go too little abroad of ivory and gold over the mantel-piece, and
among my people. " He made a little round, and they took away his hassock of rushes and substiit ended in Hernshaw Castle.                 tuted a prie-dieu of rich crimson velvet. All
Mrs. Gaunt was out.                       that remained was to put their blue cover, with
He looked disappointed; so the servant sug- its golden cross, on the table. To do this, howgested that perhaps she was in the Dame's ever, they had to remove the priest's papers and
Haunt: he pointed to the grove.             things: they were covered with a baize cloth.
Leonard followed his direction, and soon found Mrs. Gaunt felt them under it.
himself, for the first time, in that sombre, solemn    "But perhaps he will be angry if we move hiE
retreat.                                     papers," said she.




GRIFFITh GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY..53
"Not he," said Betty. "He has no secretsC
from God or man."                                      CHAPTER XVI.
"Well, I won't take it on me," said Mrs.   "ME!" cried Mrs. Gaunt, in amazement:
Gaunt, merrily. "I leave that to you." And then she ran to the picture, and at sight of it
she turned her back and settled the mirror of- every other sentiment gave way for a moment to
ficiously, leaving all the other responsibilities to gratified vanity.  "Nay," said she, beaming
Betty.                                     and blushing, "I was never half so beautiful.
The sturdy widow laughed at her scruples, What heavenly eyes!"
and whipped off the cloth without ceremony.   "The fellows to'em be in your own head,
But soon her laugh stopped mighty short, and dame, this moment."
she uttered an exclamation.                  "Seeing is believing," said Mrs. Gaunt, gavly,
"What is the matter?" said Mrs. Gaunt, turn- and in a moment she was at the priest's mirror,
ing her head sharply round.                and inspected her eyes minutely, cocking her
"A wench's glove, as I'm  a living sinner," head this way and that. She ended by shaking
groaned Betty.                            it, and saying " Nay; he has flattered them proA poor little glove lay on the table, and both digiously."
women eyed it like basilisks a moment. Then    "Not a jot," said Betty. " If you could see
Betty pounced on it and examined it with the yourself in chapel, you do turn'em up just so,
fierce keenness of her sex in such conjunctures, and the white shows all round."  Then she tapsearching for a name or a clew.            ped the picture with her finger: "Oh them
Owing to this rapidity, Mrs. Gaunt, who stood eyes! they were never made for the good of his
at some distance, had not time to observe the soul, poor simple man."
button on the glove, or she would have recog-   Betty said this with sudden gravity; and now
nized her own property.                    Mrs. Gaunt began to feel very awkward. " Mr.
" He have had a hussy with him unbeknown," Gaunt would give fifty pounds for this," said
said Betty, " and she have left her glove.'Tis she, to gain time; and, while she uttered that
easy to get in by the window and out again. sentence, she whipped on her armor.
Only let me catch her. I'll tear her eyes out,   "I'll tell you what I think," said she, calmly:
and give him my mind. I'll have no young bus- "he wished to paint a Madonna; and he must
sies creeping in an' out where I be."     take some woman's face to aid his fancy. All
Thus spoke the simple woman, venting her the painters are driven to that. So he just took
coarse domestic jealousy.                  the best that came to hand, and that is not sayThe gentlewoman said nothing, but a strange ing much, for this is a rare ill-favored parish;
feeling traversed her heart for the first time in and he has made an angel of her-a very angel.
her life.                                  There, hide Me away again, or I shall long for
It was a little chill, it was a little ache, it was Me-to show to my husband. I must be gots ittle sense of sickness; none of these violent, ing; I wouldn't be caught here now for a penvet all distinct. And all about what?  After sion."
this curious, novel spasm at the heart, she began   "Well, if ye must," said Betty; "but when
to be ashamed of herself for having had such a will ye come again?"  (She hadn't got the petfeeling.                                   ticoat yet.)
Betty held her out the glove; and then she   "Humph!" said Mrs. Gaunt, "I have done
recognized it, and turned as red as fire.  all I can for him, and perhaps more than I
" You know whose'tis?" said Betty, keenly.   ought. But there's nothing to hinder you from
Mrs. Gaunt was on her guard in a moment. coming to me. I'll be as good as my word; and
"Why, Betty," said she, " for shame!'tis some I have an old Paduasoy besides;, you can do
penitent hath left her glove after confession. something with it, perhaps."
Would you belie a good man for that?  Oh fie!"   "You are very good, dame," said Betty,
" Iumph!" said Betty, doubtfully.  " Then courtesying.
why keep it under cover? Now you can read,   Mrs. Gaunt then hurried away, and Betty
dame; let us see if there isn't a letter or so writ looked after her very expressively, and shook her
by the hand as owns this very glove."      head. She had a female instinct that mischief
Mrs. Gaunt declined, with cold dignity, to pry was brewing.
into Brother Leonard's manuscripts.          Mrs. Gaunt went home in a reverie.
Her eye, however, darted sidelong at them,   At the gate she found her husband, and asked
and told another tale; and, if she had been there him to take a turn in the garden with her.
alone, perhaps the daughter of Eve would have   He complied; and she intended to-tell him a
predominated.                              portion, at least, of what had occurred. She
Betty, inflamed by the glove, rummaged the began timidly, after this fashion - "My dear,
papers in search of female handwriting. She Brother Leonard is so grateful for your flowers,"
could tell that from a man's, though she could and then hesitated.
not read either.                             " I'm sure he is very welcome," said Griffith.
But there is a handwriting that the most ig- "Why doesn't he sup with us and be sociable,
norant can read at sight, and so Betty's research- as Father Francis used?  Invite him; let him
es were not in vain: hidden under several sheets know he will be welcome."
of paper she found a picture. She gave but one   Mrs. Gaunt blushed, and objected, " He never
glance at it, and screamed out, " There, didn't I calls on us."
tell you? Here she is! the brazen, red-haired-    "Well, well, every man to his taste," said
LAWK A DAISY! WHY,'TIS YOURSELF."         Griffith, indifferently, and proceeded to talk to
her about his farm, and a sorrel mare with a
white mane and tail that he had seen, and
r thought it would suit her.




,56                     GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
She humored him, and affected a great inter-   But, for reasons hereafter to be dealt with,
est in all this, and had not the courage to force Betty's thrust went home, and the pair were
the other topic on.                          mortal enemies from that hour.
Next Sunday morning, after a very silent
breakfast, she burst out, almost violently, " Grif-   Mrs. Gaunt came down from her room disfith, I shall go to the parish church with you, composed; from that she became restless and
and then we will dine together afterward."  irritable; so much so, indeed, that, at last, Mr.
"You don't mean it, Kate?" said he, de- Gaunt told her, good-humoredly enough, if going
lighted.                                    to church made her ill (meaning peevish), she
" Ay, but I do. Although you refused to go had better go to chapel.  " You are right, " said
to chapel with me."                         she, " and so I will. "
They went to church together, and Mrs.   The next Sunday she was at her post in good
Gaunt's appearance there created no small sen- time.
sation.  She was conscious of that, but hid it,   The preacher cast an anxious glance around
and conducted herself admirably.  Her mind to see if she was there.  Her quick eye saw that
seemed entirely given to the service, and to a glance, and it gave her a demure pleasure.
dull sermon that followed.                     This day he was more eloquent than ever, and
But at dinner she broke out, " Well, give me he delivered a beautiful passage concerning those
your church for a sleeping draught.  You all who do good in secret.  In uttering these eloslumbered, more or less: those that survived the quent sentences, his cheek glowed, and he could
drowsy, droning prayers, sank under the dry, not deny himself the pleasure of looking down at
dull, dreary discourse. You snored, for one."  the lovely face that was turned up to him. Prob"Nay, I hope not, my dear."               ably his look was more expressive than he in"You did, then, as loud as your bass fiddle."  tended: the celestial eyes, sank under it, and
" And you sat there and let me!" said Griffith, were abashed, and the fair cheek burned; and
reproachfully.                               then so did Leonard's at that.
" To be sure I did. I was too good a wife,   Thus subtly yet effectually did these two minds
and too good a Christian, to wake you. Sleep is communicate in a crowd, that never noticed nor
good for the body, and twaddle is not good for suspected the delicate interchange of sentiment
the soul.  I'd have slept too, if I could; but, that was going on under their very eyes.
with me going to chapel, I'm not used to sleep   In a general way compliments did not seduce
at that time o' day. You can't sleep, and Broth- Mrs. Gaunt: she was well used to them, for one
er Leonard speaking."                       thing.  But to be praised in that sacred edifice,
In the afternoon came Mrs. Gough, all in her and from the pulpit, and by such an orator as
best. Mrs. Gaunt had her into her bedroom, Leonard, and to be praised in words so sacred
and gave her the promised petticoat, and the old and beautiful that the ears around her drank
Paduasoy gown; and then, as ladies will, when them with delight, all this made her heart beat,
their hand is once in, added first one thing, and and filled her with soft and sweet complacency.
then another, till there was quite a large bundle.   And then to be thanked in public, yet, as it
" But how is it you are here so soon?" asked were, clandestinely, this gratified the furtive tenMrs. Gaunt.                                  dency of women.
"Oh, we had next to no sermon to-day. He   There was no irritability this afternoon, but a
couldn't make no hand of it; dawdled on a bit; gentle radiance that diffused itself'on all around,
then gave us his blessing, and bundled us out."  and made the whole household happy, especially
"'Then I've lost nothing," said Mrs. Gaunt.   Griffith, whose pipe she filled, for once, with her
" Not you. Well, I don't know. Mayhap if own white hand, and talked dogs, horses, calves,
you had been there he'd have preached his best. hinds, cows, politics, markets, hay, to please him,
But, la! we weren't worth it."               and seemed interested in them all.
At this conjecture Mrs. Gaunt's face burned;   But the next day she changed-ill at ease, and
but she said nothing; only she cut the interview  out of spirits, and could settle to nothing.
short, and dismissed Betty with her bundle.    It was very hot, for one thing; and, altogether,
As Betty crossed the landing, Mrs. Gaunt's a sort of lassitude and distaste for every thing
new lady's-maid, Caroline Ryder, stepped acci- overpowered her, and she retired into the grove,
dentally, on purpose, out of an adjoining room, and sat languidly on a seat with half-closed eyes.
in which she had been lurking, and lifted her   But her meditations were no longer so calm
black brows in affected surprise.  "What, are and speculative as heretofore.  She found her
you going to strip the house, my woman?" said mind constantly recurring to one person, and,
she, quietly.                                above all, to the discovery she had made of her
Betty put down the bundle, and set her arms portrait in his possession. She had turned it off
akimbo.  "There is none on't stolen, any way," to Betty Gough; but here, in her calm solitude
said she.                                    and umbrageous twilight, her mind crept out of
Caroline's black eves flashed fire at this, and its cave, like wild and timid things at dusk, and
her cheek lost color; but she parried the innuen- whispered to her heart that Leonard perhaps addo skillfully.                               mired her more than was safe or prudent.
" Taking my perquisites on the sly, that is not   Then this alarmed her, yet caused her a secret
so very far from stealing."                  complacency; and that, her furtive satisfaction,
" Oh, there's plenty left for you, my fine lady. alarmed her still more.
Besides, you don't want her; you can set your   Now, while she sat thus absorbed, she heard a
cap at the master, they say. I'm too old for gentle footstep coming near. She looked up, and
that, and too honest into the bargain."     there was Leonard close to her, standing meekly
"' Too ill-favored, you mean, ye old harridan," with his arms crossed upon his bosom.
said Ryder, contemptuously.                    His being there so pat upon her thoughts




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                57
ecared her out of her habitual self-command. graves this thousand years, and she must go all
She started up with a faint cry, and stood pant- the way to heaven that would hear the soul's
ing, as if about to fly, with her beautiful eyes true music. But I know better now."
turned large upon him.                        Leonard colored high with pleasure.  " Such
He put forth a deprecating hand, and soothed praise from you is too sweet," he muttered. "I
her. "Forgive me, madam," said he, "I have un- must not court it. The heart is full of vanity."
awares intruded on your privacy; I will retire." And he deprecated farther eulogy by a movement
" Nay," said she, falteringly, " you aro wel- of the hand extremely refined, and, in fact, rather
come. But no one comes here; so I was star- feminine.
Ntled; " then, recovering herself, " Excuse my ill   Deferring to his wish, Mrs. Gaunt glided to
manners.'Tis so strange you should come to other matters, and was naturally led to speak of
me here, of all places."                    the prospects of their Church, and the possibility
"Nay, my daughter," said the priest, " not so of reconverting these islands. This had been
very strange: contemplative minds love such the dream of her young heart; but marriage and
places. Calling one day to see you, I found this maternity, and the universal coldness with which
sweet and solemn grove, the like I never saw in the subject had been received, had chilled her so,
England; and to-day I returned in hopes to profit that of late years she had almost ceased to speak
by it. Do but look around at these tall columns; of it. Even Leonard, on a former occasion, had
how calm, how reverend!'Tis God's own tem- listened coldly to her; but now his heart was
ple, not built with hands."                 open to her. He was, in fact, quite as enthusi"Indeed it is," said Mrs. Gaunt, earnestly. astic on this point as ever she had been; and
Then, like a woman as she was, "So you came to then he had digested his aspirations into clearer
see my trees, not me."                      forms. Not only had he resolved that Great
Leonard blushed. " I did not design to return Britain must be converted, but had planned the
without paying my respects to her who owns this way to do it.  His cheek glowed, his eyes
temple, and is worthy of it; nay, I beg you not gleamed, and he poured out his hopes and his
to think me ungrateful."                    plans before her with an eloquence that few morHis humility, and gentle but earnest voice, tals could have resisted.
made Mrs. Gaunt ashamed of her petulance. She   As for this, his hearer, she was quite carried
smiled sweetly, and looked pleased. However, away by it. She joined herself to his plans on
ere long, she attacked him  again.  " Father the spot; she begged, with tears in her eyes, to
Francis used to visit us often," said she.  "He be permitted to support him in this great cause.
made friends with my husband, too. And I never She devoted to it her substance, her influence,
lacked an adviser while he was here."       and every gift that God had given her: the hours
Leonard looked so confused at this second re- passed like minutes in this high converse; and,
proach that Mrs. Gaunt regretted having uttered when the tinkling of the little bell at a distance
it. Then he said humbly that Francis was a summoned him to vespers, he left her with a
secular priest, whereas he was convent-bred. iHe gentle regret he scarcely tried to conceal, and she
added that by his years and experience Francis went slowly in like one in a dream, and the world
was better fitted to advise persons of her age and seemed dead to her forever.
sek in matters secular than he was. He concluded timidly that he was ready, nevertheless,   Nevertheless, when Mrs. Ryder, ccmbing out
to try and advise her, but could not, in such mat- her long hair, gave one inadvertent tug, the fair
ters, assume the authority that belongs to age enthusiast came back to earth, and asked her,
and knowledge of the world.                 rather sharply, who her head was running on.
"Nay, nay," said she, earnestly, "guide and   Ryder, a very handsome young woman, with
direct my soul, and I am content. "         fine black eyes, made no reply, but only drew her
He said, yes; that was his duty and his right. breath audily hard,
Then, after a little hesitation, which at once   I do not very much wonder at that, nor at my
let her know what was coming, he began to thank having to answer that question for Mrs. Ryder,
her, with infinite grace and sweetness, for her for her head was at that moment running, like
kindness to him.                            any other woman's, on the man she was in love
She looked him full in the face, and said she with.
was not aware of any kindness she had shown   And the man she was in love with was the
him worth speaking of.                      husband of the lady whose hair she was comb"That but shows," said he, "how natural it ing, and who put her that curious questionis to you to do acts of goodness. My poor room  plump.
is a very bower now, and I am happy in it. I
used to feel very sad there at times, but your
hand has cured m;ne."
Mrs. Gaunt colored beautifully.  " You make
me ashamed," said she.  "Things are come to   THIS Caroline Ryder was a character almost
a pass indeed if a lady may not send a few flow- impossible to present so as to enable the reader
ers and things to her spiritual father without to recognize her should she cross his path, so
being-thanked for it. And oh! sir, what are great was the contradiction between what she
earthly flowers compared with those blossoms of was and what she seemed, and so perfect was the
the soul you have shed so liberally over us? Our imitation.
immortal parts were all asleep when you came   She looked a respectable young spinster, with
here, and waked them by the fire of your words. a grace of manner beyond her station, and a deEloquence!'twas a thing I had read of, but never cency and propriety of demeanor that inspired
heard, nor thought to hear. Methought the or- respect.
stors and poets of the Church were all in their   She was a married woman, separated fr'om her




58                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
husband by mutual consent; and she had had an invaluable servant, she got one directly, and
many lovers, each of whom she had loved ardent- was off to fresh pastures.
ly-for a little while. She was a woman that   A female rake, but with the air of a very prude.
brought to bear upon foolish, culpable loves a   Still the decency and propriety of her demean.
mental power that would have adorned the wool- or were not all hypocrisy, but half hypocrisy, and
bck.                                       half inborn ald instinctive good taste and good
The moment prudence or waning inclination sense.
made it advisable to break with the reigning fx-   As dangerous a creature to herself and others
vorite, she set to work to cool him down by de- as ever tied on a bonnet.
liberate coldness, sullenness, insolence, and gen-   On her arrival at Hernshaw Castle she cast her
erally succeeded. But if he was incurable, she eyes round to see what there was to fall in love
never hesitated as to her course; she smiled again with, and observed the gamekeeper, Tom Leion him and looked out for another place: being cester. She gave him a smile or two that won




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                59
his heart, but there she stopped; for soon the hypocrite thrilled, and then sickened at her own
ruddy cheek, brown eyes, manly proportions, and folly.
square shoulders of her master attracted this con-   For in her good sense could be overpowered,
noisseur in masculine beauty. And then his but never long blinded.
manner was so genial and hearty, with a smile
for every body.  Mrs. Ryder eyed him demurely   On the day in question she was thinking of
day by day, and often opened a window slyly to Griffith, as usual, and wondering whether he
watch him unseen.                            would always prefer yellow hair to black. This
From that she got to throwing herself in his actually put her off her guard for once, and she
way, and this with such art that he never dis- gave the rival hair a little contemptuous tug;
covered it, though he fell in with her about the and the reader knows what followed.
house six times as often as he met his wife or   Staggered by her mistress's question, Caroline
any other inmate.                            made no reply, but only panted a little, and proShe had already studied his character, and, ceeded more carefully.
whether she arranged to meet him full or to cross   But oh, the struggle it cost her not to slap both
him, it was always with a courtesy and a sun- Mrs. Gaunt's fair cheeks with the backs of the
shiny smile.  He smiled on her in his turn, and brushes! And what with this struggle, and the
felt a certain pleasure at sight of her, for he loved reprimand, and the past agitations, by-and-by
to see people bright and cheerful about him.  the comb ceased, and the silence was broken by
Then she did, of her own accord, what no oth- faint sobs.
er master on earth would have persuaded her to   Mrs. Gaunt turned calmly round and looked
do-looked over his linen; sewed on buttons for full at her hysterical handmaid.
him; and sometimes the artful jade deliberately    " What is to do?" said she.  " Is it because
cut a button off a clean shirt, and then came to I chid you, child? Nay, you need not take that
him and sewed it on during wear. This brought to heart; it is just my way: I can bear any thing
about a contact none knew better than she how  but my hair pulled."  With this she rose and
to manage to a man's undoing.  The eyelashes poured some drops of sal-volatile into water, and
lowered over her work, deprecating, yet inviting put it to her secret rival's lips: it was kindly
-the twenty stitches, when six would have done done, but with that sort of half contemptuous and
-the one coy glance at leaving. All this soft thoroughly cold pity women are apt to show to
witchcraft beset Griffith Gaunt, and told on him, women, and especially when one of them is Misbut not as yet in the way his inamorata intended. tress and the other is Servant.
"Kate," said he one day, " that girl of yours is   Still it cooled the extreme hatred Caroline had
worth her weight in gold."                   nursed, and gave her a little twinge, and awak"Indeed! " said Mrs. Gaunt, frigidly; " I have ened her intelligence, Now her intelligence was
not discovered it."                          truly remarkable when not blinded by passion.
When Caroline found that her master was sin- She was a woman with one or two other masgle-hearted, and loved his wife too well to look culine traits beside her roving heart. For inelsewhere, instead of hating him, she began to stance, she could sit and think hard and practilove him more seriously, and to hate his wife, cally for hours together; and on these occasions
that haughty beauty who took such a husband her thoughts were never dreamy and vague; it
as a matter of course, and held him tight with- was no brown study, but good hard thinking.
out troubling her head.                      She would knit her coal-black brows, like Lord
It was a coarse age, and in that very county Thurlow himself, and realize the situation, and
more than one wife had suffered jealous agony weigh the pros and cons with a steady judicial
from her own domestic. But here the parts were power rarely found in her sex; and, nota bene,
inverted: the lady was at her ease; the servant when once her mind had gone through this propaid a bitter penalty for her folly. She was now  cess, then she would act with almost monstrous
passionately in love, and had to do menial offices resolution.
for her rival every hour of the day: she must sit   She now shut herself up in her own room for
with Mrs. Gaunt, and make her dresses, and con- some hours and weighed the matter carefully.
sult with her how to set off her hateful beauty to   The conclusion she arrived at was this-that
the best advantage.  She had to dress her, and if she staid at Hernshaw Castle there would be
look daggers at her satin skin and royal neck, mischief; and probably she herself would be the
and to sit behind her an hour at a time combing principal sufferer to the end of the chapter, as she
and brushing her long golden hair.           was now.
How she longed to tear a handful of it out, and   She said to herself, "I shall go mad, or else
then run away! Instead of that, her happy rival expose myself, and be turned away with loss of
expected her to be as tender and coaxing with it character;'and then what will become of me and
as Madame de, Maintenon was with the Queen's my child?  Better lose life or reason than charof France.                                   acter. I know what I have to go through; I
Ryder called it "yellow stuff" down in the have left a man ere now with my heart tugging
kitchen; that was one comfort, but a feeble one; at me to stay beside him. It is a terrible wrench;
the sun came in at the lady's window, and Rvder's and then all seems dead for a long while without
shapely hand was overflowed, and her eyes of- him.  But the world goes on and takes you round
fended, by waves of burnished gold; and one day with it, and by-and-by you find there are as good
Griffith came in and kissed it in her very hand. fish left in the sea as ever came out on't. I'll go,
His lips felt nothing but his wife's glorious hair; while I've sense enough left to see I must."
but, by that exquisite sensibility which the heart   The very next day she came to Mrs. Gaunt and
can convey in a moment to the very finger- said she wished to leave. " Certainly, " said Mrs.
nails, Caroline's hand, beneath, felt the soft touch Gaunt, coldly.  "May I ask the reason?"
through her mistress's hair, and the enamored    "Oh, I have no complaint to, make, ma'am,




o0                       GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
none whatever; but I am not happy here; and him.  To be sure, Leonard was only an ecclesiI wish to go when my month's up, or sooner, astic; but, if he had been a woman, Griffith was
ma'am, if you could suit yourself."          the man to wince.  His wife to lean so on anothMrs. Gaunt considered a moment; then she er; his wife to withdraw from the social pleasures
said, "You came all the way from Gloucester- she had hitherto shared with him, and all because
shire to me: had you not better give the place a another human creature disapproved them.  He
fair trial? I have had two or three good servants writhed in silence a while, and then remonstrathat felt uncomfortable at first, but they soon ted.  He was met at first with ridicule: "Are
found out my ways, and staid with me till they you going to be jealous of my confessor?" and,
married.  As for leaving me before your month, on repeating the offense, with a kind but grave
that is out of the question."  To this Ryder said admonition, that silenced him for the time, but
not a word, but merely vented a little sigh, half did not cure him, nor even convince him.
dogged, half submissive, and went cat-like about,   The facts were too strong.  Kate was no lonarranging her mistress's things with admirable ger to him the genial companion she had been;
precision and neatness.  Mrs. Gaunt watched gone was the ready sympathy with which she had
her without seeming to do so, and observed that listened to all his little earthly concerns; and as
her discontent did not in the least affect her punc- for his hay-making, he might as well talk about
tual discharge of her duties.  Said Mrs. Gaunt it to an iceberg as to the partner of his bosom.
to herself, "This servant is a treasure; she shall   He was genial by nature, and could not live
not go."  And Ryder to herself, "Well,'tis but without sympathy.  He sought it in the parlor
for a month, and then no power shall keep me of the " Red Lion."
here."                                         Mrs. Gaunt's high-bred nostrils told her where
he haunted, and it caused her dismay. Womanlike, instead of opening her battery at once, she
CTHAPTER  XIX.                 wore a gloomy and displeased air, which a few
months ago would have served her turn and
NOT long after these events came the county brought about an explanation at once; but Grifball.  Griffith was there, but no Mrs. Gaunt. fith took it for a stronger dose of religious sentiThis excited surprise, and, among the gentle- ment, and trundled off to the "Red Lion" all the
men, disappointment. They asked Griffith if she more.
was unwell; he thanked them  dryly, she was   So then at last she spoke her mind, and asked
very well, and that was all they could get out of him how he could lower himself so, and afflict her.
him.  But to the ladies he let out that she had    "Oh!" said he, doggedly, "this house is too
given up balls, and, indeed, all reasonable pleas- cold for me now. My mate is priest-rid. Plague
ures.  "She does nothing but fast, and pray, on the knave that hath put coldness'twixt thee
and visit the sick."  He' added, with rather a and me."
weak smile, " I see next to nothing of her."  A    Mrs. Gaunt froze visibly, and said no more at
minx stood by and put in her word. "' You that time.
should catch the small-pox; then who knows?   One bit of sunshine remained in the house, and
she might look in upon you."                 shone brighter than ever on its chilled masterGriffith laughed, but not heartily.  In truth, shone through two black, seducing eyes.
Mrs. Gaunt's religious fervor knew no bounds.   Some three months before the date we have
Absorbed in pious schemes and religious duties, now reached, Caroline Ryder's two boxes were
she had little time, and much distaste, for frivo- packed and corded ready to go next day.  She
lous society; invited none but the devout, and had quietly persisted in her resolution to leave,
found polite excuses for not dining abroad. She and Mrs. Gaunt, though secretly angry, had been
sent her husband into the world alone, and laden  just and magnanimous enough to give her a good
with apologies. "My wife is turned saint.'Tis character.
a sin to dance, a sin to hunt, a sin to enjoy our-   Now female domestics are like the little birds;
selves.  We are here to fast and pray, and build if that great hawk, their mistress, follows them
schools, and go to church twice a day."      about, it is a deadly grievance; but if she does
And so he went about publishing his household not, they follow her about, and pester her with
ill; but, to tell the truth, a secret satisfaction idle questions, and invite the beak and claws of
peeped through his lugubrious accents. An ugly petty tyranny and needless interference.
saint is an unmixed calamity to jolly fellows; but   So, the afternoon before she was to leave,
to be lord and master, and possessor of a beauti- Caroline Ryder came to her mistress's room on
ful saint, was not without its piquant charm. His some imaginary business.  She was not there.
jealousy was dormant, not extinct; and Kate's Ryder, forgetting that it did not matter a straw,
piety tickled that foible, not wounded it.  He proceeded to hunt her every where, and at last
found himself the rival of heaven, and the suc- ran out with only her cap on tq " the Dame's
cessful rival; for, let her be ever so strict, ever Haunt," and there she was, but not alone: she
so devout, she must give her husband many com- was walking up and down with Brother Leonforts she could not give to heaven.          ard. Their backs were turned, and Ryder came
This soft and piquant phase of the passion did up behind them. Leonard was pacing gravely,
not last long.  All things are progressive.  with his head gently drooping as usual.  Mrs.
Brother Leonard was director now as well as Gaunt was walking elastically, and discoursing
confessor; his visits became frequent, and Mrs. with great fire and animation.
Gaunt often quoted his authority for her'acts or   Ryder glided after, noiseless as a serpent,
her sentiments.  So Griffith began to suspect more bent on wondering and watching now than
that the change in his wife was entirely due to on overtaking; for inside the house her mistress
Leonard; and that, with all her eloquence and showed none of this charming vivacity.
fervor, she was but a priest's echo. This galled   Presently the keen black eyes observed a




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               61
i'trifle light as air" that made them  shine shrank from the encounter, and came less often,
again.                                      and staid but a few minutes. Then Mrs. Gaunt
She turned and wound herself among the remonstrated gently with Griffith, but received
trees, and disappeared. Soon after she was in short, sullen replies. Then, as the servile eleher own room, a changed woman. With glow- ment of her sex was comparatively small in her,
ing cheeks, sparkling eyes, and nimble fingers, she turned bitter and cold, and avenged Leonard
she uncorded her boxes, unpacked her things, indirectly, but openly, with those terrible pins and
and placed them neatly in the drawers.      needles a beloved woman has ever at command.
What more had she seen than I have indi-   Then Griffith became moody, and downright
cated?                                     unhappy, and went more and more to the " Red
Only this: Mrs. Gaunt, in the warmth of dis- Lion," seeking comfort there now as well as
course, laid her hand lightly for a moment on the company.
priest's elbow: that was nothing, she had laid   Mrs. Gaunt saw, and had fits of irritation, and
the same hand on Ryder; for, in fact, it was a fits of pity, and sore perplexity.  She knew she
little womanly way she had, and a hand that had a good husband, and, instead of taking him
settled like down. But this time, as she with- to heaven with her, she found that each step she
drew it again, that delicate hand seemed to made with Leonard's help toward the angelic
speak; it did not leave Leonard's elbow all at life seemed somehow to be bad for Griffith's soul
once; it glided slowly away, first the palm, then and for his earthly happiness.
the fingers, and so parted lingeringly.       She blamed herself; she blamed Griffith; she
The other woman saw this subtle touch of blamed the Protestant heresy; she blamed every
womanhood, coupled it with Mrs. Gaunt's vi- body and every thing-except Brother Leonard.
vacity and the air of happiness that seemed to   One Sunday afternoon Griffith sat on his own
inspire her whole eloquent person, and formed a lawn, silently smoking his pipe. Mrs. Gaunt
harsh judgment on the spot, though she could came to him, and saw an air of dejection on his
not see the lady's face.                    genial face. Her heart yearned. She sat down
When Mrs. Gaunt came in she met her, and beside him on the bench, and sighed; then he
addressed her thus: "If you please, ma'am, sighed too.
have you any one coming in my place?"        " My dear," said she, sweetly, "fetch out your
Mrs. Gaunt looked her full in the face. " You viol da gambo, and we will sing a hymn or two
know I have not," said she, haughtily.      together here this fine afternoon. We can praise
" Then, if it is agreeable to you, ma'am, I will God together, though we must pray apart; alas
stay. To he sure the place is dull, but I have that it is so."
got a good mistress-and-"                     "With all my heart," said Griffith.'" Nay, I
"That will do, Ryder; a servant has always forgot; my viol da gambo is not here.'Tis at
her own reasons, and never tells them to her mis- the' Red Lion.'"
tress. You can stay this time, but the next you    " At the'Red Lion!"' said she, bitterly.
go, and once for all. I am not to be trifled with." " What, do you sing there as well as drink?
Ryder called up a look all submission, and re- Oh, husband, how can you so bemean yourself?"
tired with an obeisance. But, once out of sight,   " What is a poor man to do whose wife is
she threw off the mask and expanded with in- priest-ridden, and got to be no company-except
solent triumph. " Yes, I have my own reasons," for angels?"
said she.  " Keep you the priest, and I'll take   "I did not come here to quarrel," said she,
the man."                                   coldly and sadly. Then they Wvere both silent a
From that hour Caroline Ryder watched her minute. Then she got up and left him.
mistress like a lynx, and hovered about her master, and poisoned him slowly with vague insidi-   Brother Leonard, like many earnest men, was
ous hints.                                  rather intolerant.  He urged on Mrs. Gaunt that
she had too many Protestants in her household;
her cook and her nursemaid ought, at all events,
CHAPTER XX.                   to be Catholics. Mrs. Gaunt, on this, was quite
ready to turn them both off, and that without
BROTHER LEONARD, like many holy men, disguise. But Leonard dissuaded her from so
was vain. Not but what he had his gusts of hu- violent a measure. She had better take occamility and diffidence, only they blew over.  sion to part with one of them, and by-and-by
At first, as you may perhaps remember, he with the other.
doubted his ability to replace Father Francis as   The nursemaid was the first to go, and her
Mrs. Gaunt's director; but after a slight dis- place was filled by a Roman Catholic. Then
claimer he did replace him, and had no more the cook received warning. But this did not
misgivings as to his fitness. But his tolerance pass off so quietly: Jane Bannister was a buxand good sense were by no means equal to his om, hearty woman, well liked by her fellow-servdevotion and his persuasive powers, and so his ants; her parents lived in the village, and she
advice in matters spiritual and secular somehow  had been six years with the Gaunts, and her
sowed the first seeds of conjugal coolness in honest heart clung to them.  She took to cryHernshaw Castle.                           ing; used to burst out in the middle of her
And-now Ryder slyly insinuated into Griffith's work, or while conversing with fitful cheerfulear that the mistress told the priest every thing, ness on ordinary topics.
and did nothing but by his advice. Thus the fire   One day Griffith found her crying, and Ryder
already kindled was fanned by an artful woman's consoling her as carelessly and contemptuously
breath.                                     as possible.
Griffith began to hate Brother Leonard, and    "Hey-day, lasses," said he, "what is your
to show it so plainly and rudely that Leonard trouble?"




62                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
At this Jane's tears flowed in a stream, and their salt. Come, Kate, you used to be a senstRyder made no reply, but waited.            ble woman and a tender wife; now I ask you, is
At last, and not till the third or fourth time a young bachelor a fit person to govern a man's
of asking, Jane blurted out that she had got the family?"
sack. Such was her homely expression, digni-   Mrs. Gaunt laughed in his face.  " A young
fled, however, by honest tears.             bachelor!" said she; "whoever heard of such
"What for?" asked Griffith, kindly.       a term applied to a priest-and a saint upon
" Nay, sir," sobbed Jane, " that is what I want earth?"
to know. Our dame ne'er found a fault in me;   "Why, he is not married, so he must be a
and now she does pack me off like a dog-me, bachelor; and I say again it is monstrous for a
that have been here this six years, and got to young bachelor to come between old married
feel at home. What will father say? He'll give folk, and hear all their secrets, and have a finger
me a hiding.  For two pins I'd drown myself in in every pie, and set up to be master of my
the mere."                                  house, and order my wife to turn away my serv"Come, you must not blame the mistress," ants for going to church behind me. Why not
said the sly Ryder.  " She is a good mistress as turn mne away too? Their fault is mine."
ever breathed;'tis all the priest's doings. I'll   " Griffith, you are in a passion, and I begin to
tell you the truth, master, if you will pass me think you want to put me in one."
your word I sha'n't be sent away for it."     " WVell, perhaps I am. Job's patience went at
" I pledge you my word as a gentleman," said last, and mine has been sore tried this many a
Griffith.                                   month.'Twas bad enough when the man was
"Well, then, sir, Jane's fault is yours and only your confessor: you told him every thing,
mine.  She is not a Papist, and that is why she and you don't tell me every thing. lie knew
is to go. How I come to know, I listened in the your very heart better than I do, and that was a
next room, and heard the priest tell our dame she bitter thing for me to bear, that love you and
must send away two of us, and have Catholics. have no secrets from you. But every man who
The priest's word it is law in this house;'twas marries a Catholic must endure this; so I put a
in March he gave the order; Harriet, she went good face on it, though my heart was often sore;
in May, and now poor Jane is to go-for walk-'twas the price I had to pay for my pearl of woming to church behind~you, sir. But there, Jane, ankind.  But since he set up your governor as
I believe he would get our very master out of the well, you are a changed woman; you shun comhouse if he could, and then what would become pany abroad, you freeze my friends at home.
of us all?"                                You have made the house so cold that I am fain
Griffith turned black, and then ashy pale, un- to seek the'Red Lion' for a smile or a kindly
der this venomous tongue, and went away with- word; and now, to please this fanatical priest,
out a word, looking dangerous.              you would turn away the best servants I have,
RIyder looked after him, and her black eye and put useless, dirty slatterns in their place,
glittered with a kind of fiendish beauty.   that happen to be Papists. You did not use to
Jane, having told her mind, now began to be so uncharitable nor so unreasonable.'Tis the
pluck up a little spirit. " Mrs. Ryder," said she, priest's doing. He is my secret, underhand en"I never thought to like you so well;" and, emy; I feel him undermining me, inch by inch,
with that, gave her a great, hearty, smacking and I can bear it no longer. I must make a
kiss, which Ryder, to judge by her countenance, stand somewhere, and I may as well make it
relished, as epicures albumen. " I won't cry no here; for Jenny is a good girl, and her folk live
more. After all, this house is no place for us in the village, and she helps them. Think betthat be women;'tis a fine roost, to be sure! ter of it, Kate, and let the poor wench stay,
where the hen she crows, and the cock do but though she does go to church behind your huscluck."                                     band."
Town-bred Ryder laughed at the rustic maid's  "' Griffith," said Mrs. Gaunt, "I might retort,
simile, and, not to be outdone in metaphor, told and say that you are a changed man; for, to be
her there were dogs that barked and dogs that sure, you did never use to interfere between me
bit. "Our master is one of those that bite. I've and my maids. Are you sure some mischiefdone the priest's business. He is as like to get making woman is not advising you f But there,
the sack as you are."                       do not let us chafe one another, for you know we
are hot-tempered, both of us. Well, leave it for
Griffith found his wife seated on the lawn read- the present, my dear; prithee let me think it
ing. He gulped down his ire as well as he could, over till to-morrow, at all events, and try if I
but, nevertheless, his voice trembled a little with can satisfy you."
suppressed passion.                           The jealous husband saw through this propo"So Jane is turned off now," said he.     sal directly.  He turned purple. "That is to
"I don't know about being turned off," re- say, you must ask your priest first for leave to
plied Mrs. Gaunt, calmly, "' but she leaves me show your husband one grain of respect and afnext month, and Cicely Davis comes back."    fection, and not make him quite a cipher in his
"And Cicely Davis is a useless slut that can own house. No, Kate, no man who respects himnot boil a potato fit to eat; but then she is a Pa- self will let another man come between himself
pist, and poor Jenny is a Protestant, and can and the wife of his bosom. This business is becook a dinner."                            tween you and me; I will brook no interference
"My dear," said Mrs. Gaunt, "do not you in it; and I tell you plainly, if you turn this
trouble about the servants; leave them to me."  poor lass off to please this d-d priest, I'll turn
"And welcome; but this is not your doing, it the priest off to please her and her folk. They
is that Leonard's; and I can not allow a Popish are as good as he is, any way."
priest to turn off all my servants that are worth   The bitter contempt with which he spoke of




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                63
Brother Leonard, and this astounding threat, im- common enemy, and, in his wrath, he now took
ported a new and dangerous element into the another'step, or rather a stride, in the same didiscussion: it stung Mrs. Gaunt beyond bear- rection. As he hurried away to the public house,
ing.  She turned with flashing eyes upon Grif- white with ire, he met his gamekeeper coming in
fith.                                        with a bucketful of fish fresh caught.  " What
"As good as he is? The scum of my kitchen! have ye got there?" said Griffith, roughly; not
You will make me hate the mischief-making that he was angry with the man, but that his
hussy.  She shall pack out of the house to-mor- very skin was full of wrath, and it must exude.
row morning."                                Mr. Leicester did not relish the tone, and replied,
"Then I say that priest shall never darken bluntly and sulkily, "Pike for our Papists." Thie
my doors agailn."                            answer, though rude, did not altogether displease
"Then I say they are my doors, not yours; Griffith; it smacked of odium theologicum, a senand that holy man shall brighten them whenever timent he was learning to understand.  "Put
he will."'em down, and listen to me, Thomas Leicester,"
said he. And his manner was now so impressIf to strike an adversary dumb is the tongue's ive that Leicester put down the bucket with lutriumph, Mrs. Gaunt was victorious; for Griffith dicrous expedition, and gaped at him.
gasped, but did not reply.                     " Now, my man, why do I keep you here?"
They faced each other, pale with fury, but no    " To take care of your game, squire, I do supmore words.                                  pose."
No; an ominous silence succeeded this la-   "What! when you are the worst gamekeeper
mentable answer, like the silence that follows a in the county?  How many poachers do you
thunder-clap.                                catch in the year? They have only to set one of
Griffith stood still a while, benumbed, as it their gang to treat you at the public house on a
were, by the cruel stroke; then cast one speak- moonshiny night, and the rest can have all my
ing look of anguish and reproach upon her, drew  pheasants at roost while you are boozing and
himself haughtily up, and stalked away like a singing."
woutided lion.                                 "Like my betters in the parlor," muttered
Well said the ancients that anger is a short Tom.
madness.  When we reflect in cold blood on the    "But that is not all," continued Gaunt, prethings we have said in hot, how impossible they tending not to hear him.  " You wire my rabseem i! how out of character with our real selves! bits, and sell them in the town. Don't go to
And this is one of the recognized symptoms of deny it, for I've half a dozen to prove it."  Mr.
mania.                                       Leicester looked very uncomfortable.  His masThere were few persons could compare with ter continued-" I have known it this ten months,
Mrs. Gaunt in native magnanimity, yet how un- yet you are none the worse for't.  Now, why do
generous a stab had she given.               I keep you here, that any other gentleman in my
And had he gone on, she would have gone on; place would send to Carlisle jail on a justice's
but when he turned silent at her bitter thrust, warrant?"
and stalked awav from her, she came to herself   Mr. Leicester, who had thought his master
almost directly.                             blind, and was so suddenly undeceived, hung his
She thought, "Good God! what have I said head and sniveled out, "'Tis because you have a
to him?"                                    good heart, squire, and would not ruin a poor
And the flush of shame came to her cheek, and fellow for an odd rabbit or two."
her eyes filled with tears.                    "Stuff and nonsense!" cried Gaunt. "Speak
He saw them not; he had gone away, wound- your mind for once, or else begone for a liar as
ed to the heart.                             well as a knave."
You see it was true. The house was hers, tied   Thus appealed to, Leicester's gipsy eyes roved
up as tight as wax. The very money (his own to and fro as if he were looking for some loopmoney) that had been spent on the place had be- hole to escape by; but at last he faced the situcome hers by being expended on real property; ation. Iie said, with a touch of genuine feeling,
he could not reclaim it; he was her lodger-a  " D-n the rabbits! I wish my hand had withdependent on her bounty.                     cred ere I touched one on them."  But after
During all the years they had lived together this preface he sunk his voice to a whisper, and
she had never once assumed the proprietor. On said, "I see what you are driving at, squire:
the contrary, she put him forward as the squire, and, since there is nobody with us (he took off
and slipped quietly into the background.  Bene his cap)-why, sir,'tis this here mole I am in
latuit.  But, lo! let a hand be put out to offend debt to, no doubt."
her saintly favorite, and that moment she could   Then the gentleman and his servant looked
waken her husband from his dream, and put him  one another silently in the face, and what with
down into his true legal position with a word. their standing in the same attitude and being
The matrimonial throne for him till lie resisted both excited and earnest, the truth must be ownher priest, and then a stool at her feet and his.  ed, a certain family likeness came out. CertainHe was enraged as well as hurt; but, being a ly their eyes were quite unlike. Leicester had
true lover, his fury was leveled, not at the woman his gipsy mother's - black, keen, and restless.
who had hurt him, but at the man who stood out Gaunt had his mother's - brown, calm, and
of sight and set her on.                    steady. But the two men had the same stature,
By this time the reader knows his good quali- the same manly mould and square shoulders;
ties and his defects; superior to his wife in one and, though Leicester's cheek was brown as a
or two things, he was by no means so thorough a berry, his forehead was singularly white for a
gentleman as she was a lady. He had begun to man in his rank of life, and over his left temple,
make a party with his own servants against the close to the roots of the hair, was an oblong




~4                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
mole as black as ink, that bore a close resem-      FOR CAUSING OF STRIFE
blance in appearance and position to his mas-'TWIXT MAN AND WYFE
ter's.
HATH MADE ACQUAINTAUNCE
"Tom Leicester, I have been insulted."            WITH SQUIRE'S.HORSE-POND."
"That won't pass, sir. Who is the man?'    And so a female conspirator was added to the
"One that I can not call out like a gentleman, plot.
and yet I must not lay on him with my cane, or   Mrs. Gaunt co-operated too, but, need I say,
I am like to get the sack as well as my servants. unconsciously.'Tis the Popish priest, lad; Brother Leonard,   She was unhappy, and full of regret at what
own brother to Old Nick; he has got our dame's she had said.  She took herself severely to task,
ear —she can not say him' nay.' She is turning and drew a very unfavorable comparison between
away all my people, and filling the house with herself and Brother Leonard.  "How ill," she
Papists, to please him. And when I interfered, thought, "am I fitted to carry out that meek
she as good as told me I should go next; and so saint's views.  See what my ungoverned temper
I shall, I or else that priest."            has done."  So, then, having made so great a
This little piece of exaggeration fired Tom  mistake, she thought the best thing she could do
Leicester.  "Say ye so, squire? then just you was to seek advice of Leonard at once. She was
whisper a word in my ear, and George and I will not without hopes he would tell her to postpone
lay that priest by the heels, and drag him through the projected change in her household, and so
the horse-pond. He won't come here to trouble soothe her offended husband directly.
you after that, I know."                      She wrote a line requesting Leonard to call
Gaunt's eves flashed triumph.  "A friend in on her as soon as possible, and advise her in a
need is a friend indeed," said he. "Ay, you are great difficulty; and she gave this note to Ryright, lad. There must be no broken bones, and der, and told her to send the groom off with it
no bloodshed; the horse-pond is the very thing; at once.
and if she discharges you for it, take no heed of   Ryder squeezed the letter, and peered into it,
her. You shall never leave Hernshaw Castle for and gathered its nature before she gave it to the
that good deed, or, if you do, I'll go with you; groom to take to Leonard.
for the world it is wide, and I'll never live a   When he was gone she went and told Tom
servant in the house where I have been a master. " Leicester, and he chuckled, and made his prepThey then put their heads together and con- arations accordingly.
certed the means by which the priest at his very    Then she retired to her own room, and went
next visit was to be decoyed into the neighbor- through a certain process I have indicated before
hood of the horse-pond.                     as one of her habits-knitted her great black
And then they parted, and Griffith went to the brows, and pondered the whole situation with a
" Red Lion." And a pair of black eves, that had mental power that was worthy of a nobler sphere
slyly watched this singular interview from an and higher materials.
upper window, withdrew quietly; and soon after,   Her practical reverie, so to speak, continued
Tom Leicester found himself face to face with until she was rung for to dress her mistress for
their owner, the sight of whom always made his dinner.
heart beat a little faster.
Caroline Ryder had been rather cold to him of   Griffith was so upset, so agitated and restless,
late; it was therefore a charming surprise when lie could not stay long in any one place, not even
she met him, all wreathed in smiles, and, draw- in the " Red Lion."  So he came home to dining him apart, began to treat him like a bosom  ner, though he had mighty little appetite for it;
friend, and tell him what had passed between and this led to another little conjugal scene.
the master, and her and Jane.  Confidence be-   Mrs. Gaunt mounted the great oak staircase
gets confidence; and so Tom told her in turn to dress for dinner, languidly, as ladies are apt
that the squire and the dame had come to words to do when reflection and regret come after exover it.  " However," said he, "'tis all the citement.
priest's fault; but bide a while, all of ye."  Presently she heard a quick foot behind her:
With this mysterious hint he meant to close his she knew it directly for her husband's, and her
revelations. But Ryder intended nothing of the heart yearned. She did not stop, nor turn her
kind. Her keen eye had read the looks and head: womanly pride withheld her from direct
gestures-of Gaunt and Leicester, and these had submission; but womanly tenderness and tact
shown her that something very strange and se- opened a way to reconciliation.  She drew softly
rious was going on. She had come out express- aside, almost to the wall, and went slower; and
ly to learn what it was, and Tom was no match her hand, her sidelong drooping head, and her
for her arts. She so smiled on him, and agreed whole eloquent person, whispered plainly enough,
with him, and led him, and drew him, and pump- " If somebody would like to make friends, here
ed him, that she got it all out of him on a prom- is the door open."
ise of secrecy. She then entered into it with spir-   Griffith saw, but was too deeply wounded: he
it, and being what they called a scholar, under- passed her without stopping (the staircase was
took to write a paper for Tom and his helper to eight feet broad).
pin on the priest's back. No sooner said than   But as he passed he looked at her and sighed,
done. She left him, and speedily returned with for he saw she was sorry.
the following document written out in large and   She heard, and sighed too. Poor things, they
somewhat straggling letters:                had lived so happy together for years.
He went on.
"' HONEST FOLK, BEHOLD A               Her pride bent: "Griffith!" said she, very
MISCHIEX-VoUs  PRIEST, WHICH        timidly.  He turned and stopped at that.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OIl, JEALOUSY.                               65
"Sweetheart," she murmured, "I was to   Mrs. Gaunt sighed wearily, expecting some
blame. I was ungenerous. I forgot myself. Let very minute communication.
me recall my words.  You know they did not   " Well, dame, I dare say I am risking my
come from my heart."                         place, but I can't help it."
"You need not tell me that," said Griffith,   "Another time, Ryder," said Mrs. Gaunt.
doggedly.  "I have no quarrel with you, and "I I am in no humor to be worried with my servnever will. You but do what you are bidden, ants' squabbles."
and say what you are bidden. 1 take the wound    " Nay, madam,'tis not that at all-'tis about
from you as best I may: the man that set you Father Leonard. Sure you would not like him
on,'tis him I'll be revenged on."            to be drawn through the horse-pond, and that
"Alas! that you will think so," said she. is what they mean to do next time he comes
"Believe me, dearest, that holy man would be here."
the first to rebuke me for rebelling against my   In saying these words, the jade contrived to
husband and flouting him. Oh, how could I say be adjusting Mrs. Gaunt's dress. The lady's
such things?  I thank you, and love you dearly heart gave a leap, and the servant's cunning
for being so blind to my faults; but I must not finger felt it, and then felt a shudder run all over
abuse your blindness. Father Leonard will put that stately frame. But after that Mrs. Gaunt
me to penance for the fault you forgive. Ife will seemed to turn to steel.  She distrusted Ryder,
hear no excuses. Prithee, now, be more just to she could not tell why; distrusted her, and was
that good man."                              upon her guard.
Griffith listened quietly, with a cold sneer upon    " You must be mistaken," said she.  "Who
his lip; and this was his reply: "Till that mis- would dare to lay hands on a priest in my
chief-making villain came between you and me, house?"
you never gave me a bitter word: we were the    "Well, dame, you see they egg one another
happiest pair in Cumberland.  But now what on.  Don't ask me to betray my fellow-serwants,
are we?  And what shall we be in another year but let us balk them. I don't deceive you,
or two?-REVENGE!!"                        dame; if the good priest shows his face here, he
He had begun gravely enough, but suddenly will be thrown into the horse-pond, and sent
burst into an ungovernable rage; and as he home with a ticket pinned to his back. Them
yelled out that furious word, his face was con- that is to do it are on the watch now, and have
vulsed and ugly to look at-very ugly.        got their orders; and'tis a burning shame. To
Mrs. Gaunt started: she had not seen that vile be sure I am not a Catholic; but religion is
expression in his face for many a year; but she religion, and a more heavenly face I never saw;
knew it again.                               and for it to be dragged through a filthy horse"Ay!" he cried, "he has made me drink a pond!"
bitter cup this many a day. But I'll force as   Mrs. Gaunt clutched her inspector's'arm and
bitter a one down his throat, and you shall see it turned pale.  "The villains! the fiends!" she
done."                                       gasped.  "Go ask your master to come to me
Mrs. Gaunt turned pale at this violent threat; this moment."
but, being a high-spirited woman, she stiffened    Ryder took a step or two, then stopped.
and hid her apprehensions loftily.  "Madman  "Alack, dame," said she, " that is not the way
that you are," said she, "I throw away excuses to do.  You may be sure the others would not
on Jealousy, and I waste reason upon phrenzy. dare if my master had not shownn them  his
I'll say no more things to provoke you; but, to mind."
be sure,'tis I that am offended now, and deeply   Mrs. Gaunt stopped her ears.  "Don't tell
too, as you will find."                      me that hie has ordered this impious, cruei,
"So be it," said Griffith, sullenly; then, grind- cowardly act.- He is a lion, and this comes
ing his teeth, "he shall pay for that too."  from the heart of cowardly curs. What is to be
Then he went to his dressing-room, and she to done, woman? Tell me, for you are cooler than
her bedroom-Griffith hating Leonard, and Kate I am."
deeply indignant with Griffith.                "  Well, dame, if I were in your place, I'd just
And, ere her blood could cool, she was sub- send him a line, and bid him stay away till the
jected to the keen, cold scrutiny of another fe- storm blows ovei."
male, and that female a secret rival.          "You are right.  But who is to carry it?
My own servants are traitors to me."
"I'll carry it myself."
CHAPTER XXI.                      ""You shall. Put on your hat, and run
through the wood; that is the shortest way."
WoULD you learn what men gain by admitting    She wrote a few lines on a large sheet of
a member of the fair sex into their conspiracies? paper, for note-paper there was none in those
read the tragedy of Venice Preserved; and, by days; sealed it, and gave it to Ryder.
way of afterpiece, this little chapter.        Ryder retired to put on her hat, and pry into
Mrs. Gaunt sat pale and very silent, and Caro- the letter with greedy eyes.
line Ryder stood behind, doing up her hair into   It ran thus:
a magnificent structure that added eight inches
to the lady's height, and in this operation her   "IDEAR FATHER AN-D FErIEND,- You must
own black hair and keen black eves came close come hither no more at present.  Ask the bearto the golden hair and deep blue eyes, now troub- er why this is, for I am ashamed to put it on
led, and made a picture striking by contrast.    paper.  Pray for them; for you can, but I can
As she was putting the finishing touches, she not.  Pray for me too, bereft for a time of your
said quietly, " If you please, dame, I have some- counsels.  I shall come and confess to you in a
what to tell you."                          few days, when we are cooler, but you shall
E




66                      GRIFFITH GXUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
honor his house no more. Obey me in this one began at one and the same time to please and to
thing, who shall obey you in all tlings else, and probe him. "Sir," said she, "be of good heart;
am your indignant and sorrowful daughter,   they have done you no harm, and themselves no
"CATHARINE GAUNT."   good; my mistress will hate them for it, and
love you all the more."
"No more than that?" said Ryder.  " Ay,   Father Leonard's pale cheek colored all over
she guessed as I should look."              at these words, though he said nothing.
She whipped on her hat and went out.         " Since they won't let you come to her, she
Who should she meet, or, I might say, run will come to you."
against at the hall door but Father Leonard.   "Do you think so?" said he, faintly.
Hie had come at once in compliance with Mrs.   " Nay, I am sure of it, sir. So would any
Gaunt's request.                            woman. We still follow our hearts, and get our
way by hook or by crook."
Again the priest colored either with pleasure
CHAPTER XXII.                   or with shame, or with both; and the keen feminine eye perused him with microscopic power.
MRS. RYDER uttered a little scream of dis- She waited, to give him an opportunity of talkmay, The priest smiled, and said sweetly, " For- ing to her and laying bare his feelings; but he
give me, mistress, I fear I startled you."   was either too delicate, too cautious, or too pure.
" Indeed you did, sir," said she.  She looked   So then she suddenly affected to remember her
furtively round, and saw Leicester and his un- mistress's letter.  She produced it with an apolderling on the watch.                        ogy.  He took it with unfeigned eagerness, and
Leicester, unaware of her treachery, made her read it in silence; and, having read it, he stood
a signal of intelligence.                    patient, with the tears in his eyes. Ryder eyed
She responded to it, to gain time.        him with much curiosity and a little pity. "Don't
It was a ticklish situation.  Some would have you take on for that," said she. "Why, she will
lost their heads. Ryder was alarmed, but all be more at her ease when she visits you at your
the more able to defend her plans. Her first place than here; and she won't give you up, I
move, as usual with such women, was-a lie.    promise."
" Our dame is in the Grove, sir," said she.   The priest trembled, and Ryder saw it.
"I am to bring you to her."                    " But, my daughter," said he, " I am perplexThe priest bowed his head gravely, and moved ed and grieved. It seems that I make mischief
toward the Grove with downcast eyes.  Ryder in your house; that is an ill office; I fear it is
kept close to him for a few steps; then she ran my duty to retire from this place altogether, rathto Leicester, and whispered hastily, " Go you to er than cause dissension between those whom the
the stable-gate; I'll bring him round that way: Church by holy sacrament hath bound together."
hide now; he suspects."                      So saying, he hung his head and sighed.
"Ay, ay," said Leicester; and the confiding   Ryder eyed him with a little pity, but more
pair slipped away round a corner to wait for contempt.
their victim.                                  "Why take other people's faults on yotir
Ryder hurried him into the Grove, and, as back?" said she.  "My mistress is tied to a
soon as she had got him out of hearing, told him  man she does not love; but that is not your
the truth.                                   fault; and he is jealous of you, that never gave
lie turned pale; for these delicate organiza- him cause. If I was a man he should not actions do not generally excel in courage.     cuse me-for nothing, nor set his man on to drag
Ryder pitied him, and something of womanly me through a horse-pond-for nothing. I'd have
feeling began to mingle with her plans. " They the sweet as well as the bitter."
shall not lay a finger on you, sir," said she.   Father Leonard turned and looked at her with
"I'll scratch and scream, and bring the whole a face full of terror. Some beautiful, honeved
parish out sooner; but the best way is not to fiend seemed to be entering his heart and temptgive them the chance: please you follow me." ing it.
And she hurried him through the Grove, and    " Oh, hush! my daughter, hush!" he said;
then into an unfrequented path of the great "what words are these for a virtuous woman to
wood.                                        speak and a priest to hear?"
When they were safe from pursuit she turned    "There, I have offended you by my blunt
and looked at him. He was a good deal agi- way," said the cajoling hussy, in soft and timid
tated, but the uppermost sentiment was grati- tones.
tude. It soon found words, and, as usual, hap-   " Nay, not so; but oh, speak not so lightly of
py ones. He thanked her with dignity and ten- things that peril the immortal soul."
derness for the service she had done him, and    "Well, I have done," said Ryder. "You are
asked her if she was a Catholic.            out of danger now, so give you good-day."
"No," said she.                             He stopped her.  "What! before I have
At that his countenance fell, but only for a thanked you for your goodness? Ah! Mistress
moment.  "Ah! would you were," he said, Ryder,'tis on these occasions a priest sins by
earnestly.  He then added, sweetly, "To be longing for riches to reward his benefactors. I
sure I have all the more reason to be grateful to have naught to offer you but this ring: it was
you."                                       my mother's-my dear mother's."
"You are very welcome, reverend sir," said   He took it off his finger to give it her.
Ryder, graciously.  "Religion is religion; and   But the little bit of goodness that cleaves even'tis a barbarous thing that violence should be to the heart of an intriguante revolted against
done to men of your cloth."                 her avarice.
Having thus won.his heart, the artful woman    "iNay, poor soul, I'll not take it," said she;




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                67
and put her hands before her eyes, not to see it, all who met him he seemed a creature in whom
for she knew she could not look at it long and religion had conquered all human frailty.
spare it.                                     Caroline Ryder hurried home with cruel exulWith this she left him; but, ere she had gone tation in her black eyes. But she soon found
far, her cunning and curiosity gained the upper that the first thing she had to do was to defend
hand again, and she whipped behind a great tree herself. Leicester and his man met her, and the
and crouched, invisible all but her nose and one former looked gloomy, and the latter reproached'iercing eye.                               her bitterly; called her a double-faced jade, and
\
_             X.
She saw the priest make a few steps home- said he would tell the squire of the trick she had
ward, then look around, then take Mrs. Gaunt's played them. But Ryder had her story ready in
letter out of his pocket, press it passionately to a moment. "'Tis you I have saved, not him,"
his lips, and hide it tenderly in his bosom.  said she. " He is something more than mortal:
This done, he went home with his eyes on the why, he told me of his own accord what you were
ground as usual, and measured steps. And to there for; but that, if you were so unlucky as to




CG?                     GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
lay hands on him, you would rot alive. It seems a great service, and my husband too; for, If this,
that has been tried out Stanhope way; a man dastardly act had been done in his name, he would
did but give him a blow, and-his arm was stiff soon have been heartily ashamed of it and de.
next day, and he never used it again; and next plored it.  Such services can never be quite rehis hair fell off his head, and then his eyes they paid; but you will find a purse in that drawer
turned to water and ran all out of him, and he with five guineas; it is yours; and my lavender
died within the twelvemonth."                silk dress, be pleased to wear that about me, to
Country folk were nearly, though not quite, as remind me of the good office you have done me.
superstitious at that time as in the Middle Ages. And now, all you can do for me is to leave me,
" Murrain on him," said Leicester. " Catch me for I am very, very unhappy."
laying a finger on him. I'm glad he is gone;   Ryder retired with the spoil, and Mrs. Gaunt
and I hope he won't never come back no more." leaned her head over her chair, and cried without
"Not likely, since he can read all our hearts. stint.
Why, he told me something about you, Tom Leicester; he says you are in love."              After this, no angry words passed between Mr.
"No! did he really, now?" and Leicester and Mrs. Gaunt; but something worse, a settled
opened his eyes very wide.  "And did he tell coolness sprung up.
you who the lass is?"                         As for Griffith, his cook kept her place, and the
" He did so; and surprised me properly." priest came no more to the castle; so, having
This with a haughty glance.                  outwardly gained the day, he was ready to forget
Leicester held his tongue and turned red.  and forgive; but Kate, thosugh she would not let
"Who is it, mistress?" asked the helper.  her servant speak ill of Griffith, was deeply indig" He didn't say I was to tell you, young man." nant and disgusted with him. She met his adAnd with these two pricks of her needle she vances with such a stern coldness that he turned
left them both more or less discomfited, and went sulky and bitter in his turn.
to scrutinize and anatomize her mistress's heart   Husband and wife saw little of each other, and
with plenty of cunning, but no mercy.  She re- hardly spoke.
lated her own part in the affair very briefly, but   Both were unhappy; but Kate was angriest,
dwelt with well-feigned sympathy on the priest's and Griffith saddest.
feelings.- "He turned as white as a sheet, ma'am,    In an evil hour he let out his grief to Caroline
when I told him, and offered me his very ring off Ryder.  She seized the opportunity, and, by a
his finger, he was so grateful; poor man!"  show of affectionate sympathy and zeal, made
" You did not take it, I hope?" said Mrs. herself almost necessary to him, and contrived to
Gaunt, quickly.                              establish a very perilous relation between him and
" La, no, ma'am. I hadn't the heart."      her. Matters went so far as this, that the poor
Mrs. Gaunt was silent a while.  When she man's eye used to brighten when he saw her comspoke again it was to inquire whether Ryder had ing.
given him the letter.                          Yet this victory cost her a sore heart and all
"' That I did; and it brought the tears into the patient self-denial of her sex. To be welcome
his poor eyes; and such beautiful eyes as he has, to Griffith, she had to speak to him of her rival,
to be sure! You would have pitied him if you and to speak well of her. She tried talking of
had seen him read it, and cry over it, and then herself and her attachment; he yawned in her
kiss it, and put it in his bosom, he did."   face; she tried smooth detraction and innuendo;
Mrs. Gaunt said nothing, but turned her head he fired up directly and defended her, of whose
away.                                        conduct he had been complaining the very moThe operator shot a sly glance into the looking- ment before.
glass, and saw a pearly tear trickling down her   Then she saw that there was but one way to
subject's fair cheek. So she went on, all sympa- the man's heart.  Sore, and sick, and smiling, she
thy outside, and remorselessness within.  "To took that way, resolving to bide her time, to worm
think of that face, more like an angel's than a herself in anyhow, and wait patiently till she
man's, to be dragged through a nasty horse-pond. could venture to thrust her mistress out.'Tis a shame of master to set his men on a cler-   If any of my readers need be told why this
gyman." And so was proceeding, with well-act- she-Machiavel threw her fellow-conspirators over,
ed and catching warmth, to dig as dangerous a the reason was simply this: on calm reflection,
pit for Mrs. Gaunt as ever was dug for any lady; she saw it was not her interest to get Father
for whatever Mrs. Gaunt had been betrayed into Leonard insulted.  She looked on him as her
saying, this Ryder would have used without mer- mistress's lover and her own best friend. " Was
cy, and with diabolical skill.               I mad?" said she to herself.' "My business is to
Yes, it was a pit, and the lady's pure but ten- keep him sweet upon her till they can't live withder heart pushed her toward it, and her fiery out one another, and then I'll tell him, and take
temper drew her toward it.                   your place in this house, my lady.'
Yet she escaped it this time. The indignity,
delicacy, and pride, that is oftener found in these And now it is time to visit that extraordinary
old families than out of them, saved her from that man who was the cause of all this mischief; whom
peril.  She did not see the trap, but she spurned Gaunt called a villain, and Mrs. Gaunt a saint;
the bait by native instinct.                 and, as usual, he was neither one nor the other.
She threw up her hand in a moment with a   Father Leonard was a pious, pure, and noblequeenly gesture, and stopped the tempter.   minded man, who had undertaken to defy Nature
" Not-one-word-from  my servant against with Religion's aid, and, after years of successful
my husband in my hearing!" said she, superbly. warfare, now sustained one of those defeats to
And Ryder shrank back into herself directly.  which such warriors have been liable in every age.
"Child." raid Mrs.Gaunt, "you have done me If his heart was pure, it was tender; and Nature.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               69
never intended him to live all his days alone. ought to have warned her; but it only brought
After years of prudent coldness to the other sex, a faint blush of pleasure to her cheek and the
he fell'in with a creature that put him off his brimming tears to her eyes.
guard at first, she seemed so angelic.  " At Wis-   "Dear father and friend," said she. " What!
dom's gate Suspicion slept;" and, by degrees, have you missed me? Think, then, how I have
which have been already indicated in this narra- missed you. But'twas best for us both to let
tive, she whom the Church had committed to his their vile passions cool first."
spiritual care became his idol. Could he have   Leonard could not immediately reply. The'
foreseen this, it would never have happened; he emotion of seeing her again so suddenly almost
would have steeled himself, or left the country choked him.
that contained this sweet temptation. But love   He needed all the self-possession he had been
stole on him, masked with religious zeal, and years acquiring not to throw himself at her knees
robed in a garment of light that seemed celestial. and declare his passion to her.
When the mask fell it was too late; the power   Mrs. Gaunt saw his agitation, but did not
to resist the soft and thrilling enchantment was interpret it aright.
gone. The solitary man was too deep in love.    She came eagerly and sat on a stool beside
Yet he clung still to that self-deception, with- him. "Dear father," she said, "do not let their
out which he never could have been entrapped insolence grieve you. They have smarted for it,
into an earthly passion: he never breathed a word and shall smart till they make their submission
of love to her. It vwuld have alarmed her; it to you, and beg and entreat you to come to us
would have alarmed himself. Every syllable that again. Meantime, since you can not visit me, I
passed between these two might have been pub- visit you. Confess me, father, and then direct
lished without scandal. But the heart does not me with your counsels. Ah! if you could but
speak by words alone: there are looks, and there give me the Christian temper to carry them out
are tones of voice that belong to love, and are his firmly but meekly!'Tis my ungoverned spirit
signs, his weapons; and it was in these very tones hath wrought all this mischief, nlea culpa! mea
the priest murmured to his gentle listener about culpa!"
" the angelic life" between spirits still lingering   By this time Leonard had recovered his selfon earth, but purged from earthly dross; and even possession, and he spent an hour of strange inabout other topics less captivating to the religious toxication confessing his idol, sentencing his idol
imagination. He had persuaded her to found a to light penances, directing and advising his idol,
school in this dark parish, and in it he taught the and all in the soft murmurs of a lover.
poor with exemplary and touching patience.   She left him, and the room seemed to darken.
Well, when he spoke to her about this school, it   Two days only elapsed, and she came again.
was in words of practical good sense, but in tones Visit succeeded to visit; and her affection seemof love; and she, being one of those feminine ed boundless.
women who catch the tone they are addressed in,   The insult he had received was to be avenged
and instinctively answer in tune, and, moredver, in one place, and healed in another, and, if posseeing no ill, but good, in the subject of their con- sible, effaced with tender hand.
versation,replied sometimes, unguardedly enough,   So she kept all her sweetness for that little
in accents almost as tender.                cottage, and all her acidity for IIernshaw Castle.
In truth, if Love was really a personage, as the   It was an evil hour when Griffith attacked her
heathens feigned, he must have often perched on saint with violence. The woman was too higha tree in that quiet grove, and chuckled and spirited, and too sure of her own rectitude, to
mocked when this man and woman sat and mur- endure that; so, instead of crushing her, it drove
mured together, in the soft seducing twilight, her to retaliation and to imprudence.
about the love of God.                       These visits to console Father Leonard were
And now things had come to a crisis. Hus- quietly watched by Ryder, for one thing. But,
band and wife went about the house silent and worse than that, they placed Mrs. Gaunt in a
gloomy, the ghosts of their former selves; and new position with Leonard, and one that melts
the priest sat solitary, benighted, bereaved of the the female heart. She was now the protectress
one human creature he cared for. Day succeed- and the consoler of a man she admired and reed to day, and still she never came. Every morn- vered. I say if any thing on earth can breed
ing he said, " She will come to-day," and bright- love in a grand female bosom, this will.
ened with the hope. But the leaden hours crept   She had put her foot on a sunny slope clad
by, and still she came not.                with innocent-looking flowers, but more and more
Three sorrowful weeks went by, and he fell precipitous at every step, and perdition at the
into deep dejection. He used to wander out at bottom.
night, and come and stand where he could see
her windows with the moon shining on them;
then go slowly home, cold in body, and with his
heart aching, lonely, deserted, and perhaps for-       CHAPTER XXIII.
gotten. Oh, never till now had he known the   FATIER LEONARD, visited, soothed, and petted
utter aching sense of being quite alone in this by his idol, recovered his spirits, and, if he pined
weary world.                               during her absence, he was always so joyful in
One day, as he sat, drooping and listless, there her presence that she thought, of course, he was
came a light foot along the passage, a light tap permanently happy; so then, being by nature
at the door, and the next moment she stood magnanimous and placable, she began to smile
before him, a little paler than usual, but lovelier on her husband again, and a tacit reconciliation
than ever, for celestial pity softened her noble came about by natural degrees.
features.                                    But this produced a startling result.
The priest started up with a cry of joy that   Leonard, as her confessor, had only to follo.




70                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
precedents, and ask questions his Church has when he is behaving like a dull ass, and smoked
printed for the use of confessors, qnd he soon his pipe, and resolved to indulge her whim as
learned enough to infer that their disunion had soon as ever he had got his hay in.
given way.
The consequence was that one day, being off his
guard, or literally unable to contain his bursting       CHAPTER XXIV.
heart any longer, he uttered a cry of jealous agony, and then, in a torrent of burning, melting   SHOWERY weather set in, and the hay had to
words, appealed to her pity. He painted her hus- be turned twice, and left in cocks instead of carband's happiness and his own misery and barren ried.
desolation with a fervid, passionate eloquence   Griffith spoke now and then about the foreign
that paralyzed his hearer, and left her pale and tour, but Kate deigned no reply whatever, and
trembling, and the tears of pity trickling down the chilled topic died out before the wet hay could
her cheek.                                   be got in; and so much for Procrastination.
Those silent tears calmed him a little, and he   Meantime Betty Gough was sent for to mend
begged her forgiveness, and awaited his doom.   the house-linen.  She came every other day aft"I pity you," said she, angelically.  "What! er dinner, and sat working alone beside Mrs.
you jealous of my husband? Oh, pray to Christ Gaunt till dark.
and our Lady to cure you of this folly."       Caroline Ryder put her own construction on
She rose, fluttering inwardly, but calm as a this, and tried to make friends with Mrs. Gough,
statue on the outside, gave him her hand, and intending to pump her. But Mrs. Gough gave
went home very slowly, and the moment she was her short, dry answers. Ryder then felt sure
gut of his sight she drooped her head like a crush- that Gough was a go-between, and, woman-like,
ed flower.  She was sad, ashamed, alarmed.    turned up her nose at her with marked contempt.
Her mind was in a whirl; and, were I to imi- For why?  This office of go-between was one
tate those writers who undertake to dissect and she especially coveted for herself under the ciranalyze the heart at such moments, and put the cumstances, and a little while ago it had seemed
exact result on paper, I should be apt to sacrifice within her grasp.
truth to precision; I must stick to my old plan,   One fine afternoon the hay was all carried, and
and tell you what she did: that will surely be Griffith came home in good spirits to tell his wife
some index to her mind, especially with my fe- he was ready to make the grand tour with her.
male readers.                                  He was met at the gate by Mrs. Gough with a
She went home straight to her husband; he face of great concern.  She begged him to come
was smoking his pipe after dinner.  She drew  and see the dame; she had slipped on the oak
her chair close to him, and laid her hand tender- stairs, poor soul! and hurt her back.
ly on his shoulder.  "Griffith," she said, "will   Griffith tore up the stairs, and found Kate in
you grant your wife a favor? You once prom- the drawing-room lying on a sofa, and her doctor
ised to take me abroad: I desire to go now: I by her side. He came in, trembling like a leaf,
long to see foreign countries: I am tired of this and clasped her piteously in his arms.  At this
place. I want a change. Prithee, prithee take she uttered a little patient sigh of pain, and the
me hence this veryv day."                    doctor begged him to moderate himself; there
Griffith looked aghast.  " Why, sweetheart, it was no immediate cause of alarm; but she must
takes a deal of money to go abroad; we must get be kept quiet.  She had strained her back, and
in our rents first."                         her nerves were shaken by the fall.
" Nay, I have a hundred pounds laid by."     "Oh, my poor Kate!" cried Griffith; and would
"Well, but what a fancy to take all of a sud- let nobody else touch her. She was no longer a
den!"                                      tall girl, but a statuesque woman; yet he carried
" Oh, Griffith, don't deny me what I ask you, her in his Herculean arms up to her bed. She
with my arm round your neck, dearest. It is no turned her head toward him and shed a gentle
fancy. I want to be alone with you, far fiom this tear at this proof of his love, but the next moment
place where coolness has come between us. " And she was cold again, and seemed weary of her life.
with this she fell to crying and sobbing, and   An invalid's bed was sent to her by the doctor
straining him tight to her bosom, as if she feared at her own request, and placed on a small bedto lose him or be taken from him.            stead. She lay on this at night, and on a sofa
Griffith kissed her, and told her to cheer up; by day.
he was not the man to deny her any thing.   Griffith was now as good as a widower, and
"Just let me get my hay in," said he, " and I'll Citroline Ryder improved the opportunity.  She
take you to Rome, if you like."             threw herself constantly in his way, all smiles,
"No, no; to-day, or to-morrow at farthest, or small talk, and geniality.
you don't love me as I deserve to be loved by you   Like many healthy men, your sickness wearied
this day."                                   him if it lasted over two days; and whenever he
"Now, Kate, my darling, be reasonable.  I came out, chilled and discontented, from his innust get my hay in, and then I am your man."  valid wife, there was a fine, buoyant, healthy
Mrs. Gaunt had gradually sunk almost to her young woman ready to chat with him, and brimknees.  She now started up with nostrils ex- ming over with undisguised admiration.
panding and her blue eyes glittering.  "Your   True, she was only a servant-a servant to the
hay!" she cried, with bitter contempt; "your core. But she had been always about ladies, and
hay before your wife? That is how you love me." could wear their surface as readily as she could
And, the next moment, she seemed to turn their gowns. Moreover, Griffith himself lacked
from a fiery woman to a glacier.            dignity and reserve: he would talk to any body.
Griffith smiled at all this with that lordly su-   The two women began to fill the relative situ.
periority the male of our species sometimes wears ations of clouds and sunshine.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                71
But, ere this had lasted long, the enticing con- you the moment that you threatened that Leontact with the object of her lawless fancy inflamed ard with the horse-pond?"
Ryder, and made her so impatient that she struck   "That is true!" gasped the wretched husband.
her long-meditated blow a little prematurely.  Yet he struggled again. " But she made it up
The passage outside Mrs. Gaunt's door had a with me after that. Why,'twas but the other
large window; and one day, while Griffith was day she begged me to go abroad with her, and
with his wife, Ryder composed herself on the win- take her away from this place. "
dow-seat in a forlorn attitude, too striking and    "Ah? indeed!" said Ryder, bending her black
unlike her usual gay demeanor to pass unnoticed. brows, "did she so?"
Griffith came out and saw this drooping, dis-   "That she did," said Griffith, joyfully: "so
consolate figure. "Hallo!" said he, "what is you see you are mistaken."
wrong with you F" a little fretfully.'  You should have taken her at her word, sir,"
A deep sigh was the only response.        was all the woman's reply.
"Had words with your sweetheart?"          " Well, you see, the hay was out, so I put it
"You know I have no sweetheart, sir."     off; and then came the cursed rain day after
The good-natured squire made an attempt or day, and so she cooled upon it."
two to console her and find out what was the   "Of course she did, sir." Then, with a somatter, but he could get nothing out of her but lemnity that appalled her miserable listener, "I'd
monosyllables and sighs. At last the crocodile give all I'm worth if you had taken her at her
contrived to cry; and, having thus secured his word that minute. But that is the way with
pity, she said, " There, never heed me. I'm a you gentlemen; you let the occasion slip, and we
foolish woman; I can't bear to see my dear mas- that be women never forgive that: she won't
ter so abused."                             give you the same chance again, I know. Now,
" What d'ye mean?" said Griffith, sternly. if I was not afraid to make you unhappy, I'd tell
Her very first shaft wounded his peace of you why she asked you to go abroad. She felt
mind.                                       herself weak and saw her danger; she found she
"Oh, no matter! Why should I be your friend could not resist that Leonard any longer, and she
and my own enemy? If I tell you I shall lose had the sense to see it wasn't worth her while to
my place."                                  ruin herself for him, so she asked you to save her
"Nonsense, girl, you shall never lose your from him-that is the plain English. And you
place while I am here."                     didn't."
"Well, I hope not, sir, for I am very happy   At this Griffith's face wore an expression of
here-too happy, methinks, when you speak kind- agony so horrible that Ryder hesitated in her
ly to me. Take no notice of what I said.'Tis course. "There, there," said she, "pray don't
best to be blind at times."                 look so, dear master! After all, there's nothing
The simple squire did not see that this artful certain; and perhaps I am too severe where I
creature was playing the stale game of her sex-  see you ill treated; and, to be sure, no woman
stimulating his curiosity under pretense of put- could be cold to you unless she was bewitched
ting him off. He began to fret with suspicion out of her seven senses by some other man. I
and curiosity, and insisted on her speaking out.  couldn't use you as mistress does; but then
"Ah! but I am so afraid you will hate me," there's nobody I care a straw for in these parts
said she, "and that will be worse than losing my except my dear master."
place."                                       Griffith took no notice of this overture; the
Griffith stamped on the ground. "What is potent poison of jealousy was coursing through
it?" said he, fiercely.                    all his veins and distorting his ghastly face.
Ryder seemed frightened. "It is nothing,"   "0 God!" he gasped, "can this thing be?
said she; then she paused, and added, " but my My wife! the mother of my child! It is a lie!
folly. I can't bear to see you waste your feel- I can't believe it-I won't believe it. Have pity
ings. She is not so ill as you fancy."      on me, woman, and think again, and unsay your
"Do you mean to say that my wife is pre- words; for, if'tis so, there will be murder in this
tending?"                                  house. "
" How can I say that? I wasn't there; nobody   Ryder was alarmed. "Don't talk so," said she,
saw her fall, nor heard her either, and the house hastily, "no woman born is worth that; besides,
full of people. No doubt there is something the as you say, what do we know against her? She
matter with her, but I do believe her heart is in is a gentlewoman, and well brought up. Now,
more trouble than her back."                dear master, you have got one friend in this
"And what troubles her heart? Tell me, and house, and that is me: I know women better
she shall not fret long."                  than you do. Will you be ruled by me?"
" Well, sir, then just you send for Father   " Yes, I will; for I do believe you care a litLeonard, and she will get up, and walk as she tie for me."
used, and smile on you as she used. That man    "Then don't you believe any thing against
is the main of her sickness, you take my word." our dame. Keep quiet till you know more.
Griffith turned sick at heart; and the strong Don't you be so simple as to accuse her to her
man literally staggered at this envenomed thrust face, or you'll never learn the truth. Just you
of a weak woman's tongue. But he struggled watch her quietly, without seeming, and I'll help
with the poison.                            you. Be a man, and know the truth."
" What d'ye mean, woman?" said he. " The   "I will!" said Griffith, grinding his teeth,
priest hasn't been near her these two months."   "and I believe she will come out pure as snow."
"That is it, sir," replied Ryder, quietly; - "he   "Well, I hope so too," said Ryder, dryly.
is too wise to come here against your will, and Then she added, " But don't you be seen speakshe is bitter against you for frightening him  ing to me too much, sir, or she will suspect me,
away. Ask yourself, sir, didn't she change to and then she will be on her guard with me.




72                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
When I have any thing particular to tell you,   Griffith's face was a piteous sight.  He stamI'll cough-so, and then I'll run out into the mered out, "Well, he is her confessor.  She
Grove: nobody goes there now."              always visited him at times."
Griffith did not see the hussy was contriving    "Ay, sir; but in those days her blood was
t series of assignations. Ile fell into the trap cool, and his too; but bethink you now, when
Txdily.                                     you threatened the man with the horse-pond, he
became your enemy. All revenge is sweet, but
The life this mai. led was now infernal.  what revenge is so sweet to any man as that
He watched his wife night and day to detect which came to his arms of its own accord? I
her heart; he gave up hunting, he deserted the do notice that men can't read men, but any
"' Red Lion;" if he went out of doors, it was but woman can read a woman. Maids they are rea step; he hovered about the place to see if mes- served, because their mothers have told them
sages came or went; and he spent hours in his that is the only way to get married. But what
wife's bedroom, watching her, grim, silent, and have a wife and a priest to keep them distant?
sombre, to detect her inmost heart.  His flesh Can they ever hope to come together lawfully?
wasted visibly, and his ruddy color paled.  Hell That is why a priest's light-o'-love is always
was in his heart. Ay, two hells-jealousy and some honest man's wife. What had those two
suspense.                                    to keep them from folly?  Old Betty Gough?
Mrs. Gaunt saw directly that something was Why, the mistress had bought her, body and
amiss, and ere long she divined what it was.    soul, long ago. No, sir, you had no friend there;
But, if he was jealous, she was proud as Luci- and you had three enemies-love, revenge, and
fer. So she met his ever-watchful eye with the opportunity.  Why, what did the priest say to
face of a marble statue.                     me?  I met him  not ten yards from  here.
Only in secret her heart quaked and yearned,'Ware the horse- pond!' says I.  Says he,
and she shed many a furtive tear, and was sore,'Since I am  to have the bitter, I'll have the
sore perplexed.                              sweet as well.' "*
Meantime Ryder was playing with her master's   These infernal words were not spoken in vain.
anguish like a cat with a mouse.             Griffith's features were horribly distorted, his
Upon the pretense of some petty discovery or eyes rolled fearfully, and he fell to the ground,
other, she got him out day after day into the grinding his teeth, and foaming at the mouth.
Grove, and, to make him believe in her candor An epileptic fit!
and impartiality, would give him feeble reasons   An epileptic fit is a terrible sight; the simple
for thinking his wife loved him still, taking care description of one in our medical books is ap,
to overpower these reasons with some little piece palling.
of strong good sense and subtle observation.   And in this case it was all the more fearful.
It is the fate of moral poisoners to poison the subject being so strong and active.
themselves as well as their victims. This is a   Caroline Ryder shrieked with terror, but no
just retribution, and it fell upon this female'Iago. one heard her; at all events, no one came; to
Her wretched master now loved his wife to dis- be sure, the place had a bad name for ghosts, etc.
traction, yet hated her to the death; and Ryder   She tried to hold his head, but could not, for
loved her master passionately, yet hated him  his body kept bounding from the earth with in,
intensely, by fits and starts.               conceivable elasticity and fury, and his arms flew
These secret meetings on which she had count- in every direction; and presently Ryder received
ed so, what did she gain by them?  She saw that, a violent blow that almost stunned her.
with all her beauty, intelligence, and zeal for him,   She lay groaning and trembling beside the
she was nothing to him still.  He suspected, he victim of her poisonous tongue and of his own
sometimes hated his wife, but he was always full passion.
of her. There was no getting any other wedge   When she recovered herself he was snorting
into his heart.                             rather than breathing, but lying still and pale
This so embittered Ryder that one day she enough, his eyes set and glassy.
revenged herself on him.                       She got up, and went with uneven steps to a
H-le had been saying that no earthly torment little rill hard by, and plunged her face in it;
could equal his; all his watching had shown him  then filled her beaver hat, and came and dashed
nothing for certain.  " Oh," said he, "if I could water repeatedly in his face.
only get proof of her innocence or proof of her   He came to his senses by degrees, but was
guilt!  Any thing better than the misery of weak as an infant.  Then Ryder wiped the foam
doubt. It gnaws my heart, it consumes my from his lips, and, kneeling on her knees, laid a
flesh. I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't sit down. soft hand upon his heavy head, shedding tears of
I envy the dead that lie at peace. Oh, my heart! pity and remorse, and sick at heart herself.
my heart!"                                     For what had she gained by blackening her
" And all for a woman that is not young, nor rival? The sight of his bodily agony, and his
half so handsome as yourself. Well, sir, I'll try ineradicable love.
and cure you of your doubt, if that is what tor-   Mrs. Gaunt sat out cf shot, cold, calm, supements you. When you threatened that Leonard, rior.
he got his orders to come here no more.  But   Yet, in the desperation of her passion, it was
she visited him at his place again and again."   something to nurse his weak head an instant and
"'Tis false! How know you that?"         shed hot tears upon his brow; it was a positive
"As soon as your back was turned she used  joy, and soon proved a fresh and inevitable
to order her horse and ride to him."        temptation.
"How do you know she went to hinm "         "My  poor master," said she, tenderly, " I
"I mounted the tower, and saw the way she
took."                                             * Compare this statement with p. 66.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                73
never will say a word to you again. It is better found a bunch of keys; item, a printed dialogue
to be blind. My God! how you cling to her between Peter and Herod, omitted in the canonithat feigns a broken back to be rid of you, ivhen cal books, but described by the modern discoverthere are others as well to look at, and ever so er as an infallible charm for the toothache; item,
much younger, that adore every hair on your a brass thimble; item, half a nutmeg.
head, and would follow you round the world for   "Curse your cunning," said he; and went off
one kind look."                             muttering.
"Let no one love me like that," said Griffith,   The old woman tottered trembling to Mrs.
feebly; " to love so is to be miserable."    Gaunt, related this outrage with an air of injured
" Pity her, then, at least," murmured Ryder; innocence, then removed her cap, undid her hair,
and, feeling she had quite committed herself and took out a letter from Leonard.
now, her bosom panted under Griffith's ear, and    "This must end, and shall," said Mrs. Gaunt,
told him the secret she had kept till now.  firmly, " else it will drive him mad and me too."
My female readers will sneer at this tempta-   Bolton fair-day came. It was a great fair,
tion; my male readers know that scarcely one and had attractions for all classes. There were
man out of a dozen, sick, sore, and hating her cattle and horses of all kinds for sale, and also
he loved, would have turned away from the illicit shows, games, wrestling, and dancing till day.consolation thus offered to him in his hour of break.
weakness with soft seducing tones, warmn tears,   All the servants had a prescriptive right to go
and heart that panted at his ear.           to this fair, and Griffith himself had never missed
one. He told Kate overnight he would go if it
were not for leaving her alone.
CHAPTER XXV.                      The words were kinder than their meaning,
but Mrs. Gaunt had the tact or the candor to
hIow did poor faulty Griffith receive it?  take them in their best sense.  "And I would
He raised his head, and turned his brown eye go with you, my dear," said she, "but I should
gently but full upon her.  "My poor girl," said only be a drag. Never heed me; give yourself
he, "I see what you are driving at. But that a day's pleasure, for indeed you need it. I am
will not do. I have nothing to give you in ex- in care about you, you are so dull of late."
change. I hate my wife that I loved so dear;   "Well, I will," said Griffith.  "I'll not mope
d-n her! d-n her! But I- hate all woman- here when all the rest are merry-making."
kind for her sake.  Keep you clear of me. I   Accordingly, next day, about eleven in the
would ruin no poor girl for heartless sport. I morning, he mounted his horse and rode to the
shall have blood on my hands ere long, and that fair, leaving the house empty, for all the servis enough."                                  ants were gone except the old housekeeper; she
And, with these alarming words, he seemed was tied to the fireside by rheumatics. Even
suddenly to recover all his vigor; for he rose Ryder started, with a new bonnet and red riband stalked away at once, and never looked be- bons; but that was only a blind. She slipped
hind him.                                    back and got unperceived into her own bedRyder made no farther attempt.  She sat room.
down and shed bitter tears of sorrow and morti-   Griffith ran through the fair, but could not
fication.                                    enjoy it. H(1rebat lateri arundo.  Hie came galAfter this cruel rebuff she must hate some- loping back to watch his wife, and see whether
body, and, with the justice of her sex, she pitch- Betty Gough had come again or not.
ed on Mrs. Gaunt, and hated her like a demon,   As he rode into the stable-yard he caught sight
and watched to do her mischief by hook or by of Ryder's face at an upper window.  She lookcrook.                                       ed pale and agitated, and her black eyes flashed
with a strange expression. She made him a sigGriffith's appearance and manner caused Mrs. nal which he did not understand, but she joined
Gaunt very serious anxiety.  His clothes hung him directly after in the stable-yard.
loose on his wasted frame; his face was of one    "Come quietly with me," said she, solemnly.
uniform sallow tint, like a maniac's; and he sat   He hooked his horse's rein to the wall, and
silent for hours beside his wife, eying her askant followed her, trembling.
from time to time like a surly mastiff guarding   She took him up the back stairs, and, when
some treasure.                              she got on the landing, she turned and said,
She divined what was passing in his mind, and "I Where did you leave her?"
tried to soothe him, but almost in vain. He   "In her own room."
was sometimes softened for the moment; but   " See if she is there now," said Ryder, pointheret lateri lethalis arundo; he still hovered ing to the door.
about, watching her and tormenting himself,   Griffith tore the door open; the room was
gnawed mad by three vultures of the mind-  empty.
doubt, jealousy, and suspense.                 "Nor is she to be found in the house," said
Then Mrs. Gaunt wrote letters to Father Ryder, "for I've been in every room."
Leonard; hitherto she had only sent him short   Griffith's face turned livid, and he staggered
messages.                                    and leaned against the wall.  "Where is she?"
Betty Gough carried these letters and brought said he, hoarsely.
the answers.                                   "Humph!" said Ryder, fiendishly.  "Find
Griffith, thanks to the hint Ryder had given him, and you will find her."
him, suspected this, and waylaid the old woman,   "I'll find them if they are above ground,"
and roughly demanded to see the letter she was cried Griffith, furiously, and he rushed into his
carrying. She stoutly protested she had none. bedroom and soon came out again, with a fearHe seized her, turned her pockets inside out, and fullpurpose written on his ghastly features and




74                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
in his bloodshot eyes, and a loaded pistol in his a voice he could not hear; but his wife pressed a
hand.                                     purse upon Leonard, and Leonard hesitated, but
Ryder was terrified; but, instead of succumb- ended by taking it.
ing to terror, she flew at him. like a cat and   Griffith uttered a yell like a tiger, and rushed
wreathed her arms round him.              between them with savage violence, driving the
"What would you do?" cried she. "Mad- lady one way with his wrists, and the priest anman, would you hang for them, and break my other. She screamed; he trembled in silence.
heart?-the only woman in the world that loves   Griffith stood a moment between these two pale
you. Give me the pistol. Nay, I will have it." faces, silent and awful.
And, with that extraordinary power excite-   Then he faced his wife. "You vile wretch!"
ment lends her sex, she wrenched it out of his he cried; " so you buy your own dishonor and
hands.                                    mine."  He raised his hand high over her head;
He gnashed his teeth with fury, and clutched she never winced. " Oh! but for my oath, I'd
her with a gripe of iron. She screamed with lay you dead at my feet. But no; I'll not hang
pain: he relaxed his grasp a little at that: she for a priest and a wanton. So, this is the thing
turned on him and defied him.             you love, and pay it to love you." And, with all
" I won't let you get into trouble for a priest the mad inconsistency of rage, which mixes small
and a wanton," she cried; "you shall kill me things and great, he tore the purse out of Leonfirst. Leave me the pistol, and pledge me your ard's hand, and then seized him felly by the
sacred word to do them no harm, and then I'll throat.
tell you where they are. Refuse me this, and   At that the high spirit of Mrs. Gaunt gave way
you shall go to your grave and know nothing to abject terror.  "Oh, mercy! mercy!" she
more than you know now."                  cried; "it is all a mistake." And she clung to
"No, no; if you are a woman, have pity on his knees.
me; let me come at them. There, I'll use no   He spurned her furiously away. " Don't touch
weapon. I'll tear them to atoms with these me, woman," he cried,"or you are dead. Look
hands. Where are they?"                   at this!"  And in a moment, with gigantic
"May I put the pistol away, then?"     strength and furyv, he dashed the priest down at
"Yes, take it out of my sight; so best. her feet. "I know ye, ye proud devil," he cried;
Where are they?"                         "love the thing you have seen me tread uponRyder locked the pistol up in one of Mrs. love it, if ye can!"  And he literally trampled
Gaunt's boxes. Then she said, in a trembling upon the poor priest with both feet.
voice, "Follow me."                          Leonard shrieked for mercy.
He followed her in awful silence.          "None, in this world or the next," roared
She went rather slowly to the door that open- Griffith; but the next moment he took fright at
ed on the lawn, and then she hesitated.  "If. himself.  " God!" he cried, "I must go, or kilL
you are a man, and have any feeling for a poor Live and be damned forever, the pair of ye."
girl who loves you-if you are a gentleman, and And with this he fled from them, grinding his
respect your word-no violence."           teeth and beating the air with his clenched
"I promise," said he. "Where are they?"  fists.
"Nay, nay, I fear I shall rue the day I told   He darted to the stable-yard, sprang on his
you. Promise me once more: no bloodshed- horse, and galloped away from Hernshaw Castle,
upon your soul."                          with the face, the eyes, the gestures, the inco"I promise.  Where are they F"          herent mutterings of a raving Bedlamite.
" God forgive me; they are in the Grove."
He bounded away from her like some beast
of prey, and she crouched and trembled on the
steps of the door; and, now that she realized
what she was doing, a sickening sense of dire   AT the fair the wrestling was ended, and the
misgiving came over her and made her feel quite tongues going over it all again, and throwing the
faint.                                    victors; the greasy pole, with leg of mutton atAnd so the weak, but dangerous creature sat tached by ribbons, was being hoisted, and the
crouching and quaking, and.launched the strong swings flying, and the lads and lasses footing it to
one.                                      the fife and tabor, and the people chattering in
Griffith was soon in the Grove, and the first groups, when the clatter of a horse's feet was
thing he saw was Leonard and his wife walking heard, and a horseman burst in and rode recktogether in earnest conversation. Their backs lessly through the market-place; indeed, if his
were toward him. Mrs. Gaunt, whom he had noble horse had been as rash as he was, some
left lying on a sofa, and who professed herself would have been trampled under foot. The ridscarce able to walk half a dozen times across the er's face was ghastly; such as were not exactly
room, was now springing along, elastic as a in his path had time to see it, and wonder how
young greyhound, and full of fire and animation. this terrible countenance came into that merry'The miserable husband saw, and his heart died place.  Thus, as he passed, shouts of dismay
within him.                               arose, and a space opened before him, and then
He leaned against a tree and groaned.   closed behind him with a great murmur that folThe deadly sickness of his heart soon gave way lowed at his heels.
to sombre fury. He came softly after them, with   Tom Leicester was listening, spell-bound, on
ghastly cheek, and bloodthirsty eyes like red-hot the outskirts of the throng, to the songs and hucoals.                                    morous tirades of a peddler selling his wares, and
They stopped, and he heard his wife say,"'Tis was saying to himself, "I too will be a peddler."
a solemn promise, then-this very night." The Hearing the row, he turned round, and saw his
priest bowed assent. Then they spoke in so low  master just coming down with that stricken face,




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              75
Tom could not decipher his own name in print the room, and then he flung himself like a sack
or manuscript, and these are the fellows that into the arm-chair.
beat us all at reading countenances; he saw in a   The landlady invited him to order supper; he
moment that some great calamity had fallen on declined. She pressed him. He flung a piece
Griffith's head, and nature stirred in him. He of money on the table, and told her savagely to
darted to his master's side and seized the bridle. score his supper, and leave him in peace.
"What is up?" he cried.                     She flounced out with a red face, and comBut Griffith did not answer nor notice; his plained to her husband in the kitchen.
ears were almost deaf, and his eyes, great and   Harry Vint rung the crown piece on the table
staring, were fixed right ahead, and, to all ap- before he committed himself to a reply. It rang
pearance, he did not see the people; he seemed like a bell. "Churl or not, his coin is good,"
to be making for the horizon.             said Harry Vint, philosophically.  "I'll eat his
"Master! for the love of Heaven, speak to supper, dame, for that matter."
me," cried Leicester.  " What have they done   "Father," whispered Mercy, " I do think the
to you? Whither be you going, with the face of gentleman is in trouble."
a ghost?"                                   " And that is no business of mine, neither,"
"' Away, from the hangman," shrieked Griffith, said Harry Vint.
still staring at the horizon. " Stay me not; my   Presently the guest they were discussing called
hands itch for their throats; my heart thirsts for loudly for a quart of burnt wine.
their blood; but I'll not hang for a priest and a   When it was ready, Mercy offered to take it in
wanton." Then he suddenly turned on Leicester, to him. She was curious. The landlord looked
"Let thou go, or-" and he lifted up his heavy up rather surprised, for his daughter attended to
riding-whip.                              the farm, but fought shy of the inn and its busiThen Leicester let go the rein, and the whip ness.
descended on the horse's flank; he went clatter-   "Take it, lass, and welcome for me," said
ing furiously over the stones, and drove the thin- Mrs. Vint, pettishly.
ner groups apart like chaff, and his galloping feet   Mercy took the wine in, and found Griffith
were soon heard fainter and fainter till they died with his head buried in his hands.
away in the distance. Leicester stood gaping.    She stood a while with the tray, not knowing
what to do.
Griffith's horse, a black hunter of singular   Then, as he did not move, she said, softly,
power and beauty, carried his wretched master " The wine, sir, an if it please you."
well that day; he went on till sunset, trotting,   Griffith lifted his head, and turned two eyes
cantering, and walking without intermission; the clouded with suffering upon her; he saw a buxwhip ceased to touch him, the rein never checked om, blooming young woman, with remarkably
him. He found he was the master, and he went dove-like eyes, that dwelt with timid, kindly cuhis own way.  He took his broken rider back riosity upon him. lie looked at her in a half
into the county where he had been foaled. But a distracted way, and then put his hand to the
few miles from his native place they came to the mug. " Here's perdition to all false women!"
" Packhorse," a pretty little road-side inn, with said he, and tossed half the wine down at a sinfarm-yard and buildings at the back. He had gle draught.
often baited there in his infancy; and now, stiff   "'Tis not to me you drink, sir," said Mercy,
and stumbling with fatigue, the good horse could with gentle dignity. Then she courtesied modnot pass the familiar place; he walked gravely estly and retired, discouraged, not offended.
into the stable-yard, and there fairly came to an   The wretche" Griffith took no notice-did not
end; craned out his drooping liead, crooked his even see he had repulsed a friendly visitor. The
limbs, and seemed of wood. And no wonder-  wine, taken on an empty stomach, soon stupefied
he was ninety-three miles from his last corn.    him, and he staggered to bed.
Paul Carrick, a young farrier who frequented   He awoke at daybreak; and oh! the agony
the "Packhorse," happened just then to be loung- of that waking.
ing at the kitchen door, and saw him come in.   He lay sighing a while, with his hot skin quivHe turned directly, and shouted into the house, ering on his bones, and his heart like lead; then
" Ho! Master Vint, come hither. Here's Black got up and flung his clothes on hastily, and asked
Dick come home, and brought you a worshipful how far to the nearest sea-port.
customer. "                                 Twenty miles.
The landlord bustled out of the kitchen, cry-   He called for his horse. The poor brute was
ing, " They are welcome both." Then he came dead lame.
lowly Iouting to Griffith, cap in hand, and held   He cursed that good servant for going )hme.
the horse, poor immovable brute; and his wife He walked round and round like a wild beast,
courtesied perseveringly at the door.     chafing and fuming a while, then sank into a torGriffith dismounted, and stood there looking por of dejection, and sat with his head bowed on
like one in a dream.                      the table all day.
"Please you come in, sir," said the landlady,   He ate scarcely any food, but drank wine freesmiling professionally.                   ly, remarking, however, that it was false-hearted
He followed her mechanically.           stuff; did him no good; and had no taste as
"Would your worship be private? We keep wine used to have.  " But nothing is what it
a parlor for gentles."                    was," said he. "Even I was happy once. But
"Ay, let me be alone," he groaned.      that seems years ago."
Mercy Vint, the daughter, happened to be on   "Alas! poor gentleman; God comfort you,"
the stairs and heard him; the voice startled her, said Mercy Vint, and came with the tears in her
and she turned round directly to look at the dove-like eyes, and said to her father," To be
speaker; but she only saw his back going into sure his worship hath been crossed in love; and




76                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
what could she be thinking of? Such a hand- and the patient's pulse became scarce perceptible.
some, well-made gentleman!"               There he lay, with wet hair, and gleaming eyes,
" Now that is a wench's first thought," said and haggard face, at death's door.
Harry Vint: " more likely lost his money gam-   An experienced old crone was got to nurse
bling or racing. But, indeed, I think'tis his him, and she told Mrs.Vint he would live maybe
head is disordered, not his heart. I wish the three days.'Packhorse' was quit of him, maugre his laced
coat. We want no kill-joys here."            Paul Carrick used to come to the "PackThat night he was heard groaning and talk- horse" to see Mercy Vint, and, finding her sad,
ing, and did not come down at all.         asked her what was the matter.
So at noon Mrs.Vint knocked at his door: a   "What should it be," said she, "but the poor
weak voice bade her enter; she found him shiv- gentleman a-dying overhead, away from all his
ering, and he asked her for a fire.        friends."
She grumbled, out of hearing, but lighted a   "Let me see him," said Paul.
fire.                                        Mercy took him softly into the room.
Presently his voice was heard hallooing: he   " Ay, he is booked," said the farrier. " Docwanted all the windows open, he was so burning tor has taken too much blood out of the man's
hot.                                       body. They kill a many that way."
The landlady looked at him, and saw his face   " Alack, Paul! must he die? Can naught be
was flushed and swollen, and he complained of done?" said Mercy, clasping her hands.
pain in all his bones. She opened the windows,   " I don't say that, neither," said the farrier.
and asked him would he have a doctor sent for: "He is a well-made man - he is young. I
he shook his head contemptuously.          might save him, perhaps, if I had not so many
However, toward evening he became delirious, beasts to look to. I'll tell you what you do.
and raved and tossed, and rolled his head as if it Make him soup as strong as strong; have him
was an intolerable weight he wanted to get rid of. watched night and day, and let'em put a spoonThe females of the family were for sending at ful of warm wine into him every hour, and then
once for a doctor, but the prudent Harry de- of soup; egg flip is a good thing too; change
murred.                                    his bed-linen, and keep the doctors from him;'  Tell me first who is to pay the fee," said he. that is his only chance: he is fairly dying of
" I've seen a fine coat with the pockets empty weakness. But I must be off. Farmer Blake's
before to-day."                            cow is down for calving; I must give her an
The women set up their throats at him with ounce of salts before'tis too late."
one accord, each after her kind.             Mercy Vint scanned the patient closely, and
" Out, fie!" said Mercy; "are we to do saw that Paul Carrick was right. She followed
naught for charity?"                      his instructions to the letter, with one exception.
" Why, there's his horse, ye foolish man," said Instead of trusting to the old woman, of whom
Mrs. Vint.                                 she had no very good opinion, she had the great
" Ay, ye are both wiser than me," said Harry arm-chair brought into the sick-room, and
Vint, ironically. And soon after that he went watched the patient herself by night and day.
out softly.                                A gentle hand cooled his temples; a gentle hand
The next minute he was in the sick man's brought concentrated nourishment to his lips;
room, examining his pockets. To his infinite and a mellow voice coaxed him to be good and
surprise, he found twenty gold pieces, a quantity swallow it. There are voices it is not natural to
of silver, and some trinkets.             resist, and Griffith learned by degrees to obey
He spread them all out on the table and gloat- this one, even when he was half unconscious.
ed on them with greedy eyes. They looked so   At the end of three days this zealous young
inviting that he said to himself they would be nurse thought she discerned a slight improvesafer in his custody than in that of a delirious ment, and told her mother so. Then the old
person, who was even now raving incoherently lady came and examined the patient, and shook
before him, and could not see what he was do- her head gravely. Herjudgment, like her daughing. He therefore proceeded to transfer them  ter's, was influenced by her wishes.
to his own care.                             The fact is, both landlord and landlady were
On the way to his pocket, his shaking hand now calculating upon Griffith's decease. Harry
was arrested by another hand, soft, but firm as had told her about the money and jewels, and
iron. He shuddered, and looked round in abject the pair had put their heads together, and settled
terror; and there was his daughter's face, pale that Griffith was a gentleman highwayman, and
as hit own, but full of resolution. " Nay, father," his spoil would never be reclaimed after his desaid she, "I must take charge of these, and well cease, but fall to those good Samaritans who
do you know why."                          were now nursing him, and intended to bury him
These simple words cowed Harry Vint, so that respectably. The future being thus settled, this
he instantly resigned the money and jewels, and worthy couple became a little impatient; for
retired, muttering that "things were come to a Griffith, like Charles the Second, was "an unpretty pass" —" a man was no longer master in conscionable time dying."
his own house," etc., etc., etc.             We order dinner to hasten a lingering guest,
While he inveighed against the degeneracy of and, with equal force of logic, mine host of the
the age, the women paid no more attention than  "Packhorse" spoke to White, the village carpenthe age did, but just sent for the doctor. He ter, about a full-sized coffin, and his wife set the
came, and bled the patient. This gave him a old crone to make a linen shroud, unobtrusively,
momentary relief; but when, in the natural prog- in the bake-house.
ress of the disease, sweating and weakness came   On the third afternoon of her nursing Mercy
on, the loss of the precious vital fluid was fatal, left her patient, and called up the crone to tend




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 77
him. She herself, worn out with fatigue, threw I'd balk them finely. I'd up and order a beefherself on a bed in her mother's room hard by, steak this minute."
and soon fell asleep.                          "And shall," said Griffith, with feeble spite.
She had slept about two hours when she was " Leastways do you order it, and I'll eat itwakened by a strange noise in the sick-chamber d-n her!"
-a man and a woman quarreling.                 Sick men are like children, and women soon
She bounded off the bed, and was in the room  find that out, and manage them accordingly. In
directly.                                    ten minutes Mercy brought a good rump-steak
Lo and behold, there were the nurse and the to the bedside, and said, "Now for't.  Marry
dlying man abusing one another like pick- come up, with her winding-sheets!"
pockets.                                       Thus played upon and encouraged, the great
The cause of this little misunderstanding was baby ate more than half the steal:, and soon after
not far to seek. The old crone had brought up perspired gently and fell asleep.
her work, videlicet a winding-sheet all but fin-   Paul Carrick found him breathing gently, with
ished, and certain strips of glazed muslin about a slight tint of red in his cheek, and told Mercy
three inches deep.  She soon completed the there was a change for the better.  "We have
winding-sheet, and hung it over two chairs in brought him to a true intermission," said he, " so
the patient's sight; she then proceeded to double throw in the bark at once."
the slips insix, and nick them; then she unrolled    "What, drench his honor's worship!" said
them, and they were frills, and well adapted to Mercy, innocently.  " Nay, send thou the medimake the coming corpse absurd, and divest it of cine, and I'll find womanly ways to get it down
any little dignity the King of Terrors might be- him."
stow on it.                                    Next day came the doctor, and whispered softShe was so intent upon her congenial task that ly to Mrs. Vint, " How are we all up stairs?"
she did not observe the sick man had awakened,  "Why couldn't you come afore?" replied Mrs.
and was viewing her and her work with an intel- Vint, crossly.  " Here's farrier Carrick stepped
ligent but sinister eye.                     in, and curing him out of hand-the meddlesome
"What is that you are making?" said he, body."
grimly.                                        "A farrier rob me of my patient!" cried the
The voice was rather clear and strong, and doctor, in high dudgeon.
seemed so loud and strange in that still chamber   "Nay, good sir,'tis no fault of mine. Thllis
that it startled the woman mightily. She uttered Paul is a sort of a kind of a follower of our Mlera little shriek, and then was wroth.  "Plague cy's, and she is mistress here, I trow."
take the man!" said she; " how you scared me.   "And what hath his farriership prescribed?
Keep quiet, do, and mind your own business." Friar's balsam, belike."
[The business of going off the hooks.]         "Nay, I know not; but you may soon learn,
" I ask you what is that you are making," said for he is above, physicking the gentleman (a pretGriffith, louder, and raising himself on his arm. ty gentleman!), and suiting to our Mercy-after
" Baby's fiills," replied the woman, coolly, re- a manner."
covering that contempt for the understandings   The doctor declined to rmalke one in so mixed
of the dying which marks the veritable crone.   a consultation.
"Ye lie!" said Griffith.  "And there is a   "Give me my fee, dame," said he; " and as
shroud. Who is that for?"                   for this impertinent farrier, the patient's blood be
"' Who should it be for, thou simple body? on his head; and I'd have him beware the law."
Keep quiet, do, till the change comes.'Twon't   Mrs. Vint went to the stair-foot, and screamed,
be long now; art too well to last till sundown." " Mercy, the good doctor wants his fee. Who
"So'tis for me, is it?" screamed Griffith. is to pay it, I wonder?"
"I'll disappoint ye yet.  Give me my clothes.   "1'll bring it him anon," said a gentle voice;
I'll not lie here to be measured for my grave, ye and Mercy soon came down and paid it with a
old witch."                                  willing air that half disarmed professional fllry.
"Here's manners!" cackled the indignant   "'Tis a good lass, dame," said the doctor,
crone.  "Ye foul-mouthed knave, is this Iow  when she was gone; "and, by the same token,
you thank a decent woman for making a com- I wish her better mated than to a scrub of a
fortable corpse of ye, you that has no right to farrier."
die in your shoes, let a be such dainties as muslin neck-ruff, and shroud of good Dutch flax?"    Griffith, still weak, but freed of fever, woke one
At this Griffith discharged a volley, in which glorious afternoon, and heard a bird-like voice
"vulture," "hag," "blood-sucker," etc., blended humming a quaint old ditty, and saw a field of
with as many oaths, during which Mercy came golden wheat through an open window, and seatin.                                          ed at that window the mellow songstress, Mercy
She glided to him with her dove's eyes full of Vint, plying her needle, with lowered lashes but
concern, and laid her hand gently on his shoul- beaming face, a picture of health and quiet womder.  "You'll work yourself a mischief," said anly happiness.  Things were going to her mind
she; "leave me to scold her. Why, my good in that sick-room.
Nelly, how could you be so hare - brained?   He looked at her, and at the golden corn and
Prithee take all that trumpery away this min- summer haze beyond, and the tide of life seemed
ate; none here needeth it, nor shall not this to rush back upon him.
many a year, please God."                      " My good lass," said he, " tell me where am
"They want me dead," said Griffith to her, I, for I know not."
piteously, finding he had got one friend, and sunk   Mercy started and left off singing, then rose
back on his pillow exhausted.                and came slowly toward him, with her work in
" So it seems," said Mercy, cunningly. " But her hand.




78                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
Innocent joy at this new symptom of conva-   "Me sing! Alack, sir, I'm no songster."
lescence flushed her comely features, but she   "That is false. You sing like a throstle. I
spoke low.                                   dote on music; and, when I was delirious, I
"Good sir, at the'Packhorse,"' said she, heard one singing about my bed; I thought it
smiling.                                    was an angel at that time, but'twas only you, my
" The.'Packhorse,' and where is that?"  young mistress; and, now I ask you, you say me
" Hard by Allerton village. "             nay. That is the way with you all. Plague take' And where is that-not in Cumberland?"  the girl, and all her cursed, unreasonable, hypo" Nay, in Lancashire, your worship. Why, critical sex. I warrant me you'd sing if I wantwhence come you, that know not the'Pack- ed to sleep, and dance the devil to a standstill."
horse,' nor yet Allerton township? Come you   Mercy, instead of flouncing out of the room,
from Cumberland?"                          stood looking on him  with maternal eyes, and
"No matter whence I come. I'm going on chuckling like a bird.
board ship, like my father before me."         " That is right, sir; tax us all to your heart's
"Alas! sir, you are not fit; you have been content. Oh, but I'm  a joyful woman to hear
very ill, and partly distraught."            you, for'tis a sure sign of mending when the sick
She stopped, for Griffith turned his face to the take to rating of their nurses."
wall with a deep groan.  It had all rushedsover   "In sooth, I am too cross-grained," said Grifhim in a moment.                            fith, relenting.
Mercy stood still and worked on, but the wa-   "Not a whit, sir, for my taste. I've been in
ter gathered in her eyes at that eloquent groan.  care for you, and now you are a little cross, that
By-and-by Griffith turned round again, with a maketh me easy."
face of anguish. and filmy eyes, and saw her in    " Thou art a good soul. Wilt sing me a stave
the same place standing, working, and pitying.  after all?"
" What, are you there still?" said he, roughly.   "La vou now, how you come back to that!
"Ay, sir; but I'll go sooner than be trouble- Ay, and with a good heart; for, to be sure,'tis a
some. Can I fetch you any thing?"           sin to gainsay a sick man. But, indeed, I am
" No. Ay, wine; bring me wine to drown it the homeliest singer.  Methinks'tis time I went
all."                                        down and bade them cook your worship's supShe brought him a pint of wine.            per."
" Pledge me," said he, with a miserable at-   " Nay, I'll not eat nor sup till I hear thee
tempt at a smile.                            sing. "
She put the cup to her lips and sipped a drop    " Your will is my law, sir, " said Mercy, dryly,
or two, but her dove's eyes were looking up at and retired to the window-seat; that was the first
him over the liquor all the time.  Griffith soon obvious preliminary.  Then she fiddled with her
disposed of the rest, and asked for more.    apron, and hemmed, and waited in hopes a re" Nay," said she,-" but I dare not; the doc- prieve might come; but a peevish, relentless
tor hath forbidden excess in drinking."      voice demanded the song at intervals.
" The doctor! what doctor?"                 So then she turned her head carefully away
"Doctor  Paul," said she, demurely.  " He from her hearer, lowered her eyes, and, looking
hath saved your life, sir, I do think."     the picture of guilt and shame all the time, sang
" Plague take him for that!"             an ancient ditty. The poltroon's voice was rich,
" So say not I."                          mellow, clear, and sweet as honey, and she sang
Here she left him with an excuse.  "'Tis the notes for the'sake of the words, not the words
milking time, sir, and you shall know that I am  for the sake of the notes, as all but Nature's
our dairy-maid.  I seldom trouble the inn."    singers do.
Next day she was on the window-seat working   The air was grave as well as sweet; for Mercy
and beaming. The patient called to her in pee- was of an old Puritan stock, and even her songs
vish accents to put his head higher. She laid were not giddy-paced, but solid, quaint, and tendown her work with a smile, and came and raised der: all the more did they reach the soul.
his head.                                      In vain was the blushing cheek averted, and
"There, now, that is too high," said he; the honeyed lips: the ravishing tones set the
" how awkward you are!"      i             birds chirping outside, yet filled the room with"I lack experience, sir, but not good will. in, and the glasses rang in harmony upon the
There, now, is that a little better?"      shelf as the sweet singer poured out from her
" Ay, a little.  I'm sick of lying here; I want heart (so it seemed) the speaking song that beto get up. Dost hear what I say? I-w-ant- gins thus:
to get up."
" And so you shall, as soon as ever you are fit.  " Il vain you tell your parting lover
To-morrow, perhaps.  To-day you must e'en be      Alas! what winds can happy prove
patient. Patience is a rare medicine."            That bear me far from her I love?
Alas! what dangers on the main
Can equal those that I sustain
Tic, tic, tic!             "                     Vhat  a noise they are mak-  From slighted love and cold disdain."
ing down stairs.  Go, lass, and bid them hold
their peace."                                  Griffith beat time with his hand a while, and
Mercy shook her head.  " Good lack-a-day! his own face softened and beautified as the melwe might as well bid the river give over running; ody curled about his heart. But soon it was too
but, to be sure, this comes of keeping a hostelry, much for him; he knew the song-had sung it
sir. Whci we had only the farm, we were quiet, to Kate Peyton in their days of courtship.  A
and did nl ill to no one."                  thousand memories gushed in upon his soul and
" Well, sing me, to drown their eterral buzz- overpowered him. He burst out sobbing violenting; it worries me dead."                   ly, and wept as if his heart must break.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              79
"Alas! what have I done?" said Mercy; and   Pity and admiration; where these meet, love
the tears ran swiftly from her eyes at the sight. is not far behind.
Then, with native delicacy, she hurried from the   And then this man, who had been cross and
room.                                     rough while he was weak, became gentler, kindWhat Griffith went through that night in si- er, and more deferential to her the stronger he
lence was never known but to himself. But the got.
next morning he was a changed man. He was   Mrs. Vint saw they were both fond of each
all dogged resolution; put on his clothes unaid- other's company, and disapproved it. She told
ed, though he could hardly stand to do it; and Paul Carrick if he had any thought of Mercy he
borrowed the landlord's staff, and crawled out a had better give over shilly-shallying, for there
smart distance into the sun. "It was kill or was another man after her. Paul made light of
cure," said he. " I am to live, it seems. Well, it at first. " She has known me too long to take
then, the past is dead. My life begins again to- up her head with a new-comer," said he. " To
day."                                     be sure I never asked her to name the day, but
Hen-like Mercy soon learned this sally of her she knows my mind well enough, and I know
refractory duckling, and was uneasy. So, for an hers. "
excuse to watch him, she brought him out his   "Then you know more than I do," said the
money and jewels, and told him she had thought mother, ironically.
it safest to take charge of them.           He thought over this conversation, and very
Ile thanked her cavalierly, and offered her a wisely determined not to run unnecessary risks.
diamond ring.                             He came up one afternoon, and hunted about for
She blushed scarlet and declined it, and even Mercy till he found her milking a cow in the
turned a meekly reproachful glance on him with adjoining paddock.
her dove's eyes.                             "  Well, lass," said he, " I've good news for thee.
My old dad says we may have his house to live
He had a suit of russet made, and put away in, so now you and I can yoke next month, if ye
his fine coat, and forbade any one to call him  will."
"Your worship." "I am a farmer like your-   " Me turn the honest man out of his house!"
selves, "said he, "and my name is-Thomas said Mercy, mighty innocently.
Leicester."                                  "Who asks you? He nobbut bargains for the
chimney corner, and you are not the girl to beA brain fever either kills the unhappy lover, grudge the old man that."
or else benumbs the very anguish that caused it.   " Oh no, Paul. But what would father do if
And so it was with Griffith. His love got be- I were to leave his house? Methinks the farm
numbed, and the sense of his wrongs vivid. He would go to rack and ruin, he is so wrapped up
nursed a bitter hatred of his wife; only, as he in his nasty public."
could not punish her without going near her,   "Why, he has got a helper, by all accounts;
and no punishment short of death seemed enough and, if you talk like that, you will neevr wed at
for her, he set to work to obliterate her from his all."
very memory, if possible. He tried employment.   " Never is a big word. But I am loo young
He pottered about the little farm, advising and to marry yet. Jenny, thou jade, stand still."
helping, and that so zealously that the landlord   The attack and defense proceeded upon these
retired altogether from  that department, and terms for some time, and the defendant had one
Griffith, instead of he, became Mercy's ally, agri- base advantage, and used it. Her forehead was
cultural and bucolical.  She was a shepherdess wedged tight against Jenny's ribs, and Paul could
to the core, and hated the poor " Packhorse. "   not see her face. This, and the feminine evasiveFor all that, it was her fate to add to its at- ness of her replies, irritated him at last.
tractions; for Griffith bought a viol de gambo,   "Take thy head out o' the coow," said he,
and taught her sweet songs, which he accompa- roughly, " and answer straight. Is all our woonied with such skill, and sometimes with his ing to go for naught?"
voice, that good company often looked in on the   " Wooing? You never said so much to me in
chance of a good song sweetly sung and played.  all these years as you have to-day."
The sick in body or mind are egotistical.   "Oh, ye knew my mind well enough. There's
Griffith was no exception. Bent on curing his a many ways of showing the heart."
own deep wound, he never troubled his head   " Speaking out is the best, I trow."
about the wound he might inflict.            " Why, what do I come here for twice a week,
He was grateful to his sweet nurse, and told this two years past, if not for thee?"
her so; and his gratitude charmed her all the   "Ay, for me and father's ale."
more that it had been rather long in coming.  "And thou canst look at me and tell me that?
He found this dove-like creature a wonderful Ye false,hard-hearted hussy. But say, thou vast
soother: he applied her more and more to his never so;'tis this Thomas Leicester hath besore heart.                               witched thee, and set thee against thy true
As for Mercy, she had been too good and kind lover."
to her patient not to take a tender interest in his   "vIr. Leicester pays no suit to me," said Merconvalescence. Our hearts warm more to those cy, blushing: "he is a right civil-spoken gentlewe have been kind to than to those who have man, and you know you saved his life."
been kind to us; and the female reader can ea-   "The more fool I. I wish I had known he
sily imagine what delicious feelings stole into was going to rob me of my lass's heart, I'd have
that womanly heart when she saw her pale nurs- seen him die a hundred times ere I'd have interling pick up health and strength under her wing, fered. But they say if you save a man's life
and become the finest, handsomest man in the he'll make you rue it. Mercy, my lass, you are
parish.                                   well respected in the parish; take a thought




80                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
now: better be a farrier's wife than a gentle-   At these simple words Griffith winced, and his
man's mistress."                            countenance changed remarkably.  Mrs. Vint
Mercy did take her head "out of the cow" observed it, and was all the more resolved to
at this, and for once her cheek burned with an- have it out with him.
ger; but the unwonted sentiment died before it   " Her sweetheart i" said Griffith.  " Why, I
could find words, and she said quietly, " I need have seen them together a dozen of times, and
not be either, against my will."            not a word of courtship."
" Oh, the young men don't make many speechYoung Carrick made many such appeals to es in these parts. They show their hearts by act."
Mercy Vint, but he could never bring her to con-   "By act? Why, I met them coming home
fess to him that he and she had ever been more from milking t'other evening. Mercy was carthan friends, or were now any thing less than rying the pail, brimful, and that oaf sauntered
friends.  Still he forced her to own to herself by her side, with his hands in his pockets; was
that, if she had never seen Thomas Leicester, that the act of a lover?"
her quiet affection and respect for Carrick would    " I heard of it, sir," said Mrs. Vint, quietly;
probably have carried her to the altar with him. " and as how you took the pail from her, willy
His remonstrances, sometimes angry, some- nilly, and carried it home. Mercy was vexed
times tearful, awoke her pity, which was the about it.  She told me you panted at the door,
grand sentiment of her heart, and disturbed her and she was a deal fitter to carry the pail than
peace.                                       you, that is just off a sick-bed, like. But lawk,
Moreover, she studied the two. men in her sir, ye can't go by the likes of that: the bachequiet, thoughtful way, and saw that Carrick lors here they'd see their sweethearts carry the
loved her with all his honest, though hitherto roof into next parish on their backs, like a snail,
tepid heart; but Griffith had depths, and could and never put out a hand;'tis not the custom
love with more passion than ever he had shown hereaway.  But, as I was saying, Paul and our
for her.  " He is not the man to have a fever by Mercy kept company after a manner: he never
r'eason of me," said the poor girl to herself.  But had the wit to flatter her as should be, nor the
I am afraid even this attracted her to Griffith; it stomach to bid her name the day, and he'd buy
nettled a woman's soft ambition, which is, to be the ring; but he talked to her about his sick
as-well loved as ever woman was.             beasts more than he did to any other girl in the
And so things went on, and, as generally hap- parish, and she'd have ended by going to church
pens, the man who was losing ground went the with him, only you came and put a coolness
very way to lose more.  He spoke ill of Griffith atween'em."
behind his back; called him a highwayman, a    "I! How?"
gentleman, an ungrateful, undermining traitor.   "Well, sir, our Mercy is a kind-hearted lass,
But Griffith never mentioned Carrick; and so, though I say it, and you were sick, and she did
when he and Mercy were together, her old fol- nurse you; and that was a beginning. And, to
lower was pleasingly obliterated, and affection- be sure, you are a fine, personable man, and capiate good-humor reigned. Thus Griffith, alias tal company; and you are always about the girl;'Thomas, became her sunbeam, and Paul her and bethink you, sir, she is flesh and blood like
cloud.                                       her neighbors.; and they say, once a body has
But he who had disturbed the peace of oth- tasted venison steak, it spoils their stomach for
ers, his own turn came.                      oat porridge.  Now that is Mercy's case, I'm
One day he found Mercy crling. He sat thinking; not that she ever said as much to me;
down beside her, and said kindly, " Why, sweet- she is too reserved.  3But, bless your heart, I'm
heart, what is amiss?"                      forced to go about with eyes in my head, and
" No great matter," said she, and turned her watch'em all a bit, me that keeps an inn."
head away, but did not check her tears, for it   Griffith groaned.  "I'm a villain!" said he.
was new and pleasant to be consoled by Thomas    "Nay, nay," said Mrs. Vint.  "Gentlefolks
Leicester."                                  must be amused, cost what it may; but, hoping
"Nay, but tell me, child."                 no offense, sir, the girl was a good friend to you
" Well, then, Jessie Carrick has been at me-  in time of sickness, and so was this Paul, for that
that is all."                                matter."
"The vixen! what did she say?"              "She was," cried Griffith; "God bless her.
"Nay, I'm not pleased enow witn it to repeat How can I ever repay her?"
it. She did cast somethmg in my teeth."        "Well, sir," said Mrs. Vint, "if that comes
Griffith pressed her to be more explicit.  She from  your heart, you might take our 2Mercy
declined with so many blushes that his curiosity apart, and tell her you like her very well, but
was awakened, and he told Mrs.Vint, with some not enough to marry a farmer's daughter-don't
heat, that Jess Carrick had been making Mercy say an inn-keeper's daughter, or you'll be sure to
cry.                                         offend her; she is bitter against the' l'ackhorse.'
" Like enow," said Mrs.Vint, coolly. "She'll Says you,'This Paul is an honest lad; turn your
eat her victuals all one for that, please God."    heart back to him.' And with that, mount your
" Else I'll ring the cock-nosed jade's neck black horse and ride away, and God speed you,
next time she comes here," replied Griffith; sir; we shall often talk of you at the'Pack"bat, dame, I want to know what she can have horse,' and naught but good."
to say to Mercy to make her cry."              Griffith gave the woman his hand, and his
Mrs.Vint looked him steadily in the face for breast labored heavily.
some time, and then and there decided to come   Jealousy was ingrained in the man.  Mrs.
to an explanation.  "Ten to one'tis about her Vint had pricked his conscience, but she had
brother," said she; "you know this Paul is our woundedhis foible.
Mercy's sweetheart."                           He was not in love with Mercy, but he es



GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              81
teemed her, and liked her, and saw her value, write, and cast accounts; good at her sampler,
and, above all, could not bear another man and can churn and make cheeses, and play of
should have her.                           the viol, and lead the psalm in church, and
Now this gave the matter a new'turn. Mrs. dance a' minuet, she can, with any lady in the
Vint had overcome her dislike to him long ago; land. As to her nursing in time of sickness,
still, he was not her favorite. But his giving that I leave to you, sir."
tler his hand with a gentle pressure, and his   "She is an angel," cried Griffith, "and my
al
n~~~i~ i 
I./>
manifest agitation, rather won her; and, as un- benefactress: no man living is good enough for
educated women are your true weathercocks, her."  And he went away, visibly discomshe went about directly. "To be sure," said posed.
she, "our Mercy is too good for the likes of him;   Mrs.Vint repeated this conversation to Mercy,
she is not like Harry and me; she has been well and told her Thomas Leicester was certainly in
brought up by her Aunt Prudence, as was gov- love with her. "Shouldst have seen his face,
etmness in a nobleman's house. She can read and girl, when I told him Paul and you were sweetw                                   ii i




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
harts.'Twas as if I had run a knife in his hurt him. Once there was an Israelite without
heart."                                    guile, though you and I never saw him; and
Mercy murmured a few words of doubt; but once there was a Saxon without bile, and her
she kissed her mother eloquently, and went about name was Mercy Vint. In'this heart of gold the
rosy and beaming all that afternoon.       affections were stronger than the passions. She
As for Griffith, his gratitude and his jealousy was deeply wounded, and showed it in a patient
were now at war, and caused him a severe mental way to him who had wounded her, but to none
struggle.                                  other. Her conduct to him. in public and priCarrick, too, was spurred by jealousy, and vate was truly singular, and would alone have
came every day to the house, and besieged stamped her a remarkable character. She deMercy; and Griffith, who saw them together, clined all communication with him in private,
and did not hear Mercy's replies, was excited, and avoided him steadily and adroitly; but in
irritated, alarmed.                        public she spoke to him, sang with him when she
Mrs.Vint saw his agitation, and determined to was asked, and treated him much the same as
bring matters to a climax.  She was always giv- before. He could see a subtle difference, but
ing him a side thrust; and at last she told him  nobody else could.
plainly that he was not behaving like a man.   This generosity, coupled with all she had done
"If the girl is not good enough for you, why for him before, penetrated his heart, and filled
make a fool of her, and set her against a good him with admiration and remorse. He yielded
husband?" And when he replied she was good to Mrs. Vint's suggestions, and told her she was
enough for any man in England, "Then," said right; he would tear himself away, and never see
she, "why not show your respect for her as Paul the'dear "Packhorse" again.  "But oh, dame,"
Carrick does? He likes her well enough to go said he, "'tis a sorrowful thing to be alone in the
to church with her."                       world again, and naught to do. If I had but a
With the horns of this dilemma she so gored farm, and a sweet little inn like this, perchance
Kate Peyton's husband that, at last, she and Paul my heart would not be quite so heavy as'tis this
Carrick, between them, drove him out of his con- day at thoughts of parting from thee and thine."
science.                                     "Well, sir," said Mrs. Vint, "if that is all,
So he watched his opportunity and got Mercy there is the'Vine' to let at this moment.'Tis
alone. He took her hand, and told her he loved a better place of business than this; and some
her, and that she was his only comfort in the meadows go with it, and land to be had in the
world, and he found he could not live without her. parish. "
At this she blushed and trembled a little, and    "I'll ride and see it," said Griffith, eagerly:
leaned her brow upon his shoulder, and was a then, dejectedly, "but, alas! I have no heart to
happy creature for a few moments.          keep an inn without somebody to help me, and
So far, fluently enough; but then le began to say a kind word now and then. Ah! MercyVint,
falter and stammer, and say that for certain rea- thou hast spoiled me for living alone."
sons he could not marry at all. But if she could   This vacillation exhausted Mrs. Vint's pabe content with any thing short of that, he would tience. "What are ye sighing about, ye foolish
retire with her into a distant country, and there, man?" said she, contemptuously; "you have got
where nobody could contradict him, would call it all your own way: if'tis a wife ye want, ask
her his wife, and treat her as his wife, and pay Mercy, and don't take a nay; if ye would have
his debt of gratitude to her by a life of devotion. a housekeeper, you need not want one long. I'll
As he spoke her brow retired an inch or two be bound there's plenty of young women where
from his shoulder; but she heard him quietly you came from as would be glad to keep the
out, and then drew back and confronted him,'Vine' under you. And, if you come to that, our
pale, but to all appearance calm.          Mercy is a treasure on the farm, but she is no
" Call things by their right names," said she. help in the inn, no more than a wax figure: she
"What you offer me this day, in my father's never brought us a shilling till you came and
house, is to be your mistress. Then-God for- made her sing to your base viol. Nay, what you
give you, Thomas Leicester."               want is a smart, handsome girl, with a quick eve
With this oblique and feminine reply, and one and a ready tongue, and one as can look a man
look of unfathomable reproach from her soft eyes, in the face, and not given to love nor liquor.
she turned her back on him; but, remembering Don't you know never such a one?"
her manners, courtesied at the door, and so re-   "Not I.  Humph, to be sure, there is Carotired; and unpretending Virtue lent her such line Ryder.  She is handsome, and hath a good
true dignity that he was struck dumb, and made wit.' She is a lady's maid."
no attempt to detain her.                    "That's your woman, if she'll come. And to
I think her dignified composure did not last be sure she will; for to be mistress of an inn,
long when she was alone; at least, the next time that's a lady's maid's Paradise."
he saw her, her eyes were red; his heart smote   "She would have come a few months ago, and
him, and he began to make excuses and beg her gladly; I'll write to her."
forgiveness. But she interrupted him. "Don't   "Better talk to her, and persuade her."
speak to me no more, if you please, sir," said she,   "I'll do that too; but I must write to her
civilly, but coldly.                       first. "
Mercy, though so quiet and inoffensive, had   "So do, then; but, whatever you do, don't
depth and strength of character. She never told shilly-shally no longer. If wrestling was shillyher mother what Thomas Leicester had proposed shallying, methinks you'd bear the bell, you or
to her. Her honest pride kept her silent, for one else Paul Carrick. Why, all this trouble comes
thing. She would not have it known she had on't. He might have wed our Mercy a year
been insulted.  And, besides that, she loved agone for the asking. Shilly-shally belongs tc
Thomas Leicester still, and could not expose or us that be women.'Tis despisible in a man."




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                83
Thus driven on all sides, Griffith rode and Gaunt would say something imprudent in that
inspected the "Vine" (it was only seven miles dangerous period when the patient recovers conoff), and after the usual chaffering, came to sciousness, but has not all her wits about her.
terms with the proprietor.                   Now Ryder was'" equally determined to know her
He fixed the day for his departure, and told mistress's secrets, and not to share the knowledge
Mrs. Vint he must ride into Cumberland first to with any other person.
get some money, and also to see about a house-   It was a long swoon; and when Mrs. Gaunt
keeper.                                      came to, the first thing she saw was Ryder leanHe made no secret of all this; and, indeed, ing over her, with a face of much curiosity and
was not without hopes Mercy would relent, or some concern.
perhaps be jealous of this housekeeper. But the   In that moment of weakness, the poor lady who
only visible effect was to make her look pale and had been so roughly handled saw a woman close
sad: she avoided him in private as before.   to her, and being a little kind to her; so what
Harry Vint was loud in his regrets, and Car- did she do but throw her arms round Ryder's
rick openly exultant.  Griffith wrote to Caroline neck, and burst out sobbing as if her heart would
Ryder, and addressed the letter in a feigned hand, break.
and took it himself to the nearest post town.  Then that unprincipled woman shed a tear or
The letter came to hand, and will appear in two with her, half crocodile, half impulse.
that sequence of events on which I am now about   Mrs. Gaunt not only cried on her servant's
to enter.                                    neck, she justified Ryder's forecast by speaking
____________            unguardedly: "I've been insulted-insultedinsulted!"
But, even while uttering these words, she was
recovering her pride: so the first "insulted'
IF Griffith Gaunt suffered anguish, he inflicted seemed to come from a broken-hearted child, the
agony. Mrs. Gaunt was a high-spirited, proud, second from an indignant lady, the third from a
and sensitive woman; and he crushed her with wounded queen.
foul words. Leonard was a delicate, vain, and   No more words than this; but rose, with Rysensitive, man, accustomed to veneration. Imag- der's assistance, and went, leaning on that faithine such a man hurled to the ground and tram- ful creature's shoulder, to her own bedroom.
pled upon.                                   There she sank into a chair, and said, in a voice
Griffith should not have fled; he should have to melt a stone, "' My child! Bring me my litstaid and enjoyed his vengeance on these two per- tle Rose."
sons. It might have cooled him a little had he   Ryder ran and fetched the little girl; and Mrs.
stopped and seen the immediate consequences of Gaunt held out both arms to her, angelically, and
his savage act.                              clasped her so passionately and piteously to her
The priest rose from the ground, pale as ashes, bosom that Rose cried for fear, and never forgot
and trembling with fear and hate.            the scene all her days; and Mrs. Ryder, who was
The lady was leaning, white as a sheet, against secretly a mother, felt a genuine twinge of pity
e tree, and holding it with her very nails for a and remorse.  Curiosity, however, was the domlittle support.                              inant sentiment; she was impatient to get all
They looked round at one another-a piteous these convulsions over, and learn what had actuglance of anguish and horror; then Mrs. Gaunt ally passed between Mr. and Mrs. Gaunt.
turned and flung her arm round so that the palm    She waited till her mistress appeared calmer,
of her hand, high raised, confronted Leonard. I and then, in soft, caressing tones, asked her what
am thus particular, because it was a gesture grand had happened.
and terrible as the occasion that called it forth-  " Never ask me that question again," cried
a gesture that spoke, and said, " Put the whole Mrs. Gaunt, wildly; then, with inexpressible digearth and sea between us forever after this."  nity, " My good girl, you have done all you could
The next moment she bent her head and rush- for me; now you must leave me alone with my
ed away, cowering and wringing her hands. She daughter, and my God, who knows the truth."
made for her house as naturally as a scared ani-   Ryder courtesied and retired, burning with bafmal for its lair; but, ere she could reach it, she fled curiosity.
tottered under the shame, the distress, and the   Toward dusk Thomas Leicester came into the
mere terror, and fell fainting with her fair fore- kitchen, and brought her news with a vengeance.
head on the grass.                           He told her and the other maids that the squire
Caroline Ryder was crouched in the doorway, had gone raving mad and fled the country. " Oh,
and did not see her come out of the grove, but lasses, " said he, " if you had seen the poor soul's
only heard a rustle, and then saw her proud mis- face, a riding headlong through the fair all one
tress totter forward and lie white, senseless, help- as if it was a plowed field;'twas white as your
less at her very feet.                       smocks; and his eyes glowering on t'other Nyorld.
Ryder uttered a scream, but did not lose her We shall ne'er see that face alive again."
presence of mind.  She instantly kneeled over   And this was her doing.
Mrs. Gaunt, and loosened her stays with quick   It surprised and overpowered Ryder.  She
and dexterous hand.                          threw her apron over her head, and went off in
It was very like the hawk perched over and hysterics, and betrayed her lawless attachment to
dlawing the ringdove she has struck down.    every woman in the kitchen, she who was so clevBut people with brains are never quite inhu- er at probing others.
man: a drop of lukewarm pity entered even Ry-   This day of violent emotions was followed by
der's heart as she assisted her victim.  She call- a sullen and sorrowful gloom.
ed no one to help her, for she saw something very   Mrs. Gaunt kept her bedroom and admitted
serious had happened, and she felt sure Mrs. nobody, till at last the servants consulted togeth



S;t                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
er, and sent little Rose to knock at her door with    That very evening Thomas Leicester caught
a basin of chocolate, while they watched on the her alone, and asked her to marry him.
stairs.                                        She stared at first, and then treated it as a jest.
"It's only me, mamma," said Rose.          "You come at the wrong time, young man,"
"Come in, my precious," said a trembling said she.  "Marriage is put out of countenance.
voice, and so Rose got in with her chocolate.    No, no, I will never marry after what I have seen
The next day she was sent for early; and at in this house."
noon Mrs. Gaunt and Rose came down stairs, but   Leicester would not take this for an answer,
their appearance startled the whole household. and pressed her hard.
The mother was dressed all in black, and so was   "'lThomas," said this plausible jade, "I like
her daughter, whom she led by the hand. Mrs. you very well, but I couldn't leave my mistress in
Gaunt's face was pale, and sad, and stern; a her trouble. Time to talk of marrying when
monument of deep suffering and high-strung res- master comes here alive and well."
olution.                                       "Nay," said Leicester, " my only chance is
while he is away; you care more for his little
It soon transpired that Griffith had left his finger than for my whole body-that they all
home for good, and friends called on Mrs. Gaunt say."
to slake their curiosity under the mask of sym-   " Vho says?"
pathy.                                         "Jane, and all the lasses."
Not one of them was admitted. No false ex-   "You simple man, they want you for themcuses were made.  " My mistress sees no one for selves, that is why they belie me."
the present," was the reply.                  "'Nay, nay, I saw how you carried on when I
Curiosity, thus baffled, took up the pen, but brought word he was gone. You let your heart
was met with a short unvarying formula: " There out for once. Don't take me for a fool; I see
is an unhappy misunderstanding between my hus- how'tis; but I'll face it, for I worship the ground
band and me. But I shall neither accuse him  you walk on. Take a thought, my lass. What
behind his back nor justify myself."         good can come of your setting your heart on
Thus the proud lady carried herself before the hilz?  I'm  young, I'm  healthy, and not ugly
world, but secretly she writhed.  A wife aban- enough to set the dogs a barking; I've'got a good
doned is a woman insulted, and makes the wives place; I love you dear; I'll cure you of that
that are not abandoned-cluck.                fancy, and make you as happy as the day is long.
Ryder was dejected for a time, and, though not I'll try and make you as happy as you will make
honestly penitent, suffered some remorse at the me, my beauty."
miserable issue of her intrigues. But her elastic   He was so in earnest, and so much in love, that
nature soon shook it off, and she felt a certain Mrs. Ryder pitied him, and wished her husband
satisfaction at having reduced Mrs. Gaunt to her was in Heaven.
own level.  This disarmed her hostility.  She   "I am  very sorry, Tom," said she, softly.
watched her as keenlv as ever, but out of pure " dear me, I did not think you cared so much for
curiosity.                                   me as this. I must just tell you the truth. I
One thing puzzled her strangely. Leonard did have got one in my own country, and I've promnot visit the house, nor could she even detect any ised him. I don't care to break my word; and,
communication between the parties.           if I did, he is such a man I am sure he would
At last, one day, her mistress told her to put on kill me for it. Indeed, he has told me as much
her hat and go to Father Leonard.            more than once or twice."
Ryder's eyes sparkled, and she was soon    " Killing is a game that two can play at."
equipped. Mrs. Gaunt put a parcel and a letter   "Ah! but'tis an ugly game, and I'll have no
into her hands. Ryder no sooner got out of her hand in it.  And-don't be angry with me, Tom
sight than she proceeded to tamper with the let- -I've known him longest, and-I love him best. "
ter.  But, to her just indignation, she found it   By pertinacity and variety in lying, she hit the
so ingeniously folded and sealed that she could mark at last.  Tom  swallowed this figment
not read a word.                             whole.
The parcel, however, she easily undid, and it   " That is but reason," said he.  " I take my
contained forty pounds in gold and small notes. answer, and I wish ye both many happy days
"Oho! my lady, " said Ryder.               together, and well spent."
She was received by Leonard with a tender   With this he retired, and blubbered a good
emotion he in vain tried to conceal.         hour in an outhouse.
On reading the letter his features contracted   Tom avoided the castle, and fell into low spirsharply, and he seemed to suffer agony.  He its. He told his mother all, and she advised him
would not even open the parcel.  "  ou will take to change the air.  " You have been too long in
that back," said he, bitterly.               one place," said she; " I hate being too long in
" What, without a word?"                 one place myself."
"Without a word. But I will write when I   This fired Tom's gipsy blood, and he said he
am able."                                    would travel to-morrow, if he could but scrape
"Don't be long, sir," suggested Ryder.  "I together money enough to fill a peddler's pack.
am sure my mistress is wearying for you. Con-   He applied for a loan in several quarters, but
sider, sir, she is all alone now."           was denied in all.
" Not so much alone as I am," said the priest,   At last the poor fellow summoned courage to
" nor half so unfortunate."                 lay his case before Mrs. Gaunt.
And with this he leaned his head despairingly   Ryder's influence procured him an interview.
on his hand, and motioned to Ryder to leave him. She took him into the drawing-room, and bade
"Here's a couple of fools," said she to herself him wait there. By-and-by a pale lady, all in
as she went home.                           black, glided into the room.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                85
Hie pulled his front hair, and began to stammer   Instantly three female throats opened upon her
something or other.                         with questions.
She interrupted him.  " Ryder has told me,"   She looked them contemptuously in their faces,
said she, softly.  " I am sorry for you, and I will put the letter into her pocket, and soon after slipdo what you require.  And, to be sure, we need ped away to her own room, and locked herself in
no gamekeeper here now."                    while she read it. It ran thus:
She then gave him some money, and said she                    RYDERI am alive yet
would look him up a few trifles besides, to put in by the blessing, though somewhat battered, be~~~his pack.                    ingby the  blessing, though somewhat battered, behis pack.
Tom's mother helped him lay out his money ing now risen from a fever, wherein I lost my
to advantage, and one day he called at Hern- wits for a time; and, on coming to myself, I
shalw, pack and all, to bid farewell.       found them making of my shtoud, whereby you
The servants all laid out something with him  shall learn how near I was to death; and all this
for luck; and Mrs. Gaunt sent for him, and gave I owe  to that false, perjured woman that was my
him a gold thimble, and a pound of tea, and sev- wife, and is your mistress.
"Know that I have donned russet and doffed
eral yards of gold lace, slightly tarnished, and a gentility, for I find a heay heart's best  cure is
Queen Anne's guinea.                        gentility, for I find a heavy heart's best cure is
He thanked her heartily.  "Ay, dame," said occupation. I have taken a wayside inn, and
he," you had always an open hand, married or think of renting a small farm, which two things
single. My heart is heavy at leaving you. But go well together. Now  you are, of all those I
I miss the squire's kindly face too. Hernshaw is know, most fitted to manage the inn, and I the
not what it used to be."                    farm. You were always my good friend; and,
Mrs. Gaunt turned her head aside, and the man if you be so still, then I charge you most solemncould see his words had made her cry.       ly that you utter no word to any living soul about
" My good Thomas," said she, at last, "you this letter, but meet me privately where we can
are going to travel the country; you might fall talk fully of these matters, for I fill not set foot
in with him."                               in Hernshaw Castle. Moreover, she told me
" I might," said L~eicester, incredulously.  once'twas hers, and so be it. On Friday I shall
God grant you may; and, if you ever should, lie at Stapleton, and the next day, by an easy
think of your poor mistress, and give him-this. " journey, to the place where I once was so happy.
"So then, at seven of the clock on Saturday
She put her finger in her bosom and drew out a   "So then, at seven of the clock on Satuday
bullet wrapped in silver paper.  "You will never evening, be the same wet or dry, prithee come to
lose this," said she.  " I value it more than gold the gate of the Grove unbeknown, and speak to
or silver. Oh, if ever you should see him, think your faithful friend and most unhappy master,
of me and my daughter, and just put it in his   Be secret as the grave.    ld I ere in it.
" Be secret as the grave. Would I were in it."
hand without a word."
As he went out of the room Ryderintercepted   This letter set Caroline Ryder in a tumult.
him, and said, " Mayhap you will fall in with Griffith alive and well, and set against his wife,
our master; if ever you do, tell him he is under and coming to her for assistance!
a mistake, and the sooner he comes home the   After the first agitation she read it again, and
better."                                    weighed every syllable. There was one book she
Tom Leicester departed, and for days and had studied more than most of us-the Heart,
weeks nothing occurred to break the sorrowful and she soon read Griffith's in this letter.  It
monotony of the place.                      was no love-letter; he really intended business;
But the mourner had written to her old friend but, weak in health, and broken in spirit, and
and confessor Francis, and, after some delay, in- alone in the world he naturally turned to one
voluntary on his part, he came to see her.  who had confessed an affection for him, and
They were often closeted together, and spoke would therefore be true to his interests and study
so low that Ryder could not catch a word.   his happiness.
Francis also paid several visits to Leonard;    The proposal was every way satisfactory to
and the final result of these visits was that the Mrs. Ryder-to be mistress of an inn, and have
latter left England.                        servants under her instead of being one herself.
Francis remained at Hernshaw as long as he And then, if Griffith and she began as allies in
could, and it was Mrs. Gaunt's hourly prayer that business, she felt very sure she could make herGriffith might return while Francis was with her. self, first necessary to him, and then dear to him.
He did, at her earnest request, stay much lon-   She was so elated she could hardly contain herger than he had intended, but at length he was self; and all her fellow-servants remarked that
obliged to fix next Monday to return to his own Mrs. Ryder had heard good news.
place.                                        Saturday came, and never did hours seem to
It was on Thursday he made this arrange- creep so slowly.
ment, but the very next day the postman brought   But at last the sun set, and the stars came
a letter to the Castle, thus addressed:     out; there was no moon. Ryder opened the
window and looked out; it was an admirable' To Mistress Caroline Ryder,             night for an assignation.
"Living Servant with Griffith Gaunt, Esq.,   She washed her face again, put on her gray
" at his house, called Hernshaw Castle,  silk gown and purple petticoat — Mrs. Gaunt had
"near Wigeonmoor,            given them to her —and, at the last'moment,
"in the county of Cumberland.    went and made up her mistress's fire, and put
"These with speed."   out every thing she thought could be wanted,
and, five minutes after seven o'clock, tied a scarThe address was in a feigned hand. Ryder let handkerchief over her head, and stepped out
opened it in the kitchen, and uttered a scream.  at the back door.




86                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
What with her coal-black hair so streaked wheeled his horse, gave him the spur, and ga\,
with red, her black eyes flashing in the starlight, loped after Carrick.
and her glowing cheeks, she looked betwitching.   He soon came up with him, and yelled in his
And, thus armed for conquest, wily, yet im- ear, " I'll teach you to spit your wormwood iln
passioned, she stole out, with noiseless foot and my cup of sorrow."
boating heart, to her appointment with her im-   Carrick shook his fist defiantly, and spurred
prudent master.                            his horse in turn.
It was an exciting race, and a novel one, but
-                      soon decided. The great black hunter went
CHIAPTER  NXXLVII~I.            ahead, and still improved his advantage. Carrick, purple with rage, was full a quarter of a
THE bill was paid; the black horse saddled mile behind, when Griffith dashed furiously into
and brought round to the door. Mr. and Mrs. the stable of the " Packhorse," and, leaving
Vint stood bareheaded to honor the parting Black Dick panting and covered with foam, ran
guest, and the latter offered him the stirrup-cup. in search of Mercy.
Griffith looked round for Mercy; she was no-   The girl told him she was in the dairy: he
where to be seen.                         looked in at the window, and there she was with
Then he said, piteously, to Mrs.Vint, " What! her mother. With instinctive sense and fortinot even bid me good-by??"                 tude she had fled to work. She was trying to
Mrs. Vint replied, in a very low voice, that churn, but it would not do. She had laid her
there was no disrespect intended.  " The truth shapely arm all across the churn, and her head
is, sir, she could not trust herself to see you go; on it, and was crying. Mrs. Vint was praising
but she bade me give you a message. Says she, Carrick, and offering homely consolation.'Mother, tell him I pray God to bless him, go   " Ah! mother," sighed Mercy, " I could have
where he will.'"                           made him happy. He does not know that; and
Something rose in Griffith's throat.  " Oh, he has turned his back on content. What will
dame!" said he, " if she only knew the truth, become of him now?"
she would think better of me than she does.   Griffith heard no more; he went round to the
God bless her i!"                         front door, and rushed in.
And he rode sorrowfully away, alone in the   " Take your own way, dame," said he, in great
world once more.                           agitation. I' Put up the banns when you like.
At the first turn in the road he wheeled his Sweetheart, wilt wed with me? I'll make thee
horse and took a last lingering look.      the best husband I can."
There was nothing vulgar nor inn-like in the   Mercy screamed faintly, and lifted up her
"Packhorse."  It stood fifty yards from  the hands; then she blushed and trembled to her
road, on a little rural green, and was picturesque very finger ends; but it ended in smiles of joy
itself. The front was entirely clad with large- and her brow upon his shoulder, in which attileaved ivy. Shutters there were none; the win- tude, with Mrs.Vint patting him approvingly on
dows, with their diamond panes, were lustrous the back, they were surprised by Paul Carrick.
squares, set like great eyes in the green ivy. It He came -to the door, and there stood aghast.
looked a pretty, peaceful retreat, and in it Grif-   The young man stared ruefully at the picture,
fith had found peace and a dove-like friend.  and then said, very dryly, "I'm  too late, meHe sighed, and rode away from the sight; not thinks."
raging and convulsed, as when he rode from    "That you be, Paul," said Mrs. Vint, cheerHernshaw Castle, but somewhat sick at heart fully.  " She is meat for your master."
and very heavy.                              "Don't-you-never-come to me-to save
He paced so slowly that it took him a quarter your life-no more," blubbered Paul, breaking
of an hour to reach the " Woodman," a wayside down all of a sudden.
inn not two miles distant. As he went by, a   He then retired, little heeded, and came no
farmer hailed him from the porch, and insisted more to the " Packhorse" for several days.
on drinking with him, for he was very popular in
the neighborhood. While they were thus employed, who should come out but Paul Carrick,
booted and spurred; and flushed in the face, and      CHAPTER XXIX.
rather the worse for liquor imbibed on the spot.   IT is desirable that improper marriages should
" So you are going, are ye?" said he.  " A  never be solemnized; and the Christian Church
good job too."  Then, turning to the other, saw this many hundred years ago, and ordained
" Master Gutteridge, never you save a man's life that before a marriage, the banns should be cried
if you can anywise help it. I saved this one's; in a church three Sundays, and any person there
and what does he do but turn round and poison present might forbid the union of the parties, and
my sweetheart against me."                allege the just impediment.
"How can you say so?" remonstrated Grif-   This precaution was feeble, but not wholly infith. "I never belied you. Your name scarce adequate in the Middle Ages, for we know by
ever passed my lips."                     good evidence that the priest was often inter"Don't tell me," said Carrick.  " However, rupted and the banns forbidden.
she has come to her senses, and given your wor-   But in modern days the banns are never forship the sack. Ride you into Cumberland, and bidden; in other words, the precautionary measI to the'Packhorse,' and take my own again."  ure that has come down to us from the thirteenth
With this he unhooked his nag from the wall, century is out of date and useless. It rests, inand clattered off to the' Packhorse."    deed, on an estimate of publicity that has become
Griffith sat a moment stupefied, and then his childish. If persons about to marry were comface was convulsed by his ruling passion. He pelled to inscribe their names and descriptions in




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                87
a Matrimonial WVeekly Gazette, and a copy of but absent in fact, assented, by silence, to the
this were placed on a desk in ten thousand union.
churches, perhaps we might stop one lady per   So Thomas Leicester wedded Mercy Vint, and
annum from marrying her husband's brother, and took her home to the "Packhorse."
one gentleman from wedding his neighbor's wife.   It would be well if those who stifle their conBut the crying of banns in a single parish church sciences and commit crimes would set up a sort
-,/                           "'1
a.; A!!w'
c"'
is a waste of the people's time and the parson's of medico-moral diary, and record their syrmpbreath.                                     toms minutely day by day. Such records might
And so it proved in Griffith Gaunt's case. The help to clear away some vague conventional noRev. William Wentworth published, in the usual tions.
recitative, the banns of marriage between Thom-   To tell the truth, our hero, and now malefactor
as Leicester, of the parish of Marylebone, in Lon- (the combination is of high antiquity), enjoyed,
don, and Mercy Vint, spinster, of this parish; for several months, the peace of mind that beand creation, present ex hypothesi medicevale, longs of right to innocence, and his days passed




6S                      GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
in a state of smooth complacency. Mercy was resolute, and contrived to draw the line so clearly
a good, wise, and tender wife; she naturally between her husband and her old sweetheart,
looked up to him after marriage more than she that Griffith's foible could not burn him for want
did before; she studied his happiness as she had of fuel.
never studied her own; she mastered his char-   And so passed several months, and the man's
acter, admired his good qualities, discerned his heart was at peace. He could not love Mercy
weaknesses, but did not view them as defects, passionately as he had loved Kate, but he was
only as little traits to be watched, lest she should full of real regard and esteem for her: it was one
give pain to " her master," as she called him.    of those gentle, clinging attachments that outlast
Affection, in her, took a more obsequious form  grand passions, and survive till death; a tender,
than it could ever assume in Kate Peyton. And pure affection, though built upon a crime.
yet she had great influence, and softly governed' her master" for his good. She would come into   They had been married, and lived in sweet conthe room and take away the bottle if he was tent, about three quarters of a year, when trouble
committing excess; but she had a way of doing came, but in a vulgar form.' A murrain carried
it, so like a good but resolute mother, and so un- off several of Harry Vint's cattle, and it then
like a termagant, that he never resisted.  Upon came out that he had purchased six of them on
the whole, she nursed his mind as, in earlier days, credit, and had been induced to set his hands to
she had nursed his body.                     bills of exchange for them. His rent was also
And then she made him so comfortable; she behind, and, in fact, his affairs were in a desperobserved him minutely to that end. As is the ate condition.
eve of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so   He hid it as long as he could from them all;
Mercy Leicester's dove-like eye was ever watch- but at last, being served with a process for debt,
ing "her master's" face, to learn the minutest and threatened with a distress and an execution,
features of his mind.                        he called a family council and exposed the real
One evening he came in tired, and there was state of things.
a black fire in the parlor.  His countenance fell   Mrs. Vint rated him soundly for keeping all
the sixteenth of an inch. You and I, sir, should this secret so long.
never have noticed it; but Mercy did, and ever   He whom they called Thomas Leicester reafter there was a clear fire when he came in.    monstrated with him.  " had you told me in
She noted, too, that he loved to play the viol time," said he, "I had not paid forfeit for'The
de gambo, but disliked the trouble of tuning it. Vine,' but settled there, and given you a home."
So, then, she tuned it for him.                Mercy said never a word but " Poor father!"
When he came home at night, early.or late,   As the peril drew nearer, the conversation behe was sure to find a dry pair of shoes on the rug, came more animated and agitated, and soon the
his six-stringed viol tuned to a hair, a bright fire, old people took to complaining of Thomas Leicesand a brighter wife smiling and radiant at his ter to his wife.
coming, and always neat; for, said she, " Shall I   " Thou hast married a gentleman, and he hath
don my bravery for strangers, and not for my not the heart to lift a hand to save thy folk from
Thomas, that is the best of company?"       ruin."
They used to go to church and come back to-   " Say not so," pleaded Mercy; "to be sure he
gether hand in hand like lovers, for the arm  hath the heart, but not the means.'Twas but
was rarely given in those days. And Griffith yestreen he bade me sell his jewels for you. But,
said to himself every Sunday, "What a comfort mother, I think they belonged to some one he
to have a Protestant wife."                 loved, and she died. So, poor thing! how could
But one day he was off his guard, and called I? Then, if you love me, blame me, and not
her "Kate, my dear."                         him."
" Who is Kate?" said she, softly, but with a    " Jewels, quotha! will they stop such a gap as
degree of trouble and intelligence that made him  ours?" was the contemptuous reply.
tremble.                                       From complaining of him behind his back, the' No matter," said he, all in a flutter; then old people soon came to launching innuendoes ohsolemnly, "Whoever she was, she is dead-  liquely at him. I-Iere is one specimen out of a
dead."                                       dozen.
"Ali!"' said Mercy,.very tenderly and solemn-   "Wife, if our Mercy had wedded one of her
ly, and under her breath, "you loved her, yet she own sort, mayhap he'd have helped us a bit. "
must die."  She paused; then, in a tone so ex-   "Ay, poor soul, and she so near her time. If
quisite I can only call it an angel's whisper, "Poor the bailiffs come down on us next month,'tis my
Kate!"                                      belief we shall lose her as well as house and
Griffith groaned aloud. " For God's sake nev- home."
er mention that name to me again. Let me for-   The false Thomas Leicester let them run on in
get she ever lived.  She was not the true friend dogged silence, but every word was a stab.
to me that you have been."                     And one day, when he had been baited sore
Mercy replied, softly, " Say not so, Thomas. with hints, he turned round on them fiercely and
You loved her well.  iler death had all but cost said, "Did I get you into this mess? It's all your
me thine. Ah! well, we can not all be the first. own doing. Learn to see your own faults, and
I am not very jealous, for my part, and I thank not be so hard on one that has been the best servGod for't. Thou art a dear good husband to me, ant you ever had, gentleman or not."
and that is enow."                             Men can resist the remonstrances that wound
Paul Carrick, unable to break off his habits, them, and so irritate them, better than they can
came to the "Packhorse" now and then, but those gentle appeals that rouse no anger, but softMercy protected her husband's heart from pain. en the whole heart.  The old people stung him;
She was kind and even pitiful, but so discreet and but Mercy, without design, took a surer way. She




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OlR, JEALOUSY.                                89
never said a word; but sometimes, when the dis-   Well, one day, in the kitchen of thne inn, Paul
cussions were at their height, she turned her dove- Carrick, having drunk two pints of good ale, said
like eyes on him with a look so loving, so hum- to Vint, " Landlord, you ought to have married
bly inquiring, so timidly imploring, that his heart her to me. I've got two hundred pounds laid
melted within him.                           by. I'd have pulled you out of the mire and
Ah! that is a true touch of nature and genu- welcome."
ine observation of the sexes in the old song-  " Would you, though, Paul," said IHarryVint;
" My feyther ursea me e'ir;            "then, by G-, I wish I had."
My  ither idna speak;                 Now Carrick bawled that out, and Griffith,
But she looked me in the face         who was at the door, heard it.
Till my hairt was like to break."*     He walked into the kitchen ghastly pale, and
These silent, womanly, imploring looks of pa- spoke to Harry Vint first.
tient Mercy were mightier than argument or in-   "I take your inn, your farm, and your debts
vective.                                     on me," said he; " not one without t'other."
The man knew all along where to get money,   "Spoke like a man!" cried the landlord, joyand how to get it.  He had only to go to Hern- fully; " and so be it-before these witnesses."
shaw Castle. But his very soul shuddered at the   Griffith turned on Carrick: " This house is
idea. However, for Mercy's sake, he took the mine.  Get out on't, ye jealous, mischief-making
first steps' he compelled himself to look the thing cur."  And he took him  by the collar and
in the face, and discuss it with himself. A few  dragged him furiously out of the place, and sent
months ago he could not have done this; he loved him whirling into the middle of the road; then
his lawful wife too much-hated her too much. ran back for his hat and flung it out after
But now, Mercy, and Time, had blunted both him.
those passions, and he could ask himself whether   This done, he sat down boiling, and his eyes
he could not encounter Kate and her priest with- roved fiercely round the room in search of some
out any very violent emotion.                other antagonist. But his strength was so great,
When they first set up house together he had and his face so altered with this sudden spasm
spent his whole fortune, a sum of two thousand of reviving jealousy, that nobody cared to prop)ounds, on repairing and embellishing Hernshaw  voke him farther.
Castle and grounds. Since she had driven him    After a while, however, Harry Vint muttered,
out of the house, he had a clear right to have back dryly, " There goes one good customer."
the money, and now he resolved he would have   Griffith took him up sternly: "If your debts
it, only what he wanted was to get it without go- are to be mine, your trade shall be mine too, that
ing to the place in person.                  you had not the head to conduct."
And now Mercy's figure, as well as her implor-   "So be it, son-in-law," said the old man,
ing looks, moved him greatly.. She was in that " only you go so fast: you do take possession
condition which appeals to a man's humanity and afore you pays the fee."
masculine pity as well as to his affection.  To    Griffith winced.  "That shall be the last of
use the homely words of Scripture, she was great your taunts, old man." He turned to the ostler,
with child, and in that condition moved slowly " Bill, give Black Dick his oats at sunrise, and
about him, filling his pipe, and laying his slippers, in ten days, at farthest, I'll pay every shilling
and ministering to all his little comforts; she this house and farm  do owe. Now, Master
would make no difference; and when he saw the White, you'll put in hand a new sign-board for
poor dove move about him so heavily and rather this inn-a fresh' Packhorse,' and paint him jet
languidly, yet so zealously and tenderly, the man's black, with one white hoof (instead of chocolate),
very bowels yearned over her, and he felt as if he in honor of my nag Dick; and in place of Harry
could die to do her a service.               Vint you'll put in Thomas Leicester.  See' that
So, one day, when she was standing by him, is done against I come back, or come you here
bending over his little round table, and filling his no more."
pipe with her neat hand, he took her by the other   Soon after this scene he retired to tell Mercy,
hand and drew her gently on his knee, her bur- and on his departure the suppressed tongues
den and all.                                 went like mill-clacks.
"Child!" said he, " do not thou fret. I know    Dick came round saddled at peep of day, but
how to get money, and I'll do't, for thy sake."   Mercy had been up more than an hour, and pre" I know that," said she, softly; "can I not pared her man's breakfast. She clung to him at
read thy face by this time?" and so laid her parting, and cried a little, and whispered somecheek to his.  "But, Thomas, for my sake, get thing in his ear for nobody else to hear: it was
it honestly, or not at all," said she, still filling an entreaty that he would not be long gone, lest
his pipe, with her cheek to his.             he should be far from her in the hour of her
" I'll but take back my own," said he; " fear peril.
naught."                                       Thereupon he promised her, and kissed her
But, after thus positively pledging himself to tenderly, and bade her be of good heart, and so
Mercy, he became thoughtful and rather fretful; rode away northward with dogged resolution.
for he was still most averse: to go to Hernshaw,   As soon as he was gone, Mercy's tears flowed
and yet could hit upon no other way, since to without restraint.
employ an agent would be to let out that he had   Her father set himself to console her.' Thy
committed bigamy, and so risk his own neck and good man," he said, "is but gone back to the
break Mercy's heart.                        high road for a night or two, to follow his trade
After all, his scale was turned by his foible.   of' stand and deliver.' Fear naught, child; his
Mrs. Vint had been weak enough to confide pistols are well primed; I saw to that myself;
her trouble to a friend: it was all over the par- and his horse is the fleetest in the county; you'll
ish in three days.                          have him back in three days, and money in both




90                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
pockets. I warrant you his is a better trade than   Now Sir George was universally courted, ont
mine, and he is a fool to change it."       this rather nettled him: however, he soon learnGriffith was two days upon the road, and all ed that she received nobody. except a few rethat time he was turning over and discussing in ligious friends of her own sex.
his mind how he should conduct the disagree-   Sir George then wrote her a letter that did
able but necessary business he had undertaken.  him credit; it was full of worthy sentiment and
He determined, at last, to make the visit one good sense. For instance, he said he desired to
of business only: no heat-no reproaches. That intrude his friendly offices and his sympathy
lovely, hateful woman might continue to dishonor upon her, but nothing more. Time had cured
his name, for he had himself abandoned it. He him of those warmer feelings which had once
would not deign to receive any money that was ruffled his peace, but Time could not efface his
hers, but his own two thousand pounds he would tender esteem for the lady he had loved in his
have, and two or three hundred on the spot by youth, nor his profound respect for her charway of instalment. And, with these hard views, acter.
he drew near to Hernshaw; but the nearer he   Mrs. Gaunt wept over his gentle letter, and
got, the slower he went; for what, at a distance, was on the verge of asking herself why -she had
had seemed tolerably easy, began to get more chosen Griffith instead of this chevalier. She
and more difficult and repulsive. Moreover, his sent him a sweet yet prudent reply; she did not
heart, which he thought he had steeled, began encourage him to visit her, but said that, if ever
now to flutter a little, and somehow to shudder she should bring herself to receive visits from the
at the approaching interview.               gentlemen of the county during her husband's
absence, he should be the first to know it. She
signed herself his unhappy, but deeply grateful
servant and friend.
One day, as she came out of a poor woman's
CAROLINE RYDER went to the gate of the cottage with a little basket on her arm which she
Grove, and staid there two hours, but of course had emptied in the cottage, she met Sir George
no Griffith came.                           Neville full.
She returned the next night, and the next;   He took off his hat and made her a profound
and then she gave it up, and awaited an explana- bow. He was then about to ride on, but altered
tion. None came, and she was bitterly disap- his mind, and dismounted to speak to her.
pointed and indignant.                        The interview was constrained at first, but ero
She began to hate Griffith, and to conceive a long he ventured to tell her she really ought to
certain respect, and even a tepid friendship, for consult with some old friend and practical man
the other woman he had insulted.            like himself. He would undertake to scour the
Another clew to this change of feeling is to be country, and find her husband, if he was above
found in a word she let drop in talking to an- ground.
other servant. " My mistress," said she, " bears   "Me go a hunting the man," cried she, turnit like a man."                             ing red; " not if he was my king as well as my
In fact, Mrs. Gaunt's conduct at this period husband. He knows where to find me, and that
was truly noble.                            is enough."
She suffered months of torture, months of   "Well, but, madam, would you not like to
grief; but the high-spirited creature hid it from  learn where he is and what he is doing?"
the world, and maintained a sad but high com-   "Why, yes, my good, kind friend, I should
posure.                                     like to know that;" and, having pronounced
She wore her black, for she said, "How do I these words with apparent calmness, she burst
know he is alive?" She retrenched her estab- out crying, and almost ran away from him.
lishment, reduced her expenses two thirds, and   Sir George looked sadly after her, and formed
busied herself in works of charity and religion.  a worthy resolution.  He saw there was but one
Her desolate condition attracted a gentleman road to her regard.  He resolved to hunt her
who had once loved her, and now esteemed and husband for her without intruding on her, or
pitied her profoundly-Sir George Neville.   giving her a voice in the matter.  Sir Geoige
He was still unmarried, and she was the cause was a magistrate, and accustomed to organize
-so far, at least, as this: she had put him out inquiries. Spite of the length of time that had
of conceit with the other ladies at that period elapsed, he traced Griffith for a considerable diswhen he had serious thoughts of marriage, and tance; pending farther inquiries, he sent Mrs.
the inclination to marry at all had not since re- Gaunt word that the truant had not made for
turned.                                     the sea, but had gone due south.
If the Gaunts had settled at Bolton, Sir George   Mrs. Gaunt returned him her warm thanks for
would have been their near neighbor; but Ne- this scrap of information.  So long as Griffith
ville's Court was nine miles from Hernshaw Cas- remained in the island there was always a hope
tie; and when they met, which was not very he might return to her. The money he had
often, Mrs. Gaunt was on her guard to give taken would soon be exhausted, and poverty
Griffith no shadow  of uneasiness, She was might drive him to her; and she was so far
therefore rather more dignified and distant with humbled by grief that she could welcome him
Sir George than her own inclination and his even on those terms.
merits would have prompted, for he was a supe-   Affliction tempers the proud. Mrs. Gaunt
rior and very agreeable man.                was deeply injured as well as insulted; but, for
When it became quite certain that her hus- all that, in her many days and weeks of solitude
band had left her, Sir George rode up to Hern- and sorrow, she took herself to task, and saw her
shaw Castle and called upon her.            fault. She became more gentle, more considerShe begged to be excused from seeing him.   ate of her servants' feelings, more womanly.




GRIFFITT  GAUNTT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              91
For many. months she could not enter " the what you haye done? not the least sorry?  Oh,
Grove."  The spirited woman's very flesh re- my heart! you have almost broken it."
~olted at the sight of the place where she had    "Prithee, no more of this," said Griffith, sternbeen insulted and abandoned. But as she went ly. " You and I are naught to one another now
deeper in religion, she forced herself to go to the and forever. But there, you are but a woman.
gate and look in, and say out loud, " I gave the and I did not come to quarrel with you." And
first offense," and then she would go in-doors he fixed his eyes on the ground.
again, quivering with the internal conflict.  "Thank God for that," faltered Mrs. Gaunt.
Finally, being a Catholic, and therefore at- " Oh, sir, the sight of you-the thought of what
taching more value to self-torture than we do, you were to me once, till jealousy blinded you.
the poor soul made this very grove her place of Lend me your arm, if you are a man; my limbs
penance. Once a week she had the fortitude to do fail me."
drag herself to the very spot where Griffith had   The shock had been too much; a pallor overdenounced her, and there she would kneel and spread her lovely features, her knees knocked topray for him and for herself. And certainly, if gether, and she was tottering like some tender
humility and self-abasement were qualities of the tree cut down, when Griffith, who, with all his
body, here was to be seen their picture, for her faults, was a man, put out his strong arm, and
way was to set the crucifix up at the foot of a she clung to it, quivering all over, and weeping
tree, then to bow herself all down, between hysterically.
kneeling and lying, and put her lips meekly to   That little hand, with its little feminine clutch,
the foot of the crucifix, and so pray long and trembling on his arm, raised a certain male cOmearnestly.                                  passion for her piteous condition, and he bestowed
Now one day, while she was thus crouching a few cold, sad words of encouragement on her.
in prayer, a gentleman, booted, and spurred, "Come, come," said he, gently, "I shall not
and splashed, drew near, with hesitating steps. trouble you long. I'm  cured of my jealousy.
She was so absorbed she did not hear those'Tis gone, along with my love. You and your
steps at all till they were very near, but then she saintly sinner are safe from me. I am come
trembled all over, for her delicate ear recognized hither for my own-my two thousand pounds,
a manly tread she had not heard for many a day. and for nothing more."
She dared not move nor look, for she thought it   "Ah! you are come back for money, not fer
was a mere sound, sent to her by heaven to com- me?" she murmured, with forced calmness.
fort her. But the next moment a well-known    "For money, and not for you, of course," said
mellow voice came like a thunder-clap, it shook he, coldly.
her so.                                       The words were hardly out of his mouth when
" Forgive me, my good dame, but I desire to the proud lady flung his arm from her. " Then
know-"                                      money shall you have, and not me, nor aught of
The question went no farther, for Kate Gaunt me but my contempt."
sprang to her feet with a loud scream, and, stood   But she could not carry it off as heretofore.
glaring at Griffith Gaunt, and he at her.   She turned her back haughtily on him, but at
And thus husband and wife met again-met, the first step she burst out crying. " Come, and
by some strange caprice of Destiny, on'the very I'll give you what you are come for," she sobbed.
spot where they had parted so horribly.     "Ungrateful! heartless! Oh, how little I knew
this man!"
v'                    She crept away before him, drooping her head
CHAPTEER XXXI.                  and crying bitterly; and he followed her, hanging his head and ill at ease, for there was such
THE gaze these two persons bent on one an- true passion in her voice, her streaming eyes,
other may be half imagined; it can never be de- and indeed in her whole body, that he was
scribed.                                    moved, and the part he was playing revolted
Griffith spoke first.  " In black!" said he, in him. He felt confused and troubled, and asked
a whisper.                                  himself how on earth it was that she, the guilty
His voice was low; his face, though pale and one, contrived to appear the injured one, and
grim, had not the terrible aspect he wore at made him, the wronged one, feel almost reparting.                                    morseful.
So she thought he had come back in an amicable spirit, and she flew to him with a cry of   Mrs. Gaunt took no more notice of him now
love, and threw her arm round his neck, and than if he had been a dog following at her heels.
panted on his shoulder.                     She went into the drawing-room, and sank help,
At this reception, and the tremulous contact lessly on the nearest couch; threw her head
of one he had loved so dearly, a strange shudder wearily back, and shut her eyes. Yet the tears
ran through his frame-a shudder that marked trickled through the closed lids.
his present repugnance, yet indicated her latent   Griffith caught up a hand-bell and rang it
power.                                      vigorously.
He himself felt he had betrayed some weak-   Quick, light steps were soon heard pattering,
ness, and it was all the worse for her. He caught and in darted Caroline Ryder with an anxious
her wrist and put her from him, not roughly, but face, for of late she had conceived a certain sowith a look of horror. " The day is gone by for ber regard for her mistress, who had ceased to
that, madam,"he gasped. Then,sternly, "Think be her successful rival, and who bore her grief
you I came here to play the credulous hus- like a man.
band?"                                       At sight of Griffith, Ryder screamed aloud
Mrs. Gaunt drew back in her turn, and faltered and stood panting.
out, " What! come back here, and not sorry for   Mrs. Gaunt opened her eyes. "Ay, child, he




92                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
has come home," said she, bitterly; "his body, keep him  in the house till Father Francis
but not his heart."                         comes."
She stretched her hand out feebly, and pointed    "I undertake to do so much," said Ryder,
to a bottle of salts that stood on the table. Ryder firmly. " Leave it to me, mistress."
ran and put them, to her nostrils. Mrs. Gaunt   Mrs. Gaunt threw her arms round Ryder's neck
whispered in her ear, "Send a swift horse for and kissed her.
Father Francis; tell him life or death!"     It was done so ardently, and by a woman hithRyder gave her a very intelligent look, and erto so dignified and proud, that Ryder was takpresently slipped out and ran into the stable- en by surprise, and almost affected.
yard.                                         As for the service Mrs. Gaunt had asked of
At the gate she caught sight of Griffith's horse. her, it suited her own designs.
What does this quick-witted creature do but   "Mistress," said she, "be ruled by me; keep
send the groom off on that horse, and not on out of his way a bit while I get Miss Rose ready.
Mrs. Gaunt's.                               You understand."
"Ah! I have one true friend in the house,"
"Now, dame," said Griffith, doggedly, " are said poor Mrs. Gaunt. She then confided in Ryyou better?"                               der, and went away to give her own orders fbr
"Ay, I thank you."                        Griffith's reception.
"Then listen to me. When you and I set up    Ryder found little Rose, dressed her to perfechouse together, I had two thousand pounds.. I tion, and told her her dear papa was come home.
spent it on this house. The house is yours. She then worked upon the child's mind in that
You told me so, one day, you know."         subtle way known to women, so that Rose went
"Ah! you can remember my faults."        down stairs loaded and primed, though no in"I remember all, Kate."                   structions had been given her.
"Thank you, at least, for calling me Kate.   As for Griffith, he walked up and down, unWell, Griffith, since you abandoned us, I thought, easy, and wished he had staid at the "Packand thought, and thought of all that might be- horse." He had not bargained for all these emofall you, and I said,'What will he do for money?' tions; the peace of mind he had enjoyed for
My jewels, that you did me the honor to take, some months seemed trickling away.
would not last you long; I feared; so I reduced    " Mercy, my dear," said he to himself, "'twill
my expenses three fourths at least, and I put by be a dear penny to me, I doubt."
some money for your need."                    Then he went to the window, and looked at
Griffith looked amazed. "For my need?" the lawn, and sighed. Then he sat down and
raid he.                                    thought of the past.
" For whose else? I'll send for it, and place   While he sat thus moody, the door opened very
It in your hands-to-morrow."                softly, and a little cherubic face, with blue eyes
"To-morrow?  Why not to-day?"            and golden hair, peeped in. Griffith started.
" I have a favor to ask of you first."    " Ah!" cried Rose, with a joyful scream, and
"What is that?"                          out flew her little arms, and away she came, half
"Justice. If you are fond of money, I too running, half dancing, and was on his knee in a
have something I prize-my honor. You have moment, with her arms round his neck.
belied and insulted me, sir; but I know you    "Papa! papa!" she cried.  "Oh, my dear,
were under a delusion. I mean to remove that dear, dear, darling papa!"  And she kissed and
delusion, and make you see how little I am to patted his cheek again and again.
blame; for, alas! I own I was imprudent. But   Her innocent endearments moved him to tears.
oh, Griffith! as I hope to be saved, it was the " My pretty angel!" he sighed; " my lamb!"
imprudence of innocence and over-confidence."  " How your heart beats-don't cry, dear papa.
" Mistress," said Griffith, in a stern yet agi- Nobody is dead, only we thought you were. I'm
tated voice, "be advised, and leave all this; so glad you are come home alive. Now we can
rouse not a man's sleeping wrath. Let by-gones take off this nasty black; I hate it."
be by-gones."                                 " What!'tis for me you wear it, pretty one?"
Mrs. Gaunt rose, and said faintly, " So be it.   "Ay. Mamma made us. Poor mamma has
I must go, sir, and give some orders for your been so unhappy. And that reminds me-you
entertainment."                             are a wicked man, papa. But I love you all
"Oh, don't put yourself about for me," said one for that. It tis so dull when every body is
Griffith; " I -am not the master of this house. "  good like mamma; and she makes me dreadfulMrs. Gaunt's lip trembled, but she was a match ly good too; but now you are come back, there
for him. "Then you are my guest," said she, will be a little, little wickedness again, it is to be
"and my credit is concerned in your comfort."  hoped. Aren't you glad you are not dead, and
She made him a courtesy as if-he were a stran- are come home instead?  I am."
ger, and marched to the door, concealing, with    " I am glad I have seen thee. Come, take my
great pride and art, a certain trembling of her hand, and let us go look at the old place."
knees.                                        "Ay. But you must wait till I get on my
At the door she found Ryder, and bade her new hat and feather."
follow, much to that lady's disappointment; for   " Nay, nay-art pretty enough bareheaded."
she desired a tete-a-tete with Griffith, and an ex-   " Oh, papal but I must, for decency. You
planation.                                  are company now, you know."
As soon as the two women were out of Grif-   " Dull company, sweetheart, thou'lt find me."
fith's hearing, the mistress laid her hand on the   "I don't mean that: I mean, when you were
servant's arm, and, giving way to her feelings, here always, you were only papa; but now you
said, all in a flutter, "Child, if I have been a come once in an age, you're COMPANY. I won't
good mistress to thee, show it -now. Help me budge without'em:; so there, now."




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               93
W ell, little one, I do submit to thy hat and and she had played me false with her d-d
feather; only be quick, or I shall go forth with- priest," was Griffith's reply.
out thee."                                    Mrs. Gaunt drew back with horror.  " This
"If you dare," said Rose, impetuously; "for before my girl?" she cried. " GRIFFITH GAINUT,
I won't be half a moment."                  YOU LIE!"
She ran and extorted from Ryder the new hat   And this time it was the woman who menaced
and feather, which by rights she was not to have the man. She rose to six feet high, and advanced
worn until next month.                      on him with her great gray eyes flashing flames
Griffith and his little girl went all over the at him.  "Oh that I were a man!" she cried:
well-known premises, he sad and moody, she ex- " this insult should be the last. I'd lay you dead
cited and chattering, and nodding her head down, at her feet and mine. "
and cocking her eye up every now and then, to   Griffith actually drew back a step, for the wrath
get a glimpse of her feather.               of such a woman was terrible-more terrible, per"And don't you go away again, dear papa. haps, to a brave man than to a coward.
It tis so dull without you. Nobody comes here.   Then he put his hands in his pockets with a
Mamma won't let'em."                       dogged air, and said, grinding his teeth, " But,
"Nobody except Father Leonard," said Grif- as you are not a man, and I'm not a woman, we
fith, bitterly.                             can't settle it that way. So I give you the last
"Father Leonard? Why, he never comes word, and good-day. I'm sore in want of monhere. Leonard! That is the beautiful priest ey, but I find I can't pay the price it is like to
that used to pat me on the head, and bid me love cost me. Farewell."
and honor my parents. And so I do. Only   "Begone!" said Mrs. Gaunt; "and this time
mamma is always crying, and you keep away; forever. Ruffian and fool, I loathe the sight of
so how can I love and honor you when I never you."
see you, and they keep telling me you are good   Rose ran weeping to her.  "Oh, mamma,
for nothing, and dead."                     don't quarrel with papa;" then back to Griffith,
" My young mistress, when did you see Fa- " Oh, papa, don't quarrel with mamma-for my
ther Leonard last?" said Griffith, gnawing his lip. sake. "
" How can I tell? Why, it was miles ago-    Griffith hung his head, and said, in a broken
when I was a mere girl. You know he went voice, "No, my lamb, we twain must not quarrel
away before you did."                       before thee. We will part in silence, as becomes
"I know nothing of the kind. Tell me the those that once were dear, and have thee to show
truth, now. He has visited here since I went for't. Madam, I wish you all health and happiaway."                                      ness. Adieu."
" Nay, papa."                               He turned on his heel, and Mrs. Gaunt took
"' That is strange.  She visits him, then?"    Rose to her knees, and bent and wept over her.
" What, mamma? She seldom stirs out, and Niobe over her last was not more graceful nor
never beyond: the village. We keep no carriage more sad.
now. Mamma is turned such a miser. She is   As for Ryder, she stole quietly after her reliraftaid you will be poor; so she puts it all by for ing master. She found him peering about, and
you. But now you are come, we shall have car- asked him demurely what he was looking for.
riages and things again. Oh, by-the-by, Father   "My good black horse, girl, to take me from
Leonard! I heard them say he had left England, this cursed place. Did I not tie him to yon
so I did."                                  gate?"
"When was that?"                           "The black horse? Why, I sent him  for
" Well, I think that was a little bit after you Father Francis.  Nay, listen to me, master;
went away."                                 you know I was always your friend, and hard
"That is strange," said Griffith, thoughtfully. upon her. Well, since you went, things hare
He led his little girl by the hand, but scarcely come to pass that make me doubt. I begin to
listened to her prattle, he was so surprised and fear you were too hasty."
puzzled by the information he had elicited from  - "Do you tell me this now, woman?" cried
her.                                        Griffith, furiously.
Upon the whole, however, he concluded that   " How could I tell you before? Why did you
his wife and the priest had perhaps been smitten break your tryst with me?  If you had come
with remorse, and had parted-when it was too according to your letter, I'd have told you
late.                                       months ago what I tell you now; but, as I was
This, and the peace of mind he had found else- saying, the priest never came near her after you
where, somewhat softened his feelings toward left, and she never stirred abroad to meet him.
them. " So," thought he, " they were not hard- More than that, he has left England."
ened creatures, after all. Poor Kate!"       "Remorse! Too late."
As these milder feelings gained on him, Rose   "Perhaps it may, sir. I couldn't say; but
suddenly uttered a joyful cry, and, looking up, he there is one coming that knows the very truth."
saw Mrs. Gaunt coming toward him, and Ryder   "Who is that?"
behind her. Both were in gay colors, which, in   " Father Francis. The moment you came,
fact, was what had so delighted Rose.       sir, I took it on me to send for him. You know
They came up, and Mrs. Gaunt sqemed a the man; he won't tell a lie to please our dame.
changed woman. She looked young and beau- And he knows all, for Leonard has confessed to
tiful, and bent a look of angelic affection on her him.  I listened, and heard him say as much.
daughter, and said to Griffith, " Is she not grown? Then, master, be advised, and get the truth from
Is she not lovely? Sure you will never desert Father Francis."
her again."                                   Griffith trembled.  "Francis is an honest
"'Twas not her I deserted, but her mother; man," said he; "I'll wait till he comes. But




94                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
oh, my lass, I fina money may be bought too stretched out his hand, with eyes like a dog's in
dear."                                      the dark.
"Your chamber is ready, sir, and your clothes   Francis withdrew them quietly. "Not till she
put out. Supper is ordered. Let me show you is also present," said he.
your room. We are all so happy now."          At that, Griffith's good-nature, multiplied by
"Well," said he, listlessly, "since my horse is a good supper, took the alarm.  " Come, come,
gone, and Francis coming, and I'm wearied and sir," said he, "have a little mercy. I know you
sick of the world, do what you will with me for are a just man, and, though a boon companion,.
this one day."                              most severe in all matters of morality. But, I
He followed her mechanically to a bedroom, tell you plainly, if you are going to drag this poor
where was a bright fire, and a fine shirt, and his woman in the dirt, I shall go out of the room.
silver-laced suit of clothes airing.        What is the use tormenting her? I've told her
A sense of luxurious comfort struck him at my mind before her own child, and now I wish
the sight.                                  I had not. When I caught them in the Grove
"Ay," he said, "I'll dress, and so to supper; I lifted my hand to strike her, and she never
I'm main hungry. It seems a man must eat, let winced; I had better have left that alone too,
his heart be ever so sore."                 methinks. D-n the women; you are always
Before she left him, Ryder asked him coldly in the wrong if you treat'em like men. They
why he had broken his appointment with her.   are not wicked-they are weak. And this one
" That is too long a story to tell you now," hath lain in my bosom, and borne me two chilsaid he, coolly.                            dren, and one he lieth in the church-yard, and
" Another time, then," said she; and went out t'other hath her hair and my very eyes; and the
smiling, but bitter at heart.               truth is, I can't bear any man on earth to misGriffith had a good wash, and enjoyed certain call her but myself. God help me; I doubt I
little conveniences which he had not at the love her still too well to sit by and see her tor" Packhorse."  He doffed his riding-suit, and tured.  She was all in black for her fault, poor
donned the magnificent dress Ryder had selected penitent wretch.  Give me the letters, but let
for him; and with his fine clothes he somehow  her be."
put on more ceremonious manners.              Francis was moved by this appeal, but shook
He came down to the dining-room.  To his his head solemnly; and, ere Griffith could renew
surprise, he found it illuminated with wax can- his argument, the door was flung open by Ryder,
dies, and the table and sideboard gorgeous with and a stately figure sailed in that took both the
plate.                                      gentlemen by surprise.
Supper soon smoked upon the board; but,   It was Mrs. Gaunt in full dress-rich brocade
though it was set for three, nobody else ap- that swept the ground; magnificent bust, like
peared.                                     Parian marble varnished; and on her brow a
Griffith inquired of Ryder whether he was to diadem of emeralds and diamonds that gave her
sup alone.                                  beauty an imperial stamp.
She replied, " My mistress desires you not to   She swept into the room as only fine women
wait for her. She has no stomach."          can sweep, made Griffith a haughty courtesy,
" Well, then, I have," said Griffith, and fell to and suddenly lowered her head, and received
with a will.                                Father Francis's blessing; then seated herself,
Ryder, who waited on this occasion, stood and and quietly awaited events.
eyed him with curiosity.  His conduct was so   "The brazen jade!" thought Griffith. "But
unlike a woman's.                           how divinely beautiful!"  And he became as
Just as he concluded, the door opened, and a agitated as she was calm-in appearance. For
burly form entered. Griffith rose and embraced need I say her calmness was put on-defensive
him with his arms and lips, after the fashion of armor made for her by her pride and her sex?
the day.  " Welcome, thou one honest priest!"   The voice of Father Francis now rose, solid,
said he.                                    grave, and too impressive to be interrupted.
"'Velcome, thrice welcome, my long-lost son!"    "My daughter, and you who are her husband
said the cordial Francis.                   and my fiiend, I am here to do justice between
" Sit down, man, and eat with me. I'll begin you both, with God's help, and to show you both
again, for you."                            your faults.
"Presently, squire; I've work to do first. Go    " Catharine Gaunt, you began the mischief by
thou and bid thy mistress to come hither to encouraging another man to interfere between
me. "                                       you and your husband in things secular."
Ryder, to whom this was addressed, went out,   "But, father, he was my director-my priest."
and left the gentlemen together.              " My daughter, do you believe, with the ProtFather Francis drew out of his pocket two estants, that marriage is a mere civil contract,
packets, carefully tied and sealed.  He took a or do you hold, with us, that it is one of the holy
knife from the table and cut the strings, and sacraments?"
broke the seals. Griffith eved him  with cu-   "Can you ask me?" murmured Kate. reriosity.                                    proachfully.
Father Francis looked at him. "These," said    "Well, then, those whom God and the whoie
he, very gravely, " are the letters that Brother Church have in holy sacrament united, what right
Leonard hath written, at sundry times, to Catha- hath a single priest to disunite in heart, and
rine Gaunt, and these are the letters Catharine make the wife false to any part whatever of that
Gaunt hath written to Brother Leonard."     most holy vow? I hear, and not from you, that
Griffith trembled, and his face was con- Leonard did set you against your husband's
vulsed.                                     friends, withdrew you from society, and sent him
"Let me read them  at once." said he, and abroad alone. In one word, he iobbed your hus



GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                95
band of his companion and his friend. The sin keeping. So prays your affectionate and sorrow.
was Leonard's, but the fault was yours. You ful daughter and true friend,
were five years older than Leonard, and a worm-                 "CATHARINE GAUNT."
an of sense and experience; he but a boy by
comparison. What right had you to surrender   "Poor soul!" said Griffith. " Said I not that
your understanding, in a matter of this kind, to women are not wicked, but weak? Who would
a poor silly priest, fresh from his seminary, and think that after all this he could get the better
as manifestly without a grain of common sense of her good resolves-the villain!"
as he-was fullof piety?"                      "Now read his reply," said Father Francis.
This remonstrance produced rather a striking    "Ay," said Griffith. " So this is his one word
effect on both those who heard it. Mrs. Gaunt of reply, is it? three pages-closely writ-the vilseemed much struck with it. She leaned back lain! oh the villain!"
in her chair, and put her hand to her brow with   "Read the villain's letter," said Francis,
a sort of despairing gesture that Griffith could calmly.
not very well understand: it seemed to him so   The letter was very humble and pathetic; the
disproportionate.                           reply of a good though erring man, who owned
It softened him, however, and he faltered out, that, in a moment of weakness, he had been be,
"Ay, father, that is how it all began. Would trayed into a feeling inconsistent with his holy
to heaven it had stopped there."            profession.  He begged his correspondent, howFrancis resumed. " This false step led to con- ever, not to judge him quite so hardly. He resequences you never dreamed of; for one of your minded her of his solitary life, his natural melromantic notions is, that a priest is an angel. I ancholy, and assured her that all men in his conhave known you, in former times, try to take me dition had moments when they envied those
for an angel; then would I throw cold water on whose bosoms had partners.  "Such a cry of
your folly by calling lustily for chines of beef and anguish," said he, "was once wrung from  a
mugs of ale. But I suppose Leonard thought maiden queen, maugre all her pride. The Queen
himself an angel too, and the upshot was, he fell of Scots hath a son, and I am but a barren
in love with his neighbor's wife."          stock."  He went on to say that prayver and vig"And she with him," groaned Griffith.     ilance united do much.  "Do not despair so
"Not so," said Francis; "but perhaps she was soon.of me. Flight is not cure; let me rather
nearer it than she thinks."                 stay, and, with God's help and the saints', over"Prove that," said Mrs. Gaunt, "and I'll fall come this unhappy weakness. If I fail, it will
on my knees to him before you."             indeed be time for me to go and never again see
Francis smiled, and proceeded. " To be sure, the angelic face of my daughter and my-benefacfrom the moment you discovered Leonard was in tress. "
love with you, you drew back, and conducted    Griffith laid down the letter. He was someyourself with prudence and propriety. Read what softened by it, and said, gently, "I can not
these letters, sir, and tell me what you think of understand it. This is not the letter of a thorthem."                                      ough bad man neither."'He handed them to Griffith.  Griffith's hand    "No," said Father Francis, coldly, "'tis the
trembled visibly as he took them.           letter of a self-deceiver; and there is no more
" Stay, " said Father Francis; "your better dangerous man, to himself and others, than your
way will be to read the whole correspondence self-deceiver.  But now let'us see whether he
according to their dates. Begin with this of can throw dust in her eyes as well as his own."
Mrs. Gaunt's."                              And he handed him Kate's reply.
Griffith read the letter in an audible whisper.   The first word of it was, "You deceive yourMrs. Gaunt turned her head a little, and for self."'he writer then insisted, quietly, that he
the first time lowered her eyes to the ground.    owed it to himself, to her, and to her husband,
whose happiness he was destroying, to leave the
place at her request.
CIhAPTEER SXXIIxw                  "E "Either you must go, or i," said she; "and
pray let it be you. Also this place is unworthy
"DEAR FATHER AND FRIEND, —rThe words of your high gifts; and I love you, in my way, the
you spoke to me to-day admit but one meaning way I mean to love you when we meet again —
-you are jealous of my husband.             in Heaven; and I labor your advancement to a
"Then you must be-how can I write it?-  sphere more worthy of you."
almost in love with me.                       I wish space permitted me to lay the whole
i" So, then, my poor husband was wiser than correspondence before the reader, but I must conI. He saw a rival in you, and he has one.   fine myself to its general purport.
"I am deeply, deeply shocked. I ought to be   It proceeded in this way: the priest, humble,
very angry too; but, thinking of your solitary eloquent, pathetic, but gently, yet pertinaciously
condition, and all the good you have done to my clinging to the place; the lady gentle, wise, and
soul, my heart has no place for naught but pity. firm, detaching with her soft fingers first one
Only, as I am in my senses and you are not, you hand, then another, of the poor priest's, till at last
must now obey me, as heretofore I have obeyed he was driven to the sorry excuse that he had no
ou. You must seek another sphere of duty money to travel with nor place to go to.;without delay.                               "I can't understand it," said Griffith.  "Are
"These seem harsh words from me to you. these letters all forged, or are there two Kate
You will live to see they are kind ones.    Gaunts?-the one that wrote these prudent let" Write me one line, and no more, to say you ters, and the one I caught upon this very priest's
will be ruled by me in this.                arm. Perdition!"
"God and the saints have you in their holy   Mrs. Gaunt started to her feet.  "Methinks




96                      GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.'tis time for me to leave the room," said she, Well, you know I had got him, by my friends, a
scarlet.                                     good place in Ireland, and I had money by me
"Gently, my good friends; one thing at a for his journey; so, when my husband talked of
time," said Francis.  " Sit thou down, impetu- going to the fair, I thought,' Oh, if I could but
ous. The letters, sir, what think you of them?" get this settled to his mind before he comes
"I see no harm in them," said Griffith.   back.' So I wrote a line to Leonard.  You can
"No harm! is that all? But I say these are read it if you like.'Tis dated the 30th of Sepvery remarkable letters, sir; and they show us tember, I suppose."
that a woman may be innocent and unsuspicious,   "I will," said Francis, and read this out:
and so seem foolish, yet may be wise for all that.      FATHER A
In her early communication with Leonard,
at on,  fought the good fight and conquered.  Now,
And thought wisdno i where Sspicion slept,    therefore, I will see you once more, and thank
t y houge ssici  breing o  ed,' w    you for my husband (he is so unhappy,), and put
But, you see, suspicion being once aroused, wis- the money for your journey into your hand mydom was not to be lulled nor blinded. But that
is not all: these letters breathe a spirit of Chris- self —yonr Journey to Ireland. You are the
is not all: these letters breathe a spirit of Chris- Duke of Leinster's chaplain, for I have accepted
tian charity; of true, and rare, and exalted piety; that place for you. Let me see you to-morrow
tender are they, without passion; wise, yet not in the grove, for a few minutes, at high noon.
cold; full of conjugal love, and of filial pity forE GNT.
an erring father, whom she leads, for his good,
with firm yet dutiful hand.  Trust to any great   "Well, father," said Mrs. Gaunt, " tis true that
experience; doubt the chastity of snow rather I could only walk two or three times across the
than hers who could Write these pure and exqui- room. But, alack, you know what women alre;
site lines. My good friend, you heard me rebuke excitement gives us strength.  With thinking
and sneer at this poor lady for being too inno- that our unhappiness was at an end; that, when
cent and unsuspicious of man's frailty; now hear he should come back from the fair, I should fling
me own to you that I could no more have written my arm round his neck, and tell him I had rethese angelic letters than a barn-door fowl could  nroved the cause of his misery, and so of mine,
soar to the mansions of the saints in Heaven."   I seemed to have wings; and I did walk with
This unexpected tribute took Mrs. Gaunt's Leonard, and talked with rapture of the good he
heart by storm; she threw her arms round was to do in Ireland, and how he was to be a
Father Francis's neck, and wept upon his shoul- mitred abbot one day (for he is a great man),
der.                                         and poor little me be proud of him; and how we
" Ah!" she sobbed," you are the only one left were all to be happy together in heaven, where is
that loves me."                              no marrying nor giving in marriage. This was
She could not understand justice praising her; our discourse; and I was just putting the purse
it must be love.                            into his hands, and bidding him God-speed, when
"Ay," said Griffith, in a broken voice,' "she he-for whom I fought against my woman's nawrites like an angel, she speaks like an angel, she ture, and took this trying task upon me-broke in
looks like an angel.  My heart says she is an upon us with the face of a fiend, trampled on the
angel, but my eyes have shown me she is naught. poor good priest, that deserved veneration and
I left her unable to walk, by her way of it; I consolation from him, of all men, and raised his
came back, and found her on that priest's arm, hand to me, and was not man enough to kill me
springing along like a greyhound."  He buried after all, but called me-ask him what he called
his head in his hands, and groaned aloud.    me; see if lie dares say it again before you; and
Francis turned to Mrs. Gaunt, and said, a lit- then ran away, like a coward as he is, from the
tie severely, " How do you account for that?"   lady he had defiled with his rude tongue, and the
"I'll tell you, father," said Kate, "because heart he had broken. Forgive him? that I never
you love me. I do not speak to you, sir, for you will —never-never!"
never loved me."                               "Who asked you to forgive hint?" said thl
" I could give thee the lie," said Griffith, in shrewd priest.  "Your own heart.  Come, lo)ok
a trembling voice, " but'tis not worth while. at him."
Know, sir, that within twenty-four hours after I   "Not I," said she, irresolutely.  Then, still
caught her with that villain, I lay a dying for more feebly, "lHe is naught to me," and so stole
her sake, and lost my wits; and, when I came to, a look at him.
they were a making my shroud in the very room    Griffith, pale as ashes, had his hand on his
where I lay. No matter-no matter-I never brow, and his eyes were fixed with horror and reloved her."                                  morse.
"Alas! poor soul!" sighed Kate; "would I   "Something tells me she has spoken the
had died ere I brought thee to that!"  And, truth," he said, in a quavering voice.  Then,
with this, they both began to cry at the same with concentrated horror, " But, if so-oh God.
moment.                                      what have I done? What shall I do?"
" Ay, poor fools!" said Father Francis, softly,   Mrs. Gaunt extended her arms toward him,
"neither of ye loved t'other, that is plain.  So across the priest.
now sit you there, and let us have your explana-' Why, fall at thy wife's knees, and ask her to
tion; for you must own appearances are strong forgive thee."
against you."                                  Griffith obeyed.  Ile fell on his knees, and
Mrs. Gaunt drew her stool to Francis's knee, Mrs. Gaunt leaned her head on Francis's shouland, addressing herself to him alone, explained der, and gave her hand across him  to her reas follows:                                  morse-stricken husband.
"I saw Father Leonard was giving way, and   Neither spoke nor desired to speak; and even
only wanted one good rpush, after a manner. Father Francis sat silent, and enjoyed that




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               97
sweet glow which sometimes blesses the peace- fused whirl, and his heart distracted. The wife
maker, even in this world of wrangles and jars.  he had truly loved so tenderly proved to be the
But the good soul had ridden hard, and the very reverse of all he had lately thought her!
neglected meats emitted savory odors, and by- She was pure as snow, and had always loved him
and-by he said, dryly, " I wonder whether that -loved him now, and only wanted a good exfat pullet tastes as well as it smells: can you cuse to take him to her arms again. But Mercy
tell me, squire?"                          Vint-his wife, his benefactress-a woman as
"Oh, inhospitable wretch that I am," said chaste as Kate, as strict in life and moralsMrs. Gaunt, " I thought but of my own heart. "  what was to become of her? How could he tell
" And forgot the stomach of your unspiritual her she was not his wife? how reveal to her her
father. But, madam, you are pale-you trem- own calamity and his treason?  And, on the
ble."                                        other hand, desert her without a word! and
"'Tis nothing, sir; I shall soon be better. leave her hoping, fearing, pining, all her life!
Sit you down and sup; I will return anon."  Affection, humanity, gratitude alike forbade it.
She retired, not to make a fuss; but her heart   Ile came down in the morning, pale for him,
palpitated violently, and she had to sit down on and worn with the inward struggle.
the stairs.                                    Naturally there was a restraint between him
Ryder, who was prowling about, found her and Mrs. Gaunt, and only short sentences passed
there, and fetched her hartshorn.            between them.
Mrs. Gaunt got better, but felt so languid, and   lie saw the peacemaker off, and then wanderalso hysterical, that she retired to her own room  ed all over the premises, and the past came nearfor the night, attended by the faithful Ryder, to er, and the present seemed to retire into the
whom she confided that a reconciliation had background.
taken place, and, to celebrate it, gave her a dress   He wandered about like one in a dream, and
she had only worn a year. This does not sound was so self-absorbed that he did not see Mrs.
queenly to you ladies; but know that a week's Gaunt coming toward him with observant eyes.
wear tells far more on the flimsy trash you wear   She met him full; he started like a guilty
nowadays, than a year did on the glorious silks thing.
of Lyons Mrs. Gaunt put on-thick as broad-   "Are you afraid of me?" said she, sweetly.
cloth, and embroidered so cunningly by the loom    "No, my dear, not exactly; and yet I amthat it would pass for rarest needle-work. Be- afraid, or ashamed, or both."
sides, in those days, silk was silk.           "You need not. I said I forgive you; and
As Ryder left her, she asked, " Where is the you know I am not one that does things by
master to lie to-night?"                    halves."
Mrs. Gaunt was not pleased at this question    " You are an angel!" said he, warmly; "but
being put to her. Being a singular mixture of (suddenly relapsing into despondency) we shall
frankness and finesse, she had retired to her own never be happy together again."
room partly to test Griffith's heart. If he was   She sighed.  " Say not so. Time and sweet
as sincere as she was, he would not be content recollections may heal even this wound by dewith a  t)1blic reconciliation.              grees."
But the question being-put to her plump, and    "God grant it," said he, despairingly.
by one of her own sex, she colored faintly, and    "And, though we can't be lovers again all at
said, "Why, is there not a bed in his room?"   once, we may be friends; to begin, tell me,
" Oh yes, madam."                         what have you on your mind?  Come, make a
" Then see it be well aired. Put down all the friend of me."
things before the fire, and then tell me; I'll come   He looked at her in alarm.
and see. The feather bed, mind, as well as the   She smiled.  "Shall I guess?" said she.
sheets and blankets."                          " You will never guess, " said he, " and I shall
Ryder executed all this with zeal. She did never have the heart to tell you."
more: though Griffith and Francis sat up very    " Let me try.  Well, I think you have run in
late, she sat up too; and, on the gentlemen debt, and are afraid to ask me for the money."
leaving the supper-room, she met them both,   Griffith was greatly relieved by this conjecture.
with bed-candles, in a delightful cap, and un- le drew a long breath; and, after a pause, said,
dertook, with cordial smiles, to show them both cunningly, " What made you think that?"
their chambers.                                "Because you came here for money, and not
" Tread softly on the landing, an' if it please for happiness.  You told me so in the Grove."
you, gentlemen.  My mistress hath been unwell,   " That is true. What a sordid wretch you
but she is in a fine sleep now, by the blessing, must think me!"
and I would not have her disturbed."           "No, because you were under a delusion.
But I do believe you are just the man to turn
Father Francis went to bed thoughtful. There reckless when you thought me false, and go
was something about Griffith he did not like; drinking and dicing."  She added, eagerly, "I
the man every now and then broke out into bois- do not suspect you of any thing worse."
terous raptures, and presentlyrelapsed into moody   He assured her that was not the way of it.
thoughtfulness.  Francis almost feared that his   "Then tell me the way of it. You must not
cure was only temporary.                    think, because I pester you not with questions, I
In the morning, before he left, he drew Mrs. have no curiosity.  Oh, how often have I longed
Gaunt aside, and told her his misgivings.  She to be a bird, and watch you day and night unreplied that she thought she knew what was seen. How would you have liked that?  I wish
amiss, and would soon set that right.       you had been one, to watch me. Ah! -you don't
Griffith tossed and turned in his bed, and answer.  Could you have borne so close an inspent a stormy night.  His mind was in a con- spection, sir?"
G




98                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
Griffith shuddered at the idea, and his eyes   "Nay, nay, if I go to-morrow I shall be ii
fell before the full gray orbs of his wife.  time."
"Well, never mind," said she; " tell me your   "Ay, but," said Mrs. Gaunt, very softly, " I
story."                                   am afraid if I keep you another hour I shall not
" Well, then, when I left you I was raving have the heart to let you go at all; and the soonmad."                                      er gone, the sooner back for good, please God.' That is true, I'll be sworn."         There, give me one kiss to live on, and begone
"'I let my horse go, and he took me near a this instant."
hundred miles from here, and stopped at-at-a   He covered her hands with kisses and tears.
farm-house. The good people took me in."   "I'm not worthy to kiss any higher than thy
" God bless them for it. I'll ride and thank hand," he said, and so ran sobbing from her.
them. "
"Nay, nay,'tis too far. There I fell sick of a
fever-a brain-fever: the doctor blooded me."          CHAPTER XXXIII.
"Alas! would he had taken mine instead."   HE went straight to the stable and saddled
"And I lost my wits for several days; and Black Dick. But, in the very act, his nature rewhen I came back I was weak as water, and volted. What, turn his back on her the moment
given up by the doctor; and the first thing he had got hold of her money to take to the othI saw was an old hag set a making of my er!  He could not do it.
shroud."                                     He went back to her room, and came so sudHere the narrative was interrupted a moment denly that he caught her crying. He asked her
by Mrs. Gaunt seizing him convulsively, and then what was the matter.
holding him tenderly, as if he was even now about   " Nothing," said she, with a sigh; " only a
to be taken from her.                      woman's foolish misgivings. I was afraid per" The good people nursed me, and so did their haps you would not come back. Forgive me."
daughter, and I came back from the grave. I   "No fear of that," said he. "' owever, I
took an inn; but I gave up that, and had to pay have taken a resolve not to go to-day. If I go
forfeit; and so my money all went; but they to-morrow I shall be just in time, and Dick wants
kept me on. To be sure, I helped on the farm: a good day's rest."
they kept a hostelry as well. By-and-by came   Mrs. Gaunt said nothing, but her expressive
that murrain among the cattle. Did you have face was triumphant.
it in these parts too?"                     Griffith and she took a walk together, and he,
"I know not, nor care. Prithee leave cattle, who used to be the more genial of the two, was
and talk of thyself."                      dull, and she full of animation.
"Well, in a word, they were ruined, and go-   This whole day she laid herself out to bewitch
ing to be sold up. I could not bear that: I be- her husband, and put him in high spirits.
came bondsman for the old man. It was the   It was up-hill work; but, when such a woman
least I could do. Kate, they had saved thy hus- sets herself in earnest to delight a man, she reads
band's life."                              our sex a lesson in the art that shows us we are
"' Not a word more, Griffith. How much stand all babies at it.
you pledged for?"                            However, it was at supper she finally con" A large sum."                          quered.
"Would five hundred pounds be of any avail?"   Here the lights, her beauty set off with art,
"Five hundred pounds! Ay, that it would, her deepening eyes, her satin skin, her happy exand to spare; but where can I get so much mon- citement, her wit and tenderness, and joyous
ey? And the time so short."               sprightliness, enveloped Griffith in an atmos-'; Give me thy hand, and come with me," said phere of delight, and drove every thing out of
Mrs. Gaunt, ardently.                      his head but herself; and with this, if the truth
She took his hand, and made a swift rush must be told, the sparkling wines co-operated.
across the lawn. It was not exactly running nor   Griffith plied the bottle a little too freely.
walking, but some grand motion she had when But Mrs. Gaunt, on this one occasion, had not
excited. She put him to his stride to keep up the heart to check him. The more he toasted
with her at all, and in two minutes she had him  her, the more uxorious he became, and she could
into her boudoir. She unlocked a bureau all in not deny herself even this joy; but, besides, she
a hurry, and took out a bag of gold. "There!" had less of the prudent wife in her just then than
she cried, thrusting it into his hand, and bloom- of the weak, indulgent mother. Any thing rathing all overwith joy and eagerness; " I thought er than check his love: she was greedy of it.
you would want money, so I saved it up. You   At last, however, she said to him, " Sweetshall not be in debt a day longer. Now mount heart, I shall go to bed; for I see, if I stay lonthy horse, and carry it to those good souls; only, ger, I shall lead thee into a debauch. Be good,
for my sake, take the gardener with thee-I have now; drink no more when I am gone, else I'll
no groom now but he-and both well armed."  say thou lovest thy bottle more than thy wife."
"What! go this very day?"                He promised faithfully. But, when she was
"Ay, this very hour. I can bear thy absence gone, modified his pledge by drinking just one
for a day or two more, I have borne it so long, bumper to her health, which bumper let in anbut I can not bear thy plighted word to stand in other; and when at last he retired to rest, he
doubt a day —no, not an hour. I am vour wife, was in that state of mental confusion wherein
sir, your true and loving wife; your honor is the limbs appear to have a memory independent
mine, and is as dear to me now as it was when of the mind.
you saw me with Father Leonard in the Grove,   In this condition do some men's hands wind
and read me all awry. Don't wait a moment; up their watches, the mind taking no appreciable
begone at once."                          part in the ceremony.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                 99
By some such act of what physicians call " or- but, instead of that, he crawled on, and very sick
ganic memory," Griffith's feet carried him to the and cold he felt.
chamber he had slept in a thousand times, and   Many a man has marched to the scaffold with
not into the one Mrs. Ryder had taken him to a less quaking heart than he to the" Packhorse. "
the night before.                              His dejection contrasted strangely with the
The next morning he came down rather late warm reception he met from every body there.
for him, and found himself treated with a great And the house was full of women; and they
access of respect by the servants.           seemed, somehow, all cock-a-hoop, and filled with
His position was no longer doubtful; he was admiration of himl.
the master of the house.                       " Where is she?" said he, faintly.
Mrs. Gaunt followed in due course, and sat at   "Hark to the poor soul!" said a gossip.
breakfast with him, looking young and blooming " Dame Vint, where's thy daughter? gone out
as Hebe, and her eye never off him long.     a-walking belike?"
She had lived temperately, and had not yet   At this the other women present chuckled and
passed the age when happiness can restore a clucked.
woman's beauty and brightness in a single day.    "I'll bring you to her," said Mrs.Vint; "but
As for him, he was like a man in a heavenly prithee be quiet and reasonable, for, to be sure,
dream: he floated in the past and the present; she is none too strong."
the recent and the future seemed obscure and dis-   There was some little preparation, and then
tant, and comparatively in a mist.           Griffith was ushered into Mercy's room, and
found her in bed, looking a little pale, but sweetBut that same afternoon, after a most affec- er and comelier than ever. She had the bedtionate farewell, and many promises to return as clothes up to her chin.
soon as ever he had discharged his obligations,   "You look wan, my poor lass," said he;
Griffith Gaunt started for the "Packhorse," to  "what ails ye?"
carry to Mercy Leicester, alias Vint, the money    "Naught ails me now thou art come," said
Catharine Gaunt had saved by self-denial and she, lovingly.
economy.                                       Griffith put the bag on the table.  "There,"
And he went south a worse man than he came. said he, " there's five hundred pounds in gold.
When he left Mercy Leicester, he was a big- I come not to thee empty-handed."
amist in law, but not at heart.  Kate was dead    " Nor I to thee," said Mercy, with a heavenly
to him; he had given her up forever; and was smile.  " See!"
constant and true to his new wife.             And she drew down the bedclothes a little,
But now he was false to Mercy, yet not true to and showed the face of a babe scarcely three
Kate; and, curiously enough, it was a day or two days old-a little boy.
passed with his lawful wife that had demoralized    She turned in the bed, and tried to hold him
him. His unlawful wife had hitherto done noth- up to his father, and said, " Here's my treasure
ing but improve his character.               for thee!"  And the effort, the flush on her
But a great fault once committed is often the cheek, and the deep light in her dove-like eyes,
first link in a chain of acts that look like crimes, told plainly that the poor soul thought she had
but are, strictly speaking, consequences.    contributed to their domestic wealth something
This man, blinded at first by his own foible, far richer than Griffith had with his bag of
and, after that, the sport of circumstances, was gold.
single-hearted by nature, and his conscience was
not hardened. He desired earnestly to free him-   The father uttered an ejaculation, and came
self and both his wives from the cruel situation; to her side, and, for a moment, Nature overbut, to do this, one of them, he saw, must be powered every thing else.  He kissed the child;
abandoned entirely, and his heart bled for her.  he kissed Mercy again and again.
A villain or a fool would have relished the sit-   " Now God be praised for both," said he, pasnation; many men would have dallied with it; sionately; "but most for thee, the best wife,
but, to do this erring man justice, he writhed the truest friend-"  Here, thinking of her virand sorrowed under it, and sincerely desired to tues, and the blow he had come to strike her, he
end it.                                      broke down, and was almost choked with emoAnd this was why he prized Kate's money so. tion; whereupon Mrs. Vint exerted female auIt enabled him to render a great service to her thority, and bundled him out of the room.  "Is
he had injured worse than he had the other, to that the way to carry on at such a time?" said
her he saw he must abandon.                  she.  "'Twas enow  to upset her altogether.
But this was feeble comfort after all. He rode Oh, but you men have little sense in women's
along a miserable man; none the less wretched matters. I looked to you to give her courage,
and remorseful that, ere he got into Lancashire, not to set her off into hysterics in a manner.
he saw his way clear. This was his resolve: to Nay, keep up her heart, or keep your distance,
pay old Vint's debts with Kate's money; take say I, that am her mother."
the "Packhorse," get it made over to Mercy,   Griffith took this hint, and ever after took
give her the odd two hundred pounds and his pity on Mercy's weak condition, and, suspending
jewels, and fly. He would never see her again, the fatal blow, did all he could to restore her to
but would return home, and get the rest of the health and spirits.
two thousand pounds from Kate, and send it to    Of course, to do that, he must deceive her, and
Mercy by a friend, who should tell her he was so his life became a lie.
dead, and had left word with his relations to send   For hitherto she had never looked forward
her all his substance.                      much; but now her eyes were always diving
At last the "Packhorse" came in sight.  He into futurity, and she lay smiling and discussing
drew rein, and had half a mind to turn back; the prospects of her boy; and Griffith had to sit




100                     GRIFFITH  GAU.NT; OR, JEALOUSY.
by her side, and see her gnaw the boy's hand, to him. But, for that matter, many a man has
and kiss his feet, and anticipate his brilliant been first made a liar by his connection with two
career.  He had to look and listen with an ach- women, and by degrees has carried his mendaciing heart, and assent with feigned warmth, and ty into other things.
an inward chill of horror and remorse.         However, though now blessed with mendacity,
One Drummond, a traveling artist, called, he was cursed with a lack of invention, and soreand Mercy, who had often refused to sit to him, ly puzzled how to live at Hernshaw, yet visit the
consented now, for, she said, when he grows up, "Packhorse."
he shall know how his parents looked in their   The best thing he could hit upon was to preyouth, the very year their darling was born. So tend to turn bagman, and so Mercy would beGriffith had to sit with her, and excellent like- lieve he was traveling all over England, when all
nesses the man produced, but a horrible one of the time he was quietly living at Hernshaw.
the child. And Griffith thought, " Poor soul! a   And perhaps these long separations might prelittle while, and this picture will be all that shall pare her heart for a final parting, and so let in
be left to thee of me."                      his original plan a few years hence.
For all this time he was actually transacting    He prepared this manceuvre with some art.
the preliminaries of separation.  He got a man He told her, one day, he had been to Lancaster,
of law to make all sure. The farm, the stock, and there fallen in with a friend, who had as
the furniture and good-will of the " Packhorse," good as promised him the place of a commercial
all these he got assigned to Mercy Leicester for traveler for a mercantile house.
her own use, in consideration of three hundred    "A traveler!" said Mercy. "Heaven forbid!
and fifty pounds, whereof three hundred were If you knew how I wearied for you when you
devoted to clearing the concern of its debts, the went to Cumberland!"
odd fifty was to -sweeten the pill to Harry Vint.       "To Cumberland! IHow know you I went
When the deed came to be executed, Mercy thither?"
was surprised, and uttered a gentle remon-   " Oh, but I guessed that; but now I know it,
strance.  "What have I to do with it?" said byyour face. But, go where thou wilt, the house
she.  "'Tis thy money, not mine."           is dull directly.  Thou art our sunshine.  Isn't
"No matter," said Griffith, "I choose to have he, my poppet?"
it so."                                        "Well, well, if it kept me too long from thee,
" Your will is my law, " said Mercy.       I could give it up. But, child, we must think of
"Besides," said Griffith, " the old folk will young master.  You could manage the inn, and
not feel so sore, nor be afraid of being turned your mother the farm, without me, and I should
out, if it is in thy name."                  be earning money on my side. I want to make
"And that is true," said Mercy. "Now who a gentleman of him. "
had thought of that but my good man?" And    "Any thing for himi," said Mercy, "any thing
she threw her arms lovingly round his neck, and in the world." But the tears stood in her eyes.
gazed on him adoringly.                        In furtherance of this deceit, Griffith did one
But his lion-like eyes avoided her ddve-like day actually ride to Lancaster, and slept there.
eyes, and an involuntary shudder ran through him. He wrote to Kate from that town to say he was
The habit of deceiving Mercy led to a conse- detained by a slight illness, but hoped to be home
quence he had not anticipated.  It tightened the in a week; and the next day brought Mercy
chain that held him.  She opened his eyes more home some ribbons, and told her he had seen
and more to her deep affection, and he began to the merchant and his brother, and they had made
fear she would die if he abandoned her.      him a very fair offer. "But I've a week to think
And then her present situation was so touch- of it," said he, " so there's no hurry."
ing. She had borne him a lovely boy: that must   Mercy fixed her eyes on him in a very peculiar
be abandoned too, if he left her; and somehow  *way, and made no reply.  You must know that
the birth of this child had embellished the moth- something very curious had happened while Grifer; a delicious pink had taken the place of her fith was gone to Lancaster.
rustic bloom, and her beauty was more refined    A traveling peddler, passing by, was struck
and delicate. So pure, so loving, so fair, so ma- with the name on the sign-board. "Hallo!"
ternal, to wound her heart now, it seemed like said he, "why here's a namesake of mine; I'll
stabbing an angel.                           have a glass of his ale, any way."
One day succeeded to another, and still Grif-   So he came into the public room, and called
fith had not the heart to carry out his resolve. for a glass, taking care to open his pack and disHe temporized; he wrote to Kate that he was play his inviting wares. Harry Vint served him.
detained by the business; and he staid on and " Here's your health," said the peddler. " Yoti
on, strengthening his gratitude and his affection, must drink with me, you must."
and weakening his love for the absent and his res-   "And welcome," said the old man.
olution, till at last he became so distracted and   "'Well," said the peddler, " I do travel five
divided in heart, and so demoralized, that he be- counties, but, for all that, you are the first name,
gan to give up the idea of abandoning Mercy, sake I have found. I am Thomas Leicester too,
and babbled to himself about fate and destiny, as sure as you are a living sinner."
and decided that the most merciful course would   The old man laughed and said, "Then no
be to deceive both women. Mercy was patient. namesake of mine are you, for they call me
Mercy was unsuspicious. She would content Harry Vint.  Thomas Leicester, he that keeps
herself with occasional visits, if he could only this inn now, is my son-in-law: he is gone to
feign some plausible tale to account for long ab- Lancaster this morning."
sences.                                        The peddler said that was a pity; he should
Before he got into this mess he was a singu- have liked to see his namesake, and ilrin] a glass
larly truthful person, but now a lie was nothing with him.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                             101
"Come again to-morrow," said Harry Vint,   " Trouble, they say."
ironically. "Dame," he cried, "come hither.   "What trouble?"
Here's another Thomas Leicester for ye, wants   " Nay, I know not."  This after a slight but
to see our one."                          visible hesitation.
Mrs. Vint turned her head and inspected the   "But you have heard say."
peddler from afar, as if he was some natural cu-   "Well, I am always on the foot, and don't
riosity.                                  bide long enough in one place to learn all the
"Where do you come from, young man?" gossip. But I do remember hearing he was
said she.                                 gone to sea; and that was a lie, for he had set" Well, I came from Kendal last, but I am  tled here, and married you. I'fackins, he might
Cumberland born."                         have done worse. He has got a bonny, buxom
" Why, that is where t'other comes from," wife, and a rare fine boy, to be sure."
suggested Paul Carrick, who was once more a   And now the peddler was on his guard, and
frequenter of the house.                   determined he would not be the one to break up
"Like enow," said Mrs. Vint.            the household he saw before him, and afflict the
With that she dropped the matter as one of no dove-eyed wife and mother. Hle was a goodconsequence, and retired. But she went straight natured fellow, and a-verse to make mischief with
to Mercy, in the parlor, and told her there was his own hands.  Besides, he took for granted
a man in the kitchen that called himself Thomas Griffith loved his new wife better than the old
Leicester.                                 one; and, above all, the punishment of bigamy
"Well, mother?" said Mercy, with high in- was severe, and was it for him to get the squire
difference, for she was trying new socks on King indicted, and branded in the hand for a felon?
Baby.                                        So the women could get nothing more out of
" He comes from Cumberland. "           him; he lied, evaded, shuffled, and feigned utter' Well, to be sure, names do run in counties." ignorance, pleading, adroitly enough, his vagrant
"That is true; but, seems to me, he favors life.
your man: much of a height, and-  There, do   All this, however, aroused vague suspicions in
just step into the kitchen a moment."     Mrs.Vint's mind, and she went and whispered
"La! mother," said Mercy, "I don't desire them to her favorite, Paul Carrick.  "And,
to see any more Thomas Leicesters than my Paul," said she, "call for what you like, and
own:'tis the man, not the name. Isn't it, my score it to me, only treat this peddler till he
lamb?"                                   leaks out summut: to be sure he'll tell a man
Mrs. Vint went back to the kitchen discom- more than he will us."
fited; but, with quiet pertinacity, she brought   Paul entered with zeal into this commission;
Thomas Leicester into the parlor, pack and all.  treated the peddler to a chop, and plied him
"There, Mercy," said she, "lay out a penny well with the best ale.
with thy husband's namesake."                All this failed to loose the peddler's tongue at
Mercy did not reply, for at that moment the time, but it muddled his judgment: on reThomas Leicester caught sight of Griffith's por- suming his journey, he gave his entertainer a
trait, and gave a sudden start, and a most extra- wink. Carrick rose and followed him out.
ordinary look besides.                       " You seem a decent lad," said the peddler,
Both the women's eyes happened to be upon "and a good-hearted one. Wilt do me a fahim, and they saw at once that he knew the vor?"
original.                                    Carrick said he would, if it lay in his power.
" You know my husband?" said Mercy Vint,   "Oh, it is easy enow," said the peddler.
after a while.                             "'Tis just to give Thomas Leicester, into his
"Not I," said Leicester, looking askant at the own hand, this here trifle as soon as ever he
picture.                                  comes home."  And he handed Carrick a hard
"Don't tell no lies," said Mrs.Vint.  "You substance wrapped in paper. Carrick promised.
do know him well."  And she pointed her as-   " Ay, ay, lad," said the peddler, "but see you
sertion by looking at the portrait,       play fair, and give it him unbeknown. Now
"Oh, I know him whose picture hangs there, don't you be so simple as show it to any of the
of course," said Leicester.               women-folk.  D'ye understand?"
"Well, and that is her husband."          "All right," said Carrick, knowingly. And
"Oh, that is her husband, is it?" And he so the boon companions for a day shook hands
was unaffectelly puzzled.                 and parted.
Mercy turned pale.  "Yes, he is my hus-   And Carrick took the little parcel straight to
band," said she, "and this is our child. Can Mrs.Vint, and told her every word the peddler
you tell me any thing about him? for he came a had said.
stranger to these parts. Belike you are a kins-   And Mrs.Vint took the little parcel straight to
man of his?"                             Mercy, and told her what Carrick said the ped"So they say."                          dler had said.
This reply puzzled both women.            And the peddler went off flushed with beer
"Any way," said the peddler, "you see we and self-complacency; for he thought he had
are marked alike."  And he showed a long drawn the line precisely; had faithfully disblack mole on his forehead. Mercy was now as charged his promise to his lady and benefaccurious as she had been indifferent.  "Tell me tress, but not so as to make mischief in another
all about him, " said she: " how comes it that he household.
is a gentleman and thou a peddler?"        Such was the power of Ale-in the last cen"Well, because my mother was a gipsy, and tury.
his a gentlewoman."                         Mercy undid the paper and found the bullet,
" What brought him to these parts?"    on which was engraved




102                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
"'I LOVE KATE."                 for me. The desire of my heart was always
for your happiness. But oh, Thomas, deceit
As she read these words a knife seemed to en- and falsehood will not bring you happiness, no
ter her heart, the pang was so keen.        more than they will me.  What shall I do?
But she soon took herself to task.  "Thou what shall I do?"
naughty woman," said she.  " What! jealous   Her tears flowed freely, and Griffith sat down,
of the dead?"                              and groaned with horror and remorse, beside
She wrapped the bullet up, put it carefully her.
away, had a good cry, and was herself again.  He had not the courage to tell her the horrible
But all this set her watching Griffith and read- truth, that Kate was his wife, and she was not.
ing his face. She had subtle, vague misgivings,   "iDo not thou afflict thyself," he muttered.
and forbade her mother to mention the peddler's " Of course, with you putting that bullet in my
visit to Griffith yet a while.  Woman-like, she hand so sudden, it set my fancy a wandering back
preferred to worm out the truth.            to other days."
On the evening of his return from Lancaster,   " Ah!" said Mercy, " if it be no worse than
as he was smoking his pipe, she quietly tested that, there's little harm. But why did thy namehim. She fixed her eyes on him, and said, sake start so at sight of thy picture?"
"One was here to-day that knows thee, and    "My namesake!" cried Griffith, all aghast.
brought thee this."  She then handed him the    "Ay, he that brought thee that love-tokenbullet, and watched his face.               Thomas Leicester. Nay, for very shame, feign
Griffith undid the paper. carelessly enough; not ignorance of him; why, he hath thy very
but, at sight of the bullet, uttered a loud cry, ~mole on his temple, and knew thy picture in a
and his eyes seemed ready to start out of his moment.  He is thy half-brother, is he not?"
head.                                         "I am a ruined man," cried Griffith; and
lie turned as pale as ashes, and stammered, sank into a chair without power of motion.
piteously, " What-what-what d'ye mean? In    " God help me, what is all this?" cried Mercy.
Heaven's name, what is this?  How? Who?"  "Oh, Thomas, Thomas, I could forgive thee
Mercy was surprised, but also much concern- aught but deceit; for both our sakes, speak out,
ed at his distress, and tried to soothe him.  She and tell me the worst; no harm shall come near
also asked him, pitepusly, whether she had done thee while I live."
wrong to give it him.  " God knows," said she,   "How can I tell thee?  I am an unfortunate
"'tis no business of mine to go and remind thee man. The world will call me a villain; yet I
of her thou hast loved better. mayhap than thou am not a villain at heart. But who will believe
lovest me. But to keep it from thee, and she me? I have broken the law. Thee I could
in her grave, oh, I had not the heart!"    trust, but not thy folk; they never loved me.
But Griffith's agitation increased instead of Mercy, for pity's sake, when was that Thomas
diminishing; and, even while she was trying to Leicester here?"
soothe him, he rushed wildly out of the room    "Four days ago."
and into the open 4ir.                        "Which way went he?"
Mercy went, in perplexity and distress, and    "I hear he told Paul he was going to Cumtold her mother.                            berland."
Mrs. Vint, not being blinded by affection,   "If he gets there before me, I shall rot injail."
thought the whole thing had a very ugly look,   "Now  Heaven forbid! Oh, Thomas, then
and said as much. She gave it as her opinion mount and ride after him."
that this Kate was alive, and had sent the token    " I will, and this very moment."
herself, to make mischief between man and wife.   Ile saddled Black Dick, and loaded his pistols
" That shall she never," said Mercy, stoutly; for the journey; but, ere he went, a pale face
but now her suspicions were thoroughly excited, looked out into the yard, and a finger beckoned.
and her happiness disturbed.                It was Mercy. She bade him follow her. She
The next day Griffith found her in tears:. he took him to her room, where their child was
asked her what was the matter.  She would not sleeping; and. then she closed, and even locked
tell him.                                   the door.
"You have your secrets," said she, "and so   "No soul can hear us," said she; "now, look
now I have mine."                           me in the face, and tell me God's truth. Who
and what are you?"
Griffith became very uneasy. For now Mercy   Griffith shuddered at this exordkm; he made
was often in tears, and Mrs. Vint looked daggers no reply.
at him.                                       Mercy went to a box, and took out an old
All this was mysterious and unintelligible, shirt of his-the one he wore when he first came
and, to a guilty man, very alarming.        to the "Packhorse."  She brought it to him and
At last he implored Mercy to speak out. He showed him "G. G." embroidered on it with a
wanted t6 know the worst.                   woman's hair (Ryder's).
Then Mercy did speak out.  "You have de-   "Here are your initials," said she; "now leave
ceived me,' said, she.  "Kate is alive. This useless falsehoods; be a man, and tell me your
very morning, between sleeping and waking, real name."
you whispered her name; ay, false man, whis-   "My name is Griffith Gaunt."
pered it like a lover. You told me she was   Mercy, sick at heart, turned her head away;
dead. But she is alive, and has sent you a re- but she had the resolution to urge him on. " Go
minder, and the bare sight of it hath turned on," said she, in an agonized whisper: "if you
your heart her way again. What shall I do? believe in God, and a judgment to come, deceive
Why did you marry. me, if you could not forget me no more. The truth! I say; the truth!"
her?  I did not want you to desert any woman    "So be it," said Griffith, desperately: "when




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               103
I have told thee what a villain I am, I can die at was more desired in that county than Griffith
thy feet, and then thou wilt forgive me."    Gaunt's.
"Who is Kate?" was all she replied.        And this I need not now be telling the reader,
" Kate is-X-Y  wIFE.                      if I had related this story on the plan of a mistd~alneous chronlcle. But tfie a'tirs of the
"I thought ^her false; who could think any heart are so absorbing, that, even il a narrative,
other, appearances were so strong against her? they thrust aside important circumstances of a
others thought so beside me. I raised my hand less moving kind.
to kill her, but she never winced. I trampled   I must therefore go back a step Lefore I adon him I believed her paramour; I fled, and soon vance farther.  You must know that forty years
I lay a dying in this house for her sake. I told before our Griffith Gaunt saw the light, another
thee she was dead. Alas! I thought her dead to Griffith Gaunt was born in Cumberland-a
me. I went back to our house (it is her house), younger son, and the family estate entailed; but
sore against the grain, to get money for thee and a shrewd lad, who chose rather to hunt fortune
thine. Then she cleared herself, bright as the elsewhere than to live in miserable dependence
sun, and pure as snow. She was all in black for on his elder brother.  His godfather, a city
me; she had put by money against I should merchant, encouraged him, and he left Cumbercome to my senses and need it. I told her I land.  lie went into commerce, and in twenty
owed a debt in Lancashire-a debt of gratitude vears became a wealthy man-so wealthy that he
as well as money; and so I did.  How have I lived to look down on his brother's estate, which
repaid it?  The poor soul forced five hundred he had once thought opulence. Ihis life was all
pounds on me. I had much ado to keep her prosperity, with a single exception, but that a
from bringing it hither with her own hands-  bitter one. IHe laid out some of his funds in a
oh, villain! villain! Then I thought to leave fashionable and beautiful wife. He loved her
thee, and send thee word I was dead, and heap before marriage; and, as she was always cold to
money on thee. Money! But how could I? him, he loved her more and more.
Thou wast my benefactress, my more than wife.   In the second year of their marriage she ran
All the riches of the world can make no return  away from him, and no beggar in the streets of
to thee. What-what shall I do? Shall I flyv London was so miserable as the Xwealthv merwith thee and thy child across the seas?  Shall chant.
I go back to her?  No, the best thing I can do   It blighted the man, and left him a sore heart
is to take this good pistol, and let the life out of all his days. He never married again, and railed
my dishonorable carcass, and free two honest on all womankind for this one. He led a solitary
women from me by one resolute act."         life in London till he was sixty-nine, and then,
In his despair he cocked the pistol, and, at a all of a sudden, Nature, or accident, or both,
word from Mercy, this tale had ended.        changed his whole habits. Word came to iialn
But the poor woman, pale and trembling, tot- that the family estate, already deeply mortgaged,
tered across the. room and took it out of his hand. was for sale, and a farmer who had rented a
" I would not harm thy body nor thy soul," she principal farm on it, and held a heavy mortgage,
gasped. " Let me draw my breath, and think." had made the highest offer.
She rocked herself to and fro in silence.    Old Griffith sent down Mr. Atkins, his solicitor,
Griffith stood trembling like a criminal before post haste, and snapped the estate out cf that
his judge.                                   purchaser's hands.
It was long ere she could speak, for anguish.   When the lands and house had been duly
Yet when she did speak it was with a sort of conveyed to him, he came down, and his heart
deadly calm.                                 seemed to bud again in the scenes of his child" Go tell the truth to her, as you have done to hood.
me; and, if she can forgive you, all the better   Finding the house small, and built in a valley
for you. I can never forgive you, nor yet can instead of on rising ground, he got an army of
harm you. My child, my child! Thy father is bricklayers, and began to build a mansion with
our ruin. Oh begone, man, or the sight of you a rapidity unheard of in those parts; and he
will kill us both."                         looked about for some one to inherit it.
At that he fell at her knees; kissed, and wept   The name of Gaunt had dwindled down to
over her cold hand, and, in his pity and despair, three since he left Cumberland; but a rich man
offered to cross the seas with her and her child, never lacks relations. Featherstonhaughs, and
and so repair the wrong he had done her.     Underhills, and even Smiths, poured in, with
"Tempt me not," she sobbed.  " Go; leave parish registers in their laps, and proved themme. None here shall ever know thy crime but selves Gauntesses, and flattered and carneyed
she whose heart thou hast broken, and ruined the new head of the family.
her good name."                                Then the perverse old gentleman felt inclined
He took her in his arms in spite of her resist- to look elsewhere.  He knew he had a nameance, and kissed her passionately; but, for the sake at the other side of the county, but this
first time, she shuddered at his embrace, and that namesake did not come near him.
gave him the power to leave her.               This independent Gaunt excited his curiosity
He rushed from her all but distracted, and and interest. He made inquiries, and heard that
rode away to Cumberland, but not to tell the young Griffith had just quarreled with his wife,
truth to Kate if he could possibly help it.  and gone away in despair.
Griffith senior took for granted that the fault
lay with Mrs. Gaunt, and wasted some good
CHIAPTEIER X;XXIV.               sympathy on Griffith junior.
On farther inquiry, he learned that: the truant
AT this particular time, no man's presence was dependent on his wife. Then, argued the




104                     GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
moneyed man, he would not run away from her went on till Mr. Atkins showed considerable imbut that his wound was deep.                 patience.
The consequence of all this was, that he made   As for Mrs. Gaunt, she made light of the
a will very favorable to his absent and injured (?) matter to Mr. Atkins, but, in truth, this new
namesake.  lie left numerous bequests, and mystery irritated her and pained her deeply.
made Griffith his residuary legatee; and, having   In one respect she was more unhappy than she
settled this matter, urged on and superintended had been before he came back at all. Then she
his workmen.                                 was alone; her door was closed to commentators.
Alas! just as the roof was going on, a narrower But now, on the strength of so happy a reconcilhouse claimed him, and he made good the saying iation, she had re-entered the world, and received
of the wise bard-                            visits from Sir George Neville and others; and,
- "Tu secanda marmora         above all, had announced that Griffith would be
Locas sub ipsum funus et sepulchri   back for good in a few days. So now his conImmemor struis domos."
tinued absence exposed her to sly questions from
The heir of his own choosing could not be her own sex, to the interchange of glances befound to attend his funeral; and Mr. Atkins, his tween female visitors, as well as to the internal
solicitor, a very worthy man, was really hurt at torture of doubt and suspense.
this. With the quiet bitterness of a displeased    But what distracted her most was the view
attorney, he merely sent Mrs. Gaunt word her Mrs. Ryder took of the matter.
husband inherited something under the will, and    That experienced lady had begun to suspect
she would do well to produce him, or else furnish some other woman was at the bottom of Grifhim (Atkins) with proof of his decease.      fith's conduct, and her own love for Griffith was
Mrs. Gaunt was offended by this cavalier note, now soured; repeated disappointments and afand replied very like a woman, and very unlike fronts, spret'que injuria forme, had not quite
business.                                    extinguished it, but had mixed so much spite
"I do not know where he is," said she, " nor with it that she was equally ready to kiss or to
whether he is alive or dead. Nor do I feel dis- stab him.
posed to raise the hue and cry after him.  But   So she took every opportunity to instill into
favor me with your address, and I shall let you her mistress, whose confidence she had won at
know should I hear any thing about him."     last, that Griffith was false to her.
Mr. Atkins was half annoyed, half amused at   " That is the way with these men that are so
this piece of indifference. It never occurred to ready to suspect others. Take my word for it,
him that it might be all put on.             dame, he has carried your money to his leman.
He wrote back to say that the estate was large,'Tis still the honest woman that must bleed for
and, owing to the terms of the will, could not be some nasty trollop or other. "
administered without Mr. Griffith Gaunt; and,   She enforced this theory by examples drawn
in the interest of the said Griffith Gaunt, and also from her own observations in families, and gave
of the other legatees, he really must advertise for the very names, and drove Mrs. Gaunt almost
him.                                         mad with fear, anger, jealousy, and cruel susLa Gaunt replied that he was very welcome to pense.  She could not sleep, she could not eat;
advertise for whomsoever he pleased.         she was in a constant fever.
Mr. Atkins was a very worthy man, but   Yet before the world she battled it out bravely,
human. To tell the truth, he was himself one and indeed none but Ryder knew the anguish of
of the other legatees. He inherited (and, to be her spirit, and her passionate wrath.
just, had well deserved) four thousand guineas   At last there came a most eventful dayv.
under the will, and could not legally touch it   Mrs. Gaunt had summoned all her pride and
without Griffith Gaunt.  This little  circum- fortitude, and invited certain ladies and gentlestance spurred his professional zeal.        men to dine and sup.
Mr. Atkins advertised for Griffith Gaunt in   She was one of the true Spartan breed, and
the London and Cumberland papers, and in the played the hostess as well as if her heart had
usual enticing form. He was to apply to Mr. been at ease. It was an age in which the host
Atkins, Solicitor, of Gray's Inn, and he would struggled fiercely to entertain the guests; and
hear of something greatly to his advantage.  Mrs. Gaunt was taxing all her powers of pleasing
These advertisements had not been out a in the dining-room, when an unexpected guest
fortnight when Griffith came home, as I have strolled into the kitchen-the peddler, Thomas
related.                                     Leicester.
But Mr. Atkins had punished Mrs. Gaunt for   Jane welcomed him  cordially, and he was
her insouciance by not informing her of the soon seated at a table eating his share of the
extent of her good fortune; so she merely told feast.
Griffith, casually, that old Griffith Gaunt had left   Presently Mrs. Ryder came down, dressed in
him some money, and the solicitor, Mr. Atkins, her best, and looking handsomer than ever.
could not get on without him. Even this infor-   At sight of her, Tom Leicester's affection remation she did not vouchsafe until she had given vived; and he soon took occasion to whisper an
him her ~500, for she grudged Atkins the pleas- inquiry whether she was still single.
ure of supplying her husband with money.       " Ay," said she, " and like to be."
However, as soon as Griffith left her, she   "Waiting for the master still?  Mayhap I
wrote to Mr. Atkins to say that her husband had could cure you of that complaint. But least said
come home in perfect health, thank God; had is soonest mended."
only staid two days, but was to return in a week.   This mysterious hint showed Ryder he had a
When ten days had elapsed Atkins wrote to secret burning his bosom. The sly hussy said
inquire.                                    nothing just then, but plied him with ale and
She replied he had not yet returned; and this flattery, and, when he whispered a request for a




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               105
private meeting out of doors, she cast her eyes   She applied hartshorn to the suffereres nosdown and assented.                          trils, and tried to rouse her mind by exciting her
And in that meeting she carried herself so anger. But all was in vain. There hung the
adroitly that he renewed his offer of marriage, betrayed wife, pale, crushed, and quivering under
and told her not to waste her fancy on a man the cruel blow.
who cared neither for her nor any other she in   Ryder asked her if she should go down and
Cumberland.                                 excuse her to her guests.
"Prove that to me," said Ryder, cunningly,   She nodded a feeble assent.
"and maybe I'll take you at your word."       Ryder then laid her down on the bed with her
The bribe was not to be resisted. Tom re- head low, and was just about to leave her on that
vealed to her, under a solemn promise of secre- errand, when hurried steps were heard outside
cy, that the squire had got a wife and child in the door, and one of the female servants knocked,
Lancashire, and had a farm and an inn, which and, not waiting to be invited, put her head in,
latter he kept, under the name of-Thomas Lei- and cried, "Oh, dame, the master is come home.
cester.                                     He is in the kitchen."
In short, he told her, in his way, all the particulars I have told in mine.
She led him on with a voice of very velvet.            HAPTER XXXV.
He did not see how her cheek paled and her   MRS. RYDER made an agitated motion with
eyes flashed jealous fury.                  her hand, and gave the girl such a look withal
When she had sucked him dry, she suddenly that she retired precipitately.
turned on him with a cold voice, and said, " I   But Mrs. Gaunt had caught the words, and
can't stay any longer.with you just now. She they literally transformed her.  She sprang off
will want me."                             the bed and stood erect, and looked a Saxon Py" You will meet me here again, lass?" said thoness-golden hair streaming down her back,
Tom, ruefully.                              and gray eyes gleaming with fury.
" Yes, for a minute, after supper."         She caught up a little ivory-handled knife and
She then left him and went to Mrs. Gaunt's held it above her head.
room, and sat crouching before the fire, all hate   "I'll drive this into his heart before them all,"
and bitterness.                             she cried, " and tell them the reason afterward!"
What? he had left the wife. he loved, and yet   Ryder looked at her for a moment in utter terhad not turned to her!                      ror. She saw a woman with grander passions
She sat there, waiting for Mrs. Gaunt, and than herself-a woman that looked quite capable
nursing her vindictive fury, two mortal hours.   of executing her sanguinary threat. Ryder made
At last, just before supper, Mrs. Gaunt came no more ado, but slipped out directly to prevent
up to her room to cool her. fevered hands. and a meeting that might be attended with such terbrow, and found this creature crouched by her rible consequences.
fire, all in a heap, with pale cheek, and black   She found her master in the kitchen, splashed
eyes that glittered like basilisk's.        with mud, drinking a horn of ale after his ride,' What is the matter, child?" said Mrs. Gaunt. and looking rather troubled and anxious; and,
" Good heavens! what hath happened?"      by the keen eye of her sex, she saw that the feI" Dame!" said Ryder, sternly, " I have got male servants were also in considerable anxiety.
news of him."                               The fact is, they had just extemporized a lie.
" News of hima " faltered Mrs. Gaunt. "Bad   Tom Leicester, being near the kitchen window,
news?"                                     had seen Griffith ride into the court-yard.
"I don't know whether to tell you or not,"   At sight of that well-known figure he drew
said Ryder, sulkily, but with a touch of human back, and his heart quaked at his own imprufeeling.                                    dence in confiding Griffith's secret to Caroline
"What can not I bear?  What have I not Ryder.
borne? Tell me the truth."                   "Lasses," said he, hastily, "do me a kindness
The words were stout, but she trembled all for old acquaintance.  ltere's the squire. For
over in uttering them.                      heaven's sake don't let him know I am in the
"Well, it is as I said, only worse. Dame, he house, or there will be bloodshed between us;
has got a wife and child in another county, and he is a hasty man, and I'm another. I'll tell ye
no doubt been deceiving her, as he has us."  more by-and-by."
" A wife!" gasped Mrs. Gaunt, and one white   The next moment Griffith's tread was heard
hand clutched her bosom, and the other the man- approaching the very door, and Leicester darted
tel-piece.                                 into the housekeeper's room, and hid in a cup" Ay, Thomas Leicester, that is in the kitchen board there.
now, saw her, and saw his picture hanging aside   Griffith opened the kitchen door and stood
hers on the wall. And he goes by the name of upon the threshold.
Thomas Leicester: that was what made Tom go   The women courtesied to him, and were loud
into the inn, seeing his own name on the sign- in welcome.
board. Nay, dame, never give way like that;   He returned their civilities briefly; and then
lean on me-so. He is a villain, a false, jealous, his first word was, " Hath Thomas Leicester
double-faced villain."                      been here?"
Mrs. Gaunt's head fell on Ryder's shoulder,   You know how servants stick together against
and' she said no word, but only moaned and their master. The girls looked him in the face,
moaned, and her white teeth clicked convulsive- like candid doves, and told him Leicester had
ly together.                                not been that way for six months or more.
Ryder wept over her sad state: the tears were   "Why, I have tracked him  to within two
half impulse, half crocodile.               miles," said Griffith, doubtfully.




J10G                    GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
"Then he is sure:to come here," said Jane, those two man and wife, insinuated itself into Set
adroitly.  "' He wouldn't ever think to go by spirits of the guests.
us."                                           There began to be lulls-fatal lulls.. And in' The moment he enters the house you. let me one of these, some unlucky voice was heard to
know.  He is a mischief-making loon."        murmur, "Such a meeting of man and wife I
He then asked for a horn of ale; and, as. he never saw."
finished it, Ryder came in, and he turned to her,   The hearers felt miserable at this personality,
and asked her after her mistress.            that fell upon the ear of Silence like a thunder" She was well just now," said Ryder," but she bolt.
has been took with a spasm; and it would be. Griffith was ill-advised enough to notice the
well, sir, if you could dress, and entertain the remark, though clearly not intended for his ears.
company in her place a while. For I must tell For one thing, his jealousy had actually revived
you your being so long away hath set their at the. cool preference Kate had shown his old
tongues going, and almost broken my lady's rival, Neville.
heart."                                        "Oh!" said he, bitterly, "a man is not alGriffith sighed, and said he could not help it, ways his wife's favorite."
and,. now he was here, he would do all in his    "He does not always deserve to be," said Mrs.
power to please her.  "I'll go to her at once," Gaunt, sternly.
said he.,                                      When matters had gone that length, one idea
" No, sir," said. Ryder, firmly.'.' Come with seemed to occur pretty simultaneously to. all the
me. I want to speak to you."                 well-bred guests, and, that idea was, Sauve qui
She took him to his bachelor's room, and staid  peut.
a few minutes to talk to him.                  Mrs. Gaunt took leave of them  one by one,
"Master," said she, solemnly, " things are very and husband and wife were left alone.
serious here.  Why did you stay so long away?   Mrs. Gaunt by this time was alarmed at the
Our dame says some woman is at the bottom of violence of her own passions, and wished to avoid
it, and she'll put a knife into you if you come a Griffith for that night, at all events. So she cast
nigh her."                                   one terribly stern look: upon him, and was about
This threat did not appal Griffith, as Ryder; to retire ingrim silence.',But he, indignant at
expected.  Indeed, he seemed rather flattered.  the public affront she had put on him, and not
" Poor Kate!" said he, "she is just the wom- aware of the true cause, unifrtunately detained
an to do it. But.I am afraid she does not love her.  He said, sulkily, " What sort of a recepme enough for that.  But, indeed, how should tion was that you gave me.
she?"                                         This was too much..: She turned on him furi" Well, sir," replied:: Ryder,. "'oblige me by ously. " Too good for thee, thou heartless creatkeeping clear of her for a little while. I have ure! Thomas. Leicester is here, and I know
got orders to make your bed here. Now dress, thee for a villain."
like a good soul, and then go down and show re-   "You know nothing," cried Griffith. ":.LWould
spect to the company that is in your.house, for you believe that mischief-making knave? What
they know you are here."                     has he told you?"
" Why, that is the least I can do," said Grif-  Go, back to her!" cried Mrs. Gaunt, furiousfith.  "Put you out what I am  to wear, and ly.:"Me vyo can deceive and pillage no more.
then run and say I'll be with them anon."    So, this was your jealousy! False and forsworn
Griffith walked into the dining-room, and, yourself, you dared to suspect and insult me.
somewhat to his surprise, after what Ryder had Ah! and you think I am the woman to endure
said, found Mrs. Gaunt seated at the head of her this? I'll have your life for it! I'll have vour
own table, and presiding like a radiant queen life."
over a brilliant assembly.                     Griffith endeavored to soften her; protested
He walked in, and made a low bow. t  his that, notwithstanding appearances, he had never
guests, first; then he approached, to greet his loved but her.
wife more freely; but she drew back decidedly,   I'll soon be rid of you and your love," said
and made him a courtesy, the. dignity and dis- the raging woman. " The. constables shall come
tance of which struck the whole company..    for you to-morrow. You have seen how I can
Sir George Neville, who was at the bottom of love, you shall know how I can hate."
the table, proposed, with his usual courtesy, to   She then, in her fury, poured out a torrent of
resign: his place to Griffith.  But Mrs. Gaunt reproaches and threats that made his blood run
forbade the arrangement.                     cold.  lIe could not answer her: he had sus"No, Sir George," said she, " this is -but an pected her wrongfully, and been false to her himoccasional visitor; you are my constant friend." self.  lie had abused her generosity, and taken
If this had been said pleasantly, well and good; her money for Mercy Vint.
but the guests looked in vain into: their hostess's   After one or two vain efforts to check the torface for the smile that'ought to have accompa- rent, he sank. into a chair, and hid his face in his
nied so strange a speech and disarmed it.    hands.
" Rarities are the more welcome," said a lady,   But this did not disarm her at.the time. HIer
coming to the rescue, and edged aside to make raging voice and raging words were heard by the
room for him.                                very servants long after he had: ceased to defend
" Madam, " said Griffith,, "I am in your debt himself.
for that explanation; but I hope you. will be no   At last she came out, pale with fury, and, findrarity here, for all that."                  ing Ryder near the door, shrieked out, "Take
Supper proceeded, but the milth languished. that reptile to his den, if he is mean enough to
Somehow or-other; the chill fact that there was lie in this house;" then,lowering her voice, "and
a grave quarrel.between two at the table, and bring Thomas Leicester.to me."




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               10'
Ryder went to Leicester, and told him. But   Then she heard a cry more distinct. "Help!
he objected to come. "You have betrayed me," help!
said he. "Curse my weak heart and my loose      was a clear, starlight night, but no moon.
tongue! I have done the poor squire all ill turn.   The mere shone before her, and the cries were
lean neverlook him in the face again. But'tis all on the bank.
thy fault, double-face. I hate the sight of thee."   Now came something more alarming still. A
At this Ryder shed some crocodile tears; and flash-a pistol-shot; and an agonized voice cried
very soon, by her blandishments, obtained for., loudly," Murder! Help! Murder!"
giveness.                                     That voice she knew directly. It was Griffith
And Leicester, since the mischief was done, Gaunt's.
was persuaded to see the dame, who was his recent benefactor, you know. He bargained, however, that the squire should be got to bed first,
for he had a great dread of meeting him. "Hell          CHAPTER XXXVI.
break every bone in my skin," said Tom, "or   RYDER ran screaming, and alarmed the other
else I shall do him a mischief in my defense."   servants.
Ryder herself saw the wisdom of this: she   All the windows that looked on the mere were
bade him stay quiet, and she went to look after flung open.
Griffith.                                     But no more sounds were heard.  A terrible
She found him in the drawing-room, with his silence brooded now over those clear waters.
head on the table, in deep dejection.         The female servants huddled together and
She assumed authority, and said he must go quaked; for who could doubt that a bloody deed
to bed.                                     had been done?
He rose humbly, and followed her like a sub-   It was some time before they mustered the
missive dog.                                presence of mind to go and tell Mrs. Gaunt. At
She took him to his room. There was no fire. last they opened her door. She was not in her
"That is where you are to sleep," said she, room.
spitefully.                                   Ryder ran to Griffith's. It was locked.
"It is better than I deserve," said he, humbly.   She called to him. He made no reply.
The absurd rule about not hitting a man when   They burst the door open. He was not there;
he is down has never obtained a place in the and the window was open.
great female soul; so Ryder lashed him without   While their tongues were all going in constermercy.                                      nation, Mrs. Gaunt was suddenly among them,
"Well, sir," said she,'methinks you have very pale.
gained little by breaking faith with me. Y' had   They turned, and looked at her aghast.
better have set up your inn with me, than gone   "What means all this?" said she. "Did I
and sinned against the law."                not hear cries outside?"
" Much better: would to Heaven I had!"     "Ay," said Ryder; "murder! and a pistol
"What d'ye mean to do now? You know  fired. Oh, my poor master!"
the saying-between two stools-"               Mrs. Gaunt was white as death, but self-pos"Child," said Griffith, faintly, " methinks I sessed. " Light torches this moment and search
shall trouble neither long. I am not so ill a the place," said she.
man as: I seem; but who will believe that? I   There was only one man in the house, and he
shall not live long, and I shall leave an ill name declined to go' out alone. So Ryder and Mrs.
behind me. She told me so just now. And, oh! Gaunt went with him, all three bearing lighted
her eye was so cruel; I saw my death in it."   links.
"Come, come," said Ryder, relenting a little,   They searched the place where Ryder had
"you mustn't believe every word an angry wom- heard the cries. They went up and down the
an says. There, take my advice; go to bed; whole bank of the mere, and cast their torches'
and in the morning don't speak to her; keep out red light over the placid waters themselves. But
of her way a day or two."                   there was nothing to be seen, alive or dead-no
And with this piece of friendly advice she left trace either of calamity or crime.
him, and waited about till she thought he was in   They roused the neighbors, and came back to
bed and asleep.                             the house with their clothes all draggled and
Then she brought Thomas Leicestei up to her dirty.
mistress.                                     Mrs. Gaunt took Ryder apart, and asked her
But Griffith was not in bed, and he heard if she could guess at what time of the night
Leicester's heavy tread cross the landing. He Griffith had made his escape.
waited and waited behind his door for more than    " He is a villain," said she, " yet I would not
half an hour, and then he heard the same heavy have him come to harm, God knows. There are
tread go away again.                        thieves abroad. But I hope he ran away as soon
By this time nearly all the inmates of the as your back was turned, and so fell not in with
house were asleep.                          them."
About twenty-five minutes after Leicester left   " IIumph!" said Ryder.  Then, looking Mrs.
Mrs. Gaunt, Caroline Ryder stole quietly up stairs Gaunt in the face, she said, quietly, "Where
from the kitchen, and sat down to think it all were you when you heard the cries?"
over.                                         "I was on the other side of the house. 
She then proceeded to undress, but had only   " What, out o' doors at that time of night!"
taken off her gown, when she started and listen-   " Ay, I was in the grove, praying."
ed, for' a cry of distress reached her from outside' Did you hear any voice you knew?"
the house.                                    " No; all was too indistinct. I heard a pistol,
She darted to the window and threw it open.  but no words. Did you?"




108                    GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
" I heard no more than you, madam," said   But the women used to look at her, and after
Ryder, trembling.                           her, with strange eyes.
No one went to bed any more that night in   She noticed this, and felt, somehow, that her
Hernshaw Castle.                            people were falling away from her.  It added
one drop to her bitter cup. She began to droop
into a sort of calm, despondent lethargy.
CHAPTER XXXVII.              Then came fresh trouble to rouse her.
*~ Two of the county magistrates called on her
THIS mysterious circumstance made a great in their official capacity, and, with perfect politetalk in the village and in the kitchen of Hern- ness, but a very grave air, requested her to inform
shaw Castle, but not in the drawing-room, for them of all the circumstances attending her husMrs. Gaunt instantly closed her door to visitors, band's disappearance.
and let it be known that it was her intention to   She replied, coldly ardl curtly, that she knew
retire to a convent; and, in the mean time, she very little about it. Her husband had left in
desired not to be disturbed.                the middle of the night.
Ryder made one or two attempts to draw    "He came to stay?"
her out upon the subject, but was sternly    "I believe so."
checked.                                      "Came on horseback?"
Pale, gloomy, and silent, the mistress of   "Yes."
Hernshaw Castle moved about the place like the   "Did he go away on horseback?"
ghost of her former self. She never mentioned    "No; for the horse is now in my stable."
Griffith; forbade his name to be uttered in her   "Is it true there was a quarrel between you
hearing; and, strange to say, gave Ryder strict and him that evening?"
orders not to tell any one what she had heard    "Gentlemen," said Mrs. Gaunt, drawing herfrom Thomas Leicester.                      self back haughtily, " did you come here to grat" This last insult is known but to you and me. ify your curiosity?"
If it ever gets abroad, you leave my service that   "No, madam," said the elder of the two,
verv hour."                                 "but to discharge a very serious and painful
This injunction set Ryder thinking.  How- duty, in which I earnestly request you, and
ever; she obeyed it to the letter. Her place was even advise you, to aid us. Was there a quargetting better and better, and she was a woman rel?"
accustomed to keep secrets.                   "' There was-a mortal quarrel."
A pressing letter came from Mr. Atkins.     The gentlemen exchanged glances, and the
Mrs. Gaunt replied that her husband had come elder made a note.
to Ilernshaw, but had left again, and the period    "May we ask the subject of that quarrel?"
of his ultimate return was now more uncertain   Mrs. Gaunt declined, positively, to enter into
tA= en                                      f mafter Pe DdeJicte,
On this Mr. Atkins came down to Hernishaw    A note was taken othfis refusal.
Castle.  But Mrs. Gaunt would not see him.   "Are you aware, madam, that your husband's
He retired very angry, and renewed his adver- voice was heard calling for help, and that a pistoltisements, but in a more explicit form. He now  shot was fired?"
published that Griffith Gaunt, of Hernshaw and   Mrs. Gaunt trembled visibly.
Bolton, was executor and residuary legatee to   " I heard the pistol-shot," said she, " but not
the late Griffith Gaunt, of Coggleswade, and re- the voice distinctly.  Oh, I hope it was not his
upested him to apply directly to James Atkins, voice Ryder heard."
Solicitor, of Gray's Inn, London.              " Ryder, who is he?"
In due course this advertisement was read by    "Ryder is my lady's maid: her bedroom is on
the servants at Hernshaw, and shown by Ryder that side the house."
to Mrs. Gaunt.                                " Can we see Mrs. Ryder?"
She made no comment whatever, and con-   "Certainly," said Mrs. Gaunt, and rose and
trived to render her pale face impenetrable.  rang the bell.
Ryder became as silent and thoughtful as   Mrs. Ryder answered the bell in person very
herself, and often sat bending her black judicial promptly, for she was listening at the door.
brows.                                        Being questioned, she told the magistrates
what she had heard down by "the mere," and
By-and-by dark mysterious words began to be said she was sure it was her master's voice that
thrown out in Hernshaw village.             cried " Help!" and " Murder!" And with this
"He will never come back at all."        she began to cry.
"lie will never come into that fortune."    Mrs. Gaunt trembled and turned pale.
"'Tis no use advertising for a man that is past   The magistrates confined their questions to
reading."                                   Ryder.
These, and the like equivocal sayings, were   They elicited, however, very little more from
followed by a vague buzz, which was traceable her. She saw the drift of their questions, and
to no individual author, but seemed to rise on had an impulse to defend her mistress there
all sides, like a dark mist, and envelop that un- present. Behind her back it would have been
happy house.                                otherwise.
And that dark mist of Rumor soon condensed   That resolution once taken, two children might
itself into a palpable aud terrible whisper, " Grif- as well have tried to extract evidence from her
fith Gaunt hath met with foul play."        as two justices of the peace.
And then Mrs. Gaunt's pale face and noble
No one of thz servants told Mrs. Gaunt this features touched them. The case was mysterihorrid rumor.                               ous, but no more; and they departed little the.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               lUo
wiser, and with some apologies for the trouble   But Ryder's evidence filled this gap.  She rethey had given her.                          vealed three serious facts:
The next week down came Mr. Atkins out of   First, that, by her mistress's orders, she had
all patience, and determined to find Griffith introduced this very Leicester into her mistress's
Gaunt, or else obtain some proof of his decease. room about midnight, where he had remained
He obtained two interviews with Ryder, and nearly half an hour, and had then left the house.
bribed her to tell him all she knew.  He prose-   Secondly, that Mrs. Gaunt herself had been
cuted other inquiries with more method than had out of doors after midnight.
hitherto been used, and elicited an important   And, thirdly, that she had listened at the door,
fact, viz., that Griffith Gaunt had been seen walk- and heard her threaten Griffith Gaunt's life.
ing in a certain direction at one o'clock in the   This is a mere precis of the evidence, and altomorning, followed at a short distance by a tall gether it looked so suspicious, that the magisman with a knapsack, or the like, on his back.  trates, after telling Mrs. Gaunt she could ask the
The person who gave this tardy information witnesses any question she chose, a suggestion
was the wife of a certain farmer's man, who she treated with marked contempt, put their
wired hares upon the sly. The man himself, heads together a moment, and whispered. Then
being assured that, in a case so serious as this, the eldest of them, Mr. Underhill, who lived at a
no particular inquiries should be made how he considerable distance, told her gravely he must
came to be out so late, confirmed what his wife commit her to take her trial at the next ashad let out, and added that both men had taken sizes.
the way that would lead them  to the bridge,   " Do what you conceive to he your duty, genmeaning the bridge over the mere.  More than  tlemen," said Mrs. Gaunt, with marvelous digthat he could not say, for he had met them, and nity. " If I do not assert my innocence, it is bewas full half a mile from the mere before those cause I disdain the accusation too much."
men could have reached it.                     "I shall take no part in the committal of this
Following up this clew, Mr. Atkins learned so innocent lady," said Sir George Neville; and was
many ugly things that he went to the Bench on about to leave the room.
justicing day, and demanded a full and search-   But Mrs. Gaunt begged him to stay. " To be
ing inquiry on the premises.                 guilty is one thing," said she, " to be accused is
Sir George Neville; after in vain opposing this, another: I shall go to prison as easy as to my
rode off straight from the Bench to Hernshavw, dinner, and to the gallows as to my bed."
and in feeling terms conveyed the bad news to   The presiding magistrate was staggered a moMrs. Gaunt; and then, with the utmost delicacy, ment by these words, and it was not without
let her know that some suspicion rested upon considerable hesitation he took the warrant and
herself, which she would do well to meet with the prepared to fill it up.
bold front of innocence.                       Then Mr. Houseman, who had watched the
"What suspicion; pray?" said Mrs. Gaunt, proceedings very keenly, put in his word.  "I
haughtily.                                   am here for the accused person, sir, and, with
Sir George shrugged his shoulders, and re- your good leave, object to her committal-on
plied, "That you have done Gaunt the honor-  grounds of law."
to put him out of the way."                    "What may they be, Mr. Houseman?" said
Mrs. Gaunt took this very differently from  the magistrate, civilly; and laid his pen down to
what Sir George expected.                    hear them.
" What!" she cried, "are they so sure he is   " Briefly, sir, these. Where a murder is provdead? murdered!"                           en, you can commit a subject of this realm upon
And with this, she went into a passion of grief suspicion.  But you can not suspect the murder
and remorse.                                 as well as the culprit, and so commit. The murEven Sir George was puzzled, as well as af- der must be proved to the senses. Now in this
fected, by her convulsive agitation.         case the death of Mr. Gaunt by violence is not
proved. Indeed, his very death rests but upon
*                      suspicion.  I admit that the law of England in
CHAI-PTER XXXVIII.                this respect has once or twice been tampered
with, and persons have even been executed where
THOUGH it was known the proposed inquiry no corpus delicti was found; but what was the
might result in the committal of Mrs. Gaunt on consequence?  In each case the murdered man
a charge of murder, yet the respect in which she turned out to be alive, and justice was the only
had hitherto been held, and the influence of Sir murderer.  After Harrison's case, and *'s. no
George Neville, who, having been her lover, Cumberland jury will ever commit for murder,
stoutly maintained her innocence, prevailed so unless the corpus delicti has been found, and
far that even this inquiry was private and at her with signs of violence upon it. Come, come, Mr.
own house.  Only she was present in the char- Atkins, you are too good a lawyer, and too huacter of a suspected person, and the witnesses mane a man, to send my client to prison on the
were examined before her.                    suspicion of a suspicion, which you know the very
First, the poacher gave his evidence.      breath of the judge will blow away, even if the
Then Jane the cook proved that a peddler grand jury let it go into court.  I offer bail, ten
called Thomas Leicester had been in the kitchen, thousand pounds in two sureties-Sir George
and secreted about the premises till a late hour; Neville here present, and myself. "
rnd this Thomas Leicester corresponded exactly   The magistrate looked at Mr. Atkins.
to the description given by the poacher.       " I am not employed by the crown," said that
This threw suspicion on Thomas Leicester, but gentleman, "but acting on mere civil grounds,
did not connect Mrs. Gaunt with the deed in any and have no right nor wish to be severe. Bail
way.                                         by all means; but is the lady so sure of her in



110                     GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
nocence as to lend me her assistance to find the steadily up and down, dragging every foot- of
corpus delicti?"                           those placid waters.
The question was so shrewdly put that any   They worked till dinner-time, and brought up
hesitation would have ruined'Mrs. Gaunt.     a good copper pot with two handles, a horse's
Houseman  therefore  replied  eagerly  and head, and several decayed trunks of trees, which
promptly, " I answer for her, she will."     had become saturated, and sunk to the bottom.
Mrs. Gaunt bowed her head in assent.         At about three in the afternoon, two boys,
"Then," said Atkins, "I ask leave to drag, who, for want of a boat, were dragging from the
and, if need be, to drain that piece of water there, bridge, found something heavy, but elastic, at the
called'the mere.' "                         end of their drag: they pulled up eagerly, and a
"Drag it or drain it, which you will," said thing like a huge turnip, half gnawed, came up
Houseman.                                    with a great bob, and blasted their sight.
Said Atkins, very impressively, "And, mark   They let go, drags and all, and stood shrieking
my words, at the bottom  of that very sheet of and shrieking.
water there I shall find the remains of the late   Those who were nearest them called out, and
Griffith Gaunt."                             asked what was the matter; but the boys did not
At these solemn words, coming, as they did, reply, and their -faces showed so white, that a
not from a loose unprofessional speaker, but from  woman who saw them screamed to Mr. Atkins,
a lawyer; a man who measured all his words, a and said she was sure those boys had seen somevery keen observer might have seen a sort of thing out of the common.
tremor run all through Mr. Houseman's frame.   Mr. Atkins came up, and found the boys blubThe more admirable was the perfect coolness and bering. Iie encouraged them, and they told him
seeming indifference with which he replied.  a fearful thing had come up; it was like a man's
" Find him, and I'll admit suicide; find him, head and shoulders all scooped out and gnawed
with signs of violence, and I'll admit homicide, by by the fishes, and had torn the drags out of their
some person or persons unknown."             hands.
All farther remarks were interrupted by bus-   Mr. Atkins made them  tell him  the exact
tle and confusion.                           place, and was soon upon it with his boat.
Mrs. Gaunt had fainted dead away.            The water here was very deep, and though the
boys kept pointing to the very spot, the drags
*                       found nothing for some time.
ChATPTER SXXIS.                    13But at last they showed, by their resistance,
that they had clawed hold of something.
OF course pity was the first feeling; but, by    "Draw slowly," said Mr. Atkins, " and f it
the time Mrs. Gaunt revived, her fainting, so is, be men, and hold fast."
soon after Mr. Atkins's proposal, had produced a   The men drew slowly, slowly, and presently
sinister effect on the minds of all present, and there rose to the surface a Thing to strike terror
every face showed it except the wary House- and loathing into the stoutest heart.
man's.                                         The mutilated remains of a human face and
On her retiring, it broke out first in murmnurs, body.
then in plain words.'The greedy pike had cleared, not the features
As for Mr. Atkins, he now showed the moder- only, but the entire flesh off the face, but had
ation of an able man who feels he has a strong left the hair, and the tight skin of the forehead,
cause.                                       though their teeth had raked this last. The
He merely said," I think there should be con- remnants they had left made what they had mustables about, in case of an escape being attempt- tilated doubly horrible, since now it was not a
ed; but I agree with Mr. Houseman that your skull, not a skeleton, but a face and a man gnawworships will be quite justified in taking bail, ed down to the bones, and hair, and feet. These
provided the corpus delicti should not be found. last were in stout shoes that resisted even those
Gentlemen, you were most of you neighbors and voracious teeth; and a leathern stock had offerfriends of the deceased, and are, I am sure, lov- ed some little protection to the throat.
ers of justice: I do entreat you to aid me in   The men groaned, and hid their faces with one
searching that piece of water, by the side of hand, and pulled softly to the shore with the othwhich the deceased gentleman was heard to cry er; and then, with half-averted faces, they drew
for help; and, much I fear, he cried in vain."   the ghastly remains and fluttering rags gently
The persons thus appealed to entered into the and reverently to land.
matter with all the ardor of just men whose cu-   Mr. Atkins yielded to Nature, and was vioriosity as well as justice is inflamed.      lently sick at the sight he had searched for so
A set of old rusty drags was found on the eagerly.
premises, and men went punting up and down   As soon as he recovered his powers, he bade
the mere, and-dragged it.                   the constables guard the body (it was a body, in
Rude hooks were made by the village black- law), and see that no one laid so much as a finsmith, and fitted to cart-ropes; another boat was ger on it until some magistrate had taken a depbrought to Hernshaw in a wagon,- and all that osition. He also sent a messenger to Mr. Houseafternoon the bottom  of the mere was raked, man, telling him the corpus delicti was found.
and some curious things fished up, but no dead He did this, partly to show that gentleman he
man.                                         was right in his judgment, and partly out of comThe next day a score of amateur dragsmen mon humanity; since, after this discovery, Mr.
were out-some throwing their drags from the Houseman's client was sure to be tried for her life.
bridge, some circulating in boats, and even in   A magistrate soon came, and viewed the relarge tubs.                                  mains, and took careful notes of the state in
And, meantime. Mr. Atkins and his crew went which they were found.




GRIFFITH GAUNT;.OR, JEALOUSY.                               1ll
Houseman came, and was much affected, both hours, laid on a table, and covered with a white
by the sight of his dead friend, so mutilated, sheet.
and by the probable consequences to Mrs. Gaunt.   The coroner's jury sat in the same room, as
However, as lawyers fight very hard, he recover- was then the custom, and the evidence I have aled himself enough to remark that there were no ready noticed. was gone into, and the finding of
marks of violence before death, and insisted on the body deposed to. The jury, without hesitathis being inserted in the magistrate's notes.    tion, returned a verdict of willful murder.,az
upper apartments of her own house.  Two con- der.
tAe inn wh    ere Griffith had spent so many jovialda, put a question to Mrs. Gaunt, with the vied
tmM.Gnw toseolnqit                                   ghos" l        o1
tie rs Gun ws ol se oud otqithewitea hsleain upo Husm'shuupper  apartments of her own house. Two   con- der.~~~
stbe ee lcdo tegon lorngtUpnhreteig  uymab    ahmn
and~ ~ ~~ ~~I da.imus, de h hevrtermisaan
exday~~~~ ~ Athe rmins~ weermve otelit hooeaccrding to    the    cuto   h
teinweeGifit   a pn omn oildayptaqeto oMs  anwt h i*




112                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
of eliciting her guilt. If I remember right, he' her for miles, shouting " Murderess! Bloody Pa.
asked her how she came to be out of doors so pist! Hast done to death the kindliest gentlolate on the night of the murder. Mrs. Gaunt, man in Cumberland. We'll all come to see thee
however, was in no condition to answer queries. hanged. Fair face but foul heart!" and groanI doubt if she even heard this one. Her lovely ing, hissing, and cursing, and, indeed, only kept
eyes, dilated with horror, were fixed on that ter- from violence by the escort.
rible sheet with a stony glance.  "Show me,"   And so they took that poor, proud lady, and
she gasped, " and let me die too."          lodged her in Carlisle jail.
The jurymen looked, with doubtful faces, at   She was enceinte into the bargain by the man'the coroner. He bowed a grave assent.      she was to he hanged for murdering.
The nearest juryman withdrew the sheet.
Now the belief was not yet extinct that the
dead body shows some signs of its murderer's             CHAPTER XLI
approach.
So every eye glared on her and It by turns, as   THE county was against her, with some few
she, with dilated, horror-stricken orbs, looked on exceptions. Sir George Neville and Mr. Housethat awful Thing.                           man stood stoutly by her.
Sir George's influence and money obtained her
certain comforts in jail; and, in that day, the
CHAPTER XL.                   law of England'was so far respected in a jail that
untried prisoners were not thrown into cells, nor
SHE recoiled with a violent shudder at first, impeded, as they now are, in preparing their deand hid her face with one hand. Then she grad- fense.
ually stole a horror-stricken side glance.    Her two stanch friends visited her every day,
She had not looked at it so a moment, when and tried to keep her heart up.
she uttered a loud cry, and pointed at its feet   But they could not do it. She was in a state
with quivering hand.                        of dejection bordering upon lethargy.
" THE SHOES! THE SHOES! IT IS NOT MY    " If he is dead," said she, " what matters it?
GRIFFITH."                                  If, by God's mercy, he is alive still, he will not
With this she fell into violent hysterics, and let me die for want of a word from him. Imwas carried out of the room at Houseman's ear- patience hath been my bane. Now I say, God's
nest entreaty.                              will be done. I am weary of the world."
As soon as she was gone, Mr. Houseman, be-   Houseman tried every argument to rouse her
ing freed from his fear that his client would cornm- out of this desperate frame of mind, but in vain.
mit herself irretrievably, recovered a show of It ran its course, and then, behold, it passed
composure, and his wits went keenly to work.   away like a cloud, and there came a keen desire
"On behalf of the accused," said he, "I ad- to live and defeat her accusers.
mit the suicide of some person unknown, wear-   She made Houseman write out all the eviing heavy hobnailed shoes-probably one of the dence against her, and she studied it by day, and
lower order of people. "                    thought of it by night, and often surprised both
This adroit remark produced some little effect, her friends by the acuteness of her remarks.
notwithstanding the strong feeling against the
accused.                                      Mr. Atkins discontinued his advertisements;
The coroner inquired if there were any bodily it was Houseman who now filled every paper
marks by which the remains could be identified. with notices informing Griffith Gaunt of his -ic"My master had a long black mole on his cession to fortune, and entreated him for that,
forehead," suggested Caroline Ryder.        and other weighty reasons, to communicate in
"'Tis here!" cried a juryman, bending over confidence with his old friend John Houseman,
the remains.                                attorney-at-law.
And now they all gathered in great excite-   Houseman was too wary to invite him to apment round the corpus delicti; and there, sure pear and save his wife, for in that case he feared
enough, was a long black mole.              the crown would use his advertisements as eviThen there was a buzz of pity for Griffith dence at the trial, should Griffith not appear.
Gaunt, followed by a stern murmur of execra-   The fact is, Houseman relied more upon certion.                                       tain lacunae in the evidence, and the absence of
"Gentlemen," said the coroner, solemnly, "be- all marks of violence, than upon any hope that
hold in this the finger of Heaven. The poor gen- Griffith might be alive.
tleman may well have put off his boots, since, it   The assizes drew near, and no fresh light
seems, he left his horse, but he could not take broke in upon this mysterious case.
from his forehead his natal sign; and that, by   Mrs. Gaunt lay in her bed at night, and
God's will, hath strangely escaped mutilation, thought, and thought.
and revealed a most foul deed. We must now    Now the female understanding has sometimes
do our duty, gentlemen, without respect of per- remarkable power under such circumstances.
sons."                                      By degrees Truth flashes across it like lightning
A warrant was then issued for the apprehension in the dark.
of Thomas Leicester.  And, that same night,   After many such nightly meditations, Mrs.
Mrs. Gaunt left Hernshaw in her own chariot Gaunt sent one day for Sir George Neville and
between two constables, and escorted by armed Mr. Houseman, and addressed them as follows:
yeomen.                                     "I believe he is alive, and that I can guess
Her proud head was bowed almost to her where he is at this moment."
knees, and her streaming eyes hidden in her   Both  the gentlemen  started  and looktd
lo'ely hands. For why? A mob accompanied amazed.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               113' Yes, sirs; so sure as we sit here, he is now  his eyes, "'that I may just put it in his hand, for
at a little inn in Lancashire called the'Pack- I can never utter your sweet words to such a
horse,' with a woman he calls his wife."  And, monster as he is."
with this, her face was scarlet, and her eyes   Armed with this appeal, and several minute
flashed their old fire.                     instructions, which it is needless to particularShe exacted a solemn promise of secrecy from  ize here, that stanch friend rode into Lancathem, and then she told them all she had learn- shire.
ed from Thomas Leicester.                      And next day the black horse justified his
"And so now," said she, "I believe you can mistress's sagacity and his own.
save my life, if you think it is worth saving."   He seemed all along to know where he was
And with this she began to cry bitterly.     going, and late in the afternoon he turned off
But Houseman, the practical, had no patience the road on to a piece of green; and Sir George,
with the pangs of love betrayed, and jealousy, with beating heart, saw right before him the sign
and such small deer, in a client whose life was of the "Packhorse," and, on coming nearer, the
at stake.                                    words
"Great Heaven! madam," said he, roughly,           "THOMAS LEICESTER."
"why did you not tell me this before?"
"Because I am not a man-to go and tell   He dismounted at the door, and asked if he
every thing all at once," sobbed Mrs. Gaunt. could have a bed.
"Besides, I wanted to shield his good name,   Mrs. Vint said yes; and supper into the barwhose dear life they pretend I have taken."  gain, if he liked.
As soon as she recovered her composure, she   He ordered a substantial supper directly.
begged Sir George Neville to ride to the " Pack-   Mrs.Vint saw at once it was a good customer,
horse" for her. Sir George assented eagerly, and showed him into the parlor.
but asked how he was to find it.  "I have   He sat down by the fire. But, the moment
thought of that too," said she.  "His black she retired, he got upT, and made a circuit of the
horse has been to and fro. Ride that horse into house, looking quietly into every window, to see
Lancashire, and give him his head; ten to one if he could catch a glance of Griffith Gaunt.
but he takes you to the place, or where you may    There were no signs of him; and Sir George
hear of it. If not, go to Lancaster, and ask returned to his parlor heavy-hearted. One hope,
about'the'Packhorse.' He wrote to me from  the greatest of all, had been defeated directly.
Lancaster —see."  And she showed him  the Still, it was just possible that Griffith might be
letter.                                      away on temporary business.
Sir George embraced with ardor this opportu-   In this faint hope Sir George strolled about
nity of serving her.  " I'll be at Hernshaw in till his supper was ready for him.
one hour," said he,'land ride the black horse   When he had eaten his supper, he rang the
south at once."                              bell, and, taking advantage of a common cus" Excuse me," said Houseman; "but would tom, insisted on the landlord, Thomas Leicester,
it not be better for me to go?  As a lawyer, I taking a glass with him.
may be more able to cope with her."            " Thomas Leicester!" said the girl.  " Ile is
"Nay," said Mrs. Gaunt, " Sir George is not at home. But I'll send MasterVint."
young and handsome; if he manages well, she   OldVint came in, and readily accepted an inwill tell him more than she will you. All I beg vitation to drink his guest's health.
of him is to drop the chevalier for this once, and    Sir George found him loquacious, and soon
see women with a woman's eyes and not a man's extracted from him that his daughter Mercy was
-see them as they are. Do not go telling a Leicester's wife; that Leicester was gone on a
creature of this kind that she has had my money  journey, and that Mercy was in care for him.
as well as my husband, and ought to pity me "Leastways," said he, "she is very dull, and
lying here in prison.  Keep me out of her sight cries at times when her mother speaks of him;
as much as you can. Whether Griffith hath de- but she is too close to say much."
ceived her, or not, you will never raise in her   All this puzzled Sir George Neville sorely.
any feeling but love for him, and hatred for his   But greater surprises were in store.
lawful wife. Dress like a yeoman; go quietly,   The next morning, after breakfast, the servant
and lodge in the house a day or two; begin by came and told him Dame Leicester desired to see
flattering her, and then get from her when she him.
saw him last, or heard from him. But, indeed,   He started at that, but put on nonchalance,
I fear you will surprise him with her."      and said he was at her service.
"Fear?" exclaimed Sir George.              He was ushered into another parlor, and there'"Well, hope, then," said the lady, and a tear he found a grave, comely young woman, seated
trickled down her face in a moment.  " But, if working, with a child on the floor beside her.
you do, promise me, on your honor as a gentle- She rose quietly; he bowed low and respectfulman, not to affront him, for I know you think ly; she blushed faintly, but, with every appearhim a villain!"                              ance of self-possession, courtesied to him, then
" A d-d villain! saving your presence."  eyed him point-blank a single moment, and re
"Well, sir, you have said it to me. Now  quested him to be seated.
promise me to say naught to him but just this:   " I hear, sir," said she," you did ask my fa-'Rose Gaunt's mother she lies in Carlisle jail ther many questions last night; may I ask you
to be tried for her life for murdering you. She one?"
begs of you not to let her die publicly upon the   Sir George colored, but bowed assent.
scaffold, but quietly at home, of her broken    " From  whom had you the black horse you
heart.'"                                    ride?"
"Write it," said Sir George, with the tears in   Now, if Sir George had not been a verrcious
H




l14                    GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
man, he would have been caught directly. But, ly, and elicited a tale of genuine distress. Sir
although he saw at once the oversight he had George then saw her hand out to the woman
committed, he replied, " I had him of a lady in some warm flannel for herself, a piece of stuff for
Cumberland-one Mistress Gaunt."            the child, a large piece of bread, and a sixpence.
Mercy Vint trembled.                        He also caught sight of Mercy's dove-like eyes
" No doubt," said she, softly.  " Excuse my as she bestowed her alms, and they were lit with
question; you shall understand that the horse is an inward lustre.
well known here."                             "She can not be an ill woman," thought Sir
"Madam," said Sir George, "if you admire George. " I'll e'en go by my own eyes and judgthe horse, he is at your service for twenty pounds, ment. After all, Mrs. Gaunt has never seen her,
though indeed he is worth more."            and I have."'I thank you, sir," said Mercy, " I have no   He went and knocked at Mercy's door.
desire for the horse whatever; and be pleased to    "Come in," said a mild voice.
excuse my curiosity; you must think me imper-   Neville entered, and said, abruptly, and witnl
tinent."                                    great emotion, "Madam, I see you can feel for
"Nay, madam," said Sir George, " I consider the unhappy, so I take my own way now, and
nothing impertinent that hath procured me the appeal to your pity. I have come to speak to
pleasure of an interview with you."         you on the saddest business."
He then, as directed by Mrs. Gaunt, proceeded    " You come from him," said Mercy, closing her
to flatter the mother and the child, and exerted lips tight; but her bosom heaved. Iter heart
those powers of pleasing which had made him ir- and her judgment grappled like wrestlers that
resistible in society.                      moment.
Here, however, he found they went a very lit-   "Nay, madam," said Sir George, "I come
tle way. Mercy did not even smile. She cast from her."
out of her dove-like eyes a gentle, humble, re-   Mercy knew in a moment who "her" must
proachful glance, as much as to say, "What! be.
do I seem so vain a creature as to believe all   She looked scared, and drew back with manithis?                                      fest signs of repulsion.
Sir George himself had tact and sensibility,   The movement did not escape Sir George: it
and by-and-by became discontented with the part alarmed him. He remembered what Mrs. Gaunt
he was playing under those meek, honest eves.  had said-that this woman would be sure to hate
There was a pause; and, as her sex have a Gaunt's lawful wife. But it was too late to go
wonderful art of reading the face, Mercy looked back. He did the next best thing-he rushed
at him steadily, and said, " Yes, sir,'tis best to be on.
straightforward, especially with women-folk."  I-e threw himself on his knees before Mercy
Before he could recover this little facer, she Vint.
said, quietly, "What is your name?"           "Oh, madam!" he cried, piteously, "do not' George Neville."                        set your heart against the most unhappy lady in
"Well, George Neville," said Mercy, very England. If you did but know her-her nobleslowly and softly, "when you have a mind to tell ness, her misery! Before you steel yourself
me what you came here for, and who sent you, against me, her friend, let me ask you one quesyou will find me in this little room.  I seldom  tion. Do you know where Mrs. Gaunt is at this
leave it now. I beg you to speak your errand moment?"
to none but me." And she sighed deeply.       Mercy answered, coldly, "H Iow should I know
Sir George bowed low, and retired to collect where the lady is?"
his wits.                                      "Well, then, she lies in Carlisle jail."
He had come here strongly prepossessed against   " She-lies-in Carlisle jail?" repeated MerMercy. But, instead of a vulgar, shallow woman, cy, looking all confused.
whom he was to surprise into confession, he en-   "They accuse her of murdering her husband."
countered a soft-eyed Puritan, all unpretending   Mercy uttered a scream, and, catching her
dignity, grace, propriety, and sagacity.    child up off the floor, began to rock herself and
" Flatter her!" said he to himself; "I might moan over it.
as well flatter an iceberg. Outwit her! I feel   "No, no, no," cried Sir George,  she is innolike a child beside her."                   cent-she is innocent."
He strolled about in a brown study, not know-   "' What is that to me?" cried Mercy, wildly.
ing what to do.                             " He is murdered, he is dead, and my child an
She had given him a fair opening.  She had orphan."  And so she went on moaning and
invited him to tell the truth. But he was afraid rocking herself.
to take her at her word; and yet what was the   " But I tell you he is not dead at all," cried
use to persist in what ht own eyes told him was Sir George. "'Tis all a mistake. When did you
the wrong course?                          see him last?"
While he hesitated, and debated within him-   "More than six weeks ago."
self, a trifling incident turned the scale.   "I mean, when did you hear from him last?"
A poor woman came begging, with her child,   "Never since that day."
and was received rather roughly by Harry Vint.   Sir George groaned aloud at this intelligence.
"Pass on, good woman," said he; "we want no   And Mercy, who heard him groan, was hearttramps here."                               broken. She accused herself of Griffith's death.
Then a window was opened onthe groundfloor, "'Twas I who drove him from me," said she.
and Mercy beckoned the woman. Sir George "'Twas I who bade him go back to his lawful
flattened himself against the wall, and listened wife; and the wretch hated him. I sent him to
to the two talking.                         his death." tFer grief was wild and deep; she
Mercy examined the woman gentlv,but shrewd- could not hear:ir George's arguments.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              11$
But presently she said, sternly, "What does   Then she looked at Neville, and he said
that woman say for herself?"                "Amen" with all his heart, and the tears in his
"Madam,"  said  Sir George, dejectedly, eyes.
"Heaven knows you are in no condition to   He had never heard real live prayer before.
fathom a mystery that hath puzzled wiser heads Here the little hand gripped his hard as she
than yours or mine, and I am but little able to wrestled, and the heart seemed to rise out of the
lay the tale before you fairly; for your grief it bosom and fly to heaven on the sublime and
moves me deeply, and I could curse myself for thrilling voice.
putting the matter to you so bluntly and un-   They rose, and she sat down, but it seemed
couthly. Permit me to retire a while, and com- as if her eyes, once raised to heaven in prayer,
pose my own spirits for the task I have under- could not come down again: they remained
taken too rashly."                         fixed and angelic, and her lips still moved in
"Nay, George Neville," said Mercy, "stay supplication.
you there: only give me a moment to draw my   Nir George Neville, though a loose liver, was
breath."                                   no scoffer; he was smitten with reverence for
She struggled hard for a little composure, and, this inspired countenance, and retired, bowing
after a shower of tears, she hung her head over low and obsequiously.
the chair like a crushed thing, but made him a   He took a long walk and thought it all over.
sign of attention.                         One thing was clear and consoling. Hie felt
Sir George told the story as fairly as he could, sure he had done wisely to disobey Mrs. Gaunt's
only, of course, his bias was in favor of Mrs. instructions, and make a friend of Mercy, instead
Gaunt; but as Mercy's bias was against her, of trying to set his wits against hers. Ere he rethis brought the thing nearly square.      turned to the "Packhorse," he had determined
When he came to the finding of the body, to take another step in the right direction. He
Mercy was seized with a deadly faintness; and, did not like to agitate her with another interview
though she did not become insensible, yet she was so soon, but he wrote her B little letter.
jn no condition to judge or even to comprehend.
Sir George was moved with pity, and would    MADAM,-When I came here I did not know
have called for help; but she shook her head. you, and therefore I feared to trust you too far.
So then he sprinkled water on her face, and But, now I do know you for the best woman ill
So tlphern he sprinkled water on    au      tifully dEngland, I take the open way with you.
slapped her hand-and a beautifully moulded      now  that Mrs. Gant aid the mn ould
hand it was.                                  " Know that Mrs. Gaunt said the man would
When she got a little better she sobbed faintly, we here with you, and she charged me with a fes
written lines to him. She would be angry if she
and, sobbing, thanked him, and begged him to knew that I had shown them to any other. Yet
g"My mind is stronger than my heart," she I take on me to show them to you, for I believe
said. "MyI'll hearnd it allronger thanough it kill my heart," where you are wiser than any of us, if the truth were
eor it "  known. I do therefore entreat you to read these
Srepetitionlines, and tell me whether you think the hand
Sir Geore  ent on, an, to avoid          that wrote them can have shed the blood of him
I must ask the reader to understand that he left
out nothing whatever: which has been hitherto to whom they are writ.
"I am, madam, with profound respect, your
related in these pages, and, in fact, told her one grateful and very humble servant,
or two little things that I have omitted.                          s    n
When he had done, she sat quite still a minuteGEORGE  E
or two, pale as a statue.                    He very soon received a line in reply, written
Then she turned to Neville, and said solemnly, in a clear and beautiful handwriting:
" You wish to know the truth in this dark matter, Mercy Vint sends you
for dark it is in very sooth."                 Mercy Vint sends you her duty; and she will
Neville wats much impressed by her manner, ispeak to you at nine of the clock to-morrow mornNeville was much impressed by her manner,
and answered respectfully, Yes, he desired to
know-by all means.                           At the appointed time Sir George found her
"Then take my hand," said Mercy, "and working with her needle. His letter lay on the
kneel down with me."                       table before her.
Sir George looked surprised, but obeyed, and   She rose and courtesied to him, and called the
kneeled down beside her, with his hand in hers.  servant to take away the child for a while. She
There was a long pause, and then took place a went with her to the door, and kissed the bairn
transformation.                            several times at parting, as if he was going away
The dove-like eyes were lifted to Heaven, and for good. " I'm loth to let him go,".said she to
gleamed like opals with an inward and celestial Neville; " but it weakens a mother's mind to
light; the comely face shone with a higher have her babe in the room-takes her attention
beauty, and the rich voice rose in ardent suppli- off each moment. Pray you be seated. Well,
cation.                                    sir, I have read those lines of Mistress Gaunt,
" Thou God, to whom all hearts be known, and and wept over them. Methinks I had not done
no secrets hid from thine eye, look down now on so were they cunningly devised. Also I lay all
thy servant in sore trouble, that putteth her trust night and thought."
in thee. Give wisdom to the simple this day,   "That is just what she does."
and understanding to the lowly. Thou that didst   "No doubt, sir; and the upshot is, I don'tfeel
reveal to babes and sucklings the great things as if he was dead. Thank God."
that were hidden from the wise, oh show us the   "That is something," said N]eville. But he
truth in this dark matter: enlighten us by thy could not help thinking it was very little, espeSpirit, for his dear sake, who suffered more sor- cially to produce in a court of justice.
rows than I suffer now. Amen, Amen."          "And now," said she, thoughtfully, "you say




116                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
that the real Thomas Leicester was seen there-   "Madam," said Sir George, "I our minds were
abouts as well as my Thomas Leicester.  Then fixed upon the fate of Gaunt. Many did ask how
answer me one little question. What had the wasthepeddlerarmed,butnonehow was he shod."
real Thomas Leicester on his feet that night?"  " Hath he been seen since?"
"Nay, I know not, " was the half-careless reply.   "Not he; and that hath an ugly look; for the
"Bethink you.'Tis a question that must constables are out after him with hue and cry;
have been often put in your hearing."       but he is not to be found."
a'
"Bog13 ng your pardon, it was never put at   "Then," said Mercy,, I must e'en answer my
all; nor do I see-"                         own question. I do know how that peddler was'" What, not at the inquest?"           shod-WITH HOBNAILED SHOES."
"oNo."                                      Sir George bounded from his chair. One great
That is very strange.  What, so many wise ray of daylight broke in upon him.
heads have bent over this riddle, and not one to' Ay," said Mercy, "she was right. WVomen
ask how was yon peddler shod!"             do see clearer in some things than men. The




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               117
pair went from my house to hers: he you call  into Cumberland and Westmoreland.  Finally,
Griffith Gaunt had on a new pair of boots; and, he sent a copy to his man of business in London,
by the same token,'twas I did pay for them, and with orders to insert it in all the journals.
there is the receipt in that cupboard: he you   Then he returned to the "I'ackhorse," and
call Thomas Leicester went hence in hobnailed told Mercy what he had done.
shoes. I think the body they found was the body   The next day he bade her farewell, and away
of Thomas Leicester the peddler. May God have for Carlisle. It was a two-days' journey.  lHe
mercy on his poor unprepared soul!"        reached Carlisle in the evening, and went all
Sir George uttered a joyful exclamation. But glowing to Mrs. Gaunt. "Madam," said he, "be
the next moment he had a doubt: "Ay, but," of good cheer. I bless the day 1 went to see her;
said he, " you forget the mole.'Twas on that she is an angel of wit and goodness."  He then
they built."                                related to her, in glowing terms, most that had
"I forget naught," said Mercy, calmly. "The passed between Mercy and him. But, to his surpeddler had a black mole over his left temple. prise, Mrs. Gaunt wore a cold, forbidding air.
HIe showed it me in this very room.  You have   "This is all very well," said she. "But'twill
found the body of Thomas Leicester, and Griffith avail me little unless he comes before the judge
Gaunt is hiding from the law that he hath bro- and clears me, and she will never let him do
ken. He is afeared of her and her friends if he that. "
shows his face in Cumberland; he is afeared of    " Ay, that she will-if she can find him."
my folk if he be seen in Lancashire. Ah! Thom-   " If she can find him? How simple you are."
as, as if I would let them harm thee!"        "Nay, madam, not so simple but I can tell a
Sir George Neville walked to and fro in grand good woman from a bad one, and a true from a
excitement.                                 false."
" Oh, blessed day- that I came hither. Mad-   "What! when you are in love with her? Not
am, you are an angel. You will save an inno- if you were the wisest of your sex."
cent, broken-hearted lady from death and dis-   "In love with her?" cried Sir George; and
honor. Your good heart and rare wit have read colored high.
in a moment the dark riddle that hath puzzled a    " Ay," said the lady. " Think you I can not
county."                                    tell?  Don't deceive yourself. You have gone
"George," said Mercy, gravely, "you have and fallen in love with her. At your years! Not
gotten the wrong end of the stick. The wise in that'tis any business of mine."
their own conceit are blinded; in Cumberland,   "Well, madam," said Sir George, stiffly, "say
where all this befell, they went not to God for what you please on that score, but at least wellight, as you and I did, George."           come my good news."
In saying this she gave him her hand to cele-   Mrs. Gaunt begged him to excuse her petu.
brate their success.                        lance, and thanked him kindly for all he had just
He kissed it devoutly, and owned afterward done.  But the next moment she rose from her
that it was the proudest moment of his life, when chair in great agitation, and burst out, " I'd as
that sweet Puritan gave him her neat hand so lieve die as owe any thing to that woman."
cordially, with a pressure so gentle, yet frank.  Sir George remonstrated.  "Why hate her?
And now came the question how they were to She does not hate you. "
make a Cumberland jury see this matter as they    "Oh yes she does.'Tis not in nature hls
saw it.                                     should do any other."
He asked her would she come to the trial as a    " Her acts prove the contrary."
witness?                                      " Her acts! She has done nothing but malkc
At that she drew back with manifest repug- fair promises, and that has blinided you. Women
nance.                                      of this sort are very cunning, and never sho\W
" My shame would be public. I must tell who their real characters to a man. No more; prithee
I am, and what-a ruined woman."             mention not her name to me. It makes me ill.
" Say rather an injured saint. You have noth- I know he is with her at this moment. Ah i! let
ing to be ashamed of. All good men would feel me die and'be forgotten, since I am no more befor you."                                   loved. "
Mercy shook her head. "Ay, but the women;   The voice was sad and weary now, and tlhe
shame is shame with us; right or wrong goes tears ran fast.
for little. Nay, I hope to do better for you than    Poor Sir George was moved and melted, and
that. I must find him, and send him to deliver set himself to flatter and console this impracticaher.'Tis his only chance of happiness."    ble lady, who hated her best friend in this sore
She then asked him if he would draw up an strait for being what she was herself-a woman,
advertisement of quite a different kind from those and was much less annoyed at being hanged thau
he had described to her.                    at not being loved.
He assented, and between them they concocted   When she was a little calmer he left her and
the following:                              rode off to Houseman.  That worthy was de" If Thomas Leiester, who went from  the lighted. " Get her to swear to those hobnailed'Packhorse' two months ago, will come thither shoes," said he, "and we shall shake them. " lie
at once, Mercy will be much beholden to him, then let Sir George know that he had obtained
and tell him strange things that have bef:allen. "  private information, which he would use in crossexamining a principal witness for the crown.
Sir George then, at her request, rode over t9 "However," lie added, "do not deceive yourself;
Lancaster, and inserted the above in the county nothing can make the prisoner really safe but the
paper, and also in a small sheet that was issued appearance of Griffith Gaunt; he has such strong
in the city three times a week. He had also motives for coming to light; he is heir to a forband-bills to the same effect printed, and sent tune, and his wife is accused of murdering hi,




118                    GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
The jury will never believe he is alive till they    " We have lost an invaluable witness in that
see him. That man's prolonged disappearance woman," said he.  "I was mad to think she
is hideous. It turns my blood cold when I think would come."
of it."                                       Mrs. Gaunt shivered with repugnance.  "I
" Do not despair on that score," said Neville. would not have her come for all the world," said' I believe our good angel will produce him."   she.  " For Heaven's sake, never mention her
Three days only before the assizes came the name to me. I want help from none but friends.
iong- expected letter from  Mercy Vint.  Sir Send Mrs. Houseman to me in the morning, and
George tore it open, but bitter was his disap- do not distress yourself so.  I shall defend mypointment. The letter merely said that Griffith self far better than you think. I have not studhad not appeared in answer to her advertise- ied a hundred trials for naught."
ments, and she was sore grieved and perplexed.   Thus the prisoner cheered up her attorney,
There were two postscripts, each a little piece and soon after insisted on his going home to
of paper.                                   bed, for she saw he was worn out by his exertions.
First postscript, in a tremulous hand, " Pray." nd now she was alone.
Second postscript, in a firm hand, " Drain that   All was silent.
water."
A few short hours, and she was to be tried for
Houseman shrugged his shoulders impatiently. her life-tried, not by the All-wise Judge, but by
"Drain the mere? Let the crown do that. We fallible men, and under a system most unfavorshould but fish up more trouble. And prayer, able to the accused.
quo' she!'Tis not prayers we want, but evi-   Worse than all this, she was a Papist; and,
dence."                                     as ill luck would have it, since her imprisonHe sent his clerk off to travel post night and ment an alarm was raised that the Pretender
day, and subpoena Mercy, and bring her back meditated another invasion. This report had
with him to the trial. She was to have every set juries very much against all the Romanists
comfort on the road, and be treated like a in the country, and had already perverted justice
duchess.                                    in one or two cases, especially in the North.
The evening before the assizes, Mrs. Gaunt's   Mrs. Gaunt knew all this, and trembled at the
apartments were Mr.. Houseman's head-quar- peril to come.
ters, and messages were coming and going all   She spent the early part of the night in studyday on matters connected with the defense.  ing her defense.  Then she laid it quite aside,
Just at sunset up rattled a post-chaise, and the and prayed long and fervently.
clerk got out and came haggard and bloodshot   Toward morning she fell asleep from exhausbefore his employer.                        tion.
"The witness has disappeared, sir.  Left   When she awoke, Mrs. Houseman was sitting
home last Tuesday, with her child, and has by her bedside, looking at her, and crying.
never been seen nor heard of since."          They were soon clasped in each other's arms,
htere was a terrible blow. They all paled un- condoling.
der it; it seriously diminished the chances of an   But presently Hlouseman came, and took his
acquittal.                                  wife away rather angrily.
But Mrs. Gaunt bore it nobly. She seemed   Mrs. Gaunt was prevailed on to eat a little
to rise under it.                          toast and drink a glass of wine, and then she sat
She turned to Sir George Neville with a sweet waiting her dreadful summons.
smile. " The noble heart sees base things noble.   She waited and waited, until she became imNo wonder, then, that an artful woman deluded patient to face her danger.
you. He has left England with her, and con-   But there were two petty larcenies on before
demned me to the gallows-in cold blood. So her.  She had to wait.
be it. I shall defend myself."                At last, about noon, came a message to say
She then sat down with Mr. Houseman, and that the grand jury had found a true bill against
went through the written case he had prepared her.
for her, and showed him notes she had taken of   " Then may God forgive them!" said she.
full a hundred criminal trials, great and small.    Soon afterward she was informed her time
While they were putting their heads together, drew very near.
Sir George sat in a brown study, and uttered not   She made her toilet carefully, and passed with
a word. Presently he got up a little brusquely, her attendant into a small room under the court.
and said, " I'm going to Hernshaw."           Here she had to endure another chilling wait,
"What! at this time of night? What to do?" and in a sombre room.
" To obey my orders. To drain the mere."    Presently she heard a voice above her cry out,
"And who could have ordered you to drain  " The King versus Catharine Gaunt."
my mere?"                                    Then she was beckoned to.
"MercyVint."                                She mounted some steps, badly lighted, and
Sir George uttered this in a very curious way, found herself in the glare of day, and greedy
half ashamed, half resolute, and retired before eyes, in the felon's dock.
Mrs. Gaunt could vent in speech the surprise   In a matter entirely strange, we seldom know
and indignation that fired her eye.         beforehand what we can do, and how we shall
Houseman implored her not to heed Sir carry ourselves. Mrs. Gaunt no sooner set her
George and his vagaries, but to bend her whole foot in that dock, and saw the awful front of
mind on those approved modes of defense with Justice face to face, than her tremors abated,
which he had supplied her.                  and all her powers awoke, and she thrilled with
Being now alone with her, he no longer con- love of life, and bristled with all those fine arts
cealed his great anxiety.                   of defense that nature lends to superior women.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               119
She entered on that defense before she spoke my life and honor, I may not oppose skill to
a word, for she attacked the prejudices of the skill, but must stand here a child against you
court by deportment.                        that are masters.'Tis a monstrous iniquity, and
She courtesied reverently to the judge, and you yourself, sir, will not deny it.
contrived to make her reverence seem a willing   Sery't. Wiltshire. Madam, permit me: whethhomage, unmixed with fear.                   er it be a hardship to deny full counsel to prisShe cast her eyes round, and saw the court oners in criminal cases, I shall not pretend to
thronged with ladies and gentlemen she knew. say; but if it be,'tis a hardship of the law's makIn a moment she read in their faces that only ing, and not of mine, nor of my lord's, and none
two or three were on her side.  She bowed to have suffered by it (at least in our day) but those
those only, and they returned her courtesy. This w4o had broken the law.
gave an impression (a false one) that the gentry    The sergeant then stopped a minute and whissympathized with her.                        pered with his junior, after which he turned to
After a little murmur of functionaries, the the judge: "My lord, we, that are of counsel for
Clerk of Arraigns turned to the prisonei, and the crown, desire to do nothing that is hard where
said, in a loud voice, " Catharine Gaunt, hold up a person's life is at stake. We yield to the pristhy hand."                                   oner any indulgence for which your lordship can
She held up her hand, and he recited the in- find a precedent in your reading, but no more;
dictment, which charged that, not having the and so we leave the matter to you."
fear of God before her eyes, but being moved by    The Clerk ofArraigns. Crier, proclaim silence.
the instigation of the devil, she had, on the fif-   The Crier. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! IHis majesteenth of October, in the tenth year of the reign ty's justices do straitly charge all manner of perof his present majesty, aided and abetted one sons to keep silence on pain of imprisonment.
Thomas Leicester in an assault upon one Griffith    The.Judge. Prisoner, what my brother WiltGaunt, Esq., and him, the said Griffith Gaunt, shire says, the law is clear in: there is no precedid with force and arms assassinate and do to dent for what you ask, and the contrary practice
death, against the peace of our said lord the stares us in the face for centuries. What seems
king, his crown and dignity.                 to you a partial practice, and, to be frank, some
After reading the indictment, the Clerk of learned persons are of your mind, must be set
Arraigns turned to the prisoner, "How sayest against this, that in capital cases the burden of
thou, Catharine Gaunt, art thou guilty of the fel- proof lies on the crown and not on the accused.
ony and murder whereof thou standest indicted Also it is my duty to give you all the assistance
-or not guilty?"                            I can, and that I shall do. Thus then it is: you
"I am not guilty."                        can be allowed counsel to examine your own wit" Culprit, how wilt thou be tried?"      nesses, and cross-examine the witnesses for the
"' Culprit I am none, but only accused: I will crown, and speak to points of law, to be started
be tried by God and my country."             by yourself, but no farther.
" God send thee a good deliverance."         He then asked her what gentleman there presMr. Whitworth, the junior counsel for the ent he should assign to her for counsel.
crown, then rose to open the case; but the pris-   Her reply to this inquiry took the whole court
oner, with a pale face, but most courteous de- by surprise, and made her solicitor, Houseman,
meanor, begged his leave to make a previous mo- very miserable.  "None, my lord," said she.
tion to the court.  Mr. Whitworth bowed and  "Half justice is injustice, and I will lend it no
sat down.  "My lord," said she, "I have first a color. I will not set able men to fight for me
favor to ask, and that favor, methinks, you will with their hands tied, against men as able whose
grant, since it is but justice-impartial justice. hands be free. Counsel, on terms so partial, I
My accuser, I hear, has two counsel, both learned will have none. My counsel shall be three, and
and able. I am but a woman, and no match for no more —yourself, my lord-my innocencetheir skill; therefore I beg your lordship to al- and the Lord God Omniscient."
low me counsel on my defense, to matter of fact   These words, grandly uttered, caused a dead
as well as of law. I know this is not usual, but silence in the court, but only for a few moments.
it is just; and I am informed it has sometimes It was broken by the loud mechanical voice of
been granted in trials of life and death, and that the crier, who proclaimed silence, and then called
your lordship hath the power, if you have the,the names of the jury that were to try this cause.
will, to do me so much justice."               Mrs. Gaunt listened keenly to the namesThe judge looked toward Mr. Sergeant Wilt- familiar and bourgeois names, that now seemed
shire, who was the leader on the other side. He regal, for they who owned them held her life in
rose instantly and replied to this purpose: " The their hands.
prisoner is misinformed. The truth is, that from    Eachjuryman was sworn in the grand old form,
time immemorial, and down to the other day, a now slightly curtailed.
person indicted for a capital offense was never   " Joseph King, look upon the prisoner.  You
allowed counsel at all, except to matters of law, shall well and truly try, and true deliverance
and these must be started by himself. By re- make, between our sovereign lord the king and
cent practice, the rule hath been so far relaxed the prisoner at the bar, whom you shall have in
that counsel have sometimes been permitted to charge, and a true verdict give, according to the
examine and cross-examine witnesses for a pris- evidence.  So help you God."
oner, but never to make observations on the evi-   Mr. Whitworth, for the crown, then opened
dence, nor to draw inferences from it to the point the case, but did little more than translate the
in issue."                                   indictment into more rational language.
Mrs. Gaunt. So, then, if I be sued for a small   He sat down, and Sergeant Wiltshire addresssum of money, I may have skilled orators to de- ed the court somewhat after this fashion:
fend me against their like, but if I be sued for   "May it please your lordship, and you, getn




120                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
tlemen of the jury, this is a case of great expect- was her rage against this unhappy man that, for
ation and importance. The prisoner at the bar, once, she forgot all prudence, and threatened his
a gentlewoman by birth and education, and, as life before a witness. Yes, gentlemen, we shall
you must have already perceived, by breeding prove that this gentlewoman, who in appearance
also, stands indicted for no less a crime than and manners might grace a court, was so transmurder.                                      ported out of her usual self that she held up a
" I need not paint to you the heinousness of knife-a knife, gentlemen, and vowed to put it
this crime: you have but to consult your own into her husband's heart. And this was no mere
breasts. Who ever saw the ghastly corpse of temporary ebullition of wrath; we shall see presthe victim weltering in its blood, and did not feel ently that, long after she had time to cool, she
his own blood run cold through his veins?  IHas repeated this menace to the unfortunate man's
the murderer fled? With what eagerness do ve face. The first threat, however, was uttered in
pursue! with what zeal apprehend! with what her own bedroom, before her confidential servant,
joy do we bring him to justice! Even the dread- Caroline Ryder aforesaid. But now the scene
ful sentence of death does not shock us when pro- shifts. She has, to all appearance, recovered hernounced upon him; we hear it with solemn sat- self, and sits smiling at the head of her table;
isfaction, and acknowledge the justice of the di- for, you must know, she entertained company
vine sentence,' Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by that night, persons of the highest standing in the
man shall his blood be shed.'                county.
" But, if this be the case in every common    "Presently her husband, all unconscious of
murder, what shall be thought of her who has the terrible sentiments she entertained toward
murdered her husband? the man in whose arms him, and the fearful purpose she had announced,
she has lain, and whom she has sworn at God's enters the room, makes obeisance to his guests,
altar to love and cherish. Such a murderer is a and goes to take his wife's hand.
robber as well as an assassin; for she'robs her   "What does she?  She draws back with so
own children of their father, that tender parent strange a look and such forbidding words that
who can never be replaced in this world.     the company were disconcerted.  Consternation' Gentlemen, it will, I fear, be proved that the fell on all present; and, ere long, they made their
prisoner at the bar hath been guilty of murder in excuses and left the house. Thus the prisoner
this.high degree; and, though I will endeavor was left alone with her husband. But, meanrather to extenuate than to aggravate, yet I trust time, curiosity had been excited by her strange
(sic) I have such a history to open as will shock conduct, and some of the servants, with forebodthe ears of all who hear me.                 ing hearts, listened at the door of the dining"' Mr. Griffith Gaunt, the unfortunate deceased, room. What did they hear, gentlemen? A fuwas a man of descent and worship. As to his rious quarrel, in which, however, the deceased
character, it was inoffensive; he was known as a was comparatively passive, and the prisoner again
worthy, kindly gentleman, deeply attached to her threatened his life with vehemence. Her paswho now stands accused of his murder.  They sion, it is clear, had not cooled.
lived happily together for some years; but, un-   "Now it may fairly be alleged on behalf of the
fortunately, there was a thorn in the rose of their prisoner that the witnesses for the crown were on
wedded life; he was of the Church of England; one side of the door, the prisoner and the deceased
she was, and is, a Roman Catholic. This led to on the other, and that such evidence should be
disputes; and no wonder, since the same unhap- received with caution. I grant this, where it is
py difference hath more than once embroiled a not sustained by other circumstances or by dination, let alone a single family.           rect proofs. Let us, then, give the prisoner the
" Well, gentlemen, about a year ago there was benefit of this doubt, and let us inquire how the
a more violent quarrel than usual between the deceased himself understood her; he who not
deceased and the prisoner at the bar, and the de- only heard the words and the accents, but saw
ceased left his home for several months.    the looks, whatever they were, that accompanied
" He returned upon a certain day in this year, them.
and a reconciliation, real or apparent, took place.   " Gentlemen, he was a man of known courage
Ite left home again soon afterward, but only for and resolution, yet he was found after this terria short period. On the 15th of last October he ble interview much cowed and dejected.  He
suddenly returned for good, as he intended; and spoke to Mrs. Ryder of his death as an event not
here begins the tragedy, to which what I have far distant, and so went to his bedroom in a melhitherto related was but the prologue.       ancholy and foreboding state: and where was
" Scarce an hour before he came, one Thomas that bedroom? He was thrust by his wife's orLeicester entered the house. Now this Thomas ders into a small chamber, and not allowed to
Leicester was a creature of the prisoner's. He enter hers; he, the master of the house, her hushad been her gamekeeper, and was now a ped- band and her lord.
dler. It was the prisoner who set him up as a   "But his interpretation of the prisoner's words
peddler, and purchased the wares to start'him in did not end there. He left us a farther comment
his trade.                                   by his actions next ensuing. He dared not (I
" Gentlemen,: this peddler, as I shall prove, beg pardon, this is my inference; receive it as
was concealed in the house when the deceased such), he did not remain in that house a single
arrived. One Caroline Ryder, who is the pris- night. He bolted his chamber-door inside; and
oner's gentlewoman, was the person who first in- in the dead of night, notwithstanding the fatigues
formed her of Leicester's arrival, and it seems of the day's journey (for he had ridden some dis.
she was much moved; Mrs. Ryder will tell you tance), he let himself out by the window, and
she fell into hysterics. But, soon after, her hus- reached the ground safely, though it was a height
band's arrival was announced, and then the pas- of fourteen feet; a leap, gentlemen, that few of
Eon was of a very different kind. So violent us would venture to take. But what will not




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               121
men risk when destruction is at their heels? He she told Mrs. Ryder that she had been outdid not wait even to saddle his horse, but fled on praying."
foot. Unhappy man, he fled from danger and   (Here some people laughed harshly, but were
met his death.                              threatened severely, and silenced.)
" From the hour when he went up to bed none   " Is that credible?  )o people go out of doors
of the inmates of the house ever saw Griffith at one o'clock in the morning to pray?  Nay;
Gaunt alive; but one Thomas Hayes, a laborer, but I fear it was to do an act that years of prayer
saw him walking in a certain direction at one and penitence can not efface.
o'clock that morning, and behind him, gentlemen,  "I From that moment Mr. Gaunt was seen no
there walked another man.                   more among living men. And what made his' Who was that other man?                disappearance the more mysterious was that he
" When I have told you (and this is an essen- had actually at this time just inherited largely
tial feature of the case) how the prisoner was from his namesake, Mr. Gaunt of Coggleswade,
employed during the time that her husband lay and his own interest, and that of the other legaquaking in his little room, waiting an opportuni- tees, required his immediate presence. Mr. Atty to escape-when I tell you this, I fear you will kins, the testator's solicitor, advertised for this
divine who it was that followed the deceased, and unfortunate gentleman, but he did not appear to
for what purpose.                           claim his fortune. Then plain men began to put
" Gentlemen, when the prisoner had threaten- this and that together, and cried out'foul play!'
ed her husband in person, as I have described,   " Justice was set in motion at last, but embarshe retired to her own room, but not to sleep. She rassed by the circumstance that the body of the
ordered her maid, Mrs. Ryder, to bring Thomas deceased could not be found.
Leicester to her chamber. Yes, gentlemen, she   " At last Mr. Atkins, the solicitor, being unable
received this peddler at midnight in her bed- to get the estate I have mentioned administered
chamber.                                    for want of proof of Griffith Gaunt's decease,
" Now an act so strange as this admits, I entered heartily into this affair on mere civil
think, of but two interpretations.  Either she grounds. He asked the prisoner, before several
had a guilty amour with this fellow, or she had witnesses, if she would permit him to drag that
some extraordinary need of his services. Her piece of water by the side of which Mr. Gaunt
whole character, by, consent of the witnesses, was heard to cry for help, and, after that, seen
renders it very improbable that she would de- no more.
scend to a low amour. Moreover, she acted too   "The prisoner did not reply; but Mr. Housepublicly in the matter. The man, as we know, man, her solicitor, a very worthy man, who has,
was her tool-her creature: she had bought his I believe, or had up to that moment, a sincere
wares for him, and set him up as a peddler. She conviction of her innocence, answered for her,
openly summoned him to her presence, and kept and told Mr. Atkins he was welcome to drag or
him there about half an hour.               drain it. Then the prisoner said nothing. She
"He went from her, and very soon after is fainted. away.
seen by Thomas Hayes following Griffith Gaunt   "After this, you may imagine with what ex-at one o'clock in the morning-that Griffith pectation the water was dragged. Gentlemen,
Gaunt, who, after that hour, was never seen after hours of fruitless labor, a body was found.
alive.                                        "But here an unforeseen circumstance be" Gentlemen, tp to this point the evidence is friended the prisoner. It seems that piece of
clear, connected, and cogent; but it rarely hap- water swarms with enormous pike and other ravpens in cases of murder that any human eye sees enous fish. These had so horribly mutilated the
the very blow struck. The penalty is too severe deceased that neither form nor feature remainfor such an act to be done in the presence of an ed to swear by; and as the law wisely and hueye-witness; and not one murderer in ten could manely demands that in these cases a body shall
be convicted without the help of circumstantial be identified beyond doubt, justice bade fair to be
evidence.                                   baffled again. But lo! as often happens in case
"The next link, however, is taken up by an of murder, Providence interposed and pointed
ear-witness, and, in some cases, the ear is even with unerring finger to a slight but infallible
better than the eye; for instance, as to the dis- mark. The deceased gentleman was known to
charge of fire-arms; for, by the eye alone, we have a large mole over his left temple. It had been
could not positively tell whether a pistol had gone noticed by his servants and his neighbors. %Well,
off or had but flashed in the pan. Well, then, gentlemen, the greedy fish had spared this molegentlemen, a few minutes after Mr. Gaunt was spared it perhaps by His command who bade the
last seen alive, which was by Thomas Hayes, whale swallowJonah, yet not destroy him. There
Mrs. Ryder, who had retired to her room, heard it was, clear and infallible. It was examined by
the said Gaunt distinctly cry for help; she also several witnesses; it was recognized; it comheard a pistol-shot discharged. This took place pleted that chain of evidence, some of it direct,
by the side of a lake or large pond near the some of it circumstantial, which I haye laid behouse, called' the mere.' Mrs. Ryder alarmed fore you very briefly, and every part of which [
the house, and she and the other servants pro- shall now support by credible witnesses."
ceeded to her master's room: they found it bolted from the inside. They broke it open. Mr.   He called thirteen witnesses, including Mi
Gaunt had escaped by the window, as I have al- Atkins, Thomas Hayes, Jane Bannister, Camoline
ready told you.                             Ryder, and others, and their evidence in chief
" Presently in comes the prisoner from out of bore out every positive statement the counsel
doors. This is at one o'clock in the morning. had made.
Now she appears to have seen at once that she   In cross-examining these witnesses Mrs. Gaunt
must explain her being abroad at that time, so took a line that agreeably surprised the court.




122                    GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
It was not for nothing she had studied a hundred the head; but the cause of death was a stab that
trials with a woman's observation and patient penetrated the lungs.
docility.  She had found out how badly people   The Prisoner. Suppose Wellyn's murderers had
plead their own causes, and had noticed the thrown his body into the water, and the fishes had
reasons; one of which is that they say too much, so mutilated it as they have this one, could you
and stray from the point. The line she took, by your art have detected the signs of violence?
vith one exception, was keen brevity.         The Surgeon. Certainly. The man's skull was
She cross-examined Thomas Hayes as follows: fractured. Wellyn's, I mean.
The Prisoner. I put the same question with
regard to Sherrett's.
CHAPTER XII.                      ViThe Surgeon. I can not answer it: here the
lungs were devoured by the fishes: no signs of
"You say the peddler was a hundred yards lesion can be detected in an organ that has
behind my husband. Which of the two men ceased to exist.
was walking fastest?"                        The Prisoner. This is too partial. Why select
Thomas Hayes considered a moment. "Well, one injury out of several? What I ask is this:
I think the squire was walking rather the smart- could you have detected violence in Sherrett's
est of the two."                            case, although the fishes had eaten the flesh of
"Did the peddler seem  likely to overtake his body?
him?"                                        The Surgeon. I answer that the minor injuries
" Nay.  Ye see, dame, squire he walked of Sherrett would have been equally perceptible;
straight on; but the peddler he took both sides to wit, the bruises on the head, and the broken
of the road at onst, as the saying is."     arm, but not the perforation of the lungs; and
The Prisoner. Forgive me, Thomas, but I that it was killed the man.
don't know what you mean.                     Prisoner. Then, so far as you know, and can
IHayes (compassionately). How should ye? swear, about murder, more blows have always
You are never the worse for liquor, the likes of been struck than one, and some of the blows
you.                                        struck in Sherrett's case, and Wellyn's, would
The Prisoner (very keenly). Oh, he was in have left traces that fishes' teeth could not efliquor, was he?                            face?
Hayes. Come, dame, you do brew good ale at   The Surgeon. That is so, if I am to be peeHernshaw Castle. Ye needn't go to deny that; vishly confined to my small and narrow expefor, Lord knows,'tis no sin, and a poor fellow  rience of murdered bodies. But my general
may be jolly, yet not to say drunk.         knowledge of the many ways in which life may
The Judge (sternly). Witness, attend, and be taken by violenceanswer directly.                              The judge stopped him, and said that, in a
Tlte Prisoner. Nay, my lord,'tis a plain case of blood, that could hardly be admitted as
country body, and means no ill. Good Thomas, evidence against his actual experience.
be so much my friend as to answer plainly. Was   The prisoner put a drawing of the castle, the
the man drunk or sober?                    mere, and the bridge, into the witnesses' hands,
Hayes. All I know is, he went from one side and elicited that it was correct, and also the disof the road to t'other.                     tances marked on it. They had, in fact, been
The Prisoner. Thomas Hayes, as you hope measured exactly for her.
to be saved eternally, was the peddler drunk or   The hobnailed shoes were produced, and she
sober?                                     made some use of them, particularly in cross-exHayes. Well, if I must tell on my neighbor amining Jane Bannister.
or else be damned, then that there peddler was   Prisoner. Look at those shoes. Saw you ever
as drunk as a lord.                         the like on Mr. Gaunt's feet?
Here, notwithstanding the nature of the trial,   Jane. That I never did, dame.
the laughter was irrepressible, and Mrs. Gaunt   Prisoner. What, not when he came into the
sat quietly down (for she was allowed a seat), kitchen on the 15th of October?
and said'no more.                             Jane. Nay, he was booted. By the same toTo the surgeon, who had examined the body ken, I saw the boy a cleaning of them for supper.
officially, she put this question, "Did you find   Prisoner. Those boots, when you broke into
any signs of violence?"                    his room, did you find them?
The Surgeon. None whatever; but then there   Jane. Nay, when the man went, his boots
was nothing to go by, except the head and the went, as reason was. We found naught of his
bones.                                      but a soiled glove.
The Prisoner. Have you experience in this   Prisoner. Had the peddler boots on?
kind?  I mean, have you inspected murdered   Jane. Alas! who ever see'd a booted peddler?
bodies?                                      Prisoner. Had he these very shoes on? Look
The Surgeon. Yes.                        at them.
The Prisoner. How many?                    Jane. I couldn't say for that. He had shoon,
The Surgeon. Two before this.            for they did properly clatter on my bricks.
The Prisoner. Oh! pray, pray, do not say    The Judge. Clatteronher bricks! Whatdoes
" before this:" I have great hopes no murder at she mean?
all hath been committed here. Let us keep to   Prisoner. I think she means on the floor of
plain cases. Please you describe the injuries in her kitchen.'Tis a brick floor, if I remember
these two undoubted cases.                 right.
The Surgeon. In Wellyn's the skull was frac-   The Judge. Good woman, say, is that what
tured in two places. In Sherrett's the right arm  you mean?
was broken, and there were some contusions on   Jane. Ay, an't please you, my lord.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               123
Prisoner. Had the peddler a mole on his fore-   Ryder. At a quarter to twelve.
head?                                        Prisoner. This Leicester was a lover of yours' 
Jane. Not that I know on. I never took so   Ryder. Not he.
much notice of the man. But la! dame, now I   Prisoner. Oh fie! Why, he offered you marlook at you, I don't believe you was ever the one riage; it went so far as that.
to murder our master.                          Ryder'. Oh, that was before you set him up
Wiltshire. We don't want your opinion. Con- peddler.
fine yourself to facts.                       Prisoner.'Twas so; but he was single for
Prisoner. You heard me rating my husband your sake, and he renewed his offer that very
on that night; what was it I said about the con- night. Come, do not forswear yourself about a
stables-do you remember?                   trifle.
Jane. La! dame, I wouldn't ask that if I was   Ryder. Trifle, indeed! Why, if he did, what
in your place.                               has that to do with the murder? You'll do
Prisoner. I am much obliged to you for your yourself no good, madam, by going about so.
advice, but answer me-truly.                   Wiltshire. Really, madam, this is beside the
Jane. Well, if vou will have it, I think you mark.
said they should be here in the morning. But,   Prisoner. If so, it can do your case no harm.
indeed, good gentlemen, her bark was always My lord, you did twice interrupt the learned
worse than her bite, poor soul t             counsel, and forbade him to lead his witnesses;
Thie Judge. Here. That meant at Hernshaw  I not once, for I am for stopping no mouths, but
Castle, I presume.                          sifting all to the bottom. Now I implore you to
Jane. Ay, my lord, an' if it please your lord- let me have fair play in my turn, and an answer
ship's honor's worship.                      from this slippery witness.
Mrs. Gaunt, husbanding the patience of the    The Judge. Prisoner, I do not quite see vour
court, put no questions at all to several witness- drift, but God forbid you should be hampered in
es, but she cross-examined Mrs. Ryder very  your defense. Witness, by virtue of your oath,
closely. This was necessary, for Ryder was a reply directly. Did this peddler offer you marfatal witness. Her memory had stored every  riage that night after he left the prisoner?
rash and hasty word the poor lady had uttered,    Ryder. My lord, he did.
and, influenced either by animosity or prejudice,    Prisoner. And confided to you he had orders
she put the worst color on every suspicious cir- to kill Mr. Gaunt?
cumstance. She gave her damnatory evidence    Ryder. Not he, madam; that was not the way
neatly and clearly, and with a seeming candor to win me.
and regret that disarmed suspicion.            Prisoner. What! did not his terrible purpose
When her examination in chief concluded, peep out all the time he was making love to
there was but one opinion among the bar and you?
the auditors in general, viz., that the maid had    No reply.
hung the mistress.                             Prisoner. You had the kitchen to your two
Mrs. Gaunt herself feit she had a terrible an- selves?  Come, don't hesitate.
tagonist to deal with, and, when she rose to cross-   Ryder. The other servants were gone to bed,
examine her, she looked paler than she had done you kept the man so late.
all through the trial.                         Prisoner. Oh, I mean no reflection on your
She rose, but seemed to ask herself how to be- prudence. You went out of doors with your
gin; and her pallor and her hesitation, while they wooer, just to see him off?
excited some little sympathy, confirmed the un-   Ryder. Not I. What for? I had nobody to
favorable impression.  She fixed her eyes upon make away with. I just opened the door for
the witness, as if to discover where she was him, bolted it after him, and went straight to my
most vulnerable. Mrs. Ryder returned her gaze bedroom.
calmly. The court was hushed, for it was evi-   Prisoner. How long had you been there when
dent a duel was coming between two women of you heard the cry for help?
no common ability.                            Ryder. Scarce ten minutes. I had not taken
The opening rather disappointed expectation. my stays off.
Mrs. Gaunt seemed, by her manner, desirous to   Prisoner. If you and Thomas Hayes speak
propitiate the witness.                     true, that gives half an hour you were making
Prisoner (very civilly). You say you brought love with the murderer after he left me. Am I
Thomas Leicester to my bedroom on that terri- correct?
ble night?                                   The witness now saw whither she had been
Ryder (civilly). Yes, madam.              led, and changed her manner. She became sulPrisoner. And you say he staid there half an len, and watched an opportunity to stab.
hour?                                        Prisoner. Had he a mole on his brow?
Ryder. Yes, madam, he did.                  Ryder. Not that I know of.
Prisoner. May I inquire how you know he   Prisoner. Why, where were your eyes, then,
staid just half an hour?                   when the murderer saluted you at parting?
Ryder. My watch told me that, madam. I   Ryder's eyes flashed; but she felt her temper
brought him to you at a quarter past eleven, tried, and governed it all the more severely. She
and you did not ring for me till a quarter to treated the question w;ith silent contempt.
twelve.                                       Prisoner. But you pass for a discreet woman;
Prisoner. And when I did ring for you, what perhaps you looked modestly down when the asthen?                                      sassin saluted you?'
Ryder. I came and took the man away, by   Ryder. If he saluted me, perhaps I did.
your orders.                                  Prisoner. In that case you could not see his
Prisoner. At a quarter to twelve?         mole; but you must have noticed his shoes.




124                    GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
Were these the shoes he wore? Look at them    Ryder. Fear of you.
well.                                         Prisoner. Nay, I mean, had he not something
Ryder (after inspecting them). I do not rec- to fear-something quite different from that I
ognize them.                                am charged with?
Prisoner. Will you swear these were not the   Ryder. You know best, madam. I would gladshoes he had on?                           ly serve you, but I can not guess what you are
Ryder. Ifow can I swear that? I know noth- driving at.
ing about the man's shoes. If you please, my   The prisoner was taken aback by this impulord, am I to be kept here all day with her fool- dent reply. She hesitated to force her servant
ish, trifling questions?                   to expose a husband whom she believed to be
The Judge. All day, and all night too, if jus- living, and her hesitation looked like discomfitice requires it. The law is not swift to shed ture,  and Ryder was victorious in that encounter.
blood.                                        By this time they were both thoroughly emPrisoner. My lord and the gentlemen of the bittered, and it was war to the knife.
jury were here before you, and will be kept here   Prisoner. You listened to our unhappy quarrel
after you. Prithee attend. Look at that draw- that night?
ing of Hernshaw Castle and Hernshaw Mere.   Ryder. Quarrel! madam,'twas all on one side.
Now take this pencil and mark your bedroom on   Prisoner. How did you understand what I said
the drawing.                                to him about the constables?
The pencil was taken from the prisoner and   Ryder. Constables! I never heard you say the
handed to Ryder. She waited like a cat till it word.
came close to her, then recoiled with an admira-   Prisoner. Oh!
ble scream.  " Me handle a thing hot from the   Ryder. Neither when you threatened him with
hand of a murderess!' It makes me tremble all your knife to me, nor when you threatened him
over."                                      to his face.
This cruel stab affected the prisoner visibly.   Prisoner. Take care: you forget that Jane
She put her hand to her bosom, and with tears Bannister heard me; was her ear nearer the keyin her eyes faltered out a request to the judge holo than yours?
that she might sit down a minute.             Ryder. Jane! she is a simpleton. You could
The Judge. To be sure you may. And you, make her think she heard any thing. I noticed
my good woman, must not run before the court. you put the words in her mouth.
How do you know what evidence she may have   Prisoner. God forgive you, you naughty womin store?  At present we have only heard one an. You had better have spoken the truth.
side. Be more moderate.                       Ryder. My lord, if you please, am I to be misThe prisoner iose promptly to her feet. "My called-by a murderess?
lord, I welcome the insult that has disgusted your   The Judiye. Come, come, this is no place for
lordship and the gentlemen of the jury, and won recrimination.
me those good words of comfort."  To Ryder-    The prisoner now stooped and examined her
"What sort of a night was it?"             papers, and took a distinct line of cross-examinaRyder. Very little moon, but a clear, starry tion.
night.                                        Prisoner. (with apparent carelesness). At all
Prisoner. Could- you see the mere, and the events, you are a virtuous woman, Mrs. Ryder?
banks?                                        Ryder. Yes, madam, as virtuous as yourself,
Ryder. Nay, but so much of it as faced my to.say the least.
window.                                       Prisoner (still more carelessly). Married or
Prisoner. Have you marked your window?    single?
Ryder. I have.                              Ryder. Single, and like to be.
Prisoner. Now mark the place where you heard   Prisoner. Yes, if I remember right, I made a
Mr. Gaunt cry for help.                     point of that before I engaged you as my maid.
Ryder.'Twas about here-under these trees.   Ryder. I believe the question was put.
And that is why I could not see him, along of   Prisoner. Here is the answer in your handthe shadow.                                 writing. Is not that your handwriting?
Prisoner. Possibly. Did you see me on that   Ryder (after inspecting it). It is.
side the mere.                                Prisoner. You came highly recommended by
Ryder. No.                                your last mistress, a certain Mrs. Hamilton.
Prisoner. What colored dress had I on at that Here is her letter, describing you as a model.
time?                                        Ryder. Well, madam, hitherto I have given
Ryder. White satin.                       satisfaction to all my mistresses, Mrs. Hamilton
Prisoner. Then you could have seen me, even among the rest. My character does not rest on
among the trees, had I been on that side the her word only, I hope.
mere?                                        Prisoner. Excuse me; I engaged you on her
Ryder. I can't say. However, I never said word alone. Now who is this Mrs. Hamilton?
you were on the very spot where the deed was   Ryder. A worshipful lady I served for eight
done, but you were out of doors.            months before I came to you. She went abroad,
Prisoner. How do you know that?           or I should be with her now.
Ryder. Why, you told me so yourself.        Prisoner. Now cast your eye over this paper.
Prisoner. Then that is my evidence, not yours.   It was the copy of a marriage certificate beSwear to no more than you know. Had my hus- tween Thomas Edwards and Caroline Plunkett.
band, to your knowledge, a reason for absconding    "Who is this Caroline Plunkett?"
suddenly?                                    Ryder turned very pale, and made no reply.
Ryder. Yes, he had.                         " I ask you who is this Caroline Plunkett?"
Prisoner. What was it?                      Ryder (faintly). Myself.




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               15
Tle Judge. Why, you said you were single!  this false witness be sent hence to prison for
Ryder. So I am-as good as single. My hus- peljury?,
band and me we parted eight years ago, and I    Wiltshire. Certainly not. What woman oh
have never seen him since.                   earth is expected to reveal her own shame upon
Prisoner. Was it quite eight years ago?   oath?'Twas not fair nor human to put such
Ryder. Nearly;'twas in May, 1739.         questions. Come, madam, leave torturing this
Prisoner. But you have lived with him since? poor creature. Show some mercy; you may
Ryder. Never, upon my soul.                need it yourself.
Prisoner. When was your child born?         The Prisoner. Sir,'tis not mercy I ask, but
Ryder. My child! I have none.             justice according to law. But, since you do me
Prisoner. In January, 1743, you left a baby at the honor to make me a request, I will comply,
Biggleswade, with a woman called Church-did and ask her but one question more. Describe
you not?                                    my apartment into which you showed Thomas
Ryder (panting). Of course I did. It was my Leicester that night. Begin at the outer door.
sister's.                                      Ryder. First there is the ante-room; then
Prisoner. Do you mean to call God to witness the boudoir; then there's your bed-chamber.
that child was not yours?                     Prisoner. Into which of those three did you
Ryder hesitated.                           show Thomas Leicester?
Prisoner. Will you swear Mrs. Church did   Ryder. Into the anteroom.
not see you nurse that child in secret, and weep   Prisoner. Then why did you say it was in my
over it?                                    chamber I entertained him?
At this question the perspiration stood visible   1yider. Madam, I meant no more than that it
on Ryder's brow, her cheeks were ghastly, anrid was your private apartment up stairs.
her black eyes roved like some wild animal's   Prisoner. You contrived to make the gentleround the court.  She saw her own danger, and men think otherwise.
had no means of measuring her inquisitor's in-   The Judge. That you did.'Tis down in my
formation.                                   notes that she received the peddler in her bed" My lord, have pity on me. I was betrayed, chamber.
abandoned.  Why am I so tormented?  I have   Ryder (sobbing). God is my witness I did not
not committed murder." So, catlike, she squeal- mean to mislead your lordship, and I ask my
ed and scratched at once.                    lady's pardon for not being more exact in that
Prisoner. What! to swear away an innocent particular.
life, is not that murder?                     At this the prisoner bowed to the judge, and
The Judge. Prisoner, we make allowances for sat down with one victorious flash of her gray eye
your sex and your peril, but you must not re- at the witness, who was in an abject condition of
mark on the evidence at present.  Examine as fear, and hung all about the witness-box limp as
severely as you will, but abstain fiom comment a wet towel.
till you address the jury on your defense.     Sergeant Wiltshire saw she was so thoroughly
Sergeant Wtiltshire. My lord, I submit that cowed she would be apt to truckle, and soften her
this line of examination is barbarous, and travels evidence to propitiate the prisoner, so he asked
out of the case entirely.                    her but one question.
Prisoner. Not so, Mr. Sergeant.'Tis done by    "Were you and the prisoner on good terms?"
advice of an able lawyer.  My life is in peril   Ryder. On the best of terms. She was always
unless I shake this witness's credit. To that end a good and liberal mistress to me.
I show you she is incontinent, and practised in   }Wiltshire. I will not prolong your sufferings.
falsehood.  Unchastity has been held in these You may go down.
courts to disqualify a female witness-hath it   The.Judqe. But you will not leave the court
not, my lord?                                till this trial is ended.  I have grave doubts
The Judge. IIardly. But to disparage her whether I ought not to commit you.
evidence it has.  And wisely; for she who loses   Unfortunately for the prisoner, Ryder was not
her virtue enters on a life of deceit, and lying is the last witness for the crown. The others that
a habit that spreads from one thing to many. followed were so manifestly honest that it would
Much wisdom there is in ancient words.  Our have been impolitic to handle them  severely.
forefathers taught us to call a virtuous woman The prisoner, therefore, put very few questions
an honest woman, and the law does but follow  to them, and when the last witness went down
in that track, still, however, leaving much to the the case looked very formidable.
discretion of the jury.                        The evidence for the crown being now comPrisoner. I would show her more mercy than plete, the judge retired for some refreshment,
she has shown to me, therefore I leave that mat- and the court buzzed like a hum of bees. Mrs.
ter. Witness, be so good as to examine Mrs. Gaunt's lips and throat were parched, and her
Hamilton's letter, and compare it with your own. heart quaked.
The "'y's" and the "s's" are peculiar in both, and   A woman of quite the lower order thrust forth
yet the same.  Come, confess; Mrs. Hamilton's a great arm  and gave her an orange. Mrs.
is a forgery. You wrote it. Be pleased to hand Gaunt thanked her sweetly, and the juice reboth letters up to my lord to compare-the dis- lieved her throat.
guise is but thin.                             Also this bit of sympathy was of good omen,
Ryder. Forgery there was none. There is no and did her heart good.
Mrs. Hamilton. (She burst into tears.) I had    She buried her face in her hands, and collectmy child to provide for, and no man to help me! ed all her powers for the undertaking before her.
What was I to do? A servant must live.       She had noted down the exact order of her topPrisoner. Then why not let her mistress live, ics, but no more.
whose bread she has eaten?  My lord, shall not   The judge returned; the crier demanded si



126                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
lence; and the prisoner rose, and turned her agree and admit that, in a moment of anger,!
eyes modestly but steadily upon those who held was so transported out of myself as to threaten
her life in their hands; and, true to the wisdom  my husband's life before Caroline Ryder.  But
of her sex, the first thing she aimed at was-to afterward, when I saw him face to face, then,
please.                                     that I threatened him with violence, that I deny.
"' My lord, and you, gentlemen of the jury, I The fact is, I had just learned that he had comam now to reply to a charge of murder, founded mitted a capital offense, and what I threatened
on a little testimony, and a good deal of false, him with was the law. This was proved by Jane
but, I must needs say, reasonable conjecture.    Bannister.  She says she heard me say the con" I am innocent; but, unlike other innocent stables should come for him next morning. For
persons who have stood here before me, I have what?-to murder him?"
no man to complain of.                         The Judge. Give me leave, madam.  Shall
"The magistrates who committed me pro- you prove Mr. Gaunt had committed a capital
ceeded with due caution and humanity; they offense?
weighed my hitherto unspotted reputation, and   Prisoner. I could, my lord, but I am loth to
were in no hurry to prejudge me; here, in this do it; for if I did, I should cast him into worse
court, I have met with much forbearance; the trouble than I am in myself.
learned counsel for the crown has made me    The Judge (shaking his head gravely). Let
groan under his abilities; that was his duty; me advise you to advance nothing you are not
but he said from the first he would do nothing able and willing to prove.
hard, and he has kept his word. Often he might   Thle Prisoner. Then I confine myself to this:
have stopped me; I saw it in his face; but, be- it was proved by a witness for the crown that in
ing a gentleman and a Christian, as well as a the dining-room I threatened my husband to his
learned lawyer, methinks he said to himself, face with the law. Now this threat, and not'This is a poor gentlewoman pleading for her that other extravagant threat, which he never
life; let her have some little advantage.' As for heard, you know, was clearly the threat which
my lord, he has promised to be my counsel, so caused him to abscond that night.
far as his high station, and duty to the crown,   " In the next place, I agree with the learned
admit, and he has supported and consoled me counsel that I was out of doors at one o'clock
more than once with *ords of justice, that would that morning. But if he will use me as HIS
not, I think, have encouraged a guilty person, WITNESS in that matter, then he must not pick,
but have comforted and sustained me beyond ex- and choose, and mutilate my testimony. Nay,
pression.  So, then, I stand here, the victim, not let him take the whole truth, and not just so
of man's injustice, but of deceitful appearances, much as he can square with the indictment.
and of honest, but hasty and loose conjectures.   Either believe me, that I was out of doors pray"These conjectures I shall now sift, and hope ing, or do not believe me that I was out of doors
to show you how hollow they are.             at all.
"Gentlemen, in every disputed matter, the    "Gentlemen,hearthe simple truth. Younmay
best way, I am told, is to begin by settling what see in the map, on the south side of Ilernshaw
both parties are agreed in, and so to narrow the Castle, a grove of large fir-trees.'Tis a revmatter. To use that way, then, I do heartily erend place, most fit for prayer and meditation.
agree with the learned counsel that murder is a Here I have prayed a thousand times and more
heinous crime, and that, black as it is at the before the fifteenth of October.  Hence'tis callbest, yet it is still more detestable when'tis a ed' the Dame's Haunt,' as I shall prove, that am
wife that murders her husband, and robs her the dame'tis called after.
child of a parent who can never be replaced.   "Let it not seem incredible to you that I
" I also agree with him that circumstantial should pray out of doors in my grove on a fine,
evidence is often sufficient to convict a murder- clear, starry night. For aught I know, Protester; and, indeed, were it not so, that most mon- ants may pray only by the fireside; but rememstrous of crimes would go oftenest unpunished, her, I am a Catholic. We are not so contracted
since, of all culprits, murderers do most shun in our praying.  We do not confine it to little
the eyes of men in their dark deeds, and so pro- comfortable places. Nay, but for seventeen hunvide beforehand that direct testimony to their dred years and more we have prayed out of doors
execrable crime there shall be none. Only here- as much as in doors. And this our custom is no
in I am advised to take a distinction that es- fit subject for a shallow sneer. How does the
caped the learned sergeant; I say that first of learned sergeant know that, beneath the vault of
all it ought to be proved directly, and to the na- heaven at night, studded with those angeliceyes,
ked eye, that a man has been murdered; and the stars, is an unfit place to bend the knee, and
then, if none saw the crime done, let circum- raise the soul in prayer? Has he ever tried it?"
stances point out the murderer.                This sudden appeal to a learned and eminent,
" But here they put the cart before the horse; but by no means devotional sergeant, so tickled
they find a dead body, with no marks of violence the gentlemen of the bar that they burst out
whatever, and labor to prove by circumstantial laughing with singular unanimity.
evidence alone that this mere dead body is a   This dashed the prisoner, who had not intendmurdered body. This, I am advised, is bad in ed to be funny; and she hesitated, and looked
law, and contrary to general precedents; and distressed.
tho particular precedents for it are not exam-   The.Judge. Proceed, madam: these remarkia
ples, but warnings, since both the prisoners so of yours are singular, but quite pertinent, and no
rashly convicted were proved innocent after their fit subject for ridicule.  Gentlemen, remhember
execution."                                 the public looks to you for an example.
(The judge took a note of this distinction.)  Prisoner. IMy lord,'twas my fault for making
"Then, to go from principles to the facts, I that personal which should be general  But




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               127
women they are so.'Tis our foible. I pray the rience of murdered bodies goes, it is not like a
good sergeant to excuse me.                 murdered body, for there is no bone broken nor
" I say, then, generally, that when the sun re- bruise on the head.
tires, then earth fades, but heaven comes out in    "Where is the body found? In the water.
tenfold glory; and I say the starry firmament at Btit water by itself is a sufficient cause of death,
night is a temple not built with hands, and the and a common cause too, and kills without breakbare sight of it subdues the passions, chastens the ing bones or bruising the head. 0 perversity of
heart, and aids the soul in prayer surprisingly. the wise! For every one creature murdered in
My lord, as I am a Christian woman,'tis true that England, ten are accidentally drowned; and they
my husband had wronged me cruelly and broken find a dead man in the water, which is as much
the law.'Tis true that I raged against him and as to say they find the slain in the arms of the
he answered me not again.'Tis true, as that slayer; yet they do not once suspect the water,
witness said, that my bark is worse than my but go about in search of a strange and monstrous
bite. I cooled, and then felt I had forgotten the crime.
wife and the Christian in my wrath. I repented,   " Mr. Gaunt's cry for help was heard hiege, if
and, to be more earnest in my penitence, I did it was heard at all (which I greatly doubt), here
go and pray out o' doors beneath those holy eyes by this clump of trees; the body was found here,
of heaven that seemed to look down with chaste hard by the bridge, which is, by measurement,
reproach on my ungoverned heat. I left my one furlong and sixty paces from that clump of
fireside, my velvet cushions, and all the little trees, as I shall prove.  There is no current in
comforts made by human hands, that adorn our the mere lively enough to move a body, and what
earthly dwellings, but distract our eyes from  there is runs the wrong way. So this disconGod."                                       nects the cry for help and the dead body. AnSome applause followed this piece of eloquence, other broken link!
exquisitely uttered. It was checked, and the pris-   "And now I come to my third defense. I say
oner resumed, with an entire change of manner. the body is not the body of Griffith Gaunt.
"Gentlemen, the case against me is like a   "The body, mutilated as it was, had two dispiece of rotten wood varnished all over. It looks tinguishing marks-a mole on the brow, and a
fair to the eye, but will not bear handling.  pair of hobnailed shoes on the feet.
" As example of what I say, take three charges    " Now the advisers of the crown fix their eyes
on which the learned sergeant greatly relied on on that mole, but they turn their heads away
opening his case:                            from the hobnailed shoes. But why?  Articles
" 1st. That I received Thomas Leicester in my of raiment found on a body are legal evidence of
bedroom.                                     identity. How often, my lord, in cases of mur"2d. That lie wvent hot from me after Mr. der, hath the crown relied on such particulars,
Gaunt.                                       especially in cases where corruption had obscured' 3d. That he was seen following Mr. Gaunt the features.
with a bloody intent.                          "I shall not imitate this partiality, this ob"How ugly these three proofs looked at first stinate prejudice; I shall not ask you to shut
sight!  Well, but when we squeezed the wit- your eyes on the mole, as they do on the shoes,
nesses ever so little, what did these three dwindle but shall meet the whole truth fairly.
down to?                                      "Mr. Gaunt went from my house that morn.
1st. That I received Thomas Leicester in an ing with boots on his feet and with a mole on his
anteroom, which leads to a boudoir, and that brow.
boudoir leads to my bedroom.                   " Thomas Leicester went the same road, with
" 2d. That Thomas Leicester went from me shoes on his feet, and, as I shall prove, with a
to the kitchen, and there, for a good half hour, mole on his brow.
drank my ale (as it appears), and made love to    " To be sure the crown witnesses did not dishis old sweetheart, Caroline Ryder, the false wit- tinctly admit this mole on him, but you will re.
ness for the crown, and went abroad fresh from  member they dared not deny it on their oaths,
her, and not from me.                        and so run their heads into an indictment foi
"3d. That he was not (to speak strictly) seen perjury.
following Mr. Gaunt, but just walking on the    "But, gentlemen, I shall put seven witnesses
same road, drunk, and staggering, and going at into the box who will all swear that they have
such a rate that, as the crown's own witness known Thomas Leicester for years, and that he
swore, he could hardly, in the nature of things, had a mole upon his left temple.
overtake Mr. Gaunt, who walked Quicker, and    "One of these witnesses is-the mother that
straighter too, than he.                     bore him.
"So, then, even if a murder has been done,   "I shall then call witnesses to prove that, or
they have failed to connect Thomas Leicester the fifteenth of October, the bridge over the mer6
with it, or me with Thomas Leicester.  Two was in bad repair, and a portion of the side rail
broken links in a chain of but three.        gone; and that the body was found within a few
"'And now I come to the more agreeable part yards of that defective bridge; and then, as
of my defense.  I do think there has been no Thomas Leicester went that way, drunk, and
murder at all.                               staggering from side to side, you may reasonably
" There is no evidence of a murder.       infer that he fell into the water in passing the
"A body is found with the flesh eaten by fish- bridge.  To show this is possible, I shall prove
es, but the bones and the head uninjured. They the same thing has actually occurred. I shall
swear a surgeon, who has examined the body, swear the oldest man in the parish, who will de.
and certainly he had the presumption to guess it pose to a similar event that happened in his bovy
looks like a murdered body; but, being sifted, hood. He hath said it a thousand times before
he was forced to admit that, so far as his expe- to-day, and now will swear it. He will tell you




128                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
that on a certain day, sixty-nine years ago, the ter's, and the place it came from higher up the
parson of Hernshaw, the Rev. Augustus Murth- mere.
waite, went to cross this bridge at night, after   " This, my notion, will surprise you less when
carousing at Hernshaw Castle with our great- I prove to you that Leicester's voice bore a faimgrandfather, my husband's and mine, the then ily likeness to Mr. Gaunt's. I shall call two
proprietor of Hernshaw, and tumbled into the witnesses who have been out shooting with Mr.
water; and his body was found, gnawed out of Gaunt and Tom Leicester, and have heard Leithe very form of humanity by the fishes, within cester halloo in the wood, and taken it for Mr.
a yard or two of the spot where poor Tom Lei- Gaunt.
cester was found, that hath cost us all this trou-   " Must I tell you the whole truth? This Leible.  So do the same causes bring round the cester has always passed for an illegitimate son
same events in a cycle of years. The only dif- of Mir. Gaunt's father.  He resembled my husference is that the parson drank his death in band in form, stature, and voice; he had the
our dining-room, and the peddler in our kitchen. Gaunt mole, and has often spoken of it by that
" No doubt, my lord, you have observed that name. My husband forgave him many faults for
sometimes a hasty and involuntary inaccuracy no other reason, and I bought his wares and filled
gives quite a wrong color to a thing. I assure his pack for no other reason than this-that he
you I have suffered by this. It is said that the was my husband's brother by nature, though not
moment Mr. Atkins proposed to drag my mere, in law.' ONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE.'
I fainted away. In this account there is an    "Ah! that is a royal device; yet how often
omission. I shall prove that Mr. Atkins used in this business have the advisers of the crown
these vordls —' And underneath that water I un- forgotten it?
dertake to find the remains of Griffith Gaunt.'   " My lord, and gentlemen of the july, I return
Now, gentlemen, you shall understand that at from these conjectures to the indisputable facts
this time, and indeed until the moment when I of my defense.
saw the shoes upon that poor corpse's feet, I was   " Mr. Gaunt may be alive or may be dead. He
in great terror for my husband's life. How could was certainly alive on the fifteenth of October,
it be otherwise?  Caroline Ryder had told me and it lies on the crown to prove him dead, and
she heard his cry for help. He had disappeared. not on me to prove him alive. But, as for the
What was I to think? I feared he had fallen in body that forms the subject of this indictment, it
with robbers. I feared all-manner of things. So, is the body of.Thomas Leicester, who was seen
when the lawyer said so positively he would find on the sixteenth of October, at one in the mornhis body, I was overpowered. Ah! gentlemen, ing, drunk and staggering, and making for Hernwedded life survives many wrongs, many angry shaw bridge, which leads to his mother's house;
words; I love my husband still; and when the and on all his former visits to Hernshaw Castle
man told me so brutally that he was certainly he went on to his mother's, as I shall prove.
dead, I fainted away. I confess it. Shall I be This time he never reached her, as I shall prove;
hanged for that?                            but on his way to her did meet his death by the
" But now, thank God! I am full of hope that will of God, and no fault of man or woman, in
he is alive, and that good hope has given me the Hernshaw Mere.
courage to make this great effort to save my own    "Swear Sarah Leicester."
life.                                          The Judge. I think you say you have several
"hitherto I have been able to contradict my witnesses?
accusers positively, but now I come to a mysteri-   Prisoner. More than twenty, my lord.
ous circumstance that I own puzzles me. Most   The Judge. We can not possibly dispose of
persons accused of murder could, if they chose, them this evening. We will hear your evidence
mahke a clean breast, and tell you the whole mat- to - morrow. Prisoner, this will enable you to
ter. But this is not my case. I know shoes consult with your legal advisers, and let me urge
from boots, and I know Kate Gaunt from a liar upon you to prove, if you can, that Mr. Gaunt
and a murderess; but, when all is said, this is has a sufficient motive for hiding and not answerstill a dark, mysterious business, and there are ing Mr. Atkins's invitation to inherit a large esthings in it I can only deal with as you do, gen- tate.  Some such proof is necessary to complete
tlemen, by bringing my wits to bear upon them  your defense; and I am sorry to see you have
in reasonable conjecture.                    made no mention of it in your address, which
"Caroline Ryder swears she heard Mr. Gaunt was otherwise able.
cry for help. And Mr. Gaunt has certainly dis-   Prisoner. My lord, I think I can prove my
appeared.                                    own innocence without casting a slur upon my
"My accusers have somewhat weakened this husband.
by trying to palm off the body of Thomas Leices-   The.Judge. You think? when your life is at
ter on you for the body of Mr. Gaunt.  But the stake. Be not so mad as to leave so large a hole
original mystery remains, and puzzles me. I in your defense, if youl can mend it. Take admight fairly appeal to you to disbelieve the wit- vice.
ness. She is proved incontinent, and a practised   He said this very solemnly —then rose and left
liar, and she forswore herself in this court, and the court.
my lord is in two minds about committing her.   Mrs. Gaunt was conveyed back to prison, and
But a liar does not always lie, and, to be honest, there was soon prostrated by the depression that
I think she really believes she heard Mr. Gaunt follows an unnatural excitement.
cry for help, for she went straight to his bedroom,   Mr. Houseman found her on the sofa, pale and
and that looks as if she really thought she heard dejected, and clasping the jailer's wife convulsivehis voice. But a liar may be mistaken; do not ly, who applied hartshorn to her nostrils.
forget that.  Distance affects the voice; and I   He proved but a Job's comforter.  Her dethink the voice she heard was Thomas Leices- fense, creditable as it was to a novice, seemed




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               129
wordy and weak to him, a lawyer; and he was   "And I am the most miserable woman in all
horrified at the admissions she had made. In England."
her place he would have admitted nothing he    "Child," said the worthy lawyer," your spircould not thoroughly explain.               its have given way because they were strung so
He came to insist on a change of tactics.  high. You need repose.  Go to bed now, and
When he saw her sad condition, he tried to sleep twelve hours.  Believe me you will wake
begin by consoling and encouraging her. But another woman."
his own serious misgivings unfitted him for this   "Ah! would I could!" cried Mrs. Gaunt,
task, and very soon, notwithstanding the state with all the eloquence of despair.
she was in, he was almost scolding her for being   Houseman murmured a few more consoling
so mad as to withstand the judge, and set her- words, and then left her, after once more exactself against his advice. "There," said he, "my ing a promise that she would receive no more
lord kept his word, and became counsel for you. visits, but go to bed directly.  She was to send'Close that gap in your defense,' says he,'and all intruders to him at the "Angel."
you will very likely be acquitted.''Nay,' says   Mrs. Gaunt proceeded to obey his orders, and
you,'I prefer to chance it.',  hat madness! though it was but eight o'clQck, she made prepawhat injustice!"                           rations for bed, and then went to her nightly de-' Injustice! to whom?"                  votions.
"To whom? why, to yourself."                She, was in sore-trouble, and earthly trouble
"What! may 2;I not be unjust to myself?"    turns the heart heavenward. Yet it was not so
"Certainly not; you have no iight to be un- with her. The deep languor that oppressed her
just to any body. Don't deceive yourself; there seemed  to have reached her inmost soul. Her
is no virtue in this; it is mere miserable weak- beads, falling one by one from her hand, denoted
ness. What right ha,-e you to peril an innocent, the number of her supplications; but, for once,
life merely to screen the malefactor from just they were preces sine mente dictoe. Her faith
obloquy?"                                   was cold, her belief in divine justice was shaken
" Alas!" said Mrs. Gaunt, "'tis more than for a time. She began to doubt and to despond.
obloquy. They will kill him,; they will brand That bitter hour, which David has sung so well,
him with a hot iron."                        and Bunyan, from experience, has described in
"Not unless he is indicted; and who will in- his biography as well as in his novel, sat heavy
diet him? Sir George, Neville must be got to upon her, as it, had on many a true believer bemuzzle the attorney general,, and the Lancashire fore her. So deep wmas.the gloom, so paralyzing
jade will not move against him, for you say they the languor, that at last she gave up all endernvor
are living together."                        to utter words of prayer.  She placed her cruci" Of course they are; and, as you say, why fix at the foot of the wall, and laid herself down
should I screen him?  But'twill not serve; who on the ground and kissed His feet; then, drawcan combat prejudice?. If what I have said does ing back, gazed upon that effigy of the mortal
not convince them, an angel's voice would not. sufferings of our Redeemer.
Sir, I am a Catholic, and they will hang me: I    "O anima Christiana, respice vulnera patienshall die miserably, having exposed my husband, tis, sanguinem morientis, precem redemptionis
who loved me once-oh! so dearly. I trifled nbstrte."
with his love. I deserve it all."              She had lain thus a good half hour, when a
" You will not die at all, if you will only be gentle tap came to the door.
good and obedient, and listen to wiser heads. I   "Who is that?" said she.
have subpoenaed Caroline Ryder as your witness,,"Mrs. Menteith," the jailer's wife replied,
and given her a hint how to escape an indict- softly, and asked leave to come in.
ment for perjury. You will find her supple as   Now this Mrs. Menteith had been very kind
a glove."                                   to her, and stoutly maintained her innocence.
" Call a rattlesnake for my witness?"    Mrs. Gaunt rose and invited her in.
"I have drawn her fangs. You will also call   "Madam," said Mrs. Menteith, "what I
Sir George Neville, to prove he saw Gaunt's pict- come for, there is a person below who much deure at the'Packhorse,' and heard the other sires to see you."
wife's tale. Wiltshire will object to this as evi-:' I beg to be excused," was the reply.  "lie
dence, and say why don't you produce Mercy) must go to my solicitor at the'Angel,' Mr.
Vint herself. Then you will call me to prove Houseman."
that I sent the subpoena to Mercy Vint.  Come,   Mrs. Menteith retired  with that message, but
now, I can not eat or sleep till you promise in about five minutes returned to say that the
me."                                        young woman declined to go to Mr. Houseman,
Mrs. Gauntsighed deeply. "Spare me," said and, begged hard to see Mrs. Gaunt.  "And,
she; "JI am worn out., Oh that I could die be- dame," said she," if I were you I'd let her come
fore the trial begins again!"              in;'tis the honestest face, and the tears in her
Houseman saw the signs of yielding, and per-, soft eyes at your, denying her.'Oh dear, dear,'
sisted.  " Come, promise now," said he, " then said she,'I can not tell my errandto any but
you will feel better."                      lier.'^"
"I will do whatever you bid me," said she.   "Well, well," said Mrs. Gaunt; "but what is
" Only, if they let me off, I will go into a con- her business'?"
vent. No power shall hinder me."               "If you ask.me, I think her business is your
"You shall go where you like, except to the business.  Come, dame, do see the poor thing;
gallows. Enough;'tis a promise, and I never she is civil spoken, and she tells me she has
knew you to break one. Now I can eat my come all the way out o' Lancashire o' purpose."
supper. You are a good, obedient child, and I   Mrs. Gaunt recoiled as if she had been stung
am a happy attorney."                          "From Lancashire?" said she, faintly.
I




130                    GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
"Ay, madam," said Mrs. Menteith, " and that   "Well, I'm sure I don't know what to do,'"
is a long road; and a child upon her arm all the said Mrs. Menteith.  " She says she will lie at
way, poor thing!"                           your door all night but she will see you.'Tis
" Her name?" said Mrs. Gaunt, sternly.  the face of a friend. She may know something.
" Oh, she is not ashamed of it. bhhe gave it It seems hard to thrust her and her child out
me directly."                              into the street, after their coming all the way'What! has she the effrontery to take my from Lancashire.'
name?"                                       Mrs. Gaunt stood silent a while, and her inI A'
_   Ir                  -
/,
Mrs. Menteith stared at her with utter amaze- telligence had a severe combat with her deep
ment.  "Your name?" said she.  "'Tis a sim- repugnance to be in the same room with Griffith
pie country body, and her name is Vint-Mercy  Gaunt's mistress (so she considered her). But
Vint."                                      a certain curiosity came to the aid of her good
Mrs. Gaunt was very much agitated, and said sense; and, after all, she was a brave and haughshe felt quite unequal to see a stranger.  ty woman, and her natural courage began to rise.




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                              131
She thought to herself, "What! dare she come man I had married had a wife, and you were she.
to me all this way, and shall I shrink from her?" We that be women are too unjust to each other,
She turned to Mrs. Menteith with a bitter and too indulgent to a man. But I have worn
smile, and she said, very slowly, and clenching out my hate. I wrestled in prayer, and the God
her white teeth, " Since you desire it, and she of Love he did quench my most unreasonable
insists on it, I will receive Mistress Mercy Vint." hate. For'twas the man betrayed me; you never
Mrs. Menteith went off, and in about five wronged me, nor I you. But you are right,
minutes returned ushering in Mercy Vint in a madam;'tis true that nature without grace is
hood and traveling cloak.                   black as pitch: the devil he was busy at my ear,
Mrs. Gaunt received her standing, and with a and whispered me,' If the fools in Cumberland
very formal courtesy, to which Mercy made a hang her, what fault o' thine? Thou wilt be his
quiet obeisance, and both women looked one an- lawful wife,, and thy poor innocent child will be
other all over in a moment.                 a child of shame no more.' But, by God's grace, I
Mrs. Menteith lingered, to know what on earth did defy him, and I do defy him." She rose swiftthis was all about; but, as neither spoke a word, ly from her chair, and her dove's eyes gleamed
and their eyes were fixed on each other, she di- with celestial light. " Get thee behind me Satan.
vined that her absence was necessary, and so re- I tell thee the hangman shall never have her intired slowly, looking very much amazed at both nocent body, nor thou my soul. "
of them.                                      The movement was so unexpected, the words
and the look so simply noble, that Mrs. Gaunt
rose too, and gaged upon her visitor with astonishment and respect, yet still with a dash of
CHAPTER XLIII.
doubt.
"BE seated, mistress, if you please, " said Mrs.   She thought to herself, " If this creature is
Gaunt, with icy civility, " and let me know to not sincere, what a mistress of deceit she must
what I owe this extraordinary visit."       be!"
"I thank you, dame," said Mercy, "for in-   But Mercy Vint soon returned to her quiet
deed I am sore fatigued. " She sat quietly down. self. She sat down, and said gravely, and, for
" Why I have come to you? It was to serve the first time, a little coldly, as one who.had deyou, and to keep my word with George Neville." served well and been received ill, "Mistress
"' Will you be kind enough to explain?" said Gaunt, you are accused of murdering your husMrs. Gaunt, in a freezing tone, and with a look band.'Tis false, for two days ago I saw him
of her great gray eyve to match.            alive."
Mercy felt chilled, and was too frank to dis-   "What do you say?" cried Mrs. Gaunt, treinguise it. "Alas!" said she, softly, "'tis hard to bling all over.
be received so, and me come all the wav from    "Be brave, madam; you have borne great
Lancashire, with a heart like lead, to do my duty, trouble; do not give way under joy.  He who
God willing."                               has wronged us both-he who wedded you under
The tears stood in her eyes, and her mellow  his own name of Griffith Gaunt, an'd me under
voice was sweet and patient.                the false name of Thomas Leicester, is no more
The gentle remonstrance was not quite with- dead than we are; I saw' him two days ago, and
out effect. Mrs. Gaunt colored a little. She spoke to him, and persuaded him to come to
said, stiffly, " Excuse me if I seem discourteous, Carlisle towvn and do you justice."
but you and I ought not to be in one room a   Mrs. Gaunt fell on her knees. " He is alivemoment. You do not see this, apparently. But he is alive. Thank God! oh, thank God! He
at least I have a right to insist that such an in- is alive; and God bless the tongue that tells me
terview shall be very brief, and to the purpose. so. God bless you eternally, Mercy Vint."
Oblige me, then, by telling me in plain terms why   The tears of joy streamed down her face, and
you have come hither."                      then Mercy's flowed too. She uttered a little
"Madam, to be vour witness at the trial."    pathetic cry of joy. "Ah!" she sobbed," the bit
" You to be my witness?"                 of comfort I needed so has come to my heavy
"Why not, if I can clear you? What, would heart.  She has blessed me!"'
you rather be condemned for murder than let me   But she said this very softly, and Mrs. Gaunt
show them you are innocent? Alas! how you was in a rapture, and did not hear her.
hate me."
"Hate you, child?" said Mrs. Gaunt, coloring    "Is it a dream? My husband alive, and you
to her temples; " of course I hate you. We are the one to come and tell me so? How unjust I
both of us flesh and blood, and hate one another; have been to you. Forgive me. Why does he
and one of us is honest enough, and uncivil not come himself?"
enough, to say so."                           Mercy colored-at this question, and hesitated.
"Speak for yourself, dame," replied Mercy,     Well, dame," said she," for one thing, he has
quietly, "for I hate you not; and I thank God been on the fuddle for the last two months."
for it. To hate is to be miserable. I'd liever be   "On the fuddle?"
hated than to hate."                          "Ay; he owns he has never, been sober a
Mrs. Gaunt looked at her.  " Your words are whole day, and that takes the heart out of a man
goodly and wise," said she; " your face is hon- as well as the brains. And then he has'got it
est; and your eyes are like a very dove's. But, into his head that you will never forgive him,
for all that, you hate me quietly, with all your and that he shall be cast in prison if he shows
heart.  Human nature is human nature."      his face in Cumberland."
"'Tis so. But grace is grace." Mercy was   "Why in Cumberland more than in Lancasilent a moment, then resumed: " I'll not deny I shire?" asked Mrs. Gaunt, biting her lip.
did hate you for a time, when first I learned the   Mercy blushed faintly. She replied with some




132                     GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
delicacy, but did not altogether mince the mat- got under my skin, for I can't abide to see folk
ter.                                        smart, let alone to strike the blow. What! shall
" He knows I shall never punish him for what I take the place of God, and punish the evil-doers
he has done to me."                        because'tis me they wrong? Nay, dame, I will
"Why not?  I begin to think he has wronged never punish him, though he hath wronged me
you almost as much as he has me."           cruelly; all I shall do is to think very ill of him,
"Worse, madam-worse.  He has robbed me and shun him, and tear his memory out of my
of my good name. You are still his lawful wife, heart. You look at me; do you think I can not?
and none can point the finger at you. But look You don't know me. I. am very resolute when
at me: I was an honest girl, respected by all the I see clear. Of course I loved him-loved him
parish. What has he made of me?  The man dearly. He was like a husband to me, and a
that lay a dying in my house, and I saved his kind one. But the moment I knew how basely
life, and so my heart did warm to him, he blas- he had deceived us both, my heart began to turn
phemed God's altar to deceive and betray me; against the man, and now'tis ice to him. Heaven
and here I am, a poor forlorn creature, neither knows what I am made of; for, believe me, I'd
maid, wife, nor widow, with a child on my arms liever ten times be beside you than beside him.
that I do nothing but cry over; ay, my poor in- My heart it lay like a lump of lead till I heard
nocent, I left thee down below, because I was your story, and found I could do you a good
ashamed she should see thee-ah me! ah me!" turn-you that he had wronged as well as me.
She lifted up her voice and wept.           I read your beautiful eyes; but nay, fear me not;
Mrs. Gaunt looked at her wistfully, and, like I'm not the woman to pine for the fruit that is
Mercy before her, had a bitter struggle with hu- my neighbor's.  All I ask for on earth is a few
man nature-a struggle so sharp that, in the kind words and looks from you. You are gentle
midst of it, she burst out crying with strange vi- and I am simple, but we are both one flesh and
olence; but, with that burst, her great soul con- blood, and your lovely wet eyes do prove it this
quered.                                     moment. Dame Gaunt —Kate-I ne'er was ten
She darted out of the room, leaving Mercy as- miles from home afore, and I am come all this
tonished at her abrupt departure.           weary way to serve thee. Oh, give me the one
Mercy was patiently drying her eyes, when the thing that can do me good in this world, the one
door opened, and judge her surprise when she thing I pine for —a little of your love."
saw Mrs. Gaunt glide into the room with her lit-   The words were scarce out of her lips when
tie boy asleep in her arms, end an expression Mrs. Gaunt caught her impetuously round the
upon her face more sublime than any thing Mer- neck with both hands, and laid her on that erring
cy Vint had ever yet seen on earth.  She kissed but noble heart of hers, and kissed her eagerly.
the babe softly, and, becoming infantine as well   They kissed one another again and again, and
as angelic by this contact, sat herself down in a wept over one another.
moment on the floor with him, and held out her   And now Mrs. Gaunt, who did nothing by
hand to Mercy.  "There," said she, "come sit halves, could not make enough of Mercy Vint.
beside us, and see how I hate him; no more than She ordered supper, and ate with her to make
vou do-sweet innocent."                     her eat. Mrs. Menteith offered Mercy a bed, but
They looked him all over, discussed his every Mrs. Gaunt said she must lie with her, she and
feature learnedly, kissed his limbs and extremi- her child.
ties after the manner of their sex, and compre-   "What!" said she, " think you I'll let you out
bending at last that to have been both of them  of my sight? Alas! who knows when you and
wronged by one man was a bond of sympathy, I shall ever be together again?"
not hate, the two wives of Griffith Gaunt laid    "I know," said Mercy, very gravely. "In this
his child across their two laps, and wept over him  world-never. "
together.                                     They slept in one bed, and held each other by
the hand all night, and talked to one another,
Mercy Vint took herself to task.  "I am but and in the morning knew each the other's story,
a selfish woman," said she, " to talk or think of and each the other's mind and character, better
any thing but that I came here for."  She then than their oldest acquaintances knew either the
proceeded to show Mrs. Gaunt by what means one or the other.
she proposed to secure her acquittal without getting Griffith Gaunt into trouble.
Mrs. Gaunt listened with keen and grateful            CHAPTER XLIV.
attention until she came to that part, then she
interrupted her eagerly.                      THE trial began again, and the court was
" Don't spare him for me. In your place I'd crowded to suffocation. All eyes were bent op
trounce the villain finely."               the prisoner.  She rose, calm  and quiet, and
" Ay," said Mercy, " and then forgive him. begged leave to say a few words to the court.
But I am different. I shall never forgive him;   Mr. Whitworth objected to that.  She had
but I am a poor hand at punishing and reveng- concluded her address yesterday, and called a
ing. I always was. My name is Mercy, you witness.
know. To tell the truth, I was to have been   Prisoner. But I have not examined a witness
called Prudence, after my good aunt; but she yet.
said nay: she had lived to hear Greed, and Self-   The Judge. You come somewhat out of time,
ishness, and a heap of faults named Prudence: madam, but, if you will be brief, we will hear you.'call the child something that means what it does   Prisoner. I thank you, my lord.  It was only
mean, and not after me,' quoth she. So with me to withdraw an error. The cry for help that was
hearing'Mercy, Mercy,' called out after me so heard by the side of Hernshaw Mere, I said, yesmany years, I do think the quality hath somehow  terday, that cry was uttered by Thomas Leicester




GRIFFITH  GAUNT; O;, JEALOUSY.                              133
Well, I find I was mistaken; the cry foir help was the circumstances looked ugly, and your life was
uttered by my husband-by that Griffith Gaunt in peril. Then he said Nay,'twas in no peril, for
I am accused of assassinating.              if you were to be found guilty, then he would
This extraordinary admission caused a great show himself on the instant.  Then I told him
sensation in court. The judge looked grave and lhe was not worthy the name of a man, and if he
sad; and Sergeant Wiltshire, who came into court would not go, I would. "Go you, by all means,"
just then, whispered his junior, " She has put the said he, " and I'll give you a writing that will
rope round her own neck. The jury would never clear her. Jack Houseman will be there, that
have believed our witness."                 knows my hand; and so does the sheriff, and
The Prisoner. I will only add that a person half the grand jury at the least."
came into the town last night who knows a great   Prisoner. Have you that writing?
deal more about this mysterious business than I   Mercy. To be sure I have. Here'tis.
do. I purpose, therefore, to aler the line of my   Prisoner. Be pleased to read it.
defense; and, to save your time, my lord, who    The Judge. Stay a minute. Shall you prove
have dealt so courteously with me, I shall call but it to be his handwriting?
a single witness.                             Prisoner. Ay, my lord, by as many as you
Ere the astonishment caused by this sudden please.
collapse of the defense was in any degree abated,   The.Judc/e. Then let that stand over for the
she called " Mercy Vint."                   present. Let me see it.
There was the usual stir and struggle, and then   It was handed up to him; and he showed it
the calm, self-possessed face and figure of a come- to the sheriff, who said he thought it was Grifly young woman confronted the court. She was fith Gaunt's writing.
sworn, and examined by the prisoner after this   The paper was then read out to the jury. It
fashion.                                    ran as follows:
" Where do you live?"
"At the  l'Packhorse,' near Allerton, in Lan-   " Know all men, that I, Griffith Gaunt, Esq.,
cashire."                                   of Bolton Hall and Hernshaw Castle, in the counPrisoner. Do you know Mr. Griffith Gaunt?  ty of Cumberland, am alive and well; and the
Mercy. Madam, I do.                       matter which has so puzzled the good folk in
Prisoner. Was he at your place in October Cumberland befell as follows: I left Hernshaw
last?                                      Castle in the dead of night upon the fifteentlh of
M~ercy. Yes, madam, on the thirteenth of October-why, is no man's business but mine. I
October. On that day he left for Cumberland.  found the stable locked, so I left my horse and
Prisoner. On foot, or on horseback?      went on foot. I crossed Hernshaw Mere by the
Mercy. On horseback.                      bridge, and had got about a hundred yards, as I
Prisoner. With boots on, or shoes?       suppose, on the way, when I heard some one fall
Miercy. He had a pair of new boots on.    with a great splash into the mere, and soon after
Prisoner. Do you know Thomas Leicester,?  cry dolefully for help. I, that am no swimmer,
Mercy. A peddler called at our house onl the ran instantly to the north side to a clump of
eleventh of October, and he said his name was trees, where a boat used always to be kept.  But
Thomas Leicester.                           the boat was not there.  Then I cried lustily for
Prisoner. How was he shod?               help, and, as no one came, I fired my pistol and
Mlercy. In hobnailed shoes.               cried murder! for I had heard men will come
Prisoner. Which way went he on leaving you? sooner to that cry than to any other. But, in
Mercy. Madam, he went northward; I know  truth, I was almost out of my wits that a fellowno more for certain.                        creature should perish miserably so near me.
Prisoner. When did you see Mr. Gaunt last?  While I ran wildly to and fro, some came out of
Mercy. Four days ago.                     the castle bearing torches. By this time I was
l he Judge. What is that? you saw him alive at the bridge, but saw no signs of the drowning
four days ago.                              man; yet the night was clear. Then I knew
Mercy. Ay, my lord; the last Wednesday that that his fate was sealed; and, for reasons of my
ever was.                                   own, not choosing to be seen by those who were
At this the people burst out into a loud, agi- coming to his aid, I hastened from the place.
tated murmur, and their heads went to and fro My happiness being gone, and my conscience
all the time. In vain the crier cried and threat- smiting me sore, and not knowing whither to
ened. The-noise rose and surged, and took its turn, I took to drink, and, fell into bad ways,
course. It went down gradually as amazement and lived like a brute, and not a man, for six
gave way to curiosity, and then there was a re- weeks or more, so that I never knew of the good
markable silence, and then the silvery voice of fortune that had fallen on me when least I dethe prisoner and the mellow tones of the witness served it-I mean by old Mr. Gaunt of Cogglesappeared to penetrate the very walls of the build- wade. making of me his heir. But one day at
ing, each syllable of those two beautiful speakers Kendal I saw Mercy Vint's advertisement, and I
was heard so distinctly.                    went to her, and learned that my wife lay in CarPrisoner. Be so good as to tell the court what lisle jail for my supposed murder. But I say that
passed on Wednesday last between Griffith Gaunt she is innocent, and nowise to blame in this matand you, relative to this charge of murder.  ter, for I deserved every hard word she ever gave
Mercy. I let him know one George Neville had me; and as for killing, she is a spirited woman
come from Cumberland in search of him, and had with her tongue, but hath not the heart to kill a
told me you lay in Carlisle jail charged with his fly. She is what she always was, the pearl of
murder. I did urge him to ride at once to Car- womankind —a virtuous, innocent, and noble
lisle and show himself, but he refused. He made lady. I have lost the treasure of her love by my
light of the matter. Then I told him, Not so; fault, not hers; but, at least, I have a right to




134                    GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
defend her life and honor. Whoever molests her   Mercy Vint colored, and cast a swift, uneasy
after this, out of pretended regard for me, is a glance at Mrs. Gaunt.
liar, and a fool, and no friend of mine, but my   Rapid as it was, the keen eye of the counsel
enemy, and I his-to the death.              caught it.
"GRIFFITH GAUNT."       "Nay, do not look to the culprit for orders,"
said he.  "Produce it, or confess the truth.
It was a day of surprises. This tribute from  Come, you never advertised for him."
the murdered man to his assassin was one of   "Sir, I did advertise for him."
them. People looked in one another's faces   "Then produce the advertisement."
open-eyed.                                    "Sir, I will not," said Mercy, calmly.
The prisoner looked in the judge's, and acted    " Then I shall move the court to commit you."
on what she saw there. " That is my defense,"   "For what offense, if you please?"
saidl she, quietly, and sat down.             "For peljury, and contempt of court."
If a show of hands had been called at that   "I am guiltless of either, God knows.  But I
moment, she would have been acquitted by ac- will not show the advertisement."
clamation.                                    The.Tudge. This is very extraordinary.  PerBut Mr. tVhitworth was a zealous young bar- haps you have it not about vou."
rister, burning for distinction. IIe stuck to his   Mercy. My lord, the truth is, I have it in my
case, and cross-examined Mercy Vint with se- bosom. But, if I show it, it will not make this
verity-indeed, with asperity.               matter one whit clearer, and'twill open the
W/Titworth. What are you to receive for this wounds of two poor women.'Tis not for myevidence?                                  self; but oh, my lord, look at her-hath she not
Mercy. Anan.                              gone through grief enow?
Whitworth. Oh, you know what I mean. Are   The appeal was made with a quiet, touching
you not to be paid for telling us this romance?   earnestness that affected every hearer. But the
AMercy. Nay, sir, I ask naught for telling of judge had a duty to perform.  "Witness, " said
the truth.                                  he, " you mean well, but indeed you do the prisVWhitworth. You were in the prisoner's com- oner an injuly by withholding this paper. Be
pany yesterday?                             good enough to produce it at once."
Mercy. Yes, sir, I did visit her in the jail last   The Prisoner (with a deep sigh). Obey my lord.
night.                                        IlMercy (with a deep sigh). There, sir! May
Whitworth. And there concerted this ingen- the Lord forgive you the useless mischief you are
ious defense?                              doing.
Mercy. Well, sir, for that matter, I told her   Whitworth. I am doing my duty, young womthat her man was alive, and I did offer to be her an. And yours is to tell the whole truth, and
witness.                                    not a part only.
Whitworth. For naught?                     Mercy (acquiescing). That is true, sir..Mercy. For no money or reward, if'fis that   Whitworth. Why, what is this?'Tis not Mr.
you mean. Why,'tis a joy beyond money to Gaunt you advertise for in these papers.'Tis
clear an innocent body and save her life, and that Thomas Leicester.
satisfaction is mine this day.                The Judge. What is that? I don't understand.
WThitworth (sarcastically). These are very fine   Whitworth. Nor I neither.
sentiments for a person in your condition. Con-   The Judge. Let me see the papers.'Tis Thomfess that Mrs. Gaunt primed you with all that.  as Leicester, sure enough.
Mercy. Nay, sir, I left home in that mind,   Whitworth. And you mean to swear that Grifelse I had not come at all. Bethink you,'tis a fith Gaunt answered an advertisement inviting
long journey for one in my way of life, and this Thomas Leicester?
dear child on my arm all the way.             Mercy. I do. Thomas Leicester was the name
Mrs. Gaunt sat boiling with indignation. But Ihe went by in our part.
Mercy's good temper and meekness parried the   Whitworth. What? what? You are jesting.
attack that time. Mr. Whitworth changed his   Mercy. Is this a place or a time for jesting?
line.                                       I say he called himself Thomas Leicester.
Whitworth. You ask the jury to believe that   Here the business was interrupted again by a
Griffith Gaunt, Esquire, a gentleman, and a man multitudinous murmur of excited voices. Every
of spirit and honor, is alive, yet skulks and sends body was whispering astonishment to his neighyou hither, when by showing his face in this bor; and the whisper of a great crowd has the
court he could clear his wife without a single effect of a loud murmur.
word spoken?                                 Whitworth. Oh, he called himself Thomas LeiMercy. Yes, sir, I do hope to be believed, for I cester, did he? Then what makes you say he is
speak the naked truth. But, with due respect to Griffith Gaunt?
you, Mr. Gaunt did not send me hither against   Mercy. Well, sir, the peddler, whose real name
my will. I could not bide in Lancashire and let was Thomas Leicester, came to our house one
an innocent woman be murdered in Cumberland. day, and saw his picture, and knew it, and said
Whitworth. Murdered, quotha! That is a good something to a neighbor that raised my suspi.
jest. I'd have you to know we punish murders cions. When he came home, I took this shirt out
here, not do them.                          of a drawer;'twas the shirt he wore when he
Mercy. I am glad to hear that, sir, on the lady's first came to us.'Tis marked " G. G."  (The
account.                                    shirt was examined.) Said I, "For God's sake
Whitworth. Come, come. You pretend you speak the truth: what does G. G. stand for?"
discovered this Griffith Gaunt alive by means Then he told me his real name was Griffith
of an advertisement. If so, produce the adver- Gaunt, and he had a wife in Cumberland. " Go
tisement.                                   back to her," said I, "and ask her to forgive




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                                135
you."  Then he rode north, and I never saw him  they are, and I desire they may be compared
again till last Wednesday.                   with the paper he wrote last Wednesday, and
lW;hitworth (satirically). You seem to have been signed Griffith Gaunt. And more than that,
mighty intimate with this Thomas Leicester, while we lived together as man and wife, one
whom you now call Griffith Gaunt.  May I ask Hamilton, a traveling painter, took our portraits,
what was, or is, the nature of your connection his and mine. I have brought his with me. Let
with him?                                    his friends and neighbors look on this portrait,
Mercy was silent.                         and say whose likeness it is. What I say and
WT/it2worth. I must press for a reply, that we swear is, that on Wednesday last I saw and spoke
may know what value to attach to your most ex- with that Thomas Leicester, or Griffith Gaunt,
traordinary evidence. W ere you his wife-or his whose likeness I now show you.
mistress?                                     With that she lifted the portrait up, and showMercy. Indeed I hardly know; but not his ed it to all the court.
mistress, or I should not be here.             Instantly there was a roar of recognition.
Whitworth. You don't know whether you were   It was one of those hard daubs that are nevermarried to the man or not?                  theless so monstrously like the originals.
lfIercy. I do not say so. But-               The Jzdye (to Mr. Whitworth). Young genShe hesitated, and cast a piteous look at Mrs. tieman, we are all greatly obliged to you. Yozu
Gaunt, who sat boiling with indignation.     have made the p)risoner's case. There was but
At this look, the prisoner, who had long con- one weak point in it; I mean the prolonged abtained herself with difficulty, rose, with scarlet sence of Griffith Gaunt. You have now account
cheeks and flashing eyes, in defense of her wit- ed for that. You have forced a very truthful
ness, and flung her prudence to the wind.    witness to depose that this Gaunt is himself a
"Fie, sir," she cried.  "The woman you in- criminal, and is hiding from fear of the law.
sult is as pure as, your own mother, or mine. The case for the crown is a mere tissue of conShe deserves the pity, the respect, the veneration jectures, on which no jury could safely convict,
of all good men. Know, my lord, that my mis- even if there was no defense at all. Under other
erable husband deceived and married her under circumstances I might decline to receive evidence
the false name he had taken; she has the mar- at second hand that Griffith Gaunt is alive; but
riage certificate in her bosom. Pray make her here such evidence is sufficient, for it lies on the
show it, whether she will or not. My lord, this crown to prove the man dead; but you have only
Mercy Vint is more an angel than a wonrEn. I proved that he was alive on the fifteenth of Ocam her rival after a manner; yet out of the good- tober, and that, since then, somebody is dead with
ness and greatness of her noble heart, she came shoes on. This somebody appears on the balall that way to save me from an unjust death. ance of proof to be Thomas Leicester, the pedAnd is such a woman to be insulted? I blush dler; and he has never been heard of since, and
for the hired advocate who can not see his supe- Griffith Gaunt has. Then I say you can not
rior in an incorruptible witness, a creature all carry the case farther.  You have not a leg to
truth, piety, purity, unselfishness, and goodness. stand on. What say you, Brother Wiltshire?
Yes, sir, you began by insinuating that she w    ias    Wltshire. My lord, I think there is no case
as venal as yourself, for you are one that can be against the prisoner, and thank your lordship
bought by the first comer; and now you would for relieving me of a very unpleasant task.
cast a slur on her chastity. For shame! for   The question of guilty or not guilty was then
shame! This is one of those rare women that put as a matter of form to the jury, who instantadorn our whole sex, and embellish human na- ly brought the prisoner in not guilty.
ture; and, so long as you have the privilege of    The.Judge. Catharine Gaunt, you leave this
exchanging words with her, I shall stand here on court without a stain, and with our sincere rethe watch, to see that you treat her with due re- spect and sympathy. I much regret the fear
spect-ay, sir, with reverence; for I have meas- and pain you have been put to: you have been
ured you both, and she is as much your superior terribly punished for a hasty word. Profit now
as she is mine."                             by this bitter lesson; and may Heaven enable
This amazing burst was delivered with such you to add a well-governed spirit to your many
prodigious fire and rapidity that nobody was self- virtues and graces.
possessed enough to stop it in time. It was like   He half rose from his seat, and bowed courtea furious gust of words sveeping over the court. ously to her. She courtesied reverently, and reMr. Whitworth, pale with anger, merely said, tired.' Madam, the good taste of these remarks I leave   Ic then said a few words to Mercy Vint.
the court to decide upon. But you can not be    "Young woman, I have no words to praise
allowed to give evidence in your own defense."  you as you deserve. You have shown us the
" No; but in hers I will," said Mrs. Gaunt; beauty of the female character, and, let me add,
"no power shall hinder me."                 the beauty of the Christian religion. You have
The Judqe (coldly). Had you not better go on come a long way to clear the innocent. I hope
cross-examining the witness.                 you will not stop there, but also punish the guilty
Wihiitworth. Let me see your marriage certifi- person, on whom we have wasted so much pity."
cate, if you have one.                         "Me, my lord!" said Mercy; " I would not
It was handed to him.                     harm a hair of his head for as many guineas as
"Well, now, how do you know that this Thom- there be hairs in mine."
as Leicester was Griffith Gaunt?"             "Child," said my lord, "thou art too good
The.Judge. Why, she has told you he con- for this world; but go thy ways, and God bless
fessed it to her.                            thee."
Mercy. Yes, my lord; and, besides, he wrote   Thus abruptly ended a trial that, at first, had
me two letters signed Thomas Leicester. Here looked so formidable for the accused.




136                    GRIFFITH GAUNT;- OR, JEALOUSY.
The judge now retired for some refreshment, of her good action is over, and she goes back the
and while he was gone, Sir George Neville dash- weary road all alone, what desolation it will be I
ed up to the Town Hall, four in hand, and rush- My heart bleeds for her. I know I am an luned in by the magistrate's door with a peddler's conscionable woman to ask such a thing; bul
pack which he had discovered in the mere a few  then you are a true chevalier; you always were;
yards from the spot where the mutilated body and you saw her merit directly; oh, do pray
was found.                                 leave me to slip unnoticed into Hernshaw CasHe learned the prisoner was already acquitted. tle, and do you accompany my benefactress to
He left the pack with the sheriff, and begged him  her humble home. Will you, dear Sir George?
to show it to the judge, and went in search of'Twould be such a load off my heart."
Mrs. Gaunt.                                   To this appeal, uttered with trembling lip and
He found her in the jailer's house. She and moist eyes, Sir George replied in character. He
Mercy Vint were seated hand in hand. He start- declined to desert Mrs. Gaunt until he had seen
ed at first sight of the latter. There was a uni- her safe home, but that done, he would ride back
versal shaking of hands and glistening of eyes. to Carlisle and escort Mercy home.
And, when this was over, Mrs. Gaunt turned to   Mrs. Gaunt sighed, and said she was abusing
him and said piteously, " She will go back to his friendship, and should kill him with fatigue,
Lancashire to-morrow; nothing I can say will and he was a good creature. "If any thing
turn her."                                  could make me easy, this would," said she:
" No, dame," said Mercy, quietly, " Cumber- " you know how to talk to a woman, and comland is no place for me.  ly work is done here. fort her.  I wish I was a man; I'd cure her of
Our paths in this world do lie apart. George Griffith before we reached the'Packhorse.'
Neville, persuade her to go home at once, and And, now I think of it, you are a very happy
not trouble about me."                      man to travel eighty miles with an angel-a
"Indeed, madam," said Sir George, "'she dove-eyed angel."
speaks wisely: she always does. My carriage   "I am a happy man to have an opportunity
is at the door, and the people waiting by thou- of complying with your desires, madam," was
sands in the street to welcome your deliverance. " the demure reply.  "'Tis not often you do me
Mrs. Gaunt drew herself up with fiery and bit- the honor to lay your orders on me."
ter disdain.                                  After this, nothing of any moment passed un"Are they so?" said she, grimly.  " Then til they reached Hernshaw Castle; and then, as
I'll balk them. I'll steal away in the dead of they drove up to the door, and saw the hall blaznight. No, miserable populace, that howls and ing with lights, Mrs. Gaunt laid her hand softly
hisses with the strong against the weak, you on Sir George, and whispered," You were right.
shall have no part in my triumph;'tis sacred to I thank you for not leaving me."
my friends. You honored me with your hoot-   The servants were all in the hall to receive
ings; you shall not disgrace me with your accla- their mistress, and among them were those who
mations. Here I stay till MercyVint, my guard- had given honest but unfavorable testimony at
ian angel, leaves me forever."             the trial, being called by the crown. These had
She then requested Sir George to order his consulted together, and, after many pros and
horses back to the inn, and the coachman was cons, had decided that they had better not folto hold himself in readiness to start when the low their natural impulse and hide from her face,
whole town should be asleep.                since that might be a fresh offense. AccordingMeantime a courier was dispatched to Her- ly, these witnesses, dressed in their best, stood
shaw Castle to prepare for Mrs. Gaunt's recep- with the others in the hall, and made their obeition.                                       sances, quaking inwardly.
Mrs. Menteith made a bed up for MercyVint,   Mrs. Gaunt entered the hall leaning on Sir
and at midnight, when the coast was clear, came George's arm. She scarcely bestowed a look
the parting.                                upon the late witnesses for the crown, but made
It was a sad one.                         them one sweeping courtesy in return, and passEven Mercy, who had great self-command, ed on; only Sir George felt her taper fingersjust
could not then restrain her tears.          nip his arm.
To apply the sweet and touching words of   She made him partake of some supper, and
Scripture, " They sorrowed most of all for this, then this chevalier des dames rode home, snatchthat they should see each other's face no more." ed a few hours' sleep, put on the yeoman's suit
Sir George accompanied Mrs. Gaunt to Hern- in which he had first visited the "Packhorse,"
shaw.                                       and, arriving at Carlisle, engaged the whole inShe drew back into her corner of the carriage, side of the coach; for his orders were to console,
and was very silent and distraite.          and he did not see his way clear to do that with
After one or two attempts at conversation, he two or three strangers listening to every word.
judged it wisest and even most polite to respect
her mood.
At last she burst out," I can not bear it, I can      CHAPTER XLV.
not bear it!"
"Why, what is amiss?" inquired Sir George.   A GREAT change was observable in Mrs. Gaunt
"What is amiss?  Why,'tis all amiss.'Tis after this fiery and chastening ordeal. In a short
so heartless, so ungrateful, to let that poor angel time she had been taught many lessons. She had
go home to Lancashire all alone, now she has learned that the law will not allow even a woman
served my turn. Sir George, do not think I to say any thing and every thing with impunity.
undervalue your company, but if you would but She had been in a court of justice, and seen how
take her home instead of taking me! Poor gravely, soberly, and fairly an accusation is siftthing, she is brave; but, when the excitement ed there, and, if false, annihilated, which else



GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                             137
where it never is. Member of a sex that could and so undecided that she sent the messenger
never have invented a court of justice, she had away, and told him to call next day.
found something to revere and bless in that oth-   Then she sent off to Father Francis to beg his
er sex to which her erring husband belonged. advice.
Finally, she had encountered in Mercy Vint a   But her courier returned late at night to say
woman whom she recognized at once as her mor- Father Francis was away from home.
al superior. The contact of that pure and well-   Then she took Rose, and said to her, "My
governed spirit told wonderfully upon her; she darling, papa wants us to go to his new house,
began to-watch her tongue, and to bridle her high and leave dear old Hernshaw; I know not what
spirit. She became slower to give offense, and to say about that. What do you say?"
slower to take it. She took herself to task, and   "Tell him to come to us," said Rose, dictatomade some little excuses even for Griffith. She rially.  " Only" (lowering her little voice very
was resolved to retire from the world altogether; suddenly), "if he is naughty and won't, why then
but, meantime, she bowed her head to the les we had better go to him; for he amuses me."
sons of adversity. - Her features, always lovely,   "As you please," said Mrs. Gaunt; and sent
but somewhat too haughty, were now softened her husband this reply:
and embellished beyond description by a mingled
expression of grief, humility, and resignation.   judgment and obey your wishes. Be pleased to
She never mentioned her husband, but it is not Jmey you wi
to be supposed she never thought of him. She let me know what day you will require us; and
aited the course of events in dignified and pa- I must trouble you to send a carriage. I am,
waited the course of events in dignified and pa- sir, your faithful wife and humble servant,
tient silence.                                                "CATHARINE GAUNT."
As for Griffith Gaunt, he was in the hands of
two lawyers, Atkins and Houseman. Hewaited   At the appointed day, a carriage and four
on the first, and made a friend of him.  " I am  came wheeling up to the door. The vehicle was
at your service," said he," but not if I am to be gorgeously emblazoned, and the servants in rich
indicted for bigamy and burned in the hand."  liveries; all which finery glittering in the sun,
"' These fears are idle," said Atkins. "Mercy and the glossy coats of the horses, did mightily
Vint declared in open court she will not proceed please Mistress Rose. She stood on the stone
against you."                             steps, and clapped her hands with delight. Her
"'Ay, but there's my wife."             mother just sighed, and said, "Ay,'tis in pomp
" She will keep quiet; I have Houseman's and show we must seek our happiness now."
word for it."                                She leaned back in the carriage and closed her
"Ay, but there's the attorney general."  eyes, yet not so close but now and then a tear
"Oh, he will not move unless he is driven. would steal out as she thought of the past.
We must use a little influence. Mr. House-   They drove up under an avenue to a noble
man is of my mind, and he has-the ear of the mansion, and landed at the foot of some marble
county."                                  steps, low and narrow, but of vast breadth.
To be brief, it was represented in high quar-   As they mounted these, a hall door, through
ters that to indict Mr. Gaunt would only open which the carriage could have passed, was flung
Mrs. Gaunt's wounds afresh, and do no good; opon, and discovered the servants all drawn up
and so Houseman found means to muzzle the at- to do honor to their mistress.
torney general.                              She entered the hall leading Rose by the hand;
Just three weeks after the trial, Griffith Gaunt, the servants bowed and courtesied down to the
Esq., reappeared publicly. The place of his re- ground.
appearance was Coggleswade. He came and set   She received this homage with dignified courabout finishing his new mansion with feverish ra- tesy, and her eye stole round to see if the master
pidity. He engaged an army of carpenters and of the house was coming to receive her.
painters, and spent thousands of pounds on the   The library door was opened hastily, and out
decorating and furnishing of the mansion, and came to meet her-Father Francis.
laying out the grounds.                      "Welcome, madam, a thousand times welThis was duly reported to Mrs. Gaunt, who come to your new home," said he, in a stentorian
said-not a word.                          voice, with a double infusion of geniality.  " I
But at last one day came a letter to Mrs. claim the honor of showing you your part of the
Gaunt, in Griffith's well-known hand-writing.   house, though'tis all yours for that matter."
With all her acquired self-possession, her hand And he led the way.
trembled as she broke open the seal.        Now this cheerful stentorian voice was just a
It contained but these words:           little shaky for once, and his eyes were moist.
" MhADAM, -I do not ask you to forgive me,   Mrs. Gaunt noticed, but said nothing before
for, if you had done what I have, I could never    people. She smiled graciously, and accomforgive you. But, for the sake of Rose, and to panied him.
stop their tongues, I do hope you will do me the He took her to her apartments. They conhonor to live under this my roof. I dare not sisted of a salle-a-manger, three delightful bedface Hernshaw Castle. Your own apartments rooms, a  boudoir, and a magnificent drawinghere are now ready for you. The place is large. room, fifty feet long, with two fireplaces, and a
Upon my honor I will not trouble you, but show  bay-window thirty feet wide, filled with the
myself always, as now, your penitent and very   An exclamation of delight escaped Mrs.
humble servant,       GRIFFITH GAUNT"         n ecmtn of delight escaped Mrs. Gnt.
Then she said, "One would think I was a queen."
The messenger was to wait for her reply.  Then she sighed, "Ah!" said she, "'tis a fine
This letter disturbed Mrs. Gaunt's sorrowful thing to be rich." Then, despondently, "Tell
tranquillity at once. She was much agitated, him I think it very beautiful."




138                     GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
" Nay, madam, I hope you will tell him so was in drove him to remonstrate with her on her
yourself"                                    silence.
Mrs. Gaunt made no reply to that; she added,   She blushed high, and excused herself as fol"And it was kind of him to have you here the lows:
first day: I do not feel so lonely as I should with-'I should have told vou as soon as I knew it
out you."                                    myself, but you were not with me. I was all by
She took Griffith at his word, and lived with myself-in (Carlisle jail."
Rose in her own apartments.                    This reply, uttered with hypocritical meekness,
For some time Griffith used to slip away when- went through Griffith like a knife. IHe turned
ever he saw her coming.                      white, and gasped for breath, but said nothing.
One day she caught him at it, and beckoned iHe left her with a deep groan, and never yenhinm.                                        tured to mention the matter again.
lie came to her.                             All he did in that direction was to redoulle
" You need not run away from me," said she. his attentions and solicitude for her health.
"I did not come into your house to quarrel with   The relation between these two was now more
you. Let us befriends." And she gave him her anomalous than ever.
hand sweetly enough, but oh! so coldly.       Even Father Francis, who had seen strange
"I hope for nothing more," said Griffith. "If things in families, used to watch Mrs. Gaunt rise
you eaver have a wish, give me the pleasure of from table and walk heavily to the door, and her
gratifying it-that is all."                  husband dart to it and open it obsequiously, and
"I wish to retire to a convent," said she, receive only a very formal reverence in return,
quietly.                                     and wonder how all this was to end.
" And desert your daughter?"               However, under this icy surface, a change was
" I would leave her behind, to remind you of gradually going on; and one afternoon, to his
days gone by."                               great surprise, Mrs. Gaunt's maid came to ask
By degrees they saw a little more of one an- Griffith if he would come to Mrs. Gaunt's apartother; they even dined together now and then. ment.
But it brought them no nearer. There was no   He found her seated in her bay window, among
anger, with its loving reaction.  They were her flowers.  She seemed another woman all of
friendly enough, but an icy barrier stood between a sudden, and smiled on him her exquisite smile
them.                                        of days gone by.
One person set himself quietly to sap this bar-   "Come, sit beside me," said she, "in this
rier. Father Francis was often at the castle, beautiful window that you have given me."
and played the peace-maker very adroitly.      "Sit beside you, Kate," said Griffith; " nay,
The line he took might be called the innocent let me kneel at your knees; that is my place."
Jesuitical. He saw that it would be useless to   "As you will," said she, softly; and continexhort these two persons to ignore the terrible ued, in the same tone, " Now listen to me: you
things that happened, and to make it up as if it and I are two fools; we have been very happy
was only a squabble.  What he did was to re- together in days gone by, and we should both of
peat to the husband every gracious word the wife us like to try again, but we neither of us know
let fall, and vice versa, and to suppress all either how to begin. You are afraid to tell me you love
said that might tend to estrange them.       me, and I am ashamed to own to you or any
In short, he acted the part of Mr. Harmony in body else that I love you, in spite of it all-I do,
the play, and acted it to perfection.       though."
Gutta cavat lapidem.                         "You love me! a wretch like me, Kate?'Tis
Though no perceptible effect followed his ef- impossible. I can not be so happy!"
forts, yet there is no doubt that he got rid of   "Child," said Mrs. Gaunt, "love is not reason;
some of the bitterness.  But the coldness re- love is not common sense.'Tis a passion, like
mained.                                      yourjealousy, poor fool. I love you, as a mother
One day he was sent for all in a hurry by Grif- loves her child, all the more for all you have made
fith.                                        me suffer. I might not say as much if I thought
He found him looking gloomy and agitated.   we should be long together; but something tells
The cause came out directly. Griffith had me I shall die this time: I never felt so before.
observed at last, what all the females in the house I want you to bury me at tlernshaw. After all,
had seen two months ago, that Mrs. Gaunt was I spent more happy years there than most wives
in the family-way.                           ever know.  I see you are very sorry for what
He now communicated this to Father Francis vou have done.  How could I die and leave thee
with a voice of agony, and looks to match.   in doubt of my forgiveness and my love?  Kiss
"All the better, my son," said the genial me, poor jealous fool, for I do forgive thee, and
priest; "'twill be another tie between you. I love thee with all my sorrowful heart. " And even
hope it will be a fine boy to inherit your estates. " with the words she bowed herself and sank quietThen,' observing a certain hideous expression ly into his arms, and he kissed her and cried bitdistorting Griffith's face, he fixed his eyes full on terly over her-bitterly.  But she was comparahim, and said, sternly, " Are you not cured yet tively calm; for she said to herself, "The end is
of that madness of yours?"                  at hand."
"No, no, no," said Griffith, deprecatingly;
" but why did she not tell me?"              Griffith, instead of pooh-poohing his wife's fore" You had better ask her."                bodings, set himself to baffle them.
" Not I. She will remind me I am nothing to   He used his wealth freely; and, besides the
her now.- And, though'tis so, yet I would not country doctor, had two very eminent practitionhear it from her lips."                      ers from London, one of whom was a gray-headIn spite of this wise resolution, the torture he ed man, the other singularly young for the fame




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               139
he had obtained. But then he was a genuine sparkling eyes he held out a bare arm, corded:nthusiast in his art.                      like a blacksmith's, and white as a duchess's.
The young doctor eved the magnificent limb a
moment with rapture, then fixed his apparatus,
CHAPTER XLVI.                   and performed an operation which then, as now,
was impossible in theory-only he did it.; He
GRIFFITH, white as a ghost, and unable to sent some of Griffith Gaunt's bright red blood
shake off the forebodings Catharine had commu- smoking hot into Kate Gaunt's veins.
nicated to him, walked incessantly up and down   This done, he watched his patient closely, and
the room; and, at his earnest request, one or oth- administered stimulants from time to time.
er of the four doctors in attendance was constant-   She hung between life and death for hours.
ly coming to him with information.           But at noon next day she spoke, and, seeing
The case proceeded favorably, and, to Griffith's Griffith sitting beside her, pale with anxiety and
surprise and joy, a healthy boy was born about loss of blood, she said, " My dear, do not thou
two o'clock in the morning. The mother was fret. I died last night. I knew I should.  But
reported rather feverish, but nothing to cause they gave me another life, and now I shall live to
alarm.                                       a hundred."
Griffith threw himself on two chairs and fell   They showed her the little bov, and at sight
fast asleep.                                 of him the whole woman made up her mind to
Toward morning he found himself shaken, and live.
there was Ashley, the young doctor, standing be-   And live she did; and, what is very remarkaside him, with a very grave face. Griffith start- ble, her convalescence was more rapid than on
ed up, and cried, "What is wrong, in God's any former occasion.
name?"                                        It was from a talkative nurse she first learned
"I am sorry to say there has been a sudden that Griffith had given his blood for her.  She
hemorrhage, and the patient is much exhausted." said nothifig at the time, but lay with an angelic,
" She is dying! she is dying!" cried Griffith, happy smile, thinking of it.
in anguish.                                    The first time she saw him after that, she laid
" Not dying. But she will infallibly sink un- her hand on his arm, and, looking Heaven itself
less. some unusual circumstance occur to sustain into his eyes, she said, "  y life is very dear to
vitality."                                   me now;'tis a present from thee."
Griffith laid hold of him.  "Oh, sir, take my   She wanted a good excuse for loving him as
whole fortune, but save her! save her! save frankly as before, and now he had given her one.
her!"                                       She used to throw it in his teeth in the prettiest
"Mr. Gaunt," said the young doctor, "be way. Whenever she confessed a fault, she was
calm, or you will make matters worse. There sure to turn slyly round and say, "But what
is one chance to save her, but my professional could one expect of me?  I have his blood in
brethren are prejudiced against it. However, my veins."
they have consented, at my earnest request, to   But once she told Father Francis, quite serirefer my proposal to you. She is sinking for ously, that she had never been quite the same
want of blood: if you consent to my opening a woman since she lived by Griffith's blood; she
vein and transfusing healthy blood from a living was turned jealous; and, moreover, it had given
subject into hers, I will undertake the operation. him a fascinating power over her, and she could
You had better come and see her; you will be tell blindfold when he was in the room, which
more able to judge."                        last fact, indeed, she once proved by actual ex"'Let me lean on you," said Griffith. And periment. But all this I leave to such as study
the strong wrestler went tottering up the stairs. the occult sciences in this profound age of ours.
There they showed him poor Kate, white as the   Starting with this advantage, Time, the great
bedclothes, breathing hard, and with a pulse that curer, gradually healed a wound that looked inhardly moved.                                curable.
Griffith looked at her, horror-struck.       Mrs. Gaunt became a better wife than she had
"'Death has got hold of my darling," he ever been before. She studied her husband, and
screamed.  " Snatch her away! for God's sake, found he was not hard to please.  She made his
snatch her from him!"                       home bright and genial, and so he never went
The young doctor whipped off his coat and abroad for the sunshine he could have at home.
bared his arm.                                 And he studied her; he added a chapel to the
"There,"  he cried, "Mr. Gaunt consents. house, and easily persuaded Francis to become
Now, Corrie, be quick with the lancet, and hold the chaplain. Thus they had a peacemaker and
this tube as I tell you; warm it first in that a friend in the house, and a man severe in morwater."                                      als, but candid in religion, and an inexhaustible
Here came an interruption.  Griffith Gaunt companion to them and their children.
griped the young doctor's arm, and with an ago-   And so, after that terrible storm, this pair purnized and ugly expression of countenance cried sued the even tenor of a peaceful united life, till
out, "What! your blood! What right have you the olive branches rising around them, and the
to lose blood for her?"                     happy years gliding on, almost obliterated that
"The right of a man who loves his art better one dark passage, and made it seem a mere fanthan his blood," cried Ashley, with enthusiasm.  tastical, incredible dream.
Griffith tore off his coat and waistcoat, and
bared his arm to the elbow.  " Take every drop   Mercy Vint and her child went home in the
I have. No man's blood shall enter her veins coach.  It was empty at starting, and, as Mrs.
but mine."  And the creature seemed to swell Gaunt had foretold, a great sense of desolation
to doubl3 his size, as with flushed cheek and fell upon her.




140                    GRIFFITH1 GAUNT;'OR, iJEALOUSY;
She leanedback, and the patient tears coursed:He did not get in, so Mercy thought she had
steadily down her comely cheeks.            seen the last of him.
At the first stage a passenger got down from    "Farewellgood,kindGeorge,"saidshe; "alas!
the outside and entered the coach.          there's naught but meeting and parting in this
"What! George Neville!" said Mercy.       weary world."
"The same," said he.                        The tears stood in her sweet eyes, and she
She expressed her surprise that he should be thanked him, not with words only, but with the
going her way.                              soft pressure of her womanly hand.
"'Tis strange," said he, "but to me most   He slipped up behind the coach, and was
agreeable."                                 ashamed of himself, and his heart warmed to
"And to me too, for that matter," said she.  her more and more.
Sir George observed her eyes were red, and, to   As soon as the coach stopped, my lord opened
divert her mind and keep up her spirits, launch- the door for Mercy to alight. Her eyes were
ed into a flow of small talk.               very red, he saw that. She started, and beamed
In the midst of it, Mercy leaned back in the with surprise and pleasure.
coach and began to cry bitterly.  So much for   "Why, I thought I had lost yolt for good,"
that mode of consolation.                   said she. "Whither are you going-to LancasUpon this he faced the situation, and- begged ter?"
her not to grieve. He praised the good action    "Not quite so far. I am going to the'Packshe had done, and told her how every body ad- horse."'
mired her for it, especially himself.         Mercy opened her eyes and blushed high. Sir
At that she gave him her hand in silence, and George saw, and, to divert her suspicions, told
turned away her pretty head. He carried her her merrily to beware of making objections. "I
hand respectfully to his lips, and his manly heart am only a sort of servant in the matter.'Twas
began to yearn over this suffering virtue, so Mrs. Gaunt ordered me."
grave, so dignified, so meek. He.was no longer   "Imight have guessedit," saidMercy. "Bless
a young man; he began to talk to her like a her, she knew I should be lonely."
friend.  This tone, and the soft, sympathetic   "She was not easy till she had got rid of me,
voice in which a gentleman speaks to a woman I assure you," said Sir George; "so let us make
in trouble, unlocked her heart, and for. the first the best on't, for she is a lady that likes to have
time in her life she was led to talk-about herself. her own way."
She opened her healt to him. She told him    "She is a noble creature. George, I shall
che was not the woman to: pine for any man, never regret any thing I have done for her. And
Her youth, her health, and love of occupation she will not be ungrateful. Oh, the sting of
would carry her through. What she mourned ingratitude!  I have felt that.- Htave you?"
was the loss of esteem, and the blot upon her',No,' said Sir George,'"  have escaped that
child. At that she drew the baby with inex- by never doing any good actions."
pressible tenderness, and yet with a half defiant   "I doubt you are telling me a lie," said Mercy
air, closer to her bosom.                   Vint.
Sir George assured her she would lose the es-   She now looked upon Sir George as Mrs.
teem of none but fools. "As for me," said he, Gaunt'srepresentative, and prattledfreely to him.
"I always respected you, but now I revere you. Only now and then her trouble came over her,
You are a martyr and an angel. "            and then she took a quiet cry without ceremony.
"George," said Mercy, gravely, "be you my   As for Sir George, he sat and studied, and
friend, not my enemy."                      wondered at her.'Why, madam," said he, "sure you can't think   Never in his life had he met such a woman as
me such a wretch."                          this, who was as candid with him as if he had
" I mean, our flatterers are our enemies. "  been a woman. She seemed to have a window
Sir George took the hint, given, as it was, very in her bosom, through which he looked, and saw
gravely and decidedly, and henceforth showed the pure and lovely soul within.
her his respect by his acts: he paid her as much   In the afternoon they reaehed a little town
attention as if she had been a princess. He whence a cart. conveyed them to the "Packhanded her out and handed her in, and coaxed horse. "
her to eat here and to drink there; and at the   Here Mercy Vint disappeared, and busied herinn where the passengers slept for the night, he self with Sir George's comforts.
showed his long purse, and secured her superior   He sat by himself in the parlor, and missed
comforts. Console her he could not, but he his gentle companion.
broke the sense of utter desolation and loneli-  In the morning Mercy thought of course he
ness with which she started from Carlisle..She would go. But instead of that, he staid, and
told him so in the inn, and descanted on the followed her about, and began to court her downgoodness of God, who had sent her a friend in right. But the warmer he got, the cooler, she.
that bitter hour.                           And at last she said, mighty dryly, "This is a
"You have been very kind to me, George,"  very dull place for the likes of you."E
said she. " Now Heaven bless you for it, and    "'Tis the sweetest place in England," said
give you many happy days, and well spent."  he, "at least to me, for it contains-the woman
This, from one who never said a word she did I love."
not mean, sank deep into Sir George's heart, and   Mercy drew back, and colored rosy red. "' I
he went to sleep thinking of her, and asking him- hope not," said she.
self was there nothing he could do for her.   "I loved you the first day I saw you and heard
Next morning Sir George handed Mercy and your voice; and now I love you ten times more.
her babe into the coach, and the villain tried an Let me dry thy tears forever, sweet Mercy. Be
experiment to see what value she set on him. my wife."




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OS JEALOUSY'.                            141'You are mad," said Mercy. "What! would   Sir George turned pale. " One word: do you
you wed a woman in my condition? I am more love him?"
your friend than to take you at your word. And   "I have a regard for him."
what do you think I am made of, to go from one   " Do you love him?"
man to another, like that?"                 "Hardly; but I wronged him, and I owe him
"Take your time, sweetheart, only give me amends. I shall pay my debt."
"'our hand."                                Sir George bowed, and retired sick at heart
aae
2'
"George," said Mercy, very gravely, "I am  and deeply mortified. Mercy looked after him
beholden to you,but my duty it lies another and sighed.
way. There is a young man in these parts (Sir   Next day, as he walked disconsolate up and
George groaned) that was my follower for two down, she came to him and gave him her hand.
years and better. I wronged him for one I nev- "You were a good friend to me that bitter day, "
er name now. I must marry that poor lad and said she, " now let me be yours. Do not hide
make him happy, or else live and die as I am."  here;'twill but vex you."




-142                    GRIFFITH  GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
"I am going, madam," said Sir George, stiffly. caster, and Mercy lowered her lashes for once at
"I but wait to see the man you prefer to me. sight of him.
If he is not too unworthy of you, I'll go, and    "Well," said he, "has this Carrick shown a
trouble you no more. I have learned his name." sense of your goodness?"
Mercy blushed, for she knew Paul Carrick    "He has come-and gone."
would bear no comparison with George Neville.   She then, with her usual frankness, told him
The next day Sir George took leave to observe what had passed.  "'And," said she, with a
that this Paul Carrick did not seem to appre- smile, "you are partly to blame, for how could
ciate her preference so highly as he ought.  " I I help comparing your behavior to me with his?
understand he has never been here.'          You came to my side when I was in trouble, and
Mercy colored, but made no reply, and Sir showed me respect when I expected scorn from all
George was sorry he had taunted her.  He fol- the world. A friend in need is a friend indeed."
lowed her about, and showed her great attention,   " Reward me! reward me!" said Sir George,
but not a word of love.                      gayly; " you know the way."
There were fine trout streams in the neigh-'Nay, but I am too much your friend," said
borhood, and he busied himself fishing, and in Mercy.
the evening read aloud to Mercy, and waited to    " Hie less my friend, then, and more my darsee Paul. Carrick.                          ling."
Paul never came; and, from a word Mercy let   He pressed her, he urged her, he stuck to her,
drop, he saw that she was mortified. Then, being lihe pestered her.
no tyro in love, he told her he had business in   She snubbed, and evaded, and parried, and
Lancaster, and must leave her fbir a few days, liked him all the better for his pestering her.
but he would return, and by that time, perhaps,   At last, one day, she said,- "If Mrs. Gaunt
Paful Carrick would be visible.              thinks it will be for your happiness, I wili-in
Now his main object was to try the effect of six months' time; but you shall not marry in
correspondence.                             haste to repent at leisure. And I must hlave
Every day he sent her a long love-letter from  time to learn two things —wbether you can be
Lancaster.                                  constant to a simple woman like me, and whether
Paul Carrick, who, in absenting himself for a I can love again as tenderly as you deserve to be
time, had acted upon his sister's advice rather loved."
than his own natural impulse, learned that Mercy   All his endeavors to shake this determination
received a letter every day. This was a thing were vain. Mercy Vint had a terrible deal of
unheard of in that parish.                   quiet resolution.
So then Paul defied his sister's advice, and   I-e retired to Cumberland, and in a long letter
presented himself to Mercy, when the following asked Mrs. Gaunt's advice. She replied characdialogue took place:                         teristically.  She began very soberly to say that
"Welcome home, Mercy."                    she should be the last to advise a marriage be"Thank you, Paul."                        tween persons of different conditions in life.' Well, I'm single still, lass."          " But then," said she," this Mercy is altogether
" So I hear."                             an exception.  If a flower grows on a dunghill,
"i'm  come to say, let by-gones be by-'tis still a flower, and not a part of the dunghill.
gones. "                                     She has.the essence of gentility, and, indeed, her
" So be it," said Mercy, dryly.           nanners are better bred than most of our ladies.
"You have tried a gentleman, now  try a There is too' much affectation abroad, and that
farrier."                                   is your true vulgarity.  Tack'my lady' on to
"I have; and he did not, stand the test."'Mercy Vint,' and that dignified and quiet sim" Anan."                                  plicity of hers will carry her with credit through
" Why did you not come near me for tell every court in Europe. Then think of her viidays?"                                     tues-(here the writer began to lose her temper)
Paul blushed up to the eyes.  "WVell," said -where can you hope to find such another?
he, "I'11 tell you the truth.'Twas our Jess ad- She is a moral genius, and acts well, no matter
vised me to leave you quiet just at first."  under what temptation, as surely as Claude and
"Ay, ay. I was to be humbled, and made to Raphael paint well.' Why, sir, what do you seek
smart for my fault, and then I should be thank- in a wife? Wealth? title? family?  But you
ful to take you. My lad, if ever you should be possess them already; you want something in
really in love, take a friend's advice: listen to addition that will make you happy. Well, take
your own heart, and not to shallow advisers. that angelic goodness into your house, and you
You have mortified a poor sorrowful creature will find, by your own absolute happiness, how
who was going to make a sacrifice for vou, and ill your neighbors have wived. For my part, I
you have lost her forever."                 see but one objection-the child.  WVell, if you
" What d'ye mean?"                       are man enough to take the mother, I am woman
"I mean that ye are to think no more of enough to take the babe. In one word' he who
Mercy Vint."                                 has the sense to fall in love with such ain angel,
"Then it is true, ye jade-ye've gotten a fresh and has not the sense to marry it, if he can, is a
lover already."                             fool."' Say no more than you know. If you were    "Postscript. —My poor friend, to what end
the only man on earth, I would not wed you, think you I sent you down in the coach with
Paul Carrick."                              her?"
Paul Carrick retired home and blew up his
sister, and told' her that she had " gotten him    Sir George, thus advised, acted as he would
the sack again."                            have done had the advice been just the opposite.
The next day Sir George came back from Lan-   He sent Mercy a love-letter by every post, and




GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.                               143
he often received one in return; only his were came an exquisite letter to her from Mrs. Gaunt.
passionate, and hers gentle and affectionate.  She sent alln affectionate reply.
But one day came a letter that was a mere cry   But the Gaunts and the Nevilles did not meet
of distress.                                in society.
Sir George Neville and Mrs. Gaunt, being both
"George, my child is dying. What shall I singularly brave and haughty people, rather dedo?"                                       spised this arrangement.  But it seems that, one
He mounted his horse and rode to her.     day, when they were all four in the Town I-all,
He came too late. The little boy had died folk whispered and looked; and both Griffitih
suddenly of croup, and was to be buried next Gaunt and Lady Neville surprised these glances,
morning.                                    and determined, by one impulse, it should never
The poor mother received him up stairs, and happen again.  Hience it was quite understood
her grief was terrible.  She clung sobbing to that the Nevilles and the Gaunts were not to be
him, and could not be comforted.  Yet she felt asked to the same party or ball.
his coming.  But a mother's anguish overpow-   The wives, however, corresponded, and Lady
ered all.                                   Neville easily induced Mrs. Gaunt to co-operate
Crushed by this fearful blow, her strength gave with her in her benevolent acts, especially in
way for a time, and she elung to George Ne- saving young women who had been betrayed
ville, and told hilm she had nothing left but him, from sinking deeper.
and one day implored him not to die and leave   Living a good many miles apart, Lady Neville
her.                                         could send her stray sheep to service near Mrs.
Sir George said all he could think of to comn- Gaunt, and vice versd; and so, merciful, but disfort her, and at the end of a fortnight persuaded  criminating, they staved many a poor girl who
her to leave the "Packhorse" and England as had been weak, not wicked.
his wife.                                      S'o then, though they could not eat nor dance
She had little power to resist now, and, indeed, together in earthly malnsions, they could do good
little inclination.                         together; and. metllinks, in the eternal world,
They were married by special license, and  where years of social intercourse will prove less
spent a twelvemonth abroad.                   thaln cobwebs, these their joint acts of mercy will
At the end of that time they returned to Ne- be links of a bright, strong chain, to bind their
ville's Court, and Mercy took her place there with s:ols in everlasting amity.
the same dignified simplicity that had adorned    It was a rem1rka ek cQ Qmakt.-,.S~ k l
"her'in a humbler station.                  1 child of Lady Neville's unhappy marriage died,
Sir George had given her no lessons, but she but her nine children by Sir George all grew to
had observed closely for his sake: and, being goodly men and women. That branch of the
already well educated, and very quick and do- Nevilles became remarkable for high principle
cile, she seldolm ma:de him blush except, with and good sense, and this they oiwe to Mercy
pride.                                       Vint, and to Sir George's courage in marrying
They were the happiest pair in Cumberland. her.  This Mercy was granddaughter to one of
Her merciful nature now found a larger field for Cromwell's Ironsides, and brought her rare perits exercise, and, backed by her husband's purse, sonal merit into their house, and also the best
she became the Lady Bountiful of the parish and  blood of the old Puritans, than which there is no
the county.                                  blood in Europe more rich in male courage, feThe day after she reached iNeville's Court male chastity, and all the virtues.
THE  31~Nt.